The state first used nitrogen for capital punishment in 2024, and the ruling could upend Alabama’s next scheduled execution on Thursday. The method involves strapping a respirator to the person’s face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen, causing death from lack of oxygen.

The three-judge panel on Monday night reversed a judge’s May finding that the nitrogen method does not violate the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment and remanded the case for additional consideration. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed last year by Jeffery Lee, a man on death row who is scheduled to be executed with nitrogen on Thursday at a south Alabama prison.

The panel stopped short of staying Lee’s planned execution. However, the panel asked the judge to consider whether his proposed alternative of a firing squad was feasible.

The U.S. Supreme Court requires a two-prong test for people challenging the constitutionality of an execution method. They must show the method provides a substantial risk of superadded pain and that a feasible alternative method is available. The appeals court said Lee met the first test but sent it back to the trial court to consider the second.

The appeals panel raised concerns about the nitrogen method and how long it might take the subject to lose awareness.

“In our view, the overall suffering described by the district court, which lasts for one to three minutes, presents a substantial risk of serious harm over and above death itself," the panel wrote. “Counting to 60 or 180 seconds is not a quick exercise, and constitutionally speaking, that timeframe is intolerable given the suffering that would likely take place under Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol.”

The Alabama Attorney General’s Office did not immediately issue a comment on the decision. The state has maintained the method is constitutional.

Opponents of the method cheered the decision.

“For the first time a court has acknowledged what I and so many others have seen with our own eyes. Nitrogen executions are a unique form of horror,” said the Rev. Jeff Hood, who was the spiritual adviser at two nitrogen executions.

Nitrogen has been used in eight executions nationally — seven times in Alabama and once in Louisiana. Lee’s attorneys argued it causes excessive suffering. Alabama’s last nitrogen execution took more than 30 minutes to complete.

Lee was convicted of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawn shop on Dec. 12, 1998. Prosecutors said Lee entered Jimmy’s Pawnshop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, the owner of the store, and Thompson, a store employee.

A jury voted 7-5 that Lee should receive a sentence of life imprisonment. However, a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. Alabama in 2017 ended the practice of judicial override and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury’s sentencing decision in death penalty cases.

The ruling came several hours after a vigil was held at the Alabama Capitol urging the governor to reduce Lee’s sentence to life imprisonment.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said he opposed the clemency request.

“The people of Alabama have not forgotten Jimmy and Elaine. I have not forgotten them," Marshall said. “Anything short of carrying out the sentence imposed by the court falls short of justice for the victims, and that is not what victims of this state deserve.”

The list, updated and published Monday by the Pentagon, now sanctions well-known, non-state-owned Chinese companies that are not traditionally considered to be in the defense or security sector. It reflects growing wariness of Beijing’s strategy of tapping the strength of non-state businesses for military purposes.

Created in 2021 by a congressional mandate, the list seeks to identify Chinese companies that the Pentagon considers to have links to the Chinese military — not only those directly controlled by the Chinese military and security forces but also those contributing to the country's defense industrial base.

When updating the list last year, the Pentagon said the Chinese military sought to acquire advanced technologies and expertise developed by Chinese companies, universities and research programs that “appear to be civilian entities.”

The Chinese Embassy on Monday accused the U.S. of “overstretching the concept of national security and making discriminatory lists to go after Chinese companies.” It said Chinese companies observe the laws and regulations of the countries where they do business. “The U.S. should stop its wrong practice and create a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies,” the embassy said in a statement.

Alibaba said there is no basis for including it on the list. “Alibaba is not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy,” a statement from the leading e-commerce company said.

This year's list has grown to 188 Chinese entities, up from last year's roughly 130 named by the Pentagon. It already had covered companies such as DJI, a major maker of consumer drones. While a company on the list can still do business in the U.S., it faces reputational damage and could be subject to more restrictions.

After the Pentagon released the updated list, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party called it “a warning to American businesses, all levels of government, and the American people." It said the companies on the list that are traded publicly on U.S. exchanges should be delisted and no American company should do business with those on the list, “otherwise they are enabling China's military ascendance.”

In naming Alibaba, the Pentagon said the tech giant helps boost China's defense industrial base because it is affiliated with the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Alibaba is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Pentagon said BYD and Baidu are affiliated with the same ministry, which oversees China's technology and industrial policies. BYD is dominant in the global electric vehicle market, and President Donald Trump said in January that he would welcome Chinese carmakers such as BYD if they built plants in the U.S. and hired American workers.

However, a number of U.S. lawmakers have said they will seek a ban on Chinese electric vehicles.

Another addition is the Chinese robotics company Unitree, whose dancing robots impressed Simon Cowell on NBC's “America’s Got Talent.” The Pentagon said the company “knowingly received assistance” from the Chinese government through its designation as a small or medium-sized company that is highly innovative, highly competitive globally and critical to the country's supply chain.

BYD, Baidu and Unitree did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The screwworm is actually a fly larva that eats living flesh instead of dead material. The flies lay their eggs in open wounds of animals like cattle, but wildlife, pets and occasionally even humans can be infested. The government has a program to breed sterile male flies and drop swarms of them from planes to mate with wild females, which kept screwworm contained at the southern end of Panama for decades.

So far, there are five confirmed cases: three calves and a goat in Texas and a dog from neighboring Lea County, New Mexico. The small dog, which the USDA initially reported as a Texas case, lives in New Mexico and was reclassified as the first in that state.

The dog had not traveled to Mexico or Texas, so authorities were investigating around the property where the pet lived. If they find infected flies, animal inspections in the area will increase, New Mexico State Veterinarian Samantha Holeck said during a virtual news conference Monday.

Screwworm cases continue to climb

The first two screwworm cases were discovered last week in calves a few miles apart in south Texas. A case was announced Monday in a calf in La Salle County, southwest of San Antonio, and in a goat in Gillespie County, west of Austin.

In each case, officials have set up a 12-mile (20-kilometer) quarantine zone to try to slow the parasite's advance.

Along with cattle and other warm-blooded livestock, scientists worry screwworms could devastate the millions of wild white-tailed deer in Texas.

Scientists expect new cases could pop up in the coming days and weeks, but it doesn't mean screwworm is spreading rapidly, said Edward Burgess, a University of Florida entomologist who studies the fly.

“When that first case is seen, everyone is being vigilant and their eyes are on it more intensely,” Burgess said. “And when you are looking for something, you are more likely to see it.”

A race to stop the screwworm now moves to Texas

Screwworm gets its name from the maggots’ habit of burrowing — or screwing — into a wound, according to the USDA. The pest eats the flesh of the animal, further opening wounds and increasing the risk of deadly bacterial infections. Animals can die within a few weeks if not treated. There are a dozen government-approved medications to treat livestock.

The agency and the U.S. cattle industry have been racing to prevent an outbreak since screwworm was detected in Mexico late in 2024. The USDA has been dropping sterile flies in south Texas since February and is working to both increase sterile fly production in plants outside the U.S. and build a $750 million fly factory in Texas.

So far, screwworm's reappearance hasn’t greatly affected beef prices, which are already near record levels because there are fewer cows in the United States. Although the parasite attacks live cattle, it does not infest meat or fruit.

Canada temporarily stopped importing cattle, horses or other livestock from Texas on Friday. The parasites prefer humid areas where temperatures are at least 77 F (25 C), making them more of a summer problem up north.

Fighting screwworms with sterile male flies

Burgess said the long-term solution — breeding sterile male flies — is months away. Since wild female flies mate just once, if that encounter is with a sterile male, outbreaks can eventually be halted as the flies die out.

The goal is to have enough sterile flies to stop the pests from returning in 2027 after the winter kills off most of them, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said at a news conference at the U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville, Texas.

Scientists are also working on ways to sterilize only male flies to make the program even more effective.

Texas officials encouraged ranchers to keep a close eye on their herds and local wildlife. There's now a 24-hour screwworm hotline and a website and map for reported cases.

“This is a highly treatable condition if you act on it immediately,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said.

However, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller — who lost the recent Republican primary to a candidate backed by Abbott — said the federal response will take too long and risks crippling the cattle industry.

Instead, he says a poison bait could eliminate the screwworm problem in a few months, even if the USDA and other experts say the bait hasn’t been proven effective and could poison other flies, animals and even humans.

“What the hell is a good fly?” Miller said in an interview.

___

This story has been updated to reflect that the USDA revised the dog screwworm case to New Mexico, not Texas as the agency initially reported, and to correct the spelling of Kerrville.

___

Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Scott McFetridge in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

Russell, the No. 10 amateur in the world, survived a bogey on the first playoff hole and grabbed the fourth and final spot from the Florida qualifier. Charlie Woods is one of his close friends who has the same commercial agent and is following Russell to Florida State.

“It kept it so light,” Russell said. “It's the first time I've had a buddy on the bag. I really like it, not talking much golf, just having a good time.”

Russell smiled when asked if he would have Woods at Shinnecock Hills, saying only, “We'll see what he's doing. To be determined.”

The medalist from the Florida qualifier was Giuseppe Puebla, who ranks second behind Russell in the American Junior Golf Association ranking.

They were among 715 players at 10 sites from coast-to-coast and into Canada, all of them vying for 43 spots available for the 126th U.S. Open.

Previous qualifiers were held in England, Japan and Dallas.

Vaughn Harber, who just finished his sophomore year at Ohio State, played his final five holes at The Lakes in 5-under par — including an eagle — and then advanced in the 4-for-3 playoff in one of the two Ohio qualifiers. Jackson Van Paris birdied his last two holes to qualify without extra holes.

That qualifier also produced the first player from Iceland to play in the U.S. Open, Arni Sveinsson, who plays for LSU.

In the other Ohio qualifier, Billy Horschel found a happy note in an otherwise tough season when he was among five who made it through. Tony Finau missed out by two shots and will not be at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2017.

Here's how the other qualifiers looked (a-amateur):

Ohio-Springfield

QUALIFIERS: Neal Shipley, Zac Blair, Dylan Wu, Billy Horschel, Nick Hardy.

NOTABLE PLAYERS MISSING: Brandt Snedeker, Tony Finau, Cam Davis.

DIVOTS: Shipley, who finished his college career at nearby Ohio State, has missed the cut in nine of his 12 starts in his rookie year on the PGA Tour. ... Snedeker was the first alternate.

Florida

QUALIFIERS: a-Giuseppe Puebla, Ben Silverman, a-Ryder Cowan, a-Miles Russell.

NOTABLE PLAYERS MISSING: Matt Kuchar, Matthieu Pavon, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Luke Clanton, Luke Poulter.

NOTEWORTHY: Three of the four qualifiers are amateurs. ... Kuchar hasn't played in any major since the 2024 U.S. Open.

Canada

QUALIFIERS: Emiliano Grillo, Alejandro Tosti, Marcelo Rozo, William Mouw, John Parry, Max McGreevy.

NOTABLE PLAYERS MISSING: Max Homa, Matt Wallace, Garrick Higgo, Seamus Power.

NOTEWORTHY: The final three spots were determined by an eight-man playoff. ... Homa missed out in a playoff for the second straight year in U.S. Open qualifying.

Maryland

QUALIFIERS: Jackson Suber, Ben Kohles, a-Logan Reilly, Jake Sollon.

NOTABLE PLAYERS MISSING: Blades Brown, Michael Thorbjornsen, Karl Vilips.

NOTEWORTHY: Sollon earned the final spot in a playoff over Bryan Lee. He was scheduled to leave for Bogota, Colombia, for a PGA Tour Americas event. ... Kohles was coming off a victory Sunday on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Ohio-Columbus

QUALIFIERS: Davis Thompson, J.B. Holmes, a-Vaughn Harber, a-Arni Sveinsson.

NOTABLE PLAYERS MISSING: Lucas Glover, Jhonattan Vegas, Bud Cauley, Austin Eckroat, Denny McCarthy, Erik van Rooyen.

NOTEWORTHY: Sam Udovich bogeyed his last two holes and was the odd man out in a 4-for-3 playoff. He will be the first alternate. ... What used to be the main qualifier for PGA Tour players only had a 51-man field.

North Carolina

QUALIFIERS: a-Jackson Ormond, Carl Yuan, Jackson Van Paris, Brandon Wu, Cole Hammer.

NOTABLE PLAYERS MISSING: Aaron Wise, Ryo Ishikawa, Bill Haas, Troy Merritt.

NOTEWORTHY: Ormond, an 18-year-old who will play at Florida next year, birdied five of his last seven holes for a 63 to go from outside the number to be the medalist. ... Haas, the son of Jay Haas, had his son caddying for him.

New York

QUALIFIERS: Kevin Roy, Max Greyserman, Ben James, James Nicholas.

NOTABLE PLAYERS MISSING: Matt Jones.

NOTEWORTHY: James makes his pro debut this week in the Canadian Open. He finished atop the PGA Tour University ranking. ... Roy makes his U.S. Open debut in his native New York.

Georgia

QUALIFIERS: Chris Kirk, Jake Peacock, Keith Mitchell, Robbie Higgins, a-Chase Keys.

NOTABLE PLAYERS MISSING: Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Jason Dufner, Patton Kizzire.

NOTEWORTHY: Keys birdied the last hole in near darkness to avoid a 3-for-1 playoff for the final spot. ... Potgieter can still get in the U.S. Open if he wins the Canadian Open this week, which would give him two PGA Tour victories since the last U.S. Open.

___

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

Trump was shown for several seconds giving a military salute. The boos ended when the U.S. flag followed him on the screens, and fans cheered when New York Knicks players were shown. Mentions of the San Antonio Spurs also elicited loud boos.

Trump is watching from Knicks owner James Dolan’s suite, along with granddaughter Kai, personal adviser Boris Epshteyn and Cabinet secretaries Lee Zeldin, Sean Duffy and Doug Burgum. He is the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game.

Trump’s Marine One helicopter flew from his home in New Jersey and landed near Wall Street before his motorcade made its way up through Manhattan and to the arena roughly an hour before tipoff. He encountered a handful of people making rude gestures, and outside the area, one group held signs saying “Trump must go.”

He settled into Dolan's suite shortly afterward.

During the afternoon before Trump's arrival, the New York Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service set up a large perimeter surrounding Madison Square Garden. Fans lined up to get inside the arena more than four hours before tipoff, in a scene more closely resembling New Year’s Eve in Times Square than the usual leadup to a basketball game.

They were required to provide a ticket or pass to get past various checkpoints, along with going through a Transportation Security Administration-style magnetometer. Secret Service personnel and police were positioned at every corner and in large numbers. Daily commuters, tourists visiting Manhattan and fans were all confounded at various times as they tried to maneuver the security.

New Yorkers forced to adjust

After traveling from his new home in Florida for the game, Knicks fan Greg Weldon said the main inconvenience faced so far has been the lack of information.

“We’ve asked so many cops, secret service, guys with machine guns, what to do, where should we go,” he said. “Nobody knows.”

Knicks coach Mike Brown and Spurs counterpart Mitch Johnson downplayed any concept of being inconvenienced by the closures and enhanced security because of Trump.

“There’s a lot going on, and I’d much rather be a part of it than not,” Johnson said.

With security stepped up, a watch party outside was canceled, and ticket-holders were not allowed to bring bags inside the Garden. Fans had gathered near the arena to watch games during this playoff run, during which the Knicks have won 13 games in a row to reach the final for the first time since 1999 and move two victories from their first NBA title since 1973.

“We are looking forward to bringing back watch parties for Game 4,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference Monday. "But I think New Yorkers are used to presidents coming to town, and they understand that that generally means lockdowns of areas and that’s what you’re going to see tonight at the Garden.”

Incidents heighten attention to Trump's security

This is the latest major sporting event Trump has attended during his time as president, and the security measures have created major hassles for fans.

Thousands of fans missed the start of last year’s U.S. Open men’s singles final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner because of lengthy security lines. Even though the U.S. Tennis Association pushed back the start of the match by a half-hour, many fans still couldn’t get in because added measures meant that they had to go through screening not only when they arrived at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center but again in front of the steps into Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Trump watched from a suite.

Federal law enforcement officials have been reexamining Trump’s security in light of three incidents in the past two years: a shooting at a 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania; the discovery of a man armed with a rifle as Trump played golf in West Palm Beach, Florida, later that year; and the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Asked Sunday his thoughts on Trump attending, Knicks center Mitchell Robinson said: “Cool, I guess. We can still get out there and play (no matter) who’s here and who’s not.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other dignitaries were also at the game.

It was already hard enough for Knicks fans to get inside Madison Square Garden because of astronomical ticket prices. The get-in price for a ticket is higher than the average cost of monthly rent in New York, surging over $5,000. The best seats are tens of thousands of dollars. Mamdani said he bought his ticket, which he said was standing-room-only, for about $1,000 directly from Madison Square Garden.

The difficulty of seeing the game in-person has prompted fans to crowd bars, streets and watch parties all over the city. The watch party near the Garden has become a major event all through the playoffs, but with Trump attending, that event was moved a few blocks away outside the security perimeter, at Bryant Park.

“We improvise,” said Knicks guard Jose Alvarado, who is a New York native. "We're New Yorkers. We’re going to find a way to watch a game, and that’s what we’re doing.”

___

AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this report.

___

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

The San Francisco-based company said Monday it has filed confidential paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We expect it to leak so we’re just announcing it,” the company said in a statement. “We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company. But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”

OpenAI's move follows its rival Anthropic's June 1 disclosure that it is also moving toward an initial public offering of shares. Both are now following Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX, which has started an IPO roadshow pitching itself as an AI-focused space company.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman first publicly floated the possibility of an IPO last fall, describing it as the “most likely path” for the company given its size and the need for vast amounts of capital to advance its technology.

OpenAI began in 2015 as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for the common good and is now a company valued at $852 billion.

The filing comes at a “precarious moment” for OpenAI as it appears to be losing ChatGPT’s strong early leads with consumers and businesses to Google and Anthropic, said Emarketer analyst Nate Elliott.

“But OpenAI doesn’t have a lot of other places to look for the enormous capital required to support its costs,” Elliott said.

Paving the way for going public was OpenAI’s decision last year to reorganize its business structure and convert itself into a public benefit corporation even as it remains technically under the control of a nonprofit.

OpenAI cleared another obstacle last month with its victory against Musk in a federal jury trial. Musk, an OpenAI co-founder and early donor, had sued the company seeking to oust Altman from its leadership and unravel its conversion to a for-profit business. A judge dismissed the case after the jury found Musk filed his lawsuit too late.

OpenAI has not yet publicly disclosed how much money it is making or when it plans to turn a profit. Much like Anthropic and SpaceX, the company has been losing more money than it makes because of the huge costs of building out the venture. OpenAI faces fierce competition from Anthropic, maker of the increasingly popular chatbot Claude, and Google's AI assistant Gemini.

In an April interview, OpenAI’s chief financial officer Sarah Friar declined to give a timeline for a potential IPO but said the company was already “acting with the good hygiene of a public company,” such as by measuring its revenue in the way a publicly traded firm would have to report earnings to the SEC.

“I want us to be ready,” she told The Associated Press. “I think it’s good to be able to tap the public markets. They’re much bigger than the private markets."

She said OpenAI’s current valuation would make it one of the 15 biggest companies in the S&P 500.

She also said there is a “credentializing moment of being a public company.”

“At that point, people are checking your balance sheet, the SEC is governing you and so on,” she said.

In a separate statement Monday published around the same time as the announcement of the confidential filing, Altman outlined a broad vision for OpenAI including three big goals: building an automated AI researcher, accelerating economic growth and giving “everyone on Earth a personal AGI,” which stands for artificial general intelligence or a form of AI that surpasses humans at many tasks.

Altman said OpenAI started out in AI research and moved into commercial product development but is now moving into its third phase involving a “broad distribution of power” as the economy reshapes around AI technology.

He said OpenAI is “working to ensure the gains are widely shared. Everyone should have an opportunity for a meaningful share in the prosperity AI creates.”

The remarks follow Altman’s visit last week with Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is pushing a plan for the public to take a 50% ownership stake in AI companies such as OpenAI, as well as comments from President Donald Trump embracing giving the public a stake in AI’s growth.

___

AP Technology Writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed to this report.

He said friends for years have jokingly referred to him as senator and asked if he has ever thought about running. He said he’s been considering it for more than a decade.

“This is my choice,” Sullivan, who lives in the small fishing community of Petersburg, said in a telephone interview Monday.

Last week, Sen. Dan Sullivan accused the challenger Sullivan of “trying to trick” voters to help his main rival in the race, Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. The senator suggested the other Sullivan's entrance in the August primary was part of a coordinated effort by Democrats and Peltola's campaign to confuse voters, an accusation they deny. He threatened litigation to get to the bottom of it.

‘I have every right to run’

The issue is of national concern to Republicans because they are seeking to hold onto their majority in the U.S. Senate in what is expected to be a difficult midterm election year for the party in power. Sullivan, the challenger, dismissed claims that his candidacy is a merely a ruse to undermine the senator's reelection chances.

He said he has had no contact with Peltola's campaign — “zero, none, zilch” — and said “no” when asked if anyone from the state Democratic Party or any national Democratic operatives had contacted him to run.

A Peltola spokesperson, Harry Child, has said the campaign “has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.” The executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party, Jenny-Marie Stryker, said her organization “is in no way affiliated with either Dan Sullivan.” A Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson, Monica Robinson, replied “no” when asked if the group had been involved in urging the challenger Sullivan to run.

Sullivan called sharing a name with the Alaska's incumbent U.S. senator “a matter of fate” and said he had done nothing wrong.

“I have every right to run for whatever office I'm qualified for, and I’m qualified for this office,” the challenger said, adding: “I think I’m doing what most Americans would think would be a patriotic thing to do when you’re unsatisfied with the status quo. You stand up and say, I’m going to fight for things I believe that are going to make my community better.”

Like Murkowski, but with 'touches of a Rand Paul Republican’

Ballots in prior years in Alaska have not identified the incumbent, but the Alaska Division of Elections’ current candidate list online does. It also distinguishes the candidates using a middle initial — Dan S. Sullivan for the senator and Dan J. Sullivan for the challenger.

Alaska has open primaries in which the top four vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the ranked choice general election in November. Sen. Sullivan's campaign worries having two Dan Sullivans on the ballot could confuse voters.

Sen. Sullivan's campaign, in a statement Monday, said, “Alaskans deserve a fair and honest election — not political games meant to manipulate the ballot and benefit Democrats.”

The challenger said he was registered with the limited government-leaning Alaskan Independence Party for decades, until the party's dissolution late last year. Election officials had said voters registered with the party could change their affiliation but if they did not, they'd be shown as “undeclared.” Sullivan said he then was listed as undeclared until filing to run for office, when he registered as Republican.

He said he was motivated in part by his late father, whom he described as a “true, compassionate, conservative Republican.” He said if he had to label himself, it would be “a pragmatic Republican centrist” — similar to Alaska's senior U.S. senator, Lisa Murkowski, but “with touches of a Rand Paul Republican in there.”

He said he grew up in the Chicago area but was drawn to Alaska and put down roots nearly 50 years ago in Petersburg. The fishing community of about 3,400 in southeast Alaska's Tongass National Forest is known as “Little Norway” for its many residents with Scandinavian roots. He worked for the U.S. Forest Service before changing careers and becoming a teacher. He has since retired.

Candidate ponders how to run a campaign

Like most communities in Alaska, Petersburg isn't connected to the state's main road system and is accessible only by air or water. Juneau, the nearest city, is about 45 minutes away by plane.

Petersburg sits on Mitkof Island, which is distinguished by mountains, thick stands of forest and boggy areas called muskeg. Sea lions hauled up on buoys and humpback whales and orcas are common sights off its shores.

Sullivan, who will turn 69 this weekend, passed on an interview request last Friday, he said, because the king salmon were running and he wanted to fish.

As far as his run for office, the challenger said he plans to do some fundraising and hopes to campaign in the state's larger cities, including Anchorage and Juneau, but he so far has no firm plans to do so and is working on the details.

He finds the current dustup over his Senate run — and the incumbent's reaction — a bit surprising.

“I guess my thought would be, ‘Dude, why don’t you just run your campaign?’ If you’ve got a strong record, run on your record. People will love you for it and you’ll be swept back into office,” he said Monday. “Why would he be concerned that a guy out of Petersburg is this huge threat?”

The person said Knight will first sign a foundational contract with Las Vegas as part of Phase 2 of the league’s expansion signing process. Las Vegas in turn has reached an agreement to trade Knight to Detroit for the team’s first-round pick in the draft next week, the person added.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the trade. The deal won’t become official until the PWHL’s trade freeze lifts on June 16, a day before the draft.

The 36-year-old Knight is a five-time U.S. Olympian and one of the most decorated players in her sport. She is coming off captaining Team USA to a gold-medal victory at the Milan Cortina Games in February, in which Knight deflected in the championship game-tying goal late in the third period of a 2-1 overtime win against Canada.

Though Knight said the Olympics in Milan would be her last, she planned on continuing her pro career.

Knight is on the move for a second straight PWHL offseason. After spending her first two PWHL seasons in Boston, she left the Fleet to sign with the expansion Seattle Torrent to be closer to her offseason home in Idaho.

Now, it’ll be the Chicago-area town where she grew up that she’s closer to.

As much as Knight and the Torrent would have preferred she remain in Seattle, the team under the expansion rules was restricted to protecting three players. The Torrent chose to protect forward Alex Carpenter, defender Anna Wilgren and goalie Hannah Murphy.

Knight at least gets the benefit of signing a foundational offer, which guarantees her at least $100,000 per season. She made $106,090 last year.

Each of the PWHL’s four expansion teams were allowed one foundational contract offer. Las Vegas still had its foundational slot open, while Detroit used its offer to sign Toronto forward Daryl Watts last week.

Las Vegas, meanwhile, lands an additional first-round pick in a draft class stocked with young talent and led by five U.S. national team members, including defender Caroline Harvey and defender/forward Laila Edwards. The PWHL has yet to set the draft order, with the exception of Vancouver picking first.

Knight counts toward one of the five players Las Vegas must add in this expansion phase, which closes on Monday. The team filled its final two slots by signing Walter Cup champion Montreal Victoire teammates forward Hayley Scamurra, a two-time U.S. Olympian, and defender Erin Ambrose, a two-time Canadian Olympian.

San Jose rounded out its initial five-player roster by signing New York forward Maddi Wheeler to a two-year contract. Wheeler is the third Sirens player to join the team, joining Anne Cherkowski and Kristin O’Neill.

Phase 2 of the expansion process closed with Vancouver not losing a player, and Boston losing just one, with forward Alina Muller signing with Hamilton.

In Detroit, Knight joins a team that already features three U.S. gold medal-winning teammates in forwards Britta Curl-Salemme, Hannah Bilka and defender Cayla Barnes, who were signed in the expansion process. She also is reunited with newly hired Detroit coach Josh Sciba, who was an assistant on the U.S. Olympic team.

And Knight joins a team headed by one of women's hockey's trailblazers in GM Manon Rheaume. The 54-year-old Rheaume was a goaltender, and the first woman to appear in an exhibition game of any of North America’s four major sports.

Earlier in the day, Detroit filled its fifth expansion spot by signing Toronto forward Jesse Compher to a three-year contract. Compher won a silver medal representing the U.S. at the 2022 Beijing Games.

Knight finished last season with five goals and 14 points in 22 games, while missing the final two months of the season with a lower-body injury. A year earlier, she finished tied for the league lead with 29 points (15 goals, 14 assists). Overall, she ranks 12th in the PWHL with 54 career points (26 goals, 28 assists) in 76 games.

The trade caps an eventful stretch for Knight. A day before winning gold, she became engaged to American speedskater Brittany Bowe. Her goal against Canada was her 15th and 33rd point of her Olympic career, U.S. records for both categories.

In 2024, Knight was the International Ice Hockey Federation's female player of the year. She has won two Olympic gold and three silver medals since making her Team USA debut at the 2007 world championships. She has won 10 gold medals at worlds and holds the career tournament records for goals (67), assists (53) and points (120).

___

AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that a Somali national who was planning to referee in the World Cup had been denied entry after arriving to Miami International Airport from Istanbul on Saturday. While the CBP statement didn’t mention the person by name, Artan is the only World Cup referee from Somalia.

FIFA confirmed later Monday that Artan wouldn't be able to train and officiate at the World Cup, then released a statement on the referee's behalf.

“Despite the circumstances, I am in a positive mood and I am focused on the next challenges in my refereeing career," Artan said in the statement. “I would like to thank FIFA and (the African federation) for all their support and I promise to keep my refereeing levels up as I concentrate on the future. I want to thank the football family for their messages and wish my colleagues all the best success during the World Cup and I look forward to joining them again in future competitions.”

In its own statement, FIFA said it was not involved in the immigration processes and was informed by authorities that Artan's “status will not be changed at present.”

“In line with previous FIFA events, a host government ultimately determines who receives a visa and who is admitted into their country," soccer's governing body said.

CBP issued a release explaining why Artan was denied entry.

“During processing, the traveler underwent additional inspection, a routine part of CBP’s inspection process when officers need to verify information or determine admissibility,” CBP said in its statement. “Following inspection, the traveler, a referee for the FIFA World Cup, was determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry.”

CBP noted that all travelers seeking entry into the U.S. — including athletes, coaches and staff — are subject to CBP inspection and vetting.

“Admissibility determinations are made on a case-by-case basis using law enforcement, national security, and immigration information available at the time of inspection,” the CBP statement said. “CBP officers have the authority to question travelers, conduct inspections, and determine admissibility consistent with U.S. law.”

___

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

Now, one of those politicians has pleaded guilty to being an illegal agent of the Chinese government. Former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang's plea, entered in federal court Friday, continues a saga that some residents of the area worry could bring unfair scrutiny on the broader Chinese and Asian American community.

Arcadia has gone under rapid demographic change in the last two decades as immigrants from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong flocked to the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles. After Wang's case was made public May 11, the news made national headlines and filled the unassuming suburban city with anger, disappointment and murmurs of quiet concern. On social media, fears about spies and Chinese Communist Party influence abounded.

“We cannot allow this moment to become an excuse for people to paint entire communities with one brush or weaponize ethnicity for political gain,” acting Mayor Paul Cheng said in a statement.

Shock in heavily Chinese community

Wang agreed in April to plead guilty to doing the bidding of Chinese officials by sharing articles favorable of Beijing on a news website she ran, without notifying the U.S. government as required by law.

The 56-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person City Council, from which the mayor is selected on a rotating basis. She was born in Chengdu, China, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1995.

The San Gabriel Valley is home to the largest concentration of residents of Chinese and Taiwanese descent in the United States. Beginning in the 1970s, real estate developers marketed the region as “Chinese Beverly Hills” to woo affluent immigrants. As the population grew, it became a haven for newer immigrants who could go about life without needing English, access business opportunities, and avoid putting their children through China’s intensely competitive education system. Arcadia's population of about 53,000 is majority Asian, like many other cities in the region.

Ted Tseng, 52, arrived in Arcadia from Taiwan nearly 40 years ago with his parents, who emigrated because they feared potential conflict between Taiwan and China.

Tseng was concerned Wang's indictment would deepen animosity against Asian Americans and discredit their contributions to the region. Fears of anti-Asian racism, though hate crimes are down since the COVID-19 pandemic, still linger.

“I'm just worried our image has been damaged,” Tseng said.

Feds crack down on Chinese espionage

The U.S. Department of Justice has escalated efforts in recent years to combat Chinese espionage. In April, a man accused of running a secret Chinese spy outpost in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood was convicted of acting as an illegal foreign agent.

Wang has suggested that she was misled by her former fiance, Yaoning “Mike” Sun, who pleaded guilty to the same charge last year and is now serving a four-year prison sentence. Sun was the treasurer for Wang’s 2022 election campaign.

A statement shared by Wang's lawyers references her "trust and love for apparently the wrong person who ultimately led her astray.”

April Verlato, a former City Council member who served with Wang, said Wang and Sun lived together, and Sun accompanied Wang wherever she went.

Verlato said Wang should have stepped down as soon as she came under investigation.

“She was being selfish, getting sworn in as mayor and not resigning when she knew she was going to be pleading guilty to something,” Verlato said.

Gene Sun, a long-time lawyer in Arcadia, agreed.

“I don't understand how she could have continued being a City Council member,” he said.

Beijing seeks influence overseas

It is not surprising that the Chinese government would attempt to exert political influence in the region, especially given the increased political tension and economic rivalry between China and the U.S. in recent years, said Wei Li, a professor of Asian Pacific American Studies at Arizona State University.

