The suspect, Oscar Sanchez-Munoz, 22, committed five back-to-back roadway shootings on June 16, police said. The violence occurred just as Kansas City moved into the global spotlight as host of two World Cup matches at Arrowhead Stadium.

After the police had conducted a weeklong search for Mr. Sanchez-Munoz, his relatives contacted the police on Wednesday afternoon upon discovering what appeared to be a human body buried beneath clutter in the basement of his fire-damaged home in Independence, Mo. The police had already searched that home last week, a spokesman said.

Detectives arrived at the scene and confirmed the presence of a deceased person clothed in the same outfit Mr. Sanchez-Munoz had been seen wearing on the night of the shootings, the spokesman said.

“Detectives preliminarily believe this deceased person in the residence is Sanchez-Munoz,” said the police spokesman, Capt. Jake Becchina.

A medical examiner will determine the identity of the deceased person and the cause and circumstances of the death, police said. The medical examiner in Jackson County, Mo., could not be reached for comment on Wednesday night.

Last week, shortly after the shootings, police officers followed Mr. Sanchez-Munoz to his house in Independence and surrounded the property. During the ensuing standoff, a fire broke out inside the home.

Police later searched the property for Mr. Sanchez-Munoz but did not find him. A manhunt began, leading detectives across the city, through a cemetery and ultimately back to where they had started.

In the past week, the F.B.I. joined the hunt for the gunman, offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information concerning his whereabouts.

On Wednesday morning, the police combed through the wooded area surrounding the home in Independence and a neighboring cemetery, searching for clues.

Around 2 p.m., the breakthrough came. In the basement of the Independence home, beneath debris left soaked when flames were put out last week, family members “noticed the smell of decomposition” and phoned the authorities, the police said.

With Mr. Sanchez-Munoz now presumed dead, the police said they might never know the motive for the string of attacks he is believed to have committed. But they said that discussions with family members indicated that he had been experiencing a worsening mental health crisis in the days leading up to the shootings.

The police have not named the person killed in the attacks or the four injured victims. Of the wounded, one is a teenager and three are adults, the police previously said, including an Uber driver who was taking fans to Arrowhead Stadium before the World Cup match.

One of the adults was said to have life-threatening wounds.

There is no indication that the shootings were related to the World Cup in any way, the police said on Wednesday. The attacks had no “direct connection to or effect” on the tournament, they added.

Mr. Sanchez-Munoz was also wanted in an aggravated assault case in neighboring Kansas, the police previously said.

The post Suspect in Kansas City Shootings Found Dead in Basement, Police Say appeared first on New York Times.

The scene in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing was captured by a neighbor and posted on social media this month. The video prompted concerned residents to go to the man’s apartment, where they confronted him and rescued three abused puppies, according to videos posted on social media. Within days, hundreds of people had gathered outside his apartment, in a rare display of activism that resulted in violent clashes with the police, as the local authorities tried to suppress the demonstration.

The man, a 39-year-old surnamed Li, was detained, according to a statement by the police in Liangjiang New District, which added that he had adopted dogs under false pretenses and abused them, causing injury and even death.

Three dogs belonging to Mr. Li were sent to an animal shelter and a veterinary hospital, the local authorities said in a statement. One of them had several fractured bones, a severed tail and broken teeth, the puppy’s former owner, who helped rescue the dog, told Xinkuaibao, a local media outlet. The other two were severely malnourished and suffered from hypothermia, according to a social media post by the animal shelter Wangwang Home, which took the two dogs.

Because China does not have dedicated animal protection laws, the most serious charge Mr. Li could face would likely be for disrupting public order, which carries a maximum punishment of 15 days’ detention.

This is the latest case of animal abuse in China that has spurred citizen outrage and calls for laws prohibiting animal cruelty. The incident underscores how Chinese citizens, especially young people, are making demands of their leaders, even as the authorities repress civic activism by breaking up gatherings and censoring videos and online discussion.

Hundreds of residents, including some who had traveled from outside of Chongqing, staged a days-long sit-in outside of Mr. Li’s apartment.

The demonstrators — many of them young women, along with older residents and parents with children — held posters that read “Protect Animals” and “Stop Animal Abuse.” Supporters who could not attend in person sent food, water, stools to sit on, sleeping bags and dog food through delivery apps. Many brought their own pets to the site and shared stories about animal companionship. When Mr. Li’s apartment compound blocked more people from entering, demonstrators gathered across the street.

Run Gao, a Chongqing pet owner who joined the gathering, said he was “absolutely furious” after seeing videos of how Mr. Li treated his dogs. “I’ve never seen such scum,” he said by phone. “If this had happened to my cats and dog, I would have fought him to the death.”

“I didn’t do anything special, I just spoke up for these voiceless animals,” he said. “I hope that all living things can be treated equally.”

The authorities moved to break up the peaceful gathering. Videos showed women being shoved and pinned to the ground by the police. Witnesses said that more than 10 people were taken away.

After those clashes, the demonstrators began chanting at officials at the site, demanding the release of protesters who were taken away, and sang China’s national anthem. In the early hours of June 11, four days after the demonstration began, police removed the rest of the group, detaining more demonstrators and erecting metal barricades to seal off the sit-in area.

The case has continued to garner national attention, despite official efforts to suppress discussion of it. The original video of Mr. Li beating his dog has been deleted from social media, while videos and posts about the gathering have disappeared from the internet. A veterinary hospital that adopted the puppy with the broken bones and severed tail, and had been posting livestreams of its recovery, is no longer able to.

While several hashtags related to the incident were removed from the social media platform Weibo, one hashtag related to the suspect’s detention has attracted more than 67 million views, with many comments calling for Mr. Li’s punishment and for animal protection legislation.

Animal welfare advocates in China have pushed for legislation against abuse for more than a decade.

Economic considerations surrounding the animal farming industry remain the biggest obstacle to such laws, said Ying Xia, an assistant professor of law at the University of Hong Kong who has researched animal protection in China. “Stricter regulations would drive up their breeding and operating costs,” she added.

China’s livestock industry generated about 11 million jobs and more than $520 billion in output last year, according to government statistics.

Ms. Xia noted that animal protection cases that make their way through the legal system are typically argued by emphasizing the animals’ value to humans.

Over the past 15 years, the rise of pet ownership has shifted how many people view animals — from food or beasts of burden to companions, said Deborah Cao, a professor specializing in animal law at Griffith University in Australia. As China has become wealthier and as its middle class has expanded, concern for animal welfare has also increased.

In China’s first criminal case involving pet poisoning, a man was sentenced in 2025 to four years in prison for intentionally releasing hazardous substances after he left pesticides in public areas of a Beijing neighborhood, killing nine pet dogs and two stray cats.

The police recently opened a criminal investigation over a popular Border collie, which had 1.5 million online followers. The dog was abducted and later slaughtered for food, according to the police in Ningling County in Henan Province, where the dog and its owner lived. According to the owner, the police accepted the case on the basis that it qualified as theft due to the dog’s commercial value.

Some cities, including Chongqing, have local regulations prohibiting dog abuse, but they lack penalties and are rarely enforced. In April, a student in the southwestern city of Ganzhou was accused of skinning cats and harassing animal-welfare volunteers. He was later expelled by his university, but faced no further charges.

According to Diana Fu, a political scientist at the Brookings Institution who studies dissent in China, the protest in Chongqing was an example of a shift toward “post-material demands” — a departure from past protests that were traditionally about work, wages or livelihoods.

Participants who spoke to The New York Times and supporters on social media both emphasized that their gathering was “voluntary” and “unorganized.”

Dr. Fu said the demonstrators were likely aware of the government’s deep suspicion of coordinated civil society movements — a wariness that developed especially after the 1989 Tiananmen protests. Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing often blames social disturbances on Western forces manipulating Chinese citizens, she said.

“The last thing the animal-rights protesters want is to be labeled as being manipulated by external forces,” she said.

