Florida is set to become the first state in the nation to remove vaccine mandates. The move is deeply concerning to many parents, doctors and other public health workers. They worry that diseases controlled by vaccines for decades could resurface. Florida's Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, announced Wednesday that the state Health Department will start eliminating some mandated vaccines in schools. He called current requirements "immoral" intrusions on rights. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Ladapo and his wife Casey to a commission drafting a broader "medical freedom" initiative. Florida already lags behind the nation in vaccinations, with only 88.7% of kindergarteners immunized compared to over 92% nationwide.

As the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis prepares to make Florida the first state to remove school vaccine mandates, deep concern is spreading among doctors, parents and public health workers for the safety of children and others who might be vulnerable in a disease outbreak.

They fear that dreaded diseases, held in check for decades by vaccines, could flare up again if too many people in Florida aren't immunized. Here's what to know:

DeSantis calls this 'medical freedom'

While states traditionally follow federal guidance when it comes to vaccines, school mandates are set by state health departments. Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced Wednesday that the department he oversees would begin taking steps immediately to eliminate these mandates, calling them "immoral" intrusions on people's rights that hamper parents' ability to make health decisions for their children.

"We're going to end it," Ladapo said, without providing details or a timeline.

The Health Department also did not immediately respond to questions about other vaccine requirements, such as for certain workplaces. Many such requirements are enshrined in state law and would require legislative approval. DeSantis appointed Ladapo and his wife Casey DeSantis to a commission that's drafting a broader "medical freedom" measure expected to be introduced in the next legislative session.

School nurses sound alarm

"If they're able to go through with it, they're just opening a door to a health crisis that's 100 percent preventable," said Lynn Nelson, president of the National Association of School Nurses.

Schools are a microcosm of society, and when students go home, they can bring diseases to vulnerable people such as infants and the elderly, Nelson said.

Measles, mumps and pertussis – also known as whooping cough -- are among the preventable diseases Nelson is most concerned about if Florida's plan succeeds. Measles, a highly contagious illness, can create life-threatening situations for infants and small children, she said.

"There are outbreaks all over the country right now, and they will spread in any state or community where the vaccine rate drops," she said.

Florida already lags nation in vaccination rates

This is the worst year for measles in the U.S. in more than three decades, with more than 1,400 cases confirmed nationwide, most of them in Texas, and three deaths. Whooping cough has killed at least two babies in Louisiana and a 5-year-old in Washington state since last winter, as it too spreads rapidly. There have been more than 19,000 cases as of Aug. 23, nearly 2,000 more than this time last year, according to preliminary CDC data.

Even before Wednesday's announcement, Florida lagged the rest of the United States when it came to kindergarteners being immunized for diseases like measles, mumps and rubella, with 88.7% immunized in 2025, compared to more than 92% nationwide, according to state and federal health statistics.

New religious exemptions to vaccines have also increased, to 6.4% among children age 5-17 years old, and as much as 15% in some counties, as of April 2025.

That's according to the Florida Health Department's monthly online "Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Report," which was last updated on May 29. At the time, it showed cases of hepatitis A, whooping cough and chickenpox were increasing in Florida.

Parents are divided

"I'm pro-vaccine 100%," Ivette Faes said as she waited with other parents to pick up their kids outside Bayview Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday. Dropping the vaccine requirements is not a good idea, she said, because "we have to protect our kids to protect the other ones."

But Ebony Walker, the mother of a first-grader at the school, said she's "all for" removing the mandates. She said "it was scary" when her son had to get so many vaccines shortly after being born. Now she's got him a religious exemption from other inoculations.

"Florida's always setting the trend, doing different stuff … and setting the bar for the other states to follow along," Walker said.

And Lidia Clark, who said her 7-year-old grandchild had never been vaccinated, said she's "ecstatic" that her family won't have to keep securing exemptions. "If you want to vaccinate your child, you can, but I don't believe that it should have ever been enforced on any of us," she said.

Why are vaccines needed?

Since the first safe and effective polio vaccine was released for use in the United States in 1955, vaccines have become a cornerstone of public health, keeping schoolchildren and adults safe from infectious diseases that had afflicted populations for centuries.

Timely and up-to-date required vaccinations "are essential to protecting school-age children, youth, and the public from preventable, serious infectious diseases," according to a recent position paper from the National Association of School Nurses. "Vaccine exemptions should be eliminated, except when necessary for validated medical contraindications," the group said.

Doctors will have an important role in battling the misinformation spreading online, by "trying to explain how vaccines work and how they're developed," said Dr. Joshua Laban, a primary care physician in Miami.

How could this affect Florida's tourism industry?

It's unclear how a decline in vaccinations might affect Florida's top business – its $128 billion tourism industry. Florida is among the top U.S. destinations, with 143 million visitors last year.

Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and other Orlando theme parks no longer require proof of vaccinations for employees, due to Florida laws passed in 2021 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that limit employers' power to require such protection. Representatives for Disney and Universal didn't respond to inquiries Thursday asking them about the potential impact of more unvaccinated children.

Florida also is home to a cruise line industry with a $24 billion economic impact, according the Cruise Lines International Association. Most cruise lines don't have any vaccine requirements. But the CDC has recommended that passengers be vaccinated against COVID and the flu, and that they check which other vaccines may be recommended based on the countries they're visiting.

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Associated Press contributors include Devi Shastri and R.J. Rico

HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) — U.S. attempts to deport some Guatemalan children are on hold until at least Sunday afternoon. Their attorneys are trying to block the removals. The attorneys say the government is violating laws that afford some protections for migrant kids who arrived in the U.S. without their parents. Attorneys for 10 Guatemalan minors, aged 10 to 17, said in court papers filed late Saturday that they had heard reports that planes were set to take off within hours for the Central American country. But a federal judge in Washington said those children couldn't be deported for at least 14 days unless she rules otherwise. A virtual hearing is set for Sunday afternoon.

HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge issued an emergency order blocking the possible deportation of a group of Guatemalan children who had crossed the border without their families, with a hearing scheduled for Sunday, after lawyers said the government appeared to be preparing removals that would violate laws affording protections for migrant kids.

Attorneys for 10 Guatemalan minors, ages 10 to 17, said in court papers filed late Saturday that there were reports that planes were set to take off within hours for the Central American country. But a federal judge in Washington said those children couldn't be deported for at least 14 days unless she rules otherwise, with a virtual hearing set for Sunday afternoon.

Similar emergency requests were filed in other parts of the country as well. Attorneys in Arizona and Illinois asked federal judges there to block deportations of unaccompanied minors, underscoring how the fight over the government's efforts has quickly spread.

Alarm bells raised among immigrant advocates

The episode has raised alarms among immigrant advocates, who say it may represent a violation of federal laws designed to protect children who arrive without their parents. While the deportations are on hold for now, the case underscores the high-stakes clash between the government's immigration enforcement efforts and the legal safeguards that Congress created for some of the most vulnerable migrants.

At the border-area airport, the scene Sunday morning was unmistakably active. Buses carrying migrants pulled onto the tarmac as clusters of federal agents moved quickly between the vehicles and waiting aircraft. Police cars circled the perimeter, and officers and security guards pushed reporters back from the chain-link fences that line the field. On the runway, planes sat with engines idling, ground crews making final preparations as if departures could come at any moment — all as the courtroom battle played out hundreds of miles away in Washington.

Shaina Aber of Acacia Center for Justice, an immigrant legal defense group, said it was notified Saturday evening that an official list had been drafted with the names of Guatemalan children whom the U.S. administration would attempt to send back to their home country. Advocates learned that the flights would leave from the Texas cities of Harlingen and El Paso, Aber said.

She said she'd heard that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials "were still taking the children," having not gotten any guidance about the court order.

The Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.

Trump administration plans to remove nearly 700 Guatemalan children

The Trump administration is planning to remove nearly 700 Guatemalan children who came to the U.S. unaccompanied, according to a letter sent Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. The Guatemalan government has said it is ready to take them in.

It is another step in the Trump administration's sweeping immigration enforcement efforts, which include plans to send a surge of officers to Chicago for an immigration crackdown, ramping up deportations and ending protections for people who have had permission to live and work in the United States.

Lawyers for the Guatemalan children said the U.S. government doesn't have the authority to remove the youngsters and is depriving them of due process by preventing them from pursuing asylum claims or immigration relief. Many have active cases in immigration courts, according to the attorneys' court filing in Washington.

Although the children are supposed to be in the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the government is "illegally transferring them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody to put them on flights to Guatemala, where they may face abuse, neglect, persecution, or torture," argues the filing by attorneys with the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights and the National Immigration Law Center.

An attorney with another advocacy group, the National Center for Youth Law, said the organization starting hearing a few weeks ago from legal service providers that Homeland Security Investigations agents were interviewing children — particularly from Guatemala — in Office of Refugee Resettlement facilities. HSI is ICE's investigative arm.

The agents asked the children about their relatives in Guatemala, said the attorney, Becky Wolozin.

Then, on Friday, advocates across the country began getting word that their young clients' immigration court hearings were being canceled, Wolozin said.

Migrant children traveling without their parents or guardians are handed over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement when they are encountered by officials along the U.S.-Mexico border. Once in the U.S., the children often live in government-supervised shelters or with foster care families until they can be released to a sponsor — usually a family member — living in the country.

The minors can request asylum, juvenile immigration status or visas for victims of sexual exploitation.