“A lot of countries, if they have the will and if they have the means, will try to influence their diaspora,” Li said.

According to his federal criminal complaint, Sun was in contact with John Chen, who also pleaded guilty to being an illegal agent of the Chinese government, regarding local politicians that Beijing could influence. In reports to Chinese officials, Sun and Chen called Wang a “New Political Star” and bragged about her contacts with mainstream U.S. politicians.

They also wrote of combatting “anti-China forces” such as Taiwan independence and the Falun Gong, an exiled anti-communist spiritual movement.

In a January 2023 message from Chen to Wang referenced in Sun’s criminal complaint, Chen said: “You are doing a good job, I hope you can continue the good work, make Chinese people proud.”

Some fear political repercussions for Asian Americans

Not only was the news of her guilty plea like a “slap in the face," the reaction from some community members has also been painful, said Cheng, the acting mayor.

Some residents at a May 19 City Council meeting blamed remaining council members for enabling Wang and called for their resignations.

“I’ve been called more names, been told to go back to China although that’s not where I’m from,” said Cheng, who came to the U.S. from Taiwan at age 2.

For many Arcadia residents and workers, life was as usual the day after the news broke. Many smiled apologetically when asked about the issue, saying they don’t pay attention to politics.

Aliza Mo, who emigrated from China six years ago for her children's education, said she first thought the headlines must be exaggerated.

“A lot of people wondered if it was discrimination," she said.

When she learned what Wang pleaded guilty to, she changed her mind.

“I think it would be improper for anyone to be doing something like that,” she said.

Separately, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that Roman Abramovich acted as a go-between for messages between Kyiv and Moscow. Zelenskyy told Sky News that the former owner of Premier League team Chelsea traveled to Kyiv with a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy said Abramovich brought the message that the Russians “want to understand what we are ready to do,” and had offered to take a reply to Putin.

Meanwhile, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said a new proposed round of sanctions against Russia includes 80 listings targeting Russia’s “military industrial complex, human rights violators and propagandists.”

Kaja Kallas told a news conference after a meeting of EU defense ministers Monday that Western sanctions have already cost Moscow an estimated $1.2 to 1.5 trillion.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 310 Ukrainian drones overnight into Monday, including over the Moscow region, western and southwestern Russia, Russian-occupied Crimea and the Black and Azov seas.

Russia targeted Ukraine with 155 drones, of which Ukrainian air defenses shot down or suppressed 124, according to its air force.

Ukraine strikes Russian energy sites

Ukraine’s General Staff said Ukrainian forces had struck Russia’s Krasnodar Krai region overnight, hitting the Grushovaya oil transshipment base near Novorossiysk. The complex is one of the largest transshipment hubs in southern Russia for oil and petroleum products.

Russian regional authorities confirmed a Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at the facility, adding that there were no casualties. While they did not comment on the extent of damage, they said 130 rescue workers were involved in putting out the blaze.

Asked whether the Kremlin is worried about the fuel crisis in Crimea, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Energy Ministry and other agencies are working on a set of measures to respond to the situation.

“There are indeed certain problems at the moment,” Peskov said. “Measures are being taken.”

The Krasny Yar “linear production and dispatching station” in the Volgograd region was also hit, the General Staff said. A fire broke out at the site, according to the statement. Russian Gov. Andrei Bocharov didn’t specify what the facility produces, but said there were no injuries.

Ukraine also carried out strikes overnight in the Semykolodezkaya oil base in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula on Sunday night, sparking a fire at the facility. The base is used to store fuel reserves supplying the Russian military, according to the statement posted on Telegram.

Ukrainian forces also struck an oil depot near Feodosia in Crimea, the General Staff said.

Zelenskyy sent message to Putin

Zelenskyy said his message was that he would meet Putin “any time” in any location other than Russia or Belarus, and either bilaterally or with U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders.

But he said Ukraine would not surrender the Donbas region, currently part-occupied by Russia.

“It was the key message. I said we will not leave and we will not go out from our territory,” Zelenskyy told Sky News.

Putin said last week that a Russian businessman, who he didn’t identify, traveled to Kyiv last month and met with Zelenskyy to hear his offer of a personal meeting. The Russian leader rejected the idea of a meeting, saying he saw no point in it.

Drone strikes civilians

Two people were killed and at least 18 injured, including four children aged 5, 10, 13 and 12, by a Russian drone attack in the central Zaporizhzhia region that damaged residential buildings and vehicles and destroyed market kiosks, said the regional military administration head, Ivan Fedorov.

In Nikopol. a Russian attack killed a 49-year-old woman and injured four other people, according to the State Emergency Service.

The service also reported that four people were injured in the Dnipropetrovsk region when strikes hit residential buildings. In Odesa, three people were wounded after a Russian drone struck a public transport stop.

Russian drone strikes overnight also injured civilians and damaged buildings and businesses in the Kharkiv, Odesa and Chernihiv regions, regional authorities said.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone overnight struck a passenger train traveling from Moscow to Simferopol in occupied Crimea, injuring the driver and killing the driver’s assistant, Kremlin-installed regional leader Sergei Aksyonov reported early Monday.

Akysyonov added that no passengers were hurt. But all passenger train traffic in Crimea was halted following the attack, with passengers evacuated and replacement buses provided, Russian operator Grand Service Express reported on Telegram that same morning.

___

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

At a press preview on Monday, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was pleased that the mostly emptied-out Berlin residence was being opened to art and to the public.

“We need art," Steinmeier said. “A democracy without free art loses its capacity for self-criticism, and art without freedom loses its social relevance.”

The former Prussian royal palace, built in the 18th century, is set to undergo extensive renovations, including a repair of the roof, a new air conditioning system and upgraded offices. The work is expected to last eight years, meaning Steinmeier is not expected to return to the residence. His second and final term ends next year.

The pop-up show Freiraum Kunst, which roughly translates as “free art space,” was organized by the city’s Academy of Arts.

The president of the academy, Manos Tsangaris, thanked Steinmeier for the opportunity to use “these wonderful spaces."

“An opportunity like this to truly bring art to life is something we greatly appreciate,” he said.

It opens to the public Friday and runs until June 28. During this time, the president's residency, which is normally not freely accessibly, will be open to anyone who manages to book a free ticket online.

People’s interest in getting a glimpse inside the official presidential residence was so great that the website crashed just a few hours after it went live last month.

The temporary art show is also certain to attract a lot of interest with works by well-known artists Katharina Grosse, Wolfgang Tillmans and Monica Bonvicini, among others.

Upon entering the building, visitors will be able to see two paintings by artist El Bocho. The first one is an oversized portrait of a young woman with bright orange hair called “Die Bundespräsidentin,” or The Female President.

Across from it hangs a painting of three faceless men in suits called “Die Alten” or “The Old Ones.” The question the artists wants to raise, said curator Anh-Linh Ngo, is why Germany has never had a female president so far.

In general, all artists were given a free hand in what messages they wanted to convey to the public and many used the opportunity to interact with the normally political space, the organizers said.

Artist Karin Sander created a miniature sculpture of Steinmeier which she placed on a pedestal in the “political speeches room” — the only space the artists were asked to not alter as it has to stay untouched until moving day — in case the president needs to give an ad hoc political speech.

So now, a 36-centimeter (14-inch) tall sculpture of the president made of plaster stands on a pedestal in the center of the room under sweeping chandeliers and framed by light-blue silk curtains. It will keep that position until the real Steinmeier, whose role is largely ceremonial, either needs to give a speech or officially opens the president's interim residency near Berlin's central train station.

The overall move, which has already started, is expected to be finished by the end of the summer.

Before visitors finish their art tour, they pass through the former lobby, where film screenings, dance and music performances and readings will take place. They will also be able to meet with the artists.

As a result, the New York Police Department warned fans that watch parties near Madison Square Garden had been canceled and that anyone attending the game on Monday should arrive at least two hours early as part of enhanced security measures.

Here's the latest:

Trump and his granddaughter Kai are in Dolan’s suite

The president was spotted with Knicks owner James Dolan in his suite high above the court. His granddaughter Kai Trump was also in the suite, as well as his personal adviser Boris Epshteyn.

Cabinet secretaries Lee Zeldin, Sean Duffy and Doug Burgum were also nearby.

Trump clapped, waved and gave a thumbs up as he looked out from behind a pane of glass onto the court.

Crowds stream into Bryant Park for watch party

Fans started grabbing seats on the lawn in front of a giant screen Monday evening at the New York park.

The watch party is typically held near Madison Square Garden, but with Trump attending, it was moved a few blocks away outside the security perimeter, at the park.

A voice blaring out over the crowd listed the many rules, including that chairs, plastic sheets, dogs and yoga mats were not allowed on the grass. Visitors also had to have their bags inspected.

Evette calls Trump’s endorsement ‘huge positive’ for her South Carolina governor campaign

Speaking with reporters after her final primary eve rally, Evette said voters across the state had stopped her to say they were backing her because the president had.

“I think we’re going to do really well tomorrow,” Evette said in Greer. “It’s a momentum, I feel it.”

If no candidate wins a majority in Tuesday’s vote, a runoff will be held two weeks later, and Evette said she was ready if needed to “make sure I win everybody’s vote.”

Trump is arriving at Madison Square Garden

Trump’s Marine One helicopter landed near Wall Street in lower Manhattan. His motorcade drove past throngs of people lining metal racks.

There were a handful of people making rude gestures, and outside the area, one group held signs saying, “Trump must go.”

Trump heading to Spurs-Knicks game

Trump was on his way to Madison Square Garden Monday for NBA Finals Game 3.

A line of police and an armored vehicle with flashing lights was making its way up FDR Drive in New York. A helicopter could be heard overhead.

Fans in Knicks gear wait in long queues

A sea of blue-and-orange Knicks jerseys filled the streets around Madison Square Garden on Monday evening as thousands of fans crowded into lines that stretched for blocks around the arena and Penn Station.

The queues wrapped around corners and spilled down sidewalks, with fans slowly inching toward entrances while checking tickets, taking photos and soaking in the atmosphere ahead of the Knicks’ first NBA Finals home game in 27 years.

For many arriving fans, the wait had become part of the spectacle, with some standing shoulder-to-shoulder for blocks before reaching the Garden.

Knicks fans make their way to NBA Finals Game 3

Greg Weldon was in the stands rooting for the Knicks when they made it to the championships more than half a century ago. Now he’s back with his son to cheer them on.

Standing in line outside Madison Square Garden in his New York jersey, he said, “You can’t really put a price on the experience.”

After traveling from his new home in Florida for the game, he said the main inconvenience he’s faced so far has been the lack of information.

“We’ve asked so many cops, Secret Service, guys with machine guns, what to do, where should we go,” he said. “Nobody knows.”

Security ramps up for NBA Finals Game 3 ahead of Trump’s anticipated arrival

An extensive security operation was underway around Madison Square Garden on Monday ahead of Trump’s expected attendance.

Hundreds of police officers lined streets surrounding the arena in Midtown Manhattan as fans wound through a maze of barricades and sanitation trucks positioned to block vehicle traffic. Thousands passed through an exterior security checkpoint before entering the secured perimeter around the Garden.

The heightened security footprint extended well beyond the arena itself, transforming several blocks around neighboring Penn Station into a tightly controlled security zone.

Trump holds primary eve telerally with South Carolina’s Graham and Evette

During a telerally late Monday afternoon, Trump wished his chosen Senate and governor’s race candidates “good luck,” urging South Carolina voters to support Sen. Lindsey Graham and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the next day’s primary.

Last year, Trump endorsed Graham’s bid for a fifth term. He didn’t weigh in on Evette’s candidacy until less than two weeks before Tuesday’s votes.

As he has done in social posts endorsing Republican candidates in the state, Trump also reminded listeners of his general election victories in South Carolina in all three presidential campaigns.

The telerally was piped into a Greer event for Evette, with several people in the audience filming on their phone as the three Republicans spoke.

DHS secretary calls on sheriffs to sign agreements to assist ICE

While speaking at the National Sheriffs’ Association’s annual meeting in his home state of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin pitched sheriffs on signing a 287g agreement that allows them to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mullin said the Department can help pay deputies’ salaries or for equipment in those jurisdictions that have signed 287g agreements with ICE.

Under the Trump administration, the number of jurisdictions that have signed agreements with ICE has skyrocketed.

They essentially make law enforcement agencies in states and cities around the country an arm of immigration enforcement.

“We can do all that through the 287g program, and then we’re not in the streets arresting these individuals. You guys are simply picking them up for a traffic stop,” Mullin said.

Trump formally nominates Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general

Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump, has been leading the Justice Department in an acting capacity since Trump fired Pam Bondi in April.

It’s unclear whether Blanche has enough Senate support to be confirmed. A key vote on the Judiciary Committee, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, has not said whether he will back Blanche’s nomination.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the committee, said Blanche is “well-qualified and has shown his dedication to restoring law and order across our country.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the committee, said: “Donald Trump has been engaged in the most corrupt enterprise in the history of the Presidency,” adding, “Todd Blanche apparently has not noticed.”

Blanche said last week that he was “honored and humbled” by the nomination.

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy has call with Trump envoys ahead of G7

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media he spoke by phone with Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner earlier on Monday.

The call comes a week before Trump heads to the Group of Seven summit in France in which Russia’s war on Ukraine is expected to be on the agenda. While Ukraine is not a G7 nation, Zelenskyy has been invited to attend next week’s summit.

Zelenskyy in his statement on X also alluded to the conflict becoming more of a backburner issue as Trump looks to find an endgame to the three-month old Iran conflict.

“We understand how much of the world’s attention is focused on the situation around Iran,” Zelenskyy said in a post. “But our shared goal of peace in Europe remains on the agenda.”

Dems call Trump’s refugee approach ‘shameful’

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and California Sen. Alex Padilla said in a letter Monday to the president that there are “multiple legal defects” with the administration’s decision to lift the refugee cap, but only for white South Africans.

The Democrats, who criticized the “shameful efforts to gut the refugee admissions program,” argued there is no “unforeseen refugee emergency” that requires a mid-year adjustment to the refugee levels, which is typically done in September.

“By contrast, there are numerous forced displacement crises and conflicts worldwide that would justify an emergency increase in the ceiling, including, for example, in Sudan, Burma, and Haiti,” the senators wrote.

They also said the administration’s legally-required consultation process with Congress was insufficient, in that it sent deputy officials to meet with lawmakers, not Cabinet rank. The Democrats said the decision to admit solely Afrikaners was a “betrayal of our nation’s longstanding bipartisan commitment to serve as a safe haven for those fleeing persecution.”

State Department to offer expedited visa interviews at select embassies and consulates for $750

The State Department will soon offer a “premium” expedited service for foreigners seeking business or tourist visas that will set applicants back $750 on top of the initial fee of $185.

In a notice to be published in the Federal Register this week, the department will unveil a pilot program that will allow visa applicants to pay the $750 to schedule an appointment for an interview within 10 days of the payment at select U.S. embassies and consulates. The embassies and consulates at which the service will be available were not identified.

Wait times for visa interviews for citizens of countries that are not part of the Visa Waiver Program can be several months, if not longer. But paying the fee for the “optional premium add-on service” does not guarantee that a visa will be issued.

The program would run from July 1 to December 31, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press and a department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the program has not yet been announced.

—- Matthew Lee

Iran’s UN envoy hopes US-Iran talks ‘will reach a conclusion’ by the end of June

Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the United States and Iran are “providing and exchanging the views to reach to a conclusion” through Pakistan.

“We have not received to a final document, but we are pursuing to receive it,” he said in response to a question from The Associated Press after he spoke at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Afghanistan on Monday.

Does he think this is going to happen by the end of the month? “We hope so. We hope so,” Iravani replied.

He stressed that the ceasefire was comprehensive and applied to the region, including Lebanon, which Israel rejects. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Israel will continue striking Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants on Monday, even as it backed off of further strikes with Iran.

“And just, I think, all sides returned to the ceasefire,” Iravani said.

Pentagon includes Alibaba on its list of Chinese military companies

The Pentagon has added the tech giant Alibaba, electric-car maker BYD and the search engine Baidu to its list of Chinese military companies, preventing them from getting U.S. defense contracts.

The list updated and published by the Pentagon on Monday now sanctions some of the best-known, non-state Chinese companies that are not traditionally considered to be in the defense or security sector.

It comes at a time when Washington has become wary of Beijing’s strategy of tapping the strength of non-state businesses for military purposes.

The list was created in 2021 to identify Chinese companies that the Pentagon considers to have links to the Chinese military. It already covers companies such as DJI, a major maker of consumer drones.

Defense Department updates its list of faith traditions after LDS senators complain

The Pentagon updated its recognized religious affiliations Monday, three days after it released a streamlined list.

Utah Republican Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis had complained because the Pentagon’s Christian categories did not include The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Whether members of the LDS Church, often called Mormons, are Christian is a long-running debate.

The latest rubric does not categorize the LDS Church as Christian. Rather, it removes the Christian label from 20 other traditions, including Catholic, Lutheran and Pentecostal.

The Defense Department posted on social media that the original list “included redundant and unnecessary labeling, and the mistake has been fixed.”

US hits more than 100 Nicaraguan officials and family members with travel ban

The United States has placed travel bans on more than 100 Nicaraguan officials and their family members as part of a broader campaign to punish the current government for alleged human rights abuses.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Monday that the new sanctions were, in part, imposed because of the death of indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera and the policies of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife and co-president Rosario Murillo.

“The United States stands with the Nicaraguan people who, like Rivera, aspire to see a free Nicaragua,” he said.

The U.S. has now barred more than 2,350 Nicaraguan officials and family members from entering the United States. The identities of the most recent targets were not released.

US stocks claw back some of the ground they lost on Friday

Wall Street is recovering a bit from its beat-down from Friday, as stocks swept up in the artificial-intelligence boom bounce back.

Oil prices are higher following fighting between Israel and Iran, but they’ve come off their peaks from overnight.

The S&P 500 rose 0.9% early Monday following its 2.6% drop Friday, which was its worst since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 215 points, and the Nasdaq composite added 1.5%.

Some of the best performers were companies that sell computer chips and other products fueling the AI boom. They had plunged Friday amid worries that their prices had shot too high.

▶ Read more

Donald Trump, Knicks fan, heads back to New York to root for his team

There was a time when Donald Trump was just another celebrity sitting courtside at New York Knicks games. He was famous, but not yet flanked by Secret Service agents or defined by the politics that have left him deeply unpopular in his hometown.

Now, more than a decade after attending his last Knicks game at Madison Square Garden, Trump is making a rare trip back to New York City as president to cheer for them in Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night. Invited by Knicks owner James Dolan, he’ll be the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game.

The Knicks are seeking their first championship since 1973, when Trump was 26 and a relative newcomer to the family real estate business that vaulted him to wealth and fame. Two years after that triumph, the team’s owners at the time hired him as a consultant as they looked to sell the arena.

▶ Read more

As America 250 approaches, fewer Americans see their country as exceptional, AP-NORC poll finds

As the U.S. prepares for an extravagant celebration of its founding principles, fewer Americans see their country as exceptional, a new poll finds.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research highlights many Americans’ feelings of unease over the future of its representative government — particularly among young people. It presents a jarring contrast as communities around the country commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Only about one-quarter of Americans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, the new poll found, while 44% say it’s one of the greatest countries in the world, along with some others. About 3 in 10 say there are better countries than the U.S., an increase from 19% in an AP-NORC poll conducted in June 2016.

▶ Read more

Lawsuit seeks to stop the UFC fight on the White House South Lawn for Trump’s birthday

A federal lawsuit seeks to halt the upcoming UFC fight card on the White House South Lawn in a mixed martial arts show timed for President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and part of the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The filing Saturday by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of two Virginia residents contends the Trump administration’s authorization of the June 14 event was unlawful. The lawsuit says such approval violated National Park Service regulations prohibiting sporting events on federal parklands, Congress did not consent to the towering arch overlooking the event space and no environmental review was conducted before the construction.

The White House said in a statement that the legal challenge was “an obstructionist, baseless, and dilatory” attempt to prevent Trump from hosting the fight and that the event was “no different than the various other White House-hosted events on the South Lawn and properly permitted events on the Ellipse and National Mall throughout the year.”

▶ Read more

Trump issues pardon to former Republican congressman convicted of insider trading

Trump has issued a pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana who served nearly two years in prison for making illegal stock trades based on inside information after he left office.

Buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2023 for trades made while working as a consultant and lobbyist. He was ordered to forfeit more than $350,000, representing the amount of the illegal gains, and pay a $10,000 fine. He was released in 2025.

The Supreme Court in May rejected Buyer’s appeal without comment or noted dissent.

In granting “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon,” Trump cited Buyer’s career as a judge advocate general in the Army and in the House that was “distinguished and highly productive.” The pardon was dated Thursday and released by the White House late Friday.

▶ Read more

No watch party at Madison Square Garden with Trump attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals

Police scuttled an NBA Finals watch party near Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks warned fans to get to Monday’s matchup at least two hours early as part of enhanced security measures with Trump attending the game.

Trump is a longtime Knicks fan who confirmed Friday that he would attend the first NBA Finals game in New York since 1999. He already has attended a number of major sporting events in his second term, including the 2025 Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and Ryder Cup.

Part of the fallout from Trump’s visit was the cancellation of a Game 3 watch party outside MSG. The New York Police Department said in a statement Sunday the decision was made in coordination with the Secret Service.

“There will be no watch parties outside of Madison Square Garden for Game 3 only,” the statement said. “This was done fully in coordination with the Secret Service because of the presidential visit. We expect watch parties at Madison Square Garden to resume for Game 4.”

Trump dismisses idea that Iran betrays his ‘no new wars’ campaign message

Trump is dismissing the idea that launching the war with Iran this year betrayed his refrain of “No new wars” that he made repeatedly as he campaigned again for the White House.

Trump, in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he “didn’t guarantee” there would be no wars if he were back in office.

“First of all, I didn’t guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?” Trump said.

It came just hours before Israel and Iran traded fire in retaliatory strikes that threatened to drag the wider Middle East back into a full-scale regional war. It was the first exchange of fire since an April 8 ceasefire was reached.

Trump also defended plans for a now-scrapped $1.8 billion fund that would have compensated allies of the Republican president and he repeated his baseless claims of mass fraud in California’s drawn-out vote count from Tuesday’s primary. He ended the interview abruptly when he became frustrated with pushback from NBC’s Kristen Welker.

▶ Read more

Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in April. His attorneys say he is being detained on baseless claims that he is a foreign policy threat, but they believe he was actually targeted for speaking out against Israel and for a conviction as a minor by Israeli military courts.

He has no criminal record in the U.S., where he has lived for more than 30 years.

Sarsour has Type 2 diabetes and his blood sugar levels aren't being consistently checked, putting him at risk of organ failure or death if left untreated, his attorneys told a federal judge on Monday. Sarsour is being held in an Indiana county jail while his immigration case is pending.

“We had the opportunity to make a direct, urgent appeal to the court about the need for Salah’s release, including being able to report that he has lost a staggering 30 pounds while in detention,” Luna Droubi, an attorney for Sarsour, said in a press release. “The Judge raised questions about the medical care Salah is receiving, and we will continue to press this case.”

Officials with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Court documents filed by attorneys representing DHS and ICE all appeared to be sealed in the online federal court files, so any legal response to the allegations raised by Sarsour's attorneys was not immediately available to view.

An investigation by KFF Health News and The Associated Press found that hundreds of detainees in at least 33 states have filed federal lawsuits with similar allegations of medical neglect. Those lawsuits include other detainees who say they were denied medication or had treatment delayed for conditions including cancer, high blood pressure, epilepsy, Parkinson's, HIV, diabetes, infections, depression and more.

Sarsour's attorneys offered more details about his detention conditions in a letter sent late last month to U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon. They are asking the judge to release Sarsour while his case moves forward.

“Mr. Sarsour's health continues to deteriorate,” they wrote. “Though he recently developed severe abdominal pain, he was told by officials in the jail that they could not help him and that he must purchase his own medication. His blood sugar levels are not being consistently checked.”

Sarsour is also being tormented by jail guards who denied him access to a Quran and who repeatedly interrupt him when he is trying to pray in accordance with his Muslim faith, his attorneys said. When Sarsour asked for an adequate diet to stabilize his blood sugar levels, he was told to purchase BBQ pork rinds from the commissary, even though that food would violate his religious beliefs and dietary restrictions, his attorneys said.

“Just over two months ago, my dad would have been starting his day as usual by checking in on my grandmother and heading to work,” said Kareem Sarsour, Salah’s son. “We’re not only fighting now for my dad’s legal right to be here, but also for his health — and basic due process guaranteed by his constitutional rights to speak up about injustice.”

___

Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Maria L. Oxholm of the Eastern District of Michigan approved the sale following a May hearing and a subsequent bench ruling authorizing the transfer of the property in a Chapter 11 case involving Leland House Limited Partnership.

The court approved the sale to Mudhish Development Company LLC, the winning bidder identified through a court-supervised auction. Court filings value the purchase agreement at approximately $3 million.

Sale process meets legal standard

Oxholm found that the sale process was properly noticed, conducted in good faith, and that the highest and best offer for the property was produced. No official committee of unsecured creditors was appointed in the case.

Under the order, the property will be transferred free and clear of most liens and claims, with those interests instead attaching to the sale proceeds.

The court also determined the transaction met requirements under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

The ruling requires that a secured claim held by Next Bridge Funding LLC, the debtor’s post-petition lender, be paid in full at closing, along with other outstanding obligations, including city water and sewer claims.

Court-approved professional fees and broker commissions will also be paid from the sale proceeds.

Oxholm authorized the debtor to proceed to closing without further court approval, though proceeds must be held and distributed under future court orders, except for specified payments.

The judge also designated the buyer as a “good faith purchaser,” granting it protections from certain legal challenges and shielding the transaction from avoidance claims.

→ Former Leland House tenants return to condemned downtown Detroit high-rise to retrieve belongings

Displaced tenants must be compensated

The sale includes conditions addressing displaced tenants, who the court said hold leasehold interests that require “adequate protection,” a legal standard that ensures parties are compensated for lost interests under bankruptcy law.

Those tenants were removed following a power failure at the building last year.

The court said compensation for the value of remaining lease interests may be required and ordered that related funds be held pending further proceedings.

The Detroit Tenants Union has until the end of the month to file a motion outlining requested compensation, with objections due in July.

The court retained jurisdiction over disputes related to the sale and its implementation.

The transaction is authorized to proceed, but remains subject to final closing steps.

--> Residents at The Leland House get answers after 4 months of displacement

Leland House Apt Sale Court Order by brandon carr

But when the 26 players took the field at Orange County's Great Park on Monday to the cheers of several thousand fans who had turned out just to watch a mere practice, they were given yet another reminder of just how special this opportunity will be if they seize it.

The Americans projected confidence and excitement as they settled into their training base for at least the next three weeks in Southern California. The team convened in Georgia last month before playing two friendlies in the past eight days.

All three of the Americans' World Cup group stage matches are on the West Coast, starting with their opener Friday night against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium, the palatial NFL arena about 50 miles away in Inglewood, California.

“I think the group is in a really good place at the minute,” U.S. captain Tim Ream said. “We’ve all been, I wouldn’t say overwhelmed, but pleasantly surprised by the excitement and the buzz around the team and in the stadiums. Pulling up here with 5,500 fans ready to watch a training session is incredible. I just think we’re in a good place mentally right now. It’s been a long two weeks, a hard two weeks, but guys are in a great position mentally, physically and emotionally, and ready to get going.”

The team was greeted in Irvine by rows of enthusiastic fans who won a multi-stage lottery among 32,000 applicants for the chance to watch practice and to get autographs at FIFA's Community Day event. U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino entertained the crowd and got a “U-S-A!” chant going while his team was doing a brief gym workout before it got on the grass.

“The facilities are amazing,” Pochettino said. “It’s more than we expect, and not only the facilities, but the people who are here working. Great facilities and great people are an amazing combination. We are grateful, and I want to say a big thanks.”

The fans stood in lengthy security lines at this sprawling athletic complex for an up-close morning look at a team that isn't among the favorites, but has the backing of millions in a country where soccer has proliferated in popularity since the World Cup's last visit in 1994. The Americans' training stadium is the normal home of Orange County SC, a club in the second-tier USL Championship, which didn't exist three decades ago.

“I’m old enough that I remember bits and pieces of 1994,” said the 38-year-old Ream, who grew up in St. Louis before his lengthy career as a defender in England and the U.S., where he now plays for Charlotte in Major League Soccer, which didn't stage its inaugural season until 1996.

“So I’ve tried to tell guys and tried to convey the messaging that this is a once-in-a-career opportunity, and with that comes more expectation, more pressure," Ream added. "But we have to enjoy it. There’s nobody putting more expectation and more pressure on us than ourselves, and that's the way it should be. For me, it’s about just opening your eyes and taking everything in, because this is unique. This is completely different from anything any of us has experienced. So take it in and embrace everything that it is, because it’s so unique, it's so special, and it's not something we'll ever be doing again.”

The most notable part of practice was the full participation of top defender Chris Richards, who injured his left ankle last month while playing for Crystal Palace. Richards didn't play in the two friendlies, but his full return to practice is another hopeful sign in his plan to be on the roster that must be finalized Thursday night.

___

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

The decision sent shock waves across college sports since bans for gambling are a bedrock rule of the NCAA and many professional sports.

The NCAA said it strongly disagrees with the ruling and “is deeply concerned about the damaging, far-reaching and broadly destabilizing ramifications of this outcome — which undermines and corrupts the integrity of sports.” The NCAA said it would appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas in Amarillo.

Sorsby, whose school said he has a gambling problem that he is addressing through treatment, will miss the Red Raiders’ first two games next season under a judge-approved penalty that had been proposed by his attorneys. The NCAA, which usually handles such punishments, was not involved.

The ruling by Judge Ken Curry prevents the NCAA from being able to block the transfer QB's eligibility for what will be his final college season with a team among the favorites to win the Big 12 Conference and return to the College Football Playoff for a second consecutive season.

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said the ramifications of the ruling “could have broad impacts across college athletics, creating great concern amongst our membership.” He called a meeting this week of his league's athletic directors and executive board, and been in touch with NCAA President Charlie Baker.

Texas Tech opens the season on Sept. 5 at home against Abilene Christian. The Red Raiders then play Oregon State before their Big 12 opener at home on Sept. 18 against Houston.

“I’m very grateful for the endless support I have received throughout this entire process,” Sorsby posted on social media. “I am also grateful for the chance to rejoin my teammates. This opportunity comes with the responsibility to remain focused on my personal growth, the ability to learn from this experience, and to be able to use my situation to help others going forward.”

The judge's ruling

Curry held a two-hour hearing last week in the 99th District Court in Lubbock County, where Texas Tech is located. In his decision, he wrote that he agreed Sorsby would suffer “a probable, imminent and irreparable injury” if he cannot practice or play for the Red Raiders.

The injunction comes with conditions that Sorsby must continue counseling for his gambling and to participate in peer support through Gamblers Anonymous or a similar group. He also must continue treatment to address “the underlying anxiety that served as the primary driver of (his) gambling behavior.”

Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said a comprehensive support structure, including clinical care, monitoring and compliance checks, will remain fully in place for Sorsby during his time at the school.

“As we have said before, we do not believe that the circumstances of Brendan’s case warranted permanent ineligibility,” Hocutt said. “As he returns to our football program, we remain committed to supporting Brendan’s recovery and ensuring his compliance with the court’s order.”

Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor told Yahoo Sports he was disappointed by the ruling.

“It is absolutely devastating for him to be able to play when every other sport, no matter the level, deems an athlete ineligible or they are punished severely for betting on their team,” he told the outlet.

Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen confirmed to The Associated Press that his coaches have been told to not schedule Texas Tech in any sport, as first reported by Yahoo Sports. Georgia also will not schedule Texas Tech in any sport, according to multiple media outlets.

“This may be one of those seminal moments we've all been waiting for,” Dannen said in a text to the AP.

A significant setback against the NCAA

NCAA attorney Taylor Askew had said during the hearing that allowing Sorsby to play another college season would provide “reputable harm” to the governing body.

“Saying the NCAA is now the first league in America that allows you, without punishment, to bet on its own contests, that’s a reputable harm to the NCAA,” Askew told the court. “This would be the first league in America that does that. ... We should not say for the first time serial gambling is OK.”