For many, the sit-in outside of Mr. Li’s apartment was the first time they had taken part in a civic action. Gloria Li, a local resident and volunteer who helps rescue stray animals, said she had never been involved in anything like the gathering before. She and other participants distributed food and drinks to demonstrators, as well as to residents living nearby, sanitation workers and security guards assigned to monitor the group.

When Ms. Li saw new participants standing timidly on the fringes of the crowd, she would approach them and point out stools for them to sit on.

“I know very well that this may lead nowhere, but I still feel that someone has to speak up and resist,” she said. “That’s how society becomes better.”

Vivian Wang contributed reporting.

The post As More Chinese Own Pets, Young People Stand Up for Animal Welfare appeared first on New York Times.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1 and its epicenter was west of the community of Morón, located along the country’s Caribbean coast, about 104 mileswest of Caracas. The quake had a depth of about 13 miles.

The USGS reported an even larger magnitude 7.5 earthquake just a minute later. The second quake had a depth of about six miles and its epicenter was 10 miles southwest of Morón.

The quakes are among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century.

The earthquakes struck shortly after 6 p.m. local time. People evacuated swaying buildings in Caracas and remained outside, many visibly shocked as they saw entire walls that had collapsed, making furniture visible from the street. Dust columns could also be seen in two neighborhoods of the capital, where restaurants and other businesses are typically busy. People remained on the streets after sunset. Some sat on the ground hugging their pets as dust gathered around them.

“It started off gently and then gradually grew, and in the end, we all had to leave our houses, go outside and gather together,” said Caracas resident Hector Ricci.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the quake could be felt in several states. The Altamira neighborhood in Caracas had “alarming situations” with collapsed homes and buildings, he said, suggesting people were injured in the earthquake and asking motorists to give way to ambulances and other emergency vehicles.

“We understand that some people may be desperate, but we are acting according to protocols to activate aid and rescue efforts to help those who need it most,” Cabello said on state television. “Be very careful with children and the elderly; call each other and check that no one has been harmed.”

He also urged people to remain outside as aftershocks could further damage some structures.

“The building really shook from side to side. Unreal. The force was incredibly strong,” said Caracas resident Roberto Gamas. “We were walking and it was tossing us around. Everything in the apartment fell. Well, thank God we were able to get out.”

The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami alert for Virgin Islands. Authorities in the Dominican Republic also issued one for the island. Another alert for Puerto Rico was quickly lifted.

Strong earthquakes are unusual in Venezuela.

While the country sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America. Along the Pacific coast — in Mexico and Chile, for example — earthquakes are frequent. The two countries sit along the seismically active tectonic belt known as the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” responsible for 90% of earthquakes, according to the USGS.

Cano and Arraez write for the Associated Press. Garcia Cano reported from Bogota, Colombia. Anna-Catherine Brigada contributed from Mexico City.

The post Back-to-back powerful earthquakes slam Venezuela, collapsing buildings in the capital of Caracas appeared first on Los Angeles Times.

When asked by Vanity Fair in an interview published Tuesday if she’d ever been a “heartbreaker,” the 29-year-old “White Lotus” star replied, “No.”

“I’m the one who got that a lot,” she said, “I feel like I got heartbroken a lot.”

The publication reported that after she became so emotional she couldn’t finish her thought, they moved on to other questions.

The cover story noted that the former pair — who officially began dating in 2023 — “seem to have now called it quits,” and divulged that they’d been barred from asking questions about the relationship or her personal life.

The duo first sparked breakup rumors in March, when Arnault, 31, missed the global superstar‘s birthday party.

A rep for the singer did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on Wednesday, while a rep for Arnault was not immediately available to Page Six for comment.

The former couple kept their relationship under the radar, surfacing publicly in 2024 for a TAG Heuer and Formula 1 event in Miami. 

Arnault is the son of billionaire Bernard Arnault and was previously CEO of LVMH Watches, which owns TAG Heuer.

While dodging questions about her personal life, Manoban did offer up some insight on the importance of privacy during the cover story.

“I feel like after I came out and talked about how there’s no privacy for me, [fans] now respect that a lot more,” she told the magazine.

The K-pop icon said her fans “know that being in this position is not easy.”

“Sometimes it’s just a little too much, and sometimes I just want to be normal,” she confessed.

As far as her burgeoning acting career — which took flight with her role in HBO Max’s “The White Lotus” — goes, the musician shared that she was moved to try and “find inspiration” in something new.

“Sometimes when you’re doing the things that (you’ve done) for more than 10 years, you feel like you should find new things to find inspiration,” she told the outlet, noting that as a child, her mother sent her to acting school.

The post BLACKPINK’s Lisa sparks breakup rumors with billionaire boyfriend after getting emotional during interview: ‘Heartbroken’ appeared first on Page Six.

The celebration of Mexico’s 3-0 win Wednesday at Azteca Stadium turned into a tribute to legendary goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who entered the game in the final minutes to receive a standing ovation unlike any other Mexican player has ever received in the history of the tournament.

With the loss, the Czechia was eliminated after failing to earn more than one point in the tournament. In the other group match, South Africa defeated South Korea 1-0 in Monterrey and advanced in second place. South Korea will have to wait to find out if it advances as one of the eight best third-place teams or it was eliminated.

Czechia put up a strong performance during the first 45 minutes, during which Mexico showed little offensive clarity, mainly due to a lack of control in midfield.

Everything changed in a matter of six minutes during the second half, when El Tri figured out Czechia and secured its best victory in the group stage.

Mateo Chávez, 22, opened the scoring in the 55th minute with the help of Mexico’s lethal counterattack. Luis Romo set up the goal by shaking off three Czechia players at midfield and pushing forward, passing to Chávez, who beat Czechia’s Michal Sadilek and buried a shot to the left side of goal.

Forward Julián Quiñones extended the lead in the 61st minute, exploiting Czechia’s defensive confusion in the penalty area.

Álvaro Fidalgo, who was a second-half substitute, capped the win with a stoppage time goal. The run on the final goal was set up by a booming Ochoa kick and triggered a raucous celebration by the goalkeeper and his teammates.

The match encapsulated both the present and the future of the Mexican national team.

Gilberto Mora, a 17-year-old midfielder from Tijuana and the team’s youngest player at the World Cup, was instrumental in the second half, setting up several of the plays that decided the outcome. With a 2-0 lead, one of the greatest moments for a goalkeeper in World Cup history unfolded. Ochoa replaced starting goalkeeper Raúl Rangel and was greeted with a standing ovation from a large portion of the 80,824 fans at Azteca Stadium.

The fans chanted Ochoa’s name every time the goalkeeper touched the ball, honoring a player who has competed in six World Cups for Mexico.

Coach Javier Aguirre said that finishing first in the group was a “primary objective” for Mexico, which had already qualified for the next round. The team achieved a first for a Mexican national team by securing three consecutive wins without conceding a goal in the group stage of a World Cup. Mexico defeated South Africa 2-0 in the opening match and South Korea 1-0 in the second game.

The national team, which is co-hosting the tournament alongside Canada and the United States, will face its next opponent — one of the best third-place finishers — on Tuesday at Azteca Stadium.

The only sour note for Mexico came in the scoreless first half when the restless crowd unleashed a popular homophobic chant at least twice. FIFA has previously sanctioned the Mexican soccer federation in an effort to stop fans from saying the chant.

The post Mexico celebrates magical World Cup win over Czechia at rowdy Azteca Stadium appeared first on Los Angeles Times.

Visitors will be able to explore the newly unveiled Lincoln Memorial Undercroft, a sprawling 15,000-square-foot museum located directly beneath the iconic monument, for free with advance reservations.

For 100 years, the cavernous structural chamber has sat vacant, resembling a “two-story shopping mall” supported by a grid of 122 giant concrete pillars.

