The leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee held the hearing as they push legislation unveiled last week that supporters hope can break the congressional gridlock over how to regulate college athletics.

The bill, introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would regulate payments to athletes, limit them to one “free” transfer during their careers and create a “Lane Kiffin Rule” restricting coaches from leaving programs during the season. Cruz touted the proposal as “the last, best hope we have to save college sports.”

“If you had the biggest, baddest Ferrari that you could ever have and it was going 150 miles an hour toward the Grand Canyon, somebody needs to tap the brakes. And I think that’s what we all need to do here,” Saban said in his opening remarks.

Notably absent from the the witness list, which included Notre Dame’s athletic director and the commissioner of the PAC-12 conference, was any representative from the Southeastern Conference, where Saban won seven national championships between Alabama and Louisiana State University

The SEC and the Big Ten, the two most powerful conferences in college sports, oppose the bill, arguing it “leaves critical issues unresolved.”

Cantwell said the legislation is intended to restore competition to college athletics by ensuring success is determined by how universities “build a team, and not because they have a billionaire in their back pocket.”

She also addressed the conferences’ opposition directly, suggesting they fear “that somebody’s going to come in and rearrange the deck chairs of those conferences, steal the eyeball schools, and then basically leave everybody with everything else.”

The hostages were found unharmed inside the downtown Bakersfield building that houses a bank and a school district office, the Bakersfield Police Department said in a statement.

The suspect was killed in “an officer-involved shooting" involving FBI personnel, the department said.

The standoff began Tuesday afternoon when officers responded to a call of a bomb threat at the Chase Bank building, a four-story office building with dark-tinted glass windows all around. Police said the man had barricaded himself inside with several people.

The department’s crisis negotiation team talked with the suspect by telephone and eventually two hostages were released Tuesday night, police said.

Nearby buildings, including City Hall and the police headquarters that are just a block away, were evacuated and some roads were temporarily closed during the hostage situation. Bakersfield, a city of about 380,000 residents, is the seat of largely rural Kern County and is about 100 miles (160 kms) northeast of Los Angeles.

A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase said the bank branch is on the ground floor.

Officers established a perimeter around the area and warned the public to stay away.

“We have every single resource at our disposal out here to bring this to the safest resolution possible,” Bakersfield police Sgt. Eric Celedon said Tuesday.

Jacob Davidson, a livestreamer known as Dad’s Gone Live, was a block from the bank at his family’s tattoo shop when he started getting calls about the bomb threat.

“I went into the bank’s parking garage and watched the cops enter the back of the bank. This is the biggest police presence I’ve ever seen in this town,” Davidson said.

His livestream captured through a window in the building a woman rocking back and forth Tuesday night before crouching below the window. Later, two hands could be seen waving.

Local 4 first learned about this crash through a news tip sent by a viewer to our Help Desk.

The crash happened Tuesday, June 2, 2026, on King Road in East China Township, according to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office.

A 33-year-old man was working on King Road when he was struck by a driver, police said.

He was taken to McLaren Macomb Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to officials.

“Often drivers are distracted, putting workers at risk,” the release says.

The scene was turned over to the St. Clair County Sheriff Accident Investigations Team.

Police don’t believe drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash.

Local, state, and federal authorities said they’re working to promote better driver awareness and worker safety in construction zones.

“It is the season of road repairs and construction in Michigan,” St. Clair County Sheriff Mat King said. “Drivers, please take steps to avoid distractions while behind the wheel.”

The Trump administration is sticking with a deal to permanently drop tax claims against Trump, an extraordinary flex of executive power that could help shield the president from further examination of his finances and legal conduct, even as it scraps a $1.8 billion fund to compensate the Republican president's allies amid a fierce political backlash.

Trump's endorsements helped end the political careers of two senators and a congressman deemed insufficiently loyal, but he couldn't lift Rep. Randy Feenstra to victory in Iowa’s Republican primary, setting up a Democratic opportunity to pick up a governorship. See other AP coverage of Tuesday's primary results here.

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Rubio says Iran retains drone capabilities, but they’re not as robust

Democratic Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada pushed Rubio to explain Iran’s military capabilities. Trump and others claim American forces have decimated the Islamic Republic’s military, and yet ships are still being attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, she said.

“So is the war still on or is the war off?” Titus asked.

Rubio acknowledged that Iran still has small boats with machine guns as well as some drone capabilities. But he said Iran lacks the ability to attack targets with swarms of drones as it once did.

Titus noted that the U.S. military has been using expensive weapons systems to take down the drones. Rubio said “that needs to change.”

Democrat shows Rubio videos of Trump with his eyes closed, says ‘something is wrong’

California Rep. Ted Lieu displayed several clips of what he described as Trump sleeping while Rubio spoke during Cabinet meetings, saying they reflect concerns about the president’s health. The short clips show Trump with his eyes closed on several instances during meetings from the last few months.

“I’m going to ask you to come clean with the American people and the White House as well: There’s something wrong with Donald Trump’s health or cognitive abilities,” Lieu said.

In response, Rubio said, “I don’t even know how to respond to that other than to tell you that it’s absurd and ridiculous.”

Mullin doesn’t back down from threats to pull CBP officers from airports

Mullin was asked about his threat to remove Customs and Border Protection officers from airports in cities that don’t typically cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

Mullin said he isn’t “punishing” places dubbed sanctuary cities by the Trump administration.

But he blamed those cities for “refusing to allow local and state enforcement officers to respond when we called” and said he needs to protect his staff. “If that means I gotta pull them out of Customs and Border Protection from processing international flights, I will,” Mullin said.

Mullin did not say when he might implement his threat, which has sparked criticism from the travel industry for its potential to cause chaos just ahead of the World Cup.

GOP congressman tells DHS secretary to use more discretion in ICE arrests

In a rare example of a Republican criticizing the Trump administration’s deportation program, Rep. Carlos Gimenez urged Mullin to put more emphasis on apprehending violent criminals.

“I think you need to use your discretion a little bit more as to who is being deported, who’s being arrested, etc. Let’s go after the worst of the worst,” said Gimenez, whose South Florida district has a large heavy Cuban population.

Referring to a comment from Democratic Rep. Lou Correa, Gimenez said it’s unacceptable that ICE recently failed to take six criminal suspects into custody in Orange County, California.

Mullin said ICE only has 48 hours after defendants are booked into local jails to take them into custody, a difficult deadline if not immediately informed of arrests.

“There’s no excuse for it, but we just don’t have the resources to get there like we need to,” Mullin said.

‘MAHA’ movement flexes its power in Iowa, overcoming Trump’s choice

The power of Trump’s endorsement helped end the political careers of Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. But even though Trump jumped into Iowa’s Republican primary by backing Rep. Randy Feenstra for governor, GOP voters nominated Zach Lahn instead.

Democrats nominated Rob Sand, whose rural roots are rare among Democrats. Sand also is a proven winner in a Republican-leaning state, having been elected twice as auditor.

Lahn was not well known in Iowa politics when he launched his campaign in November, but he built support among conservatives by championing a total ban on abortion, keeping liberal ideology out of public school classrooms and developing a following with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which opposes the Trump administration’s embrace of pesticides.

Iowa Democrats rally behind former Paralympian in marquee Senate race

Democrats stunned by how Trump has remade American politics have spent the past decade debating which type of candidate is best positioned to energize voters and win elections, not moral victories.

Iowa marked the latest stop in this sometimes agonizing conversation.

The party’s establishment supported Josh Turek, a state representative who presented a compelling personal biography that included competing for the United States in four Paralympics. State Sen. Zach Wahls had offered himself as a more disruptive figure, refusing to back Chuck Schumer of New York as the Senate Democratic leader if he were elected.

Democratic voters united behind Turek, who will face Republican Ashley Hinson in November.

Oil rises toward $100 as U.S.-Iran ceasefire wobbles

Oil prices are rising Wednesday following the latest flare-up in fighting to threaten the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, and U.S. stocks are stalling near their records.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% from its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 339 points, or 0.7%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower.

Weighing on the market was a climb of 1.1% for the price of a barrel of Brent crude to $97.07. It rose after the U.S. military said Iran fired missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain. The United States said it then struck an Iranian military ground control station on an island in the Strait of Hormuz. Hope seems to be remaining on Wall Street that the United States and Iran will ultimately reopen the strait.

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Trump talks up pairing of Vance and Rubio as a team in 2028 election

Trump praised the possibility of Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio running as a ticket in the 2028 presidential election.

"They’re both very talented,” Trump said on the “Pod Force One” podcast. “I like them together. You know, it’d be great. I don’t know how you beat them if they’re together. That would be a great team.”

The president has previously talked up this combination. How Vance and Rubio feel about it is unclear. “They’d have to agree to it, right?” Trump said.

There is still “a long time left” before the 2028 presidential election, Trump cautioned. But he said he observes how his aides and Cabinet officials interact and called the relationship between Vance and Rubio “good.”

Markwayne Mullin says DHS ready for ‘complicated’ World Cup security operations

The Homeland Security secretary said his agency is ready to help protect security at World Cup games across the U.S., but still has “a lot of work to do” ahead of the first game June 12 in Los Angeles.

“I feel very comfortable where we’re at, and we feel like we have a zero-fail mission. But it’s going to be complicated,” Mullin told the House Committee on Homeland Security on Wednesday.

Millions of fans will be coming to the U.S., for the equivalent of “78 Super Bowls in 38 days,” he said, and “we have some very complicated countries that are going to be playing each other that have a tremendous amount of dislike against each other.”

He credited state and local officials at host sites for their cooperation with federal agencies, and said “I hope when FIFA is over, we can show that we can work together and continue to keep our cities and our streets safe.”

Rubio hopes for joint Israel-Lebanon statement on peace after new round of political talks

The secretary of state says he hopes the latest round of high-level political talks between Israel and Lebanon will result in a joint statement on ending hostilities.

In testimony before lawmakers that started Wednesday shortly after the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S. began meeting at the State Department for a second day of negotiations, Rubio said the aim of the talks is to “produce a joint statement and an action plan on a track for security in that country, independent from Hezbollah, independent from nefarious influence.”

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which is not participating in the talks, has become a major sticking point in efforts to end the war in Iran. Wednesday’s discussion is the fourth between the two countries and follows a meeting focused on security issues that was held at the Pentagon on Friday.

Rubio says Trump administration was aware and prepared for Iranian retaliation

On the second day of back-to-back Capitol Hill hearings, Rubio was pressed by a senior Democrat on whether he warned Trump about the scope of Iran’s response if the U.S. were to strike.

“Did you warn President Trump, before the Iran war began, that this conflict would drive up cost on gas, food, travel and the president? Yes or no?” asked Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“The president and the full administration was aware that there would be consequences to action,” Rubio responded. “But the consequences of Iran having a nuclear weapon were worse.”

Rubio’s comments come despite reporting that Trump and U.S. officials underestimated Iran’s retaliation to an attack, including its closure of the Strait of Hormuz and strikes on Gulf countries. The president himself has previously said no one thought Tehran would close the critical waterway.

Bessent says he’s unable to comment on IRS plan to give Trump audit immunity

Wyden questioned Bessent on whether the Trump administration would drop the IRS plan to confer audit immunity on Trump, as part of a settlement agreement to end the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.

Wyden referred to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Tuesday testimony to lawmakers that the Trump administration is scrapping plans for a $1.8 billion fund that would have compensated allies of the Republican president.

Wyden asked Bessent: “Does the IRS audit immunity given to Trump, his family, and his businesses still stand?”

“There’s continuing litigation and I’m unable to comment on ongoing litigation,” Bessent said.

Treasury Secretary to be grilled over Trump’s IRS settlement

Setting the tone for a hearing scheduled to examine Treasury’s budget, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in his opening remarks that lawmakers would question U.S. Scott Bessent on the IRS plan to drop any probes of Trump, his family or the Trump organization over whether they have paid their fair share of taxes.

The administration has dropped plans to create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate the Republican president’s allies, but is sticking with a deal meant to resolve Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The U.S. is “forever barred and precluded” from examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons and the Trump organization’s current tax examinations, according to a one-page Justice Department document.

“Secretary Bessent owes the committee an explanation of what the Treasury knows about the dirty settlement, that’s because his department was involved from beginning to end,” Wyden said.

Report: Disruption of Mideast energy supplies into next year would slam global economy

A prolonged disruption of energy supplies from the Middle East due to the Iran war would deal a severe blow to the global economy, sending some countries into recession and spreading inflation and higher unemployment, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report Wednesday.

Hardest hit would be Asian economies that depend on crude oil, fuel and natural gas from the Persian Gulf, and poorer countries where people spend more of their incomes on fuel and food, the OECD said. The report analyzes two scenarios:

1. Prolonged disruption: Global growth slows from 3.4% last year to 2.1% this year and 1.8% in 2027, potentially pushing some economies into or close to recession.

2. Time-limited disruption, in which energy production and Gulf shipments start to return to pre-war levels in the middle of this year: Growth would slow to 2.8% this year and rebound to 3.1% next year.

Another day of questions for Homeland Security secretary

Markwayne Mullin is in Congress again, this time in the House, after fielding fierce questions from skeptical Democratic senators over his short tenure leading Homeland Security.

As Mullin walked into the hearing room Wednesday, protesters in the hallway could be heard yelling that he’s an “embarrassment.”

Democrats slammed Mullin on Tuesday over his department’s immigration policies and accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement of mistreating detainees at a facility in New Jersey.

Mullin pushed back, saying that officers were following laws set forth by Congress and defended treatment of migrants at Delaney Hall.

Rubio begins second day of congressional hearings

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is facing questions from lawmakers for the first time this week since the Iran war was launched in late February.

The focus of Wednesday's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing is the State Department budget. But it’s likely to veer into issues concerning the Iran war, arms sales to Taiwan and an Ebola outbreak in Africa.

Trump’s hosting streak meets America’s 250th birthday and the World Cup

When nearly all the scheduled musical performers pulled out of a concert series marking America’s 250th anniversary, Trump responded by making himself the headlining act of the Great American State Fair.

That put to rest any possible scenario where a president who has built his personal and political persona on seizing the spotlight might cede the stage to avoid overshadowing a celebration bigger than himself — like, for example, the World Cup, where he said he’ll present the golden trophy to the winning team.

From his reality shows to the hours he’s spent entertaining at events to his evident pride in showing off his properties to his overhaul of the White House, Trump can be a gracious, personable and highly watchable master of ceremonies. But he also tends to make every event about himself.

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Trump thinks Todd Blanche will become his permanent attorney general

Asked in an interview if acting attorney general Todd Blanche would get the post full-time, Trump said, “I think he will.”

The president said his former personal attorney is doing a “very good job” at the Justice Department. He told the “Pod Force One” podcast that he did not have any other candidates in mind.

“I wanted to see how he’s received,” Trump said of Blanche. “And he’s done a very good job. But I’ve known him a long time.”

Blanche has been the deputy attorney general and became the acting leader of the Justice Department in April after the departure of Pam Bondi as attorney general.

Blanche would need to be nominated and confirmed by the Senate to shift from acting to the official attorney general.

Trump says that Iran’s supreme leader is involved in peace talks

The U.S. president said that Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father, is “involved” in peace talks for ending the war.

“They have a lot of respect for him,” Trump said in an interview with The New York Post’s “Pod Force One.”

Trump said Khamenei is not doing well due to injuries suffered in an airstrike, but “they say he’s giving approval because that’s the way it has been for a long, long time.”

The president added, “We seem to be getting along quite well,” but said he had not previously thought about meeting with Khamenei until he was asked about the possibility in the interview.

Trump said the U.S. had gone through two “sets” of Iranian negotiators who were now gone, as well as some of the third set of Iranian negotiators.

Trump says US blockade of Strait of Hormuz could continue through a summer of elevated gasoline prices

The president said in a podcast interview that oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz could be blocked through the summer, as the extent of progress in peace talks with Iran remain unclear.

Trump said he thought it was “unlikely” that the strait would stay closed that long, but he acknowledged to The New York Post’s “Pod Force One” that the U.S. blockade stopping tankers with Iranian oil could go through the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 7.

“I don’t know. I mean, I think it could be (closed through Labor Day), but I think it’s unlikely. I think that we’ll have it. I think this will resolve itself fairly quickly,” Trump said.

Continued shortages of oil and natural gas could keep global prices elevated and inflict levels of inflation on the U.S. and other countries that could hamper growth.

It's the Knicks' ninth time in the title series, and the eighth time they've played Game 1 on the road. It's the Spurs' seventh time in the title series, and the sixth time they've played Game 1 at home.

Granted, a good amount of time has passed for both teams since they've been on this stage: The Knicks haven't played in the finals since losing to the Spurs in 1999, and the Spurs haven't been there since beating the Miami Heat in 2014.

“I think we’re just locked in and focused on the task at hand,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said. “Then we can look back when everything is all said and done and really embrace this process and this run. It’s an honor, but can’t focus too much on the outside world and the run so far.”

The run the Knicks are on coming into this series is without compare: 11 straight wins by a total of 262 points, the most lopsided 11-game run — regular season or playoffs — in NBA history.

The Spurs have a different kind of streak going into Wednesday night. They've never lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals, going 6-0 in openers when they make the title round.

Most players on both teams are making their finals debuts in this series. Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox said it's still going to be important for his team to remember how they got to the finals in the first place.

“This is a hard thing to do. It’s hard to get back to these places,” Fox said. “Don’t change anything that we’re doing. There’s a reason that we’re in the finals. There’s a reason that we won (62) games. There’s a reason we didn’t lose three games in a row the whole year. So, we don’t want to get to this place and then start changing the way we play.”

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

The strike reinforced the risks to residents and travelers in Gulf countries that had considered themselves relative havens before the war, now in its fourth month.

Talks have dragged on for weeks as mediators seek a more enduring truce in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. They are increasingly strained by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

A regional official said Iran wanted a separate ceasefire in Lebanon enforced before returning to talks. U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations continue.

The fighting in Lebanon has also exposed a rift between Israel and the U.S., which is pushing its ally for restraint. In a measure of the friction, Trump acknowledged that he'd called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” during a phone call earlier this week. Nonetheless, both men say their rapport is solid.

Iran maintains its hold on the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial waterway for the world’s oil and natural gas and related products like fertilizer — and the U.S. continues its blockade of Iranian ports. Global fuel prices remain high, and the effects of the conflict are felt well beyond the region.

An Indian national is killed at Kuwait's main airport

A spokesperson for Kuwait's Defense Ministry, Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, said “a number of hostile drones” targeted a passenger building at Kuwait International Airport. It had opened only Monday after a months-long closure because of the war, which began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

India’s embassy said the person killed was an Indian national. Authorities said 63 were wounded, including passengers and workers, and some suffered serious injuries.

Kuwait's Defense Ministry said it destroyed over a dozen missiles and a similar number of drones from Iran.

The airport partially reopened later, with Kuwait Airways flights resuming at a different terminal, according to civil aviation authorities. No other flights were operating.

The Foreign Ministry said Kuwait will “neither accept nor tolerate” the attacks and was kicking out two Iranian diplomats. Such expulsions are an established means of communicating international ire.

US and Iran say they are retaliating for earlier attacks

The U.S. military said two Iranian missiles fell apart en route to Kuwait and that it “downed multiple drones” targeting American forces in the country.

The military also said U.S. and Bahraini forces intercepted missiles aimed at the Gulf kingdom, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet. Bahrain’s Defense Ministry said its military intercepted and destroyed three missiles and a number of drones fired by Iran.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard acknowledged that it targeted the headquarters of the 5th Fleet and U.S. military facilities in another country, but did not name Kuwait.

Both the U.S. and Iran said they were retaliating for earlier attacks or attempted ones.

The U.S. military also said it launched strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S. strikes on the island, where it said a telecommunications tower was struck, and other previous strikes. It called them “acts of aggression” that it said violated the ceasefire.

Writing on X, a senior Emirati diplomat, Anwar Gargash, called for “a firm, unified, and cohesive Gulf position” against Iran following the attacks.

Trump calls reports of cessation in talks ‘false’

Iran’s Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to the Guard, on Tuesday reported that Iran’s negotiators have stopped communicating with ceasefire mediators as tensions flare in Lebanon.

A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, told The Associated Press that Iran had not communicated on Tuesday after saying a ceasefire needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to continue.

Trump called reports of a cessation in talks “false and erroneous.”

The war is increasingly tied to Israel’s war in Lebanon

Israeli forces have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any time in over a quarter-century, while Hezbollah has launched rocket and drone attacks. The declared ceasefire in Lebanon is officially in place and no side has formally withdrawn or declared it over even as attacks continue.

Iran insists that any larger potential truce must quell the fighting in Lebanon. Netanyahu wants to keep the issues separate and is under domestic pressure to strike Hezbollah as he prepares for elections this fall.

In a podcast interview released Wednesday, Trump confirmed a report that he had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” Monday in a phone call peppered with an expletive. Trump told The New York Post’s “Pod Force One” that he was “a little bit perturbed” that Israel’s fight with Hezbollah was holding back talks with Iran.

Still, Trump said his relationship with Netanyahu was good, and “we’ve worked very well together.”

Netanyahu responded that he and Trump sometimes have “tactical disagreements” but have “common goals” and “agree on the main things.”

“He respects me. I respect him. We always find a way to work out our differences,” the prime minister said in an interview on the American business-news channel CNBC.

___

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi, Sam Mednick in Jerusalem, and Aamer Madhani and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

A court in the town of Naivasha ruled that the girls will be remanded at a children’s home to allow investigators to complete their inquiries and determine whether to bring charges.

The fire on May 28 ripped through the Utumishi Girls School dormitory that houses 202 students. Investigators said the school matron failed to open an emergency door, forcing all students to scamper through a single doorway.

The accused girls have been in police custody for six days, during which interrogations revealed the fire was started by lighting a mattress at the dormitory’s exit using a matchstick and paraffin. No motive has been revealed so far.

Police arrested nine girls after questioning students and reviewing CCTV footage that investigators say shows some students setting a fire inside the dormitory.

Hezron Mogire, a lawyer representing the nine girls, told the court there were “no compelling reasons” to detain the girls for 30 days, as requested by investigators.

“Nonetheless, the court has taken a different view. We have already briefed our clients, and they are well informed,” he said.

Mbogo Macharia, the lawyer representing the families of the 16 girls who died in the fire, called for a thorough investigation within 21 days.

“During that time, it is expected by the courts, by the nation, and also by us as the victims that the investigations will have concluded, we will have gotten the answers that we very much want to hear, and we will have found a way forward in respect to finding justice for the victims,” he said.

The results of DNA tests to determine the identities of some of the bodies that were charred beyond recognition are expected later Wednesday.

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AP’s Africa coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

“Just want to quit tennis right now,” Sabalenka said after wasting a lead of a set and two breaks in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 loss to Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. “We’ll see in few days. Hopefully I’ll get back on track mentally.”

Sabalenka's wait for a first French Open title continues despite the four-time major winner leading 4-1 in the second set and being two points from victory when serving for the match at 5-4. What followed was a complete collapse as as she lost 12 of the last 13 games against a player appearing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, looking increasingly frustrated and forlorn in the windy conditions.

Just like her loss to Coco Gauff in last year's final, when she also won the first set before becoming undone with a slew of unforced errors, this one will take some time to get over.

“You know those rooms where you just go in and you smash everything,” Sabalenka said. “Probably I will spend a whole day tomorrow over there destroying stuff. Maybe it will help, maybe not.”

Sabalenka stood still and screamed loudly after losing a point to fall 0-30 down in the sixth game of the decider and, although she saved two match points at 0-40 down, she lost when she sent a shot into the net.

“I just think it’s combination of everything,” Sabalenka lamented. “You overthink, then you make easy mistakes, then you miss opportunities.”

Shnaider next faces Maja Chwalinska, who extended her remarkable Roland Garros run by beating No. 22-seeded Anna Kalinskaya 7-6 (3), 6-3.

But for Sabalenka, her struggles were reminiscent of the match against Gauff, when she remonstrated loudly, shouting to herself and glaring at her team box.

“I just have to sit back and openly think about what’s going on in my head in those tough moments,” Sabalenka said, recalling that match. “Because I’m quite an experienced player. I have been through so many things, and I overcome so many things.”

Sabalenka had already looked agitated when serving for the first set but still looked in control as she served for the match in the second, holding a 30-15 lead.

But Shnaider, who was already on her best run at a major, broke Sabelenka before taking complete control.

“Well, honestly I am speechless. Super happy,” Shnaider said. “I feel like I was trying to focus point by point. Not thinking about the score. She is the world No. 1, so I just trying to do my best. I just had to fight for every point.”

Sabalenka looked increasingly frustrated as the third set wore on, and when she missed a volley at the net in the fourth game of the decider she crouched and rested her head on her racket.

Another upset

It was another big upset in a tournament where defending champion Gauff (third round) and four-time winner Iga Swiatek (fourth round) already tumbled out.

Defending men’s champion Jannik Sinner served for the match in a second round defeat, and 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic wasted a two-set lead in a third round loss.

That opened things up for lesser-known players. According to Opta, this is the first major without a former champion in either the men’s and women’s semifinals since the French Open in 1977.

From qualifier to contender

The unseeded Chwalinska came through three qualifying rounds to become only the second Polish woman to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros, along with Swiatek.

Chwalinska said British player Emma Raducanu’s run to the 2021 U.S. Open title as an 18-year-old qualifier had inspired her.

“It was such an impressive run, you know,” Chwalinska recalled. “Also, she was so young.”

When Kalinskaya’s big forehand from the back of the court went out, the 24-year-old Chwalinska had her biggest win, having never been beyond the second round at any major before this tournament.

Chwalinska’s total prize money heading into Roland Garros was $864,030 and reaching the last four here earns her 750,000 euros (about $872,000).

Windy conditions

After they traded early breaks of serve amid blustery conditions with the roof open on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“I don’t know why would they keep the roof open when it was crazy windy,” Sabalenka said. “It was very dirty tennis. I don’t know how people could actually just sit there and watch me play.”

Kalinskaya also struggled.

“I feel like I was fighting against the wind,” she said. “It was cold today, so the ball was going slower. I couldn’t use my speed, my power.”

Men’s matches

In remaining men’s quarterfinals, No. 4 Felix Auger-Aliassime took on No. 10 Flavio Cobolli before unseeded Italians Matteo Berrettini and Matteo Arnaldi faced off.

All of Wednesday’s matches were held on Chatrier.

Second-seeded Alexander Zverev and No. 26 Jakub Mensik won their quarterfinals Tuesday and will meet in the semifinals. ___

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

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% from its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 339 points, or 0.7%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower.

Weighing on the market was a climb of 1.1% for the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, which brought it back to $97.07. It rose after the U.S. military said Iran fired missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, which failed to hit their targets. The United States said it then struck an Iranian military ground control station on an island in the Strait of Hormuz.

The war with Iran has already sent oil prices and inflation higher, cranking up the pressure on the global economy. But oil prices remain below their peaks from earlier in the fighting, and hope seems to be remaining on Wall Street that the United States and Iran will ultimately agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers. That would improve the global flow of crude and hopefully lower its price.

Such hopes, along with strong profit reports from U.S. companies, have helped launch the U.S. stock market on a tremendous rally. If the S&P 500 can turn around and finish the day with a gain, it would be the 10th straight for the index, which would be its longest such streak in more than three decades.

Medtronic climbed 5.3% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also increased its dividend payout going to investors.

GameStop jumped 7.7% after the video-game retailer said its revenue in the latest quarter grew 14% from a year earlier. It also announced a program to send up to $2 billion to its investors by buying back its own stock.

Macy’s swung from an initial gain to a loss of 0.9% after the iconic New York department store reported profit for the latest quarter that blew past analysts’ forecasts. The retailer said said an overhaul of its merchandise and better customer service is resonating with customers.

Also on the losing side of Wall Street was Palo Alto Networks, which fell 6% despite topping analysts’ expectations for profit in the latest quarter. Investors may have been looking for even more after its stock came into the day with a surge of 61.3% for the year so far, more than quintuple the S&P 500’s already big 11.2% rise.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rose with the price of oil, which put downward pressure on the stock market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.48% from 4.46% late Tuesday and from just 3.97% before the war began.

High yields worldwide recently have threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. They have already forced the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its most expensive level in nine months, and they could curtail companies’ borrowing to build the AI data centers that have supported the U.S. economy’s growth recently.

More expensive loans can hurt smaller companies in particular because many need to borrow to grow. The Russell 2000 index of the smallest U.S. stocks fell 0.9%, more than the rest of the market.

Reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed. One from the Institute for Supply Management said that growth for U.S. construction, agricultural and other services businesses accelerated by more last month than economists expected.

That's an encouraging signal for the economy, but the survey also showed businesses are feeling the pinch of higher prices caused by tariffs and more expensive oil. “This is the definition of inflationary pressure starting to affect us,” one company in the accommodation and food services industry said in the survey.

In stock markets abroad, European indexes dipped following a mixed finish in Asia.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.6%, but Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2.5% to another record as computer chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron soared 13.4%.

Excitement around the boom created by artificial-intelligence technology has been a huge engine for stock markets worldwide. On Wall Street, Marvell Technology rose another 7.1% following its best day on record, a surge of 32.5%, after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang suggested at a conference in Taiwan that Marvell could be “the next trillion-dollar company.”

The last company to enter the expanding club of behemoths was Micron Technology, which is likewise riding the AI wave.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

According to his parents, he left home without permission and failed to return. Police issued a release on June 3 saying the boy has been found safe.

The center of the storm was at sea and posed no immediate threat to land.

The Pacific hurricane season started May 15. The Atlantic hurricane season began Monday, and no cyclones have formed in that basin yet this year.

Worker bees perform a myriad of jobs to keep up the hive, including collecting food, nurturing young bees and caring for the queen, who lays all the eggs. New research reveals that the honeybees responsible for crafting the queen's home effectively run a fever to help melt and blend special chemicals into the wax.

“No one had ever thought that there might be a specialized group of workers that were building these queen cells,” said bee researcher Julia Bowsher with North Dakota State University, who had no role in the study.

These newly identified bees were younger and also had patterns of expression in their genes that made them uniquely suited to the task. The resulting peanut-shaped home was also distinct in its makeup, as it was made of softer wax with a higher melting point than the kind used to build worker bees' homes.

Queens are raised eating royal jelly secreted from the glands of worker bees and scientists have long believed diet was the main key to making a monarch. The new findings, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, suggest that the queen's environment might also play a role.

To test that theory, researchers raised baby queens in cups capped with either queen or worker wax. Despite eating royal jelly, the queens raised in worker wax were smaller and didn’t survive as well.

“For centuries, we believed ‘you are what you eat’ was the only rule for making a queen bee. Our study rewrites that rule to say ‘you are where you live, too,'" Kai Wang, a study co-author with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said in an email.

The findings offer a rare look inside the hive, but questions remain.

Honeybees pollinate and ensure the survival of crops such as blueberries, squash, watermelon and almonds. Further research is needed to learn more about the secret lives of queen cell-building bees and the exact combination of factors that produce the hive's head honcho.

“I would really like to know more about the specific chemical composition of this wax and which active ingredients are directly affecting the growth of the queens,” Bowsher 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.

The space agency confirmed Wednesday that the mission had ended after more than a decade of observations.

Launched in 2013 to study the red planet’s atmosphere from orbit, Maven mysteriously fell silent in early December after passing behind Mars. Data indicated the spacecraft went into a fast spin, which disrupted its orbit and drained the onboard batteries.

A review board convened by NASA earlier this year concluded that the spacecraft is useless and unable to be recovered. An investigation continues into what caused the problem.

Besides studying Martian weather and observing a stray interstellar comet last year, Maven helped relay information from NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on the surface.

Maven's lead scientist, Shannon Curry of the University of Colorado Boulder, said the spacecraft made a number of “amazing discoveries.”

Maven “has truly advanced our understanding of the Martian atmosphere and evolution,” she said in a statement.

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

The league debuted a new spot — “History is Calling” — promoting the finals early Wednesday, hours before the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks begin this year's title series.

Britell — the composer known for “Succession,” “Moonlight” and “Andor” — envisioned a piece that the league said, “draws inspiration from the emotional progression of basketball, from anticipation and momentum shifts to the defining moments that shape outcomes.”

Nas provides the voice, with nods to the 80-year history of the league and what it takes to get to the NBA Finals. Nas worked closely with Britell on the music itself, collaborating to shape the final sound of the project.

“Thirty teams start this journey, but only two are left standing,” Nas begins. “The math is simple. The quest, anything but. This isn't just a series. This is legacy. Everything's on the line, because history is calling. This is the NBA Finals.”

The NBA said Britell's score “marks the first expression of the league’s new signature audio identity,” and that Britell and Nas will have an expanded partnership with the league going forward.

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

The program delivered on a campaign promise of President Prabowo Subianto and aimed to fight malnutrition by feeding nearly 90 million children and pregnant women. But it has come under steep criticism due to high costs and cases of food poisoning among schoolchildren who consumed the meals.

Prabowo fired Dadan Hindayana on Tuesday and replaced him with the agency's deputy chief. Investigators searched the agency’s offices early Wednesday.

Before Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office made Wednesday’s arrest announcement, Hindaya could be seen being led out in handcuffs, wearing a detainee red vest and a black shirt, and escorted into a green prison van.

Prosecutors also arrested two other suspects, Sony Sonjaya, the Deputy Head of the Nutrition Provision Division and Lodewyk Pusung, the Deputy Head of the Organizational Development and Institutional Relations Division. Both were fired on Tuesday. Prosecutors only published their initials, but the Minister of the State Secretariat, Prasetyo Hadi, shared their names with reporters.

Syarief Sulaeman Nahdi, AGO’s Director of Investigation, told reporters that based on the “examination ... and two pieces of sufficient evidence,” the three were named as suspects “in the criminal investigation of corruption related to the management of the Free Nutritious Meal program at the National Nutrition Agency for the 2025–2026 period.”

The Free Nutritious Meal program is implemented through foundations operating in schools. Investigators allege these foundations were used to facilitate criminal activities and were linked to agency officials and employees. Despite failing to meet the eligibility requirements to become program partners, they were allegedly approved by manipulating the agency’s partner verification system, with the suspects' help, Nahdi said.

“These foundations receive incentives worth billions of rupiah every day,” he said, adding that investigators are still calculating the damage to state coffers.

Hadi said Tuesday the three suspects were dismissed for failing to adhere to "standard operating procedure ... implementing governance, including maintaining food quality."

Hadi stressed the government's continuing commitment to the free meals program. “Services to the public must not be disrupted in any way,” he told reporters.

The meals program is expected to cost $28 billion through 2029.

One of Prabowo's goals was to fight malnutrition and help farmers by purchasing their harvests, but critics had questioned whether the program was affordable and logistically possible in a vast archipelago of more than 282 million people.

The drones flew more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to hit the terminal in Russia’s second-largest city, Zelenskyy said on social media, a day after Moscow launched a major drone and missile attack on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

Russian authorities said only that the Ukrainian drone strike targeted St. Petersburg’s infrastructure, without providing details. The city's airport briefly suspended flights overnight because of the attack. Authorities cut off mobile internet services.

With the front line barely moving as swarms of drones hinder advances, both sides have sought an edge by launching long-range strikes. The war that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor is more than four years old, with no end in sight.

Ukraine's drone successes embarrass Putin

The latest strikes are another embarrassment for Putin, weeks after he pruned back an annual Victory Day parade in Moscow because of fears of Ukrainian drone attacks.

Putin is set to speak on Friday at the economic forum in St. Petersburg that the Kremlin views as a prestige event. The gathering is sometimes called Russia’s Davos, likening it to the World Economic Forum held in Switzerland.

Major Western investors and officials have stayed away since Russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Saudi Arabia is a special guest this year and is due to send a large business delegation.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine aimed only at “legitimate targets” related to Russia's war effort and indicated that Kyiv plans to escalate its long-range drone attacks. "It is only a matter of time when we will be able to increase the scale of our own mass strikes,” he told reporters.

The strikes on St. Petersburg came a day after Russia's attack on Ukraine killed 23 civilians and wounded 151 other people, as Moscow followed through with its threat of escalating its barrages.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Russia’s deep strikes have already taken on a “systematic” character.

