Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear banned the use of conversion therapy on minors in Kentucky on Wednesday, calling his executive order a necessary step to protect children from a widely discredited practice that tries to change a persons sexual orientation or gender identity through counseling.

The governor used his executive powers after Republicans who control the state legislature repeatedly blocked efforts to enact a state law banning the practice. Beshear said he would no longer wait for others to "do whats right.

My faith teaches me that all children are children of God," Beshear said during the signing ceremony at the Kentucky Capitol. "And where practices are endangering and even harming those children, we must act. The practice of so-called conversion therapy hurts our children.

It was the latest action in a national debate over conversion therapy and the rights of LGBTQ+ children and their families.

RELATED STORY | Former Gay Conversion Therapist: 'Conversion Therapy Is Harmful'

The Kentucky event stirred many emotions. Activists for mental health and LGBTQ+ rights cheered the governor, but as he prepared to sign the ban, someone nearby shouted, This is a denial of affirmation therapy! Supporters drowned out the protest.

Among those in attendance was Zach Meiners, a 34-year-old filmmaker who said he wants young people to be spared the anguish and harm he endured during four years of therapy as a teenager, which caused him anxiety and depression in ways that Im still unraveling.

I can speak firsthand to how devastating it can be to someones mental health," Meiners said in an interview. "And I consider myself very lucky to be a survivor.

Republican state Rep. Killian Timoney shook Beshear's hand after the signing, and expressed support for the ban. But another GOP lawmaker, state Rep. Josh Calloway, said the governor had defied the will of the legislature, which isn't scheduled to reconvene until January.

We are the lawmaking body, and laws should be made by peoples representatives, Calloway said.

The Family Foundation, a socially conservative group in Kentucky, said Beshear's order tramples on the rights of parents and suppresses religious expression. It referred to the ban as an unlawful action, perhaps signaling a legal challenge.

This order, like previous failed legislative efforts, is designed to promote false LGBTQ ideologies and muzzle Christian counselors, therapists and pastors from helping children struggling with sexual orientation or gender identity confusion, David Walls, the group's executive director, said in a statement.

RELATED STORY | Michigan bans use of so-called conversion therapy on LGBTQ+ youth

The ban runs roughshod over the First Amendment, said Daniel Schmid, a legal executive with Liberty Counsel, which describes itself as a Christian ministry.

Anticipating such attacks, Beshear said his action does not force an ideology on anybody but "simply stops a so-called therapy that the medical community says is wrong and hurts our children.

Democratic state Rep. Lisa Willner, who promoted a legislative ban, called the order a great step forward for the safety and mental health of so many young Kentuckians.

The order also makes it illegal to use state or federal funds to provide the therapy on minors, and authorizes licensing boards to discipline professionals found to have practiced conversion therapy on minors.

Such therapy has been discredited and is opposed by, among others, the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, citing research that shows it leads to increased risk of suicide and depression.

Nearly half the states and the District of Columbia prohibit conversion therapy on minors, Beshear's office said. In Kentucky, 21% of LGBTQ young people reported being threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy, according to the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people.

RELATED STORY | Supreme Court rejects appeal over bans on LGBTQ+ conversion therapy

Meanwhile, efforts are spreading across the country to curb the rights of LGBTQ+ kids and impose restrictions on gender and sexuality in classrooms, youth sports and medicine.

Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky-based LGBTQ+ advocacy group, referred to conversion therapy as "not just snake oil but snake venom.

Four years ago, Beshear became the first Kentucky governor to participate in the annual gay-rights rally at the statehouse when the legislature is in session. Last year, Republicans used transgender issues to attack Beshear, pointing to his veto of legislation banning transgender young people from having access to gender-affirming health care. Beshear said the measure eroded parental rights to make medical decisions for their children. GOP lawmakers overrode the veto, but Beshear won re-election later that year by a comfortable margin.

On Wednesday, Beshear said he won't stop urging legislators to put the ban on conversion therapy into state law.

It is not about politics at all, the governor said. "And to me, its not even about gender or sexuality. Its about protecting our youth from an inhumane practice that hurts them.

Hartman said the governor sent a clear message to Kentuckys LGBTQ+ youth and their families: "You are perfect as you are.

The House on Wednesday rejected Speaker Mike Johnson's proposal that would have linked temporary funding for the federal government with a mandate that states require proof of citizenship when people register to vote.

Next steps on government funding are uncertain. Lawmakers are not close to completing work on the dozen annual appropriations bills that will fund federal agencies during the next fiscal year, so theyll need to approve a stopgap measure to prevent a partial shutdown when that budget year begins Oct. 1.

The vote was 220-202, with 14 Republicans and all but three Democrats opposing the bill. Johnson, who said after the vote he was disappointed, will likely pursue a Plan B to avoid a partial shutdown, though he was not yet ready to share details.

We'll draw up another play and we'll come up with a solution, Johnson said. I'm already talking to colleague about their many ideas. We have time to fix the situation and we'll get right to it.

Johnson had pulled the bill from consideration last week because it lacked the votes to pass. He worked through the weekend to win support from fellow Republicans but was unable to overcome objections about spending levels from some members, while others said they don't favor any continuing resolutions, insisting that Congress return to passing the dozen annual appropriations bills on time and one at a time. Democrats overwhelmingly opposed the measure.

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Requiring new voters to provide proof of citizenship has become a leading election-year priority for Republicans raising the specter of noncitizens voting in the U.S., even though its already illegal to do so and research has shown that such voting is rare.

Opponents say that such a requirement would disenfranchise millions of Americans who do not have a birth certificate or passport readily available when they get a chance to register at their school, church or other venues when voter registration drives occur.

