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Tag: Associated Press

  • Thai Prime Minister Gets Royal Approval to Dissolve Parliament and Hold Elections Early Next Year

    BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul received royal permission Friday to dissolve Parliament, setting up general elections early next year.

    The election for the House of Representatives would be held 45 to 60 days after the Royal Decree, a period while Anutin will head a caretaker government with limited powers and cannot approve a new budget.

    Anutin posted on his Facebook late Thursday that “I’d like to return power to the people.”

    The move comes at a tricky political moment, as Thailand is engaged in large-scale combat with Cambodia over long-disputed border claims.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • New Coins Will Commemorate 250th Anniversary of American Independence. Here’s How They’ll Look

    The Mint abandoned designs developed during Joe Biden’s presidency that highlighted women’s suffrage and civil rights advancements, favoring classical depictions of America over progress toward a more inclusive society.

    A series of celebrations are planned next year under the banner America 250, marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. All U.S. coins show the year they were minted, but those made next year will also display 1776.


    Trump, at least for now, isn’t getting a coin

    No design was released for a $1 coin, though U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, whose duties include oversight of the U.S. Mint, serving as a liaison with the Federal Reserve and overseeing Treasury’s Office of Consumer Policy, confirmed in October that one showcasing Trump was in the works. A draft design showed Trump’s profile on the “heads” side, known as the obverse, and on the reverse, a depiction of Trump raising his fist after his attempted assassination, The words “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT” appear along the top.

    By law, presidents typically can’t appear on coins until two years after their death, but some advocates for a Trump coin think there may be a loophole in the law authorizing the treasury to mint special coins for the nation’s 250th birthday.

    Neither the Mint nor the Treasury Department responded when asked whether a Trump coin is still planned.


    The new designs depict classical Americana

    New designs will appear only on coins minted in 2026, with the current images returning the following year.

    The nickel, dime and five versions of the quarter will circulate, while a penny and half dollar will be sold as collectibles.

    Five versions of the quarter are planned depicting the Mayflower Compact, Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Gettysburg Address.

    The dime will show a depiction of Liberty, a symbolic woman facing down the tyranny of the British monarchy, and an eagle carrying arrows in its talons representing America’s fight for independence.

    The commemorative nickel is essentially the same as the most recent nickel redesign, in 2006, but it includes two dates on the head’s side instead of one, 1776 and 2026.


    Two collectible coins are planned

    A half dollar coin shows the face of the Statue of Liberty on one side. The other shows her passing her torch to what appears to be the hand of a child, symbolizing a handoff to the next generation.

    The penny is essentially the same as the one in circulation, which was discontinued earlier this year and will be produced only as a collectible with two dates.

    Prices for collectible coins were not released. The Mint sells a variety of noncirculating coins on its website, with a vast range of prices reflecting their rarity.

    In honor of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps founding, for example, a commemorative half dollar coin is available for $61, while a commemorative $5 gold coin goes for $1,262. Up to 750,000 copies of the former will be minted, but no more than 50,000 of the latter.

    Congress authorized commemorative coins in 2021. During the Biden administration, the Mint worked with a citizens advisory committee to propose designs depicting the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, abolitionism, suffrage and civil rights.

    Those designs included depictions of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Ruby Bridges, who was escorted to school by the National Guard at age 6 years amid opposition to racial integration at public schools.

    Those designs represented “continued progress toward ‘a more perfect union,’” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, quoting a phrase from the preamble to the Constitution.

    “The American story didn’t stop at the pilgrims and founding fathers, and ignoring anything that has happened in this country in the last 162 years is just another attempt by President Trump to rewrite our history,” Cortez Masto said in a statement.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Oklahoma Black Lives Matter Leader Indicted for Fraud, Money Laundering

    OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal grand jury indicted the leader of the Black Lives Matter movement in Oklahoma City over allegations that millions of dollars in grant funds were improperly spent on international trips, groceries and personal real estate, prosecutors announced Thursday.

    Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson, 52, was indicted earlier this month on 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering, court records show.

    Court records do not indicate the name of Dickerson’s attorney, and messages left Thursday at her mobile number and by email were not immediately returned.

    According to the indictment, Dickerson served since at least 2016 as the executive director of Black Lives Matter OKC, which accepted charitable donations through its affiliation with the Arizona-based Alliance for Global Justice.

    In total, BLM OKC raised more than $5.6 million dating back to 2020, largely from online donors and national bail funds that were supposed to be used to post bail for individuals arrested in connection with racial justice protests after the killing of George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer in 2020, the indictment alleges.

    When those bail funds were returned to BLM OKC, the indictment alleges, Dickerson embezzled at least $3.15 million into her personal accounts and then used the money to pay for trips to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, retail shopping, at least $50,000 in food and grocery deliveries for herself and her children, a personal vehicle, and six properties in Oklahoma City deeded to her or to a company she controlled.

    The indictment also alleges she submitted false annual reports to the alliance stating that the funds were used only for tax-exempt purposes.

    If convicted, Dickerson faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each count of wire fraud and 10 years in prison and fines for each count of money laundering.

    In a live video posted on her Facebook page Thursday afternoon, Dickerson said she was not in custody and was “fine.”

    “I cannot make an official comment about what transpired today,” she said. “I am home. I am safe. I have confidence in our team.”

    “A lot of times when people come at you with these types of things … it’s evidence that you are doing the work,” she continued. “That is what I’m standing on.”

    The Black Lives Matter movement first emerged in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida. But it was the 2014 death of Michael Brown at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri, that made the slogan “Black lives matter” a rallying cry for progressives and a favorite target of derision for conservatives.

    The Associated Press reported in October that the Justice Department was investigating whether leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement defrauded donors who contributed tens of millions of dollars during racial justice protests in 2020. There was no immediate indication that Dickerson’s indictment is connected to that probe.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • New England’s Shrimp Fishery to Shut Down for the Long Haul After Years of Decline

    PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Regulators voted Thursday to extend a shutdown preventing New England fishermen from catching shrimp, a historic industry that has recently fallen victim to warming oceans.

    New England fishermen, especially those from Maine, used to catch millions of pounds of small pink shrimp in the winter, but the business has been under a fishing moratorium since 2014. Rising temperatures have created an inhospitable environment for the shrimp, and their population is too low to fish sustainably, scientists have said.

