Jodi opens up again about the serious anxiety that hit her after her mom’s surgery, and the heartfelt flood of support that’s helped her start feeling better. The gang shares grounding tricks listeners sent in – from the 3-3-3 method to sour candy, worry rocks, and the power of deep breathing. It’s a warm, honest reminder that even extraordinary people deal with anxiety, and talking about it really does help.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
NEW YORK (AP) — Charlie Brown began writing to a pen pal not long after the comic strip “Peanuts” debuted in newspapers back in 1950. No one has gotten a look at whoever was on the other end of his letters — until now.
Her name is Mia, and she’s a young girl from London of South Asian descent who uses a wheelchair. She glides into the spotlight in the animated movie “Snoopy Unleashed,” coming to Apple TV in 2027, helping Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the gang explore what being a pal is really all about.
“The story is really about what real friendship is about, and I think that continues to be something that’s relevant not only to kids, but adults,” says producer Bonnie Arnold.
“True friends love you for who you are. And that’s something that we not only have to learn as kids, but we have to remind ourselves as we become teenagers and young adults and adults and even in older age,” she added.
In the 80-minute movie, Mia makes a surprise visit to a suddenly flustered Charlie Brown, who has to live up to the curated version of himself that he has presented in his letters. His relationship with Snoopy is then strained, and the dog bolts for a nearby city. Naturally, Charlie Brown and the gang, plus Mia, give chase.
With Mia, the creators wanted to birth someone as different from Charlie Brown as possible — a girl, not from a suburb or a rural town, who moves through the world differently, without a pet, and someone with confidence.
“Charlie Brown is probably one of the most insecure human beings that we know. That’s what makes him charming. It’s how we see ourselves in him. So we felt that we wanted Mia to be more comfortable with who she is,” says director Steve Martino, adding: “A big part of her role in the movie is to be a mirror to Charlie Brown, to journey with him and to reflect some things that he couldn’t see himself.”
They landed on London as Mia’s home since that elevated the stakes.
“If this pen pal was going to come to visit, it would be a much stronger story if she came from much further away,” says Martino. “He has one shot to make a good impression.” (Plus, it gave Lucy the chance to believe somehow that Mia might be a royal ).
In the city, Mia is more comfortable than Charlie Brown and the gang, who are fish out of water, like encountering their first revolving door with amazement. The jazz score grows more frenzied as the children navigate honking traffic and the urban energy.
Snoopy’s trip to the city also introduces another new character: a nameless, gold-haired stray mutt who becomes his opposites-attract pal, like Mia and Charlie Brown.
“Snoopy definitely is more of a human-type character. He walks on twos and not fours,” says Arnold. The stray, on the other hand, “walks on fours, he barks, he pants, he’s more doglike, but he befriends Snoopy. Even though his actions are a bit puppylike, he’s a little bit more seasoned in the ways of being on the road.”
The script was written by Craig Schulz — “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz’s son — and his own son, Bryan Schulz, along with Cornelius Uliano and Karey Kirkpatrick. To accurately portray life in a wheelchair, the creators consulted several groups, including Disability Belongs.
Lara Mehmet, a wheelchair user who lives just outside London, was picked to voice Mia after a long audition process and helped the script sound more authentic.
While viewers today are more familiar with texts, instant messages and social media posts, the moviemakers hope they’ll see the same issues of authenticity and presentation in a story sparked by snail mail letters.
“On social media, we like to curate and project a life that is the very best of who we are. And I thought that is such rich story material to dig into,” says Martino. “We communicate differently today, but feelings that are universal.”
“Peanuts” ran in more than 2,600 newspapers, reaching millions of readers in 75 countries before ending in 2000. Charlie Brown and Snoopy have since thrived in the digital age with fresh specials and series.
In addition to “Snoopy Unleashed,” Apple TV has season two of “Camp Snoopy” on tap for June, a new special “Snoopy Presents: There’s No Place Like Home, Snoopy” premiering at the end of July, and the “Peanuts” classics “This Is America, Charlie Brown” and “The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show” will be available on the platform in early July.
The moviemakers credit Schulz for leaving a legacy of very believable kids and an ability to tap into the human experience, with all its vulnerabilities.
“What Charles Schulz did in the comic strips so well is kind of touch on things that affect us all at all ages, right? Some universal truths about relationships,” says Arnold.
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of two of the scriptwriters’ first names. They are Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano, not Brian Schulz and Neil Uliano.
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The International Olympic Committee is to pay more than $100 million to athletes, creating a fund for $10,000 grants for which they can apply after competing at a Summer or Winter Games.
The cash commitment from the IOC on Wednesday came after growing calls in recent years to pay prize money at the Olympic Games.
