By Miriam Fauzia, The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — While Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate love, for the 250 million roses and other floral bouquets produced for the holiday, it means a slow death.

That countdown is driven in part by ethylene, a natural plant hormone that speeds up aging in cut flowers. Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington are testing new ways to blunt ethylene’s effects, with the goal of helping bouquets and fresh produce last longer. Here’s what to know.

What is ethylene?

Plants produce ethylene — an odorless, colorless gas — as they age, when damaged and in response to shifts in temperature, sunlight and other environmental stressors.

“Ethylene plays a vital role in nature, from fruit ripening to leaf drop to seed germination,” Rasika Dias, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UT Arlington leading the research, said in a news release. “For instance, fruits such as bananas, avocados and pears ripen because of ethylene. This ripening process transforms starch into sugars, which explains why ripe fruit tastes sweet.”

Because ethylene can drift through the air, it can affect nearby plants, which is why a ripe banana can speed the ripening of other fruit. Depending on how much ethylene is circulating, the gas can visibly age a plant, triggering the yellowing and dropping of leaves, and shortening how long a bouquet can last, according to the American Floral Endowment.

Shipping and storage can amplify those aging effects. Stress and mechanical damage can spur plants to release more ethylene, hastening deterioration unless growers and distributors intervene with anti-ethylene treatments.

Switching off ethylene

To slow ethylene’s effects, floral and produce industries often use 1-methylcyclopropene, or 1-MCP, a chemical discovered in the mid-1990s. It works like an ethylene decoy, attaching to the same places in plant cells that ethylene normally would. But unlike the gas, 1-MCP doesn’t trigger ripening or aging. Instead, it blocks ethylene’s signal from getting through, slowing a plant’s wilting or a fruit’s ripening.

But using 1-MCP has drawbacks. The chemical is highly reactive, can be tricky to handle and typically must be applied in sealed or enclosed spaces to work effectively, according to the American Floral Endowment. And because its effects can last for an extended period, 1-MCP may prevent some fruits from ripening.

With support from the American Floral Endowment and the United States Department of Agriculture, Dias and his lab at UT Arlington are testing alternatives to 1-MCP that aren’t volatile. Some of the most promising candidates include compounds built around metals such as copper. To see whether they slow the wilting process, the researchers take about 30 freshly cut flowers and divide them into three groups: untreated, treated with existing commercial products and treated with the new compounds.

“You monitor how long each group lasts — how fast petals drop, how quickly they wilt,” Dias said in the news release. “If the treated flowers last significantly longer than the untreated ones, that compound shows promise.”

In addition to helping with flowers, Dias hopes the research will reduce food waste. In 2019, 66.2 million tons of wasted food were generated in the food retail, food service and residential sectors, with about 60% ending up in landfills; another 40.1 million tons came from food and beverage manufacturing and processing, according to a 2019 report by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Fruits and vegetables are thrown away when they over-ripen — bananas turn brown, tomatoes become too soft and people won’t buy them,” Dias said. “This is a major issue during shipping, since most food travels long distances. Without treatment, much of it deteriorates before reaching stores. That’s a huge economic and food-security problem.”

Miriam Fauzia is a science reporting fellow at The Dallas Morning News. Her fellowship is supported by the University of Texas at Dallas. The News makes all editorial decisions.

©2026 The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By FARAI MUTSAKA

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Liquidity as affection and trash as a symbol of enduring love. From bouquets fashioned from dollar bills to heart-shaped gifts forged from recycled scrap metal, romance in Zimbabwe is taking strikingly inventive forms, reflecting life in an economy where cash reigns supreme and sustainability gains new social value.

You can’t buy love, the saying goes. But from florists in traditional markets to social media sellers angling for attention on TikTok, dollar bills rolled and pinned together to resemble a floral bouquet are increasingly rivaling fresh flowers as Valentine Day’s most coveted tokens of appreciation in the southern African country.

“Please God, make my lover see this,” commented one TikTok user under a video advertising glittering cash-and-flower arrangements. “May this bouquet locate me in Jesus name, amen,” wrote another.

Cash as courtship

At a decades-old flower market in the capital, Harare, Tongai Mufandaedza, a florist, patiently assembled one such “money bouquet.” Using adhesive and bamboo sticks, he folded crisp $50 notes into decorative cone shapes, weaving them with stems of white roses.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, he expects business to surge.

“The market has improved because of the money bouquets,” said Mufandaedza, who has worked at the country’s biggest flower market for three decades.

“On Valentine’s Day, we are going to have more, more, more customers, because this is something which is trending. Everyone wants to impress,” he said, then patched the arrangement in bright red wrapping and ribbons.

Among those browsing the market was Kimberleigh Kawadza. Her preference was clear.

“The person who came up with the trend, I just need to give them a hands up. They did a good job,” said the 23-year-old. “It’s a way of appreciating my partner, it’s a 100 for me, it’s a 100.”

Practical romance

While Generation Z is driving the craze, Mufandaedza said demand is spreading across generations. Some parents, he added, are even buying money bouquets for their daughters “so that they don’t fall into peer pressure and get tempted to go for sugar daddies who can lure them with such gifts.”

Prices vary widely. Smaller bouquets may contain as little as $10, while larger arrangements can run into the thousands. In some cases, they are even cheaper than traditional floral gifts.

A bouquet of dollar notes with a value of $10 costs $25, while a bouquet of 10 good-grade red roses costs between $35 and $40, he said. Many ask “where is the money?” if Mufandaedza delivers a bouquet of flowers without a cash design, he said.

Unlike traditional floral gifts, the appeal of money bouquets is as practical as it is romantic for Zimbabwe’s economic realities, where liquidity often carries more immediate value than luxury.

“People still love flowers, but when they see the notes on top, the love feels hotter and the gesture even more meaningful. Survival matters more in these difficult times and money plays a bigger role,” he said.

The U.S. dollar has dominated transactions since hyperinflation forced authorities to abandon the local currency in 2009. Although Zimbabwe has since reintroduced its own currency, the dollar remains legal and dominant.

With crisp notes scarce, worn and tattered U.S. bills, sometimes jokingly referred to as “war veterans,” are hardly suitable for decorative bouquets, spawning spin-off businesses of enterprising traders who supply clean replacement notes at a commission.

Zimbabwe isn’t alone in flirting with the fusion of cash and courtship. Money bouquets have also surged in popularity elsewhere in Africa, including Kenya, one of the world’s largest flower exporters.

Before Valentine’s Day, Kenya’s central bank warned of stiff penalties of up to seven years in prison for folding, stapling or gluing banknotes into bouquets, arguing that damaged currency disrupts cash-handling systems and violates laws against defacing money. The directive sparked lively debate online, with critics accusing regulators of overreach.

Love from scrap

Back in Zimbabwe, no such restrictions exist. But for some, love is finding expression not just through cash, but through trash recycled into keepsakes.

At an upscale shopping center in Harare, aluminium heart-shaped key rings, necklaces, platters and wine holders crafted from reclaimed scrap were lined up next to chocolates and gift boxes in Simpli Simbi, a decor and gift shop. “Simbi” means metal in the local Shona language.

“We are taking something that was unloved before, polishing it up and making it beautiful again towards a gift to someone that they can treasure forever,” said Stephanie Charlton, founder of the shop.

Charlton said that her customer base, once dominated by tourists and diaspora Zimbabweans, is increasingly local because of rising environmental awareness.

