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Investigators believe the missing mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie is “still out there,” but they have not identified any suspects. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos also said Thursday that DNA tests showed blood found on Nancy Guthrie’s porch…
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By SEJAL GOVINDARAO, JACQUES BILLEAUD and JOHN SEEWER – Associated Press
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The writings of the person who killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville can be made available to the public, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday.
The ruling is part of a yearslong dispute over public records surrounding the 2023 shooting that likely is not over yet. The shooter left behind documents that include journals, a suicide note and a memoir, according to court filings. A group of Covenant parents has been fighting to keep them from being released out of fear that the writings will further traumatize their children and could inspire copycat attacks.
A lower court ruling in 2024 sided with the parents. The Wednesday ruling overturns much of that opinion.
The court battle could set a precedent for how similar records will be treated in cases involving school shootings. But it might not change what the public knows about this particular case. Many of the documents have already been made public, either through leaks or by the FBI through a separate public records request and lawsuit. However, the full investigative report from Nashville police remains sealed.
Quoting from earlier court rulings, the appeals court on Wednesday explicitly noted the importance of the Tennessee Public Records Act as “a tool to hold government officials and agencies accountable to the citizens of Tennessee through oversight in government activities.”
The lower court’s 2024 ruling found that the Covenant shooting records fall under an exception to the Public Records Act because they are related to school safety. In the Wednesday ruling, the appeals court said that interpretation of the school safety exception was overly broad.
“We are asked to accept at face value the trial court’s finding that every single item compiled or created by the shooter, for many years before the event at issue, relates to the Covenant School’s security. This conclusion strains credulity,” the appeals court wrote.
The 2024 ruling also found that any writings or other works created by the shooter could not be released because they were protected by federal copyright law. As part of the effort to keep the records closed, the shooter’s parents transferred ownership of the documents to the Covenant families in 2024. The parents then argued in court that they should be allowed to determine who has access to them.
In Wednesday’s ruling, the appeals court opined that even if some of the records are protected by copyright law, Metro Nashville Police could still allow the public to inspect them without running afoul of the law.
“The trial court and the Parents, however, conflate the concept of access for inspection with reproduction and display,” the appeals court wrote.
The appeals court sent the case back to the lower court to amend the 2024 ruling. The Covenant parents have 60 days to appeal, and their attorney, Eric Osborne, said in an email Thursday that they have not yet decided what they will do.
Those killed in the March 2023 shooting were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old, and adults Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61.
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Pizza Hut plans to close 250 U.S. restaurants in the first half of this year as its parent company considers a sale of the chain.
Yum Brands said Wednesday it’s targeting underperforming Pizza Hut restaurants in its system. Pizza Hut has more than 6,000 locations in the U.S.
Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands said in November it was conducting a formal review of options for Pizza Hut, which has struggled with outdated stores and growing competition. The chain’s U.S. same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, fell 5% last year, Yum said.
Rival Domino’s, the world’s largest pizza company, hasn’t yet released its full-year earnings, but its U.S. same-store sales were up 2.7% in the first nine months of last year.
Internationally, Pizza Hut’s results have been stronger. International same-store sales were up 1% last year, with growth in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, Yum said. China is Pizza Hut’s second-largest market outside the U.S., accounting for 19% of sales.
Yum CEO Chris Turner said Wednesday that the company plans to complete its review of options for Pizza Hut this year. He declined to share further updates on the process.
Pizza Hut ended 2025 with 19,974 stores globally, which was 251 fewer than it had the previous year. Pizza Hut opened nearly 1,200 stores across 65 countries last year, but closures outpaced that. Yum said Wednesday that Pizza Hut plans more global openings in 2026 but it didn’t give details.
Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas. PepsiCo acquired the chain in 1977 but spun off its restaurant division — which became Yum Brands — in 1997. Yum Brands also owns KFC, Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill.
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Andrés Velásquez didn’t stick around to become one more government critic jailed after Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election.
A former governor who had crisscrossed Venezuela stumping for then-President Nicolás Maduro’s opponent in the disputed race, he grew a thick beard, sent his children into exile and avoided public events that could expose him to arrest.
But in the aftermath of Maduro’s overthrow by the U.S., he mustered the courage to speak out. First, on Jan. 19, Velásquez, with his new look, appeared in a video in which he expressed support for Maduro’s removal while calling for new elections. Then, a few days later, he stuck his neck out even further, shooting a short video outside the infamous Helicoide prison in the capital, Caracas, to demand the release of all political prisoners.
“We must dismantle the entire repressive apparatus in the hands of the state,” Velásquez said in the video. “Venezuela will be free!”
Velásquez isn’t alone. Since Maduro’s ouster, a number of prominent critics have started to emerge from hiding to test the limits of political speech after years of self-imposed silence driven by fear. Regular Venezuelans are also throwing off restraint, with families of jailed activists protesting outside prisons and those freed defying gag orders normally imposed as a condition for release. Meanwhile, media outlets have begun re-opening their airwaves to critical voices banished in recent years.
The political liberalization, while still incipient, was likened by Velásquez to glasnost, referring to the era of reforms and freer public debate that preceded the collapse of the Soviet Union. But unlike that and other democratic openings, this one is taking place almost entirely under the tutelage of the Trump administration, which has used a combination of financial incentives and threats of additional military strikes to carry out the president’s seemingly improbable pledge to “run” Venezuela from Washington.
Last week, Rodríguez, a longtime Maduro ally, announced plans for a general amnesty that could lead to the release of hundreds of opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. She also announced the shutdown of Helicoide, vowing to transform the spiral-shaped building — a futuristic architectural icon transfigured into a symbol of Maduro’s dungeons — into a sports and cultural complex for police and residents of surrounding hillside slums.
“May this law serve to heal the wounds left by the political confrontation fueled by violence and extremism,” she said at an event surrounded by ruling-party stalwarts.
Pedro Vaca, the top freedom of expression expert for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the region’s most respected rights watchdog, said the few “breadcrumbs” offered by Rodríguez’s administration are no substitute for an independent judiciary and law enforcement.
“Venezuela’s civic space is still a desert,” said Vaca, who has been trying for months to secure permission from Venezuelan officials to lead an on-the-ground assessment mission to the country. “The few critical voices emerging are seeds breaking through hardened ground, surviving not because freedom exists, but because repression has loosened while remaining ever-present. Let us be clear: this does not mark a democratic turning point.”
