Category: U.S. News

President Donald Trump announced Friday that a rapid U.S. military operation has eliminated Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, described as the top figure of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization.

The United States has designated Tren de Aragua as a terrorist group. Federal prosecutors in New York had brought charges against Guerrero Flores in December for racketeering conspiracy and additional offenses, including providing support to terrorists in criminal activities spanning over ten years.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed on X that the operation took place earlier this week at a Tren de Aragua facility in Venezuela.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton previously stated that the organization is behind numerous violent acts, extortion schemes and narcotics trafficking across North America, South America and Europe. Trump selected Clayton on Thursday for the position of director of national intelligence.

The State Department had put up rewards reaching $5 million for tips leading to Guerrero Flores’ capture.

Writing on his social media platform, Trump stated, “Tren de Aragua terrorists no longer have safe haven in Venezuela or anywhere else and, under my leadership, we will find these vicious murderers and drug lords anytime, anyplace, and send them to the depths of hell where they belong.” Trump’s message identified Guerrero Flores using his known alias, “Niño Guerrero.”

Hegseth commented, “The operation underscores the shared U.S. and Venezuelan commitment to take the fight to narco-terrorists and deny them any safe haven in our hemisphere.”

Venezuela’s communications ministry has not yet provided a response regarding the military action.

Trump has implemented multiple aggressive measures targeting the organization, including operations against small vessels his administration claims are used for drug smuggling into America. Since early September, when the Trump administration started targeting individuals they label as “narcoterrorists,” at least 207 people have died in boat attacks by U.S. forces in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

Trump and his officials have repeatedly identified Tren de Aragua as the primary source of violence and illegal drug activity affecting certain American cities. The president frequently made the assertion — disputed by a declassified U.S. intelligence report — that Tren de Aragua operated with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s backing. The U.S. removed Maduro from Venezuela in January to face American drug-related charges.

Tren de Aragua began over ten years ago in a notoriously chaotic Venezuelan prison housing dangerous criminals in the central Aragua state. The group has grown as millions of Venezuelans have relocated to other Latin American nations or the U.S. seeking improved living situations.

Guerrero Flores was sent back to the Aragua prison for murder and other crimes in 2013, coinciding with Venezuela’s crisis that started when corruption, poor management and falling oil prices devastated the petroleum-based economy. Guerrero Flores and several fellow prisoners recognized a lucrative opportunity as the government abandoned prison oversight.

They seized control and management of the prison, creating a structure that dominated all inmates through violence and extortion. Eventually, they converted the facility into a type of community featuring a zoo, baseball field, casino and dining establishments. Guerrero Flores maintained his own luxurious quarters.

The organization’s membership numbers remain unknown. Nations hosting significant Venezuelan migrant populations, such as Peru and Colombia, have blamed the group for a wave of regional violence. However, unlike other criminal groups from Colombia, Central America and Brazil, Tren de Aragua lacks major involvement in international cocaine smuggling operations, according to InSight Crime, a research organization monitoring Latin American criminal activity.

In Venezuela, gang leadership has historically engaged in diverse criminal enterprises, including gold mining operations.

Trump ran for reelection pledging stricter immigration and crime policies. Although polling indicates his approval ratings have declined regarding economic management, immigration continues to be Trump’s most popular policy area, based on AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research data.

A Pennsylvania medical examiner has determined that a Haitian woman who died shortly after immigration officials released her from custody was killed, according to a ruling issued Friday.

Officials with the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that 31-year-old Daphy Michel died from hypothermia on March 2, just three days following her release from federal immigration detention.

According to the medical examiner’s office, Michel was considered “a vulnerable adult, suffering from untreated severe mental health issues and a significant language barrier” at the time immigration authorities let her go.

“Based on all available information during the investigation, the pathologist ruled Ms. Michel’s death a homicide,” stated James Madalinsky, a spokesperson for the examiner’s office.

However, Madalinsky clarified that a homicide determination does not constitute a “declaration of criminal guilt.”

The Office of the Allegheny County District Attorney has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the case.

Immigration officials had previously charged Michel with “terroristic threats and harassment” and had initiated deportation procedures against her before her death.

Lauren Bis, acting DHS assistant secretary, acknowledged Friday that Michel had been fitted with an ankle monitor when she was released from custody, while maintaining that ICE was not responsible for the woman’s death.

This determination follows a comparable ruling issued in April involving a nearly blind refugee from Myanmar who was discovered dead in New York following his release from jail into U.S. Border Patrol custody.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama officials on Friday requested permission to carry out an execution using lethal injection just hours after a scheduled nitrogen gas execution was blocked by the courts.

The state attorney general’s office petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court for authorization to issue a death warrant for Jeffery Lee, this time specifying lethal injection as the execution method.

“In sum, ADOC has not been barred from executing Lee, only from executing him by nitrogen hypoxia,” state lawyers wrote.

A representative from Lee’s defense team indicated they had no immediate response to the state’s latest action. Lee’s lawyers will now need to file their response with the Alabama Supreme Court.

The court filing occurred just hours after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall vowed to persist in efforts to carry out Lee’s death sentence.

WASHINGTON — An active-duty military member injured during a shootout near the White House last month continues receiving medical care and has hired legal representation, according to his law firm.

The injured individual, named as Benjamin Del Real, has had surgery and is healing from his wounds, his attorney, Joseph Murphy, announced in a statement.

Pam Menaker, communications partner at Clifford Law Offices, revealed Del Real is 25 years old and has served in the Army for three years. His military position is private first class. Menaker stated through email that Del Real has been getting therapy at a location that has not been disclosed.

Del Real was in the vicinity of the White House on May 23 when he suffered serious injuries during gunfire that erupted when an individual approached Secret Service personnel at a security station near the White House and opened fire. The shooter, named as Nasire Best, 21, died in the incident.

Based on District of Columbia court documents, Best was taken into custody in July 2025 following his attempt to access a separate White House checkpoint without permission, failed to follow officers’ directions to halt, “claimed he was Jesus Christ” and expressed he wanted to be detained.

Washington television station NBC4 cited multiple sources in stating that Del Real was struck by Secret Service personnel. Both the Metropolitan Police Department and the Secret Service refused to comment on that account.

During a public safety briefing in Washington, D.C., this summer, interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll stated the ballistics results were not completed to establish who had shot the bystander. He noted Del Real was touring the city as a visitor when the shooting occurred.

Metropolitan Police Internal Affairs is examining the shooting and will provide its conclusions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Murphy, a former Army officer, stated in the announcement that the law firm was examining the situation as well “and gathering all available facts. We will continue to work with the appropriate authorities to determine exactly what occurred and to ensure a full and accurate understanding of the events that led to our client’s severe injuries.”

Motorists traveling on Jupiter Road are experiencing periodic lane restrictions due to construction work taking place in the area.

The intermittent lane closure affects the stretch of Jupiter Road located between Sun Court and Venus Drive. Drivers should plan for potential delays and exercise caution when passing through the construction zone.

The timing and duration of the lane restrictions may vary as work progresses in the area.

NEW YORK — A federal judge has determined that Blake Lively may collect attorney fees from actor-director Justin Baldoni following their contentious legal battle over the 2024 movie “It Ends With Us,” though she won’t receive additional monetary damages she had requested.

In a written decision issued Friday, Judge Lewis J. Liman ruled that Lively has the right to recover attorney fees and expenses tied to defending herself against Baldoni’s countersuit, which he filed after she brought legal action against him in December 2024.

Liman referenced a California statute crafted to shield sexual harassment and discrimination survivors from vengeful litigation intended to frighten and silence those who report assault or harassment.

According to the judge’s ruling, this statute mandates that plaintiffs cover defendants’ legal expenses when defamation claims filed in response to lawsuits are thrown out, regardless of whether case facts have been fully explored through evidence collection.

The judge noted that Baldoni and his film company, Wayfarer Studios LLC, would need to demonstrate that Lively sued with malicious intent to avoid paying her legal costs. Liman determined that Baldoni and Wayfarer presented insufficient evidence supporting this argument and failed to establish malicious conduct on Lively’s part.

While the court didn’t specify how legal fees would be calculated, Liman denied Lively’s requests for tripled damages and punitive awards under California law, stating these didn’t align with “carefully crafted federal procedural rules designed to protect the rights of the parties.”

The former co-stars resolved most of their legal dispute last month just before trial proceedings were scheduled to begin on Lively’s retaliation allegations. While she didn’t receive monetary compensation from the settlement agreement, she retained the ability to seek legal fees.

Neither legal team responded immediately to requests for comment.

Lively filed harassment and retaliation accusations against Baldoni and his production company in late 2024, claiming the actor orchestrated a campaign to harm her public image and reputation.