Court records show that Sorsby has acknowledged making thousands of impermissible bets totaling at least $90,000 during his time at Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. That included 40 bets on Indiana while he was a freshman there in 2022, though none on any of the games he played in with the Hoosiers.

While some guidelines for penalties related to gambling have changed in recent years, NCAA rules still call for a permanent loss of eligibility for any player who wagered on his own team.

Sorsby was at Indiana for two seasons before the past two at Cincinnati.

The Texas native transferred in January to Texas Tech for a reported multimillion-dollar deal. The Red Raiders brought him in to be the starting quarterback when trying to defend their first Big 12 title and return to the CFP.

What led to the NCAA investigation

According to court filings, on March 11 the NCAA received a tip about Sorsby’s gambling activity from an online sportsbook, which had been informed by law enforcement. Texas Tech was notified April 14 that an investigation was underway by the NCAA.

Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney who negotiated the $2.8 billion House settlement against the NCAA and now represents Sorsby, told the court that the 22-year-old quarterback has a diagnosed addiction and anxiety-driven compulsion. Sorsby recently completed a monthlong stay in a residential treatment program in Arizona that he entered after the start of the NCAA’s investigation.

According to a clinician who treated Sorsby, Kessler said, not allowing the quarterback to play would hurt his mental health and hamper his recovery.

The NCAA in its statement Monday said it is “committed to supporting student-athlete mental health but must continue to aggressively defend against actions that defraud college athletics and threaten competitive integrity, such as betting on one’s own sport.”

The lawsuit and NCAA appeals

The injunction came in Sorsby’s lawsuit filed May 18 against the NCAA seeking the restoration of his eligibility. That case was initially assigned to District Judge Phillip Hays, a Lubbock native and Texas Tech graduate who later recused himself. Curry is a retired judge from Tarrant County, nearly 300 miles away.

Since the filing of that lawsuit, the NCAA has twice denied Texas Tech’s petition to restore the quarterback’s eligibility.

When the school on May 26 revealed the first denial and its intent to appeal, university president Lawrence Schovanec wrote in a letter to the Texas Tech community that the school felt “the NCAA’s ruling should be reversed or modified.”

That comment illustrates the difficult landscape for the NCAA, which has lost multiple court cases challenging rules that were put in place by the very schools that make up its membership. Many focus on eligibility, with athletes contending they should be allowed to play and continue to earn money that was made available under the House ruling.

The NCAA is on the verge of approving a new eligibility model following meetings among stakeholders and even President Donald Trump. The NCAA continues to also seek limited antitrust protections from Congress in hopes of eliminating or at least smoothing the state-by-state rulings that have thrown the industry into chaos.

“There is no better example of why targeted intervention from Congress is necessary,” Baker said on social media after the ruling. “When you have schools and deep-pocketed supporters willing to look the other way on the glaring integrity threat of betting on your own team — and judges whose rulings effectively strip away our ability to stop them — only Congress can equip the NCAA to apply this common sense rule to everyone fairly and consistently. The Protect College Sports Act would empower the NCAA to enforce rules including the gambling restrictions — it’s needed now more than ever.”

___

AP College Football Writer Eric Olson contributed to this report.

___

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

The outcome means Spencer Pratt, a Republican and former reality television personality from “The Hills,” is out of the running. His candidacy had drawn national attention because of his celebrity and willingness to challenge liberal governance in a city dominated by Democrats, but the buzz did not translate into enough votes to make the runoff.

Raman made a last-minute entry into the race, after she had endorsed Bass for reelection. She was elected to the council with the support of the Democratic Socialists of America, and the election will test whether voters in the heavily Democratic city want to move further to the political left to address long-running problems of homelessness, buckled streets and sidewalks and climbing rent and home prices.

The race also has historical markers. Bass is the first Black woman to hold the post, and Raman could be the first South Asian woman in the job.

“If you’re as frustrated by the broken status quo as I am, I hope you’ll join our movement to build a city that works for everyone,” Raman said in a statement. "For too long, City Hall has prioritized giving political advantage to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people pay the price in higher rents, depleted services and a city that has stopped working for them.”

“A campaign against Nithya Raman, who allows encampments near schools and cuts the police force, is one Mayor Bass looks forward to winning,” said Bass campaign strategist Douglas Herman.

The mayoral matchup sets the field in one of the state's two marquee races. In the other, the California governor’s race, Democrat Xavier Becerra has advanced to the general election but it's not yet clear if he will face Republican Steve Hilton or fellow Democrat Tom Steyer.

The mayoral race was technically nonpartisan, so the candidates appeared on the ballot without party identification next to their names.

The election was not a vote of confidence in Bass, who according to incomplete returns received under 35% of the vote, a vulnerable position for an incumbent.

Raman had been running in third until Sunday, but she gained more votes with every update provided by election officials in Los Angeles since June 2, primary day.

Bass represents the Democratic establishment as the incumbent mayor, and she’s backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with influential labor unions. She served in the state Legislature and Congress before becoming mayor in 2022 and was under consideration to be former President Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020.

Raman — in her first run for citywide office — has promised to speed up housing construction, bring back entertainment industry jobs and improve services in a city known for dirty streets, gridlock and homeless encampments that are commonplace in many neighborhoods.

“What we are doing right now is just not working,” Raman says. “LA’s primary strategy for homelessness has been to move encampments from one block to another, from your block to your neighbor’s block and back again. ... It’s political theater.”

California’s vote count takes a long time

It took nearly a week to determine who would face Bass in November due to California’s notoriously slow vote-counting process. Ballots are mailed to every eligible voter and they are counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at an election office within seven days.

Los Angeles, like other counties in California, processes and counts mail ballots in roughly the order they are received, so the last ones returned are the last ones counted.

On Tuesday night after polls closed, Los Angeles released results from mail ballots that had been returned early and already processed as well as votes cast that day. Those votes put Bass in the lead with Pratt running in second and Raman behind in third. Since then, the county has been processing and releasing results from mail ballots that arrived later.

Election data shows that large numbers of Democrats held onto their mail ballots and returned them in the race’s final days, which helps explain why Bass and Raman have been doing better than Pratt in the votes counted since primary day.

Raman’s political positions have shifted

Born in India, Raman moved to the United States as a child and earned degrees from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied urban planning.

She has opposed efforts to prohibit homeless people from setting up tents within 500 feet (152 meters) of schools and daycare centers. However, she appears to have softened her opposition to no-camping zones, which were intended to curb the spread of encampments and clear streets. She voted against dozens of them on the council but later said she would not block them if elected mayor.

Raman’s positions on policing in the city have also changed.

She once talked of a department that would be much smaller and posted “defund the police” on social media in 2020. She did not support the mayor’s 2023 police contract, which she said was too expensive for the financially strapped city.

More recently, she said the Los Angeles Police Department should remain at its current size, about 8,600, down from about 10,000 in 2020. The police union has taunted her in ads, calling her “Flip Floppin’ Raman.”

In diverse Los Angeles, mayors are elected by building coalitions, ethnically and geographically. And to surpass 50% of the vote and win, Raman will need to find more supporters.

“I don’t think it’s impossible, but she is going to have to expand beyond her ideological base,” said Democratic consultant Bill Carrick, who sees Bass as vulnerable.

“The people who didn’t vote for Nithya weren’t voting against her, they were voting for somebody else. Karen (Bass) had a good number of people who were voting against her,” Carrick added.

Though Raman and Pratt are political opposites, both have attracted voters who aren’t happy with the city’s status quo.

Tanika Vickers, who works for a housing nonprofit in Los Angeles, said that she felt like she was part of a group of people who work and pay taxes but have been “forgotten.” She said she was frustrated with the way tax dollars were being spent, especially “throwing” more money toward homelessness without results.

She said she voted Raman for mayor because she was most qualified to execute her plans and fulfill what the city needs.

“I think that we are all looking for change,” she said.

Knicks fever reached a new peak Monday night, with New York hosting Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. Shouts of “Let's go Knicks!” and “Knicks in four!” were heard throughout midtown Manhattan, with spirits up even as tight security measures for the presence of President Donald Trump caused hours-long lines to get in.

With the Knicks in the finals for the first time since 1999 and leading the best-of-seven series 2-0, their first home game this round was a hot ticket. The get-in price exceeded the average cost of rent in the biggest U.S. city.

“This is my son here, so taking him to the finals, you can’t really put a price on the experience,” said Greg Weldon, who flew in from Florida to attend a finals game as he did when New York won it all in 1970 and '73. “It’s like that commercial: The tickets, ridiculous; the hassle getting in, ridiculous — the experience, priceless.”

The cheapest upper-deck seats available were going for over $5,000 on resale platforms like StubHub, SeatGeek and VividSeats. The experience of being courtside goes for more than $75,000.

“I don’t care who you are, that’s a lot of money for a ticket,” said guard Jose Alvarado, a New York native who was planning a viewing party in Brooklyn and pointed out his Queens high school also is hosting one. “People that could afford it, we’re grateful with them coming out, and it just shows you our team is really special and we’re doing something here that hasn’t been done in a long time.”

The Knicks were two victories from their first championship since '73, and the hoopla for Game 3 included the anticipated appearances of Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Trump's presence led to the cancellation of a planned watch party outside the arena, where fans have gathered throughout this playoff run that has included a 13-game winning streak.

“Hope has been brought back to the city,” center Karl-Anthony Towns said. Teammate Josh Hart said “it's going to be rocking” but lamented the high cost just to get into The Garden.

“I kind of wish the ticket prices weren’t as crazy as they are,” Hart said. “I feel like a lot of people who have been waiting for this moment for a very long time unfortunately aren’t able to get into the building.”

No team has gone up 2-0 in the NBA Finals on the road and not won the series.

"They win this game, it’s kind of over, so this is the game to be at," Weldon said.

The possibility of a sweep drove ticket prices up to over $10,000 apiece over the weekend, and the price is about the same for an if-necessary Game 6.

Fewer than 20,000 people will get the opportunity to attend each night. Alvarado knows far more will be watching on television all over.

“The people that can’t afford it, we improvise,” he said. "We’re New Yorkers. We’re going to find a way to watch a game, and that’s what we’re doing.”

___

Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo contributed to this report.

___

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

It's Xi's first visit to North Korea in seven years. Earlier Monday, he was given a lavish welcome upon arrival at Pyongyang's international airport. He and his wife Peng Liyuan were greeted by Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju, who broadly smiled and clapped.

Xi later arrived at Pyongyang’s main square, where a military honor guard and thousands of people, including children carrying balloons and hopping, staged a welcoming ceremony. Buildings surrounding the plaza were draped in the two countries’ flags, giant portraits of Kim and Xi and red-and-yellow banners welcoming the Chinese leader and celebrating the nations’ “friendship and unity.”

Xi and Kim express their hopes for greater ties

In a summit later Monday, Xi expressed China’s willingness to expand cooperation in a wide range of areas including trade, agriculture, construction and technology, China's state broadcaster CCTV said in an online report.

Xi said the two countries should strengthen strategic cooperation and firmly safeguard their respective sovereignty and security interests, according to the report.

Kim said Xi's visit “clearly demonstrates how unbreakable" the North Korea-China relationship is, CCTV said. It cited Kim as saying that consolidating a new era of friendship between the two countries is the “unchanging strategic choice” of North Korea.

Full details of the meeting weren’t available. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday that the leaders discussed international and regional issues and reached broad agreement on strengthening strategic coordination to safeguard their shared interests. Kim during the meeting also reiterated Pyongyang’s support for Beijing’s “one-China principle,” a reference to Beijing’s official position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, KCNA said.

Experts earlier predicted the meeting would have big ramifications on bilateral ties and beyond, as they both seek to fully restore their traditional alliance in the face of separate confrontations with the U.S.

Xi and Kim last met in Beijing in September, after viewing a military parade alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign leaders.

Sway over North Korea could help Xi's dealings with US

Xi’s trip comes after his back-to-back summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin in Beijing last month. Xi is expected to meet Trump again on a planned U.S. visit in September.

Xi will try to demonstrate China’s “sway over the Korean Peninsula” and “a leadership role in entire Northeast Asia in the age of strategic competition with the U.S.,” said Kwak Gil Sup, the head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs.

China has long been North Korea's economic lifeline and main diplomatic backer. Experts say China has avoided fully enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea and sent clandestine aid to help its impoverished neighbor stay afloat. This year marks 65 years since the two countries signed a mutual defense treaty.

But there have been questions about their ties in recent years, with North Korea prioritizing cooperation with Russia by supplying troops and weapons to support its war against Ukraine. In return, North Korea has received economic and military assistance from Russia.

Restoring an exclusive influence over North Korea would give Xi leverage in dealings with Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his desire to restart diplomacy with Kim, experts say.

“Implementing U.N. Security Council resolutions and enforcing sanctions do not appear to be priorities for China," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Two-way trade volume between China and North Korea last year recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Earlier this year, the countries also resumed direct flights and passenger trains that were stalled since the pandemic. Xi said Monday that both nations should use the reopening of flight and train services as a chance to expand people-to-people exchanges.

Kim needs Xi's support for his push for nuclear state

Xi would likely offer Kim economic aid packages such as shipments of rice and fertilizers, a resumption of Chinese group tourism to North Korea, and joint economic projects, analysts said.

“North Korea can’t solely rely on Russia. It needs to align with China,” Kwak said.

Xi could also refrain from pressing Kim on the issue of denuclearization of North Korea, and vaguely speak about peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. That would be essential for Kim, who is desperate to win international recognition as a nuclear weapons state as a way to call for lifting of U.N. sanctions on North Korea.

“Chinese officials have taken the position of not speaking publicly about denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula while still maintaining it as a long-term goal. Kim appears to want Xi to accept North Korea as a nuclear neighbor,” Easley said.

After last month’s summit between Trump and Xi, the White House said the two leaders confirmed their shared goal to denuclearize North Korea. But China only said the leaders discussed the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. On Sunday, Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, echoed her brother, and dismissed as an “anachronistic dream” a U.S. push for the denuclearization of North Korea.

Last week, Kim Jong Un unveiled a new plant to produce nuclear ingredients and vowed to bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.” He also observed sea trials of a new naval destroyer and called for speeding up efforts to build a nuclear-armed navy.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung told reporters Monday that North Korea is producing enough nuclear ingredients annually for about 10 to 20 bombs and is close to perfecting intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

Kim has focused on enlarging and modernizing his nuclear arsenal since his high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019. In September, Kim said he still had "good personal memories” of Trump but called on Washington to drop its demand for North Korea’s denuclearization as a precondition for renewed talks.

__

Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul and E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing contributed to this report.

The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because talks are private. The Detroit Free Press first reported the development earlier in the day.

Larkin has a full no-trade clause as part of his contract, and his list was limited to being dealt to Vegas, Minnesota and Florida. He has five years left on an eight-year, $69.6 million contract, which carries an annual salary cap hit of $8.7 million.

The 29-year-old’s trade demand comes after completing his 11th season in Detroit, and 10th straight without a playoff berth. The Red Wings’ decade-long postseason drought now stands as the NHL’s longest active run after the Buffalo Sabres qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 15 years this season.

The Red Wings faltered down the stretch in becoming the NHL’s second team to have 69 points through 53 games only to miss the playoffs.

From Waterford, Michigan, Larkin enjoyed success in his Olympic debut, by winning a gold medal representing the U.S. at the Milan Cortina Games in February.

The challenge for Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is working out a deal with any of the three teams, who each are projected to be in the bottom half of the NHL in having $15.2 million or less in cap space available entering next season, according to spotrac.com.

And they include the Golden Knights, who rank 31st among the NHL’s 32 teams in currently having just $4.6 million of space available.

It’s unclear whether Larkin would be open to potentially expanding his list.

Larkin has spent his entire career in the Detroit area. He played collegiately at Michigan, and was selected by Detroit with the 15th pick in the 2014 draft. He’s a six-time 30-goal scorer, and coming off a season in which he had 67 points, including a career-best 34 goals in 74 games.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The district announced on Monday (June 8) that students and families who purchased tickets will receive information this week regarding the refund process.

In a statement, Interim Superintendent Kevin Knoblock said school officials explored options for holding prom at a later date but ultimately decided against rescheduling because there is no timeline for when the investigation will conclude.

“At this time, the tip that led to the cancellation remains under active investigation,” Knoblock said. “Until the investigation determines otherwise, the information is considered credible and is being treated with the utmost seriousness.”

Clintondale High School’s prom was canceled June 2, about an hour before it was scheduled to begin, after the district received an OK2SAY tip through the Michigan State Police.

According to school officials, the report suggested a student might bring a firearm to the dance and was categorized as a “Planned School Attack.”

District administrators decided to cancel the event after consulting with law enforcement.

Because the investigation remains ongoing, school officials said they could not justify asking students and families to wait indefinitely for a decision on a replacement event.

Refunds will be issued by check, payable to the student who purchased the ticket.

The district said seniors and other ticket holders will receive direct communication outlining the refund process.

School leaders acknowledged students’ and families’ disappointment and thanked community members who explored alternatives to holding a prom event outside the district.

The district emphasized that any plans organized through the Community Activist Project or other community groups, including discussions about independently hosting or rescheduling prom, are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or coordinated through Clintondale Community Schools.

“Our priority remains the safety and well-being of our students,” the district said in its statement. “We remain committed to that and are grateful for the continued care and dedication shown by our community.”

The investigation is being conducted by the district’s school resource officer and the Clinton Township Police Department.

Officials have not released additional details about the threat or identified any suspects.

Despite the ongoing investigation, Clintondale High School’s graduation ceremony proceeded as scheduled on Friday with enhanced security measures in place, including increased police presence and security screenings for all guests and belongings.

School officials said the additional precautions were implemented to help ensure the safety of students, staff, and attendees.

The investigation remains ongoing.

Storm risk

While a few light rain showers could develop before midnight, the more active weather starts Tuesday morning as multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms move through Southeast Michigan through the evening.

Some storms may produce torrential rainfall, leading to ponding on roads and localized flooding, especially in urban areas where drainage systems can quickly become overwhelmed.

Rainfall totals will vary considerably from one neighborhood to the next. While some communities may receive only a quarter-inch of rain, others could see one to two inches if storms repeatedly move over the same area.

Heat risk

By Wednesday and Thursday, the threat of strong storms and heat and humidity will demand attention.

Temperatures are expected to climb into the upper 80s and lower 90s across Metro Detroit, while humidity levels push heat index values into the upper 90s and potentially near 100 degrees in some locations.

Overnight temperatures may only fall into the upper 60s and lower 70s, providing little relief from the heat.

The National Weather Service places much of Southeast Michigan in a moderate-to-major Heat Risk category on Wednesday and Thursday, indicating a greater risk of heat-related illnesses, particularly among vulnerable populations and those spending extended periods outdoors.

How to stay safe from the heat

Residents should limit strenuous outdoor activities during the hottest part of the day, generally between noon and 6 p.m.

Experts also recommend drinking water regularly, wearing lightweight and light-colored clothing, taking frequent breaks in air-conditioned buildings and checking on elderly relatives, neighbors and anyone without reliable cooling.

How to recognize heat illness

Signs of heat exhaustion include heavy sweating, weakness, dizziness, nausea, and headaches.

Heat stroke is a medical emergency and may include confusion, loss of consciousness, hot skin, and a body temperature above 103 degrees.

The storm threat does not disappear during the heat.

Additional thunderstorms are possible on Wednesday and Thursday.

While confidence remains lower in the exact timing, Thursday appears to have greater severe weather potential as a cold front approaches the Great Lakes.

Damaging winds, large hail, and isolated tornadoes would be risks if severe thunderstorms develop.

The weather could also affect baseball fans heading downtown.

The Detroit Tigers host the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday and again at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday.

Tuesday’s game could contend with nearby showers and thunderstorms, while Wednesday’s contest may begin in very warm, humid conditions before any late-day storm chances develop.

Fans attending either game should monitor the forecast, stay hydrated, and have a plan to seek shelter if thunderstorms approach.

Looking ahead, a cold front will sweep through Thursday night, bringing cooler and less humid air for Friday and the upcoming weekend.

High temperatures are expected to return to the 80s, providing a more comfortable finish to the week.

People are encouraged to keep weather alerts enabled and download the 4Warn Weather app for the latest forecasts, radar updates, and severe weather notifications.

Share your weather photos with Local 4 at MIPics.

“The project team is progressing well towards a spring opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, which will be a vital economic link between the two countries. Additional details will be shared in the coming days,” said Tara Carson, a spokesperson for the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press reported that a ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Friday.

The Detroit News also reported the bridge is expected to open to traffic on June 15.

The bridge, jointly owned by Michigan and Canada, broke ground in 2018, though the agreement to build it was signed in 2012.

Under that deal, Canada agreed to cover construction costs, to be repaid through toll revenue.

The project has also been pulled into a broader dispute between the U.S. and Canada.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump threatened to keep the bridge closed unless the U.S. is “fully compensated” by Canada and called for negotiations.

Last month, the White House told Local 4 that concerns about the bridge are separate from trade, while reaffirming its commitment to challenging Canada’s trade practices.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens previously said Canada should not accept a bad deal simply to open the bridge.

Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sounded the alarm in a letter over the weekend after a failed procedural vote to extend the program.

The senators urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also acts as the president's National Security Advisor, to prepare “for a potential significant gap in foreign intelligence collection” if the authority expires. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, set to lapse June 12, allows agencies including the CIA, National Security Agency and FBI to collect communications from foreign targets overseas without a warrant.

In a response obtained by The Associated Press, Rubio replied to the senators that he understands the “political challenges” but said he is “deeply disappointed” that Democrats are opposing the legislation.

“Allowing Section 702 to expire would have dire impacts on our ability to keep the nation secure,” Rubio wrote.

Efforts to secure a long-term extension of the program already faced hurdles because of bipartisan concerns that the program can incidentally collect Americans’ communications. Privacy advocates and some lawmakers have been pushing to create a new warrant requirement before those communications can be searched.

Senate leaders from both parties appeared to be nearing bipartisan agreement on a long-term extension, but the effort collapsed after Trump selected federal housing finance regulator Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence.

Democrats and several Republicans registered their opposition to Trump’s selection of Pulte, arguing the federal housing finance regulator lacks the experience needed to oversee the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies and has used his current position to investigate some of the president's perceived political rivals.

“Why the president would throw this live hand grenade of Bill Pulte in 10 days before this is due to expire, I'm not sure," Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on ABC's “This Week.”

Pulte pick upends bipartisan deal

Even as they say it is critical, Democrats have said they won't have the votes to renew the surveillance authority unless Pulte's appointment is withdrawn. Republican leaders tried to start the process last week, but seven Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in blocking a long-term extension.

“The White House bears the responsibility to fix this,” Warner said. “They have the power to do it. They can do it today. Let’s see what happens.”

Trump has said that Pulte won't be his permanent pick, but has not announced a nominee to be confirmed by the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday that there are “conversations” around the White House nominating a permanent pick for the job before the surveillance authority expires. But he said he wasn't sure what they would decide to do.

“We have a deadline ahead of us. We need Democrat votes,” Thune said. “The naming of Pulte to that position, although the timing arguably wasn’t the best, I still don’t think it ought to derail something that’s this important."

Thune has also expressed concern over Pulte's pick, saying the nation’s top intelligence post should not be “weaponized” and that the job should be filled by “professionals.” Cotton, who rarely strays from supporting Trump and is a leading advocate for the surveillance authority, declined to endorse Pulte last week, saying only that he had “no observations on the matter.”

“He’s not qualified for the long-term position,” Republican Sen. James Lankford, another member of the Intelligence Committee, told “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s been clear on this. He has no national security background.”

Both Republican and Democratic senators skeptical of Pulte pointed to his record at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. In the role, he's been linked with criminal referrals over allegations of mortgage fraud by public officials Trump sought to punish, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat; Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; and Lisa Cook, a board member of the Federal Reserve.

“Clearly to get to good-faith negotiations the effort to elevate Bill Pulte as the acting director of national intelligence should be reversed. Immediately," House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.

A key surveillance tool

The current reauthorization debate is hardly the first time that lawmakers have grappled with the fate of the surveillance program, particularly after a flurry of revelations about government misuse of the vast trove of intelligence it collects.

The topic in recent years has scrambled predictable partisan alliances, with Democratic critics of the Trump administration uniting with skeptics of government power on the right in voicing concerns about Section 702’s renewal.

In 2024, for instance, those divisions nearly caused the program to lapse. The Senate barely missed its midnight deadline that year before approving by a 60-34 margin legislation to reauthorize Section 702 that was subsequently signed by then-President Joe Biden.

In a post on X, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche urged Democrats “to come back to the table with their Republican counterparts.”

The authority is “one of our nation’s key tools for finding and stopping foreign terrorists," Blanche said.

Cotton and Grassley said they believed Democratic leaders would not support another short-term extension of the surveillance authority and urged Rubio to prepare contingency plans. They said Trump should consider an executive order to prevent a disruption in intelligence collection.

Democrats and Republicans have said they were close on a bipartisan deal on a long-term extension and could still move quickly should a change occur before Friday. Still, the bill would likely need to go through the House — and the two chambers so far have disagreed on a separate issue regarding central banking digital currency.

Republicans are already warning of the consequences if Congress fails to act.

“If it goes dark, then it would be a calamitous situation for the country,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

___

Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

The 56-year-old is facing allegations of sexual misconduct with a female aide, in a scandal that has dragged on for more than two years. He has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing.

A final decision on Khan's fate is now up to the Assembly of States Parties, the body that oversees the ICC, which will hold a special session to decide if Khan can remain in his job at the global court.

The Bureau of the Assembly of States parties — the executive committee of the court’s oversight body — said in a statement that it based its decision “on the report of an investigation undertaken by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the underlying evidence, the advice of an ad hoc Panel of judicial experts, and written submissions.”

It added that Khan's suspension pending the assembly meeting “is not an indication of the final outcome.”

The U.N. investigation found evidence that Khan had “nonconsensual sexual contact with (the aide) in his office, at his private residence, and whilst on mission,” according to a copy of its report seen by The Associated Press. However, a three-judge panel selected by the executive committee for a legal assessment of the findings found that the investigation was not conclusive enough.

When contacted for comment, Khan’s legal team said a statement would be issued Tuesday.

Khan had already temporarily stepped down in May 2025 pending the outcome of the investigation. The process is unprecedented for the ICC, and the Assembly of States Parties has had to repeatedly create new rules to accommodate the situation.

The allegations against Khan were first reported to the court’s independent watchdog more than two years ago. An AP investigation revealed that Khan was alleged to have seen the woman working in another ICC department and moved her into his office. She later became a regular presence on official trips, according to whistleblower documents.

On one foreign trip, Khan allegedly asked her to rest with him on a hotel bed and then “sexually touched her,” the documents said. Other alleged nonconsensual behavior cited in the documents included locking the door of his office and sticking his hand in her pocket. He also allegedly asked her several times to accompany him on a vacation.

Only the Assembly of States Parties has the authority to remove Khan from office, a move that would require a majority in a secret ballot of its 125 member states. Sixty-three countries would need to support a measure to remove him.

No date was immediately set for the session, but the assembly said it would be convened as soon as possible.

Jones, who spent six years with the Sun before coming to New York in 2023, received a standing ovation from the crowd in a pregame ceremony.

“I want to say thank you to this organization for taking a chance on me and bringing me here,” Jones told the crowd. “Thank you to the fans. Even though it's the ”Sunset season" there are a lot of memories here. A lot of winning that happened here. I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Jones didn't end up playing in the game as she was a late scratch because of an illness.

Connecticut, which is playing its last season in the state before moving to Houston next season, will honor six former Sun members of the franchise during this season.

“It’s an honor. It means a lot, a lot of great memories there,” Jones said. “It’s an organization that saw a lot of me before I proved myself to the WNBA. I said it before, but (Connecticut) decided to move players that were really solidified in this league."

Connecticut acquired Jones on draft night in 2016 from the Los Angeles Sparks in a deal for Chelsea Gray that worked out well for both teams.

“They saw me as someone that could come in and really contribute before I ever stepped on the court in the WNBA. That means a lot to me,” she said. "It’s kind of cool to say you’re honored while you’re still playing in the WNBA as well. Definitely new territory. Something I’m looking forward to, and something that I’m really excited about.”

Jones, who won the league's MVP award in 2021, helped the team reach the WNBA Finals in 2019 and 2022. She is sixth in franchise history with 196 games and fifth in points scored, totaling 2,657. She's first in blocks with 270 and third in rebounds with 1,633. She was traded to New York before the 2023 season.

“It was important to us that Jonquel's legacy be permanently recognized,” Sun president Jen Rizzotti said. “Raising her number into the rafters is a tribute to one of the greatest players in franchise history and a lasting reminder of everything she has meant to this organization and to our fans.”

Connecticut will also honor former players Jasmine Thomas, Alyssa Thomas, Tina Charles as well as coaches Curt Miller and Mike Thibault.

Jones joined other Connecticut greats Margo Dydek, Katie Douglas, Nykesha Sales, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Lindsay Whalen and Asjha Jones in the rafters at the arena.

___

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

If you’ve ever wished for an easier way to get answers about something happening in your community, now’s your chance.

We’re launching a new effort focused on connecting directly with residents in Plymouth, Canton Township, Westland, and Northville. The goal is to listen to the questions you’re asking, find answers, and turn those conversations into stories that help the community.

Whether it’s a traffic concern, a neighborhood issue, confusion about a local project, a question about schools, or a hidden gem more people should know about, I want to hear what’s important to the people who live in these communities.

I will focus on the everyday concerns and interests that affect life in western Wayne County.

That could include:

• Local issues that need answers or explanation
• Community concerns and quality-of-life topics
• Events and activities families should know about
• Small businesses, local history and neighborhood highlights
• Questions about schools, transportation and public services
• Stories suggested directly by residents

You can follow my new social media accounts to stay connected, ask questions, and share story ideas.

Click here to follow my new Facebook page.

Click here to follow my new Instagram page.

Have a story idea, question, or issue you’d like me to look into? Reach out through these social media pages and let us know!

Your question could become a future Local 4 story!

Heather Beyer said she has contacted Inkster’s animal control department multiple times over the past several months about her neighbors’ dogs getting loose, acting aggressively, and a complaint she made that the dogs were being abused.

She felt like those concerns went unanswered, and then her son was bitten and scratched.

The incident happened in Beyer’s yard on Woodlawn Drive.

She said she sent her son next door to alert the neighbors that their dog was loose again.

The video Beyer shared shows her son running away from a dog that chases him and then jumps on him.

“As soon as he jumped on him, it was just fear for me because it was like, are they going to bite? They’ve already nipped him,” Beyer said. “I didn’t really know what was going to happen.

Beyer said, thankfully, her son suffered only a small bite and scratches in the encounter.

She said the dog getting loose has been a recurring problem and could have been avoided had animal control listened to her concerns.

She provided an additional video, which she said showed prior incidents of the same animal roaming the neighborhood.

Beyer also shared screenshots of what she described as multiple calls to animal control, along with an email exchange documenting her concerns to that division.

“I’ve called them multiple times about them getting out, about all the other issues, and I know they have a procedure to do, and nothing has been done,” Beyer said.

An Inkster animal control officer told Local 4 by phone Monday (June 8) that the dog involved in the weekend incident is now under quarantine.

The officer said he would provide more information later on Monday after he’d left the property where the dog was located.

Local 4 reached out to that officer an additional three other times after the first call, texted him, and sent two emails.

Local 4 also contacted the city’s police chief for comment.

At the time of this publication, neither has responded.

The home where the dogs have repeatedly escaped was the focus of unrelated police activity on Monday.

Because of a tense situation outside the residence, where two groups were yelling, we were unable to get a comment from anyone inside the home.

Local 4 contacted those who live at the home to get their side of the story, and we’re waiting to hear back.

Beyer said she worries the situation will escalate if nothing changes.

“They’re getting out consistently. They’re getting older, they’re getting more aggressive,” she said. “I just hope something is done before these dogs seriously hurt someone on this street.”

Local 4 also spoke with other residents on Woodlawn Street about the dogs.

Two told us off camera that they have seen the dogs loose on the street and to stay away.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Kings hadn't yet announced the results of their lengthy search for a permanent replacement for interim coach D.J. Smith, who replaced Jim Hiller in March.

The 61-year-old Laviolette is expected to get a three-year contract to take over his seventh NHL team. The Kings have made the playoffs in five consecutive seasons, but they've also endured five straight first-round exits under three head coaches and two general managers.

