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  • How to keep the air inside your home clean during wildfires


    MILWAUKEE (AP) — The eerie glow of an orange sun through thick wildfire smoke might be unnerving, but the biggest risk from the haze is something much harder to see.

    Tiny particles in the air can cause a range of short-term and chronic health issues, experts say.

    Wildfire smoke can settle over cities for days — like the recent blanket over parts of the U.S. from burning fires in Canada, which has created hazardous air for millions of people across multiple states.

    Health officials advise people to stay indoors — and to take steps to keep the air in your home clean.

    How to safely run your AC

    If you have central air conditioning, it should clean the air in your home.

    Make sure filters are replaced on schedule and are of the highest level of filtration your system can handle. Filters rated MERV 13 or higher are ideal. Set the air to recirculate and close any vents that pull air from outside if you can. The University of Oregon’s Center for Wildfire Smoke Research and Practice recommends running the system’s fan through the entire smoke event, not just when cooling.

    If you buy a portable air filter, look for a HEPA air filter or one that says it traps small particles of pollution. Ensure it does not generate ozone, another harmful air pollutant.

    If you can only afford one portable air filter, use it to create a “clean room” in your house where you can spend most of your time.

    “The basic message is that something is better than nothing,” said Amy Kalkbrenner, an environmental epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

    The science behind DIY air filters

    There’s good evidence that DIY filters made by duct-taping furnace air filters to a box fan work.

    They’re simple, relatively affordable and scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency have found they are just as good at removing fine particles of pollution from the air as a small commercial air purifier.

    “The good news is they really work,” said Kalkbrenner.

    All you need to have to make one is: four 20-by-20-inch (50.8-by-50.8-centimeters) furnace air filters rated MERV 13 or higher, a box fan, cardboard and duct tape. The EPA’s website shows how you can modify the design to only use one or two filters. The fan should blow out, and the arrows on the filters should point in. Make sure everything is taped up air-tight.

    Using your window AC and cooling your air safely

    Many window air conditioners, mini-split heat exchangers and portable air conditioners don’t have the filters needed to remove fine pollution particles. But heat can also be dangerous.

    “When smoke and heat occur together, the impacts on your health are even greater than when they occur by themselves,” said Jess Downey, a researcher at the University of Oregon’s Center for Wildfire Smoke Research and Practice

    Downey said the ideal scenario is running the AC unit and using an air purifier or a DIY box fan filter to clean the air. Make sure your AC is well-sealed in your window frame, she added.

    Make sure the window units are set to recirculate air. Portable units with a single hose should be used sparingly, according to the University of Oregon wildfire smoke center.

    If you don’t have AC, any reprieve from hot, smoky air is important. Head to the library, shopping mall or other space with clean, cool air.

    Ways to seal up a home to keep hazardous air out

    Whether it’s a towel, some tape, or something else — plug areas where air could enter from outside.

    “Being from Chicago, I think you can liken it to trying to keep the cold air out,” said Dr. Khalilah Gates, a lung doctor with Northwestern Medicine. “Any areas in which air can come in, consider sealing up those areas to reduce the amount that’s coming into the home.”

    When smoke levels are high, experts recommend avoiding anything that burns — candles, fireplaces, even gas stoves — so plan ahead with some meal prep.

    How wildfire smoke affects the body

    Exposure to wildfire smoke can lead to shortness of breath, chest tightness, headaches, and a burning sensation in the nose and eyes.

    “When you ever start to feel those symptoms and they’re not severe, it’s important to acknowledge, ‘Oh, my body is responding to this. I need to move away from it. I need to move inside,’” Gates said.

    If you’re wheezing, can’t catch your breath or are in distress, get to the emergency room immediately, she said.

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    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.


  • Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrested in Miami, US Marshals Service tells AP


    Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, whose social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities, were arrested Saturday in Miami as British authorities sought their extradition on rape and sex trafficking charges.

    The brothers were taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on a sealed warrant, agency spokesperson Brady McCarron told The Associated Press, placing the United States at the center of an international legal saga that has stretched from Romania to Britain.