Due to their age and often traumatic experiences getting to the U.S., their treatment is one of the most sensitive issues in immigration. Advocacy groups already have sued to ask courts to halt new Trump administration vetting procedures for unaccompanied children, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane.

Guatemala says it is willing to receive the unaccompanied minors

Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Martínez said Friday that the government has told the U.S. it is willing to receive hundreds of Guatemalan minors who arrived in the U.S. unaccompanied and are being held in government facilities.

Guatemala is particularly concerned about minors who could pass age limits for the children's facilities and be sent to adult detention centers, he said.

President Bernardo Arévalo has said that his government has a moral and legal obligation to advocate for the children. His comments came days after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Guatemala.

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Santana reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — They look, move and even smell like the kind of furry Everglades marsh rabbit a Burmese python would love to eat. But these bunnies are robots meant to lure the giant invasive snakes out of their hiding spots. It's the latest effort by the South Florida Water Management District to eliminate as many pythons are possible from the Everglades, where they are decimating native species with their voracious appetites. The robots are simple toy rabbits, retrofitted to have a heat signature, a bunny smell diffuser and natural movement. They are powered by solar panels and can be switched on and off remotely. They are placed in small pens monitored by a video camera that sends out a signal when a python is nearby.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — They look, move and even smell like the kind of furry Everglades marsh rabbit a Burmese python would love to eat. But these bunnies are robots meant to lure the giant invasive snakes out of their hiding spots.

It's the latest effort by the South Florida Water Management District to eliminate as many pythons as possible from the Everglades, where they are decimating native species with their voracious appetites. In Everglades National Park, officials say the snakes have eliminated 95% of small mammals as well as thousands of birds.

"Removing them is fairly simple. It's detection. We're having a really hard time finding them," said Mike Kirkland, lead invasive animal biologist for the water district. "They're so well camouflaged in the field."

The water district and University of Florida researchers deployed 120 robot rabbits this summer as an experiment. Previously, there was an effort to use live rabbits as snake lures but that became too expensive and time-consuming, Kirkland said.

The robots are simple toy rabbits, but retrofitted to emit heat, a smell and to make natural movements to appear like any other regular rabbit. "They look like a real rabbit," Kirkland said.. They are solar powered and can be switched on and off remotely. They are placed in small pens monitored by a video camera that sends out a signal when a python is nearby.

"Then I can deploy one of our many contractors to go out and remove the python," Kirkland said.

The total cost per robot rabbit is about $4,000, financed by the water district, he added.

Pythons are not native to Florida, but have become established in the swampy, subtropical Everglades by escaping from homes or by people releasing them when they become overgrown pets. A female python can lay between 50 and 100 eggs at a time with a gestation period of 60-90 days, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

It's not easy to find definite estimates of the number of pythons in Florida. The U.S. Geological Survey recently reported a ballpark number of "tens of thousands," while other official estimates run as high as 300,000 snakes. They have few natural enemies, although there are occasional confrontations with alligators, and other predators, such as bobcats and coyotes, will eat their eggs.

Since 2000, more than 23,000 of the snakes have been removed from the wild, the wildlife commission says. The robot rabbits are the latest attempt to tackle snakes that average between 10 and 16 feet (3 to 5 meters) in length when fully grown.

"Every invasive python that is removed makes a difference for Florida's environment and its native wildlife," said Ron Bergeron, a member of the water district governing board.

Pythons can be humanely killed year-round on private lands and on lands managed by the wildlife commission across the state.

Each year the commission holds a "Florida Python Challenge" that carries cash prizes for most pythons caught, the longest snake and so forth. This year, 934 people from 30 states took part in the effort in July, capturing 294 pythons with a top prize of $10,000 to a participant who bagged 60 of the reptiles.

It's too early to determine how successful the robot rabbit project will be, but officials say initial results are a cause for optimism.

"This part of the project is in its infancy," Kirkland said. "We are confident, though, that this will work once we are given enough time to work out some of these details."

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Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.

RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) — Investigators are examining the videos, writings and movements of the shooter who fired through the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis, killing two children and wounding 17 people. They're looking for connections to the church and its school to understand the motivation for the attack. Police Chief Brian O'Hara says Robin Westman fired dozens of rounds toward Annunciation Catholic School students sitting in the pews during Mass on Wednesday morning. He says the shooter then died by suicide. Hours later, hundreds crowded inside a nearby school's gym, clutching one another and wiping away tears during a vigil. Archbishop Bernard Hebda told a crowd of mourners Wednesday night that students tried to shield their classmates as the gunfire erupted.

RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) — Investigators were examining the videos, writings and movements of the shooter who fired through the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis, killing two children and wounding 17 people, for connections to the church and its school to understand the motivation for the attack.

Armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, 23-year-old Robin Westman shot dozens of rounds Wednesday morning toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass at the Annunciation Catholic School, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said. The shooter then died by suicide, he said.

The children who died were 8 and 10. Fourteen other kids and three octogenarian parishioners were wounded but expected to survive, the chief said.

Mourners at vigil honor those killed and wounded

Just hours after the shooting, hundreds crowded inside a nearby school's gym Wednesday night, clutching one another and wiping away tears during a vigil alongside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and clergy members.

Speaking to a silent crowd crammed shoulder-to-shoulder — and while hundreds more waited outside — Archbishop Bernard Hebda described the students trying to shield their classmates as the gunfire erupted.

"In the midst of that there was courage, there was bravery, but most especially there was love," he said at the Academy of Holy Angels, about 2 miles (3 kilometers) south of the shooting, in the suburb of Richfield.

Rev. Dennis Zehren, who was inside the church with the nearly 200 children, said they were almost to the end of the Responsorial Psalm, which speaks about light in the darkness. That's when he heard someone yell, "Down down, everybody down," and the gunshots started.

Fifth-grader Weston Halsne told reporters he ducked for the pews, covering his head, shielded by a friend who was lying on top of him. His friend was hit, he said.

"I was super scared for him, but I think now he's OK," the 10-year-old said.

Authorities investigate motive for the shooting

FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the shooting is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics.

Westman's mother had worked at the church for five years, retiring in 2021, according to a church Facebook post that year. It's not clear if Robin Westman ever attended the church or had been enrolled at the school.

O'Hara said police had not determined a motive for the bloodshed. The chief said, however, that investigators were examining a social media post that appeared to show the shooter at the scene.

O'Hara, who gave the wounded youngsters' ages as 6 to 15, said a wooden plank was placed to barricade some of the side doors and that authorities found a smoke bomb at the scene.

On a YouTube channel titled Robin W, the alleged shooter released at least two videos before the channel was taken down Wednesday. In one, the alleged shooter shows a cache of weapons and ammunition, some with such phrases as "kill Donald Trump" and "Where is your God?" written on them.

A second video shows the alleged shooter pointing to two outside windows in what appears to be a drawing of the church, and then stabbing it with a long knife.

In one video, the alleged shooter mentioned traveling to the nation's largest gun show in Las Vegas and meeting Texas congressional candidate and gun rights activist Brandon Herrera, who has amassed a large following on YouTube as The AK Guy.

"I meet thousands of people every year at SHOT Show in Las Vegas in meet-and-greets and such, but I don't remember this individual at all, nor does anyone I was there with," Herrera said in a post on X, adding he was "sickened and angry" about the violence against the children. "That being said, I'm happy to answer any questions from Law Enforcement if it would be helpful."

Westman's uncle, former Kentucky state lawmaker Bob Heleringer, said he did not know the accused shooter well and was confounded by the "unspeakable tragedy."

The police chief said Westman did not have an extensive known criminal history and is believed to have acted alone.

Federal officials referred to Westman as transgender, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey decried hatred being directed at "our transgender community." Westman's gender identity wasn't clear. In 2020, a judge approved a petition, signed by Westman's mother, asking for a name change from Robert to Robin, saying the petitioner "identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification."

Police chief says officers rescued children who hid

The police chief said officers immediately responded to reports of the shooting, entered the church, rendered first aid and rescued some of the children.

Annunciation's principal Matt DeBoer said teachers and children, too, responded heroically.

"Children were ducked down. Adults were protecting children. Older children were protecting younger children," he said.

Vincent Francoual said his 11-year-old daughter, Chloe, survived the shooting by running downstairs to hide in a room with a table pressed against the door. But he still is not sure exactly how she escaped because she is struggling to communicate clearly about the traumatizing scene.

"She told us today that she thought she was going to die," he said.

Walz lamented that children just starting the school year "were met with evil and horror and death." He and President Donald Trump ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff on state and federal buildings, respectively, and the White House said the two men spoke. The governor was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in last year's election against Trump's running mate, now Vice President JD Vance, a Republican.

From the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV sent a telegram of condolences. The Chicago-born Leo, history's first American pope, said he was praying for relatives of the dead.

Monday had been the first day of the school year at Annunciation, a 102-year-old school in a leafy residential and commercial neighborhood about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of downtown Minneapolis.

Karin Cebulla, who said she had worked as a learning specialist at Annunciation and sent her two now-college-aged daughters there, described the school as an accepting, caring community.

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Karnowski and Vancleave reported from Minneapolis and Golden from Seattle. Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York; Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland; Will Weissert and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Bruce Schreiner in Shelbyville, Kentucky; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; Nicole Winfield in Vatican City; and Steve Peoples in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

PHOENIX (AP) — Crews are cleaning up downed trees and electricity largely is restored after a powerful dust storm hit the Phoenix area. The storm was what's known as a haboob. It blackened skies and knocked out electricity for 55,000 customers late Monday afternoon. Drenching rain followed. Flights were halted at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. By Tuesday afternoon, things were mostly back to normal. The weather was warm and clear, with scattered thunderstorms expected to give way to hot and dry weather through the rest of the week.