Laviolette is returning to the NHL after being fired by the New York Rangers in April 2025. He has also led the New York Islanders, Carolina, Philadelphia, Nashville and Washington during a 23-year head coaching career highlighted by a Stanley Cup championship with the Hurricanes in 2006.

Laviolette's teams have reached the postseason in 11 of the past 14 seasons he finished behind a bench, and he also led the Flyers (2010) and the Predators (2017) to the Stanley Cup Final. His 1,594 career games coached are the ninth most in NHL history.

In his first West Coast NHL job, Laviolette is taking over a good team that is stuck in a profound rut, unable to become a Stanley Cup contender.

General manager Ken Holland fired Hiller shortly after the Olympic break in the coach's second full season in charge, and the Kings went 11-6-6 after Smith stepped up from his assistant's role. Smith, who was a candidate for the permanent job, got the Kings into the final Western Conference playoff spot — but Los Angeles was swept out of the first round by the Colorado Avalanche.

The Kings' four previous first-round exits were all at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, leading to the departure of general manager Rob Blake a year ago.

Los Angeles still hasn't won a playoff round since raising the Stanley Cup in 2014, but the roster has a solid core of talent despite the retirement of longtime captain Anze Kopitar.

Holland acquired high-scoring forward Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers last winter, and high-scoring forwards Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield and Kevin Fiala are all returning in the fall.

The intense Laviolette became known for creating aggressive offensive attacks and making quick franchise turnarounds in his previous stops. He could be part of an organizational shift for the Kings, who have spent two decades as a philosophically defense-first team — to the regular detriment of their offense.

Los Angeles finished 29th in the NHL in scoring last season with just 220 goals, easily the fewest among playoff teams. The Kings are in the bottom half of the NHL in scoring over the past five seasons despite making the playoffs every year.

Holland publicly wondered whether the Kings are too defensive-minded after they scored just five goals in their four-game sweep at the hands of the Avs, but he didn't commit to a change in team philosophy.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

The meeting, which followed in the tradition of popes meeting with abuse survivors during their foreign trips, lasted about an hour and took place at the Vatican embassy in Madrid, the Vatican said in a statement.

Spain’s Catholic hierarchy has only recently begun reckoning with its legacy of abuse and cover-up after long dismissing the severity of the scandal that came to light thanks to reporting by the newpaper El País.

In 2023, the Spanish government’s ombudsman delivered a damning 800-page report estimating there were hundreds of thousands of possible victims in Spain over decades — based on a survey of 8,000 people. The report also examined 487 known cases.

Spain’s bishops rejected the estimate, saying its own investigation had uncovered 728 sexual abusers within the church since 1945.

During Monday’s meeting, the survivors told the pope their stories and recommendations for how the church should better respond, the Vatican said. Victims in Spain and elsewhere have long complained that the church’s response to the scandal was often retraumatizing, with victims often accused of only seeking money or to harm the church.

“The pope listened with affection and attention, assured them of his closeness — and that of the entire church community — and pledged his commitment to ensuring that the suggestions received serve as a foundation for further efforts, so that the church may truly be a safe and spiritually healthy place where wounds find comfort and healing,” said a statement from Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

The encounter marked the first known time Leo had met with victims while on a foreign visit, but it by no means was his first time hearing first-hand from survivors.

As a bishop in Chiclayo, Peru, the former Robert Prevost was in charge of listening to victims as the point of reference for the Peruvian bishops conference. In that capacity, he became intimately aware of the abusive practices in the powerful Peruvian group, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which Pope Francis formally suppressed last year.

As pope, Leo has insisted on the need to listen to victims but he has also demanded that the rights of accused priests be upheld.

In his recent encyclical, he said the journey for justice for victims included “just reparation” and he included not only victims of sexual abuse but also spiritual, economic, institutional and power-based abuse, as well as abuses of conscience.

Ahead of the expected meeting with Leo, several groups representing survivors that were not included said they were left in the dark about the encounter, and held a small protest outside the Vatican’s embassy in Madrid.

“Our associations are pleased that a group of victims from the reparation plan can be heard by the pope, but they do not represent all the victims, and deep down they are being used by the church, by the bishops conference, to clean up the image of a Spanish church that has never been able to live up to its victims,” said Juan Cuatrecasas, a spokesperson for the Robbed Childhood association.

Leo addresses abuse to bishops and parliament

Before the meeting, Leo told Spanish bishops that they must offer reparations to survivors and that the entire church community should have an "ever more determined commitment to prevention and a culture of care.”

“Faced with this scourge, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice, reparation," Leo said. “Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, welcome, protection and real paths to healing.”

Amid public outrage over the abuse crisis, Spain launched a reparations system earlier this year for clerical abuse cases too old to be prosecuted that requires the participation of the Catholic Church and the Spanish government.

Other countries and churches have set up reparations mechanisms to compensate survivors and provide therapy, but the Spanish one is unusual in that it gives the government a strong role in the process and the final say in payouts.

The system, which is not legally binding, has drawn praise and some skepticism from advocacy groups and survivors. It gives people a year to apply.

Leo reaffirms church’s right to confessional secrecy

Leo also reaffirmed the right of the Catholic Church to maintain secrecy involving the sacrament of confession, amid efforts in Europe and elsewhere to force Catholic priests to report abuse that they learn about during the one-to-one conversations.

Independent investigations into clergy abuse around the world have identified the seal of confession as a major impediment to exposing and preventing abuse, and called for it to be abolished. The investigations have documented how abusers used the confessional to solicit sex from minors and then relied on the seal of confession to keep it secret.

In his speech to the Spanish parliament Monday, Leo framed the right of the church to keep priest-penitent conversations confidential as a matter of freedom of religion.

“To protect it legally, as is done in a similar way in some professions, means preserving a sacred space of inner freedom, where the believer can open his or her soul to God without fear of external pressures,” he said.

Several mostly low-rise buildings collapsed or sustained heavy damages in the hard-hit city of General Santos. Tsunami damage was reported in at least one southern coastal village. Smaller waves were measured in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan.

The quake also triggered a landslide in Glan, a municipality in the province of Sarangani, that killed 13 villagers, Rene Punzalan, a provincial disaster-mitigation official, told the DZBB radio network. Four other villagers died in Sarangani, he said.

The major earthquake was the strongest to hit the Philippines this year, Teresito Bacolcol, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said. He warned people to seek advice before returning to damaged buildings and houses, which could collapse due to aftershocks.

The United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines, said it was coordinating with Manila and was ready to support Philippine response efforts. France, Japan and New Zealand also expressed support.

“Our pickup truck suddenly jerked and I thought we had a flat tire,” Rod Sosmeña, a regional director of the Office of Civil Defense, told The Associated Press from General Santos, where he was traveling when the quake struck at 7:37 a.m.

“The shaking was very strong and people dashed out of houses into the streets,” Sosmeña said.

Epicenter in sea off Mindanao

More than 100 students in uniforms and a dozen teachers had gathered for a flag-raising ceremony in a coconut tree-ringed grade school compound in the rural town of Malita in Davao Occidental province when the ground shook, turning the first day of school after a two-month summer break into chaos.

“Their excitement on the first day of school turned to trauma,” school principal Rosavel Cachuela told the AP.

Some of the young students screamed in panic and wept but most remained seated and still, preventing any injuries, Cachuela said, adding that a motorcycle was damaged when a shed crumbled to the ground.

At least four people remained missing in General Santos, a port city of more than 700,000 people and a regional hub for the tuna export industry. Search and rescue teams worked to find people who may have been trapped in a supermarket, a warehouse, a grade school, and other small buildings that either collapsed or were severely damaged, officials said.

The international airport in General Santos was temporarily shut due to the earthquake and 17 domestic flights were canceled, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said.

The quake was centered at sea off Mindanao, the second most populous island in the Philippine archipelago. According to Bacolcol, the quake occurred at a depth of 33 kilometers (20 miles), about 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Maasim town in Sarangani province.

Assessing damage and casualties

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the cancellation of classes and directed disaster-response agencies to immediately get to work in quake-hit provinces, saying “the national government is moving and we will not leave Mindanao behind.”

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the threat of a tsunami largely passed about five hours after the quake. Philippine officials also lifted a tsunami warning by mid-afternoon. Six shanties on stilts were damaged in a coastal village in Zamboanga del Sur province due to the quake and taller waves, officials said.

Aside from the landslide in Sarangani, most of the other deaths were caused by collapsing buildings and falling debris, including in a damaged mosque, in the southern provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental, and on Balut Island, according to Sosmeña and another disaster-mitigation official, Ednar Dayanghirang.

The DZRH radio network in Manila reported that a four-story commercial building where its provincial station was located partly collapsed and staffers dashed to the ground floor without injuries.

Tsunami waves near 3 feet measured

Waves of 1 meter (3 feet) were monitored in the provinces of Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani. A 1.4-meter (4.6-foot) wave hit at one time in Kiamba town, Bacolcol said.

The quake was also felt in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Borneo island. Sabah is just a boat ride away from southern Philippines. An 83-centimeter (2.7-feet) tsunami was measured by a gauge off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, and the PTWC said 30-centimeter (1-foot) waves were measured in Palau.

Waves up to 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) were detected on the remote Japanese island of Chichijima and the central Japanese town of Kushimoto, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The Philippines is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

The archipelago is also battered by about 20 typhoons and tropical storms each year, making it one of the world's most disaster-prone countries.

___

Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines. Associated Press writers Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and global executive producer Kiko Rosario in Bangkok contributed to this report.

The administration announced the much-higher fee as a way of preventing foreign workers from taking American jobs.

But U.S. District Court Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston sided with 20 states and struck down the visa policy, concluding that the executive branch exceeded its authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.

“The Court finds that the Policy imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress,” Sorokin wrote.

H-1B visas are meant for high-skilled jobs that are difficult to find American workers to fill. Deep-pocketed technology companies are the biggest users, with nearly three-quarters of approvals going to workers from India. The states argued that using the H-1B program to fill vacancies for much-needed doctors and teachers was already difficult before the higher fee.

Most H-1B visa applications cost several thousand dollars before the announced increase set off a wave of panic among confused employers, students and workers in the United States and abroad and led to several lawsuits, including in Boston.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also sued, in federal court in Washington, D.C., and has appealed a denial of a summary judgment against the fee hike. That left the higher fee in effect, at least until September 2026, when it is scheduled to expire. Monday's ruling is also a summary judgment, to the opposite effect. Still another lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco, by religious groups and labor organizations, setting up the possibility of divided rulings in three appellate court circuits.

In the Boston case, the states argued that the policy impedes their ability to hire primary and secondary school educators and to staff public colleges and universities, will stymie academic research and will lead to a decline in medical workers.

“Today’s victory protects the integrity of the H-1B visa program as a tool to address severe labor shortages in vital industries like education, healthcare, and medical research," Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement. "In Massachusetts, this win will ensure we can fill critical vacancies and hire world-class faculty and researchers at colleges and universities across the Commonwealth."

Bobby Mukkamala, the president of the American Medical Association, called the ruling “a victory for patients.”

“At a time when communities across the country face physician shortages and growing barriers to care, we should be removing obstacles — not creating new ones — to attract talented physicians and other highly skilled professionals,” Mukkamala said. “International medical graduates play a vital role in caring for patients, particularly in underserved and rural areas.”

A Department of Homeland Security statement said the agency disagrees with “this blatant judicial activism dismantling President Trump’s historic efforts for immigration reform.”

“Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, our immigration system is being reformed to serve American citizens, American workers, and American families and to preserve our national identity — not to rapidly import foreigners who take American jobs, commit crimes, burden our welfare system, and erode our cultural and social fabric," the statement said, referring to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

In a separate statement, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said the administration "is confident this order will be reversed on appeal.”

The incident occurred on Monday (June 8) at 9:30 a.m. when police said the woman told them that she was sexually assaulted by the three men in the 16500 block of Tacoma Street.

Officials said the men were detained for questioning as the investigation continues.

Background: Wrong-way driver dies after multi-car crash in Redford Township

Redford Township Police Department officers responded to the scene at approximately 11 p.m. Joseph Funwia was among those caught in the chaos -- and says he is grateful to be alive.

“It’s God. God said Funwia,” he said.

The crash

Police say a 40-year-old man was driving a burgundy Dodge Durango northbound in the southbound lanes of Telegraph Road when the crash occurred. The driver struck two vehicles just north of Five Mile before continuing at a high rate of speed and hitting Funwia’s white truck head-on at a stoplight near a turnaround north of Five Mile.

The impact triggered a chain reaction, striking additional vehicles that had been stopped at the light. In all, eight cars were involved and many of the occupants were injured.

The Durango’s driver was transported to Corewell Health Farmington Hills Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Police say all other individuals involved suffered minor or no injuries.

‘We heard some skidding’

Willie Chambers was hosting friends in his backyard that night when the crash unfolded just behind his house.

“We heard some skidding,” Chambers said.

The group rushed to the fence to see what had happened.

“We all jumped up and went to the fence, started looking over so we could see what we could see,” he said.

What they saw was alarming.

“We saw some people getting out of the vehicles -- a couple of kids, they took them across the street and laid them in the median, the grass,” Chambers said.

‘I believe that was God with me’

Surveillance video from Club Tane Bar and Grill -- located near the crash site -- shows Funwia leaving the parking lot in his white truck just before the collision, after stopping to pick up food.

Funwia had to be helped out of his truck through the passenger side. Gervais Nogho, owner of Club Tane, says he rushed to help after receiving a call from Funwia.

“We had to help the EMS guys -- came and put them in the ambulance,” Nogho said. “So you were helping out?” “Yes,” he replied.

Funwia says the experience has deepened his faith.

“I believe that was God with me that saved my life,” he said.

Funwia says he is wishing all of the survivors a full recovery -- and is also thinking about the man who did not make it.

“For the guy who died, may he rest in peace,” Funwia said. “It’s a very sad situation. I know he did not come out to kill me or to kill any other person.”

The Flint-Beecher tornado remains the only tornado to strike Southeast Lower Michigan rated F5 on the Fujita scale.

According to the National Weather Service, an F5 tornado produces “incredible damage,” with winds estimated between 261 and 318 mph -- powerful enough to level strong frame houses, hurl automobile-sized debris more than 100 meters and debark trees.

The scale of the storm was staggering. At 800 yards wide, the tornado didn’t just destroy homes -- it erased entire blocks, entire neighborhoods, entire chapters of people’s lives in the span of minutes. Winds are believed to have exceeded 200 mph.

The tornado traveled 27 miles at approximately 35 mph, killing 116 people and injuring 844 others in its path.

For those in its way, there was little warning and almost nowhere to go.

It stands as the deadliest natural disaster in Michigan history and the 10th deadliest in United States history.

The aftermath

So many people were killed that the National Guard Armory and other buildings were temporarily converted into morgues. More than 100 people -- families and friends of victims -- waited outside in the rain for hours before they could enter to identify the bodies.

State Police Captain James Berardo warned the people outside that the tornado had horribly battered some victims and that the scene inside would be gruesome.

The Flint-Beecher tornado claimed lives ranging from as young as 5 months to as old as 80.

Of the 116 killed, 55 were under 20 years old -- and five of those were less than a year old. Of the 844 injured, the last two survivors to be hospitalized were not discharged until five months after the tornado.

At least 20 families reported losing more than one member. The Gensel and Gatica families each lost five people.

Community response

In the wake of the disaster, state troopers, the National Guard and the Red Cross quickly mobilized to assist. Within 12 hours of the tornado, they provided first aid, food and clothing to survivors.

The National Weather Service noted in their Beecher 50th Anniversary Commemoration that the Flint-Beecher Tornado was one of eight tornadoes that occurred that evening across the eastern portion of the Lower Peninsula, resulting in an additional nine deaths and 52 injuries.

The tornado destroyed nearly 340 homes, with 107 sustaining major damage and 153 experiencing minor damage. An additional 50 businesses and other buildings were damaged, totaling an estimated $19 million -- nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in today’s money.

Rebuilding the community

Beecher was able to rebuild thanks to the broader Flint community, which rallied around a “Red Feather” campaign to gather relief and rebuilding funds. Combined with Red Cross support, the effort helped the community get back on its feet.

In the late summer of 1953, a community-supported “Builder Bees” project brought volunteers together to help rebuild homes lost in the tornado.

Since conflict erupted in the Middle East earlier this year after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, much of the shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — a critical oil transit route bordering Iran — has remained effectively halted, pushing up the price of oil and jet fuel.

In an effort to contain costs, airlines around the world have raised airfares and fees, cut other perks and canceled flights or trimmed schedules.

U.S. carriers spent nearly $6.5 billion on fuel in April, compared with about $3.6 billion a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Fuel consumption in April totaled 1.573 billion gallons, down slightly from 1.575 billion gallons a year earlier.

The latest figures came as the International Air Transport Association released a report on Sunday saying it now expects airlines worldwide to earn a combined $23 billion in net profit in 2026, far below its previous forecast of $41 billion and down from $45 billion in 2025.

“Airlines are bearing the brunt of the fuel price shock,” said Willie Walsh, director general of IATA, which represents most of the world's carriers. “While airfares are rising, airlines are still absorbing part of the hike in their bottom lines.”

The group said jet fuel prices are expected to average $152 a barrel in 2026, nearly 70% higher than in 2025, pushing the global airline fuel bill to about $350 billion from $252 billion a year earlier. IATA said that fuel is forecast to account for more than 31% of airline operating expenses in 2026, up from about 25% last year.

In the U.S., the cost of a gallon of jet fuel in April was $4.11, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said. Last April, it cost $2.31.

In a sign of the conflict’s ongoing repercussions for travel, American Airlines said last week it was suspending some of its routes this summer. In April, Lufthansa Group said it would cut 20,000 short-haul flights through October and Air Canada announced it was suspending its service to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport from June until late October.

Other airlines, ranging from U.S. carriers like United and Delta to Air France-KLM, Philippine Airlines and Cathay Pacific in Europe and Asia, have either cut flights, readjusted their schedules or halted plans to add more seats and routes this year.

The S&P 500 added 0.3%, coming off a drop of 2.6% from Friday that was its worst since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 80 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9%.

Some of the best performers were companies that sell computer chips, memory and other products fueling the AI boom. They had plunged Friday amid worries that their prices had shot too high due to AI euphoria. Such worries dragged South Korea’s Kospi index down 8.3% early Monday, pummeling tech stocks there like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

But prices recovered as trading moved westward through Europe to New York. Micron Technology rose 9.9% after sliding 13.3% Friday for the largest loss in the S&P 500. That resumed a run where its stock has more than tripled so far in 2026.

Marvell Technology climbed 9.6% in its first trading after S&P Dow Jones Indices said the semiconductor company’s stock has grown enough to join its widely followed S&P 500 index. Marvell’s stock has also more than tripled so far this year, aided by a 32.5% surge in one day last week. That was its best day since it began trading in 2000, and it came after Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, suggested at a conference in Taiwan that Marvell could be “the next trillion-dollar company.”

That such a comment could add billions of dollars to a company’s value in an instant suggests to critics that AI stocks are running too hot. Chip and memory companies are indeed reaping big growth in revenue and profit because of the AI boom, but their stock prices have been soaring at astounding speeds. A widely followed index of semiconductor stocks surged nearly 85% for the year so far through Thursday, for example.

Now, the question is whether Friday’s drop was the start of a downturn or just a pause that helps shake out excessive optimism.

Michael Wilson, a strategist at Morgan Stanley, is relatively optimistic. “Markets rarely move in a straight line at the pace seen since the March lows,” he wrote in a report. “In our view, a correction was inevitable and ultimately healthy if this bull market is going to extend into year-end” and pull the S&P 500 to his baseline target of 8,000. That would be an 8.3% rise from Friday’s close.

Corning climbed 5.6% after Amazon announced a multibillion dollar deal where Corning will produce optical fiber, cable and other products for its data centers across the country.

That helped offset a 0.9% dip for Campbell’s, which reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected but also a worse decline in revenue. The company’s stock is also set to drop out of the S&P 500 index when Marvell Technology’s stock joins it.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 21.99 points to 7,405.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 80.77 to 50,786.01, and the Nasdaq composite gained 220.23 to 25,929.66.

In the oil market, prices jumped after Israel and Iran launched strikes against each other, threatening to drag the region back into full-scale war. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, briefly topped $98 overnight.

But it later regressed after Israel and Iran appeared to back away from further strikes. Brent’s price settled at $94.25 per barrel, up 1.2% from Friday.

High oil prices caused by the war with Iran have already sent inflation higher, which increases not only bills for households but also yields in the bond market. High yields worldwide recently have threatened to slow economies and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments.

On Monday, Treasury yields ticked a bit higher following their jump on Friday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.56% from 4.55%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes edged lower Europe following sharp losses in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 3.8%, while stocks fell 1.7% in Shanghai and 1.2% in Hong Kong.

___

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

MDOC said Washington and senior custody and medical staff are observing health care units and day-to-day operations to make sure procedures are being followed and a consistent standard of care is provided. The department said leadership has been speaking with incarcerated individuals and reviewing concerns.

The department also said additional clinical leaders have been brought in and a new health care staffing plan is being developed, including enhanced nursing management.

--> ‘Am I next?’: Inmates, families, lawmakers sound alarm after 3 deaths at Huron Valley women’s prison

Stakeholder briefings

Washington and the department’s medical director met May 22 with stakeholders, lawmakers and members of Michigan’s congressional delegation to provide updates and answer questions. The department said more briefings will be held as new developments occur.

Lawmaker letter

A letter dated May 21, 2026, and led by state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky calls for Washington to resign and raises concerns about conditions at Women’s Huron Valley and across the prison system.

In the letter, lawmakers say there have been at least four deaths in MDOC facilities in the last month that gained public attention, including two at Women’s Huron Valley: Khaira Howard (May 13) and Rebecca Fackler (May 17). The letter also references Colton Mitchell (April 15 at Chippewa Correctional Facility) and Devin Hurst (April 23 at the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center).

The letter says “significant policy and culture change” is needed within MDOC and claims that change “cannot and will not occur” under Washington’s leadership.

Ashley Hoath, 36, died June 6 at Trinity Health Hospital, several hours after being transferred from the Pittsfield Township facility. She is the third woman to die at the prison since May 13.

The Michigan Department of Corrections says investigations into all three deaths remain ongoing.

What happened to Ashley Hoath

During the early morning hours of June 6, an officer noticed Hoath was feeling unwell and escorted her to the facility’s healthcare area.

Medical staff determined she needed hospital care, and she was transported by ambulance.

MDOC says Hoath was responsive at the time of transfer. Officials were notified of her death several hours later.

A cause of death has not yet been determined.

The full investigation includes a mortality review, an autopsy conducted by an independent medical examiner, and an administrative review of procedural compliance.

The Michigan State Police were also on site, conducting interviews and collecting evidence as part of their ongoing investigation.

Hoath was serving a 25- to 40-year sentence for second-degree murder.

She pleaded guilty in 2017 and was sentenced in January 2018.

She was from Hillsdale County.

Her daughter, Anala, said her mother had no prior medical conditions and that fellow inmates tried to get her help before it was too late.

“Inmates reported that she was asking for aspirin and that she was in the bathroom for most of the day and that they tried asking the guards to get my mom medical attention, and they didn’t get my mom medical attention until she collapsed in that bathroom, and at that point she already went south,” Anala said.

Anala described her mother as someone who had turned her life around.

“She is not the evil person that people paint her to be. Did she do some wrong things? Absolutely. But she was clean and off drugs; she was truly an amazing person. She has a heart of gold, and she was doing really well,” Anala said.

According to the family, Hoath had recently earned a bachelor’s degree from Jackson College and had a minister’s license.

“Inmates are still human, and they still deserve to have basic human rights,” Anala said. “Something needs to be changed within MDOC.”

A pattern of deaths, scrutiny

Hoath’s death follows those of Rebecca Fackler, 57, who died May 17, and Khaira Howard, 28, who died May 13. The two deaths came just days apart.

The prison was already under intense scrutiny before the latest death, facing allegations of toxic mold, leaking roofs, overcrowding, illicit drug use, poor ventilation, violence, and inadequate medical care. Multiple lawsuits and calls for investigations have mounted in recent months.

Trische Duckworth, a local activist with Survivors Speak who protests outside the prison weekly and communicates regularly with women inside, called the latest death preventable.

“This is medical neglect. Repeated medical neglect,” Duckworth said. “How many more women have to die before our woman governor and our women director of the Michigan Department of Corrections will do something? These are our siblings behind these walls, and they are dropping one by one. Somebody has to step in.”

Duckworth added that the recent deaths have left women inside the prison frightened, with many asking: “Am I next?”

--> Leaders are on-site at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility following inmate deaths, MDOC says

Lawmakers demand action

Pressure is growing at both the state and federal levels. U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell sent a letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday, calling for immediate attention and urgent action to address health and safety concerns at the facility.

It is not the first time Dingell has sounded the alarm; the congresswoman toured the facility in July 2023 and has raised concerns about conditions there for years.

“Concerns have been raised repeatedly by women in custody, their families, advocates, attorneys, medical professionals, and the public. Too many continue to report that the underlying problems remain unsolved. It is essential that you give this issue your immediate attention and take urgent action to address the serious issues threatening the safety of these women under MDOC supervision,” Dingell said.

Dingell is also demanding transparency, urging the state to make public any studies, inspections, environmental assessments, or reports related to toxic mold and other health and safety conditions at the facility.

Dingell’s letter includes a series of questions and requests answers by June 19, 2026.

Thirty state lawmakers from both parties have also signed a letter calling for MDOC Director Heidi Washington to resign, citing what they describe as “a pattern of denial, dishonesty, obfuscation, and obstruction” under her leadership.

State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) was among those who signed the letter.

She said the problems at Huron Valley, including overcrowding, a shortage of corrections workers, and a lack of access to healthcare and mental health treatment, have been building for years.

She said removing the director, while necessary, is just the beginning.

“The director not being there is not the only change that’s necessary. I think it’s a good starting point, but there is going to have to be massive improvements to the department overall for these things to stop happening,” Pohutsky said.

Advocates like Duckworth made it clear they want action, not just words.

“I don’t want them to talk about it. I want them to be about it. I want them to do their jobs,” she said.

The governor’s office directed all questions to MDOC.

6.8.26 Huron Valley Letter by brandon carr

MDOC response

MDOC Director Heidi Washington addressed the community directly in a statement following Hoath’s death.

“To the loved ones and friends who have to bear this incredibly difficult news, as well as those who are currently residing or have family members housed at WHV, I want you to know that we are working aggressively to investigate the circumstances that led up to Ms. Hoath being sent to the hospital,” Washington said.

“We ask the public, out of respect for the family, to refrain from speculation without the facts, while investigations are conducted. I can promise you that the community will have answers to what caused this death, and the ones that have preceded it,” Washington said.

Washington and healthcare leadership have been regularly on-site at the facility following the recent deaths.

Additional experienced clinical leadership from across the state has also been called to assist, and the department says it is in the process of hiring additional full-time medical staff.

Mental health professionals have also been on-site in the housing unit for women impacted by the loss.

On Monday (June 8), Washington and the department’s medical director met with key stakeholders, members of the legislature, and representatives from the congressional delegation to provide updates, answer questions, and discuss correctional operations and policy.

MDOC says it has held several stakeholder briefings as part of its commitment to transparency and will continue to do so as new developments emerge.

The collision happened just after 9:30 p.m. near the intersection of Gunston Avenue and Nashville Street, outside Handy’s Liquor Store.

Surveillance video shared by store employees shows a white Chevrolet Malibu attempting to make a left turn onto Nashville as the police vehicle travels northbound on Gunston. The police car then strikes the Malibu, sending debris into the roadway.

“What I saw was chaotic,” one witness said.

Police said two officers were taken to the hospital. Two of the three people in the Malibu also needed medical attention.

Nearby residents say the intersection has long been dangerous.

“People tend to make split decisions at this corner,” said Latrice Curtis, who lives near the intersection. “It’s been a hot spot since before we actually moved here.”

Curtis said she previously contacted the city about speeding concerns, requesting speed bumps. While bumps were added months later, she said she hoped to see one placed closer to the corner because drivers “tend to shoot across.”

With another crash now adding to the list, neighbors say they’re hoping for additional safety measures.

“It’s just getting worse,” Curtis said. “Between the noise, and just people kind of hanging out here. It’s just not the safest.”

Karmelo Anthony, now 19, is charged with murder in the death of Austin Metcalf, 17, at a school stadium in Frisco, a Dallas suburb, in April 2025.

After a midday break that lasted three hours, the prosecutor and defense lawyers said they had no more evidence to offer on the fourth day of trial. Anthony did not testify in his own defense, and closing arguments were set for Tuesday.

Prosecutors say the stabbing of Metcalf was an unjustified attack related to a dispute over whether Anthony could be under the tent of Metcalf's team during a rainy track meet. Defense attorneys insist Anthony felt threatened and believed he needed to defend himself when physical contact was made.

One of Anthony’s teammates, testifying Monday for the defense, said Anthony was “distraught” after the stabbing.

“I was hearing him say, ‘I told him not to touch me,’” the witness said.

Judge John Roach Jr. has said young witnesses can’t be publicly identified.

Metcalf's death drew wide attention, in part because of social media posts that amplified the case in racial terms. Anthony, who attended Frisco Centennial High School, is Black, while Metcalf, who attended Frisco Memorial High School, was white.

Prosecutors rested their case Saturday in Collin County court. Jurors last week heard from a number of people who were at the track meet, including students who said Anthony had been asked to leave the tent and was the aggressor in the confrontation.

The courtroom was packed again Monday with spectators, including the parents of Anthony and Metcalf, and younger people.

The jurors will be sequestered in a hotel if they don't reach a verdict Tuesday and return to court Wednesday. The judge told them not to discuss the case with anyone, and “for God’s sake do not go on social media."

The renewed hostilities raised concerns that the Middle East could plunge back into a full-scale war.

Since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28, the war has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive. Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the conflict.

The new attacks prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to call for an immediate stop to fighting between Israel and Iran.

Soon after, the Iranian military’s joint command issued a statement that said it was halting offensive strikes. The statement said further “aggression and hostile acts” by Israel and its supporters, including in southern Lebanon, would be met with “much more severe and crushing measures than before.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in a videotaped statement, implied that the current round of fighting was over. But he also warned that if Iran “makes the mistake and returns to attacking us, we will respond with force.”

Netanyahu said Israel is continuing to operate in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, and that Israel “has full right to self-defense, and we will exercise it to the full extent necessary.”

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the village of Zefta killed seven people Monday, including a Syrian child. Eight people were wounded. Another strike on the coastal city of Tyre killed five and wounded eight, some of them members of the Lebanese Red Cross, the ministry said.

Both countries lift restrictions

Both countries lifted restrictions they had imposed as safety precautions. The Israeli military said most schools in Israel that closed Monday would reopen. Iran's official Mizan news agency reported that the Islamic Republic had lifted airspace restrictions affecting civilian flights.

During the truce, Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial passage for the world’s oil and natural gas whose closure was the primary reason global fuel prices skyrocketed. Israel has continued to strike Hezbollah, Iran’s ally in Lebanon, and pushed deeper into that country.

The U.S. military continues to impose a blockade on Iranian ports. U.S. Central Command said its forces on Monday fired on and disabled a Palau-flagged oil tanker, the M/T Marivex, in the Gulf of Oman after the ship attempted to breach the blockade.

Officials in India said the tanker’s crew of 24 Indian sailors were all reported safe after a fire broke out on the vessel. It was the seventh commercial vessel the U.S. military has disabled to enforce its blockade, which began in mid-April.

Diplomats race to save the ceasefire

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed concern Monday over the surge in violence. In a post on X, Sharif urged all parties to “exercise restraint and give peace a little more chance.”

Two regional officials said Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Qatar had all urged the Trump administration to pressure Israel to halt strikes on Iran and Beirut.

Those countries also pushed for Iran to stop attacking Israel, the officials said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said Monday that Iran and the U.S. are still working to negotiate a peace deal. After speaking at a U.N. Security Council meeting, Amir Saeid Iravani told The Associated Press he was hopeful that “very soon” the two sides would reach “a conclusion.”

Explosions sound in Tehran and central Israel

Iran launched waves of attacks on Israel on Monday, and Israel launched strikes on central and western Iran.

Iranian state media reported at least 15 people were wounded after explosions sounded in Tehran and other cities. There were no immediate reports of fatalities.