Self-censorship deepens after 2024 election
Political pluralism was severely eroded in Venezuela after Maduro took over the presidency from the late Hugo Chávez in 2013. Anti-government protests and episodes of civil unrest were regularly crushed by security forces whose loyalty to the self-proclaimed socialist leader proved unflinching if powerless against a far-superior U.S. military.
The self-censorship deepened following the July 2024 elections, when Maduro launched a wave of repression marked by thousands of arbitrary detentions as he disavowed evidence showing he had lost the contested ballot to the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, by a more than two-to-one margin.
Dissidents went into hiding, and the few remaining independent news outlets softened their already cautious coverage for fear of being unplugged.
In an interview with the AP, Velásquez said he will continue to push the envelope of allowed political activity but remains wary because the state’s repressive apparatus continues to be entirely under the control of Rodríguez and her allies.
“We must continue winning back lost terrain, challenging power. An opportunity has opened up and we can’t let it close again,” he said. “But the biggest obstacle we have to overcome is fear.”
In the coming weeks, he’s looking to organize a public event with other government opponents who have recently come out of hiding. Among them is Delsa Solórzano, a former lawmaker who was also a fixture of the opposition’s 2024 presidential campaign. Solórzano last week resurfaced publicly at a rare press conference for her party, describing with tears how she had to take Vitamin D to compensate for the lack of sunlight while living clandestinely.
“I didn’t hide because I committed any crime but because here fighting for freedom became an extremely high risk — to your life, your freedom and your safety,” Solórzano said.
Rodriguez allies resist political liberalization
Media outlets have also started flexing more muscle.
Venevision, which like most private networks dropped coverage critical of the government in recent years, has reopened its airwaves to anti-government voices, covering opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s every move in Washington since Maduro’s capture.
Meanwhile, Globovision, the nation’s largest private broadcaster, whose owner is sanctioned by the U.S. for his ties to Maduro, invited back prominent commentator Vladimir Villegas for the first time in years.
Villegas earned a reputation for deftly navigating Venezuela’s already restricted airwaves by keeping the government’s most hardened opponents off his influential political talk show. But the show was abruptly canceled in 2020 when Villegas criticized Maduro for forcing DirecTV to carry state TV in violation of U.S. sanctions, a move that forced the satellite TV provider — and its assortment of international news outlets — to abandon the country.
Rodríguez herself hasn’t embraced meaningful public debate of the nation’s problems other than announcing the creation of an advisory commission on political co-existence to be headed by Villegas’ brother, Culture Minister Ernesto Villegas.
But already some of her allies seem intent on shutting down any criticism. Meanwhile, authorities have yet to restore full access to the social media platform X, which Maduro blocked after its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, accused him of stealing the 2024 vote.
In response to Venevision’s coverage of Machado’s meeting in Washington with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello — a hardliner wanted by the U.S. on a drug warrant — accused the media of playing into a plot by the Nobel Prize winner to sow chaos in Venezuela.
“Without media attention, her notoriety fades away. Without headlines, she simply disappears,” Cabello warned on state TV, singling out Venevision’s coverage.
But even on state TV — long a bastion of pro-government propaganda and ideological control — cracks have started to appear.
Case in point: Rodríguez’s recent tour of a university campus in Caracas in which she was confronted by a small group of student protesters. While state TV made no mention of the students’ demands, the scene itself — in which a Rodríguez was shown calmly separating from her security entourage to “exchange ideas” with what the broadcaster called activists from “extremist parities” — would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago.
Under Maduro, even the mildest of criticism was buried on state TV and broadcasts of the president’s frequent rallies and outdoor events stopped airing live after a series of embarrassing disruptions, including a 2016 visit to Margarita Island in which he was driven away by a group of angry, pot-banging protesters.
Drawing inspiration from jailed activists
While the outlook for an eventual democratic transition in Venezuela remains unknown, government opponents hope Rodriguez is unleashing forces that are beyond her control. Meanwhile, they continue to draw inspiration from those who suffered repression firsthand.
Journalist and political activist Carlos Julio Rojas spent 638 days in a Venezuelan prison where, like dozens of other prisoners, he said he was repeatedly handcuffed, denied sunlight and confined to a tiny cell with no bed — sometimes for weeks at a time.
When he was released last month as part of a goodwill gesture announced by Rodríguez, he says he was instructed to never discuss the abuse.
His mandated silence lasted barely 15 days.
“For me, not speaking meant I still felt imprisoned. Not speaking was a form of torture,” said Rojas, who was accused without proof of participating in a 2024 assassination plot against Maduro. “So, today, I decided to remove the gag and speak.”
Goodman reported from Washington
This story is part of an ongoing collaboration between The Associated Press and FRONTLINE (PBS) that includes an upcoming documentary.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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The two artificial intelligence startups behind rival chatbots ChatGPT and Claude are bracing for an existential showdown this year as both need to prove they can grow a business that will make more money than they’re losing.
The fiercest competition between the two AI developers, along with bigger companies like Google, is a race to win over corporate leaders looking to adopt AI tools to boost workplace productivity. The rivalry is also spilling into other realms, including the Super Bowl.
Anthropic is airing a pair of TV commercials during Sunday’s game that ridicule OpenAI for the digital advertising it’s beginning to place on free and cheaper versions of ChatGPT. While Anthropic has centered its revenue model on selling Claude to other businesses, OpenAI has opened the doors to ads as a way of making money from the hundreds of millions of consumers who get ChatGPT for free.
Anthropic’s commercials humorously mock the dangers of manipulative chatbots — represented as real people speaking in a stilted and unnaturally effusive tone — that form a relationship with a user before trying to hawk a product. The commercials end with a written message — “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude.” — followed by the opening beat and lyrics of the Dr. Dre song “What’s the Difference.”
In a sign they struck a nerve, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a social media post that he laughed at the “funny” ads but blasted them as dishonest and threw shade at his competitor’s smaller customer base.
“Anthropic serves an expensive product to rich people,” Altman wrote on X. He also boasted that more Texans “use ChatGPT for free” than all the people in the United States who use Claude.
The rivalry has existed ever since a group of OpenAI leaders quit the AI research laboratory and formed Anthropic in 2021, promising a clearer focus on the safety of the better-than-human technology called artificial general intelligence that both San Francisco firms wanted to build. That was before OpenAI first released ChatGPT in late 2022, revealing the huge commercial potential of large language models that could help write emails, homework or computer code.
