(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump, during a dinner Wednesday evening, announced his intent to nominate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the post permanently.
In a video shared on social media by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, Trump is seen in the Rose Garden saying that he will instruct his team to start the process to formally nominate Blanche to the post on Thursday.
Earlier, Trump's announcement was confirmed to ABC News by two sources at the dinner.
Blanche, who was once Trump's personal attorney, served as the Department of Justice's deputy attorney general until the president tapped him to serve as acting attorney general following Pam Bondi's ouster.
Trump hinted at the move in a pre-taped interview with the program "Pod Force One" on Wednesday, saying that he thinks Blanche will be nominated to the attorney general position.
"I wanted to see how he's received, you know, we put him as acting, and he's done a very good job, but I've known him a long time," Trump said.
In recent weeks, Blanche has been at the center of the controversy over the Justice Department's so-called $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," ostensibly established to benefit the president's allies.
On Tuesday, Blanche told Congress that the department was "not moving forward with the fund."
The move came after heavy pressure from Republican congressional leadership and marked a significant defeat for Blanche, who had spent the past two weeks seeking to defend the $1.776 billion fund while refusing to rule out the prospect that settlements could be paid out to defendants who joined in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol -- including those who had been convicted for assaulting law enforcement.
But on Wednesday, the president himself admitted he did not know what the fund's future would be after a federal judge temporarily blocked it.
"I'd have to ask the lawyers. I don't know," Trump said when pressed on whether the plan was truly dead.
"The weaponization fund, as far as I'm concerned, was a beautiful thing," he added.
Before Blanche told lawmakers the administration was nixing the fund, several Senate Republicans had balked at the plan, telling him they would not be able to pass Trump's legislative agenda until the issue was resolved and even raised concerns about losing in the upcoming, high-stakes midterm elections as a result of the controversial settlement fund.
As acting attorney general, Blanche also secured the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey over his post of seashells that the Justice Department claims amounted to a threat against the president.
Blanche has shrugged off the suggestion that he would use the Justice Department to more aggressively target perceived foes of the president.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday unveiled a new facility to produce nuclear bomb fuels, with leader Kim Jong Un announcing plans to bolster the country’s nuclear forces “at an exponential rate.”
Some experts still question whether North Korea has functioning nuclear missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland. But the nuclear plant’s disclosure implies that Kim is eager to cement his country’s status as a nuclear power and has no intentions of placing his bomb program on a negotiating table.
After visiting the site on Wednesday, Kim said he and other top officials “confirmed the order of priority for implementing the ambitious future plan designed to beef up our state’s nuclear forces at an exponential rate,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
The site is likely a uranium enrichment plant
KCNA said the facility used “more sophisticated technology” but didn’t provide further details like its location. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff assessed the site as a uranium enrichment plant and said it was closely coordinating with the United States to monitor North Korean nuclear activities.
KCNA photos showed Kim walking through narrow aisles lined with dense rows of silver tubes and pipes, in what appeared to be a centrifuge hall. Another image showed him speaking with senior officials in a meeting room, where a blurred graphic depicting a cone-shaped object was spread across a table. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the graphic showed a warhead design.
It’s the third time that North Korea has disclosed a uranium enrichment site. In 2010, North Korea showed one at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex to visiting American scholars, and in 2024, North Korea released photos of another covert uranium-enrichment plant, which experts believe was at its Kangson complex.
Experts say the newly disclosed site is likely an additional uranium enrichment facility that North Korea is suspected to have been building at Yongbyon.
“Based on a preliminary analysis, it appears that this facility is likely the newly added Yongbyon enrichment facility. It appears to have two levels and represents a substantial expansion of enrichment capability,” said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“North Korea’s ongoing nuclear expansion does not have a near-term end in sight,” he said.
Last September, South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said that North Korea was operating a total of four uranium enrichment facilities including the Yongbyon complex, and that they were running everyday.
Kim wants nuclear weapons state
During his plant visit, Kim said the urgency for bolstering up the country’s nuclear war deterrent, both in quality and quantity, has grown because of confrontations with “the most ferocious enemies,” an apparent reference to the U.S. and South Korea.
