Isiah Whitlock Jr., an actor who made frequent memorable appearances on the HBO series The Wire and Veep and in the films of Spike Lee, died Tuesday. He was 71.

Whitlock's manager Brian Liebman told The Associated Press in an email that the actor died in New York after a short illness.

Whitlock played openly corrupt city councilman Clay Davis on 25 episodes across the five seasons of The Wire.

Davis, a fan-favorite character, was known for his profane catchphrase sheee-it" delivered by Whitlock in moments of triumph and blunt honesty. The actor first used the phrase in his first film with Lee, 2002's The 25th Hour.

The Wire creator David Simon posted a photo of Whitlock on Bluesky in tribute.

Whitlock is the second significant star of the show to die in recent weeks after the death of actor James Ransone.

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A native of South Bend, Indiana, Whitlock went to Southwest Minnesota State University, where he played football and studied theater. Injuries pushed him to study acting, and he moved to San Francisco to work in theater.

He began appearing in small television guest roles on shows including Cagney and Lacy in the late 1980s, and he had very small roles in the 1990 films Goodfellas and Gremlins 2: The New Batch."

He went on to appear in five of Lee's films, including She Hate Me, Red Hook Summer, Chi-Raq, BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods.

He played Secretary of Defense George Maddox for three seasons on the political satire Veep. The character ran against Julia Louis-Dreyfus ' Selina Meyer in presidential primaries.

President Donald Trump's administration announced on Tuesday that its freezing child care funds to Minnesota after a series of fraud schemes in recent years.

Acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Jim ONeill announced on the social platform X that the step is in response to blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.

We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud, he said.

RELATED STORY | Federal fraud raids in Minnesota largely target Somali American suspects

ONeill said all payments through the Administration for Children and Families, an agency within the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, will require justification and a receipt or photo evidence before money is sent. They have also launched a fraud-reporting hotline and email address, he said.

The announcement comes after years of investigation that began with the $300 million scheme at the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, for which 57 defendants in Minnesota have been convicted. Prosecutors said the organization was at the center of the countrys largest COVID-19-related fraud scam, when defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food for children.

WATCH | Inside Minnesota's $100M daycare fraud allegations

Federal fraud raids in Minnesota largely target Somali American suspects

A federal prosecutor alleged earlier in December that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen. Most of the defendants are Somali Americans, they said.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, has said fraud will not be tolerated and his administration will continue to work with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught.

Walz has said an audit due by late January should give a better picture of the extent of the fraud. He said his administration is taking aggressive action to prevent additional fraud. He has long defended how his administration responded.

Minnesotas most prominent Somali American, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, has urged people not to blame an entire community for the actions of a relative few.

A swimmer who went missing after being attacked by a shark last week off the Northern California coast and whose body was found days later was identified as an open ocean swimmer from Pebble Beach.

Authorities recovered Erica Fox's body Saturday from the ocean south of Davenport Beach in Santa Cruz County, the sheriff's office said in a statement Monday.

Fox, 55, had been missing since going on a swim Dec. 21 in Monterey Bay with her husband and other members of the Kelp Krawlers, an open-water swimming club she co-founded.

"She didn't want to live in fear," her husband, Jean-Francois Vanreusel, told the Mercury News during a vigil Sunday, a day after her body was found. "She lived her life fully."

Vanreuse, who led the vigil to commemorate his wife of 30 years, said she was still wearing her white Garmin watch and a "shark band" was still attached to her ankle. The band is an electromagnetic device meant to ward off sharks. She was a triathlete who completed two Half Ironmans and numerous other triathlons.

Vanreusel didn't witness the attack on his wife but two people on shore did, the Mercury News reported. He told the newspaper she taught him how to swim, and like her, he came to love the ocean waters.

Experts say that shark attacks are exceedingly rare rarer than being struck by lightning or mauled by a bear.

Fox's death marks the second shark attack fatality at Lovers Point in 73 years. The first claimed a 17-year-old boy who was swimming there on Dec. 7, 1952, the Mercury News reported.

Still, members of her swimming club were shaken by her death since it was the second shark attack on a member of the group. In 2022, fellow club member Steve Bruemmer was attacked by a great white shark and was severely injured.

After his attack, many of the swimmers started wearing the same kind of electromagnetic "Sharkbanz" that Fox was wearing, even though most swimmers knew they would do little to deter a high-speed attack from below, the newspaper reported.

Bruemmer, who pledged never to swim in the ocean again, used walking sticks to join the vigil Sunday.

"I was also bitten by a shark," Bruemmer told the crowd, "and I can tell you that it doesn't hurt. I don't understand why, but it's not physically painful to be badly bitten. So I believe that in her final moments, Erica was not suffering in pain. And I hope that that can be of some comfort to people."

He paused and steadied himself on his walking sticks.

"There are also lessons, things we know that we're reminded of in moments like this," he said, "and one is that tomorrow is not guaranteed."

An Idaho-based company is recalling nearly 3,000 pounds of raw ground beef that may have been contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

The recall involves 16-ounce vacuum-sealed packages labeled Forward Farms Grass-Fed Ground Beef. Affected packages were produced Dec. 16 and have a label telling customers to use or freeze the meat by Jan. 13. The affected beef also bears the establishment number EST 2083 on the side of its packaging.