Ukraine needs more air defense help

Ukraine’s own long-range attacks are aimed at diminishing Russia’s oil production, which is a key source of funding for Moscow, and disrupting weapon production. Kyiv has repeatedly targeted oil facilities in St. Petersburg and nearby ports.

But Ukraine is short of American-made Patriot air defense missiles, in part because of U.S. stocks being depleted by the Iran war, leaving it vulnerable to Russia's ballistic missiles.

Zelenskyy on Wednesday expressed frustration with his own government's officials, saying there's an agreement “at the highest political level” for the purchase of Patriot systems, but implementation is being held up by financial, legal and technical considerations.

“The wait has taken too long,” he said on social media, demanding that officials unblock the purchase or there will be “serious personnel decisions.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, visiting Kyiv on Wednesday for talks with Ukrainian officials, said the flow of interceptor missiles from the U.S. to Ukraine continues. The U.S. is “doing what it can” to keep supplying them although it is limited by the production rate, he told a news conference.

Rutte also said young Russians and their families “are being sold a raw deal” by Moscow, as incorporation in the Russian military dooms soldiers to poor training and equipment and low chances of surviving battlefield wounds.

Ukraine also strikes a Russian naval base

Other Ukrainian drone attacks overnight set fire to the Russian guided-missile corvette Boikiy, which was in dry dock at the Kronstadt naval base, according to Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces. Kronstadt is an old base for Russia’s Baltic Fleet located west of St. Petersburg.

Drones also hit a Russian manufacturing plant involved in weapon production in the Tambov region, 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 354 Ukrainian drones overnight.

In the Russia-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a Ukrainian strike hit a bus that was traveling from Moscow to the Crimean Peninsula, killing seven people and wounding 11 others, according to the Kremlin-appointed head of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin.

In the Smolensk region, two firefighters were killed by a Ukrainian drone attack, according to the regional governor, Vasily Anokhin. He said that two other firefighters and a local resident were wounded.

Meanwhile, Russia fired 198 long-range drones at Ukraine last night, according to Ukraine’s air force, with air defenses neutralizing 189.

Authorities in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region said that over the previous 24 hours, one civilian was killed and 15 more were wounded, including three children, by Russian strikes.

In the southern Kherson, Russian overnight shelling and drone strikes killed an 86-year-old woman and wounded five other people, according to regional authorities.

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

According to Feeding America, roughly 1 in 6 Michiganders experiences food insecurity, which underscores the growing need for community-based solutions that make nutritious food more accessible.

To help address that need, Shipt is expanding several initiatives across Michigan this year with a goal to support nonprofits, farmers markets and community-led programs already working to improve food access at a local level.

“Shipt is committed to expanding access to fresh, nutritious food, but we know that lasting change comes from within the community,” said Ricardo Vargas, chief people and community officer at Shipt. “We are incredibly proud to stand alongside Michigan’s local leaders, invest in and amplify the incredible initiatives already making a difference across the state.”

Planting the seeds: Garden Grants

One of the newest efforts is the Garden Grants initiative, which was developed to support community-led urban garden projects across the country, including right here in Detroit.

The program will help 11 organizations in Detroit establish, improve or expand community gardens. Funding supports upgrades that can include anything from irrigation systems and lighting to walkways and trellises.

Community gardens not only provide fresh produce for residents, they create gathering spaces that encourage neighborhood connection and education around nutrition, wellness and sustainability.

Local grant recipients include:

• The Really Living Helping Hands Inc. (New Garden)
• United African Women Organization (Garden Expansion)
• Westminster Church Of Detroit (Garden Expansion)
• Messiah Center For Hope (Garden Expansion)
• Church Of Christ Westside (Garden Expansion)
• Central Detroit Christian (Garden Expansion)
• Greening Of Detroit (Garden Expansion)
• Bailey Park Project (Garden Expansion)
• Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (Garden Expansion)
• Yad Ezra Kosher Food Pantry (Garden Restoration)
• Michigan Urban Farming Initiative (Garden Restoration)

Long-term access: Community Impact Grants program

Shipt is also continuing its Community Impact Grants program, which supports nonprofits that aim to strengthen long-term food infrastructure and improve access to healthy food in underserved communities.

Since the initiative launched in 2022, more than 80 organizations nationwide -- including several in Michigan -- have received grants that total more than $1.2 million.

The program supports both newer and established nonprofits that focus on reducing hunger and building more sustainable local food systems.

Applications for the 2026 grant cycle are open through June 12.

Supporting local organizations making a difference

In addition to grants, Shipt is continuing its LadderUp Accelerator program, an eight-week program designed to help food-focused small businesses and nonprofits strengthen operations and expand their impact.

Organizations selected for the program receive a $5,000 grant, mentorship from industry leaders and opportunities to collaborate with peers working on similar challenges in their communities.

Five Michigan organizations were selected for this year’s cohort:

• E. Warren Development Corp (Detroit), which supports local businesses and community revitalization efforts through its farmers market initiatives. It aims to support local small businesses grow, sustain and thrive.
• Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation (Detroit), operator of the Northwest Detroit Farmers Market, which focuses on improving access to healthy food while supporting local farmers and small businesses. It also provides opportunities for the community to learn more about nutrition and wellness.
• Growing Hope Farmers Market (Ypsilanti), which works to create a more equitable local food system by empowering Michiganders to garden, sell, buy, prepare and eat healthy food.
• HOPE Village Farmers Market (Detroit), a community-led organization that works to improve neighborhood resources and opportunities for residents.
• People’s Food Co-op (Ann Arbor), a member-owned cooperative focused on providing accessible local and sustainable food products.

The LadderUp program is now in its fourth year and has previously supported several Michigan-based organizations, including Campbell’s Market Basket, Neighborhood Grocery and Pillar and Pride.

“This program opened our eyes to just how much there is to learn -- in the best way possible,” a representative from Campbell’s Market Basket shared while reflecting on the experience. “It was a valuable reminder that growth as a small business depends on staying curious, continuously learning and keeping an open mind about industry trends and changes.”

Investing in local food organizations can create ripple effects throughout communities, which will help residents access fresh food while supporting small businesses, neighborhood engagement and local economies.

For many Michigan communities, those grassroots efforts are becoming an increasingly important part of addressing food insecurity close to home.

To learn more about the efforts to reduce food security, click or tap here.

Since 2020, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) has approved nearly $800 million in rate hikes for Consumers Energy, which provides electricity to roughly 1.9 million customers and natural gas to 1.8 million customers throughout the state.

In addition to the 9.8% increase in residential electric rates sought by the utility, Consumers is seeking an additional 12-month surcharge of $25 million, an additional $52 million over three years for storm restoration expenses, and the continuation and expansion of the Investment Recovery Mechanism approved in its last rate case.

“The Company’s goal is fewer and shorter power outages for customers,” the filing by Consumers Energy stated. “... Without these investments, the desired improvements in reliability cannot occur.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Tuesday that her office plans to intervene, adding that the utility’s rate hike request is loaded with “completely unsupported, inflated costs.”

“Consumers Energy and DTE keep demanding more and more money, the MPSC continues to reward their incessant demands, and the cycle of constant, growing rate hikes are pushing Michigan families and businesses to the brink,” Nessel said in a news release. “Michiganders are facing an affordability crisis, and our utility companies are recording record profits.”

Other rate hike cases open before the MPSC include Consumers Energy’s natural gas rate hike request, DTE’s natural gas rate hike request and electric rate hike request, SEMCO Energy Gas Company’s natural gas rate hike request, and Upper Peninsula Power Company’s electric rate hike request.

“Aaron is a guy that I stay really close in touch with, and I know the respect that he has for Myles,” McVay said. “Talked to him about the opportunity to be able to bring (Garrett) on board. If Aaron decides he wants to dust them off at the age of 35, I bet you he could still do it at a pretty high clip.”

While the Rams would never close the door on Donald's possible return to the NFL, McVay confirms it's entirely up to the superstar defensive tackle to open that door if he wants to play alongside Garrett.

The possibility of Donald's return from two seasons in retirement became a hot topic almost immediately after the Rams swung their blockbuster trade Monday to acquire Garrett from the Cleveland Browns. Now 35 years old, Donald walked away in March 2024 after a prolific 10-year career spent entirely with the Rams.

ESPN personality Pat McAfee stoked the idea on Tuesday when he said he had texted about a comeback with Donald. McAfee said Donald told him that Garrett’s arrival in LA “for sure got me thinking,” and that he’s “gotta see if that fire can light back up.”

Donald racked up eight All-Pro selections, 10 Pro Bowl nods, three AP Defensive Player of the Year awards and a Super Bowl ring during 10 seasons in St. Louis and Los Angeles. He went out near the top of his game with a franchise-record 111 sacks as the NFL's best interior pass rusher, saying he was ready to step back from the daily grind required to maintain that level of play.

But because Donald retired at a relatively young age for defensive linemen, his possible return has been a topic of conversation for two full years in Los Angeles, where the Pittsburgh native still spends most of his time with his family. Rams fans openly pined for his return last season while the team appeared capable of making a second Super Bowl run, but Donald resisted the lure.

Donald even worked out with Jared Verse, the first-round pick and rising star edge rusher who was traded to Cleveland along with three high draft picks. The Rams gave up a fortune to get Garrett, the two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year and one of Donald's very few peers in the 21st century.

Garrett has previously spoken of his respect for Donald's game, and the Rams' new superstar nodded along Tuesday while McVay praised Donald.

The Rams' defensive line is already strong, with Garrett joining 12-sack edge rusher Byron Young and strong interior linemen Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske and Poona Ford. Garrett has already secured his No. 95 jersey from Ford, who wore it with the Rams last season.

“There was a conversation,” Garrett said with a laugh.

“A conversation and a couple of bucks?” McVay interjected.

“Maybe more than a couple of bucks,” Garrett said with a laugh. “He was open to it.”

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

Trump announced he'd now be the headlining act of the Great American State Fair.

That put to rest any possible scenario where a president who has built his personal and political persona on seizing the spotlight might cede the stage to avoid overshadowing a national celebration bigger than himself. It also offered a peek into how the president is likely to approach hosting the upcoming World Cup.

From his reality shows before becoming a politician, to hours spent entertaining at events in ways planned and impromptu, to proudly showing off his various properties and efforts to overhaul the White House, the president relishes hosting. Last year he even jokingly mused about leaving the presidency to do it again full time on TV.

Trump can be a gracious, personable and highly watchable master of ceremonies — but he's also one who tends to make every event about himself.

“The president has an outsized personality,” said Timothy Naftali, former director of Richard Nixon’s presidential library and professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. “There’s a predictability to the way in which the president frames his actions — or any actions around any event associated with him — and that’s just part of who he is, and his makeup and his professional background.”

Exhibit A is the fair, which begins June 25 and was supposed to feature concerts but now will be kicked off by a Trump rally. That will follow a UFC bout at the White House on June 14. Trump is a longtime cage match fan and the event marks his 80th birthday, but the president has sought to bill it as part of the anniversary festivities.

Many presidents relished hosting — but not like this

Andrew Jackson threw open the White House for an 1829 Inauguration Day bash so unruly that staff eventually dispersed the crowd by moving tubs of whiskey and ice cream to the lawn. Franklin D. Roosevelt mixed pre-dinner cocktails for friends and aides at White House gatherings he playfully dubbed “The Children’s Hour.” Audrey Hepburn was among the luminaries Ronald Reagan hosted at the White House.

Trump frequently had first-term dinners with business leaders but has more fully embraced the role since returning to the White House. He built a patio area similar to one at his Mar-a-Lago estate and frequently travels to Florida and his properties in Bedminster, New Jersey, and Sterling, Virginia, to headline fundraisers and other swanky gatherings.

Asked if Trump might overshadow events meant to bring the country and the world together, White House spokesman Davis Ingle pointed to the president's efforts to lead extensive renovations at the White House and around Washington. He said in a statement that the “historic beautification" gives the city "the glory it deserves during our nation’s historic semiquincentennial celebration — something everyone should celebrate."

Still, Trump has found unprecedented ways to inject himself into the anniversary.

The State Department is issuing passports with the president's picture and officials have designed a new $250 bill with his likeness. The Trump Organization, being run by Trump's children while he's president, applied to trademark “Trump 250" logos and other merchandise.

The U.S. Mint is also producing a 24-karat gold commemorative coin with Trump’s face, though that recalls a half-dollar silver coin bearing the likeness of President Calvin Coolidge to help mark America's 150th anniversary in 1926.

Past presidents had starring anniversary roles

Ulysses S. Grant opened a Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia to mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1876. Richard Nixon, in 1971, inaugurated a five-year “Bicentennial Era” ahead of the 200-year mark, though he resigned before the big day arrived.

Nixon's successor, Gerald Ford, then in the midst of an ultimately unsuccessful reelection campaign, began the week of July 4, 1976, by inaugurating the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum and attending a Kennedy Center event featuring Bob Hope, O.J. Simpson and others reading patriotic texts.

On Independence Day, Ford spoke at historic Valley Forge, then traveled to Philadelphia's Independence Hall, declaring, “Liberty is a living flame to be fed, not dead ashes to be revered.“ He also went to New York Harbor for a tall ship parade, presided over naturalization ceremonies at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate and hosted a state dinner for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.

Still, “while Ford certainly hoped to use the bicentennial to promote his reelection campaign, he didn’t do it in such a self-aggrandizing, self-centered, narcissistic way,” said Marc Stein, a history professor at San Francisco State University and author of “Bicentennial: A Revolutionary History of the 1970s.”

Ford, added Naftali, “knew when to step out of the limelight and make sure the focus was on what mattered, which was the United States of America and the Declaration of Independence."

Trump, by contrast, “generally has contempt for norms” and rarely mentions “the great sweep of history,” Naftali said.

Dueling anniversary planners as Trump pushes to revise history

Congress charged a national organization, America250, with planning commemorative events. Ahead of the 2024 election, the group drafted a memo asking whomever the incoming president was to mobilize federal agencies and welcoming presidential involvement in events and initiatives.

Asked about Trump, America250 Chair Rosie Rios said the group “has had a very supportive and collaborative relationship with the organizations planning initiatives on behalf of the president.”

But Rios' organization is separate from Freedom 250, a mix of public and private partnerships which the Trump administration established to fund and prepare anniversary events — which has caused confusion.

America250 aims to "inspire our fellow Americans to reflect on our past, strengthen our love of country, and renew our commitment to the ideals of democracy through programs that educate, engage, and unite us as a nation."

That might seem a departure from the “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order Trump signed last year. It sought to beat back a “revisionist movement” responsible for “replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”

Stein, now serving a one-year term as president of the Organization of American Historians, is helping organize “We Want More History,” a push to coordinate local events celebrating the public's love for the subject in fact-based ways.

He said Trump's version of history is "closer to propaganda, and it’s closer to cheerleading.”

World Cup gives Trump another platform to play host

The president has similarly taken his exceeding-normal-limits approach to the soccer tournament the U.S. is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada.

He created a federal World Cup task force, and leads it. He collected a peace prize from soccer's governing body, FIFA, and said he'd be on stage to present the tournament's golden trophy to the winning team.

Trump even oversaw the tournament's draw at the Kennedy Center, which he's sought to rename for himself, sparking legal challenges.

He returned to the same building to headline December's Kennedy Center Honors, noting, “We never had a president hosting the awards before." He later posted on social media, "Would you like me to leave the Presidency in order to make ‘hosting’ a full time job?”

Naftali noted, “Whatever filters there were in the first term — and there weren’t many — are gone."

“It’s undiluted Donald Trump."

Answer: Your situation is pretty common. Most couples I know develop a division of labor over time, where one person is in charge of financial matters and the other person is less involved. That’s definitely the case for my husband and me. He’s in charge of paying all the monthly bills and preparing our tax returns, but the financial planning and investment decisions are up to me. This type of arrangement might work well for a long time, but can become less sustainable with age, particularly if the “finance person” in the relationship dies or develops a major health issue.

Online tools and mind maps

Illustrating your financial situation with charts and graphs is a great idea that might help your spouse become a little more involved. Morningstar’s  Portfolio X-Ray  tool includes a variety of images that help illustrate your financial situation. Websites for most major brokerage firms also include some visual tools. Schwab, for example, offers a Portfolio Checkup and a bar graph illustrating your account’s monthly income from dividends and interest income. Vanguard has a Portfolio Watch tool and a variety of performance illustrations, tools, and calculators.

A  mind map, which we used with clients when I worked for a financial advisory firm, can be another way to picture your entire financial situation on one page. There are various  softwaretemplates  for drawing a mind map, or you can simply sketch it out with a large sheet of paper and a pencil. Start with your names at the center of the page. Then draw spokes connecting to various categories, such as names of other family members; investment accounts; real estate and other assets, insurance policies, estate plans, key goals and values, and contact information for accountants, estate planners, and other professionals. It can be helpful to go through the mind map together and make any updates needed at least once a year.

Other ways to communicate about money

A few other ideas—though not related to charts and graphs—might also be useful.

I like the idea of putting together a  net worth statement  that itemizes cash, taxable accounts, real estate, retirement accounts, and debt for each member of the couple as well as items owned jointly. It’s a good idea to update this document at least once a year and  discuss it as a couple. If you set up the document as a spreadsheet, you can include columns with additional information such as account numbers, what each account is used for, which accounts are subject to required minimum distributions, or tax issues like potential capital gains.

Many couples also put together a  binder  (sometimes humorously called a “Doomsday Book”) that contains information about where to find important paperwork, insurance policies, how bills are paid, what each account is for, steps the surviving spouse will need to take, final wishes, and any other critical information.

A well-qualified financial adviser can bridge the information gap

Finally, you could consider working with a good  financial adviser,  who can help involve your spouse in financial matters while you’re still living and step in to fully manage investments and personal finance decisions if you pass away before your spouse. Make sure the adviser holds the Certified Financial Planner designation and charges fees that are reasonable. Although a 1% fee is still the industry standard for accounts of $1 million or less, it’s possible to find advisers who charge significantly less, including a few who price their services based on hours worked instead of a percentage of assets under management.

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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.

Amy C. Arnott, CFA, is a portfolio strategist for Morningstar and co-host of The Long View podcast.

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The 27-nation bloc unveiled a “tech sovereignty” package on Wednesday with measures to promote homegrown European alternatives to Big Tech services and hardware.

The efforts by Brussels have gained urgency as leaders worry about dependence on technologies from foreign providers, which they say could be “weaponized” against Europeans. Those fears crystallized after the International Criminal Court's top prosecutor was sanctioned by the Trump administration, which led to Microsoft canceling his email account, sparking fears of a “kill switch” hidden in U.S. tech services.

“Europe wants to be in the position to make its own choices, avoiding risky dependencies on single dominant suppliers, one company or one third country,” European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, who oversees tech sovereignty, told reporters in Brussels.

“Because we live in a world where geopolitics and technology go hand in hand. Those who champion technological innovation will shape the future, and we must ensure that Europe plays a leading role in this.”

A cornerstone of the package is a sequel to the EU's 2023 Chips Act to further boost local production of semiconductors by cutting red tape for chip fabs and fostering a European chipmaking ecosystem.

Europe's vulnerability to the global chip supply chain centered in East Asia was highlighted last year in a power struggle at the Chinese-owned, Netherlands-based chipmaker Nexperia.

Another key part of the package is supporting local cloud and AI development, with plans to triple Europe's data center capacity by over the next five to seven years. The EU is pushing to expand data centers to keep up with the AI boom, which is driving demand for cloud computing services.

The proposals from the EU's executive arm still need to be debated by the EU's two other main institutions, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

The department says these recent crashes serve as a reminder that traffic safety is everyone’s responsibility.

As summer arrives and more residents spend time outdoors, the department has had emerging traffic safety concerns throughout the township, police said.

Police want to remind residents that “behind every crash is a victim, a family, friends, and a community.”

What police are doing and what you need to know

Neighborhood Cut-Through Traffic

Police say residents continue to report an increase in cut-through traffic as map services direct drivers through neighborhoods to avoid congestion on major streets.

Police cannot restrict use of residential roads, but going forward are now targeting speeding, stop sign violations, distracted driving, and reckless driving.

E-Bikes and Electric Scooters

Police report an increase in complaints involving e-bikes and electric scooters being operated on sidewalks, pathways, and other pedestrian areas.

Although these devices provide recreation and transportation, operators must properly share spaces with walkers, runners, families with strollers, and seniors.

Excessive speed, weaving through pedestrians, and failing to yield create situations that can lead to serious injuries.

The department asks parents and riders to know the laws for these devices, respect others using public spaces, and drive them safely and responsibly.

Partnerships and next steps

The Bloomfield Township Police Department is deploying additional patrol officers and increasing traffic enforcement in both residential neighborhoods and major travel areas.

Officers will conduct enforcement and educational contacts regarding unsafe bicycle and scooter operations.

The department has partnered with our law enforcement colleagues throughout the Woodward Corridor.

Police will focus on prevention.

The department says every traffic stop and enforcement action is an opportunity to educate, prevent a crash, an injury, or a life lost.

“What would your mom—or a loved one—say if they saw you driving like that?” said Chief Gallagher.

Police ask you slow down, put the phone away and follow the rules of the road.

The township wants to aims to increase safety through awareness, education, and enforcement.

Under the proposal released in Washington late Tuesday, 16 economies — including Canada, Mexico, the European Union, Taiwan and the United Kingdom — would face 10% levies for allegedly failing to enforce bans on forced labor. Dozens of others — including China, Japan, India, South Korea and Switzerland — would be hit with 12.5% import taxes.

The tariffs are part of President Donald Trump's effort to replace revenue lost when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down sweeping global tariffs he'd imposed last year. This latest barrage is likely to unsettle key trading partners that have been hit been hit with waves of tariffs since Trump returned to the White House early last year.

“The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable," U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. "This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field.''

He added that "each of our trading partners must do more to ensure that trade does not perversely encourage and entrench forced labor globally.”

Greer's office said failure to prevent such imports is "unreasonable and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce."

Trump's tariffs are paid by U.S. importers who usually try to pass along those higher costs to customers.

The administration, mindful that Americans are growing increasingly unsettled by high prices with midterm elections just for months away, said that it would limit the impact by exempting from the latest proposed tariffs a long list of products, including aircraft parts, food products (from coffee to beef) and rare earth minerals crucial in the production of smartphones and cars.

The new tariffs would not take effect immediately. They are subject to public comment and review. Public hearings on the proposed duties are due to begin on July 7.

The plan drew immediate pushback. A Chinese government spokesperson denied the forced labor allegation and called for resolving economic issues through dialogue, saying a trade war doesn’t serve anyone’s interests.

“There is no such thing as forced labor in China, and we oppose using it as an excuse to engage in political manipulation,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing.

The new maneuver shows how determined the Trump administration is about building a wall of tariffs around the American economy, the world’s largest, despite repeated setbacks in court.

In February, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had overstepped his authority by invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose double-digit tariffs on almost every country on Earth last year. The justices struck down the tariffs and set the stage for companies who paid them to seek refunds.

After the loss in court, Trump turned to another law to impose temporary 10% tariffs globally. But those stopgap levies expire July 24. And a specialized trade court ruled last month that they, too, were illegal – though the government can continue collecting them while that case works its way through the courts.

Trump’s tariffs have provided tens of billions of dollars in revenue for a federal government that persistently spends more than it collects in taxes. He had been counting on the IEEPA tariffs to make up for some of the revenue lost to his massive 2025 tax cuts.

But tariff collections have begun to fall since the legal defeats. They peaked at more than $31 billion last October but were down to $22 billion in both March and April of this year, according to the Treasury Department.

Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have vowed to replace the lost revenue. And they’ve turned to a legal authority that has withstood legal challenges in the past: Section 301 of Trade Act of 1974, which authorizes tariffs and other sanctions against countries found to engage in “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” trade practices. Trump used Section 301 to impose big tariffs on China in his first term.

"What's somewhat brilliant about this way of approaching 301 is that politically it's very hard to argue that you shouldn't go after forced labor and force countries to enforce forced labor laws on the books,'' said trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official.

And Majerus expects to the new tariffs to be ready by the time the temporary ones expire next month. “The USTR is under enormous pressure to make sure there's no gap (in tariff revenue), probably from the White House,'' he said. ”I'm confident, based on the schedule they're on now, that they will have these done and ready to implement.'' He noted that the investigation on forced labor is "working at about two times the normal speed'' of typical 301 cases.

The administration is also pursuing a Section 301 case into whether 16 U.S. trading partners (accounting for 70% of U.S. imports) — including China, the EU and Japan — are overproducing goods, driving down prices and putting U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage.

And on Monday the administration proposed 25% Section 301 tariffs on Brazil, charging that the world's 10th-biggest economy with "unreasonable'' trade practices including lax anti-corruption enforcement and unfair tariffs of its own.

Tuesday's report defined forced labor as “work or service exacted from a person under the menace of any penalty for its nonperformance and for which the worker does not offer himself voluntarily.”

It cited an estimate by the UN’s International Labor Organization that as of 2021, 27.6 million people were engaged in forced labor.

Rice imported from Myanmar, tobacco from Malawi, beef from Brazil, and cotton and polysilicon from China were among the many products it said are prone to involving forced labor.

The U.S. has long said imports of goods that include material from China’s far-western Xinjiang are at risk of using forced labor. Beijing denies allegations of forced labor in the Muslim majority region.

In its nearly 100-page report on forced labor, the USTR said that even if a country enforces a ban on forced labor domestically, importing goods made with forced labor violates the rules of fair trade.

But critics saw the proposed tariffs as a pretext to reinstate global tariffs that hadn't passed legal muster. “Accusing EU of not doing enough against forced labour is absurd,'' Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, posted on social media. "The EU has adopted the world’s most stringent rules against products made with forced labour. This looks very much like trying to make the facts fit a legal justification for tariffs that has already been decided.''

___

Elaine Kurtenbach reported from Bangkok.

Democrats chose a nominee for a House race in New Jersey that could decide control of the chamber. But much of the focus was on California, home to Hollywood but not a governor's race packing much star power.

Here are takeaways from primary elections Tuesday in California, Iowa, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota.

Iowa Democrats rally behind former Paralympian in marquee Senate race

Democrats stunned by how Trump has remade American politics have spent the past decade debating which type of candidate is best positioned to energize voters and win elections, not moral victories.

Iowa marked the latest stop in this sometimes agonizing conversation.

The party’s establishment supported Josh Turek, a state representative who presented a compelling personal biography that included competing for the United States in four Paralympics. State Sen. Zach Wahls offered himself as a more disruptive figure, refusing to back Chuck Schumer of New York as the Senate Democratic leader if he were elected.

Democratic voters united behind Turek, who will face Republican Ashley Hinson in November.

At this point, many of the party’s most fractious races are behind them. But Turek's win could be closely watched in Michigan, where one of the last major Democratic primaries will unfold on Aug. 4. Rep. Haley Stevens is emerging as the establishment candidate there vying against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and progressive Abdul El-Sayed.

Both races are important for Democrats increasingly bullish about regaining the Senate majority. To get there, they must retain the open seat in Michigan while looking for pickup opportunities in places such as Iowa.

The results in the fall could have longer-term implications as Democrats look to rebuild their standing in the Midwest, which swung to the Republican president in 2024.

Trump's endorsement streak faces setback in Iowa

In just the past month, the power of Trump’s endorsement helped end the political careers of two senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

But Trump was unable to lift Rep. Randy Feenstra to victory in Iowa’s Republican primary for governor. Even though Trump jumped in with his backing last week, Feenstra narrowly lost to Zach Lahn.

The outcome was a rare setback for Trump, who basks in his ability to sway the vote among Republicans with his endorsement. It now sets up what Democrats see as one of their best opportunities to pick up a governorship this year.

Democrats nominated Rob Sand, who ran unopposed in the primary. He has the rural roots that have become rare among Democrats and is a proven winner in a Republican-leaning state, having been elected twice as auditor.

Lahn was not well known in Iowa politics when he launched his campaign in November, but he built support among conservatives. He championed policies including a total ban on abortion and keeping liberal ideology out of public school classrooms.

Lahn also developed a following with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, which has clashed with the Trump administration over its embrace of pesticides.

The California drama drags on

The Los Angeles mayor's race was jolted by the candidacy of Spencer Pratt, who starred on the reality television show “The Hills.” The Republican has been trying to capitalize on dissatisfaction with Democrat Karen Bass, who is seeking a second term.

Bass secured enough votes to make the November runoff, but it was unclear who her opponent will be. Also running is Nithya Raman, a progressive members of the City Council.

The race for California governor has been especially chaotic.

With Democrat Gavin Newsom barred from seeking a third term, about 60 names were on the ballot to succeed him. Some of the state’s most prominent politicians, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla, did not run. One who did, former Rep. Eric Swalwell, withdrew after being accused of sexual assault, which he denied.

Under the state’s primary system, all candidates appear on a single ballot and the top two finishers advance to the November general election, regardless of party.

In the final days of the campaign, much of the attention focused on Democrats Xavier Becerra, a former congressman and state attorney general who was health secretary under Democratic President Joe Biden, and Tom Steyer, a billionaire known for his climate activism. Republican Steve Hilton campaigned with Trump’s endorsement.

The three were leading in early returns after polls closed.

If Becerra were to advance to one of the two slots on the fall ballot, he presents a natural choice for voters more comfortable with a traditional candidate. Steyer and Hilton have both presented themselves as advocating significant changes.

California has been governed by establishment-oriented Democrats for two decades. The primary results will indicate the level of change being sought in a state confronting serious challenges ranging from affordability to crime and will signal whether the $200 million Steyer put into the race from his own money turned out to be a good investment.

Independents emerge in Senate races in Republican strongholds

If Democrats hope to compete in Senate contests in Republican strongholds this fall, they may have to abandon their party’s nominees and rally around independents.

That’s one of the takeaways after voters on Tuesday finalized general election matchups in Montana and South Dakota, where little-known Democrats earned their party’s nominations. In both states, however, higher-profile independent candidates also qualified for the general election ballot.

It’s much the same in Idaho and Nebraska, which held Senate primaries last month. Democratic leaders in Nebraska are openly endorsing independent Dan Osborne over their party’s nominee, who has promised to drop out to make it easier for Osborne to win.

In Montana, independent Seth Bodnar, a former University of Montana president, looks like the strongest opponent to Republican Kurt Alme — on paper, at least. Bodnar raised more money than all of the five Democratic primary candidates combined. He has even significantly outraised Trump-backed Alme.

In South Dakota, Sen. Mike Rounds cruised to the Republican nomination on Tuesday. He will face Democrat Julian Beaudion, a former highway patrol trooper and small business owner. But it’s a former Democrat now running as an independent, military veteran Brian Bengs, who some Democrats believe may be the tougher challenger.

The Democrats shift toward independents reflects the party’s toxic brand in Republican strongholds.

Absent congressman gets a Democratic challenger

Democrats nominated Rebecca Bennett to take on Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, which stretches from the New York City suburbs to the Pennsylvania border.

The seat is critical for Republicans as they defend a narrow majority in Congress. The race was always going to be one of the most competitive on a map that has been increasingly gerrymandered to protect both parties. But it’s under particularly close scrutiny because of Kean’s extended and unexplained medical absence.

He's missed more than 100 votes since casting his last one on March 5.

Bennett, a former Navy pilot, was among the Democrats in the primary who made the absence and the lack of clarity surrounding it an issue, arguing Kean wasn’t around to protect money for a new rail tunnel connecting New Jersey and New York City. That line of criticism will likely only grow heading into the general election.

Trump reiterated his endorsement of Kean on Monday. The congressman released a statement Tuesday saying he is “focused on my recovery" and would return to “in person work within a matter of weeks.”

New Mexico could make history in governor's race

The stage is set for Deb Haaland to make history this fall after Biden's interior secretary secured the Democratic nomination for governor in New Mexico.

Haaland was the first Native American to serve as in the Cabinet. This fall, she could become the first Native American woman in U.S. history to be elected governor.

She defeated Albuquerque-based District Attorney Sam Bregman, the father of Chicago Cubs All-Star Alex Bregman, in a Democratic primary campaign that emphasized her ancestral roots in addition to lowering costs and her governing experience.

Haaland will face Republican Greggory Hull in the general election.

___

Peoples and Lodhi reported from New York. Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa contributed to this report.

Police were pelted with chairs, cans, rocks and flares on Tuesday by some of the hundreds of people who attended a protest in the English southern coastal city of Southampton, where Henry Nowak was killed in December. Two people were arrested and 11 officers and a police dog were injured, police said.

Nowak's death has triggered debates about policing and knife crime and has spurred claims by far-right activists and politicians that there is bias against white people in the justice system.

Nowak’s killer, Vickrum Digwa, who is Sikh, falsely claimed he was the victim of a racist assault by 18-year-old Nowak, who was white. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded man as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday that the case had left “serious questions to answer, including how accusations of racism informed police thinking." But he called the street violence “disgraceful and completely unacceptable.”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Nowak's family had "made a powerful call to us all yesterday to not let Henry’s death be used to create further division, hatred or tension.

“There can be no justification for hijacking this tragedy to stir up violence and disorder. Those responsible can expect to face the full force of the law,” she said.

Digwa, 23, was convicted of murder and sentenced Monday to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years. The judge said he didn’t believe Nowak had said anything racist to his attacker.

After the sentencing, police released video showing officers dismissing Nowak when he told them he had been stabbed and repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which investigates allegations of police wrongdoing, is probing the actions of the officers from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. The National Police Chiefs’ Council said it will review its anti-racism guidance in the wake of the killing.

After the sentencing hearing, the victim’s father, Mark Nowak, said the case was not about racism or religion, and that he wanted his son’s death to lead to safer streets and not to be used to create “further division, hatred or tension.”

But Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, said on Tuesday that it was an example of so-called two-tier policing — a popular far-right talking point that claims ethnic minorities are better treated than white people.

Farage urged people to respond to the incident with “pure cold rage,” and said, “white lives matter just as much as Black lives.” X owner Elon Musk and British far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, have also expressed outrage at the crime.

Starmer said Farage's “appeal for rage” was “unforgivable.”

“I don’t believe there’s two-tier policing in this country," he said Wednesday in the House of Commons. “I’m really shocked that he pretends to have respect for Henry’s family and then acts in this way.”

In the wake of the killing, some politicians have called for Sikhs to be banned from carrying ceremonial knives, known as kirpans. The judge said Digwa had a small kirpan but also had an 8-inch (21-centimeter) sheathed Sikh dagger that was used as the weapon to kill Nowak.

Hampshire Police chief constable Alexis Boon said he understood the “desire for answers and accountability.”

“But that must be done in the right way and not used as an excuse to threaten and intimidate my officers and bring violence to our streets, causing fear and harm to those living and working in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight,” he said.

Kalshi, the online prediction marketplace, referred Santos to the Department of Justice after detecting suspicious trades made by him ahead of Trump’s Feb. 24 speech, the person said. The person spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Kalshi also reported the trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal regulatory body that has vowed to crack down on insider trading in prediction marketplaces.

The Justice Department and the CFTC didn't immediately respond Tuesday to inquiries from the AP.

Santos also did not respond to text messages or phone calls.

The referral was first reported by NPR. Santos told NPR that he wasn't aware of the investigation. He declined to say whether he had a Kalshi account.

“I’m not saying yes, I’m not saying no,” Santos told NPR.

The convicted ex-congressman had repeatedly discussed his intention to attend the State of the Union, which came just four months after he was granted clemency by Trump in a fraud case that led to his expulsion from the U.S. House.

On the eve of Trump's speech, Kalshi put the odds of Santos attending at close to 75%.

Then, minutes into the speech, Santos posted on X that he had been waylaid at the airport. Immediately, several social media users accused him of running another scheme.

“Santos talking to his accountant and telling him to open his Kalshi account and bet all his money on No,” one user wrote, alongside a meme of Al Pacino counting money in the movie Scarface.

In March, Santos addressed the complaints on his podcast.

“I guess people lost money,” he said. “Some people made unexpected money. That’s to show you how fragile these markets are.”