In an industrial area nearby, her foundry was stacked with discarded car radiators, rims and scrap metal collected from roadsides and landfills, before being melted in an open furnace and transformed into handmade gifts.

“Women love chocolates and flowers, but they are here today, gone tomorrow,” said Charlton, a former horticulture exporter who now employs 20 people.

“This is something that we have collected that would be filling up a landfill. But we have made it into something beautiful that you can give to (your valentine), show them that you treasure them. There is a meaning behind it, there is a story to be told with each piece.”

Associated Press writer Evelyne Musambi contributed to this report from Nairobi, Kenya.

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By Tanda Gmiter, Tribune News Service

MENOMINEE – Authorities say the body of a 24-year-old woman who had been missing for a week has been found in a wooded area near the Wisconsin border with the Upper Peninsula.

The body of Gabriella Alexis Cartagena was found on Tuesday in the area of Birch Creek Road in Menominee County, investigators announced today, according to WLUC. An autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of death.

In a press conference today, authorities said they believe they found a possible crime scene in Red Arrow Park in nearby Marinette, Wisconsin. Cartagena, who was described by police as an involuntary missing person, was believed to be in the area of that park on Feb. 4 with her boyfriend when she was last in contact with her family.

Relatives told police they were on the phone with her when they heard Cartagena saying, “Please don’t shoot me, I’m sorry,” WLUC reported.

Witnesses have described hearing a couple arguing at that time.

Cartagena’s vehicle, a red Toyota Prius with a Wisconsin license plate, was seen between 9:25 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. the day she went missing. It was traveling along Highway 41 in the city of Menominee and Menominee Township, on the Michigan side of the border. The Menominee County Sheriff’s Office had asked residents and businesses in that area to check their cameras for the vehicle.

Michigan authorities had been assisting in the search, Marinette police said.

Cartagena’s boyfriend was arrested in Minnesota on Feb. 5 for allegedly fleeing a police officer during a police chase that reached speeds of 100 mph, WISN reported. An AR-15 rifle was found in his vehicle. He remains in custody and has not been charged with any crime linked to Cartagena at this time.

©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit mlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By STEPHEN GROVES and MATT BROWN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dozens of U.S. lawmakers were trying to make their way this weekend to the Munich Security Conference to assure allies of America’s reliability, but burdened with political crises at home, their entrance to the annual gathering of international leaders was more of a limp than a stride.

Some didn’t make the trip at all. House Speaker Mike Johnson canceled an official delegation of roughly two dozen House members who had planned to attend the event, leaving those lawmakers either to find their own way to Germany or send their regrets.

While two bipartisan delegations from the Senate still made the trip, they departed amid bitter fights over how U.S. immigration agents are carrying out President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdowns on illegal immigration, which have included fatal shootings of two people protesting the raids, as well as the Trump administration’s recent failed effort to indict six Democratic lawmakers who produced a video urging U.S. military members not to obey “illegal orders.”

“It is a little bit, you know, depressing to be here with what we have to deal with at home,” Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who was among those investigated by the Department of Justice, said in a live interview with Politico in Munich.

For over six decades, the annual conference has gathered world leaders in pursuit of cooperation for shared security, with the United State often playing a leading role. But Trump has upended his nation’s posture toward the rest of the world, especially Europe. And while many lawmakers who attended tried to assure European counterparts that the U.S. still wants a seat at the table, it was clear they were still grappling with the rapidly changing political environment at home.

“I expect to have a number of challenging conversations with friends and allies about their concern and alarm about what they’ve seen federal law enforcement under this administration do in Minneapolis and the attempt to indict six of my colleagues and other steps that frankly have more of the hallmarks of authoritarian societies than democracies,” said Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware.

Senate’s bipartisan traditions are slipping

The security forum in recent years has been a reinforcing event for the coalition of nations backing Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion — a cause that once enjoyed strong support from Republicans. But several GOP senators who have participated in years past and hold spots on committees overseeing the U.S. military and foreign affairs decided this year to stay home. The delegations that did attend included significantly more Democrats.

As lawmakers exited Washington on Thursday, Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri ripped Democrats for heading to Munich while the Department of Homeland Security faced a shutdown during an impasse in Congress over funding the agency that oversees immigration enforcement.

“How do you justify getting on a plane and going to Europe when you’re shutting down DHS?” Schmitt told reporters. “They’re making a decision that their travel to Munich to cozy up with the Euros is way more important than funding DHS.”

Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz responded on social media, noting that he and Schmitt had both gone to Munich the year prior and that it “continues to be an important bipartisan trip.”

Still, Schatz also said this year is different in light of the Department of Justice attempting to indict two senators.

“Spare me the high-minded panel discussions and bilats and press availabilities about the United States as the indispensable nation, when we are dispensing with our most sacred constitutional obligations,” he said in a floor speech this week.

Republicans articulate Trump policy

Some Republicans who attended the Munich gathering came not to offer reassurances, but to herald the changing world under under Trump. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby were among the top Trump administration officials participating.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is close to Trump, led one of the delegations of senators. He presented a bullish argument that European security is better off with Trump’s willingness to break up the traditional roles of Western allies. He argued the U.S. needs to keep up pressure on Iran with the goal of toppling the regime, as well as build pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to reach a peace deal.

“We’re here at a crucial moment, folks. If we don’t follow through with what we promised the people of Iran, it will destroy America’s credibility for years to come, it will make this world less safe,” he said.

A new voice from the US

Graham has been a mainstay at Munich and other like conferences for years, yet there was also a new voice from the American side.

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive from New York, made her first trip to the conference to discuss the rise of populism and the shifting role of American power in the world. Her attendance at the conference, she said, was meant to show support for international liberal values.

“We are ready for the next chapter, not to have the world turned to isolation, but to deepen our partnership on greater and increased commitment to integrity to our values,” she said at a roundtable.

Ocasio-Cortez said she identified with voters who had defected from traditional left-of-center parties in Europe and the United States for populist hard-right parties. She said her frustrations with a Democratic Party “that championed special interests, the elite” is what had pushed her to run for office.

“Domestically and globally, there have been many leaders who’ve said ‘We will go back’. And I think we have to recognize that we are in a new day and in a time,” she said, adding “That does not mean that the majority of Americans are ready to walk away from a rules-based order and that we’re ready to walk away from our commitment to democracy.”

Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this story.

For some, there’s nothing more romantic than cozying up with a book on Valentine’s Day. Or maybe you’re going out and need something to read while you and your date wait for your table to open up when out for a fabulous dinner to celebrate the holiday. (It’s not unprecedented: Some of us always carry a book.)

So read on for romance.

“After Hours at Dooryard Books” by Cat Sebastian

In this novel set in a radical Greenwich Village bookstore during the tumult of the late-’60s, Patrick, a bookseller, takes in Nathaniel, a mysterious stranger who seems to fit in with the shop’s anti-establishment regulars.

“As Many Souls as Stars” by Natasha Siegel

A historical fantasy romance about the struggle between light and dark, this novel tells the story of two women entwined by a terrible bargain binding them across the passing centuries.

SEE ALSO: Southern California romance bookstores do not want AI for Valentine’s Day

“Carnival Fantástico” by Angela Montoya

A fortune-teller in a traveling carnival troupe teams up with a handsome military deserter – plus, he’s her ex! – investigating his family’s corruption in hopes that together they can solve their problems in this magical romantasy.

