The Federal Trade Commission building is seen, Jan. 28, 2015, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)2026-03-15T11:47:30Z As media organizations go, NewsGuard cuts a low public profile as it follows its mission of issuing credibility ratings about news outlets. The Trump administration knows about it, though, and the company has joined a lengthening list of journalism organizations to face the White Houses wrath.A dispute between President Donald Trumps regulators and the news monitoring service has spilled into court, with NewsGuard Technologies suing the Federal Trade Commission and its chairman, Andrew Ferguson, to shut down an investigation. The FTC accuses the company of trying to suppress conservative speech. NewsGuard says it is being forced to kneel before vindictive power.Since Trump returned to office in January 2025, the Republican administration has fought The Associated Press in court over the outlets claim it is being punished for not adopting his preferred name for the Gulf of Mexico; settled with CBS News corporate parent in a dispute over 60 Minutes editing; sued The Wall Street Journal for its reporting on Trump and Jeffrey Epstein; and is in a legal fight with The New York Times over Pentagon reporting restrictions. NewsGuards lawsuit, filed last month in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, accuses Trumps FTC of brazenly using its power not for any issue concerning trade or commerce but rather to censor speech simply because it disagreed with NewsGuards judgments about the reliability of news sources.The FTC calls NewsGuards accusations untethered from both law and fact.The FTC, normally low-key, is busier under TrumpLike the Federal Communications Commission under Brendan Carr, Fergusons FTC is a normally sleepy federal agency that has sprung to life to address issues of importance to Trump and his supporters, particularly involving the media. The FCC has launched investigations of media companies and this weekend Carr, responding to a Trump complaint about negative coverage of the Iran war, warned broadcasters running hoaxes and news distortions to correct course or see their licenses threatened.Ferguson has made no secret about where he takes his cues. He said in an interview in July that I am a law enforcer, and I will follow the law. But the policy priorities are set by the man the people chose to run this government.The liberal lobbying group Media Matters for America was one of his targets. A federal judge last summer halted an FTC investigation over efforts to promote advertising boycotts of companies the group opposes, saying the inquiry violated MMAs free speech rights. While NewsGuard may not be a big name, money is at stake for news outlets friendly to the president. The company began in 2018, started by Court TV founder Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, a former Journal publisher. NewsGuard uses journalists to examine thousands of news outlets and websites, giving them ratings based on the credibility and reliability of their journalism. A monthly subscription costs $4.95. Much of its business comes from companies that advise advertisers where to hawk their products, showing them which news sites may be toxic to their brands, and artificial intelligence companies looking to see where they would be more likely to find information they could trust. Making a powerful enemy in NewsmaxNewsGuard made an enemy of the Trump-friendly television network Newsmax, giving its website a 20 on a scale where 100 is the best score. NewsGuard says this website is unreliable because it severely violates basic journalism standards. Newsmax has since repeatedly urged Republican lawmakers or regulators to do what they can to silence NewsGuard, the company said in its lawsuit.NewsGuard was started by Steve Brill to target conservative media and get ad agencies to deny them advertising revenue as a means of censorship, Newsmax spokesman Bill Daddi said. Brill is a Democratic Party activist and donor over many decades with a long history of advocating for liberal causes. He is not a respected journalist and in no way should be running a ratings service used by major ad agencies.Brill said his only political activity was working for Republican John Lindsay, New York Citys mayor in the late 1960s and early 1970s, while a college and law school student. I have been a journalist ever since, Brill said, adding that he has not donated money to any politicians. NewsGuard says its ratings are based on clearly defined criteria, such as whether or not an outlet publishes false or misleading material, whether it distorts arguments and uses multiple sources, whether it distinguishes between news and opinion and regularly corrects errors. To counter charges that it unfairly boosted liberals, the company noted times where Fox News scored higher in its ratings than the former MSNBC.Yet the conservative Media Research Center has published studies contending that NewsGuard is more likely to give higher ratings to outlets with a liberal bent. In court papers, the FTC said it began investigating NewsGuard because congressional investigators connected the companys services to coordinated actions to demonize disfavored media entities. The agency has asked the company to produce reams of internal documents, emails, financial reports and subscriber lists dated to its founding. Not only does NewsGuard consider that task unduly expensive and burdensome, it worries that regulators will use that information to target its subscribers.The FTC, as a condition to approving a merger of two of the worlds biggest media buying firms, Omnicom and IPG, prohibited the new company from using a service that reviews and rates news sites. That is designed to eliminate the companys ability to deny advertising based on politics, the agency said. It has already cost NewsGuard business, the company asserts.The whole idea that any speaker has to justify to the government that its not biased is a really troubling thought, Brill said in an interview. We have a constitutional right to be biased. It just so happens that we started the company on the core principle that we were going to be totally apolitical.Continuing until NewsGuard knuckles underThe FTCs press department did not return a message seeking comment. But in court papers, the agency said it was conducting a broad investigation into whether advertiser boycotts violated antitrust laws and that it has issued more than a dozen orders for information similar to the one given to NewsGuard. The companys charges are completely meritless, the agency said.If its order was so demanding, the FTC wondered why it took NewsGuard eight months after it was issued to sue.We tried to cooperate in the belief that the more that we told them what we do, the more likely it would be that they would decide that they didnt have any case, Brill said. We soon realized that they werent worried about the merits.The company argues that the FTC actions will continue until NewsGuard knuckles under. Asked if he thought the government agencys goal was to put his company out of business, Brill declined to comment. ___David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social. DAVID BAUDER Bauder is the APs national media writer, covering the intersection of news, politics and entertainment. He is based in New York. twitter mailto