But Johnson said it is a serious problem because even if a tiny percentage of noncitizens do vote, it could determine the outcome of an extremely close race. He noted that Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa won her seat back in 2020 by six votes.

It's very, very serious stuff and that's why we're going to do the right thing, Johnson said before the vote. We're going to responsibly fund the government and we're going to stop noncitizens voting in elections.

Meanwhile, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump weighed in again just hours before the vote. seemingly encouraging House Republicans to let a partial government shutdown begin at the end of the month unless they get the proof of citizenship mandate, referred to in the House as the SAVE Act.

If Republicans dont get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form, Trump said on the social media platform Truth Social.

House Democrats said the proof of citizenship mandate should not be part of a bill to keep the government funded and urged Johnson to work with them on a measure that can pass both chambers.

This is not going to become law," said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. "This is Republican theatrics that are meant to appease the most extreme members of their conference, to show them that they are working on something and that theyre continuing to support the former president of the United States in his bid to demonize immigrants.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has predicted Johnson's effort was doomed to fail.

The only thing that will accomplish is make clear that hes running into a dead end, Schumer said. We must have a bipartisan plan instead.

The legislation would fund agencies generally at current levels through March 28 while lawmakers work out their differences on a full-year spending agreement.

Democrats, and some Republicans, are pushing for a shorter extension. A temporary fix would allow the current Congress to hammer out a final bill after the election and get it to Democratic President Joe Bidens desk for his signature.

But Johnson and some of the more conservative members of his conference are pushing for a six-month extension in the hopes Trump will win and give them more leverage when crafting the full-year bill.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declined to weigh in on how long to extend funding. He said Schumer and Johnson, ultimately, will have to work out a final agreement that can pass both chambers.

The one thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election because certainly we would get the blame, McConnell said.

Regardless of the vote outcome, Republican lawmakers sought to allay any concerns there would be a shutdown. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said if the bill failed, then another stopgap bill should be voted on that would allow lawmakers to come back to Washington after the election and finish the appropriations work.

The bottom line is we're not shutting the government down, Lawler said.

But Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused Republicans of engaging in a shutdown effort.

"Thats not hyperbole, Jeffries said. Its history. Because in the DNA of extreme MAGA Republicans has consistently been an effort to make extreme ransom demands of the American people, and if those extreme ransom demands are not met, shut down the government.

The House approved a bill with the proof of citizenship mandate back in July. Some Republicans who view the issue as popular with their constituents have been pushing for another chance to show their support.

Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., noted that his states secretary of state announced last month that 3,251 people who had been previously issued noncitizen identification numbers will have their voter registration status made inactive and flagged for possible removal from the voter rolls. Voting rights groups have since filed a lawsuit saying the policy illegally targeted naturalized citizens for removal from voting rolls.

These people should never have been allowed to register in the first place and this is exactly what the SAVE Act will prevent, Aderholt said.

Authorities say they believe the body of a man suspected of shooting and wounding five people on a Kentucky interstate highway has been found.

Col. Phillip PJ Burnett said that the body found Wednesday is believed to be Joseph Couch, of Woodbine, Kentucky.

Burnett said accessories found with the body have led them to conclude it is him.

Authorities say the body was found following a lengthy search of the rugged and hilly terrain in the area of southeastern Kentucky where the Sept. 7 attack happened.

Investigators were working to identify the body, state police Master Trooper Scottie Pennington said earlier in a social media post. It was located in the vicinity of the Interstate 75 exit near London, a city of about 8,000 people about 75 miles south of Lexington.

The highway shootings put the rural area on edge, leading some schools to shut down and shift to virtual learning for several days as authorities warned area residents to be vigilant. Schools reopened Tuesday with extra police security in the county where the shooting happened.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has called the shootings an act of violence and evil.

RELATED STORY | Deputies continue search for suspected gunman after 5 shot on Kentucky highway

A dozen vehicles were struck as the shooter fired 20 to 30 rounds near an interstate exit, creating a chaotic scene. Authorities rushed to the scene after being alerted at about 5:30 p.m. The five victims survived the attack but some suffered serious injuries.

After sending the text message vowing to kill a lot of people before the attack, Couch sent another saying, Ill kill myself afterwards, investigators say in the affidavit. The document did not describe the relationship between Couch and the woman who received the texts. However, Couch and the woman have a child together but were never married, according to an attorney who handled the custody arrangement for the couple and their son born in 2016.

Searchers found Couchs abandoned vehicle near the crime scene and a semi-automatic weapon that investigators believe was used in the shooting. An Army-style duffel bag that was found had Couch hand-written in marker, and a phone believed to be Couchs also was found but the battery had been taken out.

Authorities said he purchased the AR-15 weapon and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition at a London gun store hours before the shooting.

Couch had a military background in the Army Reserve. The U.S. Army said he served from 2013 to 2019 as a combat engineer. He was a private when he left and had no deployments.

The search focused on a densely wooded area about 8 miles north of London that a state police official described as walking in a jungle. Aided by helicopters and drones, search teams on the ground contended with cliffs, sinkholes, caves, waterways and thick brush.

Authorities said they were inundated with tips from the public and followed up on each one. When the ground search was suspended at night, specially trained officers were deployed in strategic locations in the woods to prevent the gunman from slipping out of the area.

On Tuesday, authorities said they were pulling searchers from the woods to bolster patrols in nearby communities in hopes of calming fears among residents.

Police received more than 400 tips since the shooting, with most pointing to areas outside the sprawling forest that was the focus of the search.

