Miller, known for an “Iron Man” streak spanning his high school and college careers, said his durability is rooted in a sense of responsibility.

“If I’m able to play, whether it’s through injury or I’m blessed enough to be completely healthy, I owe it to my teammates to be on the field,” Miller said. “There’s so many people in any organization that put in so much work. I owe it to them to be available and to pay it forward.”

Miller celebrated the moment in his hometown of Strongsville, Ohio, surrounded by family, his agent, and close friends.

“We tried to keep it relatively small,” Miller said. “Close family, agent, girlfriend, her family. It’s awesome.”

Lions’ interest grew during pre-draft process

The Lions’ interest in Miller developed during the pre-draft process, when he met with team officials to review schemes and interviewed with the coaching staff.

Miller said the franchise’s identity stood out immediately.

“I just love the culture of this organization,” Miller said. “I love the grit, love the toughness that’s emphasized. I really want to uphold that standard.”

Miller said his immediate goal is simple: earn everything.

“My goal is to come in and work as hard as I can to be the best player I can be,” Miller said. “However, the cards fall from there, I can live with that. Wherever I’m needed, I’m more than happy to fill in.”

Clemson program shaped Miller’s approach

At Clemson, Miller developed under coach Dabo Swinney, whose program emphasized effort, physicality, and accountability.

“Finishing blocks, getting to the ball, making sure you’re getting down the field, those were things that were very emphasized,” Miller said. “And off the field, just being a good human being, engaging with the community.”

Miller said he is especially eager to learn from Lions right tackle Penei Sewell, one of the NFL’s top young linemen.

“I’ve watched a lot of his tape,” Miller said. “His ability to move, get out in space, his pass protection, how light he is on his feet, it’s remarkable. Just to be able to sit in the same room as him and pick his brain, I can’t wait.”

Wrestling background fueled passion for offensive line

A former wrestler, Miller said he was drawn to the offensive line because of its technical demands and physical edge.

“There’s a lot of nuance to it,” Miller said. “And at the end of the day, you get to go out there and take someone’s will every play.”

Miller said he has not missed a game in high school or college, a streak he takes pride in maintaining.

“If I feel like I can get on that field and give my team a shot to win, I want to be there,” Miller said.

Among his favorite memories at Clemson was a win over Pittsburgh during his junior season, when he switched positions midgame after an injury and helped the Tigers grind out a victory.

“Celebrating on the field with everyone, those are moments I cherish,” Miller said.

Now, Miller hopes to bring that same mindset to Detroit and become the latest cornerstone on a line built on durability and toughness.

--> Detroit Lions select Clemson offensive tackle Blake Miller with No. 17 pick in NFL draft

Update: Holly soccer coach indicted for transporting minor across state lines for sexual activity

Chason William-Gregory Pointer, 42, is behind bars after he’s accused of transporting a minor during the early morning hours of April 2, 2026, with the intent that she engage in criminal sexual activity with him. In a federal complaint, Pointer is also accused of coercion and enticement, after online conversations began on Reddit and later moved to Snapchat.

Reddit tip launches investigation

Reddit Inc. tipped off the FBI on April 4, 2026, about a chat it believed involved a missing Ohio minor, the FBI said. The conversation between the two users unfolded from March 30 to April 3. It allegedly included claims that one user, Pointer, investigators said, had driven to meet the other for sex and returned the next day, along with plans to meet at a hotel.

According to the complaint, the minor said they were 18, sent photos that Reddit believed matched the missing teen seen in recent news coverage, and said they lived in Ohio. The chat then appeared to shift to Snapchat, where the apparent minor then provided a different username.

Investigators then traced an IP address linked to the other username to a Comcast subscriber: Pointer, whose listed address was in Grand Blanc. Additional emergency requests linked a phone number to the same online identity, and more searches tied the number to Pointer. Michigan Secretary of State records also listed Pointer’s birth year as 1984 and a Grand Blanc address, according to records.

Ohio police departments get involved

In Ohio, a detective with the Sylvania Police Department confirmed the minor was missing and that she was 15 when she disappeared. The detective obtained emergency Snapchat records for the minor’s account and found a conversation between the minor and Pointer from March 31 to April 3 that “appeared to be sexually exploitive in nature.”

The detective also obtained Snapchat subscriber records for Pointer’s account, and the IP address previously associated with Pointer appeared seven times among the listed authentication actions.

Federal agents then reviewed call records for Pointer and said the phone’s location data suggested overnight travel south toward Toledo. They said after midnight on April 3, his phone moved away from the Grand Blanc area, reached the Toledo area around 2:30 a.m., near the victim’s address, and then showed northbound travel back toward Michigan, arriving in the Fenton area after 4:00 a.m.

At a hotel in Fenton, staff allegedly told investigators Pointer was registered to Room 215. When the FBI and the City of Fenton Police Department went to the room and knocked, they said they spotted Pointer and the missing teen walking down the hallway together and stopped them right there.

Pointer’s arrest

During the encounter, agents separated Pointer from the teen and started patting him down. Investigators said they found a knife in Pointer’s right pocket and a cellphone. Pointer was seated on a second-floor hallway bench and told he was not under arrest and was not handcuffed while questioned, the FBI said.

Pointer told an FBI agent and a Fenton Police Sergeant that he and the teen had been at Buffalo Wild Wings, and that he met her online in a Reddit chat group, court records said. Pointer claimed the teen was looking for “a sugar daddy” and that he drove from Grand Blanc to Toledo, picked her up, then drove to the hotel in Fenton, stopping only at WalMart, and said he was driving a Nissan.

He said he believed the victim was 18 and denied knowing she was 15, but when asked how many times he and the victim had sexual contact, Pointer requested a lawyer, according to the feds. Pointer also allegedly refused to allow searches of his hotel room, car and cellphone.

Pointer appeared in federal court in Bay City on April 6 for an initial appearance and was temporarily detained. He is scheduled for a detention hearing on April 10 at 1:00 p.m.

Records show Pointer was arrested in Oakland County for Assault and Battery in 2019.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency asked prosecutors earlier this week to request a court warrant to arrest Bang, the billionaire founder and chairman of Hybe. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office said that it found that the request lacked sufficient grounds to justify his detention and instructed police investigators to strengthen their case.

Bang, who has been barred from leaving the country since August, isn't seen as a realistic threat to flee.

The 53-year-old is being investigated over allegations that he misled investors in 2019 by indicating that Hybe had no immediate plans to go public, prompting them to sell their shares to a private equity fund, shortly before the company proceeded with an initial public offering.

Police believe that the fund may have paid Bang somewhere around 200 billion won ($135 million) in a side deal that promised him 30% of post-IPO stock sale profits.

Bang denies any wrongdoing, Hybe officials say. Bang’s legal team had criticized police for seeking his arrest, saying that he has been fully cooperating with the investigation for months.

Bang’s legal troubles are a public relations setback for Hybe, coming as BTS launches a global tour after a nearly four-year hiatus as its seven members served their mandatory military service.

BTS performed in front of tens of thousands of international fans at a free comeback concert in Seoul last month and have also held concerts in South Korea’s Goyang city and Tokyo. The group will kick off a series of U.S. events with a concert in Tampa, Florida, over the weekend.

“In Iran there are no ‘hard-liners’ or ‘moderates’. We are all Iranians and revolutionaries,” Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote in almost identical social media statements.

Since the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the first strike of the war on Feb. 28, it has been unclear who in Iran wields ultimate authority over its collection of civilian figures and powerful generals who appear to be in charge.

Trump also said Thursday evening that Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House.

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime, with no end in sight.

Here is the latest:

Beirut residents call for peace in south Lebanon

Some residents in Beirut believe south Lebanon should be included in a ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.

They said a deal will not be sustainable without a lasting truce between Iran and the United States.

“It is not related to Hezbollah and Israel, but to Iran and the US. If they reach an agreement, the whole of the Middle East will be calm, but if not, there will be escalation in Lebanon and the rest of the world,” Joe Ghafari said.

Diala Ammar said it is “unfair” for the south to stay at war while the rest of the country “lives normally.”

Israeli forces occupying a strip of territory extending several miles into southern Lebanon have continued strikes, while Hezbollah has attacked Israeli forces there.

Pakistan repays $3.45 billion in UAE deposits

Pakistan completed repayment of $3.45 billion in deposits to the United Arab Emirates, returning a final $1 billion tranche, Pakistan’s central bank said Friday.

Pakistan had to arrange $3 billion in fresh financing from Saudi Arabia to support its foreign reserves.

The UAE placed the deposits with Pakistan in 2018 to bolster foreign exchange reserves.

The repayment comes weeks after the UAE asked Pakistan to return the funds without publicly explaining the reason for the abrupt request.

Media reports in Pakistan suggested the UAE’s request was linked to geopolitical differences over regional developments, though the government in Islamabad has downplayed such claims, maintaining that bilateral ties remain strong..

Iran’s foreign minister talks with Pakistani officials

Iran’s top diplomat has called Pakistani officials over the ceasefire in the war with the United States and Israel.

A statement Friday said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan’s army chief.

Araghchi’s statement said the men spoke about “regional developments and issues related to the ceasefire,” without elaborating.

Hours later, a statement on behalf of Dar acknowledged the call, saying “both sides exchanged views on regional developments, the ceasefire, and ongoing diplomatic efforts being pursued by Islamabad in the context of U.S.-Iran engagement.”

Pakistan has been trying to get American and Iranian officials back to the negotiating table in Islamabad, where they had hoped to have talks earlier this week that didn’t materialize.

EU’s top diplomat notes risk of ‘weaker’ US-Iran deal

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said peace negotiations between the United States and Iran are at risk of forging a “weaker” agreement than one struck a decade ago.

“If the talks are only about the nuclear (issue) and there are no nuclear experts around the table, then we will end up with an agreement that is weaker than the JCPoA was,” Kallas said Friday in Cyprus, referring to a 2015 deal struck during the Obama administration that Trump pulled the U.S. out of in 2018.

Kallas said if negotiators do not table Iran’s “missile programs, their support to proxies, and also hybrid and cyber activities in Europe” there is a possibility “we will end up with a more dangerous Iran.”

Medical aid convoy departs Turkey for Iran

A medical aid convoy left Turkey headed for Iran, an official told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency on Friday.

The six trucks departed Van in eastern Turkey to pass through the Gurbulak border crossing, Van Health Director Muhammed Tosun said.

“The materials include medicines and medical supplies,” Tosun said.

“We previously sent three trucks. With today’s trucks, a total of nine trucks of aid materials will have been delivered to our Iranian colleagues to serve their citizens,” he said.

“If I had to go farther, I would have,” Aaron Beggs said in an interview Thursday. “It's fight or flight, and I decided to fight and help him get to our destination.”

Beggs, of Northern Ireland, and Robson De Olivera, of Brazil, sprang into action Monday when Ajay Haridasse collapsed about 1,000 feet (305 meters) from the end of the course. Beggs also had been feeling sick and exhausted, but was reminding himself of all the people in his running club who might never get to experience such an iconic race.

“Then when I came down and up towards Boylston Street, the crowd started cheering and I just turned the corner and happened to see Ajay fall,” he said. “I looked at my watch, and I looked at him again, and the natural instinct was just to go and pick him up.”

For Beggs, the moment capped what already had been an incredible experience, from being cheered on by local college students to chatting with a fellow runner wearing his father's name on his shirt just to hear onlookers call it out.

“We were shaking hands as we were running, and was like, ‘We’ve got this. Let's do this together',” he said. “It's not like in shorter races where you're head-to-head trying to beat people. In the marathon, you're cheering each other on and encouraging everybody.”

Video of the runners' good deed has gone viral. Beggs said he has been in touch with Haridasse, a Massachusetts native and student at Northeastern University, and hopes to reconnect with Robson as well. Their finishing time was good enough to qualify for next year's race.

“Three strangers, three different countries, and we'll have a story for the rest of our lives,” he said. “We all need just a nice story in our lives, just to make us smile, bring a tear to your eye with happiness. And it's nice to be nice.”

___

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Aaron's last name to Beggs, not Breggs.

The Storm Prediction Center has placed Southeast Michigan in a Marginal Risk (level 1 out of 5) for severe weather today.

It may be the smallest chance you can have, but it’s still there, so make sure to have a way to get weather alerts and we’ll continue to keep you updated on-air and online.

Isolated showers will be possible throughout the morning and midday hours, but most will stay dry.

Heavier rain and possible thunderstorms associated with a cold front will move in this afternoon.

Storms may have heavy rain, gusty winds, and large hail.

Our rain and storm chance will carry through the evening before rain moves out near midnight. We look to pick up 1/4″ to 1/2″ of rainfall overnight.

That will give way to a drier, and cooler, weekend.

Highs Friday will be mainly in the mid 70s. Communities further north will be closer to 70° while southward areas will be near 80°. Winds will be southerly around 5-10 mph.

Tonight winds shift to the northwest, bringing in cooler air. Overnight lows will be in the low 40s north to low 50s south.

Afternoon highs Saturday will only be near 60° under mostly cloudy skies.

Sunday’s highs will be in the lower 60s with more sunshine.

The next chance of rain arrives later Monday.

ČEZ chief executive Daniel Beneš said that the work includes the project plan and licensing documentation necessary for issuing building permits for the reactor.

Beneš said the company hopes to have all the approvals by 2030. The small nuclear reactor will be built at the site of the existing Temelín nuclear plant.

On April 13, Great Britain Energy – Nuclear, a government agency, inked a contract with Rolls-Royce SMR to begin design work for the first small nuclear reactors in the U.K.

Beneš said that the Czech small nuclear reactor will be the second one built by the British firm after the first one is completed in the U.K.

ČEZ has a 20% share in Rolls-Royce SMR and the companies had signed a deal about a strategic partnership, which should result in up to 3 gigawatt energy sources installed in the Czech Republic.

The Czech state has an almost 70% stake in ČEZ and the government is taking steps to acquire full control of the company.

Small modular reactors are a type of nuclear reactor that can generate a smaller amount of power than a traditional reactor. Developers say small reactors will be built faster and at a lower cost than large power reactors, scaling to fit the needs of a particular location.

China on Friday announced it will send two giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta in the U.S. in Beijing's latest efforts of panda diplomacy despite tensions with Washington, less than a month before a much-anticipated visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to Beijing.

The China Wildlife Conservation Association said in a statement that male panda Ping Ping and female panda Fu Shuang, from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, will kick off a decade-long conservation partnership under an agreement it signed with the zoo last year.

The association did not specify the pandas' departure date but said the U.S. side was carrying out facility upgrades, among other preparation work, to create a more comfortable and safer environment for the pair. Chinese experts provided technical guidance on the upgrades, it said.

The announcement came weeks ahead of Trump's planned visit to China in mid-May, during which he is expected to discuss various issues, including trade, with his counterpart, President Xi Jinping.

Zoo Atlanta said Thursday that it was delighted and honored to be trusted as stewards of the pandas and to partner with the association.

“We can’t wait to meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and to welcome our members, guests, city, and community back to the wonder and joy of giant pandas,” the zoo's president, Raymond B. King, said in a statement.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters that the new round of cooperation on conservation would help improve the health and well-being of the giant pandas, advance global biodiversity protection and strengthen the friendship between the Chinese and American people.

During an earlier giant panda agreement between the zoo and China that concluded in 2024, pandas Lun Lun and Yang Yang gave birth to seven bears, the zoo said. Lun Lun and Yang Yang and their two youngest offspring left Atlanta for China in October 2024, where the rest of their offspring reside, it said.

Giant pandas have been a symbol of the U.S.-China friendship ever since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington in 1972, and China has long used its giant panda loan program as a tool of Beijing’s soft power diplomacy worldwide.

Beijing could also be renewing its cooperation with U.S. zoos at a time of otherwise sour relations in a bid to boost conservation efforts for the mammals.

The association said Friday that the new round of cooperation will help China and the U.S. to advance in areas ranging from disease prevention and treatment to scientific exchanges.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, a leading international group, took pandas off its endangered list in 2016 and classified them as “vulnerable" instead.

In 2024, the National Zoo in Washington and the San Diego Zoo also received pandas from China.

Among those in the firing line is Spain, which has refused to allow U.S. forces involved in the war to use bases on its territory or airspace. Spain says that U.S.-Israeli actions in the Iran war contravenes international law.

The Pentagon is reported to be mulling whether to suspend Spain from NATO, according to an unidentified U.S. official referring to a U.S. Defense Department email, and quoted by the Reuters news agency.

“Well, we do not work with emails," Sánchez told reporters at a European Union summit in Cyprus. "We work with official documents and positions taken, in this case, by the government of the United States.”

“The position of the government of Spain is clear: absolute collaboration with the allies, but always within the framework of international legality,” he said.

NATO operates by consensus. The trans-Atlantic alliance's founding treaty has no mechanism for suspending or ejecting any of the 32 member countries, although nations may leave of their own accord one year after notifying the other allies. As an organization, NATO has no direct role in the Iran war except to defend its own territory.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been angered by what he sees as the failure of some NATO members to back American actions in the Iran war and to help police the Strait of Hormuz, a major trade route. He has questioned the purpose of U.S. membership in the military organization.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas appeared perplexed by the U.S. criticism, given that the United Kingdom and France are leading an effort to help secure trade in the strait once the war is over.

“When we have had contacts with the American counterparts, then actually their asks for us have been exactly what we are able to offer after the cessation of hostilities,” she said. “Demining, escorting of ships, all of this that we have been discussing.”

But the United States has “long-standing arrangements and agreements with European allies on overflight, on basing” that should be respected, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said, in implicit criticism of some allies like Spain, but also France.

While Spain restricted U.S. military activity related to the Iran war, U.S. warplanes have flown over other NATO allies’ airspace and used U.S. bases in other NATO countries for war-related operations.

Trump has even threatened to cut trade with Spain over its refusal to allow the use of its bases and airspace. More broadly, Spain has also disappointed its allies by failing to commit to spend as much as they plan to do on defense.

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Lorne Cook reported from Brussels.

Chason Pointer, 42, of Grand Blanc, is charged with transporting a minor for criminal sexual activity and coercion and enticement of a minor.

Prosecutors allege Pointer contacted the child online and later traveled in the middle of the night from Michigan to the child’s home in northern Ohio, transporting the minor back to a Michigan hotel, where he is accused of sexually abusing the child.

Investigators also allege Pointer had previously traveled to Ohio and communicated with the child through a social media messaging platform.

Pointer was arraigned in federal court and pleaded not guilty.

A federal magistrate judge ordered him held without bond following an April 10 hearing in Flint, finding that no conditions of release would reasonably assure the community’s safety.

Authorities said the investigation remains ongoing and are asking anyone with information, or who believes their child may have had contact with Pointer through youth soccer in the Holly area, to contact the FBI’s Detroit Field Office at 313-965-2323 or submit a tip online.

More: Michigan man accused of luring missing Ohio teen to hotel

Prosecutors allege that Yong Ni, owner of three Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse locations, two in Shelby Township and one in Royal Oak, employed undocumented workers and allowed them to live in homes he owned in exchange for labor.

According to the indictment, Ni housed at least a dozen individuals in Shelby Township properties rent-free while requiring them to work shifts of up to 12 hours at his restaurants.

Federal agents executed search warrants at one of the homes in May 2024 and encountered about a dozen people who said they were living there, prosecutors said.

Authorities later raided the restaurants in May 2025, after surveillance showed workers being transported to and from the businesses.

Investigators identified at least five people working without legal authorization, three of whom were living in another home owned by Ni that he allegedly referred to as “dorms,” according to court documents.

Ni faces 10 counts, including charges of harboring and unlawfully employing immigrants.

Prosecutors also allege that Ni himself was in the United States without legal status and is charged with possessing a fraudulent immigrant visa.

If convicted, Ni could be required to forfeit two properties and three vehicles that authorities say were seized during the investigation.

Court records did not immediately list an attorney for Ni. It was not clear when he was expected to appear in court.

Federal prosecutors have not released additional details about the status of the workers involved.

The 17th annual Michigan Softball Academy brought players, coaches, and fans together to raise money for the American Cancer Society, continuing a long-standing tradition of service and outreach.

Michigan Wolverines softball head coach Carol Hutchins said the event reflects the program’s commitment to giving back to those who support the team throughout the season.

“We’re just trying to do our small part to help as a Michigan softball team and have our student-athletes learn that giving back to the community and leaving the world better than you found it is why we really are all here,” Hutchins said.

The program raised $2 million for the American Cancer Society in 2024, and organizers say they are approaching the $3 million mark as fundraising continues.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke was part of the operation to capture Maduro in January and used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor’s office in New York said.

He has been charged by the Justice Department with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction. He could face years in prison.

Van Dyke, 38, was involved in the planning and execution of capturing Maduro for about a month beginning Dec. 8, 2025, according to the federal prosecutor’s office. Even though he signed nondisclosure agreements promising to not divulge “any classified or sensitive information” related to the operations, prosecutors say the Army soldier used this information to make a series of bets related to Maduro being out of power by Jan. 31, 2026.

“This involved a U.S. soldier who allegedly took advantage of his position to profit off of a righteous military operation,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post to social media.

A telephone number listed for Van Dyke in public records was not in service. There was not yet an attorney listed for him in court documents.

Polymarket, one of the largest prediction markets in the world, said it had found someone trading on classified government information, alerted the U.S. Department of Justice and “cooperated with their investigation.”

“Insider trading has no place on Polymarket,” the company said in a statement.

Second complaint filed against the soldier

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulates prediction markets, announced Thursday it had filed a parallel complaint against Van Dyke.

That complaint alleges that Van Dyke moved $35,000 from his personal bank account into a cryptocurrency exchange account on Dec. 26 — a little over a week before U.S. forces would fly into Caracas and seize Maduro.

Van Dyke used more than $32,500 to make a series of bets on when Maduro might be removed from power, according to the complaint. He placed those bets between Dec. 30 and Jan. 2, with the vast majority occurring the night of Jan. 2 — just hours before the first missiles would fall on Caracas.

In the early hours of Jan. 3, President Donald Trump posted on his social media platform a photo of the now-captured Venezuelan leader, wearing a gray sweatsuit, headphones and a blindfold.

The bets Van Dyke made on Maduro leaving power resulted in “more than $404,000 of profits," the complaint said. Bets on three other Venezuela-related contracts netted the solider more than $5,000, according to the document.

“The defendant was entrusted with confidential information about U.S. operations and yet took action that endangered U.S. national security and put the lives of American service members in harm’s way," said Michael Selig, the commission's chairman.

The massive profits from the well-timed bets aroused public attention days after the raid and brought bipartisan calls for stricter regulation of the markets where people can wager on just about anything.

Officials allege that shortly after the operation, Van Dyke put most of the money he won in a foreign cryptocurrency vault and then into a new brokerage account. He also asked Polymarket to delete his account, saying he had lost access to his email associated with the account, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.

Trump, when asked about the case Thursday, drew parallels between the embattled soldier and late professional baseball player Pete Rose, who was banned from the sport amid accusations that he placed bets on his own team.

“The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino, and you look at what’s going on all over the world and Europe and every place, they’re doing these betting things,” Trump told reporters.

The Trump administration has been a key ally of the growing prediction market industry in a critical legal fight with states seeking to ban the platforms. The president’s eldest son is an adviser for both Polymarket and its competitor Kalshi, and a Polymarket investor. Trump’s social media platform Truth Social is also launching its own cryptocurrency-based prediction market called Truth Predict.

Nearly two decades in the Army

Van Dyke joined the Army in 2008 and, in 2023, was promoted to the rank of master sergeant, the second-highest enlisted rank in the Army, according to the indictment. Federal prosecutors said he was part of the special forces community and was stationed at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North Carolina, but their indictment offered little other details about his military service.

The document said Van Dyke was photographed following the raid on the deck of a ship “wearing U.S. military fatigues, and carrying a rifle, standing alongside three other individuals wearing U.S. military fatigues."

The Pentagon referred questions on the case to the Army and the Justice Department.

Army officials declined to provide Van Dyke's service record. Typically, the military services are reticent to offer details about members of the special forces and take measures to keep their identities secret.

Bets on geopolitical tensions draw scrutiny

The high-profile indictment comes as bipartisan lawmakers are considering legislation to ban prediction markets from allowing bets on war, assassinations or terrorist attacks.

Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that a group of new accounts on Polymarket made highly specific, well-timed bets on whether the U.S. and Iran would reach a ceasefire on April 7, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for the new customers. On the same day the AP published the report, the White House warned staff against using private information to trade on prediction markets.

On Wednesday, Kalshi fined and suspended three congressional candidates who the company said wagered on the outcome of their own elections.

__

Golden reported from Seattle, and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City.

In a Thursday memo, Michael Kratsios, the president's chief science and technology adviser, accused foreign entities “principally based in China” of engaging in deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns to “distill,” or extract capabilities from, leading AI systems made in the U.S. and “exploiting American expertise and innovation.”

The administration, Kratsios wrote, will work with American AI companies to identify such activities, build defenses and find ways to punish offenders.

The memo arrives at a time when China is challenging U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence, an area where the White House says the U.S. must prevail to set global standards and reap economic and military benefits. But the U.S.-China gap in performance of top AI models has “effectively closed,” according to a recent report from Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered AI.

China's embassy in Washington said it opposed “the unjustified suppression of Chinese companies by the U.S.”

“China has always been committed to promoting scientific and technological progress through cooperation and healthy competition. China attaches great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights,” said Liu Pengyu, the embassy spokesperson.

In Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters Friday that the U.S. claims are groundless and were smearing the achievements of China's artificial intelligence industry.

“China firmly opposes this. We urge the U.S. to respect facts, discard prejudice, stop suppressing China’s technological development, and do more to promote scientific and technological exchange and cooperation between the two countries,” he said.

Kratsios' memo also came the same week that the House Foreign Affairs Committee offered unanimous, bipartisan support for a bill to set up a process to identify foreign actors that extract “key technical features” of closed-source, U.S.-owned AI models and to punish them with measures including sanctions.

“Model extraction attacks are the latest frontier of Chinese economic coercion and theft of U.S. intellectual property,” said Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., who sponsored the bill. “American AI models are demonstrating transformative cyber capabilities, and it is critical we prevent China from stealing these technological advancements.”

Last year, the Chinese startup DeepSeek rattled U.S. markets when it released a large language model that could compete with U.S. AI giants but at a fraction of the cost.

David Sacks, then serving as President Donald Trump's AI and crypto adviser, suggested that DeepSeek copied U.S. models. “There’s substantial evidence that what DeepSeek did here is they distilled the knowledge out of OpenAI’s models,” Sacks said then.

In a February letter to U.S. lawmakers, OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, made similar allegations and said China should not be allowed to advance “autocratic AI” by “appropriating and repackaging American innovation.”

Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, in February accused DeepSeek and two other China-based AI laboratories of engaging in campaigns to “illicitly extract Claude’s capabilities to improve their own models” using the distillation technique that “involves training a less capable model on the outputs of a stronger one.”

Anthropic said distillation can be a legitimate way to train AI systems but it's a problem when competitors “use it to acquire powerful capabilities from other labs in a fraction of the time, and at a fraction of the cost, that it would take to develop them independently.”

But it can go both ways. San Francisco-based startup Anysphere, maker of the popular coding tool Cursor, recently acknowledged that its latest product was based on an open-source model made by Chinese company Moonshot AI, maker of the chatbot Kimi.

Kyle Chan, a fellow at the Washington-based think tank The Brookings Institution and an expert on China's technology development, said it will be like “looking for needles in an enormous haystack” to separate unauthorized distillation from the vast volume of legitimate requests for data. But information sharing and coordination among U.S. AI labs could help, and the federal government can play an important role in facilitating anti-distillation efforts across labs, Chan said.

It's hard to assess how far the House bill can go, but Chan said Trump may not want to rock the boat with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of a planned mid-May state visit to Beijing.

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AP Technology Writer Matt O'Brien contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.

U.S. futures also wavered after Wall Street pulled back from its all-time highs. The future for the S&P 500 edged 0.1% higher, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%.

In early European trading, Germany's DAX lost 0.2% to 24,106.17 and the CAC 40 in Paris dropped 1% to 8,147.70. Britain's FTSE 100 sagged 0.6% to 10,397.64.

During Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 1% to 59,716.18, led by heavy buying of technology stocks. On Thursday, it hit a record intraday high above 60,000.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng reversed earlier losses to add 0.2%, closing at 25,978.07, while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower to 4,079.90.

South Korea’s Kospi closed nearly unchanged at 6,475.63.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.1% to 8.786.50.

Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 3.2% as computer chipmaker TSMC, which makes up a key part of the index, gained 5.1%.

India's Sensex lost 1.4%.

Progress on another round of peace talks between the United States and Iran was limited even after President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. was indefinitely extending a two-week ceasefire with Iran, a day before it was originally set to expire.

The Strait of Hormuz, a key passageway for global energy where roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas normally passed through before the war, remains largely closed and a U.S. sea blockade of Iranian ports is still in effect. After the U.S. imposed a blockade on Iranian ports last week, Iran attacked three ships in the strait on Wednesday and seized two of them.

Trump said Thursday that the U.S. military was intensifying its mine-clearing efforts in the strait and he ordered the military to “shoot and kill” small Iranian boats laying mines in the area.

Oil prices have remained elevated since the Iran war began on Feb. 28.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June rose 3.1% on Thursday to settle at $105.07 and at one point topped $107. The price for a barrel of Brent to be delivered in July, which is the more popular contract for traders, settled at $99.35 after rising as high as $101.

Early Friday, Brent crude was up 98 cents at $100.33 a barrel. U.S. benchmark crude picked up 81 cents to $96.66 per barrel.

The global energy shock caused by the Iran war has threatened to worsen inflation in many countries and shaken world markets. But Wall Street has still hit record highs, helped by strong corporate earnings and some optimism that the war will end soon.

On Thursday, the benchmark S&P 500 dropped 0.4%, halting a weekslong rally that lifted it to new all-time highs. The Dow industrials also declined 0.4%, while the technology stocks-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 0.9%.

Shares of Tesla sank 3.6%, dragging the market lower despite strong-than-expected quarterly results as investors focused on a big jump in capital expenditures as the company pivots towards artificial intelligence and robotics.

Paramount Skydance lost 4.5%, following approval by Warner Bros. Discovery's shareholders of its merger with Paramount. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery fell 1.6%.

In other dealings early Friday, the U.S. dollar rose to 159.74 Japanese yen from 159.71 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1687, down from $1.1683.

Authorities are seeking to remove at least 10 tons (9 metric tons) of the fish from Jakarta's waterways, an effort officials hope will restore balance to the Ciliwung River and renew public attention on water quality.

From the polluted river to the concrete embankments and skyscraper-lined canals of the city’s heart, the dark shapes of the fish cling tightly to the river walls. At first glance, they appear almost prehistoric, with armored bodies gleaming a dull brown beneath the murky surface.

Janitor fish, or suckermouth catfish, known scientifically as Pterygoplichthys and locally as “sapu-sapu,” aren't native to Indonesia. Imported decades ago for aquariums because of their ability to consume algae, they were later released and found a home in Jakarta’s heavily polluted rivers. The fish can grow up to 50 centimeters (nearly 20 inches) and live for 10-15 years.

Experts have long warned that unchecked populations of invasive species can destabilize freshwater ecosystems, particularly in densely populated urban areas like Jakarta.

Dian Rosleine, an ecologist from the Bandung Institute of Technology, said that the adaptability of janitor fish is very high, so that even in polluted conditions, it can survive when other species can't.

“So, these fish are biological indicators that the water is in poor condition,” she said.

The Ciliwung once carried clear water from the mountains of West Java into Jakarta. Today, it flows through dense neighborhoods, carrying untreated household waste and industrial runoff. Concrete walls replaced riverbanks. During dry months, the water warms and slows — conditions that favor janitor fish over native species, Rosleine said.

Jakarta authorities have responded with mass removals, targeting the janitor fish in city waterways. The campaign began last week.

The cleanup drive, ordered by Jakarta Gov. Pramono Anung, was carried out simultaneously in all five administrative cities of the capital, involving hundreds of personnel, including firefighters, disaster officers and local residents. They have netted and buried more than seven tons of janitor fish across the city within a week.

The cleanup on Friday at a 6-meter-deep (19-foot-deep) reservoir in East Jakarta’s Ciracas neighborhood drew curious crowds as city workers collected about 320 kilograms (705 pounds) of the fish.

Piles of wriggling janitor fish filled red barrels along the reservoir — tangible proof that something, at last, was being done.

“The janitor fish populations have reproduced at a notable level while also feeding on native species," East Jakarta's mayor, Munjirin, told reporters when visiting Friday's cleanup. “The impact extends beyond ecosystem destruction, contributing to structural damage to riverbank and embankment walls.”

Munjirin, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, said that the coordinated operation marks the beginning of a sustained effort to control the species, with regular monitoring and removal planned to prevent further ecological damage.

However, he vowed a review of the program’s method after the Indonesian Ulema Council, or MUI, raised concerns over perceived cruelty, pledging that all fish will be dead before burial.

While endorsing the cleanup, MUI’s fatwa commission warned that burying the janitor fish alive amounts to a violation of animal rights enshrined in Islamic teaching.

Authorities are still cautious about what happens next. As janitor fish are edible in some countries, concerns over heavy metal contamination mean they won't be immediately approved for consumption in Jakarta. Instead, officials are exploring alternatives, including processing the fish into animal feed or fertilizer.

Anung said that the cleanup method will require the fish to be dead before burial at designated sites, with hygiene standards applied to block their return to rivers or trade.

The Jakarta governor noted that buried janitor fish can serve as natural compost and suggested adopting Brazil’s model, where the fish are turned into charcoal to generate greater economic benefits.

Yet experts caution that removal is only a beginning. Without improving wastewater management and reducing pollution, the river could quickly return to the same condition.

“The Ciliwung River requires rehabilitation, our major challenge that must be addressed,” Rosleine said. “Addressing the symptoms without tackling the root causes will not provide a lasting solution.”

“The Tale of KAHO,” which is scheduled to be released July 3 in print and digital formats, centers on a 26-year-old picture book author named Kaho.

The new novel is Murakami’s first in three years. His previous novel, “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” is a story of a male protagonist searching for love, loss and the boundaries between real and subconscious worlds.

Kaho is the first lone, woman protagonist featured in a full-length novel by Murakami, Shinchosha Publishing Co. said Thursday in a statement.

Initially, the novel started as a short story titled, "Kaho," which Murakami rehearsed at a book reading event two years ago at Waseda University, his alma mater in Tokyo, with Mieko Kawakami, a renowned female author and fan of his work. The story was published in the June 2024 edition of the monthly Shincho magazine.

The character Kaho, who has average looks and intelligence, is a curious person. One day she dines with a man who tells her, "I've never seen one as ugly as you.” Not outraged but baffled, curious Kaho tries to find out his hidden message.

Soon she starts encountering bizarre things in her life.

“I must find the way out of this world,” a brief promotional teaser released by the publisher says. “Murakami world is in full force.”

Murakami has since released three subsequent “Kaho” series stories in Shincho magazine, most recently in the March edition. They include “The Anteater of Musashi-sakai,“ “Kaho and the Termite Queen” and “Kaho and the Motorcycle Man, and Scarlett Johansson.”

The English version of the first piece, translated by Philip Gabriel, was published in The New Yorker magazine in 2024.

Murakami brings the four parts together and gives them new life in the 352-page new novel, the publisher said.

DeepSeek’s V4 has been keenly anticipated by users keen to test how it compares to U.S. competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Gemini. Anthropic and OpenAI have accused DeepSeek of unfairly building its technology off their own.

Some industry analysts had expected the new model to arrive more than a month earlier at the start of the Lunar New Year.

DeepSeek says the new V4 open-source models, which include “pro” and “flash” versions, have big improvements in knowledge, reasoning and in their “agentic” capabilities – the ability to perform complex tasks and workflows autonomously.

V4 is a successor to V3, an AI model that DeepSeek released in late 2024.

But it was DeepSeek’s specialized “reasoning” AI model, called R1, that took markets by surprise with its release in January 2025. DeepSeek claimed it was more cost-effective than OpenAI’s similar model and it became a symbol of how China was catching up with the U.S. in technological advancements.

DeepSeek said the “V4 Pro Max” version has “superior performance” in terms of standard reasoning benchmarks relative to OpenAI’s GPT-5.2 model and Google’s Gemini 3.0-Pro. It falls “marginally” short of GPT-5.4 and Gemini 3.1-Pro, it said.

In terms of “agentic” capabilities, the Chinese company said the V4 “pro” version could outperform Claude’s Sonnet 4.5 and approaches the level of Claude's Opus 4.5 model based on its own evaluation.

The “flash” version of V4 performs on a par with the “pro” version on simple agent tasks and has reasoning capabilities closely approaching it, DeepSeek said.

