Tito Jackson, one of the brothers who made up the beloved pop group the Jackson 5, has died at age 70.

Tito was the third of nine Jackson children, which include global superstars Michael and sister Janet, part of a music-making family whose songs are still beloved today.

Its with heavy hearts that we announce that our beloved father, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Tito Jackson is no longer with us. We are shocked, saddened and heartbroken. Our father was an incredible man who cared about everyone and their well-being, his sons TJ, Taj and Taryll said in a statement posted on Instagram late Sunday.

The Jackson 5 included brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. The family group, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, produced several No. 1 hits in the 1970s including "ABC," I Want You Back and Ill Be There.

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The Jackson 5 became one of the biggest names in music under the guidance of their father, Joe Jackson, a steelworker and guitar player who supported his wife and nine children in Gary, Indiana. As the familys music careers took off, they relocated to California.

Born on Oct. 15, 1953, Toriano Adaryll Tito Jackson was the least-heard member of the group as a background singer who played guitar. His brothers launched solo careers, including Michael, who became one of the world's biggest performers known as The King of Pop.

Michael Jackson died at age 50 on June 25, 2009.

Speaking to The Associated Press in December 2009, Jackson said his younger brother's death pulled the family closer together.

I would say definitely it brought us a step closer to each other. To recognize that the love we have for each other when one of us is not here, what a great loss, he said, adding he would personally never be at peace with it.

Theres still moments when I just cant believe it. So I think thats never going to go away, he said.

In 2014, Jackson said he and his brothers still felt Michael Jackson's absence in their shows, which continued with international tours.

I dont think we will ever get used to performing without him. Hes dearly missed," he said, noting that Michael's spirit "is with us when we are performing. It gives us a lot of positive energy and puts a lot of smiles on our faces."

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Days before his death, Jackson posted a message on his Facebook page from Germany on Sept. 11, where he visited a memorial to Michael Jackson with his brothers.

Before our show in Munich, my brothers Jackie, Marlon, and I, visited the beautiful memorial dedicated to our beloved brother, Michael Jackson. Were deeply grateful for this special place that honors not only his memory but also our shared legacy. Thank you for keeping his spirit alive," he wrote.

Tito Jackson was the last of the nine Jackson siblings to release a solo project with his 2016 debut, Tito Time. He released a song in 2017, One Way Street, and told the AP in 2019 that he was working on a sophomore album.

Jackson said he purposely held back from pursuing a solo career because he wanted to focus on raising his three sons, TJ, Taj and Taryll, who formed their own music group, 3T. Jackson's website offers a link to a single featuring 3T and Stevie Wonder titled, Love One Another.

Tito Jackson also is survived by his brothers Jermaine, Randy, Marlon and Jackie, his sisters Janet, Rebbie and La Toya and their mother, Katherine. Their father died in 2018.

Jackson's death was first reported by Entertainment Tonight.

Firefighters gained further ground over the weekend against three Southern California wildfires as authorities in northern Nevada lifted the last of evacuation orders for all homes Sunday.

More than 8,000 personnel combined are battling the three biggest fires burning in the state, all ignited during a triple-digit heatwave at the start of the month.

The largest blaze is the Bridge Fire at 85 square miles, which exploded dramatically through the Angeles National Forest east of Los Angeles at the start of the week. It has torched at least 49 buildings and forced the evacuation of 10,000 people. The fire was 9% contained Sunday morning, with firefighters gaining 4% overnight.

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Officials said Sunday the focus continues to be on the northwest flank, where the fire is the most active, but upcoming rain and humidity will aid firefighting efforts.

That's not gonna stop this fire, what that is gonna allow is ... operation folks to go out there and be able to get that line constructed, said fire behavior analyst Garret Hazelton on Saturday.

The Line Fire in Southern California

The Line Fire, which grew slightly overnight to 60 square miles in the San Bernardino Mountains, was 36% contained Sunday.

Officials said it was active in the early morning due to a dry air mass in higher elevations, but cool weather conditions prevailed across the fire area. Light rain was possible late Sunday and into Monday.

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Authorities have said a delivery driver purposely started the Line Fire in Southern California on Sept. 5.

Arson-related charges have been filed against Justin Wayne Halstenberg, who is accused of starting the Line Fire. He is due to be arraigned on Monday, according to the San Bernardino County District Attorneys Office. Halstenbergs mother, Connie Halstenberg, told the Los Angeles Times that her son did not light that fire.

The Airport Fire in Southern California

The Airport Fire in Orange and Riverside counties remained at 37 square miles and 19% containment as of Sunday.

Were being helped by the weather and that weather will continue for a couple of days so were making good progress," said Orange County Fire Authority Operations Section Chief Albert Ward.

Firefighting efforts are expected to get a significant boost from thick fog and high humidity Sunday night, and from cooler temperatures and light rain Sunday and Monday, according to the fire authority.

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Crews were able to gain access to an area previously blocked by a rock slide. However, the southern edge of the fire is still marked by very rugged inaccessible country that will require helicopters to bring crews in or a long hike, Ward said Sunday.

Despite favorable weather, there is still fire risk above 4,000 feet in elevation, which remains dry. Smoldering vegetation up high can roll downhill and ignite unburned vegetation, the fire authority said.

The Davis fire in northern Nevada

In northern Nevada, Washoe County fire officials say evacuations will be lifted Sunday for all homes the last of nearly 20,000 evacuees.

The Davis fire was estimated at 77% containment on Sunday.

Officials said the fire now is classified as being in a state of mop-up with many restoration and repair projects underway. More than 600 personnel are currently working the wildland blaze that destroyed 14 homes and burned through nearly 9 square miles of timber and brush along the Sierra Nevadas eastern slope near Lake Tahoe.

Shogun could be in for an epic night, The Bear could clean up for the second time in less than a year, and Baby Reindeer has gone from dark horse to contender as the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards arrive on Sunday.

Back in their traditional mid-September spot after a single strike-delayed edition in January, the Emmys will air live on ABC from the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles. The father and son duo of Eugene and Dan Levy, the winning stars of the 2020 Emmys with their show Schitt's Creek, will host.

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Here's a look at the how the evening could play out across the major categories.

How to watch and stream the Emmys

The show begins at 8 p.m. Eastern and is being shown live on ABC, which is available with an antenna or through cable and satellite providers.

The Emmys can be also streamed live through live TV streaming services that include ABC in their lineup, like Hulu+ Live TV, YouTube TV and FuboTV. For those without a live TV streaming service, the show will be streaming Monday on Hulu.

Who's nominated for drama series at the Emmys

It may be impossible to slow the roll of Shogun.

With its 14 wins at the precursor Creative Arts Emmy Awards last weekend, the FX series about lordly politicking in feudal Japan has already set a record for most Emmys for a single season of a series.

On Sunday night it can extend its record by six, and industry prognosticators are predicting it will get them all.

The show seized all the Emmy power in the top categories by shifting from the limited series to the drama category in May when it began developing more seasons. And it was in some ways Emmy royalty from the start. During the golden age of the miniseries, the original 1980 Shogun, based on James Clavell's historical novel, won three including best limited series.

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If it faces any competition at all for the best drama prize, it could come for the sixth and final season of The Crown, the only show among the nominees that has won before in a category recently dominated by the retired Succession.

Veteran screen star Hiroyuki Sanada, up for best actor, and Anna Sawai, up for best actress, are in position to become the first Japanese actors to win Emmys.

Sanada could face a challenge from Gary Oldman, who has been quietly creating one of his career defining roles on Apple TV+ as schlubby spy chief Jackson Lamb on Slow Horses.