    An arm of the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Thursday to shut down the fishery for at least another three years. Abundance of the shrimp remained “poor” this year despite slightly improved environmental conditions, the Atlantic States said in documents.

    The decision came after shrimp harvesters were allowed to catch a small number of shrimp as part of an industry-funded sampling and data collection program. The fishermen, who battled some rough weather, caught only 70 shrimp totaling less than 3 pounds.

    However, “even with the bad weather, exceptionally low catch levels observed throughout the program reinforce concerns about the viability of the northern shrimp stock in the Gulf of Maine,” the documents state.

    New England shrimp were a winter delicacy when the fishery was active, and fishermen sometimes caught more than 10 million pounds (4,536 kilograms) of them in a year. The small pink shrimp were a small part of the country’s large wild caught shrimp industry, which catches some of the most valuable seafood in the world.

    Maine’s catch of shrimp cratered in 2013, when fishermen caught less than 600,000 pounds (272,155 kilograms) of the crustaceans after hauling more than eight times that the previous year. Fishing groups have sometimes lobbied for the shrimping industry to be reopened on a smaller scale basis, but most former Maine shrimpers have moved on to other species.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ Rarities Are in Lawrence Kasdan’s University Archive

    ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Researchers, documentary filmmakers and others will soon be able to get their hands on screenwriter and director Lawrence Kasdan’s papers at his alma mater, the University of Michigan.

    Archivists are about a quarter of the way through cataloging the 150-plus boxes of material that document the 76-year-old filmmaker’s role in bringing to life iconic characters like Indiana Jones and Yoda, and directing actors ranging from Geena Davis and Glenn Close to Morgan Freeman and Kevin Costner.

    “All I wanted to ever do was be a movie director. And so, all the details meant something to me,” Kasdan said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I couldn’t be happier to have this mass of stuff available to anybody who is interested.”

    The archive includes scripts, call sheets and still photos — including a few rarities.

    Before Costner became an Oscar winner and Hollywood icon, he worked various studio jobs while taking nighttime drama lessons. His break — or so he thought — came when Kasdan cast him in 1983’s “The Big Chill.”

    Costner played Alex, whose death brings his fellow Michigan alums together. Unfortunately his big flashback scene ended up on the cutting-room floor.

    What are believed to be among the only existing photographs of the famously deleted scene are part of the Kasdan collection, now housed in Ann Arbor.

    “Different people will be interested in different things,” Kasdan said, pointing to his work writing the “Raiders of the Lost Ark” screenplay as one possible destination for researchers. The archive features audio cassette recordings of Kasdan discussing the film with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. It also includes Polaroids taken of cast and crew members on the sets of his movies.

    There are props, too, including a cowboy hat from the 1985 Western “Silverado,” worn by none other than Costner. Kasdan and the kid from California would work together again on “Wyatt Earp” in the ’90s. Costner also starred in “The Bodyguard,” which Kasdan wrote.

    A number of unproduced scripts also are part of the collection.

    “I’ve always considered myself a director and a writer. And if you are really interested in any particular movie, you can follow the evolution of that movie in the archive,” Kasdan said.

    Library staff members are working chronologically through Kasdan’s material, meaning the papers for Kasdan’s earliest work — including “Body Heat” and “The Big Chill,” as well as the scripts for two “Star Wars” classics, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” — can be accessed first.

    The remaining material should be completely processed by late 2026, said Phil Hallman, the curator of the collection. Hallman hopes to have Kasdan visit, perhaps next fall, to see the archive and take part in a symposium.

    Kasdan’s papers are part of the University of Michigan Library’s Screen Arts Mavericks and Makers Collection, which includes Orson Welles, Robert Altman, Jonathan Demme, Nancy Savoca and John Sayles. Kasdan, who grew up in West Virginia and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1970 and a master’s two years later, is the lone Michigan alum among the group.

    “To be there, held in the same place as those wonderful directors, is really a great honor,” Kasdan said.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • AP Breakthrough Entertainer: Chase Sui Wonders’ Harvard Astrophysics Detour Led Her to Hollywood

    NEW YORK (AP) — You don’t need to major in astrophysics at Harvard to become an actor — but it doesn’t necessarily hurt, either.

    “I thought that’s what you go there to do. It’s like why are you paying all this money to go to this fancy school if you’re not going to study a hard science to try to save the world? … But I was quickly humbled,” chuckled Chase Sui Wonders, who began failing classes within her first few weeks. Her college application essay had been about making movies, so she decided she “might as well just pivot back to what I know best.”

    “The attention’s definitely weird, but can feel good,” said the 29-year-old, flashing her warm smile throughout the interview. “The most energizing thing about the whole thing is when you get recognition, the phone starts ringing more, and these other avenues are opening up that I always kind of dreamed about.”

    “The Studio” amassed an astounding 23 Emmy nominations in its debut season, taking home a record-breaking 13 wins. But Wonders may not have seemed like an obvious choice for comedy with her past roles, including the 2022 film “Bodies Bodies Bodies” and her breakout role, the teen-themed series “Genera+ion,” which was canceled by HBO Max after one season. But all it took was one virtual video audition to land the role of Quinn Hackett, the hyper-ambitious, cutthroat assistant-turned-creative executive under studio head Matt Remick, played by the show’s co-creator and co-executive producer Seth Rogen.

    “I had always … felt like, ‘I think I’m kind of funny,’” she laughed, acknowledging feeling she had to prove herself working alongside comedic heavyweights like Rogen, Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn and Ike Barinholtz. “That pressure felt really daunting and scary. But I think, hopefully, I rose to the occasion.”

    Despite mere degrees of separation from Hollywood as the niece of fashion designer Anna Sui, an acting career seemed unattainable growing up in Bloomfield Township, a Detroit suburb. Born to a father of Chinese descent and a white mother, Wonders and her siblings were primarily raised by their mom after their parents divorced.

    An extremely shy child and self-described tomboy, she developed a love for sports — she won high school state championships in both ice hockey and golf — and spent much of her childhood making videos with her siblings. Thanks to her mother encouraging her to take performance arts classes, she was able to break out of her shell. But coming from an achievement-driven family, all signs pointed to a career in business.

    A corporate track nearly began after struggling to break into the industry, and she even considered taking a job in Beijing to begin her adult life in the business world. But with only a week to decide on the job offer, she decided to give Hollywood one more shot. Three months later, she booked “Genera+ion.”