The project, backed by $26 million in federal funds and $48 million from the National Park Foundation, has been 10 years in the making, with construction officially beginning in 2023, according to Julie Moore, vice president of communications with the Trust for the National Mall.

Now, a glass-encased exhibit area floats within the infrastructure beneath the statue of the 16th president.

The highly anticipated museum features interactive physical displays, multimedia video presentations and a bookstore.

Among the most exciting historical treasures on display are original copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, complete with Lincoln’s signature, according to the Department of the Interior.

Visitors will also get a unique glimpse into the memorial’s construction, featuring historical tools and authentic graffiti left behind by original workers in the 1920s.

Beyond its physical foundations, Moore said, the undercroft tells the story of how the Lincoln Memorial evolved into America’s “civic stage.”

Exhibits highlight the site’s profound role in civil rights history, memorializing historic events like Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert and the March on Washington.

Advance reservations can be made through recreation.gov or by calling 877-444-6777.

Visitors can book up to 30 days in advance, or get walk-up tickets on a first-come, first-served basis daily at 8:45 a.m. local time at the nearby Korean War Veterans Memorial kiosk.

The post Lincoln Memorial’s hidden 15,000-square-foot undercroft opens to the public after a century underground appeared first on New York Post.

Read your horoscope for the week, and see what the stars have in store for your sign today.

Aries: March 21 – April 19

You’re usually better at doing than explaining — the instinct fires and you’re already three moves in before anyone else has processed what happened. Mars sextiling Mercury today gives you something you don’t always have, Aries: the words to go with the move. Use that. Whatever you’ve been acting on without being able to articulate — today you can actually make the case for it.

Aries monthly horoscope

Taurus: April 20 – May 20

You have a tendency to romanticize what’s uncertain and take for granted what’s actually solid. Venus trining Saturn exact today is pointing right at the stable, dependable thing in your life — the one you’ve been overlooking because it doesn’t have the same charge as the unknown. That thing deserves your attention, Taurus. What’s boring on the surface is sometimes exactly what you actually need.

Taurus monthly horoscope

Gemini: May 21 – June 20

Jupiter conjuncting Mercury is basically your brain on its best day — more range, more connections, more ideas arriving faster than you can clock them. The risk isn’t that you won’t think of something good, Gemini. It’s that you’ll think of seventeen good things and execute zero of them. Pick one idea today and actually follow it somewhere. The rest will still be there tomorrow.

Gemini monthly horoscope

Cancer: June 21 – July 22

You’ve been holding something against someone longer than you’d admit — not actively, just keeping it filed away where you can access it when you need it. The Moon in Scorpio today pulls that file back out, Cancer. Not to punish anyone. Just because something unresolved is asking for a real decision. You can keep it or release it. You just can’t keep doing both.

Cancer monthly horoscope

Leo: July 23 – August 22

You’re putting out the usual signal, and it’s not landing the way it normally does — the room is reading differently, the response is off, and you can’t locate why. Sun squaring Neptune exact today scrambles the frequency between what you’re projecting and what people are actually receiving, Leo. Stop broadcasting harder. Pull back, recalibrate, and try again tomorrow when the signal is cleaner.

Leo monthly horoscope

Virgo: August 23 – September 22

You’ve made three lists and reorganized them twice and still haven’t actually started. Jupiter conjuncting Mercury is expanding the scope of everything today, Virgo, and your response to an expanding to-do list is to plan more carefully, which is just another way to not begin. Pick the one thing that actually matters most right now and do that. The rest can wait an hour.

Virgo monthly horoscope

Libra: September 23 – October 22

Not everything that ends is something you broke. Some things just run their course, and today one of them is asking you to acknowledge that. Venus trining Saturn is good for closing things out with integrity, Libra — a clean ending is still an ending you can feel good about. Stop trying to keep something alive that’s already told you it’s done.

Libra monthly horoscope

Scorpio: October 23 – November 21

You’re honest about almost everything except what you actually want. Not what you’ll settle for, not what seems reasonable — what you actually want. Pluto opposing Jupiter has been pushing on that gap all month, Scorpio, and today it’s hard to pretend it isn’t there. What you’ve decided is acceptable to want and what you actually want are two different lists. Look at both.

Scorpio monthly horoscope

Sagittarius: November 22 – December 21

You’re already thinking about the next thing, aren’t you? The current thing isn’t even finished, and you’re mapping the exit. Pluto opposing Jupiter has been asking you to stay in one place long enough to actually see something through, Sagittarius, and today that ask gets harder to dodge. The next horizon will still be there. Finish what you started first

Sagittarius monthly horoscope

Capricorn: December 22 – January 19

You take a long time to trust things — people, situations, your own good fortune — because you’ve seen how fast solid-looking things can fall apart. That caution has served you. But Venus trining Saturn exact today is one of those alignments that actually makes good on what it promises, Capricorn. The thing you’ve been slowly deciding to believe in? It’s holding. Let yourself believe it.

Capricorn monthly horoscope

Aquarius: January 20 – February 18

You’re attached to your own ideas in a way you’d never admit — you’ve just rebranded it as having principles. Uranus, still conjuncting Mars today, is generating an energy that disrupts even your disruptions, Aquarius. A position you’ve held confidently is meeting a challenge that actually has a point. The most interesting thing you can do right now is let it change your mind.

Aquarius monthly horoscope

Pisces: February 19 – March 20

Your intuition is one of your best assets and also occasionally the thing that lets you down — specifically when it’s not intuition at all, but a story you want to be true badly enough that it feels like a read. Neptune, squaring the Sun exact today, is peak projection territory, Pisces. Make sure you’re seeing the situation clearly, not writing it.

Pisces monthly horoscope

The post Daily Horoscope: June 25, 2026 appeared first on VICE.

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance wrote in a Tuesday piece for her Civil Discourse Substack about a long-running fight over the March 2025 deportation of Venezuelan men to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.

Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the planes carrying the Venezuelan men to turn back and return the men, but the Trump administration landed the planes and handed the men over anyway, Vance recounted.

Boasberg opened an inquiry into who was responsible and whether anyone in the Trump administration should face criminal contempt charges. Although a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court shut down the inquiry in April, the full appeals court agreed to reconsider the ruling, with oral arguments set for the fall, according to Vance.

“The administration is its own worst enemy in this matter,” Vance wrote. “Instead of correcting course after the incident in Judge Boasberg’s case, it seemingly doubled down on its animus toward court decisions it disagrees with.”

She described a whistleblower complaint filed by a former Department of Justice attorney. The complaint alleged that former DOJ political appointee turned Third Circuit Judge Emil Bove suggested to subordinates that the DOJ would tell courts “f— you,” which Vance wrote was “implying that it would ignore court orders.”

The Trump administration has pushed back against court decisions that don’t go its way so much that “multiple judges have either questioned or declined to apply the longstanding presumption of regularity to this administration’s conduct,” Vance wrote.

She added that 174 former judges have filed a brief urging the court to let Boasberg continue his inquiry, and that “stronger measures are called for” against the Trump administration because of the erosion of trust.

The post Trump DOJ’s defiance backfires as judges move to revive contempt case: legal expert appeared first on Raw Story.

Fourteen charter leaders sent a scathing letter to state education boss Betty Rosa on Monday, slamming her department and the Board of Regents for allegedly undermining the schoolsapproved by the State University of New York.

“Unfortunately, SUNY’s success has made it a target,” the letter fumed.

“Teachers unions and other opponents of charter schools cannot credibly argue with the results being produced by SUNY-authorized schools, particularly for students in underserved communities.”

Both SUNY and the Board of Regents — the policy board which oversees the state’s education department — have the authority to approve charter schools.

But thanks to a bureaucratic quirk in the law, the Board of Regents reviews applications approved by the more charter-friendly SUNY Board of Trustees/Charter Schools Institute — and often opposes them.