Sawai's competition comes from Emmy luminary Jennifer Aniston of The Morning Show, who has only won once before in 10 nominations. Imelda Staunton could win her first for playing Queen Elizabeth II on The Crown.

The comedy landscape at the Emmys

This looks to be the year of FX, which is also in for a likely victory lap for The Bear."

The Bear took most of the big comedy Emmys home in January for its first season, and is expected to do the same Sunday for its second, which includes nominations for best comedy series, best actor for Jeremy Allen White and best supporting actor for Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

Ayo Edebiri, reigning best supporting actress, moves to the lead actress category for a character who is essentially a co-lead on the culinary dramedy. That means she'll be up against Jean Smart, a two-time winner in the category for Hacks who is back in the competition after a year off.

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Meryl Streep, among several Academy Award winners among the night's nominees, could win her fourth Emmy to go with her three Oscars. She's up for best supporting actress in a comedy for Only Murders in the Building.

Limited series categories at the Emmys

Another multiple Oscar winner, Jodie Foster, could get her first Emmy for best actress in a limited series for True Detective: Night Country.

The HBO show that features Foster as a police chief investigating mysterious deaths in the darkness of a north Alaskan winter was the top nominee among limited or anthology series. Kali Reis could become the first Indigenous woman to win an Emmy in the supporting actress category.

A few months ago it looked as though the show would vie with Fargo for the top prizes, but Netflix's darkly quirky Baby Reindeer surged on the eve of nominations and is now the popular pick for best limited series, best actor for creator and star Richard Gadd and best supporting actress for the woman who plays his tormentor, Jessica Gunning.

Gadd's category also includes Andrew Scott for Netflix's Ripley," and Jon Hamm, who has two shots at winning his second Emmy between his nomination here for Fargo and for supporting actor in a drama for The Morning Show.

Huge celebrations across the U.S. are expected to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, an annual tradition that showcases the awe-inspiring diversity and culture of Hispanic people.

Celebrated each year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the month is a chance for many in the U.S. to learn about and celebrate the contributions of Hispanics, the country's fastest-growing racial or ethnic minority, according to the census. The group includes people whose ancestors come from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

There are more than 65 million people identified as ethnically Hispanic in the U.S., according to the latest census estimates.

Heritage week embraces the sprawling histories of Latinos

Before there was National Hispanic Heritage Month, there was Hispanic Heritage Week, which was created through legislation sponsored by Mexican American U.S. Rep. Edward R. Roybal of Los Angeles and signed into law in 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The weeklong commemoration was expanded to a month two decades later, with legislation signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

"It was clustered around big celebrations for the community," Alberto Lammers, director of communications at the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute said. "It became a chance for people to know Hispanic cultures, for Latinos to get to know a community better and for the American public to understand a little better the long history of Latinos in the U.S."

The month is a way for Hispanics to showcase their diversity and culture with the support of the government, said Rachel Gonzalez-Martin, an associate professor of Mexican American and Latino Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Sept. 15 was chosen as the starting point to coincide with the anniversary of "El Grito de Dolores," or the "Cry of Dolores," which was issued in 1810 from a town in central Mexico that launched that country's war for independence from Spain.

The Central American nations of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica celebrate their independence on Sept. 15, and Mexico marks its national day on Sept. 16, the day after the cry for independence.

Also during National Hispanic Heritage Month, the South American nation of Chile observes its independence day on Sept. 18. Indigenous Peoples' Day, previously known as Columbus Day, is observed in the U.S. on the second Monday of October.

Over the past decade, the month has grown due to the larger Latino consumer base in the U.S., Gonzalez-Martin said. Gonzalez-Martin said visible support from the federal government, including celebrations at the White House, has also made it easier for Hispanics to celebrate.

"Hispanic Heritage Month was a way in which to be Hispanic and Latino but with official blessing," Gonzalez-Martin said. "It was a recognition of belonging and that became really powerful."

The four-week period is about honoring the way Hispanic populations have shaped the U.S. in the past and present, Lammers said.

"It gives us a chance to acknowledge how Latinos have been part of this nation for so many centuries," Lammers said. "I think that's what is great about this. It has allowed us to really dig deeper and a chance to tell our stories."

Not everyone who is Hispanic uses that label

Hispanic was a term coined by the federal government for people descended from Spanish-speaking cultures. But for some, the label has a connotation of political conservatism and emphasizes a connection to Spain. It sometimes gets mistakenly interchanged with "Latino" or "Latinx."

For some, Latino reflects their ties to Latin America. So some celebrations are referred to as Latinx or Latin Heritage Month.

Latin Americans are not a monolith. There are several identifiers for Latin Americans, depending largely on personal preference. Mexican Americans who grew up during the 1960s Civil Rights era may identify as Chicano. Others may go by their family's nation of origin such as Colombian American or Salvadoran American.

Each culture has unique differences when it comes to music, food, art and other cultural touchstones.

Celebrations are planned throughout the month

From California to Florida, there will be no shortage of festivities. The celebrations tout traditional Latin foods and entertainment including, mariachi bands, folklrico and salsa lessons. The intent is to showcase the culture of Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and other Latin countries.

Events highlighting Hispanic culture include a quinceaera fashion show in Dallas on Sept. 14, the New York Latino Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 17-22, and the Viva Tampa Bay Hispanic Heritage Festival on Sept. 28-29.

The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., is offering a slate of activities elevating Hispanic heritage, including a celebration of the life of Celia Cruz and exhibits of art made in Mexico.

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A billionaire spacewalker returned to Earth with his crew on Sunday, ending a five-day trip that lifted them higher than anyone has traveled since NASA's moonwalkers.

SpaceX's capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida's Dry Tortugas in the predawn darkness, carrying tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, two SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot.

They pulled off the first private spacewalk while orbiting nearly 460 miles above Earth, higher than the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope. Their spacecraft hit a peak altitude of 875 miles following Tuesday's liftoff.

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Isaacman became only the 264th person to perform a spacewalk since the former Soviet Union scored the first in 1965, and SpaceX's Sarah Gillis the 265th. Until now, all spacewalks were done by professional astronauts.

"We are mission complete," Isaacman radioed as the capsule bobbed in the water, awaiting the recovery team. Within an hour, all four were out of their spacecraft, pumping their fists with joy as they emerged onto the ship's deck.

It was the first time SpaceX aimed for a splashdown near the Dry Tortugas, a cluster of islands 70 miles west of Key West. To celebrate the new location, SpaceX employees brought a big, green turtle balloon to Mission Control at company headquarters in Hawthorne, California. The company usually targets closer to the Florida coast, but two weeks of poor weather forecasts prompted SpaceX to look elsewhere.

During Thursday's commercial spacewalk, the Dragon capsule's hatch was open barely a half-hour. Isaacman emerged only up to his waist to briefly test SpaceX's brand-new spacesuit followed by Gillis, who was knee-high as she flexed her arms and legs for several minutes. Gillis, a classically trained violinist, also held a performance in orbit earlier in the week.

The spacewalk lasted less than two hours, considerably shorter than those at the International Space Station. Most of that time was needed to depressurize the entire capsule and then restore the cabin air. Even SpaceX's Anna Menon and Scott "Kidd" Poteet, who remained strapped in, wore spacesuits.

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SpaceX considers the brief exercise a starting point to test spacesuit technology for future, longer missions to Mars.