RELATED STORY | Ground beef sold at Whole Foods may be tainted with E. coli, USDA says

The meat was produced by Heyburn, Idaho-based Mountain West Food Group and was shipped to distributors in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Pennsylvania and Washington.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, which announced the recall Saturday, didnt say which retailers may have sold the meat. The USDA and Mountain West Food Group didnt respond to messages left Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The USDA said there have been no confirmed reports of illness due to consumption of the meat. The issue was discovered in a sample of beef during routine testing.

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The USDA said the type of E. coli found can cause illness within 28 days of exposure. Most infected people develop diarrhea, which is often bloody, and vomiting. Infection is usually diagnosed with a stool sample.

The USDA said customers who have purchased the affected products should either throw them away or return them to the place they were bought. The agency also advises all customers to consume ground beef only if it has been cooked to a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Environmental journalist Tatiana Schlossberg, the granddaughter of the late President John F. Kennedy, has died. She was 35.

Schlossberg, the daughter of Kennedy's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, and Edwin Schlossberg, revealed that she had terminal cancer in a November 2025 essay in The New Yorker. Her family issued a statement disclosing her death, which was released on social media by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

"Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts," the statement said. It did not disclose a cause of death or say where she died.

Schlossberg was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in May 2024 at 34. After the birth of her second child, her doctor noticed her white blood cell count was high. It turned out to be acute myeloid leukemia with a rare mutation, mostly seen in older people.

In the essay, "A Battle With My Blood," Schlossberg recounted going through rounds of chemotherapy and two stem cell transplants and participating in clinical trials. During the most recent trial, she wrote, her doctor told her "he could keep me alive for a year, maybe."

Schlossberg also criticized policies pushed by her mother's cousin, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in the essay, saying policies he backed could hurt cancer patients like her. Her mother had urged senators to reject his confirmation.

"As I spent more and more of my life under the care of doctors, nurses, and researchers striving to improve the lives of others, I watched as Bobby cut nearly a half billion dollars for research into mRNA vaccines, technology that could be used against certain cancers," the essay reads.

Schlossberg had worked as a reporter covering climate change and the environment for The New York Times' Science section. Her 2019 book "Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have" won the Society of Environmental Journalists' Rachel Carson Environment Book Award in 2020.

Schlossberg wrote in The New Yorker essay that she feared her daughter and son wouldn't remember her. She felt cheated and sad that she wouldn't get to keep living "the wonderful life" she had with her husband, George Moran. While her parents and siblings, Rose and Jack, tried to hide their pain from her, she said she felt it every day.

"For my whole life, I have tried to be good, to be a good student and a good sister and a good daughter, and to protect my mother and never make her upset or angry," she said. "Now I have added a new tragedy to her life, to our family's life, and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

A National Guard deployment in New Orleans authorized by President Donald Trump will begin Tuesday as part of a heavy security presence for New Years celebrations a year after an attack on revelers on Bourbon Street killed 14 people, officials said Monday.

The deployment in New Orleans follows high-profile National Guard missions the Trump administration launched in other cities this year, including in Washington and Memphis, Tennessee. But the sight of National Guard troops is not unusual in New Orleans, where troops earlier this year also helped bolster security for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras.

Its no different than what weve seen in the past, New Orleans police spokesperson Reese Harper said.

The Guard is not the only federal law enforcement agency in the city. Since the start of the month, federal agents have been carrying out an immigration crackdown that has led to the arrest of at least several hundred people.

RELATED STORY | National Guard to be sent to New Orleans, after Supreme Court blocks deployment in Chicago

Harper stressed that the National Guard will not be engaging in immigration enforcement.

"This is for visibility and just really to keep our citizens safe," Harper said. "Its just another tool in the toolbox and another layer of security.

The Guard is expected be confined to the French Quarter area popular with tourists and won't be engaging in assisting in immigration enforcement, Harper said. Guardsmen will operate similar to earlier this year when they patrolled the area around Bourbon Street following the vehicle-ramming attack on Jan. 1.

The 350 Guard members will stay through Carnival season, when residents and tourists descend on the Big Easy to partake in costumed celebrations and massive parades before ending with Mardi Gras in mid-February.

Louisiana National Guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Noel Collins said in a written statement that the Guard will support local, state, and federal law enforcement to enhance capabilities, stabilize the environment, assist in reducing crime, and restoring public trust.

RELATED STORY | Ignored warnings: Security gaps left New Orleans vulnerable to terrorist attack

In total, more than 800 local, state and federal law enforcement officials will be deployed in New Orleans to close off Bourbon Street to vehicular traffic, patrol the area, conduct bag searches and redirect traffic, city officials said during a news conference Monday.

The extra aid for New Orleans has received the support of some Democrats, with Mayor LaToya Cantrell saying she is "welcoming of those added resources.

The increased law enforcement presence comes a year after Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove around a police blockade in the early hours of Jan. 1 and raced down Bourbon Street, plowing into people celebrating New Year's Day. The attacker, a U.S. citizen and Army veteran who had proclaimed his support for the Islamic State militant group on social media, was fatally shot by police after crashing. After an expansive search, law enforcement located multiple bombs in coolers placed around the French Quarter. None of the explosive devices detonated.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, 100 National Guard members were sent to the city.

In September, Gov. Jeff Landry asked Trump to send 1,000 troops to Louisiana cities, citing concerns about crime. Democrats pushed back, specifically leaders in New Orleans who said a deployment was unwarranted. They argued that the city has actually seen a dramatic decrease in violent crime rates in recent years.