Kim said exercising “the position of a nuclear weapons state” is his country’s “invariable” stand. He said North Korea’s nuclear materials production capacity has more than doubled compared with five years ago, a claim that cannot be verified independently.
Experts say Kim wants an international recognition as a nuclear state so that he could demand the lifting of U.N. economic sanctions. They say Kim would ultimately push for arms reductions talks with the U.S. as a way to win concessions in return for a partial surrender of his nuclear capability.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to resume diplomacy with Kim, but the North Korean leader responded the Americans must first drop its demand for North Korea to denuclearize as a precondition for talks.
Some question North Korea’s nuclear program
Since his first round of nuclear diplomacy collapsed in 2019, Kim has performed a provocative run of weapons tests and vowed repeatedly to “exponentially” expand the country’s nuclear arsenal.
This led to many experts believing North Korea now likely has nuclear missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland. But some still note North Korea hasn’t proved it mastered last-remaining technological hurdles to obtain such missiles, including ensuring its warheads survive the conditions of atmospheric reentry. They say North Korea also need to perfect technologies to place multiple nuclear warheads on a single missile to defeat U.S. missile shields.
A senior South Korean official told lawmakers in 2018 that North Korea was estimated to have manufactured between 20 and 60 nuclear weapons, but some experts now put the size of the North’s arsenal at more than 100 warheads.
In 2023, North Korea unveiled a type of battlefield nuclear warheads. Some analysts speculated the warhead’s unveiling might be a prelude to a nuclear test. But North Korea hasn’t carried out a test, which would be its seventh detonation overall and the first since September 2017.
Displaced residents drive back to their villages as locals wave Hezbollah flags and an image of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in Zefta, southern Lebanon, Friday, April 17, 2026, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group has rejected the latest ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and the Lebanese government, demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal.
Naim Kassem, in a written statement read on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV on Thursday, said the agreement’s demand that Hezbollah fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would mean “surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy’s goals.”
“What we are concerned about is an end to the aggression, ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal,” Kassem said. “We did not make any commitment to any party to stop resisting as long as there is occupation,” he added.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli strikes killed at least four people in Lebanon, according to local authorities, and a U.N. peacekeeper was killed in the crossfire on Thursday. The latest violence came after another ceasefire agreement was announced in the fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
The ongoing fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit point for oil and gas whose closure has jolted the world economy.
Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, wants to press ahead with Israel’s offensive until Hezbollah no longer poses a threat. Israeli troops have seized around a fifth of Lebanon since Hezbollah began launching rocket and drone attacks in solidarity with Iran days into the wider war.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who faced a rare rebuke from Congress on Wednesday, has sought to downplay the diplomatic deadlock and the failure of declared ceasefires to end the fighting, telling reporters that in the Middle East, “a ceasefire is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner.”
Peacekeeper killed in crossfire
A Serbian peacekeeper was killed, and two other peacekeepers were wounded, when a mortar struck their location near Marjayoun, a Christian-majority town that has seen intense fighting, according to the U.N. mission, known as UNIFIL, and Serbia’s Defense Ministry.
Neither said whether the mortar fire came from Israel or Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a drone strike killed a motorcyclist and wounded four people in the village of Maaroub. It said airstrikes on the village of Sohmor in the Bekaa Valley, in eastern Lebanon, killed three people and wounded others. It also reported airstrikes in other areas of the south.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has warned people not to go into parts of southern Lebanon where it says it is striking Hezbollah facilities.
Fighting has raged despite declared ceasefires
Hezbollah resumed its rocket fire days after Israel and the United States launched their surprise attack on Iran on Feb. 28. Before then, Israel had regularly carried out strikes in Lebanon against what it said were militant targets, often killing civilians, despite an earlier truce reached in 2024.
In the southern city of Sidon, many residents reacted to the ceasefire announcement with skepticism, saying previous agreements had failed to stop the violence.
“Every few days a ceasefire is announced, but people keep getting killed,” said Mayada Hijazi.
“It’s all talk and no action,” said Salah Nassab. “We keep going back to our homes and then we get displaced again, back and forth. We’re very tired.”
