By FERNANDA FIGUEROA

Authors, readers and publishing industry experts lament the underrepresentation of Hispanic stories in the mainstream world of books, but have found new ways to elevate the literature and resolve misunderstandings.

“The stories now are more diverse than they were ten years ago,” said Carmen Alvarez, a book influencer on Instagram and TikTok.

Some publishers, independent bookstores and book influencers are pushing past the perception of monolithic experience by making Hispanic stories more visible and discoverable for book lovers.

The rise of online book retailers and limited marketing budgets for stories about people of color have been major hurdles for increasing that representation, despite annual celebrations of Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 in the U.S. There’s been a push for ethnically authentic stories about Latinos, beyond the immigrant experience.

“I feel like we are getting away from the immigration story, the struggle story,” said Alvarez, who is best known as “tomesandtextiles” on bookstagram and booktok, the Instagram and TikTok social media communities. “I feel like my content is to push back against the lack of representation.”

Latinos in the publishing industry

Latinos currently make up roughly 20% of the U.S. population, according to Census data.

However, the National Hispanic Media Coalition estimates Latinos only represent 8% of employees in publishing, according to its Latino Representation in Publishing Coalition created in 2023.

Brenda Castillo, NHMC president and CEO, said the coalition works directly with publishing houses to highlight Latino voices and promote their existing Latino employees.

The publishing houses “are the ones that have the power to make the changes,” Castillo said.

Some Hispanic authors are creating spaces for their work to find interested readers. Award-winning children authors Mayra Cuevas and Alex Villasante co-founded a book festival and storytellers conference in 2024 to showcase writers and illustrators from their communities.

“We were very intentional in creating programming around upleveling craft and professional development,” Cuevas said. “And giving attendees access to the publishing industry, and most importantly, creating a space for community connection and belonging.”

Villasante said the festival and conference allowed them to sustain themselves within the publishing industry, while giving others a road map for success in an industry that isn’t always looking to mass produce their work.

“We are not getting the representation of ourselves,” Villasante said. “I believe that is changing, but it is a slow change so we have to continue to push for that change.”

Breaking into the mainstream

New York Times bestselling author Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a Mexican-Canadian novelist known for the novels “Mexican Gothic” and “The Daughter of Doctor Moreau,” is one of few Hispanic authors that has been able to break to mainstream. But she said it wasn’t easy.

Moreno-Garcia recalled one of her first publisher rejections: The editor complimented the quality of the story but said it would not sell because it was set in Mexico.

“There are systems built within publishing that make it very difficult to achieve the regular distributions that other books naturally have built into them,” Moreno-Garcia said. “There is sometimes resistance to sharing some of these books.”

Cynthia Pelayo, an award-winning author and poet, said the marketing campaign is often the difference maker in terms of a book’s success. Authors of color are often left wanting more promotional support from their publishers, she said.

“I’ve seen exceptional Latino novels that have not received nearly the amount of marketing, publicity that some of their white colleagues have received,” Pelayo said. “What happens in that situation (is) their books get put somewhere else in the bookstore when these white colleagues, their books will get put in the front.”

Hispanic Heritage Month, however, helps bring some attention to Hispanic authors, she added.

Independent bookstores

Independent bookstores remain persistent in elevating Hispanic stories. A 2024 report by the American Booksellers Association found that 60 of the 323 new independent bookstores were owned by people of color. According to Latinx in Publishing, a network of publishing industry professionals, there are 46 Hispanic-owned bookstores in the U.S.

Online book retailer Bookshop.org has highlighted Hispanic books and provided discounts for readers during Hispanic Heritage Month. A representative for the site, Ellington McKenzie, said the site has been able to provide financial support for about 70 Latino bookstores.

“People are always looking to support those minority owned bookstores which we are happy to be the liaison between them,” McKenzie said.

Chawa Magaña, the owner of Palabras Bilingual Bookstore in Phoenix, said she was inspired to open the store because of what she felt was a lack of diversity and representation in the books that are taught in Arizona schools.

“Growing up, I didn’t experience a lot of diversity in literature in schools.” Magaña said. “I wasn’t seeing myself in the stories that I was reading.”

Of the books for sale at Palabras Bilingual, between 30% to 40% of the books are Latino stories, she said.

Magaña said having heard people say they have never seen that much representation in a bookstore has made her cry.

“What has been the most fulfilling to me is able to see how it impacts other people’s lives,” she said. “What motivates me is seeing other people get inspired to do things, seeing people moved when they see the store itself having diverse books.”

By JULIE WATSON

When the corroded pipeline burst in 2015, inky crude spread along the Southern California coast, becoming the state’s worst oil spill in decades.

More than 140,000 gallons (3,300 barrels) of oil gushed out, blackening beaches for 150 miles from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, polluting a biologically rich habitat for endangered whales and sea turtles, killing scores of pelicans, seals and dolphins, and decimating the fishing industry.

Plains All American Pipeline in 2022 agreed to a $230 million settlement with fishers and coastal property owners without admitting liability. Federal inspectors found that the Houston-based company failed to quickly detect the rupture and responded too slowly. It faced an uphill battle to build a new pipeline.

Three decades-old drilling platforms were subsequently shuttered, but another Texas-based fossil fuel company supported by the Trump administration purchased the operation and is intent on pumping oil through the pipeline again.

Sable Offshore Corp., headquartered in Houston, is facing a slew of legal challenges but is determined to restart production, even if that means confining it to federal waters, where state regulators have virtually no say. California controls the 3 miles nearest to shore. The platforms are 5 to 9 miles offshore.

The Trump administration has hailed Sable’s plans as the kind of project the president wants to increase U.S. energy production as the federal government removes regulatory barriers. President Donald Trump has directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to undo his predecessor’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts.

Environmentalist sue to stop the project

“This project risks another environmental disaster in California at a time when demand for oil is going down and the climate crisis is escalating,” said Alex Katz, executive director of Environmental Defense Center, the Santa Barbara group formed in response to a massive spill in 1969.

The environmental organization is among several suing Sable.

“Our concern is that there is no way to make this pipeline safe and that this company has proven that it cannot be trusted to operate safely, responsibly or even legally,” he said.

Actor and activist Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who lives in the area, has implored officials to stop Sable, saying at a March protest: “I can smell a rat. And this project is a rat.”

The California Coastal Commission fined Sable a record $18 million for ignoring cease-and-desist orders over repair work it says was done without permits. Sable said it has permits from the previous owner, Exxon Mobil, and sued the commission while work continued on the pipeline. In June, a state judge ordered it to stop while the case proceeds through the court. The commission and Sable are due back in court Wednesday.

“This fly-by-night oil company has repeatedly abused the public’s trust, racking up millions of dollars in fines and causing environmental damage along the treasured Gaviota Coast,” a state park south of Santa Barbara, said Joshua Smith, the commission’s spokesman.

Sable keeps moving forward

So far, Sable is undeterred.

The California Attorney General’s office sued Sable this month, saying it illegally discharged waste into waterways, and disregarded state law requiring permits before work along the pipeline route that crosses sensitive wildlife habitat.

“Sable placed profits over environmental protection in its rush to get oil on the market,” the agency said in its lawsuit.

Last month, the Santa Barbara District Attorney filed felony criminal charges against Sable, also accusing it of polluting waterways and harming wildlife.

Sable said it has fully cooperated with local and state agencies, including the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and called the district attorney’s allegation “inflammatory and extremely misleading.” It said a biologist and state fire marshal officials oversaw the work, and no wildlife was harmed.

The company is seeking $347 million for the delays, and says if the state blocks it from restarting the onshore pipeline system, it will use a floating facility that would keep its entire operation in federal waters and use tankers to transport the oil to markets outside California. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, the company updated its plan to include the option.

Fulfilling the president’s energy promise

The U.S. Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said in July it was working with Sable to bring a second rig online.

“President Trump made it clear that American energy should come from American resources,” the agency’s deputy director Kenny Stevens said in a statement then, heralding the “comeback story for Pacific production.”

