Trammel Tillman and Britt Lower won best supporting actor and actress for “Severance,” giving the Apple TV+ show, a favorite in many of the drama categories, a pair of early wins at the 77th Annual Emmy Awards on Sunday.
“You remember what you want to remember,” said Tillman, the first Black actor to win best supporting actor in a drama. “You make time for what you want to make time for, do the work, show up, and most importantly, for the love of God, don’t embarrass me in public.
“My first acting coach was tough, y’all, but all great mothers are,” he said as the camera cut to his mother in the audience. “Mama, you were there for me when no one else was, and no one else would show up. Your loving kindness stays with me, and this is for you.”
Britt Lower accepts the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy for “Severance” at the 77th Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Phil McCarten/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Content Services)
Lower, who was shaking as she read her thank yous from a small piece of paper, graciously mentioned the other nominees in the category, saying, “It’s a privilege to be mentioned along with such brilliant actors,” and after thanking cast and crew, thanked her character, Hellie R, “for choosing me.”
Hannah Einbinder picked up best supporting actress in a comedy for her work on “Hacks,” her first win in four nominations for a role that’s more of a co-lead with Jean Smart.
“I was just thinking of the personal narrative that I had that it’s cooler to lose,” she said in her acceptance speech. “This is cool, too. This is punk rock.”
“I want to thank Jean Smart, who is like the sun and I just get to stand in her warmth,” she continued, adding “I’ll pay the difference!” as she noticed the ticker subtracting money from the Boys and Girls Club fund.
Einbinder was also the first speaker to mention politics in any way, shouting “Go Birds!” in support of the Philadelphia Eagles, then “(bleep) ICE” and “Free Palestine.”
Jeff Hiller picked up best supporting actor in a comedy for the HBO series “Somebody Somewhere,” delivering a heartfelt and funny speech about how the the show that celebrated ordinary people making connections had done that for him in real life too.
“I feel like I’m going to cry, because for the past 25 years I’ve been like, ‘World I wanna be an actor, and the world’s been like, ‘Maybe computers?’” he said.
“Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade apologized Sunday for remarks he made last week that suggested using involuntary lethal injections to get mentally ill homeless people off the streets.
Kilmeade’s comments came during a discussion last Wednesday on “Fox & Friends” about the Aug. 22 stabbing death of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, on a light rail train in Charlotte, N.C.
Zarutska’s suspected killer, DeCarlos Brown Jr., is a homeless man with a long criminal record and is a paranoid schizophrenic, according to his family.
The attack on Zarutska was captured on security cameras and circulated widely online. The incident has sparked a national debate on public safety policy and criminal sentencing.
The topic led “Fox & Friends” co-host Laurence Jones to say that billions of dollars have been spent on programs to care for the homeless and mentally ill but many of those afflicted resist help.
“A lot of them don’t want to take the programs,” Jones said. “A lot of them don’t want to get the help that is necessary. You can’t give them the choice. Either you take the resources that we’re going to give you, or you decide that you’ve got to be locked up in jail.”
Kilmeade added: “Or involuntary lethal injection or something — just kill ‘em.”
A clip of Kilmeade’s remarks started to circulate widely on X on Saturday.
“I apologize for that extremely callous remark,” Kilmeade said during Sunday’s edition of the morning program. “I am obviously aware that not all mentally ill, homeless people act as the perpetrator did in North Carolina and that so many homeless people deserve our empathy and compassion.”
Many online commentators pointed out that Kilmeade’s comments evoked the extermination of mentally ill and disabled people that was authorized by Adolf Hitler in 1939. The German chancellor’s euthanasia program killed more than 250,000 people ahead of the Holocaust.
For now, Kilmeade has avoided the fate of political analyst Matthew Dowd, who lost his contributor role at MSNBC after commenting on the Wednesday shooting death of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.
Dowd told MSNBC anchor Katy Tur that “hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions.”
Dowd, once a political strategist for President George W. Bush, described Kirk as a divisive figure “who is constantly sort of pushing this sort of hate speech or sort of aimed at certain groups.”
The angry reaction on social media was immediate, indicating many viewed Dowd’s comments as suggesting that Kirk’s history of incendiary remarks led to the shooting.
Rebecca Kutler, president of MSNBC, issued an apology and cut ties with Dowd.
Dowd also apologized in a post on BlueSky. “I in no way intended to blame Kirk for this horrendous attack,” he said.
The top executives at MSNBC parent Comcast sent a company-wide memo Friday citing Dowd’s firing and told employees “we need to do better.”
Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on Friday elected “The Lord of the Rings” actor Sean Astin to be its national president as one of Hollywood’s most powerful labor unions faces new challenges in a changing film and TV industry.
Astin, known for portraying Frodo’s loyal hobbit friend, Samwise Gamgee, in the Peter Jackson-directed fantasy trilogy, now finds himself headed to a different kind of stage.
The 54-year-old actor will become leader of the 160,000-person performers union as it prepares to enter negotiations next year for a new contract with the major studios at a time when the entertainment industry faces consolidation, productions moving overseas and artificial intelligence.
“I feel proud and I feel determined,” Astin said in an interview. “People keep saying to me, ‘I hope you have time to celebrate’ and celebrating feels like a foreign thought. This doesn’t feel like a moment for celebration. It feels like a moment to say thank you and get to work.”
Astin garnered 79% of the votes cast in the election, according to the actors guild’s data. Voting closed on Friday. Astin beat his opponent Chuck Slavin, a background actor and performer in independent movies.
Slavin on Friday said in a statement that “while the outcome is disappointing, my commitment to advocating for transparency and member rights remains unshaken.”
Astin succeeds outgoing president Fran Drescher, who led the union through a 118-day strike during the last contract negotiations in summer 2023. Under that contract, the union secured AI protections and streaming bonuses based on viewership numbers. Some actors felt the contract didn’t go far enough and hope for more gains during next year’s talks.
Astin told The Times in an interview earlier this month that he is hopeful about securing a fair deal with the studios.
“I have a very good feeling about going into this next negotiation, because it’s clear to me that it’s in both parties’ interest to achieve a good deal,” Astin said.
In general, “the truth is that no union and no management should ever want a strike — that is the tool of last resort,” Astin said.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the major studios, said it looked forward to working with Astin “to address the issues most important to SAG-AFTRA performers while promoting stability and opportunity across our industry.”
Astin’s strategy for negotiations was more moderate than that of Slavin. Slavin said that, if elected, he would call a strike authorization vote before meeting with the studios as a way to help boost the union’s leverage during negotiations.
Astin’s running mate, Michelle Hurd, was elected as secretary-treasurer of the union, receiving around 65% of the vote. Hurd has acted in shows such as “Star Trek: Picard” and movies including the romantic comedy “Anyone But You.”
Astin said he would push for more AI protections in the next contract and work with government leaders to keep productions in the U.S.
Astin ran under a group called “The Coalition,” which featured candidates from Membership First and Unite For Strength, two political groups within SAG-AFTRA. Slavin ran as an independent.
Voter turnout for this year’s national election was lower than in 2023, when Drescher was re-elected president. In 2023, roughly 23% of the ballots were returned, compared to this year’s 17%, according to SAG-AFTRA data. In 2021, when Drescher was first elected national president, 26% of the ballots were returned, according to the union.
Astin received a key endorsement from outgoing president Drescher, who he says has been a “constant source of support and guidance” and said he was “eager to help protect her legacy.” Astin’s mother, Academy Award-winning supporting actor Patty Duke, was a past president of the actors’ union.
Astin said that he will begin his term poring over information, meeting with SAG-AFTRA staff and doing outreach to members, including visiting the various locals.
“Now is the time for the optimism,” Astin said on Friday. “When you elect a new president, it’s a new chapter and a new page is turned. There is no reason not to charge forward as a union with our members.”
Larry Wilson’s column “Supremes rule that ICE can flood our zone” reads like activist propaganda rather than serious journalism. his melodramatic language about “THE ZONE” and apocalyptic imagery insults readers seeking actual analysis. The Supreme Court issued a narrow procedural stay, not the constitutional coup he describes.
What’s most troubling is what he omits: Immigration enforcement removes dangerous criminals, gang members, and traffickers from our communities. The column ignores real costs like housing shortages, strained services, and economic impacts on working Americans. Dismissing these concerns as mere xenophobia is both condescending and factually wrong.
Every sovereign nation controls its borders. This isn’t controversial governance, it’s basic reality. Wilson’s absolutist rhetoric makes nuanced immigration reform harder by alienating potential allies and hardening opposition.
Perhaps most tellingly, the photograph accompanying his article (as it appeared on the webpage) shows the ICE raid at a cannabis farm near Camarillo on July 10, 2025, where agents discovered eight unaccompanied minors likely subjected to forced labor, human trafficking, and hazardous work conditions. These children were being exploited in dangerous operations that exist precisely because of the shadow economy your anti-enforcement stance enables. When you demonize immigration enforcement, you’re not just opposing abstract policy, you’re opposing the very operations that rescue trafficked children from criminal exploitation. Your ideological position directly enables the victimization of the most vulnerable.
Americans support functioning immigration systems with fair enforcement. They reject both mass deportation extremes and de facto open borders. Your readers deserve better than inflammatory rhetoric that obscures real human suffering masquerading as journalism.
The Southern California News Group (SCNG) has a large roster of reporters ready to take you through another exciting night of high school football action.