    Britain is seeking their extradition on rape and trafficking charges

    British prosecutors announced Saturday that they were seeking the brothers’ extradition on charges alleging they raped and trafficked women between 2010 and 2017.

    The dual U.S. and British citizens moved to Romania in 2016. They were arrested there in 2022, accused of participating in schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. They denied those allegations and the Romanian case hasn’t gone forward because of legal and procedural problems.

    Last year, they were allowed to leave Romania and flew to Florida on a private jet.

    The brothers are expected to appear in Miami’s federal court early next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations.

    The pending charges in the United Kingdom accused the brothers of abusing women in an area north of London, where they grew up. Their lawyers had said they denied the allegations.

    Joseph McBride, an attorney representing the Tate brothers, said in a phone interview Saturday evening that he has not been able to speak with his clients but called the new charges out of the U.K. “filth and slander” intended to derail defamation lawsuits filed by the brothers in the U.S.

    “They’re pulling out all the stops to make sure these guys never get their day in court,” McBride said.

    “We are confident that once a competent judge sees the facts, and once the Department of Justice confronts this egregious abuse of its own authority, Andrew and Tristan Tate will walk free. America does not do Britain’s political dirty work.”

    Tate has been banned from social media platforms for hate speech

    Andrew Tate, 39, first reached a mainstream audience as a contestant on the U.K. reality television show “Big Brother” in 2016. He was removed from the show when a video surfaced that appeared to show Tate assaulting a woman. He and his brother Tristan Tate, 38, are vocal supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump.

    Andrew Tate has amassed over 10 million followers on X but has been banned from platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram for violating hate speech guidelines. His most widely condemned rhetoric includes comments that women who are sexually assaulted should bear some responsibility for their attacks, graphic descriptions of how he might attack women and criticisms of people who seek treatment for mental illness.

    The Tate brothers have consistently denied allegations of abuse and human trafficking, claiming that violent and misogynistic statements have been taken out of context or were intended as jokes.

    In a statement Saturday, the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Services said that in addition to the charges publicly announced against the brothers in 2025, involving alleged crimes against three women, it was bringing a total of 38 new charges related to “four further victims.”

    Both brothers are accused of rape and human trafficking. Andrew Tate faces an additional charge of profiting from prostitution, and 19 charges “for offences relating to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography,” according to U.K. authorities.

    “There is no place for male violence against women and girls, and we will continue to work tirelessly to support victims and investigate all reports made to us,” said Karena Thomas, an assistant chief constable of the Bedfordshire Police, which investigated the case.

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    Associated Press writer Savannah Peters in Santa Fe, New Mexico contributed to this report.


  • Thunderstorms will clear wildfire smoke from Northeast ahead of World Cup final, meteorologists say


    EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires that engulfed the Northeast in haze is expected to mostly clear from the New Jersey area just in time for the World Cup final on Sunday thanks to thunderstorms passing through, meteorologists said.

    Still, warnings of unhealthy air remained in effect Saturday across a wide swath of the United States, and President Donald Trump continued to lay blame on Canada for the smoke crossing the border.

    Trump, who planned to attend the cup final, threatened to impose tariffs in response, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticized that as unacceptable and shortsighted.

    At MetLife Stadium, where the World Cup final is scheduled to take place, the sky was the same thick, soupy gray it has been for days, even after a drenching thunderstorm prompted warnings of flash flooding and forced the Spanish national team to suspend its last outdoor training session ahead of the clash with Argentina.

    After the rain cleared, Netherlands tourists Joost Timpers and his two sons were among fans taking photos outside the open-air venue, which has been renamed the New York/New Jersey Stadium for the matches.

    They did not have tickets to the final but biked more than an hour from their hotel just to see the arena up close. Timpers said he was certain players and fans will fare just fine even if conditions do not improve.

    “We’re not experts in air quality, of course, but we are experiencing the quality now,” he said. “I didn’t experience anything different from cycling in the Netherlands or anywhere else.”

    Storms will help clear the air

    Saturday’s storm front will largely move the smoke out of the Northeast before the final between Spain and Argentina, said Tyler Roys, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.

