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  • World Cup absence of Jerry Jones at the home of his Dallas Cowboys finally ends in semifinals


    ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jerry Jones, the famous and ever-present owner of the Dallas Cowboys, finally showed up at the World Cup for the last of the tournament-high nine games at his NFL team’s home stadium.

    The billionaire businessman was keeping up from afar, and he attended Spain’s 2-0 victory over France in the semifinals AT&T Stadium on Tuesday.

    “I think first and foremost, he’s just a big event guy,” said Chad Estis, the Cowboys’ executive vice president of business operations. “He loves the NFL. He loves the Dallas Cowboys. But he has a passion for events as much as anybody that I know. He very much wanted to ensure that the stadium was operating well.”

    Judging by fans who eagerly anticipate seeing themselves on the giant video board that hangs above the center of the field and under the retractable roof — and then jump and wave for joy when they do — the venue temporarily renamed Dallas Stadium by FIFA has been a hit.

    The Jones family has a suite for the World Cup, and that’s where Jones was shown on the video board with his wife, Gene Jones, sitting next to him. The polarizing figure was met mostly with boos from the sellout crowd of 70,176.

    Jones and some family members often leave the country on his yacht this time of year — between the end of offseason workouts for the Cowboys in June and the start of training camp in California in late July.

    As a result, Jones wasn’t there in person for a pair of record-setting performances from Argentina superstar Lionel Messi. Or Japanese fans leaving entire sections spotless by picking up after themselves — twice. Or Portugal star and career men’s international scoring leader Cristiano Ronaldo’s final World Cup game.

    Those types of seminal moments were what Jones had in mind with the design and building of a stadium that opened in 2009 and in barely more than five years had hosted a Super Bowl and NCAA championship games in football and men’s basketball.

    Jones also was thinking about the fan experience, having used his own lessons from touring stadiums in Europe to include large standing-room viewing areas on three levels at each end.

    An extensive art collection is punctuated by Anish Kapoor’s stainless steel sculpture dubbed “sky mirror” outside on the east plaza. Kapoor is the creator of a similar sculpture in Chicago nicknamed “the bean.”

    To prepare for the World Cup, the Cowboys pumped another $350 million into a stadium with an original price tag of $1.2 billon. The video board looks the same, but there were upgrades in the guts of that, along with new carpeting and furniture mostly in premium areas and an overhaul of the fan shop.

    “I cannot tell you how many people come to our stadium and say, ‘I can’t believe this is 17 years old,’” Estis said. “People think it feels new. The whole thing’s been great, but it feels like it culminates in this phenomenal match tomorrow.”

    FIFA’s in charge

    Jones had to turn the stadium over to FIFA, which means the governing body got to put up curtains on the huge sliding glass doors on the west end for the only game where the setting sun could have shined into the eyes of the players.

    NFL players, including Cowboys, losing footballs in the sun has been an occasional issue each fall. Each time the topic comes up, Jones flatly refuses to consider curtains. He prefers the asthetics and expects coaches and players to make game plans around the setting sun.

    It will be too early in the day for the sun to be an issue when Spain and France play for a spot Sunday in the World Cup final at the home of the New York Jets and Giants in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

    Jones wanted that final, but settled for the consolation prize of the most games, including sharing the semifinals with the home of the Atlanta Falcons, where Argentina and England play Wednesday.

    “It’s just another great moment in an unbelievable sports legacy,” said Dan Hunt, co-chair of the local organizing committee and son of the late Lamar Hunt, who was one of Jones’ rivals as owner of the Kansas City Chiefs.

    “He’s been a world champion,” Dan Hunt said. “He’s a Pro Football Hall of Famer. He’s hosted Super Bowls, hosted almost everything you can at AT&T Stadium. And this is just another moment.”

    That suite spot

    Oh, one other thing Jones had to give up — his personal suite at the 50-yard line. Estis said FIFA thought it was perfect for a VIP area.

    “We’re like, ‘Wait a minute. Are you serious?’” Estis said with a chuckle. “I mean, I understand it. That’s why Jerry’s suite is there. It’s the prime spot.”

    Jones is giving up his prime spot for arguably the biggest single global sporting event to come to his venue. He’ll just be in a different suite.

    “I think I could imagine him being a little emotional about it,” Estis said. “To see him in design meetings and his attention to detail and his care for what the stadium looked and felt like to people, what it looked like from different angles walking up to it. He just he was so involved in the creation of what it is.”

    Jones is set to feel the soccer vibe — finally.

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    See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here


  • Jazz guard Trey Alexander taken from court on stretcher in NBA Summer League game


    LAS VEGAS (AP) — Utah Jazz guard Trey Alexander was taken from the court on stretcher Monday night after appearing to injure his side on a drive to the basket in an NBA Summer League game against the Chicago Bulls.