This was Isaacman's second chartered flight with SpaceX, with two more still ahead under his personally financed space exploration program named Polaris after the North Star. He paid an undisclosed sum for his first spaceflight in 2021, taking along contest winners and a pediatric cancer survivor while raising more than $250 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

For the just completed so-called Polaris Dawn mission, the founder and CEO of the Shift4 credit card-processing company shared the cost with SpaceX. Isaacman won't divulge how much he spent.

A military court in Congo handed down death sentences Friday to 37 people, including three Americans, after convicting them on charges of participating in a coup attempt.

The defendants, most of them Congolese but also including a Briton, Belgian and Canadian, have five days to appeal the verdict on charges that include attempted coup, terrorism and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial, which opened in June.

The open-air military court in the capital, Kinshasa, convicted the 37 defendants and imposed the harshest penalty, that of death in the verdict delivered in French by presiding Judge Maj. Freddy Ehuma. The three Americans, wearing blue and yellow prison clothes and sitting in plastic chairs, appeared stoic as a translator explained their sentence.

Richard Bondo, the lawyer who defended the six foreigners, disputed whether the death penalty could currently be imposed in Congo, despite its reinstatement earlier this year, and said his clients had inadequate interpreters during the investigation of the case.

"We will challenge this decision on appeal, Bondo said.

The coup attempt

Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt led by the little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga in May that targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Malanga was fatally shot while resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack on his social media, the Congolese army said.

Malangas 21-year-old son Marcel Malanga, who is a U.S. citizen, and two other Americans were convicted in the coup attempt. He told the court that his father had forced him and his high school friend to take part in the attack.

Dad had threatened to kill us if we did not follow his orders, Marcel Malanga said.

Other members of the ragtag militia recounted similar threats from the elder Malanga, and some described being duped into believing they were working for a volunteer organization.

Marcel's mother, Brittney Sawyer, maintains that her son is innocent and was simply following his father, who considered himself president of a shadow government in exile. In the months since her son's arrest, Sawyer has focused her energy on fund raising to send him money for food, hygiene products and a bed. He has been sleeping on the floor of his cell at the Ndolo military prison and is suffering from a liver disease, she said.

The other Americans are Tyler Thompson Jr., 21, who flew to Africa from Utah with the younger Malanga for what his family believed was a free vacation, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, 36, who is reported to have known Christian Malanga through a gold mining company. The company was set up in Mozambique in 2022, according to an official journal published by Mozambiques government, and a report by the Africa Intelligence newsletter.

Reactions in the US

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in Washington on Friday that the federal government was aware of the verdict. The department has not declared the three Americans wrongfully detained, making it unlikely that U.S. officials would try to negotiate their return.

We understand that the legal process in the DRC allows for defendants to appeal the courts decision," Miller said. "Embassy staff have been attending these proceedings as theyve gone through the process. We continue to attend the proceedings and follow the developments closely.

Thompson had been invited on an Africa trip by the younger Malanga, his former high school football teammate in a Salt Lake City suburb. But the itinerary might have included more than sightseeing. Other teammates alleged that Marcel had offered up to $100,000 to join him on a security job in Congo, and they said he seemed desperate to bring along an American friend.

Thompsons family maintains he had no knowledge of the elder Malangas intentions, no plans for political activism and didnt even plan to enter Congo. He and the Malangas were meant to travel only to South Africa and Eswatini, his stepmother, Miranda Thompson, told The Associated Press.

The Thompsons' lawyer in Utah, Skye Lazaro, said the family is heartbroken over the verdict.

We urge all who have supported Tyler and the family throughout this process to write to your congressmen and request their assistance in bringing him home," Lazaro said.

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Utahs U.S. Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee have not publicly urged the U.S. government to advocate for the Americans' release.

My thoughts are with the families during this difficult time," Lee told the AP on Friday. We will continue to work with the State Department to receive updates on this case.

This is an extremely difficult and frightening situation for the families involved," Romney spokesperson Dilan Maxfield said. "Our office has consistently engaged with the State Department and will continue to do so.

Last month, the military prosecutor, Lt. Col. Innocent Radjabu, called on the judge to sentence all of the defendants to death, except for one who suffers from psychological problems.

Congo reinstated the death penalty earlier this year, lifting a more than two-decade-old moratorium, as authorities struggle to curb violence and militant attacks in the country. The country's penal code allows the president to designate the method of execution. Past executions of militants in Congo have been carried out by firing squad.

The NCAA has given full approval for Gallaudet's football team to use a helmet designed for players who are deaf or hard of hearing for the remainder of the season.

The helmet developed by Gallaudet University and AT&T debuted last year with the team getting the chance to play one game with it. The Bison won that day after opening 0-4, and it was the start of a three-game winning streak.

The technology involved allows a coach to call a play on a tablet from the sideline that then shows up visually on a small display screen inside the quarterback's helmet.

"We're trying to improve the game, and with us, we're trying to figure out ways to level the playing field for our guys," Gallaudet coach Chuck Goldstein told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "We're still in the trial phase. One game was a small sample size, and it was all built up for that one shot. Now as we go forward, we're learning a lot about different hiccups and things that are coming down that we weren't aware of last year."

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One hiccup is Gallaudet will not be using the helmet in its home opener Saturday, Goldstein said, because the Nos. 1 and 2 quarterbacks were injured last week and there was not enough time to get another fitted with practice time to feel comfortable implementing it. His hope is to have it ready for the next home game on campus in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28.

"It's great that the NCAA has approved it for the season so we can work through these kinks," Goldstein said. "We have time, and we're excited about it more excited than ever. And I'm just glad that we have these things and we see what we need to improve."

Gallaudet gaining approval for the helmet in Division III play comes just as audio helmet communication has gone into effect at the Division I level.

"It's just a matter of time before it comes on down to our level, which would really put us at a disadvantage if we didn't have an opportunity like this," Goldstein said. "We're grateful to have that opportunity to keep going and learning and see what feedback we can give the NCAA and kind of tell them about our journey."

AT&T chief marketing and growth officer Kellyn Kenny said getting the helmet on the field last year was a huge moment of pride, and this amounts to a major step forward.

"Now, as the next season of college football kicks off, we not only get to celebrate another history making milestone, but we have the opportunity to further collaborate and innovate on ways to drive meaningful change toward making sports more inclusive for everyone," Kenny said.

If it seems like the Emmys just happened, you're not wrong.

The 76th Emmy Awards are Sunday, roughly nine months after the last celebration of the best television. Last year's Hollywood strikes delayed the show's 75th edition until January, when "Succession" and "The Bear" dominated the show.

"The Bear" will factor heavily in this weekend's show, but January's "Succession" celebration was for its final season, clearing the way for a new drama series winner.

Enter "Shogun." The FX series about feudal Japan enters the show with 14 wins thanks to the Creative Arts Emmy ceremony last weekend. That makes it the record-holder for most wins for a single season, and it will likely extend that lead.

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Here's what you need to know about Sunday's Emmys, including how to watch and stream the red carpet and show, and who's nominated.

What time do the Emmys start?

The show begins at 8 p.m. Eastern and is being shown live on ABC, which is available with an antenna or through cable and satellite providers.

What if I want to stream the Emmys?

The Emmys can be streamed live through live TV streaming services that include ABC in their lineup, like Hulu+ Live TV, YouTube TV and FuboTV.

For those without the service, the show will be streaming Monday on Hulu.

So who's already won an Emmy?

Lots of folks from "Shogun," including actor Nstor Carbonell. Maya Rudolph also won a trophy for her work on "Big Mouth," and Jamie Lee Curtis claimed her first Emmy for her guest appearance on "The Bear."