“Based on the benchmark results, it does appear DeepSeek V4 is going to be very competitive against its U.S. rivals,” said Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at the technology research and advisory group Omdia.

Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney, said DeepSeek's V4 rollout is as a “pivotal milestone for China’s AI industry”, especially as global competition intensifies in the pursuit of self-reliance in critical technologies.

DeepSeek offers a free‑to‑use web and mobile chatbot. Unlike the top models from Anthropic, Google and OpenAI, it describes its technology as “open source” in the way that it enables developers access to modify and build on its core technology.

Both the V4's “pro” and “flash” versions have a 1 million token context window, a parameter of how much information an AI model can process and recall, and run on a more efficient basis, the startup said. That is a significant improvement from before, since the V3 supported a 128,000 token context window.

A report from Microsoft in January showed use of DeepSeek has been gaining ground in many developing nations.

However, some analysts remain skeptical. Ivan Su, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said while V4 is a “competent” follow-up, it’s not as big a breakthrough as the rollout of R1.

“Domestic competition has intensified significantly since R1’s release,” Su said. “Against U.S. models, DeepSeek’s own evaluation suggests its capabilities largely match on most fronts, but independent evaluations are needed before final conclusions can be drawn.”

In February, Anthropic accused DeepSeek and two other China-based AI laboratories of “industrial-scale campaigns” to “illicitly extract Claude’s capabilities to improve their own models.” It said they did that using a technique called distillation that “involves training a less capable model on the outputs of a stronger one.” OpenAI made similar allegations in a letter to U.S. lawmakers.

This week, Michael Kratsios, chief science and technology adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, also accused foreign tech companies “principally based in China” of distilling leading U.S. AI systems and “exploiting American expertise and innovation.”

China’s embassy in Washington hit back at the allegations, describing them as “unjustified suppression of Chinese companies by the U.S.”

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O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

It’s a spectacle that once brought 1,000 or more tourists each year to Kaktovik, the only settlement in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in a phenomenon sometimes called “last chance tourism” — a chance to see magnificent sights and creatures before climate change renders them extinct.

The COVID-19 pandemic and an order from the federal government halting boat tours to see the bears largely ended Kaktovik's polar bear tourism amid concerns that the tiny village was being overrun by outsiders.

But Kaktovik leaders are now hoping to revive it, saying it could be worth millions to the local economy and give residents another source of income — provided the village can set guidelines that protect its way of life and the bears themselves.

“We definitely see the benefit for tourism,” said Charles Lampe, president of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corp, which owns 144 square miles (373 square kilometers) of land. “The thing is, it can’t be run like it was before.”

Visitors overwhelm a tiny village

As far back as the early 1980s, anyone in Kaktovik with a boat and knowledge of the waters could take a few tourists out to watch the bears as they lumbered across the flat, treeless barrier islands just off the coast or tore into the ribs of a bowhead whale left by subsistence hunters.

Tourism in Kaktovik soared in the years after federal officials declared polar bears a threatened species in 2008. The rapid warming of the Arctic is melting the sea ice that the bears use to hunt seals, and scientists have said that most polar bears could be wiped out by the end of the century.

As visitation boomed, the federal government imposed regulations requiring tour operators to have permits and insurance, and that began to squeeze locals out of the industry, Lampe said. Larger out-of-town operators moved in, and before long, crowds of tourists were coming to Kaktovik — a village of about 250 people — during the six-week viewing season.

The town’s two hotels and restaurants lost out on some business when large operators began flying tourists in from Fairbanks or Anchorage for day trips. Locals complained that tourists gawked at them or traipsed through their yards.

Small plane capacity became an issue, with residents sometimes battling tourists to get on flights to or from larger cities for medical appointments, forcing those left stranded in the cities to get expensive hotel rooms for the night.

Renewing polar bear tourism, with changes

When the pandemic struck, Kaktovik paused visitation. Then in 2021, the federal government, which manages polar bears, halted boat tours, mostly over concerns about how tourists were affecting bear behavior and overrunning the town.

Alaska Native leaders are now in talks with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to address those concerns and reignite the industry, perhaps as early as 2027. The agency told The Associated Press in a statement that it’s working with Kaktovik “to ensure that any future opportunities are managed in a way that prioritizes visitor safety, resource protection, and community input.”

Among the changes Kaktovik leaders want to see is a limit on how long a boat can sit in the water near the bears. Too long, Lampe said, and the bears get used to humans — making for a dangerous situation when bears wander into town looking for food.

During the height of the tourism boom, it became tougher to haze bears out of town, even with the town’s bear patrol shooting at them with nonlethal rounds. The patrol had to kill about three or four bears per year, compared with maybe one per year before the boom, Lampe said.

“Our safety was at risk,” Lampe said.

In 2023, a 24-year-old woman and her 1-year-old son were killed in a polar bear attack in Wales, in far western Alaska. It was the first fatal polar bear attack in nearly 30 years in Alaska, the only U.S. state home to the species.

Since the boat tours in Kaktovik were halted, the bears once again seem more fearful of humans, Lampe said.

Encouraging respectful visits in the Arctic

Polar bear tourism coincides with Kaktovik’s subsistence whaling season. When a crew lands a whale, it's usually butchered on a nearby beach. While the community encourages visitors to watch or even help, some were recording or taking pictures without permission, which is considered disrespectful, Lampe said.

Sherry Rupert, CEO of the American Indigenous Tourism Association, suggested that Kaktovik market itself as a two- or three-day experience.

Native communities that are ready for tourists "want them to come and be educated and walk away with a greater understanding of our people and our way of life and our culture,” she said.

Roger and Sonia MacKertich of Australia were looking for the best spot on the planet to view polar bears in the wild when they came to Kaktovik in September 2019. They spent several days in the village, took a walking tour led by an elder and bought souvenirs made by local artists, including a hoodie featuring a polar bear.

For Roger MacKertich, a professional wildlife photographer based in Sydney, the highlight was the boat tours to see bears roaming on the barrier islands or taking a dip in the water. The bears paid them no attention.

“That’s nearly as good as it gets,” he said.

The serac between base camp and Camp One is unstable and is risky for climbers, said Himal Gautam of Nepal's Department of Mountaineering.

Officials are working with climbers and expedition organizers to assess the situation as hundreds of climbers and their guides wait at base camp unable to move up the mountain.

According to the department, 410 foreign climbers have been issued permits to attempt to reach the Everest summit during the spring climbing season, which ends at the end of May.

The “Icefall Doctors,” the elite guides who lay the yearly climbing route by setting ropes and securing aluminum ladders over crevasses usually finish the task by mid-April.

The Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, which would deploy the team to lay the route, plans to assess the serac by aerial survey. The risk of avalanche is high and they are waiting for the serac to melt down on its own to a safe level, committee Chairman Lama Kazi Sherpa said.

The serac is part of the Khumbu Icefall, a constantly shifting glacier with deep crevasses and huge overhanging ice that can be as big as 10-story buildings. It is considered one of the most difficult and trickiest sections of the climb to the peak.

In 2014, a chunk of the glacier sheared away from the mountain, setting off an avalanche of ice that killed 16 Sherpa guides as they carried clients’ equipment up the mountain. It was one of the deadliest disasters in Everest climbing history.

Hundreds of foreign climbers and about the same number of Nepalese guides and helpers are expected to attempt to scale the mountain next month when there are a few brief windows of favorable weather.

Thousands of people have climbed the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) high peak since it was first climbed on May 29, 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay.

They dashed in vans to hangars where their prepped and armed Rafale jets awaited, clambered into the cockpits and fired up the engines, which puffed and screamed.

Within minutes of takeoff from the Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania, they were over the Baltic Sea, first intercepting a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft and then tailing supersonic Russian bombers and their fighter escorts that neared the airspace of multiple NATO countries.

In a conflict situation, things could quickly get heated. But for the moment, with Russia and the military alliance at odds over Ukraine but not at war, pilots on both sides just watched and filmed each other — keeping their distance like wary tomcats with claws unsheathed, their missiles visible but not used.

One of the points of the posturing — in aerial ballets that take place away from public gaze hundreds of times a year — is to try to ensure that the frostiness between NATO and the Kremlin over Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine doesn't tilt into open hostility.

Commanders and pilots flying NATO air-policing missions on the eastern flank of the 32-nation military alliance say that their goal is to deter, not provoke. They believe their presence is reassuring for Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — that border Russia and its ally Belarus but don't themselves have airpower to fight off any Russian attack, if it ever came to that.

“It's a game of cat and mouse, or rather cat and cat,” said Lt. Col. Alexandre, commander of a French air force wing of four Rafales that is sharing the Lithuanian base with another fighter detachment from Romania. Citing security concerns, the French military withheld the commander's surname.

“We watch each other, scrutinize each other and try to make sure that it doesn't go any further," he said.

Alliance members take turns policing Baltic skies around the clock, seven days a week. The French inherited the building that now serves as their temporary headquarters from a Spanish detachment. They will hand it over to Italian replacements in August. Successive teams leave plaques and badges on a wall that records their passage.

NATO scrambles jets to identify and possibly take other action when Russian planes fly in Baltic airspace without switched-on transponders and without filing flight plans or communicating by radio with air traffic controllers.

“There are plenty of times in which, on purpose or not, they’re not really respecting the ICAO — the International Civil Aviation Organization — rules, regarding flight plans and behavior," said Col. Mihaita Marin, commanding the Romanian detachment of six F-16s.

“So obviously we are forced to take off and just make sure that they are who they say they are and their intention is peaceful,” he said.

The arrival of spring, bringing better flying conditions, means French and Romanian flyers have been busy since they deployed at the start of April on four-month NATO rotations.

Marin said interceptions “are getting close to daily" and "that will definitely increase as the weather is getting better."

French aircrews — watched by an Associated Press journalist who was reporting at the airbase — had their busiest day so far on Monday.

Scrambled under NATO command, French Rafales met and observed a pair of Russian Tu-22M3 bombers carrying supersonic, anti-ship missiles from their bellies that Russia has also used in Ukraine, repurposing them to attack ground targets, and which can be equipped to carry a nuclear warhead.

The strategic bombers' more than four-hour flight from an airbase near St. Petersburg, escorted by Su-30 and Su-35 fighters, remained in international airspace but took them past the coasts of NATO countries Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, doubling back when they approached Denmark.

The French detachment said the Russian planes didn’t have switched-on transponders, file flight plans or enter into radio contact. Fighter jets from Sweden, Finland, Poland, Denmark and Romania also went airborne to keep watch, according to the French. NATO didn't respond to requests for comment.

The French commander, Lt. Col. Alexandre, said it isn't clear why Russian pilots behave in ways that could endanger other users of Baltic airspace.

“We don’t know if it’s lack of professionalism or just a means for them to test us," he said.

“But what is sure is that we need to go every time," he added. "We cannot say, 'OK, that's usual, this time we will just let them pass.'”

Gabriel Landeskog and Artturi Lehkonen scored on fortunate deflections for the Presidents' Trophy-winning Avalanche, who went up 3-0 in the series with another narrow win over the persistent Kings.

With Wedgewood backstopping the defense in his first playoff series, Colorado has allowed just four goals in three games by defense-minded Los Angeles, which has held superstar Nathan MacKinnon without a goal so far.

“It’s been tough sledding to create offense, but we have different guys stepping up on different nights and scoring in different situations,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “That’s been able to make the difference.”

Trevor Moore and Adrian Kempe scored and Anton Forsberg stopped 19 shots, but the Kings are a loss away from being eliminated in the first round for the fifth consecutive season.

Game 4 is Sunday in Los Angeles. A loss would end the 20-year career of Kings captain Anze Kopitar, who is retiring after the season.

Los Angeles scored two goals for the first time in the series, but couldn't find a tying goal after Kempe scored on a power play with 4:03 to play. Instead, Brock Nelson scored into LA's empty net with 2:18 left.

“We’ve just got to continue to find ways to break them down,” Makar said. “I feel like tonight, we got a lot of chances and capitalized on a few. Still, I feel like there’s areas for improvement, for sure.”

Los Angeles hasn't won a playoff round in six previous tries since raising the Stanley Cup in 2014, and this loss was the Kings' seventh straight postseason defeat dating to last spring.

After grinding out a pair of 2-1 victories in Denver, the Avalanche again took care of business in LA with fundamentally sound hockey — and a good bit of luck this time.

Landeskog put the Avs ahead in the opening minutes with a fluke goal when his wrist shot hit the end boards and caromed back perfectly to deflect in off Forsberg’s skate.

Colorado then got another fortunate bounce during a Kings power play in the third period. When Lehkonen and Logan O’Connor broke out on an odd-man rush, Lehkonen’s pass deflected off the back of Kempe’s skate and ricocheted through Forsberg’s legs with 12:21 to play.

Offense remains the fatal flaw of the Kings, who were the only team in the bottom third of the NHL in scoring to make the playoffs. Los Angeles has four goals on 76 shots against Colorado.

“We've got to find ways to score,” Kings interim coach D.J. Smith said. “I mean, we had looks. You can give them credit, but we missed the net 13 times leading into the third period.”

Makar put Colorado ahead in the second, dangling just inside the blue line and firing a brilliant wrist shot through traffic. The perennial Norris Trophy candidate has 23 playoff goals — second-most among active defensemen — in 82 career games, memorably scoring eight in his Conn Smythe Trophy-winning performance during the Avs' championship run in 2022.

Colorado defenseman Josh Manson left Game 3 early with an upper-body injury. He'll be re-evaluated before Sunday, Bednar said.

___

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

Turning the Raiders into a contender is the next challenge for the Heisman Trophy winner who led Indiana to its first national championship.

The 22-year-old quarterback wasn’t in the Steel City for the festivities, choosing instead to celebrate with family and friends at home in Miami.

Mendoza flashed a big smile after Commissioner Roger Goodell announced his name, put a Raiders cap on and began hugging his family while seated on the couch, saving the warmest embrace for his mother.

He’ll be heading to Las Vegas on Friday to begin an NFL career that may have seemed improbable when few colleges were interested in him coming out of high school.

“The last five months have been such a blessing by God, and I can’t thank Him enough," Mendoza said. "I’m just looking forward to get to work, prove it at the next level. College was fantastic. I’m so blessed to have that career, but now I step into a great game, the NFL. Look forward to proving and earning it every single day.”

Mendoza wasn’t even a prominent prospect at this time last year. But he had a sensational season with the Hoosiers, completing 72% of his passes for 3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

Still, there are plenty of doubts about him in a quarterback-thin draft class. He’s determined to prove any critics wrong again.

The Los Angeles Rams surprised draft experts by taking Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson with the 13th pick. Simpson, who started just 15 games in college, was among 16 prospects who came to Pittsburgh even though many draft boards had him going in the second round.

Simpson exuded confidence when he walked the red carpet.

“Absolutely, I am confident,” Simpson said. "That’s why I decided to come out. You know with the offensive infrastructure we had in Alabama with other coaches and the offensive system, the weight room, everything was set up to better you for the NFL. And that’s why I stayed at ’Bama.”

Mendoza's selection was expected for months. The intrigue began at No. 2 with the New York Jets, who selected Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey over Ohio State edge Arvell Reese.

“It’s surreal to me," Bailey said. "It’s an awesome opportunity. I just want to get in there and be a sponge and soak up everything.”

Arizona took Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love with the third pick. Love is the highest running back selected since Saquon Barkley went No. 2 to the New York Giants in 2018.

Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate was picked fourth by Tennessee in a surprise move that gives QB Cam Ward — last year’s No. 1 overall pick — a top target.

The Giants took Reese at No. 5, adding a potential elite rusher less than a week after trading three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence to Cincinnati.

The Chiefs traded up to No. 6 to take LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane. Kansas City sent Cleveland the ninth pick along with Nos. 74 and 148 to move up.

Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles went seventh to Washington, improving a defense that allowed the most yards in the league last season.

New Orleans selected Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson at No. 8, giving QB Tyler Shough a 1-2 punch with Chris Olave.

Utah’s Spencer Fano was the first offensive lineman chosen, going to Cleveland with the ninth pick.

The Giants followed up with another offensive tackle, taking Miami’s Francis Mauigoa at No. 10.

The Cowboys moved up one spot to select versatile Ohio State safety Caleb Downs at No. 11. Dallas sent Miami a pair of fifth-rounders and the 12th pick. The Dolphins took Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor.

Baltimore chose Penn State guard Olaivavega Ioane at No. 14 with a pick they had traded to the Raiders for Maxx Crosby but regained when they voided the trade.

Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. was selected by Tampa Bay with the 15th pick, giving the Buccaneers' dismal pass rush a possible game-changer who was considered a top-10 talent.

“I know I’m the best in the country,” Bain said. “I can do anything I put my mind to because of my mindset.”

The Jets selected the top tight end in the draft at No. 16, taking Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq.

Detroit took Clemson offensive tackle Blake Miller with the 17th pick. The Vikings chose Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks next at No. 18.

Georgia offensive tackle Monroe Freeling, once expected to be a top-10 pick, was chosen by Carolina at No. 19.

The Eagles moved up to 20th in another pick swap involving division rivals and took USC wideout Makai Lemon. Dallas got Philadelphia’s 23rd pick plus two fourth-rounders for No. 20 and a seventh.

Lemon thought he was heading to the Steelers.

“Pittsburgh called me and I thought they were going to draft me and then the Eagles called at the same time. I guess it was meant to be. I’m super excited to be in Philly," Lemon said.

Mendoza won’t be rushed into the starting lineup by the Raiders, who haven’t won a playoff game in 24 years. He’ll get a chance to learn from four-time Pro Bowl QB Kirk Cousins and Raiders part-owner Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion who Mendoza grew up idolizing.

Mendoza is the fourth straight quarterback selected No. 1 overall following Cam Ward, Caleb Williams and Bryce Young. It’s the 10th time in 12 years a QB was the first pick.

None of those 10 have won a Super Bowl, though Jared Goff and Joe Burrow each started one.

In 2024, six QBs were among the top 12 picks. Four have already won playoff games and Drake Maye was 2025 MVP runner-up and started the Super Bowl.

Goodell kicked off the night by walking on stage with Steelers stars T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward, earning the customary boos that greet him each year at the draft. The players waved yellow Terrible Towels while Goodell held his.

“C’mon, you can do better than that,” Goodell said about the boos. “We have over 300,000 people. Let’s go. Let’s hear you.”

Heyward then introduced franchise greats Lynn Swann, Hines Ward and Terry Bradshaw as a sea of Steelers fans roared.

The hometown fans seemed disappointed when the Steeelers selected Arizona State offensive tackle Max Iheanachor 21st. It’s the third time in four years Pittsburgh has drafted an offensive tackle in the first round and fans were hoping for a playmaker.

A pair of edge rushers went back-to-back to the Los Angeles Chargers and Cowboys. Miami’s Akheem Mesidor went at No. 22 to LA and Dallas took Central Florida’s Malachi Lawrence.

The Browns got Texas A&M wideout KC Concepcion with the 24th pick, giving Shedeur Sanders or Deshaun Watson a potential top target.

Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman went to Chicago at No. 25, bolstering a secondary that’s lost several starters.

Houston took Georgia Tech guard Keylan Rutledge with the 26th pick. San Diego state cornerback Chris Johnson went to Miami at No. 27.

Another trade between divisional rivals moved the Patriots up to Buffalo’s spot and New England selected Utah offensive tackle Caleb Lomu with the 28th pick.

Patriots coach Mike Vrabel spoke to reporters before the draft, saying he is taking accountability for actions that have created a distraction for the organization without addressing specifics about photos published recently of him with longtime NFL reporter Dianna Russini at an Arizona resort.

Vrabel will not be with the team for Day 3 of the draft on Saturday because he plans to begin counseling this weekend.

The Chiefs chose Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods 29th. The Jets made a deal to add a third first-rounder, acquiring San Francisco’s 30th pick. New York took Indiana wideout Omar Cooper Jr., drawing loud cheers from fans chanting “J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets!”

The Titans traded back into the first round, getting pick No. 31 that the Bills acquired from New England and chose Auburn edge Keldric Faulk.

The Super Bowl champion Seahawks finished the draft by taking Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price. He'll replace Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker, who signed with the Chiefs.

Teams had eight minutes between picks, down from the previous 10, and the draft finished in less than 3 1/2 hours.

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McDaniels had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Ayo Dosunmu added 25 points and nine assists off the bench, and Donte DiVincenzo had 15 points and four steals as the surging Timberwolves built a 27-point lead in the third quarter and finished with a 68-34 advantage in points in the paint.

Rudy Gobert followed his inspired Game 2 effort against Nikola Jokic by stifling the three-time MVP again on an ugly 7-for-26 shooting night, and the Timberwolves established a postseason franchise record by allowing the Nuggets just 11 points in the tone-setting first quarter.

“The shooting really put us behind the 8-ball to start the game,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “We only gave up 25 points in the first quarter. That’s actually a very good number. We just had a hard time making shots tonight. Our physicality offensively has got to get better."

Jokic finished with a too-little-too-late 27 points and 15 rebounds for the Nuggets, who were missing Aaron Gordon to a calf injury and all the energy he provides from his starting power forward spot.

“He’s the greatest offensive player I’ve guarded in my whole career,” Gobert, the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year who had 10 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, said of Jokic. “Just trying to enjoy the challenge.”

Jamal Murray had 16 points on just 5-for-17 shooting as the league's best 3-point shooting team during the regular season struggled again from deep. The Nuggets have hit 30% of their 3s in the series, going 33 for 109.

But the Timberwolves did even more damage with the ball.

“They’re kind of pushing the pace, playing faster,” Jokic said. “Don’t let us set our defense, and then just driving the ball and trying to be aggressive.”

McDaniels, who flatly answered a question about Minnesota's offensive strategy after Game 2 by labeling all of Denver's players “bad defenders,” proved to be more prescient than reckless with his assessment. Rather than irking the Nuggets, he had himself and his teammates fired up as the series shifted to their home court.

The Wolves turned loose their primary wing players — McDaniels, DiVincenzo and Dosunmu — to repeatedly attack the basket as they raced around the Nuggets at every turn in the first half on the way to a 61-39 lead.

“We're being decisive," Dosunmu said. "That's what it's all about.”

McDaniels delighted the crowd with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and a one-handed slam in traffic over Jokic and Spencer Jones down the stretch in one of his finest performances in the postseason for Minnesota. Several fans clutched signs honoring McDaniels and his blunt "bad defenders" quote, a cheeky tribute that made even the stone-faced sixth-year player smile afterward.

“I thought it was a very emotionally sound game for him," Gobert said. "That’s huge for him to just stay locked in, stay present, not getting frustrated.”

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Vrabel spoke for just over seven minutes prior to the start of Thursday's NFL draft. He vowed to prioritize his family by beginning counseling this weekend and stepping away from the team for the draft's final day Saturday.

“I understand that there are questions. I take accountability for my actions, and the actions that caused a distraction to the people that I care most about — my family, this football team, the organization and our fans,” Vrabel said. “My previous actions don't meet the standard that I hold myself to. They don't.”

Vrabel said at a news conference earlier this week that he’s had “difficult conversations with people I care about,” including his family, his coaching staff, team officials and players following the publication of the photos by the New York Post.

On Thursday, he called his family and the Patriots the most important things in his life and said he was dedicated to taking steps to giving them “the best version of me.” He said he is committed to that process for “however long it takes.”

“And that's what we're going to do,” Vrabel said.

Asked about the timing of stepping away from the team on Saturday, Vrabel said it was solely family-related.

“When you prioritize your family first, and your job, that’s what’s required. And that’s what was necessary,” he said.

Vrabel said he was unsure if this would be the last time he planned to step away from the team.

The photos of Vrabel and Russini were taken in Sedona, Arizona, before the annual NFL meetings that began in Phoenix on March 29, according to the Post. The NFL has said it is not investigating Vrabel’s behavior. Vrabel and Russini are both married. Russini resigned from The Athletic last week.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated in an interview with ESPN that the league is not looking into the situation.

“This is not a personal conduct policy as we know of today,” Goodell said Thursday. “It’s a personal matter and we’ll leave it at that.”

Goodell added, “I think the teams handle these matters when they are personal matters. They have a lot more information that can benefit people involved.”

The Patriots said in a statement earlier in the day that they support Vrabel stepping away from the team on Saturday.

“Mike has been open with us about his commitment to being the best version of himself for his family, this team and our fans, and we respect the steps he is taking to follow through on that commitment,” the statement said in part. "We are confident in the leadership and communication Mike has established with our personnel staff throughout this pre-draft process. While he will not be present at the facility on Saturday, we know the draft evaluations are complete and Eliot Wolf and his personnel staff are prepared to execute our draft as planned this weekend.”

Vrabel declared his intension to sit out the final day of the draft in a late-night statement Wednesday.

The Patriots entered the draft holding 11 picks. That included the Super Bowl runner-up’s one scheduled pick (No. 31) in Thursday’s first round. They traded that pick and one in the fourth round to Buffalo to move up and take Utah offensive tackle Caleb Lomu at No. 28. They have one pick each in rounds 2 and 3 on Friday.

But the bulk of their selections will be Saturday when Vrabel won’t be in the draft room. That’s when they are scheduled to select twice in the fourth round, once in the fifth, four times in the sixth and once in the seventh round.

Vrabel was still present in the Patriots team facility Thursday after addressing reporters. Prior to meeting with them, he spoke briefly with season ticket holders at a draft night party. He also was spotted briefly sitting in the middle seat in the team draft room as they celebrated selecting Lomu.

Executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and fellow personnel vice president Ryan Cowden will run the draft room with Vrabel away.

Wolf expressed confidence that remaining members of front office will be able to manage Day 3 with Vrabel away. Wolf will have final say on picks during Vrabel's absence. Vrabel will still be in communication with the team via Zoom at times on Saturday.

“Not too worried about that as far just as the process we have in place. The people that we have in place,” Wolf said. “It’s going to be different without his presence there. But we feel really good about the people that we have in place to make up for it.”

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

While passage through the waterway usually comes at a flat rate via reservations, companies without reservations can cross by paying an additional fee in an auction for slots, which are awarded to the highest bidder rather than waiting for days off the coast of Panama City.

That price has ballooned in recent weeks as Iran and the United States have bottlenecked the key shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz, and demand for those slots has skyrocketed. Ships have increasingly traveled through the Panama Canal as shipments are rerouted and buyers purchase from other countries to avoid commerce through now-treacherous Middle Eastern waterway.

"With all the bombings, the missiles, the drones ... companies are saying it's safer and less expensive to cross through the Panama Canal," said Rodrigo Noriega, said lawyer and analyst in Panama City. “All of this is affecting global supply chains.”

Meanwhile, Noriega said Panama's government is “maximizing what it can earn from the Panama Canal.”

The average price to cross through the canal ranges between $300,000 and $400,000 depending on the vessel. Previously, to get an earlier crossing, businesses would pay an additional $250,000 to $300,000. In recent weeks, the average additional cost has jumped to around $425,000.

Ricaurte Vásquez, the canal’s administrator, said another company that he would not name paid an extra $4 million when its fuel vessel had to change its destination because of ongoing geopolitical tensions.

"It was a ship carrying fuel to Europe, and they redirected it to Singapore, and it needed to get there because Singapore is running out of fuel,” he said.

Other oil companies paid an excess of $3 million in addition to the crossing fee to accelerate their passage in the face of soaring oil prices.

Vásquez said that ships have not piled up at the canal, but rather the costs can be attributed to last-minute shifts and greater urgency by vessels needing to get from one point to another faster in the wake of larger trade chaos.

Vásquez emphasized that the costs were not a blanket market rate, but rather a temporary toll shouldered by companies.

"They decide how high a price to go,” Vásquez said.

At the same time it's earning more money from the new business, Panama's government has also been dealt a blow by the geopolitical struggle.

On Wednesday, the country's foreign ministry accused Iran of illegally seizing a Panama-flagged vessel from the Italian company, MSC Francesca, in the Strait of Hormuz.

Panama, a country with one of the world's largest ship registries, said the ship was “forcibly taken" by Iran. It wasn’t immediately clear if the boat remained in Iranian custody.

“This represents a serious attack on maritime security and constitute an unnecessary escalation at a time when the international community is advocating for the Strait of Hormuz to remain open to international navigation without threats or coercion of any kind,” it said.

Noriega, the analyst, said that the amount companies are paying to cross the Panama Canal may only go up if the conflict continues to stretch on, as oil prices are already skyrocketing. The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil briefly jumped above $107 this week, soaring from around $66 a barrel a year ago.

“No one really foresaw the potential effects (the war) would have on global trade,” Noriega said.

Gray worked a perfect inning in his debut for the Texas Rangers on Thursday night, getting a groundout on his first pitch in the majors and ending the 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates with a strikeout of Konnor Griffin, the highly touted shortstop playing the day before his 20th birthday.

“That makes me feel pretty old,” Grey said with a smile. “Getting my first career strikeout on him is pretty cool.”

The Rangers promoted Gray from Triple-A Round Rock earlier Thursday when placing left-handed reliever Robert Garcia on the 15-day injured list because of left shoulder inflammation after he hadn't pitched in a week. Gray was the fourth reliever they used after two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom recorded his 62nd career 10-strikeout game, getting those in 5 2/3 innings.

“It was awesome, and I was getting chills,” Rangers manager Skip Shumaker said. “The journey that he had to get to this spot, you could probably write a book about it.”

Gray found out about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night, after Round Rock was rained out for the second day in a row in Sugar Land, Texas, that he was going to join the Rangers. He then called his parents in Columbus, Indiana, and they made the more than 900-mile drive to be at their son's big-league debut.

Each time the phone rang in the Rangers bullpen Thursday night, Gray got antsy thinking it could be his moment.

“When it was finally my turn, it was awesome. I wasn’t nervous I was more excited, prepared,” said Gray, who was asked later why he didn't feel nervous. “I think I visualized this moment so many times throughout my life. ... I feel like I’ve been a big leaguer already. I just haven’t been able to be on this stage yet.”

After needing only one pitch to get his first out, Gray got a flyout before facing Griffin, the teenager who two weeks ago agreed to nine-year, $140 million contract with the Pirates. The swing-and-miss for strike three was on an 83.4 mph changeup that catcher Danny Jansen blocked and then threw to first base to end the game.

“This game is amazing. I love this game so much because of stories like that,” Schumaker said. “You’re seeing a kid that just came out of high school not too long ago, and then another guy that has spent (time) trying to get his moment. ... For him to get a strikeout against a future All-Star over there. That’s what the beautiful part of this game is, you don’t see that in every sport. That just doesn’t happen. So yeah, pretty cool moment.”

After being in the Rangers’ minor league system last season, Gray impressed them in spring training this year as a non-roster invite. He had 2.53 ERA in nine appearances with 18 strikeouts and one walk over 10 2/3 innings.

The pitcher who will turn 31 on June 2 began this season at Triple-A Round Rock, where he threw 12 2/3 scoreless innings over seven games, going 1-0 with two saves, 15 strikeouts and two walks.

“Being the 30-year-old non-roster invite that doesn’t have any big league time, I don’t think they expected me to put up as many zeroes and throw as many strikes as I did,” Gray said in the Rangers clubhouse before his MLB debut. ”So I think I surprised them. I might have surprised myself a little bit too.”

After pitching at Florida Gulf Coast University, Gray’s professional debut was a short season with the Colorado Rockies’ affiliate in the Northwest League in 2018, and he stayed in their organization in 2019.

He spent 2021 in the Kansas City Royals’ organization, that between three different seasons for the Milwaukee Milkmen in the independent American Association. He pitched in the Dominican last winter, after the previous three winters in the Mexican Pacific League.

“That’s awesome. 30 years old, that it’s a long time and been through a lot,” deGrom said of Gray. “So for him to get up here and get to the major leagues is just a testament to how hard he has worked throughout the minor leagues and stuff. So very happy for him.”

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Pickens has yet to sign the one-year, fully guaranteed contract but intends to put the issue to rest as the Cowboys go into the NFL draft, the people told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the signing isn't official.

The move by Pickens comes a day after executive vice president of personnel Stephen Jones said the Cowboys planned for Pickens to play on the tag this season. The sides would have had until July 15 to try to reach agreement on a long-term deal.

By signing the agreement, Pickens can be fined for not showing up at mandatory minicamp in June or for training camp in July. But getting under contract allows the 25-year-old to participate in the offseason program, which starts Monday.

The timing of Pickens’ decision — just two hours before the start of the draft — raised speculation about a trade. Jones shut it down.

“We’ve got every reason in the world to believe that hopefully he's ready to go to work," Jones said after the first round of the draft. “But we have zero intention of moving George Pickens.”

Pickens, acquired last offseason in a trade with Pittsburgh, had career highs in catches (93), yards receiving (1,429) and touchdowns (nine) for one of the best offenses in the NFL last season. Dallas had one of the worst defenses in the league and finished 7-9-1, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.

The 2022 second-round pick out of Georgia thrived alongside CeeDee Lamb, who is going into the second year of a $136 million, four-year contract that currently ranks him third among NFL receivers with an average annual value of $34 million.

There is incentive for Pickens to take the guaranteed money under the tag because it's a huge payday compared to the total earnings of $6.8 million on his four-year rookie deal.

Quarterback Dak Prescott and defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence played a season under the franchise tag within the past eight years for Dallas before reaching long-term deals. Tight end Dalton Schultz and running back Tony Pollard also played under the tag before leaving in free agency the next year.

Jones said the “newness” of Pickens' tenure with the Cowboys was a factor in the decision to stick with a one-year deal for now and not a longer contract.

Pickens’ talent was on display during three seasons with the Steelers, but so were enough instances of petulant or indifferent behavior for then-coach Mike Tomlin to question his maturity.

Brian Schottenheimer never took issue with Pickens publicly in his first season as a head coach after a quarter-century as an NFL assistant. But Pickens and Lamb were benched for the first series in Las Vegas after missing curfew following a casino visit the night before the game.

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But that might only be Trump's first step. A new administrative hearing slated for the end of June could result in the reclassification of marijuana more broadly, granting tax and other benefits to state-licensed recreational markets, too.

“This is a signal that this administration means business on getting this done,” said Boston-based cannabis industry attorney Jesse Alderman, of the firm Foley Hoag.

The order issued Thursday does not legalize marijuana for medical or recreational use under federal law, and it is likely to face legal challenges.

But it does change the way marijuana is regulated, shifting licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I — reserved for drugs without medical use and with high potential for abuse — to the less strictly regulated Schedule III.

A long-sought shift

It was a significant policy shift for a U.S. government that has been steadfast in its prohibition of pot, even as all states but two — Idaho and Kansas — have approved cannabis in some form since California became the first to OK the medical use of marijuana in 1996.

Two dozen states plus Washington, D.C., have authorized adult recreational use of marijuana, raising billions in tax revenue. Forty have medical marijuana systems, and eight others allow low-THC cannabis or CBD oil for medical use.

The order noted that regulation of medical marijuana has come a long way, with comprehensive licensing polices from cultivation to sales in most states.

Douglas Hiatt, a longtime Seattle marijuana defense attorney, recalled the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and '90s, when police regularly raided grow operations designed to support patients.

He joined one client, a disabled medical marijuana activist named JoAnna McKee, as she met in the woods with members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club to procure cannabis for other patients after a police raid — just one example of the desperate lengths that were sometimes required to procure pot back then, he said.

“We were watching all these guys die from this horrible disease, and the only thing that helped them keep their pills down was marijuana, and the cops were going after anyone who helped them get it,” Hiatt said in a phone interview Thursday. “It was crystal clear from the beginning that it had medical uses. For the feds to admit that now is great. It's surreal."

Critics express doubts

Some health experts have suggested that legalization in the states has led to stronger and stronger cannabis products, which need to be researched rather than categorized less strictly than before.

Taking marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug implies that it’s useful as a treatment, but there are no “massive medical indications for cannabis,” said Dr. Smita Das, an addiction psychiatrist at Stanford University. Further, cannabis use disorder — which affects about 3 in 10 people who use pot, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — has been on the rise, she said.

“We’ve already had kind of a decrease in risk perception related to cannabis over the years with the state legalization," Das said. "This will probably just add to that.”

The reclassification is a far cry from what many critics of the drug war still long to see: full legalization, with measures to address the harms caused by prohibition, especially in minority communities that were disproportionately affected. Many states have already taken steps such as expunging criminal records.

There is confusion for some dispensaries

Now, state-licensed medical operators can finally deduct business expenses on their federal taxes, a crucial financial benefit.

But in a number of recreational pot states, licensed dispensaries serve both markets — making it an accounting nightmare to ascertain how much of their business expenses might stem from the medical side, and thus be deductible.

“If this artificial distinction between medical and recreational is maintained, it raises all sorts of questions,” noted sociology professor Josh Meisel, who co-founded the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.