Federal Homeland Security officials were conducting a fraud investigation on Monday in Minneapolis, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

The action comes after years of investigation that began with the $300 million scheme at the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, for which 57 defendants in Minnesota have been convicted. Prosecutors said the organization was at the center of the countrys largest COVID-19-related fraud scam, when defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food for children.

A federal prosecutor alleged earlier in December that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen. Most of the defendants are Somali Americans, they said.

RELATED STORY | Federal authorities plan operation in Minnesota focusing on Somali immigrants, AP source says

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said then that fraud will not be tolerated and that his administration will continue to work with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught.

Noem on Monday posted a video on the social platform X showing DHS officers going into an unidentified business and questioning the person working behind the counter. Noem said that officers were conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud."

The American people deserve answers on how their taxpayer money is being used and ARRESTS when abuse is found, U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement posted.

The action comes a day after FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the agency had surged personnel and investigative resources to Minnesota to dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.

Patel said that previous fraud arrests in Minnesota were just the tip of a very large iceberg."

President Donald Trump has criticized Walzs administration over the fraud cases to date.

RELATED STORY | MyPillow founder and Trump supporter Mike Lindell says hes running for Minnesota governor in 2026

In recent weeks, tensions have been high between state and federal enforcement in the area as the Trump administrations immigration crackdown focused on the Somali community in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, which is the largest in the country.

Among those running schemes to get funds for child nutrition, housing services and autism programs, 82 of the 92 defendants are Somali Americans, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for Minnesota.

Walz spokesperson Claire Lancaster said that the governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and was seeking more authority from the Legislature to take aggressive action. Walz has supported criminal prosecutions and taken a number of other steps, including strengthening oversight and hiring an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, Lancaster said.

President Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S. has hit a dock facility along a shore as he wages a pressure campaign on Venezuela, but the U.S. offered few details.

Trump initially seemed to confirm a strike in what appeared to be an impromptu radio interview Friday, and when questioned Monday by reporters about an explosion in Venezuela, he said the U.S. struck a facility where boats accused of carrying drugs load up."

There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs," Trump said as he met in Florida with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "They load the boats up with drugs, so we hit all the boats and now we hit the area. Its the implementation area. Theres where they implement. And that is no longer around.

RELATED STORY | US forces stop a second vessel off the coast of Venezuela

It is part of an escalating effort to target what the Trump administration says are boats smuggling drugs bound for the United States. It moves closer to shore strikes that so far have been carried out by the military in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

The U.S. military said it conducted another strike on Monday against a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. The attacks have killed at least 107 people in 30 strikes since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

Trump declined to say if the U.S. military or the CIA carried out the strike on the dock or where it occurred. He did not confirm it happened in Venezuela.

I know exactly who it was, but I dont want to say who it was. But you know it was along the shore," Trump said.

Trump first referenced the strike on Friday, when he called radio host John Catsimatidis during a program on WABC radio and discussed the U.S. strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats.

I dont know if you read or saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from," Trump said. "Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So, we hit them very hard.

Trump did not offer any additional details in the interview.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or one of the U.S. military's social media accounts has in the past typically announced every boat strike in a post on X, but there has been no post of any strike on a facility.

The Pentagon on Monday referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a message seeking more details. The press office of Venezuelas government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trumps statement.

Trump for months has suggested he may conduct land strikes in South America, in Venezuela or possibly another country, and in recent weeks has been saying the U.S. would move beyond striking boats and would strike on land soon.

In October, Trump confirmed he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. The agency did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.

RELATED STORY | US Coast Guard going after a third sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela

Along with the strikes, the U.S. has sent warships, built up military forces in the region, seized two oil tankers and pursued a third.

The Trump administration has said it is in armed conflict with drug cartels and seeking to stop the flow of narcotics into the United States.

Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from power.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair published this month that Trump wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.

The father of NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin died and his mother was critically injured after a weekend fire heavily damaged the North Carolina home where they lived, officials said Monday.

Firefighters arrived Sunday night at a two-story home near Stanley that was mostly engulfed in fire, with flames showing through the attic, the Gaston County Office of Emergency Management and Fire Services said in a news release.

Dennis Hamlin, 75, and Mary Lou Hamlin, 69, were found outside the home, suffering from catastrophic injuries, officials said. Dennis Hamlin later died from his injuries at a hospital, officials said.

Mary Lou Hamlin was taken to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Burn Center in Winston-Salem, where she was being treated Monday, officials said.

The fire caused the structure to collapse. The cause is under investigation.

Stanley is located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Charlotte.

The home is owned by a company called Won One Real Estate that lists Denny Hamlin as its manager, according to local property tax records and a business document filing with the North Carolina Secretary of States Office.

Representatives for Hamlin had not responded to requests for comment as of Monday evening.

Hamlin is one of the marquee drivers in NASCAR's top circuit, having won 60 NASCAR Cup Series races, including the Daytona 500 three times.

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The 45-year-old driver for Joe Gibbs Racing has yet to win a Cup points championship. He fell short of the title during this season's final race in Arizona last month.

Weeks earlier, Hamlin said his father who nearly went broke with financial sacrifices to try to get his son into NASCAR was battling a serious illness, and that he didn't have much time left to live.

I know for a fact this is my last chance for my dad to see it. I dont want him going and never getting to see the moment, Hamlin told The Associated Press.

