State report finds Trinidad’s water quality fails to meet standards”

TRINIDAD (KETK) — Over the past several months, residents of this East Texas city have been advocating for clean drinking water. Their concerns were confirmed by a recent report from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which identified three violations in the local water supply.

According to TCEQ, the state received multiple complaints regarding poor water quality in April. An investigation was launched shortly after, which evaluated and tested the water system for compliance.

Three of the alleged violations were found to need corrective action with a compliance plan by Aug. 3.

In the investigation, it was found that the system had issues between its filter and controller and failed to conduct chloramine effectiveness, which is used as an alternative disinfectant. It was also found that some streets that reported discoloration problems could not mitigate excessive water age, which is not meeting compliance.

The report reads that the discolored water did not originate from Trinidad’s surface water treatment plant. The operator of the water system told TCEQ that the city is looking to upgrade the water mains through several projects.

“He believed significant portions of the distribution system are old, iron-based water mains (an inventory of the water main composition was not available for review),” the report reads.

Other alleged violations were investigated, but were found to be resolved before the completed report, the TCEQ said.

Additionally, DPS has confirmed to KETK News on Tuesday that the Texas Rangers are now investigating the city. Officials were unable to disclose the nature of the investigation; however, it remains ongoing.

ICE should do traffic stops despite recent shootings, Trump says, seeming to oppose new suspension

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency should continue vehicle stops after recent fatal shootings, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, seeming to oppose a new suspension of the practice used as part of his immigration crackdown.

ICE is “doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

The Republican president said that to remove criminals he claims were let into the country under the previous Democratic administration “we must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of ICE’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump said, “Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.”

Trump administration officials have told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings within a week, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.

The suspension was ordered after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after another officer shot and killed a motorist in Houston, renewing criticism of the agency’s enforcement tactics that were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.

In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. This time, a 28-year-old man was killed after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.

It’s a narrative that has been repeated again and again since the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown began, with federal officers confronting drivers and then saying they opened fire when the drivers’ vehicles became a danger. That’s despite decades of warnings from policing experts that shooting into moving cars presents a danger of its own and should almost always be avoided.

There have been at least 10 deaths involving encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched his deportation campaign. At least four of those deaths involved people in vehicles, including the one last week in Houston, a trend so troubling that U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Tuesday that she had urged Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin “to cease all non-urgent vehicle stops.”

John Sandweg, who was acting director at ICE, which is part of DHS, during President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration, estimated recently that there have been roughly 18 traffic stop shootings during the Trump immigration crackdown.

The office of Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, was told by DHS that ICE was suspending traffic stops, office spokesperson Matthew Felling said.

ICE, which has been under pressure to beef up arrest and deportation numbers, often says people it’s trying to arrest are increasingly resistant to leaving their homes. ICE officers blame immigration advocates who advise immigrants to stay in their homes unless ICE produces a warrant signed by an independent judge instead of the administrative warrants the agency generally uses that are signed by another ICE officer. So, ICE officers say, they’re forced to find other areas in which to make arrests.
Shooting angers Maine

Hundreds of people in Maine protested Tuesday over the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national. Advocacy groups said Guerrero, who had a wife and a young daughter, was authorized to work in the United States.

DHS said Monday that an officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed Durán Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country. It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone who came from the home, the person attempted to flee in the vehicle and the officer fired.

That was a shift from how King earlier described the encounter, when he said Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. King said Mullin told him the officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant but not for the man who was shot.

In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Petro, who has openly quarreled with Trump, urged Trump to provide an explanation and accused ICE officers of treating Durán Guerrero as “an inferior being without rights.”

In Wednesday’s social media post, Trump told ICE to be “judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job.”

Maine’s congressional delegation on Tuesday demanded a “comprehensive, transparent, and expedited investigation.”
Questions surround the shooting

Photos showed bullet holes in Durán Guerrero’s car windshield, but the officers involved in the shooting didn’t have body cameras, leaving many questions. Among them are how close the officer was to the vehicle when shooting, whether officers told Durán Guerrero to stop and why ICE believes he had put the public in danger.

Border czar Tom Homan told reporters Tuesday that the investigation needs to play out and that officers will be held accountable if they are found to have acted inappropriately or illegally.

Maine’s attorney general’s office, which said it is working with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name hasn’t been released and who was placed on leave.

Collins said Mullin told her the DHS inspector general is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.

Democrats seeking to unseat Collins in November have sought to connect her with ICE’s methods, which have drawn public scrutiny and derision. Collins later said in a statement that although ICE needs to improve, eliminating the agency would make the nation less safe.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who is vying for Collins’ seat, called the ICE officers at the shooting “thugs” during a vigil Tuesday in Lewiston.

Heavy rains keep drenching South Texas, tornado reported in San Antonio

UVALDE (AP) — Slow-moving storms with heavy rain were drenching a large swath of South Texas on Wednesday, spawning a tornado in San Antonio a day after downpours washed out roads and farmland and led to dozens of high-water rescues in the region.

The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down in the northwestern part of San Antonio near Interstate 10. Videos posted on social media showed what appeared to be a small twister. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Warnings of potentially dangerous flash flooding, meanwhile, were posted in some areas as the deluge was expected to continue through Thursday evening. The weather service said 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain was possible in some areas by the time the storms move out.

There have been no reports of deaths or injuries from the flooding.

Flash flood warnings were posted Wednesday morning for several counties near the Mexico border including parts of Kerr County, where catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River last year killed more than 100 people. Kerr County officials said they have been in contact with summer camps and retreat centers where river flooding could happen.

The highest rainfall totals so far have been in Uvalde County — up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) in some areas, the weather service said.

“This is called a typical mid-summer tropical weather pattern that happens in Texas,” said Monte Oaks, a meteorologist with the weather service. “About once every five years, we’ll get socked in with a daily recurrence of heavy rain chances that’s generally produced by a stagnant kind of a pattern with a low-pressure center that’s just not moving very fast.”

Oaks said the rain is being fueled with tropical moisture, mostly from the Gulf of Mexico and some from the Pacific Ocean.

The highest level of concern for potentially dangerous flooding Wednesday was for areas west of San Antonio and north of Route 90, he said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued disaster declarations for dozens of counties.

Authorities posted videos on Tuesday showing a rescue crew in a boat navigating flooded streets and a vehicle being swept away by fast-moving waters. Five people were rescued by the Texas Game Warden Search and Rescue Team and four were rescued by a local game warden, said Maggie Berger, a Texas Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman.
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The weather service said the city of Uvalde has been hardest hit. Officials there said there had been at least two dozen water rescues, and a local event center was open for anyone displaced by flooding. In Sabinal, officials were also making plans for a shelter.

Technology stocks lead markets higher, while oil prices keep rising

Technology stocks lead markets higher, while oil prices keep risingNEW YORK (AP) — Technology stocks are leading markets worldwide on Wednesday as winners of the artificial-intelligence boom gather more strength following several shaky weeks. The gains came even though oil prices remain near their highest levels in a month because of the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and was on track for a fourth gain in five days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 189 points, or 0.4%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.

The strength for AI stocks began in Asia, where South Korea’s Kospi index jumped 6.2%. Its market is dominated by two huge tech companies, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and the index has already had drops of 8.9%, 7.9% and 5.3% so far this month.

From Amsterdam, ASML, a bellwether of the chipmaking industry, reported stronger revenue growth for the latest quarter than it had forecast. CEO Christophe Fouquet said continuing progress in the AI boom has customers accelerating their expansions, and the maker of chipmaking machinery gave a forecast for revenue growth in the summer that topped analysts’ expectations.

The strength helped calm some of the worries that have sent AI-related stocks spinning recently. Chief among them is the possibility that their prices shot too high in the euphoria around AI. Worries have been rising that surging demand for AI chips and data centers may fizzle if they don’t produce enough profits and productivity to make all the investments worth it.

On Wall Street, strong profit reports from several big U.S. companies also helped to lift the market.

BlackRock rose 7.3% after the company behind some of the most popular investment funds reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Laurence Fink said its iShares funds topped $6 trillion in assets under management during the quarter, roughly doubling in three years.

Bank of New York Mellon rose 2.7%, and Morgan Stanley added 0.6% following their profit reports. They followed a spate of strong earnings reports a day earlier from many of the biggest U.S. banks.

They helped offset a drop for Elevance Health, which fell 8.5% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected.
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Expectations are high for U.S. companies’ profit growth during the spring. They’ll need to beat them to justify the big moves their stock prices have made, with indexes near their records.

The U.S. stock market, meanwhile, broadly got a lift from another report showing inflation slowed in the United States last month. This one said inflation at the wholesale level slowed to 5.5% last month from 6% in May, and it was a much better reading than the acceleration that economists expected.

The day before, a separate report said that inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling was also not as bad as economists expected last month.