The performance gap between SUNY-authorized schools and Regents-authorized charter schools was a whopping 17 percentage points in English Language Arts and 21 percentage points in mathematics in recent years, Success Academy Charters Schools CEO Eva Moskowitz and Zeta Charter School Schools CEO Emily Kim said.

“New York’s education officials should not be fighting success,” the letter said. “New York’s students need more of what is working, not less.”

The charter school leaders said they’re “deeply troubled” by “repeatedly second-guessing” SUNY’s decision-making and “even supporting” lawsuits challenging SUNY-authorized schools, which serve more than 117,000 students across the Empire State.

“Instead, they have increasingly sought to attack the institution itself,” the letter added.

An SED spokesperson slammed the letter, insisting education officials are merely upholding the law.

“While the signatories to the letter boast of their strong academic outcomes, this record is not shared equally among them,” said spokesperson JP O’Hare.

“And, in any event, academic achievement does not excuse, for example, violating the New York City charter cap or ignoring community opposition to new schools.”

Joseph Belluck, chairman of the SUNY Charter School Committee, argued SED and the Regents have gotten more aggressive against charter schools.

“They oppose every little thing that has to do with charter schools,” he said, adding that SUNY is abiding by the charter school cap.

Although several bills have been floated in Albany to strip SUNY of its power to authorize charter schools over the last few years, none have passed.

Meanwhile, a source told The Post some of the charter school administrators who signed the letter have had issues that SED flagged.

Al Cockfield of Lamad Academy has a prior federal felony conviction related to drug conspiracy and distribution, and was denied a charter application by SED, but was approved through SUNY.

The United Federation of Teachers and its state affiliate, New York State United Teachers, recently sued SUNY for allegedly overriding the state charter school cap — permitting Success Academy to transfer a charter from one of its Bronx Success Academies to a new entity, Strive Charter School, founded by Eric Grannis, the husband of Moskowitz.

The post NY charter school heads blast education department in scathing letter: ‘Success has made it a target’ appeared first on New York Post.

The 4th annual ceremony honoring impactful publicity campaigns across television and streaming was held in Los Angeles and also recognized the work of teams behind Apple TV’s “Pluribus,” FX’s “Dying for Sex,” HBO Max’s “The Pitt” and more.

Three early-career publicists — Warner Bros. Television’s Victoria Hernandez, NBCUniversal’s Christopher Quintana and National Geographic’s Kate Squier — were additionally named this year’s recipients of the Robert Pietranton Rising Star Award for their standout contributions.

“This year, the number of submissions across all platforms surpassed our expectations, and all campaigns demonstrated an incredible range of originality, strategic thinking and successful initiatives,” TPEC Chair Wendy Zocks said. “It’s so inspiring to see our colleagues continue to be at the top of their game.”

Elsewhere, Kevin Brockman took home the Ben Halpern Lifetime Achievement Award for his more than 35 years of experience in publicity, working as a C-Suite global communications executive for WarnerMedia, Disney, Viacom and NewsCorp. Patrick Gomez, editor-in-chief and general manager of Entertainment Weekly, won the Press Impact Award.

Read on for the full list of competitive winners at the 2025 TPEC awards.

Campaign of the Year – “Survivor 50”

Returning Drama Series – “The Pitt”  Kristi Strupinsky (WBTV) Joslyn Martinez (WBTV) Courtney Brown (HBO Max) Kelley Sheets (HBO Max) Lily Walker (HBO Max)

New Drama Series – “Pluribus”  Nicole Smith (Sony Pictures Television) Pilar Wafer (Sony Pictures Television) Virginia McMillian (Apple TV) Brittney Fierro (Apple TV) Amanda Munoz-Temple 

Returning Comedy Series – “Emily in Paris” Taylor Diaz-Rogers (Netflix) Allison McManus (Netflix) Sophia Dekermendjian (Netflix) Mardi Houn (Netflix)

New Comedy Series – “All’s Fair”  Lauren Burnett (Hulu) Kelsie Boudreau (Hulu) Maura Wong (Hulu) Chris Kaspers (20th Television) Lilit Zakaryan (20th Television) Leila Mekhid (Hulu International) 

Returning Unscripted Series – “Survivor 50” Lori DelliColli (CBS) Shawna Malcom (CBS) Jennifer Mendez-Ruiz (CBS)

New Unscripted Series – “Fear Factor: House of Fear”  Jacqueline Gonzalez (FOX)  David Hail (FOX) 

Genre Series – “Wednesday”  Allison McManus (Netflix) Brandy Phillips (Netflix) Zana Najjar (Netflix) Funto Tambe (Netflix) Brittany Howard (Netflix)

Animated Series (Adult) – “South Park”  Nicole Platt (Comedy Central)

Children’s Series (Animated or Live Action) – “Reading Rainbow” Ryan Milling (Sony Pictures Television) Mallory Pritzl (Sony Pictures Television) Pilar Wafer (Sony Pictures Television)

Television Movie – “Star Trek: Section 31” Jennifer Verti (CBS Studios) Nikki Kozel (Paramount+) Rachael Wesolowski (CBS Studios) Cornelia Thomson (CBS Studios)

Limited or Anthology Series – “Dying For Sex”  Adrienne D’Amato (FX) Bill Brennan (FX) Charlotte Simon (FX) Erin Riley (20th Television)

Talk Show (Late Night/Daytime/Syndicated) – “The Daily Show”  Nicole Platt (Comedy Central) Parker Moreno (Comedy Central) Craig Minassian (Minassian Media) Natalie Lee (Minassian Media)

Documentary Movie / Limited Series – “The Americas” Chloe Bremner (NBCUniversal) Rebecca Boswell Pinato (NBCUniversal) Jordan Gutierrez (NBCUniversal) Axie Weir (NBCUniversal) Summer Sanchez (NBCUniversal) Margaret Crane (NBCUniversal)

Live or Taped Variety Show / Special – “SNL50: The Anniversary Special”  Lauren Roseman (NBC) Lauren Manasevit (NBC) Julianne Pinell (NBC) Cassidy Aquino (NBC)

International Series – “Squid Game” Shannen Heath (Netflix) Siena Escobar (Netflix) Nzinga Dixon (Netflix) Maya Brooks (Netflix)

Multicultural Campaign – “Forever” Maya Brooks (Netflix) Taylor Diaz-Rogers (Netflix) Nzinga Dixon (Netflix) Chardae Jenkins (Netflix) Mei Coble (Netflix)

Press Event – BravoCon Jenn Geisser (NBCUniversal) Ryan McCormick (NBCUniversal) Chloe Bremner (NBCUniversal) Courtney Powell (NBCUniversal)

Ben Halpern Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient – Kevin Brockman

Press Impact Award Recipient – Patrick Gomez, Editor-in-Chief and General Manager, Entertainment Weekly

The post ‘Survivor 50’ Publicity Team Takes Home Top Honor at 2026 TPEC Awards appeared first on TheWrap.

“It’s going to get worse every year,” said Mr. Guillaume, a 44-year-old computer engineer. “It’s very worrying because we’re already at the limit of what’s bearable.”

With temperatures across France soaring to the highest levels ever recorded in June — more than 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit — thousands of people are turning to extreme measures: jumping into canals, rivers and other waterways for relief. It can be a deadly choice. Forty people have drowned in heat wave-related accidents between June 18 and June 23, according to the French government.

Many in France still recall the summer of 2003, when nearly 15,000 people in the country, most of them older, died in a freak heat wave. That prompted recurring debates about how to weatherproof French society. The Ecologists, a green party, is proposing paid time off for those most exposed to climate disruptions, while decades of cultural resistance to air conditioning seems finally to be on the wane.

Yet the mismatch between tropical heat and northern European infrastructure remains stark. In Paris, the Louvre Museum and the Eiffel Tower announced they would close early on several days this week. Near Toulouse, in southwest France, the authorities shut down a nuclear plant because the water temperature in the River Garonne, used to cool its reactor, was dangerously hot.

