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  • Olympic gold medal-Stanley Cup double is at stake for Americans in the final


    Ken Morrow liked to consider himself the answer of a trivia question as the only hockey player who won an Olympic gold medal and hoisted the Stanley Cup in the same year. He was part of the 1980 U.S. “Miracle on Ice” team and then joined the New York Islanders for their first of four titles in a row.

    A half-dozen Canadians have done it since the NHL started sending players to the Olympics, but at this moment, more Americans have walked on the moon than accomplished what Morrow did. He is the only one.

    That will soon change, no matter how the Cup final ends. After the U.S. won gold at the Olympics for the first time in 46 years, Carolina’s Jaccob Slavin is one victory away from joining Morrow, unless Vegas wins Games 6 and 7 to put Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin in that exclusive club.

    “I’ve had my 46 years,” Morrow told The Associated Press by phone Friday. “I’m always one that likes to see new people win the Cup, guys get a chance to do something that they’ll remember the rest of their lives. And for whoever does it this year, yes, I think it’s great.”

    Morrow won the Stanley Cup four times in a row as part of that Islanders dynasty. Eichel is the only U.S. player in the final with a Cup ring, and he had a major part in the Golden Knights’ championship run in 2023.

    After helping the U.S. win gold in Milan in February, Eichel says there are similarities and differences to those journeys.

    “One’s nine, 10 months; one’s two weeks,” Eichel said. “One of them is winner-take-all of just one game at a time. These are seven-game series, so it’s different in that sense. I think from an emotional standpoint and a mentality, I think there’s a lot of similarities: just the investment in winning and the feeling in the room and everything that comes with it.”

    The single-elimination element is a good way of thinking of playoff hockey, Eichel said, though Hanifin pointed out that it is drastically different preparing for a game at a time at the Olympics than enduring the ups and downs of a postseason.

    “When you’re playing seven-game series, you can kind of build over time and if you hit a little bit of a setback or some adversity, you can kind of learn from it and build and come back better,” Hanifin said. “Whereas Olympics, when you get into those medal rounds, it’s a one-and-done situation, so it’s different in that regard.”

    If the Hurricanes win, it would be some measure of retribution for Seth Jarvis, who played for Canada in the final and lost to the U.S. in overtime on Jack Hughes’ winning goal.

    When Carolina had him, Slavin and bronze medalist Sebastian Aho pose for a photo with their medals in their Olympic jerseys, Jarvis in a behind-the-scenes video quipped about reliving his nightmares and brought up the stuffed animal versions of an Olympic mascot that IOC officials gave to a group of players after losing the biggest game of their lives.

    Before the start of the final, Jarvis acknowledged the events are two separate things.

    “Obviously, losing in the gold medal is going to suck forever,” Jarvis said. “But now I get a chance to be a winner and win something big here with a group of guys that I’ve been grinding with for five years, been through the ups and downs of it and people that I just really care about.”

    Two more losses would put Jarvis back in the same spot, albeit without another stuffie. One more defeat by the Golden Knights would mean losing twice in a final this year for Mitch Marner, Shea Theodore and Mark Stone.

    Before the series began, Slavin was working hard to keep his brain from drifting to the possibility.

    “It crosses my mind,” Slavin said. “But we’ve got to go out and do a job first, so not trying to give it too much thought.”

    In the nearly five decades since Morrow completed the Olympic gold-Stanley Cup double, the entire situation has changed. The NHL has participated in the Olympics six times since 1998, so players are already professionals.

    Morrow at age 23 went less than a week and a half between beating the Soviet Union in the “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid, New York, visiting the White House, having his first practice with the Islanders and making his NHL debut.

    “I was trying to earn a living,” Morrow said. “I had to kind of really change focus quickly into trying to earn a job with the New York Islanders, and it wasn’t a sure thing for me when I first came to them right after the Olympics. Am I going to be able to play in the league? Those were questions that I was facing in trying to make a living. And these guys certainly didn’t have that facing them after the Olympics.”

    They just had to get back to doing their job, which was a challenge in itself. Vegas and Carolina each finished atop its division and got through three rounds of the playoffs.

    That gave Eichel, Hanifin and Slavin an opportunity to join Morrow, Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan from Detroit in 2002, Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith from Chicago 2010, and Drew Doughty from Los Angeles in 2014 in the history books.

    “For myself, it’s been a pretty surreal year: Winning gold was awesome, and then having the chance to play for a Stanley Cup is awesome,” Slavin said. “I take it as a blessing and just thankful for it.”

    ___

    AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl


  • 70 seconds, 26 passes and an iconic World Cup moment for the US and Gio Reyna


    It might go down as one of the iconic moments of the 2026 World Cup.

    It will certainly take something special to eclipse it as the goal of the tournament, even only three days in.

    Deep into added time at Los Angeles Stadium and with virtually the last kick of the game, Gio Reyna capped a spectacular 4-1 win for the United States against Paraguay on Friday with an exquisite finish to a wonderful team move.

    This was Pochettino-ball at its finest.

    “This might be one of the best back-to-front team goals this country and this team has ever put together,” Fox TV analyst Stu Holden said.

    It might’ve been even better than that.

    Done in 70 seconds

    With the clock on 96 minutes and 10 seconds, the U.S. just had to see out time and ensure a Paraguay team that had already pulled one goal back in the second half didn’t spark a late rally.

    Over the course of the next 70 seconds, Mauricio Pochettino’s team put together a 26-pass move from left to right, through defense and attack and left Paraguay’s players chasing shadows. Not one Paraguayan got a foot on the ball. Then it was over to Reyna, who went on for a cameo as an 82nd-minute substitute for the outstanding Malik Tillman.

    Receiving a pass from Alexander Freeman outside the box, Reyna took one touch to control the ball and another to carry it into the area. Then, with the outside of his right boot and with a touch of curl, he swept the shot past Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill into the far corner to send the U.S. supporters wild one last time.

    And they weren’t the only ones going crazy. As Reyna wheeled away in celebration, hands covering his ears, he was mobbed by teammates, substitutes and even Pochettino, who raced across the field to join in the moment.

    “There’s not a whole lot of words to describe the feeling,” U.S. captain Tim Ream said after the team’s biggest ever World Cup win.

    Just like watching Brazil

    Such was the U.S. control of the ball that it brought back memories of what many believe to be the greatest ever team goal in the World Cup when Brazil’s Carlos Alberto finished off a multi-pass move against Italy in the 1970 final.

    That game also finished 4-1 and Carlos Alberto’s strike, like Reyna’s, came late, in the 86th minute.

    A nine-pass move ended with Pele laying the ball off to Carlos Alberto, who drove a low shot into the corner.

    The stakes were much higher for Brazil, but for the U.S. it was an opening statement performance against a Paraguay team that had one of the best defensive records among the South American teams during qualification. Pochettino’s team already has more goals than the U.S. managed in the entire 2022 tournament where it scored just three and was eliminated at the round of 16.

    “Congratulations to Team USA on their Big Win, 4-1, over a very good Paraguay team,” President Donald Trump wrote Saturday on his social media site. “Keep it going!”

    A taste of what’s to come

    The U.S. Men’s National Team went big when it hired Pochettino, the former Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Tottenham coach in 2024.

    There was a run to the Gold Cup final last year and he has not been shy about his ambitions at the World Cup.

    “Why not us?” has become something of a motto going into the tournament.

    With extended time to work with the players ahead of the opening game, Pochettino believes the full potential of the team will be seen.

    “When you only have few days, you know, to reunite and to play, you only select players, but you cannot coach players,” he said Friday. “Only in this type of tournament like the Gold Cup or now the World Cup, because you have preparation, two, three, four weeks, I think that is the only moment that we can coach.”

    Reyna’s goal was a perfect example of Pochettino’s insistence of concentrating on the team over individuals.

    “One thing we need to praise is the collective effort,” the coach added.

    Reyna erases pain of 2022

    It was a triumphant return for Reyna after controversy in Qatar four years ago for alleged lack of hustle, which nearly got him sent home from that World Cup by then-coach Gregg Berhalter.

    Pochettino made the bold call to include Reyna in his squad even though he made just four league starts last season for Borussia Mönchengladbach and none after Dec. 19.

    Reyna also took the opportunity to announce that his wife was pregnant by putting the ball under his shirt and sucking his thumb.

    “Celebration was for the little one on the way,” he later posted on Instagram.

    The US has had great goals in the past

    Fans will debate whether this was the greatest goal by the USMNT.

    In 1989 Paul Caligiuri struck a long-range volley against Trinidad and Tobago that qualified the U.S. for the World Cup for the first time since 1950.

    In 1994, the last time America hosted the tournament, Eric Wynalda’s free kick against Switzerland earned the U.S. its first point in the World Cup since 1950.

    There was also Benny Feilhaber’s volley that won the Gold Cup in 2007.

    ___

    James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

    ___

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


  • Judge orders Trump administration to restore National Park changes at sites that ‘disparaged’ US


    A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore sites changed under an executive order calling for the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks to not display elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

    The preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts also orders a pause on any additional changes, writing that the plaintiffs have shown that these efforts are meant “to rewrite the Nation’s history with a white-out pen.”

    “History cannot be faithfully told while excluding the experiences of communities whose contributions, struggles, and achievements form an important part of our Nation’s story,” the judge wrote.

    The Trump administration must also provide a status report every week describing the progress they’ve made with these changes, the judge wrote.

    “Under the guise of promoting American dignity, this Administration seeks to share a limited history by ordering the removal of all signs, displays, and interpretive exhibits at National Parks that do not align with its preferred narrative, thereby telling half-truths,” Kelley wrote.

    The order comes in response to a February lawsuit filed by conservation and historical organizations over National Park Service policies that the groups say have forced park service staff to remove or censor dozens of exhibits that share factually accurate and relevant U.S. history and scientific knowledge, including about slavery and climate change.

    Many of the changes were at Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, where the administration removed exhibits on the lives of nine people enslaved at the site in the 1790s under George Washington, the first U.S. president. Other changes included removing a sign at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona describing basalt bubbles because it had an image of a visitor holding a Pride flag while films on labor history were removed from the Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts.

    President Donald Trump signed the executive order “restoring truth and sanity to American history” at the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks last year. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum later directed removal of “improper partisan ideology” from museums, monuments, landmarks and other public exhibits under federal control.

    An email seeking comment from the Interior Department was sent Saturday.

    Alan Spears, senior director for cultural resources for the National Parks Conservation Association, one of the organizations that brought the lawsuit, said the ruling will help protect national parks from the administration’s effort “to erase history and science at these one-of-a-kind places.”

    “National parks belong to the American people and censorship of any kind goes against the values these places represent,” he said.

    Bill Wade, executive director for the Association of National Park Rangers, another organization that brought the lawsuit, said this is especially good news for National Parks employees who “have prided themselves for being able to provide truthful, accurate and unbiased information.”


  • The Comeback Knicks are the Champion Knicks. Brunson scores 45, and New York tops Spurs for title


    SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jalen Brunson and the Comeback Knicks did it again. And now they’re the Champion Knicks.

    For the first time in 53 years, New York rules the NBA. Brunson scored 45 points, including 13 straight for New York in the fourth quarter, and the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.

    The Knicks won the series 4-1, rallying from double-digit deficits in all four of those victories. The deficit was 16 on Saturday night. Brunson and the Knicks were never fazed.

    “I have no words,” Brunson, the NBA Finals MVP, said during the on-court celebration. “It’s everything I ever dreamed of.”

    Brunson, fittingly, closed with a flourish. He set a Knicks record for points in a finals game; it had been 38 by Willis Reed against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the 1970 series. It now belongs to the left-handed point guard who changed the franchise’s fortunes when he arrived four years ago.

    “It’s surreal,” Knicks coach Mike Brown, who was hired a year ago — making him the franchise’s 24th coach since the franchise’s last championship in 1973. “I still can’t believe it’s happened.”

    Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart — the other two parts of the “Nova Knicks” trio that also includes Brunson, three players who were NCAA champions at Villanova and teamed up in New York to try to do the same — combined to score 27 points. Bridges had 14, Hart 13.

    “I don’t know what I’m feeling,” Brunson said. “I’m in awe. Whenever someone counted us out, we found a way to come back and do something about it.”

    Dylan Harper scored 25 for the Spurs, who got 19 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots from Victor Wembanyama.

    “This is the biggest lesson of my life, the biggest learning moment,” Wembanyama said. “I can’t tell exactly what the lesson is, but we’re learning.”

    The Knicks improved to 4-0 in closeout opportunities this season, winning them all on the road. It didn’t feel like the road, though — not with thousands of New York faithful having made the trip to Texas to see a moment 53 years in the making.

    And back home, on the streets of the Big Apple, celebrations broke out everywhere. Fireworks lit up the night sky, people honked horns on jampacked streets and firefighters — from their trucks — slapped high-fives with delirious fans.

    “HISTORY,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote on social media, then added that the Knicks’ championship parade will be Thursday.

    New York got to the brink of this title by rallying from 29 points down in Game 4 to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left on Wednesday night. It was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history and the biggest comeback in any game this season, regular season or playoffs.

    By comparison, then, a 16-point rally in this one seemed easy. And San Antonio had to shuffle off into the offseason, listening to Knicks fans celebrating in their building.

    “We weren’t ready to win an NBA championship,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “The better team won. We did a lot of good things, and we didn’t finish the job. That’s what it is.”

    The game followed the same script in the opening minutes as all the others in the series, with the Spurs taking a double-digit lead in the first quarter and then frittering most of it away in the second quarter.

    The Spurs became the first team in the play-by-play era, which started in the 1996-97 season, to lead five finals games by 10 points or more in first quarters.

    The Knicks simply could not make a shot, missing on 16 of their first 18 tries and each of their first 11 two-point attempts. There even was a point in the second quarter when Wembanyama had more blocked shots (five) than the Knicks had made shots (four). San Antonio’s lead was as many as 10 in the first quarter, as many as 16 in the second.

    Of course, none of it mattered much. As always, the Knicks came back.

    A 22-9 run in the second quarter got New York within three, before Devin Vassell scored just before the halftime buzzer to give San Antonio a 42-37 edge at the break.

    And that capped an opening 24 minutes of either offensive ineptitude or defensive prowess, depending on perspective. The 79 combined points in the first half were the lowest in a finals game since Game 7 of Lakers-Celtics in 2010, and the combined 31.8% field goals shooting by the Knicks and Spurs was the lowest in the first half of a finals game in the play-by-play era.

    Brunson won NCAA crowns twice with Villanova — both in Texas, the 2016 one in Houston and the 2018 one in San Antonio, just a few miles away from the arena that the Spurs call home.

    A Texas three-step of titles, and this one was surely the sweetest of all.

    “It’s why I came to New York,” Brunson said.

    ___

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


  • Trump’s name is gone from the Kennedy Center’s facade after court rulings


    WASHINGTON (AP) — The curtain may have come down for President Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center but the tarp stays up for now.

    Matt Floca, executive director and chief operating officer of the performing arts venue, told a federal court Saturday that the institution had complied with an order to remove Trump’s name from the facade. In a filing, Floca said the board of trustees and the center had removed “all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds, including the front portico, that purports to rename the Kennedy Center after President Trump.”

    But for onlookers who have gathered on the plaza in front of the center over the past day hoping to witness a dramatic moment symbolizing the limits of Trump’s power, it was virtually impossible to see whether the signage was gone. A tarp hung over the scaffolding constructed for workers to perform that task. It was unclear when the tarp might be removed to reveal the original lettering that had endured for decades: “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

    A reporter was able to peer through a slight opening in the tarp, which was pulled tightly against the wall, and saw that the letters for Trump’s name were no longer affixed to the building.

    By the end, the Kennedy Center’s leadership had dug in against a federal judge’s order to erase Trump’s name from the building. Two courts rejected the institution’s last-minute request to retain Trump’s name pending an appeal. After severe thunderstorms raked Washington on Friday evening, the Kennedy Center sought one more extension before complying with a noon Saturday deadline.

    Those who pushed for the scrubbing of Trump’s name were in a celebratory mood. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, an ex officio member of the board who sued to remove references to the president from the building and the center’s operations, was spotted in the plaza late Friday and Saturday morning. She posted a video to social media that purported to show her performing the “Trump dance” in one of the Kennedy Center’s great halls.

    “Today’s victory is the beginning of returning the Kennedy Center to the American people,” Beatty said in a statement. “The rule of law prevailed, and that is worth celebrating.”

    Leo Bartholomaus, a recent graduate of Syracuse University who lives in Virginia, said he was walking by the Kennedy Center on Friday afternoon after visiting the National Mall to see events related to this weekend’s UFC match at the White House. He said he was not happy that Trump added his name to the building.

    “My grandmother had a big love of the arts,” he said. “I’ve been here to see ‘The Lion King.’ I wasn’t a fan of Donald Trump putting his name on it. I thought it was better as the Kennedy Center.”

    Closing an unusual chapter

    The removal of Trump’s name closes one of the more unusual chapters in the history of the Kennedy Center, which began construction in 1964 and was dedicated to the memory of the slain president, Democrat John F. Kennedy. At what is typically one of the few relatively nonpartisan spaces in Washington, Trump has wielded tremendous influence over the venue during his second term.

    Though he rarely discussed the Kennedy Center during his 2024 campaign, Trump moved quickly to oust the institution’s leadership when he returned to office in January 2025 and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building.

    While the removal of his name marks a setback for Trump, he is moving forward with plans to reshape the physical landscape of the nation’s capital in ways that have few modern parallels.

    He demolished the East Wing of the White House and is building a controversial ballroom in its place. He remodeled the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and plans extensive renovations of a golf course in East Potomac Park, moves that could significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking paths. He is also moving forward with a triumphal arch that will sit near Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River in Virginia.

    Indeed as Trump’s name was being removed from the Kennedy Center, the South Lawn of the White House has been transformed into a venue for a UFC match intended to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence but also coinciding with Trump’s birthday on Sunday.

    Questions linger about the Kennedy Center’s future

    Back at the Kennedy Center, there are many questions about the institution’s future. The same May court decision that ordered Trump’s name to be removed from the building also blocked a planned two-year closure for renovations that was set to begin next month.

    The Kennedy Center’s calendar for the weeks ahead include performances of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” and “Bluey’s Big Play.” Comedian Bill Maher is to be awarded the Mark Twain Award for American Humor during a ceremony on June 28.

    But little is scheduled for the stages beyond that and, after substantially reducing staff, it is unclear how quickly the Kennedy Center could build out a robust performance list. Trump, angered by the court’s order to remove his name, has said he would turn the Kennedy Center over to Congress and has suggested it might simply shutter because of public safety concerns.

    In its unsuccessful appeal on Friday seeking a pause on the order removing Trump’s name, the Kennedy Center’s leadership argued, in terms that seemed similar to the president’s speech patterns, that the lower court was interfering with needed renovations.

    “The District Court is not allowing us to close in order to properly fix up and repair the Building, including potentially life threatening structural damage like beams and parking garage ceilings that are rusted, and in serious danger of falling onto people below,” according to the appeal. “Indeed, total collapse!”

    The institution also suggested that the president’s name could return to the building if the Kennedy Center later wins its appeal.

    If the court denied the venue’s request for a pause, the Kennedy Center argued it would “be forced to squander time and money — by both removing the signage and then potentially returning it after appeal.”

    ___

    Associated Press journalist Emily Wang contributed to this report.


  • What a Week at MSJ-WEEKEND SHOW PODCAST 6/13

    From fun with first summer jobs to Jodi’s week out of the studio and at the hospital with her mom, catch up on anything you missed, here!

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  • From rockets to brain implants, here’s a look at Elon Musk’s vast empire


    NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and now first-ever trillionaire, controls a lot of different businesses.

    Electric vehicles. Brain implants. Underground tunnels. A social media platform once called Twitter. And a rocket maker that blasted off its trading from Wall Street this week.

    Over time, more and more of these ventures have found themselves under the same roof. Musk merged SpaceX — which went public on Friday — with his artificial intelligence company xAI just earlier this year. But he still holds the CEO role at several corporations today, in addition to other various executive titles or ownership stakes.

    Here’s a look at Musk’s vast business empire.

    SpaceX

    Musk is CEO of SpaceX, which he founded in 2002. The company has grown far beyond rockets. It owns satellite communications service Starlink, a big source of cash for the company that generated $4.4 billion in operating income last year. SpaceX also houses social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which Musk bought for $44 billion in 2022 and parked it under xAI, the maker of the Grok chatbot.

    Both xAI and X are money losers (the AI business lost $6.4 billion in operations last year). Nonetheless, SpaceX — which lost $2.6 billion overall from operations last year — was able to whip up enough market hype to debut with the biggest initial public offering in history on Friday, closing at just below $161 per share, or a total market value of $2.1 trillion.

    Some think that price tag significantly overvalues the company. SpaceX has promised it will become a leader in AI and one day help make human life multiplanetary — with lofty, and at times sci-fi sounding, goals that range from putting data centers in space to colonizing Mars. But the bulk of that hinges on unproven technology and massive capital needs.

    Tesla

    Musk is also CEO of Tesla, a role he has held at the electric car maker since 2008.

    Tesla has struggled with rising competition in the EV space. Last year, the company lost its crown as the world’s largest EV maker to China’s BYD. Sales were also bruised during boycotts over Musk’s politics. Those numbers have since rebounded some, but Musk has repeatedly shrugged off troubles — emphasizing that Tesla’s future lies less in car sales than getting people to take rides in them as self-driving taxis.

    Beyond the road, Tesla has been upping production of robots for homes and businesses. And it’s also been in the solar energy business for about a decade with it purchase of SolarCity, which was founded by Musk and two of his cousins. Tesla went public in 2010, and went on to join the trillion dollar club on the S&P 500. Its market cap currently stands around $1.5 trillion.

    Neuralink

    Musk has also the CEO title at Neuralink, a brain-computer interface company he co-founded in 2016.

    Neuralink is one of many groups working to connect the human nervous system to machines. It’s launched clinical trials for people who have spinal cord injuries, ALS and other conditions. The company (and sometimes Musk himself ) has announced a handful of brain implants over recent years. In January, Neuralink said it had 21 trial participants worldwide.

    The Boring Company

    Musk also founded The Boring Company, a decade-old tunnel digging and underground transportation business.

    The Boring Company is behind projects like the “Vegas Loop” — a network of underground, Tesla-hailing tunnels that first opened around around the Las Vegas Convention Center in 2021. It’s promised to deliver a network of high speed transit — with plans to also make tunnels in Dubai and Nashville. Still, pushback has piled up along the way. The company has been accused of breaking multiple safety and environmental requirements in Las Vegas, where its full route is still unfinished, and other criticism from some local officials in Nashville.

    Paypal and other previous endeavors

    Musk made his initial fortune by creating two companies, Zip2 and PayPal ( once X.com ). Those then-startups were sold to new owners decades ago — but netted him about $200 million at sale, which Musk used to later start SpaceX and invest in Tesla.


  • Inside the crowd drawn to Trump’s unusual UFC fight night at the White House


    WASHINGTON (AP) — One by one, the burly mixed martial arts fighters made their entrance past the solemn, hulking marble statue of America’s 16th president and jogged down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to roars from thousands of fans drawn to the unusual sporting weekend marking the nation’s 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.

    The news conference Friday night featured the fighters who are preparing to face off Sunday in the Octagon built outside the White House. But it was also a chance to see the UFC fans who have thronged to Washington and endured lightning, humidity and bugs for the spectacle.

    Tracy Philbeck and his son Levi drove from Charlotte, North Carolina, with a group of friends to support their favorite fighter, American Justin Gaethje, in the upcoming lightweight title bout against Georgian Ilia Topuria.

    “You will hear an eagle screaming when Justin Gaethje wins,” the elder Philbeck chuckled.

    David Halstead journeyed from Albany, in Western Australia, to watch the sport he has loved for a decade. Halstead said Trump, who regularly attends the fights, “put UFC on the map.”

    The UFC has said it spent $60 million on this weekend’s festivities, and Republican president has billed it as “the greatest show on earth.”

    Not everyone agrees.

    The Public Integrity Project described the event as a “private, commercial, corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain” in a lawsuit the watchdog group filed to try to stop it from happening on federal land. A federal judge ruled on Friday that the White House was allowed to go ahead.

    Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults consider themselves mixed martial arts fans, according to Ipsos Sports polling conducted in February and March. That polling suggests MMA fans skew male and nonwhite. They are more likely to identify as Republicans than Democrats.

    “One misconception is that everyone who watches UFC is a Trump supporter, but that’s not the case,” said Ricardo Rodriguez, 24, explaining he loves the physicality of the sport. “People also expect a knock out every time,” he said.

    Ellie Louizes, who practices Muay Thai, or Thai kickboxing, and jujitsu martial arts, drove from Daytona Beach, Florida, with her boyfriend, Jacob Purvis.

    Female fans of MMA are the minority. But Louizes said she knows a lot of women who get into watching the sport through their male partners. She said “female fighters are often way more aggressive” than the men.

    Fans brushed off the criticism about White House as host

    The fans at the Lincoln Memorial brushed off criticism about the bouts being held at the White House.

    Holding fights at the “People’s House,” Tracy Philbeck said, “goes back to the days of Teddy Roosevelt.”

    Roosevelt regularly held sparring sessions at the White House, though they were not formal public prizefights. He was an enthusiastic amateur boxer who had boxed at Harvard and continued the sport throughout much of his life.

    Boxing fans also make up a large part of the UFC’s fan base.

    At a UFC-sponsored community event this week at the District of Columbia’s Midtown Youth Academy, the boxing gym’s executive director was helping out with a visit from UFC fighter Randy Brown, who sparred with more than dozen local teenagers and preteens.

    Gloria Lee said meeting the fighter was a big deal for kids at her gym. “It’s just been a thrilling week, and I was about to fall out when he came in the door!” she said.

    Asked about her personal UFC fandom, Lee said she had not watched it much. But by the end of Brown’s visit, she got into the ring with the professional fighter and threw some slugs of her own.

    __

    Associated Press writer Linley Sanders contributed to this report.


  • How parents can talk to their kids about vaping as FDA authorizes some flavored e-cigarettes


    Ricky Resendez first tried e-cigarettes in eighth grade. By the time he got to high school, he was vaping daily.

    “It was just kind of normal,” said Ricky, a 17-year-old recent graduate in Superior, Wisconsin. “Kids were vaping in class, in the bathrooms, wherever.”

    Nationally, nearly 6% of middle and high school students — amounting to 1.63 million kids — reported using electronic cigarettes in 2024, federal figures show. Although that is down from previous years, e-cigarettes remain the most commonly used tobacco products among teens, and nearly 9 out of 10 of kids choose flavored products.

    Some doctors are concerned that youth vaping rates may rise again. The Food and Drug Administration recently announced its first authorization of fruit-flavored vapes intended for adults interested in quitting or cutting back on more harmful traditional cigarettes. The policy shift came after months of appeals to President Donald Trump from the vaping industry. An FDA memo released this week said these fruit-flavored e-cigarettes are not significantly better at helping smokers quit than tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes.

    “I understand the goal of giving adult smokers a less harmful off-ramp, but fruit and sweet flavors are precisely what draw young people in,” said Dr. Scott Hadland at Mass General Brigham for Children and Harvard Medical School. “I worry this could erode the hard-won progress that brought teen vaping to its lowest level in roughly a decade.”

    Experts say there are ways parents can counteract the allure of e-cigarettes, teach kids about the dangers of vaping and help them quit.

    Vaping poses many dangers to kids

    Dr. Devika Rao sees lots of kids with respiratory problems caused by vaping, including coughing, worsening asthma, bronchitis and more severe types of lung disease.

    Studies show teens who vape report higher rates of wheezing, shortness of breath and a reduced ability to tolerate exercise. Gaby Cuadra of Miami, who vaped for nine years starting at age 15, remembers how it hurt her high school track and field performance.

    “As the years kept going on and I would keep vaping, the distances that I used to be able to run, I, like, couldn’t do them anymore,” said Cuandra, 25. “I would run out of breath.”

    While an e-cigarette’s aerosol doesn’t contain most of the 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, most vapes “emit numerous potentially toxic substances,” according to a comprehensive 2018 consensus report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Researchers said the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes are not yet clear.

    One of the biggest dangers of vaping is nicotine addiction, which can disrupt the developing brain and affect attention, learning and mood.

    “The addiction factor cannot be overstated enough,” said Rao at Children’s Health in Dallas. “Adolescent brains are primed for addiction.”

    How to talk to your child about vaping

    Start by asking questions, experts advise. You can raise the issue by, for example, pointing out a new vape shop.

    “Start open-ended conversations,” Rao said.

    Ask what your child knows about vaping and its harms, whether they’ve seen e-cigarettes and if their friends are using them.

    Even if your kid is already vaping, Rao said, take a deep breath and don’t yell. Be nonjudgmental.

    Consider what your child may see on social media, where some influencers call nicotine a “hack” for stress relief. Some studies show that many people misinterpret the curbing of nicotine withdrawal symptoms as stress or anxiety relief and that quitting reduces stress. A 2025 study in the journal Tobacco Control said vaping may be linked to adverse mental health outcomes and that those who quit “experience fewer urges to vape, reduced anxiety, and stabilized mood.”

    Teens’ decisions are often based on their peers and what’s cool, said Anthony Alberg of the University of South Carolina, a member of the expert committee that produced the National Academies vaping report. Tell your teen they don’t have to succumb to peer pressure and that their friends should want to be friends whether they vape or not.

    Younger children, Alberg said, may be more likely to listen to arguments about health effects, such as comparing vaping to “putting poison in your system.”

    Arming kids with information is better than simply trying to limit access to vapes, experts said, since age restrictions often don’t keep them out of kids’ hands.

    “Most teens get e-cigarettes from friends, older peers or online sellers rather than buying them in a store,” Hadland said.

    A teen’s journey through vaping and quitting

    When Ricky first tried e-cigarettes, he used an older cousin’s vape. Later, an older friend bought e-cigarettes for him and his friends. He particularly liked the flavors blue raspberry, strawberry, watermelon and kiwi.

    In the early days, he thought vaping helped him with his ADHD.

    “What I didn’t realize is that because I was addicted to nicotine, when I didn’t have it, I’d be anxious and really couldn’t focus,” he said. “Instead of being something that helped me, it just made things worse.”

    Vaping also sapped his stamina, made it harder to sleep, worsened his asthma and compromised his performance as a football player and wrestler.

    Eventually, he got into trouble with his school and parents for vaping and selling vapes to others. He began meeting with a school social worker and joined the American Lung Association’s Not On Tobacco program, which helps teens to quit.

    The first couple of weeks were extremely difficult. But eventually, he stopped thinking about vaping as much. He quit for good in 2022.

    Like Ricky, most middle and high school students who vape want to quit, researchers have found.

    Parents can help them by first seeing their doctor, who can connect them with counseling or free text-message quit programs for young people.

    For kids who vape heavily, Hadland said doctors may consider medications like Chantix or nicotine replacement therapy as part of a supervised quitting plan.

    Cuandra quit after giving up e-cigarettes for Lent, assisted by a free program developed by Truth Initiative and Mayo Clinic called EX, which provides text message support, advice and encouragement.

    “The best thing I ever did for myself was quit vaping,” said Cuandra, who has shared her story on social media.

    Since Ricky gave up vaping, he’s also shared what he learned. Usually, he asks his peers what triggers their vaping and how they can avoid those situations, as he did.

    “I tell them, like, ‘I’m not here to judge you,’” he said. “’I’m here to help you.’”

    ___

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


  • You can ignore AI giants like SpaceX, but your 401(k) won’t


    NEW YORK (AP) — While you might want to ignore all the hubbub around SpaceX, Elon Musk and IPOs, your 401(k) likely can’t.

    SpaceX is now worth $2.1 trillion after its stock launched 19.2% higher in its debut on Wall Street. Whether or not you believe it deserves to be worth more than Exxon Mobil, Bank of America and Coca-Cola combined, the collective market does. And if SpaceX maintains that big a value, it will join some high-profile stock indexes.

    Many of these indexes don’t care about how realistic a company’s growth plans are or who its CEO is. They’re simply trying to show how slices of the market, or the whole thing, are performing. And if SpaceX is big enough to meet the qualifications to join those indexes, whether it’s in a few weeks or a year, it will gain entry.

    That matters for investors and their 401(k) accounts because they’re depending more than ever on funds that simply mimic these indexes. It’s a lower-cost way to invest, allowing savers to keep more of their investments. Partly because of that, such index funds have usually proven to be better performers than funds that try to pick and choose individual stocks.

    Just one in five actively managed U.S. stock funds survived and beat their average index peer over the last decade, at 21%, according to Morningstar’s data through 2025. Such disparities in performance meant investors had more money invested in U.S. index funds than actively managed ones beginning in 2024, and the gap has only grown since then.

    Here’s a look at what’s going on:

    What indexes are

    They’re things the investment industry has created to answer the question: What is the market doing? It’s otherwise tough to answer quickly when the U.S. market has thousands of stocks moving in different directions at any moment.

    The S&P 500 is perhaps the most famous and influential index. It tracks 500 of the biggest U.S. stocks, and trillions of dollars in investments are either directly mimicking it or at least benchmarking themselves against it.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average is well known because it’s been around since the 19th century, but it tracks only 30 big stocks so Wall Street pays it little attention.

    Companies want to be in indexes

    Because index funds are the way so many investors put money into the stock market, companies want to be part of indexes. Stocks can see a big jump in their prices after S&P Dow Jones Indices, Nasdaq, FTSE Russell or other companies announce they’ll be joining their indexes.

    The investment industry has created funds, including both traditional mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, to track almost every kind of index. More than 1,000 index funds were available at the end of last year, according to the Investment Company Institute. Of them, 185 tracked the S&P 500.

    SpaceX could soon be in indexes

    Nasdaq changed its rules to allow some huge companies to join its Nasdaq 100 index after just 15 trading days. That’s a break from the past, where it would wait until each December to add new members in an annual reconstitution to make sure it includes the 100 largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq.

    Some popular funds track the Nasdaq 100 index, including the QQQ exchange-traded fund from Invesco that has roughly $477 billion in total investments. That means QQQ holders could soon own shares of SpaceX, without doing anything on their own.

    Other AI giants could as well

    Anthropic and OpenAI are two other huge AI-related companies looking to sell their own stocks soon on a U.S. exchange for the first time. Their IPOs could potentially make each worth close to $1 trillion.

    It used to be that companies would have an IPO long before they got that big. But SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI swelled to tremendous sizes thanks to dollars from private investors, including pension funds, companies and rich investors, away from the public market.

    That’s forcing the reconsideration for the investment industry about how quickly to add companies to indexes that they say track the biggest companies.

    Not every index is making changes to fast-track big IPOs

    The company behind the S&P 500 is not making changes to allow SpaceX and other “mega” IPOs faster entry into the index. For it, a stock needs to trade on an eligible exchange for at least 12 months before it can join the index.

    Not only that, S&P Dow Jones Indices also requires companies to have made a profit in its most recent quarter and over the sum of its last four quarters.

    SpaceX lost $4.9 billion last year and another $4.3 billion through the first three months of 2026. It acknowledges that it “may not achieve profitability in the future.” Over the long term, a stock’s price tends to track with how much profit the company is making.

    Not everyone is happy about SpaceX’s IPO entry to indexes

    Officials from pension funds for firefighters, teachers and other workers in California and New York sent a letter to SpaceX last month decrying its corporate governance, including how much power Musk will hold over the company through his ownership of a special class of stock with more voting power.

    They said they could become owners of SpaceX stock because they hold index funds.

    If Musk is able to control so much of the voting power on the board of directors, it would make him tremendously powerful atop SpaceX, “essentially making him unfireable without his own consent,” the CEO of California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the New York state comptroller and the New York City comptroller wrote in their letter.

    If an investor doesn’t like certain companies in the index

    Index funds track indexes. And if a stock is in an index, the index fund will buy it, even if investors may not like it.

    Tesla has remained in the S&P 500 even though critics called it overvalued for years, for example, and Musk’s electric-vehicle company has grown to become one of Wall Street’s 10 biggest companies.

    Some indexes say they will not include companies that have poor corporate governance standards or other narrowed criteria, but investors need to look for them.

    The S&P 500 ESG index famously kicked Tesla out in 2022, for example.