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  • Norman Rockwell people-watched in the West Wing lobby. Now those sketches are on public display


    WASHINGTON (AP) — For more than 40 years, sketches by American illustrator Norman Rockwell of scenes from the White House visitor’s lobby graced the walls of the West Wing, where every president from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump had seen them.

    Now, they’re going on public display for the first time after a nonprofit organization paid a whopping sum of more than $7 million for the sketches after they ended up on an auction block following a family dispute over their ownership.

    The four 1940s-era sketches titled “So You Want to See the President!” show people from all walks of life waiting to see President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. They depict U.S. senators, members of the military, the press and even a Miss America biding their time in the West Wing reception area, as they wait to be shown to the Oval Office.

    The White House Historical Association spared no expense for the sketches to prevent them from being “lost forever,” such as to a private art collection, its president Stewart McLaurin told The Associated Press. The public will be able to see them through June 2027 at the historical association’s “The People’s House” education center near the White House, he said.

    “And since they had been seen by the eyes of so many presidents and first ladies and senior White House staff and important visitors from around the world, we wanted the American people to see them,” McLaurin said. “So we acquired them.”

    The sketches had been put up for sale by a grandson of the White House official who received them as a gift from Rockwell.

    Rockwell is famous for his scenes of American life

    Rockwell, who became famous for his illustrations of everyday American life that graced covers of the Saturday Evening Post, spent hours at the White House people-watching from a chair in the West Wing lobby, McLaurin said.

    But after his sketches were consumed by a fire that destroyed Rockwell’s art studio in Vermont, he went back to the White House to collect more material.

    “So it’s really a combination of his memories from that first visit, the memories of the second visit,” McLaurin said. “And it is an array of these people representing the military and White House staff and members of Congress and the press corps and all kinds of people that literally, to this day, go through that space in the West Wing.”

    The first of Rockwell’s colorful sketches opens with scenes of the entrance gate, photographers waiting outside the White House entrance on West Executive Avenue and Stephen Early, a former AP journalist who became the third White House press secretary under Roosevelt, in a huddle with a group of journalists. Seated on red leather chairs and reading papers are members of the press and Rockwell, with a pipe in his mouth and legs outstretched.

    The next scene shows Miss America — identified as Rosemary LaPlanche, the 1941 titleholder — in a yellow dress and her sash, sitting on a red sofa alongside her publicity man. A kilt-wearing Scottish officer also sits nearby as a Secret Service agent hovers.

    U.S. Sens. Tom Connally, D-Texas, and Warren Austin, R-Vt., face each other in conversation as they sit on a red couch in the third sketch while a U.S. Navy “WAVES” officer looks on from a nearby chair. Gens. Joseph W. “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell and Edwin M. “Pa” Watson shake hands while being photographed, and an aide pushing Roosevelt’s lunch cart is chased by Fala, the president’s dog.

    The final sketch shows more uniformed U.S military members huddled in conversation and, finally, an aide opening the door to the Oval Office, where the president is glimpsed.

    “It’s such a little aquarium of these people and we’re like a fly on the wall as to what it was like at that particular period of time,” McLaurin said of the sketches.

    They were a gift for Roosevelt’s press secretary

    Rockwell made the sketches for Early and gave them to him after they appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in November 1943, during World War II, McLaurin said.

    Early, who died in 1951, had displayed them on the wall in his West Wing office and then kept them for many years after. In 1978, a family member turned the sketches over to the White House, where they were on display throughout the West Wing for more than four decades, sometimes in a hallway between the press offices that are mere steps from the Oval Office.

    The family’s ownership dispute began in 2017 when Thomas Early, one of the press secretary’s sons, saw them on a wall in the White House while watching a television interview with President Donald Trump, according to court records.

    William Elam III, a grandson of Stephen Early, said his mother received the drawings as a gift from her father, the press secretary, before he died, and that ownership had later passed to him.

