BOSTON (AP) — In the latest in series of Trump administration inquiries targeting Harvard University, the State Department said Wednesday it is investigating whether the Ivy League school will remain part of a government program that provides American visas for students and researchers from other countries.

Harvard has faced mounting sanctions and scrutiny from Washington since rejecting demands from a federal antisemitism task force in April. Harvard has filed a lawsuit challenging $2.6 billion in federal cuts and has accused the Republican administration of waging a retaliation campaign.

The statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not say why his department was examining Harvard’s eligibility to take part in the Exchange Visitor Program, which allows foreign nationals to study or work in the United States through cultural and education exchange programs.

It said all sponsors, such as Harvard, “are required to fully comply with exchange visitor regulations, transparency in reporting, and a demonstrated commitment to fostering the principles of cultural exchange and mutual understanding upon which the program was founded.”

A spokesman for Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The department said the investigation will seek to ensure that its programs “do not run contrary to our nation’s interests.”

The administration also has tried several times to prevent the school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from hosting foreign students, and President Donald Trump has threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

Last month, his administration issued a finding that Harvard tolerated antisemitism, a step that could jeopardize all of Harvard’s federal funding, including student loans or grants. The penalty is typically referred to as a “death sentence.”

Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, has said the university has made changes to combat antisemitism and will not submit to the administration’s demands.

---

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By JESSICA DAMIANO

As home gardeners become more educated about the benefits of native plants (supporting native insects, birds and wildlife, and the environment as a whole), the focus has mainly been on trees, shrubs and perennials.

Native annuals have somehow gotten lost in the shuffle, likely because most of them aren’t readily available at the garden center. And most of the annuals (and tender perennials treated as annuals) that ARE sold in local nurseries are introduced species from faraway places. As such, they don’t provide much benefit to the local ecosystem.

Native insects have evolved along with native plants, so they recognize them as food. Filling a garden with exotic plants essentially creates a food desert, which can have dire consequences that range from fewer insect pollinators and birds to diminishing food crops and, eventually, livestock.

We know that using native plants of all types can help prevent a plethora of environmental problems. They’re also easier to care for because they’re naturally adapted to local conditions and are generally drought-tolerant.

Unfortunately, most home gardeners don’t know about or have access to native annuals. I hope that changes.

The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, based in Austin, Texas, has a wonderful online plant database that allows users to search native plants by state, lifecycle, bloom time and other criteria. (It’s at www.wildflower.org.)

Consider asking your local nursery to stock them.

Here are some favorite native annuals.

7 Native annuals worth adding to the garden

Partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata), which is native from Massachusetts south to northern Florida and west to Minnesota, eastern Nebraska, Oklahoma and eastern Texas, is sadly underused. The lovely 1-to-3-foot-tall plant, which produces clusters of 1-inch-wide yellow flowers on tall, slender stems, thrives in both sun and part shade. A member of the legume family, it also releases nitrogen into the soil, which provides a natural and free fertilizer for itself and the other plants in the bed.

American basket flower (Plectocephalus americanus) has a native range that spans west from Missouri to Kansas, then south to Louisiana, Texas and into Mexico. The plant, which boasts 4-inch, honey-scented, lavender-to-pinkish-purple flowers with creamy centers, thrives in full sun to part shade.

Forked Bluecurls (Trichostema dichotomum) are delicate flowers that remind me a bit of Dutch irises. Growing to just over 2 feet tall, the late-summer bloomer is native to Michigan, Missouri and Texas east to the Atlantic coast, from Maine to Florida.

A better-known U.S. native is the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), which, as its name implies, is native to California and Baja California. It grows up to 2 feet tall, sending up thin stems that each hold a single yellow-orange flower.

Many sunflowers are North American natives, and some of those are perennials. But the Helianthus annus species, known as common or annual sunflower, is a native annual. Originating in Manitoba, Canada, and Minnesota, south to Texas and west from Oregon to Baja California, Mexico, the multi-branched, bushy plant becomes covered in yellow flowers with maroon centers in summer.

Indian blanket flower (Gaillardia pulchella) is another U.S. native annual that I’ve seen at the nursery. They’re not native to my home state of New York, however, but rather native from western South Dakota to Kansas and Louisiana and west to Colorado and Arizona. The 2-foot-tall plants put forth daisy-like, red-petaled flowers with yellow tips.

Impatiens capensis (Orange jewelweed) should not be confused with the widely available Impatiens walleriana, which comes to us from eastern Africa, or Impatiens hawkeri (New Guinea Impatiens), which is native to the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. Instead, this North American beauty has a native range that covers Saskatchewan to Newfoundland, Canada, then extends south to Georgia, west to Oklahoma and northward to Missouri. Great for shady spots, its speckled orange flowers are a favorite of hummingbirds, bees and butterflies.

Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.

PARIS (AP) — With the support of international partners and the mobilization of $115 million, the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO recently helped rebuild the Iraqi city of Mosul after it was devastated by the Islamic State group.

The restoration of the historic city’s iconic Al-Nouri Mosque and Al-Hadba Minaret was just one of many programs run by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which is in the spotlight because the United States is leaving it once again.

The decision to pull U.S. funding and participation from UNESCO will deal a blow to its work preserving cultural heritage around the world. President Donald Trump exited the agency during his first term, accusing it of promoting anti-Israel speech. The Biden administration had rejoined UNESCO in 2023 after citing concerns that China was filling the gap left by the U.S. in UNESCO policymaking.

Beyond the diplomatic disputes, here’s a look at the work that UNESCO does:

World Heritage Sites

UNESCO names World Heritage sites, including landmarks like the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids, the Taj Mahal and the Statue of Liberty, and gives them special protection under its World Heritage Sites program.

Its World Heritage Committee each year designates sites considered “of outstanding value to humanity” and intervenes when sites are in danger of destruction or damage. The program provides countries with technical assistance and professional training to preserve the sites.

It now also includes “intangible” heritage such as folk songs and traditional dances, crafts and cooking in its lists. A World Heritage site designation is coveted and seen as a boost to tourism.

Holocaust Education

Like the rest of the U.N., UNESCO was created in response to the horrors of World War II, and particularly Nazi crimes. Amid concerns that the agency’s Arab members have used UNESCO to pass anti-Israel resolutions, UNESCO has worked in recent years on Holocaust awareness projects. That includes educational materials and organizing visits to former Nazi concentration camps.

Empowering Girls

UNESCO works to improve literacy, with a special focus on girls in countries hit by war or disasters who get little or no schooling though programs such as the Malala Fund for Girls’ Right to Education. In Tanzania, for instance, over 2,500 girls benefited from the creation of safe spaces in 40 secondary schools, The agency provides teacher training and materials and encourages programs for girls to pursue careers in science.

Climate Change

One of the agency’s goals is coordinating climate knowledge and improving international education about how global warming occurs and affects people around the world. Over 30 UNESCO programs are designed to help its members adapt to climate change and favor sustainable development.

Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

UNESCO adopted in 2021 what it calls “the first and only global standard-setting instrument on the ethics of artificial intelligence.” Applying to all 194 member states, the recommendation emphasizes the protection of human rights and dignity, grounded in principles like transparency, fairness, and human oversight of AI systems.

Operating without the U.S.

UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay said the U.S. decision to leave was expected and that the agency has prepared for it. While the U.S. had previously provided a notable share of the agency’s budget, UNESCO has diversified its funding sources.

“Thanks to the efforts made by the organization since 2018, the decreasing trend in the financial contribution of the US has been offset, so that it now represents 8% of the organization’s total budget compared with 40% for some United Nations entities,” Azoulay said.

She added that the agency’s overall budget has increased and that it has the steady support of “a large number of member states and private contributors.”

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Spencer Horwitz, Bryan Reynolds and Tommy Pham each had three hits and two RBIs, and the Pittsburgh Pirates hit eight doubles in an 8-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.

Horwitz hit a two-run double in the second inning to open the scoring. The Pirates, who had lost 11 of their previous 12 games, have taken the first two games of the series from the AL Central leaders. Reynolds had RBI singles in the third and sixth and Pham doubled in a run in the sixth as the Pirates increased their lead to 8-3.

The Tigers have lost eight of their last nine games.

Mitch Keller (4-10) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings to win what could be his final start with the Pirates. The right-hander has been heavily rumored to be traded by the July 31 deadline.

David Bednar, another potential trade target, pitched a scoreless ninth for his 15th save in as many opportunities.

Casey Mize (9-4) was tagged for five runs (four earned) and 10 hits in four innings. Mize was pitching for the first time since making his first career All-Star Game appearance a week earlier.

Jake Rogers hit a three-run home run, his second of the season, in the fifth inning. Jahmai Jones added a two-run shot as a pinch-hitter in the eighth.

Tigers All-Star shortstop Javier Báez returned and was 1 for 4 after missing Monday night’s game with left shoulder soreness.

Key moment

The Tigers put runners on first and second with one out in the ninth before Bednar escaped the jam by striking out Wenceel Pérez and Riley Greene.

Key stat

Horwitz, Pham and Oneil Cruz became the first Pirates trio to have two doubles in a game since 2002.

Up next

The series concludes Wednesday with the Tigers planning to call up RHP Troy Melton from Triple-A Toledo for his major league debut, facing LHP Bailey Falter (6-5, 4.00 ERA).

— By JOHN PERROTTO, Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, July 23, the 204th day of 2025. There are 161 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On July 23, 1967, the first of five days of deadly rioting erupted in Detroit as an early morning police raid on an unlicensed bar resulted in a confrontation with local residents, escalating into violence that spread into other parts of the city and resulting in 43 deaths.

Also on this date:

In 1903, the Ford Motor Company sold its first car, a Model A, for $850.

In 1958, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II named the first four women to peerage in the House of Lords.

In 1982, actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were killed when a helicopter crashed on top of them during filming of a Vietnam War scene for “Twilight Zone: The Movie.” (Director John Landis and four associates were later acquitted of manslaughter charges.)

In 1983, an Air Canada Boeing 767 ran out of fuel while flying from Montreal to Edmonton; the pilots were able to glide the jetliner to a safe emergency landing in Gimli, Manitoba. (The near-disaster occurred because the fuel had been erroneously measured in pounds instead of kilograms at a time when Canada was converting to the metric system.)

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush announced his choice of Judge David Souter of New Hampshire to succeed the retiring Justice William J. Brennan on the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1996, at the Atlanta Olympics, Kerri Strug made a heroic final vault despite torn ligaments in her left ankle as the U.S. women gymnasts clinched their first-ever Olympic team gold medal.

In 1997, the search for Andrew Cunanan, the suspected killer of designer Gianni Versace and others, ended as police found his body on a houseboat in Miami Beach, an apparent suicide.

In 1999, the space shuttle Columbia blasted off with the world’s most powerful X-ray telescope and Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a U.S. space flight.

In 2003, Massachusetts’ attorney general issued a report saying clergy members and others in the Boston Archdiocese had probably sexually abused more than 1,000 people over a period of six decades.

In 2006, Tiger Woods became the first player since Tom Watson in 1982-83 to win consecutive British Open titles.

In 2011, singer Amy Winehouse, 27, was found dead in her London home from accidental alcohol poisoning.

In 2012, Penn State’s football program was all but leveled by penalties for its handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal as the NCAA imposed an unprecedented $60 million fine, a four-year ban from postseason play and a cut in the number of football scholarships it could award.

In 2019, Boris Johnson won the contest to lead Britain’s governing Conservative Party, putting him in line to become the country’s prime minister the following day.

In 2021, Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team, known as the Indians since 1915, announced that it would get a new name, the Guardians, at the end of the 2021 season; the change came amid a push for institutions and teams to drop logos and names that were considered racist.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is 89.
• Actor Ronny Cox is 87.
• Rock singer David Essex is 78.
• Actor Woody Harrelson is 64.
• Rock musician Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) is 64.
• Actor & director Eriq Lasalle is 63.
• Rock musician Slash is 60.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton is 57.
• Model-actor Stephanie Seymour is 57.
• Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia is 56.
• Actor Charisma Carpenter is 55.
• Country singer Alison Krauss is 54.
• R&B singer Dalvin DeGrate (Jodeci) is 54.
• Actor-comedian Marlon Wayans is 53.
• Actor Kathryn Hahn is 52.
• Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky is 52.
• Actor Stephanie March is 51.
• R&B singer Michelle Williams is 46.
• Actor Paul Wesley is 43.
• Actor Daniel Radcliffe is 36.

By LAURIE KELLMAN

History, it has been said, is written by the winners. President Donald Trump is working that lever of power — again.

This time, he’s insisting that Washington’s NFL team change its name from the Commanders back to the Redskins, a name that was considered offensive to Native Americans. Predictably, to Trump’s stated delight, an internet uproar ensued.

It’s a return to the president’s favorite rebranding strategy, one well-used around the world and throughout history. Powers-that-be rename something — a body of water, a mountain in Alaska, St. Petersburg, Istanbul, Mumbai, various places in Israel after 1948 — in line with “current” political and cultural views. Using names to tell a leader’s own version of the nation’s story is a perk of power that Trump is far from the first to enjoy.

A name, after all, defines identity and even reality because it is connected to the verb “to be,“ says one brand strategist.

“A parent naming a child, a founder naming a company, a president naming a place … in each example, we can see the relationship of power,” Shannon Murphy, who runs Nameistry, a naming agency that works with companies and entrepreneurs to develop brand identities, said in an email. “Naming gives you control.”

Trump reignited a debate on football and American identity

In Trump’s case, reviving the debate over the Washington football team’s name had the added effect of distraction.