Such numbers take pressure off the Federal Reserve, which is considering raising interest rates. Higher rates would keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.

Following the inflation report, traders see just a 9% chance that the Fed will raise its main interest rate at its next meeting in a couple weeks. That’s down from the nearly 42% probability they saw on Monday, before the inflation reports, according to data from CME Group.

That helped send the yield on the 10-year Treasury down to 4.56% from 4.58% late Tuesday and from 4.62% the day before.

Still, upward pressure on inflation remains. The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 0.5% to $85.19 following days of back-and-forth strikes by the United States and Iran across the Middle East.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened Wednesday to halt all energy exports from the Middle East because of the blockade the U.S. military has put in place to prevent tankers carrying Iranian oil from using the Strait of Hormuz.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” the Revolutionary Guard said.

In stock markets abroad, European indexes were mixed amid mostly modest movements.

In Asia, stocks rose 1.4% in Hong Kong but fell 0.3% in Shanghai after the Chinese government said its economy expanded at a 4.3% annualized pace last quarter, down from the 5% growth rate at the start of the year.

4-year-old shoots, kills 2-year-old with gun left unsecured in car: Sheriff

Stock image of police tape. (Ajax9/Getty Images)

(KISSIMMEE, Fla.) -- A 4-year-old boy shot and killed a 2-year-old boy with a gun that was left unsecured in a car, according to authorities in Florida.

Officers responded Sunday afternoon to a home in Kissimmee where they found a 2-year-old boy with a gunshot wound, Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon said at a news conference. The little boy was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, the sheriff said.

The two children were alone in the car when the 4-year-old found an unsecured gun and discharged it, striking the 2-year-old, the sheriff said.

The gun was "literally in the open," Blackmon said.

"I would think if it's in a holster, maybe make it harder for the child to manipulate, as well, but it's literally laying out by itself. So it's easy to grab, and you pull the trigger. And you can't recall that, it's not a video game," Blackmon said.

The sheriff described the two boys as relatives but not siblings.

"The family had just arrived and was visiting here from Georgia" for vacation, Blackmon said.

The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said, noting that charges are likely. Prosecutors said on Wednesday, "Because this is an active and ongoing investigation, we have no information to release at this time."

ABC News' Aidan Gellert contributed to this report.

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Detainees at ICE facility in Texas report frequent beatings and other human rights abuses

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dozens of people held at a sprawling Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas say they were either beaten by guards or witnessed others being beaten, according to a new report issued by legal and human rights advocates.

The 84-page report issued jointly Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union also says men and women held at Camp East Montana, located at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bliss in El Paso, recounted being denied necessary medical care, forced to live in filthy conditions and fed inedible meals. Detainees also said they were prevented from contacting their lawyers or family members.

Of the 71 detainees contacted over a five month period, 64 — about 90% of those interviewed — said they had either personally been assaulted by the staff or had seen others physically abused, according to the report.

“ICE’s Camp East Montana is a human rights disaster,” said Angélica César, a fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU who was a lead researcher for the report. “The U.S. government should shut it down, conduct independent investigations into all abuses and deaths in custody, and put an end to mass deportations and mandatory immigration detention.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The new accounts of violence and substandard living conditions inside Camp East Montana are consistent with earlier reports by The Associated Press and others. At least three detainees held at the facility since it opened in August have died, including a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who was handcuffed and stopped breathing earlier this year after being held down by guards.

A local medical examiner later ruled that death a homicide and a federal report issued last month said evidence in the case was “missing or destroyed.” That report by the Government Accountability Office found mismanagement by the Department of Homeland Security had created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and suffering even as millions of wasted tax dollars enriched contractors.

In March, ICE replaced Acquisition Logistics, LLC, the prime contractor that had been awarded a deal last year worth up to $1.3 billion to build and manage the camp. The Virginia company had no prior experience running an ICE detention facility, had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million and lacked a functioning website.

The change came as an internal ICE review documented 49 deficiencies, which it defines as violations of detention standards or policies, in areas including the use of force and restraints, security and medical care.

Despite the change in contractors, interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU as recently as last month found serious problems at the camp have persisted.

Detainees recounted degrading and inhumane living conditions that included bathrooms covered in feces, flooded housing units and no access to soap or other basic hygiene supplies, according to the report. They also reported being held indoors for weeks without meaningful access to recreation, sunlight or fresh air.

People also described receiving spoiled food and inconsistent meal schedules, with delays of up to 12 hours between meals.

The report recounts detainees saying that guards beat detainees in response to hunger strikes, requests for medical attention and complaints regarding detention conditions. Several people said that guards imposed collective punishment, striking or assaulting multiple people after accusing one detainee of violating rules, according to the report.

Researchers found that staff pressured and coerced those held there into abandoning immigration claims and accepting removal to third countries if they could not be sent back to their own country. The detainees said they were threatened with violence, criminal prosecution, and indefinite detention if they refused deportation.

In some cases, the report concluded, the circumstances of ICE detention could amount to enforced disappearances, a potential violation of international human rights law.

Human Rights Watch and the ACLU called on the Trump administration to close Camp East Montana and to allow independent investigations into deaths in custody, excessive force, medical neglect and enforced disappearances.

“The abuses documented at Fort Bliss are the predictable outcome of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, its brutal expansion of immigration detention, and the erosion of federal oversight mechanisms,” said César, the lead researcher. “People at Camp East Montana are human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and protected from harm.”

US-UK ‘special relationship’ can survive spats with Trump, ex-British PM says

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC (Photo by Carl Court - Pool/Getty Images)

(LONDON) -- As Britain prepares for yet another prime ministerial change, a former holder of the office -- Theresa May, who led the country from 2016 to 2019 -- urged the country's next leader to focus on shared U.S.-U.K. interests, rather than falling prey to potential personal or political clashes with President Donald Trump.

The U.K. Parliament is expected to anoint the Labour Party's Andy Burnham as prime minister later this month. Burnham will become the seventh leader to take the reins of the country in 10 years, a reflection of the political and economic turbulence that has beset the country since the Brexit vote in 2016.

Burnham will replace current Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who last month said he would vacate his post following a collapse in support among Labour members of parliament, exacerbated by disastrous local election results in May. Starmer delivered Labour a historic majority in parliament in the 2024 general election, but saw his authority and approval rapidly deteriorate.

Like his predecessors, Burnham will need to juggle domestic discord while navigating a raft of foreign policy demands -- among them the cultivation of the so-called "special relationship" between the U.K. and the U.S., which during President Donald Trump's two terms in the White House has been subject to strategic, ideological and economic headwinds.

Trump has already described Burnham -- who until recently was serving as the mayor of Greater Manchester -- as "extremely liberal." During Starmer's time in office, the president has been scathing toward the prime minister's policies in areas including energy, immigration, crime and foreign policy.
May, whose time in office overlapped with Trump's first term, told ABC News last week that institutional transatlantic relationships and shared interests can help Starmer's successors ease possible interpersonal tensions.

"Keir Starmer, actually, on the foreign policy field, by and large, played a good hand," May told ABC News on the sidelines of the Chatham House think tank's conference in London. The outgoing prime minister has been broadly praised for his deft handling of the transatlantic relationship, which included hosting a state visit for Trump to the U.K. in 2025.

Of the special relationship, May said, "We talk about it perhaps slightly more than the U.S. does. But that relationship is built on a whole set of different levels of relationships. So, it's not just about the prime minister and the president. It's also about our security relationships, our defense relationships ... It's not just about the two people at the top."

The same is true of the U.K.'s own political issues, May said, as the nation prepares for the coronation of its next prime minister. "It's not about individuals. Politics today generally across the globe has become more about individuals and personalities and I think that's problematic," she said.

"What matters to people is not the personality at the top. What matters to the people is what they're doing, what their policies are," May said.

The recent joint U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has again prompted Trump to strike out at America's European allies, who refused to join the campaign in support of Washington though expressed willingness to aid security and minesweeping missions in the Strait of Hormuz once the conflict is over.

The U.K. was among the American allies who refusal to assist the U.S. against Iran "greatly disappointed me," Trump said in March. Starmer's response in particular, the president said, was "very disappointing."

Asked whether the Iran war would prove to be a long-lasting blot on U.K.-U.S. relations, May said she was hesitant to comment as the conflict "is not finished."

Still, she -- like many other current and former European leaders -- noted that European nations have previously shown their "commitment to the United States," not least in rallying to the U.S. side after the 9/11 attacks; the only time in NATO history that an ally invoked the Article 5 collective defense clause.

When asked about Trump's repeated suggestions that the U.S. should be less involved in European security, May replied, "There have been other times when there's been more of that sense of isolationism," specifically noting the later American entry into the Second World War in support of the U.K. and its allies.

"But I think, again, the interests that we have together are what combines us," May said.

