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‘Backrooms’ crosses $100 million, becomes highest-grossing A24 film at domestic box office

Backrooms is now the highest-grossing A24 film at the domestic box office.

The Kane Parsons-directed film crossed $100 million in the North American box office on Wednesday, A24 confirmed to ABC Audio.

This makes it the studio's first film to reach such an achievement. It surpassed the Timothée Chalamet film Marty Supreme's domestic total of $96 million in only six days.

According to the studio, Backrooms' global box office number stands at $144 million as of Wednesday. This means Backrooms is close to surpassing the best picture Oscar-winning Everything Everywhere All at Once's worldwide total of $148 million to become A24's second highest grossing movie. Marty Supreme is currently A24's highest grossing movie worldwide with a total of $191.3 million.

Backrooms opened in theaters on May 29. It brought in more than $81 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, off a $10 million budget. This made it the biggest debut in history for an original horror film, as well as the biggest debut for a first-time filmmaker on a non-franchise film. At 20 years old, Parsons is the youngest director to have a #1 film at the box office.

The horror film is based on Parsons’ popular YouTube series. It stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve as two people who enter a secret doorway into a maze of seemingly endless rooms.

Man accused of sexual assault

SMITH COUNTY – A man was taken into custody in Smith County on Tuesday on suspicion of sexually abusing a fifteen-year-old girl. Tony Rincker, 60, was placed in the Smith County Jail on a $500,000 bond after being accused of sexual assault of a minor. An arrest affidavit states that a student claimed to have seen a video on the teen’s Snapchat account showing the alleged victim being sexually assaulted. What looked to be a child’s bedroom was shown in the video. Continue reading Man accused of sexual assault

Vegas and Carolina put on a show to get the Stanley Cup Final off to a terrific start

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Colton Sissons smiled widely and raved about how much fun it was to play in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Tuesday night.

He and the Vegas Golden Knights traded chances, goals, saves and counterpunches with the Carolina Hurricanes, getting the championship series off to a terrific start. Vegas won a high-scoring, entertaining 5-4 affair that usually would drive an old-school coach like John Tortorella crazy.

“I think he enjoyed it,” Sissons said. “Obviously the result.”

It was a game so good even Torts enjoyed it.

Game 1 had a little bit of everything, from Nikolaj Ehlers scoring 25 seconds in for the Hurricanes and lifting an already riled-up crowd to its feet to each goaltender making big saves to keep the puck out of the net. The only thing missing was the lockdown defense that got these teams to this point, but that only made for a more exciting opener.

“Both teams played good defense for certain minutes, other times not,” Tortorella said. “You just never know what’s going to happen.”
The goals

What happened was a lot of scoring from two of the best defensive teams in the playoffs. It was the first Cup final game in history with a goal in the first 30 seconds of each of the first two periods.

Ehlers scored his first off the rush and second on a breakaway. The two-goal lead lasted all of 80 seconds before Shea Theodore scored, and Ivan Barbashev and William Karlsson put Vegas ahead, rallying from another deficit.

“It was great from our group to kind of battle back,” Theodore said.

Jordan Staal scoring his first goal at this stage of the playoffs since 2009 and breaking older brother Eric’s record for the longest gap between Cup final goals brought the crowd back to life. So did Shayne Gostisbehere tying it with under nine minutes left in regulation.

With time ticking closer to overtime, the Golden Knights made one more highlight-reel play in a night full of them. Colton Sissons’ backhand pass set up Tomas Hertl — who also had a rough go the first couple of rounds — for the go-ahead goal with 3:34 left in regulation.

Long before Sissons and Hertl teamed up on the winner, each guy was denied on a Grade-A scoring chance by Carolina’s Frederik Andersen. At the other end of the rink, Carter Hart made some 10-bell saves of his own.

Logan Stankoven got in all alone on a breakaway in the first with a chance to break the game open.

“That could’ve been a dagger,” Sissons said.

Instead, Hart made that save and kept Vegas in the game throughout. His best came with under four minutes left and the score tied, flashing his glove to rob Seth Jarvis, Carolina’s top-line right wing whose snakebit struggle of a run continued.

“He gives us so much confidence,” Sissons said. “When we needed him most, he was there.”
The drama

The start of the Cup final quickly got the NHL past a lackluster third round, when Vegas swept Colorado in the West and Carolina bounced back from a rough start against Montreal, winning four in a row to blow through the East final roadblock that had been an issue for so long.

Fans were buzzing from pregame warmups, and the two teams put on a show worth the hefty price of admission.

“I thought it was a great game from both sides,” Theodore said. “That’s a loud building to play in front of.”

After a ton of excitement between two hockey powerhouses, viewers can only hope for six more six more games just like this one.

Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka ‘just want to quit tennis’ after French Open quarterfinal defeat

PARIS (AP) — After letting another big lead slip with an error-strewn performance at the French Open, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka felt like getting as far away from the courts as possible.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kalinskaya also struggled.

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

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

All of Wednesday’s matches were held on Chatrier.

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

Game 1: Spurs and Knicks set to open the NBA Finals on Wednesday night in San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — For the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks, Game 1 of the NBA Finals might feel like old times.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nick Saban lends support to college sports bill as SEC, Big Ten push back

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban and other college sports figures testified Wednesday in support of a bipartisan bill aimed at overhauling a system where players can increasingly earn millions of dollars while moving freely between schools.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oil prices climb back toward $100, and the record-breaking rally for US stocks stalls

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Comedian Marcello Hernández to host 2026 ESPY Awards

Marcello Hernandez attends the 2025 Night of Too Many Stars at Beacon Theatre on March 31, 2025 in New York City. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

The 2026 ESPY Awards are almost here and this year, the annual awards ceremony honoring the best in sports will feature a new host.

Comedian Marcello Hernández will present the star-studded evening, which is returning to New York City this year. Hernández is taking over duties from comedian Shane Gillis, who hosted last year from Los Angeles.

"It is an honor, and frankly feels crazy to be hosting the ESPYS this year in New York," Hernández said in a statement Wednesday. "I'm sure the energy is going to be great."

Hernández is described by ESPN as an "avid sports fan" who played soccer at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio.

The ESPYS, which first began at New York City's Madison Square Garden in 1993, will take place on Wednesday, July 15 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center.

The 2026 ESPYS will air live at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and stream on the ESPN app. The awards ceremony will also be available to stream on Disney+, Hulu, the ESPN App, and ABC Video on Demand on July 16.

Craig Lazarus, executive producer of the ESPYS, called Hernández a "natural fit" to serve as this year's ESPYS host.

"Marcello is one of the most electric, young comedians today. His genuine enthusiasm for sports and his ties to New York City make him a natural fit to host this year's ESPYS," Lazarus said in a statement. "We are excited to partner with him to celebrate the best moments in sports and look forward to the fresh take he'll bring to the show."

The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News, "Good Morning America," and ESPN.

Hostages released, suspect dead after hours-long standoff at bank: Police

Yellow police tape says "police line do not cross" is set against blurry background. (Sheila Paras/Getty Images)

(BAKERSFIELD, Calif.) -- All 10 hostages have been released, and a suspect is confirmed dead on Wednesday after an hours-long standoff at a bank in California, according to the Bakersfield Police Department.

The hostage situation ended at about 4:20 a.m. on Wednesday after an FBI officer-involved shooting, police said.

All hostages were found "unharmed" and received medical evaluation and treatment at the scene, according to police. They have since been reunited with their loved ones, Jeremy Blakemore, assistant chief of the Bakersfield Police Department, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The suspect, identified by the FBI as 41-year-old Anthony Scott Searles-Harris, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The suspect does not appear to have targeted the bank or bank employees in the attack, but he had concerns related to how a previous case of his had been handled and his sentencing, officials said Wednesday.

During the standoff, the suspect demanded to see his daughter, but no communication was made between him and his daughter, Blakemore said.

The suspect barricaded himself on the second floor and attached explosives to himself and additional explosives to some of the hostages, Blakemore said. The suspect also tied up five of the 10 hostages.

The standoff began after a reported bomb threat at a Chase bank in downtown Bakersfield at around 12 p.m. Tuesday, Blakemore said.

Two hostages were first released after hours of ongoing negotiations with a suspect, according to authorities.

As the hostage situation continued, negotiations stalled, according to Blakemore.

Crisis negotiators were in contact with the individual over the phone, according to police. Investigators were also in touch with a hostage who had their phone until the phone died, officials said.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are assisting, and other resources are coming in from throughout the state, police said.

Investigators revealed the suspect had requested the involvement of the FBI, according to officials. The FBI assumed control over the situation at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Blakemore said.

FBI personnel made entry into the building after making an assessment, taking into consideration that one of the hostages was diabetic and needed medical attention and the erratic behavior of the suspect, Sid Patel, the FBI special agent in charge at the Sacramento Field office, said at a press conference Wednesday.

The suspect was killed at around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, Patel said

Several buildings in the surrounding area were evacuated, police said. The Chase Bank is located at Chester Avenue and 17th Street.

"This is a horrific event," Patel said.

Searles-Harris served in the U.S. Army from 2006 to 2007, before being dishonorably discharged for going absent without leave, Patel said.

In 2014, Searles-Harris was charged with sex acts with a child under 14 years old and is a registered sex offender, Patel said.

The investigation remains ongoing with a significant law enforcement presence to remain in the area for the next several hours, police said Wednesday morning.