The Creative Arts Emmys honor many of the craft workers who make shows work, leaving the top prizes for Sunday's ceremony, which will be hosted by actors Eugene and Dan Levy.

If I'm not in the U.S., how can I watch the Emmys?

The Emmys are watchable in dozens of countries. The Television Academy website has a handy list of broadcasters and in some instances, air times. You can access that at https://www.emmys.com/watch.

How can I watch the Emmys carpet?

"Live from E!" will begin airing its red carpet coverage at 6 p.m. Eastern on the cable network E!. Laverne Cox, the first transgender person to receive an Emmy nomination, will host the coverage along with comedian Heather McMahan and E! News' Keltie Knight.

People magazine and Entertainment Weekly will also host a live red carpet show on their websites and YouTube, also starting at 6 p.m.

Who's nominated for the Emmys?

"Shogun" is the leading nominee with 25, while "The Bear" has 23, including Best Comedy Series and Best Actor in a Comedy Series for Jeremy Allen White both awards it won at January's strike-delayed ceremony. Ayo Edebiri, who won best supporting actress in January, is nominated in the best comedy actress field this time.

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"The Crown" with 19 nominations and "Hacks" with 16 each return to the Emmys after their own years off. Elizabeth Debicki is nominated for best supporting actress in a drama for playing Princess Diana, while Imelda Staunton is nominated for playing Queen Elizabeth II.

Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster is a good bet to win her first Emmy as best actress in a limited or anthology series or TV movie for her role in "True Detective: Night Country."

Reigning Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. could also become a first-time Emmy winner. He's up for Best Supporting actor in the limited series category for playing five different roles in "The Sympathizer."

The World Health Organization said Friday it has granted its first authorization for use of a vaccine against mpox in adults, calling it an important step toward fighting the disease in Africa.

The approval of the vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic A/S means that donors like vaccines alliance Gavi and UNICEF can buy it. But supplies are limited because there's only a single manufacturer.

"This first (authorization) of a vaccine against mpox is an important step in our fight against the disease, both in the context of the current outbreaks in Africa, and in future," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

WHO also said it was creating an "access and allocation mechanism" to try to fairly distribute mpox tests, treatments and vaccines to the countries who need them most.

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The U.N. health agency approved the two-dose mpox vaccine for people aged 18 and above. WHO said that while it was not recommending the vaccine for those under 18, the shot may be used in infants, children and adolescents "in outbreak settings where the benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential risks."

WHO recommended that a single dose of the shot could be used to stretch supplies, but emphasized the need to collect more data on how effective the vaccine might be as a single shot.

The mpox vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic was previously authorized by numerous rich countries across Europe and North America during the global mpox outbreak in 2022. Millions of doses given to adults showed the vaccine helped slow the virus' spread, but there is limited evidence of how it works in children.

Officials at the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention said last month that nearly 70% of cases in Congo the country hardest hit by mpox are in children younger than 15, who also accounted for 85% of deaths.

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Overall, WHO said over 120 countries have confirmed more than 103,000 cases of mpox since the outbreak began two years ago. Its latest tally, as of Sunday, showed that 723 people in more than a dozen countries in Africa have died of the disease.

African experts have estimated they might need about 10 million vaccines to stop the ongoing outbreaks on the continent while donor countries have promised to provide about 3.6 million vaccines. As of last week, Congo had received only about 250,000 doses.

On Thursday, the Africa CDC said 107 new deaths and 3,160 new cases had been recorded in the past week, just a week after it and WHO launched a continent-wide response plan.

Mpox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes milder symptoms like fever, chills and body aches. People with more serious cases can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.

A political committee behind the campaign to pass a constitutional right to abortion in Florida has filed a lawsuit against a state healthcare agency that it alleges is carrying out a taxpayer-funded "misinformation" campaign against the November ballot measure.

Critics say the state-backed messaging push is the latest "dirty trick" by Republican officials in Florida to thwart the citizen-led initiative to protect abortion in the country's third-largest state. Nearly a million Floridians signed petitions to get the measure known as Amendment 4 on the ballot, surpassing the more than 891,500 signatures required by the state.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed the lawsuit in a Leon County circuit court on Thursday on behalf of Floridians Protecting Freedom, Inc., the organization behind Amendment 4.

Read the lawsuit below:

The lawsuit targets a website and television and radio ads created by Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration to give Floridians "the truth" about the proposed constitutional amendment. If approved by at least 60% of Florida voters, Amendment 4 would make abortions legal until the fetus is viable, as determined by the patient's health care provider.

The website launched this month states that "Amendment 4 threatens women's safety" and defends Floridas current law, which bans most abortions after six weeks, under a banner that reads "Florida is Protecting Life" and "Don't let the fearmongers lie to you."

In the legal filing, attorneys for the abortion rights campaign called on the court to immediately halt the messaging push and what they argue is the unlawful use of taxpayer funds by state officials in service of a political campaign, actions which they claim are infringing on the rights of Florida voters.

RELATED STORY | Trump says he'll vote to uphold Florida abortion ban after seeming to signal he'd support repeal

"Florida's government has crossed a dangerous line by using public resources to mislead voters and manipulate their choices in the upcoming election," ACLU of Florida attorney Michelle Morton said in a statement. "This lawsuit aims to stop these unconstitutional efforts and restore integrity to our electoral process."

Representatives for AHCA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a post on the social media platform X before the lawsuit was filed, AHCA Secretary Jason Weida touted the agency's new website.

"To combat the lies and disinformation surrounding Florida's abortion laws, @AHCA_FL has launched an improved transparency page," Weidas post reads. "To see more please visit our website."

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has defended the agencys messaging push and a state investigation into tens of thousands of petition signatures that were used to get Amendment 4 on the ballot. As a part of that probe, police have been showing up at the homes of some of the people who signed the petition to question them.

Speaking to reporters before the lawsuit was filed, DeSantis said the AHCA page is not political but is giving Floridians "factual information" about the amendment.

"Everything that is put out is factual. It is not electioneering," DeSantis said at a news conference, adding, "I am glad they are doing it."

RELATED STORY | Florida joins other Southeastern states with strict abortion limits

A Colorado paramedic convicted in the death of Elijah McClain, a Black man whose name became part of the rallying cries for social justice that swept the U.S. in 2020, is being released from prison after a judge reduced his sentence to four years of probation Friday.

Judge Mark Warner ruled that "unusual and extenuating circumstances" in the case justified reducing the five-year prison sentence for Peter Cichuniec, The Denver Post reported.

Warner is the same judge who sentenced Cichuniec to prison in March.

RELATED STORY | Former Colorado officer gets jail time in death of Elijah McClain

McClain was walking down the street in a Denver suburb in 2019 when police responding to a suspicious person report forcibly restrained him and put him in a neck hold. His final words "I can't breathe" foreshadowed those of George Floyd a year later in Minneapolis.

Cichuniec and a fellow paramedic were convicted in December of criminally negligent homicide for injecting McClain with ketamine, a powerful sedative blamed for killing the 23-year-old massage therapist. Cichuniec was also convicted on a more serious charge of second-degree assault for giving a drug without consent or a legitimate medical purpose.

McClain's death and others have raised questions about the use of ketamine to subdue struggling suspects, and the prosecution sent shock waves through the ranks of paramedics across the U.S.