In the latest fighting, Israeli troops have pushed further into southern Lebanon than at any time since the end of Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation. It now occupies arouns a fifth of the country.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon and over 1.2 million have been displaced. The fighting has killed 27 Israeli soldiers and three civilians.
The ceasefire came from ongoing Israeli-Lebanese talks
The latest declared ceasefire came about through U.S. brokered talks held between Israel and Lebanon’s government, which accuses Hezbollah of dragging the country into war and had made efforts to disarm it before the latest hostilities.
The ceasefire does not officially include Hezbollah and calls for Lebanon’s armed forces to take control of security zones in Lebanon from which the militants would be banned. Hezbollah has said it will only adhere to a ceasefire if Israel halts its attacks and begins withdrawing from the country.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday called the new agreement “the last chance to enter a final and comprehensive ceasefire.” He said Lebanon was ready to implement Wednesday’s deal once he receives responses from relevant factions in Lebanon, including Hezbollah. The United States — and Trump himself — would determine how and when the deal is implemented, he told journalists on Thursday.
The agreement states that Hezbollah “is not just an enemy of Israel and an enemy of America, but that it is an enemy of Lebanon” and calls for dismantling it. The government has promised to do so in the past but does not have the capabilities to disarm Hezbollah by force.
The latest agreement did not say when Israel would withdraw from southern Lebanon but said the U.S. would support the Lebanese army as it works to assert control in areas where Hezbollah has long wielded power.
Iran has demanded a durable Lebanon ceasefire
A top Iranian general on Thursday reiterated Tehran’s demand for a full ceasefire in Lebanon and called for Israel to pull troops back to where they were when the wider war began. At that time, Israel held five strategic points along the border.
“Supporting the resistance in Lebanon is the duty of all of us, and eliminating Israel from the region is an achievable goal for Muslims,” Esmail Qaani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, was quoted as saying by the semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies.
As diplomatic efforts have repeatedly faltered, Iran and the U.S. have traded fire in and around the Strait of Hormuz, which remains effectively closed. Before the war, around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas, as well as large shipments of fertilizer and other goods, passed through the narrow waterway.
The U.S. has targeted what it says are Iranian threats to commercial shipping and its own forces, while Iran has launched missile and drone attacks on Gulf states hosting U.S. troops.
A strike Wednesday on a commercial airport in Kuwait that is also used by American forces for logistics and refueling killed an Indian national and wounded more than 60 people, including passengers and workers. Iran denied carrying out the strike.
___ Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Metz from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press reporter Malak Harb in Beirut contributed.
Jonathan Groff and Daniel Radcliffe are rolling along into a new collaboration. Deadline reports Groff has joined the cast of the Vietnam War thriller Trust the Man, where he'll act alongside Radcliffe. This reunites the actors after they starred and both won Tonys for their performances in the most recent Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. Trust the Man will be written and directed by Will Graham ...
The trailer for Anya Taylor-Joy's new limited series Lucky has arrived. Apple TV is set to release the show's first two episodes on July 15, and will follow with new episodes every Wednesday until the Aug. 19 finale. Lucky is based on The New York Times bestseller by Marissa Stapley, which follows a multimillion-dollar heist that goes sideways. Starring alongside Taylor-Joy are Annette Bening, Timothy Olyphant, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Drew Starkey ...
Tickets for Supergirl are now on sale. DC Studios co-head James Gunn made the announcement in a post shared to Instagram on Wednesday. "Get tickets now and tag who you’re bringing to see #Supergirl," he captioned his announcement post. Milly Alcock plays the titular cousin of Superman, Kara Zor-El, in the new film, which is directed by Craig Gillespie. It flies into theaters on June 26 ...
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos for 'Live with Kelly and Mark.' (Disney/Miller Mobley)
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos executive produce a new six-part docuseries called Squatters: Get the F*** Out of My House.
The docuseries, which follows ordinary people blindsided by manipulators who know exactly how to weaponize tenant protections, is now available to watch on Hulu. Ripa and Consuelos spoke to ABC Audio about the unbelievable true stories included in the series.
"The title didn't come out of nowhere. This is what these very frustrated homeowners keep saying because they are so desperate," Ripa said.