While swimming in the Canal Saint-Martin is off limits, except for a short stretch that is roped off and patrolled by lifeguards, locals and visitors are taking matters into their own hands. Whether it is leaping off its cast-iron bridges or cavorting with brightly colored floats, they have turned much of this three-mile waterway into an urban oasis.

Mr. Guillaume said he didn’t worry about safety. He kept a close eye on his children, and he said city officials regularly tested water quality in the canal, which once supplied Paris with grain, loaded on barges. Police cars rolled past, their officers doing nothing to stop the crowds from swimming or jumping.

“The kids are happy,” said Mr. Guillaume, referring to the daily visits with his family since the heat enveloped Paris last weekend. “They stay at home, and in the evening, they go to the canal. It’s like a holiday.”

Still, he said he had a disquieting sense that the prolonged nature of this heat wave — the second of the summer, and it’s not yet July — dramatized the untenable nature of climate change. School, hospitals, and houses in France are not equipped for long stretches of extreme heat, a reality that has become vividly clear this week, as the country wilts under a persistent, unforgiving sun.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened a second meeting of the government’s “inter-ministerial crisis task force on the heat wave.” Speaking to reporters beforehand, he stated the obvious: France was in the grip of a heat wave of “exceptional intensity,” adding that “all local and national temperature records are being broken every day and every night.”

“The real issue that should concern us is the duration of the crisis and this event,” Mr. Lecornu said. He noted that under the most dire of three forecasts by Météo France, the National Weather Service, the heat wave could persist for weeks and “carry us through much of July.” The other two forecasts call for temperatures to return to more normal levels within a few days or a week.

The prime minister said he welcomed proposals to make France more resilient in the face of extreme heat. Paris has already done some things to cool its streets, including planting trees and installing water spray stations. Other ideas, like making buildings more habitable in extreme heat, will take time, meaning they will bring scant relief to people sweltering today.

Given those limitations, it appeared that Paris has opted for a laissez-faire approach with the crowds at Canal Saint-Martin. City officials announced they extended the opening of the canal for swimming until July 4, and also installed a shower for bathers to use after they get out of the water.

For all the French insouciance, there were reminders that Canal Saint-Martin is an industrial waterway, not a neighborhood pool. On Tuesday evening, children were playing with a shopping cart, still dripping with algae, that had been dredged from the bottom. They said that bicycles were another common discovery.

A French comedian, Hugues Lavigne, posted a playful YouTube video of himself going for a swim in the canal. After dunking his head briefly underwater, he resurfaced and promptly appeared to vomit on the cobblestone bank. “That is so good!” he exclaimed, before turning around and going in for more.

Some Parisians contend that swimming in the canal is better than suffering at home. Victoria Cog, 47, an elementary schoolteacher, noted that the temperature in her house was 32 degrees Celsius, or 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and even hotter in her classroom. Such heat is a risk, given that she said she suffered from a chronic cardiovascular disease and has two children, aged nine and 13.

“If I faint alone at home with my kids, who is going to call emergency services?” Ms. Cog said. “At least here we can all watch each other,” she said, gesturing to the zone of the canal, which has five lifeguards. “It’s very well supervised, there’s no current, and there’s plenty of space in the water.”

To some visitors, the Canal Saint-Martin is Paris’s newest tourist attraction. Friends from Durham University in northern England, who play in a jazz band, had found their way to the canal to cool off between gigs. Now they were waiting in a line of people, mostly young men, to leap off one of the bridges.

“I heard about this place from a friend who is a pompier,” said Bena Bird, 22, using the French term for firefighter.

Mr. Bird said his friends researched the water quality online and were satisfied they would not get sick if they kept their mouths closed when they were underwater. One of his friends, Ella Eastwood, 21, said, “You kind of assume there is sewage running through a river in the middle of a major city.” (Swimming is forbidden when it rains, and there is a risk of sewage overflow.)

Still, Ms. Eastwood said, “London doesn’t have anything like this.” With that, she clambered over the stone railing and leaped into the water with a yelp.

The post To Escape Record Heat, the French Are Taking to Water. Both Have Been Deadly. appeared first on New York Times.

According to reports by The Daily Beast, Trump told his inner circle, Harp will never leave him.

“When Trump was in quasi-exile at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Harp joined him on the golf course and supplied him with a stream of positive news stories and social media comments,” The Daily Beast reported.

Additionally, The Wall Street Journal reported Harp was the driving force behind the President’s inflammatory Truth Social posts, including a racist video depicting Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes and an AI-generated image of Trump as Jesus.

Wiles found the situation strange and questioned her circumstances, according to a new book by New York Times correspondents Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, reported The Daily Beast.

Haberman and Swan also reported Harp, nicknamed “The Human Printer,” wrote Trump letters.

“You are all that matters to me,” she said.

Watch the video below.

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The post White House Chief of Staff stunned by Trump’s relationship with 34-year-old aide appeared first on Raw Story.

Andres Chait was unanimously appointed superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District on Wednesday, days after Alberto Carvalho abruptly resignedamid an ongoing FBI corruption investigation.

“It is the honor of a lifetime to serve as Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified,” Chait, who has more than three decades of service to LAUSD, said. “This District has shaped my life and career.”

The promotion places a longtime district insider at the helm of a school system facing a nearly $2 billion gap between spending and projected revenue, looming layoffs and steadily declining enrollment.

The rapid elevation of Chait also comes after he emerged as a key partner of Bass during high-stakes labor negotiations that narrowly avoided a districtwide strike and resulted in major compensation increases that critics argue the district cannot afford.

LAUSD approved a massive $20.6 billion spending plan this week despite projecting just $18.6 billion in revenue.

District officials plan to bridge the shortfall by drawing down reserves, even as they prepare for the layoffs of several hundred workers with due-process protections and potentially another 1,000 employees without job protections.

Officials also project thousands more layoffs over the next three years.

The district’s financial pressures have been fueled by rising labor costs, increasing healthcare expenses, inflation, the expiration of federal COVID-relief funds and years of declining enrollment.

LAUSD now serves roughly 390,000 students in transitional kindergarten through 12th grade, about half the size it was in the early 2000s, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Chait played a big role in labor talks that came within hours of triggering a three-union strike that would have shut down schools across Los Angeles.

Following the marathon negotiations, Bass publicly praised district leadership and specifically highlighted Chait’s role in reaching an agreement.

“It was wonderful to have the cooperation from the leadership of the district, from the superintendent, from the school board, from the entire school board, all of that … made a difference,” Bass said in April during a City Hall news conference.

While supporters credit the agreements with avoiding a disruptive strike, critics contend the deals added financial obligations at a time when the district’s long-term finances were already under mounting pressure.

The appointment also comes with a hefty taxpayer-funded compensation package.

As acting superintendent, Chait earned $395,867 annually, along with a $250 monthly expense allowance and access to a district car and driver for work-related activities.

Just 20 months earlier, Chait was earning $278,205 as chief of school operations.

The school board has not yet released details of Chait’s permanent superintendent contract, including whether he will receive a raise, how long the agreement will last or what additional benefits may be included.

At the same time, taxpayers were footing the billfor two superintendents during the FBI investigation that engulfed Carvalho.

Carvalho remained on administrative leave while continuing to collect his $440,000 annual salary.

His compensation package also included an additional $50,000 yearly contribution to a retirement annuity.

District officials have so far declined to say whether Carvalho will receive a severance package following his resignation.

Chait first assumed control of the district on Feb. 27, two days after FBI agents raided Carvalho’s home and office.

Law enforcement sources have confirmed the investigation includes a review of Carvalho’s actions involving a company hired to develop an ill-fated artificial intelligence chatbot for the district.

Carvalho has not been charged with a crime and has maintained his innocence.

The post LAUSD replaces Carvalho after he disgracefully resigned amid school system’s looming financial crisis and education shortcomings appeared first on New York Post.

If only Donald Trump understood any of this.

