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A sculler rows down the Charles River near Harvard University, at rear, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)2025-04-29T19:31:28Z WASHINGTON (AP) Harvard University is promising to review its academic offerings and admissions policies in response to a pair of internal reports on antisemitism and anti-Arab prejudice at the Ivy League campus commissioned in the aftermath of last springs pro-Palestinian protests.Harvard released the reports on Tuesday while the university simultaneously battles the Trump administration over demands to limit campus activism reforms the government says are necessary to root out campus antisemitism. The administration has frozen $2.2 billion in federal funding and Harvard responded with a lawsuit in a clash that is being watched closely across higher education. In a campus message, Harvard President Alan Garber said Harvard has made necessary changes and essential progress over the last year but promised further action.We will redouble our efforts to ensure that the University is a place where ideas are welcomed, entertained and contested in the spirit of seeking truth, Garber wrote. Garber convened two panels to study campus antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias last year, with an initial round of recommendations released last June. The final reports total more than 500 pages and include dozens of recommended changes. Harvard said it will begin implementing at least some of the recommendations, with potential updates to admissions, hiring and discipline systems. In a list of actions and commitments, Harvard said it will review admissions processes to make sure applicants are evaluated based on their ability to engage constructively with different perspectives, show empathy and participate in civil discourse.It pointed to a recently added application question asking students about a time they strongly disagreed with someone. The antisemitism task force called for that kind of questioning, saying Harvard should reject anyone with a history of bias and look unfavorably on exhibitions of hostility, derision or dismissiveness. Still, it appears to fall short of the Trump administrations demands around admissions, which called on Harvard to end all preferences based on race, color, national origin, or proxies thereof and implement merit-based policies by August. The Supreme Court has rejected the use of race in college admissions, but many colleges look at factors including students family income and geography to bring a diverse class to campus.Responding to complaints that Harvards instruction had become too politicized and anti-Israel, the university said it will work to hold professors to new standards of excellence. Deans will make sure faculty promote intellectual openness and refrain from endorsing political positions that may cause students to feel pressure to demonstrate allegiance, the university said.Courses and curriculum will also be reviewed to reflect those standards.Other changes include required antisemitism training for students and staff, along with expanded academic offerings on Hebrew, Judaic, Arab and Islamic studies. Harvard will put money toward a research project on antisemitism along with a historical overview on Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians at the university. In his message, Garber said Harvard will accelerate a campus-wide effort to promote viewpoint diversity, though he didnt elaborate. Viewpoint diversity is among the top concerns of the White House, which demanded that Harvard hire an external auditor to make sure the student body and every academic department represent diverse views.Harvard is the first university to openly defy the Trump administration as it uses its hold on colleges federal funding to press its political agenda.The administration has argued that universities did not do enough to check antisemitism at campus protests last year. Garber has said Harvard will not bend to the demands, calling it a threat to academic freedom and the autonomy of all universities.___The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. COLLIN BINKLEY Binkley covers the U.S. Education Department and federal education policy for The Associated Press, along with a wide range of issues from K-12 through higher education. twitter mailto

This image release by 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios shows, from left, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, in a scene from "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." ( 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios via AP)2025-04-29T17:44:04Z Superman already has a lot on his shoulders. It seems unfair to add the fate of the summer movie season to his list. But hes not alone Marvel Studios is also returning to theaters in a big way with two movies this summer, Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic brought the movie business to a halt, and two years after the strikes, the industry has yet to fully recover. Critics may have complained of superhero fatigue, but after several summers of depleted offerings, its clear that theyre a vital part of the mix.Superheroes alone dont make for a healthy marketplace, however, and this year studios have set a full slate for every kind of moviegoer, with over 40 wide releases spanning genres. This is the summer where all this product that weve all been working on for the last few years is finally coming into the marketplace, so Im very optimistic, says Joseph Kosinski, who directed F1 with Brad Pitt. Key movies in the summer 2025 lineupSummer begins early in Hollywood, on the first weekend in May and that kick-off can make or break that pivotal 123 day corridor that has historically accounted for around 40% of the annual box office.After the strikes upended the 2024 summer calendar, this year Disney is back in that familiar first weekend spot with Thunderbolts. Memorial Day weekend could also be a behemoth with the live action Lilo & Stitch and Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning. With a new Jurassic World, a live action How to Train Your Dragon and the Formula One movie also on the schedule through June and July, the summer season has the potential to be the biggest in the post-COVID era. There are also family pics (Smurfs, Elio); action and adventures (Ballerina, The Karate Kid: Legends); horrors, thrillers and slashers (28 Years Later, I Know What You Did Last Summer, M3GAN 2.0"); romances (Materialists, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life); dramas (Sorry, Baby, The Life of Chuck); a new Wes Anderson movie (The Phonecian Scheme); and comedies (Freakier Friday, Bride Hard, The Naked Gun).Draw me a blueprint of a perfect summer lineup: 2025 is it, says Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. What this summers big directors are sayingIts a fun twist on what a movie like this could be, says Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier. Its a personal journey for Superman thats entirely new, says Superman director James Gunn. But its also about the robots and the flying dogs and all that stuff. Its taking a very real person and putting them in the middle of this outrageous situation and outrageous world and playing with that. I think its a lot of fun because of that.Its working on an incredibly large scale in terms of world building, but its also no different from all of the great comedies and dramas that Ive done, says The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman. In the end, it comes down to character, it comes down to relationships, it comes down to heart and humor.People say, like, do you feel pressure and the most pressure I feel is from myself as a fan and to Steven Spielberg, to not disappoint him, says Jurassic World Rebirth director Gareth Edwards. Weirdly whats great about doing a Jurassic movie is that everybody knows deep down that like half the reason theyre in this business is because of that film and Stevens work. Why summer 2025 might be a big one for moviesBefore the pandemic, all but one summer since 2007 broke the $4 billion mark. Since 2020, only one has: 2023, led by Barbie.The unstable economy might work in the industrys favor, at least when it comes to moviegoing. Even with increased ticket prices, theatrical movies remain the most affordable entertainment outside of the home and attendance tends to increase during recession years. The annual domestic box office crossed $10 billion for the first time in 2009.By the end of this summer, hopefully people arent talking about being in a funk anymore and it feels like we got our mojo back and were off to the races, Kosinski, who directed the pandemic-era hit Top Gun: Maverick, says.___For more on this years summer movie season, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/movies LINDSEY BAHR Bahr has been a film writer and critic for The Associated Press since 2014. twitter instagram mailto