The competition ramped up this week as both companies launched product updates. OpenAI on Thursday launched a new platform called Frontier, designed to be a one-stop shop for businesses adopting a variety of AI tools that can work in tandem, particularly AI agents that work autonomously on someone’s behalf.
“We can be the partner of choice for AI transformation for enterprise. The sky is the limit in terms of revenue we can generate from a platform like that,” Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of applications, told reporters this week.
Anthropic earlier in the week said it was adding new functionality to its Cowork assistant to help automate legal research and drafting work.
“Both OpenAI and Anthropic are really trying to position themselves as a platform company,” said Gartner analyst Arun Chandrasekaran. “The models are important, but the models aren’t a means to an end.”
The two startups aren’t just competing with each other. They also face competition from Google, which is both a leading developer of a powerful AI model, Gemini, and has its own cloud computing infrastructure backed by revenue from its legacy digital advertising business. They also have complicated relationships with Amazon, which is Anthropic’s primary cloud provider, and Microsoft, which holds a 27% stake in OpenAI.
The first choice for businesses looking to adopt AI agents is typically cloud computing “hyperscalers” like Microsoft, Google and Amazon, which offer a package of services, while AI model providers like Anthropic and OpenAI “tend to come in second place,” said Nancy Gohring, a senior research director at IDC.
But there’s an opening because none of the players are giving businesses what they want, which are stronger security and compliance assurances to enable the more widespread use of AI agents.
“Adopting AI and agents is inherently somewhat risky,” Gohring said.
There’s also the AI division of Elon Musk’s newly merged SpaceX and its chatbot, Grok, which is not yet a viable contender for business customers. Musk has long set his sights on OpenAI, which he co-founded and is now suing in a court case set for trial in April.
SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic are among the world’s most valuable privately held firms and Wall Street investors expect any, or all of them, could become publicly traded within the next year or so. But unlike SpaceX, which has its rocket business to fall back on, or established tech giants — like Amazon, Google and Microsoft — both Anthropic and OpenAI must find a way to make enough in sales to pay for the huge costs in computer chips and data centers to run their energy-hungry AI systems.
It’s not that Anthropic and OpenAI aren’t making money or growing their product lines. The private firms don’t publicly disclose sales but both have signaled they are making billions of dollars in revenue on their existing products, including paid chatbot subscriptions for individual users.
But it has costs a lot more money to fund the computing infrastructure needed to build these powerful AI models and respond to the millions of prompts they get each day. OpenAI, in particular, has said it owes more than $1 trillion in financial obligations to backers — including Oracle, Microsoft and Nvidia — that are essentially fronting the compute costs on the expectation of future payoffs.
For some, the wait will likely be worth it.
“Profitability matters, but not as a near‑term decision factor for investors who remain focused on scale, differentiation and infrastructure leverage,” said Forrester analyst Charlie Dai. “Both companies continue to post heavy losses, yet investors still back them because the frontier‑model race demands extraordinary capital intensity.”
Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s newly hired chief revenue officer, told reporters this week that the company’s priority is “building the best enterprise platform for all industries, all segments.”
“I don’t think we’re thinking about it from a revenue standpoint, but truly from a customer outcome standpoint,” she said, in part reflecting the “sense of urgency” from CEOs who want a smoother way of applying AI.
“There’s a recognition that AI is becoming a core operating advantage,” Dresser said. “They don’t want to be on the wrong side of that shift.”
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Singer LaMonte McLemore has died. He was a founding member of the 5th Dimension, a vocal group whose smooth pop and soul sounds with a touch of psychedelia brought them big hits in the 1960s and ’70s.
McLemore died Tuesday at age 90 at his home in Las Vegas, surrounded by his family, his representative Jeremy Westby said in a statement. He died of natural causes after having a stroke.
The 5th Dimension had broad crossover success and won six Grammy Awards including record of the year twice, for 1967’s “Up, Up and Away” and 1969’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In.” Both songs were also top 10 pop hits, with “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” a mashup of songs from the musical “Hair,” spending six weeks at No. 1.
McLemore had a parallel career as a sports and celebrity photographer whose pictures appeared in magazines including Jet.
The St. Louis-born McLemore had served in the U.S. Navy, where he worked as an aerial photographer. He played baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ farm system and settled in Southern California, where he began making use of his warm bass voice and skill with a camera.
He sang in a jazz ensemble, the Hi-Fi’s, with future 5th Dimension bandmate Marilyn McCoo. The group opened for Ray Charles in 1963, but broke up the following year.
Later, McLemore, McCoo, and two of his childhood friends from St. Louis, Billy Davis Jr. and Ronald Towson, along with schoolteacher Florence LaRue, formed a singing group called the Versatiles in 1965, and signed to singer Johnny Rivers’ new label, Soul City Records,
Rivers told the group, his first signees, that their name wasn’t current enough. Towson came up with the 5th Dimension, a name that would echo the sprinkling of psychedelia and hippy culture the group embraced.
Their breakthrough hit came in 1967 with the Mamas & the Papas’ song “Go Where You Wanna Go.”
That same year they released the Jimmy Webb-penned “Up, Up and Away,” which would go to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song would later win four Grammys: record of the year, best contemporary single, best performance by a vocal group and best contemporary group performance.
McLemore is survived by his wife of 30 years, Mieko McLemore, daughter Ciara, son Darin, sister Joan and three grandchildren.
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Minute Maid helped make orange juice a year-round morning staple in 1946, when it started shipping cans of frozen juice around the U.S. But 80 years later, the brand’s parent company is halting sales of frozen juice concentrates in the U.S. and Canada,…
Minute Maid helped make orange juice a year-round morning staple in 1946, when it started shipping cans of frozen juice around the U.S.
But 80 years later, the brand’s parent company is halting sales of frozen juice concentrates in the U.S. and Canada, saying it wants to focus on the fresh juices that customers now prefer.
“We are discontinuing our frozen products and exiting the frozen can category in response to shifting consumer preferences,” The Coca-Cola Co., which owns Minute Maid, said Wednesday in a statement.
Minute Maid’s frozen juices – including several varieties of orange juice, lemonade and limeade – will be discontinued by April, with inventory available while supplies last, Coca-Cola said.