Consuelos said that the squatters featured in the show "are so good at finding the loopholes in the law ... to frustrate the owners of the homes."
"We've sold homes," Consuelos said. "You just assume you're selling your home, and you go check on it, and you're not gonna find a family that has moved into your house."
Not only that, but you don't assume you'll find multiple families there and discover that "they're leasing the house from a man who claims that's his house," Consuelos continued.
While the married couple have never encountered squatters on any of their properties, Ripa says she has a friend who dealt with squatters.
"He owns properties in California and he said that this is his life," Ripa said. "There's so many times that he has leased a property to a tenant who's never paid rent and then he cannot evict them and so it is a part of his life."
Through those experiences, Ripa said her friend has "had to become better than the squatters."
"It is very common. I keep saying we could do episodes not just in each state, we could episodes in every county of every state or in every borough," Ripa said. "It's not a unique thing."
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Alec Burleson drove in three runs, Andre Pallante threw 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball, and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers 5-3 on Wednesday night.
The Cardinals improved to 26-3 when leading after seven innings and got back to .500 at home, while the Rangers saw their five-game win streak end.
Pallante (6-4) allowed three hits and struck out five. After reliever JoJo Romero gave up a two-run triple to Joc Pederson in the seventh, Ryne Stanek followed with 1 2/3 scoreless innings and Riley O’Brien worked the ninth for his 15th save.
Burleson hit a two-out RBI single in the first inning. Josh Jung answered for Texas with a run-scoring single in the third.
The Cardinals had three straight hits to begin their half of the third, and Burleson drove in two with a double to right field that made it 3-1.
Thomas Saggese drove in a run in the fifth with his first career triple, and Nelson Velázquez brought one more home with a single in the sixth.
Texas’ MacKenzie Gore (4-5) worked 4 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and four runs while striking out five.
Up next
The Rangers host Cleveland on Friday, with RHP Kumar Rocker (2-5, 3.54 ERA) facing Guardians LHP Parker Messick (6-1, 2.21).
The Cardinals continue their homestand against Cincinnati starting on Friday. RHP Kyle Leahy (5-3, 4.25) starts opposite Reds RHP Brady Singer (2-5, 6.18).
HOUSTON (AP) — Cam Smith hit a tiebreaking two-run triple to cap Houston’s six-run eighth inning, Isaac Paredes homered and the Astros overcame a five-run deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-9 on Wednesday night.
Yordan Alvarez had four hits and two RBIs for the Astros. Smith and Paredes had two hits and three RBIs apiece, and Jeremy Peña went 2 for 3 with a double.
AJ Blubaugh (3-2) pitched the eighth inning to get the victory. Josh Hader made his season debut and worked a scoreless ninth for the save, ending the Pirates’ winning streak at four.
Houston starter Spencer Arrighetti, who went 4-1 in five starts with a 0.93 ERA in May, allowed four runs in four innings.
Henry Davis hit his first career grand slam in the fourth inning for Pittsburgh. Nick Gonzalez had a homer, double and three RBIs.
The Pirates have scored nine-plus runs in four consecutive games, the longest streak in the majors this season, and has struck out at least nine batters in eight straight games.
Pittsburgh’s Gregory Soto (4-1), who faced four batters, allowed three runs and three hits and walked one.
Up next
Pirates RHP Jared Jones (0-0, 10.48 ERA) was set to start Thursday against RHP Kai-Wei Teng (3-3, 2.57) in the series finale.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has issued an arrest warrant for San Francisco 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk on a misdemeanor charge of exhibition of speeding.
District attorney’s spokesman Sean Webby confirmed Wednesday that the warrant has been issued in response to a video Aiyuk posted to social media last December that appeared to show him speeding on the road in front of Levi’s Stadium.
The California Post first reported the arrest warrant.
Aiyuk posted an apology a few days after the video that appeared to show him driving well over the posted speed limit of 40 mph.
“Sorry ya’ll, my car content won’t come with speeding anymore,” Aiyuk wrote in a social media post. “Was praying with my son tonight and wouldn’t want anybody else to miss out on an opportunity to do the same with their loved ones! My apologies.”