The agency said there are an estimated 190 million barrels (6 billion gallons) of recoverable oil reserves in the area, nearly 80% of residual Pacific reserves. It noted advancements in preventing and preparing for oil spills and said the failed pipeline has been rigorously tested.

“Continuous monitoring and improved technology significantly reduce the risk of a similar incident occurring in the future,” the agency said.

CEO says project could lower gas prices

On May 19 — the 10th anniversary of the disaster — CEO Jim Flores announced that Sable “is proud to have safely and responsibly achieved first production at the Santa Ynez Unit” — which includes three rigs in federal waters, offshore and onshore pipelines, and the Las Flores Canyon Processing Facility.

State officials countered that the company had only conducted testing and not commercial production. Sable’s stock price dropped and some investors sued, alleging they were misled.

Sable purchased the Santa Ynez Unit from Exxon Mobil in 2024 for nearly $650 million primarily with a loan from Exxon. Exxon sold the shuttered operation after losing a court battle in 2023 to truck the crude through central California while the pipeline system was rebuilt or repaired.

Flores said well tests at the Platform Harmony rig indicate there is much oil to be extracted and that it will relieve California’s gas prices — among the nation’s highest — by stabilizing supplies.

“Sable is very concerned about the crumbling energy complex in California,” Flores said in a statement to The Associated Press. “With the exit of two refineries last year and more shuttering soon, California’s economy cannot survive without the strong energy infrastructure it enjoyed for the last 150 years.”

California has been reducing the state’s production of fossil fuels in favor of clean energy for years. The movement has been spearheaded partly by Santa Barbara County, where elected officials voted in May to begin taking steps to phase out onshore oil and gas operations.

Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana contributed to this report.

By MARK KENNEDY, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Broadway is a tense place these days after two major labor unions authorized strike action amid ongoing contract negotiations with producers.

Actors’ Equity Association — which represents over 51,000 members, including singers, actors, dancers and stage managers — and American Federation of Musicians Local 802 — which represents 1,200 musicians — have voted in favor of a strike authorization, a strategic step ahead of any work stoppage. No strike has been called.

Members of both unions are currently working under expired contracts. The musicians’ contract expired on Aug. 31, and the Equity contract expired on Sept. 28.

Both unions want pay increases and higher contributions by producers toward employee health care costs, a key sticking point. Actors Equity also wants producers to hire more backup performers and stage managers, add protections for performers in the event of injury and put limits on how many performances in a row actors can be asked to do without a day off.

The health of Broadway — once very much in doubt due to the COVID-19 pandemic — is now very good, at least in terms of box office. The 2024-2025 season took in $1.9 billion, the highest-grossing season in recorded history, overtaking the pre-pandemic previous high of $1.8 billion during the 2018-2019 season. It has been a long road back from the days when theaters were shuttered and the future looked bleak.

The unions are pointing to the financial health of Broadway to argue that producers can afford to up pay and benefits for musicians and actors. Producers, represented by The Broadway League, counter that the health of Broadway could be endangered by increasing ticket prices.

“On the heels of the most successful season in history, the Broadway League wants the working musicians and artists who fueled that very success to accept wage cuts, threats to healthcare benefits, and potential job losses,” Local 802 President Bob Suttmann said in a statement Tuesday.

A strike would cripple most of Broadway, but some shows might continue. “Beetlejuice” and “Mamma Mia!” arrived as part of tours and so do not have a traditional Broadway contract. And shows playing at nonprofit theaters, such as the musical “Ragtime” at Lincoln Center Theater and the play “Punch” from the Manhattan Theatre Club, have separate labor agreements.

The most recent major strike on Broadway was in late 2007, when a 19-day walkout dimmed the lights on more than two dozen shows and cost producers and the city millions of dollars in lost revenue.

More than 30 members of Congress, including the entire New York delegation, have signed a letter urging all sides to bargain in good faith and avoid a strike.

“A disruption to Broadway will result in significant economic disruption to not just the New York metropolitan area but harm theater workers and patrons across the country and around the world,” the letter states.

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By PATRICK WHITTLE

BOOTHBAY HARBOR, Maine (AP) — Republican lawmakers are targeting one of the U.S.’s longest standing pieces of environmental legislation, credited with helping save rare whales from extinction.

Conservative leaders feel they now have the political will to remove key pieces of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, enacted in 1972 to protect whales, seals, polar bears and other sea animals. The law also places restrictions on commercial fishermen, shippers and other marine industries.

A GOP-led bill in the works has support from fishermen in Maine who say the law makes lobster fishing more difficult, lobbyists for big-money species such as tuna in Hawaii and crab in Alaska, and marine manufacturers who see the law as antiquated.

Conservation groups adamantly oppose the changes and say weakening the law will erase years of hard-won gains for jeopardized species such as the vanishing North Atlantic right whale, of which there are less than 400, and is vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear.

Here’s what to know about the protection act and the proposed changes.

Why does the 1970s law still matter

“The Marine Mammal Protection Act is important because it’s one of our bedrock laws that help us to base conservation measures on the best available science,” said Kathleen Collins, senior marine campaign manager with International Fund for Animal Welfare. “Species on the brink of extinction have been brought back.”

It was enacted the year before the Endangered Species Act, at a time when the movement to save whales from extinction was growing. Scientist Roger Payne had discovered that whales could sing in the late 1960s, and their voices soon appeared on record albums and throughout popular culture.

The law protects all marine mammals, and prohibits capturing or killing them in U.S. waters or by U.S. citizens on the high seas. It allowed for preventative measures to stop commercial fishing ships and other businesses from accidentally harming animals such as whales and seals. The animals can be harmed by entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships and other hazards at sea.

The law also prevents the hunting of marine mammals, including polar bears, with exceptions for Indigenous groups. Some of those animals can be legally hunted in other countries.

Changes to oil and gas operations — and whale safety

Republican Rep. Nick Begich of Alaska, a state with a large fishing industry, submitted a bill draft this summer that would roll back aspects of the law. The bill says the act has “unduly and unnecessarily constrained government, tribes and the regulated community” since its inception.

The proposal states that it would make changes such as lowering population goals for marine mammals from “maximum productivity” to the level needed to “support continued survival.” It would also ease rules on what constitutes harm to marine mammals.

For example, the law currently prevents harassment of sea mammals such as whales, and defines harassment as activities that have “the potential to injure a marine mammal.” The proposed changes would limit the definition to only activities that actually injure the animals. That change could have major implications for industries such as oil and gas exploration where rare whales live.

That poses an existential threat to the Rice’s whale, which numbers only in the dozens and lives in the Gulf of Mexico, conservationists said. And the proposal takes specific aim at the North Atlantic right whale protections with a clause that would delay rules designed to protect that declining whale population until 2035.

Begich and his staff did not return calls for comment on the bill, and his staff declined to provide an update about where it stands in Congress. Begich has said he wants “a bill that protects marine mammals and also works for the people who live and work alongside them, especially in Alaska.”

Fishing groups want restrictions loosened

A coalition of fishing groups from both coasts has come out in support of the proposed changes. Some of the same groups lauded a previous effort by the Trump administration to reduce regulatory burdens on commercial fishing.

The groups said in a July letter to House members that they feel Begich’s changes reflect “a positive and necessary step” for American fisheries’ success.

Restrictions imposed on lobster fishermen of Maine are designed to protect the right whale, but they often provide little protection for the animals while limiting one of America’s signature fisheries, Virginia Olsen, political director of the Maine Lobstering Union, said. The restrictions stipulate where lobstermen can fish and what kinds of gear they can use. The whales are vulnerable to lethal entanglement in heavy fishing rope.

Gathering more accurate data about right whales while revising the original law would help protect the animals, Olsen said.

“We do not want to see marine mammals harmed; we need a healthy, vibrant ocean and a plentiful marine habitat to continue Maine’s heritage fishery,” Olsen said.