    “There could be some lingering smoke that would make things hazy, but very faint,” Roys said. “In terms of the thickest smoke, the smoke that has really been eye-popping and leads to poor air quality, that is not expected across New York City or much of the Northeast.”

    WFLA-TV Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist Jeff Berardelli, in Tampa, Florida, echoed Roys, saying the storm front would “sweep the atmosphere clean,” leaving only a thin smoke that World Cup spectators may still smell in the air.

    The air quality index shows an improvement from unhealthy air for sensitive groups on Saturday to “moderate” air quality Sunday in East Rutherford, which means little to no health risk for the general public.

    “It won’t be dangerous anymore,” Berardelli said. “It’s going to be dramatically better.”

    The smoke could still cause issues for people who are sensitive to particulate matter, and they should check the air quality index particularly in the morning, said Rob Shackelford, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel app and weather.com.

    Air quality at the field is measured every 10 minutes, said David Lu, CEO and co-founder of Clarity Movement, an environmental technology company providing air quality monitoring services. In the past two days, the readings have swung between the level where the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups and the level where it’s very unhealthy, Lu said. He said Saturday afternoon he expects to see improvement in the readings within hours because of the rain.

    Temperatures are forecast to be around 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius), with light breezes and low humidity for the start of the final.

    “You couldn’t have asked for much better weather for the World Cup,” Berardelli added.

    Both Roys and Berardelli expect the heavier smoke Sunday to be concentrated closer to the fires, hanging over parts of the Midwest and the Great Lakes region.

    Trump talks of new tariffs on Canada

    The president made no mention of the World Cup final but said on his social media platform, “We are holding Canada responsible.” He added that the U.S. “is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!”

    Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the topic of U.S. officials complaining about smoke from during a news conference Thursday. Carney said climate change is the responsibility of everyone, including the United States.

    Ford said Canada has contributed to fighting fires in the U.S. and offered assistance when Georgia was hit by a hurricane in 2024 because “that’s what neighbors do.” Ford called the rhetoric “absolutely unacceptable” when Canada is “trying to get through this.”

    There are hundreds of active fires in Canada

    Wildfires have been igniting across Canada and northern Minnesota this month. Berardelli said they are burning longer and faster because of climate change. The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System showed hundreds of active fires Saturday. Environment Canada issued air quality warnings across the country and into the Northwest Territories.

    The fires prompted evacuations, including in Nova Scotia where there’s a large fire that local and provincial crews have been fighting since Wednesday, and in northwestern Ontario, where ​some of the most intense fires are burning.

    In Ontario, nearly 200 wildfires have already scorched more land than all of last year’s fires. In Thunder Bay, Ontario, Fire Chief Dave Tarini said this fire season is unprecedented in his more than 35 years as a firefighter.

    In British Columbia, about 100 fires are burning, a huge jump from the 20 firefighters were facing Wednesday. The BC Wildfire Service says the fires are largely the result of 4,000 lightning strikes that hit the province Friday.

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    McDermott reported from Providence, Rhode Island. Associated Press writer Jim Morris in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Sports Writer Stephen Whyno in New York contributed.

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    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.


  • Former China Development Bank president is under anti-corruption probe


    BEIJING (AP) — A former president of the China Development Bank was put under investigation on suspicion of serious violations of party discipline and the law, the country’s top anti-graft watchdog announced on Sunday.

    The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a one-line statement that Ouyang Weimin was being investigated by it and the National Commission of Supervision, without offering more details.

    According to state media China Daily, Ouyang began his career and joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1986. He spent much of his earlier career at the People’s Bank of China, it said.

    Ouyang served as the vice-governor of Guangdong, an economic powerhouse near Hong Kong, and was appointed as the president and deputy party secretary of the China Development Bank in 2019, China Daily reported. He stepped down as president in 2023, it added.

    The China Development Bank, founded in 1994, is a state-funded and state-owned development finance institution. According to its website, it is directly overseen by the State Council and its work aims to support China’s economic development in key industries and underdeveloped sectors.