A longtime CIA officer who drugged, photographed and sexually assaulted more than two dozen women in postings around the world was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison Wednesday after an emotional hearing in which victims described being deceived by a man who appeared kind, educated and part of an agency that is supposed to protect the world from evil.

Brian Jeffrey Raymond, with a graying beard and orange prison jumpsuit, sat dejectedly as he heard his punishment for one of the most egregious misconduct cases in the CIAs history. It was chronicled in his own library of more than 500 images that showed him in some cases straddling and groping his nude, unconscious victims.

It's safe to say he's a sexual predator, U.S. Senior Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in imposing the full sentence prosecutors had requested. "You are going to have a period of time to think about this.

Prosecutors say the 48-year-old Raymonds assaults date to 2006 and tracked his career in Mexico, Peru and other countries, all following a similar pattern:

He would lure women he met on Tinder and other dating apps to his government-leased apartment and drug them while serving wine and snacks. Once they were unconscious, he spent hours posing their naked bodies before photographing and assaulting them. He opened their eyelids at times and stuck his fingers in their mouths.

RELATED STORY | Ex-CIA employee sentenced 40 years for sharing secrets with Wikileaks

One by one, about a dozen of Raymonds victims who were identified only by numbers in court recounted how the longtime spy upended their lives. Some said they only learned what happened after the FBI showed them the photos of being assaulted while unconscious.

My body looks like a corpse on his bed, one victim said of the photos. Now I have these nightmares of seeing myself dead.

One described suffering a nervous breakdown. Another spoke of a recurring trance that caused her to run red lights while driving. Many told how their confidence and trust in others had been shattered forever.

I hope he is haunted by the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life, said one of the women, who like others stared Raymond down as they walked away from the podium.

Reading from a statement, Raymond told the judge that he has spent countless hours contemplating his downward spiral.

It betrayed everything I stand for and I know no apology will ever be enough, he said. There are no words to describe how sorry I am. Thats not who I am and yet its who I became.

Raymonds sentencing comes amid a reckoning on sexual misconduct at the CIA. The Associated Press reported last week that another veteran CIA officer faces state charges in Virginia for allegedly reaching up a co-workers skirt and forcibly kissing her during a drunken party in the office.

Still another former CIA employee an officer trainee is scheduled to face a jury trial next month on charges he assaulted a woman with a scarf in a stairwell at the agencys Langley, Virginia, headquarters. That case emboldened some two dozen women to come forward to authorities and Congress with accounts of their own of sexual assaults, unwanted touching and what they contend are the CIAs efforts to silence them.

And yet the full extent of sexual misconduct at the CIA remains a classified secret in the name of national security, including a recent 648-page internal watchdog report that found systemic shortcomings in the agencys handling of such complaints.

The classified nature of the activities allowed the agency to hide a lot of things, said Liza Mundy, author of Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA. The male-dominated agency, she said, has long been a refuge for egregious sexual misconduct. For decades, men at the top had free rein.

CIA has publicly condemned Raymonds crimes and implemented sweeping reforms intended to keep women safe, streamline claims and more quickly discipline offenders.

There is absolutely no excuse for Mr. Raymonds reprehensible, appalling behavior, the agency said Wednesday. "As this case shows, we are committed to engaging with law enforcement.

But a veil of secrecy still surrounds the Raymond case nearly four years after his arrest. Even after Raymond pleaded guilty late last year, prosecutors have tiptoed around the exact nature of his work and declined to disclose a complete list of the countries where he assaulted women.

Still, they offered an unbridled account of Raymonds conduct, describing him as a serial offender whose assaults increased over time and become almost frenetic during his final CIA posting in Mexico City, where he was discovered in 2020 after a naked woman screamed for help from his apartment balcony.

U.S. officials scoured Raymonds electronic devices and began identifying the victims he had listed by name and physical characteristics, all of whom described experiencing some form of memory loss during their time with him.

One victim said Raymond seemed like a perfect gentleman when they met in Mexico in 2020, recalling only that they kissed. Unbeknownst to the woman, after she blacked out, he took 35 videos and close-up photos of her breasts and genitals.

The defendants manipulation often resulted in women blaming themselves for losing consciousness, feeling ashamed, and apologizing to the defendant, prosecutors wrote in a court filing. He was more than willing to gaslight the women, often suggesting that the women drank too much and that, despite their instincts to the contrary, nothing had happened.

Raymond, a San Diego native and former White House intern who is fluent in Spanish and Mandarin, ultimately pleaded guilty to four of 25 federal counts including sexual abuse, coercion and transportation of obscene material. As part of his sentence, the judge ordered him to pay $10,000 to each of his 28 victims.

Raymonds attorneys had sought leniency, contending his quasi-military work at the CIA in the years following 9/11 became a breeding ground for the emotional callousness and objectification of other people that enabled his years of preying upon women.

While he was working tirelessly at his government job, he ignored his own need for help, and over time he began to isolate himself, detach himself from human feelings and become emotionally numb, defense attorney Howard Katzoff wrote in a court filing.

He was an invaluable government worker, but it took its toll on him and sent him down a dark path.

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Iranian hackers sought to interest President Joe Biden's campaign in information stolen from rival Donald Trump's campaign, sending unsolicited emails to people connected to the Democratic president in an effort to interfere in the 2024 election, the FBI and other federal agencies said Wednesday.

There's no evidence that any of the recipients responded, officials said, preventing the hacked information from surfacing in the final months of the closely contested election.

RELATED STORY | Russia, Iran, China are ramping up efforts to influence US election, intelligence says

The hackers sent emails in late June and early July to people who were associated with Biden's campaign before he dropped out. The emails contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trumps campaign as text in the emails, according to a U.S. government statement.