“Daddy Issues” by Kate Goldbeck

A debt-ridden, twentysomething PhD hopeful is living with her mother and working a dead-end job, hoping to find a way out, when a single father moves in next door with his 9-year-old daughter.

“The Everlasting” by Alix E. Harrow,

Harrow, known for “The Ten Thousand Doors of January” and “The Once and Future Witches,” delivers the goods again with a novel involving time travel, a formidable female knight and a soldier turned historian with a mission.

“Just for the Cameras” by Meghan Quinn

In this novel set in the Bay Area, a professional football player and a sexy zookeeper agree to engage in a fake public romance – there are reasons! – but what happens when the feelings start to seem real?

“Julia Song is Undateable” by Susan Lee

The title character is a success as the CEO of a cosmetics company, but a disaster at romance. So in an effort to appease her Korean grandmother, who just wants her to be happy (and married!), Julia Song hires a dating coach and …

SEE ALSO: Like books? Get our free Book Pages newsletter about bestsellers, authors and more

“The Re-Do List” by Denise Williams

In the wake of a painful breakup, a young woman agrees to dog-sit for her brother during his military deployment; she gets help from her brother’s handsome friend, who’s been given one order: Stay away from my little sister!

“Son of the Morning” by Akwaeke Emezi

In this paranormal romance set in the South, a young woman raised by a group of powerful Black women encounters what may be a literal boyfriend from hell in a tale of secrets, artifacts and powerful clashes between heaven, earth and beyond.

Authorities are investigating eerie new footage from the days leading up to the disappearance of Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy.

The roughly 20-second Ring camera footage, from the early morning hours of Jan. 23, was published Friday by TMZ, which says the video was recorded roughly 6.5 miles from 84-year-old Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Ariz.

The clip shows a dark-haired man whose face is blurred, though a goatee is somewhat visible. His back is toward the camera as he leans over, holding what appears to be a towel, then moves his hands over the camera.

The homeowner, who initially posted the video on Ring’s Neighbors app, said the man in the video rang their doorbell at around 5 a.m. but ran off at the sound of the their dogs barking, according to TMZ.

Both the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department know of the video’s existence and are treating it as a lead, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the outlet.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her home on the evening of Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day, with authorities quickly treating the case as an abduction. The FBI on Thursday doubled their reward to up to $100,000 for information leading to Guthrie’s recovery or the conviction of her captor.

The agency’s Phoenix bureau has also released additional details about the male suspect, believed to stand between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-10. He was wearing a 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Backpack, according to forensic analysis of doorbell camera footage taken from Guthrie’s home.

Earlier this week, the FBI released photos and video of Guthrie’s potential kidnapper. He can be seen outside her home in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, wearing a ski mask with a goatee visible underneath.

That footage was a “huge, huge break” in the case, as retired Phoenix Homicide Sergeant Troy Hillman told Us Weekly.

Neighbors within a 2-mile radius of Guthrie’s home have been asked to scour last month’s security camera footage and report anything out of the ordinary to authorities.

The PCSD on Friday said there no press briefing scheduled for the day but said they’d alert the public of “any significant developments” in the case.

By DAVID A. LIEB

Virginia voters will get to cast ballots on a congressional redistricting plan benefiting Democrats while a court battle plays out over the legality of the effort.

The Virginia Supreme Court said Friday that a statewide referendum can be held April 21 on whether to authorize mid-decade redistricting, and the court will decide sometime later whether the plan is legal.

Democrats celebrated the green light for the election. But the court’s schedule raises the possibility that it could all be for naught, if the Supreme Court ultimately upholds a lower court ruling that the mid-decade redistricting amendment is invalid.

Virginia Democrats hold six of the state’s 11 U.S. House seats, but they are backing a revised map that could help them win up to 10 seats in this year’s midterm elections. The new districts are a key part of Democrats’ national strategy to try to offset potential Republican gains in several other states that redrew their districts last year at the urging of President Donald Trump.

The Republican president is trying to preserve a narrow GOP majority in the House against political headwinds that typically blow against the party in power in midterm elections.

Before Virginia Democrats can implement new congressional districts, they need voter approval to temporarily set aside a constitutional provision that places redistricting authority with a bipartisan commission and instead grant that power to the General Assembly. Lawmakers endorsed a constitutional amendment allowing their mid-decade redistricting last fall, then passed it again in January as part of a two-step process that requires an intervening election in order for an amendment to be placed on the ballot.

But Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. last month struck down the General Assembly’s actions on three grounds. The judge ruled that lawmakers failed to follow their own rules for adding the redistricting amendment to a special session.

Hurley also ruled that the General Assembly’s initial vote for the amendment failed to occur before the public began casting ballots in last year’s general election and thus didn’t count toward the two-step process. And he ruled that the state failed to publish the amendment three months before the election, as required by law. As a result of those issues, he said, the amendment was invalid and void.

Democrats appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, which agreed on Friday to consider the case while stating that a narrowly tailored injunction by the lower court doesn’t prevent the April referendum. The court directed initial briefs to be filed by March 23, with the last round of court filings due April 23. Any oral arguments would be scheduled for later, the court said.

Nationwide, the redistricting battle has resulted so far in nine more seats that Republicans believe they can win in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, and six that Democrats think they can win in California and Utah. Democrats have hoped to make up that three-seat margin in Virginia, though the lower court ruling raised a hurdle to their plans. It’s unclear whether the redistricting efforts in various states ultimately will make any difference in determining control of Congress in the November election.

By WILL GRAVES, AP National Writer

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Soaring arias. Wrenching tragedy. Joyful triumphs. Exotic backdrops. Climaxes often designed to produce tears, sad or otherwise.

Perhaps more than anything, the operas that Italians began creating 400 years ago are designed to make you feel. To have the rest of the world melt away as you get lost in a story sung in a language you might not understand, but whose stakes are unmistakable.

No wonder the country that invented the art form where music and poetry merge, and these Winter Olympics seem to be such a perfect fit.

The quadrennial spectacle that began its stay in Northern Italy with a gala hosted by the International Olympic Committee at the iconic La Scala opera house in Milan spent its first full week reflecting the host country’s signature art form onto itself.

The magic the Games so often provide, no matter where they may go, seemingly a little bolder, a little louder, a little more deeply felt.

Tearful exits

The initial gasp that gave way to eerie silence after American skiing star Lindsey Vonn’s right arm clipped a gate just 13 seconds into the women’s downhill on Sunday, leading to a spectacular and brutal crash that broke her left leg and ended her unlikely Olympic return at 41.

Crashes happen. It’s a part of the sport. The “only at the Games” flourish came afterward, when Vonn’s long, slow helicopter ride down the mountain to safety veered gently to the left, flying over the grandstand where the throngs who came out to watch her bid for history waved a tearful goodbye instead.

The tears for Vonn were borne out of concern and what might have been. The tears from IOC president Kirsty Coventry after telling Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych he was disqualified for refusing to replace a helmet adorned with images of over 20 coaches and athletes who have died since Russia’s invasion began were of anguish and regret.

“No one, no one — especially me — is disagreeing with the messaging,” Coventry said. “The messaging is a powerful message.”

One so compelling and so important to Heraskevych that the 27-year-old sacrificed his dreams of Olympic glory to make it. Even if the attention he received for his stand caught him off guard.

“I never expected it to be such a big scandal,” he said on Friday after an appeal hearing.

