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  • ‘Task’ master Brad Ingelsby put Ruffalo’s redemption at center of HBO series from the start


    LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Task” has tense standoffs between not-too-different cops and criminals. It has gunfights in the woods and heists that turn into bloodbaths that turn into kidnappings. Yet the HBO show’s most dramatic and essential moment may be a guy reading from a piece of paper.

    It helps that the guy doing the reading — a victim impact statement in court — is Mark Ruffalo, who is very likely to get an Emmy nomination next month for playing a former priest-turned-FBI agent seeking some kind of redemption for himself and his son who’s about to be sentenced for killing his mother, Ruffalo’s wife.

    “I think that stuff was some of the earliest we wrote,” “Task” creator and showrunner Brad Ingelsby told The Associated Press in an interview. “It was like, ‘OK, now, so that’s the emotional journey of the show and then we’ve got to figure out what the plot is.’”

    Ingelsby, who previously took Kate Winslet on a similar journey in similar Pennsylvania terrain in 2021’s “Mare of Easttown,” said the idea was “a man of faith and lost his faith in the face of this tragedy that sort of would have to have to find his way back to some belief.” The title “Task” refers both to the police team Ruffalo leads the religious responsibilities that linger in him.

    For the court statement, Ingelsby read about experiences of real-life parents of children whose mental disabilities have brought domestic difficulties.

    “I specifically remember reading a parent saying, ‘I hate Fridays. I hate going to school and seeing the parents pick up their kids because they’re going off to have a weekend. And for me, that’s the worst day because now I’m home with my child for two days on my own.’”

    Ingelsby has been writing films for 15 years, but really hit his professional stride with “Mare of Easttown,” his first foray into television, which won Winslet and her “Delco” or Delaware County, Pennsylvania accent (think “water” as “wooder”) an acting Emmy.

    The screenwriter was born and raised in the area outside Philadelphia where urban and rural intertwine both physically and culturally. He moved back around the time of “Mare,” set “Task” there and spoke to the AP from his production office there.

    That means he’s been walking around in the place, and among the people, he’s writing about.

    “I feel the burden of it when I’m writing things all the time. I feel like if anything, it makes me very vigilant about getting the details right,” he said. “There’s always somebody who says ‘they would never listen to that song or they would ever wear that T-shirt or they wouldn’t drink that beer.’”

    He adds, “It’s important to me. I want to do right by them. Even if they don’t like the characters or the decisions of the characters, I want them to feel like we got the place right.”

    “Task” was intended as a limited series like “Mare,” but in November HBO announced a second season.

    That means that for the forthcoming Emmys, in a move made in recent years by “The White Lotus” and “Shogun,” it shifted from the limited categories to drama.

    Along with Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey, who played the lost-soul criminal at the center of the story, is likely to get a nomination, and “Task” could easily get a raft of others.

    Ingelsby has never done a Season 2 of anything before.

    “It’s still weird to me that we’re doing another season, because in my head, in many ways, the story had a clear end,” he said.

    The idea came from HBO. Ingelsby entertained it simply because the collective cast and crew were such a good hang.

    “It really started with just an openness to come back and just work on the show, and that really stemmed from, you know, really loving all of just the time we got to spend together,” he said.

    The Season 2 cast includes two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali as a DEA agent. Martha Plimpton, who played against type but felt perfect as Ruffalo’s FBI supervisor, will be among the few returning.

    “She was such a find because I just felt like we really need to have some humor in the show,” Ingelsby said, “and Martha’s able to find the humor always.”

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    This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Ingelsby.


  • The cost to overcome a Trump endorsement? $100 million. Plus more takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries


    WASHINGTON (AP) — An endorsement from President Donald Trump is worth a lot in Republican primaries. But it’s not foolproof, especially when there’s a lot of money involved.

    Rick Jackson’s campaign spent more than $100 million, largely out of his own pocket, to defeat Trump-endorsed Burt Jones in the Republican runoff for Georgia governor. It was another rare example of the president’s choice falling short in a primary battle.

    Trump’s efforts were more successful elsewhere. His candidate for U.S. Senate won a runoff in Alabama, and his pick for Oklahoma governor advanced to another runoff there.

    Four states and the District of Columbia held primaries Tuesday. Among Democrats, the contests hinged on longstanding divides between progressives and moderates as the party tries to chart the best path forward to November.