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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters just after House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)2025-04-29T20:56:16Z WASHINGTON (AP) As part of their big tax bill, Republicans in Congress are pumping billions of dollars into President Donald Trumps mass deportation and border security plan with nearly 20,000 new officers, stark new fees starting at $1,000 on migrants seeking asylum and $46.5 billion for a long-sought border wall. Tuesday launched the first of back-to-back public hearings as House Republicans roll out the fine print of what Trump calls his big, beautiful bill which is focused on $5 trillion in tax breaks and up to $2 trillion in slashed domestic spending. But it also pours some $300 billion to beef up the Pentagon and border security as the Trump administration says its running out of money for deportations. House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing to have the bill wrapped up by Memorial Day and then send it to the Senate, which is drafting its own version. We are on track, Johnson, R-La., said at his weekly press conference.This was always expected to be the hard part, where Republicans who have control of the House and Senate begin to fill in the difficult details of what, until now, has simply been a framework for Trumps tax package at the cornerstone of the GOPs domestic agenda. As Trump rounds his 100th day in office, the GOPs stiff border security and deportations provisions come as Americans are showing unease with the presidents approach, with just half saying hes focused on the right priorities. The White House is battling high-profile court cases after it mistakenly deported a Maryland man to El Salvador and, over the weekend, Trumps team rounded up countless immigrants, including foreign-born parents who were deported with their American-born toddlers and small children in tow. Democrats are fighting back in the House and Senate, and the halls of public opinion, but as the minority party in Congress, they have little ability to stop the forward march of the package. Instead, they used Tuesdays hearings to try to shame Republicans into rethinking their approach.Do a little soul searching before you vote for this, said Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, at one point during the debate.Building the US-Mexico border wall and hiring bonuses for officersCentral to the Homeland Committees section of the legislation is $46.5 billion to revive construction of Trumps wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, with some 700 miles of primary wall, 900 miles of river barriers, and more.Theres also $4 billion to hire an additional 3,000 new Border Patrol agents as well as 5,000 new customs officers, and $2.1 billion for signing and retention bonuses.Democrats kept the committees in session for hours debating amendments to change the package. Most were expected to fail.Among the first Democratic amendments offered was from Rep. Troy Carter of Louisiana to prohibit the use of funding to deport American children. Another from Rep. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island would stop the money from being used to send Americans to foreign prisons.What world are we living in? Magaziner asked. He said allowing Republicans to keep trampling on rights, soon everyones rights will be under threat.Chairman Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., as he gaveled the committee open, said, It is critical that the Republican majority do what the people elected us to do.GOP goals: 1 million deportations, 100,000 detention beds including for families and childrenFor the first time, the U.S. under the legislation would impose a $1,000 fee on migrants seeking asylum something the nation has never done.Experts said the new fee on asylum seekers would put the U.S. on par with a few others, including Australia and Iran.And thats not all. There would be new fees on various other legal paths to entry, including a $3,500 fee for those sponsoring unaccompanied children to enter the U.S., a $2,500 penalty if sponsors of unaccompanied children skip court appearances and a $1,000 fee for individuals paroled into the U.S.The Judiciary Committee is expected to meet Wednesday on its $110 billion section of the bill.Overall, the plan is to remove 1 million immigrants annually and house 100,000 people in detention centers. It calls for 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and investigators. Defense Secretary Pete Hegesth comes under fireMeanwhile, the House Armed Services Committee started drilling down Tuesday into its section of the package, with some $100 billion in new spending, only to be tangled by questions from Democrats over funding for Ukraine, Trumps plan for a big military parade and calls for Hegseth to be fired or resign.Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., a veteran herself, offered an amendment that would prohibit the provisions from going into effect until Hegseth is no longer Secretary of Defense.Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a combat veteran, had an amendment to prevent money on Trumps parade, which is planned for June in Washington, saying there shouldnt be a military parade for a draft dodger, a reference to Trumps medical deferral from Vietnam War-era service.And Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., proposed halting any money for a make-up studio for the Pentagon secretary. It was reported that Hegseth, a former Fox News host, sought such a room for his appearances. Tax breaks, spending cuts still to comeOther portions of the GOP legislation are still a work in progress, including the provisions on tax breaks for individual filers, and spending cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and other programs.Those proposals are expected to be unveiled with hearings in the weeks to come. ___Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam contributed to this report.