PHOENIX (AP) — Crews cleaned up downed trees and got electricity mostly restored for thousands of people Tuesday after a powerful dust storm roared through the Phoenix area.

The wall of dust towering hundreds of feet (meters) high dwarfed the city's neighborhoods. Called a haboob, the wind-driven phenomenon blackened skies and initially knocked out electricity for 55,000 customers late Monday afternoon.

Drenching rain followed. Flights came to a halt at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, where material from a terminal roof blew onto the tarmac. Contractors worked through the night to repair roof damage, airport spokesperson Jon Brodsky said.

By Tuesday afternoon, things were mostly back to normal, with power largely restored and only minor flight delays reported.

But for residents in metro Phoenix, the haboob was both frightening and spectacular.

Bernae Boykin Hitesman was driving her son and daughter, ages 9 and 11, home from school when the storm arrived in Arizona City, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southeast of Phoenix.

She quickly pulled over as the storm engulfed the car. "I couldn't see my hand in front of my face if I put my hand outside," she said.

Boykin Hitesman could taste the dust and feel the strong wind rattling her car until it finally passed about 15 minutes later.

"I was nervous," she said. "My kids were really, really scared, so I was trying to be brave for them."

In the suburb of Gilbert, bird feeders fell from swaying trees at the home of retired university professor Richard Filley. Fine dust got into "every little crack and space," he said.

"The windstorm part of it, I'm glad it's gone," he said. "You look at the photos of haboobs, and they are a spectacular natural phenomenon. They are kind of beautiful in their own way."

Not all dust storms are haboobs, which are specifically associated with downdrafts from thunderstorms. The phenomenon usually happens in flat, arid areas and is not unusual in Arizona.

The rain that followed was welcome in Phoenix, where conditions have been drier than usual this year.

The desert city usually gets roughly 7 inches (18 centimeters) of annual precipitation, with a third to half of that falling during the monsoon season of on-and-off thunderstorms between mid-June and mid-September.

But so far it has recorded only about 2 inches (5 centimeters) of precipitation, or more than 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) below normal, according to the National Weather Service.

That includes the almost one-third of an inch (8 millimeters) of rain that came with Monday's haboob, according to Tom Frieders, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Phoenix.

"It's not going to make a big dent," Frieders said.

Parts of southeast and north-central Arizona, meanwhile, have had a fair amount of rain, according to meteorologist Mark O'Malley with the weather service in Phoenix.

"But that's typical for a monsoon, very hit and miss," he said.

The weather was warm and clear in the Phoenix area Tuesday, with scattered thunderstorms giving way to hot and dry weather through the rest of the week.

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Golden reported from Seattle. Associated Press writer Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed.

NEW YORK (AP) — It started with a friendship bracelet. It ended with an engagement ring. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged. The news was revealed in a joint post on Instagram. It is the fairytale culmination of a courtship that for two years has thrilled and fascinated millions around the world. It started with Kelce attempting to give Swift his phone number via friendship bracelet at one of her concerts in 2023. It spanned two Super Bowls and Swift's history-making tour. It included the announcement of her 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl." And eventually, it will lead to a marriage.

NEW YORK (AP) — It started with a friendship bracelet. It ended with an engagement ring. Taylor Swift, the pop superstar, and Travis Kelce, the football champion, are engaged.

The fiances, both 35, announced the news in a joint post on Instagram on Tuesday. It is the latest chapter in the couple's love story, one that has spanned two years, two Super Bowls, an album announcement and the highest-grossing tour of all time.

Here is a look at some of the major events in their relationship.

A friendship bracelet, undelivered

It started, fittingly, with a friendship bracelet.

It was way back in July 2023 that Kelce attended Swift's Eras concert at Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs play.

After, on his "New Heights" podcast with brother Jason Kelce, he professed to being disappointed — well, his word was "butthurt" — that he couldn't meet Swift and present her with a bracelet with his phone number on it.

"She doesn't meet anybody, or at least she didn't want to meet me, so I took it personal," he quipped. The podcast asked on Instagram: "Anyone know how to get a bracelet to @taylorswift13? … asking for a friend."

Drivin' the getaway car

But by that September, Kelce was hinting his efforts had achieved some success. He declined to elaborate amid speculation, telling an interviewer: "It is what it is."

Clearly, though, something was happening. Soon, Kelce revealed he'd invited Swift to a game at Arrowhead. "I threw the ball in her court," he said on another talk show.

Swift took Kelce up on his offer, appearing for all the world to see at the Chiefs-Bears game, cheering next to his mom, Donna Kelce. The two left the stadium in Kelce's purple Chevelle "getaway car" — forgive the pun, but Kelce himself used it.

"Pretty ballsy," Kelce said a few days later of Swift's appearance, adding how much he loved seeing her cheer next to his mother.

It was the launch of a long series of appearances by Swift at Chiefs games. There was some online angst over whether Swift was distracting from football — while the NFL itself capitalized on her fandom. A day after the flashy Los Angeles premiere of her "Taylor Swift: Eras Tour" movie, she was back at Arrowhead.

Karma is the guy on the Chiefs

And now it was time for Kelce to be the adoring fan. In November 2023, after a hiatus of two months, Swift brought her tour to Argentina, where she changed the lyrics of "Karma" to salute her beau. "Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me," she sang. Scott Swift, next to a beaming Kelce, applauded his daughter's new flame.

When Time magazine announced its person of the year, few were surprised. In the Time interview, Swift spoke about her relationship.

"This all started when Travis very adorably put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell," Swift said, adding that they'd already been a couple before that first Chiefs game cameo.

Soon after, things were heating up on the football field — meaning the Chiefs were heading to the Super Bowl. At the AFC championship game, the couple made it clear they were fine with whatever attention was coming their way. In the middle of the field in Baltimore, after the Chiefs beat the Ravens, Swift and Kelce kissed. "I love you," Kelce said. "So much it's not funny."

A race across nine time zones

There was one game left. Fans wondered: How would Swift make it from her Tokyo shows to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas?

"This week is truly the best kind of chaos," Swift posted on Instagram.

Chaos indeed. In one week of February 2024, Swift attended the Grammys in Los Angeles, jetted to Tokyo for four concerts, then jumped back onto her private plane to make the Super Bowl with time to spare. To get there, she crossed nine time zones and the international dateline.

"She's rewriting the history books herself," Kelce said a day after the Grammys, where Swift had won album of the year for a record fourth time. "I told her I'll have to hold up my end of the bargain and come home with hardware, too."

And he did. The two kissed on the field again after the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers, Swift in her "87" necklace.

On the road again

Within days, Swift was on the road again, with Kelce joining her in Australia for some koala-cuddling at the zoo.

In Paris, Swift introduced a section from "The Tortured Poets Department," her new album. Fans wondered if Kelce had made his way into some of its lyrics — like "You knew what you wanted and, boy, you got her," from "So High School."

But the highlight came in June, during a celebrity-packed set of concerts in London. There, Kelce made his Eras stage debut, donning a tuxedo and top hat and carrying Swift in his arms during a choreographed bit before "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart."

"I'm still cracking up/swooning," Swift wrote later on Instagram.

'Happiness and fun and magic'

As for Kelce, he spoke with pride about the relationship, noting on the "Bussin' with the Boys" podcast that he had no desire to hide anything.

"That's my girl," he said. "That's my lady. I'm proud of that."

Swift echoed that emotion when she accepted an MTV Video Music Award last September, shouting out "my boyfriend Travis" in her speech.

"Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic," she said.

'I am just a jamoke supporting his girlfriend'

Throughout the summer and fall of 2024, Kelce attended a number of Swift's remaining tour dates and mentioned her on "New Heights," officially referring to her as "his girlfriend" in a July episode.

"She is every bit of what everyone makes her out to be. She's so awesome. Some of these people you meet, and you're just like, 'I don't know what I'm doing here,'" he said. "You are unbelievable, your talent is unbelievable, how you present yourself is unbelievable and I am just a jamoke supporting his girlfriend."

Swift, too, was regularly photographed attending Kelce's games — including the 2025 Super Bowl.

Lights, camera, action, football

A month post-Super Bowl, the couple made their red-carpet debut at the Tight End University in June, an annual three-day training summit founded by Kelce, George Kittle and Greg Olsen.

They were then spotted at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville, where Swift hopped on stage to perform "Shake it Off" with country singer Kane Brown. For fans, it marked yet another moment of the couple showing very public support and admiration for one another.

'The Life of a Showgirl'

A couple that collaborates together, stays together.

Swift announced her highly anticipated 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl," in mid-August and included Kelce in the rollout. It began with a tease from "New Heights," which later revealed Swift would appear in an episode the following day.

Swift told the Kelce brothers she wanted to show them something, revealing a mint-green briefcase that featured her initials in orange. Jason Kelce asked what was in it, prompting her to pull out a vinyl record.

'Our jobs are very similar'

In the two-hour "New Heights" episode featuring Swift, she went into detail about the pair's summer following the Super Bowl. She said she spent considerable time in Florida with Travis Kelce. She also said "our jobs are very similar": They revolve around entertaining "people for three hours in NFL stadiums."