Santos, who won office as a Republican after inventing a bogus persona as a Wall Street dealmaker, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft in 2024.

After serving just 84 days, he was ordered released by Trump, who called Santos a “rogue” but said he didn’t deserve a harsh sentence and should get credit for voting Republican.

Prediction markets, including Kalshi and its chief rival Polymarket, have drawn scrutiny as their businesses have expanded — with some lawmakers urging the platforms to do more to guard against insider trading.

Both companies have said they are reporting suspicious trades to federal regulators. Some investigations have led to criminal charges. In April a soldier involved in the military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was charged with using classified information to win more than $400,000 predicting the date of his capture on Polymarket.

In April, the Senate approved a bipartisan resolution to prevent its own members from using prediction markets.

___

The story has been updated to correct in the first sentence that Santos is a former congressman, not a current one.

The narrow upset Tuesday revealed cracks in Trump's coalition in the deep-red state, encouraging Democrats who are hopeful they can flip control of the governor's office this year. It also marked a potential breakthrough moment for the Make America Healthy Again movement, which has clashed with the Trump administration over its embrace of pesticides and backed Lahn's message in favor of regenerative farming and against large agricultural corporations.

“I will take on the big ag cartels. I will break up their monopolies, and I will get Iowa farmers a fair deal," Lahn said in his victory speech late Tuesday.

Members of the MAHA movement, a diverse coalition of supporters of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with priorities ranging from ending vaccine mandates to promoting healthy soil and organic food, cheered the win as a sign their political message was resonating with voters.

“This election is a signal that pro-pesticide does not mean pro-farmer,” said Tony Lyons, the president of the Kennedy-aligned MAHA PAC, which endorsed Lahn. “Zach Lahn made transitioning away from toxic chemicals the cornerstone of his campaign and won this election decisively with strong farmer support.”

Lahn, little known before his run, carved out a MAHA fandom

Lahn, a farmer and former conservative political director, was relatively unknown in Iowa until he launched his campaign in November. During his campaign, he championed policies that appealed to Iowa's conservative grassroots supporters, like a total ban on abortion and keeping liberal ideology out of school classrooms.

Lahn, who owns an investment company and lives on a farm in eastern Iowa that had been in his family for a century, capitalized on activists’ skepticism toward Feenstra, criticizing him for not showing up to debate his primary opponents and spending limited time on the campaign trail.

But Lahn also carved out a niche in the MAHA movement, vocally rebuking the consolidation of farmland in the hands of corporate owners and acknowledging health concerns involving farms and poor water quality.

Iowa, an agricultural stronghold, has a powerful farm lobby that has opposed mandatory rules about curbing chemicals in water. But dangerously polluted drinking water has become an increasingly urgent issue as runoff from farmland has caused surging nitrate levels that have required expensive filtration in Des Moines, the state's capital city.

Lahn said in a debate in May that water treatment system upgrades were a “Band-Aid.” He said his goal as governor would be to “decrease the nitrate load in the water in the future so we have less stress on that system.”

In recent months, activists in the MAHA movement loudly backed Lahn as they grew increasingly impatient with the Trump administration and its Environmental Protection Agency for actions they view as antithetical to making America healthier.

Earlier this year, they revolted after Trump issued an executive order aimed at boosting the production of a controversial herbicide ingredient known as glyphosate. They also organized a protest at the Supreme Court in April to protest glyphosate producer Monsanto's Trump-backed effort to shield itself from lawsuits.

Lahn has opposed liability shields for pesticide companies. He leaned into campaign points tied to those issues during his primary victory speech Tuesday night.

“Iowa has the fastest growing cancer rate in the world,” Lahn said. “We all know something is terribly wrong. But too many politicians from Washington, D.C., to Des Moines have had their heads stuck in the sand while big ag and big pharma printed money. This will not go on when I’m governor.”

Those positions helped Lahn gain endorsements from MAHA PAC and the late Charlie Kirk's conservative political organization Turning Point Action. Figures from both groups reacted to Lahn's victory by celebrating it as their own.

“MAHA has done its job proving it’s politically radioactive to stand with chemicals over children,” Turning Point USA podcaster Alex Clark said on social media. “Iowa knows pesticides are causing cancer which is exploding in their state. Tonight they opted for change.”

Kelly Ryerson, a Florida-based activist whose social media account Glyphosate Girl focuses on nontoxic food systems, said she wants midterm candidates in other states to take note.

“Decreasing pesticides and improving food quality are common ground issues that drive votes,” she said.

A setback for Trump after repeated victories

Trump had stayed quiet on Iowa's gubernatorial race until last week, when he praised Feenstra as “MAGA all the way” and said he would “fight tirelessly” for the state on issues including the economy, border security and support of law enforcement.

The power of the president's endorsement had been proven earlier in the primary season, when it helped defeat two senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

Some political observers had viewed Massie's loss as a stumbling block for the MAHA movement. The Republican congressman had helped lead a bipartisan effort to get liability protections for chemical companies out of a recent farm bill, in line with activists' concerns.

But Feenstra's loss marked a win for MAHA and a setback for the president. It also creates an opening Democrats are sure to try to seize.

State Auditor Rob Sand, the lone Democrat currently holding statewide office, is the party’s nominee for governor. Unopposed in the primary, Sand has been able to hone his moderate message, remind voters of his rural upbringing and amass an $18 million campaign fund.

Feenstra conceded his race to Lahn on Tuesday, signaling he was open to joining forces for the good of the party. He said he called Lahn to tell him to “carry the torch.” Lahn, looking ahead to November in his victory speech, indicated he'd campaign against Sand with a traditional conservative talking point.

“Rob Sand wants you to believe he’s a moderate,” he said. "We’ve seen this movie before.”

___

Swenson reported from New York.

The new agreement with Express Waste Services will begin on July 1, immediately following the expiration of the city’s contract with Priority Waste on June 30.

“The City heard the concerns expressed by residents regarding waste collection services and took those concerns seriously,” said Mayor Kip Walby in a news release on Tuesday. “The review process was designed to ensure that St. Clair Shores receives dependable service at a competitive cost while maintaining the level of service our community expects.”

Residents in communities across Metro Detroit say they have repeatedly expressed concerns over delayed or missed trash pickups by PW.

At the city council meeting on Monday, St. Clair Shores City Manager Dustin Lent told members the company has repeatedly promised improvements, but failed to deliver.

“This is our largest service contract, and it literally has been a nightmare for the last two years,” Council Member Chris Vitale said during the meeting.

Complaints have also surfaced in Dearborn Heights, where residents say trash and yard waste pickup has been inconsistent and running late, sometimes after dark.

“They’ve been running really late. I’ve seen them out after dark. Way late. We’re running a day behind on our yard waste,” said Ann Marie Jones, a Dearborn Heights resident.

Another resident, Richard Garza, said his trash and yard waste were scheduled for Thursday pickup, but as of Tuesday, it was still sitting curbside.

“And I had that out at 6 o’clock. And here it is Tuesday, it still hasn’t been picked up,” Garza said.

In response, the City of Dearborn Heights posted on its Facebook page that Mayor Mo Baydoun is putting Priority Waste “on notice.”

The city said Baydoun sent a formal letter demanding a $13,000 deduction from the company’s May invoice for every missed or delayed collection.

Responding to Local 4’s questions about ongoing complaints, Priority Waste issued a statement saying the company takes “full responsibility” anytime it fails to deliver the level of service expected by residents.

“Addressing these issues is management’s top priority,” the statement read. “Like many companies in capital-intensive industries, Priority Waste faced financial and operational headwinds that impacted its ability to consistently deliver the level of service our customers expect. The company is now under new ownership and new leadership, with the resources and focus to address these challenges head-on.”

The company also said it is “actively investing in fleet upgrades, route reliability, and faster response times to improve day-to-day service and deliver solutions to impacted service areas.”

City officials in St. Clair Shores say the decision to move away from PM follows a comprehensive review process by an ad hoc committee — consisting of Mayor Pro Tem Ron Frederick and Council Members Candice Rusie and Chris Vitale — to identify a provider capable of delivering consistent, reliable and cost-effective service to the city’s more than 28,000 households and businesses.

Residents can expect uninterrupted waste collection service during the transition to the new provider.

Hardest hit would be Asian economies that depend on crude oil, fuel and natural gas from the Persian Gulf, supplies that have been largely choked off by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the risk of Iranian attack. And poorer countries where people spend more of their incomes on fuel and food would also be severely affected, the OECD said.

But the consequences of sharply higher energy prices and inflation would be felt around the world. Global growth would slump to levels not seen except for major setbacks like the COVID-19 pandemic and the global financial crisis and recession of the late 2000s. Under the OECD's prolonged disruption scenario, global growth slows from 3.4% last year to 2.1% this year and 1.8% in 2027, potentially pushing some economies into or close to recession.

Under a different OECD scenario for a time-limited disruption, in which energy production and shipments from the Gulf start to return to pre-war levels in the middle of this year, growth would slow to 2.8% this year and rebound to 3.1% next year.

“The global economy entered 2026 with robust momentum, but the outlook has weakened significantly since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, with effects likely to be felt for some time," OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said. “The longer the disruptions last, the larger the economic and social costs become.”

Cormann warned that government spending aimed at relieving energy costs needed to be aimed at those most in need and temporary, to avoid running up excess government debt and preserving incentives to save energy.

Despite repeated outbreaks of violence, a declared ceasefire in the war between the US and Iran remains officially in place. The ongoing risk to shipping however means that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has dwindled to a trickle, down more than 90% compared to before the war. That has disrupted about a fifth of the world's supplies of crude oil and fuel products as well as of natural gas.

The OECD report follows a UN study warning that higher energy prices will impact almost billion people in poorer countries and small island states that depend on imported fuel, forcing tradeoffs between covering energy bills and investing in essential public services. More than 30% of people in those countries already live below the extreme poverty line, defined as living on $3 or less a day.

The OECD is an international intergovernmental organization and policy forum of 38 democracies with market-based economies, headquartered in Paris.

His name and face became synonymous with the 1959 revolution led by his brother, Fidel Castro. Decades after the triumphant revolution, Fidel Castro stepped down, and Raúl Castro served as Cuba's president for 12 years.

He formally retired from politics in April 2021 but still serves as general of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces, has a seat in the National Assembly and is considered to play a central role in rising tensions with the U.S., which recently indicted him.

Here’s a look at the life of a man known as the “hero of the Republic of Cuba.”

Raúl Castro became involved in politics early

Castro was born on June 3, 1931, in the village of Birán in eastern Cuba. He was the fourth of seven children; his mother was Cuban and his father Spanish.

As a child, he attended school in Santiago de Cuba but later moved to Havana, where he began studying law at the university and became deeply involved in student politics, opposing the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

By 1953, he was part of a group that attacked military barracks in Santiago de Cuba as part of a failed effort to overthrow Batista. He was charged, jailed and later released, fleeing to Mexico, where he joined the guerrilla group that would soon unseat Batista.

After a victorious revolution in 1959, Castro was appointed minister of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces and oversaw battles in Africa and Latin America that rankled some U.S. Republicans.

Many Cubans, including María Cristina Barrio Ramos, a 62-year-old teacher who lives in Havana, praised him for his actions.

“He gave us everything so that we could be free,” she said. “We owe our freedom and dignity to him.”

In October 1965, Raúl Castro became the second secretary of the Central Committee of Cuba's Communist Party. At the time, Fidel Castro lauded him in a speech.

“It is a privilege for me that, in addition to being an extraordinary revolutionary figure, he is a brother,” Castro said as his sibling stood up and smiled as the crowd around him applauded.

Fidel Castro was known for praising his brother: “Everyone who gets to know him and become close to him realizes his humanism, his great character, and his feelings; they are surprised by the image of Raúl as belligerent, aggressive and harsh, when they see the feelings of friendship, affection, and love he is capable of having for people. And he has been a great mentor and a great educator.”

Castro rises to power after brother’s health worsens

In 2006, Fidel Castro’s health began to decline, and Raúl Castro was temporarily handed power in late July of that year until Cuba’s National Assembly elected him as president in February 2008.

In the years that followed, Castro proved himself to be more liberal than his brother, allowing private enterprises to operate in Cuba while former U.S. President Barack Obama lifted restrictions on remittances and family travel, and allowed U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba under certain conditions.

By 2015, the U.S. and Cuba restored diplomatic relations and reopened embassies. A year later, Obama traveled to Cuba to meet with Castro. That same year, commercial flights between the two countries restarted.

During a historic 2016 press conference in Havana, Castro famously tried to raise Obama's left arm, whose hand went limp in an image that went viral.

Under Castro, Cuba also entered negotiations with Russia’s government in June 2014 that led to the cancellation of 90% of a multibillion-dollar debt dating from the time of the Soviet Union.

In 2018, Raúl Castro left the presidency in the hands of Miguel Díaz-Canel, marking the first time in decades that a person without “Castro” as their last name took control of the government.

In April 2021, Castro announced he would not seek another political position. Since then, he has made only sporadic public appearances.

Castro retires but remains a high-profile figure

Ever since officially retiring from politics, Raúl Castro has appeared in public only sporadically, but he is believed to still wield power behind the scenes even as he leads a discreet life.

His grandson and bodyguard, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean summit earlier this year. Since then, Cuban and U.S. officials have confirmed talks, but tensions between the two countries remain high.

Raúl Castro was last seen at a May 1 rally that drew tens of thousands of Cubans. He was dressed, as usual, in olive green military garb and stood at the side of Díaz-Canel. Behind him was Castro's grandson.

Almost three weeks later, the U.S. government indicted Raúl Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles over Cuban waters. He faces charges including murder and destruction of an airplane.

While the government and its supporters have condemned the indictment, Raúl Castro has remained mum.

As his birthday approached, social media was flooded with the hashtag #RaúlesRaúl, a political figure who has long been adverse to birthdays, monuments and statues, just like his brother.

The Cuban Embassy in the U.S. noted on X: “Not many people have the privilege, the health, the stoicism — and if you like, you can also add: that quintessentially Cuban stubbornness — to reach the age of 95.”

Meanwhile, Cuba's Communist Party posted several videos Tuesday on X of Cubans praising Castro.

“To talk about Cuba, you have to talk about Raúl,” said Digna Guerra, director of the island’s national choir. “He represents Cuban identity, he represents the Cuban people, he represents the revolution, which for us has immense significance. … Thank you for existing.”

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Associated Press videographer Ariel Fernández contributed.

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

Macomb County high school cancels prom last minute after tip about possible gun threat

A Macomb County high school canceled its prom Tuesday evening after school officials received information about a potential safety threat involving a possible firearm, district leaders said.

In a message sent to parents and guardians on June 2, Clintondale High School Interim Superintendent Kevin Knoblock and Principal Dr. Daniel Berry announced the cancellation, saying the decision was made in consultation with law enforcement and school administrators.

“A short while ago, we received information regarding a potential safety concern,” the statement said. “After reviewing the situation in consultation with law enforcement and other Clintondale administrators, we made the difficult decision to cancel the event in order to ensure the safety of all students and guests.”

Read more here.

Feds charge ex-Detroit People Mover director, contractor in phony invoice scheme

Federal investigators say a former Detroit Transportation Corporation procurement director and the owner of a restoration company conspired to defraud the corporation that operates the downtown People Mover.

They’re accused of being paid for work that wasn’t done.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in a case unsealed Tuesday, June 2, 2026, charges Michael Norman Anderson, 55, and Terrence Parker, 51, with conspiracy and Federal Program Theft or Bribery.

The FBI and Detroit Police Department began investigating whether Anderson, “using his official position,” and Parker defrauded the DTC through “creating, submitting, and receiving payment on invoices for work not performed.”

Read more here.

Michigan opens voting for 2026 ‘I Voted’ sticker contest through June 30

Michiganders can now vote online through June 30 to help choose the final designs for the state’s official “I Voted” sticker for the November 2026 general election.

More than 2,000 designs were submitted for the contest, four times the number of entries received in the inaugural 2024 competition.

The contest includes three divisions: elementary and middle school students in grades K-8, high school students in grades 9-12, and a general category open to Michigan residents of all ages.

Three winning designs will be selected from each category.

Read more here.

‘He was a shining light’: Livonia stabbing victim’s mother shares message of love after son’s death

A Detroit man is dead after a backpack theft turned into a fatal stabbing in Livonia, and his family is now speaking out, not with anger, but with love.

Nicholos “Nick” Hatcher, 34, was killed on Thursday (May 29) after confronting two men who allegedly stole his backpack near BioLife Plasma Services on Plymouth Road.

When Hatcher tracked them down, one suspect allegedly stabbed him in the chest with a pocketknife near Middlebelt Road and Orangelawn Street. He died at the scene.

Read more here.

Weather: Warmer Wednesday across Metro Detroit before weekend rain returns

Metro Detroit is set for a warm Wednesday as dry weather remains in place through Thursday.

Temperatures will continue to run above average, with plenty of sunshine and comfortable conditions making for an excellent stretch of outdoor weather. Grab your sunglasses as we will have an abundant sunshine. Highs will top out in the low 80s. Winds will remain light, becoming southeasterly during the afternoon.

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He's been known in the United States for centuries as the English ruler who lost the American colonies. You might remember him as the maniacal monarch from the Broadway musical or the subject of the 1990s play and film, “ The Madness of King George.” Americans of a certain age would recall him as the tyrant who taxed them without consent in the song, “ No More Kings."

Except the runup to the Revolutionary War didn't happen quite that way — a point worth noting in this age of disinformation, misinformation and “alternative facts.” In George's time, Parliament approved laws and taxes, as it does now. And that list of 27 complaints against the king in the Declaration of Independence? Mostly “wartime propaganda,” according to British historian Andrew Roberts, who says all but two crumble under scrutiny.

Historians now generally agree: George was not mentally ill during the Revolution.

“Truth became the first casualty of the American War of Independence, as it is in most wars," Roberts wrote in his 2021 biography, “The Last King of America.” “The American Revolution is a testament not to George III's tyranny, which was fictitious, but to Americans' yearning for autonomy.”

America's backstory, as told by the Founders, is up for review

The American origin story is rooted in the notion that George III was its vanquished villain, an irrational tyrant who oppressed the American colonists. Scholars began pushing back against that narrative before the United States' bicentennial, with the Prince of Wales writing a spicy rebuttal in 1972.

“If the average schoolchild remembers anything about history after leaving school, he will remember that George III was mad,” that prince, now King Charles III, wrote in the foreword to a biography on his five-times great grandfather. “If he is American as well then madness is often given as a reason for the 'irrational' behavior of the King toward the Colonists, making it necessary for them to declare independence."

Perhaps, he closed, "Americans will soon come to see the true George III without bias and traditionally held opinions."

George inherited the throne from his grandfather in 1760, at age 22, and with it an empire that stretched from England into North America and to Asia. He saw himself not merely as England's ruler but the father of his subjects — duty-bound to be their role model. In family and British life, he emphasized order, integrity and an Enlightenment-era curiosity about art, books and the natural world.

George was, like every British king since, a constitutional monarch — meaning that he had influence and selected the prime minister, but Cabinet members and the House of Commons passed laws and budgets. George's job was to assent to the policies passed by Parliament. So it can be argued that he went along with what the colonists saw as Britain's oppressive and coercive policies, such as the Stamp Act of 1765, the first direct tax on the colonies.

The future founders condemned the move and popularized the war cry, “No taxation without representation.” As Britain saw it, the members of Parliament represented the colonies. The colonists argued that they were represented by their elected colonial assemblies, which already taxed them. After they imposed damaging boycotts on British goods, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766 — but followed that same day with an act saying the British Parliament could legislate for the colonies.

In the decade that followed, relations soured. Not helping was Parliament's passage of the Tea Act in 1773, to which revolutionaries responded by dumping tea into Boston Harbor. That shocked George, who the next year approved Parliament's acts designed to rein in Massachusetts' ability to govern itself.

The Continental Congress met and petitioned the king, as “your majesty’s faithful subjects,” for relief. George stood with Parliament.

In April 1775, the “shot heard ’round the world” rang out from a clash between militiamen and British troops in Lexington and Concord, launching what Brits widely call the American War of Independence — the Revolutionary War.

George III’s archives went public in 2015 — and fueled a shift on “the king’s malady”

Queen Elizabeth II released the uncatalogued Georgian Papers, 280,000 from the period held at Windsor Castle, and later put them online as part of a five-year project to digitize the records. What emerged was a detailed reappraisal of a monarch who kept charts, lists, letters, speeches and notes — including dates and the time of his writings — tracking a long list of administrivia: crop yields, botany, land management, household stores and expenses and closely tracked the politics in Parliament.

But the 2015 archives released something else: more detail on medical notes, including doctors orders, treatment reports, observations by others of George's behavior during his illnesses. Those raised questions on the cause of what historians had called “the king's malady.”

The long-accepted theory that George suffered from porphyria, a physiological metabolic disorder, was wrong, Roberts wrote in 2021. His analysis of 100,000 Georgian documents and 21st-century medical research pointed to bipolar affective disorder Type 1 — defined in part by at least one severe manic episode. George had been known to suffer extended bouts of mania after 1788.

As America turns 250, George's story is told differently — even in America

Dig into the American Revolution in 2026 and you won't find much, if any, suggestion that George was "mad" during the war years. If anything, the story during the semiquincentennial casts George as more of a whole person than the tyrant depicted in the ad hominem complaints peppered throughout the Declaration of Independence.

The Library of Congress' exhibit is titled, “The Two Georges,” the king and George Washington, “Parallel lives in an age of Revolution.”

And the first gallery in the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia is begins 15 years before the Revolution, when Americans had great affection for George III and showed it by posting royal symbols on items ranging from drinking vessels to fire backs and a royal coat of arms that probably hung in the city's courthouse.

“We make the point that he was literally called ‘the king of liberty’ in popular culture, said R. Scott Stephenson, the museum's president and CEO. "This was not a despot in anyone's minds.”

Charles name-drops George III during his speech to Congress

On April 29, Elizabeth's son, King Charles III, twice name-dropped George III from the rostrum at the heart of American democracy. First, he endorsed the “Tale of Two Georges” theme, noting that George III was his five-times great grandfather.

“King George never set foot in America,” he said lightheartedly, “and, please rest assured, I am not here as part of some cunning rear-guard action.”

None of the modern-day patriots in his audience — elected members of Congress whose forebears rejected the rule of George III — batted an eye or booed.

That night, Charles invoked his ancestry by name again at a White House state dinner in a further celebration of America's 250th birthday. “As the direct descendant of King George III,” Charles said, “I know this is a nation that never gives up.”

That's true of some Americans and the narratives they prefer, according to Roberts. Asked whether his findings took hold in the American psyche, he responded by email: “Nothing will dislodge the Americans from their desire to see GIII as an evil dictator.”

Boosting The Never Forget Fund's latest appeal, announced Wednesday, is Mike Bloomberg. The former New York City mayor, who has rallied hundreds of millions of dollars toward the 9/11 Memorial and Museum as its chair, pledged to match the next $25 million in donations through his Bloomberg Philanthropies. Organizers already secured the first $25 million through unspecified initial gifts.

Officials count about 97 million memorial visitors and nearly 28 million museum attendees since they opened in 2014 at the site where hijacked jetliners destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers in lower Manhattan. But recent years have seen a budget crisis following pandemic closures and interest from the Trump administration in taking control of the site.

Beth Hillman, the organization's president and CEO, says they need a permanent funding source to reach the roughly 100 million Americans born after the attacks. The goal is to frame the aftermath as one that inspired selfless acts of service and provide basic facts through new on-site exhibits and classroom materials.

“The ongoing importance of remembering 9/11 is to remind people that they can come together even in the face of incredible loss,” Hillman told the Associated Press.

The legacy of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people remains hotly contested. Younger generations have only ever known the existence of airport screenings, immigration enforcement officers and other security measures pursued afterwards by the U.S. government. Many engage with the events through popular memes of the photograph showing then-President George W. Bush learning about the developments. Conspiracy theories abound about what government officials knew in their leadup.

Also debated is the notion of unity advanced by the memorial and museum. The Sept. 11 attacks fueled 20 years of war abroad that grew increasingly unpopular as the death toll rose. Young American Muslims growing up under their shadow have faced hostility, mistrust and suspicion.

As the 25th anniversary approaches this September, Hillman sees a “compelling story of service, of hope, of resilience, of coming together” for the people who didn't live through that period. Those stories will be told in an exhibit called “In Their Honor." Celebrity chef Bobby Flay, she noted, was among the many chefs who prepared meals for first responders in the months following the attacks. Theater workers brought their lights to power the blacked-out area around ground zero. Victims' family members started social services organizations such as 9/11 Day to inspire volunteering in memory of their lost relatives. They also want to inform more people of the first responders who developed chronic illnesses and still face barriers to care.

The funds raised by the 9/11 Memorial and Museum will ensure free museum access continues for students, first responders and veterans, according to Hillman, who said “we don't want the price to be a barrier to them.” Standard adult admission currently costs $36. The nonprofit's website notes that it “relies primarily on ticket sales to help fund its operational costs.”

The organization plans to reach more educators with the funds. As teachers enter the workforce without lived experiences of Sept. 11, Hillman said they want to help prepare lesson plans. The nonprofit runs summer teachers' institutes, offers professional development programs and remakes a 30-minute film each year with firsthand stories.

Hillman acknowledged a greater “degree of distraction and confusion” today than in the past when it comes to efforts to memorialize recent historical events. She sees a need to give “simple representations of what happened." The March/April issue of The National Council for the Social Studies' magazine, which was guest edited by 9/11 Memorial and Museum staff, features a timeline of the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

"9/11 is heavy and compelling and full of inspiring stories,” Hillman said. "But also, just a trusted set of what happened on that day, of materials that can convey the basics of it — that’s the beginning of people learning and starting to understand, too.”

Alex Edgar, a Gen Z civic leader who is working with a group called Made By Us to amplify youth voices ahead of the United States' 250th birthday, sees value in emphasizing the power of service. His peers, he said, have “never really seen a country that has worked” or one that “really lived up to the promise of America.” He finds that narratives about overcoming division to accomplish shared goals serve as an antidote to the political polarization frequently experienced by young people.

But he emphasized that those narratives must permeate classroom walls and museum doors.

“They invite young people to consider what’s preventing us from using any of the issues of our time as a rallying cry for folks to come together across backgrounds to build the type of country, the communities, that we want to live in,” he said.

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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.

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Mt. Pleasant police and firefighters were called to the residential area upon receiving reports of a bear climbing a tree above a white picket fence near Fancher and Mosher streets, just north of the university.

DNR personnel teamed up with emergency responders and other city workers to isolate and tranquilize the 150-pound bear before tagging the animal and transporting it to the Houghton Lake area roughly 60 miles away.

“Sometimes bears wander in and out of developed areas, but this one was so far inside the city limits that we thought it best to intervene and take the bear out of this situation in a safe manner,” said Mark Boersen, a DNR wildlife biologist who participated in the effort. “Eventually, he would come down out of the tree, probably at night, but removal is the safest situation for people and their pets and the bear. Everything worked out well.”

A crowd of residents watched from a safe distance while the bear was tranquilized with a dart rifle and removed from the tree by using a thick pole vault pad borrowed from Mt. Pleasant High School to catch its fall.

Once removed from the tree, biologists conducted a medical check of the bear and determined that it was healthy and unharmed.

The bear’s capture comes just three weeks after DNR officials confirmed another sighting in the Downriver area of Metro Detroit.

“In a general sense, you may encounter a bear anywhere in the Lower Peninsula,” Boersen said. “Obviously they’re less likely as you go south. But people in the Lower Peninsula should not assume that they would never have a bear come in their yard.”

As bears enter the breeding season, Boerson said bear sightings can become more likely as they cover long distances to find a mate and new sources of food. However, the vast majority of Michigan’s more than 12,000 bears live in the Upper Peninsula and norther Lower Peninsula.

Sanmu Chen tried to tie the red thread to a street signpost in Causeway Bay, a busy shopping district, close to a park that for decades hosted an annual candlelight vigil on June 4 to mourn the victims of the crackdown that ended student-led protests in Beijing in 1989.

Hong Kong was for decades the only place in China where a large-scale public commemoration of the crackdown was held. But those once-massive annual vigils were banned in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and public acts to mark the Tiananmen Square killings have become increasingly sensitive in the city in recent years.

Chen said his thread was 6.4 meters long, an apparent reference to the June 4 crackdown date.

Police officers stopped and searched Chen's bag before letting him go free. When asked by a reporter about his gesture with the red thread after his release, Chen said it was meant to express condolences to those who died.

“It's abnormal when people monitor you when you are saying or doing something,” he told reporters.

Chen had been detained at least twice on Jun. 3 in recent years. In 2024, he was briefly detained by police after he appeared to write the Chinese characters of “eight nine six four” — a set of numbers referencing the date of the crackdown — with his hand in the air.

Police also detained Chen on the same day in 2023 around the same area, where he chanted “Hong Kongers, do not be afraid. Don’t forget tomorrow is June 4.”

As night fell, another artist, Chan Mei-tung, stood outside a nearby department store holding up a question-mark-shaped balloon. Police officers also stopped her quickly and escorted her back to the subway station.

Under then-leader Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese military was sent to Beijing's Tiananmen Square to end weeks of student-led protests on the night of June 3-4, 1989. Soldiers fired live rounds and hundreds and possibly thousands of people were killed, including dozens of soldiers.

Annual vigils in Hong Kong's Victoria Park used to attract tens of thousands of people each year until the event was banned in 2020 during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

That was the same year Beijing imposed a national security law in the city following massive anti-government protests in 2019. Since then authorities have increasingly silenced dissent. Many leading activists were arrested and some vocal media outlets shut down. Dozens of civil society groups disbanded, including the one that organized the vigils.

Three former vigil organizers were charged in 2021 with inciting subversion under the national security law. Two of the former organizers went on trial and are waiting a verdict, possibly in July. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Their co-defendant entered a guilty plea, which can typically result in a sentence reduction.

The Hong Kong and Beijing governments said the security law is crucial for the city’s stability. Hong Kong authorities said the law clearly stipulates that human rights shall be respected and protected in safeguarding national security.

After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the former vigil site was occupied instead by a carnival organized by pro-China groups. Some people who tried to commemorate the event near the site on Jun. 4, the crackdown’s anniversary, were detained.

The five-day carnival began Wednesday. The muted expressions in Hong Kong underlined the decline in civil liberties promised by Beijing when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

As public commemoration faded in Hong Kong, overseas communities were carrying the torch to keep memories alive by hosting vigils and rallies in places like London and Canada.

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Associated Press video journalist Alice Fung contributed to the report.

The New York company raised its outlook Wednesday and shares rose more than 3% before the opening bell.

“We're off to a strong start to the year, ” said CEO Tony Spring, who is in the third year of an attempted turnaround of the storied retailer. “We're operating with discipline and focusing on what matters most — our customers.”

Comparable sales — sales at established online channels and stores— rose 3% during the first quarter. That was higher than the 1.8% gain during the final quarter of 2025 and it was the strongest first quarter for such sales in four years, the retailer said. Macy's stores posted a comparable sales increase of 1.6%, while the company's Bloomingdale's stores delivered a 10.2% increase, its highest first-quarter sales volume on record. Bluemercury, the cosmetics chain also owned by Macy's had a 6.4% comparable sales gain.

It’s the latest encouraging sign for Macy’s, which had been mired in a yearslong sales slump. Under Spring, who took over the top job in early 2024, Macy’s has closed unprofitable stores and spent millions modernize others. The company has beefed up customer service. It’s also been trying to differentiate its luxury business from its rivals with exclusive merchandise.

Some of the outsized performance at Bloomingdales has been attributed by retail analysts to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Saks Global, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.

Still, Macy’s is contending with the same challenges faced by its the retailer sector as a whole.

U.S. retailers have spent months navigating an uncertain economic environment, from President Donald Trump’s tariffs to the impact of soaring gasoline prices due to the Iran war. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline has been above $4 per gallon since March, according to according to AAA. A gallon costs 40% more than than it did before the war. The latest batch of earnings reports from major retailers underscore how shoppers are under increasing financial strain as they try to factor in higher prices for gasoline, groceries, utilities and almost everything else.

Spring told The Associated Press in a phone call Wednesday that the company is closely monitoring events given the uncertainty about the U.S. economy, but there's been no noticeable pullback in customer spending since gas prices started rising.

He reasons that Macy's improved assortment and perceived value are landing with customers. There have been strong sales in prom dresses, men's shoes, dresses and fragrances. Spring, however, noted disappointing furniture sales with shoppers continuing to put off purchases of big ticket items.

“Despite the choiceful consumer, despite all the things that are going on that we read about every day in terms of the geopolitical, macroeconomic environment, fashion and newness and the consumer’s desire to indulge is still happening,” Spring told The AP. “And we’re very pleased that we are taking share.”

Spring said that higher income shoppers continue to spend freely, boosted by gains in the stock market, while the middle income shopper has remained more selective. He said the lower income customers continue to struggle but are focusing on Macy's designated areas for heavily discounted merchandise.

Macy’s reported net income of $63 million, or 23 cents per share, in the quarter ended May 2. Adjusted earnings per share was 13 cents, a dime better than Wall Street had expected, according to FactSet.

That compares with a $38 million profit, or 13 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Net sales rose to $4.68 billion from $4.6 billion in the year-ago period. Revenue this quarter also edged out projections on Wall Street.

The company now expects annual net sales of between $21.5 billion and $21.75 billion, up from previous guidance of $21.4 billion to $21.65 billion in March. Macy’s upped its projections for comparable sales, saying on Wednesday that they will likely increase between 0.5% and 1.2%. The company in March predicted a decline of 0.5% to a gain of 0.5%.

It also now anticipates earnings per share for the year to be in the range of $2 to $2.20, up from its previous guidance of $1.90 to $2.10 per share.

For the full fiscal year, analysts were expecting $2.09 per share on revenue of $21.6 billion, according to FactSet analysts.

On the standard cover, Williams is depicted in a body position similar to his pivotal, scrambling, fourth-and-8 jump pass to Rome Odunze in a stirring comeback victory over Green Bay in a wild card playoff game on Jan. 10.

With his arm cocked to throw and his feet spread, Williams appears to soar above a silhouette of the Chicago skyline that is set against a blue backdrop.

The deluxe edition features a tight shot of Williams with arms crossed over his white game jersey, a dark, night-like background and snow falling around him.

Being featured on the game's cover is “like my childhood dream was coming true,” Williams said. “I grew up playing Madden and imagining what it would be like to be part of the game."

Williams and the 2025 Bears became synonymous with late-game theatrics last season, staging more than a handful of comeback victories to go with some dramatic comeback bids that came up just short — including their season-ending playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

In 17 regular-season games, Williams passed for a franchise-record 3,942 yards with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions in his second season since being drafted first overall out of Southern California.

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

But even as the U.S. president acknowledged the tensions, he insisted that his relationship with Netanyahu was solid and they connected, in part, because they're both “wartime” leaders.

“We’ve worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I work very well with him,” Trump told The New York Post’s “Pod Force One.”

The president's acknowledgement of the tense call with Netanyahu that involved expletives is a sign of the growing pressure he faces to resolve the Iran war, as higher energy prices and economic uncertainty are harming Republicans going into midterm elections and hampering global commerce.

But Trump remained noncommittal about a timeline for settling the conflict, saying the Strait of Hormuz might stay blocked through the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 7. He has insisted that Iran stop any efforts that could lead to a nuclear weapon and that the strait be reopened for the shipments of oil and natural gas.

“I don’t know. I mean, I think it could be (closed through Labor Day), but I think it’s unlikely. I think that we’ll have it. I think this will resolve itself fairly quickly,” Trump said.

The U.S. president added that Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his late father, is “involved” in peace talks for ending the war.

“They have a lot of respect for him,” Trump said in the interview with “Pod Force One.”

Trump said that Khamenei is not doing well due to injuries sustained in an airstrike, but “they say he’s giving approval because that’s the way it has been for a long, long time." Khamenei's father was killed as part of airstrikes when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran at the end of March.

Still, the path toward a durable ceasefire remained unclear as hostilities continued in Lebanon.