“My statement on the Washington Redskins has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way,” he wrote on his social media platform, adding a threat to derail the team’s deal for a new stadium if it resisted.

In fact, part of the reaction came from people noting that Trump’s proposed renaming came as he struggled to move past a rebellion among his supporters over the administration’s refusal to release much-hyped records in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation. Over about two weeks, Trump had cycled through many tactics — downplaying the issue, blaming others, scolding a reporter, insulting his own supporters, suing the Wall Street Journal and finally authorizing the Justice Department to try to unseal grand jury transcripts.

Trump’s demand that the NFL and the District of Columbia change the team’s name back to a dictionary definition of a slur against Native Americans reignited a brawl in miniature over race, history and the American identity.

Trump’s reelection itself can be seen as a response to the nation’s reckoning with its racial history after the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. That year, Americans elected Democratic President Joe Biden, who championed diversity. During his term, Washington’s football team became first the Washington Football Team, then the Commanders, at a widely estimated cost in the tens of millions of dollars. And in 2021, The Cleveland Indians became the Cleveland Guardians.

In 2025, Trump has ordered a halt to diversity, equity and inclusion programs through the federal government, universities and schools, despite legal challenges. And he wants the Commanders’ name changed back, though it’s unclear if he has the authority to restrict the nearly $4 billion project.

Is Trump’s ‘Redskins’ push a distraction or a power play?

What’s clear is that names carry great power where business, national identity, race, history and culture intersect.

Trump has had great success for decades branding everything from buildings he named after himself to the Gulf between Mexico, Cuba and the United States to his political opponents and people he simply doesn’t like. Exhibit A: Florida’s governor, dubbed by Trump “Meatball Ron” DeSantis, who challenged him for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

And Trump is not the first leader to use monikers and nicknames — branding, really — to try to define reality and the people who populate it. Naming was a key tool of colonization that modern-day countries are still trying to dislodge. “Naming,” notes one expert, “is never neutral.”

“To name is to collapse infinite complexity into a manageable symbol, and in that compression, whole worlds are won or lost,“ linguist Norazha Paiman wrote last month on Medium.

”When the British renamed places throughout India or Africa, they weren’t just updating maps,” Paiman wrote. “They were restructuring the conceptual frameworks through which people could relate to their own territories.”

This is not Trump’s first rebranding push

Trump’s order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America is perhaps the best-known result of Executive Order 14172, titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.”

The renaming sent mapmakers, search engines and others into a flurry over whether to change the name. And it set off a legal dispute with The Associated Press over First Amendment freedoms that is still winding through the courts. The news outlet’s access to events in the Oval Office and Air Force One was cut back starting in February after the AP said it would continue referring to the Gulf of Mexico in its copy, while noting Trump’s wishes that it instead be renamed the Gulf of America.

It’s unclear if Trump’s name will stick universally — or go the way of “freedom fries,” a brief attempt by some in the George W. Bush-era GOP to rebrand french fries after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But there’s evidence that at least for business in some places, the “Gulf of America” terminology has staying power. Chevron’s earnings statements of late have referred to the Gulf of America, because “that’s the position of the U.S. government now,” CEO Mike Wirth said during a Jan. 31 call with investors.

And along the Gulf Coast in Republican Louisiana, leaders of the state’s seafood industry call the body of water the Gulf of America, in part, because putting that slogan on local products might help beat back the influx of foreign shrimp flooding American markets, the Louisiana Illuminator news outlet reported.

Renaming is a bipartisan endeavor

The racial reckoning inspired by Floyd’s killing rippled across the cultural landscape.

Quaker retired the Aunt Jemima brand after it had been served up at America’s breakfast tables for 131 years, saying it recognized that the character’s origins were “based on a racial stereotype.” Eskimo Pies became Edy’s. The Grammy-winning country band Lady Antebellum changed its name to Lady A, saying they were regretful and embarrassed that their former moniker was associated with slavery.

And Trump didn’t start the fight over football. Democratic President Barack Obama, in fact, told The Associated Press in 2013 that he would “think about changing” the name of the Washington Redskins if he owned the team.

Trump soon after posted to Twitter: “President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name-our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them, not nonsense.”

Fast-forward to July 20, 2025, when Trump posted that the Washington Commanders should change their name back to the Redskins.

“Times,” the president wrote, “are different now.”

By DIDI TANG

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a trip to China might be “not too distant,” raising prospects that the leaders of the world’s two largest economies may meet soon to help reset relations after moving to climb down from a trade war.

Trump made the remarks while hosting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House, where he praised the “fantastic military relationship” with Manila as the U.S. looks to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Yet, Trump still said the U.S. is “getting along with China very well. We have a very good relationship.” He added that Beijing has resumed shipping to the U.S. “record numbers” of much-needed rare earth magnets, which are used in iPhones and other high-tech products like electric vehicles.

Widely speculated about since Trump returned to the White House, a summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would be expected to stabilize — even for a short while — a difficult relationship defined by mistrust and competition.

Beijing believes a leader-level summit is necessary to steady U.S.-China relations and that Trump must be wooed because he has the final say on America’s policy toward China, despite more hawkish voices in his Cabinet, observers say.

The question, however, is when.

Danny Russel, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Trump has consistently shown his hunger for a visit to China and that Beijing has used that to bolster leverage.

“As soon as the leadership in Beijing is satisfied that Trump will be on his best behavior and will accept terms for a deal that they think are favorable, they will give a green light to the visit,” Russel said.

Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center, said a visit “is in the making” with two sides likely to strike a trade deal.

What Trump said might mean the visit would not be in September but “potentially November, but still depends on whether they play ball on trade and other things we want,” Sun said.

Trump’s campaign to impose tariffs on other countries kicked off a high-stake trade war with Beijing. China raised tariffs on U.S. goods to 125% in response to Trump’s hiking the tax on Chinese goods to 145%.

Both sides also imposed on each other harsh trade restrictions on critical products: China on rare earths, and the U.S. on computing chips and jet engine technology.

Trade tensions, however, eased following two rounds of high-level talks in Geneva and London, when the two sides agreed to lower tariffs — pending a more permanent deal by mid-August — and pull back on trade restrictions.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria” that he will be meeting with his Chinese counterparts in Stockholm next week to work on “what is likely an extension” of the Aug. 12 deadline.

“I think trade is in a very good place with China,” Bessent told host Maria Bartiromo. “Hopefully, we can see the Chinese pull back on some of this glut of manufacturing that they’re doing and concentrate on building a consumer economy.”

He said he also expects to bring up China’s purchases of Russian and Iranian oil and Beijing’s role in aiding Moscow in its war against Ukraine.

Beijing has not announced any travel plans for Vice Premier He Lifeng, who led trade negotiations in both Geneva and London on behalf of the Chinese government, but it is not unusual for China to make such announcements closer to a travel date.

In a possible friendly gesture, Beijing on Tuesday said it suspended an antitrust investigation into chemical maker DuPont’s operations in China. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation made the announcement in a one-line statement but gave no explanation for the decision.