For generations, Americans who wanted orange juice without the work of squeezing fresh fruit cracked open a can and watched a cylinder of frozen juice go ker-plunk into a pitcher. The concentrated juice was mixed with water to make it ready for drinking.
In 1946, Vacuum Foods Corp. became the first U.S. company to ship frozen orange juice across the country, according to Coca-Cola. It named the product Minute Maid; Vacuum Foods eventually changed its name to Minute Maid as well. Rival Tropicana, which still sells frozen canned juice, was founded in 1947.
Coca-Cola acquired Minute Maid in 1960, and 13 years later, Minute Maid introduced ready-to-drink orange juice, which was sold in the refrigerated case instead of the freezer and let consumers skip the step of mixing it up. Minute Maid added lemonade and fruit punch to its lineup in 1980.
In recent years, orange juice has struggled as other options, like energy drinks and protein smoothies, have flooded the market. Skyrocketing prices due to poor weather conditions in Brazil and Florida haven’t helped; a 12-ounce can of frozen orange juice cost an average of $4.82 in December, up 13% from the prior year, according to U.S. government data.
Consumers also increasingly questioned the added sugar in juices. Minute Maid launched Zero Sugar versions of its fresh juices in 2020. But its frozen juices have languished along with the broader frozen juice category.
U.S. sales of frozen beverages fell nearly 8% in the 52 weeks ending Jan. 24, according to the market research firm NielsenIQ.
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NEW YORK — Elon Musk vowed this week to upend another industry just as he did with cars and rockets — and once again he’s taking on long odds.
The world’s richest man said he wants to put as many as a million satellites into orbit to form vast, solar-powered data centers in space — a move to allow expanded use of artificial intelligence and chatbots without triggering blackouts and sending utility bills soaring.
To finance that effort, Musk combined SpaceX with his AI business on Monday and plans a big initial public offering of the combined company.
“Space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale,” Musk wrote on SpaceX’s website Monday, adding about his solar ambitions, “It’s always sunny in space!”
But scientists and industry experts say even Musk — who outsmarted Detroit to turn Tesla into the world’s most valuable automaker — faces formidable technical, financial and environmental obstacles.
Here’s a look:
Capturing the sun’s energy from space to run chatbots and other AI tools would ease pressure on power grids and cut demand for sprawling computing warehouses that are consuming farms and forests and vast amounts of water to cool.
But space presents its own set of problems.
Data centers generate enormous heat. Space seems to offer a solution because it is cold. But it is also a vacuum, trapping heat inside objects in the same way that a Thermos keeps coffee hot using double walls with no air between them.
“An uncooled computer chip in space would overheat and melt much faster than one on Earth,” said Josep Jornet, a computer and electrical engineering professor at Northeastern University.
One fix is to build giant radiator panels that glow in infrared light to push the heat “out into the dark void,” says Jornet, noting that the technology has worked on a small scale, including on the International Space Station. But for Musk’s data centers, he says, it would require an array of “massive, fragile structures that have never been built before.”
Then there is space junk.
A single malfunctioning satellite breaking down or losing orbit could trigger a cascade of collisions, potentially disrupting emergency communications, weather forecasting and other services.
Musk noted in a recent regulatory filing that he has had only one “low-velocity debris generating event” in seven years running Starlink, his satellite communications network. Starlink has operated about 10,000 satellites — but that’s a fraction of the million or so he now plans to put in space.
“We could reach a tipping point where the chance of collision is going to be too great,” said University at Buffalo’s John Crassidis, a former NASA engineer. “And these objects are going fast — 17,500 miles per hour. There could be very violent collisions.”
Even without collisions, satellites fail, chips degrade, parts break.
Special GPU graphics chips used by AI companies, for instance, can become damaged and need to be replaced.
“On Earth, what you would do is send someone down to the data center,” said Baiju Bhatt, CEO of Aetherflux, a space-based solar energy company. “You replace the server, you replace the GPU, you’d do some surgery on that thing and you’d slide it back in.”
But no such repair crew exists in orbit, and those GPUs in space could get damaged due to their exposure to high-energy particles from the sun.
Bhatt says one workaround is to overprovision the satellite with extra chips to replace the ones that fail. But that’s an expensive proposition given they are likely to cost tens of thousands of dollars each, and current Starlink satellites only have a lifespan of about five years.
Musk is not alone trying to solve these problems.
A company in Redmond, Washington, called Starcloud, launched a satellite in November carrying a single Nvidia-made AI computer chip to test out how it would fare in space. Google is exploring orbital data centers in a venture it calls Project Suncatcher. And Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin announced plans in January for a constellation of more than 5,000 satellites to start launching late next year, though its focus has been more on communications than AI.
Still, Musk has an edge: He’s got rockets.
Starcloud had to use one of his Falcon rockets to put its chip in space last year. Aetherflux plans to send a set of chips it calls a Galactic Brain to space on a SpaceX rocket later this year. And Google may also need to turn to Musk to get its first two planned prototype satellites off the ground by early next year.
Pierre Lionnet, a research director at the trade association Eurospace, says Musk routinely charges rivals far more than he charges himself —- as much as $20,000 per kilo of payload versus $2,000 internally.
He said Musk’s announcements this week signal that he plans to use that advantage to win this new space race.
“When he says we are going to put these data centers in space, it’s a way of telling the others we will keep these low launch costs for myself,” said Lionnet. “It’s a kind of powerplay.”
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WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge will hold a hearing on Friday on the emergency request of New York and New Jersey to force the restoration of funding for the massive $16 billion Hudson River tunnel before construction is set to halt on Friday.
The states, which filed suit late on Tuesday, have asked for a temporary restraining order that would bar the U.S. Transportation Department from withholding funding.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese)
Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.
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Police in Arizona say they are investigating the legitimacy of several suspected ransom notes sent to media outlets around the area where Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Savannah Guthrie — who hosts NBC’s morning show Today — was allegedly abducted.
At least three different media outlets, TMZ and two of CNN’s Tucson affiliates, KOLD and KGUN, reported receiving the purported ransom notes demanding millions in bitcoin for Guthrie’s release.
Police have not determined whether the notes are legitimate, but told reporters on Tuesday that they are being taken seriously.
“When the note comes to us, it’s like any piece of evidence. You give it to us. You give us a lead. We’re going to look at every aspect of that lead and work it as a lead,” Sheriff Chris Nanos said.