    Alexander, who signed a two-way deal with Utah last week, made contact with the Bulls’ Caleb Wilson while driving toward the basket and, after tossing the ball toward the hoop, went behind the basket clutching his side or abdomen. He then dropped to the ground, seemingly in great pain.

    The 23-year-old Alexander was taken from the Thomas & Mack Center court on a stretcher. The incident occurred with just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

    There was no immediate word from the Jazz on Alexander’s injury.

    Alexander played three seasons at Creighton and skipped his final year of eligibility to turn pro. The G League rookie of the year for the 2024-25 season played 24 games for the Denver Nuggets the same season and nine game for the New Orleans Pelicans last season.

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


  • Subpoenas issued to NY Times reporters seen as ‘unprecedented’ threat to press freedom


    Dangerous. Brazen. Unprecedented. Uncharted territory.

    Reaction in the media world has been swift and severe to the issue of subpoenas to five New York Times journalists who reported on security questions involving the new Qatari-gifted Air Force One — a legal maneuver seen as a troubling escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign to control and intimidate independent media outlets.

    “The subpoenas are an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations and have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

    Media advocates and analysts expressed dismay at the tactic, even after months in which news organizations drawing President Donald Trump’s ire have been attacked both in courtrooms and in the court of public opinion; media access to corridors of power has been blocked; and a Washington journalist’s home has been searched by federal agents.

    “They have used the levers of power to intimidate and demonize professional journalists who report stories that are unfavorable to the administration’s desired narrative,” said Frank Sesno, a former CNN White House bureau chief who is now a media and public affairs professor at George Washington University.

    He called Friday’s subpoenas “dangerous and uncharted territory, but merely an extension of what we have seen from this administration and president.”

    “Don’t like a poll? Sue the Des Moines Register,” he said. “Don’t like the way an interview is edited? Sue ‘60 Minutes.’ Don’t like the coverage of the gifted Air Force One? Order the FBI to investigate and subpoena the journalists for what is, by the way, a story that is in the public interest.”

    Some of the subpoenas were delivered to reporters at home

    Some of the subpoenas were delivered to reporters at their homes, the Times said. Sought by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, they seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this week.

    The new jet in question, a present from Qatar that Trump’s administration spent $400 million to retrofit and upgrade, entered service last week. But the Republican president used an older model Air Force One jet to leave a NATO summit in Turkey.

    The Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that the switch had come at the urging of the Secret Service and that the newer plane lacked some of the advanced security features of the older aircraft, including antimissile capabilities. On social media, Trump denied security concerns.

    The subpoenas were issued after FBI Director Kash Patel and other Justice Department officials met at the White House on Friday to talk about the matter, according to a person familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Times said the meeting lasted around eight hours.

    The fact that the operation was conducted from the White House itself was particularly egregious to analysts like Sesno, who called the coordination “unprecedented.”

    “This graphically illustrates the pressure and influence the White House and president have brought to bear on law enforcement that is supposed to be independent and driven by facts, not politics,” he said.

    The Justice Department has justified the subpoenas by saying that “to be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”

    “We value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country,” the department said in a weekend statement. “But DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which means not sharing classified information.”

    The National Press Club called on the Justice Department to immediately withdraw the subpoenas.

    “Every American should understand what is at stake,” Mark Schoeff Jr., the club’s president, said in a statement. “When federal agents arrive at the homes of journalists with subpoenas, it is not ordinary law enforcement. It is an extraordinary assault on the freedom of the press that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.”

    Also expressing solidarity with the Times journalists was the White House Correspondents’ Association — which, in less than two weeks, holds its rescheduled dinner, with Trump planning to attend the event that celebrates the First Amendment. The first dinner was scuttled when a shooter opened fire in what prosecutors say was an attempt to kill the president.

    “The White House Correspondents’ Association stands with the New York Times reporters who were targeted for doing their jobs to uphold the public’s right to know how its government operates,” said a statement from the group’s president, Weijia Jiang. “The WHCA condemns any act of intimidation against journalists, including attempts to pressure them into revealing sources.”

    Trump’s administration has initiated multiple lawsuits against media outlets

    Trump’s animosity toward news outlets whose agenda runs counter to his own isn’t new. But in his second presidential term, he has launched an escalation, often harnessing the levers of the federal government or attempting to do so. These efforts have taken place both in actual courtrooms and in the court of public opinion.

    The president has sued various news organizations whose coverage he dislikes. He has also threatened to revoke TV broadcast licenses. His Federal Communications Commission chairman is seeking to penalize shows like ABC’s “The View,” where some hosts speak out against Trump, by having the FCC explore revoking its exemption from equal-time rules.

    The legal skirmishes include an escalating dispute between the media and Trump’s Defense Department over reporters’ access to the Pentagon. The Times has filed two lawsuits over a policy requiring journalists to be accompanied by escorts at the military complex.