An Israeli strike Wednesday hit a car on a busy highway just south of Beirut, hours before the second day of talks between Lebanon and Israel in Washington are set to take place.

The strike in Khaldeh came without warning, and it was not immediately clear if the person targeted was killed. Israel usually says it targets members of the Hezbollah militant group in these drone strikes.

Israel and Lebanon on Monday reached a U.S.-brokered agreement where Israel would not strike Beirut's southern suburbs and Hezbollah would end its attacks on northern Israel. The agreement was made hours after Israel announced that it was going to launch strikes across the sprawling urban neighborhoods near the Lebanese capital in what would have been the most intense strikes since a nominal ceasefire went into effect on April 17.

The State Department said progress was made during the first day of talks on Tuesday. Lebanon hopes to widen the scope of the ceasefire so it becomes comprehensive across the country. Israel wants to disarm Hezbollah immediately before it ends its operations in Lebanon and withdraws its troops from dozens of villages and towns.

Not long after the strike on Khaldeh, the Israeli military said it intercepted what it called a hostile aircraft coming from southern Lebanon, but did not immediately blame Hezbollah. Hezbollah has not claimed a cross-border attack since the agreement.

Israeli military warning rattles coastal city

Israeli strikes over southern Lebanon continued, especially in and around the battered cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh. Overnight, two strikes near Tyre killed four Syrians and two Palestinians.

Israel overnight warned the Christian neighborhoods in the coastal city of Tyre that Hezbollah members are among them. Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fled to those areas in recent days because they were spared from the aerial bombardment along the Mediterranean coast.

After the warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the Christian district of Tyre in an effort to prevent Israeli attacks there and to show that Hezbollah has no armed presence in the area.

Israel launched an invasion of southern Lebanon days after the latest war was sparked on March 2 when Iran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets towards northern Israel in solidarity with Iran. Israeli troops have pushed deeper into Lebanon over the past week, as Hezbollah continues to claim rocket and drone attacks.

The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,468 people in Lebanon and displaced 1.2 million people. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, at least 27 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.

Among the 27 killed was a soldier in southern Lebanon, whose death was announced late Monday by Israel’s military. It added that seven more soldiers were wounded in the incident, three of them severely.

Hezbollah’s use of hard-to-detect fiber-optic drones has been deadly for the Israeli military, which is struggling to respond.

___

Boak reported from Washington.

A victory by Lee's Democratic Party had been widely expected because its main rival, the conservative People Power Party, remains in disarray after President Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office and sentenced to life in prison over his martial law debacle in late 2024.

The joint exit polls by South Korea’s three major TV stations — KBS, MBC and SBS — showed the Democratic Party was forecast to win at least 11 of the 16 mayoral and provincial gubernatorial posts up for grabs in Wednesday's elections. The polls suggested the PPP had a clear lead in only one race, while the other four races were too close to call.

“The conservatives’ support base has been fractured and weakened in the wake of Yoon’s impeachment, while the liberals’ support base has grown stronger," said Jeong Han-Wool, director of the Korean People Research Institute. “A win by the ruling party would help provide the Lee government with a considerably stable political foundation."

Election win would give Lee a further boost

Thursday will mark one year in office for Lee, who won a snap election triggered after Yoon's ouster. Lee's approval ratings still hover over 60%. He's been credited with what he calls “pragmatic diplomacy” that eased concerns that his rule would hurt ties with the U.S. and Japan. His popularity has also been attributed to a booming stock market and efforts to be more transparent about his decision-making procedures.

Whatever the outcome of Wednesday’s election, Lee’s foreign policy agenda will likely remain unchanged. The Democratic Party would also maintain its majority status at parliament, though 14 new members of the 300-member National Assembly will be chosen in by-elections on Wednesday.

With more allies at mayoral and gubernatorial posts, Lee could pursue his regional policies more easily and effectively, given 14 of the 16 regional leadership posts are currently held by the PPP, said Choi Jin, director of the Seoul-based Institute of Presidential Leadership.

That will help his party's preparations for the 2028 parliamentary elections, Choi said.

Much attention is focused on Seoul’s mayoral race

The Seoul mayoral election is considered the most important one. Without winning it, experts said the Democratic Party couldn't claim an outright victory in overall elections, no matter how many races it won.

The race pits the Democratic Party’s Chong Won-o, a former Seoul district head who rose after Lee publicly praised his governance last October, against current mayor and political heavyweight Oh Se-hoon with the PPP.

The exit polls showed Chong running ahead of Oh by 5.4 percentage points.

On Tuesday, Oh accused Chong of relying on “the president’s coattails,” while Chong slammed Oh over what he called the mayor’s incompetent and irresponsible governance style.

Election results are crucial for the conservative opposition

The PPP is still struggling with internal feuding between reformists who joined the Democratic Party-led push to impeach Yoon and his loyalists who attempted to protect the embattled leader.

Among the candidates running for the parliamentary by-elections is Han Dong-hoon, leader of the reformist faction who was eventually expelled from the PPP. Pre-election surveys show Han, now an independent, holding a slim lead over the Democratic Party’s Ha Jung-woo, a former Lee adviser on artificial intelligence, in a race in Busan, the country’s second biggest city.

Jeong, the institute director, said that a Han victory could help anti-Yoon reformists regroup and emerge as a new force among the struggling conservatives in South Korea. But Choi said Han’s win could worsen a divide in the conservatives because Yoon loyalists would feel a sense of crisis and close ranks further.

About 65% of U.S. adults believe same-sex marriage should be legal, down slightly from 71% in 2022 and 2023.

Most of the change is due to dropping acceptance among Republicans. In the new survey, which was conducted in May, only 37% of Republicans say same-sex marriage should be legally valid, while 35% say gay and lesbian relations are “morally acceptable.”

The views of Democrats and independents are largely stable in the findings released Wednesday, with most in both groups saying same-sex marriage should be legal and that gay or lesbian relations are moral.

The widening partisan divide is also reflected in policy around LGBTQ+ issues across the U.S., particularly regarding transgender people, and a rising push in some states to ban same-sex marriage.

Recent shifts have been subtle and partisan

The downtick in support for same-sex marriage, while slight, is still striking because of how dramatically American views on the issue have shifted over the past few decades.

According to Gallup’s trend data, only 27% of U.S. adults supported legal same-sex marriage in 1996. Since then, support for same-sex marriage rose steadily until a few years ago, when it peaked with around 7 in 10 U.S. adults saying same-sex marriage should be legal.

Opinion about the morality of same-sex relationships followed the same pattern. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults said same-sex relations were morally acceptable in 2001. That increased nearly 30 percentage points over the next two decades.

Over the past few years, Gallup's data has shown signs of a shift in the other direction. In addition to the slight decline on same-sex marriage, the new poll also found that 62% of U.S. adults view gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable, down from 71% in 2022.

Same-sex marriage remains recognized nationwide

Same-sex marriage has been recognized nationally since a 2015 Supreme Court ruling. That case capped a 12-year run in which court rulings and state laws recognized it in most states.

By last year, there were more than 800,000 married same-sex couples, according to data compiled by the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law.

The pushback has never stopped, though. A call to overturn the 2015 reached the Supreme Court last year, invoking the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, who has called for undoing it. The court turned away the appeal without comment.

Last year, the Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly called for reversing the ruling that led to nationwide marriage recognition and imposing a ban.

Lawmakers in at least 11 states introduced legislation for their current or most recent sessions calling on a ban on same-sex marriage, according to an Associated Press analysis of bills compiled by the legislation tracking service Plural. Most didn't pick up momentum. But the Tennessee House passed a measure to allow private citizens and organizations not to recognize the unions; Idaho's House passed a resolution calling on the Supreme Court to undo the 2015 decision.

A similar number of states have had measures aimed at protecting same-sex marriage introduced recently.

Acceptance of transgender people is also down

In a sign that views of LGBTQ+ issues may be shifting more broadly, the new Gallup poll found that about 4 in 10 Americans view changing one’s gender as morally acceptable, down from nearly half in 2021.

The rights of transgender people have been a hot-button political issue this decade.

Most Republican-controlled states have adopted laws in the last five years to bar gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors, restrict which school bathrooms transgender people may use and bar transgender girls and women from some sports competitions.

Trump has signed executive orders seeking some of the same policies on a federal level.

This week, one of those policies suffered a blow when a court ruled that the military illegally banned transgender troops.

___

The Gallup poll, conducted May 1-17, was based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,001 U.S. adults. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

All three have been included in their national team squads for the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, but others have not been so fortunate.

France striker Hugo Ekitike sustained an Achilles injury in April that could take more than six months to heal, ruling him out of the World Cup and probably the start of next season with Liverpool.

Brazil stars Rodrygo and Éder Militão are out. So is Bayern Munich and Germany forward Serge Gnabry after injuring his adductor in training.

Messi caused the biggest scare after the Argentina great left the field injured while playing for Inter Miami last month. He has been included in coach Lionel Scaloni's squad as defending champion Argentina aims to retain its trophy, but it is still not known whether he has fully recovered from what was described as muscle fatigue.

Yamal, Spain's new superstar, missed the final weeks of the season for Barcelona because of a hamstring injury that made him fear he would miss out on his first World Cup.

“I remember the play in which I got injured,” he said. “I was praying inside for it not to be serious, for it to be a cramp or something like that, because I knew the World Cup was very close.”

Players and coaches have increasingly warned about the impact of an ever-packed schedule, and the expanded World Cup comes a year after the relaunched, supersized Club World Cup. The Champions League has also been expanded in recent years.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta describes the demand on players as “an accident waiting to happen."

Players definitely ruled out of the World Cup

Argentina: Joaquín Panichelli (ACL)

Brazil: Éder Militão (hamstring), Rodrygo (ACL)

England: Ben White (medial ligament)

France: Hugo Ekitike (Achilles)

Germany: Serge Gnabry (adductor)

Netherlands: Xavi Simons (ACL)

United States: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Achilles), Patrick Agyemang (Achilles), Johnny Cardoso (ankle)

Scotland: Billy Gilmour (knee)

Spain: Fermin Lopez (foot)

Ones to watch

Argentina: How soon Messi will be involved is not known. Cristian Romero sustained a knee injury at the end of the season, but has been included in Argentina's squad.

Canada: Star left back Alphonso Davies injured his hamstring and it is not certain he will recover in time for his team's opening game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Croatia: Veteran midfielder Luka Modrić broke his cheekbone in April. He was back playing for AC Milan well in time for the World Cup, but was wearing a protective face mask. Defender Joško Gvardiol returned to training for Manchester City in early May after four months out with a broken leg, but is going to the World Cup.

United States: Gio Reyna made just four league starts this season for Borussia Mönchengladbach, and none since Dec. 19. “He can help because he’s a different player, different talent, and I think in all the roster you need to have a player like him,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said.

___

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

___

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

Tesla’s best-selling EV gets a round of updates for 2026 that include revised styling, a smoother ride and a more upscale cabin. But Toyota’s all-electric SUV shouldn’t be counted out. It has been thoroughly overhauled for 2026, and the result is a much more compelling proposition than the outgoing model. Edmunds’ experts put these two electric SUVs head-to-head to find out which one deserves a spot in your driveway.

Range and charging

Formerly known as the bZ4X, Toyota’s first all-electric SUV has been so extensively revised that it now carries a new name. Pleasingly, range has improved considerably. The front-wheel-drive version of the 2026 bZ can go up to 314 miles on a single charge, according to EPA estimates. Edmunds has verified that in its own independent testing, with a test bZ covering 331 miles, an impressive result for a small electric SUV.

As with the bZ, different versions of the Model Y have varying range estimates. The longest comes from the Premium Rear-Wheel Drive, which can go an EPA-estimated 357 miles. Edmunds hasn’t range tested that Model Y version, but other tested Model Ys have matched their EPA estimates.

Edmunds also tested the bZ and Model Y for charging speeds at a public fast-charging station. Both SUVs yielded similar results and could potentially add up to about 100 miles of range in 15 minutes. The Model Y is a bit more convenient to charge at Tesla’s nationwide network of Supercharger stations, however.

Winner: Model Y

Driving experience and interior space

The Tesla Model Y remains one of the more engaging electric SUVs to drive. It accelerates quickly, has a smooth ride, and feels sporty and stable when going around corners. The cabin is well insulated from road and wind noise, and the front seats offer a wide range of adjustments for comfort during longer drives.

While the outgoing bZ4X felt sluggish, the bZ flips the script with brisk acceleration in both single- and dual-motor configurations. The front-wheel-drive bZ actually outpaced the base Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive in Edmunds’ 0-to-60 mph testing, while an all-wheel-drive bZ trailed just behind the Model Y All-Wheel Drive in the same test. The bZ also has a comfortable ride over bumps, but it doesn’t feel as composed as the Model Y when cornering.

Interior space is significantly better in the Model Y. It has more rear legroom, which allows adults to be more comfortable and provides extra space for installing bulky rear-facing child safety seats. The Model Y also has more cargo space and a few more useful spaces to store small items.

Winner: Model Y

Technology

Tesla’s infotainment system remains a highlight, with a clean interface and quick response. Dual wireless chargers add convenience, and Tesla’s advanced driver assistance features help set it apart. The Full Self-Driving (Supervised) feature is particularly notable for allowing for hands-free driving on both highways and city streets. However, the lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration may be a sticking point for some buyers.

Toyota counters with a new 14.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system that’s easy to use and supports wireless connectivity Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Dual wireless phone chargers are up front, and a total of four fast-charging USB-C ports are on board. Standard driver assistance features are comprehensive. The bZ also has a hands-free driving feature, but it only works at low speeds on the highway.

Winner: Model Y

Pricing and value

The base Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive starts at $41,630, including destination. However, it’s missing some features you’ll probably want in an EV. The Premium version of the Model Y is what you want because of its added power, slightly greater range and a more upscale interior. A Model Y Premium All-Wheel Drive costs $51,630.

The Toyota bZ starts at $36,495 and comes well equipped for the price, especially when you consider the improved performance and range now on offer. The top-line bZ Limited adds even more features and is comparable to the Model Y Premium. It costs $46,895 in its available all-wheel-drive configuration.

Winner: bZ

Edmunds says

The Toyota bZ’s improvements make it a far more appealing electric SUV than before, and its low starting price strengthens its appeal for value-focused buyers. That said, the Tesla Model Y continues to set the benchmark in this segment with its superior technology, performance and overall refinement. While Toyota has made meaningful progress, the Model Y remains the better choice.

_____

This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds. Bradley Iger is a contributor at Edmunds.

Security cameras have recorded at least three nighttime instances where groups of people entered or exited sewer tunnels via maintenance holes on streets in Brooklyn and Queens.

In one video, taken early Friday morning in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, a group of roughly seven people were recorded popping out of a maintenance hole in the middle of an intersection, in full view of passing cars.

Some wore headlamps and carried what appeared to be shovels and other tools. One narrowly missed getting run over by a vehicle as they pulled themselves out of the ground.

In another video, a group of about seven people could be seen emerging from a maintenance hole around 2 a.m. on a quiet street in Brooklyn's Gravesend neighborhood. They made their way to a couple of parked cars and pulled out fresh clothes to change into. Police say the group entered the sewers about 11 p.m., meaning they could have been underground for three hours.

On May 5, three people dressed in waterproof hip waders and other protective gear pried open a maintenance hole cover and descended into the sewer on a street in Queens. The last person pulled the cover shut as approaching cars slowed to a stop.

Aki Jakupovic, the owner of an auto detailing shop, said his shop’s surveillance cameras recorded that group of sewer spelunkers. He said he couldn’t venture a guess as to what the people did below ground but worried they were “up to no good.”

The city Department of Environmental Protection said it inspected the sewers at both Brooklyn locations and verified the sewer infrastructure wasn’t damaged. The incident in Queens is still under investigation, the agency said.

Rob Wolejsza, the department’s spokesperson, stressed that entering the sewers is not only illegal but “extremely dangerous.”

“Sewers can contain numerous hazards, including noxious and potentially deadly gases, unstable surfaces, flooding risks, and confined spaces,” Wolejsza said in a statement. “For these reasons, members of the public should never enter a pipe, drain, catch basin, manhole, or outfall.”

Last month, a woman fell into an open maintenance hole on a busy street in midtown Manhattan and died. Utility officials said the hole cover had been dislodged by a truck.

Police, meanwhile, said they don’t believe there’s any threat to public safety after conducting a thorough sweep of the areas. There have been no reports of injuries and no arrests, and the investigation is ongoing, the department said.

On Tuesday, at the busy intersection in Williamsburg where the second group was spotted, resident Anthony Purdie said he isn’t convinced it was simple curiosity that drew the group to explore the sewers in the cover of night.

“They look like they were looking for something important, like money, or for doing some type of hurting,” he said. “Ain’t no fun and games. I mean, seven grown adults going down there? Got to be something, man.”

___

Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

More than 2,000 designs were submitted for the contest, four times the number of entries received in the inaugural 2024 competition.

From those submissions, members of the Michigan Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force selected 30 semifinalists in each category.

Voting is open from June 1 through June 30.

Voters may select up to three favorite designs in each category.

The contest includes three divisions: elementary and middle school students in grades K-8, high school students in grades 9-12, and a general category open to Michigan residents of all ages.

Three winning designs will be selected from each category.

The winning stickers will be distributed to local election clerks statewide for use at polling locations during the November election.

Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. June 30.

Winners will be announced later this summer and will receive recognition from the Michigan Department of State.

Additional information about voting in Michigan is available by clicking here.

🍇 Grapevine

☀️ Good morning! On this day in 1956, Santa Cruz, California captured national attention when city officials announced a total ban on rock ‘n’ roll at public gatherings, calling the music “detrimental to both the health and morals of our youth and community.”

Here are a few things to know about for Wednesday, June 3, 2026:

☀️ 4Warn Weather: Metro Detroit is set for a warm Wednesday as dry weather remains in place through Thursday. Check out the 10 day forecast.

🚓 Police Chase Dash Cam: A trio of teenagers who were linked to five carjackings, three shootings, and a murder case fled police on a chase that included several crashes around Detroit, officials said. Watch here.

⌚ Fireworks Curfew: Detroit City Council members have set a public hearing for June 15 to further discuss the expanded curfew for minors proposed for the 2026 Ford Fireworks celebration later this month. Read more.

💥Stolen U-Haul Crash: A woman accused of fleeing from police in a stolen U-Haul truck last week before crashing it in the middle of a Macomb County intersection is facing multiple charges related to the incident. Read more.

🚧 Westbound I-96 Closures: A stretch of westbound I-96 is closing this weekend in Metro Detroit. The express and local lanes will have closures from I-94 to M-39/Southfield Freeway for the Hubbell bridge deck demolition. Read more.

🏊 Morning Dive

Good morning 🌅

Office of Recipient Rights Director Raymie Postema gave testimony to and was questioned by lawmakers about what’s been done to improve patient care after an audit last Fall found protections for patients to be “insufficient.”

The Investigators at Local 4 have exposed a series of problems at the Hawthorn facility in Northville Township starting back in 2022.

The Hawthorn Center is the state’s only psychiatric facility for children.

In 2022, we uncovered that an unannounced active shooter drill was held there without letting employees know that it was just a drill.

Many people, including staff and patients, believed there was a real gunman and several called 911 fearing for their lives.

Since then, the Hawthorn Center has closed, been torn down, and a new facility is being built in its place. In the meantime, the children have been moved to the Walter Reuther Hospital.

Get the full story.

🗞️ Other headlines to know today

• Woodhaven mayor says she feels ‘vindicated’ after investigation finds no intentional wrongdoing
• Macomb County man arraigned on 20 counts involving child sexual abuse activity
• Macomb County high school cancels prom last minute after tip about possible gun threat
• Metro Detroit residents frustrated by missed trash pickups as Priority Waste faces scrutiny
• Detroit artist files $25M lawsuit against FIFA, city of Dallas over covered whale mural
• Dearborn police using new cars to blend into traffic — here’s what they’re targeting
• Michigan opens voting for 2026 ‘I Voted’ sticker contest through June 30
• Detroit Zoo sends nearly 7,000 endangered toad tadpoles to be released into wild
• 3 childhood friends graduate Detroit’s Renaissance High School as co-valedictorians
• FBI: NIH scientists accused of smuggling monkeypox into US through Detroit Metro Airport
• Why summer is one of the hardest times to be a grieving child — and what a Northville nonprofit is doing about it
• Man hospitalized in Midtown shooting; Police search for suspect who fled scene
• Amazon Prime Day adds $5 Little Caesars Pizza deal for first-ever food promotion
• M1 concourse expands in Oakland County with new drag strip, off-road course
• Find more Local News headlines here
• Find more Entertainment headlines here
• Find more Health headlines here
• Check out the latest ClickOnDeals here
• Introducing the ClickOnDetroit Help Desk: How it works and how to use it

🌎 Meanwhile

News from around the world via the Associated Press:

As part of the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign to pressure Iran into a deal that would end an ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel, the U.S. placed sanctions on Iran’s largest digital asset exchange and three other exchanges, Tuesday.

Included in the sanctions are Iran’s largest digital assets firm Nobitex and its chairman and co-founder, Amir Hossein Rad. Treasury says Nobitex has processed more than 50% of all Iranian digital asset income last year and supports Iran’s vast sanctions evasion network.”

The sanctions come as a pair of semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported Tuesday that Iran stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the U.S. and Israel. (Read more)

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The British government said Tuesday that it’s sticking to its net-zero goal, despite pressure on energy supplies from global conflicts, and will reduce the United Kingdom’s planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions by 87% of 1990 levels in the next decade and a half.

The U.K. has a legally binding target, set in 2008, of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. By law, the government must legislate for emissions caps for future five-yearly budgets on a strict timetable.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said that the government will accept the advice of its independent Climate Change Committee of an 87% target for the next budget, covering the years 2038 to 2042. (Read more)

----

A fire swept through a building in a New Delhi neighborhood Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring several others, police said.

The building in the Malviya Nagar neighborhood in the southern part of the city had a restaurant on the ground floor and a hotel above. The predominantly residential area is densely populated and is popular with students and young professionals.

The blaze was extinguished with the help of eight fire engines, and more than 40 people were rescued and taken to nearby hospitals, Delhi police said in a statement. (Read more)

---> Find more headlines from around the world right here <---

📝 Word Up

Today’s Word Up is: Effulgent / əˈfo͝olj(ə)nt / (adjective) -- defined as “emanating joy or goodness; shining brightly; radiant.”

Example: “Her beauty was enhanced by her effulgent personality.”

🧹 Housekeeping

Hey, if you like this newsletter, let us know. We’d love your feedback. We also offer several other newsletters, including 4Warn Weather, All 4 Pets and more. Hopefully, we have one that caters to your interests — unless you’re only interested in Girl Scout cookies. We don’t have one for that, sorry.

✍🏽 Written and curated by: Jenny Sherman (Have something to say? Feel free to send an email here.)

The rare albino buffalo became a sensation when a farmer noticed that his blond tuft of hair resembled the distinctive locks of the U.S. president. After a video of the pale horned mammal went viral on social media, large numbers of people started showing up at the farm outside Dhaka to see him for themselves.

The animal was originally meant to be slaughtered for the Muslim festival of sacrifice. But citing security concerns, the government ordered him transferred to the zoo in the capital, where large crowds are now braving sweltering heat to see him.

On Tuesday, visitors pressed against the fence of the buffalo's enclosure, filming with their phones as some fathers hoisted small children on their shoulders for a better view.

A zoo worker pampered the animal, brushing his hair to one side and hosing him down with water to keep him cool as fans blew on him.

“There is a resemblance to Donald Trump in its eyes, hairstyle, and skin color,” said Mohammed Nasim, a student in Dhaka. “And just as Donald Trump has a distinctive personality and lifestyle, this buffalo, after going viral, is now living a similar kind of life, enjoying a lot of attention and special treatment.”

Local media reported that the exhibit initially included a sign that said “Donald Trump,” which has since been removed. The zoo curator was fired on Saturday, though no official cause was given for the dismissal.

Some clearly found the naming in poor taste.

“Giving a farm animal the name of one of the world’s most influential leaders was certainly the wrong thing to do," said Dhaka resident Mohammad Joynal Adedin, who visited the zoo to see the buffalo anyway. “It seems disrespectful. I think the farmer who did this made a poor decision.”

The buffalo was sold ahead of Eid al-Adha, the “Feast of Sacrifice.” When Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed ordered police to take it into custody, the authorities refunded the buyer.

"Since before Eid, I had been seeing posts on Facebook saying that ‘Donald Trump’ would be sacrificed. Later, I heard that instead of being sacrificed, it had been placed in a zoo,” said Mohammad Habibur Rahman, a visitor to the zoo from the southwestern Bangladeshi city of Jashore.

“So, I thought I would come to the zoo and see ‘Donald Trump’ for myself," he said.

The warming trend continues Thursday as highs climb into the mid-80s. Mostly sunny skies will dominate, although a southwest breeze will become a bit more noticeable by afternoon with occasional gusts approaching 20 mph. Thursday night stays mild with partly cloudy skies and overnight lows in the mid-60s.

Friday will be the warmest day of the week, with temperatures reaching the upper 80s under partly sunny skies. Humidity will also begin to increase ahead of rain chance. Some model data does hint at a few light morning showers, but the rain chances increase Friday night as showers become likely and more widespread after midnight. The unsettled pattern continues into the weekend.

Saturday is expected to bring widespread showers and the potential for thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours. Despite the rain, temperatures will remain warm with highs in the lower 80s. If you have outdoor plans, the best opportunities for dry weather will be through Friday afternoon. After that, keep an eye on the forecast as periods of rain and thunderstorms could impact activities throughout the weekend.

Forecast Highlights

• Today: Sunny, high near 82.
• Thursday: Mostly sunny, high near 86. Breezy at times.
• Friday: Partly sunny and warm, high near 87.
• Saturday: Showers likely with afternoon thunderstorms possible. High near 83.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it was ordering Google to give online publishers the option, in what it called a “world first.”

The watchdog is seeking to loosen the U.S. tech giant’s stranglehold on the U.K’s online search market by using new digital powers to force changes to the company’s business practices.

Under the decision, Google will have to give publishers “effective tools” to prevent their content from being used to power the company's generative artificial intelligence services and its AI search features like AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Google will also have to properly cite publisher content in AI-generated search resulted by using clear links, and let publishers opt out of having their content used to fine-tune AI models.

The watchdog said the decision will give publishers a stronger hand when negotiating content deals with Google. Publishers are defined as anyone who puts content on the web that's available to people in Britain.

The CMA's ruling was expected, because it had released draft proposals at the start of the year after using its new digital powers to label Google a “ strategic” player in online search advertising.

It previously found that news publishers had suffered a drop in traffic since Google rolled out its AI Overviews - summaries that appear at the top of some search queries - because fewer users are clicking through to the original articles.

The watchdog said its requirements will also apply to big changes that Google unveiled in May, which further embed AI in the company's search services.

Google is “engaging with regulators like the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to ensure website owners have the right tools as user preferences evolve," the company's general manager of search ecosystem, Mrinalini Loew, said in a blog post.

“Today, we’re beginning to test a new control that lets website owners manage how their links and content appear in generative AI Search features.”

CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said the measures will result in “fair treatment, greater transparency and meaningful choice for businesses and consumers” and will help tens of millions of British users “better understand and trust the information presented to them.”

One in 11 children will experience the loss of a parent or sibling before turning 18.

The camp, part of the Circles of Hope program, offers age-grouped activities such as horse therapy, songwriting, sports, art, and special “Hope Huddles” to help kids share their stories, learn coping strategies, and build connections with peers experiencing similar loss.

Summer can be a particularly challenging time for grieving children, as the school-based support systems many kids rely on are unavailable.

New Hope Center’s camp aims to fill that gap, giving children a safe, supportive environment to express themselves in healthy ways — even outside the school year.

Camp will be held July 23-24, 2026, at Hillside Middle School in Northville. Children ages 4-14 who are grieving the loss of a loved one are welcome to attend.

Registration is free and open through July 8, 2026.

You can register here.

New York's Jordan Clarkson and San Antonio's Dylan Harper — who'll face off in the Finals that start Wednesday — were both born in the U.S., but both have links to the Philippines through their mothers. And Clarkson raved about Harper, whose rookie year has been nothing but impressive.

“He’s been really good throughout the whole year,” Clarkson said. “I’ve been watching him, keeping up with him, as well. Him being so young and having so much poise throughout this whole playoffs, it’s a great sight to see a young star coming in this league and doing what he’s doing.”

The significance of this isn't lost on Harper either.

“I think me and him get to do something really special, representing our country, where we’re from, represent everything on the biggest stage in basketball,” Harper said. “I feel like over there in the Philippines, basketball is probably the biggest thing. I think we’re very excited for that and we’re just very blessed and grateful to be in this position.”

Not a lot of Finals history

Only six players on the Knicks and the Spurs have appeared in previous NBA Finals games.

San Antonio’s Harrison Barnes played in 13 for Golden State, Luke Kornet played in six for Boston and Kelly Olynyk played in five for Miami.

For New York, Mikal Bridges played in six for Phoenix, Dillon Jones played in three for Oklahoma City and Jordan Clarkson played in two for Cleveland. Another member of the Knicks — OG Anunoby — was with Toronto for its run to the 2019 NBA title, but did not play in any of those six games.

Combined, those six players with past Finals experience have scored 265 points in the title round.

Don't expect overtime. Or a lot of close games.

The last 44 NBA Finals games have all ended in regulation, the longest run without overtime in the title series in league history. There was a 34-game stretch without an overtime game from 1984 through 1990.

Of course, it's tough to have a shot at going to overtime when games aren't close down the stretch. Out of the last 81 Finals games, 50 have been decided by double figures.

The division champion stat

An annual reminder: Division championships mean nothing anymore ... until the NBA Finals.

If San Antonio wins the NBA title, it will mark the 14th time in the last 15 seasons that a division champion has wound up winning.

The only exception in that span was Golden State in 2022. Before that, the last team to not win their division but win the NBA title was Dallas in 2011.

The Knicks were second in the Atlantic Division behind Boston this year, so they're trying to buck this trend.

Welcome back, Mike Brown

It's been 19 years, but Mike Brown is back in the NBA Finals as a head coach. The New York coach took Cleveland to the title round in 2007 — getting swept by San Antonio that year.

Just by getting here this year, Brown joins an exclusive club of coaches to take multiple franchises to the NBA Finals.

Pat Riley (Los Angeles Lakers, New York, Miami) and Alex Hannum (St. Louis, Philadelphia, San Francisco) took three franchises to the Finals. Brown joins Rick Carlisle, Phil Jackson, Larry Brown, KC Jones, Bill Fitch, Gene Shue, Bill Sharman and Red Auerbach on the list of those to take two different franchises to the title round.

Wemby's amazing year

San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama has had a postseason like no one in league history, and his totals are only going to get more impressive.

So far in these playoffs, Wembanyama has 394 points, 183 rebounds, 100 made free throws, 60 blocked shots and 30 3-pointers.

That's just the playoffs. Only 19 players — him included, of course — had those totals over the entirety of this regular season. (No Spurs player has ever had a regular season with all those numbers, except Wembanyama.)

And since 3-pointers came into play, nobody in NBA history has ever done all that in the same postseason, until now.

If this goes 7 games ...

If this NBA Finals goes the seven-game distance, Spurs players Keldon Johnson and Julian Champagnie might tie an NBA record.

Or break it, depending on how you count.

Johnson and Champagnie both enter these NBA Finals with 100 games played so far this season. That's seven shy of the NBA record for games played in a season — shared by Charles Oakley and Tayshaun Prince.

They both played 107. But Johnson and Champagnie also played in the NBA Cup title game, which means they would have technically played in 108 games this season — though the league doesn't recognize the Cup final in any statistics.

Money matters

The Spurs and Knicks are playing for $5,157,417 in bonus money. That's the difference between winning and losing the NBA Finals out of the league's playoff pool, which topped $35 million this season.

The Spurs have already secured $6,594,508 out of that pool this season. The Knicks have clinched $6,438,024.

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

It’s fair to say the appointment of Thomas Tuchel was not universally well received.

“I’m sorry I have a German passport,” the serial-winning former Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich coach quipped at his official unveiling in 2024.

He had woken that morning to some unflattering headlines in the British media.

The Daily Mail described it as a “dark day for England” and said the national team had gambled on a “GERMAN.”

The leader of the right-wing Reform Party Nigel Farage asked on X: “Why can’t we have an English manager?”

Never mind that Tuchel was a Champions League winner who had lifted trophies in three different countries. Or the fact that England has gone down the foreign route before: a Swedish coach in Sven-Goran Eriksson and an Italian in Fabio Capello. And in the days before Tuchel’s appointment, there were rumors that Pep Guardiola was also a leading candidate.

Historic rivals

A point of contention was the fact that Germany has long-been England’s biggest soccer rival. Since winning the 1966 World Cup final against West Germany, England has often struggled against the Germans in major tournaments. Some England fans have brought 20th-century history to the rivalry with provocative chants taunting Germany about World War II.

Debate about Tuchel's nationality, however, dissipated quickly, helped by his easy-going charm when dealing with the media and a perfect winning record during England's World Cup qualifying campaign.

According to professor Jan Rüger, author of the upcoming book “Great Powers: A History of Britain and Germany,” the wider reaction to Tuchel's appointment points to a change in Anglo-German relations after the tensions that prevailed in the decades following two world wars.

“There were questions, but it certainly hasn’t turned into an ongoing saga in the way in which it would have in the 1990s or even around the turn of the century,” Rüger told The Associated Press. "Then it would have been unthinkable to have a German manager.

“Germany really isn’t the bad guy anymore. That’s long since passed. I don’t think it works portraying Germany as the bogeyman.”

England coaches face fierce criticism

Time will tell if Tuchel is portrayed as a hero or villain at the World Cup. If England fails, his nationality might be raised again. But England managers of the past have been the subject of brutal criticism by fans and media, regardless of what it says on their passport.

Tuchel's predecessor Gareth Southgate was widely credited with making England fans fall back in love with the national team during his eight-year spell, yet he faced a torrent of abuse from sections of supporters during the 2024 European Championship, with plastic beer glasses thrown in his direction after one match.

Southgate departed after leading England to back-to-back Euros finals and the World Cup semifinals in 2018.

He goes down as the nation's second most successful manager after Alf Ramsey, who led England to World Cup victory in 1966.

If Tuchel can end England's trophy wait, he would become a national treasure.

“Everyone in the squad, the staff, everyone believes we can win it,” midfielder Kobbie Mainoo said.

Difficult decisions

Tuchel stunned some fans and players with his squad selection for the World Cup, leaving out big names including Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

It was evidence that he would not be swayed by public opinion, which has been a criticism of previous coaches.

“Everything I know about international football tells me that tournaments are won by teams, not individuals,” he said. “What we’re trying to achieve in the summer can only be achieved as a team."

Midfielder Jordan Henderson was one of the surprise inclusions at the age of 35.

“I know everybody likes to speak about players that aren’t here, unfortunately that’s the case with every England squad really," Henderson said. “There’s so many good players, so much talent, but for us as a squad here, it’s about being together and we’re here for a reason and it’s about bringing that, being the best version of yourself, being best version individually and collectively, working every day to achieve our dreams.”

A proven winner

Tuchel is the 14th coach tasked with the challenge of ending England's trophy drought, which now stretches to 60 years.

After Southgate's departure the English Football Association said it was looking for a candidate to “win a major tournament”. That might sound obvious, but even coaches who had won big prizes with club teams such as Bobby Robson, Terry Venables, Eriksson and Capello could not emulate that success with England.

Southgate got closer than anyone since Ramsey despite a modest coaching career before being handed the national job.

His success appeared to be grounded in developing a connection both within his squad and with supporters. As a former player who missed a penalty in a semifinal shootout defeat to Germany at Euro 1996, his emotional understanding of what it means to represent England appeared to resonate with a new generation.

As a foreign coach — albeit one who coached in the Premier League with Chelsea — Tuchel cannot bring that same dynamic to the role.

He does, however, fit the description of a winner of major tournaments, having led Chelsea to the Champions League in 2021. He was also Champions League finalist with Paris Saint-Germain.

