Discussion

At 100 PM CDT (1800 UTC), the disturbance was centered near latitude 27.1 North, longitude 97.8 West. The system is moving toward the northeast near 6 mph (9 km/h), and this general motion with an increase in forward speed is anticipated over the next couple of days. The disturbance should move offshore the Texas coast tonight or early Wednesday, move roughly parallel to the upper Texas coast later on Wednesday and move back inland in extreme eastern Texas or southwestern Louisiana late Wednesday or early Thursday.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 30 mph (45 km/h) with higher gusts. The disturbance is forecast to gradually strengthen and could become a tropical storm early on Wednesday. Weakening is anticipated on Thursday after the system moves back on land. * Formation chance through 48 hours, high, 70 percent. * Formation chance through 7 days, high, 70 percent.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 1006 mb (29.71 inches).

Watches and Warnings

CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY:

None

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for, * Sargent to Morgan City

A Tropical Storm Watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, in this case within 24 to 36 hours.

For storm information specific to your area, including possible inland watches and warnings, please monitor products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.

Land Hazards

Key messages for Potential Tropical Cyclone One can be found in the Tropical Cyclone Discussion under AWIPS header MIATCDAT1 and WMO header WTNT41 KNHC.

RAINFALL: Potential Tropical Cyclone One is expected to produce rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches with isolated higher totals around 12 inches through Thursday from the Mid to Upper Texas Coast through much of Louisiana, central and southern portions of Mississippi and Alabama, and the far western portion of the Florida Panhandle. This could generate dangerous to life-threatening flash flooding.

For a complete depiction of forecast rainfall associated with Potential Tropical Cyclone One, please see the National Weather Service Storm Total Rainfall Graphic available at hurricanes.gov/graphics_at1.shtml?rainqpf and the Flash Flood Risk graphic at hurricanes.gov/graphics_at1.shtml?ero

For a list of rainfall observations (and wind reports) associated this potential tropical cyclone, see the companion storm summary at WBCSCCNS1 with the WMO header ACUS44 KWBC or at the following link: www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/discussions/nfdscc1.html

WIND: Tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area beginning early Wednesday.

STORM SURGE: The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water could reach the following heights above ground somewhere in the indicated areas if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide,

Port Bolivar, TX to Morgan City, LA, 2-4 ft

The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast near and to the east of the landfall location, where the surge will be accompanied by large and dangerous waves. Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances. For information specific to your area, please see products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.

For a complete depiction of areas at risk of storm surge inundation, please see the National Weather Service Peak Storm Surge Graphic, available at hurricanes.gov/graphics_at1.shtml?peakSurge.

SURF: Swells generated by the Potential Tropical Cyclone are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along the northwestern Gulf Coast for the next couple of days. Please consult products from your local weather office.

A depiction of rip current risk for the United States can be found at: hurricanes.gov/graphics_at1.shtml?ripCurrents

TORNADO: A tornado or two is possible through tonight from the Upper Texas coast across southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

All eight people aboard were killed in Monday's fiery crash of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which was taking part in a routine mission as part of an overall program to keep the long-running aircraft flying for decades to come. It was not yet clear what caused the plane to crash shortly after takeoff, and officials at Edwards Air Force Base said it could take up to six months to complete the investigation.

The airfield remained closed Tuesday. Crews were making the crash site safe for search and recovery teams to enter, after fires flared up overnight, said Mike Paoli, a spokesperson for the 412 Test Wing at Edwards.

The flight tracking that was available Tuesday shows the bomber turning to the northeast right after taking off and nearly completing a sharp turn before crashing on another runway, according to AirNav Systems. The data that comes from a system called multilateration doesn’t show precise altitude and speed information, but it does show the plane fell to earth at a rate of descent of 5,056 feet (1,541 meters) per minute — nearly 10 times as fast as a plane normally descends when preparing to land.

The aircraft was supporting a “radar modernization program,” Col. James Hayes, the deputy commander for the 412 Test Wing, said Monday. In 2025, Boeing sent a B-52 to Edwards with a modernized radar system that is key to keeping the bomber in the air through at least 2050, nearly a century after it first entered service.

A test team planned to conduct ground and flight test activities on the aircraft throughout 2026 to feed a production decision, the Air Force said in a 2025 news release. The modern Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system replaced the aircraft’s antiquated radar for efficacy. It was unclear if that was the same aircraft involved in Monday’s crash.

AESA replaced 1960s radar technology and offers improved navigation and targeting capabilities, according to a 2023 news release from Raytheon, which designed the new system for the Air Force's entire B-52 fleet.

B-52 began flying in the 1950s

The B-52, a long-range bomber that entered service in 1955, is designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons. It has been used in conflicts involving the U.S. military from Vietnam to Iran.

Along with a new radar, the fleet of 76 B-52s are scheduled to receive additional upgrades, including new engines, crew compartments, conventional and nuclear communication systems, avionics and weapons. The military said the goal is to make the B-52 a complement to the Air Force’s newest strategic bomber, the B-21 Raider.

Aerial footage showed virtually nothing left of the aircraft that went down at the base in the Mojave Desert about 100 miles (161 km) northeast of Los Angeles. Officials determined no one could have survived after reviewing footage of the crash, Hayse said at a news conference.

Those on the B-52 included government contractors and uniformed military. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing confirmed that two of its employees were on board.

Edwards is home to a large portion of the U.S. Air Force’s aircraft test and development efforts. The 412th Test Wing, which runs the base, also conducts developmental testing of all Air Force aircraft, weapons systems, software and components before purchase by the service as well as throughout their lifespan.

The base is where Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager reached a speed of Mach 1.05 and broke the sound barrier in 1947.

Investigators will focus on how quickly the crash came

The way the B-52 crashed so quickly after takeoff without getting very high or going far makes aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti suspect some kind of flight control malfunction.

It’s possible the controls were rigged wrong after maintenance, he said, or a catastrophic engine problem or a failure of a piece of equipment that was being tested.

“I think it was definitely a controllability issue. Now, whether that was tied to an engine failure, a flight control failure, or some new testing device failure, I’m not sure,” said Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

In recent years, fatal Air Force training accidents in the U.S. have included an instructor pilot who was killed in 2024 when the ejection seat activated while the aircraft was still on the ground in Texas and an Air Force ROTC cadet's death in a 2022 accident involving a Humvee during a training exercise in Idaho. Two Air Force pilots were killed when a trainer jet crashed near an Alabama airport in 2021.

___

Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press journalist Konstantin Toropin contributed from Washington, D.C.

The deal, which is between the U.S. and Iran, has not been made public, and officials have sometimes offered contradictory interpretations of what is in it. While Israel is not party to the agreement, it is part of the war: It joined the U.S. in launching strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, and has since fought the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and seized large swaths of that country.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Israel’s continued occupation of southern Lebanon would violate the deal.

“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” Araghchi said.

A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss outlines of the agreement, has said the deal does not call for an Israeli withdrawal. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel would remain in Lebanon “as long as necessary.”

The negotiations to end the war have been plagued by such disagreements before, leading to a prolonged but uneasy ceasefire that has failed to develop into a permanent end to hostilities and has left the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for the world’s energy supplies, effectively shut.

In other developments, Switzerland’s foreign ministry said the signing ceremony for the deal will take place Friday at the Bürgenstock resort near the city of Luzern. Ministry officials said Tuesday that the location was proposed by Pakistani and Qatari mediators, along with the U.S. and Iran.

Lebanon tests the durability of the deal

Pakistan, a key mediator, has said the deal called for an end to military operations, including in Lebanon, as Iran long insisted. But Araghchi’s call for an Israeli withdrawal adds a new wrinkle.

It puts Israel into a dilemma as it tries to degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities without undermining an agreement championed by its most important ally, the United States. Israel invaded southern Lebanon after Hezbollah fired missiles across the border during the first week of the war. Since then, it has expanded its military footprint to levels unseen in decades and struck targets deep inside Beirut.

Though Hezbollah has been weakened, it retains the ability to strike Israel, leaving open questions about the effectiveness of Israel’s campaign.

As of Tuesday evening, Netanyahu had not seen the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, said a person familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door details. Another person, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations between Israel and the U.S., said Israeli officials have not asked U.S. negotiators for the memorandum.

Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. The White House declined to comment on whether Netanyahu or Israeli officials have reviewed the agreement.

The Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, told NPR that while Israel does not know the details of the deal, the apparent inclusion of Lebanon is “unnecessary and unhelpful.”

The extent of Israel’s strikes have at times opened a public fracture between its leaders and U.S. President Donald Trump, who told reporters Tuesday that he was “not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah.”

“It just goes on forever,” he said of Israel’s strategy. Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed nearly 4,000 people, including hundreds of civilians, and displaced more than 1 million. “Israel’s fighting Hezbollah too long, and too many people are being killed,” he said.

Trump said he’s open to sending the emerging agreement to the U.S. Congress for review.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in the French Alps, Trump said, “I like the idea, send it to Congress please." He added, “I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information about the agreement, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon.

Israel and the Lebanese government have entered into their own U.S.-mediated direct negotiations, of which Hezbollah was not a part. Those talks have yielded several announced ceasefires that were never implemented on the ground. Lebanese officials initially tried to keep Lebanon separate from the U.S.-Iran negotiations, not wanting to be seen as beholden to Iran, but they have since welcomed the announcement that the deal to end the U.S.-Iran war would include a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Araghchi’s latest comments appear to match the understanding of two regional officials with direct knowledge of the interim deal. The officials, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, said it would require Israel to leave nearly all the territory it occupies in Lebanon, minus a few hilltop points along the border seized earlier.

The officials say Iran insisted the accord include Lebanon in the last days of the negotiations.

Despite unanswered questions, US allies push to make deal work at G7 summit

Lebanon is only one of several major questions hanging over the ceasefire ahead of the planned ceremonial signing.

The agreement is meant to provide a meaningful truce in a monthslong war that has killed thousands across the Middle East, including the top leaders of Iran’s theocracy, and raised the prices of fuel, food and other basic goods far beyond the region.

The agreement provides for the “immediate” opening of the Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of the American naval blockade of Iranian ports, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss outlines of the agreement.

Pakistani officials who helped broker the agreement also described plans for the simultaneous lifting of Iran’s closure of the strait and the U.S. blockade.

The United States and Iran will then begin 60 days of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and the potential lifting of sanctions, Pakistani officials who helped broker the interim deal said, speaking on condition of anonymity about the unpublished text.

The pact also includes the possibility of releasing Iran’s frozen funds and a $300 billion fund to help rebuild Iran if Tehran meets certain benchmarks, senior U.S. officials told reporters Monday. Trump later said the United States would not “invest” funds in Iran.

Regarding the timeline, regional officials who spoke to AP about the deal said the release of frozen Iranian assets would be tied to Tehran implementing the deal. Gulf Arab states also have pledged to inject billions of dollars in Iran’s economy, they added, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

Iran's nuclear program, specifically the fate of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, would be subject to the 60-day clock. Iran has agreed to discuss ways to possibly “dilute or remove” it, the officials said. However, it remains unclear whether Tehran would agree to that, particularly with hard-liners opposing to giving it up.

U.S. officials have not yet explained how they see the agreement addressing Iran’s nuclear program, including who will be in charge of verifying that Iran is in compliance and who will destroy or remove highly enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last summer.

___ Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Julia Frankel and Koral Saeed in Jerusalem, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Michelle L. Price in Washington, Aamer Madhani in Geneva and Darlene Superville in Evian-les-Bains, France, contributed to this report.

The Department of Justice will take on enforcement of civil rights in education, while the Department of Health and Human Services will oversee special education. With the transfers announced Tuesday, the vast majority of Education Department functions now have been assigned to other agencies.

Trump, a Republican, campaigned on shutting down the Education Department, saying he would “move education back to the states where it belongs.” While only Congress can close the department, Trump’s education secretary, Linda McMahon, a billionaire and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, has formed agreements with other federal agencies to handle much of her department’s work.

McMahon said the agreements align federal responsibilities with the agencies best positioned to support them.

“The Trump Administration has been clear: as we scale back federal micromanagement when it hinders success, we are equally committed to bolstering the efficacy of federal oversight where it is essential,” McMahon said in a written statement.

Advocates said the changes would create uncertainty around services relied upon by millions of families.

“As is too often the case, traditionally underserved students — including students with disabilities, Black and Latino students, multilingual learners, students from low-income backgrounds, and students in rural communities — will bear the greatest burden created by this reckless decision, to which the disability and civil rights communities have already been vehemently opposed,” said a written statement from EdTrust, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that advocates for educational equity.

The Education Department already has offloaded some of its programs through 10 earlier internal agreements, but the agencies involved in Tuesday’s announcement -- the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office for Civil Rights -- were among the most closely watched.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services manages billions of dollars in grants and oversees state compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The Office for Civil Rights, which has been thinned by mass layoffs, investigates complaints of discrimination at the nation’s schools and universities.

The Department of Justice also will take over work protecting student privacy and will provide some training and advisory help to schools.

Rachel Gittleman, president of the union that represents department employees, said the moves will create chaos for families, students and schools.

“This will leave our most vulnerable students and families who have been shut out of our education system without the services they need and without protection when they face discrimination,” Gittleman said in written a statement.

The transfer of special education to Health and Human Services most alarmed disability advocates, who say oversight of whether schools are adequately serving children with disabilities is best handled by education experts — not medical experts.

“The IDEA is intended to equip students as they learn alongside their peers, not cure them — the HHS is not prepared to oversee and administer the IDEA program effectively. Health and education systems speak in entirely different languages, including variations in terminology, training, and disciplines," said Jennifer Coco, interim executive director of the Center for Learning Equity.

The Education Department said McMahon spent over six months in listening sessions with families, advocates and educators to better understand concerns around how the department's dismantling could affect special education. Many families raised concerns about obstacles to obtaining proper services for their children, but Coco said participants in those sessions were united in their opposition to moving special education oversight out of the Education Department.

“I think we agree on the problem,” Coco said. “We have stark disagreement on the solution and these transfers today don’t feel like a solution to that problem.”

___

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

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, was arraigned on 17 counts, including first-degree murder, in the new indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Washington. Lakanwal originally pleaded not guilty in January to nine charges in the November 2025 shooting that killed Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounded Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe.

Before the Justice Department announces whether it will seek the death penalty against Lakanwal, his defense attorneys can meet with prosecutors and present any evidence that they believe weighs against a death sentence.

Beckstrom, 20, and Wolfe, 24, were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard for the federal law-enforcement surge that began in August in Washington, D.C., at the direction of President Donald Trump.

Lakanwal is accused of driving to the nation’s capital from Bellingham, Washington, while in possession of a stolen firearm and ambushing the two Guard members outside a subway station three blocks from the White House.

Another National Guard member heard gunshots and saw Beckstrom and Wolfe fall to the ground as Lakanwal fired a gun and screamed, “Allahu Akbar!” according to a police report.

Lakanwal, who was shot during the confrontation, was seated in a wheelchair during his arraignment on Tuesday. He didn't speak during the hearing; one of his attorneys entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 through a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country. Lakanwal worked with the American government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force” in Kandahar, Afghanistan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe has said.

Lakanwal is due back in court Sept. 16. A trial date for his case hasn't been scheduled yet.

They were among a trickle of residents who returned to the city to check on their homes after the announcement of a deal between the U.S. and Iran to end their war. Iranian officials have said the deal will also mandate an end to the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon.

Although the fighting in southern Lebanon has not stopped, the strikes have been more limited since the U.S.-Iran deal was reached, and many people displaced from the area have taken the opportunity to check on their houses.

Jleilati and her 22-year-old daughter, Sukaina al-Muhtadi, lived on the first floor of a three-story building consisting of six apartments that collapsed as a result of the airstrike.

City subjected to intense airstrikes and shelling

Jleilati managed to pull out most of her husband’s scuba diving equipment, as well as some clothes, while her daughter’s main hope was to find a photo album that had pictures taken when she was a little girl.

“What can I say? All that we have gathered in our life has been wasted,” Jleilati said, adding that they knew that their home was destroyed on May 26, when al-Muhtadi saw the destroyed building on a social media platform.

Since the early days of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, the ancient city of Nabatiyeh has been subjected to intense airstrikes and shelling that have killed and wounded scores of people.

The once bustling market of Nabatiyeh suffered wide destruction and on Tuesday, several bulldozers were removing rubble and debris as some people returned following the late Sunday deal reached between the U.S. and Iran to end the conflict.

Jleilati and other residents in the city are not sure whether the truce will last since previous ceasefires that first went into effect on April 17 have been fragile with Israel and Hezbollah continuing their attacks.

Over the past few weeks, Israeli troops have pushed deep into southern Lebanon reaching about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) southeast of the city that has been a trade hub for centuries. It's famous for its Monday market when residents of nearby villages came to sell products in the city.

The importance of Nabatiyeh through the centuries

Since the state of Lebanon was created in 1920 after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Nabatiyeh and its surroundings have been a center for religious and cultural activities, with Shiite clerics having strong links with the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in modern day Iraq.

Nabatiyeh historically was the capital of the predominantly Shiite Jabal Amel region from where some religious scholars went to Iran in the 16th century and helped its Safavid rulers convert much of Iran’s population to Shiite Islam.

Nabatiyeh is also a main center in Lebanon where Shiite Muslims mark Ashoura, a solemn day marking the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussein. The 10-day mourning period that culminates on the 10th of the Muslim month of Muharram, begins on Wednesday.

Widespread destruction in the city as fighting rages nearby

At the center of Nabatiyeh, 75-year-old Kamel al-Kamel looked in shock at his giant business consisting of a supermarket and a coffee roastery burned to ashes while the century-old building housing it crumbled.

Walking with the help of a cane, al-Kamal estimated his losses at $2.5 million. He said that unlike previous wars he has lived through — from the 15-year civil war that broke out in 1975 to Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to various rounds of Israel-Hezbollah wars — the latest one has been the worst.

“Thank God we are still alive,” he said, adding that he wept as he walked into Nabatiyeh on Thursday.

Samar Zuraik was happy to find that her house is still standing but damaged and will need some repairs. But she said nothing can compensate her for the loss of her son Ali, 27, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the edge of the city.

She said that despite the Iran-U.S. agreement, Nabatiyeh is unlivable at the present time, still subjected to shelling and without electricity, telephones or internet.

“I wish I lost my house and my son stayed alive,” Zuraik said.

Human losses in the city

There are three major hospitals in the Nabatiyeh area the oldest of which is the Najdeh El Chaabiyeh Hospital on the edge of the city, where hundreds of people wounded in the latest war were treated.

The hospital’s medical director, Dr. Shafi Fouani, said the latest Israel-Hezbollah war was similar to the previous war in 2024.

“It was a very harsh war,” he said about the latest one that broke out on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks against Iran.

He said that during the current war, the hospital dealt with about 500 deaths and treated nearly 1,200 patients, some of whom who were in critical condition and were referred to medical centers in Beirut or the southern city of Sidon.

More than 3,800 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest fighting, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Also, 30 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon, and two civilians have been killed in northern Israel, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

On Tuesday, Israeli troops fired artillery shells toward the outskirts of Nabatiyeh while Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli positions near the city. Thuds of the blasts could be clearly heard in Nabatiyeh as Israeli troops have fought for days in an attempt to capture the Ali Taher hill that overlooks large parts of the city.

Lebanese troops closed some roads that lead to areas where Israeli troops are inside Lebanon.

As Jleilati and al-Muhtadi searched through the rubble of their former home, the young woman found a watch that her mother gave her when she was a child. The women were planning to head back to a Beirut suburb later Tuesday where they have been staying, saying they are waiting to see if the truce will hold in order to come back to Nabatiyeh and rent an apartment until their building is rebuilt.

“We cannot live outside Nabatiyeh,” al-Muhtadi said.

Jim Troupis, a former judge who was Trump’s Wisconsin campaign attorney, Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020, and Ken Chesebro, a former Trump legal adviser, all entered the pleas in Dane County Circuit Court.

Troupis, who lives in the Madison area, appeared in person. Roman and Chesebro appeared via Zoom.

The Wisconsin fake electors case is moving forward even as others in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia have faltered. A special prosecutor last year dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Another case in Nevada is still alive.

The fake elector scheme, under which Republican electors in battleground states submitted documentation to Congress attesting that Trump had won their states even though he lost to Joe Biden, originated in Wisconsin.

Troupis, Chesebro and Roman argue that they committed no crime and were just trying to keep their options alive in case a court ruled that Trump had actually won the state.

But prosecutors allege that the three defendants defrauded the 10 Wisconsin Republican electors who cast their ballots for Trump in 2020.

Prosecutors contend that Troupis, Chesebro and Roman lied to the electors about how the certificate they signed would be used as part of a plan to submit paperwork to then-Vice President Mike Pence, falsely claiming that Trump had won the battleground state that year.

A majority of the electors told investigators that they did not believe their signatures on the elector certificate would be submitted to Congress without a court ruling, the complaint said. Also, a majority said they did not consent to having their signatures presented as if Trump had won without such a court ruling, the complaint said.

The arraignment on Tuesday came two years and two weeks after the first charges were brought against the three by Wisconsin Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul. Troupis, Chesebro and Roman face 11 felony forgery charges which are each punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Troupis and Roman both filed motions seeking to relocate the trial from Dane County, which includes Madison, to neighboring Jefferson County, saying negative publicity had tainted the potential jury pool.

Trump carried Jefferson County by 15 percentage points in 2020. He lost Dane County by nearly 53 points.

“This case is headed to trial,” Troupis attorney Joe Bugni wrote in Troupis' motion. “No question. Neither side is going to blink. And when we get to trial, Troupis has the right to a fair and impartial jury.”

Troupis and Roman also argued that one of the 11 felony counts against them should be dropped because Trump issued a pardon for any federal crimes related to their work on the fake elector scheme. They argued that the state can't prosecute them over the casting of electoral votes, which is a federal process, and therefore Trump's pardon applies.

Trump also pardoned Chesebro.

The judge said Tuesday he would set a schedule to hear arguments on those motions.

The state charges against the Trump attorneys and aide are the only ones in Wisconsin. None of the electors have been charged. The 10 Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that was brought against them by Democrats seeking damages.

Trump has been at the center of this year’s midterm campaigns, and his influence will be tested in different ways Tuesday as four states and the District of Columbia hold primaries.

Among Democrats, the primaries will hinge on longstanding divides between progressives and moderates as the party tries to chart the best path forward to November.

Here's the latest:

Georgia’s governor primary pits Trump’s endorsement against a lot of money

The president’s preferred primary candidates have a strong record so far in 2026. But none have faced a self-funded rival with Rick Jackson’s spending power.

Trump has backed Burt Jones, who, as lieutenant governor, was part of Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden, and the president has repeatedly praised Jones’ loyalty.

Jackson has chipped in more than $93 million of his own money to win the nomination. The 71-year-old businessman amassed a fortune from his company that provides contract healthcare personnel, and he’s used it to blanket television and online platforms with ads.

Trump and the National Guard are on DC voters’ minds

President Trump and the continuing presence of military uniforms in the city were among central themes for voters casting ballots in the Washington, D.C., primary.

Fran Tatu, 69, said she voted for Janeese Lewis George. “Many years she’s been in the streets with us activating, getting out there, with us in the movements standing up for the rights for all.”

Tatu said she also supported current council member Robert White Jr., in his contest to replace longtime non-voting delegate to Congress Eleanor Holmes Norton.

“What’s at stake — many young lives with the surge of federal officers by Trump and all of the troops that are here,” she said, citing one instance where Immigration and Customs Enforcement was detaining riders getting off public transportation. “We called Janeese and she showed up in her purple coat to check on her constituents,” she said.

Republicans fielding largest candidate slate in Washington, DC, since 1992

Although voters in the District of Columbia are overwhelmingly Democrats, the local GOP is fielding its largest group of candidates in more than 30 years.

Those candidates include Manuel Rivera, who's the first Republican ever to seek the Attorney General seat. He's running unopposed in the primary.

Republicans are also running for chair of the D.C. Council and Council members for Wards 1, 5, 6 and at-large, Member of the Council for Wards 1, 5, and 6, and Delegate to Congress, where Denise Rosado is running unopposed and will advance to the general election.

As of May 31, there were about 481,000 registered voters in Washington. More than three-quarters of them, about 363,000, were registered Democrats. Roughly 25,000, or 5%, were registered Republicans and about 18%, or roughly 86,000, were not affiliated with any party.

Georgia GOP chairman says Republicans will be united Wednesday morning

Josh McKoon knows there are differing opinions and a web of endorsements flying around the Georgia Republican Party. Most notably, the outgoing governor, Brian Kemp, and the president are on opposite sides in the Senate.

But they’re now aligned in the race for Kemp’s successor.

“We’ve heard this narrative for so long about Donald Trump Republicans and Brian Kemp Republicans,” McKoon said. But their mutual support for Burt Jones “speaks to the ability of Republicans to come together ahead of a general election.”

McKoon acknowledged Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms have had a head start. They had no runoffs. But McKoon said Wednesday morning will be a “fresh start.”

Still, in the Senate race, either Derek Dooley or Mike Collins will face a big financial gap. Earlier this spring, Ossoff had $32.5 million on hand. Each Republican had less than $2 million.

These are the Republicans vying to serve out Swalwell’s term

Wendy Huang is a real estate investor with past experience working in Silicon Valley, a background she’s touted while emphasizing that artificial intelligence will be a defining part of the economy. She’s focused on reducing the cost of housing and prescription drugs.

Dena Maldonado, who runs a floral business, says she wants to stop insider trading in Congress, protect the Second Amendment, install term limits and to stop “endless wars.” She has framed her decision to run around bringing transparency to what happens in the nation’s capital and how taxpayer dollars are spent.

The top-two primary is nonpartisan. Any Republican making it through to the special general election will have a tough time pulling out a win in a seat that has been safely Democratic.

These are the Democrats running to serve out Swalwell’s term

Eleven candidates are running in the special primary, which sends the top two voter-getters to a special general election regardless of party affiliation.

Democratic state Sen. Aisha Wahab has focused on housing costs and consumer protections such as banning junk fees. She's endorsed by the state Democratic Party and has leaned into her story of living through foster care and adoption in California.

Another Democratic candidate is Melissa Hernandez, a former mayor of the East Bay city of Dublin, who says she’ll tackle high costs by supporting small businesses and helping create jobs. She’s also emphasized expanding access to healthcare and childcare.

Both candidates also ran in the regular primary election seeking the full two-year term to the House seat.

In Georgia, two original tea party organizers take different sides

Jenny Beth Martin and Debbie Dooley were on the front lines of the early tea party movement during Barack Obama’s presidency.

In Georgia’s GOP Senate runoff, they’re on different sides. Each insists her candidate is the one to defeat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in the fall.

Martin backs Rep. Mike Collins, a self-declared “MAGA warrior” with Trump’s endorsement. Dooley supports first-time candidate Derek Dooley (no relation).

Martin says energizing the conservative base is necessary to protect Republican majorities that aren’t populated with Republican “anti-Trumpers” or “liberals like Jon Ossoff.”

Debbie Dooley says Collins has too much baggage and hard-right ties to win. “He will drag down the whole Republican ticket in Georgia,” she predicted. “This is about actually winning. It’s not about just following Donald Trump.”

Debbie Dooley and Martin have diverged before. In 2016, Dooley backed Trump from the start. Martin backed Ted Cruz for the GOP nomination.

GOP candidates for Alabama Senate seat feud over military service

The closing days of the Senate runoff between U.S. Rep. Barry Moore and former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson have been marked by a heated back-and-forth over military service.

Some of Hudson’s supporters have accused Moore, a three-term congressman, of inflating his military record.

Moore served in the Alabama National Guard and U.S Army Reserves, and has often emphasized his veteran status. He ran an ad in 2020 saying he knows how to support veterans because he’s been in combat boots.

In a recent video, Moore called it a “garbage swamp tactic” to suggest Guardsmen and reservists aren’t veterans. He said he never claimed to have been in combat.

The two are seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who's running for governor.

Trump’s status as GOP kingmaker faces another test in Oklahoma

Trump’s early backing of Republican Rep. Kevin Hern for the U.S. Senate seat previously held by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin kept other potential big challengers at bay in Oklahoma, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1990.

A bigger test may come in the crowded race to succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Trump last month endorsed former state Sen. Mike Mazzei. Other prominent Oklahoma Republicans seeking the nomination include Attorney General Gentner Drummond, former Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall and Chip Keating, the state’s former public safety director.

District of Columbia’s mayor shows up to vote

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser greeted supporters as she arrived to cast her primary vote at Shepard Park Elementary on Tuesday morning.

This fall, current council members Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie are the frontrunners vying to replace Bowser, who was elected in 2014.

Runoffs for Georgia elections chief carry 2028 undertones

Georgia’s secretary of state election is open for the first time since Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election, famously pressuring outgoing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,800 votes” to overtake Democrat Joe Biden. Raffensperger refused.

For his potential successor, Republicans are left to choose between an outright election denier, Vernon Jones, and a state lawmaker, Tim Fleming, who avoids explicitly disputing the president’s 2020 election lies.

Democrats will choose between Dana Barrett, a Fulton County commissioner, and Penny Brown Reynolds, a former state judge in Fulton County who also served in the Biden administration as deputy assistant secretary for civil rights for the Department of Agriculture.

In Georgia Senate race, Collins supporter likes his immigration stance

Retired software engineer James Haddad emigrated from Jordan and became a U.S. citizen in 1983. He backs Rep. Mike Collins in Georgia’s GOP Senate runoff because of Collins’ hardline approach on immigration.

“I’m an immigrant, but I’m a legal immigrant,” Haddad said. “Just follow the law.”

Collins hopes to defeat former football coach Derek Dooley and then draw contrasts on immigration with Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.

“The congressman is a good American who puts America first,” said Haddad, a 66-year-old from Woodstock.

Collins sponsored the 2025 Laken Riley Act, named for a Georgia nursing student killed by a man in the U.S. illegally. The law requires immigrants charged with certain crimes to be held without bond.

Ossoff voted against an initial version but backed it after Trump returned to power.

“It’s unfortunate that some immigrants have ruined it for others,” Haddad said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is playing an insider-outsider game

The outgoing Republican governor passed on a Senate bid and recruited his former football coach Derek Dooley. Kemp’s spent months saying it’ll take an “outsider” to defeat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.

Meanwhile, until Sunday, Kemp sat out the Republican tussle to be his successor. That runoff pits the sitting lieutenant governor against a first-time candidate. Rick Jackson, a billionaire businessman, labels himself an “outsider” in his ads and plastered the word on his campaign tour bus.

Yet Kemp opted for Burt Jones, the Capitol insider. Campaigning with Jones on Monday, Kemp said there’s no contradiction in his message.

His reasoning, essentially: Georgia state government has been run by Republicans for a generation and things are great, whereas in Washington, where Dooley would go, Congress is often deadlocked and has atrocious approval ratings. But Kemp did not note that Republicans have a trifecta with Trump as president and GOP majorities on Capitol Hill.

Why are there 2 elections for Swalwell’s California seat?

