PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — A tornado touched down in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Saturday as a powerful storm system brought intense rain and powerful winds to the state, overturning cars, damaging homes and snapping tree branches.The National Weather Service in Miami said the tornado hit late Saturday afternoon with winds of 100 mph (160 kph) near Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and headed northeast toward the coast.Storm damage forced authorities in the coastal city to close major roadways in the city as workers cleared debris and inspected wreckage. Images from the scene showed cars flipped over on top of each other, cracked tree limbs resting on vehicles and homes, as well as other debris littering streets.The Palm Beach Gardens Police Department has not reported any major injuries or fatalities. A spokeswoman for the city said officials have deactivated emergency protocols and were working through lingering issues Sunday.The National Weather Service had placed a large stretch of central Florida under a tornado watch on Saturday afternoon as thunderstorms were cutting across the state.

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Damaged trees appear on a property after a reported tornado hit the area Sunday, April 30, 2023 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. 

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The Palm Beach Gardens Police Department has not reported any major injuries or fatalities. 

Tornado Flips Cars, Damages Homes In Coastal Florida City

WARREN, Mich. (AP) — A boy grabbed the steering wheel on a school bus and hit the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a safe stop on a busy Detroit-area road after the driver had passed out, authorities said.“Someone call 911. Now!” seventh-grader Dillon Reeves shouted to dozens of other middle-school kids on the bus Wednesday.Dillon was hailed as a hero: He stopped the bus as it was veering toward oncoming traffic.“In my 35-plus years of education, this was an extraordinary act of courage and maturity on his part,” said Robert Livernois, superintendent of Warren Consolidated Schools.The incident was recorded on a video camera just above the driver. The <a href="https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/video-7th-grader-grabs-wheel-of-school-bus-after-driver-falls-unconscious">video</a> shows the driver fanning herself with a baseball cap and informing the transportation office that she needs to pull over.Seconds later, Dillon jumped into action, hitting the brake pedal and clutching the steering wheel.“I don't know that it could have gone any better,” Livernois said, noting that adults helped kids out the back door. “When you have an anchor like Dillon taking care of business on the bus, it really and truly was a good day for us.”Dillon declined to speak to reporters Thursday, but his parents, Steve and Ireta Reeves, were proud.“We've got a little hero,” Dillon's dad said. “He's been on my lap driving country roads, pulling into driveways since about 4 years old. ... He's a good driver.”

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In this image made from video, seventh-grader Dillon Reeves grabs the steering wheel on his school bus and hit the brakes after the driver passed out Wednesday, April 28, 2023, Warren, Mi. Warren Consolidated Schools Superintendent Robert Livernois is calling it an “extraordinary act of courage.” 

“He's been on my lap driving country roads, pulling into driveways since about 4 years old. ... He's a good driver.”

'Little Hero:' 7th-Grader Grabs Wheel And Stops School Bus After Driver "Lost Consciousness"

Do you wish you read the Bible more often? According to the American Bible Society, you're not alone. More than half (52%) of Americans wish they used the Bible more, according to the latest State of the Bible report.Yet, wanting to read the Bible and actually doing so are two very different things.After a slight increase in Bible usage during the pandemic in 2020, Bible usage rates plummeted as the world began to reopen."For most of the last decade, about half of Americans said they used the Bible three or more times per year," the report states. "In last year's poll, that number dropped ten points… Frankly, we were hoping this was a glitch, but the 2023 responses matched last year's low point (39%)."<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Why Aren't Americans Reading The Bible?</h3>The State of the Bible report goes on to speculate that this trend may be caused, at least in part, by the pandemic. "The recent high point of 50 percent Bible use occurred in 2020, a year when many people were cooped up at home with little else to do. The next two years saw a return to activity for many, and for a tenth of the population, the Bible was not part of the reboot."This disparity between the number of people who say they want to read the Bible and the number who do is nothing new. The American Bible Society has been reporting this gap for over a decade now, long before the pandemic occurred.According to a survey conducted by Equipping Godly Women, a website popular among busy Christian women, common obstacles that prevent people from reading the Bible include:<ul><li>A lack of time.</li><li>Lack of energy.</li><li>Lack of motivation.</li><li>Frequent distractions.</li><li>Forgetfulness.</li><li>A lack of Bible knowledge.</li></ul>"The number one reason Americans report not reading their Bibles is that we're too busy. Between work, taking care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, and everything else we do each day, we don't have the time to learn how to read and study the Bible for ourselves."<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Benefits of Regular Bible Reading</h3>Americans aren't simply missing out on time spent in the Bible. They're missing out on many of the benefits the Bible offers as well. According to the 2023 State of the Bible report, "People who engage with the Bible have far more hope than others."Furthermore, the same report found that those who read or listen to the Bible at least three times per year do so primarily because it brings them closer to God, provides wisdom for making life decisions, and offers comfort.<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">How To Get Started Reading The Bible</h3>Thankfully, reading the Bible doesn't have to be difficult, time-consuming, or confusing. For those wanting to learn how to read the Bible more consistently, here's how to get started.<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Find The Medium That Works for You</h3>While many people love sitting to read a physical copy of the Bible uninterrupted, this isn't the only option.Instead, you might prefer to watch a sermon series on YouTube, listen to an audio Bible app, or download a Bible memorization app. All three of these methods allow users to read or hear Scripture in a way that may be more accessible for their busy schedules or preferences.Whether you prefer a physical, paper Bible or you prefer to listen to a Bible app, you will want to choose a reader-friendly Bible translation. The New International Version (NLT) and New Living Translation (NLT) are two popular translations known for their readability.<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Choose a Bible Study Plan</h3>Rather than opening to a random page or reading disjointed Scripture verses out of context each day, having a pre-written Bible study plan can go a long way toward creating a Bible reading routine you can stick with.Visit your local Christian bookstore to browse a handful of the thousands of Bible studies for every book of the Bible. There are also practical Bible studies on topics such as anxiety, grief, the Holy Spirit, motherhood, your identity in Christ, and more.Alternatively, you can download a Bible study app. These electronic resources offer instant access to hundreds of Bible reading plans, audio Bible guides, in-depth Bible studies, devotionals, and community discussion forums to help you read and understand the Bible more consistently.<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">Start Small</h3>Whether you simply want to read small sections of the Bible out of curiosity or you're ready to start a more systematic, in-depth Scripture study, one popular piece of advice is to start small.The Bible is large, and attempting to read it straight through can be overwhelming. Instead, focus on reading small sections, such as one chapter or one story, at a time.Popular places to begin include the books of Genesis, Matthew, Psalm, or Proverbs, all of which are relatively easy to read and understand, both for beginners and those who have read the Bible for a long time. (<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22Brittany%20Ann%20|%20Wealth%20of%20Geeks%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">Wealth of Geeks</a>)

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Do you wish you read the Bible more often?

Why Aren't Americans Reading The Bible?

blessed-to-be-a-blessing-volunteers-help-feed-community

People don’t just have hearts that need to be blessed. They have stomachs, material needs... So this is just a wonderful way to be the hands, feet and heart of Christ,”

People don’t just“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will

‘Blessed To Be A Blessing’: Volunteers Help Feed Community

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Talk with your kids about all aspects of water safety. Nearly 70% of childhood drownings happen when kids aren't swimming.

A backyard pool promises endless summer fun, but it also comes with the huge responsibility of keeping fast and fearless little ones out of harm's way. 

Home Swimming Pool Safety Tips All Parents Should Know

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This is the second straight year Dover's only Cup race was postponed because of rain.