Baldoni, who both directed and starred alongside Lively in the dark romantic drama, rejected allegations of harassment or running a reputation-damaging operation. He maintained that Lively’s behavioral complaints were fabricated as part of her attempt to gain creative authority over the production. His countersuit alleged defamation and extortion against both Lively and her spouse, “Deadpool” star Ryan Reynolds.

Last year, Liman dismissed Baldoni’s countersuit and recently threw out Lively’s harassment allegations, ruling she couldn’t pursue them since she worked as an independent contractor rather than an employee during filming.

“It Ends With Us,” based on Colleen Hoover’s popular 2016 novel exploring a relationship that turns abusive, hit theaters in August 2024 and performed better than anticipated at the box office.

Lively’s career includes roles in 2005’s “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and the television series “Gossip Girl” from 2007 to 2012, followed by film appearances in “The Town” and “The Shallows.”

Baldoni appeared in the television comedy “Jane the Virgin,” helmed the 2019 movie “Five Feet Apart,” and authored “Man Enough,” a book examining conventional masculinity concepts.

David Hockney, the renowned British painter whose artistic vision helped define contemporary pop art, has passed away at 88 years old. The influential artist was considered one of Britain’s most significant painters across both the 20th and 21st centuries.

Hockney was born July 9, 1937, in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire. His artistic journey encompassed numerous creative mediums, from painting and drawing to printmaking, photography, and theatrical stage design. During the 1960s, he became a prominent voice in the pop art movement and continued his creative work for many decades afterward.

The artist’s creative output transformed through various styles and techniques over time. While he gained widespread recognition for his iconic swimming pool paintings, Hockney also developed innovative portrait work using photo-collage methods, created abstract landscape interpretations, and later incorporated cutting-edge technology into his art, including works that utilized 3D techniques.

Prior to dedicating himself fully to art, Hockney served two years of national service working as a hospital orderly, having declared himself a conscientious objector. In 1959, he began his formal art education at London’s Royal College of Art.

With his signature bleached blonde hair and round eyeglasses, Hockney became a well-known figure in both London and American cultural scenes throughout the 1960s. He maintained close relationships with notable personalities including Andy Warhol, Ossie Clark, and Dennis Hopper.

Despite facing health difficulties, Hockney maintained his commitment to creating art well into his later years. A comprehensive retrospective showcasing his life’s work wrapped up at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris just nine months before his death, yet he remained dedicated to pursuing new artistic endeavors.

Operating from his London studio while using a wheelchair, Hockney persisted with his painting practice even as he navigated various health obstacles.

Speaking with The New York Times prior to the Paris exhibition’s opening in April 2025, he discussed his intention to continue his artistic practice.

“I just go on with my work,” he told The New York Times before the show opened in April 2025. “When I come back from Paris, I’m going to carry on painting.”

Hockney’s artistic legacy encompasses more than sixty years of creative output, featuring contributions to numerous artistic disciplines ranging from conventional painting and printmaking to photographic work and digital artistic exploration.

DEARBORN, Mich. — A historic residence where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and civil rights leaders developed strategies during the 1960s movement has been reconstructed at a Michigan museum following its careful disassembly and transport from Alabama.

On Friday, the daughter of the home’s original owners participated in the opening ceremony for the Jackson House at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, near Detroit. The residence joins more than 80 additional historic buildings within the museum’s Greenfield Village.

Hundreds of attendees gathered for the ceremonial ribbon cutting, applauding as Jawana Jackson and museum President and Chief Executive Patricia Mooradian entered through the front entrance of the 3,000-square-foot bungalow.

Jackson noted that Henry Ford, the automotive pioneer and industrialist, created Greenfield Village to chronicle America’s story. “This, the Jackson family home, is part of that story,” she stated.

The residence belonged to dentist Sullivan Jackson and his spouse, Richie Jean, and served as the location in Selma, Alabama, where King and fellow activists in 1965 planned three Selma-to-Montgomery demonstrations protesting Jim Crow legislation that blocked Black Americans from voting.

King was present in the residence when President Lyndon Johnson revealed legislation that would later become the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Jackson House’s contribution proved essential to the Civil Rights Movement. Jawana Jackson reached out to the museum in 2022 requesting they assume responsibility for the home’s conservation and historical legacy. The institution purchased the property in 2023 for an amount not disclosed publicly.

Mooradian described the residence as representing support for everyone and the “pursuit of justice and dignity and equality during one of the most defining chapters in our nation’s history.”

“We’re opening a doorway to history,” Mooradian stated. “A place where an ordinary family chose to risk their lives to do something extraordinary. A place where conviction was tested. A movement was sheltered and nourished in this home, and where parents led with courage for the sake of their little girl.”

During 2023, construction teams started dismantling the structure section by section. It was transported over 800 miles north to Dearborn, where workers meticulously rebuilt the house. Historical items, including the seat King occupied while viewing Johnson’s broadcast announcement, were also relocated north.

Additional period-appropriate items from 1960s households have been incorporated to enhance the display.

Constructed in 1912, the building previously hosted prominent Black intellectuals W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, who conducted “fireside chats” discussing education, faith, arts, community development and economic stability, as documented by the Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium.

Jawana Jackson, who was 4 years old in 1965 and calls King “Uncle Martin,” drew parallels between the home’s role in 1960s voting rights struggles and contemporary challenges to those same rights.

This past April, the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated a crucial component of legislation that had safeguarded against racial voting discrimination. Three years earlier, justices ruled 5-4 to remove the government’s strongest mechanism for preventing voting bias — the Voting Rights Act provision requiring 15 states with historical voting discrimination records, primarily in the South, to obtain federal permission before modifying their election procedures.

“We are still trying to protect democracy,” Jackson remarked Friday. “What Uncle Martin did in this house all those many years ago continues today.”

Fire officials in Northern California report that malfunctioning water safety systems severely complicated their response to a devastating warehouse fire that consumed a massive medical supply facility.

The enormous blaze destroyed a 1 million-square-foot facility in Tracy, California, located approximately 55 miles east of San Francisco. The warehouse, operated by Medline, served as a distribution center for medical supplies including latex gloves, masks, surgical instruments and other equipment used by regional hospitals.

Dense black smoke continued rising from the location on Friday as fire crews worked to extinguish remaining hot spots.

Fire officials report they have not yet determined what caused the water system malfunction during Thursday’s fire, though the problem appears to have originated with the building’s internal systems rather than municipal water supply. The fire started around 1 p.m. Thursday, and responding crews discovered the structure’s sprinkler system was not functioning while on-site hydrants had insufficient water pressure, according to Tracy Deputy Fire Chief Brian Bagley. He reported that a fire official found minimal to no water flow through either system.

Fire crews had to resort to connecting with municipal hydrants as an alternative. The structure became completely engulfed within 40 minutes, Bagley reported.

“We did a defensive approach at that point,” he said.

Workers had evacuated the building and no injuries occurred.

Flying embers from the fire ignited two grass fires and caused pallets and several large trucks at a neighboring FedEx location to catch fire. Fire crews successfully extinguished those blazes.

During overnight hours, crews battled additional fires that erupted in trailers containing supplies.

Bagley stated that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will assist in determining what caused the fire, though officials expect they won’t be able to enter the warehouse for several more days. He noted that an external company had tested the sprinkler system in January without discovering any problems.

The destroyed warehouse sits within a large industrial complex that also contains distribution and fulfillment facilities for Amazon, Home Depot and FedEx.

No residential evacuations were necessary. While Bagley advised residents in the vicinity to remain inside, he indicated that air quality testing had not revealed any “grave concerns.”

MIDLAND, Texas — A gunman responsible for a deadly shooting spree in this West Texas community has died following a tense confrontation with law enforcement officials on Friday, according to city authorities. The violence claimed one life and sent at least nine additional victims to area hospitals.

According to Midland police, the dangerous situation concluded several hours after gunfire first broke out in one section of the community, with the incident ultimately moving to an area close to a veterinary hospital.

Authorities have not yet disclosed the circumstances surrounding the suspect’s death.

Andrea Mendias, who works at a body shop, reported hearing what resembled a minor blast coming from a shuttered veterinary clinic located adjacent to her workplace. She witnessed numerous heavily equipped law enforcement officers flooding into the parking area, with some appearing to enter the facility.

Mendias also stated she had previously heard approximately 40 rounds of gunfire.

Footage captured by Mendias revealed officers emerging from an armored law enforcement vehicle while police deployed robotic equipment in the vicinity.

Medical officials at Midland Memorial Hospital reported that four individuals were undergoing surgery while five additional patients remained in stable condition.

This community of approximately 140,000 people is located in the center of the state’s petroleum industry and was close to where another fatal mass shooting occurred in 2019.

During that previous incident, an individual who had lost his position at an oil services company took seven lives and injured two dozen additional people while randomly shooting as he traveled throughout the Odessa and Midland regions. These two communities are situated more than 300 miles west of Dallas.

Authorities in Toledo, Ohio have taken a suspect into custody in connection with a weekend shooting that left 12 people injured at a busy community festival.