The announcement is the latest effort to call out what officials say is Irans brazen, ongoing work to interfere in the 2024 election, including a hack-and-leak campaign that the FBI and other federal agencies linked last month to Tehran. The Justice Department has been preparing charges in that breach, The Associated Press has reported.

The FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have said the Trump campaign hack and an attempted breach of the Biden-Harris campaign are part of an effort to undermine voters faith in the election and to stoke discord.

RELATED STORY | Microsoft tracks Russian election influence campaign shift to undermine Harris

The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. At least three news outlets Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post were leaked confidential material from inside the Trump campaign. So far, each has refused to reveal any details about what it received.

Politico reported that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source an AOL email account identified only as Robert passed along what appeared to be a research dossier that the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The document was dated Feb. 23, almost five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.

In a statement, Morgan Finkelstein, a spokesperson for Kamala Harriss campaign, said the campaign has cooperated with law enforcement since learning that people associated with Bidens team were among the recipients of the emails.

Were not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign; a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt, Finkelstein said.

ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski is retiring from broadcasting to return to his alma mater, St. Bonaventure, to take over the newly created position of general manager of the men's basketball program, the Atlantic 10 school announced Wednesday.

Wojnarowski will oversee a wide range of responsibilities while working alongside coach Mark Schmidt and his staff. His duties will include focusing on name, image and likeness opportunities, transfer portal management, recruiting and alumni player relationships.

"I'm thrilled and humbled to return to St. Bonaventure with an opportunity to serve the university," Wojnarowski said in a statement released by the school in Allegany, New York. "I'm hopeful to share with members of our community some best practices learned from the most successful franchises and minds in the NBA and committed to opening doors globally for our players both on and off the court."

Wojnarowski graduated from St. Bonaventure with a journalism degree in 1991 and received an honorary doctorate from the school in 2022. The 55-year-old has worked at ESPN since 2017, and his decision to retire came even while he was still under a contract he signed with the broadcaster in 2022.

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Wojnarowski, who previously worked at Yahoo Sports and The Record of New Jersey, was a two-time APSE columnist of the year and was voted the National Sports Media Association's National Sportswriter of the Year over a three-year span from 2017 to 2019.

Schmidt described Wojnarowski's addition to his staff as a "home run," adding: "This move is critical to navigate the new landscape of college basketball in NIL, recruiting and retention."

St. Bonaventure is located amid the Allegany Mountains in the southwest corner of New York, about a 90-minute drive south of Buffalo.

The Catholic school, with an enrollment of about 2,000 students, is seeking to capitalize on Wojnarowski's name recognition while following other programs that have created the role of GM in the NIL era. He is best known for breaking NBA news with what became known as "Woj Bombs" on social media.

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"While we will miss his daily output, we completely understand his decision to make a lifestyle change and slow down a bit," ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. "We know he will continue to thrive in this next chapter, and he has our collective gratitude and support."

Bob Beretta, St. Bonaventure vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics, called Wojnarowski's addition an "incredible opportunity" for the school to tap into his many basketball connections.

"At a time of tremendous turbulence within the intercollegiate athletics enterprise, we are making a strong statement that St. Bonaventure continues to be on the forefront of change," Beretta said. "The fact that the preeminent journalist in his field is willing to walk away from a lucrative media career to serve his alma mater in a support role is a testament to his love and passion for Bona."

Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded near simultaneously across Lebanon and in parts of Syria on Tuesday, killing at least eight people, including members of the militant group Hezbollah and a girl, and wounding the Iranian ambassador, government and Hezbollah officials said.

Officials pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack that wounded more than 2,700 people at a time of rising tensions across the Lebanon border. The Israeli military declined to comment.

A Hezbollah official who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that the new brand of handheld pagers used by the group first heated up, then exploded, killing at least two of its members and wounding others.

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Lebanons health minister, Firas Abiad, said at least eight people were killed and 2,750 wounded 200 of them critically.

Iranian state-run IRNA news agency said that the countrys ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, was superficially wounded by an exploding pager and was being treated at a hospital.

Photos and videos from Beiruts southern suburbs circulating on social media and in local media showed people lying on the pavement with wounds on their hands or near their pants pockets.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah previously warned the groups members not to carry cellphones, saying that they could be used by Israel to track their movements and to carry out targeted strikes.

Lebanons Health Ministry called on all hospitals to be on alert to take in emergency patients and for people who own pagers to get away from them. It also asked health workers to avoid using wireless devices.

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AP photographers at area hospitals said the emergency rooms were overloaded with patients, many of them with injuries to their limbs, some in serious condition.

The state-run National News Agency said hospitals in southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beiruts southern suburbs all areas where Hezbollah has a strong presence had called on people to donate blood of all types.

The news agency reported that in Beiruts southern suburbs and other areas the handheld pagers system was detonated using advanced technology, and dozens of injuries were reported.

The Hezbollah official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media said the explosions were the result of a security operation that targeted the devices.

The enemy (Israel) stands behind this security incident, the official said, without elaborating. He added that the new pagers that Hezbollah members were carrying had lithium batteries that apparently exploded.

Lithium batteries, when overheated, can smoke, melt and even catch on fire. Rechargeable lithium batteries are used in consumer products ranging from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Lithium battery fires can burn up to 1,100 Fahrenheit.

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The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between Lebanon and Israel. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been clashing near-daily for more than 11 months against the backdrop of war between Israel and Hezbollah ally Hamas in Gaza.

The clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and displaced tens of thousands on both sides of the border. On Tuesday, Israel said that halting Hezbollahs attacks in the north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal.

Israel has killed Hamas militants in the past with booby trapped cellphones and its widely believed to have been behind the Stuxnet computer virus attack on Irans nuclear program in 2010.

