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Tag: Louisiana

  • Apple introduces age verification for apps in Utah, Louisiana and Australia

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    Now that Apple has started blocking users under 18 in certain regions from downloading apps, the company has introduced new age verification tools. Those will help developers “meet their age assurance obligations under upcoming US and regional laws, including in Brazil, Australia, Singapore, Utah and Louisiana,” the company said in a news release on its Developer site.

    As of February 24, 2026, users in Australia, Brazil and Singapore won’t be able to download apps rated 18+ unless their age is confirmed through “reasonable methods.” Apple noted that any apps distributed in Brazil that are declared to contain loot boxes will be updated to 18+. While the App Store can perform those checks automatically, “developers may have separate obligations to independently confirm that their users are adults,” Apple wrote. For that, developers can employ the company’s Declared Age Range API (on iOS, iPadOS and macOS) to get “helpful signals” about a user’s age.

    In Utah as of May 6, 2026 and Louisiana on July 1, 2026, “age categories will be shared with the developer’s app when requested through the Declared Age Range API.” That API will also provide “new signals,” like whether age-related regulatory requirements apply to the user and if the user must share their age range. “The API will also let you know if you need to get a parent or guardian’s permission for significant app updates for a child,” Apple says.

    Under Utah’s new law, users must be over 18 to make a new account with an app store, while underage uses will need to link their account to a parent’s in order to get permission to use certain apps. Louisiana and Texas also passed similar laws and California plans to enact age-based rules for app stores in 2027.

    Those rules are designed to protect children from predators, financial harm and other problems. However, critics have described the laws as blunt tools that harm privacy and internet anonymity. “A poorly designed system might store this personal data, and even correlate it to the online content that we look at,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes. “In the hands of an adversary, and cross-referenced to other readily available information, this information can expose intimate details about us.”

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  • Louisiana court allows Ten Commandments posters in public classrooms

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    BATON ROUGE, Louisiana: Public classrooms in the state can now display posters of the Ten Commandments after a U.S. appeals court cleared the way for a Louisiana law that a lower court had earlier blocked.

    The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 12-6 to lift a block that a lower court first placed on the law in 2024. The court said on February 20 that it was too early to make a judgment call on the law’s constitutionality.

    The majority of judges said it is not yet clear how schools will show the religious text. They do not know how visible it will be, whether teachers will discuss the Ten Commandments in class, or whether other historical documents, such as the Mayflower Compact or the Declaration of Independence, will also be displayed.

    Because these details are missing, the judges said they do not have enough facts to decide if the law breaks the First Amendment. In other words, they said there isn’t enough clear information for a proper legal decision, so they’re not just guessing.

    However, six judges disagreed and wrote separate opinions. Some said the court should review the case now. Others said the law forces children to see government-supported religion in a place they are required to attend, which they believe clearly goes against the Constitution.

    Judge James L. Dennis wrote that the law is precisely the kind of government support for religion that the Constitution’s framers sought to prevent.

    This ruling followed the full court’s January hearing. Earlier, a three-judge panel had ruled that Louisiana’s similar law was unconstitutional. Arkansas also has a similar law that is being challenged in federal court.

    Texas’ law began on September 1. It is the biggest effort in the country to put the Ten Commandments in public schools. In some cases, federal judges temporarily stopped school districts from posting them. But in many classrooms across Texas, the posters have already been put up, either paid for by the districts or through donations.

    These laws are part of efforts by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, to bring religion into public school classrooms. Critics say this breaks the rule separating church and state. Supporters argue that the Ten Commandments are an important historical document and a foundational part of U.S. law.

    Families from different religions — including Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism — as well as clergy members and nonreligious families, have challenged the laws.

    In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar law in Kentucky violated the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which bars the government from establishing or supporting a religion. The court said the law had no nonreligious purpose and was clearly religious.

    In 2005, the Supreme Court again ruled that Ten Commandments displays in two Kentucky courthouses were unconstitutional. However, in the same year, the court allowed a Ten Commandments monument to remain on the grounds of the Texas state Capitol in Austin.

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  • A Storm System Sweeps Across the Southeast Triggering Tornado Warnings and Damaging Winds

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    ATLANTA (AP) — A storm system sweeping across the Southeast late Saturday and Sunday brought tornado warnings to Mississippi and Louisiana, and then took aim at parts of Georgia and Florida, as people in the Northeast were finally getting a reprieve from weeks of bitterly cold temperatures.

    Some of the fiercest storms in the South were reported near Lake Charles, Louisiana, where high winds from a thunderstorm overturned a horse trailer and a Mardi Gras float, damaged an airport jet bridge and flung the metal awning from a house into power lines. The damage was documented by National Weather Service employees who surveyed the area.

    Power poles were snapped and toppled near the Louisiana towns of Jena, Cheneyville and Donaldsonville, the weather service reported.

    No deaths or serious injuries were reported, but the damage reports came as the storm system continued its path into parts of south Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, which were under tornado watches on Sunday.

    Boston was running nearly 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 14 Celsius) below average for February by midweek, and the city was on pace for its coldest winter in more than a decade. Boston remained cold on Sunday, but the week’s forecast called for temperatures climbing into the high 30s and low 40s, which is closer to the seasonal average.

    Elsewhere in the U.S., parts of California were bracing for showers, thunderstorms and snow showers. Jacob Spender, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, said a storm system was moving on shore in California throughout Sunday and through the week.

    Heavy snow was forecast for elevated areas, Spender said.

    “As we get up into the mountains and the foothills, we’re going to be looking at some snowfall,” Spender said. “So there will be snowfall all the way down into the foothills as well.”

    Spender said people should heed travel advisories in the coming days.

    “So if they are traveling, packing winter safety kits. Anything to be prepared. This is a bigger system, and a major system,” Spender said.

    Associated Press journalists Julie Walker in New York City; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; and Jeff Martin in Atlanta contributed.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Feb. 2026

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  • Biodegradable Mardi Gras Beads Help Make Carnival Season More Sustainable

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    Once made of glass and cherished by parade spectators who were lucky enough to catch them, today cheap plastic beadnecklaces from overseas are tossed from floats by the handful. Spectators sometimes pile dozens around their necks, but many are trashed or left on the ground. A few years ago after heavy flooding, the city found more than 46 tons of them clogging its storm drains.

    The beads are increasingly viewed as a problem, but a Mardi Gras without beads also seems unfathomable. That is why it was a radical step when the Krewe of Freret made the decision last year to ban plastic beads from their parade.

    “Our riders loved it because the spectators don’t value this anymore,” Freret co-founder Greg Rhoades said. “It’s become so prolific that they dodge out of the way when they see cheap plastic beads coming at them.”

    This year, beads are back, but not the cheap plastic ones. Freret is one of three krewes throwing biodegradable beads developed at Louisiana State University.

    The “PlantMe Beads” are 3-D printed from a starch-based, commercially available material called polylactic acid, or PLA, graduate student Alexis Strain said. The individual beads are large hollow spheres containing okra seeds. That is because the necklaces can actually be planted, and the okra attracts bacteria that help them decompose.


    2.5 million pounds of trash

    Kristi Trail, executive director of the Pontchartrain Conservancy, said plastic beads are a twofold problem. First, they clog the storm drains, leading to flooding. Then those that aren’t caught in the drains are washed directly into Lake Pontchartrain, where they can harm marine life. The group is currently preparing to study microplastics in the lake.

    The trend toward a more sustainable Mardi Gras has been growing for years and includes a small but growing variety of more thoughtful throws like food, soaps and sunglasses. Trail said there is no good data right now to say if those efforts are having an impact, but the group recently got a grant that should help them answer the question in the future.

    “Beads are obviously a problem, but we generate about 2.5 million pounds of trash from Mardi Gras,” Trail said.


    First algae beads, now PlantMe beads

    Strain works in the lab of Professor Naohiro Kato, an associate professor of biology at LSU. He first got the idea to develop biodegradable beads in 2013 after talking to people concerned about the celebration’s environmental impact. As a plant biologist, Kato knew that bioplastics could be made from plants and got curious about the possibilities.

    The first iteration of the lab’s biodegradable beads came in 2018, when they produced beads made from a bioplastic derived from microalgae. However, production costs were too high for the algae-based beads to offer a practical alternative to petroleum-based beads. Then Strain started experimenting with 3-D printing, and the PlantMe Bead was born.

    For the 2026 Carnival season, LSU students have produced 3,000 PlantMe Bead necklaces that they are giving to three krewes in exchange for feedback on the design and on how well they are received by spectators.

    One funny thing, Kato said, is that people have told him they love how unique the PlantMe Beads are and want to keep them.

    “So wait a minute, if you want to keep it, the petroleum-plastic Mardi Gras bead is the best, because this won’t last,” he said.