The semiofficial Fars and Mehr news agencies said Israeli strikes hit a petrochemical factory in the city of Mahshahr. They did not elaborate on any damage. The Israeli military confirmed the strike on the plant, saying it targeted sites that produce materials for ballistic missiles. Israel said it also targeted truck-based missile launchers.

Israel said its strikes were in response to an Iranian missile attack. Tehran warned Sunday that it would retaliate after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning. When Israel struck back, Iran fired again.

Explosions could be heard in central Israel as air defenses sought to intercept incoming Iranian fire. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted two military bases in Israel.

Iran blamed the United States for the escalation.

“No one believes that the Israeli regime would take any action without coordination with the United States,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told journalists in Tehran.

Tensions appear to grow between Trump and Netanyahu

Trump and Netanyahu launched the war in a closely coordinated attack, with Israeli officials proudly boasting of unprecedented “shoulder to shoulder” cooperation.

The conflict reached 100 days on Monday, and the two leaders have moved in opposite directions, with tensions sometimes spilling out into the open.

Netanyahu appears to have openly defied Trump with the strike Sunday in Beirut and subsequent attacks in Iran. Trump has voiced his displeasure with Israel, including belittling Netanyahu by declaring to the Financial Times that “I call all the shots.”

Their differences appear to be rooted in each leader's domestic considerations. Netanyahu faces elections this fall and is under public pressure to strike back against ongoing Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel. He also is wary of appearing too subservient to Trump.

The U.S. president also faces elections — for Congress in November — and is eager to end a war that has jolted the global economy and raised prices for consumers.

The Houthis claimed an attack on Israel

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed an attack on Israel on Monday and said Israel-affiliated vessels would again be a target in the Red Sea, putting the waterway in danger along with the Gulf of Aden and the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting them. The statement from Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree was broadcast on the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel.

The Houthis made a similar threat during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and launched attacks that killed at least nine mariners and sank four ships. They often targeted vessels with tangential or no ties to Israel.

The assaults upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war.

___

This story has been updated to correct the day the Iran war started to Feb. 28.

___

Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. AP journalists Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Matthew Lee in Washington; Michelle L. Price in Bridgewater, New Jersey; Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

Siri AI, which was introduced at the start of Apple's annual World Wide Developers Conference, has been highly anticipated by users and developers. While Siri was launched in 2011, it fell behind other voice assistants and was derided even by Apple fans.

It is the last WWDC featuring CEO Tim Cook before he turns his post over to John Ternus in September. Cook received an extended standing ovation and told the audience he is “deeply grateful to have been on this journey with you” and said “the energy around Apple platforms has never been stronger.”

The conference, which drew developers from some 65 countries to Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters, focuses on software, in contrast to the fall unveiling of the latest iPhones.

Apple steps up its AI game

Apple has sought to distinguish itself from its peers by stressing a privacy-centered approach and integrating AI across its devices and apps. There was no mention of AI superintelligence or companion chatbots. Rather, Apple sought to demonstrate how its AI tools can make life easier.

Apple software chief Craig Federighi took some swipes at AI companies — without naming them — that seem to be “pursuing AI for the sake of AI” without clear regard for the people it is supposed to serve. At Apple, he said, “we believe that truly helpful AI should be centered around you and your needs,” which means integrating AI into the products people use every day, with a focus on privacy.

The conference unveiled updates to Apple Intelligence, which was first announced in 2024. It now uses Google’s Gemini AI model to help power its features and processes users' requests and interactions on their own device and privately on the cloud, making them inaccessible to anyone else.

At the center of it is the new Siri, which Apple said is now a “much more capable assistant” that can help users find what they need and get things done across various Apple devices. For instance, it can create a menu and gather recipes from the web or from your own text messages for a World Cup viewing party and invite friends from a group chat. Siri mode on your camera, meanwhile, can tell you what you are looking at and give you relevant information, such as the nutritional details of a plate of food.

Siri's visual intelligence also works with images on your screen. For example, it can tell you whether a backpack you are thinking of getting will work as a carry-on for a flight or whether a pair of bulky hiking boots will fit inside it.

Apple also announced improvements to its popular AI photo editing tools, including spatial reframing that lets you adjust how a photo is framed after it was taken — as if you had moved the camera to a better position while you were snapping the picture.

A standalone Siri AI app will launch later this year, though Apple said it will not initially be available in Europe and it won't be available in China while the company works out regulatory issues.

Tim Cook's last WWDC

Cook announced his retirement in April, ending a 15-year run that saw the company’s market value soar by more than $4 trillion during an iPhone-fueled era of prosperity. Ternus has been with Apple for the past quarter century, including the past five years overseeing the engineering underlying the iPhone, iPad and Mac — a role that made him a prime candidate to succeed Cook.

Ternus did not take the main stage during Monday’s event.

The transition to a new CEO comes at a pivotal time for Apple. Artificial intelligence has unleashed the most upheaval within the industry since Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in 2007. Apple has gotten off to a rough start in AI after stumbling in its efforts to deliver new features built on the technology, as promised nearly two years ago.

Cook called his time at Apple “the honor of a lifetime.”

“I truly believe the best is still ahead.”

In a notice to be published in the Federal Register this week, the department will unveil a pilot program that will allow visa applicants to pay the $750 to schedule an appointment for an interview within 10 days of the payment at select U.S. embassies and consulates.

The pilot program will run from July 1 to Dec. 31, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press and a State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the program has not yet been announced.

The move is a potential effort to ease conditions caused by the Trump administration's push to make entering the United States more difficult. The administration has cracked down on most forms of migration for foreigners — demanding that bonds of up to $15,000 be paid for visa processing in some, mainly African, countries and requiring years of personal history, including social media accounts, to be vetted.

The new requirements have caused delays in visa processing around the world, prompting complaints.

Wait times for visa interviews for citizens of countries that are not part of the Visa Waiver Program can be several months if not longer. But paying the fee for the “optional premium add-on service” does not guarantee that a visa will be issued.

The embassies and consulates at which the expedited service will be available are to be announced before the program takes effect on July 1. The pilot program will run through the end of the year but could be extended depending on demand.

The Clearwater Police Department released a 72-page report on Friday summarizing an exhaustive review of statements, medical records, surveillance footage and a visual inspection of the body. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, died last July 24 at age 71.

“There has been no evidence to indicate the death of Terry Bollea was anything other than natural,” the report said. “Through the course of the investigation, there has been no evidence to indicate any criminal wrongdoing related to his death. This case will be closed, and will be considered solved, non-criminal.”

According to the report, Hogan's wife, as well as a home health aide and an occupational therapist, were all with Hogan at his home when he stopped breathing. His wife, Sky Daily Hogan, called 911, and then the trio performed CPR on Hulk Hogan until firefighters and paramedics arrived.

Family members told investigators that Hogan had been suffering from multiple heath issues in the weeks before his death, including leukemia, an irregular hearth rhythm, pneumonia and kidney failure. He had also undergone many hospitalizations and surgeries in the years before his death.

Early statements made by the occupational therapist to police led to speculation that Hogan's death was related to damage done to his phrenic nerve during a recent surgery. But the occupational therapist later said that he was still rattled from performing CPR and was speaking out of turn.

The local medical examiner had concluded Hogan died from a heart attack and declined to perform a full autopsy. A private autopsy paid for by the family backed up the initial assessment, finding “no reasonable traumatic or terminal toxicologic contributions.”

Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his wrestling exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon.

Hogan won at least six WWE championships and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005 and reinstated there in 2018. He had been removed from the Hall of Fame in 2015 after he was recorded making racial slurs against Black people, for which he apologized.

A well-attended but private funeral service was held several weeks after Hogan's death at a church in Largo, Florida.

The man was seen on security camera footage peering into homes that day dressed in what appeared to be a hazmat or beekeeper suit while carrying a backpack and a screwdriver.

“As soon as I unlocked the cage, he bolted to the door and started barking just like this mean bark, and I turn around from the cage, and I just see this blur of white go by the door,” Victoria Williams told Local 4 of her encounter with the man on May 13. “He was like, ‘I’m just checking something for somebody.’ I said, ‘I don’t know who you are,’ and in the meantime I’m hitting the 911 on my phone.”

While she was on the phone with 911, she said the man grabbed her by the neck as he tried to get away. Security video captured him running away from the house. Police later found some of his clothes in a nearby trash can.

Undeterred, the man reappeared in the same neighborhood the next day. A homeowner spotted him walking around and contacted the police.

After three weeks on the run, police caught the man and announced his arrest on Saturday.

“I wanted to cry when I heard he was arrested,” Williams said on Sunday. “I’m just so thankful for the support of my neighbors and the work of the Livonia Police Department.”

The case has been handed over to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office for charges. More information on who this man is will be revealed when any charges are formally filed.

Ranging in age from seven to 17, some in jeweled jumpsuits, they took the stage at the Tupelo Elvis Festival's youth tribute artist competition last week.

In contrast to their peers, who may never have heard of Elvis, the competitors have dedicated an enormous amount of time and energy to embodying the king's singing voice, mannerisms and style.

They are careful to specify they are Elvis tribute artists. Unlike impersonators, who pretend to be Elvis and sometimes present a characterized version of the king, tribute artists strive for authenticity. Some wore costumes created by B&K Enterprises Costume Co., a company licensed to recreate Elvis' outfits and provide costumes for Elvis movies, musicals and TV shows.

“We're not trying to be him,” said Tucker Gladden, 17, from Madison, Mississippi. “We want to recreate the experience as much as we can for people that maybe didn't get to see Elvis in their lifetime.”

As for their fascination with a long-dead musician, several of the tribute artists credited the 2022 “Elvis” movie with sparking their interest. A couple said their admiration began after discovering they were distantly related to Elvis. Others said it was Elvis' faith and charity that inspired them. Some said they had been performing Elvis songs since they were 3 years old.

For 16-year-old Ayden Maloy from Logansport, Indiana, it was the way Elvis' music helped him during a difficult time in his life and motivated him to begin performing as an Elvis tribute artist three years ago.

“I just broke down in tears because it healed me,” Maloy said. “I think Elvis is the healer.”

In an afternoon of dazzling outfits and daring dance moves, the performers got the audience clapping, singing and swaying along to their Elvis covers. Ultimately, RJ Hursey, a 14-year-old from Bloomington, Illinois, won the competition.

Hursey, who inherited his love of Elvis from his grandfather, said he practices his tributes every day, and when he's too sick to sing, he researches. He performs at nursing homes and assisted living facilities and hopes to someday star in a remake of an Elvis movie.

“It's humbling,” Hursey said. “It makes you feel good because we know that he died thinking he'd be forgotten, and we're just so glad he's still around."

While in Tupelo, the tribute artists also toured the Elvis Presley Birthplace, a sprawling complex that includes the home where Elvis was born and the church where he was first exposed to Southern gospel music.

“It feels so surreal to pay tribute to Elvis in his hometown,” said 15-year-old Charles Session from Morrilton, Arkansas. “I hope that he’s looking down and smiling at all these young performers.”

The New York Knicks announced that was the winning bid in an auction for two seats for Game 3 on Monday night, the first NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden since 1999.

The winning bid was split by the law firm Gibson Dunn and private equity firm Veritas Capital. The fundraiser benefited the Garden of Dreams Foundation, and the Knicks said it was the largest single donation in the history of the foundation, which works with MSG’s companies to assist children at need in the tristate area.

The seats are located in section VIP 10, row AA, seats 25 and 26, right off center court. It’s impossible to know what they would usually cost, because the team doesn’t sell them. Instead, they are given to the celebrity fans such as Tracy Morgan and Timothée Chalamet who are courtside fixtures.

Seats everywhere in the building are expensive. The cheapest upper-deck seats available Sunday night were going for more than $6,000 on secondary markets like StubHub, SeatGeek and VividSeats. The experience of being courtside went for more than $75,000.

___

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

Mamuka Artmeladze, a 43-year-old from the country of Georgia, was found unresponsive June 4 at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, ICE announced in a press release Sunday. ICE said staff began lifesaving measures before he was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where a doctor pronounced him dead less than an hour later.

Additional circumstances surrounding the death were not available, and ICE said the cause of death is pending an autopsy. Artmeladze had been detained at the facility, managed by the Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office and ICE contractor LaSalle Corrections, for nearly four months.

The facility holds more than 1,500 male detainees, and like the majority of them, Artmeladze did not have a criminal record. Artmeladze entered the country illegally on an unknown date and the Border Patrol allowed him to temporarily remain in the country under ICE supervision after encountering him in September 2022, ICE said. He was arrested in Alabama in February after ICE determined he no longer had lawful status to remain in the U.S.

He is the 19th detainee who has died in ICE custody since Jan. 1 and the second at Winn since April 11. A coroner’s report obtained by The Associated Press shows 49-year-old Alejandro Cabrera Clemente was found unresponsive during a security check that day, staff tried to resuscitate him, and he died after he was taken to the same hospital as Artmeladze.

The coroner ruled that Cabrera, a native of Mexico who had recently lived in Tennessee, died from natural causes due to cardiovascular disease. Cabrera woke up coughing and wheezing about 2½ hours before he was found unresponsive, but said he was OK and went back to sleep, the report said.

A separate ICE report on Cabrera’s death said detainees alerted nearby nursing staff to his unresponsiveness, and they found him “with left-sided facial droop” and his skin discolored due to low blood oxygen. Cabrera received treatment for high blood pressure and other medical problems during his months of detention, the report said.

The deaths come amid mounting scrutiny over whether ICE detention facilities are medically neglecting detainees and forcing them to live in inhumane conditions, charges that ICE denies.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General issued a report last week that said an unannounced inspection at Winn found violations of standards governing environmental health and safety, food service, use-of-force, medical care and other subjects.

The report described water leaking through vents in the kitchen, holes and exposed insulation in the intake building’s ceiling, and food stored in freezers above required temperatures.

Medical staff at Winn failed to keep updated treatment documents and laboratory testing records, which could “negatively impact detainee health care and safety,” the report warned.

The inspection also found violations of use-of-force policies, including an officer who put a detainee in a banned chokehold and a second officer who stabbed a detainee’s thumb with a pen after the detainee refused to remove his hand from a door.

The report said ICE agreed with nine recommendations to improve conditions at Winn, and had implemented several of them.

The coop, which features a round turret and faux slate roof, was donated by Carolina Coops, a North Carolina company that advertises “premium” coops that have amassed a social media following. The coop was custom-built for the residence and completed May 29, the company's owner and founder said.

“It’s something I thought was amazing to do for this country,” Matthew DuBoise said in an interview. “It’s a place of history and a place of significance.”

The coop was built without taxpayer money, according to a person familiar with the project who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. The residence hosted a family event over the weekend where local 4-H students taught other kids about the newly installed coup, the person said.

Vice presidents since 1977 have lived on the grounds of the 72-acre Naval Observatory, and many have left their own imprint on the property. Joe Biden added a heritage garden, Mike Pence's wife, Karen, contributed beehives, and Kamala Harris’ updates included pink wallpaper in the house’s library. A heated swimming pool on the property was added by Dan Quayle in 1991.

Backyard chickens have seen a resurgence in American life in recent years. A 2025 survey by the American Pet Products Association found that 11 million U.S. households had them.

Vance's new coop was first reported by The Daily Wire.

On the campaign trail in 2024, Vance often talked about the high price of eggs as an indicator of the inflation that he blamed on then-President Joe Biden. Vance joked about how many eggs his two young sons eat, once saying they “eat about 14 eggs every single morning.”

DuBoise said he told his team to design a custom coop that the Vances would fall in love with. His designer drew inspiration from the 19th century residence, recreating its round turret and green trim.

To cap it off, Vance and his family picked out 12 chicks to start their flock, he said.

DuBoise described it as an “American dream” moment to have his business chosen for the project. He oversaw the installation and offered advice to Vance, his wife, Usha, and their children. When Vance saw it for the first time, the vice president's face lit up, DuBoise said.

“I couldn’t have been happier to see that excitement," he said. “They’re just very, very happy, and I’m glad."

In Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial and cultural hub, the usually bustling streets were more subdued than normal, with fewer customers at shops and other businesses than regular weekdays. The muted atmosphere stood in contrast to the festive, rainbow-colored decorations that adorned the city ahead of its annual Pride parade, scheduled for June 12.

Hours earlier, missiles were launched from both Yemen and Iran toward Israel. They came after Israel over the weekend struck Beirut’s southern suburbs, where it said Hezbollah, an ally of Tehran, had military infrastructure.

“We’re not normalizing it,” Liron Eldad, a mother of two, said of the conflict, as she joined other parents at a playground in Tel Aviv, next to a public bomb shelter. But, she said, “we can’t just sit there and be bitter.”

It was an almost ordinary pattern after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. The fighting, air raid sirens and disruptions to daily life have left many people in Israel weary and hopeless.

Eldad said she had lost faith in the country’s leadership and is hoping for political change following elections in October. “It’s clearly not working, what we’re doing, and instead we’re getting deeper and deeper into wars,” she said.

Across Israel on Monday, schools were closed and hospitals paused all non-urgent procedures, moving some patients underground as Israeli air defense systems intercepted missiles overhead.

After Iran said it would halt offensive operations against Israel, those restrictions were lifted and school was set to resume on Tuesday. By Monday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also suggested that Israel’s military raids had stopped, but said the country would respond “with force” to any future Iranian attack.

Still, the brief return to war put Israelis on edge. “I feel like I’m stuck in a place where you have no control over your life,” said Rana Raslan, a doctor and mother who was also at the Tel Aviv playground.

Many here also blamed Netanyahu and his allies in government for reigniting the conflict. After Israel struck Beirut over the weekend, Iran warned it would retaliate for the attack, which Israel launched in defiance of Washington’s request to stand down from major strikes near the Lebanese capital.

“The behavior of the government and the prime minister, and the way he’s brought us into unending wars and his constant lies to his infantile base, don’t help me sleep well at night,” said Moshe Regev, 63, a retired economist who was visiting the beach in Tel Aviv.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251. More than 72,700 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza since then, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government whose numbers are generally considered reliable by the international community.

Several blocks from the shore, 75-year-old Shlomi Yakobi, a fruit and vegetable seller, praised Netanyahu’s performance as prime minister over the past three years. It was a tumultuous period that would have caused a lesser leader to crack, said Yakobi, who has owned his own stall in Tel Aviv’s Carmel market for half a century.

“People are hiding at home instead of going out,” he said, as he sold apricots to a handful of tourists. His business has suffered because of the war, Yakobi said, adding that the country had no choice. Sometimes he ends up with a surplus of produce, which he donates to the synagogue next door.

“For two years now, you never know what’s going to happen in the next five minutes,” he said.

Talarico on Monday drew attention to his campaign winning the endorsement of Houston attorney Dan Cogdell, who was part of Paxton's defense team during the Republican's historic impeachment trial in 2023 that ended in acquittal.

The legal troubles that shadowed Paxton in public office in Texas are a central attack line of Talarico's campaign, though in his endorsement, Cogdell didn’t cite concerns about his client's past.

Cogdell said he didn’t dislike Paxton as a person and felt that Texas lawmakers were right to eventually acquit the attorney general. But as a politician, Cogdell said, Paxton is too focused on appeasing President Donald Trump.

“I worked my ass off for the man for nine years,” Cogdell said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But that’s a different inquiry. My obligation to Ken ended at the courthouse steps and my obligation as a citizen is to do what I think is the right thing.”

Cogdell said Texas needs a lot of work, pointing to education and health care, “and to simply bootlick or rubber stamp Trump, that’s not what we need in D.C. right now.” He also recently spoke to Talarico at length on Cogdell's podcast.

Asked for comment, an aide to Paxton’s campaign said Cogdell is a Democrat and called the endorsement unsurprising.

The lead defense attorney in Paxton's impeachment trial, Tony Buzbee, reiterated that on X. Buzbee added that he was supporting Paxton in the race.

Cogdell described himself as a registered Democrat, although voters in Texas do not register by political party. He added, however, that he considers himself a moderate who has given more campaign contributions over the years to Republican candidates than Democrats.

Talarico has given Democrats hope of flipping the statewide seat in Texas blue as the party scrambles to retake control of the U.S. Senate in November.

Paxton’s insurgent campaign beat Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican Senate primary runoff last month, helped by a Trump endorsement in the final days of the race.

With 94% of ballots tallied, the figures showed Sánchez earned 8.79 million votes, or 50.015%, while Fujimori received 8.78 million votes, or 49.985%.

The winner will be the South American country's ninth president in 10 years. Fujimori, daughter of a disgraced former president, and Sánchez, an ally of an imprisoned ex-president, were on the runoff’s ballot after beating 33 other candidates in the vote in April, but neither earned even 20% of support. Electoral authorities took more than a month to declare them winners of that contest.

Roberto Burneo, the country’s chief electoral authority, asked voters and political organizations to “act with democratic responsibility” as the tallying process continues. He said the outcome will be available within 30 days.

In the capital, Lima, voter turnout throughout the day appeared lower than in the previous contest, with practically no lines in many voting centers, despite voting being mandatory. The slow counting pace is due to a law that requires each ballot and each tally sheet, which summarizes the votes from each polling station, to be taken to one of more than 100 offices to be tallied. Additionally, ballots and tally sheets must arrive in Lima from 63 countries to be counted.

Many voters associate candidates with controversial politicians

Crime, particularly extortion, was the overarching concern for voters. A 2025 national survey carried out by the state’s National Institute of Statistics and Informatics found that 84% of respondents in urban areas feared becoming victims of a crime in the following 12 months.

Experts attribute the increasing power of organized crime in Peru to the profits that decades-old criminal groups are earning from illegal gold mining in the Andes and the Amazon.

And the candidates' crime-fighting proposals were not enough to make inroads with voters, many of whom associate each aspiring president with controversial Peruvian politicians.

Fujimori is linked to the authoritarian and corrupt legacy of the government of her late father, Alberto Fujimori, in the 1990s. She became Peru's first lady in 1994 after her parents’ separation.

Sánchez is one of the closest allies of imprisoned former President Pedro Castillo, whom many perceive as corrupt and chaotic. Castillo’s 16-month term saw more than 70 Cabinet changes.

Official results from April’s election showed Fujimori received 17% of the vote and Sánchez got 12%. A nationwide poll conducted a week before the election by the firm Ipsos found that similar shares of voters were supporting the candidates, with about 3 in 10 saying they were undecided.

Food vendor Magali Quiquia said she cast a blank ballot because she did not find either candidate convincing,

“Five years ago, I was disappointed by Castillo with his corruption, and ... Roberto Sánchez is the same," Quiquia, 44, said. She added that she believes “Fujimori hasn’t done anything either” despite her party having multiple seats in Congress.

Voting is mandatory for Peruvians aged 18 to 70. Failure to do so results in a fine of up to $32.

More than 27 million people are registered. Of those, about 1.2 million were expected to cast ballots from abroad, mainly in the United States and Argentina.

Proposals include prison labor and a police purge

For most of her fourth presidential campaign, Fujimori promised to crack down on crime. Her proposals included implementing technology to track extortion, militarizing borders and increasing the presence of police and military personnel in high-risk areas. Fujimori, 51, also said that prisoners will be required to work and “repay society” should she win.

In the only debate before the runoff, Fujimori defended her father’s government and promised to defeat crime just as he defeated the Shining Path, a violent extremist group. After the vote counting began, she told her supporters to remain calm.

Fujimori on Monday told her more than 100 legal representatives throughout Peru that they would have to “fight” and “analyze” any ballot under dispute, but that she would respect “the results, whoever the winner may be.” She said results show a great division among voters, adding that party leaders must “build bridges” after the election is over.

Meanwhile, Sánchez, a former minister now popular with rural voters, during the campaign pledged to combat corruption within the police force and promote reforms that would enable the military to support security efforts. The 57-year-old, who wears a wide-brimmed peasant hat gifted by Castillo, told debate viewers that he would be open to “all options to generate jobs and progress” but also emphasized his support for Chinese investments.

He appeared on a Lima hotel balcony on Sunday and thanked the Indigenous communities, farmers and other supporters “who have decided to come and reclaim the government for the people.”

The runoff’s winner will be sworn in to a five-year term on July 28.

___

Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.

___

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

She has beaten all but nine players in eight tournaments this year. Only once has she not played in the final group on Sunday. All she was lacking was the biggest championship on her calendar. The U.S. Women's Open is what inspired her from the time she first played in it at age 14.

“That's where my dream started,” she said.

The pressure was never greater than Sunday at century-old Riviera Country Club when Korda had to chip and putt and grind to win the major she wanted more than all the others.

Korda is the first player since Inbee Park in 2013 to capture the first two legs of the calendar Grand Slam, and there are signs this could be the start of something special.

Park played with masterful control and sublime putting. She didn't overwhelm with style points. She won with remarkable efficiency.

Korda is more reminiscent of the previous player in pursuit of a Grand Slam, Annika Sorenstam in 2005, who won the first two majors by a combined 11 shots. Sorenstam was halfway home to a Grand Slam and miles ahead of everyone else.

Right now, no one is close to Korda.

The next major is three weeks away, the Women's PGA Championship, at Hazeltine National outside Minneapolis. It's a big ballpark, perfectly suited for the 27-year-old American star whose swing is the envy of most every golfer, male or female.

The last time the Women's PGA was at Hazeltine was in 2019. Korda was in her third year on the LPGA Tour with three career wins. She finished three shots behind.

Korda won her first major this year at the Chevron Championship in Houston, another big course, with a dominance not seen at an LPGA major in 35 years. She led the final 57 holes and was ahead by eight shots at one point on the weekend. She probably could have won by any margin if she didn't aim for the fat of the greens with victory in hand.

Equally impressive was the nail-biter at Riviera, where there was a four-way tie for the lead at various points in the final round.

Korda pulled ahead with a 9-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole.

“That putt is the reason why I'm here,” she said with the Women's Trophy at her side.

It won't be remembered as much as the short par putt for the one-shot victory over Gaby Lopez and Charley Hull. It was just inside 3 feet, though it traveled even farther because of the 10 inches the golf ball swirled around the 13-inch circumference of the cup before it disappeared.

She felt pressure, nerves, slight embarrassment and pure joy. On the packed hillside overlooking the 18th green there was a brief moment of panic that gave way to pandemonium. All those emotions took place in a 10-second window Korda will never forget.

“I don’t know if a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, but I just think I’m just extremely proud of my fight this week and the dream of that little girl that you kind of get to check that off your bucket list,” she said.

That it happened at Riviera, the storied course off Sunset Boulevard, adds to the allure.

A Hollywood finish? Sure. But this was more about big-time players winning on big-time courses. It was the first time Riviera has hosted the Women's Open, giving Korda and other players a preview of the course that will host the 2028 Olympics.

Korda managed to keep it together when her swing, which felt so pure in the practice rounds, deserted her in an opening round of 73 that left her seven shots behind. It wasn't as bad as the 10 she made on her third hole of the 2024 Women's Open at Lancaster Country Club. This time, she had a fighting chance and fought to the finish.

She saved par 24 out of the 30 times she missed the green. She birdied the final three holes Saturday to share the 54-hole lead and get into the final group (again). She never had the lead until that birdie putt on the 17th hole Sunday.

Key to the resurgence was returning to what Korda refers to as her bubble. She won seven times in 2024 and felt the weight of outside expectations when she put together similar statistic in 2025 without a single victory. Now she is back to her bubble, accepting that mistakes will happen, not concerned with much more than the next shot.

She is leaving herself written messages on her bathroom mirror.

“I wrote one today and I said, ‘Whatever happens, happens; just give it a 100%.’ And that’s what I did,” Korda said Sunday.

Another message came from Tiger Woods, whom Korda met for the first time at the PNC Championship in 2021. They have stayed in touch, and Korda said he sent her a text ahead of the final round at Riviera that said, “Finish it off.”

That she did. And there is a feeling she might be just getting started.

___

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

Michael Yharbrough, 25, of Detroit, was convicted by a jury on Monday of first-degree murder, torture, and first-degree child abuse for his role in the death of the child in late February 2025, at their home on Rutherford Street on Detroit’s west side.

The boy’s mother, Brianna Simmons, 36, of Detroit, pleaded guilty to second-degree child abuse in the case on May 8, 2026. Charges of first-degree murder, first-degree child abuse and torture were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

Simmons will be sentenced at 9 a.m. June 23, and Yharbrough is expected to be sentenced at 9 a.m. June 26 in Detroit’s 3rd Circuit Court, according to court records.

Wood, a professor emeritus at Brown University, died Sunday after being struck by a car in a supermarket parking lot in East Providence, Rhode Island, according to police.

Author of dozens of books and essays, Wood never gained the mass audience of historians like David McCullough and Doris Kearns Goodwin, but his findings became standard references for discussions about the formation of the U.S. and the legacy of the revolution that continue as the country approaches its 250th anniversary. Many peers regarded the white-haired, mild-looking Wood as the embodiment of the learned, traditional historian, guided by facts rather than ideology.

In 2011, President Barack Obama presented him a National Humanities Medal “for scholarship that provides insight into the founding of the nation and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.”

In recent years, younger academics increasingly alleged that Wood was too well-established, the epitome of the old-school historian who minimized the lives of slaves, women and Indigenous people. John L. Brooke, a history professor at Ohio State University, would fault him for “a distinct avoidance of interpretative paradox and complexity,” even as he cited Wood’s “scale and scholarly enterprise.”

In an email to The Associated Press, filmmaker Ken Burns praised Wood as a “teacher of generations of students and other historians.”

Woody Holton, an author and historian who clashed at times with Wood, told the AP that he admired his “willingness to encourage even a younger scholar like me who viewed the American revolutionary era very differently from him.”

“The tragic accident that killed him is especially heartbreaking in denying him, by less than a month, the chance to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday,” added Holton, a history professor at the University of South Carolina.

His success was immediate and lasting. His first book, "The Creation of the American Republic," won the Bancroft Prize in 1970 and lived on with generations of students who embraced and contended with Wood's findings that the Constitution was unintentionally subversive, a document devised by elites that led to “the destruction of the very social world they had sought to maintain.”

His "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" won the Pulitzer in 1993 and the epic "Empire of Liberty" was a finalist in 2009.

Silver screen moment

Wood's name also was familiar to moviegoers through the Academy Award-winning "Good Will Hunting," released in 1997. The lead character, a pugnacious, self-taught genius played by Matt Damon, taunts a Harvard undergraduate: "You're gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talking about, you know, the pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization." (Ideas, Wood would point out, that he did not endorse).

A few years earlier, Wood received an unexpected and uncomfortable compliment from then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who listed "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" as an essential work of history. Wood would remember how the Georgia Republican's blessing was a "kiss of death" among his many liberal peers and perceived as an affirmation of conservative policies.

Regarding himself as neither radical nor reactionary, Wood claimed a middle ground between conventional "great man" narratives and the more egalitarian scholarship that emerged in the 1960s.

He acknowledged that historians had overlooked the contributions of women and minority groups, but worried that "headline political events" were being ignored entirely. He disputed Progressive era historian Charles Beard's influential portrait of the U.S. Constitution as a cynical triumph for the rich, but didn't regard the founders as infallible sages above looking after their own interests.

"I don't think our history should be seen as a moral tale, either good or bad," he once wrote. "I think historians should try to understand where we came from as honestly as we can, without trying to say this was a great celebration or that this was a disaster. I don't think either of those extremes is true of our history."

Battles with the past

Wood did welcome scholarly breakthroughs, notably Annette Gordon-Reed’s “persuasive contextual case” that the enslaved Sally Hemings bore some of Thomas Jefferson’s children. In “Empire of Liberty,” which covered the years 1789 to 1815, he included lengthy passages on slavery and called it a cancer “eating away at the message of liberty and equality.”

At other times, Wood angrily resisted new approaches. He was a prominent critic of The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize winning 1619 Project and its contention — later amended — that maintaining slavery was a key motivation for the American Revolution. He alleged that the project encouraged a sense “victimhood” and feeling “aggrieved," even as he acknowledged he hadn't read most of it. He would counter that the founders, including such plantation owners as Jefferson and James Madison, believed — mistakenly — that slavery would die a natural death and the revolution itself energized the American abolitionist movement.

“We all want justice, but not at the expense of truth,” he wrote in 2019, adding, in a widely disputed statement, “I don’t know of any colonist who said that they wanted independence in order to preserve their slaves.”