Twenty-year-old Eljay Crisp-Carr was arrested Thursday and now faces 11 felony assault charges. Court records show no legal representation listed for him, and attempts to reach him by phone were unsuccessful Friday morning.

The shooting occurred Saturday at the Old West End Festival in Toledo, where a park filled with vendor booths, live music and food trucks was hosting the annual celebration in a neighborhood known for its Victorian architecture. According to police, a confrontation between opposing groups led to gunfire between two individuals, though neither of the shooters was hit by bullets.

Court documents from Toledo Municipal Court detail a detective’s account of surveillance footage that captured Crisp-Carr taking part in the altercation. The detective stated that after someone else began firing shots, Crisp-Carr stepped away from the group before turning back to shoot randomly into the gathered crowd.

The investigating detective explained that witness accounts, social media posts and police photographs helped confirm Crisp-Carr’s identity. Law enforcement has also issued a warrant for the second shooter, Ka Nye Taylor, who remains at large.

The historic Toledo neighborhood, located on Lake Erie’s western shore approximately 55 miles southwest of Detroit, was hosting hundreds of visitors for the yearly celebration. Festival organizers called off the second day of activities following the violence.

The gunfire caused panicked festival-goers to run for safety while others stayed to assist the wounded alongside emergency responders and law enforcement. Those injured included people ranging from teenagers to someone in their 60s.

During a Tuesday press briefing, the police chief and other municipal leaders commended both officers and civilians who quickly aided victims.

“We saw strangers who were shocked and frightened by the violence they just saw, they jumped into action,” said Chief of Fire and Rescue Allison Armstrong. “They helped others by placing tourniquets, dressing wounds, applying pressure and comforting those victims until additional help could arrive.”

A three-day road closure is scheduled for North College Avenue next week as crews perform maintenance work on railroad infrastructure.

The roadway will be shut down at the CSX railroad crossing starting Tuesday, June 16, and continuing through Thursday, June 18. The affected stretch runs from Cleveland Avenue to Main Street.

Officials say alternative routes will be marked with signage to help drivers navigate around the work zone. Drivers are being advised to find alternate paths during the construction period.

LONDON (AP) — Renowned British painter David Hockney, whose vibrant depictions of swimming pools bathed in California sunlight became defining images of modern art, passed away on Thursday, according to his representative. He was 88 years old.

Born in northern England, Hockney spent a significant portion of his career living in Southern California, where the bright, sun-soaked suburban landscapes became a central theme in his artwork.

In his later years, he relocated back to Europe, drawing fresh creative energy from the forested hills of Yorkshire where he grew up and the countryside of France’s Normandy region. He rose to become one of Britain’s most celebrated artists, with his pieces commanding record-breaking prices at art auctions.

Art historian Simon Schama observed that “the popularity and durability of David Hockney’s art, through all his shape-shifts and restlessly inventive experiments, are really no mystery.”

“His work is admired — loved is not too strong a word — by the millions who, worldwide, flock to see it because it presupposes an expectation of pleasure,” Schama wrote in an essay accompanying a 2025 Hockney exhibition in Paris.

His representative, Erica Bolton, confirmed he passed away just weeks before what would have been his 89th birthday.

Recognizable by his signature circular eyeglasses and platinum blonde hair, Hockney became a prominent figure in the dynamic British and American art communities of the 1960s before turning 30. His artwork was equally recognizable, often creating surreal environments of geometric light reflecting off water surfaces and windows, featuring human subjects portrayed in flattened, streamlined forms using matte acrylic paints.

“I’m excited every day,” he shared with the Los Angeles Times in 1979. “London has lots of dreary parts but I never find anything dreary in Los Angeles.”

Born on July 9, 1937, in Bradford, a major industrial center known for wool textile production, Hockney lived there for his first twenty years before attending London’s Royal College of Art. He gained recognition even before completing his studies, and art dealer John Kasmin signed him to his roster in 1961.

His creative inspirations spanned from Renaissance portrait painters to 19th-century English landscape artist J.M.W. Turner, Pablo Picasso’s Cubist innovations, and 20th-century American pop art movements.

During a visit to America in 1963-64, Hockney attracted attention with his contemporary interpretation of “A Rake’s Progress,” updating 18th-century artist William Hogarth’s painting series about a wealthy playboy’s adventures and ultimate ruin. The New York Times noted in 1964 that Hockney “brings Hogarth up-to-date with a vengeance and furnishes a good example of how younger artists like to marry text and picture with benefit to each.”

He shared with fellow pop artists a fascination with the sleek appearance of contemporary life. Similar to Andy Warhol’s use of Brillo boxes and Campbell’s soup cans, Hockney sometimes included commercial imagery, such as a British Typhoo Tea package featured in his 1961 “Tea Painting in an Illusionistic Style.”

Speaking to The New York Times in 1964, he expressed appreciation for New York’s emerging pop art movement while questioning his place within it.

“I’m just an ordinary artist,” he said. “I do admire American pop — in fact it seems that everything fresh-looking and vital in England these days has been coming from the U.S.” However, he maintained that he was still “very much an artist in the English tradition,” as he stated in 1995.

He compared his California relocation to historical precedent, noting that previous generations of English artists had traveled to Italy seeking brilliant light.

As an openly homosexual artist, Hockney examined sensual subjects, applying the same careful attention to young male figures that artists had traditionally given to female nudes for generations. Close friends and romantic partners often served as subjects, and some pieces drew inspiration from photographs in male fitness publications.

Early pieces like “We Two Boys Together Clinging” and “Two Men in a Shower” honored same-sex relationships during a time when homosexuality remained criminalized in Britain.

During his early career, the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquired two of his drawings.

“The moment I first sold pictures to earn a living, I felt rich. I’ve been rich ever since,” he shared with The Associated Press in 1995. “I didn’t have much money but I did what I wanted. … You are a rich man if you do the things you want to do.”

This artistic independence brought Hockney both critical praise and financial success, with his pieces selling for unprecedented amounts. In 2018, his 1972 work “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” sold at Christie’s for $90.3 million, setting a record for a living artist at that time. In February 2020, another pool-themed painting, “The Splash” from 1966, brought 23.1 million pounds ($30 million) at Sotheby’s.

Beyond creating paintings of pools, Hockney also physically painted a pool when he designed the bottom of the swimming pool at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles.

Though his most famous works featured American settings, he also captured British themes. He created multiple portraits of his parents. “Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy,” a 1971 double portrait featuring two English friends and their cat, ranked fifth in a 2005 BBC Radio-National Gallery online survey of Britain’s greatest paintings. It was the sole work by a living painter in the top ten.

Like many classical artists, he viewed drawing as an essential skill and regretted that it wasn’t taught as thoroughly as in the past.

“Human beings are the most interesting things we see, so they’re the hardest to draw,” he explained in a 1996 AP interview, noting that the finest drawings emerge when empathy exists between artist and subject.

His creative work extended beyond drawing and painting. He designed costumes and sets for theatrical and operatic productions, including a renowned “Tristan und Isolde” that premiered in 1987 at the Los Angeles Opera.

As a constant innovator, Hockney worked across drawing, painting, printmaking, photo collage, and video throughout his seven-decade career.

When he explored photography, he blended artistic forms, creating intricate collages like “Pearblossom Highway, 11-18th April, 1986,” composed of separate photographs of a desert road intersection.

“My photographer friends said it was a painting,” Hockney shared with the AP in 2001. “I said it’s a photograph; I used a camera.”

His photographic experiments inspired him to research and publish a 2001 book, “Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters.” He proposed that throughout history, artists employed lenses and optical instruments to assist their drawing far more frequently than most art historians acknowledge.

Eventually, he began creating art on iPads, which became his preferred medium.

In the early 2000s, he revisited the countryside and forests of Yorkshire through a collection of vibrant landscape paintings that merged vivid colors with detailed attention to elements like snow on hillsides or flowers on hawthorn bushes. These works were featured in a 2017 exhibition at Tate Britain in London that drew half a million visitors and later traveled to the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Hockney drew upon English countryside imagery for his stained-glass window design at Westminster Abbey honoring the extended reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Finished in 2018, the Queen’s Window shows a landscape of flowering hawthorn trees in shades of blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, and red.

By this period, Hockney was widely regarded as Britain’s foremost living artist and a national icon. In 1997, the queen appointed him a Companion of Honour, a distinction reserved for 65 individuals “of distinction.”

In 2019, he relocated to Normandy, France, where during the 2020 coronavirus restrictions he created cheerful iPad illustrations of springtime for his friends. His message — “Do remember they can’t cancel the spring” — was displayed in neon lights across the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris when it presented a major Hockney exhibition that opened in April 2025.

The exhibition spanned from his first sold painting — a 1955 portrait of his father — through Los Angeles swimming pools to Yorkshire forests, friend portraits, opera stage designs, and numerous images celebrating spring’s arrival in Normandy.