Four years into a war that drags on with an end still not quite in sight, Heraskevych’s stand dragged a conflict that in some areas of the world has retreated to the shadows and thrust it back into the international spotlight unique to the Games. His selfless decision elevated the discussion about his homeland to the public writ large in a way that no gold-medal-winning run ever could.

Heraskevych’s act was intended for a global audience. Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid was speaking to an audience of one after earning bronze in the men’s 20-kilometer race. His startling confession of infidelity to a former partner after what was supposed to serve as one of the highlights of his career upstaging the gold won in the same race by countryman Johan-Olav Botn.

Love both lost and won

Being lovesick in Italy is hardly new. There’s a reason seemingly every high school literature class makes “Romeo and Juliet” required reading. The Shakespearean tragedy is set in Verona, about 3 hours southwest of where Laegreid made his stunning plea, sounding very much like a teenager in the throes of heartache. His vow of contrition created a viral moment that passes for social currency, the fallout be damned.

“I can understand what he wants to have happen with his girlfriend,” retired German athlete Erik Lesser told The Associated Press. “But I just want to think about sport, want to see sport, want to talk about sport.”

Yet the Olympics have never really been just about sport. How can they be when the lines between sports, politics and culture seem to be growing more blurry by the day? The only thing perfect about the Games may be the five intertwined rings that have long served as its logo.

That’s what makes it so enthralling. A few days after Laegreid achieved a small piece of infamy, Olympic downhill champion Breezy Johnson retreated into the arms of boyfriend Connor Watkins after crashing in the Super-G.

While Johnson’s dreams of leaving Cortina with multiple golds were gone, another was realized anyway when Watkins dropped to a knee and recited Taylor Swift lyrics while producing a blue and white sapphire ring.

Johnson giddily accepted before jumping into his arms, the physical pain and emotional disappointment of what happened up on the mountain only minutes earlier replaced by a memory and a promise that will stick with her forever.

“I think most people want to peak at the Olympics,” Johnson said. “I just extra peaked.”

Favorites upstaged

Not everyone does at a festival where unpredictability often outduels inevitability for top billing.

For every breakthrough like the one American figure skater Ilia Malinin is providing one electrifying backflip and quadruple jump at a time, there are bold-faced champions somewhat surprisingly ceding the stage they’ve so often commanded.

Mikaela Shiffrin arrived in Cortina as the winningest ski racer in the history of the sport. Eager to put an 0 for 6 run four years ago in Beijing behind her, she instead began her fourth Olympics with her worst showing in a slalom that she started and finished since 2012, costing Shiffrin and Johnson a gold in women’s combined and opening the door for teammates Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan to claim the first Olympic medals of their long careers.

American snowboarding icon Chloe Kim’s bid for an unprecedented third gold in the halfpipe ended late Thursday when a teenager who grew up idolizing her — Gaon Choi of South Korea — pulled off an upset in snowy Livigno.

“I’m a winner because I was able to persevere and fight through,” said Kim, who competed just a month removed from a dislocated shoulder.

And perhaps more than anything at the Olympics, it’s the fight that matters.

For the thousands of athletes scattered across northern Italy, the road to this moment in their lives is rooted in a passion found long ago. The flames may have flickered for many along the way. How could they not? The drudgery of practice. The financial burden. The inevitable physical toll. The hidden mental strain has only recently graduated from hushed whispers to a full-fledged conversation.

It’s a lot to carry. No wonder it’s such fertile ground for drama.

Italy’s moment

And no one has leaned into it more than the hosts who have surged to the top of the medal table.

Yet a country known for big gestures and even bigger emotions is also one that can revel in the quiet and before the catharsis.

Ten months ago, Italian skier Federica Brignone shredded her left leg in a crash that required multiple surgeries, a handful of screws to keep things in place and months of rehab. The 35-year-old never stopped pointing toward Cortina. On Thursday, in front of a crowd that included Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Brignone ignored the lingering pain to throw down a sublime Super-G run in tricky conditions to earn her first Olympic gold.

After the medal ceremony, the Italian Air Force’s acrobatic unit thundered overhead, leaving a trail of the country’s familiar combination of green, white and red in its wake.

The slopes in Cortina shook. The flags waved. Brignone wept, thinking not so much of glory, but the winding path she took to get here.

“One of those films that you don’t believe in because it’s not possible for it to end that well,” Brignone said.

Maybe that’s the best part.

It’s not the end. We’re only halfway there. Who knows?

Milan Cortina’s second act could be even better than the first.

AP Sports Writers Andrew Dampf, Graham Dunbar, Dave Skretta, Tim Reynolds and AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

By SUSAN HAIGH

NORWICH, Conn. (AP) — The U.S. State Department has ordered certain public libraries nationwide to cease processing passport applications, disrupting a long-standing service that librarians say their communities have come to rely on and that has run smoothly for years.

The agency, which regulates U.S. passports, began issuing cease and desist orders to not-for-profit libraries in late fall, informing them they were no longer authorized to participate in the Passport Acceptance Facility program as of Friday.

“We still get calls daily seeking that service,” said Cathleen Special, executive director of the Otis Library in Norwich, Connecticut, where passport services were offered for 18 years but ceased in November after receiving the letter. “Our community was so used to us offering this.”

A State Department spokesperson said the order was given because federal law and regulations “clearly prohibit non-governmental organizations” from collecting and retaining fees for a passport application. Government-run libraries are not impacted.

The spokesperson did not respond to questions as to why it has become an issue now and exactly how many libraries are impacted by the cease and desist order. In a statement, they said, “passport services has over 7,500 acceptance facilities nationwide and the number of libraries found ineligible makes up less than one percent of our total network.”

The American Library Association estimates about 1,400 mostly non-profit public libraries nationwide could potentially be affected, or about 15% of all public libraries, depending on how many offer passport services.

Democratic and Republican members of Congress from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Maryland are pushing back, sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio this month asking him to extend the existing program until Congress finds a permanent solution.

“In a time when demand for passports is surging, libraries are among the most accessible passport acceptance facilities, particularly for working families and rural residents,” the members wrote.

The lawmakers’ letter said people will have to travel long distances, take unpaid time off from work or forgo getting a passport when demand is surging due to Real ID requirements. If Republicans in Congress impose strict new voting rules, citizens could need their passport or birth certificate to register. People fearing immigration agents are also increasingly carrying passports to confirm their citizenship.

They said the change is particularly disruptive to their states, where many public libraries are structured as nonprofit entities. They predicted some libraries, which benefit financially from passport processing fees, will have to lay off staff, cut programs or close their doors if not allowed to continue providing passport services.

Public libraries are organized differently in each state. In Pennsylvania 85% of public libraries are non-profit organizations, versus being a department of a local municipal government. In Maine, it’s 56%; Rhode Island, 54%, New York, 47% and Connecticut, 46%, according to the American Library Association.

Pennsylvania Reps. Madeleine Dean, a Democrat, and John Joyce, a Republican, have proposed bipartisan legislation that would allow 501(c)(3) non-profit public libraries to continue to serve as passport acceptance facilities by amending the Passport Act of 1920. A similar companion bill is pending in the Senate.

Dean, who first learned about the policy change from a library in her district that has provided passport services for 20 years, called the State Department’s interpretation of the law “nonsense.”

In Joyce’s rural, south-central Pennsylvania district, the Marysville-Rye Library is one of only two passport facilities serving the 556-square-mile Perry County, according to the letter to Rubio. Now the county courthouse will be the only remaining option.