Hes no longer that heart-on-his-sleeve sensitive soft boy many people fell for.

The fee had been increased to $2,350 in 2014, prompting criticism and legal challenges from advocacy groups and Americans living abroad.

The volunteer fire department serving a rural area near Sand Springs declined a $250,000 donation from the tech giant. Now some residents are suing to block the proposed development.

Police tape hangs outside the Temple Israel synagogue Friday, March 13, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)2026-03-15T15:47:49Z JERUSALEM (AP) The brother of a man who attacked a Michigan synagogue last week, who was killed earlier this month in an Israeli airstrike, was a Hezbollah commander, Israels military claimed Sunday.Ibrahim Ghazali was killed in Lebanon along with three other of the attackers relatives on March 5 a week before authorities allege Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his car into a major synagogue outside Detroit and killed himself after security fired at him.The FBIs Detroit office, which is investigating the attack, declined to comment on the claims by Israels military about Ibrahim Ghazali. Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, we will continue to refrain from commenting on its substance, FBI spokesman Jordan Hall said in an email Sunday. The AP was not immediately able to verify the claim that Ibrahim Ghazali was a militant. The Israeli military alleges Ibrahim Ghazali was a Hezbollah commander who managed weapons for a unit that fired rockets at Israel.A Lebanese official, who requested anonymity because he could not publicly discuss details of the airstrike, has confirmed Ibrahim Ghazalis death, telling the AP that Ghazalis children, Ali and Fatima, and brother, Kassim, were also killed in the strike that hit their home just after sunset. Authorities have said that Ayman Ghazali, 41, carried out the synagogue attack after learning that four of his family members were killed in the Israeli strike. Israel has stepped up attacks on the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon as the war with Iran has spread violence across the Middle East.On Thursday, Ayman Ghazali waited in his car outside Temple Israel, near Detroit, for about two hours with a rifle, commercial grade fireworks and jugs of liquid believed to be gasoline, before crashing into the building full of dozens of children, according to authorities. He started firing his gun through the windshield, exchanging fire with an armed security guard. Ghazali fatally shot himself after he got stuck in his vehicle and the engine caught fire, said Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBIs Detroit field office. No staffers or children inside the synagogue were hurt, likely due to beefed up security in recent months. The FBI, which is leading the investigation, described the attack on one of the nations largest Reform synagogues as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community, but said that they didnt have enough evidence yet to call it an act of terror.Ghazali came to the U.S. in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.He lived in a single-story brick home in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn Heights about 38 miles (61 kilometers) south of the synagogue.The attack on the Michigan synagogue took place on the same day as a former Army National Guard member who served years in prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State opened fire on a classroom at Old Dominion University in Virginia, killing one person and wounding two others. ___Mroue reported from Beirut. JULIA FRANKEL Frankel, based in Jerusalem, has reported from across Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Her reporting focuses on war, human rights, displacement and criminal justice. twitter mailto