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Houston Texans co-founder Janice McNair dies at 89

HOUSTON (AP) — Janice S. McNair, who alongside her late husband Robert “Bob” McNair brought the NFL back to Houston after the Oilers left for Tennessee by founding the Texans, has died. She was 89.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce Houston Texans co-founder and senior chair Janice S. McNair passed away peacefully in Houston this afternoon with her family by her side,” the Texans said in a statement on Tuesday.

After her husband Bob died in 2018 following a battle with both leukemia and squamous cell carcinoma, Janice took over the Texans organization as owner. McNair’s son, Cal, was approved as primary owner of the team in 2024.

“Mom was exceptional. She exuded kindness, radiated joy, had an endless amount of hope and love, and lived an incredible life centered around faith, family, philanthropy and football,” Cal said in a statement.

“I remain honored to lead this franchise and build on the foundation my parents set when they brought football back to Houston. Mom leaves an indelible mark on our family, our team and our community, and her giving spirit will always be embedded in the fabric of our organization. While I’m heartbroken, I take great comfort in knowing she is now reunited with my dad, her favorite teammate.”

Janice McNair grew up in South Carolina, and moved to Houston with Bob in 1960. Bob McNair made his fortune as the founder of Cogen Technologies, an energy company which was sold to Enron in 1999 for $1.5 billion.

The couple was committed to charity in the city, including causes such as The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, The Robert and Janice McNair Educational Foundation in Forest City, North Carolina, and the Houston Texans Foundation.

Janice is survived by four children, 16 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, according to the team.

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

Houston Texans co-founder Janice McNair dies at 89

HOUSTON (AP) — Janice S. McNair, who alongside her late husband Robert “Bob” McNair brought the NFL back to Houston after the Oilers left for Tennessee by founding the Texans, has died. She was 89.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce Houston Texans co-founder and senior chair Janice S. McNair passed away peacefully in Houston this afternoon with her family by her side,” the Texans said in a statement on Tuesday.

After her husband Bob died in 2018 following a battle with both leukemia and squamous cell carcinoma, Janice took over the Texans organization as owner. McNair’s son, Cal, was approved as primary owner of the team in 2024.

“Mom was exceptional. She exuded kindness, radiated joy, had an endless amount of hope and love, and lived an incredible life centered around faith, family, philanthropy and football,” Cal said in a statement.

“I remain honored to lead this franchise and build on the foundation my parents set when they brought football back to Houston. Mom leaves an indelible mark on our family, our team and our community, and her giving spirit will always be embedded in the fabric of our organization. While I’m heartbroken, I take great comfort in knowing she is now reunited with my dad, her favorite teammate.”

Janice McNair grew up in South Carolina, and moved to Houston with Bob in 1960. Bob McNair made his fortune as the founder of Cogen Technologies, an energy company which was sold to Enron in 1999 for $1.5 billion.

The couple was committed to charity in the city, including causes such as The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation, The Robert and Janice McNair Educational Foundation in Forest City, North Carolina, and the Houston Texans Foundation.

Janice is survived by four children, 16 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, according to the team.

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

Baseball union head criticizes MLB salary cap ad campaign, says claims of economic woe are perverse

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The head of baseball’s players’ union chastised management on Tuesday for its advertising campaign in support of a salary cap while Commissioner Rob Manfred maintained the proposal was developed in response to fans.

Bruce Meyer, who took over when Tony Clark was forced out in February, said the sport was thriving despite assertions by Major League Baseball that massive change is needed.

“I have watched over the last few years the owners, the commissioner’s office, try to convince fans, the consumers of their product, that the product is broken,” Meyer said ahead of the All-Star Game. “The supposed stewards of the game have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince those same fans that they don’t have hope or they shouldn’t have hope or that the product that they’re paying to consume in record numbers is somehow broken. I think it’s perverse.”

Attendance has averaged 29,230 this season, up 1.2% from 28,895 through similar dates last year. MLB is on pace for its highest attendance since 2017.

Management in May proposed a salary cap system, which players say they will never accept. MLB launched a “Level the Field” campaign claiming fans support a cap that contains a floor.

“In order for this game to reach its full potential we need to continue to address concerns that our fans have, particularly concerns that go to the core of what we’re about, that is competitive balance,” Manfred said in a separate question-and-answer session.

“We need to make sure that fans in markets at the beginning of the season have a realistic belief that their team has a chance to win,” he added. “I think that we need a system where fans, particularly in smaller markets, can have some hope that the players that are signed and developed by their organizations can actually stay there through free agency and honestly I think we need a system where there is a more robust free agent market, so if you don’t want to go to New York or Los Angeles, you have a realistic opportunity to get a viable free agent contract.”

Fans have responded positively to MLB’s changes in the 2020s, which include expanded playoffs in 2022, a pitch clock in 2023 and an appeals system to robot umpires for strike zone decisions this year.

“We got that momentum by listening to our fans and making changes that, candidly, the MLBPA was not interested in,” Manfred said. “Those changes have paid off in terms of creating that momentum, and the best way to lose momentum is to stand still.”

No small-market team has won the World Series since the 2015 Kansas City Royals. The Los Angeles Dodgers, coming off their second straight title, had a $323.3 million opening-day payroll for their 40-man roster and a $163.7 million tax for a $487.1 million total. Cleveland had the lowest payroll at $75.5 million.

“It defies human experience to ask a fan to think that the bottom end of that gap has the same opportunity to win as the top,” Manfred said. “There is no question, OK, that everybody in any sport is not going to win once every 30 or 32 years depending on how many teams you have, but the data in our sport is stark. Your opportunity to make the playoffs if you are a larger-market team is dramatically higher and your opportunity to proceed to the subsequent rounds, that advantage grows with each round.”

Meyer said unions for players in the NFL, NBA and NHL agreed to caps under duress.

“In one way or the other they were broken or forced into it,” he said. “I believe that this system is bad for players and would be for generations to come.”

Baseball’s five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1 and management is expected to immediately start a lockout, the sport’s 10th work stoppage since 1972. No games have been lost since a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 caused the World Series to be canceled for the first in 90 years.

“Teams in every market across the league can afford to compete,” Meyer said. “Many of them are choosing not to. From our standpoint, that’s the biggest problem in the game right now.”

Meyer said owners want a cap to guarantee profits and increase franchise values, a system he called “subsidized mediocrity.”

“They don’t want it because they’re just so concerned about the fans,” he said. “If they were so concerned about the fans, they would listen to the fans all across baseball who are literally chanting ‘Sell the team.’ They want their owners to sell the team because they feel they’re not competing.”

Manfred did not want to comment on whether he thought President Donald Trump, who said he supports a cap, would attempt to intervene in bargaining.

“It would be wildly, wildly inappropriate for me to speculate about what the president of the United States might do or not do in a hypothetical situation,” he said.

Manfred defended MLB’s advertising campaign supporting a cap.

“Sometimes the other side may not be completely accurate or fair in terms of their recitation and what’s going on,” he said.

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

Tigers star Justin Verlander pumps up American League in his final All-Star Game

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Justin Verlander used his fingers in this trip to Philadelphia simply to tip his cap toward applauding All-Star Game fans.

He once playfully flipped off Phillies fans when his Houston Astros were in Philadelphia for the 2022 World Series.

There was only mutual respect in this game.

The 43-year-old Verlander was one of the few All-Stars on Tuesday night to receive a warm ovation in Philadelphia from a crowd that reveled in jeering just about any player who was not in a Phillies uniform.

Verlander is set to retire at the end of the season to cap a career that includes three Cy Young Awards.

Up first, one more Midsummer Classic.

“In his 10th and final All-Star Game, please welcome to Philadelphia, Justin Verlander,” the public address announcer noted.

Verlander didn’t totally sit out the American League’s 4-0 win over the National League on Tuesday night.

Toronto manager John Schneider asked Verlander to address the team and share thoughts on the importance of the All-Star honor out of respect for the pitcher’s career.

“You never know when you’re going to be in this position,” Schneider said as he relayed Verlander’s message. “You have to appreciate the people along the way. He’s made lifelong friends from being in this game for so long.”

Verlander had more gas left in the pregame speech tank. He talked AL starter Dylan Cease out of throwing a changeup as the first pitch of the game and go with a heater against Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber.

Cease threw a 96.9-mph four-seam strike to Schwarber and struck out the side in the first inning,

“He could be a politician,” Cease said of Verlander.

Kevin McGonigle, Verlander’s’ 21-year-old Tigers teammate and suburban Philadelphia native, soaked in the moment when Verlander took the floor.

“He kept telling the guys that you don’t take anything for granted and if you keep working hard, you will find yourself back in this room multiple time,” McGonigle said. “Be a good teammate and building relationships and getting to learn as much as you can from other guys.”

Verlander, who did not discuss the speech, enjoyed the chance to participate in some final festivities and walked the All-Star red carpet in the afternoon with his wife, model Kate Upton, and their two young children.