IOC member and former NBA star Pau Gasol announced the project, which will first be open to nearly 2,900 athletes who competed at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
Around 11,000 athletes due to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games also can apply for grants totaling about $110 million after those Olympics, if they meet eligibility criteria such as not testing positive for doping.
“This is a win for all of us,” said Gasol, who represents athletes on the 15-member IOC executive board, adding that it was “not prize money.”
The cash promise was the signature issue on the agenda of an IOC meeting setting a future strategy under its president Kirsty Coventry exactly one year after she formally took office.
The 42-year-old Coventry is a five-time Olympian and two-time gold swimming medalist for Zimbabwe. She was elected as the youngest president and most recent former athlete in the IOC’s modern history.
Paying prize money to Olympic medalists was a central policy for one of Coventry’s election opponents, World Athletics leader Sebastian Coe, who oversaw rewarding track and field champions at the 2024 Paris Olympics with $50,000.
“This is a historic moment for the movement and I’m absolutely delighted to be in the room when this has been announced,” Coe told his fellow IOC members, praising Coventry’s policy.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
MIAMI (AP) — Brazil great Ronaldinho has signed with Italian Serie C club Ravenna at age 46, more than a decade after retiring.
“I cannot wait to dance with the ball,” Ronaldinho said. “Football has always been joyful for me, and I’m excited to bring that spirit to Ravenna. Let the magic begin!”
The Ravenna club is run by Ignazio Cipriani of the Cipriani restaurant brand.
“(Ronaldinho) was my idol growing up,” Cipriani said at a presentation in Miami. “I hope his involvement inspires a new generation of supporters to fall in love with Ravenna.”
Ronaldinho last played professionally for Fluminense in 2015. It will mark his second spell in Italy after featuring for AC Milan from 2008-11. He won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and the Ballon d’Or in 2005.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS did better than expected getting refunds out to taxpayers during the 2026 tax season despite massive cuts to its workforce, but the national taxpayer advocate says taxpayers who needed human help were left behind.
“Taxpayers who required assistance from the IRS often struggled to get it,” said Erin M. Collins, who leads the independent watchdog agency of the IRS.
Collins earlier this year warned that the 2026 tax filing season was likely to present challenges for taxpayers who encounter problems with filing their taxes given the exodus of IRS workers since the start of the Trump administration.
The IRS started 2025 with about 102,000 employees and finished with about 74,000 after a series of firings and layoffs brought on by the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk. Last year, IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season were not allowed to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until after the taxpayer filing deadline. This year, many of those customer service workers have left.
Collins in a report released Wednesday, said that overall, the IRS performed better than she expected. “The vast majority of taxpayers filed their returns successfully and received their refunds without significant delay.”
Technology improvements and automation helped prevent a total meltdown during the tax season, according to the report. The IRS said in a statement that expanded self-service options and other tech improvements allowed IRS staff to assist taxpayers with more complex cases.
However, the agency fell short in answering phones, the report said. Some 59% of calls on major accounts management lines were answered, but taxpayers on compliance lines got through only 34% of the time, and the line that handles identity theft victims got through only 19% of the time.
Identity theft victims overall have to wait nearly two years for help from the IRS, the report said. This is a long-standing issue at the agency.
The taxpayer advocate report says more than 500,000 identity-theft victims continue to face average case resolution times of roughly 20 months, with average processing times approaching 600 days.
NEW YORK (AP) — A former chief of staff to ex-New York Mayor Eric Adams was arrested Wednesday in a federal bribery case about a lucrative migrant shelter contract, the latest sign that prosecutors continue to scrutinize Adams’ inner circle months after the scandal-bruised Democrat left office.
The charges against Frank Carone are the latest in a string of corruption allegations leveled at the former mayor — who was himself indicted on bribery and other charges that were later dismissed — and key aides. Separately, federal authorities searched the homes of current and former New York Police Department leaders Wednesday in connection with a different bribery investigation.
Adams was not accused of wrongdoing in Carone’s indictment. It alleges the ex-chief of staff exploited his position to get more than $100,000 in payoffs for steering a migrant shelter contract to a hotel that social service officials had deemed unsuitable.
“Frank Carone was entrusted to run our city government and instead put his own wealth and status above duty,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Winik told a court.
Carone and his brother, Anthony Carone; hotel owner Yan Po Zhu, and hotel employee Crystal Chen pleaded not guilty to various charges. The brothers sat across from each other at a defense table, where Anthony Carone rubbed his face and Frank Carone appeared to read along during the proceedings.
Frank Carone’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said outside court that the case was based on “assumption after assumption after assumption.”
“There is not one fact that indicates Frank Carone did anything specific to influence anything in our government,” Aidala said. The other defendants and their attorneys declined to comment.
Carone, a former Brooklyn Democratic Party lawyer and longtime political power broker, is widely credited as one of the architects of Adams’ political rise. He also drew attention for his financial dealings with a Roman Catholic priest who let pop star Sabrina Carpenter film scenes for a provocative music video in a church.