On her self-described "favorite podcast," Swift credited "New Heights" for getting her a boyfriend. "This is sort of what I've been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager," she said of their romance.

And Kelce credited the tour for, well, getting him a girlfriend. "I see you on that stage and see how you can get an entire stadium going, and then I get you in a room and it's like I've known you forever," he said. "It's the easiest conversation I ever had, and it was just so much fun that it knocked my socks off."

Jock, meet writer

In late August, in a five-photo carousel shared to both Swift and Kelce's official Instagram accounts, the couple announced their engagement. "Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married," she wrote in her caption.

It's unclear when and where the two got engaged.

A rash of hoax calls about active shooters on at least a dozen college campuses around the U.S. has spread fear among students as the school year begins. The hoax calls and false alarms have sent students and teachers scrambling for safety in classrooms and under desks amid urgent text messages urging them to "run, hide, (and) fight." Yet officers who swarmed the campuses looking for any threat found none. Security experts say campus officials now must find the right balance in keeping students and teachers on guard — but not panicking — in case of any real threats in the future.

Miceala Morano scrambled for cover behind a green screen in the University of Arkansas broadcast room after she received a campuswide alert about an active shooter.

As officers outside donned bullet proof vests and searched for an intruder, the 21-year-old journalism student called her grandmother, telling her, "As of right now, I'm safe. I love you."

Monday's threat turned out to be part of a rash of hoax calls about active shooters on college campuses — some featuring gunshots sounding in the background — that have sent waves of fear among students around the nation as the school year begins.

The calls prompted universities to issue texts to "run, hide, fight." Students and teachers rushed for cover, often cowering in classrooms and under desks for safety. Officers swarmed over campuses, seeking out any threat.

That the threats turned out to be false doesn't much matter in the moment for terrified students.

"There's just these few minutes where all you really feel is fear, whether the threat's there or not," said Morano, whose childhood active shooter drills taught her to stack chairs blocking the classroom door and to climb into the ceiling as a last resort.

The hoaxes and false alarms have hit at least a dozen college campuses.

On Monday alone, law enforcement responded to calls claiming active shooters at Arkansas, Northern Arizona University, Iowa State, Kansas State, the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of New Hampshire. More calls were made Tuesday at the University of Kentucky, West Virginia University and Central Georgia Technical College.

Latest wave of swatting calls began in Pennsylvania, Tennessee

At Villanova University, students were attending Thursday's Orientation Mass when law enforcement received multiple calls about a man opening fire on campus with an AR-15 style weapon. Sounds of gunfire could be heard in the background of the calls.

Chairs banged together and bags dropped as students fled, recalled Ryan Scanlon, who was in eighth grade at a neighboring school when the mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.

Now a Villanova senior, he joined others sheltering in the school library, waiting with little news for about an hour before police arrived to clear out buildings.

"It's really not funny," Scanlon said. "If you experience that real thing, you never know what can happen next."

Hours earlier, Tennessee authorities received similar false calls reporting an active shooter with an AR-15 style rifle at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and four persons shot. Dispatchers reported hearing multiple gunshots on the calls.

"This incident was a criminal act, intended to be disruptive and cause chaos," the school said in a statement.

The University of South Carolina also received two calls Sunday reporting an active shooter at the school's library, with the sound of gunshots in the background.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said authorities must find whoever was behind the calls, comparing them to yelling fire in a crowded theater.

"It could have been a lot worse than it was. Maybe next time it will be worse," McMaster told reporters.

Swatting causes terror

The goal of swatting is to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to respond to an address.

In an era of mass shootings, the calls create a climate of fear, sap law enforcement resources and can lead to deadly mistakes. In 2017, for instance, a police officer in Wichita, Kansas, shot and killed a man while responding to a hoax emergency call.

The FBI provided no information about a motive, but said Tuesday that it was working with law enforcement on the swatting cases on college campuses, which come as such false reports surge nationwide.

A wave of threats three years ago was believed to have come from outside the country, the FBI said at the time. The agency provided few details about the recent campus threats, including whether they are coordinated, but the calls appear to share similar traits.

Most involved multiple calls about an active shooter or shooting, and at least four included the sound of gunshots in the background.

Fred Posner, a telephoning consultant at LOD.com, said advances in technology have made it easier for people making such swatting calls to conceal their identities. Posner said law enforcement also faces the challenge of how easy phone carriers have made it for people to obtain a number.

"The only way for this to stop is to have some sort of enforcement and crackdown against the carriers that continually allow this to occur," Posner said.

Experts fear hoaxes may make students dismiss warnings

The worry is that hoaxes will create complacency at campuses where active shooter alerts and drills have become a regular part of life.

"We live in tornado alley where people go hear a tornado warning and go outside to look," said Mya Norman, a chemistry instructor at Arkansas who hid trembling under her desk as the Fayetteville campus remained on lockdown. "So it does concern me that we could end up with that kind of an effect."

Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, said campus officials face a "delicate balance" in keeping students and teachers on guard, but not panicked, for any real threats in the future.

For many, he said, panic lingers weeks and even months after the hoaxes.

Norman is still haunted by what happened. As she tried to reassure her son and husband, her thoughts raced. "It's kind of rotten but in some ways I thought well it's our turn," she said.

Casey Mann, a 19-year-old who joined Morano in hiding behind a green screen, said she couldn't sleep until 2 a.m. after the Arkansas lockdown.

"It's just a scary reality the time we're living in right now," she said, her voice choking up. "It just makes me wonder what we're supposed to expect in the future."

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DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas, and Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Associated Press Writers Kate Brumback in Atlanta; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; Michael Casey in Boston; Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana; Kristin Hall in Nashville and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it's returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company's plan to modernize. In a post on its website, Cracker Barrel said it will retain its old logo, which features an older man in overalls sitting next to a barrel and the words "Old Country Store." The tempest over the logo began last week, when the company announced plans for a simplified design featuring only the company's name. Lebanon, Tennessee-based Cracker Barrel made the change as part of a wider plan to modernize its restaurants and appeal to younger customers. But many fans protested the move.

Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it's returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company's plan to modernize.

In a post on its website, Cracker Barrel said it will retain its old logo, which features an older man in overalls sitting next to a barrel and the words "Old Country Store."

"We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel," the company said in a statement. "Our new logo is going away and our 'Old Timer' will remain."

The tempest over the logo began last week, when the company announced plans for a simplified design featuring only the company's name. Lebanon, Tennessee-based Cracker Barrel, which has 660 restaurants in 43 states, made the change as part of a wider plan to modernize its restaurants and appeal to younger customers.

The chain's sales have been slipping as it faces growing competition from breakfast chains and others. In its 2024 fiscal year, Cracker Barrel's same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, dropped 0.1% despite a 4.9% increase in menu prices. Same-store retail sales at its shops fell 5.5%.

But many protested the change. On Monday, Cracker Barrel put out an apologetic statement, saying it "could have done a better job sharing who we are and who we'll always be."

At that point, Cracker Barrel didn't say it would change the logo, but said it would listen to its customers and keep many of the things they have come to love about the restaurant, like the rocking chairs on its front porches. The company said it would continue to honor Uncle Herschel — the older man in its logo, who represents the uncle of Cracker Barrel's founder — on its menu and on items sold in its stores.

But the controversy continued. On Tuesday morning, Trump said via Truth Social that Cracker Barrel "should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before." Cracker Barrel's shares rose after more than a week of declines.

By Tuesday evening, Cracker Barrel had made its decision and scrapped the new logo.

"At Cracker Barrel, it's always been – and always will be – about serving up delicious food, warm welcomes, and the kind of country hospitality that feels like family," the company said. "As a proud American institution, our 70,000 hardworking employees look forward to welcoming you to our table soon."

Trump was among those celebrating the move.

"Good luck into the future. Make lots of money and, most importantly, make your customers happy again!" Trump said via Truth Social.

Authorities say two police officers were shot and killed in Utah and a man was taken into custody after bystanders persuaded him to drop the gun. The officers were responding to a domestic disturbance call Sunday in a neighborhood in Tremonton. Police say Monday a sheriff's deputy and a police dog who also responded were wounded. The deputy has been released from the hospital and the dog was hospitalized in fair condition. The man was arrested on aggravated murder charges. His name and the officers' names have not been released. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called what happened "a terrible and tragic night" and joined the state in mourning the loss of the two officers.

Two police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call were shot and killed in Utah and a man was taken into custody after bystanders persuaded him to drop the gun, authorities said Monday.

A sheriff's deputy and a police dog were shot and wounded in their car as they arrived to help at a neighborhood in Tremonton on Sunday night. The deputy from Box Elder County was released from the hospital Monday and the dog was hospitalized in fair condition, police said.

"These officers are definitely heroes," Police Chief Chad Reyes in neighboring Brigham City said at a news conference Monday morning.

"We really don't know what we're walking into," he said of domestic disturbance calls. "And they are one of the most dangerous events that we can be dispatched on."

Police received multiple 911 hang-up calls from a home in the city. A single officer from the Tremonton-Garland Police Department arrived first and was speaking to someone at the home when the man came out with a gun, police said in a news release. Reyes said he believed the man lived at the house.

"The male opened fire on the officer, striking and killing the officer," the news release said. A second officer from the department who responded "was immediately fired upon by the same male suspect" and was killed, it said.

After the officers were shot, bystanders persuaded the man to put down his weapon, police said. Up to 50 officers from multiple agencies responded. SWAT teams arrived to clear the home and verify that there was no further threat, police said.