The lone bummer for Verlander is that the Detroit Tigers All-Star was unable to pitch in the game as he recovers from a hamstring injury. Verlander, the oldest player in Major League Baseball, signed a $13 million, one-year contract to rejoin the Tigers in February.

He has made only one start in an injury-ravaged season and was named to the All-Star team as a Legend Pick by Commissioner Rob Manfred. Phillies slugger Bryce Harper earned the honor in the National League.

“I’m happy with the body of work,” Verlander said ahead of the game. “I hope I can add to it somehow, someway in the second half. When I look back, I know I gave it everything.”

Verlander went 183-115 from 2005 to 2017 with the Tigers. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2006 and both the AL MVP and Cy Young Award in 2011. He helped Detroit reach the World Series in 2006 and 2012, along with four straight division titles from 2011 to 2014.

Verlander was the 2017 ALCS MVP in Houston and helped the Astros win the World Series that year, and was a key player for them when they won another title in 2022. He won his second and third Cy Young Awards in 2019 and 2022.

Verlander, who also had brief stints with the New York Mets and San Francisco, played coy when asked about which team cap he would choose for his sure-thing induction into the Hall of Fame.

“At least, I was able to narrow it down to two,” Verlander said with a laugh. “I’m not there yet.”

Verlander relaxed against a clubhouse wall next to his locker as he reflected over a career that stamped him as perhaps the best of his era.

Verlander has a career record of 266-159 with a 3.33 ERA in 556 starts across 21 major league seasons with the Tigers, Astros, Mets and San Francisco Giants. He has 3,554 strikeouts while tossing 26 complete games, including nine shutouts.

Not bad for a kid from Virginia who was sent to a baseball academy by his family to help him gain arm strength. His parents knew so little about how to guide a kid that flashed big league potential that his father, Richard, bought a most unique kind of instructional guide.

“My dad bought a ‘How to Pitch for Dummies’ book,” Verlander said to laughter. “I’m not joking. He’s like, OK, step one, you step back with your left foot. Step two, you turn this way. We were doing that in my front yard because he learned I could throw a rock pretty far.”

Turned out, with a little help along the way, Verlander learned to throw a baseball pretty hard.

Verlander just hopes in his last season, he hasn’t thrown his last one.

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

Patrick Reed is chasing a European tour title with one eye on returning home

SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Patrick Reed was on the range at the Scottish Open, surrounded by PGA Tour players at a tournament co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour. The last time that happened was more than four years ago, and it’s soon to change.

“I can’t wait,” Reed said.

Two weeks after Brooks Koepka became the first player from LIV Golf to be welcomed back by the PGA Tour, Reed was in his hotel room at the Dubai Desert Classic on the European tour contemplating his four-shot lead and how the final day would play out.

LIV Golf had a shotgun start, meaning all 54 players were warming up at the same time before each went off to their assigned hole to begin the round.

“Being the last guy out, having the range full and then it slowly empties, walking to the tee with the lead … having that feeling again, those emotions, the adrenaline, I felt like I wanted to get back to that,” Reed said. “That Saturday night was huge for me.”

And when he finished it off with a four-shot victory the next day, Reed firmly decided not to renew his contract with LIV Golf and start the long road back to the PGA Tour.

He lost in a playoff the next week in Bahrain. The week LIV Golf began its fifth season, Reed was winning again in the Qatar Masters. That put him atop the Race to Dubai on the European tour, and he’s still leading the season race over Rory McIlroy.

The leading 10 players from the European tour not already exempt earn PGA Tour cards for 2027, and Reed is virtually a lock. He already has started the countdown, knowing when his one-year ban from playing LIV Golf will end — the week of the Tour Championship in late August.

He also would be eligible to be a pick for the Presidents Cup team — he last played for a U.S. team, his favorite events, in Australia in 2019 during darker times. Royal Melbourne was a week after Reed was penalized for improving his lie in the sand, and Aussies heckled him endlessly. His caddie was suspended for the final match after shoving a spectator who had been cursing Reed.

U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker also was at the Scottish Open. Reed said he never saw him and doubts he would be a serious candidate for the Presidents Cup team in Chicago in September unless he were to win the British Open this week.

“It’s not really on my mind,” Reed said. “My biggest thing right now is continuing to play solid golf and let things take care of themselves. I know it would be hard to make that team since I haven’t played anything in the United States. But hey, try to get yourself in the discussion.”

He is not in that big of a hurry.

Reed won the Masters in 2018 and received honorary life membership on the European tour, a courtesy once offered major champions. Reed took it seriously, playing seven regular European tour events in 2019 and he has kept a presence since then.

After deciding to leave LIV — and still banned by the PGA Tour — it became his best option. Now he has a chance to join Collin Morikawa as the only Americans to win the Race to Dubai.

Reed officially won’t get a PGA Tour card until the European tour season ends Nov. 15. He would be eligible for sponsor exemptions in the fall, but Reed has a job to finish.

The first PGA Tour event where he can earn an exemption is Sept. 17-20 at a new event in Asheville, North Carolina. Reed will be in England that week for the European tour’s flagship event at Wentworth. The French Open, Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, all of them are opportunities to win the Race to Dubai — and deny McIlroy a record-tying eighth title.

A case can be made for Reed being the most global player in golf.

McIlroy has been brilliant in taking his Masters green jacket around the world to the Indian Open and Australian Open. He has sparked a renewed interest in national opens. But his appearances come with a hefty appearance fee said to be in the neighborhood of $2 million. It’s been that way for top players dating to the era of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, accounting for inflation.

Reed said he occasionally gets appearance money but often plays “because I just want to play.”

He shot 59 in the Hong Kong Open when he won at the end of 2024 on the Asian Tour. He has two European tour titles this year, along with two World Golf Championships titles, the Masters for his lone major and six victories in regular PGA Tour events, the last won at Torrey Pines the year before he defected to LIV, where he won once.

He doesn’t plan to stop his global travels. He wants to keep supporting the European tour. But there is a part of him that looks forward to coming home.

“Last year playing 32 events, 23 were overseas,” he said. “I always saw myself wanting to start and finish my career on the PGA Tour.”

In some ways, it will be like starting over. He played the third round of the Scottish Open with Kevin Roy, a 36-year-old whose rookie season was the year Reed left for LIV Golf.

“Nice guy, and he’s waxing me right now,” Reed said during a fog delay. “That’s why I’m excited, to see guys I’m used to playing with but seeing the new guys playing. It’s crazy. The game keeps getting deeper and the fields are stronger. It’s going to be awesome to see.”

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On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Kickoff Game announces ‘multimillion dollar’ NIL deal with Auburn before opener against Baylor

ATLANTA (AP) — The Aflac Kickoff Game on Tuesday announced a name, image and likeness deal with Auburn leading up to the Tigers’ game against Baylor on Sept. 5.

The Peach Bowl and the Kickoff Game say the deal is worth “multimillion” dollars and marks the first time a neutral-site college football game has incorporated NIL compensation for student-athletes.

The NIL agreement also will involve third-party entities. According to the announcement, as many as two dozen Auburn student-athletes will promote the game through social media posts, public appearances, advertisements, in-game promotions and branding opportunities.

“In the new NIL era of college football, this will be an innovative way to create wins for the teams, programs and student-athletes,” said Peach Bowl Inc. CEO David Epps in a statement.

“This new model is a true win-win scenario where Auburn and its student-athletes get a financial boost in the NIL space. At the same time, it’s a potential game changer for neutral-site games like ours who want to bring added value to participating teams and make it a more attractive and lucrative opportunity.”

Auburn opened its 2025 season with a 38-24 win at Baylor. This year’s rematch originally was scheduled as an Auburn home game. The teams agreed to move the game to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, also the home of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and the Peach Bowl.

The Kickoff Game is the nation’s longest-running neutral-site game and will be televised by ABC at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

Auburn will be making its fourth appearance in the Kickoff Game. It will be Baylor’s first appearance.

Peach Bowl Inc. operates the Peach Bowl as well as the Kickoff Game.

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Scottie Scheffler hits the reset button for the British Open after a rare missed cut

SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Scottie Scheffler finally heard about the text his PGA Tour friend never sent, a reminder that even the No. 1 player in golf with four majors and more than 20 victories doesn’t know everything.

It was a list of things to do on the weekend after missing the cut.

“He was like: ‘Hey, you can practice at the facilities. You can still go to the gym. You can also go to the next tournament.’ It was basically all my options,” Scheffler said Tuesday ahead of the British Open. “He never sent it to me, but he told me about it.”

The reason the text was created — without being sent, to Scheffler’s disappointment — was missing the cut at the Scottish Open, his first missed cut in nearly four years, a streak of 78 consecutive cuts that was the longest since Tiger Woods set the record (142) from 1998 to 2005.