Art curator Norman Rosenthal, who helped organize the Paris exhibition, described Hockney as “the Picasso of our times.”

“When I say that, people laugh at me, as Picasso was the archetypal artist of the 20th century,” Rosenthal explained to the Independent newspaper. “But David Hockney is also an incredibly popular artist whose work changes how we see things.”

A committed cigarette smoker who criticized government anti-smoking policies, Hockney protested when a poster for the 2025 exhibition was prohibited from the Paris Metro because it showed him with a cigarette.

Hockney experienced a minor stroke in 2012 and faced increasing hearing loss in his final years — something he claimed enhanced his visual abilities.

“If you lose one sense, you gain other senses, and I feel I could see space clearer,” he shared with the AP in 2017.

He maintained his artistic practice throughout his life.

“It’s my work that keeps me young,” Hockney told the Sun newspaper in 2017. “I’ve been a professional painter for 60 years. Sixty years of getting up every day and doing exactly what I want to do.”

Ten years after the tragic mass shooting at Pulse nightclub, a woman is honoring the memory of her father who was among those killed in the attack.

The daughter is reflecting on her father’s life and the impact of losing him in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.

NEW YORK — Making history at age 36, Taylor Swift has earned the distinction of being the youngest woman ever welcomed into the Songwriters Hall of Fame during Thursday evening’s ceremony.

Speaking with a hoarse voice that she blamed on cheering during the night’s musical performances and Wednesday evening’s memorable NBA matchup between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, Swift reflected on her songwriting process. “It was instinctual. No one taught me how to do it,” she explained.

During her emotional acceptance speech, Swift shared how her family relocated from Pennsylvania to Nashville, Tennessee, when she was in her pre-teen years to support her musical ambitions.

“I will never be able to express my gratitude,” the artist said while fighting back tears, acknowledging how their sacrifice made her career possible.

Swift encouraged aspiring songwriters with these words: “You really have to prioritize what you love, down to your very core. Because you’ll need that.”

Director Steven Spielberg delivered an unexpected introduction for Swift, speaking about songwriting’s impact. “There is something undeniable about how songs imprint on our souls,” he remarked, then turned his attention to Swift specifically: “Somehow Taylor knows us all too well.”

Swift opened her remarks by recognizing Spielberg’s influence. “Because of examples like Steven’s, I trusted my imagination,” she stated.

Gen Z performer Sombr kicked off Swift’s portion of the evening with renditions of “Cardigan” and “Dear John” performed in her honor.

Swift’s presence has drawn significant attention to this year’s ceremony, and her songwriting has undoubtedly influenced modern pop music directions. While Swift holds the record as the youngest woman inducted, organizers announced from the stage that Stevie Wonder, who began recording at age 13, remains the youngest person overall to receive this honor.

The evening featured multiple memorable moments, with Swift joining other honorees including Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Alanis Morissette, Kenny Loggins, and additional artists.

The ceremony at New York City’s Marriott Marquis Hotel opened with Tamar Braxton delivering an energetic tribute to newly inducted R&B songwriter, producer and rapper Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, performing one of his most recognized works: Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies.”

Stewart’s impressive portfolio also includes Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” Mariah Carey’s “Touch My Body,” and Justin Bieber’s “Baby.”

Dallas Austin, a songwriter and producer recognized for collaborations with Boyz II Men and Madonna, presented Stewart’s introduction. “Think about that catalog,” Austin said, highlighting those influential recordings. “Those are cultural moments.”

In his acceptance remarks, Stewart expressed appreciation to God, his family, collaborating artists, and mentors, particularly recognizing Grammy-winning music producer Antonio “L.A.” Reid and legendary singer-songwriter Babyface. “I wanted to be like L.A. and Baby,” he shared.

Kiss co-founders Simmons and Stanley received recognition two and a half years following the band’s final tour for their glam rock anthems “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “I Love It Loud.” The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan delivered a powerful performance of the first song, creating an appropriate fiery introduction for the duo. Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik joined him for the second track.

Stanley attended alone, explaining that Simmons faced a family emergency and couldn’t be present.

“Songs are the messenger,” Stanley observed, describing them as the foundation of “every show.”

Soft rock icon Kenny Loggins (known for “Footloose” and “Danny’s Song”) and alternative rock legend Morissette also received inductions.

For Morissette’s tribute, Brandi Carlile performed “Uninvited” with SistaStrings before introducing the honoree.

“Writing to me is not a hobby,” Morissette declared, calling it essential. “It’s write or die.” She then delivered performances of “Mary Jane” and “You Oughta Know” from her 1995 release “Jagged Little Pill.”

Gavin DeGraw performed “Danny’s Song” to honor Loggins, after which Loggins shared the backstory of that composition during his acceptance speech.

Taylor Dayne and Madison Cunningham presented Tina Turner classics penned by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle to celebrate their induction, while John Fogerty received the Johnny Mercer Award.

“I got my songs back!” Fogerty exclaimed at the conclusion of his nearly 30-minute address, referring to regaining control of his catalog at age 80. He then performed a medley featuring his classics including “Proud Mary,” “Fortunate Son,” and “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.”

Songwriter Walter Afanasieff, known for Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” also received recognition in a segment introduced by actor Jeremy Renner, featuring R&B vocalist Sheléa performing a comprehensive medley of his major compositions, beginning with his holiday hit six months ahead of season.

“I wanted to be The Beatles,” he said about discovering his passion for songwriting. “Sixty years later, I got to produce Paul McCartney.”

British singer-songwriter RAYE was presented with the esteemed Hal David Starlight Award, concluding her speech by advocating that songwriters should receive portions of master royalties.

Previous year’s inductees featured George Clinton, The Doobie Brothers, Ashley Gorley, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, The Beach Boys’ Mike Love, and Tony Macaulay.

Established in 1969, the Songwriters Hall of Fame recognizes creators of popular music. Songwriters become eligible for induction 20 years following their first commercial song release.

Current hall members include Gloria Estefan, Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Lionel Richie, Bill Withers, Neil Diamond, and Phil Collins.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tens of thousands of Puerto Rico residents are facing critical water shortages so dire that the territory’s governor has deployed National Guard units while emergency officials handle daily distress calls.

Authorities haven’t publicly identified what’s causing the crisis, though shortages are primarily impacting areas within the island’s most densely populated urban centers, including San Juan, the capital. The territory’s water utility draws from rivers, reservoirs and underground water sources that historically have supplied adequate water for the island’s 3.2 million residents.

Citizens are being compelled to purchase drinking water, pay for commercial laundry services and carry heavy water containers up multiple stories to clean dishes, operate toilets and bathe. Elderly and disabled residents face the greatest hardships, with community advocates reporting some have required hospital care due to ongoing water access problems.

Jorge Figueroa, a community advocate for multiple low-income San Juan neighborhoods, stood beside his vehicle recently answering residents’ questions about when the next water delivery truck might arrive.

“They are playing with people’s health and lives,” Figueroa said.

Certain San Juan customers started experiencing sporadic service over a year ago, with the governor recognizing that the infrastructure has suffered from insufficient funding and upkeep for multiple decades.

The water service disruptions became so critical that Mayor Miguel Romero filed a lawsuit against Puerto Rico’s Water and Sewer Authority in late May.

Residents like Jeannette Mercado Rodríguez have endured up to two weeks without water service as Puerto Rico’s intense summer begins and weather experts are issuing heat warnings.

“This is really exhausting; it’s maddening,” she said.

The 52-year-old considers herself fortunate: a water truck remains positioned near her public housing development, Las Margaritas. However, she must still transport five containers and 10 2-liter bottles to her third-floor unit daily. She recently hurt her shoulder during this routine.

“We can’t take it sometimes,” Mercado said, revealing that she has broken down and cried. “There are older people here, bedridden people.”

Close to 40,000 customers experienced water service interruptions during the first weekend of June. This prompted Gov. Jenniffer González to deploy the National Guard, which started distributing water using four trucks holding 2,000 gallons each.

Puerto Rico’s Tourism Company provided additional water trucks with 12,800-gallon capacity to supply hotels and vacation rentals.

The water demand became so urgent that Puerto Rico’s Department of Agriculture cleaned two large milk transport trucks and repurposed them for delivering drinking water.

Even with these efforts, water remains scarce for many throughout San Juan and other areas. At least one fixed tank in a low-income neighborhood remained empty for several days, with residents applauding when the water truck finally appeared, calling city workers “heroes.” Other citizens complain that officials don’t notify them of water truck schedules, causing working residents to miss deliveries.

“This has been a disaster,” said Luz Laborde, president of a neighborhood association in Santurce, a working-class community in San Juan. “This is inhuman … It’s destroying the emotional state of a people.”