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by Tim Golden ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as theyre published. In the spring of 2019, as a new Mexican government shut down most of its cooperation with the United States in the fight against drug trafficking, a small group of American drug agents decided to confront the problem in a different way. Sifting through databases and court files, they compiled dossiers on Mexican officials suspected of colluding with the mafias. Months later, federal prosecutors used the evidence to indict a former security minister, Genaro Garca Luna, the most important Mexican figure ever convicted on U.S. drug corruption charges.The senior agent who led the team, Terrance C. Cole, was not rewarded for his efforts. He sought a promotion to run the Drug Enforcement Administrations Mexico City office but was passed over. Frustrated with the agencys direction and his own career trajectory, he retired in 2020 to take a job with a software company before becoming Virginias secretary of public safety in 2023. Five years later, Cole is returning to run the DEA, having emerged as President Donald Trumps unexpected choice for the position. Unlike other former agents who have led the DEA, Cole never rose to its top ranks or even ran one of its 23 domestic field divisions. His most significant leadership experience has been overseeing police, prisons and emergency response agencies under Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Trump ally who championed Cole for the DEA post.But with the White House promising an all-out fight against the traffickers who have flooded U.S. markets with fentanyl and other illegal drugs, Cole would bring an unusual background to the job. That includes some searing experiences with the corruption that sustains the drug trade, and a conviction that the United States cannot successfully fight the traffickers without also taking on the officials who abet their operations.The Mexican drug cartels work hand-in-hand with corrupt Mexican government officials at high levels, Cole said in an interview with the far-right news site Breitbart shortly after his retirement. If the average taxpayer had a basic understanding of how these two groups work together still to this minute they would be sickened.The Trump administration has warned that it is prepared to take unilateral actions against drug mafias in Mexico if the government there does not greatly escalate its own efforts. But current and former officials said White House discussions have been more focused on the tactics it could use against the traffickers from drone strikes to cyber operations than on any longer-term strategy to weaken them. The administration may also have set in motion a new era of interagency competition on the issue, with the CIA and the Defense Department presenting proposals to expand U.S. intelligence collection on traffickers in Mexico and try to disrupt their operations in ways that may or may not complement the efforts of the DEA and other law enforcement agencies.How U.S. officials might confront Mexicos endemic corruption remains an open question. But after decades in which the problem has been mostly subordinated to other U.S. interests, it is likely to command a higher priority in American policy and to unsettle the U.S. relationship with Mexico.In its first announcement of punitive tariffs on Mexico, the White House cited an intolerable alliance between the government and the drug trade. This alliance endangers the national security of the United States, and we must eradicate the influence of these dangerous cartels, it said.Hoping to avoid an economic calamity, Mexico has conspicuously intensified its own drug enforcement efforts since then. But when asked about Coles nomination, President Claudia Sheinbaum warned that she would uphold the sharp restrictions on DEA activities in Mexico imposed by her predecessor, Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador.We will never permit interventionism or violations of our sovereignty, Sheinbaum said. It will not be like before President Lpez Obrador, no.Privately, some DEA veterans have lobbied against Cole. Those former officials, most of them associated with the agencys Special Operations Division, have questioned Coles qualifications for the job in discussions with Senate staff aides, but they have been unwilling to air their criticism publicly.A former college lacrosse player, Cole was described by colleagues as a driven, competitive and sometimes abrasive agent and supervisor. As a rookie agent in McAlester, Oklahoma, Cole made enough of an impression to be sent in 2002 to Bogot, Colombia, in the early years of the billion-dollar U.S. aid program known as Plan Colombia.The ambitious U.S. effort sought to help Colombia transform its criminal justice system, root out corruption, and combat the interwoven threats of drug gangs, leftist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary groups. At the center of the plan was the creation of elite police teams, vetted and trained by the DEA, that operated alongside U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The team that worked with Cole and several other agents was among Colombias most effective, former DEA officials said. In Bogot, it made a series of arrests and drug seizures that struck at the Norte del Valle Cartel and its leader, Diego Montoya. It also uncovered evidence that the cartel had co-opted high-level officials in both the police and military, they said.We were doing amazing things, Cole recalled last year on a podcast with Republican former U.S. Rep. Mary Bono. Working some of the biggest corruption cases, against some of the highest-level Colombian government officials. But on May 22, 2006, thats when it all came crashing down for me.That day, an informant walked into the Colombian teams offices in Cali offering a tip that Montoyas men had stashed some cocaine in the nearby town of Jamund. After seeking approval from senior police officials but not the DEA, agency officials said, the team leader gathered nine of his agents and drove off with the informant to investigate.As they pulled up to the isolated location, the police came under a barrage of gunfire. The shooting continued for 20 minutes until all 10 agents and their informant were dead. When Cole arrived at the scene that night with the Colombian attorney general and the head of the national police, they found the agents bodies on the ground; the Colombian army soldiers who attacked them were still on the hillside above them.Cole was devastated.Those guys worked very closely with him, his supervisor, Matthew Donahue, said. We depended on them, and they depended on us. It was like having your partner killed.Although the army claimed that the shootings were a tragic accident, the attorney general found that the informant had been planted by the traffickers and that the lieutenant colonel who led the troops had organized the ambush. In 2008, he and 14 soldiers were convicted of aggravated homicide.A few months after the killings, Cole went ahead with a planned tour of duty in Afghanistan. There, he found again that U.S. allies in the war were sometimes as