RELATED STORY | Elijah McClain's mom says paramedics' guilty verdicts aren't justice

"After considering the evidence, a statewide grand jury indicted Cichuniec and a jury of his peers found him guilty of his criminal acts that led to the death of Elijah McClain. We are disappointed the court reduced his sentence today, but we respect the court's decision," the office of Colorado Attorney General Philip Weiser said in a statement.

Colorado's mandatory sentencing law allows a court to modify a sentence after a defendant has served least 119 days in prison if the judge finds the case is exceptional and involves "unusual and extenuating circumstances."

McClain's mother, Sheneen McClain, declined via email to comment Friday. In March she celebrated the original sentence handed down by the judge as she left the courtroom that day, raising her fist in the air.

Pope Francis on Friday slammed both U.S. presidential candidates for what he called anti-life policies on abortion and migration, and he advised American Catholics to choose who they think is the lesser evil in the upcoming U.S. elections.

Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies, Francis said.

The Argentine Jesuit was asked to provide counsel to American Catholic voters during an airborne news conference while he flew back to Rome from his four-nation tour through Asia. Francis stressed that he is not an American and would not be voting.

Neither Republican candidate Donald Trump nor the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, was mentioned by name.

But Francis nevertheless expressed himself in stark terms when asked to weigh in on their positions on two hot-button issues in the U.S. election abortion and migration that are also of major concern to the Catholic Church.

Francis has made the plight of migrants a priority of his pontificate and speaks out emphatically and frequently about it. While strongly upholding church teaching forbidding abortion, Francis has not emphasized church doctrine as much as his predecessors.

Francis said migration is a right described in Scripture and that anyone who does not follow the Biblical call to welcome the stranger is committing a grave sin.

He was also blunt in speaking about abortion. To have an abortion is to kill a human being. You may like the word or not, but its killing, he said. We have to see this clearly.

RELATED STORY | Nebraska ballot will include competing measures to expand or limit abortion rights, top court rules

Asked what voters should do at the polls, Francis recalled the civic duty to vote.

One should vote, and choose the lesser evil, he said. Who is the lesser evil, the woman or man? I dont know."

Everyone in their conscience should think and do it, he said.

The Harris and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

U.S. President Joe Biden, an observant Catholic, shares Harris strong support for abortion rights, a stance that prompted some Catholic bishops and other conservatives to call for him to be denied access to Communion.

After meeting Francis in person at the Vatican in October 2021, Biden came away saying the pope told him he was a good Catholic and should continue receiving Communion.

Francis, asked on previous occasions about some U.S. bishops who want to deny Communion to Biden over his support for abortion rights, has said bishops should be pastors, not politicians.

Friday's news conference was not the first time Francis has weighed in on a U.S. election. In the run-up to the 2016 election, Francis was asked about Trumps plan to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. Francis declared then that anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants is not Christian.

In responding Friday, Francis recalled that he celebrated Mass at the U.S.-Mexico border and there were so many shoes of the migrants who ended up badly there.

Trump pledges massive deportations, just as he did in his first White House bid, when there was a vast gulf between his ambitions and the legal, financial and political realities of such an undertaking.

The U.S. bishops conference, for its part, has called abortion the preeminent priority for American Catholics in its published voter advice. Harris has strongly defended abortion rights and has emphasized support for reinstating a federal right to abortion.

In his comments, the pope added: On abortion, science says that a month from conception, all the organs of a human being are already there, all of them. Performing an abortion is killing a human being. Whether you like the word or not, this is killing. You cant say the church is closed because it does not allow abortion. The church does not allow abortion because its killing. It is murder.

However, cells are only beginning the process of developing organs in the earliest weeks of pregnancy. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says that by 13 weeks, all major organs have formed. For example, cardiac tissue starts to form in the first two months initially a tube that only later evolves into the four chambers that define a heart.

The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday that competing measures that would expand or limit abortion rights can appear on the November ballot.

The high court's ruling came days after it heard arguments in three lawsuits that sought to keep one or both of the competing abortion initiatives off the November ballot.

Organizers for each measure turned in more than 200,000 signatures, which was well over the 123,000 required valid ones needed to get them on the ballot.

An organizer for the measure to expand abortion rights called the decision a "victory for all Nebraskans."

"Anti-abortion politicians forced an abortion ban into law and then coordinated with activists to launch desperate lawsuits to silence over 200,000 Nebraskans by preventing them from voting on what happens to their bodies," said Allie Berry, campaign manager for Protect Our Rights. "They know Nebraskans want to end the harmful abortion ban and stop government overreach in their personal and private healthcare decisions. Today, their plans failed."

RELATED STORY | Citizens in half of states can't force ballot measures on abortion

Matt Heffron, an attorney with the conservative Thomas More Society, which challenged the measure to expand abortion rights, called the court's ruling "deeply concerning" and said the group fears that if the measure passes, it would lead to unnecessary abortions in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy.

A report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that in 2021, less than 1% of abortions occurred after 21 weeks of gestation.

One initiative would enshrine in the Nebraska Constitution the right to have an abortion until viability, or later to protect the health of the pregnant woman. The other would enshrine in the constitution Nebraska's current 12-week abortion ban, passed by the Legislature in 2023, which includes exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the pregnant woman.

Two lawsuits one brought by an Omaha resident and the other by a Nebraska neonatologist who both oppose abortion argued that the measure seeking to expand abortion rights violates the state's prohibition against addressing more than one subject in a bill or ballot proposal. They said the ballot measure deals with abortion rights until viability, abortion rights after viability to protect a woman's health, and whether the state should be allowed to regulate abortion, amounting to three separate issues.

"The fact that the drafters of the Initiative have made certain choices regarding the specific limits, parameters, and definitions does not mean that each such provision is a separate subject," Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman wrote for the court in its unanimous decision.

A similar single-subject argument on an abortion rights ballot measure before the conservative Florida Supreme Court failed earlier this year a development cited in the Nebraska decision.

"We note that our decision in this case aligns with a decision of the Florida Supreme Court issued earlier this year," Friday's opinion reads.

RELATED STORY | Measure to restore abortion rights will be on Missouri's November ballot, court rules

A third lawsuit challenged the 12-week ban ballot measure. It argued that if the high court found that the abortion rights measure fails the single-subject test, it also had to find that the 12-week ban initiative failed it. The abortion restriction measure would loop in at least six separate subjects from regulating abortion to listing exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, an attorney for that third lawsuit argued.

The state's high court has offered a mixed bag on single-subject law challenges. In 2020, the Nebraska Supreme Court blocked a ballot initiative seeking to legalize medical marijuana after finding that its provisions to allow people to use marijuana and to produce it were separate subjects that violated the state's single-subject rule.

But in July, the court ruled that a hybrid bill passed by the Legislature in 2023 combining the 12-week abortion ban with another measure to limit gender-affirming health care for minors does not violate the single-subject rule. That led to a scathing dissent by Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman, who accused the majority of applying different standards to bills passed by the legislature and those sought by voter referendum.

The court agreed to expedite its hearings and rulings on the lawsuits to eliminate the need for any proceedings at lower courts and to get the issue decided before ballots are printed across the state. The deadline to certify the Nebraska November ballot is Friday.

Nebraska will be the first state to carry competing abortion amendments on the same ballot since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, effectively ending 50 years of national abortion rights and making abortion a state-by-state issue. But the topic of abortion in general will be on the ballot in nine states across the country this year. Measures to protect access have also qualified to go before voters in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and South Dakota.

New York also has a ballot measure that proponents say would protect abortion rights, though there's a dispute about its impact. A measure is not on the Arkansas ballot, but an attempt to add it is being sought through litigation.