Some members of other maritime industries have also called on Congress to update the law. The National Marine Manufacturers Association said in a statement that the rules have not kept pace with advancements in the marine industry, making innovation in the business difficult.

Environmentalists fight back

Numerous environmental groups have vowed to fight to save the protection act. They characterized the proposed changes as part of the Trump administration’s assault on environmental protections.

The act was instrumental in protecting the humpback whale, one of the species most beloved by whale watchers, said Gib Brogan, senior campaign director with Oceana. Along with other sea mammals, humpbacks would be in jeopardy without it, he said.

“The Marine Mammal Protection Act is flexible. It works. It’s effective. We don’t need to overhaul this law at this point,” Brogan said.

What does this mean for seafood imports

The original law makes it illegal to import marine mammal products without a permit, and allows the U.S. to impose import prohibitions on seafood products from foreign fisheries that don’t meet U.S. standards.

The import embargoes are a major sticking point because they punish American businesses, said Gavin Gibbons, chief strategy officer of the National Fisheries Institute, a Virginia-based seafood industry trade group. It’s critical to source seafood globally to be able to meet American demand for seafood, he said.

The National Fisheries Institute and a coalition of industry groups sued the federal government Thursday over what they described as unlawful implementation of the protection act. Gibbons said the groups don’t oppose the act, but want to see it responsibly implemented.

“Our fisheries are well regulated and appropriately fished to their maximum sustainable yield,” Gibbons said. “The men and women who work our waters are iconic and responsible. They can’t be expected to just fish more here to make up a deficit while jeopardizing the sustainability they’ve worked so hard to maintain.”

Some environmental groups said the Republican lawmakers’ proposed changes could weaken American seafood competitiveness by allowing imports from poorly regulated foreign fisheries.

This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By ALI SWENSON and JONEL ALECCIA

NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of federal employees working on mental health services, disease outbreaks and disaster preparedness were among those hit by the Trump administration’s mass firings over the weekend, current and laid-off workers said Monday, as the administration aimed to pressure Democratic lawmakers to give in and end the nearly two-week-long government shutdown.

The government-wide reduction-in-force initiative that began Friday roiled the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services just six months after it went through an earlier round of cuts and as many staffers already were disconnected from work because of the shutdown.

The situation turned even more chaotic over the weekend, when more than half of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees who’d gotten layoff notices learned they received them in error and were still employed with the agency.

HHS, through its agencies, is responsible for tracking health trends and disease outbreaks, conducting and funding medical research, and monitoring the safety of food and medicine, as well as for administering health insurance programs for nearly half the country. Among the HHS agencies facing staff cuts were the CDC, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, or ASPR, according to current and laid-off employees who spoke with The Associated Press.

Former staffers and health professionals said they were concerned the layoffs could have negative health impacts and make it difficult for HHS agencies to fulfill their obligations set by Congress.

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the laid off employees were deemed nonessential. He added the agency is working to “close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.”

Nixon declined to share which HHS agencies saw layoffs or how many HHS employees were affected. However, a Friday court filing from the Trump administration gave an estimate, saying about 1,100 to 1,200 of the nearly 80,000 staffers at HHS were receiving dismissal notices.

CDC is hit with layoffs — and reversals

About 600 workers at the CDC remained fired Monday in conjunction with the federal government shutdown after hundreds more had originally been targeted, according to the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2883, which represents CDC employees in Atlanta.

Of more than 1,300 CDC employees who received reduction-in-force notices Friday, about 700 later received emails revoking their terminations, the union said.

The AFGE Local 2883 called the action a “politically-motivated stunt” to illegally fire agency workers.

“These reckless actions are disrupting and destroying the lives of everyday working people, who are constantly being used as bargaining chips,” AFGE President Yolanda Jacobs said in a statement Monday.

A federal health official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media said the incorrect RIF notices resulted from a glitch in the system.

Among those targeted for dismissal and then reinstated were the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, the “disease detectives” who are deployed to respond to outbreaks that threaten public health, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, former principal deputy director of the CDC, who said she was in touch with EIS officers in that situation.

“These are people who go into really scary places,” Schuchat said. “Usually you think it’s nature that’s going to be giving you a hard time, the viruses, not the government.”

Mental health services cut in sweeping dismissals at agency

SAMHSA, an agency within HHS devoted to addressing mental illness and addiction, also saw cuts, according to two employees of the agency with knowledge of the layoffs who weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

While the full scope of the firings wasn’t clear, some of the departments affected included the agency’s Office of Communications and the Center for Mental Health Services, where dozens were let go from multiple areas, according to one of the employees.

Within CMHS, one of two branches that oversaw millions of dollars in grants for community health clinics was mostly terminated, the employees said.

Dakota Jablon, a public health analyst and former employee of SAMHSA, said the loss of more staff at SAMHSA, primarily a grantmaking agency, would have “devastating ripple effects across the behavioral health field.”

“Even if the grants continue, the loss of experienced staff means those who remain will be stretched far too thin, often outside their areas of expertise,” she said.

Dr. Eric Rafla-Yuan, a psychiatrist and the chair of the Committee to Protect Public Mental Health, said staff cuts at SAMHSA could put state safety nets for people with mental illness at risk, because the agency provides significant funding and support to state programs.

Latest layoffs build on earlier cuts as HHS looks to restructure

The mass layoffs come six months after thousands of researchers, scientists, doctors, support staff and senior leaders were either laid off from HHS or took early retirement or volunteer separation offers.

The department’s staff was listed at just under 80,000 employees in a contingency plan before the government shutdown began, down more than 2,000 from its staffing level earlier in the year.

The cuts are part of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sweeping effort to remake the department by consolidating agencies that oversee billions of dollars for addiction services and community health centers under a new office called the Administration for a Healthy America. The plan has been delayed amid ongoing legislation and congressional pushback.

Aleccia reported from Southern California. AP medical writer Mike Stobbe contributed to this report.

CHICAGO (AP) — Latino leaders expressed dismay Saturday over recent immigration enforcement operations in Chicago that resulted in a fatal shooting during a traffic stop, the arrest of an immigrant at a barbershop and a tense standoff between protesters and agents at an immigration processing facility.

An Immigration, Customs and Enforcement officer fatally shot a man who tried to evade arrest Friday by driving his car at officers and dragging one of them, officials said. The man, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

On the same day, Willian Gimenez was pulled over while driving in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood and detained by ICE agents. Kevin Herrera, Gimenez’s attorney, said he believes it was retaliation for his involvement in a lawsuit against Chicago leaders, Home Depot and an off-duty police officer for their actions toward immigrant workers.

Herrera said Gimenez has a work permit and is going through the process of pursuing an asylum claim.

In a statement Saturday, immigration authorities said Gimenez was arrested for being in the country illegally.

“No one is above the law. Gimenez Gonzalez is an illegal alien with charges for criminal trespassing and a history of not showing up to court, including when he failed to appear in immigration court in April of last year, after which an immigration judge ordered him removed from the country,” the statement said.

During a morning news conference outside an ICE facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Rep. Chuy Garcia, a Democrat, said the incidents are troubling.

“These incidents make us all ask, if ICE can kill one of our neighbors in broad daylight … if they can arrest someone for joining a lawsuit or simply for being Latino, what’s to stop them from getting any one of us?” Garcia said.

A planned 12-hour protest Friday outside the facility included several clashes between participants and officers wearing face coverings, helmets and later gas masks. The facility has seen regular demonstrations in response to increased immigration enforcement.

Rep. Delia Ramirez, also a Democrat, said she will demand a thorough investigation of the traffic stop that led to Villegas-Gonzalez’s fatal shooting and called for community unity.

The Department of Homeland Security’s campaign, labeled “ Operation Midway Blitz,” targets so-called sanctuary laws in the state.

“This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets,” DHS said in a statement.

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Trump administration’s immigration operations in Chicago.

The recent incidents have also raised fears in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods about celebrations for Mexican Independence Day on Sept. 16.