Academy Awards host Conan O'Brien poses atop a roll of red carpet during the annual Oscars red carpet roll out on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)2026-03-15T04:00:07Z LOS ANGELES (AP) Hollywood will convene Sunday night for a nail-biter Academy Awards thats steering toward a coronation for either Paul Thomas Anderson or Ryan Coogler. Most would call that a win-win. Andersons One Battle After Another is the favorite heading into the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. But Cooglers Sinners comes in the lead nominee with a record 16 nominations. Both filmmakers are poised to leave with their first Oscar.But little else is assured at an Academy Awards where Michael B. Jordan or Timothe Chalamet (despite the ballet diss heard round the world) could win their first Academy Award in a too-close-to-call best actor race.How to watch and stream the Oscars and red carpet Watch live from the red carpet of the 2026 Oscars in Los Angeles. This years Academy Awards nominees include Emma Stone, Jacob Elordi, Jessie Buckley, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael B. Jordan, Teyana Taylor, Timothe Chalamet, Wunmi Mosaku and more. The telecast will air live on ABC and stream on Hulu beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern. (YouTube will be the new home of the Oscars beginning in 2029.) The official red carpet preshow begins on ABC and Hulu at 6:30 p.m. EDT, while E! will kick off its red-carpet broadcast at 4 p.m.The Associated Press will have a livestream of fashion arrivals from noon to 3:30 p.m. Pacific on APNews.com and YouTube. What to expect from the 2026 OscarsConan OBrien is returning as host for the second year in a row. Despite the war in Iran and expanding geopolitical turmoil, OBrien has pledged an entertaining show in the mold of hosts like Bob Hope and Johnny Carson. Lets have fun with it, is my attitude, OBrien told reporters earlier in the week. Still, the already high security will be even greater this year at an Oscars, taking place two weeks after the United States and President Donald Trump launched the war with Iran.Of course, every year we monitor whats going on in the world, Raj Kapoor, executive producer of the show, said earlier in the week. We have the support of the FBI and the LAPD, and its a close collaboration.Two of the five best song nominees will be performed: I Lied to You, from Sinners, with Miles Caton, Raphael Saadiq and others; and Golden from KPop Demon Hunters. Theatrical looks to best streaming, againKPop Demon Hunters, a Sony Pictures production that was sold to Netflix, was the most-watched movie of 2025. (It has 325 million views and counting, making it Netflixs most-streamed movie ever.) But it seems all but certain that the nights final award wont go to a streaming release; Apples CODA remains the only streaming film to achieve that. Instead best picture is likely to go to an anomaly in todays movie industry: big-budget original films from a personal vision.Sinners and One Battle After Another were both theatrical releases shot on film. And both came from Warner Bros., the legacy studio thats agreed to merge with David Ellisons new media colossus, Paramount Skydance. The $111 billion deal, which awaits regulatory approval, has rattled an industry already reconciling itself to the acquisitions of MGM (by Amazon) and 20th Century Fox (by The Walt Disney Co.). Elegy may mark Sundays Oscars. The in memoriam segment is expected to include, among many others, remembrances of Robert Redford, Diane Keaton and Robert Duvall. OBrien, who had hosted a party attended by Rob and Michele Reiner the night before their deaths, has promised a very powerful tribute. New this year is a best casting category. Another innovation is a requirement that Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members watch all nominees before voting. On the academys streaming platform even Oscar voting is streamed voters had to check a box attesting to having watched each nominee before voting in a category. Few sure things in the acting categoriesWhether those changes will have any effect on some of the nights closest races remains to be seen. Coming into the show, best actor is one of the most hard-to-call categories. Chalamet had been seen as the front-runner for his performance in Marty Supreme. But a swaggering meta campaign, that drew headlines, of all things, a perceived slight of ballet and opera, may have helped put Jordan into the lead. (In Chalamets favor, the uproar only started as voting was ending.) While Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) is widely expecting to win best actress, a first for Irish performers, the supporting categories are highly competitive. Amy Madigan (Weapons) is the slight favorite in best supporting actress, but Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) and Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) are in the mix, too. Despite almost no campaigning, Penn is viewed as the best supporting actor favorite. That award, could easily also go to Stellan Skarsgrd (Sentimental Value) or Delroy Lindo (Sinners). Though the Oscars often feel largely removed from their times, a crop of nominees that explicitly grapple with the current political moment will be center stage. That includes not just One Battle After Another, which opens with a raid on an immigration detention facility, but movies like Kleber Mendona Filhos Brazilian political thriller The Secret Agent and Jafar Panahis Iranian revenge drama It Was Just an Accident. The war in Iran has particular meaning to Panahi, whose film is nominated for best international feature and for best screenplay. The esteemed Iranian filmmaker and last years Palme dOr winner has made films clandestinely in his native Iran despite repeated imprisonment, travel ban and even home arrest. While promoting the film, Panahi was sentenced to a year in prison. At least one of his cowriter nominees, Mehdi Mahmoudian, was unable to leave Iran to attend Sundays awards. Twenty three years ago, the Academy Awards were also held amid war in the Middle East. The 2003 Oscars took place just three days before the Iraq War began. Many in Hollywood protested the war. Chicago won best picture. ___For more coverage of the Oscars, visit https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards. JAKE COYLE Coyle has been a film critic and covered the movie industry for The Associated Press since 2013. He is based in New York City. twitter mailto