    Here are some takeaways as votes come in from Alabama, California, the District of Columbia, Georgia and Oklahoma.

    Trump’s endorsement can be overcome — for a price

    Nothing is certain in politics, but a “complete and total endorsement” from Trump is about the surest path possible to winning a Republican primary.

    Jackson found another path to the Republican nomination for Georgia governor, but it was pricy. The billionaire healthcare tycoon personally supplied most of the $100 million-plus that his campaign has spent to persuade Republican primary voters to overlook Trump’s advice.

    Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones more than a year ago and reiterated his support last week, praising Jones’ “Courage and Wisdom” in a social media post.

    Before Tuesday’s runoff, Jackson came in second behind Jones in the May 19 primary, though nearly a third of voters backed other candidates.

    Jackson will face Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, in November to lead one of the nation’s preeminent battleground states.

    Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s Republican primary for governor tested Trump’s endorsement in a different way. There, the president weighed in late, throwing his support two weeks ago to former state Sen. Mike Mazzei among a crowded field without a clear front-runner. Mazzei secured a spot in a runoff on Aug. 25, finishing nearly even with Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

    Trump is used to getting his way, but earlier this month his choice for governor of Iowa, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, lost to Zach Lahn in the state’s primary.

    MAGA becomes the insider movement and faces an outsider

    Trump rose to power as an outsider, the head of a “Make America Great Again” movement keen to bulldoze the old political order.

    But now the onetime insurgent sits atop a sprawling establishment. What happens when he endorses an insider candidate?

    In Alabama, it worked out for Trump. He successfully backed U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, a three-term congressman who has promised to be “a warrior for President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda” if elected to the Senate.

    Moore defeated former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson, who presented himself as a Washington outsider and tried to harness the anti-establishment fervor that propelled Trump to power to defeat Trump’s preferred candidate.

    Alabama is a Republican stronghold, so the GOP primary victor will be heavily favored to prevail in November.

    The seat is being vacated by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican nominee in the race for Alabama governor.

    DC mayor’s race features a democratic socialist and a new voting system

    One of the leading Democratic contenders in the District of Columbia mayor’s race, Janeese Lewis George, describes herself as a democratic socialist, a political denomination that became more prominent with Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns.

    Lewis George’s bid for the party’s nomination is not so far removed from democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s upset victory for New York City mayor last year. The race has drawn national attention, including the president’s.

    Trump indicated days before the mayoral primary election that he might take over the city if Lewis George wins, saying “we won’t put up with it.” Lewis George called Trump’s threat “an attack on democracy itself.”

    The overwhelmingly Democratic city’s relationship to the president is a focal point of the campaign as Trump has exercised broad power over Washington, D.C. That’s included an open-ended deployment of National Guard troops in the streets and his culling of the federal workforce, a chunk of the city’s jobs.

    Some residents were frustrated that the mayor, Muriel Bowser, didn’t push back enough on the administration. Part of Lewis George’s platform on her website, which heavily focuses on affordability, is to “protect Home Rule” with “leaders that stand up and fight back, not shrink in the face of injustice.”

    The race was too early to call on Tuesday night, and it could be decided by D.C.’s new ranked choice voting system.

    Like a handful of other places, D.C. voters ranked the candidates on a ballot, and if no one crosses 50% of the popular vote, then residents’ second choices come into play. That happened in Maine, where election officials started counting ranked choice votes for governor and a key House race three days after election night.

    In D.C., election officials have warned the new system could delay results by days.

    Georgia Republicans opt for candidate less skeptical of the 2020 election

    State Rep. Tim Fleming won the Republican nomination for Georgia secretary of state Tuesday night, defeating opponent Vernon Jones, who leaned more into conspiracies over Trump’s loss to Joe Biden.

    The two were competing in an election to replace Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who resisted Trump’s unfounded claims of election fraud and the president’s request to “find 11,780 votes” six years ago.

    Those claims hovered over Tuesday’s race.

    Jones had said he believes there were “irregularities” and “violations” in 2020 and he stands “with those who believe there was election fraud.” Of four key points on Jones’ campaign platform, three had to do with election management, including stronger voter identification rules.

    Fleming tiptoed around the topic, saying there were “irregularities” in 2020 but adding he’s “not running on conspiracy theories.” Of the seven platform points on his campaign website, however, four were focused on election management and one said the state should “make it impossible for the Left to cheat in our elections.”