By DAVID BAUDER

News organizations including The New York Times, The Associated Press and the conservative Newsmax television network said Monday they will not sign a Defense Department document about its new press rules, making it likely the Trump administration will evict their reporters from the Pentagon.

Those outlets say the policy threatens to punish them for routine news gathering protected by the First Amendment. The Washington Post and The Atlantic on Monday also publicly joined the group that says it will not be signing.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reacted by posting the Times’ statement on X and adding a hand-waving emoji. His team has said that reporters who don’t acknowledge the policy in writing by Tuesday must turn in badges admitting them to the Pentagon and clear out their workspaces the next day.

The new rules bar journalist access to large swaths of the Pentagon without an escort and say Hegseth can revoke press access to reporters who ask anyone in the Defense Department for information — classified or otherwise — that he has not approved for release.

Newsmax, whose on-air journalists are generally supportive of President Donald Trump’s administration, said that “we believe the requirements are unnecessary and onerous and hope that the Pentagon will review the matter further.”

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the rules establish “common sense media procedures.”

“The policy does not ask for them to agree, just to acknowledge that they understand what our policy is,” Parnell said. “This has caused reporters to have a full blown meltdown, crying victim online. We stand by our policy because it’s what’s best for our troops and the national security of this country.”

Hegseth also reposted a question from a follower who asked, “Is this because they can’t roam the Pentagon freely? Do they believe they deserve unrestricted access to a highly classified military installation under the First Amendment?”

Hegseth answered, “yes.” Reporters say neither of those assertions is true.

Pentagon reporters say signing the statement amounts to admitting that reporting any information that hasn’t been government-approved is harming national security. “That’s simply not true,” said David Schulz, director of Yale University’s Media Freedom & Information Access Clinic.

Journalists have said they’ve long worn badges and don’t access classified areas, nor do they report information that risks putting any Americans in harm’s way.

“The Pentagon certainly has the right to make its own policies, within the constraints of the law,” the Pentagon Press Association said in a statement on Monday. “There is no need or justification, however, for it to require reporters to affirm their understanding of vague, likely unconstitutional policies as a precondition to reporting from Pentagon facilities.”

Noting that taxpayers pay nearly $1 trillion annually to the U.S. military, Times Washington bureau chief Richard Stevenson said “the public has a right to know how the government and military are operating.”

Trump has applied pressure on news organizations in several ways, with ABC News and CBS News settling lawsuits related to their coverage. Trump has also filed lawsuits against The New York Times and Wall Street Journal and moved to choke off funding for government-run services like the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

David Bauder writes about the media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social

NEW YORK (AP) — Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch was suspended for one game without pay by the NFL on Monday for unsportsmanlike conduct following a loss at Kansas City.

Branch punched Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster on Sunday night, setting off a postgame melee.

“Your aggressive, non-football act was entirely unwarranted, posed a serious risk of injury, and clearly violated the standards of conduct and sportsmanship expected of NFL players,” Jon Runyan, league vice president of football operations, wrote in a letter to Branch. “Your conduct reflected poorly on the NFL and has no place in our game.”

Detroit (4-2) will host NFC South-leading Tampa Bay (5-1) without Branch, another blow for a team with a banged-up secondary.

Branch will be eligible to return to the active roster on Tuesday, Oct. 21, during the team’s bye week ahead of its home game against NFC North rival Minnesota on Nov. 2.

After Kansas City beat Detroit 30-17, quarterback Patrick Mahomes extended his hand toward Branch and the third-year pro walked past the superstar. Smith-Schuster then walked toward Branch. They exchanged a few words and Branch responded by throwing a right hook that knocked Smith-Schuster to the ground.

Smith-Schuster leapt to his feet and went after Branch. Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco tried to get between them, but Branch ripped Smith-Schuster’s helmet off as a slew of players converged on the scrum.

Smith-Schuster came away with a bloody nose.

“I did a little childish thing, but I’m tired of people doing stuff in between the play and refs don’t catch it,” Branch said after the game. “They be trying to bully me out there and I don’t — I shouldn’t have did it. It was childish.”

Branch was fined $23,186 for facemask and unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties against Green Bay last month.

“I love Brian Branch, but what he did is inexcusable, and it’s not going to be accepted here,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said Sunday night. “It’s not what we do. It’s not what we’re about. I apologized to coach (Andy) Reid and the Chiefs, and Smith-Schuster. That’s not OK. That’s not what we do here. It’s not going to be OK. He knows it. Our team knows it. That’s not what we do.”

Detroit drafted Branch out of Alabama in the second round in 2023 and he has been one of the franchise’s top players during its recent run of success. He was a Pro Bowl player last season after finishing fifth in voting for AP Defensive Rookie of the Year.

By JEANNE KUANG/CalMatters

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday signed a bill allowing a broad range of relatives to step in as children’s caregivers if their parents are deported, a measure that had provoked a firestorm of conservative criticism.

Assembly Bill 495 will also bar daycare providers from collecting immigration information about a child or their parents, and allow parents to nominate a temporary legal guardian for their child in family court.

“We are putting on record that we stand by our families and their right to keep their private information safe, maintain parental rights and help families prepare in case of emergencies,” Newsom said in a press release.

It was one of several measures the Democratic-dominated Legislature pushed this year in response to the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation crackdown in Los Angeles and across California. Newsom, a Democrat, signed several of those other bills — banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from wearing masks in the state and requiring schools and hospitals to require warrants when officers show up — in a ceremony in L.A. last month.

He left AB 495 undecided for weeks, prompting a flurry of advocacy by immigrants’ rights groups to secure Newsom’s signature in the face of intense pushback from conservative activists. The governor announced his decision the day before his deadline to sign or veto the over 800 bills lawmakers sent to his desk last month.

The most controversial aspect of the bill concerns an obscure, decades-old form called a caregiver’s authorization affidavit. Relatives of a child whose parents are temporarily unavailable, and with whom the child is living, can attest to being the child’s caregiver; the designation allows the adult to enroll the child in school, take them to the doctor and consent to medical and dental care.

The new law will broaden who is allowed to sign the caregiver affidavit, from more traditional definitions of relatives to any adult in the family who is “related to the child by blood, adoption, or affinity within the fifth degree of kinship,” which includes people like great aunts or cousins. Parents can cancel the caregiver designation, which is intended to be a temporary arrangement and does not give that person custody.

Proponents said parents at risk of deportation should get to choose someone trusted to care for their children if ICE detains them. Expanding who is eligible for the caregiver form, they said, gives immigrant parents more options because they may not have close relatives in the country but benefit from strong ties with extended family or informal community networks.

The legislation was backed by immigrants’ rights groups and children’s advocates such as the Alliance for Children’s Rights and First 5 California.

“I introduced this bill so children do not have to wonder what will happen to them if their parents are not able to pick them up from school,” bill author Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez, an Arleta Democrat, said at a recent press conference.

Critics claim strangers could get custody

But Republicans, the religious right and parental rights’ activists argued the bill would instead endanger children.

They claimed it would allow strangers to sign the affidavit and claim the child into their care. Hundreds of opponents showed up at the Capitol by busload to rally against the legislation, organized by Pastor Jack Hibbs of the Calvary Chapel Chino Hills megachurch, who called it “the most dangerous bill we’ve seen” in Sacramento. Some of the blowback stemmed from false claims that the bill would allow strangers to get custody of children to whom they’re not related.

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, a San Diego Republican, called the legislation “a human trafficker’s dream.”

In an email, Greg Burton, vice president of the California Family Council, took issue with the fact that parents might not be there when the affidavit form is signed.

“What are parental rights?” he wrote. “These rights are nothing if someone else can claim them by simply signing a form.”

Over the summer Rodriguez narrowed the legislation to exclude “nonrelative extended family members” but it was not enough to quell the controversy. The legislation passed along party lines.