The State Department noted that 99% of the U.S. population lives within 20 miles of a designated passport processing location, such as a post office, county clerk’s office or government-run library authorized to accept in-person passport applications.

“Should the removal of an ineligible facility affect passport services, we will work to identify new eligible program partners in the impacted area,” the agency spokesperson said.

But Special said the Norwich post office had often referred people to her library for passports when someone needed service outside regular hours or had children who needed to be watched and entertained while their parent filled out the paperwork. Library staff also assisted applicants with language barriers.

“And now the burden falls on them to do all of it and that’s tough on them,” she said of the post office down the street. “I don’t know how they’re keeping up, to be honest, because it was such a popular service with us.”

ROME (AP) — A Slovak fugitive who had been on the run for 16 years was finally arrested when he turned up in Milan to support his national ice hockey team at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, police said Friday.

The 44-year-old man, who was not named, was wanted by Italian authorities for a series of thefts committed in 2010.

The carabinieri managed to track down and arrest the man Wednesday after he checked into a campsite in the outskirts of Milan, thanks to an automatic alert from the campsite reception.

The fugitive was then taken to Milan’s San Vittore prison to serve a pending sentence of 11 months and 7 days, according to the carabinieri, Italy’s military police.

The man did not manage to see the opening game in which Slovakia’s hockey team beat Finland with a sound 4-1 at Milan’s Santagiulia Arena on Wednesday.

In 2027 or 2028, the Sashabaw Road bridge over the Clinton River in Independence Township will be closed to vehicles so the bridge can be replaced. The project will cost an estimated $3 million and take 150 days, weather permitting.

An estimated 15,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily. Boating will be paused for at least seven days during the bridge demolition and for another seven days to install the new bridge.

Michigan Department of Transportation and county road commission are co-hosting an open house so anyone can ask questions or express concerns to state or county officials.

Sashabaw Road bridge, built in 1928, is between Maybe and Williams Lake roads and between Woodhull Lake and Lake Oakland.

The new bridge will be longer and taller, to allow recreational boat passage. An 8-foot sidewalk will be included with the new bridge for pedestrian safety.

This is one of seven bridge replacements awarded to the contractor Aecom. The company will announce specific construction dates 30 days before the work begins.

The open house is 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, Independence Township Hall, 6483 Waldon Center Drive in Independence Township.

Anyone who can’t attend the meeting can share comments or questions with the contractor, Aecom, by calling Charlie Stein at (616) 318-0124 or emailing Charles.Stein@aecom.com. Any comments must be sent by April 1.

People who need large-print materials, auxiliary aids or interpreters, signers or readers should contact the road commission’s engineering department at (248) 645-2000 by Feb. 13. Accommodations cannot be guaranteed.

A Howell man who fatally shot a teen he’d been hanging out with in Oakland County last year will spend at least seven years in prison, as sentenced recently by Judge Yasmine Poles.

Tylaj Clark-Spencer, 21, pleaded no contest last December to charges of manslaughter, receiving and concealing a stolen firearm, and two counts of felony firearm in connection with the May 22, 2025 death of Derek Ayden Scholl, 18, of Troy. Poles handed Clark-Spencer a sentence of 75 months to 15 years for the manslaughter, a concurrent sentence of 31 months to 10 years for the stolen firearms charge, and an additional two years for the two felony firearm charges. Jail credit of 256 days was applied to the felony firearm sentence, reducing it by one year.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes. It can also offer some liability protection in civil cases.

According to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, the shooting happened when Clark-Spencer, Scholl and two others — Joshua Peel, 20, of Royal Oak, and a 17-year-old — were preparing to leave a Clawson apartment to attend a party. Clark-Spencer was carrying a gun and checking to see if it was loaded when the weapon fired, killing Scholl, the prosecutor’s office said. A few hours later, it’s alleged the 17-year-old hid the gun and other evidence for Clark-Spencer.

Officials said it appears the gun used in the shooting had been stolen from a safe belonging to the 17-year-old’s father.

Peel and the 17-year-old were charged with accessory after the fact to a felony. Peel pleaded guilty to the crime. No further information on those cases was available.

West Bloomfield male nanny accused of sex crimes against child; police say there could be other victims

Woman sentenced for animal cruelty; 37 dogs and cats rescued from Pontiac home in 2024

By ADRIANA MORGA The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s been a confusing time for people with student loans. Collections restarted, then were put on hold. At the same time, borrowers had to stay on top of changes to key forgiveness plans.

Last year, the long-contested SAVE plan introduced by the Biden administration ended with a settlement agreement. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” introduced new borrowing limits for graduates and raised challenges to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. While several changes for student loan borrowers will take effect this summer, other key questions remain unresolved.

More than 5 million Americans were in default on their federal student loans as of September, according to the Education Department. Millions are behind on loan payments and at risk of default this year.

Borrowers “genuinely struggle to afford their loans and then to hear that the administration is making it more expensive and taking away some of the tools and resources that help folks afford their loans is really, it’s panic-inducing,” said Winston Berkman-Breen, legal director at Protect Borrowers.

Last month, the Education Department announced that it would delay involuntary collections for student loan borrowers in default until the department finalizes its new loan repayment plans. The date for this is still unclear.

If you’re a student loan borrower, here are some key things to know:

If you were enrolled in the SAVE plan

The SAVE plan was a repayment plan with some of the most lenient terms ever. Soon after its launch it was challenged in court, leaving millions of student loan borrowers in limbo. Last December, the Education Department announced a settlement agreement to end the SAVE plan. What is next for borrowers who were enrolled in this repayment plan is yet to be determined.

“Seven and a half million borrowers who are currently enrolled in SAVE need to be moved to another plan,” Berkman-Breen said.

As part of the agreement, the Education Department says it will not enroll new borrowers, deny pending applications, and will move all current SAVE borrowers into other repayment plans.

The Education Department is expected to develop a plan for borrowers to transition from the SAVE plan, yet borrowers should be proactive about enrolling in other repayment plans, said Kate Wood, a lending expert at NerdWallet.

If you are looking to enroll in an income-driven repayment plan

Borrowers can apply for the following income-driven plans: the Income-Based Repayment Plan, the Pay as You Earn plan, and the Income-Contingent Repayment plan.

“They all have similar criteria, and they function similarly. Your payment is set as a percentage of your income, not how much you owe, so it’s usually a lower payment,” Berkman-Breen said.

The payment amount under income-driven plans is a percentage of your discretionary income, and the percentage varies depending on the plan. Since many people are looking to switch plans, some applications to income-driven repayment plans might take longer to process, said Jill Desjean, director of policy analysis at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

You can find out which repayment plan might work best for you by logging on to the Education Department’s loan simulator.

If you’re working toward your Public Service Loan Forgiveness

There are no changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program yet. Last year, the Trump administration announced plans to change the eligibility requirements for participating nonprofits.

The policy seeks to disqualify nonprofit workers if their work is deemed to have “substantial illegal purpose.” The Trump administration said it’s necessary to block taxpayer money from lawbreakers, while critics say it turns the program into a tool of political retribution.

The proposal says illegal activity includes the trafficking or “chemical castration” of children, illegal immigration, and supporting foreign terrorist organizations. This move could cut off some teachers, doctors, and other public workers from federal loan cancellation.

“This is something that obviously is very stressful, very nerve-wracking for a lot of people, but given that we don’t know exactly how this is going to be enforced, how these terms are going to be defined, it’s not really something that you can try to plan ahead for now,” Wood said.