The ranch-style home was cordoned off by yellow crime scene tape Monday. A trampoline and a blue children's pool could be seen on the front lawn.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called what happened "a terrible and tragic night." He posted online that he joined the state in mourning the loss "of these courageous law enforcement officers."

The man was arrested on charges of aggravated murder, police said in the news release.

The names of the officers and the suspect have not been released.

Tremonton, which has about 13,000 people, is in northern Utah about 75 miles (121 kilometers) north of Salt Lake City at the junction of Interstates 15 and 84. It advertises itself as "a favorite midway stop for vacations" to destinations such as Yellowstone National Park, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. It also calls itself "Utah's City of Murals" with a walking tour featuring 18 works of public art.

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The story has been updated to correct the first name of the police chief to Chad.

Island communities off the coast of North Carolina are bracing for flooding ahead of Hurricane Erin, the year's first Atlantic hurricane. The storm intensified to a Category 4 with 140 mph winds early Monday, lashing the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeast Bahamas. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm is unlikely to make direct landfall in the United States. However, authorities on some islands along North Carolina's Outer Banks have issued evacuation orders. They warn that roads could be swamped by 15-foot waves. Coastal flooding is expected to begin Tuesday and continue through Thursday.

Island communities off the coast of North Carolina are bracing for flooding ahead of the year's first Atlantic hurricane, Hurricane Erin.

Although forecasters are confident that the storm won't make direct landfall in the United States, authorities on a few islands along North Carolina's Outer Banks issued evacuation orders and warned that some roads could be swamped by waves of 15 feet (4.6 meters).

The monster storm intensified to a Category 4 with 140 mph (225 kph) maximum sustained winds early Monday while it started to lash the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeast Bahamas, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the southeast Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the hurricane center said.

Here is what to know about Hurricane Erin.

Storm surge, high winds expected along North Carolina's coast

Forecasters say Erin will turn northeast — and away — from the eastern U.S. Still, the storm is expected to bring tropical storm force winds, dangerous waves and rip currents to North Carolina's coast. That is according to Dave Roberts of the National Hurricane Center. Coastal flooding in North Carolina is expected to begin Tuesday.

Evacuations were being ordered on Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island along North Carolina's Outer Banks even though the storm is unlikely to make direct landfall. Authorities warned that some roads could be swamped by waves of 15 feet (4.6 meters).

The orders come at the height of tourist season on the thin stretch of low-lying barrier islands that juts far into the Atlantic Ocean.

There are concerns that several days of heavy surf, high winds and waves could wash out parts of the main highway running along the barrier islands, the National Weather Service said. Some routes could be impassible for several days.

Portions of Highway 12 on Ocracoke and Hatteras Islands are most at risk for storm surge, National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said.

Erin's outer bands hit parts of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with heavy rains and tropical-storm winds on Sunday.

Potentially devastating impacts

Storm surge is the level at which sea water rises above its normal level.

Much like the way a storm's sustained winds do not include the potential for even stronger gusts, storm surge doesn't include the wave height above the mean water level.

Surge is also the amount above what the normal tide is at a time, so a 15-foot storm surge at high tide can be far more devastating than the same surge at low tide.

Fluctuating strength

Erin's strength has fluctuated significantly over the past week.

The most common way to measure a hurricane's strength is the Saffir-Simpson Scale that assigns a category from 1 to 5 based on a storm's sustained wind speed at its center, with 5 being the strongest.

Erin reached a dangerous Category 5 status Saturday with 160 mph (260 kph) winds before weakening. It is expected to remain a large, major hurricane into midweek.

"You're dealing with a major hurricane. The intensity is fluctuating. It's a dangerous hurricane in any event," the hurricane center's Richard Pasch said.

Lethal summer of floods

Although Erin is the first Atlantic hurricane of the year, there have been four tropical storms this hurricane season already. Tropical Storm Chantal made the first U.S. landfall of the season in early July, and its remnants caused flooding in North Carolina that killed an 83-year-old woman when her car was swept off a rural road.

And at least 132 people were killed in floodwaters that overwhelmed Texas Hill Country on the Fourth of July.

Just over a week later, flash floods inundated New York City and parts of New Jersey, claiming two lives.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Singer Sean Kingston has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after being convicted of a $1 million fraud scheme in South Florida. Kingston and his mother, Janice Eleanor Turner, were each convicted by a federal jury in March of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. A federal judge sentenced Kingston on Friday, weeks after sentencing Turner to five years in prison. The two were arrested last year after a SWAT team raided Kingston's rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Officials say Kingston used social media to arrange purchases of high-end merchandise. He or his mother would then send fake wire receipts and sometimes never pay.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Singer Sean Kingston was sentenced to three and a half years in prison Friday after being convicted of a $1 million fraud scheme in which he leveraged his fame to dupe sellers into giving him luxury items that he then never paid for.

Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Paul Anderson, and his mother, Janice Eleanor Turner, were convicted in March by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. Turner was sentenced to five years in prison last month.

Before U.S. Judge David Leibowitz handed down Kingston's sentence, the singer apologized to the judge in the South Florida courtroom and said he had learned from his actions. His attorney asked if he could self-surrender at a later date due to health issues, but the judge ordered him taken into custody immediately. Kingston, who was wearing a black suit and white shirt, removed his suit jacket and was handcuffed and led from the courtroom.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Anton described Kingston as someone addicted to his celebrity lifestyle even though he could no longer afford to maintain it.

"He clearly doesn't like to pay and relies on his celebrity status to defraud his victims," Anton said Friday.

The federal prosecutor described a yearslong pattern by Kingston of bullying victims for luxury merchandise and then refusing to pay.

"He is a thief and a conman, plain and simple," Anton said.

Defense attorney Zeljka Bozanic countered that the 35-year-old Kingston had the mentality of a teenager — the age he was when he vaulted to stardom. The attorney said Kingston had almost no knowledge of his finances, relying on business managers and his mother.

"No one showed him how to invest his money," Bozanic said. "Money went in and money went out on superficial things."

Bozanic said Kingston has already started paying back his victims and intends to pay back every cent once he is free and can start working again.

Leibowitz rejected the idea that Kingston was unintelligent or naive, but the judge said he gave Kingston credit for accepting responsibility and declining to testify rather than possibly lying in court. That was in contrast to Kingston's mother, whose trial testimony Leibowitz described as obstruction.

Kingston and his mother were arrested in May 2024 after a SWAT team raided Kingston's rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Turner was taken into custody during the raid, while Kingston was arrested at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California's Mojave Desert, where he was performing.

According to court records, Kingston used social media from April 2023 to March 2024 to arrange purchases of luxury merchandise. After negotiating deals, Kingston would invite the sellers to one of his high-end Florida homes and promise to feature them and their products on social media.

Investigators said that when it came time to pay, Kingston or his mother would text the victims fake wire receipts for the items, which included a bulletproof Escalade, watches and a 19-foot (5.9-meter) LED TV, investigators said.

When the funds never cleared, victims often contacted Kingston and Turner repeatedly, but were either never paid or received money only after filing lawsuits or contacting law enforcement, authorities said.

Kingston, who was born in Florida and raised in Jamaica, shot to fame at age 17 with the 2007 hit "Beautiful Girls," which laid his lyrics over Ben E. King's 1961 song "Stand By Me." His other hits include 2007's "Take You There" and 2009's "Fire Burning."

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Months before New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was set to leave office because of term limits, she has been indicted in what prosecutors allege was a yearslong scheme to conceal a romantic relationship with her bodyguard.

Prosecutors say bodyguard Jeffrey Vappie was being paid as if he was working when he and Cantrell were really alone in apartments and visiting vineyards, hiding their communication by sending encrypted messages through WhatsApp and then deleting them. Although the pair have said their relationship was strictly professional, the indictment described it as "personal and intimate."

The first female mayor in New Orleans' 300-year history has been charged with conspiracy, fraud and obstruction. Vappie was already facing charges of wire fraud and making false statements. He has pleaded not guilty. A grand jury returned an 18-count indictment Friday that added Cantrell to the case.

The City of New Orleans said in a statement that it was aware of the indictment and that the mayor's attorney was reviewing it.

Cantrell hasn't sent out a message on her official social media feed on X since July 15, when she said the city was experiencing historic declines in crime. She and her remaining allies have said that she has been unfairly targeted as a Black woman and held to a different standard than male officials.

Here are things to know about the mayor and the indictment:

Vineyard trips and alone time with bodyguard

The indictment paints a detailed picture of Cantrell and her bodyguard traveling to vineyards and spending time alone in apartments at the same time it says Vappie was being paid as if he was working.

Vappie reminisced in a WhatsApp exchange cited in the indictment about joining Cantrell in Scotland in October 2021, saying that was "where it all started."

Cantrell had told local reporters she needed a security detail "due to COVID," saying her travel accommodations were "a matter of safety, not of luxury."

The following year, instead of Cantrell attending a conference in Miami, authorities said the pair rendezvoused on Martha's Vineyard. Vappie's travel to the island was covered by the city to attend a separate conference.

"The times when we are truly (traveling) is what spoils me the most," the mayor wrote to him that month.

That same year, they also visited several California wineries, according to the indictment. After a "trusted staff member" posted a photo of the three of them on social media, one of Cantrell's associates asked them to remove it.

They met in an apartment while Vappie claimed to be on duty, and Cantrell arranged for him to attend 14 trips, Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Simpson said. The trips, he added, were described by her as times "when they were truly alone."