    ‘Let’s throw things that people value’

    The lab is still working on ideas for a more sustainable Mardi Gras. Strain is experimenting with a different 3-D printer material that biodegrades quickly without needing to be planted. Kato is talking with local schools about turning Mardi Gras bead-making into a community project. He envisions students 3-D printing necklaces while learning about bioplastics and plant biology. And he is still exploring ways to make algae-based bioplastic commercially viable.

    Ultimately, however, Kato said, the goal should not be to replace one plastic bead with a less harmful one. He hopes Mardi Gras embraces the idea of less waste.

    Rhoades said Freret is moving in the same direction.

    “In 2025, we were the first krewe — major parading organization — to say, ‘No more. No more cheap beads. Let’s throw things that people value, that people appreciate, that can be used year-round,’ ” Rhoades said.

    One of the most coveted items they throw is baseball hats with the Freret logo. He sees people wearing the hats around the city, and he says other krewes have noticed.

    “I really believe that we, and other krewes, are able to inspire your larger krewes,” he said. “They want people to like their stuff. They want people take their stuff home, and use it, and talk about it, and post it on social media, and say, ‘Look what I just caught!’ ”

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – Feb. 2026

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  • Democrat Chasity Verret Martinez wins Louisiana state House special seat in district Trump won

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    Louisiana Democrat Chasity Verret Martinez defeated her Republican opponent by double digits in the special election Saturday night for a state House seat in a district President Trump won by 13 points in 2024.

    Martinez won 62% of the vote compared to 38% for her Republican opponent, Brad Daigle, according to unofficial results from the Louisiana Secretary of State.

    The special election was held after its former state representative, a Democrat, was appointed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry to be a commissioner for the state’s Department of Alcohol & Tobacco. 

    Martinez’s win is not a flip since Democrats already held the seat, but Republicans had seen it as a prime pickup opportunity since Mr. Trump won the district three times. Her win was a 37-point swing from the 2024 results, although the district has voted for Democrats at the state and local levels previously. 

    Martinez, a former Iberville Parish councilwoman who focused her campaign on affordability and local issues, was outspent by Republicans 3-to-1. 

    Her victory comes on the heels of the Texas 9th state Senate special election last week, where Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a seat in the largest Republican county in the country — a seat held by the GOP for over 40 years. While Mr. Trump won that Texas district by 17 points in 2024, Rehmet won his race by 14 points. 

    Republicans have not yet had any special election legislative pickups during Mr. Trump’s second term. Democrats have flipped eight previously GOP-held districts in special elections since Mr. Trump took office.  

    The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the campaign arm of Democratic state legislatures, issued a statement on Saturday night saying Republicans “squandered their first flip opportunity in an election they should’ve had in the bag.” 

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  • Federal Troop Deployments to US Cities Cost Taxpayers $496M and Counting

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    President Donald Trump has justified sending National Guard troops into U.S. cities as part of an effort to combat crime and support local law enforcement. Critics of the move argue the deployments undermine state and local authority and exceed the president’s authority under the Constitution.

    The CBO published the new data estimating the costs associated with the federal deployments of National Guard and active-duty Marines after a request from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who is the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee.

    “The American people deserve to know how many hundreds of millions of their hard-earned dollars have been and are being wasted on Trump’s reckless and haphazard deployment of National Guard troops to Portland and cities across the country,” Merkley said in a statement about the CBO report.

    Factored into the estimates are troop deployments to Chicago, Memphis, Portland, as well as Los Angeles in June, when protesters took to the streets in response to a blitz of immigration arrests. The CBO said continued deployments to those cities would cost about $93 million per month.

    The estimate excludes the military’s December deployment to New Orleans.

    For further possible deployments down the road, the CBO estimates deploying 1,000 National Guard personnel to a U.S. city in 2026 would cost $18 million to $21 million per month, depending on the local cost of living.

    National Guard troops are expected to remain deployed in Washington throughout 2026, according to a memo reviewed by The Associated Press earlier this month.

    The troop deployments have provoked legal challenges from local leaders, and some have been successful. A California federal judge in January ruled that the Trump administration “willfully” broke federal law by sending National Guard units to the Los Angeles area.

    A White House representative did not provide an immediate comment on the estimates.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – January 2026

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  • Power out for hundreds of thousands, roadways snarled with ice as dangerous weather hits due to storm

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    Hundreds of thousands of power outages are being reported across the South as a monster storm continues to hit huge sections of the country, snarling roadways with dangerous ice and forcing mass flight cancellations.

    More than 600,000 power outages were reported in the path of the winter storm by Sunday morning, up from about 140,000 the previous day, according to the tracking website poweroutage.us. That includes more than 220,000 outages reported in Tennessee and over 125,000 reported in Texas, as well as another 115,000 in Louisiana and 120,000 in Mississippi. 

    About 38,000 more customers were without power in Kentucky and 12,000 were without power in Georgia, according to the tracker.

    Widespread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain threatened nearly 180 million people — more than half the U.S. population — in a path stretching from the southern Rocky Mountains to New England, the National Weather Service said. It warned people to brace for a string of frigid days.

    “The snow and the ice will be very, very slow to melt and won’t be going away anytime soon, and that’s going to hinder any recovery efforts,” said Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

    President Trump approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday, with more expected to come. The Federal Emergency Management Agency pre-positioned commodities, staff and search and rescue teams in numerous states, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

    “We just ask that everyone would be smart – stay home if possible,” Noem said.

    The Midwest saw windchills as low as minus 40 Fahrenheit, meaning that frostbite could set in within 10 minutes. The minus 36 Fahrenheit reading in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, on Saturday morning was the coldest in almost 30 years.

    Storm hits the South 

    In Shelby County, Texas, near the Louisiana border, ice weighed down on pine trees and caused branches to snap, downing power lines. About a third of the county’s 16,000 electric customers lost power on Saturday.

    “We have hundreds of trees down and a lot of limbs in the road,” Shelby County Commissioner Stevie Smith said from his pickup truck. “I’ve got my crew out clearing roads as fast as we can. It’s a lot to deal with right now.”

    There were reports of vehicles hitting fallen trees and trees falling onto houses in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana, where more than half of all electric customers lost power.

    “We got limbs that are dragging the ground,” said Mark Pierce, a spokesperson for the local sheriff’s office. “These trees are just completely saturated with ice.”

    In Louisville, Kentucky, emergency services on Saturday handled more than 850 calls regarding collisions, stranded motorists and other emergencies related to exposure to cold, officials said, noting that the actual number could be even higher. Closer to the East Coast, Virginia State Police said early Sunday that the agency had thus far responded to 177 crashes since the storm began, with 14 of those incidents involving injuries.

    Traffic moves west in the snow on I244 east of Yale Ave. Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

    Mike Simons /Tulsa World via AP


    Officials in Georgia advised people in the state’s northern regions to get off the roads by sundown Saturday and be prepared to stay put for at least 48 hours.

    Will Lanxton, the senior state meteorologist, said Georgia could get “perhaps the biggest ice storm we have expected in more than a decade” followed by unusually cold temperatures.

    “Ice is a whole different ballgame than snow,” Lanxton said. “Ice, you can’t do anything with. You can’t drive on it. It’s much more likely to bring down power lines and trees.”

    Crews began treating highways with brine after midnight Saturday, with 1,800 workers on 12-hour shifts, Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said.

    “We’re going to do what we can to keep the ice from sticking to the roads,” McMurry said. “This is going to be a challenge.”

    After earlier putting 500 National Guard members on standby, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Saturday that he was deploying 120 of them to northeast Georgia “to further strengthen our response in the hardest hit areas.”

    Churches moved Sunday services online, and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, decided to hold its Saturday night radio performance without fans. Mardi Gras parades in Louisiana were canceled or rescheduled.

    School closings were already announced for Monday in numerous cities, including Dallas, Houston and Memphis.

    Some universities in the South canceled classes for Monday, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Mississippi’s main campus in Oxford.

    Warnings for the Northeast

    As crews in some southern states began working to restore downed power lines Saturday, officials in some eastern states issued final warnings to residents.

    “We are expecting a storm the likes of which we haven’t seen in years,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Saturday while announcing restrictions on commercial vehicle travel and a 35 mph speed limit on highways. She added: “It’s a good weekend to stay indoors.”

    After sweeping through the South, the storm was expected to dump snow exceeding 1 foot in the Northeast, according to forecasters. 

    “Please, if you can avoid it, do not drive, do not travel, do not do anything that can potentially place you or your loved ones in danger,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Saturday. “Instead, I urge every New Yorker who can to put a warm sweater on, turn on the TV, watch ‘Mission Impossible’ for the 10th time, above all to stay inside.”

    Forecasters say the damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane. Weather forecasters also said the winter storm was unusual.

