MIAMI (AP) — A Canadian man being held by immigration officials in South Florida has died in federal custody, officials said.

Johnny Noviello, 49, died Monday afternoon at the Bureau of Prisons Federal Detention Center in Miami, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement press release said. The cause of death was under investigation.

Noviello was being detained pending removal from the U.S., officials said. He entered the U.S. in 1988 on a legal visa and became a lawful permanent resident in 1991. He was convicted of drug trafficking and other charges in 2023 and sentenced to a year in prison, officials said.

Noviello was picked up by ICE agents at his probation office last month and charged with removability because of his drug conviction, authorities said.

Seven other immigration detainees have died in federal custody this year, with 11 deaths reported in 2024.

By BERNARD CONDON

NEW YORK (AP) — When the Trump family unveiled a new phone before a giant American flag at its headquarters earlier this month, the pitch was simple and succinct, packed with pure patriotism: “Made in the U.S.A.”

The Trumps are apparently having second thoughts.

How about “proudly American”?

Those are the two words that have replaced the “Made in the USA” pitch that just a few days ago appeared on the website where customers can pre-order the so-called T-1 gold-toned phones with an American flag etched on the back. Elsewhere on the site, other vague terms are now being used, describing the $499 phone as boasting an “American-Proud Design” and “brought to life right here in the U.S.A.”

The Federal Trade Commission requires that items labeled “Made in USA” be “all or virtually all” produced in the U.S. and several firms have been sued over misusing the term.

The Trump Organization has not explained the change and has not responded to a request for comment. Neither did an outside public relations firm handling the Trumps’ mobile phone business, including a request to confirm a statement made to another media outlet.

“T1 phones are proudly being made in America,” said Trump Mobile spokesman Chris Walker, according to USA Today. “Speculation to the contrary is simply inaccurate.”

The language change on the website was first reported by the news site The Verge.

An expert on cell phone technology, IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo, said he’s not surprised the Trump family has dropped the “Made in the USA” label because it’s nearly impossible to build one here given the higher cost and lack of infrastructure to do so.

But, of course, you can claim to do it.

“Whether it is possible or not to build this phone in the US depends on what you consider ‘build,’” Jeronimo said. “If it’s a question of assembling components and targeting small volumes, I suppose it’s somehow possible. You can always get the components from China and assemble them by hand somewhere.”

“You’re going to have phones that are made right here in the United States of America,” said Trump’s son Eric to Fox News recently, adding, “It’s about time we bring products back to our great country.”

The Trump family has flown the American flag before with Trump-branded products of suspicious origin, including its “God Bless the USA” Bibles, which an Associated Press investigation last year showed were printed in China.

The Trump phone is part of a bigger family mobile business plan designed to tap into MAGA enthusiasm for the president. The two sons running the business, Eric and Don Jr., announced earlier this month that they would offer mobile phone plans for $47.45 a month, a reference to their father’s status as the 45th and 47th president. The call center, they said, will be in the U.S., too.

“You’re not calling up call centers in Bangladesh,” Eric Trump said on Fox News. “We’re doing it out of St. Louis, Missouri.”

The new service has been blasted by government ethics experts for a conflict of interest, given that President Donald Trump oversees the Federal Communications Commission that regulates the business and is investigating phone service companies that are now Trump Mobile rivals.

Trump has also threatened to punish cell phone maker Apple, now a direct competitor, threatening to slap 25% tariffs on devices because of its plans to make most of its U.S. iPhones in India.

By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) — A few Republicans reacted with indignation Thursday after the Senate parliamentarian advised that some of the measures in their tax and immigration bill could not be included in the legislation.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., tweeted on X that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough should be fired, “ASAP.” Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., intimated that she was partisan, asking why an “unelected swamp bureaucrat, who was appointed by Harry Reid over a decade ago” gets to decide what’s in the bill?”

It’s hardly the first time the parliamentarian’s normally low-key and lawyerly role has drawn a blast of public criticism.

MacDonough also dashed Democratic plans over the years, advising in 2021 that they couldn’t include a minimum wage increase in their COVID-19 relief bill. Later that same year, she advised that Democrats needed to drop an effort to let millions of immigrants remain temporarily in the U.S. as part of their big climate bill.

But the attention falling on MacDonough’s rulings in recent years also reflects a broader change in Congress, with lawmakers increasingly trying to wedge their top policy priorities into bills that can’t be filibustered in the Senate. The process comes with special rules designed to deter provisions unrelated to spending or taxes — and that’s where the parliamentarian comes in, offering analysis of what does and doesn’t qualify.