DuPont said in a statement that it is “pleased” with China’s action.

Chinese regulators launched the investigation in April against DuPont China Group, a subsidiary of the chemical giant, as part of Beijing’s broad, retaliatory response to Trump’s sky-high tariffs.

Beijing also has agreed to approve export permits for rare earth elements and rare earth magnets that U.S. manufacturers need to build cars, robots, wind turbines and other high-tech products. The U.S. has eased restrictions on some advanced chips and other technologies.

Associated Press writers Josh Boak and Fu Ting in Washington contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University announced disciplinary action Tuesday against students who participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration inside the Ivy League school’s main library before final exams in May and an encampment during alumni weekend last year.

A student activist group said nearly 80 students were told they have been suspended for one to three years or expelled. The sanctions issued by a university judicial board also include probation and degree revocations, Columbia said in a statement.

The action comes as the Manhattan university is negotiating with President Donald Trump’s administration to restore $400 million in federal funding it has withheld from the Ivy League school over its handling of student protests against the war in Gaza. The administration pulled the funding, canceling grants and contracts, in March because of what it described as the university’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.

Columbia has since agreed to a series of demands laid out by the Republican administration, including overhauling the university’s student disciplinary process and adopting a new definition of antisemitism.

“Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community,” the university said Tuesday. “And to create a thriving academic community, there must be respect for each other and the institution’s fundamental work, policies, and rules. Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and Rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences.”

It did not disclose the names of the students who were disciplined.

Columbia in May said it would lay off nearly 180 staffers and scale back research in response to the loss of funding. Those receiving nonrenewal or termination notices represent about 20% of the employees funded in some manner by the terminated federal grants, the university said.

A student activist group said the newly announced disciplinary action exceeds sentencing precedent for prior protests. Suspended students would be required to submit apologies in order to be allowed back on campus or face expulsion, the group said, something some students will refuse to do.

“We will not be deterred. We are committed to the struggle for Palestinian liberation,” Columbia University Apartheid Divest said in a statement.

Columbia was at the forefront of U.S. campus protests over the war in spring 2024. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up an encampment and seized a campus building in April, leading to dozens of arrests and inspiring a wave of similar protests nationally.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has cut funding to several top U.S. universities he viewed as too tolerant of antisemitism.

The administration has also cracked down on individual student protesters. Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident with no criminal record, was detained in March over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. He is now suing the Trump administration, alleging he was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an antisemite.

The post Ozzy Osbourne, who led Black Sabbath and became the godfather of heavy metal, dies at 76 appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

Ozzy Osbourne, the gloomy, demon-invoking lead singer of the pioneering band Black Sabbath who became the throaty, growling voice — and drug-and-alcohol ravaged id — of heavy metal, died Tuesday, just weeks after his farewell show. He was 76.

“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time,” a family statement said. In 2020, he revealed he had Parkinson’s disease after suffering a fall.

Either clad in black or bare-chested, the singer was often the target of parents’ groups for his imagery and once caused an uproar for biting the head off a bat. Later, he would reveal himself to be a doddering and sweet father on the reality TV show “The Osbournes.”

Black Sabbath’s 1969 self-titled debut LP has been likened to the Big Bang of heavy metal. It came during the height of the Vietnam War and crashed the hippie party, dripping menace and foreboding. The cover of the record was of a spooky figure against a stark landscape. The music was loud, dense and angry, and marked a shift in rock ’n’ roll.

The band’s second album, “Paranoid,” included such classic metal tunes as “War Pigs,” “Iron Man” and “Fairies Wear Boots.” The song “Paranoid” only reached No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became in many ways the band’s signature song. Both albums were voted among the top 10 greatest heavy metal albums of all time by readers of Rolling Stone magazine.

“Black Sabbath are the Beatles of heavy metal. Anybody who’s serious about metal will tell you it all comes down to Sabbath,” Dave Navarro of the band Jane’s Addiction wrote in a 2010 tribute in Rolling Stone. “There’s a direct line you can draw back from today’s metal, through Eighties bands like Iron Maiden, back to Sabbath.”

Sabbath fired Osbourne in 1979 for his legendary excesses, like showing up late for rehearsals and missing gigs. “We knew we didn’t really have a choice but to sack him because he was just so out of control. But we were all very down about the situation,” wrote bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler in his memoir, “Into the Void.”

Osbourne reemerged the next year as a solo artist with “Blizzard of Ozz” and the following year’s “Diary of a Madman,” both hard rock classics that went multi-platinum and spawned enduring favorites such as “Crazy Train,” “Goodbye to Romance,” “Flying High Again” and “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll.” Osbourne was twice inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — once with Sabbath in 2006 and again in 2024 as a solo artist.

The original Sabbath lineup reunited for the first time in 20 years in July 2025 in the U.K. for what Osborne said would be his final concert. “Let the madness begin!” he told 42,000 fans.

Metallica, Guns N Roses, Slayer, Tool, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Lamb of God, Halestorm, Anthrax, Rival Sons and Mastodon did sets. Tom Morello, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Billy Corgan, Ronnie Wood, Travis Barker, Sammy Hagar, Andrew Watt, Yungblud, Korn’s Jonathan Davis, Nuno Bettencourt, Chad Smith and Vernon Reid made appearances. Actor Jason Momoa was the host for the festivities.

“Black Sabbath: we’d all be different people without them, that’s the truth,” said Pantera singer Phil Anselmo. “I know I wouldn’t be up here with a microphone in my hand without Black Sabbath.”

Osbourne embodied the excesses of metal. His outlandish exploits included relieving himself on the Alamo, snorting a line of ants off a sidewalk and, most memorably, biting the head off a live bat that a fan threw onstage during a 1981 concert. (He said he thought it was rubber.)

Osbourne was sued in 1987 by parents of a 19-year-old teen who died by suicide while listening to his song “Suicide Solution.” The lawsuit was dismissed. Osbourne said the song was really about the dangers of alcohol, which caused the death of his friend Bon Scott, lead singer of AC/DC.

Then-Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York claimed in 1990 that Osbourne’s songs led to demonic possession and even suicide. “You are ignorant about the true meaning of my songs,” the singer wrote back. “You have also insulted the intelligence of rock fans all over the world.”

Audiences at Osbourne shows could be mooned or spit on by the singer. They would often be hectored to scream along with the song, but the Satan-invoking Osbourne would usually send the crowds home with their ears ringing and a hearty “God bless!”

He started an annual tour — Ozzfest — in 1996 after he was rejected from the lineup of what was then the top touring music festival, Lollapalooza. Ozzfest has gone on to host such bands as Slipknot, Tool, Megadeth, Rob Zombie, System of a Down, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.

