RELATED: Neighbors recount trying to help after car fire that killed Jacksonville woman, 3-year-old boy

The Florida Highway Patrol said the crash was reported at about 10:35 p.m. Thursday on northbound I-295 near the Pulaski Road exit on the city’s Northside; local accounts placed the wreck near Alta Drive. Troopers said a black Jeep left the roadway, struck a tree and burst into flames while Dusty Reid and her son R.J. were in it. It was unclear what caused the vehicle to veer off the road.

The GoFundMe post asked first for prayers and then for financial support for what the post called “The Reid Boys.” Reid leaves behind three other sons, according to the fundraiser.

Neighbors tried to rescue the occupants with a garden hose and a fire extinguisher, but their efforts were not successful, a woman who attempted to help told News4JAX.

“I was asking whoever you believe in…to let whoever is in this vehicle enter,” she said.

Impact Learning Center, where the boy had been enrolled since infancy, released a statement.

“RJ had been part of our Impact Learning Center family since he was just an infant. He grew up in our hearts. He was a little brother, a son, and a beloved friend to his classmates and teachers.”

Troopers did not immediately say whether anyone in the vehicle was wearing a seat belt or whether a child restraint was in use. The crash remains under investigation.

Click here to donate to the GoFundMe.

The Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone, or PROMISE Act, being unveiled Tuesday, comes on the heels of the latest Social Security Board of Trustees’ annual report, which found that Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to face a funding shortfall in 2032, a year earlier than last year’s projections.

Even with it being clear for years that Social Security was running out of money, Congress has been loath to act. Making changes to the program — and potentially cutting benefits — has long been politically unpopular, and lawmakers have repeatedly kicked Social Security and Medicare’s troubling math to the next generation.

“The longer Congress waits, the more difficult it will be to address the program’s financial shortfall,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, one of the bill’s authors, said in a statement. “We were elected to solve problems — we owe it to our kids and grandkids to protect and strengthen this critical program.”

Durbin, who is retiring, is joining with Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia; independent Sen. Angus King of Maine; and outgoing Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, in backing the Social Security legislation, which calls for an “independent, bipartisan advisory committee” that would make recommendations to Congress.

The bill is designed to force Congress to confront Social Security’s long-term financing problem by guaranteeing that lawmakers vote on a solvency plan. It culminates in an up-or-down vote on a plan that restores Social Security solvency for at least half a century.

Committees, however, have been here before. That happened as recently as 2024, when House lawmakers undertook an effort with the backing of several in GOP leadership to form a federal debt commission that would include tackling the solvency of Social Security and Medicare.

The effort collapsed when Americans for Tax Reform — led by its president, Grover Norquist — aggressively lobbied against it.

Social Security's looming funding shortfall is mainly the result of lower projected birth rates, reduced immigration and reduced trust fund revenue due to the costs of Republicans’ massive tax and spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last summer, according to the Board of Trustees' report.

The looming challenge for the programs is a partial funding gap, not a collapse. Even after trust fund depletion, the system will continue issuing benefits, albeit at reduced amounts.

Traditionally, Republicans have been skeptical of endorsing tax increases, while Democrats have been critical of calls to raise the age of Social Security eligibility. In 2022, members of the House Republican Study Committee proposed raising the age at which someone could qualify for Social Security and Medicare.

Social Security benefits were last reformed roughly 40 years ago, when the federal government raised the eligibility age for the program from 65 to 67, based on recommendations from a commission under the leadership of Alan Greenspan.

Still, there are ongoing bipartisan calls to find a way to provide long-term funding to Social Security.

Last month, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wrote an op-ed in The New York Times calling for raising the cap on the Social Security payroll tax.

For 2026, the payroll tax cap, or maximum amount of earnings on which you must pay Social Security tax is $184,500.

Americans for Tax Reform organized a lengthy and aggressive rebuttal with comments from scores of conservatives in opposition.

The news conference that will be held at the Police Memorial Building will begin at 3:30 p.m.

Click the player above to watch the announcement live.

Graham was appointed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday to fill the remaining months of her brother’s current term and arrived in Washington just a day later to take the oath of office. Senators, staff and family members looked on in the packed chamber, many of them visibly emotional, as Graham was sworn in by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the most senior Republican senator.

A separate special election will be held next month to pick a new Republican nominee in the general election for Lindsey Graham’s seat, as he had been seeking a fifth term this year.

Darline Graham, who will be the state’s first female senator, has not previously held public office. She has worked as an optician and at various state agencies, including the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and the Department of Employment and Workforce. She is married to Larry Nordone but will be known in the Senate as Darline Graham, her legal name.

She said on Monday that her older brother, who raised her after their parents died, had always been there for her. “And now, I will be there for him,” she said.

After she was sworn in, Graham walked to her brother's desk and stood behind it as dozens of senators from both parties lined up to shake her hand or give her a hug. She attended the weekly Senate Republican luncheon before the ceremony, where Lindsey Graham's former colleagues told stories about him and welcomed her to the Senate.

Graham, 71, died unexpectedly on Saturday in Washington. A preliminary report from the medical examiner said he suffered a tear in his aorta, known as an aortic dissection.

One of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in the Senate, Graham was the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and was set to become the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress. Darline Graham will receive her own committee assignments in the coming days.

Graham has often been by her brother’s side

Lindsey Graham, who was not married and did not have children, was exceptionally close to his sister. He became her legal guardian after their parents died, when he was 22 and she was 13. She often appeared at his campaign events and supported him in speeches and campaign ads, and she was there as he filed reelection paperwork earlier this year, along with her children and grandchildren.

“To Lindsey, I miss you more than I can even put into words,” his sister said as McMaster announced her appointment. “But I’m going to do this. I got it.”

McMaster said the two had spoken “in the wee hours of Sunday morning” after Graham’s death, and he asked her to serve.

“I had wondered what you would say, and I was humbled by your quickness to see the duty that you had to serve,” McMaster said. He added that President Donald Trump “thought it was a great idea” when he later told him of his pick. Trump announced his support for Graham to fill the seat earlier Monday.

Senators welcome Darline Graham in the Capitol

The weekly Republican luncheon is generally a serious discussion of the week's agenda. But on Tuesday, Lindsey Graham's colleagues told stories and remembered his sense of humor while welcoming his sister into the fold.

“It's personal for us,” said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican who sat next to Graham on the Senate floor. He said senators also tried to offer support for Darline Graham, “who has been put in a position of not only losing her closest family member, but then also being asked to step into this role."

Rounds said that Lindsey Graham, who was known for his quick wit, “was a character, and he was the guy that made everybody feel like you were one of his closest friends.”

Several of South Carolina's House members attended the swearing in, lining up in the back of the Senate chamber, as did prominent members of Trump's administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and special envoy Steve Witkoff. His son-in-law Jared Kushner was also there.

South Carolina holds a special primary in August

According to South Carolina law, a one-week filing period for a special primary election begins on the second Tuesday after the candidate’s death, or July 21.

The special primary election would be held on the second Tuesday after that filing period closes, or Aug. 11. Any necessary runoff would follow two weeks after that, or Aug. 25.

From that point, the new nominee would have just over two months to campaign for the general election on Nov. 3.

Several Republicans are potentially eyeing a run, including Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette and Republican Reps. Russell Fry, Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman.

___

Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed to this report from Columbia, South Carolina.

Buffett also said in his statement that he wants all of his remaining Berkshire Hathaway stock worth more than $140 billion donated to charity by the end of 2034. Previously the plan was for his three children to distribute his remaining fortune within 10 years of the 95-year-old investor’s death.

“Of course, mortality is unpredictable, but my remaining shares will be donated to the four foundations one way or the other by December 31, 2034,” Buffett said in a statement. “The goal is to have the grants grow annually to each of the three foundations managed by each of my children and the annual grant to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation grow at a somewhat greater rate.”

Buffett did not immediately respond Tuesday to questions. CNBC said Buffett was scheduled to give the channel an exclusive interview on the topic Wednesday morning.

The Gates Foundation thanked Buffett for his gifts in a statement Tuesday and said the foundation remains in a strong financial position thanks to Gates' pledge to donate 99% of his remaining fortune to the charity, which plans to close in 2045 after distributing the money.

“The Gates Foundation is grateful to Warren Buffett for his decades of support for our work. His gifts, totaling more than $47 billion, have helped us expand and deliver on the foundation’s mission to improve health and opportunity for people around the world,” the charity said in its statement.

Buffett's latest gifts are roughly equal to last year's donations

The majority of Buffett’s charitable gifts — worth more than $61 billion — have gone to the Gates Foundation since he announced the plan to give away his fortune in 2006. He has been giving blocks of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the Gates Foundation and the four foundations run by his three children regularly.

Buffett plans to give about $4.5 billion in stock to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation this year and about $500 million in shares each to the Sherwood Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and Novo Foundation, which are run by his children.

So the total amount of donations announced Tuesday is similar to the roughly $6 billion in donations he made last summer, with Buffett’s family foundations getting significantly more than in previous years that would seem to account for the money that would have gone to the Gates Foundation.

Gates has denied any ties to Epstein's crimes

Gates denies any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. He said he only met with Epstein because he thought it might help him raise money for charitable causes.

Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, was found dead at the Manhattan federal lockup in August 2019 and his death was later ruled a suicide by New York City’s medical examiner.

Buffett already said in 2024 that he planned to cut off donations to the Gates Foundation after his death and let his three children decide how to distribute the rest of his fortune. The decision he announced Tuesday will accelerate that plan.

The two billionaires were the best of friends

Buffett and Gates used to be exceptionally close friends who talked often, played bridge online and even took vacations together. Gates also served on the board of Buffett’s conglomerate for years and the legendary investor sat on the board of the Gates Foundation. But Buffett told CNBC in March that he hadn’t talked to Gates for months since before the Epstein files were released. The disclosures began in December 2025 and continued into this year.

In the past, Buffett stood up for Gates. Three years ago, Buffett cut off a man who was presenting a resolution at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting after he questioned Gates’ character because of his ties with Epstein. Peter Flaherty was arrested that day for trespassing even though he had been approved to make the presentation beforehand. The charge was later dropped, but the incident led to a lawsuit, which is still pending in the courts.

Buffett can't believe how many people Epstein fooled

Buffett said to CNBC “it is astounding to me that anybody could be that successful as a con person” but Epstein found a way to exploit the weaknesses of others. Buffett would not discuss Gates’ involvement, but said he doesn’t want to be involved with anything that could be investigated later.

Gates discussed his ties to Epstein with the staff of his foundation recently. Gates appears multiple times in the Justice Department’s release of documents connected to its investigation of the late financier. The Justice Department’s files include email correspondence between Gates and Epstein about philanthropic projects, calendar entries documenting dates they got together, and photos of Gates at events the two men attended.

The foundation announced that it hired someone in March to assess the foundation’s past engagement with Epstein and review its policies to vet any future philanthropic partnerships. Gates and the rest of the foundation’s board expect to get an update on that investigation sometime this summer.

Buffett told CNBC that he’s amazed at how many wealthy and powerful people have been caught up in the Epstein scandal.

“I mean, it, here you had a guy that was a convicted guy, a sensational con man, and the percentage of people that he knocked off,” Buffett said. “I mean, whether it was, he found their weakness. It might have been sex. It might be power, it might be, whatever it might be. And I don’t see how anybody could have pulled that off.”

Buffett said he’s glad Epstein never came to Omaha, where he has lived for more than six decades. Buffett is regarded by many as the world’s greatest investor who built up Berkshire over the years by buying insurance companies like Geico, major utilities, manufacturers and well-known brands like Dairy Queen and the BNSF railroad.

Buffett stepped down as Berkshire CEO in January after 60 years of leading the company, but he remains as chairman and the largest shareholder. Greg Abel is now CEO of Berkshire Hathaway.

That agreement was supposed to reopen a waterway that is key to world energy supplies and give negotiators time to hammer out a permanent end to the war. Instead, fighting has once again engulfed the region, threatened the global economy and brought warnings to commercial airlines.

The U.S. carried out another wave of strikes ahead of its planned reimposition of a blockade on Iran's ports, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military operation.

A fifth of all traded crude oil and natural gas passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the war, when it was open to all without tolls. When the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, it effectively shut the passage by attacking and threatening ships — a tactic that proved its greatest strategic advantage. That sent the price of oil, fertilizer and other goods soaring.

Iran has more recently attacked ships moving through the strait on a route overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran’s control, setting off tit-for-tat strikes. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force — but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops.

Trump says he's replacing the fees with Gulf investments

On Monday, Trump said the U.S. would reimpose a blockade on Iranian ports and begin charging ships fees equivalent to 20% of their cargo to defray the costs of securing the strait. He backed off the fees a day later, while the blockade is set to come back into force in the coming hours.

Trump said he was called by “kings and emirs” and other leaders who suggested an alternate arrangement.

“They said we’d love to do it a different way. We’d love to invest in the United States with billions and billions of dollars,” Trump told reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office.

Trump said he preferred that arrangement to charging tolls “because I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait.”

It was unclear if the investment deals would be new commitments relative to what Trump announced after a visit last year to the Middle East.

Strikes and counterstrikes resume across the Mideast

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck several areas in Iran, targeting “coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities.” Iran acknowledged the strikes but provided no immediate casualty or damage assessments.

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.

Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and three tankers that traveled through the strait.

Two of the targeted ships, which were associated with the United Arab Emirates, were set ablaze for a time. The International Maritime Organization said the attack on the tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah killed two mariners and wounded 14 others. The UAE threatened to retaliate.

Dutch shipping firm Stolt Tankers said one of its ships came under attack. The attack on the Stolt Magnesium off Oman sparked a fire in the engine room, but the company said all the mariners were safe.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said the Mombasa and Al Bahiyah “ignored repeated warnings.” Iran has targeted ships that use a route through the strait that passes near Oman outside its territorial waters.

Hours after the U.S. said it ended its campaign of strikes, the Iranian city of Bushehr on the Persian Gulf was hit in at least four locations, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. The attacks again raised the possibility that Gulf Arab states were retaliating against Iran without discussing it in public.

The interim peace deal is in peril

Exchanges of fire in recent days had already cast doubt on the interim peace deal — now almost halfway through the 60-day period in which negotiators were supposed to agree to a final accord, which also was meant to address Iran’s disputed nuclear program and other issues.

Washington lifted a blockade it imposed in mid-April as part of the deal. The U.S. military said it will resume it at midnight Wednesday in Dubai.

Trump's plan to charge fees would have been a change to longstanding U.S. policy and a departure from U.S. promises that the strait would remain open to all without tolls — recently offered by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a trip to the region.

Under the interim deal, Iran agreed that passage through the strait would remain free of charge for 60 days — but the agreement left open what would happen after. Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees. The U.S. has disputed that.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, briefly topped $87 early Tuesday, still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war. The price dipped to $78 in the aftermath of Trump’s announcement that he had changed course.

Mediators are trying to prevent a return to full-scale war

Regional mediators are still trying to get the United States and Iran back to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the delicate diplomatic process, said Pakistan-led mediation was working around the clock to reactivate the ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Lebanese and Israeli delegations met Tuesday in Rome and will continue U.S.-mediated negotiations Wednesday. Shortly after the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah joined the conflict in support of its ally, Iran, and began attacking Israel. Israel responded with a ground invasion of Lebanon.

Last month, Lebanon and Israel announced a “framework agreement” outlining the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of Hezbollah. Implementation has stalled.

Before the fighting around the strait intensified, Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon repeatedly threatened to derail the interim deal. A truce now exists in Lebanon, but it remains unclear whether it will hold if the U.S. and Iran return to full-scale war.

___

Boak and Binkley reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

Troopers said agents with the Homeland Security Investigations division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement were conducting a stop around 6:45 a.m. in the parking lot of a gas station on SR 16 when the four people inside the vehicle ran off.

One of the men tried to run across SR 16 at Green Acres Road but crossed in front of a semi and suffered fatal injuries, according to FHP.

The driver of the tractor-trailer stopped and tried to help the man, but he died at the scene, troopers said. The driver was uninjured, according to the report.

FHP is conducting the traffic fatality investigation and said it would share updates as information becomes available.

FHP could not comment on what led the ICE agents to stop the people in the vehicle.

The civil rights suit, filed Tuesday, names the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, as the architect of what it describes as a conspiracy to target members of the pro-Palestinian movement by smearing them as antisemites.

Those efforts were furthered by Canary Mission and Betar, two pro-Israel groups that maintain online lists of Israel's critics, often alongside unsubstantiated claims that they are affiliated with Hamas, according to the lawsuit.

Those “selected for state targeting” by the private actors, the suit states, “were nearly automatically targeted by the Federal Defendants for arrest and removal.”

Lawyers for Khalil argue this “public-private partnership” could violate the Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era law that sought to restrict government coordination with vigilante groups.

Emailed inquiries to the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar were not immediately returned on Tuesday.

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, did not comment on the lawsuit, but said in an email that the executive branch “has the lawful authority to take actions that will protect the public and to ensure the integrity of our immigration system.”

The lawsuit comes as Khalil's ongoing deportation case appears likely to be heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. Many of the details included in the complaint were first brought to light in a separate trial last year.

At a news conference on Tuesday, he said the lawsuit was “about exposing the network of organizations, particular actors and institutions that work together to criminalize solidarity with Palestine and to make an example of those who refuse to stay silent."

“If constitutional protections can be cast aside under political pressure today, they can be cast aside tomorrow against anyone,” he added.

A former graduate student at Columbia University, Khalil gained prominence as a spokesperson and leader for student activists protesting against Israel and its actions in Gaza.

He was arrested in March 2025 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in his campus apartment. He quickly became the face of the Trump administration crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

Khalil then spent 104 days in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child, before a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release.

Khalil has forcefully denied that his role in pro-Palestinian protests amounts to antisemitism.

“My beliefs are not wanting my tax money or tuition going toward investments in weapons manufacturers for a genocide,” he previously told The Associated Press. “It’s as simple as that.”

It marks the second straight quarter of strong results from the banks, which have benefited from market volatility since the Iran war began in late February.

Both consumer-facing and market-focused banks reported revenue and profit growth that beat even the most optimistic Wall Street expectations.

The KBW Nasdaq Bank Index, which tracks the performance of two dozen banks rose 0.7% in afternoon trading.

Here's a look at how and why banks have continued to thrive despite a clouded economic future.

JPMorgan hits records

JPMorgan Chase logged $16.9 billion in second-quarter profit as its equities trading division again took advantage of market volatility triggered by the war in Iran.

The nation's largest bank by asset size, JPMorgan said that revenue in every line of its business hit record levels in the quarter, including its markets division, where revenue grew 35% over the same period last year. Revenue in its equity markets division skyrocketed 86%.

JPMorgan earned $6.14 per share in the period, beating analyst estimates of $5.59 per share. Managed revenue came in at $58 billion, also topping the estimates of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

JPMorgan shares rose 1.8% by midday.

The consumer keeps spending

Bank executives highlighted a surprisingly strong U.S. consumer even as inflation remains elevated, in part due to the higher oil prices brought about by the war in Iran.

Bank of America said that consumer spending expanded, outperforming expectations. Consumer investment assets grew 18% year-over-year and average deposits and spending all increased from the first quarter, the bank said.

JPMorgan reported revenue of $20.3 billion from its consumer banking division in the period, a year-over-year increase of 8%.

Wells Fargo also reported improved consumer activity, reflecting a broadly healthy U.S. economy.

“Consumer spending is higher, charge-offs and delinquencies are lower, and savings and investments are growing across consumer segments,” Wells CEO Charlie Scharf said.

The unresolved conflict in the Middle East, however, remains a potential economic hurdle for consumers and businesses alike.

Oil prices fell back near prewar levels earlier this month, but they’re back up more than 10% this week after the U.S. renewed attacks on Iran and President Donald Trump announced a new blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for about one-fifth of the world’s oil. At $3.86 per gallon, gas prices remain well above prewar levels but below their peak of around $4.50 in May.

Dimon said on a conference call that JPMorgan remains “appropriately cautious” in light of the current global economic risks.

“We cannot predict how these forces will ultimately play out,” Dimon said. “They may remain manageable, but they could also cause meaningful disruptions when they shift or collide.”

IPOs and mergers expected to stay hot through 2026

Dimon said that revenue from the New York bank's investment banking division rose 30%, accelerating to the highest level since 2021 as the thirst for initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions remained strong.

All the major banks played a role in SpaceX's record-setting IPO in June, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley acting as lead underwriters. The offering brought in $75 billion, more than all U.S. IPOs combined in 2024 and 2025, according to Renaissance Capital.

Renaissance expects the IPO market to extend its hot streak into the second half of this year, also driven by larger deals such as Korean memory chip giant SK Hynix’s “mega-listing” on Friday that raised $26.5 billion.

Global mergers and acquisition activity also accelerated in the second quarter of 2026, with announcements up 64% year-over-year and closings up 33%, according to Morgan Stanley.

Goldman Sachs said revenue from advising on mergers and acquisitions in the second quarter rose 17%.

Iran war the main source of market volatility

Markets have been swinging up and down since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February, with military strikes from both sides interspersed with pauses in fighting and vague temporary truces.

Investors’ concerns that the war will last a long time has triggered high volumes of selling in financial markets, while hopes for a resolution and a freer flow of crude oil has inspired optimism and buying.

Though volatile markets can cause anxiety for individual investors, high-speed Wall Street trading desks can take advantage of the wild gyrations. Big swings in markets tend to increase activity on trading desks, leading to higher commissions and fee revenue for the banks.

Goldman Sachs said it brought in $15.52 billion in revenue from its banking and markets division in the period, 53% higher than last year's second quarter and a 22% increase over 2026's first quarter.

Citigroup's market revenue also topped its first quarter figure and was up 45% over the same period last year.

Overall strong second-quarter results

Wells Fargo reported a 22% jump in net income for the quarter to $6,4 billion. Revenue of $22.6 billion topped Wall Street estimates.

Scharf said the San Francisco bank benefited from a strong economy and its newly unleashed ability to invest after years of government oversight. Shares of Wells Fargo fell 2.6% at midday.

Goldman Sachs earned $6.6 billion in the quarter, or $20.98 per share, on $20.3 billion in revenue. Its shares rose more than 7%.

Bank of America’s profit rose to $9.1 billion, up 27% from a year ago. Bank of America’s shares climbed 1.7%.

Citigroup also beat Wall Street's projections for revenue and profit but its shares fell 4.5%.

Dennis Sochor, who has been on death row since the 1980s, would become the oldest inmate Florida has executed in history — at least for now. Later this month, Florida is also set to execute an 80-year-old prisoner who would be the state’s first octogenarian to receive the death penalty.

The executions highlight the nation’s aging death row population and the busy death row chamber in Florida, which has already carried out nine executions this year, more than every other state combined.

Sochor is scheduled to receive a three-drug injection starting at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of killing a woman on Jan. 1, 1982, just hours after meeting her at a New Year’s Eve party.

Just weeks earlier, Florida executed another 74-year-old inmate, Dusty Ray Spencer, over the killing of his estranged wife. He is currently the oldest inmate to ever die by lethal injection in Florida, and Sochor will be exactly one week older if Tuesday’s execution is carried out as scheduled.

It’s unclear why Florida set the executions for the three prisoners consecutively.

Maria DeLiberato, legal director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, noted that in Florida, the governor has practically sole discretion when it comes to the scheduling of executions. In many other death penalty states, the scheduling is up to the courts.

The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, did not respond to an email seeking comment about the state’s recent executions.

A New Year's Day killing

According to court records, 18-year-old Patricia Gifford was celebrating the upcoming New Year with a friend at a Fort Lauderdale area bar when they met Sochor and his brother.

The four spent several hours talking, but after the friend became ill and went to sleep in her car, Gifford left with Sochor and his brother to get breakfast. But instead of going for food, Sochor stopped his truck in a secluded area and attacked Gifford when she refused to have sex with him, according to investigators.

Sochor was later arrested in Georgia in 1986 on unrelated charges and extradited to Florida. Sochor’s brother told police that Sochor was responsible for Gifford’s disappearance, and Sochor himself confessed on tape to choking Gifford and disposing of her body, which was never found. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping in 1987, and he was sentenced to death.

Last week, the state Supreme Court denied Sochor’s appeals. His attorneys had argued that the state violated his right to a fair trial by failing to disclose a 2022 letter sent to Sochor’s brother from a South Florida detective asking for information about the location of Gifford’s body. The attorneys also claimed that the execution drugs wouldn’t effectively keep Sochor sedated.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal without comment in a brief decision Tuesday.

Oldest inmates executed in Florida

According to Florida Department of Corrections records, the oldest inmates previously executed by the state were both 72: Samuel Lee Smithers on Oct. 14, 2025, for the 1996 killings of two women and R. Charlie Gifford on Feb. 21, 1951, for the 1950 shooting of a state representative, Charles Schuh Jr.

Nationwide, the oldest U.S. inmate executed in modern times was Walter Leroy Moody Jr., 83. He was put to death in Alabama in 2018 for a wave of Southern mail bombs that killed a federal judge and a Black civil rights attorney in 1989.

A total of 16 executions have been carried out this year in the U.S., with Florida, so far, carrying out more than all other states combined.

The Washington Post reported investigators are examining links between the fast-food chain and clusters of illness. News organizations said some Taco Bell locations — notably in Michigan — have temporarily stopped selling certain fresh ingredients, including lettuce, cilantro, pico de gallo and guacamole, amid traceback efforts.

RELATED: As cyclospora illnesses surge to a record, Michigan officials eye lettuce as a possible cause

The CDC said in a July 14 surveillance update that, as of July 13, 1,645 laboratory-confirmed U.S. cases had been reported since May 1. The cases, reported by 34 states, have resulted in 141 hospitalizations and no deaths, the agency said. The CDC also said it is aware of more than 5,100 additional cases that require further analysis to determine whether they were acquired in the United States.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported 3,309 cyclosporiasis cases since June 22.

Cyclosporiasis is caused by the microscopic parasite Cyclospora and is typically spread by consuming food or water contaminated with fecal material. Symptoms can include watery diarrhea, loss of appetite and weight loss. The CDC said the median age of people in the current U.S. clusters was 44 and that 59% were female; illness onset dates ranged from May 1 through July 5.

State and federal public health and regulatory agencies, including the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, are investigating multiple clusters and conducting traceback efforts to identify potential food sources, the CDC said.

Officials have not identified a single grower or supplier tied to the outbreak and warned that reported case counts are likely an undercount because some people recover without testing or medical care.

News reports have quoted state health officials saying lettuce and salad greens have come up repeatedly during interviews with sick people, but investigators cautioned that more than one contaminated product or supplier could be involved.

Taco Bell has not publicly confirmed any connection to the outbreak, and the company did not immediately respond to requests for comment in some reports, which said the chain has voluntarily stopped serving select produce items at certain locations as a precaution.

The CDC said it will publish updated data more frequently than in previous seasons and urged people with symptoms to seek medical care. Clinicians are advised to test for Cyclospora and report confirmed cases to local health departments.

News4JAX reached out to Taco Bell for an official statement and asked if it stopped serving lettuce and other fresh ingredients at its Florida locations. We have not yet received a response.

Consumer prices dropped 0.4% from May to June, the largest monthly drop in four years, the Labor Department said Tuesday, after rising 0.5% in the previous month. On a yearly basis, inflation declined to 3.5%, down from a year-over-year gain of 4.2% in May and lower than many economists expected.

Excluding the food and energy categories, core prices were unchanged from May to June, a positive sign that underlying inflation is declining. On a yearly basis, core prices rose just 2.6%, down from 2.9% the previous month. Core inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.

The core figures suggest that the gas price spike from the Iran war, while it pushed up airfares and some other costs, hasn't so far led to broad-based, sustained inflation, economists said.

“This reading is very much in the camp that the inflation we've had this year is transitory,” said Michael Metcalfe, head of macro strategy at State Street Markets. “Yes, gas prices went up, but nothing else did, more or less.”

Yet oil prices rose for a second day Tuesday as the United States renewed attacks on Iran and President Donald Trump announced a new blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for about one-fifth of the world’s oil. The increase threatens to undo at least some of the progress that occurred last month.

And many Americans have soured on the economy after five years of elevated inflation, posing a risk to Trump and Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.

For his part, Trump on Tuesday blamed his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for the rate of inflation having spiked to athree-year high just last month.

“It’s not my fault," he said. “We are putting it to sleep. ... Inflation is way down.”

“Remember that for the midterms," he added.

Yet inflation has risen since Trump's inauguration last year, to 3.5% from 3% in January 2025. It jumped even further after the Iran war began Feb. 28, when it was just 2.4%

Benign report could make Fed rate hike less likely

Tuesday's report likely reduces pressure on the Fed to boost its short-term interest rate to combat inflation. Last month, Fed officials left their key rate unchanged at about 3.6%.

“Today's report gave some breathing room for the Federal Reserve in deciding whether and when to raise interest rates,” Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide Financial, said.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, in written testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, said Tuesday that the Fed has “no tolerance” for high inflation which he pledged would become “a thing of the past.” Yet he provided no hints about what steps the Fed may take in coming months. Warsh will face questions later Tuesday from members of Congress.

More goods and services saw slower price gains than expected

A wider range of prices cooled last month than economists had forecast. Electricity prices, which have been elevated by spiking demand from data centers, fell 1% from May to June, though they are still 4% higher than a year ago. Clothing prices dropped 0.6% from May to June but are 3.9% more expensive than a year earlier.

Groceries rose 0.2% from May to June and are up 2.7% from last year, while apartment rental costs cooled, rising just 0.1% last month and 2.8% from a year ago.

The inflation-fighters at the Fed remain sharply divided over next steps, according to minutes of their June 16-17 meeting. About half of policymakers support raising interest rates by the end of the year to cool borrowing, spending, and price increases, the minutes showed. Another half are willing to wait for signs that inflation may resume falling as gas prices decline, though the minutes predate the recent flare-up of violence in the Middle East.

And the situation in the Middle East continues to change hour to hour. On Tuesday, the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, climbed 4.6% to $87.13 after the United States and Iran each said the Strait of Hormuz is under its control. Gas prices have also risen about 6 cents a gallon in the past week, to a nationwide average of $3.86 a gallon.

“Today’s number is a very good reading, but so much is going to depend on what happens in the Middle East," Bostjancic said.

Next steps

Many Fed officials have flagged massive investments in the build out of artificial intelligence infrastructure as a factor that could worsen inflation by pushing up prices for memory chips and other semiconductors, as well as electricity. With chips so much more expensive, companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Dell have announced price increases for laptops, tablets, and video game consoles.

Other Fed officials have offered conflicting views on what steps the Fed could take next. On Monday, Fed governor Christopher Waller said he was worried about core inflation, which he noted had risen from 3% last December to 3.4% in May, according to the Fed's preferred measure. He pointed out that the cost of more than two-thirds of services have risen by 3% or more compared with a year ago.

“If we get another hot reading on core inflation this week, then the (Fed) will need to consider tightening monetary policy in the near term,” Waller said in a speech in New York.

But last week John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said that if core inflation stays at a 0.2% monthly pace for the rest of this year, the Fed could avoid hiking rates. Tuesday's data is along the lines of what Williams wants to see.

Other signs of where prices are headed are mixed. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said last week that a survey found that nearly half the companies in its region that have paid tariffs still plan to lift their prices further.

Separately, Walmart last week said it was rolling back prices on thousands of items, including ground beef, potato chips, toys, and clothes. Trump praised the move on social media and sought to take credit for the reduction, though the company did not mention Trump in its announcement.

The S&P 500 added 0.4% to recover some of its 0.8% loss from the prior day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 11 points, or less than 0.1%, with an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 1% higher.

Stocks got help from easing yields in the bond market, which fell after a report said U.S. consumers had to pay prices for gasoline, food and other costs of living that were 3.5% higher last month than a year earlier. That wasn't as bad as May’s 4.2% inflation rate or the 3.9% that economists expected for June.

Less bad inflation could take pressure off the Federal Reserve, which is considering raising interest rates. Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.

Following the inflation report, traders see less than a 17% chance that the Fed will raise its main interest rate at its next meeting later this month. That’s down from the nearly 42% probability they saw the day before, according to data from CME Group.

Rebounds for big, influential tech stocks also helped steady the market. They’ve been swinging sharply in recent weeks on worries that they shot too high in the euphoria around artificial-intelligence technology and that the voracious demand for AI chips and data centers may fade if they don't produce the promised profits and productivity.

Micron Technology rose 4.6%, and Nvidia climbed 4.3%. A day before, they were two of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 after falling 4.4% and 3.5%, respectively.

To be sure, big risks remain for inflation. Fighting in the Middle East is threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that oil tankers use to exit the Persian Gulf and deliver crude to customers worldwide.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, briefly topped $87 in the morning. Following its leap of nearly 10% on Monday, that brought it back to where it was before the United States and Iran signed their interim deal to halt their fighting in the middle of last month.

Brent's price later pared its gain and settled at $84.73, up 1.7% from Monday's settlement. President Donald Trump backed away from his threat made Monday to charge 20% on all cargo going through the strait to reimburse the U.S. military for its protection.

Wall Street’s other big focus this week is the start of earnings reporting season, as companies tell investors how much profit they made from April through June. The pressure is on companies to deliver big growth to justify how high their stock prices have jumped. Indexes are near records despite the recent swings caused by worries about AI stocks.

Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo all on Tuesday reported fatter profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Their reports showed strength for their trading desks and suggested spending by U.S. consumers remains resilient.

Their stocks mostly rose following the results. Goldman Sachs jumped 8.3%, but Citigroup fell 4.7%.

IBM was the single heaviest weight on the S&P 500 and the biggest reason the Dow lagged behind other indexes after dropping 24.4%. It’s heading toward its worst day since at least 1972, according to data provider FactSet.

CEO Arvind Krishna said performance for IBM's software and infrastructure businesses fell short of expectations last quarter after customers shifted their spending toward servers, storage and memory to get ahead of expected price increases caused by the AI boom.

“These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered,” Krishna wrote in a letter to investors. “We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall.”

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.58% from 4.62% late Monday. It's a notable move, and it halts a run higher from 3.97% before the war with Iran began.

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh testified before lawmakers on Capitol Hill for the first time since taking over leadership of the central bank. He pledged to make high inflation “a thing of the past” but offered no signal about the Fed’s next steps.

In stock markets abroad, indexes inched higher in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.7% after SoftBank Group Corp. rose 3.3%. It’s a big investor in AI, and Chairman Masayoshi Son gave a speech in Tokyo where he derided the idea that there is a bubble in investments in capacity for AI.

Stocks rose 1.4% in Shanghai after the government reported China’s exports jumped 27% in June from a year earlier as AI drove strong demand for computer chips and other technology.

___

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Down the street, U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to the White House after strongly backing the political novice’s bid for office. Iraq has been under pressure to disarm Iran-backed militias that attacked U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities after the U.S. and Israel instigated the Iran war.

The U.S. launched more strikes on Iran early Tuesday after Trump vowed to blockade Iranian ports and charge 20% of their cargo for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Later Tuesday, he said he was backing away from the tolls and pursuing another arrangement following discussions with Gulf allies.