    Under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s rule, China has run an anti-corruption campaign that also saw officials and military generals being targeted. Critics say the drive has been used partly to remove Xi’s political rivals.


  • Taylor Farms recalls lettuce shipped to 27 states over cyclospora risk


    Taylor Farms has expanded a voluntary recall of its iceberg lettuce products sourced from central Mexico because of a potential link to the multistate cyclospora outbreak that has sickened people across the U.S.

    Products with the potential to be contaminated with the diarrhea-causing parasite were shipped to 27 states including Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New Jersey, the California-based company said in a statement Friday.

    “We are actively removing the implicated products,” the statement said, adding that the company has stopped sourcing lettuce from an implicated lot in central Mexico.

    U.S. health officials earlier this week identified lettuce from a supplier in Mexico as a source of cyclospora contamination in food served at Taco Bell restaurants in five Midwestern states.

    The Taylor Farms recall announcement listed 25 shredded lettuce and salad mix products sold under eight different brand codes. Taylor Farms did not respond to an emailed request for the full names of those brands or retailers. The recalled products were shipped as recently as Thursday and have “best by” dates as late as Aug. 3.

    Sysco, the nation’s largest food distributor, has halted distribution of all Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce products sourced from Mexico and instructed customers to destroy them.

    Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that infects food that has come into contact with human feces, most commonly when produce is irrigated or washed with contaminated water. When ingested, the parasite causes intestinal illness marked by “frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC.

    In 2026, cyclospora has sickened at least 1,645 people in the U.S. and hospitalized 141, according to the CDC, which is investigating more than 5,000 additional illnesses that may be linked to the parasite. This time last year, only 249 cases had been reported.

    The CDC initially warned consumers to avoid eating shredded lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.

    “Taco Bell worked swiftly to voluntarily remove the product from restaurants and the affected ingredient has been removed from our supply chain nationwide,” the company said in a statement Friday.


  • Oh, baby! Sam Burns takes the lead in a British Open he planned to miss


    SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Sam Burns gets his best chance at winning a major he never planned to play.

    Two weeks after his daughter was born, one week after Burns changed his mind and decided to fly from Louisiana to play in the British Open, he followed his record-tying 62 with a 5-under 65 on Saturday to build a two-shot lead at Royal Birkdale.

    Perhaps even more impressive was he played with purpose amid the chaos that is Bryson DeChambeau, who played alongside Burns and heard big support from the gallery a day after he theatrically protested a two-shot penalty for improving the path of his swing.

    DeChambeau seems to thrive among distractions — his week began with six-time major champion Nick Faldo saying he had “zero clue of strategy” in links golf — and the penalty for an infraction on the fifth hole Friday was a big one. The two shots took him out of the final group and moved him three shots behind instead of one back.

    But he pressed on, high-fiving the gallery from green-to-tee, giving a thumbs-up to the crowd when he walked onto the first tee and playing a high standard of golf. DeChambeau was even par through 14 holes until two birdies gave him momentum. He bogeyed the last hole for a 69, his sixth consecutive round in the 60s in the British Open.

    DeChambeau didn’t speak to the media again. Rory McIlroy did, referring to the way DeChambeau protested the penalty as “performative.”

    “I think a lot of it’s for attention,” McIlroy said after a 69 left him eight shots behind. He also accused DeChambeau of holding the tournament “hostage” because the extraordinary late-evening scene also delayed Saturday tee times.

    The golf attention now falls to Burns.

    He was at 10-under 200 for a two-shot lead over Si Woo Kim (67) and Ryan Fox, who became the third player this week to tie the major championship record with a 62. He finished some 90 minutes before the last group even teed off, and now the 39-year-old from New Zealand will be in the final group with a shot at his first major.

    Burns shot down a suggestion that golfers with newborns have a lot more freedom when they play. “If I was aware of that, I’d have like eight kids by now,” he said.

    But there was freedom in knowing this is a chance he never thought he would have. His wife, Caroline, had been due to give birth to their second child the Tuesday before the British Open. Their first was born four days late.