Miami (Ohio) forward Antwone Woolfolk (13) was off the court after Miami (Ohio) was defeated by Massachusetts in a basketball game in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference tournament, Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)2026-03-15T16:08:38Z All the metrics, analytics and number crunching in the world cannot erase the most important statistic attached to the team that has captured college basketballs imagination and its curiosity leading into March Madness. Miami of Ohios record is 31-1. The Redhawks were the first college basketball team in five years to enter their conference tournament with an undefeated record. Virtually everything else about the regular-season champions of the Mid-American Conference their 339th-ranked schedule, their zero top-caliber (Quad 1) matchups, their ugly (and only) loss to a not-very-good UMass team screams NIT or maybe no postseason bid at all.And yet, leaving this mid-major darling out of March Madness when the brackets are revealed Sunday night would feel, to many, like a crime. The fact that a team that started the season 31-0 isnt sure whether it will make the tournament and stands to be this seasons version of a lovable underdog if it does speaks volumes about exactly why March Madness is unlike any other event in sports. Unveiling the 68-team bracket is step one on the road to the Final Four, set for April 4-6 in Indianapolis. There will be four First Four games played Tuesday and Wednesday before action gets underway in earnest with first-round games Thursday and Friday.A few nuggets to look for when the brackets come out: Top seeding seems like an easy call Houston and UConn had chances to make this interesting, but they lost their conference title games and are pegged as No. 2 seeds in virtually every mock bracket out there. That leaves Duke, which won its 24th ACC title on Saturday, as the likely overall No. 1 seed. Michigan, Arizona and defending champion Florida are expected to join the Blue Devils as No. 1s. The Gators lost to Vanderbilt in the SEC semifinals, but nobody made a compelling case to replace them there. SEC comes into Sunday with four teams on the bubbleLast season, the SEC set a record by placing 14 of its 16 teams in the tournament. That number wont be as high this season, but the league does have four teams on a rapidly shrinking bubble: Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and Auburn.Auburns case might be both the most interesting and clear cut. Though the Tigers have some of the best metrics in the nation starting with a third-ranked strength of schedule their record is 17-16 and they have lost nine of their last 12. Given Miami (Ohio)'s status, the committee could be choosing between a team with one loss and another with 16.Others vying for what looks like four bubble spots: SMU, San Diego State, Stanford, Indiana. A Dayton win over VCU in Sundays Atlantic 10 title game would presumably shrink the bubble by one spot.What to do with St. Johns?Rick Pitino brought a beer to the post-game news conference. Yes, its time to celebrate at St. Johns. Though the Johnnies edged UConn for the Big East regular-season title, then beat the Huskies again in the conference title game, very few have viewed Pitinos team as better than Dan Hurleys this year. The consensus is that UConn will be a 2 seed and St. Johns will be a 5. Granted, the Big East is the worst of the power leagues this year and will probably only place three teams in the bracket (Villanova, yes; Seton Hall, almost surely not). Then again, St. Johns only has one fewer win than the Huskies and beat them in two of three meetings this season. Three straight nights we didnt relent at all, Pitino said. And thats great going into the tournament.___Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Malcolm and Lincoln firefighters respond to a wildfire in Denton, Neb., on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Kenneth Ferriera/Omaha World-Herald via AP)2026-03-15T16:46:19Z CHICAGO (AP) A broad and erratic patchwork of severe weather rumbled across much of the U.S. on Sunday, dumping heavy snow and making roads impassable in the Upper Midwest while damaging high winds swept across the Plains. Even Hawaii was affected, with parts hit by severe flooding.Portions of the mid-South readied for late-day thunderstorms that forecasters say will spread eastward and by Monday threaten a large swath of the Eastern U.S., with mid-Atlantic states including Washington, D.C. most at risk for high winds and tornadoes. Successive punches of snow, wind and severe weather are going to impact the eastern half of the United States, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tyler Roys said in an interview. Beyond the threat to lives and property, whether its wind gusts from a squall line, blizzard or snow, or just wind because of the