And in Maine, protesters are raising unanswered questions about the ninth fatal shooting by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents since Trump's immigration crackdown began.

The Latest:

Supreme Court now requires NDAs for employees, Justice Barrett says

She said the move and others are aimed at controlling leaks of internal deliberations.

She said the court has long required confidentiality agreements, but recently upgraded to non-disclosure agreements with carveouts for whistleblowers.

The documents serve as an “additional check” on inappropriate or illegal information sharing.

They come after the 2022 leak of the draft opinion overturning abortion as a constitutional right, a major breach for the nation’s highest court.

The new NDA requirement was previously reported by the New York Times.

Collins calls attacks on judiciary ‘appalling’

Republican Sen. Susan Collins said rhetoric from public figures attacking judges is “appalling.”

The Maine senator said officials on both sides of the aisle have gone after the judiciary. Collins, who is up for reelection this year, pointed to examples of criticism of the conservative-majority court from the left.

Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, meanwhile, highlighted Trump’s targeting of justices who ruled against him and struck down his wide-ranging tariffs.

Trump administration orders ICE to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings

Administration officials issued the order after two deadly shootings in little over a week, a person familiar with the matter told the AP.

The order Tuesday came a day after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian man in Maine, renewing criticism of the agency’s tactics during enforcement operations. The suspension is not absolute and there’s room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations.

The Department of Homeland Security said an ICE officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed the man Monday in the city of Biddeford.

New York City’s mayor calls for abolishment of ICE

Zohran Mamdani made the demand in a post Tuesday on X in response to the fatal shooting of a man in Biddeford, Maine.

“ICE is killing our neighbors,” Mamdani wrote. “ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.”

Outgoing Colombian president slams fatal shooting of citizen in Maine

In a scathing post on X, Gustavo Petro of Colombia described the fatal shooting of a Colombian citizen in Biddeford as a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Petro, who has openly quarreled with Trump, called on him to provide Colombia with an explanation for the killing. He accused ICE officers of shooting the Colombian national “for believing him to be an inferior being without rights.”

Petro, who will leave office in less than a month, said he expects Colombia’s foreign service to pursue legal action against those responsible for the shooting.

Abelardo de la Espriella, Colombia’s Trump-backed president-elect, has not commented publicly on the case.

Official vying for Pentagon budget job skirts questions about Iran war costs

Prime Minister al-Zaidi noted that it’s “my first visit to the United States of America” and it’s “not just like any visit.”

He said from the Oval Office that the visit is about announcing an “economic partnership” with the United States. Al-Zaidi said all remaining U.S. forces will be out of Iraq come Sept. 30 “while U.S. companies will be inside Iraq” and investing in the country.

He also thanked Trump for extending a “warm welcome,” which included a last-minute offer of lunch.

“I have no idea what we’re going to be eating, but it will be fine,” Trump said before ending the joint press availability.

Iraqi leader al-Zaidi says his first US visit is about ‘economic partnership’

Prime Minister al-Zaidi noted that it’s “my first visit to the United States of America” and it’s “not just like any visit.”

He said from the Oval Office that the visit is about announcing an “economic partnership” with the United States. Al-Zaidi said all remaining U.S. forces will be out of Iraq come Sept. 30 “while U.S. companies will be inside Iraq” and investing in the country.

He also thanked Trump for extending a “warm welcome,” which included a last-minute offer of lunch.

“I have no idea what we’re going to be eating, but it will be fine,” Trump said before ending the joint press availability.

Trump says his Thursday address will touch on ‘free and fair elections’ but reveals little else

Asked for a sneak peek of his scheduled national address, the president said it will be “really, really big news” but added he’d “rather save it.”

“It doesn’t get bigger, because without free and fair elections you don’t have a country,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “We’ll be discussing other things too. But it’s going to be a very big announcement.”

The Republican president has said little else about the address, which he announced on social media on Monday. His post said only that he will be “making a Speech to the Nation on Thursday evening” at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Asked about it on Monday, Trump quickly pivoted to discussing what he called a “busy news day,” talking about the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham and other topics.

Trump hails report showing inflation declining

The president blamed his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for the rate of inflation having spiked to three-year high just last month. Biden, Trump said, “could create inflation like anybody.”

But Trump cheered a report Tuesday showing that prices dropped 0.4% from May to June, the largest monthly drop in four year and way down from a year-over-year gain of 4.2% in May.

Trump added of inflation, “It’s not my fault. We are putting it to sleep.”

“The report was incredible. Inflation is way down,” Trump said, before urging voters, “Remember that for the midterms.”

“Nobody else could do it,” Trump said.

Trump says FBI is ‘wasting their time’ on Sen. Graham’s death

Trump said he doesn’t know why the FBI is looking into Graham’s death.

The president said the late South Carolina senator had “a problem” and that what ultimately took his life “is actually something that’s very hard to detect.”

A preliminary medical examiner’s report said Graham suffered a tear in his aorta.

Trump said he’s watched medical reports about Graham’s case and had White House doctors explain to him what happened. “And this is something that is very almost undetectable,” Trump said, adding that there’s not much that can be done about a torn aorta.

“So I don’t see a lot of evil there. I know there’s all sorts of conspiracy theories going along, and I don’t think the FBI, I think the FBI is wasting their time if they’re doing it,” Trump said of an investigation.

Trump says Gulf allies asked him to move from tolls to trade deals in Strait of Hormuz

The president explained his thinking in backing away from a 20% toll on cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, saying he was called by “kings and emirs” and other leaders who suggested an alternate arrangement.

“They said we’d love to do it a different way. We’d love to invest in the United States with billions and billions of dollars,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

Trump said he prefers that arrangement to the tolls he previously said the U.S. would impose. “I like that actually, because I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait,” Trump said.

Trump praises Iraqi PM, says he’s a ‘great leader’ who will hold office for a ‘long time’

Trump said he and Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had a “great meeting” in the Oval Office and will now have lunch together because of their “tremendous chemistry.” Lunch wasn’t on the original schedule.

“We’re going to do it on the fly,” Trump told reporters about the meal.

Trump heaped praise on al-Zaidi in front of reporters, calling him a “great fan of America.”

“He’s a great leader. I think he’s going to be there for a long period of time,” Trump said, emphasizing “long.”

“He’s changed that country so much, especially toward their thinking about the United States,” the president said.

Trump also commented on the prime minister’s youth and looks.

“He’s young and he’s handsome, which I don’t like. I’m not happy about that,” Trump joked.

Justices Kagan, Barrett split on enforcement mechanism for Supreme Court’s new code of ethics

All nine justices agreed to the code in 2023 amid a storm of criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices.

Kagan and Barrett both said the court is taking the code seriously, but Kagan also supported creating a way to enforce it. The liberal-leaning justice acknowledged it could be tricky since any enforcement would have to come from the judicial branch and the Supreme Court sits at its head.

Barrett, who is part of the court’s conservative majority, said she wasn’t so sure. There are significant questions over who would do the enforcing and how, and it’s not clear whether there is a way to address them effectively, she said.

How does the court decide emergency appeals?

The relatively quick process of deciding emergency docket cases centers on whether the petitioner will eventually win, and how they could be legally harmed if the court doesn’t step in, Barrett said.

The justices declined to talk about specific cases, including suits where the court sided with the Trump administration and allowed cuts to the federal workforce to proceed.

The court often begins by considering the case from the petitioner’s point of view, Barrett said, though Kagan pointed out the court can also consider how the other side might be affected if the court intervenes.

Supreme Court justices address rise in ‘shadow docket’ appeals

Kagan and Barrett address the rise in appeals on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.

While the court can’t control how many are filed, Kagan points out that some high-profile decisions may have encouraged attorneys to file more appeals. Those appeals are decided without full briefing or arguments, Kagan said, and “we should consider those downsides.”

Iraqi PM arrives for White House meeting with Trump

Trump was waiting outside the entrance to the West Wing to greet the prime minister when he arrived. They shook hands and exchanged small talk before entering the White House with their arms around each other’s backs.

“Love Iraq,” Trump replied to a reporter’s question about his message to the people of Iraq.

The leaked Dobbs opinion’s shadow on the Supreme Court’s security concerns

Kagan said threats against the Supreme Court increased after the leak of a draft of the opinion that later overturned the Roe v. Wade abortion decision, and have continued to grow since then.

In 2022, shortly after the leak, a would-be assassin was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh with weapons and zip ties. Chief Justice John Roberts has condemned the threats to all U.S. judges, saying during a speech in March that criticism of judicial opinions is understandable, but personally directed hostility is “dangerous, and it’s got to stop.”

Supreme Court justices testify before Congress on increasing security funding in rare appearance

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett said Tuesday that a sharp increase in threats targeting her and other justices has increasingly encroached on their personal and family lives.

During a rare appearance before Congress, Barrett said she had to wear a bulletproof vest home a few years ago, something she struggled to explain to her 12-year-old son.

“I didn’t expect that performing this service would put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was, why I had to wear one,” she said. The hearing marks the first time justices have testified before Congress since 2019.

▶ Read more

Warsh vows to crush inflation but offers no hint on the Fed’s next move

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s written testimony to Congress says the Fed will make high inflation “a thing of the past,” but provides no signal about the central bank’s next steps.

Fed policymakers “have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation,” Warsh will say when he testifies Tuesday before a House committee. “And we share a resolute commitment to restoring price stability.”

Yet about half of the 19 members of the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee expect they will have to raise the central bank’s key rate by the end of the year to defeat inflation, while nearly half have penciled in no change or even a rate cut. Warsh faces a stiff challenge in reconciling the divided committee while navigating a rapidly-changing economic outlook.

▶ Read more

Lindsey Graham’s sister prepares for her Senate swearing-in

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham, will be sworn in Tuesday afternoon as his temporary replacement after his unexpected death over the weekend, and will serve out the rest of his term ending in January.

Graham earned a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling and has worked as an optician and at various state agencies. She’ll be the first woman to represent South Carolina in the Senate.

“It is such an honor,” she said, as dozens of Graham staffers and campaign advisers stood behind her during a statehouse news conference. “Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him.”

▶ Read more

Trump to welcome Iraq’s new prime minister to the White House

Al-Zaidi has been under pressure to disarm a network of Iran-backed militias operating in the country, some of which launched attacks on U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities after the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran.

Trump is scheduled to greet the Iraqi leader Zaidi at 11 a.m., followed by an Oval Office meeting.

Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Chatham House think tank, expects that “the U.S. will put significant pressure on al-Zaidi” to move ahead with disarmament “and Zaidi will respond by saying, ‘But I need support — intelligence support, technical support, armed support.’”

“There is a scenario in which, if the Iraqi government starts going after these groups, they will also go after the government,” Mansour said. “And this is a scenario that I think that the Iraqi government is apprehensive about.”

‘Dangerous.’ ‘Brazen.’ ‘Unprecedented.’ ‘Uncharted territory’

Reaction has been swift and severe to the issue of subpoenas to five New York Times journalists who reported on security questions involving Trump’s new Qatari-gifted Air Force One.

“The subpoenas are an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations and have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The White House Correspondents Association holds its rescheduled dinner celebrating the First Amendment in less than two weeks, with Trump planning to attend. The first was scuttled when a shooter opened fire in what prosecutors say was an attempt to kill the president.

“The WHCA condemns any act of intimidation against journalists, including attempts to pressure them into revealing sources,” said a statement from the group’s president, Weijia Jiang.

▶ Read more

What does the Supreme Court want from Congress?

Security is central to the court’s budget request of $228 million — roughly 10% more than the last fiscal year.

Nearly $15 million of that would go to expanding personal protection for justices, with six more agents for each.

Another $2 million would fund more Supreme Court police officers and an off-site residential security post to speed emergency responses.

The U.S. Marshals Service reported 564 threats to the hundreds of federal judges around the country during the last fiscal year, and justices have not been immune: Barrett’s security detail had to defuse a fake 911 call at her house, and her sister was the victim of a bomb threat. A would-be assassin was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Chief Justice John Roberts has condemned the threats, saying it’s “dangerous, and it’s got to stop.”

June inflation report shows complicated outlook for Trump on economy

The White House will have reasons to rejoice in the June release of the consumer price index, as prices fell 0.4% on a monthly basis in large part because of tumbling oil prices tied to the now deteriorated ceasefire with Iran.

But prices still rose 3.5% over the past 12 months, well above the Federal Reserve’s inflation target of 2%.

And the monthly decline could be short-lived, with oil prices jumping again as fighting intensifies in the Middle East.

Prices for the global benchmark of Brent crude oil have risen nearly 8% in the past five days of trading to about $81 a barrel on Tuesday, a sign that inflation could soon pick up again as the American public begins to focus on the November midterm elections.

Attacks resume across the Mideast

The U.S. military’s Central Command said it struck several areas in Iran, targeting “coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities.” Iran acknowledged the strikes, but provided no immediate casualty or damage assessments.

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.

Moments after the military announced the new strikes, Trump called it “another major attack” and said the U.S. was “putting the blockade back.”

Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and three tankers that traveled through the strait.

Here's Trump's rationale for charging tolls in the strait

U.S. Central Command said on social media that it “will enforce the blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas” beginning Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT, and will “support traffic flow through regional waters for all vessels not violating the blockade.”

A notice to mariners released Monday by the U.S. military warned of using force if ships don’t comply. It also said the military will let through humanitarian shipments.

The statement follows Trump declaring that the U.S. would be reinstating the naval blockade and charging a 20% toll on eligible cargo.

“We’re protecting a very rich portion of the world,” Trump said. “We’re spending money. And so, what we’ve done is, we are going to be reimbursed for protection.”

Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, would not say whether the military would be collecting tolls, and referred questions to the White House.

Trump to address the nation on Thursday

The president posted on social media that he would be “making a Speech to the Nation” at 9 p.m. EDT on Thursday.

Trump appeared to refer to himself in the third person in the post.

He did not disclose the details of his planned speech, but the announcement comes after Trump said he would block Iran-related ships from traveling through the Strait of Hormuz and that the U.S. would charge a 20% fee on all cargo going through the waterway.

Asked in an interview with Hugh Hewitt what his Thursday address will be about, Trump made it sound like nothing out of the ordinary.

“It’s just going to be a speech like a lot of my speeches,” he said, without offering any more detail.

In a complaint to the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel filed Monday, Wyden requested an investigation into whether the June calls violated the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that restricts certain political activities by federal employees. The Oregon Democrat said Kennedy acted inappropriately by interfering with elections that Trump's Republican administration wants GOP candidates to win.

“Kennedy has spent sixteen months using his official position to undermine the health and well-being of his fellow Americans, and now he is using his official position to undermine the integrity of democratic elections too,” reads a statement from Wyden, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, which plays a role in overseeing the nation's health agencies.

The accusation comes as Trump has dispatched Kennedy to swing districts around the country as a key surrogate for the administration, promoting its widely popular efforts to encourage healthy eating and exercise. It takes issue with another task Kennedy reportedly did on behalf of the administration: calling Libertarian candidates to push them to drop out of two races where they could be spoilers for GOP candidates. At stake is control of Congress in a competitive midterm election year, where any win could be decisive in shaping the next two years of federal policy.

Spokespeople for Kennedy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Claims center on 2 competitive US House races

The calls Wyden references in the complaint include a June 8 call with Marco Battaglia, a Libertarian candidate running in Iowa's 3rd congressional district, and a June 11 call with Rick Stewart, a Libertarian candidate running in Iowa's 2nd congressional district.

They are among the three of Iowa's four congressional districts that are expected to be some of the most competitive in the country, and Libertarian candidates in recent election cycles have drawn support from 2 to 3% of voters. Republicans in Iowa filed challenges to Battaglia and Stewart's nominating paperwork, and Battaglia was removed from the general election ballot, while Stewart remains. Both cases are being appealed in district court.

“They don’t want our people in there. They feel we are spoilers,” Stephanie Berlin, chair of the Libertarian Party of Iowa, said Tuesday. “This is just another example of the major two parties trying to strangle us out of ballot access.”

Libertarian Party leader recorded a call with Kennedy

Berlin sat alongside Stewart when he spoke with Kennedy and was the one to record the call, which she said she interpreted as Kennedy offering quid pro quo even as he “skirted the line.”

Kennedy did not make any specific request of or offer to Stewart in the recording, according to a copy shared with The Associated Press. Kennedy said he could be Stewart's “liaison with the White House" and suggested Stewart could, like Kennedy himself, “make an agreement that puts me in a position where I can make a real difference in people's lives.”

“I can't go into specifics because, you know, there's legal prohibitions about that," he said. "If it's something that you want to work on together ... if there's other ways that you think you might be effective, you know, like I said, I will be your advocate."

The Washington Post previously reported on Kennedy's recorded conversation with Stewart.

Stewart told the AP it was clear that Kennedy wanted him to drop out, though he said he suspects Kennedy “did his best to stay on the correct side of the law.”

“That's how all politics works,” Stewart said. “Everybody does their best to avoid breaking the rules, but they also do their best to go around the rules.”

Wyden was more explicit, saying Kennedy’s offer of federal employment to Stewart amounted to illegal quid pro quo and that Kennedy needed to be held accountable.

Battaglia also told the AP last month that Kennedy called him to encourage him to drop out of the race but he did not have a recording.

Watchdog group calls Kennedy's comments a ‘clear violation’

Donald Sherman, president of the nonpartisan government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said there are several instances in the recording of Kennedy invoking his official position and responsibilities as health secretary. Sherman said that makes it a “clear violation” of the Hatch Act that's worthy of investigation by the Office of Special Counsel.

“I don’t want to be fighting subpoenas for the next two years instead of improving America’s health,” Kennedy said in the call to Stewart. “So for me, there’s an immediate, pragmatic reason for this phone call.”

There are ways Kennedy could make a political call that do not violate the Hatch Act but he would have had to call from a personal phone from a personal office and would have had to avoid referring to the government or his government office, Sherman said.

“Invoking the White House specifically, referring to his official duties and his official role as HHS secretary, is where he blurs the line between whether he's calling as a government employee or as a private citizen," Sherman said. "That's where the problem comes in.”

In the past, many other senior government officials have faced Hatch Act complaints. During the first Trump administration, the Office of the Special Counsel sent senior officials 15 warning letters about running afoul of the decades-old law. And Karine Jean-Pierre, former press secretary for President Joe Biden, was also found to have violated the law with references to “MAGA Republicans” during White House briefings. Penalties for Hatch Act violations are uncommon, and the Office of the Special Counsel did not recommend any fines or other punishments for Jean-Pierre.

Trump has taken steps in his second term to assert more control over independent agencies like the Office of the Special Counsel — a posture that could influence whether it acts on Wyden's complaint. Early in his second term, Trump fired the head of the office. The Supreme Court ruled recently that the president can fire members of independent agency boards without cause.

Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the watchdog group Public Citizen who has himself filed Hatch Act complaints against Trump administration officials, said he doesn’t expect the office to act on what he considers a violation in Kennedy's case.

“RFK using his official position, citing his official position, in his phone call and his connection to the White House and his ability to get the White House to provide favors – all of that would constitute a direct violation of the Hatch Act,” Holman said.

The Office of the Special Counsel could recommend that RFK be removed from his role, Holman added, “but I am not expecting that.”

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Swenson reported from New York.

LaTavior Dejuan Stephens, 43, is facing several felony counts, including sale, manufacture or delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a park and within 1,000 feet of a church, conspiracy, knowingly owning a vehicle used for drug sales and unlawful use of a two-way communications device. Warrants listed bond amounts ranging from $25,003 to $50,003.

JSO detectives said the charges stem from undercover transactions recorded Sept. 13, Sept. 20, Sept. 27 and Sept. 28, 2023, in which Stephens allegedly arranged and facilitated narcotics sales within 1,000 feet of places of worship and a city park. Detectives said the transactions were audio- and video-recorded and that evidence from the earlier incidents was placed into property.

Items seized and logged in the arrest report included small amounts of crack cocaine from the 2023 incidents, three cellphones, a Diamondback .380-caliber pistol with a five-round magazine, keys, still photos and Stephens’ Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department identification badge and an International Association of Firefighters membership card. The vehicle was towed and listed as seized.

JFRD said Stephens has been suspended without pay pending termination.

“The actions of one individual do not define the nearly two thousand men and women of JFRD who serve this community with honor every day,” the department said in a statement.

JSO noted that Stephens has prior drug-related arrests in Duval County that were later dropped or abandoned.

He was hired by JFRD on Nov. 2, 2024.

Blanche will need the support of all GOP lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee in order to advance his nomination to lead the Justice Department, which he has done in an acting capacity since April.

Blanche is expected to face scrutiny over issues including the department's investigations into President Donald Trump's foes, a contentious deal to settle Trump's IRS lawsuit and its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files when he appears before the committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Here's a look at key topics likely to dominate the hearing:

‘I love you, sir:' Blanche & Trump's close relationship from the courtroom to DOJ

Blanche came into the public spotlight as the lead attorney defending Trump in his hush money trial in New York. The close relationship they forged then — and the unwavering loyalty Blanche has shown to Trump since joining the Justice Department last year — is likely to command the spotlight at the hearing.

Trump has made clear his desire to use the Justice Department to pursue his political opponents. And Blanche has accelerated investigations into perceived foes of the president since Pam Bondi was fired after failing to deliver criminal cases against Trump's political enemies.

Democrats say Blanche is acting as if he were still Trump's personal attorney.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump praised Blanche's record at the Justice Department, calling him “tough, brilliant, and 100% LOYAL to our Constitution, and the American People.”

"He is a great lawyer, always very fair, and every Republican Senator should vote to CONFIRM Todd Blanche, ASAP!" Trump wrote.

Blanche has strongly rejected accusations that the administration has weaponized the department for political purposes, saying in an ABC interview in February that "there’s not a whiff of political partisanship in what we’re doing.”

The Justice Department has historically prided itself on independence from the White House when it comes to prosecutorial decisions. But Blanche has insisted he sees no problem with the president’s interest in Justice Department matters and says he has felt no pressure to placate Trump.

“We have thousands of ongoing investigations and prosecutions going on in this country right now," Blanche said at a press conference in May. “And it is true that some of them involve men, women and entities that the president in the past has had issues with and believes should be investigated. That is his right, and indeed it is his duty to do that.”

When asked at the time about his potential nomination for attorney general, Blanche said that if Trump chose someone else for the job he would say: “Thank you very much. I love you, sir.”

Blanche has tried to walk a fine line when discussing Jan. 6

Blanche's past comments surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, could face renewed scrutiny.

Blanche has said he was not consulted on Trump's sweeping clemency grant for some 1,500 people charged in the riot, including people convicted of attacking police. Pressed on the matter during his confirmation hearing for deputy attorney general last year, Blanche said that people who commit violence against law enforcement “should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Asked whether he would advise the president in the future against pardoning violent offenders, Blanche told lawmakers last year that “violence against law enforcement is never something that should be tolerated.”

But in front of a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in May, Blanche touted the Jan. 6 pardons as an accomplishment for the administration, saying to cheers in the audience that “by 5 p.m. on Jan. 20, every one of them was either pardoned or had their sentence commuted."

“So when folks say we’ve done nothing, I say ‘you have a very short memory,’" Blanche told the crowd.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whose vote is likely to be crucial for Blanche's nomination, has said he will not support anyone for attorney general who equivocates on the events of Jan 6. Tillis, however, recently said he doesn't have any concerns about Blanche's record regarding Jan. 6.

With the death of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, there are 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats on the panel. If even one Republican on the committee votes against Blanche, it could scuttle his nomination.

‘We are not moving forward with the fund, period.’ Will that assurance be enough?

Arguably the rockiest stretch of Blanche’s tenure atop the Justice Department has been a $1.776 billion fund meant to compensate allies of the president who feel mistreated by the criminal justice system.

Blanche was the public face of the initiative, which emerged from a settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. The fund faced instant bipartisan congressional backlash, exemplified by a tense closed-door meeting at which shouting Republicans confronted Blanche over the planned payouts.

Weeks later, he revealed on behalf of the administration that the idea had been scrapped, saying at a hearing, “We are not moving forward with the fund, period.”

Nonetheless, expect Democrats to press Blanche on whether he has truly foreclosed the possibility of reviving the fund, especially since Trump remains vocal about his desire for compensation for his supporters and since the Justice Department has balked at a judge’s insistence that it assert in writing that it won’t bring back the compensation.

Tillis has been sharply critical of not only the fund but a separate aspect of the IRS that guarantees Trump and members of his family immunity from audits. Blanche has repeatedly said that the IRS protection remains intact, something that Tillis and others are expected to demand answers about. A federal judge on Monday stopped short of voiding the audit immunity deal but called into question its legal legitimacy.

Questions over the Epstein files have never gone away

Blanche was deputy attorney general when the Justice Department in the summer of 2025 found itself besieged by crisis over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. A year later, questions remain, despite the department's release last January of what it said were more than 3 million pages of records from its sex-trafficking investigation of the late financier.

Blanche will unquestionably be grilled about the case, especially after Bondi told lawmakers behind closed-doors after her ouster as attorney general that Blanche was the department’s point person on the release of the Epstein documents.

Trouble began in February 2025 when Bondi presented far-right influencers at the White House with white binders that she said contained the Epstein files but in reality actually consisted of largely public materials.

Things worsened last July when the department said in an unsigned statement that it would not release any additional records from the investigation, only to be forced into a reversal by an onslaught of criticism across the political spectrum and legislation from Congress that mandated the records’ disclosure.

But the staggered release was beset by problems, including redaction errors that left exposed nude photos showing the faces of potential victims. Some names, email addresses and other identifying information was either unredacted or not fully obscured.

Blanche has faced additional scrutiny over his unusual trip to a Florida prison to interview Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, as she serves a 20-year sentence for luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. After the interview, Maxwell was moved from the low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas.

It was a list of things to do on the weekend after missing the cut.

“He was like: ‘Hey, you can practice at the facilities. You can still go to the gym. You can also go to the next tournament.’ It was basically all my options,” Scheffler said Tuesday ahead of the British Open. “He never sent it to me, but he told me about it.”

The reason the text was created — without being sent, to Scheffler's disappointment — was missing the cut at the Scottish Open, his first missed cut in nearly four years, a streak of 78 consecutive cuts that was the longest since Tiger Woods set the record (142) from 1998 to 2005.

Frustrating, yes. Despair? Hardly.

“You never want to have a weekend off, but going into a tournament when you're defending, there's always a bit more stuff to do,” Scheffler said. “So it wasn't the worst thing in the world.”

Among his duties was officially returning the claret jug he won last year at Royal Portrush, a ritual the Royal & Ancient has turned into a ceremony. Then, it was playing an exhibition with Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and others.

But key to Scheffler's early arrival was Royal Birkdale, which has hosted the British Open more than any other links course in England since it first joined the rotation in 1954.

He had never seen it. Scheffler had not seen conditions like this — a combination of yellow and brown, which translates to firm and fiery in a links vocabulary. St. Andrews came close in 2022, but Jon Rahm recalls the greens still being soft enough to allow for low scoring.

Scheffler ticked off two items on his friend's list — he went to the gym in Scotland and then headed to the next tournament. That allowed him time to play 18 holes on Sunday, and to limit his energy in sunbaked Blighty to nine holes on Monday and Tuesday.

His general assessment: “The ball is just going to run forever.”

Is it driver to take it over the bunkers and possibly reach the green on the 393-yard, downwind 16th hole, or hit iron off the tee? Is the redesigned fifth hole at 321 yards worth trying to reach with a pond to the right, a series of bunkers short and a wee part of a wee burn to the left?

“On each hole there's a good bit of strategy. There's a decent amount of thinking,” Scheffler said. “If it wasn't as firm as it is now, there would be as much decision-making. But I think with the firmness, it creates a whole lot more challenges.”

Rose is among four players — and at 45, the youngest — to have played Royal Birkdale three times in the Open dating to 1998. He was a 17-year-old amateur that year, full of joy and optimism when he holed out a wedge for birdie on the 18th to tie for fourth. He didn't finish in the top 50 his two times as a professional.

Rose certainly has more experience than Scheffler, but only to a point.

“A links course is interesting because you never really get to know them that well,” Rose said. "Like 2008 I think it was, weather was dreadful. It was wet. You might have been hitting 2-irons and 3-woods into par 4s, and now you could be flicking 52-degree wedges.

“A golf course can play so differently decade to decade when we come back that you never really get to know the course that well.”

Scheffler said he felt at peace about his game, and he certainly looked the part. His game didn't look deplorable in the Scottish Open, just a matter of not hitting it terribly close and not making many putts and then moving on.

It was no less frustrating — Scheffler is a killer when it comes to competing, which is one reason he has been No. 1 longer than anyone since Woods — but it was filled with perspective.

“I don’t think it hurts as much as coming close to winning and finishing second,” Scheffler said. “I felt like coming in second at Travelers hurt more than missing the cut, but missing the cut is significantly more frustrating is how I would describe it.”

He's had plenty of experience finishing second. Scheffler's lone victory this year was his first tournament in January at The American Express. Since then, he has had four runner-up finishes, including the Masters. The most recent was a playoff loss to Viktor Hovland at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago when Scheffler missed a 4-foot slider.

“I think just towards the end of the season, you get a little tired,” Scheffler said. "I got a couple days off, reset the mind, reset the body, and just kind of get back to feeling even and at peace. I've had a very solid year, but like I said, frustrating at times because I’ve been close and I haven’t been able to get it done like I have been in years past.

“I'm excited to try and defend my title this week.”

That hasn't been done at the British Open since 2008 when Padraig Harrington won at Royal Birkdale. One week could change Scheffler's outlook on the year. But it's a week that presents a test the likes of which he hasn't seen all year.

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

Congo has been battling an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola since May, with no approved treatment or vaccine. The Africa Centres for Disease Control says it is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on the continent.

“Perhaps the most alarming finding is that many of the newly reported deaths are people who died in their communities without ever reaching a health facility and without receiving care,” Chikwe Ihekweazu said after returning from Bunia, in Ituri province, one of the worst-hit cities. “And as of today, 80% of new cases are outside our contact lists and so are coming to us from unknown chains of transmission.”

People who die outside the health system cannot be isolated, treated or have their contacts traced promptly, increasing the risk of further transmission.

The outbreak, Ihekweazu said, “continues to outpace the response efforts.”

As of Monday, at least 1,926 people have been infected, of whom 702 have died, in three provinces in Congo from the rare Bundibugyo virus, Congolese authorities said. Cases have also been confirmed in neighboring Uganda.

Ihekweazu told reporters in Geneva that his visit to Bunia had been “quite encouraging on many fronts, but also deeply concerning.”

Treatment capacity in Bunia is now close to 800 beds, with capacity increasing every week, and lab capacity has grown from 1 to 14 labs, an effort the emergency chief lauded.

However, Ihekweazu said that despite “our best efforts ... we have not caught up in the race.”

A funding gap, attacks on health centers, an ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, and mistrust among local communities have hampered the response.

Dozens of healthcare workers at an Ebola virus treatment center in northeast Congo went on strike over unpaid salaries and bonuses on Monday. On Tuesday, they agreed to resume work under the condition that the government pays them within 72 hours.

“Just one day of strike action has already caused damage. Patients were unable to access the center," the striking health workers said in a statement. “We hold the government solely responsible for any loss of life if the site closes after this ultimatum.”

The Congolese authorities declared a fresh Ebola outbreak on May 15 after the disease had been transmitting for weeks without official detection, according to the WHO. Clinical trials for treatment began last week after researchers launched a highly anticipated study in the hope of fighting the virus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on July 11 that a U.S. citizen working for a humanitarian organization in Congo has tested positive for the Ebola virus, without providing further details.

Federal authorities initially used that language Monday when talking to state officials about the actions of a Maine driver who was fatally shot by immigration officers. In public statements, Department of Homeland Security officials shifted their description to say officers fired into the vehicle “fearing for public safety.”

It was the second time in a week that federal immigration authorities shot and killed someone behind the wheel of a car, initially accusing the driver of attempting to ram into immigration officers.

But while the weaponization of a car is often used to justify the use of deadly force against a driver, the legal definition is a lot less clear cut.

State legislatures and some courts say cars can be considered weapons

In numerous state and federal courts, judges have agreed that vehicles can be considered weapons when they are used to inflict harm. But many of those cases have been considerations of whether enhanced charges such as aggravated assault with a deadly weapon can be levied against a person after an injury or death was already caused by a vehicle.

Many state laws that address assault with a vehicle are designed to enhance manslaughter or other charges against people violating traffic laws or driving requirements. Judicial opinions have largely focused on crimes of negligence, road rage or driving while intoxicated, and in rare instances, cases where someone purposefully drove their car into a crowd of people.

They rarely deal with the question faced by police or federal law enforcement officials of when a moving vehicle should be considered a dangerous weapon, and when that allows for the use of deadly force.

Training often says to move rather than shoot

Many law enforcement departments and agencies weigh the potential for unintended harm heavily when instructing officers or agents on when it's acceptable to fire a weapon at a moving vehicle.

Many department policies tell officers to move out of the way of a vehicle rather than shoot because of the potential harm to bystanders who could be struck by unintended gunfire or by a careening vehicle if the driver is incapacitated.

Policies often say a suspect fleeing is not enough justification for using deadly force. Some require another weapon such as a firearm being used as a threat from the person in the vehicle to establish a clear threat to public or officer safety.

Experts say many factors determine when a car is weaponized

Exceptions exist in many use-of-force policies for what became a familiar scene abroad and at times in the U.S. — a person driving a vehicle into crowded public streets to inflict as much damage as possible.

But, experts say those exceptions have been used as a defense in situations where a person was not posing the same level of threat.

They say officers and juries should consider factors such as the speed of the vehicle, whether there are large gatherings of people on the sidewalks or nearby, and the reason for the initial police interaction. For example, a person fleeing an armed robbery at a bank might pose a higher danger than someone fleeing a traffic stop.

“I’m Joe Lombardo,” he said as the officer arrived at the passenger-side window, police body camera video obtained by The Associated Press shows.

Gov. Lombardo was pulled over May 15 by an officer from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the agency Lombardo led as sheriff for eight years. The officer walks up to the passenger side of a light-gray Ford pickup truck and says, “Hello, how are you doing, sir?” according to the video.

Lombardo is in the driver's seat, with his wife Donna Lombardo in the passenger seat.

The officer begins to explain the reason for the stop, and Lombardo interrupts to say, “I’m Joe Lombardo.” The officer says, “I’m aware,” and continues to explain the stop was initiated because he did not see Lombardo stop at a red light before making a right turn.

“Come on, man,” Lombardo says.

The officer replies, “You’re good to go, sir. Appreciate ya. Have a good day,” and then walks away.

The whole interaction lasts about 15 seconds of the 1 minute and 10 second video.

The police department said the governor did not receive a citation but did not say why, however law enforcement officers say it is common to not give a citation over a minor violation.

Lombardo's campaign said the governor and his wife were headed to the airport when they were pulled over.

“Governor Lombardo spoke with the officer, fully complied with all instructions, and was promptly on his way,” the campaign said in a statement Tuesday. “He remains grateful for the professionalism of the officer involved and for the service of law enforcement officers across Nevada.”