He won league titles in France with PSG and Germany with Bayern Munich.

In Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice, he has three of the biggest stars in European soccer and enough talent at his disposal that he felt able to leave out the likes of Foden and Palmer.

“I love the difficult decisions and I love the tough decisions because they bring in the end clarity, they bring a certain edge, and it’s what you need to go all the way," Tuchel said. “From day one, we said we will always try to select and build the best group, which is maybe not necessarily just to collect the best talents.”

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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

Democrats dodged the possibility of a primary shutout in one redrawn district near San Diego, but still ran a risk of having no candidates make it to the November ballot in a second district they banked on outside of Sacramento. California’s unusual primary system, in which the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party, means that if one party runs too many candidates, they can split the vote and all miss making it to the general election.

Democrats had feared that scenario in the San Diego-area district held by the retiring Rep. Darrell Issa that was redrawn last year to become a swing seat. Republican San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond advanced to the November ballot for that seat Tuesday. An avalanche of nine Democrats also entered the running — and San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert nabbed the other slot.

The situation was more dubious in suburban Sacramento, where Rep. Kevin Kiley, who left the GOP to become an independent after his conservative district was divvied up into more Democratic ones, was fighting to make the ballot along with a lone registered Republican and a host of Democrats. Only one Democrat was in the top three of the race late Tuesday.

California was Democrats' prize in midterms redistricting

California has been the bright spot for Democrats in a redistricting war kicked off by President Donald Trump to help his party retain control of the House. After Texas redrew its map to make as many as five more seats winnable for the GOP, California voters allowed Democrats to suspend their state’s own independent redistricting commission and create a new map in retaliation.

But when Virginia Democrats tried to replicate that, they were blocked by their state Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, letting Republicans eliminate some majority-Black congressional districts in the South.

Younger progressives challenge veteran Democrats

The schism between establishment Democrats and a younger, insurgent progressive wing is a defining characteristic of many of this year's primaries across the country, and it's no different in California.

In Sacramento, city council member Mai Vang is challenging 81-year-old Rep. Doris Matsui, who succeeded her late husband after he died in 2005.

The split in the party was encapsulated at a polling place in the suburb of Elk Grove on Tuesday. Tamara Alton, a 65-year-old marriage and family therapist, said she was voting for Matsui, who seemed likely to end up in one of the top two slots as of late Tuesday.

“I’m going with who I know,” Alton said.

Democrat Khydeeja Alam, 42, a small farmer who also works for the state, said she planned to vote for Vang.

Alam, who is Muslim, said Matsui didn’t do enough to engage with Muslim Americans after the war in Gaza began.

“She’s not been accessible, which has been a really big disappointment,” Alam said.

Rep. Brad Sherman, whose Southern California district stretches from the San Fernando Valley to Malibu, made it to the November ballot while fending off a challenge by Democrat Jake Levine, a 42-year-old lawyer who argues that it is time to move on from the 15-term congressman. Republican Larry Thompson, a lawyer, also advanced to the general election for that seat.

In a redrawn district that stretches from Napa Valley into conservative Northern California farming communities, 14-term Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson drew a younger challenger, former venture capitalist Eric Jones, but advanced nonetheless.

And in a safe Democratic district in San Francisco, Scott Wiener, a state lawmaker and former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, advanced to the November race to replace retiring former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Supervisor Connie Chan, who was endorsed by Pelosi, took the second slot.

Republicans grapple with redrawn districts

California's congressional primaries also will determine the fate of Republicans targeted in the Democratic redraw.

In the Central Valley, they redrew the seat held by Republican Rep. David Valadao to make it even more Democratic. Valadao is a survivor of several targeted Democratic campaigns and one of two remaining Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

He made it to the general election on Tuesday, so the primary will determine which Democrat faces him — state Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, a moderate backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or Randy Villegas, a political science professor at College of the Sequoias and a school board member who represents the party’s liberal wing.

The district was rattled Tuesday evening by an hourslong standoff in downtown Bakersfield between police and a man holding local residents inside a bank. Local officials said the main county building and its ballot drop box remained open, but Bains canceled her election night party, citing the standoff.

In Southern California, sitting Republican Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim were drawn into the same conservative district and had been battling over their pro-Trump credentials. That was on the mind of Brett Christensen, a 55-year-old school safety monitor who voted for Calvert — who ultimately advanced to the general election — because Christensen thought the congressman had been a more reliable conservative vote.

“Young Kim’s voting record has not been consistent,” Christensen said outside a polling place in the city of Orange.

Meanwhile, in the San Francisco suburbs, six Democrats and two Republicans are running for the seat formerly held by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned and ended his gubernatorial bid amid sexual harassment allegations. The top two vote-getters advance to the November ballot to fill the seat starting in 2027, while a special election will be held June 18 for the remainder of Swalwell's current term.

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This story corrects the spelling of the name of a candidate who is running in San Francisco. It is Saikat Chakrabarti, not Saikat Charkrabati.

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Sophie Austin in Elk Grove, California, and Amy Taxin in Orange contributed to this report.

Weddle’s original comments spark debate

Weddle drew national attention after questioning Underwood’s readiness on a podcast, suggesting the young signal-caller was not yet equipped to lead a national championship-caliber program.

“Mark my words, don’t be surprised if the backups are playing early. I don’t think Bryce Underwood can throw or play quarterback,” Weddle said.

Those remarks came after Weddle visited Michigan during the Spring Game in Ann Arbor as part of a recruiting tour with his son, Gaige Weddle, a four-star prospect.

“I got to spring ball to watch Michigan because I was with my son going on spring visits,” Weddle said. “We went on nine different spring visits just to see schools and see their culture and identities.”

Michigan left a lasting impression

Despite the headline-grabbing quarterback critique, Weddle had glowing praise for the Michigan program as a whole, calling it the most impressive stop on the nine-school tour.

“Michigan was probably the most impressive school from resources to facilities to culture to the coaching staff to the brand,” Weddle said.

Weddle, who spent much of his football career with the University of Utah under current Wolverines head coach Kyle Whittingham, said Michigan’s scale and tradition left him speechless.

“All I’ve ever known is the University of Utah,” Weddle said. “So when I go to these schools that are some of the best in the entire country with the history, I’m blown away.”

Criticism rooted in high expectations, not personal bias

Speaking on The Rich Eisen Show, Weddle clarified that his critique of Underwood was based on limited but direct observations of two games last season and a spring practice and tied to his standard for elite quarterback play.

“When I saw him, I didn’t think he was very accurate,” Weddle said. “My point is, you have to play quarterback a certain way to win a national championship.”

Weddle was careful to separate his football assessment from any personal judgment of Underwood.

“It doesn’t mean he’s not a good kid,” Weddle said. “It just means I don’t think, at this point, he can.”

He added that his view is not set in stone.

“Can he play? Can it be fixed? Of course, it can be fixed,” Weddle said. “It’s up to him. Go put the work in and let the work speak for itself.”

‘Go prove me wrong’

Weddle framed his comments as a challenge, not an attack, and said elite athletes should expect public scrutiny.

“This isn’t going to be the first time someone says something negative about you,” Weddle said. “Either you let it affect you, or you use it as motivation and go be great.”

Underwood has not publicly responded to the criticism, though he did post on his Instagram Stories a photo of himself alongside the Batman villain “The Joker,” which many interpreted as a nod to the controversy.

Weddle said his investment in the program is genuine.

“People that don’t know me, I’m a loyal guy,” Weddle said. “You want me in your corner.”

He reiterated that he is rooting for the Wolverines, while keeping his quarterback assessment front and center.

“I actually want Michigan to win,” Weddle said. “If the quarterback is not playing at a high clip, I could see a change. The coach is going to go with whoever gives the team the best chance to win.”

Weddle closed with a straightforward message for Underwood and the program.

“I wish them the best,” Weddle said. “Now go prove me wrong.”

Michigan’s 2026 outlook

Michigan enters the 2026 season with hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff, bolstered by the new additions Whittingham has made, both to his staff and to his players.

Underwood and the Wolverines will have a good shot at achieving such success this season.

For the first time, Amazon has partnered with a quick-service restaurant brand on an exclusive Prime Day food promotion, teaming up with Little Caesars to offer members a $5 Classic Pepperoni or Classic Cheese pizza.

The offer runs June 15–26 and can be redeemed up to five times per day.

Prime members can use the promotion for delivery orders or in-store pickup at participating Little Caesars locations.

The partnership marks a notable expansion of Prime Day beyond traditional retail categories, reflecting how major e-commerce platforms are increasingly weaving food and restaurant offerings into large-scale shopping events.

For Amazon, the collaboration adds a dining component to its annual sales event.

For Little Caesars, it provides access to Amazon’s vast Prime membership base, an opportunity to attract new customers and drive traffic during a high-profile shopping period.

The deal also highlights the growing convergence of digital commerce and restaurant marketing, as brands seek new ways to reach consumers through partnerships tied to major retail moments.

Prime Day has traditionally been associated with discounts on technology products, appliances, clothing, and everyday household items.

The Little Caesars promotion is among the first major food-focused offerings tied directly to the event, signaling potential opportunities for additional restaurant partnerships.

Additional details on redemption and participating locations are available on Amazon and at Little Caesars during the promotional period.

Fitz Sr. was arraigned Monday (June 1) in 41B District Court, as he faces five counts of child sexually abusive activity–aggravated, five counts of using a computer to commit a crime punishable by 20 years or more or life, five counts of aggravated possession of child sexually abusive material, and five counts of using a computer to commit a crime punishable by up to 10 years.

Prosecutors also filed a habitual offender notice and a second-offense notice, which could increase penalties if Fitz Sr. is convicted.

Authorities said the charges represent the maximum offenses supported by evidence presented so far in the case.

Fitz Sr. had his bond at $500,000 cash or surety.

The 48-year-old man is scheduled to appear for a probable cause conference on June 8 in 41B District Court.

The thousands of Puerto Rican crested toad tadpoles will have a new start in the wild in Rio Encantado, a rainforest area in Manati, Puerto Rico.

This effort is part of the longest-running amphibian reintroduction program in the world.

Puerto Rican crested toads are critically endangered amphibians found only in Puerto Rico.

This species at this time needs aid both in its native habitat and from conservation partners.

Puerto Rican crested toads rely on healthy habitat and temporary freshwater pools to breed, making conservation necessary.

Through tadpole releases, the Detroit Zoo is contributing to an effort to strengthen wild populations and protect an important part of Puerto Rico’s native biodiversity.

The Detroit Zoo has raised and released 143,195 tadpoles to date as part of the conservation program.

“Each of these tadpoles represents a lot of care, coordination and hope,” said Mark Vassallo, curator of amphibians for the Detroit Zoological Society. “For our team, it’s incredibly meaningful to know that work happening here at the Detroit Zoo can help support the future of a species in Puerto Rico. Amphibians are facing serious challenges globally, and efforts like this show how zoos and the communities that support them can play an important role in protecting vulnerable wildlife.”

The work is a part of the Detroit Zoological Society’s commitment to conservation that beyond southeast Michigan.

While the release will take place thousands of miles from Royal Oak, it is made possible in part by the care and support rooted of the Detroit Zoo community.

Uncle Robbie Thorpe, 68, turned to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Victoria state after two lower courts rejected his bid to launch a private prosecution against the king in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. Indigenous Australians use the titles uncle and aunt as marks of respect for community elders.

His case alleges the monarch, who is also Australia’s head of state, the Australian government and its institutions were perpetuating a genocide of Indigenous people by maintaining systemic disadvantages on multiple socioeconomic levels, making them the most underprivileged minority in the country.

Indigenous Australians account for 4% of the population. They die younger than other Australians, suffer worse health problems, and are more likely to be imprisoned and unemployed than other groups, according to official statistics.

Thorpe told The Associated Press if he exhausts his legal options in Australia, he would take the offense under the Genocide Convention to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

“It’s clear that they’re unwilling, unable, reluctant to deal with these international legal issues like genocide,” Thorpe told the AP before the hearing, referring to the Australian judiciary.

He later told the judges Indigenous people were dying because their disadvantage in Australia was compounding.

“The Crown is responsible for all this mess,” Thorpe said. “Australia’s got away with genocide of Aboriginal people since they arrived here."

The British colonized Australia in 1788 and violently seized Indigenous people’s land without a treaty.

“They totally failed to prevent (genocide). That’s the crime here. They failed to prevent genocide knowingly and they failed to punish anyone for it,” he added.

The British punished Indigenous people for speaking their language and for practicing their cultures in a bid to make them Christian and Western. Generations of children were taken from Indigenous families in now-discredited assimilation policies.

Thorpe wore a traditional possum-skin coat in court and carried a feather from an Australian wedge-tailed eagle, an Indigenous totem.

He requested to be addressed in court as Uncle Robbie or by his tribal name Djuran Bunjileenee.

Justice Karin Emerton, the court’s presiding judge, referred to him as Uncle Robbie.

The king was identified in court documents as Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor.

Thorpe is attempting to charge the king under Indigenous law that has existed for more than 65,000 years, state common law and federal criminal law, court documents show.

In dismissing Thorpe’s appeal last year, a judge ruled that a magistrate was not allowed to consider Indigenous law and genocide was not an offense under common law.

The federal attorney-general would have to sign off on any genocide prosecution under federal law, the judge ruled.

Following a two-hour hearing on Wednesday, Emerton said the three judges would deliver their verdict at a later date.

If Thorpe loses, his final option would be Australia’s High Court before attempting to have the king prosecuted in The Hague.

The building in the Malviya Nagar neighborhood in the southern part of the city had a restaurant on the ground floor and a hotel above. The predominantly residential area is densely populated and is popular with students and young professionals.

The blaze was extinguished with the help of eight fire engines, and more than 40 people were rescued and taken to nearby hospitals, Delhi police said in a statement.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

Images from the scene showed firefighters trying to douse the blaze as thick smoke billowed from the building. Some people trapped inside were seen hanging from windows and shouting for help as flames and smoke swept through parts of the building.

Local residents also joined rescue efforts, helping evacuate people trapped inside and carrying some of the injured to safety.

Some of the victims were foreign nationals who had traveled to India for medical treatment, local media reported. Many foreign patients travel to New Delhi for medical treatment and often stay in nearby hotels or residential accommodation during their visits.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences over the deaths, his office said in a post on X. It also said that the families of those killed would receive 200,000 rupees ($2,088) each in financial assistance.

Fires are common in India, where building laws and safety norms are often flouted by builders and residents.

The pact struck in 2022 with the Solomons’ then-Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare created fears in the United States and among allies including Australia that it would allow the Chinese navy to build a base in the South Pacific.

Before Wale became prime minister in a parliamentary vote May 15, he had called for the detail of the treaty to be made public.

Wale said Wednesday he had only been provided with a copy a few days ago and after he had “removed certain people from key positions.” He didn’t identify those people.

“I haven’t had a good look at it. I’ve had a look at it,” Wale told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra.

“I’ve been praying and fasting about it. … There is a nondisclosure clause in it, so I couldn’t show it to you right away. But we are going to be reviewing (the treaty), as we are reviewing other security agreements that we have with many other countries,” he added.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China was “ready to work with the new government of Solomon Islands to expand pragmatic cooperation in various fields so as to better benefit the two peoples.”

Wale was visiting Australia in his first overseas trip since he became leader of his nation of 700,000 people, 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Australia.

Wale and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese announced their governments would negotiate a comprehensive strategic treaty that would elevate the bilateral relationship and cover security and economic issues.

Wale’s predecessor, Jeremiah Manele, had resisted Australia’s efforts to forge closer ties, but Wale said the two governments had decided to “reset” the bilateral relationship.

“We acknowledge that there’s been some problems in the past few years,” Wale said.

Albanese said Australia should be the Solomons’ primary security partner, rather than China.

“We have said very clearly we want Australia to be the security partner of choice in our region and we want the Pacific family to look after our security in this region,” Albanese said.

Wale said the regional looking after its own security was "the direction we want to take.”

China has provided police instructors to the Solomons as part of their bilateral deal. The Solomons doesn’t have a military, so police there have a larger security role than in countries with defense forces.

The Solomons provided China with a diplomatic coup in 2019 when Sogavare’s government switched official recognition to Beijing from Taiwan, the self-governed island democracy China claims as part of its territory.

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Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed to this report.

Though votes were still being counted, Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton started looking to November, laying out their visions for leading the nation's most populous state and one of the world's largest economies.

Only two will advance to the general election, however, and The Associated Press has not yet called the primary for any candidate. The state has a history of substantial vote updates after Election Day that can sometimes shift the outcome of elections as late-arriving mail and drop-off votes are counted. Hilton and Becerra were leading so far, with Steyer running slightly further back.

“Change is coming to California, and it’s long overdue,” Hilton told supporters after polls closed, reflecting his campaign message that the state needs a dramatic reset after more than 15 years of Democratic rule.

Steyer also campaigned on change, though through a vastly different lens. A former hedge fund manager turned climate activist, he pledged to raise taxes on corporations and the ultrawealthy like himself. He declared Tuesday that he would prevail over monied interests that strived to defeat him.

Becerra, meanwhile, pitched himself as the steady hand who can lead the state against intrusions from the Trump administration, touting his decades in public service in Congress, as state attorney general and as federal health secretary. Speaking to supporters, he said voters came around to his message after he initially was counted out.

“The underdog stayed in the fight,” Becerra said to applause.

California puts all candidates on a single primary ballot regardless of party, and the top two finishers advance to the November general election. About 60 candidates were on the ballot, most of them largely unknown to the state’s roughly 23 million voters.

Affordability at the center of campaign

The through line of the race was how to tackle the state's notoriously high cost of living.

Drivers were paying $6.08 per gallon at the pump as of the end of May, $1.65 higher than the national average, according to AAA. Meanwhile the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has estimated that the typical home is about $775,000, more than double the national average. And Californians pay the second-highest residential electricity rates behind Hawaii, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Steyer blamed the state's challenges in part on corporations that he said are ripping off Californians. He supports eliminating private health insurance in favor of a government-run system and pledged to break up major utilities and take on fossil fuel companies. Utility Pacific Gas & Electric was among the businesses spending money to defeat him.

“We should have a system based on fairness, not asking for fairness,” Steyer said Tuesday, adding that his campaign “scared the hell out of the corporate interests who are used to getting their own way.”

Hilton said he would make Californians' first $100,000 free of income tax, increase oil production and freeze in-state tuition at public colleges and to try to make the state more affordable. He also pledged to slash regulations and to “revive” the state's economic prowess by reversing Democratic policies that make things more expensive.

That message resonated with voters like Republican Rosamaria Cerezo, a 57-year-old substitute teacher voted for Hilton.

“Both my husband and I have two jobs each just to make ends meet,” she said.

Candidates expressed optimism about state's future

Despite the state's challenges, the candidates delivered upbeat messages about its potential. They pledged to ensure government works to serve all of its roughly 39 million residents.

“I ran for the job because I know how important California is as a shining light to the world,” Becerra told supporters.

He argued that his years of political experience prepared him to lead, and he highlighted his tenure as attorney general, when he filed more than 120 legal actions during Trump's first term, as evidence that he can protect Californians' interests.

Democrat Tamara Alton, a 65-year-old marriage and family therapist, was voting for Becerra because of his experience.

“I'm going to go with him because I want somebody that knows what they're doing,” Alton said.

Becerra also referenced his background as the son of two Mexican immigrants. In a state where nearly a third of voters identify as Hispanic or Latino, he would be the first Latino governor in more than a century.

California, he said, “regularly makes the improbable seem inevitable.”

Steyer vastly outspent rivals

Steyer ran the most expensive primary campaign in the country, dumping more than $215 million of his own money into it including a massive amount on advertising. That's likely just a preview of what he would spend should he advance to the general election.

His spending prompted some of his rivals to accuse him of trying to buy the election.

But some Democratic voters said they chose Steyer despite uneasiness with his wealth because of his focus on tackling climate change.

Jude Mayer, 24, said she was not thrilled about voting for a billionaire but Steyer “is talking about the environment in the way that I want to hear about it.”

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Associated Press writer Amy Taxin in Orange, California, contributed.

More primaries are being held on Tuesday as well. Democrats are banking on a rare chance to regain ground in Iowa, a rural state that has repeatedly eluded them in recent years. Republicans, meanwhile, are grappling with a New Jersey congressman whose unexplained absence could put their already slim majority at risk.

— California: Voters weighed in on who should lead the nation’s most populous state, where there is no clear leader among candidates vying to advance in the race to succeed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Plus, U.S. House races are on the ballot, along with the Los Angeles mayor’s race.

— New Mexico: Contests in the state include primaries for congressional seats, a U.S. Senate seat and a long list of statewide offices, but the governor’s race is the main attraction. Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland won the Democratic nomination Tuesday night, putting her on a historic path for Native American leaders.

— New Jersey: One of this year’s most closely watched House midterms will take place in the battleground district represented by Rep. Tom Kean Jr., who has drawn public scrutiny and concern after missing more than 100 House votes due to an undisclosed medical issue. Democratic voters selected Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, to take him on this fall.

— Read more about races in Iowa, Montana and South Dakota.

AP has not called any candidate to advance in California governor’s race or second candidate for LA mayor

Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra were the leading candidates in the race for governor, with Democrat Tom Steyer running slightly further back.

In the mayor’s race, incumbent Karen Bass has advanced to a runoff election, but AP has not yet called a second candidate to advance.

California has a history of substantial vote updates after election day that can sometimes shift the outcome of elections as late-arriving mail and drop-off votes are counted.

Both parties have led California

California has been considered a Democratic stronghold in recent years, but this wasn’t always the case. The state has had more Republican governors than Democratic ones in the last 60 years, the most recent being actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who held the office from 2003 to 2011.

California GOP Rep. David Valadao advances in reelection bid

He is considered among the most vulnerable U.S. House Republicans. A perennial Democratic target, Valadao narrowly lost to a Democrat in 2018 but won back his Central Valley seat two years later.

Valadao is one of only two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The 22nd District is one of the seats Democrats redrew to be more favorable to their party in response to gerrymandering in Texas and other Republican states.

Democrat Katie Porter concedes defeat in California’s gubernatorial race

Porter thanked her supporters and said she relied on small donors, not big corporations, for her campaign focused on affordability, housing and taking on Trump.

The former member of Congress said although the results aren’t final she knows she won’t have enough votes to make it to November.

“Running a race like this isn’t easy, and coming up short is hard, but democracy is worth doing hard things for,” she said in a video message.

Republican Steve Hilton expresses optimism about California governor’s primary

Though the final results aren’t in, Hilton said his chances of advancing to November are “looking good.”

He thanked his supporters and the president for his endorsement during a speech in Orange County.

He said he plans to make California an attractive place to run a business and raise a family in a safe neighborhood with good schools. He said the state has tremendous potential.

“We’ve got everything we need for this state to be amazing again,” he said.

‘I hope she’s ready,’ Spencer Pratt says of LA Mayor Karen Bass

“We can do debates every Friday if she would like,” Pratt told a group of reporters under the flash of cameras in his first remarks after results started rolling in.

“I got in this because I felt like my city failed myself, my neighbors,” he continued, painting a dark image of the current state of Los Angeles and sharing what he wants to fix, including to “help those homeless people.”

Pratt argued that he has Democratic as well as Republican supporters, boiling his campaign down to a single line: “I’m an Angeleno who said enough is enough, and I had to step up.”

“I’m going to show everybody that I’m their mayor,” he said, clearly enthused, before wrapping his remarks.

Democrat Xavier Becerra says he overcame underdog status in race for California governor

Speaking to supporters Tuesday, Becerra noted he was once counted out. Now he’s among three contenders leading in early returns for two spots in the November general election.

Becerra, a former state attorney general and federal health secretary, shared his personal story as the son of two immigrants. He’d be the state’s first Latino governor since the late 1800s

He said he wants to lead a state that “regularly makes the improbable seem inevitable.”

LA Mayor Karen Bass advances to a runoff in her bid for reelection

After a shaky first term marked by the most destructive wildfire in city history, the Democrat qualified for the November runoff.

Bass has acknowledged that her time in office has been bumpy but pointed to reductions in homelessness and a historically low homicide rate in the nation’s second-most populous city.

She is a former member of Congress and the first Black woman to serve as mayor.

Nithya Raman says her vision for LA ‘threatens some very powerful forces’

Addressing supporters, Raman thanked backers for sustaining her positive outlook on how the city should be run. She decried “the City Hall insiders, the corporations who have spent years making sure City Hall worked for them and not for the people.”

A former ally of Mayor Karen Bass, the progressive Raman was elected to City Council with support from the Democratic Socialists of America. A Democrat, she’s campaigned on promises to reduce inequality, revive the slumping entertainment industry and build more housing.

Rep. Randy Feenstra’s defeat is a rare loss by a Trump-backed candidate this primary season

Feenstra lost the Republican nomination for Iowa governor to Zach Lahn. Lahn previously worked for conservative political organization Americans for Prosperity.

Lahn said Tuesday he’s not a politician and that as his own biggest donor “I have not been bought and I will not be bought.”

“Tonight is just the beginning,” he said. “The fight starts now.”

Lahn championed policies that appealed to Iowa’s conservative grassroots supporters, including a total ban on abortion and keeping liberal ideology out of public school classrooms.

He also embraced the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

Zach Lahn wins

Republican nomination for Iowa governor

Lahn defeated four Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, who was endorsed by Trump.

Lahn owns an investment company and lives on a farm in eastern Iowa that has been in his family for a century. He previously worked for conservative political organization Americans for Prosperity.

Lahn will face State Auditor Rob Sand, the lone Democrat currently holding statewide office, in November. They are running to replace outgoing GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Unopposed in his primary and absent a clear Republican opponent, Sand has had a long runway to hone his moderate message and amass an $18 million campaign chest.

LA Mayor Karen Bass thanks supporters, predicts winning a second term

Bass thanked supporters for having faith in her after a tough first term and predicted she will win in November.

“I love you. I appreciate you. I appreciate you for believing in me,” she said.

Bass, a Democrat, is facing challengers from both ends of the political spectrum.

Bass told supporters she’d devoted her life to serving the city and “I’m going to continue to do that all the way to victory in November.”

California Rep. Brad Sherman survives challenge from younger Democrat for House seat

The 15-term congressman has advanced to the November general election after defeating a challenger seeking generational change.

Sherman, 71, was being pushed by Jake Levine, a 42-year-old lawyer who argued that it was time to move on from the veteran lawmaker.

The 32nd District stretches from the San Fernando Valley to Malibu and is considered a safe seat for Democrats.

GOP nominee Gregg Hull says he’ll have momentum in New Mexico governor’s race

“This fall, we will face Deb Haaland in the general election and we’re going to win,” Hull said. “And I respect that she has served in various positions over her career, but New Mexico families are hurting, and the policies of the last eight years under one-party control of this state have failed.”

A grandfather, Hull said he wants to bring high-paying jobs to the state so young people won’t have to leave.

The U.S. Senate general election fundraising battle has already begun in Montana

The winners of tonight’s U.S. Senate primaries in Montana face an uphill fundraising battle to catch up with independent candidate Seth Bodnar. Bodnar, who advances directly to the November general election, has raised more money than all Democratic candidates on tonight’s ballot combined.

Bodnar has also outraised Kurt Alme, who won the Republican nomination tonight. Alme, who is backed by Trump, will test whether the weight of Trump’s endorsement can overcome a substantial fundraising disadvantage.

Rep. Randy Feenstra concedes in Iowa GOP governor primary to Zach Lahn

Feenstra, who was endorsed by Trump, said late Tuesday that he called Lahn to concede. The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the race.

Feenstra told supporters in Hull that the outcome “wasn’t what we probably wanted” but that it would start a new chapter. He said he called Lahn to tell him to “carry the torch” and offered a prayer as he continues the campaign.

“I am all in to help him out,” Feenstra said. “Let us never hang our heads.”

Democratic lawmaker Scott Wiener advances in bid to replace Nancy Pelosi

The California state senator joined the scramble among Democrats to replace the retiring former House speaker.

Pelosi is a San Francisco political institution. The competition has been fierce among Democrats to replace her in the safely Democratic 11th District seat.

Republican Jim Desmond advances in redrawn Southern California House district

The San Diego County supervisor advances to the November ballot in a San Diego-area congressional seat that Democrats redrew to give their party a shot at a pickup.

Desmond was endorsed by Trump and Rep. Darrell Issa, a conservative who retired rather than run in the new 48th District.

Gregg Hull is Republican nominee for New Mexico governor

Hull has pointed to his time as mayor of fast-growing Rio Rancho as a blueprint for how he would govern, promising to attract large employers to a state where poverty rates are among the highest in the nation and wages among the lowest.

He beat out small business owners Duke Rodriguez and Doug Turner for the GOP nomination and will face an uphill battle in the general election. Republicans have not won a statewide office in New Mexico in 10 years.

Spending in California’s governor race shatters records

This year is already shaping up to be costly for elections across the country, with candidates in Texas, Illinois, Kentucky and Georgia setting spending records within their state or office. But nothing comes close to the amount spent by billionaire and California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer. He has spent over $200 million of his own money to fund his campaign, setting the record for both the costliest campaign this year and in California gubernatorial history.

California’s voters: by the numbers

California stands as the most populous state in the country with a citizen voting-age population of 26.1 million in 2024. Its electorate is also one of the most diverse. Nearly one-third of California voters identify as Hispanic or Latino, which is the second-highest share among all U.S. states. Asians make up 15% of the state’s voters.

The state stands out economically as well with a median household income of $102,870, over $20k more than the U.S. median. Despite its reputation as a Democratic stronghold, California’s political landscape is far from monolithic. Rising housing costs, immense income inequality and regional identities contribute to complex cross-sections of political identities that complicate sweeping state narratives.

Mid-decade redistricting in California

California’s primaries are taking place in newly drawn congressional districts approved by voters last November. The map, pushed forward by Gov. Newsom, was designed to create more favorable conditions for Democrats. It came in response to Trump’s call for redistricting that would bolster Republicans’ position in midterms this fall.

Crowd roars as Haaland takes stage as Democratic nominee for New Mexico governor

A mariachi band played and supporters chanted “Deb! Deb! Deb!” as Haaland arrived on stage to address the crowd.

She outlined her own time as a single mother in saying she’s experienced struggles that are familiar to many New Mexicans. But, she said, a better New Mexico is possible with grit, creativity and persistence.

She said she’d work to lower costs, make healthcare more accessible, improve education and make communities safer.

Iowa’s Democratic US Senate candidate Josh Turek says he feels hope

Turek said he wants to help families like his own be able to achieve the American Dream once again and be “a voice for the voiceless.”

“I am feeling hope here in Iowa for the first time in a very long time,” Turek said to big cheers.

Turek thanked his Democratic primary opponent, Zach Wahls, for making him a stronger candidate. He soon pivoted to Ashley Hinson, the Republican he will face in the general election, arguing the congresswoman doesn’t serve everyday Iowans.

“I will fight for you — all of you — no matter what,” he said.

Joe Mitchell is GOP nominee for Ashley Hinson’s Iowa US House district

Mitchell was endorsed by Trump.

He defeated state Sen. Charlie McClintock in the Republican-leaning 2nd District.

The seat is open because Hinson is running for U.S. Senate.

Emergency at bank leads California Democrat to cancel election night party

State Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, who is competing for a chance to face vulnerable Republican U.S. Rep. David Valadao in November, announced she was canceling the party because of the incident.

Police remained encircled around a bank Tuesday evening in downtown Bakersfield, where a man was holding several people inside.

In her statement, Bains said she was canceling the event “to avoid creating a large gathering of people in close proximity to this incident.”

Iowa’s vote history keeps the Senate seat in play for Democrats

Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek won tonight’s U.S. Senate primaries in Iowa, setting the stage for a competitive race in the fall.

Democrats are eyeing the open seat vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. Before Ernst’s election in 2014, Iowa was represented by Democrat Tom Harkin for three decades, marking a period where Democrats were still competitive statewide.

Iowa also backed former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, indicating how a strong Democratic candidate can resonate with Iowa voters despite the state’s recent Republican lean.

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks wins GOP nomination in Iowa’s 1st District

Miller-Meeks defeated David Pautch, who also ran against her in 2024.

Miller-Meeks went on to eke out a win in the general election that year, earning a third term after a recount confirmed her roughly 800-vote lead over Democrat Christina Bohannan.

Ashley Hinson speaks of bipartisanship after winning Iowa’s Republican US Senate primary

Hinson dubbed it “a resounding victory” in a statement, before listing what she wanted to continue doing in Congress: make life more affordable, take on “Big Pharma and Big Health Insurance” and “root out corruption in Washington.”

“My record is one of delivering bipartisan results for Iowans, and that’s exactly what I’ll do in the United States Senate. I’ll work with anyone, from any party, to get things done for Iowa,” she said.

Josh Turek wins Iowa Democratic US Senate primary

Turek is a former Paralympian and relative newcomer to public office, winning his state House seat in 2022.

His primary race against Zach Wahls was upended by a flood of outside support that boosted him in the final stretch. Democratic political operation VoteVets spent millions of dollars to blanket the airwaves, social media and mailboxes.

He will next try to flip the seat currently held by GOP Sen. Joni Ernst, who is retiring.

Deb Haaland wins Democratic nomination for New Mexico governor

One of the first Native American women elected to Congress and the nation’s first Native American Cabinet secretary could break another political barrier. As the Democratic nominee for governor, she is on her way to become the first Native American to hold that position in any U.S. state.

Haaland’s primary win makes her the frontrunner in November. Democrats have consolidated control over every statewide elected office in New Mexico over the past decade.

As interior secretary under President Joe Biden, Haaland championed public lands conservation and oversaw a first-of-its-kind federal investigation into the abuse of Native American children at government-run boarding schools. On the campaign trail in New Mexico, Haaland focused on reducing costs for families while emphasizing her ancestral roots in the state and experience in the nation’s capital. She’s a member of Laguna Pueblo.

US Supreme

Court allows Alabama to use congressional map favoring Republicans in this year’s elections

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Alabama to use a congressional map favoring Republicans in this year’s elections, blocking a lower court ruling that the redistricting plan intentionally discriminates against Black people.

The justices granted the state’s emergency appeal to use a map it adopted three years ago that has a majority-Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts.

The high-court order is the latest development in a redistricting frenzy that is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to try to hold on to Republicans’ slim House majority in the November elections. It comes a day before an important deadline that Republican Gov. Kay Ivey had already extended in the state’s desire to use the map in special primary elections in August.

Rebecca Bennett tells Rep. Tom Kean Jr., ‘We are coming for you’

Addressing supporters at an election night party after winning the Democratic nomination in New Jersey’s battleground 7th District, Bennett called the Republican incumbent a “coward.”

“You are failing us, and you do not deserve to represent us in Washington,” the former Navy helicopter pilot said to Kean, who has been away from Congress with an unspecified illness for months.

Bennett’s victory over three other Democrats in the district sets up the state’s premier contest in November. The district has flipped in the last two midterm elections.

Introducing his wife, Bennett’s husband told the crowd that Tuesday marks their 14th wedding anniversary.

Ashley Hinson wins GOP nomination to replace Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst

Hinson, who is endorsed by Trump and Ernst, defeated former state Sen. Jim Carlin.

The former TV anchor is in her third term representing Iowa’s 2nd District, in the northeastern part of the state.

She got into the race for Senate almost immediately after Ernst said she was retiring. Hinson won her most recent election with the support of 57% of voters.

A closer look at New Mexico’s voting population

New Mexico has the highest share of Hispanic or Latino voters among U.S. states and the second-highest share of American Indian or Alaska Native voters, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Despite Indigenous people accounting for nearly a tenth of New Mexico’s voting-eligible population, New Mexico did not elect its first Native American member of Congress until Deb Haaland’s historic victory in 2018.

Rebecca Bennett wins Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 7th District

Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, will take on Rep. Tom Kean Jr. this fall. Her win over three other Democrats in the closely watched district sets up the state’s premier contest for November, when the party hopes they can flip the seat.

Winning in districts like the 7th, which includes bedroom communities and farm towns as well as Trump’s Bedminster golf club, will be key to Democratic hopes of gaining control of the narrowly divided House.