Aiyuk is currently on the reserve/left squad list after he stopped showing up late last season as he rehabilitates a knee injury that has sidelined him since October 2024.
The issues with the 49ers and Aiyuk go back to last summer when the team previously voided $27 million guaranteed in his contract for next season for failing to participate in meetings and other team activities.
General manager John Lynch has said he doesn’t expect Aiyuk to play again for the 49ers. The team has been waiting to see if another team is willing to trade for Aiyuk. The 49ers otherwise could either cut him or keep him on the reserve list.
Aiyuk has three years remaining on the four-year, $120 million extension he signed last year. But he now has no guaranteed money remaining.
The 28-year-old Aiyuk has 294 catches for 4,305 yards and 25 TDs since being drafted in the first round in 2020.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The NBA’s hopes of starting a new independent league in Europe by the end of 2027 are on schedule, Commissioner Adam Silver said before the start of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.
That plan — a joint effort involving the NBA and FIBA, the sport’s global governing body — has been in the works for years, but is nearing a launch at a particularly exciting time for the game in Europe with the burgeoning superstardom of San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama.
The unanimous Defensive Player of the Year this season has led the Spurs to the finals, and even 2:30 a.m. start times for games in his native France aren’t totally deterring plans for watch parties and other gatherings to celebrate Wembanyama’s first appearance in the NBA’s championship series.
“We are very much on schedule,” Silver said. “It is our hope and anticipation that that league will launch in the ’27-28 season in Europe. We are on track. Final bids from franchises are due at the end of this month, at the end of the month in June. We’ve seen record interest and we’re very excited about the ongoing opportunity and working closely with FIBA, our federation.”
Wembanyama is going home to France next season, with the Spurs set to play two regular-season games against the New Orleans Pelicans, first in Paris on Jan. 14 and then in Manchester, England, on Jan. 17. Paris and Manchester are on the list of cities expected to be part of the planned league in Europe.
Wembanyama and the Spurs played a pair of games in Paris in January 2025, with tickets for those matchups against the Indiana Pacers getting snapped up quickly. The NBA’s interest in expanding to Europe goes back long before Wembanyama’s arrival in the league, but his rise to stardom has clearly sparked additional interest in the NBA over in that part of the world.
“Presumably, we will be in position in the fall to award franchises,” Silver said.
Among other topics Silver discussed in his annual pre-finals news conference Wednesday:
Domestic expansion
The NBA announced formal plans earlier this year to explore expansion in Seattle and Las Vegas, and Silver said that “discussions are ongoing.”
Multiple groups, Silver said, are interested in having teams in those cities. But there is no timetable for when expansion could happen, though Silver remains committed to deciding if it will by the end of 2026 — as he has said multiple times before.
“It’s not a foregone conclusion that we will expand … but what we’ve told all interested parties is our board will make a decision by the end of this calendar year,” Silver said.
Clippers investigation
The independent investigation into whether a $28 million endorsement contract between Kawhi Leonard and a California-based sustainability services company allowed the Los Angeles Clippers to circumvent league salary cap rules is ongoing, Silver said.
But he sounds eager for a conclusion.
“My instruction to them is we can’t be investigating forever. At some point you have to wrap it up,” Silver said. “But at the same time, the most important thing is that we get it right.
“My job is to follow the facts and what essentially happens here is that a factual report together with findings will be made by this independent firm. That’s presented to me. It’s then ultimately my role to determine what the appropriate discipline, if any, should be meted out based on their findings.”
Silver added that he thinks the league is “close to the point now where I think we need to wrap this up” for a number of reasons, namely the Clippers need to know what — if anything — will happen, as do the league’s other 29 teams.
The Clippers have steadfastly denied wrongdoing since the story was first reported last year by journalist Pablo Torre.
Honoring Stern
The NBA still doesn’t have a major award named for former Commissioner David Stern, who retired in 2014 and died in 2020.
The league has wanted to change that for years. It’s an interesting dilemma — trying to find an award important enough to bear his name, Silver said of his former boss.