In comparison to a fairly progressive Legislature, the governor has often positioned himself as a moderating force on child custody and protection issues, which regularly galvanize conservative activists and put California Democrats on the defensive. In 2023 he vetoed a bill that would have required family court judges to consider a parent’s support of a child’s gender transition in custody disputes.

At a press conference last week where activists urged Newsom to sign the bill, Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrants’ Rights Los Angeles, asked the governor “to not listen to the lies, to not listen to all the other stuff that’s being said about this bill.”

Newsom, announcing his decision, quietly acknowledged the controversy in a press release. He included statements he said were “correcting the record” on mischaracterizations and said the new law does not change the fact that parental rights and legal guardianships must be decided by family court judges.

This story was originally published by CalMatters and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

TORONTO (AP) — Mason Appleton scored the winner with 44.1 seconds left in regulation and Cam Talbot made 38 saves as the Detroit Red Wings survived a blown two-goal lead in the third period to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Monday.

Dylan Larkin and James van Riemsdyk had the other goals for Detroit, which picked up back-to-back victories over last season’s Atlantic Division champion.

Matthew Knies, with a goal and an assist, and Calle Jarnkrok replied for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz stopped 12 shots.

Detroit opened the scoring late in a sloppy first period when Larkin dug the puck out of a crowd and roofed a backhand on Stolarz just as a 5-on-3 power play expired. Van Riemsdyk then made it 2-0 early in the third on a partial breakaway, but Knies and Jarnkrok got Toronto back even before Appleton’s late heroics.

Fans at Scotiabank Arena were encouraged to stick around after the final buzzer to watch Game 2 of the American League Championship Series — happening just down the street at Rogers Centre — between the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners on the videoboard above center ice.

Easton Cowan, selected 28th overall at the 2023 draft, made his NHL debut. He is viewed as the Leafs’ top prospect.

Up next

Red Wings: Host the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.

Maple Leafs: Host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.

Sandy Alomar Sr., an All-Star infielder during his playing days in the 1960s and ’70s who went on to coach in the majors and manage in his native Puerto Rico, has died. He was 81.

A spokesperson for the Cleveland Guardians said Monday that the team was informed by Alomar’s family about his death. Sandy Alomar Jr., who along with Hall of Fame brother Roberto played for their father in winter ball and in the minors, is on the Guardians’ staff.

“Our thoughts are with the Alomar family today as the baseball community mourns his passing,” the Guardians said on social media.

Alomar broke into the big leagues in 1964 with the Milwaukee Braves, one of six teams he played for. He also spent time with the New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, California Angels, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers before calling it a career in 1978.

Known more for his speed and fielding than his hitting, Alomar batted .245 with 13 home runs and 282 RBIs in 1,481 regular-season games.

He was named an All-Star in 1970. He stole 227 bases, including a career-high 39 in 1971, when he led the American League with 689 at-bats and 739 plate appearances, and took part in one playoff series with the Yankees in ’76.

Alomar went into coaching in San Diego’s system in the ‘80s and was the Padres third-base coach from 1986-90. He coached for the Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies and the Mets in the 2000s.

By GARY ROBERTSON, Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican legislative leaders announced plans Monday to vote next week on redrawing the state’s U.S. House district map, taking up President Donald Trump’s call to secure more GOP seats nationwide and resist rival moves by Democrats.

The push to retool already right-leaning boundaries for the ninth-largest state comes amid a major party battle spanning several states to revamp district lines to partisan advantage ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

North Carolina Republicans created a map in 2023 that resulted in GOP candidates winning 10 of the state’s 14 U.S. House seats in 2024. That compared to a 7-7 seat split between Democrats and the GOP under the map used in 2022.

Now only one of the House districts –- the 1st District currently represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis –- is considered a true swing district and could be targeted by the GOP for an 11th seat. Davis won a second term last year by less than 2 percentage points, so shifting slightly portions of the district covering more than 20 northeastern counties could help a Republican candidate in a strong GOP year. But it could weaken districts held by GOP incumbents.

The state’s top Republican legislators said their planned action follows Trump’s “call urging legislatures across the country to take action to nullify Democrat redistricting efforts.” Davis wasn’t mentioned by name in their news release.

Trump “earned a clear mandate from the voters of North Carolina and the rest of the country, and we intend to defend it by drawing an additional Republican Congressional seat,” House Speaker Destin Hall said in the release. Trump has won North Carolina’s electoral votes all three times that he’s been on the presidential ballot.

But state House Democratic leader Robert Reives said Monday his GOP colleagues “are stealing a congressional district in order to shield themselves from accountability at the ballot box.”

Redistricting fight started in Texas, then spread

Trump kickstarted the national redistricting battle over the summer by urging Republican-led Texas to reshape its U.S. House districts so the GOP could win more seats next year. After overcoming a Democratic walkout, Texas lawmakers redrew the districts to give Republicans a shot at five more seats.

California Democrats reciprocated by passing their own redistricting plan aimed at helping their party win five additional seats, a plan needing voter approval in November to be implemented.

And lawmakers in Republican-led Missouri have approved revised U.S. House districts intended to help Republicans pick up an additional seat there. Other states also are considering redistricting, including Republican-led Indiana and Kansas.

Some North Carolina GOP lawmakers focused complaints Monday on California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who advanced his state’s redistricting effort.

“Picking up where Texas left off, we will hold votes in our October session to redraw North Carolina’s congressional map to ensure Gavin Newsom doesn’t decide the congressional majority,” Senate leader Phil Berger said.

Responding on X, Newsom called Berger “another lap dog Republican” and accused the GOP of “rigging elections and trying to cover it up with lies.”

Democratic governor lacks veto power on district lines

North Carolina lawmakers already had planned for a multiday session starting Oct. 20. Republicans hold majorities in both General Assembly chambers and redistricting plans aren’t subject to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s veto stamp. Candidate filing for 2026 is supposed to begin Dec. 1.

Addressing voters, Stein said in a statement that “shameless politicians are abusing their power to take away yours” with a redraw.

An intensely competitive midterm election looms in which Democrats need to gain just three seats to take control of the House. The president’s party historically has lost seats in midterm elections, something Trump is trying to avoid. A Democratic takeover could impede Trump’s agenda and lead to investigations of his actions, as occurred during his first term in office.

Litigation could alter, derail some map changes

If and how North Carolina legislators create a more favorable redraw may depend on pending litigation filed by the state NAACP, Common Cause and voters challenging several current congressional districts, including the one represented by Davis, one of three Black representatives from North Carolina. The plaintiffs accuse Republican lawmakers of racially discriminating against Black voters by splitting or packing their voting blocs to help GOP candidates win. The trial ended in July without an immediate ruling.

U.S. House districts typically are redrawn once a decade, after a census. But some states have no prohibition on doing it more frequently. And the U.S. Supreme Court has said there is no federal prohibition on political gerrymandering, in which districts are intentionally drawn to favor one party.

Opponents have filed lawsuits alleging Texas’ latest redistricting unconstitutionally dilutes the votes of minority residents and that Missouri’s mid-decade redistricting isn’t allowed under the state constitution. Meanwhile, Utah’s Republican-led Legislature recently endorsed an altered congressional map — though in response to a court order, not Trump’s demands.

This story has been corrected to show North Carolina’s 1st District covers more than 20 counties, not less than 20.

Associated Press writers David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri and Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan contributed to this report.

Purdue is No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll for the first time. Michigan isn't far behind them at No. 7, with MSU being ranked at No. 22 in the season's first poll.

The Boilermakers earned 35 of 61 first-place votes to top Mondays poll to begin the 2025-26 season. That put Matt Painters squad ahead of the two teams that played in last years NCAA title game, with runner-up Houston at No. 2 and reigning champion Florida at No. 3.

We are obviously excited to get the season going and being ranked No. 1 in the preseason is a great indicator of what we feel this team can accomplish," Painter said. "But the goal is to be No. 1 at the end of the year. Were thrilled that people think this highly of our team, but there is a long ways to go and a lot of work to do to reach that goal in April.