storm, youre looking at several major airports being impacted. More than a foot (30.5 centimeters) of snow fell in some portions of the Minnesota and Wisconsin as of Sunday morning, according to National Weather Service reports, with another several inches likely to fall in the Minneapolis area amid blizzard warnings by the weather service. Warnings of hazardous road conditions were issued across Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, where transportation officials warned of worsening conditions Sunday with low visibility and snow-covered roadways. Roads are becoming impassable in many of Wisconsins northern counties, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation said on social media. Please stay off the roads to keep yourself and others safe.The weather conditions created headaches for air travel too with hundreds of cancellations.More than 600 flights flying out of and into the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport were canceled Sunday, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions. Dozens more through Detroit were also scrapped. Areas of central Wisconsin and Michigans Upper Peninsula are likely to see over 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow, with higher isolated totals, Roys said. Lower snow accumulations in places like Chicago and Milwaukee late Sunday and Monday will still likely create troubles for commuters, he added. While few to no power outages related to the weekend storm had been reported as of Sunday, roughly 150,000 utility customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan where Fridays gusts reaching 85 mph (137 km) remained without electricity early Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide. About 30 Nebraska National Guard have been deployed to help combat multiple wildfires across a broad swath of range and grassland, the states Emergency Management Agency said. Three of the largest wildfires have damaged well over 900 square miles (2,331 square kilometers), the agency said, including one identified by officials as the Morrill County fire thats burned well over 700 square miles (1,813 square kilometers).One fire-related fatality was reported on Friday, and in a news release Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen urged residents to follow locally-issued evacuation orders, adding that winds were supposed to be extraordinary on Sunday. The weather service issued a high-wind warning Sunday for most of Nebraska, with wind gusts of up to 60 mph (97 kph) possible amid falling snow. Roys said high winds will affect a region from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Great Lakes, and from Denver eastward to the Appalachian Mountains. The National Weather Service warned that a line of severe storms with damaging winds would cross much of the Eastern U.S. by late Monday. It was to begin Sunday afternoon in the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys.The storm threat was expected to enter the Appalachians late Sunday and early Monday, then move toward the East Coast, where severe thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds and several tornadoes were expected during the day Monday, a weather service report said. A stretch from parts of South Carolina to Maryland appeared most likely to experience particularly damaging winds Monday afternoon, the weather service said. That could include Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia and the nations capital. The weather service said an increased albeit much lower risk stretched north to a portion of New York and south to northern Florida. Rain also continued falling Sunday in Hawaii, where acres of farmland and homes have been flooded, roads have been closed and shelters open.Flash flooding has been a problem in recent days on Maui, Molokai and the Big Island, where rain had been falling from 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5.1 centimeters) an hour overnight, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. PowerOutage.us said about 48,000 electric customers were without power as of early Sunday.__Robertson reported from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Argentina captain Lionel Messi was left disappointed after the cancellation of the Finalissima after regarding the match as a vital competitive opportunity, a source confirmed to ESPN.

Three weeks after the United States beat Canada in the Olympic hockey finals, the Americans overcame their neighbors again to win Paralympic gold and complete the three-peat at Milan Cortina.

She wrote about postpartum depression when it was an unmentionable like abortion or birth control, and her research on her own suffering helped countless women.

Markwayne Mullins financial dealings take on new importance as the Senate considers his nomination to lead an agency whose budget has vastly expanded.