There’s the regular race in November that will determine who'll be sworn in come January and serve a full, two-year term in the U.S. House.

But since Swalwell resigned early following sexual assault allegations, there’s also the special election that will decide who will serve out the rest of his current term until January.

Tuesday’s primary will decide the top two candidates for the special general election on August 18. But if one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, they’ll win outright and there won’t be a general election.

Sen. Ted Cruz says he’s not trying to separate himself from Trump

The Texas senator has gotten more active on the Republican campaign circuit.

In Republican governor’s races in South Carolina and Georgia, Cruz finds himself on the opposing side from the president.

Cruz was in Georgia ahead of Tuesday’s runoff to stump for billionaire Rick Jackson. Trump backs Jackson’s rival, Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.

In the upcoming South Carolina runoff the GOP governor nomination, Cruz backs longtime state Attorney General Alan Wilson over Trump’s pick, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.

Cruz, who finished second in Republicans 2016 presidential nominating fight, insisted he’s not picking fights with Trump.

“Not remotely,” Cruz said Monday. He noted he and Trump have both endorsed former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu in his U.S. Senate bid.

“The president and I agree on the vast majority of races,” Cruz said. “What I try to do in every race is endorse the strongest conservative who can win.”

Rick Jackson says he’s spending his own fortune to help people

Georgia gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson choked up a bit in the closing hours of his GOP runoff campaign explaining why he’s spent nearly $100 million of his own money on the race.

Jackson called his wealth “God’s money” that he directs “the best I can.” And he compared his campaign spending to his years of philanthropy, especially to help children in foster care, where he spent part of his childhood.

“I want our kids, our foster kids and everybody else, to have hope, you know,” he told a lunch crowd Monday.

“I have lived in poverty,” Jackson continued. “When you, when you have not eaten, you never forget that you don’t forget the people that are struggling.”

It was a stark contrast to Jackson’s tone in some of his television ads, including a promise that migrants who are in Georgia illegally and commit crimes will be “deported or departed.”

Why Tuesday’s elections in Washington, DC, matter

Voters in the nation’s capital are selecting party candidates for mayor and the district’s delegate to Congress.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, who isn’t seeking reelection, has walked a fine line between staying in Trump’s good graces and responding to the concerns of constituents, many of whom said she didn’t push back hard enough on Trump’s actions.

The district’s long-serving congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, is also stepping down.

The election is taking place as Washington undergoes major change under the Trump administration.

Washington has limited autonomy and federal leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including the approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C. Council.

In Georgia, Trump’s endorsements reflect his fixation on 2020

In 2020, a Georgia state senator named Burt Jones was part of Donald Trump’s alternate Electoral College slate and backed the president’s scheme to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump has referenced Jones’ “loyalty” many times since, including when endorsing his bid for governor. Jones, now the lieutenant governor, faces billionaire businessman Rick Jackson in a Tuesday runoff for the Republican nomination.

“Burt was strongly committed to my Campaign in 2016, 2020, and 2024, and worked tirelessly to help us WIN,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on the eve of the runoff. “He has been with us from the very beginning.”

A day earlier, Trump endorsed Rep. Mike Collins in a Senate runoff over former football coach Derek Dooley. The president chided Dooley for saying (months ago and not as a feature of his campaign) that Trump did indeed lose Georgia in 2020.

Collins, meanwhile, has consistently echoed Trump’s false claims of a “rigged” election.

Alabama GOP primary is latest test of Trump’s endorsements

The president’s endorsed candidates have mostly done well so far in the midterm primaries. But the open U.S. Senate race in Alabama will be another test of his endorsement power.

U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, a three-term congressman, faces former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson in the GOP runoff. Trump endorsed Moore early in the campaign, but he's been forced into a heated race with Hudson, a political newcomer.

Hudson, borrowing a page from Trump’s original playbook, has tried to depict Moore as a political insider and has urged voters to send an outsider to Washington.

Trump held a telephone rally for Moore last week.

The candidates are seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who's running for governor. The winner will face the Democratic nominee in November.

2 open races set off a political scramble in heavily Republican Oklahoma

GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt is term-limited, and former U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin vacated his seat to replace Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary.

Republican Alan Armstrong, an energy executive, is filling the U.S. Senate seat for now, but state law prohibits him from seeking a full term as an interim appointee.

Rep. Kevin Hern, a four-term congressman endorsed by Trump, is running against four other candidates of lesser profile in the Republican Senate primary.

The GOP primary for governor is more crowded, with nine names on the ballot, including several prominent Republicans. That could lead to an Aug. 25 runoff if no candidate receives at least 50% of the vote to win outright.

California special election will fill former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s term after his resignation

The Democrat stepped down in April following allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman twice, including when she worked for him, and other accusations of sexual misconduct.

Swalwell was a leading candidate for California governor at the time and dropped out of the race the same month. He has denied the allegations and said he will defend himself.

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported that a woman accused Swalwell of sexually assaulting her in 2019 and again in 2024. She told the outlet that she had been too intoxicated to consent.

Runoffs will decide GOP nominees for Senate and governor in Georgia

Tuesday’s elections are needed after no Republican won a majority to clinch the nominations in the May primary.

In the Senate race, Rep. Mike Collins, a second-term congressman who calls himself a “MAGA warrior,” and Derek Dooley, a first-time candidate and former football coach, are facing off. The winner will try to oust Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in a key November contest. Trump endorsed Collins on Sunday.

The primary for governor pits Lt. Gov. Burt Jones against billionaire Rick Jackson. Trump endorsed Jones last August. The winner will face Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, in November.

Polls now open in Washington, DC

Voting is underway in one of the city’s most consequential primaries in a generation.

Democrats in the nation’s capital have not had a chance to vote for a new mayor and new delegate to Congress in the same election since 1990, when gas was cheaper than $1.35 a gallon and George H.W. Bush was president.

The demonstration, organized by Indivisible JAX Riverside and joined by groups including Beaches Activist Movement, Indivisible Mandarin, Indivisible St. Johns County, JaxNOW, Take Em Down, the Democratic Women’s Information Network and 50501 Vets, coincided with the first day of a two-day DHS career fair.

Organizers said the protest was a response to what they described as an aggressive nationwide recruitment effort and the expansion of federal immigration enforcement.

“We’re out here today to protest DHS, Department of Homeland Security, having a job fair in our city to increase ICE agents and increase the abuse that’s happening right now,” protester Montessa Bryant said.

Protesters voiced concerns about immigration detention and enforcement practices.

“We’ve seen all of the abuses of ICE,” Bryant said.

Gloria Einstein, another protester, said she felt compelled to speak out against current immigration policies.

“We’re imprisoning people who committed no crimes and making them subject to these awful conditions,” Einstein said. “It’s just intolerable and I feel the need to protest it any way I can.”

The coalition said it opposes what it views as the militarization of interior enforcement, accelerated training models and a lack of accountability within federal agencies. Organizers also raised concerns about alleged racial and language profiling by federal agents and cited reports from advocacy organizations regarding shootings and deaths in ICE custody.

Inside the expo, however, attendees expressed a different perspective.

Many job seekers said they were focused on finding stable employment and opportunities to serve the public.

“We’re just here to better ourselves and hopefully get the career we want,” said Gesco Camile, who attended the event.

Camile said a desire to serve motivated his interest in DHS careers.

“I have a deep sense of justice and integrity, so I want to serve people,” he said. “And the Department of Homeland Security, they serve America, so what a better place to work for.”

Chester Wilson, another attendee, said employment opportunities were his primary concern.

“I think the most important thing is that we could all continue to be employed, all continue to support the country and give all that we can give,” Wilson said.

According to a DHS flyer, the recruiting event includes opportunities with several agencies, including Customs and Border Protection and the Transportation Security Administration.

DHA Spokesperson Daniel Velez said there’s a big focus on hiring TSA agents with another concourse opening soon at the Jacksonville International Airport.

“Anytime an airport grows or we get more security screening lanes or a bigger footprint at an airport, we’re definitely going to look to bring in officers,” Velez said.

The flyer states DHS’s mission includes enforcing immigration laws, securing U.S. borders, safeguarding cyber infrastructure, protecting national leaders and countering terrorism.

“Our priority is securing the homeland and keeping the American people safe,” the flyer says, adding that DHS operates “by air, land, sea, and cyberspace.”

The flyer invites veterans, transitioning service members, military spouses, students and experienced professionals to attend and explore career opportunities across areas such as law enforcement, cybersecurity, immigration services and logistics.

The DHS career expo continues Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center. Protest organizers said they plan to return Wednesday morning.

For more information on job opportunities, click here.

The storms threatened to bring heavy downpours that could lead to dangerous floods across southern states including Texas and Louisiana. The system was centered Tuesday afternoon about 55 miles (85 kilometers) south-southwest of Corpus Christi, Texas, according to a hurricane center advisory.

National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan said meteorologists are expecting the system to strengthen, possibly into a tropical storm by early Wednesday. But coastal areas could experience tropical storm conditions this week, even if the system doesn’t officially get a name, Brennan said.

“The main hazard with these types of systems is largely the flooding from the heavy rainfall,” Brennan said. “And we could see potentially life-threatening flash and urban flooding across the Texas coast eastward into central Mississippi through Thursday. Prolonged rainfall may extend the flood threat into the weekend.”

Tornadoes were possible from the upper Texas coast across southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, forecasters said.

The storm's maximum sustained winds were around 30 mph (45 kph) Tuesday, just shy of the 39 mph (63 kph) needed to be named a tropical storm. The system had a 70% chance of forming into a tropical cyclone over the next two days, the hurricane center said.

Houston, where a World Cup match between Portugal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is scheduled for Wednesday, has been under a flood warning since Monday. The stadium is covered, and no plans have been announced to move or reschedule the match.

By Thursday, the storms could drop 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain, with isolated totals of a foot (30 centimeters) in coastal areas.

A tropical storm watch was already in effect from Sargent, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana. Rough surf could cause rip currents along the Gulf for the next couple of days.

Britain's Defense Ministry said it was investigating an “incident” after the yacht reported being fired on by a Russian navy vessel about 20 nautical miles (23 miles, 37 kilometers) south of the Isle of Wight, outside U.K. territorial waters.

There were no reports of injuries or damage to the sailing yacht, which continued its journey from the U.K. toward France.

The BBC reported that the yacht, which has no motor, had drifted toward the Russian vessel in foggy conditions.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the crew of the frigate Admiral Grigorovich tried to contact the yacht when it was seen sailing on a “dangerous course in close proximity with the warship.” It said the ship's crew launched flares and issued sound signals when the yacht did not respond.

“After the distance had closed to 150 meters (500 feet), the frigate’s commander decided to fire warning shots across the vessel’s bow using small arms,” the ministry said. It said the yacht then changed course and sailed away.

The ministry said the ship's crew “acted in strict accordance” with international navigation rules to avoid a collision.

Russian warships passing through the English Channel are routinely shadowed by the Royal Navy, and patrol vessel HMS Mersey was monitoring the Russian ship at the time of the reported incident. The ministry said it was investigating Tuesday's incident.

The British military said last month that it had monitored the Admiral Grigorovich throughout April as the Russian ship escorted six Russia-linked civilian vessels near the U.K.

The altercation occurred two days after British commandos boarded and detained a sanctioned tanker in the Channel that is suspected of being part of the Russian “shadow fleet.” Officials are not linking the two events.

The tanker's captain, an Indian national charged with shipping Russian oil in violation of international sanctions over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, was ordered held in jail after appearing Tuesday in court.

The British military has had several close encounters with Russian vessels in the region and warned Moscow in November that it was ready to deal with any incursion into its territory after the spy ship Yantar was detected on the edge of U.K. waters north of Scotland.

In April, Britain and Norway said they had tracked a Russian attack sub and two spy submarines operating north of the U.K. for several weeks.

A Royal Navy frigate, aircraft and hundreds of personnel spent weeks following the Russian vessels and prevented them from carrying out “nefarious” activities against underwater infrastructure, then-Defense Secretary John Healey said.

He accused Moscow of using the distraction of the Iran war to ramp up malign activity against Europe.

Five years ago, Russia said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the Black Sea to force the British destroyer HMS Defender out of an area near Crimea that Moscow claimed as its territorial waters.

The U.K. denied that account and insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon. It was the first time since the Cold War that Moscow acknowledged using live ammunition to deter a NATO warship, reflecting the growing risk of military incidents amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West. The incident occurred about six months before Russia invaded Ukraine.

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An earlier version of this story said the incident occurred about 20 miles south of the Isle of Wight. It is 20 nautical miles, or 23 miles.

A new Consumer Reports investigation found that someone standing right next to you, requesting the same ride at the same time, could be shown a very different price—and most riders would never know.

Consumer Reports spent months testing Uber and Lyft prices nationwide. The investigation used riders who requested a trip from the same starting point to the same destination at almost the same time—generally within a few minutes of one another and, in many cases, within the same minute.

Watch The Morning Show at 6 a.m. on Wednesday to see the surprising results.

The bill, adopted by the Senate on Monday, would enable a referendum on a new constitution under which Tshisekedi’s previous terms wouldn't count against him — effectively resetting the clock. It has already passed the National Assembly and now awaits the president’s signature.

Tshisekedi, 62, has been in office since 2019. He has said that he would seek a third term, if voters approved of it in a referendum. But no date has been set for one.

Congo's constitution explicitly bars any revision of presidential term limits. The bill works around that provision by allowing the president to amend the constitution in the event of a “major dysfunction” paralyzing state institutions.

The central African country is plagued by multiple crises, including an Ebola outbreak and an escalation of the decades-long conflict with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in the eastern provinces.

Congo's next presidential election is set to take place in 2028. Tshisekedi said last month that Congo won't be able to organize and hold elections unless the conflict is resolved and stability returns.

Both the Senate and National Assembly votes took place without opposition lawmakers, who walked out weeks ago in protest against the bill.

Senate President Jean-Michel Sama Lukondé hailed the vote, saying it gives the Congolese people a framework to “exercise their sovereignty” through a referendum.

Congo’s main opposition parties, which have been divided in recent years, joined forces in May under the banner of C64, or Coalition Article 64, to oppose the bill, describing it as an attempt by Tshisekedi to remain in power.

“Tshisekedi has betrayed his oath to respect the constitution and is therefore worthless,” leading opposition figure Martin Fayulu said Tuesday during a news conference held by the coalition.

He announced a march on July 8 to the presidential palace, demanding Tshisekedi’s resignation.

The vote comes days after violent clashes erupted at a protest against the bill in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, in which several people were injured, including opposition leaders Martin Fayulu, Jean-Marc Kabund and Delly Sesanga.

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Saleh Mwanamilongo reported from Bonn, Germany.

A Canadian federal court heard the appeal Tuesday, just one day before Ghana faces Panama in Toronto.

Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had criticized the visa denial for Partey, who awaits trial in Britain, as a “high-handed and extremely unfair decision.”

Partey faces allegations from several women dating to his time playing for English club Arsenal from 2020-25. Partey, who played in Spain for Villarreal this past season, has pleaded not guilty.

In March, a lawyer for Partey said the player intends to plead not guilty to two new charges of rape after a woman alleged Partey twice raped her on the same day in December 2020. Partey had separately been awaiting trial on five counts of rape related to two other women and one count of sexual assault involving another woman, and the new allegations arose after the first set of charges were publicized.

Partey’s lawyer, Mackeda Bramwell, told the court Tuesday that as a World Cup host nation, Canada has a “public interest” in allowing the “orderly participation of accredited national team athletes.”

In a statement submitted to the court, Partey said he would remain under constant supervision of team officials, and will leave Canada when the team does.

Millions of his countrymen are hoping the team advances to the the knockout round, he said.

“I have not been convicted of any offense. I have pleaded not guilty, and I remain presumed innocent,” Partey said.

Canada officials have said immigration decisions are made on a case-by-case basis regardless of the World Cup.

Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz had cited a presumption of innocence for Partey when he included the player in his World Cup squad.

Ghana's base camp for the World Cup is in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Even if Tuesday's appeal fails, Partey will still be eligible to play June 23 when Ghana faces England in Massachusetts. Ghana concludes group play June 27 against Croatia in Philadelphia.

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Members of the development team, including GreenPointe Holdings, Basham & Lucas Design Group, Jax Utilities Management and Smith McKee Construction, gathered recently at the site for a groundbreaking ceremony.

“The Lodge Amenity Center will truly be the heart of Hyland Trail,” Mike Taylor, president of Lifestyle Construction for GreenPointe Developers, said. “Designed as a welcoming, family-friendly destination, it will be a place where neighbors come to relax, connect and enjoy life together.”

The center will include gathering spaces overlooking a beach-entry pool and splash zone, a state-of-the-art exercise facility, and pickleball courts.

The community will also feature miles of multi-use pathways for walking, biking and jogging, an expansive playground and a resident-only dog park called Barks & Rec. The amenity center is slated for completion in 2026.

Hyland Trail offers new homes from the $300s. Dream Finders and Pulte are offering one- and two-story single-family homes ranging from about 1,500 to more than 3,500 square feet.

Jeff Thompson is a longtime Clay resident who sees what’s happening in Lake Asbury and knows everything has changed.

“It’s kind of strange growing up with what you had when you were younger then seeing everything else develop is kind of crazy,” Thompson said.

Another Lake Asbury resident asked if the area could handle all the new development.

“I think they should have done some of the infrastructure before the homes went up,” Carolyn said.

Edenbrooke at Hyland Trail, by Lennar, is the community’s first active-adult neighborhood and is designed for buyers 55 and older, with low-maintenance, open-concept home designs and exclusive on-site amenities.

The community is near Clay County schools, shops and restaurants, and borders Ronnie Van Zant Park, which features a disc golf course, sports fields, nature trails, a fishing pond with piers and pickleball courts. Residents will have easy access to Oakleaf Town Center, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Cecil Commerce Center and downtown Jacksonville via the First Coast Expressway.

A string of arson attacks targeting a car and two London homes linked to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had attracted little attention, possibly because the then 21-year-old attacker, a Ukrainian recruited online, was not very good at documenting them.

One video that was supposed to show Starmer’s former car on fire lasted only seconds. The second, filmed in the dark, largely captured the repeated sound of striking matches.

El Money wanted publicity and was prepared to pay.

The attacker, Roman Lavrynovych, was found guilty Monday alongside his accomplice. But the person — or network — behind the online persona of El Money has escaped public blame or punishment.

The plot fits the description of Russian state-backed sabotage, said Cmdr. Dominic Murphy, who has spent two decades investigating such activities — including previous high-profile attacks — and who oversaw the initial investigation into the fires before retiring in March.

But establishing Moscow's involvement is difficult. There is a difference between proving something in court — which could raise public awareness — and assessing such attacks in the context of a wider threat and often classified and incomplete intelligence.

European officials say Moscow is exploiting that space as it carries out a sabotage campaign against European countries that support Ukraine. The Associated Press has tracked at least 192 attacks across Europe since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine that include arson and cyberattacks as well as attempted assassinations.

When asked by AP in June if Russia is waging a covert war against the West, President Vladimir Putin brushed the allegations off.

“What are the specific facts?” he said. “What has been proven?”

The U.K. Home Office called the fires an “abhorrent attack” in a statement and said those responsible have been brought to justice. It did not respond to requests for comment about whether the British government blamed Russia.

Three arson attacks targeted property linked to Starmer

Lavrynovych was tasked with setting and filming the fires over several days in May 2025, according to evidence presented during his six-week trial.

El Money recruited him online and sent detailed instructions, including the locations of the targets and how to mix flammable liquids from a hardware store.

The attacks did not cause injuries or major damage, but the prime minister’s sister-in-law, Judith Alexander, said she was left “struggling to breathe” after smoke filled her house in the third attack. She and her family were staying at the residence, which had been Starmer's home before he became prime minister.

“It’s all dead quiet so far — not a single article or announcement about the incident on this street,” El Money wrote to Lavrynovych on the messaging app Telegram after the fire.

It had, however, attracted the attention of British counterterrorism police.

Jurors heard little about the ‘devil in the background’

At the trial, jurors heard extensive evidence about how Lavrynovych conspired to set the fires — and almost nothing about the person or group of people who ordered them.

He was initially paid to post anti-Islam posters and graffiti in Muslim neighborhoods of London, an apparent attempt to stoke unrest. He told the court he was offered larger sums for the fires — and threatened if he did not comply. His lawyer, James Scobie, said he was a “vulnerable, ignorant” puppet in the hands of a serious operator.

“It must be a bit of a frustration that no part of this case has really looked into the devil in the background,” said Scobie. Without mentioning Russia by name, he said the attacks targeted Starmer over his support for Ukraine, calling them an assault on “the very institutions and fabric of this country.”

Prosecutors, however, did not bring charges under Britain's National Security Act, passed in 2023 to counter state threats, so no evidence was presented of a wider conspiracy linked to Moscow.

El Money is the “central figure in the case but a man or group about whom we know very little,” Justice Neil Garnham said. For that reason, he directed the jury “not to speculate about him.”

There's a gap between evidence and intelligence

Police have “no evidence to suggest that this was a state-backed threat and target on the prime minister,” said Helen Flanagan, the current head of counterterrorism police. She was referring to evidence gathered by police, as opposed to classified intelligence assessments.

European intelligence services say Russia is recruiting people online and paying them relatively small sums of money to carry out sabotage. Last year, a British court found three men guilty in the torching of a London warehouse. Prosecutors said the ringleader was recruited online for a plot masterminded by Russia’s intelligence services.

Murphy said there is a difference between assessing state-level involvement in an attack and using evidence like cellphone data and messages to prove something in court beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sometimes evidence, particularly from intelligence services, cannot be shown to jurors because it would reveal “highly sensitive capabilities and tactics,” Murphy said.

Investigators spend “a huge amount of time and effort” trying to identify the individuals overseas behind attacks, he said. They comb digital devices, online footprints and links among suspected co-conspirators, often working with partner countries.

He said evidence gathered by police showed that El Money spoke Russian and is “likely to be in Russia.” El Money's methods were “very similar” to those known to be used by Russian intelligence services acting in the U.K. Such plots, he said, often have “very senior sign-off.”

But that’s not enough for a jury — or, it seems, to publicly assign blame.

AP asked various departments if the government plans to attribute the attack to Russia or if there was additional evidence suggesting a link to the Russian state that was not shown in court.

The prime minister’s office referred questions to the Home Office, which provided the statement about the case but did not answer questions about Russian involvement. In a statement, U.K. counterterrorism police said a thorough investigation has been carried out and that it does not comment on matters of intelligence.

Officials say the threat from Moscow is growing

British intelligence agencies have accused Russia of probing the U.K. and its European allies with activities just below the threshold of conventional war. Court cases are key to raising public awareness of the threat and can lead to tougher action, such as sanctions, said Murphy.

“We need to keep calling Russia out and we need to ensure our society is as resilient as it possibly can be,” he said, calling for a wider public conversation about the threat from Moscow, including to critical infrastructure.

Murphy was a lead investigator into the attempted killing of Sergei Skripal, a Russian former military intelligence officer, in 2018. The U.K. attributed that attack to Moscow, and it led to a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats — and spies — from Western countries.

Since then, Russia has shifted toward the recruitment of local proxies.

Shortly before police arrested Lavrynovych, El Money wrote to him, promising to pay.

“Don't worry, I won't set you up,” El Money wrote. But Lavrynovych never got the money.

There is “only one winner” in the case, Scobie told the court as he argued for his client, “the anonymous devil who manipulated, used and won.”

According to Feeding Northeast Florida, 1 in 5 children in Northeast Florida goes to bed hungry. That’s more than 93,000 children who do not have enough food at home.

And the struggle only grows in the summer months when children who rely on eating breakfast and lunch at school must find those meals elsewhere.

But one Jacksonville business wants to make things easier.

Tyrica Moore, owner of The Food Doctor food truck, said she created the “Summer on the Block” program to help fill the gap when children lose access to regular school meals.

Moore chose North Myrtle Avenue because it’s a highly visible, easily accessible location in a neighborhood she says is underserved and considered a food desert.

“I know that this area does need that type of assistance, and I’m honored to be the one being a provider,” Moore said.

The Food Doctor’s Summer Lunch Program, funded by donations and sponsorships, currently provides free lunches to an average of 60 children Tuesday through Friday.

But Moore says the need is even greater.

She said some children show up every day right at noon, even before the truck opens, which she says shows families are depending on the program.

More than 200 meals have been served so far, with daily totals ranging from about 40 to nearly 80 meals. Children 16 and younger can pick from six different meal options and leave with lunch in hand.

Among the current options are:

• Shrimp and fries
• Hamburgers and fries
• Hot dogs and fries
• Chicken tenders and fries

Families are certainly grateful for Moore’s program.

“Getting the free lunches for the children helps provide a meal for them and gives us less stress, knowing that they have something to eat,” local mom Sheree Andrews said.

Moore credits community donations for making the program possible, calling it proof that “unity can happen” and that neighbors can come together to support one another.

One customer recently bought $500 worth of meals for kids, and encouraged others to chip in what they can to pay it forward for the children.

To continue the program throughout the summer, Moore is asking for help from the community.

She wants to expand the free meals for kids to Mondays, and she wants to feed more than 75 kids a day, which means she needs to increase her staff for the program.

The ultimate goal is to feed every child who comes to the truck throughout the entire summer. But the estimated cost to operate the program is about $1,200 per day, including food and staffing expenses

The Food Doctor has a GoFundMe account where you can donate to the project. You can also head down to the food truck and tell them you want to sponsor meals for kids.

“Every donation, sponsorship, and meal purchased helps us continue serving local families and making sure no child goes hungry this summer,” Moore wrote on GoFundMe. “Together, we can feed our kids and strengthen our community one meal at a time.”

Moore also emphasized that support isn’t only financial. She said sharing information about the program, praying for the effort, and spreading awareness can also help.

The burning cross was discovered June 9 in Grant Park, where Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech when he was elected the nation’s first Black president in 2008.

A 21-year-old college student told WMAQ-TV that he was the shirtless person in an image distributed by police when they were looking for a suspect. But police did not immediately say Tuesday if he's the person in custody.

The man said he protesting President Donald Trump and not making a racist statement.

“I did know about this historical relevance beforehand. But I didn’t know the severity, how racially motivated it may seem from what I did,” the man told the TV station. “Cause my protest has nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender.”

Cross burnings in the U.S. have historically been seen as symbols of hate and intimidation against Black people and have often been connected to the Ku Klux Klan.

The Chicago Police Department's communications office confirmed that a person was in custody in connection with the case, but no other details were released.

The man interviewed on WMAQ said he was protesting the “ruling class” and Christian nationalists who support Trump. He said he put a red MAGA hat on the cross.

The company said Tuesday it’s bringing back fried apple pies for the first time in more than three decades. They’ll be available at most U.S. restaurants for a limited time starting June 23.

McDonald’s is one of several fast-food companies offering semiquincentennial treats. Burger King recently debuted its Firecracker Cookie Pie, which has a sugar cookie crust and red, white and blue star-shaped sprinkles. Sonic is offering a red, white and blue slush float for $2.50. Hardee's has an iced Star-Spangled Biscuit with red and blue sprinkles.

Here’s a look at McDonald’s fried apple pies by the numbers:

— 1968: The year McDonald’s introduced both its fried apple pie and the Big Mac hamburger. Litton Cochran, a McDonald's franchisee in Tennessee, developed the rectangle-shaped pie, which was served in a cardboard sleeve. 1968 was a momentous year that included the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis and Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, protests against the Vietnam War and the signing of a federal law prohibiting housing discrimination.

— 1992: The year McDonald’s replaced the fried apple pie with a baked version in most of the U.S., responding to growing consumer awareness of fat and cholesterol consumption. The U.S. Department of Agriculture first published its food guide pyramid the same year. Fried apple pie remained on McDonald's menus in Hawaii and is still sold in some other countries, including the United Kingdom, Mexico, Greece, Australia and China.

— 230: Number of calories in McDonald’s baked apple pie. That’s 10 more calories than the fried version, according to the company’s website. A cup of boiled lentils, a single almond Snickers bar and a grande Frappucino from Starbucks have the same calorie count, according to publicly available nutrition information.

— 130: Number of members of the Facebook group “Bring Back the Original McDonald’s Fried Apple Pie.” By comparison, there are 1,100 members lobbying McDonald's in the “Bring Back the McRib” Facebook group and 928 members of the “McDonald's, Bring Back the Szechuan Sauce” Facebook group.

— 170 million: Number of American-grown apples that McDonald’s says it serves every year at its U.S. stores.

— 35: Height, in feet, of a giant fried apple pie that McDonald’s is installing on Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois, near McDonald's Chicago headquarters. That's about the height of a three-story house and some species of palm trees. The giant apple pie will stay in place until July 4, the company said.

The FBI obtained encrypted text messages between roughly 20 participants who shared detailed maps of the area and discussed the need for a “safe house” and escape routes after the attack, the documents show. It was unclear from the court records how close the would-be attackers could have come to being able to carry out their plan had it not been thwarted last week.

FBI agents learned about the possible threat on June 10, four days before the mixed martial arts extravaganza on the White House’s South Lawn, “and thanks to the rapid action of the FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,” Director Kash Patel said in a post on X on Tuesday.

Five people were arrested from states including Ohio, Missouri and California, said a law enforcement official familiar with the matter. The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that was not yet public.

Among those arrested was Tycen Proper, a 19-year-old Ohio man whose mother contacted local law enforcement last week with concerns about his firearms purchases and online communications, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.

An assistant federal public defender assigned to represent Proper, who's charged with firearms offenses and crimes including attempted murder of an officer or employee of the United States, did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Proper made an initial court appearance Monday in Columbus and faces a detention hearing on Wednesday.

Proper admitted in an interview with law enforcement that he participated in the planning of an attack, according to the affidavit, which says some members of the group began communicating with each other last March through a TikTok group called “Vanguard of the Old.”

“The members of the group stated that they wanted to protect the United States, which they believed was headed in the wrong direction,” the affidavit says. “Members of the group believed that the United States needed to be torn down so that it could be rebuilt. Some expressed a desire that people who were involved with Jeffrey Epstein should not govern the country.”

The logistics of the planned attack were discussed via Signal, an app that uses end-to-end encryption for its messaging and calling services, through a primary chat of “approximately 19 individuals" and smaller side chats, authorities said.

Messages obtained from Proper's phone show he discussed the plot with others and highlighted several lawmakers he said should be targeted because of their support for Israel, the affidavit said.

Proper told law enforcement officials that he had been planning to drive with weapons and body armor to a meet-up spot in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where the group was set to gather, it said. He said that though he did not intend to shoot people at the White House, others in the group did, the affidavit said.

The plan called for the use of drones that would be detonated over the north side of the White House, prompting a rushed evacuation into the line of fire of waiting snipers in an attack that Proper said was designed to “jumpstart” a revolution in the U.S., authorities said.

President Donald Trump, who celebrated his 80th birthday at the UFC event on Sunday, was friends with Epstein many years ago but has said he ended their relationship before the disgraced financier’s crimes became known. Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday in Évian-les-Bains, France, where he was attending the Group of Seven summit, Trump, a Republican, said he had not been briefed on the thwarted plot.