On the first day of his American National Government class, Prof. Kevin Dopf asks how many of his students are United States citizens. Every hand shoots up.

So, how did all you people become citizens? he asks. Did you pass a test?

No, one young woman says tentatively. We were born here.

Its a good thing. Based on his years of making his students at the University of South Carolina Beaufort take the test given to immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship, most would be rejected.

Thirty, 35% of the students will pass it, says Dopf, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former West Point instructor. The rest of them are clueless. I mean, theyre just clueless.

Most states require some sort of high school civics instruction. But with a recent survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center showing that about a third of American adults cant name the three branches of the federal government, many think we should be aiming higher.

Over the past few years, a small but growing number of states have begun requiring students at publicly funded colleges to complete a civics requirement. That comes as polling indicates civics education is wildly popular across the political spectrum.

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Civics the study of citizens rights and responsibilities fosters a sense of unity, advocates say, and an ability to deal with disagreement. It empowers citizens, and many people believe it could help heal Americas divides. Having it in higher education means they can look at issue in more sophisticated ways, perhaps weaving it into other classes.

I feel we are in the business for making a case for America, said Louise Dube, head of iCivics, which promotes civics education.

But what does it mean when those talking about civics often cant be, well, civil?

Take North Carolina, where lawmakers and academics got into a heated battle over who should decide how civics would be taught.

Last year, North Carolina Republicans introduced the REACH Act, an acronym for Reclaiming College Education on Americas Constitutional Heritage. The bill required undergraduates to take at least three credit hours in American government and read a series of major U.S. history documents, from the Declaration of Independence to Martin Luther King Jr.s 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail. They would also have to pass a final exam worth 20% of the final grade.

If the bill seemed anodyne on the surface, it met with intense pushback. Critics pointed to the bills reclaiming title, its attempt to dictate curriculum usually set by professors and that it was drafted by Jameson Broggi, an avowedly conservative U.S. Marine Corps captain and lawyer who has said curriculum must include devotion to American institutions and ideals.

The North Carolina act easily passed the state House in March 2023 and a first reading in the Senate. It seemed on its way to victory.

University of North Carolina officials and faculty were not happy.

We tried to slow this down in House but had zero success, Bart Goodson, senior vice president of government relations for the 16-school UNC system wrote to a fellow administrator in an April 2023 email, obtained by Broggi through an open records request.

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It was a wrap yourself in the flag type bill and anyone who spoke against was essentially viewed as non-American, Goodson wrote.

So, as the idea moved slowly through the legislative process, UNC faculty took matters into their own hands.

Wade Maki, chair of the UNC faculty assembly, worked with professors from four other campuses, including two historically Black universities, to draft a set of learning outcomes. They studied whats being done in other states.

The resulting proposal, called the Foundations of American Democracy, mirrors the REACH Act in many ways. They even added Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address to the list of required documents.

It seemed like everyone wanted the same thing.

But supporters of requiring civics through legislation were troubled why did the faculty object to their version?

What are these people afraid of? asked Michael B. Poliakoff, president and chief executive officer of American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which helped Broggi draft the North Carolina act and a similar one that passed in South Carolina three years ago.

As if understanding the founding documents and the pivotal moments in our history, culminating with letter from Birmingham Jail, would be too disturbing, too retro.

Thats not the point, the academics say.

Unlike standards in K-12 schools, college faculty typically decide the content of individual courses. Its seen as a core of academic freedom.

Faculty are the primary owners of the curriculum. says Maki, who teaches philosophy at UNC-Greensboro. We know what works in ways that sometimes someone outside of higher ed may not know what works.

The UNC board of governors, all 24 of whom were appointed by the GOP-led legislature, unanimously approved the plan in mid-April. Details are still being ironed out, with the requirement applying to students entering the system starting July 2025. (The NC REACH Acts sponsors, displeased with the UNC plan, have vowed to revive the legislative effort next year.)

According to the conservative, New York-based Civics Alliance, legislation in at least 10 states Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming require undergraduates at public universities to take at least one American history and/or government course. The requirement is being enacted, or at least discussed, in other states.

And the Alliance which rails against identity politics and radical New Civics activists is looking to spread the word.

The organization has created model legislation that calls for the study of and devotion to Americas exceptional and praiseworthy history. David Randall, the alliances executive director, said its materials had informed legislation in Florida, Iowa and Texas, but declined to say what other states might have reached out.

Some state college systems, like UNC, havent waited for a legislative mandate to act.

For example, students at Indianas Purdue University and its satellite campuses can choose from three paths write reflections after attending six approved civics-related events, listen to 12 podcasts and take a series of quizzes or complete one of 13 politics or history courses and pass an exam. University of Arizona system faculty are currently developing American Institutions curricula to fulfill a requirement from the board of regents.

Professors acknowledge not all students appreciate the forced civics learning.

Some view it as the vegetable in a meal, some view it as the dessert. For some, the goal is just to finish the meal, said David Reingold, dean of Purdues College of Liberal Arts, who oversaw the implementation of the systems civics program.

The Civics Alliance says Americas colleges, which train K-12 teachers, have been taken over by a radical establishment determined to replace proper civics education with pedagogies such as Critical Race Theory and action civics ... Whitney Ross Manzo, an associate professor of political science at Meredith College in Raleigh, says fears about political indoctrination assume a power that faculty simply dont have.

If I could force something on my students, it would be to read their syllabus and do their homework. I dont have the power to change their political ideology, said Manzo, who once taught in Texas.

Back in Bluffton, Dopf has his work cut out for him.

After some introductory remarks, Dopf tells his students to take out a piece of paper and pen.