In "Radicalism" and other books, Wood rejected conservative and liberal theories that the American Revolution did not immediately lead to any substantial new freedoms and was essentially a political event — a mere "mental shift" — that otherwise reinforced the status quo.

The new country's early years, Wood stated, were a time of transformation and democratization in everything from how people dressed to the way they greeted each other in the streets. The shifts were so profound that even the revolution's leaders didn't expect or want them.

"One class did not overthrow another; the poor did not supplant the rich," Wood wrote. "But social relationships, the way people were connected one to another — were changed and decisively so. By the early years of the 19th century the Revolution had created a society fundamentally different from the colonial society of the 18th century. It was in fact a new society unlike any that had existed anywhere in the world."

Fellow historian and Pulitzer winner David Hackett Fischer would later write that Wood's scholarship "altered the way historians thought about their field."

Wood's other books included "Revolutionary Characters" and "The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin" and his essays and reviews appeared frequently in The New York Review of Books, The New Republic and other publications. Wood also appeared in Burns' PBS documentary about the American Revolution, consulted on Burns' film about Jefferson and chaired an advisory panel for the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Wood married Louise Goss in 1956. They had three children, two of whom became history professors.

Gordon Wood was a self-described "simple hedgehog" who stuck to writing about the revolution, which he regarded as "the most important event in American history, bar none." He was unhappy that students attending college knew far more about the Civil War, noting that it was impossible to understand any U.S. conflict without understanding the country's birth.

"We Americans have such a thin and meager sense of history that we cannot get too much of it," he once wrote.

High school boredom, college passion

Wood was born into history: His hometown, Concord, Massachusetts, had been the residence of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Louisa May Alcott among others. But his passion for the subject he later mastered did not arise until college. Wood found his high school history education unbearable, suffering through classes in which the teacher simply read from a textbook.

Wood did admire his Latin instructor, who encouraged him to attend Tufts University, from which he graduated summa cum laude. He received a master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University and studied under a celebrated Revolutionary War historian Bernard Bailyn, whose documentation of the intellectual forces behind independence in his landmark “The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution” Wood would build upon in “The Creation of the American Republic.”

In his introduction to "The Idea of America," published in 2011, Wood looked back on his own work and the evolution of scholarship in his lifetime. He noted the many errors of the country's founders but warned against scolding historical figures because of mistakes which seem obvious now, what he and others call “Presentism.”

"The drama, indeed the tragedy of history, comes from our understanding of the tension that existed between the conscious wills and intentions of the participants in the past and the underlying conditions that constrained their actions and shaped their future," he wrote.

“If the study of history teaches anything, it teaches us the limitations of life. It ought to produce prudence and humility.”

___

AP writer Michael Casey contributed to this report from Boston.

Detroit police said two officers were traveling northbound on Gunston Avenue in a marked scout car on June 7, just after 9:30 p.m., when a driver in a Chevy Malibu, traveling near McNichols, made a left turn in front of the police car, leading to the crash.

The two officers were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver and front seat passenger of the Malibu were also taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The back seat passenger did not seek medical attention.

The investigation into the crash is ongoing.

The Chrisleys were initially indicted in August 2019 and a jury in Atlanta convicted them in June 2022 on charges including bank fraud and tax evasion. Todd Chrisley was sentenced to serve 12 years in federal prison while Julie Chrisley got seven years. Both were released last year after President Donald Trump pardoned them.

The lawsuit filed Friday says the law firm, Balch & Bingham, “held itself out as capable of defending Todd and Julie Chrisley in one of the most consequential federal criminal prosecutions in the country. It was not.”

The partner who led the Chrisleys' defense, Chris Anulewicz, “had no meaningful defense experience” and the firm knew that or should have known that, the lawsuit says. But the firm let him lead the case “because the Chrisley name meant money, publicity, and the kind of high-profile notoriety that brings in business.”

The Chrisleys are asking for a jury trial and are seeking compensatory damages “in excess of $25 million,” as well as compensation for their legal costs and attorney fees.

While he was supposed to be handling their defense, the lawsuit says, Anulewicz “found time to steer the Chrisleys into a $75,000 investment in his brother-in-law's startup food truck business — exploiting his position as their attorney to benefit himself and his family while neglecting his duty to them.” Anulewicz now works for a different firm.

Patrick T. O'Connor, an attorney representing Balch & Bingham and Anulewicz, said Monday that he couldn't comment because they haven't been served with the lawsuit yet. But he said “it will be vigorously defended.”

The Chrisleys, who now live in Tennessee, became famous through their show, “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed their tight-knit family and extravagant lifestyle.

Before the Chrisleys became reality television stars, they and a former business partner submitted false documents to banks in the Atlanta area to obtain millions of dollars in fraudulent loans, prosecutors said. They spent lavishly on luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel and used new fraudulent loans to pay old ones. Todd Chrisley then filed for bankruptcy, walking away from more than $20 million in loans, prosecutors said.

The federal criminal investigation against the couple was based on an unlawful, warrantless search by the Georgia Department of Revenue of a warehouse where the Chrisleys had stored some belongings, the lawsuit says. The judge granted a defense request to suppress the physical documents from that search.

But Anulewicz didn't ask her to suppress “derivative evidence,” including emails, bank records and financial documents that “formed the core of the government's case,” the lawsuit says. Federal agents opened their investigation based on the seized information and then got search warrants to obtain specific documents from the Chrisleys' email accounts, the lawsuit says.

“Without that evidence, the government would not have had sufficient evidence to support a conviction,” the lawsuit says.

Pashinyan was looking for a strong mandate for a new geopolitical course that includes distancing Armenia from Moscow and deepening cooperation with the West. “The European Union is our main partner in democratic reform implementation, and we will continue that path,” Pashinyan said as he cast his vote on Sunday.

European election observers said the election was divisive but “well-run," while noting concerns that Russia had sought to sway the outcome with economic pressure and suggesting that Pashinyan's incumbent government had sought to stifle the largely pro-Russian opposition.

Pashinyan's Civil Contract party came in first with 49.82% of the vote, according to the latest preliminary results on Monday.

His main opponent, Samvel Karapetyan, is a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia and is under house arrest, accused of advocating for the government’s overthrow. Karapetyan, whose Strong Armenia bloc was the runner-up with 23.28% of the vote, rejects that charge as politically motivated.

Armenian investigators said they also issued six arrest warrants for members of Strong Armenia the day before the election, accusing them of buying votes. The party seeks to develop close business ties with Moscow and has accused Pashinyan of attempting to start a war with the Kremlin.

While the Central Election Commission says it has counted ballots from all electoral precincts, full results are not expected until Sunday. This is to give parties time to lodge complaints about any perceived irregularities.

‘Referendum on the future of the country'

Richard Giragosian, who heads the Regional Studies Center think tank in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, said that despite concerns that Russia was trying to sway the election, the vote had been “genuinely free and fair” and “stands as a referendum on the future of the country.”

“Much of the Russian efforts at interference fell flat and were ineffective,” Giragosian told the AP on Monday.

Russia has warned Armenia it would suffer economic consequences if it continues moves toward the EU. Moscow controls a significant portion of Armenia’s energy and infrastructure, a point that has been driven home by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his meetings with Pashinyan.

Russia recently banned the import of a number of Armenian products, including, flowers, wine and fish. Moscow has cited violations of import rules, but the European Commission has called the measures “economic coercion.”

Putin and other Russian officials also have made thinly veiled threats comparing Armenia’s path to that already taken by Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia.

Pashinyan's party set to rule on its own

Armenia’s National Assembly must consist of at least 101 members elected for five-year terms. Parties must win at least 4% of the vote to enter, while blocs made up of three or more parties must hit 8%.

The Hayastan (Armenia) bloc led by former President Robert Kocharyan is also set to take seats, receiving 9.93% of the vote. The Prosperous or Blossoming Armenia party, led by pro-Russia businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, has hovered around the 4% threshold.

Turnout stood at 58.94%, according to the latest announcement by the election commission.

Preliminary results from the election commission suggested the governing party has won 61 seats in the National Assembly.

According to Giragosian, the analyst, this will allow Pashinyan's party to rule on its own and pass most laws independently, but not to secure constitutional amendments without a referendum.

PM vows to continue peace process with neighboring Azerbaijan

Opposition parties have strongly criticized the government for attempting to normalize relations with neighboring Azerbaijan. Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev initialed a document on moving toward a peace deal at the White House alongside U.S. President Donald Trump in August.

Armenia and Azerbaijan were locked in a decades-long conflict over Karabakh, a breakaway region that had been controlled for decades by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Yerevan. Azerbaijan took control of the entire Karabakh region during a rapid offensive in 2023.

Pashinyan announced on Monday that Armenia intends to move toward “institutionalizing” a peace deal, and ratifying an agreement with the White House that would create a major transit corridor through Armenian territory to be named after Trump.

“This is a truly transformative project, as Armenia is becoming a crossroads of the world,” Pashinyan said.

International observers say the election offered genuine choice

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament said in a joint statement that the election had offered voters genuine alternatives “in a well-run process.”

The observers noted concerns about pressure from Russia, while also noting that the campaign domestically was “highly confrontational” and marked by allegations of electoral violations that led to many criminal cases against opposition candidates, raising a perception of “selective justice."

"This, along with pressure on public sector employees to attend ruling party events, and recently introduced social and economic measures, raised concerns about the equality of opportunity to campaign,” the statement said.

Responses from Brussels and Moscow

Top officials of the EU, which is preparing an economic support package for Armenia, congratulated Pashinyan following the tightly contested race.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media that the EU deeply values the partnership with Armenia as it draws “ever closer to Europe.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Armenia's elections were held “amid unprecedented pressure on the opposition and interference from the West, primarily the EU.”

The ministry's spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, did not give examples of such interference, but said the elections "demonstrated that Armenian society is extremely polarized.” She added that Moscow's approach to future relations will “take into account actual steps taken by the Armenian leadership."

Giragosian said that Russia is not necessarily surprised at the election outcome and that its lack of direct support for the Armenian opposition indicates that it is open to continue working with the Pashinyan government while also increasing pressure on it.

——

AP writers Sam McNeil in Brussels and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus contributed.

——

An earlier version of this story wrongly stated that according to an earlier announcement by Armenia's election commission, turnout in the general election on Sunday stood at 97%. The correct figure at that time was 59.97%.

Kepler can start a minor league assignment Wednesday, when the suspension is scheduled to have 15 days remaining. If no Arizona games are postponed, he would be eligible to play for the Diamondbacks on June 25 at St. Louis.

If Kepler returns to the major league roster on June 25, he would receive $396,257 in salary for the remainder of the season. He would earn a $100,000 bonus for 35 days on the active roster and $200,000 each for 55 and 75.

Kepler remains on the restricted list for the remainder of the suspension and will not occupy a spot on the 40-man roster during the ban.

He is ineligible to appear in the postseason this year.

Kepler was suspended in January for a positive test for Epitrenbolone, a metabolite of Trenbolone that's contained in some products used in body-building stores and has been used in products to promote cattle growth. Kepler was the first player suspended by MLB for the substance since public announcements of the penalty details began in 2005.

The 33-year-old hit .216 with 18 homers and 52 RBIs with Philadelphia last year after agreeing to a $10 million, one-year contract. He was slowed in 2024 by left patellar tendinitis and had core surgery after the season to repair a sports hernia.

Kepler grew up in Germany and signed with the Twins at age 16 in 2009. He has a .235 average with 179 homers and 560 RBIs during an 11-year big league career.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Kepler is eligible to play on June 25, not report to the team then, and that he was suspended in January, not tested positive then.

___

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

The truce in the Iran war that was reached in April has not spread to Lebanon, where Israel has been battling Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants. Israel says it is defending its northern communities that face Hezbollah drone and rocket fire.

Iran sees Israel’s ground invasion, with thousands of troops, and airstrikes in Lebanon as a ceasefire violation. It insists that any deal with the United States must end the fighting there. Israel disagrees.

Here’s a timeline of key events.

Feb. 28

The United States and Israel attack Iran. War begins.

March 2

Hezbollah enters the war by firing rockets at Israel. Israel retaliates.

April 7

A fragile ceasefire in the Iran war is announced, with talks to continue. Israel is not included in negotiations.

April 8

Israel bombards Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, killing over 300 people in a 10-minute attack.

April 14

Lebanon and Israel hold their first direct diplomatic talks in decades in Washington.

April 17

A fragile ceasefire is announced between Israel and Lebanon, but Hezbollah plays no part. Fighting soon resumes from both sides.

May 31

Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon makes its deepest incursion in over a quarter-century as Hezbollah continues to pound northern Israel and Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon with drones and missiles.

June 1

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens to strike Beirut if Hezbollah attacks against Israel don’t stop. U.S. President Donald Trump says Israel and Hezbollah agree to calm the fighting.

June 3

Israel and Lebanon say they agree to renew the fragile ceasefire and create security zones that exclude Hezbollah.

June 4

Hezbollah’s leader rejects the ceasefire agreement and demands that Israel withdraw from Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Israel continue firing at each other.

June 5

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard says “there will be no calm in the region ” if Israel doesn’t withdraw from Lebanon. The fighting since March 2 had killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon. Almost 30 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor were killed in or around southern Lebanon, and two civilians were killed in northern Israel.

June 7

Hezbollah continues firing at Israel. Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs. Iran fires at Israel.

June 8

Israel launches airstrikes in the early morning targeting central and western Iran in response to Iranian missile fire. By evening Israel and Iran both appear to have backed down. Netanyahu threatens to resume strikes if Iran launches any more missiles, and says Israel will continue operating against Hezbollah.

Mariah Rose McDonald left her residence on the 700 block of South Stirling Avenue in Pontiac at around 10 p.m. on May 26 and failed to return home.

Police say family members have received communication from Mariah through a friend’s phone that she is safe, but refuses to disclose her location or return home.

Investigators say her parents believe she may be in Detroit.

Rose McDonald is 15 years old, 5′03″, 150 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes.

The sheriffs office is seeking information regarding Mariah’s current location to ensure her well-being and facilitate her return home.

Anyone with information should contact the Oakland County sheriff’s office at 248-858-4950.

The center disclosed the list Monday in an email sent to members, who were offered packages ranging from $99 for a seat reservation to $1,500 and more for seating and admission to pre- and post-show receptions. The announcement also marks a notable change in how the center is identifying itself: The news came from the Kennedy Center, not the "Trump Kennedy Center," a switch that also appears on the center's home page.

Last month, a federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump's handpicked board of trustees had acted illegally when they voted to add Trump's name to the venue, which Congress in 1964 named for the recently assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” wrote U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper.

Although a Kennedy spokesperson suggested the venue might appeal the decision, the center received an email last week from its general counsel that laid out steps for cooperation, including the removal of Trump's name. After mostly ignoring the Kennedy Center during his first term, Trump soon made the center a key part of his overall mission to purge federal cultural institutions of so-called “woke” influences. He ousted the leadership, filled the board of trustees with supporters and presided over such signature events as the Kennedy Honors ceremony.

In response, numerous performers cancelled planned appearances at the center, including Issa Rae, Bela Fleck and Renée Fleming.

Maher is the 27th recipient of the Twain Award, which has previously been given to Leno, Steve Martin and Tina Fey among others. Trump and Maher have publicly feuded in recent years, but the HBO host is otherwise the kind of comedian that many Republicans have found palatable — a self-styled independent who regularly attacks Hollywood as “woke” and has interviewed everyone from liberal stalwarts like Jane Fonda to conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro and Charlie Kirk to such “cancelled” cultural figures as Woody Allen.

Other guests expected at the Twain ceremony include the comedian Louis C.K., who has been touring regularly since allegations of sexual misconduct briefly upended his career after they were reported in 2017, and the controversial ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, whose blunt comments on sports and beyond have led to fierce exchanges with NBA star Jaylen Brown and commentator Keith Olbermann among others.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, appeared in court for jury selection wearing a white shirt and blue tie, having pled not guilty to starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. Prosecutors say Rinderknecht started a fire on Jan. 1, 2025, and it burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up on Jan. 7.

The Palisades Fire ultimately killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes as it incinerated hillside neighborhoods in Pacific Palisades and the city of Malibu. Rinderknecht faces at least five years in prison if convicted of charges that also include malicious destruction by means of a fire.

Lead defense attorney Steve Haney has said Rinderknecht is being made as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the Jan. 1 blaze. The trial is likely to take about two weeks.

A group of more than 80 potential jurors were sworn in Monday. Jurors will fill out a questionnaire and return to the courthouse Tuesday, where attorneys on both sides will have the opportunity to question them and dismiss ones they believe are unsuitable to be on the jury.

News of the trial drew mixed reactions from residents of the Pacific Palisades, who have spent the last year and a half tussling with insurance claims and red tape for building permits as they try to regain normalcy in their lives.

“It drums up all of the emotions over this past year and makes me think about all of the suffering and chaos of all of our neighbors and friends’ lives,” said Meghan Wald, whose home was among the few left standing in her block.

Palisades streets are now crowded with construction vehicles and workers, and charred trees have recovered their luscious green. But vacant lots abound, filled with weeds and wildflowers and the skeletal frames of homes. Of the more than 450 construction projects, only 17 homes have been certified for occupancy.

Wald and her family now live in nearby Brentwood, but she visits weekly to support the handful of businesses that have reopened, including her hair salon, her usual CVS pharmacy and the Palisades Garden Cafe, where her kids used to grab snacks after school.

“It’s great to see the shops that we know and love coming back,” Wald said. “It’s also hard to imagine what it’s going to be like. It will never be the same.”

The fire has been a central theme in incumbent Mayor Karen Bass 's reelection bid as she defends the city's recovery process. Bass was in Ghana as part of a presidential delegation when the flames ignited. One of her challengers, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt, lost his home in the blaze and has made what he calls municipal ineptitude a central campaign message. It's not yet clear if Pratt won enough votes in the primary to face Bass in November's runoff election.

Judge Anne Hwang has ruled that the defense can't introduce evidence or arguments about alleged negligence by the fire department, saying it was irrelevant and could confuse the jury.

Defense attorneys had planned to include testimony from a firefighter that the earlier fire was visibly smoldering when first responders left the scene. That was gathered as part of a lawsuit filed by fire victims against the city.

Haney said he also plans to argue that the government lacks solid evidence or witness testimony linking Rinderknecht to the first fire, and that first responders heard fireworks in the vicinity of where the blaze started.

Prosecutors say geolocation data from Rinderknecht's phone shows that he was in the area of the fire as it rapidly grew, and investigators later seized a Bic barbecue lighter from his car that he admitted to having with him on the trail. They will claim he was upset about a failed relationship as well as thwarted plans for New Year's Eve, and that he ranted to his Uber passengers that evening about being angry at the world, according to an April 29 pretrial memo filed by the U.S. attorney’s office.

Lena Loh, who opened a skin care clinic in the Palisades three months before the fire, said Rinderknecht’s prosecution gives her no sense of relief. She has been struggling to reopen and is looking to leave because she can't sustain the business financially anymore.

“I don’t necessarily think putting him on trial is gonna fix anything,” she said. “This is a city issue. The city needed to manage that small speck of fire better.”

This limited-time concession collaboration is bringing hometown flavors to moviegoers across the Midwest all throughout the summer.

For more information - and to see a tour of the Better Made facility in Detroit - click the video above.

Wood, a professor emeritus at Brown University, died Sunday after being struck by a car in a supermarket parking lot in East Providence, Rhode Island, according to police.

Author of dozens of books and essays, Wood never gained the mass audience of historians like David McCullough and Doris Kearns Goodwin, but his findings became standard references for discussions about the formation of the U.S. and the legacy of the revolution. Many peers regarded the white-haired, mild-looking Wood as the embodiment of the learned, traditional historian, guided by facts rather than ideology.

In 2011, President Barack Obama presented him a National Humanities Medal “for scholarship that provides insight into the founding of the nation and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.”

In recent years, younger academics increasingly alleged that Wood was too well-established, the epitome of the old-school historian who minimized the lives of slaves, women and Indigenous people. John L. Brooke, a history professor at Ohio State University, would fault him for “a distinct avoidance of interpretative paradox and complexity,” even as he cited Wood’s “scale and scholarly enterprise.”

His success was immediate and lasting. His first book, “The Creation of the American Republic,” won the Bancroft Prize in 1970 and lived on with generations of students who embraced and contended with Wood’s findings that the Constitution was unintentionally subversive, a document devised by elites that led to “the destruction of the very social world they had sought to maintain.”

His “The Radicalism of the American Revolution” won the Pulitzer in 1993 and the epic “Empire of Liberty” was a finalist in 2009.

Wood did welcome scholarly breakthroughs, notably Annette Gordon-Reed’s “persuasive contextual case” that the enslaved Sally Hemings bore some of Thomas Jefferson’s children. In “Empire of Liberty,” which covered the years 1789 to 1815, he included lengthy passages on slavery and called it a cancer “eating away at the message of liberty and equality.”

At other times, Wood angrily resisted new approaches. He was a prominent critic of The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize winning 1619 Project and its contention — later amended — that maintaining slavery was a key motivation for the American Revolution. He alleged that the project encouraged a sense “victimhood” and feeling “aggrieved,” even as he acknowledged he hadn’t read most of it. He would counter that the founders, even such plantation owners as Jefferson and James Madison, believed — mistakenly — that slavery would die a natural death and the revolution itself energized the American abolitionist movement.

“We all want justice, but not at the expense of truth,” he wrote in 2019, adding, in a widely disputed statement, “I don’t know of any colonist who said that they wanted independence in order to preserve their slaves.”

Wood was born into history: His hometown, Concord, Massachusetts, had been the residence of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Louisa May Alcott, among others. But his passion for the subject he later mastered did not arise until college. Wood found his high school history education unbearable, suffering through classes in which the teacher simply read from a textbook.

Wood did admire his Latin instructor, who encouraged him to attend Tufts University, from which he graduated summa cum laude. He received a master’s and Ph.D. from Harvard University and studied under a celebrated Revolutionary War historian Bernard Bailyn, whose documentation of the intellectual forces behind independence in his landmark “The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution” Wood would build upon in “The Creation of the American Republic.”

In his introduction to “The Idea of America,” published in 2011, Wood looked back on his own work and the evolution of scholarship in his lifetime. He noted the many errors of the country’s founders but warned against scolding historical figures because of mistakes which seem obvious now, what he and others call “Presentism.”

“The drama, indeed the tragedy of history, comes from our understanding of the tension that existed between the conscious wills and intentions of the participants in the past and the underlying conditions that constrained their actions and shaped their future,” he wrote.

“If the study of history teaches anything, it teaches us the limitations of life. It ought to produce prudence and humility.”

___

Associated Press writer Michael Casey contributed to this report from Boston.

The new season will come with some exciting twists as athletes compete for a $250,000 grand prize.

Watch the video above to see the hosts of “American Ninja Warrior” talk about the new additions during an interview on “Live in the D.”

You can catch the premiere of season 18 of “American Ninja Warrior” Monday, June 8 at 9 p.m. on Local 4.

During our ‘What’s The Buzz’ segment we discussed the rise of “dog fatigue” and the importance of balancing a love for pets with consideration for those around us.

Watch the video above to learn more.

Guitarist Nas Sorrell and drummer McKenna Fain are the creative geniuses behind the making of “Checker”, and they have made a breakthrough in the Detroit band music scene.

Watch the segment above to listen to their song “Not Gonna Let You Down”.

As Congo battles an Ebola disease outbreak that has killed nearly 100 people out of the more than 500 confirmed cases, local authorities have raced to slow the disease with strict measures, including by limiting public gatherings and enforcing social distancing.

For Jean Claude Érable and his bride Solange Hahati, celebrating their wedding on Saturday in such conditions meant having some family members and friends absent on one of their happiest days.

“We had planned 300 guests (but) only 50 people were allowed to enter,” Hahati told The Associated Press. “It was really difficult because we wanted to celebrate with our friends.”

The latest Ebola outbreak, which is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, is concentrated in Congo’s eastern province of Ituri. There have been 515 confirmed infections so far, including 91 deaths, according to Congolese health authorities. The number of cases is believed to be higher because the outbreak was confirmed weeks late, and the response has been challenging also because the virus has no approved vaccine or treatment.

To help slow the spread, local officials have urged people to limit physical contact, wash their hands regularly and report suspected cases quickly.

At the Catholic Church in Bunia, the capital of Ituri, where Érable and Hahati celebrated their love story, the Mass featured a number of couples who were present for their weddings.

The precautions, though not always adhered to, are reshaping social life in a country where weddings are typically vibrant, daylong celebrations bringing together hundreds of relatives, friends and well-wishers.

As the choir chorused and as brides in white gowns walked down the aisle, the handful of relatives and friends present inside the church maintained social distance, cheered and snapped photos. Outside, a crowd sang excitedly.

“We are adhering to the preventive measures and respecting social distancing,” said Érable. “I must say that there is no problem, no obstacle, because we are doing our best to respect all the measures dictated by the state.”

His bride smiled as he slipped a wedding ring onto her finger. Outside, after the wedding Mass, she proudly displayed the ring as her husband walked her to the car.

The couple moved part of their reception outdoors, where guests could spread out more easily.

Church leaders say adapting has become essential.

Some families have already postponed their scheduled weddings in light of the new health measures, said the Rev. Aimé Lokanabego, the priest who officiated their wedding Mass.

The church is not holding other religious events that involve higher risks of exposure, such as baptism, he said.

“This is, in a way, how we are dealing with this Ebola epidemic at our level. The situation is critical,” said Lokanabego.

As Wallace did nearly all the talking, Hocevar nodded and offered a few smiles. The one-sided conversation ended with Hocevar patting Wallace on the shoulder — defusing the tension while offering little remorse.

The third-year Cup Series driver, whose aggression has earned him the nickname of “The Hurricane” in rubbing the NASCAR establishment the wrong way, left a trail of wreckage in his wake Sunday at Michigan.

With a fifth place in the No. 77 Chevrolet, the Portage, Michigan, native earned his best career Cup finish at his home-state track. He also triggered a nine-car crash on a midrace restart by bumping John Hunter Nemechek as the cars ahead of him were slowing down.

“I was like, ‘Man, I didn’t mean to do that,’ ” Hocevar said. “I obviously feel bad that I wrecked them and everything, but my intention wasn’t to wreck anybody, really. So next time I’ll know what to do a little differently.”

Many of his peers believe the Spire Motorsports driver should be doing everything differently.

“Well, you can count on Hocevar to always do dumb (stuff),” Nemechek radioed his team. Josh Berry jokingly referred to Hocevar as “The Intimidator,” the moniker of seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt.

“I hope at some point (Hocevar) figures it out, but I know I’m not going to show anything to him for a long time,” said Austin Dillon, who finished 36th after his No. 3 Chevy was trashed in the wreck.

In their pit-wall discussion, Wallace told Hocevar he was jealous of his speed.

“He’s one of the fastest in the field, and that’s his natural ability,” Wallace said. “I’ve got to give respect to it. But at the same time, Kevin Harvick told me four or five years ago, ‘Stop hitting (stuff), and your finishes will show.’ And that’s what I simply tried to tell (Hocevar), man. He’s going for every move, every second. Not worth it.

"He’s creating a lot of enemies. I just told him, ’You’re fast. A lot of us are jealous of what you’re able to do. But we’re beating you because we can put a race together better than you.”

An unfazed Hocevar essentially shrugged when asked about Wallace’s criticism.

“I get his point and everything,” he said. “I’m just racing really hard, and there were times where I tried to make a move and get two spots when I probably should have just got one, and it cost me.”

The 23-year-old upstart did show some acquiescence toward the end of the race when he waved by the faster cars of Wallace, Erik Jones and Kyle Larson.

But there’s an incentive to stick to his hard-charging ways.

It’s a NASCAR rite of passage for the old guard to scold young stars who threaten their results, and it’s been effective in blunting their progress. Three years ago, Ross Chastain dramatically tailed off after being targeted for scorn from several veterans who tangled with him.

If he shows restraint, Hocevar might lose his grip on a top-16 spot in the Chase (he is ranked seventh with 11 races left in the regular season). Yet his recalcitrance also runs the risk of costly retribution.

Amazon Prime analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes Hocevar should stay the course for his own good — and for NASCAR, which thrives on colorful personalities and rivalries.

“I don’t want him to really change what he’s doing,” Earnhardt said of Hocevar on the postrace show. “As a fan and as a broadcaster, what he did today made this race unique. If he cleans it up, I’m not sure I’m going to like what I’m going to see. I kind of like the drama that he brings. He’s got a hat to wear, and he wears it well. He doesn’t seem interested in changing, and I don’t want him to change.”

Hamlin ponders future

With his second consecutive victory and third this season, Denny Hamlin now trails Tyler Reddick by only 51 points, chopping 78 points off the margin in the past three seasons. Team owner Joe Gibbs is still hoping Hamlin will reconsider his decision to retire from full-time driving after the 2027 season.

Hamlin left the door slightly open (“I told (Gibbs) just check with me in six months”) but said he wants to go out on top before his skills diminish.

“I feel as though there’s three things that happen,” Hamlin said. “You lose your eyesight. You lose your reaction. And your body hurts. The body hurts are there during the week. I’m not recovering as quick. But the other two things are still sharp. So I want to go out like this.”

In-Season Challenge

Sunday at Pocono Raceway will set the field for the second year of the In-Season Challenge. The top 32 drivers in the points standings will complete for $1 million in a bracket-style tournament contested over five races (Sonoma Raceway, Chicagoland Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway).

Connor Zilisch is unlikely to be eligible. The Trackhouse Racing rookie is ranked 34th in the standings (two spots behind Alex Bowman, who missed four races) after becoming the sixth driver in NASCAR history with three consecutive last-place finishes.

___

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

The first four signings to Hockeytown’s team were announced Friday night, bringing Olympic gold medalists, successful teammates, and one of the PWHL’s all-time offensive threats to the D.

Daryl Watts is PWHL Detroit’s maiden athlete, signing a four-year deal to lead the new team in 2026-27.

Coming from the Toronto Sceptres and Ottawa Charge, the 27-year-old Watts is the second-leading goal scorer in PWHL history, tallying 32 goals with a third-best 62 career points to her name. Prior to the pros, Watts won the Patty Kazmeier Award as a freshman at Wisconsin as the best player in women’s college hockey.

Forward Hannah Bilka comes to Detroit from Seattle, adding a left-shooting presence after a four goal, five assist season with the Torrent. Bilka’s deal is a two-year standard player agreement.

Two-time Team USA gold medalist Cayla Barnes joins PWHL Detroit to lead the defense. A teammate of Bilka’s in Seattle, she makes the move to the expansion team on a three-year deal after appearing in all 30 games with three goals and five assists last season.

PWHL Detroit also adds Britta Curl-Salemme to the fold, a 26-year-old forward who finished third in league scoring in 2025-26 with 11 goals and a new single-season record 18 assists. Curl-Salemme spent her first two seasons with the Minnesota Frost after being drafted ninth overall in 2024.

Phase Two of the PWHL expansion draft continues until Monday at 1 p.m. Existing teams can lose a maximum of three unprotected players under contract for the upcoming season.

Detroit will host the 2026 PWHL Entry Draft at the Fox Theatre on June 17.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on Friday, the suspect — identified in the complaint as Billy Chambers — was captured on surveillance video intentionally setting the church on fire around 2:15 a.m. on Aug. 30, 2025.

In the minutes leading up to the fire, ATF Special Agent Gregory Lotoczky says the suspect can be seen making multiple trips back and forth between the area of the church where the fire was started and a field just east of the church.

At 2:11 a.m., the suspect reemerged from the field and approached the church with an object in his right hand, allegedly striking a window with the object before walking back to the field.

A minute later, the man can be seen returning to the church with a red gas can wrapped in a black trash bag and a piece of cloth before emptying the gas can into the window he previously struck. Finally, around 2:16 a.m., the man reportedly returns to the window with an ignition device and sets the church on fire before running back towards the field.

During the course of the investigation it was discovered that Chambers’ cell phone connected to a cell tower approximately .4 miles away from the church around 2:20 a.m., and connected to a tower near his residence — more than two miles away — at 1:32 a.m. and 2:56 a.m., the complaint stated.

Lotoczky and other ATF special agents executed a federal search warrant at Chamber’s home on June 5, 2025, seizing the clothing and shoes Chambers allegedly wore on the day of the arson.

When speaking with investigators following the search warrant, Chambers maintained that he has never been to St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, which was unable to hold services at the church for approximately two months as a result of the fire, according to the investigation.