involved in the drug trade as the Taliban insurgents they fought.In 2008, Cole moved to Dallas, where he earned a reputation as a sharp-elbowed group supervisor who pushed his agents to get their photographs on the office wall by making the biggest cases and seizing the biggest loads. He was regarded highly by his superiors, several former colleagues said, but less popular with some of his peers.By 2010, Coles squad was focused on the Texas distribution network of the Zetas, then widely seen as the most violent of Mexicos drug mafias, and one of its leaders, Miguel Trevio Morales.By leveraging the cooperation of traffickers facing prosecution, one of Coles agents obtained a list of cellphone numbers being used by Trevio; his brother, Omar; and their lieutenants. It was a coup a way to perhaps intercept the Zeta leaders calls and encrypted text messages or even track their movements in real time.On March 9, 2011, government records show, Cole entered the eight numbers and a PIN code for one of the phones into a secure agency database. He then forwarded them to the DEAs Special Operations Division, which could sometimes intercept or geolocate cellphones overseas with the help of U.S. intelligence agencies. Cole also sent the numbers to the DEA offices in Mexico City and Nuevo Laredo, where other agents were investigating the Zetas, officials said. Ten days later, gunmen led by the Trevio brothers roared into the Mexican border town of Allende, where the DEAs informants had been operating. The traffickers began torturing and murdering anyone who they suspected might be connected to the men they thought had betrayed them, killing as many as 200 men, women and children.In a 2017 article, ProPublica reported that Coles forwarding of the numbers to U.S. agents in Mexico who then shared them with a DEA-trained Mexican police unit that warned the Zetas led to the Trevios rampage. Only years later did the DEA, prodded by Congress, even review its files on the case; it never investigated its possible role in the massacre. Cole declined to be interviewed for ProPublicas article, and a White House spokesperson said he could not comment on the case now because the Trevio brothers, who were handed over to the United States by Mexico on Feb. 27, are facing prosecution for trafficking, murder and other crimes. They pleaded not guilty last month in a Washington, D.C., federal court. A home in the Mexican border town of Allende eight years after it was destroyed by the Zetas cartel (Eduardo Verdugo/AP Images) The White House spokesperson said of course Cole and other DEA officials considered the sensitivity of sending the Zetas phone information to Mexico but followed standard protocols in doing so. A former deputy head of the DEA office in Dallas, Daniel Salter, said he and the special agent in charge there made that decision, not Cole.At least three senior Mexican police officials who might have had access to the phone numbers shared by the DEA have since been charged in the United States with colluding with the traffickers. But officials said that subsequent DEA reporting also pointed to another reason why the Trevios might have turned on the informant who was their primary target in Allende: He owed them some $30 million and was blamed for some earlier U.S. seizures of drugs and cash.After Dallas, Cole spent four years at the agencys Washington-area headquarters, watching as U.S. law-enforcement agencies struggled with the Mexicans to hunt down well-protected drug bosses, like Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn, without making any substantial impact on the flow of drugs.But even that halting cooperation came to an end as Mexicos new president, Lpez Obrador, took office promising to fight the drug trade with hugs, not bullets. He sidelined police teams trained by the DEA, shut down a Mexican marine commando unit that had been the countrys most effective weapon against the traffickers and even refused to grant visas to DEA agents assigned to Mexico.Former officials said Cole, who arrived in Mexico City in late 2018 as a deputy director of the DEAs regional office, soon proposed a radical solution: If the agents couldnt get Mexican officials to work with them to pursue the traffickers, what about going after the corrupt officials who were protecting the traffickers operations? For decades, U.S. investigators had generally avoided such targets, lest they be seen as interfering in internal Mexican politics. But the extradition of high-level Mexican traffickers over the previous decade had created a pool of criminals eager to reduce their sentences by helping U.S. prosecutors, and many were willing to testify about the officials they had bribed.A team of DEA agents pulled together files on some 35 possible targets, ranging from police and military commanders to Mexican cabinet officials. One target that stood out was Garca Luna, the once-powerful security minister who had worked closely with U.S. officials. While the Biden administration hailed Garca Lunas prosecution in 2023 as proof of its mettle in pursuing corruption, it also worked assiduously to avoid drug enforcement actions that might antagonize Lpez Obrador and jeopardize his help in controlling illegal migration.Cole was by then gone from the DEA, having left Mexico City after just a year. He had once hoped to succeed Donahue there but was not seriously considered for the post. He retired from the agency after 22 years. Matthew Donahue, right, Coles former superior, and Cole, left, with the former head of the Colombian National Police, Gen. Jorge Elicer Camacho (Courtesy of Matthew Donahue) As Virginias secretary of public safety and homeland security, Cole focused on trying to limit fentanyl trafficking, an effort that drew the attention of Trump supporters. While he kept a fairly low public profile, Coles tough rhetoric on Mexico was also very much in line with Trumps.Mexico has been a failing state for years, he told Bono. Referring to the reported recruitment of foreign mercenaries by the drug gangs, he added, Now were seeing Mexico turn into a terror training camp similar to what we saw in the Middle East years ago. Although the Trump administrations attention to the drug issue has raised the DEAs profile, Cole will, if confirmed as the administrator, likely have to fight for its place in a growing bureaucratic scrum. Already, officials said, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations have been pushing to lead the Trump administrations campaign against trafficking groups that it has designated as terrorist organizations. The CIA and the Defense Department have also expanded their efforts to collect intelligence on the traffickers and put forward options for more aggressive actions to strike at their operations.With Sheinbaum still attacking the DEA as a symbol of American interventionism, all four of those competing agencies may have an easier time rebuilding trust with the Mexican government. But while Mexican leaders insist they will act on hard evidence of corruption in their ranks, many U.S. officials remain skeptical that they will be able to make a serious push for such action without upending the two countries relationship.