Frustrating, yes. Despair? Hardly.

“You never want to have a weekend off, but going into a tournament when you’re defending, there’s always a bit more stuff to do,” Scheffler said. “So it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”

Among his duties was officially returning the claret jug he won last year at Royal Portrush, a ritual the Royal & Ancient has turned into a ceremony. Then, it was playing an exhibition with Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and others.

But key to Scheffler’s early arrival was Royal Birkdale, which has hosted the British Open more than any other links course in England since it first joined the rotation in 1954.

He had never seen it. Scheffler had not seen conditions like this — a combination of yellow and brown, which translates to firm and fiery in a links vocabulary. St. Andrews came close in 2022, but Jon Rahm recalls the greens still being soft enough to allow for low scoring.

Scheffler ticked off two items on his friend’s list — he went to the gym in Scotland and then headed to the next tournament. That allowed him time to play 18 holes on Sunday, and to limit his energy in sunbaked Blighty to nine holes on Monday and Tuesday.

His general assessment: “The ball is just going to run forever.”

Is it driver to take it over the bunkers and possibly reach the green on the 393-yard, downwind 16th hole, or hit iron off the tee? Is the redesigned fifth hole at 321 yards worth trying to reach with a pond to the right, a series of bunkers short and a wee part of a wee burn to the left?

“On each hole there’s a good bit of strategy. There’s a decent amount of thinking,” Scheffler said. “If it wasn’t as firm as it is now, there would be as much decision-making. But I think with the firmness, it creates a whole lot more challenges.”

Rose is among four players — and at 45, the youngest — to have played Royal Birkdale three times in the Open dating to 1998. He was a 17-year-old amateur that year, full of joy and optimism when he holed out a wedge for birdie on the 18th to tie for fourth. He didn’t finish in the top 50 his two times as a professional.

Rose certainly has more experience than Scheffler, but only to a point.

“A links course is interesting because you never really get to know them that well,” Rose said. “Like 2008 I think it was, weather was dreadful. It was wet. You might have been hitting 2-irons and 3-woods into par 4s, and now you could be flicking 52-degree wedges.

“A golf course can play so differently decade to decade when we come back that you never really get to know the course that well.”

Scheffler said he felt at peace about his game, and he certainly looked the part. His game didn’t look deplorable in the Scottish Open, just a matter of not hitting it terribly close and not making many putts and then moving on.

It was no less frustrating — Scheffler is a killer when it comes to competing, which is one reason he has been No. 1 longer than anyone since Woods — but it was filled with perspective.

“I don’t think it hurts as much as coming close to winning and finishing second,” Scheffler said. “I felt like coming in second at Travelers hurt more than missing the cut, but missing the cut is significantly more frustrating is how I would describe it.”

He’s had plenty of experience finishing second. Scheffler’s lone victory this year was his first tournament in January at The American Express. Since then, he has had four runner-up finishes, including the Masters. The most recent was a playoff loss to Viktor Hovland at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago when Scheffler missed a 4-foot slider.

“I think just towards the end of the season, you get a little tired,” Scheffler said. “I got a couple days off, reset the mind, reset the body, and just kind of get back to feeling even and at peace. I’ve had a very solid year, but like I said, frustrating at times because I’ve been close and I haven’t been able to get it done like I have been in years past.

“I’m excited to try and defend my title this week.”

That hasn’t been done at the British Open since 2008 when Padraig Harrington won at Royal Birkdale. One week could change Scheffler’s outlook on the year. But it’s a week that presents a test the likes of which he hasn’t seen all year.

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

Kylian Mbappé denied a 3rd straight World Cup final but remains in Golden Boot mix with Messi

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kylian Mbappé saw it for himself on the field: France simply didn’t play well enough to reach a third consecutive World Cup final.

The France striker will have to settle for a third-place match and the continuing chase for another Golden Boot award in a tight race with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi.

Mbappé, one of the biggest stars of this year’s World Cup and one of the game’s greatest scorers, just couldn’t generate many chances in his team’s 2-0 loss to Spain in the semifinals on Tuesday.

Mbappé and Messi have eight goals each so far at this year’s tournament. Mbappé, who won the Golden Boot at the last World Cup four years ago in Qatar, holds the first tiebreaker with a 3-2 lead on assists. Messi and defending champion Argentina will play again on Wednesday in the other semifinal match against England.

Both players will then have one more match before the award is decided. France will play the loser of the other semifinal match in the third-place game on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida. Spain will take on the winner in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the final.

“At the end of the day, you take all the glory when you win,” Mbappé said. “When you don’t win … it’s part of the game. As the captain, I have to take all the responsibility, and I have no problem with that. We wanted to go to the final. We didn’t go.”

Mbappé had the fewest touches of any forward in the first half with 15. Perhaps his most prominent moment was trying to persuade referee Ivan Barton that the penalty resulting in Spain’s first goal shouldn’t have been called.

The foul by Lucas Digne on teenager Lamine Yamal stood, and Mikel Oyarzabal’s penalty kick in the 22nd minute, put Spain ahead for good.

Mbappé’s best chance came in the 67th minute when his shot deflected off Spain defender Marc Cucurella and went just wide. La Roja already had a two-goal lead at that point.

“It’s a team who loves to have control of the game, control of the ball,” Mbappé said. “That’s what we let them do. We let the midfield too much time to play, and at the end of the day they had quality to play. It’s difficult when you don’t change the play of Spain. We weren’t at the level to go to the final.”

The 27-year-old Mbappé was issued a yellow card in the 86th minute when he rushed toward Unai Simón just as the Spain goalkeeper was bending over to pick up the ball. The two collided, sending Simón to the grass.

Mbappé started the match against Spain after exiting in the 77th minute of his team’s 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco, when he scored his eighth goal of the tournament.

Mbappé also scored eight goals four years ago in Qatar, where France lost to Messi and Argentina in a penalty shootout in the final. France beat Croatia to win the World Cup eight years ago in Russia.

“They (France) can punish you at every single moment, so I think the focus in every single minute was key in this game,” Spain midfielder Rodri said. “Unbelievable effort by everyone.”

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Heavy rains keep drenching South Texas after downpours led to dozens of rescues

UVALDE (AP) — Slow-moving storms with heavy rain were drenching a large swath of South Texas on Wednesday, a day after downpours washed out roads and farmland and led to dozens of high-water rescues.

Warnings of potentially dangerous flash flooding were posted in some areas as the deluge was expected to continue through Thursday evening. The National Weather Service said 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain was possible in some areas by the time the storms move out.

There have been no reports of deaths or injuries.

Flash flood warnings were posted Wednesday morning for several counties near the Mexico border including parts of Kerr County, where catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River last year killed more than 100 people. Kerr County officials said they have been in contact with summer camps and retreat centers where river flooding could happen.

The highest rainfall totals so far have been in Uvalde County — up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) in some areas, the weather service said.

“This is called a typical mid-summer tropical weather pattern that happens in Texas,” said Monte Oaks, a meteorologist with the weather service. “About once every five years, we’ll get socked in with a daily recurrence of heavy rain chances that’s generally produced by a stagnant kind of a pattern with a low-pressure center that’s just not moving very fast.”

Oaks said the rain is being fueled with tropical moisture, mostly from the Gulf of Mexico and some from the Pacific Ocean.

The highest level of concern for potentially dangerous flooding Wednesday was for areas west of San Antonio and north of Route 90, he said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued disaster declarations for dozens of counties.

Authorities posted videos on Tuesday showing a rescue crew in a boat navigating flooded streets and a vehicle being swept away by fast-moving waters. Five people were rescued by the Texas Game Warden Search and Rescue Team and four were rescued by a local game warden, said Maggie Berger, a Texas Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman.

The weather service said the city of Uvalde has been hardest hit. Officials there said there had been at least two dozen water rescues, and a local event center was open for anyone displaced by flooding. In Sabinal, officials were also making plans for a shelter.

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Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

In brief: ‘The Whisper Man’ trailer and more

This is the way ... to the couch. Star Wars: Mandalorian and Grogu will be available to watch at home for purchase on digital platforms very soon. It arrives on Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango on July 21, and will be available on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on Aug. 25. Pedro Pascal stars as the titular bounty hunter in the film that continues the story of the Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian ...

Netflix has released the first look at its upcoming series Below. Josh Hartnett stars in the thriller series about a fisherman living in a small Canadian town who is haunted by his father's mysterious death decades ago. The limited series blends myth, suspense and humor into six 45-minute episodes. Also starring are Mackenzie Davis, Charlie Heaton and Ruby Stokes. It debuts on Oct. 8 ...

Robert De Niro stars in the trailer for The Whisper Man. The upcoming Netflix film is based on The New York Times bestselling book by Alex North. It follows what happens to a widowed crime writer when his 8-year-old son is abducted. He looks to a retired former police detective for help only to come across a decadesold case of a convicted serial killer. Adam Scott and Michelle Monaghan also star in the movie, which premieres on Aug. 28 ...