Purdue started a year ranked as high as No. 2 once before, in 1987-88 under Gene Keady.

Its another milestone for Painter, the former Keady player who has built his own successful program that is still looking for its NCAA title breakthrough as he enters his 21st season. Purdue had never been ranked No. 1 in any AP poll before the 2021-22 season, which marked the first of three straight seasons in which the Boilermakers have reached the top. The last was during the 2023-24 season behind two-time AP national player of the year Zach Edey in a run all the way to the national title game.

The Boilermakers reached last years Sweet 16 before falling to Houston on a last-second basket, but return a first-team AP All-American in point guard Braden Smith, scoring leader Trey Kaufman-Renn (20.1) and veteran guard Fletcher Loyer.

The top tier

Kelvin Sampsons Cougars earned 16 first-place votes to match the programs best-ever preseason AP ranking after last year's finals run. The other No. 2 appearance was by the 1967-68 team led by Elvin Hayes.

Todd Golden's Gators earned eight first-place votes to start this year with their highest preseason ranking since the last time they entered a year as reigning champions in 2006-07, the start of a run to a second straight title.

UConn was next at No. 4 and earned the remaining two first-place votes. St. John's was fifth, with Rick Pitino's Red Storm surpassing the program's previous best ranking in a preseason AP poll (No. 7 in 1984-85).

Duke was next at No. 6, followed by Michigan, BYU which landed the nation's No. 1 recruit in A.J. Dybantsa Kentucky and Texas Tech to round out the top 10.

Quick transitions

It hasn't taken long for Pat Kelsey to get Louisville back among the national elite, with the Cardinals checking in at No. 11 after a 27-win season to start his tenure. The Cardinals were 12-52 in the two seasons before his arrival.

Louisville is one of five programs with a second-year coach in the preseason poll, joining Michigan, BYU, Kentucky and No. 14 Arkansas with John Calipari.

Jayhawks lower

Kansas checked in at No. 19, the lowest preseason rank for Bill Self's Jayhawks since starting at No. 24 in the 2008-09 season as the reigning national champion. Kansas had been ranked outside the top 10 only once since that year (No. 13 in 2011-12) while starting at No. 1 in 2019-20 as well as each of the last two seasons in that stretch.

Pearl's debut

Auburn opens at No. 20 as it enters its first season since the unexpected retirement of coach Bruce Pearl following last year's Final Four run.

Pearl stepped aside last month after 11 seasons, triggering a transition to his 38-year-old son Steven, who climbed his father's staff through the elder Pearl's Auburn tenure but has never been a head coach nor coached elsewhere in college.

Conference watch

The Southeastern Conference, Big Ten and Big 12 each had six ranked teams to make up 72% of the field. The Atlantic Coast Conference and Big East were next with three each, while the West Coast Conference had one with No. 21 Gonzaga. The Big 12 was the only league of that group to have three top-10 teams.

Watch list

Will Wade's arrival at N.C. State and subsequent roster shakeup has the Wolfpack as the first team outside the poll, sitting just three points behind 25th-ranked rival North Carolina from the ACC. Oregon is lurking close behind entering its 16th year under Dana Altman.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and CHRIS MEGERIAN, Associated Press

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — President Donald Trump arrived in Egypt on Monday for a global summit on Gaza’s future as he tries to advance peace in the Middle East after visiting Israel to celebrate a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Hamas.

The whirlwind trip, which included a speech at the Knesset in Jerusalem earlier in the day, comes at a fragile moment of hope for ending two years of war between Israel and Hamas.

More than two dozen countries are expected to be represented at the summit, which Trump is hosting along with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited but declined, with his office saying it was too close to a Jewish holiday.

Despite unanswered questions about next steps in Gaza, which has been devastated during the conflict, Trump is determined to seize an opportunity to chase an elusive regional harmony.

“You’ve won,” he told Israeli lawmakers at the Knesset, which welcomed him as a hero. “Now it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”

Trump promised to help rebuild Gaza, and he urged Palestinians to “turn forever from the path of terror and violence.”

“After tremendous pain and death and hardship,” he said, “now is the time to concentrate on building their people up instead of trying to tear Israel down.”

Trump even made a gesture to Iran, where he bombed three nuclear sites during the country’s brief war with Israel earlier this year, by saying “the hand of friendship and cooperation is always open.”

Trump is on a whirlwind trip to Middle East

Trump arrived in Egypt hours late because speeches at the Knesset continued longer than expected.

“They might not be there by the time I get there, but we’ll give it a shot,” Trump joked after needling Israeli leaders for talking so much.

Twenty hostages were released Monday as part of an agreement intended to end the war that began on Oct. 7, 2023, with a terrorist attack by Hamas. Trump talked with some of their families at the Knesset.

“Your name will be remembered to generations,” a woman told him.

Israeli lawmakers chanted Trump’s name and gave him standing ovation after standing ovation. Some people in the audience wore red hats that resembled his “Make America Great Again” caps, although these versions said “Trump, The Peace President.”

Netanyahu hailed Trump as “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” and he promised to work with him going forward.

“Mr. President, you are committed to this peace. I am committed to this peace,” he said. “And together, Mr. President, we will achieve this peace.”

Trump, in an unexpected detour during his speech, called on the Israeli president to pardon Netanyahu, whom he described as “one of the greatest” wartime leaders. Netanyahu faces corruption charges, although several hearings have been postponed during the conflict with Hamas.

The Republican president also used the opportunity to settle political scores and thank his supporters, criticizing Democratic predecessors and praising a top donor, Miriam Adelson, in the audience.

Trump pushes to reshape the region

The moment remains fragile, with Israel and Hamas still in the early stages of implementing the first phase of Trump’s plan.

The first phase of the ceasefire agreement calls for the release of the final hostages held by Hamas; the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel; a surge of humanitarian aid to Gaza; and a partial pullback by Israeli forces from Gaza’s main cities.

Trump has said there’s a window to reshape the region and reset long-fraught relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

“The war is over, OK?” Trump told reporters traveling with him aboard Air Force One.

“I think people are tired of it,” he said, emphasizing that he believed the ceasefire would hold because of that.

He said the chance of peace was enabled by his Republican administration’s support of Israel’s decimation of Iranian proxies, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The White House said momentum is also building because Arab and Muslim states are demonstrating a renewed focus on resolving the broader, decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, in some cases, deepening relations with the United States.

In February, Trump had predicted that Gaza could be redeveloped into what he called “the Riviera of the Middle East.” But on Sunday aboard Air Force One, he was more circumspect.

“I don’t know about the Riviera for a while,” Trump said. “It’s blasted. This is like a demolition site.” But he said he hoped to one day visit the territory. “I’d like to put my feet on it, at least,” he said.

The sides have not agreed on Gaza’s postwar governance, the territory’s reconstruction and Israel’s demand that Hamas disarm. Negotiations over those issues could break down, and Israel has hinted it may resume military operations if its demands are not met.

Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, and the territory’s roughly 2 million residents continue to struggle in desperate conditions. Under the deal, Israel agreed to reopen five border crossings, which will help ease the flow of food and other supplies into Gaza, parts of which are experiencing famine.

Roughly 200 U.S. troops will help support and monitor the ceasefire deal as part of a team that includes partner nations, nongovernmental organizations and private-sector players.

Megerian reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

By FAY ABULGASIM and SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — The U.S. and Egyptian presidents are chairing a gathering of world leaders dubbed “Summit for Peace” on Monday to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal.

Israel and Hamas have no direct contacts and were not expected to attend Monday’s summit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not travel to the venue because of a Jewish holiday, his office said. President Donald Trump headed to Egypt after a stop in Israel.

Israel has rejected any role in Gaza for the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, whose leader, Mahmoud Abbas, arrived in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday afternoon, ahead of the gathering.

The summit comes as Hamas released 20 remaining living Israeli hostages and Israel started to free hundreds of Palestinians from its prisons, crucial steps under the ceasefire that began on Friday.