Final results from Mondays crucial election showed Mark Carneys party had secured 169 of 343 seats and would need help from other parties to pass laws.

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Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan speaks during a rally marking the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2025, in Milwaukee, Wis. (Lee Matz/Milwaukee Independent via AP)2025-04-29T22:10:44Z MADISON, Wis. (AP) The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended a judge accused of helping a man evade immigration authorities. The FBI took Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan into custody on Friday morning at the county courthouse. She faces federal charges of concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest and obstructing or impeding a proceeding. The state Supreme Court issued a two-page order Tuesday noting that Dugan faces two federal charges and saying it is in the public interest to temporarily relieve her of her duties. Her attorney had no immediate comment. Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to chill the nations judiciary.

A customer checks his shopping receipts while waiting in line at the food court at Costco Wholesale store in Glendale, Calif., on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)2025-04-29T14:12:42Z WASHINGTON (AP) Americans confidence in the economy slumped for the fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as anxiety over the impact of tariffs takes a heavy toll. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.9 points in April to 86, its lowest reading since May 2020. Nearly one-third of consumers expect hiring to slow in the coming months, nearly matching the level reached in April 2009, when the economy was mired in the Great Recession.The figures reflect a rapidly souring mood among Americans, most of whom expect prices to rise because of the widespread tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. About half of Americans are also worried about the potential for a recession, according to a survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center. Rattled consumers spend less than confident consumers, said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, in an email. If confidence sags and consumers retrench, growth will go down. A measure of Americans short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market plunged 12.5 points to 54.4, the lowest level in more than 13 years. The reading is well below 80, which typically signals a recession ahead. How this gloomy mood translates into spending, hiring, and growth will become clearer in the coming days and weeks. On Wednesday, the government will report on U.S. economic growth during the first three months of the year, and economists are expecting a sharp slowdown as Americans pulled back on spending after a strong winter holiday shopping season. And on Friday the Labor Department will release its latest report on hiring and the unemployment rate. Overall, economists expect it should still show steady job gains, though some forecast it could report sharply reduced hiring. The stark decline in consumer confidence also likely reflected the sharp swings in stock and bond prices that roiled financial markets earlier this month. While all age groups and most income brackets reported lower confidence, the decline was steepest among households earning more than $125,000 and among consumers 35 to 55 years old. Though major U.S. markets rebounded over the past week, the S&P 500 is still down 6% for the year and the Dow Jones has lost 5%. The growth-heavy Nasdaq is down 10% in 2025. The Conference Board said that mentions of tariffs in write-in responses reached an all-time high this month, with the duties on the top of consumers minds. Trump has imposed a tariff of 10% on nearly all imports, as well as a huge 145% tariff on most goods from China. He has imposed separate import taxes on steel, aluminum, and cars. More Americans are also now worried that the economy could tip into a recession, with the proportion of consumers expecting a downturn in the next 12 months reaching a two-year high. Fewer consumers said they were planning to buy a home or car in the next six months. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed last month in a lackluster start to the spring homebuying season as elevated mortgage rates and rising prices discouraged those looking. And Americans also said they would spend less on services. The proportion of Americans planning an overseas vacation in the next six months fell to 16.4%, down from 24.1% in December. And the proportion of consumers planning to spend more on dining out plummeted by nearly the most on record in April, the Conference Board said. CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Rugaber has covered the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for the AP for 16 years. He is a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb award for business reporting. twitter mailto

Paul Pogba's priority remains a return to Europe, despite talks with D.C. United, sources told ESPN.

Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi urged his players to forget a difficult week and face Barcelona with no fear in Wednesday's Champions League semifinal.