    The illustrations had gone to the White House in 1978 under an agreement that required they be returned to Elam upon request. The White House gave back the drawings in 2022.

    A federal appeals court settled the dispute in May 2025, upholding a lower-court ruling in favor of Elam, according to court records. Elam put them up for sale.

    Association says the sketches are ‘priceless’

    Historians at the association have researched the people in the drawings to learn their stories, McLaurin said, and the exhibit will include a digital component that uses modern technology to bring the characters in the sketches to life.

    The association is still figuring out what happens to the sketches after the exhibit ends in June 2027. They may be shown in other venues, and may eventually end up back in the White House, McLaurin said.

    When the association learned the sketches were for sale, “our board affirmed that this is an acquisition that we should make,” he said.

    McLaurin said the privately funded association, which was founded in 1961 by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and receives no taxpayer dollars, had feared the sketches would sell for even more than the $7.25 million it paid for them. That is the most the association has ever paid for a work of art for the vast collection it holds as part of its mission to help the White House collect and display artifacts that represent American history and culture.

    “In our view, these are priceless works,” McLaurin said.


  • The Supreme Court lets the Trump administration end legal protections for Haitians and Syrians


    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria, exposing hundreds of thousands more people to potential deportation.

    The 6-3 decision overturns lower court orders and allows the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly end temporary protected status, a program that protects a total of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.

    It marked another victory at the high court for Republican President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration. Though the conservative-dominated court has put the brakes on some of Trump’s immigration policies, it handed him a second win Thursday in a decision clearing the way for the revival of a policy restricting immigrants seeking asylum.

    The court’s conservative majority found that the law doesn’t allow courts to question the process that immigration authorities use to revoke the protections.

    The opinion from Justice Samuel Alito also brushed aside arguments that Trump’s derogatory comments about Haitians showed the decision was unlawfully tinged by prejudice. He called the statements “insufficient to show that the termination of Haiti’s TPS designation was based on the race of the Haitian people.”

    Justice Elena Kagan forcefully disagreed, calling Trump’s comments “so repellent and racially inflected that the majority declines to put them in print.” Her dissent pointed out that Trump had said Haitians in the U.S. “probably have AIDS,” and he also amplified false rumors during the 2024 campaign that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating dogs and cats.

    Federal authorities deny that prejudice played a role, and argued that TPS was supposed to be temporary but has lasted over a decade in some cases.

    James Percival, DHS general counsel, applauded Thursday’s ruling. He said the program had become “de facto amnesty. This is a win for the rule of law and common sense.”

    In a Fox News interview Thursday, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called it “a victory 10 years in the making,” saying it allows Haitian migrants to “finally” be removed.

    Lawyers said Haitian immigrants would be in danger if they are sent back. “Simply put, the Supreme Court’s ruling will directly result in thousands of innocent people dying violent, needless deaths,” Geoff Pipoly and Andy Tauber said.

    They urged the Senate to approve an extension of deportation protections for Haitians that passed the House on a rare bipartisan vote in April.

    “Families are here, kids are going to school, parents are going into work, folks are trying to commute, and it’s like the Supreme Court just put all those activities on stop and put folks in limbo,” said Viles Dorsainvil, who runs a support center for Haitians in Springfield, Ohio.

    People with TPS are also a key part of the workforce in long-term care facilities, an industry group said. “This would be a dreadful loss for all seniors in our community,” said Rita Siebenaler, a resident at Goodwin Living, a senior living community in Virginia.

    The Justice Department appealed to the Supreme Court after judges postponed the end of the program for about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians. The high court sided with the administration before and allowed the end of the program for people from Venezuela.

    Since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, Homeland Security has moved to end the protections, including some that had been in place for more than a decade, for people from 13 countries.

    Immigration lawyers said the terminations were made through an improperly fast process, even though countries such as Haiti and Syria remain dangerous. Four Haitian women who were deported from the United States in February were later found beheaded and dumped in a river several months later, lawyers said in court documents.

    Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, called the ruling “a devastating betrayal of Haitian families who have lived, worked, and contributed to this country for years — only to be cast out based on anti-Black immigration sentiment.”

    The United States first granted protections to Haitians in 2010 after a catastrophic earthquake and extended them multiple times amid ongoing gang violence that has displaced more than a million people, according to court documents.

    Syrians were first granted protected status in 2012, during a civil war that lasted for more than a decade before the fall of President Bashar Assad’s government in late 2024.

    “Today, many of our community members, they feel lost,” Farrah AlKhorfan of Immigrants Act Now said about Syrian immigrants losing TPS protections. “They are trying to understand … what this decision means for them and how it will be implemented and how much time they will have to prepare for what comes next.”

    The program was created by Congress in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters, civil strife and other instability. It allows people already in the country to stay with work permits in increments of up to 18 months, but it does not provide a path to citizenship.

    ___

    Associated Press writer Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis and Collin Binkley in Washington contributed to this report.


  • Harvey Weinstein’s New York rape charge dropped after accuser says she can’t endure a fourth trial


    NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein won’t face a fourth trial on a New York rape charge. Prosecutors dropped the #MeToo-era case on Thursday after his accuser said she could not bear to testify again.

    The movie mogul still stands convicted of another sexual felony in New York and others in California, and he remains behind bars. But the New York rape charge had remained unresolved after an overturned conviction followed by two hung juries.

    Jessica Mann, a hairstylist and actor, spent days on the witness stand at all three trials, telling jurors that Weinstein raped her in a Manhattan hotel in 2013 and being questioned extensively about the complex relationship she had with him before and afterward. The Oscar-winning producer denied the charge and said everything that happened between him and Mann was consensual.

    In a letter that prosecutor Nicole Blumberg quoted in court Thursday, Mann said she could “no longer endure going through this,” adding that the 8-year-old case has “put me through more harm than good.”

    Blumberg told the court that prosecutors believe Mann and hail her “bravery, strength, courage and inspiration” to other survivors, but given her feelings about proceeding, “dismissal is appropriate.” With that, Judge Curtis Farber formally dismissed the case.

    Weinstein left court with a neutral expression, returning to jail to await a September sentencing on a New York sexual assault conviction involving a different woman. Prosecutors are seeking a 20-year prison term.

    Once Weinstein finishes whatever punishment he gets in New York, he’s due to serve 16 years in California, where he was convicted of raping a third woman, who’s an Italian actor. He is appealing both convictions.

    Weinstein’s lawyers said he was relieved by the dismissal of the case surrounding Mann’s allegation.

    “These charges should never have been brought to begin with,” lawyer Jacob Kaplan said outside court. “He is innocent.”

    Mann has testified that she had a consensual, on-and-off relationship with Weinstein, who was married at the time.

    But she told jurors she repeatedly tried to leave and said no to any sexual activity as he cornered her in a hotel room on March 18, 2013. They had planned to meet in the lobby for breakfast, but he had spontaneously taken a room.

    She said he persevered, demanding that she undress and grabbing her arms, until she was afraid to keep protesting.

    The latest trial, this spring, took a visible toll on Mann, 40. During five days of testimony, she was questioned for the first time about a diarylike, soul-baring note she wrote two days after the alleged rape, which the note did not mention. At one point during her testimony, Mann said she was struggling to focus, prompting court to wrap up early for the day.

    In her letter to the court Thursday, she said she had suffered a concussion shortly before her testimony, had headaches and other symptoms on the stand and ultimately “disassociated.” It was a humiliating addition to an already crushing experience, she wrote.

    “I have been fragmented, silenced, defamed and traumatized. I’ve paid the price of my reputation,” Mann wrote. Slamming the court, the media and Weinstein, she said her experience showed that “pursuing justice is better left a pipe dream.”