“I almost think there’s nothing that we can do in some ways that will ultimately feel that he’s getting his just due. … We’re going to come up with the right way to honor him,” Silver said.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — There has been no announcement that President Donald Trump plans to attend an NBA Finals game at New York’s Madison Square Garden next week, though Commissioner Adam Silver hinted at Trump’s intentions Wednesday when he said sports remain something that unifies even in divided times.
Silver, without saying Trump’s name, responded to a question about “unique people” coming to finals games in New York and how the league prepares for such events. The New York Post, citing anonymous sources, reported Wednesday that Garden officials have “performed security walkthroughs” in anticipation of a Trump visit.
Game 3 of the series is Monday in New York, Trump’s hometown. The series opened Wednesday in San Antonio, and Game 2 is there on Friday.
“I think what’s really so special about sports in our society — and it’s a little bit of a cliché, but our increasingly divided society, and that goes to people who will be attending the first home game at Madison Square Garden — it truly brings people together,” Silver said. “It creates a sense of connectivity among people. It creates a sense of belonging, and I feel that every day.”
The White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Wednesday evening.
Trump is no stranger to major sporting events. He told reporters last week that Knicks owner James Dolan invited him to the NBA Finals and that he would have gone to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals — but the Knicks needed only four games to win that series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Trump called the Knicks’ return to the finals for the first time since 1999 “great to see.”
Trump has routinely dropped in on prominent sporting events during his time in politics. He’s taken in the College Football Playoff championship and caught a prime-time NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets just days before the 2024 election.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Victor Wembanyama got blessed by nuns before the game, got the loudest ovation when the starters were announced, pumped his fist to the crowd a few times and generally seemed to enjoy his first taste of the NBA Finals.
Until the ending.
The French star had 26 points in his finals debut, though had to work for all of them — misfiring on 15 of his 21 shots from the field, some of them even hitting the top of the backboard, and seeing waves of New York defenders all game long. The worst part of all for Wembanyama, the best defensive player in the game, was seeing the Knicks score the game’s final 11 points and steal away home-court advantage with a 105-95 victory.
“I was bad tonight,” Wembanyama said. “It’s not more complicated than that.”
He said it calmly, without panic, very matter-of-factly. The Spurs lost a game. The series isn’t over. He’s not worried, yet.
“I would say that he definitely holds himself accountable,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “I expect he’ll learn a lot of things from tonight’s game and come out with a good approach in Game 2.”
There’s been a history of that for both Wembanyama and the Spurs. They lost home-court advantage to Portland in Round 1 before winning the final three games of that series, lost home-court again to Minnesota in Round 2 after dropping Game 1, and didn’t even have the home-court edge against Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals — a series where San Antonio trailed 2-1 and 3-2 before prevailing.
Then again, they’re playing a Knicks team that hasn’t lost since April. And it’s now June. New York is 12-0 in its last 12 games, and the Spurs now have to try and beat them in four of the next six to win this title.
“Obviously, we’ve been down in a series before,” Wembanyama said. “Never in the finals, obviously. But I’m not kicking myself about anything really. I’m not worried the slightest.”
It’s not a question if he can bounce back, or if the finals lights are too bright. Wembanyama has handled everything that has been thrown his way since he entered the NBA three years ago — even the scare that came last year when his season ended early because of deep vein thrombosis — with what would appear to be ease.
Beating the Knicks won’t be easy. But Wembanyama finding a way to play better on Friday in Game 2, that’s to be expected.
“Players come along every once in a while that, in addition to having this incredible skill, love the promotional side of it and want to play that role for the league,” Commissioner Adam Silver said of Wembanyama before the game. “We saw the role he played at All-Star, even leading the other young players, saying, let’s take this seriously, this really matters.”
Even going back to the years when the NBA was waiting for Wembanyama, Silver has never wanted to say if he or the league has an expectation for him. The reasoning is simple: There was, and is, enough pressure on Wembanyama. Silver, to his credit, hasn’t added to it.
“He came in highly touted. He was somebody who even before he came into the NBA was blowing up the internet in terms of his highlights,” Silver said. “Did I have a specific expectation in terms of numbers of years it would take him to get to the finals? No. But I would say, just trying to be an objective observer, he’s ahead of any timeline that people had in mind.”