    The White House has also battled with The Associated Press over the news organization’s refusal to follow Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico. And it has battled with The Wall Street Journal over reporting about Jeffrey Epstein and his ties to the president — including an article that described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper said bore Trump’s signature.

    Last month, the Justice Department withdrew subpoenas it had issued that sought to compel reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify before a grand jury, according to people familiar with the matter.

    The Post confirmed that one of its journalists received a subpoena from the Trump administration as part of a broader crackdown on media leaks that in January also included the extraordinary step of an FBI search of the home of another journalist at the newspaper and the seizure of her electronic devices. The media world was stunned by the search of the home of reporter Hannah Natanson, who was covering Trump’s transformation of the federal government.

    The Times is now gearing up for battle against what its lawyer David McCraw has called “this brazen act.”

    In an internal memo seen by the AP, the newspaper’s executive editor, Joseph Kahn, criticized the subpoenas, praised his journalists’ work and said: “We expect to prevail. We have the best legal team in the business. … The law protects news gatherers from this sort of retaliatory abuse of prosecutorial power. It is essential that the courts reaffirm that protection and quash this overreach. We are confident they will in this case.”

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    Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.


  • US stocks rise after data shows slowing inflation, even as IBM plunges


    NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose Tuesday after a report showed U.S. inflation was not as bad last month as economists expected. That was even though oil prices continued to climb on worries that the United States and Iran may return to all-out war.

    The S&P 500 added 0.4% to recover some of its 0.8% loss from the prior day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 9 points, or less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9%.

    Stocks got help from easing yields in the bond market, which fell after a report said U.S. consumers had to pay prices for gasoline, food and other costs of living that were 3.5% higher last month than a year earlier. That wasn’t as bad as May’s 4.2% inflation rate or the 3.9% that economists expected for June.

    Less bad inflation takes pressure off the Federal Reserve, which is considering raising interest rates. Higher rates would keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.

    Following the inflation report, traders see less than a 17% chance that the Fed will raise its main interest rate at its next meeting in a couple weeks. That’s down from the nearly 42% probability they saw the day before, according to data from CME Group.

    Rebounds for big, influential tech stocks also helped steady the market. They’ve swung sharply in recent weeks on worries that they shot too high in the euphoria around artificial-intelligence technology and that the voracious demand for AI chips and data centers may fade if they don’t produce the promised profits and productivity.

    Micron Technology rose 4.9%, and Nvidia climbed 4.1%. A day before, they were two of the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 after falling 4.4% and 3.5%, respectively.

    To be sure, big risks remain for inflation. Fighting in the Middle East is threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that oil tankers use to exit the Persian Gulf and deliver crude to customers worldwide.

    The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, briefly topped $87 in the morning. Following its leap of nearly 10% on Monday, it got back to where it was before the United States and Iran signed their interim deal to halt their fighting in the middle of last month.

    Brent’s price later pared its gain and settled at $84.73, up 1.7% from Monday’s settlement. It eased after Donald Trump backed away from his threat made Monday to charge 20% on all cargo going through the strait to reimburse the U.S. military for its protection.

    Wall Street’s other big focus this week is the start of earnings reporting season, as companies tell investors how much profit they made from April through June. The pressure is on companies to deliver big growth to justify how high their stock prices have jumped. Indexes are near records despite the recent swings caused by worries about AI stocks.

    Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo all on Tuesday reported fatter profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Their reports showed strength for their trading desks and suggested spending by U.S. consumers remains resilient.

    Their stocks mostly rose following the results. Goldman Sachs jumped 9%, but Citigroup fell 5.3%.

    IBM was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 and the biggest reason the Dow lagged behind other indexes after dropping 25.2%. That was its worst day since at least 1972, according to data provider FactSet.

    CEO Arvind Krishna said performance for IBM’s software and infrastructure businesses fell short of expectations last quarter after customers shifted their spending toward servers, storage and memory to get ahead of expected price increases caused by the AI boom.

    “These conditions require our teams to execute perfectly, and this quarter we faltered,” Krishna wrote in a letter to investors. “We did not adapt and move quickly enough, and numerous large deals failed to close on the timelines we expected, driving the majority of our shortfall.”

    All told, the S&P 500 rose 28.25 points to 7,543.59. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 9.63 to 52,508.27, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 233.83 to 26,107.01.

    In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.58% from 4.62% late Monday. That halted its run higher from 3.97% before the war with Iran began.

    Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh testified before lawmakers on Capitol Hill for the first time since taking over leadership of the central bank. He pledged to make high inflation “a thing of the past” but offered no signal about the Fed’s next steps.

    In stock markets abroad, indexes inched higher in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia.

    Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.7% as SoftBank Group Corp. rose 3.3%. It’s a big investor in AI, and Chairman Masayoshi Son gave a speech in Tokyo where he derided the idea that there is a bubble in investments in capacity for AI.

    Stocks rose 1.4% in Shanghai after the government reported China’s exports jumped 27% in June from a year earlier as AI drove strong demand for computer chips and other technology.

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    AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.


  • Busy wildfire season tests US fire bosses as they juggle resources to stay ahead


    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — It’s already been a deadly year for firefighters, and authorities have been putting resources where they can more quickly pounce on wildfires before they get out of hand and increase the possibility of additional loss of life and property.

    Fire managers try to anticipate nature’s next move, placing thousands of firefighters, hundreds of engines, batteries of bulldozers, and fleets of helicopters and air tankers where they’ll make the biggest difference.

    This year, they’re dealing with persistent drought made worse by record-low snowpack levels and consecutive days of hot, dry and windy weather. Hundreds of homes have burned, three firefighters were killed battling flames in Colorado, and a helicopter helping with another Colorado fire crashed into a reservoir, killing the pilot.

    National preparedness has yet to reach its highest level, but resources are getting stretched as new fires pop up daily.

    “The U.S. Wildland Fire Service is prioritizing pre-positioning of crews, engines and aircraft in areas with the highest likelihood of wildfire activity,” the agency said in an email to The Associated Press when asked about available resources. “This allows for quicker initial attack when new wildfires ignite, which is often the most effective way to keep fires small.”

    US preparedness level ratchets up

    The National Interagency Fire Center, a collection of federal and state agencies that support on-the-ground wildfire fighting efforts, sets the preparedness level at 1 to 5 based on fire activity, resource demands, weather and conditions on the ground that can be fuel for a fire. By late June, surging wildfire activity prompted coordinators to move the needle to level 4 and begin funneling more crews to the hottest spots.

    The national fire center has confirmed more than 2,100 fires since the beginning of July. The explosion of fire activity across the West led to the assignment of more highly skilled and experienced incident management teams. Some have traveled from Alaska and California to help with fires in the Great Basin region.

    As of Tuesday, 17 such teams were overseeing nearly 17,000 people spread across more than a dozen states.

    It’s typical to see preparedness increase in July and August, but fire managers are hopeful they can juggle resources to avoid maxing out.

    Over the past decade, fire managers have reached the top preparedness tier an average of 25 days annually, with the longest stretch happening in 2021, according to federal statistics. The earliest the designation ever occurred was June 21, 2002.

    Firefighters hit the road to help

    The U.S. has 10 geographic area coordination centers — or GACCs — that mobilize firefighters and other resources.

    Mike Morgan, director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, noted during a news conference in early July that his state was getting help from an Alaska team.

    “Thank God that they have the ability to free those resources up,” he said. “So I think at the moment I would say I feel pretty good about where we’re at. But I’m very concerned about where we go.”

    In southeastern Utah, more crews arrived to help with the Babylon Fire, the largest active blaze in the U.S. at 166 square miles (430 square kilometers) — an area larger than Seattle.

    In all, more than 5,650 square miles (14,633 square kilometers) have burned in the U.S. so far this year — more than the size of Yellowstone and Grand Canyon national parks combined — outpacing the average for the past decade.

    Sharing resources requires balance

    The most recent outlook shows above normal wildfire potential in July from the Four Corners region — where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet — north to Oregon, Idaho and Washington. It’s not expected to simmer down until September.

    Christopher Dunn, an assistant professor of wildfire risk science at Oregon State University, said those outlooks help determine how and where to mobilize resources. Those resources shift as the fire season moves from region to region.

    In a busy year, states must weigh whether to free up resources to help elsewhere or pressure federal officials to keep crews in reserve in case of increased risk. That’s what Dunn describes as hoarding resources.

    “So there is sort of this delicate balance that has to be walked there, where you share, they share, everybody shares,” he said, “and everybody benefits from that sharing while not overextending your resources so much that you find yourself in a losing position.”

    But along with sharing comes added exposure for firefighters who are in the field longer. That means more overtime and greater opportunities for burnout.

    “With all this sharing and all of this increase in fire everywhere, we’re just going to see increased pressure on them to work more and work harder and essentially burn out quicker,” Dunn said.

    Each fire season reignites debate over public investment in a permanent wildland firefighting workforce and what agencies can do to retain their most experienced personnel.

    “More experience is critical when dealing with extreme conditions,” said Camille Stevens-Rumann, a former wildland firefighter and an associate professor at Colorado State University.

    Red flag warnings determine strategy

    Even with more resources, there’s little firefighters can do when facing multiple days of strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures. Stevens-Rumann said that’s where the advance strategic positioning of resources comes in.

    “They can be available for when those conditions die down, like in the evening,” she said. “But when we have day after day of red flag warnings and high winds, it’s really hard to control a fire.”

