The unanimous procedural decision gives the companies a new day in federal court after a state jury ordered Chevron to pay upward of $740 million to clean up damage to the state’s coastline, one of multiple similar lawsuits.

Backed by the Trump administration, the companies argued the case belongs in federal court because they were working to quickly increase the supply of aviation gasoline for the U.S. government during World War II.

The high court agreed. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the 8-0 court, noted Congress has long allowed lawsuits against the government and its contractors to be heard in federal court and this suit is clearly related to Chevron’s wartime efforts to bolster the U.S. aviation fuel supply.

Louisiana’s coastal parishes have lost more than 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) of land over the past century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which has also identified oil and gas infrastructure as a significant cause. The state could lose an additional 3,000 square miles (7,770 square kilometers) in the coming decades, its coastal protection agency has warned.

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry backed the lawsuits when he was attorney general, even though he’s a longtime oil and gas industry supporter. An attorney for local Louisiana leaders said they disagree with the decision but plan to keep the lawsuits alive. “We will aggressively defend the rights of Louisiana citizens and will continue in our fight to restore and rebuild what has been harmed or destroyed,” attorney John Carmouche said.

The companies appealed to the high court after jurors in Plaquemines Parish — a sliver of land straddling the Mississippi River into the Gulf — found that energy giant Texaco, acquired by Chevron in 2001, had for decades violated Louisiana regulations governing coastal resources by failing to restore wetlands impacted by dredging canals, drilling wells and billions of gallons of wastewater dumped into the marsh.

Chevron applauded the Supreme Court’s decision, saying the claims are related to work that the companies did under federal supervision. “Chevron looks forward to litigating these cases in federal court, where they belong,” the company said in a statement.

The company denies responsibility for land loss in Louisiana and argues it’s wrong to sue it for what it did before state environmental regulations were in place.

The case is one of dozens of lawsuits filed in 2013 alleging oil giants including Chevron and Exxon violated state environmental laws for decades. Friday’s ruling overturns a 2024 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and affects 11 of the 42 cases against various oil companies, Carmouche said.

Justice Samuel Alito recused himself from the case, pointing to financial ties to ConocoPhillips. He's previously recused himself from other cases due to his stock holdings.

___

Brook reported from New Orleans.

The measure cleared the Senate by voice vote, without a formal roll call, as Congress raced to meet a Monday deadline and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature. The stopgap came after House Republican leaders unveiled a revised five-year extension late Thursday — a sharp pivot from the clean 18-month renewal Trump and GOP leaders had pushed all week. But the Republican bills collapsed, failing to advance.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said leaders were trying to keep their options open as they assess next steps. “We’ll be preparing accordingly,” he said.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a longtime critic of the surveillance program, initially slowed the Senate’s morning action as he pressed for changes. Wyden said he has never seen this level of support on both sides of the political aisle — and in both chambers of Congress — for real revisions to the surveillance tool, although he did not stand in the way of a short-term extension, for now.

“It’s not making a choice between security and liberty. That’s garbage,” Wyden said. “We’re going to show that the two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

It’s all setting up another showdown, in a matter of weeks, as Congress dives into the surveillance tool that pits Americans' privacy rights against what U.S. officials have long said is a uniquely effective program for the security of the country.

Chaotic, late-night House votes end in failure

House Republican leaders and Trump had spent the week trying to line up support for an 18-month renewal of the spy tool with no changes. But holdouts held firm, forcing a late-night scramble.

GOP leaders in the House rushed lawmakers back into session late Thursday for a series of back-to-back votes that fell apart before pivoting to a stopgap to keep the program from expiring Monday.

First they came out with a new plan that would have extended the program for five years, with revisions. Among the changes were new provisions to ensure that only FBI attorneys could authorize queries on U.S. people, and to require the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to review such cases, said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., during the debate.

That plan also would enhance criminal penalties on those who unlawfully conduct such inquiries or disclose the surveillance information, Scott said. It provides a way for members of Congress and certain staff to access the proceedings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court that handle such requests.

But the final product, a 14-page amendment, did not go far enough for some holdouts in either party.

GOP leaders then tried to salvage a shorter 18-month renewal that Trump had demanded and Johnson had previously backed. It failed as well, with some 20 Republicans joining most Democrats in blocking its advance.

Shortly after 2 a.m. they quickly agreed to the 10-day extension.

“We were very close tonight,” Johnson said after the late-night action.

But Democrats assailed the middle-of-the-night voting as amateur hour. “Are you kidding me? Who the hell is running this place?” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., during a fiery floor debate.

Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, a member of the House Freedom Caucus that helped stall votes throughout the week, said the outcome was predictable after the procedural votes fell short.

“We warned them that this was gonna happen,” Ogles said. “Unfortunately, here we are at 2 in the morning.”

Surveillance program fight is a debate over privacy and security

At the center of the standoff is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits the CIA, National Security Agency, FBI and other agencies to collect and analyze vast amounts of overseas communications without a warrant. In doing so, they can incidentally sweep up communications involving Americans who interact with foreign targets.

U.S. officials say the authority is critical to disrupting terrorist plots, cyber intrusions and foreign espionage.

Extending the program is a recurring fight, as lawmakers weigh civil liberties concerns against intelligence officials’ warnings about national security risks.

“There are a lot of opinions,” Johnson said Thursday. “We want to make sure that we have this very important tool for national security, but we also do it in a way that jealously guards constitutional rights.”

Opponents of the surveillance tool point to past misuses. FBI officials repeatedly violated their own standards when searching intelligence related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and racial justice protests in 2020, according to a 2024 court order.

Trump and his allies had lobbied aggressively all week for a clean renewal of the program, without changes.

A group of Republicans traveled to the White House on Tuesday, and on Wednesday CIA Director John Ratcliffe spoke directly with GOP lawmakers. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Thursday there had “been negotiations late into the night with the White House and some of our members.”

“I am asking Republicans to UNIFY, and vote together on the test vote to bring a clean Bill to the floor,” Trump wrote on Truth Social this week. “We need to stick together.” They didn't.

Mustafa Hares, of West Bloomfield, was sentenced on Thursday, April 16, 2026, to one year in federal prison, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

He was also ordered to pay $4.8 million in restitution and must serve three years of supervised release after his prison time.

From 2019 to 2023, Hares and others were involved in a scheme that involved submitting Medicare claims for services that never happened, according to court records.

Hares, along with Mohammad Kazkaz, signed what appeared to be patient progress notes, but they were actually written by employees in Mexico rather than actual medical providers.

Kazkaz was already sentenced in connection with this scheme and received 7.5 years in prison.

“This physician abused his medical license and position of trust as a doctor to facilitate a massive health care fraud scheme at the expense of the American taxpayer,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. “We must eradicate fraud.”

Tyler Robinson was back in state court in Utah Friday as his attorneys press their claims that biased coverage is tainting potential jurors in his aggravated murder case.

Among numerous examples cited was a New York Post story they say suggested Robinson confessed to Kirk's killing during a courtroom conversation on Dec. 11, in his first appearance after being charged. The conversation with his attorneys was inaudible, but the story cited a “lip reading analysis” to support its claim that Robinson said, “I think about the shooting daily.”

“The predominant purpose being served by the live stream coverage has not been the educational reporting of the court proceedings, but rather advertising profit, sensationalism, political agendas, and, most prominently, the vilification of Mr. Robinson,” his attorneys wrote in their request to bar cameras.

Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty for Robinson should he be convicted in the Sept. 10 shooting of the conservative activist, who was addressing a crowd of thousands on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem.

Robinson, who turned 23 on Thursday, has not yet entered a plea. A trial date has not been set.

Media sensationalism around the case has cut both ways. In a March 30 headline, the U.K.-based Daily Mail reported the bullet that killed Kirk “did NOT match” a rifle allegedly used by Robinson. The story was based on an inconclusive, preliminary finding by ballistics experts and led to speculation about Robinson's possible exoneration. The FBI is running additional tests, according to court documents.

Media organizations, prosecutors and Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, want the court to allow cameras. They argue the best way to guard against the misinformation and conspiracy theories that concern Robinson's defense team is to make the process transparent.

Yet livestreaming by media outlets already has tested the patience of Judge Tony Graf.

During the December hearing, Graf briefly stopped the livestream and ordered the camera relocated after it showed the defendant’s shackles in violation of a courtroom decorum order.

Then, a January hearing was interrupted when Robinson's attorneys said close-up shots of Robinson being livestreamed by a local television station could again lead to claims based on lip reading. That, too, was a violation of Graf's decorum order. The judge ordered the camera operator not to film Robinson for the remainder of the hearing.

In recent hearings and again on Friday the media pool cameras for video and photographs were stationed at the rear of the courtroom, behind Robinson. Graf also has been making camera operators come before him to acknowledge they understand the courtroom decorum rules.

Mike Judd, a lawyer for a coalition of media organizations including The Associated Press that have been fighting to preserve access, said Graf so far has focused on whether his rules inside the courtroom are being followed, not what the media is saying outside of court.

“The court can do all of that in order to try to control what gets fed into that media ecosystem,” Judd said. “You reduce the likelihood of somebody publishing things that you think may be of potentially biasing concern later on.”

Policies on cameras and livestreaming vary among states, and many including Utah give judges discretion over whether to allow cameras. Cameras are generally prohibited in federal courts.

“There's Supreme Court precedent that says courts generally need to be open to the public, but that's not an absolute right,” said University of Utah law professor Teneille Brown. “Even if they allow public access, that does not equal a right to broadcast or record.”

Robinson’s attorneys are seeking to delay his May preliminary hearing, when prosecutors must show that they have enough evidence to proceed to a trial.

Prosecutors have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle. Defense attorneys note that forensic reports indicate multiple people’s DNA was found on some items, which they say requires a more complex analysis.

Robinson reportedly texted his romantic partner that he targeted Kirk because he “had enough of his hatred,” prosecutors have said.

___

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

The late Wednesday morning pursuit began when the victim reported the theft. The officer — whose name has not been released — and his horse quickly took up the chase that was captured on his bodycam and also by a television news crew that happened to be in the area for an unrelated story.

The officer repeatedly screamed at the suspect to stop running, but she refused while denying she had taken the purse. The brief hoof chase went along sidewalks, under scaffolding, between parked cars and across streets before the woman was stopped by a pedestrian and then detained by the officer.

The woman was charged with larceny and providing false information. Authorities said she had been convicted of murder in the April 2000 fatal shooting of a cab driver and had served time in prison before being released. She is currently on lifetime parole.

No injuries were reported in the chase.

Click the video above to learn more about their journey from pop-ups to their home building on East Warren.

The S&P 500 leaped 1.3% as Wall Street rallied to the finish of a third straight week of big gains, its longest streak since Halloween. A freer flow of oil would take pressure off prices not only for gasoline but also for groceries and all kinds of other products that get moved by vehicles. It could even ultimately help people pay less on credit-card interest or mortgage bills.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly climbed nearly 1,070 points and was up 978 points, or 2%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 1.6% higher

The U.S. stock market has jumped more than 12% since hitting a bottom in late March on hopes the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy despite their war. Friday’s reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which may only be temporary, is the clearest signal yet for optimism, and President Donald Trump said late Thursday that the war “should be ending pretty soon.”

The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude plunged immediately after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted on X that the passage for all commercial vessels through the strait “is declared completely open” as a ceasefire appears to be holding in Lebanon. He said it would stay open for the remaining period of the ceasefire, and U.S. oil tumbled 10.8% to $81.38 per barrel.

Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 10.5% to $88.96 per barrel. To be sure, it remains above its $70 price from before the war, indicating some caution is still embedded in financial markets.

Several times since the war began, optimism on Wall Street has quickly swung to doubt about a possible end to the fighting. That in turn has caused vicious and sudden swings of prices for everything from stocks to bonds to oil.

Minutes after the Iranian foreign minister’s announcement of the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said on his social media network that the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iranian ports remains “in full force” until both sides reach a deal on the war. He, though, also said that “should go very quickly in that most of the points are already negotiated” and emphasized it by using all capital letters.

Companies with big fuel bills soared to some of Wall Street’s biggest gains following the easing of oil prices.

United Airlines surged 8.8%. On Thursday, the head of the International Energy Agency had said that Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of remaining jet fuel supplies.

Operators of cruise ships, which guzzle fuel, also steamed higher. Norwegian Cruise Line jumped 7.8%, and Royal Caribbean Group gained 9.5%.

Housing and auto-related companies also got some relief from the drop in oil prices.

With less threat of high inflation hurting the economy, a sustained drop in oil prices could convince the Federal Reserve to resume its cuts to interest rates to invigorate the economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.23% from 4.32% late Thursday, and lower yields can bring down rates for mortgages and other loans going to U.S. households and businesses.

Builders FirstSource, a supplier of windows and other products, rose 7.1%, and homebuilder Lennar gained 5.7% on hopes that lower mortgage rates will spur more people to buy houses. Carvana climbed 9.2% because lower loan rates can get more customers into new autos.

A strong start to the earnings reporting season for big U.S. companies has also helped to support the U.S. stock market, and several more financial companies joined the list of companies delivering bigger profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected.

State Street rose 4.6%, and Fifth Third Bancorp added 1.9% after both reported better results for the latest quarter than expected.

They helped offset a 9.9% drop for Netflix, which fell even though it likewise delivered a better profit than expected. It did not raise its forecast for revenue growth for the full year, which analysts said may have disappointed some investors.

It also said Reed Hastings, cofounder and chairman of the streaming company, will step down from its board of directors in June when his term expires.

In stock markets abroad, stock indexes leaped in Europe following Iran’s announcement about the Strait of Hormuz. France’s CAC 40 jumped 2%, and Germany’s DAX returned 2.3%.

In Asia, where trading finished for the day before the announcement, indexes were weaker. Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.8%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9% for two of the bigger losses.

___

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

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On Friday morning, a slight decrease in water levels was recorded, with the water at 5.16 inches below the dam’s top.

This is .24 inches lower than the previous measurement.

On Thursday afternoon, the water was 4.92 inches from the top.

This comes as the Cheboygan River water levels have been rising due to heavy rain and snowmelt.

Read more --> Cheboygan dam update: Water levels see minor drop

“Big Red Rebuild," as the project is called, would be funded by a mix of $250 million in philanthropic support and $350 million in private bond financing. Completion is targeted for the start of the 2028 football season. University regents will consider the proposal at its meeting in Lincoln next Friday.

“Memorial Stadium is one of the most iconic venues in all of college sports and this project ensures that our stadium is well-positioned for future generations," athletic director Troy Dannen said. "We have listened intently to Nebraska fans and are building a best-in-class fan experience that will also drive revenue for the University of Nebraska, create exciting new year-round programming for Nebraskans, create new opportunities for our student-athletes, and position Nebraska to compete and lead at the highest level in a rapidly evolving college athletics landscape.”

The Cornhuskers have played at Memorial Stadium since 1923 and will enter this season with an NCAA-record sellout streak of 410 games dating to 1962.

The proposal would upgrade amenities throughout the stadium and create a 360-degree main concourse connecting the east and west sides. Capacity would be 80,000, including 20,000 new chairback seats.

Officials said the stadium would host concerts and other events year-round and annual stadium revenue would increase 40%, to an estimated $95 million.

Construction would begin after the 2026 football season.

Incremental stadium improvements have been made over the years, including luxury suites in 1999 and an expansion to more than 85,000 seats in 2013. A $450 million renovation was approved in 2023 but did not go forward because school leaders wanted to review the scope, strategy and costs.

___

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But there is little of that energy so far in 2026. Even though Democrats may have a better shot at winning, there is far less attention and money as their candidates compete for the nomination in next month's primary.

Their struggles raise the possibility that the Democrats could miss another chance to win the Georgia governor's office for the first time since 1998.

National Democrats say they are not going to let that happen. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who leads the Democratic Governors Association, said Georgia is “in play” and the money will be there for the party's eventual nominee.

“We’re going to make sure the Democratic candidate in Georgia has the funding they need to compete,” Beshear told The Associated Press on Saturday as he visited Atlanta to keynote a party dinner.

While Republicans have flooded the state with nearly $100 million in advertising, Democrats have spent only $1.24 million. Most observers believe no Democrat will win a majority in the rapidly approaching May 19 primary, prolonging the party's uncertainty.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms could be headed toward a June 16 runoff, thanks to superior name identification and being the only Black woman running in a party that has historically relied on support from Black women. But the scramble for a second spot appears wide-open, with likely contenders including former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former state Sen. Jason Esteves and former state labor commissioner and CEO of suburban DeKalb County Mike Thurmond.

Democrat could face big Republican money

On the Republican side, health care billionaire Rick Jackson has already spent or pledged $50 million toward his bid, twice as much as any previous primary candidate for Georgia governor. There is also Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump; Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger; and Attorney General Chris Carr.

It is a contrast to 2022, when Abrams outraised Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. She ended up losing the race, her second defeat to Kemp.

But Democrats say they are not worried this year even if they are outspent.

“I'll still win,” Bottoms said after a campaign event Monday, echoing other Democrats who say money can't paper over voter discontent with Republicans.

She argues that she is a “battle-tested leader” who gained national experience in President Joe Biden's administration. Like other Democrats, she cites expanding health care, affordable housing and better education as among her top issues.

“When given the opportunity to lead, I led on behalf of not just the city of Atlanta, but people across the state, and I am ready to go and fight for all of our communities to make Georgia a better place for our children,” Bottoms said Wednesday.

The Democratic race doesn’t feature notable policy splits along the lines of the progressive-moderate fissures that have opened around the country. It is not even a clear-cut contrast on style like in the Texas Senate primary that James Talarico won over Jasmine Crockett. Only Esteves, who started nearly unknown statewide, has been willing to attack the other candidates.

The noncombative nature of the other candidates was on display Wednesday night in a televised debate that included only Bottoms, Duncan and Thurmond. Duncan made only the most oblique criticisms of Bottoms' record as mayor. After Thurmond blamed Duncan for supporting a bill allowing people to carry guns more widely, he said in a postdebate interview that the criticism wasn't aimed at Duncan directly.

Esteves tries to go from unknown to contender

Esteves is banking on a late surge to propel him to the runoff. He has spent about $1 million on a burst of advertising, the only significant spending by any Democrat thus far. The 42-year-old, who is Black and Puerto Rican, argues he can build the “multiracial, multigenerational coalition" needed to win the young and diverse electorate in Georgia.

He often references his experience as a middle school teacher and small business owner in addition to his time as a lawyer, school board member and state senator.

“A lot of the challenges that Georgians are facing, I am facing in real time,” Esteves said in a Wednesday interview. “They’re looking for someone who not only wants to solve their issues, but can identify personally with their issues.”

Esteves is the only Democrat attacking Bottoms on how she managed crime, disorder and the COVID pandemic as mayor before her surprise decision not to seek a second term.

“The fact that she did not run for reelection confirmed people’s belief that when the going gets tough, she stepped out on the city,” Esteves said.

Bottoms defends her stewardship and says she declined to run again “based on what was best for me personally and my family."

Esteves has also repeatedly taken aim at Duncan, saying Duncan “oversaw some of the passage of the worst bills” while lieutenant governor, including Georgia’s ban on abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected. Although dozens of state lawmakers are backing Esteves, his top surrogate has been Shanette Williams, the mother of Amber Nicole Thurman, a woman who died in a suburban Atlanta hospital in 2022 after taking abortion pills and developing an infection.

New Democrat Duncan seeks ‘trust’

Duncan is best known for opposing Trump's attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. He has spent the past year apologizing for his Republican past and argues he is the only Democrat who can win over enough moderate voters to give his new party a win. In recent weeks, Duncan has begun to pick up some endorsements from moderate Democrats and unions.

“I don’t want to only earn your vote, I want to earn your trust,” Duncan said in Wednesday night's debate.

Thurmond calls himself a “throwback” and says his experience in state and local government, including leading the state child welfare agency, serving as labor commissioner and helping to bail out the DeKalb County school district as superintendent, would let him move quickly to enact Democratic priorities.

“I have a track record of service to the people of Georgia, and I believe this election would turn not on promises, but on performance,” Thurmond said in an interview after Wednesday's debate.

He has been trying to knit together a coalition of rural voters and older Democrats. Among those backing him are Roy Barnes, the last Democratic governor, and Andrew Young, the former mayor of Atlanta and one of the last surviving leaders of the 1960s Civil Rights movement. ___ A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Jason Esteves' father is Puerto Rican and his mother was Black. His father is Puerto Rican and Black, while his mother was Puerto Rican.

In a subsequent post, Trump said the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ships and ports “will remain in full force” until a deal is reached to end the war.

The development followed the announcement of a 10-day ceasefire, which was agreed upon by Lebanon and Israel and appeared to be holding on Friday, potentially boosting efforts to extend a truce between Iran, the United States and Israel.

It was unclear whether a lasting deal would be reached between the U.S. and Iran before the ceasefire ends next week, but the pause in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah could be an indication that some progress has been made.

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

Here is the latest:

Iranian media reports a challenge to the FM’s post declaring Strait of Hormuz open

Two semiofficial news agencies in Iran are casting doubt on an earlier announcement from Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, that the Strait of Hormuz was being opened to global traffic.

Considered close with the powerful Revolutionary Guard, Fars news agency appeared to challenge Iran’s reported decision to open the strait in a series of posts on its X account.

The posts condemned a “strange silence from the Supreme National Security Council and the negotiating team.”

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has recently acted as the de facto top decision-making body in the country, as doubts swirl over the status of the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly injured early in the war.

Mehr news agency also has said that the reported decision to reopen the strategic waterway needed “clarification” and “requires the (Supreme) Leader’s approval.”

Netanyahu says Israel is ‘not yet finished’ with Hezbollah

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but said the campaign against Hezbollah is not yet complete.

Netanyahu claimed Israel had destroyed about “90%” of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpiles, but added “we have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.

His statement came shortly before Trump said, in a social media post, that Israel was prohibited by the U.S. from bombing Lebanon any longer, adding: “Enough is enough!!!”

Trump claims Iran agrees to ‘never close the Strait of Hormuz again’

Iran has not made any public comment suggesting it has offered such assurances.

The blocking of most tankers that use the critical waterway, through which about 20% of the world’s crude flows on a typical day, has led to a global surge in fuel prices and has impacted other facets of the global economy.

The U.S. is far less reliant than Asia and Europe on Persian Gulf energy.

Still, the closure of the strait contributed to the largest monthly inflation increase in the U.S. in four years last month.

Oil tumbles 10% and the Dow soars more than 1,000 points

Oil prices fell by 10%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,020 points after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is fully open, which would allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf again and carry crude to customers worldwide.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.3% in morning trading Friday as U.S. stocks race toward the finish of a third straight week of big gains. The Nasdaq composite climbed 1.5%. Stocks have rallied 12% since late March on hopes that the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy.

Lebanese army to secure south as Lebanon pushes Israeli withdrawal, Aoun says

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the Lebanese army will play a “fundamental role” after the Israeli pullout, deploying in southern Lebanon and ending non-state armed presence.

Speaking to a delegation of Beirut members of parliament on Friday, Aoun said among the state’s priorities are consolidating the ceasefire, pushing for the withdrawal of Israeli forces, recovering Lebanese detainees and addressing pending border disputes with Israel.

Aoun cited Thursday’s phone call in which Trump expressed “support for Lebanon, its sovereignty, independence and the integrity of its territories,” describing it as one of the ceasefire’s most prominent signals of external support as negotiations advance.

Death toll of Lebanese killed in Israeli strikes increases to 2,294

Intense Israeli strikes on Thursday, one day before a 10-day U.S.-brokered ceasefire, killed 98 people, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

Since the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah erupted on March 2, at least 2,294 people have been killed, including 274 women and 177 children, according to the ministry. Another 7,185 people have been wounded, it added.

Trump again suggests Iran has agreed to hand over enriched uranium

“The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear ‘Dust,’ created by our great B2 Bombers - No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form,” Trump said in a social media post.

“Nuclear dust” is shorthand that Trump frequently uses to refer to the highly-enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites that the U.S. bombed during last year’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

If true, it would be a major concession from Iran and would lock in a key U.S. demand to end the conflict. But neither Iran nor countries acting as intermediaries in the conflict have said that Tehran has made such an agreement.

Trump on Thursday also asserted that Iran has “agreed to give us back the nuclear dust.”

German chancellor seeks US involvement in mission to secure Strait of Hormuz

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday he wants U.S. involvement in a Europe-led mission to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking after an international conference in Paris on securing the strait, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany could contribute mine clearance and maritime intelligence capabilities to such a mission, but would need parliamentary support and a ″secure legal basis″ such as a U.N. Security Council resolution.

He said Germany, ″if possible, would also like to see the United States of America participate; we believe this would be desirable.″

Trump says Iran, US, working to remove sea mines from Strait of Hormuz

“Iran, with the help of the U.S.A., has removed, or is removing, all sea mines!” Trump said in one of a barrage of social media postings announcing that Iran has agreed to reopen the strait.

Removing any mines will be critical to regain the confidence of commercial vessels that use the vital waterway to deliver oil and other products.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has dropped sea mines in the strait, according to the U.S. and Iranian news agencies.

The U.S. Navy has one littoral combat ship built for mine clearing, as well as other military assets in the region capable of doing that work. The Navy has dispatched two additional mine-clearing ships from Japan that are heading to the region.

Trump says Is

rael is ‘prohibited’ from further strikes on Lebanon

The U.S. leader offered the unusually blunt statement demanding restraint from Israel, the day after Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

“Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer,” Trump said in the social media posting. “They are PROHIBITED from doing so by the U.S.A. Enough is enough!!!”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the prohibition on Israel spans both offensive and defensive strikes.

Macron and Starmer welcome Strait of Hormuz opening but say it must be permanent

The leaders of France and the U.K. have welcomed the announced reopening of the Strait of Hormuz but say it must become permanent.

President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer say they will keep planning an international mission to restore maritime security, with a meeting of military planners in London next week.

Speaking after a gathering of some 50 countries, Macron said, “We all demand the full, immediate and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz by all parties.”

Starmer said the announcement by Iran and the U.S. that the waterway is open must become “both lasting and a workable proposal.”

He said France and the U.K. will lead a multinational mission to safeguard shipping “as soon as conditions allow.”

Quiet returns to northern Israel, but residents remain divided

After hours of sirens sounded across northern Israel late Thursday night, residents described a rare sense of quiet on Friday after a ceasefire with Hezbollah took effect.

Alerts across border communities stopped around 2 a.m., and in Kiryat Shmona, residents were seen at shopping malls and restaurants, with opinions divided over whether the 10-day ceasefire will hold.

“I live 100 meters from the border. The ceasefire is a mistake,” said resident Asaf Oakil, reflecting skepticism among some who say the fighting should continue until Hezbollah is defeated.

Another resident, expressing frustration after weeks of cross-border fire, said Israel should “strike harder” if attacks resume, adding that if rockets continue, “the whole area needs to be flattened.”

US military says it turned 19 ships back to Iran during blockade

U.S. Central Command said in a post on the social platform X on Friday that zero vessels have evaded American naval forces during the blockade of Iran-linked ships, and 19 vessels “complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and return to Iran.”

The post from Central Command came shortly before Trump thanked Iran for opening up the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump said was “completely open and ready for business.”

Trump, however, stressed that the blockade against Iranian shipping outside the Strait of Hormuz was still in place until negotiations were complete.

The narrow passage way in the Persian Gulf was effectively closed by Iran during the war with the U.S. and Israel, cutting off the flow of oil and natural gas through the gulf.

Trump says US blockade ‘will remain in full force’ until war ends

The president, in an all-caps social media post, said that the U.S. Navy’s blockade on Iranian ships and ports would remain in force “UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE.”

“THIS PROCESS SHOULD GO VERY QUICKLY IN THAT MOST OF THE POINTS ARE ALREADY NEGOTIATED,” Trump added.

Crude oil slumps 10% and Wall Street rallies toward another record

Oil prices are falling by more than 10%, and Wall Street is rallying toward another record after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is fully open, which would allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf again and carry crude to customers worldwide.

The S&P 500 rallied 0.7% as U.S. stocks sprinted toward the finish of a third straight week of big gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1%, and the Nasdaq composite added 1%.

Stocks have rallied more than 11% since late March on hopes that the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy.

Trump and Iranian foreign minister say Strait of Hormuz is fully open

U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran’s foreign minister said Friday that the Strait of Hormuz is now fully open to commercial vessels.

In a social media post, Trump said Iran announced that the strait “is fully open and ready for full passage.”

Minutes earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on the social platform X that the passage for all commercial vessels through the strait “is declared completely open” in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon.

He said it would stay open for the remaining period of the ceasefire.

It was not immediately clear what that meant for the U.S. blockade of the strait.

A senior Trump adviser meets Pakistan’s prime minister in Turkey

U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday on the sidelines of a diplomacy forum in the Turkish resort city of Antalya.

In a statement, Sharif’s office said Massad Boulos conveyed Trump’s greetings to the prime minister and “appreciated Pakistan’s constructive contributions to regional stability.”

“The two sides also discussed current regional developments, including Pakistan’s peace efforts that led to the ceasefire, as well as the historic Islamabad talks,” the statement said.

‘Our homes in the south are gone, destroyed’

In downtown Beirut, tents still line some areas as some families begin to leave, while others wait, weighing the risks of returning south.

A tricycle piled with mattresses weaves through the camp, signaling the first departures after a fragile ceasefire.

“Our homes in the south are gone, destroyed,” said Ali Balhas, from Siddiqeen town in the Tyre province. “Israel is deceptive; you never really know its policies or how it will act toward people, as you know. I have six children here, and I can’t leave that quickly. Once there is more safety, we will try to take the children and go back. But yesterday, by around midnight, the young men and most of the people had already reached al- Zahrani, so we will leave later, God willing,” he added.

Amira Ayyash, a woman from Qaaqaiat al-Jisr in the Nabatiyeh province, decided to wait and assess the situation before returning home. “We do not know at what hour they might strike us, for they are treacherous. So we decided to take it slowly,” she said.

Kremlin welcomes the 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon and Israel

“We hope that during those days it will indeed be possible to reach agreements that will allow us to avoid a recurrence of military clashes in the future,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Russia says it’s ready to store Iran’s uranium, but that the US isn’t interested

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly made the offer to store Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium and “the Russian side is open to that,” but “the proposal currently isn’t on the negotiating table.”

“Now this proposal isn’t in demand on the U.S. side,” Peskov told reporters.

Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts ‘played a role’ in securing ceasefire in Lebanon

That’s according to two officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Friday because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, is in Tehran to carry forward negotiations between the United States and Iran and help de-escalate the widening regional crisis.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Thursday at a news briefing that “peace in Lebanon and cessation of armed attacks in Lebanon are essential for peace talks.”

Palestinians mourn deaths of a child and 2 others in Gaza

Funerals were held for three Palestinians on Friday, including a 12-year-old boy, who were killed by Israeli fire in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Twelve-year-old Saleh Badawi was killed inside his house in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City on Thursday night by an Israeli quadcopter that shot him in the head, according to his uncle Mohammad Ayyad.

Others mourned the deaths of two brothers who were fatally shot by the Israeli military early Friday morning while driving a water truck in the Gaza City district of Shijaiyah.

Their colleague, Wisam Naser, told the AP that the truck was clearly marked UNICEF and was delivering assistance to displaced people. Naser said that a third man in the truck was critically wounded and receiving treatment in Ahli Hospital.

The Israeli military and UNICEF didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Czech prime minister offers surveillance system for Strait of Hormuz

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said his country will offer a passive surveillance system to aid the international effort to reopen the blocked Strait of Hormuz.

Dozens of countries are expected to take part in a conference on Friday organized by the leaders of France and the U.K. and meant to provide security for shipping through the key waterway.

Babiš said the system can be used when a ceasefire in the war between the U.S. and Israel against Iran is in place or when the conflict is over.

The Czech-made passive radar systems don’t emit electromagnetic energy, which makes them difficult to detect.

U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon say airstrikes have halted since ceasefire

Tilak Pokharel, a spokesperson for the U.S. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL, said peacekeepers have not observed any airstrikes since midnight, when a 10-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah took effect.

He said, however, that they had observed “artillery shelling in several areas in south Lebanon” up until 6 a.m. and “continue to observe

IDF airspace violation in their area of operations,” referring to the Israeli military.

He added that they have observed Israeli forces moving back and forth, but “no withdrawal.”

“They are remaining in positions, including in Bint Jbeil,” Pokharel said, referring to a village about 5 km (3 miles) from the border where heavy fighting had taken place before the ceasefire.

Defense minister warns Israel’s attempt to completely disarm Hezbollah in southern Lebanon ‘is not yet complete’

Israel Katz said Israeli forces would continue to hold all the places they are currently stationed, including a buffer zone extending 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Israel into southern Lebanon. He added that many homes in the area would be destroyed, and no Lebanese residents could return to the area.

Katz said the rest of Lebanon south of the Litani River must also be cleared of Hezbollah’s presence, either through diplomatic means or continued Israeli military operation.

“Disarming Hezbollah by military or diplomatic means was and remains the goal of the campaign to which we are committed — with significant political leverage now also due to the direct involvement of the U.S. president and his commitment to this goal — while applying pressure to the Lebanese government,” Katz said. Israel occupied a similar area in southern Lebanon between 1982 and 2000.

Iran informed Hezbo

llah leadership about truce hours before Trump calls, lawmaker says

Hassan Fadlallah, the senior Hezbollah lawmaker, praised Iran as he spoke to reporters in the battered southern Beirut suburb.

“Yesterday, before the ceasefire, Hezbollah’s leadership was formally informed around 4 a.m. from the Iranian ambassador that there will be a ceasefire at night,” he said. “We were informed from the Islamic Republic that the calls they took with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were encouraging and facilitating for a ceasefire as first step.”

Fadlallah said that the militant group’s key positions — a complete ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli troops, a return of all Lebanese displaced people, releasing prisoners held by Israel and reconstruction — have not changed.

Senior Hezbollah legislator warns Lebanon against entering direct negotiations with Israel

“During these 10 days we want the continued effort from Iran to force Israel to the pathway that was imposed by the Islamabad talks,” Hassan Fadlallah told The Associated Press Friday after speaking to the press in the battered southern Beirut suburb of Haret Hreik.