Federal investigators later subpoenaed the church. “They found nothing,” Aidala said Wednesday, contending that the government first targeted Carone, then looked for a case.
Carone played a key role in Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign, was chief of staff in 2022, then left and formed a political consulting firm.
He “dedicated decades of his life to public service, the legal profession and helping countless individuals, businesses, and charitable organizations throughout New York,” Adams spokesperson Todd Shapiro said in a statement.
Starting in 2022, the city scrambled to expand its shelter capacity amid an influx of migrants. Zhu’s hotel got $6.8 million to shelter some of the new arrivals, though the city’s Social Services Department had repeatedly rejected the facility, which was small and in a Queens neighborhood where residents objected to more shelters, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said in court papers that Frank Carone accepted around $120,000 in bribes from Zhu and Chen to intercede on the hotel’s behalf. The money was passed through Anthony Carone’s law firm, according to the indictment.
In a September 2022 text message, Zhu asked Frank Carone for help getting the hotel an immediate one-year contract, according to the indictment. It said Carone replied by asking for the address, and Zhu gave it, adding: “Thank you my big guy.”
In December 2023, Zhu texted Carone: “I asked my partners to pay you for a year,” according to the document. Carone, who is also charged with obstruction of justice, deleted the message after learning he was under investigation, prosecutors said.
Zhu “is anxious to establish his innocence,” lawyer Stephen Scaring said before the arraignments. All four defendants later were released on bond, ranging from $100,000 for Chen to $8 million for Zhu.
Separately Wednesday, the FBI and the NYPD executed search warrants at the homes of NYPD Chief of Manhattan South James McCarthy and former Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard, and federal agents also searched former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey’s home, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the searches. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the searches were part of a bribery investigation that grew out of an inquiry into Maddrey.
There was no immediate response to an inquiry to Maddrey’s attorney. Attorney information for Sheppard and McCarthy was not immediately available.
There is no public indication of any arrests as part of those searches.
They were not related to Frank Carone’s arrest, according to another person familiar with the matter who also was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Once the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, Maddrey resigned in 2024 over allegations that he demanded sex from a subordinate in exchange for opportunities to earn extra pay. Maddrey denied the claims of a quid pro quo.
Adams was indicted in 2024 on charges of accepting illegal campaign contributions from Turkish officials and others in exchange for political favors. The case was tossed by federal Justice Department leaders who said it was distracting Adams from assisting in Republican President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Adams has denied wrongdoing.
After skipping last year’s Democratic primary, Adams mounted but eventually abandoned an independent campaign for a second term.
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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut, and Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday reached a multi-state settlement with chemical giant Chemours Co. over years-long, illegal discharges of synthetic “forever chemicals” used to make products resistant to water, grease and stains. The settlement is the first by the federal government to resolve enforcement claims against a manufacturer of harmful chemicals known as PFAS.
Under the agreement, filed in federal court in West Virginia, Chemours will pay a civil penalty of $22.5 million for alleged violations and spend $90 million over 15 years to mitigate PFAS discharges in three states: West Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey.
Chemours, a spin-off of chemical maker DuPont, also agreed to install PFAS pollution controls for and surface water discharges and air emissions at a West Virginia facility at an estimated cost of $60 million, supply clean drinking water to communities near its West Virginia and New Jersey sites at an estimated cost of $280 million; and implement controls to reduce releases of PFAS and other toxic chemicals from its facility in North Carolina, based on a pending independent assessment.
Combined, the penalties and relief programs are estimated to cost at least $450 million, the Justice Department said.
The settlement allows Chemours to continue manufacturing PFAS for commercial and military applications while preventing future contamination and protecting communities from existing pollution, said Adam Gustafson, principal deputy assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division.
“The Trump administration recognizes the important role of Chemours for it commercial and military obligations,” Gustafson said in an interview. “The settlement protects public health while preserving that important balance.”
The settlement against a major PFAS manufacturer “delivers on the Trump administration’s promise to make polluters pay and stop PFAS contamination at the source,” said Jeffrey Hall, assistant EPA administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance.
The agreement will greatly reduce PFAS contamination of water, land and air and even begin to mitigate past harm, Hall said. “This settlement brings Chemours into compliance with the law and holds it fully accountable,” he said.
In a statement Wednesday, Chemours said it has already begun planning and implementing operational improvements at its facilities and will take steps to mitigate future emissions and enhance existing programs.
“This settlement provides Chemours with greater clarity on future compliance requirements and actions to support long-term responsible manufacturing,” spokeswoman Jess Loizeaux said.
The settlement comes as the Trump administration is expected to propose softening Biden-era limits on “forever chemicals” in drinking water, while delaying but keeping tough standards for two common types of the substance.