    “I think there are two parts of this storm that make it unique. One is just a broad expanse of spatial coverage of this event … You’ve got 2,000 miles of country that’s being impacted by the storm with snow, sleet, and freezing rain,” said Josh Weiss, a meteorologist at NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center. “The other part of this storm that’s really impressive is what’s going to happen right afterward. We’re looking at extreme cold, record cold.”

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  • Thousands of flights canceled as major winter storm moves across the US

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    Thousands of flights across the U.S. set to take off over the weekend were canceled as a monster storm started to wreak havoc Saturday across much of the country and threatened to knock out power for days and snarl major roadways with dangerous ice.Roughly 140 million people, or more than 40% of the U.S. population, were under a winter storm warning from New Mexico to New England. The National Weather Service forecast warned of widespread heavy snow and a band of catastrophic ice stretching from east Texas to North Carolina. By midday Saturday, a quarter of an inch of ice was reported in parts of southeastern Oklahoma, eastern Texas and portions of Louisiana.”What really makes this storm unique is, just following this storm, it’s just going to get so cold,” said Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “The snow and the ice will be very, very slow to melt and won’t be going away anytime soon, and that’s going to hinder any recovery efforts.”Governors in more than a dozen states sounded the alarm about the turbulent weather ahead, declaring emergencies or urging people to stay home. As crews in some southern states began working to restore downed power lines, officials in some eastern states issued final warnings to residents. “We are expecting a storm the likes of which we haven’t seen in years,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Saturday while announcing restrictions on commercial vehicle travel and a 35 mph speed limit on highways. She added: “It’s a good weekend to stay indoors.”Little Rock, Arkansas, was covered with sleet and snow Saturday, giving Chris Plank doubts about whether he would be able to make a five-hour drive to Dallas for work on Sunday. While some snow is a yearly event, Plank was concerned most about the ice.”All of the power lines are above ground, so it doesn’t take very much to end up in the dark,” Plank said.Forecasters say the damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane. Around 120,000 power outages were reported in the path of the winter storm Saturday afternoon, including about 53,000 in Texas and 45,000 in Louisiana, according to poweroutage.us.In Shelby County, Texas, near the Louisiana border, ice weighed down on pine trees and caused branches to snap, downing power lines. About a third of the county’s 16,000 residents were without power on Saturday.”We have hundreds of trees down and a lot of limbs in the road,” Shelby County Commissioner Stevie Smith said from his pickup truck. “I’ve got my crew out clearing roads as fast as we can. It’s a lot to deal with right now.”All Saturday flights were canceled at Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City, and all Sunday morning flights also were called off, as officials aimed to restart service Sunday afternoon at Oklahoma’s biggest airport. More than 12,000 flights were canceled Saturday and Sunday across the U.S., according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport, a major hub, saw more than 700 departing flights canceled on Saturday and nearly as many arriving flights called off. Disruptions were also piling up at airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, and Charlotte, North Carolina.After sweeping through the South, the storm was expected to move into the Northeast, dumping about 1 to 2 feet of snow from Washington through New York and Boston, the weather service predicted. “Please, if you can avoid it, do not drive, do not travel, do not do anything that can potentially place you or your loved ones in danger,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Saturday. “Instead, I urge every New Yorker who can to put a warm sweater on, turn on the TV, watch ‘Mission Impossible’ for the 10th time, above all to stay inside.” Officials in Georgia advised people in the state’s northern regions to get off the roads by sundown Saturday and be prepared to stay put for at least 48 hours.Will Lanxton, the senior state meteorologist, said Georgia could get “perhaps the biggest ice storm we have expected in more than a decade,” followed by unusually cold temperatures. “Ice is a whole different ballgame than snow,” Lanxton said. “Ice, you can’t do anything with. You can’t drive on it. It’s much more likely to bring down power lines and trees.”Crews began treating highways with brine after midnight Saturday, with 1,800 workers on 12-hour shifts, Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said.”We’re going to do what we can to keep the ice from sticking to the roads,” McMurry said. “This is going to be a challenge.” The Midwest saw windchills as low as minus 40 Fahrenheit, meaning that frostbite could set in within 10 minutes. The minus 36 F reading in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, on Saturday morning was the coldest in almost 30 years.In Minneapolis, the worst of an extreme cold wave was over, but protesters calling for ICE to leave Minnesota on Saturday still faced an outdoor temperature of minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit.Workers from The Orange Tent Project, a Chicago nonprofit that provides cold-weather tents and other supplies to unhoused people throughout the city, went out to check on those who did not or could not seek shelter.”Seeing the forecasted weather, I knew we had to come out and do this today,” said CEO Morgan McLuckie. Churches moved Sunday services online, and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, decided to hold its Saturday night radio performance without fans. Mardi Gras parades in Louisiana were canceled or rescheduled.School superintendents in Philadelphia and Houston announced that schools would be closed Monday.Some universities in the South canceled classes for Monday, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Mississippi’s main campus in Oxford.Around the southeast, people used the cancellations to have some fun. On a hill outside the Capitol building in Nashville, adult sledders on green discs and inflatable pool animals giggled with joy as they slid in the snow. President Donald Trump said via social media on Friday that his administration was coordinating with state and local officials, and “FEMA is fully prepared to respond.” Nine states have requested emergency declarations, according to a FEMA briefing document released Saturday. The declarations can unlock federal emergency resources. Trump on Friday approved emergency declarations for South Carolina and Virginia, and requests from Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia were still pending as of Saturday morning.”I think there are two parts of this storm that make it unique. One is just a broad expanse of spatial coverage of this event … You’ve got 2,000 miles of country that’s being impacted by the storm with snow, sleet, and freezing rain,” said Josh Weiss, a meteorologist at NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center. “The other part of this storm that’s really impressive is what’s going to happen right afterward. We’re looking at extreme cold, record cold.” Associated Press writers Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, Rio Yamat in Las Vegas, Julie Walker in New York, David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, George Walker in Nashville and Laura Bargfeld in Chicago contributed to this report. Amy reported from Atlanta and Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut.

    OKLAHOMA CITY —

    Thousands of flights across the U.S. set to take off over the weekend were canceled as a monster storm started to wreak havoc Saturday across much of the country and threatened to knock out power for days and snarl major roadways with dangerous ice.

    Roughly 140 million people, or more than 40% of the U.S. population, were under a winter storm warning from New Mexico to New England. The National Weather Service forecast warned of widespread heavy snow and a band of catastrophic ice stretching from east Texas to North Carolina. By midday Saturday, a quarter of an inch of ice was reported in parts of southeastern Oklahoma, eastern Texas and portions of Louisiana.

    “What really makes this storm unique is, just following this storm, it’s just going to get so cold,” said Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “The snow and the ice will be very, very slow to melt and won’t be going away anytime soon, and that’s going to hinder any recovery efforts.”

    Governors in more than a dozen states sounded the alarm about the turbulent weather ahead, declaring emergencies or urging people to stay home. As crews in some southern states began working to restore downed power lines, officials in some eastern states issued final warnings to residents.

    “We are expecting a storm the likes of which we haven’t seen in years,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Saturday while announcing restrictions on commercial vehicle travel and a 35 mph speed limit on highways. She added: “It’s a good weekend to stay indoors.”

    Little Rock, Arkansas, was covered with sleet and snow Saturday, giving Chris Plank doubts about whether he would be able to make a five-hour drive to Dallas for work on Sunday. While some snow is a yearly event, Plank was concerned most about the ice.

    “All of the power lines are above ground, so it doesn’t take very much to end up in the dark,” Plank said.

    Forecasters say the damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane.

    Around 120,000 power outages were reported in the path of the winter storm Saturday afternoon, including about 53,000 in Texas and 45,000 in Louisiana, according to poweroutage.us.

    In Shelby County, Texas, near the Louisiana border, ice weighed down on pine trees and caused branches to snap, downing power lines. About a third of the county’s 16,000 residents were without power on Saturday.

    “We have hundreds of trees down and a lot of limbs in the road,” Shelby County Commissioner Stevie Smith said from his pickup truck. “I’ve got my crew out clearing roads as fast as we can. It’s a lot to deal with right now.”

    All Saturday flights were canceled at Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City, and all Sunday morning flights also were called off, as officials aimed to restart service Sunday afternoon at Oklahoma’s biggest airport.

    More than 12,000 flights were canceled Saturday and Sunday across the U.S., according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport, a major hub, saw more than 700 departing flights canceled on Saturday and nearly as many arriving flights called off. Disruptions were also piling up at airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

    After sweeping through the South, the storm was expected to move into the Northeast, dumping about 1 to 2 feet of snow from Washington through New York and Boston, the weather service predicted.