Patel applauded the work of the Bakersfield Police Department, calling them one of their "strongest allies."

"Bakersfield PD did an amazing job with this," Patel said. "They have an amazing workforce here."

Motorists are encouraged to avoid the area, with traffic closures currently in effect between Truxtun Avenue and 18th Street, and between H Street and K Street, police said. Delays are expected into the afternoon local time.

Karen Bass advances in Los Angeles mayoral race as opponent currently remains unclear

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass looks on as she greets customers at Pann's Restaurant on June 01, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. With one day to go before the California primary, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass continues to campaign across the city. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

(LOS ANGELES) -- Votes are being counted in the closely watched primary election to determine Los Angeles' next mayor.

Voters in the nation's second-largest city had their choice of 14 candidates to choose from in a race that included incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt and city Councilwoman Nithya Raman.

ABC News projects that Bass will advance to a runoff, though it is currently unclear which candidate she will face in the runoff election.

During the campaign, candidates running for the top office in Los Angeles focused on a variety of issues afflicting the Southern California metropolis, including recovery from the devastating 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, homelessness, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and more.

While the primary is nonpartisan, Bass has served Congress as a Democrat, Raman is a self-described Democrat, and Pratt is a registered Republican.

Here is a rundown of the candidates, the issues and how the election will function.

The candidates

While 14 candidates are running for office, three front-runners have emerged in polls: Bass, Pratt and Raman met in the only televised debate of the race on May 6.

Bass, a Los Angeles native, entered politics in 2004 after a career in medicine as a physician assistant. The mayor served in the California State Assembly, rising to the speaker of the assembly before running for Congress in 2010.

She served six terms in the House as a Democrat before becoming the first woman and second African American mayor of Los Angeles in 2022.

Raman, running as a progressive, launched her campaign earlier this year, just before the deadline, and has been a member of the city council since 2020.

Raman, who holds degrees from both Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, describes herself as an "urban planner" on her website.

Pratt, who has generated headlines since announcing his candidacy earlier this year, is running as an outsider in the field. Pratt rose to fame in his 20s serving as a villain archetype on the hit reality TV show "The Hills."

The former reality star has said his political ambitions were fueled by his association with the Palisades wildfire, which claimed his home.

The issues

No topic has been more prominent in the mayoral campaign than the Los Angeles fire response and recovery. When fires ravaged the region in early 2025, more than 10,000 structures were destroyed as more than 30,000 acres of the city burned.

Pratt has been the most outspoken critic of the city's response. Bass has defended her actions while also admitting the city must learn from the fire. Raman has also criticized the "dysfunctional" response to the fires.

Homelessness, another key issue candidates have focused on down the stretch, was hotly debated on the debate stage last month. Bass has cited what she says are inroads on the issue, saying L.A. had seen a decrease in homelessness under her administration.

Raman's campaign has stressed the importance of bringing unhoused people indoors, while Pratt has focused on what he sees as the core cause of homelessness: drug addiction.

The candidates also have different stances on what the city's approach to ICE should be. Last year, ICE raids became a flashpoint for widespread protests across the city.

As mayor, Bass has pushed back on ICE's presence in Los Angeles, saying in a press release in March, "Los Angeles will not stand for ICE's fear, intimidation and unlawful targeting."

Raman's plan to address ICE in Los Angeles includes appointing a police chief "committed to protecting immigrants" and ensuring the Los Angeles Police Department "does not coordinate with federal immigration enforcement," according to her website.

Pratt recently told ABC News the future mayor would not be able to work with ICE because of California's sanctuary law status, adding, "I'm going to make the streets so safe the federal government is not going to need to come to L.A., because they're going to be like 'Wow this mayor has these streets safe and clean.'"

Other hot topics at play in the primary is the revival of Hollywood, LAPD funding, affordable housing and more.

How the primary works

According to the city of Los Angeles election code, the Los Angeles mayoral primary can result in either an outright winner or a runoff, depending on final vote tallies.

A candidate will be determined the winner if they receive a majority of votes in the primary. In the case that does not happen, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff in the general election in November.

Sexual abuse conviction upheld

HENDERSON COUNTY – A Scurry man who was found guilty of repeatedly sexually abusing a child in Henderson County, and given a life sentence, was upheld by an appeals court. Manuel Lynn Tijerina, 42, appealed his conviction to the Twelfth Court of Appeals, claiming the trial court had improperly admitted testimony from the victim’s relative, according to the Henderson County District Attorney’s Office. Testimony revealed Tijerina exposed the victim to pornography, touched her inappropriately, and made sexual remarks to her. Continue reading Sexual abuse conviction upheld

Supreme Court allows Alabama to use GOP-friendly election map

Steps to the United States Supreme Court, Washington DC, America. (joe daniel price/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Alabama Republicans to use a contested 2023 congressional map that a lower court last week called "intentional race-based discrimination" in violation of the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution.