There are previews for the top Week 3 games, plus a complete schedule. Reporters will be providing live updates from games to keep you on top of the action. And at the end of the night there will be stories, score lists, photos and more.
Ukrainian drones have struck one of Russia’s largest oil refineries, sparking a fire, Russian officials and Ukraine’s military said Sunday.
The overnight strike on the Kirishi refinery, in Russia’s northwestern Leningrad region, follows weeks of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure that Kyiv says fuels Moscow’s war effort.
The facility, operated by Russian company Surgutneftegas, produces close to 17.7 million metric tons per year (355,000 barrels per day) of crude, and is one of Russia’s top three by output.
More than three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, drones continue to be a key weapon for both sides. Multiple Russian drones crossed into Poland on Wednesday, prompting NATO to send fighter jets to shoot them down and underlining long-held concerns that the fighting might spill over beyond Ukraine’s borders.
According to Ukraine’s General Staff, explosions and a fire were reported at the Kirishi refinery. It posted a photo appearing to show a blaze and clouds of smoke against a night sky.
Regional Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said that three drones were downed overnight in the Kirishi area, with falling debris sparking a fire at the facility. He said that no one was injured, and the blaze was put out.
As of Sunday afternoon, Russian officials offered no further comment on the consequences of the strike, and it wasn’t immediately possible to verify these. At least 80 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russia, the annexed Crimean Peninsula and the adjacent Sea of Azov, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Ukrainian drones previously targeted the Kirishi refinery in March, causing minor damage, according to social media posts published at the time by Drozdenko.
Russia remains the world’s second-largest oil exporter, but a seasonal rise in demand and sustained Ukrainian drone strikes have caused gasoline shortages in recent weeks. Gas stations have run dry in some regions of the country, with motorists waiting in long lines and officials resorting to rationing or cutting off sales altogether.
To try to ease the shortage, Russia has paused gasoline exports, with officials on Wednesday declaring a full ban until Sept. 30 and a partial ban affecting traders and intermediaries until Oct. 31.
Also in the Leningrad region, a diesel locomotive was derailed during the night, local Gov. Drozdenko said Sunday. He said the incident occurred near Gatchina south of St. Petersburg. Russia’s No. 2 city, which was known as Leningrad during Soviet times, is surrounded by but not included in the region of the same name.
Drozdenko said the locomotive’s driver was trapped in his cabin, and later died of his injuries while being transported to a hospital. He added an official investigation would check for signs of sabotage.
Separately, a bomb planted along railway lines in Russia’s Oryol region has killed three people, according to reports by local Gov. Andrey Klychkov. He said victims had been inspecting the track, and identified one as a member of Russia’s National Guard.
According to Klychkov’s posts, published late Saturday and Sunday, the incident happened near the town of Maloarkhangelsk, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Russian officials didn’t immediately comment on what caused it.
Elsewhere, as some Russians headed to the polls to elect local governors and deputies on Sunday, the head of the Russia’s main electoral body told reporters that it and Russia’s electronic voting system were facing a large wave of cyberattacks.
Ella Pamfilova, of the Central Election Commission, said that “an unprecedented attack is underway” on its digital systems, but assured the public that it wouldn’t affect the outcome of the votes.
The commission’s website appeared to be down for much of Sunday, when 21 out of Russia’s more than 80 regions were set to elect new governors. Seats in nearly a dozen regional assemblies and various municipal bodies were also up for grabs.
But few expected a meaningful challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party and its supporters, following a sweeping crackdown on dissent that came with Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Almost 100 denial-of-service attacks were recorded on Sunday on online resources linked to the elections, according to Alexander Izhko of Russia’s media and digital watchdog, Roskomnadzor. Izhko spoke at a media briefing Sunday. A denial-of-service attack involves flooding a site with data to overwhelm it and knock it offline.
Russian officials didn’t immediately comment on who they thought might be behind the alleged attacks.
NEW YORK — In the days following the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, numerous workers have been fired for their comments on his death, among them MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd.
It’s far from the first time workers have lost their jobs over things they say publicly — including in social media posts. In the U.S., laws can vary across states, but overall, there’s very little legal protections for employees who are punished for speech made both in and out of private workplaces.
“Most people think they have a right to free speech…but that doesn’t necessarily apply in the workplace,” said Vanessa Matsis-McCready, associate general counsel and vice president of HR Services for Engage PEO. “Most employees in the private sector do not have any protections for that type of speech at work.”
Add to that the prevalence of social media, which has made it increasingly common to track employees’ conduct outside of work and to dox people, or publish information about them online with the intent of harming or harassing them.
Protections for workers vary from one state to the next. For example, in New York, if an employee is participating in a weekend political protest, but not associating themselves with the organization that employs them, their employer cannot fire them for that activity when they return to work. But if that same employee is at a company event on a weekend and talks about their political viewpoints in a way that makes others feel unsafe or the target of discrimination or harassment, then they could face consequences at work, Matsis-McCready said.
Most of the U.S. defaults to “at-will” employment law — which essentially means employers can choose to hire and fire as they see fit, including over employees’ speech.
“The First Amendment does not apply in private workplaces to protect employees’ speech,” said Andrew Kragie, an attorney who specializes in employment and labor law at Maynard Nexsen. “It actually does protect employers’ right to make decisions about employees, based on employees’ speech.”
Kragie said there are “pockets of protection” around the U.S. under various state laws, such as statues that forbid punishing workers for their political views. But the interpretation of how that gets enforced changes, he notes, making the waters murky.
Steven T. Collis, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin and faculty director of the school’s Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center, also points to some state laws that say employers can’t fire their workers for “legal off duty conduct.” But there’s often an exception for conduct seen as disruptive to an employer’s business or reputation, which could be grounds to fire someone over public comments or social media posts.
“In this scenario, if somebody feels like one of their employees has done something that suggests they are glorifying or celebrating a murder, an employer might still be able to fire them even with one of those laws on the books,” Collis said.
For public employees, which can range from school teachers and postal workers to elected officials, the process is a bit different. That’s because the First Amendment plays a unique role when the government is the employer, Collis explains — and the Supreme Court has ruled that if an employee is acting in a private capacity but speaking on a matter of public concern, they’re protected.
However, that has yet to stop the public sector from restricting speech in the aftermath of Kirk’s death. For instance, leaders at the Pentagon unveiled a “zero tolerance” policy for any posts or comments from troops that make light of or celebrate the killing of Kirk.
The policy, announced by the Pentagon’s top spokesman Sean Parnell on social media Thursday, came hours after numerous conservative military influencers and activists began forwarding posts they considered problematic to Parnell and his boss, defense secretary Pete Hegseth.
“It is unacceptable for military personnel and Department of War civilians to celebrate or mock the assassination of a fellow American,” Parnell wrote Thursday.
The ubiquity of social media is making it easier than ever to share opinions about politics and major news events as they’re unfolding. But posting on social media leaves a record, and in times of escalating political polarization, those declarations can be seen as damaging to the reputation of an individual or their employer.
“People don’t realize when they’re on social media, it is the town square,” said Amy Dufrane, CEO of the Human Resource Certification Institute. “They’re not having a private conversation with the neighbor over the fence. They’re really broadcasting their views.”
Political debates are certainly not limited to social media and are increasingly making their way into the workplace as well.
“The gamification of the way we communicate in the workplace, Slack and Teams, chat and all these things, they’re very similar to how you might interact on Instagram or other social media, so I do think that makes it feel a little less formal and somebody might be more inclined to take to take a step and say, ‘Oh, I can’t believe this happened,’” Matsis-McCready said.
In the tense, divided climate of the U.S., many human resource professionals have expressed that they’re unprepared to address politically charged discussions in the workplace, according to the Human Resource Certification Institute. But those conversations are going to happen, so employers need to set policies about what is acceptable or unacceptable workplace conduct, Dufrane said.
“HR has got to really drill down and make sure that they’re super clear on their policies and practices and communicating to their employees on what are their responsibilities as an employee of the organization,” Dufrane said.
Many employers are reviewing their policies on political speech and providing training about what appropriate conduct looks like, both inside and outside the organization, she said. And the brutal nature of Kirk’s killing may have led some of them to react more strongly in the days that followed his death.
“Because of the violent nature of what some political discussion is now about, I think there is a real concern from employers that they want to keep the workplace safe and that they’re being extra vigilant about anything that could be viewed as a threat, which is their duty,” Matsis-McCreedy said.
Employees can also be seen as ambassadors of a company’s brand, and their political speech can dilute that brand and hurt its reputation, depending on what is being said and how it is being received. That is leading more companies to act on what employees are saying online, she said.
“Some of the individuals that had posted and their posts went viral, all of a sudden the phone lines of their employers were just nonstop calls complaining,” Matsis-McCready said.
Still, experts like Collis don’t anticipate a significant change in how employers monitor their workers speech — noting that online activity has come under the spotlight for at least the last 15 years.
“Employers are already and have been for a very long time, vetting employees based on what they’re posting on social media,” he said.
____
Associated Press Staff Writer Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — Given just how much President Donald Trump talks in public, it can sometimes be hard to keep up with all of his promises — even his most outlandish ones.
Once a pledge has been made, though, the president has a way of making notions that once seemed implausible inch toward appearing routine the more he repeats them.
Sometimes he even fully manages to make them happen. Other times, though, what he says goes nowhere at all.
A look at a few of Trump’s especially jaw-dropping recent musings and where they stand:
WHERE IT STANDS: Promise kept — but pending congressional approval.