Nanos said TMZ reported receiving the note before alerting authorities.
The outlets that reported receiving the ransom note said it contained specific information about the inside of Guthrie’s home, but did not provide any further details. Nanos has not confirmed whether the contents of the notes match the crime scene. He said that the notes had been shared with Savannah Guthrie.
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In a new interview with NBC’s Liz Kreutz on Today on Wednesday morning, Nanos said, “We have nothing else to go on but the belief that she is here.”
“We want to save her,” he continued.
In a statement posted on X on Tuesday afternoon, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said it was aware of reports of ransom notes and that it was working closely with the FBI.
Investigators believe Guthrie, 84, was taken from her home in Tucson, Ariz., against her will.
Nanos said Guthrie has limited mobility and noted other factors indicating she did not leave on her own, but declined to elaborate further.
Guthrie, who lived alone, was of sound mind, he added.
“This is not dementia-related. She’s as sharp as a tack. The family wants everyone to know that this isn’t someone who just wandered off,” Nanos said, adding that she needs daily medication.
Nanos said at a news conference Sunday night that Guthrie was last seen around 9:30 p.m. Saturday at her home in the Tucson area.
Her family reported her missing around noon Sunday. The sheriff said a family member received a call from someone at church saying Nancy Guthrie wasn’t there, leading family to search for her at her home and then calling 911.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department via AP
Nanos told CBS News that security footage from Guthrie’s home revealed nothing because it was likely auto-deleted after a certain period. It will have to be obtained via forensic means, he said.
A search using dogs, drones and supported by border patrol agents and a homicide unit was triggered over the weekend but has since been pulled back, Nanos said. It is not standard for the homicide team to get involved in such cases, he added.
“This one stood out because of what was described to us at the scene and what we located just looking at the scene,” Nanos said Sunday. He was not ruling out foul play.
“We don’t see this as a search mission so much as it is a crime scene,” the sheriff said on Monday.
A small amount of blood was found inside the Tucson home, a law enforcement source told CBS News. As of this writing, it has not been confirmed whose blood was at the scene. Tests are currently being conducted to determine its origin.
Savannah Guthrie issued a statement on Monday about her mother’s disappearance.
“On behalf of our family, I want to thank everyone for the thoughts, prayers and messages of support,” she said. “Right now, our focus remains on the safe return of our dear Nancy.”
— With files from Global News’ Katie Scott
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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NEW YORK — The dog was Penny. The win was priceless.
A Doberman pinscher named Penny won best in show Tuesday night at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, netting U.S. show dogs’ most coveted prize — and giving veteran handler Andy Linton another win after nearly four decades. Linton got best in show in 1989 with another Doberman, named Indy.
Penny “is as great a Doberman as I have ever seen,” Linton told a supportive crowd. Despite health problems, he guided the 4-year-old dog through an impeccably crisp performance.
“I had some goals, and this was one of them,” Linton said, adding later in a conversation with reporters that as he’s winding down his career, winning at the milestone 150th annual Westminster show is “extra-special.”
Runner-up — and cheers just as loud — went to a Chesapeake Bay retriever named Cota. While Dobermans have won five times including Tuesday, no retriever has ever won, and their fans applaud every encouraging sign.
Cota also seemed to enjoy the moment, particularly when his handler, Devon Kipp Levy, let him play with the ribbon.
Other finalists included an Afghan hound named Zaida, a Lhasa apso called JJ, a Maltese named Cookie, an old English sheepdog dubbed Graham and a smooth fox terrier called Wager. The judge, two-time Westminster-winning handler David Fitzpatrick, called the lineup one “that will go down in history.”
Each dog is assessed according to how closely it matches the ideal for its breed. The winner gets a trophy, ribbons and bragging rights.
A crowd favorite at the 2025 Westminster show, Penny has rocked show rings since. A throng of handlers and other dog folk cheered for the seemingly undistractable dog and for Linton in early-round action Tuesday afternoon.
Ringside afterward, Penny politely but pointedly nudged her nose into a visitor’s leg, looking for something — pets, as it turned out. She’s generally “very chill,” Linton said later, “but she can get pretty pumped up for a bad guy. Or a squirrel.”
Co-owner Greg Chan of Toronto said Penny is “very demanding and very smart,” but she’s also “a pleaser — she’ll do anything for food.” (Her favorite snack? “Everything.”)
Penny came out on top after 2,500 dogs, spanning more than 200 breeds, strutted their stuff at the show.
Even if they didn’t make the finals, there were plenty that scored meme-able moments or lightened up the crowd.
Over two nights of semifinals, spectators cheered extra-loud for a Xoloitzcuintli named Calaco, a hairless dog who went around the ring like he had nothing to prove. A vizsla named Beamer charmed the audience by hopping into a box set out for his handler’s tools, and Storm the Newfoundland got laughs when he jumped up on his handler, standing as tall as she. Spectators cheered so loud for a golden retriever named Oliver that they drowned out the arena’s announcer, and chants of “Lumpy! Lumpy!” resounded as Lumpy the Pekingese strolled before a judge.
One dog that made history in the semifinals was Millie, a Danish-Swedish farmdog. The small, spry breed just became eligible for the Westminster show this year, and Millie bested about 10 other farmdogs Tuesday afternoon to get to the evening round.
Westminster wins often go to pooches with professional handlers or owners with decades or even generations of experience behind them. But just reaching the elite, champions-only show is a major accomplishment in dogdom, especially for first-timers such as Joseph Carrero and his Neapolitan mastiff, Dezi.
After yearning for a Neo since his teenage years, Carrero finally got one when he was 35. A heavy equipment operator from Indian Springs, Nevada, he started showing the dog only because the breeder wanted him to. Now Carrero himself breeds and handles his Neos in the ring, while also working full-time and then some.
“It’s really hard for us to do this, but we enjoy it, and he enjoys it,” Carrero said as a visitors gathered around to greet the jowly, 190-pound dog.
Boerboels, which are formidable guard dogs originally from South Africa, played a major role in how Natalee Ridenhour met her late husband and why she eventually left metropolitan life for a farm in Royse City, Texas.
On Tuesday, Ridenhour and a Boerboel named Invictus did something else she once would never have pictured: compete at the Westminster show.