In all, New Orleans taxpayers paid more than $70,000 for Vappie's travel, Simpson said.

The pair used WhatsApp for more than 15,000 messages, including efforts to delete evidence, make false statements to FBI agents, "and ultimately to commit perjury before a federal grand jury," he said.

A turbulent second term as mayor

Cantrell, a Democrat, won a historic election in 2017 by portraying herself as a candidate for the people and not of the city's political class.

Her mayoral tenure started strong with her securing tens of millions of dollars for city infrastructure improvements and taking decisive steps during the pandemic. There wasn't strong opposition to her 2021 election for a second term.

But it was around that time that the wheels started to come off her administration. After Hurricane Ida pounded south Louisiana in 2021, residents were left without trash collection for weeks, while crime rates were surging.

Meanwhile, Cantrell drew criticism for taking first-class trips abroad at the city's expense, violating a policy that requires city employees to use cheaper fares. She eventually agreed to repay the difference. A WVUE television investigation also found she was using a city-owned apartment as a part-time residence.

Cantrell survived a recall campaign launched in 2022 by disgruntled Black Democrats and largely funded by wealthy white Republicans.

She is also among more than 100 people brought up on corruption charges in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans two decades ago, said Rafael Goyeneche, a former prosecutor who is president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a watchdog group that provided photographs and information to federal authorities in the latest case.

New Orleans' long history of corruption cases

Although Cantrell is New Orleans' first mayor to be charged while in office, this is far from the first corruption case to impact the city.

"Public corruption has crippled us for years and years," Simpson said. "And this is extremely significant."

In 2014, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was sentenced to a decade in prison for bribery, money laundering, fraud and tax crimes. The charges relate to actions during his two terms as mayor from 2002 to 2010. He was released early in 2020 during the pandemic.

In 2022, Rodney J. "Jack" Strain, a former Louisiana sheriff, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a federal bribery conviction. He also received four life sentences for earlier convictions for raping boys. After serving five terms, he admitted he used his authority as sheriff to steer profits from a $1 million work-release contract to himself, his family and two deputies.

G. Thomas Porteous Jr., a federal judge from New Orleans, was impeached and removed from the bench after the U.S. Senate in 2010 determined he took money from attorneys and bail bondsmen and lied in a personal bankruptcy filing, among other offenses. He never faced criminal charges as a result of the probe, which ran from 1999 to 2007. He died in 2021.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Erin has become a Category 4 hurricane in the Caribbean, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is currently northeast of Anguilla, with winds of 130 mph. It is moving west-northwest. While it is not forecasted to hit land, strong winds are affecting nearby islands, raising concerns about flooding and landslides. Tropical storm watches are in place for several islands. Experts predict Erin will turn northeast, potentially affecting Bermuda. This is the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, which is expected to be unusually busy.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Erin strengthened into a powerful Category 4 hurricane in the Caribbean on Saturday and continues to intensify, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm is currently 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Anguilla with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 kph). It is moving west-northwest at 20 mph (31 kph).

It is currently not forecast to hit land, but strong winds are affecting nearby islands, prompting forecasters to warn of possible flooding, landslides and mudslides. The Hurricane Center said it will eventually swerve away from the continental United States.

Tropical storm watches are in place for St. Martin, St. Barts and St. Maarten.

"The outer bands of Erin are expected to produce areas of heavy rainfall through Sunday across the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico," the center said. The currently "compact" storm is expected to grow in size in the coming days, resulting in rough ocean waters over the western Atlantic.

Hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry said Erin is forecast to eventually take a sharp turn northeast that would put it on a path between the U.S. and Bermuda.

"All of our best consensus aids show Erin turning safely east of the United States next week, but it'll be a much closer call for Bermuda, which could land on the stronger eastern side of Erin," he said.

Protruding U.S. coastal areas — such as North Carolina's Outer Banks, Long Island, New York, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts — face a higher risk of direct and potentially severe tropical storm or hurricane conditions than much of the southern Atlantic, mid-Atlantic and northern New England coasts, Accuweather said.

Erin is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, but the first to reach hurricane status.

This year's season is once again expected to be unusually busy. The forecast calls for six to 10 hurricanes, with three to five reaching major status with winds of more than 110 mph (177 kph).

The U.S. government has deployed more than 200 employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies to Puerto Rico as a precaution as forecasters issued a flood watch for the entire U.S. territory from late Friday into Monday.

Puerto Rico Housing Secretary Ciary Pérez Peña said 367 shelters have been inspected and could be opened if needed.

The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday that it closed six seaports in Puerto Rico and two in the U.S. Virgin Islands to all incoming vessels unless they had received prior authorization.

Meanwhile, officials in the Bahamas said they prepared some public shelters as a precaution as they urged people to track the hurricane.

"These storms are very volatile and can make sudden shifts in movement," said Aarone Sargent, managing director for the Bahamas' disaster risk management authority.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The NCAA has fined Michigan football tens of millions of dollars and suspended coach Sherrone Moore for three games in a sign-stealing scandal. Moore, already serving a self-imposed two-game suspension, also will miss the first game of the 2026-27 season. He also received a two-year show-cause order but can continue coaching. Connor Stalions received an eight-year show-cause order, while former coach Jim Harbaugh faces a 10-year show-cause order starting in 2028. The NCAA's investigation began in 2023, revealing Michigan's in-person scouting and sign-stealing activities. The NCAA prohibits using electronic equipment to record another team's signals.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The NCAA fined Michigan tens of millions of dollars Friday and suspended coach Sherrone Moore for three games for a sign-stealing scandal that has loomed over college football's winningest program for nearly two years.

Moore, who was already issued a self-imposed two-game suspension by Michigan, will also be banned from the first game of the 2026-27 season for a total of three games. Moore received a two-year show-cause order, but he will be allowed to fulfill coaching commitments and other athletically related activities.

Financial penalties are expected to exceed $20 million and include a $50,000 fine, a 10% fine on the football program's budget, a 10% fine on Michigan's 2025-26 scholarships and a fine equivalent to the anticipated loss of postseason revenue for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. Michigan also faces a 25% reduction in official visits during the upcoming season and a 14-week prohibition on football recruiting communications during the probation period.

Connor Stalions, a former a low-level staffer who conducted the scouting and sign-stealing operation, was issued an eight-year show-cause order. Former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh faces a 10-year show-cause order following the conclusion of his previous four-year order effective Aug. 7, 2028. Harbaugh and Stalions will be prohibited from engaging in all athletically related activities.

The NCAA does not have rules against stealing signs, but does prohibit schools from sending scouts to the games of future opponents and using electronic equipment to record another team's signals.

In a notice sent to the school last year, the NCAA alleged that Moore violated rules as an assistant under Harbaugh.

Harbaugh, who left the Wolverines after they won the 2023 national championship and now coaches the Los Angeles Chargers, served a three-game suspension in exchange for the Big Ten dropping its investigation into the allegations after the two ended up in court. Moore also was accused of deleting text messages with Stalions before they were recovered and provided to the NCAA.

The NCAA investigation surfaced early in the 2023 season amid allegations that Michigan used a robust in-person scouting and sign-stealing operation conducted by Stalions. He was suspended by the school and later resigned.

Stalions, who did not participate in the NCAA investigation, recently said he knew almost every signal opponents used in seven games over two seasons.

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti sent a letter to the NCAA Committee on Infractions last month, suggesting that Michigan's football program should not face more sanctions related to the sign-stealing saga.

The Wolverines open the season on Aug. 30 at home against New Mexico State and then play at Oklahoma, where Moore was an offensive lineman, on Sept. 6.

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

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility at a state prison in north Florida, as a federal judge decides the fate of the state's holding center for immigrants at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz." DeSantis announced Thursday that the new facility is to be build at the Baker Correctional Institution, a state prison about 43 miles (69 kilometers) west of Jacksonville, and is expected to house 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration is preparing to open a second immigration detention facility at a state prison in north Florida, as a federal judge decides the fate of the state's holding center for immigrants at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz."

DeSantis announced Thursday that the new facility is to be housed at the Baker Correctional Institution, a state prison about 43 miles (69 kilometers) west of downtown Jacksonville. It is expected to hold 1,300 immigration detention beds, though that capacity could be expanded to 2,000, state officials said.

After opening the Everglades facility last month, DeSantis justified building the second detention center that he dubbed "Deportation Depot," by saying President Donald Trump's administration needs the additional capacity to hold and deport more immigrants.

"There is a demand for this," DeSantis said. "I'm confident that it will be filled."

The governor touted the relative ease and economy of setting up the north facility at a pre-existing prison, estimating the build-out cost to be $6 million. That's compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars the state has committed to construct the vast network of tents and trailers at the south facility in the rugged and remote Florida swamp.

"This part of the facility is not being used right now for the state prisoners. It just gives us an ability to go in, stand it up quickly, stand it up cheaply," DeSantis said of the state prison, calling the site "ready-made."

It could take two to three weeks to get the facility operational, according to Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the agency in charge of building the immigration facilities.

The state had announced plans to "temporarily" close the prison in 2021, due to persistent staffing shortages.

"A building that's been dormant now for a couple of years is going to have some unforeseen challenges," Guthrie said when estimating the construction timeline.

DeSantis pledged that detainees at the new facility will have "the same services" that are available at the state's first detention center.