    “Please, if you can avoid it, do not drive, do not travel, do not do anything that can potentially place you or your loved ones in danger,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Saturday. “Instead, I urge every New Yorker who can to put a warm sweater on, turn on the TV, watch ‘Mission Impossible’ for the 10th time, above all to stay inside.”

    Officials in Georgia advised people in the state’s northern regions to get off the roads by sundown Saturday and be prepared to stay put for at least 48 hours.

    Will Lanxton, the senior state meteorologist, said Georgia could get “perhaps the biggest ice storm we have expected in more than a decade,” followed by unusually cold temperatures.

    “Ice is a whole different ballgame than snow,” Lanxton said. “Ice, you can’t do anything with. You can’t drive on it. It’s much more likely to bring down power lines and trees.”

    Crews began treating highways with brine after midnight Saturday, with 1,800 workers on 12-hour shifts, Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry said.

    “We’re going to do what we can to keep the ice from sticking to the roads,” McMurry said. “This is going to be a challenge.”

    The Midwest saw windchills as low as minus 40 Fahrenheit, meaning that frostbite could set in within 10 minutes. The minus 36 F reading in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, on Saturday morning was the coldest in almost 30 years.

    In Minneapolis, the worst of an extreme cold wave was over, but protesters calling for ICE to leave Minnesota on Saturday still faced an outdoor temperature of minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Workers from The Orange Tent Project, a Chicago nonprofit that provides cold-weather tents and other supplies to unhoused people throughout the city, went out to check on those who did not or could not seek shelter.

    “Seeing the forecasted weather, I knew we had to come out and do this today,” said CEO Morgan McLuckie.

    Churches moved Sunday services online, and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, decided to hold its Saturday night radio performance without fans. Mardi Gras parades in Louisiana were canceled or rescheduled.

    School superintendents in Philadelphia and Houston announced that schools would be closed Monday.

    Some universities in the South canceled classes for Monday, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Mississippi’s main campus in Oxford.

    Around the southeast, people used the cancellations to have some fun. On a hill outside the Capitol building in Nashville, adult sledders on green discs and inflatable pool animals giggled with joy as they slid in the snow.

    President Donald Trump said via social media on Friday that his administration was coordinating with state and local officials, and “FEMA is fully prepared to respond.”

    Nine states have requested emergency declarations, according to a FEMA briefing document released Saturday. The declarations can unlock federal emergency resources. Trump on Friday approved emergency declarations for South Carolina and Virginia, and requests from Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia were still pending as of Saturday morning.

    “I think there are two parts of this storm that make it unique. One is just a broad expanse of spatial coverage of this event … You’ve got 2,000 miles of country that’s being impacted by the storm with snow, sleet, and freezing rain,” said Josh Weiss, a meteorologist at NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center. “The other part of this storm that’s really impressive is what’s going to happen right afterward. We’re looking at extreme cold, record cold.”

    Associated Press writers Mike Schneider in Orlando, Florida, Rio Yamat in Las Vegas, Julie Walker in New York, David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, George Walker in Nashville and Laura Bargfeld in Chicago contributed to this report. Amy reported from Atlanta and Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut.

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  • Millions of Americans Brace for Potentially Catastrophic Ice Storm. What to Know, by the Numbers

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    ATLANTA (AP) — Millions of Americans from New Mexico to the Carolinas are bracing for a potentially catastrophic ice storm that could crush trees and power lines and knock out power for days, while many northern states all the way to New England could see enough snow to make travel nearly impossible, forecasters say.

    An estimated 100 million people were under some type of winter weather watch, warning or advisory on Wednesday ahead of the storm, the National Weather Service said.

    The storm, expected to begin Friday and continue through the weekend, is also projected to bring heavy snow and all types of wintry precipitation, including freezing rain and sleet. An atmospheric river of moisture could be in place by the weekend, pulling precipitation across Texas and other states along the Gulf Coast and continuing across Georgia and the Carolinas, forecasters said.

    Here’s a look at the approaching storm and how people are preparing for it, by the numbers:

    The number of snowplows owned by the city of Jackson, Mississippi, where a mix of ice and sleet is possible this weekend. The city uses other heavy machinery like skid steers and small excavators to clear roads, said James Caldwell, deputy director of public works. Jackson also has three trucks that carry salt and sand to spread across roads before freezing weather.

    The amount of ice — half an inch, or 1.27 centimeters — that can lead to a crippling ice storm, toppling trees and power lines to create widespread and long-lasting power outages. The latest forecasts from the National Weather Service warn of the potential for a half-inch of ice or more for many areas, including parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee.

    The number of Nashville snowplows named after country music legend and Tennessee native Dolly Parton (Dolly Plowton). Another snowplow in East Tennessee was named Snowlene after her classic hit song “Jolene” as part of a 2022 naming contest.

    The number of layers needed to keep warm in extreme cold. AP video journalist Mark Vancleave in Minnesota explains the benefits of all three — a base layer, a middle layer and an outer shell — in this video.

    The number of major U.S. hub airports in the path of the southern storm this weekend, when ice, sleet and snow could delay passengers and cargo: Dallas-Fort Worth; Atlanta; Memphis, Tennessee, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Still more major airports on the East Coast could see delays later, as the storm barrels east.

    The number of inches of snow that could fall in parts of Oklahoma.

    “You’ve got to be very weather aware, and real smart about what you’re doing,” said Charles Daniel, who drives a semitrailer across western Oklahoma.

    “One mistake can literally kill somebody, so you have to use your head,” he added.

    The number of snow and ice removal trucks operated by Memphis, Tennessee’s Division of Public Works. The city also has six trucks that spread brine, a mixture designed to melt wintry precipitation. Statewide, the Tennessee Department of Transportation has 851 salt trucks and 634 brine trucks, and most of the salt trucks double as plows.

    Parts of at least 19 states in the storm’s path were under winter storm watches by late Wednesday, with more watches and warnings expected as the system approaches. They include Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. An estimated 55 million people are included in these winter storm watches, the weather service said.

    The degree in Fahrenheit when water freezes, equivalent to 0 Celsius. This is a magic number when it comes to winter weather, said Eric Guillot, a scientist at the National Weather Service. If the temperature is slightly above 32, it will be mostly liquid. But the colder it is below the mark, the more efficiently precipitation will freeze.

    The number of snowplow trucks at the ready in Nashville, Tennessee, according to the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure.

    The windchill value — how cold it feels to a person when winds are factored in — that is expected in parts of the Northern Plains, the weather service projects. That equates to minus 45.6 Celsius and is forecast for parts of northern Minnesota and North Dakota.

    “When the weather forecast says, ‘feels like negative 34,’ it’s just a matter of covering skin and being prepared for it,” said Nils Anderson, who owns Duluth Gear Exchange, an outdoor equipment store in Duluth, Minnesota.

    The number of snowplows in the city of Chicago, where annual snowfall averages 37 to 39 inches (0.94 to 0.99 meters). The city also has 40 4×4 vehicles, and about 12 beet juice-dispensing trucks, according to Cole Stallard, Chicago’s commissioner of Streets and Sanitation. The natural sugars of beet juice lower the freezing point of water, allowing salt mixtures to work at much lower temperatures and preventing refreezing, while also helping salt stick to the road longer.

    The number of miles added last year to snowplow routes in Nashville, Tennessee. That was done “to get deeper into our neighborhoods — roads that had never been plowed before,” said Alex Apple, a spokesperson for Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell.

    Texas has this number of pieces of winter weather equipment, including snowplows, motor graders and brine tankers, Texas Department of Transportation spokesperson Adam Hammons said. He said the agency also works with state partners and contractors to get more equipment when needed. In the Dallas area, “right now our main focus is treating our roadways in advance of the storm,” agency spokesperson Tony Hartzel said Wednesday.

    The number of cubic yards of salt on hand at the Arkansas Department of Transportation. The state has 121 salt houses around the Arkansas, plus 600 salt spreaders and 700 snowplows, said Dave Parker, an agency spokesperson.

    Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Sophie Bates in Jackson, Mississippi; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Travis Loller and Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tennessee; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; John O’Connor in Springfield, Illinois; and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – January 2026

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  • Robby Ashford Leads Wake Forest Past Mississippi State 43-29 in Duke’s Mayo Bowl

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    CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Robby Ashford threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 50 yards and two scores, Koredell Bartley scored on a 100-yard kickoff return and Wake Forest beat Mississippi State 43-29 in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Friday night, earning coach Jake Dickert a mayonnaise bath.

    Ashford threw TD passes of 14 yards to Kamrean Johnson, 64 yards to Jack Foley and 62 yards to Ty Clark III and had scoring runs of 2 and 1 yards for the Demon Deacons (9-4). They won seven of their final nine games.

    Clark finished with 153 yards from scrimmage after taking over the starting role after second-team All-ACC selection Demond Claiborne opted out of the game after declaring for the NFL draft.