The video, which was obtained via public records request, comes to light months before the November election, when Lombardo, a Republican seeking reelection, will face Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford.

Steve Grammas, the president of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, said the interaction wasn't uncommon. Officers stop drivers, explain why drivers are stopped and then let them go on their way.

“It really is a big nothing in my opinion,” he said.

Grammas, whose union endorsed the Republican governor, denied Lombardo received any special treatment. Typically officers ask for the driver’s license in order to identify them, but the officer already knew who the governor was, he said.

“Being that it is the governor, the former sheriff, odds are he doesn’t have warrants, does not have a suspended driver’s license, and so there’s no need to run that person,” Grammas said.

Grammas added that the governor didn’t identify himself as the governor, and simply said his name.

Edward Obayashi, a deputy sheriff and policy adviser who teaches an ethics and policing class in California, said there is nothing unethical about what the governor or the officer did.

“We let motorists off with a warning all the time,” Obayashi said.

Obayashi said that it was obvious the officer already knew who he was stopping because he ran the license plate, and the governor identifying himself is a common courtesy.

More than 30 states have reported infections this year, and current data from them shows the number of infections surpassing the record U.S. mark of about 4,700 set in 2019. The illness is not usually life threatening and is typically treated with antibiotics.

Health officials have not yet definitively identified what is causing the infections. On Tuesday, federal health officials said there may be different infection patterns in different places, although they believe cases in at least four states — Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia — are linked.

Michigan officials blame lettuce

In Michigan — where more than 3,300 cases have been reported — officials say early information points to lettuce or salad greens as a possible culprit.

After conducting more than 1,000 interviews with patients, “early information has shown lettuce as a common product that regularly comes up during the investigation,” said Natasha Bagdasarian, the Michigan health department's chief medical executive.

Because of that commonality and because produce has been behind some past cyclospora outbreaks, Michigan officials advised consumers to buy whole heads of lettuce, discard the outer layers and thoroughly wash what is left. They also suggested people avoid bagged lettuce and pre-mixed salad kits.

On Tuesday, the Taco Bell restaurant chain issued a statement saying it had “voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients at select restaurants as a precautionary measure. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and follow the guidance of public health authorities."

In a call with reporters on Tuesday, federal health officials did not directly respond to a question about whether they are looking at Taco Bell or any specific food vendor or distributor.

“FDA certainly is continuing its traceback investigation on multiple produce items, also including locations that are reported by the case patients before they became sick,” said Donald Prater, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Acting Deputy Commissioner for Food, in response.

Cyclospora causes ‘explosive’ diarrhea

Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outbreaks tend to occur most often in the late spring and summer.

The heat-loving parasite infects the bowels and spreads through feces. In the past, people have been infected by consuming fruits or vegetables that were exposed to feces-contaminated irrigation water.

The illness, called cyclosporiasis, is less common than foodborne illnesses caused by other germs, including salmonella and E. coli. Many cases are never linked to a specific food or other source and, for years, few U.S. cyclospora outbreaks were reported. But the number started rising about a decade ago, with a particularly notable spike in 2018 and 2019.

Experts say it's likely that cyclospora cases historically were underreported, in part because some common tests used to check for food poisoning have not been geared to detect cyclospora. They attribute the increasing trend in cases to climate change and better detection.

2019 was the worst year for infections

The worst year in the U.S. for infections was 2019, when about 4,700 illnesses were reported, according to federal data on confirmed and suspected cases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention keeps those numbers, but they traditionally lag what is posted by individual city and state health departments dealing with local outbreaks in real time. On Tuesday, CDC officials issued a health alert that said that since May 1, the agency is aware of 1,645 confirmed domestic cases and more than 5,100 that require further analysis to confirm whether the infections were acquired in the U.S. The reports come from 34 states, and no deaths have been reported, the CDC said.

The true number of cases is likely larger than what has been reported so far because some people may have milder illnesses that they don't seek care for, said Gwen Biggerstaff, deputy director of CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, in the call with reporters.

It can take days to weeks for someone exposed to the parasite to develop symptoms. It's not clear to what extent people currently are being infected, or whether many of the exposures happened earlier. But Biggerstaff said official expect that case numbers will continue to grow through August.

The CDC also posted information about the investigation of an outbreak affecting the four states.

The federal alert did not detail how many reports came from each state. But Michigan officials have reported more than 3,300 cases, officials in northwest Ohio said they have seen more than 1,100, New York City officials counted more than 400 and Illinois reported more than 200.

Officials do not think all can be tied to a common source. In Illinois, for example, more than half the people with infections said they had traveled outside the United States, and at least some may have been infected elsewhere.

But Michigan officials believe a large share of their total is likely due to a linked domestic outbreak. CDC officials did not go into detail about why they currently think cases in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia are part of the same outbreak.

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Associated Press writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this report.

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

The order came a day after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver in Maine and a week after one shot and killed a motorist in Houston, renewing criticism of the agency’s tactics during enforcement operations.

The suspension is not absolute and there’s room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations.

Hundreds of people protested in Maine on Tuesday over the killing Monday of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national, by an ICE officer.

The Department of Homeland Security said the officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed Durán Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and had a final order of removal from the country. It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone coming from the home, the vehicle attempted to flee and the officer fired his weapon.

That was a change from how Maine Sen. Angus King described the encounter hours earlier, when he said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. King said Mullin told him the officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant, but not for the man who was shot.

In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Petro, who has openly quarreled with U.S. President Donald Trump, urged Trump to provide an explanation and accused ICE officers of treating Durán Guerrero as “an inferior being without rights.”

The shooting has sparked outrage in Biddeford and the wider area. Protesters gathered Tuesday outside of an ICE detention center in Scarborough, which is just up the coast between Biddeford and Portland.

“These people are killers and they must leave our state now,” organizer Todd Chretien told the gathering, including some who held signs reading "Stop the murder” and “End this terror.”

Questions surround the shooting

Durán Guerrero's shooting marked the second time in a week that ICE used deadly force and at least the ninth death since Trump began his immigration crackdown.

The officers involved in shooting in Biddeford, which is just southwest of Portland, didn’t have body cameras, leaving many questions about what transpired. Among them are how close the officer was to the vehicle when they fired, whether officers told Durán Guerrero to stop, and how ICE believes he had put the public in danger.

“We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets. We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.

Maine’s other senator, Republican Susan Collins, said Mullin told her that DHS’ Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.

Photos showed bullet holes in the car’s windshield.

The Maine attorney general’s office, which said it's working cooperatively with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name hasn't been released and who was placed on leave.

Video shows the shooting's aftermath

Video from a nearby business' security camera obtained by the AP shows a white car slowly approaching an intersection before making several circles. A law enforcement SUV blocked its path and two officers opened the driver’s door and dragged out a limp body.

It isn't clear from the video when the shots were fired.

Daniel Boucher, who lives nearby, said he heard a “pop, pop, pop” and ran to the intersection.

“His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.’”

At one point, Boucher said, the officer who shot Durán Guerrero walked close to him.

“He looked at me and said, ‘He tried to run me over,’ or something to that effect,” Boucher said. “I don’t remember his exact words.”

Durán Guerrero is survived by his wife and young daughter

Two advocacy groups — the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! — said Durán Guerrero was authorized to work in the U.S.

Neighbors say Durán Guerrero was a friendly and familiar face even though they rarely chatted because he didn’t appear to speak English.

Sadie Dilboy and Cory Poulin, who own a laundromat near the intersection where the car came to a stop, said they saw Durán Guerrero all the time.

“Everyone knows him,” said Dilboy, who remembered that he often came to their store with his daughter and gave her quarters to buy candy.

Claudia Morton, who lives near Durán Guerrero and his family and often waved to him, was distraught over the shooting. “The whole world should be crying,” she said Tuesday.

Last week in Houston, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo after federal authorities driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was driving to a construction job site.

The two shootings come amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportations agenda. Over five days at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people.

The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, arrests are surging. The administration’s enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.

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Brook reported from New Orleans and Sisak from New York. Associated Press reporters Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia, Rebecca Santana in Washington and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

Robinson made an impact almost from the start with the Atlanta Falcons and then took his game to another level last season when he led the NFL in yards from scrimmage and was picked as the All-Pro running back.

That production helped Robinson win the honor of being named the top running back in the league by The Associated Press.

A panel of eight AP pro football writers ranked the top five players at running back, basing selections on current status entering the 2026 season. First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second- through fifth-place votes were worth 5, 3, 2 and 1 points.

Robinson got three first-place votes, one second and was the only player named on all eight ballots to win the voting with 41 points. San Francisco's Christian McCaffrey got two first-place votes and finished second with 33 points, with Baltimore's Derrick Henry also getting two first-place votes and coming in third with 30 points.

The other first-place vote went to Saquon Barkley, who finished fourth, with Detroit's Jahmyr Gibbs coming in fifth.

Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor and Buffalo's James Cook also received votes.

1. Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons

Robinson, the eighth pick in 2023, is one of the top dual-threat backs in the league, finishing fourth in the league in rushing last season with 1,478 yards to go along with 820 yards receiving.

He became the second player ever with at least 1,400 yards rushing and 800 yards receiving in the same season, joining Steven Jackson, who did it in 2006.

Robinson led the NFL with 2,298 yards from scrimmage and scored 11 TDs on the season.

2. Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

McCaffrey has established himself as the most dangerous receiving threat out of the backfield and is a focal point of Kyle Shanahan's passing game in San Francisco.

McCaffrey wasn't the explosive runner last season as he had been earlier in his career, rushing for 1,202 yards and averaging just 3.9 yards per carry. He more than made up for that with 102 catches for 924 yards as he nearly became the first player ever with two seasons with at least 1,000 yards rushing and receiving.

McCaffrey generated an NFL-best 119 first downs, matching the most for any player in the past 15 seasons.

3. Derrick Henry, Baltimore Ravens

People have been waiting for Henry to shows signs of decline as he reached his 30s but it hasn't been evident yet.

Henry has topped 1,500 yards rushing in each of the past two seasons after turning 30, with his five 1,500-yard seasons tied with Barry Sanders for the most ever.

Henry ranked second in the NFL last season with 1,595 yards rushing and is 10th all-time with 13,018 yards. He set a record last season with his seventh 200-yard game and has a record-tying four seasons with at least 15 TD runs.

4. Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles

Barkley took a step back from his record-setting 2024 season when his 2,504 yards rushing in the regular season and playoffs were the most ever as Philadelphia's offense was less potent last season. He still managed to rush for 1,140 yards and scored nine total TDs to earn some support in this voting.

5. Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions

Gibbs has been a scoring machine since entering the league with Robinson in 2023, when he was picked four spots later at No. 12 overall. Gibbs' 49 career touchdowns are the most ever for a player before turning 24 years old, topping the previous mark of 47 set by Lions legend Barry Sanders.

Gibbs rushed for 1,223 yards and added 616 more receiving last season when he scored 18 overall TDs.

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

Sotheby's said the 67-million-year-old fossil, nicknamed “Gus,” is now the most expensive set of dinosaur bones ever auctioned off, besting the almost $45 million price tag for a nearly complete stegosaurus sold by the same New York auction house in 2024. The previous record holder had been a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton nicknamed “Stan” that sold for nearly $32 million in 2020.

“Gus is not only an exceptional find, but a specimen that’s been excavated, documented, prepared, and cared for with real excellence,” Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s vice chair, said after the sale was completed. “The market responds when great specimens are taken care of in the right way.”

Why the bidding for this T. rex was intense

Standing upright with its tail extended and right foot slightly raised, “Gus” is an adult dinosaur specimen measuring about 12 ½ feet (3.8 meters) tall and 38 feet (11.5 meters) long.

He's about 63% complete, with what Sotheby's describes as an “exceptionally preserved” skull including a gaping jaw of powerful teeth, two “well represented” feet and a number of rarely found bones, including a furcula, or wishbone.

The fossil was discovered in 2021 on a ranch in South Dakota and named in honor of property owner Gary Licking, who died during the roughly five year excavation, restoration and mounting process.

The auction house said the mystery winner outbid six other prospective buyers during Tuesday's 10-minute bidding battle.

“Try a bigger bite,” auctioneer Phyllis Kao cajoled the bidders at one point as the auction was conducted live and online. “It’s a T. rex, after all.”

Spokespersons didn't respond to an email seeking more information about the winning bidder or their plans for the piece, which had been estimated to fetch anywhere from $20 to $30 million ahead of the sale.

Scientists want ‘Gus’ on public display

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, an advocacy group of scientists, scholars and students, said ahead of Tuesday's sale that scientifically significant fossils such as “Gus” should be publicly displayed in museums and other research institutions so that they can be “preserved, documented, and accessible for future generations.”

“The discovery of an important fossil is only the beginning of its scientific story,” Kristina Curry Rogers, the society's vice president, explained in a statement. “Many of the most significant advances in paleontology have come years or even decades after a fossil was collected, as new analytical methods and technologies allowed scientists to ask entirely new questions of specimens already housed in museum collections.”

Indeed, “Apex,” the stegosaurus, the previous dinosaur fossil record-holder, is currently on long-term loan to the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. “Sue” the T. rex, the first dinosaur ever sold at auction in 1997, also by Sotheby's, is a centerpiece of the Field Museum in Chicago.

And “Stan” is on display at the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, posed in combat with another fossilized T. rex over the remains of a triceratops.

A Cretaceous king and Hollywood staple

Tyrannosaurus rex, whose name roughly translates to “King of the Tyrant Lizards,” stood firmly at the top of the food chain when it ruled during the late Cretaceous period.

With its fearsome jawline and comically stubby arms, it has become the most recognizable and beloved of the dinosaurs, depicted in everything from children’s programs like Barney, the purple T. rex, to the enduring “Jurassic Park” movie franchise.

The great beasts roamed what is today western North America, during a time when the region boasted “warm climates, high sea levels, and rich coastal floodplains” that allowed their primary prey, giant herbivores like the triceratops, to flourish, according to Sotheby’s.

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Russian crewmates Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina lifted off as scheduled at 7:47 p.m. (10:47 a.m. EDT, 1447 GMT) aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 for an eight-month stint on the orbiting outpost. Their spacecraft docked smoothly at the station in automatic mode about three hours after the launch.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman attended the launch, the first visit to Baikonur by a NASA chief in eight years that highlighted the ongoing cooperation in orbit between Moscow and Washington, despite tensions over Russia’s military action in Ukraine.

Before the launch, Isaacman met with the head of Russia's state corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Bakanov. Speaking during Monday’s meeting with the crew, Isaacman thanked Roscosmos for its efforts to prepare for the mission, saying that “the integrated work performed over the past several months reflects the professionalism and dedication of everyone involved.”

Isaacman also had a meeting with Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. Manturov's office said they discussed prospective cooperation on the International Space Station and other projects.

The mission is Menon’s first space flight and the second for Dubrov and Kikina.

The trio will join NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway and Chris Williams, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev and Andrei Fedyaev.

Once bitter rivals in the space race during the Cold War, Russia and the U.S. cooperate on the space station and other projects. That relationship was marred by tensions after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, but Washington and Moscow have continued to work together, with U.S. and Russian crews flying to the orbiting outpost on each country’s spacecraft.

Plans for broader cooperation, including possible Russian involvement in NASA’s Artemis program of lunar research, have fallen apart. As Russia has become increasingly reliant on China for its energy exports and imports of key technology amid Western sanctions, Roscosmos has started cooperation with China on its prospective lunar mission.

The payment — representing the $5 million jury award, plus interest — was made Monday from an account where it had been held in escrow since the 2023 verdict, according to court records. Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, confirmed the payment Tuesday.

“We are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment,” Kaplan said in a statement. Carroll herself later wrote on Substack that “the eagle has landed."

Trump's lawyers have vowed to continue appealing.

Trump deposited the money in an escrow account shortly after the jury ruled against him. The U.S. Supreme Court recently let the civil verdict stand, clearing the way for Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to release the money.

Trump’s lawyers then sought but were denied an emergency order to block the payment. The one-sentence denial set no conditions on how Carroll may use the money. Her lawyers have said in court papers that she plans to put it in a retirement account.

Trump's attorneys have since filed another appeal seeking to stop or reverse the payment.

The jury found Trump attacked Carroll in 1996 in a New York luxury department store dressing room and defamed her after she told the story publicly in a memoir in 2019, during his first term as president.

Trump insisted nothing sexual happened between him and Carroll, now 82, a former advice columnist. Trump claimed she was “totally lying” and “ not my type ” in a 2019 interview. He said he didn't know her, dismissing a 1987 photo of them and their then-spouses at a party as inconsequential, and he accused her of harboring political motives and trying to sell books at his expense.

Trump didn't attend the trial, where Carroll testified that their flirtatious and friendly chance encounter at the department store turned violent.

Carroll sued Trump after New York changed its laws to give sexual abuse survivors a fresh chance to sue over attacks that happened in the distant past.

Trump is also appealing $83 million in defamation compensation granted to Carroll by a separate Manhattan jury after a 2024 trial where Trump briefly testified.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually abused. Carroll has agreed to be named.

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Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed.

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This story has been corrected to show that Carroll collected over $5.6 million, not $5.8 million.

Bethany Michel, 28, inherited the home in Arbor Mill after her father, a disabled veteran, died in October 2023. Michel said she moved into the home in 2020 to care for her terminally ill father during the COVID-19 pandemic after restrictions at his assisted living facility made it difficult to provide his dialysis care.

Now, nearly three years into a legal dispute with the homeowners association, Michel says the fight has become about more than just where she lives.

“I 100% am being forced out,” Michel told News4JAX. “They’re trying to rip my office away from me, too.”

Michel, who has built a large following by posting restaurant reviews on social media, recently used her platform to bring attention to the dispute before homeowners voted on a proposed special assessment. She said the HOA wants each of the community’s approximately 155 homeowners to contribute about $1,000 toward legal costs associated with enforcing the community’s age restrictions.

According to the community’s governing documents, every occupied home must include at least one resident who is 55 or older. The declaration also prohibits anyone under 19 from living in the community and allows the HOA board to grant hardship exceptions at its discretion if the community remains compliant with federal fair housing requirements. Homeowners are also required to notify the association of changes in occupancy after events such as a death or inheritance.

The community’s declaration states the neighborhood is intended to comply with the federal Housing for Older Persons Act, which allows qualifying communities to restrict residency based on age if at least one occupant in each home is 55 or older and the community meets other federal requirements.

Michel argues her circumstances are unique.

She said the home’s builder was aware her father intended to leave the home to her and assured the family she would be “grandfathered in” after his death. She said she has never seen documentation confirming that arrangement.

“My dad’s biggest concern was something would happen to him,” Michel said. “His dying wish was that this house would be left to his daughter.”

Less than three months after her father’s death, Michel said she received notice reminding her she no longer met the community’s age requirements and was asked to move.

The dispute has since evolved into litigation.

Michel said she has lost access to neighborhood amenities, including the pool, gym and clubhouse, while the lawsuit continues. She also questions whether homeowners on fixed incomes should be required to help finance the legal battle.

“I think a lot of people would rather me stay than have to pay $1,000,” she said.

The case also raises broader questions for families who inherit homes in age-restricted communities.

Although ownership of a home may transfer through inheritance, the community’s governing documents make clear that ownership does not automatically grant the right to occupy the property if age requirements are not met. The declaration specifically states that owners under 55 may own property but cannot live there unless the occupancy requirements are satisfied.

Michel said she hopes her case encourages other residents to think about what happens when a homeowner dies.

“Everyone here is one day, one breath, one year away from that question,” she said. “People need to think about what happens to their families.”

The HOA’s lawsuit remains pending and the association told News4JAX that it will not comment on it.

Varsity 4 top 25 player countdown

24. King Boylston

Position/school: QB/Ed White.

Class: Sr.

Height/weight: 6-1, 195.

Recruiting: Uncommitted.

Why he’s here: Boylston isn’t rated by any of the major recruiting services, but he’s a player who should see his stock rise over the course of the year. He accounted for 38 TDs last season, passing for 25 and scampering for 13 more. Boylston passed for 2,091 yards and rushed for 712 more to help lead the Commanders to the mantle as the highest-scoring regular season team in state history.

25. Noah Ash

Position/school: Kicker, Ponte Vedra.

Class: Senior.

Height/weight: 5-11, 190.

Recruiting: Committed to Auburn.

Why he’s here: A placekicker among the area’s top players? You got that right. Ash is the area’s best player at his position, and one of the top recruits in the nation. He booted 11 field goals for the state semifinalist Sharks last year and had 74 touchbacks in 85 chances. Depending on the recruiting outlet, Ash ranks between fourth (247 Sports Composite) to sixth (Rivals/On3).

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced at a news conference at the Statehouse on Monday that she will serve the remaining months on Graham's current term, which expires in January. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said afterward that she will be sworn in Tuesday afternoon.

She will be the first woman to represent the state in the Senate.

“It is such an honor,” Darline Graham said as dozens of her brother's staffers and campaign advisers stood behind her, some with eyes glassy from welling tears. “Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him.”

Graham died on Saturday at age 71. He never married or had a family of his own, but his sister was often by his side for the political touch points of his career, speaking at events and appearing in some of his campaign ads.

After their parents died at a young age, Graham was left to raise his sister, for whom he later became legal guardian. They were very close, and she was there as he filed reelection paperwork earlier this year, along with her children and grandchildren.

“To Lindsey, I miss you more than I can even put into words," she said, emotion rising in her voice. "But I'm going to do this. I got it.”

Introducing her, McMaster said the two had spoken “in the wee hours of Sunday morning” after Graham's death, and he asked her to serve.

“I had wondered what you would say, and I was humbled by your quickness to see the duty that you had to serve,” McMaster said. He added that President Donald Trump “thought it was a great idea” when he later told him of his pick. Trump announced his support for Nardone to fill the seat earlier Monday.

Darline Graham has worked as an optician and at various state agencies, including the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and the Department of Employment and Workforce. She lives in Lexington, is a graduate of the College of Charleston and has a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling.

How will a special primary work?

A special election will be held next month to pick a new Republican nominee in the general election for Lindsey Graham’s seat. He had been seeking a fifth term this year.

The rare open Senate seat has ignited a scramble among South Carolina’s most ambitious conservatives, who have been eager to climb the political ladder.

Republicans just finished a sprawling and bruising contest to figure out their nominee for succeeding McMaster, who is wrapping up his second term. State Attorney General Alan Wilson won the nomination, overcoming a field that included Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Rep. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman — all of whom are now eyeing Graham’s seat following his death over the weekend.

According to South Carolina law, a one-week filing period for a special primary election begins on the second Tuesday after the candidate’s death, or July 21.

The special primary election would be held on the second Tuesday after that filing period closes, or Aug. 11. Any necessary runoff would follow two weeks after that, or Aug. 25.

From that point, the new nominee would have just over two months to campaign for the general election on Nov. 3.

All of this is problematic according to federal law, which requires military and overseas ballots to go out 45 days before any federal election. For the special election primary, that would have been June 27. Federal Election Commission officials didn’t immediately return a message seeking clarity about the process.

Who could replace Graham?

Graham died on Saturday night, and a preliminary medical examiner report said he suffered a tear in his aorta, known as an aortic dissection.

In the hours after Graham's death was announced, South Carolina’s Republican circles were already swirling with rumors about possible replacements.

Evette, who has served nearly eight years alongside McMaster and received his endorsement in the governor's race, is one possibility. She lost the June 23 runoff to Wilson.

Mace and Norman could run in the special primary as well. Neither of them are running for reelection to their House seats.

But another Republican from the state, Rep. Russell Fry, could be a possibility. The two-term lawmaker represents the growing area around Myrtle Beach, and he's been a top Trump ally.

Businessman Mark Lynch, whom Graham defeated in the primary, may jump into the race. So could Mark Sanford, the state's former governor who served two separate stints in the House.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who lived in South Carolina before joining the Trump administration, has fielded calls about potentially replacing Graham but doesn’t have interest in the role and enjoys working for the president, according to a person who insisted on anonymity to describe private conversations.

How does Graham's death affect the general election?

No Democrat has won a Senate seat in South Carolina in decades, and Republicans in recent history typically take statewide seats by double digits. When Graham last ran in 2020, he defeated his Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, by a 10 percentage point margin.

So while history suggests that Graham was en route to a fifth term, Republicans are carefully surveying the landscape.

Charleston pediatrician Annie Andrews won the Democratic nomination last month and has raised more than $8 million in the race, and she had just under $3 million cash on hand at the end of May, according to federal filings. Graham had taken in $6 million, with just over $4 million on hand.

In a statement Sunday, Andrews called on South Carolinians to join her “in setting partisanship aside and offering gratitude" to Graham for his service.

Harrison, noting that he and Graham “had our share of political disagreements,” wrote on social media that he “always appreciated that even in our fiercest political battles, we could still share a conversation, a laugh, and a mutual respect for South Carolina and the institutions we were both privileged to serve.”

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Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.

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Kinnard reported from Charleston, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.

Ali al-Zaidi emerged as a consensus candidate in Iraq after months of deadlock over the premiership following last year’s parliamentary elections. Trump endorsed al-Zaidi for the job after he threatened to cut off U.S. support for Iraq if another candidate became the country's next prime minister.

“Mark my words, I knew what I was doing,” Trump said in the Oval Office as he sat alongside al-Zaidi for his first visit outside Iraq as prime minister. “This man is going to be a great leader in the Middle East, beyond Iraq. His influence is going to spread all throughout the Middle East.”

Speaking through an interpreter, al-Zaidi said that he was conveying his greetings from the “oldest civilization in the world” and that the focus of his U.S. visit would be to announce an “economic partnership” between the two countries.

The issue of Iran loomed large in the discussions Tuesday. Iraq has been under pressure to disarm a network of Iran-backed militias operating in the country, some of which launched attacks on U.S. bases and diplomatic facilities after the U.S. and Israel launched their war against Iran in February. Officially, the Iraqi government has given non-state armed groups until the end of September to disarm, but some of the most powerful militias have said they have no intention of doing so.

Al-Zaidi stressed on Tuesday that there will be no justification for their existence after Sept. 30. A Trump administration official said ahead of the Oval Office meeting that the U.S. will make “informed” decisions based on Iraq’s efforts to disarm Iranian-backed militias inside its borders. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss the administration’s strategy ahead of al-Zaidi’s visit.

Al-Zaidi has been called ‘Trump of the Middle East’

Iraq’s dominant parliamentary bloc called the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Shiite parties allied with Iran, initially said it would back former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom the Trump administration viewed as too close to Tehran. Trump, a Republican, got personally involved, threatening to block support if al-Maliki returned to power.

Since al-Zaidi's formal installation as prime minister-designate in April, the Trump administration has kept up its outreach to ensure the U.S. can wield significant sway in Iraq, particularly in extricating the Iranian influence that is deeply entrenched inside the country.

The parallel backgrounds of Trump and al-Zaidi have also bolstered their rapport. Victoria Taylor, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Atlantic Council, noted that al-Zaidi has been likened to “Trump of the Middle East” considering his business background and lack of political experience.

“When you value business success, I think then it’s very appealing to look at an Iraqi prime minister who is likely a billionaire and can be really pointed to as a political outsider,” she said.

But Taylor added that “the reality is much more complicated,” noting that al-Zaidi was chosen by the current political infrastructure in Iraq and will be “beholden in some way to that system.”

“I’m not always sure that there’s a full appreciation of the challenge that this prime minister will face in actually trying to really dismantle core parts of the political system,” she said, noting the obstacles that al-Zaidi will face as he tries to disarm the Iran-backed militias or challenge political corruption.

Underscoring the complicated competing interests that al-Zaidi is confronting in Iraq, the new prime minister sidestepped a question about Trump's remarks on the 2020 killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

“At that time, I wasn’t involved in politics," al-Zaidi said. "Let’s talk about the future.”

Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Chatham House think tank, said he expects that “the U.S. will put significant pressure on al-Zaidi” to move ahead with disarmament during his Washington visit “and Zaidi will respond by saying, ‘But I need support — intelligence support, technical support, armed support.’”

“There is a scenario in which, if the Iraqi government starts going after these groups, they will also go after the government,” Mansour said. “And this is a scenario that I think that the Iraqi government is apprehensive about.”

Oil pipeline deal is set to be signed, Iraqi officials say

The two governments are also poised to finalize a significant energy deal.

Two Iraqi officials said an agreement is slated to be signed Friday between Iraq, U.S. companies Chevron and TI Capital, and Qatar’s UCC for construction of an oil pipeline that will connect southern Iraq’s Basra to western Iraq's Haditha and from there to the Ceyhan port in Turkey and the port of Baniyas on Syria’s coast. The pipeline is projected to carry about 2 million barrels of oil per day. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Neither Trump nor al-Zaidi elaborated on the pending deal publicly during their Oval Office meeting, but the U.S. president said Iraq has “tremendous potential" because of its oil.

Al-Zaidi cracks down on corruption

Al-Zaidi received Trump’s blessing, despite the fact that he was chairman of a bank, Al-Janoob Islamic Bank, that was among the financial institutions banned by Iraq’s central bank in 2024 from dealing in dollars amid pressure from the U.S. to crack down on money laundering and funneling of funds to Iran.

Since taking office, al-Zaidi has made a public show of cracking down on corruption. His government has conducted raids and arrested dozens of current and former lawmakers and government officials accused of corruption, including some affiliated with former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

The Iraqi premier’s delegation to Washington includes a number of Iraqi businessmen and government officials, and al-Zaidi’s office said in a statement that the aim of the visit is to “strengthen economic and development partnerships, attract investment, and expand the role of U.S. companies in implementing infrastructure projects” and to further develop the oil-rich country’s energy sector.

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An earlier version of this story was corrected to show Trump said “if we are not there to help,” not “if we are there to help.”

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Follow the AP's coverage of Iraq at https://apnews.com/hub/iraq.

According to property records, the complex is owned by Jarek Tadla, a self-proclaimed billionaire who has faced complaints and code enforcement issues involving multiple properties across Jacksonville.

Court records show the Firestone Road complex, which was purchased in April 2021 for just over $1.1 million, is currently under foreclosure and was set to be sold this week. It is one of several properties tied to Tadla currently going through the same foreclosure process.

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A tenant of the Firestone Road complex at 103rd Street reached out to the I-TEAM, complaining about squatters and unsafe living conditions.

A spokesperson for Elon Management, the company now overseeing the property, confirmed those conditions, explaining it inherited them from the previous management.

“When we assumed responsibility, we encountered significant deferred maintenance, unsafe conditions, and unauthorized occupancy by individuals who are not legally permitted to be on the premises,” said in a statement to News4JAX.

We decided to take a look for ourselves, and upon arriving at the property, we immediately noticed filth and junk behind the buildings — along with people who appeared to be there without being residents or tenants.

When approached, those individuals left the area and appeared to warn each other that news cameras were present.

Walking the property, we observed areas and spots where fixtures appeared to have been removed — along with air conditioning units that did not appear to be running. Open apartment doors revealed debris-filled units, as well as utility closets filled with tires and clothes.

A no trespassing sign was posted on the property.

The few residents who appeared to still be living in the five-building complex were not eager to speak on camera. One resident, who asked not to be identified, described the squatter situation bluntly.

“It’s a gang of them,” the resident said. “There’s more of them out here than the people that pay rent.”

When asked how he handles living alongside unauthorized occupants, the resident said he keeps to himself.

“If they don’t bother me, I’ll stay in my house and have my business. Whenever it goes on, I don’t get into nobody’s stuff, you know what I’m saying?” he said. “When I close my door at night, man, I don’t come back outside, man, and I don’t be worried about what be going on out here.”

The I-TEAM reached out to the LLC listed on the deed — People’s Choice, which is owned by Tadla. People’s Choice said it no longer manages the property.

“We want to clarify that we no longer manage 5537 Firestone Road as of the first week of April,” the company said in a statement. “That property and several others are now managed by Elon Management.”

Since Jan. 1, 2025, the city of Jacksonville has received more than 20 complaints about the property, ranging from nuisance issues to individual unit concerns.

A spokesperson for Elon Management told News4JAX that the company was appointed as court-authorized management for a receiver covering this property and nine others previously managed by Tadla. They are looking to give residents a fresh start.

In a statement, an Elon Management spokesperson described what the company found when it took over, as well as other properties it took over to manage.

“Our company was recently appointed as the court-authorized management for the receiver for this property and several others from the same owner. When we assumed responsibility, we encountered significant deferred maintenance, unsafe conditions, and unauthorized occupancy by individuals who are not legally permitted to be on the premises.

Our immediate priority is the safety of the residents, the surrounding community, first responders and anyone who may attempt to enter the property. To address these concerns, we are taking steps to secure the sites, including preventing unauthorized access and reducing potential safety hazards.

We are working closely with city officials, law enforcement, and other local agencies to ensure this work is completed safely, efficiently, and in accordance with all applicable regulations. We appreciate the City’s partnership as we begin the process of stabilizing this portfolio."

According to property records, the LLC listed as the property’s agent — JJTA 10 — remains active. State records show the LLC is still tied to Jarek Tadla and People’s Choice, a company the News4JAX I-TEAM has repeatedly investigated for subpar living conditions across Jacksonville.

Bruce Meyer, who took over when Tony Clark was forced out in February, said the sport was thriving despite assertions by Major League Baseball that massive change is needed.

“I have watched over the last few years the owners, the commissioner’s office, try to convince fans, the consumers of their product, that the product is broken,” Meyer said ahead of the All-Star Game. "The supposed stewards of the game have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince those same fans that they don’t have hope or they shouldn’t have hope or that the product that they’re paying to consume in record numbers is somehow broken. I think it’s perverse.”

Attendance has averaged 29,230 this season, up 1.2% from 28,895 through similar dates last year. MLB is on pace for its highest attendance since 2017.

Management in May proposed a salary cap system, which players say they will never accept. MLB launched a “Level the Field” campaign claiming fans support a cap that contains a floor.

“In order for this game to reach its full potential we need to continue to address concerns that our fans have, particularly concerns that go to the core of what we’re about, that is competitive balance,” Manfred said in a separate question-and-answer session.

“We need to make sure that fans in markets at the beginning of the season have a realistic belief that their team has a chance to win," he added. "I think that we need a system where fans, particularly in smaller markets, can have some hope that the players that are signed and developed by their organizations can actually stay there through free agency and honestly I think we need a system where there is a more robust free agent market, so if you don’t want to go to New York or Los Angeles, you have a realistic opportunity to get a viable free agent contract.”

Fans have responded positively to MLB's changes in the 2020s, which include expanded playoffs in 2022, a pitch clock in 2023 and an appeals system to robot umpires for strike zone decisions this year.

“We got that momentum by listening to our fans and making changes that, candidly, the MLBPA was not interested in,” Manfred said. “Those changes have paid off in terms of creating that momentum, and the best way to lose momentum is to stand still.”

No small-market team has won the World Series since the 2015 Kansas City Royals. The Los Angeles Dodgers, coming off their second straight title, had a $323.3 million opening-day payroll for their 40-man roster and a $163.7 million tax for a $487.1 million total. Cleveland had the lowest payroll at $75.5 million.