Her latest round of decisions Thursday was a blow to the GOP’s efforts to wring hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid over the next decade. Senate Republicans could opt to try to override her recommendations, but they are unlikely to do so.

Here’s a closer look at what the Senate parliamentarian does and why lawmakers are so focused on her recommendations right now.

The crucial role of the parliamentarian

Both the House and Senate have a parliamentarian to provide assistance on that chamber’s rules and precedents. They are often seen advising whoever is presiding over the chamber on the proper procedures to be followed and the appropriate responses to a parliamentary inquiry.

They are also charged with providing information to lawmakers and their respective staff on a strictly nonpartisan and confidential basis.

The parliamentarians and their staff only offer advice. Their recommendations are not binding. In the case of the massive tax and spending bill now before both chambers, the parliamentarian plays a critical role in advising whether the reconciliation bill’s provisions remain focused on fiscal issues.

How MacDonough became the first woman in the job

MacDonough, an English literature major, is the Senate’s first woman to be parliamentarian and just the sixth person to hold the position since its creation in 1935.

She began her Senate career in its library before leaving to get a law degree at Vermont Law School. She worked briefly as a Justice Department trial attorney before returning to the Senate in 1999, this time as an assistant in the parliamentarian’s office. She was initially appointed parliamentarian in 2012 by Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada, Senate majority leader at the time. She was retained by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., when he became majority leader in 2015.

She helped Chief Justice John Roberts preside over Trump’s 2020 Senate impeachment trial and was beside then-Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., for Trump’s second trial the following year. Trump was acquitted both times.

When Trump supporters fought past police and into the Capitol in hopes of disrupting Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, MacDonough and other staffers rescued those ballots and hustled mahogany boxes containing them to safety. MacDonough’s office, on the Capitol’s first floor, was ransacked and declared a crime scene.

Can the Senate ignore the parliamentarian’s advice?

Yes. The parliamentarian makes the recommendation, but it’s the presiding officer overseeing Senate proceedings who rules on provisions in the bill. If there is a dispute, it would be put to a vote.

Michael Thorning, director of structural democracy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank, said he doubts Republicans will want to go that route. And indeed, some Republican senators said as much Thursday.

“It’s the institutional integrity, even if I’m convinced 100% she’s wrong,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.

Thorning said lawmakers from both parties view MacDonough as “very much an honest broker.”

“And the Senate relies on her,” Thorning said. “Sometimes, those decisions cut your way, and sometimes, they don’t. I also think members recognize that once you start treating the parliamentarian’s advice as just something that could be easily dismissed, then the rules start to matter less.”

Have parliamentarians been fired?

Majority leaders from both parties have replaced the parliamentarian. For more than three decades, the position alternated between Robert Dove and Alan Frumin depending upon which party was in the majority.

Thorning said the two parliamentarians weren’t far apart though, in how they interpreted the Senate’s rules and precedents.

MacDonough succeeded Frumin as parliamentarian. He said the small number of calls Thursday for her dismissal “tells you all people need to know about the current parliamentarian.”

“Senators know this isn’t somebody playing politics,” Thorning said.

By KATE PAYNE

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is racing ahead with construction of a makeshift immigration detention facility at an airstrip in the Everglades over the opposition of Native American leaders who consider the area their sacred ancestral homelands.

A string of portable generators and dump trucks loaded with fill dirt streamed into the site on Thursday, according to activist Jessica Namath, who witnessed the activity. The state is plowing ahead with building a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and other temporary buildings at the Miami Dade County-owned airfield located in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 45 miles west of downtown Miami.

A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

State officials have characterized the site as an ideal place to hold migrants, saying there’s “not much” there other than pythons and alligators.

Indigenous leaders dispute that and are condemning the state’s plans to build what’s been dubbed “ Alligator Alcatraz ” on their homelands. Native Americans can trace their roots to the area back thousands of years.

For generations, the sweeping wetlands of what is now South Florida have been home to Native peoples who today make up the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

“Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,” Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress wrote in a statement on social media.

There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, Cypress testified before Congress in 2024.

“We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here,” he said. “The Big Cypress is part of us, and we are a part of it.”

Garrett Stuart, who lives about 3 miles from the site, described the crystal clear waters, open prairies and lush tree islands of Big Cypress as teeming with life.

“Hearing the arguments of the frogs in the water, you know? And listen to the grunt of the alligator. You’re hearing the call of that osprey flying by and listening to the crows chatting,” he said. “It’s all just incredible.”