The proposal will start the formal process of rolling back parts of the first-ever limits on PFAS in drinking water finalized during former President Joe Biden’s administration. Officials at the time found they increased the risk of cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and babies being born with low birth weight.
The agency is committed to addressing Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water while following the law and ensuring that regulatory compliance is achievable for drinking water systems, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said.
The settlement determined that facilities Chemours operates in the three states have discharged PFAS into the Ohio River, Cape Fear River and Delaware River, respectively, in violation of permits required by the Clean Water Act and state laws. Chemours also violated legal requirements under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act at all three facilities.
As a result of the alleged violations, people living near the facilities were exposed to illegal PFAS, officials said. PFAS are widely used and found around the world, with scientific studies showing that exposure to some PFAS in the environment may be linked to harmful health effects in humans and animals.
The violations continued for over a decade, the Justice Department said. The facilities were previously owned for many decades by DuPont. The settlement announced Wednesday does not resolve DuPont’s liability for past PFAS violations, officials said.
A federal judge last year ordered Chemours to stop discharging unlawful levels of cancer-causing chemicals into the Ohio River from the company’s Washington Works plant in West Virginia. The pollutants endanger the environment, aquatic life and human health, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin wrote in the August 2025 order.
The West Virginia Rivers Coalition had asked Goodwin to require the company to immediately comply with its permit limits after violating them for more than five years.
DuPont, Chemours and another company, Corteva, agreed to pay New Jersey up to $2 billion last year to settle environmental claims stemming from PFAS. The federal settlement does not affect the state case.
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson called the settlement “an insult to the people of eastern North Carolina.”
His state is “ground zero for GenX contamination, but this deal does practically nothing to clean up our water,” said Jackson, a Democrat. GenX is a trade name for a synthetic chemical developed by Chemours as an alternative to PFAS but which has raised significant health and environmental concerns in its own right.
“Chemours made this mess, and Chemours should clean it up,” Jackson said in a statement.
The federal consent decree calls for 14 specific treatment systems to reduce PFAS in wastewater, stormwater and groundwater from the West Virginia plant. Chemours will test drinking water near the West Virginia and New Jersey sites and provide treated or alternative clean water.
DALLAS (AP) — Camp Mystic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on Wednesday, nearly a year after catastrophic floods killed 25 campers and two teenage counselors at the Christian camp for girls along the Guadalupe River in Texas.
Camp Mystic has been under increasing pressure since the July 4 disaster. Owners had planned to reopen the Texas Hill Country camp this summer for its 100th anniversary but reversed course in April amid outrage from victims’ families and lawmakers. Victims’ families filed lawsuits accusing the camp of failing to protect the girls as the powerful floodwaters approached.
Camp Mystic’s owner, Richard Eastland, also died in the flood.
The camp listed its debt at more than $10 million, according to the filing made in federal bankruptcy court in Houston. An attorney for Camp Mystic has not responded to an email and a phone message seeking comment.
“Bankruptcy will not stop all responsible parties from being held accountable,” Paul Yetter, a lawyer who represents multiple families of campers and counselors who died at Camp Mystic, said in a statement. “These innocent girls deserve justice.”
For decades, Camp Mystic was a summer staple and an institution for generations of families, who dropped off their girls at the sleepaway camp to ride horses, canoe, fish and attend Bible studies. Other summer camps in Kerr County, west of Austin, did not take on such devastating flooding and in some cases have reopened.
All told, the destructive flooding killed at least 136 people along a several-mile stretch of the river, raising questions about how things went so terribly wrong.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Eastland family spent months determined to reopen the camp this summer, pointing to enhanced safety measures that included flood warning river monitors and putting two-way radios enabled with national weather alerts in every cabin.
By the spring, Camp Mystic’s attorney said it was ready to reopen for business for nearly 900 campers.
But assurances of safety did not convince victims’ families and some Texas lawmakers. State regulators found nearly two dozen deficiencies in the emergency operations plan submitted by the owners, including in proposals for flood warning evacuations and safety training.
The decision not to reopen followed weeks of testimony in court hearings and legislative investigations that laid bare the camp’s lack of detailed planning for a flood emergency and its reliance on poorly trained staff.
Families of the victims packed the hearings, some wearing “Heaven’s 27” pins with photographs of their daughters. They listened to the details of missed flood warning signs, the descriptions of the flood and the decision to leave the girls in their cabins until it was too late. Testimony included video of the raging floodwaters as a girl repeatedly screamed “help!” somewhere in the distance.
Before halting the reopening plans, Camp Mystic invited journalists and lawmakers to review safety improvements at the camp and promised that no camp activities would take place in the low-lying area that was devastated by the flood. The Eastland family also stressed that hundreds of families wanted to return.
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McCormack contributed to this report from Concord, New Hampshire.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks wavered to a mixed close on Wall Street Wednesday as technology stocks once again weighed down the market.
Declines for several influential tech heavyweights, including Microsoft, pulled the broader market lower even though most stocks in the S&P 500 gained ground. That was also the case on Tuesday, when tech stocks pulled the market lower despite broader gains elsewhere.
The S&P 500 fell 7.24 points, or 0.1%, to 7,358.22, despite nearly 2 out of every 3 stocks gaining ground. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is less weighted with tech stocks, rose 182.06 points, or 0.4%, to 51,848.90.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 110.40 points, or 0.4%, to 25,476.64.
A 2.3% drop in Microsoft was the heaviest weight on the market. Oracle slumped 4.6%.
Many large tech companies have been behind Wall Street’s record-setting run throughout the year, but analysts have warned their valuations may have become stretched.
“The next phase of the AI investment cycle is beginning to collide with market discipline,” said Jason Vaillancourt, chief portfolio strategist at Columbia Threadneedle, in a research note.
Google’s parent company Alphabet slipped 0.2%. The company is replacing Verizon in the Dow on Monday. The company’s inclusion in the S&P 500 means more to investors, however, because 401(k) accounts are much more likely to include an S&P 500 index fund than anything tied to the Dow.
Alphabet will become the fifth Magnificent 7 company to join the Dow. The others are Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia.
Oil prices continued slipping as the U.S. and Iran negotiate a possible end to their war. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 3.8% to $73.87 a barrel. It has been trading below $80 in recent days but is still above the roughly $70 per barrel it was trading at in late February before the war began. U.S. crude prices fell 3.9% to $70.34 a barrel.
Oil companies had some of the biggest losses. Exxon Mobil fell 2% and Chevron lost 2.6%.
Some of the bigger winners on Wall Street included homebuilders following approval of legislation beneficial to the industry. KB Home surged 16.7% and D.R. Horton jumped 6.7%.
Treasury yields mostly fell, removing some pressure from stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.40% from 4.50% late Tuesday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury eased to 4.15% from 4.16%.
Treasury yields are still elevated from earlier in the year, especially the 2-year Treasury, which more closely tracks anticipated action from the Federal Reserve. The central bank has signaled that it is considering raising its benchmark interest rate by the end of the year. Wall Street is forecasting at least one hike to interest rates by December, according to data from CME Group.
The Fed is worried about stubborn inflation, which had been rising throughout the year as tariffs raised the costs for a wide range of goods. A shock to energy prices because of the U.S. war with Iran worsened inflation. Gasoline prices surged and shipping costs rose. The impact is expected to linger even as oil and gasoline prices fall.
The central bank will get an update on inflation Thursday, when its preferred measure for prices is released. Economists expect the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, or PCE, to show that prices rose 4.1% in May. That would be the highest level in three years.
“Thursday’s PCE is set to take on greater importance for markets, especially since Federal Reserve Chair (Kevin) Warsh was emphatic in last week’s meeting about the central bank’s desire to achieve price stability,” wrote Rick Gardner, chief investment officer at RGA Investments, in a research note.
Gold prices fell 3.4% to settle at $4,008.80 an ounce. Earlier in the day, gold briefly traded below $4,000, and hasn’t settled below that level since November. Gold was above $5,000 an ounce earlier in the year. The precious metal is often seen as a barometer of the appetite for risk among investors, with more buying at times of increased anxiety and more selling as anxiety eases.
Markets were mixed in Europe.
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AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump will be on Washington’s National Mall on Wednesday seeking to deliver a campaign-style rally that gets Americans excited about his presidency and America’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
The event comes after a day of tense meetings between Trump and Republicans in Congress over the Iran war, and a decision by a federal judge that sets back Trump’s agenda to overhaul U.S. elections. Trump’s role as the anniversary event’s headliner emerged after several musicians canceled their appearances, citing concerns the event had become politicized.
Also Wednesday, a federal judge permanently barred the Trump from implementing most of his first executive order on elections, part of which sought to require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote. The judge agreed that the states and Congress have constitutional authority over elections, deeming Trump’s requirements a violation of the separation of powers.
And at a luncheon, Trump met with GOP senators who have grown increasingly frustrated by his diversions from the party’s agenda and his unclear Iran war strategy. Republican senators had hoped to use the housing bill Trump abandoned to show voters they care about affordability ahead of the November midterm elections.
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From where Trump will stand on stage, he may be able to see the giant Ferris wheel alit in neon colors in front of the Capitol.
People are standing shoulder to shoulder filling up most of the lawn as the sun starts to set. Most have their phones out to record.
Author and podcaster Jocko Willink walked attendees on the National Mall through the colonies’ underdog fight against the British during the American Revolution.
That victory, he said, “unleashed a force which to this day has been completely unmatched in the world.” He went on to enumerate hard-fought privileges including “the freedom to speak, to protest, to worship, the freedom to protect ourselves, our families and our property.”
Something Willink didn’t mention was the contribution of the French, whose military forces and funds helped make significant strides toward Britain’s defeat.
Hattie Harris was visiting her uncle in northern Virginia when her niece who works on Capitol Hill told her of Wednesday’s event.
Harris, a Montessori teacher from Mesa, Arizona, had no idea what the program included — besides one thing.
“I came for the flyovers,” she said. “I will drop everything for flyovers.” The military aircraft buff didn’t even know Trump was expected to speak.
At that moment, she pointed overhead and cried, “Look!” The stealth B-2 bomber cruised overhead, drowning out the U.S. Marine Corps Band.
Asked her thoughts about the evening’s featured speaker — after she learned it was Trump — Harris shrugged.
The rally shifted from up-tempo pop performances to a more somber moment as Frank Siller, CEO of Tunnel to Towers, asked the crowd to remember firefighters and other first responders who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack.
Siller’s nonprofit was founded in honor of his brother, Stephen Siller, a New York firefighter who died on 9/11.
“As I look out at this incredible gathering of families celebrating everything that makes this country so great, we must remember the extraordinary sacrifices of ordinary people,” Frank Siller said.
It was one of the first moments of the rally focused on important events in U.S. history.
U.S. gasoline prices decreased an average of 49 cents a gallon in the last month as expectations rose for an end to the war with Iran. But they’re not falling fast enough for Trump.
Trump, who wants to stave off the economic fallout of the war ahead of midterm elections, is now pointing at oil companies as the culprit. The president said on social media early Wednesday that he had tasked the Justice Department with investigating whether “customers are being ’gouged.’”
“The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post published just after midnight. “Gasoline prices better start going down a lot faster than what I’m seeing!”
Crude oil is the main ingredient in gasoline, and its cost makes up the bulk of what consumers pay. Even after crude prices come down, it can take weeks or longer for market changes to reach consumers, experts said.
About an hour before Trump’s speech, the grassy area on the National Mall was about half full.
The crowd cheered as the U.S. Marine Corps Band was drowned out temporarily as two fighter jets roared overhead.
Jacob Wankasky and his family, from Buffalo, New York, peeled off a day early from a trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania, when he and his wife Jennifer realized they could see Trump before a planned visit Thursday to the State Fair with their children, ages 4 and 6.
“The fact that we can be here with our kids. It’s a once in a lifetime chance,” Wankasky said as his wife and children sat in the sun-splashed grass of the National Mall listening to the Marine Corps Band’s rendition of “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
“It’s unpurchasable,” he said.
Wearing a bright red “America Is Back” cap, Wankasky, a 42-year-old antique mall owner, said Trump’s return to the White House was a relief in a time of “insanity.”
“I don’t know if our country could have taken another four years of Biden or whoever,” he said. Trump “stopped a freight train.”
While some on the National Mall traveled many hours to get there, Joe and Natalie Cox took the metro from Arlington, Virginia. They came “out of curiosity and to mark an historic occasion,” Joe said.
The couple said the event was an opportunity to take stock of “the necessary sea change” that Trump’s return to the White House represents.
“We could hardly skip it,” Natalie said. “We live 4 miles away.”
Joe, a retired Army officer and military contractor, and Natalie, who worked for 30 years at the Red Cross, suggested the events were a time for the country to come together.
With Frankie Valli pouring from the stage speakers, Joe, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he approved of the war against Iran.
“It had to be done,” he said. “I’ll be glad to no longer hear ‘Death to America.’”
The lead-up to the program had very much the feel of an outdoor summer concert.
The rows of chairs nearest to the stage filled up with VIPs, as the grass slowly populated with attendees sitting on blankets.
All sorts of flag-themed outfits, from overalls to skirts and hats, were common, as well as the “Make America Great” hats that have become the unofficial uniform of Trump’s political rallies going back a decade
Karen and Brian Ontrap drove more than 500 miles from northwest Ohio with their children, having planned the trip in January to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary and, for some in the group, see Washington for the first time.
The rally on the mall “was a bonus,” said Karen Ontrap, a 51-year-old customer service representative for an aluminum casting company.
Standing in the shade near the stage where Trump was to speak, she said the pair support the president “100 percent.”
They were among the early arrivals to the section of the National Mall that was cordoned off, with a concert-style stage festooned in U.S. flags at one end and a mock White House exterior at the other.
A sprawling legislative package aimed at lowering the cost of housing and spurring more home construction won bipartisan approval from Congress this week. But it hit a major roadblock in becoming law: President Donald Trump.
The White House supported the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, but on Wednesday Trump canceled the signing ceremony for the bill, saying he would not sign the measure until Congress passes legislation that would require proof of citizenship for all voters.
The measure is the culmination of months of negotiations by lawmakers who combined dozens of bills meant to address how housing affordability for both renters and aspiring homeowners in the U.S. has grown increasingly out of reach for many Americans.
The bill would reduce federal regulations, streamline environmental reviews, speed up the construction process and curb the influence of corporate landlords by limiting their ability to purchase single-family homes.
The Pentagon said Wednesday that boot camps for all the military services are once again requiring the flu vaccination for all recruits after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the shot optional for the military at the end of April.
The development, confirmed to The Associated Press by a Pentagon official, comes amid a growing, weekslong, flu outbreak at the U.S. Air Force’s boot camp at Lackland Air Force Base that has sickened nearly 300 people. However, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not cleared for public release, maintained that the permission to mandate the vaccinations was unrelated to the outbreak.
When Hegseth first announced the repeal of the flu vaccine mandate in April, citing “medical autonomy” and religious freedom, he allowed the services to ask for exceptions — or permission to keep the vaccine mandatory — within 15 days of the rollout.
— Konstantin Toropin and Mike Stobbe
The NATO chief said of the contractors: “You have been very harsh with them a couple of weeks ago.”
“I had one of them over in my office. He was still trembling,” Rutte said. “And I said, this is good. This is exactly what I need.”
The president has held a series of meetings with Pentagon officials and leading military contractors at the White House in recent days, discussing ways to increase munitions production after the war in Iran raised concerns about the U.S. eating into its stocks of missiles.
Rutte met with Trump in the Oval Office and, as he usually does, praised Trump in hopes that he won’t make good on threats to pull the U.S. out of NATO.
“There are certain things that we have to certify have happened that have happened in order to comply with American law,” the vice president said.
“We’re running the traps and confirming that it’s happened. This is really a congressional thing and ensuring that Turkey has complied with American law so they can get the F-35s.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the findings of a Pentagon investigation into a missile strike on an Iranian primary school on Feb. 28, the first day of the war with Iran, would be released “when the appropriate time is right.”
But Trump said he’s “seen nothing to lead me to believe it was us.”
Trump called the incident “horrible” but said: “I don’t know that they’re ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it, because there were missiles flying all over the place.”
The president fleshed out his plans for a Justice Department investigation into why gasoline prices have not fallen as quickly as oil futures after the signing of an interim deal for talks to end the Iran war.
“The oil companies are possibly gouging,” Trump said. “I hope they’re not. Otherwise they’re going to be in big trouble. They’re going to be in big trouble. We’re not going to play games.”
The president indicated that his targets for any inquiry would be some of the world’s leading energy companies, including firms he has hosted at the White House.
“So it’s ExxonMobil, it’s Chevron, it’s Shell, it’s BP,” he said. “It’s a lot of them.”
“We don’t need their money we don’t need anything,” the president said during his meeting with NATO’s chief. “We have the most powerful military in the world by far. But I just want loyalty.”
He added: “We’re always fighting for them.”
Trump has sharply criticized NATO and renewed his threats to leave the alliance after complaining that its members did not do enough to support the U.S. during the war with Iran.
Calling Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “courageous,” the president also acknowledged ongoing losses among both Ukrainian and Russian forces in the war, now in its fifth year.
“He’s holding his own at least,” Trump said. “A lot of people dying on both sides, but I think he’s doing pretty well.”
Ukraine’s General Staff said Wednesday that its forces struck a major natural gas processing plant and two key satellite communications centers in the latest nighttime attacks on Russia.
Ukraine’s aerial campaign targeting energy facilities and military industries has intensified as Kyiv builds bigger and better long-range weapons to fight Russia’s invasion.
In response, Zelenskyy has said Moscow has ordered redeployment of some air defense systems from Russian regions to the capital and to Crimea’s Kerch Bridge, a crucial link for supplying Russian troops.
He said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan phoned him and asked him to attend the defense alliance summit in the capital of Ankara in July.
“He said, ‘Please, I have it in Turkey. You got to be there. The United States has to be there,’” Trump told reporters. “And so I’m going out of respect to President Erdogan.”
Trump said of Erdogan: “I like him. He’s a friend of mine.”
He said he was glad Turkey stayed out of the war with Iran.
A reporter asked Trump if he would come to Turkey with a “gift bag” of fighter jets for Erdogan.
“I think so,” Trump responded. “I’m going to probably do something that’s going to make him very happy.”
The White House has formally requested the funding mostly to replenish the Pentagon after the war against Iran.
It submitted the request to Congress at a politically difficult time, as a majority of lawmakers have objected to any further military action.
The Office of Management and Budget sent the supplemental spending request Wednesday.
Talking up his deployment of National Guard troops in the city, the president pointed to Rutte and said that had the NATO chief come two years ago, “you had a good chance of being mugged, although you’re a very big guy.”
“They would have mugged him up. They would have beaten the hell out of him,” Trump said to laughs.
He further suggested that going to dinner two years ago, Rutte might have been “robbed when he got into the restaurant.”
The president has bragged for months about troops dramatically lowering Washington’s crime. Their presence has had little demonstrable effect on reducing the kinds of violent crime Trump warned Rutte about, however.
Saying “sick people” used razors and box cutters to slice portions of the lining, Trump said Wednesday that part of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool would be drained again for repairs.
He wasn’t sure if that would come before or after the July 4 holiday, during which thousands of people will be in the area.
Trump said six people have been arrested over damage, which he characterized as a “350-foot gash” in the lining.
The troubled $14-million-plus rehabilitation project has become a visceral flashpoint over law enforcement, aesthetics and environmental concerns ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
The century-old Reflecting Pool has been drained, painted and plagued with algae bloom, with pieces of the new coating appearing to peel off the bottom.
Asked on Wednesday if he’d be willing to work out a deal to get the housing bill signed, Trump pushed for the lowering of interest rates and also reiterated his push for a measure to introduce new voter identification requirements.
“Lower the interest rates, you can have all the housing you want,” Trump said.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump said he had called off a planned signing for a bipartisan measure to increase home construction until passage of the SAVE America Act.
The cancellation was awkward for Capitol Hill Republicans, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who had just described the measure as a “really important bill to lower housing costs” before Trump called off the signing.
Bernie Sanders recently campaigned in New York alongside Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The Vermont senator said Tuesday’s victories by Mamdani-backed candidates prove Americans are “saying enough is enough.”
“You want a government that represents ordinary people, not just the rich,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill. “That’s what last night was about. That’s what we’ve seen for the last number of months. I think you’re going to continue to see it.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from neighboring Connecticut, said voters are “clearly telling us they want us to be bolder,” but also cautioned against reading too much into the results.
“Obviously, in New York, the mayor and AOC have enormous power inside the Democratic Party today,” he said. “I’m not sure that election would reproduce itself; those results would reproduce themselves in every other state.”
Asked for his thoughts on the British politician Andy Burnham, who could soon lead the United Kingdom’s government, Trump professed his ignorance.
“I don’t know anything,” Trump said. “I see that he was, I guess, the mayor of a town. I hear he’s extremely liberal. Extremely.”
Burnham has been the mayor of Greater Manchester, which has a population in excess of 3 million.
These were Trump’s first statements on the 56-year-old who could soon succeed Keir Starmer as the prime minister.
Asked if he would want to be the first world leader for the new prime minister to visit globally, Trump said, “No, but I think we’re probably of a different persuasion.”
The president said the fiery progressives who swept establishment-backed Democrats in New York’s congressional primaries are so far left, “they’re really into Never, Neverland.”
Candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani notched big wins during primaries Tuesday night. Asked if that might mean the Democrats will nominate a far-left presidential candidate in 2028, Trump responded: “It should make it easier for Republicans because most of the nation is composed of sane people.”
“If you look throughout history,” Trump said, communism and socialism have “never, ever worked. It’s not going to work this time.”
Rutte had many compliments for Trump on Wednesday, but he gently pushed back after Trump listed his grievances with several European countries.
Having tried to work individual, bilateral deals on defense spending, Trump said he had been “disappointed” with some NATO members, including Italy, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Spain, which he called a “horror show.” Earlier this year, Trump ratcheted up his critique of NATO over the Iran war.
Acknowledging Trump’s assertion that the overall situation represented “a mixed bag,” Rutte also argued that “it would have been very difficult to do Iran without having Europe as a power projection platform for the United States.”
Meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, Rutte pushed back against Trump’s complaints that European allies weren’t there for the U.S. during the Iran war.
“I know there have been isolated cases about which you are really disappointed, but generally speaking, your European allies have been there with you,” the NATO secretary-general said.
Rutte noted that 4,000 to 5,000 U.S. planes took off from bases in Europe before Iran and the U.S. agreed to a ceasefire.
Trump has been critical of NATO and renewed his threats to leave the alliance during the Iran war. While introducing Rutte on Wednesday, Trump said, “They weren’t too nice to us in our recent little military skirmish.”
For his meeting with Trump, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte brought charts on easels and talking points on some big numbers in hopes of impressing a president who has often expressed disappointment with the defense alliance.
Rutte sprang to his feet while meeting with Trump in the Oval Office to discuss a chart he called “the Trump trillion,” which showed increased military spending by Europeans and Canadians.
The NATO secretary-general then pointed to another chart showing European companies’ investments support 195,000 jobs.