___

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Évian-les-Bains, France, and Michael Kunzelman in Washington contributed to this report.

Jacksonville Beach police reviewed surveillance footage that showed the man arrive at the station about 8:06 p.m., enter the secured rear lot through an open gate and get into a marked 2021 Ford F-150 patrol truck containing a department K-9, police said.

The footage shows him leave the rear lot, return to the department’s front parking area and park for about 13 minutes before driving away.

Officers located the truck and conducted a traffic stop about 8:32 p.m. at 1 9th Street South, taking the man into custody without incident, the report said. Police said department-issued firearms were in the vehicle when it was taken.

The department’s K-9, Furyk, a Belgian Malinois valued at about $15,000, was recovered, along with the patrol truck, which police estimated at roughly $40,000, according to the report.

After being read his Miranda rights, the man acknowledged he had trespassed on police property and taken the vehicle, the arrest report said.

Police noted signs of intoxication and listed cocaine as a drug of abuse in the report; investigators also said the man’s daughter had recently reported a concerning decline in his mental condition.

He was booked into the county jail on charges that include burglary of a conveyance while armed, theft of a motor vehicle, grand theft and trespassing on posted law-enforcement property, according to police

The Iran war has recently overshadowed Ukraine, but Trump said he wants to shift the focus following the announcement of an agreement to end the 3 1/2-month-old conflict in the Gulf.

Trump said Iran will soon be “back in the rearview mirror.”

Trump said the sanctions on Russia that were eased during the Iran war to help lower oil prices can go back in place as more oil moves through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Soon we’ll be able to do that because the oil is now flowing,” Trump told reporters in Evian, the French spa town close to the Swiss border that is hosting the summit. “We’re in a position to do that soon.”

The U.S. in March temporarily eased some sanctions on some Russian oil shipments as crude prices sharply increased. The waiver has been extended.

Zelenskyy joins G7 leaders for talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy joined the G7 leaders for talks on the war in his country. They wrapped quickly, after just 75 minutes.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is serious about peace while Russia toys with world leaders. “The entire ‘Seven’ supports Ukraine unanimously today,” he said.

Zelenskyy added that G7 leaders supported Ukraine’s need for more Patriot missiles and discussed how to increase production by licensing production. Patriot missiles are able to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine’s power grid and cities.

As the U.S. under Trump has cut back aid to Ukraine, France and its European allies are now the biggest providers of military and financial support to Kyiv.

Trump downplayed the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the U.S. but lamented the death toll.

“The whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said. “So, yeah, I’m going to do whatever I can.”

Meanwhile, the U.K. announced new sanctions targeting the “ shadow fleet ” Russia uses to ship oil and gas, and the finance networks used by Moscow to evade Western sanctions. The ships targeted include several recently purchased by Russia to transport liquefied natural gas from its sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project.

Russia fires again at Ukraine's biggest cities

Hours before the summit began Monday, Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Ukraine’s biggest cities in a barrage that killed 11 people and set fire to a religious landmark.

The attacks came after Zelenskyy and Putin spoke separately by phone with Trump on Sunday, the U.S. leader's 80th birthday.

While campaigning in 2024 for a return to the White House, Trump claimed he could end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office. However, negotiations have faltered and Trump has acknowledged it has proved much harder than he thought.

Ukraine on Monday officially started European Union membership negotiations, launching a process that will require its government to commit to years of political reforms even as it fights the Russian invasion.

Ukraine sees EU membership as a security guarantee for a stable future once the war ends. Its best guarantee would be membership in the NATO military alliance, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen, and others are wary of Ukraine joining while the war continues.

Trump says he may send Iran deal to Congress

The U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal got plenty of attention at Tuesday’s sessions, with Trump voicing his openness to sending the deal to Congress for review. The text has not been made public.

“I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” Trump said at the start of a meeting with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the summit's sidelines. He added, “I mean who wouldn’t approve it?”

Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information about the agreement, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon.

Trump also met with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. The Gulf nations are not part of the G7, but French President Emmanuel Macron extended invitations to their leaders at a fraught moment for their region.

Trump also expressed frustration over Israel’s continued hostilities with the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, telling reporters he’s “not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah.”

Trump said Israeli operations to target Hezbollah “should have been able to deal with them faster,” adding: “It just goes on forever. And when that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal. And that’s the deal with Iran.”

Macron said France and other Western partners are “ready to take action very quickly” to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz peacefully to ease the economic impact of rising oil prices. France and the U.K. have championed a mission to restore maritime security there as soon as conditions allow.

The G7 comprises France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Other guest nations, including Brazil, India, Kenya and South Korea, were invited to participate in some discussions.

___

Madhani reported from Geneva. Jill Lawless and Samuel Petrequin in London, Collin Binkley in Washington and Illia Novikov in Kyiv contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump is at the center of each contest.

In the Senate race, the president made a late endorsement of Rep. Mike Collins, a second-term congressman who calls himself a “MAGA warrior,” over Derek Dooley, a first-time candidate and former football coach who has the backing of outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp.

Trump picked his candidate for governor 10 months ago, endorsing Burt Jones, the Georgia lieutenant governor who was part of Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat to former President Joe Biden. In that race, it was Kemp who made a late-hour endorsement, announcing his support for Jones on Sunday.

The power of Trump's endorsement — and Kemp's — is being tested by billionaire Rick Jackson, whose campaign has spent more than $100 million, mostly out of his own pocket, to win the nomination.

Senate contest previews a titanic fall fight

Georgia is key to the national fight for control of Capitol Hill. Ossoff, first elected in the 2020 cycle, is the only Democratic senator running in a state Trump won in 2024; Democrats desperately need to keep his seat if they hope to notch a net gain of four seats in order to have a majority.

Republicans’ choice hinges on a familiar debate over electability, with Dooley, 58, insisting his newcomer status is a benefit.

“We have got to get the best candidate to beat Jon Ossoff,” Dooley said at a campaign stop Monday. “The Republican Party has not won a Senate race in 10 years. … We have to learn some lessons from that.”

Before becoming a college and NFL coach, Dooley hailed from a storied family in Georgia sports lore. His father was legendary University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley.

The younger Dooley also has criticized Collins for a House ethics complaint accusing the congressman of abusing taxpayer money by paying the girlfriend of a former top aide for a congressional job she allegedly did not perform. An initial inquiry yielded a referral of the matter to the House ethics committee.

Collins, the son of a congressman, celebrated his endorsement from Trump. But he argues that his record actually makes for the best contrast with Ossoff, especially on immigration, and can attract a broader coalition.

“We’ve got a great organization with the right voting record and the right message,” he said.

Collins, 58, sponsored the 2025 Laken Riley Act, which requires immigrants accused of certain crimes to be held without bond. The law is named for a Georgia nursing student killed in 2021 by a man who had entered the U.S. illegally. Ossoff voted against the measure before flipping to back it after Trump returned to the White House.

Collins also emphasizes his ownership of a trucking company, saying it's exposed him to the struggles workers and business owners endure. “We must protect Americans first, protect our people, put them first, get the federal government off the backs of hardworking men and women out there,” he said.

Whoever wins the nomination will face an immediate campaign finance gap and depend heavily on national GOP resources. By the end of May, neither GOP hopeful had reached $5 million in fundraising and both had less than $2 million on hand. Through late April, the last time Ossoff had to file before his uncontested primary, the senator had raised $60.4 million and had $32.5 million on hand.

What voters in Georgia are saying

Voters Jenny Beth Martin and Debbie Dooley — who has no relation to Derek Dooley — were split over which Republican has the best chance of defeating Ossoff.

Martin, who supported Collins, says energizing the conservative base is necessary to protect Republican majorities that aren’t populated with Republican “anti-Trumpers” or “liberals like Jon Ossoff.”

But Debbie Dooley, who voted for Derek Dooley, said Collins has too much baggage and is too closely tied to the far-right to win.

“He will drag down the whole Republican ticket in Georgia,” she predicted. “This is about actually winning. It’s not about just following Donald Trump.”

Gubernatorial primary is a unique challenge for Trump

The president’s preferred primary candidates have a strong record so far in 2026. But none have faced a self-funded rival with Jackson’s spending power.

Jackson, a 71-year-old business owner, amassed a fortune from his company that provides contract healthcare personnel, and he's used it to blanket television and online platforms with ads. Appealing to hardcore Trump supporters, he’s pledged that immigrants in Georgia illegally will be “deported or departed.” He promises a slew of tax cuts. And previewing a potential general election argument, he’s played up his biography as a product of the state foster care system and featured his grandchildren advising him on how to make friendlier ads.

Jones, 47, comes from a wealthy family but is running a more modest campaign. Framing himself as a “proven leader,” Jones proposes eliminating Georgia’s state income tax — without detailing how he’d make up the revenue. And he trumpets his presidential seal of approval and time as a University of Georgia football player in the 1990s. As lieutenant governor, Jones pushed legislation that ultimately did not pass but would have disqualified Jackson’s company from receiving taxpayer-funded contracts.

Trump did not travel to Georgia to campaign with Jones but he's given the lieutenant governor a fresh round of support on social media and called in to a telephone rally during the early voting period.

“Burt was strongly committed to my Campaign in 2016, 2020, and 2024, and worked tirelessly to help us WIN. He has been with us from the very beginning,” Trump posted on Truth Social last week.

Runoffs for elections chief could shape 2028

Georgia's secretary of state race is open for the first time since Trump’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election, famously pressuring outgoing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,800 votes” to overtake Biden. Raffensberger refused.

For his potential successor, Republicans are left to choose between an outright election denier, Vernon Jones, and a state lawmaker, Tim Fleming, who avoids explicitly disputing the president’s 2020 election lies.

Jones, a perennial candidate who was once a Democrat, embraced Trump’s “stop the steal” movement and says he stands “with those who believe there was election fraud.” Fleming, who once served as deputy secretary of state, says there were “irregularities” in 2020, a word choice that has become code for Republicans who want neither to ratify nor call out Trump’s errant claims.

Democrats will choose between Dana Barrett, a Fulton County commissioner, and Penny Brown Reynolds, a former state judge in Fulton County who also served in the Biden administration as deputy assistant secretary for civil rights for the Department of Agriculture.

“I do not believe that argument today can be successfully made, nor do I believe that there’s any chance in the future the facts that I’ve cited to support that belief will change,” the 79-year-old governor said during a news conference. “Therefore, I believe Ohio should abolish the death penalty.”

DeWine has repeatedly postponed scheduled executions in the state during his two four-year terms as governor.

During a news conference, he said data indicates the death penalty is not deterring crime, even as it brings years of pain to victims' loved ones and takes a toll on the mental health of state employees who serve on execution teams.

To bolster his case, DeWine brandished charts and graphs detailing the diminishing number of death sentences meted out by courts and showing the exceedingly long wait times that elapse as legal appeals play out for those on death row. He said condemned murderers are increasingly unlikely to ever be executed, sometimes dying by natural causes or by suicide before their execution date arrives.

“In summary, each decade that the death penalty has been in effect, the chances of a murderer getting executed get more and more and more remote,” DeWine said.

DeWine, who faces a term limit in December, said he felt compelled to share his observations now, having had 50 years of experience with the issue from the time he was a young county prosecutor, through being a congressman and U.S. senator, and then serving as Ohio's attorney general. But he said his outright opposition to the procedure has only crystallized over the past year.

State lawmakers may not support DeWine's stance

Headed into the announcement, any chance of a legislative repeal of the death penalty appeared unlikely.

Republican House Speaker Matt Huffman said in February he would “vigorously oppose” such an effort, and then-Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost agreed with him on social media. It remains unclear how Interim Attorney General Andy Wilson, appointed last month to serve the remainder of Yost's term, will respond, and whether the position held by Huffman, who is Catholic, might be affected by immediate praise for DeWine's announcement by the Catholic Conference of Ohio.

“In a state and country in which alternatives to execution exist, we should support punishments that are in greater conformity with the dignity of the human person, made in the image and likeness of God,” executive director Brian Hickey said in a statement.

In repeatedly extending Ohio’s unofficial death penalty moratorium by postponing scheduled executions, DeWine has cited pharmaceutical suppliers’ unwillingness to provide the drugs used in lethal injections. In January 2025, President Donald Trump ordered then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to help states try to resolve that issue, and Yost — a capital punishment supporter — had told Bondi that “without the assistance of the federal government, Ohio’s situation is unlikely to change.”

DeWine has already said he expects no further executions during his term, but he said the compelling nature of the death penalty data remains the same whether you include the past seven years or not.

Other states also have been rethinking the procedure in recent years. New Hampshire state lawmakers overrode a governor’s veto in 2019 to abolish the death penalty in that state. Colorado followed suit in 2020 and Virginia in 2021. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has urged legislators to follow suit, announcing he wouldn’t sign any new execution warrants. Gov. Kate Brown commuted sentences of the 17 people on Oregon’s death row in 2022 and ordered the execution chamber dismantled.

DeWine’s position on executions has changed over time

Pushing back the dates for condemned killers to be put to death has left Ohio with 30 executions scheduled over the next four years, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Ohio hasn’t put an inmate to death since July 18, 2018, when Robert Van Hook was executed for stabbing a man he met at a Cincinnati bar in 1985. DeWine assumed the governor’s office in 2019.

The state declared execution unconstitutional in 1972, but reinstated capital punishment in 1981 under a law co-written by DeWine. Ohio resumed death penalties in 1999 and 56 people have since died by lethal injection in the state.

DeWine’s support for the death penalty has slowly shifted during since his political career began in 1976. As attorney general, DeWine ordered the Ohio prison system to consider alternative lethal injection drugs. A year later, in 2020, he said lawmakers would have to choose a different method before any more inmates could be executed.

Since then, neither a bipartisan push to ban the practice nor a competing effort to bring nitrogen gas executions to Ohio has gone anywhere. A nitrogen gas execution in Alabama was halted last week, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to set aside a lower-court ruling that found the method unconstitutionally cruel.

Advocates hail DeWine's position

Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions, said the governor's decision is in line with “an evolution on the death penalty” across the political spectrum in Ohio.

“Nobody supports a system that harms victim families, convicts innocent people and wastes millions of dollars without a shred of improved public safety,” Werner said.

Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, said his group had been anticipating DeWine’s announcement.

“What Gov. DeWine said today is that it doesn’t work, it doesn’t do what we think it’s going to do,” Bonowitz said. “So I’m just grateful that he has made a well-reasoned decision based on his own decades of experience.”

Former Republican Governor of Ohio Bob Taft, who oversaw 24 executions from 1999 to 2007, said in a statement he agrees with DeWine. “As a former governor, I know what it’s like to contend with this issue and I support his decision,” Taft said. “The Legislature taking up the issue and passing repeal this year is in the best interest of the people of Ohio.” ___

Associated Press reporter John Raby in Cross Lanes, West Virginia, contributed.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% following a rally that’s brought it back within 1% of its record set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 431 points, or 0.8%, as of 1:51 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.

With optimism continuing that a tentative U.S.-Iran deal on their war will reopen the Strait of Hormuz at the end of the week and get the global flow of oil going again, the price for a barrel of Brent crude fell 5.4% to $78.69.

Significant hurdles remain in the negotiations, including what to do with Iran’s nuclear program. But the hope on Wall Street is that this agreement will mean a long-term fix to a conflict that has worsened inflation around the world. The price of Brent has come down sharply from its $100-plus level of a few weeks ago, though it could still take months for the energy industry to get back to full speed.

On Wall Street, stocks benefiting from the boom in artificial-intelligence technology were weighing on the market following their vicious swings over the last couple weeks. They have been leading the market up and down amid worries that their stock prices shot too high, too quickly in the mania around AI. That’s taken a toll because chip companies and other AI winners have grown so big that they’ve become some of Wall Street’s most influential stocks.

Drops of 1.4% for Nvidia and 3.7% for Micron Technology were among the heaviest weights pulling the S&P 500 lower.

Robinhood Markets fell 1.4% after the investing platform said in a regulatory filing that it’s laying off about 10% of its full-time employees, while Dave & Buster’s Entertainment sank 4.4% after reporting a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

On the winning side of Wall Street was SpaceX, which rose 10.2% toward a third straight gain since its debut on the U.S. stock market. It said it’s moving forward with a purchase of Cursor, a popular AI coding assistant, valuing it at $60 billion.

Yum Brands climbed 1.7% after it said it’s selling the Pizza Hut chain for $2.7 billion. Most of the restaurants will go to LongRange Capital, a private equity firm. Those in mainland China will go to Yum China Holdings.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a mixed performance in Asia.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 briefly topped 70,000 for the first time before ending with a modest gain of 0.1% after the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to 1%. That’s its highest level in three decades, and it followed a similar move by the European Central Bank last week.

The Federal Reserve is beginning its own meeting on what to do with interest rates Tuesday, with an announcement on the decision coming Wednesday.

It will be the first meeting under the Fed’s new chair, Kevin Warsh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump. Trump has been pushing for lower interest rates, which would give the economy a boost but also threaten to worsen inflation. The widespread expectation, though, is that the Fed will leave its main interest rate alone again.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.42% from 4.47% late Monday and from 4.56% earlier this month.

High yields in bond markets worldwide caused by expensive oil prices have threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for all kinds of investments, including stocks and cryptocurrencies. High yields have already sent mortgage rates higher, and a report on Tuesday said construction crews broke ground on far fewer new U.S. homes in May than economists expected.

___

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

The monthslong investigation focused on members and associates of “Direct Action Minnesota,” a left-wing coalition of protest groups that played a role in the “surveillance, operational planning and rapid mobilization against law enforcement," Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said.

Rosen said some of the defendants self-identified as “antifa,” an umbrella term for a loose movement of militant left-wing activists that President Donald Trump has labeled a domestic terror group.

Their actions included “stalking” U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents, throwing blocks of ice at their vehicles and setting up blockades around federal buildings. Rosen declined to say whether any federal agents were injured as a result.

“Whether or not they actually, at the end of the day, cause bodily harm is not the measure of whether or not they committed a serious federal crime,” he told reporters.

Twelve people were arrested Tuesday, two remain at large and one is already in custody, Rosen added. Information about their attorneys was not immediately available.

The Trump administration's “Operation Metro Surge" brought thousands of federal agents to the Twin Cities, setting off mass protests and leading to the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens.

During the surge, convoys of agents in unmarked SUVs traveled through neighborhoods, at times banging down doors, waiting outside schools and demanding residents produce proof of citizenship.

A sprawling network of outraged Minnesotans — primarily organized through anonymous neighborhood messaging threads — quickly formed, with ordinary citizens and activists using whistles and car horns to call attention to the masked, heavily armed agents.

At the time, border czar Tom Homan indicated that federal authorities were probing “the organization and funding of the attacks on ICE.”

“They’ll be held accountable,” he said. “Justice is coming.”

Last September, Trump signed an order classifying antifa as a domestic terror organization and directing federal agencies to “investigate, disrupt, and dismantle” its affiliates and funders.

Democrats and several First Amendment groups have raised issue with the designation. While the federal government may designate foreign terror groups, there is no formal mechanism to apply the same label to domestic groups.

Trump has long invoked the term against a range of political opponents, including peaceful protesters without anarchist-leanings.

The case against Hannah Dugan, who resigned from the Milwaukee County Circuit Court following her conviction, was an early test of how the courts would respond to President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Trump allies branded Dugan as an activist judge, while her supporters said she was unfairly targeted.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman postponed Dugan's sentencing on June 3 to consider arguments about whether he should overturn her conviction. But Adelman said in his ruling Tuesday that Dugan's conviction would stand. He did not immediately set a sentencing date.

“The court’s decision is wrong,” Dugan’s legal defense team said in a statement.

Questions about a similar case in Virginia

Dugan’s attorney had argued that her conviction in helping Eduardo Flores-Ruiz leave the courthouse was invalid and should be overturned. He said that was necessary because a federal appeals court in April overturned a key Virginia immigration case that the judge and prosecutors had cited in Dugan's case.

In the Virginia case, an immigrant who was in the country illegally was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and later escaped. He was recaptured and indicted on a charge of obstructing a pending immigration proceeding.

The federal appeals court found that the ICE action did not constitute a “pending proceeding,” as is required under the federal obstruction law.

Dugan’s attorneys argue that she should not have been charged because there was no “pending proceeding” against the immigrant in her courtroom being sought by ICE agents, only a warrant filed for his arrest. The filing of a warrant does not constitute a “proceeding” under the law, Dugan's attorneys argued.

Prosecutors countered that the facts in the Virginia case are different and don’t apply to Dugan’s. They also argued that other cases support Dugan’s conviction.

Adelman said the attempted arrest of Flores-Ruiz did count as a “pending proceeding,” in part because it was a planned and targeted operation rather than an arrest resulting from a random encounter.

“Defendant argues that ICE was acting as a law enforcement agency here,” Adelman wrote. “But this ignores the fact that, unlike, say, the FBI, ICE can issue its own warrants and adjudicate and effectuate a removal, as it did with Flores-Ruiz, without the involvement of a court. This makes a difference."

Dugan faces 5 years in prison, but will likely get probation

Dugan, 67, faces up to five years in prison after a jury convicted her on Dec. 19, but she is unlikely to be sentenced to time behind bars. Federal sentencing guidelines generally call for probation for defendants like her, who have no criminal history and are convicted of a nonviolent crime.

Dugan resigned from her position as a Milwaukee County circuit judge two weeks after her conviction amid threats of impeachment from Republican state lawmakers. She had been a judge for nine years.

The Trump administration brought the case against Dugan as the president pressed ahead with his sweeping immigration crackdown. Trump’s administration and his allies branded Dugan as an activist judge, while Dugan’s attorneys said she was being unfairly targeted and argued, unsuccessfully, that she was immune from being charged because she was a judge.

Dugan’s case marked the first time that a state judge in Wisconsin went to trial on charges of obstructing immigration agents. She was acquitted of concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor.

Dugan helped an immigrant wanted by ICE agents

On April 18, 2025, immigration officers went to the Milwaukee County courthouse after learning Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.

Dugan confronted agents outside her courtroom and directed them to the chief judge’s office because she told them their administrative warrant wasn’t sufficient grounds to arrest Flores-Ruiz.

After the agents left, she led Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. A week later, FBI agents arrested Dugan in the courthouse, leading her outside in handcuffs.

Flores-Ruiz was deported in November.

The first full day of the G7 summit of leading industrialized nations is being held in the French town of Evian-les-Bains.

Shortly before his arrival, Trump announced an agreement to end the 3 1/2-month-old U.S. war against Iran.

“Now that this (Iran) is finished, we’re going to be focusing on that,” Trump said, referring to efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

A working session is aimed at ensuring stability in the Middle East, with discussion expected on the global economic crisis resulting from the war's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The G7 includes France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Guest nations at this summit include Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, South Korea, Qatar, Ukraine and the UAE.

Here is the latest:

Vance says he was late for radio show because Trump called to check on ‘progress’ of Iran deal

Megyn Kelly was ready to bring Vice President JD Vance live onto her radio show, but she told listeners that they’d have to wait because Vance was on the phone with Trump.

Once he’d gotten mic’d up with Kelly, Vance said Trump — who is in France for the G7 conference — “just called me to check in on how things are going” and on “the progress of the deal” concerning the Iran war.

Vance told Kelly he has been trying to correct misinformation about what is and isn’t part of the deal.

Details of the agreement announced by Trump have not been made public.

The deal is centered around reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’ naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran, if it meets certain benchmarks.

For the second consecutive day, Vance flubbed the name of the Gulf alliance, referring to it as the Gulf Coast Coalition instead of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Modi, Carney aim to reach Canada-India trade deal before December G20 summit

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he would like to conclude a trade deal with Canada before he visits Canada later this year.

And Carney says he would like it done by the Group of 20 summit in Florida in mid-December.

Carney met Modi at the G7 summit and noted Modi wants to double Canada-India trade. Carney wants to double non-U.S. trade in the next decade after Trump imposed tariffs on Canada.

The ties between India and Canada were strained under Carney’s predecessor in the wake of the 2023 killing of a Sikh activist in Canada.

G7 explores alternatives to Strait of Hormuz for global energy supplies

The leaders’ discussions about the vital waterway at their summit in France have included looking at other supply routes that could be opened to bring oil and gas out of the Persian Gulf, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“There were discussions to see how we can depend less on the strait,” he said. “This has to change for the future.”

Before the Iran war, a fifth of the world’s crude oil passed through the maritime chokepoint.

“Part of the discussions were, ‘OK, how can we imagine, finance, and build infrastructures, sometimes on the terrestrial part, that will be able to go outside of the track of the Strait of Hormuz?’” Confavreux said.

Has Netanyahu seen the US-Iran memo?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not seen the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran as of Tuesday evening, said a person familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity to discuss closed-door details. Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment from The AP.

Though Israel is not party to the agreement, it is directly implicated. Iran’s top diplomat has said that the agreement requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon, where it is fighting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and where its troops occupy a large southern swath of the country. Israeli officials have said they do not plan to withdraw.

— By Julia Frankel

G7 leaders sound concerns about Ebola

They say they want “a strong and coordinated response” to the month-old Ebola outbreak centered on Congo, and that their countries will work more closely together on “appropriate and effective travel, quarantine, and isolation procedures” for people who have been to affected regions.

Their statement, issued on day 2 of the G7 summit notes that globally, millions of people will be traveling in coming weeks for the World Cup and other reasons.

“We must ensure that they can do so safely,” they said. They pledged support to help develop and deliver vaccines.

They also issued statements about aid for developing countries and committing to accelerate the fight against cancer.

Chuck Schumer calls for briefing on tentative agreement with Iran

The Senate Democratic leader is calling on Trump to brief Congress and the American people on the memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war in Iran.

Schumer says Americans have been told dozens of times over the course of the conflict that it was over, only to be disappointed.

“Trump has yet to give Americans a reason to believe that this latest peace deal won’t leave them disappointed again,” Schumer said Tuesday on the Senate floor.

Schumer says the conflict has left America worse off, with gas prices dramatically higher and an Iranian regime he says is more extreme than before.

“Trump needs to reveal the deal and end this war once and for all,” Schumer says.

Iran war makes energy security a top priority in Southeast Asia

An International Energy Agency report released Tuesday says the Iran war could cost Southeast Asia billions of dollars if it doesn’t diversify sources of energy more quickly.

The energy shock from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent the region into a state of energy triage, leading to higher energy bills and rising inflation. In response, the region has seen rising sales of electric vehicles, a renewed interest in nuclear power and a boom in rooftop solar and other renewable energy installations, the report says.

But without more sweeping reforms, the region’s energy import bill could triple from $80 billion in 2024 to $245 billion by 2035, the report warns. And meanwhile, the conflict has reinforced the need for coal in times of crisis, a setback for efforts to phase out fossil fuels.

“Diversification of energy sources and supply routes is now a central priority,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA executive director.

▶ Read more

Officials say Zelenskyy showed Trump photos of bomb-damaged Kyiv cathedral

European officials said Zelenskyy showed Trump some photos of the damage at the Dormition Cathedral, a revered religious landmark in Kyiv that was set ablaze in a Russian bombing.

Three officials with knowledge of the matter spoke anonymously, because they were not allowed to disclose details about leaders’ talks at the G7 meeting.

Without confirming Zelenskyy’s use of photos, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said in an Associated Press interview that the strike was discussed at the leaders’ meeting and that “everyone” was shocked.

Asked whether Zelenskyy showed photos of the church attack to Trump and other leaders, Confavreux said “the discussions remain in the room.” But he confirmed that they discussed the latest strikes “and how unacceptable they were for everyone, because they were against international law.”

Secret US-Iran memorandum to be signed in Swiss resort

Switzerland’s foreign ministry says a signing ceremony for a deal between the United States and Iran will take place Friday at the Bürgenstock resort near the city of Luzern.

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs says the location was proposed by Pakistani and Qatari mediators, along with the U.S. and Iran. It said it has been in close contact with the four countries about the possible signing of the “memorandum of understanding.”

Details of the agreement announced by Trump have not been made public. The deal is centered around reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’ naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain benchmarks.

The resort, which sits atop a mountain and features breathtaking views of Lake Lucerne, hosted an international conference on Ukraine two years ago.

Iran says the US war deal requires Israel to withdraw from Lebanon

Iran’s top diplomat said Tuesday that the tentative deal to end the war with the United States would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon — a condition Israel has already rejected. The contradictory interpretations could sink the agreement and lead to the resumption of all-out war.

The deal between the U.S. and Iran has not been made public, and while Israel is not party to the agreement, it is part of the war: It joined the U.S. in launching strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, and has since fought the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon and seized large swaths of that country.

“Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said.

A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the deal’s outlines said it did not call for an Israeli withdrawal. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel would remain in Lebanon “as long as necessary.”

▶ Read more

— By Jon Gambrell, Sam Metz and Samy Magdy

Trump’s Iran deal greeted with skepticism on Capitol Hill

Republicans on Capitol Hill are expressing skepticism and asking the White House for details about Trump’s announced deal to end the war in Iran. Responding to a reporter’s question at the G7 summit on Tuesday, Trump said he’s open to a congressional review of the agreement, which is set for a ceremonial signing Friday in Switzerland.

The deal is centered around reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’ naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain benchmarks. But Senate Republicans and Democrats said Monday that many questions remain unresolved and they need thorough briefings before it is finalized.

“I just don’t know enough about it,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters in the Capitol.

“If it’s a secret deal then how can I take it seriously?” asked Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

▶ Read more

UK-EU summit date announced at last

Britain and the European Union have announced the date for a summit seen as a key step in rebuilding their relationship.

European Council President Antonio Costa says the meeting will be held in Brussels on July 22. Costa met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the G7 summit on Tuesday.

There has been a question mark over the date due to uncertainty about Starmer’s future. He is facing calls to resign and a potential leadership challenge this summer.

Trump says he’s hasn’t been briefed on alleged plot to attack UFC event

“I haven’t heard about it, no,” Trump said when asked by a reporter about the alleged plot to target the high profile event. “The attack that I watched were the fighters.”

FBI director Kash Patel announced earlier Tuesday that law enforcement officials had disrupted “planned attacks” meant to target the UFC cage-fighting show staged at the White House this past weekend, and that multiple people were in custody.

▶ Read more

Why Trump said yes to dinner at Versailles

The president said the opulent setting of his scheduled one-on-one dinner with Macron was a factor in his decision to extend his stay after the summit — the two are scheduled to dine at the Palace of Versailles.

“I’m a fan of beautiful places, and I was leaving in the afternoon, and then the French president who happens to be a very nice man, invited me to dinner at Versailles,” Trump said. “And Versailles is not gold leaf — Versailles is the real deal. And I said I’d like to do it.”

Trump said it will have little impact on his schedule, noting that he’s “not a big sleeper anyway” and will get home early in the morning: “I won’t lose any time in the Oval Office.”

Zelenskyy says Ukraine is serious about peace while Russia toys with world leaders

“The entire ‘Seven’ supports Ukraine unanimously today,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters at the doorstep of the G7 summit today.

He said that all G7 partners of Ukraine recognize Ukraine’s readiness to meet with the Russian side to establish a ceasefire, its active engagement on the battlefield, and its effective capabilities in mid- and long-range strikes.