While this policy is currently being challenged by 20 Democrat-led states, it’s expected to take effect in July. In the meantime, Wood recommends that borrowers enrolled in the PSLF program continue making payments.

If your student loans are in default

Involuntary collections on federal student loans will remain on hold. The Trump administration announced earlier this month that it is delaying plans to withhold pay from student loan borrowers who default on their payments.

Federal student loan borrowers can have their wages garnished and their federal tax refunds withheld if they default on their loans. Borrowers are considered in default when they are at least 270 days behind on payments.

If your student loans are in default, you can contact your loan holder to apply for a loan rehabilitation program.

“They essentially come up with a payment plan where you’re making a reduced payment,” Woods. “After five successful payments on that rehabilitation plan, wage garnishment will cease.”

If you’re planning to attend graduate school

Trump’s “ Big Beautiful Bill ” has changed the amount graduate students can borrow from federal student loans. Graduate students could previously borrow loans up to the cost of their degree; the new rules cap the amount depending on whether the degree is considered a graduate or a professional program.

Wood said that if you’re starting a new program and taking out a loan after July 1, you will be subject to the new loan limits.

Under the new plan, students in professional programs would be able to borrow up to $50,000 per year and up to $200,000 in total. Other graduate students, such as those pursuing nursing and physical therapy, would be limited to $20,500 a year and up to $100,000 total.

The Education Department is defining the following fields as professional programs: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, podiatry and theology.

If you want to consolidate your loan

The online application for loan consolidation is available at studentaid.gov/loan-consolidation. If you have multiple federal student loans, you can combine them into a single loan with a fixed interest rate and a single monthly payment.

The consolidation process typically takes around 60 days to complete. You can only consolidate your loans once.

___

The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

Oakland County is not in danger of running out road salt used to treat roadways anytime soon.

Oakland County’s road commission spokesman, Craig Bryson, told The Oakland Press that even though they have used over 20 tons more salt this year than last year, their supply will be enough to get through the rest of the season.

“We contract for a worst-case scenario, so we are a ways from reaching our maximum salt order,” Bryson said. “We continue to get resupplied on a daily basis and we are not concerned about running out.”

As of Jan. 31, the road commission has used 63,836 tons, more than the 5-year average total for a full season: 63,000.

As of Jan. 31 over the last three years, the commission had used:

42,910 tons during 2024-25
39,874 during 2023-24
31,503 during 2022-23

Some school districts said salt has been in short supply and they have been taking precautions.

“(The) Oakland County Road Commission has a regional shortage of rock salt due to supply chain delays at the mines,” Royal Oak schools said in a statement last week. “As a result, Royal Oak Schools is not receiving our regular expected shipments, which are used to keep our schools safe.”

The district said they will prioritize high traffic areas, order alternative supplies if needed and put lighter coats of salt down on parking lots to stretch their supply.

“Our current supply will last us through approximately 6-8 more weather events,” the district said. “Please use extra caution when you move in and around our community, as this is impacting all of Royal Oak, not just our schools.”

Bryson said everyone is looking to replenish supplies at the same time and the main vendor, the Detroit Salt Mine, is having trouble meeting the demand because there are a finite number of trucks to make the deliveries and the company is limited by the amount of salt that can be mined at one time.

“I think the real challenge is for the smaller private contractors who ordered their quantities based on the last couple of years,” Bryson said. “Smaller contractors have likely used their complete annual supply and are competing with larger companies and government agencies like road commissions.”

By STEPHEN GROVES

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under questioning from Democrats Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick acknowledged that he had met with Jeffrey Epstein twice after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child, reversing Lutnick’s previous claim that he had cut ties with the late financier after 2005.

Lutnick once again downplayed his relationship with the disgraced financier who was once his neighbor in New York City as he was questioned by Democrats during a subcommittee hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He described their contact as a handful of emails and a pair of meetings that were years apart.

“I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with him,” Lutnick told lawmakers.

But Lutnick is facing calls from several lawmakers for his resignation after the release of case files on Epstein contradicted Lutnick’s claims on a podcast last year that he had decided to “never be in the room” with Epstein again after a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.

The commerce secretary said Tuesday that he and his family actually had lunch with Epstein on his private island in 2012 and he had another hour-long engagement at Epstein’s home in 2011. Lutnick, a member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, is the highest-profile U.S. official to face bipartisan calls for his resignation amid revelations of his ties to Epstein. His acknowledgement comes as lawmakers are grasping for what accountability looks like amid the revelations contained in what’s known as the Epstein files.

In countries like the United Kingdom, the Epstein files have triggered resignations and the stripping of royal privileges, but so far, U.S. officials have not met the same level of retribution.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the Democrat who questioned Lutnick, told him, “There’s not an indication that you yourself engaged in any wrongdoing with Jeffrey Epstein. It’s the fact that you believe that you misled the country and the Congress based on your earlier statements.”

Meanwhile, House members who initiated the legislative effort to force the release of the files are calling for Lutnick to resign. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky called for that over the weekend after emails were released that alluded to the meetings between Lutnick and Epstein.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, joined Massie in pressuring Lutnick out of office on Monday.

“Based on the evidence, he should be out of the Cabinet,” Khanna said.

He added, “It’s not about any particular person. In this country, we have to make a decision. Are we going to allow the rich and powerful people who are friends and (had) no problem doing business and showing up with a pedophile who is raping underage girls, are we just going to allow them to skate?”

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI, STEVE PEOPLES and STEVEN SLOAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Governors Association will no longer hold a formal meeting with President Donald Trump when the group of state leaders meet in Washington later this month after the White House planned to invite only Republicans.

“NGA staff was informed that the White House intends to limit invitations to the annual business meeting, scheduled for February 20, to Republican governors only,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who is the chairman of the NGA, said in a Monday letter to fellow governors obtained by The Associated Press. “Because NGA’s mission is to represent all 55 governors, the Association is no longer serving as the facilitator for that event, and it is no longer included in our official program.”

The NGA is scheduled to meet in Washington from Feb. 19-21. Representatives for Stitt, the White House and the NGA didn’t immediately comment on the letter.

Brandon Tatum, the NGA’s CEO, said in a statement last week that the White House meeting is an “important tradition” and said the organization was “disappointed in the administration’s decision to make it a partisan occasion this year.”

The governors group is one of the few remaining venues where political leaders from both major parties gather to discuss the top issues facing their communities. In his letter, Stitt encouraged governors to unite around common goals.

“We cannot allow one divisive action to achieve its goal of dividing us,” he wrote. “The solution is not to respond in kind, but to rise above and to remain focused on our shared duty to the people we serve. America’s governors have always been models of pragmatic leadership, and that example is most important when Washington grows distracted by politics.”

Signs of partisan tensions emerged at the White House meeting last year, when Trump and Maine’s then-Gov. Janet Mills traded barbs.

Trump singled out the Democratic governor over his push to bar transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, threatening to withhold federal funding from the state if she did not comply. Mills responded, “We’ll see you in court.”

Trump then predicted that Mills’ political career would be over for opposing the order. She is now running for U.S. Senate.

The back and forth had a lasting impact on last year’s conference and some Democratic governors did not renew their dues last year to the bipartisan group.