    Even though Stevens-Rumann has been on the front lines and studies wildfires, it’s unsettling when flames are close to home.

    “There’s no denying it. It’s easy to disassociate that when you’re on a fire crew and you’re arriving to a place that you don’t have a connection to, per se, to fight a fire. You know, you’re there to do a job,” she said. “But when you see it in your own backyard, it’s definitely a totally different experience.”

    This year, firefighters are being directed to attack every blaze as quickly as possible to limit growth, reversing a decades-long trend in which managers let some fires burn to clear brush and dead vegetation to reduce future risks. Stevens-Rumann said there are concerns about what that means for firefighter safety and work done on the landscape to slow the flames.

    “It doesn’t do us any good to build miles and miles of line that just get burnt over, over and over again,” she said, noting newer strategies are helping managers figure out where best to take a stand.

    Volunteers watch for smoke

    Having eyes on the ground — or rather above the tree canopy — can help spot fires early. Despite once numbering in the thousands, there are just 350 lookout towers left in the U.S., with many staffed by volunteers due to dwindling budgets, said Michael Guerin, chair of the Forest Fire Lookout Association.

    They’re not just in the West. New Jersey opened a new one this year, and they’re also used in Pennsylvania, Maine and other eastern states.

    The recent fires have forced the evacuation of some towers in Colorado. Meanwhile, Guerin and fellow volunteers in California are ready for things to pick up in their state when the Santa Ana winds arrive.

    Satellites could help in the future. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection announced in early July that the first satellites had been launched into orbit as part of a space-based wildfire detection system.

    For now, the lookout volunteers use a map, compass and familiarity with landmarks to pinpoint the location for initial attack crews. But their job isn’t done, Guerin said.

    “We then become the overwatch — the people that keep them safe while they’re doing the hard work on the ground.”


  • Jordan Walker spoils Philly’s Kyle Schwarber party, rallies to win Home Run Derby


    PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jordan Walker wore his Cardinals hat backward, chewed a big wad of bubble gum and wore the top of his jersey splayed open as he dug in for his final Home Run Derby swing.

    The picture of Cardinals cool, Walker chased down Kyle Schwarber, shut up a rambunctious Philly crowd and introduced himself to a much wider baseball world.

    Walker used six swings to swat six homers, besting Schwarber in a dramatic final round that silenced all those boo birds and made him the first St. Louis Cardinal to win the Home Run Derby on Monday night.

    Schwarber hit 11 homers during his 15-swing turn in the final round. Philly fans, who jeered everyone but Schwarber and Bryce Harper throughout the night, quietly headed toward the exits when Walker’s winning shot soared over the left field wall.

    “I was once told you don’t boo nobodies,” Walker said. “So it feels pretty good.”

    The 24-year-old Walker sported the Derby champions’ chain, slipped on a leather jacket and still wore his batting gloves as he broke down what it took to take down Schwarber on his home turf. He earned a $1 million prize for winning the Derby, which is more than his 2026 salary of $799,400.

    “My thought was Philly is brutal,” Walker said. “I mean, honestly. But I think it’s pretty special because they love their players and that’s what you want from your home, like, where you play. I mean, I’d never hear people cheer so loud for, like, Schwarber and Harper. And those guys did their thing, for sure.

    “But, you know, I can’t hate them, because that’s their guy, so I just got to play the game.”

    Walker played a pretty great game in the first half for the Cardinals.

    Walker is a first-time All-Star and having a breakout season in St. Louis. He already has a career-high 22 homers this season after struggling with a combined 11 over the previous two years.

    Those final six in Philly all flying high with Iron Man on his bat are now stamped on the Derby highlight reel.

    His cap backward just like Hall of Famer and Derby great Ken Griffey Jr., Walker celebrated with his family immediately on the field. His father rejoiced in recalling how Walker started hitting long home runs when he was 6 years old.

    “When things got tough, they were always there in my corner to talk to them about it,” Walker said of his family. “They kept the energy levels high. They kept the feelings high.”

    He fulfilled this childhood dream in striking fashion. Walker hit his seventh homer with two swings remaining and his eighth on the next swing to earn bonus swings. Needing to hit four straight homers to win, the right-handed Jordan knocked one off the top of the center field fence 401 feet away. He reached 10 homers and Philly fans booed with all their might, only for Jordan to finish the sensational surge and celebrate as fireworks shot off around him.

    “You can’t say enough about how he was able to kind of slow the moment down, too, and lock it in,” said Schwarber, a Derby runner-up for the second time. “All of our fans were we’re raring and trying to will me to it.”

    A revamped Derby format delivered great drama

    MLB ditched its timed clock this season and returned to a swing format, with each hitter continuing to swing if he went deep on his final one.