    “I just didn’t think there was any possible way,” Burns said. “And little Belle had different plans.”

    Belle is the name of their daughter born July 3, which at least planted the idea of Burns playing. That turned into a conversation with his wife, including a phone call to close friend Scottie Scheffler, and it led to him deciding a week ago Friday to fly over to England.

    “Ultimately she’s the one that really encouraged me to come over and play,” Burns said. “She basically said: ‘I’ve got this at home. Go over there and give it your best.’ And here we are.”

    The timing is intriguing in another way. Just one month ago, Burns was a 17-foot putt away from forcing a playoff in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. He was the 54-hole leader in the U.S. Open at Oakmont the previous year, slowed on the back nine by having to play on rain-soaked fairways that affected his shots and led to a 78.

    The four players closest to him — Fox and Kim two shots behind, British Open newcomer Ryan Gerard (69) and Lucas Herbert (71) three shots back — have never won a major. Herbert and Burns each shot 62 on Friday just 22 minutes apart.

    “I think Sam Burns is going to be a man possessed,” Herbert said. “Given his results in majors and him not winning one, I think he’s going to be very tough to beat. I’m not thrilled about giving him a three-shot head start, but we are where we are.”

    DeChambeau, four shots behind along with Ludvig Aberg (67) and Jackson Suber (70), is the only player among the top 10 who has won a major, the U.S. Open in 2020 and 2024.

    Scheffler plays practice rounds at most majors with Burns, a close friend with whom he often share houses on the road.

    “I know how good he is,” Scheffler said. “Sometimes you just need to continue to build that experience and put yourself in the positions. He was close at the U.S. Open last year. He was close again at the U.S. Open this year. … But it’s just a matter of continuing to give yourself opportunities, continuing to knock on the door.”

    Scheffler sounded as though he could have been describing his own week at Royal Birkdale. The defending champion has looked every bit like the No. 1 player in the world from tee to green. Scheffler just can’t seem to make a putt.

    Such was the case again Saturday in his round of 70 that left him six shots behind. Scheffler had gone 34 holes without a bogey until missing from 3 1/2 feet for par on the 16th hole.

    “I haven’t had many bogeys over the course of the week,” he said. “I just haven’t made enough birdies.”

    Also still hanging onto hope was Southport’s own Tommy Fleetwood, who had a 69 and was five shots behind.

    Also six back was Jon Rahm, who recovered from a double bogey on the first hole for a 70, and Xander Schauffele, who had a 66 that felt worse playing alongside Fox.

    Eight players were separated by four shots going into the final round on a course that is baked and brown and running fast but with wispy rough that really makes avoiding bunkers the biggest challenge. The wind has not been very strong since the opening round, even in the afternoon.

    ___

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


  • License revoked for boarding school in Utah where Paris Hilton says she was abused as a teen


    SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah revoked another campus license on Friday for the boarding school where Paris Hilton said she was abused as a teenager, marking a major victory in the hotel heiress’ yearslong effort to get the school shut down.

    The Utah Department of Health and Human Services’ decision cites a multitude of noncompliance citations in 2026 for the Provo Canyon School’s Provo campus, including not protecting “a client from potential harm or acts of violence,” and “using cruel and unnecessary practice on a child.” More than a dozen of the citations were noted on Friday.

    “No child should be hurt in a program that is meant to protect them; particularly programs that require the authorization of the state to operate,” Shannon Thoman-Black, director of the division of licensing and background checks at the health and human services department, said in a statement.

    Earlier this month, the state revoked the license for the Provo Canyon School’s other campus in Utah, saying the school has “failed to provide applicable health and safety services for clients.”

    Paris Hilton, the media personality who spent almost a year at the school in the late 1990s, said the latest announcement means she finally feels a sense of “peace.”

    “This horrific chapter of abuse, neglect, and trauma has finally come to an end,” she said in a statement.

    The school, which is described on its website as a psychiatric residential treatment facility for youth ages 12 to 18, has until Aug. 15 to stop providing services at its Provo campus. In the interim, Utah officials will be monitoring the facility at least once a week, according to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services.