That may be true. He’s just not ahead in the series. And Friday’s test will be a big one.
“We’re all confident,” Spurs guard Dylan Harper said. “I feel like that is kind of who he is. He never backs down from the moment. He always kind of steps up and meets it.”
DALLAS (AP) — Opening statements were set for Thursday in the murder trial of a former Texas high school athlete accused of taking out a knife during a track meet and fatally stabbing a 17-year-old competitor from a rival team in the stadium’s bleachers.
The killing last year stunned an affluent Dallas suburb where the teenagers attended school and quickly drew wider attention, in part over social media posts that amplified the case in racial terms.
Karmelo Anthony, now 19, faces up to life in prison if convicted in the killing of Austin Metcalf. According to an arrest report, Anthony told police he was protecting himself when the teenagers got into a confrontation during a high school track meet in Frisco, a booming city in Dallas’ sprawling north suburbs.
A jury was seated this week under increased security at a Collin County courthouse and a judge has set strict rules over the proceedings, including prohibiting attorneys from discussing the case publicly.
“We know this case has struck a deep nerve — here in Collin County and beyond,” Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said while announcing the indictment against Anthony last year.
The stabbing happened on a rainy morning in April 2025. Witnesses told police the confrontation began when Anthony sat under a tent belonging to Metcalf’s team, according to an arrest report. The teens went to different high schools in Frisco.
When Metcalf told Anthony that he needed to move, Anthony reached inside his bag and allegedly replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” the report said.
A short time later, Metcalf allegedly grabbed Anthony, who then pulled out a knife and stabbed the other teenager in the chest, the report said.
A police officer said in the report that Anthony told him that Metcalf had put his hands on him, and that he was protecting himself.
Mike Howard, Anthony’s attorney, said following the indictment last summer that he expects prosecutors would “not be able to rule out the reasonable doubt” that his client may have acted in self-defense once the full details of the confrontation come out.
The parents of both teens have said they were good students who planned to go to college.
Metcalf’s father has condemned those who have seized on the race of the teenagers after the killing. Anthony is Black; Austin Metcalf was white.
“This was not a race thing. This is not a political thing. Please do not comment if you do not know what happened,” Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf, said on Fox News’ “America Reports.”
“This is a human being thing,” he said. “This person made a bad choice and it affected both his family and my family forever.”
Authorities have also issued warnings about online discussions surrounding the killing. Frisco Police Chief David Shilson has urged people to beware of posts spreading “misinformation, hate, fear, and division.”’
HOUSTON (AP) – The New World screwworm fly has reached south Texas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed Wednesday, the first time in decades that the parasite with flesh-eating larvae has threatened the nation’s cattle industry and only the third time it’s appeared in the U.S. in that time.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the case was in a 3-week-old calf in LaPryor, Texas, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Mexico border. Texas State Veterinarian Bud Dinges said he has established a 12-mile (20-kilometer) quarantine zone, prohibiting the movement of any warm-blooded animal — including pets — outside that zone without an inspection.
Rollins said there have been no other detections of the fly in the U.S., and officials were quick to say that while the fly’s larvae are a threat to livestock production, they don’t infest food. Properly treated, even the infested calf should recover, Rollins said.
Rollins, U.S. and Texas agriculture officials, and cattle industry leaders have been sounding public alarms about the fly’s movement across Mexico for more than a year, spurred on by memories of it causing tens of millions of dollars of losses — potentially billions in today’s dollars — before its eradication in the 1970s.
It is the first case confirmed in Texas since 1966, Rollins said.
The months of effort to keep the fly out of the U.S. have included dropping millions of sterile screwworm flies in the area to mate with wild females — the same method used successfully before the fly was eradicated. Rollins said the USDA is confident enough in its preparations that it believes “there is no threat of mass infestation.”
“There is no reason to believe this incursion will result in establishment of the pest in our country,” Rollins said.
The announcement of the suspected case comes only a day after Rollins had an online news conference to highlight the nearness of the threat, with cases been confirmed in Mexico as close as 25 miles (40 km) from the border — and to outline the USDA’s efforts to combat it.