The win comes as Kean has missed more than 100 votes in the House because of a medical issue that his office has declined to specify.

New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District: By the numbers

New Jersey’s 7th District remains one of the most competitive U.S. House districts in the country. In 2018, former Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski unseated longtime Republican incumbent Leonard Lance, flipping the seat after decades of GOP control.

Malinowski managed to hold off now-Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in 2020, but following redistricting, the district seesawed back to Republicans in 2022 when Kean won by 2.8 points.

In 2024, Kean expanded his margin to 5.4 points, but Trump won the district by only 1.1 points that same year, making the race for this seat anyone’s game.

Democrats look to Iowa to rebuild in the heartland

Before Trump reshaped American politics, Iowa was the state that lifted the political career of Barack Obama and sent Tom Harkin to the Senate for five terms.

The party is particularly excited about Rob Sand, who is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for governor. A native of Decorah, he has the rural roots that have become rare among Democrats. Perhaps most importantly, he’s a proven winner in a Republican-leaning state, having been elected twice as auditor.

Republicans head into the primary with five candidates. Trump jumped in last week to endorse Rep. Randy Feenstra.

This is the first open contest for the governor’s seat since 2006. Democrats are hoping that a combination of the economic fallout from Trump’s tariff policies, rising gas prices stemming from the Iran war and the lack of a Republican incumbent could give them their best opportunity in years. Sand also has a fundraising advantage over the Republicans, including Feenstra.

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Haaland easily clinched the Democratic nomination Tuesday, putting the citizen of Laguna Pueblo on a path to yet another potential first. She was one of the first two Native women elected to Congress and was the first Native American to hold a Cabinet secretary position in the U.S. government.

She celebrated her win at a historic plaza in Albuquerque's Old Town neighborhood, where supporters gathered among a mariachi band and traditional Native hoop dancers. The event began with a prayer in Tiwa, one of many Native languages spoken among tribes in the state.

Both Haaland and Hull, the former three-term mayor of one of New Mexico’s largest cities, recognize the challenge in leading a state that is grappling with high rates of violent crime, chronically underperforming in schools and facing cuts to federal safety net programs.

“Our challenges today are not new, but we must come to the table with new solutions,” Haaland said. “Everything is getting more expensive. The state will step up to put more money back in your pockets.”

Hull said he knows families are struggling, but one-party control in New Mexico is not the answer. He vowed to give voters a “real choice.”

“This fall, we will face Deb Haaland in the general election, and we’re going to win,” Hull said. “And I respect that she has served in various positions over her career, but New Mexico families are hurting, and the policies of the last eight years under one-party control of this state have failed.”

The next governor will succeed Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham, who reached her term limit. Democrats have won every statewide elected office since 2017.

Haaland’s campaign resonated with voters

On the campaign trail, Haaland focused on reducing costs for families while emphasizing her ancestral roots in the state, being a single mother, relying on government assistance and overcoming addiction. She also touted experience in the nation's capital.

She made her first stop Tuesday at San Felipe Pueblo, a Native American community north of Albuquerque.

Meredith Ansera, a project coordinator with the pueblo, said she worked with Haaland during her tenure as a tribal administrator who helped oversee education and childcare programs.

“She knows what our needs are and she’s been there,” Ansera said.

Ann Chavez Barudin traveled 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Santo Domingo Pueblo to attend Haaland’s event Tuesday. She said she has followed Haaland’s ascent in national politics and supports her run for governor because of her promises to fill gaps left by Trump administration cuts to social safety net programs.

“I have confidence that she will stand up for Medicare,” said Chavez Barudin, who is a Medicare recipient herself and cares for her older mother who relies on the program.

Under President Joe Biden, Haaland championed public lands conservation and oversaw a first-of-its-kind federal investigation into the abuse of Native American children at government-run boarding schools. In 2018, she and Sharice Davids of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin made history as the first two Native women elected to Congress.

Haaland defeated Sam Bregman, an Albuquerque-based district attorney and the father of Chicago Cubs All-Star Alex Bregman, who campaigned on a promise to curb violent crime.

“This campaign may be over, but my commitment to the people of New Mexico is not,” he wrote in a statement to The Associated Press.

He criticized Haaland after her name appeared in the Jeffrey Epstein files. She flew on a private jet chartered by one of Epstein’s companies during her 2014 unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor. That flight to a fundraising meeting in Washington, D.C., was paid for by Gary King, her running mate at the time. King’s family had sold Epstein a ranch in New Mexico two decades earlier.

Haaland said she was unaware of Epstein’s role in arranging the flight and never met him.

Republican candidate faces an uphill battle

Hull was mayor of fast-growing Rio Rancho and has pointed to his leadership there as a blueprint for how he would govern. He has promised to promote economic growth and attract large employers to New Mexico, where poverty rates are among the highest in the nation and wages among the lowest.

“We ran a campaign that focused on the issues, a campaign that focused on who we were and not a campaign that attacked or tore people down,” Hull told a crowd that gathered to watch the results roll in. “We did it right.”

He defeated public relations professional Doug Turner and former state Cabinet secretary Duke Rodriguez.

A.J. Rodriguez cast his ballot for Hull, the candidate he sees as most likely to defeat Haaland, and rein in violent crime and government spending.

“The state keeps voting blue and we’re getting hammered by policies that aren’t working. We need someone who can actually put up a good fight,” said Rodriguez, a retired sheriff's office lieutenant.

Surging oil prices have translated into an influx of tax revenue

The next governor will inherit the oil windfall in the state budget that has led to competing ideas on how best to use it — from cutting one-time checks for taxpayers to funding tax credits that would mostly aid low-income residents to eliminating the state’s income tax.

The state’s heavy reliance on fossil fuel revenues to fund its programs has also created political difficulties for Democrats, as some of that income was tied to oil prices that spiked during the Iran war. New Mexico is the nation’s second-largest oil-producing state behind Texas, and the industry’s revenue funds an array of progressive social programs that include universal childcare.

For the first time, the primary was open to the nearly 23% of voters who are registered as independent. Lujan Grisham signed the semi-open primary system into law last year.

The move deepened the turmoil at the nation's most influential TV news program, days after a leadership overhaul.

Pelley, 68, criticized management Monday during a fiery staff meeting with Nick Bilton, the program's new executive producer installed by Weiss last week, according to a detailed report on the Status website.

In a termination notice obtained Tuesday night by The Associated Press, Bilton, a technology journalist and filmmaker with no traditional broadcast news experience, accused Pelley of carrying out an “ambush” against him.

“Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” the letter states.

Pelley said in a statement that “60 Minutes” has lost its DNA under new management. He accused them of asking him to “inject falsehoods and bias” into his work, without sharing specific details.

Pelley is accused of a ‘performative display of hostility’

Status, which said it had a recording of the Monday meeting, reported that Pelley had said Weiss was brought in to kill the news outlet, “and she’s doing exactly that.” Weiss was not present for the meeting.

Pelley reportedly grilled Bilton about the firings last week of Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega.

Alfonsi had criticized Weiss last year for postponing a segment about deportees sent to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador as part of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

Pelley said in his statement that those colleagues “stood for fairness against the forces of political bias.” He also accused CEO David Ellison of casting aside the show's reputation “apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.” Ellison, an ally of the Republican president, has owned CBS since 2025, when its parent company, Paramount, merged with Skydance Media.

In the dismissal letter Tuesday, Bilton said Pelley’s “performative display of hostility” demonstrated that he has “no interest in contributing to the future success of the show.”

An uneasy stretch for CBS News

Since Weiss took over the network's news operation last October, it has traveled a bumpy road.

Pelley's termination came just five days after Weiss, who has become a polarizing figure in the media world since taking the reins, told staff in a memo that it was time for a “new approach” at the top-rated newsmagazine.

In the memo, Weiss and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski said their goal for “60 Minutes” was “building a show that thrives in the 21st century.” That could include extending the show beyond a 60-minute broadcast, they said.

“60 Minutes” first aired in 1968 and is the longest-running prime-time show in TV history. Its investigative journalism and probing interviews, sometimes with unwilling subjects, have given it the reputation of uncompromising journalism — precisely the trait that Pelley said he feared was under assault.

Pelley started working for CBS in 1989. He was its chief White House Correspondent from 1997 to 1999, during Bill Clinton's presidency, and anchored “CBS Evening News” from 2011 to 2017. He has won 51 Emmy Awards, according to his CBS bio.

This time, he was on the wrong end of a play to forget.

Adell misplayed a flyball into a bizarre home run off his head Tuesday, a fielding blunder reminiscent of José Canseco's embarrassing gaffe 33 years ago with the Texas Rangers.

Adell reached up to catch TJ Rumfield's deep fly for the Colorado Rockies in the fourth inning, but the ball grazed the outside of his glove before bouncing off his head and over the wall for a solo homer.

“I was toward the line and I felt like I had a little bit longer way to go than I normally do on a route like that and just missed it,” Adell told MLB.com. “It hit off my hat. I don’t know if I overran it and took a step over. But it was kind of the icing on the cake because I was (bad) all the way around the whole day today.”

There was brief confusion on the field when the ball caromed off a digital scoreboard above the fence and back into the outfield. Rumfield stopped at second base, initially unsure of the ruling, before proceeding around the bases to give Colorado an 8-0 lead on the way to an 8-2 victory.

“It’s one of those things where how it happened looks crazy,” said Adell, who also went 0 for 4 at the plate with two strikeouts. “It looks like I’ve never played in the field before, which is disappointing, because it’s beyond the truth. But it is what it is. I’m the only one that really knows what happened. I was out there, and it happened to me, so it is what it is. I’ve got to just keep going, and as a team, we’ve got to keep going.”

It was similar to an infamous play on May 26, 1993, when Canseco lost track of a long drive hit by Cleveland's Carlos Martínez. The ball bounced off Canseco's head and over the right-field wall for a home run.

Rumfield's gift homer ended the night for Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez, who gave up three homers and eight runs in 3 2/3 innings.

The play also stood in stark contrast to some of Adell's fielding exploits this season, including that April game in which he stole three would-be homers from the Mariners — including one in the ninth inning — to preserve a 1-0 victory for the Angels.

After that one, former Gold Glove outfielder Torii Hunter, now a special assistant to the general manager for the Angels, said Adell had “probably the greatest defensive game I’ve ever seen.”

“He robbed three homers in one night this year, so it’s baseball, and it’s a crazy game,” Rodriguez said. “Things happen. Obviously, he didn’t do that on purpose. All you can do is really just move on.”

Adell struggled at times with fielding early in his major league career, including a play during the 2020 season when a deep drive by Rangers outfielder Nick Solak bounced out of Adell's glove for what was ruled a rare four-base error. But Adell has had far more fielding highlights than lowlights since, and he was a Gold Glove finalist in 2024.

“Jo’s made great strides defensively from when I played with him,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “And obviously, he had the night he robbed three home runs. So I look back at the strides that he’s made defensively. It was a tough play tonight, but at the same time, the strides that he’s made defensively have been great.”

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

The winners will compete in November’s critical midterm elections, in which Iowa’s U.S. Senate and House seats could determine control of the narrowly divided chambers. The next governor could also play a pivotal role in the 2028 election, given the state’s long history of making or breaking presidential hopefuls.

Two Republicans and two Democrats are competing in primaries to replace Ernst, who announced in 2025 that she would not seek a third term. U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson faces former state Sen. Jim Carlin in the Republican primary, while state Rep. Josh Turek and state Sen. Zach Wahls compete for the Democratic nomination. Carlin ran for Iowa’s other U.S. Senate seat in 2022, receiving about 27% of the primary vote against U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Reynolds also announced in 2025 that she would not seek a third term. Vying for the GOP nomination are state Rep. Eddie Andrews, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, entrepreneur and private school co-founder Zach Lahn, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and former state administrative services director Adam Steen. President Donald Trump has endorsed Feenstra.

The winner will face Democratic state Auditor Rob Sand, who is unopposed in his primary. Sand is Iowa’s only Democrat in elected statewide office.

Hinson’s and Feenstra’s statewide campaigns have created open seat contests in the state’s 2nd and 4th Congressional Districts, respectively. Feenstra’s district is heavily Republican and is unlikely to play a major role in determining control of the chamber. Hinson’s district is more competitive, although she won reelection in 2024 with 57% of the vote.

In Iowa’s most competitive congressional seats, Republican U.S. Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of the 1st District and Zach Nunn of the 3rd District are both seeking reelection. Miller-Meeks faces a rematch with her 2024 primary opponent, advertising executive David Pautsch, who received about 44% of the vote. The Democratic field includes former state Rep. Christina Bohannan, who came within 1 percentage point of defeating Miller-Meeks in one of the closest U.S. House races of 2024.

In the 3rd Congressional District, both Nunn and his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, are unopposed in their primaries.

Trump received roughly 54% of the 2024 presidential vote in both the 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts and about 52% of the 3rd District vote.

Polk, Linn and Scott counties are Iowa’s most populous, and all three play major roles in both Republican and Democratic statewide primaries. Johnson County is the fourth largest, but as home to Iowa City and the University of Iowa it is an overwhelming Democratic stronghold and tends to exert much less influence in Republican primaries.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

When do polls close?

Polls close at 8 p.m. CT, which is 9 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, auditor, state Senate and state House.

Who gets to vote?

Only voters registered with a political party may participate in that party’s primary. However, voters may change their party affiliations at the polls on the day of the primary.

How many voters are there?

As of May 4, there were about 2.1 million registered voters in Iowa, including about 692,000 registered Republicans, about 496,000 registered Democrats and about 589,000 voters not registered with any party.

How many people actually vote?

About 196,000 Republican primary votes and about 157,000 Democratic primary votes were cast in the 2022 U.S. Senate primaries.

How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?

About 16% of the Republican primary vote and about 25% of the Democratic primary vote in the 2022 U.S. Senate primaries was cast before primary day.

As of Friday, about 48,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election, roughly 30,000 in the Democratic primary and more than 18,000 in the Republican primary.

When are early and absentee votes released?

Nearly all counties release the results of absentee-by-mail voting at the start of the night. However, counties vary in terms of when they release in-person absentee voting results.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the last contested state primary in 2022, the AP first reported results at 9:12 p.m. ET, or 12 minutes after polls closed. The last vote update of the night was at 2:29 a.m. ET, with more than 99% of total votes counted.

When will the AP declare a winner?

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

How do recounts work?

Iowa does not have an automatic recount law, but candidates for statewide and federal offices may request a recount if the winning margin is less than 0.15% of the total vote. For all other offices, the required margin is less than 1% of the vote or 50 votes, whichever is smaller. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 154 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

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This story has been updated to correct the winning margin threshold under which candidates for statewide and federal offices may request a recount.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

Officers responding to a call of a bomb threat arrived at the scene around 1 p.m. at the Chase Bank building in downtown Bakersfield, and discovered a man had barricaded himself inside “with several community members,” the Bakersfield Police Department said in a statement.

Through negotiations, two of the hostages were released and the rest are in “good health,” city police Sgt. Eric Celedon said.

“We have every single resource at our disposal out here to bring this to the safest resolution possible,” he said.

Nearby buildings were evacuated, including city hall and the police headquarters, and some roads were temporarily closed, according to officials. Officers established a perimeter around the building and nearby businesses, authorities said.

Celedon warned the public to stay out of the area, explaining that this is still a very active situation.

A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase said its branch is on the ground floor of the building and is currently empty. The company is working with authorities.

The department's crisis negotiation team was in contact with the suspect by telephone.

About a dozen police cars were on scene along with one tactical vehicle and multiple emergency responders, and FBI agents were on the scene.

Jacob Davidson, a livestreamer known as Dad’s Gone Live, was a block from the bank at his family’s tattoo shop when he started getting calls from his subscribers alerting him to the bomb threat.

“I went into the bank’s parking garage and watched the cops enter the back of the bank. This is the biggest police presence I’ve ever seen in this town,” Davidson said. “Now I’m watching them set up the trauma tents with the green, red and yellow tags, and black tags too, along with a command center about a block away.”

By Tuesday night, his livestream captured through a window in the building a woman rocking back and forth before crouching further down below the window. Later, two hands could be seen waving.

Law enforcement agencies often protectively set up trauma tents — which are color-coded to help sort people based on the severity of injuries — just in case they become needed during an emergency situation.

Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh said she is closely monitoring the situation.

“The best way the public can help at this time is by avoiding the area and allowing law enforcement officers, negotiators, and other trained professionals the space and opportunity to safely carry out their duties,” she said in a statement.

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Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.

“I am Lady Sarsaparilla Ovabyte, of the Coventry Ovabytes,” she said. “We are purveyors of fine cordials.”

Her companion peered through glasses made from fused-together forks.

“Captain Bob McSpoon, inventrepreneur,” he said.

On a Victorian-era street in rural Ōamaru, New Zealand, Ovabyte and McSpoon, who usually go by Juliet and Greg Thorn, weren’t the only ones wearing goggles or forks, or emitting steam. They were in the small town to attend the annual steampunk festival, a four-day love letter to being as odd as possible, which draws thousands of visitors from around the country and abroad.

Steampunk fuses Victorian aesthetics and mechanics with a science fiction twist to create a parallel universe imagining what the age of steam might have produced if it had continued to the present day. The genre is limited only by imagination, and the weirder the better.

Steampunks pride themselves on a knack for recycling and DIY, honing skills in sewing, metalworking, hat-trimming and steam mechanics as they dream up fantastical personas with outfits to match. During the year, attendees are bricklayers, engineers, artists and farmers, with many describing themselves as normally shy or reserved. But they had come to the festival to be seen.

“The first time you dress up and go out in public is really scary and then people get such a buzz out of it,” Juliet Thorn said. “It’s so cool that you take on a different personality.”

Teapot racing and parasol dueling are steampunk sports

In its 17th year, whole traditions and sporting codes have sprung up around the steampunk festival, which is among the world’s best-known.

Hundreds crowded into upstairs rooms and old community halls for steampunk-themed contests. They raced to dunk cookies in cups of tea and cram the soggy results into their mouths before their competitors. A parasol-dueling contest looked like competitive vogueing judged on speed and style.

Michele Cotten won a fashion show displaying wild and upcycled outfits that participants spent months finessing. Cotten fused steampunk with the Star Trek universe to create a hooped dress made in the style of a navy Starfleet uniform. It was rigged with Christmas lights to evoke a galaxy and Cotten, a crowd favorite, strutted and posed to whoops from onlookers.

Then there was the teapot racing, in which competitors sent remote-controlled vehicles mounted with teapots around a fiendish obstacle course to the gasps and groans of a watching crowd.

“If you go out of bounds, that’s a disqualification,” said Ross McKay, one of the sport’s creators, who dreamed it up with his late wife and a friend. He has since introduced teapot racing to other steampunk events worldwide.

“It’s lots of fun and the judges will take bribes,” he added.

When McKay’s wife showed him pictures of steampunks, he recalled thinking, “What a bunch of weirdos," but the self-confessed “history geek and science fiction nerd” found plenty to love about the genre. The retired banker was soon enrolled in night classes for sewing.

Now he is Captain Roscoe Dangerfield, Inspector of Nuisances to Her Majesty Queen Victoria III, which combines the historical element of a real Victorian job with the fiction of a monarch who never lived.

The steampunk community had become his tribe, he said.

Small town is an unlikely steampunk capital

Ōamaru is the placid home to 14,000 people and 3,000 endangered native penguins, the latter of which live at the far end of town in a colony so pungent it can be smelled from the hill above. The town on New Zealand’s South Island doesn’t feature the sweeping vistas popularized by the Lord of the Rings films, which bring tourists to nearby regions, and for years was mostly seen as a stopping point between the cities of Christchurch and Dunedin.

An architectural quirk has put Ōamaru on the map as what locals call the steampunk capital of the world. The town features a completely preserved Victorian street by the harbor, a legacy from the 19th century days when Ōamaru was a commercial and mercantile powerhouse as a departure point for meat, wool and grain exports from New Zealand to Britain.

The cream-colored stone buildings now form the backdrop for the festival's steampunk adventures. Later in the year the town also hosts a Victorian festival celebrating a historically accurate version of the era, with the events coexisting peacefully after the steampunks and Victorians decided the town was big enough for everyone.

Anything goes in a no-rules genre

Steampunk, a term coined in the 1980s, gives participants an opportunity to rewrite Victorian-era social conventions on the basis that if you are flying on a magic carpet or traveling through time, it doesn’t matter if you make the rest up.

“We’re an equal opportunity society,” said Iain Clark, who co-founded the festival and is widely known in the community as Agent Darling. “Women, unlike in Victorian times, can be anything. We have female engineers, captains of industry, captains of airships, adventurers, explorers, scientists.”

Sometimes all in the same week. Bringing a different outfit for each day of the event is common and fitting rooms at the festival’s headquarters allow for quick changes, with nothing strange enough to raise eyebrows.

In the street, a Star Wars trooper trudged past, followed by a pack of wolves. A French tourist nervously adjusting his crocheted and leather gloves was introduced to steampunk only three days earlier and immediately fell in love with the genre.

“You can be creative and you can be somebody else and no one cares,” said John Syben, who was attending his fourth festival.

His partner, Chris Sinclair, said the pair previously had been “far too tame, so we’ve gotten more and more outrageous every year.”

“There’s always someone who’s more nuts than you," she said.

Iran fired missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, but failed to hit their targets, the U.S. said. The two fired at Kuwait fell apart en route, while U.S. and Bahraini forces intercepted the missiles aimed at Bahrain.

U.S. Central Command said it responded with strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain and another country in its attack, without naming Kuwait. It said it launched its attack in response to the U.S. firing a missile into the engine room of another oil tanker trying to reach Iran despite the U.S. blockade.

“We had previously warned that in case of aggression, the response would be different and more severe, and we acted accordingly," the Guard said in its statement.

Central Command also said it “downed multiple drones” launched by Iran targeting American forces in Kuwait.

The attacks happened after Iran stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the U.S. and Israel, according to reports Tuesday from two semiofficial Iranian news agencies. President Donald Trump disputed the claim and said talks were continuing.

The reports by the Fars and Tasnim news agencies, both believed to be close to the Guard, came as tensions flared in Israel’s separate-but-related fight against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, told The Associated Press that Iran had not communicated at all on Tuesday after saying that a ceasefire needed to be enforced in Lebanon for negotiations to continue.

Trump says talks ‘going on continuously’

Trump called reports of a cessation in talks “false and erroneous.”

“The conversations between us have been going on continuously, including four days ago, three days ago, two days ago, one day ago and today,” Trump said in a social media post. "Where they lead, one never knows, but as I told Iran, ‘It’s time, one way or another, for you to make a Deal."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not address the reported cutoff in communications as he testified at a congressional hearing in Washington. Instead, he sounded an optimistic note about the nuclear dimension of the negotiations, while cautioning that there’s no guarantee of reaching “a deal that’s acceptable.”

Iran has been trying to increase pressure on Trump over negotiations on the Iran war ceasefire and loosening the Islamic Republic's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and the oil, gas and other commodities that normally pass through it. Trump then could potentially push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt or slow the advance of his forces, which have moved deeper into Lebanon than at any time in over a quarter of a century.

The conflicts have increasingly become conjoined, as Iran insists that any potential truce in the war there must also quell the fighting in Lebanon.

Israel and the U.S. maintain the fighting in Lebanon is separate from the Iran war talks.

Inflation takes an economic toll on Iran

Meanwhile, year-on-year inflation in Iran reached a level in May unseen since World War II, underlining the economic pain average Iranians are facing. While the U.S. is eager to ease the Islamic Republic's grip on the strait — through which a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed in peacetime — Iran faces economic challenges as its oil-backed economy remains under a U.S. naval blockade.

Economic pressure touched off nationwide protests in Iran in 2017 into 2018, when rising food prices sparked demonstrations that killed over 20 people and saw hundreds arrested. The next year, an increase in government-subsidized gasoline prices caused protests that saw over 300 people reportedly killed.

Then came the protests over the collapsing value of Iran's currency, the rial, at the start of this year. They were the most intense demonstrations to shake the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution and the chaotic years that followed. Iran's theocracy met January's protests with a crackdown on demonstrators in January that killed over 7,000 people, according to activists' estimates.

Now, even as hard-liners hold gun-handling workshops and organize marriages under the shadow of a ballistic missile to bolster spirits, experts note there could be new demonstrations if people find themselves priced out of feeding their families.

“I have no doubt that if Trump leaves (Iran without a formal peace deal) ... most probably, we will see something like January by the end of summer because of the economic and social situations," analyst Mohsen Jalilvand said in a video published by Iran's Fararu news website.

Iran faces skyrocketing inflation

Iran's Central Bank said the consumer price index, which measures a basket of goods and services, reached 77.2% in May compared with the year before. The rate is 8.5% higher than in April, the bank added. Inflation in daily and general needs — like medicine, taxi fares, tobacco and communication fees — rose 113.8% from the year before.

A private economic think tank in Iran, the Bamdad Institute of Economic Studies, described the current figures as “an unprecedented rate since World War II.” Iran’s Central Bank did not acknowledge the significance of the figures.

The previous record came in 1942. During the war, the British and Soviets invaded Iran and took over its railway, disrupting food supplies. The lack of food, worsened by a poor harvest, sparked hyperinflation and a famine. Hunger and a typhus outbreak killed many.

Airstrikes this year have greatly damaged Iran's businesses and its oil industry, Meanwhile, the U.S. blockade has been targeting Iranian crude oil shipments trying to reach the international market, a key source of hard revenue. Tax revenues have been depressed by businesses struggling even after the fighting paused.

The rial, which traded at 32,000 to $1 in 2015, now trades at over 1.7 million to $1.

“We will definitely have higher prices," Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned in May. "We are fighting, and we must accept this hardship.”

Tehran-based economist Saeed Leilaz, speaking to the AP, warned that annual inflation in Iran could reach 80%.

"Iran’s society cannot tolerate above 25%” annual inflation, he said.

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Karimi reported from Tehran, Iran. Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York and Aamer Madhani and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

Turek, who defeated state Sen. Zach Wahls for his party's nomination, now faces a full-throttled Republican defense of the retiring two-term Sen. Joni Ernst’s seat, which the GOP considers pivotal to keeping its Senate majority.

Hinson, endorsed by Trump and Republican leaders, prevailed over former state Sen. Jim Carlin to secure the GOP’s nomination for Senate.

The Senate primaries were among many competitive races in Iowa attracting national interest, including from the White House. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both touched down in the state this year to shore up Republican enthusiasm.

Trump suffered a rare loss of a candidate he backed in this year's Republican primaries. Zach Lahn won the Republican primary for Iowa governor over U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, who was endorsed by the president. Trump said in his Friday endorsement of Feenstra that “Randy is MAGA all the way!”

Lahn previously worked for conservative political organization Americans for Prosperity.

Democrats feel hopeful that high prices, lost manufacturing jobs, shuttered healthcare facilities and a struggling agricultural economy will help the party dismantle the all-GOP federal delegation and Republican statehouse trifecta.

State Auditor Rob Sand, the lone Democrat currently holding statewide office, is the party’s nominee for governor. Unopposed in the primary, Sand has been able to hone his moderate message, remind voters of his rural upbringing and amass an $18 million campaign fund.

Tense Senate primary grappled with Democratic establishment and electability

While many voters felt Turek and Wahls were largely aligned on key Democratic positions, Turek prevailed in convincing voters that he’s better to go up against Hinson.

Turek told an election night crowd that he has been a fighter his whole life and will fight for Iowans in Washington.

“This is what we need in D.C., fighters for the people. And that is what I will be in the United States Senate,” he said to cheers. He also criticized Hinson, saying “she does not represent Iowa and does not represent our values.”

Turek, a relative newcomer to elected office, leaned on his experience campaigning and winning in a red, Trump-won state House district as evidence that he could appeal to independent and moderate Republican voters in November. He played professional wheelchair basketball in Europe, and he competed for the U.S. in four Paralympics, including as recently as 2021. He won his state House seat in 2022.

Turek referred to himself as an underdog when he launched last August and said last week that he still thinks of his campaign that way, especially against Hinson. Still, a flood of outside support and Washington endorsements boosted him in the final stretch. A Democratic political operation spent millions of dollars to blanket the airwaves, social media and mailboxes. An adviser for VoteVets said in a statement Tuesday that they were “ready to continue the fight.”

Political organizations affiliated with U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, Senate minority leader, and Kirsten Gillibrand, who chairs the Democratic Senate campaign arm, have both contributed to Turek’s campaign committee.

Wahls had criticized the massive cash spend for Turek as insiders’ influence on the race and made his opposition to Schumer as party leader a defining tenet of his campaign. He criticized a coastal playbook that doesn’t work in Iowa.

But Wahls on Tuesday vowed to support Turek in the general election, saying he was committed to beating Hinson.

As Democrats look to reclaim Senate control, Iowa was one of the last states on the map where candidates were still fighting to be the party’s nominee. The GOP Senate campaign arm has committed $29 million to help Hinson, who currently represents northeast Iowa in Congress.

Hinson’s campaign immediately went on the attack against Turek, criticizing what she called his “radical record” and his support from Schumer.

“Chuck Schumer is on the ballot in Iowa – he goes by the name Josh Turek,” the campaign said.

GOP jostling over the governor’s seat

Lahn will face Sand in the race to replace Gov. Kim Reynolds, who opted out of a third bid.

Feenstra said late Tuesday that he called Lahn to concede.

Feenstra told supporters in Hull, Iowa, that the outcome “wasn’t what we probably wanted” but that it would start a new chapter. He said he called Lahn to tell him to “carry the torch.”

Declaring victory, Lahn said he’s not a politician and that as his own biggest donor “I have not been bought and I will not be bought.”

“Tonight is just the beginning,” he said. “The fight starts now.”

Lahn championed policies that appealed to Iowa’s conservative grassroots supporters, including a total ban on abortion and keeping liberal ideology out of public school classrooms.

He also embraced the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

He was endorsed by former U.S. Rep. Steve King, who Feenstra unseated in the 2020 Republican congressional primary. After Trump endorsed Feenstra Friday, Turning Point Action, the conservative group founded by Charlie Kirk, gave their support to Lahn.

While Republicans celebrate years of progress under Reynolds, the primary has unearthed sticking points over economic development, tax policy and property rights, as well as the relationship between the state’s water quality, farm conservation practices and rising cancer rates.

Primaries in targeted congressional seats

Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, endorsed by Trump, again fended off a 1st District challenge from businessman David Pautsch, who had earned 44% of votes against the incumbent congresswoman in the 2024 primary. Three-time Democratic candidate Christina Bohannan, who came about 800 votes shy of unseating Miller-Meeks in the last election, won the nomination from her party in the district, fending off first-time candidate Travis Terrell.

In northeastern Iowa, former state Rep. Joe Mitchell, endorsed by Trump, secured the Republican nomination for Hinson’s open 2nd District seat over state Sen. Charlie McClintock. State Rep. Lindsay James won the Democratic nomination, defeating former nonprofit leader Clint Twedt-Ball and Kathy Dolter, a former dean of nursing at an Iowa community college.

Republican incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn and Democratic state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott are both unopposed on the primary ballot in the competitive 3rd Congressional District.

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Associated Press reporter Thomas Beaumont contributed from Iowa City.

And by midway through the opening period, they were down two goals against a fast-skating Carolina Hurricanes team riding the energy from a buzzing home crowd.

No matter. And no panic. Not with these tested Golden Knights.

Tomas Hertl took a backhand pass from Colton Sissons and beat Frederik Andersen from the slot with 3:24 left in the third period, lifting the Golden Knights past the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in Tuesday night’s opener of the Stanley Cup Final.

“I've said it all through the playoffs: it's a find-a-way league,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. “We found a way tonight.”

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday in Raleigh, with Vegas already having taken home ice away from the Hurricanes as it chases a second Cup title in four seasons.

“Momentum swings happen quickly,” Tortorella said. “We want to keep the momentum on our side, so there’s no question we’re looking to get two.”

Hertl’s finish off Sissons' feed from the right faceoff circle broke a 4-4 tie and pushed the Golden Knights ahead in an entertaining, back-and-forth start on the sport’s biggest stage. It marked Vegas’ seventh straight win of the playoffs, starting with the last two games of the six-game second-round series against Anaheim and then the shocking four-game sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche.

That series included Vegas erasing a 3-0 deficit to take Game 3, and now the Golden Knights have followed by rallying from another multigoal deficit — this time 2-0 in the opening period — against the team that finished second only to the Avs in the regular season.

“It was a terrible start,” said center William Karlsson, who capped a run of three straight goals that pushed Vegas to a 3-2 second-period lead. “Just like it was against Colorado, a lot of time left. We always believe.”

Things changed after Tortorella gathered his team around the bench during a TV timeout after the Hurricanes had sprinted out to their lead, coming as Vegas had a slow start out of its six-day break while waiting for Carolina to close out Montreal in a five-game Eastern Conference Final.

“Just stick with the program, on our game plan, and not get impatient," said defenseman Brayden McNabb, who had three assists. “They pressure a lot and we want to keep the puck going north, and limit east-west plays.”

Shea Theodore, Ivan Barbashev and Brett Howden also scored for Vegas, with Howden’s postseason-leading 11th score giving the Golden Knights a 4-3 lead just 1:21 into the third period. Carter Hart finished with 23 saves, including a key stop on Seth Jarvis only seconds before Hertl's winner.

Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice for the Hurricanes, the first coming 25 seconds into the game when he got loose on a rush and blasted one past Hart from the left side on the game’s first shot. He followed with a breakaway that gave Carolina a 2-0 lead and sent a charged home crowd into an eruption in the team’s first Stanley Cup Final game in two decades.

Jordan Staal and Shayne Gostisbehere each scored tying goals after Vegas had pushed to a lead, with Gostisbehere skating in clean on the left side to blast one past Hart at 11:19 of the third period and tie it once more at 4-all. Andersen finished with 18 saves.

“I thought they played just a little bit better than us,” Staal said. “They executed their game plan and aggressive on their forecheck and played in our end, and they buried their chances when they had them.”

The Hurricanes went 12-1 through three rounds to get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since now-coach Rod Brind'Amour captained them to the title in 2006. It also comes amid an eight-year playoff streak that has included at least one series win every time as a regular postseason contender.

Carolina swept through Ottawa and Philadelphia before taking the last four games of a five-game win against Montreal to punch through an Eastern Conference Final roadblock. That made the Hurricanes the first team since 1983 to reach the Stanley Cup Final with one loss, and the first since the NHL went to best-of-seven series in all four rounds in 1987.

Meanwhile, Vegas had been getting stronger with every playoff round, winning for 19 of 24 games going back to the unexpected late-season firing of Bruce Cassidy and replace him with Tortorella. That included the shocking result against the Avalanche, who managed just seven goals in four games.

Defense had been the standout feature for both teams, in fact, with Carolina having allowed two or fewer goals in 12 of 13 playoff games. But that wasn't the case in Tuesday's fast-paced series opener, with both teams capitalizing on their chances in an entertaining back-and-forth game before Hertl got Vegas the lead for good.

“This is a totally different team, and that may be part of it too,” Brind'Amour said when asked about comparisons to the 6-2 loss to the Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final. “We’ve got to get up to speed on how this game and this series is going to go. I think we certainly got a taste of that now.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The justices granted the state’s emergency appeal to use a map it adopted three years ago that has a majority-Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts. The three liberal justices dissented.

The high-court order is the latest development in a redistricting frenzy that is part of a broader push by President Donald Trump to try to hold on to Republicans’ slim House majority in the November elections. It comes a day before an important deadline that Republican Gov. Kay Ivey had already extended in the state’s desire to use the map in special primary elections in August.

The state’s Republican leadership went to the Supreme Court last week, the day after a three-judge court refused to let the state use its preferred map.

The lower court had ordered Alabama to use the same court-drawn map it used in the 2024 elections that sent two Black Democrats to Congress. Black residents comprise a majority or close to it in two of the state’s seven congressional districts.

"The Supreme Court’s decision gives cover to Alabama and others to deliberately and openly discriminate against Black voters without fear of any consequence. The Court’s shameless decision to reinstate an intentionally racially discriminatory map defies any thoughtful or consistent application of the law,” Deuel Ross, director of litigation for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said Tuesday night.