BACKSTORY: Trump spent weeks talking up renaming the Defense Department, saying that, back when the U.S. had a War Department, it “just sounded better.” The War Department was created by George Washington in 1789, but abolished as part of the National Security Act of 1947, which created the National Military Establishment instead. Two years later, Congress amended that and changed the name to the Department of Defense. Trump recently sought to change the name himself via an executive order. Lawmakers will still need to approve making that permanent and official, however.
WHERE IT STANDS: Still talking about it.
BACKSTORY: Trump posted in August about a list of people he helped choose for the center’s annual awards: “GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS.” He subsequently said, during an Oval Office event, “Some people refer to it as the Trump Kennedy Center, but we’re not prepared to do that quite yet. Maybe in a week or so.” A GOP-backed congressional effort would rename the center after Trump and its opera house after first lady Melania Trump. But a full renaming may ultimately prove more likely than Trump’s name simply being added to the existing building alongside Kennedy. The 1964 act that renamed the National Cultural Center in Washington in honor of John F. Kennedy stated that, after Dec. 2, 1983, “no additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed” — which would seemingly bar just tacking “Trump” up beside the existing namesake in the center’s public spaces.
WHERE IT STANDS: Faded away.
BACKSTORY: Trump has been on all sides of the issue. He posted before retaking the White House that the GOP would work to eliminate daylight saving time. In March, he said that setting clocks back and forward was a 50-50 issue, and was therefore too hard for him to take a firm position on. The following month, the president posted online that he actually supported making daylight saving time permanent. The Senate passed a measure do just that in 2022, but it stalled in the House. Legislation reviving that effort has been introduced, but not advanced.
WHERE IT STANDS: Coming soon — though not quite how it was promised.
BACKSTORY: Trump is famously a Diet Coke fan. But that made his sudden announcement in July that Coca-Cola had agreed to use real cane sugar in its flagship product in the U.S. all the more surprising. The company soon confirmed that such a version was indeed coming, but would be a new product added to the company’s line — not a change encompassing all domestic Cokes. Still, the promised change is notable given that U.S. Coke had been sweetened with high fructose corn syrup since the 1980s, even as Coke from Mexico and some other countries continued to use cane sugar. “This will be a very good move,” Trump said. “You’ll see. It’s just better!”
WHERE IT STANDS: Faded away.
BACKGROUND: While threatening to impose steep tariffs on U.S. trading partners around the globe, Trump said in April that such import tariffs “will be enough to cut all of the income tax.” The president has since championed passage of the sweeping tax legislation. It included around $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the rich, but fell well short of wiping out federal income taxes entirely. That hasn’t stopped Trump from continuing to assert that the country was its wealthiest near the end of the Gilded Age, when the government relied heavily on tariffs for revenue and there was no federal income tax. Still, he’s lately been less quick to suggest the U.S. is on its way back to such policies.
WHERE IT STANDS: Still talking about it — but misstating what happened.
BACKGROUND: Trump and top administration officials have repeatedly suggested that the tax package approved by Congress wipes out taxes paid on Social Security benefits. But it doesn’t. The law has a temporary tax deduction for people 65 and older that applies to all income, not just Social Security. And not all Social Security beneficiaries can claim it. Indeed, Republicans used a congressional process known as budget reconciliation to pass the measure without the 60-vote threshold normally needed to block a filibuster from opponents — and the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 restricts budget reconciliation bills from making major changes to Social Security.
WHERE IT STANDS: In limbo.
BACKSTORY: Trump has long talked of offering $5 million “ gold cards ” to give “very high-level people” a “route to citizenship” while granting foreigners visas to live and work in the U.S. In April, the president even held up a gold card featuring his name and picture, and said they would be available in “less than two weeks, probably.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick subsequently bragged about having personally sold 1,000 of them. Despite that hype, there has been no major effort by the administration to overhaul the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which Congress created in 1990 to offer U.S. visas to investors who spend about $1 million on a company that employs at least 10 people.
WHERE IT STANDS: Political off-ramp found.
BACKGROUND: Trump promised while campaigning for reelection that he’d ensure in vitro fertilization was fully paid for by either the government or insurance companies. In February, Trump signed an executive order that called for studying ways to reduce the cost of IVF treatment. But the order gave no deadline for when such policy recommendations need to be completed and what might happen once they are ready is even murkier.
WHERE IT STANDS: Still talking about it.
BACKGROUND: Even though Trump boasted while still a candidate that he’d could end Russia’s war in Ukraine in 24 hours, fighting rages on. The president undermined international efforts to isolate Vladimir Putin by hosting him in Alaska on Aug. 15, yet came away with no agreement to ease fighting — and has since been unable to broker a promised meeting between Russia’s leader and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In the meantime, Trump’s face-to-face with Putin appears to have bought Moscow breathing room, since major economic sanctions that Trump had threatened against Russia haven’t materialized. Trump has continued to say since that he’s frustrated with Putin while insisting there may still be “severe consequences” if Russia doesn’t begin showing it’s serious about peace. But, so far, it’s been lots of threats without follow through.
LAGOS, Nigeria — Vaccination for those exposed to the Ebola virus and front-line health workers has begun in southern Kasai province, the World Health Organization said Sunday.
An outbreak of the highly contagious disease was announced earlier this month in the locality of Bulape, in Kasai, has left at least 16 dead and 68 other suspected cases, according to last week’s briefing by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Only an initial 400 doses of the Ervebo vaccine have been dispatched, with the rest to be delivered later, the WHO said. The operation has been hampered by limited access and scarce funds.
The vaccination is expected to pick up later as the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision approved roughly 45,000 additional vaccines, the WHO said, adding to an initial stockpile of 2,000 doses was already in the country.
The latest Ebola outbreak is Congo’s 16th since 1976, and it is caused by the Zaire species, named after the country’s former name. It adds another layer of worry for the central African country that is battling a multi-pronged conflict with rebel groups, especially in the eastern region of the country, where violence has decimated the health system.
Gov. Spencer Cox, R-Utah, said Sunday that the suspect in the shooting that killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk is not cooperating with authorities.
“He has not confessed to, to authorities. He is, he is, he is not cooperating, but, but, but all the people around him are cooperating. And I think that’s, that’s, that’s very important,” Cox told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
Authorities identified Kirk’s alleged shooter as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, who now remains in custody. Charges are expected to be formally filed on Tuesday, Cox said.
Cox was also asked about a Sunday New York Times report that alleged Robinson had communicated with others on Discord after the shooting. The Times reported Robinson had made jokes about being the alleged gunman.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox appears on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sept. 14, 2025
ABC News
ABC News has not independently confirmed the Discord messages.
“All we can confirm is that those conversations definitely were happening, and they did not believe it was actually him. It was, it was all joking until, until he, you know, until he admitted that it actually was him,” he said.
The Utah governor, who has been the public face of the investigation, also addressed reports Saturday that the suspect’s roommate is transitioning from male to female.
Cox previously told the Wall Street Journal that Robinson was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology.” Asked if investigators have uncovered evidence to show that, Cox replied, “Well, so far that — that has come from his acquaintance and his family members. That’s where that initial information has come from. Certainly, there will be much more information that is released in the charging documents as they’re bringing all of that together.”
Cox said there will be “much, much more information” revealed in the coming days when charges are filed. The governor urged Americans to choose kindness in a time of high political tension.
“These are very tragic circumstances that impact all of us,” Cox said.
Here are more highlights from Cox’s interview and those with Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah:
On Trump not talking about political violence against Democrats
Raddatz: President Trump said nothing about the political violence against Democrats. In fact, he blamed the radical left. What’s your reaction to that? Is that something you think he should be doing?
Cox: Well, look, President Trump is very angry and, Charlie is his close personal friend. There is a lot of anger, a lot of anger on the right, on my side of the aisle. And I’ve certainly felt that. And in this case, it does appear that that’s true. Again, more, more information is coming and we’ll learn more over time.
You know, I don’t know that that that matters as much as the the radicalization piece. I brought up the, the Democrats who were assassinated recently. And how quickly we move on from these things. But, but the body count is, is piling up. And so I’m so concerned about this radicalization piece. And that’s what we’re trying to understand. Again, this person made a choice, and it was this person’s choice. And this person will be held responsible.
Cox on how to get out of the ‘dark place’ the country is in
Cox: Right now, we’re in a dark place. Everybody gets that, I think, and we have choices and we in my political philosophy and my, and my religious philosophy, we believe in agency, that every one of us gets to make our own decisions … Every one of us has to make a decision. Are we going to hate our neighbor? Are we going to hate the other side? Are we going to return violence with violence? Or are we going to find a different path? Are we going to get out of those social media, those dark places of the internet where the conflict entrepreneurs reside, who are praying upon us, these, these companies with trillion dollar market caps who are using dopamine just like fentanyl, to addict us to their product and, and lead us again — those algorithms — lead us to more outrage. Can we put that aside? Can we go and serve our fellow human beings? Can we do some good in our neighborhood? Can we hug a family member? Can we talk to a neighbor that we disagree with? That’s, that’s up to us. And that’s the only way out of this. There is nothing else we can do to, to solve this, this dark chapter in our history.
Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., appears on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sept. 14, 2025.
ABC News
Polis on the country’s political division
Raddatz: How did we get to these moments?