Hamlin also mentioned his dad in emotional testimony this month at the start of a federal antitrust trial against NASCAR brought in part by 23XI Racing, which is owned by Hamlin and Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. NASCAR, 23XI Racing and another race team reached a settlement during the trial before jurors ever deliberated.

WATCH | Jet Crashes at North Carolina Airport Used by NASCAR and Fortune 500 Companies

Russia attacked Ukraine's capital with missiles and drones on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding 27, a day before talks between Ukraine and the U.S., authorities said.

Explosions boomed across Kyiv as ballistic missiles and drones hit the city. The attack began in the early morning and continued for hours.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepared to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday for further talks on ending the nearly four-year war. Zelenskyy told reporters he was on a plane en route to the United States on Saturday afternoon, and would make a stopover in Canada to meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Zelenskyy said that he and Trump plan to discuss several issues, including security guarantees and territorial issues in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Tit-for-tat strikes

The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that it carried out a massive strike overnight, using long-range precision-guided weapons from land, air and sea, including Kinzhal hypersonic aeroballistic missiles and drones. It said it targeted energy infrastructure facilities used by Ukraine's forces and military-industrial enterprises.

RELATED STORY | Zelenskyy heads to Florida for high-stakes meeting with Trump amid war stalemate

But several residential buildings were struck in Moscow's attack.

The ministry said that the strike came in response to Ukraines attacks on civilian objects in Russia.

Earlier on Saturday, the ministry said that its air defenses shot down seven Ukrainian drones over the Russian regions of Krasnodar and Adygeya overnight. On Saturday afternoon, the ministry reported that 147 more drones were shot down over a number of Russian regions.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that air defenses intercepted more than 20 drones flying towards the Russian capital on Saturday. He didn't report any damage or casualties. It wasn't immediately clear whether those were included in the Defense Ministry's count.

Poland on alert

Poland scrambled fighter jets and closed airports in Lublin and Rzeszow near the border with Ukraine for several hours during the Russian attacks, the countrys armed forces command said on X. There was no violation of Polish airspace, it said.

Civil aviation authority Pansa said the two airports had since resumed operations. It was unclear what caused the alert in Poland when the Russian attacks were focused on Kyiv, which is far from the border.

Russia targeted Ukraine with 519 drones and 40 missiles, Ukraine's air force said. The main target was energy and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said. In some districts of the region there is no electricity or heating because of the attacks, he said.

Today Russia demonstrated how it responds to peace talks between Ukraine and the United States on ending Russias war against Ukraine. They carried out massive attacks on Ukraine precisely as we move toward peace negotiations, Zelenskyy told reporters by audio note while traveling. That is Russias response.

Screams as man burns to death

More than 10 residential buildings were damaged, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said in a post on Telegram. People were being evacuated from under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Olena Karpenko, 52, heard a man as he burned to death in the attack. His scream is still in my ears. I cant believe it, she said, weeping.

RELATED STORY | Zelenskyy says consensus reached on many points after peace talks with US

Karpenko said they heard a sudden explosion at the nearby thermal power plant, followed by a stronger blast that shook the windows of her home. Then came the strike on her building.

I saw how the apartment was burning, there was a fire and we heard a mans screams, begging for help," she said.

Two children were among those wounded in the attack, which hit seven locations across the capital, the head of the Kyiv Military Administration, Tymur Tkachenko, in a statement on Telegram. A body was found under the rubble of one damaged building, he said.

In fact, the entire center of Kyiv was under attack by drones," he said, adding that Russia was sending a message that it is raising the stakes in this war.

It wasnt immediately clear if the person found under the rubble was the man who burned to death.

A fire broke out in an 18-story residential building in the Dnipro district of the city, and emergency crews rushed to the scene to contain the flames. A 24-story residential building in the Darnytsia district was also hit, Tkachenko said, and more fires broke out in the Obolonskyi and Holosiivsky districts.

In the wider Kyiv region, the strikes hit industrial and residential buildings, according to Ukraine's Emergency Service. In the Vyshhorod area, emergency crews rescued one person found under the rubble of a destroyed house.

Security guarantees prioritized

Zelenskyy told reporters he would aim to ensure there were as few unresolved issues as possible in talks with Trump while respecting Ukraine's red lines.

I am confident there are compromise proposals we know the Americans and, obviously, our enemy also always has its own goals, which we know well, he said, speaking by audio note in a WhatsApp chat with journalists.

RELATED STORY | In annual news conference, Putin says military goals will be achieved in Ukraine

Zelenskyy said he would prioritize discussing security guarantees for Ukraine. He has said that in the draft peace plan, the U.S. has committed to providing guarantees that mirror the NATO alliance's Article 5, which means an attack on Ukraine would trigger a collective military response from the U.S. and its allies. But key details must be worked out in a bilateral agreement.

Territorial concessions are the most sensitive of issues the two leaders will discuss, including the Donetsk region and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would never recognize any territory as Russian under any circumstances."

But the most important issue I want to stress today is security guarantees. Beyond territorial issues and the ZNPP (nuclear plant), security guarantees are critically important for us, he said.

Zelenskyy also will speak to European leaders online to brief them on the discussions.

The president of the Kennedy Center on Friday fiercely criticized a musician's sudden decision to cancel a Christmas Eve performance at the venue days after the White House announced that President Donald Trump's name would be added to the facility.

Your decision to withdraw at the last moment explicitly in response to the Center's recent renaming, which honors President Trump's extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution, the venue's president, Richard Grenell, wrote in a letter to musician Chuck Redd that was shared with The Associated Press.