    Weinstein was one of the movie industry’s most powerful figures, a producer of such tastemakers and hits as “Shakespeare in Love,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Chocolat.”

    Then a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him became public in 2017, fueling the #MeToo campaign for accountability and eventually leading to criminal charges in New York and Los Angeles.

    He denied all of them and was acquitted of some, even as he was convicted of others.

    During a series of trials, Weinstein was convicted in 2020 of raping Mann. Then an appeals court overturned that verdict for reasons unrelated to her testimony. Jury deliberations broke down at a 2025 retrial, and jurors deadlocked again at this year’s retrial.

    The rape charge in this case was a low-level felony punishable by up to four years in prison — less time than Weinstein, 74, already has served.

    Weinstein didn’t testify at any of the trials, though he complained during and after the 2025 New York retrial that it was unfair; the judge disagreed.

    His lawyers have maintained that all his accusers had completely consensual sexual liaisons with a movie studio boss who could help them go places in show business. Weinstein himself has said he “acted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone.”

    The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted, unless they choose to be named, as Mann has done.


  • X Games looks for a reboot featuring familiar names — Scotty James, Eileen Gu — and new teams


    The X Games is out to show there are riskier moves in action sports than flying upside down above a halfpipe.

    The name that put action sports on the map, then turned it into big business that eventually landed in the Olympics with its risk-taking, counterculture vibe, will debut its multimillion-dollar reboot with nothing less than the future of one of the sports industry’s best-recognized brands at stake.

    Sports like snowboarding, skateboarding and BMX biking that were founded on a spirit of devil-may-care individuality are becoming team enterprises.

    Those same sports that were founded on the idea that it was more about hanging out and doing cool stuff than medals, money and winning are now building franchises that organizers say are selling as part of eight-figure transactions.

    The debut of the new team concept, scheduled to cover both the upcoming summer and winter seasons, is set for Friday in Sacramento, California. Among the headliners are skateboarding’s Nyjah Huston, Garrett Reynolds and Chloe Covell.

    Eileen Gu, Chloe Kim, Mark McMorris and Scotty James are among those signed up for the winter portion.

    “I love working on big ideas, and this is a big idea,” said Jeremy Bloom, the Olympic freestyle skier and former NFL receiver who was hired by MSP Sports Capital shortly after they bought a majority stake in the X Games from ESPN in 2022. “But ideas are only worth the word on the page. The execution of ideas is always the hardest part.”

    Did the X Games really need a reboot?

    What was wrong with the X Games? Nothing, really.

    The winter version, traditionally held in Aspen, Colorado, drew 50,000 fans this year and ratings on ESPN and ABC rose 48%.

    But when MSP — which has stakes in F1, and Premier League soccer teams among its investments — bought the property in 2022, it had a bigger vision.

    It wanted to build a season-long race for a title. The way to do that was by creating summer and winter teams that hold drafts. Both seasons will run over three events — for instance, the summer league will go to Tokyo and New Orleans after the debut in Sacramento; the final event takes place late next month.

    Earlier this year, the investment group UNA Sports Group bought the summer and winter teams based in New York for what the X Games said was an eight-figure transaction. Private equity investor Allen Thorpe bought the summer team in Los Angeles and the winter team based in Park City, Utah, the home of the 2034 Olympics. On Thursday, private equity group Summit Ventures and entrepreneur Ali El Ali bought the team based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

    Thorpe called the new version of the X Games “an entirely new category of sports ownership.”

    Bloom sees owning a franchise not as a revenue stream but rather, a growth opportunity.

    “When you set aside the NFL, which is really the 2,000-pound gorilla, it’s not really a world where you’re looking for, like, (cash-flow) return or profit-sharing return,” Bloom said. “You’re just looking at growth. Growth in a brand, growth in fans, growth of viewership.”