“It defies human experience to ask a fan to think that the bottom end of that gap has the same opportunity to win as the top,” Manfred said. “There is no question, OK, that everybody in any sport is not going to win once every 30 or 32 years depending on how many teams you have, but the data in our sport is stark. Your opportunity to make the playoffs if you are a larger-market team is dramatically higher and your opportunity to proceed to the subsequent rounds, that advantage grows with each round.”

Meyer said unions for players in the NFL, NBA and NHL agreed to caps under duress.

“In one way or the other they were broken or forced into it,” he said. “I believe that this system is bad for players and would be for generations to come."

Baseball’s five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1 and management is expected to immediately start a lockout, the sport’s 10th work stoppage since 1972. No games have been lost since a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 caused the World Series to be canceled for the first in 90 years.

“Teams in every market across the league can afford to compete," Meyer said. “Many of them are choosing not to. From our standpoint, that’s the biggest problem in the game right now."

Meyer said owners want a cap to guarantee profits and increase franchise values, a system he called “subsidized mediocrity.”

“They don’t want it because they’re just so concerned about the fans,” he said. “If they were so concerned about the fans, they would listen to the fans all across baseball who are literally chanting 'Sell the team.' They want their owners to sell the team because they feel they're not competing."

Manfred did not want to comment on whether he thought President Donald Trump, who said he supports a cap, would attempt to intervene in bargaining.

“It would be wildly, wildly inappropriate for me to speculate about what the president of the United States might do or not do in a hypothetical situation,” he said.

Manfred defended MLB's advertising campaign supporting a cap.

“Sometimes the other side may not be completely accurate or fair in terms of their recitation and what’s going on,” he said.

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

Mbappé scored his eighth goal against Morocco and enters the semifinals even with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot. The 39-year-old Messi has a World Cup-record 21 goals in his career, one more than the 27-year-old Mbappé.

France coach Didier Deschamps said Mbappé was fine physically after the early exit against Morocco with what was described as a “slight” right ankle injury.

The France captain is among six players to start all seven World Cup matches for the team, along with fellow forward Ousmane Dembele and goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

For the sixth time in seven games, Spain forward Mikel Merino will come off the bench. The versatile Arsenal player scored the winning goals within minutes of coming on as a late substitute in a 1-0 victory over Portugal in the round of 16 and a 2-1 quarterfinal win over Belgium.

Lamine Yamal will start his sixth consecutive game for Spain a day after his 19th birthday. The Barcelona forward came off the bench in a 0-0 draw in the team's opener against Cape Verde, the tiny island nation that turned into one of the World Cup's biggest surprises.

Spain forward Nico Williams, who has been battling a muscle injury since the group stage finale against Uruguay, wasn't in the lineup. He came off the bench in all three group matches before missing the first two knockout games. Williams entered in the 79th minute against Belgium.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Fed policymakers “have no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation,” Warsh said in his first appearance before Congress since becoming chair May 22, replacing former chair Jerome Powell. “And we share a resolute commitment to restoring price stability.”

Still, Warsh heads a sharply divided rate-setting committee, with about half of the 19 policymakers penciling in higher interest rates by the end of the year in forecasts released last month. Another half have signaled that they support keeping rates unchanged or even cutting them. Warsh faces a stiff challenge in reconciling the divided committee while navigating a rapidly-changing economic outlook.

Warsh spoke to the House Financial Services Committee soon after the government reported that inflation fell 0.4% from May to June, driven down mostly by cheaper gas prices. Core inflation — which excludes the volatile energy and food categories — was unchanged last month, a broader slowdown in price increases than economists expected.

Compared with a year ago, inflation dropped to 3.5% from 4.2% in May. Core inflation rose just 2.6% in June from a year earlier, down from 2.9% in May, a positive sign that higher gas costs haven't yet lifted broader prices. Still, the core figure is above the Fed's 2% target.

The cooling inflation figures reduce pressure on the Fed to combat higher prices by hiking interest rates. Still, the renewed conflict in the Middle East has already driven up oil prices and could reverse some of the progress on inflation in coming months.

Warsh, asked about the price figures, said they represented just one month of data and suggested he does not see inflation as defeated.

“There might be some that look at this morning's data and say, ‘mission accomplished,'" he said. “That is not my view.”

Guidance on next steps

In keeping with his stated policy of providing less guidance about the Fed's policies, Warsh did not signal whether rate increases would be necessary to combat inflation. The next meeting of the Fed's rate-setting committee is July 28-29.

Under questioning from members of the House committee, he explained a bit more his thinking about pulling back on what Fed-watchers refer to as “forward guidance.”

“If we were to give you my projection today about what we’ll do when we meet in two weeks,” Warsh said, Fed officials are more likely to accept information “consistent with our priors and rejecting information that’s inconsistent.”

“When we have news for you about exactly the methods of solving this problem, we’ll be very clear about what they are,” he added later.

Warsh was pressed by Democrats on the committee to explain how he would react if President Donald Trump, who repeatedly attacked his predecessor, demanded that he cut rates or take other steps that weren't justified by the economic data.

“Are you ready for that?” Rep. Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York, asked.

“My commitment to you is to follow the law and follow the data, follow our very best judgment,” Warsh said.

Warsh also cited the Supreme Court's recent decision to allow Fed governor Lisa Cook to remain on the central bank's board, thwarting Trump's attempt to fire her for now, as a sign the high court sees the Fed as independent.

“To the extent there were questions about it, the court has answered those questions,” he said.

The renewal of the Iran war has caused oil prices to climb again after they had fallen back to nearly their prewar level. Gas prices had fallen about 20% from their peak but have also increased in the past week and are still about 35% higher than they were when the U.S. attacked Iran Feb. 28.

Some Fed officials have argued that underlying inflation, even excluding the impact of gas prices, remains elevated and may require higher interest rates to defeat.

Impact of technology investments

Another factor that could boost inflation for the rest of this year is the massive investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure by the so-called “hyperscalers,” such as Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms. The spiking demand for memory chips and processors has sent semiconductor prices soaring, leading to price hikes for laptops, tablets, and video game consoles.

Warsh said Tuesday that AI investment is “the most striking feature of the economy right now" and added that the Fed is “monitoring the implications” for inflation and jobs.

Other Fed officials have stepped in to provide guidance as Warsh has declined to do so. Fed Governor Christopher Waller on Monday said that another “hot” inflation report Tuesday would mean the Fed would have to consider raising rates “in the near term.”

But last week John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said that if core inflation stays at a 0.2% monthly pace for the rest of this year, the Fed could avoid hiking rates. Williams' approach implies the Fed would keep rates steady for some time while it monitors incoming data.

During a rare appearance by justices before Congress, Barrett said she had to wear a bulletproof vest home a few years ago, something she struggled to explain to her 12-year-old son.

“I didn't expect that performing this service would put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was, why I had to wear one,” she said.

She and Justice Elena Kagan testified before a House appropriations panel in support of a request to increase security funding for members of the nation’s highest court.

Judges around the country have seen a rise in threats of violence and intimidation. Barrett's home was also targeted by a fake swatting call to police in May.

The hearing comes two weeks after the conservative-majority court finished handing down a series of major opinions, including a decision that increased President Donald Trump’s power over federal regulatory agencies and another that rejected his wide-ranging tariffs, sparking harsh personal criticism.

It's the first time justices have testified before Congress since 2019, and the two justices are faced wide-ranging questions about the court's work.

Security is central to the Supreme Court's budget request

The Supreme Court requested a total of $228 million for next fiscal year, a roughly 10% increase over the year before. About $18 million of that is for maintaining the building and grounds.

Much of the requested increase, $14.6 million, would go to expanding personal protection for justices, with six more agents for each.

An additional $2 million would fund an off-site residential security post aimed at making emergency responses faster, as well as increasing the number of Supreme Court police officers.

The U.S. Marshals Service, responsible for protecting judges, reported 564 threats in the government fiscal year that ended in September, an increase from the year before.

That total includes threats to the hundreds of federal judges around the country, though the nine-member Supreme Court has not been immune.

In May, Barrett’s security detail worked with police to quickly deal with the call determined to be swatting, or a fake 911 call designed to provoke a police response. Last year, her sister was the victim of a bomb threat in Charleston, South Carolina, police said. No bomb was found.

In 2022, shortly after the leak of a draft opinion overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion decision, a would-be assassin was arrested near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh with weapons and zip ties. Threats to the Supreme Court increased after that leak, and have continued to grow, Kagan said.

Chief Justice John Roberts has condemned the threats to all U.S. judges, saying during a speech in March that criticism of judicial opinions is understandable, but personally directed hostility is “dangerous, and it’s got to stop.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Tuesday imposing the country's first statewide moratorium on hyperscale data centers, which house thousands of computer servers and require massive amounts of energy and a steady supply of water to keep cool.

The move pushes the state into a raging debate over how to regulate the AI industry, as concerns over rising electric bills and environmental risks collide with a desire to stimulate local economies and foster the U.S. tech sector.

“The bottom line is that progress shouldn't arrive with a higher utility bill, deleted water supply or noise pollution, so we have no choice but to address these challenges created by these massive facilities,” Hochul said at a celebratory signing ceremony in Brooklyn.

President Donald Trump has warned states not to slap regulations on the AI industry, echoing tech companies in arguing such moves hamper job growth and cede ground to China in a race to lead in the rapidly growing field.

Earlier this year, Maine seemed poised to establish a similar moratorium. But the measure was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills because it would have blocked a proposed data center in a town that has struggled after a mill closed.

Moratoriums have been proposed in at least a dozen states but have not gotten far, though some counties and municipalities have imposed their own temporary bans.

New York's executive order pauses state permitting for new large data centers and directs state regulators to create standards that address environmental impacts, energy demand, water usage and other factors, the governor’s office said.

The decision in New York also carries political significance for Hochul's reelection campaign and the state's tight congressional races this fall, as Democrats move to address affordability concerns over high utility bills. In addition, the governor this year softened New York's ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gases, citing rising energy costs for consumers.

Hochul’s Republican opponent in the governor’s race, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, opposes a statewide moratorium and says local governments should be allowed to strike deals with tech companies for data center projects that promise enough economic benefits.

In a statement Tuesday, Blakeman said the governor “doesn’t work with local governments and business leaders to figure out how to get things done,” while pledging to “modernize our economy to bring costs down and create good jobs.”

The state Legislature this year approved its own moratorium bill, but Hochul's office described the legislation as complex and said it needed additional work. Instead, the governor opted for an executive order that would take effect immediately.

State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, joined the governor during the signing ceremony. “If Big Tech is coming onto our turf, it should be on our terms,” she said.

New York, at this stage, has not been a destination for the largest hyperscale data centers.

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search Sunday for Donte Wanton, 29, who went missing Saturday while swimming with friends.

Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officers were called to the park just after 4:30 p.m. Saturday after Wanton and his two friends began struggling in the water, JSO said. Bystanders rescued his two friends, but Wanton went under and did not resurface.

Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville watchstanders received a report from the JSO at about 5 p.m. and, as weather allowed, Coast Guard crews and local partner agencies conducted searches by water, land and air, the Coast Guard said. Wanton was reportedly last seen wearing pink shorts and clinging to a red buoy before submerging.

“This has been a heart-wrenching experience for our family, as myself, my siblings, and our mother are all in different states, trying to navigate this tragedy and support each other from afar,” the GoFundMe reads. “We are seeking financial assistance to help us bring Donte’s body back to Georgia once he is found, and to give him the service he deserves.”

Search teams from Coast Guard Station Mayport, the JSO Marine Unit, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission searched roughly 3 square miles, saturating the area of the swimmer’s last known location, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard suspended its search Sunday morning pending new information. JSO will lead the investigation and any future search efforts, officials said.

Click here to donate to the GoFundMe.

Soccer's governing body released the lineup for the closing ceremony, which will take place 90 minutes before Sunday's final. The show is meant to “celebrate the 48 teams’ unforgettable journey” through 16 host cities across three countries, FIFA said in a statement.

IShowSpeed — who has streamed multiple matches — is listed as a performer, while Cruise — who's also been spotted in the stands and performed a stunt at the Paris Olympics' closing ceremony — is billed as making a “special appearance.” The ceremony will also include performances from Laura Pausini, the Italian singer who helped open the Milan Cortina Olympics in February; Tony winner and Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger; and Robbie Williams, the British singer and former Take That member.

Jennifer Hudson, who boasts the coveted EGOT title with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, will perform the U.S. national anthem.

“Echoing the spirit of the opening ceremonies, which welcomed the world to the greatest stage in Canada, Mexico and the United States, the closing ceremony will bring the FIFA World Cup 2026 full circle through music, culture and football, before we kick off the highly anticipated match that will crown the champions of this groundbreaking tournament,” said Heimo Schirgi, the World Cup's chief operating officer.

While Sunday will also feature the tournament's first halftime show, with a bevy of additional A-list performers, closing ceremonies are not exactly new to the World Cup. The closing ceremony is being produced in partnership with Balich Wonder Studio, led by Marco Balich, who orchestrated the 2022 World Cup's opening and closing ceremonies in Qatar.

FIFA has encouraged ticketholders to arrive early, promising that fans “will have an active role to play in the show.” The show begins at 1:30 p.m. at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and kickoff is at 3 p.m.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

While some of the long-range computer models have suggested an area of low pressure could develop along that boundary, it’s important to remember that not every low-pressure system in the Gulf becomes tropical.

A stalled front is essentially a dividing line between different air masses, and it’s a natural place for showers and thunderstorms to repeatedly develop.

As those storms fire, computer models will often try to generate a low-pressure center, but that’s often just a reflection of the active weather not necessarily the beginning of a tropical cyclone.

For a tropical system to develop, that low has to separate itself from the front.

In other words, it has to stop relying on temperature differences along the boundary and instead become a warm-core system powered by the heat and moisture of the Gulf waters.

It also needs thunderstorms to remain concentrated over one center for an extended period, low wind shear so the storms aren’t torn apart, and a very moist atmosphere to continue building.

Right now, the front actually makes that process more difficult because it stretches the energy out over a large area instead of allowing it to tighten into one organized circulation.

So while we’ll continue to monitor the Gulf as we always do during hurricane season the current setup favors a broad area of showers, thunderstorms, and potentially heavy rainfall more than it does a well-organized tropical system.

It’s a good reminder that just because a model paints a low pressure area in the Gulf doesn’t mean a hurricane is on the horizon.

Our job is to separate what the models are suggesting from what the atmosphere is actually capable of producing.

Alexander, who signed a two-way deal with Utah last week, made contact with the Bulls' Caleb Wilson while driving toward the basket and, after tossing the ball toward the hoop, went behind the basket clutching his side. He then dropped to the ground, seemingly in great pain.

The 23-year-old Alexander was taken from the Thomas & Mack Center court on a stretcher. The incident occurred with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The Jazz said Tuesday that Alexander had a left rib contusion.

Alexander played three seasons at Creighton and skipped his final year of eligibility to turn pro. The G League rookie of the year for the 2024-25 season played 24 games for the Denver Nuggets the same season and nine game for the New Orleans Pelicans last season.

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

The Perseids are caused by debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle.

As the comet orbits the sun, it leaves a trail of dust and debris behind it. When Earth passes through this trail, the debris burns up in the atmosphere, creating meteors.

The shower will peak on the night of Saturday, Aug. 12, into the early morning of Sunday, Aug. 13.

Conditions will be ideal for viewing. The moon will be in the “new moon” phase, which means that it will appear dark from our view.

The new moon will occur on Aug. 12, which means it won’t wash out the faint meteors. If the moon were full, it would be very bright, which would make viewing difficult.

Around 90 meteors or more an hour will be possible to view at the peak of the shower.

To see the Perseids, find a dark location away from city lights. You don’t need binoculars or a telescope to see the meteors, but they will be easier to see if you have a clear view of the sky.

A 28-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder and terror crimes remains in custody on an extended detention warrant under the Terrorism Act that allows police to question him for up to another week.

“It is clear that this was a targeted attack,” Laurence Taylor, head of National Counter Terrorism Policing told reporters. “We are still working to understand the extent of any planning or preparation, and the motivation that sits behind that attack.”

The death of Widdecombe, 78, a former member of Parliament, shocked the British political establishment, where she was long known for blunt-spoken socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.

Counterterror police took over the investigation Monday after new evidence was discovered. Devon and Cornwall Police have been criticized for originally saying the killing was not believed to be a terror-related crime and there was nothing to suggest it was politically motivated.

Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez defended her agency Tuesday, saying new information often changes the nature of a fast-paced investigation.

Police believe Widdecombe was attacked on Wednesday just past noon. She failed to show up for a scheduled TV interview about an hour later and was found dead the next day in her isolated rural home in a village in southwest England.

Police did not disclose a cause of death, saying only that she had sustained “serious injuries.” Taylor called it a “brutal attack on a 78-year-old lady in her own home.”

The suspect was arrested Saturday in South Yorkshire county in northern England, more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the village of Haytor on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, where Widdecombe died.

Police have conducted extensive searches at his home and Taylor said they found evidence of planning, but he declined to provide details.

The man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder, but additional evidence found while he was in custody led police to rearrest him on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

The suspect has not been named because he has not been charged.

Widdecombe was in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010, serving in roles including prisons minister in Prime Minister John Major’s 1990s Conservative government.

She found fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on the reality television shows “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Celebrity Big Brother.”

She later joined the Brexit Party, briefly serving as a member of the European Parliament before Britain left the European Union in 2020. Most recently, she joined the anti-immigration Reform UK party, often appearing in the media as a spokesperson.

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

“Seeing my grandma and all these people affected made me feel like I had to do something, even if it was from the U.S.," said the 18-year-old, who has spent the last couple weeks preparing food for volunteers at the Doral, Florida headquarters of the nonprofit Global Empowerment Mission.

Izaguirre is one of thousands of people who have participated in an exceptionally large grassroots humanitarian effort based at GEM, supported by donations from across the U.S. and beyond and still going strong nearly three weeks after the catastrophe.

Hundreds of volunteers still show up each day at GEM's warehouses in Doral, where about half the population is of Venezuelan descent. They sort donated supplies –– curated to address the latest needs –– and prepare them for transport to Caracas on daily flights.

GEM's system, facilitated by the U.S. State Department, has given members of the Venezuelan diaspora and others an outlet to support the ongoing crisis, and a trusted mechanism to send aid amid widespread concern about theft and corruption on the part of Venezuelan officials.

“Whatever we can get to the Venezuelan public is what counts,” said Izaguirre.

The effort also underscores the stunning dynamic shift between the U.S. and Venezuela since President Donald Trump ordered then-Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s capture in an early morning raid on Jan 3. With military personnel again on the ground, the U.S. has assumed a response role that would have been unimaginable before January, when Trump said the U.S. would “run” the country and seized control of its oil exports.

“This is a whole different animal,” said GEM founder and president Michael Capponi, who was denied entry to Venezuela while trying to deliver aid during the reign of Maduro, who long rejected humanitarian help, equating it to foreign intervention. “We land a private plane, it gets unloaded by U.S. soldiers, it goes in a truck we pay for and to a warehouse that we completely control. It doesn’t touch the hands of the Venezuelan government.”

GEM quickly activated a supply chain

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes struck 39 seconds apart on June 24, killing at least 4,500 people with thousands more still missing. They destroyed 190 buildings and damaged over 850, Venezuelan officials said, leaving 17,000 displaced and ravaging critical infrastructure providing electricity, clean water and sanitation.

GEM's headquarters became a donation collection point almost immediately. Some donors were initially skeptical that aid could reach those who needed it without being stolen or misused by a notoriously corrupt government, Capponi said. After GEM made its first successful aid distribution, the movement grew bigger than he'd seen in decades of global response.

Companies like Goya, Walmart and Amazon contribute supplies while professional sports teams have donated funds. But much of the aid is still amassed from thousands of individuals' contributions.

“They’re going to Walmart with their credit card, buying 15 cans of food and bringing it in a shopping bag,” said Capponi. “It doesn’t sound like a lot, but when it’s 2,000 people... it’s an enormous amount of aid.”

Lines to drop off aid at GEM have at times been so long police had to help manage traffic. Supplies arrive from across North America: Two brothers drove a U-Haul of goods from Canada. Another group arrived from Mexico. Trucks have rolled in from Nevada, Texas and California.

As many as 1,000 volunteers across three warehouses sort and pack. They fill pallets with essentials like diapers, and assemble individual care packages with enough sustenance and hygiene items to last two people about five days. They also tuck in notes of encouragement: “Te queremos Venezuela,” one reads. “We love you, Venezuela.”

GEM aims to deliver at least 100,000 care packages monthly for the next three-to-six months, while also addressing upcoming needs, like longer term housing.

Volunteers have taken vacations from work to put in hours at the warehouses, said Billy Richardson, director of U.S. logistics. Others arrive after work. “We almost have to kick them out at the end of the day,” Richardson said.

Mariela Vila showed up because she remembers how affected she was when Hurricane Maria pummeled her homeland of Puerto Rico in 2017. “The Latino community in general gathered together to help Puerto Rico, and that made me feel really well,” said Vila, 25, who has worked full-day shifts at GEM since the effort began. “So I felt the need to help Venezuela.”

U.S. assumes a complicated role

Nearly one million pounds (454,000 kilograms) of supplies have been deployed so far from GEM headquarters to its recently leased Caracas warehouses. GEM collaborates with local nonprofits and trusted community members to organize distributions in the hardest hit areas, often twice daily.

But it is the U.S. State Department that facilitates the shipments with the Venezuelan government, making it possible for GEM to operate in the country, even getting help from the U.S. military. On Saturday, U.S. Marines maneuvered an amphibious landing craft onto a Venezuelan beach and unloaded GEM packages that were then passed to 2,000 people lined up for aid.

Partnerships with GEM and other nonprofits allow the U.S. to tap into existing logistics and donation mechanisms, a State Department spokesperson told The Associated Press, adding that the effort with GEM leverages “the Venezuelan American diaspora and private partners who want to donate.”

Several other U.S.-based humanitarian groups told The Associated Press they also have been able to operate without interference from Venezuelan officials. Some depend on collaborations with established local nonprofits.

Despite the U.S. response, questions remain over its influence in Venezuela, especially while it controls billions of dollars in oil revenue.

“There are a lot of transparency questions that linger on the use of that fund in a moment in which Venezuelans really need that money to be used for the protection of Venezuelans,” said Laura Cristina Dib, Venezuela program director at the human rights organization Washington Office on Latin America.

John M. Barrett, U.S. charge d’affairs for Venezuela, told reporters last week that revenue from Venezuelan oil production, currently controlled by the U.S. Treasury, is being made available for relief efforts.

Asked for further details, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S. was "supporting the Venezuelan interim government’s budgetary operations, improving Venezuela’s liquidity and access to capital during the recovery," adding that the U.S. has contributed over $386 million to earthquake response independent of the oil revenue.

In the coastal city of Maiquetía last week, Yoniel Reyes sat inside a tent, examining the contents of a GEM package he’d just received during an aid distribution, packed and sealed 1,300 miles away in Doral. There were instant meals, bottles of water, canned food, hydration powder and hygiene kits.

“I never imagined I would be receiving aid from the U.S.,” said Reyes. “We Venezuelans are thankful, very thankful.”

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Associated Press videojournalist Juan Pablo Arraez contributed to this report from Maiquetía, Venezuela.

——

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

An aortic dissection is a life-threatening medical emergency that occurs when the inner wall of the body’s main artery, the aorta, tears.

Blood then flows between the layers of the artery wall, which can reduce blood flow to vital organs.

Dr. Samer Garas, an interventional cardiologist at Ascension St. Vincent’s, joined us on The Morning Show to discuss the warning signs and possible interventions.

The relatives of Youlin Chen of Boston broke their silence this week, apparently after they saw no sign from the Chinese government that it was planning to release Chen — even after President Donald Trump brought up the case when meeting Xi in Beijing in May, according to Global Reach, a Washington-based nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing home Americans wrongly detained abroad.

“I have not been able to speak with my husband for over 600 days and am concerned for his health and well-being," Yufang Rong, Chen's wife, said in a statement released by Global Reach, which has been advising the family since Chen's detention.

“President Trump has taken a personal interest in freeing Youlin. Since taking office, he has already freed 106 people and I know that he and his team will bring Youlin home to us," Rong said.

Chen is the only U.S. citizen determined by the State Department to be wrongfully detained in China, Global Reach said. The designation means those cases are of high priority to the U.S. government and can lead to intense diplomatic efforts to secure releases. The Biden administration in 2024 secured the release of three wrongfully detained Americans from China.

“President Trump has been clear that he wants every American detained abroad to return home, and he has reunited over 100 individuals with their families since taking office this term," Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said when asked about Chen's case.

If not resolved, Chen's case could “figure prominently” when Xi is expected to meet Trump in Washington in September, said Eric Lebson, a Global Reach adviser to Chen’s relatives. The family decided to speak out now because Chinese officials do not appear to be acting on Xi's commitment to Trump after the U.S. president raised Chen's detention in May, Lebson said.

The seismologist was detained in November 2024 by state security agents during a personal trip to visit his parents in Beijing, and he has been charged with espionage, Global Reach said.

Chen has worked as a U.S. government contractor for the State Department and Air Force Research Lab, with much of his work involving collaborating with Chinese colleagues to analyze seismological data, Global Reach said.

Chen’s arrest is “likely an effort by Chinese officials to learn about the techniques the U.S. uses to detect nuclear tests using seismic data,” the group said.

U.S. Embassy personnel have been allowed to visit Chen several times but are not allowed to discuss the case with him, the group said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Chen as a wrongful detainee in March. The State Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

In what’s being called a dangerous move that will erode trust, the National Design Studio installed visitor-tracking software on vital federal websites.

This group is an opaque White House office staffed mostly by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

They quietly, according to reports, rebuilt websites for passport applications, voter registration, prescription drug savings and children’s savings. And the worry is that it was done in ways that violate federal law.

Ian Marlow, CEO of tech leader FiTech Consultants, joined us on The Morning Show to find out if our privacy is at stake.

The arrests followed a long-term narcotics investigation by the JSO Narcotics Major Case Unit that led officers to an apartment at 11833 N. Main Street on the evening of July 10, the reports say. Officers found about 4 kilograms of fentanyl, digital scales with drug residue, MDMA and numerous small plastic baggies at the residence, the reports said.

Javaris Lee Williams, 36, of Jacksonville, was taken into custody at the Grand Pointe apartment complex and was booked on charges that include trafficking in fentanyl or fentanyl analogues, possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted felon, and possession of a controlled substance. JSO said Williams is a convicted felon in a 2019 attempted armed robbery case.

A rental 2026 Jeep Gladiator associated with the investigation and used by Alejandro Villasana Jr., 49, of Chicago, contained a large box with a large amount of U.S. currency packaged in “drug bands” consistent with large narcotics transactions, the report said. Villasana was arrested and booked on a trafficking charge.

Searches of Williams’ vehicle and a hotel room rented by Villasana turned up no additional evidence, according to the reports. Both men were taken into custody.

JSO said to call 904-630-0500 if you suspect drug movement in your area.

Graham, who had turned 71 just two days before dying on Saturday, was far younger than many of his Senate colleagues and appeared to have been in good health. He suffered a tear in his aorta, according to a preliminary report from the medical examiner.

It was the second time in less than a month that emergency personnel were dispatched to the home of a U.S. senator. In early June, Mitch McConnell, the former Republican Senate leader, was hospitalized for undisclosed reasons.

After weeks of increasingly dire speculation about his health, he finally revealed on Sunday that he had fallen and suffered from mild pneumonia. He released a photo, complete with a copy of the day’s newspaper.

Graham’s death and McConnell’s hospitalization have come amid an ongoing reckoning about the nation’s aging leaders, two years after the disastrous presidential debate that sparked widespread panic among Democrats about then-81-year-old President Joe Biden’s capacities and accusations of a cover-up.

Some politicians have continued to obscure details about their health challenges, asking for privacy despite their public positions, and fueling conspiracy theories.

“I think we need some transparency,” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Monday. “I wish Sen. McConnell and his team would have done that earlier, I think it would have resolved a lot of questions.”

McConnell is admitted to a hospital

McConnell, who at 84 is only the third-oldest member of the Senate, was admitted to the hospital on June 14 with barely any explanation. Aides said he was “receiving excellent care" but offered no details about his condition.

The dearth of information fueled a wave of speculation about his prognosis, with Laura Loomer, a Trump ally and conspiracy theorist, claiming on social media that a "high level source close to the White House” had told her he was “officially brain dead.”

But McConnell, who will retire from Congress at the end of January after serving as the longest-ever Senate leader, said in a statement that he is on the mend. He said a fall had led to his hospitalization and that he was “briefly unconscious" and treated for mild pneumonia.

“You all know how folks of my generation often hesitate to share the vulnerability that comes with growing older," he said. “Even in the public eye, I feel that same instinct – I can’t help it.”

That wasn't enough to put speculation to rest. On social media, many refused to believe the veracity of a photo his office released that included the front page of the “Sports” section of The Washington Post.

Conspiracy theories about McConnell’s health are “a symptom of our times," said Sen. Rand Paul, who is also from McConnell's home state of Kentucky. Paul said people should “give him a break.”

“People think they have a right to know everyone’s medical problems," he said, "but I don’t know, where does it begin and where does it end?”

Trump's medical reports offer limited details

The oldest person ever elected president, at age 78, has long offered only the rosiest picture of his health.

“Everything checked out PERFECTLY," he boasted after his last physical in May, adding that he took yet another cognitive test aimed at detecting early dementia and has “aced them all.”

His past medical reports have been criticized for offering limited detail and including statistics that some health professionals have viewed with skepticism.

When he first ran for president in 2016, Trump declined to release his health records, breaking with longtime precedent. He instead offered a four-paragraph note from his doctor declaring that he would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” Rep. Ronny Jackson, White House doctor during Trump's first term, later drew headlines when he extolled the president's “incredibly good genes."

When he was infected with COVID-19 in the midst of his 2020 reelection campaign, Trump's doctors and aides withheld key details of his treatment and tried to downplay the severity of his illness.

And after an attempted assassination at a Pennsylvania rally, Trump aides kept the public in the dark for days, declining to discuss the extent of his injuries or release medical records after assuring he was “fine.”

Kean Jr. goes absent for months

The obfuscation extends beyond the septuagenarian and octogenarian set. New Jersey Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. spent four months missing without explanation before he finally disclosed late last month that he had been in treatment for depression.

He said in a brief floor speech after his return that he had remained silent about his condition because he is a “private person by nature."

He won an uncontested primary during his absence, despite missing more than 100 votes in the House, and is running for reelection.

The approach stood in contrast to Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, who disclosed his hospitalization for clinical depression the day after he was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment. He also suffered a stroke while running for office.

Biden's stumbles doom his reelection effort

Biden's halting gait, frail appearance and frequent verbal stumbles eventually doomed his 2024 reelection campaign. After a debate in which he frequently lost his train of thought, he chose to withdraw from the race, sparking an unprecedented swap at the top of the Democratic ticket that ultimately paved the way for Trump's return to office.

Many others have refused to retire. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, died in office in 2023 at the age of 90, after years of declining health, including a bout of shingles. Though she returned to the Senate after her illness, she appeared frail and confused at times. It was later revealed that her office had failed to disclose in real time that she had contracted encephalitis while recovering.

Longtime Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas spent the final months of her more than two decades in Congress, when she was in her early 80s, suffering from what her office called “unforeseen health challenges” that made travel to Washington difficult.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, 88, the longtime House delegate for the District of Columbia, announced earlier this year that she would not run for reelection amid questions about her competency.

___ Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

The latest U.S. Labor Department data shows about 1.7 million Americans were laid off or discharged in April, while employers across technology, transportation, healthcare, finance, and retail continue to restructure their workforces.

At the same time, hiring has slowed, making job searches more competitive than they were just a few years ago.

And while some of the biggest companies in the country are cutting jobs, experts say losing a position doesn’t have to derail a career.

So, what should you do if that shocking moment happens to you?

Losing a job can feel personal even if it’s purely business. But career coach Dwight Bain with The LifeWorks Group, says your first response matters.

“What you don’t want to do is burst out crying. What you don’t want to do is yell and scream. The way you get fired is a reflection on your character and your ability,” Bain said.

Once the initial shock passes, ask for feedback. What did I do well? Where could I grow?

“Because a fair and balanced critique, I can walk out of that room feeling like, okay, I worked here for a year, but I learned some things about me. I improved in some areas, but I’ve got a couple things to work on. If it’s time for me to go to the next place. I’ve had that happen a couple of times, most people have, I don’t have to make it worse,” explained Bain.

Don’t turn your exit into a social media meltdown. No rage posts. No subtweets. No public score-settling. Your next employer may be watching.

“The more you create drama, the more the next place will not hire you,” said Bain.

Finally, in your next interview, don’t hide what happened. Own it and show what you learned.

“We’re having a great conversation and they say, and I heard you got fired, you can say, wow, I absolutely did. And let me tell you what I learned. Lemme tell you how it helped me to be better,” explained Bain.

Getting fired may close one door, but how you handle it may open the next one.

Losing a job doesn’t mean losing your network.

If you need a reference or LinkedIn recommendation, be strategic. Don’t automatically ask the person who fired you.

Instead, think about former supervisors, trusted colleagues, or project partners who know your work. And make it easy for them to send a specific request explaining what role you’re pursuing so they can write a stronger recommendation.

Pulled from a rural shelter by Swamp Haven rescue, Golda had been labeled unadoptable and placed on the euthanasia list after shelter staff believed she was in heart failure. But rescuers at Swamp Haven weren’t convinced.

“Everyone that meets her says the same thing — she is a perfect angel.”

After a closer look, Swamp Haven determined Golda wasn’t in heart failure at all. She simply needed medication to manage early-stage heart disease. One daily pill later, Golda is, as her foster family puts it, “as right as rain.”

From hospice case to calendar model

What started as a potential hospice situation has turned into something of a comeback story. Golda is no longer considered a hospice case — and she’s about to get her close-up.

Golda is set to appear in the St. Augustine Humane Society’s 2027 Center Stage Pin Up Paws Calendar, joining 12 other pets as one of the featured models. Rescuers are hoping the added visibility will help connect Golda with the right family.

She’s been in boarding, two temporary foster homes and one long-term foster home during her journey — and everyone who’s spent time with her tells the same story.

Good with other dogs and cats, house-trained, crate-trained and calm enough to be left out of the crate unattended, Golda is, by all accounts, a dream companion waiting for a forever home.

St. Augustine Humane Society Gala coming in September

Supporters of Swamp Haven and St. Augustine Humane Society have another reason to mark their calendars. The St. Augustine Humane Society’s 2027 fundraising Gala is set for Sept. 24, 2026, with News4JAX’s Katie Garner serving as emcee for the evening.

More information about the Gala is available on the St. Augustine Humane Society’s website.

“You never know how long it lasts,” said Pogačar, who is on course to equal the record for Tour wins. Only Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault have five Tour victories to their names.

“We just need to be grateful for this moment to be riding in the biggest race of the world,” the 27-year-old Pogačar said.