Tonight, Trump made a brief appearance at the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., which was supposed to be a 250th birthday celebration for the greatest democracy in human history. He treated it instead as a kind of MAGA mini-rally.

From the start, the  event seemed, at least on television, to have something of a deflated air about it, perhaps because the entertainment lineup was thin. Multiple artists canceled their their participation once they realized that Trump would use the evening for a partisan spectacle rather than a civic celebration. Various musical and choral units of the U.S. armed forces picked up the slack, and some military jets, including a B2 bomber, flew over the crowd, which was nice.

Then Trump delivered a short speech, and managed to bring everything down to his level. Which is to say, a presidential moment that could have been celebratory and grand became, like the character of the man himself, very small.

After dashing off some boilerplate phrases about American history, Trump went for division, grievance, and self-congratulation. He trotted out the usual rally phrases: The United States was once a dead country, everyone was laughing at us, we’re the hottest country in the world, and so on. He took a reality-challenged victory lap on Iran—even as the Iranians, earlier today, told him to pound sand about nuclear inspections. He assured the American people that he would stop “transgender mutilization” and not allow men to play in women’s sports. DEI, Critical Race Theory, the Gulf of America—all the usual red-meat issues from his rallies made appearances.

As one might expect at a celebration of democracy, he also mentioned a random program he likes: making interest on loans for the purchase of American cars tax-deductible. He castigated his predecessors for their shortcomings, and especially for their neglect of the capital. He even found time to rail about the supposed vandals that wrecked the Reflecting Pool. Washington, he said, was now the safest, prettiest, cleanest city in America—all because of him.

Trump did try at various points to read what his speechwriters probably thought were elevated reflections on America and its triumphs. He reeled off hackneyed references to railroads and skyscrapers, name-checked various U.S. military victories, and dropped a bizarre reference to “the storied alleys of Boston,” whatever that meant. (I lived in Boston. I know some of those alleys. “Storied” is not a word that comes to mind.)

To the extent Trump’s appearance was about anything besides Trump, it was about a kind of vulgar nationalism. Trump cannot comprehend patriotism, the love of one’s country. Instead he defaults to nationalism, the sour and hostile glorification of one’s own nation over everyone else’s. He does this because he views the world the way he apparently has viewed most things in his life: as a competition.

It is not enough for him to love America; the United States is not just great, it must be better than all those other places. It has better people, a better military, a better economy. Some of that is true, but a patriot celebrates love of country for its own sake, not as a continual comparison to others. The United States is worth the loyalty of every citizen because of what it is, because of its eternal character. But for Trump, it is great only insofar as it is superior to some other place, because otherwise those other nations are always laughing, taking advantage, and disrespecting us.

All Trump had to do tonight was walk out on the stage and remind the American people that the nation and its ideals are bigger than all of us. He could have told us that we are blessed to live in freedom and plenty. He could have reminded us that the survival of the American experiment, and the freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution, are miracles that bless every person who lives here.

Instead, he told America that he is great, and that because he is great, America is great, and thanks to him, it is now better than everywhere else. And then a handsome man in a bright military dress uniform sang “YMCA” to him, as the president of the United States danced and smiled.

The post Trump Is Making the 250th Small appeared first on The Atlantic.

The Microsoft co-founder made the admission during a June testimony with the House Oversight Committee, which was documented in a recently released 138-page transcription. While Gates noted that Epstein never blackmailed him directly, emails from the disgraced financier suggested that he could’ve if he wanted to.

“He never blackmailed me, but looking at these emails, it raises a serious probability that he contemplated blackmailing me,” the tech legend said during the testimony.

Gates has never been accused of any wrongdoing tied to Epstein. He voluntarily spoke with the House Oversight Committee about his professional dealings with Epstein, which started in 2011 as he sought support for his global health philanthropy, but ended in 2014.

Per Gates, it was after this fallout that he “learned Epstein had become aware of sensitive information about my personal life, including the fact that I had been unfaithful in my marriage.”

He added: “These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family.”

However, the tech billionaire’s name is mentioned several times in the Epstein files. In 2013, Epstein sent emails to himself, in which he alleged that Gates used him to facilitate extramarital affairs with married women, as well as get medication to treat an STD he got from “sex with Russian girls.” Epstein also claimed that Gates wanted to give the same medication to his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, in secret.

Gates denied claims that he had a sexually transmitted disease from the women several times, but did testify that it was possible that he shared a concern about having one with Epstein — “which later turned into the lie that I actually had an STD,” he added.

The Microsoft co-founder said that Epstein used these details as a way to “pressure” him into reconnecting.

“He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda,” Gates said. “I should never have met with Epstein in the first place.”

While Gates admitted to having a prior relationship with Epstein, he denied ever going to Epstein Island or meeting any women through him. His relationship with Epstein is cited as one of the key disagreements that led to the Gates’ divorce in 2021. French Gates reportedly expressed discomfort about the time he was spending with Epstein, but that did not stop him from continuing to do so.

“I had a number of dinners with him,” Gates told 9 News Australia about his relationship with Epstein. “I’ve said many times, but [I’ll] say again, I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him.”

He further clarified in the testimony that he “never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct.” Gates added that he never interacted with Epstein’s victims, but said he may have been in their presence.  

The post Bill Gates Believes Jeffrey Epstein ‘Contemplated’ Blackmailing Him Over His Extramarital Affairs appeared first on TheWrap.

The “True Blood” alum, in an Instagram video Wednesday, said he “suffered in silence battling a deadly mystery illness” he only told a small circle of loved ones about. He recalled seeing “the best doctors in the world,” whom he said couldn’t figure out what started his condition.

“All their attempts to treat it with high-powered biological drugs only exacerbated my symptoms and then unlocked a host of brutal side effects that winded up plaguing me for years,” Manganiello said.

“And then in attempts to buy myself time,” he continued, “I underwent very serious operations and procedures that mutilated parts of my body and left me so weak at times that I couldn’t stand up or walk.”

The “Magic Mike” alum, 49, also shared that he spent months “heavily medicated while dealing with excruciating bouts of chronic pain.” He noted that his upcoming memoir, “Bloodlines,” out Oct. 13, documents his 10-year search for answers as well as a deep dive into his family’s history.

“Maybe what happened to me wasn’t random,” he says. “And that in order to heal, my mind, my body, my spirit all had to align and I needed to become open to some really radical and unorthodox techniques and ideas that lie beyond the boundaries of western medicine.”

Manganiello shared a supportive message for those who might be going through a similar situation.

“If you’re out there and you’re suffering, there’s hope,” he said.

In a synopsis for “Bloodlines,” Manganiello shares that he dealt with “a cascade of autoimmune-related illnesses” that attacked his thyroid, digestive system, skin, lungs and eyes.

Over the course of seven years, he revealed that he dealt with “chronic pain, a life-saving organ amputation, existential crisis and a prolonged fight for survival that left doctors with few answers and no clear explanation.”

Manganiello ended up turning to alternative medicine like “shamans, pagan rituals, ancient myths, long-lost family records and the rebirth of his own spirituality” to help treat his illness.

The former “Deal or No Deal Island” host also did intensive research into his own family genealogy and discovered ancestors who survived the Armenian genocide and others who lived with chronic illness.

Manganiello has not revealed the years his health battle occurred.

He was previously married to actress Sofía Vergara, 53, from 2015 to 2024. The “Modern Family” alum said in January 2024 that the two split because she didn’t want to have kids with him and be “an old mom.”

“I feel it’s not fair to the baby,” she told El País.

Vergara is already a mom to her son, 34-year-old Manolo, whom she shares with ex-husband Joe Gonzalez.

Manganiello is now engaged to actress Caitlin O’Connor, 36, which the couple announced last October.

The post Joe Manganiello details ‘brutal side effects’ of secret health battle: ‘I suffered in silence’ appeared first on Page Six.