The Russian side, meanwhile, is failing to show any serious activity toward peace, he said, calling Russia’s actions “a game.”

“It’s important that at the G7 meeting everyone realizes that. It’s important.”

Trump says US plans to resume sanctions on Russian oil shipments

Asked if he would reinstitute sanctions that were eased to help lower oil prices, Trump said the restrictions can resume as more oil moves through the Strait of Hormuz.

“Soon we’ll be able to do that because the oil is now flowing,” Trump told reporters. “We’re in a position to do that soon.”

The U.S. in March temporarily eased some sanctions on some Russian oil shipments as crude prices sharply increased. The waiver has been extended as the war stretched on.

Trump tells Carney he likes Canada’s cap on Chinese EV imports

A microphone recorded them talking about how less than three percent of Canada’s market, 49,000 cars, will be allowed to enter from China.

“It’s a cap, we capped, a hard line,” Carney said. “I thought you’d actually like that.”

“That’s good, I like it,” Trump responded.

Breaking with the United States, Canada agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars earlier this year in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products. Carney said then that an initial annual cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports coming into Canada at a tariff rate of 6.1% would grow to about 70,000 over five years.

Trump says he’d send Iran deal to Congress for review

The president voiced his openness to making the move at the start of a meeting with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sidelines of the G7 summit in the French Alps.

“I like the idea, send it to Congress please,” Trump said. He added, “I mean who wouldn’t approve it.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill say they want Trump to provide more information about the agreement between the United States and Iran, with some expressing skepticism that the deal can deter Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon.

Trump speaks to EU leader about Greenland in another hot mic moment

Sitting down before a meeting about Ukraine, Trump was caught on a hot mic speaking about Greenland with European Council President António Costa.

“You understand?” Trump said before pausing and eyeing Costa. “Greenland.”

The start and end of the conversation is unclear.

European politicians across the continent were infuriated when Trump threatened in January to seize the large Arctic island, a territory of EU-member Denmark. The idea raised fears of splitting up of the NATO military alliance, and spurred Denmark to increase its military presence there.

Several European partners — including France, Germany, the U.K., Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands — sent small, symbolic numbers of troops to the island.

Trump jokes about stealing Macron’s watch

In a lighter moment, a microphone caught Trump joking about stealing Macron ’s watch.

After one of the leaders asked where Macron went during the working lunch, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said, “He’s left his watch here. We’ve got his watch.”

“Give me it if he left, gimmie,” Trump responded, followed by laughter by the group.

Spouses of foreign leaders tour lakeside town near G7 summit

France’s Brigitte Macron led a tour of spouses of world leaders to the lakeside town of Yvoire during the G7 summit in France.

With security in tow, Macron led the group — Canada’s Diana Fox Carney, Britain’s Victoria Starmer, Germany’s Charlotte Merz, Kenya’s Rachel Kimetto, Brazil’s Janja Lula da Silva, and Heiko von der Leyen, husband of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — on a walk through the town on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Children gave the spouses bouquets of flowers and locals gawked at the small group of dignitaries.

Starmer senses a ‘mood change’ on Ukraine

Starmer said G7 leaders share a sense that “things are changing” and Ukraine is regaining the initiative in its war with Russia.

Speaking to British broadcasters, the U.K. prime minister said “there was real unity in the room” when Trump and the other G7 leaders discussed the conflict.

He said they agreed “that Ukraine is doing better now, regaining territory, that the sanctions are having a real impact on Russia, and a real sense that now is the moment for all of us as a G7 to ramp up the pressure.”

Zelenskyy says G7 supports boosting Patriot missile production

Zelenskyy said he had a positive meeting with G7 leaders who supported Ukraine’s need for more Patriot missiles and discussed how to increase production by licensing production.

Speaking during a bilateral meeting with Carney after earlier meeting with the all the G7 leaders, including Trump, Zelenskyy said his allies agreed that Russia is not winning and that they have to push Putin to end the war.

Patriot missiles are able to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine’s power grid and cities.

Papier mache heads of state gather at the summit

Oxfam activists wearing papier mache heads depicting the G7 leaders made an appearance near the summit location for a satirical, but sedate, protest.

Oxfam has used the outsized eye-catching heads — depicting Trump, Meloni, Merz, Carney, Takaichi, Macron and Starmer — for several protests around the summit.

The demonstration outside the security bubble thrown around the summit, in a park overlooking the clear-blue waters of Lake Geneva, was intended to draw attention to a lack of clean water for the people of Gaza.

No G7 invite received for Putin-Zelenskyy talks, Kremlin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not receive an invitation from Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend the G7 summit through official channels.

Asked whether such an invitation had been made, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Of course there wasn’t. As you know, there aren’t even any official channels between Moscow and Kyiv.”

Peskov said Putin has repeatedly said Zelenskyy could go to Moscow. “If Zelenskyy is ready to talk responsibly and seriously … he can always come to Moscow, where he will be received,” Peskov said.

Zelenskyy and Trump meet on sidelines of G7 summit

Zelenskyy and Trump have held talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France.

Zelenskyy posted photos of the meeting on social media, writing that “it is always important to coordinate positions.”

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council chief, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also took part, the photos showed. In one image, the two leaders sat close enough that their knees nearly touched.

The encounter between the two presidents “was in the context of the general meeting at the summit,” Zelenskyy’s communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told reporters, suggesting a separate meeting would take place later.

G7 leaders meeting with leaders of Egypt, Qatar and UAE

The leaders of the G7 are holding a meeting with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar and the UAE.

They are attending a working lunch dubbed “Addressing Crises and Ensuring Stability in the Middle East.”

The Middle East countries are not G7 members, but were invited to the summit at a tumultuous moment for the region and beyond because of the Iran war.

Ceasefire should ‘mean a definitive end' to Iran’s nuclear program, EU says

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Trump at the G7 summit and then took to social media to congratulate him on striking a ceasefire with Tehran.

“We both agree that it should mean a definitive end to Iran’s nuclear programme. The Strait will reopen. Oil prices are falling. And that’s how diplomacy delivers,” von der Leyen said in a post.

Economies across the European Union have been rattled by rising fuel and fertilizer prices.

Trump says Syria could handle Hezbollah better than Israel

Trump said he proposed asking Syria to help against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

“I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah,” Trump said. “Because to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job.”

Syria has a long complicated relationship with Lebanon, with Syrian troops maintaining a military occupation in the country from 1976 to 2005.

The short answer, according to local attorney Millicent Daniels, is yes.

Daniels joined us for Tuesday’s “Justice 4 All” segment on The Morning Show to break down Florida’s dog bite laws and explain the dual criminal and civil exposure dog owners and caretakers face when an attack occurs.

The conversation was sparked by two high-profile local incidents.

On Jacksonville’s Westside, Melvin Suffrant was arrested in connection with a deadly dog attack that killed a 59-year-old man two years ago. Suffrant now faces manslaughter charges.

Separately, 80-year-old Carl Graham is recovering and learning how to walk again after being mauled by two pit bulls at his daughter’s Westside home while picking up his grandson.

Animal care officials deemed the dogs dangerous and called for their removal, but a judge allowed the family to keep them — citing that Graham had entered the property without first calling the owner, as he had been advised to do.

Criminal vs. civil liability

Daniels explained that dog bite cases like these fall into two distinct tracks: criminal and civil.

“If a dog owner understands and knows that their dog is dangerous — in that situation, the owner has now been criminally charged with manslaughter because the owner knew or should have known that the dog was very, very dangerous and that this was bound to happen,” she said.

On the civil side, Florida law imposes strict liability on dog owners when their animal bites someone in a public place or while the victim is lawfully on private property.

“If your dog bit someone, and it causes injury, and they’re either in a public place or lawfully on private property, you are strictly liable for damages,” Daniels said.

Daniels acknowledged that the Graham case may leave some feeling the system fell short, but she explained the judge’s reasoning.

“The owner of the dogs told the judge that she had instructed her dad or her uncle to go ahead and call prior to actually entering the property,” she said. “I believe that those are the items that influenced the judge not to temporarily remove the animals from the property.”

Still, Daniels said Graham has a viable path to civil recovery under Florida’s strict liability statute.

“He was injured, he has a significant injury, and it’s very clear that he was lawfully on private property,” she said. “He can pursue a claim for damages under Florida strict liability statute that would take care of his medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of income, and any other items that he wishes to compile in that claim.”

You don’t have to own the dog to be liable

Another case out of Brevard County raised different questions when a woman was killed in May, and someone other than the dog’s owner is now facing manslaughter charges.

Daniels said that the scenario is more common than people may realize.

Florida law looks at two things when assigning liability: control and custody of the animal.

“Even if you are not the owner — let’s say you’re the dog sitter, a caretaker or a dog walker — if that dog actually injures someone and your carelessness or negligent actions contributed to that injury, you still may be on the hook, either criminally or civilly, for the actions of the dog,” Daniels said.

Her bottom line: “Control can equal responsibility for a dog’s actions and behavior.”

One more thing: Your insurance

Daniels also noted that the type of dog an owner keeps can affect their homeowners’ insurance policy — something many people may not consider until it’s too late.

“Whenever I’m kind of re-upping my homeowners’ insurance, I always get this question about what pets and animals are in the home,” she said, underscoring that the financial exposure for dog owners extends well beyond the courtroom.

The complaint filed in Franklin, Tennessee, by the “Hard Fought Hallelujah” singer lists the reason for divorce as irreconcilable differences. The couple were married in Las Vegas in 2016. The filing lists the date of separation as May 9.

Jelly Roll, whose given name is Jason DeFord, won three Grammys earlier this year, including best contemporary country album for “Beautifully Broken.”

In his acceptance speech for the album award, Jelly Roll thanked his wife, Alisa DeFord, who goes by Bunnie Xo, saying, "I would have never changed my life without you. I would have ended up dead or in jail.”

The Nashville native's songs often explore overcoming adversity and his long road back from drugs and prison, and he speaks about his redemption arc to diverse audiences, from people serving time in correctional centers to concert crowds and even in testimony before Congress.

In December, Tennessee's Republican Gov. Bill Lee issued a pardon for Jelly Roll after friends and civic leaders joined in an outpouring of support.

In a memoir released in February, Xo wrote that Jelly Roll is her “soulmate” and said a true connection kept the couple together through ups and downs. A message to her attorneys seeking comment was not immediately returned on Tuesday. A representative for Jelly Roll also did not immediately respond to messages.

It’s summer in Jacksonville, and as your meteorologist here at News4JAX’s The Weather Authority, I want to let you know—our classic season pattern is in full swing.

We’re looking at temperatures climbing into the 90s, but it feels even hotter outside. The real headline today: strong to possibly severe storms are expected this afternoon.

Right now on Exact Track 4D, we’re seeing heavier batches of rain focused around Fruit Cove, Pine Bluff, the Greenland area, and stretching toward Bayard and Clarksville. Farther south, some of the heaviest rainfall is tracking through Black’s Ford, with other downpours moving into the Manning, Hue, Lodi, Saxton, and Pleasant Grove areas. Rain will keep pushing from west to east, so you might find sunshine one moment, then find yourself under a dark cloud the next.

Wind gusts are already in the teens and are forecast to pick up more as storms move in. Humidity is high, so even quick trips outside will feel steamy.

Tropical system watching from The Gulf

I also want to give you the latest on a potential tropical cyclone out in The Gulf. Right now, it’s not a threat to Jacksonville.

The 11 a.m. advisory puts the system moving slowly—about 6 miles per hour. When these storms linger over warm water, there’s always a chance for development, but this one is tracking away from us, according to our model “spaghetti plots” on Exact Track 4D.

What’s most likely is that Texas and Louisiana will see a huge amount of rainfall from this system. It could earn the name “Arthur” if it strengthens, but for those of us here in north Florida, I don’t expect it to affect our weather at this point.

Your weekly outlook: Hot and stormy

Locally, expect current temperatures in the mid to high 80s by midday, quickly jumping to the 90s through the rest of the week. Wind gusts will rise alongside scattered afternoon storms.

The 7-day forecast from News4JAX’s The Weather Authority keeps us in those 90s, feeling every bit as hot and humid as you’d expect this time of year. Rain chances stick around each day, with storms most likely in the afternoons.

If you catch unusual weather in your neighborhood—cloud formations, flash flooding, or brilliant sunsets—I’d love to see them. Share your photos through SnapJAX!

The U.K.'s charity regulator in 2024 disqualified Campbell, 56, as a charity trustee for five years after finding serious financial mismanagement at the Fashion for Relief charity she founded.

The Charity Commission said at the time that thousands of pounds worth of the charity's funds were used to pay for a luxury hotel stay in Cannes, France, for Campbell as well as spa treatments, room service and even cigarettes.

Only 8.5% of the charity’s overall expenditure went to charitable grants in a six-year period from 2016, the regulator said.

Campbell launched an appeal against her ban last year, claiming she was a “victim of fraud and forgery.”

On Tuesday, she told a tribunal that she was deceived by her fellow trustee Bianka Hellmich, who she alleged forged her signature and lied about her credentials as a charity lawyer.

Campbell said she “did not do a check on Bianka,” adding that she had assumed Hellmich was “acting within the law.”

The Charity Commission had also disqualified Hellmich as a charity trustee for nine years after its investigation found she received around 290,000 pounds ($385,000) of unauthorized funds for consultancy services.

Campbell's lawyer, Andrew Westwood, said Hellmich advised her that she could effectively act as a “figurehead” for the charity, while Hellmich “carried out a long-term and consistent scheme of mismanagement and deception in relation to the running of the charity.”

In a written statement ahead of the hearing, the model said she has “never undertaken philanthropic work for personal gain, nor will I ever do so.”

Fashion for Relief was set up in 2005 in the U.S. and registered in the U.K. in 2015, with the aim of uniting the fashion industry to relieve poverty and help those affected by natural or other disasters around the world. The organization was dissolved and removed from the register of charities in 2024.

A third trustee of the charity, Veronica Chou, was barred for four years after the charity watchdog's investigation.

Other witnesses were expected to give evidence on Wednesday.

There were slightly fewer than 5.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2025, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While that appears to be a small decline from about 5.5 in 2024 and 5.6 in the two years preceding, researchers say it is statistically meaningful and translates to hundreds of fewer infant deaths per year.

It's difficult to pinpoint what's driving the recent developments, but “this is an encouraging data point, and we hope that this trend will continue,” said Dr. Michael Warren, chief medical and health officer for the March of Dimes.

Infant mortality is the measure of how many babies die before reaching their first birthday. Because the number of babies born in the U.S. varies year to year, researchers calculate rates to compare infant mortality over time.

The overall numbers, too, have been going down. U.S. infant deaths fell to about 19,350 last year, according to provisional CDC data that may rise a little as additional analysis is completed. The final tally is still expected to be down from about 20,050 in 2024 and about 20,160 in 2023, according to the agency.

The U.S. rate has inched down over the decades — it was at 7.5 per 1,000 three decades ago — thanks to medical advances and public health efforts.

But it has remained worse than other high-income countries, which experts have attributed to poverty, inadequate prenatal care and other problems. A study published last year found the U.S. infant mortality rate in 2022 — when the rate rose — was nearly twice as high as what was seen in several other high-income democratic nations, including Italy, Japan, Spain and Sweden.

That was the year of the first statistically significant jump in the U.S. rate in about two decades. Experts attributed that rise to a rebound in RSV and flu infections.

In 2023, U.S. health officials began recommending two new measures to prevent the toll on infants: one was a lab-made antibody shot for infants that helps the immune system fight off the virus, and the other was giving an RSV vaccine to women between 32 weeks and 36 weeks of pregnancy. A March of Dimes expert last year said the effort likely contributed to the improvement in 2024.

Meanwhile, a decline in sudden infant death syndrome could be connected to an increase in education around safe sleeping for infants, Warren said in a statement.

The CDC posted the 2025 provisional data in late May. On Tuesday, the agency released a more in-depth analysis of 2024 infant mortality data, offering details not yet available for 2025. Among that report's highlights:

— Death rates declined both for the youngest infants, less than 28 days old, and for older infants. Those declines continued last year, the 2025 provisional data indicate.

— In 2024, infant mortality continued to differ by race, sometimes dramatically. Death rates for infants born to Black women were more than twice as high as those for the infants of Hispanic, white and Asian American women.

— Researchers noted a decline in the mortality rate for infants born at full term, at 39 to 40 weeks. But rates did not change significantly for other gestational age groups.

— Mississippi had the highest infant mortality rate, at 9.65 deaths per 1,000 births, and New Hampshire had the lowest, at just under 3 per 1,000.

“These differences are reflective of a variety of reasons related to access to care, community factors, and policies that improve health and outcomes,” Warren said.

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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.

That bill — SB 382 — was originally filed all the way back in November by state Sen. Keith Truenow (R-Tavares), and it aims to bring forth new E-Bike safety rules.

Lawmakers OK’ed the bill back in March, and on Monday, it was officially presented to Gov. Ron DeSantis for consideration.

For starters, the bill limits people on electric bicycles to 10 mph on sidewalks and other paths if there are any pedestrians within 50 feet.

Anyone who breaks this rule could face a fine of $30.

The bill also creates the Micromobility Device Safety Task Force to recommend improvements to state law when it comes to public safety for devices like e-bikes.

Furthermore, SB 382 requires law enforcement to start tracking crashes that involve E-Bikes and other micromobility devices.

SB 382 also originally had a provision that would have required a driver’s license for Class 3 E-Bikes. That rule was ultimately scrapped from the bill, though.

If signed by DeSantis, SB 382 is set to take effect on July 1.

“You start to realize that the way the tour was before LIV came along was actually pretty good,” McIlroy said Tuesday, as he prepared for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

The six-time major champion, once seen as the frontline defender of the PGA Tour when it was fighting to rebuild itself in the wake of the LIV startup, is now waiting to see what the tour does next.

He recognizes that LIV's injection of billions into the sport “created a false economy” that forced the tour to respond. Though it has made the rich richer with the creation of “signature" events with $20 million purses, McIlroy isn't so sure that — or whatever comes next — is better than what came before it.

One potential casualty of the shift: events like last week’s Canadian Open — a tournament with a national title on the line that McIlroy has won twice in the past seven years but skipped this year. It has been relegated to second-class status on the current schedule and could fall even further if it ends up part of what is being called “Track 2” in the tour's next model, expected to kick off in 2028.

Last week’s Canadian Open, won by 40th-ranked Bud Cauley, featured four players in the top 10.

“Track 2 is a glorified Korn Ferry event,” McIlroy said of what essentially is the tour's current minor league. “That’s what Track 2 is going to be. So I don’t think the Canadian Open should be one of those.”

Anything McIlroy says carries more weight, in part because of his resume and in part because when LIV started up, he was its biggest critic among the players.

As time passed, McIlroy grew weary of being a frontman and eventually settled into the idea that, while he preferred the PGA Tour and its connection to tradition and history, others made their decisions and that didn't mean they couldn't get along.

Now, LIV is looking for funding after the Saudis announced they were pulling out of the investment. The PGA Tour: still revamping.

Next week, the tour will unveil more details about tweaks to its new model. It is expected to increase fields to up to 130 players (from around 72) and restore the 36-hole cut in so-called Track 1 events.

The lesser events would be mostly for players to work their way into the top. It makes the futures for those events less certain, in part because sponsors won't pay as much to put their names on tournaments where they know the top players will be absent.

“I just think there’s going to be certain events that might lose their stature if a sponsor doesn’t pony up $30 million,” McIlroy said. “So that’s the tough thing.”

A return to New York under different circumstances than the Ryder Cup

The trip to Shinnecock Hills on Long Island marks McIlroy's first tournament in the New York area since last year's Ryder Cup, where his R-rated exchanges with fans marked a low point in that event's long history.

There is, of course, an “Us vs. Them” nature to the Ryder Cup that doesn't exist in week-to-week golf, where McIlroy plays most of his rounds in front of appreciative galleries.

There was one moment at the PGA Championship last month outside of Philadelphia where a fan shouted “U-S-A!” after McIlroy hit a bad shot; McIlroy shouted a profanity at the fan, but nothing more came from the episode.

Now, he's back in New York — ready for whatever the golf course, and the gallery, throws at him.

“Was it a rough week for me at times? Absolutely,” he said of the Ryder Cup. “But it is what it is. If that’s a price to pay to live the life that I’m living, then I’m OK with that.”

Return to the past isn't possible; McIlroy lives the good life either way

Now 37 and one of only six players to capture the career Grand Slam, McIlroy is one of those rare players who had it good both before and after LIV came along and disrupted the game.

He said he is not a decision-maker and, regardless of what the tour rolls out for 2028 and beyond, “I’ll continue to play my schedule, which is getting less and less as the years go on.”

He said the tour had to adapt to retain talent when LIV came along and grabbed Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, a five-time major champion who has since returned to the PGA Tour.

Now, their futures are in flux and McIlroy views the tour he never left in a different light.

“Now that LIV looks like it’s less of a threat," he said, “I think the old ways of the PGA Tour weren’t actually that bad.”

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

As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center has designated this disturbance as Potential Tropical Cyclone 1. What exactly is a potential tropical cyclone, and will this system impact our area?

A potential tropical cyclone is a system that is not yet a tropical cyclone, but which poses a threat of bringing tropical storm or hurricane conditions to land areas within 48 hours.

Once a system has this designation, the National Hurricane Center can issue advisory packages. They include a public advisory, forecast/advisory, discussion, wind speed probability product, along with the forecast cone.

As of early Tuesday afternoon, Potential Tropical Cyclone 1 was located around 65 miles southwest of Corpus Christi, Texas or roughly 360 miles southwest of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The system is moving northeast near 6 mph.

A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for the northwestern Gulf Coast from Sargent, Texas to Morgan City, Louisiana. This means tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area within 24 to 36 hours.

The system is forecast to strengthen into a tropical storm on Wednesday. If this occurs, it would be designated as Arthur, which is the first name on the Atlantic hurricane list this season.

The system will eventually weaken and become post-tropical on Thursday.

Regardless if this has a name or not at that point, impacts across the Gulf will be the same (heavy rain and gusty wind).

Additional rainfall totals over 5″ are likely for a large part of the Gulf thanks to the system. This will lead to additional instances of flash flooding.

The flash flood risk is elevated from Texas into Louisiana on Wednesday. The higher risk will shift east on Thursday.

The higher risk will be from Louisiana into Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

Through the end of the week into the weekend, we can expect to see higher rain and storm coverage across Florida and Georgia as the moisture from the system passes by to our north.

While it won’t be a tropical system at that point, widespread showers and storms are possible.

The rainfall will be very beneficial for our area due to the widespread drought.

Following his Oscar-winning performance in “One Battle After Another,” Penn will direct the as-yet untitled film from his own script. Bradley Cooper is in talks to star, though no deal has been finalized.

Representatives for Penn and Warner Bros. didn't comment Tuesday on the movie's protagonist but said he's based on a real person.

When Penn attended the 2022 hearings of the House Select Committee investigating the deadly attack on the Capitol, he sat between Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges, both of whom responded to the attacks.

Fanone testified that he rushed to the scene and was “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country.” The assault, which stopped only when he said he had children, caused him to have a heart attack. Hodges also testified about his harrowing experience.

At the hearings, Penn said he was attending as “just another citizen” to observe and see if justice would be served.

The film is described as being about “an unexpected friendship.” Production is expected to start mid-2027.

The movie's announcement comes just days after the U.S. Justice Department said it will not challenge Paramount Skydance's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The $111 billion deal, agreed to in February, will put the Warner Bros. film studio under the control of David Ellison, Paramount’s chief executive.

Ellison and his father, the Oracle founder Larry Ellison, have strong ties to President Donald Trump. On Sunday, Ellison attended the Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House.

“One Battle After Another,” hailed as a timely political film, won best picture at the Academy Awards in March. Penn won his third Oscar for his racist military zealot Col. Steven J. Lockjaw, but skipped the ceremony to instead visit Ukraine.

This time Hilton was speaking in support of two families who filed lawsuits Monday alleging that their children were mistreated at Provo Canyon School, the same facility where Hilton spent almost a year in the late 1990s. The hotel heiress and media personality alleges staff members beat her, watched her shower, fed her unknown pills and locked her in solitary confinement without clothing.

“I dreamed of becoming strong enough, successful enough and powerful enough to come back and be the hero that I needed when I was a little girl locked inside,” Hilton said. “Today is that day, and I am not backing down.”

The school is now under new ownership, and the administration has said it can’t comment on anything that came before the change, including Hilton’s time there.

Hilton, 45, called on Utah licensors to shut down the school. She has testified about her experiences there in Congress and state legislatures around the U.S., helping pass laws to protect teens in Utah and 15 other states. Utah has long played an outsized role in the troubled teen industry, a network of private, for-profit residential centers for children with behavioral issues.

State health officials imposed temporary restrictions on Provo Canyon School in May, saying the staff did not seek immediate medical care for a student with serious injuries. The restrictions, which include a prohibition on accepting new clients, are set to end Thursday.

Aleah Corona, the mother of the injured student, alleged in Monday's lawsuit that the school did not immediately help the 13-year-old after another resident slammed his head on the ground. The boy ended up with a fractured jaw and a traumatic brain injury, she said. Another family alleged their daughter had severe stomach pain and nausea for more than a week before the school sought proper medical attention. She then experienced kidney failure, their lawsuit alleges.

The school said it could not comment on specific cases due to patient privacy laws.

“At Provo Canyon School, the safety, dignity, and well-being of those entrusted to our care are our highest priorities,” the school said in a statement.

Hilton strutted toward the campus in Springville with her middle fingers raised, telling The Associated Press she refused to be intimidated by a place where she once feared for her life every day.

She warned that parents, like her own, can fall victim to misleading marketing tactics that portray teen facilities as safe.

“These places really just prey on parents who are just looking for help for their children,” Hilton said. “I wasn't a bad kid, I was just sneaking out at night, getting bad grades. I had ADHD, so I wasn't doing well in school, but this was definitely not the place that I should've been sent. My parents had no idea.”

Georgia does have open primaries, meaning voters can choose which party’s primary ballot they want when they vote.

But for the runoff, voters must stick with the ballot they chose during last month’s primary.

So that means:

• Voters who chose a Democratic ballot in the general primary can only vote a Democratic ballot in the primary runoff.
• Voters who chose a Republican ballot in the general primary can only vote a Republican ballot in the primary runoff.
• Eligible voters who did not vote in the general primary or who voted a Nonpartisan ballot can choose a Democratic or Republican ballot in the primary runoff.

Georgia voter George Kramer said he views participating in elections as both a responsibility and a privilege in a democracy. He said casting a ballot is something he does not take for granted.

“Voting is a great honor. We’ve got the freedom in this country to vote, and I think that’s a great, great asset to our country,” Kramer said. “A lot of people want change, you know? And one way to get it is at the ballot box. So I encourage people to come out and vote and do their freedom of choice to vote for who they think would be the best candidate.”

Kramer also pointed to the stakes of the races on the ballot Tuesday, saying the decisions will help shape leadership at both the state and local levels.

“Very important positions, powerful positions for our state,” Kramer said." I look forward to seeing the results and hope it turns out well for our area and our state."

Governor

With Republican incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp term-limited, Georgia voters will decide Tuesday whether to send healthcare billionaire Rick Jackson or current Lt. Gov. Burt Jones to face off against former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in November.

Bottoms easily cruised to victory in the Democratic primary last month.

Jackson spent more than twice as much as any other primary candidate in Georgia history, but it’s Jones who has earned an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

U.S. Senate

Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff will soon learn who his opponent will be in November.

The top two finishers in last month’s Republican primary -- Rep. Mike Collins and former college football coach Derek Dooley -- have advanced to Tuesday’s runoff.

Georgia voters have had a week to cast an early, in-person ballot, but for those who have yet to

U.S. House

In a key race for Southeast Georgia, longtime Rep. Buddy Carter left the seat in coastal Georgia’s 1st District that he’s held for a decade open when he opted to run for U.S. Senate.

The 1st District includes Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Glynn, Pierce and Ware counties.

Jim Kingston, the son of longtime U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, won the Republican primary, but the Democratic primary went to a runoff between Joyce Griggs and Amanda Hollowell.

Carter finished third behind Collins and Dooley in the U.S. Senate Republican primary and did not qualify for the June runoff in that race.

In the 11th District northwest of Atlanta, Republican U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk announced his retirement and endorsed staffer Rob Adkerson, who will now face a runoff against neurologist John Cowan for the Republican nomination.

The winner will face Democratic candidate Chris Harden.

Casting a ballot

On General Primary Runoff Day, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. You must vote at your assigned precinct, which is the same as any other Election Day, and show one of the following forms of identification:

• Any valid state or federal government-issued photo ID, including a free ID card issued by your county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services. 
• A Georgia driver’s license, even if expired
• Student ID from a Georgia public College or University
• Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of this state 
• Valid U.S. passport ID 
• Valid U.S. military photo ID containing a photograph of the voter
• Valid tribal photo ID containing a photograph of the voter

News4JAX has compiled information about all of the races on the primary ballot in our 2026 Georgia Voter’s Guide.

You’ll notice mostly clear skies and that familiar warmth building through the morning.

Our Exact Track 4D radar shows we’re starting off in the mid to upper 70s across town.

That warm start is just setting the stage for a hot and sunny day ahead, even with a few clouds drifting by.

Afternoon storms and wind picking up

Don’t let the sun fool you—all signs point to some afternoon showers moving in.

I’m expecting those to be a bit stronger than what we saw yesterday, with the chance they’ll roll in alongside gusty winds.

Right now, winds are calm, but gusts are forecast to pick up as we get into the afternoon.

Most spots will likely see gusts between 12 mph and 17 mph.

So, if you’re planning anything outdoors, keep an eye on the clouds this afternoon—some pop-up storms are likely.

Gardening forecast and handy rain relief

I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of yard chores. Luckily, these afternoon showers will help out if you’re hoping for the garden to get a break from the watering can!

The gardening forecast shows rain chances up to 60% today. For the rest of the week, you’ll still see rain possibilities, so let Mother Nature take some of that work off your plate.

As for tonight, we’ll see mild conditions stick around—mostly cloudy and around 75 degrees.

Looking ahead to tropical updates

And keep your eyes on what’s coming next—later this week, I’ll have the latest on the tropics. There’s nothing specific to watch yet, but The Weather Authority is tracking everything so you’re ready for whatever develops.

Got any cool weather photos or dramatic storm shots to share? Send them in at SnapJAX and help us tell Jacksonville’s weather story!

Not so fast, experts say.

Even after oil starts flowing again from the Middle East, it could take awhile for consumers to see a difference at local fuel pumps, supermarkets and other places they shop, according to economists and industry analysts.

Fighting over the Strait of Hormuz disrupted not only supplies of crude and refined fuel but also the supply chains for fertilizer, food and even footwear. Businesses expect higher costs to linger, which means their customers might need to prepare for that too.

“It is not clear, despite three months of war, that anything has been achieved that makes the American consumer better off,” Brett House, an economist who teaches at Columbia Business School, said. “In fact, by almost any measure, not just the American consumer, but the world, is worse off as a result of this attack.”