Osbourne’s look changed little over his life. He wore his long hair flat, heavy black eye makeup and round glasses, often wearing a cross around his neck. In 2013, he reunited with Black Sabbath for the dour, raw “13,” which reached No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart and peaked at No. 86 on the U.S. Billboard 200. In 2019, he had a Top 10 hit when featured on Post Malone’s “Take What You Want,” Osbourne’s first song in the Top 10 since 1989.

In 2020, he released the album “Ordinary Man,” which had as its title song a duet with Elton John. “I’ve been a bad guy, been higher than the blue sky/And the truth is I don’t wanna die an ordinary man,” he sang. In 2022, he landed his first career back-to-back No. 1 rock radio singles from his album “Patient Number 9,” which featured collaborations with Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Mike McCready, Chad Smith, Robert Trujillo and Duff McKagan. It earned four Grammy nominations.

At the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2024, Jack Black called him “greatest frontman in the history of rock and roll” and “the Jack Nicholson of rock.” Osbourne thanked his fans, his guitarist Randy Rhoads and his longtime wife, Sharon.

ohn Michael Osbourne was raised in the gritty city of Birmingham, England. Kids in school nicknamed him Ozzy, short for his surname. As a boy, he loved the Four Seasons, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. The Beatles made a huge impression.

“They came from Liverpool, which was approximately 60 miles north of where I come from,” he told Billboard. “So all of a sudden it was in my grasp, but I never thought it would be as successful as it became.”

In the late 1960s, Osbourne had teamed up with Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward as the Polka Tulk Blues Band. They decided to rename the band Earth, but found to their dismay there was another band with that name. So they changed the name to the American title of the classic Italian horror movie “I Tre Volti Della Paura,” starring Boris Karloff: Black Sabbath.

Once they found their sludgy, ominous groove, the band was productive, putting out their self-titled debut and “Paranoid” in 1970, “Master of Reality” in 1971, “Vol. 4” in 1972 and “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” in 1973.

The music was all about industrial guitar riffs and disorienting changes in time signatures, along with lyrics that spoke of alienation and doom. “People think I’m insane because I am frowning all the time,” Osbourne sang in one song. “All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy/Think I’ll lose my mind if I don’t find something to pacify.”

The Guardian newspaper in 2009 said the band “introduced working-class anger, stoner sludge grooves and witchy horror-rock to flower power. Black Sabbath confronted the empty platitudes of the 1960s and, along with Altamont and Charles Manson, almost certainly helped kill off the hippy counterculture.”

After Sabbath, Osbourne had an uncanny knack for calling some of the most creative young guitarists to his side. When he went solo, he hired the brilliant innovator Rhoads, who played on two of Osbourne’s finest solo albums, “Blizzard of Ozz” and “Diary of a Madman.” Rhoads was killed in a freak plane accident in 1982; Osbourne released the live album “Tribute” in 1987 in his memory.

Osbourne then signed Jake E. Lee, who lent his talents to the platinum albums “Bark at the Moon” and “The Ultimate Sin.” Hotshot Zakk Wylde joined Osbourne’s band for “No Rest for the Wicked” and the multiplatinum “No More Tears.”

“They come along, they sprout wings, they blossom, and they fly off,” Osbourne said of his players in 1995 to The Associated Press. “But I have to move on. To get a new player now and again boosts me on.”

Whomever he was playing with, Osbourne wasn’t likely to back down from controversy. He had the last laugh when the TV evangelist the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart in 1986 lambasted various rock groups and rock magazines as “the new pornography,” prompting some retailers to pull Osbourne’s album.

When Swaggart later was caught with a sex worker in 1988, Osbourne put out the song “Miracle Man” about his foe: “Miracle man got busted/miracle man got busted,” he sang. “Today I saw a Miracle Man, on TV cryin’/Such a hypocritical man, born again, dying.”

Much later, a whole new Osbourne would be revealed when “The Osbournes,” which ran on MTV from 2002-2005, showed this one-time self-proclaimed madman drinking Diet Cokes as he struggled to find the History Channel on his new satellite television or warning his kids not to smoke or drink before they embarked on a night on the town.

Later, he and his son Jack toured America on the travel show “Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour,” where the pair visited such places as Mount Rushmore and the Space Center Houston. Osbourne was honored in 2014 with the naming of a bat frog found in the Amazon that makes high pitched, batlike calls. It was dubbed Dendropsophus ozzyi.

He also met Queen Elizabeth II during her Golden Jubilee weekend. He was standing next to singer-actor Cliff Richard. “She took one look at the two of us, said ‘Oh, so this is what they call variety, is it?’ then cracked up laughing. I honestly thought that Sharon had slipped some acid into my cornflakes that morning,” he wrote in “I Am Ozzy.”

Osbourne met Sharon, who became her own celebrity persona, when she was running her father’s Los Angeles office. Her father was Don Arden, a top concert promoter and artist manager. She went to Osbourne’s hotel in Los Angeles to collect money, which Osbourne had spent on drugs.

“She says she’ll come back in three days and I’d better have it. I’d always fancied her and I thought, ‘Ah, she’s coming back! Maybe I have a chance.’ I had pizza hanging from my hair, cigarette ashes on my shirt,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2000. They married in 1982, and endured periodic separations and reconciliations.

He is survived by Sharon, and their three children — Kelly, Aimee and Jack.

Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson is rebuffing pressure to act on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, instead sending members home early for a month-long break from Washington after the week’s legislative agenda was upended by Republican members who are clamoring for a vote.

Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said Tuesday morning that he wants to give the White House “space” to release the Epstein information on its own, despite the bipartisan push for legislation that aims to force the release of more documents.

“There’s no purpose for the Congress to push an administration to do something they’re already doing,” Johnson said at his weekly press conference, his last before lawmakers depart Washington on Wednesday for their traditional August recess.

The speaker’s stance did little to alleviate the intra-party turmoil unfolding on Capitol Hill as many of President Donald Trump’s supporters demand that the administration meet its promises to publicly release a full accounting of the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein, who killed himself in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. Under pressure from right-wing online influencers, as well as voters back home, rank-and-file Republicans are demanding that the House intervene in the matter.

“The public’s not going to let this die, and rightfully so,” said Rep. Ralph Norman, a South Carolina Republican.

Johnson’s control of the House is under threat

The dynamic left Johnson with slipping control of his Republican conference and several crucial committees. Even before Johnson spoke Tuesday morning, a Republican-controlled subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight was advancing a resolution to subpoena Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, for a deposition.

Johnson decided to end the House’s legislative business early this week after he essentially lost control of the powerful House Rules Committee, which sends bills to the floor for debates and votes. Late Monday evening, business on that panel ground to a halt when the Republicans on the committee abruptly recessed proceedings rather than risk more proposals from Democrats pushing them to release Epstein files.

Republicans had teed up votes on legislation to increase penalties for migrants who enter the country illegally, to ease permitting for water infrastructure and to rollback several Biden-era regulations. But all of those bills were put on hold at least until after the August recess.