RELATED STORY | Kennedy Center renamed to include Trumps name after board vote

In the letter, Grenell said he would seek $1 million in damages for this political stunt.

Redd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A drummer and vibraphone player, Redd has presided over holiday Jazz Jams at the Kennedy Center since 2006, succeeding bassist William Keter Betts. In an email Wednesday to The Associated Press, Redd said he pulled out of the concert in the wake of the renaming.

When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert, Redd said. He added Wednesday that the event has been a very popular holiday tradition and that he often featured at least one student musician.

One of the many reasons that it was very sad to have had to cancel, he told the AP.

RELATED STORY | House panel votes to rename Kennedy Center opera house after Melania Trump

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him.

Grenell is a Trump ally whom the president chose to head the Kennedy Center after he forced out the previous leadership. According to the White House, Trump's handpicked board approved the renaming, which scholars have said violates the law. Kennedy's niece Kerry Kennedy has vowed to remove Trumps name from the building once he leaves office, and former House historian Ray Smock is among those who say any changes would have to be approved by Congress.

The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another persons name on the buildings exterior.

A man was arrested after stabbing eight people and injuring seven others with what was believed to be bleach at a tire factory in central Japan on Friday, officials said. There was no immediate explanation of his motive.

Eight people were taken to hospitals after being stabbed by the man with a knife at a factory of the tiremaker Yokohama Rubber Co. in the city of Mishima, in the Shizuoka prefecture, west of Tokyo, according to the Fujisan Nanto Fire Department.

The fire department told The Associated Press that five of the people who were stabbed were in serious condition but other details were not available. All were conscious while they were being transported to hospitals, media reports said.

Shizuoka prefectural police said the attacker, a 38-year-old man, was arrested for alleged attempted murder at the factory, but did not give further details.

The attacker is believed to be a former employee at the factory, Kyodo news agency said, quoting investigative sources.

The suspect was carrying a survival knife and wearing what appeared to be a gas mask, the major Japanese newspaper Asahi reported, citing investigators.

Seven others were also injured by the bleach thrown at them during the attack, and taken to hospitals for treatment, the fire department said.

Japan has strict gun control laws and is known for violent crimes being rare, but there have been a number of high-profile knife attacks in recent years.

A Palestinian attacker rammed his car into a man and then stabbed a young woman in northern Israel on Friday afternoon, killing both, police said. The Israeli military swiftly launched an operation in the assailant's hometown in the occupied West Bank.

The attack started in the northern city of Beit Shean when the Palestinian man rammed his vehicle into people, killing one man and injuring a teenage boy. He then drove off onto a highway, where he fatally stabbed the woman, and injured another person near the entrance to the city of Afula.

Authorities say the attacker was shot and injured in Afula. He was then taken to hospital; his condition was not immediately known.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified the victims as Aviv Maor, a teenager, and Shimshon Mordechai, 68. Paramedics pronounced both dead at the scene.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that he was shocked by the horrific killing spree. He said that Israel was committed to reinforcing and strengthening this challenging border and, of course, to bolstering the security response in the area for the full safety of the residents.

The military enters attacker's hometown

Israel's military soon began amassing troops near the Palestinian town of Qabatiya, where Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the assailant was from. Later Friday, the military said that it conducted a precise operational search at the residence of the attacker, together with intelligence forces, and was preparing to demolish the residence.

The operation was ongoing in the area, the military said later in the evening.

Israeli forces blocked several roads around the town, where they entered several houses and positioned themselves around the attackers home, said the mayor, Ahmad Zakarneh. He added that residents had stocked up on supplies from bakeries and supermarkets after they were notified of the impending military operation.

Katz said that hed ordered troops to act forcefully and immediately against what he called terrorist infrastructure" in the town.

Anyone who aids or sponsors terrorism will pay the full price," he said.

RELATED NEWS | Israeli Cabinet approves 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank

A history of raids

It's common practice for Israel to launch raids in the West Bank towns that attackers come from or demolish homes belonging to the assailants families. Israel says that it helps to locate militant infrastructure and prevents future attacks. Rights watchdogs describe such actions as collective punishment.

Raids have been conducted in the area of Qabatiya, which is in the northern West Bank near the major city of Jenin, over the last few weeks.

On Dec. 20, Israel's military said that they killed a person in Qabatiya who hurled a block toward the soldiers. It later said that the killing was under review, after Palestinian media aired brief security footage in which the youth appears to emerge from an alley and is shot by troops as he approaches them without throwing anything.

The Israel-Hamas war, which began with the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. It has also sparked a surge of violence in Israel and the West Bank, with a rise in attacks by Palestinian militants as well as Israeli settler violence against Palestinians.

In September, Palestinian attackers opened fire at a bus stop during the morning rush hour in Jerusalem, killing six people and wounding another 12, according to Israeli officials.

A man injured in last month's fiery UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky died on Christmas Day, raising the death toll from the crash to 15, officials announced late Thursday.

Alain Rodriguez Colina worked at a scrapyard that was devastated when the departing cargo plane, fully loaded with fuel for a flight to Hawaii, plowed into businesses just outside Louisville's airport on Nov. 4. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg confirmed his death via social media.

"Alain is the 15th victim of the UPS Flight 2976 accident," Greenberg said. "He suffered severe injuries at the time of the crash and passed earlier this Christmas Day. May Alain's memory be a blessing."