Fadlallah, from Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, warned Lebanon not to enter direct negotiations with Israel. The Iran-backed militant group said direct talks with Israel would be a free concession to Israel as its troops remain on Lebanese soil.

“The Lebanese government is unable, incapable, and unauthorized constitutionally and nationally for the Lebanese leadership to give such a dangerous concession that threatens Lebanon’s future,” he said.

Fadlallah warned that Hezbollah will not remain silent if Israel continues its attacks in southern Lebanon.

President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said they would keep planning an international mission to restore maritime security, which Starmer said will be deployed “as soon as conditions allow.” They said military planners will meet in London next week.

Speaking after a gathering of some 50 countries and international organizations, Macron said “we all demand the full, immediate and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz by all parties.”

As the meeting was underway, U.S. President Donald Trump and Iran’s foreign minister declared the strait open to commercial vessels. Oil prices plunged after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that passage for commercial vessels would remain “completely open” for the duration of a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon.

Trump in an all-caps social media post said that the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iranian ships and ports would remain in force “UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE.”

Starmer cautiously welcomed the announcement, but said it must become “both lasting and a workable proposal.”

The Paris meeting is part of attempts by sidelined nations to ease the impact of a conflict they didn’t start and haven’t joined, but that has sent the global economy reeling. Petroleum prices soared after the war started on Feb. 28, when Iran effectively shut the narrow strait through which a fifth of the world’s oil usually passes.

The U.S. is not part of the planning for what has been branded the Strait of Hormuz Maritime Freedom of Navigation Initiative, which Macron said would be “a neutral mission, entirely separate from the belligerents to escort and secure the merchant ships transiting the Gulf.”

Starmer, facing political troubles at home, was greeted by Macron in the courtyard of the Elysee presidential palace on Friday afternoon. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni also attended in person. Others, including the prime ministers of Australia and Canada, the South Korean and Ukrainian presidents and representatives of China and India, joined by video.

Military planning underway

In an echo of the “coalition of the willing” assembled to provide security for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire in that war, Starmer said that along with France, the U.K. will lead a multinational mission to protect freedom of navigation as soon as conditions allow.

“This will be strictly peaceful and defensive, as a mission to reassure commercial shipping and support mine clearance," he said.

He said more than a dozen countries had agreed to contribute assets, far fewer than in the wider Hormuz coalition.

Britain has discussed using mine-hunting drones, deployed from the ship RFA Lyme Bay.

The war has highlighted the shrunken state of the Royal Navy, which has deployed just one major warship, the destroyer HMS Dragon, to the eastern Mediterranean. France, which has the EU’s most powerful military, has sent its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the region, alongside a helicopter carrier and several frigates.

Meloni said she had expressed Italy’s “willingness to make its naval units available," while Merz said Germany could contribute mine clearance and maritime intelligence capabilities to such a mission, but would need parliamentary support and a ″secure legal basis″ such as a U.N. Security Council resolution.

He said Germany, ″if possible, would also like to see the United States of America participate; we believe this would be desirable.″

That's a departure from Macron, who has said the mission will involve countries not involved in the conflict.

Macron's office said roles for members of the coalition could include “intelligence, mine-clearing capabilities, military escorts (and) communication procedures with coastal states.”

Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow in sea power at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said mine-clearing and creating a warning system for maritime threats were more likely roles for the coalition than warships escorting commercial tankers through the strait.

“You need huge numbers of vessels for that sort of thing, which nobody has,” he said.

Trump dismisses NATO as ‘paper tiger’

Iran expert Ellie Geranmayeh, deputy head of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said mine-clearing is an area where European countries and their partners could play a role.

“They would be a better party to do this than the United States, because once you have U.S. military doing this and lingering on Iranian shores, it creates a potential arena for Iran and the U.S. to have miscalculations and get back into a sort of military tension,” she said.

The operation is partly a response to Trump, who has berated allies for failing to join the war. The president has called allies “cowards,” said NATO “wasn’t there when we needed them” and telling Britain: “You don’t even have a navy.”

Kaushal said European countries were likely trying “to demonstrate the ability to provide security in a way that’s distinct from, if not completely separate from, the U.S. and which also demonstrates a capacity for independent action.”

“How many states actually have spare capacity to offer to this is a pretty open question.”

Trump appeared dismissive of European offers of help, though he referred to NATO rather than the Franco-British-led coalition.

“Now that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help. I TOLD THEM TO STAY AWAY, UNLESS THEY JUST WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL," he posted on social media.

“They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!”

___

Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writer John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that the crucial waterway, through which about 20% of the world's oil is shipped, was now fully open to commercial vessels, as a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon appeared to hold.

Trump initially celebrated the Iranian announcement, posting on social media that the strait was "fully open and ready for full passage.” But minutes later, he issued another post saying the U.S. Navy's blockade would continue “UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE.”

The president also said Iran, with help from the U.S., is working to remove all mines from the strait.

Trump imposed the blockade earlier this week after Iran restricted traffic through the strait due to fighting in Lebanon, which Iran claimed to be a breach of the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire reached between the U.S., Israel and Iran.

At the time, Trump said the blockade would enforce an “all or none” policy in hopes of pressuring Iran to reopen the strait.

The president's decision to continue the blockade despite Iran’s announcement appeared aimed at sustaining pressure on Tehran as the fate of the two-week ceasefire reached last week remains uncertain. Direct talks between the U.S. and Iran last weekend were inconclusive, as the two nations differed over Iran’s nuclear program and other points.

Truce in Lebanon could help US-Iran peace efforts

Oil prices fell on hopes of a deal. The head of the International Energy Agency had warned that energy shocks could get worse if the strait did not reopen.

The truce in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to a deal between Iran, the United States and Israel to end weeks of devastating war. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.

Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the U.S. from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war. The White House did not immediately respond to a question about whether the prohibition spans both offensive and defensive strikes.

Shortly before Trump's social media post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.

He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90% of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.

Celebrations in Beirut

In Beirut, celebratory gunshots rang out across the Lebanese capital at the start of the truce. Displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.

A spokesperson for the U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon said Friday they had not observed any airstrikes since midnight, but accused the Israeli military of violating airspace and of artillery shelling in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

According to the agreement shared by the State Department, Israel can act in self-defense against imminent attacks but cannot carry out offensive operations against southern Lebanon.

Trump heralded the deal a “historic day for Lebanon” and expressed confidence the war with Iran would soon end.

“I will say the war in Iran is going along swimmingly,” Trump said in a Las Vegas speech. “It should be ending pretty soon.”

An end to Israel’s war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking the current ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel said that deal did not cover Lebanon.

Pakistan’s army chief met Thursday with Iran’s parliament speaker as part of international efforts to press for an extension of the ceasefire.

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

Israel says it will keep troops in Lebanon

Israeli forces have engaged in fierce battles with Hezbollah in the border area as they pushed into southern Lebanon to create what officials have called a “security zone.”

Israel’s hard-line Defense Minister Israel Katz said said Israel would continue to hold all the places it is currently stationed, including a buffer zone extending 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border into southern Lebanon. He said many homes in the area would be destroyed and Lebanese residents will not return.

Hezbollah has said Lebanese people have “the right to resist” Israeli occupation of their land and that their actions “will be determined based on how developments unfold.”

Israel and Hezbollah have fought several wars and have been fighting on and off since the day after the start of the Gaza war. Israel and Lebanon reached a deal to end that war in November 2024, but Israel has kept up near-daily strikes in what it says is an effort to prevent the Iran-backed militant group from regrouping. That escalated into another invasion after Hezbollah again began firing missiles at Israel in response to its war on Iran.

Pakistan army chief meets with Iranian parliament speaker

Pakistan’s army chief met Thursday with Iran’s parliament speaker as part of efforts to press for an extension to a ceasefire that has paused almost seven weeks of war between Israel, the U.S. and Iran.

Rregional officials reported progress, telling AP the United States and Iran had an “in-principle agreement” to extend it to allow for more diplomacy. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

Mediators are pushing for a compromise on three main sticking points: Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

Trump on Friday suggested Iran has agreed to hand over its enriched uranium.

“The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear ‘Dust,’ created by our great B2 Bombers — No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form,” he said in a post. Nuclear dust is the shorthand Trump frequently uses to refer to the highly enriched uranium that is believed buried under nuclear sites the U.S. bombed during last year’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

If true, it would be a major concession from Iran, and would lock in a key demand of the U.S. to end the conflict. But neither Iran nor countries acting as intermediaries in the conflict have said Tehran has made such an agreement.

Trump also asserted Thursday that Iran had “agreed to give us back the nuclear dust.”

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Ben Finley in Washington, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Abby Sewell in Beirut and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Agate Falls Scenic Site, located on the west side of the Upper Peninsula, is closed so crews can repair and improve the site’s trestle bridge.

The scenic site is known for its picturesque views and activities -- including fishing, hiking and ORV riding.

Construction is expected to be completed by Nov. 1, 2026.

The closure will reroute an off-road vehicle trail that runs through the property off M-28 in Ontonagon County.

ORV reroute

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources rerouted a 4.6-mile section of ORV SB Route. Riders will need to travel on a detour totaling 18.6 miles until the scenic site reopens in November, weather permitting.

The reroute begins at Mile W, then continues to Calderwood Road, which becomes Bond Falls Road, until it reaches “LL” on the trail. Riders can view this reroute in more detail by visiting the DNR’s interactive ORV trail and route map.

“This reroute is a local ‘club route’ and is known as the CW,” said Carly Graff, western Upper Peninsula trails specialist for the DNR Parks and Recreation Division.

The cause of death was not immediately known. A press release from the Grand Ole Opry described it as a sudden illness.

The two-time Grammy Award winner was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. “I will never be able to believe that I deserve this, unless I receive it as a representative of my family, my mentors, my collaborators, my promoters and my friends,” Schlitz said in 2017, when he learned of the Country Music Hall of Fame honor. “That’s the only way I can deal with this.”

Schlitz made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 2017 and was later inducted in 2022. He is the only non-artist to receive the honor in the Opry’s 100 years. The historic venue's Saturday night show will be dedicated in his honor.

He was named ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year for four consecutive years, from 1988 through 1991. He also wrote music and lyrics for “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” the 1999 Broadway musical.

Schlitz's songs are widely considered some of the most unwavering in country music, and have been recorded by such hitmakers as Kenny Rogers (“The Gambler,” “The Greatest”), Randy Travis (“On the Other Hand,” “Forever and Ever, Amen”), The Judds (“I Know Where I’m Going”), The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (“I Love Only You,”) Tanya Tucker (“I Won’t Take Less Than Your Love,”) Mary Chapin Carpenter (“He Thinks He’ll Keep Her”) and many others.

He also wrote “You Can’t Make Old Friends” for Rogers and Dolly Parton; their first duet since 1983's “Islands in the Stream.”

Schlitz, a North Carolina native, was born in 1952 and raised in Durham before packing his bags and heading to Nashville. His first recorded song, “The Gambler,” is perhaps his most enduring hit and the tent-pole of his legacy. The song, which was recorded by Rogers in 1978 and certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), opened doors for country music in the '70s, a track that was not only a huge genre hit but also a pop crossover one.

As Rogers said when he inducted Schlitz into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012, “Don doesn’t just write songs. He writes careers.”

“We are heartbroken by the news of the passing of Don Schlitz. Don loved his family, his home state of North Carolina, and above all, songs and songwriters. He carried that love into every room, every stage and every lyric he ever wrote,” Sarah Trahern, Country Music Association CEO, wrote in a statement Friday. “Not long ago, we shared a dinner, and as we were leaving, Don picked up a guitar and began to play. That is how I will always remember him, smiling and with a guitar in his hand. His legacy lives on through his music and the many artists and writers he inspired. He will be deeply missed.”

“Don Schlitz’s place as a songwriting great would be secure had he never written ‘The Gambler’ or had he only written ‘The Gambler,’” Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, wrote in a statement Friday. “Nashville was richer for his presence and is lesser for his absence.”

Schlitz is survived by his wife Stacey, daughter Cory Dixon and her husband Matt Dixon, son Pete Schlitz and his wife Christian Webb Schlitz, grandchildren Roman, Gia, Isla and Lilah, brother Brad Schlitz and sister Kathy Hinkley.

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Alcaraz, ranked No. 2, withdrew from the Barcelona Open in midweek after undergoing a test on his right wrist, and the fourth-ranked Djokovic is nursing a shoulder injury.

On Friday, Alcaraz said it “hurts” to announce that he'll miss the Madrid Open for a second straight year. The tournament starts on Monday.

Alcaraz's withdrawal in Barcelona came a day after he called for a trainer and had his wrist treated during his opening match, a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Otto Virtanen.

Djokovic hasn't competed since the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. He missed the Miami Open because of a right shoulder injury and also skipped the Monte Carlo Masters.

“Madrid, unfortunately I won’t be able to compete at the Madrid Open this year,” he wrote Friday on his social media accounts. "I’m continuing my recovery in order to be back soon. Hasta pronto!”

Djokovic is a three-time champion in Madrid.

The tournament said in a statement: “We hope to see you back here as soon as possible so we can enjoy your tennis as we have done so many times in the Caja Mágica.”

Alcaraz and Djokovic's next tournaments are the Italian Open and the French Open. Alcaraz won both of those titles last year.

___

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

By early morning, cars were backed up for kilometers on the route leading south to the damaged Qasmiyeh bridge over the Litani River, a key crossing linking the southern coastal city of Tyre to the north. Vehicles piled high with mattresses, suitcases and salvaged belongings crept forward through a single reopened lane, hastily repaired after an Israeli airstrike just a day earlier.

Drivers heading back to their villages along coastal highways cheered each other, flashed victory signs and exchanged blessings.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war displaced more than a million people. Despite warnings from Lebanese officials that they should not immediately attempt to return to their homes, many began moving toward southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire was declared. The truce appeared to be largely holding overnight.

Israel and Hezbollah have fought several wars and have been fighting on and off since the day after the start of the Gaza war. Israel and Lebanon reached a deal to end that war in November 2024, but Israel had kept up near-daily strikes in what it says is an effort to prevent the Iran-backed militant group from regrouping. That escalated into another invasion after Hezbollah again began firing missiles at Israel in response to its war on Iran.

Lebanese return to rubble after intense strikes

In southern villages like Jibsheet, a trickle of residents returned to flattened apartment blocks and streets littered with chunks of concrete, twisted aluminum shutters and dangling electrical wires.

“I feel free being back,” said Zainab Fahas, 23. “But look, they destroyed everything — the square, the houses, the shops, everything.”

Many did not believe that their ordeal was really over.

“Israel doesn’t want peace,” said Ali Wahdan, 27, a medic walking on crutches over the rubble of the emergency services’ headquarters in Jibsheet. He was badly wounded in an Israeli airstrike that hit the building without warning during the first week of the war.

“I wish it were different," he said. “But this war will continue.”

In the neighborhood of Haret Hreik in Beirut’s southern suburb, entire buildings had been reduced to rubble after weeks of intense Israeli strikes. Ahmad Lahham, 48, waved the yellow Hezbollah flag standing on a mountain of rubble that used to be his apartment building, which had also housed a branch of Hezbollah’s financial arm, Al-Qard Al-Hassan.

“We are at the service of the fighters," said Lahham, pledging his loyalty to the group.

He praised Iran, saying Tehran's pressure in its talks with the U.S. led to the truce, and condemned Lebanon’s direct talks with Israel.

“Only the Iranians stood with us, no one else,” he said, calling Lebanon’s leaders “the leadership of shame.”

A local government official in Haret Hreik said Israel struck the neighborhood 62 times over the last six weeks.

“We’ve been able to clear up the rubble of the partially damaged buildings, but for those destroyed, we will need special equipment,” Sadek Slim, the neighborhood’s deputy mayor, told a press briefing.

The area was gridlocked with traffic, with people coming back to check on their homes and Hezbollah supporters zooming on scooters, waving the group’s flag. Cars packed with families, with their possessions strapped to the roof or bursting from open trunks, were sitting in traffic for hours Friday afternoon on the highway south as a dust storm filled the air. Aid workers passed out much-needed bottles of water to those stuck in traffic.

Wounded continued to arrive at a hospital

Meanwhile, in Al-Najda al Shaabiya Hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh, officials said Thursday was one of the heaviest days of Israeli strikes since this latest Israel-Hezbollah war began.

Hospital Director Mona Abou Zeid said the wounded continued arriving from nearby Israeli strikes until around an hour after the ceasefire took effect at midnight.

Among those wounded in the bombardment on Nabatiyeh Thursday was 33-year-old Mahmoud Sahmarani, who said he stepped outside his home to buy some charcoal for his shisha water pipe when an Israeli strike hit his five-story building, killing his father and cousin as they were peeling potatoes for lunch. All that remains of his apartment is rubble, leaving him and the rest of his family homeless.

“Israel should have withdrawn from Lebanon,” he said from his hospital bed, his left eye swollen shut and his head swaddled in bandages. “If we don’t get them out, they will continue to kill us.”

Many still hesitant to go home

In downtown Beirut, tents still line some areas as some families begin to leave, while others wait, weighing the risks of returning south.

A tricycle piled with mattresses weaves through the camp, signaling the first departures after a fragile ceasefire.

“Our homes in the south are gone, destroyed,” said Ali Balhas, from Siddiqeen town in the Tyre province. “Israel is deceptive. You never really know its policies or how it will act toward people."

“I have six children here, and I can’t leave that quickly. Once there is more safety, we will try to take the children and go back" to our village he said.

Amira Ayyash, a woman from Qaaqaiat al-Jisr in the Nabatiyeh province, decided to wait and assess the situation before returning home.

“We do not know at what hour they might strike us, for they are treacherous. So we decided to take it slowly,” she said.

Ahmad Ramadan, 42, a father of three stuck in the bottleneck, said he initially planned to wait out the ceasefire at his cousin’s now-crowded apartment in Beirut. But the desire to see what had become of his house in the southern city of Tyre overcame him.

“We are going to check on our house, just quickly, and come back. We just need to know if there’s damage,” he said. “Even if we’re waiting for hours here it’s worth knowing what happened.”

It wasn’t the Iran war, nor the partial government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding. He was focused on a monumental issue of a different kind, hoisting artist renderings of the $400 million White House ballroom he’s building, complete with hand-carved “top-of-the-line” Corinthian columns.

“I’m so busy that I don’t have time to do this. I’m fighting wars and other things,” Trump said before extensively detailing plans for “the greatest ballroom anywhere in the world.”

His divided attention has become a Democratic point of attack and a concern for some Republicans who worry he’s not spending enough time on issues that voters care most about ahead of November’s midterm races.

The contrast was on full display Thursday, when, as Trump flew to Las Vegas to discuss tax cuts for Americans earning tips, his administration was pushing ahead with another of his splashy projects: Plans to build a 250-foot Triumphal Arch near the Lincoln Memorial replete with a Lady Liberty-like statue and a pair of golden eagles.

The president’s ability to speak to the concerns of working people has always seemed incongruous with his biography as a billionaire real estate developer. Yet his populist policies and emphasis on the economy during his 2024 campaign helped catapult him back to the White House.

Republican strategist Rick Tyler noted that, when Trump first ran for president in 2016, his wealth was a selling point.

“While other people, like Mitt Romney, played down how rich he was, Trump was giving free helicopter rides at the Iowa State Fair,” Tyler said. “People loved it.”

Still, Trump’s preoccupation with some of the gilded trappings of the presidency, as more Americans worry about bills, has drawn accusations that he’s a modern-day Marie Antoinette.

“‘Fighting wars’ and surging gas prices, yet Trump has time to brag about his billionaire backed ballroom,” Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, responded on X to Trump’s Air Force One presentation.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential hopeful, has been more direct in comparing Trump to the last queen before the French Revolution, who has come to embody extravagant opulence — even posting an AI-generated image of Trump's face on her body on social media.

“TRUMP ‘MARIE ANTOINETTE’ SAYS, ‘NO HEALTH CARE FOR YOU PEASANTS, BUT A BALLROOM FOR THE QUEEN!’” Newsom wrote in October 2025, at the start of last fall's 43-day government shutdown.

White House says Trump's success benefits all Americans

Asked about opponents invoking Marie Antoinette, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump “is going to go down in history as the most successful and consequential president in our lifetime.”

“His successes on behalf of the American people will be imprinted upon the fabric of America and will be felt by every other White House that comes after him," Ingle said in a statement.

The president faced similar critiques during his first term. But lately he's been unabashed about accusations he’s disconnected from Americans' worries about high costs, which could leave Republicans with an uphill battle to retain control of Congress.

Republicans have been loath to question Trump, though notably there has been little criticism of a federal judge’s ruling that work on the project must stop until it has congressional approval. The GOP-controlled House and Senate also haven’t prioritized legislation to move the ballroom project forward.

“I’m not much into architecture,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said last fall.

About two-thirds of Americans said Trump is “out of touch” with the concerns of most people in the United States today, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll from February, though the same percentage said the same about the Democratic Party.

Presidents are usually removed from voters, separated by layers of security and surrounded by adoring subordinates. In her book “Why Presidents Fail And How They Can Succeed Again,” Elaine Kamarck argues that presidents get too focused on their own political narratives rather than the public's concerns. Yet, when it comes to Trump, “All of this stuff is frankly unique to him.”

She pointed to the ballroom as well as Trump's other White House renovations, soon adding his signature to paper currency and renaming the Kennedy Center after himself.

“It's a reflection, I think, of his own background as a businessman and somebody who made his fortune selling his name," said Kamarck, who worked in Bill Clinton’s White House.

While Trump focuses on the ballroom and other Washington projects, some public work projects in other parts of the country have languished.

Joe Meyer, the former mayor of Covington, Kentucky, spent years pushing for critical improvements to the Brent Spence Bridge connecting his town with Cincinnati, a project listed as a top federal priority dating back to Trump's first administration.

Federal funds for improvements were approved under President Joe Biden but held up by a Trump-ordered review. Work is now finally set to begin later this year, though delays will likely limit design options and slow the project, Meyer said.

“The ballroom is Washington inside-baseball,” Meyer said. “The bridge is just a wreck. It’s frustration that we’ve been dealing with forever.”

A $100 tip and a golden tractor

Trumpeting new tax deductions for tips, Trump staged ordering McDonald's to the Oval Office — which he has adorned with gold flourishes — and tipped the grandmother making the delivery $100. When she described large medical bills from her husband’s cancer treatments, Trump said she should bring him to an upcoming UFC fight on the White House lawn.

When hundreds of farmers were invited to the White House for an agricultural policy speech, they stood on the South Lawn beside a tractor that had been painted gold. It drizzled, but Trump stayed dry, addressing them from a covered second-floor balcony.

“You don’t mind rain,” the president told the farmers below.

He then flew to Miami for a conference of Saudi investors who, the president noted, were too rich to be impressed by U.S. families scrounging to save up $5,000.

“I know they’re looking like, ‘What the hell is $5,000?’" Trump joked. "Their shoes cost them more than $5,000."

When asked in February, meanwhile, for his message to young people wanting to buy a home, Trump replied: “Save a little longer. Wait a little longer."

Members of the Cabinet have also fed the perception that Trump's promised “ Golden Age ” may not be arriving for everyone. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. advised Americans to buy liver instead of beef.

“If you go and buy a steak, it’s still pretty expensive. But if you buy the cheaper cuts, it’s great meat. And it is very, very affordable. Or liver, or, you know, all these alternatives,” he told podcast host Joe Rogan.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said people could still afford meals consisting of “a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, corn tortilla and one other thing.”

Texas-based Republican consultant Brendan Steinhauser said he thinks that Trump “can kind of get away with" building a ballroom because voters have come to expect that from him as a brash dealmaker and businessman.

But Steinhauser said he worries that dramatic increases in gas prices and a potentially weakening economy could resonate with voters. Ahead of the midterms, Steinhauser said, Democrats could score points “trying to make it more about Trump and his oligarch friends.”

___

Associated Press writers Linley Sanders in Washington and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.

On Friday, April 17, 2026, officials said the water is 5.16 inches below the top.

This is .24 inches lower than the previous measurement. On Thursday afternoon, the water was 4.92 inches from the top, and the measurement at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday morning was at 5.76 inches.

Dropping below 6 inches puts the area in the “Set” zone under the Ready, Set, Go emergency system, which means that residents should have a go-bag packed and be prepared to leave.

Cheboygan Dam Update 04/16/2026 at 10:20am
The Cheboygan Dam Area, and north of Cheboygan Dam is moving to the Level 2 “Set” stage of the Ready, Set, Go model. This indicates the water level is below 6” of topping the lowest point of the Cheboygan Dam Complex. Level 2 indicates a… pic.twitter.com/3zr2k3A8QE

— MichEMHS (@MichEMHS) April 16, 2026

Crews have been working around the clock at the dam complex. As of Wednesday, the DNR’s Incident Management Team has deployed two 24-inch pumps capable of moving a combined 20,000 gallons per minute, according to public information officer Laurie Abel.

Consumers Energy has said it is monitoring the situation and may proactively cut power to parts of the area. On Wednesday, more than 1,000 customers briefly lost power while the company worked on the electrical system.

Authorities are also watching two nearby dams, the Kleber Dam and the Alverno Dam, as water levels remain elevated, Cheboygan County Emergency Management Director Jeremy Runstrom said Wednesday.

What to know about the Ready, Set, Go system

State officials are using the “Ready, Set, Go” safety approach, which includes the following:

• Ready: When water is 12 inches below the top of the dam with levels rising 3 inches a day or more. Plan and/or pack in the event an evacuation becomes necessary.
• Set: When water reaches 6 inches below the top of the dam, with water levels rising at a rate of 3 inches per day or levels rising 3 inches per day and predicted to top the dam within 48 hours. Prepare by packing and preparing your family, pets and vehicle for potential departure.
• Go: When water levels are 1 inch below the top of the dam with a high probability of topping it, with the potential for failure occurring. Follow evacuation orders; roadblocks may be installed around the perimeters.

Previous Coverage

Sánchez and Lula have been outspoken in their criticism of the decision by the U.S. and Israel to attack Iran that has caused energy prices to soar. Both spoke in favor of peace, while not naming U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened both with punitive tariffs in the past, during a one-hour news conference after their summit.

“We want to double our efforts to work for peace and for a reinforced multilateral order. While others open wounds, we want to mend them and cure them,” Sánchez told reporters.

Sánchez’s government declared its airspace closed to U.S. planes being used in the Iran war, and said it is not allowing the U.S. to use jointly operated military bases in southern Spain for actions related to the war. Earlier this week, Lula released a video message expressing “deep solidarity” with Pope Leo XIV following public criticisms made by Trump after the pontiff slammed the Iran war.

Lula and Sánchez are among the few progressive leaders who have withstood a shift to the right and remain popular in their countries while defending multilateral agreements, human rights, environmental protections and gender equality — all bugaboos of Trump, Lula's neighbor in Argentina, Javier Milei, and Europe's far right.

The meetings come amid a busy week for Sánchez, who just returned from meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, his fourth trip to Beijing in just over three years.

Lula and Sánchez, along with ministers from their cabinets, signed 15 agreements ranging from trade and satellite connections to the exploitation of rare earths needed for industry when they met inside a former royal palace in Barcelona.

Their bilateral meeting was a prelude for Saturday's double dose of gatherings when Lula and Sánchez confer with other leaders inside a sprawling conference center in Spain’s second city.

“Brazil and Spain are side by side in the trenches together,” Lula said. “We are an example that it is possible to find solutions to problems without giving into the empty promises of extremism.”

In that vein, Lula said that the aim for Saturday was to discuss how “democracy must go beyond just voting and bring real benefits to people’s lives.”

A growing group

The first gathering on Saturday is the IV Meeting in Defense of Democracy. The event was launched by Brazil and Spain in 2024 as a forum to exchange ideas aimed at combating the “extremism, polarization and misinformation” that undermines participatory democracy, the organizers say. The first two editions of this event were held at the United Nations and the previous one was in Santiago, Chile, last year.

This edition will include the presence of European Council President António Costa, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and the leaders of other countries from Uruguay and Lithuania to Ghana and Albania.

“If the president of Mexico and South Africa are coming, that means our group is growing,¨ Lula said about how he sees the tide could be turning to favor progressive and middle-of-the-road political parties.

Sheinbaum’s participation comes after Spain’s King Felipe VI ironed out a longstanding diplomatic dispute regarding Spain’s colonial past when he recently acknowledged the Spanish conquest of the Americas had led to the “abuse” of native peoples.

Rallying the Left

Many of the leaders from the first event will stay put for the inaugural Global Progressive Mobilization, a gathering of left-leaning politicians and policymakers, being held at the same venue later on Saturday. The format was launched after Sánchez and former Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, who is now president of the Party of European Socialists political grouping, discussed the idea at a meeting of European Socialists last year.

Sánchez and Lula will both give speeches at the event, which is expected to have 3,000 attendees, including U.S. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, and feature round tables dedicated to issues ranging from wage inequality to how to improve election results for progressives.

Middle powers mingle

Pol Morillas, director of the Barcelona-based foreign affairs think tank CIDOB, said that the gatherings are meant to be a show of force by traditional democratic leaders who have seen how the populist far-right has successfully forwarded its messages of anti-migration and economic nationalism through international gatherings.

Morillas also sees the meetings in the context of the speech by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that shook the Davos economic forum in January on the importance of so-called “middle powers” seeking out new strategies to deal with a world of aggressive superpowers.

Lula, Sánchez and other leaders at the events “share the understanding that the world is not just for the great powers,” Morillas told The Associated Press.

____

AP writers Megan Janetsky in Mexico City and Mauricio Savarese in Sao Paulo, Brazil, contributed.

Kosovo's Parliament on Friday overwhelmingly approved in a 89-0 vote an earlier government decision to send the troops to the International Stabilization Force under a U.S.-backed initiative following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas last year.

The ISF is yet to deploy to help maintain peace and assist in rebuilding Gaza under U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, which Kosovo has joined. Indonesia, Albania and Kazakhstan are among other countries that have promised to participate in ISF.

In Kosovo, contributing to the international force is seen as proof of how far the country has come after declaring independence from Serbia in 2008, a split which Belgrade still does not recognize.

Belgrade's brutal crackdown on Kosovo's separatist rebels prompted a NATO intervention in 1999 that forced the Serb troops out of the territory and paved the way for the peacekeepers' deployment under a KFOR mission.

"Our country has been a security consumer, meaning NATO countries have contributed to the security of the Republic of Kosovo," Defense Minister Ejup Maqedonci told The Associated Press. “Today we are entering a phase where we are becoming a provider, or exporter, of security.”

Maqedonci said the Kosovo contingent will consist of several dozen officers, including from demining units. The troops will be tasked with providing humanitarian support, security assistance and other duties determined by the mandate of the Gaza force, Maqedonci added.

“We are currently in the final preparations phase," Maqedonci said. He said a U.S. representative has helped with the preparation, including vaccination of troops, issuing of visas and other technical arrangements.

Kosovo currently has a security force of some 4,000 personnel that is being trained to become a small, professional military aligned with NATO.

Musician Milot Hoxha, 43, hailed the plan to participate in the Gaza mission.

“We ourselves have gone through such a transition and every small help for us has been very significant,” he said. "I believe it will be the same for them, that any kind of help will be positive. I strongly support this decision.”

Tensions with Serbia have been simmering ever since the war, with occasional violent incidents. The European Union has mediated negotiations aimed at normalizing relations between Belgrade and Pristina but these efforts have stalled recently.

The United States and most EU countries have recognized Kosovo as an independent state, while Russia and China have backed Serbia's claim on the territory.

Their attempt at swapping bibs, which bear the identification numbers worn by racers, resulted in two women runners initially finishing outside the top 10 in the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town on April 12.

The annual Two Oceans race is one of South Africa’s iconic marathons and includes a 56-kilometer (34.7-mile) ultramarathon and a 21.1-kilometer (13.1-mile) half-marathon. The event attracts over 16,000 participants and finishing among the top 10 is a significant achievement for most runners.

The two men, Luke Jacobs and Nic Bradfield, finished seventh and 10th. They were disqualified after a marathon board member uncovered the deception. The women runners who had been bumped were subsequently recognized for their legitimate finishes.

Jacobs and Bradfield will face disciplinary processes by the marathon’s disciplinary subcommittee, said Two Oceans Marathon board member Stuart Mann, who helped uncover the deception.

Swapping bibs is unethical and risky

Exchanging bibs with another marathoner has become more common while also carrying far-reaching consequences, Mann said.

“Not only is it considered unethical, but it also poses health and medicals risks in case of an emergency as wrong medication may be administered to a wrong person,” Mann said.

Swapping numbers can result from different motivations, Mann explained. For some, it is done to avoid losing money if they are injured or for some other unexpected reason can’t run the race. For others, the deceptive practice allows them to obtain a faster time to use for qualifying in a future race.

Online photos lead to discoveries and apologies

Mann was tipped off to one of the swaps after Jacobs posted pictures of himself at the race on social media and people noticed his bib displayed the name “Larissa.”

After further investigation, Mann learned Jacobs competed using a bib assigned to Larissa Parekh, who was registered to compete in the women's race.

“I made an error in judgment and did not consider the consequences. I should not have taken part,” Jacobs said in a written apology.

Jacobs and Bradfield were also tripped up by modern sports technology. Race officials watched the first 10 women cross the finish line, but data from chips in the bibs indicated two other women also had crossed, although they were not observed by the officials.

The discrepancy led to the revelation that Bradfield competed with a number belonging to Tegan Garvey, who later admitted to giving up her bib after she suffered a hip problem prior to the race.

“The day before, my hip gave in completely, leaving me unable to even walk. I felt bad as to give up my race entry so my friend ran in my place,” Garvey said.

Parekh did not give a clear explanation for her actions, according to Mann, who said both women have apologized and face two-year bans from the Two Oceans Marathon.

Verstappen has been the most vocal critic of the 2026 cars' reliance on electrical power and the compromises it forces drivers to make on track. He's even suggested it could be his last season in F1.