Peoples reported from New York.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, KEVIN FREKING and SEUNG MIN KIM

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic leaders say a proposal from the White House is “incomplete and insufficient” as they are demanding new restrictions on President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and threatening a shutdown of the Homeland Security Department.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement late Monday that a White House counterproposal to the list of demands they transmitted over the weekend “included neither details nor legislative text” and does not address “the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct.” The White House proposal was not released publicly.

The Democrats’ statement comes as time is running short, with another partial government shutdown threatening to begin Saturday. Among the Democrats’ demands are a requirement for judicial warrants, better identification of DHS officers, new use-of-force standards and a stop to racial profiling. They say such changes are necessary after two protesters were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis last month.

Earlier Monday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had expressed optimism about the rare negotiations between Democrats and the White House, saying there was “forward progress.”

Thune said it was a good sign that the two sides were trading papers, and “hopefully they can find some common ground here.”

But coming to an agreement on the charged issue of immigration enforcement will be difficult, especially as rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties were skeptical about finding common ground.

Republicans have balked at the Democrats’ requests and some have demands of their own, including the addition of legislation that would require proof of citizenship before Americans register to vote and restrictions on cities that they say do not do enough to crack down on illegal immigration.

And many Democrats who are furious about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s aggressive crackdown have said they won’t vote for another penny of Homeland Security funding until enforcement is radically scaled back.

“Dramatic changes are needed at the Department of Homeland Security before a DHS funding bill moves forward,” Jeffries said earlier Monday. “Period. Full stop.”

Trump deals with Democrats

Congress is trying to renegotiate the DHS spending bill after Trump agreed to a Democratic request that it be separated out from a larger spending measure that became law last week. That package extended Homeland Security funding at current levels only through Feb. 13, creating a brief window for action as the two parties discuss new restrictions on ICE and other federal officers.

Democrats made the demands for new restrictions on ICE and other federal law enforcement after ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a U.S. Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis on Jan. 24, and some Republicans suggested that new restrictions were necessary. Renee Good was shot by ICE agents on Jan. 7.

While he agreed to separate the funding, Trump has not publicly responded to the Democrats’ specific demands.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said late last week that the Trump administration is willing to discuss some items on the Democrats’ list, but “others don’t seem like they are grounded in any common sense, and they are nonstarters for this administration.”

Democratic demands

Schumer and Jeffries have said they want immigration officers to remove their masks, to show identification and to better coordinate with local authorities. They have also demanded a stricter use-of-force policy for the federal officers, legal safeguards at detention centers and a prohibition on tracking protesters with body-worn cameras.

Among other demands, Democrats say Congress should end indiscriminate arrests, “improve warrant procedures and standards,” ensure the law is clear that officers cannot enter private property without a judicial warrant and require that before a person can be detained, it’s verified that the person is not a U.S. citizen.

Republicans have said they support the requirement for DHS officers to have body-worn cameras — language that was in the original DHS bill — but have balked at many of the other Democratic asks.

“Taking the masks off ICE officers and agents, the reason we can’t do that is that it would subject them to great harm, their families at great risk because people are doxing them and targeting them,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Monday. “We’ve got to talk about things that are reasonable and achievable.”

Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty said on “Fox News Sunday” that Democrats are ”trying to motivate a radical left base.”

“The left has gone completely overboard, and they’re threatening the safety and security of our agents so they cannot do their job,” Hagerty said.

Consequences of a shutdown

In addition to ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the homeland security bill includes funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration. If DHS shuts down, Thune said last week, “there’s a very good chance we could see more travel problems” similar to the 43-day government closure last year.

Lawmakers in both parties have suggested they could separate out funding for ICE and Border Patrol and pass the rest of it by Friday. But Thune has been cool to that idea, saying instead that Congress should pass another short-term extension for all of DHS while they negotiate the possible new restrictions.

“If there’s additional time that’s needed, then hopefully Democrats would be amenable to another extension,” Thune said.

Many Democrats are unlikely to vote for another extension. But Republicans could potentially win enough votes in both chambers from Democrats if they feel hopeful about negotiations.

“The ball is in the Republicans’ court,” Jeffries said Monday.

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

A 58-year-old West Bloomfield Township man who worked as a nanny is facing multiple sex crime charges involving a child left in his care, and officials believe he may have assaulted other victims not yet identified.

Michael Alan Bank is charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct following an investigation which included analysis of items seized when police searched his home in the 6800 block of Aeroview Street last month.

According to West Bloomfield police, they learned of the case when the Northfield Police Department contacted them on Jan. 8 about criminal sexual assault allegations involving a young child with ties to West Bloomfield Township. The alleged victim’s mother had hired Bank as a nanny through sittercity.com, and it was subsequently alleged that he repeatedly engaged in criminal sexual conduct with the child, who was under 13 years old at the time, police said.

Bank was arrested at his home on Jan. 15. Forensic analysis conducted on several electronic devices taken that day from Bank’s home led to the charges, police said. Detectives have since discovered “a multitude of evidence of children including what appeared to be Michael Bank with some of those children in various compromised positions and acts,” as stated in a news release from the West Bloomfield Police Department.

With the possibility of more victims in the case, anyone who knows of someone who may have been victimized by Bank is asked to call Detective Cherry at 248-975-8981.

Bank is held in the Oakland County Jail, denied bond. His next scheduled court appearance is a preliminary exam on March 3 before 48th District Judge Diane D’Agostini.

Woman sentenced for animal cruelty; 37 dogs and cats rescued from Pontiac home in 2024

By Kyle Stock, Bloomberg News

Despite a barren start to Colorado’s ski season, Winter Park Resort opened on Halloween and served up holiday powder.

The ski area’s secret is a contraption a few miles upwind of the chairlifts that looks like a meat smoker strapped to the top of a ladder. When weather conditions are just right, a Winter Park contractor fires up the machine, burning a fine dust of silver iodide into the sky — a process known as cloud seeding. Ideally, the particles disappear into a cloud that is cold enough and wet enough to produce snow, but may need a nudge. The silver iodide becomes the nuclei for water droplets, like iron filings to a magnet. Those droplets freeze and fall from the sky as snowflakes, freshening up the slopes of the resort as it tries to lure the Gore-Tex-clad masses between Denver and larger, showier ski destinations further west.

Doug Laraby, who has helped run Winter Park for nearly four decades, says the resort leaned heavily on its cloud seeding equipment over the Christmas holiday, sprinkling the skies as fresh powder fell days before the critical New Years weekend. At the moment, Winter Park has more snow than Breckenridge, Keystone and a host of bigger resorts nearby.

“For us,” Laraby explains, “that was a million-dollar storm.”

Resorts are increasingly seeking solutions to freshen up the brown slopes spanning the American West this winter, even as the East Coast grapples with back-to-back storms. Last month, Vail Resorts Inc. — which owns nearly 50 resorts across the U.S. and Canada — said it would miss revenue projections due to subpar snowfall this season. The dramatic lack of precipitation in the Rockies “limited our ability to open terrain” and, in turn, crimped spending by both locals and destination guests, Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz said in a statement.

In a battle to improve — or at least maintain — snowpack in the face of rising temperatures and drought, Winter Park, operated by Vail rival Alterra Mountain Co., is one of a growing number of groups in the American West doubling down on cloud seeding, from state governments and ski hills to utilities and watershed management agencies.

Desperate for water — ideally snow — they’re banking on the strategy to buoy the $6 billion U.S. ski industry, while keeping rivers and reservoirs at healthy levels come spring. Despite the promise, though, companies are still trying to amass data showing the technology can actually deliver appreciable amounts of powder. And scientists studying cloud seeding have cast doubt on just how effective it is.