RELATED STORY | Federal abortion ban eliminated from Republican party platform

In Nebraska, voters could end up approving both competing abortion ballot measures. But because they're competing and therefore cannot both be enshrined in the constitution, the one that gets the most "for" votes would be the one adopted, the secretary of state's office has said. Voters in all seven states with an abortion-related ballot measure since the reversal of Roe v. Wade have favored abortion rights.

Most Republican-controlled states have implemented abortion bans of some sort since Roe was overturned.

Public opinion polling has also shown growing support for abortion rights, including a recent Associated Press-NORC survey that found 6 in 10 Americans think their state should allow someone to obtain a legal abortion if they don't want to be pregnant for any reason.

Fourteen states currently have bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with some exceptions; four states ban it after about six weeks, which is before many women know they are pregnant. Nebraska and North Carolina are the only states that have opted for bans that kick in after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on additional sex crimes charges ahead of his retrial in New York, Manhattan prosecutors said at a hearing Thursday.

The indictment will remain under seal until Weinsteins arraignment on the new charges, which is scheduled for Sept. 18.

Weinstein, 72, is recovering from emergency heart surgery Monday at a Manhattan hospital to remove fluid on his heart and lungs and was not at Thursday's hearing.

Prosecutors retrying Weinsteins overturned rape conviction disclosed last week that they had begun presenting to a grand jury evidence of up to three additional allegations against Weinstein, dating as far back as the mid-2000s.

They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.

Because the indictment is under seal, it was not known whether the new charges involved some or all of the additional allegations.

RELATED STORY | Jailed Harvey Weinstein taken to NYC hospital for emergency heart surgery, his representatives say

Prosecutors had been seeking to retry Weinstein after New Yorks highest court, the Court of Appeals, overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges earlier this year and ordered a new trial.

It remains to be seen whether the new charges will be included in the retrial, as prosecutors hope, or handled as a separate case by the court.

The new charges come after prosecutors in Britain announced last week that they would no longer pursue charges of indecent assault against Weinstein, who was the most prominent villain of the #MeToo movement in 2017 when women began going public with accounts of his behavior.

Weinstein, who co-founded the film and television production company Miramax, has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.

At Thursdays hearing, Judge Curtis Farber ruled that because of Weinsteins health concerns, he will be allowed to remain at Bellevue Hospital indefinitely instead of being moved back to the citys Rikers Island jail complex.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Braggs office had signaled for months that new charges were imminent against Weinstein, who was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, having produced films such as Pulp Fiction and The Crying Game.

In July, prosecutors told a judge they were actively pursuing claims of rape that occurred in Manhattan within the statute of limitations.

They said some potential accusers who were not ready to come forward during Weinsteins first New York trial had indicated they were now willing to testify.

RELATED STORY | New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial

New Yorks highest court threw out Weinsteins 2020 conviction in April after determining the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case.

Prosecutors have said one of the accusers in that case, Jessica Mann, is prepared to testify against him again. Its unclear if the second accuser, Mimi Haley, would participate. Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, declined to comment.

The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley and Mann did.

Weinstein, who had been serving a 23-year sentence in New York when his conviction was quashed, was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape.

His 16-year prison sentence in that case still stands, but his lawyers appealed in June, arguing he did not get a fair trial in Los Angeles. Weinstein has remained in custody in New Yorks Rikers Island jail complex while awaiting the retrial.

Boeing is preparing to learn Thursday whether 33,000 aircraft assembly workers, most of them in the Seattle area, are going on strike and shutting down production of the company's best-selling planes.

Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers plan to vote on whether to approve a contract offer that includes 25% pay raises over four years. If the factory workers reject the contract and two-thirds of them vote to strike, a work stoppage would begin Friday at 12:01 a.m. PDT.

A walkout would not cause flight cancellations or directly affect airline passengers, but it would be another blow to Boeing's reputation and finances in a year marked by problems in its airplane, defense and space operations.

New CEO Kelly Ortberg made a last-ditch effort to avert a strike, telling machinists Wednesday that no one wins in a walkout.

For Boeing, it is no secret that our business is in a difficult period, in part due to our own mistakes in the past, he said. Working together, I know that we can get back on track, but a strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together.

Although the bargaining committee that negotiated the contract recommended ratification, IAM District 751 President Jon Holden predicted earlier this week that workers would vote to strike. Many of them have posted complaints about the deal on social media.

Voting will take place at union halls in Washington state, Portland, Oregon, and a smattering of other locations, with results expected to be released Thursday night.

A strike would stop production of the 737 Max, the company's best-selling airliner, along with the 777 or triple-seven jet and the 767 cargo plane at factories in Everett and Renton, Washington, near Seattle. It likely would not affect Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which are built by nonunion workers in South Carolina.

RELATED STORY | Boeing says it has a deal to avoid a strike by more than 30,000 machinists

TD Cowen aerospace analyst Cai von Rumohr said it is realistic based on the history of strikes at Boeing to figure that a walkout would last into mid-November, when workers' $150 weekly payments from the union's strike fund might seem low going into the holidays.

A strike that long would cost Boeing up to $3.5 billion in cash flow because the company gets about 60% of the sale price when it delivers a plane to the buyer, von Rumohr said.

Union negotiators unanimously recommended that workers approve the tentative contract reached over the weekend.

Boeing promised to build its next new plane in the Puget Sound area. That plane not expected until sometime in the 2030s would replace the 737 Max. That was a key win for union leaders, who want to avoid a repeat of Boeing moving production of Dreamliners from Everett to South Carolina.

However, the deal fell short of the unions initial demand for pay raises of 40% over three years. The union also wanted to restore traditional pensions that were axed a decade ago but settled for an increase in Boeing contributions to employee's 401(k) retirement accounts.

Holden told members Monday the union got everything it could in bargaining and recommended approval of the deal "because we cant guarantee we can achieve more in a strike.

Many union members, however, are still bitter about previous concessions on pensions, health care and pay.

They are upset. They have a lot of things they want. I think Boeing understands that and wants to satisfy a fair number of them, aerospace analyst von Rumohr said. The question is, are they going to do enough?

Boeing has seen its reputation battered since two 737 Max airliners crashed in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The safety of its products came under renewed scrutiny after a panel blew out of a Max during a flight in January.

RELATED STORY | FAA orders inspections of Boeing 787 Dreamliners after plunging incident

A tech billionaire performed the first private spacewalk hundreds of miles above Earth on Thursday, a high-risk endeavor reserved for professional astronauts until now.

Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman teamed up with SpaceX to test the companys brand new spacesuits on his chartered flight. The daring feat also saw SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis going out once Isaacman was safely back inside.

This spacewalk was simple and quick the hatch was open barely a half hour compared with the drawn-out affairs conducted by NASA. Astronauts at the International Space Station often need to move across the sprawling complex for repairs, always traveling in pairs and lugging gear. Station spacewalks can last seven to eight hours; this one clocked in at less than two hours.

Isaacman emerged first, joining a small elite group of spacewalkers who until now had included only professional astronauts from a dozen countries.

Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do. But from here, it sure looks like a perfect world," Isaacman said as the capsule soared above the South Pacific. Cameras on board caught his silhouette, waist high at the hatch, with the blue Earth beneath.

The commercial spacewalk was the main focus of the five-day flight financed by Isaacman and Elon Musks company, and the culmination of years of development geared toward settling Mars and other planets.