The move is a significant win for the GOP, allowing the state to eliminate one of two majority-Black districts occupied by Democrats, even as election experts and state administrators have warned of major confusion for voters with the late change.

Civil rights groups lamented the decision as a stark example of the impact of the court's historic April decision in Louisiana v. Callais which rolled back longstanding voting rights protections for minority voters.

In an unsigned opinion Tuesday, the court's conservative majority said the unanimous three-judge panel -- which included two Trump appointee -- in the Alabama dispute failed to apply "updated" standards the justices issued in the Callais decision for proving a political process is not equally open for minority voters.

The court said the panel "did not heed the presumption of legislative good faith" by concluding state lawmakers had "discriminatory animus."

The court's decision concluded that the judges also erred in blocking the 2023 map even though the minority voters challenging it could not provide an alternative map that offered the same political advantages sought by Republicans.

Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey praised the decision, and her office confirmed the state would hold a special primary using the new maps with redrawn districts on Aug. 11.

"The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed what I have said all along and that is that Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best," Ivey said in a statement. "Today's decision is a win for the people of Alabama and our elections.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a lengthy dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, accused her colleagues of "unleashing chaos" and "confus[ing] voters."

The map change will require state officials to change the voter registrations of hundreds of thousands of voters in a matter of days and educate them on where to cast new ballots.

"Just as Alabama doubled down on racial discrimination, the Court today doubles down on chaos," Sotomayor wrote. "Because I choose to defend the rule of law and the right of all Alabamians to participate equally in democracy, I respectfully dissent."

In 2024, Alabama had been required to use a map with two majority-Black districts, one of which was won by Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures.

The new map could allow Republicans to flip Figures' seat.

The NAACP slammed the Supreme Court's decision as discriminatory.

"The Supreme Court continues to unleash chaos in our democratic process, and with this latest action, gives Alabama approval to use a congressional map that had previously been found to be intentionally discriminatory," NAACP General Counsel Kristen Clarke wrote in a statement. "This is a Court that is stripping Black voters of power and voice at a speed that would put Jim Crow jurists to shame. Our message to communities remains the same -- the best way to express dissent is by showing up at the ballot box this election season."

-ABC News' Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.

Citing ‘critical issues,’ SEC, Big Ten withhold support for bipartisan college sports bill

AUSTIN (AP) – The two biggest conferences in college sports released a statement Tuesday saying they do not support the current version of a bipartisan bill designed to regulate an industry struggling for answers in a quickly changing era in which some players make millions.

The Southeastern and Big Ten conferences said the “bill leaves critical issues unresolved,” including not “meaningfully” preempting state laws with a federal one, which has long been considered a key element for a measure to get support from the NCAA and the conferences.

In an interview last week, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who drafted the bill with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told The Associated Press “the bill is drafted to preempt state laws that conflict with the provisions in this bill.”

The SEC-Big Ten statement came out less than 24 hours before a scheduled hearing about the bill in front of the Senate Commerce Committee. Cruz chairs the panel and Cantwell is the ranking Democrat.

The legislation has received support from the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conferences, but the Big Ten and SEC, as the two richest leagues that also have decision-making power over the future of the College Football Playoff, hold the biggest cards.

One of the bill’s key provisions would give conferences an option to pool their media rights — an idea the Big Ten and SEC have long claimed would not result in a financial windfall that proponents suggest. The leagues’ statement did not speak to that issue.

A spokesperson for the Commerce Committee that Cruz chairs acknowledged the Big Ten-SEC position.

In brief: ‘Onslaught’ gets official trailer and more

A sequel to War Machine looks to be in the works. Deadline reports that Netflix is moving forward with a second installment with director Patrick Hughes back at the helm. Hughes will produce and co-write the movie with James Beaufort. The outlet reports that star Alan Ritchson is likely to return for the sequel to the original film, which follows the final recruits of a Special Ops boot camp as they encounter a mysterious deadly force ...

You can now watch the trailer for A24's upcoming film, Onslaught. The action movie stars Adria Arjona as an army sniper and a mother who lives in a desert trailer park and fights to protect her family from genetically engineered super soldiers. Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard helmed the film, which also stars Alex Pereira, Drew Starkey, Rebecca Hall, Reginald VelJohnson, Michael Biehn, Eric Wareheim and Dan Stevens. It arrives in theaters on Sept. 4 ...

The official trailer for America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders season 3 has arrived. The Netflix documentary series returns for its third season on June 16. It follows the 2025–2026 squad through auditions, training camp and the NFL season, offering a candid, behind-the-scenes look at the iconic cheerleading team ...