    Freshman quarterback Kamario Taylor, making his second college start, had a big second half for Mississippi State (5-8) and finished 13 of 22 for 241 yards and a touchdown. He ran for 60 yards and another score before suffering what appeared to be a significant leg injury with 1:46 left in the game. He was carted off the field and there was no immediate word on the extent of the injury.

    After the Bulldogs took an 3-0 lead on the game’s first possession, Bartley fielded the ensuing kickoff at the goal line and weaved his way up the field before turning up the speed and outracing five defenders to the end zone for the longest touchdown in bowl history.

    Ashford, a sixth-year QB playing for his fourth college, put Wake Forest ahead 30-12 in the third quarter on a 2-yard run to make it a three-possession game and the Demon Deacons seemed in cruise control.

    But the Bulldogs came storming back.

    Mississippi State finally found the end zone on the last play of the third quarter when Taylor took a shotgun snap, got a running start and leaped over the line and extended the ball over the goal line on his descent.

    He added a 2-point conversion toss to cut it to 10 and then found Sanfrisco Magee over the middle for a 42-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass to make it 30-27 with 10:17 left.

    Wake Forest appeared to put it away when Ashford ran for his second touchdown with 4:07 remaining, but Navaeh Sanders blocked the extra point and Kelly Jones scooped it up and scored for 2 points for the Bulldogs to make it 36-29.

    On the ensuing possession, Mississippi couldn’t manage a first down and coach Jeff Lebby made the curious decision to punt on fourth-and-11 from the Bulldogs 25 with 2:35 left in the game, putting trust in his defense that it would force a three and out and get the offense the ball back.

    That backfired, as Ashford dumped a pass off to Ty Clark III on a third-and-7 and he raced 62 yards untouched to the end zone to seal the win.

    The bowl game’s unique tradition includes the winning head getting a 5-gallon bucket filled with 42 1/2 pounds of mayonnaise dumped on his head after the game.

    Mississippi State: Hosts Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 5.

    Wake Forest: Hosts Akron on Sept. 3.

    Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Lucky 13: Teenager celebrates unique birthday on New Year’s Day

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    IT’S NOT JUST THE START OF THE NEW YEAR FOR ONE LOCAL TEEN, IT’S A MILESTONE YEAR FOR HER. SHE WAS BORN JANUARY 1ST, 2013, TURNING 13 YEARS OLD TODAY. WDSU ANCHOR RANDI RANDI SHOWS US HOW SHE AND HER FAMILY ARE MARKING THE OCCASION. 13 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADISON! WHAT’S TYPICALLY DUBBED A SUPERSTITIOUS NUMBER IS A LUCKY ONE FOR MADISON AND HER FAMILY. SHE CAME ON AT 1:13 A.M. JANUARY 1ST, 2013 ONE 113 AT 1:13 A.M. 13 YEARS AGO, A RARE BIRTHDAY, THIS NOW 13 YEAR OLD IS CELEBRATING AFTER COMING INTO THE WORLD IN A UNIQUE WAY. A MOTHER’S WATER BROKE AT A LAUNDRY MAT. WE WERE GETTING READY. WE WERE IN THE PROCESS OF BUILDING A NEW HOME. SO IN THE PROCESS OF THAT, I WANTED TO GET ALL OF THE CLOTHES WASHED BEFORE SHE CAME, BUT IF SHE HAD OTHER PLANS, MADISON WAS THE NEW YEAR’S BABY AT NORTH OAKS MEDICAL CENTER THAT YEAR. I CAN REMEMBER AT THE HOSPITAL WITH A CAMERA CREWS, THE HOSPITAL STAFF WANTING TO SEE HER. SHE KNOWS SHE’S THE NEW YEAR’S BABY AND SHE WEARS IT WELL. AND AS THE CHAMP COOPER CHEERLEADER NOW PREPARES FOR HIGH SCHOOL, SHE HAS PLANS OF BECOMING A DERMATOLOGIST, HOPING TO HELP OTHERS BUILD SIMILAR SELF-CONFIDENCE. SOME PEOPLE DON’T FEEL LIKE THEY’RE THE PRETTIEST IN ALL THAT KIND OF STUFF, BUT I TRY TO BUILD PEOPLE UP SO THEY CAN FEEL LIKE THEY ARE SOMETHING. AND FOR HER PARENTS, THIS NEWFOUND TEENAGER IS CERTAINLY MAKING THEM PROUD. SHE’S JUST A BRIGHT STAR, YOU KNOW, JUST TO TO SEE HER BLOSSOM INTO THE YOUNG LADY SHE’S BECOME NOW. IT’S JUST I’M JUST GLAD TO BE A PART OF IT. I’M HONORED TO BE HER MOTHER. I REALLY AM RANDI RANDI WDSU NEWS. LOVE ME SOME. MADISON. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. LISTEN, A FUN FACT JANUARY IS A POPULAR BIRTHDAY MONTH FOR THE GUYS WITH MADISON’S DAD AND SIST

    Lucky 13: Teenager celebrates unique birthday on New Year’s Day

    Updated: 7:49 PM PST Jan 1, 2026

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    A Louisiana teenager celebrated a unique birthday on New Year’s Day. Madyson Guillard, born on Jan. 1, 2013, at 1:13 a.m., celebrates her 13th birthday, marking a special milestone for her and her family.Madyson’s father recalled the unconventional circumstances of her birth.”She came on out at 1:13 a.m. January 1st, 2013,” said Perry Guillard, Madyson’s father. Her mother’s water broke in a laundromat as they were preparing for the arrival of their new home. “We were getting ready. We purchased it. We were in the process of building a new home. So in the process of that, I wanted to get all of the clothes washed before she came. But she had other plans,” said Gabby Guillard, Madyson’s mom. Madyson was the New Year’s baby at North Oaks that year, and her mother remembers the excitement at the hospital. “I can remember at the hospital with camera crews, the hospital staff wanting to see her,” Gabby said. “She knows she’s the New Year’s baby, and she wears it well,” said Perry. As a Champ Cooper cheerleader, Madyson is preparing for high school with aspirations of becoming a dermatologist. She hopes to help others build self-confidence, saying, “Some people don’t feel like they’re the prettiest, you know, that kind of stuff. But I try to build people up so they can feel like they are something.”Her parents are proud of their newfound teenager. “She’s just a bright star, you know, just to see her blossom into the young lady she’s become now, it’s, I’m just glad to be a part of it. I’m honored to be her mother. I really am,” Gabby said.

    A Louisiana teenager celebrated a unique birthday on New Year’s Day.

    Madyson Guillard, born on Jan. 1, 2013, at 1:13 a.m., celebrates her 13th birthday, marking a special milestone for her and her family.

    Madyson’s father recalled the unconventional circumstances of her birth.

    “She came on out at 1:13 a.m. January 1st, 2013,” said Perry Guillard, Madyson’s father.

    Her mother’s water broke in a laundromat as they were preparing for the arrival of their new home.

    “We were getting ready. We purchased it. We were in the process of building a new home. So in the process of that, I wanted to get all of the clothes washed before she came. But she had other plans,” said Gabby Guillard, Madyson’s mom.

    Madyson was the New Year’s baby at North Oaks that year, and her mother remembers the excitement at the hospital.

    “I can remember at the hospital with camera crews, the hospital staff wanting to see her,” Gabby said.

    “She knows she’s the New Year’s baby, and she wears it well,” said Perry.

    As a Champ Cooper cheerleader, Madyson is preparing for high school with aspirations of becoming a dermatologist. She hopes to help others build self-confidence, saying, “Some people don’t feel like they’re the prettiest, you know, that kind of stuff. But I try to build people up so they can feel like they are something.”

    Her parents are proud of their newfound teenager.

    “She’s just a bright star, you know, just to see her blossom into the young lady she’s become now, it’s, I’m just glad to be a part of it. I’m honored to be her mother. I really am,” Gabby said.

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  • ‘Unlucky’ Honduran woman arrested after allegedly running red light and crashing into ICE vehicle

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    A Honduran national had an “unlucky” encounter with Border Patrol enforcement on Friday.

    The woman allegedly ran a red light in Slidell, Louisiana, and rammed into an Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) vehicle, U.S. Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino wrote on X.

    ICE AGENTS OPEN FIRE ON VAN DRIVER WHO ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO RUN THEM OVER ON CHRISTMAS EVE

    “Apparently she never learned the lesson that red means stop,” Bovino wrote. “Not ‘accelerate and collide with a government vehicle actively enforcing federal law.’”

    A Honduran national was allegedly behind the wheel of a car that ran a red light and crashed into an ICE vehicle in Louisiana, according to officials. She was then arrested by federal agents. (Greg Bovino via Facebook)

    No injuries were reported as a result of the crash, according to the post, but Bovino said she was “certainly taken into custody” following the accident.