    Sports leagues have potential for growth (WNBA) but also carry risk (LIV)

    A best-case scenario for owners of these X Games teams might be to replicate what happened in the WNBA where, for instance, the Indiana Fever is worth an estimated five times its former value since the arrival of Caitlin Clark.

    F1 teams, thanks to spending caps and a surge in popularity driven by the Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” have also enjoyed a surge in value.

    UNA, which bought the New York franchises, made the decision partly based on a study it published that projected the value of the global action sports market at $650 billion in 2027.

    “Action sports today look remarkably like women’s basketball did five years ago or women’s soccer eight years ago: passionate participants, a loyal core audience, strong brand equity in the category leader, and a fragmented competitive landscape with no dominant league format,” the paper said in detailing the strength of the league idea.

    The paper made no mention of lessons learned from LIV Golf.

    The league always hoped its franchises would generate value and was trying to sell minority stakes in the teams, saying they were worth $300 million. The team concept hasn’t caught on and the pullout of the Saudi investment fund backing the league is putting the worth of those teams at risk.

    Will fans follow sports beyond X Games, Olympics?

    While golf still resides in the category of a niche sport, its schedule has a familiar cadence and the tug between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf largely was a difference in vision among some players who were rich and others who were richer.

    Action sports has less of that. For every athlete like Huston or Gu — whose sponsorship income dwarfs what they’ve collected in prize money over the years — there are dozens more who have to scratch out paychecks in sports that have struggled to generate big prize pools.

    “Skateboarding, depending on what your deals are, you can make some money,” said Bob Burnquist, a 14-time X Games skateboard champ who is the general manager of the Sao Paulo team. “But there were several times throughout your career, where I was there for glory and I did it and I knew it. Because if you quantify the risk, it’s not really on my side. If I won the event, I’d make ‘X,’ but if I got broken trying to win the event, I’d owe the hospital.”

    One of the lures for the athletes was a guaranteed base salary, the likes of which is basically unheard of in actions sports. Also, travel expenses will be covered and they’ll receive a health-care stipend, in addition to a prize-money pool. That’s among the reasons some of the biggest names, including Kim, Gu, Huston, James and McMorris signed on.

    Now, the question is whether enough people will buy into the team concept to the point where they’re willing to watch an entire season of action sports unfold.

    Bloom — a once-in-a-generation athlete and entrepreneur who made his mark both in individual and team sports — is staking his reputation and that of the X Games that the new idea will work.

    “It’s still special to win a world championship and World Cup overall titles and make it to the Olympics, there’s no doubt,” Bloom said. “But I was really drawn to this idea and notion that for the first time ever, action sports athletes could feel that camaraderie.”

    ___

    AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics


  • Hornets trade LaMelo Ball, Josh Green to Timberwolves for Naz Reid, draft picks, AP source says


    CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — LaMelo Ball is the latest NBA star with a new home.

    The Charlotte Hornets agreed to trade Ball, their starting point guard, and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for power forward Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round draft pick, three first-round pick swaps and three future second-round picks, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday.

    The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal, first reported by ESPN, has yet to be approved by the league.

    The three first-round pick swaps will be in 2028, 2029 and 2030. The Hornets also get three second-round picks in 2029, 2032 and 2033.

    The Hornets quickly moved to agree on a three-year, $74 million contract with new projected starting point guard Coby White following the trade, the person familiar with the situation told the AP.

    White, the all-time leading scorer in North Carolina high school basketball history, averaged 15.6 points and 3 assists per game while shooting 39.1% from 3-point range last season for the Hornets after being acquired in a trade with the Chicago Bulls.

    The 24-year-old Ball, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, had three years left on a five-year, $203.9 million designated rookie contract with the Hornets, which was a franchise record.

    An All-Star in 2022, Ball has struggled with ankle and foot injuries during his career, but he played in 72 games last season and averaged 20.1 points, 7.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game, helping the Hornets win 44 games before being blown out in the play-in tournament by the Orlando Magic.

    Ball finished second in the league in 3s made last year with 272, one behind rookie teammate Kon Knueppel.