Katja Friedrich, an atmospheric science professor at the University of Colorado, concedes that cloud seeding works in a lab. “But out there,” she says, gesturing to cirrus clouds sweeping over the Front Range outside of her office, “it’s a totally different business.”

Storms are volatile, complex and unforgiving places to gather data. “The application is so far ahead of what the science actually shows,” Friedrich explains. “Usually, it’s the other way around.”

The idea of cloud seeding dates back to the 19th century, and it got an unexpected boost thanks to research at General Electric in the wake of World War II. DRI, a nonprofit research institute in Nevada, started cloud seeding in the 1960s. Putting particles in clouds to create precipitation gained traction in recent years as waves of drought hit the U.S., tallying $14 billion in damages in 2023 alone.

DRI now runs cloud-seeding operations all over the West, including the program at Winter Park. In 2023, the Winter Park generators burned for the equivalent of five straight days, planting an estimated 24 inches of powder on the slopes that wouldn’t have been there otherwise, according to DRI. That equates to 13% of what would have fallen naturally.

“The main driver [for our clients] is water resources,” says Frank McDonough, a DRI research scientist. But, he notes, “we can help the entire mountain economy.”

Private companies are also playing a growing role, most notably Rainmaker Technology Corp., a startup that is now the lead cloud seeding contractor for Utah, which has built one of the most aggressive programs in the American West. From a warehouse in Salt Lake City, founder Augustus Doricko, a 25-year-old with a resplendent mullet that belies his Connecticut childhood, manages a crew of 120, mostly young people working to make it snow on mountains they might otherwise be climbing or skiing.

When the weather looks right, Rainmaker crews pile into 12 pickups, each loaded with two drones, and convoy up the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains. They send half of the drones whirring into the soup of clouds and spray silver iodide for about an hour. When the machines come down to recharge, the team launches the second wave. The cycle is repeated until the clouds move on or get too warm.

Doricko says his company is creating a fresh supply of water with no ecological impact; silver iodide is inorganic and even if ingested, won’t dissolve in the human body.

This year, the state of Utah will pay Rainmaker $7.5 million, part of a cloud seeding blitz that began three years ago. With the Great Salt Lake at historic low levels, Utah lawmakers approved a tenfold increase in funding, committing at least $5 million a year to operations and another $12 million to upgrade and expand a fleet of almost 200 cloud seeding machines on the ground.

Rainmaker is charged with generating enough snow to help partially refill the lake. The company also has a contract with Snowbird Resort, located to the east of Salt Lake City, and much of its seeding will happen near Powder Mountain and Snowbasin resorts, located further north, although neither ski area is a client.

“Anything we can do to increase water levels is going to be well worth the funding,” says Jonathan Jennings, a meteorologist with the Utah Department of Natural Resources.

The list of stakeholders clamoring for more water in the American West is long, ranging from ski resorts to wildfire fighters, reservoir managers to farmers.

“Every state in the West is either cloud seeding or thinking of cloud seeding,” says Friedrich, the University of Colorado researcher.

It’s also popular, in part, because it’s cheap. Jennings estimates that it costs about $30 to produce 325,000 gallons of water, or what experts call an acre-foot of water. Recycling or desalinating a similar amount would cost somewhere around $1,000. Snowmaking, meanwhile, is more expensive and uses more water than it produces.

When Doricko visits potential customers, be they utilities, ski resorts or state agencies, his sales script is simple: “It’s the only way you can bring new water supply to the Rocky Mountain West.”

More often than not these days, the pitch lands. Idaho has also hired Rainmaker this winter, eager to fill its reservoirs and keep farmers happy. All told, the company has about 100 drones flying across Western skies.

In Colorado, where arid conditions have exacerbated wildfires, officials are curious about the capabilities of Rainmaker’s drones while waiting to see this winter’s snow tallies from Utah. In the meantime, they’re working to replace decades-old, ground-based seeding machines with ones that can be switched on remotely. Without the need of a human to light the burner, the new units can be tucked into more remote places and at higher elevations that are colder for longer, improving the odds for snow.

“We feel comfortable saying we can get an additional eight to 12% of precipitation per storm,” says Andrew Rickert, a weather modification program manager with the Colorado Water Conservation Board. “And if we have a great winter in Colorado, there are 30 to 35 storms we can seed.”

Friedrich isn’t so sure about that estimate, despite being regarded as a bit of a rockstar in the cloud seeding field. In 2017, her research team zig-zagged a plane rigged with seed flares through a cloud in Wyoming that wasn’t producing snow. Sure enough, snow fell in the same pattern as the flight, results that fueled much of the recent seeding boom.

However, Friedrich points out, there wasn’t that much snow. And she notes that much remains unknown, like how wind affects the amount of silver iodide that gets into a cloud, and whether the particles trigger much precipitation beyond what would occur naturally.

“I understand why people are buying it, because they’re so desperate,” she says. “But if you ask me, there’s no scientific proof” that it produces a meaningful amount of water. Friedrich is working on a new study to try to figure out how effective ground-based cloud seeding can be and the best operating conditions.

Cloud seeding has also faced pushback from conspiracy theorists who say it works too well. Despite no evidence, Rainmaker was inaccurately implicated in last summer’s deadly Texas floods, and bills to ban weather modification have been filed in dozens of statehouses across the U.S., including those of Colorado and Utah. Former Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene also introduced a federal cloud-seeding ban in Congress in the wake of last July’s floods.

Doricko, at Rainmaker, has been working to convince lawmakers that cloud seeding does no harm and, on the other front, win over skeptical scientists like Freidrich. Rainmaker spent much of the spring and summer building its own radar system and deploying a layer of on-the-ground weather stations to measure results. It’s also working with independent researchers to provided peer-reviewed validation. As Friedrich did years ago, Rainmaker tries to spray silver-iodide in zig-zag patterns, so its results are more visible on radar — a so-called “seeding signature.”

Doricko acknowledges the challenge of teasing out the exact influence of manmade cloud seeding — which he jokingly refers to as “magic beans” — from natural precipitation. “Our fundamental research on now at Rainmaker is all about what kitchen sink of sensors can we throw at this problem to actually validate” our work, he says.

Vail abandoned its cloud seeding program in 2020, shifting its resources to invest heavily in machines that use water to spray artificial snow. The newest snow guns monitor weather in real time and can be programmed remotely.

“This technology means that Vail can make the most of every moment that conditions allow for snowmaking,” says spokeswoman Michelle Dallal. Still, the resort is feeling the pinch of an abnormally dry winter.

State officials are trying to get Vail back on board. Cloud seeding, they argue, can be cheaper than snowmaking, both in terms of cost and carbon, and it adds water to the ecosystem, rather than taking a share of it away. The state is also trying to get other ski areas to buy in: This year, Colorado positioned a ground system to seed clouds on the slopes of Aspen, in hopes that the resort will help fund future programs.

Meanwhile, Winter Park has emerged as one of the state’s biggest cloud seeding cheerleaders. Laraby says only 10% of the mountain is covered by snowmaking gear, and there are no plans to install more. And yet, when the storms rolled through the state Dec. 28, Winter Park says its cloud-seeding efforts conjured 12 inches of snow, triple what fell on Vail.

“If you ask me, it enhances the efficiency of these storms,” Laraby says. “I think it’s awesome.”

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