    Staci Bradley, the school’s director of business development, said in a statement that they do not agree with the state’s decision and “are carefully reviewing all available legal and administrative avenues, including the appeals process.”

    The facility has 15 days to request a hearing before the department.

    Hilton alleges that school staff members beat her, watched her shower, fed her unknown pills and locked her in solitary confinement without clothing.

    “Today means no child will ever have to endure what we did at Provo Canyon School again,” she said.

    She has testified about her experiences there in Congress and state legislatures around the U.S., helping pass laws to protect teens in Utah and more than a dozen other states. Utah has long played an outsized role in the troubled teen industry, a network of private, for-profit residential centers for children with behavioral issues.

    In June, Hilton returned to the Provo Canyon School to support two families who filed lawsuits alleging that their children were mistreated at the school.

    The school is under new ownership, and the administration has said it can’t comment on anything that came before the change, including Hilton’s time there.


  • US cancels automatic protections for imperiled animals as critics warn of extinctions


    BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Interior Department on Friday canceled a rule meant to protect plants and animals that are determined to be threatened with extinction, the latest step by President Donald Trump’s administration to dismantle key provisions of the landmark Endangered Species Act at the behest of industry.

    Instead of receiving automatic protections, imperiled species will need individualized protection plans once they are added to the threatened species list. That’s a potentially lengthy process in which companies could seek exemptions for oil and gas drilling, mining and other development where those species live.

    Opponents said it would make it harder to save wildlife that’s awaiting federal protections and in danger of disappearing, such as monarch butterflies and alligator snapping turtles.

    Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement that the Endangered Species Act had been used for too long “to stop almost any new project in America, driving up costs for families, weakening our competitiveness, and undermining our national security.”

    “Success should be measured by species recovery and delisting, not by adding more species to the list,” Burgum added.

    A second change finalized Friday requires officials to analyze economic impacts when deciding whether habitat is critical to a species’ survival. Critics say it gives corporations an opportunity to put their thumb on the scale so that officials will allow development in those areas.

    “If you’re exempting certain industries that cause habitat destruction, in many instances you’ll be exempting the main threat to those species,” said Noah Greenwald with the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.

    Officials made similar changes during Trump’s first term but they were reversed under former Democratic President Joe Biden.

    The rules that gave what some consider “blanket protections” to threatened species were first adopted for wildlife in 1975 and for plants in 1977.

    Two groups, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Property and Environment Research Center, sued the Biden administration in 2024 after officials restored the blanket protections rule. They argued the rule unfairly imposed the same restrictions on landowners when a species’ status improves from endangered, which is more dire, to threatened.

    That removed incentives for landowners to participate in species recovery, said Jonathan Wood, vice president at the Montana-based research center.

    Wood said the Trump administration’s approach allows officials to “better reward progress and encourage proactive conservation.”

    There have been no species added to the endangered or threatened lists in Trump’s second term. By comparison, more than 20 species were added in Trump’s first term, and about 60 during Biden’s presidency.

    About 30 species are currently proposed to be listed as threatened. Besides monarchs and alligator snapping turtles, they include California spotted owls and various snakes, fish, clams and insects.

    Changes to government policies for endangered plants and wildlife have come faster and extended further in Trump’s second term than in his first.

    The administration in March exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists’ lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran.

    Last week, Interior officials sharply narrowed the definition of what constitutes “harm” to a species. The change would allow development on critical wildlife habitat so long as the animals themselves are not immediately killed or injured.

    This week officials sharply reduced the amount of critical habitat in the U.S. Rocky Mountains designated for Canada lynx, forest dwelling wildcats that are threatened by climate change and other pressures.

    Also this week, Burgum said in a visit to Montana that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would turn over more management authority for grizzly bears to states where the bruins live. That’s been a longstanding priority for the Republican governors of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

    The Endangered Species Act is credited with bringing back iconic animals including the bald eagle and American alligator from the brink of extinction.

    Burgum noted Friday that 97% of the species that have been given protections still have them. That’s a frustration for Republican lawmakers who say species should be taken off the endangered and threatened lists more quickly once they’ve recovered.