This is your first test.

The 14 questions are relatively simple: How many members in the U.S. Senate? What are the requirements to be president? How long is the term for members of the House of Representatives?

Would-be citizens must get six of 10 answers correct to pass. Dopf holds his students to a lower standard just seven of 14.

As he expected, about 70% flunked.

One student thought Clarence Thomas was chief justice of the Supreme Court. Another put down that the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1667.

To miss basic facts like that, Dopf says, exasperation in his voice. We need to develop better skill sets for our students so that we have a better democracy. (In fairness, he says even 30% of his West Point cadets failed the quiz.)

Audra Hillman, 18, a freshman from Wake Forest, North Carolina, took two politics classes in high school. So, how'd she do?

I probably would have got kicked out, she says with a nervous chuckle.

Hillman wants to eventually work with special needs kids but doesnt resent having to squeeze in this civics class.

Everyone should vote," she says. "Like, its your duty as an American citizen. And I think that everyone should go out and be educated.

Elon Musk has deleted a post on his social media platform X in which he said no one is even trying to assassinate President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the wake of an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump while he was playing golf.

Musk, who has nearly 200 million followers on the social media site he bought for $44 billion in 2022, has increasingly embraced conservative ideologies in recent years and endorsed Trump for president.

While he has removed posts in the past, Musk has also kept up and even doubled down on other such inflammatory comments. Last week, he made a joke about impregnating Taylor Swift after the singer posted an endorsement for Harris.

Early Monday, after taking down the post about the apparent Trump assassination, the 53-year-old billionaire wrote on the platform: Well, one lesson Ive learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh doesnt mean its going to be all that hilarious as a post on X.

The original post was in response to DogeDesigner, one of the 700 accounts that Musk follows, who asked: Why they want to kill Donald Trump?

Musk's reply was quickly condemned by many X users, and DeportElonMusk began trending on X on Monday morning.

Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about, said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates in response to Musk's post. This rhetoric is irresponsible.

RELATED STORY | 'We heard shots:' Trump shares details about apparent assassination attempt

The Tesla CEO has previously posted conspiracy theories and feuded with world leaders and politicians. X is currently banned in Brazil amid a dustup between Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court judge over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.

He's also received criticism in the past for what critics said were posts encouraging violence.

Last month, for instance, the British government called on Musk to act responsibly after he used X to unleash a barrage of posts that officials said risked inflaming violent unrest gripping the country.

Musk said when he bought the platform then known as Twitter that protecting free speech not money was his motivation because, as he put it, having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.

Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell Universitys Tech Policy Institute, noted that Musk has long been trying to push the boundaries of free speech, in part by engaging in impulsive, unfiltered comments on a range of political topics.

RELATED STORY | Judge suspends Elon Musk's X platform in Brazil

Four people were wounded at a Brooklyn subway station Sunday when police officers shot a man threatening them with a knife, and inadvertently sprayed bullets that hit passengers, authorities said.

The people struck by gunfire included two innocent bystanders, one of the officers and the man with the blade, who the police initially confronted because he hadn't paid his fare, officials said.

One of the passengers, a 49-year-old man, was hospitalized in critical condition after a bullet passed into an adjoining subway car and struck his head.

A video posted by a passenger showed upset passengers fleeing, police running to help the injured and the wounded officer suddenly realizing he had also been struck by a bullet.

Interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlan, who was only appointed to his position Friday, promised a thorough investigation but cast blame for the incident on the man accused of brandishing the knife.

RELATED STORY | New York City police commissioner resigns after his phone was seized in federal investigation

"We will be working through the timeline of today, but make no mistake, the events that occurred on the Sutter Avenue station platform are the results of an armed perpetrator who was confronted by our officers doing the job we asked them to do," Donlon said.

The shooting happened a little after 3 p.m. when two officers followed a man up the station steps to an elevated platform after seeing him enter without paying, Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said.

The officers told the man to stop, but he refused, muttering "I'm going to kill you if you don't stop following me," Maddrey said. In the course of the encounter, the officers noticed the man had a knife, Maddrey said.

They followed him onto a train that had pulled into the station and fired two Tasers, but neither incapacitated the man, Maddrey said.

Maddrey said the man was advancing on the officers with the knife when both officers fired multiple rounds.

The 37-year-old man was hit several times. He was hospitalized in stable condition. The video taken by a passenger shows the officers rendering first aid, before one of them realized that he, too, had been hit by a bullet.

"While they're working on the male, they're become aware that other people are hit by fire, by gunfire as well," Maddrey said.

RELATED STORY | NYPD officers save puppy's life after owner threw it off a ledge

Besides the passenger struck in the head, a 26-year-old woman suffered a graze wound.

The wounded police officer had a bullet enter his torso under his armpit and lodge in his back but was expected to make a full recovery.

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, visited the wounded officer in the hospital Sunday.

Adams described the man who evaded the subway fare as a "career criminal," saying he had over 20 arrests. Maddrey said the man had a history of mental illness.

Video footage of the shooting was not immediately released Sunday. The NYPD did release a cropped image they said was of the man holding the knife, a blade about the width of the person's palm.

"I'm especially concerned with bystanders, people who are just trying to get where they're going being the victimsharmed in this situation," Metropolitan Transportation Authority Janno Lieber said.

The subway station serves the L line in the neighborhood of Brownsville. Lieber said that there are cameras inside the the train, on the platform and at the entrance.

In 2019, NYPD officers accidentally shot and killed two fellow officers while confronting crime suspects in separate on-duty incidents.

Boeing plans to freeze hiring and reduce travel and is considering temporary layoffs to save cash during a factory workers' strike that began last week, the company told employees Monday.