The Trump administration sent the mother of a 2-year-old to Venezuela and the father to a Salvadoran prison. Their daughter remains somewhere in the United States.

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President Donald Trump, pictured on screen from left, French President Emmanuel Macron and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch a Bastille Day parade on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, July 14, 2017. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)2025-05-01T23:14:55Z WASHINGTON (AP) Detailed Army plans for a potential military parade on President Donald Trumps birthday in June call for more than 6,600 soldiers, at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands and possibly a couple thousand civilians, The Associated Press has learned. The planning documents, obtained by the AP, are dated April 29 and 30 and have not been publicly released. They represent the Armys most recent blueprint for its long-planned 250th birthday festival on the National Mall and the newly added element a large military parade that Trump has long wanted but is still being discussed.While the slides do not include any price estimates, it would likely cost tens of millions of dollars to put on a parade of that size. Costs would include the movement of military vehicles, equipment, aircraft and troops from across the country to Washington and the need to feed and house thousands of service members. High costs halted Trumps push for a parade in his first term, and the tanks and other heavy vehicles that are part of the Armys latest plans have raised concerns from city officials about damage to roads. Asked about plans for a parade, Army spokesman Steve Warren said Thursday that no final decisions have been made. Col. Dave Butler, another Army spokesman, added that the Army is excited about the plans for the birthday festival..We want to make it into an event that the entire nation can celebrate with us, said Butler. We want Americans to know their Army and their soldiers. A parade might become part of that, and we think that will be an excellent addition to what we already have planned. Others familiar with the documents, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been finalized, said they represent the Armys plans as it prepares for any White House approval of the parade. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.There has been no formal approval yet. Changes to the plans have been made in recent weeks and more are likely. What would go into the potential Army paradeMuch of the equipment would have to be brought in by train or flown in. Some equipment and troops were already going to be included in the Armys birthday celebration, which has been in the works for more than a year. The festival was set to involve an array of activities and displays on the National Mall, including a fitness competition, climbing wall, armored vehicles, Humvees, helicopters and other equipment.A parade, however, would increase the equipment and troops involved. According to the plans, as many as 6,300 of the service members would be marching in the parade, while the remainder would be responsible for other tasks and support.The Armys early festival plans did not include a parade. But its 250th birthday celebration on June 14 happens to coincide with Trumps 79th birthday, and officials confirmed last month that the Army had started discussions about adding a parade.The plans say the parade would showcase the Armys 250 years of service and foresee bringing in soldiers from at least 11 corps and divisions nationwide. Those could include a Stryker battalion with two companies of Stryker vehicles, a tank battalion and two companies of tanks, an infantry battalion with Bradley vehicles, Paladin artillery vehicles, Howitzers and infantry vehicles. There would be seven Army bands and a parachute jump by the Golden Knights. And documents suggest that civilian participants would include historical vehicles and aircraft and two bands, along with people from veterans groups, military colleges and reenactor organizations.According to the plan, the parade would be classified as a national special security event, and that request has been submitted by the National Park Service and is under review.And it is expected that the evening parade would be followed by a concert and fireworks.One of the documents raises concerns about some limitations, which include where troops would be housed and significant concerns regarding security requirements as equipment flows into the city. It says the biggest unknown so far is which units would be participating. Trump has long wanted a big military paradeIn his first term, he proposed having a parade after seeing one in France on Bastille Day in 2017. Trump said that after watching the two-hour procession along the famed Champs-Elysees that he wanted an even grander one on Pennsylvania Avenue.That plan was ultimately dumped due to the huge costs with one estimate of a $92 million price tag and other logistical issues. Among those were objections from city officials who said including tanks and other heavy armored vehicles would tear up the roads.Trump said in a social media post in 2018 that he was canceling the event over the costs and accused local politicians of price gouging.This year, as plans progressed for the Army to host its birthday festival in Washington, talk about a parade began anew. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser acknowledged in April that the administration reached out to the city about holding a parade on June 14 that would stretch from Arlington, Virginia, where the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery are located, across the Potomac River and into Washington.Bowser at the time said she didnt know if the event was being characterized as a military parade but added that tanks rolling through the citys streets would not be good.If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads, she said. In 2018, the Pentagon appeared to agree. A memo from the defense secretarys staff said plans for the parade at that time would include only wheeled vehicles and no tanks to minimize damage to local infrastructure. LOLITA C. BALDOR Baldor has covered the Pentagon and national security issues for The Associated Press since 2005. She has reported from all over the world including warzones in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. twitter mailto

The Supreme Court at sunset in Washington, Feb. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)2025-05-01T20:46:07Z WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to strip temporary legal protections from 350,000 Venezuelans, potentially exposing them to being deported.The Justice Department asked the high court to put on hold a ruling from a federal judge in San Francisco that kept in place Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelans that would have otherwise expired last month.A federal appeals court had earlier rejected the administrations request.President Donald Trumps administration has moved aggressively to withdraw various protections that have allowed immigrants to remain in the country, including ending TPS for a total of 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians. TPS is granted in 18-month increments to people already in the U.S. whose countries are deemed unsafe for return due to natural disaster or civil strife.