RELATED STORY | Investigators say UPS plane that crashed in Kentucky had cracks in engine mount

Grade A Auto Parts & Recycling owner and CEO Sean Garber confirmed to WAVE-TV that Colina was one of the company's employees. Workers at the scrapyard have described the scramble to help survivors of the crash's massive explosion, which killed three other employees as well as customers. Dramatic video captured the aircraft crashing into businesses and erupting in a fireball.

Three pilots and multiple people on the ground were killed outside Muhammad Ali International Airport, where UPS has its largest package delivery hub, after the plane's left engine detached. Cracks were later found where the engine connected to the wing, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

Earlier this month, a lawyer filed two wrongful death lawsuits that allege that the company kept flying older aircrafts without increasing maintenance beyond what's regularly scheduled. The lawsuit also names General Electric, which made the plane's engine. Both UPS and GE have said they don't comment on pending lawsuits but safety remains their top priority as they assist the federal investigation.

The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all MD-11s, which had exclusively been used for hauling cargo for more than a decade.

When the ball drops on New Year's Eve in New York City, it will sparkle in red, white and blue, ushering in 2026 and kicking off months of celebrations for the nation's upcoming 250th birthday.

The patriotic touches at this year's Times Square gathering, including a second confetti drop, will offer an early glimpse of what's ahead: hundreds of events and programs, big and small, planned nationwide to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

"I'm telling you right now, whatever you're imagining, it's going to be much more than that," said America250 Chair Rosie Rios, who oversees the bipartisan commission created by Congress in 2016 to organize the semiquincentennial anniversary. "It's going to be one for the ages, the most inspirational celebration this country and maybe the world has ever seen."

Rios and her group worked with the Times Square Alliance business district and One Times Square, the building from where the ball is dropped, to make the changes to this year's ceremonies. They're also planning a second ball drop July 3, the eve of the nation's birthday, "in the same beautiful style that Times Square knows how to do it," Rios said.

It will mark the first time in 120 years there will be ball drop in Times Square that doesn't occur on New Year's Eve, she said.

A New Year's Eve ball was first dropped in Times Square in 1907. Built by a young immigrant metalworker named Jacob Starr, the 700-pound, 5-foot-diameter ball was made of iron and wood and featured 100 25-watt light bulbs. Last year, the Constellation Ball, the ninth and largest version, was unveiled. It measured about 12 feet (3.7 meters) in diameter and weighs nearly 12,000 pounds.

RELATED STORY | Coins marking America's 250th birthday unveiled without designs for Trump, civil rights or suffrage

The only years no ball drop occurred were 1942 and 1943, when the city instituted a nightly "dimout" during World War II to protect itself from attacks. Crowds instead celebrated the new year with a moment of silence followed by chimes rung from the base of One Times Square.

This year, the stroke of midnight will also mark the official launch of America Gives, a national service initiative created by America250. Organizers hope to make 2026 the largest year of volunteer hours ever aggregated in the country.

On the following day, America250 will participate in the New Years Day Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, with a float themed "Soaring Onward Together for 250 Years." It will feature three larger-than-life bald eagles representing the country's past, present and future.

"We want to ring in this new year from sea to shining sea. What better way to think about it than going from New York to California," Rios said. "This has to be community-driven, this has be grassroots. We're going from Guam to Alaska, from Fairbanks to Philadelphia, and everything in between."

President Donald Trump has also announced the "Freedom 250" initiative to coordinate additional events for the 250th anniversary.

Rios said she sees the wide range of celebrations and programs planned for the coming months, from large fireworks displays and statewide potluck suppers to student contests and citizen oral histories, as an opportunity to unite a politically divided nation.

"If we can find something for everyone ... having those menus of options that people can pick and choose how they want to participate," she said. "That's how we're going to get to engaging 350 million Americans."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend.

Zelenskyy told journalists that the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday's talks, and that the 20-point plan under discussion is about 90% ready.

An economic agreement also will be discussed, Zelenskyy said, but that he was unable to confirm whether anything will be finalized by the end.

RELATED STORY | Zelenskyy says consensus reached on many points after peace talks with US

The Ukrainian side will also raise "territorial issues", he said.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would like the Europeans to be involved," but doubted whether it would be possible at short notice.

We must, without doubt, find some format in the near future in which not only Ukraine and the U.S. are present, but Europe is represented as well, he said.

The announced meeting is the latest development in an extensive U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year Russia-Ukraine war, but efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy's comments came after he said Thursday that he had a good conversation with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trumps son-in-law.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S. representatives since Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recently met with U.S. envoys in Florida.

It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue," he said.

Trump is engaged in a diplomatic push to end Russia's all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war, if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been slow but steady progress in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.

In fact, Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk the two areas that make up the Donbas.

RELATED STORY | Zelenskyy and US envoys meet in Berlin to discuss Ukraine peace deal

On the ground, one person was killed and three others were wounded when a guided aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, while six people were wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman, local officials said Friday.

Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power. Energy and port infrastructure were damaged by drones in the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.

Meanwhile, Ukraine said that it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

Ukraines General Staff said that its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russias Rostov region.

Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit, it wrote on Telegram.

Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said that a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.

Ukraines long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple Ukraine's power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to weaponize winter.

California, soaked from days of relentless rain and recovering from mudslides in mountain towns, was hit with another powerful storm Christmas Day that led to evacuation warnings and high surf advisories.

The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department in Southern California issued an evacuation warning for Wrightwood, a mountain town about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, a day after rescuing people trapped in cars during a mud slide.