Frustration in the House has been running high since last week, when Republican leaders signaled possible support for a vote on the Epstein files as they raced to pass a $9 billion package of spending cuts. GOP leader unveiled a resolution that has no legal weight but would urge the Justice Department to produce more documentation. Trump, meanwhile, has asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of testimony from secret grand jury proceedings in the case, though that effort is unlikely to produce new revelations.

Echoing Trump’s position, Johnson insisted he, too, wants the files released, but only those that are “credible.” Johnson, who has relied heavily on Trump to hold onto leadership in the House, cast the president’s reticence to release information as out of concern for the victims of Epstein.

“We have a moral responsibility to expose the evil of Epstein and everybody who was involved in that — absolutely — and we’re resolved to do it,” Johnson said. “But we also have an equal moral responsibility to protect the innocent, and that is a fine needle to thread.”

A political wedge

Even with the month-long break, the pressure on Johnson is unlikely to end. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican whose contrarian stances are often a thorn in the side to leadership, is gathering support for a legislative maneuver to force the bipartisan bill to a House vote, even without leadership’s consent.

“Now, there are a lot of people here in the swamp who think that, ‘Oh, well, if we spend five weeks on vacation, the pressure for this will dissipate. I don’t think it’s going to dissipate.’” Massie told reporters Monday evening.

Democrats have watched it all unfold with glee and worked to inflame the conflict among Republicans by making their own calls for transparency on the Epstein investigation. They have repeatedly tried to force votes on the matter, casting it as an issue of trust in the government.

“It’s about transparency in government. It’s about whose side are you on? Are you on the side of the rich and powerful, protecting men? Or are you on the side of young girls and America’s children?” said Rep. Ro Khanna, the California Democrat who put forward the legislation alongside Massie.

Epstein sexually abused children hundreds of times over more than a decade, exploiting vulnerable girls as young as 14, authorities say. He couldn’t have done so without the help of Maxwell, his longtime companion, prosecutors contend.

Massie said the case is palpable enough to carry significant political consequences.

“This will be an issue that does follow Republicans through the midterms, and it will follow each individual Republican through the midterms. It will follow people into their primaries. Did you support transparency and justice, or did you come up here, get elected and fall into the swamp?” he told reporters.

He added, “I think it is a watershed moment for the speaker of the House and the president.”

By DAVID KLEPPER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — People with congestive heart failure, undergoing treatment for schizophrenia or who have a history of paraphilic disorders will no longer be eligible for a medical waiver to serve in the military, according to new rules issued by the Pentagon on Tuesday.

The guidance signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth updates a list of conditions that disqualify potential recruits from serving in the armed forces. The decision comes after the Pentagon announced earlier this year that it would ban transgender troops and review other medical conditions that are currently eligible for a waiver.

“America’s warfighters must be physically and mentally capable of performing their duties in the harshest of conditions,” Hegseth wrote in the memo announcing the changes. “Severe underlying medical conditions introduce significant risks on the battlefield and threaten not only mission priorities, but also the health and safety of the affected individual and their fellow service members.”

Waivers have long been used to enlist young people who might otherwise be unqualified for military service due to a wide array of medical, conduct or other reasons.

Most waivers are issued for medical conditions ranging from asthma, eyesight problems or skin disorders to more complex health conditions, such as past psychological illness or previous sports injuries that may have healed but still must be evaluated.

Prior to the new rules, heart failure, current treatment for schizophrenia and a history of paraphilic disorders — defined as a persistent sexual interest in atypical objects or activities — were among a long list of physical and mental health conditions in which waivers were allowed.

Multiple sclerosis, a history of cystic fibrosis, past organ transplants or a suicide attempt within the past 12 months also will be considered disqualifying conditions that make a person illegible for service.

The new rules list several conditions in which a waiver may only be granted by the secretary of a military branch. Those conditions include a missing eye, hand or foot, past corneal transplants, liver failure, kidney disease, past psychotic disorders or the presence of an implanted pacemaker or defibrillator.

The detailed rules governing which medical conditions quality for a waiver have come under greater scrutiny amid the Trump administration’s ban on transgender troops.

New rules required active duty troops as well as National Guard and Reserve troops to identify themselves as transgender and voluntarily leave the service or face involuntary separations.

By MEG KINNARD and DARLENE SUPERVILLE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, seen by some as the problem child of the Democratic Party for legal and drug-related woes that brought negative attention to his father, is lashing out against Democratic “elites” and others over the way he says his father was treated during last year’s presidential campaign.

Hunter Biden spoke publicly in recent interviews about last year’s election, when Joe Biden ultimately dropped his bid and Donald Trump won the White House. In a three-hour, expletive-filled online interview with Andrew Callaghan of Channel 5, he directed ire toward actor and Democratic Party donor George Clooney for his decision to call on the elder Biden to abandon his 2024 reelection bid.

He also ranted against longtime Democratic advisers he accused of making money off the party and trading off previous electoral successes, but not helping candidates’ current efforts.

The lengthy screed made plain the younger Biden’s feelings that his father was mistreated by those around him in the waning days of his candidacy and administration. He also laid bare critiques of the party’s operation and operatives that, he says, aren’t well-serving its opposition to Trump and the Republican Party.

Here’s a look at some of the moments in Hunter Biden’s interview:

He blasted George Clooney

Hunter Biden spared no feelings in his assessment of the actor, questioning why anyone should listen to the “Ocean’s Eleven” star.

Clooney supported Joe Biden’s bid for a second term, even headlining a record-setting fundraiser for the then-president, but changed his stance after Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump in June 2024.

Clooney made his feelings known in an opinion piece in The New York Times, adding his voice to mounting calls for the then-81-year-old president to drop his presidential bid. Biden ended up leaving the race a few weeks later and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, who went on to lose to Trump.

“What right do you have to step on a man who’s given 52 years of his f——— life to the services of this country and decide that you, George Clooney, are going to take out basically a full page ad in the f——— New York Times to undermine the president,” Hunter Biden said before he trailed off to talk about how Republicans are more unified than Democrats.

Los Angeles-based representatives for Clooney did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Screed against longtime Democratic advisers

There were also weighty critiques of a number of longtime Democratic advisers.

Anita Dunn, a longtime Biden senior adviser, has made “$40 to $50 million” off of work for the Democratic Party, Hunter Biden said. James Carville, adviser to former President Bill Clinton, “hasn’t run a race in 40 f——— years.”

Former Obama strategist David Axelrod, Hunter Biden said, “had one success in his political life, and that was Barack Obama — and that was because of Barack Obama.” Other former Obama aides who now host “Pod Save America,” are “four white millionaires that are dining out on their association with Barack Obama from 16 years ago,” he said.

One of the four, Tommy Vietor, Monday on social media applauded Hunter Biden’s decision “to process the election, look inward, and hold himself accountable for how his family’s insular, dare I say arrogant at times, approach to politics led to this catastrophic outcome we’re all now living with.”