The dog didn’t advance past the first round. But as a passer-by delightedly petted the 170-pound animal, Ridenhour said, “Honestly, the big win is: You’re about the 50th person who’s gotten down in his face and loved on him.”
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The brothers of Renee Good, one of two U.S. citizens killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, called on Congress to do something about the violence on American streets as a result of immigration operations, warning Tuesday that the scenes playing out are “changing many lives, including ours, forever.”
Brothers Luke and Brett Ganger spoke during a hearing held Tuesday by congressional Democrats to highlight use-of-force incidents by officers from the Department of Homeland Security as they arrest and deport immigrants. The mood was somber as the brothers spoke, often comforting each other as they talked and listened to others speaking.
Luke Ganger, speaking of the “deep distress” the family felt at losing their sister in “such a violent and unnecessary way,” didn’t specify what they wanted from Congress but painted his sister’s death as a turning point that should inspire change in operations such as those going on in Minneapolis.
“The completely surreal scenes taking place on the streets of Minneapolis are beyond explanation. This is not just a bad day, or a rough week, or isolated incidents,” he said. “These encounters with federal agents are changing the community and changing many lives, including ours, forever.”
The forum was put on by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., to spotlight use-of-force complaints against Homeland Security officers tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Trump administration officials said Good tried to run over an officer with her vehicle. State and local officials in Minneapolis, as well as protesters, have rejected that characterization.
The two brothers didn’t delve into the details of their sister’s death or what the administration has said about her. Instead, they spoke about her life.
Luke Ganger said the most important thing the brothers could do was to explain to those listening “what a beautiful American we have lost. A sister. A daughter. A mother. A partner and a friend.”
Brett Ganger shared some of the eulogy he had written for his sister’s funeral service. He compared her to dandelions that grow and bring beauty in unexpected places.
“She believed tomorrow could be better than today. She believed that kindness mattered. And she lived that belief,” he said.
The panel also heard from three other U.S. citizens who detailed their treatment by Homeland Security officers.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A complaint made about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard months ago relates to an allegation that she withheld access to classified information for political reasons, according to a memo sent to lawmakers by the inspector general’s office and obtained by The Associated Press.
That allegation in the complaint filed in May appeared to not be credible, according to the former watchdog for the intelligence community that initially reviewed it. It has become a flashpoint for Gabbard’s critics, who accuse her of withholding information from members of Congress tasked with providing oversight of the intelligence services.
Copies of the top-secret complaint are being hand-delivered this week to the “Gang of Eight” lawmakers — a group comprised of the House and Senate leaders from both parties as well as the top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Gabbard’s office has denied the allegations and disputed that it withheld the complaint, saying the delay in getting it to lawmakers was due to an extensive legal review necessitated by the complaint’s many classified details, as well as last year’s government shutdown.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia told reporters that he had not seen the complaint as of Tuesday but that he expected to see it within a couple days, following what he called a protracted effort by lawmakers from both parties to pressure Gabbard to send the report as required by law.
“It took the Gang of Eight six months of negotiation with the director of national intelligence to share that whistleblower complaint,” Warner said. “This is in direct contradiction to what Gabbard testified during her confirmation hearings — that she would protect whistleblowers and share the information of timely matter.”
The author of the complaint, in a second allegation, accused Gabbard’s office of general counsel of failing to report a potential crime to the Department of Justice. The IG’s memo, which contains redactions, does not offer further details of either allegation.
In June, then-inspector general Tamara Johnson found that the claim Gabbard distributed classified information along political lines did not appear to be credible, according to the current watchdog, Christopher Fox, in the memo to lawmakers. Johnson was “unable to assess the apparent credibility” of the accusation about the general counsel’s office, Fox wrote.
Federal law allows whistleblowers in the intelligence services to refer their complaints to the Gang of Eight lawmakers even if they have been found non-credible, as long as their complaint is determined to raise urgent concerns.
In his memo, Fox wrote that he would have deemed the complaint non-urgent, meaning it never would have been referred to lawmakers.
“If the same or similar matter came before me today, I would likely determine that the allegations do not meet the statutory definition of “’urgent concern,’” Fox wrote.
Andrew Bakaj, attorney for the person who made the complaint, said Monday that while he cannot discuss the details of the report, there is no justification for keeping it from Congress since last spring.
The referral of the complaint to lawmakers isn’t simple because it contains classified details that necessitate it being hand-delivered, resulting in a process that is likely to take a few days.
The inspector general’s office confirmed that some lawmakers and their staff were allowed to read copies of the complaint on Monday. Representatives for the inspector general plan to meet with the remaining lawmakers who had not seen it on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the office said.
Gabbard coordinates the work of the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies. She has recently drawn attention for another matter — appearing on site last week when the FBI served a search warrant on election offices in Georgia that are central to Trump’s disproven claims about fraud in the 2020 election.
That unusual role for a spy chief raised additional questions from Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Gabbard said Trump asked her to be present at the search. She defended her role in a letter to lawmakers, arguing that she regularly works with the FBI and is authorized to investigate any threat to election security.
Warner said Tuesday that he doesn’t accept Gabbard’s explanation and that her actions are eroding longstanding barriers separating intelligence work from domestic law enforcement. He said he wants Gabbard to address his questions before the Senate Intelligence Committee soon.
“The director of national intelligence does not conduct criminal investigations,” Warner said. “She has no role in executing search warrants. And she does not belong on the scene of a domestic FBI search.”
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a roughly $1.2 trillion government funding bill Tuesday that ends the partial federal shutdown that began over the weekend and sets the stage for an intense debate in Congress over Homeland Security funding.
The president moved quickly to sign the bill after the House approved it with a 217-214 vote.
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By KEVIN FREKING – Associated Press
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MIAMI — A Florida congresswoman charged with conspiring to steal $5 million in federal COVID-19 disaster funds formally pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, nearly three months after her indictment.
U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was not present for the arraignment in Miami federal court, but her attorney, William Barzee, entered the plea on her behalf. He explained that she was in Washington, D.C., where Congress has been debating funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
“She’s eager to get back to work,” Barzee said after the hearing. “She’s up in Washington right now fighting for her constituents, and her main focus is representing the people in her district.”
Barzee just took over Cherfilus-McCormick’s case this week. Her previous attorney, David Oscar Markus, had requested the arraignment be rescheduled several times while Cherfilus-McCormick resolved issues with her finances, but he ultimately left the case, citing scheduling conflicts.