If the deal between the U.S. and Iran holds, here’s how experts see the war's effects receding — or not — in the weeks ahead:

US motorists can expect some gas price relief

Following news of the tentative agreement, oil prices fell Monday to about $80 for a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude. That compares to $67 per barrel before the war and the price of over $120 a barrel reached earlier in the conflict.

Refineries typically pay for crude oil a month or more in advance, so even after oil prices drop, they won’t immediately be processing cheaper products.

“The tendency of gasoline prices to fall slowly is partly because the raw material takes weeks to work through the system until it’s delivered to consumers,” said Michael Lynch, a distinguished fellow at the nonpartisan Energy Policy Research Foundation.

In places without enough refining capacity to meet their needs, such as the West Coast of the U.S., gas prices will take longer to drop, said Mark Barteau, a professor of chemical engineering and chemistry at Texas A&M University.

In some Asian and African countries that rely more on oil from the Middle East, the supply shock led to school and government office closures and instructions to work from home, according to the International Energy Agency.

“The bottom line is that getting back to ‘normal’ will be a lengthy process involving many parties and countries,” Barteau said. “Getting an agreement between the U.S. and Iran to open the strait is just the beginning.”

Flights won't get cheaper right away

Industry experts have spent months warning that even if the war ended, travelers should not expect airfares to go down immediately.

Airlines typically buy fuel in advance, adjust their schedules gradually and price tickets based heavily on demand, meaning lower oil and jet fuel prices can take weeks or months to get factored into the cost of commercial flights.

“I think it’s unlikely that we’re going to see a retreat or reduction in the cost of flying at any point this summer,” Columbia's House said.

Fuel surcharges that some airlines outside the U.S. added are one of the first areas where passengers might get a reprieve, said Gordon Ho, a professor at the University of Southern California’s business school.

“Consumers are going to say, ‘Wait a minute, why are you still charging me a fuel surcharge?’” Ho said.

Pressure on grocery prices will likely continue

Reopening the strait is unlikely to deliver instant relief at the grocery store, according to David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University.

Fuel accounts for roughly 15% to 30% of the total cost of food, according to the Independent Grocers Alliance, a grouping of 7,500 global supermarkets.

But it can take months for an energy shock like the one caused by the Iran war to wind through the food supply chain and raise grocery prices. And once prices go up, it takes them a long time to come back down, especially when the future is unpredictable, Ortega said.

“We’re likely still looking at inflationary pressure on food in the coming months,” Ortega said. “There’s still a good deal of uncertainty about how the reopening will unfold, and it will take time for fuel, diesel and retail fertilizer prices to come back down.”

Rabobank, which is based in the Netherlands, said it expected war-related food price inflation to peak sometime next year in Europe. In the U.S., grocery prices are expected to rise 3.2% this year, which compares to a historical average of 2.6%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Farmers remain strapped for fertilizer

Reopening the Strait of Hormuz would also be a welcome change for farmers and the production of food globally. Roughly 30% of the world’s fertilizer passed through the waterway before the war began. Prices soared as the supply was effectively cut off, and shipments probably will take a long time to return to pre-war levels.

The consequences of the shortage facing farmers now may only intensify down the road, regardless.

Many farmers around the world are going through planting seasons without the fertilizer they need or paying sky-high prices for both fertilizer and fuel needed to produce and transport their products. The World Food Program of the United Nations expects this to have a “devastating impact” on crop yields — and consequently, food prices and the availability of food — for months to come.

Retailers don't anticipate a cost reprieve

U.S. retailers that sell shoes were encouraged to see falling gasoline prices, hoping they would mean Americans have more money to spend on back-to-school shopping, said Andy Polk, senior vice president of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America trade group.

However, shoe companies anticipate their own costs staying higher for the foreseeable future, Polk said. The group's members keep a two- to three-month inventory of finished products, but their next orders may include suppliers charging more for materials, he said.

Most of the footwear sold in the U.S. is imported, and Polk said he expects shipping costs to remain higher for the rest of 2026 and 2027.

U.S. tariffs imposed last year have made it more difficult for shoe sellers to absorb higher costs or pass them on customers, he said. In May, footwear prices were 5.2% higher than the same month a year earlier, according to government figures.

Shipping industry expects a slow recovery

Judah Levine, head of research at the freight booking platform Freightos, said the Straight of Hormuz closure has affected about 2% to 3 % of the total volume of container ships that are used for global shipping, but higher oil prices and disruption have impacted the shipping industry more broadly.

Josh Steinitz, chief strategy officer of the business logistics platform ShipStation Global, said consumers might notice higher shipping costs and more out-of-stock items online until the end of the year.

“I think fuel surcharges, which then flow into shipping costs, which then get passed along to consumers, are still going to be with us for quite sometime from many of the major carriers,” Steinitz said.

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Associated Press writers Cathy Bussewitz, Anne D’Innocenzio, and Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

Uncertainty lingered over the situation through the team's elimination in Game 6 of the final against Carolina on Sunday night. General manager Kelly McCrimmon announced Tuesday that Tortorella would not be back.

“We thank Torts for the guidance he provided our team since joining the organization in March,” McCrimmon said. “When the decision was made to bring Torts to Vegas, we needed an immediate impact to help us at a pivotal point in the season. Torts’ experience and leadership proved to be the boost that we were looking for, helping guide us to the Stanley Cup Final. We are grateful for Torts’ passion, sincerity, and commitment to our organization, and we wish him and his family the best.”

McCrimmon hired Tortorella on March 30 when he fired Bruce Cassidy with eight games left in the season. The Golden Knights won seven of them and then got through three rounds before losing to the Hurricanes in the final.

Tortorella, who turns 68 next week, is 22 years removed from coaching Tampa Bay to the Stanley Cup in 2004. After his time with the Lightning, he spent time running the bench for the New York Rangers, Vancouver, Columbus and Philadelphia and was out of the league for roughly a year before getting the call from McCrimmon.

Players spoke highly of how Tortorella handled jumping in this spring. He took criticism in recent days for deciding to stick with goaltender Carter Hart, whose .863 save percentage was the lowest in the final since Minnesota's Jon Casey in 1991.

McCrimmon is scheduled to speak to reporters on Wednesday. One avenue Vegas could go with for Tortorella's successor is promoting Ryan Craig, who has been coach of its top affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights of the American Hockey League, for the past three seasons.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The caffeinated beverage that is ubiquitous in some South American countries has spread alongside the multicultural appeal of soccer, including in the United States, where it's become a drink of choice for star athletes on the pitch and off.

When reigning World Cup winners Argentina arrived at their hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, fans were outside pouring and sharing yerba mate in gourd cups with metal bombillas, the straw that acts as a filter for the steeped leaves. At Cafe Corazon, one of the biggest importers of yerba mate in the Midwest, a line of fans wearing sky blue-and-white striped jerseys was nearly out the door on Monday, the day before Argentina played their first match of the World Cup.

“Our mate has been flying off the shelves,” said Dulcinea Herrera, one of the co-owners of Cafe Corazon. “So a lot of people have been coming in to try it. People who aren’t Argentinian want to just have that experience. And we have a lot of Argentinians coming in saying, ‘Oh, this reminds me of home.’”

Plenty of the World Cup's most famous stars are avid drinkers, from Uruguay's Luis Suarez to Argentina's Lionel Messi. The latter posted a photo of himself holding a mate cup in one hand and the World Cup trophy in the other after his team won in 2022, cementing the drink's place in the hall of famous sport beverages.

Mate, your way

The drink that dates back to Indigenous people and the gauchos — South American cowboys — is sipped around the world, with other nations and cultures adding a different spin or flavor, says Christine Folch, a cultural anthropologist at Duke University and author of “The Book of Yerba Mate.”

People of certain regions, such as Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, prefer their mate in different types of vessels and prepared certain ways, which can be a cultural identifier when those fans meet up at a friendly match. Fulch has a large collection of mate cups, including ones made of cow hooves and horns, alongside hand-stitched, leather-wrapped metal cups and gourds.

In the early 20th century, mate became popular in Syria and Lebanon, which is why one the main places to get the traditional dried leaves in the U.S. is at Middle Eastern grocery stores, Folch explained. In the U.S., it's often sold in refrigerated cans, marketed to an American audience as a natural energy drink and mixed with fruit flavors. Some Cuban Americans drink a version of mate that's sweetened and carbonated. In Berlin, Club Mate is a popular carbonated drink that often gets mixed with alcohol.

Traditionally, the leaves of the trees are smoked during preparation, so the mate can have a smoky overtone as well as a strong grassy, earthy flavor that people say makes them feel less jittery than coffee.

And if you want to sound knowledgeable when ordering, it's pronounced like MAH-teh, not as in your soccer teammate.

Sip and share

It's a drink made for social settings, like a sporting event, because traditionally people will share the same cup or bring enough to share, says Folch.

“When somebody offers you mate and you accept, what you have done is you have stepped into a relationship. So it’s a way of bonding with people,” says Folch.

Sebastian Cufre and his father Rene, who was born in Argentina, drove to Kansas City from Albuquerque trying to score last-minute tickets to the match. They met other Argentina fans at Cafe Corazon and shared a cup of mate around their tables.

“It’s like something that you pass around during the games,” said Cufre.

He's tried the canned American version, but isn't a fan.

“Honestly, I don’t even consider that to be mate,” Cufre said. “That’s like a completely different class of beverage.”

Whatever the preference, fans of mate want their North American friends to give yerba mate a chance if they see a cup being passed around while at a cafe, a restaurant or a watch party.

“It’s not only a drink, but a social thing,” said Fernando Villagran, originally from Salta, Argentina, who traveled from California to cheer on Argentina's team. “It is about friendship.”

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Smith died Saturday hours after delivering pizzas to a homeless charity in the San Francisco Bay area.

No cause of death was given and Smith's family has hired attorneys Harry Daniels, Bakari Sellers and Wayne Kendall to investigate Smith's death.

“As with anyone who dies so suddenly at such a young age, we understand that there is a great deal of interest in and speculation about Aldon Smith’s passing and we intend to get to the bottom of it," the attorneys said in a statement released Tuesday. "To that end, we have taken a number of steps including sending his brain to Boston where medical experts will examine it for CTE as well as other damage caused by years of concussions and additional trauma.

“In the meantime we simply ask you to keep Aldon’s family in our prayers and respect their privacy as they struggle to come to grips with this terrible loss.”

Smith’s friend, Amir Shirazi, told the San Francisco Chronicle, that he found Smith slumped over in the front passenger seat of his car after delivering the pizzas on Saturday. Smith was taken to a hospital and was declared dead.

“He was a creative mind, so smart, so fierce, so real, so powerful, his presence, his passion and his aura meant a lot to me as a brother and I wish I could’ve did more to help him and pray to God he doesn’t have to hurt anymore,” his former teammate, Anthony Dixon, wrote on social media.

Smith was drafted by the 49ers with the seventh pick out of Missouri in 2011 and made an immediate impact on the team, helping San Francisco snap a playoff drought and reach the NFC title game his first three seasons with one trip to a Super Bowl.

He had 14 sacks as a rookie when he finished second to Von Miller in voting for the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and had a franchise-record 19 1/2 sacks in 2012 when he was named a first-team All-Pro.

His 33 1/2 sacks in his first two seasons are the most in NFL history. He kept that pace up with 4 1/2 sacks in the first three games in 2013 before the off-field issues started with an arrest for DUI and a stint in rehab for substance abuse that sidelined him for five games.

He was released by San Francisco in August 2015 after another drunken driving charge — his fifth arrest in three years. He signed with Oakland just before the start of the 2015 season and had 3 1/2 sacks in nine games before being suspended again.

Smith applied for reinstatement to the NFL in 2016, but was not allowed back initially. The Raiders released him in 2018 following a domestic violence arrest. A plea agreement was reached in that case.

He eventually was reinstated in 2020 and played 16 games for Dallas that season and had five sacks.

He signed with Seattle the next season but was arrested again for battery and was released in training camp. He served a six-month jail sentence for DUI in 2023 and never played again in the NFL.

Smith finished his career with 52 1/2 sacks in 75 games.

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

Indiana's plan will consolidate $50 million in federal money from five funding streams into one with fewer spending restrictions, similar to exemptions over federal spending granted to Iowa and Louisiana earlier this year. State officials said the waiver would reduce the costs associated with compliance and documentation by about $20 million.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon approved the state's plan at an event Tuesday in Indiana, appearing with state Secretary of Education Katie Jenner and Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican.

Jenner said the state welcomes the expanded control over federal money.

“As states, we have significant control over education in that we set the standards, we can choose our curriculum, we can design our assessments,” Jenner said. “But when it comes to federal funding, our hands have always been tied. Until now.”

The Education Department sends billions of dollars each year to American schools, based on funding levels set by Congress. The money makes up a small but critical part of most school district budgets, arriving in dozens of separate grants and funding streams set aside for specific purposes.

Waivers from the federal government have been offered for years, and were widely used during the pandemic. Under the Trump administration, which has vowed to dismantle the federal Education Department, they have gained traction as a new way to reduce the federal footprint in state and local education decisions.

Indiana's waiver is also the first granted by the Trump administration that allows a change in accountability systems, allowing Indiana to reduce how heavily academic indicators are weighted in school performance scores.

Still, the department can grant only so much flexibility. Indiana's request sought to create a school choice program by giving money set aside to improve low-performing districts to higher-performing ones that enroll students from other schools, but that was denied.

An Education Department official said that proposal was not approved because it would have changed how funds are allocated to recipients, an explicit restriction on the secretary's waiver authority.

Iowa's plan faced similar hurdles. The state originally sought flexibility for major grants like Title I, which sends more than $100 million to Iowa schools with high percentages of low-income students, and to consolidate 10 funding streams into a single grant. The department approved a much smaller waiver — collapsing four funding streams totaling $9.8 million for programs that fund teacher training, English learners, after-school programs and academic enrichment.

More waivers are likely to come, as a handful of conservative-led states have either expressed interest or submitted their own proposals for expanded flexibility.

President Donald Trump's administration has described the waivers as an effort to empower state leaders and minimize administrative burden.

At the same time, Trump has lent support to a growing school choice movement. States are using taxpayer money to finance kids' private school or homeschooling expenses, encouraging them to leave public school. The federal government is set to launch its own school choice program next year.

Programs supported by federal money often support disadvantaged students, such as additional funding for rural schools, low-income schools and English-language learners.

Without these explicit designations, critics say, money for vulnerable populations may be rolled into more general spending initiatives that do not specifically address the challenges those students face. The three waivers approved so far roll funding set aside for English-language learners into a broader spending pool.

The Education Department also approved Indiana's request for a unified school accountability system that relies on benchmarks developed by the state. The new system places a greater focus on college and career readiness.

Denise Forte, CEO of EdTrust, a group that advocates for educational equity, criticized the waiver and the new accountability system for limiting transparency and accountability and for de-emphasizing reading and math scores.

“The Department of Education will allow Indiana to rewrite its accountability system in a way that will mask student performance and move millions of dollars in dedicated funding away from students who need it most,” Forte said in a statement.

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

The 26-year-old Rice had been booked into the jail on May 19 after testing positive for THC. Upon his release, Rice made a quick dash past a handful of reporters and into a waiting SUV, which whisked him away from the facility.

Rice had surgery about a week before he was sentenced to clean up debris in his right knee, which had been causing inflammation. A judge approved a request from his lawyers to allow him to receive treatment at Parkland Hospital while serving his sentence.

Rice missed all of the Chiefs' voluntary offseason workouts and their mandatory minicamp, which concluded last week. But Chiefs coach Andy Reid said recently that he expects him to report on time to training camp at the end of July.

“(Chiefs trainer) Rick (Burkholder) has talked to him more than what I have,” Reid said, “just making sure that everything was set there where he could do some rehab with it and still do the time that he needed to take care of. So he's on top of that, and thank goodness that they're allowing him to do that. So, they've been great with that.”

The Chiefs are counting on Rice to help an offense that often struggled during a disappointing 6-11 finish last season.

He's been valuable when he's been available, catching 156 passes for 1,797 yards and 14 touchdowns and helping the Chiefs win the Super Bowl in the 2023 season. But he's also missed games because of suspension and injuries, resulting in just 28 played in three seasons.

“We’re moving forward as normal as we go here,” Reid said during voluntary workouts. “When he gets back, we’ve got to get him caught up in doing what he needs to do, and make sure he gets it. It’s not an easy thing he’s going through.

“Life lessons are important,” Reid added, “but we’re all given chances to learn, and he’s in that position now.”

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Yum said Tuesday that the private equity firm LongRange Capital will buy Pizza Hut, excluding the mainland China business, for about $1.5 billion.

The mainland China Pizza Hut will be purchased by Yum China Holdings Inc. for approximately $1.2 billion, the company said. China is Pizza Hut's second-largest market outside the U.S., accounting for 19% of sales.

Yum Brands, which also owns KFC and Taco Bell, began to explore its options for Pizza Hut in November. Last year, Yum Brands' global sales rose 5% but Pizza Hut's sales fell 2%.

In February, Yum Brands announced plans to close 250 U.S. Pizza Hut locations. Pizza Hut had 19,974 restaurants worldwide at the end of last year.

“Pizza Hut has long been the weak link in Yum’s portfolio,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, wrote Tuesday. “Despite efforts to revitalize the brand and shut underperforming locations, it has become increasingly clear that pushing the division back into growth will require a level of investment and patience that Yum is just not prepared to commit to.”

Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by two brothers who borrowed $600 from their mother to open the store. They chose the name because their sign only had room for eight letters.

Pizza Hut’s familiar red roof debuted in 1969 and by 1971 it was the top pizza chain in the world by sales. PepsiCo acquired Pizza Hut in 1977 but spun off its restaurant division — which became Yum Brands — in 1997.

By the 1980s, Domino's was the fastest-growing U.S. pizza company, buoyed by its promise of 30-minute delivery. As carryout and delivery grew in popularity, Pizza Hut was saddled with large, dine-in restaurants.

The chain has been further pinched in recent years by the growth of DoorDash, Uber Eats and other restaurant delivery companies which marketed access to a slew of cuisines besides pizza.

By selling Pizza Hut, Yum Brands can focus more on its brands with stronger sales, Yum CEO Chris Turner said.

“Under LongRange and Yum China, Pizza Hut will be well positioned for future growth with ownership that brings deep expertise in the restaurant industry," Turner said in a statement.

Yum Brands, based in Louisville, Kentucky, expects the sale in U.S. and China to close in the third quarter. The company's stock rose 2.3% Tuesday.

Judge Gregory Carro had scheduled the hearing for Tuesday but adjourned it about a half-hour after it was supposed to start when Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann told him that prosecutors had failed to send required paperwork to the jail.

“It's on us,” Seidemann said. “We got the writ signed but we failed to serve it.”

“That's unfortunate,” Carro replied.

Seidemann noted that the judge in Mangione's federal case, Margaret Garnett, had sent an order to the jail authorizing him to wear a suit to court, but the prosecutor acknowledged that alone wasn't enough to get him brought to court.

Mangione, 28, is being held at a federal jail in Brooklyn while awaiting trial in state and federal trials in the Dec. 4, 2024, killing. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases and could spend his life in prison if convicted in either case.

Carro had been expected to rule Tuesday on an unspecified matter after holding a secret hearing two weeks ago. Carro said he sealed the virtual proceeding at the request of the defense but provided no other details at the time.

Any ruling from Carro would now come on Wednesday.

Mangione is set to go to trial in the state case on Sept. 8. His federal trial, which involves stalking charges, is set to begin on Oct. 13.

Thompson, 50, was killed as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

At a hearing last month, Carro ruled that a gun and notebook that prosecutors say link Mangione to the killing can be used as evidence against him.

The gun, a 3D-printed pistol, matches the one used to kill Thompson, prosecutors said. The notebook describes wanting to “wack” a health insurance executive and rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel.”

The Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction presented by Heritage Auctions announced Tuesday and held July 13-17 also includes hats from “The Wizard of Oz” and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” hoverboards from “Back to the Future II,” rugs from “The Big Lebowski” and a pair of Rocky's boxing boots.

A major Beatles artifact will also be up for sale: John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for “If I fell,” written on the back of a Valentine card while he was in New York for the Fab Four's first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964. The bidding for it will open at $500,000.

The lightsaber, used onscreen by Mark Hamill in the climactic Cloud City fight in the 1980 “Star Wars” sequel, where Darth Vader declares “I am your father,” includes a severed hand effects rig. It’s never been up for auction before and bidding opens at $1 million.

Bidding starts at $100,000 for a Wicked Witch of the West hat worn by actor Margaret Hamilton in 1939's “The Wizard of Oz” and at $50,000 for the brown top hat worn by Gene Wilder as the title character in 1971's “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

The auction will also include a pair of boxing boots worn by Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky III.” Stallone wears the showy boots featuring tassels and a Nike swoosh in the opening montage of the 1982 film. Bids will begin at $100,000.

Also up for sale are the two rugs that are essential to the plot of “The Big Lebowski,” including the rug belonging to Jeff Bridges' the Dude that is soiled at the beginning of the 1998 film that “really tied the room together,” and the other that he takes from his wealthy namesake. Bidding on them opens at $15,000 apiece.

“This auction represents the full spectrum of entertainment history, from Hollywood’s Golden Age to modern blockbuster cinema and the most influential moments in popular music,” Joe Maddalena, executive vice president of Heritage Auctions, said in a statement.

Many other items including a Paul Newman hockey jersey from “Slap Shot,” a necklace worn by the title character in “The Bride of Frankenstein” and the inflatable “Otto the Autopilot” from “Airplane” will be up for auction.

That vision might hinge on a factory groundbreaking an hour north of Dallas.

Nvidia is formally unveiling on Tuesday plans for a major upgrade to its AI infrastructure as part of its $2 billion partnership with the factory’s owner, Coherent. The factory will produce the material for a laser to transmit data among computer chips, allowing those chips to work as a single system with more power, speed and efficiency, according to executives who discussed the technology before the public announcement.

“AI factories are the infrastructure of the new industrial revolution," Huang said in a statement.

The factory represents a fundamental test of whether, as Huang believes, AI will be a source of job creation instead of a technology that supplants workers as it becomes possible to write software, analyze a spreadsheet, run an assembly line or even drive an automobile without much human effort.

Huang has led Nvidia as it became the world’s most valuable company, worth roughly $5 trillion, to a point where it's looking beyond chips to developing entire AI systems. The companies expected to rely on those systems to further develop AI models could soon join the elite circle of those with a valuation of more than $1 trillion. Just how that wealth spreads and the consequences of the technology have rapidly evolved into fundamental debates about how America itself is structured.

AI is powering academic breakthroughs and it creates the promise of rapid economic growth. But even if stocks are buoyed by those possibilities, there are voters who see reasons for concern over its use of electricity, the potential for job losses and the newfound national security risks.

A shifting approach on AI

President Donald Trump's administration, which once saw a light regulatory touch as essential for fostering AI’s development, has recently begun to reverse course. It placed export controls on the AI company Anthropic’s latest models, leading the company on Friday to shutter all public access to those models over security concerns.

Trump, a Republican, signed an order to have new AI models voluntarily vetted by the government. He has also mused about the government owning a stake in the companies that develop AI, so that the public could benefit from the expected windfall even if that would blur the lines between the public and private sectors.

Still, Trump depends on the AI boom to fuel economic growth, drive future gains in manufacturing and construction, and push the stock market to new heights. He has insisted on Huang accompanying him on foreign trips, most recently having Air Force One pick up the leather-jacketed CEO in Alaska while en route for the state visit to China.

Trump has called Huang “smart,” a “friend” and “amazing” — and he’s publicly recounted that he once mused about breaking up Nvidia because of its dominance, only to admit that Huang was someone that he needed as an ally.

“We are proud to have you in our country,” Trump told the Taiwanese immigrant last year.

AI buildout creating jobs

Coherent’s factory in Sherman, Texas — which includes Nvidia as a major customer — relied on bipartisan government support. The Biden administration approved $33 million in backing from the CHIPS and Science Act to help fund its buildout, while the Trump administration provided an additional $17 million grant to help ensure a key part of the AI infrastructure would be made in America.

Including construction workers, Coherent estimates that the factory will create 1,000 jobs, with about 550 of them in advanced manufacturing, engineering and technical roles.

The factory expansion will increase production of Indium Phosphide, which is used to make a laser that has the optical intensity of the surface of the Sun. Each second, the light pulses a few hundred billion times through a fiberglass straw the width of a human hair. That allows Nvidia’s computer chips to share information and work together as one system in what Huang has dubbed “AI factories.”

Power consumption would be cut up to 50%, enabling computations to occur faster and at a drastically lower price. The prospect of reducing the cost of tokens — the industry’s term for AI usage — would make it easier for AI to expand its reach and abilities.

“This investment expands America’s capacity to manufacture critical AI-enabling technologies, creates high-value jobs, and reinforces U.S. leadership in advanced manufacturing, photonics, and innovation,” said Coherent CEO Jim Anderson in a statement.

In a paper published this month, the economists Jessica Wachter and Jonathan Wachter noted that the five largest U.S. technology firms invested $380 billion last year as part of the AI buildout and that sum could roughly double this year. Based on that investment, they estimate the possibility of rapid economic growth as AI accounts for more of U.S. gross domestic product. While AI is roughly 3% of the economy now, that figure could grow to a range of 8% to 39%.

One Nvidia executive, who insisted on speaking on background to describe its industrial strategy, stressed that the company was moving from developing computer chips to providing entire AI systems. That has meant clustering more production in the U.S. with chipmaking increasingly centered in Arizona and the assembly process increasingly located in Texas, so that there is a reliable domestic supply chain.

The executive said that Nvidia was selling brains and a nervous system to its customers, so that the intelligence generated can then be applied to their businesses in ways that create new products and identify new savings and business lines. That could allow manufacturers that depend on foreign suppliers to restore production in the U.S., taking an AI that so far has largely been accessed on laptops onto factory floors where it can, in their words, “move atoms.”

The possibility has not been lost on Trump, who sees the industry as essential to American greatness.

“It’s an amazing industry,” Trump said to reporters last week. “It’s bigger than any industry anyone’s ever seen. We are leading China by a lot. And whoever leads that is going to really lead the world to a large extent, that’s how big it is.”

Candles in hand and poster boards filled with handwritten messages for his mother, the community came together to grieve, share memories, and support one another.

Carson’s mother, Megan Farias, confirmed her son’s identity in a Facebook post, writing: “There are no words that can truly express the pain our family is feeling right now. Carson was deeply loved and will forever remain in our hearts.”

Courtney Bailey, a parent whose daughter attends Lake Asbury Junior High, helped organize the vigil after reaching out to some of Carson’s friends.

“Whether you knew him or knew his family — just seeing all the rest of the kids grieve, it’s definitely tough,” Bailey said. “It’s been an emotional week for everybody.”

Bailey said she did not know Carson personally but felt compelled to create a space for his closest friends to come together.

“I didn’t know Carson personally, but my daughter goes to the junior high and they have a lot of mutual friends,” she said. “I just wanted to set something up for his close friends to write a message on a poster board to his mom.”

Two days after Carson’s death, a neighbor posted in a local Facebook group asking the community to show up at Lake Asbury Junior High to light candles, share memories, and support one another. The response online translated directly into the crowd that gathered Saturday evening.

“It just started as something for all his friends to come together — to show each other that they’re supported and that they’re loved,” Bailey said. “And it just grew within the community.”

The poster boards filled with messages will be delivered to Carson’s mother, Megan.

The Clay County School District also responded to our request for a statement on Monday, June 15th.

Statement from Clay County District Schools

“Clay County District Schools is deeply saddened to learn of the tragic passing of a student who attended Lake Asbury Junior High School. Our hearts, thoughts, and prayers go out to the student’s family, friends, and the entire Lake Asbury community during this unimaginably difficult time.

To support our school community as they process this devastating news, the district has deployed grief counselors and student support resources. Counselors will be available on-site at Lake Asbury Junior High School starting on Monday, June 15th, to assist any students, staff, or family members in need of comfort and guidance."

The gathering also became a rallying point for neighbors who have long raised concerns about safety along Sandridge Road — the dark, unlit stretch where Carson was killed.

“More than half the kids here are on e-bikes and e-scooters,” Bailey said. “So I feel like it’s really important to raise awareness.”

Bailey pointed to rapid residential growth in the area as a factor that has outpaced road infrastructure.

“A lot of people are constantly talking about the lights — we don’t have lights on this road,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of new communities and a lot of new houses going in. I don’t think anybody was fully prepared for the traffic that was about to hit Sandridge.”

With schools out for the summer and more families on the road, Bailey had a direct message for drivers.

“Slow down. Get off your phones. Be aware of your surroundings. Watch out for these kids,” she said.

What Happened

The Florida Highway Patrol says Carson had stopped his e-bike — described as a small electric dirt bike — in a westbound travel lane on an unlit stretch of Sandridge Road when a 16-year-old driver coming up behind him never saw him in time. The e-bike had no lights. Carson was not wearing a helmet.

The 16-year-old’s sedan struck the e-bike. Seconds later, a 17-year-old girl in an SUV rear-ended that sedan. Carson was thrown from the bike and died at the scene. The two other teen drivers were not injured.

The crash remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol.

Funeral Services

A GoFundMe has been created to help the family with funeral expenses.

Funeral services for Carson Farias are scheduled for Friday at 2:00 p.m. at Russell Funeral Home in Green Cove Springs.

“We have increased our statewide prosecutions by over 50%. We’ve secured 30% more convictions than the year before. Over 40% more human trafficking convictions. We’ve arrested a record more than 1,700 child predators, and we are putting bad guys away like never before,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said.

DeSantis said the measures put “the criminal on the defensive” and give law enforcement new tools to protect communities.

“If you attack a law enforcement officer in the state of Florida, prepare to be held accountable,” he said.

Among the measures signed:

• Senate Bill 432: Expands trafficking penalties and targets retailers that package or market dangerous substances to appeal to young people. The bill also includes provisions known as “Meg’s Law,” named for a young Florida woman officials said died after struggling with nitrous oxide addiction. The measure makes it a felony for gas stations, convenience stores and vape shops to sell nitrous oxide to minors.
• Senate Bill 1332: Strengthens the Career Offender Registration Act by requiring designated career offenders to register in person with local sheriff’s offices, provide more identifying information, report changes in residence, employment, vehicles and phone numbers, and complete annual in-person registration.
• House Bill 429: Modernizes Florida’s criminal gang statutes to allow prosecutors to use online admissions of gang affiliation, gang-related social media activity and other contemporary indicators to establish gang involvement.
• Senate Bill 156, the Officer Jason Raynor Act: Increases protections and penalties for crimes against law enforcement, clarifying that force cannot be used to resist officers acting in good faith and enhancing penalties for battery on officers and manslaughter of officers.
• Senate Bill 436: Broadens circumstances under which a second battery offense can be elevated to a felony by adding a prior conviction for resisting an officer with violence to the list of qualifying prior offenses.