Polis: I think, as Governor Cox said, it really is an important reflection point. Violence in political theater, in our schools, on college campuses, is unacceptable. It’s fine, and we should even celebrate, having different opinions on things, right? Charlie Kirk’s catchphrase, “prove me wrong,” encouraging peaceful debate, discussion.
But it’s wrong to resort to violence and killing. And I think that’s a message we need to reemphasize in this age when sometimes there’s to many conflicting messages out there. We need to speak unequivocally, celebrate our differences. They should lead to discussion, not violence.
Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, appears on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sept. 14, 2025.
ABC News
Curtis on the pervasiveness of political violence
Curtis: If it were up to me, I think you need to take the word “radical” and remove “right” or “left,” and radical coming from any direction is not good, it’s not healthy, and it should be called out. And that’s, that’s my mission, is to say, look, this to me, this is this is not right. This is not left. We’re talking about radicals, and that’s where we need to put our attention…
Raddatz: Senator, how do you think we got to this point in this country with so much political violence?
Curtis: You know, I was — you mentioned I live not far from the university. I was mayor of Provo, Utah, right next to it. I know you know where that is. That was just a decade ago, and it wasn’t like this.
And I think a number of things have come along. I don’t think COVID helped. I think — we have to look really hard. I mentioned social media before. I think we have to look really hard at what’s just occupying nearly 100% of brain weight of not just the youth, but of all generations, and what’s coming across, and actually what we’re allowing to come across, and there’s just zero liability for what people are putting out there. And I just think that’s if we’re going to fix this, we have to look really hard at that.
U.S. inflation ticked higher in August. Here’s what’s to know about the increase. – CBS News
Watch CBS News
The latest Consumer Price Index numbers show inflation is rising while jobless claims hit their highest level in nearly four years. CBS News MoneyWatch correspondent Kelly O’Grady explains what to know.
The following is the transcript of an interview with Sens. Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, and James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sept. 14, 2025.
MAJOR GARRETT: Welcome back to “Face The Nation.” For a look at how Congress may- may help bridge political divisions in the country presently, we turn to a couple of lawmakers with a lot of experience in that space. Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who joins us from Wilmington, Delaware, Republican Senator James Lankford, who joins us from Oklahoma City. Gentlemen, you have a well-earned reputation, both, for preaching bipartisanship, taking the rhetorical temperature in Washington and nationwide down a notch or two. Senator Coons, I want to start with you. After the events of this week, do you feel that’s harder than ever to achieve?
SEN. CHRIS COONS: It is. And, Major, thank you, for a chance to be on with you and with my friend, Senator Lankford. The brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk, while he was in the middle of a debate on a college campus, goes to the very heart of what it means to be American, of the importance of the First Amendment, of free speech, and someone like Charlie Kirk, who was a nationally known figure, who dedicated himself to debate, to engagement with his political adversaries, should not have paid with his life for the opportunity to speak out. No matter how much I might deeply disagree with his political views, the idea that he would be killed in such a grotesque and public way has to bring all of us to reflect about how hard it’s getting, because the internet is an accelerant. It is driving extremism in our country. It’s driving us apart, left and right, and leaders like Senator Lankford, Governor Cox, have an obligation and an opportunity to join with leaders from my party in urging folks to set aside any thought of political violence and to respect each other, even as we keep advancing our political differences through discourse.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Lankford, do you ever at times feel as if your appeals for better angels, calmer rhetoric, more bipartisanship, is shouting into an internet void?
SEN. JAMES LANKFORD: It is, because the algorithm pushes people to the most extreme. The algorithm is all- on social media is always pushing who’s the angriest, who’s the loudest, who says the craziest thing, that’s what gets repeated over and over and over again. So anytime that there is cogent dialogue or an issue on something where people may disagree, but they’re having a civil conversation on it, that gets pushed aside, towards someone that’s just angry and focused. This is somewhat human nature, to be able to say, we disagree. We find areas where we disagree, and we try to be able to solve those. The best way to be able to solve those is through words, talking it out, finding an opportunity to be able to do it. But I would tell you, this kind of anger is as old as Cain and Abel. To be able to go back and say, I’m mad at you, so I’m going to try to destroy you, whether it’s destroy you online, or to try to humiliate you, or to cancel you, or to, in this case, try to murder you publicly. It is- it is painful to be able to see that part of humanity, and it is better for us to be able to push better angels.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Lankford, first you, then Senator Coons. Senator Lankford, are you afraid for your own security right now?
SEN. LANKFORD: I am- I am attentive to my own security, how about that, for myself and for my family. My staff and I have to- have to talk through each public event, but we’ve had to do that for a while. As you may know well, there have been 14,000 threats against members of Congress just this calendar year. This is not new, but it continues to be able to rise. As we’ve seen, Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, in their own home, have a home invasion, to be murdered in their home, as we’ve seen a governor in Pennsylvania have his home set on fire. It’s not just public events, it’s also in our private spaces as well, that we’re keenly aware that there are people that are irrational, that do irrational acts.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Coons?
SEN. COONS: I agree that for all of us who serve in public life, whether it’s leading a nonprofit or a church, teaching in a school, or being a public advocate, someone engaged in public debate as Charlie Kirk was, the risk is getting higher. And to have to worry about the safety of your own family, if you step forward to serve as a judge, if you write editorials, if you lead a nonprofit, or if you serve in Congress or run for president, to have to worry not just about your own physical safety, but the safety of your spouse and children, I think, weakens our ability to have good and robust debates, to have a well-led nation, and to demonstrate to the world that we’re a nation committed to free speech, but where we reject political violence. So of course, anyone in public life today is more concerned about the tragedy in Utah, about the incidents that Senator Lankford just referenced, the attempt to kidnap the governor of Michigan, to assault Speaker Pelosi’s husband, the shooting of Steve Scalise and the shootings at other members of Congress. The recent incidents have gotten worse and worse and I think I know the reason. It’s principally because the internet is fueling and accelerating those deep-seated inclinations towards violence and seeing others as enemies that James was referencing. And there are steps we can and should take in Congress to address that.
MAJOR GARRETT: The administration this weekend, as I’m sure you two are both aware, putting before Congress $58 billion in security for members of Congress, the judiciary and the like. Senator Coons, you believe Congress will be disposed to agree to that?
SEN. COONS: I hope that we will step up and invest more. I just hosted a bipartisan event last week on protecting state judges, and we had state judicial leaders from across the country, from Delaware and Texas and many other states, talk about harrowing incidents and tragic killings of members of the judiciary. I hope we will invest in securing our public life, because incidents like this tragedy in Utah, like the murder of Melissa and her husband Mark Hortman in Minnesota, frankly, fuel further anger in our country, and the ways in which folks are then taking the horrific images of these incidents and propagating them on the internet, adds fuel to the fire. We can and should pass bills, as we just did. Senator Cruz and Senator Klobuchar worked together to pass, and President Trump signed into law, the TAKE IT DOWN Act, to remove some of the most harmful pornographic, revenge porn images from the internet. And we have a bill right in front of us, the Kids Online Safety Act that’s broadly bipartisan, that we should pass to help reduce some of the risks and harms to our families in our country, from the internet.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Lankford, I misspoke that’s 58 million, not 58 billion, but it’s a substantial sum.
SEN. LANKFORD: Yeah, it is a substantial sum. What was funny was I was going to actually correct you on that, to let you know it’s an ‘M’, not a ‘B’ on that particular one, but it is something to be able to set aside and say, what are we doing? It’s not- it is about the person and their family, but it’s also about the title. It’s about the task, because that person represents that state, that- that part of the nation, that particular task, my wife and I often talk about the fact that I have this title of senator for a season. Someone else had it before me, someone else will have it after me. But while I have it, I’m a steward of that task and that responsibility. And so when we’re talking about protecting judges and protecting individuals, it’s not just their personal safety. It is really declaring to the nation that we believe that these tasks are hard, that there should be intense debate, that we have very different perspectives. Chris Coons and I are very close friends, but we have very different ideas on some things. But we have the ability to be able to represent our individual states instead of ideas, and to be able to talk those two things out, and to be able to bring things together and say, I know areas where we disagree, where do we agree? How can we solve it? That is where we are at our best as Americans is to say we don’t oppress each other. We try to be able to find our common ground and to be able to move forward as we can and- but as Chris has mentioned, the online kids safety Act is a great piece of legislation to be able to protect our kids. We are seeing people radicalize online, on social media and through the internet in the United States, by other Americans and by the algorithm that’s there. And I would tell you, as recently as just a couple of weeks ago, I was in a school in Oklahoma that now Oklahoma schools have banned all cell phones from bell to bell at school. You cannot have a cell phone on your- on your- on from bell to bell on campus. And the principals and the teachers all talk about how dramatically different the environment is on campus right now because people are looking up, people are interacting. People are talking again. They’re not just staring at their phone. They’re not getting fed all this vitriol all day long. And so it changes the mood of everything just by looking at each other in the face and saying, let’s see if we can work this out.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Lankford, I’m going to bring up something that’s playing out through the country right now, and it’s making all the things you and Senator Coons have talked about more difficult, which is people who have posted about Charlie Kirk have jobs and are being fired because what they’ve posted online has been viewed by their personnel directors or leaders as inappropriate. At any governmental level or in the private sector, are you comfortable having someone fired for an utterance about Charlie Kirk’s death?