Numerous Puerto Ricans of all ages packed a courtroom recently, anxious to hear a decision on the lawsuit San Juan’s mayor brought against the island’s water and sewer authority while wondering when their water service would resume.

“We are exhausted,” said Marcia Soler París, a 61-year-old community leader. “We shouldn’t be living this way. We don’t deserve this.”

Each morning at sunrise, phones buzz as residents in San Juan and elsewhere report whether they have water, just a small flow or no service at all.

Soler contacts the emergency management office every few days requesting a water truck for herself and neighbors. She shares her home with her daughter, who has three sons ages 13, 10 and 4, and they play soccer daily. Like many others, they lack a water storage tank.

“I don’t know what it is to see a stream of water,” said Soler, who recently paid $40 at a laundromat and had to purchase disposable cups and plates for her household.

The additional expenses are stretching budgets across the island of 3.2 million people where over 40% live in poverty.

Soler explained that some neighbors are bedridden and their caregivers must use towels and wet wipes for cleaning. Another neighbor has vision loss, so people carry water to her apartment.

For years, persistent electrical outages have frustrated many Puerto Ricans. Water problems now rank equally high on their concerns.

At Villa Kennedy, a nearby public housing development, Elizabeth Sánchez, 79, described how she hurt her back carrying water buckets. Her husband can no longer assist because he injured his back the same way.

“What we are going through is horrible,” she said as tears began flowing.

In February 2025, Puerto Rico’s governor named Luis González Delgado as executive president of the island’s Water and Sewer Authority.

Months afterward, former regional director Roberto Martínez Toledo was replaced. However, Martínez recently joined a new committee established by a judge to collaborate with the agency on investigating and resolving the persistent water shortages.

The mayor of San Juan, who belongs to the governor’s party, stated that if Martínez hadn’t been removed from his role, “we wouldn’t be here talking about this issue.”

The new water and sewer agency head blamed Martínez for some difficulties.

“(The crisis) could have been avoided if Roberto Martínez had answered the phone the first day I called him,” González told reporters this week, adding that he is willing to work with him.

Some Puerto Ricans are demanding González’s resignation while calling for Martínez’s return to his former position, while increasing numbers blame the governor for the crisis. On Wednesday night, the governor announced that all infrastructure repair projects have begun with a $217 million investment.

Residents without water report they continue receiving bills for service.

“That’s another outrage,” said Laborde, the community leader. “You lose no matter what.”

Defense lawyers representing the suspect charged with murdering Charlie Kirk will return to court Friday seeking contempt sanctions against prosecutors for public statements regarding bullet evidence recovered from Kirk’s remains.

Tyler Robinson’s legal team has alleged that prosecutors embarked on a “media tour” discussing expert analysis of the bullet. The defense maintains these public remarks breached restrictions established by Judge Tony Graf prohibiting case discussions outside the courtroom.

However, prosecutors defended their actions, stating they were entitled to address false information spread by Robinson’s defense team concerning preliminary ballistics findings that were inconclusive. The initial expert analysis failed to definitively link bullet fragments to a firearm allegedly connected to Robinson. News of these preliminary results led to media speculation about potential exoneration for Robinson.

“The rules expressly allow lawyers to set the record straight,” Deputy Utah County Attorney Christopher Ballard wrote.

Robinson’s defense team has worked to limit media coverage they claim often mischaracterizes their client, as the case has generated significant public interest. The 23-year-old southwestern Utah resident faces aggravated murder charges in Kirk’s Sept. 10 killing, described as an assassination of the Turning Point USA conservative organization co-founder at Utah Valley University.

If convicted, prosecutors plan to pursue capital punishment. Robinson has yet to enter a formal plea.

Robinson’s legal representatives have not detailed specific penalties they want imposed on prosecutors should Graf find them in violation of his directives and hold them in contempt. However, defense filings referenced another criminal matter involving prosecutorial contempt allegations, noting that preventing the state from pursuing the death penalty was mentioned as a possible remedy.

Though the judge in that previous case determined a death penalty prohibition wasn’t warranted, Robinson’s attorneys observed that “the court did not conclude that such a remedy was beyond its authority where the facts support it.”

Graf indicated he will announce his ruling on the contempt matter at a future date.

A crucial hearing is set for next month, when prosecutors must demonstrate sufficient evidence exists to justify proceeding to trial. This would represent the most substantial evidence presentation thus far in proceedings that have primarily centered on media access issues.

Robinson’s counsel has requested Graf suspend the case while they challenge his June 1 ruling that refused to exclude cameras from courtroom proceedings.

A pair of Guatemalan nationals entered guilty pleas Thursday in Texas federal court on human trafficking charges linked to a fatal December 2021 truck accident in Mexico that claimed the lives of 55 migrants among more than 160 people crammed inside the vehicle.

Josefa Quino Canil De Zavala, age 43, and Alberto Marcario Chitic, age 32, who were brought to the United States through extradition, acknowledged their participation in a conspiracy to transport adults and children without guardians from Guatemala through Mexico to reach the United States, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

During one smuggling attempt, approximately 166 migrants were stuffed into a commercial truck that flipped over and crashed into a bridge support structure close to Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas, Mexico.

The December 9, 2021, collision resulted in 55 migrant deaths, including one 16-year-old female, while many others sustained injuries. Video recordings from the scene revealed bodies spread throughout the crash location.

Mexican officials reported at that time that almost all victims were from Guatemala. Chiapas authorities indicated that among the injured were three individuals from the Dominican Republic, along with one person each from Honduras, Mexico, and Ecuador.

Those who survived described being pressed into the trailer space so densely that the majority could only remain standing. The incident was considered one of the most fatal migrant-smuggling tragedies in Mexico over the past ten years.

Both Canil De Zavala and Chitic entered guilty pleas for conspiracy to illegally transport individuals to the United States, causing severe physical harm that led to fatalities, the Justice Department announced.

Each defendant could receive a life sentence when their sentencing occurs on September 9 in Texas federal court, officials stated.

“The defendants ran a calculated alien smuggling operation that moved people across borders like a supply chain – recruiting them in Guatemala, collecting their money and packing them into cattle trucks and tractor-trailers for a dangerous journey through Mexico,” said John Marck, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas.

Marck noted that children without guardians who were smuggled by this network received prepared statements to repeat to authorities if apprehended while attempting to enter the United States.

These two defendants along with three additional Guatemalans charged with participating in the scheme – Daniel Zavala Ramos, 41, Tomas Quino Canil, 37, and Oswaldo Manuel Zavala Quino, 25 – were brought from Guatemala to the United States in 2025 to answer charges.

Federal authorities also detained another Guatemalan citizen, Jorge Agapito Ventura, 33, in Texas during December 2024. Ramos submitted a guilty plea in April. Legal proceedings against the remaining three individuals continue.

The nation’s highest court has blocked Alabama from carrying out a death sentence using nitrogen gas as the method of execution.

As a result of this decision, Jeffrey Lee’s planned execution has been postponed. Lee continues to face capital punishment.

A Massachusetts jury has delivered guilty verdicts against the sibling of the state’s attorney general for sexual assault crimes committed while impersonating a rideshare driver.

The 45-year-old Alvin Campbell was found guilty Thursday on 21 of 22 criminal charges related to sexual assaults that occurred between 2017 and 2019, according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office. Jurors could not reach agreement on a single rape charge.

“We will determine our action, if any, at a future date on that charge,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement.

Campbell is scheduled for sentencing on June 29 and could receive a life sentence for aggravated rape.

According to prosecutors, Campbell would pretend to be a rideshare driver while targeting women near bars and other venues.

His younger sister made history as the first woman of color elected to statewide office in Massachusetts when she took the oath as attorney general in 2023. A spokesperson for the attorney general’s office did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press following Thursday’s verdict.

Andrea Campbell has previously discussed her family’s complex relationship with the criminal justice system, including her brother’s rape charges.

“One thing I do frequently is share my story because I think there are so many who carry their story with a sense of shame and don’t want to talk about it, including the criminal aspects of my family,” she said in a previous interview with the AP. “But there is no shame in one sharing their story. There is power in it.”

The attorney general serves as the state’s top lawyer and chief law enforcement official.

Following the verdict, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden told reporters he had not communicated with the attorney general.

Hayden described how Alvin Campbell “deceivingly and calculatedly” targeted women during their most vulnerable moments. “I can’t imagine what that horror must have been like for them.” Campbell’s defense attorney did not respond to messages from the AP.

Hayden praised the courage of the women who provided testimony: “We’re happy that we were able to secure justice and accountability for them and so we thank them.”

TRACY, Calif. — Thick black smoke billowed into the sky Thursday as a massive blaze erupted at a medical equipment distribution facility in Northern California, forcing authorities to clear out surrounding warehouses while battling the flames.

The blaze broke out at a Medline distribution center in Tracy, located approximately 55 miles east of San Francisco. Police Sgt. Michael Richards said officials evacuated a significant portion of the surrounding area due to concerns that wind conditions could spread burning debris. The affected warehouse sits within a sprawling industrial complex that includes distribution and fulfillment operations for Amazon, Home Depot and FedEx.