The company said the moves, which include reduced spending on suppliers, were necessary because "our business is in a difficult period."

Chief Financial Officer Brian West detailed 10 immediate cutbacks in a memo to employees. They include a freeze on hiring across all levels, pausing pay increases for managers and executives who get promoted, and stopping all travel that isn't critical.

"We are also considering the difficult step of temporary furloughs for many employees, managers and executives in the coming weeks," West said.

Boeing's business is in a difficult spot, he said, adding: "This strike jeopardizes our recovery in a significant way."

About 33,000 workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers began a strike early Friday. The walkout came after workers rejected an offer of a 25% increase in pay over four years. The union originally sought a pay hike of at least 40%.

RELATED STORY | Thousands of Boeing employees vote on contract, strike

Representatives of the company and the union are scheduled to meet Tuesday with federal mediators. The union has started to survey its members to learn what they want most in a new contract.

Striking workers are picketing at several locations around Washington state, Oregon and California.

Outside Boeing's huge factory in Everett, Washington, Nancie Browning, a materials-management specialist at Boeing for more than 17 years, said last week's offer was worse than the one that prompted a two-month strike in 2008. She said that without annual bonuses that workers have come to depend on, the proposed pay increase was more like 9%, not 25%.

"We just want a piece of the pie like everybody else," she said. "Why should we work all this overtime and bust our backs while these guys (Boeing executives) are sitting up in their suites just raking in the cash?"

The bonuses have emerged as a flash point for union members. Workers say they range from $3,000 to $5,000 a year.

Boeing says it is hard to calculate bonuses in a way that is fair to 33,000 people who perform different jobs. So instead, the company proposes to ditch the payouts and replace them with automatic contributions of $4,160 per year to each employee's 401(k) retirement account.

Workers are bitter that in contract extensions over the past 16 years, Boeing ended its traditional pension plan and lowered health care benefits.

RELATED STORY | Boeing reports possible falsified records to FAA

"We want our pension back," said Jacob Bustad, a machinist with Boeing for 14 years who was also on the picket line in Everett. "We just keep losing and we never gain, while the people at the top just get more and more money. Boeing has done really good for me and my family, but these last years have been hard."

Boeing has lost more than $25 billion since the start of 2019 and burned through $4.3 billion in the second quarter of 2024 alone as it stood poised to post another money-losing year. The strike will delay deliveries of new planes, which are an important source of cash for the company.

Stephanie Pope, the head of Boeing's commercial airplanes division, cited the company's $60 billion in total debt in urging blue-collar workers to accept the contract offer last week. She called it the best offer Boeing had ever made and endorsed by the union's local president and negotiators.

But workers rejected the recommendation of their own leaders, which had not happened since 1995.

Additional cost-cutting moves spelled out in the chief financial officer's memo included eliminating first- and business-class service for anyone on travel that is deemed critical and stopping spending on outside consultants.

West also said Boeing plans to make "significant reductions in supplier expenditures" and will stop most supplier purchase orders related to the 737, 767 and 777 airplane models.

After the strike started, Moody's put Boeing on review for a possible credit downgrade, and Fitch said a strike longer than two weeks would make a downgrade more likely. Both agencies rate Boeing's debt one notch above non-investment or junk status.

"Shogun" had historic wins in an epic 18-Emmy first season, "Hacks" scored an upset for best comedy on what was still a four-trophy night for "The Bear," and "Baby Reindeer" had a holiday at an Emmy Awards that had some surprising swerves.

"Shogun," the FX series about power struggles in feudal Japan, won best drama series, Hiroyuki Sanada won best actor in a drama, and Anna Sawai won best actress. Sanada was the first Japanese actor to win an Emmy. Sawai became the second just moments later.

"'Shogun' taught me when we work together, we can make miracles," Sanada said in his acceptance speech from the stage of the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Along with 14 Emmys it claimed at the precursor Creative Arts Emmys, it had an unmatched performance with 18 overall for one season.

RELATED STORY | Father-and-son team of Eugene and Dan Levy to co-host the Emmys

"Hacks" was the surprise winner of its first best comedy series award, topping "The Bear," which most had expected to take it after big wins earlier in the evening.

Jean Smart won her third best actress in a comedy award for the third season of Max's "Hacks," in which her stand-up comic character Deborah Vance tries to make it on late-night TV. Smart has six Emmys overall.

Despite losing out on the night's biggest comedy prize after winning it for its first season at January's strike-delayed ceremony, FX's "The Bear" star Jeremy Allen White won best actor in a comedy for the second straight year, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach repeated as best supporting actor.

And Liza Coln-Zayas was the surprise best supporting actor winner over competition that included Meryl Streep, becoming the first Latina to win in the category.

"To all the Latinas who are looking at me," she said, her eyes welling with tears. "keep believing, and vote."

Netflix's darkly quirky "Baby Reindeer" won best limited series. Creator and star Richard Gadd won for his lead acting and his writing and Jessica Gunning, who plays his tormentor, won best supporting actress.

Accepting the series award, Gadd urged the makers of television to take chances.

"The only constant across any success in television is good storytelling," he said. "Good storytelling that speaks to our times. So take risks, push boundaries. Explore the uncomfortable. Dare to fail in order to achieve."

"Baby Reindeer" is based on a one man-stage show in which Gadd describes being sexually abused along with other emotional struggles.

Accepting that award, he said, "no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better."

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Gadd has.

Jodie Foster won her first Emmy to go with her two Oscars when she took Best Actress in a Limited Series for "True Detective: Night Country."