Pogačar, who had already sapped his rivals’ morale with victory on the iconic Col du Tourmalet on Thursday, again stamped his authority with a break just over 900 meters from the summit of the Col de Pertus, the penultimate climb on Tuesday’s hilly stage.

Pogačar’s main challenger Jonas Vingegaard couldn’t follow and Pogačar quickly made ground on Richard Carapaz before powering past him 200 meters before the summit. The Slovenian rider didn’t slow down. Pogačar was 5 seconds ahead of Carapaz at the summit, and 18 ahead of Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel, Florian Lipowitz, Juan Ayuso and Paul Seixas.

He then increased that lead.

At the finish line, Pogačar was 32 seconds ahead of Evenepoel for his 24th stage victory altogether – his third on Bastille Day, France’s national holiday – and the third already at this Tour.

Seixas, French fans’ greatest hope, was third, 34 seconds behind.

Vingegaard could only finish 44 seconds behind Pogačar, leaving the yellow jersey holder with a lead of 3 minutes, 36 seconds after 10 stages.

Pogačar already had the biggest lead he has ever had at this stage of the race.

Teamed to perfection

Pogačar's UAE Emirates-XRG teammates controlled Tuesday's stage even when Mathieu van der Poel, the winner of the previous stage, was among a group of 31 riders that pulled away before the first climb of the day on Côte de Pailherols.

Javier Romo emerged to lead alone but he was never allowed to get too far ahead. Carapaz attacked after the Spanish rider was caught by the peloton and he in turn was powerless to prevent Pogačar surging past on the Col de Pertus.

“The team did a super good job. We targeted this stage a long time ago,” said Pogačar, who remembered being beaten by Vingegaard “fair and square” at Le Lioran two years earlier. That was the Dane's last stage win over his rival.

“Today I had similar legs in the finish, completely destroyed,” said Pogačar, who added he couldn't hear anything over his radio because of the noise from fans. “I didn’t know I was going to win until the last kilometer.”

Some fans booed, but Pogačar said he didn't mind.

“To all the guys that were booing, they give us more power,” he said.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

City council members confirmed the decision to News4JAX reporter Briana Brownlee and photojournalist Jesse Hanson, weeks after the Culinary Institute of America’s board met to decide whether Jacksonville would become its Southeast campus.

RELATED | Did Jacksonville’s $35M push work? Culinary Institute of America delays decision on campus

Now, city leaders say the focus shifts from landing the project to making it a reality.

“It’s not just for Jacksonville, it’s not just for Florida, it’s pretty much for everything south of Virginia and as far west as I think for Mississippi,” said Downtown Councilman Jimmy Peluso. “We are going to be this massive hub for the Culinary Institute of America, and since we got selected, it’s kind of putting the ball back in our court, or at least the Downtown Investment Authority’s court, to negotiate a deal with CIA, to figure out okay we know CIA wants to come here, let’s make sure we have a package that helps build out their campus.”

The proposed Culinary Institute of America campus is planned as part of a $160.5 million hotel and convention center development at 330 E. Bay St. on Jacksonville’s riverfront. Developers envision the school serving as the anchor tenant while helping attract tourism, conventions, and hospitality-related businesses to downtown.

Although Jacksonville has been selected, several major steps remain before the campus becomes a reality.

The Downtown Investment Authority must negotiate a final agreement with the Culinary Institute of America, including plans for the campus, the property it will occupy and the overall redevelopment agreement.

Peluso said city leaders are also discussing a temporary location where the school could operate while a permanent campus is built.

“What is going to be the done deal, though, is when we kind of negotiate what this building is going to look like, what the parcel looks like, and for CIA, they are probably going to have to get a temporary site for a year or two while that building gets developed. So that’s the next conversation,” Peluso said.

Once negotiations are complete, the redevelopment agreement will return to the Jacksonville City Council for final approval.

What about the funding?

Last month, the Jacksonville City Council voted 16-2 to approve an emergency ordinance endorsing up to $35 million in incentives tied to the proposed project.

At the time, city leaders stressed the vote did not immediately authorize spending. Instead, it allowed Jacksonville to present a financial package while negotiations continued.

“And when it comes to the dollars that we are going to commit, those dollars we already set aside those dollars- it’s not any money coming out of any reserves or the general fund.” Peluso said. “These are dollars that were already set aside about a year ago, so this isn’t affecting the taxpayer today.”

The Culinary Institute of America is considered one of the nation’s premier culinary schools, training chefs, restaurateurs and hospitality leaders.

RELATED | From a beloved local restaurant to a culinary campus, city leaders hope downtown projects spur even more development

Supporters say a Southeast campus would bring far more than classrooms to Jacksonville. They believe it could strengthen the region’s hospitality workforce, support hotels and conventions, attract visitors and become another catalyst for downtown redevelopment.

The project is one of several major developments planned for downtown, joining Riverfront Plaza and the Pearl Square redevelopment as city leaders work to create a more active urban core.

Now, several major projects are moving closer to reality — from a new riverfront destination where the Jacksonville Landing once stood, to a potential Culinary Institute of America campus and a proposed Publix-anchored development in Pearl Square.

City leaders say each project plays a different role in creating a downtown that attracts more residents, visitors and businesses.

But as construction moves forward, another question remains: Can these projects create enough momentum to bring more private investment downtown and reduce the city’s role in helping fund future developments?

A new chapter at the riverfront

Nearly seven years after the Jacksonville Landing closed, Riverfront Plaza is beginning to take shape.

The city recently selected European Street Cafe, a beloved Jacksonville staple, as the first permanent restaurant at the new riverfront park.

For owner Andy Zarka, the opportunity is personal.

“The Landing meant so much to me growing up in Jacksonville. It was a place that I would come with my folks, and then in college we would come, and then after I had a daughter, we’d come down here and sit on the river, watch the dolphins, watch the fountain,” Zarka said. “It’s a special, special place to me, and so to have the privilege and the honor of opening this location in that historic spot.”

Zarka says opening at Riverfront Plaza is a chance to help create those same memories for a new generation.

The 2,400-square-foot café is expected to open in late fall 2026. It will offer European Street favorites, along with coffee, desserts, beer and wine, while also providing grab-and-go options for downtown workers and a gathering place for families and visitors.

Zarka says adding more activity, especially after business hours, is a key part of changing the way people experience downtown.

“Let’s make this more of an evening-time, nighttime location. There’s always that stigma: It becomes a ghost town after the offices close. We’ve been coming down here at night just to check it out, and that’s changing,” Zarka said. “Families are coming down here. They’re hanging out. They’re here in the evening. Let’s give them more to do, and more things to see.”

Culinary Institute of America

While Riverfront Plaza focuses on creating a gathering place along the river, city leaders say another project could help bring people to downtown from across the region: The proposed Culinary Institute of America campus.

Jacksonville city council members confirmed with News4JAX reporter Briana Brownlee and photojournalist Jesse Hanson that the school selected the city as its future Southeast hub.

The project would be part of a larger riverfront development and is expected to include education, hospitality training and opportunities tied to tourism and conventions.

RELATED | Did Jacksonville’s $35M push work? Culinary Institute of America delays decision on campus

The City Council previously approved up to $35 million in support for the project.

Councilman Jimmy Peluso says those dollars have already been identified and would not come from the city’s general fund or reserves.

“It’s not any money coming out of any reserves or the general fund. These are dollars that were already set aside about a year ago, so this isn’t affecting the taxpayer today,” Peluso explained.

The approval, however, does not mean the project is finished.

The Downtown Investment Authority still has to negotiate the final agreement, including details about the campus design, the property and the construction timeline.

Peluso says the impact could stretch far beyond Jacksonville.

“It’s not just for Jacksonville, it’s not just for Florida, it’s pretty much for everything south of Virginia and as far west as I think for Mississippi,” Peluso said. “We are going to be this massive hub for the Culinary Institute of America. We got selected; it’s kind of putting the ball back in our court, or at least the Downtown Investment Authority’s court, to negotiate a deal with CIA, to figure out, OK, we know CIA wants to come here, let’s make sure we have a package that helps build out their campus.”

Pearl Square and the Publix question

While Riverfront Plaza and the CIA project continue moving forward, city leaders say another development is critical to creating a complete downtown ecosystem: Pearl Square.

The proposed nine-block development would include apartments, retail space and a Publix grocery store with a pharmacy — something downtown residents have long needed.

RELATED | Pearl Square to bring apartments, restaurants, beer gardens & jobs to Downtown Jacksonville

Peluso says the grocery store is more than just another business. It would serve as an anchor to help support the surrounding development.

“I think the Publix deal and the tower they are building. Keep in mind it’s not just a Publix, and a parking garage and a tower will have a ton of residents in them, so that’s good for a couple of reasons,” Peluso said. “We just can’t do half measures. We can’t do a few things here or there and then do other projects that really bring it all together. If we want downtown to succeed, let’s just finish up this project of the Pearl Street District, and we will be in a great spot; we really would be.”

RELATED | ‘More life to this side of Downtown’: Local businesses excited as Downtown Jacksonville prepares for Pearl Square

Unlike Riverfront Plaza and the CIA project, the Publix tower is still waiting on a final funding agreement.

Peluso says completing projects like Pearl Square is important because downtown developments often rely on each other.

“The one project that we still haven’t approved is that Publix project. Will it be a completion grant, or will it be a tax abatement? Will there be other options? I don’t know yet, but I am confident in this council and the mayor’s office that recognizes the value and the need to get this project completed,” Peluso said.

The bigger downtown question

City leaders say public support has helped bring major projects to Jacksonville, but the long-term goal is to create enough momentum that developers and businesses invest without needing as much city assistance.

“It’s going to make it easier for banks to lend, which is a big deal when it comes to downtown projects; you need those banks to want to lend and want to see their return on investment,” Peluso said. “Now they are going to see progress firsthand. We are going to see less and less incentives coming from the city, and that’s a big deal for us; things are going to become more self-sufficient.”

For Jacksonville, the challenge now is making sure these projects move forward together.

Because city leaders say downtown’s future will not be defined by one restaurant, one school or one development. It will depend on whether all the pieces work together.

Catholic leaders across the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond say the message is clear: technology must always serve people, not the other way around.

Why it matters

Artificial intelligence is already changing the way people work, learn, and connect with one another — and the changes are happening fast.

Unlike past church documents that reflected on social upheaval after the fact, Pope Leo XIV stepped into the conversation while it is still unfolding.

That makes Magnifica Humanitas something different: a moral framework for a revolution already in progress.

For Catholics and non-Catholics alike, the encyclical raises urgent questions about who benefits from AI, who gets left behind and what it means to be human in a world increasingly shaped by machines.

Pope Leo XIV addresses AI in real time

Pope Leo XIV released Magnifica Humanitas — translated as “Magnificent Humanity” — on May 25. The more-than-80-page document is his first encyclical and focuses on the opportunities and challenges that artificial intelligence presents to human dignity and the common good.

What sets it apart from many landmark church documents is its timing. Rather than looking back on a technological transformation after the fact, the pope is asking Catholics to engage with AI while its effects on education, work and human relationships are still taking shape.

Theologians and church leaders in the Archdiocese of Baltimore have been closely following the encyclical’s release and say its central message is straightforward: technology must always serve the human person, never the other way around.

Biblical roots of a modern question

The encyclical opens with a reflection on two biblical stories — the construction of the Tower of Babel in Genesis and the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls in the Book of Nehemiah. The pope uses these contrasting images to frame the choice humanity faces with AI: build for self-glorification and power, or build together for the common good.

It is a timeless tension applied to a very modern problem. One story ends in collapse and division. The other ends in community and restoration. Pope Leo XIV is essentially asking which story humanity wants to tell about its relationship with technology.

What church leaders are saying

Catholic leaders have welcomed the encyclical and say its message resonates at the local level.

Pastors point to the pope’s concern that society may be trading human connection for productivity — a warning that feels especially relevant as AI becomes woven into everyday tools and decision-making processes in ways many people do not even notice.

Archbishop William E. Lori echoed the encyclical’s themes in a letter to archdiocesan parishioners, drawing on the work of Catholic philosopher and theologian Bernard Lonergan. The archbishop emphasized that intelligence alone is not wisdom, and that a machine — no matter how sophisticated — cannot love, sacrifice or engage in the kind of moral and spiritual reasoning that defines authentic human knowing. The greatest challenge posed by AI, he wrote, is not technological. It is spiritual.

Archbishop Lori also made clear the church does not approach AI from a place of fear. He referenced the Maryland bishops’ pastoral letter, “The Face of Christ in a Digital Age,” which affirms that AI can be a powerful tool for good when directed toward the common good — but must never diminish or replace human dignity.

AI in Catholic schools

Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore are already navigating the practical questions the encyclical raises.

The archdiocese has embraced the responsible and ethical use of AI as a tool to help students become thoughtful learners and global citizens grounded in faith. School leaders are guided by Catholic social teaching, the Maryland Catholic Conference’s principles on artificial intelligence and Pope Leo XIV’s call to ensure that emerging technologies serve human dignity.

At the same time, archdiocesan leaders are clear that generative AI can never replace the relationships, moral formation, critical thinking and human judgment that sit at the heart of a Catholic education. Schools are working to develop policies and practices that uphold human dignity, support rather than replace human labor and promote the common good.

The challenge is real. AI is already embedded in many of the tools students use daily, and educators at every level are still working out how to respond.

A sophisticated tool — but not a person

Theologians are careful to acknowledge that AI is genuinely impressive. It can imitate human language with remarkable effectiveness, making interactions feel natural and even personal. But that sophistication can also be misleading.

The encyclical is clear: AI is a tool. It is not a person. It cannot form real friendships, experience genuine emotion or replace the irreplaceable qualities of human relationship. The danger lies not in the technology itself but in forgetting that distinction.

Pope Leo XIV also raises concerns about AI’s broader impact on employment, education and the environment — areas where the consequences of unchecked technological development could be severe, especially for the most vulnerable.

A moral framework for policymakers, too

The encyclical’s reach extends beyond the church. Observers with ties to both Washington and the Vatican note that the moral framework Pope Leo XIV offers has direct relevance for AI policy in the United States and around the world.

The document warns that scientific and technological progress, when disconnected from moral and social responsibility, ultimately turns against humanity. It cautions against a world in which people are valued primarily for their efficiency rather than their dignity. It also raises alarms about data collection, algorithmic surveillance and the concentration of technological power in the hands of a few.

At the same time, the encyclical is not anti-technology. It recognizes AI’s genuine potential to heal, connect, educate and protect. The question is not whether to use these tools, but how — and in service of whom.

Pope Leo XIV closes with a call to action: abandon the impulse to build another Tower of Babel and instead work together to build a world where every person, especially the poor, the sick and the marginalized, has a place.

Key points

• Pope Leo XIV released Magnifica Humanitas on May 25, making it his first encyclical as pope. It addresses the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence.
• The document’s central message: Technology must always serve human dignity and the common good — never the other way around.
• The encyclical is unusually timely. Rather than reflecting on a transformation that has already happened, the pope is engaging with AI while its effects are still unfolding.
• Two biblical stories frame the document — the Tower of Babel and the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls — representing humanity’s choice between self-serving ambition and communal responsibility.
• Catholic leaders in Baltimore have embraced the encyclical’s themes and are applying them in parishes and schools.
• Archbishop Lori called the challenge spiritual, not technological, noting that machines cannot love, sacrifice or engage in moral reasoning.
• Catholic schools in the archdiocese are developing AI policies rooted in Catholic social teaching that prioritize human dignity over technological convenience.
• The encyclical has political relevance beyond the church, offering a moral vocabulary for democratic nations navigating AI competition with authoritarian governments.
• Pope Leo XIV is not anti-technology. He recognizes AI’s potential for good but insists it must be governed by conscience, wisdom and a commitment to human flourishing.

Our discussion

Christopher White, a senior fellow at Georgetown University and former Vatican correspondent, joined me on the latest episode of Politics & Power.

We talked about Pope Leo trying to establish a moral framework for the use of artificial intelligence, the reaction from church leaders and the impact AI can have on societal norms.

Catch up on demand any time on News4JAX+, News4JAX.com or our YouTube channel.

It was the first time in almost two weeks that Ukraine said it had downed Russian ballistic missiles, which are harder to stop than drones or cruise missiles and have pummeled the country in Moscow's 4-year-old full-scale invasion.

Ukrainian air defenses likely used the U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air guided missile system that is the most effective way of countering ballistic missiles, but ammunition for it has been in short supply amid the Iran war despite European efforts to make up for the shortfall.

Paris cheers Ukraine along the Champs-Elysees

Along the cobblestoned Champs-Elysees in Paris, crowds cheered Ukrainian troops marching in the annual Bastille Day parade, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy received an ovation from European leaders who showed solidarity with Kyiv. Ukrainian aviators trained in France flew aboard two Mirage 2000B fighter jets alongside French air force pilots.

Zelenskyy was in France seeking a remedy to his country's air defense problem, and he announced Monday that Ukraine is joining with nine other nations to form a coalition that will build a shared ballistic missile shield for Europe. Ukraine and its partners could jointly develop a mass-produced, low-cost system in the next 12 months, he said.

The Bastille Day parade featured about 500 troops from the ″coalition of the willing″ group of countries that have pledged to help with Ukraine’s postwar security. French President Emmanuel Macron called it a ″great honor″ to welcome them to the parade.

Tuesday's attack in Kyiv caused fires at two warehouses and also damaged a school, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement it targeted military manufacturing facilities that produce long-range missiles and drones.

Moscow is seeking to choke off Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities deep inside Russia that have caused critical fuel shortages, frustrating the public and, Western analysts say, are hindering the Russian army’s advance on the front line.

Ukraine’s air force said one ballistic missile and 25 drones struck 17 locations, while falling debris was reported in 10 locations.

Ukraine seeks to bolster air defenses ahead of winter

Ukraine urgently needs to improve its air defense shield before winter. Much of the country is at the mercy of Russian missiles that have hammered its power grid since 2022, making winters almost unbearable.

President Donald Trump said at the NATO summit last week that the U.S. will give Ukraine a license to make Patriot systems itself. However, they are expensive, in high demand and take a long time to produce, so it will likely be years before any Ukrainian-made systems are ready to deploy.

Ukraine strikes more Russian oil facilities

Ukraine, meanwhile, kept up its long-range onslaught on Russian targets, especially oil facilities.

An attack in southern Russia's Krasnodar region caused a fire at the Afipsky Oil Refinery that was later put out, authorities there said.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine also hit an oil refinery in the city of Salavat in the Bashkortostan region, some 1,400 kilometers (900 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Bashkortostan Gov. Radiy Khabirov confirmed an attack on an industrial area in Salavat, but didn’t say what was hit.

In addition, the Ukrainian navy struck four Russian tankers operating as part of Moscow's so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers of uncertain ownership and safety practices that are dodging international oil sanctions and a patrol boat, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine claimed Monday it struck 105 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov next to the Crimean Peninsula between July 6-13.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 288 Ukrainian drones.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rebuffed ceasefires offered by Zelenskyy.

“This war must be brought to an end, and all reasonable diplomatic proposals are on the table,” Zelenskyy said on social media.

—-

Eva Van Dam contributed from Paris.

___

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

Kent Carpenter, 73, was with his Filipina companion in a house in the coastal town of Sibulan, in Negros Oriental province, on Sunday night when the masked men forced their way in.

One drew a gun and shot Carpenter in the head, killing him instantly, police said his companion told them. The men took a laptop, an unspecified amount of cash and a backpack before fleeing, national police spokesperson Col. Allen Rae Co told reporters.

Regional police spokesperson Lt. Col. Joem Malong told The Associated Press that Carpenter's companion sustained unspecified injuries and was being treated. Investigators were trying to determine the motive for the killing and identify the attackers.

Carpenter was a marine biologist who had worked as a lecturer at the Silliman University, in Dumaguete city, Negros Oriental, Malong said.

The U.S. Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“We assure the victim’s family, the community and our foreign visitors that this case is being treated with utmost urgency and no effort will be spared until justice is served,” regional police director Brig. Gen. Romano Cardiño said.

Carpenter had been a biological sciences professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, since 1996. His research — which focused on the Philippines and the Coral Triangle between the Indian and Pacific oceans — shaped conservation efforts around the world, university officials said. They said he was on an extended research assignment in the Philippines and planned to retire in September.

“He dedicated his career to expanding our understanding of the world’s bodies of water and protecting some of its most vulnerable ecosystems,” Old Dominion President Brian Hemphill said in a statement. He described Carpenter's killing as sad and devastating. “His scholarship and passion impacted and inspired many individuals locally, nationally, and internationally.”

On his university webpage, Carpenter wrote that his research in marine conservation biology centered on assessing the extinction risks to fish species and plants. In 2010, he told the AP that unchecked global warming could lead to the extinction of all coral reefs on the planet within 100 years.

“You could argue that a complete collapse of the marine ecosystem would be one of the consequences of losing corals,” he said. “You’re going to have a tremendous cascade effect for all life in the oceans.”

Carpenter's interest in the Philippines stemmed from his Peace Corps assignment there in the 1970s, according to a 2007 Old Dominion newsletter.

Several Philippine environment and biodiversity centers mourned Carpenter's death. Silliman University said Carpenter was an exceptional scientist, who had collaborated with the university on marine research work and studies since 1976.

“Dr. Carpenter made ground-breaking contributions that transformed global understanding of Philippine marine biodiversity,” the university said.

Fire managers try to anticipate nature's next move, placing thousands of firefighters, hundreds of engines, batteries of bulldozers, and fleets of helicopters and air tankers where they'll make the biggest difference.

This year, they're dealing with persistent drought made worse by record-low snowpack levels and consecutive days of hot, dry and windy weather. Hundreds of homes have burned, three firefighters were killed battling flames in Colorado, and a helicopter helping with another Colorado fire crashed into a reservoir, killing the pilot.

National preparedness has yet to reach its highest level, but resources are getting stretched as new fires pop up daily.

“The U.S. Wildland Fire Service is prioritizing pre-positioning of crews, engines and aircraft in areas with the highest likelihood of wildfire activity,” the agency said in an email to The Associated Press when asked about available resources. “This allows for quicker initial attack when new wildfires ignite, which is often the most effective way to keep fires small.”

US preparedness level ratchets up

The National Interagency Fire Center, a collection of federal and state agencies that support on-the-ground wildfire fighting efforts, sets the preparedness level at 1 to 5 based on fire activity, resource demands, weather and conditions on the ground that can be fuel for a fire. By late June, surging wildfire activity prompted coordinators to move the needle to level 4 and begin funneling more crews to the hottest spots.

The national fire center has confirmed more than 2,100 fires since the beginning of July. The explosion of fire activity across the West led to the assignment of more highly skilled and experienced incident management teams. Some have traveled from Alaska and California to help with fires in the Great Basin region.

As of Tuesday, 17 such teams were overseeing nearly 17,000 people spread across more than a dozen states.

It’s typical to see preparedness increase in July and August, but fire managers are hopeful they can juggle resources to avoid maxing out.

Over the past decade, fire managers have reached the top preparedness tier an average of 25 days annually, with the longest stretch happening in 2021, according to federal statistics. The earliest the designation ever occurred was June 21, 2002.

Firefighters hit the road to help

The U.S. has 10 geographic area coordination centers — or GACCs — that mobilize firefighters and other resources.

Mike Morgan, director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, noted during a news conference in early July that his state was getting help from an Alaska team.

“Thank God that they have the ability to free those resources up,” he said. “So I think at the moment I would say I feel pretty good about where we’re at. But I’m very concerned about where we go.”

In southeastern Utah, more crews arrived to help with the Babylon Fire, the largest active blaze in the U.S. at 166 square miles (430 square kilometers) — an area larger than Seattle.

In all, more than 5,650 square miles (14,633 square kilometers) have burned in the U.S. so far this year — more than the size of Yellowstone and Grand Canyon national parks combined — outpacing the average for the past decade.

Sharing resources requires balance

The most recent outlook shows above normal wildfire potential in July from the Four Corners region — where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet — north to Oregon, Idaho and Washington. It's not expected to simmer down until September.

Christopher Dunn, an assistant professor of wildfire risk science at Oregon State University, said those outlooks help determine how and where to mobilize resources. Those resources shift as the fire season moves from region to region.

In a busy year, states must weigh whether to free up resources to help elsewhere or pressure federal officials to keep crews in reserve in case of increased risk. That's what Dunn describes as hoarding resources.

“So there is sort of this delicate balance that has to be walked there, where you share, they share, everybody shares,” he said, “and everybody benefits from that sharing while not overextending your resources so much that you find yourself in a losing position.”

But along with sharing comes added exposure for firefighters who are in the field longer. That means more overtime and greater opportunities for burnout.

“With all this sharing and all of this increase in fire everywhere, we’re just going to see increased pressure on them to work more and work harder and essentially burn out quicker,” Dunn said.

Each fire season reignites debate over public investment in a permanent wildland firefighting workforce and what agencies can do to retain their most experienced personnel.

“More experience is critical when dealing with extreme conditions,” said Camille Stevens-Rumann, a former wildland firefighter and an associate professor at Colorado State University.

Red flag warnings determine strategy

Even with more resources, there's little firefighters can do when facing multiple days of strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures. Stevens-Rumann said that's where the advance strategic positioning of resources comes in.

“They can be available for when those conditions die down, like in the evening,” she said. “But when we have day after day of red flag warnings and high winds, it’s really hard to control a fire.”

Even though Stevens-Rumann has been on the front lines and studies wildfires, it's unsettling when flames are close to home.

“There’s no denying it. It’s easy to disassociate that when you’re on a fire crew and you’re arriving to a place that you don’t have a connection to, per se, to fight a fire. You know, you’re there to do a job,” she said. “But when you see it in your own backyard, it’s definitely a totally different experience.”

This year, firefighters are being directed to attack every blaze as quickly as possible to limit growth, reversing a decades-long trend in which managers let some fires burn to clear brush and dead vegetation to reduce future risks. Stevens-Rumann said there are concerns about what that means for firefighter safety and work done on the landscape to slow the flames.

“It doesn’t do us any good to build miles and miles of line that just get burnt over, over and over again,” she said, noting newer strategies are helping managers figure out where best to take a stand.

Volunteers watch for smoke

Having eyes on the ground — or rather above the tree canopy — can help spot fires early. Despite once numbering in the thousands, there are just 350 lookout towers left in the U.S., with many staffed by volunteers due to dwindling budgets, said Michael Guerin, chair of the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

They're not just in the West. New Jersey opened a new one this year, and they're also used in Pennsylvania, Maine and other eastern states.

The recent fires have forced the evacuation of some towers in Colorado. Meanwhile, Guerin and fellow volunteers in California are ready for things to pick up in their state when the Santa Ana winds arrive.

Satellites could help in the future. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection announced in early July that the first satellites had been launched into orbit as part of a space-based wildfire detection system.

For now, the lookout volunteers use a map, compass and familiarity with landmarks to pinpoint the location for initial attack crews. But their job isn't done, Guerin said.

“We then become the overwatch — the people that keep them safe while they’re doing the hard work on the ground.”

Reaction in the media world has been swift and severe to the issue of subpoenas to five New York Times journalists who reported on security questions involving the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One — a legal maneuver seen as a troubling escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign to control and intimidate independent media outlets.

“The subpoenas are an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations and have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Media advocates and analysts expressed dismay at the tactic, even after months in which news organizations drawing President Donald Trump’s ire have been attacked both in courtrooms and in the court of public opinion; media access to corridors of power has been blocked; and a Washington journalist’s home has been searched by federal agents.

“They have used the levers of power to intimidate and demonize professional journalists who report stories that are unfavorable to the administration’s desired narrative,” said Frank Sesno, a former CNN White House bureau chief who is now a media and public affairs professor at George Washington University.

He called Friday’s subpoenas “dangerous and uncharted territory, but merely an extension of what we have seen from this administration and president.”

“Don’t like a poll? Sue the Des Moines Register," he said. "Don’t like the way an interview is edited? Sue ‘60 Minutes.’ Don’t like the coverage of the gifted Air Force One? Order the FBI to investigate and subpoena the journalists for what is, by the way, a story that is in the public interest.”

Some of the subpoenas were delivered to reporters at home

Some of the subpoenas were delivered to reporters at their homes, the Times said. Sought by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, they seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this week.

The new jet in question, a present from Qatar that Trump's administration spent $400 million to retrofit and upgrade, entered service last week. But the Republican president used an older model Air Force One jet to leave a NATO summit in Turkey.

The Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that the switch had come at the urging of the Secret Service and that the newer plane lacked some of the advanced security features of the older aircraft, including antimissile capabilities. On social media, Trump denied security concerns.

The subpoenas were issued after FBI Director Kash Patel and other Justice Department officials met at the White House on Friday to talk about the matter, according to a person familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Times said the meeting lasted around eight hours.

The fact that the operation was conducted from the White House itself was particularly egregious to analysts like Sesno, who called the coordination “unprecedented.”

“This graphically illustrates the pressure and influence the White House and president have brought to bear on law enforcement that is supposed to be independent and driven by facts, not politics,” he said.

The Justice Department has justified the subpoenas by saying that “to be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”

“We value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country,” the department said in a weekend statement. "But DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which means not sharing classified information.”

The National Press Club called on the Justice Department to immediately withdraw the subpoenas.

“Every American should understand what is at stake,” Mark Schoeff Jr., the club’s president, said in a statement. “When federal agents arrive at the homes of journalists with subpoenas, it is not ordinary law enforcement. It is an extraordinary assault on the freedom of the press that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.”

Also expressing solidarity with the Times journalists was the White House Correspondents' Association — which, in less than two weeks, holds its rescheduled dinner, with Trump planning to attend the event that celebrates the First Amendment. The first dinner was scuttled when a shooter opened fire in what prosecutors say was an attempt to kill the president.

“The White House Correspondents’ Association stands with the New York Times reporters who were targeted for doing their jobs to uphold the public’s right to know how its government operates,” said a statement from the group’s president, Weijia Jiang. “The WHCA condemns any act of intimidation against journalists, including attempts to pressure them into revealing sources.”

Trump's administration has initiated multiple lawsuits against media outlets

Trump’s animosity toward news outlets whose agenda runs counter to his own isn't new. But in his second presidential term, he has launched an escalation, often harnessing the levers of the federal government or attempting to do so. These efforts have taken place both in actual courtrooms and in the court of public opinion.

The president has sued various news organizations whose coverage he dislikes. He has also threatened to revoke TV broadcast licenses. His Federal Communications Commission chairman is seeking to penalize shows like ABC’s “The View,” where some hosts speak out against Trump, by having the FCC explore revoking its exemption from equal-time rules.

The legal skirmishes include an escalating dispute between the media and Trump’s Defense Department over reporters’ access to the Pentagon. The Times has filed two lawsuits over a policy requiring journalists to be accompanied by escorts at the military complex.

The White House has also battled with The Associated Press over the news organization's refusal to follow Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico. And it has battled with The Wall Street Journal over reporting about Jeffrey Epstein and his ties to the president — including an article that described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper said bore Trump’s signature.

Last month, the Justice Department withdrew subpoenas it had issued that sought to compel reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify before a grand jury, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Post confirmed that one of its journalists received a subpoena from the Trump administration as part of a broader crackdown on media leaks that in January also included the extraordinary step of an FBI search of the home of another journalist at the newspaper and the seizure of her electronic devices. The media world was stunned by the search of the home of reporter Hannah Natanson, who was covering Trump’s transformation of the federal government.

The Times is now gearing up for battle against what its lawyer David McCraw has called “this brazen act.”

In an internal memo seen by the AP, the newspaper's executive editor, Joseph Kahn, criticized the subpoenas, praised his journalists' work and said: “We expect to prevail. We have the best legal team in the business. ... The law protects news gatherers from this sort of retaliatory abuse of prosecutorial power. It is essential that the courts reaffirm that protection and quash this overreach. We are confident they will in this case.”

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Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.

The event serves as the cornerstone of the foundation’s Survivorship, Education and Awareness Program. As the organization’s premier annual fundraiser, the weekend celebrates people living with breast cancer while generating funding for support services, financial relief and research.

More than 300,000 athletes have crossed DONNA finish lines since the series began in 2008. The foundation says those runners have helped it serve more than 22,000 families, secure more than $7 million in financial services and debt relief, and invest more than $3.3 million in breast cancer research.

The 2027 theme, “Love in Motion,” honors two decades of survivors, families, volunteers and runners and celebrates the power of choosing hope over fear. The theme was inspired by founder Donna Deegan’s memoir, Through Rose Colored Glasses, and her message of seeing life “through rose-colored glasses.”

Donna Deegan, Jacksonville’s mayor and a three-time breast cancer survivor, launched the race series to help families facing breast cancer overcome financial barriers to care.

“There may be more hills to climb, but I hold fast to the belief that nothing is impossible when we choose love over fear,” Deegan said. “The 20th running of DONNA Marathon Weekend is a milestone worthy of celebration, and I look forward to running beside so many of our friends, family, supporters and survivors next year.”

The foundation is continuing its partnership with Hilton Jacksonville at Mayo Clinic as the official host hotel for the weekend, including the Health & Wellness Expo and post-race celebrations.

DONNA Marathon Weekend draws participants from across the country and generates more than $4 million in annual economic impact for Northeast Florida, organizers said. Events begin at Seawalk Pavilion in Jacksonville Beach and include the marathon, half marathon, 5K, DONNA Dash and the third annual Pete’s Bar DONNA Crawl.

Throughout the anniversary year, participants can expect commemorative programming, expanded storytelling, enhanced survivor recognition and special fundraising opportunities.

Participants are encouraged to register early to secure a spot and take advantage of early-bird pricing. Registration is open now at breastcancermarathon.com; registrations completed on July 14 receive a 10% launch-day discount.

“The 20th running is not simply a celebration of where we’ve been,” Amanda Napolitano, executive director of The DONNA Foundation, said. “Every registration, every fundraiser, every volunteer and every survivor who joins us helps move love forward for someone facing breast cancer.”

The DONNA Marathon and Half Marathon have been recognized by USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards, voted Best in Jax by Jacksonville Magazine and qualify for Abbott World Marathon Majors Marathon Tours & Travel age-group world rankings.

DONNA Marathon Weekend describes itself as more than a race series: a movement powered by survivors, fueled by community and united by the belief that together, people can finish breast cancer.

Tau is one part of a toxic duo fueling Alzheimer’s but prior attempts to develop drugs that can target the protein have failed. Two Alzheimer’s drugs, lecanemab and donanemab, try to clear buildup of the better-known amyloid protein and can modestly slow cognitive decline.

The new findings suggest Biogen's diranersen did more than lower tau levels. The study of about 400 people found signs that it also slowed cognitive decline, in one small subset enough to be comparable to amyloid therapy, according to results presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in London. Biogen is planning a larger study to try to prove the drug’s benefit.

“This is really quite promising if it were to hold up” in that next-step testing, said Jessica Langbaum of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, who wasn’t involved with Biogen’s study.

“This is early days,” cautioned Dr. Reisa Sperling of Mass General Brigham, who also wasn’t involved in the study. But “I think it will reinvigorate interest and investment in lots of tau mechanisms, and the field needs that.”