Russell is an old rival of Verstappen and has his best shot yet at the title thanks to Mercedes' strong start to the season. He trails teammate Kimi Antonelli by nine points ahead of the Miami Grand Prix in two weeks.

“Formula 1’s bigger than any driver. You wouldn’t want to lose Max because I think we all enjoy racing against Max,” Russell said Friday, and suggested some of Verstappen's criticism might be because he and Red Bull aren't among the title contenders.

“The complaints that he has currently are different to the complaints of Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren because we’re at the front end of the grid.”

Russell said Verstappen's interest in forays into other events like endurance sportscar racing might be linked to having “not really much more for him to achieve” in F1.

“My goal now is to become a Formula 1 world champion. If I had four of them (titles) under my belt, I’d probably be doing the same," Russell said. "He’s in a very different stage of his career and I think you’d understand if he stayed and you’d understand if you went.”

Russell eyes changes

Russell said potential rule changes have been a focus for him during the unexpected mid-season break caused when the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were called off.

Russell wants to bring back a “flat-out” feel to qualifying with less need to lift off the throttle and generate electrical power and says that's helped by an improved relationship between the drivers and the governing body, the FIA.

“The FIA have been in a lot of comms with a handful of drivers, and that’s been collective. And at least from the FIA technical standpoint, it’s probably the closest relationship we’ve had with them in numerous years, so that’s very positive to see,” he said.

Antonelli shrugs off pressure

After winning two of the opening three races and becoming F1's youngest standings leader, it's all about keeping the momentum going for Antonelli.

The 19-year-old Italian has been working on his fitness and says he feels more relaxed than he did in his rookie season last year.

“Obviously, George is super strong and competitors will get closer, so I just need to keep doing what I’m doing, just trying to raise the bar little by little,” he said.

Being the first Italian in 20 years to win an F1 race means a lot more attention back home, but Antonelli says it won't affect him.

“I am aware of obviously the increase of support and following after, especially my first wins, which has been very nice to see. But I don’t feel more pressure,” he said Friday. “I know expectations from people are higher now because obviously I’m coming off two wins and from a strong start of the season. But at the end of the day I keep my focus on the process, on what I have to do.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Victor Wembanyama has met every expectation. Except, perhaps, his own.

He came to the San Antonio Spurs three years ago as the No. 1 draft pick and hoping to lead a revitalization, one where a perennial title contender that got stuck in a rebuilding cycle would finally rise again. So far, so good — the Spurs just finished their best season in a decade, going 62-20.

And now, the really good stuff — the playoffs — awaits.

“How ready? As ready as you can be,” Wembanyama said when asked about his level of preparation for his first look at the NBA postseason. “These moments, it’s really what you work on all year, but also your whole career. We’re dreaming of playoffs as kids before we come here.”

History says these second-seeded Spurs, who open the Western Conference playoffs at home against No. 7 Portland on Sunday night, could be poised to make a deep run.

Of the other 15 clubs in franchise history that finished with a winning percentage of .700 or better, 14 won at least one playoff series, 10 made the NBA’s final four, six went to the NBA Finals and five won championships.

The core then: Gregg Popovich as coach, leading names like Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. The core now: Mitch Johnson as coach, leading names like Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox and Wembanyama — who seems to make all things possible.

“He’s embraced the city and the city’s embraced him, the stepping foot into the community,” Johnson said. “And it’s been genuine and it’s been authentic. ... It's pretty cool to witness upfront.”

To say Wembanyama — who is at least 7-foot-4, and somehow has other 7-foot men in the NBA gawking about how tall he seems — is unique is somehow an understatement. How many other 21-year-olds in the NBA draw headlines for spending part of their summers at a Buddhist temple (as he did last summer) as part of basketball training, bring books to read at the All-Star Game (to the disbelief of some fellow All-Stars) and can show off math skills during press conferences (as he did of late while debating the NBA's 65-game rule)?

Not many.

“He's unique,” Spurs forward Harrison Barnes said, knowing he was stating the obvious.

Wembanyama’s numbers this season: 1,600 points, 736 rebounds, 199 assists, 197 blocked shots, 122 3-pointers. Nobody in NBA history has ever finished a season with those totals, and the blocked shots are the biggest factor in why he stands alone there.

So, take the blocks out. Grade him in history on points, rebounds, assists and 3s for a season. Do that, and here's the full list of players to reach his totals in just those categories in one season: Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, DeMarcus Cousins, Karl-Anthony Towns (twice), Nikola Vucevic, Julius Randle and Nikola Jokic. That's it.

“He's a 7-5 guy that can handle the ball, shoot, guard the rim, guard the perimeter, all the little things,” said Portland coach Tiago Splitter, who went to the NBA Finals as a player on some of the great San Antonio teams and was part of the Spurs' most recent championship in 2014. “It's not a secret. He's a very good player.”

Oddsmakers say San Antonio is the second choice behind only defending champion Oklahoma City — the West's No. 1 seed — to win the NBA title. That means there is an expectation, and a realistic one, that Wembanyama's playoff debut might not just be a smashing success but might wind up bringing the ultimate success.

He was rookie of the year two years ago. He was on his way to winning defensive player of the year last season before his year got cut short by a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis. He's eligible for all the big NBA awards this season, and basketball fans seem like they simply cannot get enough info about everything he does.

Now, the NBA's biggest stage awaits San Antonio's biggest star. He's played for Olympic gold before, so he knows what extremely high-stakes basketball is like, but his first chance to compete for an NBA championship is finally here.

“I can’t really help but dream about it, of course,” Wembanyama said. “But we have to stay grounded, stay in the moment. And before even thinking about Game 1, I have to think about showing up the right way. Practice, doing all my stuff, preparing, being locked in on the scouts. But yeah, I dream about it every day.”

___

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

The 39-year-old was reported missing on March 14. On April 17, police said she was located.

Her information was removed from this article.

READ: More Missing in Michigan coverage

The teen was reported missing on April 10. On April 17, police said he was located.

His information has been removed from this article.

READ: More Missing in Michigan coverage

The teen was reported missing on April 2. On April 17, police said she was located.

Her information has been removed from this article.

READ: More Missing in Michigan coverage

Starmer says he was not informed that the Foreign Office had overruled the recommendation of security officials in early 2025 not to give Peter Mandelson the job. Many considered Mandelson a risky appointment because of his past friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Starmer said he was “absolutely furious” that he had been kept in the dark, calling it staggering” and “unforgivable.” He said he would “set out all the relevant facts in true transparency” to Parliament on Monday.

The top Foreign Office civil servant, Olly Robbins, took the fall for the decision and resigned.

The PM's job is in peril

The prime minister's job has been endangered by his fateful decision to appoint Mandelson, a trade expert and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party, as envoy to the Trump administration. It was a calculated risk that backfired spectacularly, and could bring down the prime minister.

Opposition politicians expressed disbelief that Starmer could have been unaware Mandelson had failed security vetting. Starmer’s office said he only found out this week.

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, said Friday that “the recommendation was to not appoint Peter Mandelson to the role,” and that the Foreign Office ignored it. He said that was “astonishing,” but within the rules.

He said no government minister had been told of the security assessment.

Jones said the checks, carried out by a department known as U.K. Security Vetting, “go through financial, personal, sexual, religious and other types of background information, and that is why it is kept extremely private on a portal that only a few people have access to.”

Opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said claims the prime minister didn’t know were “completely preposterous.”

“This story does not stack up. The prime minister is taking us for fools,” she told the BBC. “All roads lead to a resignation.”

Ed Davey, the leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, said Starmer “must go” if he misled Parliament and lied to the British public. The Lib Dems asked the prime minister's ethics adviser to investigate whether Starmer broke the government code of conduct by misleading Parliament.

Starmer has repeatedly insisted that “due process” was followed in the appointment, which was announced in December 2024. Mandelson took up the Washington post in February 2025, after undergoing security vetting.

Mandelson had known Epstein links

Mandelson’s expertise as a former European Union trade chief was considered a major asset in trying to persuade the Trump administration not to slap heavy tariffs on British goods, and seemed to pay off when the countries struck a trade deal in May 2025.

But documents released by the government in March, after being forced to by Parliament, showed Starmer ignored red flags raised by his staff about the appointment. He was warned that Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, exposed the government to “reputational risk.”

Starmer fired Mandelson in September 2025 after evidence emerged that he had lied about the extent of his links to Epstein.

The release of millions of pages of Epstein-related documents by the U.S. Department of Justice in January reveled more and showed Mandelson’s relationship with the financier continued even after Epstein’s conviction in 2008 for sexual offenses involving a minor.

Emails suggested Mandelson had passed on sensitive, and potentially market-moving, government information to Epstein in 2009 after the global financial crisis.

British police subsequently launched a criminal probe. Mandelson was arrested on Feb. 23 on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

He has been released without bail conditions as the police investigation continues. Mandelson has previously denied wrongdoing and hasn’t been charged. He does not face allegations of sexual misconduct.

King Charles III’s brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, is also under police investigation over his friendship with Epstein. He, too, has been arrested but not charged.

Starmer's recent setbacks

The prime minister has apologized to the British public and to Epstein’s victims for believing what he has termed “Mandelson’s lies.”

The Mandelson revelations are among a string of setbacks Starmer has faced since he led the Labour Party to a landslide election victory in July 2024. He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and has been beset by missteps and U-turns.

The prime minister defused a potential crisis in February, when some Labour lawmakers called for him to resign over the Mandelson appointment. But he could face a leadership challenge after local and regional elections on May 7, in which Labour is expected to do badly.

Despite his struggles on the homefront, Starmer has been praised for his work on the world stage. He has played a key role in maintaining European support for Ukraine, and was in Paris on Friday to host a summit alongside French President Emmanuel Macron on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the oil shipping route choked off by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

The man left his residence on Wednesday (April 8) and did not return home.

His information has been removed from this article.

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Leo traveled to the port city of Douala, Cameroon's financial and economic hub, on a day dedicated to encouraging the country's youth. Later Friday back in the capital, Youande, Leo has an appointment with students, professors and administrators at the Catholic University of Central Africa.

Popes have often used such encounters, especially in the developing world, to rally young people to persevere in the face of poverty, corruption and other challenges.

The big field in front of the Japoma sports stadium was bursting with people singing, swaying and dancing as an announcer shouted “Habemus Papam!” (We have a pope!). The Latin phrase is used to announce the election of a new pope but in this case joyfully announced Leo's arrival at the field.

The crowd cheered when Leo emerged in his open-sided popemobile, with waves of young people running alongside him trying to keep up as he looped through the crowd. Some had spent the night on the ground, battling mosquitoes, to be in place for the late morning Mass, but said they were willing to make the sacrifice for the pope.

Leo tells the young to remember their values

“I wanted to offer this effort to the pope, to show him that what he is doing and what he wants to accomplish should truly come to life,” said Alex Nzumo, who arrived at the Mass on crutches.

The Vatican had predicted some 600,000 people would turn out for the liturgy. But by the end of the Mass, the Vatican quoted local organizers as saying about 120,000 attended.

In his homily, delivered in French and English, Leo cited the Biblical story of Jesus’ multiplication of loaves in urging young people to “multiply your talents through the faith, perseverance, and friendship.”

“Be the first faces and hands that bring the bread of life to your neighbors, providing them with the food of wisdom and deliverance from all that does not nourish them, but rather obscures good desires and robs them of their dignity,” he said.

He urged them to look beyond the poverty and disillusionment many experience and instead look to the future with hope.

“Do not give in to distrust and discouragement,” he said. “Do not forget that your people are even richer than this land, for your treasure lies in your values: faith, family, hospitality and work."

“Do not let yourselves be corrupted by temptations that waste your energies and do not serve the progress of society,” he said.

With a population of 29 million, Cameroon is an overwhelmingly young country, where the median age is 18. Catholics represent about 29% of the population, and the country is a major source of growth and priestly vocations for the church.

Young people under pressure

Leo has already offered words of encouragement to Cameroon’s youth, including in his opening speech to President Paul Biya — at 93 the world’s oldest leader. In the speech, Leo demanded the “chains of corruption” in Cameroon be broken and said Cameroon’s youth represent the future and hope of the country.

But with Biya in power since 1982, Cameroon perhaps represents the most dramatic example of the tension between Africa’s youth and the continent’s many aging leaders.

Despite being an oil-producing country experiencing modest economic growth, young people say the benefits have not trickled down beyond the elites.

“Of course, when unemployment and social exclusion persist, frustration can lead to violence," Leo warned in his opening address to Biya and government authorities earlier this week. "Investing in the education, training, and entrepreneurship of young people is, therefore, a strategic choice for peace. It is the only way to curb the outflow of wonderful talent to other parts of the world.”

According to World Bank data, the unemployment rate in Cameroon stands at 3.5%, but 57% of the labor force aged 18 to 35 works in informal employment.

The dire economic outlook in Cameroon has led to significant brain drain and has strained an already understaffed health sector, as many doctors and nurses are leaving the country for more lucrative jobs in Europe and North America.

In 2023, about a third of doctors who graduated from medical school in Cameroon left the country, according to the Ministry of Higher Education.

Growing frustration over Biya’s record and long-term rule intensified during last October’s tense presidential election, in which Biya secured an eighth consecutive term.

When Cameroon’s main opposition candidate, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, contested the result of the poll, deadly protests erupted throughout the country.

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Associated Press writer Mark Banchereau in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Trump has been hostile to renewable energy, instead promoting fossil fuels that he says are essential to American energy dominance. The Associated Press and Grist collaborated on a project to analyze how federal policy changes on energy are affecting farmers.

They found that two programs critical for renewable energy growth — a rural-focused initiative called REAP and a clean energy tax credit — have been sharply rolled back. In the fiscal year that started Oct. 1, they found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture hasn’t awarded a single dollar in rural energy grants or loan guarantees.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is a collaboration between Grist and The Associated Press.

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Some takeaways from their reporting:

A longstanding renewable energy program is gutted

Through the Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP, the USDA issues grants and loans to farmers, ranchers, and rural businesses interested in renewable energy — like installing solar to lower utility costs. REAP has backed tens of thousands of renewable energy and efficiency projects, with grants totaling more than $1.8 billion, since it began nearly two decades ago.

The program was supercharged by funding from the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, and had bipartisan support up until then.

But the Grist-AP analysis of USDA data found the program hasn't committed a single dollar in renewable energy development since September. It has never reopened REAP’s grant application cycle though it said it would do so last October. Its loan guarantee program — geared toward larger farm and rural business projects — has remained open, but the analysis found that the agency has awarded no new agreements this fiscal year.

And on March 31, the USDA announced a suspension of all REAP grant awards so it could update regulations to comply with a Trump executive order issued in July.

A USDA spokesperson said the suspension was temporary but didn't say for how long.

A tax credit begun under Bush is tightened, killing projects

The Energy Policy Act of 2005, signed by President George W. Bush, enacted a 30% investment tax credit for large-scale clean energy projects, boosting the solar industry. The tax credit was extended for eight years under President Obama and later extended under Trump in 2020.

When President Joe Biden signed the 2022 landmark climate bill, the tax credit was extended again through 2032 or when specific emissions targets were reached. But under Trump’s tax bill passed by Congress last year, the timeline for getting credits was moved up. Now, commercial solar projects have to be under construction by July 2026 and in service by the end of 2027 to be eligible for the credit.

The Grist-AP analysis found at least 126 solar projects proposed since 2024 — all of them on or near farmland — are awaiting regulatory approval. Together the projects would supply about 20 gigawatts of renewable electricity, enough to power about 4.5 million homes.

Some developers are abandoning projects because they say they can't meet the deadlines.

What all this means for farmers

Daniel Bell, a Kentucky sheep farmer, is earning extra money by running his flock on land owned by a commercial solar operation. The sheep keep the grass down beneath solar arrays. With an expanding flock, now he needs a new barn, and he wanted to power it with rooftop solar — only to find that the Trump administration had effectively stopped the grants that would have made it possible on his own property.

Bell said for him it's an issue of the freedom to do what he wants in a way that lowers his bills.

Robert Bonnie, who was undersecretary for farm production and conservation at the USDA under the Biden administration, said the retreat from funding renewables will be felt throughout rural America. Part of the USDA’s role has been to invest in rural areas while making rural prosperity part of the climate agenda.

“In places like Iowa and Texas, renewables matter, not just for additional power, and lower power bills, and clean energy, but also matters for farmers’ pocketbooks,” said Bonnie. “Anything you do to pull back on that is hugely problematic.”

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

A change-of-plea hearing for Jones is scheduled for April 28 in Brooklyn federal court, according to a court filing Thursday. It was originally set for May 6, but was moved at the request of the parties.

Jones, 49, had previously pleaded not guilty to separate indictments charging him with profiting from rigged poker games and providing sports bettors with non-public information about injuries to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Jones is charged in both cases with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

A message seeking comment was left for his lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery. He told a judge at Jones’ arraignments in November that they “may be engaging in plea negotiations.”

Jones, a onetime teammate of James, was arrested last October along with Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and others, including a sports bettor accused of cashing in on injury information.

Jones was one of three people charged in both the poker and sports betting schemes. He remains free on bail.

A native of Galveston, Texas, Jones earned more than $20 million playing for 10 teams in 11 seasons from 1999 to 2009. He and James played together in Cleveland from 2005 to 2008 and Jones served as an unofficial assistant coach for James’ Los Angeles Lakers during the 2022-2023 season.

According to prosecutors, Jones sold or attempted to sell non-public information to bettors that James was injured and wouldn’t be playing in a Feb. 9, 2023, game against the Milwaukee Bucks, texting an unnamed co-conspirator: “Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out.”

James wasn’t listed on the Lakers’ injury report at the time of the text message, but the NBA’s all-time scoring leader was later ruled out of the game because of a lower body injury, according to prosecutors, and the Lakers lost the game 115-106.

On Jan. 15, 2024, prosecutors said, sports bettor Marves Fairley paid Jones approximately $2,500 for a tip that Davis, the Lakers’ forward and center at the time, would see limited playing time against the Oklahoma City Thunder because of an injury.

Fairley then placed a $100,000 bet on the Thunder to win, prosecutors said, but the tip was wrong. Davis played his usual minutes, scored 27 points and collected 15 rebounds in a 112-105 Lakers win, prompting Fairley to demand a refund of his $2,500 fee, prosecutors said.

In the poker scheme, according to prosecutors, Jones was among former NBA players used to lure unwitting players into poker games that were rigged using altered shuffling machines, hidden cameras, special sunglasses and even X-ray equipment built into the table.

According to the indictment, Jones was paid $2,500 for a game in the Hamptons where he was instructed to cheat by paying close attention to others involved in the scheme. His instructor likened those people to James and NBA All-Star Steph Curry, prosecutors said. When in doubt, Jones was told to fold his hand, prosecutors said.

In response, according to prosecutors, Jones texted: “y’all know I know what I’m doing!!”

The poker scheme often made use of illegal poker games run by New York crime families that required them to share a portion of their proceeds with the Gambino, Genovese and Bonnano crime families, according to prosecutors.

Members of those families, in turn, also helped commit violent acts, including assault, extortion and robbery, to ensure repayment of debts and the continued success of the operation, officials said in court documents.

A hot hand from outside the three-point arc, Jones once proclaimed himself in an interview with insidehoops.com as “the best shooter in the world.” He played in every regular season game for three consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2006.

After his playing days, he worked as a “shooting consultant” for the Cavaliers and was an assistant coach when the team, led by James, won the NBA championship in 2016.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Marie-Thérèse Ross in Alabama on April 1 after she overstayed her 90-day visa, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“She returned to France this morning, this is a satisfaction for us,” Barrot told reporters during a visit to the southern city of Montpellier on Friday.

Barrot said he would not comment on the specific case, but said some of ICE methods are “not in line” with French standards and "not acceptable to us.” Barrot referred to “violence that raised our concerns,” without elaborating.

Ross was being held at a federal immigration detention facility in Louisiana.

She was among the thousands of people targeted by the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda that has detained the spouses of U.S. soldiers and military veterans who previously received greater leniency under scrapped policies.

Ross married Alabama resident William Ross in April last year, Calhoun County marriage records show. Ross died in January, according to an obituary from his family, which says he was a former captain in the U.S. Army.

Tusk was speaking on Friday in the Polish parliament, before a parliamentary vote to overrule Nawrocki who had rejected regulations of the Polish crypto-asset market. Nawrocki has vetoed two separate attempts by the liberal government to regulate this market in the past six months.

Tusk claimed that the blocking of regulations by some Polish politicians indicated they were serving the interests of a specific company, Zondacrypto, which had in the past provided them with financial support and which had links with Russia.

“The source of this company’s financial success is not only Russian money linked to the so-called Bratva, one of the most important mafia groups in Russia, but also to Russian secret services,” Tusk said in his parliament speech.

Tusk said Zondacrypto at the same time “sponsors political and social events in Poland and promotes very specific political forces,” including by financing politicians of the formerly governing Law and Justice as well as of the far-right Confederation.

Tusk also said that Zondacrypto had been a strategic sponsor of a meeting of The Conservative Political Action Conference, the United States’ premier conservative gathering, in Rzeszow, eastern Poland, in March 2025. That meeting took place just five days before presidential elections in Poland which were a tight confrontation between a candidate of Tusk's liberal camp and Nawrocki, backed by Law and Justice.

During that meeting, Kristi Noem, then the U.S. homeland secretary, described the liberal candidate as “an absolute train wreck of a leader” and Nawrocki, who was attending the CPAC meeting, as someone who would lead Poland in a style similar to Trump.

“We need you to elect the right leader,” Noem, a prominent Trump ally, said in a speech at the event. “You will be the leaders that will turn Europe back to conservative values.”

Tusk also said that, when deciding to veto the new crypto regulations, Nawrocki was “fully aware” of all the details concerning Zondacrypto.

In response to Tusk's accusations, Zbigniew Bogucki, the head of the president's office, said Nawrocki was not opposed to the need to regulate the crypto-assets market but just to the “flawed regulatory model” proposed by the government.

Confederation leader Sławomir Mentzen said the new legislation would have “destroyed the Polish cryptocurrency market."

The government says the new regulations are meant to bring Poland in compliance with European Union rules on crypto-assets.

Zondacrypto did not reply to questions from AP about Tusk's accusations but it told Polish media earlier this week it was cooperating with Polish authorities investigating accusations against it.

“For me, it didn't make sense to think about it or waste time thinking about,” Rahm said Thursday after opening with seven birdies in his round of 6-under 65 at LIV Golf Mexico, leaving him three shots behind Victor Perez of France at Chapultepec Golf Club.

“Since everything happened so suddenly and so quickly, I wasn’t very worried about it because normally, before the rumors start, we already know something — there’s always someone within the league who knows something,” he said. “It happened so fast that I really didn’t worry about it.”

Speculation was running rampant on Wednesday the main source of funding — Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund — was on the verge of drying up. The LIV chief executive, Scott O'Neil, sent a memo to staff the 2026 season would proceed without interruption and at “full throttle.”

Questions remained whether that would last beyond the end of the year.

There was a power outage at the course on Tuesday, fueling speculation about the league's future. And then the streaming of the first round went out for about two hours.

O'Neil sat down with LIV's broadcast team and remained bullish about the future.

“Given the momentum of this business, we’re really excited about where we are and the position where we are,” O'Neil said.

He said he met with 50 people at the Masters and rolled out a plan that “might surprise people.” LIV Golf has said some of its metrics such as ticket sales and team sponsorships have increased, and O'Neil is projecting 10 of the 13 teams and four of the 14 events will be profitable.

But there is a substantial cost involved with prize funds ($30 million for each tournament) and operations. The newsletter Money in Sport reported in February that LIV Golf already had spent $5.3 billion and was projected to surpass $6 billion by the end of the year.

“This notion of bringing teams to market, I had two calls this morning,” O'Neil said on the LIV broadcast. “This notion of, ‘Do you have to raise money?’ Probably this is business. But if we keep the trajectory going the way we are and the revenue growth going, this is going to be a really good business for a really long time.”

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

Police in this Metro Detroit city are cracking down on electronic motorcycles

Police in at least one Metro Detroit city are cracking down on electronic motorcycles.

Birmingham police said they’ve noticed more electronic motorcycles around the city, many times driven by children.

Read more here.

Michigan man ‘became infatuated’ with mass murders and planned his own. Now he’s going to prison

A Michigan man who “became infatuated” with mass murders, and even planned to carry out his own, has learned his sentence.

Mack Davis, 23, of Owosso, “became infatuated with other mass murderers and planned to conduct his own,” court documents say.

Read more here.

Oakland County cops went to check on elderly woman. They say her son’s child porn was in plain view

Oakland County deputies went to check on an elderly woman at her home, and they said they could see her son’s child porn pictures in plain view.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said deputies went to a home Monday, April 13, 2026, in the 500 block of Madison Avenue in Pontiac to check on the welfare of an elderly woman.

Read more here.

‘It can happen to anybody’: Plymouth man shares story after losing $37K in crypto scam

Americans lost $21 billion in cybercrimes in 2025. Around half involved cryptocurrency, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A Plymouth man told Local 4 he lost $37,000 after scammers frightened him into depositing cash into a Bitcoin ATM.

Read more here.

Weather: Foggy Friday ahead of weather whiplash this weekend across Metro Detroit

From soggy to foggy... the fog formation is no joke this morning! A Dense Fog Advisory is in effect for all of Southeast Michigan until 10 am. Visibilities of 1/4 mile or less will be possible through the morning drive.

We briefly dry out today with partly sunny skies and sixties this afternoon before a strong cold front brings rain and a few thunderstorms overnight into Saturday morning.

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The pardon order applied to more than 4,500 prisoners, but it was not immediately clear how many people imprisoned for opposing military rule were included and there was no sign that 80-year-old former leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be freed.

Win Myint is Suu Kyi’s longtime loyalist and was elected as president in 2018. He served as president while Suu Kyi led the government as state counsellor because the military-drafted constitution barred her from holding the presidency.

He was arrested on Feb. 1, 2021, the same day the military seized power and detained Suu Kyi. He was later given 12-year combined prison sentences for several offenses, which was reduced to eight years in 2023.

State-run MRTV television reported that Win Myint, who was in a prison in Taungoo township in Bago region, had received amnesty.

Outside Insein Prison in Yangon, buses carrying prisoners were welcomed by relatives and friends who had been waiting since early morning. Among those released was filmmaker Shin Daewe, who was sentenced to life imprisonment under a counterterrorism law in January 2024.

The amnesty comes a week after Min Aung Hlaing was sworn into office following an election that critics say was neither free nor fair and was orchestrated to keep the military's iron grip on power.

Suu Kyi expected to be transferred under house arrest

State media said in addition to the 4,335 prisoners pardoned, nearly 180 foreigners would be released and deported.

If the freed prisoners reoffend, they will have to serve the rest of their original sentences in addition to any new sentence, according to the terms of their release. A separate report said death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment, life sentences were reduced to 40 years and prison terms of less than 40 years were cut by one-sixth.

Under that measure, Suu Kyi’s 27-year sentence would be reduced by 4 1/2 years, leaving her with 22 1/2 years still to serve.

A senior military officer from the capital, Naypyitaw told the Associated Press on Friday that Suu Kyi will be transferred to house arrest as part of the clemency. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release information.

Suu Kyi has been serving a prison term on a variety of criminal convictions at an undisclosed location in Naypyitaw and has been moved to house arrest at least once in April 2024.

In his inauguration speech last week, Min Aung Hlaing said his government would implement amnesties that contribute to social reconciliation, justice and peace and support the country’s overall development.

Prisoner releases are common on holidays and other significant occasions in Myanmar.

Since the 2021 army takeover, nearly 8,000 civilians have been killed and some 22,170 political detainees, including Suu Kyi, remain jailed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights monitoring group. Total deaths in the ongoing conflict are estimated to be much higher.

Many political detainees have been held on incitement charges, a law widely used to arrest critics of the government or military and punishable by up to three years in prison. Others have been prosecuted under a counterterrorism law that carries a potential death penalty and has been used to target political and armed opponents, journalists and other dissenters.

The human rights advocacy group Burma Campaign UK said in its statement on Friday that the slow, staged release of political prisoners is designed to gain positive publicity while making no real reforms.

“If the Burmese military regime were genuine about reform, they could release all 14,000 political prisoners today,” said the group's advocacy and communications officer Minn Tent Bo, referring to the country’s former name. “These people should not have been arrested in the first place. The Burmese military could stop arresting activists and could repeal all repressive laws. They haven’t done that.”

The male wolf, named Neukgu, burrowed out of his enclosure at the O-World zoo in Daejeon on April 8, prompting a search that gripped the nation and raised fears about his safety. Animal rights activists questioned whether the wolf could survive outside the zoo and also worried it might be killed during capture, something that happened to a puma that escaped from the same zoo in 2018.

Intense national concern even prompted President Lee Jae Myung to make a statement reassuring the public police, fire officials and the military were doing their best to capture the wolf alive.

At one point, authorities nearly captured Neukgu after spotting him on a mountain near the zoo earlier this week, but he broke away from a perimeter set by rescue workers. A driver also spotted the wolf and shared a video of him trotting along a dark mountain road, lit by the headlights of the vehicle trailing behind.

Neukgu was finally found and tranquilized on a hill near an expressway early Friday, after an hours-long search involving drones, police and emergency workers and veterinarians, according to city and zoo officials. He was in stable condition after being taken back to the zoo, where veterinarians used a scope to remove a fishing hook from his stomach but found no other significant health issues.

Daejeon officials released social media videos showing rescuers pulling the limp wolf from a ditch and placing it in a carrier, and the animal undergoing medical examinations at the zoo.

Social media was flooded with celebratory posts, including messages like “welcome back” and “Neukgu, it’s dangerous outside the house.” Daejeon Mayor Lee Jang-woo in a Facebook post expressed his “deepest gratitude to citizens of Daejeon and also the entire nation for your support in ensuring Neukgu’s safe return.”

Born at the zoo in 2024, Neukgu is a third-generation descendent of a group of wolves brought from Russia in 2008 as part of a project to reintroduce wolves resembling those that lived in the Korean wild before going extinct in the 1960s.

Lee Kwan Jong, director of O-World, said Neukgu will be kept in a separate area from other animals and receive care until he has fully recovered and stabilized.

The zoo’s management, which has been criticized over a series of animal escapes, closed the facility following Neukgu’s escape and says it has not decided when it will reopen.

Lee Kwan Jong said the zoo, which is reviewing its security measures, will prioritize Neukgu’s recovery.

He's expected to be a huge attraction when the zoo reopens.

We briefly dry out today with partly sunny skies and sixties this afternoon before a strong cold front brings rain and a few thunderstorms overnight into Saturday morning.

This Weekend

We will be back in the 60s on Saturday, but then we turn breezy and much colder Sunday with a few showers mixing with wet snowflakes at times. (Say it isn’t snow!) Highs on Saturday will be earlier in the day. We will drop into the 50s on Saturday afternoon with highs only in the upper 40s both Sunday and Monday.10 am

Next Week

Plan for a seasonably cold Monday morning with wind chills in the low 20s and freeze conditions increasingly likely. We bounce back quickly though with 60s and near 70s the rest of the week with a calmer, drier pattern.

Users on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market, could place bets on when the airman would be rescued. When Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., shared a screenshot of the activity on social media, an April 3 rescue was trading at 15% compared with 63% who were betting on April 4.

After Moulton posted the screenshot and blasted this “dystopian death market,” Polymarket stopped the betting, saying the market “does not meet our integrity standards.”

A former Marine who served four tours in Iraq, Moulton said he was “absolutely not satisfied with Polymarket's response” and blamed the site for being “completely unwilling to self-regulate when it comes to betting on the lives of our service members.”

“This is war profiteering and Congress needs to step in and stop it,” he said.

A confrontation is brewing in Washington over prediction markets, the online exchanges that allow users to bet on the outcome of everything from a baseball game to when Jesus Christ will return.

In a highly polarized Congress, the need to guard against the prediction markets being used for insider trading has become rare common ground. Members of both parties pressed the leader of a typically low-profile regulatory agency on the issue during a hearing on Thursday. The market debate is also drawing in the White House, potential presidential candidates and state leaders.

“It's a national conversation about what it means to have market integrity,” said Kristin Johnson, a former commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates prediction markets in the U.S.

In a capital that was slow to respond to the perils of tobacco, opioids and social media, the push to put guardrails on prediction markets has been uncommonly swift.

The markets, which include Polymarket and its chief rival Kalshi, have been criticized for everything from undermining the integrity of sports to contributing to an online betting addiction crisis among young men. Polymarket has come under particular scrutiny as a venue for offshore trades that are beyond the reach of U.S. regulators.

Donald Trump Jr., the president's son, is on Polymarket's advisory board and is a paid adviser for Kalshi. 1789 Capital, the venture capital firm where Trump Jr. is a partner, has invested in Polymarket.

Well-timed trades catch Washington's attention

The Associated Press reported this month that a group of new accounts on Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for these new customers.

On the same day the report was published, the White House warned staff against using private information to trade on prediction markets.

Earlier this year, an anonymous Polymarket user collected more than $400,000 on a January bet predicting the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, prompting concerns that someone with access to private U.S. government information may have engaged in insider trading.

Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican and former Marine, said he had been concerned about trading in the sports market, “but I became especially concerned about market distortions, improper decision making, and undermining of public trust through self-enrichment after the news broke about Venezuela.”

Young and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., have introduced a bill that would bar federal employees from using nonpublic information to make bets on prediction markets. Their bill is among several bipartisan efforts in Congress to regulate prediction markets.

As he eyes a potential presidential campaign, Democrat Rahm Emanuel proposed a ban on prediction market bets by all federal employees and their families. On Wednesday, he suggested a 10% fee on those markets and online gambling to fund science and health research.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another potential Democratic presidential candidate, issued an executive order barring his appointees from using nonpublic information to trade on prediction markets.

For now, there's no immediate path to passage for any of the bills. But the scrutiny has drawn focus to the differing approaches of the main prediction markets.

Polymarket officials say little publicly and didn't comment for this story. The market, founded in 2020, operates largely offshore with limited functions in the U.S. that were allowed only after President Donald Trump returned to office.