The race will start at noon at the Monster Mile.

Rain Delays NASCAR Race Until Noon Monday

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Research on a flat spot for air evacuations. Talk of old-style civil defense sirens to warn of fast-moving wildfires. Hundreds of urban firefighters training in wildland firefighting techniques while snow still blankets the ground.This is the new reality in Alaska's largest city, where a recent series of wildfires near Anchorage and the hottest day on record have sparked fears that a warming climate could soon mean serious, untenable blazes in urban areas — just like in the rest of the drought-plagued American West.The risk is particularly high in the city's burgeoning Anchorage Hillside neighborhood, where multi-million dollar homes have pushed further and further up steep slopes and to the forest's edge. Making the challenge even greater is that many of these areas on the Hillside — home to about 35,000 people — have but one road in and out, meaning that fleeing residents could clog a roadway or be cut off from reaching Anchorage at all.The prospect of a major wildfire there keeps Anchorage Fire Chief Doug Schrage awake at night when conditions are hot and dry.“I’ve characterized this as probably the single largest threat to the municipality of Anchorage,” he said.Schrage’s city fire department is adept at fighting blazes in buildings. But as Anchorage has grown, the available land is higher up, where wild and urban areas intersect, and those fires are very different from what his firefighters are trained to combat.The city also has limited wildfire equipment, and it’s nearly impossible to get a fire engine up some switchback roads to homes nestled high up mountains.“Our strategy is basically to put as many resources as we have on duty on a small fire so that we can keep it contained” while waiting for assistance from the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, Schrage said.This spring, 360 city firefighters are training on wildland firefighting tactics like using water hoses to create a line around the perimeter of a fire and the city is encouraging homeowners to participate in a program to identify hazards like brush and old trees that would feed a fire before it's too late. In one hilly neighborhood, a community council is researching locations for a makeshift helipad that could be used for air evacuations.That same small neighborhood with but one road in and out has also discussed installing sirens to warn residents on the city's wooded fringes of fire danger and hopes to build a database of all residents for emergency communications.“As much as you wouldn’t want to do it ... it’s like rolling the dice on being alive or dead,” said Matt Moore, who fled his home in 2019 lest he be trapped on the wrong side of the flames on the single road.Such precautions — common in parched and fire-prone states like California and Colorado — are relatively new in Anchorage in the face of increased fire risk fueled by global warming. The city reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) four years ago, the city’s hottest temperature on record, and it's had five significant wildfires over the past seven years that were all extinguished before causing much damage.Still, the U.S. is headed into an El Nino year this season, which traditionally means a bigger fire year and further raises concerns, said Brian Brettschneider, a climate scientist with National Weather Service, Alaska Region.More than 4,844 square miles (12,546 square kilometers) burned statewide last year — an area just under the size of Connecticut.Since 1950, there have been 14 years in which more than 4,687 square miles (12,139 square kilometers) — the equivalent of 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) — have burned during Alaska's short but intense fire season. Half of those fire seasons have occurred since 2002, including the worst year on record — 2004 — when over 10,156 square miles (26,304 square kilometers) burned.From his home high above Anchorage in 2019, Moore saw the black smoke billowing from a fire miles away in a heavily wooded area of the city. He gathered his pets and important papers in his vehicle — his wife was already safe in Anchorage — and drove 5 miles (8 kilometers) down the only road serving the roughly 600 neighborhood residents to safety."Thankfully, they started getting it under control,” he said.For now, both the city and Schrage's fire department are focused on keeping things under control — implementing as many preventative measures as possible.The city department has removed evergreen trees and reduced brush in strips of 100 feet (30 meters) next to neighborhoods to help contain any future fires and Anchorage has cleared trees and other hazards in parks and along greenbelts.Firefighters have also conducted inspections at people's homes to identify fire hazards such as firewood kept too close to their homes or too much vegetation on their property — all in hopes of preserving homes, livelihoods and the community in a time of growing climate uncertainty.

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Senior Fire Captain Nick Davis demonstrates nozzles Monday, April 24, 2023, to other firefighters in Anchorage, Alaska, learning how to fight wildland fires.

“I’ve characterized this as probably the single largest threat to the municipality of Anchorage.”

Wildfires In Anchorage? Hundreds Of Firefighters Training

CLEVELAND, Texas (AP) — The search for a Texas man who allegedly shot his neighbors after they asked him to stop firing off rounds in his yard stretched into a second day Sunday, with authorities saying the man could be anywhere by now.Francisco Oropeza, 38, fled after the shooting Friday night that took the lives of five people, including an 8-year-old boy. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said Saturday evening that authorities had widened the search to as far as 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the scene of the shooting.Investigators found clothes and a phone while combing a rural area that includes dense layers of forest, but tracking dogs lost the scent, Capers said.Police recovered the AR-15-style rifle that Oropeza allegedly used in the shootings, but authorities were not sure if he was carrying another weapon, the sheriff said.“He could be anywhere now,” Capers said.The attack happened near the town of Cleveland, north of Houston, on a street where some residents say neighbors often unwind by firing off guns.Capers said the victims were between the ages of 8 and 31 years old and that all were believed to be from Honduras.&nbsp;The attack was the latest act of gun violence in what has been a record pace of mass shootings in the U.S. so far this year, some of which have also involved semiautomatic rifles.The shootings have played out in a variety of places — a Nashville school, a Kentucky bank, a Southern California dance hall, and now a rural Texas neighborhood inside a single-story home.Capers said there were 10 people in the house — some of whom had just moved there earlier in the week — but that that no one else was injured. He said two of the victims were found in a bedroom laying over two children in an apparent attempt to shield them.A total of three children found in the home were taken to a hospital but found to be uninjured, Capers said.FBI spokesperson Christina Garza said investigators do not believe everyone at the home were members of a single family. The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso, 8.The confrontation followed the neighbors walking up to the fence and asking the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said. The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, Capers said, and one person in the house got a video of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle.The shooting took place on a rural pothole-riddled street where single-story homes sit on wide 1-acre lots and are surrounded by a thick canopy of trees. A horse could be seen behind the victim's home, while in the front yard of Oropeza's house a dog and chickens wandered.Rene Arevalo Sr., who lives a few houses down, said he heard gunshots around midnight but didn't think anything of it.“It's a normal thing people do around here, especially on Fridays after work,” Arevalo said. “They get home and start drinking in their backyards and shooting out there.”Capers said his deputies had been to Oropeza's home at least once before and spoken with him about “shooting his gun in the yard.” It was not clear whether any action was taken at the time. At a news conference Saturday evening, the sheriff said firing a gun on your own property can be illegal, but he did not say whether Oropeza had previously broken the law.Capers said the new arrivals in the home had moved from Houston earlier in the week, but he said he did not know whether they were planning to stay there.Across the U.S. since Jan. 1, there have been at least 18 shootings that took the lives of four or more people, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today, in partnership with Northeastern University. The violence is sparked by a range of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang retaliation; school shootings; and workplace vendettas.Texas has confronted multiple mass shootings in recent years, including last year's attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde; a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019; and a gunman opening fire at a church in the tiny town of Sutherland Springs in 2017.Republican leaders in Texas have continually rejected calls for new firearm restrictions, including this year over the protests of several families whose children's lives were lost in Uvalde.A few months ago, Arevalo said Oropeza threatened to kill his dog after it got loose in the neighborhood and chased the pit bull in his truck.“I tell my wife all the time, ‘Stay away from the neighbors. Don’t argue with them. You never know how they're going to react,'” Arevalo said. “I tell her that because Texas is a state where you don't know who has a gun and who is going to react that way.”&nbsp;

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Authorities from multiple agencies work at a location where law enforcement believe they have cornered a suspect who allegedly shot and killed five people in a house the night before, Saturday, April 29, 2023, in unincorporated San Jacinto County, Texas.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said Saturday evening that authorities had widened the search to as far as 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the scene of the shooting.