    The extra time between swings gave hitters time to track their home runs — and Philly a smidge more time to unleash those throaty boos at Contreras and Walker.

    Each player had 20 swings in the first round and the top four advanced. Hitters were seeded for the second round, where No. 1 faces 4 and 2 meets 3.

    Each player got 15 swings in the second round, with batters homering on their final swings continuing until not homering.

    Boston’s Willson Contreras, Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, New York’s Ben Rice and Kansas City’s Jac Caglianone, and Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami also participated.

    Philly came ready to celebrate its slugging stars

    Phillies fans were wildly optimistic that Schwarber and Harper could somehow reach the final and crown the franchise’s third Derby champion.

    Harper hit only eight in the first round and was the final slugger to try and advance. Schwarber could only watch as Harper failed to join him. Schwarber, then with the Chicago Cubs, made the finals in 2018 at Nationals Park before losing to Harper when he played with the Nationals.

    Schwarber and Harper — the first pair of teammates to participate in the Derby since 2018 — received roaring ovations when famed ring announcer Michael Buffer introduced them ahead of the competition.

    As for the other six sluggers in the field, all wearing their home jerseys with red, white and blue uniform numbers?

    Yeah, they were about booed out of the ballpark, with the loudest jeers saved for Rice. He gamely laughed as he walked out of his Liberty Bell entrance.

    Harper — who said earlier Monday this would be his last Derby — waved his arms and exhorted the crowd to get louder as he walked to the home plate platform placed at second base. Harper about broke the ring ropes as he shook them like a pro wrestler, and the Philly crowd went bonkers for the star known as The Showman.

    The ball-shagging kids in the outfield were even booed.

    The Derby’s public address announcer implored the fans to cheer during some quiet stretches when homers — non-Phillies edition — were hit.

    The fans did get a rise when Caglianone smoked one into Ryan Howard territory into the third deck in right field. Contreras socked ’em into the rarified air of the left field upper deck. One homer cleared the last row of stands in that section and bounced off the concourse in front of a bar. His 490-footer was the longest of the first round.

    This was the first Home Run Derby and All-Star Game held at Citizens Bank Park since it opened in 2004 and the first derby in Philadelphia since Barry Bonds outslugged Mark McGwire in 1996 to win an afternoon event in front of thousands of empty seats at Veterans Stadium.

    This derby was sold out and aired on Netflix for the first time, with the streamer getting into the game this season with a three-event package. Netflix already aired the opening night game, and the third attraction is the Field of Dreams game between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 13.

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


  • Trump reduces size of 2 national monuments in Utah as Republicans reshape land management


    President Donald Trump on Monday sharply reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah, undoing protections established by his Democratic predecessors on public lands that are sacred among many Native Americans.

    Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in southern Utah have ancient cliff dwellings, petroglyphs and scenic canyons, as well as coal and uranium deposits that state officials want made available for development.

    Trump, a Republican, issued proclamations under the Antiquities Act to reduce their size by about 90% each. He took similar actions during his first term, but those were reversed by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

    The latest move comes as Trump and other Republicans have drastically reshaped the management of vast taxpayer-owned lands concentrated in Western states. Trump administration officials and congressional Republicans have sought to expand drilling, mining and logging on public lands, while removing protections for imperiled species and rolling back rules for conservation.

    “They took the land from the people quite honestly,” Trump said at a signing event at the White House Monday. “We’re giving it back.”

    President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, established Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996, and President Barack Obama, also a Democrat, created Bears Ears National Monument in 2016 under the Antiquities Act. The 1906 law gives presidents the powers to protect sites considered historic, archaeologically significant or culturally important.

    Davina Smith-Idjesa, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, said tribal leaders had braced for a reduction since Trump was elected to a second term. She said it was “heartbreaking” and accused federal officials of sidestepping their legal responsibility to consult with tribal nations that would be impacted.

    “From a Navajo perspective, Bears Ears is not simply a piece of federal public land,” Smith-Idjesa said. “This is a living cultural site that holds our histories, our ceremonies, our traditional foods and medicines and our ancestors’ footprints.”

    ‘Big day for Utah’

    Utah officials had long fought against the monument designations and argued that the state should be in charge of controlling its own lands. Trump in his first term reduced their size, calling their creation a “massive land grab.” Combined they spanned more than 3.2 million acres (13 million hectares), an area nearly the size of Connecticut.

    Trump reduced them Monday to less than 303,000 acres (123,000 hectares) combined.

    That’s a greater reduction than his first term, when he left Grand Staircase Escalante at 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) and Bears Ears at 213,000 acres (86,000 hectares).

    “This is a big day for Utah,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox as he stood next to Trump at the White House. “These monument designations are supposed to be the smallest area as possible to protect the antiquities.”