Medline confirmed that all workers and other personnel at the location have been safely accounted for.

“We are coordinating closely with local authorities and first responders as we assess the fire’s impact and will share more details as they become available,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement.

Fire Chief Randall Bradley of the South San Joaquin County Fire Authority said firefighting efforts were hampered by what appeared to be a malfunctioning sprinkler system and insufficient water pressure from hydrants at the facility. He noted the problems seemed to stem from the warehouse’s water infrastructure rather than the city’s system, though the exact cause remains under investigation.

“Things worked against us,” he said, citing water supply issues, low humidity, high winds and high temperatures. “It was a little bit of a perfect storm for this fire evolving quickly.”

Residential areas were not affected by the evacuation orders.

Federal safety investigators say a devastating train crash in North Dakota two years ago serves as another stark reminder of why transportation officials have spent decades pushing the railroad industry to retire dangerous tank cars that break apart too easily during accidents.

The National Transportation Safety Board released its final investigation report Thursday, concluding that the standard DOT-111 tank cars are desperately in need of replacement due to how they amplify disaster when trains carrying dangerous chemicals derail, particularly when those materials ignite as occurred near Bordulac, North Dakota.

Some of the most catastrophic railroad accidents in recent years have been worsened by leaking tank cars carrying hazardous substances that ignited, including the 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, disaster and the 2013 Lac Megantic accident that destroyed much of that Canadian community and resulted in 47 deaths. The problematic DOT-111 cars were also factors in multiple devastating crude oil and ethanol crashes during the early 2000s when rail companies frequently transported entire trains loaded with these combustible materials.

Even some improved tank car designs created following earlier accidents dating to the 1990s remain inadequate because they feature thin exterior walls. More robust modern rail tank cars have better resistance to breaking open during derailments.

Additionally, railroad companies must modify how they organize their train consists to prevent flammable liquids from being positioned near chemicals that pose inhalation hazards. When this CPKC train went off the rails on July 5, 2024, methanol poured from five damaged tank cars and ignited. The resulting blaze then caused three cars containing anhydrous ammonia to rupture.

While the actual derailment resulted from a culvert failure beneath the train that broke the rail, NTSB investigators determined that the rupture-prone tank cars dramatically worsened the consequences. The safety board found that although the culvert received regular inspections, those examinations lacked the depth needed to detect the collapse danger beforehand.

The North Dakota incident was fortunate in that the remote location meant few residents were affected when 29 of the train’s 151 cars left the tracks. Just two households chose to evacuate for two days while emergency crews extinguished fires and managed the methanol and anhydrous ammonia releases. A dozen additional derailed cars were transporting plastic pellets.

The derailment itself caused no injuries, though several cleanup workers later sought medical attention and experienced health issues after exposure to anhydrous ammonia.

CPKC spokesman Patrick Waldron stated the company obtained the report following its Thursday afternoon release and is conducting a thorough review.

Representatives from the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Association of American Railroads trade organization did not immediately respond to inquiries about the NTSB conclusions. The Federal Railroad Administration also declined immediate comment on the recommendations.

The NTSB has advocated for eliminating these cars from hazardous materials service since at least the 1990s due to their problematic track record, and Congress has required their replacement for transporting flammable liquids by 2029. However, they would still be permitted for carrying other dangerous materials beyond that deadline.

A decade has passed since a gunman opened fire at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, yet the pain of losing 49 young lives continues to weigh heavily on the community.

The tragic shooting occurred 10 years ago, but residents say the emotional wounds remain fresh as they remember those who were killed in the attack.

A unique four-legged assistant is making waves in Florida law enforcement circles. Police departments in the state have enlisted the help of an otter named Splash for specialized underwater missions.

The innovative approach takes advantage of otters’ natural abilities to navigate through cloudy, difficult-to-see-through waters where traditional search methods might fall short. These aquatic mammals can be successfully trained to conduct search and rescue operations in challenging underwater conditions.

Florida’s law enforcement agencies are now putting this training to practical use, marking a creative approach to public safety operations in waterways with poor visibility.

A groundbreaking journalist whose legal fight against workplace discrimination transformed hiring practices in newsrooms nationwide has died at age 89.

Marlene Louise Johnson passed away on May 9 at an elder care facility in Inglewood, California, after battling dementia, her daughter Morenike Joela Evans confirmed.

Johnson’s discrimination lawsuit against the Associated Press in the 1970s ultimately resulted in sweeping affirmative action policies that created opportunities for women, Black and Hispanic reporters across the journalism industry.

A Rochester, New York native, Johnson completed her associate’s degree at the University of Buffalo and earned her bachelor’s at Wayne State University in Detroit. Remarkably, at 75 years old, she obtained a master’s degree in religious studies from Howard University’s School of Divinity.

During her employment at the late-Congressman John Conyers’ Detroit office in the early 1970s, Johnson developed a friendship with civil rights legend Rosa Parks. Parks gained national prominence in 1955 after her arrest for refusing to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger sparked the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, eventually leading to integrated public transportation. Parks passed away in 2005.

The Associated Press brought Johnson aboard in 1972 as a general assignment reporter at their Detroit bureau. Her reporting covered Black entrepreneurship, court-mandated school busing in Detroit, conflicts between the predominantly white police force and Black community members, breast cancer awareness, and women’s advancement in business and culture.

Johnson, who was Black, filed her discrimination lawsuit against the international news organization just one year after joining their staff. Despite being recruited through a minority hiring initiative designed to diversify the AP’s workforce, Johnson alleged she received inadequate training after several months on the job. She also contended that she faced different performance expectations than her white male colleagues.

“What the suit was about originally was racism,” Johnson explained during a 2013 interview with History Makers, a nonprofit organization that maintains digital oral histories of prominent and lesser-known Black Americans.

“I was filing a copy, and there was nothing wrong with the copy,” Johnson recalled. “And so, like nine months in, the boss decides that he’s going to retire, and he’s going to dump me. And I said ‘oh, my gosh.’ And so, I was very upset.”

Johnson received assistance from the Newspaper Guild in filing her lawsuit, which eventually expanded into a class-action case involving multiple female minority journalists. She took a leave of absence in June 1975, according to AP documentation. Newspaper records indicate her AP byline appeared on a Detroit-based story in 1975.

“It was a scary thing for her to do,” Evans said regarding her mother’s discrimination complaint against the AP. Years later, “she ended up getting like $700. I remember her being very upset over that — it kind of got taken away from her getting justice.”

The Newspaper Guild’s class-action discrimination lawsuit against the AP reached a settlement approximately ten years later in 1983 for over $1 million. Johnson’s name was not included among the listed plaintiffs. The agreement, which involved the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, mandated that the AP implement affirmative action programs for female journalists and Black and Hispanic reporters.

“The suit turned from all Black and one white (plaintiff), to all white and one Black (plaintiff),” Johnson remembered in her History Makers interview. “And the one Black — the one that went to the civil suit — they took my name off and put another woman’s name on it. A Black woman who I had never heard of before.”

According to a 2019 NewsGuild International report, the seven women named as plaintiffs divided $83,120. The settlement also included provisions for training programs and bonuses for the AP’s minority and female journalists.

“I wasn’t in it for the money,” Johnson stated, while also mentioning that she struggled to secure journalism positions for an extended period following her lawsuit.

“We should be grateful that someone like Marlene, a Black woman in the 1970s at a major news organization who had the courage,” said veteran journalist Vincent McCraw, who is also Black and worked alongside Johnson later at the Washington Times. “Whether she, willingly or not, knew there would be a sacrifice, she took it.”

Johnson subsequently relocated to Washington where she held positions with the Newspaper Guild, the National Urban League and the National 4-H Council. She also contributed to the White House Council On Aging and served in the press office for President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration committee, her obituary noted.

McCraw, currently a regional manager for Report for America, said Evans informed him of Johnson’s death. He first encountered Johnson in the early 1990s in Washington while she worked in communications and he covered municipal government for the Washington Times.

“We struck up a conversation and I learned she’d been in journalism,” McCraw recalled. “What I did not know then was the suit she had against AP. After a year or so she mentioned how she wanted to get back into journalism.”

Through McCraw’s connection, Johnson joined the Washington Times in 1994 as an assistant features editor. She retired from that position in 2004.

Johnson maintained memberships with the National Association of Black Journalists, the Capital Press Club and the Public Relations Society of America.

During her final decade, Johnson resided in the Los Angeles area under Evans’ care.

“She loved being a reporter, a journalist,” her daughter shared. “She was really an advocate for people and telling the truth.”

In her History Makers interview, Johnson expressed her desire to be remembered “as a friend, as somebody you could count on, as a good Christian woman, as a strong woman, as a loving person, as a good mom, as a wonderful grandmom.”