Texas Police Still Searching For Mass Shooting Suspect

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than a half million of the poorest Americans could be left without health insurance under legislation passed by House Republicans that would require people to work in exchange for health care coverage through Medicaid.It's one of dozens of provisions tucked into a GOP bill that would allow for an increase in the debt limit but curb government spending over the next decade. The bill is unlikely to become law, though. It is being used by House Republicans to draw Democrats to the negotiating table and avoid a debt default.Democrats have strongly opposed the Medicaid work requirement provision, saying it won't incentivize people to get a job and will drive up the number of uninsured in the country.Here's a look at how the proposal might save taxpayers money but cost some Americans access to health care coverage.WHO WOULD BE REQUIRED TO WORK?The work requirements say able-bodied adults ages 19 to 55 who don't have children or other dependents would be required to work, train for a job or perform community service to stay on Medicaid. They would have to put in at least 80 hours a month to stay on the government-sponsored health care coverage.About 84 million people are enrolled in Medicaid, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates 15 million would be subject to the requirement. The Health and Human Services Department, however, predicts millions more — about a third of enrollees altogether — would be required to work.WHY ARE WORK REQUIREMENTS CONTROVERSIAL?Republicans say the move would help push Americans into jobs that eventually might put them in a position to move off of government aid.The requirements would also be more equitable for those who are working to support their families, said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.“That single mom that’s working two or three jobs right now to make ends meet under this tough economy, she doesn’t want to have to pay for somebody who’s sitting at home,” Scalise said.Democrats argue that work requirements could unfairly push people out of Medicaid, too.Some people were wrongly kicked off Medicaid in Arkansas when the state briefly introduced work requirements, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told lawmakers. In some cases, people were not required to work but didn't fill out the required paperwork.“It's not just people who are subject to the requirements that often get caught up in red tape," she said. “It can often be people who are exempted.”About 1 in 4 people who were required to work lost coverage during Arkansas' experience with work requirements in 2018.Work requirements can put Medicaid enrollees in a bind. While no one has been kicked off Medicaid over the last three years because of the pandemic, that changed in April when the federal government required states to review income eligibility for all enrollees to see who now makes too much money to qualify for the health care benefits.People who picked up work, earned a small raise or switched jobs are finding that those new incomes could soon cost them coverage.Amy Shaw, 39, of Rochester, New Hampshire, lost her family's Medicaid coverage in April because of her husband's 50-cent raise to $17 per hour at an auto parts store. Shaw wouldn't be subject to the GOP's work requirement because she has two daughters, but the family's case illustrates how modest incomes can push people out of Medicaid coverage — and cost them big time.Suddenly, instead of a $3 copay, she was billed $120 for a cancer screening ordered by her doctor. Meanwhile, their rent increased by 40% since the pandemic started, and the cost of food, utilities and other essential have gone up.“It just seems like the system is set up so that you don’t want to go back (to work) because you lose more than you gain,” Shaw said. “It makes me not want to go and get my mammogram and my colonoscopy. I don’t even want to go to these appointments because it’s going to cost so much money."HOW MUCH WOULD THE REPUBLICAN PROPOSAL SAVE?That largely depends on how many people who would be required to work opt not to or don't fill out the proper paperwork to remain covered.The Congressional Budget Office estimates the requirements would save $109 billion over the next decade. Those savings would come in two ways: from about 600,000 people who would be dropped from Medicaid, then 900,000 who would lose federal funding for their Medicaid, but remain enrolled in the program through their state.That analysis also says the bill would do little to improve employment among Medicaid enrollees.WHAT'S NEXT?The House GOP bill won't pass a Democratic-controlled Senate or be signed into law by President Joe Biden in its current state.But don't expect the issue of work requirements and trimming Medicaid benefits to go away anytime soon. The number of people enrolled in Medicaid has ballooned in recent years, growing by more than 20 million since 2020.If you ask Democrats, that's a great thing — they've pointed to the record low uninsured rate that's given more people access to medical care. Democratic-led states have also pitched new ways to expand Medicaid under the Biden administration, granting more access to recently released convicts and new mothers, for example.Republicans, however, want to scale back safety net programs to pre-pandemic levels. And, Republicans in some states are already trying to implement work requirements of their own. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders asked the federal government to OK a proposal that would move anyone who doesn't comply with work requirements off Medicaid's private insurance to traditional fee-for-service Medicaid.

congress-eyes-new-work-requirements-for-millions-covered-by-medicaid

A sign points visitors toward the financial services department at a hospital

The work requirements say able-bodied adults ages 19 to 55 who don't have children or other dependents would be required to work, train for a job or perform community service to stay on Medicaid. 

Congress Eyes New Work Requirements For Millions Covered By Medicaid

i-went-from-skid-row-to-ceo-troy-vaughn-leads-la-mission-nonprofits-and-a-church

“I made a covenant with God when He delivered me that if He saved me, I would serve Him for the rest of my life,” Vaughn says.

“I Went From Skid Row To CEO" - Troy Vaughn Leads LA Mission, Nonprofits & A Church

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"Sargassum can be a nuisance, but it's also critical to our ecosystem, serving as a home for various forms of marine life"

5,000M 'Seaweed Blob' Could Reach Texas Coast

just-one-thing-keeps-russian-warplanes-from-rampaging-across-ukraine

The main problem, for the Russians, is intelligence. More specifically, timely intelligence that can inform command and planning processes for finding and destroying air-defense systems that move constantly.

Just One Thing Keeps Russian Warplanes From Rampaging Across Ukraine

1925-balto-carried-life-saving-meds-in-alaskan-blizzard-new-dna-study-shows-why-he-was-so-tough

Scientists sequenced the genome of the sled dog, who led a team of dogs carrying a life-saving diphtheria serum to Nome, Alaska, in 1925.

1925: Balto Carried Life-Saving Meds In Alaskan Blizzard - New DNA Study Shows Why He Was So Tough

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Fans braved 90 degree heat just for the chance to see the 2023 Fort Lauderdale Air show performers — especially the U.S Navy Blue Angels.

The show went on without interruption Saturday, despite the U.S Navy Blue Angels having their rental vehicle stolen the night before. As fans flocked to the beach, detectives were investigating the theft.

Blue Angels Roar, Wow Crowds, At Fort Lauderdale Air Show

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He was reading at age 3 and doing algabra a couple years later....then started community college age 9

While most teenagers might be planning for a weekend at the movies or hanging out with friends, Raja Krishnaswamy will be graduating from Pitt with a bachelor's degree.