    Fleming will face Democrat Penny Brown Reynolds, who won her party’s nomination Tuesday.

    More progressive candidate advances in California race to serve out Swalwell’s term

    Democrat Eric Swalwell resigned from the U.S. House and dropped his bid for California governor in April after a woman alleged he had sexually assaulted her twice, saying she was too intoxicated to consent to sex in both cases.

    A special primary election was held Tuesday to finish Swalwell’s term, and Democratic state Sen. Aisha Wahab advanced to the special general election on Aug. 18. It remained too early to determine who would fill the second slot.

    Whoever wins will serve in the U.S. House through January. Wahab was favored along with Melissa Hernandez, a Bay Area Rapid Transit director.

    Wahab, who’s established in California politics, represents a more progressive wing of the party, while Hernandez is a local politician who sits closer to the political center. To lower costs, Wahab takes aim at “corporate profiteering” and argues for an expansion to social safety nets. Hernandez focuses on local job growth and supporting small businesses.

    Both candidates also ran in the regular primary election for Swalwell’s seat and will face off in the general election in November. Whoever wins that race will take over next year.

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    This story has been corrected to show Trump wanted to find 11,780, not 11,800, votes.

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    Cooper reported from Phoenix, and Bedayn from Austin, Texas.


  • ‘Paddington’ stage musical to pack its marmalade sandwiches and travel to Broadway


    NEW YORK (AP) — The marmalade-loving, Peruvian emigree bear Paddington is on the move again. Next stop, Broadway.

    “Paddington The Musical” will play the Al Hirschfeld Theatre starting in March after wowing critics in London and winning seven Olivier Awards earlier this year, including best new musical.

    “The excitement around the show and the sort of joy that it seems to be bringing people has put wind in our sails and marmalade in our suitcases,” says director Luke Sheppard.

    The move is not entirely unexpected. During the Tony Awards’ opening number, a Paddington stuffie was brought out by Neil Patrick Harris, to which host Pink responded, “Maybe next season.”

    “Spoilers!” Harris said.

    Based on Michael Bond’s children stories, “Paddington The Musical” was written by playwright Jessica Swale and songwriter and author Tom Fletcher of the band McFly.

    Paddington has been having a revival thanks to three successful movies and an onscreen appearance with Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, just weeks before her death. The bear recently graced the cover of Rolling Stone in the U.K.

    “The films I think have looked after him brilliantly and allowed him to find an identity that lives in this moment and speaks to new audiences,” says Sheppard. “We’re very proud to be the sort of the next custodian of him.”

    The musical’s plot is about this orphaned bear who goes to London and is taken in by a kind family. He learns how to handle his neighbors and new city but they also learn about his big heart. “Kindness is never complicated” is one of the show’s lyrics.

    “If we’re doing something it’s trying to spread kindness and that is such a simple thing that sometimes can feel quite difficult,” says Fletcher, adds there’s a message of welcoming immigrants and strangers also baked into the musical.

    “What’s really special about Paddington is that coming from Peru to London looking for a home, looking for family, that’s a very real story for a lot of people,” he says.

    Fletcher has leaned on his musical influences — everything from the Beatles and Queen to the Sherman Brothers and Alan Menken — for a score that reflects modern London’s varied and diverse sounds.

    Paddington — like his precious marmalade — is a national treasure in England but both are less well known in the United States, so the creative team will “get back under the hood” and see what tweaks they may need for a New York run.

    “We’re going to take this opportunity not to fundamentally change anything but to consider this a chance to fine-tune and hone and upgrade,” Swale says.

    Its Olivier wins included a joint best actor in a musical award for James Hameed and Arti Shah, who together play the title role. Hameed provides the voice and remote puppetry, while Shah — the first woman to win a best actor Olivier — inhabits the bear costume onstage.

    The New York Post called it “a mesmerizing fur de force” while The Guardian said “This is the new ‘Mary Poppins:’ a well-known story imaginatively staged, immaculately performed and utterly winning.”

    It’s creators were pleased to find out that 40% of the audience for “Paddington The Musical” in London was first-time theatergoers and hopes to replicate that on Broadway, perhaps turning on a generation to live theater.