    Bears Ears was the first national monument created at the request of tribal nations that consider the land sacred. The landscape contains ancestral villages, ceremonial and burial sites and features in some tribes’ creation and migration stories. Its designation honored five tribes in the region — Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute and Uintah-Ouray Ute.

    Home to hundreds of thousands of objects of cultural and scientific significance, Bears Ears is jointly managed by an agreement between tribal nations and federal agencies.

    Grand Staircase-Escalante consists of cliffs, canyons, natural arches and archaeological sites, including rock paintings. It holds large coal reserves, while the Bears Ears area has uranium.

    The national monument designation provides sweeping protections not just for significant geological features or artifacts but also for the surrounding landscape, banning drilling, mining and new construction nearby. Proponents of Trump’s move to downsize say the protective boundaries stretch too far and hinder mining for critical minerals.

    Trump asserted Monday that people can not hunt, fish or “virtually not even walk” on the monuments. That’s false: Hunting, fishing, camping and other recreation are permitted under state and federal regulations, said Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a conservation group.

    Biden designated or expanded more than a dozen monuments and had a goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

    Trump’s policies are largely the opposite: He wants to tap into the natural resource wealth of federal lands that total more than 100,000 square miles (260,000 square kilometers) and offshore areas under federal control, such as in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.

    That’s drawn backlash from Democrats who warn of the wholesale disposal of treasured landscapes for commercial gain.

    “Today’s executive action is another chapter in this administration’s war on the West,” Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico said Monday. He added that Trump was “turning the Antiquities Act on its head.”

    Land sale proposals fell flat

    Trump Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said last year that federal officials would review and consider redrawing monument boundaries as part of a push to expand U.S. energy production.

    Trump in his current term has used proclamations to lift commercial fishing prohibitions within expansive marine monuments in areas of the Pacific Ocean and in the Atlantic Ocean off the New England coast. Those monuments were created by Democratic and Republican administrations. The effort to boost the fishing industry, which has been challenged in court, marks a dramatic shift in federal policy by prioritizing commercial interests over efforts to allow the fish supply to increase.

    Some Republicans have tried to sell or transfer federal lands to states or other entities. Those efforts have largely fallen flat: A push by some GOP lawmakers in the House to sell public lands ran into bipartisan opposition, while another proposal by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah to sell more than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square kilometers) of federal lands was removed from Republicans’ big tax and spending bill.

    The U.S. Supreme Court last year turned back a lawsuit from Utah officials who sought to wrest control of vast areas of public land within the state from the federal government.

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    Hannah Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.


  • Bryce Harper says FanDuel used his Cameo video as VIP reward without consent in a gambler’s case


    PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper said he did not know a Cameo video he recorded would be used by FanDuel as a reward for a VIP customer who later sued the sportsbook, saying it took advantage of his gambling addiction.

    The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week that a fan named Terry Thompson had wagered $18.5 million with FanDuel and was eventually rewarded with a personalized video from Harper.

    In the video, Harper addressed the fan by name and even mentioned the man’s young son. Harper shared a screenshot Monday of the request on Cameo, an app that allows users to pay celebrities to record custom videos. FanDuel obtained the video through a partnership with Cameo.

    “Had I known FanDuel’s true intent, I would not have made the video,” Harper said. “The same is true had I known anything about Terry or his situation, or about any alleged ‘partnership’ between Cameo and FanDuel.”

    The Inquirer reported Thompson lost $1.5 million, according to a lawsuit that the Public Health Advocacy Institute filed in March in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia on behalf of Thompson and against FanDuel and DraftKings. Thompson also was reported to have lost money to DraftKings.

    The video was marked with FanDuel’s logo. Harper said in the video he reached out at the request of Thompson’s VIP manager on the site, “your host Bryttanni at FanDuel.”

    Harper addressed the situation on a social media post Monday, hours ahead of his scheduled participation in the Home Run Derby.

    “I did not know FanDuel would do this,” Harper wrote. “I did not consent to it, and FanDuel had no right to do it.”

    Asked for comment, FanDuel said it was “committed to fostering a culture of responsible gaming and protecting our customers.

    “Unlike illegal offshore sportsbooks, FanDuel employees are trained to recognize and flag signs of problem gambling and offer resources and tools, and we continue to review and strengthen our policies to ensure we have the industry’s strongest consumer protection initiatives.”

    Cameo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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


  • A major bracket shake-up: NCAA women’s tournament to seed the top 16 by true ranking next year


    Beginning with next year’s NCAA women’s basketball tournament, the top 16 teams will be placed in the bracket in their true ranking regardless of conference affiliation.

    In the past, the top four teams in a conference would be placed in different regions to protect them from playing each other until the Final Four. For example, the tournament this past season had four SEC teams in the top eight overall seeds. Texas was third, South Carolina fourth, LSU fifth and Vanderbilt seventh. LSU was dropped down to seventh and Vanderbilt eighth in the bracketing to avoid having them be in the same regions.