16-Year-Old Graduating From University Of Pittsburgh

ABOARD BRP MALABRIGO (AP) — A Chinese coast guard ship blocked a Philippine patrol vessel steaming into a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, causing a frightening near-collision in the latest act of Beijing’s aggression in the strategic waterway.The high seas face-off April 23 between the larger Chinese ship and the Philippine coast guard’s BRP Malapascua near Second Thomas Shoal was among the tense moments it and another Philippine vessel encountered in a weeklong sovereignty patrol in one of the world’s most hotly contested waterways.The Philippine coast guard had invited a small group of journalists, including three from The Associated Press, to join the 1,670-kilometer (1,038-mile) patrol for the first time as part of a new Philippine strategy aimed at exposing China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea, where an estimated $5 trillion in global trade transits each year.In scorching summer heat but relatively calm waters, the Malapascua and another Philippine coast guard vessel, the BRP Malabrigo, journeyed to the frontlines of the long-seething territorial conflicts. They cruised past a string of widely scattered Philippine-occupied and claimed islands, islets and reefs looking for signs of encroachment, illegal fishing and other threats.The American State Department <a href="https://www.state.gov/u-s-support-for-the-philippines-in-the-south-china-sea-4/">warns China</a>:"The United States stands with our Philippine allies in upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms that an armed attack in the Pacific, which includes the South China Sea, on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard, would invoke U.S. mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 U.S. Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty."In areas occupied or controlled by China, the Philippine patrol vessels received radio warnings in Chinese and halting English, ordering them to immediately leave what the Chinese coast guard and navy radio callers claimed were Beijing’s “undisputable territories” and issuing unspecified threats for defiance.Hostilities peaked that Sunday morning in the Philippine-occupied Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly archipelago, the most fiercely contested region in the busy sea channel.As the two patrol vessels approached the shoal's shallow turquoise waters for an underwater survey, the Chinese coast guard repeatedly warned them by radio to leave the area, which is about 194 kilometers (121 miles) west of the Philippine island province of Palawan.After several radio exchanges, a Chinese coast guard caller, sounding agitated, warned of unspecified adversarial action."Since you have disregarded our warning, we will take further necessary measures on you in accordance with the laws and any consequences entailed will be borne by you,” the Chinese speaker said.A Chinese coast guard ship rapidly approached and shadowed the smaller Malapascua and the Malabrigo. When the Malapascua maneuvered toward the mouth of the shoal, the Chinese ship suddenly shifted to block it, coming as close as 36 to 46 meters (120 to 150 feet) from its bow, said Malapascua’s skipper, Capt. Rodel Hernandez.To avoid a collision, Hernandez abruptly reversed his vessel’s direction then shut off its engine to bring the boat to a full stop.Filipino personnel aboard the vessels — and journalists, who captured the tense moment on camera — watched in frightened silence. But the Malapascua steered just in time to avoid a potential disaster.Hernandez later told journalists that the “sudden and really very dangerous maneuver” by the Chinese coast guard ship had disregarded international rules on collision avoidance. He had the Philippine vessels leave the area after the encounter for the safety of the ships and personnel.Earlier, a huge Chinese navy ship shadowed the two Philippine patrol vessels in the dark of night as they cruised near Subi, one of seven barren reefs China has transformed in the last decade into a missile-protected island base. The Chinese navy ship radioed the Philippine vessels “to immediately leave and keep out.”The coast guard radioed back to assert Philippine sovereign rights to the area before steaming away.China has long demanded that the Philippines withdraw its small contingent of naval forces and tow away the actively commissioned but crumbling BRP Sierra Madre. The navy ship was deliberately marooned on the shoal in 1999 and now serves as a fragile symbol of Manila’s territorial claim to the atoll.Chinese ships often block navy vessels delivering food and other supplies to the Filipino sailors on the ship, including just a few days earlier, Hernandez said.As hostilities between Chinese coast guard and navy ships and the Philippine patrol vessels were unfolding, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang was in Manila, where he held talks with his Philippine counterpart and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday. China was willing to work with the Philippines to resolve differences and deepen ties, Qin said.The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to an AP request for comment on the encounters.In another Philippine-claimed reef called Whitsun, the Philippine patrol vessels spotted more than 100 suspected Chinese militia ships arrayed side by side in several clusters in the shallows. China says the huge trawler-like ships are fishing vessels, but Manila’s coast guard suspects they are being used for surveillance or to hold the reef for future development.Filipino coast guard personnel aboard two motor boats approached the Chinese ships and ordered them through a loudspeaker to leave, but none did.Philippine officials required participating journalists to not immediately release information about the trip to ensure the safety of the mission and to give the coast guard time to brief defense, justice and foreign affairs officials in charge of handling the touchy territorial conflicts.Faced with a militarily far-superior China in the disputed waters, the Philippines launched the campaign early this year to expose the Asian superpower’s aggression, hoping public awareness and criticism will force Beijing to abide by international law.Philippines coast guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said the strategy was working. He noted the Chinese ambassador in Manila was prompted to hold a news conference to explain Beijing’s side amid outrage over a publicly released video that showed a Chinese coast guard ship aiming a military-grade laser in early February that temporarily blinded two crewmembers of the Malapascua off Second Thomas Shoal.“We are David,” Tarriela said, likening the Philippines to the underdog hero of the Biblical story. “We believe that through the publication of all these aggressive actions of China, we would find friends who would criticize Goliath.”The territorial conflicts involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have long been regarded as an Asian flashpoint and a delicate fault line in the rivalry between the United States and China in the region.While the U.S. lays no claims to the South China Sea, it has deployed its warships and fighter jets for patrols and military exercises with regional allies to uphold freedom of navigation and overflight, which it says is in America’s national interest.State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Saturday called media reporting on the encounters a “stark reminder” of Chinese “harassment and intimidation of Philippine vessels as they undertake routine patrols within their exclusive economic zone. We call upon Beijing to desist from its provocative and unsafe conduct.”Beijing has criticized a recent agreement by the Philippines and the U.S. to grant American forces access to additional Filipino military camps. China fears the access will provide Washington with military staging grounds and surveillance outposts in the northern Philippines across the sea from Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, and in provinces facing the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.Miller reaffirmed Washington's repeated warnings that it would help defend the Philippines — its oldest treaty ally in Asia — if Philippine forces, ships or aircraft are attacked in the South China Sea.With multiple conflicts looming in what appears to be a placid expanse of sea, where dolphins and starlit night skies send seafarers grabbing their cameras, Malabrigo’s skipper Julio Colarina III said he would always strive to stay on the right side of a geopolitical minefield.“As much as possible we’ll avoid conflict in the area,” he said. “All these competing interests just need one spark.” ___Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila contributed to this report.

china-bullies-philippines-in-south-china-sea-us-warns-of-mutual-defense-treaty

A Chinese Coast Guard ship with bow number 5201 blocks Philippine Coast Guard ship BRP Malapascua as it maneuvers to enter the mouth of the Second Thomas Shoal locally known as Ayungin Shoal at the South China Sea on Sunday, April 23, 2023.

“We believe that through the publication of all these aggressive actions of China, we would find friends who would criticize Goliath.”