SEN. LANKFORD: Yeah, this is about protecting the individual businesses. And what people are seeing is this cancel culture that still persists, that if you voice something that becomes a big push back from the community, the employer will step up and say, hey, you’re about to kill our business based on what you’re saying online. Everyone has to understand what they say privately online can get connected to their business. We have a veterinarian clinic in Oklahoma City right now that one of the veterinarians posted something just absolutely horrific about–and now we’re calling out the sick ones right after Charlie Kirk was murdered that now there’s been big pushback through that veterinary clinic, because people are saying, okay, this is the person- do I want to do business with that person if they have that belief? So this is part of the challenge that we have with social media and with employments. Employers are going to say, don’t hurt our business based on the foolish things that you choose to say, to be able to say online.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Coons, how about within the federal government?
SEN. COONS: Well, the way James put it there, I think, is a good balance between it’s okay to have codes of conduct to say to an employee, you shouldn’t be speaking out on behalf of this company or this department of the federal government, where your role, for example, requires that you be trusted and that you not take partisan political positions. One of the challenges of the intersection of the line between social media and one’s conduct on behalf of the government is that today we can see into your internal views. But it’s not that new. So, let’s imagine that you’re a career federal prosecutor or you’re a judge. Historically, there have been clear rules against engaging in partisan politics while you’re performing those functions. The internet just makes it easier for folks to police and punish those who make statements that are considered extreme or out of the mainstream. Cancel culture is a real challenge to us, to balancing free speech with positions of responsibility, and we have to find our way through this together in a way that offers some grace and humility while celebrating the free speech that is the foundation of our republic, and urging people to think twice before they post things that are outrageous online.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Lankford, the country is going to look to Congress here in the next couple of weeks to avert a government shutdown. Also possibly extend soon to expire Affordable Care Act subsidies that help people afford insurance. In this climate and with those eyes of the nation upon Congress, how do you expect that to play out?
SEN. LANKFORD: I expect us to be able to solve the budget issues, which the American people expect to be able to- to do as well. These are hard issues. We’re sent to be able to do hard things. We should do hard things on it. We should not, first and foremost, have a government shutdown. We have $37 trillion in debt right now. We should have hard conversations about debt and deficit, but they shouldn’t be during a government shutdown. What we’re currently arguing right now about is a seven-week extension on the current budget spending, to say we’re not changing anything, but for the next seven weeks, let’s just hold it until we get a longer budget agreement and can actually come to agreement. What has been floated is a $300 billion requirement, by some of my Democratic colleagues, to say, if we don’t spend an additional $300 billion, we’re not going to keep the government open the next seven weeks. This is also a subsidy, an insurance subsidy, that was put in place during COVID and just after COVID, to say, due to the health care issues around COVID, we’re going to extend additional insurance coverage that’s there. COVID and the crisis of COVID has now passed on it, it’s difficult to say we should spend an additional $300 billion just to stay open the next seven weeks due to a COVID emergency at this point. So yes, we’ll have- we’ll have hard conversations, but let’s have it. Let’s- let’s talk it out. Let’s figure it out.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Coons, you’re going to get the last word. Respond to Senator Lankford on that.
SEN. COONS: Well, this is an area where Senator Lankford and I disagree. We are both appropriators. We both want to find a way to work together to keep the government open, but the Republican-only bill that was passed earlier this year, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, threatens to raise rates for health care for millions of Americans and to throw millions more off of health care. I think there are ways we can reduce the harm to Americans’ healthcare through the appropriations process. The bill that we both voted for in our committee in July would restore many of the proposed deep cuts to the National Institutes of Health for example, one positive step forward. We have to find a way to resolve these issues and reduce or reverse some of the harm that’s being done to Americans’ health care.
MAJOR GARRETT: Senator Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat. Senator James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican. Thank you both. I appreciate it. And we’ll be right back.
Terence Crawford, middle, has his arm raised after defeating Canelo Alvarez by unanimous decision in an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Terence Crawford, right, celebrates with trainer Brian McIntyre after defeating Canelo Alvarez by unanimous decision in an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Canelo Alvarez, right, punches Terence Crawford during an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Canelo Alvarez, right, punches Terence Crawford during an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Canelo Alvarez, middle right, lifts up Terence Crawford during an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Terence Crawford, left, smiles while fighting Canelo Alvarez during an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Terence Crawford stands in the ring before an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match against Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Canelo Alvarez stands in the ring before an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match against Terence Crawford in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Canelo Alvarez walks to the ring before an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match against Terence Crawford in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Musician Lizzo, middle, and actress Sofia Vergara, middle right, stand at ringside before an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
1 of 10
Terence Crawford, middle, has his arm raised after defeating Canelo Alvarez by unanimous decision in an undisputed super middleweight championship boxing match in Las Vegas, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
LAS VEGAS — Terence Crawford said several times in his soft-spoken but confident way that he’s proven doubters wrong throughout his boxing career — and he was planning to do it again.
Few listened.
Canelo Alvarez was the bigger name, the one most responsible for helping draw an announced record crowd of 70,482 on Saturday night.
But Crawford is now the unified super middleweight champion. He became the first male boxer to capture three unified division titles when he defeated Alvarez by unanimous decision.
Judges Tim Cheatham and Max DeLuca awarded Crawford (42-0, 31 knockouts) the match 115-113 and Steve Weisfeld 116-112. The Associated Press scored the fight 118-110 in favor of the 37-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska.
Crawford, who moved up two weight classes, went down to a knee even before the decision was announced and then wept after he was named the winner.
“I know what I’m capable of,” Crawford said. “It’s not a surprise. It’s a surprise to y’all because you all didn’t believe in me.”
He won before a pro-Alvarez crowd, but there were significant chants of “Crawford” in the bout’s later rounds, and even Canelo backers didn’t try to boo them down as they had earlier in the night.
This was the first defeat for Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs), the 35-year-old champion from Mexico who looked like the older boxer even going against someone his junior, since losing by unanimous decision to Dmitrii Bivol on May, 7, 2022. He was the -185 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook.
“We knew Crawford is a great fighter,” Alvarez said. “I did what I was supposed to do. I trained really hard. He deserved all the credit. I tried my best tonight and I couldn’t figure out the style.
“He had everything.”
This fight was already being compared with some of the greatest in Las Vegas’ rich history well before the two contestants tapped gloves.
The setting of Allegiant Stadium itself separated this bout because it was the first match at this venue. Never in question was the attendance record for a Las Vegas fight — 29,214 in 1982 for heavyweight champion Larry Holmes’ 13th-round knockout of Gerry Cooney at Caesars Palace’s specially constructed outdoor stadium — would fall on this night. So did the gate gross revenue record, the fight making $47.23 million.
It also surpassed the largest attendance for a sporting event in the 5-year-old stadium. The previous record of 63,969 was set Sept. 1 of last year when Southern California defeated LSU 27-20 to open the college football season.
There was plenty of star power in the stands, including boxing Hall of Famers, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones Jr., Thomas Hearns and Julio Cesar Chavez. Actors Sofia Vergara, Michael J. Fox and Charlize Theron, comedians Dave Chappelle and Tracy Morgan, and ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith — who was booed — were among the fans.
But this fight’s impact went beyond Las Vegas. Because it was on Netflix rather than pay-per-view, promoters hoped the card would draw in viewing numbers not seen since perhaps the 1970s, when big-time bouts often were on broadcast networks.
This could be more the norm going forward now that UFC President and CEO Dana White is involved in boxing, this being his first card in collaboration with fellow promoter Riyadh Season. The UFC reached a seven-year deal with Paramount last month, choosing to put its product on the streaming service rather than the PPV model that combat sports have used for their most important events.
There was not much action through the first eight rounds, at least not enough to keep a casual boxing fan tuned into the broadcast, though Crawford was the quicker, more athletic and better boxer to that point.
“I was stronger,” Crawford said. “I punched harder.”
The action picked up significantly in the ninth. Crawford went after Alvarez early with several combinations. His momentum got stopped when Alvarez headbutted Crawford, causing a brief timeout 41 seconds into the round. Crawford, nevertheless, was the superior fighter the rest of the way.
That didn’t change the rest of the fight.
“I felt like I was in control,” Crawford said. “I think he was trying to figure me out.”
In the co-main event, Ireland’s Callum Walsh (15-0, 11 KOs) easily defeated Fernando Vargas Jr. (17-1, 15 KOs) of Las Vegas by scores of 99-91, 99-91, 100-90. Hall of Famer Fernando Vargas Sr. was an IBF, IBA and WBC super welterweight champion.
Also, WBC interim super middleweight Christian Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) of France retained his title after a draw with Lester Martinez (19-0-1, 16 KOs) of Guatemala. Judges Patricia Morse Jarman scored the fight 97-93 for Martinez, Chris Migliore 96-94 for Mbilli and Glenn Feldman 95-95.
Jared Doolittle completed 20 of 34 passes for 342 yards and four touchdowns as the Riverside City College football team overcame mistakes and outlasted College of the Canyons 57-54 on Saturday in a nonconference game in Santa Clarita.
RCC (2-1) turned the ball over six times Saturday afternoon, including four interceptions by Doolittle.
Doolittle tossed two touchdowns passes to Ross Nickson III in the opening quarter (14 and 36 yards), and Jonathan Marshall scored on a 6-yard run to help RCC take a 21-7 lead after one period.
Nickson finished the game with six receptions for 124 yards and three touchdowns, while Dominic Cox had five catches for 149 yards and a touchdown. Jayvion Shipley led the ground attack for the Tigers with 149 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
Canyons made a late comeback but ran out of time. Isaiah Ramirez ran for 182 yards and a touchdown, and Jazel Riley threw a touchdown pass and added three more scores on the ground.