    “There have been different moments in my life where I’ve been seriously humbled,” said Wonders, who has aspirations of directing. “It just has taught me just not to take it all too seriously. … I do feel absurdly lucky that I get to be on set with all my friends and telling a bunch of jokes and being a weirdo on screen.”

    Next up for Wonders is the Gregg Araki-directed “I Want Your Sex,” starring Olivia Wilde, and she’ll star in A24’s horror thriller “October.” She’ll also appear in the upcoming “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” reboot, with Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao directing the pilot. And of course, a second season for “The Studio” is in the works.

    Red carpets and magazine covers couldn’t be a more antithetical life for the girl who assumed she’d climb the executive ranks at one of the major car companies headquartered in Detroit. Instead, she’s climbing the Hollywood ladder — and she wouldn’t tell her younger self to speed up the process.

    “It’s so fun how life surprises you,” said Wonders. “I wouldn’t tell her anything. I would tell her it’s all going to make sense in the rearview mirror — but no spoilers.”

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Settlement announced in Michael Jordan’s antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR has reached a settlement of the bruising antitrust lawsuit filed against it by two of its race teams, including one co-owned by NBA great Michael Jordan.

    The Thursday settlement was announced following a lengthy delay on the ninth day of the trial in federal court. Details were not immediately released.

    U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell opened the day preparing the hear motions but called an hour-long sidebar. Jeffrey Kessler, attorney for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, emerged from a conference room at the end of the hour to inform a court clerk “we’re ready.” Kessler then led Jordan and 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin, as well as Front Row owner Bob Jenkins, out of the courtroom to another room for more talks.

    23XI and Front Row filed suit last year after refusing to sign agreements on the new charter offers NASCAR presented to teams in September 2024. Teams had until end of day to sign the 112-page document and 13 of 15 organizations reluctantly agreed. Jordan and Jenkins sued instead and raced the bulk of 2025 uncharted.

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  • Pakistan Military Court Sentences Ex-Spy Chief Faiz Hameed to 14 Years in Prison

    ISLAMABAD (AP) — A military court on Thursday sentenced a former spy chief of Pakistan to 14 years in prison, more than a year after court-martial proceedings began against him on multiple charges, including engaging in political activities and violating the Official Secrets Act, the military said.

    In a statement, it said the Field General Court Martial tried the former Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence, retired Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, under the Pakistan Army Act during proceedings that lasted 15 months.

    “The accused was tried on four charges related to engaging in political activities, violation of the Official Secrets Act detrimental to the safety and interest of the state, misuse of authority and government resources, and causing wrongful loss to individuals,” the statement said.

    The military said the court found Hameed guilty on all charges after “lengthy and laborious” legal proceedings and sentenced him to 14 years of imprisonment. It said the court-martial followed all legal requirements and that Hameed was provided full rights of defense, including counsel of his choice.

    Hameed has the right to appeal the verdict before the relevant forum, it said.

    The military provided no additional details, but Hameed was widely known to be a close associate to imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is serving multiple sentences on graft and other charges since he was arrested in 2023.

    Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022.

    Hameed was detained in 2024 following an internal probe ordered by Pakistan’s Supreme Court into allegations linked to what became known as the Top City project scam. The Top City company had been developing land near Islamabad for a private housing project.

    Since his arrest, neither the military nor the government had publicly disclosed the specific charges against him.

    The arrest of such a high-profile retired officer last year surprised many in Pakistan, where the army wields significant influence and where detentions of senior or former military officials are rare.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Following Australia’s Lead, Denmark Plans to Ban Social Media for Children Younger Than 15

    The Danish government announced last month that it had secured an agreement by three governing coalition and two opposition parties in parliament to ban access to social media for anyone under the age of 15. Such a measure would be the most sweeping step yet by a European Union nation to limit use of social media among teens and children.

    The Danish government’s plans could become law as soon as mid-2026. The proposed measure would give some parents the right to let their children access social media from age 13, local media reported, but the ministry has not yet fully shared their plans.

    Many social media platforms already ban children younger than 13 from signing up, and a EU law requires Big Tech to put measures in place to protect young people from online risks and inappropriate content. But officials and experts say such restrictions don’t always work.

    Danish authorities have said that despite the restrictions, around 98% of Danish children under age 13 have profiles on at least one social media platform, and almost half of those under 10 years old do.

    The minister for digital affairs, Caroline Stage, who announced the proposed ban last month, said there is still a consultation process for the measure and several readings in parliament before it becomes law, perhaps by “mid to end of next year.”

    “In far too many years, we have given the social media platforms free play in the playing rooms of our children. There’s been no limits,” Stage said in an interview with The Associated Press last month.

    “When we go into the city at night, there are bouncers who are checking the age of young people to make sure that no one underage gets into a party that they’re not supposed to be in,” she added. “In the digital world, we don’t have any bouncers, and we definitely need that.”

    Under the new Australian law, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X and YouTube face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove accounts of Australian children younger than 16.

    Some students say they are worried that similar strict laws in Denmark would mean they will losing touch with their virtual communities.

    “I myself have some friends that I only know from online, and if I wasn’t fifteen yet, I wouldn’t be able to talk with those friends,” 15-year-old student Ronja Zander, who uses Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, told the AP.

    Copenhagen high school student Chloé Courage Fjelstrup-Matthisen, 14, said she is aware of the negative impact social madia can have, from cyberbullying to seeing graphic content. She said she saw video of a man being shot several months ago.

    “The video was on social media everywhere and I just went to school and then I saw it,” she said.

    Line Pedersen, a mother from Nykøbing in Denmark, said she believed the plans were a good idea.

    “I think that we didn’t really realize what we were doing when we gave our children the telephone and social media from when they were eight, ten years old,” she said. “I don’t quite think that the young people know what’s normal, what’s not normal.”


    Age certificate likely part of the plan

    Danish officials are yet to share how exactly the proposed ban would be enforced and which social media platforms would be affected.

    However, a new “digital evidence” app, announced by the Digital Affairs Ministry last month and expected to launch next spring, will likely form the backbone of the Danish plans. The app will display an age certificate to ensure users comply with social media age limits, the ministry said.

    “One thing is what they’re saying and another thing is what they’re doing or not doing,” Stage said, referring to social media platforms. “And that’s why we have to do something politically.”

    Some experts say restrictions, such as the ban planned by Denmark, don’t always work and they may also infringe on the rights of children and teenagers.