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Federal judge awards $314 million to three Americans held and allegedly tortured in Venezuela

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge has awarded $314 million in damages to three Americans who were jailed and allegedly tortured by what he called a “criminal enterprise” led by former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro before the men were freed in a swap for a close Maduro ally imprisoned in the U.S.

Maduro’s government in 2023 freed Jerrel Kenemore, Jason Saad and Edgar Marval after months in prison as part of an exchange secretly negotiated with the Biden administration for Alex Saab, a businessman long described by U.S. officials as Maduro’s bag man and who had been awaiting trial in the U.S. on money laundering charges.

Last year, the three Americans sued several top Venezuelan officials, including now acting President Delcy Rodríguez, claiming they were subjected to physical and psychological torture — electrocution, stress positions and beatings — that continues to inflict anguish and trauma on them and their families today. Similar allegations of abuse are also being investigated by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.

Judge Darrin P. Gayles in Miami issued a default judgment Tuesday against Maduro, Saab and five other individual defendants as well as the “Cartel of the Suns,” a purported drug-smuggling ring involving top military officials, for failing to respond to the lawsuit. Rodríguez was not included in the ruling after lawyers for her entered an appearance in April seeking to dismiss the complaint, arguing that as the duly recognized head of state she is immune from civil action in the U.S., a contention plaintiffs dispute.

The case is the largest judgment to date amid a slew of lawsuits filed for Americans imprisoned in Venezuela. All sought damages under a little-used federal law, the Anti-Terrorism Act, that allows American victims of foreign terror groups to seize the assets of their victimizers.

“The kidnappings,” Judge Gayles wrote in his 19-page ruling, were just one of many crimes “committed in order to support Maduro’s dictatorial rule over Venezuela, which in turn allowed the Maduro Criminal Conspiracy to earn ill-gotten gains.”

A lawyer for Saab, who is once again in U.S. custody facing new charges after Rodríguez handed him over to U.S. authorities in May, declined to comment. Lawyers for Rodríguez didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Each of the plaintiffs arrived in Venezuela unsuspecting they would be accused of spying and used as bargaining chips in Venezuela’s negotiations with the U.S.

Kenemore, who spent 643 days in jail, was a computer professional from Fort Worth, Texas, who had been living in neighboring Colombia with a Venezuelan woman he met online when both were getting over divorces. In 2022, he was abducted by armed gunmen near the border and later handed over to Venezuelan authorities and immediately imprisoned, according to the complaint.

Saad, a native of Alabama, had been living in Venezuela working in construction for several years at the time of his arrest, according to the complaint. Together with Marval, who owned a company in Florida and did business Venezuela, all were held by Venezuela’s feared military intelligence police.

The Trump administration labeled the “ Cartel of the Suns” a foreign terrorist organization ahead of a massive military deployment in the Caribbean that resulted in Maduro’s capture in January to face drug trafficking charges in New York.

The former president has denied any wrongdoing and some observers doubt that corruption that has long festered inside Venezuela’s barracks has led to the creation of a cohesive drug smuggling group that functions like other Latin American cartels.

Mexico asks US state attorneys general to investigate migrant deaths in ICE custody

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico formally requested that U.S. state attorneys general criminally investigate cases of migrants who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody or during raids, the Mexican government said Tuesday.

The request follows the death of Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Houston. Since the beginning of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, 17 Mexican migrants have died during immigration enforcement, 14 in ICE custody and three in agency operations.

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry had previously said it would make the request, which was formalized on Tuesday, according to the ministry. It said a similar request will be also sent to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The United States is not legally obliged to act on the requests.

Also, the Mexican government said it has started sending letters to U.S. detention centers where Mexican migrants have died, demanding they “immediately cease the actions or omissions that resulted in these deaths, such as preventing access to prompt and expedited medical care, as well as the application of policies incompatible with medical and penitentiary standards.”

The first center to receive the letter was Adelanto, in California, where four Mexican migrants died.

The letters are a first step toward “the eventual filing of civil lawsuits” against the companies that operate the detention centers to stop human rights violations, according to the ministry.

Last week, Mexican Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco said his country would go directly to U.S. authorities to request criminal investigations in cases of Mexicans killed in ICE custody or enforcement operations.

Salgado Araujo, who had no criminal record and had lived in the U.S. for 35 years, was shot last Tuesday while driving his construction crew to a job site in Houston. His death sparked protests in Houston and demands for an independent investigation from Democrats and Salgado Araujo’s family.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said the 52-year-old Araujo had rammed an ICE vehicle, and that a federal agent fired a weapon in self-defense.

Velasco also sent a letter to Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, requesting that U.S. authorities gather information on the deaths of the Mexican migrants in ICE custody and analyze the “compatibility of these events with international human rights obligations.”

The foreign minister also asked Türk to seek the opinion of the Human Rights Council, a U.N. intergovernmental body that promotes human rights, on the cases and offer recommendations.

The developments mark an escalation in Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s response to Trump’s immigration crackdown. Sheinbaum earlier this year ordered Mexico’s diplomatic missions across the U.S. to regularly check in with ICE detainees, and her government even lodged a complaint with Türk.

House passes bill to ‘ditch the switch’ and make daylight saving time permanent

House passes bill to ‘ditch the switch’ and make daylight saving time permanent
The Capitol is seen in Washington, Tuesday, June 16, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) — There will be no turning back the clock if the House has its way.

The House passed a bill Tuesday that would make daylight saving time permanent. Proponents, including the White House, argued the change would provide more daylight during the times that Americans are most active. The vote was 308-117.

Daylight saving time is that period between spring and fall when clocks in most parts of the United States are set one hour ahead of standard time. States could opt out if their respective legislatures act to do so before the bill’s enactment. The Senate would also have to pass the bill before it could be signed into law, but it’s unclear if it will do so.

Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., said Americans are ready to “ditch the switch,” saying that changing the clock twice a year creates unnecessary disruption. More important, he said, it would give families more daylight time in the evening to spend outdoors and support local businesses.

“In my home state of Florida where tourism is a cornerstone of our economy, having more predictable daylight hours is a practical improvement that benefits workers, businesses and visitors alike,” Bilirakis said.

Detractors said permanent daylight saving time would lead to darker and potentially more hazardous winter mornings where children will be waiting for school buses and parents will be driving to work in darkness.

“Millions of Americans will wake up during the winter months in complete darkness with the sun not rising until long after people get up and travel to school or work or have to go about their days,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass, said he supported the bill, but he questioned whether it was the best way for Congress to be spending its time.

“For folks getting crushed by rent, groceries, utility bills and healthcare costs, is this really the best the majority can do?” McGovern said. “Is this really the most pressing issue before the American people at this moment?”

A 2025 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that if forced to choose, most Americans would prefer to keep that extra hour of daylight in the evening.

If they had to choose one option for the entire country to use, more than half of adults — 56% — prefer making daylight saving time permanent, with less light in the morning and more light in the evening. About 4 in 10 prefer standard time, with more light in the morning and less in the evening.

The White House weighed in before the House vote, calling the “Sunshine Protection Act” a popular, common-sense reform and saying advisers would recommend the president sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

Members of Congress have long been interested in the potential benefits and costs of daylight saving time since it was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942. The Senate passed a bill four years ago to make daylight saving time permanent, but it stalled in the House.

British leader Starmer faces his last question session in Parliament before leaving office next week

British leader Starmer faces his last question session in Parliament before leaving office next week
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrives for the Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will answer questions from lawmakers in the House of Commons for the last time Wednesday before he leaves office next week.

At noon, Starmer will bid farewell to the boisterous weekly Prime Minister’s Questions sessions where he has traded barbs with opposition politicians and defended his government’s record. Then, on Monday, he will step down after just two years in office, handing over power to a new Labour Party leader, Andy Burnham.

Britain’s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national election does not have to be held until 2029.

Starmer was elected in a landslide in July 2024, but is quitting after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.

He struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living. And he was hamstrung by repeated missteps, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as U.K. ambassador to the United States.

After Labour was hammered in May’s local elections, he gave in to mounting pressure from the party and announced he would step down. Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, is the only candidate in the contest to replace him and will be announced as the new Labour leader on Friday.

On Monday, Starmer will go to Buckingham Palace and announce his resignation as prime minister to King Charles III, who will then ask Burnham to take over.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Starmer will likely tout his government’s domestic policy achievements, including stronger protections for renters, a higher minimum wage and a law designed to stop official cover-ups after tragedies. He’ll also likely touch on his role on the world stage supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia and restoring relations between Britain and its European Union neighbors after Brexit.

On Tuesday, he attended Bastille Day celebrations in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, who awarded him the Legion of Honor in recognition of his work with France on European security.