Critics have condemned the detention facility and what they call the state’s apparent reliance on alligators as a security measure as a cruel spectacle, while DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of Florida’s muscular efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“To have alligators and pythons be the security guards, only someone who’s never spent time in the swamp would ever say something like that,” Stuart said. “They’re afraid of human beings.”

The Florida National Guard is preparing to send up to 100 soldiers to the facility on July 1 to provide site security and staff augmentation, and other support “as directed.”

“We don’t have a set timeline for this mission due to the fluid nature of the situation, but we will stay on the ground for as long as we’re needed and at the direction of Governor DeSantis,” Guard spokesperson Brittianie Funderburk said in a statement.

Tribal leaders and environmentalists are urging the state to change course, noting billions of dollars in state and federal funds have been poured into Everglades restoration in recent years, an investment they say is jeopardized by plans to house some 1,000 migrants at the site for an undetermined amount of time.

Indigenous leaders and activists are planning to gather at the site again on Saturday to stage a demonstration highlighting why the area is “sacred” and should be “protected, not destroyed.”

“This place became our refuge in time of war. It provides us a place to continue our culture and traditions,” Miccosukee leader Betty Osceola wrote in a social media post announcing the demonstration.

“And we need to protect it for our future generations,” she added.

Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

By REBECCA SANTANA and CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala and Honduras have signed agreements with the United States to potentially offer refuge to people from other countries who otherwise would seek asylum in the United States, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday at the conclusion of her Central America trip.

The agreements expand the Trump administration’s efforts to provide the U.S. government flexibility in returning migrants not only to their own countries, but also to third countries as it attempts to ramp up deportations.

Noem described it as a way to offer asylum-seekers options other than coming to the United States. She said the agreements had been in the works for months, with the U.S. government applying pressure on Honduras and Guatemala to get them done.

“Honduras and now Guatemala after today will be countries that will take those individuals and give them refugee status as well,” Noem said. “We’ve never believed that the United States should be the only option, that the guarantee for a refugee is that they go somewhere to be safe and to be protected from whatever threat they face in their country. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the United States.”

During U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, the U.S. signed such accords called safe-third country agreements with Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. They effectively allowed the U.S. to declare some asylum seekers ineligible to apply for U.S. protection and permitted the U.S. government to send them to those countries deemed “safe.”

The U.S. has had such an agreement with Canada since 2002.

The practical challenge was that all three Central American countries at the time were seeing large numbers of their own citizens head to the U.S. to escape violence and a lack of economic opportunity. They also had extremely under-resourced asylum systems.

In February, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed deals with El Salvador and Guatemala that allowed the U.S. to send migrants from other nations there. But in Guatemala’s case it was to only be a point of transit for migrants who would then return to their homelands, not to apply for asylum there. And in El Salvador, it was broader, allowing the U.S. to send migrants to be imprisoned there.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that Mexico would not sign a third safe country agreement, but at the same time Mexico has accepted more than 5,000 migrants from other countries deported from the U.S. since Trump took office. She said Mexico accepted them for humanitarian reasons and helped them return to their home countries.

The U.S. also has agreements with Panama and Costa Rica to take migrants from other countries though so far the numbers sent have been relatively small. The Trump administration sent 299 to Panama in February and fewer than 200 to Costa Rica.

The agreements give U.S. authorities options, especially for migrants from countries where it is not easy for the U.S. to return them directly.

Sherman reported from Mexico City.

By TAMMY WEBBER, Associated Press

Power plants and industrial facilities that emit carbon dioxide, the primary driver of global warming, are hopeful that Congress will keep tax credits for capturing the gas and storing it deep underground.

The process, called carbon capture and sequestration, is seen by many as an important way to reduce pollution during a transition to renewable energy.

But it faces criticism from some conservatives, who say it is expensive and unnecessary, and from environmentalists, who say it has consistently failed to capture as much pollution as promised and is simply a way for producers of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal to continue their use.

Here’s a closer look:

How does the process work?

Carbon dioxide is a gas produced by burning of fossil fuels. It traps heat close to the ground when released to the atmosphere, where it persists for hundreds of years and raises global temperatures.

Industries and power plants can install equipment to separate carbon dioxide from other gases before it leaves the smokestack. The carbon then is compressed and shipped — usually through a pipeline — to a location where it’s injected deep underground for long-term storage.

Carbon also can be captured directly from the atmosphere using giant vacuums. Once captured, it is dissolved by chemicals or trapped by solid material.