State officials and law enforcement leaders at the event praised the bills as necessary updates to keep communities safe and to address new forms of criminal behavior. Law enforcement leaders urged parents to monitor social media activity that can signal gang involvement.

DeSantis said Florida’s approach contrasts with policies in some other states that he said release offenders early. He recounted a case he described in which a man released pre-sentencing later murdered a 5-year-old, using the example to argue for tougher enforcement and sentencing.

The bills take effect July 1 unless otherwise noted. Supporters at the signing included legislators, law enforcement officials and family members of victims and fallen officers.

Roupp started the 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Friday night with “Gen 9:12-16” written on his cap. A portion of the Bible verse overlapped the rainbow SF logo players wore for the Pride Night. San Francisco relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker also added Bible verses to their caps.

Another Giants pitcher, left-hander Sam Hentges, wore the team's standard black cap with the orange logo instead of the Pride Night version.

MLB issued a warning about future violations of the league's uniform policy.

“The writing on the cap violates our rules and consistent with normal practice we have warned the players about future violations,” MLB said in its original statement.

The league issued another statement Tuesday to elaborate.

“To be clear, this routine verbal warning not to wear the hat in future games is not disciplinary and had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message," MLB said.

"We respect players’ right to free expression. However, writing of any kind, with any message, is prohibited per Major League Baseball’s Uniform Regulations which provides in part that, ‘(a) Player may not write, attach, affix, embroider or otherwise display nicknames or messages on apparel or playing equipment…’. We have given the same warning numerous times in the past to players for messages such as ‘Dad’, ‘Happy Mother’s Day, I Love Mom,’ and names of family members.”

MLB teams sometimes host Pride Nights during the regular season to support their LGBTQ+ fans. The league has been a leader among the four major U.S. pro sports in hosting Pride Nights, in part because its regular season overlaps with Pride Month in June. Many adopt rainbow-colored uniforms patches or logos, set up special signage around ballparks and invite guests including community leaders and drag performers.

The portion of the Genesis verse cited by Roupp on his hat included God's promise to never again send a worldwide flood and the rainbow in the sky is the sign of that covenant.

“That’s just kind of something I believe in, and I stand firm in that, and I’m thankful we live in a country where, you know, we have the freedom to believe what we want … and express what we want,” Roupp told reporters.

Giants manager Tony Vitello told reporters nothing was discussed with the pitchers before the game. Vitello said it was “just kind of a general knowledge" that players "have the freedom to do what they think is best.”

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

“We’ve lowered our rates multiple times over the past year, and this latest decrease reflects our commitment to offering competitive, affordable insurance coverage for Floridians,” said Jennifer Pintacuda, president of AAA’s Florida-based insurance companies.

Auto insurance rate cuts

AAA implemented an average 5% decrease for monoline auto policies through Auto Club South Insurance Company (ACSIC) and an average 4% decrease for package auto policies through Auto Club Insurance Company of Florida (ACICF). AAA says together, those reductions deliver more than $16 million in annual savings to more than 133,000 policyholders statewide.

AAA says policyholders began seeing the changes reflected in new policies June 1. Renewal policies will reflect the changes beginning Aug. 1. Drivers with full coverage may see greater savings due to deeper reductions in physical damage coverages.

Homeowner insurance rate cuts

Earlier this year, AAA adjusted rates on its Select Package Home program, resulting in an average 5% reduction. AAA says the changes translate to more than $12 million in annual savings across 86,000 Florida policies.

Updated rates took effect March 1, 2026, for new business and May 1, 2026, for renewal policies.

Other ways to save on insurance

While rates are declining, AAA says drivers and homeowners can take additional steps to manage their insurance costs. Premiums vary based on factors such as driving history, location, coverage selections, property characteristics and statewide claims trends.

AAA recommends the following to help reduce premiums:

• Maintain a safe driving record
• Consider usage-based programs
• Take advantage of available discounts
• Reduce risk at home through maintenance and improvements
• Bundle home and auto policies
• Review coverage to optimize savings

The primary marks the first time in a generation that D.C. residents will vote for a new mayor and delegate in the same election. And in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, that party's winner is expected to come out on top in the general election in November.

The most prominent race is for mayor after Muriel Bowser, who was first elected in 2014, decided not to seek a fourth term. Democratic front-runners Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie are hoping to replace her.

The district's long-serving congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, is also stepping down, with top candidates council member Brooke Pinto and at-large council member Robert White Jr. vying for the role. Republican Denise Rosado, an immigration lawyer, is running unopposed.

The primary will include rank choice voting for the first time, which D.C. election officials have warned could delay results for days.

Trump looms large over the vote

Central to all the campaigns has been the city's fraught relationship with the Trump administration and the federal government. The city has limited autonomy and federal leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C. Council.

That autonomy has been further squeezed under Trump, who launched a federal law enforcement surge last summer and sent in the National Guard for an ongoing, open-ended deployment. Trump's efforts to downsize the federal government also roiled the capital region, costing thousands of people their jobs. He has also been reshaping the city by removing or renovating storied landmarks and putting his name or image on buildings.

Trump last week threatened a new federal takeover of Washington when asked about his response to a potential victory by Lewis George, a democratic socialist.

“Maybe we’d take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,” he said.

Bowser found herself walking a fine line between staying in Trump’s good graces and responding to the concerns of constituents, many of whom said she didn't push back hard enough on Trump's actions.

Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, have used their oversight authority to challenge the local government’s limited autonomy.

“We are the capital of the United States, and it’s an incredibly symbolic place, this city,” said Amanda Huron, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia who teaches courses on D.C. history and politics.

She said it's important to remind the public that what the federal government does to its capital city is a harbinger of “how it’s going to treat the rest of the country as well.”

Federal intervention, affordability among candidates' top priorities

Lewis George, in response to questions sent by The Associated Press, said her top priority is addressing “the affordability crisis here in DC, which the Trump administration has only made worse by unjustly firing federal employees en masse and militarizing our streets.”

McDuffie said his top priority is public safety. He would add 1,000 police officers over four years and take a public health approach to violence reduction that would include focusing on mental health.

Other candidates for mayor include former council member Vincent Orange and Hope Solomon, a former federal contractor who lost her job because of cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency.

Some residents have expressed concern about how Trump will react to pushback. Pat Wheeler, who lives in Washington, said candidates must be realistic. Trump still has enormous power over the Republican Congress and could easily order members to take steps against the city's home rule authority, she said.

Five people are seeking to replace Norton, who is finishing her 18th term representing D.C. in Congress. Norton, 89, faced heavy pressure to stand down from critics, including her former chief of staff, who said she was diminished and not capable of mounting the defense the moment called for against Trump.

Pinto and White both say their top priority for the city is self-governance, along with affordability for middle and working class residents.

Other candidates seeking the Democratic spot on the ticket include Trent Holbrook, a former Norton staffer; Kinney Zalesne, the former Deputy National Finance Chair of the Democratic National Committee; and Gregory Jaczko, former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

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This story corrects the spelling of Zalesne's first name. It is Kinney, not Kenney.

The initial quake was centered inland about 43 kilometers (27 miles) east-southeast of Palu, and the U.S. Geological Survey said it was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep.

The strong shaking sent people fleeing into open areas in and around Palu, a city of about 400,000 people and the capital of Central Sulawesi province. Several hospitals evacuated patients, some with IV drips, outdoors as a safety measure.

Four regencies close to the epicenter — with a combined population of 1.3 million — have yet to be fully assessed, but a preliminary report said at least 109 people have been displaced by the powerful earthquake. At the same time, 32 people were reported injured and rushed to a nearby hospital, including eight with serious injuries in the hardest hit Sigi regency, according to Abdul Muhari, the National Disaster Management Agency's spokesperson.

He said the earthquake also caused widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure, including 64 houses, four places of worship, four public facilities, two bridges, two government office buildings, a cafe and a hotel. A section of a provincial road linking Palu city and its neighboring regencies of Sigi and Poso was cut.

The agency also said that at least 55 aftershocks continued throughout the day, raising concerns among residents shaken by memories of a devastating 2018 earthquake and tsunami in the region. The aftershocks prompted residents to flee buildings and gather in open areas.

Images from the area showed heavily damaged structures with partially collapsed roofs, shattered walls and debris scattered across the streets.

“We have evacuated all guests from the hotel, including several guests who remained in their rooms,” said Effendi Natali, a general manager of a four-star hotel in Palu.

“They all panicked, which is a natural reaction during an earthquake, but everyone is safe,” Natali said, adding that the hotel sustained only minor damage.

People also moved away from coastal areas as a precaution in case the quake set off a tsunami. Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency said there was no danger of a tsunami but warned aftershocks could continue.

“The earthquake shaking was extremely strong,” Palu resident Muhtar Ahmad said. “We are still traumatized by the previous earthquake, so we chose to remain outside because we are afraid that aftershocks may continue.”

Many Sulawesi residents are haunted by the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that devastated Palu in 2018, setting off a 3-meter (10-foot) high tsunami and a phenomenon called liquefaction in which soil collapses into itself. More than 4,000 people were killed, including many who were buried when whole neighborhoods were swallowed in the falling ground.

In January 2021, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake near the city of Mamuju on Sulawesi island left at least 100 people dead, with thousands sleeping outdoors for days out of fear of aftershocks.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

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Associated Press journalists Niniek Karmini and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta contributed.

Starting Tuesday, visitors to Italy’s most popular museum will be able to view “The Birth of Venus” in one room and then turn around to see “Primavera” in an adjoining space on the opposite wall.

The update by Uffizi director Simone Verde, who took over in January 2024, marks a new phase in the ongoing renovation of the museum.

The Botticelli rooms “seek to present visitors with the Uffizi of the future, while keeping its feet firmly on the ground and its roots deeply planted in the history of this extraordinary museum,” Verde said.

Most recently, “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” were displayed on adjacent walls, allowing visitors to view both paintings at once. In previous decades, they hung on opposite walls in the same room, contributing to crowding and a difficult viewing experience.

Inside, Paris smells different. The air carries the scent of earth after rain — damp ancient stone, cellar walls, perhaps a trace of smoke.

Visitors step from the bright riverfront into a dark passage lined with glowing photographs of caves, as a low electronic pulse seems to breathe through the walls.

Beneath it all, the old cobblestones of the Pont Neuf rise and fall underfoot.

The Pont Neuf Cavern, a monumental installation by French street artist JR — also known as the French Banksy — is free to enter around the clock through June 28.

Made largely from printed fabric and air, it transforms the 17th-century bridge into an artificial cavern rising 18 meters (59 feet) above the Seine.

“It feels like the city has disappeared,” said Léa Martin, a 22-year-old art student from Lyon on Tuesday. “You know the river is right outside, but for a moment you’re somewhere ancient.”

Paris steps in and sniffs history

The smell is central to the illusion.

Olfactory expert Sarah Bouasse created two shifting scents: drawing on geosmin and isoborneol, compounds associated with the aroma released when rain strikes dry earth.

It changes along the crossing: first wet earth and mineral dampness, then something warmer, smokier and faintly animal.

“Usually I cross here without looking up once,” said Michel Dupré, a 67-year-old retiree, blinking as he emerged into daylight. “Today I felt the stones under my feet. And smelled them too. It makes you walk like a child again.”

A sound installation by Thomas Bangalter, formerly of the French electronic duo Daft Punk, accompanies the work, filling the cavern with low rumbles, echoes and pulses.

Completed in 1607, the Pont Neuf — despite its name, “New Bridge” — is the oldest bridge still standing in Paris.

JR’s installation asks people to experience the familiar crossing through their noses, ears and feet.

It also pays tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude, whose 1985 wrapping of the bridge in pale golden fabric drew an estimated 3 million visitors.

Their work covered the Pont Neuf in light.

The dark side

JR sends visitors into darkness.

“You enter into the darkness,” he has said, “and emerge into the light on the other side.”

Visitors can also raise their phones to activate an augmented-reality experience developed with tech company Snap.

Digital bats trail light through the cave, passing bodies leave ghostly traces and a dancer materializes in space.

JR has linked the work to Plato’s allegory of the cave, in which prisoners mistake shadows for reality. Today’s cave walls, he argues, are screens and the algorithms that shape what people see. Yet the installation’s strongest effects require no phone.

“It’s completely strange,” said Nadia Benali, 34, smiling beside the artificial cliffs. “Paris needs things that make people stop.”

When the cave closes, its fabric will be reused or recycled.

The mountain will vanish, traffic will return and the Pont Neuf — older than the French Revolution — will emerge into the light once more.

The Bulls, who announced the move on Tuesday, scheduled an introductory news conference for Splitter on Wednesday.

“Throughout our process, Tiago stood apart for his basketball intellect, his ability to connect with and develop players, and the way his teams compete every single night," Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham said in a news release. “He has won at every level of the game as both a player and a coach, on multiple continents, and we believe his vision is the right fit for our young roster.”

Splitter, 41, joined Chauncey Billups’ staff in Portland last June. He was elevated from assistant to interim coach when Billups was arrested in October in a federal takedown of a sprawling gambling operation. Billups has pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering.

Splitter coached Portland to a 42-40 record and a five-game loss to San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs. It was the first playoff appearance and first time the Trail Blazers finished with a winning record since the 2020-21 season.

Splitter played for San Antonio, Atlanta and Philadelphia during his seven seasons as an NBA player. The 6-foot-11 center from Brazil was selected by the Spurs in the first round of the 2007 draft, and he helped the team win an NBA title in 2014.

He worked for Brooklyn for five seasons from 2018-23, first as a pro scout and then as an assistant coach. He was an assistant for Houston for one year before coaching Paris Basketball Club to a French Cup championship during the 2024-25 season.

Splitter is replacing Billy Donovan, who resigned after six seasons. The Bulls had conversations with Donovan about returning, but he decided to step aside rather than work with a new front office.

“The Bulls represent everything I love about this game, carrying a proud tradition, a passionate city and a young, hungry group of players ready to grow," Splitter said in the news release. "I’m grateful for the trust this organization has placed in me.”

Chicago allowed 121.5 points per game this season, ranking 28th overall in the NBA. The Bulls finished with a 31-51 record while missing the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

Graham was hired on May 4. Stephen Mervis and Acie Law IV joined the team’s revamped front office on May 19.

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

“Obsession” fell just short. It debuted with $17 million. They were still thrilled. Barker made the horror film with just $750,000. It was enormously successful. But then something unexpected happened. The following weekend, “Obsession” easily cleared $20 million. And then it did again and again and almost a fourth time — an almost unheard-of staying power.

“It was just like: Holy cow. I didn’t think that was an option,” Barker says. “Now we’ve said if it hits $300 million, we’ll all get the tattoo. We had to make a new milestone. And I think we’ll reach it.”

Over the last month, “Obsession” has sent shock waves through Hollywood. Barker’s microbudget thriller has grossed $286 million worldwide, and it’s still going. On its fifth weekend in theaters, it was second only to Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day,” with $19 million. In North America, it has outgrossed “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.” It’s the biggest hit in the 24-year existence of Focus Features, which has had to postpone the video-on-demand release. It ranks among the most profitable movies ever made.

Barker, who built a following making sketches and short films on YouTube, is living out the dream of every aspiring filmmaker. Life, he granted in a recent interview, is different now.

“My day to day is pretty much the same. It’s just that when I go out in public, it’s a lot different,” he says, laughing. “I actually feel a little unsafe sometimes.”

That’s an ironic development for someone whose twist on an old Monkey Paw story has frightened moviegoers. In “Obsession,” Bear Bailey (Michael Johnston) wishes on an antique toy called a One Wish Willow that his crush, Nikki (Inde Navarrette), loved him. The spell — loosely inspired by an old “Simpsons” Halloween episode — works disturbingly well.

The astonishing success of “Obsession” has been hotly debated throughout the industry. Coupled with the A24 hit “Backrooms,” by 20-year-old Kane Parsons, it’s been a coming-out party for YouTube as a breeding ground for the next generation of filmmakers.

It’s also brought waves of Gen Z moviegoers — who already make up a promisingly robust percentage of frequent ticket buyers — into theaters. Summer has historically been dominated by legacy franchises, but “Obsession” may represent a sea change.

“If there’s a lesson from ‘Obsession,’ I think it’s about audiences,” says Peter Kujawski, chairman of Focus Features. “We have a generation that grew up online, approaches culture with enormous curiosity and playfulness, and is far less concerned with where a filmmaker comes from than whether the story connects. They’re engaged, incredibly film-literate and eager to champion new voices and original stories.”

From YouTube to the multiplex

Barker, who grew up in Mobile, Alabama, before moving to Los Angeles at 18, says he feels as though he’s writing for his generation. The response to “Obsession,” he says, taps into a collective need.

“I get it because I think we’re a little tired of being at home. Our generation is the COVID generation,” says Barker. “I was fortunate enough to have all four years of high school experience. My brother, Riley, lost two years of that. We’re sick of the phones.”

Barker wanted to be an actor before he wanted to be a filmmaker. And while his early exposure to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” at age 11, helped set him on a horror path, he didn’t begin that way.

“I was a huge Harry Potter fan growing up. Huge. I was obsessed,” Barker says, smiling. “I had all the wands. I would dress up.”

Barker attended film school in Los Angeles for a year, where he met Cooper Tomlinson, a co-star and producer on “Obsession.” The two soon forged their own path, though, on YouTube and TikTok. Their comedy sketch series, “That’s a Bad Idea,” found a footing online.

Barker wrote and directed the 2023 short “The Chair,” which attracted the interest of Tea Shop Productions. Producer James Harris approached Barker about a feature of “The Chair,” but he instead wanted to make a film — “Obsession” — that drew on many of the same ideas. Meanwhile, Barker also made an $800 found-footage horror film, “Milk & Serial.” After failing to secure distribution, he simply uploaded to YouTube. It went viral and landed him an agent.

“Obsession” was selected to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, giving it an enviable platform. After a bidding war, Kujawski and Focus acquired it for $15 million.

“What stands out about Curry is that he isn’t working from an inherited playbook,” says Kujawski. “Whether you look at his earlier work or ‘Obsession,’ there’s a consistency of vision and a confidence in his storytelling that immediately sets him apart. He knows exactly what he wants to say while being absolutely committed to making every minute of his work as entertaining as possible, and he’s willing to take real risks in service of that vision.”

More ‘Obsession,’ but other projects first

Barker’s swift but hard-earned rise has made him the poster boy for a new brand of filmmaker, one who has honed his craft as a digital creator and arrives with an established fan base. Jason Blum, the chief executive of Blumhouse Productions, has compared Barker and company to the 1970s wave of American auteurs, “making edgy movies that are connecting in theaters in a crazy way.”

“When you really step back, my journey is not really that different than Christopher Nolan or David Fincher or Steven Spielberg,” Barker says. “You can watch their early short films and see their work before they were given a chance. I think YouTube is just a path, a platform we can use now to show the industry what we’ve got.”

Now, Barker is one of the most in-demand filmmakers in Hollywood. He has already shot his next feature, “Anything But Ghosts,” starring Aaron Paul and Bryce Dallas Howard, for Blumhouse. Two months ago, A24 announced that he will write and direct a reboot of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

All the attention has taken some getting used to. Filmmakers like Ari Aster and Zach Cregger and even Spielberg have reached out to compliment Barker on his film.

“That’s when you start to feel this impostor syndrome of like: What? It’s not that good,” Barker says, laughing. “All I see when I watch ‘Obsession’ is the problems.”

An “Obsession” sequel is, naturally, a certainty. “A sequel isn’t hard for this movie,” grants Barker. He sketches out how new wishes by other characters on One Wish Willows could lead to entirely different stories, all revolving around some new vice: greed, fame, whatever.

But as much as it’s tempting to see “Obsession” as the product of Barker's own wish, it’s more like the opposite. In the film, Bear’s profound mistake is putting off confessing his feelings to Nikki, thinking there’s plenty of time to do it. (The movie immediately cuts to a dead cat.) Barker, on the other hand, had no timidity about realizing his dreams. He wanted to make movies, so he did.

“Anyone that asks what advice you have for young filmmakers, I always say the same thing,” says Barker. “I went to a film school for a year out in L.A. and I watched people paralyze themselves with the pressure of: I’ve told people I’m a director so now I have to direct something that has to be good. If it’s not good, everyone’s going to judge me. The result of that thinking is two years on one short film.”

“You can’t put too much pressure on an idea,” adds Barker. “You just got to make it.”

Two Belarusian citizens, aged 37 and 33, were arrested near the Belarusian Consulate after the killing on Monday, they said.

Polish media identified the victim as Robert Kuzovkov, while prosecutors named him only as Robert K., in accordance with Polish privacy laws. They said he was an artist who used the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky.

Through his art, he "expressed criticism of the current policies of the Russian authorities,” the prosecutors said in a statement.

He painted unflattering portraits of Putin, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and other high-ranking Russian officials. One depicts Putin being cradled in the arms of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

On Sunday, he had posted a video on his YouTube channel showing him in Berlin putting a Russian flag in a trash can on June 12, the holiday marking Russia's sovereignty.

Prosecutors said the artist was approached near his home around 9:45 a.m. by an unidentified man who fired two shots at him, then shot him three more times at close range before fleeing. Prosecutors said the victim died at the scene of gunshot wounds to the head, chest and back.

Polish prosecutors have not attributed the slaying to Moscow and Poland's Internal Security Agency did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Since it invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been accused of trying to assassinate its opponents abroad, including targeting exiled activists in France and Lithuania.

Officials in Germany have also broken up plots targeting the head of a German weapons supplier to Ukraine and a Ukrainian military official.

Polish authorities arrested a man in 2024 in what they said was a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That same year, a Russian helicopter pilot who defected was killed in Spain, with Russian operatives as the prime suspects.

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Burrows reported from London.

The academy on Tuesday announced the addition of a best Asian pop music performance category — celebrating releases across K-pop, J-pop, C-pop and beyond — awarded to the performer.

A new best traditional pop vocal performance category will be awarded to performers whose music “cannot properly be intermingled with present forms of pop music,” according to a press release.

Also, a new best Latin song category will recognize songwriters for their work on Latin songs recorded predominantly in Spanish.

The other changes affect the R&B and folk categories. A new best R&B collaboration or duo/group performance award joins the reimagined best R&B solo performance category.

Folk has experienced a similar change that country experienced last year: Best folk album has become best contemporary folk album. A best traditional folk album category has been added.

New Grammys, new rules

In addition to the five new categories, changes have been made regarding the criteria of a few releases. Most noteworthy: alterations to the best new artist category.

The Grammys will now allow artists to submit in the category four times, up from three. That is in an attempt to better reflect the current music market, where it can take time for an artist to break through.

There is no specified maximum number of previous releases and a screening committee is tasked with determining “whether the artist had attained this high degree of impact in the music industry prior to the eligibility year,” according to the rule book. An artist who has received a Grammy nomination in the past is not eligible.

The Grammys will also allow certain qualified members to vote in more categories.

“2027 is going to be an amazing year for the Grammy Awards, and one that reflects the extraordinary growth we’re seeing across music,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy said in a statement. “The changes advanced by our Recording Academy members speak to the breadth of today’s music industry and the many genres, crafts and creators shaping it. We’re excited to see these updates come to life in the year ahead as we celebrate the music people who are driving music forward.”

But Millicent Daniels, a criminal defense attorney, told News4JAX that the decision could carry serious criminal and civil consequences.

“Florida makes it a crime for any adult having control of a residence to host an open house party with the knowledge that minors are consuming alcohol or drugs there,” Daniels said.

She said Florida parents need to understand the state’s open house party law before opening their doors to underage guests, but she said the law catches many parents off guard, including those hosting holiday gatherings or casual weekend get-togethers where minors are present and alcohol is within reach.

“Families who have gatherings, holidays, Sundays, Saturdays, they have folks over at their home, everyone’s having a good time, and the parent knows that their child or children or minors are consuming alcohol there,” Daniels said. “That could be considered definitely a violation of the open house party law.”

The law also applies beyond private homes. Daniels said college house parties where a host knowingly allows anyone under 21 to drink can create the same criminal liability.

But to secure a conviction, the state must prove three things beyond a reasonable doubt: that the adult had control of the residence, that they knowingly allowed the open house party to occur, and that they permitted minors to consume alcohol or drugs without taking reasonable steps to stop it.

For a first offense, the charge is a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by 60 days in county jail, six months of probation or a $500 fine.

A second offense is elevated to a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying up to one year in county jail, 12 months of probation or a $1,000 fine.

Buying alcohol for minors

The liability does not stop with hosting. Daniels said purchasing alcohol for a minor — whether you are a parent, relative or friend — is also a criminal offense in Florida.

“Our children are considered a protected class,” she said. “If you choose to buy beer, wine, alcohol for any minor, you have committed a criminal offense.”

Like the open house party law, purchasing alcohol for minors is an enhanceable offense, meaning repeated violations result in escalating charges and penalties.

Civil liability on top of criminal charges

Daniels warned that the consequences do not end in criminal court.

If a minor drinks at a home where alcohol was provided or permitted and then drives and injures or kills someone, the adult who supplied or allowed that alcohol could face significant civil liability.

“If you provide alcohol for folks who are underage and that child, that minor then goes out and gets on the road and hurts someone, you could be very well considered negligent per se because you have decided to violate the statute,” she said.

She described it as dual exposure — criminal liability that can cost someone their freedom and their financial standing, and civil liability that can devastate a family if a victim is seriously injured or killed.

“This is one that definitely has dual liability and exposure criminally, which is your freedom, your money and your criminal history,” Daniels said. “But also it could affect your pocketbook with civil liability, particularly if someone is seriously injured and, in the worst cases, killed.”

An overreliance on oil and gas transported through the Strait of Hormuz left the region particularly vulnerable to shocks from the Iran war, a “stark wake-up call” for its energy security, the report says.

It notes that rising sales of electric vehicles, a renewed interest in nuclear power and a boom in rooftop solar and other renewable energy installations show that the war is spurring change.

But more sweeping reforms are needed. Otherwise, Southeast Asia’s energy import bill could rise to $245 billion by 2035, tripling from $80 billion in 2024, the report warns.

“Diversification of energy sources and supply routes is now a central priority,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA executive director.

Iran war exposes Southeast Asia's energy risks

The energy shock sent Southeast Asia into a state of energy triage, leading to higher energy bills and rising inflation.

In a likely setback for efforts to phase out dependence on fossil fuels, the conflict has reinforced the need to rely on coal during times of energy crisis, the IEA said.

The war is also furthering plans for nuclear power in Southeast Asia, but yearslong construction and regulatory processes remain. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines may be the furthest along with nuclear power plans, but their timelines are uncertain.

“This energy shock is prompting not just the short-term responses. But a deeper reassessment of policy priorities and investment strategies by governments,” said Sue-Ern Tan, head of the IEA Regional Cooperation Centre in Singapore.

Do-it-yourself approaches an option

In the Philippines, which declared a national energy emergency, consumers have turned to rooftop solar at record rates, as a quick, do-it-yourself solution to rising utility bills.

“This is the first time I've seen a demand shock of this magnitude,” said Ivan Cano of the Manila-based solar company EcoSolutions.

The Philippines became the second-largest destination for Chinese solar exports in the first quarter of 2026, the IEA found. Imports were around three times higher than the same period last year.

Consumers have also driven a shift in Southeast Asia's transportation industry.

Electric vehicle sales more than doubled in 2025 to around half a million units, according to the IEA, which found that one in five cars sold regionally is electric.

Last month, Laos banned the import of fuel-powered vehicles for the rest of 2026 to cut oil imports and encourage the shift to EVs.

“The IEA report clearly highlights that Southeast Asia is at a crossroads,” said Sam Reynolds of the U.S.-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, or IEEFA.

Despite the tentative deal to end the Iran war, fossil fuel prices will likely remain high which means “we will see a push towards more ambitious clean energy deployment,” Reynolds said.

IEA says reducing fossil fuel demand is key

To overcome its weaknesses, Southeast Asia needs to reduce its overall demand for imported fossil fuels, the IEA said.

It suggests making national grids more efficient and boosting investment in all forms of renewable energy, such as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal power.

The IEA also recommended prioritizing regional energy sharing initiatives like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Power Grid. The wake-up call from this energy crisis will hopefully help neighboring nations overcome the political barriers that have hindered the project, Birol said.

“The Middle East conflict is both a stress test of Southeast Asia’s current energy system and a catalyst to accelerate structural change,” the report said.

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

The twin sensations of “Obsession” and “Backrooms” — both by 20-something YouTubers-turned-filmmakers — has put a new spotlight on an increasingly well-trod path to the director's chair.

Hollywood executives are scouring platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram to find the next Steven Spielberg. There, young aspiring filmmakers are not only working on their craft but building a relationship with audiences that can transfer to the box office.

“These filmmakers are in a dialogue with their audience from the word ‘Go’. Their subscribers have direct input in each iteration of these things,” Mike De Luca, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chair, said at a conference last month. “By the time you get to the movie, they’ve had a billion test screenings.”

“Obsession” and “Backrooms” aren't the first of their kind. Issa Rae and Bo Burnham are among those who began on YouTube. But more and more of today's indie filmmakers began online. Here are some of the digital creators who have already broken through, and some who may soon.

Kane Parsons

Known online as “Kane Pixels,” the 20-year-old Parsons is the director of the A24 horror hit “Backrooms.” The Petaluma, California, native began publishing videos online at the age of 9. His video series based on the creepypasta Backrooms meme led to his feature film debut, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve. It's made $250 million worldwide at the box office. A sequel is already in development.

Curry Barker

The 26-year-old Barker, who grew up in Mobile, Alabama, attended film school in Los Angeles for a year before he began making videos for a YouTube sketch series and eventually the horror short “The Chair” and a found-footage horror film made for $800, “Milk & Serial.” After Tea Shop Productions saw “The Chair,” the company financed Barker's $750,000 production of “Obsession.” After a premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Focus Features acquired it for $15 million. It's expected to soon pass $300 million worldwide in ticket sales. Barker has already made his next film, “Anything But Ghosts,” for Blumhouse Productions, and A24 has enlisted him for a reboot of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

Markiplier

The 36-year-old Markiplier, or Mark Fischbach, became popular on YouTube for his playthrough videos of indie video games. With more than 38 million subscribers, he created series and podcasts before making his directorial debut earlier this year with “Iron Lung.” He also wrote and edited the sci-fi horror film based on a 2022 video game. Made for less than $5 million and self-distributed, “Iron Lung” grossed more than $50 million.

Jordan Firstman

The 34-year-old Firstman, who grew up in New Jersey, first broke through with a series of short skits on Instagram Live posted during the pandemic. A comedian, writer and actor, Firstman carved out a more traditional path to filmmaking. He notably co-starred in the 2025 HBO series “I Love LA” and was a consulting producer on the animated series “Big Mouth.” But in May this year, Firstman made his directorial debut with “Club Kid” at the Cannes Film Festival. The film, starring Firstman as a gay nightclub promoter who discovers he has a son, was a breakout hit at the festival. After a bidding war, A24 acquired it for $17 million.