Kalshi, meanwhile, says it already bans many of the most extreme betting markets and welcomes regulation.

“We support Congress and regulators taking action to police insider trading, keep prediction markets onshore and under federal regulation," said Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana. "Not all prediction markets are the same.”

White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump has been clear that "members of Congress and other government officials should be prohibited from using nonpublic information for financial benefit.”

Prediction markets bring CFTC into the spotlight

The bet-the-event activity is drawing attention to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees the vast trading contracts industry, including prediction markets.

Dennis Kelleher, the president and chief executive of Better Markets, a Washington nonprofit that has pressed for stronger oversight of prediction markets, said the agency "certainly has no experience, expertise, budget, technology to actually in any way supervise, regulate or police gambling on everything from whether it’s Iran, Venezuela, whether it’s reality TV, whether Christ is going to come back before the end of the year.”

The agency, which by law is supposed to have a five-member board including representatives of both political parties, is served now by only one member, Michael Selig, a former CFTC law clerk who went on to represent cryptocurrency clients before Trump appointed him to lead the agency.

That's sparked concern among congressional Democrats. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., sent Selig a letter in February noting that the number of enforcement attorneys at the agency's Chicago office had declined from 20 to zero.

During a Thursday hearing of the House Agriculture Committee, which oversees the CFTC, Selig said the agency was hiring new staff and operating more efficiently. He refused to hold off on completing new regulations until new members were added to the board but insisted he was taking the potential of insider trading seriously.

“Nothing is more important than protecting market integrity,” he said.

Still, the agency's enforcement authority extends only to prediction markets regulated in the U.S.

For now, that distinction largely applies to Kalshi, which was established in 2018 and promotes its status as a regulated prediction market. Eager to reach American customers, Polymarket has introduced a U.S.-only prediction market platform to conform with U.S. regulations, but that platform currently has a waitlist to participate and is a small fraction of the size of its offshore counterpart.

CFTC's leadership criticizes Biden and takes on states

Asked at a recent Vanderbilt University forum about the CFTC's approach to insider trading in unregulated offshore prediction markets, Selig blamed the Biden administration for creating a regulatory environment that he said discouraged companies from operating in the U.S.

As the debate plays out in Washington, multiple states have tried to curtail prediction markets, arguing they are essentially operating as unlicensed gambling platforms. But the CFTC has responded forcefully to assert itself as the sole regulator, suing Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois this month.

That leaves Washington at a strange juncture, with widespread agreement among lawmakers that something should be done to address the issue of prediction markets. But there are differing thoughts on the scope of a solution.

Young acknowledged his proposal is just a first step, and said lawmakers have a lot to learn about prediction markets.

“But I think we can all agree at this early stage, as usage of these platforms grows and real money is put at stake, that this is a measure that should be taken immediately,” he said.

___

Sweet reported from New York. Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

🍇 Grapevine

🌅 Good morning! On this day in 1970, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar spacecraft that suffered a severe malfunction on its journey to the moon, safely returned to Earth.

Here are a few things to know about for Friday, April 17, 2026:

⛅ 4Warn Weather: Dense fog this morning. We briefly dry out today with partly sunny skies and sixties this afternoon before a strong cold front brings rain and a few thunderstorms overnight into tomorrow morning. Check the 10-day forecast.

🌊 Cheboygan Dam latest: The American Red Cross has deployed 22 trained disaster workers to Northern Michigan amid rising floodwaters. Read more.

🪓 Road Rage Attack: A Michigan man was struck with an ax after not turning right at a red light at an intersection on Tuesday, according to police. Read more.

🚳 Ebike Enforcement: Police in at least one Metro Detroit city are cracking down on electronic motorcycles. Read more.

🚸 ‘Nothing changed’: A week after a school bus slid into a ditch along Clark Road, as police said the driver was trying to avoid potholes, neighbors and parents are still pushing for repairs and say recent rain has made conditions worse. Read more.

🏊 Morning Dive

Good morning ☀️

Trying to make your mornings less stressful? It’s easier said than done, but experts said there are ways to reduce stress and get out the door a little more relaxed. Dr. Frank McGeorge reporting:

Stress is the body’s natural response to perceived challenges or threats, and taking steps to reduce morning challenges can lower overall stress and help set a better tone for the day.

“Mornings tend to be stressful because we have a lot to do in a short period of time, and our body has to adjust from sleeping to awakening to being productive.” But many people struggle to make that adjustment, says Doctor Beena Persaud, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

“Then we have trouble doing childcare,” said Persaud. “We have trouble with decision-making. We have trouble keeping on time. So a lot of stuff has to happen in the morning in the correct way, or else there’s a lot of stress.” Stressful mornings often lead to stressful days, she said.

“We’re already on edge. Our sympathetic nervous system is already kind of in that fight-or-flight moment, and feeling so it can keep us irritated. It can make us very sensitive to very benign situations that happen,” Persaud said.

Persaud says the first step to reducing morning stress is making key decisions and getting things ready the night before.

“Preparing lunches, know what you’re gonna wear, know what your schedule is going to be, kind of have everything prepared,” Persaud said.

She also recommends waking up a few minutes before you have to get out of bed.

“In psychology, we like to think about the idea of just waking up a little bit earlier, five minutes early. You don’t have to do a whole hour or half an hour, even five minutes earlier than you think you need to get up,” Persaud said.

“You have five minutes to just lie in bed to think about, OK, am I ready to get up? You do stretches, that kind of thing.”

As hard as it is, she said, people should avoid checking their phones right away. Instead, Persaud recommends meditating or doing something enjoyable to reduce stress, warning that social media can derail morning plans.

“You might think, ‘Okay, I’m going to scroll for five minutes,’ and five minutes turns into ten minutes, which turns to 15, 20, and then you’re like, ‘Oh no, I’m late,’” Persaud said.

Persaud says it may be time to consider seeing a mental health professional if stress is disrupting sleep or mood, if you feel like you can’t calm down or relax, or if you can’t stop overthinking. She also encourages people to seek help if there is a stressful situation going on in the family.

🗞️ Other headlines to know today

• Super Singer competition: Enter here for chance to sing on stage during 2026 Ford Fireworks
• Rochester Hills 6th-grader a finalist in Doodle for Google contest -- how to vote
• Man accused of kidnapping teen waiting for bus in Hamtramck arraigned, held without bond
• Judge who halted White House ballroom construction allows national security work to proceed at site
• Behind the call: Detroit 911 dispatchers honored as unsung heroes during National Telecommunicators Week
• 3 charged after shooting at Airbnb party in Oakland County
• Justin Fairfax, who once hoped to be Virginia’s governor, killed his wife and himself, police say
• Detroit unveils 6-point summer safety plan targeting teen takeovers, drag racing
• Younger adult colon cancer deaths are concentrated in people with less education, study says
• ‘It can happen to anybody’: Plymouth man shares story after losing $37K in crypto scam
• Ranch dressing: An American staple that actually began life on ... a ranch
• Oakland County church damaged in possible shooting incident
• 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:

Rescuers in Germany began an elaborate operation Thursday to save a sick humpback whale that has been repeatedly stranded off the Baltic Sea coast and has stirred up tons of attention across the country for weeks.

The whale, which has been nicknamed Timmy by local media, is lying in shallow waters near the eastern German town of Wismar and has barely moved for days. Many fear it may soon die.

Timmy was first spotted swimming in the region on March 3. It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea, far from its natural habitat. Some experts say the animal may have lost its way while swimming after a shoal of herring or during migration. (Read more)

----

Yuji, a 6-week-old patas monkey in Mexico, wakes up every day clinging to a stuffed dog. More than a toy, this plush companion acts as a surrogate mom after the tiny primate was rejected by his own mother, Kamaria, a first-time parent unable to form a maternal bond.

Weighing a mere 673 grams (1.4 pounds), Yuji represents the most recent case of assisted rearing at the Guadalajara Zoo in western Mexico.

The story of Yuji has captured the attention of the Mexican public, drawing parallels to Punch, the Japanese macaque that went viral on social media after growing up clinging to a stuffed orangutan following his mother’s rejection. (Read more)

----

The circular muzzle. The little nose tip. The button eyes and two round, fuzzy ears. What is it about the teddy bear that has kept children wrapped around its furry paws for over a century?

The quintessential American toy started in 1902 as just clothing scraps and sawdust stitched together by Morris and Rose Michtom, Jewish candy store owners in Brooklyn.

“Nothing says childhood better than a teddy bear,” says Michael Kimmel, author of “Playmakers: The Jewish Entrepreneurs Who Created the Toy Industry in America” and Morris Michtom’s great-great-nephew. “It’s an utterly genderless toy. It is embraced by both boys and girls.” (Read more)

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

📝 Word Up

Today’s Word Up is: Chagrin /SHəˈɡrin/ (noun) -- defined as “Distress or embarrassment at having failed or been humiliated.”

Example: “Much to his chagrin, Jack learned during the spelling bee that he had spelled the word “eleven” wrong his entire life.”

🧹 Housekeeping

Hey, if you like this newsletter, let us know. We’d love your feedback. We also offer several other newsletters, including Live in the D, All 4 Pets and more. Hopefully, we have one that caters to your interests -- unless you’re only interested in snout moths. We don’t have one for that, sorry.

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

Robinson's attorneys want cameras banned from a Utah courtroom, pointing to sometimes sensationalist media coverage they fear will foster widespread bias against their client as he faces prosecution in last September's shooting death of the conservative activist on a college campus.

Prosecutors want cameras allowed, and suggested they could help dispel conspiracy theories and “distorted narratives” swirling around the case since Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking to a crowd of thousands.

“Transparency serves as a corrective to misinformation,” Utah County prosecutors said in a court filing arguing in favor of cameras. A trial date has not yet been set.

Popping flash bulbs at the ‘trial of the century’

Cameras appeared in courts long before the man charged with kidnapping and killing legendary aviator Charles Lindbergh’s baby went on trial in New Jersey in 1935.

An earlier photo captured a clutch of mobsters at Al Capone ’s trial holding hats in front of their faces so they wouldn't be recognized. In 1932, a German photographer feigned a broken arm to sneak a camera into the U.S. Supreme Court inside a sling and get a rare picture of justices in session.

Then came the “trial of the century” for Bruno Richard Hauptmann in the killing of Lindbergh's son. It ushered in a new era of criminal trial as visual spectacle.

Hundreds of reporters and dozens of photographers chronicled the proceedings. Popping flashbulbs repeatedly startled witnesses and some photographers reportedly climbed on tables to get their pictures.

Hauptmann was convicted of murder and executed. The chaotic trial provoked a backlash and new judicial ethics rules that kept cameras out of courtrooms for decades.

The swindler and the circus

Whether cameras should be allowed has spurred perpetual disagreement between transparency advocates and defense attorneys eager to shield clients from ignominious publicity that could tilt a jury against them.

In 1962, a Texas state judge allowed news organizations to film the trial of infamous con man Billie Sol Estes on swindling charges.

The case had national notoriety after Estes was accused of looting a federal crop subsidy program, triggering a Washington scandal during President John F. Kennedy’s administration. His attorneys argued against cameras, saying they would prejudice potential jurors. The judge rejected the request and pledged he would not let the media transform his courtroom into a circus.

Court documents later described the scene in the courtroom as “a mass of wires, television cameras, microphones and photographers.” Hearings in the case were broadcast live by radio and television.

Following Estes' conviction, the Supreme Court took up his appeal and said the intense publicity deprived him of his constitutional right to a fair trial. Justices overturned the state court conviction in an opinion that derided “the evil of televised trials.”

“To permit this powerful medium to use the trial process itself to influence the opinions of vast numbers of people, before a verdict of guilt or innocence has been rendered, would be entirely foreign to our system of justice,” justices said.

The ruling was in line with a long-standing prohibition on cameras in federal courts.

Bundy's trial got airtime, but not Trump's

Less than a decade later the Supreme Court decided differently in a case involving two Florida police officers who burglarized a restaurant.

Justices said in an 8-0 ruling that states could allow cameras at criminal trials and there was no “empirical data” to show the presence of broadcast media in the courtroom inherently has a negative effect.

In the years following, cameras gradually came into common use in state and local courtrooms across the nation. High-profile cases that were broadcast included murder trials for serial killers Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, the excessive force prosecutions of the Los Angeles Police officers who beat Rodney King, and the murder trial of Jodi Arias in the killing of her ex-boyfriend.

Still, restrictions remain and judges typically retain broad discretion over which parts of a case can be broadcast and who can be filmed or photographed.

Donald Trump's trial and 2024 conviction in a hush money case was closed to cameras while court was in session under a New York state law that sharply restricts video coverage. Media organizations used sketch artists to capture the scene.

The made-for-TV trial

Arguably the most watched televised trial remains the 1995 prosecution of former football player O.J. Simpson in the death of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. It, too, became known as the “trial of the century” and is listed by Guinness World Records as the “most viewed trial” with a daily average viewership of 5.5 million people.

As the case dragged on for months, viewers were inundated with courtroom testimony and analysts opinions. Simpson was acquitted.

The focus on every aspect of the case raised concerns about potential bias to jurors, and also that the lawyers and even the judge were acting differently knowing they were being watched across the nation.

“People were talking about how the judge and the attorneys were playing to the cameras as much as they were playing to the jury,” said Cornell Law School professor Valerie Hans.

And then Los Angeles' hopes and plans all collapsed during one quarter in Oklahoma City earlier this month.

Luka Doncic made a move toward the Thunder's basket, but stopped suddenly and hopped gingerly off the floor with a strained hamstring. Austin Reaves had already been looking uncomfortable, periodically grabbing at the oblique muscles in his side, and he also left the court for good a few minutes later.

Just like that, a Lakers season that had been on a steady upward trajectory went into a nosedive that hasn't ended yet.

Los Angeles will be without its starting backcourt when it hosts the Houston Rockets in a first-round playoff opener Saturday night, and the fourth-seeded Lakers aren't saying when Doncic or Reaves could return to uniform — if at all.

Everybody realizes the Lakers could — and probably should — be cooked without their top two scorers, including the NBA scoring champion himself. Not even the ageless presence of LeBron James seems likely to be enough to boost the Lakers’ supporting cast over any of the Western Conference’s other five elite teams.

“I’m sure everybody wants to play us,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said last week, before the Rockets earned that honor.

Yet the Lakers aren't ready to give up just yet on what appeared to be a promising spring just two weeks ago. Until that disastrous night in Oklahoma City, they appeared to be peaking on an ideal schedule, winning 16 of their previous 18 games to surge into third place in the Western Conference.

After all, Los Angeles won 53 games this season with just 64 appearances by Doncic, 60 by James and only 51 by Reaves. This team got ample experience without its full roster this season, and it didn't slow the Lakers down — even if the current circumstances are worse than anything they've overcome to date.

“We're a little short-handed, and we know that,” guard Luke Kennard said. “But we've been preparing really well. Our focus is really high. ... We were able to get some looks and develop a different kind of chemistry out on the court. We've added some stuff in practice, and I think we've done a good job executing it in practice, and I think our preparation has been really good.”

Several players must step up to give the Lakers a chance, and Kennard is near the top of that list.

Kennard is making his fifth trip to the playoffs with his fourth team, but he hasn't started a postseason game since 2019 with Detroit. He stepped into a high-volume role for the Lakers after Doncic and Reaves went out, contributing as a primary ballhandler and playmaker in addition to his trademark 3-point shooting.

For playoff-tested veteran Marcus Smart, the Lakers' challenge comes down to one factor: “Willpower.”

“We’re competitors,” added Smart, who's back in the postseason for the first time since 2023 after making it in each of his nine seasons with Boston. “They’re going to try to come in and punk us, and if you will allow that, you will be punked. I don’t think we have any guys that are going to be punked on this team. We might not be the most athletic and the strongest, but we’ve got to have the most heart.”

Center Deandre Ayton and forward Rui Hachimura both know they must be more aggressive offensively to counter for the loss of Doncic, one of the highest-usage players in basketball. Jake LaRavia, whose playing time fluctuated significantly throughout the season, is likely to play a significant role on both ends.

Even Bronny James is likely to get his first significant playoff minutes, perhaps alongside his famous father.

No matter what Redick conjures up to take on the physical challenge posed by the Rockets, the Lakers don't seem to accept the notion that their season essentially ended on that night in Oklahoma City.

“It’s going to take everybody,” Smart said. “With that, it’s a different style of play, and I don't think it’s something that Houston has prepared for. To be fair, they haven’t seen us without those guys. When they’re playing us, they’ve always played us with them. They’ve always had a matchup and game plan for them, and it’ll be interesting to see how they play us without them.”

___

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

Miura and Kihara, known to fans as “RikuRyu,” leave the skating world at their peak after surging from fifth place to first at the Milan Cortina Olympics with a world-record free skate that more than made up for earlier errors.

They became the first Japanese pair to win Olympic gold, a breakthrough in a country whose figure skating passion had until then largely focused on the individual events.

“While our competitive careers are coming to an end, we truly feel that we gave it our all, and have no regrets. We are proud of everything we went through, and feel we gained so much along the way,” they posted on Instagram.

“The two of us will now take on new challenges so that we can bring wider recognition to pair skating in Japan. We hope that we can count on you to follow us on our journey.”

The 24-year-old Miura and 33-year-old Kihara's announcement came on the same day that they met Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at a spring garden party at the Akasaka Palace’s imperial garden in Tokyo.

Based out of Canada with coach Bruno Marcotte, Miura and Kihara won the world title in 2023 and 2025, and two Olympic team event silver medals for Japan.

The Milan Cortina Olympic free skate was the last competitive performance for Miura and Kihara, who skipped last month's world championships, where Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin won pairs gold for Germany.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Marie-Louise Eta is coaching Union Berlin against Wolfsburg on Saturday as she starts a five-game stint as the team's interim coach in the Bundesliga until the end of the season. That will make her the first female coach in any of Europe's five biggest national men's leagues.

However, Eta previously signed a contract to coach Union's women's team from next season and club president Dirk Zingler wants to stick to that plan. Viewing her interim role as a five-game audition for the men's job is a “disservice” to the women's game, Zingler said.

“If (Eta) is really good, then she stays with the men, and if she's not so good, she goes to the women, that's not a discussion I'm having at all,” Zingler told Sky Sport Germany late Thursday.

“It's always a specialist, fact-based decision about who coaches which team and if we associate her with this discussion, then we're doing a disservice to her and to women's soccer as a whole. Marie-Louise Eta will be responsible for five games here and then she will take over the women.”

Zingler seems to be overruling Horst Heldt, Union's director of men’s professional soccer, who had said he wouldn't rule Eta out as a candidate for the permanent men's team role.

Eta herself has said she's focusing on the team's performance on the field and suggested she isn't looking beyond that.

“Next year in any case I’ll still be a coach,” she said Thursday.

Eta previously made history as the first female assistant coach in the men's Bundesliga and has been coaching the under-19 men's team at Union.

With five games to go, Union is 11th in the 18-team Bundesliga and not yet mathematically safe from the threat of relegation. Eta's predecessor Steffen Baumgart was fired last week with the team having won none of its last three games, and only two of the last 14.

The announcement of the 34-year-old Eta’s appointment prompted sexist and derogatory comments on social media, leading Union to push back.

___

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

Rumen Radev 's new coalition is seen as favored to win most of the votes in the April 19 poll, with some voters hoping that this could put an end to the country’s oligarchic corruption, while others are lining up behind Radev’s Eurosceptic and pro-Russian views.

Radev resigned from the mostly ceremonial presidency in January, a few months before the end of his second term in office, to launch a bid to lead the government as prime minister.

The 62-year-old former fighter pilot and air force commander is seen as Bulgaria’s most popular politician and has promised to give the nation a fresh start if his center-left Progressive Bulgaria coalition wins the upcoming election.

Sunday’s snap vote follows the resignation of a conservative-led government amid nationwide anti-corruption protests in December 2025 that drew hundreds of thousands of mainly young people to the streets.

Bulgaria, a European Union and NATO member country with a population of 6.5 million, joined the eurozone on Jan. 1 this year shortly after entering the border-free Schengen travel area. But it has been plagued by political instability since 2021, when three-time conservative Prime Minister Boyko Borissov resigned following massive protests fueled by anger over widespread corruption and injustice.

Since then, no government has survived for more than a year before being brought down by street protests or backroom deals in parliament, resulting in seven inconclusive early elections in five years. That's led to growing mistrust in the institutions, voter apathy and a shrinking turnout at the elections.

Last month, Bulgaria requested the assistance of the EU diplomatic service to counter Russian attempts to influence public opinion through social media networks and propaganda websites. The request was based on expert warnings about active networks of Russian influence accounts that seek to sow division.

Opinion polls predict Sunday's turnout to jump from an average of 35% in the last few elections to over 50%, partly because a new player has joined the race, but also due to efforts by the interim government to boost confidence in the vote with nationwide police raids, arrests and pretrial proceedings for vote-buying.

Most polls predict that Radev’s coalition could get more than 30% of the vote, putting him nearly 10% ahead of his closest rival — Borissov, the veteran leader of the center-right GERB party whose most recent term as prime minister was ended by the December 2025 protests. Most polls report margins of error from 3 to 3.5%.

Radev has cast himself as an opponent of the country’s entrenched mafia and its ties to high-ranking politicians. At the latest preelection rally on Wednesday, he vowed to “remove the corrupt, oligarchic model of governance from political power.”

Polls suggest that Radev is likely to come in first, but will need a partner to form a stable governing coalition. He's ruled out an alliances with Borissov’s GERB or with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms party, whose leader Delyan Peevski has been sanctioned for corruption by both the United States and Britain.

A possible coalition partner for such reforms in domestic politics could be the pro-Western bloc “We Continue the Change,” which is predicted to come in third with 12%-14 % of the votes.

However, there are significant foreign policy issues that could prevent such cooperation, including the ongoing controversy surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine: while officially denouncing Moscow’s aggression, Radev has repeatedly opposed military aid to Kyiv and has favored reopening talks with Russia as a way out of the conflict.

Evelina Slavkova, from research center Trend, said Radev was unlikely to make a serious effort to reorient Bulgaria more toward Russia.

“Our country has succeeded, despite all the obstacles, despite disagreements among some politicians, in building a very important set of tools that keeps Bulgaria on the right track,” she said in an interview with the AP.

Slavkova said the country’s membership in NATO and the EU, as well as it place in the eurozone and the Schengen Area, are “tools that allow us to be much more at ease.”

She also noted that during the campaign Radev avoided giving definitive yes- or no-answers while seeking some balance between the two positions.

“This might be acceptable during a campaign, but when you’re running the country, you’ll certainly have to provide clear, definitive answers” Slavkova said.

___

Valentina Petrova in Sofia, Bulgaria contributed to this report

The 21-story building lost power in December after electrical equipment failed, leaving tenants without lights, elevators, or access to their apartments.

Since then, the property has been tied up in bankruptcy proceedings, forcing hundreds of residents out of their homes.

Many of those displaced have been staying at a hotel in Southfield, with the city of Detroit covering the cost.

An agreement reached during a bankruptcy hearing will allow tenants to return to the building to collect their belongings as part of a broader process that includes selling the property.

Darryl Stewart, who lived in the building for 15 years, said the situation has been especially difficult.

“It wasn’t a fabulous place, but it was great. We were one big happy family,” said Stewart.

A musician and artist, Stewart said much of his work remains inside his unit.

“I’m an artist. I got a lot of art. I’m a musician. I got instruments up there,” Stewart said.

Tenant advocates say the displacement has taken a heavy toll.

Steven Rimmer of the Detroit Tenants Union said some residents experienced severe emotional distress during the initial evacuation.

“There were a few people being evacuated to the hospital because it was such an emotional situation,” said Rimmer.

In some cases, the upheaval had tragic consequences, residents said.

The tenants have not been formally evicted but have been unable to return to the building for months, leaving many without reliable transportation or access to their belongings.

“There’s no real transportation that they have,” Rimmer said. “A lot of folks don’t have cars.”

Stewart said the relocation to Southfield, roughly 20 miles away, has made daily life more difficult.

“Everybody doesn’t drive,” Stewart said.

Under the agreement approved by a federal bankruptcy judge, the property will be auctioned in a three-day online sale scheduled for April 27 through April 29, with a starting bid of $3 million.

If the building sells and the court approves the transaction, residents could receive financial compensation.

Tenants are expected to be allowed back into the building to retrieve their belongings beginning May 4.

For Stewart and others, the decision offers a measure of relief after months of uncertainty.

“I would like to say to the mayor, can you please step in and clear this thing up, so we can move on in our lives,” Stewart said.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said deputies went to a home Monday, April 13, 2026, in the 500 block of Madison Avenue in Pontiac to check on the welfare of an elderly woman.

Her son had called to tell police that his mother’s breathing was irregular and she was drifting in and out of consciousness. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital, where she later died. The circumstances surrounding her death are under investigation, Bouchard said.

During the course of their welfare check, deputies said they saw printed child porn images.

“(Deputies) were able to see in plain view very disturbing child sexually abusive material," Bouchard said. "The terrible toll this takes on children must be laid at the door of the perpetrators."

Deputies said they got a search warrant and found more pornographic images. Overall, there were thousands of pictures involving children stored on electronic devices, they said.

Detectives confiscated the images, computers, gaming systems, and a cellphone.

Matthew Brockway Kliewer, 42, of Pontiac, was arrested and charged with six counts of aggravated possession of child sexually abusive material. This charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

He was arraigned Thursday at 50th District Court and is being held at the Oakland County Jail on $75,000 bond, cash/surety, or 10%.

Kliewer has to wear a tether, if released.

A probable cause conference is scheduled for April 28, and a preliminary examination is scheduled for May 5.

Joshua Mills, 32, was sentenced by Judge Richard L. Caretti on Thursday, April 16, after pleading no contest to the following charges, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office:

Sterling Heights Case

• Assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder: 63 months to 20 years
• Two counts of assaulting, resisting, or obstructing a police officer: 2 to 4 years
• Second-degree retail fraud: 1 year

Eastpoint Case

• Assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder: 66 months to 20 years
• Domestic violence- second offense: 1 year

Officials said that in the first case, an officer attempted to arrest Mills for shoplifting at a Walmart in Sterling Heights when Mills allegedly tried to stab the officer with a screwdriver.

In the second case, Mills is accused of assaulting his wife in Eastpointe.

The sentences will run concurrently. Mills was credited with 193 days already served, according to the prosecutor’s office.

“Today’s sentencing reflects the seriousness of the defendant’s actions—violence against a spouse and an attack on law enforcement," said Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido. “This kind of conduct endangers not only individual victims, but the safety and order of our entire community.”

Jerome Antwan Andrews, 41, pleaded guilty on Thursday (April 16).In his plea agreement, Andrews admitted to possessing the Social Security numbers and driver’s license information for over 250 people, as well as an identification card printer, an embosser, a laminator, and a card cutter.

Andrews also admitted that his business model was to create and sell fake Social Security cards and driver’s licenses in the names of real people, and that his conduct caused more than $550,000 in fraud losses.

Having pled guilty, Andrews faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain or loss.

That was not the case two years ago when the team won only 14 games and started a rebuild in Detroit.

Tobias Harris returned to the Pistons that offseason and has been a key part of this organization’s resurgence.

I caught up with the Pistons forward to chat about the team’s rise in the NBA, their successful 2025-26 regular season, and how he got the “Unc” nickname from his younger teammates.

The Pistons begin their 2026 NBA Playoff run on Local 4 on Sunday night at 6:30 p.m.

Watch the full interview above.

Mack Davis, 23, of Owosso, "became infatuated with other mass murderers and planned to conduct his own," court documents say.

He drafted a list of weapons and tactical gear for his plan, and his writings show that he surveilled churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, hospitals, and supermarkets, according to federal authorities.

Davis wrote about his "hate for this world and for the people in it, all people," saying, “I hate you all the same,” officials said.

He posted pictures of himself making a Nazi salute and holding a copy of Adolf Hitler’s antisemitic manifesto.

Officials said Davis focused on attacking two locations that were close to each other: a political party’s county headquarters and a bar. He targeted those places because he believed they would contain members of the LGBTQ+ community, police said.

He planned to “fire on anyone and anything” near those spots, federal officials said.

Davis test-fired about 60 bullets into his neighbors’ cars -- one of which he had previously vandalized with an anti-gay slur, police said.

While police investigated that shooting, they found an illegally sawed-off rifle, a shotgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a crossbow and arrows, bomb-making parts, tactical gear, and knives.

Davis wrote an anti-gay slur on one side of a knife and “death to you all” with a swastika on the other, police said.

“Davis devised wicked plans,” United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. said. “He said he would kill ‘anyone and anything’ that crossed his path and planned to attack homosexuals. And his venom for Jews is part of the sickening rise in antisemitism and attacks against believers. But we will protect every American.”

Davis pleaded guilty to one count under the federal hate crime statute. He was sentenced Thursday, April 16, 2026, to seven years in federal prison.

Birmingham police said they’ve noticed more electronic motorcycles around the city, many times driven by children.

"Most of these devices are not only illegal to operate within the city, they also pose a significant safety risk to the riders, other motorists, and pedestrians," Birmingham police said.

Electronic motorcycles without pedals are considered motorcycles under Michigan state law, so they’re not allowed on sidewalks, according to police. They must also be licensed through the Secretary of State.

The motorcycles have to meet all safety requirements and be street legal in order for someone to receive a license for it, police said. The driver must also have a driver’s license with a cycle endorsement.

Birmingham police said most of the people they see on these electronic motorcycles are children.

“While there are certainly legal ramifications for those operating these devices illegally, there are also ramifications for those purchasing them and allowing their unlicensed children to operate them,” the release says.

It’s a misdemeanor to let an unlicensed child drive a motor vehicle, officials said.

“The Birmingham Police Department asks for your cooperation in helping us to ensure everyone’s safety by not permitting the use of these devices within the city,” the release says. “Birmingham officers will be providing strict enforcement.”

Judge Greg Grogin granted Roberts-Smith bail in a Sydney court around five hours earlier, ruling the former Special Air Service Regiment corporal had established exceptional circumstances to justify his release from custody. Prosecutors had opposed bail and argued there was a risk that Roberts-Smith would flee Australia or interfere with witnesses and evidence.

Roberts-Smith, 47, was arrested on April 7 and charged with five counts of war crime murder involving the deaths of five Afghans in Uruzgan province in 2009 and 2012.

Australian law defines war crime murder as the intentional killing in a context of armed conflict of a person who is not taking an active part in the hostilities, such as a civilian, prisoner of war or a wounded soldier.

Roberts-Smith was driven away from Sydney's Silverwater Correctional Complex late Friday apparently wearing the same clothes he wore when police escorted him from a commercial airliner at Sydney Airport last week, news media images showed.

Roberts-Smith was awarded both the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan and is only the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to be charged with a war crime.

The charges follow a military report released in 2020 that found evidence elite SAS and commando regiment troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and other noncombatants. Around 40,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021, of whom 41 were killed.

Similar allegations against Roberts-Smith were found credible in a civil court case in 2023 when a judge rejected his claims that newspaper articles defamed him.

At that trial, Roberts-Smith testified he had never killed an unarmed Afghan and denied ever committing a war crime. He claimed he has the victim of spiteful fellow soldiers’ lies and of others’ envy of his medals.

But while the civil court found the war crimes allegations were mostly proven on a balance of probabilities, the war crime murder charges would have to be proved in a criminal court to a higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt.

Roberts-Smith is accused of personally shooting dead two victims. He allegedly ordered subordinates to shoot the other three victims.

In opposing bail, prosecutor Simon Buchen described the charges against Roberts-Smith as “among the most serious known to the criminal law.”

Buchen said Roberts-Smith had been ”on the cusp of relocating overseas” without telling authorities when he became aware that prosectors were considering charges.

Roberts-Smith had made “advanced plans to relocate overseas. Consideration was being given to moving to various destinations overseas,” Buchen told the court.

Roberts-Smith faces a potential maximum sentence of life in prison on each conviction. He has yet to enter pleas.

Defense lawyer Slade Howell told the bail hearing Roberts-Smith’s case “may properly be described as exceptional in the sense that it is out of the ordinary.”

“The use of domestic courts to prosecute alleged war crimes committed by a highly decorated Australian soldier deployed overseas repeatedly by the Australian government to fight a war on its behalf is unprecedented and is uncharted legal territory of the common law of this country,” Howell said.

Howell also said Roberts-Smith’s “proceedings will be beset by a multitude of delays, many of which are peculiar to these proceeding.”

Potential delays could arise if prosecutors decide to charge one or more of Roberts-Smith’s fellow veterans, some of whom now live overseas, Howell said.

Roberts-Smith took part in the bail hearing by video link from prison and spoke only when asked by the judge to confirm that he could see and hear proceedings.

He went camping. He jammed with local musicians. He drank root beer delivered on roller skates. He shopped for records. He bought a guitar. Then he went home.

The next time people in Benton saw George Harrison, it was with 73 million others who tuned in to watch his band, the Beatles, make their U.S. debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show" about four months later. The British Invasion, which changed popular music and American culture, was underway.

Now, the house where Harrison and his brother Peter stayed in Benton, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of St. Louis, is for sale.

You’ll forgive Beatles fans if they’re worried about its future. In 1995, the house at 113 McCann Street had a date with the wrecking ball. Activists, including Harrison’s sister, Louise Harrison Caldwell, who had moved away in the late 1960s, stepped in to save it.

Coal mining brought the family of Harrison's sister to Benton

Previously known for hosting the state's last public hanging in 1928, Benton, population 6,700, was built on Southern Illinois' rich veins of coal. Louise Caldwell moved to town when her husband, a mining engineer, got a job in what was then a thriving industry.

The house they chose is a five-bedroom bungalow built in 1935 with a brick facade across its wide front porch.

In the mid-1990s, a state agency bought the house from a subsequent owner with plans to flatten it for parking. Mega-fan Robert Bartel of Springfield, a Beatles author and documentarian, alerted the media and Fab Four loyalists.

Local investors repurchased it from the state and opened the Hard Day's Nite Bed and Breakfast, featuring the couch Harrison traded guitar licks on and stacks of other loaned Beatles memorabilia, including a bevy from Bartel.