Lauren Read, a senior vice president at BKV Corp., which built a carbon capture facility in Texas, said the company injects carbon at high pressure, forcing it almost two miles below the surface and into geological formations that can hold it for thousands of years.

The carbon can be stored in deep saline or basalt formations and unmineable coal seams. But about three-fourths of captured carbon dioxide is pumped back into oil fields to build up pressure that helps extract harder-to-reach reserves — meaning it’s not stored permanently, according to the International Energy Agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

How much carbon dioxide is captured?

The most commonly used technology allows facilities to capture and store around 60% of their carbon dioxide emissions during the production process. Anything above that rate is much more difficult and expensive, according to the IEA.

Some companies have forecast carbon capture rates of 90% or more, “in practice, that has never happened,” said Alexandra Shaykevich, research manager at the Environmental Integrity Project’s Oil & Gas Watch.

That’s because it’s difficult to capture carbon dioxide from every point where it’s emitted, said Grant Hauber, a strategic adviser on energy and financial markets at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Environmentalists also cite potential problems keeping it in the ground. For example, last year, agribusiness company Archer-Daniels-Midland discovered a leak about a mile underground at its Illinois carbon capture and storage site, prompting the state legislature this year to ban carbon sequestration above or below the Mahomet Aquifer, an important source of drinking water for about a million people.

Carbon capture can be used to help reduce emissions from hard-to-abate industries like cement and steel, but many environmentalists contend it’s less helpful when it extends the use of coal, oil and gas.

A 2021 study also found the carbon capture process emits significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that’s shorter-lived than carbon dioxide but traps over 80 times more heat. That happens through leaks when the gas is brought to the surface and transported to plants.

About 45 carbon-capture facilities operated on a commercial scale last year, capturing a combined 50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide — a tiny fraction of the 37.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector alone, according to the IEA.

It’s an even smaller share of all greenhouse gas emissions, which amounted to 53 gigatonnes for 2023, according to the latest report from the European Commission’s Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says one of the world’s largest carbon capture utilization and storage projects, ExxonMobil’s Shute Creek facility in Wyoming, captures only about half its carbon dioxide, and most of that is sold to oil and gas companies to pump back into oil fields.

Future of US tax credits is unclear

Even so, carbon capture is an important tool to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, particularly in heavy industries, said Sangeet Nepal, a technology specialist at the Carbon Capture Coalition.

“It’s not a substitution for renewables … it’s just a complementary technology,” Nepal said. “It’s one piece of a puzzle in this broad fight against the climate change.”

Experts say many projects, including proposed ammonia and hydrogen plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast, likely won’t be built without the tax credits, which Carbon Capture Coalition Executive Director Jessie Stolark says already have driven significant investment and are crucial U.S. global competitiveness.

They remain in the Senate Finance Committee’s draft reconciliation bill, after another version passed the House, though the Carbon Capture Coalition said inflation has already slashed their value and could limit projects.

Associated Press reporter Jack Brook in New Orleans contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental 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.

The post Trump says Israel-Iran ceasefire is in effect after deal initially faltered appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Their chances of becoming the next mayor of New York City may have dimmed. Their mission now? Stopping former Gov. Andrew Cuomo from getting to City Hall.

In the final day of campaigning before the city’s Democratic primary, candidates who are seen as long shots to win the nomination were urging voters to leave Cuomo off their ballots in the city’s ranked choice election in a last-ditch effort to block the former governor’s comeback from a sexual harassment scandal.

“Let’s make sure Andrew Cuomo gets nowhere near City Hall,” candidate and city Comptroller Brad Lander said Monday on WNYC radio, which interviewed the major candidates ahead of the election.

State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, another candidate, similarly asked voters to not vote for Cuomo, telling the station, “We need fresh leadership, we need to turn the page and we need bold solutions at this moment.”

The pitches came as Cuomo, who has been considered the frontrunner for months, has also been trying to fend off a charge from Zohran Mamdani.

Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assemblyman, would be the city’s first Muslim and first Indian-American mayor if elected. A democratic socialist who got elected to the Legislature in 2020, Mamdani started the campaign as a relative unknown but has won support with a energetic campaign centered on improving the cost of living.

The assault on Cuomo from fellow members of the Democratic field comes as he has continued to rack up establishment endorsements. Former President Bill Clinton endorsed Cuomo on Sunday, saying voters should not “underestimate the complexity” for the challenges faced by a mayor. The New York Times didn’t issue an endorsement this year, but wrote an editorial praising Lander and saying Cuomo would be a better choice than Mamdani, who it said was unworthy of being on people’s ballots.