He said the fund will “continue to throw all of our resources into the fight to ensure that Alabama voters have the fair representation that they deserve.”

Shortly after the court acted, Ivey confirmed that the state will use the map in special congressional primaries in four districts on Aug. 11.

“The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what I have said all along and that is that Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best. Today’s decision is a win for the people of Alabama and our elections. Alabama is doing our part to keep America strong, and I am proud our state continues to fight the fight to ensure activists do not get the final say,” Ivey said.

“I will see y’all at the polls August 11!” she said.

The order is the latest development in the fallout from last month’s Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Black-majority district in Louisiana and weakened the federal Voting Rights Act. That ruling has led Republicans in several Southern states, including Alabama, to take steps to reshape voting districts with large minority populations that have elected Democrats.

The Alabama cases stretches back several years. The three-judge panel in 2023 ruled that a map drawn by Republican state lawmakers intentionally diluted the voting power of Black citizens. The court said the state, which is about 27% Black, should have two districts where Black voters are the majority or close to it.

After the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in the Louisiana case, Alabama officials moved to implement the 2023 state-drawn map. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority agreed to lift the injunction that had blocked the map’s use and sent the case back to the three-judge panel for reconsideration in light of the Louisiana ruling.

In the meantime, voters cast ballots in Alabama’s May 19 primaries, and Ivey set the new special August primaries in the districts affected by the map switch.

Upon further review, the judicial panel said it was standing behind its initial finding that there was “undisputed evidence” of intentional racial discrimination.

It said the special congressional primaries should instead proceed under the previous court-approved districts.

The panel was wrong, the high court’s conservative majority wrote in an unsigned opinion that said the lower court “did not heed the presumption of legislative good faith.”

In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor chastised her colleagues for enabling what promises to be “a chaotic election, held under a never-before-used congressional map that intentionally discriminates against Black Alabamians.”

The use of the court-ordered map led to the 2024 election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, a Black Democrat. The map put into place by Tuesday’s order gives the GOP an opportunity to reclaim the south Alabama seat.

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Associated Press writer Kim Chandler contributed to this report from Montgomery, Ala.

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

Matt Olson marked his 844th consecutive game with a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning, giving the Braves a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Olson's towering shot — his 17th homer of the season — got a big assist from a strong breeze blowing toward the right-field corner. The slugging first baseman thought he got under the ball, but it kept drifting and drifting — until it barely cleared the tall brick wall.

“I did not" think it was a homer, Olson said. “Luckily, we had some wind blowing out that way.”

Appropriately, Olson took a starring role on a day that Major League Baseball marked the 85th anniversary of Gehrig's untimely death from ALS at age 37 — a disease that is forever linked to the Iron Horse and cut short his then-record streak of 2,130 consecutive games.

Olson, who also doubled and came around to score a run that gave Atlanta a 3-2 lead in the third, has played in every game going back to May 2, 2021 — the longest active run in the big leagues.

“We've talked about the streak,” he said. “It's not something I'm hanging up on a pedestal. But to be able to show up and play while I'm able to, I want to.”

Braves manager Walt Weiss praised Olson's durability and couldn't think of higher praise than being compared to Gehrig.

“Lou Gehrig was one of my all-time heroes,” Weiss said. “I made all four of my sons do their fifth-grade book report on Lou Gehrig. That was mandatory in our house. What a legacy he left behind. And you've got our iron man hitting the game-winning homer on Lou Gehrig Day, so very appropriate."

Olson was acquired in a blockbuster deal with the Athletics ahead of the 2022 season after the Braves couldn't agree on a new contract with longtime first baseman Freddie Freeman.

It was huge shoes to fill, but Olson has been highly productive since joining the Braves. He hit a franchise-record 54 homers in 2023, and is on pace for another big season for the team with baseball's best record at 41-20.

“He's rock-solid in every way," Weiss said. “He's so reliable.”

Olson said there's a simple reason that he prefers playing every day, eschewing even the occasional day off.

“I just don't like sitting,” the 32-year-old said with a smile. “I've had days off in the past and, man, it sucks sitting there and watching everybody else play. Sure, you're tired sometimes. But I just think you have a commitment to your teammates and the fans and yourself and the organization. If you can go, you should go.”

His playing streak is the longest in the big leagues since Miguel Tejada had 1,152 consecutive games from 2000-07. Of course, Gehrig's record was broken by Cal Ripken Jr., who played in 2,632 consecutive games during his Hall of Fame career with the Baltimore Orioles.

Like Weiss, Olson appreciates what Gehrig meant to the national pastime and especially how he brought more attention to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurological disease that has no known cure.

“I know people from my area who've been affected by it," Olson said. “A brutal disease. Every time we get a chance to bring some awareness to it and do something to help people who are really affected by it, we're all for it.”

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

“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in response to questions at a House hearing on the Justice Department budget.

"Not moving forward ever?” asked Rep. Grace Meng, a New York Democrat.

“Correct,” Blanche answered.

The blunt declaration marked an extraordinary, and rare, Trump administration turnabout in the face of mounting political opposition to a fund that officials said was meant to compensate people who believe they have been improperly targeted by the criminal justice system. Since the establishment of the fund two weeks ago, it’s been paused by a judge and lambasted by Democrats and Republicans alike who said they were troubled by a lack of oversight and the potential for payouts to participants in the violent Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The fund drew concerns even from Republicans

The furor especially complicated matters in the Senate, where Republicans defiantly left town nearly two weeks ago without passing legislation to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies after Democrats said they would offer amendments to scrap or scale back the compensation fund.

Furious, Senate Republicans jettisoned White House security money from the bill and made clear they would not pass the legislation at all unless the administration made major changes to the plan. They had sought reassurances from Blanche before moving forward.

The $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was established last month to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. The Justice Department had said it was an appropriate measure to correct what officials have insisted was the weaponization of federal law enforcement during the Biden administration, when Trump faced criminal charges and several of his allies were investigated and prosecuted.

The administration had said that anyone who felt unfairly persecuted could apply for compensation regardless of political affiliation, but Blanche's refusal to publicly foreclose the possibility that people convicted of crimes of violence in the Jan. 6 riot could get payouts alarmed lawmakers. A five-member commission was to have been responsible for deciding on the payouts, though no commissioners had yet been named and the criteria for eligibility remained unclear.

Blanche made clear Tuesday that he stood behind the rationale for the fund even as he was abandoning its implementation, saying: “This Department of Justice, unfortunately, was weaponized against many, many Americans, and we’re trying every day to to fix it. And we’ve made a lot of progress, but we have a lot more to do.”

Merrick Garland, the attorney general under President Joe Biden, has denied allegations of politicization and said his decisions followed the facts, the evidence and the law. The Justice Department under his leadership investigated prominent Democrats too, most notably by appointing a special counsel to investigate Biden's handling of classified information and another special counsel who brought tax and gun charges against Biden's son Hunter.

As part of the same deal to resolve the tax lawsuit, the IRS agreed to drop any pending probes of Trump over whether he’s paid his fair share of taxes. Pressed over whether it was also abandoning that part of the deal, Blanche said “nothing has changed with that,” and said the administration was only backing away from plans to create the $1.8 billion fund.

The administration had earlier hinted at a retreat

Signs of the retreat surfaced Monday when a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that the Republican president was reconsidering whether to move forward with the fund. The Justice Department said separately it would comply with a Virginia court temporarily blocking the fund, effectively agreeing to pause the plan for at least several weeks.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday that he hoped the White House would move to drop the fund, telling reporters, “I do think the best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves."

The hearing Tuesday before a House Appropriations subcommittee was scheduled for discussion of the Justice Department's budget, but lawmakers quickly focused their questioning on the fund.

“This administration has engaged in what are perhaps the most brazen acts of flagrant corruption I’ve ever seen,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, said before Blanche announced the abandonment of the fund. “And you are at the center of many of them, Mr. Blanche.”

She called the fund “a corrupt payout scheme for the president and his political allies. It is shameful.”

Courts reacted coolly to the fund

The Justice Department’s efforts to move forward with the fund were also facing headwinds in the courts after several lawsuits filed by Trump critics, including a fired Jan. 6 prosecutor and two police officers who helped defend the Capitol.

On Friday, a federal judge in Virginia halted the fund’s formation and any potential payouts for at least two weeks and scheduled a June 12 hearing for arguments on whether to extend her order. Separately, the judge in Florida overseeing Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS ordered the president’s attorneys to respond to “grievous allegations” by settlement critics that Trump abandoned his claims to avoid the court’s scrutiny of an illegal deal.

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward — which brought one of the lawsuits — said of Blanche’s comments Tuesday, “If you can say it on TV, you should say it in court.”

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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated Moscow’s aerial campaign in recent weeks in an apparent bid to take advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of U.S.-made air defense systems and persuade an increasingly pessimistic audience at home that Moscow is prevailing in the 4-year-old war.

Emergency rescue crews digging through the wreckage of apartment buildings pulled out the bodies of a 3-year-old child as well as those of a woman and her 8-year-old son in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, officials said.

The attack stretched past dawn, with explosions reverberating across cities. Officials said 16 people were killed in Dnipro and six in Kyiv.

Residents of the capital have been on edge for days after Russia warned last week that a massive aerial attack was coming and told foreign diplomats to leave. None appeared to heed the call and no embassies immediately reported damage Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for more U.S. and European support, describing the massive overnight attack as “an explicit statement by Russia: If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic missiles and other missile strikes, those strikes will continue.”

Putin has stepped up his aerial campaign against Ukraine, with Russian forces recently launching another of their powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missiles. Ukraine's shortage of air defense systems, in part because of depleted U.S. stocks from the Iran war, has left civilians especially vulnerable to ballistic missiles, even as Kyiv's defenses stop most of Moscow's drones.

A mother and daughter shelter in a bathtub

At least 81 people were wounded in the capital, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration. Iryna Salikova, 37, spent the night lying in a bathtub for protection with her 3-year-old daughter, as blasts reverberated across the city.

“Our window was broken. A cobblestone flew into the children’s room,” Salikova said, although they weren't hurt. “Thank God we’re alive. Today we’re alive, today we’re lucky.”

Russia unleashed 73 missiles and 656 drones across Ukraine, according to the country’s air force, with the main targets including Kyiv, Dnipro and the eastern cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defenses destroyed or suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.

Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov proclaimed Wednesday would be a day of mourning for the dead in his city. That announcement came 20 minutes before Filatov said another drone had struck a residential building there about 2:40 p.m.

Putin seeks to change the narrative of the war

Putin is keen to generate some positive news from the conflict that began with Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor and hasn’t gone according to plan.

Western officials and analysts say Ukrainian drones are pinning down Russian troops on the front line, choking Russian supply lines in occupied regions of Ukraine and disrupting oil facilities deep inside Russia that provide vital revenue for Moscow. That has made the war, which Moscow refers to as a “special military operation,” more visible to Russians and increased pressure on Putin.

U.S.-led peace efforts have fizzled out as the sides made no progress on key differences and after the war in Iran grabbed Washington’s attention. Zelenskyy accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by U.S. President Donald Trump but Putin refused.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that Tuesday's bombardment struck military-industrial facilities in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi and Sumy regions.

Ukraine said residential, energy and civilian infrastructure was hit but did not confirm or comment on damage to any military-related sites.

Putin signaled that Russia won’t let up its attacks. He said Tuesday that Ukraine’s May 22 drone attack on a college dormitory in Starobilsk in the Russia-controlled Luhansk region of Ukraine that killed 21 had given the war “a whole new dimension.”

Ukraine said the attack in Starobilsk hit a Russian drone pilot training center.

Man hurled from Kyiv apartment by blast

Hits of 30 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 drones were recorded in at least 38 locations across Ukraine, according to regional authorities. Debris from destroyed drones fell on 15 locations, the air force said.

Damage was recorded to residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in eight districts of Kyiv.

Olena Dniprovska, 65, and her husband Yevhen, 64, were wounded in their apartment in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district.

“I went out into the corridor with the phone, and before I understood what happened, everything fell on my head, the glass, and the door blew off,” said Dniprovska, dried blood streaked across her face and a bandage on her chin. “I ran out into the front door and started calling my husband from the room, but he was also blown out by the blast wave.”

“Now I have nowhere to live, the apartment is completely destroyed, no doors, no windows, no balcony. You can step straight from the room out onto the street,” she said.

In Kharkiv, at least 19 people were wounded in residential areas in the past two days — including 11 on Tuesday.

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Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed.

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Among them is Fatima Yousufi, who fled her country and arrived in Australia with a backpack and a burning ambition to play international soccer.

Yousufi and others like Mona Amini had been able to study and to play soccer until the Taliban took over and shut down all women’s sports. The national team players left Afghanistan, fearing persecution.

After a frantic evacuation, 13 of the players settled in Australia where for five years they lived, played and trained in the hope of once again being allowed to represent their country.

This week, 23 members of the Afghan Women United program are in a training camp in Auckland, New Zealand and will play games against a team from the Cook Islands.

The national soccer federation doesn’t recognize the women’s team. But in April, soccer’s world governing body granted the Afghan women’s team eligibility for international competition.

“It was a special day that we heard that Afghanistan can represent again our flag in international tournaments," Amini, a midfielder, told The Associated Press in a Zoom call Tuesday. “This is the result of hard work that we did in the past four or five years.”

Seven months ago, the Afghan women played in the so-called “Unite” tournament, and had a win over Libya.

“It was a very special moment because we played in an international friendly tournament, and after three years we heard our anthem,” Amini said. “That was amazing for me.”

A better future

FIFA’s subsequent recognition was another important milestone on a long and perilous journey.

Yousufi, a Melbourne-based goalkeeper, remembers her reaction vividly.

“We’re going to have the national team! That’s the greatest thing ever that could have happened to the team," she said. “It was super important to us, especially thinking of the time when we arrived in Australia and we had lost everything: family, our childhood memories and that national team.”

Yousufi said she left home with one backpack, “to be safe and to continue to be alive.”

“When we came here the most important part of our life was to be a soccer player and to be a soccer team,” she said. "When we we saw we could not be (officially) a national team and we could not represent our country ... it was like I lost the game.”

While many ended up in Australia, there are Afghan players spread across Europe and some in the United States. Coach Pauline Hamill holds talent identification camps and helps pull the squad together for games.

Memories of their darkest days remain a strong part of the team’s motivation to succeed, and to represent women and girls still in their homeland. The Afghan women’s team played its last official competitive match in 2018.

“We couldn’t play freely in Afghanistan," Amini said. “Going out from home was tough because there was the risk of the Taliban seeing us and finding that we were playing soccer. "It was a very tough time and I’m pretty sure every one of the girls, every single one of us, fought hard to create this team and we are very happy right now to stay with each other.”

A student and an athlete

Yousufi was a student and a soccer player, and she said it was difficult even before the Taliban returned to power “for a girl to play football in Afghanistan with such difficulties as family barriers and difficulties of the society to accept a woman in sport.”

“We were thinking of any other outcomes like the danger we were facing, everyday dangers in Afghanistan like bomb explosions. Considering all those things — and it was the same for the other girls — we took all those risks to be part of the national team and to be a football player.”

Then life became even more difficult.

“The only thing humans want is freedom, and the Taliban took our freedom,” Amini said. “It is really difficult that you cannot educate, you cannot play sport, you cannot go outside or you cannot do what you love ... (or) follow your dreams.”

Role models

Amini said the refugee players now were determined to represent all women and girls in Afghanistan.

“We are here and we are going to be trying our best to do something for them, to be the voice of them so that we could have a new generation for the future for the Afghanistan women’s national team,” she said.

Yousufi said she was among a group of players “adopted by the Australian government,” and “we’re now living our life and continuing our journey with football, with our education and also being a voice for all those girls who are in Afghanistan.”

“Our team might be the one to change the way the people think and also the way that things are happening towards the girls and women in Afghanistan," she said. “We're all trying our best show that women and girls can be part of the society and can be someone who is in education or in sport, that women also have the right to do that.”

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

In a wide-ranging interview with “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg to promote her White House memoir, the former first lady said Tuesday that she had put life in perspective after her husband, former President Joe Biden, was diagnosed with prostate cancer that spread to his bones.

She said she is no longer angry about the way Democrats pressured her husband to end his reelection bid after performing disastrously in a 2024 debate against Republican Donald Trump.

“No, I’m not angry. I mean, what’s the purpose of anger now?” Jill Biden said at the first event for her book, held at the 92nd Street Y in New York following publication earlier Tuesday.

‘I think we were partly in denial’

Jill Biden wrote in the memoir, “View from the East Wing,” that addiction wasn’t something she and her husband talked about. “I think we were partly in denial,” she acknowledged, adding that she wondered why someone who had a family that loved him, a good education and a lucrative career would turn to drugs.

“It’s hard for me to say this, but Hunter was a drug addict,” she said Tuesday.

She said Hunter's spiral into addiction was “a really hard time for our family to go through.” Hunter Biden started abusing alcohol and drugs after his older brother, Beau Biden, died in 2015 of an aggressive form of brain cancer. Hunter has now been sober for several years, she said.

“I'm sorry that I didn't talk about it a little bit more,” she said on stage.

Jill Biden spoke about how proud she is of Hunter for turning his life around, becoming an artist and helping other recovering addicts.

“And I hope that by talking about it more as I go forward I hope that it offers other people hope,” she said. “It is such a tough, tough thing to deal with.”

Hunter Biden wrote about his addiction to drugs and alcohol in a memoir of his own, published in 2021.

His addiction led to federal charges that he lied about his drug use on forms he used to buy a gun. He was convicted after a trial and faced prison time but ultimately received a pardon from his father, who had repeatedly insisted that he wouldn’t use the powers of the presidency to spare his son — until he changed his mind just before turning the office over to Trump, who had talked about exacting “retribution” against those he perceived to be his political enemies.

Fighting cancer has been tough, too

Jill Biden has said she was angry over how the Democratic Party treated her husband after the debate — but has since put that aside after Joe Biden was diagnosed a year ago with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that spread to his bones.

“I think Joe's cancer diagnosis, it really puts life into perspective and you really do appreciate each and every day and a lot of anger that you have, you think, 'What's the point?' You know, ‘What is the point?’ she said. ”And I think that's why Joe and I try to, you know, just take each day that comes and try to find the joys."

The former president, 83, was in the audience for the event, along with many other Biden family members, and received a couple of standing ovations from the packed house.

She said when the doctor told them that her husband of nearly 50 years had a problem, “I never ever thought it was going to be prostate cancer.” She said that type of cancer is one thing, but it becomes “a whole different ballgame” after it attacks the bone.

She didn't go into the details, but suggested the former president's cancer treatment is taking a toll on him.

“Joe's here tonight. You see him. He looks handsome as ever,” she said. "But, you know, cancer drugs, cancer treatments have their consequences and I think those consequences are pretty tough.”

Living in a ‘fishbowl’

Biden, who turns 75 on Wednesday, described some of her favorite memories of life in the White House, including weekends at Camp David and working with military families.

She said the hardest part of the role of first lady, in her experience, is the loss of privacy.

“You really do live in a fishbowl,” she said. “Everybody knows everywhere you are. It's the truth. I couldn't even walk downstairs to my office."

She mimicked how U.S. Secret Service officers would speak into their devices as she walked through the White House, using their code name for her.

“'Capri on elevator. Capri walking down hallway. Capri walking up steps. Capri walking outside,'” Jill Biden said, as the audience laughed. She also cited the scrutiny of her clothes, including one time she was photographed in Washington with her hair pulled into a ponytail by a scrunchie.

’I wore a scrunchie and they wrote about it," she said. "Who cares?”

The killing of 18-year-old Henry Nowak in December drew renewed attention after the killer was sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 years in prison on Monday, and following the release of a video showing police dismissing Nowak when he said that he had been stabbed.

The killer, Vickrum Digwa, 23, who is Sikh, had reported to police that he was the victim of a racist attack by Nowak, who was white.

Officers who arrived at the scene on a residential street in the southern England coastal city of Southampton appeared to take him at his word. But the court determined that Digwa had lied about being the victim of racism.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was sickened by the video and said there were questions to be answered about how “accusations of racism informed the decision-making in this case."

On Tuesday night, hundreds protested the arrest outside a Southampton police station, with some protesters shouting, “I can't breathe.”

A large group then walked to an area near where Nowak was killed and clashed with riot police, who retreated as they were pelted with chairs, rocks and flares.

Victim complained he couldn't breathe as police handcuffed him

In the video, Nowak is seen lying on his back, telling police he had been stabbed as they grabbed his wrists and tried to make him sit up. He repeatedly said he couldn't breathe.

“You've been stabbed? Whereabouts?” an officer said in the video. “Don't think you have, mate.”

After the sentencing hearing, the victim's father, Mark Nowak, said the case was not about racism or religion, and that he wanted his son's death to lead to safer streets and not to be used to create “further division, hatred or tension.”

But Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK party, said on Tuesday that it was an example of so-called two-tier policing — a popular far-right talking point that suggests ethnic minorities are better treated than white people.

Farage urged people to respond to the incident with “pure cold rage,” and called for an end to “anti-white prejudice" and the promotion of the idea “that white lives matter just as much as Black lives.”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood rejected that there are different policing standards for different communities and urged members of Parliament not to “allow this murder to turn communities against one another."

Mahmood said that she understood people's horror over the video of the tragic death, adding that the government is trying to sharply reduce knife crime.

Police watchdog investigates response by officers

Mahmood called for calm as the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigates the conduct of the officers from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. She said online rumors had led to death threats against an officer who wasn't involved in the arrest.

“Misinformation and inflammatory commentary is making a dreadful situation even worse,” she said. “We must all together condemn it.”

In 2024, a stabbing rampage killed three girls and wounded 10 people at a dance class in northern England, leading to nearly a week of widespread rioting after people incorrectly identified the teen suspect on social media as a Muslim asylum seeker. The violent clashes with police were mostly aimed at migrants and Muslims.

The parents of the British-born attacker in that case were Christians from Rwanda. Investigators have not been able to pin down his motivation but have ruled out terrorism. Police found documents on his devices about subjects that included Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide and car bombs.

In the case of Nowak, a first-year student at the University of Southampton who had been out with friends, police officers walked up to the scene of what had been reported as an assault. Nowak could be seen on a driveway and was being held up by someone who said he had a mouthful of blood.

Digwa was standing nearby and told officers he had also been injured, pointing to his eyelid that he said was swollen. He claimed that Nowak had knocked off his turban and pulled his hair.

After Nowak was handcuffed, officers lay him on his side and searched for stab wounds. He appeared to have lost consciousness when one of the officers said he was being arrested for assault and read him his rights.

When officers discovered his injuries, they uncuffed him and started CPR, police said.

Judge disputes racism claim

Digwa was convicted of murder in Southampton Crown Court. Judge William Mousley told Digwa that he didn’t believe Nowak said anything racist to him.

“You are the only person to make that claim and it is completely at odds with his previous character,” he said.

In the United Kingdom, where gun ownership is strictly regulated, knives are often used in violent crimes and are also subject to restrictions. In general, people are not allowed to carry bladed weapons except for pocketknives whose cutting edge is no longer than 3 inches (7.62 centimeters).

But Sikhs are allowed to carry ceremonial knives, known as kirpans, for religious reasons.

The judge said Digwa had a small kirpan but also had an 8-inch (21-centimeter) sheathed Sikh dagger that was used as the weapon to kill Nowak.

Mousley said that the religious association of the knives had endangered other Sikhs.

“Your actions have stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country which have made many Sikhs worried about their own safety even though they have done absolutely nothing wrong," the judge told Digwa.

Police apologized to Nowak's family and said that the lies told by Digwa had misled officers.

“It is devastating the officers did not believe Henry when he said he’d been stabbed and couldn’t breathe," Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones said. “The details of the police response raises serious concerns about police impartiality, fairness and judgment."

Digwa's mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, was convicted of assisting an offender after trying to hide the murder weapon. She will be sentenced on July 17.

The campaign pilgrimage by the two candidates, one from each end of the political spectrum, comes as both men face concerns their respective campaigns could cost their parties winnable races in the November midterms, with control of the Senate at stake for the final two years of Trump's second presidency.

Paxton's meeting with Trump comes after he won the president's coveted endorsement before trouncing Sen. John Cornyn in the Texas runoff last month. They posed together for a picture in the Oval Office.

Senate Republicans feared that Paxton, the Texas attorney general, would be a weaker candidate against James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, in the fall. Paxton has endured an indictment, an impeachment and public disclosure of marital infidelity.

He was also expected to meet with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who backed Cornyn. Senate Republicans’ campaign arm excoriated Paxton during the primary campaign, accusing him of “repulsive and disgusting” behavior and quoting his estranged wife saying she filed for divorce “on biblical grounds.”

Platner swung by Democrats’ Senate campaign headquarters on Tuesday to meet with several senators, including the group’s chair, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. The meeting comes days after the disclosure that he and his wife have had marital difficulties and sought counseling after he reportedly sent sexually explicit text messages to other women.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who had backed Maine Gov. Janet Mills in the state’s Democratic primary before she suspended her campaign, told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he had met with Platner earlier in the day.

“We’re going to beat Susan Collins and take back the Senate,” Schumer said repeatedly when asked about Platner’s controversies.

As the questions continued, Schumer tried to change the subject.

“Any other subject you’ve got?” Schumer responded to reporters.

Platner and Paxton are pressing ahead with few apologies

Platner and his wife have criticized media coverage of their marriage, framing it as a private matter that should not shape the campaign. Still, the latest personal issues added fuel to some Democrats' skittishness about Platner, who already faced scrutiny over online posts that were dismissive of sexual assault and a tattoo that is recognized as a Nazi symbol. Platner has apologized for the posts and covered up the tattoo.

Paxton has offered no apologies for his baggage. He framed his win over Cornyn as a “Texas-sized message to Washington,” and thanked Trump — who himself has endured repeated personal and political scandals to win two national elections — for his support.

Like Paxton, Platner was not the choice of his party's Senate brass. But Platner effectively became the presumptive nominee after Mills suspended her campaign weeks ago because of fundraising difficulties.

Maine's primary is on June 9, and Platner would face Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican running for a sixth six-year term, in November. Defeating Collins is crucial to Democrats' attempts to regain control of the Senate. Democrats have repeatedly tried to unseat Collins, but she has always survived. In 2020, Collins won reelection even though Democrat Joe Biden carried the state over Trump by nine percentage points.

In Texas, some Republicans fear they will need to divert critical resources to boost Paxton over Talarico, who has become a national fundraising phenomenon.

Although Republicans have dominated Texas for decades, prominent party leaders have said the race could be genuinely competitive this time. Eight years ago, during the midterm election of Trump's first presidency, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won reelection over another Democratic fundraising juggernaut, Beto O'Rourke, by less than 3 points.

Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate advantage and earlier in the campaign cycle were heavily favored to maintain their majority. But as Trump's popularity fades and primary fights yield nominees, Democrats have become more confident in their prospects.

Most Democrats and Republicans are taking their usual sides

With control of the Senate on the line, most partisans have generally lined up behind Platner and Paxton, even if begrudgingly, because of their political baggage. Tuesday's fundraising events were the latest evidence. The event for Paxton, with a $1,000 minimum donation required, according to the invitation, is being co-hosted by seven senators, including Cruz. The fundraiser for Platner is being co-hosted by former Biden White House chief of staff Ron Klain.

“My priority is to make sure that Republicans control the majority so we can continue the agenda that we're on,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, on Tuesday. “Ken Paxton is absolutely necessary as far as keeping that majority. I have faith that the people of Texas will support him, and he'll get across the finish line."

Sen. Martin Heinrich, who had endorsed Platner, said he doesn’t believe Maine voters are focused on Platner’s marriage. Asked if Platner still has a shot in the race, Heinrich said “we’ll have to see” and “I suspect so.”

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a progressive, said her top concern is Platner's prospective constituents.

“I want to hear from him about the economy,” she said ahead of their meeting. “And more about what he talks to the people of Maine about.”

That echoes another leading progressive who, like Warren, has endorsed Platner. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, said he still supports Platner as part of the left's economic populism.

“Of course,” Sanders told reporters Monday. “Why would I not?”

But not all Democrats are on board, including one who first came to the Senate with an outsider persona. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who has earned a reputation for speaking and voting against his party, even appeared to relish Platner’s newest controversy, calling him “phustle,” a reference to Platner’s apparent profile uncovered on Kik, a private messaging app.

“So much bizarre and tacky and gross stuff that you lose count. It’s like you need to have a bingo card,” Fetterman said.

The senator stopped short of calling on Platner to drop out, but he echoed some Democrats' private concerns.

“I mean, what’s next?” he said.

He later said, “I’m not going to carry water for that guy.” ___

Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa, and Barrow reported from Atlanta.

The Pontiac-based motorsports destination announced the expansion this week, highlighting several additions designed to broaden its appeal beyond traditional racing fans.

Among the new features is a $35 million, three-story entertainment complex called the X Center.

The facility will include racing simulators, a restaurant, and slot car tracks, according to the announcement.

Most of the new attractions are expected to open this summer.

Wednesday: mostly sunny skies. High: 83.

Wednesday night: mainly clear skies. Low: 57.

Thursday: mostly sunny skies. High: 87.

Thursday night: partly cloudy skies. Low: 65.

After a dry pattern over the weekend and to start the week, we are going to keep the dry weather in the forecast for at least the next few days before we bring chances of showers and thunderstorms back into the forecast.

Sunshine will give way to mainly clear skies overnight tonight. It will be a comfortable overnight as well.

Overnight lows dropping into the low- to mid-50s.

Wednesday

Expect more sunshine through Wednesday, and temperatures will start to warm.

High temperatures are warming into the low 80s by Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday

Sunshine will continue from Thursday into the end of the week on Friday, but we will bring a little more cloud cover into the forecast by then.

High temperatures are warming into the upper 80s by Thursday and Friday, and it will feel more humid as we work through the end of the week.

Friday

Chances for showers and thunderstorms roll into the forecast by the time we get to the weekend.

Weekend forecast

Expect rain showers to return to the forecast late Friday night and stick around with thunderstorm chances by Saturday.

High temperature is dropping in the middle 80s by Saturday afternoon.

We will keep a chance of rain showers in the forecast for Sunday, the end of the weekend, but I do not think it will be a washout.

High temperatures will remain in the low 80s by Sunday afternoon, then Drier weather moves back into the forecast.

Next week

And High is expected to remain in the low 80s by the start of next week on Monday.

Artist Robert Wyland says his hand-painted mural, which had been displayed for nearly three decades, was painted over by workers last month without notice or consent.

Wyland filed the lawsuit on Tuesday (June 2), seeking at least $25 million in damages.

According to the complaint, the mural remained in place for nearly 30 years before crews began covering it as part of preparations tied to Dallas’ hosting of World Cup events.

Wyland claims he was never informed of the decision to remove or obscure the artwork.

In Detroit, Wyland’s whale mural on the Broaddrick Tower remains partially obscured by advertisements.

The piece, originally painted in 1997, has been increasingly hidden in recent years.

Wyland has said he was previously told it would cost roughly $500,000 annually to keep the Detroit mural uncovered.

He is now calling on residents to advocate for stronger protections for public art and greater transparency when large-scale works are altered or removed.

In a message sent to parents and guardians on June 2, Clintondale High School Interim Superintendent Kevin Knoblock and Principal Dr. Daniel Berry announced the cancellation, saying the decision was made in consultation with law enforcement and school administrators.

“A short while ago, we received information regarding a potential safety concern,” the statement said. “After reviewing the situation in consultation with law enforcement and other Clintondale administrators, we made the difficult decision to cancel the event in order to ensure the safety of all students and guests.”

School officials acknowledged the disappointment the cancellation would cause students and families, but emphasized that safety remained their top priority.

Knoblock said the district was notified by the Michigan State Police OK2SAY tip line approximately one hour before the event.

The tip indicated that a student may be bringing a firearm to prom and was categorized as a “Planned School Attack.”

Upon receiving the information, school administrators, the district’s school resource officer, and Clinton Township police reviewed the situation and discussed possible responses.

“We carefully considered every option, fully aware of the disappointment this decision would cause for students and families,” Knoblock said. “However, we also recognized the serious potential risk involved and our responsibility to protect everyone attending the event.”

Officials ultimately decided to cancel the prom to ensure the safety of students and guests.

The district said its school resource officer continues to investigate the matter.

No additional details about the tip or any potential suspect were released.

Knoblock said the district understands the frustration of students and families who invested significant time, effort, and money in the event.

“We understand and share the disappointment felt by our students and families,” he said. “Student safety, however, will always remain our highest priority.”

The allegations were brought forward by City Administrator Jeff Harris, who previously told Local 4 they involved potential misuse of city funds and resources. After meeting in closed session, council members said the investigation identified some procedural errors but found no evidence that Odette intentionally acted improperly.

“We take these findings seriously and will be implementing corrective measures to strengthen our processes, improve our oversight, and ensure continued public trust,” said Council Member Preston Abadie.

Odette requested an investigation into herself back in April.

She submitted a resignation letter to the City Council on April 2, saying she planned to step down effective May 1, then later withdrew it.

In a previous interview, Odette said she initially considered leaving after learning Harris planned to bring allegations forward, but decided to stay to fight them and clear her name.

Odette, who has served as mayor for 17 years, spoke to Local 4 alongside her attorney, Larry Gadd, after the findings were announced.

“I have been humiliated, I’ve been afraid to go out, I mean, I love these people,” Odette said.

Odette and Gadd said one issue was that the mayor was covered by the city’s health insurance despite not technically being a city employee under the city charter.

They said the city’s human resources department determined she was eligible after she enrolled in the plan in 2017, and that Odette paid the full cost of her premiums while she was covered.

She now has her own health insurance.

They said other complaints cited instances in which Odette asked the city for help with matters they characterized as minor or community-related.

Those instances included two times requesting police use a drone to help locate missing dogs, asking the public works department to bring a generator to the Woodhaven Animal Hospital during a power outage, requesting help with a flat tire, and using a city-owned sign machine to make a banner for a charity event, she said, which raised thousands of dollars for the city’s animal control shelter.

Odette said none of the issues amounted to misuse of city funds.

“I never embezzled from the city, I never stole a penny from the city, I did not misuse funds,” Odette said.

Harris declined to speak on camera after the meeting, saying he would let the report speak for itself once it’s made public and that he stands by its findings.

Gadd said the outcome supports Odette’s character and her long tenure as mayor.

“We think that this investigation vindicates her and establishes that she’s been nothing but an upstanding, compassionate, and outstanding mayor for the last 17 years,” Gadd said.

This years Stanley Cup Final is an intriguing matchup, featuring a Golden Knights squad that lifted the cup as recently as the summer of 2023, and a Hurricanes club that is playing on hockey’s biggest stage for the first time in 20 years.

No matter which side you might find yourself rooting for, it’s always interesting to see who is one step away from winning a championship that also happens to have some kind of tie to our great state of Michigan. Vegas stole Game 1 on Tuesday night, but for the rest of the series, here is who you can secretly support.

Shayne Gostisbehere

Shayne Gostisbehere ran the point for the 2023-2024 Red Wings first power play unit and that’s exactly what he finds himself doing for this years edition of the Hurricanes. The veteran defenseman led Detroit in assists that season with 46, while playing in 81 of 82 games.

The now 33-year-old came to Detroit in free agency after being a trade deadline acquisition for a Carolina team making a push towards the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Going off of the eye test, Gostisbehere was a substantial part of the offense during his one season with the Wings which made it a shame for some that he did not return to Hockeytown after his one-year deal expired.

Now in his second stint with the Hurricanes, Gostisbehere seems to have found his niche. He has appeared in every game during these playoffs, logging three goals and four assists, including a goal in Tuesday nights loss over the Golden Knights. Despite mainly being on their third and final pairing, Carolina relies on Gostisbehere to be their best offensive defensemen, and they hope to reward him by giving him the opportunity to lift the Stanley Cup above his head.