RCC hosts Saddleback College in a National-Southern Conference opener Saturday, Sept. 20 at noon.
WOLVERINE DEFENSE HAS RECORD-SETTING NIGHT
San Bernardino Valley College set a program record Saturday by allowing only 21 yards of offense as the Wolverines routed Compton College 70-0 in a nonconference game in San Bernardino.
The previous record was 33 yards allowed (1992 vs. Chaffey College).
SBVC (2-1) scored six touchdowns in the opening quarter, four on offense and two more on defense to take a 41-0 advantage.
Roman Aguirre passed for 133 yards and three touchdowns to lead the way for the Wolverines. Kane Richardson threw a touchdown and added another score on the ground.
SBVC hosts Victor Valley College in a nonconference game Saturday, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m.
MSJC CRUISES TO VICTORY
William Ford ran for two touchdowns as Mt. San Jacinto College knocked off Orange Coast College 42-14 in a nonconference game Saturday at HCN Bank Stadium in Menifee.
MSJC (2-1) raced out to a 29-0 lead after the opening quarter.
Julian Silva threw for 237 yards and a touchdown for the Eagles, and Cole Vasquez passed for 99 yards and a touchdown and added another 85 yards and a score on the ground. Dante Sims finished with seven receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown.
MSJC travels to Southwestern College for a National-Southern Conference opener Saturday, Sept. 20 at 1 p.m.
CHAFFEY FALLS IN FINAL MINUTE
Jude Hooks tossed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Sirawn Evans with 1 minute remaining on the clock to lift Moorpark College to a 27-23 victory over Chaffey College in a nonconference game Saturday in Rancho Cucamonga.
Chaffey (1-2) trailed 20-10 early in the fourth quarter, but the Panthers grabbed the lead after Evan Powell scored on runs of 9 yards (5:32 remaining) and 38 yards (2:35 remaining).
Powell passed for 115 yards and added 65 yards on the ground.
Chaffey heads to El Camino College for a National-Southern Conference opener Saturday, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m.
Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, grew up in a quiet, close-knit community in Washington, Utah, where most neighbors attended the same neighborhood church and know each other by their first name.
“I’m shocked,” said Kristin Schwiermann, a 66-year-old neighbor. “That’s not the kid I knew.”
Like most of the people in the community, Robinson, his parents and two brothers attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints church less than a mile away, Scwiermann said.
So it was strange to Schwiermann and others when the quiet neighborhood became filled with strange vans, SUVs and other unmarked police cars at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday. She wondered if it had anything to do with the shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, but she had no inkling it would involve Tyler Robinson.
Three doors down, inside the Robinson home, a drama was unfolding.
Tyler Robinson’s father, Matt, came to realize his son was the focus of a desperate manhunt as images of him in a long-sleeve T-shirt and jeans began flashing across television and computer screens nationwide.
The family called their church bishop — also a neighbor — when Robinson threatened to take his own life, according to a law enforcement source who was not authorized to discuss the investigation.
This photo released by the Utah Governor’s Office shows Tyler Robinson.
(Utah Governor’s Office via Associated Press)
Robinson had been close to his parents and two brothers growing up, and would often go on outings camping or hunting, Schwiermann said. According to public records, both of his parents held hunting licenses.
“They’re close, hardworking and smart,” she said.
Robinson attended Riverside Elementary, about a half-mile away from the family home, and where Schwiermann also worked as head custodian.
“He was quiet, but he had friends in school, and he never caused problems,” Schwiermann said.
He had been regularly active in the church when he was a child, but she said he attended less as he grew older.
He graduated from Pine View High School in St. George in 2021, and Schwiermann described him as bright and good with his schoolwork, which helped him earn a scholarship.
His mother, Amber Robinson, wrote on her Facebook page in 2020 about her son’s college aptitude test score, and posted a video of Robinson reading a letter for a scholarship.
Robinson attended Utah State University in 2021, where he majored in engineering, but took leave after one semester.
He later attended Dixie Technical College, where school officials said he was in his third year of study in the electrical apprenticeship program.
There are no signs that Robinson has a criminal record in the state of Utah, based on his name and birth date.
Robinson had registered as nonpartisan in Utah, while both of his parents were registered Republicans, according to registration data reviewed by The Times. His father worked with granite countertops and his mother was a licensed social worker.
A man prays at a makeshift memorial set up at Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix after the shooting death of Charlie Kirk.
(Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)
At a press conference announcing Robinson’s arrest Friday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said a family member told investigators, “Robinson had become more political in recent years,” and expressed dislike for Kirk, who Robinson said was “full of hate” and “spreading hate.”
Investigators are still looking through evidence and trying to determine a motive in the slaying.
Along with a bolt-action rifle that was abandoned in a wooded area, investigators also recovered ammunition that bore various markings, according to authorities.
Engraving on one bullet casing in the rifle read, “Hey fascist! Catch!” according to Cox.
Other casings bore references to memes from online chat rooms, including “notices, bulges, OwO, what’s this?” and “If you read this, you are gay LMAO.” One was etched with lyrics from an Italian antifascism song from World War II
When asked about the motive of the gunman, Cox suggested the “Hey fascist” marking clearly showed the gunman’s intent: “I think that speaks for itself,” he said.
But experts in extremism said it was too early to ascribe a motive, especially based on the markings on ammunition.
“It is increasingly difficult to immediately ascribe motivation as many lone young assailants are often a mix of grievance, mental distress and aggressions picked up in social circles and online,” said Brian Levin, professor emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino and founder of its Center for the Study of Hate.
“Verbiage, memes, targeting, crude humor and cultural references that are immediately available often telegraph motives for violent symbolic attacks, but can also be amorphous or disjointed,” he said.
Joan Donovan, assistant professor of journalism at Boston University and an expert on extremism, said the initial rumors about the bullet casings being marked with Antifa or trans ideology symbols seemed too obvious.
The messages on the casings reminded Donovan of other recent manifestos and mass shooters who used memes, like the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand, shooter who killed 51 people in a mosque and an Islamic center.
“With memes the message was really about talking to other would be shooters,” Donovan said. “It wasn’t about communicating to the media or communicating even a serious message.”
The engravings on Robinson’s bullet casings come across as a hodgepodge of messages that don’t fit together comfortably, Donovan said. In online misogynistic circles, someone who trades in these types of cynical messages could be described as “black pilled” according to Donovan.
“It’s both impostor and mocking at the same time,” Donovan said. “When we’re talking about ‘black pilled’ youth and those that are just upset with the entire system, it does make sense that you’d have someone engraving bullets with very nihilistic hubris.”
Los Angeles Times staff writers Anita Chabria and Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.
SACRAMENTO — In a bid to stabilize struggling crude-oil refineries, state lawmakers on Saturday passed a last-minute bill that would allow the construction of 2,000 new oil wells annually in the San Joaquin Valley while further restricting drilling along California’s iconic coastline.
The measure, Senate Bill 237, was part of a deal on climate and environmental issues brokered behind closed doors by Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister). The agreement aims to address growing concerns about affordability, primarily the price of gas, and the planned closure of two of the state’s 13 refineries.
California has enough refining capacity to meet demand right now, industry experts say, but the closures could reduce the state’s refining capacity by about 20% and lead to more volatile gas prices.
Democrats on Saturday framed the vote as a bitter but necessary pill to stabilize the energy market in the short term, even as the state pushes forward with the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
McGuire called the bills the “most impactful affordability, climate and energy packages in our state’s history.”
“We continue to chart the future, and these bills will put more money in the pockets of hard-working Californians and keep our air clean, all while powering our transition to a more sustainable economy,” McGuire said.
The planned April 2026 closure of Valero’s refinery in Benicia will lead to a loss of $1.6 billion in wages and drag down local government budgets, said Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City), who represents the area and co-authored SB 237.
Wilson acknowledged that the bill won’t help the Benicia refinery, but said that “directly increasing domestic production of crude oil and lowering our reliance on imports will help stabilize the market — it will help create and save jobs.”
Crude oil production in California is declining at an annualized rate of about 15%, about 50% faster than the state’s most aggressive forecast for a decline in demand for gasoline, analysts said this week.
The bill that lawmakers approved Saturday would grant statutory approval for up to 2,000 new wells per year in Kern County, the heart of California oil country.
That legislative fix, effective through 2036, would in effect circumvent a decade of legal challenges by environmental groups seeking to stymie drilling in the county that produces about three-fourths of the state’s crude oil.
“Kern County knows how to produce energy,” said state Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield). “We produce 80% of California’s oil, if allowed, 70% of the state’s wind and solar, and over 80% of the in-state battery storage capacity. We are the experts. We are not the enemy. We can help secure energy affordability for all Californians while enjoying the benefits of increased jobs and economic prosperity.”
Environmentalists have fumed over that trade-off and over a provision that would allow the governor to suspend the state’s summer-blend gasoline fuel standards, which reduce auto emissions but drive up costs at the pump, if prices spike for more than 30 days or if it seems likely that they will.
Some progressive Democrats voted against the bill, including Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San José), the chair of the Legislative Progressive Caucus. The bill, Lee said, was a “regulatory giveaway to Big Oil” that would do little to stabilize gas prices or refineries, which are struggling because demand for oil is falling.