Trump told his administration in December to work as quickly as possible to reclassify marijuana, following up on stalled efforts launched during the Biden administration. On Saturday, as the Republican president signed an unrelated executive order about psychedelics, he seemed to express frustration that it was taking so long.

‘Giving a tax break to Big Weed’

The president of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, Michael Bronstein, called the order “the most significant federal advancement in cannabis policy in over 50 years."

But marijuana legalization opponent Kevin Sabet, CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said that while marijuana research is necessary, “there are many ways to increase our knowledge without giving a tax break to Big Weed.”

Trump has made his crusade against other drugs, especially fentanyl, a feature of his second term, ordering U.S. military attacks on Venezuelan and other boats the administration insists are ferrying drugs.

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Johnson reported from Seattle.

Associated Press reporter Laura Ungar contributed.

The mission would mark the end of an era for the American space program, but Schmitt already was looking to the future. His voice crackling over a high-frequency radio signal that day, he shared his thoughts with Cernan and those listening in at Mission Control.

“Well, I tell you Gene, I think the next generation ought to accept this as a challenge. Let's see them leave footsteps like these someday,” Schmitt said.

Schmitt, 90, is one of the four Apollo moonwalkers still alive today. A field geologist, he was the first scientist to set foot on the moon and his expertise helped answer questions about the origin of that big rock up there and what it tells us about the solar system.

Schmitt felt the thrill again when the Artemis II crew rocketed into space on a historic lunar flyby. Pure excitement and the potential for so much more. And he's hopeful as new generations get back to the moon and beyond.

Interviewed by The Associated Press, the former U.S. senator from New Mexico spoke about everything from the importance of having a lunar base to tapping new energy sources and whether we’re alone in the universe. Dark matter and quantum entanglement also were mentioned, with Schmitt saying many discoveries are yet to come.

“You’ve just got to remember," he said, “what used to be called supernatural probably should be called unknown physics.”

This interview has been edited for brevity.

Q: What about having a lunar base?

Well, I think a lunar base makes a lot of sense and it always has for a lot of reasons. One is geopolitical. Probably the most important one is a geopolitical presence in deep space — and in preparation for going on to Mars.

The moon has resources that are going to reduce the cost of actually going to Mars and it gains experience. One of the things people keep forgetting about is you’ve gone through several generations and the new generation has to gain experience — psychologically as well as practically about how you work in deep space. And they’re doing that. That was probably the most important part of Artemis II, is it gave the ground people, Mission Control and others, the experience now to really have the risk as real rather than as part of a simulation.

Q: What was your mission during Apollo 17?

I had a lot of understanding of what other crews had learned, what had been learned from some of the early sample analyses and so we were trying to put sort of the frosting on the cake of answering questions in a very complex geologic area called Taurus-Littrow.

Taurus-Littrow actually is deeper than the Grand Canyon and so it has a three-dimensional aspect to it that we hadn’t had on other missions. And plus having a field geologist like myself on board meant that we should be more efficient at gathering samples that had a meaningful aspect to our further understanding of the origin of the moon, its relationship to the Earth and, it turns out, also its relationship to the history of the sun.

Q: So we're building upon our knowledge of the universe around us?

Well there’s no question that the moon has a history to tell us.

It’s been recording the history of the solar system ever since the solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago. That is really what the moon gives us — that library of knowledge, of potential knowledge about how the solar system evolved and then what the sun has been doing in that 4.5 billion years.

In the recent work that I’ve been doing in that layer of debris, the regolith, we find that the sun became even more active than it had been about the same time as we had an explosion of life in the oceans on Earth, and so the oceans may have been and almost certainly were warming to that more active sun and life likes warmth. So it multiplied not only in quantity but in diversity. The mammals started to appear soon after that, life started to move up onto the continents that had formed so things were really starting to move about a half-billion years ago.

Q: Tell us about the moon rocks

This is a sample of a basalt lava and we have a lot of basalt lavas here in New Mexico. This is different in that it is rich in titanium, more rich than most terrestrial basalts. And that titanium turns out to be very important in terms of the resources that are available on the moon. It has a property of concentrating some of those resources, particularly hydrogen and helium.

There’s an isotope called helium-3 and that is going to be, I think, ultimately very, very important in the production of energy. It’s going to be extremely useful in quantum computing, in cancer therapy and other things here on Earth. We just don’t have much on Earth, so the moon is going to be a our reservoir, our source of this very important isotope of helium-3.

Q: How important will this isotope be in the future?

Helium-3 offers a possibility of having nuclear energy without nuclear waste. We’ve known that for decades, and so the moon now offers that opportunity to begin to substitute a nuclear form of energy that doesn’t produce nuclear waste for what we have today.

Q: Is it just as much an energy race as a space race?

There’s no question about it. China is interested in it, we’re interested in it. And that’s probably one of the big technological drivers of this new race to the moon, a new space race, a Cold War that’s on now primarily involving China and I think helium-3 is a big actor in that right now.

Q: What was it like in the Taurus-Littrow Valley?

First of all, we were in a valley deeper than the Grand Canyon. The mountains on either side were as high as the Grand Canyon from the bottom. Secondly, you’re in one-sixth gravity so that means you can walk much more easily than you could here on Earth. Now we were covered by a pressure suit but still walking around was like being a kid again, just one-sixth of your height and if you fell you didn’t fall very hard and you certainly didn’t cry about it. But the moon is really a very easy place to work so as long as you have the right equipment surrounding you. You have to have that atmosphere of course to breathe.

Q: Any downsides to working in a weightless environment?

For me, it was a very comfortable environment to be in and you get a little bit lazy. For example, if you’re taking notes with a pad of paper and a pen or pencil and somebody says would you take the SCS switch to off, well you just let go and it floats there and you go over to the switch and come back and start to dictate those notes again.

You’ve got to be careful though because you’re brain gets lazy. When I got on the carrier after splashdown, I was taking my first drink of water and I just let go of the cup and of course it broke on the floor. Human beings tend to take advantage of their environment very quickly and the brain does get a little bit lazy like that. It took about three days to get comfortable again back here on Earth.

Q: So we'll have no problem living on the moon?

No, I think living on the moon is going to be very good. Now long term civilization on the moon, there’s still some major issues. The radiation issue has to be dealt with and we can. There are ways to do that. Going to Mars is another issue and that’s why you’ll almost certainly need fusion rockets to cut that time frame.

Q: We've heard a lot lately about UFOs. What are your thoughts on that?

Well there are billions of sunlike stars out there and so you just have to imagine that life may have originated on some other planet, although the conditions for life to originate here on Earth are really unique. Everything sort of fit together and creation for us sort of leads to you thinking of an infinitely intelligent being that made it all happen. But the technical potential statistically is very high that you could have had the similar kind of conditions develop elsewhere in the universe.

Now are they visiting us? My feeling is if they’re really so advanced they could be here, they'd communicate better than they have and so I just don’t know. But it’s plausible. Let’s put it that way. Unlikely maybe, but plausible.

Q: Would you take the opportunity to go back to the moon or to Mars?

Oh surely. Teresa, my wife, would like very much to go with me — that would be one condition. But I think a trip to Mars is going to be fantastic for those people.

So youth is extremely important and the education of those youth particularly in mathematics is extraordinarily important, and NASA now has a younger agency than they had grown to be during the shuttle era.

Look what has happened since Apollo. The commercial sector has developed new technologies, new ways of doing things and NASA is now trying to integrate those into a new approach to deep space exploration.

A plea agreement calls for Carie Hallford to receive from 25 to 35 years in prison during her appearance before District Judge Eric Bentley in Colorado Springs.

Her ex-husband, Jon Hallford, received a 40-year sentence on corpse abuse charges at a February hearing in which he was called a “monster” by family members of those whose bodies were left to rot.

Carie Hallford was the public face of Return to Nature, dealing with bereaved customers at the couple's funeral home in Colorado Springs. Jon, still her husband at the time, performed much of the physical work at another location south of Colorado Springs in Penrose, where neighbors in 2023 noticed a foul odor and complained.

Authorities found bodies piled throughout the bug-infested Penrose building in various states of decomposition.

The case became the most egregious in a string of criminal cases involving Colorado funeral homes as details emerged about the Hallfords’ lavish spending and their pattern of defrauding customers.

Just months before the bodies were found in Penrose, a mother and daughter who operated a funeral home in the western Colorado city of Montrose were sentenced to federal prison after being accused of selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes.

In 2024, authorities in Denver arrested a financially troubled former funeral home owner who kept a deceased woman’s body in a hearse for two years at a house where police also found the cremated remains of at least 30 people.

And last year, state inspectors found 24 decomposing bodies and multiple containers of bones behind a hidden door of a Pueblo funeral home owned by the Pueblo County coroner and his brother. It was the first ever inspection of that mortuary under new rules that allow all funeral homes to be routinely inspected.

Carie Hallford asked for leniency in March when she was sentenced in a related federal fraud case, saying she was a victim of abuse and manipulation in her marriage.

But she enters Friday’s hearing with limited sympathy from victims such as Crystina Page, whose son, David, died in 2019. His body languished for years inside the room-temperature building in Penrose with other corpses before their discovery.

Jon Hallford “was the monster under the bed, but Carie was the one who fed the monster,” Page said. Page and others received fake ashes instead of the cremated remains they were promised.

The Hallfords, who divorced following their arrest, received prison sentences in the related federal fraud case — 18 years for Carie and 20 years for Jon. They have each appealed.

State officials and industry representatives said this week that industry reforms adopted by Colorado lawmakers are making a difference.

In response to the Hallford case, the state mandated inspections and adopted an industry licensing system. The changes put Colorado “in the middle of the pack” compared to regulation in other states, acknowledged Sam Delp with the state Department of Regulatory Agencies, which oversees the funeral industry.

“We were the only state in the country that didn’t regulate them,” said Delp, who directs the agency's Division of Professions and Occupations.

Matt Whaley, president of the Colorado Funeral Home Directors Association, suggested that customers have become more cautious after years of news coverage about Return to Nature and other businesses where crimes occurred.

More often now, family members ask to be present for a loved one’s cremation rather than just receive the ashes after the fact, Whaley said.

“The confidence level of a funeral professional in the state of Colorado is questioned, and we’ve got to work hard, one family at a time, to build that trust back,” he said.

Blanca Eberhardt, a licensed funeral director who previously practiced mortuary science in Indiana, Texas and Hawaii, recalled moving to Colorado and being appalled at the mistreatment of some corpses inside a funeral home where she worked in Pueblo. For Eberhardt, the experience confirmed Colorado's reputation for lacking basic rules such as licensing for funeral home directors and routine inspections.

“The joke has been for the last 40 years if you lose your license in another state, just move to Colorado," she said.

__

Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Associated Press journalist Thomas Peipert contributed to this story.

Researchers blame a number of factors including climate change causing fuel to dry out and be more flammable, a record drought, tens of millions of tons of dead trees from Hurricane Helene and just the large area where dense forests and high numbers of people try to coexist.

So far this year, 2,802 square miles (7,258 square kilometers) of the United States has burned in wildfires — much of it in Nebraska, an unusual area for massive wildfires — that's 88% more than the 10-year average for this time of year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. That's happening as significant chunks of the country set records for the warmest winter and March and April drought.

“The warmer we get, the more fire we see. Longer fire seasons, more lightning possibly, and drier fuels,” said fire scientist Mike Flannigan of Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada. “I think we're going to see more fire in the East. We're seeing more intense fires.”

Fires are increasing in the East

The number of large fires, likelihood of them happening and amount of land burned has increased in most of the Southeast United States from 1984 to 2020, according to a 2023 study by University of Florida fire ecologists Victoria Donovan and Carissa Wonkka.

“The fires in the East historically and today are a lot smaller than in the Western United States, so they might not always grab as much attention as those out West. But we’re starting to see now this shift in dynamics in the East, we’re starting to quantify it,” Donovan said Thursday. “Even though the changes that we're seeing in the East are much smaller than we're quantifying out West, we think it's extremely important to start to get ahead of this problem now.”

Three months ago, Donovan, Wonkka and other fire scientists created a new network for fire researchers to study Eastern fires because some of the issues that experts have learned out West may not apply in the East, Wonkka said.

Even though the West has bigger and more noticeable fast-spreading fires, the East has more people in the way of flames in something scientists call the wildland-urban interface or WUI.

“We found that 45% of all large wildfires in the East burn some portion of the wildland-urban interface and 55% of the area burned so that a lot of these large wildfires are associated with WUI fires,” Donovan said.

Add to that the forests in the East are denser and less likely to be thinned out than those in the West, Donovan said.

Hurricane Helene created a ‘ticking time bomb’

A week ago, federal and state official looked at the drought, the weather and the millions of dead trees from Hurricane Helene in 2024 and issued an advisory to watch out for fires, said Nick Nauslar, a National Weather Service fire science and operations officer at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

“They are thinking, you know, they could see more fires, more resistance to control with the fires that they get,” Nauslar said. “It has been warmer and drier than normal across many of the areas where Helene caused damage. So there’s the potential there. You have an excess of fuel available because now (the trees are) dead and at the mercy of weather and climate. And then if you get dry and windy conditions, if you get an ignition, it’s more likely to ignite and spread.”

In Georgia alone, 13,954 square miles (36,142 square kilometers) of forest land was hit by Hurricane Helene, downing more than 26 million tons of pine and 30 million tons of hardwood, according a November 2024 University of Georgia and Georgia Forestry Commission timber damage assessment.

“Many of us have worried about fuel buildup post-Helene. It’s a ticking time bomb,” University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd said.

Dry air makes it worse

But it's not just downed trees — it's also dry air increasing the likelihood of fires. It's not just a lack of rain, but the air itself is less humid, which causes problem, Nauslar and Flannigan said.

“As we warm … the atmosphere’s ability to suck moisture out of dead fuel, not live fuel, but dead fuel, increases almost exponentially as temperature increases,” Flannigan said. “The drier the fuel, the easier it is for a fire to start, means more fuel dried and is available to burn, which leads to higher intensity fires that are difficult to impossible to extinguish.

“That's what we're seeing now starting to make inroads into the East,” Flannigan said. Human-caused climate change is clearly playing a role, he said.

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

Shapiro, who is just beginning to hit the campaign trail, wants voters to give Democrats control of the state legislature for the first time in decades. And he's pushing his favored candidates in competitive congressional primaries, an attempt to mold his party's slate in the midterm elections that will determine control of Washington.

All of this means that, much like other potential Democratic presidential candidates, Shapiro is testing his political capital in ways that could shape his future and the party’s.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker successfully boosted his favored candidate in his state's U.S. Senate primary. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore failed to convince lawmakers to redraw the state's congressional map, while California Gov. Gavin Newsom achieved redistricting through a voter referendum last year.

Shapiro brushed off questions — and Republican criticism — about burnishing his credentials for a White House run.

“The only thing I am focused on is beating my opponent for governor and helping other Democrats get elected here and sending a clear message to Donald Trump that the chaos, cruelty and corruption that he’s been engaged in is not something that we support here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro told The Associated Press after speaking to Democrats at a packed coffee shop in small-town Lock Haven.

Shapiro has never said whether he's interested in running for president. But he does say he wants a voice in his party's future. Democrats need to figure out how to “get stuff done” to make people’s lives better, he said, and he wants to be “part of that conversation.”

Stacy Garrity, the Republican state treasurer who is running for governor, said Shapiro can't hide his ambition — and it's bad for the state.

"We all know that he’s more interested in Pennsylvania Avenue than helping Pennsylvania families,” she said in an interview. “He thinks if he can hand Pennsylvania on a platter to the Democratic Party, then maybe they take a harder look at him.”

An opportunity to demonstrate strength

They just might.

Pennsylvania is a hard state to succeed in politically, and Democrats around the country are taking note of Shapiro because of that, said Paul Begala, a Democratic campaign strategist, commentator and senior aide to Bill Clinton when he was president.

The election gives Shapiro an opportunity to demonstrate strength.

“Right now, Democrats, the thing they want the most is a winner, and a very close second is a fighter,” Begala said. “This election is an opportunity for him to show that.”

Ahead of this year's campaign, Shapiro put his stamp on the Pennsylvania Democratic Party by getting committee people to elect his hand-picked chair and plunging more than $900,000 so far this election cycle into the organization's accounts.

He’s on track to break his own state fundraising record and tells voters that Pennsylvania is the “center of the political universe” in the fight for control of the U.S. House.

Democrats want to flip four House seats in Pennsylvania. Shapiro's endorsed candidates include Paige Cognetti, mayor of Scranton; Bob Brooks, president of the state firefighters' union; and Janelle Stelson, a former television news personality who narrowly lost two years ago.

Shapiro already cut an ad for Brooks, who is running in a hotly contested four-way primary for the chance to challenge freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.

Contested primaries and GOP surrogates

Shapiro's endorsements haven't scared off Democratic rivals.

Ryan Crosswell, a former federal prosecutor running against Brooks, issued a campaign memo that — in a veiled reference to the governor — said Crosswell has “no party machine behind him, no power broker network, no favors to call in.”

For his part, Shapiro said: “I’m just focused on trying to elevate good people. Hopefully they’ll all win.”

Republicans, meanwhile, have their own surrogates.

Garrity said the White House asked her for a list of people she wants to visit in Pennsylvania.

Trump, Vice President JD Vance and a number of Cabinet secretaries have already visited the state's contested congressional districts. Earlier this month, House Speaker Mike Johnson made a fundraising swing through Pennsylvania.

“We know the majority runs through Pennsylvania and the speaker is focused on doing everything he can to help those members defend their seats,” said Greg Steele, a spokesperson for Johnson’s political operation.

It’s quite likely Johnson will be back: Pennsylvania was his last campaign stop before the 2024 election.

Trump and Vance could return, too, and in the meantime, the president is keeping an eye on Pennsylvania. On Tuesday night, he took to social media to take credit for a decision by owners of two coal-fired power plants not to close in what he called a “BIG WIN for the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which I love.”

Shapiro starts hitting the campaign trail

As he begins to campaign, Shapiro is proving himself to be a draw even in Pennsylvania’s out-of-the-way areas. Earlier this month, he helped pack a ballroom for Centre County Democrats and the coffee shop for Clinton County Democrats.

“I saw brand-new people, I saw people who have not been engaged in the party in years,” Bre Brannan, Clinton County's Democratic Party chair, said. The crowd included Republicans and independents, too, she said.

With a Democratic "trifecta," Shapiro tells audiences he could get more done, citing legislation Republicans have stalled. That includes raising Pennsylvania's rock-bottom minimum wage and expanding legal protections for LGBT residents. He also has a housing affordability plan he's pushing this year.

Consolidating control of the state Legislature would be no small feat. Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the state House and haven’t held the state Senate majority in over three decades.

Few Democrats in the party's 2028 presidential sights have an opportunity to demonstrate political strength and party-building aptitude in swing states.

The opportunity could help Shapiro prove his mettle when the presidential campaign season cranks up and would-be candidates go in search of institutional support, endorsements and donor commitments.

Pouring money into down-ballot races and flipping seats may not help Shapiro with the average voter. But activists, donors and other elected officials care a great deal about that, strategists say.

Success would strengthen Shapiro’s hand at a time when candidates are trying to win the “perception campaign” that they are the strongest candidate, Democratic campaign strategist Mike Mikus said.

“It doesn’t guarantee anything,” Mikus said. "But it is definitely something to bring to the table when you’re lining up donors, endorsements and finance chairs, things like that. It’s compelling to them.”

___

Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter

Temperatures climbed well into the 70s on Thursday, with a few locations touching 80 degrees.

Aside from isolated showers in parts of Livingston County during the afternoon and early evening, most areas remained dry, including the Tigers game in downtown Detroit.

Thursday night will stay mild with increasing clouds.

A few sprinkles are possible early in the evening, then skies turn partly cloudy overnight with lows in the lower to mid 50s.

Friday

Changes arrive Friday as a weather system moves into the Great Lakes. Isolated showers are possible during the morning, followed by a better chance of showers and thunderstorms developing during the afternoon and evening.

There may be a lull around midday, followed by more widespread activity later in the day.

A marginal (level 1 out of 5) risk for severe weather is in place for far southern Southeast Michigan, mainly along the Michigan-Ohio border, including Lenawee and Monroe counties.

While widespread severe weather is not expected, a few storms could produce wind gusts near 60 miles per hour, hail up to around one inch, and brief heavy rainfall.

Localized ponding on roads may also occur during downpours.

Showers and thunderstorms become more likely Friday night as a cold front moves through. Rainfall totals between a quarter and a half inch are possible, with locally higher amounts under stronger storms.

Saturday

Cooler air settles in behind the front for the weekend.

Saturday will be mostly cloudy, with a chance of showers early in the day and a noticeable drop in temperatures.

Highs will struggle to reach 60 degrees in some communities.

Expect the lower 60s in Detroit, with a north wind gusting to around 20 mph.

Saturday night will turn partly cloudy and cooler, with lows in the lower to mid 40s.

Sunday

Sunday brings a return to quieter weather with a mix of sunshine and clouds. High temperatures will reach the lower 60s, closer to normal for late April.

Looking ahead

The pattern remains somewhat unsettled early next week. Monday looks dry during the day with highs in the upper 60s, but showers are expected to develop Monday night.

Those showers may linger into Tuesday, especially in the morning, before gradually tapering off.

This time of year also marks the average last freeze window for Detroit.

While no widespread freeze is currently forecast, overnight temperatures could still drop into the 30s in parts of Southeast Michigan next week.

That means sensitive plants could still be at some risk for frost.

Share your weather photos with Local 4 at MIPics.

Miller, a durable and experienced lineman, leaves Clemson as one of the most decorated offensive tackles in program history.

Newly-selected @Lions T @BlakeMillerOT is the team's first-ever 1st round pick from @ClemsonFB.

The only other tackles from @ClemsonTigers that Detroit has ever drafted were Dave Thompson (30th overall in 1971) and Dick Marazza (254th overall in 1956).#OnePride pic.twitter.com/BNwESD4BzD

— Detroit Lions PR (@LionsPR) April 24, 2026

He earned Freshman All-American honors in 2022 after starting all 14 games at right tackle, immediately establishing himself as a cornerstone on the offensive line.

Miller followed with a third-team All-ACC selection in 2023, again starting every game.

His development continued in 2024, when he was named first-team All-ACC after starting 14 games, including one at left tackle.

Miller capped his collegiate career in 2025 with another first-team All-ACC honor, starting all 13 games at right tackle while setting a school record with 54 consecutive starts by a non-specialist.

He also set Clemson’s record for career snaps, a statistic the program has tracked since 1986.

At 6-foot-6 with long arms and quick feet, Miller brings a blend of size and mobility that has intrigued scouts. Considered an “iron man” along the offensive front, he shows unusual lateral quickness and fluidity in space, allowing him to execute combo blocks and reach linebackers effectively.

His snap quickness and ability to mirror pass rushers have made him a reliable presence in pass protection.

Miller demonstrates strong awareness against defensive line twists and stunts, consistently passing off assignments with proper timing. He also has the athleticism to recover when initially beaten, often scrambling to re-engage defenders and finish plays with physicality.

However, concerns remain about his technique as he transitions to the professional level.

Miller tends to play too upright, which can impact his leverage and power.

His hand placement and accuracy are inconsistent, leaving him vulnerable to edge rushers who can exploit those lapses.

Improving his pad level, core strength, and overall technique will be critical to his success in the NFL.

Despite those areas for improvement, the Lions are betting on Miller’s durability, athletic traits, and experience as a high-floor addition to their offensive line.

With refinement, he projects as a potential long-term starter at right tackle.

Miller also comes from a football family.

His brother, Storm, is set to join Texas A&M as a linebacker recruit in 2026.

The selection comes after a turbulent 2025 season in which Detroit finished 9-8 and missed the playoffs, a steep drop from 2024, when the Lions went 15-2, earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and were eliminated by the Washington Commanders 45-31 in the Divisional Round.

With the 17th pick of the 2026 @NFLDraft, the @Lions have selected @ClemsonFB T @BlakeMillerOT.

Miller owns the @ClemsonTigers program record for snaps from scrimmage (3,778) and consecutive starts (54).#OnePride pic.twitter.com/LTlmiatmjN

— Detroit Lions PR (@LionsPR) April 24, 2026

Lions’ recent playoff history

The heartbreak stretches back further.

In the 2023-24 postseason, Detroit reached the NFC Championship Game but squandered a 24-7 halftime lead, ultimately falling to the San Francisco 49ers 34-31.

General Manager Brad Holmes addressed the team’s offseason evaluation process with candor, acknowledging inconsistency as a defining issue of the 2025 campaign.

“You always have to evolve,” Holmes said. “And when you don’t get the desired results, you’ve got to just look at everything.”

Holmes emphasized that the organization will examine all offseason decisions and processes, but that the foundational identity and type of players sought will remain the same.

→ What Detroit Lions General Manager Brad Holmes said during NFL Scouting Combine

Holmes and Dan Campbell are looking to replenish the roster and return to their winning ways with the No. 17 pick, which was the highest draft slot they’ve had since drafting running back Jahmyr Gibbs with the No. 12 overall selection in 2023.

Lions’ 2026 draft capital

Detroit enters the draft with nine total picks: one in the first round, one in the second, two in the fourth, two in the fifth, two in the sixth, and one in the seventh.

Notably absent is a third-round selection.

The Lions traded two third-rounders, including a compensatory pick tied to former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn’s departure to become head coach of the New York Jets, to the Jacksonville Jaguars in order to move up and select wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa in the third round of the 2025 draft.

Detroit also received an extra 2026 sixth-round pick in that deal.

The Lions’ extra fourth-round pick came via a trade that sent running back David Montgomery to the Houston Texans during the offseason.

Detroit also received a compensatory fifth-round pick after offensive lineman Kevin Zeitler departed in free agency ahead of the 2025 season.

An additional sixth-round pick came in the deal that sent wide receiver Tim Patrick to Jacksonville.

Detroit’s seventh-round pick came from the Cleveland Browns as part of a 2024 trade deadline deal that moved pass rusher Za’Darius Smith to Cleveland.

Lions first round picks by Brad Holmes, Dan Campbell

• 2025 (No. 28 overall): DT Tyleik Williams, Ohio State.
• 2024 (No. 24 overall): CB Terrion Arnold, Alabama.
• 2023 (No. 12 overall): RB Jahmyr Gibbs, Alabama.
• 2023 (No. 18 overall): LB Jack Campbell, Iowa.
• 2022 (No. 2 overall): EDGE Aidan Hutchinson, Michigan.
• 2022 (No. 12 overall): WR Jameson Williams, Alabama.
• 2021 (No. 7 overall): OT Penei Sewell, Oregon.

Lions 2026 NFL draft picks

Here’s the complete list of the Lions’ remaining picks in the 2025 NFL draft:

• Round 1: Offensive tackle Blake Miller, No. 17 overall.
• Round 2: No. 50.
• Round 4: No. 118.
• Round 4: No. 128 (from Houston).
• Round 5: No. 157.
• Round 5: No. 181 (compensatory pick).
• Round 6: No. 205 (from Jacksonville).
• Round 6: No. 213 (from Seattle).
• Round 7: No. 222 (from Cleveland).

The New York Jets can't wait for their three first-round picks in the NFL draft Thursday night to make a big impact as pros. And perhaps help end the NFL's longest active playoff drought at 15 seasons.

“Any time you bring guys with a winning background on your team, that only helps the morale of your team,” said coach Aaron Glenn, who went 3-14 in his first season. “To get three first-round picks and the caliber of guys that we got — the personality, the mentality, the football character — all those things are huge bringing those guys on the team.”

Bailey, an explosive edge rusher from Texas Tech, was selected with the No. 2 overall pick. Sadiq, a versatile tight end from Oregon, was taken at No. 16. The Jets then traded back into the first round, sending picks No. 33 and 179 to San Francisco for No. 30 overall and taking Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr., who made big plays with No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza for the national champions.

The picks kicked off a busy early stretch for New York, which also has the 44th overall pick in the second round Friday night.

“I feel like this organization is trending in the right way,” Bailey said. “I’m just ready to work.”

After getting 14 1/2 sacks for the Red Raiders, Bailey gives the Jets a big-time pass-rushing presence for a defense that was among the NFL’s worst last season. He's the highest-selected defensive player by the Jets in the NFL draft since the 1970 merger.

“That feeling when you get a sack," Bailey said, "and the crowd is on your side, especially during a home game — but regardless, home or away — it’s one of the best feelings.”

With Las Vegas long linked to Mendoza at No. 1 overall, the most suspense centered on what New York would do one pick later. In the last few weeks, Bailey and Ohio State edge rusher Arvell Reese were most often linked to the Jets — and it was just a matter of which one they’d select, if they didn’t trade the pick.

General manager Darren Mougey stayed at No. 2 and took Bailey, who’ll be expected to help boost a pass rush that ranked 31st in the NFL with only 26 sacks. The crosstown-rival Giants drafted Reese with the fifth overall pick.

“We just felt like Bailey fit us better,” Glenn said.

Bailey was a force last season for Texas Tech, tying for the FBS lead in sacks. He also ranked second with 19 1/2 tackles for loss. After three seasons at Stanford, the 22-year-old Bailey transferred to Texas Tech and was an AP All-America pick, the Big 12 defensive lineman of the year, the conference’s newcomer of the year and a finalist for the Lombardi Award as the country’s top lineman.

The Jets canceled their top-30 visit with Bailey last week, leading some to speculate that the team had waning interest. But Mougey downplayed that Tuesday at New York’s pre-draft news conference — and clearly that wasn’t the case.

Bailey will get his visit to the Jets’ facility, after all. As New York’s top draft pick.

“I had a great interaction with them at the combine,” Bailey said. “Obviously, they canceled the 30 visit, but other than that, man, I had a great FaceTime with Mougey and everybody.”

It’s the fourth time in franchise history that the Jets picked second overall and first since they took quarterback Zach Wilson in 2021. Running back Blair Thomas (1990) and wide receiver Johnny “Lam” Jones (1980) were the others.

New York addressed its offense 14 picks later, giving new quarterback Geno Smith a pass-catching tight end in Sadiq. It was largely assumed the Jets would go after a wide receiver in that spot — Cooper and USC's Makai Lemon were still available. Instead, they went with Sadiq, who set a school record last season for tight ends with 51 receptions.

Sadiq is considered a versatile tight end with terrific athleticism who should help new coordinator Frank Reich's offense in both the passing and running games.

“I can create separation, but I can also go hit someone," Sadiq said. "Obviously the NFL is different and I have to clean some things up. But man ... I’m not going to be scared to go hit somebody.”

The 6-foot-3, 241-pound Sadiq joins Jeremy Ruckert and Mason Taylor — the team's second-round pick last year — in the Jets' tight ends room.

Sadiq opened eyes at the NFL combine, running a 4.39 40-yard dash — a blazing speed for a tight end his size. He led FBS tight ends with eight touchdown catches last season, his first as a full-time starter for the Ducks.

“I play fast and I play hard," he said, "and that's two things I pride myself on.”

Cooper caught 69 passes from Mendoza for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. With the Jets, he'll help complement veterans Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell as a potential slot receiver who can also stretch the field.

“I'm just somebody that can run any route when given the opportunity,” Cooper said.

___

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

In a social media post Thursday morning, he said the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the critical waterway. The move intensified the U.S.-Iran standoff in the Persian Gulf and raised questions about efforts to end the war.

Later Thursday, Trump said Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House. The meeting Thursday was the second high-level negotiation between the two countries since last week. The initial 10-day ceasefire, which took effect last Friday, had been due to expire Monday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it seized another tanker Thursday associated with smuggling Iranian oil, the Majestic X, in the Indian Ocean, deepening confusion over efforts to end the war. The seizure comes after a day after Iran attacked three cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, capturing two of them. Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The standoff between the U.S. and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime, with no end in sight.

Here is the latest:

US puts $10 million bounty on Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada leader

The United States has placed a $10 million bounty on the leader of an Iranian-backed Shiite militia in Iraq.

The U.S. State Department’s Rewards for Justice program issued a notice it sought the leader of Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

It said Hashim Finyan Rahim al-Saraji led the group, whose members “killed Iraqi civilians and attacked U.S. diplomatic facilities in Iraq.”

It also said Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada attacked U.S. military bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria.

Iraq has several Shiite militias backed by Iran that are part of the country’s Popular Mobilization Forces, which was created after the fall of Mosul in 2014 to formalize volunteer units that defeated the Islamic State group.

Guyana says tanker seized by US ‘FRAUDULENTLY flying the Guyana flag’

The South American nation of Guyana said Thursday that a tanker seized by the United States in Asia for allegedly carrying sanctioned Iranian crude oil was “FRAUDULENTLY flying the Guyana flag.”

Guyana’s Maritime Administration Department made the announcement in a statement to journalists.

It noted the vessel had previously been named Phonix, which the U.S. Treasury noted when it previously sanctioned the vessel.

“This ship is NOT registered in Guyana; thus, the registration is false and fraudulent,” its statement said.

“While the name of the vessel has changed, the (International Maritime Organization) number remains recorded in the international database as PHONIX. There is no record of this vessel or name in Guyana’s registry.”

Israel says it struck Hezbollah missile launcher

Israel’s military said it struck a missile launcher in Lebanon that had fired into Israel on Thursday in an attack that Israeli air defenses intercepted. Hezbollah claimed the attack.

Israel’s announcement of the strike came soon after Trump said the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire had been extended by three weeks.

Hezbollah said it had launched rockets toward Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike on the Lebanese village of Yater. Two people, including a child, were wounded by Israeli artillery shelling there, said Lebanon’s public health ministry.

The ministry also said that an Israeli airstrike killed three people farther north, in the area of Nabatieh. The Israeli military said it had killed three militants who had launched a missile toward an Israeli warplane.

Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors thank Trump for ‘historic’ moment

Speaking alongside Trump in the Oval Office, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said Israel and Lebanon “have never been next to each other more than today.”

Leiter thanked Trump and Vice President JD Vance for a day he said was decades in the making.

“We are going to keep going, working for peace. Let’s hope we will get it as soon as possible,” he said.

Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Nada Hamadeh Moawad thanked Trump for presiding over “this historic moment.” She added: “I think with your help, with your support, we can make Lebanon great again.”

Trump says it’s a ‘must’ for Iran to end funding for Hezbollah

The president reiterated that the U.S. continues to demand that Iran stop it’s backing of proxy groups in the Mideast, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, as part of any deal between Washington and Tehran to end the U.S. war on Iran.

“Yeah, they’ll have to cut that,” Trump said to a reporter’s question about aiding the militant group. “That’s a must.”

US envoy compares Hezbollah to a kid throwing rocks

“The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel are neighbors and they want to get along,” said Mike Huckabee, the U.S. envoy to Israel, who was on hand for the White House talks.

“They can get along,” he said. “But it’s like neighbors who have a rough little kid living in the neighborhood who keeps throwing rocks at everybody’s window. And if the kid will quit throwing rocks, the neighbors can get along and start actually working together.”

Trump says ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by 3 weeks

That comes after representatives from both countries met at the White House on Thursday.

The meeting “went very well,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah.”

Trump said he will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House in the “near future.”

A 10-day ceasefire was announced on April 16, pausing fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.

As Israel-Lebanon talks are set to start, rocket fire from Hezbollah

Israel’s military says its air defenses intercepted rocket fire from Lebanon.

It came as talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials were set to begin at the White House. Hezbollah said it had fired at the town of Shtula in response to Israeli attacks on the Lebanese village of Yater.

Trump says he’s not considering using a nuclear weapon against Iran

The president appeared perturbed when asked by a reporter if he’d consider deploying nuclear weapons against the Islamic Republic.

“No, I wouldn’t. We don’t need it. Why do I need it? Why would a stupid question like that be asked?” Trump fumed.

He went on, “Why would I use a nuclear weapon, when we’ve totally, in a very conventional way, decimated them without it. No, I wouldn’t use it. A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody.”

Trump say he won’t be rushed to end war as Iran negotiations drag on

“I don’t want to rush myself,” said Trump, who added that Iran’s leadership is in “turmoil.”

Trump in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office also pushed back against questions that the conflict is exceeding the four-to-six week timeline that he and aides previously set for the war.

“I took the country out militarily in the first four weeks. I took it out militarily,” Trump said. “Now all we’re doing is sitting back and seeing what deal (we make). And if they don’t want to make a deal, then I’ll finish it up militarily.”

Iranian officials refute Trump’s claims of leadership rift in the country

“In Iran there are no ‘hardliners’ or ‘moderates’. We are all Iranians and revolutionaries,” Iran’s president, and Iran’s parliament speaker wrote in an almost identical statement on their social media.