But major questions remain unanswered over what happens next, raising the risk of a slide back into war — even as the world pushes for peace.

A new page

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s office said the summit aims to “end the war” in Gaza and “usher in a new page of peace and regional stability” in line with Trump’s vision.

In Israel, Trump urged the country’s lawmakers to work toward peace. To the Palestinians, he said it was time to concentrate on building.

Israel and Hamas came under pressure from the United States, Arab countries and Turkey to agree on the ceasefire’s first phase negotiated in Qatar, through mediators.

Ahead of the gathering, Egypt’s foreign minister said it was also crucial that Israel and Hamas fully implement the first phase of the deal so that the parties, with international backing, can begin negotiations on the second phase.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the success of Trump’s vision for Mideast peace will depend on his continued commitment to the process, including applying pressure on the parties, engagement and “even deployment on the ground,” with international forces expected to carry out peacekeeping duties in the next phase.

“We need American engagement, even deployment on the ground, to identify the mission, task and mandate of this force,” Abdelatty told The Associated Press.

Directly tackling the remaining issues in depth is unlikely at the gathering, expected to last about two hours. El-Sissi and Trump are expected to issue a joint statement after it ends.

Under the first phase, Israeli troops pulled back from some parts of Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to return home from areas they were forced to evacuate. Aid groups are preparing to bring in large quantities of aid kept out of the territory for months.

Critical challenges ahead

The next phase of the deal will have to tackle disarming Hamas, creating a post-war government for Gaza and the extent of Israel’s withdrawal from the territory. Trump’s plan also stipulates that regional and international partners will work to develop the core of a new Palestinian security force.

Abdelatty said the international force needs a U.N. Security Council resolution to endorse its deployment and mandate as a peacekeeping force.

He said Hamas will have no role in the transitional period in Gaza. A 15-member committee of Palestinian technocrats, with no affiliation to any Palestinian factions and vetted by Israel, will govern day to day affairs in Gaza. The committee would receive support and supervision from the “Board of Peace” proposed by Trump to oversee the implementation of the phases of his plan, Abdelatty said.

“We are counting on Trump to keep the implementation of this plan for all its phases,” he told AP.

Another major issue is raising funds for rebuilding Gaza. The World Bank, and Egypt’s postwar plan, estimate reconstruction and recovery needs in Gaza at $53 billion. Egypt plans to host a future reconstruction conference.

A state function

The summit in Egypt is likely to see world leaders praise Trump’s push for the ceasefire. For his part, el-Sissi is almost certainly relieved that plans to depopulate the Gaza Strip have been ditched.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani are attending. Turkey, which hosted Hamas political leaders for years, played a key role in bringing about the ceasefire agreement.

King Abdullah of Jordan is in Sharm el-Sheikh. His country, alongside Egypt, will train the new Palestinian security force.

Germany, one of Israel’s strongest international backers and top suppliers of military equipment, plans to be represented by Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He has expressed concern over Israel’s conduct of the war and its plan for a military takeover of Gaza.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who also is attending, has he said will pledge 27 million dollars to help provide water and sanitation for Gaza and that Britain will host a three-day conference on Gaza’s reconstruction and recovery. Speaking in Egypt, Starmer said Britain was ready to “play its full part” in ensuring that the current ceasefire results in a lasting peace.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, European Union President António Costa and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also are attending.

Iran, a main backer of Hamas, is not attending the summit in Egypt as the Islamic Republic finds itself at one of its weakest moments since its 1979 revolution. Iranian officials have portrayed the ceasefire deal as a victory for Hamas.

The deal, however, has underlined Iran’s waning influence in the region and revived concerns over possible renewed conflict with Israel as Iran still struggles to recover from the 12-day war in June.

The venue

Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula, has been host to many peace negotiations in the past decades.

The town was briefly occupied by Israel for a year in 1956. After Israel withdrew, a United Nations peacekeeping force was stationed there until 1967, when Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the peacekeepers to leave, a move that precipitated the Six-Day War that year.

Sharm el-Sheikh and the rest of the Sinai Peninsula were returned to Egypt in 1982, following a 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Though now more known for luxury beach resorts, dive sites and desert tours, Sharm el-Sheikh has also hosted many peace summits and rounds of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians under President Hosni Mubarak, ousted in 2011, as well as other international conferences.

Monday’s gathering is the first peace summit under el-Sissi.

El Deeb contributed from Cairo.

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican attack on a core provision of the Voting Rights Act that is designed to protect racial minorities comes to the Supreme Court this week, more than a decade after the justices knocked out another pillar of the 60-year-old law.

In arguments Wednesday, lawyers for Louisiana and the Trump administration will try to persuade the justices to wipe away the state’s second majority Black congressional district and make it much harder, if not impossible, to take account of race in redistricting.

“Race-based redistricting is fundamentally contrary to our Constitution,” Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill wrote in the state’s Supreme Court filing.

A mid-decade battle over congressional redistricting already is playing out across the nation, after President Donald Trump began urging Texas and other Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines to make it easier for the GOP to hold its narrow majority in the House of Representatives. A ruling for Louisiana could intensify that effort and spill over to state legislative and local districts.

The conservative-dominated court, which just two years ago ended affirmative action in college admissions, could be receptive. At the center of the legal fight is Chief Justice John Roberts, who has long had the landmark civil rights law in his sights, from his time as a young lawyer in the Reagan-era Justice Department to his current job.

“It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race,” Roberts wrote in a dissenting opinion in 2006 in his first major voting rights case as chief justice.

In 2013, Roberts wrote for the majority in gutting the landmark law’s requirement that states and local governments with a history of discrimination, mostly in the South, get approval before making any election-related changes.

“Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions,” Roberts wrote.

The challenged provision relies on current conditions

Challenges under the provision known as Section 2 of the voting rights law must be able to show current racially polarized voting and an inability of minority populations to elect candidates of their choosing, among other factors.

“Race is still very much a factor in current voting patterns in the state of Louisiana. It’s true in many places in the country,” said Sarah Brannon, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project.

The Louisiana case got to this point only after Black voters and civil rights groups sued and won lower court rulings striking down the first congressional map drawn by the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature after the 2020 census. That map created just one Black majority district among six House seats in a state that is one-third Black.

Louisiana appealed to the Supreme Court but eventually added a second majority Black district after the justices’ 5-4 ruling in 2023 that found a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act in a similar case over Alabama’s congressional map.

Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined their three more liberal colleagues in the Alabama outcome. Roberts rejected what he described as “Alabama’s attempt to remake our section 2 jurisprudence anew.”

That might have settled things, but a group of white voters complained that race, not politics, was the predominant factor driving the new Louisiana map. A three-judge court agreed, leading to the current high court case.

Instead of deciding the case in June, the justices asked the parties to answer a potentially big question: “Whether the state’s intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution.”

Those amendments, adopted in the aftermath of the Civil War, were intended to bring about political equality for Black Americans and gave Congress the authority to take all necessary steps. Nearly a century later, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, called the crown jewel of the civil rights era, to finally put an end to persistent efforts to prevent Black people from voting in the former states of the Confederacy.

A second round of arguments is rare at the Supreme Court

The call for new arguments sometimes presages a major change by the high court. The Citizens United decision in 2010 that led to dramatic increases in independent spending in U.S. elections came after it was argued a second time.

“It does feel to me a little bit like Citizens United in that, if you recall the way Citizens United unfolded, it was initially a narrow First Amendment challenge,” said Donald Verrilli, who served as the Obama administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer and defended the voting rights law in the 2013 case.

Among the possible outcomes in the Louisiana case, Verrilli said, is one in which a majority holds that the need for courts to step into redistricting cases, absent intentional discrimination, has essentially expired. Kavanaugh raised the issue briefly two years ago.

The Supreme Court has separately washed its hands of partisan gerrymandering claims, in a 2019 opinion that also was written by Roberts. Restricting or eliminating most claims of racial discrimination in federal courts would give state legislatures wide latitude to draw districts, subject only to state constitutional limits.