    “To me, the greatest challenge is actually the democratic rights of these children. I think it’s sad that it’s not taken more into consideration,” said Anne Mette Thorhauge, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen.

    “Social media, to many children, is what broadcast media was to my generation,” she added. “It was a way of connecting to society.”

    Currently, the EU’s Digital Services Act, which took effect two years ago, requires social media platforms to ensure there are measures including parental controls and age verification tools before young users can access the apps.

    EU officials have acknowledged that enforcing the regulations aiming at protecting children online has proven challenging because it requires cooperation between member states and many resources.

    Denmark is among several countries that have indicated they plan to follow in Australia’s steps. The Southeast Asian country of Malaysia is expected to ban social media account s for people under the age of 16 starting at the beginning of next year, and Norway is also taking steps to restrict social media access for children and teens.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Crypto Mogul Do Kwon to Be Sentenced for Misleading Investors Who Lost Billions in Stablecoin Crash

    NEW YORK (AP) — Cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for misleading investors who lost billions when his company’s crypto ecosystem collapsed in 2022.

    Kwon, known by some as “the cryptocurrency king,” pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in August to fraud charges stemming from Terraform Labs’ $40 billion crash.

    The company had touted its TerraUSD as a reliable “stablecoin” — a kind of currency typically pegged to stable assets to prevent drastic fluctuations in prices. But prosecutors say it was all an illusion that came crumbling down, devastating investors and triggering “a cascade of crises that swept through cryptocurrency markets.”

    Kwon, who hails from South Korea, has agreed to forfeit over $19 million as part of the plea deal.

    While federal sentencing guidelines would recommend a prison term of about 25 years, prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Kwon to 12 years. They cited his guilty plea, the fact that he faces further prosecution in Korea and that he has already served time in Montenegro while awaiting extradition.

    “Kwon’s fraud was colossal in scope, permeating virtually every facet of Terraform’s purported business,” prosecutors wrote in a recent memo to the judge. “His rampant lies left a trail of financial destruction in their wake.”

    Kwon’s attorneys asked that the sentence not exceed five years, arguing in their own memo that his conduct stemmed not from greed, but hubris and desperation.

    In a letter to the judge, Kwon wrote, “I alone am responsible for everyone’s pain. The community looked to me to know the path, and I in my hubris led them astray,” while adding, “I made misrepresentations that came from a brashness that is now a source of deep regret.”

    Authorities said investors worldwide lost money in the downfall of the Singapore crypto firm, which Kwon co-founded in 2018. Around $40 billion in market value was erased for the holders of TerraUSD and its floating sister currency, Luna, after the stablecoin plunged far below its $1 peg.

    Kwon was extradited to the U.S. from Montenegro after his March 23, 2023, arrest while traveling on a false passport in Europe.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Coca-Cola Names a Company Veteran as Its New CEO

    Coca-Cola said Wednesday that its chief operating officer will become its next CEO in the first quarter of 2026.

    The Atlanta beverage giant said its board elected Henrique Braun as CEO effective March 31. James Quincey, Coke’s current chairman and CEO, will transition to executive chairman of the company.

    Braun, 57, has worked at Coca-Cola for three decades. Prior to assuming the COO role earlier this year, he led operations in Brazil, Latin America, Greater China and South Korea. He has held positions overseeing Coke’s supply chain, new business development, marketing, innovation, general management and bottling operations.

    Braun was born in California and raised in Brazil. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering from the University Federal of Rio de Janeiro, a master of science degree from Michigan State University and an MBA from Georgia State University.

    David Weinberg, Coca-Cola’s lead independent director, called Quincey, 60, a “transformative leader” who will continue to remain active in the business.

    During Quincey’s nine years as CEO, Coke added more than 10 additional billion-dollar brands, including BodyArmor and Fairlife. He also brought Coke into the alcoholic drink market with Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, which went on sale in 2021.

    In 2020, Quincey led a restructuring that reduced Coke’s brands by half and laid off thousands of employees. Quincey said Coke wanted to streamline its structure and focus its investments on fast-growing products like its Simply and Minute Maid juices.

    But as Quincey steps down as CEO, Coke is facing numerous challenges, including tepid demand for its products in the U.S. and Europe and increasing customer scrutiny of its ingredients. This summer, after a nudge from President Donald Trump, Coke said it would release a version of its trademark Cola with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.

    Weinberg said the board is confident that Braun will build on the company’s strengths and seek out growth opportunities globally.

    Coke shares were flat in after-market trading.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Congress Would Target China With New Restrictions in Massive Defense Bill

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration may have softened its language on China to maintain a fragile truce in their trade war, but Congress is charging ahead with more restrictions in a defense authorization bill that would deny Beijing investments in highly sensitive sectors and reduce U.S. reliance on Chinese biotechnology companies.

    Included in the 3,000-page bill approved Wednesday by the House is a provision to scrutinize American investments in China that could help develop technologies to boost Chinese military power. The bill, which next heads to the Senate, also would prohibit government money to be used for equipment and services from blacklisted Chinese biotechnology companies.

    In addition, the National Defense Authorization Act would boost U.S. support for the self-governing island of Taiwan that Beijing claims as its own and says it will take by force if necessary.

    “Taken together, these measures reflect a serious, strategic approach to countering the Chinese Communist Party,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. He said the approach “stands in stark contrast to the White House’s recent actions.”


    Congress moves for harsher line toward China

    The compromise bill authorizing $900 billion for military programs was released two days after the White House unveiled its national security strategy. The Trump administration dropped Biden-era language that cast China as a strategic threat and said the U.S. “will rebalance America’s economic relationship with China,” an indication that President Donald Trump is more interested in a mutually advantageous economic relationship with Beijing than in long-term competition.

    The China-related provisions in the traditionally bipartisan defense bill “make clear that, whatever the White House tone, Capitol Hill is locking in a hard-edged, long-term competition with Beijing,” said Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank.

    If passed, these provisions would “build a floor under U.S. competitiveness policy — on capital, biotech, and critical tech — that will be very hard for future presidents to unwind quietly,” he said.

    The Chinese embassy in Washington on Wednesday denounced the bill.

    “The bill has kept playing up the ‘China threat’ narrative, trumpeting for military support to Taiwan, abusing state power to go after Chinese economic development, limiting trade, economic and people-to-people exchanges between China and the U.S., undermining China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and disrupting efforts of the two sides in stabilizing bilateral relations,” said Liu Pengyu, the embassy spokesperson.