    Ball is considered an exceptional offensive player, but his shortcomings on the defensive end were at times a source of irritation for coach Charles Lee.

    Still, Ball’s ability to create opportunities for his teammates off the dribble, his exceptional passing and unique knack for getting off 3-pointers — with shots often coming off one foot — via a stepback move, make him one of the league’s most dynamic scoring point guards.

    But Ball was never able to get the Hornets to the playoffs in his six seasons with the club, with injuries playing a role. Before this season, Ball missed 141 games over the previous three seasons.

    This trade is expected to be included as part of the transaction in which Minnesota agreed to send Julius Randle to Brooklyn in a deal that involved the Chicago Bulls, a second person with knowledge of the agreement told the AP. It will create an NBA-record trade exception of nearly $41 million for the Hornets.

    The deals cannot be finalized until July 6, when the league moratorium on such moves is lifted.

    It’s another blockbuster for the league, which has seen Giannis Antetokounmpo getting traded by Milwaukee to Miami for a package that includes Tyler Herro, a move that followed the Randle deal before the draft.

    Reid, 26, has spent all seven of his NBA seasons with the Timberwolves.

    After reaching the Western Conference finals in 2024 and 2025, the Timberwolves stagnated at times last season and were ousted in six games in the second round of the playoffs by the runner-up San Antonio Spurs.

    President of basketball operations Tim Connelly has never been shy about aggressive pursuit of roster improvement, from the package of draft picks he sent the Utah Jazz in 2022 for defensive ace Rudy Gobert shortly after taking the job in Minnesota, to the stunning trade of franchise cornerstone Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks two years ago.

    To make this work, the Timberwolves had to give up one of the most popular players in their history in Reid, the 2023-24 NBA Sixth Man of the Year who would’ve been in line for a starting spot after the departure of Randle.

    The 6-foot-11 Reid, who went undrafted out of LSU in 2019, worked his way into an excellent offensive player with a shooter’s touch from the outside who has the quickness to get to the rim. Playing through a painful shoulder injury this season, Reid appeared in 77 regular-season games while averaging 13.6 points and a career-best 6.2 rebounds per game.

    Their five-game loss in 2025 to the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder and their defeat by the Spurs last month made clear to the Timberwolves that they’re not yet at the championship level they’ve been chasing since building their roster around 2020 first overall pick Anthony Edwards. Now they’ll have the third pick in that draft to play next to Ball, one of the few remaining pure point guards in a league that has evolved toward more volume scorers serving as the primary initiators of the offense.

    Timberwolves coach Chris Finch lamented after the season his abrupt decision to make Edwards the starting point guard, a move Finch said last month set the whole team back.

    Trusty veteran Mike Conley will be a free agent and is now more of a limited-role player, leaving Minnesota’s front office looking outward for ball-handling options. The agreement to bring back Ayo Dosunmu went a long way toward solidifying the backcourt for the long term, but he’s more of a combo guard who can thrive off the ball.

    Connelly even hinted at a move like this on Tuesday night after the first round of the draft.

    “We have to ensure that we’re creating as many good shots as possible, specifically for Ant, and whether that’s on our present roster or whether it’s looking outside of our team, it’s something that we certainly have to address,” Connelly said.

    Hornets general manager Jeff Peterson decline to address the trade during a news conference Thursday in which the team introduced first-round draft picks Hannes Steinbach and Christian Anderson Jr.

    “There will be a time when we will address the roster and the transactions and stuff,” Peterson said. “We want to make this day about Christian and Hannes. They have earned it.”

    ___

    AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami and AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba


  • ‘Heat hazard’ declared for F1’s Austrian GP as Europe battles scorching weather


    SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Formula 1 drivers will carry extra cooling gear for this week’s Austrian Grand Prix after “heat hazard” rules were activated as hot weather causes disruption across Europe.