All four on board donned the new spacewalking suits to protect themselves from the harsh vacuum. They launched on Tuesday from Florida, rocketing farther from Earth than anyone since NASAs moonwalkers. The orbit was reduced by half to 460 miles for the spacewalk.

This first spacewalking test involved more stretching than walking. Isaacman kept a hand or foot attached to the capsule the whole time as he flexed his arms and legs to see how the spacesuit held up. The hatch sported a walker-like structure for extra support.

After roughly 10 minutes outside, Isaacman was replaced by SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis to go through the same motions. Gillis bobbed up and down in weightlessness, no higher than her knees out of the capsule, as she twisted her arms and sent reports back to Mission Control.

Each had 12-foot tethers but did not unfurl them or dangle at the end unlike what happens at the space station, where astronauts routinely float out at a much lower orbit.

RELATED STORY | SpaceX launches billionaire to conduct the first private spacewalk

More and more wealthy passengers are plunking down huge sums for rides aboard private rockets to experience a few minutes of weightlessness. Other have spent tens of millions to stay in space for days or even weeks. Space experts and risk analysts say its inevitable that some will seek the thrill of spacewalking, deemed one of the most dangerous parts of spaceflight after launch and reentry but also the most soul-stirring.

This operation was planned down to the minute with little room for error. Trying out new spacesuits from a spacecraft new to spacewalking added to the risk. So did the fact that the entire capsule was exposed to the vacuum of space.

There were a few glitches. Isaacman had to manually pull the hatch open instead of pushing a button on board. Before heading out, Gillis reported seeing bulges in the hatch seal.

Scott Kidd Poteet, a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot, and SpaceX engineer Anna Menon stayed strapped to their seats to monitor from inside. All four underwent intensive training before the trip.

It went by in the blink of an eye, said SpaceX commentator Kate Tice.

Congratulations streamed in after the spacewalk concluded at one hour and 46 minutes or a full swing and then some around Earth.

Todays success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said via X.

Isaacman, 41, CEO and founder of the Shift4 credit card-processing company, has declined to disclose how much he invested in the flight. It was the first of three flights in a program hes dubbed Polaris; this one was called Polaris Dawn. For SpaceXs inaugural private flight in 2021, he took up contest winners and a cancer survivor.

Until Thursday, only 263 people had conducted a spacewalk, representing 12 countries. The Soviet Unions Alexei Leonov kicked it off in 1965, followed a few months later by NASAs Ed White.

RELATED STORY | Scientist prepares to become first NASA-funded researcher to conduct own experiment in space

Single mother Rebecca Wood, 45, was already dealing with high medical bills in 2020 when she noticed she was being charged a $2.49 "program fee" each time she loaded money onto her daughter's school lunch account.

As more schools turn to cashless payment systems, more districts have contracted with processing companies that charge as much as $3.25 or 4% to 5% per transaction, according to a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The report found that though legally schools must offer a fee-free option to pay by cash or check, there's rarely transparency around it.

"It wouldn't have been a big deal if I had hundreds of dollars to dump into her account at the beginning of the year," Wood said. "I didn't. I was paying as I went, which meant I was paying a fee every time. The $2.50 transaction fee was the price of a lunch. So I'd pay for six lunches, but only get five."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the federal policy on fee-free school lunch, has mandated that districts inform families of their options since 2017, but even when parents are aware, having to pay by cash or check to avoid fees can be burdensome.

"It's just massively inconvenient," said Joanna Roa, 43, who works at Clemson University in South Carolina as a library specialist and has two school-aged children.

RELATED STORY | Lawmaker proposes banning some food dyes from California school meals

Roa said that when her son was in first grade and she saw the $3.25-per-transaction fee for lunch account transactions, she and her husband decided to send him to school with packed lunches instead.

"A dollar here and there, I expected," she said. "But $3.25 per transaction, especially here in rural South Carolina where the cost of living is a lot lower as are the salaries is a lot."

Roa said packing lunch for two kids every day, for two working parents, was an increased burden of time and effort. For the past two years, thanks to surplus funds, her school district has been providing free lunches in school, which has changed the equation, but Roa said that could end at any point.

In its review of the 300 largest public school districts in the U.S., the CFPB found that 87% of sampled districts contract with payment processors.

Within those districts, the companies charge an average of $2.37 or 4.4% of the total transaction, each time money is added to a child's account. For families with lower incomes who can't afford to load large sums in one go, those fees can hit weekly or even more frequently, increasing costs disproportionately. Families that qualify for free or reduced lunch pay as much as 60 cents per dollar in fees when paying for school lunches electronically, according to the report.

In Wood's case, she researched the fees and learned about the USDA requirement to offer fee-free payment by cash or by check. When she pointed this out to the superintendent of her daughter's Massachusetts school district, the administrator said the lack of transparency was an oversight. To protest, Wood had planned to pay for her daughter's lunches in coins at the school office, together with other parents. But then the pandemic hit, changing, among other things, school lunch policy

In subsequent years, Wood became part of a campaign that successfully pushed for universal free school lunches in the state, but she continues to protest school processing fees for families.

"Even if lunch itself is free, if you want to buy something a la carte, or an extra lunch, or some other transaction, you still have to pay that fee," Wood said. "They take money from people who need it the most."

RELATED STORY | Fewer states to have universal free school lunches in 2024-25

While payment companies maintain that school districts have the chance to negotiate fees and rates when they form their contracts, the CFPB found that complex company structures "may insulate companies from competition and make school districts less likely to negotiate." Just three companies MySchoolBucks, SchoolCafe, and LINQ Connect dominate the market, according to the report.

Without the ability to choose which company to work with, "families have fewer ways to avoid harmful practices," the agency said, "including those that may violate federal consumer protection law."

The companies named in the report did not respond to requests for comment.

If you're a parent facing these fees, know that you always have a right to pay by cash or check, under federal policy. You can also request that your school district negotiate down the fees with their payment processing company, or request that the district cover the fees directly, which can give them leverage in negotiating a contract.

If your school is located in a low-income area, you may also check whether your district qualifies for the Community Eligibility Provision, which would allow the school to provide free breakfast and lunch to all enrolled students. More information on the CEP is available at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's website.

The United States and Britain pledged nearly $1.5 billion in additional aid to Ukraine on Wednesday during a visit to Kyiv by their top diplomats as Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced more than $700 million in humanitarian aid, while British Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed that his country would provide another $782 million in assistance and loan guarantees. Much of the effort was aimed at bolstering the energy grid that Russia has repeatedly pounded ahead of an expected difficult winter.

Blinken and Lammy traveled together to the Ukrainian capital on a rare joint tour to underscore their commitment to the country in its war. Two air-raid sirens sounded during the visit, causing delays in their schedule and forcing them to cancel a wreath-laying ceremony.

Blinken said he would bring the discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the missiles back to Washington to brief the president. Blinken said U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will no doubt talk about the issue when they meet Friday in Washington.

Speaking for the United States, we have adjusted and adapted as needs have changed, as the battlefield has changed. And I have no doubt that well continue to do that as this evolves, Blinken told a news conference.

RELATED STORY | Ukraine's foreign minister resigns as part of Zelenskyy's wartime reshuffle

The diplomatic visit unfolded as Russias bigger and better-equipped army bears down on Ukraines eastern Donetsk region and pounds the country with missiles, glide bombs and drones that claim many civilian casualties.

Lammy said the 2 1/2-year conflict is at a critical juncture following Ukraine's daring incursion last month into Russias Kursk region. Ukraine is also trying to defend against its neighbors aerial attacks on cities across the country.