  • Paying for early access to Trump’s Truth Social could raise big money – and major ethical issues


    NEW YORK (AP) — America’s first billionaire president may soon be profiting from a new line of business tied to his office: charging access for a first peek at certain posts on his Truth Social platform.

    Donald Trump’s struggling media company plans to sell Wall Street traders the chance to see posts from “highest-ranking” accounts — including possibly his own — milliseconds before others.

    That could mean big money for them, and Trump.

    Trump’s posts are often important enough to rattle financial markets, sending prices soaring and plunging within seconds. Until this moment, presidential policy announcements were considered sort of public property that should be free and available to all at the same time.

    The president has the most followers on Truth Social — 12.9 million — so presumably will be included in the mix of high-ranking accounts.

    Truth Social’s public parent, Trump Media & Technology, did not respond to emailed questions, including whether Trump’s posts will be excluded from the offering, but the planned service is attracting plenty of attention — and not just from traders.

    “It’s odious, selling access to highest bidders on Wall Street,” said Dylan Hedler-Gaudette, an expert on federal ethic rules at watchdog Project on Government Oversight. “Everything he says has market implications.”

    How the new business hopes to make money

    Called Truth PSI, the service announced in a short press release Thursday would allow Wall Street trading firms and institutions to see certain posts earlier than other users so they could profit off subsequent moves in stocks, bonds and interest rates.

    The Trump Media release did not give any sense of the size of the new business but quotes CEO Kevin McGurn as saying he expects it to become a “meaningful” source of revenue as part of a strategy to “monetize proprietary assets.” The company added that it expects to launch the service next month.

    The customers that Truth Social is targeting are high frequency traders who jump ahead of others in reacting to news to buy and sell bonds and other financial instruments. And a few thousands of a second often spells the difference between profits and losses.

    Trump posts are big news, and big money makers

    When Trump announced his sweeping tariffs on April 2 last year, it was major political and financial news —- and many found out first on Truth Social.

    “It’s Liberation Day in America,” Trump posted hours before a formal Rose Garden announcement, sending stocks plunging nearly 5% over the next few hours. Safe haven investments like gold and Treasury bonds soared.

    A few days later, Trump reversed course by suspending the tariffs for 90 days with an announcement again on Truth Social, writing, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”

    Stocks soared 9.5% that day, adding $4 trillion to investor wealth as measured by the S&P 500 index.

    “It’s yet more brazen corruption,” said Kathleen Clark of Washington University School of Law and an expert in government ethics rules. “Trump can line his pockets by selling access.”

    His Iran war posts are must reading for oil traders, too

    Trump has announced major decisions and musings about other topics, including staff changes, immigration crackdowns, and matters of war and peace in Ukraine and Iran.

    “THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!,” he posted on June 24 last year about a short-lived Iran deal, sending oil prices plunging instantly.

    No other social media platform has such access to the president, and presumably banks and traders will have to pay up for it.

    Trump Media did not state in its release how much it plans to charge but said it has already signed up customers.

    The law doesn’t bar Trump from doing this

    The service is similar to others at rival social media firms but with a key difference: It’s the president posting. But there appears to be nothing to stop Trump from doing this, at least legally.

    Conflict of interest laws would bar U.S. government officials from owning a company that profits off their office by selling access to their decisions through public posts, says Washington University’s Clark. But the president and vice president, she notes, are excluded from the provision.

    Despite that, all presidents since the law was passed decades ago have acted as if it applied — selling individual stocks, dumping business holdings or putting their financial assets in a blind trust so they wouldn’t know what was being bought and sold on their behalf while they wielded power — but Trump has refused.

    No response from the White House, or his businesses

    The White House referred questions, including those about the president profiting off its office, to the company that owns Truth Social. Several messages sent to that company, Trump Media & Technology, have not been returned. And Trump’s own family company, the Trump Organization, declined to comment.

    Trump himself has repeatedly denied that there any conflicts between his obligation to act in the public interest and the opportunity to make money off the presidency.