    “China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this,” Liu said.

    U.S. policymakers and lawmakers have been working for several years toward bipartisan legislation to curb investments in China when it comes to cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computing, aerospace, semiconductors and artificial intelligence. Those efforts flopped last year when Tesla CEO Elon Musk opposed a spending bill.

    The provision made it into the must-pass defense policy bill, welcomed by Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

    “For too long, the hard-earned money of American retirees and investors has been used to build up China’s military and economy,” he said. “This legislation will help bring that to an end.”

    Congress last year failed to pass the BIOSECURE Act, which cited national security in preventing federal money from benefiting a number of Chinese biotechnology companies. Critics said then that it was unfair to single out specific companies, warning that the measure would delay clinical trials and hinder development of new drugs, raise costs for medications and hurt innovation.

    The provision in the NDAA no longer names companies but leaves it to the Office of Management and Budget to compile a list of “biotechnology companies of concern.” The bill also would expand Pentagon investments in biotechnology.

    Moolenaar lauded the effort for taking “defensive action to secure American pharmaceutical supply chains and genetic information from malign Chinese companies.”

    The defense bill also would authorize an increase in funding, to $1 billion from $300 million this year, for Taiwan-related security cooperation and direct the Pentagon to establish a joint drone and anti-drone program.

    It comes amid mixed signals from Trump, who appears careful not to upset Beijing as he seeks to strike trade deals with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Chinese leader has urged Trump to handle the Taiwan issue “with prudence,” as Beijing considers its claim over Taiwan a core interest.

    In the new national security strategy, the White House says the U.S. does not support any unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and stresses that the U.S. should seek to deter and prevent a large-scale military conflict.

    “But the American military cannot, and should not have to, do this alone,” the document says, urging Japan and South Korea to increase defense spending.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Cincinnati Approves $8.1 Million Settlement With Protesters Arrested in 2020

    CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) — The city of Cincinnati approved an $8.1 million legal settlement Wednesday with hundreds of non-violent protesters who had alleged mistreatment at the hands of city and county authorities when they were arrested during the racial justice demonstrations of 2020.

    Cincinnati City Council approved the deal after its terms were outlined last week. It brings to a close years of litigation that stemmed from protests over the killing of George Floyd and other unarmed Black people.

    None of the 479 plaintiffs had been charged with a felony or violent offense nor been involved in any property damage — though some did occur. All were charged with misdemeanor curfew violations during nights of protests from May 30 to June 8, 2020, but those were later dismissed by the city amid a flurry of conflicting court rulings.

    The lawsuit they brought collectively in 2022 alleged police brutality, wrongful arrests, inhumane jail conditions and unlawful seizures of property.

    Hamilton County, whose sheriff and jail were also named in the lawsuit, will pay $65,000 toward the settlement, with the city paying the remainder.

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  • House Is Voting on a Defense Bill to Raise Troop Pay and Overhaul Weapons Purchases

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The House was headed toward a final vote Wednesday on a sweeping defense bill that authorizes $900 billion in military programs, including a pay raise for troops and an overhaul of how the Department of Defense buys weapons.

    The annual National Defense Authorization Act typically gains bipartisan backing, and the White House has signaled “strong support” for the must-pass legislation, saying it is in line with Trump’s national security agenda. Yet tucked into the over-3,000-page bill are several measures that push back against the Department of Defense, including a demand for more information on boat strikes in the Caribbean and support for allies in Europe, such as Ukraine.

    Overall, the sweeping bill calls for a 3.8% pay raise for many military members as well as housing and facility improvements on military bases. It also strikes a compromise between the political parties — cutting climate and diversity efforts in line with Trump’s agenda, while also boosting congressional oversight of the Pentagon and repealing several old war authorizations. Still, hard-line conservatives said they were frustrated that the bill does not do more to cut U.S. commitments overseas.

    “We need a ready, capable and lethal fighting force because the threats to our nation, especially those from China, are more complex and challenging than at any point in the last 40 years,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, the GOP chair of the House Armed Services Committee.

    Lawmakers overseeing the military said the bill would change how the Pentagon buys weapons, with an emphasis on speed after years of delay by the defense industry. It’s also a key priority for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the armed services panel, called the bill “the most ambitious swing at acquisition reform that we’ve taken.”

    Smith lamented that the bill does not do as much as Democrats would like to rein in the Trump administration but called it “a step in the right direction towards reasserting the authority of Congress.”

    “The biggest concern I have is that the Pentagon, being run by Secretary Hegseth and by President Trump, is simply not accountable to Congress or accountable to the law,” he said.

    The legislation next heads to the Senate, where leaders are working to pass the bill before lawmakers depart Washington for a holiday break.

    Several senators on both sides of the aisle have criticized the bill for not doing enough to restrict military flights over Washington. They had pushed for reforms after a midair collision this year between an Army helicopter and a jetliner killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft near Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board has also voiced opposition to that section of the bill.

    Here’s what the defense bill does as it makes its way through Congress.


    Boat strike videos and congressional oversight

    Lawmakers included a provision that would cut Hegseth’s travel budget by a quarter until the Pentagon provides Congress with unedited video of the strikes against alleged drug boats near Venezuela. Lawmakers are asserting their oversight role after a Sept. 2 strike where the U.S. military fired on two survivors who were holding on to a boat that had partially been destroyed.

    The bill also demands that Hegseth allow Congress to review the orders for the strikes.


    Reaffirm commitments to Europe and Korea

    Trump’s ongoing support for Ukraine and other allies in Eastern Europe has been under doubt over the last year, but lawmakers included several positions meant to keep up U.S. support for countering Russian aggression in the region.

    The defense bill requires the Pentagon to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment stationed in Europe unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests. Around 80,000 to 100,000 U.S. troops are usually present on European soil. It also authorizes $400 million for each of the next two years to manufacture weapons to be sent to Ukraine.

    Additionally, there is a provision to keep U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, setting the minimum requirement at 28,500.


    Cuts to climate and diversity initiatives

    The bill makes $1.6 billion in cuts to climate change-related spending, the House Armed Services Committee said. U.S. military assessments have long found that climate change is a threat to national security, with bases being pummeled by hurricanes or routinely flooded.

    The bill also would save $40 million by repealing diversity, equity and inclusion offices, programs and trainings, the committee said. The position of chief diversity officer would be cut, for example.