Dylan Clark

Clark, a north Virginia native, has been posting horror shorts on YouTube for the last eight years. Now, he's turning the most popular of those, “Portrait of God,” into a feature, with Jordan Peele and Sam Raimi producing. Clark has also been tapped by Lionsgate and Blumhouse to direct a new “The Blair Witch Project.”

Sam Evenson

In April, Neon announced that Evenson will direct a feature adaptation of his viral 2014 12-minute short “Mora.” The short, which has been watched by nearly 5 million on Evenson's YouTube channel, Grimoire Horror, is about a struggling artist's search for a bloody, malformed woman who appears in AI-generated images. Roy Lee, producer of “Weapons,” is producing. It will mark Evenson's directorial debut, though he has many visual effects credits, including “Dune: Part Two” and “The Last of Us.”

The DOJ said Ryan Brown, 27, sent a message on April 16, to whitehouse.gov, directed to Trump, threatening to blow the White House up in a week’s time.

On May 25, Brown sent another message saying in part that he would kill the president in cold blood.

Brown faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison if convicted of both counts.

As of 8:10 a.m., two right lanes were blocked.

A nearby traffic camera showed at least four damaged vehicles.

All lanes were back open by 9:50 a.m.

Cody Campbell, the billionaire booster who is chairman of the Texas Tech regents, wrote in an open letter Monday night that Sorsby will not be part of the team.

“This decision was made with Brendan and his family and is purely an output of practical analysis of the situation,” Campbell wrote. “Brendan and Texas Tech stand on very solid and legitimate legal ground, but he faces a June 22nd deadline to be eligible to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, and there is no practical way to resolve all the various pending legal disputes and ensure his eligibility prior to this date. This is the only viable and fair path for Brendan and his future, as well as for his teammates, and our university.”

That came exactly one week before the deadline for Sorsby to apply for the supplemental draft.

It was also one week after Sorsby was granted a temporary injunction against the NCAA, an order that sent shockwaves through college sports because one of the NCAA’s foundational rules, and one found in many professional sports as well, is the ability to ban players for gambling — especially those wagering on games involving their own team.

All the legal wrangling had raised the stakes in the fight over whether Sorsby could play and who would decide that.

Sorsby's decision came on the same day the NCAA and Big 12 Conference had filings in separate courts challenging a temporary injunction that had cleared the way for the 22-year-old quarterback to play despite being declared ineligible after he admitted making thousands of bets worth at least $90,000 while in college. Those included at least 40 bets on Indiana while he was a freshman there in 2022, though none on the game in which he played for the Hoosiers that season.

Sorsby didn't play a down for the defending Big 12 champion Red Raiders. He transferred to Texas Tech in January for a reported multimillion-dollar deal after playing the past two seasons at Cincinnati, another Big 12 school. The Texas native was at Indiana in 2022 and 2023.

Campbell, while not revealing any figures, said Texas Tech will not seek the return of any payments already made to Sorsby through his NIL agreements with the university.

Sorsby, not Texas Tech, filed the suit against the NCAA that resulted in the injunction. But school officials repeatedly said that for his mental health and well-being he would be better off on the team.

“I am grateful for the support from my family, my Tech coaching staff, teammates, the community, and so many others who have encouraged me to address and learn more about this important issue,” Sorsby wrote in a social media post Monday night. “As my journey continues, I remain fully committed to and focused on being the best I can be, both on and off the field.”

Court testimony revealed Sorsby has a diagnosed addiction and anxiety-driven compulsion. He recently completed a monthlong stay in a residential treatment program in Arizona that he entered after Texas Tech was notified in April about an NCAA investigation into his gambling activity.

“I pray that he can stay on his path to recovery,” Campbell wrote. “Texas Tech will continue to provide the support and recovery resources Brendan requires on this journey.”

Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec and athletic director Kirby Hocutt echoed that in a joint statement.

“When Brendan’s lawsuit resulted in the granting of a temporary injunction, we found ourselves in a difficult situation. With his health and wellness as our top priority, we supported him in spite of very different perspectives and opinions. Our position was challenged by many but our support for him never changed," they wrote.

The ruling last week by Judge Ken Curry prevented the NCAA from being able to block the QB's eligibility for what would have been his final college season. Tech is among the favorites to win the Big 12 and return to the College Football Playoff for a second consecutive season.

“It’s been a challenging week for both our Conference and the college athletics landscape," Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said in a statement Tuesday. "The Big 12 looks forward to moving ahead as 16 (schools) strong. We wish Brendan Sorsby success in his future endeavors.”

The NCAA's appeal

In documents filed Monday with the Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo, the NCAA had asked for an emergency motion to stay the June 8 injunction. The NCAA also asked for a resolution of the case before the start of Texas Tech's season. The trial was scheduled for February, well after the season ends.

Attorneys for the NCAA wrote that the trial court’s temporary injunction "undermines the integrity of college sports, rewrites member-adopted rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, immunizes Brendan Sorsby from discipline for admitted and serial violations of NCAA anti-gambling rules, incentivizes a run on courthouses across the country to challenge even the most obvious and straightforward student-athlete eligibility decisions and demolishes the status quo.”

Big 12 goes to federal court

The Big 12, meanwhile, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Dallas seeking a court order backing its ability to use its bylaws for possible sanctions against Texas Tech if Sorsby had played this season. Last week, the Texas attorney general’s office warned the league of potential legal action from Texas Tech for any such sanctions.

The Big 12 filing names Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate race this fall, as well as Texas Tech leadership, including its president, chancellor and athletic director. It accused them of trying to prevent the Big 12 from exercising its own rules the school itself agreed to long ago. Sorsby wasn’t named as a defendant.

“An athlete with an extensive, documented history of wagering on intercollegiate athletic contests — especially his own team’s games — presents a reputational and integrity risk to the conference and its championship competition that the conference has both the right and the responsibility to address,” attorneys for the Big 12 wrote. “The conference is not required to accept that risk on behalf of its 15 other member Institutions, their student-athletes, their fans and its commercial partners. And no government official has the power to compel it to do so.”

That came before a meeting Monday of the Big 12 board of directors, which is made up of presidents and chancellors from the league’s 16 schools.

In a statement by the board after that meeting, the Big 12 said it was committed to protecting the competitive integrity of conference competition and that, "Universities should not field players who have bet on their own team’s games in college athletics.”

Big 12 athletic directors in a conference call with Yormark last week expressed opposition to Sorsby playing for the Red Raiders this season, and some even suggested maybe not playing Texas Tech if he had.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Maybe it's the kind of contraption that has carried space aliens to the White House to force a meeting with America's leader.

But come closer and you'll see the contours of the eight-sided cage, 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter and shaped, with careful precision, like the MMA league's signature Octagon.

That is, a STOP! sign flipped on its edge, with wire-mesh sides and padded corners fitted with different sponsors' logos: Morgan & Morgan, Bud Light, Dodge Ram and Polymarket, which identifies itself as the world’s largest prediction market.

Overhead looms The Claw, a four-sided mass that arcs more than 90 feet (27 meters) into the air and features lights, speakers, thick snakes of wiring and four large screens so fans not seated right next to the Octagon can follow the cage fighting below.

Think more of the four-sided, metal grabby thing that tries to grasp stuffed animals at a video arcade rather than what house cats have — hence the extraterrestrial vibes.

And surrounding all that are risers filled with gray folding chairs forming a temporary arena expected to seat 4,000-plus people for the seven UFC fights being staged on Sunday to celebrate the 80th birthday of President Donald Trump and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.

‘Quite attractive to a lot of people’

For non-UFC fans, all of this might be disorienting under any circumstances. But the temporary arena is covering nearly the entirety of the White House's South Lawn, where Marine One usually lands to ferry the president to out-of-town trips and gobs of kids scramble in the grass during the Easter Egg Roll every spring.

More than $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have been poured into building the arena, according to a court filing from the National Park Service, which oversees the South Lawn and is contesting a lawsuit meant to block the event.

The White House says the UFC is covering the costs, though the filing states that seven agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Aviation Administration — have “allocated significant resources and manpower.”

Fighters, their entourages and assorted support staffers are expected to take over the driveway and part of the West Wing when they're not fighting. But they'll enter the arena via curtained-off walkways with access to the Octagon.

They, as well as ordinary attendees of Sunday's spectacle, will have picturesque views of the White House's Executive Residence and its storied Truman Balcony on one side and the Washington Monument towering in the distance on the other. All of it will be accentuated by swirling spotlights, and perhaps even sweat and blood pouring off the fighters pummeling each other.

A packed pre-event schedule includes a press conference at the Lincoln Memorial with UFC chief Dana White and the fighters on Friday night.

There's also a ceremonial weigh-in for combatants on Saturday at the Ellipse, a park near the White House, where organizers expect 120,000-plus visitors to watch Sunday night's proceedings on large screens after winning free tickets in a lottery.

Stunt athlete Travis Pastrana is also set to do a potentially death-defying backflip on a dirt bike on the White House lawn as part of the preshow extravaganza.

Trump has called the Octagon and its Claw “quite attractive to a lot of people.” He's even suggested that maybe the temporary structure could become permanent, like the Eiffel Tower, which he notes was originally built as part of the 1889 World's Fair but then was never taken back down.

Only the president knows how serious that suggestion really is.

The fights will go on rain or shine — despite a lack of covering

Work on the arena began May 20 and has continued for weeks. During a walk-through for reporters on Thursday, construction noises — particularly sanding and hammering — could be heard. Giant cranes were carrying materials around overhead, though that was for the $400 million ballroom that Trump is building nearby, not the UFC fight.

The remaining grassy lawn around the arena, on the other sides of the White House, has been fitted with supplemental spotlights. But the grass that normally grows between the White House and the start of the risers for the arena is now gone, with nothing but dusty dirt that will need to be resodded when this is all over — unless the president really does decide to leave the arena up permanently.

There's also a large Freedom 250 logo standing between the White House and the arena. Nearby, crews removed the tables and yellow patio umbrellas from Trump’s refurbished Rose Garden and were power-washing that space, as well as the colonnade to the Oval Office, in preparation for the fights.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a cooperation agreement with UFC that will see both institutions provide fight training and health and diet regimens, while promoting teamwork and leadership among youth around the world.

“We are so polarized,” Rubio said. “There are only a handful of things that bring people together in one place at one time, united by their interest in one thing. We need more of those.”

Later Thursday, crews began testing the sound system, unleashing a deep rumbling — and sometimes unsettling bass notes — throughout the West Wing. During a subsequent Oval Office event, the music from the lawn was loud enough that the 1970s hit "Boys are Back in Town” rollicked in the background as Trump spoke.

Sunday's event starts at 8 p.m. ET. As darkness falls, crews will illuminate The Claw in red, white and blue, and the mass of lights will offer projections that make it seem as though the entire structure has been enveloped in a twirling stars and stripes pattern.

The weather forecast calls for hot and muggy conditions with thunderstorms possible. The underside of The Claw's tower features an overhead cover that should keep the fighters reasonably dry should it rain — and Trump is also likely to watch from a protected, covered area.

But everyone else would almost certainly get wet.

White has vowed that even heavy lightning — when The Claw might make a conspicuous target for bolts — wouldn't stop the show.

“I don’t care if it snows," White said.

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This story was first published on June 11, 2026. It was published again on June 16, 2026, to delete an incorrect reference to Corona Extra being a sponsor of the event. Corona Extra was not a sponsor.

It doesn’t have to be that way, said Aaron Owens Mayhew, a dietitian and long-haul trekker in Orcutt, California.

“It always made me sad that people who train so hard, they exercise, they eat well at home, and then they go backpacking and pick up honey buns,” Owens Mayhew said.

Getting outside generally improves mental and physical health. But too often, campers and hikers resort to the convenience of processed foods high in saturated fat, salt and sugar.

Here’s how to rethink campsite cooking to eat healthy while acting healthy.

Eat outdoors what you eat at home

Many people rightly assume that a little processed food is fine, especially when you're exerting outsize energy that can help counter excess calories. The problem lies in the way the body processes it, said Owens Mayhew, who founded Backcountry Foodie, a website dedicated to bringing nutrition to the trail.

Simple carbohydrates like sugary baked goods and candy bars can cause rapid blood glucose spikes followed by a sharp drop, leaving hikers more fatigued than before. Meanwhile, heavily processed foods tend to be dense in calories but lacking the vitamins, minerals and protein the body needs to perform well.

A healthy diet can provide consistent energy throughout the day and improved recovery.

“I like to think of food as one variable that can be controlled, unlike a sprained ankle or bad weather,” Owens Mayhew said.

She said the best way to eat in the wilderness is to find ways to continue eating the food you normally do at home. Instead of frying bacon and eggs on the fire because that’s what you did at camp as a kid, have that bran cereal you eat every morning, this time with powdered milk (find it in the baking aisle).

Many of the recipes on Owens Mayhew's website are healthier versions of her family’s classic recipes, including tuna casserole, garlic-Parmesan noodles and sweet potato casserole. As a supplement to grilled meat or fish, she suggested packing instant brown rice, quinoa and couscous, which are lightweight, healthy and require only boiled water.

To boost flavor, add fresh ginger, herbs, or garlic or onion powder. Adding nuts, dried mushrooms, grated Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes or dried fruit turns the starch into a meal of its own.

Prep meals at home and assemble at camp

Cooking at camp is much harder than when you’re comfortably home in your kitchen, so winging it is usually a bad idea, said Rashad Frazier, founder of Camp Yoshi, a gourmet adventure outfitter.

Well before a trip, take time to plan meals and prep as many ingredients as will stay fresh in zip-top bags or containers. Chopping onions or grating fresh ginger at home frees time to enjoy the sunset and spend time with family when you're outdoors.

“There’s no extra bonus points for cutting onions and making mango chutney at camp,” he said.

Frazier's cookbook, “Cook Out,” devotes a section to pantry ingredients that can be prepped at home. His universal spice mix, salsa verde, chutneys, curry paste, pickled onions and other flavor boosters pack a punch without adding many calories. They can be mixed and matched, he said, with whatever meat, vegetables or grains you have.

Also, always have an emergency backup meal for when bad weather or other factors ruin your plans, Frazier said. His is a Bolognese sauce that he keeps in the freezer until leaving. But a homemade pureed soup or even peanut butter and jelly can be a lifesaver.

“Have that one dish that’s always like, in the event of emergency, break glass, eat this,” he said.

Two recipes to elevate campsite cooking:

Rashad Frazier’s Universal Camping Spice Mix

From the cookbook “Cook Out "

Ingredients

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon thyme

1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder

1⁄2 teaspoon onion powder

1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne (adjust to spice preference)

Directions

Mix at home and put into a sealed container. Rub onto any meat, fish or vegetable before cooking on a well-oiled grill.

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Backcountry Foodie’s Parmesan Pesto Ramen

One serving

Ingredients:

1 package ramen noodles

2 tablespoons pine nuts or almonds

1 tablespoon dried basil (or 2 tablespoons fresh, if available)

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon table salt

2 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons olive oil

6 oz water

Directions

At home, discard the ramen’s high-salt seasoning packet. Create a pesto packet by putting the nuts, herbs, garlic and cheese into a small baggie. At camp, boil water to cook the pasta, discard the water when tender, and stir in the pesto packet and oil. Tear fresh basil if you have it and stir it in.

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The recipe for Universal Camping Spice Mix is excerpted from “Cook Out: Recipes and Tips for the Great Outdoors” by Rashad Frazier, courtesy of 4 Color Books.

The recipe for Parmesan Pesto Ramen comes from the website “Backcountry Foodie."

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

Those numbers come from a national group that tracks pediatric heatstroke deaths in vehicles.

No parent thinks they would forget their child in a hot car. But the unfortunate truth is that it can happen to anyone.

Research shows that stress, sleep deprivation, and a change in routine can make people more forgetful, and those are conditions many parents and caregivers know all too well.

And while the risk of heatstroke increases in warmer weather, it doesn’t take a heat wave to create dangerous conditions, according to research by Consumer Reports.

Even when it was 61 degrees outside, the temperature inside a closed car reached more than 105 degrees in just one hour in CR’s tests—an extremely dangerous and potentially fatal level for a child.

Children’s bodies heat up three to five times faster than adults. It’s never safe to leave a child unattended in a vehicle, even with the windows cracked or the vehicle parked in the shade.

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

Because of this, make a routine habit to check the back seat every time you drive!

You can create a visual reminder by placing your child’s bag, jacket, or hat next to you in the front.

You can also get in the habit of putting your purse or bag in the back seat, so you’re forced to check it when you exit the car.

One more safety tip to remember: Always keep your car locked, so children can’t gain access on their own.

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

For half a century, people have been sounding off about the words they’re sick of hearing.

Every year, Lake Superior State University compiles its “banished words” list, a collection of words and phrases people say are overused, misused or just plain annoying.

The list, based on submissions from around the world, is all in good fun, but it also shows how fast language evolves and how quickly we get tired of it.

We’ll bet you can guess this year’s biggest offender.

Despite its origin from the song “Doot Doot (6 7),” the phrase “6, 7″ has no real meaning, which may be the point.

Another word on the chopping block: “demure.” Once a word with a pretty specific meaning, it’s now used so often that some say it’s lost its meaning.

And the third most banished word: “Cooked.” What started as slang for being high or drunk has been reheated and now means you’re exhausted.

Other words making the list this year: Massive, incentivize, full stop, perfect, gifted, my bad and reach out.

From trendy to tired, the way we talk keeps changing and apparently, so does our patience for it.

So, before you say your favorite catchphrase one more time, just know it might already be on its way out.

If you want to submit a word or phrase for next year’s list, go to lssu.edu/traditions/banishedwords.

The house on Zamora Street partially collapsed as firefighters battled the blaze, St. Johns County Fire Rescue PIO Chris Naff said.

No firefighters were hurt, and the three occupants in the home were also safe, although the home is a total loss, SJCFR said.

The St. Augustine Fire Department told News4JAX that crews responded to the call, which came in around 4:31 a.m. Tuesday.

Both St. Johns County Fire Rescue and St. Augustine Fire crews were at the scene and had the fire under control before 7 a.m.

At one point, the blaze was so hot that it damaged the outside of neighboring homes, which had to be evacuated.

The State Fire Marshal has been called in to investigate the cause of the fire.

“The more God trusts you, the more he will bless you, but he has to trust you with what he’s going to give,” Harvey told The Associated Press after a recent appearance at the Social Innovation Summit in Atlanta. “And a part of what he is going to give to you is going to require that you take a portion of it and return the favor.”

Zeev Klein, CEO of Landmark Ventures and founder and curator of the Social Innovation Summit, said Harvey’s message is an important one at a time when we face so many urgent challenges.

“Steve has an extraordinary ability to meet the moment with honesty, empathy, and clarity,” Klein said. “He doesn’t just speak to an audience, he connects people in a way that moves conversations forward.”

The longtime host of “Family Feud” and star of numerous movies and TV shows, Harvey takes giving back very seriously, especially through The Steve & Marjorie Harvey Foundation, which he started with his wife. And he has made sure that his children also take philanthropy very seriously.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Can you talk about why philanthropy is so important to you?

I think I got that from my mother. She always raised me to believe that God blesses you to become a blessing. You have to give to people without expecting anything in return. It’s your job. When you give to somebody you don’t have the right to make the determination what they need it for. (People say,) “He ain’t gonna do nothing but buy some beer. He ain’t gonna do nothing but get drunk. He gonna get high.” That ain’t your business, right? If you do it with the intent to help, the reward is given back to you.

In today’s society, though, there is a lot of discussion about whether the people receiving help are worthy of being helped.

People who don’t know what it is like to be without, they come from a different perspective. They don’t know what it is to grovel. So, we have to start developing some type of understanding with one another. OK, you may not have grown up poor, but suppose you learn what a lot of poor people go through? That would eventually have an effect on you if you were human. But when you don’t listen to them, you don’t want to hear their story, then you keep acting as though you’ve been rich the whole time. That’s the problem we have today.

How were you able to avoid that problem with your children?

Most decent parents want their children to live better than them. My father wanted me to have a better life than him. They didn’t want me to struggle like they did. I did that for my kids. None of my kids really had to grow up poor. Each one of my children had a room with a bathroom in it. Each one had their own desk and computer. I gave them a lot. And sometimes I overdid it, especially the girls. Lord, I just don’t know how to tell my daughters, “No.” That’s my problem. But I taught them: You don’t have the right to think you are better than anybody else. You just hit the jackpot, I’m your daddy. That’s your black card. You really don’t deserve nothing you have. I taught them all this: “Justice is when you get what you deserve. Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve. But grace is when you get what don’t you deserve.” My children were born into grace. They didn’t have to work to have. I did all of that. That’s how I raised them and that’s why they have good heads on their shoulders.

Is that what you teach in your foundation’s annual mentorship camp, which starts in Atlanta on June 17?

It’s funny you asked me that because I’ve had to change the messaging over the years. It’s a different boy that comes to this camp now. And I guess the only way I can tell it to you is just that it’s a softer boy that’s being raised now. We used to go right into the tough stuff. Now we gotta ease them off the bus. I gotta get up on the bus and give them a little speech. Over the years, we’ve had to taper this so much. It’s a softer camp now. But for the five days I got them, we still show them how life really works. You don’t get participation trophies in life. If you miss the promotion in corporate America, they don’t just give you the check anyway.

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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

It helps that the guy doing the reading — a victim impact statement in court — is Mark Ruffalo, who is very likely to get an Emmy nomination next month for playing a former priest-turned-FBI agent seeking some kind of redemption for himself and his son who's about to be sentenced for killing his mother, Ruffalo's wife.

“I think that stuff was some of the earliest we wrote,” “Task” creator and showrunner Brad Inglesby told The Associated Press in an interview. “It was like, 'OK, now, so that’s the emotional journey of the show and then we've got to figure out what the plot is.'”

Inglesby, who previously took Kate Winslet on a similar journey in similar Pennsylvania terrain in 2021's “Mare of Easttown,” said the idea was “a man of faith and lost his faith in the face of this tragedy that sort of would have to have to find his way back to some belief.” The title “Task” refers both to the police team Ruffalo leads the religious responsibilities that linger in him.

For the court statement, Inglesby read about experiences of real-life parents of children whose mental disabilities have brought domestic difficulties.

“I specifically remember reading a parent saying, ‘I hate Fridays. I hate going to school and seeing the parents pick up their kids because they’re going off to have a weekend. And for me, that’s the worst day because now I’m home with my child for two days on my own.’”

Inglesby has been writing films for 15 years, but really hit his professional stride with “Mare of Easttown,” his first foray into television, which won Winslet and her “Delco” or Delaware County, Pennsylvania accent (think “water” as “wooder”) an acting Emmy.

The screenwriter was born and raised in the area outside Philadelphia where urban and rural intertwine both physically and culturally. He moved back around the time of “Mare,” set “Task” there and spoke to the AP from his production office there.

That means he’s been walking around in the place, and among the people, he’s writing about.

“I feel the burden of it when I’m writing things all the time. I feel like if anything, it makes me very vigilant about getting the details right,” he said. “There’s always somebody who says ‘they would never listen to that song or they would ever wear that T-shirt or they wouldn’t drink that beer.’”

He adds, “It’s important to me. I want to do right by them. Even if they don’t like the characters or the decisions of the characters, I want them to feel like we got the place right.”

“Task” was intended as a limited series like “Mare,” but in November HBO announced a second season.

That means that for the forthcoming Emmys, in a move made in recent years by “The White Lotus” and “Shogun,” it shifted from the limited categories to drama.

Along with Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, who played the lost-soul criminal at the center of the story, is likely to get a nomination, and “Task” could easily get a raft of others.

Inglesby has never done a Season 2 of anything before.

“It’s still weird to me that we’re doing another season, because in my head, in many ways, the story had a clear end,” he said.

The idea came from HBO. Inglesby entertained it simply because the collective cast and crew were such a good hang.

“It really started with just an openness to come back and just work on the show, and that really stemmed from, you know, really loving all of just the time we got to spend together,” he said.

The Season 2 cast includes two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali as a DEA agent. Martha Plimpton, who played against type but felt perfect as Ruffalo’s FBI supervisor, will be among the few returning.

“She was such a find because I just felt like we really need to have some humor in the show,” Inglesby said, “and Martha’s able to find the humor always.”

Alfred A. Knopf announced Tuesday that “Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger” will be published March 9. The novel is built around an encounter between the mysterious title character and a music hall aficionado in London in 1938, the year before World War II. Knopf Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Jordan Pavlin describes the book as a blend of spy fiction and the kind of wit P.G. Wodehouse was known for.

“One feels palpable joy in the exploits of the novel’s characters, in their innate goodness and irresistible acts of heroism, in the innocence and vivaciousness that literally has them bursting into song,” Pavlin said in a statement. “I defy any reader to resist Miss Lambert’s charms.”

Ishiguro, awarded the Nobel in 2017, is also known for the novels “Never Let Me Go” and “An Artist in the Floating World.” Taika Waititi's film adaptation of his “Klara and the Sun,” starring Amy Adams and Jenna Ortega, is scheduled for October.

Trump has been at the center of this year's midterm campaigns, and his influence will be tested in different ways Tuesday as four states and the District of Columbia hold primaries.

Among Democrats, the primaries will hinge on longstanding divides between progressives and moderates as the party tries to chart the best path forward to November.

Here are a few things to watch as voters go to the polls in Alabama, California, the District of Columbia, Georgia and Oklahoma.

How much is a Trump endorsement worth?

Nothing is certain in politics, but a “complete and total endorsement” from Trump is about the surest path possible to winning a Republican primary.

Rick Jackson is testing that truism in his bid for Georgia governor. The healthcare tycoon, who faces Trump-backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a runoff, has provided most of the $100 million-plus that his campaign has spent to convince Republican primary voters to overlook Trump's advice.

Trump endorsed Jones more than a year ago and reiterated his support last week, praising Jones' “Courage and Wisdom” in a social media post. Rarely has the power of Trump's endorsement been tested against such a lopsided spending disparity.

Jones finished first with 38% and Jackson second with 33% in the May 19 primary. Now the election to lead one of the nation's preeminent battleground states will be decided by the voters who didn't back either of them.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma's Republican primary for governor will test Trump's endorsement in a different way. There, the president weighed in late, throwing his support two weeks ago to former state Sen. Mike Mazzei among a crowded field without a clear front-runner. The race will go to a runoff if no candidate gets a majority.

Trump is used to getting his way, but earlier this month his choice for governor of Iowa, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, lost to Zach Lahn in the state's primary.

MAGA becomes the insider movement and faces an outsider

Trump rose to power as an outsider, the head of a “Make America Great Again” movement keen to bulldoze the old political order.

But now the onetime insurgent sits atop a sprawling establishment. What happens when he endorses an insider candidate?

That question is at the heart of the Republican primary runoff for Alabama's open Senate seat.

Trump is backing U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, a three-term congressman who has promised to be “a warrior for President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda" if elected.

He faces former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson, who is presenting himself as a Washington outsider, trying to harness the anti-establishment fervor that propelled Trump to power to defeat Trump’s preferred candidate.

Alabama is a Republican stronghold, so whoever wins the primary will be heavily favored to prevail in November over either candidate in Tuesday's Democratic runoff, business owner Dakarai Larriett and lawyer Everett Wess.

The seat is being vacated by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican nominee in the race for Alabama governor.

DC mayor’s race features a democratic socialist and a new voting system

One of the leading Democratic contenders in the District of Columbia mayor's race, Janeese Lewis George, describes herself as a democratic socialist, a political denomination that became more prominent with Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns.

George’s bid for the party’s nomination is not so far removed from democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani's upset victory for New York City mayor last year. And, as in New York, the race has drawn national attention, including the president's.

Trump indicated days before the mayoral primary election that he might take over the city if George wins, saying “we won’t put up with it.” George called Trump’s threat “an attack on democracy itself.”

The overwhelmingly Democratic city's relationship to the president is a focal point of the campaigns as Trump has exercised broad power over Washington, D.C. That’s included an open-ended deployment of National Guard troops in the streets and his culling of the federal workforce, a chunk of the city’s jobs.

Some residents were frustrated that the mayor, Muriel Bowser, didn’t push back enough on the administration. Part of George’s platform on her website, which heavily focuses on affordability, is to “protect Home Rule” with “leaders that stand up and fight back, not shrink in the face of injustice.”

George and another Democrat, Kenyan McDuffie, who’s focused on public safety, are two of the seven candidates whose race will be the first decided with D.C.’s new ranked choice voting system.

Like a handful of other places, D.C. voters will rank the candidates on a ballot, and if no one crosses 50% of the popular vote, then residents' second choices come into play. That happened in Maine, where election officials started counting ranked choice votes for governor and a key House race three days after election night.

In D.C., election officials have warned the new system could delay results by days.

Election denial looms over race for Georgia secretary of state

Six years ago, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger resisted Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud and his request to “find 11,780 votes” to overtake Democrat Joe Biden.

Now, in the first open election for the seat since Raffensperger’s defiance, the two Republicans in the runoff echo Trump’s falsehoods to varying degrees.

Candidate Vernon Jones, who was previously elected to the statehouse as a Democrat but switched parties and aligned himself with Trump, has said he believes there were “irregularities” and “violations” and he stands “with those who believe there was election fraud.”

Of four key points on Jones’ campaign platform, three have to do with election management, including stronger voter identification rules and requiring voting in person with limited exceptions.

Jones’ runoff opponent, state Rep. Tim Fleming, has tiptoed around the topic, saying there were “irregularities” in 2020 but adding he’s “not running on conspiracy theories.”

Still, of the seven platform points on his campaign website, four are focused on election management and one says the state should "make it impossible for the Left to cheat in our elections.”

Skepticism of elections flared up recently in California after Trump made a baseless claim that Democrats were cheating to defeat a Republican candidate for governor and another for Los Angeles mayor.

Soon after, the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, led by Trump appointee Bill Essayli, said it was opening fraud investigations related to the elections.

A special election to fill Eric Swalwell’s seat after sexual assault allegations

Eric Swalwell resigned from the U.S. House in April after a woman alleged he had sexually assaulted her twice, saying she was too intoxicated to consent to sex in both cases.

The Democrat has denied the accusations, but he dropped out of the race for California governor and resigned from Congress.

That’s what prompted a special primary election Tuesday, when both Republican and Democratic candidates will compete to serve out Swalwell’s term until January. If a candidate gets more than 50% of the vote Tuesday, that candidate wins outright, otherwise the top two contenders will go to a runoff election Aug. 18.

The Democratic candidates, favored to win in the blue district covering several East Bay cities, include Aisha Wahab, a state senator, and Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director.

It's a competition between the more progressive Wahab, who's established in California politics, and Hernandez, a local politician who sits closer to the political center. To lower costs, Wahab takes aim at “corporate profiteering” and argues for an expansion to social safety nets. Hernandez focuses on local job growth and supporting small businesses.

Both candidates also ran in the regular primary election for Swalwell’s seat and will face off in the general election in November. Whoever wins that race will take over next year.

___

This story has been corrected to show Trump wanted to find 11,780, not 11,800, votes.

___

Cooper reported from Phoenix, Bedayn from Austin, Texas.