It’s one of multiple novel attempts to fight the mind-destroying disease, including a possible tau vaccine, an experimental heart drug that might do double-duty for some people at high risk of Alzheimer's, and ways to help medicines more easily get across the so-called blood-brain barrier.

New approaches are needed to fight the leading cause of dementia

It’s not clear exactly what causes Alzheimer’s, which affects more than 7 million Americans and tens of millions worldwide. That sticky amyloid protein starts building up to form plaques in the brain about two decades before symptoms appear. But amyloid alone isn’t enough to cause Alzheimer's. Many scientists believe that amyloid buildup eventually triggers an abnormal form of tau to form tangles in neurons, setting off symptoms.

Diranersen is what’s called an antisense oligonucleotide that doesn't attack tau buildup but instead instructs a tau-producing gene to produce less.

“If you lower tau production, you are lowering the amount of the abnormal tau that needs to be cleared by the microglia, by the clearance mechanism in the brain. And so you are enabling the normal clearance mechanism to have more capacity to clear the tau,” said Dr. Cath Mummery of University College London, who led the new study.

Today’s anti-amyloid drugs are given through the bloodstream via infusions or injections. Diranersen is injected into the fluid surrounding the spinal cord, a straighter path to the brain.

Biogen's tau drug missed a key study goal — but was still encouraging

Biogen’s study included people with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s, randomly assigning them to different doses of diranersen or a placebo. Back in May, Biogen and partner Ionis Pharmaceuticals announced that the lowest dose — given every six months — had the strongest effect. That was a counterintuitive surprise and meant the study didn't meet its planned goal of showing that higher doses brought greater benefits.

Still, scientists had been anxiously awaiting details about how much that twice-a-year spinal shot really helped. Five of six different brain tests showed diranersen recipients’ memory and other cognitive abilities still worsened but more slowly than those given dummy shots, Mummery said. In one test of the lowest dose, that translated to a 26% reduction in cognitive decline — “approximately the same” change seen in earlier tests of amyloid drugs, she said.

Side effects included injection site pain and a temporary state of confusion that could appear a few days after the shot and last about a week, she said. But there were no signs of brain inflammation, which can affect recipients of anti-amyloid drugs.

Alzheimer's researchers also target tau in a broad new study

The University of California, San Francisco, last week opened a first-of-its-kind study known as the Alzheimer’s Tau Platform. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, it will test a variety of experimental anti-tau therapies against and in combination with today’s amyloid treatments. First up is a vaccine called AADvac1 designed to train the immune system to recognize and fight a specific worrisome portion of the tau protein, said UCSF's Dr. Adam Boxer.

The “platform” approach will expand to locations around the country, allow addition of other tau drugs to test and include people with Alzheimer’s-related protein buildup who aren’t yet showing symptoms, he said.

Other studies hint at new ways of attacking Alzheimer's

Researchers told the Alzheimer’s meeting that an experimental cholesterol-lowering drug called obicetrapib might do more than help heart health. They're exploring if it also might lower buildup of Alzheimer's-related proteins in people who carry a genetic risk for the disease.

Why? That gene, called APOE4, also affects how the body processes cholesterol. Obicetrapib maker NewAmsterdam Pharma plans to begin a study soon to test if the drug's cholesterol effects also can mitigate the Alzheimer's risk in people carrying one or two copies of that gene.

Companies also are trying to get Alzheimer’s drugs into the brain faster and at higher volumes, by penetrating the protective lining meant to protect the brain from harm. Denali Therapeutics' CEO Ryan Watts describes it as “hitching a ride” with iron that naturally gets into the brain. His company is pursuing drugs that target tau and amyloid using that “transport vehicle” technology.

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

RELATED | Former Oceanway Church leaders say arrested former volunteer coached, mentored children, contrary to church’s statement | Former Oceanway Church volunteer arrested in child sex predator sting was previously reported to DCF, church says

The church previously told News4JAX that an allegation involving Goodman was reported to the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), though the church did not specify when the report was made. During his Sunday remarks, Force said the incident was brought to the church’s attention roughly six and a half years ago. The church has said the incident did not occur on church property or during a church event, and that Goodman was eventually asked to leave.

Force addressed the congregation Sunday, acknowledging the board’s decision.

“The board has asked me to take a few weeks and just process, and rest, and recoup,” Force said.

Force spoke directly about the earlier incident during his remarks.

“Six and a half years ago, we never dreamed a serious allegation would be brought to us — brought to our attention by family in the church. The concerns were actually reported to the appropriate authorities, and we were shortly informed afterward,” Force said.

Force added that the church acted once it became aware of the situation.

“Once we became aware of the situation, we did take steps within the church. The individual was asked to step down from serving and leave the church,” Force said.

That earlier case was brought back into focus after Goodman was arrested in June in Marion County during a child predator sting.

Goodman faces multiple charges, including using a computer to solicit a parent or guardian for consent to engage in sexual activity with a minor, traveling to meet a minor after using a computer to solicit a guardian, unlawful use of a two-way communications device to facilitate a crime, and evidence tampering. Investigators say he showed up to meet someone he believed was willing to allow him to have sex with a 7-year-old girl — that person turned out to be an undercover detective.

Since News4JAX first began reporting on Goodman’s arrest, former Oceanway youth leaders Luis and Larissa Peña have disputed key parts of the church’s account — specifically the church’s claim that Goodman did not volunteer with youth or children’s ministry. The Peñas told News4JAX that Goodman was regularly present with the youth.

Luis Peña said the pastor’s recent remarks did little to satisfy how the earlier case was handled.

“Where was this energy six and a half years ago? Why are you saying we had to come as a family together now?” Peña said.

After the Peñas first spoke out, News4JAX went back to the church for clarification and provided photos appearing to show Goodman with youth. The church issued an updated statement saying its records do not reflect Goodman serving as a coach, mentor or instructor of students. The church did acknowledge, however, that Goodman attended at least one youth event — describing him as a “caregiving parent.”

Peña said the church’s decision to respond through legal counsel has only deepened his frustration.

A former pastoral staff member, speaking anonymously to News4JAX, said Goodman was involved with youth at the church. He gave News4Jax a statement that reads,

“John Goodman along with his entire family were involved with both youth and children and adult ministry during my duration on staff at the church. I am always thankful for anytime of reflection in such a serious matter. I think that is the appropriate response for anyone. They should take time to reflect on their response and actions to something of this severity. As being involved with the family that reported the case and issue, I only see it right to respond to the severity of this matter and now hearing that the current pastor is taking time to reflect on this issue bring me reassurance that justice will be served correctly.”

Despite the criticism, Force insisted Sunday that the church’s commitment to its community has not wavered.

“My commitment is to continue leading with transparency, accountability and diligence,” he said.

But Peña said those words ring hollow.

“None of that is actually happening. No transparency. It’s all protection,” Peña said.

News4JAX is continuing to work to learn more about the previous alleged abuse reported to DCF.

We reached back out to Oceanway asking about Pastor Al Force’s announcement to his congregation Sunday; they sent us this statement:

“Thank you for reaching out and for giving the church the opportunity to respond. We want to offer some context around Pastor Al Force’s remarks this past Sunday.

The board asked Pastor Force to take a temporary period of rest and reflection following recent events and the significant demands they have placed on him, his family, and the church. We believe this time gives both Pastor Force and the congregation a chance to pause while the church continues its ministry. It is simply an intentional season for him to rest, focus on his family, and let things settle while the church keeps moving forward.

While Pastor Force is away, his day-to-day pastoral responsibilities have been temporarily delegated to other leaders. The board and Pastor Force have put leadership plans in place so that the church’s ministries continue without interruption. He remains our pastor, and we value his leadership. Even as he steps back from the daily work for a season, he will continue to provide guidance and support as needed while taking this time to care for himself and his family.

Pastor Force is always welcome at Oceanway Church. This is his church family, and there are no restrictions keeping him from being on church property. Any adjustments during this season are meant only to give him the space to rest and focus on his family while staying connected to the community here.

As for timing, the board has asked Pastor Force to take the month of July for rest, family, and personal renewal. We fully expect him to return to his regular pastoral responsibilities after July. This is a temporary season, and we look forward to welcoming him back as he continues to lead and serve our congregation.

Regarding the matter from several years ago, the church took the concerns seriously and responded promptly and in accordance with the church’s understanding of its responsibilities. Above all, the safety and well-being of children remains our highest priority. Oceanway Church continues to maintain and strengthen policies designed to protect children, including volunteer screening, required training, and established reporting procedures. We remain committed to continually reviewing and improving these safeguards.

We appreciate the chance to provide this context and are grateful for the continued support of our church family and community."

John Goodman, of Jacksonville, faces multiple charges stemming from a joint operation called “Bad Habits,” including using a computer to solicit a parent or guardian for consent to engage in sexual activity with a minor, traveling to meet a minor after using a computer to solicit a guardian, unlawful use of a two-way communications device to facilitate a crime, and evidence tampering.

Investigators allege Goodman attempted to arrange a meeting with someone he believed was willing to allow him to have sex with a 7-year-old child.

Luis and Larissa Peña, former youth leaders at Oceanway Church, told News4Jax they were not surprised by the arrest.

“It was sad, it was really sad. It was not surprising,” Luis Peña said.

The Peñas say Goodman was consistently involved in youth ministry long before any investigation or arrest.

“It was the norm that the Goodmans were part of everything in the ministry. Whenever it came to anything, it’s always worship team, they’re involved. When it came to outreaches, they were there,” Luis Peña said. “I think it’s been a cover up. I think, like I was saying earlier, I don’t think any church is going to want to say he was part of the kids.”

Another former youth leader, who was not identified by name, also described Goodman’s involvement with minors.

“We have something called Fine Arts and he would coach, and so he would coach kids on singing, playing piano. He would also do Vacation Bible School from what I remember being with kids,” the former leader said.

Initially, Oceanway Church told News4Jax that Goodman was an adult volunteer and not on staff and did not volunteer with youth. After News4Jax sent the church photos appearing to show Goodman around youth and shared that former members were disputing the original statement, we were sent another statement through a church representative.

“We have reviewed our records and can confirm that Mr. Goodman volunteered in our adult music ministry. No complaints, concerns, or suspicions about Mr. Goodman were brought to us during his time as a volunteer.

Four of the photos you provided are from congregation-wide services, outreaches, or productions, not from a role in which he supervised minors. Our records do not reflect a role in which he volunteered as a coach, mentor, or instructor of students.

One of the photos you provided is from a youth event where Mr. Goodman accompanied his children as a caregiving parent.

The church once again brought up a previous incident that News4Jax is working to get more information on. We are told nothing was alleged that involved being on church property.

The alleged abuse was discovered and reported directly to the Florida Department of Children and Families by a concerned adult, and we were notified after that report was made. Upon learning about the allegations, Mr. Goodman was dismissed from serving at Oceanway and is no longer part of our church.

Our child safety policies require that volunteers remain visible at all times and are never alone with a minor out of sight of others. We reinforce this with cameras in our ministry spaces, open-door and clear-visibility rules, and a Life Safety Team present throughout our campus.

The safety of every person on our campus is a responsibility we take seriously, and we remain committed to the policies and practices that protect the children and families in our care.”

“He had claimed that John Goodman wasn’t involved in the kids department or the youth department in any capacity when in fact he was,” Larissa Pena said.

Following his arrest, News4Jax received multiple tips that Goodman was attending Northside Church of God. When asked about his involvement there, a church representative said:

“He walks in and has coffee and worships and hears about Jesus and leaves just like everyone else. There were prior discussions about him joining the worship team but that is not happening. I cannot tell you what is happening in the future. We are waiting to see what happens with the allegations and are going to pray about it and seek the Lord and what He would have us do.”

Oceanway Church also referenced a previous investigation connected to Goodman that they say was reported to the Florida Department of Children and Families. The church said it asked Goodman to leave following that inquiry but has not provided further details. It is also not related to anything that occurred on church property. It is also important to mention that prior to that inquiry, years ago, no one has told News4Jax that anything suspicious happened during their time at church with Goodman. News4Jax is working to learn more about that inquiry and has reached out to law enforcement for additional information.

Goodman did not respond to a voicemail left by News4Jax requesting comment.

www.firstcoastcomedy.com

As part of the celebration, Norikase is teaming up with Cafecito for the Norikase x Cafecito - Matcha x Sushi Pop-Up on July 26th from 11am-3pm, a vibrant collaboration featuring DJ sets from Amy Tran and Grace Seymour.

Powered by Pearl Hospitality Group, this event reflects Norikase’s commitment to creating memorable, community-driven dining experiences that bring people together over great food, drinks, and music. Guests can purchase tickets now to join in on the celebration and sip, sample, and experience summer at Norikase.

www.norikase.com

Police said that Deon V. Robinson, 32, was arrested April 5 in Lake County and Donavin D. Wyche, 19, was arrested July 6. Robinson faces multiple counts, including two counts of home invasion with a firearm, two counts of kidnapping/false imprisonment, impersonation of a law enforcement officer, deprivation of 911 and tampering with evidence. Wyche faces charges that include possession or display of a firearm during the commission of a felony and conspiracy to commit a first-degree felony.

Police previously arrested three other suspects in the case: Trever A. Strawder, 27, Ja’Kyris A. Martin, 21, and Ajahnnie L. Ward, 27.

LCPD and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office investigated three incidents that occurred between Aug. 19 and Aug. 31, 2025. According to investigators, suspects in the early-morning and late-night attacks forcibly entered apartments and a home, often shouting that they were law enforcement, and held residents at gunpoint while demanding money. Items taken included cash, iPhone 14 devices, jewelry, watches, cologne and clothing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Lake City Police Department at (386) 752-4343, the LCPD TIPS line at (386) 719-2068 or Crime Stoppers of Columbia County at (386) 754-7099.

The response is centered at the Village of San Jose Apartments on Auburn Road, off University Boulevard, where investigators taped off a stretch of road as the investigation continued into the evening.

A detective and a crime scene unit arrived on scene Saturday afternoon. Officers were seen interviewing neighbors and possible witnesses in the area.

JSO has not released a statement or confirmed the nature of the call.

For at least one neighbor, the response unfolded right in front of him.

The man, who asked not to be identified on camera, told News4JAX he was walking with a friend toward the complex pool when police arrived suddenly and aggressively.

“The police drove up and drove over the curb onto the grass and wanted to know, did we hear gunfire?” he said. “And then he wanted to know what address. And then when we said that, the people were running outside with the baby clenched. And he ran over to them with the defibrillator. And then within one minute, fire rescue and everything was here.”

The frightening scene drew a heavy law enforcement presence to Auburn Road, leaving many nearby residents in shock.

Several neighbors told News4JAX they heard what sounded like gunshots.

“I don’t know if anybody was shot, but apparently shots were fired,” one neighbor said.

News4JAX is working to confirm those details with JSO.

For some who live near the complex, Saturday’s police response was not a surprise.

One neighbor, who lives directly across the street, said he has watched police activity at the Village of San Jose Apartments increase over time. He told News4JAX he is now actively trying to discourage his college-age son from moving in.

“I’m surprised. I’m trying to discourage my son from moving into this place,” he said. He’s still going through college and, you know, breaking out and trying to do his own thing," the neighbor said.

But Saturday’s response, he said, confirmed concerns he already had.

“Yes, definitely. I’ve seen it before. Lots of cops going up and down the breezeways. Looked like more drug-related activities,” he said.

Saturday’s incident has renewed calls from some residents for better security at the complex.

“Could definitely use some on-site security,” one neighbor told News4JAX.

Others expressed a more cautious hope for the community’s future.

“I just hope the good people stay good — and if they can get rid of the problems, “ a neighbor said.

News4JAX is continuing to work to get answers from JSO. This story will be updated as new information becomes available.

In video posted by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, fireworks can be seen flying from the vehicle and landing in the median and in the oncoming lanes of the highway, narrowly missing another vehicle.

The pilot can be heard describing the vehicle pulling a boat southbound on I-95.

“They appear to be shooting fireworks out of the window at cars on the interstate,” the pilot says. “We’ve got it on camera, but it looks like it was mortar style.”

When deputies pulled the vehicle over, though, the men inside denied shooting fireworks from the car. The interaction was captured on body camera video.

Deputy: This vehicle was seen launching fireworks out of the passenger side of the vehicle.

Driver: No. Not us.

Deputy: Unfortunately, it was captured by our air unit.

Driver: No man, not, not us.

Deputy: Not this car?

After a few minutes, the deputy asked if anyone had told the men how their vehicle had been identified. They said no.

Deputy: You see that little flashy dot? (pointing at the night sky)

Driver: Yeah, it’s a drone?

Deputy: No. That’s a helicopter -- who’s been following you for the past 10 miles, shooting stuff out of the car. ... You’re gonna stick with that story? Because let’s be real, it’s on recording.

The passenger was arrested and charged with shooting a deadly missile from a moving vehicle.

“We understand fireworks are a fun way to celebrate, but only when handled safely and responsibly,” the Sheriff’s Office said in its post on social media. “Only ignite fireworks from a hard surface, a safe distance from people and other objects.”

The picture of Cardinals cool, Walker chased down Kyle Schwarber, shut up a rambunctious Philly crowd and introduced himself to a much wider baseball world.

Walker used six swings to swat six homers, besting Schwarber in a dramatic final round that silenced all those boo birds and made him the first St. Louis Cardinal to win the Home Run Derby on Monday night.

Schwarber hit 11 homers during his 15-swing turn in the final round. Philly fans, who jeered everyone but Schwarber and Bryce Harper throughout the night, quietly headed toward the exits when Walker’s winning shot soared over the left field wall.

“I was once told you don’t boo nobodies,” Walker said. “So it feels pretty good.”

The 24-year-old Walker sported the Derby champions' chain, slipped on a leather jacket and still wore his batting gloves as he broke down what it took to take down Schwarber on his home turf. He earned a $1 million prize for winning the Derby, which is more than his 2026 salary of $799,400.

“My thought was Philly is brutal,” Walker said. "I mean, honestly. But I think it’s pretty special because they love their players and that’s what you want from your home, like, where you play. I mean, I’d never hear people cheer so loud for, like, Schwarber and Harper. And those guys did their thing, for sure.

“But, you know, I can’t hate them, because that’s their guy, so I just got to play the game.”

Walker played a pretty great game in the first half for the Cardinals.

Walker is a first-time All-Star and having a breakout season in St. Louis. He already has a career-high 22 homers this season after struggling with a combined 11 over the previous two years.

Those final six in Philly all flying high with Iron Man on his bat are now stamped on the Derby highlight reel.

His cap backward just like Hall of Famer and Derby great Ken Griffey Jr., Walker celebrated with his family immediately on the field. His father rejoiced in recalling how Walker started hitting long home runs when he was 6 years old.

“When things got tough, they were always there in my corner to talk to them about it,” Walker said of his family. “They kept the energy levels high. They kept the feelings high.”

He fulfilled this childhood dream in striking fashion. Walker hit his seventh homer with two swings remaining and his eighth on the next swing to earn bonus swings. Needing to hit four straight homers to win, the right-handed Jordan knocked one off the top of the center field fence 401 feet away. He reached 10 homers and Philly fans booed with all their might, only for Jordan to finish the sensational surge and celebrate as fireworks shot off around him.

"You can’t say enough about how he was able to kind of slow the moment down, too, and lock it in,” said Schwarber, a Derby runner-up for the second time. “All of our fans were we’re raring and trying to will me to it.”

A revamped Derby format delivered great drama

MLB ditched its timed clock this season and returned to a swing format, with each hitter continuing to swing if he went deep on his final one.

The extra time between swings gave hitters time to track their home runs — and Philly a smidge more time to unleash those throaty boos at Contreras and Walker.

Each player had 20 swings in the first round and the top four advanced. Hitters were seeded for the second round, where No. 1 faces 4 and 2 meets 3.

Each player got 15 swings in the second round, with batters homering on their final swings continuing until not homering.

Boston’s Willson Contreras, Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, New York's Ben Rice and Kansas City's Jac Caglianone, and Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami also participated.

Philly came ready to celebrate its slugging stars

Phillies fans were wildly optimistic that Schwarber and Harper could somehow reach the final and crown the franchise's third Derby champion.

Harper hit only eight in the first round and was the final slugger to try and advance. Schwarber could only watch as Harper failed to join him. Schwarber, then with the Chicago Cubs, made the finals in 2018 at Nationals Park before losing to Harper when he played with the Nationals.

Schwarber and Harper — the first pair of teammates to participate in the Derby since 2018 — received roaring ovations when famed ring announcer Michael Buffer introduced them ahead of the competition.

As for the other six sluggers in the field, all wearing their home jerseys with red, white and blue uniform numbers?

Yeah, they were about booed out of the ballpark, with the loudest jeers saved for Rice. He gamely laughed as he walked out of his Liberty Bell entrance.

Harper — who said earlier Monday this would be his last Derby — waved his arms and exhorted the crowd to get louder as he walked to the home plate platform placed at second base. Harper about broke the ring ropes as he shook them like a pro wrestler, and the Philly crowd went bonkers for the star known as The Showman.

The ball-shagging kids in the outfield were even booed.

The Derby’s public address announcer implored the fans to cheer during some quiet stretches when homers — non-Phillies edition — were hit.

The fans did get a rise when Caglianone smoked one into Ryan Howard territory into the third deck in right field. Contreras socked ’em into the rarified air of the left field upper deck. One homer cleared the last row of stands in that section and bounced off the concourse in front of a bar. His 490-footer was the longest of the first round.

This was the first Home Run Derby and All-Star Game held at Citizens Bank Park since it opened in 2004 and the first derby in Philadelphia since Barry Bonds outslugged Mark McGwire in 1996 to win an afternoon event in front of thousands of empty seats at Veterans Stadium.

This derby was sold out and aired on Netflix for the first time, with the streamer getting into the game this season with a three-event package. Netflix already aired the opening night game, and the third attraction is the Field of Dreams game between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 13.

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

Real estate sources, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that Cincinnati-based Kroger had walked away from plans for up to 80 stores throughout the Sunshine State.

The company had big real estate ambitions in the state, with plans to build at least five 65,000-square-foot, high-end stores that would have added a major competitor to the Florida grocery landscape.

Harris Teeter sent a statement and said it is still on track to open the store that is under construction in the Jacksonville area.

"The only site Harris Teeter has announced in Florida is the Atlantic North Harris Teeter in Jacksonville. Per our standard policy, we only comment on locations where we are currently operating or have executed lease agreements. Beyond those locations, we do not comment on potential sites or real estate speculation, though we routinely evaluate opportunities that support our long-term business objectives.

We remain committed to serving customers in Florida through our Fernandina Beach location and are looking forward to opening Atlantic North Harris Teeter in Jacksonville in early 2027."

For years, the only Harris Teeter in Florida was in Fernandina Beach, which was a legacy store that existed prior to Kroger’s 2014 acquisition of Harris Teeter.

Back in January, Kroger ended its delivery service in Jacksonville and closed its automated fulfillment centers.

News4JAX reached out to Kroger and is waiting for a response.

Click here to read the full story on the Jacksonville Business Journal website.

Bigger fires have been ravaging areas of southern France, but the Fontainebleau fire is exceptionally close to the densely populated region surrounding the French capital.

Water-dumping planes repeatedly dived into the Seine River to scoop up water and douse the fires — the first time such aircraft had ever been used to fight fires in the Paris region, the regional fire chief said.

Smoke blanketed the treetops and hung in the air Tuesday as authorities sought to get the fires under control.

No deaths or injuries have been reported.

Two arrested in connection with Fontainebleau fires

Two people have been arrested in connection with the Fontainebleau fires, and two others arrested for fires elsewhere in France, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said Tuesday on BFM television. He didn’t provide details.

The heat wave that has scorched France in recent days, the third already this year, is starting to subside. The national weather service expects to end its heat wave red alert warnings starting Wednesday, though thunderstorm warnings are now in place in several regions.

Spanish authorities identify some victims of deadly fire

Four days after a fire ravaged a remote expat community in southern Spain, judicial authorities have identified 10 of the 13 fatalities using biological samples.

Most of the deceased, all of whom were adults, are foreign nationals. They include five British citizens — including a woman who died in the hospital — three Belgian nationals, a French woman, and a Spanish national, judicial authorities said in a statement late Monday.

Ten people remain unaccounted for.

The Los Gallardos fire affected some 70 square kilometers (27 square miles) of forest and farmland — an area larger than Manhattan.

Spain is experiencing extreme heat, which, combined with wind and little rainfall, is creating the ideal conditions for small wildfires to grow unchecked.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

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Associated Press writers Teresa Medrano and Suman Naishadham in Madrid and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

In both shootings on Monday, the victims drove themselves to the hospital, and the original locations of the shootings have not been released. The shooters in both incidents are still on the run.

The first shooting was reported just after 6 p.m. Monday when JSO was called to the hospital after a teen showed up with a gunshot wound.

Police said the teen told them he was walking when someone shot him.

In the second incident, a man in his 20s told police he was shot while in a car around 11 p.m., and another 20-year-old man in the car was also hurt from glass breaking.

Previously reported shootings

Police said one man was critically injured when he was shot in the face outside My Place Bar and Grill in Baymeadows around 11:30 p.m. Friday.

The man, who is in his early 30s, was taken to the hospital, where he remained in critical but stable condition.

According to JSO, the man was leaving the bar when he bumped into two men near the entrance. The encounter escalated into an argument in the parking lot before one of the men pulled out a gun and shot the victim once in the face. Click here for a description of the two men.

Less than 24 hours later, police said, a man in his late 30s called 911 around 8:30 p.m. Saturday to report he had been shot, then drove to a Circle K off 103rd Street, where officers found him with a gunshot wound to his left forearm.

He is expected to be OK, but officers said they could not find the shooting scene.

Then, early Sunday morning, two double shootings were reported within minutes of each other in separate parts of town.

The first in Murray Hill around 3 a.m. Sunday left one woman shot in the chest and another shot in her lower back. Both women are in their early 20s and are expected to survive.

Investigators said the shooting happened during an argument that escalated to a fight at a large party on Murray Drive. JSO said the suspected shooter is in custody.

The second double shooting also happened during a fight around 3:20 a.m. Sunday morning, JSO said.

Investigators said several groups of women were fighting on Bay Street in Downtown Jacksonville, and during the melee, one man was shot in the head and critically injured, and another was shot in the right thigh and is expected to be OK.

“We didn’t hear anything happen, got up in the morning to go for a walk and saw the crime scene all taped up and all the markers...and they’re out there with a metal detective looking for stuff, too,” David Phillips, a visitor, said. “It’s really sad, though.”

News4JAX stopped by several businesses along East Bay Street where they found a window that had been hit by a bullet. Owners said the shooting happened after they had already closed for the night at 2 a.m.

“A lot of crazy stuff happened you’re only on the weekends,” a Cinco De Mayo server said. “And it’s rough for us because normally our man’s not here and we’re only here, only girls. No men, only the people from the kitchen and it’s rough for us because we have to deal with a lot of men.”

They said that they are working with JSO to have more of a police presence on the weekends.

The fifth shooting was a domestic-related incident reported at 9:30 p.m. Sunday when JSO said a man in his early 30s suffered a graze wound to his head in an altercation in a car with his ex-boyfriend.

We’re starting the day with warm, muggy conditions and a mix of clouds and sunshine.

Temperatures will quickly climb into the upper 80s by this afternoon, with the humidity making it feel even hotter.

As we move through the afternoon and into the early evening, scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop.

While not everyone will see rain, any storm could produce heavy downpours, gusty winds, and frequent lightning, so be sure to keep an eye on the sky if you have outdoor plans.

Tonight, showers will gradually come to an end, leaving us with partly cloudy skies and warm, humid conditions as temperatures fall into the lower 70s.

Looking ahead, expect more summer heat through the rest of the week, with highs in the low 90s and a daily chance of afternoon thunderstorms.

“To ask whether AI is a bubble is a foolish question,” Son told executives at an annual company event in Tokyo. “AI will transform our lives completely, and do so in a way that generates profits.”

“Those who refuse to evolve are closing down their world. Those who condemn AI are themselves spitting upward,” Son added.

Financial markets have recently been swept by waves of concern that the meteoric rise in share prices of companies like Nvidia, and massive investments in data centers, might not yield returns that match hopes for huge profits from AI.

Son founded SoftBank more than four decades ago and is a pioneer in Japan’s technology investments. He was an early supporter of AI and has invested tens of billions of dollars in related companies.

Son said he estimates that almost $5 trillion in investments will be needed annually and globally to expand data centers, increase production of computer chips and provide energy systems and other infrastructure for AI.

“In 2040, approximately 20% of the world’s GDP will be replaced by AI-related industries, the world of superintelligence,” he said.

SoftBank oversees a sprawling collection of businesses through what it calls Vision Funds. Its other businesses include telecommunications and energy.

Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. earlier reported its profits for the fiscal year through March soared nearly five-fold to 5 trillion yen ($32 billion) from a year earlier as its AI investments paid off.

The tech giant has invested $34.6 billion in OpenAI. It sold its stake in computer chip maker Nvidia last year to free up funds for more investments in AI and data centers.

SoftBank recently started a battery business in Japan to build next-generation electric power infrastructure in anticipation of growing electricity demand driven by AI use.

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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok contributed.

Sayed Hashimi, owner of Mashell’s Kitchen, opened the restaurant in May 2025. But just months later, his family was hit with a wave of hardships that threatened everything he had worked for.

“I’m struggling with Parkinson’s, and then my daughter had to have scoliosis surgery,” Hashimi said.

From Afghanistan to Jacksonville

Hashimi’s story begins long before the restaurant. He told News4JAX that his family fled Afghanistan in the 1980s during the Soviet-Afghan War, seeking a better life in the United States.

“This is the land of opportunity, you know. This is a great country,” Hashimi said.

The restaurant was named after his daughter, Maschall, who was just 13 years old when she underwent scoliosis surgery — not long after the family had opened their doors to the public.

Viral video brings customers flooding in

The business was struggling to attract customers until a man named Abdullah posted a video to social media sharing the family’s story in hopes of helping them out. The post quickly gained traction, and the response was immediate.

“They came in, they wanted to know if the hype was real,” Hashimi said. “They pay for everything. Without the customers, you can’t pay the bills.”

In addition to the surge in business, a customer launched a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the family’s mounting medical expenses.

“He said, ‘I would like to raise funds for you guys and help you get back on your feet,’” Hashimi said.

Giving back, even while struggling

Perhaps the most remarkable part of Hashimi’s story is what he does with what little he has. Even while facing financial and medical hardship, he continues to give back to those around him.

“We see homeless people struggling… we pack up food for them,” Hashimi said.

When asked how he finds the capacity to help others while barely getting by himself, his answer was simple.

“You have to give back to your community because your community will give back to you,” he said.

As for keeping the momentum going, Hashimi said his plan is straightforward: “Just provide great customer service and treat our customers like family.”

To donate to Sayed’s family to assist with their medical bills, you can visit the GoFundMe link here: Fundraiser for Sajeda Hashimi by John V : Help Sayed Save His Restaurant & Family

More than 70 people were injured in the Sunday night tragedy, with 24 of them still in critical condition, according to a statement by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.

Initial details about the victims, which have not been updated since Monday, said 18 of the dead were women and nine were men, all Thai except one bar employee from Laos. The injured included 41 women and 34 men.

The blaze at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar, the city’s deadliest in 17 years, broke out shortly before midnight in a northern part of the Thai capital. Firefighters needed half an hour to bring it under control.

The bar, which in Thai calls itself a brewery or beer hall, claimed to accommodate as many as 600 customers. It was not clear how many were present Sunday night.

An investigation into the cause of the fire and whether the bar was following safety regulations is ongoing. Most of the people who were killed were found trapped in windowless bathrooms where they may have sought to escape the flames, police said.

Bangkok governor orders safety survey and better enforcement

Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said Tuesday he has ordered the city’s administration to conduct a sweeping survey of such establishments to assess risks. The city will also step up enforcement of existing laws to improve safety standards, he said.

Former patrons of the bar and other mourners visited the site Tuesday, adding to the growing pile of flowers leaning on the guardrails cordoning off the location of the blaze.

Handwritten messages in Thai and other languages, including Korean, were left alongside white flowers, expressing condolences to the victims.

Debris from the bar, including melted musical instruments and blackened chairs, lay scattered along the sidewalk, moved there Monday by officials investigating the cause of the fire.

University student Thanakon Phoklang said he was passing by and wanted to pay his respects.

“It was regrettable,” he said. “It’s impossible to feel anything else.”

The public clamor for answers and action concerning the tragedy has included relatives of the dead who went to Bangkok’s Institute of Forensic Medicine to collect their bodies on Tuesday.

Families weep as they retrieve bodies

Gathering at a loading area for vehicles, family members wept as they walked with coffins that were then loaded into an ambulance and taken away.

Namthip Tubsuk, a mother of two and teacher nicknamed “Ice,” died in the fire, according to her aunt Jittiya Phaiklaw, who focused on reports alleging exit doors had been locked.

“They shouldn’t have locked the doors,” Jittiya said. “If they were afraid the customers would get away, they could have had the security guard staff minding them away.

Jutatip Surakumhang, a friend of Namthip, said an apology was owed.

“I feel there must be someone coming out to apologize to everyone who died. There were deaths deserving an apology. It was heartbreaking,” Jutatip said.

The bar issued an apology and condolences Monday on Facebook and vowed to cooperate with investigations into the fire.

The relatives and friends of another deceased victim, 35-year-old Bangkok native Top Sarobol, also came to the forensic institute to accompany his body. They wept as his coffin was brought out and loaded into the van to be returned home.

“For his family, it is hard to accept it. His grandmother is old. She always said let her grandson cremate her,” his friend Nuttakarn Sevoy said. “But the reality is opposite of what we wanted.”

Speculation about the causes of the tragedy has been rampant but mostly unconfirmed, while experts have drawn general conclusions about fire safety in Thailand.

Engineering expert suggests problems should be probed

On Monday, the president of the Thailand Structural Engineers Association, Amorn Pimanmas, told reporters outside the bar that, while he had not inspected the venue, he observed some risk factors that could worsen fire hazards.

He said the building is enclosed, has low ceilings and may have used foam as decorative materials, without adequate flame-retardant treatment. Combined with limited air ventilation, smoke would accumulate quickly, he said, creating toxic air that could be the main cause of death for many victims.

He also noted that officials said the bar was licensed as a restaurant with a live music venue rather than an entertainment venue because it was located outside the designated zoning for such businesses. Amorn said that would exclude it from the stricter fire safety requirements for entertainment venues.

“There must be some kind of revolution regarding fire safety procedures, and I think law enforcement is also very important,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t have the law, but it’s the problem of how the law could be strictly enforced from now on. I think the government should answer this question.”

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Pimuk Rakkanam in Bangkok contributed to this report.

The process that top athletes go through to heal physically, mentally and emotionally highlights what a recovery might demand of athletes at all levels, as well as people experiencing chronic pain, recuperating from surgery or facing other setbacks. Because progress is rarely linear, patience and the ability to reset expectations can be as valuable as perseverance, consistency and motivation, according to experts.