    Now if that happened going forward, the teams would remain where their seeds should have them.

    “We put a lot of time into establishing those top 16 teams in the order they go in,” NCAA women’s basketball committee chair Amanda Braun said in a phone interview. “You’re splitting hairs to decide who has the edge and some of that is undone by those principles. To all of us, the work we did and the work those teams did justifies keeping them where they are in that group of 16.”

    The men’s selection committee will still separate out the top four seeds in each conference and put them in different regions.

    The change would potentially only really affect the SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 as those were the only conferences that had four or more teams in the NCAA field.

    The women’s tournament has started giving financial incentives — units — to teams for each round they advance in the tournament the past two seasons. Braun said that it wasn’t brought up at all during the entire week of meetings that the committee had.

    The change comes on the heels of the NCAA expanding its tournament field to 76 teams starting in 2027.

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    Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball


  • Baseball’s All-Stars don’t like MLB’s salary cap proposal but say there’s time to find a deal


    PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Paul Skenes, Juan Soto and Bryce Harper are among baseball’s All-Stars who say players will never agree to a salary cap but maintain there’s plenty of time to avoid a conflict that could shorten the 2027 season.

    “Both sides kind of have their line that they’re not going to cross,” Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates ace who is also a member of the union’s eight-man negotiating committee, said Monday. “Whether that results in missing games or missing a season, we’ll see.”

    Baseball’s five-year labor contract expires Dec. 1 and MLB is expected to immediately lock out players. The more consequential deadline is in late February or early March, when Major League Baseball would announce whether it was postponing opening day.

    Owners proposed a salary cap for the first time since the union fought off MLB’s cap plan with a 7 1/2-month strike in 1994-95 that caused the first cancellation of the World Series since 1904. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says a cap is needed to lessen payroll disparity.

    Soto, who signed a record $765 million, 15-year-old contract with the New York Mets as a free agent after the 2024 season, would be limited to a $265 million, six-year deal under MLB’s proposal.

    “Yeah, that sucks,” Soto said. “It shouldn’t be there.”

    MLB’s proposal would cap spending in 2027 at $245.3 million, using figures for luxury tax payrolls that include $20.1 million for benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool. It also would establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million, forcing some teams to spend more.

    The Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball’s biggest spenders, had a $415.2 million payroll on opening day this year. MLB has not made a proposal on how to phase in a cap, a process that would be key for high-spending clubs such as the Dodgers.

    Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, at 34 in the eighth season of a $426.5 million, 12-year contract, said players are aware of the proposal’s intent.

    “It’s trying to minimize the years and obviously the totals. For sure, we see that,” he said. “I think baseball’s in a good spot right now and we can’t mess this up.”

    Harper, in the eighth season of a $330 million, 13-year contract with Philadelphia, said he couldn’t conceive of any scenario in which the players’ association would agree to a cap.

    “The opportunity for players to get paid is what this is all about,” Harper said, citing the union’s legacy of fighting MLB since Curt Flood helped unite players in the 1970s. “We owe it to the guys that have come before us to do the same thing.”

    Harper, who signed his first major league contract at age 17, also vowed to fight MLB’s proposal to ban a player from signing until he was at least 20 years old by the Sept. 1 of his signing year and two years removed from the graduating year of his high school class. MLB says college baseball provides a better development path.

    “If you’re in the top three rounds as a high school kid, I think you should be able to do whatever you want,” Harper said. “It would really be tough for a guy like Jackson Holliday to not be the number one pick and not get the chance to go to the big leagues at 19 or 18 if he’s able to.”

    Bargaining began in May and is expected to resume after the All-Star break. The union has asked for expanded free agency and salary arbitration rights along with almost doubling the major league minimum.

    Pirates pitcher Braxton Ashcraft viewed the early negotiations as “back-and-forth proposals that may or may not be unrealistic.”

    Skenes, a 24-year-old right-hander in his second full big league season, could see a sharp decrease in potential contract offers under MLB’s system. He currently is on track to become a free agent after the 2029 season and has a $1,085,000 salary in his last season before arbitration eligibility. He also has earned nearly $5.6 million from the pre-arbitration bonus pool that started in 2022.

    “MLB is kind of presenting their perfect-world offers and we’re kind of presenting our perfect-world offers,” Skenes said. “So there’s a lot of time before there’s any real movement, I think.”

    San Diego’s Mason Miller, baseball’s top closer, also could become a free agent following the 2029 season. A 27-year-old right-hander, he is earning $4 million this season.

    “I still have some optimism,” he said. “The place that the game’s at right now, I think killing that momentum is kind of fruitless for everybody.”

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    AP Assistant Sports Editor Jake Seiner contributed to this report.

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