Cherfilus-McCormick is facing 15 federal counts that accuse her of stealing funds that had been overpaid to her family’s health care company, Trinity Healthcare Services, in 2021, before she was elected to Congress. The company had a contract to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations.
Cherfilus-McCormick was arrested in November and then freed on a $60,000 bond. In addition to bail, the judge said Cherfilus-McCormick must surrender her personal passport, and is allowed to travel only between Florida, Washington, D.C., Maryland and the Eastern District of Virginia.
She has been allowed to retain her congressional passport to perform certain duties for her job.
According to the federal indictment, prosecutors said that within two months of receiving the funds in 2021, more than $100,000 had been spent on a 3-carat yellow diamond ring for the congresswoman.
The health care company owned by Cherfilus-McCormick’s family had received payments through a COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, the indictment says. Her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, requested $50,000, but they mistakenly received $5 million and didn’t return the difference.
Prosecutors said that the funds received by Trinity Healthcare were distributed to various accounts, including those of friends and relatives, who then donated to Cherfilus-McCormick’s congressional campaign.
The Florida Department of Emergency Management previously sued Trinity Healthcare in civil court, and the company agreed to pay back all of the money last year as part of a settlement with the state.
“It’s surprising that the DOJ (U.S. Department of Justice) would take on a case after it’s been resolved and after there was an agreement to repay all of the funds that were improperly sent to her,” Barzee said.
Cherfilus-McCormick won a special election in January 2022 to represent Florida’s 20th District, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.
The charges she faces include theft of government funds; making and receiving straw donor contributions; aiding and assisting a false and fraudulent statement on a tax return; and money laundering, as well as conspiracy charges associated with each count.
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LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — The U.S. has dispatched a small team of military officers to Nigeria, the general in charge of U.S. Africa Command told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday.
General Dagvin R.M. Anderson said the move followed his meeting with Nigeria’s president, Bola Tinubu, in Rome late last year.
“That has led to increased collaboration between our nations, to include a small U.S. team that brings some unique capabilities from the United States in order to augment what Nigeria has been doing for several years,” Anderson said.
It is unclear when the team arrived in Nigeria.
The military officers are the latest step since the U.S launched airstrikes against a group affiliated with the Islamic State last year on Dec. 25.
Nigeria has been in the diplomatic crosshairs of the U.S. following threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to attack the country, alleging the West African nation is not doing enough to protect its Christian citizens. Following the allegations, the West African country was designated as a Country of Particular Concern, a congressional designation in the U.S. for countries responsible for religious oppression.
The diplomatic dispute has led to increased military cooperation between the two countries. The terms of the cooperation have been unclear. The U.S has supplied Nigeria with military equipment and carried out reconnaissance missions across Nigeria.
Nigeria has been battling several armed groups across the country. The groups include Islamist sects like Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. — As excitement has built and focus has sharpened in preparation for the Winter Olympics, biathlete and Minnesota native Luci Anderson has been jarred at times by thoughts of home.
One day last week, while Anderson watched from Italy, her family members marched among thousands of people through downtown Minneapolis in protest of the immigration crackdown that has wracked the city.
Anderson said she struggles to keep sports in perspective.
“It’s kind of hard being over here feeling like I’m doing this thing that does not matter,” Anderson, 25, said in a video interview with The Associated Press. “It matters, but in the grand scheme of things it’s like, ‘Wow, my people back home are fighting for people’s rights, and I’m over here just skiing.’ It’s kind of an odd contrast to be trying to chase my dreams but also wanting to support the people that are at home fighting for what’s right.”
The U.S. Olympic contingent in Italy counts 26 athletes who are native to Minnesota, trailing only Colorado (32) for the most by state. About a dozen others either call Minnesota home now or compete and train there in sports like curling or hockey.
Many of them are coming to the Winter Games with mixed feelings: excited about competing in the Olympics but anxious about the situation in their home state.
Alpine ski star Lindsey Vonn, who grew up in Minnesota, said during a news conference Tuesday that her heart is heavy for everyone back home.
“I think the best thing I can do is to do exactly what I said, stand tall and have hope and show the world what America is, who we are as people, because we are more than what’s happening right now,” she said. “The best thing I can do is represent us well. And it is a privilege to be here. I don’t take that lightly. I always do my best to make our country proud, and I hope I can do that in these Games.”
President Donald Trump has promised mass deportations of undocumented migrants, sending federal law enforcement officials into cities like Minneapolis as part of the push. It was one of his signature promises for his second term in office. But last month, two fatal shootings by federal officials of U.S. citizens sparked a broad backlash against the crackdown — including in Minnesota itself.
Lee Stecklein, one of five natives of the state on the women’s hockey team, said she hopes to “represent Minnesota well” at the Games.
“The world is watching. Not just here. They’ll be watching us at the Olympics, and it’s a good time to shine a light on some of the things going on here,” she said.
Stecklein spoke after a recent practice in St. Paul with the Minnesota Frost, the Professional Women’s Hockey League team that counts three of the other four Minnesotans on the U.S. Olympic squad: Taylor Heise, Kelly Pannek and Grace Zumwinkle.
The Frost played a home game the day after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and emotions in the arena were high.
“Representing our country, representing our state, we get to do it at a sporting event, but there’s so many people that do it on a daily basis, that do it with grace and humility and selflessness and with love and care for their neighbor,” Pannek said.
Jessie Diggins, the top-ranked cross-country skier in the world, grew up in the Twin Cities metro area. She recently posted on social media how difficult she has found being so far away during the unrest and how determined she will be to honor the people in her state.
“I’m racing for an American people who stand for love, for acceptance, for compassion, honesty and respect for others. I do not stand for hate or violence or discrimination,” Diggins said.
Her cross country teammate, Zak Ketterson, echoed that pride in calling the Twin Cities his home.
“Despite the recent turmoil and sad events in the city, I know it doesn’t reflect the kindness and love of the people who live here,” Ketterson said on Instagram.
Biathlete Margie Freed, who’s also from Minneapolis, told AP in a video interview from Italy that she was inspired by people demonstrating against the immigration crackdown at home.
“Seeing all of the people come together, whether it’s like a little vigil or it’s driving someone where they need to go, it’s really heartwarming and it shows that there’s a lot of love,” Freed said.