Back in London, Starmer held a reception in the garden of the prime minister’s 10 Downing St. residence to thank people who had campaigned for accountability from the authorities after losing loved ones to violence.

“I leave on Monday with good grace,” he told them. “I’m very pleased I’ve had the privilege of being prime minister. I’m pleased to have delivered on the promises that are made to many people in this garden. And I’ll make this last promise, which is I will stand with you and walk with you, as long as I’ve got breath in my body.”

Octavia Spencer, Hannah Waddingham on playing BFFs in ‘Ride or Die’

Hannah Waddingham, Octavia Spencer and Ed Skrein in 'Ride or Die.' (Prime Video)

Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham are besties on the run in Ride or Die.

The new series, which premieres on Prime Video Wednesday, follows best friends who think they know everything about each other — until one discovers the other is an international assassin.

The show has it all — action, drama, comedy and romance — but its heart is the friendship between Debbie (Spencer) and Judith (Waddingham).

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to get to play in all of these sandboxes," Spencer told ABC Audio. "For me personally, horror is my favorite genre and then action ... the fact that I'm getting to be in an action, comedy, drama with Hannah and getting to play at this level was amazing."

Spencer said the characters were "otherworldly to me because we see these women. We are these women in real life."

She made sure to quickly clarify, "Not the assassin part of it," right before Waddingham chimed in, "Or am I?"

Spencer laughed and said, "Or maybe she is. Maybe she's the secret sauce."

As for what it was like to get to play Spencer's best friend, Waddingham said, "That is the crux of it all for me."

"It's not every day that an Oscar winner gets on a Zoom call and goes, 'Come and play and do this amazing role, and I've got an amazing role, and we're going to have Bill Nighy playing an amazing role,'" Waddingham said. "It was just almost too much for a girl to listen to and feel like you could step up to the plate with these massive hitters."

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Plane crash victim identified

Plane crash victim identifiedUPDATE: The pilot of the deadly plane crash in Van Zandt County has been identified as a member of the Texas archery community on Wednesday.

According to the Texas Field Archery Association (TFAA), Steve Goode of Canton died in an airplane crash on Tuesday. Goode was a TFAA board member and the district 7 field governor, which is in the Canton area.

According to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane crashed “under unknown circumstances shortly after take off.”

CANTON — One person is dead following a plane crash  Tuesday afternoon. According to the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office and our news partner KETK, the crash took place at around 1:50 p.m. on FM 3227, just outside of Canton. The sheriff’s office said a man died but did not release his identity.

An investigation has been launched by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Texas is drenched by heavy rains as forecasters warn that more storms could bring dangerous floods

AUSTIN (AP) – Heavy downpours in South Texas washed out highways and stranded motorists Tuesday as forecasters warned that a threat of more severe weather could bring dangerous flooding to already drenched counties near the border with Mexico.

Storms dumped up to a foot of rain in some rural areas of Texas, leading to dozens of high-water rescues across the region and officials shutting down portions of a busy highway for hours near Uvalde, about 80 miles (129 kilometers) west of San Antonio. A flood watch also included Kerr County, where catastrophic flooding last year along the Guadalupe River killed more than 100 people.

No deaths or injuries Tuesday were immediately reported.

The National Weather Service warned that storms overnight could dump more than a foot of additional rain to some places into Wednesday, creating potentially catastrophic impacts from flash flooding in areas west of San Antonio. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for dozens of counties.

“Intense rain rates and compounding effects from multiple rounds of storms will result in a dangerous flash flooding threat through Thursday,” the National Weather Service said.

Authorities on Tuesday posted videos of a rescue crew in a boat down flooded streets and one vehicle being swept away by fast-moving waters. Five people were rescued by members of the Texas Game Warden Search and Rescue Team and four were rescued by a local game warden, said Maggie Berger, a spokesperson for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

In Uvalde, officials said there had been at least two dozen water rescues. They opened a local event center for anyone displaced by flooding. In Sabinal, officials were also making plans for a shelter.

Trump administration orders ICE to suspend most vehicle stops

BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) — Trump administration officials told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings within a week, people familiar with the decision said Tuesday.

The policy change came after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian driver Monday in Maine and a week after one shot and killed a motorist in Houston, renewing criticism of the agency’s enforcement tactics that were widely condemned last winter after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.

In Florida on Tuesday, a third man in roughly a week died during an encounter with immigration officers. This time, a 28-year-old man was killed after he was hit by a tractor trailer while running from immigration and other federal officers, authorities said.

The suspension of vehicle stops allows room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations. Matthew Felling, a spokesperson for Maine Sen. Angus King, said the senator’s office was also told by the Department of Homeland Security that ICE was suspending stops.

Hundreds of people in Maine protested Tuesday over the fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national.

DHS said Monday that an officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed Durán Guerrero while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and facing a final order of removal from the country. It said in a post on X that when ICE tried to stop a car driven by someone who came from the home, the person attempted to flee in the vehicle and the officer fired.

That was a shift from how King earlier described the encounter, when he said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told him the officer opened fire after the man tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. King said Mullin told him the officers were trying to serve an arrest warrant, but not for the man who was shot.

DHS, which oversees ICE, didn’t respond to an email seeking clarity on what led to the shooting.

In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting a targeted killing “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Petro, who has openly quarreled with U.S. President Donald Trump, urged Trump to provide an explanation and accused ICE officers of treating Durán Guerrero as “an inferior being without rights.”

The shooting also sparked outrage in Maine, where hundreds of protesters gathered Tuesday outside an ICE detention center in Scarborough, just up the coast between Biddeford and Portland.

“These people are killers and they must leave our state now,” organizer Todd Chretien told the crowd.

Maine’s congressional delegation on Tuesday demanded a “comprehensive, transparent, and expedited investigation.”

Questions surround the shooting

Durán Guerrero’s shooting marked at least the ninth time ICE has used deadly force since Trump began his immigration crackdown.

Photos showed bullet holes in Durán Guerrero’s car windshield, but the officers involved in the shooting didn’t have body cameras, leaving many questions. Among them are how close the officer was to the vehicle when they fired, whether officers told Durán Guerrero to stop, and why ICE believes he had put the public in danger.

“We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets. We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.

Border Czar Tom Homan told reporters Tuesday that the investigation needs to play out.

“If officers acted inappropriately or illegally, they’ll be held accountable,” he said.

Maine’s attorney general’s office, which noted that it’s working with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer, whose name hasn’t been released and who was placed on leave.

The state’s other senator, Republican Susan Collins, said Mullin told her that DHS’ Office of Inspector General is investigating in cooperation with the FBI.

Democrats seeking to unseat Collins in November sought Tuesday to connect her with ICE’s methods, which have drawn public scrutiny and derision. Collins later said in a statement that although ICE needs to improve, eliminating the agency would make the nation less safe.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who is vying for Collins’ seat, called the ICE officers at the shooting “thugs” during a vigil Tuesday evening in Lewiston.

“That agency is broken and we need to go back to a time where the rule of law united all of us regardless of the politics,” she told the crowd.

Video shows the shooting’s aftermath

According to neighbors and public records, Guerrero lived in an apartment about 150 feet (46 meters) from where his car came to a rest outside an apartment building across the street from a pawnshop and laundromat.

Video from a nearby business’ security camera obtained by the AP shows a white car slowly approaching an intersection before making several circles. A law enforcement SUV blocks its path and two officers open the driver’s door and drag out a limp body.

It isn’t clear from the video when the shots were fired.

Daniel Boucher said he heard a “pop, pop, pop” and ran to the intersection.

“His face was bloody. His head was bloody,” Boucher said. “I clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.’”

Boucher said the officer who shot Durán Guerrero walked close to him.

“He looked at me and said, ‘He tried to run me over,’ or something to that effect,” Boucher said. “I don’t remember his exact words.”

Durán Guerrero is survived by his wife and young daughter

Two advocacy groups — the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Presente! — said Durán Guerrero was authorized to work in the U.S.

Neighbors say Durán Guerrero was a friendly and familiar face even though they rarely chatted because he didn’t appear to speak English.

Claudia Morton, who often waved to Durán Guerrero, was distraught.

“The whole world should be crying,” she said.

Dozens of Durán Guerrero’s relatives and neighbors gathered in Bucaramanga, his hometown in northeastern Colombia, to remember him on Tuesday. They stood outside his parents’ home, holding candles around a table where a photograph of him rested beside a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Tom Cruise to join star-studded 2026 FIFA World Cup closing ceremony

Tom Cruise appears in this image. (FIFA)

The closing ceremony for the 2026 FIFA World Cup just got bigger.

FIFA announced in a press release Tuesday that it has added Tom Cruise to its closing ceremony lineup, set to be held Sunday, ahead of the 2026 World Cup Final.

The Top Gun star will make a special appearance, joining a star-studded list of performers.