The bed-and-breakfast closed in 2010. Benton resident Grady Adams has since operated it as regular bed-and-bath apartments but now wants to sell, listing it for $105,000. Brian Calcaterra, Benton’s director of economic development, suggested the city draft an ordinance to protect the house from demolition by a new owner, but Benton Mayor Lee Messersmith said the city council has not discussed the matter.

“Of course, if it doesn't get demo'd, I would prefer that,” Adams said.

Interest in reviving the bed-and-breakfast is unclear

Whether there's interest — or energy — to return the McCann Street house to its Beatles glory is up for debate.

Jim Kirkpatrick of Creal Springs, author of “Before He Was Fab,” a recollection of Harrison's visit which has been optioned for a movie, has had at least one encouraging conversation with someone considering purchase.

Benton business owner Robert Rea, a historian who helped save the Beatles house three decades ago, said the obsession has faded.

“When we did this (in 1995), the world went crazy because they thought, ‘George is going to come, he’s going to save the house,'” Rea said. “And I’m just being honest with you, maybe I’m missing it or something, but that momentum is not here.”

Harrison's last chance to walk the streets in anonymity

Harrison's trip was perhaps the last time the musician could enjoy obscurity. He camped in Shawnee National Forest. He sat in with a popular local group when they played a nearby Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. The band’s leader took him to a drive-in restaurant with carhops on skates, where he guzzled root beer for the first time.

At a record store on Benton's downtown square, Harrison bought a pile of vinyl. Included was James Ray’s R&B single, “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You,” Harrison’s 1987 cover of which went to No. 1.

He also bought a Rickenbacker 425 guitar like the one bandmate John Lennon had. Harrison played the guitar a month later when the Beatles recorded “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” It sold at auction in 2014 for $675,000.

One day during Harrison's visit, he and Caldwell dropped by WFRX radio, where then-17-year-old Marcia Schafer Raubach had a Saturday afternoon teen program. Harrison gave her a copy of “She Loves You,” which he told her had just hit the top of the British charts.

Raubach interviewed Harrison on the air, the first for a Beatle in America, and played the 45, which she still has. She said it sounded different than the songs American teens were then punching up on jukeboxes. But it didn't make an impression on her audience.

Despite his longish hair in a land of crew cuts, Raubach found Harrison, dressed in a crisp white shirt, jeans and sandals, “very clean cut, he was personable and mannerly and they call him the ‘quiet Beatle’ — well, he was.”

“If I had known what they were going to become, I would have handled that differently,” Raubach, now 79, said. “It’s still amazing that he even came here and that I met him. I think he really liked Southern Illinois.”

Harrison never returned to Benton, though, dying in 2001 at 58. Caldwell was 91 when she died in 2023.

The airline will soon open bookings for four-hour stints in the Skynest sleep pods and says they will be the first lie-flat beds for budget air travelers. Fliers will get cozy with their fellow passengers, however, so crumbs, strong perfumes and bedsharing are forbidden.

The curtained berths will be available to economy and premium economy fliers on the airline’s new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft from November. The planes will service the Auckland to New York route, which is one of the world’s longest commercial flights and leaves economy passengers sitting upright for a marathon 16 to 18 hours.

Instead, travelers will have the option of a pre-booked four-hour spot in a curtained pod, with costs starting from 495 New Zealand dollars ($291) on top of the price of their economy tickets. But use of the six pods, arranged in a triple-bunk style layout between cabins, will put fliers in close proximity to others, prompting the airline to publish etiquette notes.

Passengers must refrain from snacking in the pods, which can’t be used by children or any additional visitors.

“That means solo snoozes only please, no musical nests or tag-teaming,” Air New Zealand’s website says. For those worried about cleanliness, the airline assures travelers that the pillows, blankets and sheets supplied “are all refreshed” between four-hour naps.

Fliers are also required to change into specially provided socks to enter the pod, fasten their seatbelts over their blankets and forgo dousing themselves in any smelly “perfumes or potions.” Passengers will be woken by a gentle change in lighting at the end of their four-hour stint in the bunk – or by a flight attendant, possibly less gently, if they don’t rouse in time.

Each berth is about the length of a regular bed — 80 inches or 203 cm — but the pods don’t leave headroom for sitting up and access “requires bending, kneeling, crawling, or climbing into the space,” the aircraft’s website says. The bunks are 25 inches (64 cm) wide at shoulder height, tapering to 16 inches (41 cm) at the foot of the beds.

Seats or couches that convert into beds in the sky aren’t a new offering for business and first class travelers, but Air New Zealand believes its lie-flat bunks for economy travelers will be a world first.

The offering from New Zealand’s national carrier is the latest from airlines seeking to sell seat upgrades and other add-ons to economy travelers. Air New Zealand first announced the economy beds were in development in 2020.

The airline has increased fares and cut some domestic flights from its schedule in response to increased jet fuel costs during the war in the Middle East. In March, it suspended its earnings outlook due to fuel price volatility and warned that more changes to its routes were possible.

But on one of its longest flights, travelers might finally get some shut-eye — although they should expect snoring, for which earplugs are provided, the airline said.

“Statistically, someone’s going to do it,” Air New Zealand’s website reads. “It might be you.”

The team announced Thursday night it was bringing back Collier, but didn't disclose terms of the deal.

ESPN reported, citing sources, that the Lynx signed Collier to a one-year, $1.4 million supermax contract. The deal came a day after the WNBA defending champion Las Vegas Aces re-signed four-time MVP A’ja Wilson. ESPN reported that contract was a three-year, $5 million supermax deal, the most lucrative in league history.

The 29-year-old Collier averaged a career-high 22.9 points per game last season while shooting 53.1% from the floor, 40.3% from 3-point range and 90.6% from the foul line, becoming the first player in WNBA history to post 50/40/90 shooting splits while averaging 20 or more points per game. She finished second to Wilson in league MVP voting the last two years.

“Phee has been such an integral part of the Lynx since she was drafted in 2019," head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve said in a statement released by the team. “Coming off a historic 50/40/90 season and guiding the Lynx to the most wins in franchise history, Phee is hungry to position the Lynx for a championship run in 2026.”

Minnesota went 34–10 in the regular season and was the No. 1 overall seed in the WNBA playoffs. But Collier injured her left ankle in Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals against Phoenix, ending her season. The Lynx lost the series to the Mercury in five games.

Collier, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time All-WNBA and All-Defensive Team selection, was the sixth overall draft pick by the Lynx in 2019 out of UConn and won the league's Rookie of the Year award. She has career averages of 18.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.2 blocks per game in seven seasons. Collier ranks second in franchise history in career steals (325) and scoring average (18.4), behind Maya Moore, and second in blocked shots (239) behind Sylvia Fowles.

Last season, Collier set the franchise record with 54 consecutive made free throws and was selected the WNBA All-Star Game MVP after setting the scoring mark with 36 points.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

The flood watch has been lifted for the region, as rainfall has tapered off and conditions begin to stabilize. While some flooding concerns continue Up North, Southeast Michigan is seeing a quieter trend heading into Friday.

Friday

Friday will bring a welcome break from the unsettled weather. Skies will gradually clear, with increasing sunshine expected through the afternoon. Temperatures will climb into the mid to upper 60s, offering a mild and comfortable day for outdoor plans, school activities and evening events.

Rain chances return late Friday night as another system approaches. Showers and a few thunderstorms are expected to develop after midnight and continue into early Saturday.

Saturday

Saturday will feature periods of showers and possibly a thunderstorm, with mostly cloudy skies and highs near the upper 60s. While some downpours are possible, storms are not expected to reach severe levels at this time. Outdoor plans may be impacted by occasional rain, especially during the morning and midday hours.

Sunday

A sharp change arrives by Sunday as a cold front pushes through the region. Temperatures will drop significantly, with highs only reaching the upper 40s under breezy conditions. The cooler air will bring a noticeable shift compared to the mild weather just days prior.

By Sunday night into Monday morning, temperatures are expected to fall into the upper 20s to around 30 degrees, creating freezing conditions. This could impact any sensitive plants or outdoor vegetation that may have already started to emerge.

For schools and daily routines, Friday will offer good conditions for outdoor activities, while Saturday may require umbrellas and rain gear. By early next week, colder mornings could also require heavier layers, especially for students waiting at bus stops.

Next week

Looking ahead, conditions improve again as we move into next week. Sunshine returns Monday, with a gradual warming trend bringing temperatures back into the 60s by Tuesday and midweek, restoring a more typical spring pattern across Metro Detroit.

Share your weather photos with Local 4 at MIPics.

Instead, he became the second Guardians pitcher in eight months to fall short in the ninth inning.

“I did my best. Maybe next time,” Messick said after Cleveland's 4-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night.

Leody Taveras led off the ninth with a grounder that just eluded diving second baseman Juan Brito and went into right field for a single to break up Messick's no-hit bid.

Cleveland still has the longest current gap between no-hitters of any major league franchise. The team’s most recent one was Len Barker’s perfect game on May 15, 1981, against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Up to that point, Messick had faced only one batter over the minimum and silenced a Baltimore lineup that came into the game third in the American League in on-base percentage (.334).

Blaze Alexander followed with a line-drive single to center that ended Messick's night. The 25-year-old Messick was removed to a standing ovation from the crowd of 14,748.

“That was very special what we got to watch tonight. That’s an unbelievably talented lineup that he took a no-hitter into the ninth against and just continued to attack,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “He and (catcher Austin) Hedges were magnificent with their sequencing. With that arsenal, that was a beautiful game.”

It was the first time in 11 career starts that Messick went more than seven innings. He was the 54th overall pick in the 2022 amateur draft out of Florida State and made his big league debut last year.

Messick threw 112 pitches, 78 for strikes. The 69.6% strike rate was the third-highest of his career. He walked two and equaled a career best with nine strikeouts. He was charged with two runs in eight-plus innings.

Messick got ahead of hitters early with 21 first-pitch strikes to the 27 batters he faced. The 18 swings and misses also tied a career high.

Out of Messick's six-pitch repertoire, the most effective was the changeup. He threw it 29 times and got 22 strikes, including nine whiffs. His most-used pitch was his four-seam fastball, which he threw 43 times.

“I know they were looking for it. It's just, the bottom falls out of it when you've got late movement like that, especially when you’ve set it up with other pitches, the heaters and the curveballs and cutters — you have to take an outlier swing to it,” Hedges said of the changeup. “You could tell they were trying to, but it’s just that good of a pitch.”

The sinker was Messick's third-most frequent pitch in his first three starts this season, but he threw it only twice against the Orioles.

Hedges said he had the feeling it might be a special night when center fielder Steven Kwan caught Taylor Ward's deep flyball at the wall to end the third inning. José Ramírez — who had a two-run homer in the first — made a nice stop on a grounder by Coby Mayo deep in the hole at third to end the fifth.

“The crowd got pretty loud and that’s an awesome feeling when everybody gets into it. I was really trying to lock in every pitch,” Messick said. “Pretty much about the sixth inning on, I prayed between pretty much every inning and I just was telling myself to execute.”

Baltimore averted a shutout when Gunnar Henderson’s sacrifice fly against closer Cade Smith drove in Taveras. Pete Alonso hit an RBI double before Smith retired the final two batters with runners at second and third for his fourth save.

“The boys were into it the whole game. Once Leody got that hit, I equate it to a sniper in the NBA, where it only takes one to go in for everything to change," said Orioles first-year manager Craig Albernaz, who was Cleveland's bench coach in 2024 and associate manager last season. “Messick was on. He had all his pitches dialed in the strike zone. He did a great job changing speeds in all counts, (getting) weak contact. He was on tonight.”

It was the fourth time since Barker's gem that a single Cleveland pitcher carried a no-hitter into the ninth. John Farrell went eight innings on May 4, 1989, against Kansas City before Kevin Seitzer broke it up with a single after Willie Wilson reached on an error.

Carlos Carrasco went 8 2/3 innings against Tampa Bay on July 1, 2015, and Gavin Williams had a no-hitter for 8 1/3 innings last season on Aug. 6 against the New York Mets.

Carrasco came within one strike of a no-hitter when Rays left fielder Joey Butler lined a slider on an 0-2 count that just eluded the glove of leaping Cleveland second baseman Jason Kipnis.

Juan Soto broke up Williams’ no-hit bid with a home run to center.

Messick is one of five American League pitchers with at least three wins. He improved to 3-0 this season and is third in the AL with a 1.05 ERA.

“I mean it (stinks), but it is baseball. I’ll have plenty more years to pitch a baseball game, so it might happen again,” he said.

___

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

Thursday

A few isolated thunderstorms will also develop this afternoon, some of which could be strong with wind and hail as the primary threat.

Flood Watch finally expires this evening, but the ground remains quite saturated.

Overnight skies will start to clear a bit with rain finally coming to an end. Lows drop a bit lower than the past few nights, around 53 degrees.

Friday

Enjoy Friday with partly sunny skies and highs in the upper 60s.

Weekend forecast

Friday night into Saturday morning, a strong cold front will bring more rain and storms as well as a much cooler air mass.

Sunday’s highs will barely make it into the upper 40s, with lows early next week below freezing.

Israel has not been fighting with Lebanon itself, but rather with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group inside Lebanon. Hezbollah said in a statement that “any ceasefire must be comprehensive across all Lebanese territory and must not allow the Israeli enemy any freedom of movement.”

Nearly 2,200 people in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli air strikes.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s army chief met with Iranian officials in Tehran on Thursday in a bid to ease tensions in the Middle East and arrange a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran after almost seven weeks of war.

The U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports continued as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would ramp up economic pain on Iran with new economic sanctions on countries doing business with it, calling the move the “financial equivalent” of a bombing campaign.

The White House said any further talks with Iran would likely take place in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, though no decision had been made on whether to resume negotiations. Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator after it hosted direct talks between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad.

Here is the latest:

Trump hails Israel-Lebanon ceasefire as ‘historic day’

In two social media posts Thursday night, U.S. President Donald Trump said that Thursday could have been “a historic day for Lebanon.” In a separate Truth Social message after the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon went into effect, Trump added that he hoped the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group “acts nicely and well.” “It will be an GREAT moment for them if they do,” Trump added.

Australia strikes deal with BP to underwrite fuel imports

BP has become a fifth company to strike a deal with the Australian government to underwrite fuel imports at prices inflated by the Iran war.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the BP deal on Friday at Viva Energy’s Geelong refinery, southwest of Melbourne, that was damaged by fire over Wednesday night. Viva on Thursday secured 570,000 barrels of diesel underwritten by the government in shipments from Brunei and South Korea at prices that might otherwise be commercially unviable.

Albanese said the damaged Geelong refinery continued to produce diesel and jet fuel at 80% capacity and gasoline as 60% capacity.

Viva chief executive Scott Wyatt expected to import fuel to make up for the shortfall in the refinery’s production.

Australia has sufficient fuel supplies contracted into May, but there are concerns that shortages could emerge in the months ahead.

Sri Lanka repatriates Iranian sailors, including torpedo attack survivors

Sri Lanka has sent home 238 Iranian sailors, including 32 who were injured in a U.S torpedo attack which sank their warship in early March.

Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Franklin Joseph said everyone except a few crew members from a second ship which later anchored in Sri Lanka were repatriated earlier this week.

A U.S submarine sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena on March 4 as it returned home after taking part in am Indian naval exercise..

Sri Lankan navy recovered 87 bodies while 32 sailors wounded in the torpedo attack were hospitalized. The second ship was brought to a southern Sri Lankan port after the crew reported technical problems.

Trump says Iran

war ‘going along swimmingly’

The president said in a Las Vegas speech he was feeling pretty positive about the Iran war, despite the energy price spikes, the death and destruction and the anxiety about the future of NATO and the Middle East.

“I will say the war in Iran is going along swimmingly,” Trump said. “It should be ending pretty soon.”

Trump added that the war was “was perfect” as he praised the power of the U.S. military.

Reports of shelling in Lebanon continue after ceasefire goes into effect

Lebanon’s state-run National News agency reported that Israeli shelling continued in the villages of Khiam and Dibbine about a half hour after the truce began.

The Lebanese Army also repeated its warning to people displaced from southern Lebanon about returning home because of intermittent shelling.

Israel’s military told The Associated Press very early Friday that it was looking into reports of shelling and artillery fire in southern Lebanon.

The terms of the ceasefire, as provided by the U.S. State Department, prohibit Israel from offensive military actions in Lebanon. But they appear to leave more room for “self-defense,” including “against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.”

UN chief welcomes Israel and Lebanon ceasefire and calls on all parties to observe it

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hopes the ceasefire will pave the way for negotiations toward a long-term solution to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

Guterres commends the United States for facilitating the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, he said.

The secretary-general reaffirms U.N. support for all efforts to end hostilities and the suffering of people on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border, Dujarric said.

A 10-day ceasefire agreed on by Israel and Lebanon has gone into effect

A 10-day ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump and agreed on by Lebanon and Israel started at midnight.

The two neighboring countries held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington after more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed, Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group.

Hezbollah started firing on Israel right after the start of the Iran war. It kept up attacks focused on northern Israel communities through Thursday night, with at least eight people injured, including two seriously, according to Israel’s emergency services.

Air raid sirens were sounding in a few northern Israeli communities just minutes before the ceasefire was going into effect. Israel’s military also said late Thursday it was striking Hezbollah rocket launchers.

Trump claims Iran has ‘agreed to give us back the nuclear dust’

The president made the assertion in an exchange with reporters before departing for an event in Las Vegas on Thursday.

If true, it would be a major concession from Iran, and would lock in a key demand of the U.S. to end the conflict.

“They’ve agreed to give us back the nuclear dust that’s way underground because of the attack we made with the B-2 bombers,” said Trump, using a term he’s adopted as shorthand for the roughly 970 pounds of enriched uranium buried under Iranian nuclear sites damaged by U.S. strikes on the country last year.

Iran has repeatedly insisted that it doesn’t seek a nuclear weapon and that its program is for peaceful proposes. Neither Iran nor countries acting as intermediaries in the conflict have talked about what would be a major breakthrough.

Pressed by a reporter on what is he waiting for to move forward, Trump offered that it was “very complicated.”

He added, “I don’t think we’re waiting. I think we’re moving very fast. It could happen pretty quickly.”

The White House did not respond to follow-up queries about whether Iran has agreed to give up its enriched uranium, under what terms and to whom it would be surrendered. Trump has previously made claims about Iran’s nuclear program that have turned out to be imprecise.

UN envoy says Israel will react to any Hezbollah threats and hold its positions southern Lebanon during ceasefire

Ambassador Danny Danon told U.N. reporters Thursday that the 10-day ceasefire will be “challenging” because of Hezbollah, which said after the ceasefire announcement that continuing Israeli occupation grants Lebanon the right to resist.

Danon said Israel believes in direct negotiations with Lebanon, but knows this is a complex issue for the Lebanese government because of Hezbollah.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered to go to Washington — where the ambassadors of Israel and Lebanon met earlier this week — for negotiations, the ambassador said.

“We will come to any meeting to promote peace, but I cannot speak for the Lebanese government. We know that they are under pressure and threats from Iran,” Danon said.

Iran remains ‘cautiously optimistic’ about negotiations with the US, its UN envoy says

Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the Islamic Republic welcomes and supports diplomatic efforts to bring a “sustainable end to this unlawful and unwarranted war,” including by Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia.

“Despite our deep mistrust of the United States, stemming from its repeated betrayal of diplomacy, we nevertheless enter the negotiation in good faith and remain cautiously optimistic,” he told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday.

“We believe that should the United States adopt a rational and constructive approach and refrain from advancing demands that are inconsistent with international law, this negotiation can lead to a meaningful outcome,” Iravani said.

He spoke at an assembly meeting in support of vetoes by Beijing and Moscow of a U.N. Security Council resolution backed by the U.S. and Gulf nations aimed at opening the Strait of Hormuz.

Hezbollah warns displaced people not to rush back home

The Lebanese militant group called on people to exercise restraint and refrain from returning to areas in south and eastern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs that have been hit hard by Israeli strikes “until the situation becomes fully clear.”

The Lebanese army issued similar warnings, urging people not to rush back to those areas after the 10-day ceasefire kicks in at midnight Beirut time.

Previous ceasefires saw tens of thousands of people clogging roads as they attempted to drive back to check on homes and belongings in the first hours of the truce.

More than 1 million Lebanese people have been displaced during the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah.

UAE official says Iran is viewed as the ‘main enemy’

Anwar Gargash, diplomatic advisor to the UAE’s president, said Gulf states have a different view of Iran, seeing it as the “main enemy”, citing its missile and drone attacks despite.

“We are fully aware of the position of many Arab societies in viewing Israel as the primary enemy, but the view in the Gulf states may be different... Iran is the one that attacked the Gulf states with thousands of missiles and drones, and for this reason we do not trust it, and we view it as a primary enemy,” he said during a media briefing Thursday at Dubai Press Club.

Gargash added that the UAE has questions over Iran’s nuclear program as well as its ballistic missiles and drones, and said that just as Tehran is seeking guarantees and reparations for war damage, the UAE also wants assurances that such “cowardly” attacks will not happen again.

Flurry of diplomacy to get to ceasefire in Lebanon

The 10-day ceasefire that Israel and Lebanon agreed to came about following a meeting between the nations’ ambassadors and a flurry of subsequent phone calls from President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a White House official.

After the talks Tuesday in Washington that included Rubio, Trump spoke Wednesday evening with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who agreed to a ceasefire with certain terms, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Rubio then called Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, who got on board. Trump then spoke with Aoun, and again with Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, the State Department worked with both governments to formulate a memorandum of understanding for the truce.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker says Lebanon ‘integral part’ of regional ceasefire

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made these remarks on Iranian state television after meeting Pakistan’s army chief Gen. Asim Munir in Tehran. U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 10-day truce between Lebanon and Israel in a bid to end the war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.

Iran, Hezbollah’s key patron and ally, has included ending the war in Lebanon as one of its conditions in its talks with Washington, mediated by Pakistan.

There was no mention about resuming in-person talks with Washington, as both sides gear up for a second round of talks.

US details ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon

The 10-day halt to the fighting that will begin later Thursday can be extended if there’s progress in talks to reach a lasting peace agreement and Lebanon “effectively demonstrates its ability to assert its sovereignty,” the State Department said.

President Donald Trump announced the truce following talks held in Washington this week. Israel hasn’t been fighting with Lebanon itself but rather with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group inside Lebanon.

In the statement that the U.S. says was agreed to by Lebanon and Israel, there is a provision to allow Israel to defend itself “at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.” Hezbollah has said it will respond to any strikes by Israel.

But otherwise, Israel “will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, and other state targets,” the statement says.

Trump says he could go to Pakistan to sign deal if agreement is reached with Iran

The president once again claimed progress is being made in talks with Iran and suggested he could be involved in the signing of a peace agreement, if one is reached.

“If the deal is signed in Islamabad, I might go,” said Trump, who heaped praise on Pakistani Prime Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistani Army Gen. Asim Munir for their role as mediators in the U.S.-Iran talks.

“The field marshal has been great. The prime minister has been really great in Pakistan, so I might go. They want me.”

Foreign minister says Portugal is open to ensuring maritime navigation remains free in the Strait of Hormuz

Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said on Thursday his country’s prime minister will participate in a conference on Friday co-hosted by the French and British leaders on setting up a mission to ensure freedom of navigation through the strait after the Iran war ends.

But Rangel said a decision on Portugal’s contribution to such a mission won’t be taken “before we know exactly what is at stake” because the mission plan is still unclear.

He said the Portuguese “fully understand the value of freedom of navigation” because they have been “navigators for centuries.”

“So let’s go to the meeting, let’s see what are the plans,” Rangel said after talks with Cypriot counterpart Constantinos Kombos.

Trump says he has ‘to do what’s right’ as he pushes back against Pope Leo XIV on Iran war

Trump isn’t worried that his taunting of Pope Leo XIV might offend his voters.

“I have to do what’s right — the pope has to understand that,” Trump told reporters. “I have nothing against the pope. His brother is MAGA all the way.”

The U.S. president has maintained that the Iran war is about stopping that country from developing a nuclear weapon and he criticized that country’s leadership for killing its own people as he objected to the papal emphasis on peace.

The president added that he’s “sure the pope is a great guy,” yet he suggested Pope Leo XIV was naive about geopolitics.

“The pope has to understand that this is the real world,” Trump said.

Trump suggest he’s open to extending Iran ceasefire

The 14-day ceasefire is set to expire April 22, but Trump said it’s possible that the deadline to make a deal could be pushed out further.

“If we’re close to a deal would I extend?” Trump said in an exchange with reporters. “Yeah, I would do that”

Netanyahu says Israeli troops will remain in an expanded security zone in south Lebanon despite ceasefire

Israel’s Netanyahu says Israeli troops will remain in an expanded security zone in south Lebanon despite a ceasefire.

He said troops will remain in a10-kilometer deep zone, “much stronger, more extensive and more continuous than before.”

“That is where we are, and we are not leaving.”

Hezbollah, in commenting on the ceasefire, had said continuing Israeli occupation grants Lebanon the right to resist.

Trump calls Israel-Lebanon ceasefire ‘very exciting’ opportunity

“I had a great talk with both of them today,” Trump said of this conversations with Aoun and Netanyahu. “They’re going to be having a ceasefire, and that’ll include Hezbollah.”

Trump in an extended exchange with reporters said also that he expected that Aoun and Netanyahu would meet in the next week or two, before saying the White House meeting between the Mideast leaders could happen in the next four or five days.

The president added that he was open to visiting Lebanon “at the right time.”

Trump says $4 a gallon gas ‘not very high’ given importance of stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon

The U.S. president played down prices at the pump averaging $4.09 a gallon nationwide, saying the cost wasn’t so great relative to the risk of evening higher prices tied to keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

“Well, they’re not very high, if you look at what they were supposed to be in order to get rid of a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters about gas prices before a planned trip to Las Vegas.

The president repeated a past claim that he thought the war with Iran would have driven energy costs much higher.

Gas prices are up roughly 29% from a year ago, according to AAA.

Netanyahu says he has agreed to 10-day ceasefire in bid ‘to advance’ peace efforts with Lebanon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has agreed to a 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon.

In a video statement, Netanyahu said he was taking the step in an attempt “to advance” peace efforts with Lebanon.

Israel and Lebanon opened negotiations this week in Washington aimed at forging a peace agreement. The Hezbollah militant group, which has been fighting Israel for six weeks, has said it opposes the dialogue.

“We have an opportunity to make a historic peace agreement with Lebanon,” Netanyahu said.

Italian premier hails Israel-Lebanon ceasefire as ‘excellent news’

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni greeted the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon as “excellent news,” achieved “thanks to the mediation of the United States.”

She added that the ceasefire must be fully respected, singling out Hezbollah “for having started this conflict,” and expressed hope that it would create conditions for talks leading “to a full and lasting peace” between Israel and Lebanon.

Italy has the second-largest contingent of U.N. peacekeepers serving in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah reacts to ceasefire announcement

Hezbollah said in a statement that “any ceasefire must be comprehensive across all Lebanese territory and must not allow the Israeli enemy any freedom of movement.”

Israel offered no official comment on Trump’s announcement.

Hezbollah added that “Israeli occupation on our land grants Lebanon and its people the right to resist it, and this matter will be determined based on how developments unfold,” a stance that could complicate the ceasefire.

Israel has staged a ground invasion in southern Lebanon, where its forces have been engaged in fierce battles with Hezbollah militants in the border area. It is unclear whether Israel would withdraw some or all of its forces as part of the truce.

▶ Read more

Northern Israeli leaders criticize proposed Lebanon ceasefire

Two local leaders in northern Israel criticized a proposed ceasefire with Lebanon, warning it would leave communities vulnerable.

Moshe Davidovich, head of the Mateh Asher Regional Council, said agreements may be signed in Washington but “the price is paid here in blood, in destroyed homes and shattered communities.”

He warned that a ceasefire without strict enforcement against Hezbollah and a buffer zone up to the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (18.64 miles) north of the Israeli border, would amount to “waiting for the next massacre.”

Eitan Davidi, head of the Margaliot moshav, called the move “a surrender” and “a political defeat.” He told the N12 news site it was made without coordination with northern residents and contradicts the stated goal of dismantling Hezbollah’s capabilities.

China’s UN envoy calls US blockade of Strait of Hormuz ‘a dangerous and irresponsible move’

Ambassador Fu Cong said the strait “should be safeguarded” for international navigation and called on Iran to take ‘proactive measures’ to open the waterway, used to ship about 20% of the world’s oil.

“The issue of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is a spillover effect of the conflict in Iran,” he said. “Only a complete ceasefire can fundamentally create conditions for easing the situation.”

Fu told the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday that Beijing is engaged “in intensive mediation with all parties to actively promote talks for peace”’ and an end to the war in Iran.

The 193-member world body was meeting to hear China and Russia explain why they vetoed a Security Council resolution backed by the U.S. and Gulf nations aimed at opening the Strait of Hormuz.

Fu claimed the resolution would have given “a carte blanche for the continuation of aggressive actions and further escalation” rather than de-escalate the conflict and promote negotiations.

The crash happened around 8:30 a.m. April 9 near Clark and Judd roads, according to Huron Township Director of Public Safety Everette Robbins.

Robbins said the driver was traveling at an appropriate speed and was driving along the right side of the road to avoid potholes when the road surface collapsed.

“This appears to simply be a case of the road being soft, and the driver took the appropriate actions to do what could be done to avoid something worse,” Robbins said in a statement, adding that the driver was not texting or violating Michigan’s hands-free law.

Three students reported minor injuries and were evaluated at the scene before being released to their parents, officials said.

Other students were transferred to another bus, taken to school, or released to their parents.

A week later, the part of the road where the bus went into the ditch is still coned off.

Residents who live along Clark Road say standing water after several days of rain is accelerating damage.

“As you can see here, it’s flooded in, so that was a pretty deep hole due to the bus going in there,” said Heather Riddle, who lives nearby. “All it’s doing with all this water just sitting there is further causing damage to the road.”

Parents and neighbors say the potholes are difficult to avoid even when the road is dry, and nearly impossible to dodge after rain when the holes fill with water.

Sarah Grossman, who was waiting for the bus with her daughter when it crashed down the road from them, said she and others helped students off the bus.

“Nothing’s happened so far. We haven’t seen the county out here addressing the situation at all,” Grossman said. “We know they came out earlier in the year, but it would be nice to see them caring more.”

The Wayne County Department of Public Services said the road was last graded on March 14.

While the road was repaired after the April 9 accident, it still hasn’t been graded.

A spokesperson for the department said the road is scheduled to be graded again soon, likely in the next few business days after the rain dries.

Those who live along the road said vehicles routinely slide into ditches after heavy rain because the shoulders and embankments soften.

“Anytime there’s heavy rain, all the embankments on the sides are soft,” Grossman said. “It explains why what happened with the bus did happen, and plenty of people go in the ditches.”

Parents say they want more than a temporary fix.

“I’m just hopeful that we can maybe look into other plans for the road, other than just filling it with dirt — maybe pavement at this point — at least for this main road where there’s a lot of traffic, where the kids are being transported on the bus,” Riddle said.

Grossman said more routine maintenance would be a start.

“It’s one of those things where I think if there was proper road maintenance, there would be less debate on whether or not we should even have to pave it or not,” she said. “I think people would be happier if it was just maintained properly.”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced Lyons' departure, calling him a great leader of ICE who helped to make American communities safer. Mullin said Lyons' last day will be May 31.

“We wish him luck on his next opportunity in the private sector,” Mullin said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press asking why he is resigning.

Lyons, who was named acting director in March 2025, led the agency at the center of President Donald Trump’s plans to reshape immigration to the U.S.

Under his leadership, the agency was granted a massive infusion of cash through Congress, which it used to expand hiring and detention capabilities, and it ramped up arrests to meet demand from the administration.

ICE was also central to a series of high-profile immigration enforcement operations in American cities, including Chicago and Minneapolis, a deployment that ended after backlash erupted over the deaths of two American protesters at the hands of federal immigration officers.

Stephen Miller, the president’s deputy chief of staff and the main architect of his immigration policy, called Lyons a "dedicated leader."

“His courageous work at ICE has saved countless thousands of American lives and helped deliver safety and tranquility to millions of Americans,” Miller said in a statement.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson described Lyons in a post on X as “an American patriot who made our country safer.”

It’s not clear who might replace Lyons. But whoever does will take over an agency flush with cash while still a flashpoint for controversy. ICE is at the center of a battle in Congress, with Democratic lawmakers demanding restraints on immigration officers before agreeing to restore routine funding for DHS.

On Thursday, Lyons, along with two other top immigration officials, appeared before a House subcommittee to argue for his agency’s budget and faced continued scrutiny from lawmakers of ICE’s actions.

Lyons' departure also comes as DHS is under new leadership after Trump fired former Secretary Kristi Noem, who led the department through the administration’s major immigration policy changes.

Mullin, who took over as secretary last month, is likely to continue to advance the president’s agenda but has struck a softer tone on some of the administration’s most contentious policies.

Public perceptions of ICE during Lyons' tenure were low. In a February AP-NORC poll, most U.S. adults, including independents, said they have an unfavorable view of the agency.

Lyons faced questions in Congress over the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and was asked if he would apologize for the way some Trump administration officials characterized Good as an agitator. He declined to do so.

“I welcome the opportunity to speak to the family in private. But I’m not going to comment on any active investigation,” Lyons said.

Lyons said he had seen video that captured Pretti’s shooting but said he could not comment, citing an active investigation.

Lyons, who joined ICE in 2007 as an immigration enforcement agent in Texas, signed off on a memo, first obtained by The Associated Press, that granted federal immigration officers sweeping powers to forcibly enter homes and make arrests without a judge’s warrant.

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan described Lyons as serving selflessly and “a highly respected and effective acting Director of ICE.”

__

Golden reported from Seattle.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced the agreement as a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. However, Israel has not been fighting with Lebanon itself, but rather with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants inside the country, who were not formally part of the agreement.

Barrages of gunshots rang out across Beirut as residents fired into the air just after midnight to celebrate the beginning of the truce.

Displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, despite warnings by officials not to attempt to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he agreed to the ceasefire “to advance” peace efforts with Lebanon, but said Israeli troops would not withdraw.

Israeli forces have engaged in fierce battles with Hezbollah in the border area as they pushed into southern Lebanon to create what officials have called a “security zone.” Netanyahu, in his video address, said it will extend 10 kilometers (6 miles) into Lebanon.

“That is where we are, and we are not leaving,” he said.

Hezbollah said that “Israeli occupation on our land grants Lebanon and its people the right to resist it, and this matter will be determined based on how developments unfold” — a stance that could complicate the ceasefire.

Israel reserves right to defend itself

The U.S. State Department said that according to the agreement, Israel reserves the right to defend itself “at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.” But otherwise, Israel “will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, and other state targets.”

The wording suggested Israel would maintain the freedom to strike at will, as it did in the months following the ceasefire that ended the previous war. This time, Hezbollah said it would respond to any strikes by Israel.

It's unclear when the 1 million people displaced by the war will be able to safely return.

Lebanon’s state-run National News agency reported that Israeli shelling continued in the villages of Khiam and Dibbine about a half hour after the truce went into effect. Israel’s military said it was looking into reports of shelling and artillery fire in southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah kept firing rockets at northern Israeli towns and communities right up to the start of the ceasefire. Air raid sirens went off in some often-targeted border towns less than 10 minutes before midnight.

Flurry of diplomacy

The agreement came after a meeting between Israel's and Lebanon’s ambassadors in Washington and a flurry of subsequent phone calls from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to a White House official.

They were the first direct diplomatic talks between the two countries in decades. Hezbollah had opposed direct talks between Lebanon and Israel.

Trump spoke Wednesday evening with Netanyahu, who agreed to a ceasefire with certain terms, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Rubio then called Lebanon’s president, Joseph Aoun, who got on board. Trump then spoke with Aoun, and again with Netanyahu.

The State Department worked with both governments to formulate a memorandum of understanding for the truce.

“May have been a historic day for Lebanon. Good things are happening!!!” Trump said in a social media post.

Trump extends White House invitation

Lebanon has insisted on a ceasefire to stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah before engaging in more talks, while vowing to commit to disarming the group.

Israel and Lebanon have technically been at war since Israel was established in 1948, and Lebanon remains deeply divided over diplomatic engagement with Israel.

Trump also invited the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to the White House for what he said would be “the first meaningful talks" between the countries since 1983.

“Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly,” Trump wrote on social media.

Lebanon and Israel signed an agreement in 1983 saying Lebanon would formally recognize Israel, and Israel would withdraw from Lebanon. The deal fell apart during Lebanon’s civil war and was formally rescinded a year later.

A Hezbollah official said the ceasefire was a result of Iran’s negotiations with the U.S., in which Iran had insisted Lebanon be included in its own ceasefire, and came about through efforts by mediator Pakistan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Pakistan army chief meets with Iranian parliament speaker

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s army chief met Thursday with Iran’s parliament speaker as part of international efforts to press for an extension to a ceasefire that has paused almost seven weeks of war between Israel, the U.S. and Iran.

It was unclear whether the frantic diplomacy could lead to a lasting deal before the ceasefire ends next week. The Iran war has killed thousands of people and upended global markets by disrupting the flow of oil.

Iranian state television did not provide details on the meeting between Pakistani Army Gen. Asim Munir and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, his country’s chief negotiator.

There was no immediate comment from Pakistan, a key mediator after hosting the talks between the U.S. and Iran that authorities said helped narrow differences between the sides.

The White House said any further talks regarding Iran would likely take place in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, though no decision had been made on whether to resume negotiations. The fragile ceasefire is holding despite a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and Iranian counter-threats to target regional ports across the Red Sea.

Trump suggested the ceasefire could be extended.

“If we’re close to a deal, would I extend?” Trump said in an exchange with reporters. “Yeah, I would do that.”

The war has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have pounded military and civilian infrastructure. Oil prices have fallen amid hopes for an end to fighting, and U.S. stocks on Wednesday surpassed records set in January.

Officials say US and Iran are making progress

Even as the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and renewed Iranian threats strained the ceasefire, regional officials reported progress, telling AP the United States and Iran had an “in-principle agreement” to extend it to allow for more diplomacy. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

But tensions simmered.

The commander of Iran’s joint military command, Ali Abdollahi, threatened to halt trade in the region if the U.S. does not lift its naval blockade, and a newly appointed military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said he does not support extending the ceasefire.

Mediators seek compromise on sticking points

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,100 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

Mediators are pushing for a compromise on three main sticking points: Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

Since the war began, Iran has curtailed maritime traffic through the strait, which a fifth of global oil transited through in peacetime. Tehran’s effective closure of the strait sent oil prices skyrocketing, raising the cost of fuel, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East.

___

Becatoros contributed from Athens, Greece. Matthew Lee and Ben Finley in Washington, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Mejía, 48, a former head of the Working Families Alliance who had support from Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, will fill the seat previously held by Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill and serve until January.

Her victory is a win for progressives and means Democrats hold on to the 11th District seat in the House, where Republicans hold a thin majority. It also adds to a string of victories for Democrats heading into this year’s midterm elections.

The Associated Press called the race for Mejía minutes after the polls closed.

Mejía later spoke in Montclair to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters who called out in unison with her that she was an “unbought, unbossed, sassy new member of Congress.”

Republicans criticized her throughout the campaign as too far to the left. She pushed back against those arguments, calling for better health care and education and attacking billionaires for having a “stranglehold” on the economy.

“It is not radical to say that a worker who toils every day cannot make ends meet, that they deserve justice, that they deserve higher wages,” Mejía said Thursday night. “That is not radical, that is good conscience. That is a good economy.”

Her speech echoed Sanders, who congratulated her in a social media post and said she would be a “great progressive addition” to Congress.

Mejía emerged from a crowded primary in February and cast the race as a test of Trump’s leadership. She criticized his pardons of people convicted of Jan. 6-related crimes and faulted him for freezing funds authorized by Congress.

She campaigned on populist economic policies and pushing to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She has criticized the Israeli government and said she stands with Palestinian communities in their “pursuit of peace and dignity.”

Hathaway, 38, tried to use Mejía's progressive credentials to his advantage, as national Republicans cast her as a socialist. After her victory he congratulated Mejía and wished her well. He added that he still believes the district is looking for “balanced, pragmatic” leadership, not “far-left policies.”

The two could go head to head again in November’s election for a full two-year term.

The 11th District, which covers parts of Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in northern New Jersey’s wealthy suburbs, was long a Republican stronghold but has become increasingly Democratic since Trump’s first term.

Sherrill first won the seat in 2018’s midterm elections, when Democrats flipped dozens of seats to take control of Congress. In 2024 she won reelection by about 15 points, while Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, carried the district by nearly 9 points.

Mejía's margin of victory was greater. With more than 90% of votes counted late Thursday, she led Hathaway by about 20 percentage points. Additional mail-in ballots — which have favored Mejía by an even larger margin — will be counted in the coming days as they can arrive as late as Wednesday.

Saran Cunningham, an 86-year-old retired special educator, said she was initially reluctant to support Mejía, worried that her views were too far to the left. She backed another candidate in the primary. But recently, outside the Morristown early polling location, she said she would now vote for Mejía.

“I think we’ve been tilting a little bit more to the right lately, which worries me,” Cunningham said. “I think that we need people in Congress who will fight for things that will help people as opposed to hurting them.”

Rob Berkowitz, 62, cast his early vote for Hathaway at the Denville polling station. Describing himself as a conservative, Berkowitz gave Trump high marks on immigration, the economy and the war in Iran, comparing him to Winston Churchill. He criticized the Democratic Party for moving away from leaders in the style of Harry Truman, whom he praised.

“They want borders wide open. They don’t want to enforce existing immigration laws,” Berkowitz said.

The February Democratic primary pitted Mejía against former Rep. Tom Malinowski and others in a race where the American Israel Public Affairs Committee was a key player. The group’s affiliated super PAC tried to thwart Malinowski after he questioned unconditional aid to the Israeli government. That effort appeared to backfire as Mejía, who said she agreed that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, came out on top.

Over the years she has been a regular presence in the state Capitol, advocating for progressive causes, and was Sanders’ political director during his 2020 presidential run. During the Biden administration, she was deputy director of the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau.

In addition to winning Sanders’ endorsement, she was backed by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Hathaway, a former Yale University football player, has worked in health care and finance as well as in politics as an aide for former GOP Gov. Chris Christie.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s latest ruling comes in response to an appeals court’s instruction to clarify an earlier decision on the 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom planned for the site where it demolished the East Wing of the White House.

Trump on social media called Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, a “Trump Hating” judge who “has gone out of his way to undermine National Security, and to make sure that this Great Gift to America gets delayed, or doesn’t get built.”

The administration filed a notice that it will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review Leon's latest decision, too.

National Trust for Historic Preservation president and CEO Carol Quillen, whose group sued to challenge the project, said in a statement that the group is pleased with the court's ruling.

Leon said that below-ground work on security measures is exempt from his order suspending above-ground construction. Government lawyers have argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of possible threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards.

Leon's latest ruling comes several days after a three-judge panel from the D.C. appeals court instructed him to reconsider the possible national security implications of stopping construction.

In his previous order, Leon barred above-ground work on the ballroom from proceeding without congressional approval. The judge also ruled on March 31 that any construction work that’s necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House is exempt from the scope of the injunction. Leon said he reviewed material that the government privately submitted to him before concluding that halting construction wouldn’t jeopardize national security.

Leon had suspended his March 31 order for two weeks. He stayed his latest decision for another week, which gives the administration more time to seek Supreme Court review.

Leon said he is ordering a stop only to the above-ground construction of the planned ballroom, apart from any work needed to cover or secure that part of the project. Otherwise, the Trump administration is free to proceed with the construction of any excavations, bunkers, military installations, and medical facilities below the ballroom.

“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated," the judge wrote. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”

On Saturday, the appeals court panel said it didn't have enough information to decide how much of the project can be suspended without jeopardizing the safety of the president, his family or the White House staff.

Leon said he recognizes the safety implications of the case, but stressed that “national security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity.” He also said he has “no desire or intention to be dragooned into the role of construction manager.”

On April 2, two days after Leon's previous ruling, Trump’s ballroom won final approval from the 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, which is charged with approving construction on federal property in the Washington region.

The preservation group sued in December, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people. Trump says the project is funded by private donations, although public money is paying for the bunker construction and security upgrades.

He returned to the piano only after a mentor told him about a large number of piano pieces for the left hand alone.

After exhaustive practice he made a comeback, playing recitals as South Korea's only known professional left-hand-only pianist.

He is now preparing for a new challenge: his first joint performance with an orchestra at an international music festival next month.

“I’m so, so nervous I could die,” Lee, 54, said with a smile during a recent interview with The Associated Press at his Seoul home. “It’s just one concerto but working with an orchestra has its own difficulties.”

Thrown into despair

In August 2012, Lee, then a doctorate candidate at the music school at the University of Cincinnati, abruptly collapsed at his home.

He survived after extensive surgery, but the stroke damaged about 60% of his brain’s left hemisphere. He couldn’t move his right arm and leg and suffered temporary aphasia.

Lee was later brought back to South Korea in a wheelchair. His father, Lee Hae Chang, a baseball legend in South Korea, said his son couldn’t recognize him upon arrival.

“After the stroke, I didn’t even imagine playing the piano. I only thought about whether I could stand on my feet again,” Lee Hun said.

Performing with five fingers

Lee’s condition was also hard on his family, who had to care for him daily. His mother Poong Ok Hee recalled she had fought a lot with her son because of his mood swings. He often resisted her advice and assistance.

Things began changing after he dined with his former piano teacher, Chun Yung Hae, in 2013. Chun encouraged him to play the piano again, saying there were more than 1,000 pieces for the left hand alone. That rekindled his passion for the piano, and Lee began practicing immediately that night.

In 2016, Lee made a formal debut as a one-handed pianist at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, where he received treatment and rehabilitation. After performing Camille Saint-Saens’ “6 Etudes for the Left Hand Alone,” Lee played “Amazing Grace” with Chun, with Lee using his left hand and Chun her right hand. At least one spectator cried.

“He is a pianist so he must play the piano. He was completely hopeless and in despair, so I tried to give him some hope. But I didn’t expect him to play as well as this,” said Chun, who served as dean of the College of Music at Seoul’s Kyung Hee University.

Performing a masterpiece with orchestra

Lee has steadily given recitals, appeared on TV programs and written a memoir. He now walks without assistance and communicates relatively smoothly in Korean.

Local media dub him as “Korea’s Paul Wittgenstein,” an acclaimed Austrian pianist who is considered a pioneer in one-handed piano music. He lost his right arm in World War I and commissioned left-hand repertories by famed composers, including Ravel, Strauss, Prokofiev and Britten. His brother was philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.

On May 2, Lee is to appear at the annual Icheon Young-Artist International Music Festival in South Korea, performing with a festival orchestra. They’ll play Ravel’s “Piano Concerto for the Left Hand,” which was also commissioned by Wittgenstein.

It’s a highly difficult piece for a pianist, Lee said, but it’s something he’s been eager to play.

Chung Eun-hyon, head of Lee’s agency, Tool Music, said Lee has told him it’s his dream to play the concerto. Chung said he feels deeply emotional as he helps “make his dream come true.”

Dreams of a two-handed comeback

Before becoming a one-handed pianist, Lee said he focused on how to perfect skills to wow audiences. Now, he agonizes over how to convey his emotions and interpretation of music to people.

“He plays a sort of music that truly touches the heart of people and it’s not about finger dexterity,” said Lee Eungkwang, head of a cultural foundation responsible for the Icheon festival.

“I’m really curious what it was like when he played with both hands,” Lee said.

Lee Hun said he hopes to make a two-handed comeback one day, saying he succeeded in pressing a piano key once with his right hand at a concert in November 2024.

Medically speaking, prospects for Lee regaining the use of his right hand and performing with both hands are dim, according to his doctor at St. Mary’s Hospital, Koo Jaseong.

“I still would like to give him a round of applause to his efforts. Though rare, there have been reports of miraculous recoveries too,” Koo said.

The Pistons defeated the Toronto Raptors 133-95 without their two big men to improve to 40-13 on the season, their second-best record at the All-Star break in franchise history.

Detroit was 42-9 during the 2005-06 season.

With tonight’s victory at Toronto, the Pistons are now 40-13 (.755) entering the All-Star break— their second-best record at the All-Star Break in franchise history (42-9, 2005-06). pic.twitter.com/bh7dfRf3a9

— Pistons PR (@Pistons_PR) February 12, 2026

Langdon addressed concerns around Isaiah Stewart’s reputation in the league following his fight in the Charlotte Hornets game during his appearance on the Costa and Jansen show on 97.1 The Ticket on Wednesday (Feb. 11).

He said the team is more focused on the league’s disciplinary decisions, which could result in suspensions that would hurt the team.

“We’ll rally, and we’ll come together, but we’ll miss him,” Langdon said.

Stewart was suspended for seven games for his involvement in the scuffle, while NBA All-Star Jalen Duren received two games for escalating the hard foul put on him by former Michigan Wolverines forward Moussa Diabate.

Langdon emphasized Stewart’s loyalty to teammates, noting that Stewart acted to defend a teammate but acknowledged that such actions cannot happen again, as they could set the team back.

Regarding communication with the league office about the suspensions, Langdon said it was mostly a “sit and wait” situation as the league conducted due diligence on all players involved.

Kevin Huerter

Langdon then discussed the addition of Kevin Huerter at the trade deadline.

He praised Herder’s basketball IQ and versatility, noting that Herder doesn’t just run plays but creates spacing and scoring opportunities for himself and teammates.

While it’s still early with only a few games played, Langdon expects Huerter to be integrated soon after the All-Star break.

Jaden Ivey

Regarding Jaden Ivey’s struggles in Detroit, Langdon pointed to the timing of Ivey’s injury and subsequent surgeries that sidelined him for nearly a year.

He said transitioning back to NBA basketball midseason after such a long layoff is very difficult, but expressed hope that Ivey will figure it out with time.

When asked about the temptation to make a big move at the trade deadline, given injuries to other Eastern Conference stars, Langdon said the Pistons prioritized responsible moves that help now without hampering future years.

After exploring options, they found no moves that met that criteria.

→ Why Detroit traded Jaden Ivey; what Kevin Huerter, Dario Saric bring to Pistons ahead of playoff push

Title contender

Langdon acknowledged that the Eastern Conference is competitive despite injuries to key players such as Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum.

He stressed the team’s focus on reaching its potential rather than the broader picture, noting that the playoffs present a different challenge for the Pistons, who lack experience.

Asked if the current roster is good enough to win an NBA title, Langdon declined to speculate, citing the team’s lack of playoff success so far.

He said winning a championship is very difficult and requires sustained effort, but he believes the team is competitive and has a chance to make an impact.

Tobias Harris

Regarding Tobias Harris, Langdon highlighted his professionalism, leadership, and consistency.

Langdon said Harris is a key player who contributes in many ways on both ends of the floor and that keeping him was important for the team.

Malik Beasley

On Malik Beasley’s status, Langdon said Beasley is still under league investigation with no clarity on when it will conclude.

Daniss Jenkins

Finally, Langdon praised Daniss Jenkins unexpected rise, calling him a high competitor with good size and character who has taken advantage of opportunities and continues to improve.

Langdon described Jenkins as a great story for the team and the NBA.

→ ‘I knew I was an NBA player’: Detroit Pistons commit to Daniss Jenkins as guard earns 2-year deal

Langdon closed by reiterating his conversation with Stewart about balancing his protective instincts with the need to avoid suspensions that could harm the team.

“This has to be something we talk about, come up with solutions, and hold each other accountable to that,” Langdon said.

“If you book a ticket, we want you and your family to have the certainty that you’ll fly without endless delays and cancellations,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.

O’Hare has the most number of flights of any U.S. airport, and it already had one of the worst records for flight delays nationwide last year.

More than 3,080 flights were planned on peak days this summer, which represented a 14.9% increase from the summer before, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration. That increase comes as air traffic controllers deal with taxiway closures for construction projects.

In its draft order, the federal government said both American and United announced expansion plans at O’Hare that could lead to significant delays this summer and limit the airfield’s ability to handle the expected amount of traffic.

Duffy said that the schedule was unrealistic and would have exceeded what the airport could handle. So the number of flights at the airport will be limited to a maximum of 2,708, which is still slightly higher than maximum of 2,680 flights that were scheduled at the peak of last summer. He said that “will reduce delays and make this busy summer travel season a little easier."

On slower days of the week, fewer flights will have to be cut because a smaller number was scheduled in the first place. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays are typically slower days of the week for flights.

The flight limits will take effect May 17 and last through Oct. 24.

Airlines will go through the details of the order to figure out how many flights they have to cancel and then will notify customers.

American Airlines said that once implemented, the FAA’s order will improve reliability and reduce delays for customers traveling through O’Hare this summer.

“We are grateful to Secretary Duffy, Administrator Bedford, and their leadership teams for acting swiftly to ensure that Chicagoans and all consumers continue to benefit from sensible competition and to help minimize flight disruptions during the busy summer season,” American said in a statement.

American told employees in a memo that it estimates that it will have to cut no more than 40 arrivals and departures per day, but it estimates that United might have to cut more than 200 arrivals and departures based on the published schedules. United did not provide an estimate of how many flights it will have to cut.

United said the airline appreciates that the government came up with “a solution that makes sense for everyone who cares about O'Hare's success.”

Both airlines will review the order and their scheduled to determine where to make cuts and then notify travelers who are affected.

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Associated Press Transportation Writer Josh Funk contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.

Hamilton was FEMA’s temporary leader from January to May of last year but was fired one day after testifying on Capitol Hill that he did not agree with proposals to dismantle the organization charged with coordinating the federal government's response to disasters, an idea Trump had repeatedly floated.

“I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” he told members of a House Appropriations subcommittee.

FEMA has lacked a permanent administrator throughout Trump's second term and is currently on its third temporary leader, something critics have said undermines the agency's effectiveness.

Trump offered Hamilton the job Wednesday, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The New York Times first reported Trump's intent to nominate Hamilton.

Hamilton’s nomination would come at a crucial time for FEMA and as its future remains uncertain. Trump has said he wants to shift more responsibility for disasters to states and has created a FEMA Review Council, expected to propose sweeping reforms to how the agency supports disaster-impacted communities.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has expressed support for FEMA while calling for reforms, striking a stark contrast from his predecessor Kristi Noem, who vowed to "eliminate FEMA as it exists today” and whose dealings with the review council grew fraught.

It’s unclear how Hamilton would lead FEMA or what Trump expects from his leadership.

Hamilton's relationship with DHS officials became “very hostile” during his short tenure at FEMA, he said in a September episode of the podcast “Disaster Tough.” He wanted to cut “wasteful spending” and “downsize the agency,” he said, but not dismantle it.

Trump has not officially announced the nomination and could change his mind. Hamilton could also face headwinds during the Senate confirmation process over never having served as a state emergency management director.

Federal law requires FEMA’s administrator to have “a demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management and homeland security” and no less than five years of executive leadership and management experience. If confirmed, he would become the principal advisor to the president and the Homeland Security secretary for all matters related to emergency management.

Hamilton spent a decade in the U.S. Navy Seals, serving on Seal Team Eight for four overseas deployments between 2005 and 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile and a Congressional bio.

He then served as a supervisory emergency management specialist at the U.S. State Department and as the Department of Homeland Security’s director of emergency services for several years.

Hamilton ran for Congress in Virginia’s 7th district in 2024 but lost in the Republican primary.

In a LinkedIn post earlier this month marking 47 years since FEMA’s establishment, Hamilton said he was grateful to have served under Trump and alongside FEMA colleagues. “I wish my tenure had been longer,” he wrote, “as there is still much more work to do for reform.”

Milenko Faria was interviewed at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices near Los Angeles, while his wife, Dr. Rubeliz Bolivar, entered her sixth day in immigration custody in Texas and was unable to attend the appointment they had been waiting for for more than 10 years.

Bolivar, who worked as a doctor in an area federally designated as medically underserved, was arrested by Border Patrol agents at McAllen International Airport on Saturday. She was with their American-born daughter, preparing to board a flight to join her husband and attend their asylum interview together.

Bolivar, 33, was the second Venezuelan physician arrested in the area within the span of a week. On April 6, Dr. Ezequiel Veliz was detained by Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint in South Texas. After spending about ten days in detention, his attorney, Victor Badell, said he was able to successfully request a bond hearing and secure his release on Thursday after paying a bond of $8,000.

The arrests are part of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies. Following an enforcement surge in Minnesota in January, in which two U.S. citizens died, the Department of Homeland Security has focused on less visible arrests.

Bolívar worked in the emergency room of a hospital in McAllen, city of about 150,000 in the Rio Grande Valley near the Mexican border, starting in June 2025, when she was accepted into her medical residency program.

“She was always focused on the community, and when she was accepted, it was an immense joy,” Faria, 36, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “We have never done anything outside the law. We have done everything by following the steps in accordance with the law to obtain permanent residency."

The husband said that she arrived at the U.S. with a tourist visa in 2016, after graduating from medical school in her native Venezuela.

Before her authorized period of stay expired, she was included in the asylum application filed by her husband, he said. Both are also seeking a green card through an application for skilled workers, processed by Faria’s employer, a California company where he has worked as an information systems technician since 2019.

The couple was beneficiary of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela that shielded more than 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation. Trump terminated the protections for Venezuela, Haiti, Syria, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and other countries, a decision that has been challenged in federal court.

The Department of Homeland Security said that Bolivar was arrested because she was in the country illegally.

“She has overstayed her visa since 2017, nearly a decade, and had no legal status,” said DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis.

Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in South Texas, noted that around September or October 2025, she observed a change in policy regarding travel of individuals with pending applications before USCIS.

”It just became a very apparent trend where anyone that had some kind of application pending with USCIS, whether it was an adjustment of status or asylum, anything like that, they were going to be arrested,” said Goodwin.

Faria and Bolivar lived together in Santa Maria, California, until she moved to Texas in the summer of 2025 for her medical residency. He said he traveled every two months to visit his wife and daughter. The day of her arrest was the first time Bolívar had traveled since moving to Texas.

Bolivar was arrested by Customs and Border Protection officers before passing through transportation security screening, where she was asked to show her identification. She showed her driver’s license — bearing the “Real ID” endorsement required to domestic flights — and a work authorization valid until 2030.

She told them that she was adjusting status to a green card and was traveling to California for an asylum interview but the officer detained her after asking for her nationality and demanding that she provide proof of legal permanent residency, said Faria. He received text messages from his wife at the time she was being arrested.

Their 5-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen, was also arrested and handed over to her grandfather 19 hours later. The girl is currently in California with her father.

The doctor was transferred to ICE custody on Sunday and is being held at El Valle Detention Facility in Texas.

She has asked several times why she was detained but has not received any response yet, Faria said.

Ezequiel Veliz, the other Venezuelan physician, came to the United States to become a doctor in 2018 under a tourist visa. His friend, Hector Ruiz, described him as a kind-hearted doctor who loves his pet cats and is devoted to his work.

Veliz adjusted his immigration status as a student and later as a doctor at a South Texas hospital in the Rio Grande Valley working under TPS. The pause in the protection status had immediate consequences on his two-year residency.

“He was one year and four months into that. He couldn’t continue working legally. He had to stop,” said Badell, his attorney.

He was waiting for a visa requested by the hospital when he was detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint traveling to Houston with his husband on April 6.

___

Associated Press writer Valerie Gonzalez contributed.

Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., expressed alarm that federal workers may be using AI chatbots to handle sensitive government data. Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., asked whether it should be illegal for AI systems to use someone’s likeness to create pornographic images.

Rep. John McGuire, R-Va., expressed concerns that AI systems could deny U.S. military forces from taking lethal actions due to a model's conclusion for “moral” behavior. And Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., raised concerns about the Trump administration’s use of AI in the war with Iran, the technology’s intensive energy usage and its potential effects on the climate.

While members of Congress elsewhere debated other major topics — the scope of the federal government’s surveillance powers, the war with Iran and funding the Department of Homeland Security — the House Oversight Committee’s subcommittee roundtable on “Artificial Intelligence and American Power” brought executives of AI firms, academics and those implementing AI at major companies together with lawmakers.

Thursday’s discussion comes as leaders on Capitol Hill grapple with the dizzying pace of global developments in which technology plays a central role. But the conversation quickly considered the potential for artificial intelligence to dwarf every other challenge facing the country.

“People in our districts across this country are going to start feeling impacts very soon, and if we don’t start thinking properly and aggressively and proactively about the challenges that AI creates, I fear that we’re going to have a revolution on our hands,” said Rep. Dave Min, D-Calif.

The subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, also expressed optimism about AI’s ability to cure diseases and boost the economy. But Frost, currently the youngest member of Congress, worried that the technology would outpace lawmakers and pose potentially disastrous consequences if not addressed early on.

“I don’t have faith in this institution to actually put the common sense guardrails in place. And then we fast forward ten years, and the house is on fire,” said Frost. “That won’t be good for anybody, whether it’s the industry or working families and people, or this institution itself.”

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., kicked off the meeting with praise for the industry and marveled at how one panelist’s company used AI to automate and fast-track manufacturing in the firm’s factories.

“It’s truly like the closest thing to Star Trek I’ve ever seen,” Burlison said. He later inquired about what congressional districts should do to attract AI firms for business.

Many also openly fretted about disclosures from technology firms like Anthropic, which recently announced that its Mythos AI model, which the company claims has capabilities so powerful that it is limiting its use to select customers because of its apparent ability to bypass traditional cybersecurity and hack major institutions like banks, government agencies and major corporations.

“I recognize AI is not going anywhere,” said Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., a former Navy SEAL who served in combat. “That being said, does anyone on this panel feel or believe, in any way, that as we are going down the road in this AI race, we might be simultaneously engineering our own destruction?”

The assembled experts and industry leaders all highlighted AI’s vast and growing capabilities. They urged lawmakers, alongside their policy recommendations, to be thoughtful and well-informed when making policy.

Mark Beall, president of government affairs at the AI Policy Network Inc. and a former Pentagon official, warned that Congress risked the country losing its competitive edge on AI if it did not act on key national security concerns.

“I don’t think it’s going to kill us,” Robert Atkinson, founder of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a technology think tank, told lawmakers.

“At the same time, I do think it’s important for the federal government to seriously fund AI safety research,” Atkinson continued. “We need to know a lot more about how the models work.”

Spencer Overton, a George Washington University law professor, said the incentives for AI companies “are really what they should be” when asked by lawmakers whether the firms were good actors.

“Constituents are looking for you, not for companies, to step up and protect them," Overton said. "They’re trusting you, the person that they voted for, to do that, as opposed to companies. That’s the way the system works, right?”

The Detroit Regional Communication Center said they received a call from a person who reported hearing gunshots near Cloverdale Avenue and Woodside Avenue on Thursday (April 16) around 12:10 p.m.

When troopers arrived, they said they found the glass front door of God’s Grace Missionary Baptist Church, 8712 Cloverdale Avenue, was shattered and scattered.

Police said no injuries were reported and no suspects were immediately identified at the scene.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Metro North Post at 1-248-584-5740 or Crime Stoppers at 800.SPEAK.UP.

Patrol Activity:
04/16/26 at 12:10 p.m.
Location:
God’s Grace Missionary Baptist Church - 8712 Cloverdale Avenue, Charter Township of Royal Oak
Synopsis:
The Detroit Regional Communication Center received a call from a person who said they heard gunshots in the area of Cloverdale… pic.twitter.com/5JyMkXDI1f

— MSP Second District (@mspmetrodet) April 16, 2026

Owner David Blitzer announced the hire less than 48 hours after the team’s regular season ended without a playoff appearance. Mehta was an assistant when the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup each of the past two years.

“We quickly realized this job was in high demand and were incredibly fortunate to meet with many qualified candidates," Blitzer said. "Sunny’s familiarity with our organization and experience with a two-time Stanley Cup-winning team are characteristics that will serve as a foundation for future success. Our expectations are to be a perennial playoff team and compete for the Stanley Cup, and I look forward to Sunny leading us there.”

Mehta, 48, established the NHL's first full-fledged analytics department when he joined his home-state Devils in 2014 and worked for them through 2018. He spent time with Washington before going to Florida.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, who also had a vacancy after firing Brad Treliving late last month, also showed interest in Mehta, given their interest in a numbers-driven GM. The Devils beat Toronto the punch.

Raised in Wyckoff, New Jersey, Mehta grew up a Devils fan. He had a career as a professional poker player and worked in finance before getting into hockey.

“I knew this was the place I wanted to be,” Mehta said, thanking the Panthers for the chance to take the next step in his career. “New Jersey has a tremendous young core that will be looking to get back to being a contender, a complement of young assets and draft picks, and a passionate fan base hungry for success.”

The Devils parted ways with longtime GM Tom Fitzgerald late in the season. The future of coach Sheldon Keefe is not clear, though he guided the team to the playoffs in his first year in charge.

Mehta takes over at an important time for the franchise, with U.S. Olympic hero Jack Hughes at the center of a young core and captain Nico Hischier eligible to sign an extension as soon as July 1.

“I’m focusing on playing hockey here,” Hischier said about it the morning after Fitzgerald left. "I still have one more year. I’m with the Devils right now, and then we’ll see what happens."

If he is able to trade defenseman Dougie Hamilton this summer after his $7.4 million roster bonus is paid, it will clear up valuable salary cap space to use to improve the forward group.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

In his testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, kicking off an expected sprint of seven budget hearings he'll attend across congressional committees and subcommittees over the next week, Kennedy emphasized the administration's work to reform dietary guidelines and crack down on waste, fraud and abuse.

Republicans on the committee praised Kennedy as a “breath of fresh air” and asked him to promote his department's recent actions. Democrats, who have been furious over Kennedy's sweeping overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, largely had a different agenda.

They needled Kennedy on what they viewed as the Trump administration’s hypocrisy on fraud, demanded to know why he was cutting budgets for various programs and slammed his efforts to pull back vaccine recommendations and messaging, which they said have caused unnecessary deaths.

Kennedy fired back, often raising his voice as he accused the Democrats of misrepresenting his work and past statements.

Here are three standout moments from Thursday's hearing:

A standoff over measles

One heated exchange early in the hearing came between Kennedy and Rep. Linda Sanchez. The California Democrat decried recent measles outbreaks across the U.S. and asked Kennedy to answer for the fact that under his leadership, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulled back public health messaging supporting vaccination.

“As a mother, this horrifies me,” Sanchez said. “Did President Trump approve your decision to end CDC’s pro-vaccine public messaging campaign?”

Kennedy repeatedly refused to answer, saying first he wanted to respond to the “misstatements that you've made” and later praising the Trump administration's record on preventing measles, although protections against the disease have eroded in some parts of the country as vaccination rates have dropped.

“That's not answering my question,” Sanchez said as the two talked over each other.

But Sanchez also got Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist before he entered politics, to acknowledge that a 6-year-old who died of measles last year in West Texas could have potentially been saved with vaccination.

“Do you agree with the majority of doctors that the measles vaccine could have saved that child’s life in Texas?” she asked.

“It's possible, certainly,” Kennedy said.

RFK Jr. denies talking about Black children being ‘re-parented’

A fight erupted between Kennedy and Rep. Terri Sewell, a Democrat from Alabama, when Kennedy vehemently denied making remarks he'd said in 2024.

The comments dated back to when Kennedy was a presidential candidate. On the “High Level Conversations” podcast in 2024, he said, “Psychiatric drugs — which every Black kid is now just standard put on Adderall, SSRIs, benzos, which are known to induce violence, and those kids are going to have a chance to go somewhere and get re-parented to live in a community where there'll be no cellphones, no screens, you'll actually have to talk to people."

“Have you ever re-parented, or parented, I should say, a Black child?” Sewell asked, as her staff held up a poster featuring an abbreviated version of the quote.

“I don't even know what that phrase means,” Kennedy said. “I'm not going to answer something I didn't say.”