The “True Blood” alum, in an Instagram video Wednesday, said he “suffered in silence battling a deadly mystery illness” he only told a small circle of loved ones about. He recalled seeing “the best doctors in the world,” whom he said couldn’t figure out what started his condition.

“All their attempts to treat it with high-powered biological drugs only exacerbated my symptoms and then unlocked a host of brutal side effects that winded up plaguing me for years,” Manganiello said.

“And then in attempts to buy myself time,” he continued, “I underwent very serious operations and procedures that mutilated parts of my body and left me so weak at times that I couldn’t stand up or walk.”

The “Magic Mike” alum, 49, also shared that he spent months “heavily medicated while dealing with excruciating bouts of chronic pain.” He noted that his upcoming memoir, “Bloodlines,” out Oct. 13, documents his 10-year search for answers as well as a deep dive into his family’s history.

“Maybe what happened to me wasn’t random,” he says. “And that in order to heal, my mind, my body, my spirit all had to align and I needed to become open to some really radical and unorthodox techniques and ideas that lie beyond the boundaries of western medicine.”

Manganiello shared a supportive message for those who might be going through a similar situation.

“If you’re out there and you’re suffering, there’s hope,” he said.

In a synopsis for “Bloodlines,” Manganiello shares that he dealt with “a cascade of autoimmune-related illnesses” that attacked his thyroid, digestive system, skin, lungs and eyes.

Over the course of seven years, he revealed that he dealt with “chronic pain, a life-saving organ amputation, existential crisis and a prolonged fight for survival that left doctors with few answers and no clear explanation.”

Manganiello ended up turning to alternative medicine like “shamans, pagan rituals, ancient myths, long-lost family records and the rebirth of his own spirituality” to help treat his illness.

The former “Deal or No Deal Island” host also did intensive research into his own family genealogy and discovered ancestors who survived the Armenian genocide and others who lived with chronic illness.

Manganiello has not revealed the years his health battle occurred.

He was previously married to actress Sofía Vergara, 53, from 2015 to 2024. The “Modern Family” alum said in January 2024 that the two split because she didn’t want to have kids with him and be “an old mom.”

“I feel it’s not fair to the baby,” she told El País.

Vergara is already a mom to her son, 34-year-old Manolo, whom she shares with ex-husband Joe Gonzalez.

Manganiello is now engaged to actress Caitlin O’Connor, 36, which the couple announced last October.

The post Joe Manganiello details ‘brutal side effects’ of secret health battle: ‘I suffered in silence’ appeared first on Page Six.

The Dodgers offense had eight hits against Ryan, tied for the second-most he’s allowed in a start this season, and four runs in six innings. And Ohtani gave up three runs (two earned) and five hits.

Ryan won the first battle — the one against Ohtani the hitter to lead off the first inning.

Ohtani roped a first-pitch fastball to right field, clocking an exit velocity of 110.7-mph, into the glove of Twins outfielder Kody Clemens. That was part of a three-up, three-down first inning for Ryan. Ohtani countered with a hitless first inning of his own on the mound, but with a walk.

In the top of the second, Mookie Betts’ solo homer gave the Dodgers (52-29) an early lead. The 300th home run of Betts’ career was part of a three-hit day for the shortstop, a triple shy of the cycle.

The Twins’ offense responded.

Their first run was the result of a passed ball. Ohtani gave up singles to three of the first four batters he faced in the second inning, to load the bases. Then, Ohtani threw a first-pitch fastball inside to Ryan Kreidler. It got past catcher Dalton Rushing, who seemed to expect a different pitch, and the ball rolled out of play to tie the score.

Rushing, in his first game back in the lineup after being removed Monday to rule out a concussion, huddled with Ohtani and pitching coach Mark Prior on the mound to debrief.

Ohtani then gave up a two-run single to Kreidler before striking out Trevor Larnach to end the inning.

It was a good thing Ohtani, who went 2-for-5 on Wednesday, had lobbied to hit and pitch. Dodgers No. 9 hitter Alex Freeland led off the third with a double. Then Ohtani sent a ground ball up the middle to give himself some run support.

That started a three-run rally for the Dodgers. Max Muncy later drove in Ohtani, and Alex Call contributed a sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers a lead again.

Twins left-hander Anthony Banda, who received his World Series ring Monday from a gaggle of his former teammates, took over for Ryan in the seventh.

Ohtani was the first hitter he faced. And Banda struck him out on a fastball that barely clipped the outside corner — and was initially called a ball, before a successful ABS challenge by Twins catcher Victor Caratini.

Banda then hit Andy Pages with a pitch and gave up a single to Freeman. But he escaped unscathed, stranding them at the corners.

The Twins threatened in the seventh and eighth, but Dodgers right-hander Kyle Hurt overcame a pair of walks, and left-hander Alex Vesia navigated a pair of singles to hold the score. Closer Tanner Scott secured the save.

The post Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani wins duel vs. Twins’ Joe Ryan despite cross-up with Dalton Rushing appeared first on Los Angeles Times.

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The post ‘The Invite’ premiere red carpet: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz and more appeared first on Page Six.

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake was recorded near the coast of the South American country on Oct. 29, 1900, according to the U.S.G.S. catalog.

Because recordings of this quake from modern instrumentation were not available, that magnitude calculation is based on reports of damage and effects in the area, said Paule Earle, a geophysicist with the U.S.G.S.

The so-called San Narciso Earthquake of 1900 shook Caracas early in the morning, killing 21 people and injuring 50 more while toppling churches, public buildings and homes across the city, according to an impact report from the agency.

The New York Times received details of the massive quake more than two weeks later and reported on Nov. 17, 1900 that “some 300 buildings collapsed, the tower of the university and several church spires fell, and the Government buildings were more or less damaged.”

A large number of Venezuelans were left to live in tents, The Times reported.

The U.S.G.S. estimated that Wednesday’s quake, which was preceded by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake, could be far deadlier than the one in 1900, though the human toll and the scale of the damage were not yet clear. Experts said the two quakes were related, describing the 7.2-magnitude quake as a foreshock and the 7.5 one as the main shock.

“An earthquake can cause stress changes in the ground and that can cause other earthquakes, which is likely what occurred in Venezuela,” said William Barnhart, a geophysicist with the U.S.G.S.

Venezuela sits between the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates so, earthquakes are somewhat common, he added.

Venezuela has been struck by other earthquakes of magnitudes of 7.0 and above. A magnitude 7.3 quake struck on Aug. 21, 2018, and a magnitude 7.0 quake was recorded on July 9, 1997.

The post 7.5-Magnitude Quake Is Largest to Hit Venezuela in More Than a Century appeared first on New York Times.

The threat, which began on Wednesday, has brought the risk of flash flooding, which continues due to heavy rain across parts of southwestern Oklahoma, where over 3 inches fell in just over an hour.

The continued flash flood threat expands from the Central Plains down to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Alabama, according to the FOX Forecast Center.

“Northwesterly flow is expected to remain north of the high pressure centered over western Texas, allowing for the active pattern from the Front Range through the mid-South to remain,” the FOX Forecast Center said.

Organized storms will shift southward into the Southeast and the Gulf Coast and Florida panhandle on Wednesday.

As a result, there is a Level 2 out of 4 flash flood risk extending over 700 miles from Nebraska to western Florida due to the already saturated soils.

Areas such as St. Louis and Oklahoma City are under an ongoing severe threat.

This flash flood threat will persist through Thursday across portions of Kansas and Missouri, and by Friday, rain totals could range from 1 to 2 inches.

Despite the persistent wet weather, it is a welcome gift, as many cities across the Central US have experienced extreme drought.

The post Millions of Americans brace for flash flooding as heavy rainfall set to douse Great Plains appeared first on New York Post.

The threat, which began on Wednesday, has brought the risk of flash flooding, which continues due to heavy rain across parts of southwestern Oklahoma, where over 3 inches fell in just over an hour.