Chambers is being charged with intentionally obstructing persons in the free exercise of their religious beliefs by the use of fire; malicious destruction of a building by means of fire or an explosive; and arson in commission of a federal felony offense.

The first chance for showers and thunderstorms returns tonight, although coverage is expected to be limited. A more significant opportunity for rain and storms arrives Tuesday afternoon and evening (after 2 p.m.). Although it will not be a blanket of showers draping the area, the scattered thunderstorms that do develop Tuesday could produce locally heavy rainfall, leading to ponding on roads and reduced visibility during heavier downpours. Rainfall amounts will vary considerably from one community to the next, depending on where storms develop and track.

Following Tuesday’s storm chances, heat and humidity will begin building across Southeast Michigan. Wednesday and Thursday are expected to be the hottest days of the week with afternoon highs reaching the upper 80s to low 90s. Combined with increasing humidity, heat index values could approach 100 degrees in some locations, creating uncomfortable conditions for outdoor activities. Stay hydrated and check on your loved ones.

The active weather pattern will continue through much of the week, with periodic chances for showers and thunderstorms accompanying the warmer temperatures. While there will be dry stretches between rounds of rain, keep an eye on the forecast for updates on storm timing and any potential heavy rainfall concerns.

In summary, enjoy today’s warm and mostly dry weather before a more unsettled pattern develops, bringing storm chances and the first taste of significant summer heat to Metro Detroit.

The Knicks are two wins from their first championship since 1973 and it seems everyone in the city wants the chance to see it. Even President Donald Trump will be on hand Monday night at Madison Square Garden for Game 3, along with fans who will pay exorbitant prices and endure lengthy lines to get in.

It feels like more of a major event than any basketball game, and Victor Wembanyama was asked if the chaos could be a distraction for his San Antonio Spurs.

“Not really,” he said. “I think it could be, but isolating myself is something I’ve practiced over the years. I think I’m good at it. So it’s not a problem.”

The Spurs have a big enough problem with their 2-0 deficit.

No team has recovered to win the championship after losing the first two games of the NBA Finals at home, and no team in the 80-year history of the league has won any series after falling behind 3-0. So the Spurs need to win Monday.

They had good chances in both games at home. San Antonio led by 14 points midway through the third quarter of Game 1, then erased a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take the lead in the final minute of Game 2 before the Knicks rallied for a 105-104 victory.

That was New York's 13th consecutive victory, the second-longest winning streak in postseason history.

Back at home, even the Knicks don't know quite what to expect of the atmosphere for the first NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden since 1999. But they know what to expect from the Spurs.

“I mean, their best,” center Karl-Anthony Towns said. “Every single game you expect their best. That’s how you don’t get caught in a way lacking. You go out there and you expect their best, so you want to bring your best. This is the NBA Finals. There’s no time to take any game easy or to take any game lightly.”

___

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

The recently released report provides the first official accounting of the scale of the IRS-ICE information transfer and documents security concerns surrounding an arrangement that has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and significant controversy inside both agencies.

Also known as TIGTA, Treasury’s inspector general found that the controversial 2025 data-sharing agreement crafted between ICE and the Treasury, which allowed ICE to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records, resulted in inconsistent formatting in ICE’s data and the IRS’ matching criteria which led to errors.

The deal led the then-acting commissioner of the IRS to resign.

The report states that after the agreement was signed, ICE requested address information on more than 1.2 million people, and the IRS ultimately provided last-known addresses for about 47,000 people.

TIGTA concluded that the IRS’s automated matching process was flawed. Inconsistent formatting in ICE’s data led to questionable matches, including in cases where incomplete or inaccurate addresses were labeled as valid, the report says.

Representatives from Treasury and the IRS did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

The plan to cross-verify tax and immigration data is part of President Donald Trump’s agenda to secure U.S. borders and his larger nationwide immigration crackdown, which has resulted in deportations, workplace raids and the use of an 18th century wartime law to deport Venezuelan migrants.

However, this is not the first time it's been revealed that tens of thousands of taxpayers' information was revealed to ICE.

In February, a federal judge said that the IRS broke the law by disclosing confidential taxpayer information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, referring to the same 47,000 disclosures that TIGTA points out.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found that the IRS had erroneously shared the taxpayer information of thousands of people with the Department of Homeland Security as part of the agencies’ controversial agreement to share information on immigrants for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the U.S.

No recommendations were made in the new TIGTA report, according to a letter written by Nancy A. LaManna, deputy inspector general for inspections and evaluations.

“However, we plan to share some concerns we identified during our review with the DHS Office of Inspector General,” her letter states.

Iran fired at Israel after warning against Israel's attacks in Lebanon, including strikes on Beirut on Sunday. Israel says it is targeting the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. Its Beirut strike defied Washington’s request days ago to stand down.

The Israeli strikes against Iran came after U.S. President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he didn't think Israel needed to respond further.

Here's the Latest:

Netanyahu says Israel to strike ‘with force’ if Iran strikes again

The Israeli prime minister’s brief statement added that “right now, the fire has been halted.” It was his first public statement since Iran fired missiles at Israel late Sunday. They were intercepted.

Netanyahu asserted Israel’s right to self-defense, “and I say this with appreciation and respect in my good conversations with my friend President Trump.” He appears to have openly defied Trump with a strike in Beirut on Sunday and then retaliatory attacks against Iran.

Israeli defense minister warns against attacks on Israel’s northern settlements

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Monday night that any attack on Israel’s northern settlements will immediately prompt an attack on Beirut’s Dahiyeh suburbs.

Katz warned Iran that any attempt to use Israel’s attacks against Hezbollah as an excuse to launch missiles against Israel would be “met with great force, as happened yesterday.”

Turkey will push for an end to the war in the Middle East

Turkey is pressing ahead with its contacts with both the United States and Iran to end the war while also consulting with countries in the region, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

“It is essential to leave behind this war that has brought our region and the world to the brink of disaster,” Fidan said during a news conference following meetings in Istanbul with his Azerbaijani and Georgian counterparts.

He added: “Turkey will continue to support diplomacy and dialogue during this critical period.”

Turkey, together with Egypt and other regional partners, is backing Pakistan’s initiative to mediate an end to the conflict.

Israeli strikes on Iran wound 15

Israeli strikes on Iran Monday wounded at least 15 people, the National Emergency Medical Organization said in a statement published by the Iranian official news agency.

No fatalities have been reported so far, the organization said. The statement did not specify whether the wounded were civilians or military personnel, noting that 14 of the injured were from Mahshahr in the province of Khuzestan, while one was from Tehran.

Pakistan’s prime minister calls for restraint

Shehbaz Sharif on Monday expressed concern over the recent surge in violence in the Middle East and urged all parties to “exercise restraint.”

In a post on X, Sharif said the latest escalation was “a stark reminder of the dangers associated with a tenuous ceasefire and the unbearable consequences it may lead to.”

Sharif also called for diplomacy over further escalation.

Israeli strikes on Gaza kill at least 5 people, including a child

Israeli strikes on Monday killed at least five people, including a child, across Gaza, according to hospital officials.

A strike killed two people in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Monday morning, according to Nasser Hospital, while another left three people dead in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, including Jad Soleiman, an 8-year-old boy, according to Shifa Hospital. Several were also wounded.

Jad’s father, Yusuf, clutched his son’s backpack and kissed his face as the child’s body, wrapped in a white burial shroud, lay before him.

“He was coming home from school,” Soleiman said. “I ran to him and found him lying down with his bag still on. It’s covered in his blood. He was wounded and bleeding from the neck. He was taking his last breaths."

Gaza City and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza were also hit. Casualty figures were not immediately available.

The Israeli army said it struck some Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives, adding it would give further details later.

The attacks were the latest in a series of strikes that have hit homes and shelters across Gaza since October’s fragile ceasefire that sought to halt the more than two-year war.

US tells Iran no more Israeli attacks if Tehran halts strikes, official says

The U.S. told Iran there would be no more attacks by Israel if Tehran halted its missile strikes, and that Israel has agreed to halt attacks for now, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The White House and Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israeli army says 3 projectiles fired at Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon

The army said two projectiles were intercepted, while one landed near the soldiers, adding there were no injuries.

The launches triggered air raid sirens in northern Israel.

Schools across Israel will remain closed for a second day

Education Minister Yoav Kisch said in a post on X Monday afternoon that schools would not open on Tuesday.

On Sunday evening, Israel’s military updated its guidelines for civilians, limiting large gatherings and canceling school across the country for the first time since the earlier round of fighting with Iran in April.

Kisch said the Ministry of Education aims to reopen classrooms on Wednesday under guidelines that would ensure students have access to close shelter.

Iraq reopens its airspace

Iraq’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that the country’s airspace has reopened after earlier announcing a 72-hour closure in response to the renewed exchange of fire between Israel and Iran.

Syrian man finds a missile partially buried in his field

A missile lay partially buried in a field on the outskirts of the Syrian capital of Damascus on Monday, surrounded by scorched earth after overnight exchanges of fire between Israel and Iran sent projectiles across the region.

The missile’s impact left a blackened patch of ground where a fire broke out, according to the field’s owner, Mahmoud Ataya. He said residents heard a loud explosion during the night but did not immediately know what had happened. When they went to put out the fire, they found half of the missile protruding from the ground. No casualties were reported.

State media in Syria reported explosions in the skies over Damascus Sunday night, attributing them to Israeli air defenses intercepting missiles fired from Iran. Associated Press journalists in the Syrian capital also reported hearing loud explosions overnight

US ambassador to Lebanon says Washington does not want Israel-Hezbollah war to expand

Ambassador Michel Issa made his comments after meeting President Joseph Aoun Monday, a day after Israel struck a southern Beirut suburb.

Issa also hinted at disagreements between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Lebanon.

He described the Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s suburb and Iran’s missile attack on Israel as a “political message,” adding that “we in the United States decided that the confrontation does not expand more.”

Issa later met Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and, after the meeting, told reporters Trump follows Lebanon’s news daily, adding in Arabic that Trump “almost got into a fight with Netanyahu over Lebanon.”

Iranian military’s joint command says it is halting its offensive operations

The Iranian military’s joint command said Monday it was halting its offensive operations after Israel and Iran exchanged fire in their first attacks since the U.S. struck a ceasefire with Tehran two months ago.

The joint command said that if Israel or its supporters carried out any further “aggression and hostile acts,” including in southern Lebanon, then “much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow.”

EU approves sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities

The European Union’s foreign policy chief said the 27-member bloc approved sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities involved in disrupting transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

Kaja Kallas said after a meeting with EU defense ministers on Monday that this is the first time the EU has applied a new freedom-of-navigation sanctions system “and where necessary will apply it again.”

“Ministers were clear today that Iran’s actions are unacceptable,” Kallas said.

Trump claims negotiations are ongoing

Trump later posted again to his Truth Social website, insisting that both Israel and Iran were “looking to do an immediate CEASEFIRE!”

He claimed negotiations were ongoing, “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.”

Israel says it targeted Iranian petrochemical facilities

The Israeli military said it targeted petrochemical facilities in Mahshahr to hit sites used to produce “unique materials that serve as critical components for the development of ballistic missiles.”

Trump says Israel and Iran must stop shooting

In his first comments since Iran and Israel traded fire, Trump wrote online: “Israel and Iran must immediately stop ‘shooting.’”

Iraq closes airspace for 72 hours

Iraq’s Civil Aviation Authority on Monday said the closure was a “precautionary measure” to preserve the safety and security of civil aviation.

It added that the decision will be subject to continuous review and reassessment and airlines and relevant sides will be notified of any new developments.

29 Lebanese army members have been killed in Israeli strikes since March

Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos released the toll Monday, two days after an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in southern Lebanon killed three members of the Lebanese army, including a brigadier general and a captain.

Morcos said that since the Israel-Hezbollah war began on March 2, three police, one member of the General Security Directorate and 13 state security members have been killed in Israeli attacks. Also killed was a member of the parliament’s security.

A total of 3,613 people have been killed, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

The Israeli military has said it operates against Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese army.

▶ Read more

Syria temporary closes Damascus airport as Iran and Israel trade fire

Damascus International Airport will remain closed until 11 p.m. (2200 GMT) Monday.

Syria’s General Authority of Civil Aviation closed the country’s southern airspace, which includes Damascus. The measure is related to the latest exchange of fire between Iran and Israel, it said.

Air defenses in Tehran and other cities open fire

Just before noon, air defense systems around Tehran and multiple Iranian cities opened fire, with some claims of attacks ongoing.

Oil prices rise sharply

Oil prices surged as Israel launched airstrikes early Monday targeting central and western Iran in response to missile fire.

Brent crude, the international standard, jumped $4.40 to $97.49 a barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude surged $3.95 to $94.49 a barrel.

The latest spate of attacks was straining efforts to end the conflict as a tentative deal reached last week to extend a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has not yet been finalized.

▶ Read more

Israel says it targeted Iranian missile launchers

Israel’s military said it targeted truck-based surface-to-air missile launchers in its strikes Monday on Iran.

It said Iran had deployed the systems across the country in a bid to restore its capabilities that were degraded earlier in the war.

Iran says US responsible for any escalation caused by Israel

An Iranian official warned Monday that the United States is “responsible for the consequences of any escalation” in the Middle East caused by Israel.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei made the comment in a briefing with journalists on Monday in Tehran.

“No one believes that the Israeli regime would take any action without coordination with the United States,” Baghaei said. “The United States bears responsibility for the Israeli regime’s aggression, and it will also be responsible for the consequences of any escalation in tensions.”

Israeli rescue services say no injures so far from Iranian missile attack

Israel’s rescue services said there were not any known injuries from the latest round of missiles from Iran.

Rescue services are searching a number of sites for possible fragments from interceptions.

Iran launches third wave of missiles at Israel

The Israeli military urged people to take shelter. Similar alerts sounded in neighboring Jordan.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim missile attack on Israel

The Iran-backed rebels also said that Israel-affiliated vessels would again be a target in the Red Sea.

The statement from Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree was broadcast on the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel.

It’s another new escalation as the nominal ceasefire in the Iran war is being challenged by crossfire between Israel and Iran.

Iran claims attacks, says it targeted military bases

Iran claimed the attacks on Israel, saying their fire targeted two military bases in Israel.

The paramilitary Revolutionary Guard described the attack as being part of Operation Nasr, or “Victory.” The Guard said it launched the missile fire after Israel targeted radar sites in three areas of Iran, without elaborating.

The Israeli military says it hit petrochemical complex in Iran

Israel’s military says it him a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran. It did not provide details.

The semiofficial Fars and Mehr news agencies said Israeli strikes hit a petrochemical factory in city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan province. It did not elaborate on the damage done.

Israel issues all clear after a second wave of Iranian missiles

Israel issued an all-clear after warning of a second wave of inbound missiles from Iran.

It was the second alert without any interceptions being heard in the country.

The Iranian fire comes after Israel launched strikes on Iran early Monday in the most-serious crossfire since an April 8 ceasefire was reached in the Iran war.

Sirens sound near Israel’s main nuclear research site

Israel said it detected a barrage of missiles from Iran toward central and southern Israel on Monday morning. Loud explosions were heard over central Israel, and missiles also targeted southern Israel, near the city of Dimona and Arad.

The remote desert city of Dimona houses Israel’s main nuclear research center, which opened in 1958. Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though its leaders neither confirm nor deny this.

Iran targeted Dimona and Arad during the last round of conflict, injuring more than two dozen people.

No impact or casualties in Israel from Yemen missile launch

Israel’s rescue services said there were no reports of casualties or impacts from the launch from Yemen.

Israel cancels school nationwide as conflict escalates

Israel’s military updated its guidelines for civilians on Sunday evening, limiting large gatherings and canceling school across the country.

It is the first time school has been canceled across Israel since the earlier round of fighting with Iran in April, though schools in Israel’s northern border had been closed for much longer due to the threat of Hezbollah fire.

Israel says missile launched from Yemen

Israel said Monday that it detected a missile launched from Yemen targeting the country. Sirens sounded across Israel after the Yemen missile fire warning.

Yemen is home to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The Houthis have fired missiles at Israel during the Israel-Hamas war and later, but haven’t been fully involved in the Iran war.

Saudi Arabia sounds missile alerts

Saudi Arabia sounded missile alert sirens Monday morning in an area home to an air base that hosts U.S. forces. Saudi state media reported the alert around its Al Kharj governorate, home to Prince Sultan Air Base.

It did not elaborate. The alert came after Israel launched strikes targeting Iran.

Trump had urged Israel not to respond

Speaking to The Financial Times, Trump before the Israeli strike on Iran insisted he dictated terms to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how the war should be prosecuted.

“He won’t have any choice,” Trump told the newspaper in a telephone interview. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He (Netanyahu) doesn’t call the shots.”

White House has no immediate comment

The White House did not respond to messages Sunday about the strikes and whether they were done in coordination with the U.S.

Iran closes airspace around its main airport following Israeli strikes

Iran closes airspace around Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, country’s main airfield, after Israeli attack.

Israel strikes central and Western Iran

Israel says it strikes central and Western Iran after missile fire; Tehran says explosions heard in several cities

The insurance company says they’re making the change to align with network policy and will make sure members receive the best care available.

The changes are related to a policy called “incident-to” billing. Experts say it’s mostly used by private practices across the state.

Many of those providers opened their laptops on Monday to find an email that it would all be changing.

“A lot of people are going to lose access to their providers, who they’ve already built this relationship with, they feel safe with,” Katie Stetler, a local social worker, said. Additionally, her background is in medical billing.

Stetler is not alone in her concern.

“People who are currently seeing a limited license counselor would lose their therapist,” David Sniderman, a clinical mental health counselor and art therapist and WillowsEdge Counseling and Healing Arts Center, said.

Sniderman says “incident-to” billing has been the standard policy for private practices for over a decade.

“Fully licensed counselors sign off on limited counselors and interns for their billing purposes, so that they get supervision and they get their hours that they need to become fully licensed,” Sniderman said.

Mental health care workers in the area reached out to Local 4 and said people with limited licenses provide a significant portion of outpatient mental health services throughout the state while they complete the supervised training they need for their full license.

“We bill under our supervisor currently and so they are basically saying that unless you are in a facility, a mental hospital, something like that - that’s not going to be allowed anymore,” Stetler said.

“In service to our members, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan reviews our payment policies on a regular basis to ensure they reflect the most up-to-date guidance and data,” BCBSM said. “Recent changes to Blue Cross’ ‘incident-to’ billing policy will ensure members receive the best possible care from fully licensed providers, while also allowing students, trainees and limited license professionals to be paid for services authorized and overseen by fully licensed providers in facility-based settings. Incident-to billing is a practice where a provider can bill under a fully licensed supervising provider’s National Provider Identifier number. This change will go into effect March 1, 2027, and will work to create a consistent approach to payment for all provider trainees who have not yet achieved full licensure. This will also align the Blue Cross policy with our Blue Care Network policy, which has never included students, trainees or limited license professionals for incident-to billing.”

“I think 42% see limited license counselors so those 42% would all immediately need a new counselor,” Sniderman said.

Providers say this would impact them too.

At WillowsEdge alone, Sniderman tells me over 50% of their revenue comes from BCBSM.

Providers worry about having to make cuts to limited license holders and the impact it could have on those with full licenses.

“A lot of us with limited licenses will be laid off,” Stetler said. “At least those who work for smaller private practices like the one that I work for.”

The woman matched the five white balls (03-15-16-24-28) in the May 21 drawing to win the lottery prize.

The Charlevoix County 66-year-old woman chose to remain anonymous.

“I scanned my ticket at a store, and a message came up to contact the lottery office. I thought the scanner was broken, so I went out to my car to check the numbers on MichiganLottery.com. I saw a winning ticket was purchased in Mancelona and then I saw I’d matched all five numbers. I yelled: ‘I just won $2.2 million!’ and did a happy dance in my car,” said the woman.

The ticket was bought at the Mancelona North EZ Mart, located at 8150 US Highway 131 Northeast in Mancelona.

Mancelona is about 35 miles northeast of Traverse City.

The player recently visited Lottery headquarters to claim her prize.

She chose to receive her prize as a one-time lump sum payment of $2.2 million rather than payments of $100,000 a year for 20 years or life, whichever is greater.

With her winnings, she plans to buy a house, a car, and a boat.

This prize marks the first time a Michigan Lottery player has won the second-tier prize of $100,000 a year for life Millionaire For Life game.

Tyrone Long Jr. left his residence on the 1000 block of Leland Street on Monday (June 1) and failed to return home.

He was last seen wearing grey/white shorts, a white t-shirt and black sandals.

Long Jr. is 20 years old, 5′10″, 170 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information should contact the Detroit Police Department’s 7th Precinct at 313-596-5713.

Hidradenitis Suppurativa is a chronic inflammatory skin disease.

Millions of people are affected by the disease, it is often painful and misunderstood.

The diseases causes painful lumps under the skin in areas like the armpits, groin, buttocks, under the breasts and inner thighs.

It begins as bumps that can appear similar to pimples, over time they can swell, rupture and leave scars.

Woman are diagnosed about two to three times more often than men as their symptoms often in the teens, 20s, or 30s.

People with a family history of the diseases may face a higher risk, the condition is also more common in people who smoke or have obesity.

Research also shows the the disease is diagnosed more frequently in black Americans, experts are still studying why.

Doctors stress the diseases is not caused by poor hygiene, it is instead involving the immune system and hair follicles.

Jasmine Ivanna Espy, founder of the Association of Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Inflammatory Diseases joined Local 4 Live to tell us about the condition.

You can watch the full interview in the video at the beginning of this article.

In the first-ever papal address to Spanish lawmakers, the American pope said a “moral renewal” was necessary in legislatures and public life to ensure respect for the inherent dignity of all people, including migrants, the unborn and the most vulnerable.

“The moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that are most fragile,” Leo said.

Speeches by popes to foreign legislatures are rare, since they can imply recognition of a religious leader by lawmakers. Pope Francis addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress in 2015, and Pope Benedict XVI addressed his native German Bundestag in 2011.

That Leo was invited to speak to Las Cortes Generales showed a level of acceptance for the Catholic Church in a political setting that might have been unthinkable even a few years ago. The Catholic Church was a pillar of Gen. Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, enjoying broad control and influence over Spanish society, but that waned after democracy took root in the 1970s.

While many Spaniards still identify as Catholic, religious observance has dropped sharply amid secularizing trends seen in other once-staunchly Christian countries.

And yet lawmakers gave Leo a 7-minute standing ovation with chants of “Viva el Papa!” — “Long live the pope!”

Leo's weeklong visit to Spain — the first since Benedict visited in 2011 — has drawn large crowds, with an estimated 1.5 million people turning out for Mass on Sunday in a downtown plaza and 600,000 young people for a prayer vigil.

Pope calls for peace as Israel and Iran trade strikes

Leo's speech came Monday as Israel and Iran traded fire, threatening to drag the Middle East back into a full-scale regional war. The pope repeated his demand for dialogue, “diplomatic courage” and the "the obligation of states to resolve their disputes through the peaceful means offered by international law.”

He also lamented that European defense budgets were being built up as countries confront the threat posed by Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the Trump administration’s threats to reduce financial and military support for the continent.

“It is therefore a cause for concern that, in various parts of the world — and in Europe as well — rearmament is once again being presented as an almost inevitable response to the fragility of the international situation,” Leo said.

He repeated his demand for “rigorous ethical oversight” of automated weapons systems created by artificial intelligence “so that decisions regarding life and death are never left to automated systems nor removed from the moral responsibility of the human person.”

Pope urges dignity, acceptance and integration for migrants

Spain’s Socialist-led government has bucked a trend in Europe and the United States by defending immigration on economic and humanitarian grounds, launching a legalization push earlier this year for hundreds of thousands of immigrants without authorization. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has highlighted the benefits to the economy with an aging workforce and low birth rate.

Leo called for strengthened international efforts to prevent the smuggling of migrants and create conditions where they can choose to stay home.

For those who flee conflict, poverty and climate change, he called for welcome and integration. Pope Francis made the plight of refugees reaching Europe a hallmark of his papacy, and Leo has insisted especially on the dignity of migrants in his native United States amid the Trump administration’s crackdown.

“This gives rise to a twofold demand for social justice: to offer safe and legal pathways, a respectful welcome and real opportunities for integration; and, at the same time, to promote the right to remain in one’s own land, working to ensure that no one has to leave their home due to a lack of peace, security or decent living conditions, including economic inequalities and the effects of the climate crisis,” Leo said.

Leo references the Spanish conquest and the slave trade

Leo cited the 16th century Spanish intellectual tradition, known as the School of Salamanca, that gave rise to concepts of international law and inherent human rights after Spain’s colonial conquests of the Americas.

He praised the theologians involved in the movement who “understood that reason could not be invoked to legitimize whatever force or self-interest that seemed convenient” and that there were “moral limits of power.”

“It must be acknowledged that society and the church herself did not always live up to these insights found in their own Christian tradition,” Leo said.

It was a reference to the Catholic Church’s own role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and colonial conquest, and recalled Leo’s recent apology for the role the Holy See played in legitimizing slavery.

Pope visits at a delicate political moment

Leo's visit comes at a delicate time for Sánchez.

Sánchez’s Socialist Party has been hammered by corruption scandals, though none have directly implicated him. Probes have touched some of Sánchez's closest confidants, as well as his wife and brother.

As they play out in the courts, Spain is increasingly frayed by political polarization. Sánchez's minority government has been unable to pass legislation, including a budget for the past three years.

Leo, in an apparent reference to polarization, warned that “political pluralism should not degenerate into the constant disparagement of one's adversary."

Spain's progressive leader, who is an atheist, and the pope have converged on major issues including opposing the war in Iran. Both have been outspoken critics of the Trump administration.

Last month, after visiting Leo in the Vatican, Sánchez called the pope's voice “a moral compass in the fight against injustice."

Traditionally, the Catholic Church in Spain has been closer to the conservative Popular Party than the Socialist Party, which championed social issues including same-sex marriage and abortion rights.

However, by placing issues of justice at the center of their public discourse, Pope Francis and now Leo have narrowed the gap between the Vatican and progressive governments, said Rafael Ruiz Andrés, a sociology professor at Complutense University of Madrid who specializes in religious dynamics.

___

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.

A witness told police that the motorcycle was traveling northbound on Hospital Road near Pershing Street when it collided with the deer and came to rest in a wooded area. Emergency personnel were dispatched to the area around 11:15 a.m., according to the Waterford Township Police Department.

The man was treated at the scene and transported to McLaren Oakland Hospital where he later died from his injuries. The victim’s name has not been released by police.

The rally will be on June 11 from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m.

In 2025, 478 donors made more than 1,200 donations possible.

In Michigan more than 2,700 people are waiting for an organ transplant.

One organ can save up to eight lives.

Dorrie Dils, President and CEO of Gift of Life Michigan joined Local 4 Live to tell us about organ donation and the rally at the capital.

You can watch the full interview in the video at the beginning of this article.

The incident occurred a few years ago, her son Andrew Yakubesan reflects on his training after earning the rank of Eagle Scout.

Andrew Yakubesan, Eagle Scout son and Jennifer Yakubesan, saved mother joined Local 4 Live to tell us the importance of knowing first aid and Andrew’s graduation.

You can watch the full interview in the video at the beginning of this article.

Days before being enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Federer will play in New York on Aug. 25. The event, titled “Roger Federer: An Icon Returns to New York,” also will include Andy Roddick, John McEnroe and Andre Agassi. It was announced Monday by the U.S. Tennis Association.

Roddick won the 2003 U.S. Open, the year before Federer started dominating the event. He won every one from 2004-08 as part of his 20 Grand Slam singles titles.

Federer last played the U.S. Open in 2019.

“So many unforgettable moments of my career happened in New York, and Arthur Ashe Stadium is a place that means a great deal to me," he said in a statement. “I’ve missed being part of that atmosphere and feeling the incredible energy that the fans bring every year.”

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 29 in Newport, Rhode Island.

The USTA said there will be further announcements about the lineup for the event, which is during the week before singles play in the tournament begins.

___

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

The Auto Club Group reports that gas prices are hovering around $4.17 per gallon for regular unleaded — approximately 61 cents less than drivers paid this time last month statewide, but still nearly a dollar more than this time last year.

That amounts to an average of around $63 for a full 15-gallon tank of gasoline, or about $12 more than the highest price recorded last August.

The most expensive gas price averages recorded this week were in Ann Arbor ($4.25), Metro Detroit ($4.23) and Traverse City ($4.22), while the lowest prices recorded were in Flint ($3.95), Lansing ($3.96) and Marquette ($4.02).

“Michigan driver’s continue to see lower prices at the pump,” said AAA spokesperson Adrienne Woodland.

Gasoline demand decreased from 9.25 million barrels per day to 8.59 million, according to new data from the Energy Information Administration. Total domestic gasoline supply increased from 211.6 million barrels to 215 million and gasoline production decreased last week, averaging 9.4 million barrels per day, the agency reported.

Daily national, state, and metro gas price averages can be found at Gasprices.aaa.com.

Tiffani Allen was last seen in the city of Southfield on Friday (June 5) in the area of Lahser and Ten Mile Road.

She was last seen wearing a pink jacket, green dress and white shoes.

Allen is 42 years old, 5′03″, 150 pounds, has red hair and brown eyes

Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Tiffani Allen is asked to contact the Southfield Police Department at (248) 796-5500.

Redford Township police said a 40-year-old man was driving northbound on the southbound lanes of Telegraph Road at around 11 p.m. on June 7 at a high rate of speed when he crashed into another car head-on at the stop light just north of 5 Mile Road. The crash’s impact caused other cars at the light to be struck as well.

According to police, eight cars were involved in the crash.

The 40-year-old man was taken to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries. All other people involved in the crash had minor or no injuries.

The investigation is ongoing.

The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research highlights many Americans' feeling of unease over the future of its representative government — particularly among young people. It presents a jarring contrast as communities around the country commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Only about one-quarter of Americans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, the new poll found, while 44% say it’s one of the greatest countries in the world, along with some others. About 3 in 10 say there are better countries than the U.S., an increase from 19% in an AP-NORC poll conducted in June 2016.

Americans remain divided about whether diversity is an essential feature of the U.S.'s identity, and agreement about other aspects of the country's underlying character appears to be eroding, the survey found. Americans are less likely to see a democratically elected government as “extremely” or “very” important to the United States’ identity as a nation than they were just a few years ago. About two-thirds of U.S. adults now say a democratically elected government is highly important to the U.S.’s identity as a nation, down from 80% in 2021.

“It’s not that the democracy part is not working," said Derricka Wall, 24, of Chickasaw, Alabama. "It’s the people that are actually being put in office that is the problem.”

Wall believes politicians have damaged America’s governing system, which was designed to ensure representation and guard against government misuse.

America, she said, “is not what it used to be. I feel like our founding fathers would be kind of disappointed with how it is now.”

Rising belief that democracy is not essential to American identity

Young adults are much less likely than older Americans to believe the U.S. is special, compared with other nations, the poll found.

About 4 in 10, 44%, of U.S. adults under 30 say there are other countries better than the U.S., compared with 22% of U.S. adults ages 60 and older.

Fewer, too, see democracy as a key element of the U.S.’s identity. Only about half of Americans under 30 believe this, compared with 81% of those 60 and older.

Wall said the people who established the government with co-equal branches thought they were erecting safeguards to keep any one person or group from attaining too much power. But she believes they didn’t foresee how easily those guardrails would crumble if the people in the system stopped enforcing them.

“I feel like they would actually roll out of their graves," she said. "I feel they would be very disappointed in us.”

The belief that politics isn't working for everyday people extends beyond the youngest generations. Kent Stage, 62 and a retired senior enlisted man in the Army, is a registered Republican in Indiana. He does not think the current political system addresses the country's problems. He’d like to see term limits on politicians and more working-class people serving.

“I’ll trust the ambulance-chasing lawyer and a shady used car salesman before I trust the politician,” he said.

Stage, who is also a former Marine, believes public servants make self-serving choices for their families “while mine and yours still got to hit the old grindstone."

Many feel it's harder to get ahead in the US

The survey also finds widespread cynicism about America as the land of opportunity. About half of U.S. adults, 51%, say the American Dream — the idea that if you work hard, you’ll get ahead — once held true but does not anymore. About one-third say it “still holds true” while 15% say it never held true.