A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the U.S. president’s claim that there was a leadership rift in Iran “a form of deflection,” with other Iranian officials also claiming on social media that the country was united.

Hours earlier, Trump said that Iran is going through a hard time “figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!“

Since the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the beginning of the war, it has been unclear who in Iran wields ultimate authority over its collection of civilian figures and powerful generals who appear to be in charge.

Third aircraft carrier arrives in the Middle East

The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush has now arrived in U.S. Central Command, making the ship the third aircraft carrier to be present in the Middle East during a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war.

The Bush is now in the Indian Ocean, according to a social media post from the military command. The USS Abraham Lincoln is located in the Arabian Sea and the USS Gerald R. Ford is in the Red Sea.

The Bush, which left its home port of Norfolk, Virginia at the end of March, proceeded to sail across the Atlantic Ocean but then made the unusual choice to turn south and sail around the Horn of Africa before heading north toward the waters of the Middle East

Air defenses in action over Tehran

Iran’s capital Thursday night saw air defense systems in action as explosions were heard in the western part of the city.

State media said the move was against “hostile targets, “ without any elaboration.

Witnesses said air defense systems were also heard southwest of the city.

Some Iranian media said earlier Wednesday that a test of the systems was in process.

Clashes disrupt Israeli Supreme Court hearing

Clashes broke out at Israel’s Supreme Court during a hearing on petitions calling on the government to establish an official state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 attacks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes the investigation.

Protesters attempted to break into the courtroom, forcing the proceedings to pause, according to Israeli media reports. The hearing resumed after about 30 minutes. Separate confrontations were reported outside the court between bereaved families holding opposing views.

Renowned US-Kuwaiti journalist detained in Kuwait acquitted, press monitor says

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Thursday that a Kuwaiti court acquitted journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on all charges following 52 days of detention.

Shihab-Eldin, an award-winning journalist who contributed reporting to major media outlets, was arrested March 3 while visiting his family in Kuwait, CPJ said. The press monitor previously reported that Kuwaiti authorities have charged him with “spreading false information, harming national security, and misusing his mobile phone.”

“We are relieved that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been found innocent after 52 days in detention,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg.

Trump to join Israel-Lebanon talks at White House

A U.S. official says President Donald Trump will greet Israeli and Lebanese diplomats who will meet for a second round of talks on Thursday at the White House.

The official said the meeting had been moved from the State Department, where the first round was held last week, to the White House so that Trump could attend. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration planning.

The talks come as a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that was agreed to by the Israeli and Lebanese governments is due to expire. U.S. officials say they hope an extension of the truce can be arranged.

—- Mathew Lee

Israel appoints envoy to Christian world

Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar has appointed George Deek as special envoy to the Christian world in a bid to strengthen ties with Christian communities, according to a government statement.

Deek, a veteran diplomat and former ambassador to Azerbaijan, is a member of Israel’s Arab Christian community.

Saar said Israel attaches “great importance” to its relations with Christians worldwide.

The appointment comes after a pair of incidents that strained relations with the Christian world. Last month, Israeli police prevented Catholic leaders from celebrating Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, citing the war with Iran. And an Israeli soldier set off a global firestorm by smashing a statue of Jesus Christ in Lebanon. Two soldiers have been sentenced to jail for their roles in the incident.

Pope urges US and Iran to return to peace talks, condemns capital punishment

After a trip that was dominated by the very public back and forth between Pope Leo XIV and U.S. President Donald Trump over the war, Leo urged the United States and Iran to return to negotiations.

He called for a new “culture of peace” to replace the recourse to violence whenever conflicts arise.

He said the question wasn’t whether the Iran regime should change or not. “The question should be about how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents.”

He revealed that he carries with him the photo of a Muslim Lebanese boy who had been killed in Israel’s recent war with Hezbollah. The boy had been photographed holding a sign welcoming the pope when he visited Lebanon last year.

“As a pastor I cannot be in favor of war,” he told reporters aboard his plane. “I would like to encourage everyone to find responses that come from a culture of peace and not hatred and division.”

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Trump likes a naval blockade. But Iran presents big differences from Venezuela and Cuba

President Donald Trump has turned to naval blockades to pressure the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and now Iran to meet his demands, but his preferred tactic is confronting a very different reality in the Middle East than in the Caribbean.

Unlike Cuba or Venezuela, Iran choked off a crucial trade route for energy shipments, meaning the longer the standoff persists, the more the global economy will suffer. Tehran also poses a greater military threat than those two adversaries in America’s own hemisphere and requires a sustained military presence far from U.S. shores.

Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz gives it power during a shaky ceasefire because the widening economic risks, especially higher U.S. gas prices in an election year, could force the Republican president to end the blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline, experts say.

▶ Read more

Palestinians mourn another death in historically violent year in the occupied West Bank

A 25-year-old father of twins was shot by Israeli settlers in a village home to a large Palestinian-American population, sparking an outpouring of grief at his funeral Thursday.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Ministry of Health said Awda Awawdeh died from gunshot wounds after what witnesses described as a clash with settlers attempting to steal Palestinian livestock.

“Young men from our town gathered and came to confront them. The settlers fired at them, and the young man Awda Awawdeh was hit and injured on his side with a live bullet,” said Ziad Manasrah, a paramedic who helped transport Awawdeh from the town of Deir Dibwan to the hospital.

Awawdeh is the 11th Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers in 2026, surpassing the nine killed in 2025.

“The daily killings in the West Bank are not incidental, but an integral part of a systematic process of ethnic cleansing. The Israeli system does not halt this violence deliberately because it serves its political goal: the suppression and dispossession of Palestinians from their land,” said Yuli Novak, the executive director the Israeli rights group B’Tselem.

Lebanese cabinet discusses potential move to join the ICC

Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri said ministers on Thursday discussed joining the International Criminal Court, a permanent tribunal that prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, for “a specific period.”

The move would mark a significant shift for Lebanon, which is not a member of the court. Mitri said the move would enable the ICC to “look into war crimes and humanitarian crimes which were committed on Lebanese territory.”

Lebanon has accused Israel of war crimes and repeated breaches of international law during the latest war with Hezbollah.

Iran’s judiciary chief touts the country’s show of force in the Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, said on X that the country’s armed forces were demonstrating strength in the Strait of Hormuz, citing what he described as a Revolutionary Guard “mosquito fleet” of speedboats and underwater drones, along with action against three ships in the waterway.

He wrote that “the IRGC’s mosquito fleet, with speedboats and drones, lies in wait from the sea caves of Faror Island for the American aggressor warships, ready to saturate their air defenses and bring utter ruin upon the invaders.”

He called the display “a source of pride” and warned against U.S. naval presence.

Israeli defense minister says Israel is ready to resume war with Iran

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said Thursday that Israel is prepared to resume war with Iran and is awaiting a “green light” from the United States, according to a statement following a security assessment.

“We are waiting for a green light from the United States,” Katz said, adding that the military is ready for both defensive and offensive operations and “targets are marked.”

Israelis express mixed views on Lebanon talks

Residents in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv expressed mixed views on talks between Israel and Lebanon, with opinions ranging from calls for diplomacy to deep skepticism over Hezbollah’s role.

“I always believe that you can talk, but you have to be prepared for war,” said Ben Kurtzer, a Jerusalem resident.

Others were more skeptical. “Who is there to talk to?” said Yardena Sharon.

Some drew a distinction between Lebanon and Hezbollah.

“We do not want to be hostile with the state of Lebanon; we have no hostility towards them. I think there are, undoubtedly, wonderful people there, people who seek peace, just as we seek peace,” said Matan Moalem, a Jerusalem resident. “Hezbollah needs to be eliminated once and for all, to take control of the entire area that constantly threatens Israel, firing in our direction and always seeking to eliminate and kill us.”

In Tel Aviv, others emphasized diplomacy. “Force without brains is worth nothing. In the end, only agreements bring peace and security, only agreements,” said Daron Sabani.

Images of new crucifix in southern Lebanon convey ‘message of hope, dialogue and peace,’ Meloni says

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Thursday thanked Italian peacekeepers serving in southern Lebanon for donating a new crucifix to the village of Debel after the original was destroyed by an Israeli soldier in an incident that drew international criticism.

Meloni said images showing the crucifix being delivered and placed in the same spot as the one destroyed days earlier conveyed “a message of hope, dialogue and peace.”

Israel’s military said Tuesday it had replaced the crucifix and shared a photograph of the new one on social media. The replacement appeared smaller and more ornate than the original, which had been smashed by a soldier.

The Israeli military said two soldiers involved in the episode will be held for a month in military detention.

Ukraine’s president discloses details of security agreements with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a CNN interview that his country signed a “Drone Deal” with the three Gulf countries, aiming to help them manufacture much cheaper drones and drone interceptors.

Zelenskyy toured the Gulf countries late May, but there was no immediate word on the details of the signed agreements between Ukraine and the Gulf countries.

” A (low-cost, Iranian-designed Shahed drone) can cost from 80 to 130 thousand dollars. It will be destroyed not with a missile worth 3-4 million dollars, but with an interceptor costing 10 thousand dollars,” Zelenskyy wrote, adding that he wants to help Gulf countries defend themselves.

Speaking earlier this month, Zelenskyy said that in exchange for its drone expertise, Ukraine would get air defense weapons to protect its energy infrastructure, along with oil, diesel and, in some cases, financial help. Ukrainian officials haven’t published details of the final deal.

‘Stable ceasefire and assurances’ needed for transit in the Strait of Hormuz

The chief safety and security officer in BIMCO, the world’s largest international shipping association, said Thursday that shipping companies need assurances from both Iran and the U.S. to transit the vital waterway.

Mine clearance efforts are also needed as they pose a “particular concern,” Jakob Larsen said in a statement, adding that the process of mine clearance could take up to several weeks.

Hours earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the military is intensifying its mine clearing efforts in the strait.

The Strait of Hormuz remains fully closed Thursday as the U.S.-Iran standoff continues to intensify in the Persian Gulf.

Merritt pleaded not guilty during a court appearance later Thursday, and the district judge set a $2,500 bond with conditions of no alcohol, drugs or firearms, and no contact with the victim of the alleged crime.

The 54-year-old Merritt spent several years playing linebacker in the NFL before becoming one of the best defensive backs coaches in the league. He has been with the Chiefs since 2019, and including his time with the Giants, has helped teams win five Super Bowls.

“We have been in touch with Dave. We understand the situation. We've looked into it,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the team made its two first-round draft picks.

One of them, cornerback Mansoor Delane, was picked sixth overall. Merritt will be his position coach.

“We continue to work back as they go through the investigation,” Reid said, “but Dave is home with his family.”

Reid declined to take any questions about the arrest.

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

A congregant arriving Wednesday morning found the synagogue’s front entrance marked with graffiti, including a swastika, said Rabbi Robert Gamer. Security video showed a person walking up to the entrance Tuesday afternoon and drawing on the building with a marker, police said.

“It was found by somebody that was coming to the building, some graffiti and a swastika underneath it,” said Gamer.

Gamer said the incident has prompted the congregation to consider additional security measures, including more cameras.

“For Jewish institutions, I guess we should be working under the mentality that it’s not if something’s going to happen at one of our facilities, it’s when,” Gamer said.

The vandalism comes days after two 19-year-olds were arrested in Sterling Heights for spray-painting antisemitic messages in the area.

Congregation Beth Shalom already has security guards present during Saturday morning services and religious school meetings, Gamer said, but added that increased threats are forcing difficult budget decisions.

Gamer said the synagogue experienced an incident over a year ago where someone drove up to its executive director and Rabbi Emeritus, shouting antisemitic language.

“Religious institutions don’t want to have to budget for armed security guards and cameras covering every inch of our facility; we don’t want to do that, but it is getting to the point now as institutions in the larger Jewish community are recognizing that these are necessities,” he said.

Oak Park police arrested a suspect Thursday morning, saying the person was known to frequent the area. Jason Ginopolis, the deputy director of the Oak Park Department of Public Safety, said the department has increased patrols and attention around houses of worship.

“It’s very serious, you know, you’re desecrating a place of worship, you’re attempting to intimidate people, it’s something we take very serious,” Ginopolis said.

“We cannot let hatred or any type of these activities stop us, and we have to persevere through them,” Gamer said.

The Oak Park Department of Public Safety has submitted charges to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office for review.

Smalley and Springer matched the tournament record with a 58.

“We’ve got a long way to go before the tournament is over, but it’s a fun format,” Smalley said about the PGA Tour's only team event. “It’s nice to kind of mix it up a little bit, to have a team event like this instead of doing the same monotonous thing that we do week in and week out, just kind of doing our own thing, playing our own ball.”

Shane Lowry and Brooks Koepka, who comprise the most accomplished team at the par-72 TPC Louisiana, shot a 66 to leave them outside the top 40 and in danger of missing the cut — unless they can make a strong push Friday in alternate-shot play.

The format returns to better ball Saturday, and back to alternate shot Sunday.

“The biggest thing is getting those two rounds under your belt, seeing where you lie, and kicking on from there,” Matt Fitzpatrick said.

Davis Thompson and Austin Eckroat were a shot behind after a round in which they followed Eckroat's eagle on the par-5 seventh with eight straight birdies.

Three teams were tied for third at 60: Sam Stevens and Zach Bouchou, along with Eric Cole and Hank Lebioda, and Nick Dunlap and Gordon Sargent.

Billy Horschel — the only player to win the Zurich in both single-play and team formats — was again in the hunt when after he and Tom Hoge shot a 61 — highlighted by Hoge's eagle on No. 2 — to put them in a seven-way tie for sixth.

Aaron Rai and Sahith Theegala each made eagles — Rai by spinning in a 106-yard approach shot on the par-4 13th — and posted a 62.

Defending Zurich champs Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak shot a bogey-free 65 and will need to move up some to make the cut in the only team event of the season.

Smalley, who has never won on the PGA Tour, made a 19-foot eagle put on the par-5 second hold after sinking a 16 1/2-footer to bridie No. 1. His tee shot on No. 3 landed within 7 feet to set up another birdie to put his team at 4 under.

“It’s nice to have another player to lean on a little bit,” Smalley said. ”

The pair of 29-year-old Americans then combined to birdie 10 of their final 14 holes. Springer, also seeking a maiden tour triumph, accounted for the final four birdies, highlighted by his 36-foot putt on the par-3 17th.

A large gallery gathered at the first hole to watch the Fitzpatricks tee off in the same group with Lowry and Koepka on a sunny, breezy, 80-degree afternoon.

Koepka — in his first season back on the PGA Tour after four years with LIV Golf — entered the week needing a good showing to earn his first exemption for a signature event, the next of which takes place next week at Trump National Doral in Miami.

Lowry carried their team early, with birdies on five of the first eight holes. Koepka finally pitched in with a 31 1/2-foot birdie putt on 10, but the pair did not better that par the rest of the way.

The Fitzpatricks, playing together a fourth straight year in New Orleans, got to 9-under with Matt Fitzpatrick's three straight bridies on the 15th through 17th holes. But then both hit their second shots in the water on the par-5 18th and closed with a bogey.

“Really disappointing way to end with two balls in perfect position,” Matt Fitzpatrick said. “It’s not good enough, really.”

A shirtless Michael Brennan made a splash — literally and otherwise — when he elected to hit a ball on the water's edge on 18 and sent muddy water flying everywhere while his ball popped straight up and plopped back in the water.

Still, he and teammate Johnny Keefer finished the round just three shots behind the leaders.

“I was dropping it if I was just playing in a normal tournament,” Brennan said. “But Johnny had a birdie putt on the green. So I was, like, ‘Well, I guess we can try it.’ But, yeah, it was fun.”

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

Schlittler limited the team he rooted for growing up to four hits over eight innings, and the Yankees rallied twice to beat the Boston Red Sox 4-2 on Thursday night for a three-game sweep and a season-high six-game winning streak.

A Red Sox fan who grew up in Walpole and played college ball at Northeastern, Schlittler told the New York Post ahead of the game that he and his family had received death threats.

With Cody Charneski, a Yankees producer of digital and social content, joining him in the bullpen for his warmup, Schlittler said his reception from Fenway fans in person wasn't too out of line.

"There was a couple things but, again, Cody is out there with the camera, so I think that’ll limit that,” Schlitter said, "Not too bad. I think you overestimate how many genuine people are out there compared to online. So it’s a good feeling. I had a lot of buddies out there watching.”

Schlitter's family and friends were noticeably excited when he struck out his final batter, Jarren Duran, with his 96th pitch.

Schlittler (3-1) allowed two runs — one earned — over eight innings while striking out five, walking one and lowering his ERA to 1.77.

It was the longest outing in 20 regular-season starts for the 25-year-old right-hander, who pitched eight shutout innings to beat the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium in last year’s AL Wild Card Series.

“He’s got a great demeanor about him. He’s very even keeled and very adaptable, but also competitive and very confident. All great traits,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s always looking forward to his day out there. He’s a very confident guy and I think it’s meaningful for him to come back to where he grew up.”

Schlittler tossed a ball to a fan in the front-row of the right field seats before heading to the bullpen. Another fan in close proximity to the bullpen held up a yellow sign that stated, “Walpole Loves Schlittler.”

“For the most part, really respectful,” Schlittler said.

The public-address announcement of Schlitter as New York’s starting pitcher drew a mixture of cheers and boos. Cody Bellinger, whose two-run single as a pinch-hitter put the Yankees ahead a three-run seventh, was impressed with how Schlitter responded this week.

“I think he handled it great," Bellinger said. "He's such a young kid, and this rivalry, it is —- it's different when you wear these two uniforms and he’s just done a tremendous job pitching and handling everything that comes with it.”

Schlitter struck out 12 against the Red Sox in the postseason game that ended Boston's 2025 season.

“There were plenty of distractions to be had before his playoff start last year, and he obviously handled that really well,” Boone said.

“He was throwing hard that day,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora recalled before the series finale. “From pitch one, we had to be almost perfect. We didn’t put too much pressure on him.”

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

Alex Lyon stopped 24 shots in his first start of the postseason and the Sabres, who snapped an NHL-record 14-year playoff drought by winning the Atlantic Division, regained home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Sunday in Boston, with the Bruins needing a win to assure themselves of another home game.

Jeremy Swayman made 25 saves, and Tanner Jeannot scored early in the second period for the Bruins as they opened the scoring for the third straight game. But they missed a chance to go up 2-0 when Viktor Arvidsson's penalty shot went wide.

“Definitely a turning point,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.

Boston had a chance to go up 2-0 when Mattias Samuelsson’s stick broke right in front of the Buffalo net, for a turnover that gave Arvidsson an open lane on the net. Rasmus Dahlin took him down, leading to a penalty shot.

Arvidsson circled wide and came in slowly but Lyon left him no opening.

“I try not to overthink the penalty shot too much,” Lyon said. “Kind of the same situation as the shootout and just try to kind of be in the moment. That’s when practice comes through. So you've just got to trust your instincts and lean on those.”

About a minute later, Byram one-timed a shot past Swayman to tie it.

“Yes, it was a big swing. Absolutely,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said. “The bench was not the same, let’s put it that way.”

Tuch made it 2-1 when he grabbed a loose puck and fired it past a screened goalie, and Noah Ostlund added an empty-netter with 1:24 left.

The teams split the first two games in Buffalo, with Boston taking the lead both times before Buffalo rallied in the last half of the third period. In Game 1, the Sabres came back to win 4-3, but they were too far back after a 4-0 deficit in Game 2 and lost 4-2.

The early struggles doomed Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to backup. He won the playoff starting job by closing the regular season 12-2-1 but was pulled after allowing the fourth goal early in the third period on Tuesday night.

Lyon went 20-10-4 during the season.

“I think getting in for a few minutes of the last game was really helpful,” he said. “Before that, it was probably two weeks since I had played. So just to get the feel of the game, I think that set me up nicely for today.”

Buffalo continued to struggle on the power play. After failing to score on the last 22 chances in the regular season, the Sabres have misfired on their first 13 man advantages in the series, including four Thursday.

“Our power play let Swayman off the hook,” Ruff said. “But there was some good stuff there. And both goaltenders made some big saves at key times.”

Up next

Game 4 is Sunday before the series shifts back to Buffalo for Game 5 on Tuesday night.

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The EU also approved a new raft of sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine. The measures were prepared early this year and had been set to be announced in February to mark the fourth anniversary of the conflict, but Hungary and Slovakia opposed the move.

Hungary and Slovakia have been locked in a feud with Ukraine since Russian oil deliveries to the two EU countries were halted in January after a pipeline was damaged. Ukrainian officials blamed the damage on Russian drone attacks. Both countries confirmed Thursday that deliveries have resumed.

Ukraine desperately needs the loan package to prop up its war-ravaged economy and help keep Russian forces at bay. Hungary angered its EU partners by reneging on a December deal to provide the funds. The loans are expected to be available in coming weeks and months.

“Promised, delivered, implemented,” European Council President António Costa posted on social media. A few hours later, as he arrived to chair a summit of EU leaders in Cyprus, Costa told reporters that the priority now must be to advance Ukraine's quest to join the bloc.

Standing alongside him, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked his European partners for their support. “We will work to make sure the funds are delivered as soon as possible,” he said. “This will strengthen, of course first of all our army, Ukrainian forces, and allow us to boost production.”

Pipeline breakthrough

The political greenlight for the loan package came after Russian oil began flowing to Hungary and Slovakia again through the Druzhba pipeline that crosses Ukraine. Populist Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico welcomed that development as “good news.”

“Let’s hope a serious relation between Ukraine and the European Union has been established,” Fico said.

Hungarian energy group MOL said it had “received crude oil at the Fényeslitke and Budkovce pumping stations earlier Thursday. Crude oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline system have thus resumed to Hungary and Slovakia after a hiatus of nearly three months.”

Ukraine and most of its European backers oppose imports of Russian oil which have helped to fund Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, now in its fifth year. But unlike the rest of the European Union, Hungary and Slovakia still depend on Russia for their energy needs.

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who was recently defeated in an election, had accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying repairs — an allegation that Zelenskyy denied.

Fico said Thursday he still didn’t believe the pipeline was damaged at all and alleged that the pipeline and oil “were used in the current geopolitical battle.”

Another EU voting hijack

The row has raised yet more troubling questions about decision-making in the EU, which can often be held hostage to national interests when unanimous votes are required. Several top officials have in recent months called for more majority voting.

The 27-nation bloc had originally intended to use frozen Russian assets as collateral for the loan. But that option was blocked by Belgium, where the bulk of the frozen assets are held.

In December, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia agreed not to stop their EU partners from borrowing the money on international markets as long as the three countries did not have to take part in the scheme.

But Orbán, who has repeatedly blocked EU aid to Ukraine, angered the other 24 countries by later reneging on that deal over the pipeline dispute and as campaigning heated up ahead of the April 12 election that he lost in a landslide.

More sanctions on Russia

The EU has also been trying since February to push through a new raft of sanctions against Russia to undermine its war effort, but Hungary and Slovakia were also blocking those measures over the oil feud.

More than 40 ships believed to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet illicitly transporting oil were targeted.

Oil revenue is the linchpin of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation for everyday people and avoiding a currency collapse.

A number of banks were targeted, and a ban was imposed on Europeans using Russian crypto currency.

Asset freezes were slapped on around 60 more “entities” — often companies, government agencies, banks or other organizations — adding to a growing list of more than 2,600 Russian officials and entities already under sanctions, including Putin, his political associates, oligarchs, and dozens of lawmakers.

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Spike reported from Budapest. Janicek reported from Prague.

After starring in a Game 2 stunner at Madison Square Garden, McCollum got the ball with his team trailing by a point. He came through again from 15 feet, finishing with 23 points.

Hawks coach Quin Snyder called it “a great shot,” but stressed the effort of his entire team.

“They work, they share,” Snyder said. “That's the thing about this group that I've enjoyed so much.”

The Hawks led nearly the entire game, building an 18-point lead in the first half. But New York rallied for a 108-105 edge on Jalen Brunson's three-point play with 1:03 remaining.

After Jalen Johnson, who led the Hawks with 24 points, rolled in a shot, Josh Hart missed a 3-pointer for the Knicks. New York got the offensive rebound, but couldn't get off a shot ahead of the 24-second clock.

“You couldn't ask for anything better than that,” Knicks coach Mike Brown lamented. “Less than a minute to go in the game and a chance to go up by three.”

The Knicks failed to get off a shot at the end, either, as Brunson turned the ball over and the horn sounded.

Jonathan Kuminga had a huge night for the Hawks off the bench, finishing with 21 points.

OG Anunoby led the Knicks with 29 points, Brunson had 26 and Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in with 21. It wasn't enough for New York.

Brown griped about the officiating, believing the refs missed some calls at the basket. But he stressed that his team must make better decisions going forward.

Game 4 is Saturday in Atlanta.

“They're closing out hard," Brown said of the Hawks. ”It's a tough game for the officials to officiate, but I know we got fouled on a few of the tries that didn't get called."

McCollum picked up were he left off at Madison Square Garden, hitting a step-back jumper beyond the arc for Atlanta's first points. He had 16 by the halftime break.

McCollum showed off more than his offensive skills. After Hart scooped up a loose ball and drove toward the hoop with only the Atlanta guard to beat, McCollum blocked the shot and sent the ball off Hart's foot to give possession back to the Hawks.

The Hawks outscored the Knicks 27-12 over the final seven minutes of the opening quarter, turning the game in their favor with an 11-0 spurt and closing the period with three straight 3-pointers. The first was by little-used center Mouhamed Gueye, left wide open by the New York defense, followed by two straight from backup forward Kuminga to send the State Farm Arena crowd into a frenzy.

But, with the Hawks on the verge of blowing the game open late in the first half, New York closed the the period on a 12-2 run. Atlanta went to the locker room with a 58-50 lead.

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

Trump also announced that a ceasefire in Lebanon would be extended by three weeks.

His post on social media about the small boats came shortly after the U.S. military seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Tehran over the strait through which 20% of all crude oil and natural gas traded passed during peacetime.

“I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be ... putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted, adding that U.S. minesweepers "are clearing the Strait right now.”

“I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!” he added.

The decision to extend a pause in fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon came during a meeting at the White House between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States.

Meanwhile, it was still unclear when, or if, the U.S. and Iran would meet again in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, where mediators are trying to bring the countries together to reach a diplomatic deal ending that conflict.

Negotiations initially planned this week have not happened. Iran insists it will not attend until the U.S. ends its blockade on Iranian ports and ships. The White House insists it will not take part until Tehran opens the strait to international traffic.

Pope Leo XIV, returning home from a trip to Africa, urged the U.S. and Iran to return to talks to end the war.

Footage shows US forces on deck of tanker

The Defense Department released video footage of U.S. forces on the deck of the oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean. The ship had been flying a Guyanese flag, though the South American nation of Guyana said it was not registered there

The footage emerged a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard attacked three cargo ships in the strait, capturing two of them, in an assault that raised new concerns about the safety of shipping through the waterway.

The powerful head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, said three “violating ships” in the strait were “subject to enforcement” Wednesday.

“The show of strength by the armed forces of Islamic Iran in the Strait of Hormuz is a source of pride,” he wrote Thursday on X, claiming the Americans “lack the courage” to approach the strait.

Ship-tracking data showed the Majestic X in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia, roughly the same location as the oil tanker Tifani, seized earlier by American forces. It had been bound for Zhoushan, China.

Majestic X previously was named Phonix and had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2024 for smuggling Iranian crude oil in contravention of U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Guyana said in a statement the Majestic X was not registered in the South American nation.

“While the name of the vessel has changed, the (International Maritime Organization) number remains recorded in the international database as PHONIX. There is no record of this vessel or name in Guyana’s registry. Therefore, the ship is FRAUDULENTLY flying the Guyana flag,” Guyana’s Maritime Administration Department said.

There was no immediate response from Iran about the seizure.

Trump claims leadership rift in Iran

Trump this week extended a ceasefire to give the Iranian leadership more time to come up with a “unified proposal” on ending the war, while maintaining an American blockade of Iranian ports.

In a post Thursday, Trump claimed a leadership rift between moderates and hard-liners was confounding Iran. “Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is! They just don’t know!” Trump said.

Trump has repeatedly said during the ceasefire that began April 8 that his team is dealing with Iranian officials who want to make a deal, while acknowledging that his decision to kill several top leaders has come with complications.

Iran’s president and its parliament speaker posted statements on social media declaring the country has no hard-liners or moderates.

"We are all Iranians and revolutionaries,” they said.

A spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Trump's claim of a leadership rift was a “deflection.” Other Iranian officials said on social media that the country was united.

Trump, while speaking to reporters at the White House, pushed back against questions about the conflict exceeding the four-to-six-week timeline that he and aides previously set for the war.

“I don’t want to rush myself,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. “took the country out” militarily in the first four weeks.

“Now all we’re doing is sitting back and seeing what deal" can be made. "And if they don’t want to make a deal, then I’ll finish it up militarily,” Trump said.

He said he would not use a nuclear weapon against Iran.

Meanwhile, three aircraft carriers were in the region after the USS George H.W. Bush arrived in the Indian Ocean. One carrier was in the Arabian Sea and another was in the Red Sea, military officials said.

Talks between Lebanon and Israel lead to truce extension

Trump said a second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon in Washington “went very well” and resulted in a ceasefire extension for Israel and the Hezbollah militant group.

“The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah started after Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran and the Tehran-backed militants fired rockets into northern Israel. The ceasefire first took effect for a 10-day period starting Friday.

Underscoring the truce's fragility, Israel’s military said it struck missile launchers in Lebanon that had fired into its borders. Hezbollah said it fired at the Israeli town of Shtula in response to Israeli attacks on the Lebanese village of Yater.

Lebanon's public health ministry said an Israeli airstrike killed three people further north, in the area of Nabatiya. The Israeli military said it killed three militants who launched a missile toward an Israeli warplane.

Each side has accused the other of breaching the truce.

Trump reiterated that the U.S. continues to demand that Iran stop it’s backing of Iranian-allied militias in the Mideast, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, as part of any deal between Washington and Tehran to end the U.S. war on Iran.

“Yeah, they’ll have to cut that,” Trump said to a reporter’s question about aiding Hezbollah. “That’s a must.”

Threats to shipping persist

Since the Feb. 28 start of the war between Iran, Israel and the United States, over 30 ships have come under attack in the waters of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.

The threat of attack, rising insurance premiums and other fears have stopped traffic from moving through the strait. Iran’s ability to restrict traffic through the strait, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has proved a major strategic advantage.

Jakob Larsen, the head of maritime security for BIMCO, the largest international association representing shipowners, said in a note Thursday that most shipping companies need a stable ceasefire and assurances from both sides of the conflict that the strait is safe for transit.

The threat of mines, he wrote, was a “particular concern” if traffic might return to normal levels one day.

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Madhani reported from Washington, and Keaten reported from Geneva.

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This story has corrected that the Majestic X oil tanker had been flying the Guyanese flag not the Guinea flag.

The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because no hire had been announced. ESPN first reported that the Bucks were finalizing a deal with Jenkins.

Jenkins coached the Memphis Grizzlies from 2019-25 and posted a 250-214 record that included three straight playoff appearances from 2021-23. The Grizzlies fired him with nine games left in the 2024-25 season and went on to get swept by eventual champion Oklahoma City in the first round of that year’s playoffs.

This would represent a return to Milwaukee for Jenkins, who was an assistant coach on Mike Budenholzer’s staff during the 2018-19 season. The Bucks posted an NBA-best 60-22 record that season before blowing a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals to the eventual champion Toronto Raptors.

Jenkins would be taking over a Bucks team that is entering a critical summer after going 32-50 this season, ending a streak of nine straight playoff appearances.

The Bucks announced Rivers’ departure as coach on April 13, the day after their season ended. The 64-year-old Rivers had mentioned during the final stages of the season that he wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren.

Rivers went 97-103 in 2 1/2 seasons with the Bucks. He owns a 1,194-866 overall record and ranks sixth in NBA career coaching wins.

Milwaukee’s main offseason concern regards the future of two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has spent his entire 13-season NBA career with the Bucks.

Antetokounmpo, 31, is eligible to become a free agent after next season if he doesn’t sign a four-year, $275 million contract extension in October. Or the Bucks could trade him beforehand if they don’t believe he will sign that extension.

Antetokounmpo was asked after the Bucks’ season finale whether he’d sign an extension.

“It’s something I have to sit down with my family and see what’s best for me, what’s best for my family,” he replied.

By the end of the season, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks were at odds over the nine-time All-NBA forward's health status. Antetokounmpo played a career-low 36 games this season.

Antetokounmpo said late in the season that he wanted to play and was healthy enough to do so, while the Bucks were ruling him out due to a left knee hyperextension and bone bruise. The NBA was investigating the matter.

Jenkins worked with Antetokounmpo during his earlier stint with the Bucks. He had been on Budenholzer's staffs both in Atlanta and Milwaukee before the Grizzlies hired him in 2019, the same year they selected Ja Morant with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft.

Memphis reached the second round of the playoffs under Jenkins in 2022 and lost in the first round in 2021 and 2023. Jenkins' 250 career coaching wins with the Grizzlies are the most in franchise history.

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AP Pro Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.

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

Leo also asserted that countries have the right to control their borders but mustn’t treat migrants worse than “animals,” and lamented that the church’s morality teaching is often reduced to sexual issues.

On Iran, capital punishment and peace

After a trip that was dominated by the very public back and forth between Leo and U.S. President Donald Trump over the war, Leo urged the United States and Iran to return to negotiations.

He called for a new “culture of peace” to replace the recourse to violence whenever conflicts arise.

He said the question wasn’t whether the Iran regime should change or not. “The question should be about how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents.”

He revealed that he carries with him the photo of a Muslim Lebanese boy who had been killed in Israel’s recent war with Hezbollah. The boy had been photographed holding a sign welcoming the pope when he visited Lebanon last year.

“As a pastor I cannot be in favor of war,” he told reporters aboard his plane. “I would like to encourage everyone to find responses that come from a culture of peace and not hatred and division.”

Asked if he condemned Iran’s recent executions, Leo said he condemned “all actions that are unjust” and included capital punishment in the list.

“I condemn the taking of people’s lives. I condemn capital punishment. I believe human life is to be respected and that all people from conception to natural (death), their lives should be respected and protected.

“So when a regime, when a country takes decisions which take away the lives of other people unjustly, then obviously that is something that should be condemned,” he said.

Pope Francis changed the church’s social teaching to declare capital punishment immoral in all cases.

On migration and the rights of states

Leo affirmed the right of countries to impose immigration controls on their borders and acknowledged that uncontrolled migration had created situations “that are sometimes more unjust in the place where they arrive than from where they left.”

“I personally believe that a state has the right to impose rules for its frontiers,” he said. “But saying this, I ask: ‘What are we doing in the wealthier countries to change the situation in poorer countries’ to provide opportunities so that people aren’t compelled to leave?”

Regardless, he said migrants are human beings and deserve to be respected in their human dignity and not be treated “worse than house pets, animals.”

On LGBTQ+ blessings and morality

Leo was asked about the recent invitation by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich, for the priests and pastoral workers in his archdioceses to adopt a set of guidelines formalizing and ritualizing blessings of same-sex couples.

The guidelines were approved last year by a controversial German church governing body made up of the German bishops’ conference and a Catholic lay group that has been working to have a greater say in church decision-making.

The Vatican in 2023 allowed for such blessings, but it made clear that they were not to be formalized or ritualized. The Vatican allowed them to be offered spontaneously and informally, as a priest gives a final blessing to all people at the end of Mass.

Leo said the Holy See had made clear to German bishops that “we do not agree with the formalized blessing” of gay couples or couples in other “irregular situations.”

The Vatican’s 2023 declaration allowing an informal blessing, promulgated with virtually no consultation outside the Vatican, sharply divided the church, with African bishops delivering a continent-wide dissent and refusing to implement it. Homosexual activity is criminalized in several African countries.

Asked how he would handle keeping the church unified over such a divisive issue, Leo spoke broadly about how culture war questions of sexual morality had dominated church discourse, particularly in the West, far too much.

“I think it’s very important to understand that the unity or division of the church should not revolve around sexual matters,” he said. “We tend to think that when the church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual.

“And in reality, I believe that there are much greater and more important issues such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion that would all take priority before that particular issue.”

The comment was significant because it suggested that even though he is American, Leo believes the church in the U.S. and the West has excessively reduced its moral teachings to revolve only around sex at the expense of other pressing issues.

A pope who keeps on eye on how he’s being covered

History’s first U.S. pope showed himself keenly aware of how his Africa trip had been reported and interpreted, including about his sometimes tame public addresses to African leaders who are accused of corruption or authoritarianism.

With a few notable exceptions, Leo kept his political remarks to the leaders largely diplomatic, using a language of encouragement and subtle messaging rather than headline-grabbing condemnations.

He also allowed some of the circumstances of his visit to speak louder than his words: a choreographed song and dance routine by prisoners in a country known for gross human rights abuses, or the extravagant luxury of a president’s hometown in a country where more than half the population lives in poverty.

Leo insisted that his primary reason for visiting Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea was as a pastor, to accompany his flock in their faith.

He added that the Holy See can sometimes achieve more behind the scenes via its diplomatic work, including through the release of political prisoners, than with “great proclamations criticizing, judging or condemning.”

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Associated Press writer Monika Pronczuk contributed to this report.

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

Authorities described the shooting inside the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge as a confrontation between two groups of people and not a random attack. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said some innocent bystanders were struck by gunfire.

Police Chief TJ Morse said five people were in custody, and there was no ongoing threat to the public.

“This was a disagreement, a fight, between two different groups of people that we are still trying to unravel, and unfortunately innocent victims got caught in the crossfire," Morse said in a news conference.

Three high school seniors from Ascension Episcopal School were among the victims of the shooting, according to a Facebook post from Lafayette Parish President Monique Blanco Boulet.

“We are heartbroken by the senseless violence that happened today at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge,” she said, adding that she was asking her community to “join us in holding all of these families close in prayer.”

Rachel Delcambre, a spokesperson for the school, said in an email that the school would not be giving additional information at this time “out of deep respect for the families and the sensitivity of this situation.”

Authorities initially said as many as 10 people had been injured but later revised that number. Morse did not immediately say what set off the shooting at the mall in the Louisiana capital. He said police would not release the names of victims until families have been notified.

Alex Theriot, a commercial electrician, was working on a construction project in the mall a few hundred feet from the food court when gunfire erupted and he heard what sounded like plates of glass shattering. Thinking a shooter might be going store to store, he quickly screwed the door shut of his work site and hunkered down with two other workers. They waited and hoped for the best.

“Everybody was running and screaming,” Theriot told The Associated Press. “I thought it could have been a terrorist attack.”

Desire Batton, who works at a clothing store, said she and other workers dashed inside a breakroom to protect themselves.

“We hid in there until cops came and got us,” Batton said.

The shooting began around 1:30 p.m. when the two groups argued inside the food court and started shooting at each other, Morse said. An officer was already present at the mall and ran toward the gunfire, he said. The chief made public appeals for witnesses to come forward with any video of the shooting.

By late afternoon, dozens of police cars still were clustered in the parking lot, multiple helicopters hovered overhead and armed officers in bulletproof vests patrolled the area.

Mall spokesperson Lindsay Kahn called it a “frightening day” for everyone there and said the mall would not reopen Thursday.

Kennedy Barnum, 22, said she had gone to the mall to get lunch at the food court when she heard a woman on the phone outside say, “I’ll call you back. There’s an active shooter in the mall.”

Within five minutes, Barnum said, law enforcement had swarmed the mall. She saw people running and crying, including one girl she described as “hysterical.”

“We spoke to a security guard there and she told us that there was an active shooter there, people were shot and injured, and we should leave immediately,” Barnum said.

It’s at least the second high-profile case of gun violence in Louisiana this week. A father fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, in an attack on his family Sunday morning that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighborhood, police said. Two women, including the gunman’s wife who was the mother of their children, were critically wounded.

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Associated Press writers Jack Brook in New Orleans, Jim Mustian in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.

“Of course, we are hitting what is painful for Russia, and it is very painful,” Zelenskyy said in voice messages to reporters. He said that Russian losses in the strikes have reached tens of billions of dollars.

It wasn't possible to independently verify Zelenskyy’s comments, but Russian officials have reported that attacks have struck infrastructure in regions more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) inside Russia.

While Russia presses its all-out invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, Ukraine is using its domestically developed drone and missile technology to strike Russian territory. The Ukrainian military also uses American-made Patriot air defense systems to stop Russian missile attacks on Ukraine's territory.

“We see that the Russians do not want to stop — they are hitting our energy sector and our people. We will respond,” Zelenskyy said.

Prince Harry praises Ukraine's resistance

Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s bigger army drew renewed praise from Prince Harry, who arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for his third visit in a year.

Ukrainians have demonstrated “strength not just in bravery and capability, but in unity, in trust,” he said in a speech to a Kyiv security conference

Ukraine “continues to hold together, and hold together you must,” he said.

The Duke of Sussex stepped off a train in Kyiv’s main station after an overnight journey from Poland, which is the only way to travel to the Ukrainian capital.

It wasn’t clear whether Harry would meet with Zelenskyy, who was due to attend a summit of European Union leaders in Cyprus on Thursday evening.

Russian firefighters tackle huge drone strike blaze

Hours before Harry arrived, three people were killed and 10 were wounded in a Russian drone attack on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, the head of the regional military administration.

A 13-story building and an administrative building were damaged in the strike, Hanzha said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian air defenses, meanwhile, intercepted 154 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, the annexed Crimea Peninsula, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Authorities in the Krasnodar region on Russia's Black Sea coast said that 276 firefighters at the Black Sea port of Tuapse were fighting for a third straight day a huge blaze caused by a Ukrainian drone attack earlier this week.

Toxic material from the fire fell with rain, covering several districts of Tuapse with a black layer of dirt, the region’s emergency headquarters reported. The concentration in the air of chemicals from the fire surpassed admissible levels, officials said, and authorities advised residents to stay indoors.

Ukraine targets more Russian oil facilities

For the second consecutive night, Russia’s Samara region also was targeted. In the Samara city of Novokuybyshevsk, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, a drone attack on an unspecified industrial facility killed one person, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said.

Drone debris also fell on a roof of a residential building in the city of Samara, wounding a number of people, Fedorishchev said. One person was hospitalized.

Unconfirmed media reports said that a petrochemical plant in Novokuybyshevsk owned by the Rosneft oil and gas company came under attack.

Ukrainian forces also struck Russian oil infrastructure in the Samara region and a pipeline in the Nizhegorodskaya region that transports oil from Western Siberia to Tatarstan, said Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation.

An oil refinery in the Samara region and an oil pipeline in the Nizhegorodskaya region were hit, he said. The pipeline transports oil from Western Siberia to Tatarstan. He didn’t offer more details about the strikes.

Also, units of Ukraine’s Security Service struck the Gorky oil pumping station in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region east of Moscow, said a senior official from the agency, which goes by the abbreviation SBU.

The nighttime drone attack damaged three oil tanks and caused a large fire, the official said. The official wasn't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The operation of main pipelines is disrupted, the efficiency of processing at refineries decreases, and transportation costs increase. As a result, this directly affects the revenues of the Russian budget, which are used to finance the war against Ukraine,” the official said.

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

Her nails are down to the quick, except for her thumbs, which feature inch-long talons covered in fancy silver swirls.

Unable to afford a new set of nails as Cuba’s economic crises grind on, the 56-year-old cafeteria worker opted instead to do her lashes, a cheaper alternative she hoped would draw people’s attention upward.

Severe shortages of water, power and money combined with a U.S energy blockade have deepened poverty and increased hunger across the island as severe blackouts persist. Even those who are more affluent are now eliminating long-established and often beloved routines as they adapt to increasingly dire realities.

“The Cuban woman likes to look beautiful — to do her hair, do her nails, do her feet — and wear perfume,” Zamora said. “I don’t look how I would like to look.”

Changes in beauty routines

Melina Colás knows the feeling.

The young manicurist who works in Havana recently got long braids to celebrate her birthday but quickly realized it’s a difficult style to maintain given chronic water shortages.

She used to wear her hair long and straightened but has decided to cut it and wear it natural, even though she thinks it would not suit what she called her short stature and round face.

“Before, you could do whatever you wanted,” she said of hairstyles when water was readily available. “Not now.”

Colás also has tweaked things at the salon where she works.

She has learned patience, aware clients show up late because public transportation is scarce.

And she now relies on a mix of water and vinegar in a spray bottle to offset water shortages – a concoction she said also helps soften clients’ cuticles and staves off a growing number of fungus cases because time between manicure appointments is growing longer for many.

“Some cases are critical,” Colás said.

She also lamented how the island’s economic crisis and shrinking budgets have led to a drop in customers, a trend that hairstylist Betty Ramírez Aldana, 50, also has noticed.

“It really came as a shock to me, because I’ve lost a lot of clients,” he said on a recent afternoon at a makeshift hair salon with bubblegum pink walls. “Normally by now I’d have five, six, eight clients. Look at the hour. And no one has showed up.”

The hair salon where he works recently spent three weeks without water, since electricity powers many pump stations on the island and severe outages are commonplace. He no longer can provide certain hair straightening treatments, so he offers clients options including flattering cuts.

“A lot of them have opted to embrace their natural curly hair,” he said.

An increasing number of women also have been forced to grow out their roots because they can't make it into a salon given a lack of gasoline and public transportation, coupled with withering budgets, Ramírez said.

Those who can afford it call him for home visits, with the original customer likely joined “by her aunt and the upstairs neighbor. I don’t serve one, I serve two or three,” he said.

A demand to lift the US energy blockade

Beauty aside, Cubans also are agonizing over being forced to cut corners on basic hygiene: Some say they are washing their hair only twice a month, and that clothes stay dirtier longer.

Antonia Isalgués Barrién, 60, who works for a state-run company running boats from eastern Havana to the heart of the capital, said she hangs her clothes outside every day after working on a boat because she doesn’t have water to wash them.

“It’s very hot here in Cuba; you sweat a lot,” she said, recalling how she used to wash clothes nearly daily. “I’ve never been forced to hang clothes in the fresh air… and then put them on again.”

Isalgués said she has noticed a surge in the number of passengers as a growing number of gas stations close and only a handful of public buses remain in circulation.

Cuba had spent three months without fuel shipments until a Russian tanker arrived in late March with 730,000 barrels of oil. That amount, once fully refined and distributed, normally would meet less than two weeks of the country’s fuel demands.

Iván de los Ángeles Arias, a 44-year-old boat pilot, often boards the boat for a five-minute ride across the Bay of Havana, keeping his car at home for emergency use only.

“That’s the reality we’re forced to live,” he said. “You deal with it as best you can.”

U.S. diplomats flew to Cuba earlier this month to meet with top government officials for the first time since 2016 as tensions remain high between the two countries.

Cuba’s government has said that the elimination of the U.S. energy embargo was a top priority for its delegation, calling it an “act of economic coercion” and “unjustified punishment.”

In late January, just weeks after the U.S. invaded Venezuela in a move that halted critical oil shipments to Cuba, President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba, which produces only 40% to meet its needs.

The U.S. has called for an end to political repression, the release of political prisoners and liberalization of the island’s imploding economy as part of several conditions to lift its sanctions on Cuba.

Arias, the boat pilot, said he didn’t think the talks will change anything for him.

“I have no hope,” he said. “That means nothing if living conditions remain the same.”

During a Thursday event announcing a deal with drugmaker Regeneron to lower the cost of its pharmaceutical products, Trump defended his past claims that prices on prescription medications had been cut by well over 100% — something that is mathematically impossible without manufacturers dropping prices to zero and then presumably paying consumers to use their product.

Trump acknowledged having boasted that his efforts to lower drug prices had reduced what consumers pay by “500%, 600%.” But he added, “We also sometimes say 50%, 60%” and called it a "different kind of calculation" that could go up to "70, 80 and 90%."

“People understand that better,” Trump said. “But they're two ways of calculating” and “either way, it doesn't make any difference.”

There could indeed be two ways of calculating such things — but the difference is very important. One is correct. The other is nonmathematical.

It was one of several times Trump used his own — but incorrect — math during the drug pricing event. He claimed the 7 1/2-week-and-still-going Iran war actually fell within the four- to six-week timeline he predicted early on. The president also brought up the crowd size for his 2017 inauguration — a subject that led onetime top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway to unwittingly make the phrase “ alternative facts ” famous.

Trump’s incorrect take on percentages — something he has long repeated — came just after his health chief, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., brought up the issue on his own during the same Oval Office event Thursday.

Kennedy noted that he was reminded of his exchange the previous day with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., at a congressional hearing when she said that claiming price cuts exceeding 100% might suggest “companies should be paying you to take their drugs.”

Kennedy said during the hearing that Trump “has a different way of calculating.”

On Thursday, Kennedy argued that drug manufacturers had raised prices on popular medications by more than 100% and that Trump was then cutting the price down substantially — meaning he was wiping out percentages of costs worth more than 100%.

“If the drug was $100, and it raised the price to $600, that would be a 600% rise,” Kennedy said — even though that's incorrect. Six hundred is indeed 600% of the original 100 value, but the increase from one to the other is actually only 500%.

Kennedy then continued, “And the president used that mathematical device.”

But no such device exists for the way Trump characterizes it — at least not when math is done correctly.

Something can increase in price by more than 100%. A product that increases from $1 to $2.10 has increased by 110%. But prices cannot be reduced by more than 100% without being pushed to a value of $0 — or reduced 100% of the full price — and then into negative territory, where consumers presumably would need to be paid for using a product.

In a subsequent question-and-answer session with reporters during the price announcement event, meanwhile, Trump offered another dash of fake math for how long the war in Iran, which began Feb. 28, had been going on.

Asked about the war having exceeding the four to six weeks he originally suggested it would last, Trump argued that he'd actually met his own timeline because Iran's military was “decimated” by then.

The U.S. and Iran agreed to a ceasefire this month, and Trump announced this week that he was extending it. But neither side says the war is over, and a conclusion that hasn't been achieved certainly didn't occur in the four to six weeks that have already elapsed.

Trump also brought up his 2017 inaugural crowd size issue on Thursday, when talking about renovations at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He noted that Martin Luther King Jr. had drawn hundreds of thousands of people to the National Mall for his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 and claimed: “I had the same exact crowd. Maybe a little bit more,” arguing that pictures of both events backed him up.

“I actually had more people," Trump added. “But that’s OK.”

Patty Tavatanakit, who won this major as a rookie in 2021 when it was the ANA Inspiration in the California desert, played bogey-free for a 67 and was two shots back along with Somi Lee, who bogeyed her final hole on the par-3 ninth.

Farah O'Keefe, the junior at Texas, missed a 5-foot par putt on her last hole to fall back into the group of players at 68.

“Just day one out of four — a lot can happen,” Korda said after her best opening round in a major since a 64 in the 2022 Evian Championship. “So happy to be in this position and hoping to move forward.”

Korda has been building toward the first major of the LPGA season, playing in the final group in each of her four tournaments this year and winning the season opener.

She started on No. 10 and the American star was in full flight after making the turn on a rain-soaked course that got little roll in the fairway. She made birdie on the three par 5s on the front nine and really shined on the tough par 3s — a 6-iron to 4 feet on No. 2, a 5-iron to 5 feet on No. 7.

Equally important was keeping bogeys off her card — her first bogey-free round in a major since the second round of the 2024 Women's British Open — especially on the front nine.

“Made a really long one on my first hole which could have started out the day with a bogey and I didn’t. I made a really solid putt,” she said. “Even on the second hole where I saved a 5-footer for par. Made some good saves for par.”

She also took advantage of the par 5s, which she often does when contending in majors (she was 21 under on the par 5s in her major wins at The Chevron in 2024 and the KPMG Women's PGA in 2021). They didn't always go as planned.

Korda couldn't get to the par-5 first hole (her 10th) in two because of a drive that strayed to the right. And when she hammered a drive with the wind at her back on the par-5 third, she had 6-iron to the green that came up short of a green with a back pin.

“Chunked it,” Korda said. “But I birdied both, so we're good.”

But it was the par 3s coming in that stood out, especially No. 2. Korda hit 6-iron from a slightly elevated tee over the bunker complex to 4 feet, a shot she considered her best of the day.

She prefers to hit a draw, and the wind gusting off the left made that uncomfortable for her. She had to carry a big slope, and the pin was tucked behind a bunker on the right, a bad place to miss.

“So really dialed into my target ... just left of the pin and the wind took it nicely and it dropped right next to the hole,” she said. “One, it took really nice. Two, it landed absolutely the perfect number. So those are the shot that you're like, ‘Oh, God, I love golf.’

“And then I hit a chunk on the next hole.”

The easy laugh was another indication Korda is in a happy place in golf and in life, coming off a winless season that also included her getting engaged.

Also having a great time was O'Keefe, who didn't get an invitation to The Chevron until after the Augusta National Women's Amateur. She chipped in for birdie on the par-4 fourth hole (her 13th) to reach 5 under and her name on the leaderboard — right up there with Korda — was quite a moment.

“It's a dream,” O'Keefe said. “It's something that you think about every once in a while and hope for, but I feel like I’m trying to stay composed. There is a lot more golf left to be played. The job is not done and I’m just going to keep doing what I have been doing because it just happens to be working.”

The Chevron is at Memorial Park — also site of the Houston Open on the PGA Tour last month — for the first time after three years at Carlton Woods. The course is listed at just over 6,800 yards on the scorecard, though some tees were moved up because of soft conditions from two days of rain.

Thirty-seven players in the 132-player field broke par. Jeeno Thitikul was not among them. The No. 1 player in women's golf had four bogeys over her last eight holes and shot 74. In her quest to win her first major, she started out nine shots behind Korda with her first goal to make the cut.

Minjee Lee, the Women's PGA champion trying to win her fourth of the LPGA's five majors, also opened with a 74.

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

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson stopped short Thursday of saying Wembanyama will play in Game 3. Wembanyama is “progressing,” Johnson said, but his status against the Trail Blazers remains uncertain.

“He looks good,” Johnson said, noting that the Spurs hadn't even started discussions on when Wembanyama can play again.

The Spurs listed him as questionable to play Friday in Game 3.

Wembanyama was at the team's practice facility for a second consecutive day Thursday, walking around in a black hoodie and gray sweatpants. He even got a few shots up, teammate Julian Champagnie said.

“He was only around for a little bit this morning,” Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox said Thursday. “Obviously, we just want him to be healthy.”

Wembanyama — the league's first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year and one of three finalists for the Most Valuable Player award — suffered a concussion in the Spurs' Game 2 loss to Portland on Tuesday night, leaving the game in the second quarter.

The series is tied 1-1. Game 4 is Sunday, also in Portland.

There are very specific steps that players have to clear before being removed from the league's concussion protocol. Players begin the return-to-play process with light exertion — such as riding a stationary bike, jogging, agility work and non-contact basketball drills — and each step is followed by another neurological examination.

Wembanyama's results will also be compared to his baseline neurological evaluation — which players undergo prior to each season — before doctors permit him to move forward in the return-to-play plan.

“It's pretty straightforward,” Johnson said. “Obviously, we hope he'll be back at some point. But we'll allow the protocol to play out. And again, there's nothing more important than his health.”

Any extended absence by Wembanyama would be a massive blow to San Antonio, which finished with the league’s second-best record behind the versatile 7-foot-4 center from France. They were 12-6 in the regular season without Wembanyama.

Wembanyama averaged 25 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and a league-best 3.1 blocks per game this season. He was also with his teammates on Wednesday evening, when they all donned cowboy hats and surprised teammate Keldon Johnson after he was announced as the league's Sixth Man of the Year.

“We know that he's chomping at the bit to get back on the court and be with his guys,” Johnson said.

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

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery in San Antonio said Hayam El Gamal and her five children can be released from a family immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, as long as El Gamal and her oldest child, who is 18, wear electronic monitoring. Biery denied the government's request to stay his ruling so it could appeal. One of the family's lawyers, Eric Lee, posted on X that they were released later in the day.

El Gamal was born in Saudi Arabia and is an Egyptian national. She and her family have been in immigration detention since June after her husband, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was accused of throwing two Molotov cocktails at people demonstrating for awareness of Israeli hostages in Gaza. An 82-year-old woman who was injured in the attack later died. El Gamal has said she was shocked by the attack.

Soliman is an Egyptian national who federal authorities say was living in the U.S. illegally. He is being prosecuted in both state and federal court for the attack, which prosecutors say injured a total of 13 people. Investigators say he planned the attack for a year and was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people.” He has pleaded not guilty to state charges, including a murder charge, and federal hate crimes charges.

After the attack, the Trump administration claimed the family was being rushed out of the country. The White House said in social media posts that they “COULD BE DEPORTED AS EARLY AS TONIGHT” and that six one-way tickets had been purchased for them, with their “final boarding call coming soon.”

Biery decided to release the family even though an immigration appeals court had dismissed their case to stay and issued a deportation order for them. That came after a federal magistrate judge recommended on Monday that they should be released.

Lawyers for the family claim the deportation order was directed by the “political leadership” in Washington, which the government's lawyer, Anne Marie Cordova, denied. People who have final deportation orders are normally subject to mandatory detention.

In a statement, acting assistant Homeland Security Secretary Lauren Bis criticized Biery's ruling.

“Despite receiving full due process and a final order of removal, this activist judge appointed by Bill Clinton is releasing this terrorist’s family onto American streets,” Bis said.

Biery had barred the family from being deported until he could hold Thursday's hearing. One of the family's lawyers, Chris Godshall-Bennett, told Biery they will also ask the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to stop the family from being deported while they seek asylum and permission to remain in the United States.

Another federal judge blocked their immediate removal after the attack. Since then, the family has tried several times to be released on bond and return to Colorado while their asylum application is considered.

The magistrate judge recommended this week that they be released after their attorneys argued they have not been treated fairly in immigration proceedings.

According to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, the truck drove through the airport's version of a stop light and the vehicle lacked a transponder, hampering a crash warning system. There was also extra heavy air traffic and an emergency involving another plane at the time.

Air Canada Express Flight 8646, a regional jet from Montreal with 76 people aboard, slammed into the fire truck seconds after landing on March 22. Pilots Antoine Forest, 30, and Mackenzie Gunther, 24, were killed, and 39 people were taken to hospitals with injuries, including the two people in the fire truck.

It was the first deadly crash at LaGuardia in 34 years. Here are some key takeaways from the NTSB's report.

Busy air traffic controllers

Two air traffic controllers were on duty on the night of the crash, consistent with normal scheduling.

But LaGuardia was busier than usual because flight delays pushed the number of arrivals and departures after 10 p.m. to more than double what was scheduled, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Planes were landing every few minutes in the lead up to the crash. At the same time, the controllers had to shuffle their duties because of an emergency involving a strong odor on a departing United Airlines jet. The fire truck involved in the collision was leading a convoy of vehicles responding to the emergency.

While the more senior controller was coordinating the United emergency response, the other controller took over directing vehicles on the ground while continuing to authorized takeoffs and landings.

“These controllers were just way busy, just too busy,” aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said.

No transponder on the fire truck

LaGuardia is one of 35 major U.S. airports with an advanced surface surveillance system that combines radar data with information from transponders inside planes and ground vehicles to help prevent collisions. Controllers have a display in the tower that’s supposed to show the location of every plane and vehicle.

The fire truck involved in the crash — and the others in the convoy — were not equipped with transponders that would have enabled the system, known as ASDE-X, to precisely track their movements.

The system's radar had trouble distinguishing the fire truck and the other vehicles, and the radar targets intermittently merged on the display. As a result, it didn’t sound an alarm to alert controllers.

Red lights were on

According to air traffic control transmissions, the Air Canada flight was cleared to land at 11:35 p.m. About two minutes later, 25 seconds before the crash, the fire crew asked to cross the same runway.

The flight was about 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground when an air traffic controller cleared the fire truck to cross. At the time, a system of red lights on the runway that act as a warning for crossing traffic were still lit up.

They remained illuminated until the truck reached the edge of the runway — about three seconds before the collision. By design, the lights turn off two or three seconds before a plane reaches a runway intersection, the report said.

The truck should have never entered the runway while the warning lights were on, even though the controller cleared it to cross, according to former airline pilot John Cox, CEO of Safety Operating Systems.

“That’s an automated system so even though the controller says you’re cleared to cross, the lights mean that there’s an airplane that is either on the runway or about to be,” Cox said.

Guzzetti said it may have been hard to see the runway lights before the crash because it was dark and the pavement was wet.

‘Stop, stop, stop’

Nine seconds before the crash, the controller realized the plane and truck were set to collide and told the fire crew: “Stop, stop, stop, stop. Truck 1. Stop, stop, stop, stop.”

The fire truck's turret operator told investigators that he recalled hearing “stop, stop, stop” but didn't know who the words were intended for until subsequently hearing “Truck 1."

He then noticed the truck had already entered the runway. As they turned left, he said he could see the plane's lights on the runway.

It’s understandable that the driver didn’t realize the controller's initial stop call was meant for the truck, Cox said, since he was giving instructions to multiple different vehicles in succession.

“Now we know who he’s talking to, but the first three stop, stop, stop there is ambiguity, if you were listening to it, who he’s talking to,” Cox said.

But Cox said he's not sure the truck would have been able to stop in time even if the driver had slammed on the brakes at the first call to stop, because the NTSB said it had reached 29 mph (47 kph) before it entered the runway.

Given the truck's speed and weight, Cox said, the vehicle “isn’t going to stop on a dime."

Blustery winds also are helping ignite and expand the fires in Georgia and Florida that have blanketed parts of several states in smoke, leading to air quality warnings Thursday in cities far from the blazes.

Shifting winds made for another high-risk day with more evacuations ordered near Georgia’s coast, where a wildfire has now destroyed close to 90 homes and threatened more.

Residents there were warned to leave as many as 200 homes. Farther to the west, Georgia's biggest fire near the Florida state line doubled in size in less than a day and by Thursday had burned through a sparsely populated area twice the size of Manhattan.

Images from the devastated areas showed the shells of charred cars and trucks sitting next to the smoldering ruins of homes nestled among blackened trees.

Many who were forced to flee this week were distraught over the homes and animals they left behind.

“I don’t know if I have a house standing or not,” said Denise Stephens, who evacuated her home near Hortense because of the fast-moving Brantley County fire. “I know what it’s taken from other people, but I don’t know what I have left standing.”

Wood debris littering the state’s southern half since Hurricane Helene churned through in September 2024 has enabled some of the blazes to spread and intensify quickly, officials said.

“There’s a ton of old Hurricane Helene debris down in the woods,” said Seth Hawkins, a Georgia Forestry Commission spokesperson. “It’s lying around, and it’s just a tinderbox out there.”

The forestry commission estimated that Helene swept across nearly 14,000 square miles (36,000 square kilometers) of forestland statewide, striking areas where trees are grown for paper and lumber.

In Helene’s wake, cleanup efforts were rolled out across southern Georgia. The state put up roughly $135 million to help private timberland owners remove fallen trees, and the Army Corps of Engineers hauled off millions of cubic yards of debris.

But they couldn’t get everything.

“The way Helene just threw everything down like matchsticks, there’s only so much you can do short of bulldozing everything,” Hawkins said. “There are big pockets of woods out there where people don’t walk around too much. So it just kind of gets left there.”

Brantley County, where most of the evacuations have been ordered, has less hurricane debris in its forests than some neighboring counties, County Manager Joey Cason said.

But as the wildfire continued to expand and remained unpredictable, some residents decided to stay put.

“I’ve been in the fire area today on both sides of it, and we have folks that are sitting in their front yards running sprinklers,” Brantley County Sheriff Len Davis said. “So some are leaving, and some are staying.”

It is not known yet how the wildfires started, but the bottom half of Georgia and northern Florida are both extremely dry.

In Florida, firefighters were battling more than 130 wildfires, mostly in the state’s northern half. Fire crews in Georgia responded to 34 new and relatively small blazes Wednesday, the forestry commission said.

Smoke drifted across a large area of the Southeast, making the air unhealthy Thursday for children and people with lung or heart problems in cities as far as Columbia, South Carolina. A haze hung over Atlanta’s skyline a day earlier, and there was a smoky smell across the metro area.

Officials are hoping for rain to help tame the fires, and there is a 30% to 40% chance of showers or thunderstorms in the area of both big Georgia fires this weekend, according to the National Weather Service. While showers could bring welcome relief, thunderstorms could also produce lightning capable of sparking more fires.

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Martin reported from Atlanta, and Bynum from Savannah. Associated Press writer John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

After it launched in December, Lutnick said that the government had sold $1.3 billion “worth” in just several days, as Trump stood by holding up the gilded ticket and said, “essentially it's the green card on steroids.”

Lutnick did not address the apparent discrepancy in an exchange with a congresswoman at Thursday's committee hearing.

Trump pushed the idea last year, initially suggesting a cost of $5 million, and arguing that it would entice foreign talent to U.S. shores and fill out federal coffers. It's meant to replace the EB-5 program, a decades-old program that offered U.S. visas to people who invested about $1 million in a company with at least 10 employees.

Though only one person has been approved, “there are hundreds in the queue that they are going through,” said Lutnick, appearing pleased with the program's results, at a congressional committee hearing Thursday.

“They’ve just set it up, and they wanted to make sure they did it perfectly,” he said.

A year ago, Lutnick said at a cabinet meeting that the gold card would raise $1 trillion in revenue and help “balance the budget.” The publicly held debt is $31.3 trillion and outside projections by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget are that this fiscal year’s annual budget deficit will be roughly $2 trillion.

The commerce secretary noted that each applicant pays a $15,000 fee, on top of their million bucks, which allows for “rigorous vetting” of those applying to the program that eventually opens a path to U.S. citizenship. It also allows corporations to spend $2 million for a foreign-born employee, along with a 1% annual maintenance fee.

It boasts a glitzy government website with the phrase “Unlock life in America” above a depiction of a gold card: Trump’s stern visage, aside a bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, and his squiggled signature. The website also touts the upcoming $5 million “Trump Platinum Card,” which offers up to 270 days in America without being taxed on non-U. S. income.

While Trump has created a presidential identity partially around deporting immigrants without legal status, he has repeatedly supported skilled immigration to the U.S., which the gold card program could facilitate.

When asked how the proceeds will be spent, Lutnick said: “That will be determined by the administration, and its terms are for the betterment of the United States of America.”

The idea is relatively common around the world, with dozens of countries offering versions of “golden visas” to wealthy individuals, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Greece, Malta, Australia, Canada and Italy.

The president announced the renovation at an Oval Office event Thursday, saying the coating had already begun. He was inspired to tackle the project after a friend visited from Germany and lamented that the water was filthy and looked disgusting, Trump said.

“And I went over there with Secret Service in tow, and I said, isn’t that a shame? That’s terrible,” Trump said, showing reporters a photo of the site as it undergoes work.

The project is one more makeover refashioning the nation’s capital to Trump’s liking, following others such as the demolition of the White House's East Wing to make room for a new ballroom.

Lined with stately elm trees between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, the reflecting pool is one of the most iconic sites in the capital. It’s where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.

In Trump’s telling, the reflection pool project is a case study in business acumen. The president said he scrapped plans to have the granite replaced, which he said was estimated to cost $301 million and would take at least three years.

Instead, Trump said he called a few pool contractors he knows from past real estate projects — “I have a guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools up the road,” Trump said.

The president went with a plan to clean the granite and lay down a new “industrial grade pool” surface for $1.5 million, he said. All told, it would take a few weeks. Trump noted it would be ready well before July 4, when the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its independence.

Trump brought up the project unprompted and spoke about it for several minutes at a White House event on efforts to reduce drug prices. He said he initially wanted a turquoise-colored surface “like in the Bahamas” but was sold when a contractor suggested “American flag blue.”

“You’re going to end up with a beautiful, beautiful reflecting pool,” Trump said, “the way it’s supposed to be, much better than it ever was.”

Trump said the meeting between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States, the second in the past week, went “very well,” but during an Oval Office gathering he acknowledged that “they do have Hezbollah to think about.” The Iranian-backed group has opposed the talks, and since the initial ceasefire went into effect last Friday, there have been multiple violations by both sides.

Despite that, these were the first direct diplomatic talks in decades between Israel and Lebanon and represented a major step for neighboring countries that officially have been at war since Israel’s inception in 1948. The initial 10-day ceasefire had been due to expire Monday.

“The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump said in a social media post. He added later in the Oval Office that he expects to meet in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the next couple of weeks.

Trump told reporters, while surrounded by the ambassadors as well as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that Israel has a right to defend itself “if they’re shot at, and they will.”

“We hope that together, under your leadership, we can formalize peace between Israel and Lebanon in the very near future,” Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said.

Lebanese Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad thanked Trump “for all your effort to help and to support Lebanon.” She referenced his “Make America Great Again” slogan when she said, “And I think with your help, with your support, we can make Lebanon great again.”

Lebanon presses wider-reaching negotiations

Aoun, the Lebanese president, said a day earlier that during the talks Hamadeh would ask for an end to Israeli home demolitions in villages and towns occupied by Israel after the latest war broke out on March 2.

Preparations were being made for wider-reaching negotiations. The aim of the future talks is to “fully” stop Israeli attacks, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, deployment of Lebanese troops along the border and beginning the reconstruction process, Aoun said in comments released by his office.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has called on Lebanon to work with Israel to disarm Hezbollah.

“We don’t have any serious disagreements with Lebanon. There are a few minor border disputes that can be solved,” Saar said during Independence Day remarks to Israel’s ambassadors and diplomatic corps. He described the neighboring country as a “failed state.”

“The obstacle to peace and normalization between the countries is one: Hezbollah,” he said, adding that Lebanon could have “a future of sovereignty, independence and freedom from the Iranian occupation.”

Renewed fighting in Lebanon was tied to Iran war

The latest war started when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after Israel and the U.S. launched attacks on Iran. Israel responded with widespread bombardment of Lebanon and a ground invasion, capturing dozens of towns and villages along the border.

Israel’s military occupies a buffer zone stretching as far as 6 miles (10 kilometers) into southern Lebanon. Israel says it aims to remove the threat of short-range rockets and anti-tank missiles being fired toward northern Israel.

Hezbollah has not been a participant in the diplomacy. Wafiq Safa, a high-ranking member of the militant group’s political council, has told The Associated Press that it will not abide by any agreements made during the direct talks.

The Lebanese government hopes the talks will pave the way to a permanent end to the war. While Iran has set ending the wars in Lebanon and the region as a condition for negotiations with the U.S., Lebanon insists on representing itself.

The talks last week were the first between Israel and Lebanon since 1993. Both countries have relied on indirect communication, often brokered by the U.S. or UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s top political authorities, critical of Hezbollah’s decision to fire rockets toward Israel on March 2 in solidarity with Iran, quickly proposed direct talks in a bid to stop the escalation, hoping Israel would not launch its ground invasion.

Despite the ceasefire that was later reached, an Israeli strike Wednesday killed Amal Khalil, a well-known Lebanese journalist covering southern Lebanon. Lebanese health officials said the Israeli military opened fire on an ambulance that responded, preventing rescuers from reaching her. Her body was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed building several hours later.

The Israeli military denied that it had deliberately targeted journalists or fired on rescuers, but the case sparked widespread anger in Lebanon ahead of the Washington talks.

After a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Lebanon’s Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri said the government is working on a report documenting alleged war crimes by Israel and that ministers had discussed joining the International Criminal Court.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war has killed around 2,300 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of women and children, and displaced over 1 million people.

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Mroue reported from Beirut. AP writers Abby Sewell in Beirut and Aamer Madhani and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed.

The Lakers made the designation on their high-scoring guard Thursday while the team flew to Houston. Los Angeles has a surprising 2-0 series lead heading into Game 3 on Friday night despite playing without Luka Doncic and Reaves, its top two scorers.

Reaves hasn't played since he strained his oblique muscles and Doncic strained his hamstring in a game at Oklahoma City on April 2, but Reaves returned to on-court basketball activities over the past few days. Before the Lakers' flight, coach JJ Redick said he had no update on the schedule for his injured starters' return to play.

Reaves averaged 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds during an impressive regular season for the Lakers, although he played in only 51 games due to two lengthy injury absences. In his fifth season with Los Angeles, the former undrafted free agent cemented his status as a prolific secondary scorer and dependable offensive facilitator while the Lakers won 53 games and the Pacific Division.

But Reaves and NBA scoring champion Doncic were both injured during the Lakers' blowout loss to the Thunder three weeks ago.

Doncic is still out for Game 3, but Redick said earlier this week that the Slovenian superstar is expected to begin initial on-court work soon. The Lakers haven’t publicly speculated on the date of either guard’s return.

After losing three straight games following the injuries, the Lakers have regrouped and won five in a row. Los Angeles stunned the NBA by claiming the first two games of its first-round series at home over the Rockets, who were perceived as the strong favorites in the series due to the Lakers' injury problems.

Although 41-year-old LeBron James is leading the way, Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart also have stepped up impressively in the absence of the Lakers' starting backcourt. Kennard scored 27 points in Game 1 and 23 in Game 2, and Smart scored 25 points with five 3-pointers in Game 2 while leading Los Angeles' impressive defensive effort against Kevin Durant, who managed only three points after halftime.

Reaves will be eligible for a big new contract this summer if he declines his option for next season, as expected. Both Reaves and team officials have said they believe the guard will remain with the Lakers, his favorite team since childhood.

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

Just seconds earlier, the controller had cleared the fire truck to cross the runway, but the truck started moving while warning lights that act as a stop sign for crossing traffic were still lit, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report on the March 22 crash.

Because the truck lacked a transponder, a surface monitoring system in the control tower was unable to reliably determine its position, “did not predict a potential conflict” with the landing plane and did not generate an audio or visual alert, the report said, pointing to a series of failures that contributed to the crash.

“There were so many opportunities where this accident could have been prevented,” aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said after reviewing the report.

In addition to the control tower and truck driver, he said the report suggests the pilots had a chance to recognize the danger and pull up. But, he said, they may have been too dialed into landing.

After the air traffic controller's initial stop warning, the fire truck's turret operator heard the controller say, “Truck 1, stop, stop, stop,” and realized he was telling the truck to halt, the report said. By then, the truck was already on the runway as Air Canada Express Flight 8646 was landing and speeding toward it.

Aviation safety consultant John Cox, CEO of Safety Operating Systems, said it might be understandable that the truck driver didn't recognize the first “stop” call was meant for him because the controller had just been directing a plane on a taxiway and didn't say Truck 1 at the start of the command.

The turret operator, one of two crew members in the fire truck, told investigators that as the vehicle turned left, he saw the airplane’s lights on the runway, the report said. The plane registered a speed of 104 mph (167 kph) just before the collision. The truck was going about 30 mph (48 kph).

The fire truck was leading a convoy of vehicles, including four fire trucks, a police car and a stair truck, responding to an emergency involving a strong odor that was making flight attendants feel ill aboard a departing United Airlines jet.

The air traffic controller cleared the truck to cross the runway just 12 seconds before the plane touched down, investigators said. About eight seconds later, the controller frantically began calling for the truck to stop.

Pilots killed, 39 people hurt, including fire crew members

The plane, a CRJ900 regional jet from Montreal, was carrying 76 people. Pilots Antoine Forest, 30, and Mackenzie Gunther, 24, were killed. It was the first deadly crash at LaGuardia in 34 years.

In addition, 39 people were taken to hospitals, including six described as seriously injured. The two fire truck crew members are recovering at home after being released from the hospital, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates LaGuardia.

A flight attendant still strapped in her seat survived after being thrown onto the tarmac.

Another flight attendant reported taking his seat in the rear of the plane for landing and described the flight as normal until he felt an impact, the report said. He didn't know what had happened and attempted to call the pilots but received no response, the report said.

The Port Authority said it is conducting a comprehensive review of the NTSB's initial findings. “Our focus is straightforward: ensure our safety procedures and protocols are as strong as they can be and take action to strengthen them as needed,” the agency said.

LaGuardia was busier than usual the night of the crash because flight delays pushed the number of arrivals and departures after 10 p.m. to more than double what was scheduled, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Two air traffic controllers were on duty, consistent with normal scheduling, the report said.

Planes were landing every few minutes, with a dozen flights arriving between 11 p.m. and when the crash happened less than 40 minutes later. At the same time, the controllers had to shuffle their duties because of the odor issue on the United plane.

While the more senior controller coordinated the United emergency response, the other controller took over directing vehicles on the ground while continuing to authorize takeoffs and landings.

“These controllers were just way busy, just too busy,” Guzzetti said.

Airport had technology designed to prevent crashes

The warning lights — known as runway entrance lights — were lit until the fire truck reached the edge of the runway, about three seconds before the collision, the report said. By design, they turn off two or three seconds before a plane reaches a runway intersection, the report said.

The runway warning lights in place at 20 of the nation’s busiest airports are one of the backup systems designed to help prevent a crash. Cox said the truck should have never entered the runway while the warning lights were illuminated.

“That’s an automated system so even though the controller says you’re cleared to cross, the lights mean that there’s an airplane that is either on the runway or about to be,” Cox said. “So the truck driver is going to have some questions to answer there.”

LaGuardia is one of 35 major U.S. airports with an advanced surface surveillance system that combines radar data with information from transponders inside planes and ground vehicles to help prevent runway incursions. Controllers have a display in the tower that’s supposed to show the location of every plane and vehicle.

The system, known as ASDE-X, didn’t sound an alarm partly because the radar had trouble distinguishing the closely spaced trucks and the radar targets intermittently merged on the display. Only two targets were displayed just before the crash, even though there were seven vehicles. None were equipped with transponders that would have helped the system to precisely track their movements.

According to air traffic control transmissions, Flight 8646 was cleared to land on Runway 4 at 11:35 p.m.

About two minutes later — and 25 seconds before the crash — the fire crew asked to cross the same runway, which was between the airport’s fire station and where the United Airlines jet had parked.

Five seconds later, with Flight 8646 approaching the runway a little more than 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground, an air traffic controller cleared the fire truck to cross.

Then, just nine seconds before the crash, the controller frantically told the fire crew: “Stop, stop, stop, stop. Truck 1. Stop, stop, stop, stop.” A second later, the plane’s landing gear touched down.

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Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. ___

This story has been corrected to show that pilot Antoine Forest was 30, not 24; and pilot Mackenzie Gunther was 24, not 30.

Authorities in several states did not name the event, but the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, commonly known as Jazz Fest, runs from Thursday through May 3. The gathering attracted about 460,000 people last year, organizers said.

Christopher Gillum of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was wanted for “terroristic threats,” the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office in Florida posted online Thursday. Federal authorities told the sheriff's office that Gillum, who is white, was in the Florida Panhandle “heading to do a mass shooting at a large festival in Louisiana.” The FBI in New Orleans said it's working on the investigation with law enforcement across the three states.

The Okaloosa sheriff’s office said Gillum was arrested without incident Wednesday night at a hotel in the city of Destin, and posted a photo of him being led away in handcuffs. Deputies recovered a handgun and about 200 rounds of ammunition from the hotel room, the statement said.

Gillum was arrested as a fugitive from justice and will be extradited to Louisiana to face charges there, the sheriff’s office said. It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer. The Associated Press left a message at phone numbers listed for him.

Gillum’s family reported him missing on Tuesday and he has a history of self-harm, according to Lt. Clint Lyons of the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina. Gillum’s family told law enforcement he had a gun and had “expressed recent threats to harm ‘Black people,’” according to a bulletin from police in Burlington, North Carolina.

Lyons said Gillum left the state before his agency could prepare the paperwork to involuntarily commit him to psychiatric treatment. Lyons said there were no criminal grounds to detain Gillum despite his comments about Black people “because there was no victim,” however the agency decided it needed to spread the word about him to other departments.

Gillum was located and stopped by law enforcement in Oklaloosa County on Wednesday, according to Lyons and the Burlington police bulletin.

However, he “did not present any grounds for involuntary commitment or criminal charges” and was allowed to continue on his way, the bulletin stated. Gillum told officers he was “enroute to New Orleans,” the report added.

Okaloosa deputies were initially asked to make a “welfare check” on him Wednesday morning but they didn't know he'd been making violent threats, sheriff spokesperson Michele Nicholson said. Later that day, after the sheriff's office learned Gillum was being investigated, deputies surveilled him until an arrest warrant arrived from Louisiana, she added.

“At this time, there are no known direct threats to any festivals in Louisiana,” State Police spokesperson Trooper Danny Berrincha said.

Gillum served as a sworn police officer in Chapel Hill from 2004 until his resignation in 2019, town spokesperson Alex Carrasquillo said.

He worked as a police officer in the coastal town of Carolina Beach from October 2019 until his resignation the following October, town administrative services officer Sheila Nicholson said. Gillum became a detention officer in October 2023 with the Orange County, North Carolina, sheriff’s office and left in July 2024, spokesperson Alicia L. Stemper said.

He returned the Chapel Hill police force as a non-sworn employee in 2024 before leaving again by the end of the year, Carrasquillo said. He was then rehired as an Orange County sheriff's deputy in January 2025 but resigned that September, she said.

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Mustian reported from Natchitoches, Louisiana, and McCormack from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press writer Allen G. Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina, contributed.

The company said it was making the cuts for the sake of efficiency and to allow new investments in parts of its business, as first reported by Bloomberg, which also said the company will leave about 6,000 jobs unfilled.

Also Thursday, Microsoft said it was offering voluntary buyouts to thousands of its U.S. employees.

The software giant plans to make the offers in early May to about 8,750 people, or 7% of its U.S. workforce, according to two people familiar with the plan who were not authorized to speak about it publicly.

While an alternative to the sudden layoffs removing tech workers from peers like Meta and Oracle, the savings are likely tied to a similar industry upheaval that is requiring huge spending on the costs of artificial intelligence. Meta has already warned investors that its 2026 expenses will grow significantly — to the range of $162 billion to $169 billion — driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation, particularly for the artificial intelligence experts it’s been hiring at eye-popping pay levels.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives welcomed Meta’s cuts in a note to investors Thursday.

He said he sees it as part of a strategy of using AI tools to “automate tasks that once required large teams, allowing the company to streamline operations and reduce costs while maintaining productivity driving an increased need for a leaner operating structure.”

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, has spent billions of dollars operating an ever-expanding global network of data centers powering cloud computing services, AI systems and its own suite of productivity tools, including the AI assistant Copilot.

CNBC reported earlier Thursday on a memo from Microsoft's chief people officer, Amy Coleman, announcing the voluntary retirement plan.

“Our hope is that this program gives those eligible the choice to take that next step on their own terms, with generous company support,” Coleman wrote, according to CNBC.

The city manager, Tom Tanghe, said this addition is in response to the area becoming more urban and to address concerns from business owners and residents.

He added that the new spaces are aimed at improving convenience rather than solving an overall shortage.

For business owners like Thayer Gorges, who opened Theory and Thread Resale and Consignment downtown just a few months ago, the addition is exciting.

She said customers sometimes circle the block several times before leaving when they can’t find a spot close by, especially in bad weather.

“People have said to me when they’ve come in that parking is challenging or that they’ve circled several times and have just decided to give up,” Gorges said.

As a new small-business owner, she said those lost visits are tough to take.

“It’s heartbreaking because I’m a new business and I wanted to share it with the community,” Gorges said.

Residents are feeling the strain too.

“I can never get a parking spot in my own building that I live at, let alone this street here,” said downtown resident Chris Duday.

To address those concerns, the city plans to turn a lot along Auburn Road into a parking area with 131 spaces. Another lot on Primary Street is expected to add 43 spaces.

The city manager said downtown’s recent parking pressures are partly a sign of growth: Auburn Hills is becoming more urban, drawing more people, while some existing spaces are currently offline because of construction.

Business owners said more spots will make downtown more attractive and accessible.

“It would just make it better for the guest and all the customers to come have,” said Kiana, owner of Scents Science Candle Bar.

Construction on the Auburn Road lot is expected to begin in August, though that timeline depends on the removal of several DTE utility poles and the approval of a wetland permit. Work on the Primary Street lot is also slated to start in August and is expected to be completed by fall.

Because the Primary Street lot is closer to retail stores, the city is considering making it a metered lot.

The president confirmed his continued interest in offering Spirit a financial lifeline after a lawyer told a U.S. Bankruptcy Court that the airline was in advanced talks with the U.S. government on a financing deal that would allow Spirit to emerge from Chapter 11 protection.

“They have some good aircraft and good assets, and when the prices of oil goes down, we’ll sell it for a profit,” Trump said, speaking at an unrelated Oval Office event. “I’d love to be able to save those jobs. I’d love to be able to save an airline.”

Trump stoked speculation of a deal to save Spirit on Tuesday when he encouraged a buyer to rescue the airline and suggested the federal government could help keep it afloat.

The White House has attempted to blame Spirit’s predicament on the Biden administration, which in 2023 sued to stop JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit for $3.8 billion. A little more than a year before Trump replaced Joe Biden as president, a federal judge in Dallas blocked a proposed Spirit-JetBlue merger, saying it would drive up airfares for passengers.

Trump said he had “a smart person” in mind who could potentially run Spirit and that he believed the airline could get back on solid financial footing.

“And they have some very good slots too, which are pretty valuable,” the president added, referring to scheduled times allocated for airlines to take off or land at airports when demand exceeds available capacity.

Spirit has struggled with losses for years. The airline filed for Chapter 11 protection in November 2024 and again in August 2025. With the Iran war driving up jet fuel costs for all airlines, creditors earlier this month expressed doubts about Spirit’s ongoing viability, raising the possibility the airline recognized for its bright yellow planes would be forced to sell its assets and cease operating.

Before Trump's comments about the government buying the airline outright, Marshall Huebner, a lawyer with Davis Polk who is representing Spirit, said during a U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearing in New York that government financing would make a reorganization possible and help Spirit be more competitive.

Details of a potential deal were shared with all three of the company’s primary creditor groups, Huebner said.

It was not immediately clear how a federal acquisition would differ from the terms that were under discussion. The size and terms of the financing aid were not shared publicly. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, both reported an amount of $500 million that would give the government an option to acquire a sizable stake in the airline, which has its headquarters in Florida.

Earlier this week, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy voiced skepticism about the government stepping in to keep Spirit alive. In a CBS interview that aired Tuesday night, Duffy questioned whether a deal would set a broader precedent.

“Then who else comes to my door?” he said, referring to other airlines potentially requesting government aid. “The question will be, can we do anything to save Spirit and make it viable, or would we be putting good money into a company that inevitably is going to be liquidated?”

Several lawmakers, both Republican and Democrats, also balked at the idea of a bailout. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas wrote on X on Wednesday that a deal for Spirit would be a “terrible idea.”

“If Spirit’s creditors or other potential investors don’t think they can run it profitably coming out of its second bankruptcy in under two years, I doubt the US Government can either,” Tom Cotton, a senator from Arkansas, posted on X. “Not the best use of taxpayer dollars.”

The union that represents the airline's pilots, on the other hand, voiced “strong support” for a rescue deal.

“Spirit is the reason so many Americans can afford to visit family, travel for work, or take a vacation,” said Capt. Ryan P. Muller, chair of the Spirit Airlines ALPA Master Executive Council. “When Spirit enters a market, fares go down.”

Spirit’s relatively young fleet has made it an attractive acquisition target. But previous buyout attempts from budget rivals like JetBlue and Frontier were unsuccessful both before and during Spirit’s first bankruptcy.

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Madhani reported from Washington. AP writers Josh Boak in Washington and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

A new city ordinance, approved in October 2025, makes it a misdemeanor for offenders to violate no-contact orders.

The change means officers can act immediately when a violation occurs, rather than putting the burden on survivors to report it themselves and appear in court.

In the six months since the ordinance took effect, the city attorney’s office has authorized 27 charges under the ordinance, according to Warren police.

The update comes during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.

Why the post-arrest window is so dangerous

Warren police say the period right after an arrest is one of the most dangerous times for a domestic violence survivor.

Offenders released on bond sometimes continue to contact or intimidate victims, even with a court order in place.

Before the ordinance passed, victims often had to report those violations themselves.

Now, officers can step in without waiting for the survivor to come forward.

Officer Bryce Moon, assigned to Warren’s Community Policing Unit, says the change gives police a new tool when they follow up with survivors.

“If they were arrested previously and given that no-contact order, now when we go back out there, we don’t have to walk away if there was no assault,” Moon said. “Now, it’s you can’t be here, and you have to leave, and you are leaving with us.”

Moon added that survivors are increasingly speaking up when violations happen.

“People are starting to feel comfortable letting us know and saying, ‘Hey, he did call me, even though he’s not supposed to. He called me from jail, or dropping by, or texting me,’” Moon said.

What the ordinance actually does

Warren City Ordinance 80-837, called the “Protective Order Violation” ordinance, establishes a misdemeanor offense for violating a court-ordered no-contact provision when the individual knew, or should have known, that contact was prohibited. Violators face up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.

One of its most significant features: court proceedings can move forward without the victim present. That means survivors don’t have to relive traumatic events in court, and offenders have less opportunity to retaliate or intimidate.

Under the ordinance, a court may also impose up to two years of probation, with terms focused on continued protection of the victim.

The ordinance was developed through a collaboration between Mayor Lori M. Stone’s office, the city attorney, the Warren City Council, and advocacy organizations, including Turning Point.

‘A no-contact order is not a situation — it’s a mandate’

Lt. John Gajewski of the Warren Police Department says the ordinance’s intent is straightforward: take the pressure off the survivor.

“Make us be the ones who decide if the violation occurred, and make us be the ones who take someone to jail for violation,” Gajewski said. “A no-contact order is not a suggestion in Warren; it’s a mandate.”

Part of a broader effort: Operation Cycle Break

The ordinance builds on Warren’s “Operation Cycle Break,” a pilot program launched in May 2025 in partnership with Wayne State University.

The initiative uses rapid in-person follow-ups, mandatory offender counseling, and lethality assessments to intervene earlier and support survivors before abuse turns fatal.

Police say the ordinance is another layer of protection added to that framework, specifically targeting the critical window after an arrest when offenders are most likely to re-engage with survivors.

Local shelter says survivors are coming forward

Turning Point Macomb, a domestic violence shelter serving Macomb County, has been working closely with Warren and says the ordinance is already making a difference.

“We’ve seen a lot more survivors coming forward and getting the support that they need,” said Sara Ladensack, deputy director of Turning Point Macomb. “I think it will really have an impact for survivors and the folks that we work with.”

Ladensack and Warren Police hope other cities will adopt similar measures.

Warren police say they have already received requests from other communities asking for details about the program.

The audit from the inspector general's office will focus on how the department collected, reviewed and redacted materials in preparation for their release, as well as its process for addressing concerns that arose after the files were made public, when Epstein survivors complained that personal information about them had been disclosed.

The review will revisit the department's staggered and uneven release of millions of records from the Epstein sex trafficking investigation, a process that exposed it to accusations that it was attempting to protect President Donald Trump, who decades ago was friendly with the financier. It marks by far the watchdog office's most significant effort since Trump took office for a second time to scrutinize the actions of a department that has been riven by tumult, including mass firings of employees and allegations of politicization of investigations.

The audit will be overseen by Don Berthiaume, a former career attorney in the department's watchdog office who was formally nominated by Trump this week to serve as inspector general.

The records were released starting late last year in compliance with a bill passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump, who bowed to political pressure from his own party after initially resisting efforts to disclose additional files. That November law required the release within 30 days of records related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in a jail in 2019, and also allowed for redactions of information about victims.

But problems with the department's process soon emerged.

Officials released only a fraction of records within the 30-day deadline, later disclosing they would need several more weeks because of the abrupt discovery of a massive tranche of records tied to the case.

In late January, the department released what it said were 3 million pages of records, but subsequently withdrew several thousand documents and “media” after lawyers told a judge that the lives of nearly 100 abuse survivors had been “turned upside down” by careless redactions. The exposed materials include nude photos, with faces visible, as well as names, email addresses and other identifying information that was either unredacted or not fully obscured.

The department blamed it on “technical or human error.”

The scrutiny continued after several news organizations reported that some records involving uncorroborated accusations made by a woman against Trump were not among those released to the public. The accuser was interviewed by the FBI four times as it sought to assess her account but a summary of only one of those interviews had been included in the publicly released files.

The department said those files had been “incorrectly coded as duplicative” and therefore were inadvertently not published along with other investigative documents.

Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.

Authorities say Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

Iran has not withdrawn from the World Cup, and the team is preparing to play in the U.S. despite the war in the Middle East. FIFA has insisted its group stage games near Los Angeles and in Seattle will go ahead as planned in June.

The Financial Times reported that Paolo Zampolli, the U.S. special envoy for global partnerships, had suggested the swap to President Donald Trump and FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

In a phone interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, Zampolli emphasized that “my request is not a political request." The ask, which was made to Trump and Infantino on Wednesday, was meant as a contingency plan in case Iran could not participate in the soccer tournament at the last minute.

“I had a dream,” Zampolli told the AP. “My request was for the Italian people and the American-Italian people.”

He said in the FT interview that, with four titles, the Italian national team's appearance in the World Cup would be justified.

Italian officials pushed back hard at the suggestion, with Sports Minister Andrea Abodi saying Thursday that “first of all, it's not possible. Secondly, it's not a good idea.”

Luciano Buonfiglio, the president of the Italian Olympic Committee, which oversees all sports in Italy, also dismissed the idea.

“I would feel offended,” Buonfiglio said. “You need to deserve to go to the World Cup.”

Italy’s Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti called the suggested swap “shameful.”

Hours later, Trump was asked at the White House about Iranian soccer players potentially not being allowed into the U.S. for the World Cup. He initially joked, “I don’t think about it too much” before adding, “That’s an interesting question.”

“Let me give that some thought,” Trump added.

He then deferred to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said, “Nothing from the U.S. has told them they can’t come.”

“The problem with Iran would be, not their athletes. It would be some of the other people that they want to bring with them," Rubio said, suggesting that Iran's soccer team could bring in people loyal to militant groups disguised as journalists and trainers.

“We may not be able to let them in," Rubio said of people around the team. “But not the athletes themselves.”

He added that there had been “speculation that Iran may decide not to come, but then Italy could fill their spot,” without adding details.

“If they decide not to come on their own, it’s 'cause they decided not to come," the secretary of state said of Iranian athletes.

While Iran was among the first teams to qualify for the World Cup, Italy missed out for the third consecutive tournament, resulting in the resignations of its national team coach and soccer federation president.

Zampolli has long been a part of the Trump family orbit, having introduced then-Melania Knauss to Donald Trump at a New York Fashion Week party in 1998. He regularly posts on social media about his meetings with Infantino, calling him the “King of Soccer.” Trump last year appointed him as special representative for global partnerships.

In March, The New York Times reported that Zampolli had reached out to a top official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, informing him that the mother of his child was in the country illegally as the two were locked in a custody dispute. She was ultimately deported.

The White House did not return a request for comment. Its World Cup task force, housed under the Department of Homeland Security, said it had no comment. FIFA also would not comment.

The Iranian embassy in Rome denounced Zampolli’s remarks in a comment on X.

“Football belongs to the people, not to politicians,” the embassy said. “Italy earned its soccer prowess on the field, not thanks to political maneuvers. The attempt to exclude Iran from the World Cup shows only the ‘moral bankruptcy’ of the United States, which fears even the presence of 11 young Iranians on the field of play.”

Iran’s status at the World Cup, which starts in June, has been a source of debate and concern since the U.S. and Israel launched military attacks on the country in February.

Trump in March discouraged Iran from participating in the tournament, citing safety concerns.

FIFA has consistently said Iran will stick to the World Cup schedule decided last December, and refused to negotiate any suggestion of moving the team’s games to co-host Mexico.

An Iranian government spokesperson said Wednesday that the men’s national team is preparing for “proud and successful participation” in its World Cup games in the U.S.

Iran earned one of eight guaranteed World Cup places allocated to the Asian Football Confederation. Should Iran pull out, in theory the replacement should be the United Arab Emirates, the highest-ranked Asian team that didn’t qualify.

One possible element of uncertainty is the language of the World Cup tournament rules.

FIFA wrote that it can decide to replace a withdrawn team “with another association,” though without specifying the replacement must come from the same continental confederation.

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Dunbar reported from Geneva and Kim reported from Washington.

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

Between berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press in court and restricting press access to the Pentagon, the administration's animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Trump's second term.

It's another layer of complexity for the so-called “nerd prom,” given the name for the sight of reporters in tuxes. Some people are already squeaming about journalists toasting and laughing with people they regularly cover.

“This is sort of a critical moment for these dinners and it will be interesting to see what happens going forward,” said Lisa Stark, a former ABC News reporter.

Petition asks journalists to ‘speak forcefully’ on freedom of press

She and longtime colleague Ian Cameron have circulated a petition urging journalists who attend Saturday to “speak forcefully” in defense of the press with Trump in attendance. Dan Rather and former ABC White House reporter Sam Donaldson are among more than 350 former journalists to sign. Reporters have talked about a visible protest like lapel pins touting the First Amendment.

Calvin Coolidge, in 1924, was the first president to attend the dinner. Chief executives usually appear, requiring them in recent years to appear to be good sports as comics like Stephen Colbert, Colin Jost and Trevor Noah make jokes about them. Trump attended in 2011, glaring from the audience at President Barack Obama's barbs about him. This will be the first year he attends as president, however.

“The only thing more insulting for the press than Trump not coming is Trump coming,” Kelly McBride, NPR ombudsman and head of the Poynter Institute's ethics and leadership center, wrote last week.

“This man mocks you, sues you, and targets you for prosecution,” former AP White House reporter Ron Fournier wrote on Substack. He detailed a list on Trump's actions against the press, finishing with: “and you're having dinner with him?” The top editor at HuffPost — a news website clearly hostile to Trump — said its journalists wouldn't attend Saturday as a protest.

The president of the WHCA, CBS News' Weijia Jiang, had no immediate comment. But Todd Gillman, a former Washington bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News and now a journalism professor for Arizona State University, suggested it wasn't the press' role to make news itself by snubbing Trump. The president will make news either way depending on what he says there, he said.

There's a misperception, Gillman said, that the correspondents are honoring Trump by having him at the dinner.

Some potential uncomfortable moments

Meanwhile, CBS owners Paramount are reportedly hosting a dinner to honor Trump Thursday at the Institute of Peace, which was renamed for Trump last year. Paramount is awaiting government approval of its deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.

The president, if he chooses to stay at the correspondents dinner Saturday, will also face some uncomfortable moments as the WHCA gives awards to journalists he has criticized, like CNN's Kaitlan Collins. The Wall Street Journal is being honored for its story about Trump's birthday message to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — for which the president sued the newspaper. The AP, which is battling Trump in court over access, is also being honored and will attend.

Debate over the appearance of partying with the president and his staff isn't new. The New York Times stopped attending the event in 2011 for that reason. The Atlantic magazine wrote about the “slow, awkward death” of the correspondents dinner in 2018.

Correspondents should acknowledge that “a red-carpet schmoozefest with the powerful sources they cover was never a good idea,” McBride wrote. News organizations will also be watched this weekend for administration officials sitting at their tables as guests, such as CBS News reportedly inviting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Many journalists who have attended, however, said the opportunity to have personal interactions with people they cover can help them later in their jobs. Gilman has brought ambassadors from Mexico as guests— an important contact for a reporter at a Texas newspaper. NPR journalist Eric Deggans wrote on Substack that he got an interview with media mogul Byron Allen after making a connection at the WHCA dinner.

“Even if you're not sitting with an administration official, you have the opportunity to walk up to someone, say hi, break the ice and give them a business card,” Gilman said. “It puts a face to the name, so maybe they'll return your call the next time.”

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Todd Gillman is a former Washington bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News, not a former White House bureau chief.

For people like Zack Loud of Farmington, Minnesota, it was a surprise to learn that under a new law, Canada already considered him and his siblings citizens because their grandmother is Canadian.

“My wife and I were already talking about potentially looking at jobs outside the country, but citizenship pushed Canada way up on our list,” he said.

Since the new law took effect Dec. 15, immigration lawyers in the United States and Canada say they have been overwhelmed by clients seeking help submitting proof of citizenship applications. Driven by politics, family heritage, job opportunities and other factors, thousands of Americans are exploring whether the easier process makes now the right time to gain dual citizenship.

Nicholas Berning, an immigration attorney at Boundary Bay Law in Bellingham, Washington, said his practice is “pretty much flooded with this.”

“We’ve kind of shifted a lot of other work away in order to push these cases through,” he said.

Immigration attorney Amandeep Hayer said his Vancouver, British Columbia-area practice went from about 200 citizenship cases a year to more than 20 consultations per day.

How the new law works

Canada has been changing its citizenship laws for decades, whether to update historic interpretations of law or to address discrimination issues.

Previously, Canadian citizenship by descent could only be passed down to one generation, from a parent to a child. But the new law opened up citizenship to anyone born before that date who could prove they have a direct Canadian ancestor — a grandparent, great-grandparent or even more distant ancestor.

Those born on or after Dec. 15 need to show that their Canadian parent lived in Canada for 1,095 days.

Under the new law, descendants of Canadians are already considered citizens but must provide proof to obtain a certificate of citizenship. Hayer estimated that there are millions of Americans who are Canadian descendants.

“You are Canadian, and you’re considered to be one your whole life,” said Hayer, who advocated for the new law in parliament. “That’s really what you’re applying for, the recognition of a right you already have vested.”

“The best way I can put it is like, if a baby’s born tomorrow in Canada, the baby’s Canadian even though they don’t have the birth certificate,” he said.

Americans interested in dual citizenship

American applicants have different motivations, but many say President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and other topics have led them to seek dual citizenship.

Michelle Cunha, of Bedford, Massachusetts, said she decided to move to Canada after reflecting on decades of political activism and deciding she had “nothing left to give.”

“I put in my best effort for 30 years. I have done everything that I possibly can to make the United States what it promises the world to be, a place of freedom, a place of equality,” Cunha said. “But clearly we’re not there and we’re not going to get there anytime soon.”

Troy Hicks, who had a great-grandfather born in Canada, said he was spurred by an international trip.

“I recently went to Australia and you know, first words out of the first person I talked to in Australia was basically an expletive about Trump and the U.S.,” said Hicks, of Pahrump, Nevada. “It was just like, whoa, I walked off a 20-hour flight and literally the first words of somebody’s mouth to me were that. ... So the idea of doing that with a Canadian passport just seemed easier, better, more palatable.”

Maureen Sullivan, of Naples, Florida, said she was motivated by the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which hit home when her teenage nephew encountered federal officers near his high school in St. Paul. Sullivan, whose grandmother was Canadian, said she sees citizenship in Canada as an option in case things in the U.S. “really go south.”

“When I first heard about the bill, I couldn’t believe it. It was like this little gift that fell in my lap,” Sullivan said. “There was kind of this collective excitement amongst the (family) who just felt like, we wanted to feel like we were doing something to take care of our security in the future if needed.”

How much will Canadian citizenship cost?

For those with documentation ready at hand, the proof of citizenship application fee is a relatively inexpensive 75 Canadian dollars ($55).

But costs will climb for those seeking help from an attorney or genealogist to locate records like birth, death and marriage certificates that can establish the lineage to a Canadian ancestor.

Cunha said she used an attorney and estimates the cost will be about $6,500.

However, Mary Mangan, of Somerville, Massachusetts, filed her application in January using advice from online forums.

“There are some situations where a lawyer might be the right thing, but for many people, I would guess 90% of people can probably do this on their own,” Mangan said.

The website for the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada office, which processes applications, says processing times for a certificate is around 10 months, with more 56,000 people awaiting a decision.

The agency said that from Dec. 15 to Jan. 31, it confirmed citizenship by descent for 1,480 people, though not all were Americans. Last year, 24,500 Americans gained dual U.S.-Canada citizenship.

What's the reaction in Canada?

Fen Hampson, professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, said Canadians are generally a “welcoming people.”

Hampson said some also worry a surge of interest from Americans could delay efforts by refugees and asylum-seekers fleeing vulnerable situations.

“I think where people start looking askance is someone who’s never been to Canada, who has very thin ties. They can get a passport, becoming Canadians of convenience. People don’t like that,” he said.

The names of his family and close friends can be found around every corner -- on trophies, in team pictures, the Hall of Fame, and the records hanging on the wall.

“We’re big on history here,” explained Farris. “We’re big on tradition.”

Farris still holds wrestling records at the school.

“I’m the team points holder and takedowns, I’m the holder with 432 takedowns,” Farris explained.

He’s now the school’s associate head wrestling coach, trying to help his athletes knock him off the wall.

“I was kind of born into the family. We have a really rich history here at Ferndale. My entire family have always been deep into the sport of wrestling,” laughed Farris.

Farris was a three-time all-state wrestler in high school and won the national championship twice with his college team.

But through the years, he was also wrestling with his health.

“I’ve always kind of had struggles with some of my breathing and stuff like that,” Farris said.

He was also fatigued, in spite of being in such good shape.

“Especially in sports, to have to take breaks during matches. I actually had to take two weeks off from matches because I thought I was just having really bad asthma,” said Farris.

But when he was 23, Farris ended up in the hospital.

“I ran five miles that day, and I was running up Woodward, my regular run,” said Farris. “But I kinda just felt something in my throat.”

Doctors discovered Farris was born with a right coronary artery that took an irregular path to his heart.

“While they were doing that surgery, they found so much more. So it’s like a Pandora’s box,” said Farris.

Genetic testing revealed Farris has a rare genetic condition called lamin a cardiomyopathy.

Nearly all patients with this problem will develop arrhythmias and congestive heart failure.

“It’s mindblowing. So many times, I have been running miles, and been in matches, I’ve really pushed my body,” said Farris.

As an athlete, he said it was a crushing diagnosis until he met Dr. Supriya Shore, a cardiologist at the University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center.

“I met her, and she was like, ‘Hey, no, life is not over, life’s not over. I’m on your side, and we’re gonna beat it. It’s just another match,’ is what she told me,” said Farris.

“When Chevy came in, I realized he had congestive heart failure,” said Shore. “So we first started off by fixing his medications. Unfortunately, his heart muscle did not recover a whole lot.”

Over the next few years, Farris needed an internal defibrillator and pacemaker, stents, and more. Each step bought time, but the clock was still running.

In March of last year, Farris went into the hospital for a routine test.

“I woke up, and I was in the hospital room, and Dr. Shore was calling me,” said Farris. “And she’s like, ‘We just can’t let you leave.”

Farris needed a new heart. But finding one wouldn’t be easy. He would spend the next two months in the hospital -- waiting.

University of Michigan transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Hawkins explained that previous blood transfusions during his many cardiac procedures had left Farris with high levels of antibodies, making finding a match even harder.

“There aren’t enough hearts to go around, and not all of the hearts that are being donated are suitable for everybody,” said Hawkins. “The real challenge is finding the right heart for the right patient.”

During his months in the hospital, Farris did complex LEGO projects to pass the time and said his fiancé, family, friends, and his wrestlers kept him going.

“Coach Collins walks in, and he has this big ol’ chart and all the kids, they had made me a big ol’ thing, and every kid in the entire program had signed it, and it just made me feel so good, and it was like, ‘Hey, I can do this,’ and that’s just, it was a life-changer,” said Farris.

“Finding the right heart for him took a little bit longer than we would ideally have. Sitting in a hospital is not fun, but eventually we found him a fantastic heart,” said Hawkins.

On May 12, 2025, Farris received a heart. When he woke up after surgery.

“Gratitude, just gratitude, just so much gratitude,” said Farris. “Happy to see my family and see their eyes and make a couple jokes to them and stop crying and stuff like that. It was awesome.”

Farris has embraced his second chance at life.

“I feel free. I feel like I can get back to work now,” said Farris.

He makes a point of sharing the lessons he has learned with his athletes.

“They all think that, ‘Hey, we gotta win matches for Coach Chevy,’ But I really just want them be good guys in life, right, good kids in life,” said Farris. “Just to be able to keep going, keep pushing. One foot in front of another. So I tell them, even on the hard days when we are in here, I try to make sure I talk about life a lot. So they understand that this is not just for sports, this is real life.”

The message is hitting home.

As we walked through the halls of Ferndale High School, the love and respect the students have for Farris was apparent.

His doctors said Farris is a living example of what organ donation can do.

“What we need is donors,” said Hawkins. “We really need everyone who would want a transplant for themselves, think about that and then be a donor.”

“Chevy has done so well,” said Shores. “It makes me so proud and so happy that we could help somebody like that.”

Farris is fighting to give other patients that chance too, sharing his story to encourage others to join the Michigan Organ Donor Registry.

“I think organ donation is one of the best things we can do, as we’re on our way out the door, right? To be able to bless another family, and I’m so thankful for the family that blessed me,” said Farris.

Farris will celebrate the one-year anniversary of his heart transplant next month. After that, he and his donor family are allowed to make contact if they both choose.

Farris hopes he will someday have the opportunity to thank them for saving his life.

To learn more about organ donation or to join the Michigan Organ Donor Registry, click here.

That comes as an NCAA panel has discussed the revamp that would give athletes five years of eligibility with the clock starting when an athlete turns 19 or graduates from high school, whichever is earliest.

“Coach perspective is vital to any legislative reform – on matters of eligibility that immediately impact roster management, the NABC views collaboration and communication with coaches as non-negotiable," Robinson said in Thursday's statement. "As the NCAA expedites this review, the NABC urges that all stakeholders be brought to the table – coaches included – to identify potential unintended consequences and to ensure these generational changes are structured correctly.”

The rule would offer limited exceptions, such as for injuries in what has been a common reason for athletes to ask for and receive extra eligibility.

NCAA president Charlie Baker talked at the men's Final Four in Indianapolis earlier this month, pointing to the need to build a simpler eligibility process.

He backed the plan weeks later in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, saying: "It became pretty clear, pretty quickly, that a lot of people really appreciated the simplicity of (the concept) and the fact that it creates kind of a clock.”

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

Carlos Ruiz Massieu told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council that staggered deployments from Chad and other countries are expected to continue in the coming months with all 5,500 members on the ground “between the fall and the end of the year.”

The United States and Panama proposed the new gang suppression force in early September 2025 to replace a Kenya-led multinational force plagued by a lack of funding. Its strength hovered around 1,000, rather than the desired 2,500. The U.N. Security Council authorized the 5,500 strong force on Sept. 30, with the new power to arrest gang members.

More than $200 million has been pledged by 13 U.N. Security Council member states, of which $59 million has been disbursed, according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, known as BINUH. U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Thursday that Qatar confirmed a pledge of $30 million to the trust fund for the force, with $10 million to be paid over three years.

‘Expectations remain high’

Jacques Christofides, the force’s special representative, told the U.N. Security Council meeting that the framework for how the mission will operate has been finalized, and that the multinational force is working with Haitian National Police to establish procedures for operations, detentions and other actions.

“Expectations remain high. Many view the GSF as a potential turning point,” he said, referring to the gang-suppression force.

More than 2,400 people were killed across Haiti between December and February, many of them suspected gang members as police operations intensify, according to a new report released Thursday.

The number represents a 23% increase in killings compared with the previous period, with anti-gang operations killing at least 158 civilians and injuring more than 100 others, according to the BINUH report.

Overall, more than 1,300 suspected gang members were killed and 140 firearms seized.

Ongoing gang violence has displaced a record more than 1.45 million people, more than half of them children.

Last year, more than 9,000 people were killed across Haiti, with the country now reporting a homicide rate of 76 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the world’s highest, according to the report.

“The people of Haiti have endured far too much for far too long,” Christofides said. “The scale of violence and displacement are simply unacceptable.”

Gangs have grown in power since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 at his private residence. Police say they control more than 70% of the capital and have expanded their activities, including looting, kidnapping, sexual assaults and rape, into the countryside. Haiti has not had a president since the assassination.

Christofides, a longtime U.N. expert on peace-building from South Africa, said efforts are continuing to broaden participation in the force and ensure it is equipped with the capabilities and expertise it needs. He said maritime and border support will be particularly important to help Haiti manage its ports and commercial entry points.

He stressed the importance of effective coordination with the United Nations — which will provide logistical and operational support to the force — the Haitian government, and the region, including the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Looming elections

Special envoy Ruiz Massieu told reporters the government's current idea is to have the first round of elections at the end of the year and the second round early next year, but he said that depends on improved security and freeing areas under gang control so candidates can campaign and Haitians can vote freely.

“We have reasons to be an optimist that the situation can improve in the short and medium term,” Ruiz Massieu said.

In a video posted Thursday, Haiti’s National Police said it was seizing territory once under gang control, including a large school that was severely damaged.

An official narrating the video asserted that a growing number of Haitians were returning to their communities after police cleared them of gangs.

“It’s been over six months since I last came to this area,” said one unidentified man who was videotaped by police. “We’re going to start cleaning to see if I can come back home.”

Meanwhile, Ruiz Massieu noted that the council of ministers have been meeting at Haiti’s National Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince, which has been largely controlled by gangs. He said the location of those meetings “is not only symbolic. It is also a powerful signal of the State’s gradual return.”

Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé said the transition government “remains fully committed to help Haiti emerge from this crisis" and noted that it plans to increase the number of police officers and soldiers.

“The state is taking up its rightful place again,” he said. “Haiti shall not perish.”

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Jennifer Locetta told the council that operations to fight back gangs have shown measurable but fragile progress.

“We are not measuring success by what international forces can achieve in Haiti,” she said. “We are measuring success by how quickly Haiti will no longer need them.”

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Coto reported from Havana.

Wind farms are taking shape and operating along the East Coast, even as President Donald Trump seeks to end the U.S. offshore wind industry. He often talks about his hatred of wind power and calls turbines ugly.

The Associated Press traveled roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers) and saw three of the five wind farms in the area. Two of the five are fully operational, two are nearly done, and one is about halfway built.

The first turbines from the Revolution Wind project were clearly visible from about 5 nautical miles away, and can be seen from farther away on clear days. They stretched across the horizon, massive structures evenly spaced in rows, some spinning in the light winds.

The enormity of the turbines was evident from even a mile out.

Wind farms under construction

Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind are offshore wind projects being built to power about 1 million homes across Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York.

It took about an hour and a half to reach the Revolution Wind site, more than 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of the Rhode Island coast.

Some of the blades started to turn as the early morning winds picked up. Workers were inside the central hub of the wind farm, a large gray substation.

Revolution Wind is more than 90% complete. It recently began delivering power to New England’s grid, and it’s on track to be completed this year.

Nearby at Sunrise Wind, construction is nearly 50% complete. Orsted is developing both projects. Sunrise Wind is a mix of installed turbines and empty yellow foundations that still await their towers and blades. A vessel with giant cranes to install the offshore wind components was parked nearby.

The tip of a spinning turbine appeared to touch the clouds.

The first large U.S. offshore wind farm

The first large U.S. offshore wind farm to open, South Fork Wind, borders the Revolution Wind site.

Now in its second year of operating commercially, its 12 turbines can send enough power to New York for more than 70,000 homes.

A ship that serves as a floating home base for technicians working on wind farms was next to one of the turbines on Thursday. The technicians had used the ship's gangway to walk onto the turbine and stood at its base, or foundation.

When South Fork opened in 2024, Biden administration officials said it was just the beginning — major new wind farms would dot U.S. coastlines to confront climate change, create jobs and accelerate the nation’s transition to clean energy.

Less than a year later, Trump returned to office and ordered a temporary halt to leasing and permitting for wind energy projects. His administration has paused work wind farms under construction, arranged a $1 billion payout to a French energy company to walk away from U.S. offshore wind development and added an extra layer of review for wind and solar projects. Federal judges have struck down some of his orders blocking wind energy development, including a ruling Tuesday stopping the administration from implementing some of the policies slowing the development of clean energy.

At the same time wind energy is being held back, the demand for electricity in the United States is skyrocketing and there are limited options in land-constrained coastal states for new, large energy projects in the next few years, which drives up utility bills, said Hillary Bright, executive director of the offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward.

“These energy policies are really hitting people at home, in their pocketbooks,” she said. “Offshore wind ultimately can be a part of that solution.”

The first five turbines

The closest site to the coast is the Block Island Wind Farm. It's in state waters near Block Island, Rhode Island.

These five turbines began spinning in 2016, making this the first offshore wind farm in the United States. Its turbines are shorter than those installed at successive projects, but still look enormous up close. They replaced polluting diesel generators that were powering Block Island.

The first wind farm to finish construction during Trump's tenure

Construction finished on Vineyard Wind in March. It was the first wind farm to reach this stage during Trump’s time in office.

It is expected to reach full operations in the coming months, to power over 400,000 Massachusetts homes and businesses.

There are two other major U.S. offshore wind farms under construction: a New York offshore wind project, Empire Wind, and a Virginia offshore wind project, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind.

“This is a major commercial industry in the United States of America," Jason Grumet, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, said in an interview. “Whether the president is enthusiastic about it or not, we have massive energy projects that are either bringing power to the grid or near completion.”

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

That’s why nonprofits, including the Gilbert Family Foundation, Rocket Community Fund, and Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency (Wayne Metro), are working to help thousands of Detroit homeowners get caught up through several property tax relief programs.

Wayne Metro staff say the demand for help remains high.

“We’ve received thousands of requests for property tax assistance,” said Jasmine Carson, Executive Director at Wayne Metro. “But the need is there. And we’re happy to be able to provide those services for our community.”

One of the key resources is the Homeowners Property Tax Exemption (HOPE) Program, an income-based exemption that, in many cases, can eliminate a homeowner’s property tax burden.

For Brittany Jackson, a first-time homeowner, the program came after months of stress while trying to manage overdue taxes on her own.

“Hectic. Like chaos. And worry. Frustration,” Jackson said.

She said she tried multiple approaches to get back on track, but it wasn’t enough.

“Asking for payment arrangements. Constantly calling. Making small or partial payments. Applying for different programs,” Jackson said.

After being referred to Wayne Metro, Jackson applied for HOPE, and says the support changed everything.

“It was a huge relief,” Jackson said. “Like, being able to start fresh and know that you’ve got someone that’s got your back.”

Laura Grannemann, Executive Director of the Gilbert Family Foundation and Rocket Community Fund, said the issue is widespread and often systemic.

“150,000 families have struggled with property tax foreclosure in the last 15 years,” Grannemann said. “So, it’s not just you. You’re not alone.”

Grannemann said the organization supports a network of community nonprofits that do direct outreach and help residents complete the HOPE application in trusted, familiar settings.

“We work with a network of nonprofits all across the city, who do direct outreach,” she said. “They have resources in community centers to be able to meet people where they are at and help them fill out the Homeowners Property Tax Exemption application.”

She added that qualifying for the exemption can also open the door to back tax relief.

The Gilbert Family Foundation says it has helped wipe out property tax debt for at least 13,000 families to date.

The work comes amid a long-standing need: in 2014, 48% of properties in Detroit were delinquent on property taxes, according to the organizations involved.

How to apply

Wayne Metro says signing up for HOPE is simple and can be done online or in person.

• HOPE Program info (Wayne Metro): https://www.waynemetro.org/propertytax
• Gilbert Family Foundation / Rocket Community Fund / Detroit Tax Relief Program: https://gilbertfamilyfoundation.org/news-and-stories/gilbert-family-foundation-rocket-community-fund-announce-500-million-philanthropic-investment-in-detroit-will-pay-off-property-tax-debt-for-low-income-homeowners

Officials unveiled the marker Thursday in Ellerbe, North Carolina, a community of about 1,000 people where the wrestler born Andre Rene Roussimoff lived on a ranch just outside town.

Roussimoff was billed at 7-foot-4 (2.24 meters) and 520 pounds (236 kilograms) during his time wrestling for the WWE in the 1970s and 1980s.

A larger than life villain, Roussimoff was touted as unbeatable until he faced Hulk Hogan in a match in 1987 at WrestleMania III that launched the once regional wrestling company into a nationwide entertainment force.

Later that year, Roussimoff appeared on film as the giant Fezzik in “The Princess Bride.” Fezzik was the gentle-hearted muscle for the antagonist and needed rhymes to remember his instructions.

Roussimoff was born in France. But as he wrestled around the U.S. South he fell in love with the region, buying his North Carolina ranch and raising cattle on his land about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Charlotte.

He became a critical part of the Ellerbe community. In 1990, he taped TV and radio spots against a possible low-level radioactive landfill nearby. A pair of his size-26 cowboy boots are kept at a museum.

Roussimoff died in 1993 at age 46 in France where he was visiting for his father’s funeral. They had a service for him there, but his body was cremated and his ashes spread at his beloved ranch.

Wrestler Vladimir Koloff, who befriended Roussimoff as he helped him get into the business, said his friend deserved the marker because he turned wrestling from a regional pastime into a huge international business.

“The world of professional wrestling has given us a larger than life icon,” Koloff said just before helping take the cover off the marker.

The Richmond County marker at NC Highway 73 and Old NC Highway 220 simply says “Andre The Giant. 1946-1993. Actor and professional wrestler. Was born Andre Roussimoff. Known for role in The Princess Bride in 1987. Lived nearby.”

Michigan residents are being urged to take precautions as tick populations grow across the state and Lyme disease cases continue to climb year after year, according to state health officials.

Tick risk real for outdoor enthusiasts

For Toni Spears of Dexter, protecting herself from ticks is second nature, especially when she and her husband, Ken, are gardening.

“I always wear long sleeves and long pants, and I wear boots because that kind of helps,” said Spears.

The couple has spent decades cleaning up Dexter-Huron Metropark, enjoying nature while staying mindful of the risks that come with it, including tick bites.

Spears said she’s already noticed signs that tick season is getting an early start this year.

“I think the ticks are out early because we had a friend visiting, walking his dog in our yard, and picking up a deer tick this weekend, and of course, those are the ones that carry Lyme disease,” Spears said.

Counties taking action to track, collect ticks

Health departments across Michigan are working to monitor the growing tick population.

Macomb and Washtenaw counties both hire interns to collect and identify ticks in their communities.

The scope of what those interns are finding is alarming.

Kristen Schweighoefer, environmental health director for the Washtenaw County Health Department, said the numbers paint a concerning picture.

“In the past, we have seen that over half of the ticks we collect do carry Lyme disease,” Schweighoefer said.

The intern program is ramping up just in time for peak tick season.

“They’re all ending their semesters right now, and so they’ll be starting the following weeks in early May, and we hope to keep them through August,” Schweighoefer said.

How to protect yourself this tick season

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is not discouraging people from spending time outdoors, but it is urging them to take a few simple precautions.

Officials recommend avoiding overgrown grass and brush, wearing clothing that covers the skin, and checking the body for ticks after spending time outside.

Taking those steps, health officials say, can make it possible to enjoy the trails while staying safe.

If you find a tick and want to know more about it, you can photograph it and submit it to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services through its tick identification resource.

The 22-year-old right-hander rebounded to win his debut, leading the Atlanta Braves over the Washington Nationals 7-2 on Thursday for their eighth win in nine games.

“One pitch into it I was like, ‘Oh no,’ but after that I bounced back really well,” Ritchie said. “Honestly, probably for the next year I will hate it. Then after that it will be like a funny, ‘Hey, first pitch of my big league career I gave up a nuke.’”

Ritchie, who was selected 35th in the 2022 amateur draft, allowed just one more run over seven innings. He gave up five hits, struck out seven and walked two, throwing 54 of 89 pitches for strikes. Ritchie averaged 94.4 mph with 24 fastballs and also mixed in 25 curves, 19 changeups, 10 sliders, seven cutters and four sinkers.

Ritchie (1-0) became the first Braves pitcher to allow two runs or fewer over seven-plus innings in his debut since Matt Wisler in 2015.

“Kids got a lot of weapons man, for right and left handed hitters,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “He’s in total control out there. That’s got to shake you up a little bit, first pitch you throw in the big leagues and it gets hit for a homer. But right back on the mound and attacking with all his stuff.”

Ritchie got a call from Triple-A Gwinnett manager Kanekoa Texeira at 8 p.m. Wednesday night telling him of the promotion, and he arrived in Washington around 2 a.m.

Wood homered on a 93.5 mph fastball down the middle and CJ Abrams went deep on a changeup below the strike zone in the fourth.

Washington did not get a hit after Daylen Lile’s two-out single in the fourth.

Ritchie started the season at Triple-A Gwinnett and went 3-1 with a 0.99 ERA in five starts. Atlanta selected the contracts of Ritchie and right-hander Carlos Carrasco from the Stripers before the game, optioned right-hander Didier Fuentes to Gwinnett and placed left-hander Dylan Dodd on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Wednesday because of left spine inflammation.

When asked whether Ritchie will make another start for Atlanta, Weiss said the team will make a decision in the next day or two.

“The kid did a heck of a job and made a great case for himself," Weiss said with a smile.

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

The groups said the advisory was necessary “in light of the deteriorating human rights situation in the United States and in the absence of meaningful action and concrete guarantees from FIFA, host cities, or the U.S. government.”

The advisory says visitors may be arbitrarily denied entry to the country, detained in “inhumane” conditions or subjected to invasive phone and social media searches. It points to the aggressive immigration surges in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis that led to accusations of racial profiling and the violent suppression of protests.

The message was condemned by tourism officials, who said the groups were threatening the livelihoods of service industry workers in an attempt to achieve their political goals.

Geoff Freeman, president & CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, said there are legitimate concerns about U.S. entry policies but they're being blown out of proportion. There were 67 million international travelers to the United States last year, he said in a statement.

“The notion that visiting America poses a meaningful safety risk is not a good-faith warning, it’s a political tactic designed to cause economic harm,” Freeman said.

A FIFA spokesperson pointed to several statements and policies, including the federation's governing documents, which say, “FIFA is committed to respecting all internationally recognized human rights and shall strive to promote the protection of these rights."

The U.S. has seen a decline in international travelers since Trump returned to the White House last year and offended U.S. allies with talk of making Canada a U.S. state, taking control of Greenland and questioning the value of NATO. The tourism industry is counting on a major boost from World Cup visitors, even as Trump's travel ban for citizens of 19 countries has injected further uncertainty.

The administration is betting that its push to expedite visa processing for visitors and excitement about the tournament will outweigh concerns that Trump’s immigration messaging undercuts the theme of global unity that the World Cup is meant to represent.

The tournament kicks off June 11 with games spread across North America, including 11 stadiums in the U.S. along with two in Canada and three in Mexico.

Deputies and Independence Township fire officials responded to the 7000 block of Clintonville Road at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, after receiving a call from the man’s 72-year-old wife, according to a release from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials said she lost sight of her husband, who was in a wheelchair, in the dense smoke and exited the house.

Deputies went into the house twice, from different areas, to rescue the 87-year-old man, identified as Larry Dean Goforth, “but were driven back by thick smoke, intense heat and flames each time,” according to the release.

Firefighters ultimately reached the man and removed him from the house.

Life-saving measures were administered. The man was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

His wife was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and was released Thursday morning.

Officials said the cause and origin of the fire are under investigation.

Watch the video above to learn about D’ARTillery, which hosts hands-on sewing classes where beginners and experienced makers can learn the craft.

WK Kellogg Co. said Thursday it's including toys with some of its breakfast cereals for the first time in more than a decade.

Starting on Sunday, special edition boxes of Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, AppleJacks and Corn Pops will have plastic toys shaped like characters from Disney and Pixar's “Toy Story 5.” The movie is scheduled to hit theaters in June.

Plastic toys used to be a mainstay in breakfast cereal. On Ebay Thursday, collectors were selling a Batman coin bank from a 1989 box of Ralston cereal, a miniature stuffed bear from a 1980s box of Post Super Golden Crisp and even a tiny plastic “atomic submarine" from a 1950s box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes.

But the toys gradually disappeared as manufacturers tried to cut costs and consumers worried about choking and other hazards. Kellogg was criticized in 2004 for including Spider-Man watches with mercury batteries in its cereal boxes, for example. And in 1988, the company recalled “cool flute” and “binoculars” toys after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission deemed them a choking hazard.

Toys do occasionally make a limited-time comeback. General Mills introduced a “Cereal Squad” set of toy figurines in 2020, for example.

Kellogg said it thought “Toy Story 5" was a good fit for the reintroduction, since it explores the role of toys in a tech-driven world.

“Bringing toys back inside the box reintroduces that sense of discovery through a simple, screen-free moment of play that parents can now share with their own kids,” said Laura Newman, a vice president of brand marketing at Kellogg.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Cuban Ambassador to the U.N. Ernesto Soberón Guzmán said internal issues regarding detainees “are not on the negotiating table.” The release of political prisoners was a key U.S. demand as the longtime adversaries held discussions in Cuba this month for the first time in a decade.

“We have our legal system, like here in the U.S., they have their legal system,” he said. “So we have to respect both of our internal affairs.”

In response, the State Department said in a statement that the administration remains “committed to the release of all political prisoners.”

“The Cuban regime should stop playing games as direct talks are occurring. They have a small window to make a deal,” the statement continued.

An American delegation arrived for secret meetings in Havana on April 10 in a diplomatic push to urge Cuba to make major changes to its economy and political governance or face continued economic pressure and potentially risk U.S. military escalation. Neither side has named who took part, but Guzmán said it was at the undersecretary of state level for the Americans and deputy foreign minister level for the Cubans.

Despite the recent revival in diplomatic relations, tensions between the two countries have steadily increased in the last few months over a U.S. energy blockade that has further strained economic and other crises in the Caribbean country.

Trump has threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba and said the U.S. might have “the honor of taking Cuba” following military operations in Venezuela and Iran. The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Guzmán's remarks.

The blockade, coupled with the island’s severe water and power shortages, has deepened poverty and increased hunger across Cuba as severe blackouts persist.

In late March, a Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels became the first fuel shipment Cuba had received in three months. Guzmán said that the shipment has been able to fulfill only a fraction of what the country needs to operate.

Other concerns the U.S. raised during the meeting this month centered on the influence of foreign powers on the island, the AP has reported. The Americans also discussed proposals to compensate hundreds of thousands of legal claims by Cuban Americans whose homes, businesses and land were seized after revolutionary leader Fidel Castro took power in 1959.

Guzmán confirmed that such compensation was among the topics at the meeting and that Havana is receptive to it. But, he added, that it could only happen in conjunction with reciprocal economic relief for the decadeslong economic embargo against Cuba.

“There is not only this claim but also the claim from our side because the embargo has an economic impact,” he said. “This is a highway with two directions.”

Asked whether Cuban officials can trust diplomatic efforts amid U.S. threats, Guzmán said that while they are optimistic about creating a “new approach” to U.S.-Cuban relations, the Trump administration's foreign policy approach in the last year has put them on high alert.

“We have been seeing what is happening all around the world, in our region, in the Middle East, so we are not a naive person,” he said. “We are preparing for all the scenarios. And I insist, our first option — what we really want — is a successful dialogue with the U.S. government.”

But, he added, if U.S. military aggression were to happen, “we are ready to fight back.”

The $2,299,998.85 seats for the July 19 match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, are located behind a goal in the lower deck in block 124, row 45, seats 33-36.

FIFA does not control the asking prices on its Resale/Exchange Marketplace but takes a 15% purchase fee from the buyer of each ticket and a 15% resale fee from the seller.

An aisle seat 33 in block 146, row 32 of the lower deck listed as easy access standard was listed at $207,000, while a category two seat in the last row of the uppermost third deck was listed at $138,000 for block 310, row 26, seat 23. A few feet away, seat 21 has an asking price of $23,000.

The lowest-priced tickets for the final listed Thursday on the Marketplace were $10,923.85 for four seats four rows from the top of the upper deck behind a goal, in block 323, row 23, seats 13-16.

“FIFA has established a ticket sales and secondary market model that reflects standard ticket market practices for major sporting and entertainment events across the host countries," the governing body said in a statement. “The applicable resale facilitation fees are aligned with industry standards across North American sports and entertainment sectors. FIFA’s variable pricing ticketing approach aligns with industry trends across various sports and entertainment sectors, where price adaptations are made to optimize sales and attendance and ensure a fair market value for events.”

FIFA says it reinvests World Cup revenue among its 211 members to develop the sport.

FIFA put new blocks of tickets on sale Wednesday on its direct tickets site. Available tickets for the final cost $10,990.

Tickets were available from FIFA at $11,130 for the July 14 semifinal in Arlington, Texas, and at $9,660 and $4,360 for the July 15 semifinal in Atlanta.

Prices for the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12 at Inglewood, California, were listed at $4.,105, $2,735, $2,330 and $1,940, while seats for the Americans' second match against Australia on June 19 at Seattle cost $2,715. Tickets for the U.S. group stage finale against Turkey on June 25 at Inglewood cost $2,970 and $1,345.

Canada's opener vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 at Toronto was available for $3,360, $2,240, $1,645 and $980.

No tickets were listed directly by FIFA for the June 11 tournament opener between Mexico and South Africa in Mexico City.

For the quarterfinals, available tickets were $4,200 and $1,610 for the July 9 match at Foxborough, Massachusetts; $5,730 for the July 10 game in Inglewood; $4.770 and $1,815 for the July 11 match at Miami Gardens, Florida, and $4,080 for the July 11 game at Kansas City, Missouri.

Tickets for the third-place game at Miami Gardens on July 18 could be purchased at $1,125.

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

Georgia Republican Rep. Rich McCormick said Thursday he introduced the Make DC Square Again Act, a bill that would undo the 19th century return of the southwestern part of the district to the state of Virginia, known as retrocession.

“The Make DC Square Again Act restores the original ten-mile-square District and ends the artificial advantage Virginia Democrats have recently gained from all the federal bureaucrats moving into Virginia," McCormick said in a statement.

The measure's prospects are unlikely in a Congress that can barely keep the lights on. But it's the latest partisan salvo in an effort to gain the upper hand in the closely divided House ahead of this year's contested midterms elections.

Proponents of statehood for the federal district are critical of the measure, saying it shows how Washington can be used as a “political football.”

“The residents of the district are not fully participating in the democracy of this country because we are not allowed to,” said Alicia Yass, advocacy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. “Bills like this that mess around with the district just show how important it is for D.C. to have the full benefits and rights of a democracy.”

Critics of Virginia’s referendum are calling on President Donald Trump to issue an executive order declaring the pre-Civil War return of Alexandria and Arlington to Virginia unconstitutional.

“This order would be on better legal footing than many of President Joe Biden ’s most egregious orders,” former Trump Justice Department chief of staff Chad R. Mizelle wrote in a Fox News opinion article.

Here's a closer look at the issue.

What even is this? Retro-retrocession?

Retrocession refers to the reincorporation into Virginia of the land it gave for the federal capital. Beginning in 1846, Congress voted to allow 31 square miles (80 square kilometers) of the District of Columbia to return to Virginia. That included the City of Alexandria and the areas that now include the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery.

Virginia and Maryland had given over the land decades before to form the nation’s capital, but resident's rumblings over a trailing local economy and fears that Congress would ban slavery in the district fueled the return to Virginia in 1847, according to the City of Alexandria. Virginia would go on to secede from the United States, with the Confederacy’s capital in Richmond.

The discussion over reversing retrocession has kept up in the decades since. Proponents argue that Congress never had the power to cede back the land and that the local referendum failed to meet the voting requirements outlined by Congress for retrocession.

Whether Congress could vote to bring parts of Virginia back into the federal district isn't clear. George Derek Musgrove, an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, was skeptical of McCormick's effort because the congressman said the measure stemmed from the results of the Virginia referendum, which could benefit Democrats.

“It’s not even a retrocession bill. It’s really a Virginia voter suppression bill,” he said.

The text of the measure wasn't immediately available.

Why does it matter now?

The area holds the separate municipalities of the City of Alexandria and Arlington County, which are packed with Democratic voters. In the 2024 presidential election in both places, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris won 77% of the votes cast, with Donald Trump pulling only about 20%.

The region's blue voters helped bolster Virginia's redistricting referendum, approved by voters Tuesday to boost Democrats' chances of winning four additional seats in the U.S. House. But if the entire area was ceded back to the District of Columbia, the electoral advantage in the new districts would be dulled and new districts would be drawn in light of the state's shrunken footprint.

The region's approximately 400,000 residents would also likely lose full representation in both the U.S. Senate and House.

Other possible pathways

McCormick's legislation invokes making the district “square” again and refers to how the boundaries would look on the map if they're restored. It's not the only proposal out there.

The American Capital Project, a little-known group that advocates for the land to be returned to the District of Columbia, says the path forward is through a presidential executive order declaring the original law void. That would eventually push the question in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, forcing it to rule on the legality of the original law.

It's unclear who funds or manages the American Capital Project. Its website does not list any contact information nor the names of the people or groups behind it.

There have also been efforts, pushed by Democrats, to grant the district statehood. In 2021, the Democrat-led House passed such a bill, but it did not advance out of the Senate. At the time some Senate Republicans suggested returning the current district to Maryland as a way to give voters their a chance for full representation in Congress.

The deal involves Regeneron lowering the prices of all its current and future drugs on Medicaid, according to Trump. It also involves selling a cholesterol drug called Praluent for $225 on the White House's discounted drug website TrumpRx, according to the agreement first outlined by NOTUS and confirmed in a White House fact sheet.

The deal comes as the Trump administration has been touting efforts to provide economic relief ahead of November's midterm elections, with Americans saying high costs for health care, gas, groceries and other basic needs are straining their budgets.

It's one of many so-called most-favored-nation deals the Trump administration has made with drug companies to bring U.S. pharmaceutical prices to the same level as other developed nations. Last July, Trump publicly sent letters to executives at 17 major pharmaceutical companies about the issue. Regeneron is the final one of those companies to strike a deal with his administration.

Speaking at the White House on Thursday to announce the deal, Trump touted the discounts on drugs and said, “It should be front page news.” He said voters in this November's midterm elections should reward his party because of the agreements with drugmakers.

“We should win the midterms, but it doesn’t work that way, unfortunately,” Trump said.

Trump also has a notable history with the drugmaker.

During his first term in 2020, when he was hospitalized with COVID-19, he was given a dose of a drug that Regeneron was testing to supply antibodies in order to help his immune system.

After he was released, Trump posted a video of himself standing outside the White House in which he repeatedly lavished praise on Regeneron.

As part of the new deal, Regeneron has also committed to spending $27 billion in research, development and manufacturing in the U.S., according to the White House fact sheet. Trump’s deals have historically offered companies relief from his tariffs if they make such commitments.

Regeneron also announced Thursday that Otarmeni, its new gene therapy for a rare form of congenital hearing loss, had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and would be made available to clinically eligible individuals in the U.S. at no charge. The therapy received expedited approval from the FDA under the agency’s so-called Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program.

The program, which was not authorized by Congress, has been under scrutiny from Democrats in Congress for months. House and Senate lawmakers have noted that FDA vouchers have repeatedly gone to companies that agree to pricing concessions sought by the White House.

Even as Trump and his Department of Health and Human Services have touted his drug-pricing deals as transformative, the details of the agreements have so far not been made public.

Pressed by members of Congress to share the contracts this week, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his team would share whatever details it could that didn't include proprietary information or trade secrets. Trump and Kennedy have urged Congress to codify the deals into law.

The deals have occasionally run into roadblocks. A centerpiece of the agreements with weight-loss drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk fell apart earlier this week when Medicare delayed implementation of a program for insurers to cover the GLP-1 drugs.

Drug prices for patients in the U.S. can depend on a number of factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, which shield them from much of the cost.

Patients on Medicaid, the state and federally funded program for people with low incomes, already pay a nominal co-payment of a few dollars to fill their prescriptions, but lower prices could help state budgets that fund the programs.

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Associated Press writers Matthew Perrone and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

That’s because shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery approved an $81 billion sale of the company on Thursday. Including debt, the proposed buyout valued at nearly $111 billion based on Warner’s current outstanding shares.

While the deal still faces regulatory review, the megamerger would vastly reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape, further consolidating power in an industry already run by just a handful of major players. Paramount itself was acquired by Skydance just last year.

Here's what a Paramount-Warner combo could mean for streaming, movies, news and more.

Streaming

Paramount Skydance would own both Paramount+ and, with the sale approved by shareholders Thursday, Warner's HBO Max. Company executives have said that they would combine these streamers into one platform.

What that combined service would look like (or be named) is unclear. But Paramount CEO David Ellison suggested that HBO could still have some level of independence, at least production-wise.

“Our view point is, HBO should stay HBO,” Ellison said during a conference call last month. “They built a phenomenal brand, they are a leader in this space and we just want them to continue doing more of it. But by bringing the platforms together, all of our content will be able to reach even a broader audience than we can do standalone.”

Warner and its HBO streaming platform have a powerful lineup that includes “The Pitt,” “Game of Thrones” and “Sex and the City." And beyond “Harry Potter,” Warner's library lists blockbuster films such as “Sinners,” “Barbie” and "Superman" (the company also owns DC Studios). Titles like “Top Gun," "Titanic,” “The Godfather" and “Yellowstone" fill Paramount's catalog.

In the U.S., according to streaming guide JustWatch, HBO Max controlled about 12% of on-demand subscriptions in the first quarter of this year — compared to 3% for Paramount+. Combining those two services would still fall slightly below Prime Video's 17% market share, and the 19% of the market commanded by Netflix. Disney owns about 27% of the market between Hulu and Disney+.

Beyond HBO Max, Paramount would also acquire Warner’s smaller Discovery+ streamer. And apart from Paramount+, Paramount owns Pluto TV and BET+, too.

Critics are skeptical of consumer benefits touted by Paramount. While company executives have continued to laud larger content libraries and the potential for Paramount to better compete with bigger rivals, a combination with Warner Bros. would mean fewer platform choices when it comes to streaming overall. Critics warn that could actually mean higher prices at a time when the price of almost all subscriptions continues to tick higher.

Moviemaking and theatrical releases

Paramount and Warner Bros. are two of Hollywood’s oldest studios. A merger would mean fewer companies control legacy film production.

Ellison has said he wants the combined company to grow a slate to more than 30 movies a year, keeping Paramount and Warner Bros. as stand-alone operations. And in a star-studded CinemaCon appearance last week, he promised a 45-day exclusive window for films in theaters, pledging a “complete commitment” to the industry.

Still, others are wary about what further consolidation could mean for jobs and which projects are greenlit down the road. Regulatory filings have indicated that the new ownership will be looking for ways to cut costs — including layoffs and downsizing some overlapping operations. Paramount is taking on billions of dollars in debt to finance the deal.

Warner Bros. just had a banner year of both major blockbusters and critical successes. The studio racked up 30 Oscar nominations thanks to “Sinners,” “Weapons,” and “One Battle After Another” (which took home the top best picture slot). Paramount received zero. And in 2025, Warner Bros. movies — including “A Minecraft Movie,” “Superman” and “Sinners” — accounted for 21% of the domestic box office. Paramount’s market share was only 6%, driven largely by “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning."

The industry has already experienced a sizeable consolidation. Almost 10 years ago, Hollywood’s big six became the big five when Disney bought most of 20th Century Fox. If the Warner sale goes through, a new “big four” era would be underway — with a bigger Paramount standing alongside Disney, Universal and Sony.

News

CNN would come under the same roof as Paramount-owned CBS. That would bring together two of America’s biggest names in television news, although whether CNN would continue to operate as a separate brand from CBS has yet to be confirmed.

Regardless, there is a lot of anxiety about Paramount taking control of CNN — a network that has long attracted ire from President Donald Trump and his allies. Critics point to Trump’s close relationship with the Ellison family, particularly billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is putting up billions of dollars to back the bid by his son’s company.

Since coming under Skydance ownership less than a year ago, CBS has already seen significant shifts in editorial leadership. It's taken steps to appeal to more conservative viewers in its news operations, notably with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News. If the company’s proposed Warner takeover is successful, many expect similar changes at CNN.

Some officials in the Trump administration have also made their opinions very clear about CNN's future ownership. In March, the White House attacked CNN for its coverage of the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran — and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters that "the sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”

Ellison has said that editorial independence “will absolutely be maintained” under Paramount ownership. “It’s maintained at CBS. It’ll be maintained at CNN,” Ellison told CNBC's “Squawk on the Street” in March, while noting that his company wants to speak to “the 70%” of viewers who he said identify as center-left or center-right.

The acting head of the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division has also said that its regulatory review will not be political. Still, critics are skeptical — particularly following Skydance's acquisition of Paramount. That merger was approved by the Federal Communications Commission just weeks after the company agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over editing at CBS' “60 Minutes” program. The president has continued to publicly lash out at “60 Minutes” programming since.

Other TV and cable networks

CNN is just one of the cable operations that Warner is selling. And the proposed merger would make Paramount's TV footprint even bigger.

The company also owns Discovery, TNT, TBS, Food Network, Cartoon Network and Animal Planet, among other networks — all of which would come under Paramount ownership if the deal goes through. Meanwhile, Paramount already has its own sizeable broadcast lineup. Beyond CBS, that includes Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Comedy Central, Showtime and more.

On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery said the overwhelming majority of its stakeholders voted in support of selling Paramount for $31 a share. Including debt, the deal is valued at nearly $111 billion based on Warner's current outstanding shares.

Paramount, which was bought by Skydance just last year, wants all of Warner. That means HBO Max, cult-favorite titles like “Harry Potter” and even CNN could soon find themselves under the same roof with CBS, “Top Gun” and the Paramount+ streaming service.

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement that stockholder approval marks “another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction.” Paramount added that it looks forward to closing in the coming months, and “realizing the creation of a next-generation media and entertainment company.”

It's not a done deal quite yet. The acquisition still faces ongoing regulatory reviews. Many critics have decried further consolidation in an industry already controlled by just a few major players, and are calling for the merger to be blocked — if not from the Trump administration, which so far seems unlikely, perhaps at the state level or through other court fights both in the U.S. and abroad.

Meanwhile, Warner shareholders rejected a separate measure Thursday outlining post-merger payments for company executives.

The takeover fight

Paramount’s quest for Warner has been a bumpy road. And Warner leadership wasn’t always eager to enter this particular marriage.

Late last year, Warner rebuffed Paramount’s overtures to instead strike a $72 billion studio and streaming deal with Netflix. Paramount, meanwhile, went directly to shareholders with a hostile bid to take over the whole company, including the cable business that Netflix did not want. All three companies spent months fighting publicly over who had the better offer on the table. Warner’s board repeatedly backed Netflix’s bid. But eventually, Paramount offered more money and Netflix abruptly bowed out of the race.