    “Unlucky for her. Lucky for us,” Bovino continued in the post.

    ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BITES ICE OFFICER IN ‘GROSS ATTACK’ WHILE RESISTING ARREST: DHS 

    Federal agents were reportedly in the area as part of the Operation Catahoula Crunch. The operation targets illegal immigrants in the New Orleans area, according to officials. 

    “Catahoula Crunch targets include violent criminals who were released after arrest for home invasion, armed robbery, grand theft auto and rape,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

    Damaged car after woman runs into ICE vehicle

    Photos, posted on social media, appear to show the woman’s vehicle damaged near the front driver’s side of the car.  (Greg Bovino via Facebook)

    ICE has reportedly apprehended approximately 370 people in the area, according to a Dec. 18 update. 

    ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCK DRIVER ACCUSED IN FATAL WASHINGTON CRASH RELEASED ON $100,000 BOND

    “DHS is making the New Orleans community safer as it continues to arrest illegal alien drug dealers, hit-and-run criminals, and one monster who was convicted for arson and threatening a person with intent to terrorize,” McLaughlin said.

    Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino stands near a convoy of agents’ vehicles parked outside a convenience store in New Orleans.

    Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino at a New Orleans convenience store Dec. 3. (John Rudoff/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    The DHS reported that it has deported more than 622,000 individuals in 2025 as of Dec. 19. 

    The department also reported that 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the country, and an estimated 1.9 million self-deportations have occurred since President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on immigration.

    CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

    Details about the Honduran woman were not made publicly available. 

    DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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  • Trump’s Newly Appointed Envoy to Greenland Says US Not Looking to ‘Conquer’ the Danish Territory

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    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s newly appointed envoy to Greenland said Tuesday that the Republican administration is looking to begin a conversation with residents of the semi-autonomous Danish territory about the best way forward for the strategically important island.

    In his first extended comments since being appointed to the role this week, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the Trump administration isn’t going to “go in there trying to conquer anybody” or try to “to take over anybody’s country.”

    The governor’s comments seemed somewhat at odds with Trump, who has repeatedly said the U.S. needs to take over the Arctic territory for the sake of U.S. security and has not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island.

    “Well, I think our discussions should be with the actual people in Greenland — the Greenlanders,” Landry said in an appearance on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show.” “What are they looking for? What opportunities have they not gotten? Why haven’t they gotten the protection that they actually deserve?”

    Trump’s announcement of Landry’s appointment has once again stirred anxiety in Denmark and Europe.

    Denmark’s foreign minister told Danish broadcasters that he would summon the U.S. ambassador to his ministry.

    ”We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a joint statement Monday. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”

    Trump called repeatedly for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland during his presidential transition and in the early months of his second term. In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of under-investing there.

    The Trump administration did not offer any warning ahead of the announcement of Landry’s appointment, according to a Danish government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

    The administration also has yet to provide any details about the appointment to Congress, according to a congressional aide who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

    Trump is renewing the Greenland debate at a moment when he has no shortage of foreign policy crises to dealing with, including maintaining a fragile truce in Gaza and negotiating an end to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine.

    Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Tuesday questioned the wisdom of “picking fights with friends” at such a difficult moment around the globe.

    “Greenland’s sovereignty is not up for debate,” Shaheen said. “Denmark is a critical NATO ally that has stood side by side with the U.S.”

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

    Photos You Should See – December 2025

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  • Third inmate who escaped from southern Louisiana jail captured, officials say

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    The last of two inmates who had been on the run since escaping from a jail in the southern Louisiana city of Opelousas earlier this month has been caught, officials said Friday. A third inmate who was also part of the escape died by suicide after being caught by police, authorities previously said.

    Keith Anthony Eli II, 24, was taken into custody in Opelousas, St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said in a news release. Opelousas is located about 25 miles north of Lafayette.

    Guidroz said Eli was captured by narcotics detectives and a SWAT team thanks to a tip.  

    At the time of his escape, Eli was held on an attempted second-degree murder charge.

    The three men had escaped the St. Landry Parish Jail on Dec. 3 by removing concrete blocks from an upper wall area, Guidroz said at the time.

    Authorities said the inmates then used sheets and other materials to scale the exterior wall, climb onto a first-floor roof and lower themselves to the ground, Guidroz said.

    Escapee Jonathan Joseph, 24, was captured on Dec. 5. He is in custody on multiple charges, including first-degree rape.

    Joseph Harrington, 26, faced several felony charges, including home invasion. On Dec. 4, one day after the escape, he was recognized by a tipster while pushing a black e-bike. Police found the e-bike at a neighboring home and heard a gunshot while trying to coax him to leave the building. He had shot himself with a hunting rifle, Port Barre Police Chief Deon Boudreaux said by telephone to The Associated Press. 

    The escape came more than seven months after 10 inmates broke out of a New Orleans jail. All ten of since been captured.  

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  • Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott gave $7.1 billion to nonprofits in 2025, a major increase

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    NEW YORK (AP) — The author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott revealed $7.1 billion in donations to nonprofits in 2025 Tuesday, marking a significant increase in her annual giving from recent years.

    Writing in an essay on her website, Scott said, “This dollar total will likely be reported in the news, but any dollar amount is a vanishingly tiny fraction of the personal expressions of care being shared into communities this year.”

    Scott acknowledged donating $2.6 billion in 2024 and $2.1 billion in 2023. The gifts this year bring her total giving since 2019 to $26.3 billion.

    Scott’s donations have captured the attention of nonprofits and other charitable funders because they come with no strings attached and are often very large compared to the annual budgets of the recipient organizations. Forbes estimates Scott’s net worth at $33 billion, most of which comes from Amazon shares she received after her 2019 divorce from company founder Jeff Bezos..

    With the exception of an open call for applications in 2023, it is not possible to apply for her funding nor to reach her directly, as Scott maintains no public facing office or foundation. Organizations are usually notified through an intermediary that Scott is awarding them a donation with little prelude or warning.

    In advance of her announcement on her website, Yield Giving, more than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities revealed they had received $783 million in donations from Scott so far this year, according to research from Marybeth Gasman, a professor at Rutgers University and expert on HBCUs.

    “One of the things that I really admire about Mackenzie Scott is that she is like an equity machine,” Gasman said, especially at a time when efforts to promote equity in education have come under attack from the Trump administration. She also said Scott’s gifts to HBCUs this time are bigger than the round of donations she made in 2020.

    Not all of the schools that previously had received funding from Scott received a gift this time and there were some first-time recipients as well. In total, Gasman has tracked $1.35 billion in donations from Scott to HBCUs since 2020.

    In addition, UNCF, which is the largest provider of scholarships to minority students, received $70 million from Scott, and said it will invest the gift in a collective endowment it is building for participating HBCUs. Another $50 million went to Native Forward Scholars Fund, which had also received a previous gift from Scott and provides college and graduate scholarships to Native American students.

    Unlike Scott’s gifts, most foundations or major donors direct grants to specific programs and require an application and updates about the impact of the nonprofit’s work. Scott does not ask grantees to report back about how they used the money.

    Research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy in 2023 looked at the impact of Scott’s giving and found few of the recipients have struggled to manage the funds or have seen other funders pullback.

    Kim Mazzuca, the CEO of the California-based nonprofit, 10,000 Degrees, said her organization was notified of its first gift from Scott of $42 million earlier this year.

    “I was just filled with such joy. I was speechless and I kind of stumbled around with my words,” she said, and asked the person calling from Fidelity Charitable to clarify the donation amount, which is about double their annual budget.

    10,000 Degrees provides scholarships, mentoring and other support to low-income students and aims to help them graduate college without taking on loans. Mazzuca said that usually nonprofits grow only gradually, but that this gift will allow them to reach more students, to test some technology tools and to start an endowment.

    Mazzuca credited Scott for investing in proven solutions that already exist.

    “She comes from a very deep, reflective space, very heartfelt,” Mazzuca said. “And she’s only providing these financial means as a tool for people to recognize they are who they’ve been waiting for.”

    That idea references a prophecy from the Hopi Tribe that ends with the line, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” Mazzuca said she’s drawn on the prophecy for years to empower both her organization and the students it supports to recognize their own power to shape our world.

    In October, Scott posted an essay on her website under that title and sharing the prophecy. The essay, which she expanded upon in December to announce her giving, also reflects on how acts of generosity and kindness can ripple far afield and into the future. She cited her own experiences getting help while in college, including a dentist who repaired a tooth for free and her roommate who loaned her $1,000.

    Scott now has invested in that same roommate’s company, which offers loans to students who would otherwise struggle to get financing from banks. The investments seem to be part of an effort Scott announced last year to move more of her money into “mission aligned” investments, rather than into vehicles that seek only the highest monetary returns.