In a message Tuesday, Axelrod told The Associated Press, “Never have the words ‘no comment’ felt more appropriate.” Dunn did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Biden’s debate performance and Ambien effects

As for the debate performance, the fallout from which ultimately led to the calls for his father to step down from the 2024 presidential campaign, Hunter Biden said his father may have been recovering from Ambien, a medication that he had been given to help him sleep following trips in the weeks before the debate to Europe, as well as the Los Angeles fundraiser at which Clooney said his interactions with Biden made him feel the president wasn’t mentally capable.

“He’s 81 years old, he’s tired as shit,” Hunter Biden said. “They give him Ambien to be able to sleep, and he gets up on the stage and he looks like he’s a deer in the headlights.”

A spokesperson for Joe Biden declined to comment on the interview.

Another podcast with Jaime Harrison

Hunter Biden also appeared Monday in an episode of “At Our Table,” a new podcast hosted by former Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison.

“Yeah, Joe Biden did get old. He got old before our eyes. … But you know what? A few changes does not mean that you do not have the mental capacity to be able to do your job.”

In that interview, Hunter Biden also talked about the calamitous presidential debate.

“And then they saw him at that debate. It was awful, and it was truly horrible,” he said, saying he was opposed to holding it, given Trump’s recent convictions on 34 felony charges in a New York hush money case.

To Harrison, Hunter Biden also addressed Clooney, saying, “I love George Clooney’s movies, but I don’t really give a s—- about what he thinks about who should be the nominee for the Democratic Party.”

Asked by Harrison about his father’s decision to quit the 2024 race, Hunter Biden said “I think that he could have won” but still made the right choice for Democrats broadly.”

“I know that it wasn’t a mistake in that moment,” Hunter Biden said, adding that his father “chose to save the party” over saving himself.

Why are these podcasts coming out now?

The podcast drops come just days ahead of the expected beginning of court proceedings in a Los Angeles federal court.

Hunter Biden is suing Patrick Byrne, alleging that the former CEO of Overstock.com falsely claimed that Hunter Biden was reaching out to the Iranian government in the fall of 2021 and offering to have his father Joe Biden “unfreeze” $8 billion in Iranian funds “in return for $800 million being funneled into a numbered account for us.”

In the waning days of his administration, Joe Biden pardoned his son, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.

The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move came weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before Trump returned to the White House.

Kinnard reported from Chapin, S.C., and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.

Follow the AP’s coverage of Hunter Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden.

By ANDREW DeMILLO

It took 40 years, but Pee-wee’s bike is now at the Alamo. Just not the basement.

The Alamo announced last week it had acquired and would display the iconic bike from the 1985 Tim Burton film, “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.”

The San Antonio landmark plays a key role in the film chronicling Pee-wee Herman’s search for his stolen bicycle when a devious fortuneteller tells him the bike is located in the Alamo’s basement. Pee-wee, played by the late Paul Reubens, learns the Alamo doesn’t have a basement, but hasn’t stopped tourists from tongue-in-cheek inquiries.

“It’s the most common question our guest services team hears is, ‘Where is the basement at the Alamo?’” said Jonathan Huhn, senior communications director for the Alamo Trust, Inc., the nonprofit organization that oversees the Alamo’s operations. “It’s an iconic piece of Alamo pop-culture history.”

The red-and-white bike — or as Pee-wee calls it in the movie, “the best bike in the whole world” — is adorned with streamers on the handlebars and a lion emblem at the front. Huhn said it was acquired from an auction in Los Angeles.

The bike will serve as a centerpiece in the Mays Family Legacy Gallery, which examines the the Alamo’s cultural impact, part of a new visitor center and museum slated to open in fall 2027. It will join other pop culture items including memorabilia from the 1960 movie about the Alamo that starred John Wayne.

“It’s really a pop culture bridge” that will bring people to learn about the Alamo’s history, Huhn said.

But before then, the bike will go on display for a limited time at the Ralston Family Collections Center. The Alamo also plans to host a free public screening of “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” in Plaza de Valero. More details about dates for the display and the screening will be released later.

Unlike the Alamo, the building where Pee-wee’s bike will eventually be located does have a basement. But, before you ask, that’s not where the bike will be.

By MARIA SHERMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — Billy Joel is doing much better, the “Piano Man” singer wants fans to know.

In May, Joel canceled all his upcoming concerts across North America and England after being diagnosed with fluid buildup in his brain that has affected his “hearing, vision and balance.” The condition is called Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, “a brain disorder that can affect brain-related abilities, including thinking and concentrating, memory, movement and more,” the Cleveland Clinic says.

“I know a lot of people are worried about me and my health, but I’m OK,” Joel said in an interview with People magazine. “What I have is something very few people know about, including me, no matter how much you try to research it. I’m doing my best to work with it and to recover from it.”

“It was scary, but I’m OK,” Joel, 76, says. “I just wanted to let people know, don’t worry about me being deathly ill or anything.”

He also discussed his health in an episode of comedian Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, telling the host he feels “fine,” adding that, “My balance sucks. It’s like being on a boat… They keep referring to what I have as a brain disorder, so it sounds a lot worse than what I’m feeling.”

He added that his health issues are not “fixed,” but “it’s still being worked on.”

A representative for Joel declined additional comment.

In March, the “Uptown Girl” singer announced that he underwent surgery and had to undergo physical therapy. A statement at the time said doctors expected him to make a full recovery. It is unclear if his medical issues at the time were related to Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.

The condition can cause problems with walking, bladder control and thinking, with symptoms worsening if left untreated. It’s relatively rare and can be hard to diagnose. It can be treated successfully with surgery to install a tube to drain excess fluid. Patients may need physical therapy in addition to surgery.

By DAVID BAUDER

Stephen Colbert returned for his first full program after last week’s announcement that CBS was canceling his “Late Show” with some supportive late-night guests, a joke about cancel culture and an extremely pointed remark directed at President Donald Trump.

“I’m going to go ahead and say it: Cancel culture’s gone way too far,” Colbert said to a rambunctious audience that loudly chanted his name.

CBS and parent Paramount Global said the decision to end the “Late Show” next May was purely financial. It hasn’t gone unnoticed — and was mentioned by Colbert Monday night — that the announcement came days after the comic had sharply criticized Paramount’s $16 million settlement of Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview.

Colbert, known for his sharp comic takedowns of the president, said that “over the weekend, it sunk in that they killed off our show. But they made one mistake. They left me alive.”

Now, he said, “I can say what I really think of Donald Trump, starting right now.” As his audience cheered him on, Colbert said, “I don’t care for him. Doesn’t seem to have the skill set to be president.”

Colbert’s personal message to President Donald Trump

He read a passage from a Trump social media message saying that he loved that the “untalented” Colbert had been fired.

“How dare you, sir,” Colbert said. “Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism?” The show switched to a close-up camera where Colbert appeared to say, “f—- you,” the word bleeped out and his mouth blurred.