    “Most stories are about a little girl or an old man or a very specific type of human and so an audience will naturally gravitate to someone who looks like them,” says Sheppard. “And yet we’ve got a bear who somehow becomes an Everyman and so his story really has something for everybody.”


  • Adams County Search Stalls Amid Flood Threat, Drug Busts and Health Concerns


    The Adams County Board of Supervisors split Monday on whether to extend the application period for the county administrator position. Supervisor Wes Middleton proposed giving applicants an additional two weeks, but the motion failed on a 2-2 vote. Board President Angela Hutchin said the board should move forward with selecting a replacement for current county administrator Mitzi Kahn, whose resignation becomes effective July 8. With the application window now closed, eight candidates have applied for the position, which carries a listed salary of $100,000 per year.

    Forecasters warn that heavy rainfall throughout the week could lead to flash flooding across the region. LSU Health climatologist Barry Keim said a stalled cold front interacting with a Gulf disturbance is expected to produce daily rainfall, mainly between noon and early evening. Some areas could receive between 5 and 10 inches of rain, with Tuesday and Wednesday anticipated to be the period of greatest concern. Keim noted the rainfall could help end drought conditions in Louisiana.

    Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch announced the completion of Operation Liberty Strike, a four-day initiative led by the state’s fentanyl strike force. The operation resulted in 28 felony arrests, 12 misdemeanor arrests, six executed search warrants, and the seizure of a half-pound of fentanyl, one and a half pounds of marijuana, 12 ounces of methamphetamine, and eight firearms. The enforcement effort took place June 3–4 and June 10–11 in Harrison County, Biloxi, Picayune, and Lamar County.

    Researchers at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical reported that severely obese individuals are receiving fewer surgeries despite rising obesity rates. Study authors said obesity typically increases the need for surgical procedures due to related health conditions. They also noted that many patients are not receiving appropriate treatment because of limited access to tools needed for obesity care. Many insurance plans do not cover bariatric surgery or GLP-1 medications, and legislation intended to expand coverage in Louisiana has not yet shown significant results. Researchers emphasized the need for improved access to treatment.

    The Mississippi River at Natchez was recorded at 31.89 feet and falling.

  • Supervisors Split on Extending Search for New Adams County Administrator

    NATCHEZ, Miss. – The Adams County Board of Supervisors disagreed Monday on whether to extend the search for a new county administrator.

    Supervisor Wes Middleton wants to give potential prospects another two weeks to apply, but his motion for this got stymied by a 2-2 tie vote.

    Board President Angela Hutchins said supervisors shouldn’t stall the search for someone to replace Mitzi Conn, whose resignation takes effect July 8. “We’re not going to prolong this,” she said. 

    With the application process now closed, eight people are bidding to be Adams County’s chief operating officer – a position with a posted salary of $100,000 a year.

    Hutchins said candidates will be interviewed June 23 as supervisors plan to decide who to appoint before Conn leaves a position she’s held for just a year. She’s the sixth person since 2020 appointed by supervisors on a permanent or interim basis.

    Middleton said insufficient public notification was given to people who might be interested in applying for the job. He noted that an initial job posting incorrectly contained an expired deadline date to apply.

    Supervisors aren’t publicly divulging names of applicants, but Hutchins said there’s a pool of well-qualified people. However, Middleton said more candidates are needed to help ensure supervisors have a competent person to fill “the most important position in the county.”

    Siding with Middleton is Supervisor Kevin Wilson, who said the next county administrator must have ample financial experience in managing public funds.

    Siding with Hutchins is Supervisor Ricky Gray, who voted against Middleton’s motion to extend the search timetable.

    Supervisor Warren Gaines abstained from Monday’s vote, but he acknowledged a new county administrator needs to be in place soon to prepare the annual budget supervisors must adopt in September. Gaines expressed hope Conn will assist the new county administrator prepare the budget after she officially resigns.

    Conn is resigning after 15 months on the job. She was hired in April 2025 to replace Stephanie Washington, who resigned after just 14 months.

    The county administrator coordinates and directs county government’s day-to-day operations and manages the budget under the governance of the five-member Board of Supervisors. Conn’s decision to resign was disclosed in May after she and the board met in a session closed to the public.

    The Board of Supervisors last year selected Conn from a pool of about 20 applicants – a contrast to the eight now vying to replace her.

    Referring to a “negative” environment surrounding the Board of Supervisors in recent months as they quarrel and take public criticism, Gray wondered why anyone wants to be Adams County’s chief administrator. “I wouldn’t leave my job to come here into this,” he said.

    Prior to Conn’s hiring, board attorney Scott Slover was appointed briefly as administrator when Washington resigned March 2025. She had occupied the position held on an interim basis for a year by Adams County Chancery Clerk Brandi Lewis while supervisors stalled in finding an administrator. This came after the board ousted Angie King in January 2022. King was appointed in 2020, when Joe Murray retired after 10 years as county administrator.

  • Alysa Liu and Ilia Malinin to return at Skate America as Grand Prix lineups revealed


    LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Olympic figure skating champion Alysa Liu and world champion Ilia Malinin are set to make their returns to top-level competition at Skate America next season.

    The International Skating Union published the lineups Tuesday for the new season’s Grand Prix events, listing Skate America in Everett, Washington, on Nov. 13-15 as the first event on the circuit for Liu, U.S. champion Amber Glenn and Malinin.

    Skaters can take part in two of the six Grand Prix events to qualify for the finals in Chongqing, China, in December.

    Liu and Glenn are set to skate against Ami Nakai, the Olympic bronze medalist from Japan, and world bronze medalist Nina Pinzarrone of Belgium in a stacked field at Skate America. Malinin is up against experienced American skater Jason Brown and Italy’s Daniel Grassl.

    It’s not immediately clear if Liu, Glenn and Malinin plan to skate any lower-level Challenger Series events before that. Liu hasn’t skated competitively since winning her Olympic gold medal in February. She skipped the world championships after that as Kaori Sakamoto retired with a fourth title.

    Malinin retained his world title in March after missing the medals at the Olympics with a disastrous free skate.

    After Skate America, Liu is listed as competing again one week later in her second Grand Prix of the season at the Finlandia Trophy. Malinin’s second event is the NHK Trophy in Japan against world bronze medalist Shun Sato.

    Olympic gold medalist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan is in the Grand Prix season opener in France from Oct. 23-25 and then skates the Cup of China in November.

    There’s no Grand Prix assignment for U.S. ice dance team Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who have said they’re taking a break from competition. Olympic gold medalists Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron start at their home Grand Prix de France.

    Pairs world champions Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany start their Grand Prix season at Skate America. Olympic pairs gold medalists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan retired in April.

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    AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports


  • Serena and Venus Williams to play doubles together at Wimbledon with a combined age of 90


    Even at a combined age of 90, opponents should still be wary of facing the Williams sisters at Wimbledon.

    Serena and Venus Williams won a combined 21 titles on the storied grass of the All England Club in their singles and doubles careers and now they’re going for one more.

    A doubles wild card invitation for the sisters was announced on Tuesday by organizers of Wimbledon, which starts in less than two weeks.

    The move comes after 44-year-old Serena recently returned to competition after nearly four years away from professional tennis.

    Venus, who has still been competing sporadically, turns 46 on Wednesday.

    “I think it’s going to be fun. My daughter, Olympia, told me I should play with Venus. She’s always right,” Serena said after losing a doubles match with another partner, Karolina Muchova, in Berlin on Tuesday. “So I said, “OK Olympia, we’ll see if we can do it.”

    The sisters have won 14 Grand Slam titles together in doubles, including six at Wimbledon — the first of them in 2000 and the last in 2016. Their first two doubles titles at Wimbledon, in 2000 and 2002, came as wild cards.

    In all, their records at the All England Club look like this: Seven singles titles for Serena and five singles titles for Venus at Wimbledon; those six Wimbledon doubles titles together; a mixed doubles title for Serena with Max Mirnyi at Wimbledon in 1998; plus a singles gold medal for Serena at the 2012 London Olympics and a doubles gold for the sisters at the same Games. Count ’em up and it makes for 21 trophies and medals — because their powerful serves always did more damage on grass than any other surface.

    With their six titles, the Williams sisters share the record for most trophies as a pair in women’s doubles at Wimbledon with Suzanne Lenglen and Elizabeth Ryan, who won five consecutive titles from 1919 to 1923 and a sixth in in 1925.

    The Williams sisters last played doubles together at the 2022 U.S. Open, where they lost their opening match. That was the first time they played doubles together in 4 ½ years.

    In her first competition since 2022, Serena won her doubles match with partner Victoria Mboko at Queen’s Club in London last week and then the pair had to withdraw after Mboko injured her knee in a singles match.

    At the Berlin Open on Tuesday, Serena and Muchova were beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Giuliana Olmos and Erin Routliffe.

    Singles wild card spot left open

    Serena has not ruled out a return in singles, too, and one of the eight wild card spots for women’s singles was left as “to be announced.”

    Recent French Open finalist Maja Chwalinska received a singles wild card, as did six British women: Harriet Dart, Alicia Dudeney, Hannah Klugman, Mika Stojsavljevic, Katie Swan, and Mimi Xu.

    Wawrinka, Dimitrov and Kyrgios

    Men’s singles wild cards went to Stan Wawrinka and Grigor Dimitrov and four British players: Jacob Fearnley, Arthur Fery, Jack Pinnington Jones and Toby Samuel.

    Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion whose best result at Wimbledon was reaching the quarterfinals twice, plans to retire at the end of the year.

    Dimitrov led eventual champion Jannik Sinner two sets to none in the round of 16 last year before having to retire early in the third due to an injured pectoral muscle. Dimitrov is now ranked No. 169.

    Two more men’s singles wild cards were also left open.

    In men’s doubles, a wild card went to the pairing of Alexander Bublik and Nick Kyrgios. Kyrgios was a singles finalist in 2022.

    Matteo Berrettini, a Wimbledon finalist in 2021, was left off the list despite a quarterfinal appearance at the French Open. He’s ranked No. 49 but was ranked outside the top 100 when Wimbledon’s entry list was established. Still, Berrettini could get direct entry into the main draw depending on withdrawals.

    Wimbledon starts June 29.

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    AP Sports Writer Ciaran Fahey in Berlin contributed to this report.

    ___

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


  • This Sweden defender at the World Cup isn’t your typical soccer player: He’s a baron!


    MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are among the soccer royalty gracing the World Cup in North America.

    If you want real-life aristocracy, head to Sweden’s squad.

    Gustaf Lagerbielke, a 26-year-old defender who played the entire match in Sweden’s 5-1 defeat of Tunisia on Sunday, is a baron from a noble family in Sweden. His father and grandfather are counts.

    Soccer players typically come from modest backgrounds — take Messi and Ronaldo, for example.

    Not Lagerbielke.

    “I mean, it’s rare,” he said in an interview ahead of the World Cup.

    Lagerbielke grew up in Djursholm, a wealthy suburb in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. When he played soccer as a kid, he says he had the family’s coat of arms on his shin pads.

    “When I was kid, I wanted to become a professional footballer,” Lagerbielke said after Sunday’s match in Monterrey. “They have taught me goals. They are very happy for me and very proud.”

    Lagerbielke’s heritage has been a talking point throughout a career that has taken him from Sweden (AIK, Sollentuna, Västerås, Elfsborg and Degerfors) to Scotland (Celtic) and now Portugal.

    Sections of the British media reported he was 254th in line to the Swedish throne, though Lagerbielke said “I don’t know if it’s true.”

    “But I think for it to happen,” he added, “a lot of people need to go away. And I don’t want that to happen.”

    For now, Lagerbielke just wants to help Sweden become the king of soccer at the World Cup.

    “To have one of the biggest wins in Swedish history at the World Cup, it’s amazing,” he said.

    __

    Ethan Wilcox is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

    ___

    Douglas reported from Sundsvall, Sweden.

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    AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup


  • 8 people died in B-52 bomber crash at US Air Force base in Southern California, officials say


    LOS ANGELES (AP) — A B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff at a U.S. Air Force base in Southern California’s Mojave Desert and burst into flames Monday, killing all eight people aboard, military officials said.

    Aerial footage showed virtually nothing left of the aircraft that went down around 11:20 a.m. during a routine test mission at Edwards Air Force Base, which is north of Los Angeles. Black smoke rose from a large swath of charred desert near the runway on the base, with emergency vehicles nearby.

    Those on the B-52 included government contractors and uniformed military. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing confirmed Monday evening that two of its employees were on board.

    After reviewing footage of the crash, it was determined that no one could have survived, Col. James Hayes, the deputy commander for the 412 test wing at Edwards, said at a news conference.

    “We lost eight great Americans,” Hayes said, adding that officials were working to notify their families.

    It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, and it could take up to six months to complete an investigation, Hayes said, but shared that the B-52 was supporting the “radar modernization program.”

    The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range bomber that entered service in 1955. Designed to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons, it has been used in conflicts involving the U.S. military from Vietnam to Iran.

    In 2025, Boeing sent a B-52 to Edwards with a new, modernized radar system. A test team planned to conduct ground and flight test activities on the aircraft throughout 2026 to feed a production decision, the air force said in a 2025 news release. The modern Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar system replaced the aircraft’s antiquated radar for efficacy. It was unclear if that was the same aircraft involved in Monday’s crash.

    Edwards Air Force Base is home to a large portion of the U.S. Air Force’s aircraft test and development efforts and is about 100 miles (161 km) north of Los Angeles. The 412th Test Wing, which runs the base, also conducts developmental testing of all Air Force aircraft, weapons systems, software and components before purchase by the service as well as throughout their lifespan.

    The vast desert base is where Air Force test pilot Chuck Yeager reached a speed of Mach 1.05 and broke the sound barrier in 1947.

    The airfield was closed most of Monday and all inbound aircraft were being diverted, but it reopened to people coming onto the base by late afternoon. Non-commercial visitor passes for the base were suspended as emergency crews doused the flames.

    It’s too soon to say what might have happened.

    Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said he is deeply saddened by the lives lost.

    “We mourn this loss and honor the service of our Airmen, civilians, and contractors who work every day to advance our mission,” he said in a post on X.

    The way the B-52 crashed so quickly after takeoff without getting very high or going far makes aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti suspect some kind of flight control malfunction.

    It’s possible the controls were rigged wrong after maintenance, he said, or a catastrophic engine problem or a failure of a piece of equipment that was being tested.

    “I think it was definitely a controllability issue. Now, whether that was tied to an engine failure, a flight control failure, or some new testing device failure, I’m not sure,” said Guzzetti, who used to investigate crashes for both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

    Although the Air Force has been flying B-52 bombers for more than 70 years, testing out new equipment on a plane can create new challenges.

    “A flight test is always riskier than normal operations, so that’s why you have specially trained test pilots, and you should have other safety protocols,” Guzzetti said.

    In recent years, fatal Air Force training accidents in the U.S. have included an instructor pilot who was killed in 2024 when the ejection seat activated while the aircraft was still on the ground in Texas and an Air Force ROTC cadet’s death in a 2022 accident involving a Humvee during a training exercise in Idaho. Two Air Force pilots were killed when a trainer jet crashed near an Alabama airport in 2021.

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    Toropin reported from Washington, D.C. AP Transportation Writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, and AP reporters Hallie Golden in Seattle and Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu contributed to this report.


  • Higher prices for gas, groceries and flights will likely outlast the Iran war


    NEW YORK (AP) — A tentative deal to end the Iran war makes it reasonable to ask how soon prices will drop for gasoline, groceries, airline tickets and other items that got more expensive during the conflict.

    Not so fast, experts say.

    Even after oil starts flowing again from the Middle East, it could take awhile for consumers to see a difference at local fuel pumps, supermarkets and other places they shop, according to economists and industry analysts.

    Fighting over the Strait of Hormuz disrupted not only supplies of crude and refined fuel but also the supply chains for fertilizer, food and even footwear. Businesses expect higher costs to linger, which means their customers might need to prepare for that too.

    “It is not clear, despite three months of war, that anything has been achieved that makes the American consumer better off,” Brett House, an economist who teaches at Columbia Business School, said. “In fact, by almost any measure, not just the American consumer, but the world, is worse off as a result of this attack.”

    If the deal between the U.S. and Iran holds, here’s how experts see the war’s effects receding — or not — in the weeks ahead:

    US motorists can expect some gas price relief

    Following news of the tentative agreement, oil prices fell Monday to about $80 for a barrel of U.S. benchmark crude. That compares to $67 per barrel before the war and the price of over $120 a barrel reached earlier in the conflict.

    Refineries typically pay for crude oil a month or more in advance, so even after oil prices drop, they won’t immediately be processing cheaper products.

    “The tendency of gasoline prices to fall slowly is partly because the raw material takes weeks to work through the system until it’s delivered to consumers,” said Michael Lynch, a distinguished fellow at the nonpartisan Energy Policy Research Foundation.

    In places without enough refining capacity to meet their needs, such as the West Coast of the U.S., gas prices will take longer to drop, said Mark Barteau, a professor of chemical engineering and chemistry at Texas A&M University.

    In some Asian and African countries that rely more on oil from the Middle East, the supply shock led to school and government office closures and instructions to work from home, according to the International Energy Agency.

    “The bottom line is that getting back to ‘normal’ will be a lengthy process involving many parties and countries,” Barteau said. “Getting an agreement between the U.S. and Iran to open the strait is just the beginning.”

    Flights won’t get cheaper right away

    Industry experts have spent months warning that even if the war ended, travelers should not expect airfares to go down immediately.

    Airlines typically buy fuel in advance, adjust their schedules gradually and price tickets based heavily on demand, meaning lower oil and jet fuel prices can take weeks or months to get factored into the cost of commercial flights.

    “I think it’s unlikely that we’re going to see a retreat or reduction in the cost of flying at any point this summer,” Columbia’s House said.

    Fuel surcharges that some airlines outside the U.S. added are one of the first areas where passengers might get a reprieve, said Gordon Ho, a professor at the University of Southern California’s business school.

    “Consumers are going to say, ‘Wait a minute, why are you still charging me a fuel surcharge?’” Ho said.

    Pressure on grocery prices will likely continue

    Reopening the strait is unlikely to deliver instant relief at the grocery store, according to David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University.

    Fuel accounts for roughly 15% to 30% of the total cost of food, according to the Independent Grocers Alliance, a grouping of 7,500 global supermarkets.

    But it can take months for an energy shock like the one caused by the Iran war to wind through the food supply chain and raise grocery prices. And once prices go up, it takes them a long time to come back down, especially when the future is unpredictable, Ortega said.

    “We’re likely still looking at inflationary pressure on food in the coming months,” Ortega said. “There’s still a good deal of uncertainty about how the reopening will unfold, and it will take time for fuel, diesel and retail fertilizer prices to come back down.”

    Rabobank, which is based in the Netherlands, said it expected war-related food price inflation to peak sometime next year in Europe. In the U.S., grocery prices are expected to rise 3.2% this year, which compares to a historical average of 2.6%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    Farmers remain strapped for fertilizer

    Reopening the Strait of Hormuz would also be a welcome change for farmers and the production of food globally. Roughly 30% of the world’s fertilizer passed through the waterway before the war began. Prices soared as the supply was effectively cut off, and shipments probably will take a long time to return to pre-war levels.

    The consequences of the shortage facing farmers now may only intensify down the road, regardless.

    Many farmers around the world are going through planting seasons without the fertilizer they need or paying sky-high prices for both fertilizer and fuel needed to produce and transport their products. The World Food Program of the United Nations expects this to have a “devastating impact” on crop yields — and consequently, food prices and the availability of food — for months to come.

    Retailers don’t anticipate a cost reprieve

    U.S. retailers that sell shoes were encouraged to see falling gasoline prices, hoping they would mean Americans have more money to spend on back-to-school shopping, said Andy Polk, senior vice president of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America trade group.

    However, shoe companies anticipate their own costs staying higher for the foreseeable future, Polk said. The group’s members keep a two- to three-month inventory of finished products, but their next orders may include suppliers charging more for materials, he said.

    Most of the footwear sold in the U.S. is imported, and Polk said he expects shipping costs to remain higher for the rest of 2026 and 2027.

    U.S. tariffs imposed last year have made it more difficult for shoe sellers to absorb higher costs or pass them on customers, he said. In May, footwear prices were 5.2% higher than the same month a year earlier, according to government figures.

    Shipping industry expects a slow recovery

    Judah Levine, head of research at the freight booking platform Freightos, said the Straight of Hormuz closure has affected about 2% to 3 % of the total volume of container ships that are used for global shipping, but higher oil prices and disruption have impacted the shipping industry more broadly.

    Josh Steinitz, chief strategy officer of the business logistics platform ShipStation Global, said consumers might notice higher shipping costs and more out-of-stock items online until the end of the year.

    “I think fuel surcharges, which then flow into shipping costs, which then get passed along to consumers, are still going to be with us for quite sometime from many of the major carriers,” Steinitz said.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Cathy Bussewitz, Anne D’Innocenzio, and Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this report.