“We need to continue to focus on the future, not the past,” Lee said.
The bill also would make offshore drilling more difficult by tightening the safety and regulatory requirements for pipelines.
Lawmakers also voted to extend cap-and-trade, an ambitious climate program that sets limits on greenhouse gas emissions and allows large polluters to buy and sell unused emission allowances at quarterly auctions. Lawmakers signed off on a 15-year extension of the program, which has been renamed “cap and invest,” through 2045.
The program is seen as crucial for California to comply with its climate goals — including reaching carbon neutrality by 2045 — and also brings in billions in revenue that helps fund climate efforts, including high-speed rail and safe drinking water programs.
Also included in the package was AB 825, which creates a pathway for California to participate in a regional electricity market. If passed, the bill would expand the state’s ability to buy and sell clean power with other Western states in a move that supporters say will improve grid reliability and save money for ratepayers.
Opponents fear that California could yield control of its power grid to out-of-state authorities, including the federal government.
Angels’ Jo Adell, right, is greeted by third base coach Bo Porter on his solo home run off Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo during the second inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Angels’ Jo Adell watches the flight of his solo home run off Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo during the second inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Angels’ Bryce Teodosio singles in a run against the Seattle Mariners during the second inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Angels’ Christian Moore scores as Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh kneels behiind during the second inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo throws against the Angels during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Seattle Mariners’ Josh Naylor hits a two-RBI single against the Angels during the fifth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo looks up after pitching in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Angels, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Seattle Mariners pitcher Caleb Ferguson reacts after a strike out against the Angels during the eighth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh greets pitcher Matt Brash at the end of a baseball game against the Angels Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Angels starting pitcher Mitch Farris stands on the mound as Seattle Mariners’ J.P. Crawford rounds the bases behind on a solo home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Angels’ Taylor Ward, right, is greeted by third base coach Bo Porter on his solo home run off Seattle Mariners pitcher Matt Brash during the ninth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
1 of 11
Angels’ Jo Adell, right, is greeted by third base coach Bo Porter on his solo home run off Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryan Woo during the second inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
SEATTLE — On a night that the Angels struck out 16 more times to add to their major-league-leading total, they saw Josh Naylor put on a clinic at the game’s biggest moment about how to stay alive at the plate.
The Seattle Mariners’ first baseman fouled off seven straight pitches with an 0-and-2 count before punching a two-run fifth-inning single that proved to be the difference in the Angels’ 5-3 loss to the Mariners on Saturday night.
Right-hander Chase Silseth was looking for a strikeout with the bases loaded and one out, and he got Naylor just where he wanted him, but he couldn’t put him away. Silseth said he was trying to get Naylor to swing and miss at a splitter.
“There were some good ones, and he just battled,” Silseth said. “The one was in the other batter’s box. Props to him. It’s big leagues, and you’re gonna face that. It’s the experience you want. Big-time situations. And that’s just what happens.”
The Angels were down 3-2 before Naylor’s hit increased the lead to three runs.
Bench coach Ryan Goins, who is filling in as manager this weekend because interim manager Ray Montgomery is away at a funeral, said Naylor deserves credit for winning the battle against Silseth.
“That’s a big league at-bat,” Goins said. “Chase is throwing good pitches, and he’s fouling pitches off. And you’re like, ‘Wow, that was a hell of an at-bat.’ A hell of a pitched at bat as well. He finds a way to put enough barrel on it to get it by a drawn-in first baseman. Hats off to him having a great at-bat.”
The contrast between what Naylor did at that moment and what the Angels did for most of the night was unmistakable.
Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo passed his career high in strikeouts by the fifth inning, and he finished with 13 strikeouts in six innings.
“With a guy like that, it’s tough,” Goins said. “You pitch like that at the top of the strike zone, and you got a sinker on top of it, and then a slider that you can kind of freeze guys with as well. There’s a reason he is who he is and is having the year he’s had. He has command. Doesn’t walk guys. It’s definitely a recipe for strikeouts.”
The Angels struck out three more times after Woo was done. Everyone in the starting lineup struck out at least once. It was the seventh time this season that the Angels had struck out at least 16 times.
The Angels (69-80) have plenty of issues to address over the winter, but high on the list will be figuring out a way to get their hitters to make more contact, or acquiring new ones who can at least put the ball in play.
The Mariners have one of baseball’s best pitching staffs, which makes them a tough matchup for the Angels. The Angels have struck out 44 times in the first three games of this series, losing them all.
They couldn’t overcome the five runs that were charged to starter Mitch Farris, who worked four-plus innings in his third big league start.
The final line ended up looking worse than Farris pitched, though.
Two runs in the first inning scored when he barely hit Cal Raleigh with a pitch and then Julio Rodriguez and Jorge Polanco had back-to-back soft hits. Farris gave up a homer to J.P. Crawford in the fourth.
Farris struck out seven, even though his fastball topped out at 92 mph. Three of his strikeouts were looking.
Through his first 15 innings, Farris has a 4.80 ERA, with 14 strikeouts and seven walks. He’s allowed three homers.
Walks have been an issue. Two of his four walks on Saturday loaded the bases for Silseth when Farris was pulled in the fifth.
“It’s a good learning experience,” Farris said. “I didn’t have my best stuff, and being able to adjust pitch to pitch and in the inning was big, and I didn’t quite have that today. I did think I battled when it came down to it. You gotta give props to them. They’re a really good team. Take it and move on. Learn from it. Take what you need to learn from it.”
SAN FRANCISCO — There was a good deal of back payments in the Dodgers’ offensive breakout Saturday night.
Of all the situations that have bedeviled the Dodgers’ underperforming offense this season, loading the bases has been their kryptonite – exemplified in the second inning Saturday night when they loaded the bases with no outs and failed to score.
After Miguel Rojas popped out and Ben Rortvedt hit into a double play, the Dodgers were 24 for 109 (.220) with the bases loaded this season. Only one team (the Minnesota Twins at .188) has been worse. Rortvedt’s 3-6-1 double play was the ninth time a Dodger hit into a GIDP with the bases loaded this season, tied for the most in the majors.
But they loaded them again with no outs in the fifth inning. A two-run double by Teoscar Hernandez broke the spell and ignited a six-run inning. Another bases-loaded situation in the sixth led to three more runs and the Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 13-7.
The win was matched by the San Diego Padres, leaving the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West at 2½ but dropping the magic number to clinch the division title outright to 12. The Dodgers also hold the tiebreaker over the Padres.
If this is Clayton Kershaw’s final visit to San Francisco, he did not leave on an appropriate note.Kershaw put the Dodgers in a hole when he couldn’t put hitters away and gave up four runs in the first inning.
The Giants sent nine batters to the plate against Kershaw in the opening inning. Kershaw got two strikes on five of them. Three of them got hits and another drew a walk.
Kershaw gave the Dodgers two scoreless innings after that, but left the scene after 67 pitches in just three innings. It was his shortest start since he pitched two innings at Citi Field on May 23 and didn’t come back after a rain delay. But even with that, he has a 1.84 ERA in 200⅓ innings at Oracle Park (and its naming rights predecessors).
The Dodgers wasted their first chance to absolve Kershaw in the second inning – a sin that looked even worse when Shohei Ohtani led off the next inning with his 49th home run of the season. The 454-foot launch was the longest home run of the season for the Dodgers.
Teoscar Hernandez added a two-out RBI double that inning – foreshadowing the fifth-inning explosion.
Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Hernandez in the fifth. His two-run double gave the Dodgers the lead. Michael Conforto drove in another run with a sacrifice fly, Rortvedt atoned for his GIDP with a two-run double of his own and Mookie Betts made it a six-pack with a two-out RBI single.
Two innings later, another productive rally started painfully. Max Muncy took a 94 mph fastball off the helmet. He stayed in to run the bases but left when the Dodgers went on defense.
By then, they had scored three more runs on a wild pitch and a two-run double by Rojas.
The only question after that was whether that would be enough to keep the Dodgers’ bullpen out of high-leverage danger.
Edgardo Henriquez struck out the side in the fourth after Kershaw left the scene. But Kirby Yates gave up three runs on three doubles and a walk in the fifth.
Justin Wrobleski restored order, retiring all seven batters he faced (four on strikeouts). A precarious two-run lead when he came into the game was a more sturdy five-run advantage when he handed it over to Michael Kopech and Tanner Scott for the final two innings.
“Casino Night With CARE” is this year’s theme for the CARE Project’s annual fundraising gala, to be held 5-10 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom, 3400 Market St., Riverside.
The event is a celebration of survivorship and life for those diagnosed with breast cancer and a fundraiser to help support those with breast cancer.
The gala will also celebrate the CARE Project’s 2025 Excellence Awards honorees — Detective Brian Money of Riverside Police Department and Riverside Youth Judo Club; hospice nurse and author Julie McFadden; and Leimamo Taylor, owner of Riverside Airport Cafe. The Excellence Awards go to those who go above and beyond to care for others in the community.
The event includes appetizers, dinner, “funny money” to play in the casino and a silent auction.
Tickets are $100, available through Sept 15 at thecareprojectinc.org under Upcoming Events.
Carrie Madrid, a survivor of stage 3 breast cancer, founded the CARE Project Inc., which has been helping local people diagnosed with breast cancer since 2013. The CARE Project became a 501(c)(3) public charity in 2014, according to a news release.
The CARE Project’s financial support includes assistance with copays, utilities, rent, transportation and more. The nonprofit also offers grants for children who lose a parent to breast cancer under its Adam’s Angels program.