    Iraq War resolution repeal

    Congress is putting an official end to the war in Iraq by repealing the authorization for the 2003 invasion. Supporters in both the House and Senate say the repeal is crucial to prevent future abuses and to reinforce that Iraq is now a strategic partner of the U.S.

    The 2002 resolution has been rarely used in recent years. But the first Trump administration cited it as part of its legal justification for a 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassim Suleimani.


    Lifting final Syria sanctions

    Lawmakers imposed economically crippling sanctions on the country in 2019 to punish former leader Bashar Assad for human rights abuses during the nearly 14-year civil war. After Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa led a successful insurgency to depose Assad, he is seeking to rebuild his nation’s economy.

    Advocates of a permanent repeal have said international companies are unlikely to invest in projects needed for the country’s reconstruction as long as there is a threat of sanctions returning.

    Democrats criticized Johnson for stripping a provision from the bill to expand coverage of in vitro fertilization for active duty personnel. An earlier version covered the medical procedure, known as IVF, which helps people facing infertility have children.

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  • Oscars Recognize Casting for the First Time, Offering a Spotlight on a Key Job in the Movie Industry

    NEW YORK (AP) — Behind the Wizard of Oz in the two-part “Wicked” movies were people actually pulling the strings. They set the table for the hit double-punch movies long before the cameras ever rolled out: The casting directors, helped pick who made it to Oz.

    “Our job is to know the actors that are out there or know how to find the actors that we don’t know,” says Bernard Telsey, one of the heavy hitters in the world of casting, who, with Tiffany Little Canfield, populated both “Wicked” movies.

    Casting will get some Oscar love next year. A new prize for achievement in casting was added to the Academy Awards in March, a step casting directors believe is long overdue. The 98th Academy Awards will air live on ABC on March 15, 2026.

    “It’s really hard for people to understand what it is that we do because it’s so private,” says Telsey. “It’s only going to make the profession that much stronger and people that much more aware of what we do.”

    The Emmys have three categories for casting, and the Critics Choice Awards just added a casting trophy this year. The casting industry has its own prize, the Artios Awards, first held in 1985. But the Golden Globes and Tony Awards don’t recognize the profession.

    “When casting is great, it sometimes feels invisible. Because it’s so well done, you don’t see the fingerprints,” says Destiny Lilly, president of the 1,200-strong Casting Society who also works with Telsey.

    “I think that it’s taken time just to get recognition for that art because a lot of the work that casting directors do happens before a lot of the rest of the production team is brought on board.”

    Telsey, along with his team at The Telsey Office, casts in every medium, from the films “Mary Poppins Returns” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman” to TV shows like “The Gilded Age” and “Only Murders in the Building.” He came up through theater, casting such Tony Award-winners as “Maybe Happy Ending,” “Kinky Boots” and “Hairspray.”

    “Wicked” and “Wicked: For Good” represented one of his team’s biggest challenges, filling hundreds of roles and dance parts over more than a year of filming and across continents.

    Even though it may have seemed inevitable that Cynthia Erivo was a natural Elphaba and Ariana Grande was a shoo-in for Glinda, that’s hindsight. Like all casting decisions, it was a bit of a gamble.

    “Not until they got in the room were you like, ‘Oh, this is magic. This has to be. There is nobody else to play the part but the two of them,’” he says. “You don’t really know until you get to see it.”

    To keep tabs on as many actors as possible, Telsey goes to the theater four or five nights a week and spends weekends trying to catch up on TV and movies. Twice a week, he and his staff meet to trade tips about who they’re seeing and make recommendations.

    “Every day you feel like you’re behind and there’s another hundred actors I don’t know and how am I going to meet them and how am I going to see them? So it’s a constant race,” he says.

    Casting directors first talk with the directors, writers and producers to get a sense of what their vision is for the project and then get the right actors to audition. Telsey likens it to how a costume designer must know all the potential different fabrics and colors out there.

    Lilly recently scored a coup by suggesting comedian Bill Burr join the latest Broadway revival of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” alongside Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk. It was Burr’s stage debut, but Mamet’s explosive dialogue seemed to fit perfectly.

    “I think that there’s so many people who haven’t done theater who can really shine. They just need to be given the right opportunity and the right project and have the right director working with them,” she says.

    Over the years, Telsey has seen the walls between film, TV and theater work fall away as actors change mediums freely. He doesn’t subscribe to the belief that stage skills are so very dissimilar from screen skills.

    “It’s a myth that they’re different. They’re technically different, but they’re the same. Good acting is good acting,” he says. “Glenn Close can do a musical, a play, a television show and a movie and be nominated in every … category. Those things have changed over the last 20 years.”

    Telsey, whose first big breakout casting was the show “Rent” — “just a little musical that nobody wanted to do,” he jokes — has also seen technology change the job, especially as auditions move online, streaming TV explodes and the movie and film business get more global.

    “I think we’re always educating our teams with the need for casting to be bigger and to be covering more ground,” he says. “Most projects you have only a short amount of time to find a cast. Time is not on our side. It’s only going to get tighter as budgets get smaller for the future.”

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  • Joe Buck Gets Hall of Fame’s Frick Award, Joins Jack to Become First Father-Son Duo to Earn Honor

    Even though Joe Buck is more widely known these days as the voice of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” his broadcast career is rooted in baseball, including calling the most World Series games on television.

    On Wednesday, Buck received a call that he thought was at least a few years down the line when he found out he received the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting by baseball’s Hall of Fame.

    Buck is not only the 50th winner of the Frick Award, he joins his father, Jack, to become the only father-son duo to win the honor. Jack Buck — who broadcast St. Louis Cardinals games from 1954 until 2021 and was the lead announcer on CBS’ baseball package in 1990 and ’91 — received the award in 1987.

    “I am shocked in many ways. I didn’t think this was coming right now,” Buck said. “I was saying to the group that called to tell me that my best memory of my father as a major league baseball broadcaster was in 1987 in Cooperstown, New York, and what it meant to him, what it meant to our family to see him get the award. To see the joy and the pride that he had for what he had done.”

    Joe Buck will receive the award during the Hall’s July 25, 2026, awards presentation in Cooperstown, a day ahead of induction ceremonies. At 56, Buck becomes the second-youngest Frick Award winner, trailing only Vin Scully, who was 54 when he was named the 1982 winner.