Noting CBS’ explanation for his firing, Colbert said, “how can it purely be a financial decision if the show is No. 1 in the ratings? It’s confusing. A lot of folks are asking that question, mainly my staff’s parents and spouses.”

With some apparent irritation, he said some news stories over the weekend reported the apparently leaked information that “Late Show” was losing between $40 million and $50 million a year. Ad revenue for late-night entertainment broadcasts has shrunk sharply as the audience, particularly young men, turn to streaming or other priorities.

“I could see us losing $24 million,” Colbert said. “But where would Paramount have ever spent the other $16 million? Oh, yeah.”

Colbert introduced the odd duo of “Weird Al” Yankovic and Lin-Manuel Miranda to sing Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida.” In a sly reference to the couple caught on camera last week at a Coldplay concert, “Late Show” cameras panned the audience to find some supportive friends — fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart and John Oliver, as well as Adam Sandler, Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.

Thanking audience members for support

Colbert turned serious — briefly — to address people who had expressed support for him since the announcement was made.

“Some people see this show going away as the sign of something truly dire. And while I’m a big fan of me, I don’t necessarily agree with that statement,” he said, “because we here at the ‘Late Show’ never saw our job as changing anything other than how you felt at the end of the day, which I think is a worthy goal.

“Or,” he continued, “changing how you felt the next morning when you watched on your phone, which is why broadcast TV is dying.”

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

The post Ford recalls more than 694,000 Bronco Sport, Escape vehicles due to fuel injector issue appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

By JESSICA DAMIANO

I hate to break it to you, but just like your calendar can’t tell you the best time to harvest, it won’t provide you the perfect date to attack the pests waging war on your plants.

Timing effective pest control is all about understanding how the weather affects insect life cycles.

We know that most plants and insects emerge in spring, advance through summer, and, in cold regions, go dormant over winter. But beyond those general seasonal cycles, there’s no way to predict precisely when, for example, seeds will sprout, garlic will be ready for harvest or pests will be at their most vulnerable.

Those developmental stages vary from year to year because they’re dependent on the weather.

That’s where growing degree days come in.

GDD is a cumulative system used to determine exactly when plants and insects will reach certain stages of maturity. And with so much variability — with different pests having different life stages that are vulnerable (or resistant) to different control methods at different times — it’s a helpful tool for gardeners.

The system, introduced by the French entomologist René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur in 1735, is a measurement of heat accumulation that accurately predicts when seeds will germinate, crops will mature and specific pest populations will hatch and reach advancing stages of maturity.

The progression of an insect’s life cycle, like much of the natural world’s biological activity, is dictated by environmental factors like temperature. And because not every life stage will succumb to treatment, weather is the only thing that can truly accurately inform the timing of many control methods.

Here’s how it works

The average daily temperature is typically recorded on March 1, and for each degree over 50 degrees Fahrenheit, one point is assigned. Then, every day throughout the remainder of the season, the number of degrees over 50 is added to a running tally. If the temperature is exactly at or below 50 degrees, the day is assigned a score of zero.

Let’s say the temperature was 53 degrees on March 1; the GDD on that day would be 3. If it was 60 on March 2, the GDD would be 3 plus 10, or 13. If the temperature was 49 on March 3, that would add nothing, and the accumulated growing degree days would remain at 13. The tally continues to grow through a regionally specific date in the fall.

Seems complicated? The good news is you don’t have to crunch the numbers yourself.

Your local cooperative extension office likely tailors and tracks this information for your region, and many post the GDD, as well as pest- and plant-specific GDD guidelines, on their websites. In addition, the agricultural company Syngenta offers a handy tool among its GreenCast online resources that quickly generates the GDD for your zip code.

What does this mean for your garden?

As an example, Colorado potato beetle eggs and pupae are not susceptible to pesticides, so attempting control during those stages would be pointless. But their larvae are vulnerable to the natural biological control Bt from the time they emerge until they reach ¼ inch in length. Rather than heading out into the garden with a ruler — or spraying every day and hoping for the best — you can time the application for between 65 and 185 GDD.

Similarly, the first generation of euonymus scale insects are most vulnerable to Neem oil and horticultural oil treatments between 400 and 575 GDD.

And for pre-emergent crabgrass controls, like corn gluten meal, to be effective, they should be applied just before 200 GDD. That’s why I recommend a treatment window that coincides with the time between when the first forsythia blooms and the last of the lilacs fade: It’s a visual cue tied to nature’s reaction to temperature.

Depending on the variety, most tomatoes, which love the heat, are ripe for the picking between 1,000 and 2,000 GDD. But, for the record, my tomatoes always let me know when they’re ready.

Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.

By RACHEL S. HUNT

How much has social media changed the way we talk and behave?

That’s the question linguist and content creator Adam Aleksic sets out to answer in his debut book “Algospeak.”

If you already know what words like “yeet,” “rizz,” “brainrot” or “blackpilled” mean, some of this information might not come as a surprise to you. Still, Aleksic’s analysis reaffirms how this language came about and why it continues to proliferate. For those unfamiliar, it acts as an accessible entry point into social media slang and its evolution.

“Algospeak” touches on a wide array of topics, including in-groups and out-groups, censorship, language appropriation, extremism online, microtrends, clickbait and generational divides. The chapters build on each other with a textbook-level attention to vocabulary.

This book serves as a sobering reality check on how social media is affecting not just our speech, but our entire identities.

“Social media creates new identities in order to commodify them,” Aleksic writes in a chapter about microtrends and micro-labels. “Your decisions are now curated for you under the guise of personalization, while in reality they’re engineered to make platforms as much money as possible.”

As a self-proclaimed “etymology nerd,” Aleksic leans heavily into his experience as a content creator, providing a crash course into social media history and how to game the ever-changing and opaque “algorithm.” His tone is academic, yet approachable, and he’s bold but pragmatic in his assertions, exploring counterarguments sufficiently.

He identifies the transient nature of language and the algorithm immediately, since the cultural references in “Algospeak” risk expiring quickly as trends change and social media platforms shift — but that’s the point.

“‘The algorithm’ is here to stay. This is why I think it’s absolutely worth talking about even the most fleeting words,” Aleksic writes.

Aleksic’s writing feels personable and knowledgeable as he translates his online presence offline, and in doing so, demonstrates his own claims about parasocial relationships and owning one’s audience. Keeping up with the algorithmic cycle is portrayed as exhausting, but as a necessary evil for influencers supporting their livelihoods through social media.

“Algospeak” is a fascinating blend of etymology, psychology, cultural analysis and first-person perspective. The book acts as both a snapshot of our current, social media-imbued society and as an intellectual foundation for language developments to come.

Aleksic leaves his reader with questions about the threats and opportunities that stem from social media developments, but undeniably one principle is true: social media has breached containment and is influencing not only the way we talk, but the way we live.

“Algorithms are the culprits, influencers are the accomplices, language is the weapon, and you, dear reader, are the victim,” he writes.