China Bullies Philippines In South China Sea, U.S. Warns Of Mutual Defense Treaty

LONDON (AP) — It will be a coronation of many faiths and many languages.King Charles III, keen to show that he can be a unifying figure for everyone in the United Kingdom, will be crowned in a ceremony that will for the first time include the active participation of faiths other than the Church of England.Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh leaders will take part in various aspects of the coronation, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s office said Saturday, as it revealed details of a service it described as an act of Christian worship that will reflect contemporary society.The ceremony also will include female bishops for the first time, as well as hymns and prayers sung in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic, as well as English.“The service contains new elements that reflect the diversity of our contemporary society,’’ Archbishop Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the Church of England, said in a statement. “It is my prayer that all who share in this service, whether they are of faith or no faith, will find ancient wisdom and new hope that brings inspiration and joy.”The coronation ceremony reflects Charles’ efforts to show that the 1,000-year-old monarchy is still relevant in a country that is much more diverse than it was when his mother was crowned 70 years ago.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn.corpemf.com/news/54887.jpg" alt="King"><figcaption>[Photo Credit: Susannah Ireland/Pool Photo via AP] King's Bodyguards for Scotland and members of Royal Company of Archers Alex Baillie-Hamilton, left, and Paul Harkness stand guard by the Stone of Destiny, during a welcome ceremony in Westminster Abbey, London, Saturday, April 29, 2023.</figcaption></figure>Built around the theme “Called to Serve,” the coronation service will begin with one of the youngest members of the congregation — a Chapel Royal chorister — greeting the king. Charles will respond by saying, “In His name and after His example, I come not to be served but to serve.”The moment is meant to underscore the importance of young people in the world today, according to Lambeth Palace, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury.The service will also include many historic elements underscoring the ancient traditions through which power has been passed on to new kings and queens throughout the centuries.In the most sacred part of the service, the Archbishop of Canterbury will anoint the king with oil, consecrating him and setting him apart from his subjects.A screen will cover Charles at this moment, and the anointing won’t be visible on television or to most people in the abbey, except for a few senior members of the clergy.“When the screen which will surround the coronation chair is removed, the king is revealed to us all as someone who has taken on the responsibility of serving God and serving the people,” a Lambeth Palace spokesperson said while speaking on customary condition of anonymity.This will be followed by the presentation of the coronation regalia, sacred objects like the orb and scepter that symbolize the monarch’s power and responsibilities.In another innovation that reflects the changed religious landscape in Britain, members of the House of Lords from the Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh traditions will present the king with objects with no explicit Christian symbolism.The new king will then be crowned and the refrain “God Save the King’’ will echo through the Abbey.After Charles is crowned, the traditional homage of the peers will be replaced by an “homage of the people,” in which people in the Abbey and those watching on television will be invited to affirm their allegiance to the king.Camilla will then be anointed, in a form similar to that of Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, in 1937. However, Camilla’s anointing won't be hidden behind a screen.The congregation will also be invited to say the Lord's Prayer' in the language of their choice.Just before Charles sets off in the Gold State Coach for a procession on the streets of London, the leaders and representatives of faith communities will deliver a greeting in unison. The greeting won’t be amplified out of respect for those who are observing the Jewish sabbath and are barred from using electrical devices, Lambeth Palace said.

some-interesting-details-revealed-on-king-charles-iiis-upcoming-coronation

The Stone of Destiny is seen during a welcome ceremony ahead of the coronation of Britain's King Charles III, in Westminster Abbey, London, Saturday, April 29, 2023.

The coronation's theme will be "Called To Serve"

Some Interesting Details Revealed On King Charles III's Upcoming Coronation

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — The surging Mississippi River was cresting in Iowa on Saturday as melting snow from Minnesota and Wisconsin continues to push up river levels, the National Weather Service said.The weather service said the river was cresting between 23 and 24.3 feet (7 and 7.4 meters) in Dubuque, a city on the Mississippi about 200 miles (320 kilometers) east of Des Moines. The river was expected to crest at 21.9 feet (6.7 meters) in Bellevue, Iowa, on Saturday night.The river is not expected to see many record crests in the next week, but the weather service said Saturday's levels would come close to 1993 and 2001 records between 23.9 and 25.4 feet (7.3 and 7.7 meters) as the river moves down its 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) length before reaching the Gulf of Mexico.Dubuque has closed its floodgates for only the third time ever in response to flooding. Further south in the Quad Cities — five adjoining cities along the river in Iowa and Illinois — the river is expected to crest at 21.6 feet (6.6 meters) Monday. Some roads and parks near the river are closed.Officials in towns along the river have said they are optimistic they will escape severe flooding this year, thanks to improved floodwalls and other prevention measures.Despite some flooding in Wisconsin earlier in the week, the weather service said states farther south could be spared major flooding damage because tributaries in Iowa, Illinois and other states are running lower than usual, providing paths for runoff from the Mississippi.

flood-concerns-rise-as-mississippi-river-crests

A group of kayakers paddle along River Drive along the HESCO sand barriers protecting downtown from the rising Mississippi River, Saturday, April 29, 2023, in Davenport, Iowa.

"The weather service said the river was cresting between 23 and 24.3 feet in Dubuque"

Flood Concerns Rise As Mississippi River Crests

OISE, Idaho (AP) — Why did 2,500 sheep cross the road? Because the grass was greener on the other side.In Idaho, it's not unusual to see ranchers moving a bleating herd of sheep up to higher elevation at this time of year. But the sight of 2,500 wooly beasts trotting across a highway earlier this week brought a crowd about 300 people.It was the largest turnout that Steve Stuebner, spokesperson for the Idaho Rangeland Resources Commission, has seen in 15 years.“It’s a novelty. Maybe they’ve never seen anything like that before, but it’s real typical in Idaho,” he told KTVB-TV. “When you’re out in rural parts of Idaho in the spring and summer, or fall, you could run into a cattle drive or a sheep drive.”Curious onlookers lined the road as the animals sheepishly entered the highway, guided by ranchers and steered by sheepdogs. They traveled up the road a little ways, the fluffy white herd obscuring the yellow-painted centerline amid a chorus of “baas” and the lead ewe’s jangling bell.Leaving the open road behind, they will journey through the sagebrush-dotted foothills for a few weeks to their summer home in the Boise National Forest.This trip up to higher elevations is a tradition dating back around 100 years, the Boise-area TV station reported, and having the sheep graze in the forest helps prevent fires and invigorates plant growth.The ovine spectacle will return when the sheep are brought back down again in the fall.

why-did-2-500-sheep-cross-the-road

Sheep move along state Highway 55 as they cross the road near Eagle, Idaho, Monday, April 24, 2023.

In Idaho, it's not unusual to see ranchers moving a bleating herd of sheep up to higher elevation at this time of year.

Why Did 2,500 Sheep Cross The Road?