OpenAI has reached a new tentative agreement with Microsoft and said its nonprofit, which technically controls its business, will now be given a $100 billion equity stake in its for-profit corporation.
The maker of ChatGPT said it had reached a new nonbinding agreement with Microsoft, its longtime partner, “for the next phase of our partnership.”
The announcements on Thursday include a few details about these new arrangements. OpenAI’s proposed changes to its corporate structure have drawn the scrutiny of regulators, competitors and advocates concerned about the impacts of artificial intelligence.
OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and its nonprofit board has continued to control the for-profit subsidiary that now develops and sells its AI products. It’s not clear whether the $100 billion equity stake the nonprofit will get as part of this announcement represents a controlling stake in the business.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said last week that his office was investigating OpenAI’s proposed restructuring of its finances and governance.
He and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings also sent the company a letter expressing concerns about the safety of ChatGPT after meeting with OpenAI’s legal team earlier last week in Delaware, where OpenAI is incorporated.
“Together, we are particularly concerned with ensuring that the stated safety mission of OpenAI as a non-profit remains front and center,” Bonta said in a statement last week.
Microsoft invested its first $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and the two companies later formed an agreement that made Microsoft the exclusive provider of the computing power needed to build OpenAI’s technology. In turn, Microsoft heavily used the technology behind ChatGPT to enhance its own AI products.
The two companies announced on Jan. 21 that they were altering that agreement, enabling the smaller company to build its own computing capacity, “primarily for research and training of models.” That coincided with OpenAI’s announcements of a partnership with Oracle to build a massive new data center in Abilene, Texas.
But other parts of its agreements with Microsoft remained up in the air as the two companies appeared to veer further apart. Their Thursday joint statement said they were still “actively working to finalize contractual terms in a definitive agreement.” Both companies declined further comment.
OpenAI had given its nonprofit board of directors — whose members now include a former U.S. Treasury secretary — the responsibility of deciding when its AI systems have reached the point at which they “outperform humans at most economically valuable work,” a concept known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI.
Such an achievement, per its earlier agreements, would cut off Microsoft from the rights to commercialize such a system, since the terms “only apply to pre-AGI technology.”
OpenAI’s corporate structure and nonprofit mission are also the subject of a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk, who helped found the nonprofit research lab and provided initial funding. Musk’s suit seeks to stop OpenAI from taking control of the company away from its nonprofit and alleges it has betrayed its promise to develop AI for the benefit of humanity.
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is asking a U.S. appeals court to reject the Trump administration’s latest bid to remove her from her post ahead of the central bank’s next vote on interest rates.
In a filing with the court Saturday, attorneys on behalf of Cook asked the court to refuse an emergency request by the Trump administration for a stay of a lower court ruling that would clear the way for President Donald Trump to remove Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors.
Lawyers for Cook argue that the Trump administration has not shown sufficient cause to fire her, and stressed the risks to the economy and country if the president were allowed to fire a Fed governor without cause.
“A stay by this court would therefore be the first signal from the courts that our system of government is no longer able to guarantee the independence of the Federal Reserve. Nothing would then stop the president from firing other members of the board on similarly flimsy pretexts. The era of Fed independence would be over. The risks to the nation’s economy could be dire,” according to the filing.
The court has given the Trump administration the option to respond to Cook’s filing by 3 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.
At stake is whether the Trump administration will succeed in its extraordinary effort to shape the board before the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee meets Tuesday and Wednesday. At the same time, Senate Republicans are pushing to confirm Stephen Miran, President Donald Trump’s nominee to an open spot on the Fed’s board, which could happen as soon as Monday.
Trump has accused Cook of mortgage fraud because she appeared to claim two properties as “primary residences” in July 2021, before she joined the board. Such claims can lead to a lower mortgage rate and smaller down payment than if one of them was declared as a rental property or second home.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb ruled the administration had not satisfied a legal requirement that Fed governors can only be fired “for cause,” which she said was limited to misconduct while in office. Cook did not join the Fed’s board until 2022.
The administration then appealed the decision and asked for an emergency ruling reversing the lower court order by Monday. In their emergency appeal, Trump’s lawyers argued that even if the conduct occurred before Cook’s time as governor, her alleged action “indisputably calls into question Cook’s trustworthiness and whether she can be a responsible steward of the interest rates and economy.”
If the Trump administration’s appeal succeeds, Cook would be removed from the Fed’s board until her case is ultimately resolved in the courts, and she would miss next week’s Fed meeting, when the central bank is set to decide whether to reduce its key interest rate.
If the appeals court rules in Cook’s favor, the administration could seek an emergency ruling from the Supreme Court.
The Fed is under relentless pressure from Trump to cut rates. The central bank has held rates steady since late 2024 over worries that the Trump administration’s unpredictable tariff policies will reignite inflation.
Last month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that Fed officials are increasingly concerned about weaker hiring, setting the stage for a rate cut next week. Most economists expect the Fed will cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point to about 4.1%.
When the Fed reduces its key rate, it often, over time, lowers borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and business loans. Some of those rates have already fallen in anticipation of cuts from the Fed.
Ever since a massive immigration raid on a Hyundai manufacturing site swept up nearly 500 workers in southeast Georgia, Rosie Harrison said her organization’s phones have been ringing nonstop with panicked families in need of help.
“We have individuals returning calls every day, but the list doesn’t end,” Harrison said. She runs an apolitical non-profit called Grow Initiative that connects low-income families — immigrant and non-immigrant alike — with food, housing and educational resources.
Since the raid, Harrison said, “families are experiencing a new level of crisis.”
A majority of the 475 people who were detained in the workplace raid — which U.S. officials have called the largest in two decades — were Korean and have returned to South Korea. But lawyers and social workers say many of the non-Korean immigrants ensnared in the crackdown remain in legal limbo or are otherwise unaccounted for.
As the raid began the morning of Sept. 4, workers almost immediately started calling Migrant Equity Southeast, a local nonprofit that connects immigrants with legal and financial resources. The small organization of approximately 15 employees fielded calls regarding people from Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela, spokesperson Vanessa Contreras said.
Throughout the day, people described federal agents taking cellphones from workers and putting them in long lines, Contreras said. Some workers hid for hours to avoid capture, in air ducts or remote areas of the sprawling property. The Department of Justice said some hid in a nearby sewage pond.
People off-site called the organization frantically seeking the whereabouts of loved ones who worked at the plant and were suddenly unreachable.
Like many of the Koreans who were working at the plant, advocates and lawyers representing the non-Korean workers caught up in the raid say that some who were detained had legal authorization to work in the United States.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded to emailed requests for comment Friday. It is not clear how many people detained during the raid remain in custody.
Atlanta-based attorney Charles Kuck, who represents both Korean and non-Korean workers who were detained, said two of his clients were legally working under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was created by former President Barack Obama. One had been released and “should have never been arrested,” he said, while the other was still being held because he was recently charged with driving under the influence.
Another of Kuck’s clients was in the process of seeking asylum, he said, and had the same documents and job as her husband who was not arrested.
Some even had valid Georgia driver’s licenses, which aren’t available to people in the country illegally, said Rosario Palacios, who has been assisting Migrant Equity Southeast. Some families who called the organization were left without access to transportation because the person who had been detained was the only one who could drive.
“It’s hard to say how they chose who they were going to release and who they were going to take into custody,” Palacios said, adding that some who were arrested didn’t have an alien identification number and were still unaccounted for.
“The redefinition of the word ‘criminal’ to include everybody who is not a citizen, and even some that are, is the problem here,” Kuck said.
Many of the families who called Harrison’s initiative said their detained relatives were the sole breadwinners in the household, leaving them desperate for basics like baby formula and food.
The financial impact of the raid at the construction site for a battery factory that will be operated by HL-GA Battery Co. was compounded by the fact that another massive employer in the area — International Paper Co. — is closing at the end of the month, laying off another 800 workers, Harrison said.
Growth Initiative doesn’t check immigration status, Harrison said, but almost all families who have reached out to her have said that their detained loved ones had legal authorization to work in the United States, leaving many confused about why their relative was taken into custody in the first place.
“The worst phone calls are the ones where you have children crying, screaming, ‘Where is my mom?’” Harrison said.
___
Riddle is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
BOSTON — A U.S. appeals court panel on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to block Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood while legal challenges continue.
A federal judge in July ruled Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding as the nation’s largest abortion provider fights Trump’s administration over efforts to defund the organization in his signature tax legislation.
Medicaid is a government health care program that serves millions of low-income and disabled Americans. Nearly half of Planned Parenthood’s patients rely on Medicaid.
A provision in Trump’s tax bill instructed the federal government to end Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, even to those like Planned Parenthood that also offer medical services like contraception, pregnancy tests and STD testing.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its member organizations in Massachusetts and Utah filed a lawsuit in July against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“While the Trump administration wants to rip away reproductive freedom, we’re here to say loud and clear: we will not back down,” Dominique Lee, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts said in a statement. “This is not over.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn’t immediately respond to an online request for comment.
Planned Parenthood said Thursday’s ruling means that more than 1.1 million patients can’t use their Medicaid insurance at its health centers. That also puts as many as 200 of those health centers at risk of closure, Planned Parenthood said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood says it is the nation’s leading provider and advocate of affordable sexual and reproductive health care, as well as the nation’s largest provider of sex education.