WE'RE TIED AGAIN 😱 #StanleyCup

Shayne Gostisbehere comes up with a huge goal to make it a 4-4 game! 🌪️

🇺🇸: ABC
🇨🇦: @Sportsnet & @TVASports pic.twitter.com/afNkOu8DAA

— NHL (@NHL) June 3, 2026

Jalen Chatfield

Also residing on the Hurricanes’ blue line is Jalen Chatfield, who was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Jalen is in his fifth season with Carolina and is one of four defensemen on the team to be averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time per game this postseason.

The Stanley Cup Final is coming at a pretty eventful time for the right-handed defenseman. During ABC’s broadcast of Game 1 in Carolina, it was reported that Chatfield learned that his wife, Drew, went into labor during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals vs. Montreal. Perhaps the birth of his second child casted some good luck upon him as he rattled off two quick assists in the first period of a 5-4 loss to Vegas.

Kelly McCrimmon

You may not know the name Kelly McCrimmon unless you are a big NHL fan. Or a big supporter of Wolverines hockey for that matter.

Kelly McCrimmon, the current General Manager of the Vegas Golden Knights played four seasons with Michigan from 1980 to 1984, scoring 21 goals and adding 26 assists.

Those early 1980’s Michigan hockey teams were not overly successful, but McCrimmon has won in a lot of other places. He clinched the WHL Championship as head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings in 2016 and of course was the general manager for Vegas when they won it all just three years ago. He started as an assistant general manager when the Golden Knights were in their early stages of being an expansion franchise in the NHL. You can only imagine what it might mean to him to be able to add another ring to his collection.

The Southeastern and Big Ten conferences said the “bill leaves critical issues unresolved,” including not “meaningfully” preempting state laws with a federal one, which has long been considered a key element for a measure to get support from the NCAA and the conferences.

In an interview last week, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who drafted the bill with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told The Associated Press “the bill is drafted to preempt state laws that conflict with the provisions in this bill.”

The SEC-Big Ten statement came out less than 24 hours before a scheduled hearing about the bill in front of the Senate Commerce Committee. Cruz chairs the panel and Cantwell is the ranking Democrat.

The legislation has received support from the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conferences, but the Big Ten and SEC, as the two richest leagues that also have decision-making power over the future of the College Football Playoff, hold the biggest cards.

One of the bill's key provisions would give conferences an option to pool their media rights — an idea the Big Ten and SEC have long claimed would not result in a financial windfall that proponents suggest. The leagues' statement did not speak to that issue.

A spokesperson for the Commerce Committee that Cruz chairs acknowledged the Big Ten-SEC position.

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

“He’s been kind of the last couple of weeks kind of dealing with some shoulder soreness, just kind of more nagging,” manager Aaron Boone said before the series opener against the Guardians. “Then over the weekend, the last couple of games in Sacramento, I think it became a little more than just that, where I noticed with some swings and stuff. It became a little more than just nagging. I think it was affecting him.”

Boone said tests on the team's off day on Monday revealed the bruise. Judge met with team physician later Dr. Christopher Ahmad Tuesday and following Tuesday's 9-4 loss, Boone said Judge will see a specialist on Wednesday.

Judge had an rib injury in March 2020 when doctors discovered a stress fracture in his right rib. The injury occurred when he dove for a ball in September 2019, but Judge did not miss any time because of the injury because the 2020 season was delayed due to the pandemic.

“Tough to say,” Boone said. “We'll look at it and that's why we want a specialist to look at it too and just try and rule out anything or see if there's something else to see.”

In March 2020, doctors discovered a stress fracture in his right rib, stemming from a dive he made in a game the prior September. He was shut down for two weeks, but the season was delayed until July due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Judge is hitting .248 and 17 homers and 38 RBIs. The three-time AL MVP has one homer in his last 18 games since May 10 and ended an 11-game homer and RBI drought with a game-ending, two-run drive in the ninth inning to give the Yankees a 2-0 win over Tampa Bay on May 24.

Judge entered the game against Tampa Bay in a 1-for-24 slump that dropped his batting average to .246. He was hitless in 15 at-bats before singling in the first inning.

“I think probably something that’s been affecting him a little bit here recently, especially this weekend,” Boone said. “So, hopefully, it is something that we just get calmed down here and put it behind us.”

Judge won the batting title last season when he batted a career-high .331 with 53 homers and 114 RBIs in 152 games. He missed 10 games from July 26-Aug. 4 with a flexor strain in his right elbow sustained on a throw to home July 22 in Toronto. He underwent a plasma-rich injection and did not require offseason surgery, though he did not return to the outfield until Sept. 5.

When Judge was hurt last season, Giancarlo Stanton played 17 games in the outfield. Stanton has been out since April 24 with a strained right calf.

On Tuesday, José Caballero made his 22nd career start in right field and third since being acquired from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline.

Judge had started 52 of New York's first 59 games in right field. Rookie Spencer Jones made four starts in right field before getting sent down May 23 and Cody Bellinger has started two games.

Yankees move prospect Carlos Lagrange to bullpen at Triple-A

The Yankees said Tuesday that prospect Carlos Lagrange is being moved to the bullpen at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre to possibly provide relief help at the major league level later this season.

"We definitely view him long term as a starter,” Boone said. “But in the 2026 lens, there’s a chance for him to potentially impact us out of the bullpen while not really disrupting anything moving forward.”

Lagrange is rated as New York's fourth-best prospect by MLB Pipeline and the No. 2 pitcher.

Lagrange is 0-3 with a 4.41 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts. Across 49 innings, he has allowed 40 hits and 25 walks, striking out 63 while holding opponents to a .215 batting average.

The 23-year-old is averaging 98.9 mph on fastballs this season and has topped out at 103.0 mph on a fastball after spending time with the Yankees at spring training.

“It’s electric stuff,” Boone said. “The exciting thing for me was, really being around him for the first time, seeing the person and the competitor."

___

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

The shooting occurred near the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Mack Avenue at 8:45 p.m., according to police.

Police said the victim was transported to a Metro Detroit hospital for treatment.

He was listed in stable condition but has since been downgraded to critical condition by Detroit police.

Officials said the suspect fled the scene before officers arrived and remains at large.

Police have not released a description of the suspect or disclosed a possible motive for the shooting.

The incident remains under investigation.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact police or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.

All tips to Crime Stoppers are anonymous. Click here to submit a tip online.

This is a breaking news story, and updates will be posted as they become available.

Jack Flaherty (1-7) struck out six in five-plus innings for his first win since last September. Matt Vierling tripled, doubled and drove in two runs.

The Tigers, who hit five homers Monday to open the three-game set with a 10-9 victory, had lost eight consecutive series — their longest such streak since dropping nine straight in 2019. Detroit has won back-to-back games for the first time since May 2 and 3.

Detroit also won its first road series since taking two of three games at San Diego to begin the season. The team had gone nine road series in a row without winning one (0-8-1).

Spencer Torkleson hit a leadoff double in the second and Pérez followed with a 404-foot shot over the left-field wall to make it 4-0. Greene’s leadoff homer in the seventh made it 8-0.

Flaherty gave up five hits and walked two after losing his previous five starts and six of the past seven. He was 0-9 in 14 regular-season outings since throwing five shutout innings to win for Detroit at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 10, 2025.

Enmanuel De Jesus struck out four in four perfect innings for his first major league save. The left-hander faced 11 batters and got 12 outs, including a double play after replacing Flaherty in the sixth.

Steven Matz (4-3) allowed five runs and six hits in 1 2/3 innings for Tampa Bay. The 35-year-old lefty became the fifth pitcher age 35 or older to appear for the Rays this season, tying the club record (2009).

Richie Palacios went 2 for 4 with a double and Ryan Vilade also doubled for Tampa Bay.

Up next

Tigers RHP Troy Melton (1-0, 1.42 ERA) starts Wednesday against RHP Nick Martinez (5-1, 1.62) in the series finale.

___

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

Misted in rain, they fastened ceramic nametags onto mesh that covered a cobblestone wall at Omma Poom Park — meaning “mother’s embrace" — in Paju, South Korea.

More than 900 tags, suspended like unmailed letters, formed a quiet monument to years of mass child-parent separations that has created what's likely the world’s largest diaspora of adoptees.

“There are so many tiles that hang, and yet that is merely a small fraction of us that exist,” said Nicole Rieth, adopted to Michigan when she was 4 months old, in January 1989.

“As far as connecting with my birth mother, it’s not about gleaning specific information from her or even necessarily seeking a relationship. I’ve just always wanted to know who I looked like, because I’ve never had that before.”

Each nametag, hand-painted by an artist, carries the adoptee’s name, birth year and birthplace. Colors mark the decade of adoption, and most are red and sky blue, for the 1970s and 1980s, when foreign adoptions peaked. White is for adoptees who died without reunions.

One laminated note fluttered among the tags, left by anonymous parents searching for a child named “Bora.”

“You are not alone. You have a mother and a father,” it said. “I’m so sorry and I love you.”

Resurfaced pain

Paju, which sits near the North Korean border and once hosted U.S. military bases, carries a long memory of foreign adoptions, which began in the aftermath of the 1950-53 Korean War with mixed-race children born to Korean women and American soldiers, regarded as outcasts at home.

Adoptions surged in the 1970s, when the focus shifted to fully Korean children, typically born to unwed mothers or impoverished families. Thousands were sent annually to the West for decades through the mid-2000s, including more than 6,600 a year during the 1980s, when Seoul’s former military dictatorship aggressively sought to reduce mouths to feed.

Omma Poom opened in June 2025 after a yearslong campaign by Paju-based photographer Lee Yong-nam and Me & Korea, an adoptee support group.

Lee, 72, said his interest in adoption issues grew from searching for a Black-Korean childhood friend likely adopted to America.

“Adoptions continued unchecked and now the pain is surfacing,” he said of the visitors, who are mostly younger than the war generation.

1,000 letters to birth mothers

On a hill overlooking Omma Poom, a converted U.S. army building serves as a museum, where some 1,000 profile pages — each containing an adoptee’s photo, birthdate and message to a birth mother — are stored.

One of the profiles belongs to Angela Lee-Pack, adopted to Canada in 1971 at age 2.

“I think about you every day and only wish the best for you,” she wrote to her Korean mother. “I hope one day I will be able to know who I am.”

Growing up in Ontario, Lee-Pack says she endured severe abuse from her adoptive mother, including being locked in a closet without food. She says she was later abused in another home, left at 15, and struggled for years before finding stability as an adult.

Lee-Pack has visited South Korea twice while searching for her birth mother, putting flyers across Seoul and Jeonju.

During her first trip in 2019, a man reached out, believing Lee-Pack was the daughter of a late uncle. The lead unraveled slowly and painfully. The man later found a woman in her 70s whose background appeared to match. But she denied giving up a child and refused contact. Lee-Pack collapsed in her hotel room and cried.

“Every time I look in the mirror I wonder who she is and what she looks like,” she said of her birth mother. “The thoughts never end.”

Lost connections

Rieth says that becoming a mother to two sons led her to begin looking for her birth mother.

According to her adoption file, Rieth was the third child of a couple who relinquished her shortly after her birth in 1988, citing financial hardship during a time when Seoul was actively pressuring families to have fewer children.

Rieth began searching for her biological family in 2024, but letters her adoption agency sent to her birth mother’s last known address went unanswered.

She is now pursuing another search through the National Center for the Rights of the Child, a government office. She wants her sons to know the heritage she grew up without.

“I kind of don’t want to allow myself to hope because the whole journey has been a roller coaster of hoping, finding something out, and diving down into hopelessness, getting a glimmer of a maybe,” she said. “And yet I want to exhaust every effort ... so that there are no regrets.”

Deep scars

During the peak of adoptions, authorities largely ignored rampant fraud, including illegal child procurements from hospitals and orphanages and manipulation of children’s origins. Many were falsely labeled as abandoned orphans to ease placements with Western families.

The deception left generations of Korean adoptees not knowing who they were, where they came from, whether they had been loved, abandoned or stolen.

On the other side were birth mothers pressured to surrender children born out of wedlock, separated from them without consent, or left searching for decades before learning they had been sent overseas under falsified records.

The gathering at Omma Poom came shortly after a group of birth mothers asked South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the alleged illegal adoptions of their children, adding to hundreds of fraud and abuse claims filed by adoptees.

Adopted in 1993 to Michigan, Jalyn Smith's agency in 2021 located her birth mother, who, according to the file, had relinquished Smith after separating from her biological father. The woman declined contact.

Five years later, Smith is pursuing the search again.

“Hanging it up, I felt proud,” Smith said about her name on Omma Poom’s wall. “I feel proud to be part of this community, though it comes with a lot of conflicting feelings of sadness and anger and grief.”

Highs will rise from the lower 80s on Wednesday into the middle and upper 80s on Thursday and Friday.

Humidity will remain fairly comfortable through midweek, then gradually increase by Friday and into the weekend as Gulf moisture returns to the Great Lakes.

The weekend also brings the next chance of rain.

The warmup comes as high pressure remains in control across the region, delivering plenty of sunshine, light winds, and dry weather through at least Friday afternoon.

For many, it will be the kind of weather that begs for a walk along the Riverwalk, dinner on a patio, a bike ride, or some time on the water.

It is also a good opportunity to catch up on yard work. Lawns, gardens, newly planted flowers, shrubs, and trees may need extra watering as several dry days add up.

Don’t forget the sunscreen

Even though temperatures will not be extreme, the June sun is becoming increasingly intense.

UV levels this time of year frequently reach the high to very high category during the middle of the day, especially between late morning and mid-afternoon.

That means sunscreen, sunglasses, and lightweight and light-colored clothing are recommended if you will be spending extended time outdoors.

A hat and plenty of water may also be good additions if you are planning to spend several hours outside.

Motor City Pride weekend forecast

One of the biggest outdoor events of the weekend will be Motor City Pride, taking place Saturday and Sunday at Hart Plaza in Downtown Detroit.

The annual celebration is scheduled for June 6-7 along the Detroit riverfront.

The forecast is not a washout, but attendees should prepare for changing weather conditions.

Saturday currently appears to bring the highest likelihood of showers and thunderstorms, particularly during the afternoon and evening.

Temperatures should still climb into the lower and mid-80s, but clouds and occasional rain could interrupt outdoor activities.

Sunday looks better for being outdoors, with fewer showers expected and more opportunities for dry weather.

Temperatures should settle back into the 70s, with highs around 80 degrees, making it feel more comfortable than the warmer, more humid conditions expected Friday and Saturday.

If you are heading downtown for Pride festivities, it may be helpful to bring both sunscreen and a rain poncho.

Share your weather photos with Local 4 at MIPics.

Democrats were relishing the chance to put Republican senators on the record about the settlement fund for those who claim to have been politically prosecuted. They were promising scores of votes on the issue when the immigration bill is considered.

“Democrats won’t settle for half measures," said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York. "We’re going to kill the slush fund permanently and we are going to bury it and bury it deep.”

GOP senators has also revolted against the settlement fund before leaving for a Memorial Day recess two weeks ago. They returned to Washington this week saying they wanted more information from the administration about the future of the fund, which could potentially go to Trump supporters who beat police and attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Justice Department said Monday it would comply with a court order pausing implementation of the fund. And then acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in testimony Tuesday that it was being dropped altogether.

“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche said.

Immigration bill caught in settlement uproar

Caught in the middle is legislation that would fund Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies for three years. Republicans abruptly left town May 21 without passing it after Democrats said they would offer amendments to scrap the fund or scale it back, forcing Republicans to go on the record for or against it and endangering the money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.

Returning to Washington on Monday evening, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wasn’t sure if the immigration spending bill would move this week. “To be determined,” he told reporters.

He offered little more clarity after Blanche's assurances.

“It’s still a work in progress," he told reporters.

Republican senators leaving a lunch meeting Tuesday also said it was still unclear if it would move.

“We'll just have to wait and see,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told reporters. If senators are satisfied with Blanche's testimony, “we'll probably proceed quickly,” he said.

Standoff comes after surprise announcement

The extraordinary standoff comes after Trump announced the fund with no heads up to lawmakers as part of a settlement to resolve his lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. When word of the settlement broke, the Senate was already navigating tricky passage of the immigration legislation with an added $1 billion in White House security costs — including for Trump’s ballroom project.

Furious, Senate Republicans jettisoned the White House security money from the bill and made clear they would not pass the legislation at all unless the White House made major changes to the settlement.

“I do think the best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves,” Thune told reporters Monday, referring to the fund.

The Justice Department said it would comply with a ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who temporarily halted the fund for two weeks. The judge scheduled a June 12 hearing for arguments on whether to extend her order.

Republicans issue rare ultimatum to DOJ

The outrage over the fund came to a head last month at a closed-door meeting between senators and Blanche that Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas described on a recent episode of his podcast as “one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.”

GOP senators had been discussing several ways that they could curb the fund, including limiting who can receive payouts, changing the makeup of the commission in charge of settlement decisions, adding some sort of judicial review for applicants or scrapping the fund altogether.

Also complicating matters is Trump’s campaign-year push to defeat GOP lawmakers whom he sees as disloyal, including some of Thune’s most reliable Republican votes in the narrow 53-47 Senate.

Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas both lost reelection bids in May after Trump endorsed their primary opponents, and it’s unclear how supportive they’ll be of the president’s agenda going forward.

___

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

A criminal complaint was unsealed in federal court in Detroit against Vincent Munster, who is chief of the virus ecology section at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, and Claude Kwe, who works with him.

Munster and Kwe were stopped at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in January after a flight from Paris and nine days in the Republic of Congo. An outbreak of the mpox disease has been linked to more than 2,000 deaths in Congo, a vast region in central Africa, though a two-year outbreak was declared over in April.

Munster “adamantly denied” returning to the U.S. with biological materials or samples, the FBI said in a court filing.

But tests subsequently revealed that Munster and Kwe were traveling with vials of deactivated mpox, the FBI said, yet they had failed to declare them or obtain the necessary permission.

"Any deliberate effort to conceal and smuggle biological materials into the United States without proper authorization is a breach of the public’s trust and could have placed the public at risk,” said Marcus Sykes of the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Munster and Kwe did not immediately respond to requests for comment. They are expected to appear in federal court in Missoula, Montana, on Wednesday.

“This matter is currently under investigation, and NIH is cooperating fully with law enforcement and appropriate authorities,” said the National Institutes of Health, which oversees the lab. “Because this is an ongoing investigation and personnel matter, we are limited in what additional information we can provide at this time.”

There was no mention in the government's court filing about why Munster and Kwe may have wanted to bring the deactivated mpox virus to their lab. But they are virologists who have worked extensively on mpox research, the FBI said.

Munster told investigators at the Detroit-area airport that any necessary documents were in his laptop, “but you don't need them. I do this all the time,” the FBI quoted him as saying.

“It is reasonable to believe that Munster's statements regarding the possession of the required documentation to (customs officers) were materially false,” the FBI said.

The most common symptoms of mpox, according to the World Health Organization, are a rash and fever, but it can sometimes cause serious illness. Most people recover fully.

Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, was first identified by scientists in 1958 during outbreaks of a “pox-like” disease in monkeys. Until a few years ago, most human cases were seen in people in central and West Africa who had close contact with infected animals.

In 2022, the virus was confirmed to spread via sex for the first time and triggered outbreaks in more than 70 countries that had not previously reported mpox.

Their latest deal is among the biggest and the riskiest — and it's totally their style.

Myles Garrett walked into the Rams' training complex in Woodland Hills on Tuesday after LA gave up budding star Jared Verse and three high draft picks to complete one of the NFL's biggest trades in recent seasons.

“To acquire a player like this, these things don’t come up often,” coach Sean McVay said.

Yet this bold deal for arguably the greatest pass rusher of this generation is only the latest in the line of blockbuster trades engineered by Snead. In the past 10 years alone, he has maneuvered to get Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford, Jalen Ramsey, Von Miller, Trent McDuffie, Brandin Cooks and other veterans for trade prices that would have been too steep for many front offices.

The Rams have spent a decade chasing rings with an urgency that screams “win now,” but is actually rooted in an organizational confidence that McVay's coaching ability will make up for the sacrifices necessary in draft capital and veteran talent.

“You’re always threading that needle for sustainability, trying to win consistently,” Snead said Tuesday. “But it’s a hard one to thread.”

McVay is all in on the Rams' organizational urgency, since the coach is often the most aggressive voice in Snead's ear to get big deals done: “I'm not the most patient person,” McVay said with a smirk.

“To be able to add players like (Garrett) is so rare,” McVay added. “We feel really fortunate that this feels very similar to when we were fortunate enough to acquire a player like Matthew Stafford. Things like this don’t present themselves, and we wanted to be aggressive.”

These opportunities might be rare, but the Rams have seized a whole lot more of them than other teams — and they were already a top Super Bowl contender even before they landed Garrett.

Snead addressed Los Angeles' primary weakness three months ago by acquiring McDuffie, making him the NFL's highest-paid cornerback and re-pairing him with free-agent signee Jaylen Watson, his longtime Chiefs teammate.

But even with a defensive line featuring four above-average players all still on their rookie contracts, Snead and McVay wanted to improve.

The GM made contact with Browns counterpart Andrew Berry after the team adjusted Garrett's contract in a way that signaled a deal was possible for the All-Pro who had just set the NFL's single-season sacks record.

“Andrew and I have a good relationship, (and) we like talking football a good bit,” Snead said. “So I would pester him a little bit, probably jokingly at first. Kept doing that, and then we began talking a little more seriously.”

Snead hoped to do the deal only with picks, both before and after the current draft. Berry wanted Verse, the budding young star and the only first-round pick that Snead had actually made between quarterbacks Goff (2016) and Ty Simpson (2026).

Although both Snead and McVay claim they were reluctant to part with Verse, the Rams finally agreed with the backing of owner Stan Kroenke, who has been fully supportive of his front office's uncommon urgency.

Garrett was eager to join this franchise's lineage of superstar pass rushers stretching from the Fearsome Foursome to Aaron Donald. But he also agreed to the trade because after nine seasons in Cleveland, he finally wanted to play for a consistent contender.

That's what the Rams have been ever since McVay took over in 2017 — racking up eight winning seasons, seven playoff berths, four NFC West titles, three conference title game appearances, two Super Bowl berths and one ring.

“It just came down to the timing of everything," Garrett said. “What does it look like to be a winner now, and to have the opportunity to do that immediately? That was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

The Rams' aggression doesn't just apply to trades: Snead and McVay have also shown no hesitation to drop good players and franchise icons when they deem it necessary, either for reasons financial or competitive.

They've released Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp and star running back Todd Gurley, and they traded Goff and receiver Robert Woods before the contract extensions they had received from the Rams had even started.

Those moves often feel heartless to fans, and players like Goff and Kupp have expressed public dismay about the way Snead and McVay moved on from them. But everyone eventually seems to understand that this is how the Rams do business.

That includes Woods, a stalwart five-year contributor and a locker-room leader on McVay's early teams after signing as a free agent in 2017.

The Southern California native hurt his knee in practice midway through the 2021 season, forcing him to miss the Rams' Super Bowl championship run — and Snead traded him to Tennessee a month after the trophy was raised.

Woods bounced around the NFL for four more seasons before retiring earlier this year — and he quickly returned to the Rams as an assistant coach.

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

His family said in a statement that Bryson died Tuesday evening, days after having a stroke.

“While our hearts are broken, we find comfort in knowing how deeply Peabo was loved and how many lives were touched by his voice and his generous spirit,” the family's statement said. “His legacy and music will live on for generations to come.”

Internationally celebrated for his Disney classics, Bryson also built a career over five decades as one of R&B’s premier balladeers, recording hits including “Feel the Fire,” “I’m So Into You" and “Can You Stop the Rain."

“For more than five decades, Peabo’s extraordinary voice served as the soundtrack to some of life’s most cherished moments,” the family's statement said. “His music carried generations through joyful celebrations, great love stories and enduring moments of comfort and inspiration.”

Born and raised in South Carolina, the singer, songwriter and balladeer launched his career with the group Moses Dillard and the Tex-Town Display in the 1970s. Shortly afterward, Atlanta label Bang Records signed him as a solo artist.

He recorded for Capitol, Elektra and Columbia Records and became one of music’s most sought-after duet partners. Aside from Belle and Dion, he also collaborated with artists including Roberta Flack and Natalie Cole.

His duet with Flack, “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love,” became one of the defining love songs of the 1980s, while “If Ever You’re in My Arms Again” helped expand his audience beyond R&B radio. He later scored No. 1 R&B hits with “Show & Tell” and “Can You Stop the Rain.”

Beyond music, Bryson appeared in stage productions including “Raisin,” “The Wiz” and “Porgy and Bess.” In 2018, he returned with “Stand for Love,” his 21st studio album, produced by hitmaking duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Bryson had a stroke in late May and was placed under medical care.

“At this time, the family requests privacy as they navigate this deeply personal moment together,” a statement from his representative read at the time. "The thoughts, prayers and love of friends and fans are welcomed and deeply appreciated.”

In 2019, Bryson made a full recovery after having a heart attack.

Comedian and television host Loni Love said she worked with Bryson on a cruise ship last year and spoke with him for hours on the deck one night after she noticed him sitting alone.

“He shared incredible stories, spoke passionately about his music, and had such a deep love for his craft,” she wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “I am so grateful to have had that special moment with him.”

Bryson's family said memorial and celebration-of-life arrangements will be announced at a later date.

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This story has been updated to correct that Bryson sang “Beauty and the Beast” with Dion and “A Whole New World” with Belle, not the other way around. It has also been updated to correct a misspelling of “Aladdin."

The senator told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday that he thinks the appearance on the state's primary ballot of another Republican with the same name is a dirty political trick coordinated by Democrats and the campaign of his chief rival for the seat, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. He threatened a lawsuit to get to the bottom of it.

“Everybody in Alaska knows I’m Dan Sullivan-R. So he’s trying to do that. Why?" the senator said of the other Dan Sullivan. “He’s not an R. He’s purposely trying to trick my constituents to rig the election for Peltola.”

A spokesman for the Peltola campaign, Harry Child, said it “has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign." Jenny-Marie Stryker, executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party, said her organization “is in no way affiliated with either Dan Sullivan.”

The kerfuffle over the dueling Dan Sullivans on Alaska's August primary ballot has drawn the attention of state and national Republicans. They claim that adding a second Dan Sullivan to the ballot will sow confusion among voters who support the incumbent and help Peltola.

In Alaska's primary, the top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the ranked-choice general election.

Blake Murphy, an attorney for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, sent a letter dated Monday to Alaska election officials outlining concerns about the potential for voter confusion. Murphy also raised questions about the party affiliation of the challenger, calling the other Dan Sullivan a “sham” candidate.

Murphy wrote the NRSC could consider legal action “to ensure that the Alaska electoral process remains fair.”

Carmela Warfield, the state Republican Party chair, said in a statement accompanying Murphy’s letter that until recently, the challenger was registered as undeclared. In previous years, ballots have not identified which candidates were incumbents.

A spokesperson for the Alaska Division of Elections, Steve Kirch, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter and said a records request would be required to get details of the challenger Sullivan’s voter registration history.

Sullivan, the incumbent senator, is an ally of President Donald Trump and is seeking a third term. He and Peltola are the highest-profile candidates in a race that’s being closely watched nationally as Democrats try to retake the Senate majority in this year’s midterm elections.

State election officials certified a Republican Dan J. Sullivan, from the southeast Alaska fishing community of Petersburg, as one of the candidates in the U.S. Senate race. Efforts to reach him were not immediately successful on Tuesday, and he did not appear to be registered with the Federal Election Commission.

His campaign website says he is a Midwesterner who moved to Alaska to work for the U.S. Forest Service and has been in Petersburg for nearly 50 years. After becoming disillusioned with what he saw as government inefficiency and “lack of long-term thinking,” he switched careers and became an elementary school teacher, the site says.

The challenger Sullivan said on his campaign website that the state deserves a senator who “puts Alaska first every single day. That’s the commitment I’m making to the people of this state, and together, we’re going to elect a Sullivan that actually stands up for Alaska.”

Sen. Sullivan, emphasizing his words with an expletive, told reporters in Washington that having the second Sullivan on the ballot was a scandalous attempt to trick Alaskans: “That's an insult."

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Freking reported from Washington.

Now a member of a Los Angeles Rams team favored to raise the Lombardi Trophy next February, Garrett is ready to fill the one glaring hole in his football resume.

“Since the very beginning, it’s always been about winning. … And to have an opportunity to do that immediately? That was the opportunity that was too difficult to pass up,” Garrett said at his introductory news conference Tuesday, one day after the blockbuster deal that sent him from Cleveland to Los Angeles.

Garrett had been to the playoffs with the Browns in 2020 and 2023, which were his only two winning seasons in Cleveland after being drafted first overall in 2017. With the Rams, the 30-year-old defensive end has joined an organization that has reached the postseason in seven of head coach Sean McVay’s nine seasons in charge, won the Super Bowl following the 2021 campaign, played in another, and came agonizingly close against Philadelphia and Seattle teams that ended up winning it all the past two seasons.

The Rams spent the offseason loading up for another Super Bowl push by addressing the defensive deficiencies that cost them in the 31-27 NFC title game loss to the Seahawks. They traded for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, signed fellow Chiefs defensive back Jaylen Watson in free agency, and capped it by acquiring a two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year and five-time first-team All-Pro in Garrett.

The moves have Garrett expecting big things.

"I see a position to solidify myself here as well among the very greats,” he said.

Following a season where he set the NFL single-season record with 23 sacks and also had a career-high 33 tackles for loss, Garrett believes the Rams’ structure and support could allow him to reach even greater heights. He joins a defense that already ranked in the top 10 in points allowed and sacks, and Garrett expects an offense led by quarterback Matthew Stafford, who was voted NFL MVP after throwing for 46 touchdowns, to give him plenty of chances to close games out in the fourth quarter.

Those opportunities were few and far between in Cleveland, where Garrett had 125 1/2 sacks in 134 career games. The Browns went 58-90-1 during Garrett's time there.

“I mean, that did play into the decision as well, knowing I have the ability, you know, late game, to pin my ears back, not just because we need a play to be made, but because we have the lead and it’s obvious passing downs, being able to make those game-changing plays to win the game for us, those are things that appealed to me,” Garrett said.

Garrett has already taken steps to get comfortable in his new surroundings, striking a deal with nose tackle Poona Ford to secure the No. 95 jersey.

Garrett is also looking forward to getting in touch with NBA superstar LeBron James, who has spent the past eight seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, for more information about the city. Garrett described James as a “positive force in my life,” having received advice and mentorship from the Akron, Ohio, native and four-time NBA champion over the years since joining the Browns.

Garrett already has some familiarity with the region. His girlfriend, Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Chloe Kim, is from Torrance, California, in Los Angeles County. His father, Lawrence, was born in Los Angeles.

For all the initial excitement surrounding the trade, Garrett understands it will ultimately be judged by how he and the Rams fare on the field.

“Nothing changes for me,” he said. “I don't feel any pressure to be anything else, be anything different. As long as I'm myself and I come here to work every day and I'm a leader, the success will follow.”

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

Stars officials announced Tuesday the signing of a nonbinding letter of intent to build a new hockey-specific arena and entertainment district about 20 miles north of the downtown American Airlines Center, which they have shared with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks since it opened in 2001.

The leases at the AAC for both teams expire in 2031. The two franchises have been in a legal dispute about their partnership agreement and management of the building.

The Stars made their intentions known a day after the Mavericks said they have a preliminary agreement on a site for their own new arena about 10 miles north of downtown, but still within the Dallas city limits. The NBA's team deal is for 104 acres on the former site of Valley View Mall, which was demolished three years ago.

A new arena for the Stars is expected to be part of a large-scale redevelopment project at The Shops at Willow Bend, where the last enclosed mall built in Texas is set for demolition.

The Stars submitted their letter of intent to the city of Plano, which placed it on the City Council agenda for consideration at its next meeting Monday. The letter includes plans for the mixed-used project as well as design and construction of the arena.

“This project would present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our franchise,” Stars owner Tom Gaglardi said in a statement. “We eagerly await the vote by the Plano City Council and look forward to continuing the conversation to be part of the redevelopment of The Shops at Willow Bend.”

That mall on about 90 acres opened in 2001, and there are open restaurants and parking garages in the area. The new arena would anchor the redevelopment that could include sports, entertainment, retail, dining and public gathering spaces.

The NHL franchise was known as the North Stars before moving south from Minnesota and beginning play in Dallas for the 1993-94 season. The Stars in 1999 became the first of hockey's Sun Belt teams to win a Stanley Cup title.

The Stars won that championship while still playing at Reunion Arena, a building they also shared with the Mavericks after first moving to Dallas. The site of that downtown arena, which was fully demolished in 2009, is about a mile from the AAC.

The NFL's Cowboys were in Dallas during the franchise's first 11 seasons at the city's Cotton Bowl (1960-70), but moved to Texas Stadium in Irving in 1971, the season of their first Super Bowl title. They have played since 2009 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, which is halfway between the downtown areas of Dallas and Fort Worth.

Arlington is also home to the MLB's Texas Rangers, the franchise that began as the Washington Senators in 1961. The Rangers are in their third stadium in Arlington since moving there in 1972. Globe Life Field, their retractable-roof stadium adjacent to AT&T Stadium, opened in 2020.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

The buoy 80 meters (260 feet) below the water's surface will be removed June 16 from the Ocean Observatories Initiative — a network of more than 900 ocean sensors built at a cost of $386 million that has continuously collected real-time data for more than a decade. But last month, the National Science Foundation announced it would dismantle most of the system, pulling instruments from waters off Oregon, Washington, Alaska, North Carolina and Greenland by 2027.

Funded by the foundation, the observatories have tracked everything from ocean circulation and marine ecosystems to climate change and extreme weather. Its data has been freely available and has informed more than 500 scientific publications. The project was slated to run for another 15 to 20 years.

In an emailed statement, the foundation said the decision is not a cancellation, but a “descoping” aligned with a “wider strategy of a nimbler approach to prioritize support for evolving scientific priorities and emerging technologies, as well as smart lifecycle management within its research infrastructure portfolio.” The foundation added that its decision drew in part on a 2025 National Academies report on the future of ocean science.

But for the scientists who built and operated the system — and the researchers, educators and students who rely on its data — the timing feels particularly punishing.

An El Nino event, which disrupts weather patterns and supercharges marine heat waves, is predicted to arrive along the Pacific coast this summer. One marine heat wave is already pushing unusually warm water off California.

Without the Oregon and Washington moorings and the network of underwater gliders the Ocean Observatories Initiative operated in the region, researchers say they'll lose much of their ability to measure what's happening below the surface, which is precisely where the most significant oceanographic signals are.

“It’s a crippling loss of information,” Ed Dever, a professor at Oregon State University who helped lead the initiative’s Pacific Northwest operations, told The Associated Press Tuesday. Scientists can get some data from the surface, such as temperature and the distribution of chlorophyll, which drives photosynthesis in plants, but information below cannot be gathered from satellites alone, including low oxygen zones.

The initiative launched in 2015 after more than a decade of community planning and construction. It was designed as a 25 to 30-year project, built in part around the oceanographic consensus that detecting meaningful climate signals requires at least three decades of continuous data. “We’ve just got to the 10 year record,” Dever said, “which will give you some hints, but it won’t continue on.”

One significant piece will remain: a seafloor cable network managed by the University of Washington off the Pacific Northwest coast, which will continue providing data on volcanic and seismic activity in the region.

Scientists had seen warning signs as the administration’s proposed 2026 budget included a 55% cut to the science foundation. Official word to begin shutting down arrived in early May.

The initiative was coordinated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in collaboration with the University of Washington and Oregon State University, as well as past partners including Rutgers University and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The initiative operated on roughly $48 million a year, not including the cost of research vessels, which adds substantially to the overall price. Prior to budget cuts, which began in 2025, around 60 to 70 people worked directly on the project across its partner institutions, Dever said.

“What’s happening with the Ocean Observatories Initiative is not unique,” he said. “This is just one of a number of science facilities that is being dismantled at the present time. It seems to really mark the end of a federal commitment to basic scientific research — a commitment that has served this nation very well for the last 70 years.”

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Alexa St. John contributed to this report from Detroit.

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Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram: @ahammergram.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment