The report represented the first time Iran acknowledged fatalities from the attacks, which have put the Mideast on edge and represented the biggest blow yet to the straining ceasefire in the Iran war.

Iranian state TV identified the men as Bahman Hosseini and Ali Reza Abiri, without offering a rank for them. It said they would be buried in a city outside of Tehran, suggesting they had been posted near the capital.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A U.S. Army helicopter crashed near the Strait of Hormuz, but President Donald Trump said the two crew members aboard were not injured in the incident near the strategic waterway that Iran has effectively closed during the war.

What caused the crash remained unclear Tuesday morning in the Middle East, which was still reeling after Iran and Israel exchanged fire the previous day in the biggest blow yet to the straining ceasefire in the Iran war. Iranian state media, relying on foreign reporting, acknowledged the crash without elaborating.

Since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28, the war has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive. Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the conflict, particularly as Israel intensifies and expands its military campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.

Trump, speaking to journalists at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after watching the NBA Finals on Monday night, acknowledged the crash.

“The pilots are fine. Yeah,” Trump said. “Nobody injured. We are going to issue a report tomorrow. But the pilots are fine.”

The New York Times first reported that a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter went down near the strait in unclear circumstances. The U.S. military's Central Command and the Defense Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Apache helicopters have been a key asset for the American military as it enforces a blockade on Iranian crude oil shipments and tankers, seeking to pressure Tehran into reaching a deal. The helicopters also have been used by the United Arab Emirates to shoot down Iranian drones during the Iran war.

Trump insists an Iran deal is coming

Trump also expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran.

“We have a good chance” of signing a deal in “two or three days," Trump said. But he didn’t provide any details on why there was reason for new optimism. Trump has repeatedly predicted that a deal is near over the two months since the U.S. and Iran agreed to an initial ceasefire.

“We’re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal,” the president said. “If we go and bomb — which we could do very easily if we want, and we spend another two or three weeks bombing — they’ll have nothing left whatsoever. But you won’t have the strait open for months.”

He added: “If we do the bombing, you know, a lot of people are going to be killed. Who wants to do that? I don’t.”

Mediators, led predominantly by Pakistan, have been trying for weeks to get a deal across the line. However, both Iran and the U.S. have taken hard-line positions.

The U.S. wants to see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, which is believed still to be entombed in the country after American airstrikes in the 12-day war in 2025. But Iran is refusing that and demanding relief from sanctions. It also wants the release of frozen assets even before a final agreement is in place, something rejected by Trump.

Before Trump’s comments on negotiations, Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Monday that Trump’s remarks so far on a possible deal “contradicted the agreed-upon sections, showing that (the U.S. is) neither seeking a ceasefire nor dialogue.”

The continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah remains a major Iranian priority as well. Lebanon’s army chief, Gen. Rodolphe Haykal, traveled to Pakistan on Tuesday. There, he met Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has been a key figure in the Iran-U.S. talks.

Israel issues warning for Tyre, Lebanon

Meanwhile Tuesday, the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for Lebanon’s southern port city of Tyre, including the Christian quarter, which has so far been spared in the destructive airstrikes on the port city.

Last week, Israel warned the Christian neighborhoods in Tyre that it believed Hezbollah members were among them. Many Lebanese Shiite Muslims fled to those areas as Israeli strikes hammered the Mediterranean coastal area over the past two weeks.

After last week’s warning, the Lebanese army deployed to the Christian district of Tyre in an effort to prevent Israeli attacks there and to show that Hezbollah has no armed presence in the area. But Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, posted on X on Monday that the Israeli military “will have to act against their terrorist activities in the neighborhood soon.”

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Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Washington, Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

Raman gained votes on Pratt in every vote update since Election Day as Los Angeles continued to process additional mail ballots and release results. Raman moved past Pratt and into second place on Sunday and extended her lead over Pratt on Monday to nearly 22,000 votes.

The mayoral matchup sets the field in one of the state's two marquee races. In the other, the California governor’s race, Democrat Xavier Becerra has advanced to the general election but it's not yet clear if he will face Republican Steve Hilton or fellow Democrat Tom Steyer. Hilton has more votes than Steyer, but Steyer cut into his lead by nearly a third in Monday’s vote updates.

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

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

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

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

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

California’s vote count takes a long time

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

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

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

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

Raman’s political positions have shifted

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Associated Press journalists Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington contributed.

Estonia is hosting the summit in its capital, Tallinn. The country holds the rotating presidency of the NB8, a regional grouping of the five Nordic countries and the three Baltic states. It brought together the bloc’s prime ministers, along with Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian leader was accompanied by first lady Olena Zelenska, whom Estonia’s Foreign Ministry welcomed in a post on the social platform X.

The visit comes amid friction over Ukrainian drones, which have repeatedly strayed into the region in recent months as Kyiv steps up strikes on Baltic Sea ports Russia uses to export oil in a bid to make Moscow pay an economic cost for its war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia kept up its strikes across Ukraine. In the northeastern Kharkiv region, three people were killed and 25 others, including three children, were wounded in attacks over the past 24 hours, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional administration.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, three people were wounded when several districts came under attack overnight, said regional administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.

Russia launched 166 long-range strike drones and two guided missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. Air defenses shot down 146 of the drones, it said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 140 Ukrainian drones overnight. A woman was killed when a Ukrainian drone hit an apartment building in the Belgorod region, regional emergency officials said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also traveled to Tallinn, where he met his Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna. The two discussed Ukraine’s security, pressure on Russia, and Kyiv’s bid to join the European Union, Tsahkna said.

“Estonia will continue to stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Tsahkna wrote on X. “As Putin intensifies his attacks and shows no sign of abandoning his imperial ambitions, our responsibility is to increase pressure, not offer concessions.”

In May, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Estonia supports Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union and wants the bloc to keep advancing the process.

Separately, Zelenskyy said Monday that he had held positive talks with U.S. representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during a stopover at an airport in Moldova’s capital, describing them as focused on ending the war. In a social media post, he said the two sides discussed diplomatic prospects ahead of this month’s Group of Seven summit, and that he had briefed the U.S. side on Ukraine’s assessment of Russia’s intentions.

Only four people were considered missing on official records in the southern provinces near where the 7.8 magnitude quake struck Monday morning, but the Office of Civil Defense acknowledged several collapsed and heavily damaged buildings must be thoroughly inspected for possible survivors or casualties.

The earthquake centered off Mindanao, the second most populous Philippine island, injured nearly 500 people and displaced more than 32,000, most of whom fled to emergency shelters.

Many people who left their homes feared a tsunami. Waves up to 1.4-meters (4.6-feet) above tide level were measured in the Philippines, but the only tsunami damage reported was to six shanties on stilts in a coastal village. Smaller waves washed ashore in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan.

Landslides and building collapses caused several deaths

The earthquake left a trail of destruction, including in General Santos, a lively coastal city of more than 700,000 people known as the country’s tuna capital, where at least 13 people were killed in collapsed buildings and due to falling debris.

At least 18 died in Sarangani province, mostly in a landslide that buried houses in the mountainside town of Glan, according to Rafaelito Alejandro of the Office of Civil Defense.

The other deaths were reported in the southern provinces of South Cotabato and Davao Occidental, and on Balut Island, disaster response officials said.

About 2,500 houses and 117 government buildings and facilities were damaged in several provinces, according to an initial government damage assessment. The international airport in General Santos remained shut for a second day, forcing the cancellation of 63 domestic flights except for those on humanitarian missions.

About 6,000 public school buildings in quake-hit provinces must be assessed before classes can resume. The quake struck on the first day of classes nationwide after a two-month summer break, and many who sustained injuries were young students who had gathered with excitement for morning flag-raising ceremonies.

Authorities have warned that buildings that sustained cracks could collapse due to aftershocks, some of them dangerously powerful.

“We cannot force the immediate reopening of schools because we have to ensure the integrity of the buildings,” Alejandro said.

It was the strongest Philippine quake since 1976

Monday's earthquake was centered at sea at a depth of 33 kilometers (20 miles), about 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Maasim town in Sarangani province.

It was set off by movement in the Cotabato Trench and was the strongest since the same undersea depression triggered an 8.1-magnitude quake that whipped up tsunami waves on Aug. 17, 1976, said Teresito Bacolcol, the director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

About 8,000 people died from that quake and tsunami waves of up to 8 to 10 meters (26 to 33 feet) that engulfed several towns and provinces, Bacolcol said.

The Philippine seismological institute was scheduled to commemorate the anniversary of the 1976 quake and tsunami in August by installing markers to remind vulnerable towns and cities of the need for constant vigilance, Bacolcol told The Associated Press.

A 1990 earthquake that also had a magnitude of 7.8 left more than 1,000 people dead, injured thousands and caused extensive damages in northern provinces and cities.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. deployed top defense-mitigation officials from Manila to help oversee search and rescue, the distribution of tens of thousands of food packs and construction materials to quake victims and assess damage to bridges, roads and other infrastructure.

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

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

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

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Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines. AP journalists Basilio Sepe in General Santos, Philippines, and Haruka Nuga in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Robot makers in China say they have thousands of orders from both the government and private businesses for humanoids that can do such things as sort parcels at postal centers, as the country finds ways to cope with an aging population and rising labor costs. However, some experts believe demand for humanoids lags the capacity to build them.

China and the United States dominate research for what Morgan Stanley estimates is a $5 trillion humanoid robots market.

By some measures, the U.S. holds an upper hand in developing the artificial intelligence for such robots' high-level computing power, or “brains.” But as the world's factory floor, China leads in mass production capacity, supplies of hardware and harvesting of data for training robots.

Robot makers say real-life demand is growing

The Shanghai-based startup Matrix Robotics makes humanoid robots that employ AI. Its flagship humanoid robot, the “MATRIX-3,” stands nearly 5.6 feet (1.7 meters) tall and is equipped with hands able to make finely controlled movements. They are priced at around $99,000 per unit.

Customers for the roughly 1,000 orders it has received include coffee chains and hotels, its founder and CEO Allen Zhang, who formerly worked for Tesla, said at a recent robotics expo in Macao.

So far, Matrix has made only a few hundred of the robots, though it said it will be capable of delivering 5,000 units within this year, depending on the number of orders.

EngineAI, a startup based in southern China’s Shenzhen, says its full-sized humanoid robots could be used as security guards and museum guides. They also perform, with dancing and boxing.

A basic edition of its humanoid costs 180,000 yuan ($26,600). “The next step will be to move into more real-life scenarios,” said Issac Li, EngineAI's head of brand and marketing.

Demand for robots may lag behind

Most humanoid robots are still performative rather than functional, falling short of working in messy, unpredictable environments, said Samm Sacks, a senior fellow at the New America think tank focused on Chinese technology.

“The use cases of these robots are still so limited,” said Chibo Tang of the venture capital firm Gobi Partners, which invests in technology startups including robotics companies. “Without the demand and without that scale from the market, these companies are not able to really go into mass production.”

China had more than 140 humanoid robot manufacturers and more than 330 models in 2025, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Last year, the Chinese government even publicly warned about the risk of a bubble in the industry given the lagging state of commercialization and applications.

Corporate and academic labs are buying humanoid robots for research. And in China, many of the more than 2 billion yuan ($295 million) worth of orders in 2025 came from state-owned enterprises for use in places such as power plants, data centers or for entertainment, Morgan Stanley said.

“The economics are tough: humanoid robots remain expensive to produce, fragile in operation, and dependent on highly structured environments to function,” Sacks explained. There's “a long way to go to get to a level of functionality where people will actually feel comfortable having them in their homes providing care for elderly or children,” she said.

Still, compared to other countries, China is keen on humanoids

The more viable commercial path will more likely be through industrial and logistics settings, Sacks said. But many factories in China and elsewhere already are equipped with non-humanoid robotic arms that perform repetitive single functions and may not need many humanoid robots.

In Japan and in the U.S., humanoid robot startups are also struggling to find buyers in industrial and other work settings.

Yet over the past year, real-world deployment of humanoid robots in China has accelerated.

Chinese people are relatively “used to this rapid change in terms of technology,” said Ye Tian, an ex-Apple engineer and founder and CEO of the Chinese startup RoboScience, which focuses on developing the systems behind AI-powered robots.

As the technology matures, humanoids could perform heavy-lifting and mundane tasks in warehouses, factories and ports, said Lian Jye Su, with the technology research group Omdia.

Humanoid robots also can fill in gaps where work is dangerous or repetitive, Matrix's Zhang said. There's also a “very large household market” for handling chores in hundreds of millions of homes in China, he believes.

In Beijing, freelance social media content creator Yang Ning recently tried out a cleaning service with a helper robot with mechanical arms and hands. It can do simple tasks like organizing shoes, folding clothes and changing garbage bags, but it's accompanied by a human cleaner.

Watching the robot sort shoes at her doorway was “amazing,” she said. Still, she thought the helper robot was not that efficient and was “a bit too big and difficult to move around in a small house.”

China leads the global humanoid robots market

Last year, Chinese humanoid robots accounted for around 85% globally, according to a recent research report by Barclays.

Startups in China have the advantage of massive state support, in line with the ruling Communist Party’s 2026-2030 five-year plan targeting the frontiers of technology, including advancements of humanoid robots.

Of the more than 13,000 humanoid robots shipped in 2025, AGIBOT and Unitree, two of China’s leading robotics companies, each shipped over 5,000, while U.S. rivals like Figure AI and Tesla each shipped a few hundred or less, according to Omdia.

Morgan Stanley expects China’s humanoid sales to more than double this year to around 28,000 units. Omdia forecasts that annual shipments of advanced robots could surpass 1 million units by the early 2030s.

Some robot makers say they are already profitable. Unitree said it made 1.7 billion yuan (around $250 million) in revenue last year, with a profit of over 278 million yuan ($41 million).

Robot makers argue that as production of humanoid robots increases, costs will drop. Using more locally made parts also helped make Chinese robots 20% or more cheaper than foreign models on average, Morgan Stanley said. It estimates the average price could fall to about $21,000 by 2050, from $46,000 last year.

Some humanoid robots in China were priced at below $6,000.

Even so, cost remains an obstacle

A report by the Mercator Institute for China Studies said while China’s humanoids are already cheaper than those made elsewhere, they are still “far too expensive for widespread deployment.”

Another challenge for manufacturers is to accumulate enough good data to train more robots.

Wang Xiaogang, co-founder of the Chinese AI software company SenseTime and chairman of ACE Robotics, said his company is collecting a lot of human-centric data from factories, retailing and offices settings that could guide advanced robots to perform complicated functions.

For humanoid robots to learn more than single tasks, data from a wide variety of scenarios in public and private settings with a reasonable level of difficulty is needed, said Eric Guo, founder and CEO of Shenzhen-based AI² Robotics. But that could take years to massively scale up.

“The mass production capability in (the) robotic area is still at the very early stage,” Guo said.

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Associated Press video journalists Olivia Zhang and Wu Jia in Beijing contributed to this report.

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This story was first published on June 6. It was updated on June 9 to correct the spelling of the first name of the CEO of Matrix Robotics to Allen.

Attacks on health workers from angry residents, skepticism among some locals and armed conflict in hot spots continue to challenge efforts to stop the outbreak declared on May 15, which has been caused by a severe form of Ebola disease.

Out of the 550 cases of the disease confirmed as of Sunday, there have been 101 deaths and 19 recoveries, according to the latest situation report late Monday. The outbreak is concentrated in Congo’s eastern province of Ituri, which accounts for more than 90% of the cases. Cases have also been recorded in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, and has spread across the border to Uganda.

The number of cases in Congo is believed to be higher because the outbreak was confirmed weeks late and the contact tracing coverage rate, which has improved in recent days, is still at 64%.

The latest Ebola disease outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which does not have an approved vaccine or treatment unlike the “Zaire virus,” another name for the Ebola virus, responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

The rapid increase in the number of cases is in part due to the scale up of diagnostic capacities, enabling testing of the backlog of previously collected samples, authorities said.

Capital of Ituri province disrupted by outbreak

Health measures put in place to limit the spread of Ebola have disrupted daily life in Bunia, the bustling capital of Ituri province.

“The authorities have asked us not to carry two customers on the same motorbike anymore. We are now only allowed to carry one customer per motorbike,” motorcyclist Justin Abekani said.

There is still widespread skepticism and disregard for health protocols in some parts of the province. Survivors of Congo's 2018 Ebola outbreak, the second-biggest in history, have warned that a repeat of past mistakes could lead to a high number of preventable deaths.

Front line health workers, with little pay or rest, have been attacked multiple times by angry residents and have not been able to reach some communities due conflict involving armed rebel groups.

Eastern Congo has for years seen attacks by dozens of separate rebel and militant groups, some of them with links to foreign countries or to the extremist Islamic State group.

Conflict and movement complicate disease tracing

Conflict is “constraining access for the response, disrupting surveillance and response activities, and increasing the risk of undetected transmission,” the World Health Organization said Monday. “Such incidents underline the challenges of the context and the importance of working closely with local leaders and communities,” WHO added.

Nearly a million people have been displaced by conflict in Ituri, according to the U.N. humanitarian office, making contact tracing difficult as people flee attacks or move frequently in the vast province with dense forests, poor roads and remote villages that can take days to reach.

Tracing also is difficult among the thousands of artisanal miners who regularly move between remote sites in the mineral-rich region.

WHO currently asseses the risk of spread for the rest of Africa and at the global level as low.

“(Ebola) patients can recover if they get the medical support they need,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday during a visit to Uganda.

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Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.

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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

He remembers the pain and fear in his community in the eastern Congo city of Beni during the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak, history's second-biggest with more than 3,400 reported cases and over 2,200 deaths. It was stopped with the aid of vaccines.

Kombi also remembers the broad skepticism over the disease, attacks on health workers and inaction from patients that he blames for the speed in which the disease spread.

“We thought it was witchcraft,” said Kombi. “The community had not accepted that this disease existed and it had not accepted that we could recover from it.”

In Beni, a bustling commercial hub near the borders with Uganda and Rwanda, some fear that a repeat of mistakes made during Congo’s past outbreaks and the lack of an approved vaccine this time around might make the response to the latest outbreak more challenging.

A total of 550 cases of the disease were confirmed as of Sunday in the current outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which can cause Ebola disease, including 101 deaths and 19 recoveries.

Suspicions of a conspiracy

Kombi recalled how he contracted the virus after being exposed to others who had it. He said they had little information about the disease at the time, and that while many thought it was witchcraft, others described it as a “Western conspiracy for funding reasons.”

“The community had not accepted that we could recover from this disease, that’s why reintegrating into the community at first was a bit difficult,” he said.

“When a pandemic hits here in Congo, we initially think it’s a political issue,” said Bienfait Wanzire, who also recovered after contracting Ebola during the 2018 outbreak.

“At first, we thought it was a spiritual illness,” he said. “Then because there were election campaigns, we believed it was political.”

Doctor recalls losing his uncle and colleagues

Dr. Babah Mutuza Lusungu, a physician at “Dieu Est Grand” Medical Center in Beni, remembered losing his uncle and two colleagues even as he tried to convince people the outbreak was real.

“There was very strong resistance,” said Lusungu. “And so there was a climate of mistrust that took place between the population, the authorities, the partners too, right, and the health workers.”

Youths at the time were not directly involved in response efforts, he said, urging local authorities to work more closely with youth leaders to enlighten people about the disease.

“If we wait until they have so many declared cases to start making an effective response, we will have totally missed the target,” he said.

Vaccines saved his family

Esperance Masinda, who was working for the U.N. children’s agency in Beni during the 2018 outbreak, said it was particularly difficult caring for children who had lost their parents to Ebola.

She contracted the disease while looking after her husband who was working as a medical doctor. Although they both later recovered, the vaccine that helped save them distanced them from family and neighbors.

“When we were in the community, we were told that you’re not going to make it even five years, you’re going to die with that medication that you took there,” Masinda said.

“And today, when they see us, these people no longer stigmatize us,” she said. “We are all humans, even though we have been victims of Ebola, all of us are humans.”

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For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The onetime Democratic congressman, White House chief of staff, Chicago mayor and U.S. ambassador to Japan hasn't formally announced his ambition to return to power in Washington. But his weekend trip through the state that typically holds the first presidential primary was hardly subtle.

There were the union hall visits and intimate house parties, staples of New Hampshire political rituals. At one event in the backyard of a handsome home in Concord, Emanuel greeted voters and practiced a stump speech that highlighted strains on the middle class and the excesses of the tax system.

And then there was the bike tour.

Over the course of three days, Emanuel pedaled 117 miles across New Hampshire from Portsmouth on the coast to Hanover on the Vermont border in what he dubbed the “Spin-Free Tour,” a nod to his blunt demeanor that he sees as an asset for a Democratic Party trying to move beyond its devastating losses in 2024.

“Tough times require a tough leader,” Emanuel told The Associated Press during a break at a coffee shop in Warner. “I don't think this is just about learning the words to ‘Kumbaya.’”

For someone who has spent the better part of three decades in the highest orbits of political power, the 66-year-old Emanuel is in the unusual position of lacking a natural platform. His likely rivals in a Democratic presidential contest are mostly younger and, as governors, senators or a recently departed vice president, can more easily attract attention.

And despite his thick resume, Emanuel isn't especially well known outside political circles, as demonstrated by a woman who asked who he was after he left the coffee shop. When informed that it was Emanuel and that he was considering a campaign, she responded, “A campaign for what?”

How Emanuel taps into tenacity to overcome hurdles

Emanuel is tapping into his hard-wired tenacity in hopes of overcoming such challenges.

As many prominent Democrats focus on castigating President Donald Trump, Emanuel has released a flurry of policy proposals addressing everything from social media bans for children to prediction markets and a mandatory retirement age of 75 for those in public office. That would prevent him from seeking a second term if he were elected.

Emanuel is often on the road, talking education in Mississippi and Michigan. He'll travel to Israel next month to address the U.S.-Israeli relationship as the war in Gaza has spurred new divisions in both political parties, especially among younger voters.

He is a regular guest on podcasts ranging from those hosted by Katie Couric and Kara Swisher to shows focused on fly fishing. He often uses the appearances to knock his own party for overreaching in cultural debates, particularly those involving the rights of transgender people. It’s a message of centrism that has echoes of that of the first president he served, Bill Clinton.

“We did things that were really ridiculous,” he said of Democrats on an episode of Couric's podcast that posted last week. “Rather than worry about classroom excellence, we were worried about bathroom and locker room access.”

And he hops on the bike.

The tour gives him a chance to both demonstrate his physical fitness at a time of heightened awareness of the nation's aging political leaders and to introduce himself to the state's notoriously picky voters before the rest of the field swoops in after the November midterms.

“It is early,” said Rep. Maggie Goodlander, D-N.H., who appeared alongside Emanuel at the Concord house party. “But what I'd say is the people in New Hampshire know how to vet candidates and they're the most engaged electorate in the country.”

Martha Kruse, a 76-year-old retired special education teacher from Laconia, New Hampshire, is just that type of voter. Active in her local Democratic Party, she traveled to the Concord event to see Emanuel after hearing him in interviews.

“I'm going away really enthused about him,” she said, adding that he was “right on” to prepare a campaign so early.

Riding through the hills of rural New Hampshire

The future of the presidency seemed a world away during a hilly 20-mile stretch of the ride on Saturday, which included an elevation gain of more than 1,300 feet. Along with a cadre of friends and aides, Emanuel cycled past homes where residents were tending to their yards or celebrating a recent graduation on their front patio. He was chatty at times as he rode with the pack and cycled alone at other points, showing little strain in navigating the steep hills.

With summer finally creeping into New England, the humidity was high and the rain was occasionally intense. The group stopped for water and snacks every 10 to 15 miles, huddling under a barn during one rainy stretch. A small group of local activists met up with Emanuel at the coffee shop in Warner, where he held court from a rocking chair.

But the realities of modern politics occasionally asserted themselves. The group at one point cycled past signs praising Trump and denigrating his predecessor, Joe Biden. As the miles dragged on, a chase vehicle crept by periodically with cameras poking out the window to capture scenes that could later be shared on social media, where Emanuel now has an almost daily presence.

And the whir of the midterms wasn't far away. In neighboring Maine, Graham Platner was contending with a drumbeat of reports about his history with women that has left some Democrats worried that the party's path to a Senate majority is suddenly imperiled. Emanuel, who helped power Democrats to their sweeping 2006 victories in the U.S. House, said the “jury is still out” on whether Platner can win the Senate race.

“Everybody is holding their breath whether this is the start of something or the end of something,” he said.

Emanuel hopes voices of moderation are prevailing

But as the broader debate over the Democratic Party's ideological future unfolds, Emanuel said he thought voices of moderation were prevailing. He noted recent wins by Rebecca Bennett, who emerged from a crowded Democratic primary in New Jersey with the nomination for a competitive House seat, along with Josh Turek, the new Democratic Senate nominee in Iowa.

“There's a bigger character piece to this than ideological,” Emanuel said. “There's radical moderates and their profile and character speak to kind of fighting a system, which is what's needed right now.”

The bike tour was certainly not John McCain's “Straight Talk Express,” the 2000 campaign bus from which the Arizona Republican senator opined on any question that came his way to seize attention and mount a surprise New Hampshire win over front-runner George W. Bush. But some voters said they were open to Emanuel.

Don Daley, a 60-year-old state employee from Concord, watched Emanuel talk from a bench in the backyard of the house party. He said that Emanuel probably “steps on a few toes.”

“But I think that's what we need right now,” he said. “Some of our Democratic leaders haven't been strong enough.”

American Bridge 21st Century's $50 million effort adds financial firepower to Democrats' attempt to flip control of Congress in the midterm elections. The party has struggled to match Republicans' fundraising, and it has lost ground in a nationwide redistricting battle that President Donald Trump initiated last year.

“We really have to maximize our wins and gains this year, particularly in Republican territory,” American Bridge co-founder Bradley Beychok said. “We are going all in.”

American Bridge, known for its opposition research, has been escalating its own advertising efforts. During the last presidential election, it announced plans to spend $140 million in an attempt to siphon away Trump's support among rural voters.

Beychok said the idea for the midterms campaign was seeded last year, when he attended an inauguration rally and saw the slogan “Trump will fix it.”

"Trump made a big promise to these working-class voters that he was gonna bring down costs," Beychok said. Now it's clear, he said, “that Trump and Republicans really broke that covenant.”

The House seats American Bridge is targeting are in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. On the Senate side, they’re getting involved in races in Alaska, Iowa, Michigan and Mississippi.

The group passed on Senate races in states like Maine, North Carolina and Texas because it doesn't expect those to lack resources.

The campaign will involve digital ads, streaming audio and television, social media, direct mail and radio.

Beychok said the organization is learning to focus on issues at a “visceral level," and featuring specific voters so they can offer firsthand accounts of their experiences with the economy.

Making the pitch in American Bridge ads will be voters like Brad Singleton, a 50-year-old personal trainer from Walford, Iowa. Singleton said he was a Republican for 32 years until recently when dissatisfaction with the president led him to change registrations to Democratic.

For Singleton, the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot was the start of his changing view of the president, who he said “threw a fit like a toddler” over the 2020 election results. But by 2024, he voted for Trump again, persuaded by the Make American Healthy Again movement.

“I immediately regretted it,” Singleton said. “Because of the economy, because of this war with Iran, because so many things that have happened."

“I feel like Donald Trump cares about himself and his millionaire buddies,” he added. "He does not care about me.”

Jill Kordick, 64, a retired health care administrator from Norwalk, Iowa, is another voter featured in the group's ads.

A registered independent, she described her political views as moderate to progressive. She said Trump's second term has spurred her to get more involved in politics, such as attending No Kings rallies and speaking up at meetings with lawmakers.

Kordick said she's aware how challenging it could be to flip Republican-leaning districts, and she's asking herself how best to bring people who feel like the president let them down to the Democrats' side.

“I don’t think it’s gonna be easy,” she said. “I think there has to be some way to invite people to the table so that they can feel better about how they vote and not feel so stuck or embarrassed by what they voted for in the past.”

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Catalini reported from Morrisville, Pennsylvania.

Chambers was charged in a criminal complaint with arson, obstruction of persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs, and arson to commit a federal offense.

The 63-year-old appeared in federal court Monday (June 8) afternoon and was temporarily detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday in Bay City.

According to the criminal complaint, St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Flint was intentionally set on fire during the early morning hours of Aug. 30, 2025.

Federal investigators allege surveillance video captured Chambers carrying a gas can wrapped in a black trash bag to the church before using an ignition device to start the fire.

Officials said the blaze caused significant damage to the church, forcing the congregation to hold services elsewhere for approximately two months.

If convicted, Chambers faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and could receive a sentence of up to life imprisonment.

The event on Sunday, June 14, will be held at Lake St. Clair Metropark. Participants can run or walk the course. Dogs are welcome but not required.

Registration is $30 per person with proceeds benefiting the animals in the shelter’s care.

Those interested can sign up here.

Check-in begins at 7:30 a.m. at the Activity Center, and the race begins at 9 a.m.

The 5K is a timed event with runners lining up at the front and walkers starting from the back. All finishers, including dogs that complete the course, will receive a participation medal.

Water and refreshments will be available on-site.

The shooting happened on March 18 at a home on Edgewood Drive. Police said they found the woman in the street with a gunshot wound to the chest. She died at the scene.

Jordan Dejuan Winn was taken into custody and has been charged with careless discharge of a firearm causing injury or death. On May 8, he pleaded guilty to the charge.

Police believe Winn and the victim knew each other.

Winn was sentenced on June 5 to two years’ probation and 40 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay over $15,000 to the victim’s family.

Nico Trevon Nettles, 27, was charged in May 2025 with second-degree murder after allegedly stabbing Rashid Aliakbar, 28, to death.

The stabbing happened on May 12 at a home near the intersection of Toepfer Drive and Cushing Avenue after an altercation.

According to authorities, first responders immediately began lifesaving efforts on Aliakbar, who was stabbed in the chest. Police said Nettles remained at the scene and was taken into custody.

On April 6, 2026, Nettles pleaded no contest to his charge.

Nettles was sentenced on June 4 to eight to 40 years in prison.

Court records show Stephen Livings, 43, of Roseville, waived arraignment in Macomb County Circuit Court.

Defense counsel received a copy of the information, and the court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

The case was adjourned until July 23, 2026.

According to an online court entry, Livings’ attorney filed a motion requesting permission for him to attend a graduation ceremony at JFK Middle School.

The court granted the request, allowing Livings to attend with his wife from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on June 8.

The order provides a limited exception while Livings remains subject to court-imposed conditions as his case proceeds through the judicial system.

Livings was arrested by Warren police in December and is facing felony charges of using a computer to commit a crime and accosting a child for immoral purposes.

Both charges carry potential penalties of up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Authorities have not publicly disclosed whether the child involved in the case participated in wrestling programs.

Livings has denied the allegations through his not guilty plea.

Referee suspended following charges

Livings has served as a wrestling referee for the Michigan High School Athletic Association since 2020 and has also coached middle school wrestling.

During that time, he officiated numerous events across southeast Michigan, including the state wrestling championships held at Ford Field in 2024 and 2025.

Following disclosure of the charges, Livings was immediately and indefinitely suspended from officiating activities. The MHSAA requires background checks for all registered officials and maintains standards that can disqualify individuals from serving as referees.

Court records indicate that Livings remains free on bond as the criminal case proceeds.

The next hearing is scheduled for July 23 in Macomb County Circuit Court.

--> Why Michigan high school referee is now facing criminal charges

Oil prices fell back after surging on Monday as fighting flared between Israel and Iran, threatening to pull the region back into full-scale war.

In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 8.2% to 8,096.93, nearly recovering all of Monday’s loss of 8.3%. SK Hynix, which on Monday announced plans to partner with Nvidia in building data centers, jumped 15.9%. Samsung Electronics vaulted up 9%.

In early European trading, Germany's DAX picked up 0.3% to 24,694.50, while the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.6% to 8,252.40. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.3% to 10,346.09.

The future for the S&P 500 added 0.3%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up less than 0.1%.

In other Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 2.2% to 65,416.63. Computer chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron gained 8.9% and other technology stocks were among the biggest gainers.

Taiwan's Taiex advanced 2.8% on gains for tech companies like computer chip giant TSMC.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.4% to 24,565.90 and the Shanghai Composite index added 1.3% to 4,010.03.

The S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.2% to 8,604.20.

On Wall Street on Monday, the S&P 500 added 0.3%, coming off a 2.6% drop Friday that was its worst since October. It closed at 7,405.73.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9%.

Some of the best performers were companies that sell computer chips, memory and other AI-related products that had plunged on worries their prices have shot too high.

Micron Technology rose 9.9% after sliding 13.3% Friday for the largest loss in the S&P 500. That resumed a run where its stock has more than tripled so far in 2026.

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

That such a comment could add billions of dollars to a company’s value in an instant suggests to critics that AI stocks are running too hot. A widely followed index of semiconductor stocks surged nearly 85% for the year so far through Thursday, for example.

Early Tuesday, oil prices fell back from Monday's gains. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell $1.25 to $93.00 per barrel. It had briefly topped $98 overnight.

U.S. benchmark crude shed $1.54 to $89.76 per barrel.

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

In currency trading, the dollar rose to 160.20 Japanese yen from 160.17 yen. The euro climbed to $1.1541 from $1.1532.

___

Automatic runner Christian Yelich scored the decisive run from third when Athletics second baseman Jeff McNeil threw wide to home plate on a grounder by Brice Turang in the top of the 12th.

Abner Uribe (4-2) got four outs for the win and Chad Patrick struck out McNeil with runners at the corners for his third save.

José Suarez (0-2) took the loss despite striking out four batters in two hitless innings.

The teams totaled 34 hits, and 14 pitchers combined to throw 444 pitches. It was the fourth game in major league history with at least 29 runs and 11 homers.

Tyler Soderstrom and Nick Kurtz each homered twice for the Athletics, who went deep seven times at the site of their Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators. The team normally plays at its temporary home in West Sacramento, California, but is playing six games in Las Vegas this week ahead of a scheduled move into a new stadium in the city in 2028.

Shea Langeliers hit the first pitch from Brewers starter Kyle Harrison 483 feet to left-center field for his 17th home run. It was the longest home run of Langeliers’ career and the fourth-longest in the majors this season.

Both teams scored four times in the 10th.

William Contreras gave Milwaukee a 14-10 lead with a three-run homer off Scott Barlow projected at 463 feet, but the A's answered with an RBI single by Langeliers, a two-run shot by Kurtz and a tying homer from pinch-hitter Jonah Heim.

Zack Gelof also went deep for the Athletics, giving them an 8-4 lead in the third.

In addition to Contreras, the Brewers got home runs from Turang, Vaughn and Jake Bauers. Contreras had three of Milwaukee's 18 hits. Turang and Bauers each knocked in three runs. Jackson Chourio went 3 for 5 and scored three times.

Harrison gave up eight runs, eight hits and three homers in 2 1/3 innings after not allowing more than two runs in any of his first 11 outings. His ERA climbed from 1.57 to 2.72.

Up next

Brewers LHP Robert Gasser (0-2, 4.73 ERA) starts Tuesday opposite Athletics RHP J.T. Ginn (3-3, 2.74).

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Called “Leonardo’s Ferry,’’ the mechanism of the so-called reaction ferry was designed five centuries ago and immortalized by the Renaissance genius himself in a drawing preserved in Windsor Castle's Royal Collection outside of London.

It is the last remaining of its kind along the Adda River, which extends from the Alps to the Po River in the Lombardy region.

“This is a mean of transport that has been here for 500 years and has always connected the two banks of the Adda,” said Massimo Zoia, one of the volunteer ferrymen who operates the vessel. “And now it has returned to its original purpose: connecting two populations living on different banks of a river."

Despite its name, it remains unclear whether Leonardo himself actually designed the ferry. What is certain, however, is that he sketched it in 1513, as part of his famed studies of waterways, including Milan's canal system. Leonardo was one of history’s greatest polymaths, filling notebooks with designs across a range of disciplines, including flying machines that wouldn't be realized for centuries.

The ferry’s operating principle is as simple as it is ingenious, and entirely environmentally friendly.

“The river pushes us downstream. We have a cable that binds us, and by breaking down the forces, according to the parallelogram rule, which we study in high school, the force is broken down and one part becomes resistance and the other we use for lateral movement,” Zoia said.

“The rudder is used to adjust the inclination of the ferry so that it better absorbs the stream that hits us and makes us move,” he said.

The ferry is run by the town of Imbersago, and runs to the town of Villa d’Adda on the other side. It came close to disappearing in 2023, when its operator gave up the concession. Determined to save it, Imbersago Mayor Fabio Vergani obtained a ferryman’s license himself and, together with the local tourism association, assembled a team of volunteers.

Since 2024, they have primarily transported weekend visitors from one bank of the Adda to the other.

But they added commuter service this spring after a nearby bridge was closed for maintenance to help ease traffic congestion. It now runs from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., with a two hour lunch break at noon. Passengers pay 1.50 euros (about $1.75) if they are on foot, 2 euros ($2.30) with a bicycle, 2.50 euros ($2.88) with a motorbike and 3.50 (around $4) for a car.

Gianpaolo Graffagnino lives in Villa d’Adda and works on the other side of the river. He has started biking to work, using the ferry as a shortcut.

“Right now this is the fastest system, but above all the nicest because you get three minutes of peace,” he said.

Mauro Carnati drove his Maserati onto the ferry to bring his daughter to school on the other side, avoiding a long detour caused by the bridge closure.

“It’s true that we spend a little money, and it’s not possible every day, but the romance and added value of the Adda and the ferry are truly amazing. It makes for a better start to the day,” he said.

Wembanyama had 32 points, eight rebounds and six assists, carrying the San Antonio Spurs to a 115-111 victory Monday night that cut the Knicks’ lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

San Antonio is trying to make a first-of-its-kind NBA Finals comeback, and the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama, with his array of skills, makes anything look possible.

“I’m sure Victor has numerous sources of motivation,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I don’t think any of us are surprised or expect anything different than a strong performance.”

The Spurs handed the Knicks their first loss in 46 days and potentially salvaged their season in front of a Madison Square Garden crowd that included President Donald Trump.

The Knicks had their 13-game winning streak, the second-longest in NBA postseason history, snapped and missed a chance to move to the brink of their first title since 1973. Their previous loss occurred on April 23 in a one-point defeat to the Atlanta Hawks. They won the next three against Atlanta, swept Philadelphia and Cleveland and took the first two games against the Spurs.

The run stirred New York into a frenzy, with raucous watch parties, fans paying outrageous sums of money for tickets and “Knicks In Four” becoming a daily greeting on streets, subway cars and in workplaces.

But Wembanyama and the Spurs ended the streak and ruined the Knicks' first home NBA Finals game since 1999.

“At home, it really feels like playing six against five. Here, it feels like five against six,” Wembanyama said. “It really shows what teams are made of.”

Knicks coach Mike Brown complained about the Spurs’ 24-8 advantage in free throw attempts in the second half.

“I tell the guys, it’s a seven-game series for a reason,” Brown said. “They are a great team. They are well-coached. They have an iconic player. It’s not going to be easy.”

Stephon Castle and De'Aaron Fox hit big shots late as the Spurs avoided falling into a 3-0 hole, which no NBA team has escaped. Now they can tie the series Wednesday night and are guaranteed another game at home, with Game 5 scheduled for Saturday.

Castle finished with 23 points as the Spurs got started in their quest to become the first team to win the NBA Finals after losing the first two games at home.

Jalen Brunson scored 32 points and OG Anunoby had 28 for the Knicks.

Fans who endured long lines to get in with the extra security measures in place — and some who paid five-figure sums for the chance to do so — were treated to a back-and-forth game as the NBA Finals returned to Madison Square Garden for the first time in 27 years.

Wembanyama, whose turnover late in Game 2 cost the Spurs dearly, didn’t make many mistakes Monday. He had 10 points in the final quarter, helping San Antonio build just enough of a cushion to withstand Brunson's latest comeback attempt.

Minutes after Trump was booed loudly when he was shown during the national anthem, the Spurs got off to an ideal start. Wembanyama dunked for their first two baskets and they had a double-digit lead 4 1/2 minutes into the game. San Antonio made nine of its first 11 shots, with the Knicks and their fans frustrated by the referees and the home team’s sloppy play, and led 33-22 after one.

The Garden crowd didn’t really start to rock until Anunoby’s 3-pointer capped an 11-2 surge that cut it to 40-38. The Knicks got their first lead of the night on Brunson's 26-footer as part of a big burst to finish the half. New York led 64-57 at the break.

But the Spurs went back ahead in the third quarter and led 111-104 on Castle's 3-pointer with 1:53 to play. Castle then closed the scoring with two free throws with 6.8 seconds left after Anunoby's 3-pointer cut it to two.

The Knicks had piled up massive scoring margins while romping through the Eastern Conference playoffs, then were just good enough in the two games in San Antonio. This time, a horrible start to the fourth quarter put them too far behind.

A star-studded crowd that included Derek Jeter and Eli Manning, champions of New York teams in other sports, was hoping to see the Knicks move closer to a third NBA title. But with Karl-Anthony Towns limited to 11 points and Mikal Bridges saddled with foul trouble, a team that had been so potent in the postseason struggled for long stretches.

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

Montserrat, a healthy drive from the city followed by a steep ascent, is dear to many of the Catalan people in northeastern Spain. Annually, 2 million people travel to the complex that includes an 11th-century Benedictine abbey as well as a 16th-century basilica. Its Black Madonna statue, which studies show originally was white but turned dark by centuries of smoke and incense before being painted black, is widely revered.

But for many Catholics watching from afar — and especially non-Catholics — the highlight of the Chicago-born pope's seven-day trip to Spain will be his evening Mass at the Sagrada Familia — the Basilica of the Holy Family — commemorating the centennial of the death of its architect, Antoni Gaudí. Leo will speak almost exclusively Spanish on the trip, with some comments in Catalan.

The visit illustrates his balancing act of upholding centuries-old religious traditions in a country where faith is waning while reaching a global audience from a basilica that is more a magnet for tourists than believers. Yet the two sites share a connection even some locals don't know.

A pulpit for the world

The Sagrada Familia fuses the universal language of nature — trees, birds, reptiles, cornucopias of fruit — with scenes from Christ's life. Beyond that unique aesthetic, its allure stems from allowing visitors to bear witness to a great church's ongoing construction.

That began 144 years ago, with the first cornerstone laid in 1882 during the pontificate of Leo's namesake, Pope Leo XIII.

Its claim to “the new” is what sets Gaudí’s masterpiece apart from Europe's other cathedrals and why it has captivated millions. Leo’s Mass is an opportunity to link him with this breathtaking place of worship.

"Its stones and stained glass speak of the possibility of conjuring up 2,000 years of Christian history from a modern and even postmodern view," Ferran Sáez, professor of humanities at Barcelona’s University of Ramón Llull, told The Associated Press. "It is a building that expresses very complex ideas while coming across as comprehensible for anyone who is receptive, whether they are Christian or not.”

The Sagrada Familia is an international sensation, featuring on virtually any self-respecting globetrotter's bucket list. Foreigners account for 90% of its visitors, whose entrance fees fund its construction, and more Americans visit than Spaniards, according to the basilica.

While there aren't statistics on visitors' average age, it is hugely popular among adolescents and twentysomethings. That's in stark contrast to the graying parishioners at most Spanish churches at a moment the Catholic Church strives to engage with and remain relevant to youth.

The basilica's latest superlative — world’s tallest church, with its recently raised Tower of Jesus Christ — has made it an even greater beacon.

Catalans see Montserrat as a spiritual home

The Sagrada Familia is a global pulpit, but it's set in a country where Christianity is receding. Spain underwent a religious crisis in the late 20th century during its return to democracy. Just over half of Spaniards polled by the state opinion agency in 2024 self-identified as Catholics, but only about 1 in 5 called themselves practicing Catholics.

And Catalonia is one of Spain's most secular provinces, Sáez said.

Catalonia’s Catholics are reserved in their practice, without flamboyant Easter Week processions like those in Seville and other Spanish cities.

The force of their faith rests in its holy places: the Sagrada Familia, the Poblet monastery and the Romanesque churches dotting the foothills of the Pyrenees. And, above all, in Montserrat, where pilgrims arrive by bus, cable car, cog railway and strenuous trails.

“It is home to our most beloved representation of Mary, the Black Madonna,” Catalan theologian Francesc Torralba told AP. “Many Catalans pray to her and feel close to her in times of need. Montserrat is a key to our culture, as well as our efforts to maintain our language and our traditions.”

While Montserrat is the region's religious epicenter, its faith is “culturally expressed in its artistic creations” like the Sagrada Familia, he added.

Throngs of tourists

And it's that unbridled and unique artistry that draws so many visitors. Many Barcelona residents feel the Sagrada Familia's fame has driven some of overtourism's worst ills. Tour buses flood the area with day-trippers from cruise ships, and streets facing the church are full of fast food restaurants and souvenir shops. Protesters who squirted tourists with water guns last year were planning to reach the Sagrada Familia until police stopped them.

“Where there are two people (tourists and locals), there can be friction, and that happens in the best marriages,” the Sagrada Familia’s rector, the Rev. Josep Turull, told AP. “So we try, just like with a marriage, for these small crises to be growing pains, and that’s why we try to not just welcome pilgrims and tourists but also make sure that our parishioners feel that this is their basilica.”

Leo could bring even more tourists. Pope Benedict XVI's consecration to make it an operating basilica in 2010 boosted visits from about 3 million a year to nearly 5 million in 2025, according to Xavier Martínez, the CEO of the Sagrada Familia’s construction project.

“I believe that on June 10 we will experience something similar to what we saw in 2010," Martínez said. "At that time, the world discovered the interior of the Sagrada Familia. Now the world will discover the towers of the Sagrada Familia.”

Tour guide and historian Mònica Santín has seen the Sagrada Familia's stunning power for believers and nonbelievers alike; some even weep upon crossing the church's threshold. As personally fulfilling as it is to help tourists achieve these life-changing moments, she is concerned Leo's Mass could drive tourism to levels that are unsustainable for the community.

The sacred sites share a connection

Santín has reserved her spot to see Leo in person, but it won't be at the basilica. She will instead make the journey to the Montserrat monastery.

Santín’s grandmother made the same pilgrimage, walking barefoot to a mountainside cave where legend has it shepherds discovered the Black Madonna statue and prayed for protection for her husband during the Spanish Civil War. Today, Santín wears the ring her grandmother gave her.

“I don’t know how it doesn’t fall apart,” Santín said, gently touching her ring, with its profile of the Virgin of Montserrat, the patron saint of Catalonia, barely visible after so many years.

And she notes that Montserrat and the Sagrada Familia have a shared, but little-known, connection.

A young Gaudí apprenticed with an architect building the mountaintop chapel for the Virgin of Montserrat, according to Santín, who is researching her doctoral thesis on the architect at Barcelona's ISCREB theology school. That same architect was originally hired to build the Sagrada Familia, but material costs made his neo-Gothic proposal inviable and the commission went to Gaudí. As part of his radical design, he introduced elements of the mountain.

Even the basilica's sandcastle-like towers resemble the spirelike rock formations that every Catalan can identify as jutting from Montserrat.

“Montserrat is our holy mountain,” Santín said. “The Sagrada Familia is like a Montserrat in the middle of the city."

Chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” echoed through the arena as Avery Wilson sang “The Star-Spangled Banner," but they they gave way to boos moments later as Trump was displayed on the jumbo screens giving a military salute. The jeers ended when the U.S. flag followed him on the screens, and fans cheered when New York Knicks players were shown. Mentions of the San Antonio Spurs also elicited vociferous boos.

The president was unfazed. “It was, I think, mostly cheers,” he told reporters after the game before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington. “It was loud, and it was very enthusiastic.”

Trump watched Game 3 from Knicks owner James Dolan’s suite, along with granddaughter Kai, personal adviser Boris Epshteyn and Cabinet secretaries Lee Zeldin, Sean Duffy and Doug Burgum. He sat next to Dolan for the first quarter and spent part of the second talking to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman.

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

He settled into Dolan's suite shortly afterward.

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

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

New Yorkers forced to adjust

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Knicks’ streak was broken Monday night, with the Spurs winning 115-111. Game 4 will be played Wednesday night at the Garden.

Incidents heighten attention to Trump's security

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

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

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

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

Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other dignitaries were also at the game, as were Yankees Hall of Famer Derek Jeter and two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Eli Manning of the Giants.

It was already hard enough for Knicks fans to get inside Madison Square Garden because of astronomical ticket prices. The get-in price for a ticket is higher than the average cost of monthly rent in New York, surging over $5,000.

The best seats were listed for tens of thousands of dollars. Mamdani said he bought his ticket, which he said was standing-room-only, for about $1,000 directly from Madison Square Garden.

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

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

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AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this report.

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

Since 2023, the Scandinavian country’s center-right coalition government has pursued a policy prioritizing more reading time and less screen time, particularly among preschool students, by favoring books and other traditional learning tools.

Lawmaker Joar Forsell, chairperson of the Swedish parliament's education committee, said officials have seen a decline in the general ability to read and write in Sweden, especially among younger students.

“We’re rolling the screens back because we believe that books and more traditional ways of learning are better for kids,” Forsell said.

Sweden’s plans are part of a broader shift and a digital reckoning against smartphones in schools internationally after countries outfitted their campuses with laptops, tablets and learning apps for their students. Classrooms have become saturated with screens and a growing number of parents, teachers and school districts say it is time to scale back.

In the Nordics, Denmark looks set to implement a similar ban to Sweden, and a law restricting use of mobile devices in schools in Finland came into effect last August. Other countries from Spain to South Korea have taken a variety of steps that range from a ban of mobile phones in classrooms to limits on screen-based homework.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school district in the U.S., has said it will ban screens until second grade, require daily caps for screen time per grade, ban YouTube and require an audit of all education technology contracts.

Backing away from screens

Tech-savvy Sweden, which is home to music streamer Spotify and telecoms giant Ericsson, has one of the most digitally advanced education systems in the world. But the mobile ban aims to foster learning environments with fewer distractions by building on restrictions on phones already independently implemented by many schools in the nation of over 10 million.

Alongside the ban, the government this year set aside 555 million Swedish krona ($59 million) as part of a new grant for purchasing textbooks and teachers’ guides.

The back-to-books policy was triggered by falling reading levels. In the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment, the latest study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 24.3% of Swedish ninth graders did not reach a basic level of reading comprehension. That figure is only slightly better than the European Union average of 26.2%.

Magnus Haake, an associate professor of cognitive science at Lund University in southern Sweden, said learning with physical materials engages the motor sensory part of kids’ brains and “boosts the whole system.”

Sweden also is taking steps outside of school: Its public health agency has provided advice to parents about being better role models on use of screens, like having the same “screen-free zones” at home as their kids do.

Removing mobile phones removes distractions

At the Malmö Borgarskola high school in southern Sweden, mobiles are already banned during classes. Students place their handsets in a box — nicknamed a “Mobile Hotel” — and pick them up at the end of class.

“When you have a phone, there’s always something to look at,” student Melina Sallahi, 17, said. “It’s less of a distraction.”

Classmate Vasilije Stjepanovic, also 17, said apps like games or social media are “more fun than learning,” adding that students can learn better by taking away the phones.

At the same time, every student is given a laptop computer. But Deputy Headmaster Patrik Sander said students are now discouraged from using them in class, unless teachers say so.

“Nowadays, we see the push going in the other direction,” Sander said. “We have pushed back, learning that writing with your hands and a pencil helps you remember.”

Starting last summer, Swedish children under 2 years old could use only nondigital materials such as books, and preschoolers in general face no requirement to use digital learning tools. A new curriculum to prioritize book-based learning is expected in 2028.

Divisions over digital reckoning in classrooms

Not everyone in the Nordic nation supports the shift away from digital learning.

Trade association Swedish Edtech Industry said in a report that 90% of all future jobs are expected to require digital skills. A lack of this knowledge could cause a skills shortage among young Swedes, a lack of innovation in the public sector and even increased unemployment, the report warned.

Peter Carlsson, CEO of Malmö-based startup Imvi Labs, which uses virtual reality headsets to train brain-eye coordination in children and adults, said not all screens disrupt learning and some software is “critical” to help children with learning or reading difficulties.

“By having good tools, the teaching can become more efficient,” he said.

But at Malmö Borgarskola, there is little concern over learning digital skills. One morning in May, students clutched textbooks and discussed Russian history as they prepared for end-of-year exams.

“Everyone uses digital devices during their free time, so I don’t think that’s something that should be taught in school,” student Melina Sallahi said. “It’s nothing I’m worried about.”

Classmate Aslan Özhan Kilicasan added, “We learn much more easily when we use books.”

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

The excitement extended until just about the final buzzer, when the Spurs finished off a 115-111 victory that ended New York's 13-game postseason winning streak. San Antonio trimmed its series deficit to 2-1 and avoided getting pushed to the brink of elimination.

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

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

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

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

The hoopla for Game 3 included the appearance by Trump, booed by fans when he was shown on arena video screens, as well as Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Yankees Hall of Famer Derek Jeter, Giants two-time Super Bowl-wining quarterback Eli Manning, actor Daniel Radcliff and more.

Trump's presence led to the cancellation of a planned watch party outside the arena. There was instead one a few blocks away in Bryant Park, which included police intervening in at least one altercation among people gathered, according to video from the scene.

Officers also shut down an unauthorized viewing party when the game was projected onto the side of a building on 33rd Street not far from The Garden.

The possibility of a sweep drove ticket prices up to more than $10,000 apiece over the weekend, and the price is about the same for an if-necessary Game 6, which is more likely now after San Antonio guaranteed a Game 5 back in Texas.

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

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

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Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo contributed to this report.

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

The results are not in question. Neither Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins nor Democratic challenger Graham Platner faces serious opposition for their party's nomination. And yet Tuesday marks an especially significant moment for Platner, the embattled veteran and oyster farmer, who is fighting to rebuild his credibility in a campaign rocked by controversy.

Elsewhere, President Donald Trump's clout within his party will be tested anew in states like South Carolina and Nevada, where he's endorsed his favored candidates. Democrats hope to build momentum in Nevada in their broader push to reclaim key governor's seats.

Powerful family ties will also be in the spotlight in Maine and South Carolina, where candidates with political pedigrees are running for office.

Here's what we're watching Tuesday.

Platner faces a big moment

Platner sits at the very center of the Democratic Party's quest to reclaim the Senate majority this fall. So Democrats need him to take a significant step forward Tuesday, with the eyes of the nation watching, in the urgent task of rebuilding his credibility.

It was barely a week ago when revelations surfaced that Platner had engaged in sexually explicit messages with multiple women while married. Allies wondered if more baggage would emerge, and then The New York Times reported new allegations about his behavior during previous relationships.

There is no doubt that Platner will win his party's Senate nomination Tuesday. His most serious opponent, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign in April after it became clear Platner was in a commanding position. That said, Mills is still technically on the ballot and some advocates have suggested voting for her as a way to protest Platner.

More important, perhaps, will be Platner's public remarks Tuesday night. Friends and foes alike will be paying close attention to how he addresses the evolving questions about his past and whether he can refocus the race on Collins.

Maine race will test Democrats’ standards

It's not just Platner who will be tested Tuesday — the Democratic Party itself will face new scrutiny about its standards in the Trump era.

So far, Platner's biggest national supporters have remained firmly behind him. Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of his earliest backers, reiterated his support for the Maine Democrat on Saturday, a day after Rep. Ro Khanna appeared alongside Platner at a campaign event.

The public show of support reflects how much Democratic politics have changed over the last decade.

At the height of the #MeToo movement, Democrats argued they held their candidates to a higher standard than Republicans, particularly as Trump faced a series of sexual misconduct allegations. Back in 2017, Democratic leaders pressured Sen. Al Franken to resign in the wake of allegations of inappropriate touching and kissing.

The reaction to Platner has been markedly different. Even after allegations surfaced that he locked a woman in a room, among other accusations of inappropriate behavior, most Democrats have declined to abandon him.

“I think President Trump set a new standard,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

Expect Democratic leaders to face a new round of difficult questions about their own standards after Tuesday's primary.

Trump looks to shake off embarrassment

Just a week ago, Trump's pick for Iowa governor was defeated in a rare rebuke from his own party. Trump hopes to move past the political embarrassment during a fresh test of his political clout in South Carolina and Nevada.

The biggest may come in South Carolina, where Trump has endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in a five-person Republican gubernatorial primary. There are a number of other high-profile candidates in the race, including Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, who may prove formidable. State Attorney General Alan Wilson and millionaire Rom Reddy are also running.

Trump will also keep a close eye on whether one of his closest allies in Congress, Sen. Lindsey Graham, is forced into a runoff for the first time ever. Graham faces appliance business owner Mark Lynch, who Trump has said “would be a DISASTER for the Republican Party” if elected.

Candidates must earn a majority of the vote to avoid a June 23 runoff.

Meanwhile, in Nevada’s 2nd congressional district, Trump-backed candidate retired Lt. Col. David Flippo is facing former state Sen. James Settelmeyer. Republican Rep. Mark Amodei, who announced his retirement from the seat, has endorsed Settelmeyer, as has the state’s governor, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo.

Democrats eye a key governor's seat

Democrats will select a nominee for Nevada's governor race, where they have a real opportunity to flip control of the swing state this fall. Republican incumbent Gov. Joe Lombardo is considered one of the most vulnerable governors in the country.

The race is a window into the broader political landscape this fall as Democrats go on the offensive in several states Trump won in 2024.

The Democrats vying to challenge Lombardo include state Attorney General Aaron Ford, who has the backing of the Democratic congressional delegation and former Vice President Kamala Harris. He would be the first Black man elected governor of Nevada. He's facing Democrat Alexis Hill, a county commissioner in northern Nevada who campaigned as a candidate willing to shake things up.

Democrats are also fighting to win Republican-held governors' seats in states like Georgia, Ohio and Iowa.

Republicans, of course, have several pickup opportunities of their own, despite the challenging political environment for their party. They include Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Can they keep it in the family?

The power of political family ties will be tested in at least two states where candidates with last names you'll likely recognize are on the ballot.

In Maine, Democrats Angus King III and Hannah Pingree are competing for their party's nomination for governor. King is the businessman son of U.S. Sen. Angus King. Pingree, a former speaker of the state House, is the daughter of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, who has represented the state's 1st congressional district since 2009.

There's a member of an even bigger political dynasty on Maine's ballot, too. Republican candidate for governor Jonathan Bush, a 57-year-old businessman, is the nephew of former President George H.W. Bush — and yes, that also makes him the cousin of former President George W. Bush. Despite the family ties, Jonathan Bush is casting himself as the outsider in the race and focusing heavily on his local business experience.

And don't forget about South Carolina, where Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson is running for governor. While he has established his own resume as the state's top law enforcement official, Wilson also happens to be the son of U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, who has served South Carolina in the House of Representatives for a quarter century.

South Carolina: redistricting dies and Clyburn’s political future survives

Just weeks ago, longtime Rep. James Clyburn, the dean of South Carolina Democrats, appeared to be facing the greatest threat to his political future.

Republican lawmakers, backed by Trump, considered a congressional map that would have significantly altered Clyburn’s majority-Black district and made it harder for him to hold onto the seat for an 18th term. But the Republican-led state Senate rejected the effort, leaving his district largely intact.

Clyburn is heavily favored in Tuesday’s Democratic primary against a little-known challenger. As South Carolina’s lone Democratic House member, he's one of the party’s most influential figures, with many Democrats expecting him to play a significant role in the lead-up to the 2028 presidential race.

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Peoples reported from New York.

Karmelo Anthony, now 19, did not testify in his own defense over the killing of Austin Metcalf, whose death stunned a booming Dallas suburb where the two students attended different schools.

If convicted, Anthony faces up to life in prison.

Over the course of the nearly weeklong trial, Anthony's attorneys have sought to convince jurors that Anthony was forced to defend himself under a tent belonging to the track team of Frisco Memorial High School, where Metcalf was in his junior year. Several schools were competing at a rainy track meet, and Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.

Witnesses at trial who were in the tent described Anthony as the aggressor. According to the arrest report, Anthony at one point told Metcalf: “Touch me and see what happens.”

Several students told jurors that Metcalf then pushed Anthony, who then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.

Prosecutors called the stabbing an unjustified attack and not a case of self-defense.

Testimony at the trial leaned heavily on the recollections of teenagers who described being shocked at the tragedy at a community sports event. Many questions centered on team culture at track meets and the confrontation in the tent.

One teammate told jurors that Anthony was “distraught” after the stabbing. Judge John Roach Jr. ordered that the names of teenage witnesses not be made public.

“I was hearing him say, ‘I told him not to touch me,’” the teenager said.

Vincent Hooper, an area track coach who approached Anthony, asked him what had happened. Anthony replied that he had stabbed someone who had “put his hands on me,” Hooper recalled last week.

The death last year quickly drew wide attention, in part because of social media posts that amplified the case in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white.

After the stabbing, Jeff Metcalf, Austin's father, condemned those who seized on the race of the teens. Prosecutors also opened the trial by saying race had nothing to do with the case.

Court of International Trade Judge Richard Eaton said he wanted to hear details that would help him decide whether to order the government to speed up and expand its system for issuing tariff refunds. The Justice Department subsequently appealed an earlier order by Eaton to make all businesses that paid the now-defunct import taxes eligible for refunds plus interest.

The Justice Department argued in a court document that only companies that were parties in any of the more than 2.500 lawsuits that challenged the tariffs were legally entitled to seek refunds.

With the dispute now in the hands of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Tuesday's hearing may provide more clarity about the next phase of the refund process.

First phase of tariff refunds is still ongoing

Eaton ordered Customs and Border Protection in March to create a system by which “all importers of record” could apply for their share of the $166 billion CBP estimated it had collected before the Supreme Court struck down the global tariffs.

The agency launched the online system April 20, saying it would first review applications from importers whose tax bills had not been finalized.

Claims for refunds totaling $89.6 billion had been accepted for processing as of June 1, according to CBP, and the agency reported last month that it had so far directed the Treasury Department to issue $20.6 billion in refunds.

The pace and scope of the process became a contentious matter, however, when Eaton directed CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott to appear in court to discuss the agency's timeline for complying with the judge's “universal” order. The Justice Department objected and asked if one of Scott's deputies could attend the hearing instead.

When Eaton insisted on hearing directly from the head of the agency, Justice Department lawyers appealed both that mandate and the judge's broader ruling on refund eligibility. On Thursday, the Federal Circuit agreed to temporarily suspend the requirement for Scott to testify.

Eaton agreed to hear from Susan Thomas, the agency's executive assistant commissioner for trade.

Who gets access to the next phase of tariff refunds

The hearing is expected to focus on CBP's capability and willingness to open the refund process to companies with tariff payments that date back the farthest.

So far, the agency has limited applications to businesses that either did not have their tax bills finalized by the time the Supreme Court struck down Trump's “reciprocal” tariffs in late February or whose bills had been settled within the preceding 80 days.

In a court declaration ahead of the hearing, Thomas said CBP was developing a way to handle refunds involving older shipments but would not process cases beyond the 80-day window while Eaton's order requiring for all duty payers was on appeal.

“Should the court’s order become final and require reliquidation of entries of all importers, CBP intends to fully comply with the court’s final decision as expeditiously as possible,” she wrote.

At issue is the agency's detailed and deadline-driven process for reviewing and clearing customs declarations on new imports.

When foreign goods enter the U.S., importers or customs brokers acting on their behalf estimate the amount of tariffs owed and make a deposit toward the final bill. CBP then has 314 days — and up to four years, if necessary — to review the declared goods, determine the actual amount owed, and either require more or less than the deposit.

The taxed merchandise then is pronounced “liquidated.” Importers have 180 days to protest CBP’s determination. Goods typically can't be reassessed after that point.

Eaton has said he is holding Tuesday's hearing “to ascertain if it is the government's policy to return all of the unlawfully collected duties either by complying with the court’s order, or by some other means.”

Lawyers for the five companies behind the lawsuit that produced the judge's order said it would be unconstitutional for them to pay less tariffs than other companies that also paid the invalidated duties, which the Supreme Court held Trump improperly imposed by citing an emergency powers law to usurp Congress' taxmaking authority.

The companies have asked Eaton to certify their case as a class action on behalf of “potentially tens of thousands of identically situated importers.”

Meghann Supino, a partner at the law firm Ice Miller, said she thinks CBP will continue to build out the technology needed to refund all tariffs, but “whether they open it up to non-litigants and importers that do not have orders for their own sake is going to continue to be an issue with the appeal.”

But Spencer Pratt was not able to pull off his latest venture — an improbable bid to become mayor of Los Angeles. The Associated Press determined Monday that the onetime reality television personality did not qualify for the November runoff to unseat embattled incumbent Karen Bass.

Instead of Pratt, a Republican who received a nod of approval from President Donald Trump, Bass will face progressive Nithya Raman, a city council member who had challenged the Democratic mayor from the political left.

Pratt's candidacy was fueled by celebrity — he starred on “The Hills,” a show about young people in Los Angeles — and videos that supporters generated with artificial intelligence. But his campaign also reflected frustration that political leaders have been unable or unwilling to address chronic problems. Pratt had relentlessly focused on homelessness, crime and decay that's marred a city otherwise known for its culinary scene, postcard scenery and a global entertainment industry.

"Enough is enough,” Pratt often said on the campaign trail.

Officials spent days tallying votes from the June 2 primary, typical in a state where slow counting has made the process a target for frustration and conspiracy theories. On Friday, Pratt posted photos of himself outside city hall with a single word — “Patience.”

No Republican has won a mayor’s race in Los Angeles since 1997, and Pratt faced a steep climb as a first-time candidate. His political ambitions were forged by tragedy that added grit to his tabloid backstory. His house was one of thousands destroyed in last year's Palisades Fire, the most destructive in city history.

“This is where I live," Pratt said in a campaign video while standing in front of a trailer parked on the ruins of his property. "They let my home burn down. I know what the consequences of failed leadership are.”

Never mind that Pratt didn't actually live in the trailer — TMZ later reported he was living with his wife and two young boys in the luxurious Hotel Bel-Air. His outrage mirrored broader dissatisfaction with Bass, a Democrat who was on a presidential delegation to Ghana when the blaze began and has faced criticism for the slow pace of rebuilding.

Some Angelenos are desperate for change

Dennis Kamrany, a lifelong Pacific Palisades resident who sells real estate and is waiting for his home's gas lines to be reconnected more than a year after they were damaged in the fire, said Pratt's political inexperience didn't matter.

“I’d rather have someone that’s a fighter, that has energy, that’s young, that is talking about common sense policies," he said.

“What the hell do we have to lose?” he added. “We’re already in the dumps. Give somebody else a shot.”

Steve Hilton, a conservative commentator who became the leading Republican candidate for governor, saw Pratt's candidacy along with his own as signals that California voters are desperate for a break from the state's prevailing liberal governance.

“We've got a failed and broken system and you've got a couple of outsiders who've never run for office before,” Hilton said of himself and Pratt. “This is our moment."

Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in California by nearly 2-to-1 statewide, and Republicans account for under 15% of registered voters in Los Angeles.

With that math working against Pratt, there were simply not enough Los Angeles voters who believed he should be given a chance to oversee a $15 billion budget and 50,000 municipal workers, including roughly 8,600 police officers, in the nation's second-largest city.

Billionaire businessman Rick Caruso faced a similar challenge in 2022, when he ran against Bass for mayor. The Republican-turned-Democrat spent over $100 million, most of it his own money, on a campaign focused on public safety, and he lost by nearly 10 points.

Deanna Crane, 33, said she wanted “anyone with a pulse other than Spencer Pratt” for mayor.

Although she shared Pratt's dissatisfaction with how Bass handled last year's fires, she voted for Raman instead.

Pratt rose through celebrity circles

Pratt is a product of the early aughts youth reality television boom in Los Angeles, where he entrenched himself for the better part of two decades. His breakthrough came when he joined the second season of “The Hills” as Heidi Montag’s boyfriend. The couple — especially Pratt — embraced their onscreen personas as fame-seeking television villains, even publishing a book, “How to Be Famous: Our Guide to Looking the Part, Playing the Press, and Becoming a Tabloid Fixture” in 2009, the year they married.

There was little, it seems, that Pratt wouldn’t do for a headline or in the name of publicity.

He claimed responsibility for spreading rumors about a sex tape featuring “The Hills” star Lauren Conrad, but later denied it. A year and a half after marrying Montag, they filed for divorce; several months later, he said it was faked to boost Montag’s fledgling music career. During their separation, he also was arrested and jailed in Costa Rica for attempting to board a flight with a firearm.

In 2018, he talked about how he blew through a $10 million net worth in pursuit of a lavish lifestyle, replete with $4,000 bottles of wine and $1 million worth of crystals. He also started a company, Pratt Daddy, that sells crystals. The website explains that the crystals helped heal Montag’s post-surgery pain “that even morphine could not relieve.”

After the family's home was destroyed in the Palisades Fire, they faced backlash for accepting money from fans. Pratt insisted they were not rich even before losing everything. He also turned to TikTok videos as a source of revenue, tried to get a reality show going about their rebuilding process, and started encouraging fans to stream Montag’s music, including her 15-year-old album “Superficial.”

It hit No. 1 on iTunes, thanks to support from the likes of Paris Hilton, Alix Earle and Flavor Flav. He celebrated with a video on Instagram.

“Who needs a house, who needs clothes, who needs anything but this level of clout, pop, superstardom?” Pratt said.

Los Angeles faces steep challenges

The next mayor will likely become an international figure when Los Angeles hosts the Olympics in 2028.

But a falling population in the region speaks to frustration with taxes, traffic and the cost of just about everything.

Although statistics suggest that the city has made headway on homelessness, makeshift encampments and rows of rusting RVs remain commonplace. Dirty, pocked streets and sidewalks abound.

Meanwhile, Hollywood jobs have been decamping for years to more affordable filming locales. The restaurant industry has been ailing.

Los Angeles' ailments had some voters willing to take a chance on Pratt.

Susie Tho, 38, came to wait outside Pratt’s primary night party hoping to shake his hand.

Tho said she is a Democrat but voted for Pratt. She was born and raised in Los Angeles and said she was voting for a change after feeling like the city has “gone downhill.”

When Pratt first announced his candidacy, she was apprehensive. but she said he won her over with his debate performance, which she called sharp and prepared.

“I just wanted a clean and safe street for my child to grow up in,” Tho said. “I miss the LA that I grew up in.”

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Associated Press writer Jaimie Ding contributed.

He didn’t know Bari Weiss, the news division’s editor in chief, would be there. But his initial reaction to seeing her was “This is terrific of her,” he told The New York Times in a wide-ranging podcast interview. He figured he'd able to ask questions, and she’d explain her sweeping changes of the previous week, in which she’d replaced the executive producer, Tanya Simon, and let go two correspondents, along with other key staffers.

The last thing from his mind? That he himself was about to be fired, after a meeting that he says lasted about 10 minutes. “I just didn't connect the dots,” he said.

In a raw and emotional interview with the Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro, released Sunday, Pelley, who had been at CBS for 37 years, told his side of the story. Several times, he teared up. He said the whole affair felt “like your spouse was murdered.”

Here are some takeaways from the interview.

He didn't see ‘Black Thursday’ coming

THE BACKGROUND: Five days before he was fired, on the previous Thursday, the stunning changes were announced. In Simon’s place Weiss had installed Bilton, a former tech columnist at the Times and a documentarian with no TV broadcast experience. Though Weiss, who had quickly become a polarizing figure in the industry, had been widely expected to make changes, Pelley says that what he calls “Black Thursday” came as a shock.

THE QUOTE: “No one saw the Black Thursday massacre coming. This is our entire senior staff. Tanya Simon, our boss, she’s the first woman ever to be executive producer of ‘60 Minutes.’ And she concluded this season with a growth in our audience of nine percent, which is unheard-of in broadcast television."

His emotions are close to the surface

THE BACKGROUND: The correspondent teared up several times when describing how close-knit relationships were at the show.

THE QUOTE: “That’s a family at ‘60 Minutes'. My colleagues and I have worked together 10, 20, 30 years. We travel together. We dine together. We go into literal combat together. My former boss and former producer Bill Owens saved my life in a firefight in Iraq. So, Lulu, these bonds are pretty tight, and when somebody wipes out, murders, a large number of your family members, people are hurt, and shocked, in disbelief and just desperate for some explanation. And as you and I sit here today, there still has been none."

The staff meeting with the new boss was preceded by an ‘insulting’ email

THE BACKGROUND: Bilton had written an introductory email to the staff. Pelley didn't appreciate it.

THE QUOTE: “It was so insulting ... He told us that it wasn’t 1968 anymore, and he helpfully noted that gasoline doesn’t cost 32 cents anymore, and suggested that we had all been frozen in amber in 1968 when the program first went on the air, and that nothing had improved.”

At the meeting, a ‘tone-deaf’ boss read from his phone

THE BACKGROUND: Pelley set a scene of a roomful of people "who have devoted their lives to ‘60 Minutes"’ and had received no explanation of what was going on. He says they were waiting for Weiss to elucidate. She didn't attend. Instead, Bilton took out his phone and started reading from it.

THE QUOTE: “Nick makes his way to the front of the room and does something absolutely jaw-dropping to me. He pulls out his phone and begins reading a statement off his phone in a room full of 50 heartbroken people. The callousness, the tone-deafness of that, you could hear the groan in the room. They put out a big spread of bagels like we were all going to feel better. ... I felt that somebody had to stand up, not just for the broadcast, but for the people. There are people in that room who go to war zones when they are pregnant.”

He never expected to be fired

THE BACKGROUND: What happened at the meeting is now widely known, with Pelley challenging Bilton about his qualifications for the job and saying Weiss was “murdering” the show, among other things. Still, he did not think his job was on the line.

THE QUOTE: “Oh gosh, furthest thing from my mind. …Some reporter I turned out to be. I just didn’t connect the dots. I mean, was this meeting (on Monday) contentious? Yes, but ‘60 Minutes’” is known for two things: a ticking stopwatch and hard questions.”

He says leadership advocated ‘falsehoods and bias’

THE BACKGROUND: In the story about the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in confrontations with federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year, Pelley says that he and colleagues made efforts, on their own, to show examples of how protesters had been aggressive. But Weiss asked for more that he says he could not give. Ultimately, Pelley simply resisted the changes and the piece went forward.

Asked about the accusation, CBS News responded: “In an email, Bari made four points in the course of editorial back-and-forth. They had no political motivation and were proposed solely to make the piece as strong, fair, and accurate as possible. As is frequently the case in any newsroom that operates with collaboration, not everything she raised made it into the final piece.”

THE QUOTE: “We get the piece approved by everyone. And about four hours after our deadline, Bari Weiss sends an email to my boss, Tanya Simon. Two of the things in the email include, 'Can we make the protesters look more violent?' Now, I’m paraphrasing. I don’t have the quote, but that’s what was communicated to me. And the other thing, Renee Good’s car. You need to describe her as driving toward the officer … This is not what you see on the video.. But that’s how that happened. There was a thumb on the scale for the president’s version of events that I felt was a level of political influence that I had never seen in 37 years at CBS News.”

He has not spoken to three fellow correspondents who stayed

THE BACKGROUND: Pelley says in the interview he has not spoken to Lesley Stahl, Jon Wertheim and Bill Whitaker, who have said they decided to stay for now, based on assurances that they can work without interference. But he says he doesn’t think those assurances can be trusted. He also suggests that Anderson Cooper, who did not renew his contract for what he said were family reasons, actually was leaving because of the new leadership.

THE QUOTE: “I haven’t talked to them. .... we have had conversations before this about staying to maintain the principles of the broadcast. If we leave, we can’t help. There have been other times — when Anderson left, when others were fired — that we could have stormed into a meeting and quit, but those very distinguished correspondents and myself did have conversations about this and decided that we were better working on the inside, and that we could influence things for the better. And we did. And it was my intention to stay and do exactly that. ... (Now) I would venture to say that trust is broken.”

___

Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.

Clinton Township Trustee Shannon King, whose daughter is a junior at Clintondale High School, said families were devastated by the sudden cancellation.

“She was part of the crew that was setting up that night, so to hear that she’s hurrying, setting up, then trying to get her dress on and get ready to go, and then to only hear that it was canceled was just, the wind was taken out of your sails,” King said.

In response, organizers raised money for what they are calling a “community prom,” which King said will include traditional prom elements such as a red carpet, DJ, dance floor, and photo opportunities. Organizers said they are relying on social media to spread the word since the event is not affiliated with the school.

The district said it cannot participate in any official rescheduling because the threat that led to the cancellation remains under investigation.

Interim Superintendent Kevin Knoblock issued a statement Monday afternoon, emphasizing that any efforts to recreate prom for students are not affiliated with or coordinated by the district.

“Clintondale Community Schools is proceeding with refunds for prom tickets. Individuals who purchased tickets will receive communication from the district this week regarding the refund process.

After extensive discussion and careful consideration, the district is unable to move forward with rescheduling prom.

The situation that led to the cancellation of prom remains an active investigation. Until proven otherwise, the threat is still being treated as credible.

Because there is currently no timeline for when the investigation will be completed, the district chose to refund purchased tickets so that students and families would not be asked to wait indefinitely.

We recognize and appreciate the engagement, commitment, and support shown by members of our community who have worked to explore alternative options on behalf of our students.

Any plans, discussions, or activities related to dates, locations, or amenities associated with the Community Activist Project, including efforts to independently organize or reschedule prom, are solely those of community members and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or coordinated through the district.

Our priority remains the safety and well-being of our students. We remain committed to that and are grateful for the continued care and dedication shown by our community."

Interim Superintendent Kevin Knoblock

At a school board meeting on Monday (June 8), Knoblock and board president Jared Maynard said they support the community effort but could not move forward with a school-sponsored event, citing safety concerns.

“No dress, tuxedo, or limo is worth more than the lives of our students,” Knoblock said. “I would rather there be disappointment than devastation.”

The community prom is scheduled for Friday, June 12, at the Anton Art Center in Mount Clemens.

Organizers are coordinating security with the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office and a private security firm.

A GoFundMe has also been started to support the event.

“This is a true testament to what it means to live in a community and have a community come to action to be able to find common ground,” King said.

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

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

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

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

Alibaba and Baidu said there is no basis for including them on the list. “Alibaba is not a Chinese military company nor part of any military-civil fusion strategy,” a statement from the leading e-commerce company said. Baidu, which has expanded into artificial intelligence and self-driving taxis, said the suggestion that it is a military company is “entirely baseless.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Storm risk

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

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

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

Heat risk

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

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

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

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

How to stay safe from the heat

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

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

How to recognize heat illness

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

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

The storm threat does not disappear during the heat.

Additional thunderstorms are possible on Wednesday and Thursday.

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

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

The weather could also affect baseball fans heading downtown.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Share your weather photos with Local 4 at MIPics.

Wembanyama made the first two shots he attempted on Monday night on the way to scoring 32 points in a 115-111 victory at the New York Knicks. He had nine points in the first five minutes, including an alley-oop on the first basket of the game and a dunk on the next possession and was a force on both ends of the court, especially late when it mattered most.

Wembanyama was a key to San Antonio building an early lead but even more importantly in a third-quarter rally to bounce back from another blown double-digit lead.

After delivering the pass to Keldon Johnson for a layup that tied the score at 76 with 5:38 left in the third, Wembanyama hit a 3-pointer from 29 feet out to put the Spurs ahead. He scored the first basket of what turned into a dominant fourth quarter, later drawing a foul and making a pair of free throws for San Antonio’s 99th and 100th points.

With four minutes left and the Knicks looking to stage another comeback, Wembanyama surged to block what looked to be an easy layup by Landry Shamet.

Wembanyama finished with eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks in what was close to a must-win situation. No team has fallen behind 3-0 in the finals and come back to win the series.

Teammates were not at all worried about Wembanyama in the aftermath of the 22-year-old star clanking a shot off the rim that would have been the Game 2 winner. Johnson said his recommendation was to shoot again and made clear the Spurs want the ball in Wembanyama's hands at important moments.

Over the weekend, coach Mitch Johnson said he spoke to Wembanyama, though it didn't appear to be anything different from their normal conversations over the course of the season and playoffs.

“I think he’s looking for what my job is, which is to help him, support him, give him clarity, give him solutions or possible solutions to continue to give him opportunities and give him advantages,” Johnson said before the game. “That’s our job, and my job specifically, to put these guys in position to be successful, and then they have got to go and help themselves and help their teammates when they get out there on the floor.”

Knicks counterpart Mike Brown acknowledged there's no way to gauge how well an opponent feels about containing Wembanyama because the 7-foot-4 big man is that impactful.

“It’s a pretty simple formula: You’re not blocking his shots, you’re not getting him off his spots — you’re not doing these things to him," Brown said. “You hope you can make him work at the end of the day, and you hope he misses some shots."

Wembanyama missed seven shots from the floor, going 11 of 18 and silencing the crowd that at one point directed a vulgar chant his way. He'll now get a chance to help the Spurs try to even the finals in Game 4 on Wednesday night back at Madison Square Garden.

___

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

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

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

Sale process meets legal standard

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Displaced tenants must be compensated

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leland House Apt Sale Court Order by brandon carr

Mayor Kevin Coleman announced on Facebook on Monday (June 8) that the city is withholding $100,000 from Priority Waste and pursuing additional contractual penalties, citing service levels that have fallen below the requirements set forth in the city’s waste collection agreement.

“Mayor Coleman remains committed to ensuring Westland residents receive the reliable service promised under the city’s contract,” city officials said in a statement.

The move follows weeks of complaints from residents who reported yard waste sitting at the curb for days, and in some cases, for weeks beyond scheduled pickup dates.

City documenting missed collections

The city has been reviewing service data and documenting missed collections as it seeks to hold the contractor accountable.

Officials said monitoring efforts will continue while Priority Waste works to resolve outstanding collection issues.

Residents experiencing missed pickups are encouraged to report them by contacting Westland City Hall at (734) 713-3888 or by emailing mayor@cityofwestland.com.

Regional pattern of disruptions

The problems in Westland are part of a broader pattern of service disruptions tied to Priority Waste across Metro Detroit.

Communities including Grosse Pointe Park, Macomb Township, Wayne, Dearborn Heights, Madison Heights, Allen Park, and Royal Oak have recently issued public notices acknowledging delays and informing residents that local officials are working with the company to restore normal service.

As temperatures rise, residents across the region have reported growing concerns about trash and yard waste remaining curbside for extended periods.

Complaints have come from residential subdivisions, condominium communities, and mobile home parks.

Priority Waste responds

Last week, Priority Waste issued a public apology, acknowledging it has not met the level of service customers expect and deserve."

“We are acutely aware of the frustration that service delays have caused for residents, communities, and customers,” the company said in part. “Missed collections and delayed service are disruptive, and we take that responsibility seriously.”

The company said it is taking steps to improve operations, including purchasing 198 rental trucks, adding 91 automated side-load collection vehicles, hiring and training 28 additional drivers and crew members, and improving its customer service call center.

Priority Waste said it has adopted an “all-hands-on-deck” approach involving leadership, operations, maintenance, and customer care teams to address the backlog and restore service reliability.

The company also said new collection vehicles are arriving daily as part of broader fleet stabilization efforts.

Despite those measures, local officials across several Metro Detroit communities continue urging residents to report missed pickups while crews work to catch up on delayed routes.

Westland officials said the city will continue to document service issues and evaluate additional enforcement actions if collection problems persist.

“We appreciate the patience, understanding, and partnership from the communities we serve and continue making the operational improvements necessary to deliver the level of service residents expect and deserve,” the statement said.

→ Trash pickup delays continue across Metro Detroit as Priority Waste issues an apology

In a television interview Monday with Channel Nine’s “100% Footy,” Evans said he was gay and that he felt like a weight had lifted off him when he finally could talk about it publicly.

Evans is the first high-level rugby league player in Australia to come out as gay since Ian Roberts in 1995.

Evans played 131 games in the elite National Rugby League from 2014-2021 for clubs including the Sydney Roosters, Parramatta and the New Zealand-based Warriors before finishing off his professional career in England in 2023. He played 13 international games for Fiji.

“I had three goals in life: It was to play NRL, to buy my parents a house, and then I wanted to top myself, because I was living in denial from a young age,” the 34-year-old Evans said in the television interview. “I know that I’m gay. But I went down every other avenue to sort of build up these walls ... to escape who I am.”

After struggling with addiction and suicidal thoughts as he dealt with his sexuality as a younger man and professional footballer, and then experiencing homelessness after a business collapse in his post-rugby league career, Evans finally got the support he needed.

Helping out

Evans said it was only after talking to Joe Galuvao, a former player who works with the Rugby League Players’ Association, that he realized help was so close.

“I thank God that he came and visited me and got me into rehab with the help of the RLPA,” Evans said.

Others in the football fraternity reached out, Evans said. Like Sydney Roosters head coach Trent Robinson, who helped pay the bills while Evans was in rehabilitation and invited him back into the club.

“He called me just to let me know that the Roosters are still my home and they’ve got my back, whatever I’m facing,” Evans said. “That meant the world to me. He took me, my best friend, and one of my mentors to Roosters HQ a week after I got out of rehab."

Evans had planned to come out to his family before the television interview aired.

“I've been fighting a war within since I was about 15 years old and it's not sustainable,” he said. “I’m here today to show people that you don’t have to live like that. Even now I feel a bit more free, just by saying it out loud, I’ve brought it to the light."

Evans said he'd had “people blackmail me … I’ve had people try to deflect their problems by trying to out me. And it just built up a lot of shame, and fear and guilt within myself.”

“Now I’ve spoken about it, I’ve shattered all those chains. They’ve lost their power," he added. “I feel like coming and speaking to you today, fear, shame, guilt -- all of that, I’ve cut ties with all that. I feel peace within.”

Great support

Roberts, who played for Australia in the 1990s, described Evans' interview as an “extraordinary moment” and “I was in tears watching.”

“I am so proud of him,” Roberts told News Corp. “Everything he was saying ... I thought ‘this poor kid,’ I know exactly where he is in his head, what he is going through, the extremes of uncertainty of your own sense of self and your sense of other people.”

Andrew Johns, one of rugby league's greatest players, said the bravery Evans had shown would be encouraging for other people.

“To come out and tell the world, especially the rugby league world, it's incredibly strong," Johns told the Nine network. “There's going to be so much love for him in the rugby league — he's going to save a lot of lives.”

Johns said there were a lot of young people struggling with their sexuality and when “they see someone like Kane and the pain he's gone through, and the strength he's shown, it'll help them stand up and talk to parents, or people close to them.”

“So Kane, well done mate," he added. "We all love you. Incredibly proud of you.”

___

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

Update: US Coast Guard ends search for Lenawee County woman missing in Bahamas sailing trip

Attorney Terrel Butler said on Monday (April 13) officials had “no evidence” to hold her client, Brian, 58, and were required to release him.

NBC News said Hooker did not respond to reporters’ questions as he left the central police station in Grand Bahama with Butler, who described him as “very emotional” and in need of time to recover from the experience.

Hooker had been taken into custody on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, days after telling authorities his wife, Lynette Hooker, 55, fell from a dinghy on April 4.

NBC News reported that Brian said Lynette went overboard with the vessel’s key, forcing him to paddle from Elbow Cay to a marina in Marsh Harbour, where he alerted police.

Shanta Knowles, commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, told NBC News that authorities decided to release Hooker after consulting with prosecutors.

Knowles said he remains a suspect as the investigation continues and that officials are still working to locate Lynette.

Butler told NBC News that police did not present any new evidence during a follow-up interview with her client on Monday, which lasted less than an hour.

She described to NBC News that the questioning was largely repetitive of prior interviews.

On April 10, Brian was questioned for more than three hours about his relationship with his wife, and whether he had caused her harm, Butler said, per NBC News.

Lynette’s body has not been recovered, and authorities have not confirmed her death.

Brian has denied any wrongdoing.

Search efforts for Lynette, per NBC News, have continued for more than a week.

Origin Deleveaux of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force told NBC News crews are searching by land, air, and sea, despite challenging weather conditions, including strong winds and rough waters.

Family members have raised questions about Brian’s account.

--> Daughter speaks out as Lenawee County mother goes missing in the Bahamas, father arrested

Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, has been posting on social media, urging people to help find her mother and sharing a GoFundMe to support the search.

“I’m still in a lot of shock, right now, that this is even a conversation,” Aylesworth said.

Aylesworth said her stepfather told her what happened about 24 hours after her mother disappeared, and she has not spoken with him since.

“He’s the one that told me this happened. I have not talked to him since. I don’t really feel comfortable at the moment until I find out more information on what happened to my mom,” Aylesworth said.

Aylesworth said her mother and stepfather had been together for about 25 years and described the relationship as “rocky at best.”

“There had been problems in their relationship in the past that makes this seem a little too fishy,” Aylesworth said.

Aylesworth also said she is concerned alcohol may have played a role, citing past issues when they drank.

“I just know that they fight more when they drink, that he did something that you can’t undo,” Aylesworth said.

In the GoFundMe description, Aylesworth said any funds would be used to support continued search efforts or to help cover funeral expenses if needed.

She said the U.S. Coast Guard is also involved, and she is trying to travel to the Bahamas to assist.

“We secretly hope that she’s on an island somewhere, just being happy,” Aylesworth said.

Brian’s attorney has said he is cooperating with investigators.

In a statement released to NBC News, Butler said Hooker “categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing,” including allegations raised by Aylesworth.

Aylesworth has said the couple had a history of conflict, particularly when drinking, but noted both were experienced boaters who had spent more than a decade sailing together.

Both Brian and Lynette have had prior legal issues in Michigan.

Court records show Brian Hooker was acquitted of a child abuse charge in 2006. Lynette Hooker was arrested in 2015 on assault-related charges, though a warrant was denied due to insufficient evidence.

In a recorded phone call shared publicly, a man identified as Brian described the night of the incident, saying his wife fell from the dinghy amid strong winds and choppy waters shortly before sunset.

Brian said neither was wearing a life jacket and described the incident as a “cascade of failures.”

Authorities have not confirmed those details and continue to investigate.

Lynette Hooker, 55, was reported missing after she allegedly fell overboard from a dinghy on April 4 while traveling with her husband, Brian Hooker, in the Bahamas.

The Coast Guard resumed search efforts last week after investigators developed new leads and expanded their search area.

On Monday (June 8), officials announced the operation had concluded without locating Hooker.

Search ends without answers

Despite suspending active search efforts, authorities said the investigation remains ongoing.

The Coast Guard is asking anyone with information about Hooker’s disappearance to submit tips through the Coast Guard Investigative Service mobile app.

Brian Hooker, 58, was arrested by Bahamian authorities on April 8 and questioned in connection with the case.

He was released several days later without charges after investigators determined there was insufficient evidence to continue holding him, according to his attorney, Terrel Butler.

Authorities have said Brian remains a suspect as the investigation continues. He has denied any wrongdoing.

What Brian Hooker says happened

According to previous statements made by Brian and his attorney, Lynette fell from a dinghy while the couple was traveling between islands.

Brian Hooker told investigators his wife went overboard with the vessel’s key, forcing him to paddle to shore and seek help.

Authorities have not independently confirmed all aspects of that account.

Family raises questions

The Royal Bahamas Police Force has continued investigating the circumstances surrounding Lynette’s disappearance. Officials have not recovered her body and have not confirmed her death.

Family members have publicly questioned Brian’s account of events.

Lynette’s daughter, Karli Aylesworth, has used social media to seek information about her mother’s disappearance and raise money for search efforts.

Aylesworth previously said she found aspects of her stepfather’s account concerning and has called for answers about what happened.

In response, Butler said his client is cooperating with investigators and “categorically and unequivocally denies any wrongdoing.”

Multi-agency search faced tough conditions

Prior search efforts involved multiple agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Royal Bahamas Defense Force, and the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

Authorities conducted searches by air, sea, and land while contending with challenging weather conditions, including strong winds and rough seas.

Anyone with information related to the case is encouraged to submit tips through the Coast Guard Investigative Service mobile app.

The investigation remains ongoing.

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

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

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

Late Monday, Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, a Republican who oversees elections in the state, announced she was opening an investigation into the candidacy of the challenger Sullivan.

‘I have every right to run’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Candidate ponders how to run a campaign

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's extremely difficult to independently verify reports released by state-controlled media outlets of North Korea and China. But their dispatches on the meeting touted a joint push for greater cooperation while not mentioning North Korea's banned pursuit of nuclear weapons. This implies the summit produced outcomes both leaders could portray as gains; Xi reaffirms influence on North Korea and Kim wins some economic and political benefits.

It was Xi's first visit to North Korea in seven years. Xi and Kim last met in Beijing in September after viewing a military parade alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and other foreign leaders.

Xi was given pomp-filled, extravagant welcome ceremony

Upon arrival at Pyongyang's international airport on Monday, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were greeted by Kim and his wife Ri Sol Ju, who broadly smiled and clapped.

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

In the evening, Kim threw a banquet for Xi and his delegation.

Kim calls North Korea-China ties ‘most important’

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

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

Kim, for his part, affirmed that North Korea and China will maintain their friendship as “the most important top-priority strategic work," the official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday. Kim called Xi “the greatest state guest,” saying he views the fact Xi chose North Korea as a destination for his first foreign travel this year as “the most encouraging support” to North Korea, according to KCNA.

Kim also reiterated Pyongyang’s support for Beijing’s “one-China principle,” a reference to Beijing’s official position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. Kim and Xi also discussed international and regional issues and reached broad agreement on strengthening strategic coordination to safeguard their shared interests, KCNA said.

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

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

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

Restoring an exclusive influence over North Korea would give Xi leverage in dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his desire to restart diplomacy with Kim. Xi and Trump met in Beijing last month and are to meet again in the U.S. in September.

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

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

Kim needs Xi's support for his nuke ambitions, economy revival

A key takeaway from the Chinese and North Korean reports was that they didn't touch upon North Korea's nuclear program at all. No public mention of the subject by Xi was crucial for Kim, who is desperate to win international recognition as a nuclear weapons state as a way to call for lifting of U.N. sanctions on North Korea.

That stands in contrast to Xi's trip to North Korea in 2019, when he was quoted by Chinese media as saying that Beijing was willing play a constructive role in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Xi's 2019 trip came after Kim's nuclear diplomacy with Trump collapsed earlier that year.

After last month’s summit between Trump and Xi, the White House said the two leaders confirmed their shared goal to denuclearize North Korea. But China only said the leaders discussed the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

Ahead of Xi’s trip, North Korea made it clear again that it’s advancing nuclear program is non-negotiable. Kim unveiled a new plant to produce nuclear ingredients and vowed to bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.” His sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, also dismissed as an “anachronistic dream” a U.S. push for the denuclearization of North Korea.

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

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

Xi could have offered economic aid packages such as shipments of rice and fertilizers and a resumption of Chinese group tourism to North Korea as well, analysts said.

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

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

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Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press writer E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing contributed to this report.

Update: Community steps up to host prom for Clintondale seniors after gun threat canceled high school event

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The investigation remains ongoing.

In a case that largely flew beneath the radar for the past six weeks, 43-year-old Stephen Livings, of Roseville, was arrested by Warren police on Dec. 19.

--> Judge allows former Macomb County wrestling ref to attend middle school graduation despite felony charges

Livings served as a high school wrestling referee.

“This is a great example of a couple of different lessons learned,” Warren police Sgt. John Gajewski said Wednesday (Feb. 11), “First and foremost, for parents out there, be involved and know what your kids are doing.

“The parents in this case were involved, and that certainly helped,” said Gajewski.

Livings has been a wrestling referee with the MHSAA since 2020 and has also coached middle school wrestling.

He was arraigned last Friday, Feb. 6, in 37th District Court.

It is not known whether the child is a wrestler. Livings is facing charges of using a computer to commit a crime and accosting a child for immoral purposes.

Both of which are felonies that can carry a 10-year prison sentence if convicted.

Gajewski said the inappropriate messages were sent to the teen’s social media DMs and reported by the teen’s parents.

“Members of our Special Victims Unit did a follow-up investigation regarding some inappropriate messaging between Mr. Livings and a juvenile child,” Gajewski said. “Our school resource officer played a big role in helping to get information to our detectives to make a report.”

“This is an adult who has a little bit of a position of power, which again, adds just another layer of impropriety to it,” he said.

Livings, who had no prior criminal record, had worked as an official in numerous MHSAA events around southeast Michigan since 2020.

He was an official at the last two state wrestling championships held at Ford Field in 2024 and 2025.

All 9,500 of MHSAA’s officials are background-checked, and there is a laundry list of offenses that can disqualify a referee.

“We background check all of them when they register for the first time,” Geoff Kimmerly, MHSAA’s head of communications, said. “And then we continue to background check them throughout their time as registered officials.

“We flag anything that has to do with violence or threats of violence, anything that had to do control substances or drugs, and anything that has to deal with embezzlement or financial crimes,” Kimmerly said. “When it’s discovered during the process, they’re pretty much just scratched from the record.”

Livings was immediately and indefinitely suspended after the charges came to light. His attorney hopes that people will let the legal process play out.

“Mr. Livings is presumed innocent under the law,” Donald Andrews, Livings’ attorney, said. “We look forward to challenging the allegations charged by the state and will pursue the truth in the court of law.”

He’s currently out on a $10,000 bond and is due back in court for a probable cause hearing next Thursday, Feb. 19.

“It looks terrible. It’s an eyesore, to be perfectly honest,” said Ayana Nichols, a resident affected by the delays.

--> City of Westland withholds $100K from Priority Waste after weeks of missed yard waste pickups

Neighbors in several communities say the backlog is becoming more noticeable and more unpleasant, as temperatures rise.

“Like, right now, the weather is heating up. So, we can smell the trash from everybody,” said Dekoven Lynch. “It smells horrible.”

Residents say the issues aren’t limited to one type of neighborhood, with problems reported at condo communities, along residential streets, and in mobile home parks.

“The trash has been out here since Saturday,” Nichols said. “It’s a long time.”

Priority Waste published a letter of apology to customers this week, acknowledging it has not met the standards clients “expect and deserve.”

At the same time, communities including Grosse Pointe Park, Macomb Township, Wayne, Dearborn Heights, Madison Heights, Allen Park, and Royal Oak have posted public notices on social media, telling residents they are continuing to work with Priority Waste despite service issues persisting.

Priority Waste says it is already implementing changes to improve service, including:

• Purchasing 198 rental trucks
• Adding 91 automated side-load trucks
• Training/adding 28 additional drivers/crews
• Call center improvements

Customers say they mainly want reliable service and clear timelines on when routes will be fully back on schedule.

“We are not used to seeing this at all,” Lynch said.

In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Priority Waste said it expects all communities to be current on trash and recycling collection by the end of the day Thursday, June 4, and on compost and yard waste collection by the end of the day Saturday.

“We are acutely aware of the frustration that service delays have caused for residents, communities, and customers,” the company said in part. “Missed collections and delayed service are disruptive, and we take that responsibility seriously.”

The company said it is operating “all-hands-on-deck” with leadership, operations, customer care, maintenance, and field employees focused on restoring service reliability.

Priority Waste also said it is receiving new collection vehicles daily as part of fleet stabilization efforts.

“We appreciate the patience, understanding, and partnership from the communities we serve and continue making the operational improvements necessary to deliver the level of service residents expect and deserve,” the statement said.

In the meantime, leaders in some of the communities at the center of the controversy continue urging residents to report missed pickups and delays as crews work to catch up.

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

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

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

Screwworm cases continue to climb

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

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

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

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

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

A race to stop the screwworm now moves to Texas

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

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

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

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

Fighting screwworms with sterile male flies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

___

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Opponents of the method cheered the decision.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Previous qualifiers were held in England, Japan and Dallas.

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

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

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

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

Ohio-Springfield

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

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

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

Florida

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

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

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

Canada

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

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

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

Maryland

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

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

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

Ohio-Columbus

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

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

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

North Carolina

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

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

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

New York

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

NOTABLE PLAYERS MISSING: Matt Jones.

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

Georgia

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

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

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

___

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

AP Technology Writer Kaitlyn Huamani contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CBP issued a release explaining why Artan was denied entry.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shock in heavily Chinese community

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

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

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

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

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

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

Feds crack down on Chinese espionage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Beijing seeks influence overseas

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

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

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

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

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

Some fear political repercussions for Asian Americans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ukraine strikes Russian energy sites

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zelenskyy sent message to Putin

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

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

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

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

Drone strikes civilians

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's the latest:

Trump and his granddaughter Kai are in Dolan’s suite

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

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

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

Crowds stream into Bryant Park for watch party

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trump is arriving at Madison Square Garden

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

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

Trump heading to Spurs-Knicks game

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

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

Fans in Knicks gear wait in long queues

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

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

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

Knicks fans make their way to NBA Finals Game 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DHS secretary calls on sheriffs to sign agreements to assist ICE

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

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

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

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

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

Trump formally nominates Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dems call Trump’s refugee approach ‘shameful’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—- Matthew Lee

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pentagon includes Alibaba on its list of Chinese military companies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Trump issues pardon to former Republican congressman convicted of insider trading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The judge's ruling

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A significant setback against the NCAA

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

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

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

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

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

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

What led to the NCAA investigation

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

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

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

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

The lawsuit and NCAA appeals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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AP College Football Writer Eric Olson contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pulte pick upends bipartisan deal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A key surveillance tool

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At the time of this publication, neither has responded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leo addresses abuse to bishops and parliament

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

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

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

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

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

Leo reaffirms church’s right to confessional secrecy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Epicenter in sea off Mindanao

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

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

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

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

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

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

Assessing damage and casualties

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

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

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

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

Tsunami waves near 3 feet measured

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It’s God. God said Funwia,” he said.

The crash

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

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

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

‘We heard some skidding’

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

“We heard some skidding,” Chambers said.

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

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

What they saw was alarming.

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

‘I believe that was God with me’

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

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

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

Funwia says the experience has deepened his faith.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The aftermath

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

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

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

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

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

Community response

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

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

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

Rebuilding the community

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

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

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

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

Stakeholder briefings

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

Lawmaker letter

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

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

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

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

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

What happened to Ashley Hoath

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

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

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

A cause of death has not yet been determined.

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

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

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

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

She was from Hillsdale County.

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

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

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

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

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

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

A pattern of deaths, scrutiny

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lawmakers demand action

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The governor’s office directed all questions to MDOC.

6.8.26 Huron Valley Letter by brandon carr

MDOC response

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nearby residents say the intersection has long been dangerous.

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

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

With another crash now adding to the list, neighbors say they’re hoping for additional safety measures.

“It’s just getting worse,” Curtis said. “Between the noise, and just people kind of hanging out here. It’s just not the safest.”

Karmelo Anthony, now 19, is charged with murder in the death of Austin Metcalf, 17, at a school stadium in Frisco, a Dallas suburb, in April 2025.

After a midday break that lasted three hours, the prosecutor and defense lawyers said they had no more evidence to offer on the fourth day of trial. Anthony did not testify in his own defense, and closing arguments were set for Tuesday.

Prosecutors say the stabbing of Metcalf was an unjustified attack related to a dispute over whether Anthony could be under the tent of Metcalf's team during a rainy track meet. Defense attorneys insist Anthony felt threatened and believed he needed to defend himself when physical contact was made.

One of Anthony’s teammates, testifying Monday for the defense, said Anthony was “distraught” after the stabbing.

“I was hearing him say, ‘I told him not to touch me,’” the witness said.

Judge John Roach Jr. has said young witnesses can’t be publicly identified.

Metcalf's death drew wide attention, in part because of social media posts that amplified the case in racial terms. Anthony, who attended Frisco Centennial High School, is Black, while Metcalf, who attended Frisco Memorial High School, was white.

Prosecutors rested their case Saturday in Collin County court. Jurors last week heard from a number of people who were at the track meet, including students who said Anthony had been asked to leave the tent and was the aggressor in the confrontation.

The courtroom was packed again Monday with spectators, including the parents of Anthony and Metcalf, and younger people.

The jurors will be sequestered in a hotel if they don't reach a verdict Tuesday and return to court Wednesday. The judge told them not to discuss the case with anyone, and “for God’s sake do not go on social media."

The renewed hostilities raised concerns that the Middle East could plunge back into a full-scale war.

Since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28, the war has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive. Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the conflict.

The new attacks prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to call for an immediate stop to fighting between Israel and Iran.

Soon after, the Iranian military’s joint command issued a statement that said it was halting offensive strikes. The statement said further “aggression and hostile acts” by Israel and its supporters, including in southern Lebanon, would be met with “much more severe and crushing measures than before.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in a videotaped statement, implied that the current round of fighting was over. But he also warned that if Iran “makes the mistake and returns to attacking us, we will respond with force.”

Netanyahu said Israel is continuing to operate in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, and that Israel “has full right to self-defense, and we will exercise it to the full extent necessary.”

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the village of Zefta killed seven people Monday, including a Syrian child. Eight people were wounded. Another strike on the coastal city of Tyre killed five and wounded eight, some of them members of the Lebanese Red Cross, the ministry said.

Both countries lift restrictions

Both countries lifted restrictions they had imposed as safety precautions. The Israeli military said most schools in Israel that closed Monday would reopen. Iran's official Mizan news agency reported that the Islamic Republic had lifted airspace restrictions affecting civilian flights.

During the truce, Iran has maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial passage for the world’s oil and natural gas whose closure was the primary reason global fuel prices skyrocketed. Israel has continued to strike Hezbollah, Iran’s ally in Lebanon, and pushed deeper into that country.

The U.S. military continues to impose a blockade on Iranian ports. U.S. Central Command said its forces on Monday fired on and disabled a Palau-flagged oil tanker, the M/T Marivex, in the Gulf of Oman after the ship attempted to breach the blockade.

Officials in India said the tanker’s crew of 24 Indian sailors were all reported safe after a fire broke out on the vessel. It was the seventh commercial vessel the U.S. military has disabled to enforce its blockade, which began in mid-April.

Diplomats race to save the ceasefire

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed concern Monday over the surge in violence. In a post on X, Sharif urged all parties to “exercise restraint and give peace a little more chance.”

Two regional officials said Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan and Qatar had all urged the Trump administration to pressure Israel to halt strikes on Iran and Beirut.

Those countries also pushed for Iran to stop attacking Israel, the officials said. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said Monday that Iran and the U.S. are still working to negotiate a peace deal. After speaking at a U.N. Security Council meeting, Amir Saeid Iravani told The Associated Press he was hopeful that “very soon” the two sides would reach “a conclusion.”

Explosions sound in Tehran and central Israel

Iran launched waves of attacks on Israel on Monday, and Israel launched strikes on central and western Iran.

Iranian state media reported at least 15 people were wounded after explosions sounded in Tehran and other cities. There were no immediate reports of fatalities.

The semiofficial Fars and Mehr news agencies said Israeli strikes hit a petrochemical factory in the city of Mahshahr. They did not elaborate on any damage. The Israeli military confirmed the strike on the plant, saying it targeted sites that produce materials for ballistic missiles. Israel said it also targeted truck-based missile launchers.

Israel said its strikes were in response to an Iranian missile attack. Tehran warned Sunday that it would retaliate after Israel struck Beirut’s southern suburbs without warning. When Israel struck back, Iran fired again.

Explosions could be heard in central Israel as air defenses sought to intercept incoming Iranian fire. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted two military bases in Israel.

Iran blamed the United States for the escalation.

“No one believes that the Israeli regime would take any action without coordination with the United States,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told journalists in Tehran.

Tensions appear to grow between Trump and Netanyahu

Trump and Netanyahu launched the war in a closely coordinated attack, with Israeli officials proudly boasting of unprecedented “shoulder to shoulder” cooperation.

The conflict reached 100 days on Monday, and the two leaders have moved in opposite directions, with tensions sometimes spilling out into the open.

Netanyahu appears to have openly defied Trump with the strike Sunday in Beirut and subsequent attacks in Iran. Trump has voiced his displeasure with Israel, including belittling Netanyahu by declaring to the Financial Times that “I call all the shots.”

Their differences appear to be rooted in each leader's domestic considerations. Netanyahu faces elections this fall and is under public pressure to strike back against ongoing Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel. He also is wary of appearing too subservient to Trump.

The U.S. president also faces elections — for Congress in November — and is eager to end a war that has jolted the global economy and raised prices for consumers.

The Houthis claimed an attack on Israel

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed an attack on Israel on Monday and said Israel-affiliated vessels would again be a target in the Red Sea, putting the waterway in danger along with the Gulf of Aden and the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting them. The statement from Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree was broadcast on the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel.

The Houthis made a similar threat during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip and launched attacks that killed at least nine mariners and sank four ships. They often targeted vessels with tangential or no ties to Israel.

The assaults upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war.

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This story has been updated to correct the day the Iran war started to Feb. 28.

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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. AP journalists Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Matthew Lee in Washington; Michelle L. Price in Bridgewater, New Jersey; Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.

Siri AI, which was introduced at the start of Apple's annual World Wide Developers Conference, has been highly anticipated by users and developers. While Siri was launched in 2011, it fell behind other voice assistants and was derided even by Apple fans.

It is the last WWDC featuring CEO Tim Cook before he turns his post over to John Ternus in September. Cook received an extended standing ovation and told the audience he is “deeply grateful to have been on this journey with you” and said “the energy around Apple platforms has never been stronger.”

The conference, which drew developers from some 65 countries to Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters, focuses on software, in contrast to the fall unveiling of the latest iPhones.

Apple steps up its AI game

Apple has sought to distinguish itself from its peers by stressing a privacy-centered approach and integrating AI across its devices and apps. There was no mention of AI superintelligence or companion chatbots. Rather, Apple sought to demonstrate how its AI tools can make life easier.

Apple software chief Craig Federighi took some swipes at AI companies — without naming them — that seem to be “pursuing AI for the sake of AI” without clear regard for the people it is supposed to serve. At Apple, he said, “we believe that truly helpful AI should be centered around you and your needs,” which means integrating AI into the products people use every day, with a focus on privacy.

The conference unveiled updates to Apple Intelligence, which was first announced in 2024. It now uses Google’s Gemini AI model to help power its features and processes users' requests and interactions on their own device and privately on the cloud, making them inaccessible to anyone else.

At the center of it is the new Siri, which Apple said is now a “much more capable assistant” that can help users find what they need and get things done across various Apple devices. For instance, it can create a menu and gather recipes from the web or from your own text messages for a World Cup viewing party and invite friends from a group chat. Siri mode on your camera, meanwhile, can tell you what you are looking at and give you relevant information, such as the nutritional details of a plate of food.

Siri's visual intelligence also works with images on your screen. For example, it can tell you whether a backpack you are thinking of getting will work as a carry-on for a flight or whether a pair of bulky hiking boots will fit inside it.

Apple also announced improvements to its popular AI photo editing tools, including spatial reframing that lets you adjust how a photo is framed after it was taken — as if you had moved the camera to a better position while you were snapping the picture.

A standalone Siri AI app will launch later this year, though Apple said it will not initially be available in Europe and it won't be available in China while the company works out regulatory issues.

Tim Cook's last WWDC

Cook announced his retirement in April, ending a 15-year run that saw the company’s market value soar by more than $4 trillion during an iPhone-fueled era of prosperity. Ternus has been with Apple for the past quarter century, including the past five years overseeing the engineering underlying the iPhone, iPad and Mac — a role that made him a prime candidate to succeed Cook.

Ternus did not take the main stage during Monday’s event.

The transition to a new CEO comes at a pivotal time for Apple. Artificial intelligence has unleashed the most upheaval within the industry since Jobs unveiled the first iPhone in 2007. Apple has gotten off to a rough start in AI after stumbling in its efforts to deliver new features built on the technology, as promised nearly two years ago.

Cook called his time at Apple “the honor of a lifetime.”

“I truly believe the best is still ahead.”

In a notice to be published in the Federal Register this week, the department will unveil a pilot program that will allow visa applicants to pay the $750 to schedule an appointment for an interview within 10 days of the payment at select U.S. embassies and consulates.

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

The move is a potential effort to ease conditions caused by the Trump administration's push to make entering the United States more difficult. The administration has cracked down on most forms of migration for foreigners — demanding that bonds of up to $15,000 be paid for visa processing in some, mainly African, countries and requiring years of personal history, including social media accounts, to be vetted.

The new requirements have caused delays in visa processing around the world, prompting complaints.

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

The embassies and consulates at which the expedited service will be available are to be announced before the program takes effect on July 1. The pilot program will run through the end of the year but could be extended depending on demand.

The Clearwater Police Department released a 72-page report on Friday summarizing an exhaustive review of statements, medical records, surveillance footage and a visual inspection of the body. Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, died last July 24 at age 71.

“There has been no evidence to indicate the death of Terry Bollea was anything other than natural,” the report said. “Through the course of the investigation, there has been no evidence to indicate any criminal wrongdoing related to his death. This case will be closed, and will be considered solved, non-criminal.”

According to the report, Hogan's wife, as well as a home health aide and an occupational therapist, were all with Hogan at his home when he stopped breathing. His wife, Sky Daily Hogan, called 911, and then the trio performed CPR on Hulk Hogan until firefighters and paramedics arrived.

Family members told investigators that Hogan had been suffering from multiple heath issues in the weeks before his death, including leukemia, an irregular hearth rhythm, pneumonia and kidney failure. He had also undergone many hospitalizations and surgeries in the years before his death.

Early statements made by the occupational therapist to police led to speculation that Hogan's death was related to damage done to his phrenic nerve during a recent surgery. But the occupational therapist later said that he was still rattled from performing CPR and was speaking out of turn.

The local medical examiner had concluded Hogan died from a heart attack and declined to perform a full autopsy. A private autopsy paid for by the family backed up the initial assessment, finding “no reasonable traumatic or terminal toxicologic contributions.”

Hogan was perhaps the biggest star in WWE’s long history, known for both his larger-than-life personality and his wrestling exploits. He was the main draw for the first WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even WWE co-founder Vince McMahon.

Hogan won at least six WWE championships and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005 and reinstated there in 2018. He had been removed from the Hall of Fame in 2015 after he was recorded making racial slurs against Black people, for which he apologized.

A well-attended but private funeral service was held several weeks after Hogan's death at a church in Largo, Florida.

The man was seen on security camera footage peering into homes that day dressed in what appeared to be a hazmat or beekeeper suit while carrying a backpack and a screwdriver.

“As soon as I unlocked the cage, he bolted to the door and started barking just like this mean bark, and I turn around from the cage, and I just see this blur of white go by the door,” Victoria Williams told Local 4 of her encounter with the man on May 13. “He was like, ‘I’m just checking something for somebody.’ I said, ‘I don’t know who you are,’ and in the meantime I’m hitting the 911 on my phone.”

While she was on the phone with 911, she said the man grabbed her by the neck as he tried to get away. Security video captured him running away from the house. Police later found some of his clothes in a nearby trash can.

Undeterred, the man reappeared in the same neighborhood the next day. A homeowner spotted him walking around and contacted the police.

After three weeks on the run, police caught the man and announced his arrest on Saturday.

“I wanted to cry when I heard he was arrested,” Williams said on Sunday. “I’m just so thankful for the support of my neighbors and the work of the Livonia Police Department.”

The case has been handed over to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office for charges. More information on who this man is will be revealed when any charges are formally filed.

Ranging in age from seven to 17, some in jeweled jumpsuits, they took the stage at the Tupelo Elvis Festival's youth tribute artist competition last week.

In contrast to their peers, who may never have heard of Elvis, the competitors have dedicated an enormous amount of time and energy to embodying the king's singing voice, mannerisms and style.

They are careful to specify they are Elvis tribute artists. Unlike impersonators, who pretend to be Elvis and sometimes present a characterized version of the king, tribute artists strive for authenticity. Some wore costumes created by B&K Enterprises Costume Co., a company licensed to recreate Elvis' outfits and provide costumes for Elvis movies, musicals and TV shows.

“We're not trying to be him,” said Tucker Gladden, 17, from Madison, Mississippi. “We want to recreate the experience as much as we can for people that maybe didn't get to see Elvis in their lifetime.”

As for their fascination with a long-dead musician, several of the tribute artists credited the 2022 “Elvis” movie with sparking their interest. A couple said their admiration began after discovering they were distantly related to Elvis. Others said it was Elvis' faith and charity that inspired them. Some said they had been performing Elvis songs since they were 3 years old.

For 16-year-old Ayden Maloy from Logansport, Indiana, it was the way Elvis' music helped him during a difficult time in his life and motivated him to begin performing as an Elvis tribute artist three years ago.

“I just broke down in tears because it healed me,” Maloy said. “I think Elvis is the healer.”

In an afternoon of dazzling outfits and daring dance moves, the performers got the audience clapping, singing and swaying along to their Elvis covers. Ultimately, RJ Hursey, a 14-year-old from Bloomington, Illinois, won the competition.

Hursey, who inherited his love of Elvis from his grandfather, said he practices his tributes every day, and when he's too sick to sing, he researches. He performs at nursing homes and assisted living facilities and hopes to someday star in a remake of an Elvis movie.

“It's humbling,” Hursey said. “It makes you feel good because we know that he died thinking he'd be forgotten, and we're just so glad he's still around."

While in Tupelo, the tribute artists also toured the Elvis Presley Birthplace, a sprawling complex that includes the home where Elvis was born and the church where he was first exposed to Southern gospel music.

“It feels so surreal to pay tribute to Elvis in his hometown,” said 15-year-old Charles Session from Morrilton, Arkansas. “I hope that he’s looking down and smiling at all these young performers.”

The New York Knicks announced that was the winning bid in an auction for two seats for Game 3 on Monday night, the first NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden since 1999.

The winning bid was split by the law firm Gibson Dunn and private equity firm Veritas Capital. The fundraiser benefited the Garden of Dreams Foundation, and the Knicks said it was the largest single donation in the history of the foundation, which works with MSG’s companies to assist children at need in the tristate area.

The seats are located in section VIP 10, row AA, seats 25 and 26, right off center court. It’s impossible to know what they would usually cost, because the team doesn’t sell them. Instead, they are given to the celebrity fans such as Tracy Morgan and Timothée Chalamet who are courtside fixtures.

Seats everywhere in the building are expensive. The cheapest upper-deck seats available Sunday night were going for more than $6,000 on secondary markets like StubHub, SeatGeek and VividSeats. The experience of being courtside went for more than $75,000.

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

Mamuka Artmeladze, a 43-year-old from the country of Georgia, was found unresponsive June 4 at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, ICE announced in a press release Sunday. ICE said staff began lifesaving measures before he was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, where a doctor pronounced him dead less than an hour later.

Additional circumstances surrounding the death were not available, and ICE said the cause of death is pending an autopsy. Artmeladze had been detained at the facility, managed by the Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office and ICE contractor LaSalle Corrections, for nearly four months.

The facility holds more than 1,500 male detainees, and like the majority of them, Artmeladze did not have a criminal record. Artmeladze entered the country illegally on an unknown date and the Border Patrol allowed him to temporarily remain in the country under ICE supervision after encountering him in September 2022, ICE said. He was arrested in Alabama in February after ICE determined he no longer had lawful status to remain in the U.S.

He is the 19th detainee who has died in ICE custody since Jan. 1 and the second at Winn since April 11. A coroner’s report obtained by The Associated Press shows 49-year-old Alejandro Cabrera Clemente was found unresponsive during a security check that day, staff tried to resuscitate him, and he died after he was taken to the same hospital as Artmeladze.

The coroner ruled that Cabrera, a native of Mexico who had recently lived in Tennessee, died from natural causes due to cardiovascular disease. Cabrera woke up coughing and wheezing about 2½ hours before he was found unresponsive, but said he was OK and went back to sleep, the report said.

A separate ICE report on Cabrera’s death said detainees alerted nearby nursing staff to his unresponsiveness, and they found him “with left-sided facial droop” and his skin discolored due to low blood oxygen. Cabrera received treatment for high blood pressure and other medical problems during his months of detention, the report said.

The deaths come amid mounting scrutiny over whether ICE detention facilities are medically neglecting detainees and forcing them to live in inhumane conditions, charges that ICE denies.

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General issued a report last week that said an unannounced inspection at Winn found violations of standards governing environmental health and safety, food service, use-of-force, medical care and other subjects.

The report described water leaking through vents in the kitchen, holes and exposed insulation in the intake building’s ceiling, and food stored in freezers above required temperatures.

Medical staff at Winn failed to keep updated treatment documents and laboratory testing records, which could “negatively impact detainee health care and safety,” the report warned.

The inspection also found violations of use-of-force policies, including an officer who put a detainee in a banned chokehold and a second officer who stabbed a detainee’s thumb with a pen after the detainee refused to remove his hand from a door.

The report said ICE agreed with nine recommendations to improve conditions at Winn, and had implemented several of them.

The coop, which features a round turret and faux slate roof, was donated by Carolina Coops, a North Carolina company that advertises “premium” coops that have amassed a social media following. The coop was custom-built for the residence and completed May 29, the company's owner and founder said.

“It’s something I thought was amazing to do for this country,” Matthew DuBoise said in an interview. “It’s a place of history and a place of significance.”

The coop was built without taxpayer money, according to a person familiar with the project who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. The residence hosted a family event over the weekend where local 4-H students taught other kids about the newly installed coup, the person said.

Vice presidents since 1977 have lived on the grounds of the 72-acre Naval Observatory, and many have left their own imprint on the property. Joe Biden added a heritage garden, Mike Pence's wife, Karen, contributed beehives, and Kamala Harris’ updates included pink wallpaper in the house’s library. A heated swimming pool on the property was added by Dan Quayle in 1991.

Backyard chickens have seen a resurgence in American life in recent years. A 2025 survey by the American Pet Products Association found that 11 million U.S. households had them.

Vance's new coop was first reported by The Daily Wire.

On the campaign trail in 2024, Vance often talked about the high price of eggs as an indicator of the inflation that he blamed on then-President Joe Biden. Vance joked about how many eggs his two young sons eat, once saying they “eat about 14 eggs every single morning.”

DuBoise said he told his team to design a custom coop that the Vances would fall in love with. His designer drew inspiration from the 19th century residence, recreating its round turret and green trim.

To cap it off, Vance and his family picked out 12 chicks to start their flock, he said.

DuBoise described it as an “American dream” moment to have his business chosen for the project. He oversaw the installation and offered advice to Vance, his wife, Usha, and their children. When Vance saw it for the first time, the vice president's face lit up, DuBoise said.

“I couldn’t have been happier to see that excitement," he said. “They’re just very, very happy, and I’m glad."

In Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial and cultural hub, the usually bustling streets were more subdued than normal, with fewer customers at shops and other businesses than regular weekdays. The muted atmosphere stood in contrast to the festive, rainbow-colored decorations that adorned the city ahead of its annual Pride parade, scheduled for June 12.

Hours earlier, missiles were launched from both Yemen and Iran toward Israel. They came after Israel over the weekend struck Beirut’s southern suburbs, where it said Hezbollah, an ally of Tehran, had military infrastructure.

“We’re not normalizing it,” Liron Eldad, a mother of two, said of the conflict, as she joined other parents at a playground in Tel Aviv, next to a public bomb shelter. But, she said, “we can’t just sit there and be bitter.”

It was an almost ordinary pattern after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. The fighting, air raid sirens and disruptions to daily life have left many people in Israel weary and hopeless.

Eldad said she had lost faith in the country’s leadership and is hoping for political change following elections in October. “It’s clearly not working, what we’re doing, and instead we’re getting deeper and deeper into wars,” she said.

Across Israel on Monday, schools were closed and hospitals paused all non-urgent procedures, moving some patients underground as Israeli air defense systems intercepted missiles overhead.

After Iran said it would halt offensive operations against Israel, those restrictions were lifted and school was set to resume on Tuesday. By Monday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also suggested that Israel’s military raids had stopped, but said the country would respond “with force” to any future Iranian attack.

Still, the brief return to war put Israelis on edge. “I feel like I’m stuck in a place where you have no control over your life,” said Rana Raslan, a doctor and mother who was also at the Tel Aviv playground.

Many here also blamed Netanyahu and his allies in government for reigniting the conflict. After Israel struck Beirut over the weekend, Iran warned it would retaliate for the attack, which Israel launched in defiance of Washington’s request to stand down from major strikes near the Lebanese capital.

“The behavior of the government and the prime minister, and the way he’s brought us into unending wars and his constant lies to his infantile base, don’t help me sleep well at night,” said Moshe Regev, 63, a retired economist who was visiting the beach in Tel Aviv.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251. More than 72,700 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza since then, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government whose numbers are generally considered reliable by the international community.

Several blocks from the shore, 75-year-old Shlomi Yakobi, a fruit and vegetable seller, praised Netanyahu’s performance as prime minister over the past three years. It was a tumultuous period that would have caused a lesser leader to crack, said Yakobi, who has owned his own stall in Tel Aviv’s Carmel market for half a century.

“People are hiding at home instead of going out,” he said, as he sold apricots to a handful of tourists. His business has suffered because of the war, Yakobi said, adding that the country had no choice. Sometimes he ends up with a surplus of produce, which he donates to the synagogue next door.

“For two years now, you never know what’s going to happen in the next five minutes,” he said.

Talarico on Monday drew attention to his campaign winning the endorsement of Houston attorney Dan Cogdell, who was part of Paxton's defense team during the Republican's historic impeachment trial in 2023 that ended in acquittal.

The legal troubles that shadowed Paxton in public office in Texas are a central attack line of Talarico's campaign, though in his endorsement, Cogdell didn’t cite concerns about his client's past.

Cogdell said he didn’t dislike Paxton as a person and felt that Texas lawmakers were right to eventually acquit the attorney general. But as a politician, Cogdell said, Paxton is too focused on appeasing President Donald Trump.

“I worked my ass off for the man for nine years,” Cogdell said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But that’s a different inquiry. My obligation to Ken ended at the courthouse steps and my obligation as a citizen is to do what I think is the right thing.”

Cogdell said Texas needs a lot of work, pointing to education and health care, “and to simply bootlick or rubber stamp Trump, that’s not what we need in D.C. right now.” He also recently spoke to Talarico at length on Cogdell's podcast.

Asked for comment, an aide to Paxton’s campaign said Cogdell is a Democrat and called the endorsement unsurprising.

The lead defense attorney in Paxton's impeachment trial, Tony Buzbee, reiterated that on X. Buzbee added that he was supporting Paxton in the race.

Cogdell described himself as a registered Democrat, although voters in Texas do not register by political party. He added, however, that he considers himself a moderate who has given more campaign contributions over the years to Republican candidates than Democrats.

Talarico has given Democrats hope of flipping the statewide seat in Texas blue as the party scrambles to retake control of the U.S. Senate in November.

Paxton’s insurgent campaign beat Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican Senate primary runoff last month, helped by a Trump endorsement in the final days of the race.

With 94% of ballots tallied, the figures showed Sánchez earned 8.79 million votes, or 50.015%, while Fujimori received 8.78 million votes, or 49.985%.

The winner will be the South American country's ninth president in 10 years. Fujimori, daughter of a disgraced former president, and Sánchez, an ally of an imprisoned ex-president, were on the runoff’s ballot after beating 33 other candidates in the vote in April, but neither earned even 20% of support. Electoral authorities took more than a month to declare them winners of that contest.

Roberto Burneo, the country’s chief electoral authority, asked voters and political organizations to “act with democratic responsibility” as the tallying process continues. He said the outcome will be available within 30 days.

In the capital, Lima, voter turnout throughout the day appeared lower than in the previous contest, with practically no lines in many voting centers, despite voting being mandatory. The slow counting pace is due to a law that requires each ballot and each tally sheet, which summarizes the votes from each polling station, to be taken to one of more than 100 offices to be tallied. Additionally, ballots and tally sheets must arrive in Lima from 63 countries to be counted.

Many voters associate candidates with controversial politicians

Crime, particularly extortion, was the overarching concern for voters. A 2025 national survey carried out by the state’s National Institute of Statistics and Informatics found that 84% of respondents in urban areas feared becoming victims of a crime in the following 12 months.

Experts attribute the increasing power of organized crime in Peru to the profits that decades-old criminal groups are earning from illegal gold mining in the Andes and the Amazon.

And the candidates' crime-fighting proposals were not enough to make inroads with voters, many of whom associate each aspiring president with controversial Peruvian politicians.

Fujimori is linked to the authoritarian and corrupt legacy of the government of her late father, Alberto Fujimori, in the 1990s. She became Peru's first lady in 1994 after her parents’ separation.

Sánchez is one of the closest allies of imprisoned former President Pedro Castillo, whom many perceive as corrupt and chaotic. Castillo’s 16-month term saw more than 70 Cabinet changes.

Official results from April’s election showed Fujimori received 17% of the vote and Sánchez got 12%. A nationwide poll conducted a week before the election by the firm Ipsos found that similar shares of voters were supporting the candidates, with about 3 in 10 saying they were undecided.

Food vendor Magali Quiquia said she cast a blank ballot because she did not find either candidate convincing,

“Five years ago, I was disappointed by Castillo with his corruption, and ... Roberto Sánchez is the same," Quiquia, 44, said. She added that she believes “Fujimori hasn’t done anything either” despite her party having multiple seats in Congress.

Voting is mandatory for Peruvians aged 18 to 70. Failure to do so results in a fine of up to $32.

More than 27 million people are registered. Of those, about 1.2 million were expected to cast ballots from abroad, mainly in the United States and Argentina.

Proposals include prison labor and a police purge

For most of her fourth presidential campaign, Fujimori promised to crack down on crime. Her proposals included implementing technology to track extortion, militarizing borders and increasing the presence of police and military personnel in high-risk areas. Fujimori, 51, also said that prisoners will be required to work and “repay society” should she win.

In the only debate before the runoff, Fujimori defended her father’s government and promised to defeat crime just as he defeated the Shining Path, a violent extremist group. After the vote counting began, she told her supporters to remain calm.

Fujimori on Monday told her more than 100 legal representatives throughout Peru that they would have to “fight” and “analyze” any ballot under dispute, but that she would respect “the results, whoever the winner may be.” She said results show a great division among voters, adding that party leaders must “build bridges” after the election is over.

Meanwhile, Sánchez, a former minister now popular with rural voters, during the campaign pledged to combat corruption within the police force and promote reforms that would enable the military to support security efforts. The 57-year-old, who wears a wide-brimmed peasant hat gifted by Castillo, told debate viewers that he would be open to “all options to generate jobs and progress” but also emphasized his support for Chinese investments.

He appeared on a Lima hotel balcony on Sunday and thanked the Indigenous communities, farmers and other supporters “who have decided to come and reclaim the government for the people.”

The runoff’s winner will be sworn in to a five-year term on July 28.

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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.

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

She has beaten all but nine players in eight tournaments this year. Only once has she not played in the final group on Sunday. All she was lacking was the biggest championship on her calendar. The U.S. Women's Open is what inspired her from the time she first played in it at age 14.

“That's where my dream started,” she said.

The pressure was never greater than Sunday at century-old Riviera Country Club when Korda had to chip and putt and grind to win the major she wanted more than all the others.

Korda is the first player since Inbee Park in 2013 to capture the first two legs of the calendar Grand Slam, and there are signs this could be the start of something special.

Park played with masterful control and sublime putting. She didn't overwhelm with style points. She won with remarkable efficiency.

Korda is more reminiscent of the previous player in pursuit of a Grand Slam, Annika Sorenstam in 2005, who won the first two majors by a combined 11 shots. Sorenstam was halfway home to a Grand Slam and miles ahead of everyone else.

Right now, no one is close to Korda.

The next major is three weeks away, the Women's PGA Championship, at Hazeltine National outside Minneapolis. It's a big ballpark, perfectly suited for the 27-year-old American star whose swing is the envy of most every golfer, male or female.

The last time the Women's PGA was at Hazeltine was in 2019. Korda was in her third year on the LPGA Tour with three career wins. She finished three shots behind.

Korda won her first major this year at the Chevron Championship in Houston, another big course, with a dominance not seen at an LPGA major in 35 years. She led the final 57 holes and was ahead by eight shots at one point on the weekend. She probably could have won by any margin if she didn't aim for the fat of the greens with victory in hand.

Equally impressive was the nail-biter at Riviera, where there was a four-way tie for the lead at various points in the final round.

Korda pulled ahead with a 9-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole.

“That putt is the reason why I'm here,” she said with the Women's Trophy at her side.

It won't be remembered as much as the short par putt for the one-shot victory over Gaby Lopez and Charley Hull. It was just inside 3 feet, though it traveled even farther because of the 10 inches the golf ball swirled around the 13-inch circumference of the cup before it disappeared.

She felt pressure, nerves, slight embarrassment and pure joy. On the packed hillside overlooking the 18th green there was a brief moment of panic that gave way to pandemonium. All those emotions took place in a 10-second window Korda will never forget.

“I don’t know if a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, but I just think I’m just extremely proud of my fight this week and the dream of that little girl that you kind of get to check that off your bucket list,” she said.

That it happened at Riviera, the storied course off Sunset Boulevard, adds to the allure.

A Hollywood finish? Sure. But this was more about big-time players winning on big-time courses. It was the first time Riviera has hosted the Women's Open, giving Korda and other players a preview of the course that will host the 2028 Olympics.

Korda managed to keep it together when her swing, which felt so pure in the practice rounds, deserted her in an opening round of 73 that left her seven shots behind. It wasn't as bad as the 10 she made on her third hole of the 2024 Women's Open at Lancaster Country Club. This time, she had a fighting chance and fought to the finish.

She saved par 24 out of the 30 times she missed the green. She birdied the final three holes Saturday to share the 54-hole lead and get into the final group (again). She never had the lead until that birdie putt on the 17th hole Sunday.

Key to the resurgence was returning to what Korda refers to as her bubble. She won seven times in 2024 and felt the weight of outside expectations when she put together similar statistic in 2025 without a single victory. Now she is back to her bubble, accepting that mistakes will happen, not concerned with much more than the next shot.

She is leaving herself written messages on her bathroom mirror.

“I wrote one today and I said, ‘Whatever happens, happens; just give it a 100%.’ And that’s what I did,” Korda said Sunday.

Another message came from Tiger Woods, whom Korda met for the first time at the PNC Championship in 2021. They have stayed in touch, and Korda said he sent her a text ahead of the final round at Riviera that said, “Finish it off.”

That she did. And there is a feeling she might be just getting started.

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

Michael Yharbrough, 25, of Detroit, was convicted by a jury on Monday of first-degree murder, torture, and first-degree child abuse for his role in the death of the child in late February 2025, at their home on Rutherford Street on Detroit’s west side.

The boy’s mother, Brianna Simmons, 36, of Detroit, pleaded guilty to second-degree child abuse in the case on May 8, 2026. Charges of first-degree murder, first-degree child abuse and torture were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

Simmons will be sentenced at 9 a.m. June 23, and Yharbrough is expected to be sentenced at 9 a.m. June 26 in Detroit’s 3rd Circuit Court, according to court records.

Wood, a professor emeritus at Brown University, died Sunday after being struck by a car in a supermarket parking lot in East Providence, Rhode Island, according to police.

Author of dozens of books and essays, Wood never gained the mass audience of historians like David McCullough and Doris Kearns Goodwin, but his findings became standard references for discussions about the formation of the U.S. and the legacy of the revolution that continue as the country approaches its 250th anniversary. Many peers regarded the white-haired, mild-looking Wood as the embodiment of the learned, traditional historian, guided by facts rather than ideology.

In 2011, President Barack Obama presented him a National Humanities Medal “for scholarship that provides insight into the founding of the nation and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.”

In recent years, younger academics increasingly alleged that Wood was too well-established, the epitome of the old-school historian who minimized the lives of slaves, women and Indigenous people. John L. Brooke, a history professor at Ohio State University, would fault him for “a distinct avoidance of interpretative paradox and complexity,” even as he cited Wood’s “scale and scholarly enterprise.”

In an email to The Associated Press, filmmaker Ken Burns praised Wood as a “teacher of generations of students and other historians.”

Woody Holton, an author and historian who clashed at times with Wood, told the AP that he admired his “willingness to encourage even a younger scholar like me who viewed the American revolutionary era very differently from him.”

“The tragic accident that killed him is especially heartbreaking in denying him, by less than a month, the chance to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday,” added Holton, a history professor at the University of South Carolina.

His success was immediate and lasting. His first book, "The Creation of the American Republic," won the Bancroft Prize in 1970 and lived on with generations of students who embraced and contended with Wood's findings that the Constitution was unintentionally subversive, a document devised by elites that led to “the destruction of the very social world they had sought to maintain.”

His "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" won the Pulitzer in 1993 and the epic "Empire of Liberty" was a finalist in 2009.

Silver screen moment

Wood's name also was familiar to moviegoers through the Academy Award-winning "Good Will Hunting," released in 1997. The lead character, a pugnacious, self-taught genius played by Matt Damon, taunts a Harvard undergraduate: "You're gonna be in here regurgitating Gordon Wood, talking about, you know, the pre-revolutionary utopia and the capital-forming effects of military mobilization." (Ideas, Wood would point out, that he did not endorse).

A few years earlier, Wood received an unexpected and uncomfortable compliment from then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who listed "The Radicalism of the American Revolution" as an essential work of history. Wood would remember how the Georgia Republican's blessing was a "kiss of death" among his many liberal peers and perceived as an affirmation of conservative policies.

Regarding himself as neither radical nor reactionary, Wood claimed a middle ground between conventional "great man" narratives and the more egalitarian scholarship that emerged in the 1960s.

He acknowledged that historians had overlooked the contributions of women and minority groups, but worried that "headline political events" were being ignored entirely. He disputed Progressive era historian Charles Beard's influential portrait of the U.S. Constitution as a cynical triumph for the rich, but didn't regard the founders as infallible sages above looking after their own interests.

"I don't think our history should be seen as a moral tale, either good or bad," he once wrote. "I think historians should try to understand where we came from as honestly as we can, without trying to say this was a great celebration or that this was a disaster. I don't think either of those extremes is true of our history."

Battles with the past

Wood did welcome scholarly breakthroughs, notably Annette Gordon-Reed’s “persuasive contextual case” that the enslaved Sally Hemings bore some of Thomas Jefferson’s children. In “Empire of Liberty,” which covered the years 1789 to 1815, he included lengthy passages on slavery and called it a cancer “eating away at the message of liberty and equality.”

At other times, Wood angrily resisted new approaches. He was a prominent critic of The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize winning 1619 Project and its contention — later amended — that maintaining slavery was a key motivation for the American Revolution. He alleged that the project encouraged a sense “victimhood” and feeling “aggrieved," even as he acknowledged he hadn't read most of it. He would counter that the founders, including such plantation owners as Jefferson and James Madison, believed — mistakenly — that slavery would die a natural death and the revolution itself energized the American abolitionist movement.

“We all want justice, but not at the expense of truth,” he wrote in 2019, adding, in a widely disputed statement, “I don’t know of any colonist who said that they wanted independence in order to preserve their slaves.”

In "Radicalism" and other books, Wood rejected conservative and liberal theories that the American Revolution did not immediately lead to any substantial new freedoms and was essentially a political event — a mere "mental shift" — that otherwise reinforced the status quo.

The new country's early years, Wood stated, were a time of transformation and democratization in everything from how people dressed to the way they greeted each other in the streets. The shifts were so profound that even the revolution's leaders didn't expect or want them.

"One class did not overthrow another; the poor did not supplant the rich," Wood wrote. "But social relationships, the way people were connected one to another — were changed and decisively so. By the early years of the 19th century the Revolution had created a society fundamentally different from the colonial society of the 18th century. It was in fact a new society unlike any that had existed anywhere in the world."

Fellow historian and Pulitzer winner David Hackett Fischer would later write that Wood's scholarship "altered the way historians thought about their field."

Wood's other books included "Revolutionary Characters" and "The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin" and his essays and reviews appeared frequently in The New York Review of Books, The New Republic and other publications. Wood also appeared in Burns' PBS documentary about the American Revolution, consulted on Burns' film about Jefferson and chaired an advisory panel for the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Wood married Louise Goss in 1956. They had three children, two of whom became history professors.

Gordon Wood was a self-described "simple hedgehog" who stuck to writing about the revolution, which he regarded as "the most important event in American history, bar none." He was unhappy that students attending college knew far more about the Civil War, noting that it was impossible to understand any U.S. conflict without understanding the country's birth.

"We Americans have such a thin and meager sense of history that we cannot get too much of it," he once wrote.

High school boredom, college passion

Wood was born into history: His hometown, Concord, Massachusetts, had been the residence of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Louisa May Alcott among others. But his passion for the subject he later mastered did not arise until college. Wood found his high school history education unbearable, suffering through classes in which the teacher simply read from a textbook.

Wood did admire his Latin instructor, who encouraged him to attend Tufts University, from which he graduated summa cum laude. He received a master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University and studied under a celebrated Revolutionary War historian Bernard Bailyn, whose documentation of the intellectual forces behind independence in his landmark “The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution” Wood would build upon in “The Creation of the American Republic.”

In his introduction to "The Idea of America," published in 2011, Wood looked back on his own work and the evolution of scholarship in his lifetime. He noted the many errors of the country's founders but warned against scolding historical figures because of mistakes which seem obvious now, what he and others call “Presentism.”

"The drama, indeed the tragedy of history, comes from our understanding of the tension that existed between the conscious wills and intentions of the participants in the past and the underlying conditions that constrained their actions and shaped their future," he wrote.

“If the study of history teaches anything, it teaches us the limitations of life. It ought to produce prudence and humility.”

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AP writer Michael Casey contributed to this report from Boston.

Detroit police said two officers were traveling northbound on Gunston Avenue in a marked scout car on June 7, just after 9:30 p.m., when a driver in a Chevy Malibu, traveling near McNichols, made a left turn in front of the police car, leading to the crash.

The two officers were taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver and front seat passenger of the Malibu were also taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The back seat passenger did not seek medical attention.

The investigation into the crash is ongoing.

The Chrisleys were initially indicted in August 2019 and a jury in Atlanta convicted them in June 2022 on charges including bank fraud and tax evasion. Todd Chrisley was sentenced to serve 12 years in federal prison while Julie Chrisley got seven years. Both were released last year after President Donald Trump pardoned them.

The lawsuit filed Friday says the law firm, Balch & Bingham, “held itself out as capable of defending Todd and Julie Chrisley in one of the most consequential federal criminal prosecutions in the country. It was not.”

The partner who led the Chrisleys' defense, Chris Anulewicz, “had no meaningful defense experience” and the firm knew that or should have known that, the lawsuit says. But the firm let him lead the case “because the Chrisley name meant money, publicity, and the kind of high-profile notoriety that brings in business.”

The Chrisleys are asking for a jury trial and are seeking compensatory damages “in excess of $25 million,” as well as compensation for their legal costs and attorney fees.

While he was supposed to be handling their defense, the lawsuit says, Anulewicz “found time to steer the Chrisleys into a $75,000 investment in his brother-in-law's startup food truck business — exploiting his position as their attorney to benefit himself and his family while neglecting his duty to them.” Anulewicz now works for a different firm.

Patrick T. O'Connor, an attorney representing Balch & Bingham and Anulewicz, said Monday that he couldn't comment because they haven't been served with the lawsuit yet. But he said “it will be vigorously defended.”

The Chrisleys, who now live in Tennessee, became famous through their show, “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed their tight-knit family and extravagant lifestyle.

Before the Chrisleys became reality television stars, they and a former business partner submitted false documents to banks in the Atlanta area to obtain millions of dollars in fraudulent loans, prosecutors said. They spent lavishly on luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel and used new fraudulent loans to pay old ones. Todd Chrisley then filed for bankruptcy, walking away from more than $20 million in loans, prosecutors said.

The federal criminal investigation against the couple was based on an unlawful, warrantless search by the Georgia Department of Revenue of a warehouse where the Chrisleys had stored some belongings, the lawsuit says. The judge granted a defense request to suppress the physical documents from that search.

But Anulewicz didn't ask her to suppress “derivative evidence,” including emails, bank records and financial documents that “formed the core of the government's case,” the lawsuit says. Federal agents opened their investigation based on the seized information and then got search warrants to obtain specific documents from the Chrisleys' email accounts, the lawsuit says.

“Without that evidence, the government would not have had sufficient evidence to support a conviction,” the lawsuit says.

Pashinyan was looking for a strong mandate for a new geopolitical course that includes distancing Armenia from Moscow and deepening cooperation with the West. “The European Union is our main partner in democratic reform implementation, and we will continue that path,” Pashinyan said as he cast his vote on Sunday.

European election observers said the election was divisive but “well-run," while noting concerns that Russia had sought to sway the outcome with economic pressure and suggesting that Pashinyan's incumbent government had sought to stifle the largely pro-Russian opposition.

Pashinyan's Civil Contract party came in first with 49.82% of the vote, according to the latest preliminary results on Monday.

His main opponent, Samvel Karapetyan, is a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia and is under house arrest, accused of advocating for the government’s overthrow. Karapetyan, whose Strong Armenia bloc was the runner-up with 23.28% of the vote, rejects that charge as politically motivated.

Armenian investigators said they also issued six arrest warrants for members of Strong Armenia the day before the election, accusing them of buying votes. The party seeks to develop close business ties with Moscow and has accused Pashinyan of attempting to start a war with the Kremlin.

While the Central Election Commission says it has counted ballots from all electoral precincts, full results are not expected until Sunday. This is to give parties time to lodge complaints about any perceived irregularities.

‘Referendum on the future of the country'

Richard Giragosian, who heads the Regional Studies Center think tank in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, said that despite concerns that Russia was trying to sway the election, the vote had been “genuinely free and fair” and “stands as a referendum on the future of the country.”

“Much of the Russian efforts at interference fell flat and were ineffective,” Giragosian told the AP on Monday.

Russia has warned Armenia it would suffer economic consequences if it continues moves toward the EU. Moscow controls a significant portion of Armenia’s energy and infrastructure, a point that has been driven home by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his meetings with Pashinyan.

Russia recently banned the import of a number of Armenian products, including, flowers, wine and fish. Moscow has cited violations of import rules, but the European Commission has called the measures “economic coercion.”

Putin and other Russian officials also have made thinly veiled threats comparing Armenia’s path to that already taken by Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia.

Pashinyan's party set to rule on its own

Armenia’s National Assembly must consist of at least 101 members elected for five-year terms. Parties must win at least 4% of the vote to enter, while blocs made up of three or more parties must hit 8%.

The Hayastan (Armenia) bloc led by former President Robert Kocharyan is also set to take seats, receiving 9.93% of the vote. The Prosperous or Blossoming Armenia party, led by pro-Russia businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, has hovered around the 4% threshold.

Turnout stood at 58.94%, according to the latest announcement by the election commission.

Preliminary results from the election commission suggested the governing party has won 61 seats in the National Assembly.

According to Giragosian, the analyst, this will allow Pashinyan's party to rule on its own and pass most laws independently, but not to secure constitutional amendments without a referendum.

PM vows to continue peace process with neighboring Azerbaijan

Opposition parties have strongly criticized the government for attempting to normalize relations with neighboring Azerbaijan. Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev initialed a document on moving toward a peace deal at the White House alongside U.S. President Donald Trump in August.

Armenia and Azerbaijan were locked in a decades-long conflict over Karabakh, a breakaway region that had been controlled for decades by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Yerevan. Azerbaijan took control of the entire Karabakh region during a rapid offensive in 2023.

Pashinyan announced on Monday that Armenia intends to move toward “institutionalizing” a peace deal, and ratifying an agreement with the White House that would create a major transit corridor through Armenian territory to be named after Trump.

“This is a truly transformative project, as Armenia is becoming a crossroads of the world,” Pashinyan said.

International observers say the election offered genuine choice

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament said in a joint statement that the election had offered voters genuine alternatives “in a well-run process.”

The observers noted concerns about pressure from Russia, while also noting that the campaign domestically was “highly confrontational” and marked by allegations of electoral violations that led to many criminal cases against opposition candidates, raising a perception of “selective justice."

"This, along with pressure on public sector employees to attend ruling party events, and recently introduced social and economic measures, raised concerns about the equality of opportunity to campaign,” the statement said.

Responses from Brussels and Moscow

Top officials of the EU, which is preparing an economic support package for Armenia, congratulated Pashinyan following the tightly contested race.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media that the EU deeply values the partnership with Armenia as it draws “ever closer to Europe.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Armenia's elections were held “amid unprecedented pressure on the opposition and interference from the West, primarily the EU.”

The ministry's spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, did not give examples of such interference, but said the elections "demonstrated that Armenian society is extremely polarized.” She added that Moscow's approach to future relations will “take into account actual steps taken by the Armenian leadership."

Giragosian said that Russia is not necessarily surprised at the election outcome and that its lack of direct support for the Armenian opposition indicates that it is open to continue working with the Pashinyan government while also increasing pressure on it.

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AP writers Sam McNeil in Brussels and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus contributed.

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An earlier version of this story wrongly stated that according to an earlier announcement by Armenia's election commission, turnout in the general election on Sunday stood at 97%. The correct figure at that time was 59.97%.

Kepler can start a minor league assignment Wednesday, when the suspension is scheduled to have 15 days remaining. If no Arizona games are postponed, he would be eligible to play for the Diamondbacks on June 25 at St. Louis.

If Kepler returns to the major league roster on June 25, he would receive $396,257 in salary for the remainder of the season. He would earn a $100,000 bonus for 35 days on the active roster and $200,000 each for 55 and 75.

Kepler remains on the restricted list for the remainder of the suspension and will not occupy a spot on the 40-man roster during the ban.

He is ineligible to appear in the postseason this year.

Kepler was suspended in January for a positive test for Epitrenbolone, a metabolite of Trenbolone that's contained in some products used in body-building stores and has been used in products to promote cattle growth. Kepler was the first player suspended by MLB for the substance since public announcements of the penalty details began in 2005.

The 33-year-old hit .216 with 18 homers and 52 RBIs with Philadelphia last year after agreeing to a $10 million, one-year contract. He was slowed in 2024 by left patellar tendinitis and had core surgery after the season to repair a sports hernia.

Kepler grew up in Germany and signed with the Twins at age 16 in 2009. He has a .235 average with 179 homers and 560 RBIs during an 11-year big league career.

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This story has been corrected to show that Kepler is eligible to play on June 25, not report to the team then, and that he was suspended in January, not tested positive then.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

The truce in the Iran war that was reached in April has not spread to Lebanon, where Israel has been battling Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants. Israel says it is defending its northern communities that face Hezbollah drone and rocket fire.

Iran sees Israel’s ground invasion, with thousands of troops, and airstrikes in Lebanon as a ceasefire violation. It insists that any deal with the United States must end the fighting there. Israel disagrees.

Here’s a timeline of key events.

Feb. 28

The United States and Israel attack Iran. War begins.

March 2

Hezbollah enters the war by firing rockets at Israel. Israel retaliates.

April 7

A fragile ceasefire in the Iran war is announced, with talks to continue. Israel is not included in negotiations.

April 8

Israel bombards Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, killing over 300 people in a 10-minute attack.

April 14

Lebanon and Israel hold their first direct diplomatic talks in decades in Washington.

April 17

A fragile ceasefire is announced between Israel and Lebanon, but Hezbollah plays no part. Fighting soon resumes from both sides.

May 31

Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon makes its deepest incursion in over a quarter-century as Hezbollah continues to pound northern Israel and Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon with drones and missiles.

June 1

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens to strike Beirut if Hezbollah attacks against Israel don’t stop. U.S. President Donald Trump says Israel and Hezbollah agree to calm the fighting.

June 3

Israel and Lebanon say they agree to renew the fragile ceasefire and create security zones that exclude Hezbollah.

June 4

Hezbollah’s leader rejects the ceasefire agreement and demands that Israel withdraw from Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Israel continue firing at each other.

June 5

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard says “there will be no calm in the region ” if Israel doesn’t withdraw from Lebanon. The fighting since March 2 had killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon. Almost 30 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor were killed in or around southern Lebanon, and two civilians were killed in northern Israel.

June 7

Hezbollah continues firing at Israel. Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs. Iran fires at Israel.

June 8

Israel launches airstrikes in the early morning targeting central and western Iran in response to Iranian missile fire. By evening Israel and Iran both appear to have backed down. Netanyahu threatens to resume strikes if Iran launches any more missiles, and says Israel will continue operating against Hezbollah.

Mariah Rose McDonald left her residence on the 700 block of South Stirling Avenue in Pontiac at around 10 p.m. on May 26 and failed to return home.

Police say family members have received communication from Mariah through a friend’s phone that she is safe, but refuses to disclose her location or return home.

Investigators say her parents believe she may be in Detroit.

Rose McDonald is 15 years old, 5′03″, 150 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes.

The sheriffs office is seeking information regarding Mariah’s current location to ensure her well-being and facilitate her return home.

Anyone with information should contact the Oakland County sheriff’s office at 248-858-4950.

The center disclosed the list Monday in an email sent to members, who were offered packages ranging from $99 for a seat reservation to $1,500 and more for seating and admission to pre- and post-show receptions. The announcement also marks a notable change in how the center is identifying itself: The news came from the Kennedy Center, not the "Trump Kennedy Center," a switch that also appears on the center's home page.

Last month, a federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump's handpicked board of trustees had acted illegally when they voted to add Trump's name to the venue, which Congress in 1964 named for the recently assassinated President John F. Kennedy.

“The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so. Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it,” wrote U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper.

Although a Kennedy spokesperson suggested the venue might appeal the decision, the center received an email last week from its general counsel that laid out steps for cooperation, including the removal of Trump's name. After mostly ignoring the Kennedy Center during his first term, Trump soon made the center a key part of his overall mission to purge federal cultural institutions of so-called “woke” influences. He ousted the leadership, filled the board of trustees with supporters and presided over such signature events as the Kennedy Honors ceremony.

In response, numerous performers cancelled planned appearances at the center, including Issa Rae, Bela Fleck and Renée Fleming.

Maher is the 27th recipient of the Twain Award, which has previously been given to Leno, Steve Martin and Tina Fey among others. Trump and Maher have publicly feuded in recent years, but the HBO host is otherwise the kind of comedian that many Republicans have found palatable — a self-styled independent who regularly attacks Hollywood as “woke” and has interviewed everyone from liberal stalwarts like Jane Fonda to conservative commentators like Ben Shapiro and Charlie Kirk to such “cancelled” cultural figures as Woody Allen.

Other guests expected at the Twain ceremony include the comedian Louis C.K., who has been touring regularly since allegations of sexual misconduct briefly upended his career after they were reported in 2017, and the controversial ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, whose blunt comments on sports and beyond have led to fierce exchanges with NBA star Jaylen Brown and commentator Keith Olbermann among others.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, appeared in court for jury selection wearing a white shirt and blue tie, having pled not guilty to starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. Prosecutors say Rinderknecht started a fire on Jan. 1, 2025, and it burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up on Jan. 7.

The Palisades Fire ultimately killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes as it incinerated hillside neighborhoods in Pacific Palisades and the city of Malibu. Rinderknecht faces at least five years in prison if convicted of charges that also include malicious destruction by means of a fire.

Lead defense attorney Steve Haney has said Rinderknecht is being made as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the Jan. 1 blaze. The trial is likely to take about two weeks.

A group of more than 80 potential jurors were sworn in Monday. Jurors will fill out a questionnaire and return to the courthouse Tuesday, where attorneys on both sides will have the opportunity to question them and dismiss ones they believe are unsuitable to be on the jury.

News of the trial drew mixed reactions from residents of the Pacific Palisades, who have spent the last year and a half tussling with insurance claims and red tape for building permits as they try to regain normalcy in their lives.

“It drums up all of the emotions over this past year and makes me think about all of the suffering and chaos of all of our neighbors and friends’ lives,” said Meghan Wald, whose home was among the few left standing in her block.

Palisades streets are now crowded with construction vehicles and workers, and charred trees have recovered their luscious green. But vacant lots abound, filled with weeds and wildflowers and the skeletal frames of homes. Of the more than 450 construction projects, only 17 homes have been certified for occupancy.

Wald and her family now live in nearby Brentwood, but she visits weekly to support the handful of businesses that have reopened, including her hair salon, her usual CVS pharmacy and the Palisades Garden Cafe, where her kids used to grab snacks after school.

“It’s great to see the shops that we know and love coming back,” Wald said. “It’s also hard to imagine what it’s going to be like. It will never be the same.”

The fire has been a central theme in incumbent Mayor Karen Bass 's reelection bid as she defends the city's recovery process. Bass was in Ghana as part of a presidential delegation when the flames ignited. One of her challengers, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt, lost his home in the blaze and has made what he calls municipal ineptitude a central campaign message. It's not yet clear if Pratt won enough votes in the primary to face Bass in November's runoff election.

Judge Anne Hwang has ruled that the defense can't introduce evidence or arguments about alleged negligence by the fire department, saying it was irrelevant and could confuse the jury.

Defense attorneys had planned to include testimony from a firefighter that the earlier fire was visibly smoldering when first responders left the scene. That was gathered as part of a lawsuit filed by fire victims against the city.

Haney said he also plans to argue that the government lacks solid evidence or witness testimony linking Rinderknecht to the first fire, and that first responders heard fireworks in the vicinity of where the blaze started.

Prosecutors say geolocation data from Rinderknecht's phone shows that he was in the area of the fire as it rapidly grew, and investigators later seized a Bic barbecue lighter from his car that he admitted to having with him on the trail. They will claim he was upset about a failed relationship as well as thwarted plans for New Year's Eve, and that he ranted to his Uber passengers that evening about being angry at the world, according to an April 29 pretrial memo filed by the U.S. attorney’s office.

Lena Loh, who opened a skin care clinic in the Palisades three months before the fire, said Rinderknecht’s prosecution gives her no sense of relief. She has been struggling to reopen and is looking to leave because she can't sustain the business financially anymore.

“I don’t necessarily think putting him on trial is gonna fix anything,” she said. “This is a city issue. The city needed to manage that small speck of fire better.”

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Wood, a professor emeritus at Brown University, died Sunday after being struck by a car in a supermarket parking lot in East Providence, Rhode Island, according to police.

Author of dozens of books and essays, Wood never gained the mass audience of historians like David McCullough and Doris Kearns Goodwin, but his findings became standard references for discussions about the formation of the U.S. and the legacy of the revolution. Many peers regarded the white-haired, mild-looking Wood as the embodiment of the learned, traditional historian, guided by facts rather than ideology.

In 2011, President Barack Obama presented him a National Humanities Medal “for scholarship that provides insight into the founding of the nation and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.”

In recent years, younger academics increasingly alleged that Wood was too well-established, the epitome of the old-school historian who minimized the lives of slaves, women and Indigenous people. John L. Brooke, a history professor at Ohio State University, would fault him for “a distinct avoidance of interpretative paradox and complexity,” even as he cited Wood’s “scale and scholarly enterprise.”

His success was immediate and lasting. His first book, “The Creation of the American Republic,” won the Bancroft Prize in 1970 and lived on with generations of students who embraced and contended with Wood’s findings that the Constitution was unintentionally subversive, a document devised by elites that led to “the destruction of the very social world they had sought to maintain.”

His “The Radicalism of the American Revolution” won the Pulitzer in 1993 and the epic “Empire of Liberty” was a finalist in 2009.

Wood did welcome scholarly breakthroughs, notably Annette Gordon-Reed’s “persuasive contextual case” that the enslaved Sally Hemings bore some of Thomas Jefferson’s children. In “Empire of Liberty,” which covered the years 1789 to 1815, he included lengthy passages on slavery and called it a cancer “eating away at the message of liberty and equality.”

At other times, Wood angrily resisted new approaches. He was a prominent critic of The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize winning 1619 Project and its contention — later amended — that maintaining slavery was a key motivation for the American Revolution. He alleged that the project encouraged a sense “victimhood” and feeling “aggrieved,” even as he acknowledged he hadn’t read most of it. He would counter that the founders, even such plantation owners as Jefferson and James Madison, believed — mistakenly — that slavery would die a natural death and the revolution itself energized the American abolitionist movement.

“We all want justice, but not at the expense of truth,” he wrote in 2019, adding, in a widely disputed statement, “I don’t know of any colonist who said that they wanted independence in order to preserve their slaves.”

Wood was born into history: His hometown, Concord, Massachusetts, had been the residence of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Louisa May Alcott, among others. But his passion for the subject he later mastered did not arise until college. Wood found his high school history education unbearable, suffering through classes in which the teacher simply read from a textbook.

Wood did admire his Latin instructor, who encouraged him to attend Tufts University, from which he graduated summa cum laude. He received a master’s and Ph.D. from Harvard University and studied under a celebrated Revolutionary War historian Bernard Bailyn, whose documentation of the intellectual forces behind independence in his landmark “The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution” Wood would build upon in “The Creation of the American Republic.”

In his introduction to “The Idea of America,” published in 2011, Wood looked back on his own work and the evolution of scholarship in his lifetime. He noted the many errors of the country’s founders but warned against scolding historical figures because of mistakes which seem obvious now, what he and others call “Presentism.”

“The drama, indeed the tragedy of history, comes from our understanding of the tension that existed between the conscious wills and intentions of the participants in the past and the underlying conditions that constrained their actions and shaped their future,” he wrote.

“If the study of history teaches anything, it teaches us the limitations of life. It ought to produce prudence and humility.”

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Associated Press writer Michael Casey contributed to this report from Boston.

The new season will come with some exciting twists as athletes compete for a $250,000 grand prize.

Watch the video above to see the hosts of “American Ninja Warrior” talk about the new additions during an interview on “Live in the D.”

You can catch the premiere of season 18 of “American Ninja Warrior” Monday, June 8 at 9 p.m. on Local 4.