___
Bellisle reported from Seattle.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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New details have been released in the investigation into the disappearance of Today host Savannah Guthrie’s mother as the search enters its third day.
Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen Saturday night at her home in the Tucson, Ariz., area, where she lived alone and was reported missing Sunday. Authorities believe she was taken against her will.
“We believe she was taken out of the home against her will, and that’s how this investigation is moving,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told NBC Nightly News.
“I can’t think of the last time where, in the middle of the night in someone’s bed, an 84-year-old woman disappeared on us,” he added.
Nanos clarified that he “meant that figuratively” when referring to Nancy being abducted from her bed.
Nanos confirmed investigators found DNA evidence at Nancy’s home, which is being treated as “a crime scene.”
Authorities found blood inside Nancy’s home, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing law enforcement sources.
“We took some samples that we hope will have enough of a DNA profile,” Nanos told the Today show on Feb. 3. “That will give us some identification as to what we’re looking at.”
He added that it could take several more days before investigators receive anything conclusive from the DNA samples.
AP Photo/Sejal Govindarao
Nanos said that the search for Nancy is “a race against time” and hopes “that window hasn’t closed” as the investigation continues.
Nanos said she must be found soon because she could die without her medication, urging whoever has her to free her.
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“If she’s alive right now, her meds are vital. I can’t stress that enough. It’s been better than 24 hours, and the family tells us if she doesn’t have those meds, it can become fatal,” Nanos said.
Pima County Sheriff’s Department via AP
The missing senior has limited mobility, and officials do not believe she left on her own. Nanos said she is of sound mind.
“We know she didn’t just walk out of there, that we know,” Nanos said during a Feb. 2 press conference.
“There are other things at the site, at the scene, that indicate there was a… she did not leave on her own.”
Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Kevin Adger told the Times that investigators believe Nancy was “taken from the home against her will, possibly in the middle of the night.”
“Detectives are looking into a possible kidnapping or abduction,” he added.
Investigators found signs of forced entry at Nancy’s home, a person familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
They reportedly found specific evidence in the home showing there was a nighttime kidnapping, the person told the outlet. Several of Nancy’s personal items, including her cellphone, wallet and car, were still there after she disappeared.
Surveillance video from nearby homes is being analyzed by investigators. They are working to analyze data from cellphone towers. Police are reviewing information from licence plate cameras in the area, according to the source, who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday, for the second day, Today opened with Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance, but her daughter was not at the anchor’s desk.
On Monday night, Savannah shared a post on Instagram, writing, “Thank you for lifting your prayers with ours for our beloved mom, our dearest Nancy, a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant. Raise your prayers with us and believe with us that she will be lifted by them in this very moment … bring her home.”
A non-profit group that works with the sheriff’s department in southern Arizona called 88-Crime has offered a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest of the person or people involved in Nancy’s disappearance.
— With files from The Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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Katie Scott
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joined Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday in supporting a proposed new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays, a project that could determine whether the franchise remains in the region long term.
The Rays are under lease at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg through at least the 2028 season, but the Trop sustained significant hurricane damage in 2024 and a $1.3 billion redevelopment deal fell through last year, raising new questions about the future of the team, which is under new ownership.
The newly proposed ballpark would be built in Tampa, in the shadows of the New York Yankees’ spring training facility and across the street from Raymond James Stadium, home to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While the governor and commissioner both said they believe baseball belongs in Tampa Bay, few specifics were offered during a news conference in Tampa, including how much the proposal would cost or when it would be completed.
“In the coming days, you’ll see the first renderings of our new development and ballpark, the new forever home of the Tampa Bay Rays that will serve as a catalyst for this new community,” Rays Chief Executive Officer Ken Babby said.
Manfred noted that the key to economic success for most sports franchises is a strong partnership between the team, the community and the local government.
“Today’s an important day, a milestone along a path that I believe will lead to the Tampa Bay Rays being a part of this community for decades to come,” Manfred said.
Last month, the Rays signed a nonbinding memorandum of agreement with Tampa’s Hillsborough College to build a multiuse facility on a 113-acre site along Dale Mabry Boulevard. The project has been compared to Truist Park, where the Atlanta Braves play. The development would include a hotel, residential and retail areas along with multiple restaurants and bars.
The Hillsborough County Commission will discuss the stadium proposal during its regular meeting on Wednesday. An agenda item posted on the county’s website notes that the Rays have expressed intent to “bear a minimum of 50% of the cost of the construction of a ballpark.”
In that document, the team noted it would redevelop the Hillsborough College campus as a mixed-use campus district with retail, restaurants, entertainment, multifamily residential areas, hotels and a new building for classroom and administrative uses.
The remainder of the cost, which hasn’t yet been made public, would be left to public funding of some kind.
It’s unclear whether the county or city would be open to using local financing, which could include a local bed tax, for the project.
Any framework of funding for the stadium would have to be presented to the county commission, the city of Tampa and the Tampa Sports Authority for consideration.
DeSantis, while expressing full support for the proposal, said the state would not contribute direct funding to the stadium but could assist with road improvements and relocating a nearby juvenile justice facility.
The Rays have played 27 of their 28 seasons at Tropicana Field, located across Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg. Last season, the team played at Steinbrenner Field due to damage to Tropicana Field caused by Hurricane Milton in October 2024. The Category 5 storm shredded the roof off the domed stadium, which took over a year to repair.
The storm damage and the rising costs of repairs and new construction contributed to Stuart Sternberg’s decision to withdraw from a proposed deal with St. Petersburg last year and sell the team.
Babby is part of the new ownership group, which includes Patrick Zalupski, the CEO of Jacksonville-based Dream Finders Homes Inc., and Bill Cosgrove, CEO of Union Home Mortgage in Ohio. Babby also leads Fast Forward Sports Group, which owns minor league teams in Jacksonville, Florida, and Akron, Ohio.
Repairs at the Trop are complete, and the team is scheduled to return for the 2026 season.
The Rays are on the clock. Their lease at the Trop could be extended past 2028 until a stadium is completed. But no specifics have been addressed.
Through the years, there have been talks of relocating the team to Orlando or elsewhere.
On Tuesday, Manfred reiterated he does not view the new proposal as a last-ditch effort to keep the Rays in Tampa Bay.
“I do think we’re at a point in the history of the club that something needs to get done, but I would be hesitant to characterize it as it’s this or never again,” Manfred said.
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