As a growing number of overweight Americans clamor for Ozempic and Wegovy — drugs touted by celebrities and on TikTok to pare pounds — an even more powerful obesity medicine is poised to upend treatment.Tirzepatide, an Eli Lilly and Co. drug approved to treat type 2 diabetes under the brand name Mounjaro, helped people with the disease who were overweight or had obesity lose up to 16% of their body weight, or more than 34 pounds, over nearly 17 months, the company said on Thursday.The late-stage study of the drug for weight loss adds to earlier evidence that similar participants without diabetes lost up to 22% of their body weight over that period with weekly injections of the drug. For a typical patient on the highest dose, that meant shedding more than 50 pounds.Having diabetes makes it notoriously difficult to lose weight, said Dr. Nadia Ahmad, Lilly’s medical director of obesity clinical development, which means the recent results are especially significant. “We have not seen this degree of weight reduction,” she said.Based on the new results, which have not yet been published in full, company officials said they will finalize an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for fast-track approval to sell tirzepatide for chronic weight management. A decision could come later this year. A company spokeswoman would not confirm whether the drug would be marketed for weight loss in the U.S. under a different brand name.If approved for weight loss, tirzepatide could become the most effective drug to date in an arsenal of medications that are transforming the treatment of obesity, which affects more than 4 in 10 American adults and is linked to dozens of diseases that can lead to disability or death.“If everybody who had obesity in this country lost 20% of their body weight, we would be taking patients off all of these medications for reflux, for diabetes, for hypertension,” said Dr. Caroline Apovian, a director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women's Hospital. “We would not be sending patients for stent replacement.”Industry analysts predict that tirzepatide could become one of the top-selling drugs ever, with annual sales topping $50 billion. It is expected to outpace Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic — a diabetes drug used so commonly to shed pounds that comedian Jimmy Kimmel joked about it at the Oscars — and Wegovy, a version of the drug also known as semaglutide approved for weight loss in 2021. Together, those drugs made nearly $10 billion in 2022, with prescriptions continuing to soar, company reports show.In separate trials, tirzepatide has resulted in greater weight loss than semaglutide, whose users shed about 15% of their body weight over 16 months. A head-to-head trial comparing the two drugs is planned.Mounjaro was first approved to treat diabetes last year. Since then, thousands of patients have obtained the drug from doctors and telehealth providers who prescribed it “off-label" to help them slim down.In California, Matthew Barlow, a 48-year-old health technology executive, said he has lost more than 100 pounds since November by using Mounjaro and changing his diet.“Psychologically, you don’t want to eat,” said Barlow. “Now I can eat two bites of a dessert and be satisfied.”Rather than relying solely on diet, exercise and willpower to reduce weight, tirzepatide and other new drugs target the digestive and chemical pathways that underlie obesity, suppressing appetite and blunting cravings for food.“They have entirely changed the landscape,” said Dr. Amy Rothberg, a University of Michigan endocrinologist who directs a virtual weight loss and diabetes program.Research has shown that with diet and exercise alone, about a third of people will lose 5% or more of their body weight, said Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine. In the latest tirzepatide trial, more than 86% of patients using the highest dose of the drug lost at least 5% of their body weight. More than half on that dose lost at least 15%, the company said.The obesity medications help overcome a biological mechanism that kicks in when people diet, triggering a coordinated effort by the body to prevent weight loss.“That is a real physical phenomenon,” Aronne said. “There are a number of hormones that respond to reduced calorie intake.”Ozempic and Wegovy are two versions of semaglutide. That drug mimics a key gut hormone, known as GLP-1, that is activated after people eat, boosting the release of insulin and slowing release of sugar from the liver. It delays digestion and reduces appetite, making people feel full longer.Tirzepatide is the first drug that uses the action of two hormones, GLP-1 and GIP, for greater effects. It also targets the chemical signals sent from the gut to the brain, curbing cravings and thoughts of food.Though the drugs appear safe, they can cause side effects, some serious. Most common reactions include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, constipation and stomach pain. Some users have developed pancreatitis or inflammation of the pancreas, others have had gallbladder problems. Mounjaro’s product description warns that it could cause thyroid tumors, including cancer.There are other downsides: Versions of semaglutide have been on the market for several years, but the long-term effects of taking drugs that override human metabolism are not yet clear. Early evidence suggests that when people stop taking the medications, they gain the weight back.Plus, the medications are expensive — and in recent months, hard to get because of intermittent shortages. Wegovy is priced at about $1,300 a month. Mounjaro used for diabetes starts at about $1,000 per month.Apovian said that only about 20% to 30% of patients with private insurance in her practice find the medications are covered. Some insurers who previously paid for the drugs are enacting new rules, requiring six months of documented lifestyle changes or a certain amount of weight loss for continued coverage. Medicare is largely prohibited from paying for weight-loss drugs, though there have been efforts by drugmakers and advocates for Congress to change that.Still, experts say that the striking effects of tirzepatide — along with Ozempic, Wegovy and other drugs — underscore that losing weight is not merely a matter of willpower. Like high blood pressure, which affects about half of U.S. adults and is managed with medication, obesity should be viewed as a chronic disease, not a character flaw, Aronne emphasized.It remains to be seen what effect new drug treatments will have on pervasive bias against people with obesity, said Rebecca Puhl, a professor in the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, who studies weight stigma. U.S. culture has “deep-rooted beliefs about body weight and physical appearance” that are hard to change, she said.“Weight stigma could persist or worsen if taking medication is equated with ‘taking the easy way out’ or ‘not trying hard enough,’” she said.

diabetes-drug-may-get-stamp-of-approval-by-fda-for-weight-management

A closeup of a beam scale is seen in New York on April 3, 2018. Tirzepatide, a drug from Eli Lilly and Co. approved to treat type 2 diabetes under the brand name Mounjaro.

“If everybody who had obesity in this country lost 20% of their body weight, we would be taking patients off all of these medications for reflux, for diabetes, for hypertension.”

Diabetes Drug May Get Stamp Of Approval By FDA For Weight Management  

NEW YORK (AP) — After the deadly collapse of a parking structure in lower Manhattan, New York City building officials swept through dozens of parking garages and ordered four of them to immediately shutter because of structural issues that “deteriorated to the point where they were now posing an immediate threat to public safety.”Two of the parking garages have apartments above them — a 25-story high-rise in downtown Manhattan and an eight-story building in Chinatown — but officials said the residential areas appear to be in no danger.City officials directed the owners of the parking facilities to make immediate repairs to corroded concrete and other damage.Inspections were launched soon after a three-story stand-alone parking structure, about a century old, imploded into shards of concrete and twisted metal on April 18, crushing to death its manager.“This work was done in the interest of public safety, and out of an abundance of caution,” said Building Department spokesperson Andrew Rudansky.“During our sweep of 78 parking structures, we found four locations where structural concerns necessitated areas of the buildings to be immediately vacated," he said.The city last year began mandating parking structures be inspected by owners at least once every six years. The first wave of garages, located from the southern tip of Manhattan to the lower Central Park area, have until the end of the year to complete initial inspections.The structure that collapsed earlier this month had not yet completed its required inspection, city officials said.Why it collapsed is still under investigation but it had been previously cited for various structural defects, including signs of corrosion in concrete called "spalling."Inspectors visited 17 parking garages managed by the same company that managed the collapsed structure and 61 additional buildings, all with parking garages, that had open structural issues.They found four properties with structural damage in the parking garages where the damage was so bad, the city issued vacate orders to at least parts of the structures.Underneath the 25-story building in lower Manhattan, inspectors found concrete slabs “extensively corroded, with spalled concrete on the underside of two-floor slab ceilings.” As a result, more than half of the garage is now off-limits and its operators ordered to provide protected pathways in those places.But engineers found no need to vacate any residential areas of the building.Similarly, building officials said residents could stay put in a Chinatown apartment building despite finding “numerous severely deteriorated and rusted steel beams, with excessive cracked and spalling concrete piers."A two-story parking structure in Brooklyn was in such disrepair, the city said, that it ordered the shuttering of the entire structure. Another two-story structure in the borough was partially closed because of extensively corroded beams and deteriorated vehicle ramps.The four buildings can't reopen until repairs are made and pass inspection.Because inspections of parking garages continue, officials said there could be more enforcement action to come.Meanwhile, crews continue clearing debris from the fallen structure.Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had opened an investigation into the collapse.An initial investigation by the Building Department noted that all three floors of the garage partially or completely collapsed. The garage’s rear wall partially collapsed, and the front facade bulged.Enterprise Ann Parking, which operated the garage on Ann Street, said it was cooperating with authorities on the probe.Two decades ago, city inspectors cited the property owner for failing to properly maintain the building, finding at the time that there were “cracks and defects” in the concrete. A more recent inspection in fall 2013 showed no further structural issues, according to an update the Building Department provided Wednesday.The garage caved at around 4 p.m. Tuesday, a few blocks from City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge, just as patrons were beginning to return to the garage after work.The collapse shook nearby buildings and terrified people who likened the sound to a massive explosion and the experience to a violent earthquake.

nyc-shutters-more-parking-garages-after-deadly-collapse

 Cars are seen piled on top of each other at the scene of a partial collapse of a parking garage in the Financial District of New York, April 18, 2023, in New York.