Foster played a salty police chief investigating a mass killing in the round-the-clock dark of an Alaskan winter on the HBO show. While her castmate Kali Reis missed out on becoming the first Indigenous actor to win an Emmy in the supporting category, Foster praised her, and the show's collaboration with Indigenous contributors.

"The Inupiaq and Inuit people of northern Alaska who told us their stories, and they allowed us to listen," Foster said. "That was just a blessing. It was love, love, love, and when you feel that, something amazing happens."

Greg Berlanti, a producer and writer on shows including "Dawson's Creek" and "Everwood," received the Television Academy's Governors Award for his career-long contributions to improving LGBTQ+ visibility on television. He talked about a childhood when there was little such visibility.

"There wasn't a lot of gay characters on television back then, and I was a closeted gay kid," Berlanti said. "It's hard to describe how lonely that was at the time,"

The long decline of traditional broadcast TV at the Emmys continued, with zero wins between the four broadcast networks.

In the monologue that opened the ABC telecast, Dan Levy, who hosted with his father and "Schitt's Creek" co-star Eugene Levy, called the Emmys "broadcast TV's biggest night for honoring movie stars on streaming services."

Though other than Foster, movie stars didn't fare too well. Her fellow Oscar winners Streep and Robert Downey Jr. had been among the favorites, but came up empty.

"Robert Downey Jr. I have a poster of you in my house!" said Lamorne Morris, who beat Downey for best supporting actor in a limited series, said from the stage as he accepted his first Emmy.

The evening managed to meet many expectations but included several swerves like the win for "Hacks."

"We were really shocked," "Hacks co-creator Jen Statsky, who also won for writing, said after the show. "We were truly, really surprised."

And "Shogun" got off to a quiet start, missing on early awards and not getting its first trophy until past the halfway point.

Still, it shattered the record for Emmys for one season previously held by the 2008 limited series "John Adams" in 2008. And its acting wins would have been hard to imagine before the series became an acclaimed phenomenon.

Sanada is a 63-year-old longtime screen star whose name is little known outside Japan, even if his face is through Hollywood films like "The Last Samurai" and "John Wick Chapter 4." Sawai, 32, who was born in New Zealand and moved to Japan as a child, is significantly less known in the U.S. She wept when she accepted best actress.

"When you saw me cry on stage, it was probably the 12th time I cried today," Sawai said backstage. "It was just mixed emotions, wanting everyone to win all that. I may cry again now."

"The Bear" would finish second with 11 overall Emmys, including guest acting wins at the Creative Arts ceremony for Jamie Lee Curtis and Jon Bernthal.

The Levys in their opening monologue mocked the show being in the comedy category.

"In honor of 'The Bear' we will be making no jokes," Eugene Levy said, to laughs.

Elizabeth Debicki took best supporting actress in a drama for playing Princess Diana at the end of her life in the sixth and final season of "The Crown."

"Playing this part, based on this unparalleled, incredible human being, has been my great privilege," Debicki said in her acceptance. "It's been a gift."

Several awards were presented by themed teams from TV history, including sitcom dads George Lopez, Damon Wayans and Jesse Tyler Ferguson and TV moms Meredith Baxter, Connie Britton, and Susan Kelechi Watson.

Here's the full list of winners at Sunday's Emmys:

Drama series: "Shogun"

Comedy series: "Hacks"

Limited, anthology series, movie: "Baby Reindeer"

Actor in a drama series: Hiroyuki Sanada, "Shogun"

Actress in a drama series: Anna Sawai, "Shogun"

Supporting actor in a drama series: Billy Crudup, "The Morning Show"

Supporting actress in a drama series: Elizabeth Debicki, "The Crown"

Actor in a comedy series: Jeremy Allen White, "The Bear"

Actress in a comedy series: Jean Smart, "Hacks"

Supporting actress in a comedy series: Liza Coln-Zayas, "The Bear"

Supporting actor in a comedy series: Ebon Moss-Bachrach, "The Bear"

Actor in a limited, anthology series or movie: Richard Gadd, "Baby Reindeer"

Actress in a limited, anthology series or movie: Jodie Foster, "True Detective: Night Country"

Supporting actress limited, anthology series or movie: Jessica Gunning, "Baby Reindeer"

Supporting actor in a limited, anthology series or movie: Lamorne Morris, "Fargo"

Reality competition program: "The Traitors," Peacock

Scripted variety series: "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver"

Talk series: "The Daily Show"

Writing for a variety special: Alex Edelman, "Just for Us"

Writing for a comedy series: Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky, "Hacks"

Writing for a drama series: Will Smith, "Slow Horses"

Writing for a limited series, anthology or movie: Richard Gadd, "Baby Reindeer"

Directing for a limited or anthology series: Steven Zaillian, "Ripley"

Directing for a comedy series: Christopher Storer, "The Bear"

Directing for a drama series: Frederick E.O. Toye, "Shogun"

Governors award: Greg Berlanti

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.

RELATED STORY |Michael Jackson was more than $500 million in debt at the time of his death, court filing shows

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."

RELATED STORY | Michael Jackson's catalog is reportedly worth $1.2 billion

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.

RELATED STORY | Yes, wildfires are actually becoming more intense and more common, study says

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.

RELATED STORY | As climate warms, wildfires could make air more deadly, study says

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.

RELATED STORY | Father-and-son team of Eugene and Dan Levy to co-host the Emmys

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.

RELATED STORY | Dick Van Dyke earns historic Daytime Emmy nomination at age 98

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.

RELATED STORY | Quinta Brunson becomes 1st Black woman to win this Emmy in 41 years

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.

RELATED STORY | Over 1 in 4 Americans will be Latino in a few decades, census projects

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.