    Buck grew up in St. Louis and called games for the Triple-A Louisville Redbirds in 1989 and ’90 after graduating from Indiana University. He joined his father for Cardinals broadcasts in 1991, a job Joe held through 2007. Jack Buck died in June 2002 at age 77.

    “I was lucky to call Jack Buck my dad and my best friend. I’m lucky that I’m Carol Buck’s son. I tend to downplay awards and what have you because of always feeling like I had a leg up at the start of my career and I did. I’m the first to admit it. But I am happy that when I was a kid I paid attention and I wanted to be with him. I think the greatest gift my dad gave me was allowing me to be in the room with him. I’d like to think there’s still some stuff out in front of me, but this is the greatest honor I could receive. And to know what he would be thinking and feeling on this day, that’s the part what makes it special.

    “I recall him saying (during his speech) that he was honored to be the eyes and the ears for Cardinal fans, wherever the Cardinals went, and he was very proud of being the conduit between wherever the Cardinals were playing and those fans that were listening. That always resonated with me.”

    Buck joined Fox Sports when it started doing NFL games in 1994. Two years later, it got the rights to Major League Baseball and Buck was made the lead announcer with Tim McCarver as the analyst. McCarver retired from broadcasting after the 2013 season and received the Frick Award in 2021.

    Buck was 27 when he called his first World Series in 1996. He would go on to do the Fall Classic in 1998 and then annually from 2000-21. His 135 World Series games makes him one of six U.S. play-by-play announcers to reach the century mark calling either the Fall Classic, NBA Finals or Stanley Cup Finals. Scully had 126 World Series games on radio and television.

    Buck also worked 21 All-Star Games and 26 League Championship Series for Fox before joining ESPN in 2022 as the voice of “Monday Night Football.”

    Since going to ESPN, Buck called a game on Opening Day last year and worked a Cardinals game with Chip Caray in 2023. Buck said there is the possibility of doing a couple more games for ESPN in the future.

    “I think of myself as a baseball announcer probably first because that’s what I was around the most. I love the game. I’m a fan of the game,” he said. “I still dream as a baseball announcer at night. I think all announcers have the same nightmare where you show up at a game and you can’t see anybody on the field, you don’t know anybody’s name and you’re trying to fake your way through a broadcast. Those are all baseball games in my dreams. So it’s in my genetics, it’s in my DNA. I grew up at Bush Stadium as a kid and yeah, baseball is always kind of first and foremost in my heart.”

    Buck also becomes the sixth broadcaster to win both the Frick Award and the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, joining Jack Buck, Dick Enberg, Curt Gowdy, Al Michaels and Lindsey Nelson.

    A broadcaster must have 10 continuous years of experience with a network or team to be considered, and the ballot was picked by a subcommittee of past winners that includes Marty Brennaman, Joe Castiglione and Bob Costas, along with broadcast historians David J. Halberstam and Curt Smith. At least one candidate must be a foreign-language broadcaster.

    Voters are 13 past winners — Brennaman, Castiglione, Costas, Ken Harrelson, Pat Hughes, Jaime Jarrín, Tony Kubek, Denny Matthews, Michaels, Jon Miller, Eric Nadel, Dave Van Horne and Tom Hamilton — plus historians Halberstam, Smith and former Dallas Morning News writer Barry Horn.

    John Rooney of the St. Louis Cardinals and Brian Anderson of the Milwaukee Brewers were ballot newcomers this year, joining returnees Skip Caray, Rene Cardenas, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Duane Kuiper and John Sterling. Buck was on the ballot after being dropped last year, and Dan Shulman was on for the third time in four years.

    AP Baseball writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

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  • Rural Michigan Broadband Access to Jump With $920M in Fed Funding

    Efforts to expand high-speed internet across rural northern Michigan will get a $920 million boost from a federal grant, which over the next four years is expected to make broadband available to an additional 200,000 homes and businesses.

    Combined with $550 million in matching funds from providers, the almost $1.5 billion investment is a potential game-changer for rural counties, said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

    The federal grant was announced in 2023, but it’s taken two years to get projects in local communities lined up for disbursement of those funds. In four years, the investment is expected to add 31,000 miles of fiber-optic lines across the state.

    “When we expand access to affordable, high-speed internet, we open doors to jobs, healthcare, education, opportunity and so much more,” Whitmer said in a statement. “We’re making historic investments across the state to ensure that no matter where someone lives or works, they have the connectivity they need to thrive and reach their full potential.”

    “We know that access to reliable, high-speed internet is no longer a luxury,” said Eric Frederick, chief connectivity officer for the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office. “This funding … helps Michiganders get access to education, visit doctors, apply for jobs and so much more.”

    Currently, about 9 of 10 Michigan homes have access to internet service of at least 100 megabits per second, the minimum rate the Federal Communications Commission sets for high-speed internet, also called broadband. That puts Michigan in the middle of the pack among states.

    Yet there are 23 counties — mostly in northern Michigan or the Upper Peninsula — where under 60% of homes have broadband access, according to data from Connect Nation, a nonprofit working to close the digital divide.

    In Lake County, just 22% of homes have high-speed internet available; In Osceola County, it’s 28%.

    By comparison, Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties all have broadband access surpassing 99%.

    Katy Xenakis-Makowski, superintendent of Johannesburg-Lewiston Area Schools in Otsego County, told Bridge Michigan that many of her students and half her teachers don’t have high-speed internet at home.

    “They just started to put broadband in my neighborhood this summer,” Xenakis-Makowski. “We had an ice storm and were out (of school) for eight days. “People say, ‘Oh, you should just make them up by going online,’ and we can’t.”

    Government support is needed to expand high-speed internet infrastructure to rural regions where there aren’t enough potential consumers to make the expansion financially viable. The UP’s Luce County, for example, has a population of about six people per square mile.

    Michigan has made notable progress in increasing access, as well as the speed of the internet available. In 2018, just 4.3% of households had access to 1 gigabit-per-second service, compared to 45.2% in 2025.

    After the announced expansions are complete, “Michigan will be closer to universal availability than ever before,” said Frederick. “There will still likely be extremely remote and rural locations that may still need to be connected, but nearly all Michigan households and businesses will be able to access high-speed internet after these investments are made.”

    Even when internet lines are laid, there’s the problem of service cost in areas that have a high poverty rate. Nationally, between 3% and 8% of households where broadband is available do not have internet in their homes, either because of cost or choice.