Mike Waltz, who was until Thursday U.S. National Security Advisor, has inadvertently revealed he is using an obscure and unofficial version of Signal that is designed to archive messages, raising questions about what classification of information officials are discussing on the app and how that data is being secured, 404 Media has found.On Thursday Reuters published a photograph of Waltz checking his mobile phone during a cabinet meeting held by Donald Trump. The screen appears to show messages from various top level government officials, including JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, and Marco Rubio.At the bottom of Waltzs phones screen is a message that looks like Signals regular PIN verification message. This sometimes appears to encourage users to remember their PIN, which can stop people from taking over their account.Do you know anything else about this app or how it is being used? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at signalaccount.05 or send me an email at joseph@404media.co.

A new memo from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is calling on defense contractors to grant the Army the right-to-repair. The Wednesday memo is a document about Army Transformation and Acquisition Reform that is largely vague but highlights the very real problems with IP constraints that have made it harder for the military to repair damaged equipment.Hegseth made this clear at the bottom of the memo in a subsection about reform and budget optimization. The Secretary of the Army shallidentify and propose contract modifications for right to repair provisions where intellectual property constraints limit the Army's ability to conduct maintenance and access the appropriate maintenance tools, software, and technical datawhile preserving the intellectual capital of American industry, it says. Seek to include right to repair provisions in all existing contracts and also ensure these provisions are included in all new contracts.Over the past decade, corporations have made it difficult for people to repair their own stuff and, somehow, the military is no exception. Things are often worse for the Pentagon. Many of the contracts it signs for weapons systems come with decades long support and maintenance clauses. When officials dig into the contracts theyve often found that contractors are overcharging for basic goods or intentionally building weapons with proprietary parts and then charging the Pentagon exorbitant fees for access to replacements. 404 Media wrote more about this problem several months ago. The issue has gotten so bad that appliance manufacturers and tractor companies have lobbied against bills that would make it easier for the military to repair its equipment.This has been a huge problem for decades. In the 1990s, the Air Force bought Northrop Grummans B-2 Stealth Bombers for about $2 billion each. When the Air Force signed the contract for the machines, it paid $2.6 billion up front just for spare parts. Now, for some reason, Northrop Grumman isnt able to supply replacement parts anymore. To fix the aging bombers, the military has had to reverse engineer parts and do repairs themselves.Similarly, Boeing screwed over the DoD on replacement parts for the C-17 military transport aircraft to the tune of at least $1 million. The most egregious example was a common soap dispenser. One of the 12 spare parts included a lavatory soap dispenser where the Air Force paid more than 80 times the commercially available cost or a 7,943 percent markup, a Pentagon investigation found. Imagine if theyd just used a 3D printer to churn out the part it needed.As the cost of everything goes up, making it easier for the military to repair their own stuff makes sense. Hegseths memo was praised by the right-to-repair community. This is a victory in our work to let people fix their stuff, and a milestone on the campaign to expand the Right to Repair. It will save the American taxpayer billions of dollars, and help our service members avoid the hassle and delays that come from manufacturers repair restrictions, Isaac Bowers, the Federal Legislative Director of U.S. PIRG, said in a statement.The memo would theoretically mean that the Army would refuse to sign contracts with companies that make it difficult to fix what it sells to the military. The memo doesnt carry the force of law, but subordinates do tend to follow the orders given within. The memo also ordered the Army to stop producing Humvees and some other light vehicles, and Breaking Defense confirmed that it had.With the Army and the Pentagon returning to an era of DIY repairs, well hopefully see the return of PS: The Preventive Maintenance Monthly. Created by comics legend Will Eisner in 1951, the Pentagon funded comic book was a monthly manual for the military on repair and safety. It included sultry M-16 magazines and anthropomorphic M1-Abrams explaining how to conduct repairs.The Pentagon stopped publishing the comic in 2019, but with the new push in the DoD for right-to-repair maybe well see its return. Its possible in the future well see a comic book manual on repairing a cartoon MQ-9 Reaper that leers at the reader with a human face.Image via The Internet Archive.

Nature, Published online: 01 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01351-1The Natural History Museums new gallery, Fixing our Broken Planet, examines Earths changing ecosystems and how to protect them.

Nature, Published online: 01 May 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01396-2US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with agency priorities.

The Browns quarterback rookie wasted no time in making a positive impact on the Cleveland youth.