The National Weather Service said waves near the San Francisco Bay Area could reach up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) Friday.

Statewide, more than 70,000 people were without power Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.

RELATED STORY | Powerful holiday storm lashes Southern California with flash floods, mudslides

A day ago, heavy rain and fierce winds were blamed for at least two deaths.

A major storm system moving toward the Midwest and Northeast was expected to interfere with travel, according to the National Weather Service.

A mix of freezing rain and sleet could create icy conditions in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maryland. Forecasters warned heavy ice could cause outages. Snow was expected to blanket the Northeast early Friday.

Roads in the 5,000-resident California town of Wrightwood were covered in rocks, debris and thick mud on Thursday. With power out, a gas station and coffee shop running on generators were serving as hubs for residents and visitors.

Its really a crazy Christmas, said Jill Jenkins, who was spending the holiday with her 13-year-old grandson, Hunter Lopiccolo.

Lopiccolo said the family almost evacuated the previous day, when water washed away a chunk of their backyard. But they decided to stay and still celebrated the holiday. Lopiccolo got a new snowboard and e-bike.

We just played card games all night with candles and flashlights, he said.

RELATED STORY | Flash flooding in northern California leads to soaked roads, water rescues and 1 death

Davey Schneider hiked a mile and a half (1.6 kilometers) through rain and floodwater up to his shins from his Wrightwood residence Wednesday to rescue cats from his grandfather's house.

I wanted to help them out because I wasn't confident that they were going to live, Schneider said Thursday. Fortunately, they all lived. They're all okay just a little bit scared.

Arlene Corte said roads in town turned into rivers, but her house was not damaged.

It could be a whole lot worse, she said. Were here talking.

With more rain on the way, more than 150 firefighters were stationed in the area, said San Bernardino County Fire spokesman Shawn Millerick.

Were ready, he said. Its all hands on deck at this point.

A falling tree killed a San Diego man Wednesday, news outlets reported. Farther north, a Sacramento sheriffs deputy died in what appeared to be a weather-related crash.

Areas along the coast, including Malibu, were under a flood watch until Friday afternoon, and wind and flood advisories were issued for much of the Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.

The storms were the result of atmospheric rivers carrying massive plumes of moisture from the tropics during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year.

Southern California typically gets half an inch to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 centimeters) of rain this time of year, but this week many areas could see between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters), with even more in the mountains, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford said.

More heavy snow was expected in the Sierra Nevada, where gusts created near white-out conditions and made mountain pass travel treacherous. Officials said there was a high avalanche risk around Lake Tahoe and a winter storm warning was in effect through Friday.

Ski resorts around Lake Tahoe recorded about 1 to 3 feet (30 to 91 centimeters) of snow overnight, said Tyler Salas, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Reno. Forecasters expect to see up to another 3 feet (91 centimeters) of snow through Friday, Salas said. The area could see 45-mph (72-kph) gusts in low elevation areas and 100-mph (161-kph) winds along mountain ridges.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared emergencies in six counties to allow state assistance.

The state deployed resources and first responders to several coastal and Southern California counties, and the California National Guard was on standby.

A powerful winter storm swept across California on Wednesday, with heavy rains and gusty winds bringing mudslides and debris flows that has led to some water rescues and evacuation orders.

Forecasters said Southern California could see its wettest Christmas in years and warned about flash flooding and mudslides. Areas scorched by Januarys wildfires were under evacuation warnings, and Los Angeles County officials said the previous day that they delivered about 380 evacuation orders to especially vulnerable homes.

San Bernardino County firefighters said they rescued people trapped in their cars when mud and debris rushed down a road leading into Wrightwood, a mountain resort town in the San Gabriel Mountains about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles. It was not immediately clear how many were rescued.

Firefighters also went door to door to check on residents, and the area was under a shelter-in-place order, officials said. Lytle Creek, also in the San Gabriel Mountains, was under evacuation orders in the afternoon as rains continued to pummel the area.

Debris and mud were seen cascading down a road in Wrightwood in a video posted by county fire officials. Another video showed fast-moving water rushing through the front porch of several homes.

The storm stranded Dillan Brown with his wife and 14-month-old daughter at a rented cabin in Wrightwood with almost no food and only enough diapers for about another day. By the morning, roads leading off the mountain and to a grocery store were blocked by rocks and debris, Brown said.

I came across (a road) where there was a car sucked away by the water and realized we were trapped here, he said.

A resident learned of his situation and posted a call for help in a Facebook group, and in less than an hour, neighbors showed up with more than enough supplies to ride out the storm, including bread, vegetables, milk, diapers and wipes.

I think were a little sad and upset that were not going to be home with our families, Brown said, but the kindness shown is definitely an overwhelming feeling.

Janice Quick, president of the Wrightwood Chamber of Commerce and a resident of the mountain town for 45 years, said a wildfire in 2024 left much of the terrain without tree coverage and all this rain is bringing down a lot of debris and a lot of mud from the mountain area.

Residents around the burn scar zones from the Airport Fire in Orange County were also ordered to evacuate.

Areas along the coast including Malibu were under flood warnings until the evening, and much of the Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area were also under wind and flood advisories.

Heavy rain douses Southern California

Several roadways including a part of Interstate 5 near the Burbank Airport were closed due to flooding.

Conditions could worsen with multiple atmospheric rivers during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year.