    In her 2025 essay, Scott seemed to urge people toward action, writing, “There are many ways to influence how we move through the world, and where we land.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Louisiana prison

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    Leslie Harris has missed most milestones in his daughter’s life while serving a decades-long sentence in Louisiana for armed robbery and is unlikely to get out before her prom, her graduation and maybe even her wedding.

    But for one night at Louisiana’s largest maximum-security prison, Harris made his own moment with his 17-year-old daughter while donning a custom tux and clutching a bouquet of roses: reuniting at the prison’s first father-daughter dance, where they embraced to Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” at a pink-heavy party this month that was widely shared on social media.

    “Seeing her in a dress, crying and running to me just broke me down,” said Harris, who has nine years left on his sentence, in a phone interview from the Louisiana State Penitentiary. “It made me think of all the years I missed out on in her life.”

    This photo provided by God Behind Bars shows a prisoner at the Louisiana State Penitentiary embracing a loved one before a father-daughter dance held inside the lockup in Angola, La., on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. 

    God Behind Bars via AP


    The lockup is the latest in the U.S. to hold a daddy-daughter dance, including one in Washington D.C. that was featured in the Netflix documentary “Daughters” last year. In Louisiana, prison officials say the dance could become another tradition at the rural lockup in Angola, which every October hosts the country’s last remaining prison rodeo. It has more than 6,300 prisoners, including dozens of people on death row, and is on the same grounds where a notorious lockup was converted into an immigration detention facility in September.

    Assistant Warden Anne-Marie Easley said she hoped the dance would bring a sense of hope that can be elusive in a prison where many are serving decades-long or life sentences. For some men, it was a chance to reunite with their daughters for the first time in months or even years – an opportunity to rebuild relationships and heal wounds. For others, it meant a night where they wouldn’t be seen as an inmate but rather a dad.

    The prison picked nearly 30 inmates to participate due to good behavior, among other factors. Videos posted from the event showed fathers in tuxedos – complete with pink boutonnieres – breaking down in tears as their daughters ran up to them in sparkly dresses, shrieking with excitement. They reunited in the middle of a pink carpet overlayed with petals, with breezy drapes hanging overhead. A dance space was setup in the prison’s Bible college.

    Prison Father Daughter Dance

    This photo provided by God Behind Bars shows prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary before a father-daughter dance held inside the lockup in Angola, La., on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. 

    God Behind Bars via AP


    The dance was put on by God Behind Bars, which hosts other reunification events and religious services in prisons nationwide. In videos the group posted before the dance, some prisoners said they wanted to apologize for all the years they missed. Others called the dance the most important prison visit of their lives.

    The night included the men surprising their daughters with a line dance after weeks of practice. For Harris, the best part was when he and his daughter slow danced to ‘Butterfly Kisses,’ a song about a dad’s unconditional love for his daughter.

    In that moment, Harris said memories rushed back of life before prison, when his daughter was just 2 years old. How she would sleep on his chest, play with his hair and how he would buy her little dresses. Before the night was over, he gave her a Bible with passages he highlighted.

    Prison Father Daughter Dance

    This photo provided by God Behind Bars shows prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary during a father-daughter dance held inside the lockup in Angola, La., on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. 

    God Behind Bars via AP


    “That’s really the heart of it at the end of the day,” said Jake Bodine, founder of God Behind Bars. “Show these individuals who is counting on them and once they realize the weight of that, they will hold themselves accountable for change.”

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  • College football rankings start juggling act at 6-7, while top 5 remain the same

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    The College Football Playoff rankings placed the spotlight on, where else this year, “6-7″ — flip-flopping Oregon and Ole Miss in those spots while keeping their top five teams the same in Tuesday night’s reveal.

    Oregon’s impressive victory over Southern California in one of last week’s few games between ranked teams accounted for the biggest change, moving the Ducks ahead of Mississippi, which didn’t play.

    The other meaningful shift was Miami’s move to No. 12, in a switch with Utah after the Utes gave up 472 yards rushing in a tight win over Kansas State.

    There are two more rankings to be revealed — next Tuesday, then Dec. 7 when the final top 25 will set the bracket for the 12-team playoff to start Dec. 19,

    Pitt’s return to the rankings — at No. 22 — after falling out for a week impacts the meaning of its key Atlantic Coast Conference game this week against the Hurricanes, who need a win and some help to make the conference title game but still have hopes of grabbing one of the playoff’s seven at-large berths.

    “Miami is a team that it really appears is starting to look like the Miami team that started 5-0,” said Hunter Yurachek, the chair of the selection committee.

    Following the Buckeyes for the fourth time in four rankings were fellow undefeated teams Indiana and Texas A&M. Georgia stayed at No. 4, followed by Texas Tech. After Oregon and Mississippi came Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Alabama and BYU at No. 11 and first team out on this week’s proverbial bubble.

    Ohio State and Indiana will play in what should be a 1 vs. 2 Big Ten title game if both win rivalry showdowns on the road over Thanksgiving weekend. Ohio State’s task is more difficult — against Michigan, which moved up three spots to No. 15. Indiana plays Purdue.

    No. 10 Alabama plays at Auburn with a spot in the Southeastern Conference title game on the line. The Tide’s opponent would be Texas A&M if the Aggies win at No. 16 Texas.

    Notre Dame and Miami were compared this week

    After some confusion last week about the weight given to Miami’s opening-week win over Notre Dame, Yurachek said those teams were, indeed, close enough in the rankings this week to be compared head-to-head. But still, that victory was not enough to push the Hurricanes past Notre Dame.

    “We compare a number of things when looking at teams closely ranked together,” Yurachek said. “We’ve got some teams ranked between Miami and Notre Dame, such as Alabama and BYU, who we’re also comparing Miami to.”

    Could Kiffin’s job status impact Ole Miss?

    Among the factors the committee can consider is the availability of players and coaches, which has potential to bring Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’s job status into play.

    Word from Oxford is that a decision will come on Kiffin’s potential move to LSU or Florida after this week’s game against Mississippi State. An Ole Miss team without one of the most sought-after coaches in the game wouldn’t seem as good as one with him.

    Still, Yurachek wouldn’t tip his hand on how that evaluation might go.

    “We’ll take care of that when it happens,” Yurachek said. “We don’t look ahead. The loss of player, loss of a key coach, is in the principles of how we rank teams, but we don’t have a data point for how we look at Ole Miss without their coach.”

    Ducks move to ‘where they need to be’

    After Oregon’s 42-27 win over USC, coach Dan Lanning said his team deserves credit for the schedule it plays — which included a tough conference game during a week in which many in the SEC were going against non-ranked, double-digit underdogs.

    The committee agreed.

    “We’ve been waiting for them to have that signature win to really put them where they need to be,” Yurachek said.

    Conference watch

    ACC — No. 18 Virginia and No. 21 SMU are the favorites to reach the title game, which means one of them has an inside edge to be in the playoff. The Hurricanes are likely in an at-large showdown with the likes of BYU, Vanderbilt and maybe Alabama.

    Big 12 — BYU is angling for another crack at Texas Tech in the title game. Hard to see the Cougars getting there, losing to the Red Raiders again and still making the playoff.

    Big Ten — Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon are locks. Michigan’s move up three to No. 15 gives the Wolverines a chance at an at-large bid (or maybe the conference title) with a win this week over the Buckeyes.

    SEC — Texas A&M, Georgia, Mississippi and Oklahoma should all be in. Alabama can’t really afford a third loss, but what if that loss comes in the SEC title game? The Tide makes it by beating Auburn. Vanderbilt would strengthen its case with a win at No. 19 Tennessee this week.

    Group of 5 — No. 24 Tulane of the American is still the only team from a non-power conference in the rankings. One problem. BetMGM Sportsbook has North Texas as the favorite to win the league title. That, in turn, could bring someone like James Madison back into the conversation.

    Projected first-round playoff matchups

    No. 12 Tulane at No. 5 Texas Tech: Could the Red Raiders, a deep-pocketed disruptor in the college football space, also turn into one of the sport’s powerhouses?

    No. 11 Miami at No. 6 Oregon: The Mario Cristobal Bowl — Hurricanes coach left Ducks suddenly in 2021 to return home.

    No. 10 Alabama at No. 7 Mississippi: Kiffin, the old offensive coordinator at Alabama, is 0-4 vs. Tide with Ole Miss.

    No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oklahoma: Notre Dame’s first televised game was a 27-21 win over OU in 1952.

    ___

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  • LSU confirms Kelly was fired ‘without cause’ and is owed his full $54 million buyout

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    Former LSU coach Brian Kelly received a letter from LSU on Wednesday confirming that he was fired without cause and is owed “liquidated damages as required” under his contract of about $54 million.