A shift of just one vote from the Alabama case would flip the outcome.

With the call for new arguments, Louisiana changed its position and is no longer defending its map.

The Trump administration joined on Louisiana’s side. The Justice Department had previously defended the voting rights law under administrations of both major political parties.

Rep. Cleo Fields has been here before

For four years in the 1990s, Louisiana had a second Black majority district until courts struck it down because it relied too heavily on race. Fields, then a rising star in the state’s Democratic politics, twice won election. He didn’t run again when a new map was put in place and reverted to just one majority Black district in the state.

Fields is one of the two Black Democrats who won election to Congress last year in newly drawn districts in Alabama and Louisiana.

He again represents the challenged district, described in March by Roberts as “a snake that runs from one end of the state to the other,” picking up Black residents along the way.

If that’s so, civil rights lawyer Stuart Naifeh told Roberts, it’s because of slavery, Jim Crow laws and the persistent lack of economic opportunity for Black Louisianans.

Fields said the court’s earlier ruling that eliminated federal review of potentially discriminatory voting laws has left few options to protect racial minorities, making the preservation of Section 2 all the more important.

They would never win election to Congress, he said, “but for the Voting Rights Act and but for creating majority minority districts.”

Associated Press writer Gary Fields contributed to this report.

A long, frustrating night for the Detroit Lions inside Arrowhead Stadium ended with Brian Branch delivering a punch to Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, setting off a brief fistfight among players from both teams.

It was about as much fight as the Lions showed all night.

They were dominated on both sides of the ball by a Kansas City team coming off a mistake-filled mess in Jacksonville with no interest in falling two games below .500. Indeed, the Chiefs shut down the prolific Detroit offense, holding it to less than half its season scoring average, and their own offense romped up and down the field on the way to a 30-17 victory Sunday night.

We got worked pretty good, Lions coach Dan Campbell admitted afterward.

Afterward is when the real fireworks happened.

As red ones were set bursting over the stadium to celebrate the Chiefs' victory, Patrick Mahomes tried to give a high-five to Branch as they met near midfield. The Lions safety walked right past the Kansas City quarterback and Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster took umbrage with the move, walking up to Branch and having a few words with him.

Branch responded by throwing a right hook that knocked Smith-Schuster to the ground.

The veteran wide receiver leaped to his feet and went after Branch, who played through an ankle injury that had kept him out of practice most of the week. Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco tried to get between them, but Branch succeeded in ripping Smith-Schuster's helmet off as dozens of players from both teams converged on the scrum.

I did a little childish thing, Branch said, but I'm tired of people doing stuff in between the play and refs don't catch it. They be trying to bully me out there and I don't I shouldn't have did it. It was childish.

Eventually, coaches and players managed to separate the parties, and they finally left the field for the locker room. Branch could be facing yet another hefty fine he was docked $23,186 for face-masking and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Green Bay last month and perhaps even a suspension for his actions.

I love Brian Branch, Campbell said, but what he did is inexcusable, and it's not going to be accepted here. It's not what we do. It's not what we're about. I apologized to Coach (Andy) Reid and the Chiefs, and Smith-Schuster. That's not OK. That's not what we do here. It's not going to be OK. He knows it. Our team knows it. That's not what we do.

Smith-Schuster came away with a bloody nose from the punch.

The guy came up and hit JuJu for what looked like no reason, Reid said. That's tough. But pretty good damage on JuJu's nose.

Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton was on the sideline getting tape cut off when he caught sight of the fracas.

The big thing for us is make sure our guys are safe, Bolton said. Make sure our quarterback is good and our guys taken care of.

The loss snapped a four-game win streak for Detroit, which was trying to pull off a rare feat by winning two consecutive games in Arrowhead Stadium. Instead, the Lions allowed 355 yards of total offense, forced just one punt, and were unable to make the stops they needed late in the fourth quarter to give their offense a chance to mount a comeback.

Jared Goff finished with just 203 yards passing, though he did have touchdown throws to Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta, while Amon-Ra St. Brown was held to 45 yards receiving. Jahmyr Gibbs needed 17 carries for 65 yards, and nine for 32 came on the game's opening drive, when Detroit marched right down field for what looked like a touchdown.

David Montgomery took a direct snap near the goal line and threw to Goff, who had gone into motion, caught the pass and then barreled into the end zone. But long after the play had finished, the officials huddled and decided that Goff never got set even though no flags were thrown on the flag and the illegal motion penalty wiped away the the touchdown.

After a delay-of-game penalty, the Lions had to settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.

It was just the start of a frustrating night for Campbell and his team.

It doesn't matter if I agree or disagree (with the penalty), he said. They said he never stopped. He stayed in motion. You can't stay in motion. But that had no bearing on the game. We lost by 13 points.

___

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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — James Franklin is out at Penn State.

The school fired the longtime head coach on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern all but ended whatever remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College Football Playoff.

Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year with hopes of winning the national title only to have those hopes evaporate by early October with three consecutive losses, each one more stinging than the last.

Penn State, which reached the CFP semifinals 10 months ago, fell at home to Oregon in overtime in late September. A road loss at previously winless UCLA followed. The final straw came on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, where the Nittany Lions let Northwestern escape with a victory and lost quarterback Drew Allar to injury for the rest of the season.

Franklin went 104-45 during his 11-plus seasons at Penn State. Yet the Nittany Lions often stumbled against top-tier opponents, going 4-21 against teams ranked in the top 10 during his tenure.

Hired in 2014 in the wake of Bill O’Brien’s departure for the NFL, Franklin inherited a team still feeling the effects of unprecedented NCAA sanctions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Armed with relentless optimism and an ability to recruit, Franklin’s program regularly churned out NFL-level talent, from Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons. Franklin guided the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten title and a seemingly permanent spot in the rankings.

There was hope this fall might be the one when Penn State would finally break through and win its third national championship and first since 1986. Yet after three easy wins during a light nonconference schedule, the Nittany Lions crumbled.

Athletic director Pat Kraft said the school owes Franklin — who is due nearly $50 million in a buyout — an “enormous amount of gratitude” for leading the Nittany Lions back to relevance but felt it was time to make a change.

“We hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships,” Kraft said.

Smith now will be tasked with trying to stop the bleeding on what has become a disastrous season. He will have his work cut out for him: Penn State’s next three games are at Iowa on Saturday, at No. 1 Ohio State on Nov. 1 and home against No. 3 Indiana on Nov. 8.

The matchups with the Buckeyes and Hoosiers were expected to be a chance for the Nittany Lions to bolster their CFP credentials. In the span of a handful of weeks, Penn State will instead find itself in the role of spoiler.

The move will cost Penn State at a time the athletic department has committed to a $700 million renovation to Beaver Stadium. The project is expected to be completed by 2027.

Former athletic director Sandy Barbour signed Franklin to a 10-year contract extension worth up to $85 million in 2021. According to terms of the deal, Penn State will have to pay Franklin’s base salary of $500,000, supplemental pay of $6.5 million and insurance loan of $1 million until 2031.

It’s a steep price, but one the university appears willing to pay to find a coach who can complete the climb to a national title.

“We have the best college football fans in America, a rich tradition of excellence, significant investments in our program, compete in the best conference in college sports and have a state-of-the-art renovated stadium on the horizon,” Kraft said. “I am confident in our future and in our ability to attract elite candidates to lead our program.”

There will be no shortage of interested coaches. Kraft has ties to at least one. He was the athletic director at Temple when he hired current Nebraska coach Matt Rhule back in 2013.

Rhule and the Cornhuskers will visit Beaver Stadium in Penn State’s home finale on Nov. 22. What back in August looked like one of the final hurdles for the Nittany Lions to clear on their way to a CFP berth might instead be both an audition for Rhule and a chance for the Nittany Lions to potentially salvage a shot at a bowl game of any variety, let alone a premier one.

— By TRAVIS JOHNSON, Associated Press

AP National Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.