“Sport has always mimicked life," said Ross Flowers, a sports and performance psychologist in Los Angeles. "You’re going to face challenges, bumps and bruises. You got to figure out how to work through them and overcome them.”

Here’s what some sports psychologists and former athletes say about confronting the unknown and coming through injuries:

Learn to recognize your body's physical limits

Fans are accustomed to watching athletes compete at the Olympics, the World Cup and other sporting events with broken bones, torn ligaments and dislocated joints. Comeback stories like Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn 's, after multiple injuries and another serious injury this year at the Winter Olympics, are an enduring element of sports.

While discomfort is expected during intense training, and pushing through pain becomes more critical during competition, even seasoned competitors need to know when to listen to their bodies, experts say.

“There’s a relationship with pain and understanding how to work with it, if it’s possible to work through it, but also knowing how to back off of it so the pain does not persist," Flowers said, adding that training to the point of physical fatigue or in conditions that build endurance is the sweet spot for improvement.

Liv Paxton, 28, learned this lesson firsthand after dealing with shin splints, quadricep strains and a partially torn Achilles tendon. As a runner at Winthrop University and the College of William & Mary, she pushed herself until her body forced her to stop. Since recovering from Achilles surgery, she said she has a better understanding of when to slow down.

“I’m so much better about keeping in tune with my body,” Paxton said, explaining that she prioritizes eating and sleeping well. “That’s not something that I focused on in college. I just thought I was bulletproof.”

Injuries can happen suddenly or develop from a nagging but manageable nuisance into a debilitating condition over time. Whether it’s a soccer player sidelined after a collision or a worker who can’t stand after months of chronic back pain, the outcome is similar: a forced pause and learning to heal once pushing through pain no longer works.

“So how do we know our limits? It is definitely an experimental process,” said Lisa Miller, a health and sport sciences professor who teaches at the online American Public University System from her home in Columbus, Ohio. “We have plenty of athletes who still don’t know. But we have also had more examples of athletes saying this is too much, I’m burned out and I’m going to take a break, bringing much more attention to the psychological side of sport.”

Honestly assessing whether an injury is affecting daily life and long-term well-being is part of recognizing one's physical limits. Miller said she has seen athletes of all levels return to competition thinking they are ready to excel, but not all can or do.

Tennis great Serena Williams made the difficult decision to withdraw from a doubles match this month because of a knee injury.

Take time to grieve losses and adapt to new challenges

Even after bones heal and surgeries succeed, experts say recovery can mean coming to terms with what injuries have changed and giving yourself permission to grieve those losses.

Former Baltimore Ravens cornerback Kyle Arrington, who is now a community activist in Maryland, spent nearly two decades with every hour of his day organized around football. After a severe concussion ended his career, that structure disappeared almost overnight.

“I knew what everything looked like year in and year out for the past almost 20 years,” said Arrington, who was a Super Bowl champion during his tenure with the New England Patriots. “To have that stripped away in a blink of an eye was a real upheaval.”

Grief and depression are common after season- or career-ending injuries and other life-altering experiences. People making a physical recovery may also mourn lost friendships, missed opportunities, unmet goals and a sense of purpose. The emotional pain can be especially acute when someone’s self-identity rested on excelling in a sport or a professional role.

Arrington, 39, said his post-concussion retirement took him to a dark place. He credits family and friends with helping him through the transition; with their encouragement, he committed to healing mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Arrington said he now puts his energy toward the E.V.O.L.V.E. Foundation, which he founded to mentor young people.

Experts say a support system can help people stay grounded when they have to make major medical and career decisions.

“Having a team around you is incredibly important to get good advice, be objective, but also positively push you, not just for your sport and your performance, but for life,” Flowers said.

Look beyond returning to who you were

Sports psychologists say recovery often turns a corner when people stop trying to reclaim the past and begin building a new future.

American freestyle skier Jamie MoCrazy, who at the 2013 Winter X-Games became the first woman to land a double backflip during a slopestyle ski run, confronted that reality after a traumatic brain injury left her in a coma at age 22. For her, recovery meant letting go of elite competition and accepting a new future.

“I realized that I didn’t want to compete if I wasn’t at the level that I had previously been competing,” said MoCrazy, 33, who is now a motivational speaker and lives in Salt Lake City.

She still chased the exhilaration she got from sports. Few things compare to the applause, trophies and recognition, but public speaking gives her a taste of that adrenaline.

“I take some deep breaths and then walk out on stage,” she said. “That’s the closest of a mimic for me.”

Former professional boxer Patricia Alcivar, 46, also had to rethink her next steps after suffering injuries that included a hyperextended elbow, broken toes and multiple stitches above her eye. She now runs marathons and climbs mountains to stay active. She said despite the physical challenges boxing put her through, she wouldn't change the experience.

“I will never regret boxing because it taught me that I am a fighter inside and outside the ring,” Alcivar said, adding that climbing Utah's Mount Superior was the first time she felt equally challenged. She recalls smiling during an arduous hike up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania because “nobody’s punching me in the face. Nobody’s trying to kill me.”

When returning to the life you had before isn't possible, experts recommend exploring goals and sources of meaning that could become the foundation for a new sense of identity.

“There is hope that something else can replace this,” Miller said. "And when we can find that daily rejuvenation of hope, we can also find new sources of happiness as well.”

The Public Office (Accountability) Bill imposes a legal duty of candor on public officials to tell the truth about public tragedies whatever the impact on their reputation.

The legislation is more commonly known as the Hillsborough Law, after the 1989 disaster in which 97 Liverpool soccer fans were killed in a crush at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. An independent inquiry in 2012 found police had covered up their own mistakes and blamed the deaths on unruly supporters.

The bill is due to complete passage through the House of Commons on Tuesday after a delay caused by wrangling over whether it would apply to Britain’s spies. After pressure from bereaved families, the government has agreed that intelligence services will be covered by the duty of candor, but with a “secure process” for disclosing information if it could affect national security.

The bill will become law after being approved by the House of Lords, Parliament's upper chamber.

Outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who promised to bring in the law during his 2024 election campaign, is due to open debate on the bill in the Commons on Tuesday in one of his final acts as leader.

His successor Andy Burnham, who is due to take over as prime minister on Monday, has long campaigned on behalf of the bereaved families.

“We owe this moment to the Hillsborough families,” Burnham wrote in the Liverpool Echo. “For 37 years, they refused to accept a lie. They stood firm when powerful institutions closed ranks against them.

“They have shown extraordinary courage, and because they never gave up, they will leave a legacy that reaches far beyond Hillsborough. They are helping to reshape the relationship between the public and the state for generations to come.”

The 54,000-capacity Hillsborough stadium was nearly full for a match against Nottingham Forest on April 15, 1989 when more than 2,000 Liverpool fans were allowed to pour into a standing-only section behind a goal. The victims were smashed against metal fences or trampled underfoot, and many suffocated.

The death toll includes one fan who died in 2021 as a result of his injuries.

With hooliganism rife in English soccer in the 1980s, a narrative blaming drunken, ticketless and rowdy Liverpool fans was created by police, and was only overturned by years of campaigning by victims’ families.

An original inquest in 1991 found the deaths were accidental, a conclusion victims’ families refused to accept. Those findings were overturned in 2012 after a far-reaching inquiry into the disaster that examined previously secret documents and exposed wrongdoing and mistakes by police.

In 2016, a jury at a second inquest found the victims had been “unlawfully killed” as a result of failings by police, the ambulance service and Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, which ran the stadium. It found the behavior of fans did not contribute to the deaths.

In 2023 the government apologized for the way the families were treated over the decades and for the delay in its response to the report.

An investigation by the police watchdog concluded last year that 12 officers would have faced gross misconduct proceedings, were they not dead or long retired.

The escaped animals, which include some exotic and non-native species that require a state license to possess, slipped away from enclosures located in homes, businesses, wildlife sanctuaries and accredited zoos.

One notable case includes a white rhinoceros at Wild Florida in Osceola County in 2022. The rhino was supposed to be part of a new exhibit at the park, but it escaped its enclosure and, in the end, was killed.

The USDA determined the park violated the federal Animal Welfare Act in that case.

Another case involved a kangaroo in Volusia County that escaped its enclosure after a bear damaged it in 2024. The kangaroo was eventually found and the owner was fined.

Several escapes have been reported at the Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Gardens since 2022, but in each case, the critters were recaptured by zoo staff and no injuries were reported.

In one case at the zoo, during an education program on April 1, 2022, a cane toad kept in a small container was left on a wagon in a portable classroom while everyone went outside for the outdoor segment.

Video security footage later showed the cane toad hopping out of its container and then heading out a door that was left ajar. Staff set traps near the portables and searched for days before recapturing the cane toad on April 18, 2022.

Only certain species of captive animals must be reported to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission when they escape. The state agency believes those escapes are under-reported due to the owners’ apprehension and fear of enforcement action.

INTERACTIVE MAP: Tracking animal escapes around Central Florida

According to FWC records obtained and compiled by WKMG investigative reporter Mike DeForest, escaped animals in the Northeast Florida area since 2022 include:

• Striped Skunk — High Springs (Alachua County), Feb. 2022; captured by neighbor and returned to owner
• White-faced capuchins (3) — Gainesville (Alachua County), March 2022; ​two of the monkeys never left the property of Koreymonde Capuchin Rescue and were recaptured quickly. The third monkey was caught by a neighbor luring it into vehicle where it was contained.
• Cane Toad — Jacksonville (Duval County), April 2022; a cane toad used in education programs at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens escaped from a small container that was placed in a wagon in the classroom when everyone went outside for the outdoor segment of the program; video security footage shows the cane toad hopping out of its container and then heading out a door that was left ajar; later recaptured by zoo staff
• Wild Turkey — Jacksonville (Duval County), October 2022; two turkeys in the Wild Florida exhibit at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens escaped; one went back in immediately and the other jumped out and ran down the tracks toward the bald eagle exhibit. Staff netted the turkey behind the scenes between the bald eagle and whooping crane exhibit
• Fox — Lake City (Columbia County), January 2023; remains loose; owner issued written warning
• Raccoons (2) — Hilliard (Nassau County), March 2023; 2 disabled raccoons escaped and are presumed dead
• Axis Deer — Robert’s Ranch BHP (Putnam County), April 2023; recaptured by owner, who received written warning
• Capybara — (Duval County), March 2024; recaptured by owner
• Chinese Alligator — St. Augustine (St. Johns County), April 2024; escaped at St. Augustine Alligator Farm; recaptured by staff
• Fennec Fox — Yulee (Nassau County), Aug. 2024; recaptured by owner, who received written warning
• Capuchins (2) — Gainesville (Alachua County), Oct. 2024; escaped from Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary; recaptured by staff
• Warthog — Jacksonville (Duval County), Dec. 2024; escaped at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens; recaptured by staff
• Red Fox — Jacksonville (Duval County), March 2025; fox escaped from owner, killed by car
• Ring-tailed Lemur — Jacksonville (Duval County), April 2025; escaped from same owner as red fox above; recaptured by owner, who received a written warning
• Blackbuck — Gainesville (Alachua County), April 2025; escaped and was killed on a road
• Boa constrictor — Yulee (Nassau County), June 2025; escaped and was recaptured by unpermitted owner, who received written warning
• Beaded lizard — Gainesville (Alachua County), June 2025; escaped and was recaptured by owner, who received written warning
• Black throat monitor — Jacksonville (Duval County), July 2025; escaped unpermitted owner and remains on the loose; written warning issued/misdemeanor pending
• Rhino Iguana — Gainesville (Alachua County), Aug. 2025; escaped and was recaptured by owner
• Wattled Crane — Jacksonville (Duval County), Aug. 2025; escaped at Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens before being recaptured

Assess spending rate

People who have just retired or are about to are particularly vulnerable to sequence-of-returns risk, which means that a bad market shows up early in your retirement. Not only does that early retirement sell-off feel bad, it actually is bad because it imperils your portfolio’s ability to last throughout your retirement years. In  Morningstar’s 2025 retirement spending research, we found that the people most likely to run out of money in retirement were  the ones whose portfolios lost value in the first five years of their retirements.

Retirees who are pulling cash flows from their portfolios can address that risk by adjusting their spending down to ensure that more of their portfolios are in place to recover when the market eventually does. And those adjustments don’t need to be radical to make an impact. In  our retirement income research, we found that even small tweaks like forgoing an inflation adjustment following a bear market help ensure that spending lasts over a whole 30-year period and can lead to more lifetime income than a strategy that ignores market movements.

If you haven’t yet retired, assess your planned in-retirement spending and identify where you would be willing to make cutbacks. Turbocharge savings if you can afford to do so. Catch-up contributions are available to all retirement savers over age 50. And if you’re between 60 and 63, you can make a “super-catch-up” contribution to your company retirement plan, for a total of $35,750 in 2026. High-income heavy savers may also be able to take advantage of after-tax 401(k) contributions, which enable them to stash even greater amounts in their company retirement plans.

Pull cash flows from safer assets

In a turbulent market environment in which equities have declined, it’s best to pull any portfolio cash flows from safer assets and leave your stock positions undisturbed. That’s the general logic behind  the Bucket approach to portfolio construction. In good years for the stock market, like 2023-25, you’d be harvesting appreciated equity assets to supply your income needs. In bad ones, like 2022, you’re not touching stocks but instead sourcing cash flows from high-quality bonds, cash, or a combination of the two.

If your portfolio is riskier than it should be, it’s not too late to shift into a more situation-appropriate asset allocation.

Play the long game with Social Security

Social Security is a secure, inflation-protected source of income, much like a paycheck. But the lifetime benefits of delaying Social Security are hard to ignore: a higher income stream that also happens to be fully inflation-protected and will last as long as you do. Delayed filing can be particularly impactful if you’re the higher earner in your family and you have a younger spouse who will receive that higher benefit for their lifetime.

In  our retirement income research, we found that delaying filing up until age 70 did enlarge lifetime income, but the benefits are greatest if you have some other source of funds to draw from until your benefits start. And the benefits are also obviously more valuable for people with above-average life expectancies, in that they stand to receive those higher streams of inflation-protected income for a longer period of time.

Revisit inflation protection

Inflation is a key risk for retiree portfolios because the income from your safe investments is going to buy you less and less as you age. Moreover, retirees tend to spend more on healthcare, where prices have historically increased faster than the general inflation rate.

Many retirees focus on nominal bonds and underrate the value of inflation-protected bonds as a component of their retirement plans. You can address that by adding an inflation-protected bond fund to your portfolio; most of the better target-date series allocate roughly one-fourth of their bond portfolios to inflation-protected bonds. Alternatively, you could build a laddered portfolio of Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities that will mature and supply you with living expenses throughout your retirement.

Investigate tax-saving strategies

The early retirement years are typically an excellent time to consider strategies like converting traditional IRA balances to Roth or accelerating withdrawals on traditional IRAs and 401(k)s. Without income from work and because you won’t be subject to required minimum distributions until you’re 73, your income, and in turn the taxes you’ll owe on those conversions and withdrawals, will be lower.

_____

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

Christine Benz is director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar and co-host of The Long View podcast. Subscribe to her free newsletter, Improving Your Finances.

Related Links:

Your Retirement Countdown, With Christine Benz

https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/your-retirement-countdown-with-christine-benz

5 Things You Need to Know About RMDs This Year

https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/5-things-you-need-know-about-rmds-this-year

Retirees Don’t Need to Fear a Lost Decade. They Need a Plan

https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/retirees-dont-need-fear-lost-decade-they-need-plan

Intergovernmental conferences were being held in Brussels to ceremonially open or close negotiating tracks for the top four candidates to join the 27-nation EU: Albania, Montenegro, Moldova and war-ravaged Ukraine. But it could still be years before any of them join.

“We have not seen this in more than two decades. The last time, it was in 2002. This is a Super Tuesday for EU enlargement and Ukraine is part of it,” Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos told reporters.

While holding four meetings in one day is a rarity, 10 countries — most of them from central Europe — joined the EU in 2004. Croatia, the last country to be welcomed into the world’s biggest trading bloc, joined in 2013.

Changing times force a change of policy

Tuesday’s move is a sign of the important political and geostrategic changes happening in Europe. In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that he would block any attempt at enlargement until the EU itself had undergone deep reforms.

But Europe’s biggest land war in decades and its fallout have altered that calculus. The EU has sought to encourage reform in the candidate nations, fearing the growing influence of Russia and China.

Ukraine’s progress has been impressive. It only applied for membership in 2022, four days after Russia launched a full-scale invasion. Moldova too has been under heavy Russian pressure.

Ukraine sees EU membership as one “security guarantee” for a stable future once the war ends. Its best guarantee would be NATO membership, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen, and other NATO members are wary of it joining while fighting continues.

European countries see the war as an existential threat, and fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin could target them in coming years, especially if he wins in Ukraine.

“The case for Ukraine’s EU membership is very strong,” Kos said.

“The future security architecture of our continent is unimaginable without Ukraine,” she said. “Ukrainians have turned their country into a military powerhouse with capabilities few other nations can match, especially with its rapidly evolving drone technologies.”

The benefits of EU membership

The prospect of EU membership is a powerful driver for pro-democratic reform, and joining has boosted trade and creates jobs, notably in the volatile Balkans region, where a series of wars in the 1990s tore apart the former nation of Yugoslavia. Most candidates for EU member are Balkan states.

Countries hoping to join the EU must complete negotiations in 35 policy areas, known as chapters, from agriculture to taxation and energy to trade. That process can take years.

Last month, Ukraine and Moldova opened negotiations on a cluster of five chapters linked to the values and principles on which the EU was founded, such as the rule of law, respect for fundamental rights and the functioning of democratic institutions.

They each opened a second cluster on Tuesday focused on foreign relations, security and defense policies, as well as trade policy, development cooperation and humanitarian aid.

Albania’s meeting will serve to provisionally close negotiating tracks on science and research, education and culture, and external relations. Montenegro – which hopes to join in 2028 – is doing the same with competition policy and customs rules.

Hungary's Orbán leaves and things start moving

An important factor that has led to the EU's new-found speed is a change of government in Hungary.

Ukraine’s accession process was long stymied by Hungary’s stridently nationalist former prime minister Viktor Orbán, who was considered Russia’s strongest ally in Europe and possible threat to the EU project. The candidacies of Ukraine and Moldova were linked and neither could progress.

But U.S. President Donald Trump's friend was ejected by voters in April in spectacular fashion after 16 years in power.

Orbán routinely exploited voting rules that require all 27 member countries to agree on certain rules, sanctions and even political statements. Unanimous agreement is required for each negotiating chapter to be opened, and then again for it to be closed.

Nine countries are officially candidates to join the EU: Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Turkey. Accession talks for Georgia and Turkey are on hold due to concerns about democratic standards.

Kosovo has also applied to join but has not been granted candidate status.

The billionaire businessman has been keeping up, and he plans for the final World Cup game at AT&T Stadium this year to be his first: the semifinal between France and Spain on Tuesday.

“I think first and foremost, he’s just a big event guy,” said Chad Estis, the Cowboys' executive vice president of business operations. “He loves the NFL. He loves the Dallas Cowboys. But he has a passion for events as much as anybody that I know. He very much wanted to ensure that the stadium was operating well.”

Judging by fans who eagerly anticipate seeing themselves on the giant video board that hangs above the center of the field and under the retractable roof — and then jump and wave for joy when they do — the venue temporarily renamed Dallas Stadium by FIFA has been a hit.

The Jones family has a suite for the World Cup, and has been using it. But Jones and some family members often leave the country on his yacht this time of year — between the end of offseason workouts for the Cowboys in June and the start of training camp in California in late July.

As a result, Jones wasn't there in person for a pair of record-setting performances from Argentina superstar Lionel Messi. Or Japanese fans leaving entire sections spotless by picking up after themselves — twice. Or Portugal star and career men's international scoring leader Cristiano Ronaldo's final World Cup game.

Those types of seminal moments were what Jones had in mind with the design and building of a stadium that opened in 2009 and in barely more than five years had hosted a Super Bowl and NCAA championship games in football and men's basketball.

Jones also was thinking about the fan experience, having used his own lessons from touring stadiums in Europe to include large standing-room viewing areas on three levels at each end.

An extensive art collection is punctuated by Anish Kapoor's stainless steel sculpture dubbed “sky mirror” outside on the east plaza. Kapoor is the creator of a similar sculpture in Chicago nicknamed “the bean.”

To prepare for the World Cup, the Cowboys pumped another $350 million into a stadium with an original price tag of $1.2 billon. The video board looks the same, but there were upgrades in the guts of that, along with new carpeting and furniture mostly in premium areas and an overhaul of the fan shop.

“I cannot tell you how many people come to our stadium and say, ‘I can’t believe this is 17 years old,’” Estis said. “People think it feels new. The whole thing’s been great, but it feels like it culminates in this phenomenal match tomorrow.”

FIFA's in charge

Jones had to turn the stadium over to FIFA, which means the governing body got to put up curtains on the huge sliding glass doors on the west end for the only game where the setting sun could have shined into the eyes of the players.

NFL players, including Cowboys, losing footballs in the sun has been an occasional issue each fall. Each time the topic comes up, Jones flatly refuses to consider curtains. He prefers the asthetics and expects coaches and players to make game plans around the setting sun.

It will be too early in the day for the sun to be an issue when Spain and France play for a spot Sunday in the World Cup final at the home of the New York Jets and Giants in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Jones wanted that final, but settled for the consolation prize of the most games, including sharing the semifinals with the home of the Atlanta Falcons, where Argentina and England play Wednesday.

“It’s just another great moment in an unbelievable sports legacy,” said Dan Hunt, co-chair of the local organizing committee and son of the late Lamar Hunt, who was one of Jones' rivals as owner of the Kansas City Chiefs.

“He’s been a world champion,” Dan Hunt said. “He’s a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He’s hosted Super Bowls, hosted almost everything you can at AT&T Stadium. And this is just another moment.”

That suite spot

Oh, one other thing Jones had to give up — his personal suite at the 50-yard line. Estis said FIFA thought it was perfect for a VIP area.

“We're like, ‘Wait a minute. Are you serious?’” Estis said with a chuckle. “I mean, I understand it. That's why Jerry's suite is there. It's the prime spot.”

Jones is giving up his prime spot for arguably the biggest single global sporting event to come to his venue. He'll just be in a different suite.

“I think I could imagine him being a little emotional about it,” Estis said. “To see him in design meetings and his attention to detail and his care for what the stadium looked and felt like to people, what it looked like from different angles walking up to it. He just he was so involved in the creation of what it is.”

Jones is set to feel the soccer vibe — finally.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The increase in exports in June was much better than economists had expected. Exports rose 19.4% year-on-year in May.

Imports in June surged 36%, better than May’s 27.4% year-on-year growth, with analysts attributing the expansion in part due to the Iran war driving up import costs.

China recorded a trade surplus of $125.6 billion in June, widening from $105.4 billion in the previous month.

“With the rapid growth of AI, our imports and export of products in this field are robust," Wang Jun, vice minister of China’s General Administration of Customs, said at a news conference in Beijing.

He said trade in electronic components, computer spare parts, and other computing hardware jumped nearly 57% to 5.1 trillion yuan ($760 billion) in the first half of the year. Other products such as AI glasses, AI translating devices, powered exoskeletons and other smart products are also evolving.

“Trade values took another big leg up in June,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China Economics at Capital Economics, wrote in a note Tuesday. “This predominantly reflects the recent surge in semiconductor prices on the back of the AI boom. But even putting that aside, foreign demand for Chinese goods remains robust.”

China's exports of vehicles, especially EVs, and other tech-related products have boomed as rapid adoption of AI increases the need for semiconductors and other electronic equipment.

The strength in export manufacturing has helped to offset prolonged weakness in domestic spending and investmentdue to a prolonged downturn in the property industry.

In January-June, China’s exports climbed 17.6% from a year earlier, while imports jumped 26.6%, according to the customs data.

Policymakers including those in the U.S. and in Europe have express alarm over rising trade deficits with China. In order to bypass barriers such as higher tariffs, Chinese businesses have been moving factories to regions like Europe. China has also been exporting more to Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Wang, the customs official, acknowledged the threat from rising trade barriers.

“We still face serious risks and challenges in the second half of the year,” he said.

While China's export growth is likely to continue, it is becoming increasingly fragile, said Wei Li, head of Multi-Asset Investments at BNP Paribas Securities (China). Robust shipments in autos and AI-related items will remain dependent on global demand and regulatory barriers, he said.

Exports to Southeast Asia in June surged nearly 35% from a year ago, while those to the European Union and Latin America increased more than 18% and 28%, respectively.

Exports to the United States climbed almost 14% from a year earlier. China's shipments to the U.S. have risen in recent months, partly due to declines in shipments a year earlier after President Donald Trump returned to office last year and implemented higher tariffs.

China is set to announce its economic growth data for the April-June quarter on Wednesday. Chinese leaders have set an annual growth target of 4.5% to 5% for this year, slightly lower than the 5% growth in 2025.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund raised China’s annual growth forecast by 0.2 percentage point to 4.6%. But it said it expects China’s economy to expand just 4.1% in 2027.

Chinese leaders have sought to boost consumer spending through various initiatives, including trade-in subsidies for autos and home appliances. But many ordinary Chinese have been feeling the pressure from a slowing economy and avoiding big-ticket purchases.

___

AP Videographer Borg Wong contributed from Beijing.

The report identified the men as Mohieddin Abdollahi and Hossein Palani. It said they belonged to an Islamic State cell that formed after the group’s territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria and had planned attacks inside Iran.

According to the report, Iranian security forces identified the cell’s hideout in the Bamo mountain area near the Iraqi border before it could carry out its plans. Several militants were killed and others arrested during the operation, in which three members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were also killed. Authorities said they also seized weapons, ammunition and other equipment.

The two men were convicted of armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic, and were hanged after the Supreme Court upheld their death sentences. The judiciary did not disclose where the executions were carried out.

Iran responded with attacks targeting Bahrain, Jordan and two tankers associated with the United Arab Emirates traveling through the strait, killing one mariner and wounding eight others. The Emirates threatened to retaliate against Iran, potentially drawing the nation home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai back into fighting with Tehran.

The attacks come as Iran and the U.S. both vie for control of the strait through which a fifth of all traded crude oil and natural gas once passed in peacetime. The price of benchmark Brent crude oil rose to a one-month high of over $84 in trading early Tuesday, still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the war but threatening to make costs everywhere higher.

Trump insists strait will be open

The U.S. military's Central Command said it struck areas around Abu Musa, Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Chahbahar, Jask and Konarak, targeting Iranian “coastal defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities.” Iran acknowledged strikes around those areas, but provided no immediate casualty or damage assessments.

“These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to attack innocent civilians and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz,” the U.S. military said.

Moments after the military announced the new strikes, Trump called it “another major attack.”

“We’re hitting them very hard. And it’ll continue, and we’ll see what happens,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re knocking out all of their offensive capability and we’re controlling the straits. We’re putting the blockade back.”

Trump also provided new details on his administration doing an about-face and suggesting it will charge tolls for ships going through the strait, after previously suggesting that it wouldn’t.

“We’re protecting a very rich portion of the world,” he said. “We’re spending money. And so, what we’ve done is, we are going to be reimbursed for protection.”

It's a change in U.S. policy that, until now, said the strait should remain open to all without tolls — as it was before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Any attempt by the U.S. or Iran to charge fees would violate global norms on freedom of navigation and raise tensions, likely causing further economic disruption far beyond the region.

The U.S. Navy has fought for freedom of navigation on the seas since the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812.

Attacks resume across the Mideast

The United Arab Emirates’ Defense Ministry said early Tuesday that Iran attacked two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, killing one mariner and wounding eight others.

The Emirati Defense Ministry said Iran launched two cruise missiles at the tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah.

The attacks set both tankers ablaze, though the fires were extinguished.

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed the attack on the tankers, saying the vessels “ignored repeated warnings.”

“They chose to pass through a minefield and were subsequently targeted and disabled,” the Guard said.

Bahrain also came under renewed attack early Tuesday morning as Iran retaliated over the latest round of U.S. airstrikes. Bahrain sounded its missile alert sirens twice, urging the public to seek shelter. There was no word on any damage or casualties from the attack.

The Emirati Defense Ministry said the attack on the tankers killed one Indian national and wounded six Indians and two Ukrainians.

“The UAE reserves its full right to respond to this escalation and to take all necessary measures to protect its territory, its citizens and residents,” the Defense Ministry added.

The Emirates used similar language before launching attacks against Iran during the war. Fighter jets could be heard overheard Tuesday morning in Dubai.

The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the U.S. Consulate in Dubai alerted Americans early Tuesday that consular appointments had been canceled through Wednesday “due to the regional security situation.”

Jordan’s military said it intercepted four missiles from Iran, according to a statement carried by the kingdom’s state-run Petra news agency. Jordan hosts U.S. forces and has come under attack by Tehran in recent days.

Trump says Iran failed a test

Earlier Monday, Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that the agreement reached last month was “built to test” Iran, adding that “when you’re dealing with sleazebags (agreements) don’t mean much.”

“They didn’t honor the test,” the president said.

Iran asserts it has the right to manage traffic through the strait and potentially charge fees in accordance with the interim peace deal. The U.S. has disputed that.

The American military and the United Nations' International Maritime Organization have tried to establish a route through the strait along the coast of Oman that would be outside of Iranian control. Iran has attacked ships using that route, saying the U.S. is violating the interim peace deal. The U.S. has attacked Iran in response, drawing Iranian attacks on U.S.-allied Arab states.

Exchanges of fire in recent days had already cast further doubt on the interim peace deal. Washington had lifted a blockade it imposed in mid-April as part of that deal, which also called for the strait to be fully reopened.

“We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE,” Trump said on social media. “All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait.”

The president said the U.S. would be “reimbursed” by 20% of the value of cargo to help cover “any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security.”

The U.S. military said it will resume its blockade of Iranian ports at midnight local Wednesday in Dubai.

___

Boak, Weissert and Toropin reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Mae Anderson in New York, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Stella Martany in Irbil, Iraq, contributed to this report.

But restoring oil tanker traffic in the vital Middle East shipping corridor to prewar flows likely will require a much bigger armada of U.S. warships if not tens of thousands of American troops on Iranian soil, experts say. Despite on-and-off fighting, Iran can still target vessels in the narrow Persian Gulf waterway with drones and missiles that have been hidden in a country a third of the size of the continental United States.

“Iran has been preparing for this type of asymmetric conflict for decades now,” said Jason H. Campbell, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and a former Pentagon official. “I think they’re starting to demonstrate why no other U.S. president since Reagan has elected to engage at this level of conflict with Iran, because they have that ability to completely disrupt the Strait of Hormuz.”

Trump said Monday that the U.S. is reimposing its blockade on Iran's ports and will charge other ships for safe passage through the strait. Iran has insisted it controls the waterway, through which 20% of the world's oil normally flows, while both sides have exchanged fire over the past week in a series of skirmishes that threaten a return to all-out war.

It underscores the bind that Trump is in as commercial shipping remains stifled in the strait, oil prices are rising again and Iran has shown no sign of capitulating. The war has been unpopular with many Americans and could factor into the upcoming midterm elections with gas prices high.

“They thought the situation was under control, and now they’re seeing renewed escalations, and the markets responding negatively to this,” said Eric Lob, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Middle East program and a professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University.

“It's really a kind of test of wills to see how much economic pain the Iranians are willing to absorb and then how much economic pain and even political liability this could be for Trump and the Republicans heading into November," Lob said.

Securing the strait could require ground troops

Before he was a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, Campbell was a researcher at RAND, where he worked in coordination with the U.S. military to simulate war-game scenarios against Iran.

“The things they’re doing now are precisely the types of things that were discussed and came up in really all of these types of situational scenarios,” Campbell said.

Iran produces parts for its weapons across different facilities to reduce their risk of being attacked, Campbell said. Its military units are often allowed to operate without waiting for orders from Tehran. They don't often mass in one place, making airstrikes less effective.

“It's very difficult to envision any scenario where you could satisfactorily secure the Strait of Hormuz absent ground forces,” Campbell said.

Doing so would require tens of thousand of troops, Campbell said, not only to take out Iran's hidden munitions but to secure hundreds of miles of coastline and large swaths of inland territory. The U.S. troops would likely face insurgent attacks.

Standing up that kind of force would take a few months and include “very high costs," Campbell said.

Trump insisted Monday evening that “the strait is open. It will be open,” and that the U.S. has made significant progress degrading Iran's capabilities in just a few months. Iran vowed to fight back against any U.S. interference in the strait.

Risk of US losses goes up with an increased presence

Another way to facilitate commercial traffic safely through the strait would be the continuation — and escalation — of U.S. warships guiding civilian vessels, experts say. But it comes with its own challenges and costs.

The U.S. conducted an escort operation in the 1980s when Iran had targeted shipping as part of its war with neighboring Iraq. The U.S., which supported Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with intelligence, weaponry and other aid, escorted Kuwaiti oil tankers — which were reflagged as American.

Such an effort today would require a substantial number of U.S. warships at a time when the fleet is smaller than it was in the 1980s, said Michael Eisenstadt, a former U.S. military analyst.

“You’d still need a very large chunk of the U.S. fleet being dedicated to this on an open-ended basis,” said Eisenstadt, who now directs the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

He said it is a much more complicated environment today as Iran has amassed advanced capabilities, including its ability to launch drone and missile strikes.

“If we were to do what we need to do in order to make this work, which might involve putting people ashore in order to clear anti-cruise missile and drone launch sites, the losses of U.S. service members can go up, and if you’re going to do an escort operation also, the losses can potentially go up,” Eisenstadt added.

Iran's threats alone can scare away ships

Commercial vessels have been avoiding traditional routes through the strait out of fear of Iranian mines. Iran has demanded that ships use a route near its coastline and that it can potentially charge fees under an interim deal to end the war. Ships have been increasingly navigating a southern route along the coast of Oman under a U.S. overwatch operation that guided them using drones and aircraft.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, U.S. Central Command spokesman, said mine clearance operations are ongoing for some traditional routes through the strait but that “alternative pathways have been open.”

The southern route hasn't stopped Iranian attacks on ships, leading the U.S. military to strike Iranian air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment, and small boats.

But Iran's threats alone can be enough to halt commerce in the strait, said Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy focused on energy and maritime risks in the Middle East.

“They don’t need to launch drones and missiles — they can just use the marine radio channel to make some threats,” Raydan said. “And this in itself is enough to scare off a lot of seafarers.”

Clayton Seigle, a nonresident scholar in energy security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Trump administration has not followed through on promises it made early on in the war to militarily assist shipments that became a liability of the conflict.

“Those naval escorts, U.S. warships, larger commitments like boots on the ground never came because I think that the rhetoric got a little ahead of our risk tolerance,” Seigle said. “And when push came to shove, the United States was not ready to deploy its Navy, to deploy its other military forces in the capacity that would be needed to even have a shot at neutralizing those threats.”

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Amiri reported from New York.

It was shortly after the 2012 presidential election and Republicans had lost badly to President Barack Obama.

Graham was calling with an outlandish proposal — “getting the band back together” — on a bipartisan plan for immigration reforms.

The move was classic Graham.