The rain began tapering off in the evening in Los Angeles, but another storm system was on the horizon with showers and possible thunderstorms Christmas Day.

James Dangerfield, an 84-year-old resident of Altadena, said his family and neighbor helped place sandbags in his backyard earlier this week. A flash flood warning was issued for the neighborhood, but he wasn't too worried because his house is on a hill.

He and his wife, Stephanie, planned to remain there and spend Christmas Eve with their two adult daughters and grandchildren.

Were just going to stay put, and everybody will have to come to us, Dangerfield said. Were not going to go anywhere.

Mike Burdick, who takes care of his parents in Altadena near burn scars from the Eaton Fire, ran out to buy more sandbags in the morning when he saw that the pool was overflowing.

I literally woke up to just downpour, he said.

The family was prepared to evacuate with a weeks worth of essentials including for their dog and cat.

Southern California typically gets half an inch to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 centimeters) of rain this time of year, but this week many areas could see between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) with even more in the mountains, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford said.

EARLIER | Flash flooding in northern California leads to soaked roads, water rescues and 1 death

Much of California under weather warnings

Forecasters said heavy snow and gusts were expected to create near white-out conditions in parts of the Sierra Nevada and make travel nearly impossible through mountain passes. There was also a considerable avalanche risk around Lake Tahoe, according to the Sierra Avalanche Center.

The National Weather Service said a winter storm warning would be in effect for the greater Tahoe region until Friday morning.

Power was knocked out to more than 125,000 due to a damaged power pole, according to the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. utility.

The California Highway Patrol was investigating a seemingly weather-related crash south of Sacramento in which Sacramento Sheriff Deputy James Caravallo died. Caravallo was apparently traveling at an unsafe speed, lost control on a wet road and crashed into a power pole, CHP Officer Michael Harper said via email.

Caravallo was with the sheriffs office for 19 years, the agency said in a post on social media.

Our hearts are with Deputy Caravallos family, and we ask the public to keep Deputy Caravallos loved ones and our Sheriffs Office family in their thoughts and prayers, it said.

A flash flood warning was issued for portions of Sacramento in the evening as more severe weather developed offshore and began moving inland.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in six counties to allow state assistance in storm response.

The state deployed emergency resources and first responders to several coastal and Southern California counties, and the California National Guard was on standby.

Atmospheric rivers transport moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes in long, narrow bands of water vapor that form over an ocean.

Construction crews worked to clear the collapsed walls and roof from a Pennsylvania nursing home Wednesday to help investigators find the cause of an explosion that killed a resident and employee, and set off a dramatic evacuation amid falling debris and shooting flames.

The Tuesday afternoon blast sent 20 others to hospitals, including one person in critical condition. The rest of the employees and 120 residents were accounted for after hours of searching the wreckage, said Police Chief Charles Winik of Bristol Township.

Survivors were transferred to nearby nursing home properties, the police chief and health officials said.

The Bucks County coroner's office said the employee who died was 52-year-old Muthoni Nduthu. Authorities didn't immediately identify the resident who died. Both victims were women.

Officials said they didn't yet know the cause of the blast at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center, even though a utility crew had been on site investigating a reported gas leak when the blast occurred. It was so powerful that it shook nearby houses for blocks in Bristol, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Philadelphia.

A wing of the facility that housed the kitchen and cafeteria was almost entirely destroyed, with the roof caved in, sections of walls completely missing and windows on adjoining walls blown out. Debris littered the grounds.

Winik said the scale of the casualties could have been much worse. Police and firefighters flooded in from the region, as staff from a hospital next door and neighbors rushed to help evacuate the injured. One person was resuscitated at a hospital, officials said.

Firefighters braved a heavy gas odor, flames, collapsing walls and even a second explosion to rescue people trapped in stairways and elevator shafts and under rubble, authorities said.

"I've never seen such heroism," Winik told reporters Wednesday. "They were running into a building that I could from 50 feet away could still smell gas, and walls that looked like they were going to fall down."

Some residents couldn't walk or speak, and some were in wheelchairs, the police chief said.

Nineteen people were still hospitalized Wednesday, Winik said. Federal agencies were set to assist in the investigation as crews removed the wreckage.

"Until we excavate the area and remove the walls and roof that collapsed, we won't have any idea of what may have occurred in there," Winik said.

The blast at the 174-bed nursing home happened shortly after a utility crew responded to reports of a gas odor at the facility, authorities have said. The local gas utility, PECO, said the crew shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility, but didn't know if utility equipment or gas was involved in the explosion.

Willie Tye, who lives about a block away, said he was watching a basketball game when he heard a loud boom.

"I thought an airplane or something came and fell on my house," he said. When he went outside, he saw "fire everywhere" and people fleeing the building.

State records show the facility was cited for multiple violations during its most recent inspection in October by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, including failing to provide accurate floor plans, properly maintain stairways and fire extinguishers on one level. Inspectors also cited the facility for lacking required smoke barrier partitions designed to contain smoke across floors.

Medicare's overall rating of the facility is listed as "much below average," with poor ratings for health inspections in particular.

Musuline Watson, who said she was a certified nursing assistant at the facility, told WPVI-TV that staff smelled gas over the weekend, but did not initially suspect a serious problem because there was no heat in that room.

The nursing home recently became affiliated with Ohio-based Saber Healthcare Group, which called the explosion "devastating" and said in a statement that facility personnel promptly reported the gas odor to the local gas utility before the blast.

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