    It’s the first time F1’s heat rules, introduced last year, have been used for a race in Europe.

    A heat hazard applies when temperatures above 31 degrees C (88 F) are forecast for race day. It can get much hotter inside the cramped cockpits where drivers sit wearing layers of flameproof clothing. A forecast on the F1 website dated Wednesday said the maximum temperature expected for Sunday’s race was 32 C.

    McLaren’s Oscar Piastri predicted the start would be the toughest to handle, without air flowing over the car and cooling the drivers at least a little.

    “When you’ve got no air coming in, that’s when it’s the worst,” he said.

    While Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has been running in the heat in his home city of Milan, Piastri has built his own hot-weather training setup in his bathroom.

    “I’ve got a few portable heaters and a small bathroom and an exercise bike,” the Australian said. “You can cause yourself a lot of discomfort, a lot of pain by doing that. I do that for the benefit of my performance. Not for pleasure, that’s for sure.”

    The FIA declaring the heat hazard on Thursday means drivers either need to use cooling equipment or carry extra weight to ensure there’s no competitive advantage from not using the equipment.

    Drivers wear vests which pump cooling liquid through a network of tubes, linked to pumping equipment inside the car. Some drivers dislike wearing the equipment because they say it’s uncomfortable or distracting.

    The FIA started work on cooling technology for drivers after the Qatar Grand Prix in 2023 saw drivers require medical attention after feeling unwell in the heat.

    Heat hazard rules were first used at the hot and humid Singapore Grand Prix last year and also for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

    One driver who isn’t sweating the heat is Cadillac’s Sergio Perez.

    “I’m Mexican, so for me this is not too warm,” he said. “It makes me laugh that all the Europeans are concerned about this level of heat. But for me it’s pretty average.” Perez said he’ll still wear the cooling vest, though.

    ___

    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing


  • Road Trip Snacks MATTER – AFTER THE SHOW PODCAST 6/25

    With 72 million of us hitting the road for the Fourth of July, the gang debates the all-important road trip snack – and why that one choice matters so much!

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  • US jobless aid filings fall to 215,000 last week as layoffs remain low despite economic headwinds


    WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for jobless aid last week as layoffs remain low despite economic headwinds that are creating uncertainty for businesses.

    U.S. applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending June 20 fell by 12,000 to 215,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 225,000 new applications forecast by analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet.

    Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

    Despite concerns that the war in Iran would trip up an already wobbly labor market, hiring has picked up in recent months following a miserable 2025 that saw fewer than 200,000 job gains. For comparison, about 1.5 million jobs were added in 2024.

    U.S. employers delivered a surprising 172,000 new jobs in May and the economy is averaging 188,000 job gains in the three months since the Iran war began in late February. That’s the best three months of hiring since early 2024. The unemployment rate remains historically low at 4.3%.

    The government issues its June jobs report next week.

    Job openings also rose in April as employers posted 7.6 million vacancies, up from 6.9 million in March and the most since May 2024.

    The government also reported Thursday that the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose to a new three-year high in May as gas prices peaked due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz off Iran’s southern border, where one-fifth of the world’s oil typically passes every day.

    Consumer prices rose 4.1% in May from a year earlier, the largest annual increase since April 2023, largely driven by more expensive gas. While energy prices have fallen considerably from their peak during the Middle East conflict, those higher prices put the squeeze on consumers’ budgets for months and may have made businesses more reluctant to hire.

    Last week, Iran and the U.S. agreed to a deal to end the war and allow Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and sell its oil without restrictions.

    With inflation still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, officials at the U.S. central bank left the benchmark interest rate at its most recent meeting last week.

    Lower interest rates can boost the economy and hiring, but also tend to stoke inflation, leading a number of Fed policymakers to say they are actually willing to consider at least one interest rate hike this year. That could potentially help bring inflation down, but higher borrowing costs generally make businesses more reluctant to hire.

    The Federal Reserve has signaled that it could raise interest rates at least once before the end of the year. Wall Street sees an 85% chance that the central bank will raise its benchmark interest rate this year, according to date from CME Group.

    Optimism over artificial intelligence has also injected a degree of uncertainty about the job market due to the investment required to develop it and because the powerful technology could alter or even replace some jobs.

    Among the companies that have cut jobs recently are Verizon, UPS, Amazon, Disney, Starbucks and Walmart.

    Weekly jobless aid applications have stabilized in a range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 since the U.S. economy emerged from the pandemic recession. However, hiring began slowing about two years ago and tapered further in 2025 due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, his purge of the federal workforce and the lingering effects of high interest rates meant to control inflation.

    Thursday’s report showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 750 to 224,250.

    The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending June 13 increased by 21,000 to 1.82 million.


  • French soccer player drowns in the Rhone River as France swelters in a heat wave


    PARIS (AP) — A 21-year-old French soccer player with a second-division club has died after drowning during the heat wave that has gripped France.

    Kenzo Kies, who played for the Guingamp reserve team, died after being pulled from the Rhone River this week. Both Guingamp and Saint-Etienne, where Kies spent seven years in the club’s academy system, paid him a tribute in statements late Wednesday.

    France recorded its hottest ever day for the second day running on Wednesday. The Meteo France weather agency said the national thermal indicator — an average of temperatures measured at 30 weather stations — hit a new record of 30 C (86 F), the latest in a series of never-before-registered highs. The mercury surpassed 40 C (104 F) in some locations, including in Paris.

    At least 40 fatalities from drowning have been recorded in the past week as people seek relief in rivers and other bodies of water, despite authorities’ warnings about unsupervised swimming. Most of the drownings involved young people, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Tuesday.

    According to reports in French media, Kies was pulled from the Rhone River on Monday in critical condition after drowning in a prohibited swimming area near Lyon. He had since been declared brain dead.

    ___

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


  • Local Roundup: Chase Arrest, Sheriff Resigns, Cannabis Hotline Launched, Planned Parenthood Returns


    The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports that a man was arrested on multiple drug‑related and other charges following a vehicle chase on Monday. Deputies initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Gregory Hammett when he fled, leading officers through the Liberty Road area. During the pursuit, law enforcement observed Hammett throwing items from the vehicle, including a plastic bag and what appeared to be a handgun. After the chase ended, a search of the vehicle uncovered multiple empty marijuana packaging materials and handgun ammunition. Hammett was arrested and charged with felony fleeing or eluding a law enforcement officer, possession of marijuana in a motor vehicle, and tampering with physical evidence. Authorities say he was on parole for an Adams County aggravated assault conviction at the time of his arrest.

    In St. Tammany Parish, Randy Smith pled guilty to attacking a critic at a Madisonville restaurant and has resigned as sheriff. He entered guilty pleas to second‑degree battery, a felony, and disturbing the peace by public intoxication, a misdemeanor. As part of the agreement, Smith’s felony charge may be reduced if he completes an 18‑month intensive treatment program. Prosecutors said the resignation allows the sheriff’s office to move forward in an orderly manner.

    The Mississippi Poison Control Center has launched a dedicated medical cannabis hotline in response to the growth of Mississippi’s medical cannabis program. The hotline is free, confidential, and available daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. It connects callers with trained poison specialists who can provide guidance on symptoms, dosing questions, side effects, drug interactions, and accidental exposures. Officials noted that calls related to non‑medical cannabis exposures had been increasing prior to the creation of the hotline.

    Planned Parenthood is returning to Louisiana, with the first clinic reopening this fall in New Orleans. The facility will provide contraception, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, and general wellness services. The clinic will not offer abortion services because the procedure is illegal in Louisiana. Planned Parenthood officials said they can assist patients with travel to clinics in states where abortion is legal.

    The Mississippi River at Natchez‑Vidalia is recorded at 37.51 feet and rising.