Attorneys for detainees at the Everglades facility have called the conditions there deplorable, writing in a court filing that some detainees are showing symptoms of COVID-19 without being separated from the general population. Rainwater floods their tents and officers go cell-to-cell pressuring detainees to sign voluntary removal orders before they're allowed to consult their attorneys.

"Recent conditions at Alligator Alcatraz have fueled a sense of desperation among detainees," the attorneys said in the court filing.

Conditions at the hastily built detention center were outlined in a filing made Wednesday ahead of a hearing Monday over the legal rights of the detainees. Civil rights attorneys want U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz to ensure that detainees at the facility have confidential access to their lawyers, which the lawyers say they haven't had.

They also wanted the judge to identify an immigration court that has jurisdiction over the detention center so that petitions can be filed for the detainees' bond or release. The civil rights attorneys say they've been told regularly that federal immigration courts in Florida don't have jurisdiction over the detainees held in the Everglades.

___ Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando contributed to this report. Kate Payne 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.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department indictments have been unsealed against three leaders and two high-ranking enforcers of Mexico's United Cartels. It's the latest U.S. move against major Mexican drug operations. United Cartels is an umbrella organization made up of smaller cartels that have worked for different groups over time. The organization holds a fierce grip over the western state of Michoacan, Mexico. The U.S. government on Thursday said it's offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of United Cartels' top leader, Juan José Farías Álvarez, along with multimillion rewards for the four others. All five are believed to be in Mexico.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The investigation began years ago after two drug dealers got into a car accident in a small Tennessee town. What followed was a series of secret wiretaps, a shootout with police and the discovery of drugs hidden in a tractor trailer that would eventually lead federal investigators back to cartel leaders in Mexico.

The investigation culminated with Justice Department indictments unsealed Thursday against three leaders and two high-ranking enforcers of the United Cartels, a leading rival of Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The U.S. government is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of United Cartels' top leader, Juan José Farías Álvarez — "El Abuelo," or the grandfather — along with multimillion-dollar rewards for the four others. All five are believed to be in Mexico.

The cases, as outlined in court documents, provide a glimpse into how drugs produced by violent cartels in large labs in Mexico flow across the U.S. border and reach American streets. They also highlight the violent fallout that drug trafficking leaves in its path from the mountains of Mexico to small U.S. towns.

"These cases in particular serve as a powerful reminder of the insidious impacts that global cartels can have on our local American communities," Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's criminal division said in an interview with The Associated Press. "The chain started with a violent cartel in Mexico and it ended with law enforcement being shot at in a small town."

United Cartels is an umbrella organization made up of smaller cartels that have worked for different groups over time. It holds a fierce grip over the western state of Michoacan, Mexico.

United Cartels is not as widely known as Jalisco New Generation, but given its role as a prolific methamphetamine producer, it has become a top tier target for U.S. law enforcement. It was one of eight groups recently named foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.

A car crash and an abandoned protective case

The case goes back to 2019, when two dealers got into a car accident in a small town outside Knoxville, Tennessee, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in court. While fleeing the scene of the crash, they threw a hardened protective case filled with meth behind a building before being caught by police, according to court documents.

Authorities began investigating, using wiretaps, search warrants and surveillance to identify a man believed to be leading a major drug ring in the Atlanta area: Eladio Mendoza.

The investigation into Mendoza's suspected drug operation led law enforcement in early 2020 to a hotel near Atlanta. During their surveillance, authorities spotted a man leaving with a large Doritos bag. Troopers tried to stop the man after he drove from Georgia into Tennessee but he fled and fired an AK-style rifle at officers, hitting one in the leg before another trooper shot him. Inside the bag, police found meth and heroin, and identified him as a low-level dealer for Mendoza's drug ring, court records say.

Weeks later, authorities searched properties linked to Mendoza and seized phones. They discovered messages between Mendoza and a close associate of "El Abuelo," the leader of United Cartels, that showed the drugs were coming from Mexico, according to the court records. On one of Mendoza's properties, investigators found a tractor trailer that had crossed from Mexica days earlier. When they searched it, authorities seized 850 kilograms of meth hidden in the floor of the truck and discovered more drugs inside a bus and a home on the property, court papers say.

Mendoza fled the U.S. a short time later and returned to Mexico, where he was killed by cartels leaders angry that U.S. authorities had seized their cash and drugs, according to prosecutors.

Cartels are targeted with terrorist designations

The case represents the latest effort by the Republican administration to turn up the pressure on cartels through not only indictments of the groups' leaders but sanctions. The Treasury Department is also bringing economic sanctions against the five defendants as well as the United Cartels as a group and another cartel, Los Viagras.

"We have to pursue these criminals up and down the chain to make sure that the end result doesn't result in violence and narcotics distribution on our streets," Galeotti said.

In addition to "El Abuelo," those facing U.S. indictments are Alfonso Fernández Magallón, or Poncho, and Nicolás Sierra Santana or "El Gordo," who authorities say lead smaller cartels under the United Cartels organization. The two other defendants are Edgar Orozco Cabadas or "El Kamoni," who was communicating with Mendoza, and Luis Enrique Barragán Chavaz, or "Wicho," who serves as Magallón second-in-command, according to authorities.

The Trump administration has seen major cooperation from Mexico in recent months in turning over cartel leaders wanted by U.S. authorities.

In February, Mexico sent the U.S. 29 drug cartel figures, including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985, to the U.S. And on Tuesday, the Mexican government transferred to American custody 26 additional cartel leaders and other high-ranking members, including a man charged in connection to the killing of a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy.

"We're working with the Mexican authorities to pursue these individuals," Galeotti said. "We continue to work proactively with them, and we expect that they'll be helpful with us in securing the presence of these individuals in United States courtrooms."

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Rhode Island man accused of faking his death and fleeing the United States to evade rape charges has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a former girlfriend. In the first of two trials in Utah, a jury found Nicholas Rossi guilty of the 2008 rape. He'll be sentenced on Oct. 20. Utah authorities began searching for Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, when he was identified through a decade-old DNA rape kit in 2018. An online obituary claimed Rossi had died in 2020 of lymphoma. He was arrested in Scotland the following year after staff at a hospital recognized his distinctive tattoos.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Rhode Island man accused of faking his death and fleeing the United States to evade rape charges was found guilty late Wednesday of sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in his first of two Utah trials.

An eight-person jury in Salt Lake County found Nicholas Rossi guilty of a 2008 rape after a three-day trial in which his accuser and her parents took the stand. Rossi, 38, declined to testify on his own behalf. He will be sentenced on Oct. 20 and is set to stand trial in September on another rape charge in Utah County.

First-degree felony rape carries a punishment in Utah of five years to life in prison, said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.

"We are grateful to the survivor in this case for her willingness to come forward, years after this attack took place," Gill said in a statement. "It took courage and bravery to take the stand and confront her attacker to hold him accountable."

Utah authorities began searching for Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, when he was identified through a decade-old DNA rape kit in 2018. He was among thousands of rape suspects identified and later charged when Utah made a push to clear its rape kit backlog.

Months after he was charged in Utah County, an online obituary claimed Rossi died on Feb. 29, 2020, of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But police in his home state of Rhode Island, along with his former lawyer and a former foster family, cast doubt on whether he was dead.

He was arrested in Scotland the following year while receiving treatment for COVID-19 after hospital staff recognized his distinctive tattoos from an Interpol notice.

Extradited to Utah in January 2024, Rossi insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed. Investigators say they identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used over the years to evade capture.

He appeared in court this week in a wheelchair, wearing a suit and tie and using an oxygen tank.

Rossi's public defender denied the rape claim and urged jurors not to read too much into his move overseas years later.

"You're allowed to move, you're allowed to go somewhere else, you're allowed to have a different name," attorney Samantha Dugan said. She declined further comment following the verdict.

Prosecutors painted a picture of an intelligent man who used his charm to take advantage of a vulnerable young woman. The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly.

The woman was living with her parents and recovering from a traumatic brain injury when she responded to a personal ad Rossi posted on Craigslist. They began dating and were engaged within about two weeks.

She testified Rossi asked her to pay for dates and car repairs, lend him $1,000 so he wouldn't be evicted, and take on debt to buy their engagement rings. He grew hostile soon after their engagement and raped her in his bedroom one night after she drove him home, she said.

Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Brandon Simmons told jurors Wednesday that the woman did not consent. "This is not romantic, this is not her mistaking things."

The woman said her parents' dismissive comments convinced her not to go to the police. She came forward a decade later after seeing him in the news and learning he was accused of another rape from the same year.

Rossi's lawyers said the woman built up years of resentment after he made her foot the bill for everything in their monthlong relationship. They argued she accused him of rape to get back at him years later when he was getting media attention, and sought to undermine her credibility with jurors.

Rossi's accuser in the Utah County case, who testified at this week's trial, is also a former girlfriend. She went to police at the time of that alleged rape. He is accused of attacking her at his apartment in Orem in September 2008 after she came over to collect money she said he stole from her to buy a computer.

When police initially interviewed Rossi, he claimed she raped him and threatened to have him killed.