He has been called the “bridge.” The “dealmaker.” The senator at the center of all the action. And, more recently, “the Trump whisperer.”

Graham embodied a sort of institutional secret sauce that kept the Senate moving — and talking and arguing and laughing — with his hyperkinetic insistence on doing something when the place would otherwise seem destined to grind to a halt of atrophy and dysfunction.

After Graham’s sudden death over the weekend, it is unclear who, if anyone, will fill his role.

“Few have been able to frustrate and anger, amuse and engage me in a single conversation the way Lindsey could,” said Sen. Chris Coons, the Democrat from Delaware, who celebrated Graham’s birthday over dinner after the NATO summit in Turkey just days before the South Carolina senator died.

“I will miss having him as a partner in the Senate.”

Graham stayed at the center of the action

Many lawmakers like to see themselves as central to the action, but Graham was among the few actually positioned squarely at the heart of virtually every debate. With his relentless ability to adapt to the political times, he gave voice to issues at home and abroad, and insisted on drawing others into the arena.

There was almost no bipartisan gang in Congress that didn't count Graham as a member — from the gang of eight he hatched with Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to pass immigration reform through the Senate in 2013, to his recent effort with colleagues to impose sanctions on Russia over its war against Ukraine.

“We didn't agree on everything in our bipartisan immigration proposal,” Schumer said Monday, “but we agreed it was worth trying, because doing nothing was worse.”

At a time when Congress is increasingly broken, with lawmakers unable to carry out its basic legislative functions, let alone act with civility toward one another, Graham played a unique role in bringing the sides together.

The heartfelt statements and stories shared on Graham's passing, from other prominent senators as well as the back benches of the House, reflected the breadth and depth of his partnerships.

“We talked at all hours of the day or night, and traveled through all kinds of weather, meeting dictators and democracy defenders,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who joined with Graham on the Russian sanctions bill.

Blumenthal said their views often differed, “but he listened to me,” the senator said, "and sought to bridge our differences.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., opened the day's session noting Graham's empty desk in the chamber, covered with a black drape and white flowers.

Graham's friendship, he said, “made this job richer and its burdens lighter.”

His political shapeshifting drew criticism

Not that Graham was always successful. There have been plenty of times when GOP senators walked out of their private lunch meetings during a particularly stalemated time in Congress, simply shaking their heads at the latest plan from Graham to break the gridlock.

Graham’s political shapeshifting brought his detractors, to be sure, as did his unbridled pursuit of military intervention abroad.

His bipartisan immigration work with Schumer and the Democrats left Graham almost permanently outcast by the nativist and anti-immigration flank of his party.

And most decisively, Graham’s rapprochement with Trump, after having declared their relationship finished following Trump's role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack at the Capitol, damaged the senator's credibility among some would-be partners.

Still, Graham’s proximity to Trump during the president's second term kept him central to the action, the one senators of both parties would lean on to understand the White House's view.

“Many of us consider him the Trump whisperer,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who served as a manager in Trump’s first impeachment. Trump was later acquitted by the Senate.

“If we wanted to know what the president’s thinking was, or how he might be moved on something, you would go to Lindsey to discuss it,” Schiff said.

Graham's “voice is going to be really, really missed in terms of the relationship that Senate Republicans have with the president and his team,” Thune said on CNN, because "he was so good and so effective at talking to the president.”

Senators say Graham's humor lightened the load

In the chamber of 100 senators, with big personalities and bigger egos, Graham's self-effacing humor made it more bearable, helping to smooth the edges and bridge the divide.

He had “a wonderful sense of humor that he used to cut through the tension,” Schiff said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., in her own statement, told a story of seeking Graham’s support for her bill to ensure visas for Afghan refugees.

“I remember standing outside of a little phone booth in the Republican cloakroom last year as he spoke with the Vice President, holding up a sign that said ‘Save the Afghans’ and he put the phone on hold and said ‘OK OK I will go on your bill even if it gets me in trouble,’” she said.

“I will miss him.”

It was among several wildfires in western Europe as the region bakes under its third red-alert heat wave this year.

In Spain, 10 people were still unaccounted for Monday from a fire that ripped through a remote southern expatriate community last week, killing 13 people in one of the country's deadliest blazes.

The Fontainebleau forest fire is unusual for its proximity to the French capital — about 70 kilometers (42 miles). The region hosts the Fontainebleau Chateau favored by Napoleon and is popular with visitors from Paris and beyond.

French President Emmanuel Macron said all necessary means were being deployed to fight the fire of ″exceptional scale.”

Two water-dumping planes were deployed over the area along with hundreds of firefighters, regional fire service spokesperson Paul Laurain told public broadcaster France-Info.

The head of the regional administration, Pierre Ory, told French media that an investigation is underway and that arson was being considered a possibility.

A new fire has broken out in another section of the forest, Ory said. The initial fire is still not contained and was continuing to spread at a moderate rate.

“Winds are turning, which is significantly complicating the work of the firefighters," he said.

Trains to and from the bustling Gare de Lyon train station were disrupted late Sunday but were returning to normal Monday morning. A section of the busy A6 highway leading southeast of Paris was shut down because of fire risk.

Large fires in southern France have already scorched thousands of hectares (acres) since last week, disrupting the Tour de France cycling race and stretching firefighting resources.

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

Spain reeling from deadly wildfire

A 93-year-old British national died Sunday in a hospital from injuries sustained in the Los Gallardos wildfire, elevating the death toll to 13.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was expected to visit the site of the fire on Monday. Regional authorities said the blaze was contained Sunday after affecting some 70 square kilometers (27 square miles) of forest and farmland — larger than the size of Manhattan.

Spain is experiencing extreme heat, which combined with wind and little rainfall is creating the ideal conditions for small wildfires to grow unchecked.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Homes evacuated in UK due to fires

In the U.K., people were evacuated from several dozen rural homes in north Wales after a wildfire broke out across a mountainside on Sunday, British media reported.

Wildfires also burned in several locations across England as another heat wave — the third this year — brought hot, sunny and dry conditions.

The Met Office said record heat waves since May have led to 2026 becoming the first year to record temperatures of 35 C (95 F) or higher on six separate days. That broke the previous record set in 1976 and 2020, when five days were recorded with such temperatures.

Natural England’s fire severity index has put much of England at “very high” risk of wildfires, with some areas in southern England and the Midlands at “exceptional” risk.

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Naishadham reported from Madrid. Eva Van Dam in Paris and Sylvia Hui in London contributed.

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A previous version corrected the age of a British national who died Sunday.

Congo since May has been battling the outbreak of a type of Ebola with no approved treatment or vaccine. Last week, the Congolese health minister, Roger Kamba, said the virus had spread to two more provinces.

The striking staff at Rwampara General Hospital in Ituri province, the epicenter of the outbreak, includes epidemiologists, case investigators, drivers and gravediggers who say they have not been paid by Congolese authorities. The protesting staff shut the hospital and blocked the road leading to it, even burning a tire outside.

“We don’t know how it is possible to not have been paid for two months,” Bahati Claude, a health worker at the hospital told The Associated Press. “We don’t want to give up the job.”

The treatment center is different from the one in Ituri where a study of two badly needed treatments began earlier this month.

Congolese authorities declared the Ebola outbreak on May 15, after the disease had been transmitting for weeks without official detection, according to the World Health Organization. The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, and the delay in confirming the outbreak came in part because tests were done for a more common type of Ebola.

During a visit to Ituri last week, Congo's health minister said the government is verifying a list of those working to control the outbreak, as some unrelated names have been added to the payroll.

“We must ensure that these payments reach the right people,” Kamba said. “We have faced a few challenges, notably changes to the lists, which have led to complaints from people saying they are not being paid even though they are working. We have the means to sort this out.”

There are 1,926 confirmed cases in the country, including 702 deaths, according to Congolese authorities.

Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted Monday on X that a second U.S. citizen, a humanitarian worker in eastern Congo who had contracted Ebola, was transferred to Germany. The first American to test positive for the virus was a doctor working in Congo during the early weeks of the outbreak.

Neill achieved his highest level of fame in “Jurassic Park” playing paleontologist Alan Grant, who is summoned to an island off Costa Rica where a theme park has been built to house herds of cloned dinosaurs. He co-starred alongside Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough.

Neill earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the title role of the 1998 miniseries “Merlin” and another as narrator of 2017’s “Wild New Zealand.” Neill also earned three Golden Globe nods — for “Merlin,” “One Against the Wind” and “Reilly: Ace of Spies.”

Some notable reactions:

Steven Spielberg

“Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.” — in a statement.

Laura Dern, actor

“Sam was my beloved lifetime friend… He showed me the depths of loyalty, protectiveness, and love, always with the driest of wit. He was a true and noble gentleman, wrapped up in my dream leading man. I will love you forever, Dr. Alan Grant.” — via Instagram.

Richard E. Grant, actor

“Knew @samneilltheprop for 3 decades and finally worked with him on ‘PALM BEACH’ in 2018. An officer and a Gentleman in the truest sense. Guided and helped me through a very difficult time in my Life … Sail on, kind Sir. — via Instagram.

Cillian Murphy, actor

“Like everyone who knew and worked with Sam, I admired him and adored him in equal measure. He was one of the kindest, funniest and gentlest people, and one of the finest actors … RIP.” — in a statement.

Nicole Kidman, actor

“Sam was one of the greats, a joy to be around,” she said. “We met when I was just 18 and he took me under his wing and we stayed friends for life. He was charming, kind, funny and intelligent. He will be greatly missed, and my heart goes out to his family.” — in a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Billy Zane, actor

“I’m deeply saddened by the untimely loss of my dear friend, @samneilltheprop. We first crossed paths years ago through our work, but what I came to treasure most was the man himself—funny, endlessly curious, wickedly intelligent, generous, and always able to make you feel at ease. ... He carried himself with grace, humility, and a wonderfully mischievous sense of humor that made every conversation a pleasure. ... Rest peacefully, Sam. You’ll be missed more than words can say.” — via Instagram.

Colin Trevorrow, director

“Sam Neill was a deeply soulful and beautiful man. He was a friend and collaborator at a challenging time, and his strength gave us all strength. I’ll remember him for his tranquility, his love of wine, and for the calm assuredness he brought to his characters. It’s not every lifetime you get to befriend a legend. Forever grateful.” — via Instagram.

Christopher Luxon, prime minister of New Zealand

“Sir Sam Neill was one of the greats. He started out when there was barely a film industry in this country to speak of. For more than fifty years he took New Zealand stories to the world and his talents helped make our film industry into what it is today — one of our greatest cultural exports.” — via X.

Jacinda Ardern, former prime minister of New Zealand

"It was just a few weeks ago that I had the profound joy of sitting with Sam Neill, talking about life, politics, and home. He was such a thoughtful, curious, and decent person. Someone who was principled, unafraid of speaking his mind, and willing to take up a fight when he saw injustice. ... We’ve lost another incredible kiwi, and I feel profoundly sad. All my aroha to his whanau and friends. And to you, Sam, you have our gratitude and admiration. Rest easy. Moe mai rā" — via Instagram.

Anthony Albanese, prime minister of Australia

“Sam Neill starred in so many beloved Australian stories and he earned a special place in Australian hearts. Wry and dry, thoughtful and laconic, Sam fought illness with the same dignity, humour and conviction that gave strength to his every performance. He will be much mourned and long remembered. May he rest in peace.” — via X.

Laura Tingle, Australian journalist and Neill’s former partner

“I think Sam Neill was the greatest theatrical creation of little Nigel Neill, a little boy with a stutter who was sent off to boarding school at eight years of age and spent his life in flight ever after that and showing off to make friends in new places. And I think that the humanity of that is what made him so approachable and so loved by so many people who saw all his work in television and movies.” — in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Sharon Lawrence, actor

“My condolences and appreciation for the immense joy and mastery Sam Neill brought our industry. Do yourself a favor and find ‘DEAN SPANLEY’ on a streamer- he’s wonderful and it will soothe someplace in your spirit that needs it now. — via Instagram.

Joel Tobeck, actor

“This man made me feel like I could fly. Even when I was all over the place in his presence he made it ok. We loved to talk rugby. RIP my old mate. Sam Neill, a true gentleman.” — via Instagram.

Rachel Griffiths, actor

“Such a shock — loved by so many — I’ll be cracking two paddocks tonight,” referring to wine from the actor’s vineyard, via Instagram.

Kylie Minogue, singer

“Vale Sam,” a Latin term for “farewell” that’s often used in Australia and New Zealand, via Instagram.

Toni Collette, actor

“I love you, dear Sam. You hero. You legend. You sweetheart. Our great friend. You are already missed so very much. Continue in peace wherever you are.” — via Instagram.

Lesley-Ann Brandt, actor

“Sending love and condolences to your family. A remarkable man and artist. NZ loses a giant and one of its greatest gifts.” — via Instagram.

Kate Mulvany, actor

“It was the greatest of honours to shout at Sam onscreen and to laugh ourselves silly offscreen. He was truly the most wondrous human. Not was. Still is. Will always be. Such is his incredible legacy of life, art, advocacy and love.” — via Instagram.

Immigrant rights groups identified the man who was killed in Biddeford as a 26-year-old native of Colombia. The Colombian Embassy said it was in contact with U.S. authorities about the Colombian national's death and “is providing the necessary consular assistance to his family.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, said in a post on X that agents were surveilling an address for a person with a final order of removal from the country. When ICE tried to stop a vehicle driven by someone coming from that address, the "vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon,” the department said.

Prior to the brief ICE statement on the incident, Maine U.S. Sen. Angus King said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against ICE agents in Biddeford, a coastal city roughly 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Portland. The agents involved didn’t have body cameras, he said.

When asked about the contrasting statements, King told CNN that that's what the investigation is all about.

“Did this young man actually try to run over an ICE agent or was he in danger of running over other people in the street?" he said. “Was there a reasonable expectation of bodily harm or deadly force to justify this shooting?”

DHS did not immediately respond to an email seeking clarity on what led to the shooting.

King, an independent, said Mullin also told him the officers were in Biddeford to serve an arrest warrant but that it was not for the person who was shot. King said Mullin told him that earlier information that the man was the target of an enforcement action was incorrect.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said Mullin told her the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.

Messages seeking comment were left for the inspector general’s office and the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The Maine attorney general’s office, which is also investigating, said initial statements suggest the motorist was trying to flee in the direction of the agent. The office said the agent who killed him has been placed on leave.

Witness says he heard driver say, ‘I tried to stop’

Daniel Boucher said he looked out his third-floor window after hearing a “pop, pop, pop” sound and saw a small car “turned 90 degrees to the curb” with an SUV behind it. The driver was wounded and the car started moving down the street until the SUV hit it, Boucher said.

“His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said, getting choked up. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.'"

Boucher said he saw an ICE officer bring a medical bag to where the man was lying before an ambulance and fire truck arrived. At one point, Boucher said, the agent who shot the man walked close to him.

“I was emotional and I just let him have it, and he looked at me and said, ‘He tried to run me over,’ or something to that effect," Boucher said. "I don’t remember his exact words.”

Video from a security camera at a nearby business, obtained by the AP, shows a white vehicle approaching an intersection at a modest speed before making several slow circles. A law enforcement SUV blocked its path and two officers open the driver’s door and dragged out a limp body.

It was not clear from the video at what point shots were fired.

The man was authorized to work in the US, advocates say

Two advocacy groups — the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! — said the man who was killed was authorized to work in the U.S.

After the shooting, his family contacted the Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, but they weren't ready to speak publicly about the shooting, said the group's executive director, Mufalo Chitam.

Mary Hayes, who lives close to where the shooting happened, said the man lived nearby with his wife and daughter.

“I watched a wife fall to her knees looking at her husband’s dead body on the ground,” Hayes told the AP as she held a piece of cardboard with “No ICE Stop ICE” written on it. “I watched a little girl crying with a little pink backpack on because she’s never going to see her father again.”

Sadie Dilboy said the man killed in the shooting regularly came to her laundromat and would bring his daughter, who he'd give quarters to buy candy from the vending machine.

“He was such a good person,” she said. “He was always cleaning up.”

Anti-ICE protesters gather near the scene

Several hundred demonstrators gathered in Biddeford on Monday night to wave anti-ICE signs and call for the agency to be abolished.

“We will always be a city of immigrants,” said Maine Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau, a Democrat from Biddeford.

A handful of pro-ICE and pro-Trump protesters demonstrated across the street.

Some demonstrators had gathered in the city within hours of the shooting. Amy Goodman arrived with a sign that said “Stop Killing Us” and directed it toward police working at the scene.

“Sadly, it’s something we’re seeing a whole lot more often lately, and I’m mad about it,” she said.

A recent uptick in Trump's immigration crackdown

On July 7, an ICE officer fatally shot 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, of Houston, after federal agents driving unmarked vehicles pursued him while he was taking his construction crew to a job site.

The shootings come amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportations agenda. During the five-day period at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people.

The figures indicate that while the administration is no longer cracking down on individual cities, the arrests are surging. The administration’s enforcement efforts were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.

Hundreds of Maine ICE arrests since Trump’s return

ICE had a significant presence in Maine earlier this year, which prompted several protests. Immigration officials later said in late January that they had ceased “enhanced operations” in Maine after hundreds of arrests.

A Homeland Security spokesperson said at the time that some Maine arrests were of people “convicted of horrific crimes" including aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Court records show that while some had felony convictions, others had unresolved immigration proceedings or had been arrested but never convicted of a crime.

ICE arrested 546 people in Maine between the start of Trump’s second term and March 11, 2026, the most recent data available, according to ICE arrest data provided to the University of California, Berkeley Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the AP.

About 45% of arrested people had criminal backgrounds. During the equivalent 416-day period before Trump took office, roughly 69% of those arrested had criminal backgrounds, the data shows.

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Willingham reported from Boston and Brook reported from New Orleans. Associated Press reporters Michael R. Sisak in New York, Aaron Kessler in Washington, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

Firefighter Tim O’Neill showed up to Beachside High School in full gear to respond to a fire alarm. The alarm turned out to be accidental, but as O’Neill and his crew walked the halls, they stumbled across the football team’s summer workout — and an invitation they couldn’t pass up.

“They invited Tim to put some reps up and so he did,” said Chris Naff, public information officer for St. Johns County Fire Rescue, laughing as he recalled the moment.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by St.Johns Citizen (@stjohnscitizen)

How the challenge unfolded

O’Neill, still in his full firefighter gear, accepted the challenge and bench-pressed 225 pounds 11 times. Someone recorded the 40-second video, and within three days it had spread across social media.

Barstool Sports posted the video, where it topped 7.7 million views on that platform alone.

Naff said O’Neill’s crew actually tipped him off first. “We found out about it from his crew — they sent me the video first,” he said.

More than a good sport

Naff describes O’Neill, who has been with the department since 2025, as someone who goes well beyond the job.

“All around great guy,” Naff said. “This is the guy that you want coming to your house as a friend or help around your house.”

O’Neill is also an Army National Guard Sergeant who earned the title Iron NCO for the top fitness score in his class.

Despite the viral attention, Naff says O’Neill isn’t chasing the spotlight. “He’s pretty humble about it,” he said.

A rare feel-good moment

For Naff and the department, the video offered a welcome change of pace from the difficult calls that typically make the news.

“We tend to show a lot of different things and tragic incidents and houses on fire,” Naff said, “so this was a good positive community impact that we had.”

The blaze at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar was the city’s deadliest in 17 years. It broke out late Sunday in a northern part of the Thai capital, and firefighters needed half an hour to bring it under control. The fire left 25 people hospitalized in critical condition, city officials said.

Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said most of the deaths were caused by smoke inhalation.

By daybreak Monday, the site had been cordoned off as dozens of forensic officers sought clues about what caused the fire. The bar's street-facing windows were blown out, and debris littered the sidewalk, including charred television sets, speakers and an electric guitar. Associated Press journalists looking through the shattered windows could see empty beer bottles still sitting atop burned tables.

The bar, which in Thai calls itself a brewery or beer hall, claimed to accommodate as many as 600 customers. It was not clear how many were present Sunday night.

According to Bangkok’s Erawan emergency services center, 73 people were hurt. The Bangkok city government said there were 28 dead, one more than Erawan’s tally.

The dead were trapped in bathrooms

National Police Chief Kittharath Punpetch said most of the dead were found trapped in windowless bathrooms near one of the rear exits, where they may have sought shelter from the flames.

He said the exit was not used, and people may have been blocked from reaching it by a table set up in a hall to sell candy, or because it was too dark to find the way out.

Access to another exit near the kitchen might also have been narrowed by shelving units and lockers, said Kittharath, who visited the scene Monday. There were signs that at least some of the exit doors might have been locked, he added.

Investigators focused on the ceiling above a performance stage, where they found materials that may have been used as decorative elements, he said. Police will examine whether flammable materials were used in the interior and how electrical wiring was installed across the ceiling.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters that a musician who was performing at the bar told him he saw smoke coming out of a circuit breaker near the stage before the power went out. Then an explosion was heard, and thick smoke quickly filled the place.

Video posted on social media showed people fleeing as flames shot out of the single-story building and black smoke billowed into the sky.

Buddhist monks prayed for the dead

Several Buddhist monks visited the site Monday to pray for the victims, while nurses handed out face masks to help protect people from lingering smoke and fumes from the building.

A registration site was set up to gather information from relatives looking for loved ones.

Singer Sukanya Wongwongwai said she was performing nearby when she heard about the fire and rushed to the scene because several of her bandmates were performing at the bar. She said one of them died, three were hospitalized and one had not been located. Her band later announced on Facebook that the missing member was also found hospitalized.

“From what I heard from people who were inside when the fire started, everything went dark. The power was out, and there was smoke everywhere, so they couldn’t locate other people,” she said.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the bar offered apologies and condolences and said it was cooperating with investigators. It said the bar’s owner suffered serious injuries and was in an intensive care unit.

Mourning family members identify the dead at a morgue

Family members gathered at Bangkok's Institute of Forensic Medicine to identify the dead.

Keo Oudone Poungpany, 24, was at the institute to identify his younger brother's body. Both of the brothers, migrant workers from neighboring Laos, were working as bar employees when the fire broke out.

Poungpany said he was using a restroom outside the bar when the fire began.

He described walking back toward the bar and encountering dozens of people running away from the flames and hearing loud noises.

From the outside the bar, he began shouting for his brother. “The heat was unbearable, I couldn’t get back in,” he said.

“For now, I want to bring my younger brother’s body back home,” Poungpany said. “I want to bring him home to my parents. My parents are waiting for their kids to come back together, but now one is gone.”

In 2022, 14 people were killed by a fire at a music bar in the eastern part of the country. And more than a decade before that, 67 people were killed and more than 200 injured in a fire during a Jan. 1, 2009, New Year’s Eve celebration at the Santika nightclub in Thailand's capital. That blaze was apparently sparked by an indoor fireworks display.

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This report corrects the total number of dead from the 2009 fire at Bangkok's Santika nightclub to 67. The number 66 in previous versions was based on an earlier story that had not been updated.

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Sahatthaya Kraikhunthot contributed to this report.

The first meeting in the series was held for District 5 residents at Trinity Baptist Church. District 5 includes Baldwin, New Town, Northwest Jacksonville and Riverside.

What Waters and JSO highlighted

Waters told the crowd JSO saw a 16% overall drop in crime in 2025, with violent crime down 8% and property crime down 17%.

He also said the murder rate is down 33% year-to-date compared to last year.

On the drug crisis, Waters said JSO handled 472 overdose death investigations in 2022 and 236 last year.

Waters also pointed to enforcement efforts targeting drugs and gangs, saying JSO has seized $8.3 million in street value narcotics, and that Duval County had one gang-related murder in 2025.

Tech tools and new initiatives

Waters used the meeting to promote technology and community-facing tools, including:

• ConnectDuval, which JSO describes as a camera-integration network. JSO said the program involves about 11,000 cameras and can help investigators request video quicker.
• The “unsolved crimes” webpage, where people can review photos and videos and submit tips. Waters said JSO has received 814 tips and solved more than 700 crimes through that page.

Q&A: violence, patrols, budget and teen takeovers

After presentations from command staff, the meeting shifted to questions from the audience.

Residents asked about neighborhood patrols and what JSO is doing to address violence.

Waters said JSO’s approach is “prevention, intervention and enforcement.” He said the goal is to stop it before it starts by connecting with those at risk.

One resident also asked why JSO is requesting a $38 million budget increase if crime is down. Waters said rising costs — including pay and benefits — are a major driver.

“Crime is down,” he said. “You don’t relax.”

Waters also addressed concerns about teen takeovers, saying JSO monitors social media and calling some of the incidents bordering on “riots.”

“Let’s go gather, have fun and break away peacefully and everything is fine.” he said. “If you break the law we are going to come and get you. Promise.”

What’s next: District 3 town hall Tuesday

The next town hall is scheduled for:

• District 3 Town Hall Meeting: Tuesday, July 14 at The Church of Eleven22 Mandarin Campus | 4911 Losco Road

The remaining town hall schedule:

• District 4: Thursday, July 16 at Hillcrest Baptist Church | 7673 Collins Road
• District 2: Monday, July 20 at Impact Church | 9501 Arlington Expressway, Suite 245
• District 6: Tuesday, July 21 at The Church of Eleven22 North Campus | 418 Starratt Road
• District 1: Thursday, July 23 at Aspire Church | 1435 Atlantic Blvd.

JSO says the town halls are open to everyone, regardless of where they live.

Residents can submit questions in advance by emailing townhall@jaxsheriff.org.

The League of Women Voters hosted the standing-room-only candidate forum ahead of the August primary, where school board elections for Districts 1, 4, and 5 will all appear on the ballot. Those races could be decided in August without advancing to a general election.

District 1 Board Chair Erin Skipper and District 4 Board Member Michele Hanson each face one challenger. District 5 Board Member Ashley Gilhousen faces two challengers. The League of Women Voters said all candidates were invited.

Hanson told News4Jax she had a scheduling conflict. Skipper and Gilhousen did not respond to requests for comment.

Why they’re running

District 1 challenger Lara Libretto, a former school leader and teacher, said her background gives her the experience the board needs.

“I feel like we need to support our teachers, continue our student achievement and make sure our parents are engaged,” Libretto said. “As a former school leader and teacher, I felt like we need an experienced educator to be on the board to make these decisions that affect thousands of students every day.”

District 4 challenger Michael Rathjen, a parent of three daughters and a business professional, said he entered the race over concerns about school funding.

“Coming from the business world, all the budgetary shortfalls and the new change in the funding — I went, I need to put my hat in the ring and give the voters a choice,” Rathjen said. He added that his family homeschooled their daughters at various points before enrolling them in Clay County schools.

Two of the three District 5 challengers attended the forum — Veronica Powell-Faison and Gerald Beasley. Powell-Faison said she is running to advocate for students, families, and educators.

“I see that there is a clear need for someone who has the children’s best interests in mind — the community, the parents, and the teachers,” she said.

Beasley, who works on the operations side of the school district and said he visits schools and offices regularly, argued the district needs change from within.

“I talk to people and I feel there needs to be change,” Beasley said.

Candidates offer competing plans to boost teacher pay

Libretto pointed to administrative spending as a place to find savings.

“We need to look at the top administrative level — we’ve got bloat,” she said. “We need to ask ourselves with our money: is it essential? Is it tied to student success? Is it a redundant position? Because we’re always asked at a school level to do more with less.”

Rathjen proposed a longer-term financial strategy and made a personal pledge to voters.

“Once our education foundation becomes the direct support organization for our district, we start an endowment — that could help offset some of the costs in the future for teacher pay,” he said. Rathjen also committed to not accepting a pay raise if elected to the school board.

Powell-Faison said she would focus on newer educators.

“I would try to find common ground where the new teachers — anybody under, I guess, 10 years — would be able to see some type of pay increase,” she said.

Beasley echoed concerns about spending priorities, saying he has witnessed double standards in how raises are distributed.

“I think if we can stop the waste and change some other things that are going on, I think that there could be funds for raises,” Beasley said. “They turned around and created more upper-level positions and promoted people — they got raises. I see a lot of double standards in the school district.”

Watch the full interviews below:

Lara Libretto/District 1 Candidate for Clay County School Board

Michael Rathjen/District 4 Candidate for Clay County School Board

Veronica Powell-Faison/District 5 Candidate for Clay County School Board

Gerald Beasley/District 5 Candidate for Clay County School Board

Expect another classic summer day across Northeast Florida, with a mix of clouds and sunshine through the morning before temperatures climb into the upper 80s by this afternoon.

Heat and humidity will make it feel well into the 90s, so be sure to stay hydrated if you’re spending time outdoors.

As the sea breeze develops, scattered thunderstorms are expected to pop up during the afternoon and early evening.

While not everyone will see rain, any storm that forms could produce heavy downpours, frequent lightning, and gusty winds before quickly moving out.

Conditions will gradually improve after sunset, with warm and muggy weather continuing overnight.

Keep an eye on the sky if you have outdoor plans later today, and have a way to receive weather alerts if thunderstorms approach.

Darrell Beauford, 47, was arrested Wednesday and charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death, a first-degree felony, and driving while his license was suspended — a third or subsequent violation, a third-degree felony.

The incident began Dec. 6, 2024, at a Beauty Max on Atlantic Blvd. in the Kernan Village shopping plaza, when officers responded to a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle.

RELATED | Family of woman killed while trying to stop shoplifters says everything she accomplished was ‘through sheer grit’

The victim, Ilson Kim, 6Family of woman killed while trying to stop shoplifters says everything she accomplished was ‘through sheer grit’5, the store’s owner, was taken to the hospital, where she later died from her injuries.

According to the arrest report, two suspects — later identified as David Pulliam and Tashina Dobbins — entered the store and spent approximately 19 minutes inside before Pulliam ran out with five wigs valued at $289. Kim chased after Pulliam when he fled the store.

The suspect vehicle — a black 2017 Chevrolet Equinox — was parked directly in front of the business in a disabled parking spot. Surveillance video from an adjacent Walmart showed the car parked at the location just before the incident.

Investigation unfolds

Investigators from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit were called to the scene following Kim’s death. Tips submitted to First Coast Crime Stoppers in the days after the incident helped identify Dobbins, Pulliam and Karron Steadman-Jones as persons of interest.

A review of Lowe’s surveillance video from Dec. 5, 2024 — one day before the fatal crash — showed a person identified as Steadman-Jones driving the suspect vehicle to the store and walking past all points of sale with a leaf blower without paying.

Dobbins and Steadman-Jones were interviewed at JSO’s Police Memorial Building on Dec. 21, 2024. Dobbins said she walked past Kim after she saw her lying on the ground and did not render aid. She provided investigators with a phone number she said belonged to the driver of the vehicle — a number linked to the nickname “City” and “Unc” in her contact list.

Pulliam was interviewed on April 10, 2025. He admitted he ran out of the store with the wigs and got into the vehicle. He said he later learned from Dobbins that the driver had “ran over that lady.”

Beauford identified

On Jan. 20, 2026, a subpoena to the messaging app TextNow — using the phone number Dobbins provided — identified Beauford as the driver. He was designated a person of interest three days later.

On July 8, 2026, patrol officers stopped Beauford during a traffic stop and transported him to JSO’s Police Memorial Building for an interview. After initially distancing himself from the incident, he admitted to being in the vehicle and confirmed he was behind the wheel when Kim was struck.

“When the victim ran out of the business, she approached the driver’s side door,” the arrest report states. Beauford told investigators he pushed her away and she fell, then shifted the vehicle into reverse and backed out of the parking space. He initially said he was unaware he had hit anything but later acknowledged his front tire made contact with something.

Surveillance video shows Kim on the ground with bystanders coming to her aid as Beauford drove away and Dobbins walked past the fallen victim without stopping to help.

According to the arrest report, Beauford had at least nine prior driving while license suspended incidents dating back to 2004. At the time of the December 2024 crash, his license had been suspended for failure to pay child support.

In his first message to the university community, Bell expressed excitement about joining UF and credited the institution’s people as its defining strength.

“The pride people have in UF is unmistakable, and it has reinforced what I believed from the beginning: the University of Florida’s greatest strength has always been its people,” Bell wrote.

Bell’s first 100 days: listening, leading

Bell outlined two immediate priorities for his first 100 days in office. The first is recruiting strong leadership for key positions across campus.

“Great universities are built by great people, and having the right leadership team in place matters,” he wrote.

The second priority is a listening tour across the UF community — students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters — to gather ideas and feedback that will shape the university’s next strategic plan.

“I want to know what you think we do well, where you believe we can improve, and what ideas you have for helping UF continue to grow and lead,” Bell wrote.

Bell described the upcoming strategic plan as a practical, focused and ambitious roadmap that reflects the voices of those who make UF what it is.

Top-5 goal drives Bell’s vision

Bell made clear that his ambitions for UF go beyond maintaining its current trajectory. He said conversations with the Board of Trustees reinforced his belief that UF is well-positioned for an elite national ranking.

“UF is uniquely positioned to be consistently recognized as one of the top five public universities in the country, while continuing to elevate our individual colleges and programs so they are recognized among the very best in their respective fields,” Bell wrote.

He added that he is fully aligned with the Board of Trustees and welcomed the challenge ahead.

“I fully embrace that vision,” he wrote. “I am fully aligned with our Board, and I look forward to working with all of you to make it a reality.”

A new chapter for UF

Closing his message on a personal and optimistic note, Bell thanked the UF community for welcoming him and his wife, Susan, into what he called the Gator family.

“I truly believe our best days are still ahead,” he wrote. “I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves, get to work alongside all of you, and help write the next chapter in the story of this great university.”

Bell was confirmed as UF’s 14th president by the Florida Board of Governors on July 1. An inauguration for Bell is planned at the university later this year.

Pamela Randall says she is normally in her bedroom around 5 p.m. — right around the time the storm struck — but says she felt compelled to stay put and finish watching a movie.

“God told me to stay here, finish watching my movie,” Randall said.

When the storm hit, she was finishing a movie and then the tree came crashing through. She was in a panic.

“I was on the porch, and I was soaking wet. I was screaming. I was screaming’, and nobody heard me,” she said.

The tree came crashing through her bedroom window and her living room. She says normally she would have been in her bed where the tree hit. Tree branches are through her roof and on her bed.

“My bed is destroyed,” she said. “There’s a tree over there, and like I said, I normally be in my bedroom around 5, and this happened between 5, between 6, and 6.30.”

Randall says the tree didn’t come from her own yard.

“I have no trees on my property. I’m terrified of trees,” she said. “But at the end of the day, God got me.”

The experience has left her shaken — emotionally and physically.

“Emotional, stressed and drained, and I cried for two days,” Randall said. “I didn’t sleep for two days. I finally got some rest last night.”

Still, she says her faith carried her through.

“A lot of people didn’t wake up Sunday morning,” Randall said. “He had his angels all over me.”

We spoke with a roofing contractor with Danztler Group as they were evaluating the roof. Bryan Widmayer explained what could have caused a tree like this to fall under the circumstances.

“One of the limbs essentially gets a ton of water inside of it and then when that sheer wind comes it just snaps in half and then results in what you see here.”

He says people should be getting their trees inspected every year, especially big ones like Live Oaks.