    The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, clears the way for Kelly to withdraw a Nov. 10 lawsuit against the university. Kelly said in the suit that LSU officials had suggested he could be fired for cause, which could have substantially reduced his buyout.

    LSU spells out in Wednesday’s letter that Kelly has a legal obligation to make “good-faith, reasonable and sustained efforts” to get another job in football while he is still being paid by LSU.

    Under Kelly’s contract, salary from a new football-related job would offset what he is owed by LSU. The 10-year contract, worth close to $100 million, runs through 2031, unless the two sides agree to a settlement severing their legal relationship before then.

    Kelly’s lawsuit, filed in civil district court in Baton Rouge, alleged that LSU representatives had told Kelly’s attorneys that the coach was never “formally terminated” the day after LSU’s 49-25 loss to No. 3 Texas A&M on Oct. 25.

    Additionally, Kelly’s lawsuit said that 15 days after he’d packed up his office and left his job, LSU representatives told the coach’s lawyers for the first time that the university intended to fire him for cause.

    However, Kelly’s attorneys made a Nov. 19 offer to withdraw the lawsuit if the university provided written confirmation that the coach was fired without cause and still owed the full buyout. The offer came in a letter, also obtained by the AP, that was sent to LSU Athletic Director Verge Ausberry and LSU Board of Supervisors Athletics Committee chairman John Carmouche.

    Wednesday’s response from LSU was signed by newly appointed university President Wade Rousse.

    The 64-year-old Kelly went 34-14 with LSU, including three bowl victories. But the Tigers did not reach the College Football Playoff — which last year expanded to a 12-team format — during Kelly’s tenure.

    Four days after Kelly had packed up his office at LSU’s football operations building and had been replaced by interim coach Frank Wilson, LSU athletic director Scott Woodard resigned under pressure from Gov. Jeff Landry and his appointees on LSU’s Board of Supervisors.

    The day before Woodward resigned, Landry publicly slammed the then-athletic director, saying he would not be permitted to hire LSU’s next football coach. Landry also blamed Woodward for signing Kelly to a contract that became financially burdensome when the coach did not meet expectations.

    According to Kelly’s contract with LSU, the school could have fired him for cause if it had cited “serious misconduct,” including NCAA violations, crimes or immoral behavior.

    “Coach Kelly never engaged in any such conduct, and LSU never relied on any incident of cause” before firing Kelly, the coach’s Nov. 10 lawsuit stated.

    Kelly has informed LSU that he was open to a settlement, but that it had to “make sense financially.” It is common for people owed money through a certain future date to settle for a “present value” derived from a number of variables, including recent and projected rates of inflation.

    LSU initially offered to settle with a lump-sum payment of $25 million, which was raised to $30 million after Kelly rejected the initial offer, according to documents filed in Kelly’s case.

    Kelly has rejected LSU’s settlement offers so far, “but stated he remained open to any additional offers that LSU would like to make.”

    ___

    Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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  • Louisiana death row inmate released on bail after conviction overturned in child’s death nearly 3 decades later

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    A Louisiana man who spent nearly three decades on death row has been released on bail Wednesday after his conviction was overturned earlier this year. 

    Jimmie Duncan had originally been convicted of first-degree murder in 1998 after prosecutors accused him of raping and drowning 23-month-old Haley Oliveaux, the daughter of his then-girlfriend Allison Layton Statham.

    Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Alvin Sharp threw out that conviction in April after hearing expert testimony that the forensic evidence which put Duncan behind bars was “not scientifically defensible” and that Oliveaux’s death appeared to be the result of an “accidental drowning.” Similar faulty forensic bite mark analysis has led to dozens of other wrongful convictions or charges.

    “The presumption is not great that he is guilty,” Sharp wrote in his order Friday granting Duncan bail, citing the new evidence presented at an evidentiary hearing last year and Duncan’s lack of prior criminal history.

    This 2017 photo shows Jimmie Duncan, second from left, with family and friends at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana.

    Mwalimu Center for Justice via AP


    Duncan’s attorneys said in a statement that Sharp’s ruling earlier this year provided “clear and convincing evidence showing that Mr. Duncan is factually innocent.” They added that Duncan’s release on bail “marks a significant step forward for Mr. Duncan’s complete exoneration.”

    Louisiana has one of highest wrongful conviction rates in nation

    Since 1973, more than 200 people on death row have been exonerated, including 12 people in Louisiana, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In Louisiana, which has one of the highest wrongful conviction rates in the nation, the last death row exoneration came in 2016. Earlier this month, a man who served decades in prison before being exonerated won election to serve as the chief recordkeeper of New Orleans’ criminal court.

    Duncan, whose vacated conviction is still being reviewed by the Louisiana Supreme Court, was released after posting a $150,000 bond. He plans to live with a relative in central Louisiana.

    Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who is pushing to hasten executions of death row inmates, said that Duncan should not be released on bail while the Louisiana Supreme Court reviews his case.

    But the high court agreed to let a district judge rule on Duncan’s bail request.

    During Duncan’s bail hearing in Ouachita Parish, the mother of the girl he was accused of killing told the judge that she had become convinced of Duncan’s innocence. Instead, Statham believed her daughter, who she said had a history of seizures, had accidentally drowned in a bathtub. 

    The Innocence Project said in a statement that in the weeks prior to her death Haley suffered from a series of seizures and injuries, including one that happened from a fall and led to a week long hospital stay. Warm baths could increase the risk of subsequent seizures, the statement said. 

    Her daughter “wasn’t killed,” Statham said according to court records. “Haley died because she was sick.” 

    Statham told the court that the lives of her family and Duncan “have been destroyed by the lie” she believed prosecutors and forensic experts had concocted.

    Prosecutors had relied on bite mark analysis and an autopsy conducted by two experts later linked to at least 10 wrongful convictions, according to Duncan’s legal team, which described the pair as discredited “charlatans.”

    Mississippi-based forensic dentist Michael West and pathologist Steven Hayne examined Oliveaux’s body.

    Bite-mark analysis discredited

    A video recording of the examination shows West “forcibly pushing a mold of Mr. Duncan’s teeth into the child’s body — creating the bite marks” later used to convict him, a court-filing from Duncan’s legal team stated. A state-appointed expert, unaware of this method, testified during trial that the bite marks on the body matched Duncan’s.

    “The horror story that they put out and desecrated my baby’s memory makes me infuriated,” Statham said.

    “I was not informed of anything that would have exonerated Mr. Duncan at all,” she added. “Had I been then, things would have turned out a lot different for Mr. Duncan and all of our families.”

    An Associated Press review from 2013 found at least two dozen wrongful convictions or charges based on bite mark evidence since 2000.

    “Bite mark evidence is junk science, and there is no more prejudicial type of junk science that exists than bite mark evidence,” M. Chris Fabricant, an Innocence Project lawyer representing Duncan, told the court during the bail hearing.

    Hayne, the pathologist, is deceased. West has previously said that DNA testing has made bite mark analysis obsolete, yet he has defended his work in other cases that led to overturned convictions. The pair’s testimony led two Mississippi men, Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer, to serve a combined three decades in prison in two separate cases for the rape and murder of young girls until DNA evidence cleared them of the crimes.

    Prosecutors are seeking to reinstate Duncan’s conviction and pointed to the 1994 grand jury indictment in his case as grounds for keeping him locked up, court records show. The office of Ouachita Parish District Attorney Robert Tew declined to comment, citing the Louisiana Supreme Court’s pending review.

    Duncan was one of 55 people on death row in Louisiana, held at the state prison in Angola. After a 15-year hiatus, Louisiana carried out its first execution in March.

    Duncan’s legal team described him as a “model prisoner” who helped other death row inmates obtain their GEDs and has “strong community support for his release.”

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  • Childish Gambino reveals he had a stroke last year, which forced him to cancel tour

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    Donald Glover is opening up about a recent health scare that forced him to cancel his tour last year. At the time, he described it as an “ailment,” but Glover said Saturday night at a performance that a doctor told him he’d had a stroke.

    Glover, who performs under the moniker Childish Gambino, shared the information on stage at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival in Los Angeles. His remarks were shared widely on social media.

    “You guys voted for a ‘where have I been monologue,’” Glover, 42, said. “I had a really bad pain in my head in Louisiana and I did the show anyway. I couldn’t really see well, so when we went to Houston, I went to the hospital and the doctor was like, ‘You had a stroke.’”

    Glover said he felt like he was letting everyone down, lamenting that he still hasn’t been to Ireland. He also revealed that “they found a hole” in his heart and he had to have two surgeries.

    “They say everybody has two lives and the second life starts when you realize you have one,” Glover said. “You got one life, guys, and I gotta be honest, the life I’ve lived with you guys has been such a blessing.”

    CBS News has reached out to Glover’s representatives for additional comment.

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