“You're making stuff up,” he later claimed.

A recording of the podcast shows he made the comments during a conversation about free rehabilitation facilities he was proposing opening at the time in rural areas around the country.

HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said Kennedy before joining the administration was referring to spaces where young people facing alienation, mental health challenges and despair could get re-parented, which she said was a psychotherapy term for “developing the emotional regulation, discipline, boundaries, and self-worth that may not have been established in childhood.”

For Kennedy and his former party, civility is the exception

Kennedy spent most of his life as a Democrat, the scion of one of the nation's most famous political families. Both Republicans and Democrats during the hearing began their remarks by expressing their admiration of Kennedy's relatives, among them former President John F. Kennedy.

But again and again throughout Thursday's hearing, the fraying of bonds between Kennedy and his former party was on full display as spiteful comments were passed back and forth.

The health secretary grew defensive and visibly agitated. He repeatedly criticized Democratic lawmakers for not giving him a word in edgewise.

“They've all shut me up,” Kennedy said at one point. “They give a little speech that they can go and market, you know, for fundraising, and they don't allow me to answer the question.”

On a few rare occasions, the exchanges were civil. One representative, Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, used humor to make that happen.

“I promise to give you easy, comfortable questions if you don't yell at me and hurt my feelings,” she told Kennedy. He promised he wouldn't.

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An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Kennedy's remarks about Black children were made last year. He made the remarks in 2024.

Workers who earn tips and overtime are seeing bigger returns this tax season, but those savings and others resulting from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that Trump signed last year have been eaten away by higher gas pricesdriven by the Iran war.

The president recalled in his remarks how a woman in Las Vegas gave him the idea to make tips tax-free, a move that he said is now helping “thousands of Nevada waiters and waitresses, casino dealers, bartenders, bellmen, barbers, caddies."

“Every single American at every income level has more money in their pockets this week because of the Republican tax policies,” Trump said. “And we got to win the midterms. If we don't, these policies are going to be taken away from you.”

The president’s rare trip out West comes as Trump faces growing political pressure to wrap up the war and focus on a message that helps his party as they try to defend their congressional majorities in November’s elections. Trump insisted before departing from the White House for Las Vegas that gas prices were “not very high” compared with what he thought they would be because of the Iran war.

On Friday, Trump will hold an event in Phoenix with conservative political group Turning Point USA. But his first stop is in Las Vegas where he will hold a roundtable with several police officers who have benefited from new tax breaks on overtime, along with a barber and a casino pit supervisor, who got to claim the new tax breaks on tips.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the average tax refund this year has been over $3,400, up about $340 from a year ago.

Vegas, once known for affordable living, feels economic pain

In Las Vegas, the entertainment industry has been the city's financial lifeblood and many workers depend on gratuities from visitors.

But it’s also a city of commuters, including the tipped workers who drive to their jobs at glitzy casinos. Gasoline is averaging $5 a gallon in Las Vegas, up 28% from a year ago, according to AAA.

Nicholas Delaney, an airline attendant who lives in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson and said he did not vote for the president in 2024, said he thinks Trump is doing a “terrible” job when it comes to the cost of living. He thought the tax break for tips was a good policy, but is concerned about the cost of groceries and gas.

“I gotta spend over $100 for a full tank of gas, 13 gallons? Crazy,” Delaney said.

Paula Goodman, a bartender in a Henderson casino, said the cost of living is her biggest concern right now, adding that she spends more than $400 a week on groceries for her family.

But Goodman, who voted for the president, said she thought he is “doing a pretty good damn job,” and doesn’t blame him for high gas prices, which she portrayed as just a fluctuation. As a bartender, she said she personally appreciated the tax savings on tips she brings home.

“Every little penny nowadays is, like, huge,” she said. “You’ve seen diesel, right? $6.11.”

Tax refunds are offset by gas prices

The White House said Trump is focused on tax cuts, deregulation and boosting U.S. energy production to drive down prices, and describes high gas prices as a temporary disruption from the war in Iran.

“Tens of millions of Americans are benefiting this tax season from the president’s signature provisions” in the tax law, said White House spokesman Kush Desai, saying that shows “how the administration hasn’t lost focus on delivering on our affordability agenda at home.”

Even so, the conflict has made things less affordable. The Bank of America Institute looked at its deposit and spending data and in a Tuesday analysis concluded that “the average increase in tax refunds could cover the average increase in gasoline spending for at least five months.”

Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, the insurance and financial services company, said last week in an analysis that “the steep rise in gasoline prices looks likely to completely offset the increased tax funds windfall with households,” stressing that the money back would likely prevent a sharper drop in consumer spending.

Trump's economic message focusing on the tax breaks has also been drowned out this week by distractions from the president himself, who angered even some of his own supporters when he got into a public fight with the pope and posted a now-deleted image on social media depicting himself as Jesus.

GOP strategist Ron Bonjean said among Republicans, “the frustration and concern is growing every week about whether or not we will be able to hold onto the House this November.”

It takes a lot of repetition for a message like promoting the tax bill to break through to voters, but Trump’s tendency to drift into other subjects can dilute that, Bonjean said. Trump, who has at times dismissed affordability concerns as “a hoax,” and “con job” from Democrats, has to acknowledge the economic realities people are facing now if he wants to help his party this November, Bonjean said.

“He absolutely has to talk about his plan to bring down high gasoline costs, or else he’s lost his own message. It won’t be credible just to talk about no taxes on tips,” Bonjean said.

When will gas prices come down?

While the president has said he thinks the war with Iran will end soon, a deal to resolve it has not yet emerged, with the U.S. and Iran still proffering stances that are far apart.

Trump on Sunday said in a Fox News Channel interview that gas prices “could be the same or maybe a little bit higher” by the November midterms.

By Wednesday, in another Fox News interview, Trump walked back that comment. “I think they'll be much lower” before the election, on the assumption the war will be long over.

“When that’s settled, gas prices are going to go down tremendously,” Trump said.

Hours later at the White House, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was less rosy, predicting that gas prices will fall sometime this summer, depending on how the negotiations with Iran go.

“I’m optimistic that sometime between June 20th and September 20th, that we can have $3 gas again,” Bessent told reporters.

Joe Spica, a Democratic candidate for the state legislature and a steward of The Culinary Workers Union, which represents about 60,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno, said Las Vegas workers are feeling belt-tightening that is happening all over, because that means fewer visitors to Las Vegas, and fewer tips for workers.

“Something has to change, and it has to change fast,” Spica, a bellman at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, said at a news conference Thursday organized by the union and the Nevada Democratic Party.

“The policies of this administration are hurting Las Vegas,” he said.

___

Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

Robert Downey Jr. was there to introduce the trailer for the film, which brings together the Avengers and the X-Men together in a Marvel Studios film for the first time.

“What I want to do is give away like 30,000 spoilers right now,” Downey said.

He’s returning to the franchise not as Iron Man, but as the main antagonist Victor Von Doom, or Doctor Doom.

Kevin Feige said they’ll be re-releasing “Avengers: Endgame” in September in the lead up to “Doomsday,” which, he said, “picks up where ‘Endgame’ left off.” It opens on Dec. 18.

“I think we might have nailed it,” Downey said.

Evans said he’d only come back if there was a good reason, and Doctor Doom was a good reason.

Grogu and Mando hunt warlords

“The Mandalorian and Grogu” director Jon Favreau showed the audience the opening of the first Star Wars movie in seven years. The film, which opens on May 22, begins with a title card saying the Galactic Empire has fallen and ex-warlords remain scattered throughout and, in the Outer Rim, the Mandalorian and Grogu hunt them down.

The sequence shows a one man, and child, battle against one such ex-warlord, with a big fight on a snowy cliff as they attempt to take down what looks like AT-AT walkers. Later, Sigourney Weaver’s character scolds the bounty hunter for his messy job, which left the target dead and them with no new information.

She also proposes a new mission, which would put him back in the orbit of the Hutts, with Jabba’s heir Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White).

“’Star Wars’ made me fall in love with movies,” Favreau said. “I hope that our excitement and love and joy of Star Wars translates to a new generation of fans.”

He said that there are over 49 minutes of sequences filmed for large format screens.

Woody and Buzz make their CinemaCon debut

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen made an appearance on behalf of “Toy Story 5,” in what is apparently their first time ever at CinemaCon. The two actors joked about seeing footage of them voicing Woody and Buzz for the original film, which came out in 1995, and saying they look like their grandkids.

Hanks said one of his iconic lines, “you are a toy” and Allen responded with one of his, “you are a sad, strange little man.”

They also showed a new scene showing Woody’s arrival back to Bonnie’s house after his adventures with Bo Peep. The film opens on June 19.

Dwayne Johnson introduces the new Moana

Dwane Johnson helped close out the presentation to promote the live-action “Moana,” in which he reprises his role as Maui.

He said his character was inspired by his grandfather, holding up a picture of him on his phone, describing him as charismatic with a “wicked sense of humor” and a “one of a kind spirit.” He also loved to sing. Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” he said, was a favorite.

The new Moana, Catherine Laga’aia, also appeared on stage with Johnson.

“I grew up watching ‘Moana’ with my family,” she said. “I can’t believe I had this experience.”

A powerhouse studio at the box office

Disney releases dominated the box office in 2025 with nearly $2.5 billion in domestic ticket sales and $6.6 billion globally with hits like “Lilo & Stitch,”“Zootopia 2” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” A box office driver for many years, it's fitting that Disney is closing CinemaCon.

Already this year, Disney has boosted the box office with its original Pixar hit “Hoppers,” which has made over $355 million globally to date. Kicking off the summer movie season, which begins the first weekend in May, is not a Marvel movie, however. It’s a legacy sequel from their 20th Century Studios: “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” Gird your loins.

Disney's impact on the exhibition industry cannot be understated. Last year its releases made up over 27.5% of the annual domestic box office alone. The studio also has a 60-day exclusive theatrical window, the most robust in Hollywood.

The Walt Disney Co. is facing its own challenges too. On Tuesday, the company began mass layoffs in its ranks, expected to total around 1,000 with some of the cuts coming from the movie studio and its marketing department.

Orson Welles once said, “if you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” And, so, for an exhibition industry that operates on small margins, and with the box office still down around 20% from its pre-pandemic norms, Disney is about as close as the conference can get to going out on a high note.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said in a federal court filing Thursday that it has completed its review of the Second Avenue subway line project, and will begin reimbursing state transit officials again for construction costs.

Janno Lieber, MTA's CEO, said the reversal means “long-awaited transit justice” will soon come to neighborhoods in upper reaches of Manhattan. The Second Avenue subway project is building new stations northward along Manhattan’s Upper East Side, bringing subway service to parts of the Harlem neighborhood.

“It shouldn’t have taken seven months and a lawsuit to get here," he said in a statement.

The federal Department of Transportation said the agreement means taxpayers' “hard-earned dollars will not fund unconstitutional DEI initiatives,” referring to diversity, equity, and inclusion principles. The administration argued that use of DEI principles has led to soaring costs on federal projects and is unconstitutional.

“This has always been about securing the best deal for the American taxpayer and ensuring their dollars are spent efficiently and fairly,” the agency said in a statement.

Lieber, addressing reporters later Thursday, called the dispute "an “unnecessary waste of the public's time and money” since the state agency was complying with the administration's new rules regarding minority and women-owned businesses in federal projects.

“The whole point was they sent us a letter saying we didn't make the standards of the new rules before they even issued the new rules,” he said. “It was just a bunch of gamesmanship.”

The USDOT had withheld roughly $60 million from the Second Avenue project as it launched its review. Overall, the project is supposed to cost $7.7 billion, with the federal government covering around $3.4 billion.

The dispute over the Second Avenue subway was among a number of major transportation projects in New York and New Jersey that Trump has sought to scuttle as he feuded with Democratic leaders in those states.

The administration in October also halted billions of dollars in funding for a massive new rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey. A federal judge in February, however, ordered federal officials to resume payments for the tunnel project under the Hudson River.

Last year, the USDOT rescinded approval for New York's first-in-the-nation congestion fee and threatened to pull funding from the state if it did not abandon the toll, which is imposed on drivers entering the busiest part of Manhattan.

But a federal judge ruled last month that the agency lacked the authority to unilaterally rescind approval of the $9 fee.

Aberg moved ahead of Harris English and Viktor Hovland with an 8-iron to about 15 feet on the back corner of the green on the par-3 17th and made the birdie. He closed with a par, pleasing because he felt that 8-iron confirmed how well he was swinging the club.

Houston Open champion Gary Woodland, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rickie Fowler were in the group of players at 65.

Masters champion Rory McIlroy skipped this $20 million signature event for the second straight year, having said Harbour Town doesn’t suit him.

Scottie Scheffler, the runner-up last week at Augusta after a 65-68 finish, had a shocking start. His first tee shot was out-of-bounds on the right. He didn't know out-of-bounds was over there.

“It was looking like it was going to hit those trees and I guess it flew right through them and then hit path and went out-of-bounds,” Scheffler said. “Thumbs up for the start. It was a good bogey.”

That it was, a 12-foot putt to limit the damage, followed by a par save on the next hole and then it was business as usual in the tougher afternoon conditions for a 68.

Aberg had a disappointing week at Augusta National by his standards — a tie for 21st, his first time out of the top 10 in three appearances at the Masters.

“I felt like I was playing well but made some silly mistakes that prevented me from having a real chance,” Aberg said. “But I also felt like in the grand scheme of things, I was swinging it nice, I was moving it nice, so I didn’t have to prepare that much in terms of my golf swing on Monday through Wednesday, and I felt like good golf was in there.”

The challenge for Aberg and the other 52 players who were in the Masters was to stay sharp inside the ropes on an island that makes this tournament feel like a working vacation.

Hovland is feeling less stressful more because of his swing, instead of the week at the Masters when he made a big run up the leaderboard on Sunday only to catch the wrong gust at the wrong time that led to double bogey on the 15th hole. He still shot 67.

Hovland doesn't feel he's all the way back with his swing, but he found enough signs of progress to believe he is getting close. He played bogey-free for a 64 that featured no birdies on the three par 5s.

“The whole year I've been working really hard, and I think now that I’m seeing my game progress and get closer to where I want it to be, I can start to relax a little bit more and focus on kind of the recovery aspect of things,” Hovland said.

English also played bogey-free for his 64, finishing with a birdie to a front pin over the bunker.

Davis Love III refurbished the fabled course to restore greens to their original design, but players felt it looked the same. And it played the same — opportunity from the fairway, trouble otherwise as Scheffler and others discovered.

Justin Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood each opened with a 76.

The toughest day belonged to someone who didn't even play. Brooks Koepka was the first alternate and showed up at Hilton Head in case someone withdrew. That typically means a two-hour wait in the morning, taking a break, and waiting some two hours during the afternoon wave.

Bad news for Brooks — this signature event has players in twosomes off the first tee, one right after the other. He was at the course about 6:45 a.m. (the first tee time was 7 a.m.) and could not leave until the last group teed off at 2:10 p.m.

There were three alternates on property — Keith Mitchell and Taylor Moore — because if Koepka got in, the stipulation for his return from LIV Golf was two additional players added to the field.

Morikawa seemed to be the best hope with his back that first went bad at The Players Championship. But he played the Masters with some trepidation and tied for seventh, and he played bogey-free at Harbour Town for a 66.

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This version corrects the two other alternates were Keith Mitchell and Taylor Moore.

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

In their first news conference since returning to Earth, the three Americans and one Canadian said their lunar flyby puts NASA in a much better position for a moon landing by a crew in two years and an eventual moon base. They spoke from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, their home base.

Commander Reid Wiseman later told The Associated Press that he’s been so busy since getting back that he hasn’t had time to gaze up at the moon, let alone Carroll Crater, the name suggested by the crew for a bright lunar crater in honor of his late wife. They shared two daughters whose anxieties and fears over their father’s journey ended with his safe splashdown late last week.

“Being 252,000 miles away from home was the most majestic, gorgeous thing that human eyes will ever witness,” he said in an interview with the AP. But hurtling back through the atmosphere at 39 times the speed of sound, “that is scary and that is risky.” That’s why he yearned for home midway through his flight. “You just want to hold your kids and you just want them to know that you’re safe.”

Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen launched to the moon from Florida on April 1, NASA’s first lunar crew in more than a half-century and by far the most diverse.

They became the most distant travelers ever — breaking Apollo 13's record — as they whipped around the lunar far side, illuminated enough to reveal features never viewed before by the human eye. The sight of a total lunar eclipse added to the wonderment.

Their Orion capsule, which they named Integrity, parachuted into the Pacific last Friday to close out the nearly 10-day voyage. Artemis II's Houston homecoming the next day coincided with the 56th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 13.

Wiseman said he and Glover “maybe saw two moments of a touch of char loss” to the heat shield as Integrity plunged through the fastest, hottest part of reentry. Once aboard the recovery ship, they peered at the bottom of the capsule as best they could, leaning over to view any signs of damage. They spotted a little loss of charred material on the shoulder, where the heat shield meets the capsule.

“For four humans just looking at the heat shield, it looked wonderful to us. It looked great, and that ride in was really amazing,” Wiseman said.

He cautioned that detailed analyses still need to be conducted. “We are going to fine-tooth comb every single, not even every molecule, probably every atom on this heat shield," he said.

The heat shield on the first Artemis test flight in 2022 — with no one aboard — came back so pockmarked and gouged that it pushed Artemis II back by months if not years. Instead of redoing it, NASA opted to change the capsule's entry path to minimize heating. Future capsules will sport a new design.

As the parachutes released right before splashdown, Glover said he felt like he was in freefall — like diving backward off a skyscraper. “That’s what it felt like for five seconds,” he said, adding when the ride smoothed out: “It was glorious.”

Since their return, the four astronauts have endured round after round of medical testing to check their balance, vision, muscle strength and coordination, and overall health. They even put on spacewalking suits for exercises under conditions simulating the moon’s one-sixth gravity of Earth to see how much endurance and dexterity future moonwalkers might have upon lunar touchdown.

NASA already is working on Artemis III, the next step in its grand moon base-building plans. The platform from which the rocket launches headed back Thursday to Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will be prepped for next year’s Artemis launch.

Still awaiting an assigned crew, Artemis III will remain in orbit around Earth as astronauts practice docking their Orion capsule with one or two lunar landers in development by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.

Artemis IV will follow in 2028 under NASA’s latest schedule, with two astronauts landing near the moon’s south pole.

NASA is aiming for a sustainable moon presence this time around. During the Apollo moonshots, astronauts kept their visits short. Twelve astronauts explored the lunar surface, beginning with Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 and ending with Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in 1972.

Koch said that since returning, she and her crewmates are “feeling even more excited and just ready to take that on as an agency.”

“We made it happen,” she added.

Everyone will need to accept extra risk to achieve all this and trust that any future problems can be figured out in real time, Hansen noted. “We’re not going to be able to pound everything flat before we go. We're going to have to trust each other," he said.

While everything went smoothly for them, “it was also very clear to us that it can get pretty bumpy,” he said. Future crews will have to "understand it can get real bumpy real fast.”

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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.

Local 4 traveled to the northeast side of the Black Lake and spoke with residents whose homes and lives are entirely underwater.

“This is how deep everything is. There’s everything in my house,” one homeowner said as water inside her home reached window level.

Their home has been right off of Black Lake for almost 90 years. It’s a family fixture and now a flooded frame.

The people who own it say they’ve never seen water this wild.

“It’s going to keep going up, so now I am saving things,” the homeowner said.

Their neighbor, Jeff Gapczynski, has been coming there since he was nine years old.

“Twenty-four inches,” Gapczynski said as he was measuring the water near the home.

“That’s 26 inches deep,” Gapczynski said as he was measuring another area near the door. “It’s devastating. It’s just simply devastating. This place here has been here since 1939.”

Officials say water levels continue to climb, driven by stronger flow through the spill gate at a nearby dam.

--> Cheboygan dam update: Water level now less than 5 inches from top

Bill Rettray has lived off the lake for decades. He says he’s also never seen this kind of surge.

The current is so forceful that the lost gear is drifting right up to his deck.

“This morning while I was having a cup of coffee, I saw the raft float up,” Rettray said. “I said, ‘Where is that from? Somebody may be looking for it.’ I didn’t want it to hit the house or anybody else’s house. So, I just took a rope and tied it up to a tree. Hopefully, the owner will come by and retrieve it in the spring.”

The devastation comes as water levels rise at the Cheboygan Dam and officials worry the dam could fail.

The city of Cheboygan is warning residents to pack their bags in the event of an evacuation.

On the Black Lake, many people are leaving town, Rettray included.

“Leaving today, and we are going to be spending some time with our daughter in Traverse City,” he said. “We have people up here the year round, neighbors that will keep a good track of my house while I am gone.”

“My neighbors are trying to help their house right now, but nobody knows what’s going to happen. All the way up to the lid of the toilet,” another homeowner said.

Previous coverage:

No one was arrested after more than a half dozen drone sightings around Coors Field April 3 to April 5, but it is possible the drone pilots could still face a fine later. Still the Federal Aviation Administration and FBI issued a warning Thursday to try to keep drones away from the stadium during the Rockies' next home games because they are concerned about the potential threat they pose.

“The illegal drone activity did not jeopardize anyone’s safety, but there were enough violations that the teams on the ground were concerned about the number of operators that did not seem to understand the seriousness of the situation. Thus the proactive messaging,” FBI spokeswoman Vikki Migoya said.

The FAA routinely restricts the airspace around major sporting events to protect the crowds and make sure the game can be played without interruptions.

The greatest fear is that someone could use a drone in a terrorist attack that could be just as deadly as the drone attacks that have become common on the battlefields of the Ukraine and Iran wars. That is why the federal government and World Cup host cities are investing hundreds of millions in drone defenses ahead of those games.

But even without a threat like that, Migoya said the problem is that illegal drone activity distracts law enforcement.

“Every instance of illegal drone activity requires a law enforcement intervention to ensure the intent is not nefarious; the fewer violations there are, the more law enforcement can focus on what might be a true threat,” she said.

All the airspace within 3 miles of Coors Field is restricted starting one hour before a game and continuing for one hour after a baseball or football game. Pilots are responsible for checking those restrictions before they fly.

The FAA said that drone operators who violated the restrictions could face fines up to $75,000 per violation and even lose their licenses.

Drones are also required to broadcast their locations. But authorities have other methods available to track down the operators.

This week, the Detroit Fire and Police Departments are recognizing the men and women who staff the city’s emergency communications center as part of National Telecommunicators Week.

The dispatchers and call takers work around the clock, answering calls, gathering critical information, and guiding residents through some of the most intense and chaotic moments of their lives.

“When someone calls 911, we are the first voice they hear,” said Charlene Gross, a Detroit 911 call taker who has been on the job for seven years.

Gross said her focus is always on quickly getting the details needed to send help as fast as possible.

On the fire communications dispatch floor, supervisors like Lt. Antoinette Smith oversee teams handling multiple emergency situations at once.

“We work for the people. We are the unsung heroes that you don’t see,” Smith said, describing a job that requires constant multitasking, dispatching runs, monitoring responses, and staying alert to ensure nothing is missed.

The work is nonstop.

Commander Sonia Russell of the Detroit Police Department said the communications division handled about 1.3 million emergency calls last year, a volume that demands focus, speed, and professionalism.

“The men and women that work here have to be very passionate and very serious about what they are doing and what they are handling,” Russell said.

For dispatchers like Eric Brock, the mission is personal. “At the end of the day, I know I’m helping someone on the back end, because it could be my family or a friend of my family,” Brock said.

Staff members also shared that some of the hardest calls include walking residents step-by-step through lifesaving measures like CPR, while help is on the way.

Their message to Detroiters: if you ever need to call 911, stay calm and be as detailed as possible so police, fire crews, or paramedics can be dispatched quickly.

“You may not see us, but know that we are working for you at all times to get you the help that you need,” Smith said.

The James clan has the chance to add another chapter to its family lore this month, thanks to Bronny's growth into a player that all of the Los Angeles Lakers can trust.

LeBron and Bronny seem likely to play postseason minutes together this month when the Lakers face the Houston Rockets in the first round. The greatest scorer in NBA history and his 21-year-old son have been teammates for nearly two years, but the prospect of accomplishing a new first is still special to both generations.

“It’s insane,” Bronny said Thursday after practice at the Lakers' training complex. “I mean, I’ve literally watched his whole career. Now I’m a part of it. So it’s a great experience. I’m appreciative of it — but I’m part of the job, too. So I have to do my job as well. I’ve got to lock in.”

Bronny's playing time has increased over the last month, and he has been a rotation member for the Lakers since Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves went down with injuries two weeks ago.

LeBron takes an obvious fatherly pride in Bronny's development into a contributor for their short-handed team.

“Every moment we get an opportunity to play together is something I never take for granted," LeBron said.

“Me being on the floor with him postseason, regular season, training camp, practices, it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my career, above everything I've accomplished," he added. "The fact that he's put himself in position to get his number called for a postseason game is pretty remarkable and pretty cool, given the circumstances that he's been through over the last couple of years. He earned it. He deserves it. He'll be ready.”

After playing sporadic NBA minutes during his first 1 1/2 NBA seasons, Bronny has stepped up into a regular role — partly out of necessity with the Lakers' top two scorers sidelined, but also because he earned more playing time. He has played 13 minutes or more in seven of the Lakers' past 10 games, averaging 19 minutes over the past four.

That responsibility seems likely to continue in the postseason, since Doncic and Reaves won’t play in Game 1 on Saturday, and there’s no timetable for their return.

Lakers coach JJ Redick confirmed he will be using every healthy option while Los Angeles attempts to beat overwhelming odds without its starting backcourt.

“We’re going to have to have all hands on deck in this series,” Redick said. “That’s just what we’re handed. I think Bronny has improved a lot. We trust him. The shooting piece (of his game), I’m a believer in, because of how well he shot it the last two years in the G League. ... He’s improved a ton defensively, in terms of his body positioning, both on and off ball. We want him to continue to evolve as a disruptive defender as well.”

Bronny played only four playoff minutes last season during two of the Lakers’ first-round losses to Minnesota, and he acknowledges hasn’t played in many big games during his brief basketball career.

He spent his sole collegiate season at Southern California, but he didn’t suit up for the Trojans until midseason after his recovery from an offseason cardiac incident, and that team didn’t make the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s what I’ve wanted, to play in the playoffs,” Bronny said. “I wasn’t able to play in March (Madness), and this is a bigger stage than that. I’m so excited to get out there with my teammates and try to get some wins and try to make it further in the playoffs.”

If and when they play together this month, Bronny thinks they can connect quickly. After all, he knows LeBron’s game pretty well.

“I don’t want to give all the answers to the test, but I’ve been watching him for a long time, and I’ve kind of picked up on his tendencies,” Bronny said with a grin. “I think it’s good that I’m paying attention during his career and what he likes to do in the postseason. I think we’ll be able to play good together. My IQ isn’t going to be far behind him, but I know what he’s doing and where he likes to get the ball on the floor.”

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

And one city council member said this could include penalties for both kids and their parents who don’t follow the ordinance.

The proposal follows two recent crashes involving children under 13 riding e-bikes, including one earlier this week.

Both left the children injured.

The city’s director of communications, Mohamed Qasim, said they want to curb such accidents by setting clear rules on where and how young riders can use e-bikes.

Qasim said the city’s attorneys are working to draft the ordinance so it doesn’t infringe on anyone’s rights or go against state rules.

While it’s unclear what this will be, he noted this could include where e-bikes can be ridden or how they could be patrolled.

“They’re too fast for the sidewalk,” said Rob Akers, an owner of International Bike Shop. “They’re dangerous.”

Akers’ shop, which also sells e-bikes, said those bikes have many benefits but believes cities need clear guidelines for safe operation, especially when children are involved.

To learn more about what the Dearborn Heights ordinance might include, Local 4 reached out to Hassan Saab, a city council member who recently posted on social media that “any minor found operating these machines in violation of laws could face enforcement action and so will parents.”

In a phone call, the council member said city attorneys are still determining the specifics but added that he hopes the final ordinance includes “hefty fines” for violators. He said this way it would help deter parents from letting kids ride them.

Not everyone supports that approach.

“Why would you fine a parent for letting their kid enjoy life?” said Chris, a resident who questioned the idea of penalizing adults for their children’s behavior. “An e-bike is nothing more than a gift, a toy.”

Latanya Gater commented underneath the councilmember’s post, saying in part:

“I think your post (while the intent may have been to give advanced notice to the public regarding a chronic safety matter that has had a negative impact on many), it does read as if you had not taken into consideration parents who have researched and implemented safe practices regarding electric bikes and the like.”

Dearborn Heights is not the only community seeing issues with minors operating motorized vehicles.

Birmingham police on Thursday (April 16) released a memo reminding parents that motorized vehicles should not be driven on sidewalks and warning that adults could face consequences for allowing unlicensed children to ride them.

The Dearborn Heights director of communications said the city’s attorney aims to have a draft of the ordinance ready for the next City Council.

According to the city’s website, the meeting is at the end of the month.

The arch is one of several projects the Republican president is pursuing alongside a White House ballroom to leave his lasting imprint on Washington.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were appointed by Trump, approved the design concept for three projects: the arch, a plan to paint the gray granite exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and construction of an underground facility to conduct security screenings of tourists and other guests.

It's the first step in the commission's process. The federal agency next will review updated designs for all three projects at a future meeting before taking any final votes.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said the action by the commission is "another step in accomplishing President Trump’s promise to the American people from the campaign trail — to Make America Safe and Beautiful Again.”

Triumphal Arch

The arch itself would stand 250 feet tall (76 meters) from its base to a torch held aloft by a Lady Liberty-like figure atop the structure. That figure would be flanked up top by two eagles and guarded at the base by four lions — all gilded. The phrases “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All" would be inscribed in gold lettering atop either side of the monument.

A public observation deck on top would provide 360-degree views of the surroundings.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum pitched the arch in a statement he personally delivered at the meeting, saying that long-ago plans for Columbia Island, the federal land where the arch would rise, called for a monument to be built there. But those plans fell by the wayside, he said, allowing the plot to become a “barren" and “grass-covered” traffic circle in need of adornment.

His department oversees the National Park Service, which manages the land where the arch would be built. Burgum said Washington is the only major Western world capital without such an arch.

But at 250 feet tall, the arch would dwarf the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99 feet (30 meters) tall, and be close to half the height of the Washington Monument, an obelisk that is about 555 feet (169 meters) tall. Three of four people who delivered public comment at the meeting opposed the arch, largely because of its size. The commission received about 1,000 written comments, all opposing the project, according to its secretary Thomas Luebke.

The commission’s vice chairman, architect James McCrery II, said he preferred the arch without the figure and eagles on top, which would significantly reduce its height by about 80 feet (24.4 meters). McCrery also objected to the lions on the base, saying they are “not a beast natural to the North American continent." He also sounded opposed to a planned underground tunnel for pedestrian access to the arch.

A group of veterans and a historian has sued in federal court to block construction on the grounds that the arch would disrupt the sightline between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House at Arlington National Cemetery, among other reasons.

Eisenhower Executive Office Building paint job

Trump dislikes the gray granite exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

“It’s one of the most beautiful buildings anywhere in Washington," he said last year. “I think it’s just incredible, but you have to get past the color because the stone they used was a really bad color.”

The White House presented two proposals to the commission: paint the entire building bright white, or paint most of it white while leaving the granite on the exposed basement and subbasement.

Josh Fisher, a White House official, said the administration prefers painting the entire building, which opened in 1888. He said the exterior is in “great disrepair” and that experts who were consulted could not guarantee that a cleaning would improve the condition.

Public comment, both written and in person, was 100% against the proposed paint job, with opponents arguing that it would harm the granite and fail to solve the problem. Other opponents asserted that the building is beautiful as is.

White House officials have to return at a future date with the results of paint testing, the commission said.

Commissioner Chamberlain Harris, who also is Trump's deputy director of Oval Office Operations, noted that most White House staff work out of the EEOB. She said painting the building white to match the White House would create a “homogenous environment" and help foster a “sense of belonging” for the staff.

The office building sits across a driveway from the West Wing and its granite, slate, and cast iron exterior makes it one of America’s best examples of the French Second Empire style of architecture. It originally housed the departments of State, War and Navy, and currently is home to ceremonial offices for the vice president, offices for the second lady, the National Security Council and other White House offices.

The building is a National Historic Landmark and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the proposed paint job is also the subject of litigation in federal court.

Underground screening center for White House visitors

The U.S. Secret Service, the Interior Department, the National Park Service, and the Executive Office of the President want to start construction in August on a 33,000-square-foot (3,066-square-meter) center to screen tourists and other visitors to the White House.

It would be built beneath Sherman Park, federal land southwest of the White House, to provide a more secure place to screen those going on White House tours or attending events. The new facility would have modern technology and seven lanes to ease processing and reduce wait times.

Officials want it operating by July 2028, six months before Trump’s term ends.

A Henry Ford Health allergist-immunologist says the old approach of restricting allergenic foods early in a baby’s life was unknowingly making the problem worse. Between 2005 and 2015, the prevalence of peanut allergies doubled.

The turning point came in 2015, when the LEAP study (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy) was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“The LEAP study showed that early introduction decreases the chance of peanut allergy by 80%,” said Dr. Amy Eapen, an allergist-immunologist at Henry Ford Health.

The guidelines changed after that.

The current recommendation calls for introducing peanuts and other allergens earlier than most parents might expect.

“Around 4 to 6 months of age, after infants have started solids, they should introduce peanut and other food allergens and keep it in their diet at least 3 times a week,” Eapen said.

And it’s not just peanuts. Parents are encouraged to introduce a wide range of common allergens early, including:

• Eggs
• Fish
• Milk
• Shellfish
• Soy
• Tree nuts
• Wheat

The newest research shows the approach is working.

“The rates of peanut allergy and other food allergies are about 30% lower after the introduction of these new guidelines compared to prior,” Eapen said. “It’s working.”

Early introduction hasn’t eliminated food allergies entirely; some children will still develop them. The goal is to reduce the chances, not guarantee immunity.

Parents of children at higher risk, including those with a family history of allergies or with eczema, should talk with their pediatrician about when and how to introduce these foods.

Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman granted Heinecke a preliminary injunction against the NCAA on Thursday that gives him immediate relief and allows him to rejoin his team days before the Sooners' annual spring game. Balkman said the NCAA “failed to consider the totality of the case” while announcing his ruling in court.

It was not immediately clear if the NCAA would appeal Balkman's ruling.

Heinecke called Sooners coach Brent Venable after the decision and said, “Let's go coach!”

Heinecke played three games of lacrosse at Ohio State in February 2022, costing him a year of eligibility. He transferred to play football at Oklahoma, then sat out a year because of injury. He was mostly a special teams player in 2023 and 2024 before breaking out last season with 74 tackles, including 12 for a loss.

Oklahoma submitted a request for an eligibility waiver, but it was denied in January, and an appeal was denied in February. The emergency hearing was critical in determining Heinecke's future, especially with the NFL draft next week.

Heinecke hired an agent and participated in the Senior Bowl, Oklahoma's pro day and NFL scouting combine while trying to gain college eligibility.

Heinecke’s lawyers argued he deserved the additional year because of factors beyond his control. They said Heinecke lost his year of eligibility as a freshman because the Ohio State’s lacrosse coach ignored his request to redshirt so he could recover from high school injuries. They said the NCAA “breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing owed to Owen, and acted in bad faith, in denying Owen an additional year of eligibility so that he can compete as an intercollegiate athlete in the year 2026-27.”

Heinecke told the court he wanted to return to school to improve his draft stock while working toward a master’s degree in accounting. Oklahoma backed his quest.

Heinecke's case came while an NCAA panel is preparing to discuss potential changes to eligibility rules.

The proposal, which mirrors language writ ten in the executive order issued by President Donald Trump, would give athletes five years of eligibility with the clock starting when an athlete turns 19 or graduates from high school, whichever is earlier. There would be limited exceptions, but they would not include injuries, which has been a common reason for players to ask for and receive extra eligibility.

The details are being reviewed and discussed by a Division I Cabinet.

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Preston Henry Tolth, 26, could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in federal prison, with credit for three years already served, under the conditions of the proposed agreement.

U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes asked Tolth during a hearing in Phoenix if he was entering the plea because he was, in fact, guilty.

“Yes, your honor,” Tolth said.

Ella Mae Begay was 62 when she vanished in 2021 from Sweetwater, Arizona, a community in the northern part of the Navajo Nation where she spent her days visiting with relatives and weaving rugs that she sold to nearby trading posts.

In 2022, Begay's niece Seraphine Warren walked from the Navajo Nation to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about her aunt's disappearance and the high rate of homicides and missing persons cases in Indian Country. Begay's case has drawn national media attention and provided fuel for tribal leaders and victim advocates as they push for more law enforcement resources and cooperation between tribal and federal investigators.

Navajo Nation police identified Tolth, whose father was dating Begay's sister, as a suspect within days of her disappearance.

Under the conditions of the agreement, Tolth acknowledged using force to take Ella Mae Begay’s pickup truck, striking her in the face several times and leaving her on the side of the road before driving away and eventually selling the truck for money and methamphetamine.

Rayes is scheduled in May to review the latest plea agreement, which also protects Tolth from future murder or manslaughter charges in relation to Begay's case.

Members of Begay’s family say prosecutors negotiated the agreement against their wishes and without their input.

Begay’s son, Gerald Begay, took a break from his construction job in Denver to listen to Thursday’s hearing by phone. He told The Associated Press that he plans to attend the next court hearing and ask the judge to reject the plea agreement in hopes that Tolth can be put on trial.

“The prosecutors aren’t thinking about our rights or what we need as a family,” he said.

In an emailed statement, Lennea Montandon, a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the district of Arizona, said the office has complied with federal victims' rights law while prosecuting Tolth and will continue to do so. Tolth's public defender declined to comment on the new agreement.

In a 2021 FBI interrogation, Tolth confessed to attacking Begay in a fit of anger and leaving her for dead. But Rayes dealt prosecutors a major blow by ruling that confession inadmissible in court, saying the FBI agent had unlawfully coerced Tolth into waiving his right to remain silent. In court filings, prosecutors acknowledged that weakened the government’s case significantly.

At a hearing earlier this month, Rayes rejected an earlier agreement that would have released Tolth from federal custody on a sentence of three years of time served in exchange for a guilty plea. The judge's rare move came after Begay's grieving family members testified that Tolth should not walk free without leading investigators to her remains.

“Accountability is not time served,” Begay's niece Seraphine Warren had told the judge. “It’s about truth, and we still don’t have the truth.”

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Peters reported from Edgewood, New Mexico.

Officers called to the home in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Annandale early Thursday found the bodies of Fairfax, 47, and his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, 49, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said.

Justin Fairfax fatally shot his wife, a successful dentist, in the basement before going to an upstairs bedroom and killing himself, Davis said. Their son called 911.

One of Justin Fairfax's longtime friends told The Associated Press that he became increasingly despondent after his wife filed for divorce last year. The judge overseeing the divorce recently wrote that his “isolation, drinking, and a lack of participation in family life are manifestations of what seems to be a sense of fatalism and hopelessness.”

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

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A turn in fortunes

Less than a decade ago, Justin Fairfax's political career was taking off. He won the race for lieutenant governor in 2017 and seemed poised to become Virginia’s second Black governor two years later when Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam faced widespread calls to resign over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook. Fairfax would have become governor if Northam had stepped down.

But two women came forward accusing Fairfax of sexually assaulting them years earlier.

Fairfax said the encounters, which occurred before he was married, were consensual and refused calls to resign. He tried to run for governor in 2021, but was largely shunned by Virginia Democrats and defeated in the Democratic primary.

A career and marriage fall apart

Cerina Fairfax said in court filings that she and her husband separated nearly two years ago. But they were still living in the same house with their two teenage children, who were both home when the deaths occurred, Davis said.

In a March 30 order, the judge told Justin Fairfax to move out by the end of April, writing “it is clear tensions in the Fairfax home have been extremely high for an extended period of time.”

The judge said in court documents that Justin Fairfax’s “mental and emotional health” suffered after two setbacks: his unsuccessful 2013 campaign for the Democratic nomination for attorney general and the 2019 sexual assault scandal. After both, he drank heavily and withdrew from his family, but while it took about a month to recover from the first setback, he never bounced back from the second.

Cerina Fairfax testified during the divorce proceedings that her husband drank daily, and that his living space was littered with empty wine bottles and piles of dirty laundry. He bought a handgun in 2022 with money intended for horseback riding lessons for their children, court records showed.

Sophia A. Nelson, a Virginia author and journalist who described Justin Fairfax as a close friend, said Thursday that he never moved past the 2019 scandal.

She told the AP that during a group text with her and another friend Tuesday night, he expressed how the recent sexual assault allegations against Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California had brought back for him what he continued to insist was an unfair rush to judgment.

Nelson said she and other friends repeatedly asked Fairfax to seek help. She urged him to move out but believes he wasn't able to do so financially.

“I was concerned, as were other close friends, fraternity brothers, family members,” Nelson said. "There were talks of suicidal thoughts.”

Filings show that Justin Fairfax had financial challenges following the sexual assault allegations, which prompted his resignation as a partner at a prestigious law firm. The IRS filed a lien against the couple for more than $91,000 in unpaid taxes that was resolved in 2021.

Nelson said Fairfax was “unemployable” after the scandal and tried to rebuild his legal career, but with a few successes.

Davis, the police chief, said Justin Fairfax was recently served with paperwork telling him when next to appear in court. He said officers went to the family’s home in January after Justin Fairfax alleged that his wife had assaulted him -- but cameras she had set up around the home showed “the alleged assault never occurred.”

Cerina Fairfax had a thriving dental practice

The couple met as undergraduates at Duke University and married in 2006. Cerina Fairfax also attended the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, which honored her in 2015 as an outstanding alumna.

A profile page on the website of her family dentistry practice described her as an avid reader who liked to travel, practice yoga, go on trail runs with her Vizsla-breed dogs, and “spend time with her wonderful family.”

“It’s very sad for this community,” Davis said. “A lot of people who know the Fairfax family, everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”

An outpouring of grief

The deaths stunned political leaders throughout the state.

“We are keeping Cerina and Justin Fairfax’s family — especially their two children — in our prayers as we all process this shocking and horrifying news,” Virginia’s Democratic U.S. senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, said in a joint statement.

Fairfax had served as co-chair for Warner’s 2014 reelection campaign.

Virginia's Democratic governor, Abigail Spanberger, posted on X that she was deeply saddened and praying for the families.

“This tragedy reminds us that domestic violence can occur in any family and in any place,” she wrote.

Nelson said that as much as she and Justin Fairfax’s other friends wanted to believe he would never abuse women, killing his wife would be his epitaph and undercut the good and honorable things he had done in public life.

“You now fit what many, many men have done in domestic violence incidences like this,” Nelson said while fighting back tears. “And that’s how you’re remembered.”

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Biesecker reported from Fairfax County, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, Allen G. Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Trout homered for the fifth time during a four-game series on Thursday, crushing a 446-foot drive in the seventh inning for the Los Angeles Angels in an 11-4 victory.

The three-time MVP joined Jimmie Foxx (1933), Darrell Evans (1985) and George Bell (1990) as the fourth player with five homers in a series against the Yankees, according to MLB research.

Trout homered twice on Monday before going deep again in the following two games. In the series finale Thursday, Trout drove a 2-2 slider from reliever Angel Chivilli about halfway up the left field bleachers to give the Angels a 7-4 lead. That drive made Trout the first player to hit five homers in a series in the Bronx.

“I heard that after the game,” Trout said. “It’s pretty surreal. All the great players that came through here, so it’s pretty cool.”

“Honestly, not surprising,” Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki said. “When you’re with Mike every day, there’s nothing that you believe that he can’t do."

He also became the first visiting player to homer in four consecutive days at the current Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009.

Trout went 6 for 16 with five homers and nine RBIs in the series. He also has homered in his last five games at Yankee Stadium and drew an intentional walk in his next plate appearance before Jo Adell hit a grand slam.

“At this point it’s vintage Mike Trout,” Adell said. “When he’s healthy and feeling good, there’s nothing like it. It’s special. It’s one of a kind. So for all of us to experience it, it’s special.”

“He’s unbelievable,” Suzuki said. “He really is. It’s been an amazing week for him.”

Trout is hitting .246 with seven homers and 16 RBIs. He is 9 for 27 (.333) with five homers and 13 RBIs on the Angels’ road trip, which coincides with him making a mechanical tweak.

Trout’s career-high homer streak is seven games, achieved Sept. 4-12, 2022. He has homered in four straight games for the fourth time in his career.

Trout’s homer was part of a four-game series that featured four homers from Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge. Judge homered twice Monday, again on Wednesday and went deep in the first inning in the series finale.

“He’s unreal,” designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton said after the Yankees lost for the seventh time in nine games. “Cool showing from him and Judgie all series. Obviously, you don’t want that against us, but you got to acknowledge the greatness.”

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time opposing players who owned multiple MVPs hit at least three homers in the same series.

“It was an impressive show by those two,” Suzuki said. ”

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

Doncic played in 64 games and Cunningham played in 63. But the league and the union both agreed that each should be on the ballot based on the “extraordinary circumstances provision” in the collective bargaining agreement.

Doncic — who is one of the favorites to contend for MVP honors after winning the league's scoring title — missed two games to attend the birth of his daughter in Slovenia. Cunningham missed 12 games as a result of a collapsed lung that was diagnosed on March 17.

“The NBA and NBPA agreed that, taking into account the totality of the circumstances for Cunningham and Doncic, each player qualified for awards,” the league and the union said in a statement.

Doncic, in a statement posted to social media, said he is “grateful to the NBPA for advocating on my behalf and to the NBA for their fair decision," adding that it was important to him “to be present for the birth of my daughter in December.”

“This season has been so special to me because of what my teammates and I have been able to accomplish, and I am honored to have the opportunity to be considered for the league’s end-of-season awards,” the statement said.

Minnesota's Anthony Edwards, who played in 60 qualified games, also tried to get on the awards ballot through the extraordinary circumstances challenge — but sought his approval before an independent arbitrator. His challenge was denied.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch — noting that Edwards doesn't get held out to rest — was not pleased about that and said he'd like an explanation.

“I’m not sure why we have a rule if we have an appeal process that is overturned in two-thirds of the cases that were held before," Finch said. “Feels more like a suggestion than a rule.”

The statuses of Doncic and Cunningham were a major topic toward the end of the season. San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama — an MVP candidate and the likely defensive player of the year — got to the 65-game mark in the Spurs' next-to-last game, and Denver's three-time MVP Nikola Jokic became qualified for this year's awards on the final day of the regular season. Jokic has been first or second in MVP balloting in each of the last five seasons and won the league's rebounding and assist titles this season.

And the union — which worked with the league to come up with the 65-game policy — has said it wants the rule changed, saying it was put into place to address load management and not to keep deserving players from awards. That said, many players have spoken out in favor of the rule.

“I would say it's an opportunity for us to reevaluate the rule in itself,” NBPA President Fred VanVleet of the Houston Rockets said.

VanVleet — speaking in a video posted by the union and filmed ahead of Thursday's news — said he thinks voters should be able to make decisions for All-NBA and other awards on a case-by-case basis.

Nuggets coach David Adelman said last week that he hopes the 65-game rule is changed, somehow, this summer. He said if players like Jokic can play 64 games, never wanting to come out, and not be award-eligible, then something is wrong.

“That’s not the spirit of what that rule is,” Adelman said.

A number of players will be ineligible for most major individual awards this season because of the 65-game rule, including the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James — whose 21-year streak of making an All-NBA team will end. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Golden State’s Stephen Curry have also missed too many games to be eligible.

With the decisions on Doncic, Cunningham and Edwards now complete, the NBA sent ballots to the panel of reporters and broadcasters who cover the league on Thursday — a few days behind the typical schedule from recent years.

It's unclear when the announcement of award winners will begin.

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

A Plymouth man told Local 4 he lost $37,000 after scammers frightened him into depositing cash into a Bitcoin ATM.

Steven Cooke said the ordeal began March 20, when a warning took over his laptop screen, claiming he’d been “compromised” and urging him to call a number.

He said a woman who identified herself as “Veronica J. Wilson” told him his identity had been stolen and that Apple Security detected unusual activity, including child pornography.

“I’m literally yelling into my phone like this isn’t me,” Cooke said.

He said the caller then claimed the scammers had access to his accounts and began listing the starting digits of his credit cards.

“They started numbering. Do you have one that starts with a five, a three, six, whatever? And Heather and I, my wife, were looking at our credit cards and were saying yes, but we didn’t give them the whole numbers,” Cooke said.

He said the woman later told him his phone was compromised and called him back on what she described as a secure line.

Cooke said a second person joined the call, identifying himself as “Richard Lee” from Chase Bank.

He said the man claimed money had been removed from his accounts and told him there was a way to get it back. Cooke said he was instructed to withdraw $37,000 from his bank and deposit it into a Bitcoin ATM.

Bitcoin is a form of digital currency that exists only online and isn’t controlled by a bank or government.

Even as doubts crept in, Cooke said he stayed on the phone.

“There were points where I would challenge him to a certain extent, like is this real?” Cooke said.

After he made the deposit, Cooke said the caller pushed him to withdraw more money from another bank.

“I went to a different bank, got more cash out, sat in my (car), and I still was on the call with them. And at that point, they were telling me to go to another (bank). And I paused, and I’m thinking, ‘I might have just lost $37,000,’” Cooke said.

Cooke said he decided against sending more money.

“I hung up, drove home, called a real Chase bank myself on my work phone, and that’s where I realized legitimately that this was a complete scam,” he said.

Cooke said he called Lee back, and the person answered using a different name.

“I had some choice words if you can imagine,” he said.

Now, Cooke said he’s sharing his story to warn others, even if it’s embarrassing.

“I’m probably a little bit more educated than the average person on this, it can really happen to anybody,” he said.

The FBI urges people to “Take a Beat,” watch for red flags, resist pressure, and think before sending money or personal information.

The agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center receives nearly 3,000 complaints per day.

Cooke said, looking back, a simple reboot could have ended the scare.

“We talked to the real Apple people. They said just turn it off and turn it back on,” he said. “So, you just feel abused.”

Cooke reported the scam to the Plymouth Police Department and the Federal Trade Commission and reached out to Local 4.

Plymouth Police Chief Al Cox said the case is a common type of fraud, often targeting older adults. He said scammers rely on urgency and emotion to push victims into quick decisions.

“Slow down and think about it for a second,” Cox encourages people to do when someone asks for money to be sent right away.

He also warned people never to call numbers provided in pop-ups or alerts. Instead, they should look up official contact information and call directly.

Anyone who believes they’ve been targeted by a scam should contact the FBI at 313-965-2323 or file a report online at The Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Ramagem, a former lawmaker, was sentenced in Brazil in September to 16 years in prison for his role in the coup attempt by supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in 2023. He fled the South American nation before he would have started serving his sentence.

“I am here to thank the U.S. government, the highest ranking members of the Trump administration,” Ramagem said on his social media channels. He added his release “did not require any bail payment, which is common in migration cases” like his.

The former intelligence chief was arrested on Monday in Florida, the same day Brazilian senator Jorge Seif told the U.S. embassy in Brasilia his ally should not remain in custody because he was allegedly being persecuted at home.

Local media reported he was released late on Wednesday.

Ramagem had already filed for political asylum before this week's incident, but his case has not yet been decided.

On Monday, Ramagem appeared as in custody in ICE’s online detainee database. ICE did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press about Ramagem's release.

Ramagem was stripped of his seat in Brazil’s congress in December as a consequence of his conviction in the coup case.

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

Unai Emery's team reached its second European semifinal in three seasons with a 7-1 aggregate victory.

Watkins had netted twice in last week's 3-1 win in the first leg of the quarterfinal in Italy, and the striker set the pace at Villa Park.

He tapped in a low cross from the left provided by Morgan Rogers for a 1-0 lead after 16 minutes for his 100th goal for Villa.

Rogers had a golden opportunity to increase the lead but Bologna goalkeeper Federico Ravaglia saved his penalty kick.

Only a minute later, though, Villa doubled its lead when Emiliano Buendía scored from a tight angle.

Rogers made it 3-0 with another angled shot in the 39th, and Ezri Konsa finished the scoring seconds before the final whistle.

Villa reached the Champions League quarterfinals last season and is on course to secure a spot in the lucrative top-tier competition next campaign while sitting fourth in the Premier League.

Big return to Europe

Forest made the semifinals by beating 10-man Porto 1-0 in what's been a successful return to European competition after a 30-year absence. It advanced 2-1 on aggregate after last week's draw in Portugal.

Morgan Gibbs-White put the hosts ahead in the 12th minute with a deflected effort from outside the box after Porto defender Jan Bednarek was sent off for fouling Chris Wood, who then had to be substituted with a knee injury.

Wood is a key striker for relegation-threatened Nottingham — and New Zealand's World Cup plans — and only recently returned from a long-term knee injury.

Porto has never beaten a Premier League club in England in 24 attempts.

The last time Nottingham reached a European semifinal was in 1984 in the UEFA Cup.

Freiburg’s first final four

Freiburg marched into the semifinals by beating Celta Vigo 3-1.

The Bundesliga team reached the last four in a European competition for the first time on a 6-1 aggregate score after last week's 3-0 victory in the first leg of the quarterfinal.

Freiburg has scored 11 goals in its last three games in the second-tier competition.

Igor Matanović put Freiburg 1-0 up with a stunning left-footed volley from outside the area. Yuito Suzuki doubled the advantage with a deflected shot late in the first half and then beat goalkeeper Ionut Radu after interval.

Williot Swedberg’s consolation goal came in stoppage time for the Spanish hosts.

Freiburg’s next opponent will be Braga, which came from two goals down to win 4-2 at Real Betis after those teams were tied 1-1 from the first leg.

Crystal Palace in Conference League semifinals

Crystal Palace clinched a last-four spot in the third-tier Conference League despite a 2-1 loss to Fiorentina in Florence.

Palace advanced 4-2 on aggregate after a 3-0 home win in the first leg to meet Ukraine’s Shakhtar, which advanced past AZ Alkmaar on Thursday.

Strasbourg and Rayo Vallecano also advanced.

Italy in trouble

Italy’s soccer crisis only worsened with European exits for Bologna and Fiorentina.

As a result, Italy doesn’t have any club in a European semifinal for the first time in seven years.

That came after after Atalanta — the only Italian club to reach the Champions League round of 16 — was eliminated in a whopping 10-2 aggregate loss to Bayern Munich.

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

“Prevention, Intervention, and Enforcement,” Sheffield said, summarizing the city’s approach.

The plan comes in response to a series of so-called teen takeovers in downtown Detroit, as well as growing concerns about drag racing.

Teen takeovers prompt community conversation

Not everyone views the teen gatherings as purely criminal. Demetris Jones, co-owner of Culture, a downtown Detroit shop, described the moment a large group of teens entered his store.

“They didn’t steal anything. They weren’t trying to steal — they were really just coming in to show their presence,” Jones said.

Jones believes the root of the issue is a lack of space and opportunity for young people, not a lack of character.

“When you give them something to do, and you treat them like humans, regular kids — they respect you. If you treat them like animals, then they act like animals,” Jones said.

Enforcement measures include curfew crackdowns, parental fines

While the city works to create safe spaces for youth, it is also making expectations clear. Detroit police will increase their visible presence at active parks and recreation centers to deter risky behavior.

Officers will detain minors found out past curfew, and parents could face parental-responsibility tickets — $250 for a first offense and $500 for repeat violations.

Chief Bettison urged families to see themselves as partners in the effort.

“We are calling on families to be partners with us — this is about the safety of our children. You should know where your children are,” Bettison said.

City officials say the plan will be expanded over the next two months, with additional strategies added as summer approaches. Officials emphasized that community support will be critical to the plan’s success.

WAYNE COUNTY – Strep throat, stomach viruses, RSV, upper respiratory viruses, spring allergies, asthma flare-ups, outdoor injuries

Dr. Ayed Mahmoud -- Trinity Health Livonia Emergency Medicine Physician

“This week, we have seen an increase in respiratory conditions such as COPD and asthma exacerbations, likely related to seasonal weather changes and rising pollen levels. Patients with underlying lung disease are encouraged to stay on their prescribed inhalers, monitor symptoms closely, and limit outdoor exposure on high-pollen days. We are also managing a rise in cardiovascular exacerbations, including heart failure and hypertension-related issues. Staying well-hydrated, adhering to medications, and seeking early care for symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, or swelling can help prevent complications.”

Dr. Kelly Levasseur -- Medical Director of Pediatric Emergency, Children’s Hospital of Michigan

“RSV is still around, although it is on the decline. And another thing we’re still seeing a lot of is kids coming in with vomiting and diarrhea. And we’re still strep throat – it’s like 25% to 30% positivity. Usually we have ups and downs in the positivity rate, but for months we’ve been at that positivity. Oftentimes, our kids 8 to 10 years of age or younger, they don’t complain about sore throat; they have a fever and belly pain and headaches. So when we see that, we need to think about testing for strep.”

Dr. Robert Sherwin -- Emergency Medicine, DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital

“We’re seeing a lot of cold symptoms. We’re pretty much out of flu season, but we’re still seeing people coming in with upper respiratory infections, which could be as much allergies as anything else. And as people emerge from their winter hibernation and get out and about, they’re coming in with bumps and bruises from falls, car accidents, etc.”

Dr. Arsala Bakhtyar -- Medical Director, Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Corewell Health in Southeast Michigan (based in Dearborn)

“We are seeing a lot of gastroenteritis, and unfortunately, we are still seeing RSV. We don’t usually see it this late into the spring. In fact, the CDC extended the vaccine season this year until 4/30 instead of 4/1.”

Dr. Christopher Loewe -- Emergency Department, Henry Ford St. John Hospital

“We are seeing a lot of people with viral upper respiratory infections, seasonal allergies, and asthma exacerbations.”

OAKLAND COUNTY— RSV, strep throat, spring allergies, asthma flare-ups

Dr. Trevor Eckenswiller -- Emergency Physician, Corewell Health Beaumont Troy Hospital

“We are seeing RSV and strep throat. And there have been an uptick of rain-related motor vehicle crashes. With spring thunderstorms, people need to remember to adjust to the driving conditions.”

Dr. Rena Daiza -- Primary Care Physician, Henry Ford Medical Center Bloomfield Twp.

“With changing weather, primary care is seeing increased allergy symptoms and asthma flare-ups. Prevention includes avoiding triggers, using prescribed medications regularly, and see your doctor if home remedies and usual medications not working.”

WASHTENAW COUNTY – Stomach viruses, RSV, asthma flare-ups, upper respiratory infections, pink eye, influenza, sore throat

Dr. Brad Uren -- Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Michigan Medicine

“Still seeing a fair amount of GI illness this week, with a slight increase over last week and a lot more upper respiratory infections this week than before. We’ve seen RSV, human rhinovirus and human metapneumovirus. This is causing problems for individuals with asthma and COPD, especially. We’re also starting to see some seasonal allergies causing trouble for vulnerable populations with the warming weather.”

Dr. Stuart Bradin -- Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, Michigan Medicine

“We’ve seen pneumonia, asthma, croup, RSV, human rhinovirus, and enterovirus. There is still lots of GI illnesses.”

Washtenaw County Health Department

“Influenza cases in Washtenaw County residents are currently elevated but appear to be decreasing. Influenza A wastewater detection is currently at low levels in both Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Influenza B wastewater detection is currently at low levels in both Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. According to the most recent MDHHS MI Flu Focus report, influenza A H3N2 is currently dominating the 2025-2026 influenza season. Influenza-related deaths in Washtenaw County adults have been reported this flu season. All individuals were confirmed with Influenza A.”

MONROE COUNTY – Stomach viruses, strep throat, spring allergies, asthma flare-ups

ProMedica Monroe Regional Hospital – Emergency Center

“We are seeing an increase in gastrointestinal illness, including vomiting and diarrhea, as well as an increase in strep throat cases. Gastrointestinal illness is affecting all age groups, while strep throat is more common among school-aged children. We recommend frequent handwashing and staying home if you have a fever or are feeling ill to help limit the spread of illness.”

MACOMB COUNTY – Upper respiratory infections, asthma flare-ups, spring allergies, outdoor injuries

Dr. Stephanie Hernandez -- Emergency Physician at McLaren Macomb

“There has been a noticeable volume of patients experiencing symptoms of an upper respiratory infection—cough, congestion, runny nose—but testing negative for COVID-19, RSV, and the flu. While allergy activity has been relatively low, conditions have led to further breathing complications for asthma sufferers. While the warmer temps have resulted in injuries for many enjoying the outdoors, there has also been a significant increase in the number of car accidents.”

LIVINGSTON COUNTY – Spring allergies, coughs, pneumonia

Dr. Bashar Yalldo -- Henry Ford Byron Family Medicine- Howell

“Seeing lots of cough, congestion, and allergy flares. Had a few ER follow-ups for pneumonia. “

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the panel, told reporters she had met with Warsh Thursday and urged him to disclose more information about his assets than was included in financial disclosure forms released earlier this week. Warsh, a former top official at the Fed and a wealthy investor, listed financial assets worth well more than $100 million. The figures are given in ranges so a precise value wasn't disclosed.

Warsh has large stakes in several investment funds and owns a solo financial advisory firm, Vicarage LLC. He has pledged in ethics filings to sell those holdings and stop working as an adviser if he is confirmed as Fed chair. Yet he has not disclosed the values of all his investments through the funds, or the names of some of his clients.

“This is a real problem,” Warren said. “No one has gone forward in the Trump administration without disclosing fully their financial holdings."

It's the latest hurdle for Warsh, 56, who is already facing an unusually turbulent path toward the Fed chair position, which he has sought for at least a decade. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican and member of the Banking panel, said this week he won’t vote for Warsh until a Department of Justice investigation into current Fed chair Jerome Powell is resolved. The stand-off threatens to delay Warsh’s confirmation until after Powell’s term as chair ends May 15.

But even if Warsh is confirmed, he will likely face ongoing pressure from Trump to cut the Fed's key interest rate despite the Iran war pushing inflation higher and many other policymakers expressing skepticism about cuts. And he could end up serving while Powell remains on the Fed's governing board, an uncomfortable arrangement that hasn’t occurred since the late 1940s.

Warsh was a member of the Fed's governing board from 2006 to 2011, and is married to Jane Lauder, the daughter of billionaire cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder, a major Republican donor. He has also worked in finance and has made roughly $10 million as an advisor to billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller's family office, according to his disclosure form.

Warren said Warsh declined in their meeting to disclose more information about his holdings, “which, frankly, raises more concerns.” She added that his extensive investments are “a red flag surrounded by fireworks and sparklers.”

Warsh said in his disclosures that “pre-existing confidentiality” agreements prevent him from specifying the size of individual holdings or in some cases what they are. For example, he owns a stake in Polymarket, the prediction betting market, but did not say how large it is. He said he would comply with all ethics requirements by selling those investments if confirmed.

Also Thursday, all 11 Democrats on the Banking Committee called for next week's hearing to be postponed until the DOJ drops the investigation into cost overruns for a $2.5 billion Fed building renovation project and Powell's role in it, as well as an effort by Trump to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook.

Both moves “appear to be part of the Trump Administration’s broader effort to take control of the Fed,” the letter said.

Powell said last month that he would continue to serve as Fed chair if no replacement is confirmed by the end of his term. He added that previous chairs have done the same. Yet on Wednesday, Trump threatened to try to fire Powell if he did so.

Powell has also said he would remain on the Fed's governing board even after his term as chair ends if the investigation isn't dropped. By doing so, he could prevent the Trump administration from filling another seat on the board, a step he might take if he saw it as a way to preserve the Fed's political independence.

Powell serves a separate term as governor that lasts until January 2028. A Fed chair hasn’t remained on the board as a governor even after a new chair is appointed since 1948.

The battles over Powell, as well as the uptick in inflation from the Iran war, could create extensive headaches for Warsh.

“The ground has shifted materially beneath Warsh’s feet since he was nominated,” Marco Casiraghi, an analyst at Evercore ISI, an investment bank, wrote earlier this week. “Both with the oil shock and the failure to swiftly resolve the DOJ investigation, which we think means Powell will now likely stay on as a regular governor for several months.”

Trump is likely to keep pushing for Fed rate cuts regardless of who is chair. The Fed’s short-term rate influences other borrowing costs in the economy, including for mortgages, auto loans, and business borrowing.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier this week appeared to reduce the pressure on the Fed somewhat, when he told reporters Tuesday that rates should be cut, “but if they want to wait for some clarity, I understand that.” Many Fed officials have said they want to see if the jump in energy prices starts to push up inflation more broadly. If it doesn't, the Fed could potentially look past the gas price spike and cut rates, particularly if the economy weakens.

Yet when Trump was asked Wednesday on Fox Business whether he still expects interest rates to decline, he said, “when Kevin gets in, I do. ... interest rates should be much lower.”

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Associated Press Writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.

The memo, a copy of which was sent to The Associated Press, followed a long day of reports suggesting Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund was on the verge of cutting its financial backing of the upstart league.

The newsletter Money in Sport reported in February that LIV Golf already had spent $5.3 billion and was projected to surpass $6 billion by the end of the year.

“I want to be crystal clear: Our season continues exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle,” O'Neil said. “While the media landscape is often filled with speculation, our reality is defined by the work we do on the grass. We are heading into the heart of our 2026 schedule with the full energy of an organization that is bigger, louder, and more influential than ever before.”

Left unclear was how long the funding would last for LIV Golf, which launched in June 2022 by paying roughly $1 billion in signing bonuses to some of the PGA Tour's biggest names, such as Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm.

Prize money for individuals and the 13 teams was raised to $30 million this year.

Koepka since has left LIV and was allowed to rejoin the PGA Tour this year with stipulations. Patrick Reed also left LIV and is playing a European tour schedule this year. He is virtually certain to be eligible to return to the PGA Tour in 2027 through the European tour points race.

Questions about LIV's future funding were raised as the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia revealed a new five-year investment strategy.

“The 2026-30 strategy marks a natural evolution as PIF moves from a period of rapid growth and acceleration to a new phase of sustained value creation, with a strengthened focus on maximizing impact, raising the efficiency of investments, and applying the highest standards of governance, transparency and institutional excellence,” the PIF said in a release.

The plan was developed before the U.S.-Israel war against Iran. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor who loves golf and was behind LIV Golf, told the London-based Financial Times, “Of course the war would add more pressure to reposition some priorities.”

LIV players at Chapultepec Golf Club for LIV Golf Mexico that starts Thursday did not have answers as speculation ran rampant throughout the day.

One player said Al-Rumayyan met with players the first week of March in Hong Kong and said funding for LIV was set through 2032. The player spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private. The player also said O’Neil arrived in Mexico City Wednesday and was to meet with the players.

LIV Golf promoted the Mexico event Wednesday evening on social media with the message, “Slow news day? We are ON.”

LIV has played five events this year, in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. It celebrated an inspirational victory at its biggest event in Australia when Anthony Kim won after the American had been away for 12 years while battling drug and alcohol addiction.

DeChambeau won the last two events in playoffs, and this week tries to become the first LIV player to win three in a row. DeChambeau, a two-time U.S. Open champion, missed the cut in the Masters last week.

LIV's focus has been on a global reach, with its first U.S. tournament not scheduled until May 7-10 at Trump National in northern Virginia.

“The life of a startup movement is often defined by these moments of pressure,” O'Neil said. “We signed up for this because we believe in disrupting the status quo. We have faced headwinds since the jump, and we’ve answered every time with resilience and grace. Now, we answer by doing what we do best: putting on the most compelling show in sports.”

He ended his note to the staff by saying, “We are pioneers, and while the road isn’t always smooth, the destination is worth every mile. Let’s go out and show the world why LIV Golf is the future of the game.”

LIV is in the second year of a Fox Sports television deal, with network putting it on various platforms like FS1. The opening round of the Mexico event has three hours on the Fox Sports app. The previous two years, its U.S. broadcast partner was the CW.

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