That corporate drama may now be over, but implications of a potential Warner sale remain. Thousands of actors, directors, writers and other industry professionals have voiced “unequivocal opposition” to the Paramount deal, in a letter arguing that further consolidation will lead to job losses and fewer choices for filmmakers and movie goers.

Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment called Thursday's vote to advance the merger a “serious setback” — but maintained the fight wasn't over. “A handful of powerful decision-makers should not be allowed to quietly reshape American media, culture, and creative life without accountability,” the advocacy group said in a statement, while pointing to other efforts to challenge consolidation.

Some have called on states, rather than the federal government, to fight the deal. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has been particularly vocal about the transaction, and said his state is investigating it.

"State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight," Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a longtime antitrust hawk, wrote on social media Thursday.

What would come under the same roof

The merger would bring together two of Hollywood’s five remaining legacy studios. It would also join two major streaming platforms (Paramount+ and HBO Max) and two big names in America's TV news landscape (CBS and CNN ) — as well as a heap of other brands and entertainment networks.

Company executives argue this will be good news for consumers, who they say will have access to bigger content libraries, particularly if HBO Max and Paramount+ become one streaming service. And Paramount CEO David Ellison has tried to assure filmmakers with a 45-day theatrical window guarantee and goal to release 30 movies a year between Paramount and Warner, which he's said will remain stand-alone operations under a combined company.

“I love cinema and I love film,” Ellison said at CinemaCon last week. "You can count on our complete commitment.”

But the new owner will also be looking to cut costs. Regulatory filings have already indicated that would include layoffs and downsizing some overlapping operations. And critics are skeptical about consumer benefits — warning of higher prices that could arise when it comes to streaming, and potentially less diversity in content down the road.

Then there’s the news. Since coming under Skydance ownership less than a year ago, CBS has already seen significant editorial shifts, notably with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief. If the Warner takeover goes through, many are expecting similar changes at CNN, a network that has long attracted ire from President Donald Trump.

Political implications

Questions of political influence have piled up. The Justice Department and company leadership have maintained that politics will not play a role in the regulatory process — but Trump himself has publicly waded into Warner’s future at times, despite backpedaling on what he once suggested his personal role would be.

The Republican president also has a close relationship with the Ellison family, particularly Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is putting billions of dollars on the table to back the bid for his son’s company. And Thursday evening, Paramount's chief is also reportedly hosting a dinner to honor Trump at the Institute of Peace, which was renamed for Trump last year.

Support for Paramount’s proposed buyout is falling largely along party lines in Washington. Democratic senators held a “spotlight” hearing on the merger last week, and have been more outspoken about antitrust concerns spanning from a potential Paramount-Warner combo. In contrast, lawmakers from both sides questioned Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Warner’s chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell in February, calling on regulators to heavily scrutinize that deal at the time.

Meanwhile, Paramount has secured money from several sovereign investment funds — including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, as well as funds from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, per regulatory filings. But such investors will not have voting rights in a future Paramount-Warner combo, the filings noted. Paramount has not publicly specified how much they’re contributing.

Other countries, including European regulators, are looking at the deal — and again, states may try to challenge it too. Labor unions and other entities could also wade in.

Shares of Paramount Skydance fell about 4.5% by Thursday's close, and Warner Bros. Discovery's stock slipped slightly as well.

The National Register of Historic Places is an official list of historic buildings, structures, districts and objects deemed worthy of preservation by the federal government due to their historical significance. It’s a National Park Service program that is administered by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).

In 2025, 13 properties were added to the list, including the Dearborn Country Club, the Ferry Street Historic District and the St. Mary of Redford Catholic Church complex.

--> Click here for the full 2025 list.

“Each of these newly-listed Michigan places tells an important story about our state, our shared history, and the communities we call home,” said National Register Coordinator Todd Walsh. “From southeast Michigan to the lakeshore, we see how people came here, built lives for their families, strengthened their towns, and left lasting legacies. We see stories of service, courage, and dedication to keeping Michiganders safe. And we see how a commitment to helping others continues to shape who we are. The National Register is more than a list on paper—it is the people, the places, and the stories that make Michigan a great place to live."

In 2024, 11 Michigan properties were added to the list, while 19 properties were added in 2023.

To be considered for the list, a property must be at least 50 years old and have historical significance in terms of major events or trends within that community, state or the nation.

The site must also have historical integrity (the ability to convey its significance) to receive this designation.

Here’s a look at the Michigan properties that have been added to the list so far in 2026:

Odd Fellows Hall

• Location: Midland (Midland County)
• Date listed: Jan. 8, 2026

Odd Fellows Hall building first went up in 1876 as the Harris Block, with storefronts at street level, storage above.

Starting in 1878, a third-floor meeting space for a local chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, according to the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office.

In 1914, IOOF Midland Lodge No. 418 purchased the building as its meeting hall, and for more than a century, the lodge used the hall for meetings and community events.

Members played an active role in local life, promoting mutual aid, civic pride, and charitable initiatives that supported organizations across the area.

The lodge occupied the building until 2022, when it consolidated with another chapter.

Now, the upper floors are being rehabilitated into apartments.

Zeeland Record Company Building

• Location: Zeeland (Ottawa County)
• Date listed: Jan. 8, 2026

Since 1925, the Zeeland Record Company Building, at 16 South Elm Street, has been known for its role in telling the city’s story.

The Zeeland Record newspaper traces its roots to 1893, and after outgrowing several locations, owner Adrian Van Koevering built a home for the operation at this building.

The SHPO said that through the 1920s, the company expanded beyond local news, adding publications with regional and national readership, which was a remarkable accomplishment for a small-town printer.

The paper brought outside news into Zeeland while sending information about Zeeland’s chick hatching industry and religious community life out.

Two front offices handled business transactions, while a large, column-free shop room in the rear gave workers the flexibility to move heavy printing equipment as needs changed.

The owner sold the business to his sons in 1947.

The building currently serves as the offices of a construction contractor, but a 1906 printing press, a 1940 paper shear, and other artifacts from the Zeeland Record are still inside, according to the SHPO.

Manistee Fire Station

• Location: Manistee (Manistee County)
• Date listed: Jan. 20, 2026

The Manistee Fire Station is the oldest continuously operated fire station in Michigan.

The station is a two-story, pressed-brick structure that is anchored at one end by a two-and-a-half-story tower topped with a copper dome, according to the SHPO.

In 1871, on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, there was also a devastating fire in Manistee.

This prompted the city to build a new firehouse in 1888/1889 to house the city’s new professional fire department.

When it opened, it had electric doors and a tall lookout tower that had also been used for drying hoses.

“In the early days, the daily ritual of firemen practicing the swift hitching of horse teams became a source of pride, both for the firemen and for the community,” according to the SHPO. “Photographs show schoolchildren gathered across the street from the fire station on the steps of the Third Ward Elementary School to witness the demonstration at noon each day, forging a unique bond between the fire department and the town’s residents.”

Bagley-West Vernor Historic District

• Location: Southwest Detroit (Wayne County)
• Date Listed: Jan. 22, 2026

The Bagley-West Vernor district covers Detroit’s popular Mexicantown neighborhood and includes several well-known restaurants and other landmarks along the two streets.

The designation recognizes the district’s significance in Hispanic ethnic heritage, social history, and commerce, according to the SHPO. Its contributing properties date from 1920 to 1975.

Cooley School

• Location: Cadillac (Wexford County)
• Date Listed: Jan. 22, 2026

The original two-building Cooley school complex opened in 1924 and was built on the site of a school that previously served the Cadillac area.

It was designed by district architect Judson Newell Churchill as part of a broader effort to modernize educational facilities in the city. It features a two-story layout based on an “I”-shaped floor plan, a style commonly used in early 20th-century school design.

Unlike some of Churchill’s more decorative work, Cooley School has a more understated appearance, with simple brickwork and minimal ornamentation that reflect a practical design approach, according to the SHPO.

In 1964, the school was expanded with the addition of an Annex building to address growing student enrollment.

This added four extra classrooms and was designed with cost-efficiency in mind.

Its architectural style reflects mid-century trends, including reduced window space, the use of fluorescent lighting, and colorful tile finishes in the hallways.

The school closed in 2017. It is in the process of being converted into housing.

“After a school closes, the building(s) can be great candidates for adaptive reuse, serving the neighborhood in a new way such as housing, community space, or for small businesses,” the SHPO said in a social media post announcing The Cooley School‘s addition to the National Register of Historic Places. “Historic preservation can be a key solution to addressing important regional needs such as housing.”

Washington Square Historic District

• Location: Holland (Ottawa County)
• Date Listed: Jan. 26, 2026

The Washington Square Historic District is a one-block commercial corridor in the middle of a neighborhood located southwest of Holland’s downtown area.

The district’s period of significance was from 1911 to 1958, with the oldest building illustrating early twentieth-century commerce.

Other buildings in the district reflect how local commerce developed before World War II, while those constructed after the war highlight changes in business practices and broader societal shifts. Together, they show how the area evolved over time.

The district was nominated for historic designation by graduate students from the University of Notre Dame’s Master of Science in Historic Preservation program.

Their research included site visits, archival work and the review of maps and other historical records for each building.

According to the SHPO, being listed on the National Register fosters community pride and helps guide future planning by recognizing the importance of the past.

It also allows property owners in the district to access historic preservation tax credits to support building rehabilitation.

St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Parsonage, and Cemetery

• Location: Northfield Township (Washtenaw County)
• Date Listed: Feb. 23, 2026

St. John’s Church was founded in 1869 by Reverend Friedrich Schmid, a German immigrant who went on to establish more than 20 Lutheran congregations throughout Southeast Michigan. Its early membership was largely drawn from German settlers who began arriving in the Northfield Township area in the 1830s, according to the SHPO.

The church stands as a notable example of Gothic Revival religious architecture, reflecting both the cultural heritage of its congregation and the character of the surrounding rural communities in the northern part of Washtenaw County.

Its recognized period of significance extends from 1874 to 1974.

More information on National Register listings

The National Park Service releases weekly lists of properties across the U.S. as they are named on the National Register of Historic Places. To see those lists, visit here.

Being listed on the register allows property owners to utilize historic preservation tax credits to rehabilitate their historic buildings. For more on the nomination and listing process, visit here.

To learn about the Michigan properties as they are added to the list throughout the year, you can visit the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office’s Instagram and Facebook accounts.

The Edenville Dam collapsed on May 19, 2020, triggered by days of heavy rainfall. It unleashed a destructive wall of water that overwhelmed the Sanford Dam downstream.

More than 10,000 people were forced to evacuate, and hundreds of homes were destroyed.

“There were cars, parts of houses in the water,” said Sanford resident Mike Callan. “The water level was above those power lines. That’s how high it was. Within 15 minutes, everything was gone, and then it looked like somebody pulled the drain in the bathtub.”

Thousands of residents sued the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

On Thursday, April 23, 2026, the Court of Claims released an opinion that found residents didn’t prove the state’s actions were a substantial cause of their property loss or that the departments abused their power.

There are still other pending lawsuits linked to the Edenville Dam failure.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4% and halted a weekslong rally that had erased all its losses because of the war and then carried it to all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 179 points, or 0.4%, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.9% from its own record.

Tesla helped drag the market lower after sinking 3.6% even though it reported better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Investors focused instead on a big jump in Tesla’s forecast for spending this year, as it builds factories to make robots and other products.

“You should expect to see a very significant increase in capital expenditures,” Elon Musk told investors late Wednesday, “but I think well justified for a substantially increased future revenue stream.”

ServiceNow dropped even more, 17.7%, even though its results for the latest quarter matched analysts’ expectations. The company has been under pressure, along with much of the broad software industry, because of worries that rivals powered by artificial-intelligence technology could undercut its business.

In the oil market, prices leaped as uncertainty built about what will happen with the Strait of Hormuz. A ceasefire is still in place between the United States and Iran, but oil tankers in the Persian Gulf aren’t able to get through the narrow waterway off Iran’s coast and deliver crude to customers.

The U.S. military on Thursday seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took control of two vessels in the strait. President Donald Trump also said Thursday he ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” Iranian boats that deploy mines to gum up traffic in the strait.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude to be delivered in June rose 3.1% to settle at $105.07 and at one point topped $107. That peak coincided with a sudden drawdown for stocks, and the S&P 500 fell as much as 1.3% before it almost as instantly erased half the loss.

The price for a barrel of Brent to be delivered in July, which is the more popular contract for traders, settled at $99.35 after getting as high as $101.

More expensive oil has hurt airlines in particular because of the industry’s big fuel bills, and stocks diverged in the industry following the latest profit reports.

American Airlines Group rose 2.4% after reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. American said demand was strong for flights, and it saw the nine best weeks for revenue intake in its 100-year history.

Southwest Airlines lost 4.1% after reporting weaker quarterly results than analysts expected. It said it would not give an updated forecast for profit this year because of “the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.”

Also on the losing end of Wall Street was IBM, which sank 8.3% despite reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected. Investors focused on potentially discouraging numbers underneath the surface, including decelerating growth in trends for its software business.

Paramount Skydance fell 4.5% after Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approved selling the business to Paramount. Warner Bros. Discovery sank 1.6%.

Texas Instruments helped limit Wall Street’s losses after breezing past analysts’ expectations for profit in the latest quarter. CEO Haviv Ilan said the semiconductor company is benefiting from growth led by industrial and data center customers, and its 19.4% leap was the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 29.50 points to 7,108.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 179.71 to 49,310.32, and the Nasdaq composite sank 219.06 to 24,438.50.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 0.7% for two of the bigger losses.

South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.9% after the government reported better-than-expected economic growth for the start of the year, boosted by strong exports, particularly of computer chips used in the AI boom. Semiconductor supplier SK Hynix said its revenue for the latest quarter jumped more than analysts expected largely because of AI-related demand.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury erased an early dip and rose to 4.32% from 4.30% late Wednesday as oil prices accelerated.

A report in the morning said slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, but the number is still at a historically healthy level. A separate, preliminary report on U.S. business output from S&P Global also suggested growth is improving a bit from its near-stagnation seen in March.

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

The FBI and other federal and local agencies executed search and arrest warrants at about 30 locations mostly in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A total of 43 people, including those already in custody, have been indicted on charges that include murder, kidnapping, extortion, running an illegal gambling operation and drug trafficking, prosecutors said.

Officers seized 120 pounds (54 kilos) of methamphetamine, more than eight pounds (four kilos) of fentanyl, along with 25 firearms and more than $30,000 in cash, officials said.

“The stuff that we’re taking off the streets is very, very dangerous. These guys have no regard for human life. They’re about making money,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference.

The Mexican Mafia was started in the 1950s at a juvenile jail and grew to an international criminal organization that controls smuggling, drug sales and extortion from inside California’s penal system.

The indictment alleges one leader who was incarcerated used contraband cellphones to oversee the Mexican Mafia's criminal activities from his state prison cell from June 2024 to April 2026. He directed street gang members to kidnap and assault people, according to court documents. The gang also allegedly sold drugs including fentanyl, meth, heroin and cocaine.

“It ran illegal gambling businesses within commercial strip malls and private residences,” the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. “The gang collected extortionate taxes and provided security, including the use of violence, to protect the illegal gambling businesses.”

The gang is also suspected of a murder at a “gang-controlled” motel in Anaheim, according to the indictment.

The defendants will begin making their initial appearances Thursday afternoon in federal court in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Reporter, April Morton recently traveled to Martin County, Florida, where you’re right in the middle of all the action. This week, April is taking us on a journey to discover all of what the area has to offer. Thursday, she showed us how you can experience stingrays, cannons, and endless adventures for the family.

She stopped by two places, that are not only fun, but educational. Her 1st stop was Florida’s Oceanographic Center. “We are a now 60-acre campus, we have a nature trail that goes directly back to the IRL or the Indian River Lagoon, said Roni Allen, Director of Development at Florida Oceanographic Center.” She spoke about the Ocean Eco Center that gives guests a hands-on educational experience, and teaches them all about estuaries, animals, different aquariums, sea turtle nesting, worm reefs, and everything that you can find on the Treasure Coast. The center, is located in the city of Stuart, and has a one-of-a-kind feature that sits right in the middle of the park, a cool lagoon which pumps 750,000 gallons of water straight from the Atlantic Ocean.

Guests will see several creatures in the lagoon, like nurse sharks, and if they want to have a hands-on experience, they can actually touch stingrays, at the touching pond.

From learning about sea life, to imagining being on the sea, at the Children’s Museum of the Treasure Coast," located in Jensen Beach, kids can go where ever their imagination takes them. “The name museum doesn’t really fit because you can touch everything here, most museums, you can’t do that, this place is all about fun and play, and education is at the stem of everything, said Tammy Calabria, the museums CEO. She said, the museum has a unique, one-of-a-kind attraction. “We have a 65-foot true-size replica of a 17th century merchant ship which all the kids call a pirate ship, no matter what age they walk in and they say pirate ship.” It is sure to catch the eye.

Watch the video above to learn more about all that Martin County has to offer.

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The child was returned to their biological mother this week when President Donald Trump’s administration took the unusual step of sending a government plane to Cuba to retrieve the child. Federal officials cited concerns that the child had been taken to Havana for gender transition surgery.

It's not clear from court documents if the defendants, Rose Inessa-Ethington — a transgender woman and the child's biological father — and partner Blue Inessa-Ethington actually planned on getting the child surgery, which isn't legal for children in Cuba.

A Canada camping trip turns into a flight to Cuba

Rose Inessa-Ethington had shared custody under a court agreement and had arranged to take the child along with Blue Inessa-Ethington and Blue's 3-year-old child to Calgary, Canada, last month, ostensibly to go camping, authorities said.

Instead they went hundreds of miles away to Vancouver, Canada, and boarded a flight to Mexico City. On April 1, they flew to Cuba, authorities said.

When the group failed to return as expected on April 3, the child's mother contacted police in Logan, Utah, alleging Rose Inessa-Ethington, her ex-spouse, had violated their custody agreement. Police found out the group had not gone to Calgary, and reached out to the Department of Homeland Security's investigations branch for assistance, according to court documents.

Investigators, who determined the group had walked into Canada at the Peace Arch Bridge south of Vancouver, obtained search warrants for Rose and Blue Inessa-Ethington's emails, cellphones and social media accounts. Then investigators used their internet activities to track the group to Cuba.

On April 8, at the request of Cache County Attorney Dane Murray, a Utah state judge issued arrest warrants for the couple alleging custodial interference, a third-degree felony. Judge Brian Cannell set bail at $5,000 each.

Logan City Police spokesperson Sgt. Brandon Bevan said that during interviews with the family of the child, one person raised the possibility that the missing child could be subjected to gender affirming surgery. Bevan said there was no physical evidence offered.

On April 13, Cannell issued an order for the child to be returned immediately and granting the biological mother sole custody.

How did this become a federal case?

Three days after Cannell's order, an FBI agent filed an affidavit in U.S. District Court in Utah alleging Rose and Blue Inessa-Ethington were likely not planning to return to the U.S.

The affidavit requested a federal warrant for Rose and Blue Inessa-Ethington's arrest on charges of international parental kidnapping.

The return of kidnapped children taken overseas often is settled through negotiations, or by the aggrieved parent filing a civil petition under an international agreement, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

But in the Utah case, federal officials worked with Cuban law enforcement to locate and deport Rose and Blue Inessa-Ethington. DOJ officials sent one of its aircraft to Cuba to retrieve the child.

The use of the plane came as the Trump administration has sought to block access to gender-affirming care for minors and pressured health care providers over the issue.

What evidence has been released showing surgery was the goal?

The child, identified in court documents as MV 1, was assigned male at birth but identifies as a girl because of what family members believed to be “manipulation” by Rose Inessa-Ethington, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit stated that “concerns exist that MV 1 was transported to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty.”

The FBI said that Blue Inessa-Ethington withdrew $10,000 from her checking account before leaving. Agents also found at the couple's home a note with instructions from a mental health therapist in Washington, D.C., “to send the therapist the $10,000.00 and instructions on gender affirming medical care for children.” The note didn’t mention Cuba.

Officials have not said whether the couple actually planned on getting the child gender-affirming surgery in Cuba or how they would get it.

Federal officials have declined to comment on the case beyond what’s contained in court documents and a news release issued upon the child’s return.

Gender-affirming surgery is rare among U.S. children, research shows. Among the youngest patients, the most common surgeries are breast and chest procedures — most likely transgender males who graduated from high school and have breast removals. Major medical organizations call for caution around surgery for minors.

In Cuba, gender-affirming surgeries are performed for adults through the public health system under strict supervision. They must be authorized by a medical commission following a comprehensive review of the patient’s file. That process often takes years and requires a wide range of medical and psychological evaluations.

Back to Utah to face charges

After being flown back to the U.S., the two defendants made an initial appearance Tuesday in federal district court in Richmond, Virginia, and were ordered to be detained.

A court-appointed attorney for Blue Inessa-Ethington declined to comment. The Associated Press left email and telephone messages for Rose Inessa-Ethington’s public defender.

Richmond is only a temporary stop until the defendants are returned to Utah to face charges. The timing for that is uncertain.

A three-judge panel found unanimously there were “substantial grounds” to believe the ex-leader was responsible for dozens of murders, first as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later when he was president.

Duterte, who served as president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested in the Philippines last year and flown to The Hague, where the global court is located. He denies the charges against him.

In their 50-page decision, judges found that the evidence shows that Duterte, 81, “developed, disseminated and implemented” a policy “to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals.”

According to prosecutors, police and hit squad members carried out dozens of murders at Duterte’s behest starting in 2011, motivated by the promise of money or to avoid becoming targets themselves.

“For some, killing reached the level of a perverse form of competition,” deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang told the court in pretrial hearings in February.

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported to up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.

Prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday that the decision “represents a significant milestone” in their effort to bring accountability.

Duterte's lead defense lawyer Nick Kaufman told The Associated Press he was disappointed in the decision, saying it “is based on the uncorroborated statements of vicious self-confessed murderers acting as cooperating witnesses.”

A date for the start of the trial has not yet been set.

Duterte has not been present in the courtroom for any hearings, having waived his right to appear. Last month judges found he was fit to stand trial, after postponing an earlier hearing over concerns about his health.

In the Philippines, families of slain victims in the brutal anti-drugs crackdown rejoiced over the decision, saying it will bring them closer to justice and toward a closure of a tragic chapter in their lives.

“This is for all the victims, who were not even given the chance to be recognized as victims because their stories were twisted in police reports, investigations and findings,” said Randy delos Santos, whose nephew, Kian delos Santos, was gunned down in an alley in August 2017 by three police officers.

“Unlike Kian, most other victims were nameless, voiceless and were just numbers and statistics whose horrific stories were never heard. Now the ICC will give their stories a chance to be told,” delos Santos told the AP.

Human rights groups also praised the decision.

“Duterte’s trial will send a powerful message that no one responsible for grave crimes is above the law, whether in the Philippines or elsewhere, and that justice will eventually catch up with them,” said Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch.

ICC prosecutors said in 2018 that they would open a preliminary investigation into the violent drug crackdowns. In a move that human rights activists say was aimed at avoiding accountability, Duterte, who was president at the time, announced a month later that the Philippines would leave the court.

On Tuesday, appeals judges rejected a request from Duterte’s legal team to throw out the case on the grounds that the court did not have jurisdiction because of the Philippine withdrawal.

In October, judges disqualified the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan from the case, citing a “reasonable appearance of bias” because he represented victims of Duterte’s alleged crimes before he took office at the ICC. Khan had already stepped back from his duties pending the outcome of an independent investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

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Associated Press journalist Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines contributed to this report.

Walker, in his 14th major league season, exited the Phillies clubhouse a couple of hours before Thursday’s contest. He was in the final year of a four-year, $72 million contract and let go after outfielder Nick Castellanos was released by the Phillies in February as he entered the final year of a five-year, $100 million deal.

The Phillies had optioned right-hander Alan Rangel to Lehigh Valley following Wednesday’s 7-2 loss to Chicago, their eighth straight.

The 33-year-old Walker was an All-Star with the New York Mets in 2021 and peaked with a 15-6 record and 4.38 ERA with Philadelphia in 2023. But he’s slid ever since, starting 2026 at 1-4 with a 9.13 ERA in five games, and has a combined 9-19 record with a 5.67 ERA over the past three seasons.

Walker gave up five runs (four earned) on eight hits in four innings of bulk relief and took the loss at Wrigley Field on Wednesday. With ace Zack Wheeler set to return on Saturday, Walker was bumped out of the Phillies rotation.

Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, said the team tried to trade Walker’s contract “various times,” but found no takers.

“We know and he knows that he gave every effort that he possibly could to try to get people out and it just wasn’t working,” Dombrowski added. “Maybe a change of scenery will help him."

Philadelphia owes Walker $15,208,556 of his $18 million salary this year. Any team can sign him for a prorated share of the $780,000 minimum, with the Phillies remaining responsible for the remainder of the money.

Manager Rob Thomson said: “It's just all performance based. I hope that people understand."

“We had a really good year out of him the first year (2023) with the 15 wins,” Thomson added. “With the injuries we had last year, this guy took down 125 innings and basically helped us get to the playoffs.”

Thomson praised Walker's presence and work ethic.

“He's one of the best teammates and one of the best people I've been around," Thomson said. “This guys a pro, performance aside.

“He tried everything, being the opener and trying to get some velo back, which he did. It didn't work out, but it wasn't for a lack of effort on his part.”

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This story has been corrected to show that Walker pitched in relief on Wednesday, not as the starter.

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

A complaint filed in federal court charges the suspects — Huang Xing Shan and Jiang Wen Jie — with wire fraud conspiracy. They’re accused of managing the industrial-scale Shunda Park compound in the village of Min Let Pan before it was seized in November 2025 by armed forces in Myanmar.

Cyberscam centers have proliferated near Myanmar’s border with Thailand. And they have persisted despite a vow by Myanmar’s military leadership to wipe them out, The Associated Press has found.

Both suspects charged in Washington are in government custody in Thailand for illegally entering that country, a court filing says. They had relocated to another scam compound in Cambodia but were arrested by Thai authorities on immigration charges earlier this year, the filing alleges. It's unclear when they could be brought to the U.S. for prosecution.

FBI agents reviewed thousands of electronic devices found at the Shunda compound and interviewed some of its former workers. Scammers posing as law-enforcement or bank officials used fraudulent websites disguised as legitimate investment platforms to defraud victims across the globe by duping them into sending cryptocurrency, according to an FBI agent's affidavit.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who announced the charges at a news conference in Washington, said the type of scam perpetrated at the Shunda compound is among the fastest-growing and most financially devastating forms of cybercrime, costing Americans billions of dollars in losses.

“This isn't abstract. It is hitting your neighbors', your friends' and your parents' retirement accounts,” Pirro said. “Some of these victims are so distraught that they end up taking their own lives. This is economic homicide.”

Compound workers told the FBI that they were held against their will and forced to participate in the scams under the threat of violence.

“The criminal syndicates behind these compounds often lure unsuspecting persons to travel to nearby Thailand with the offer of high-paying technical jobs. However, many of these persons instead have their identification documents seized and are trafficked to (Myanmar) to work in these scam compounds,” the FBI affidavit says.

Online court records don't list any attorneys for the defendants, Huang and Jiang.

Pirro also announced Thursday that authorities have taken down hundreds of scam-related websites and seized a channel on the Telegram messaging app that she said was used to recruit human trafficking victims to a compound in Cambodia.

“These criminals thought they were untouchable because they were overseas,” Pirro said. “Today, we are proving them wrong, and we are just getting started.”

In rounds of calls immediately following the indictment, advocates discussed how to support the SPLC, a Montgomery, Alabama-based civil rights group founded in 1971 that has tracked white supremacist groups and been outspoken on voting rights, immigration and policing. Organizers on one call agreed that winning in the court of public opinion would be crucial as judicial proceedings began, leading to dozens of public statements of support and planned rallies.

And legal advisors to civil rights groups urged organizers to prepare for similar criminal indictments, protracted legal action that may exhaust their resources and audits of their staff and internal documents.

The flurry of behind-the-scenes coordination represented a marked mobilization by activist groups that, like many universities, law firms and non-profits, have been at odds with the federal government since President Donald Trump's return to the White House last year.

“There’s a muscle that has been built among these organizations learned from the law firm debacle,” said Vanita Gupta, a former associate attorney general of the Justice Department during the Biden administration, referring to deals some major law firms made with the administration. Gupta led one of the calls that convened activists.

“The government's goal is often to shut down and paralyze an organization, so that their work has to stop while they defend themselves. And the hope here is that with this broad effort to defend the SPLC, that will not happen,” said Gupta.

Organizers say they are prepared to back the SPLC in its legal fight.

“It’s a blatantly obvious attack on civil rights and civil liberties to whitewash the foot soldiers of the great replacement theory and other extremists. This coalition isn’t going silent,” said Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, an umbrella organization of hundreds of civil rights groups.

Without addressing the indictment, a coalition of more than 100 activist groups on Tuesday published a letter vowing solidarity with groups that are “unjustly targeted” by the federal government. SPLC was a signatory to the pact.

“An attack on one is an attack on all,” the coalition declared. “We will share knowledge, resources, and support with any organization threatened by abuses of power.”

DOJ alleges criminal conduct in SPLC's longtime informant network

The Justice Department alleges that the SPLC, which rose to prominence for its work prosecuting and tracking hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, violated federal law through its network of paid informants in extremist groups. The DOJ claims the payments funded hate groups and misled the SPLC’s donors.

The SPLC now faces charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the case brought in the federal court in Alabama, where the organization is based.

“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at a press conference announcing the charges. Blanche promised the department “will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable.”

Longtime civil rights activists found the claims to be a disingenuous and partisan move that may empower extremist groups.

“The indictment is nakedly political and represents the Justice Department turning on itself,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League. “It places the Justice Department in the posture of, in effect, defending white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and others.”

Advocates also view the indictment as part of the administration's broader upending of civil rights law and the Justice Department's prosecution of Trump's political opponents.

The SPLC in recent years became a bogeyman among conservatives who resented that the watchdog designated several rightwing organizations that engage in Republican politics as hateful or extremist.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, which the SPLC has designated as a hate group, said the government should not only pursue convictions, but also restitution for those the SPLC has harmed.

“For years, the SPLC has used its platform to label and target organizations with whom it disagrees, often blurring the line between legitimate concern and ideological attack,” Perkins said in a statement. “That kind of reckless characterization doesn’t just damage reputations, it has put lives at risk.”

In October, FBI Director Kash Patel cancelled the agency’s longtime anti-extremism partnerships with the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League, which combats antisemitism. Patel at the time called the SPLC a “partisan smear machine.”

The Justice Department and SPLC did not respond to requests for comment.

Indictment represents marked shift for civil rights work

Advocates dispute the DOJ's characterization of the SPLC's work.

“The problem is that the indictment essentially claims that it was a fraud on SPLC’s donors to use their funds to fight the Klan, the Neo Nazis and other white supremacist groups, when that is exactly why people gave to the organization,” said Norm Eisen, founder of Democracy Defenders Action, a group that works with organizations in legal disputes with the Trump administration.

Eisen added: “The notion that there’s something wrong with using informants and protecting their identities to prevent white supremacist violence is belied by the fact that that is not only what the SPLC did, but it is also the stock and trade of the FBI itself.”

Civil rights organizations are now preparing for further legal action. Organizations have reviewed their document retention, tax compliance and auditing policies over the last year to safeguard against any probes or lawsuits.

Some civil rights organizations have also floated creating new organizational structures that may better withstand legal scrutiny. On another recent call, activists floated restructuring some groups into for-profit entities, or potentially crafting new financial conduits for donors to ensure that staff could receive pay if an organization's assets were seized or frozen.

The preparations represent a marked shift for many civil rights leaders, who in recent years counted the Justice Department under both Democratic and Republican administrations as a reliable ally in key civil rights battles.

“What we are seeing in real time is an administration seeking to leverage its position to target individuals and organizations that do not agree with its political thought,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson, who said the Justice Department has been “weaponized by dangerous forces."

But for other leaders, the SPLC indictment raised the specter of a return to a previous era, when the Justice Department monitored civil rights leaders to disrupt their activities.

“We're not backing down, but we are clear-eyed. Everyone could be in some form of jeopardy if you're in the crosshairs of this administration,” said Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights group suing the Trump administration over executive orders addressing birthright citizenship and mail-in voting.

“That's what they’re looking for; they want this to have a chilling effect," Proaño said.

Royals owner John Sherman was joined by Hallmark chairman Don Hall Jr., Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, along with other local and state dignitaries, in making the announcement Wednesday near Hallmark headquarters.

While the finalized master plan has yet to be complete, Sherman said the $1.9 billion stadium would break ground next year in the middle of Crown Center as part of the first phase of an 85-acre project. Two-thirds of the funding will come from private sources and the remaining one-third from public partners, including money earmarked by the state for stadium projects.

“This is a partnership between two treasured Kansas City institutions,” Sherman said. “We are committed to creating a vision which honors our history, the rich past of both organizations, while reinvigorating and reimagining what our future can be together.”

The announcement came about a week after Kansas City officials passed an ordinance authorizing City Manager Mario Vasquez to negotiate a $600 million deal to help the Royals move downtown. Most believed the stadium would sit on Washington Square Park, which is next to Union Station, but it will instead be located just south of it, with the park featured in the development.

Hallmark intends to build a new headquarters in the area, which is connected by a streetcar to the Power & Light District, where the T-Mobile Center serves as its anchor. That part of downtown Kansas City will provide the backdrop beyond the outfield fence.

Officials touted the availability of public parking already in the area and convenient traffic flow from nearby highways.

Missouri's contribution comes from a law enacted last year that authorized bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums in the state, plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments.

“We think it's a great investment for our Missouri taxpayers, because this does not affect existing programs,” Kehoe said. “The ripple effect from this facility will truly be far-reaching into rural Missouri and other parts of the state.”

The Royals have insisted they would leave Kauffman Stadium when their lease expires at the Truman Sports Complex in 2031, and the intention of Sherman ever since purchasing the club in 2019 was to build a downtown ballpark as its replacement.

Yet reaching Wednesday's announcement did not come without plenty of pitfalls.

The biggest stumbling block came in April 2024, when the Chiefs joined the Royals in a plan to renovate Arrowhead Stadium and replace Kauffman Stadium. The plan hinged on the extension of a sales tax that had been paying for stadium upkeep, and voters in Jackson County, Missouri, overwhelmingly rejected the proposal, forcing the franchises to go their own way.

The legislature in neighboring Kansas aggressively pursued the Chiefs, committing last December to issuing $2.4 billion in bonds to cover 60% of the cost of a new $3 billion domed stadium in Kansas City, Kansas. The NFL franchise ultimately decided to move across the state line, where it also will build a new training facility in the nearby suburb of Olathe, Kansas.

Officials in Kansas briefly pursued the Royals, too, but their interest in the MLB franchise had always been lukewarm.

The Royals had been weighing several options in recent months. But they ultimately rejected an option in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas, and allowed a deadline to pass for a site north of downtown and across the Missouri River in Clay County, Missouri.

Economists have long concluded that subsidizing stadiums isn’t worth the cost for communities because the venues pull economic activity away from other parts of the area, rather than expanding the overall economy. Yet states and cities continually provide money to renovate stadiums or build new ones — 49 of the 60 used by MLB or NFL teams are publicly owned or sit on public land.

One of the stadiums that Sherman has cited as an example of what's possible in Kansas City is Truist Park in Atlanta.

The stadium was a public-private partnership in which the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum & Exhibit Hall Authority issued up to $397 million in bonds, the county raised millions more from transportation taxes and businesses added millions in cash. The Braves contributed the remaining money for the park and The Battery, a mixed-use development, with a total cost of more than $1.1 billion.

“There are many great ballpark neighborhoods in Major League Baseball,” Sherman said, “but this is a bigger project with more land in downtown and in the heart of the city. We are bringing a modern, state-of-the-art ballpark experience to our fans, closer to our public transportation and where more people work and live.”

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

Matthew Furman faced multiple misconduct charges in three separate cases from 2021 and 2024. He was found guilty of two charges.

Previous coverage --> Melvindale police lieutenant charged with assault in 3 separate cases

On April 23, 2026, a jury found Furman not guilty of misconduct in office, felonious assault and assault and battery in connection with the alleged excessive force against a woman during a traffic stop in April 2024. He was also found not guilty of his felonious assault charge in connection with the alleged assault of a man during a traffic stop in July 2024 and the alleged assault of a handcuffed man in July 2021.

Furman was found guilty by a jury of misconduct in office and assault and battery in connection with the alleged assault of a man during a traffic stop in July 2024.

Furman pleaded no contest to assault and battery in connection with the assault of a handcuffed man in July 2021. The misconduct charge will be dropped at sentencing.

He is expected to be sentenced on May 29, 2026.