    As of 2023, more than 492,000 Michigan households had either no internet access or no availability of broadband, according to the Michigan Digital Equity Plan, published by the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. Another 730,000 households faced barriers related to affordability, device access or digital literacy.

    This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

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  • Musk says DOGE was only ‘somewhat successful’ and he wouldn’t do it again

    Mega billionaire Elon Musk, in a friendly interview with his aide and conservative influencer Katie Miller, said his efforts leading the Department of Government Efficiency were only “somewhat successful” and he would not do it over again.

    The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who also owns the social media platform X, still broadly defended President Donald Trump’s controversial pop-up agency that Musk left in the spring before it shuttered officially last month. Yet Musk bemoaned how difficult it is to remake the federal government quickly, and he acknowledged how much his businesses suffered because of his DOGE work and its lack of popularity.

    “We were a little bit successful. We were somewhat successful,” he told Miller, who once worked as a DOGE spokeswoman charged with selling the agency’s work to the public.

    When Miller pressed Musk on whether he would do it all over again, he said: “I don’t think so. … Instead of doing DOGE, I would have, basically, built … worked on my companies.”

    Almost wistfully, Musk added, “They wouldn’t have been burning the cars” — a reference to consumer protests against Tesla.

    Still, things certainly have turned up for Musk since his departure from Trump’s administration. Tesla shareholders approved a pay package that could make Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

    Musk was speaking as a guest on the “Katie Miller Podcast,” which Miller, who is married to top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, launched after leaving government employment to work for Musk in the private sector. The two sat in chairs facing each other for a conversation that lasted more than 50 minutes and spanned topics from DOGE to Musk’s thoughts on AI, social media, conspiracy theories and fashion.

    Miller did not press Musk on the innerworkings of DOGE and the controversial manner in which it took over federal agencies and data systems.

    Musk credited the agency with saving as much as $200 billion annually in “zombie payments” that he said can be avoided with better automated systems and coding for federal payouts. But that number is dwarfed by Musk’s ambitious promises at one time that an efficiency commission could measure savings in the trillions.

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  • Hurricanes scored 3 goals in the third period to beat the Blue Jackets 4-1

    RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Eric Robinson ended a 10-game stretch without a goal by breaking a third-period tie and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 on Tuesday night.

    Seth Jarvis, Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook had Carolina’s other goals and Andrei Svechnikov supplied two assists. Brandon Bussi made 23 saves to improve his record to 9-1-0 for the Hurricanes, who wrapped up a 4-3-0 homestand. Bussi is the only Carolina goalie to win a game since Nov. 17.

    Dmitri Voronkov scored on a first-period power play for the Blue Jackets, who’ve lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time in more than a month. Jet Greaves stopped 27 shots, but Columbus has been outscored 45-28 in the third periods of games this season.

    Voronkov scored with 7:21 remaining in the opening period on just the second Columbus shot of the game.

    Jarvis responded at 9:42 of the second period for his team-leading 17th goal. It was his sixth goal during the homestand.

    Robinson took a pass from Taylor Hall and delivered his first goal since Nov. 15, coming against one of his former teams. Staal tacked on a power-play goal with 6:22 left. Martinook’s goal with 1:15 to play was an empty-net, short-handed tally.

    The Hurricanes celebrated the 20th anniversary season of the franchise’s only Stanley Cup championship with an on-ice pregame ceremony that included Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour, who was captain of the title team.

    Up next

    Blue Jackets: Host Ottawa on Thursday to begin a four-game homestand.

    Hurricanes: Visit Washington on Thursday night.

    Follow us on Instagram at spectrumnews1nc for news and other happenings across North Carolina.

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  • Messi’s Inter Miami Advances to MLS Cup Final With 5-1 Win Over NYCFC in East Final

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi will play for another trophy. Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets clearly aren’t ready to begin their retirements, either.

    Tadeo Allande scored three goals — Alba and Busquets, a pair of longtime Messi teammates who will retire when this season ends, had the assists on his first two — and Inter Miami topped New York City FC 5-1 on Saturday night for the Eastern Conference title and a berth in the MLS Cup final.

    Mateo Silvetti scored in the 67th minute for Inter Miami, with Messi setting up that goal — the 405th assist of his career for club and country, which is generally believed to be the most in soccer history. Telasco Segovia scored off a heel pass from Alba in the 83rd minute to turn it into a runaway, and Allande finishing off the hat trick in the 89th minute was the final play.

    Inter Miami — the No. 3 seed in the East — will play host to either San Diego or Vancouver for the league title on Dec. 6 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern. San Diego and Vancouver play for the Western Conference title later Saturday night.

    It’ll be the first MLS final appearance for Inter Miami, which had never made it past the opening postseason round in any of its first five seasons. Messi’s club went 0-2 against Vancouver this season, losing both legs of a semifinal meeting in the CONCACAF Champions Cup by a 5-1 aggregate.

    Justin Haak scored in the 37th minute for NYCFC, which went 0-2-1 against Inter Miami this season.

    The win moves Inter Miami one step closer to another trophy, after winning the Leagues Cup in 2023 and the Supporters’ Shield as MLS’ top regular-season team last year. Messi, a World Cup champion for Argentina and now eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, joined the team midway through the 2023 season when it was at the bottom of the MLS standings and in an 11-match winless streak.

    Stars flock to see this team because of Messi; tennis great Carlos Alcaraz was there Saturday night, as were some members of the U.S. women’s national team.

    “Everyone in the world knows who Lionel Messi is. … I think everyone thought he would come in here and do exactly what he’s done,” said U.S. women’s forward Lindsay Horan — whose Messi fandom goes back many years.

    Messi got struck along the left side of his head in the ninth minute and was briefly shaken up, remaining down near the center circle for a few seconds before eventually getting to his feet. He got tripped with Inter Miami on the attack about two minutes later, then took a direct kick from about 30 yards out — playing it into the box, but Silvetti’s header was easily caught by NYCFC goalie Matt Freese.

    Inter Miami’s next chance came a minute later. This one was cashed in — a long pass from Busquets was controlled by Allende, who easily beat Freese from about 12 yards out for a 1-0 lead.

    Allende struck again on a header off a long pass from Alba in the 23rd minute, making it 2-0. And after Messi set Silvetti up for the 3-1 lead, what essentially was a 25-minute or so countdown to a celebration was underway.

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