“This work was done in the interest of public safety, and out of an abundance of caution.”

NYC Shutters More Parking Garages After Deadly Collapse  

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Sacramento Kings challenged themselves to play with the very identity that got them this far in the first place: Push the ball in transition, make all the hustle plays, defend with fury.When Stephen Curry came through on a big 3-pointer or driving layup, the Kings delivered to maintain momentum. Time and again they quieted a raucous crowd counting on celebrating another victorious playoff series.Not just yet, Dub Nation. Coach Mike Brown's Kings are determined to do more in their return to the postseason stage — they want to Light the Beam back home in California's capital.Malik Monk scored 28 points, De’Aaron Fox added 26 points and 11 assists, and the playoff-newcomer Kings staved off elimination in their first-round playoff series by beating Curry and the Golden State Warriors 118-99 on Friday night in Game 6.Now, a winner-takes-all Game 7 is back in Sacramento on Sunday afternoon.“It's a big opportunity,” Fox said.Rookie Keegan Murray scored 15 points with four 3-pointers and grabbed 12 rebounds for his first playoff double-double, and the No. 3-seeded Kings withstood every scoring surge the defending champions made on their home court and shined in nearly every facet of this one with their special season on the line.Kevin Huerter, struggling with his shot all series — 20 of 52 coming into the game — hit a 3 with 6:23 to go and another with 4:58 left as Sacramento gave its fans at least one more chance to cheer these upstart Kings."This is exactly what I expected and I expect a little bit more from both teams in Golden 1," Monk said. “We're going to be prepared.”Curry scored 29, Klay Thompson 22 and Kevon Looney pulled down 13 more rebounds to give him an NBA-leading 85 this postseason. He was coming off a career-high 22 rebounds in a Game 5 win at Golden 1 Center.But the Kings, in the postseason for the first time since 2006, answered almost every big play by Golden State in the third quarter and capitalized on regular miscues. They outhustled the Warriors to the boards.“I thought we played hard but we didn’t play smart. We didn’t execute our game plan,” Looney said. “We know what we needed to do to win. All the small things, getting back in transition, the box-outs, the turnovers, different things like that, we didn’t execute.”The Kings led 90-80 heading into the final 12 minutes. Curry hit an early 3, only for Trey Lyles to connect moments later. When Curry drove for a layup the next possession, Monk made one of his own.Curry's 3 with 9:28 left got Golden State within 99-89 before Fox hit.Fox's first points came on a jumper with 2:18 left in the first on his first shot. He then scored again the next time down still dealing with a broken index finger on his shooting hand. He shot 10 for 18.Sacramento snapped a six-game losing streak on the Warriors' home floor, dating to a win on Feb. 25, 2020.“They came out with more force and more energy and they executed better. The right team won, that’s for sure," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "They came in and earned the victory. And now we’ve got to regroup and get ready for Game 7.”Lyles wound up with 12 points and 10 rebounds as others picked up the slack with Domantas Sabonis in foul trouble. The big man had seven points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 5:17 left.Fox had been frustrated with his poor fourth quarter in Wednesday's 123-116 defeat in which he went 0 for 6 from the field and was scoreless — the most shots he had ever taken in a final period without scoring.Draymond Green came off the bench for a third straight game and received a rousing standing ovation when checking in for the first time at the 6:26 mark of the opening quarter. He had 10 assists.Both teams took a while to warm up, with Sacramento starting 6 for 23 and Golden State 6 of 19.The Kings were unfazed.“We’ve had a great spirit, we have all year. We’ve responded all year,” Huerter said. “We didn’t lose faith. We knew we had a Game 7 back at home. We’re capable of winning in this building. Our offense has been asleep I think most of this series. We just know if we can get back to ourselves we could continue this series. We did that tonight. But our confidence never wavered.”TIP-INSKings: Sacramento's bench outscored the Warriors' reserves 52-21. ... The Kings were 4 of 16 to start from deep but finished 17 of 45. ... Sabonis suffered a cut under his left eye on a jump ball with Looney in the second quarter.Warriors: Curry missed three free throws, practically unheard of, as his team went 25 of 35 from the line. ... The Warriors gave up 23 points on their 19 turnovers. ... Green picked up his third foul at the 7:09 mark of the second quarter. ... Golden State is 8-3 in Game 6s dating back to their 2015 title run and 22-11 in close-out games.

sacramento-kings-past-warriors-118-99-to-force-game-7

Sacramento Kings guard De'Aaron Fox, center, tries to get past Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, right, during the first half of Game 6 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series in San Francisco, Friday, April 28, 2023.

Game 7 is back in Sacramento on Sunday afternoon.

Sacramento Kings Past Warriors 118-99 To Force Game 7

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas man went next door with a rifle and began shooting his neighbors, killing an 8-year-old and four others inside the house, after the family asked him to stop firing rounds in his yard because they were trying to sleep, authorities said Saturday.San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers told reporters at the scene that authorities were still searching for 39-year-old Francisco Oropeza following the overnight shooting in the town of Cleveland, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Houston. He said Oropeza used an AR-style rifle in the shooting.“Everyone that was shot was shot from the neck up, almost execution-style,” Capers said during an earlier news conference at the scene.Capers said there were 10 people in the house and that no one else was injured. He said two of the victims, all believed to be from Honduras, were found laying over two children inside.“The Honduran ladies that were laying over these children were doing it in such an effort as to protect the child,” according to Capers, who said a total of three children were found in the home but were determined to be uninjured after being taken to a hospital.Capers said two other people were examined at the scene and released.The confrontation followed family members walking up to the fence and asking the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said. The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, according to Capers, and that one person in the house got a video of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle.Three of the victims were women and one was a man. Their names were not released. Capers said the victims were between the ages of 8 and about 40 years old.Authorities have previously been to the suspect's home, according to Capers. “Deputies have come over and spoke with him about him shooting his gun in the yard,” he said.Capers said some of those in the house had just moved from Houston earlier in the week, but he did not know whether they were planning to stay there.The U.S. is on a record pace for mass killings this year, with at least 18 shootings since Jan. 1 that left four or more people dead. The violence is sparked by a range of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang retaliation; school shootings and workplace vendettas._____Associated Press writer Ken Miller contributed to this report.

texas-family-asks-neighbor-stop-firing-rounds-in-yard-he-attacks-them-5-lives-lost

Scene of a shooting early Saturday in Cleveland, Texas

As a small town mourns, Texas police are still on a manhunt for the suspect

Texas Family Asks Neighbor ‘Stop Firing Rounds’ In Yard, He Attacks Them, 5 Lives Lost

rise-in-life-threatening-brain-infections-in-children-puzzling

“We were wondering if the virus itself was causing some sort of inflammatory process that was allowing these bacteria to invade."

Researchers haven't ruled out the possibility that Covid itself may play a role. 

Rise In life-Threatening Brain Infections In Children, Puzzling?