The gravelly voiced, Grammy-nominated pop star, 75, was hospitalized last month on Faro, Portugal, where she lives, for emergency intestinal surgery. She was later placed in an induced coma.

She is no longer in a coma and “although her condition is improving it is a slow process. Her doctors remain confident that she will make a good recovery but it is going to take time,” the statement posted Monday said.

Tyler shows scheduled through August were canceled or postponed, but “we are still hopeful that our shows in the autumn will go ahead,” the statement said.

Tyler is best known for the chart-topping 1980s power ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” an irresistibly bombastic karaoke favorite that gains new fans every time there is a solar or lunar eclipse.

The coal miner’s daughter from Wales had an earlier hit in 1978 with “It’s a Heartache” before winning a place in pop history with “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” written by Meat Loaf's producer and songwriter, Jim Steinman.

Tucked away, most people wouldn’t know the studio exists, but it has one of the largest live rooms in Florida that can (and has) accommodated a full orchestra. It’s a full service recording studio designed to be a destination facility that includes a speak easy, lounge area and overnight accommodations for artists.

Rick recorded Flipturn’s first record, hosted Method Man for an ABC Sports project and most recently received his first Gold record for a song he produced with Yungeen Ace.

Rance dropped in to learn more about the place Rick hopes help position Jacksonville as THE southeast hub for music and talent.

www.ewmstudios.com IG: @ewm_studios

The agreement comes after a volatile final stretch.

It was hammered out by mediators who scrambled to avoid an Iranian attack on Israel. That would likely have generated a harsh Israeli response and potentially derailed the deal, but Tehran ended up holding off.

Osamah Khalil, an expert on U.S. foreign relations and the Middle East, joined us on The Morning Show to discuss what’s next.

Among the big questions is finding a solution to Iran’s nuclear program that’s mutually agreeable, and convincing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to buy in, which could be a tall order.

“Paddington The Musical” will play the Al Hirschfeld Theatre starting in March after wowing critics in London and winning seven Olivier Awards earlier this year, including best new musical.

“The excitement around the show and the sort of joy that it seems to be bringing people has put wind in our sails and marmalade in our suitcases,” says director Luke Sheppard.

The move is not entirely unexpected. During the Tony Awards’ opening number, a Paddington stuffie was brought out by Neil Patrick Harris, to which host Pink responded, “Maybe next season.”

“Spoilers!” Harris said.

Based on Michael Bond’s children stories, “Paddington The Musical” was written by playwright Jessica Swale and songwriter and author Tom Fletcher of the band McFly.

Paddington has been having a revival thanks to three successful movies and an onscreen appearance with Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, just weeks before her death. The bear recently graced the cover of Rolling Stone in the U.K.

“The films I think have looked after him brilliantly and allowed him to find an identity that lives in this moment and speaks to new audiences,” says Sheppard. “We’re very proud to be the sort of the next custodian of him.”

The musical's plot is about this orphaned bear who goes to London and is taken in by a kind family. He learns how to handle his neighbors and new city but they also learn about his big heart. “Kindness is never complicated” is one of the show's lyrics.

“If we’re doing something it’s trying to spread kindness and that is such a simple thing that sometimes can feel quite difficult,” says Fletcher, adds there's a message of welcoming immigrants and strangers also baked into the musical.

“What’s really special about Paddington is that coming from Peru to London looking for a home, looking for family, that’s a very real story for a lot of people,” he says.

Fletcher has leaned on his musical influences — everything from the Beatles and Queen to the Sherman Brothers and Alan Menken — for a score that reflects modern London's varied and diverse sounds.

Paddington — like his precious marmalade — is a national treasure in England but both are less well known in the United States, so the creative team will “get back under the hood” and see what tweaks they may need for a New York run.

“We’re going to take this opportunity not to fundamentally change anything but to consider this a chance to fine-tune and hone and upgrade,” Swale says.

Its Olivier wins included a joint best actor in a musical award for James Hameed and Arti Shah, who together play the title role. Hameed provides the voice and remote puppetry, while Shah — the first woman to win a best actor Olivier — inhabits the bear costume onstage.

The New York Post called it “a mesmerizing fur de force” while The Guardian said “This is the new ‘Mary Poppins:’ a well-known story imaginatively staged, immaculately performed and utterly winning.”

It's creators were pleased to find out that 40% of the audience for “Paddington The Musical” in London was first-time theatergoers and hopes to replicate that on Broadway, perhaps turning on a generation to live theater.

“Most stories are about a little girl or an old man or a very specific type of human and so an audience will naturally gravitate to someone who looks like them,” says Sheppard. “And yet we’ve got a bear who somehow becomes an Everyman and so his story really has something for everybody.”

Jackson, who earned a Tony Award nomination playing opposite Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Alexander Hamilton, will return to the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Sept. 8 through Jan. 3.

“I wanted to touch the thing that I feel turned me into an artist in a way that nothing I’d ever done had done,” he tells The Associated Press. “I wanted it to touch this thing again.”

Jackson is the second original cast member to return, following Leslie Odom Jr., who reprised his Aaron Burr last year, pushing the show to the top of the box-office charts again and bringing in over $4 million in one week for the first time since 2018.

Jackson says he was inspired to return while reconnecting with his fellow actors during the 10th anniversary events last year.

“There’s a feeling of being alive in a different kind of way in this show. The timing was right and, quite honestly, I needed that infusion and that challenge again,” he says.

Before landing “Hamilton,” Jackson played Simba in “The Lion King,” Benny in “In the Heights” and Delray in “Memphis.” He also was in “After Midnight,” “Bronx Bombers” as Derek Jeter and “Holler If Ya Hear Me,” the musical that used Tupac Shakur songs. He was a composer and songwriter for the children's television programs “The Electric Company” and “Sesame Street.”

After “Hamilton,” Jackson had a role in the CBS drama “Bull” and HBO Max's “And Just Like That,” returned to Broadway in “Hell's Kitchen” and “Freestyle Love Supreme,” and sang in the hit animated movie “Moana.”

“I haven’t stopped working since I left ‘Hamilton.’ I’ve been very fortunate,” Jackson says. “But there’s nothing that I have done that has challenged me in the way that show does.”

Jackson left the show in November 2016 after having been with “Hamilton” since it began performances in early 2015 off-Broadway. The Broadway show won 11 Tony Awards, including best new musical, best book and best score. The cast album was a blockbuster and the show has toured to packed houses.

Jackson calls the Richard Rodgers Theatre his “favorite building in New York” and the site of the “greatest, most profound artistic moments of my life. I want to see if I can go in there and have new ones.”

Many in the cast alongside Jackson were relatively unknown to the wider world when they hit the stage: Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Okieriete Onaodowan, Anthony Ramos and Phillipa Soo. Even Miranda wasn’t yet a brand name.

Jackson — the subject of the song “Washington on Your Side” — will return to sing such songs as “Right Hand Man,” “History Has Its Eyes on You” and “Yorktown.”

He says he'll have to recapture the muscle memory of the show but there are benefits, like that his children can see him play the role as young adults. Plus, he knows his way around the theater.

“I just don’t have to look for where the bathrooms are. I know where all the bathrooms are. I know how to get into the stage door. I know where to park, how long it takes me to go from Point A to Point B.”

The International Skating Union published the lineups Tuesday for the new season's Grand Prix events, listing Skate America in Everett, Washington, on Nov. 13-15 as the first event on the circuit for Liu, U.S. champion Amber Glenn and Malinin.

Skaters can take part in two of the six Grand Prix events to qualify for the finals in Chongqing, China, in December.

Liu and Glenn are set to skate against Ami Nakai, the Olympic bronze medalist from Japan, and world bronze medalist Nina Pinzarrone of Belgium in a stacked field at Skate America. Malinin is up against experienced American skater Jason Brown and Italy's Daniel Grassl.

It's not immediately clear if Liu, Glenn and Malinin plan to skate any lower-level Challenger Series events before that. Liu hasn't skated competitively since winning her Olympic gold medal in February. She skipped the world championships after that as Kaori Sakamoto retired with a fourth title.

Malinin retained his world title in March after missing the medals at the Olympics with a disastrous free skate.

After Skate America, Liu is listed as competing again one week later in her second Grand Prix of the season at the Finlandia Trophy. Malinin's second event is the NHK Trophy in Japan against world bronze medalist Shun Sato.

Olympic gold medalist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan is in the Grand Prix season opener in France from Oct. 23-25 and then skates the Cup of China in November.

There's no Grand Prix assignment for U.S. ice dance team Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who have said they're taking a break from competition. Olympic gold medalists Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron start at their home Grand Prix de France.

Pairs world champions Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany start their Grand Prix season at Skate America. Olympic pairs gold medalists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan retired in April.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Winfrey announced Tuesday that she had selected Sophie Chen Keller's “Little Wonder,” which has just been published. Keller's novel was released by Hager's Thousand Voices imprint, in partnership with Penguin Random House. Set in China, “Little Wonder” is the story of a food delivery worker and her gifted son, a musical prodigy who gets lost in Beijing.

“I was riveted in hopeful anticipation of the outcome of this unforgettable journey of a mother and her son,” Winfrey said in a statement. “Harrowing experiences and unexpected kindnesses make this a novel to remember.”

Winfrey's podcast interview with Keller can be viewed on the Oprah YouTube Channel and other podcast outlets. Hager, the “Today” show co-host and founder of the “Read With Jenna” book club, not only published “Little Wonder” but sent an early copy to Winfrey and facilitated the phone call during which Winfrey informed the author of her decision.

“Getting the call from Oprah was an astonishing dream come true,” Keller said in a statement. “I’m still reeling in disbelief. But if I could go back in time and tell the little girl curled up with her mom, reading bedtime stories, that one day Oprah would read her story and choose it for her book club, the little girl would believe it — because she knew the world was magic.”

Keller, a native of China raised in California, lives in Germany with her husband and two children. She is also the author of “The Luster of Lost Things,” a novel published in 2017.

Serena and Venus Williams won a combined 21 titles on the storied grass of the All England Club in their singles and doubles careers and now they're going for one more.

A doubles wild card invitation for the sisters was announced on Tuesday by organizers of Wimbledon, which starts in less than two weeks.

The move comes after 44-year-old Serena recently returned to competition after nearly four years away from professional tennis.

Venus, who has still been competing sporadically, turns 46 on Wednesday.

The sisters have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon — the first of them in 2000 and the last in 2016. Their first two doubles titles at Wimbledon, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.

In all, their records at the All England Club look like this: Seven singles titles for Serena and five singles titles for Venus at Wimbledon; those six Wimbledon doubles titles together; a mixed doubles title for Serena with Max Mirnyi at Wimbledon in 1998; plus a singles gold medal for Serena at the 2012 London Olympics and a doubles gold for the sisters at the same Games. Count 'em up and it makes for 21 trophies and medals — because their powerful serves always did more damage on grass than any other surface.

With their six titles, the Williams sisters share the record for most trophies as a pair in women’s doubles at Wimbledon with Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan, who won their titles consecutively from 1919-25.

The Williams sisters last played doubles together at the 2022 U.S. Open, where they lost their opening match. That was the first time they played doubles together in 4 ½ years.

In her first competition since 2022, Serena won her doubles match with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club in London last week and then the pair had to withdraw after Mboko injured her knee in a singles match.

Serena was slated to play doubles with Karolina Muchova at the Berlin Open later Tuesday.

Singles wild card spot left open

Serena has not ruled out a return in singles, too, and one of the eight wild card spots for women’s singles was left as “to be announced.”

Recent French Open finalist Maja Chwalinska received a singles wild card, as did six British women: Harriet Dart, Alicia Dudeney, Hannah Klugman, Mika Stojsavljevic, Katie Swan, and Mimi Xu.

Wawrinka, Dimitrov and Kyrgios

Men’s singles wild cards went to Stan Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov and four British players: Jacob Fearnley, Arthur Fery, Jack Pinnington Jones and Toby Samuel.

Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion whose best result at Wimbledon was reaching the quarterfinals twice, plans to retire at the end of the year.

Dimitrov led eventual champion Jannik Sinner two sets to none in the round of 16 last year before having to retire early in the third due to an injured pectoral muscle. Dimitrov is now ranked No. 169.

Two more men’s singles wild cards were also left open.

In men’s doubles, a wild card went to the pairing of Alexander Bublik and Nick Kyrgios. Kyrgios was a singles finalist in 2022.

Matteo Berrettini, a Wimbledon finalist in 2021, was left off the list despite a quarterfinal appearance at the French Open. He’s ranked No. 49 but was ranked outside the top 100 when Wimbledon’s entry list was established. Still, Berrettini could get direct entry into the main draw depending on withdrawals.

Wimbledon starts June 29.

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

If you want real-life aristocracy, head to Sweden’s squad.

Gustaf Lagerbielke, a 26-year-old defender who played the entire match in Sweden’s 5-1 defeat of Tunisia on Sunday, is a baron from a noble family in Sweden. His father and grandfather are counts.

Soccer players typically come from modest backgrounds — take Messi and Ronaldo, for example.

Not Lagerbielke.

“I mean, it’s rare,” he said in an interview ahead of the World Cup.

Lagerbielke grew up in Djursholm, a wealthy suburb in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. When he played soccer as a kid, he says he had the family’s coat of arms on his shin pads.

“When I was kid, I wanted to become a professional footballer,” Lagerbielke said after Sunday's match in Monterrey. “They have taught me goals. They are very happy for me and very proud.”

Lagerbielke’s heritage has been a talking point throughout a career that has taken him from Sweden (AIK, Sollentuna, Västerås, Elfsborg and Degerfors) to Scotland (Celtic) and now Portugal.

Sections of the British media reported he was 254th in line to the Swedish throne, though Lagerbielke said “I don’t know if it’s true.”

“But I think for it to happen,” he added, “a lot of people need to go away. And I don’t want that to happen.”

For now, Lagerbielke just wants to help Sweden become the king of soccer at the World Cup.

“To have one of the biggest wins in Swedish history at the World Cup, it’s amazing," he said.

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

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Douglas reported from Sundsvall, Sweden.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

The crash was reported around 2:20 a.m. on eastbound 103rd Street at Old Middleburg Road.

According to FHP, the woman, who was crossing 103rd Street in a marked pedestrian crosswalk, was hit by an SUV that had a green light at the time of the crash.

Troopers said the front of the SUV hit the woman, who had walked directly in front of the vehicle.

The Jacksonville man driving the SUV was wearing a seat belt and was not hurt. His age was also not indicated in the report.

In a joint appearance with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila, where Steinmeier is on a state visit, the German president referenced the blockade of the Hormuz as a result of the Iran war and said European leaders were concerned about continuing territorial confrontations in the South China Sea, particularly between the Philippines and China.

The United States lays no claims to the South China Sea but has repeatedly warned it's obligated to help defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack.

China has repeatedly warned the U.S. not to meddle with the disputes, which also involve Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

“The situation in the South China Sea … continues to be tense and that gives us cause to be concerned because the Indo-Pacific, in particular the region of Southeast Asia, is one of the most economically dynamic regions of the world,” Steinmeier said through an interpreter.

“If incidents occur in that part of the world that is also cause for great concern in Europe,” Steinmeier said. “Violations of the international law of the sea endanger the freedom of navigation as the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has brought home to us recently in a very drastic manner.”

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which led to global spikes in fuel and fertilizer prices, was among the issues Steinmeier and Marcos discussed in a closed-door meeting.

Steinmeier did not blame any country for tensions in the South China Sea, a key global trade route, but Germany has previously said China’s actions in the disputed waters violate the rights of coastal states like the Philippines and threaten freedom of navigation.

While visiting Manila in 2024, then German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said China’s actions, which have led to minor collisions with Philippine vessels at sea, are of concern to Germany and other European countries “because such risky maneuvers violate rights and opportunities for economic development of your own country and other littoral states.”

China’s claims “are not covered by international law,” Baerbock said then while calling for a peaceful resolution to the disputes. She visited the Philippine coast guard headquarters in Manila and boarded a patrol ship, where she briefly flew one of surveillance drones donated by Germany.

Steinmeier on Tuesday pledged Germany's continued support to the Philippine coast guard, which has been a front line guardian of Manila’s territorial interests and had figured in several altercations in the waters with Chinese forces.

Marcos thanked Steinmeier and Germany “for consistently and publicly expressing its support for Philippine efforts to uphold the rule of law in the South China Sea, including by calling on all parties to abide by the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award.”

The 2016 arbitration ruling, citing the 1982 U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea, invalidated China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. Beijing did not participate in the arbitration initiated by the Philippines, rejected its outcome and continues to defy it.

The fire was reported around 5:30 a.m. at a one-story home on Percy Creek Drive in the Northlake area of Jacksonville’s Northside.

JFRD said it’s unclear how many people have been displaced because of the fire, but the home sustained significant damage.

The firefighters are expected to be OK.

SpaceX said in April that it had the rights to buy Cursor, or pay $10 billion to “work together” with the company.

In a regulatory filing Tuesday, SpaceX said that Cursor will become a wholly owned subsidiary when the deal closes in the third quarter.

Cursor, made by San Francisco startup Anysphere, is a popular AI coding assistant. What SpaceX has described as Cursor's wide “distribution to expert software engineers” is likely part of what made it attractive to Musk's company, giving it access to a new customer base.

When it first announced the potential acquisition, Cursor said the partnership with SpaceX subsidiary xAI would enable it to build future AI products using xAI's massive AI data center complex Colossus, based in Memphis, Tennessee.

Cursor, which started in 2022, helped sparked a trend called “vibe coding” as AI coding assistants have become increasingly capable of doing the work of computer programming.

Cursor competes with other coding tools like Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex but also has relied heavily on partnerships with those larger AI research companies for the foundations of its technology.

It was Cursor’s Composer, combined with Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet, that a prominent AI researcher was playing with for weekend projects when he coined the phrase “vibe coding" in early 2025.

SpaceX became a public company on Friday in what is largely considered a successful debut. Shares of the company have jumped since Friday, and are up 9% before the opening bell Tuesday.

As detectives work to figure out what led up to the gunfire, a local violence-prevention group is offering a reminder as summer gatherings ramp up: plan ahead so events stay safe.

“It’s very important that it stay safe and stay fun,” AJ Jordan, president of MAD DADS Northeast Florida, said.

MAD DADS is a nonprofit that works with parents and young people to prevent violence.

Jordan said safety planning can include coordinating with officials ahead of time and being proactive when a gathering starts to grow.

“If one of these parties pop up and you don’t see security or anything before shootings happen be proactive,” Jordan said. “Before it happens JSO can come and see engage... So when you see something happening be proactive and stop it before it starts. We can’t always just be reactive.”

He also urged anyone who knows what happened Saturday night to come forward.

“My message to the community just speak up,” he said. “Tell what you know. We’ve got a shooter out there that don’t care about anybody. They shot four people. He or she shot four people and they’re still on the loose and we need them off the streets.”

JSO said officers were called to the area around 9:15 p.m. Saturday. Police said officers found one victim at the scene with a gunshot wound, and the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department took that person to a nearby hospital. A short time later, investigators said three other gunshot victims arrived at a hospital on their own.

JSO identified the victims as a 24-year-old woman, a 25-year-old woman, a 41-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy. Police said all four were in non-life-threatening condition.

On Monday, JSO told News4JAX the case remains active and ongoing, with no additional updates released.

Anyone with information is asked to call JSO at 904-630-0500, contact Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS, or email JSOCrimetips@Jaxsheriff.org.

Construction began Monday and will be completed in phases, with a targeted finish date of fall 2027.

Most of the work will take place on a barge, meaning the majority of construction equipment will be on the water rather than along the road.

FDOT Public Information Officer Renata Di Gregorio said the current seawall has reached the end of its service life.

“The fact that we’re going to be able to bring these upgrades to St. Augustine is pretty exciting because we are expecting it to enhance pedestrian safety and mobility,” Di Gregorio said. “It will also further protect the roadway right there from King Tides.”

Pedestrian detours will be limited and phased throughout the project.

“The pedestrian detours that will be in place will only be bit by bit,” Di Gregorio said. “The whole seawall is not being worked on at the same time. And most of them are just going right around where the project limits are on the sidewalk.”

How residents and visitors are reacting

Reactions among those who frequent the seawall area are mixed. St. Augustine resident Steve Motzel walks his dogs along the seawall regularly and said the changes give him pause.

“As a local, I don’t really care for it too much. It’s very traditional, and they’re making a lot of changes,” Motzel said. “But it might be necessary.”

He added that he expects to work through the disruption. “It will certainly be an issue for us, but we’ll get through it.”

Brittney Pugh, who visits her in-laws in St. Augustine about once a year, said she supports the project.

“I think it’s a good idea to keep it if it helps the city not flood as much,” Pugh said. “It’s probably a good thing.”

Project resources

FDOT has published a simulation showing how the project will be completed and what the finished seawall will look like. Maps of planned pedestrian detours are also available as construction phases progress. You can find those resources here.

Aerial footage showed virtually nothing left of the aircraft that went down around 11:20 a.m. during a routine test mission at Edwards Air Force Base, which is north of Los Angeles. Black smoke rose from a large swath of charred desert near the runway on the base, with emergency vehicles nearby.

Those on the B-52 included government contractors and uniformed military. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing confirmed Monday evening that two of its employees were on board.

After reviewing footage of the crash, it was determined that no one could have survived, Col. James Hayes, the deputy commander for the 412 test wing at Edwards, said at a news conference.

“We lost eight great Americans,” Hayes said, adding that officials were working to notify their families.

It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, and it could take up to six months to complete an investigation, Hayes said, but shared that the B-52 was supporting the “radar modernization program.”

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range bomber that entered service in 1955. Designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons, it has been used in conflicts involving the U.S. military from Vietnam to Iran.

In 2025, Boeing sent a B-52 to Edwards with a new, modernized radar system. A test team planned to conduct ground and flight test activities on the aircraft throughout 2026 to feed a production decision, the air force said in a 2025 news release. The modern Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system replaced the aircraft’s antiquated radar for efficacy. It was unclear if that was the same aircraft involved in Monday’s crash.

Edwards Air Force Base is home to a large portion of the U.S. Air Force’s aircraft test and development efforts and is about 100 miles (161 km) north of Los Angeles. The 412th Test Wing, which runs the base, also conducts developmental testing of all Air Force aircraft, weapons systems, software and components before purchase by the service as well as throughout their lifespan.

The vast desert base is where Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager reached a speed of Mach 1.05 and broke the sound barrier in 1947.

The airfield was closed most of Monday and all inbound aircraft were being diverted, but it reopened to people coming onto the base by late afternoon. Non-commercial visitor passes for the base were suspended as emergency crews doused the flames.

It’s too soon to say what might have happened.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said he is deeply saddened by the lives lost.

“We mourn this loss and honor the service of our Airmen, civilians, and contractors who work every day to advance our mission,” he said in a post on X.

The way the B-52 crashed so quickly after takeoff without getting very high or going far makes aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti suspect some kind of flight control malfunction.

It’s possible the controls were rigged wrong after maintenance, he said, or a catastrophic engine problem or a failure of a piece of equipment that was being tested.

“I think it was definitely a controllability issue. Now, whether that was tied to an engine failure, a flight control failure, or some new testing device failure, I’m not sure,” said Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Although the Air Force has been flying B-52 bombers for more than 70 years, testing out new equipment on a plane can create new challenges.

“A flight test is always riskier than normal operations, so that’s why you have specially trained test pilots, and you should have other safety protocols,” Guzzetti said.

In recent years, fatal Air Force training accidents in the U.S. have included an instructor pilot who was killed in 2024 when the ejection seat activated while the aircraft was still on the ground in Texas and an Air Force ROTC cadet's death in a 2022 accident involving a Humvee during a training exercise in Idaho. Two Air Force pilots were killed when a trainer jet crashed near an Alabama airport in 2021.

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Toropin reported from Washington, D.C. AP Transportation Writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, and AP reporters Hallie Golden in Seattle and Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu contributed to this report.

Chief Executive Masayoshi Son called Japan’ s vulnerability to cyberattacks “a crisis,” comparing it to a potential assault by machine guns instead of the rifle shots of the past.

SoftBank will offer “a patching service,” targeting the nation’s top 3,000 companies behind crucial infrastructure like airports, power systems and transportation, Son said.

“I feel it is our duty,” Son said, repeatedly referring to the criminal attackers as “the bad guys.”

The service involves first diagnosing any weaknesses to attacks, and then analyzing what needs to be done to patch up such “holes," Son said.

Sam Altman, chief of OpenAI, was scheduled to attend the launch, but instead appeared only in a short video. He said he couldn’t make it because his baby daughter was born earlier than expected. Mark Chen, OpenAI’s chief researcher, was present in his place.

SoftBank and OpenAI, behind the popular chatbot ChatGPT, set up a 50:50 joint venture named SB OAI Japan last year to develop and exclusively market an AI service for the Japanese market.

Tuesday’s announcement was a key update, highlighting the rollout. No monetary value was announced. But SoftBank said everyone who came to the presentation in Tokyo Tuesday can apply for a free diagnosis.

The use of AI has caused the number of attacks to balloon exponentially and grow more complex, meaning defenses have had to become more AI-savvy and versatile.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

The events of June 16, 1976 — now commemorated annually as Youth Day — are considered a turning point in South Africa's liberation struggle against white minority rule.

They ignited more demonstrations in various parts of the country, fueled more resistance against the apartheid system of segregation, and brought international attention to the racial oppression faced by Black people in South Africa.

Fifty years after the uprising, however, there are still concerns about the plight of young people in the country.

Survivors of the protests, experts and young South Africans have lamented the challenges facing the country's youth including inequality, high unemployment, poverty and social problems such as drug and alcohol abuse.

Soweto, one of the oldest townships in South Africa, bears symbols of the historic day which are frequently visited by local and international tourists.

These include a memorial named after Hector Pieterson, the boy whose lifeless body was seen being carried away by another student in an iconic photograph that came to symbolize the 1976 uprising.

Murals and billboards depicting protesting students can be found throughout the township, which is also home to the June 16 Memorial.

But for those who survived the protests, the symbols are a painful reminder of the day that changed their lives forever.

Seth Mazibuko, a survivor, remembers vividly how students fought back against the police, who were using tear gas to try and disperse the defiant demonstrators.

“They struggled with the tear gas because when they threw it our way, the wind would blow the gas back to them, so it was also affecting them,” said Mazibuko. “They then started sending the police dogs to us, we used stones to chase the dogs back to them.”

Mazibuko was detained for 18 months after his arrest and later imprisoned on Robben Island, where he served seven years alongside other political prisoners.

Fifty years after the uprising, South Africa has undergone significant changes but inequality, unemployment and poverty are among the most pressing challenges facing its “born free” generation — those born after the end of apartheid in 1994.

“I would say the issues of poverty and crime are the most pressing ones,” said Sima Poto, a 19-year-old visiting the June 16 Memorial. “It is poverty that is leading many of them into crime.”

Zola Mguli, a 29-year-old who works with the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance, an organization campaigning against alcohol and substance abuse, said he is grateful to belong to a generation that has grown up in freedom, even as significant challenges remain. "Things are not going as well as our forefathers hoped, there is still racism, alcoholism and other things we are battling with,” he said. “But if we, the youth, rise up, we can do better.”

Historian Noor Nieftagodien said the 1976 student protest movement was a traumatic and transformative moment that reshaped the anti-apartheid struggle, placing young people at the forefront of liberation politics.

“This was a generation that was young, gifted, and Black,” he said. “They wanted education.”

“The idea of Black power resonated with this new generation of young people,” Nieftagodien said. “Black consciousness was kind of electrifying; it inspired university students and then increasingly also students in high schools.”

He said that since June 16 was declared a public holiday after the end of apartheid, the significance of the event has diminished, overshadowed by celebratory events that, in his view, water down its political meaning.

“It has lost its meaning,” he said. “What has happened is that we’ve had the day marked with concerts, etc. I’m all for concerts. But, in fact, in so doing, the kind of celebrations that have been organized have been disinvested from politics, from a critical understanding of what happened.”

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

They all played Monday. None of them won. None of them lost, either.

Through five days and 16 matches of soccer's biggest extravaganza ever, the underdogs are proving to be very tough to beat. All four matches on Monday ended in ties — the most in a single day of men's World Cup play since 1958 — and all of them technically could be considered upsets as well.

The biggest win (that wasn't a win) of all saw Cape Verde — ranked No. 67 and in its World Cup debut — hold No. 2 Spain, a favorite to win the whole thing, 0-0 in what easily has been the biggest shocker of the tournament to this point.

“It means everything,” said Cape Verde coach Pedro Leitão Brito, who simply goes by Bubista.

The other Monday results:

— No. 85 New Zealand, the lowest-ranked team out of the 48 qualifiers entering the World Cup, tied No. 20 Iran 2-2.

— No. 61 Saudi Arabia tied No. 16 Uruguay 1-1.

— No. 29 Egypt tied No. 9 Belgium 1-1.

For Monday's underdogs, the ties were a pretty big deal. But even they knew what the Cape Verde score meant in the grand scheme of things.

“The draw involving Spain,” Saudi Arabia coach Georgios Donis said, “may be the biggest surprise in this World Cup.”

Four years ago, the Saudis opened with a shocking win over eventual champion Argentina.

The World Cup isn't like the NCAA tournament. Nobody is eliminated or assured of advancing no matter the outcome of their first match. But if this event was more like March Madness, it's certain that plenty of brackets would already be busted.

Spain was -1500 to beat Cape Verde according to odds posted just before the match started Monday. Those are overwhelming odds, ones that mean bettors would have had to wager $1,500 just to profit $100. And oddsmakers in Las Vegas said Spain was picked to win in a slew of parlays, all of which were quickly doomed.

“This shows how difficult it is to play (the first game) in a World Cup,” Uruguay's Maxi Araújo said. “We've seen that they are difficult — not only in our group, but in many groups.”

He's right. And there's not much margin of error now in Groups F and H.

Teams are guaranteed three group-stage matches at the World Cup, one against each of the other three teams in their group. The top two finishers in each of the 12 groups are assured of reaching the knockout stage; the eight best third-place teams also will advance.

But in Group F (New Zealand, Iran, Belgium and Egypt) and Group H (Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Cape Verde), everyone has exactly one point with two matches left. Teams get three points for a win, no points for a loss.

“A lot of positives to build on,” New Zealand’s Elijah Just said.

The upsets-that-were-ties trend didn't start Monday. There were two other significant ones earlier in the tournament: No. 56 Qatar tied No. 19 Switzerland 1-1, and No. 64 Bosnia and Herzegovina tied No. 30 Canada 1-1.

Through the first 16 matches, eight ended in ties. The other two weren't exactly of the shocking variety: No. 18 Japan was a slight underdog going into its 2-2 tie with No. 8 Netherlands, and No. 6 Brazil and No. 7 Morocco — as would be expected, given how close they are in the world rankings — tied their opening match 1-1.

There's been only one match through Monday where a team was 10 or more spots below its opponent in the FIFA world rankings going in and won: No. 33 Ivory Coast beating No. 23 Ecuador 1-0.

Not exactly a shocker. But some of these ties would qualify as such.

“Football is like that,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. “There are no small opponents here.”

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup