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  • Still thinking about World Cup tickets? Here’s where prices, availability stand


    NEW YORK (AP) — The World Cup starts Thursday, and FIFA is charging record prices at the 11 stadiums in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada. FIFA is using dynamic pricing and has repeatedly raised the prices since tickets first went on sale last fall. FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended those prices Wednesday as fitting in the North American market, but they have been criticized for list prices that have reached five figures.

    Here’s where things stand on the eve of the World Cup opener:

    Several venues have sold out, but there are seats available for most games

    On the eve of the tournament, 29 games were sold out (with wheelchair seats available for some of those) and 75 had tickets remaining, including both semifinals, all four quarterfinals, five round of 16 matches and 14 of 16 games in the new round of 32. That’s in addition to unreleased knockout-stage tickets that won’t be available until FIFA knows which teams have advanced to specific matches.

    Many of those available tickets are in the high-priced category one and category two levels added by FIFA in April.

    Several hundred seats, all costing four figures, were available for the semifinal in Arlington, Texas, but just over 20 were on sale for the Atlanta semifinal on FIFA’s official tickets site.

    There aren’t many relatively cheap seats left

    Category three seats, the lowest-priced category, remained for just three matches. Two of those were high-priced to begin with.

    Those lower-priced tickets for the U.S. opener against Paraguay on Thursday at Inglewood, California, could be bought for $1,120 — but just two remained. Other available prices for the game were $4,105, $2,735, $2,330 and $1,645. More than 100 tickets were listed as available.

    Category three also was available for Canada’s opener against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Thursday at Toronto for $980 along with seats at $2,240 and $1,645.

    Category three seats priced at $180 remained for just one match, Egypt vs. Iran at Seattle on June 26, and more than 370 were on sale. Several hundred tickets also were available at $1,000, $875 and $550.

    More tickets will become available closer to match days

    Infantino that “there are always tickets on sale.”

    In addition to tickets given back to FIFA, the governing body holds back seats.

    “We also need always to keep some tickets for those teams who qualify for the additional rounds,” he said.

    There are some better deals available on resale markets

    FIFA has its own resale marketplace, where it collects 15% from both the buyer and seller.

    In addition, other resale sites such at StubHub and SeatGeek have tickets for sale.

    FIFA’s resale site has tickets for the Paraguay-U.S. game starting at $661.25 and SeatGeek starting at $920. England’s game against Croatia at Arlington, Texas, on June 17 started at $880 on Seat Geek and $850 on FIFA.

    Tickets for the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, started at $7,986 on SeatGeek, $8,775 on StubHub and $9,085 on FIFA.

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


  • Eldridge’s grand slam caps wild comeback as Giants rally from 8 down in 8th to stun Nats, 11-10


    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Bryce Eldridge hit a game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to cap an incredible comeback by the San Francisco Giants, who scored 10 runs over the final two innings of an 11-10 victory against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.

    San Francisco trailed 9-1 before rallying for five runs in the eighth and five more in the ninth to stun the Nationals and avert a three-game sweep.

    Big league teams trailing by at least eight runs in the eighth inning or later had lost 4,291 consecutive games since Cleveland stormed back from 10-2 down to beat Tampa Bay 11-10 on May 29, 2009, per Sportradar.

    Matt Chapman had four hits, including two home runs — his second coming as part of back-to-back homers with Rafael Devers in the eighth to set up the comeback.

    Jung Hoo Lee singled to extend his hitting streak to 18 games for the Giants, the longest active stretch in the majors.

    Luis Arraez and Chapman hit consecutive doubles to begin the ninth. Devers walked and Lee singled to load the bases before Eldridge, who grew up a Nationals fan in Northern Virginia, drove a 2-0 slider from Mitchell Parker (2-3) into the right-field arcade for the rookie’s fourth home run.

    Lee raised his arms in celebration before the ball went over the wall.

    James Wood hit his 18th home run for Washington. Daylen Lile added four hits, and Curtis Mead also homered on a day when every Nationals starter had a hit while seven players drove in at least one run.

    Washington, which had already clinched its fifth consecutive road series win, was on the verge of finishing a 5-1 trip before collapsing in the ninth.

    Reiver Sanmartin (1-0) retired six batters to earn the win. He gave up Mead’s leadoff homer in the ninth that made it 10-6, but that insurance run wasn’t enough for Washington.

    Wood got the Nationals going in the third when he crushed a high 3-1 fastball from starter Robbie Ray and sent it over the center-field fence.

    Washington scored three runs in the sixth and added three more in the seventh before the Giants rallied.

    Ray allowed five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.

    Up next

    Nationals: RHP Zack Littell (6-4, 4.76 ERA) faces the Seattle Mariners on Friday.

    Giants: Had not announced a scheduled starter for Friday’s home game against the Chicago Cubs.

    ___

    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb


  • White Sox rookie Braden Montgomery hasn’t calmed down after his historic walk-off MLB debut


    CHICAGO (AP) — By the time Braden Montgomery returned to Rate Field on Wednesday, the glow from his major league debut the night before was a long way from fading.

    Montgomery capped a 2-for-5 night with a game-ending, two-run homer in the 10th inning to lift the Chicago White Sox to a 6-5 win over Atlanta Braves. He became the fifth player in MLB history to hit a walk-off homer in his debut, joining Billy Parker (1971), Josh Bard (2002), Miguel Cabrera (2015) and Carlos Pérez (2023).

    Montgomery was still buzzing hours after his 343-foot, opposite-field shot cleared the fence in left field.

    “I don’t know if I would be considered calmed down at this point,” Montgomery said. “Just been enjoying it, sharing it with my family.”

    White Sox manager Will Venable said he isn’t worried about the 23-year-old getting ahead of himself after one game.

    “We haven’t had anybody with a debut like that, but I think he’s as grounded as they come,” Venable said. “This is a guy that has really high expectations of himself. I’m sure he envisioned himself doing this, what he did last night. To be honest, his idea of what he can do in this league is as high as anybody else’s. It was exactly what he expected.”

    Montgomery spent the start of his second day of his big league career responding to the text messages he continues to receive — “The number shrinks and grows as I answer them, but more come in,” Montgomery said — and spending time with his parents and family, who were sitting behind home plate Wednesday night.

    His mother, Gretchen Montgomery Willock, posted a video of the family celebration in the stands that went viral on social media. On Wednesday, she posted, “Let me tell you about a dream I had last night.”

    “It’s not really something you can imagine,” Montgomery said. “You just kind of go into it with your expectations and do whatever the game brings.”

    One of the top prospects in the White Sox organization, acquired from the Red Sox in the December 2024 trade that sent Garrett Crochet to Boston, Montgomery was hitting .315 for Triple-A Charlotte. He became the 12th White Sox rookie to debut this season, the second-highest total before the All-Star break since the 1944 Cincinnati Reds had 13, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

    The influx of youth has helped the White Sox go 29-18 since April 17, second only to the New York Yankees (30-17), despite injuries to Munetaka Murakami and Everson Pereira. among others. The White Sox are 5-4 since Murakami, a rookie from Japan who leads the team with 20 homers, injured his right hamstring on May 29.

    Colson Montgomery joined that list Tuesday. He is day to day with a sore back and was not in the lineup Wednesday. The second-year shortstop, a relative veteran of 135 MLB games, said his younger teammates are feeding off each other to pick up the slack.

    “You get up here, and it’s like, these are my boys, my teammates, this is nothing new,” Colson Montgomery said. “That’s why a lot of our young rookie guys are coming up here and they’re thriving because they’re just being themselves and they know they can be themselves. … We have a lot of guys in the minor leagues who are coming up and they’re ready to show their impact.”

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    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb


  • Feds won’t seek death penalty in plea deal with man accused of killing top Minnesota Democrat


    U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday they will not seek the death penalty as part of a plea agreement with the man charged in the political assassinations of the top Democrat in the Minnesota House along with her husband, as well as the attempted murders of a state senator and his wife.

    The defendant, Vance Boelter, was scheduled for a change-of-plea hearing Thursday morning in federal court in Minneapolis.

    “The Attorney General has authorized and directed the government not to seek the death penalty against Defendant Vance Luther Boelter in accordance with the terms delineated in a proposed plea agreement,” assistant U.S. attorneys Bradley M. Endicott and Matthew D. Forbes wrote in a letter to the court Wednesday.

    The Justice Department had said earlier in the week that it decided not to pursue the death penalty. While the Trump administration has pushed for greater use of capital punishment, there were questions about whether Boelter’s case would qualify for it.

    Boelter’s attorneys did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The court filing did not detail the terms of the plea agreement.

    Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, were shot by a man who came to their doors in the early hours of June 14, 2025, disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car. The Hortmans’ golden retriever was so gravely injured that he had to be euthanized.

    Boelter, 58, was captured near his home in rural Green Isle late the next day after what prosecutors have called the largest search for a suspect in Minnesota history. He faces federal and state murder, attempted murder and other charges. His state case has been on hold pending the resolution of his federal charges.

    Minnesota abolished capital punishment in 1911 and has never had a federal death penalty case.

    Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, said the federal plea deal would not affect Boelter’s state charges.

    Under federal law, to obtain the death penalty against Boelter, prosecutors would have to show he committed the killings during another “crime of violence.” Boelter’s underlying charge was that he stalked the victims.

    A federal judge in New York earlier this year barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against Luigi Mangione in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, ruling that stalking doesn’t count as a violent crime.

    Prosecutors have called the attacks on the Minnesota politicians political. When they announced the federal indictment in July, they released a rambling handwritten letter they say Boelter wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel in which he confessed to the shootings. However, the letter didn’t make clear why he targeted the Hortmans or the Hoffmans.

    In some messages to media, Boelter referenced a vague and cryptic “investigation” he had been carrying out, sometimes suggesting it was about the COVID-19 vaccine.

    Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian and occasional preacher and missionary, who held politically conservative views and had been struggling to find work.

    When Minnesota’s legislative session convened in February, Hoffman got a warm welcome as he walked up the stairs into the Senate chamber. He said in a lawsuit filed against Boelter in April that his left arm and hand likely would never fully recover, and that he also had permanent injuries to his digestive and urinary systems.

    Yvette Hoffman was left with permanent physical weakness, the lawsuit said, while their adult daughter, Hope Hoffman, who was there and called 911 but was not shot, suffered severe psychological trauma.

    ___

    Johnson reported from Seattle. Former AP reporter Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed.


  • A ‘secure zone’ stops Knicks fans from gathering outside MSG, rankling die-hards and the team owner


    NEW YORK (AP) — Throughout the New York Knicks’ playoff run, thousands of deliriously happy fans have flooded the streets outside Madison Square Garden, often invoking a two-word rallying cry: “We outside.”

    But as the team hosts its first NBA Finals games in 27 years, the city is restricting spontaneous gatherings outside the famed arena.

    New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his police department have cited a range of reasons for the ban, including President Donald Trump’s attendance at Monday’s game.

    Ahead of Game 4 on Wednesday, the NYPD announced it would again prevent fans from gathering around MSG, unless they were going to the game or had “business specific to that area.”

    Instead, the city said it had approved a permit to allow 1,000 fans access to a watch party outside the Garden — a scaled-down version of previous viewing parties, which the NYPD had sought to have canceled for rowdiness, before later reversing course.

    Otherwise, fans need an “authorized reason” to be inside a security perimeter that stretches for several blocks around the arena. While bars and restaurants will stay open, they were subject to “strict capacity limits,” police said.

    Hours before the game on Wednesday, Knicks owner James Dolan indicated the watch party wouldn’t go forward, saying that he had never agreed to the city’s restrictions.

    A statement released by the Madison Square Garden Co. also accused Mamdani of transforming the streets around the arena into a “police state” in order to “freeze out fans from celebrating.”

    The measures have also enraged nearby restaurants and bars, as well as civil liberties groups.

    “It’s ruining my business,” said Angela Reilly, the owner of Molly Wee, an Irish pub near the arena. “I haven’t seen anything like this level of security in 46 years.”

    Molly Biklen, the legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, agreed the tactics seemed heavy-handed. “Crowd control for major events is reasonable, but historic moments are not carte blanche for overpolicing or excessive NYPD responses,” Biklen said.

    The conflict has also focused attention once again on the shaky alliance between the mayor and his police commissioner, Jessica Tisch. To some, the security restrictions appeared at odds with Mamdani’s broader agenda, which included improving access to public spaces and limiting how the NYPD polices major events.

    “The NYPD is historically extremely risk-averse to disorderly behavior by crowds, whether they be celebratory or protesting,” said Jeffrey Fagan, a law professor at Columbia University who studies policing. “The mayor now faces a difficult calculus between the strong emotions of Knicks fans and the political risks if crowd control isn’t airtight.”

    In recent days, members of Mamdani’s administration have pressed Tisch to allow some version of the watch parties to go forward outside Madison Square Garden, according to two people familiar with the meetings, who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the meetings.

    Tisch, meanwhile, has advocated for the security perimeter, citing the need to control against crowds that have at times become violent and unruly. Some recent fan gatherings in Manhattan have led to dozens of arrests and several injuries to police officers.

    Following the Knicks′ loss Monday, at least 21 people were taken into custody. The NYPD also said it is currently searching for members of a group that ripped a San Antonio Spurs jersey off a man while punching and kicking him.

    Shaun Geddes, a Knicks fan who runs a popular podcast about the team, said he had celebrated multiple series-clinching victories outside the arena and found the vast majority of fans were respectful.

    “Then there’s a small group of people out there cosplaying as Knicks fans and doing performative things to go viral on TikTok,” Geddes added. “But being passionate as a Knicks fan doesn’t mean assaulting anyone.”

    In response to criticism about the closure, city officials have noted there isn’t a recent precedent for the position in which they now find themselves. The Knicks have not been to an NBA Finals since 1999. Most of the city’s other major sports teams play in the less-crowded outer boroughs or in New Jersey.

    But when the New York Rangers — who also play in the Garden— last won the Stanley Cup, in 1994, the NYPD took another approach to managing elated fans.

    Ahead of the game, police announced they would clear the area around the arena of potential projectiles, like metal trash cans or debris, but would allow fans to move freely.

    “We expect the fans to be extremely vocal,” Allen Hoehl, an NYPD chief at the time, said at a 1994 news conference. “If they want to go from here to there, we’ll escort them in any direction.”


  • Florida court allows use of new US House districts drawn by Republicans for midterm elections


    The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed new U.S. House districts drawn by Republicans to be used in the midterm elections, marking another victory for the GOP in a nationwide redistricting effort aimed at helping the party retain its slim House majority.

    Attorneys for voters who sued had argued that the new congressional districts violate a state constitutional prohibition on partisan gerrymandering, and that the court should order the state to continue using the same districts as in the previous election. The Supreme Court, in a 6-1 decision, denied their request for a temporary injunction without ruling on the merits of the case. The judges said they lacked jurisdiction to intervene while the lawsuit gradually plays out in the lower courts.

    Republicans already hold 20 of Florida’s 28 U.S. House seats. The new voting districts signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis after a swift two-day special legislative session could improve the GOP’s chances to win four additional seats this year.

    The court’s decision provides some certainty for prospective congressional candidates, who face a Friday deadline to qualify for the state’s Aug. 18 primaries.

    Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier, who defended the new districts in court, declared “complete and total victory” in a social media post.

    Opponents expressed outrage while vowing to continue the court fight, even though it may stretch into the 2028 election cycle.

    “The Florida Supreme Court’s failure to stop this brazen partisan power grab is not only an assault on democracy, but an abdication of its duty to the people of Florida,” said Genesis Robinson, executive director of Equal Ground, a community organizing group that sued.

    The new districts are “a pretty clear partisan gerrymander,” said Amy Keith, executive director of Common Cause Florida. “We’re going to do everything we can to prevent this map from impacting further, future elections.”

    Florida’s map is part of a national GOP effort

    Voting districts typically are redrawn after a census near the beginning of each decade. Florida is one of several Republican-led states that have undertaken mid-decade redistricting as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to try to hold on to a slim House majority in November by reshaping district boundaries to the GOP’s advantage.

    Florida’s legislature approved the new House map on April 29 — the same day the U.S. Supreme Court weakened federal Voting Rights Act protections for minorities while striking down a majority-Black congressional district in Louisiana. Since then, several Southern states have taken steps to try to eliminate minority districts that have elected Democrats.

    DeSantis had called lawmakers into a special session before the high court’s ruling, but he had anticipated the eventual outcome. DeSantis’ office asserted that no racial data was used for the map he presented to the Legislature. The new map, among other things, redraws a southeastern Florida district that DeSantis’ office said was created to help elect a Black representative in an attempt to comply with the federal Voting Rights Act.

    In addition to barring partisan gerrymandering, a constitutional amendment approved by Florida voters in 2010 also prohibits districts from being drawn to deny or diminish the ability of racial or language minorities to elect the representatives of their choice. It further requires districts to be compact and, where feasible, use existing political and geographic boundaries.

    Republicans assert that redistricting restrictions are invalid

    In a memo to lawmakers, DeSantis’ General Counsel David Axelman asserted that the racial redistricting provision of Florida’s Fair Districts Amendment violates the U.S. Constitution. If one element is invalid, Axelman wrote, then the entire 2010 amendment is void, including provisions barring partisan gerrymandering.

    Attorneys representing state officials made similar arguments to the Florida Supreme Court, after a lower court judge last month declined to issue a preliminary injunction against the new map. They also argued it was too late in the election season to revert to the previous maps.

    In a filing with the Florida Supreme Court, attorneys representing state officials said the new map was “cause for celebration” during America’s 250th anniversary. “Perhaps for the first time in Florida’s history, the State has a truly colorblind map; a map that refuses to assault the dignity of men and women by color-coding them,” their court filing said.

    Attorneys who sued on behalf of voters argued the new districts were crafted with political favoritism. They argued in documents filed with the state Supreme Court that the new congressional districts are “among the most extreme partisan gerrymanders enacted in any state over the past half-century.”

    Under the new House map, 82% of voters in districts represented by Republicans remain in the same districts as under the previous map, said attorney Chris Shenton, who represented Common Cause and other groups challenging the map. Just 41% of voters in districts represented by Democrats are kept in their same districts, he said.

    Justices differed on urgency of Florida case

    The Supreme Court’s majority issued only a brief written opinion, but two of its members elaborated about the importance of the case. In a concurring opinion, Justice Adam Tanenbaum said the judicial system follows a deliberative process, and “there is no need for special treatment in this case.”

    In a dissent, Justice Jorge Labarga expressed frustration that an appellate court hadn’t sent the case straight to the Supreme Court. He said the state constitution “anticipates that some matters may be so urgent as to require an expedited path to this Court.”

    “Surely, the upcoming 2026 congressional elections affecting the representation of millions of Floridians meet that threshold,” Labarga wrote.


  • Texas Tech defends playing QB Brendan Sorsby amid gambling addiction, says ‘it’s not murder’


    HOUSTON (AP) — Top leadership at Texas Tech on Wednesday defended their plan to play quarterback Brendan Sorsby next season while he treats his gambling addiction, insisting they are not trying to “engineer his eligibility” through the courts and dismissing widespread criticism of the Red Raiders that includes school discussions of boycotting their teams.

    Speaking to fans and boosters at the Houston Touchdown Club, coach Joey McGuire acknowledged the “rage” surrounding the situation, with athletic directors across college football saying that the NCAA ban on players who gamble should remain sacrosanct and a court order won this week by Sorsby to restore his eligibility crossed a line that should never be crossed.

    “For some reason, as a society, we’ve been OK with other things that happen and allowing players to play, and this has been the one thing that has united people, that they were against,” McGuire said. “It’s crazy because it’s not murder, it’s not beating somebody — so there’s a lot of things that we’re working through. None of this is OK.”

    Texas Tech officials canceled a news conference that was scheduled for before the luncheon. After his speech, McGuire said he’d only take questions from “Red Raider fans” and answered them for about 10 minutes.

    According to court filingss earlier this year, Sorsby made thousands of impermissible bets on college and pro sports that were worth at least $90,000 while at Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. Those bets include the ones he made while a freshman with the Hoosiers in 2022, though none were on games in which he played. Sorsby sought the injunction against the NCAA in a lawsuit filed May 18, the same day Texas Tech ruled him ineligible, a necessary step before the school could pursue his reinstatement — an effort twice denied by the NCAA.

    Three top Texas Tech leaders go on the offensive

    Cody Campbell, the billionaire Texas Tech booster and chairman of its board of regents, issued a statement and so did athletic director Kirby Hocutt, who said he wanted to “offer a few facts that seem to be getting lost in the noise” and noting the school is not part of Sorsby’s lawsuit against the NCAA.

    “A young man in treatment for a clinically diagnosed addiction exercised his legal right to seek a remedy in court and a judge agreed with him,” Hocutt said. “Our role has been to support his recovery, not to engineer his eligibility.”

    Under the court order, Sorsby will be suspended for the first two games of the season. The NCAA plans to appeal the ruling, with President Charlie Baker telling reporters in Las Vegas that the case illustrated “a new low” in college sports.

    McGuire likened Sorsby recovering from his addiction to fellow Texas Tech quarterback Will Hammond’s recovery from knee surgery. Both he and Hocutt said Sorsby would be evaluated — “his recovery, compliance and readiness,” the athletic director said — before he would be cleared to play in Week 3 against Houston on Sept. 18 in the team’s Big 12 opener.

    “I’ve sat down with this young man multiple times and the things that he is going through and what he’s been through, it’s serious,” McGuire said. “And I have a number of people in my family that were addicted to different stuff and so I’ve seen what addiction does to people.”

    Billionaire booster says boycotting Texas Tech could lead to legal action

    Campbell, a key figure in helping Texas Tech land top players over the past two years, took a far more aggressive and defiant stance on a podcast appearance with Dan Dakich.

    “As it stands right now, the kid is eligible, so we don’t have a whole lot of choice but to play him,” he said. “Not only on a legal grounds, but ethically and morally. We told him we were going to back him up and support him, and Texas Tech does what it says it’s going to do and keeps the promises it makes.”

    He also addressed reports that schools have been talking about boycotting Texas Tech in light of the ruling, suggesting that could lead to legal action.

    “I love when the Big Ten or the K-State AD comes out and says we’ve all gotten together and we’ve talked about how we’re not going to play Tech, because guess what? That’s collusion,” he said. “That’s an antitrust violation. So have fun with that one, guys. You can’t do that.”

    Hocutt also struck back at those who questioned what this does to the integrity of college football.

    “The integrity of sport matters,” he said, “So does the integrity of how we treat a 22-year-old who sought help, entered residential treatment, and is working every day toward recovery. Those two things don’t have to be in conflict.”

    McGuire was adamant that the most important thing in this story is supporting Sorsby in his “darkest times.”

    “He’s the first person to tell you it was his fault,” McGuire said. “He chose to do this, but when you know anything about addiction, there’s a point that you choose it and then all of a sudden you don’t choose it anymore. There’s not something that you can do by yourself to get past where you’re at. So I wasn’t going to turn my back on him.”

    McGuire added that Sorsby was “back in the building” after spending some time away from the facilities while he was dealing with his issues.

    “Do I see a different person? I know it sounds crazy, but I do,” McGuire said. “I see a kid that feels like he’s got 1,000 pounds of weight lifted off of him. He’s made the statement that he feels like this is a moment that can actually change his life.”

    Sorsby may soon explain himself to fans, critics

    The coach also said that Sorsby wants to address fans of his new school.

    “At some point soon, I would expect Red Raiders will hear from Brendan Sorsby because I think it’s really important,” McGuire said. “And I will tell you, he thinks it’s really important for him to get everybody to understand exactly where he’s at.”

    The injunction comes with conditions that Sorsby must continue counseling for his gambling and to participate in peer support through Gamblers Anonymous or a similar group. He also must continue treatment to address “the underlying anxiety that served as the primary driver of (his) gambling behavior.”

    McGuire said Sorsby is working through many things right now and provided more details on restrictions that will be put in place for the quarterback in his return. He said that there will be technology on any device he has “for us to know everything that’s going on.” Sorsby, who reportedly signed a multimillion-dollar deal to join the Red Raiders after two years at Cincinnati and two years at Indiana, will have a person that will account for “every single penny that he has.”

    “The proper steps are in place to get for him to get to the point where we can get him playing,” McGuire said. “There’s a lot of stuff to go through.”

    ___

    AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football


  • Trump has a new, surprising take on the higher cost of living: ‘I love the inflation’


    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday showed how he had learned to stop worrying about inflation and simply, in his own words, “love” it.

    Asked about the new report that the consumer price index in May had jumped 4.2% over the last year, the president took a surprisingly optimistic tack with the challenging news. Trump didn’t dismiss the affordability issue as a “hoax” that was started by Democrats, as he has done previously. Nor did he claim that he was bringing down the cost of living.

    Instead, after the government said that inflation spiked to the highest level since April 2023, Trump praised the numbers.

    “You know what I really love?” Trump said. “I love the inflation.”

    It was an unexpected take given that voters ahead of the November midterm elections have ranked the economy as a top concern — and have given Trump low marks on that issue. Within minutes of his on-camera comment, Democrats quickly rushed to promote it on social media.

    Trump had pledged in his 2024 campaign to quickly vanquish inflation, but his argument now is that higher prices are solely a function of the Iran war raising energy costs. On Wednesday, he claimed that relief is already on its way because of a secret military operation that had ferried what he said was 100 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, the primary shipping channel for 20% of the world’s global oil supply that has been effectively closed by the war since late February.

    “Trump really said, ‘I love the inflation.’ On camera. For all of America to hear,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer quickly posted on X. “His contempt for you knows no bounds.”

    House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on X that with Trump’s stated love of inflation, “We finally found something that Donald Trump loves as much as he loves himself.”

    Rep. Emilia Sykes, D-Ohio, quickly pressed Energy Secretary Chris Wright at a hearing about whether he, too, loved inflation.

    “Do you love inflation?” Sykes asked.

    “I love ending Iran’s ability to have a nuclear weapon,” Wright answered. He only conceded after being pressed: “No, I would prefer lower inflation.”

    When asked about Trump’s specific comments, Wright said, “He’s an entertaining, hyperbolic guy who’s done tremendous leadership.”

    Trump claimed the secretive shipments were why oil prices had fallen below $90 a barrel, after surpassing $110 at the start of April.

    “I’m just announcing today for the first time, but we’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil, millions of barrels every night,” Trump said.

    On social media, the president said the mission began last month and had “resulted in more than 100 MILLION Barrels of Oil making its way through the Strait, and into the Open Market. More than 200 Commercial Ships have safely traveled through the Strait.” There was no immediate data available to back up that total, and it was not immediately clear what role the U.S. military had played.

    To put that figure into context, a daily average of 20 million barrels of oil had gone through the strait before the war, which would mean that Trump’s mission had resulted in the equivalent of five days’ worth of normal oil shipments.

    Responding to the new inflation report, the White House pointed out that some expenses had dropped in May relative to the previous month: the price of new vehicles, prescription drugs and auto insurance, for example. But when the overall inflation number is paired with the change in hourly wages, there is a bleak sign that people’s spending power relative to their earnings has declined.

    “President Trump has consistently maintained that oil and gas prices — and thus overall inflation — will plummet once the Iran situation is resolved, and the administration will continue pushing our affordability agenda to enable Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in an email.

    But the financial markets were cautious about Trump’s claims that he was lowering prices by getting oil tankers through the strait — claims that came as the United States also launched airstrikes against Iran, and as Tehran fired back at countries in the region.

    U.S. crude oil futures climbed roughly 4% on Wednesday, closing at nearly $92 a barrel.


  • FIFA’s Infantino defends World Cup ticket prices, says fans ‘should chill’ about ref denied US entry


    MEXICO CITY (AP) — FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended World Cup ticket prices on Wednesday, saying “if we do something wrong, then probably everyone selling tickets in North America is doing something wrong.”

    Infantino spoke with reporters during a rare question-and-answer session on the eve of the opening match of an expanded 48-nation, 104-game World Cup tournament. He defended record ticket prices, said FIFA was powerless to get the U.S. government to admit a Somali referee, and praised his ability to get Iran’s national soccer team into the United States.

    FIFA priced tickets starting at $140 for group-stage games, but regular seats for the July 19 final outside New York were listed at up to $8,680 and hospitality seats at up to $73,200. It raised prices for the final to $10,990 and then $32,970.

    After much criticism, FIFA offered $60 tickets to national federations for their regular supporters. Infantino said 130,000 tickets were offered in that category.

    Four years ago at the tournament in Qatar, prices ranged from $69 to $1,607.

    “If you sell it at a lower price point,” he said, “in this particular market it would have gone — which is perfectly legal in this country … in secondary markets at much, much, much higher prices and where would the money go then? Well, to those who organize secondary markets or black market activities and not to football.”

    Infantino said the average ticket price was below $500 for the tournament and was comparable to other U.S. sports during their playoffs, a claim that while true for resale prices does not appear to be accurate for list prices. Major League Baseball’s average World Series ticket price has been $350 to $400 in recent years and NFL prices last season averaged $230 for the wild-card round, $320 for divisional games, $450 for conference championships and $3,300 for the Super Bowl.

    Infantino said he was unconcerned about ticket probes by attorneys general in California, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

    “When it comes to these legal investigations or complaints that were made in some states in the U.S.,” he said, “we are very relaxed about it because before starting to sell 6 and a half or 7 million tickets we check what we do with the best lawyers, with the best experts. If we do something wrong, then probably everyone selling tickets in North America is doing something wrong, as well.”

    Infantino pointed to the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs as an example of how other major American sporting events are experiencing a similar surge in prices.

    The get-in price on FIFA’s resale site for the World Cup final is $9,805. The NBA Finals have had wildly varied get-in prices, ranging from a minimum of about $500 for the first two games in San Antonio to about $10,000 for Game 3 in New York. Game 4 in New York was much less, dropping to about $4,000 on Wednesday.

    The Stanley Cup Final this year between teams in Las Vegas and Raleigh, North Carolina, has included a get-in price of at least $600 for each of the first four games of the best-of-seven series.

    “We welcome every investigation,” Infantino said. “We are happy to present everything, and we are happy to make our case.”

    Infantino says FIFA is powerless to get US entry for denied Somali referee

    Infantino said it was unfortunate Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry to the U.S.

    “We don’t control everything. We try. We’ll discuss, we will speak, we’ll see. Maybe sometimes it’s good as well to just chill, relax,” he said. “We try to solve everything. Sometimes to immediately start screaming and shouting has the opposite effect of finding a solution. Believe me when I tell you, or don’t believe me if you don’t want, but we try always to find solutions, always. But then we need to respect that we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces.”

    Set to become the first Somali referee at a World Cup, Artan was denied entry to the U.S. at Miami International Airport on Saturday over unspecified “vetting concerns,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement, without giving details of the concerns.

    “Our world is a very aggressive world and security goes above everything and you need to respect the decisions which are taken,” Infantino said. “We are working behind the scenes.”

    Infantino thinks FIFA deserves credit for ensuring Iran’s participation

    Infantino praised FIFA for working through details that allow Iran to play in the tournament at a time the U.S. is at war with that country. The Iranian team moved its training camp from the U.S. to Mexico and will fly to the United States just before matches.

    “I think it has already been successful to bring Iran to play in America,” he said. “I don’t know who would have managed to do that. And of course everyone here believes it’s the right thing to do. But, again, we don’t live on the moon. We live on planet Earth and you have to deal with different situations.”

    Infantino claimed the tournament will be “the biggest event probably in the history of mankind.”

    Infantino claims tournament could not have taken place without Donald Trump

    “Without his engagement and his involvement I think it would have been impossible — as simple as that, it would’ve been impossible to organize a World Cup in the United States,” Infantino said. “He understood immediately the magnitude of the World Cup, the impact of the World Cup.”

    Infantino says FIFA could make far more money with more broadcast sales to pay services

    FIFA is projecting $11 billion in revenue for the tournament, and Infantino said the governing body could have generated far more.

    “We could put everything on pay. We would generate $30 billion revenues, probably,” he said. “But then you have billions of people in the world who would not be able to watch the World Cup.”

    This news conference went smoother than Infantino’s opening comments in Qatar

    Four years ago, Infantino scolded critics during a news conference ahead of the opening match in Qatar. He lectured Europeans for criticizing Qatar’s human rights record during a bizarre appearance in which he claimed to feel gay, like a woman and a migrant worker, among other odd claims.

    Now 56, Infantino has been FIFA president since 2016 and intends to seek another term next year that runs through 2031.

    Infantino kept an empty seat at the news conference for Christophe Gleizes, a French freelance reporter given a seven-year prison sentence in Algeria last year over an interview with a soccer official accused of ties to a banned separatist movement.

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    AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

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


  • Anthropic pledges $200 million to research AI’s economic impact as CEO suggests job loss solutions


    Anthropic on Wednesday joined growing calls for the artificial intelligence industry to find ways to cushion people from the technology’s disruptions, announcing an initial $200 million investment to research AI’s impact on jobs and the economy.

    Alongside new policy proposals from the maker of the Claude chatbot, Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei published an essay on his personal website that expanded on his position that the government should promise economic support for those financially impacted by AI. The technology could produce much larger disruptions to the labor market than previous technological advancements, Amodei wrote, and those disruptions could last longer.

    “The key challenge in such a world won’t be incentivizing growth, but finding a way for everyone to share in the benefits,” Amodei wrote.

    The announcement comes on the heels of Anthropic rival OpenAI on Monday outlining goals that included ensuring gains from the technology are “widely shared.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently met with Sen. Bernie Sanders to discuss a plan for the public to take an ownership stake in artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI, using their stock to create a public wealth fund that would spread the fortune generated by AI behemoths.

    In the Oval Office on Wednesday, President Donald Trump told reporters that he will soon meet with executives from several leading AI companies to discuss “giving back” to the public.

    “We’re talking about giving back ​something to the public, and if we do that, the ⁠public will become very rich,” Trump said. “I think they’ll do that, and I think it’ll make ​it very popular.”

    In his essay, Amodei said he has warned of job displacement not because he is “trying to be a ‘prophet of doom’” but because he wants “both policymakers and the private sector to have the best chance to adapt and respond.” He proposed better data collection to track AI job displacement, pro-employment policy incentives to slow or reduce displacement and “mechanisms such as universal basic income” if job displacement more permanently drives down labor demand.

    That universal basic income could be financed through taxes on “relevant companies” or by raising the capital gains tax, Amodei wrote.

    Scant details were available Wednesday about the $200 million commitment from Anthropic, but the company said it will go to what it calls an Economic Futures Research Fund that will back research trials and “program evaluation” on public policies it deems promising. The company is also establishing a $150 million national fellowship program it says will help early-career professionals “extend the benefits of AI to communities across America.”

    Anthropic and OpenAI each recently announced they were moving toward initial public offerings of shares, following Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, which is pitching itself as an AI-focused space company as it prepares to go public.

    The economic policy framework Anthropic proposed Wednesday set recommendations for how the U.S. government could respond to three levels of economic disruption caused by AI: one in which the national unemployment rate reaches 5%, 10% and an unspecified, “unprecedented” level. The latest unemployment rate, reported last week, was 4.3%.

    In the “unprecedented” scenario, the company wrote that more permanent support will be necessary, and it listed several ways to generate and share revenue broadly, including basic income, sovereign wealth models and equity-sharing mechanisms. This would be “novel economic territory,” the company wrote.

    The company’s proposals also outlined several suggestions for mitigating safety and security risks. Anthropic is known for its emphasis on safety and building reliable, “steerable” AI systems, with Amodei and its co-founders splitting off from OpenAI to form the new company in 2021.

    The proposals add that the government should be able to “block or deter” the rollout of AI models that “pose a significant risk of catastrophic harms.”

    Amodei wrote that AI regulations should match the rigor of Federal Aviation Administration regulations in that AI models would be required to go through technical testing and auditing like airplanes. They wouldn’t be released if they didn’t meet high safety standards.

    Last week, Trump signed an executive order on AI oversight that established a framework for the government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release.

    Amodei added existing regulations for aircraft, automobiles and drugs should serve as models for regulating AI. They are all “powerful technologies essential to the modern economy,” he wrote, “but capable of killing large numbers of people if designed or operated poorly.”