CORDOVA, New Mexico (AP) — Ever since missionaries started building churches out of mud 400 years ago in what was the isolated frontier of the Spanish empire, tiny mountain communities like Cordova relied on their own resources to keep the faith going.Thousands of miles from religious and lay seats of power, everything from priests to sculptors to paint pigments was hard to come by. Villagers instituted lay church caretakers called “mayordomos,” and filled chapels with elaborate altarpieces made of local wood and varnished with pine sap.Today, threatened by depopulation, dwindling congregations and fading traditions, some of their descendants are fighting to save these historic adobe structures from literally crumbling back to the earth they were built with.“Our ancestors put blood and sweat in this place for us to have Jesus present. This is the root of my faith,” said Angelo Sandoval on a chilly spring day inside the 1830s church of St. Anthony, where he serves as mayordomo in his native Cordova. “We’re not just a church, we’re not just a religion – we have roots.”From the local dirt they’re made of to the generations of family memories they hold, these churches anchor a uniquely New Mexican way of life for their communities, many of which no longer have schools or stores, and struggle with chronic poverty and addiction.An estimated 500 Catholic mission churches remain in northern New Mexico, where the Rocky Mountains taper off into desert mesas to the west and endless plains to the east.It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find the necessary investment – hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus specialized conservation skills and families willing to serve as mayordomos – to preserve them, especially since most are used for only a few services each year.“It’s truly a labor of love,” said the Rev. Rob Yaksich, pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows in Las Vegas, New Mexico, which oversees 23 rural churches, most in adobe, spread over a large territory. “When the faithful generation is gone, are they going to be a museum or serve their purpose? This old, deep-rooted Spanish Catholicism is experiencing serious disruption.”Fidel Trujillo is mayordomo of the pink-stuccoed San José church in the hamlet of Ledoux where he grew up. With his wife and other family members, he keeps it spotless even though only two Masses per year are celebrated here regularly.“Our ‘antepasados’ (ancestors) did a tremendous job in handing over the faith, and it’s our job now,” Trujillo said in the characteristic mix of Spanish and English that many speak in this region. While he’s also active in the main parish in the nearby town of Mora, he brings his children, 6 and 4, as often as he can to San José.“This serves as a retreat and grounding for us,” he added. “I much prefer coming to these ‘capillas’ (chapels). It’s a compass that guides where your heart really belongs.”Each mission church is devoted to a particular saint, for whom the community develops special veneration. When New Mexico’s largest wildfire last spring charred forests close to the San José church, and Trujillo was displaced for a month, he took the statue of St. Joseph with him.In the small town of Bernalillo, Catholic faithful have kept a vow to St. Lawrence for more than 300 years that includes one family each year setting up an altar with his image in their home – and making it available 24/7 to anyone who wants to pray.“They have knocked at my door at 2 a.m. and I’ve let them in,” said mayordoma Barbara Finley.Her home is near the historic adobe Santuario de San Lorenzo, which the community fought to keep even though a larger church was built next door.“Four hundred years ago, life was very difficult in this part of the world, the remote inland frontier of the Spanish empire,” explained Felix López, a master “santero” – the artists who sculpt, paint and conserve saint figures in New Mexico’s unique devotional style, born of historical isolation. “People needed these ‘santos.’ They were a source of comfort and refuge.”In intervening centuries, most were stolen, sold or damaged, according to Bernadette Lucero, director, curator and archivist for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, which has inventories of its hundreds of churches since the 1600s.But how much these expressive sculptures and paintings still matter to local communities is evident where they survive in original form, as they do at the mission churches in Cordova, Truchas and Las Trampas on the mountain road from Santa Fe to Taos.“Saints are the spiritual go-to; they can be highly powerful,” said Victor Goler, a master santero who just completed conserving the altarpieces, or “reredos,” in Las Trampas’ mid-18th century church. “It’s important for the community to have a connection. Their feeling is a lot deeper and that’s what keeps it going.”On a recent Sunday at Truchas’ 1760s Holy Rosary church, López pointed out the rich decorative details that centuries of smoke and grime had hidden until he meticulously removed them with the absorbent inside of sourdough bread.“I’m a devout Catholic, and I do this as meditation, as a form of prayer,” said López, who’s been a santero for five decades and whose family hails from this village perched on a ridge at 7,000 feet (2,100 meters).A few miles down the valley in Cordova, Jerry Sandoval – another santero and the mayordomo’s uncle — says a prayer to each saint before starting to sculpt their image out of pine, cottonwood or aspen. He then paints them with natural pigments – purple is made of crushed bugs, for example – and varnishes them with the sap of piñon, the stocky pine tree that dots the countryside.He also helped conserve the colorful, centuries-old reredos at the local church, where many children come back for traditional Christmas and Easter prayers – giving both Sandovals hope that the younger generations will learn to be attached to their church.“They see all this,” Jerry Sandoval said in front of the richly decorated altarpieces from St. Anthony church. “Lots of people call it tradition, but we call it faith.”For the Rev. Sebastian Lee, who as administrator of the popular Santuario de Chimayó complex a few miles away also oversees these mission churches, fostering local attachment is a daunting challenge as congregations shrink even faster since the COVID-19 pandemic.“I want missions to be where people can taste culture and religiosity. They’re very healing, you’re soaked with people’s faith,” Lee said as pilgrims filed past his tiny adobe-walled office into the main sanctuary at Chimayó. “I wonder how to help them, because sooner or later one mission is not going to have enough people.”The archdiocese’s Catholic Foundation provides small grants, and several organizations have been founded to help conservation efforts.Frank Graziano hopes his non-profit Nuevo Mexico Profundo, which supported the Cordova conservation, can obtain the necessary permit from the archdiocese to restore the 1840s church of San Geronimo. Deep cracks break apart its adobe walls and bug nests buzz in a gaping hole by one of the windows.The surrounding village, in a wide valley in the shadow of Hermit Peak, is almost entirely depopulated, making it unlikely that the community will step in for the necessary upkeep. Exposed to rain and snow, adobe needs a fresh replastering of dirt, sand and straw every couple of years lest it dissolve.That makes local buy-in and some kind of ongoing activity, even just funerals, fundamental to long-term preservation, said Jake Barrow, program director at Cornerstones, which has worked on more than 300 churches and other structures.When volunteers started fundraising for the mission in Truchas, the community suspected it would be turned into an art gallery, said mayordoma Aggie Vigil. They came around when she shared the dream to make the old adobe church, then unstable and infested with gophers, viable for Mass again.But with fewer priests and fewer faithful, taking some rural missions off the church’s roster might be inevitable, said the Rev. Andy Pavlak, who serves on the archdiocese’s commission for preservation of historic churches.“We have two choices: Either return to the community, or back to the earth they came from. We can’t save them all,” said Pavlak, who for nearly a decade ministered to 10 churches in Socorro County, the oldest from 1615. “The adobe is made from the earth. Adam and Eve were made from the earth. We’re all going to the earth. How do we do it with dignity?”Running his hand over the smooth adobe walls he restored at the 1880s Santo Niño de Atocha chapel in Monte Aplanado, a hamlet nestled in a high mountain valley, Leo Paul Pacheco argued that the answer might hinge on the faith of lay people like him.He and his son belong to one of the many brotherhoods, known as “penitentes” for their devotion to penance and prayer for souls in purgatory, that historians credit with fulfilling the church’s role of religious and social work when frontier dangers kept priests away.The brothers still help set a model as their county struggles with unemployment and the drug crisis, Pacheco said. “We lift our community in prayer. What we do is to highlight and share aspects of community that bring bonds.”Longer term, it will be up to future generations to leverage their faith to save these historic churches.“They still have access to the same dirt,” Pacheco said as the adobe walls’ sand particles and straw sparkled in the sun. “They will provide.”

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An exterior view of the San Jose de Gracia Catholic Church, built in 1760, in Las Trampas, New Mexico, Friday, April 14, 2023.