Jack Hermanson, a 27-year-old software developer in Denver, said his belief in the American Dream changed when he saw his engineer husband struggle to find a job. “That really shattered my impression that if you work hard, you get what you deserve,” Hermanson said.

Only 22% of Americans under 30 say the American Dream still holds true, compared with 46% of Americans ages 60 and older.

Angela Toombs, 31, works at a senior living facility in Atlanta where her clients talk about how easy it was to buy a house while working their first regular jobs in their 20s and are incredulous about the obstacles facing Toombs’ generation. Toombs recently gave up her own apartment to rent a room in order to save money.

Skepticism about the American Dream is more widespread among Democrats and independents, compared with Republicans. Most Republicans, 57%, say the American Dream still holds true, compared with about one-quarter of independents and 17% of Democrats.

Republicans are also much likelier than Democrats to see the U.S. as exceptional. About half of Republicans say the U.S. stands above all other countries in the world, compared with only 7% of Democrats.

Quintin Sharpe, 28, lives in a resort town on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. A financial planner who is Republican, he said the American Dream remains accessible and he is proud of the country. “It's been a great experiment.”

"The opportunity is there for those who want to work for it,” he said. Sharpe believes the country is “a meritocracy, and the best ideas, the best work ethic, those with the best succeed regardless of race, skin color, any of those factors.”

He and his wife will celebrate the country's 250th anniversary watching the fireworks over the lake.

Divides on whether diversity is essential to US

Just over half of U.S. adults — 56% — say a shared American culture and set of values are “extremely” or “very” important to the country's identity, down from 65% in 2017. Younger Americans are less likely than older ones to say a singular set of values is important to U.S. identity.

But Americans remain sharply divided on the centrality of welcoming diverse perspectives: About half of adults, 51%, say the ability of people to come from other places in the world to escape violence or find economic opportunities is “extremely” or “very” important to American identity, while 55% say this about the mixing of cultures and values from around the world.

Only about 4 in 10 Republicans see the mixing of cultures and values from around the world as central to the country's identity, compared with 76% of Democrats.

Rose Nunez, 70, of San Antonio, was a small business owner but now is a caregiver for family members. Nunez, who tends to vote for Democrats, said there is an unease and tension that are just beneath the surface, especially focused on Hispanics. She said some people have started carrying their papers showing their immigration status in case they are challenged.

“It is hard to celebrate when the feelings towards immigrants and communities of color are so strong,” she said of the upcoming America 250 celebrations.

She said even citizens are questioned now. If it gets to a point where being naturalized is challenged, “guess what, my mom would be leaving. She’s been living in this country since she was maybe four years old. She’s 93.”

____

The AP-NORC poll of 2,596 adults was conducted April 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Staged at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, the musical is in its third run on Broadway — and earned 11 Tony nominations, including for best revival. It's resonating the most with audiences this time, they said. “Three is the charm,” Ahrens said.

“When we originally did it on Broadway, which was 1998, I think a lot of people, if not most people, were thinking about this piece as a period piece,” Flaherty said. “I think now, people are responding to it as a contemporary story.”

Adapted from the 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow, the show's book is by the late playwright Terrence McNally. It depicts a wide swath of the American experience in New York at the turn of the 20th century, from Black Americans in Harlem to Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side to the white upper-class residents of the suburbs of Westchester County.

The story that unfolds is fiction, but features historical figures like activist Emma Goldman, educator and leader Booker T. Washington, banker J.P. Morgan, auto founder Henry Ford and illusionist Harry Houdini. The show's breadth — encompassing immense tragedy as well as great optimism — and the depth of the actors' performances has been bringing Broadway audiences to their feet, often mid-act.

It also has people returning. “They’re like, ‘I’m coming back with my parents,’ ‘I'm coming back with my grandchildren,’ ‘I’m coming back with my grandparents,’ and it’s not even like they have to see it. They want to experience it with them,” said Brandon Uranowitz, who had his own return to the show, decades after he acted as a child in the pre-Broadway production.

Now, he's nominated for best lead actor in a musical for playing the role of Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia. “I think it’s sort of speaking to this generational reckoning that we’re having with America and our national identity.”

‘Ragtime’ at the Tony Awards

The original production lost the best new musical Tony Award to “The Lion King,” but Ahrens and Flaherty took home the prize for best original score, McNally best book and William David Brohn best orchestrations in a competitive year. It also won Audra McDonald, the Tonys' most decorated performer, her third award. A 2009 revival received six nominations, but lost best revival to “La Cage aux Folles.”

This could be the year it finally wins a best show award: “Ragtime” is a front-runner for best musical revival, against strong competition from “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” and “The Rocky Horror Show.” Among its other nods are nominations for all three leads, and for featured performers Nichelle Lewis and Ben Levi Ross.

Portraying a range of American experiences

Joshua Henry, nominated alongside his costar for best lead actor, plays Coalhouse Walker Jr., a celebrated Black pianist at the center of his community in Harlem. Caissie Levy, nominated for her role of Mother, is the matriarch of a wealthy white family in a suburb outside New York City.

A cast of supporting characters, and a large ensemble, flesh out the lead trio's lives, relationships and eventual connections: Lewis plays Sarah, Coalhouse’s beloved; Ross is Mother’s Younger Brother and Colin Donnell her husband, Father; Shaina Taub is Goldman, the real-life activist.

Emotions in the first act peak during “Wheels of a Dream,” Lewis' iconic duet with Henry, which draws standing ovations, mid-song, nearly every night.

“She is a person who represents women — especially women of color — who don’t have a voice, women of color who are fighting to have a voice, women of color who find strength in other ways because we weren’t allowed to have it,” Lewis said of Sarah. But above all, she said, the character represents the power of trust, love and hope as a buoying force.

That hope is also what propels Uranowitz's Tateh. “Despite everything he goes through, despite the rejection, despite the oppression, despite the othering, despite antisemitism,” it’s what persists.

In the song “Journey On,” his character arrives in New York with his young daughter just as Mother's husband, Father, leaves on an expedition to the North Pole.

“You depart on a ship from a country like this,” Tateh sings, watching Father leave. “Why on Earth would you want to be leaving?” The two men are perched on separate, moving staircases on a sparsely furnished stage, but sing from the same height, emphasizing the valley between their experiences.

Like many of the characters, Father and Tateh (also “father,” in Yiddish) are nameless. The intention, Uranowitz said, is for aspects of Tateh's journey — from immigrant artist to successful moviemaker — to reflect the experience of Jewish Americans, and to resonate with people from other backgrounds as well. “If you pan out, which ‘Ragtime’ does so beautifully, it also holds just a capital ‘I’ immigration experience. And I think that’s really important for people to see right now.”

Holding a mirror to the current moment

The musical feels so relevant to 2026 that audience members have asked director Lear deBessonet, also Tony-nominated, if the creative team rewrote the script for this production. Lyrics by Ahrens and dialogue by McNally about the discrimination and brutality that Black Americans and immigrants face can seem straight out of the current moment. There are also references to keeping the country “great,” and commentary on celebrity culture and the power of industry leaders.

But the text hasn't changed. “We, in the audience, are hearing it differently,” deBessonet said. “There’s something that actually, I think is very unifying about coming together with a community of our time to look at this other time, and to look at the promise and the wound of America right next to each other.”

A 2027 tour, with deBessonet and the Broadway run’s creative team at the helm, will bring the show to a wider audience around the country.

“It does not feel like we’re looking back. It feels like we're looking in a mirror at ourselves,” Flaherty said.

There is one small change, however. When “Wheels of a Dream” is reprised in the final number, the ensemble sings “Our son will ride on the wheels of a,” and then takes a long pause before a final, resonant, “dream.” The goal is not to prescribe a particular emotional response, but to allow viewers — and the actors themselves — space for their own interpretations.

“In that moment, every single actor, every artist on that stage is invited to fill that moment with whatever feels honest to them that night,” deBessonet said. “Sometimes you can really feel that there is exuberant hope in the air. And sometimes there is grief or rage or confusion,” she added.

Ahrens said it's been a “revelation” to see how audiences have responded to the production, before and after the 2024 presidential election — and throughout this Broadway run, which concludes on Aug. 2. “It's such a visceral thing,” she said. “I don't think we've ever experienced anything like it.”

___

This story was first published June 6. It was updated on June 8 to correct that “Ragtime” won Audra McDonald her third Tony, not her first.

Residents evacuated after fire at Galston Apartments on Detroit’s west side

The Detroit Fire Department responded swiftly to an early morning apartment fire on Michigan Avenue and Cicotte Street on Detroit’s west side.

Firefighters were dispatched to the two-alarm fire at the Galston Apartments at 7:43 a.m. on Monday after receiving a call about a fire that broke out inside a second floor apartment.

According to Leo Spitzig, senior chief with the Detroit Fire Department, the building was about 95% occupied with roughly 30-40 units. One male resident was transported to a nearby hospital with minor injuries after jumping from a third-floor window, Spitzig said, while another man was hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

Read more here.

Top 5 Metro Detroit suburbs where buyers are moving before prices jump

A snapshot of the real estate market shows buyers are moving despite home sales dipping 3.6 percent year-over-year.

However, RE/MAX Southeastern Michigan reports home sales jumped 15 percent month-over-month, calling it an encouraging sign.

The data shows the bigger question isn’t whether people are buying. It’s where they’re going.

The answer might surprise you.

Realtor Eric Meldrum of Tru Living Group tracks housing market trends closely, and the communities topping his list aren’t the usual suspects.

Read more here.

Mount Clemens woman sentenced to 60 days in jail, 5 years probation in child porn case

A 29-year-old Macomb County woman was sentenced on Thursday to 60 days in jail and five years probation for allegedly using her computer to share child sexually abusive material in February 2025.

Jasmine Ellise Rix, of Mount Clemens, pleaded no contest on March 12 to three counts of distributing - child sexually abusive material before Macomb County Circuit Judge Michael Servitto after multiple delays.

The Macomb County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into Rix in early March 2025 after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that she was using her computer to share child pornography.

Read more here.

Comedy legend Dave Chappelle to perform in Detroit as part of a 5-city North American arena tour

Comedy legend Dave Chappelle will bring a new run of arena shows to Detroit as part of a five-city North American tour, with a stop scheduled at Little Caesars Arena.

Chappelle will come to Detroit on Monday, June 15, at 7:30 p.m.

The Detroit performance is one of several June dates, along with Baltimore, Cleveland, Chicago, and San Diego.

Tickets for all shows went on sale Friday, June 5, at noon through 313Presents.com, LiveNation.com, and Ticketmaster.com.

Read more here.

Weather: Warm and mostly dry today before storm chances and summer heat arrive

Metro Detroit will enjoy another warm and mainly dry day today with highs climbing into the 80s under a mix of sun and clouds. This is shaping up to be a great pool day! While much of the daylight hours remain rain-free, weather conditions will become more active as we move deeper into the week.

The first chance for showers and thunderstorms returns tonight, although coverage is expected to be limited. A more significant opportunity for rain and storms arrives Tuesday afternoon and evening (after 2 p.m.). 

• More Local Headlines
• National Headlines
• World Headlines
• Sports Headlines

Above-average temperatures could be on the books this summer, according to forecasters, and a developing El Nino event could spell out warmer weather later in the year or next summer. Sizzling temperatures are more than an inconvenience: They can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke.

Travelers can take precautions to have fun with heat preparedness in mind.

“The same way that we prepare for more extreme travel in the cold, we should start to consider those tips to keep us safe in the summer months,” said Dr. Alexander Azan with NYU Langone Health, who co-directs the Project HEATWAVE initiative.

Check the forecast and survey your travel companions

Before taking off, check the air temperatures for both day and night as well as the heat index, which takes humidity into account, Azan said.

If temperatures look scorching, stay flexible. Relocate to cooler regions along the coast or at higher elevations. Plan more strenuous outdoor activities like hiking or long walks during early morning or late evening hours, outside of peak heat windows. A midday movie, museum visit or coffee shop break may be more suitable.

Check whether your lodging will have reliable conditioning and whether the region has had recent power blackouts or brownouts. You can also search for public facilities like cooling centers, and note key phone numbers to report medical emergencies.

In addition to what you're bringing, think about who you're bringing. People with certain medical conditions or medications may be more vulnerable to heat while traveling.

“A lot of the prescription drugs that we take for common conditions like high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, they actually interrupt our body’s ability to thermoregulate,” said Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University.

Older adults, those who may be pregnant, young children and infants are also especially susceptible — so adjust plans accordingly. Carrying a baby against your body can transfer additional heat, for example.

Pack a reusable water bottle and bring light-colored, breathable clothing that will keep you cool. Don’t forget sunscreen, sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat and a cooling towel. A portable fan can be useful too, but avoid using it during particularly high temperatures since it’ll just blow hot air back at you.

Keep car safety in mind during road trips

If you're planning a road trip, get your vehicle inspected a few weeks before to make sure everything is in good condition, especially the engine cooling system and the car battery. If you'll be driving abroad, ask whether the rental car will have air conditioning.

Pack water and snacks to keep passengers and pets energized during the drive and take breaks to hydrate and stretch — but don't leave young children, pets or older adults alone in the car even for a few minutes.

Keep the car as cool as possible by parking in shaded areas and using a windshield protector. When entering a steamy car, turn on the air conditioning but turn off recirculation to keep stale air from cycling. Roll down the windows a bit, then close them and turn recirculation on once the car starts to chill.

To avoid getting stuck in the heat, don’t drive on less than a quarter tank of gas, said AAA senior automotive manager David Bennett. If you do get stuck and the engine is still running, you can cycle it on and off every few minutes so AC can still cool the car. Don't walk along the side of the road in searing temperatures to search for help: instead, stay in the car or nearby shade and put reflectors or cones in front of the vehicle. Bring an extra charger that plugs into the car so you can call for help if needed.

Stay flexible and recognize signs of heat illness

Travelers should be mindful of how their behavior changes on vacation. Spending long hours outdoors, participating in intense activities or consuming more alcohol than usual can increase heat-related risks.

People often get into trouble when they ignore both environmental conditions and the warning signals their bodies are giving them. “They think they can push through. That is a mistake,” Ward said.

During the day's exploring, employ the buddy system and look out for signs of heat illness like feeling dizzy, experiencing nausea or muscle cramps and sweating with cool and clammy skin. If you or a travel partner start to feel sick, get to a shaded area and take sips of water while loosening tight clothing.

If symptoms worsen to slurred speech, falling unconscious, extreme confusion or feeling hot to the touch, seek help immediately. That could indicate something more serious, like heat stroke.

If extreme heat makes a trip untenable, there are ways to recoup costs. Adding a cancel-for-any-reason benefit to your travel insurance can offer partial reimbursement if things get too hot. There are also services like Sensible Weather and WeatherPromise which reimburse travel and lodging costs for every day a trip is dashed by rain, heavy snowfall or high heat. Customers can add a weather guarantee to their cart at extra cost when booking with these organizations' registered travel and hotel partners.

As temperatures continue to climb, experts say the most important thing vacationers can do is listen to their bodies and remain flexible.

By staying aware, taking steps to cool down and adjusting plans where necessary, travelers can help ensure their trip remains both safe and enjoyable.

___

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

Jasmine Ellise Rix, of Mount Clemens, pleaded no contest on March 12 to three counts of distributing - child sexually abusive material before Macomb County Circuit Judge Michael Servitto after multiple delays.

The Macomb County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into Rix in early March 2025 after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that she was using her computer to share child pornography.

As part of her sentence, Rix is required to register as a Tier II Sex Offender, which mandates 25 years of registration. She also must register under the Wyatt’s Law and Child Abuse Central Registry, a database of individuals who are convicted of criminal offenses related to children, and forfeit all devices that were used to commit the offenses.

“Any case involving the possession or distribution of child sexually abusive material is deeply disturbing. Such behavior continues the cycle of abuse of innocent children,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido said in an issued statement. “We are committed to thoroughly prosecuting such offenses to protect vulnerable children and hold offenders fully accountable under the law.”

Rix previously faced eight counts for aggravated possession of child sexually abusive material, possession of child sexually abusive material and using a computer to commit a crime, however those charges were dismissed as part of her no contest plea.

She was remanded to the Macomb County Jail with a six-day credit.

Boris was located about 85 miles (135 kilometers) southeast of Acapulco and 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Punta Maldonado, according to the Miami-based weather center. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was moving northeast at 2 mph (3 kph).

Boris was expected to turn to the north, bringing rainfall of 4 to 10 inches (10 to 25 centimeters) to coastal areas of the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca through Monday night. The storm was forecast to make landfall along the coast of Guerrero by Monday evening, the center said.

“This rainfall may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain,” the center said.

A tropical storm warning was in effect from Laguna de Chacahua in Oaxaca to Tecpan de Galeana in Guerrero, with tropical storm conditions expected in the area within 24 hours.

Boris was forecast to weaken once the center reaches the coast and dissipate inland by Tuesday. The storm isn’t expected to impact Mexico’s three World Cup host cities.

Boris is the second named storm of the Pacific hurricane season, which started May 15. Tropical Storm Amanda formed June 3 far out to sea, posing no threat to land.

The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1, but no cyclones have formed in that basin yet this year.

Firefighters were dispatched to the two-alarm fire at the Galston Apartments at 7:43 a.m. on Monday after receiving a call about a fire that broke out inside a second floor apartment.

According to Leo Spitzig, senior chief with the Detroit Fire Department, the building was about 95% occupied with roughly 30-40 units. One male resident was transported to a nearby hospital with minor injuries after jumping from a third-floor window, Spitzig said, while another man was hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

A knotted sheet could also be seen hanging out of a second-story window.

Otherwise no injuries were reported and all residents were evacuated from the building.

A third-floor resident, Charita Hamilton, says she was first alerted of the fire when she heard someone shouting “They can’t get out!” When her husband went into the hallway it was already full of smoke.

“It was very scary, it shook me up,“ Hamilton said. ”We have never experienced anything like this before.”

Hamilton said the American Red Cross is en route to provide assistance to displaced residents.

Though firefighters were able to contain the fire to one apartment, Spitzig said there is significant smoke damage throughout the second floor and possible water damage up to the third floor, potentially leaving residents displaced for an extended amount of time.

The cause of the fire and whether the building had smoke detectors remains under investigation.

Primaries for U.S. Senate and U.S. House will set the stage for a midterm general election in which Maine is expected to play a critical role in deciding control of both chambers. Maine voters will also have the opportunity in November to demonstrate the state’s fiercely independent streak when it comes to electing a new governor.

The races feature the son of a U.S. senator, the daughter of a congresswoman, the brother of a former governor and the nephew and cousin of two presidents.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins is unopposed for renomination to a sixth term, which would put her on track to become the chamber’s longest-serving member from Maine.

Collins, the only Senate Republican to represent a state that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris carried in 2024, is a pivotal figure in the effort to win control of the chamber in November. The 51% of the vote she received in her 2020 election bid was her poorest showing since the 49% she received in her first successful run in 1996. She is frequently at the top of Democrats’ list of incumbents to oust, but her Democratic opponents have never surpassed the 44% mark in her five previous races.

Graham Platner is the leading contender for the Democratic nomination to challenge Collins. He’s a Marine and U.S. Army veteran who took up oyster farming following combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Platner originally faced a competitive primary against Gov. Janet Mills, the preferred candidate among some national Democratic leaders, but the second-term governor dropped out of the race in April citing fundraising challenges.

Platner has two remaining primary opponents, one of them a write-in candidate. Mills is still on the ballot, despite suspending her campaign.

As of May 20, Platner led all candidates, including Collins, in fundraising for the cycle, although Collins sat atop a larger war chest.

He received key early backing from Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who reiterated his support despite recent allegations that Platner had sent sexually explicit text messages to several women while married. Platner was embroiled in another controversy earlier in the campaign regarding a tattoo he once had that was recognized as a Nazi symbol.

In the 2nd Congressional District, Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden announced in November that he would not seek a fifth term in a district Trump won in 2024, along with its one electoral vote. Maine is one of two states that allocates some of its presidential electoral votes by congressional district.

The Democratic field to replace Golden includes former congressional aide Jordan Wood, state Auditor Matt Dunlap and state Sen. Joe Baldacci, brother of Democratic former Gov. John Baldacci.

The winner will face former two-term Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who is unopposed for the nomination.

Wood has far outraised the field, including LePage, in campaign contributions, although LePage had the most money in the bank as of May 20.

In the gubernatorial primaries, state Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, former state Senate President Troy Jackson, renewable energy company co-founder Angus King III, former state House Speaker Hannah Pingree and former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Deputy Director Nirav Shah all seek the Democratic nomination.

The Republican field includes former healthcare CEO Jonathan Bush, former U.S. State Department official Bobby Charles, former state Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason and businessman Ben Midgley.

King is the son of independent U.S. Sen. Angus King. Pingree is the daughter of Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree. Bush is related to Republican former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

The governor’s office in Maine frequently changes party hands. The state hasn’t elected consecutive governors from the same party in 74 years.

Maine is divided into 16 counties, but elections are run by the state’s hundreds of cities and towns, a practice common in New England. Portland is by far Maine’s most populous city and forms the heart of the state’s Democratic base. The two congressional districts largely track with the state’s political demographics. The 1st Congressional District along the Southern Maine Coast is heavily Democratic, while the massive 2nd District to the north includes the bulk of the smaller, more rural areas where Trump performed best.

The state uses a ranked-choice voting system in which voters rank the candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes, the last-place candidate is dropped, and votes cast for that candidate are reallocated among the rest of the field according to the preferences of the dropped candidate’s voters. This process repeats until one candidate emerges with a majority of votes.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

When do polls close?

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.

What’s on the ballot?

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, state Senate and state House.

Who gets to vote?

Registered party members may vote only in their own party’s primary. In other words, Democrats can’t vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. Independent or unaffiliated voters may participate in either primary.

How many voters are there?

As of January, there were about 354,000 registered Democrats, about 309,000 registered Republicans and about 334,000 voters with no party affiliation.

How many people actually vote?

About 69,000 Democratic primary votes and about 60,000 Republican primary votes were cast in the gubernatorial primaries in 2022, when both nominees ran unopposed.

How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?

About 26% of the Democratic primary vote and about 12% of the Republican primary vote in the 2022 primaries for governor was cast before primary day.

As of Thursday, about 56,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election, about 33,000 from Democrats, about 13,000 from Republicans and about 10,000 from voters not affiliated with any party.

When are early and absentee votes released?

In the 2024 general election, the state’s most populous cities and towns tended to release results from all types of voting together at the beginning of the night.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2024 general election, the AP first reported results at 8:44 p.m. ET, or 44 minutes after polls closed. About 50% of the total vote had been counted by 12:54 a.m. ET, and counting stopped for the night at 4:11 a.m. ET. By 3:13 p.m. ET the day after Election Day, about 90% of the vote had been counted.

When will the AP declare a winner?

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

How do recounts work?

Under a 2025 law, recounts in Maine are automatic if the vote is tied. A candidate for statewide or multicounty office may request and pay for a recount, although the charges are waived if the vote margin is not more than 1% of the total votes cast or not more than 1,000 votes, whichever is less. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 147 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.

However, RE/MAX Southeastern Michigan reports home sales jumped 15 percent month-over-month, calling it an encouraging sign.

The data shows the bigger question isn’t whether people are buying.

It’s where they’re going.

The answer might surprise you.

Hidden gems drawing buyers west

Realtor Eric Meldrum of Tru Living Group tracks housing market trends closely, and the communities topping his list aren’t the usual suspects.

Forget Birmingham.

Forget Royal Oak.

The suburbs quietly attracting buyers are Northville, South Lyon, Plymouth, Rochester Hills and Dexter based on new construction data.

“There’s a lot of new construction happening, and I think people from the Metro Detroit area are certainly people coming from in and around, you know, out of state,” Meldrum said. “They’re looking for new construction just from affordability and what they actually want.”

Meldrum says older homes dominate the core of Metro Detroit, pushing buyers to look north and west for space, newer builds and the lifestyle amenities that come with growing communities.

Growth by the numbers

In Lyon Township, there’s a lot of new construction going on that includes kind of the western parts of Novi, Northville and South Lyon and they’ve grown over 60% over the last decade in population, Meldrum said.

“They went from 14,000 to 27,000 people and it’s slated for the next decade that they’re going to double and go to about 45,000,” he said.

For buyers wondering whether they’ve already missed the window, Meldrum has a reassuring take.

“I don’t think it’s ever really too late,” he said. “People have still been moving to Royal Oak, like I said, in Birmingham for a long time. Those continue to be popular areas as well.”

What buyers can expect to pay

Price points vary depending on the property.

In the South Lyon area, single-family homes run around $450,000. New construction, however, commands a premium — typically between $500,000 and $800,000.

For families drawn by bigger lots and more acreage, Meldrum says the western suburbs are a natural fit, especially for those relocating from other states.

“When you’re moving in from out of state, you’re used to that coming from a place; maybe you have some acreage,” Meldrum said. “Where you’re going to find that is typically in South Lyon, kind of the western part of Metro Detroit and the outskirts of Ann Arbor.”

South Lyon: Small-town charm, big growth

South Lyon, the city with small-town charm, is home to roughly 12,000 residents.

New subdivisions are luring buyers from across the country, including Bob O’Connell, who recently traded upstate New York for a brand-new home in the city.

“We were looking for something with a neighborhood feel,” O’Connell said. “We didn’t really want be kind of the only house on a busy street.”

O’Connell and his family have only been in their new home about six weeks, but he’s already sold on the area.

“It’s really nice,” he said. “People are very friendly. There’s a lot of things around here. The parks are beautiful. A lot of lakes.”

Residents also appreciate the duality of having proximity to bigger cities while living a slower pace of life.

“We’re a very small-town feel, and you feel like you’re kind of in the country, but 20 minutes one way is Novi, 10 minutes the other way is Brighton,” said Amanda Fanson, a longtime South Lyon resident. “You’re very close to Ann Arbor, so you get the big city or you get all the conveniences you need that are very, very close by, but you get to live in kind of that more country and small community.”

Fanson has called South Lyon home for roughly 15 years and says the last eight years in particular have brought rapid change.

“It is sad to see the farms and the orchards, right, that are getting built up,” she said. “That does make me a bit sad.”

Still, she’s proud to see her community on the radar.

“It’s like, oh no, our special little gem,” Fanson said. “But also it feels a little bit selfish because it is so wonderful here. So, I get it, I get wanting to preserve what we have.”

Her husband, Paul Fanson, who is newer to the community, says downtown South Lyon is what hooked him.

“I really like the downtown,” he said. “The sort of like very classic Midwestern downtown with a lot of kind of interesting little shops and restaurants. That’s always been kind of the special part for me.”

Northville: Where authenticity meets charm

Northville earns its spot on the list for similar reasons.

Vicky Stearns, who visits regularly and lived there briefly, says the city has held onto something rare: a downtown that feels timeless.

“I love the feel here when I come here,” Stearns said. “When we hang out, we have a good time. I feel like I’m on vacation.”

For Stearns, Northville would be a natural next step.

“If I come from downriver, this would be one of the first places I would think about,” she said.

Schools, seniors, luxury condos

Growing communities bring growing pains and school districts are no exception.

South Lyon Community Schools Superintendent Steve Archibald says the district is cautiously optimistic about what the new housing surge could mean for enrollment.

“Like many districts, we have experienced a modest decline in enrollment in recent years, largely due to lower birth rates,” said Archibald in a released statement. “However, we are optimistic that new housing developments will attract young families and help stabilize enrollment moving forward.”

Archibald also pointed to a significant community investment in education.

Voters approved a $350 million capital improvement bond in November, which will fund projects including the renovation and expansion of the district’s Early Childhood Center.

“It is truly an exciting time for SLCS,” he said.

But it’s not just families driving demand.

Meldrum says an emerging trend is reshaping the market in these communities — luxury condominiums built for buyers looking to downsize.

“There’s not a lot of ranch-style condos or luxury homes that people that have been living in their 3,000-square-foot, nice homes can migrate to,” Meldrum said. “So, developers are now starting to develop luxury condominiums that are ranch-style side-by-side units and it’s going very well for them.”

The winner of the governor’s mansion in the key swing state could play a pivotal role in the 2028 presidential campaign, assuming Nevada maintains its slot as the first-in-the-West nominating contest for both parties.

Lombardo was elected in 2022, when he was the only challenger in the country to defeat an incumbent governor. He edged Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak by 1.5 percentage points.

The Democratic field includes state Attorney General Aaron Ford and Washoe County Commissioner Alexis Hill.

With no presidential or U.S. Senate race on the ballot in Nevada this cycle, the gubernatorial contest has been the main driver of campaign ad spending in the state, including by dark-money groups that can raise and spend unlimited amounts and are not required to disclose their donors.

Among the U.S. House races, the state’s lone Republican congressman, Mark Amodei of the 2nd District, is not seeking an eighth full term. The seat is not expected to be particularly competitive in November. Amodei won reelection in 2024 with 55% of the vote, while Donald Trump carried the district in the presidential race with about 56% of the vote. That raises the stakes in this year’s Republican primary among former state Sen. James Settelmeyer, financial adviser and small business owner David Flippo and 11 others, since the winner will be favored to claim the seat in November. Trump has endorsed Flippo.

The races for the seats held by Democratic U.S. Reps. Dina Titus, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford are expected to be more competitive. All three Democratic incumbents are seeking reelection, but only Horsford in the 4th District faces no primary opposition.

In the state Legislature, about half of Nevada’s 21 state Senate seats and all 42 state House seats are up for election this year. Democrats hold both chambers.

In Henderson, Mayor Michelle Romero seeks a second term in the nonpartisan office against four challengers, including former Henderson police Chief Hollie Chadwick. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the top two finishers will compete in a runoff scheduled for the November general election.

Clark County, home to both Las Vegas and Henderson, is by far the state’s most populous county. It routinely contributes about 69% of the total vote in statewide contests. Washoe County, home to Reno, has the second-highest population and usually contributes about 18% of the statewide vote. They are the two key counties to watch in both Republican and Democratic statewide primaries.

Here are some of the key facts about the election and data points the AP Decision Team will monitor as the votes are tallied:

When do polls close?

Polls are scheduled to close at 7 p.m. PT, which is 10 p.m. ET, but state law requires polls to stay open until all voters in line by poll closing time have cast their ballots.

What’s on the ballot?

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in contested primaries for U.S. House, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, state controller, state attorney general, state Senate and state Assembly, as well as a mayoral election in Henderson. “None of these candidates” appears as a ballot option for statewide constitutional offices, but not for Congress or state Legislature.

Who gets to vote?

Only voters registered with a political party may participate in that party’s primary. Democrats may not vote in the Republican primary or vice versa. However, any eligible voter may register to vote or change party affiliation at the polls on Election Day or during early voting.

How many voters are there?

As of June 1, there were about 670,000 registered Democrats and about 659,000 registered Republicans. About 162,000 were registered with other parties, while 965,000 voters were not registered with any party.

How many people actually vote?

About 157,000 Democratic primary votes and about 171,350 Republican primary votes were cast in Nevada’s 2024 primaries for U.S. Senate.

How much of the vote is cast early or by absentee ballot?

Mail ballots comprised about 65% of the vote in the 2024 state primary and about 57% in the 2022 state primary. In-person early voting comprised about 17% in the 2024 primary and about 22% in the 2022 primary.

As of Friday, about 246,000 ballots had already been cast in Tuesday’s election, about 42% from Democrats, about 42% from Republicans and the remainder from other voters.

When are early and absentee votes released?

Nevada’s 17 counties vary in how they release results from early in-person and mail voting. Most counties tend to release all or nearly all of their early in-person voting results in the first update of the night, while less than half tend to release mail voting results in the first update.

In both Clark and Washoe counties, the first vote update of the night tends to include all early in-person voting results and partial mail voting results, before any in-person Election Day results are released.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the 2024 state primaries, the AP first reported results at 11:04 p.m. ET. This was more than an hour after the scheduled poll closing time, but the state doesn’t release any votes until it confirms that voting has concluded in every county. The last vote update of the night was at 11:55 p.m. ET in the Republican primary, with about 94% of total votes counted, and at 2:28 a.m. ET in the Democratic primary, with about 85% of total votes counted.

When will the AP declare a winner?

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow a trailing candidate to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

How do recounts work?

Recounts in Nevada are not automatic, but a candidate may request and pay for one regardless of the vote margin. The AP may declare a winner in a race that is subject to a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Are we there yet?

As of Tuesday, there will be 147 days until the 2026 midterm elections.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2026 election at https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/.