The continued flash flood threat expands from the Central Plains down to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Alabama, according to the FOX Forecast Center.

“Northwesterly flow is expected to remain north of the high pressure centered over western Texas, allowing for the active pattern from the Front Range through the mid-South to remain,” the FOX Forecast Center said.

Organized storms will shift southward into the Southeast and the Gulf Coast and Florida panhandle on Wednesday.

As a result, there is a Level 2 out of 4 flash flood risk extending over 700 miles from Nebraska to western Florida due to the already saturated soils.

Areas such as St. Louis and Oklahoma City are under an ongoing severe threat.

This flash flood threat will persist through Thursday across portions of Kansas and Missouri, and by Friday, rain totals could range from 1 to 2 inches.

Despite the persistent wet weather, it is a welcome gift, as many cities across the Central US have experienced extreme drought.

The post Millions of Americans brace for flash flooding as heavy rainfall set to douse Great Plains appeared first on New York Post.

The actress addressed the post-finale dynamic with her castmates during a live recording of “Happy Sad Confused” at 92NY on Wednesday, where she shared that she went into “a little bit of a slight, slight depression” after “Stranger Things” concluded its five-season run on New Year’s Eve.

“It was very hard for me,” she said. “I would not have expected that coming off of the show. I’m a very happy-go-lucky person.”

Per Brown, she then devoted her January to reconnecting with her co-stars, hoping to confirm that their bond would continue after the show’s conclusion.

“They probably thought I was crazy,” Brown said. “I was like, ‘We’re still friends, right? Like, you’re not gonna stop talking to me anymore?’ I was like, ‘I’m sorry if I ever upset you,’ and was just trying to mend anything. ‘It’s been 10 years, and I really want to be friends. You’re my sibling.’ And then I was on the beach, it was beautiful, and I just sat there crying. It was a very hard time for me.”

As Brown went on, she noted that “no one will ever understand it,” given she started “Stranger Things” when she was only 10 years old.

“And this character was me, and these people were in my life more than my own family,” she noted. “I saw these people more than going home and eating dinner with my family. Saying goodbye to that after 10 years was a very, very emotional thing, and I’m going to miss Eleven more than anything.”

Brown’s comments come seven months after Daily Mail reported that Brown filed a lengthy harassment and bullying complaint against her co-star ahead of filming the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things.” However, at the “Stranger Things” Season 5 premiere, Brown and Harbour put up a united front, walking the red carpet together and posing for photos.

She later said in a press day interview that her relationship with Harbour meant “so much,” adding, “I mean, we play father and daughter. And similar to Noah [Schnapp] and [Winona Ryder], you have an amazing friendship.”

Variety was the first to report details from the 92Y event.

The post Millie Bobby Brown Says She Tried to ‘Mend’ Friendships With ‘Stranger Things’ Co-Stars After Series Ended appeared first on TheWrap.

The actress addressed the post-finale dynamic with her castmates during a live recording of “Happy Sad Confused” at 92NY on Wednesday, where she shared that she went into “a little bit of a slight, slight depression” after “Stranger Things” concluded its five-season run on New Year’s Eve.

“It was very hard for me,” she said. “I would not have expected that coming off of the show. I’m a very happy-go-lucky person.”

Per Brown, she then devoted her January to reconnecting with her co-stars, hoping to confirm that their bond would continue after the show’s conclusion.

“They probably thought I was crazy,” Brown said. “I was like, ‘We’re still friends, right? Like, you’re not gonna stop talking to me anymore?’ I was like, ‘I’m sorry if I ever upset you,’ and was just trying to mend anything. ‘It’s been 10 years, and I really want to be friends. You’re my sibling.’ And then I was on the beach, it was beautiful, and I just sat there crying. It was a very hard time for me.”

As Brown went on, she noted that “no one will ever understand it,” given she started “Stranger Things” when she was only 10 years old.

“And this character was me, and these people were in my life more than my own family,” she noted. “I saw these people more than going home and eating dinner with my family. Saying goodbye to that after 10 years was a very, very emotional thing, and I’m going to miss Eleven more than anything.”

Brown’s comments come seven months after Daily Mail reported that Brown filed a lengthy harassment and bullying complaint against her co-star ahead of filming the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things.” However, at the “Stranger Things” Season 5 premiere, Brown and Harbour put up a united front, walking the red carpet together and posing for photos.

She later said in a press day interview that her relationship with Harbour meant “so much,” adding, “I mean, we play father and daughter. And similar to Noah [Schnapp] and [Winona Ryder], you have an amazing friendship.”

Variety was the first to report details from the 92Y event.

The post Millie Bobby Brown Says She Tried to ‘Mend’ Friendships With ‘Stranger Things’ Co-Stars After Series Ended appeared first on TheWrap.

Hours after President Trump angrily confronted Senate Republicans for joining Democrats to approve a war powers resolution rebuking his handling of the war in Iran, Republican leaders brought another, nearly identical measure to the floor.

In a 50-to-47 vote, with one senator voting “present,” they defeated the measure in a largely symbolic move that did nothing to change the resolution the Senate had narrowly approved a day earlier. Instead, it served as an unmistakable gesture to mollify a furious president who had just berated them.

Of the Republican senators who voted to adopt a resolution on Tuesday that instructed him to end the war with Iran or seek Congress’s approval to continue, two changed their votes: Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Mr. Cassidy, who hours earlier angrily confronted Mr. Trump over a lack of transparency on the status of the war, said that he changed his vote after a meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, at the White House.

“I was going to vote yes, but I had a briefing this evening, and it was complete,” he said moments after voting against the measure, adding: “I am reassured.”

Mr. Paul, who voted “present,” said that Mr. Trump’s remarks in his lunch meeting with senators had affected his vote, though not his views on the conflict and Congress’s role in declaring war.

“I did listen to the president today, and the president feels like it reduces his leverage to find a deal, and I do think it is important that we have peace negotiations,” Mr. Paul said.

The remarkable sequence underscored the lengths Republican leaders were willing to go to contain the latest clash between Senate Republicans skeptical of the war and Mr. Trump, which unfolded during a closed-door lunch earlier in the day.

The vote was the last one senators took before leaving for a planned recess that is set to last until July 13. It capped off a turbulent day on Capitol Hill that began after Mr. Trump abruptly called off the ceremonial signing of a bipartisan housing bill that Republicans had already started championing as a major accomplishment ahead of the midterm elections. Dismissing that legislation as “minor,” Mr. Trump instead urged Republicans to swiftly pass an elections bill that Republicans have acknowledged does not have the votes to advance.

But at his lunch meeting, Mr. Trump made clear that he was equally furious about the Senate adopting a resolution on Tuesday that instructed him to end the war with Iran or seek Congress’s approval to continue it. That vote that saw four Republican senators join Democrats, and it succeeded because two other Republican senators were absent.

According to lawmakers who attended Wednesday’s lunch, the president berated Republicans who had voted with Democrats and singled out several senators by name. The meeting then erupted into a shouting match between Mr. Trump and Mr. Cassidy, who has become an increasingly outspoken critic of the president after losing his primary race to a challenger backed by Mr. Trump.

Among Mr. Cassidy’s complaints was that senators had yet to receive a comprehensive briefing on the Iran war. Hours later, the senator went to the White House for a briefing on the Iran war with Mr. Vance and Mr. Witkoff.

In a social media post, Mr. Cassidy said that the meeting addressed “many of my concerns” on the Iran war.

Republican leaders were also helped in their effort to defeat the resolution by the presence of Senator Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, who missed Tuesday’s vote because he was traveling with Mr. Trump at the time.

Tensions with lawmakers over the war were likely to continue, however, as Mr. Trump asked Wednesday to approve $87.6 billion in extra spending this year for the war and several unrelated programs — a request that appeared all but dead on arrival in the Senate.

The post After Trump’s Outburst, Senate G.O.P. Stages a Reversal on Iran appeared first on New York Times.