Johnson leaves behind two grandchildren, a son-in-law, and two siblings.

WASHINGTON — Federal authorities allocated $750,000 to hire a private yacht for evacuating one American citizen from a distant South Pacific island following her potential exposure to hantavirus aboard a cruise vessel, creating additional pressure on the State Department’s emergency response budget.

The citizen, who potentially contracted the virus during her time on the Dutch MV Hondius cruise vessel in April, had disembarked and flown to San Francisco before journeying to the isolated British territory of Pitcairn Island via Tahiti, according to two federal officials and internal government documentation acquired by The Associated Press.

The complete evacuation cost remains under evaluation as the operation continues. Both officials requested anonymity when discussing a medical situation protected by federal privacy regulations.

This expensive rescue mission has increased costs alongside rapid evacuations for diplomats and American civilians from Middle Eastern regions since Iran war tensions began, plus preparations for potential evacuations from Ebola-affected nations. These situations have depleted the State Department’s emergency response budget, called the “K Fund,” bringing it to its lowest point in seven years.

Additional internal documentation revealed the State Department is considering transferring up to $50 million into the emergency fund from other sources — $35 million from embassy security, construction and maintenance budgets, plus another $15 million from diplomatic programming accounts. No final decision regarding these transfers has been reached.

One official noted the State Department could alternatively request Congressional funding to restore the emergency account. However, the official indicated the department should manage payments for current and “emerging contingency needs.”

While declining to specify the potential budget shortfall, the official maintained the department remains “well positioned” to support diplomats, federal employees and American citizens forced to evacuate Middle Eastern areas due to Iran tensions, plus Americans requiring help from situations like the African Ebola outbreak.

State Department representatives refused to discuss details of the woman’s Pitcairn Island situation but stated that “when an American is at risk abroad and unable to access commercial transportation, the Department of State seeks to provide appropriate assistance to get them home to the United States or to another safe location.”

Following the woman’s departure from the cruise vessel where the hantavirus outbreak happened, the ship traveled to additional South Atlantic locations, with several passengers becoming sick and at least three deaths occurring. The unnamed American citizen became stranded on Pitcairn, an island housing approximately 50 residents, lacking an airport and having limited maritime departure options.

Pitcairn gained fame as the refuge location for Fletcher Christian and fellow British mutineers from HMS Bounty following the 1789 incident that overthrew Capt. William Bligh, events immortalized through “Mutiny on the Bounty” books and movies. Their offspring comprise most of the island’s present inhabitants.

British officials had requested urgent American help evacuating the woman from their territory, adding complexity to the situation, according to government cost documentation and the second federal official.

However, initial plans to transport her to Tahiti, a French territory located approximately 1,350 miles (2,160 kilometers) — roughly a 30-hour ocean voyage — from Pitcairn, faced rejection from French Polynesian officials. They refused entry because she hadn’t revealed her exposure during her previous transit through the island en route to Pitcairn.

The federal government is moving the asymptomatic woman from Pitcairn to Easter Island, another distant Pacific location roughly 1,400 miles (2,253 km) away, which belongs to Chile and offers direct Santiago flights, enabling her United States return for potential medical care.

These circumstances meant arranging her transport from Pitcairn to Easter Island required many weeks of planning, officials reported.

Government documentation, verified by both officials, indicated the woman’s Pitcairn departure was ultimately coordinated through the “Titaina Explorer” trimaran yacht belonging to a wealthy French owner who uses the vessel for South Pacific exploration. Pitcairn lacks airport facilities and has restricted ocean access.

Officials confirmed the woman possessed no political or celebrity ties and they remained uncertain about her exact United States return timing. Maritime tracking websites indicate the Titaina Explorer left Pitcairn Island on June 5. The Easter Island journey can require up to 10 days based on vessel speed and weather conditions.

CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire’s highest court has overturned a murder conviction Thursday for a father charged with killing his 5-year-old daughter and relocating her remains for several months before getting rid of the body.

Authorities believe Harmony Montgomery died in 2019, almost two years prior to anyone reporting her disappearance, despite her body never being recovered. Adam Montgomery, her father, received a sentence of at least 56 years behind bars in 2024 following his conviction on charges including second-degree murder, corpse abuse, evidence tampering, witness interference and assault.

However, the Supreme Court overturned the most severe charge, siding with Montgomery’s argument that the assault charge should have been tried in a separate proceeding. The court returned the second-degree murder charge to the trial court while upholding his remaining convictions.

In their unanimous decision, the justices determined that trying the cases together compromised Montgomery’s right to a fair trial since jurors might have relied on stronger assault evidence to reach conclusions about weaker evidence regarding the killing that occurred months afterward.

“There was a significant risk that the jury would draw the impermissible inference that because the defendant assaulted the victim before by striking her in the head, he must be the one who fatally assaulted her in December by again striking her in the head.”

The overturned second-degree murder conviction represents 45 years of Montgomery’s 56-years-to-life sentence, which was added to a previous 32 ½-year sentence he was already serving for separate firearm charges.

Thursday, the attorney general’s office announced plans to retry the second-degree murder charge.

“We remain confident in the facts of this case, the evidence presented, and the exceptional work of our prosecutors, investigators, and law enforcement partners,” spokesperson Michael Garrity stated. “We will continue our efforts to seek justice for Harmony Montgomery and all those who knew and loved her.”

Montgomery’s legal team did not return requests for comment.

Motorists traveling along North Adams Street are encountering periodic lane restrictions between Linden Street and Second Avenue today.

The intermittent lane closures are expected to remain in effect until 3:30 PM, according to traffic officials.

Drivers are advised to expect delays and consider alternate routes when possible during the affected timeframe.

No article content was provided in the source material to rewrite.

Fresh polling data from Gallup reveals a notable shift in American attitudes toward several social issues over the past year. The survey shows acceptance of having children outside of marriage dropped significantly from 67% to 58% in just twelve months. Similarly, public approval of gambling decreased from 63% to 57% during the same period. The poll also found reduced acceptance among Americans regarding intimate relationships outside marriage and contraceptive use. Researchers have not identified clear reasons for such dramatic changes occurring within such a brief timeframe. According to Gallup, these findings could signal that the nation’s progressive movement on social matters may be reaching a turning point.

New research from the Public Religion Research Institute reveals distinct regional patterns in America’s LGBT population distribution. The study shows that individuals identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender are most heavily concentrated in Northeast and Far West regions.

In contrast, the research found significantly smaller LGBT populations throughout Southeast and Midwest areas. Nevada and Rhode Island topped the rankings as states with the largest percentages of homosexual residents, while Kansas and South Dakota recorded the nation’s smallest percentages according to the PRRI findings.

The upcoming World Cup tournament represents the most demanding security operation the FBI has ever tackled, according to Director Kash Patel, who spoke during an exclusive interview while traveling on the agency’s aircraft.

With 48 participating teams, 36 training facilities, and 11 venues hosting matches beginning Thursday, the scale of the security challenge is unprecedented. Add to that 3 million expected attendees, including world leaders, plus potential dangers from unmanned aircraft, espionage activities, terrorist threats, unruly spectators, criminal organizations, and explosive devices.

“It’s a huge lift, probably the biggest lift in FBI history, in American history,” Patel stated during the mid-flight conversation aboard the bureau’s Gulfstream aircraft.

During the comprehensive discussion in late May, as Patel traveled from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to Dallas for a law enforcement gathering, he discussed the agency’s extensive preparations for the global sporting spectacle. This comes amid ongoing controversies and regular speculation that his tenure may be cut short.

The 46-year-old Patel assumed the FBI director role in February 2025 and has already overseen multiple significant investigations, including the homicide of Charlie Kirk. However, he emphasized that major sporting events present unique security challenges due to elevated terror and other risks.

“Literally the first week in office when I got to the FBI I said we have to prepare for the Olympics, the World Cup, two Formula One races and the Super Bowl,” Patel explained. The FBI, working alongside the Department of Homeland Security, bears ultimate responsibility for safeguarding the tournament “not just here but overseas,” he noted.

As the primary domestic intelligence agency for the World Cup, which the United States is jointly hosting with Canada and Mexico, the FBI coordinates with state and local law enforcement agencies. The bureau must conduct 300,000 background investigations of athletes, coaching staff, and other personnel, while regional and municipal authorities handle security beyond venue perimeters and assist with anti-drone operations.

DRONE SCHOOL

Unmanned aircraft pose among the most significant risks to the competitions and host communities, Patel explained. The FBI established an anti-drone training initiative in October 2025, successfully training 70 local officers in American host cities.

Drones represent “one of the biggest ways that people who want to conduct adversarial attacks can effectuate them cheaply and from a distance, and with not much planning,” Patel observed.

The FBI has also created a collaborative operations hub featuring international law enforcement from 46 of the 48 tournament nations — excluding Iran and Haiti — to share real-time security intelligence from their respective countries.