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by Cassandra Jaramillo and Lizzie Presser ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as theyre published. The Texas Senate has unanimously passed legislation that aims to prevent maternal deaths under the states strict abortion ban. Written in response to a ProPublica investigation last year, Senate Bill 31, called The Life of the Mother Act, represents a remarkable turn among the Republican lawmakers who were the original supporters of the ban. For the first time in four years, they acknowledged that women were being denied care because of confusion about the law and took action to clarify its terms.We dont want to have any reason for hesitation, said Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes, who authored the states original abortion ban and sponsored this reform with bipartisan input and support. Just last fall, he had said the law he wrote was plenty clear.The bill stops short of removing what doctors say are the bans biggest impediments to care, including its major criminal penalties, and doesnt expand abortion access to cases of fetal anomalies, rape or incest. Sen. Carol Alvarado, the Democratic lawmaker who co-authored the bill, said that its limits were a real hard pill to swallow but that it could still make a difference. I believe this bill will save lives, she said. ProPublicas reporting showed how doctors in states that ban abortion have waited to intervene in cases where women ultimately died of high-risk complications.To address that problem, Senate Bill 31 states that a life-threatening medical emergency doesnt need to be imminent. It also says doctors can terminate ectopic pregnancies, which occur when the fertilized egg implants outside of the uterine cavity. It would allow for a pregnant patient to receive cancer treatment, Hughes said, even if doing so threatened the viability of a fetus. The bill also clarifies that medical staff or hospital officials can discuss termination with patients without violating a provision of the law that criminalizes aiding and abetting an abortion. It had been unclear to doctors whether simply discussing the option could lead to steep criminal penalties; patients have reported not being able to get straight answers from their providers about their prognosis and options for treatment. It remains to be seen how the bill, if made law, would be interpreted by doctors and hospitals, and whether risk-averse institutions would still delay care during pregnancy complications.Many reproductive rights advocates are skeptical given that the bill does not explicitly address many high-risk pregnancy complications. The most common one in the second trimester, previable premature rupture of membranes, or PPROM, occurs when someones water breaks early. In these cases, the chance of the fetus surviving is low, but delaying a pregnancy termination leaves the patient at risk of infection, which can lead to sepsis, a potentially deadly condition. Since the state banned abortion, lawyers at many hospitals across Texas have advised physicians not to empty the uterus until they can document signs of infection an indication of a life-threatening emergency. The death of Josseli Barnica, which ProPublica reported last year, reveals the dangers of forcing miscarrying patients to wait for care. Diagnosed with an inevitable miscarriage at 17 weeks, she showed symptoms similar to PPROM without an official diagnosis her water had not yet broken. While stable, she was made to wait 40 hours until the fetal heartbeat ended before doctors induced delivery. She later died of sepsis, which medical experts say she likely developed because of the wait. In addition to documenting cases in which women died of sepsis, ProPublica has shown how rates of the potentially deadly complication spiked by more than 50% statewide in second-trimester pregnancy-loss hospitalizations after Texas banned abortion. Officials with the Texas Medical Association, the Texas Hospital Association and major anti-abortion groups Texas Right to Life, Texas Alliance for Life and the American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs told ProPublica they believed that this bill would now allow doctors to offer a termination at the point of a PPROM diagnosis, before infection set in.Dr. Zeke Silva, chair of the Texas Medical Associations Council on Legislation, included PPROM on a list of potentially life-threatening conditions he believed may fall under the bills clarified exception. The list, which is not exhaustive, includes preeclampsia, renal failure, liver failure, cardiac disease, pulmonary hypertension and neurological conditions. He added that decisions to intervene because a medical condition could be life-threatening are, by definition, subjective, based on multiple clinical considerations and must be based on sound medical judgment. However, ProPublica spoke with six legal experts who said they were unsure whether hospitals, wary of litigation or penalties, would interpret the bill to mean that doctors can offer a termination to patients with PPROM. Some PPROM patients can remain pregnant for weeks and not develop infections, while others can contract an infection and deteriorate very quickly, noted Molly Duane, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. I could see some doctors saying this means, I have more leeway to intervene in all PPROM cases, and others saying, I still dont know, so Ill wait until signs of infection. The largest association of OB-GYNs, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said in an emailed statement that it did not support the bill: This bill would keep Texas abortion ban in place and we strongly oppose the abortion ban and will continue to do so.Yesterday, the Texas Senate also passed Bill 2880, which would authorize civil lawsuits against anyone in or outside of Texas who distributes or provides abortion medication to someone in the state. It is expected to face pushback in the state House.The Life of the Mother Act now goes to the House, where it must be voted out of committee before it heads to the House floor. Both chambers would need to agree on a final version before the governor could sign it into law.

ProPublica ProPublica announced on Thursday that Gus Garcia-Roberts has been hired as a national reporter. Garcia-Roberts comes to ProPublica from The Washington Post, where he published investigations into the overdose death of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs; the sexual abuse allegations against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer and Major League Baseballs secretive system in examining domestic abuse and sexual assault; and how the NFL has failed in hiring Black coaches, part of a series that won the Associated Press Sports Editors top prize for projects and the Online Journalism Awards prize for excellence in sports reporting. Before joining the Post, Garcia-Roberts worked on investigative teams at Newsday, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. At Newsday, he was a part of the team whose series on hidden police misconduct was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for public service. He is the author of Jimmy the King: Murder, Vice, and the Reign of a Dirty Cop and the co-author of Blood Sport: Alex Rodriguez, Biogenesis, and the Quest to End Baseballs Steroid Era. We are so thrilled to welcome Gus and his enviable reporting and writing chops to ProPublica and excited to turn ProPublicas lens on the world of sports, said managing editor Tracy Weber. Stay tuned. Im beyond excited to be joining ProPublica, an institution whose mission and work Ive admired for years, said Garcia-Roberts. He starts next week.

The H.H.S. review may set the stage for additional restrictions on gender-affirming care. Critics described it as an ideological statement.