Rossi grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and returned there before allegedly faking his death. He was previously wanted in the state for failing to register as a sex offender. The FBI says he faces fraud charges in Ohio, where he was convicted of sex-related charges in 2008.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Police say a Texas man fatally shot three people in a Target parking lot, including a child and her grandfather. The suspect, 32-year-old Ethan Nieneker, allegedly acted unprovoked and chose his victims randomly. Police say he also fatally shot a target employee who was collecting shopping carts. After the shooting, Nieneker reportedly stole two cars before being arrested in Austin. Authorities say he has a history of mental health issues and previous arrests for domestic violence and assault. He is being held on capital murder charges.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A random shooting outside a Target store in Texas began when a gunman killed an employee collecting shopping carts then a man and his 4-year-old granddaughter, sparking a chaotic hour of stolen cars and crashes that ended with him arrested naked holding a Bible, police said Tuesday.

Ethan Nieneker, 32, is charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of murder over Monday's shooting in Austin. Court records show a series of past arrests for domestic violence and assault.

"What happened yesterday was an unprovoked and deliberate attack, a deliberate act of violence," Police Chief Lisa Davis said at a news conference. "Innocent lives were taken in broad daylight, in a place where people should feel safe to run their everyday errands and to live their everyday lives."

The police chief said that although Nieneker had a history of mental health issues, she was unaware of any specific diagnosis. Sgt. Nathan Sexton said the firearm Nieneker used in the attacks was acquired through family.

After shooting the Target employee, Nieneker shot the grandfather as he sat in the driver's seat of his sport utility vehicle, then fatally shot the little girl in the back seat before stealing the vehicle and driving away fast, police said.

"It was a completely random choosing of the victims," Sexton said.

Police said the Target employee, Hector Leopoldo Martinez Machuca, 24, was taken to a hospital where he died. Adam Chow, 65, and his granddaughter were pronounced dead at the scene while Chow's wife sustained minor injuries. The name of the child was not released.

Over the next hour, Nieneker tried to steal a water truck at a construction site, caused multiple vehicle crashes, wrecked Chow's vehicle and then stole a Volkswagen he'd crashed into, police said. He also tried to break into a Waymo self-driving vehicle, threw a brick through the home of an acquaintance and walked naked through a backyard.

Officers found Nieneker walking naked on a street after he ditched his clothes in a portable toilet, police said. He was holding a Bible and was subdued with a Taser when he would not comply with demands.

"He said that he was Jesus," Sexton said.

Police received multiple 911 calls as the suspect made his way across the city.

Chris Ferran said he was driving on a highway when he saw an SUV fly past him, then smash into two vehicles and keep going. "I'm not letting anybody get away with this, so I chased him down and called 911," he said.

Ferran watched as the driver pulled into a construction site, got out of the SUV and ripped a worker out of a water truck. Ferran said the SUV's driver, who was clad in what looked like swim trunks and a Hawaiian shirt, was in the truck for a while. So Ferran started shooting a video.

But when the man got out of the water truck, Ferran realized he had a gun.

"As soon as I saw that, I threw the phone down and I reversed and I was trying to get us out of there," said Ferran, who had his two daughters with him.

Jail records did not list an attorney for Nieneker on Tuesday.

Online court records show Nieneker was arrested several times in recent years in both Travis County, which includes Austin, and neighboring Williamson County.

His Travis County arrests include misdemeanors for criminal mischief and driving while intoxicated, and three arrests on felony domestic violence charges. He was convicted of a charge of assault causing bodily injury family violence in 2016 and briefly sentenced to jail.

Another charge within days of the 2016 episode was dismissed. It was not immediately clear if those two charges were related. Another charge of felony assault on a family or household member in 2019 was dismissed three years later when prosecutors could not locate the victim.

Williamson County records show repeated run-ins with law enforcement, including two cases of misdemeanor family violence in 2015 that were later dismissed. He was also convicted of possession of marijuana in 2012 and entered a no contest plea to a charge of criminal mischief in 2016.

Monday's shooting came as back-to-school shopping was in full swing ahead of the upcoming academic year. It also comes about two weeks after an attack at a Walmart in Michigan in which a man stabbed 11 people. The suspect has been charged with terrorism and multiple counts of attempted murder.

___

Stengle contributed to this report from Dallas. Heather Hollingsworth contributed to this story from Kansas City, Missouri.

CLAIRTON, Pa. (AP) — Workers were heating coal and preparing for routine maintenance when an explosion rocked a U.S. Steel plant outside Pittsburgh. That's according to a company executive who spoke to reporters Tuesday, a day after the blast killed two workers. The explosion was powerful enough to shake nearby homes. It also injured more than 10 other steelworkers, including one who spent hours trapped in rubble. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and plant executives vowed to investigate and do whatever is necessary to prevent such an accident from happening again. The cause remains under investigation.

CLAIRTON, Pa. (AP) — Moments after an explosion erupted at a U.S. Steel plant outside Pittsburgh, company firefighters, local responders and employees raced in to rescue people from the smoldering wreckage.

They were able to free one injured worker who was whisked to a hospital. But one more was still missing, and the area was too unstable to continue working, according to Matthew Brown, chief of Allegheny County Emergency Services.

A Pittsburgh-based crew from Pennsylvania Urban Search & Rescue was called in to help, some of whose members were already responding through their affiliations with local fire departments, Brown said. The team stabilized a wall at the plant and used an advanced camera to detect the missing employee. They pulled away the rubble and were able to extract the body of the worker, who died.

Monday's explosion, which was powerful enough to shake nearby homes, killed two workers and injured more than 10 others. Five people ranging in age from 27 to 74 remained hospitalized Tuesday including the rescued worker, who was in critical but stable condition, according to the Allegheny County Police Department. Three were at UPMC Mercy, the region's only level-one trauma and burn center.

The massive plant along the Monongahela River in Clairton converts coal to coke, a key component in the steelmaking process. The facility is considered the largest coking operation in North America and is one of four major U.S. Steel plants in Pennsylvania.

To make coke, coal is baked in special ovens for hours at high temperatures to remove impurities that could otherwise weaken steel. The process creates what's known as coke gas — a lethal mix of methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.

U.S. Steel's chief manufacturing officer, Scott Buckiso, said workers were conducting routine operations at the time of the accident.

Two loud booms that followed the initial blast were initially thought to be subsequent explosions, but Buckiso said they were from the activation of two relief pressure valves — a safety mechanism that operated as expected.

The cause of the explosion remained under investigation, and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro told reporters Tuesday that workers deserve an "answer for what happened."

"We owe them the answers to their questions, and we owe them to never forget the sacrifices that occurred here yesterday," Shapiro said. Before arriving at a news conference, he met with family members of a worker who died.

Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato told reporters she had assurances from U.S. Steel that it would continue to cooperate fully with investigators.

"We all share a common goal. We want to get to the bottom of what happened, and we want to prevent it from happening ever again," Innamorato said.

Remembering the dead

Shapiro also used the news conference to pay tribute to the workers who died. The county medical examiner's office identified one as Timothy Quinn, 39. and the other was not identified, with his family requesting privacy.

Shapiro described Quinn as a devoted father of three known to his friends as "TQ." He served as a mentor and leader to other workers and was known for cracking jokes. A second-generation steelworker, he followed in his father's footsteps and was a "mama's boy" who, after working long shifts, would take care of his mother and look after his children and his girlfriend's two children.

"His life was cut too short because of what happened here at this plant," Shapiro said. "We have a responsibly to remember his legacy, to make sure his memory lives on. ... We will make sure his children know his dad was a special man, a good man and a man who helped build this community with his hands the way his father did."

CEO David Burritt called it an "extraordinarily difficult day" for a U.S. Steel family that has "suffered heartbreaking losses." According to the company, the plant has approximately 1,400 workers.

The company, he said, is working closely with local, state and federal authorities. He would not speculate about the cause of the explosion.

"We will share as much as we can, as soon as we can, and we will take every step necessary to keep our people safe," Burritt said.

Deanna Forkey was working behind the counter at the nearby Hometown Burgers & Deli, which her family owns, when she heard the explosion and the restaurant door popped open.

"When I looked out, all you could see was black smoke," Forkey said. "Explosions over there aren't really uncommon. We hear them a lot. But that one obviously was much worse."

She said many plant workers are regulars at the restaurant.

"You start to build a little bit of a relationship," Forkey said. "So it kind of pulls a little harder at the heartstrings."

Plant has seen explosions in the past

In September 2009, a maintenance worker was killed in a blast. And in July 2010, another explosion injured 14 employees and six contractors.

According to online OSHA records of workplace fatalities, the last death at the plant was in 2014, when a worker was burned and died after falling into a trench.

After the 2010 explosion, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined U.S. Steel and a subcontractor $175,000 for safety violations. U.S. Steel appealed its citations and fines, which were later reduced under a settlement agreement.

A problem with a battery in February led to a "buildup of combustible material" that ignited, causing an audible boom, officials said. Two plant workers received first aid but were not seriously injured.

Richard Lattanzi, who retired from another nearby U.S. Steel plant and is now mayor of Clairton, recalled that the company once sought to ensure that workers "go home the way they came in."

"Apparently it's not happening right now, so we've got to get better," Lattanzi said. "We have to rally around this plant right now."

Pittsburgh attorney John Gismondi represented the widow of the worker who was killed in the 2009 explosion and three men who were badly burned in the 2010 blast. In a phone interview Tuesday, Gismondi said his immediate thought the previous day was, "Oh my God, not again at Clairton."

Both lawsuits were settled out of court for "significant" amounts, he said.

"There's a lot of gas on the premises. That's fine, it's part and parcel of what they do," he said. "But gas is a dangerous substance, and you need to make sure safety protocols are being followed."

___

Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Casey from Boston. Associated Press writers Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire, Beatrice Dupuy in New York and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu contributed.