This approach mirrors a similar coordination center established in Milan for the 2026 Winter Olympics, where American officials worked with Italian authorities to safeguard U.S. visitors and competitors.

That Milan experience also became controversial when Patel was photographed celebrating with the victorious U.S. hockey team, joining in songs, spraying beverages in the locker room, and placing President Donald Trump on speakerphone. Critics characterized the trip as an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds.

This incident coincided with multiple news accounts alleging excessive alcohol consumption, which both Patel and the FBI have categorically rejected. Patel has filed a personal lawsuit against The Atlantic over what he characterizes as inaccurate reporting.

Patel maintains the Milan journey was essential preparation for World Cup security.

“We learned a ton from Milan,” he said.

THREAT ASSESSMENT

Reuters obtained the 78-page joint FBI and DHS security evaluation from May regarding the World Cup, revealing the intricate nature of tournament protection. The document outlines numerous threats both nationally and specific to individual host cities and training locations, providing guidance to local law enforcement across all 11 American host cities.

The assessment notes that Trump’s potential attendance at games will add complexity to security operations and highlights increased risks to law enforcement and venue personnel if they are confused with National Guard or ICE immigration officers.

“Recent conflicts in the Middle East, such as with Iran, have resonated with some U.S.-based violent extremists and some hate crime perpetrators and could further exacerbate anti-U.S., anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, or anti-Muslim grievances,” the evaluation states.

The document specifically addresses concerns surrounding Iran’s two preliminary matches at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, including potential violent demonstrations from team supporters or Iranian government opponents.

Patel attributed a cyber attack on the Los Angeles Metro system in March to Iran, which disrupted portions of the transit network. The pro-Iran organization Ababil of Minab took credit for the incident.

AIR PATEL

Congressional Democrats have criticized Patel’s use of government aircraft, with lawmakers requesting a Government Accountability Office investigation.

Patel considers these allegations unjustified. Legal requirements prohibit him from using commercial flights, and he must compensate the bureau for personal travel.

FBI data provided to the GAO shows Patel has taken fewer personal flights than his two predecessors while providing required reimbursements.

The FBI informed the GAO that Patel made 11 trips to his personal residence in 2025, roughly half the annual trips of former director Christopher Wray and more than one-third fewer than former director James Comey.

The GAO investigation continues and is anticipated to conclude next year, according to a GAO representative.

Patel also claims to have saved the agency millions by departing from Joint Base Andrews rather than Ronald Reagan National Airport.

“We use military government airfields every chance we get,” he stated.

Reuters compensated the FBI for the reporter’s one-way flight.

Alabama officials are mounting an urgent legal challenge to proceed with a nitrogen gas execution scheduled for Thursday evening, petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal judge’s determination that the procedure violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

On Tuesday, a federal judge declared Alabama’s nitrogen execution protocol unconstitutional and prevented the state from using the method to execute Jeffery Lee, 49. State attorneys are now challenging that ruling.

This urgent legal dispute will decide whether Lee’s Thursday night execution proceeds using nitrogen gas. The case could also shape the future of the disputed execution technique that Alabama started implementing in 2024.

“As Alabama continues to defend its execution protocol in the courts, the governor remains prepared to move forward with the planned execution,” Mike Lewis, a spokesman for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, wrote in an email.

The procedure involves securing a breathing mask to the condemned person’s face and substituting regular air with pure nitrogen gas, leading to death through oxygen deprivation. Eight executions in the United States have employed nitrogen – seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana. Lee would have been the ninth person executed using nitrogen.

U.S. District Judge Emily Marks determined Tuesday, following an appeals court’s reversal of her earlier constitutional approval, that Lee had demonstrated by a “preponderance of the evidence that the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.” The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 Wednesday night ruling, denied Alabama’s request to halt the decision. The court previously stated that the three minutes potentially required for an inmate to lose consciousness represents an “intolerable” timeframe, “given the suffering that would likely take place under Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol.”

A representative for the Alabama attorney general’s office confirmed Wednesday night that the state is taking the matter to the Supreme Court. The nation’s highest court has never determined that a particular execution method breaches the Constitution.

The situation has renewed focus on the nitrogen execution procedure and the intense debates surrounding its implementation.

In previous Alabama nitrogen executions, condemned individuals trembled, struggled against restraints and displayed difficult breathing when the procedure began. During the state’s most recent nitrogen gas execution, 30 minutes passed between Anthony Boyd showing effects from the gas and officials drawing the viewing room curtain to indicate the execution’s completion.

State officials have argued the procedure is constitutional and produces no greater suffering than alternative execution methods.

“If nitrogen hypoxia violates the Eighth Amendment because of a risk of anxiety and emotional discomfort, then so too must every other method of execution, many of which carry inherent risks of real physical pain,” state lawyers wrote in a Wednesday court filing to the 11th Circuit.

Lee’s legal team stated Alabama is trying to proceed with an execution method that courts have deemed unconstitutional. His advocates have pressed Ivey to reduce his sentence to life imprisonment, which matches the recommendation made by jurors during his trial.

“Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall wants to execute Jeffery Lee under a death sentence the jury rejected using a nitrogen gas method that two federal courts have ruled unconstitutional. This execution is simply too flawed to move forward,” Lee’s lawyers said in a statement.

“We remain hopeful that Governor Ivey will intervene,” they added.

A jury found Lee guilty of two capital murder charges for the deaths of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a pawnshop robbery on Dec. 12, 1998. Prosecutors stated Lee entered Jimmy’s Pawnshop carrying a sawed-off shotgun and killed Ellis, the shop’s owner, and Thompson, a worker there.

Jurors voted 7-5 for Lee to receive life imprisonment. A judge, however, overruled that recommendation and imposed a death sentence. Alabama eliminated the judicial override practice in 2017 and no longer permits judges to disregard jury sentencing decisions in capital cases. The law ending judicial override did not apply retroactively.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury in Los Angeles decided Wednesday that socialite Rebecca Grossman must pay an additional $21 million in punitive damages to the family of two young brothers killed when she struck them with her vehicle in a deadly hit-and-run crash in 2020.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson was also ordered to pay $1.17 million in punitive damages.

These penalties come on top of $176 million in wrongful death and emotional distress damages that jurors awarded to parents Nancy and Karim Iskander last week, after determining both Grossman and Erickson acted negligently in the deaths of 11-year-old Mark and 8-year-old Jacob.

“This verdict sends a clear message that everyone must be held accountable when their selfish actions put innocent lives at risk,” said Brian Panish, who represents the Iskander family, in a Wednesday statement.

Jeff Braun, representing Erickson, said they accepted the jury’s decision.

“In the coming days, we will review the verdict with our client and discuss the appropriate path forward,” Braun stated. “Today, however, our focus is on acknowledging the extraordinary loss the Iskander family has endured. We extend our sincere condolences to them and continue to keep them in our thoughts.”

Esther Holm, Grossman’s legal representative, did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

In 2024, Grossman received a sentence of 15 years to life in prison following her conviction on charges of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving in a criminal case. She helped establish the Grossman Burn Foundation and is married to a well-known burn specialist.

The parents of the deceased boys pursued civil litigation against both Grossman and Erickson, who was traveling in front of her vehicle when the Iskander children were fatally struck. The civil trial commenced in April.

The fatal collision happened during the evening hours of Sept. 29, 2020, in Westlake Village, located on the western border of Los Angeles County.

The Iskander family’s lawyer, Panish, contended that both defendants drove recklessly following an evening of consuming margaritas together. The pair were romantically involved during a period when Grossman had separated from her spouse.

According to Panish, Grossman was traveling at 73 mph (117 kph) when her vehicle hit the children as they crossed the street, despite the posted speed limit of 45 mph (72 kph) on that roadway.

He stated that Grossman was trailing behind Erickson, who was also exceeding the speed limit and barely avoided hitting the family.

Grossman’s lawyer, Holm, disputed claims that her client was under the influence of alcohol. She maintained that Grossman became distracted after witnessing the boys’ mother leap away from Erickson’s approaching car.

Erickson’s attorney, Braun, acknowledged the tragic nature of the children’s deaths but stressed that his client’s vehicle “made no contact with the children.”

Motorists traveling on E Main Street will encounter lane restrictions due to ongoing construction activities. The westbound right lane is currently closed between Library Avenue and Tyre Avenue.

The lane closure is scheduled to remain in place until 5:00 AM, according to traffic officials. Drivers are advised to plan for potential delays and consider alternate routes if possible.

Construction crews are working in the area, and motorists should exercise caution when passing through the work zone.

Legal proceedings have begun for the defendant facing charges in connection with igniting the Palisades Fire, with lawyers presenting their opening arguments to the court. The devastating blaze that erupted in January 2025 stands as one of the most catastrophic wildfires in California’s recorded history.