Also taking the World Cup stage for the closing ceremony are Italian singer-songwriter Laura Pausini, American singer and actress Nicole Scherzinger, English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams and YouTube creator IShowSpeed.

Jennifer Hudson will also help kick off the 2026 World Cup final with a special rendition of the U.S. national anthem.

"Echoing the spirit of the opening ceremonies, which welcomed the world to the greatest stage in Canada, Mexico and the United States, the closing ceremony will bring the FIFA World Cup 2026 full circle through music, culture and football, before we kick off the highly anticipated match that will crown the champions of this groundbreaking tournament," Heimo Schirgi, chief operating officer for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, said in a statement in the press release.

The closing ceremony will begin 90 minutes before kickoff at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.

It will be held at New York New Jersey Stadium (known outside the tournament as MetLife Stadium) in East Rutherford, New Jersey, capping the first men's World Cup to feature an expanded 48-team field and to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Earlier this month, FIFA announced Justin Bieber as a co-headliner for the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final Halftime Show alongside Madonna, BTS and Shakira.

The halftime show will also include performances by singer Burna Boy, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, and the PS22 Chorus, which is the acclaimed choir of fourth and fifth graders from a public elementary school in Staten Island, New York. Coldplay will also perform.

Coldplay's Chris Martin is curating the final halftime show, and it will be produced by Global Citizen.

The tournament kicked off June 11 in Mexico City and included an opening ceremony featuring performances from Shakira, Burna Boy, Maná, J Balvin, Belinda and Tyla.

Separate star-studded opening ceremonies were also held that week in Toronto and Los Angeles before the first whistle was blown.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

United to offer blocked middle seat option in Economy Plus

United is unveiling a new seating option blocking off the middle seat. (United Airlines)

(NEW YORK) The woes of airplane middle seats are soon to be eradicated for some United Airlines passengers.

The Chicago-based carrier announced on Tuesday a new type of Economy Plus fare that features a fully blocked off middle seat, giving passengers extra elbow room and a shared table between them.

United said it will start selling the new seat option later this year, exclusively on its new Airbus A321XLR aircraft.

"On each XLR, one row will have large, custom-designed tables stretching from armrest to armrest across the open middle seats, giving customers sitting in the window or aisle seat extra space to stretch out on longer international flights," United said in a press release. "The table is permanently fixed, with a soft leather-like covering, and two indentations for cups."

The airline noted that "the extra space is in addition to the three inches of additional legroom already offered in Economy Plus on the XLR."

United says it is currently the only U.S. airline offering the blocked-off middle seat option.

The middle seat block notably keeps the XLR aircraft within the 150-passenger capacity, which would require a minimum of just four flight attendants as opposed to five, as required under federal regulations.

The seat-block option comes four months after United unveiled a new Relax Row option, a row of three economy seats with individually adjustable leg rests that fold up at a 90-degree angle to create a lie-flat sleeping area.

The Relax Row will be outfitted on all of United Boeing 787 and 777 widebody aircraft, starting with 90 planes at launch in 2027.

Andrew Nocella, United's executive vice president and chief commercial officer, said in a statement included in Tuesday's press release, "We're investing nose-to-tail across our fleet and giving customers choice and value in every cabin."

"The XLR is our newest aircraft and not only offers all-aisle access lie-flat seats in United Polaris but now also includes seats in Economy Plus with extra leg and elbow room," Nocella said. "Our customers are going to love all these new options."

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Justices pitch lawmakers on enhanced security in rare Hill appearance

Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan (L) and Amy Coney Barrett testify to the House Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill July 14, 2026, in Washington, DC. The justices appeared before the committee's budget hearing for the Supreme Court requesting additional funding for security. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- U.S. Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett made a rare appearance before Congress on Tuesday to pitch lawmakers on new security enhancements for the Supreme Court even as they fielded criticism about their transparency and ethics practices.

The hearing marked the first time since 2019 that members of the Supreme Court have testified on Capitol Hill and comes as the justices seek support for a larger budget -- $228 million, up 10% from last year -- to accommodate more security.

The funding increase would go almost entirely toward beefing up personal protection for the justices, though the court has also asked for funding to support more building officers, an off-site security office and new cybersecurity hires.

Lawmakers seemed largely sympathetic to the justices on Tuesday, who cited a heightened threat environment -- and the personal toll it takes on their daily lives -- in recent years. The Supreme Court police report that threats against the justices increased by 38% last year and 25% the prior year.

In the hearing's most personal moment, Justice Barrett shared that she brought a bulletproof vest home around the time of the court's leaked opinion overturning Roe v. Wade -- a precaution she struggled to explain to her 12-year-old son. 

"I didn't expect that performing this service was going to put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear one," Barrett said, calling the threat environment "really high."

Barrett also confirmed news reports that she was the target of a swatting incident six weeks ago, saying her teenage son opened the door to swarms of law enforcement. Swatting involves hoax calls about bogus shootings and other emergencies.

Other justices have also faced security concerns in recent years, most notably when a man went to Justice Brett Kavanaugh's house in 2022 looking to assassinate him in the weeks after the Dobbs opinion was leaked.

Each member currently has between four and eight agents assigned to them, the justices testified on Tuesday -- a number they said fluctuates based on the justices' schedule and the scrutiny they're under. 

The Supreme Court's requested 2027 budget would significantly expand that security force. The justices are seeking $14.6 million to fund six additional agents per justice -- a total of 54 new officers -- and to hire 25 officers dedicated to the Supreme Court building.

The justices argued on Tuesday that the current staff allocation is insufficient. Barrett said it risks burn out and exhaustion, noting the same detail often drops her off at 11 p.m. and must then arrive in the morning again.

The court has also asked for $6.5 million to fund an "exterior visitor screening facility design." The money would go toward blueprints and early planning for an off-campus security process for those entering the court.

Kagan briefly addressed the proposal, saying the justices were concerned about visitors entering the building before they had been screened. Currently, members of the public go through magnetometers and x-ray machines inside the lobby area beneath the grand staircase. 

The justices were also asked about more unconventional threats, including from drones and cyber warfare.

Barrett acknowledged that "drone mitigation measures are certainly on security's radar." She also said that cybersecurity attacks were increasing "by magnitudes year after year." The Supreme Court has asked for $2.3 million to fund cybersecurity-related hires -- part of a yearslong plan to protect its data and bolster technology infrastructure.

Though lawmakers largely steered clear of hot-button policy issues on Tuesday, Democrats pressed the justices on transparency-related concerns that they say have eroded trust in the court. 

Lawmakers appeared most frustrated with the court’s prolific use of the so-called "shadow docket" -- also known as the "emergency docket" -- to reach decisions on emergency requests more quickly and without a full briefing or oral argument.

Notably, Kagan -- who has long been publicly critical of this practice -- defended the practice on Tuesday. She said it was no longer accurate to refer to it as "shadow" because the court was more frequently providing explanations alongside their snap decisions on the docket.

"We have done, I think, a better job in the recent past of where appropriate -- and it's not always appropriate -- but where appropriate, explaining ourselves at least to a moderate degree,” Kagan said.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, pressed the justices in particular on their ethical practices after recent ethics scandals, such as Justice Clarence Thomas' unreported financial ties to and luxury travel with a billionaire GOP donor and Justice Samuel Alito's reported luxury vacation he took with a wealthy hedge fund manager who later had business before the Supreme Court.

DeLauro called on the Supreme Court to adopt a gift ban, citing a bill reintroduced by her colleague Rep. Jamie Raskin on Tuesday that would prevent the justices from accepting gifts greater than $50.

DeLauro also pressed the justices on how they were enforcing their code of conduct, adopted in 2023. Though Barrett hesitated to endorse an independent enforcement mechanism, Kagan said she was supportive. 

"I think that we would be better off with an enforcement mechanism," Kagan said. "I think that my colleagues are taking this code incredibly seriously, all making every effort -- and I think successful efforts -- to live by it. But if nothing else, for public confidence."

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Felon sentenced to federal prison for attempting to rob Plano Lyft driver

PLANO – A Dallas convicted felon has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for a firearms violation in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs. Antonio Detravion Woodard, Jr., 24, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison on July 13, 2026.

According to information presented in court, on January 10, 2025, Woodard called for a Lyft and upon arrival, pulled out a gun and told the driver, “this is a robbery.” Woodard asked the driver for access to his Cash App and Wallet. Upon inspection, Woodard discovered that the driver had no cash. Woodard was upset and demanded the victim to “not tell the police what happened.” The driver was able to hit the safety feature in his Lyft app and local law enforcement responded.

Further investigation revealed Woodard was a convicted felon and prohibited by federal law from owning or possessing firearms. This case is part of a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to stop illegal immigration, and eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations. The effort protects communities from violent criminals. This case was investigated by the Plano Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abe McGlothin, Jr.