"We convey the deepest condolences for the shocking attacks that we have seen, over the loss of civilian life, particularly women and children horrific, barbaric, unbelievable, Lammy said.

But relations between Ukraine and its Western partners have been increasingly strained by Kyivs repeated appeals for the Wests authorization to use long-range weapons from the United States and other allies to strike targets deeper inside Russia.

That issue has become more urgent after Russias latest reported acquisition of ballistic missiles from Iran, but Western leaders have so far balked at Ukraine's request, fearing that, if granted, it could escalate the war.

President Biden has allowed Ukraine to fire U.S.-provided missiles across the border into Russia in self-defense, but has largely limited the distance they can be fired.

Zelenskyy said he hoped for changes to those limitations.

Lets count on some strong decisions, at least, he said. For us, its very important.

He said he hoped to speak to President Biden later this month, noting that U.S. military and financial support is crucial.

We rely heavily on it, and frankly, we cant prevail without it, Zelenskyy said.

However, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week pushed back on the idea that long-range strikes would be a game-changer.

I dont believe one capability is going to be decisive, and I stand by that comment, Austin said at a meeting of allied military leaders in Germany. The Ukrainians have other means to strike long-range targets, he added

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told Lammy he hoped an agreement on using long-range assets for strikes on the territory of our enemy could be reached. We hope for your help and support in this issue.

Shmyhal described the meeting with Lammy in Kyiv as intense but gave no other details in a post on his Telegram channel.

RELATED STORY | Dogfighting drones open a new chapter in Ukraine's aerial war against Russia

A hard winter likely lies ahead for Ukraine. Its power grid is under severe strain after Russian missiles and drones knocked out around 70% of the countrys generation capacity.

Kyiv officials will also have to navigate the outcome of the U.S. election in November, which could produce important policy shifts in Washington. Former President Donald Trump said in a presidential debate Tuesday that he wants the war to end but did not clearly say he wants Ukraine to win.

The bottom line is this: We want Ukraine to win, Blinken said.

Ukrainian officials politely sidestepped making any comment on the debate. Zelenskyy said he did not watch it, while Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, insisted U.S. policy was ultimately unlikely to change.

Yes, its clear that there will be a new president. But we believe, and are convinced, in the strong support of the American people, Sybiha said. We are firmly, firmly convinced that this support will continue.

The latest American aid package includes $325 million in energy support to help repair and restore Ukraines power generation facilities, provide emergency backup power for critical services and strengthen the physical security of energy infrastructure.

Some $290 million will fund food, water, shelter, health care and education programs for Ukrainians in need in the country and refugees outside the country. The remaining $102 million will be used for mine-removal work. Late last week, the U.S. announced it would send $250 million more in weapons to Ukraine, including air-defense missiles and artillery.

The British diplomats reached the Ukrainian capital by train from Poland. Blinken traveled from London, where he accused Iran of providing Russia with Fath-360 short-range ballistic missiles, calling the move a dramatic escalation of the war.

Referring to those missiles, Shmyhal added: Russias use of weapons from its terrorist allies to strike at Ukraine continues their genocidal war and terrorism on our territory. We must be able to respond to such terrorism in kind by destroying military targets on their territory to ensure greater safety for our citizens.

Wednesday's visit was, unusually, announced in advance a public signal of American and British support for Ukraine.

State and local election officials from across the country on Wednesday warned that problems with the nation's mail delivery system threaten to disenfranchise voters in the upcoming presidential election, telling the head of the U.S. Postal Service that it hasn't fixed persistent deficiencies.

In an alarming letter, the officials said that over the past year, including the just-concluded primary season, mailed ballots that were postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. They also noted that properly addressed election mail was being returned to them as undeliverable, a problem that could automatically send voters to inactive status through no fault of their own, potentially creating chaos when those voters show up to cast a ballot.

The officials also said that repeated outreach to the Postal Service to resolve the issues had failed and that the widespread nature of the problems made it clear these were not one-off mistakes or a problem with specific facilities. Instead, it demonstrates a pervasive lack of understanding and enforcement of USPS policies among its employees.

The letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy came from two groups that represent top election administrators in all 50 states. They told DeJoy, We have not seen improvement or concerted efforts to remediate our concerns.

We implore you to take immediate and tangible corrective action to address the ongoing performance issues with USPS election mail service, they added. "Failure to do so will risk limiting voter participation and trust in the election process."

A message seeking a response from the U.S. Postal Service was not immediately returned.

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The two groups, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors, said local election officials in nearly every state are receiving timely postmarked ballots after Election Day and outside the three to five business days USPS claims as the standard for first-class mail.

The letter comes less than two weeks after DeJoy said in an interview that the Postal Service was ready to handle a flood of mail ballots expected as part of this November's presidential election and as former President Donald Trump continues to sow doubts about U.S. elections by falsely claiming he won in 2020.

That year, amid the global pandemic, election officials reported sending just over 69 million ballots in the mail, a substantial increase from four years earlier.

While it's likely that number will be smaller now, many voters have embraced mail voting and come to rely on it. And both Democrats and Republicans have launched efforts to push supporters to vote early, either in person or by mail to bank their votes before Election Day on Nov. 5.

The letter went out on the day the first mailed ballots of this year's general election were being sent, to absentee voters in Alabama.

Postal Service officials told reporters last month that almost 98% of ballots were returned to election officials within three days in 2020, and in 2022, the figure was nearly 99%. DeJoy said he would like to inch closer to 100% this election cycle and that the Postal Service is better positioned to handle ballots than four years ago.

But officials in rural states have been critical of the Postal Service for years as it has consolidated mail-processing centers to cut its costs and financial losses.

In addition to being signed by the current and incoming presidents for both groups of election officials, the leaders of groups that represent local election officials in 25 states were listed.

The election officials warned that any election mail returned to an election office as undeliverable could trigger a process outlined in federal law for maintaining accurate lists of registered voters. That means a voter could be moved to inactive status and be required to take additional action to verify their address to participate in the election, the officials said in the letter.

Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, the recent past president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, sent his own letter in recent days to DeJoy. He said nearly 1,000 ballots from his state's Aug. 6 primary election couldn't be counted because they arrived too late or without postmarks and more continue to come in.

The Pony Express is more efficient at this point," Schwab posted on the social media platform X in late August.

Schwab and other Kansas election officials also have said some ballots arrive on time but without postmarks, which keeps them from being counted under Kansas law. What's more, Schwab told DeJoy, local postal clerks have told election officials that they can't add postmarks later even if it's clear that the Postal Service handled the ballot ahead of the mail-in deadline.

Kansas will count ballots postmarked on or before Election Day if they arrive within three days. The Republican-controlled Legislature created that grace period in 2017 over concerns that mail delivery had slowed after the Postal Service shut down seven mail-processing centers in the state. That left much of the state's mail handled through larger centers in Denver, Amarillo, Texas, and Kansas City, Missouri.

Schwab has promoted the use of local ballot drop boxes for voting in advance, breaking with other Republicans who have suggested without evidence that they can be sources of fraud. Schwab has long said the boxes are more secure than the U.S. mail.

"Keep your ballot out of the hands of the federal government! he advised voters in a post on X after the August primary.

In their letter Wednesday, election officials said colleagues across the U.S. have reported that Postal Service staff, from managers to mail carriers, are uninformed about the service's policies for handling election-related mail, give them inconsistent guidance and misdeliver ballots.

There is no amount of proactive communication election officials can do to account for USPSs inability to meet their own service delivery timelines, the officials wrote. State and local election officials need a committed partner in USPS.