    The White House has previously said Trump only does what is good for the country and is not involved in his family business.

    Trump Media needs the help

    The new service is the latest in a series of moves to try to revive the fortunes of Trump Media whose stock has plunged more than 70% since the president took office last year

    The company has been diversifying into various businesses — crypto, financial services and nuclear fusion — but all to no avail.

    It recently replaced its longtime CEO, former Congressman Devin Nunes, with McGurn — but the stock kept sinking anyway.

    The stock rose 0.6% on the news Thursday, and up by half that amount the next day at $9.66. Before Trump took office last year, it closed at $40.


  • Clara Ester, activist who rushed to Martin Luther King Jr. after he was shot, dies at 78


    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Clara Ester, an activist who as a 20-year-old college student rushed to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s side when he was shot, has died.

    Ester, who died on July 9 at the age of 78, was among a few remaining witnesses to King’s assassination and its immediate aftermath in Memphis. With the passing of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. in February and Ester this month, King aide and former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young is believed to be the last surviving eyewitness to the shooting.

    Ester Grew up in Memphis attending Centenary United Methodist Church, where her pastor was civil rights leader the Rev. James Lawson.

    “We used to joke about colored water being Kool-Aid and the white water just being water, and so that satisfied us as children,” Ester told The Associated Press in 2018, around the 50th anniversary of King’s death. “But until you see the racism, until you see what has been withheld from you because of your color — is what started to really truly anger me. And I knew if there was a movement that could help change any of that, I had to be in it.”

    Civil rights issues were often discussed from the pulpit of her church, Ester said. Lawson was very involved in the sanitation workers’ strike, so it was natural for her to become involved too.

    “I got to the point that I didn’t miss a mass meeting,” she said. “I picketed every day that the picket lines were up.”

    Even 50 years later, she clearly remembered the impact of hearing King’s speech at the Mason Temple the night before he was assassinated and how it seemed to foreshadow his death the next day.

    “He had seen the mountaintop,” Ester said. “It was evident on the balcony — how calm.”

    Ester had gone to the Lorraine Motel for dinner on April 4, 1968, when she saw King chatting on the balcony with people below. Then she heard a shot.

    “He was speaking calmly and pleasantly to a crowd,” she said. “And so he was happy at that moment. But to lay there with his eyes open, looking toward heaven. He had seen the promised land, and he may not get there with us, but he promised that we as a people will see the promised land.”

    Ester said she ran to King and saw he was struggling for air. She tried to loosen his belt and asked someone to bring towels to try to staunch the bleeding. After King was taken away by ambulance, she had to stay at the hotel, where she was questioned by police.

    When she was finally allowed to go home, her parents asked if she was OK.

    “I said, ‘No, I’m not OK. There’s something wrong with this.’ And it was many months later that I guess at some point, I just broke down,” Ester said.

    She left Memphis to work elsewhere that summer, and as soon as she finished school, she left for good.

    “It’s just too much to … it hurt me that it happened, but it hurt me that it happened in my hometown, that that’s the legacy for this city,” she said.

    Ester moved to Mobile, Alabama, where she found work as a neighborhood organizer at the Dumas Wesley Community Center, a Christian service program supporting children, seniors and people experiencing homelessness, according to her obituary. She later was named the executive director of the center, serving in that role until she retired in 2006.

    In 1986, she was commissioned as a deaconess in the United Methodist Church, a type of lay minister . She remained active in the church throughout her life and held leadership roles that included serving as the national vice president of United Methodist Women.

    Methodist Bishop David Graves met Ester when he was assigned to the Alabama-West Florida Conference in 2016. He wrote in a remembrance that Ester did not take to him at first, but gradually they came to love each other.

    “Thank you, Clara Ester, for a life well lived and for loving me. It changed me,” he wrote. “Clara will be missed immensely, but what a day of rejoicing is going on in heaven. For love will always find a way for those who trust in Jesus and seek to love even in our differences.”

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    Former Associated Press reporter Adrian Sainz contributed from Memphis.

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    This story corrects the age of Ester when King was killed.