The New World Screwworm fly is a tropical species that decades ago infested cattle in warm weather across the southern United States, but it was contained in Panama until late in 2024.
The female fly lays its eggs in open wounds or mucous membranes and they hatch into larvae that eat flesh — making them unlike most fly species — and can infest livestock, wild mammals, household pets and even humans. Infestations can lead to death if left untreated.
In August 2025, federal health officials confirmed a case in a Maryland resident who had traveled to El Salvador, but the victim recovered and officials found no transmission of the parasite. Before that, the last outbreak was in the Florida Keys in September 2016, mostly among wild deer, and it was contained early the next year without spreading further.
The female flies mate once in their monthslong lives, and if they do so with a sterile fly, their eggs would not hatch — and the population would die out over time. Past eradication efforts were so successful that the U.S. shut down facilities for breeding sterile flies, leaving only one in Panama for decades.
That is changing. The USDA dedicated $21 million to convert a fruit-fly breeding facility in southern Mexico into one for breeding screwworm flies, opened a new center for dispersing sterile flies bred elsewhere in southern Texas and has started construction on a $750 million screwworm fly factory there. The breeding facility in Mexico should be operating next month, Rollins said.
Officials also deployed 8,000 fly traps along the U.S.-Mexico border, and Rollins said the USDA has tested more than 58,000 fly samples, along with 19,000 wild animals.
Rollins also closed the U.S.-Mexico border last year to livestock imports from Mexico, a decision she defended during her news conference Tuesday. The fly also can travel with people and their pets and with wild animals, officials noted, but Rollins stressed Wednesday evening that it doesn’t fly great distances on its own.
Dinges said ranchers and pet owners need to understand that it’s important to respect the quarantine zone.
“Please help us prevent any further movement of this pest by staying put,” he said.
UPDATE: Additional child-sex charges have been filed against Doyle Hodge II, a church volunteer of Polk County who was arrested after allegations of ongoing sexual abuse surfaced last week.
Hodge has now been charged with criminal solicitation of a minor and continuous sexual abuse of a child, according to the sheriff’s office. A warrant is being issued for indecency with a child by sexual conduct and his bond has totaled $325,000.
POLK COUNTY, Texas (KETK) — After receiving multiple allegations of ongoing sexual abuse, Polk County officials have arrested a volunteer of several local churches last week.
Mugshot of Doyle Hodge II, courtesy of Polk County Sheriff’s Office
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, they received reports on May 27 from adults and minors that 40-year-old Doyle Hodge II was sexually abusing them. After opening an investigation, deputies identified five possible victims, with additional individuals continuing to come forward.
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Hodge to ensure the safety and well-being of the children involved. On Friday, he was taken into the Polk County Jail for sexual assault of a child and is being held on a $100,000 bond.
The investigation remains active, and additional charges are expected to be filed.
According to the sheriff’s office, Hodge was a volunteer at several of the local churches. Anyone with any additional information regarding the case or who believes they may be a victim is encouraged to contact investigator Kayla Hemperly at 936-327-6810.
LONGVIEW — A 27-year-old man from Longview was recently arrested after being accused of having an inappropriate online relationship and sexual assault of a child. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by our news partner KETK, a deputy from the Smith County Sheriff’s Office spoke with the victim’s mother in April 2025, who had recently discovered her 12-year-old daughter was having a sexual relationship with an adult man.
The victim’s mother told authorities that she did not initially report the incident because she was under the impression that the suspect was 14 years old. The mother discovered that the suspect was an adult after going through her daughter’s phone, where she also found information proving that the suspect had sexual relationships with her daughter.
As she continued searching her daughter’s phone, the victim’s mother told officials that she had discovered that the suspect had allegedly come to her home and had allegedly sexually assaulted her daughter. The victim’s phone was later taken to the Smith County Technology Lab to be searched. Continue reading Man arrested for minor relationship, assault
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LONGVIEW — A 27-year-old man from Longview was recently arrested after being accused of having an inappropriate online relationship and sexual assault of a child. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by our news partner KETK, a deputy from the Smith County Sheriff’s Office spoke with the victim’s mother in April 2025, who had recently discovered her 12-year-old daughter was having a sexual relationship with an adult man.