Cuomo and Mamdani have ratcheted up attacks on each other in the campaign’s final days.

“He’s about public relations,” Cuomo said of Mamdani, dismissing his opponent as too focused on looking great on social media, and not skilled enough as an executive to run the city.

Mamdani, meanwhile, exuded confidence, telling WNYC he is “one day from toppling a political dynasty.”

“New Yorkers are done with the cynical politics of the past. They want a future they can afford,” said Mamdani, who was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

In a way, Mamdani and Cuomo represent the Democratic Party’s ideological divides, with Cuomo as an older moderate and Mamdani a younger progressive.

Their reactions to the American bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites on Sunday offered more evidence of the party’s internal split.

Cuomo, in a statement, criticized “the way Trump went about this without consulting Congress, without consulting the normal congressional officials” but stressed that “Iran cannot have nuclear capability.”

Mamdani released a statement that slammed Trump but quickly shifted focus back to his key issues, saying “these actions are the result of a political establishment that would rather spend trillions of dollars on weapons than lift millions out of poverty, launch endless wars while silencing calls for peace, and fearmonger about outsiders while billionaires hollow out our democracy from within.”

Cuomo, who won three terms as governor, resigned in 2021 after a report from the state attorney general concluded that he sexually harassed 11 women. He has denied wrongdoing.

New York City is using ranked choice voting in its Democratic mayoral primary election Tuesday, a system that allows voters to rank up to five candidates in order of preference. If one candidate is the first choice of a majority of voters, that person wins the race outright. If nobody hits that threshold, the votes are then tabulated in multiple rounds. After each round, the candidate in last place is eliminated. Votes cast for that person are then redistributed to the candidates ranked next on the voter’s ballot.

That continues until one candidate gets a majority.

Cuomo’s opponents have urged voters not to rank him at all and therefore deprive him of support in later rounds of counting.

“You do not have to go back to the name of Andrew Cuomo,” said Michael Blake, a former state lawmaker running in the primary. He told voters on WNYC that it was time to move on from the former governor.

Eleven candidates are on the ballot in the Democratic mayoral primary. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams isn’t one of them. He’s a Democrat but is running as an independent. The Republican Party has already picked its nominee, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

By JOSEPH KRAUSS and WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As President Donald Trump floats the idea of “regime change” in Tehran, previous U.S. attempts to remake the Middle East by force over the decades offer stark warnings about the possibility of a deepening involvement in the Iran-Israeli conflict.

“If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???” Trump posted on his social media site over the weekend. The came after the U.S. bombed Iran’s nuclear sites but before that country retaliated by firing its own missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday insisted that Trump, who spent years railing against “forever wars” and pushing an “America first” world view, had not committed a political about-face.

“The president’s posture and our military posture has not changed,” she said, suggesting that a more aggressive approach might be necessary if Iran ”refuses to give up their nuclear program or engage in talks.”

Leavitt also suggested that a new government in Iran could come about after its people stage a revolt — not necessarily requiring direct U.S. intervention.

“If they refuse to engage in diplomacy moving forward, why shouldn’t the Iranian people rise up,” she asked.

That’s a perilous path that other U.S. administrations have taken. And it’s a long way from Trump’s past dismissal of “stupid, endless wars,” and his scoffing at the idea of nation-building championed by his Republican predecessors — including in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the U.S. helped overthrow governments.

Some lessons learned from previous conflicts:

Initial success is often fleeting

U.S. special forces and Afghan allies drove the Taliban from power and chased Osama bin Laden into Pakistan within months of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. American tanks rolled into Baghdad weeks after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

But then, both wars went on for years.

The Taliban waged a tenacious, two-decade insurgency and swept back into power as the U.S. beat a chaotic retreat in 2021. The overthrow of Saddam plunged Iraq into chaos, with Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias battling each other and U.S. forces.

Israel has so far largely succeeded in taking out Iran’s air defenses and ballistic missiles and the U.S. strikes on three sites with missiles and 30,000-pound (13,600-kilogram) bunker-buster bombs has wrecked its nuclear program, Trump says. But that still potentially leaves hundreds of thousands in the military, the Revolutionary Guard and forces known as the Basij, who played a key role in quashing waves of anti-government protests in recent years.

Ground forces are key — but don’t guarantee success

Airstrikes have never been enough on their own.

Take, for example, Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. His forces withstood a seven-month NATO air campaign in 2011 before rebels fighting city by city eventually cornered and killed him.

There are currently no insurgent groups in Iran capable of taking on the Revolutionary Guard, and it’s hard to imagine Israeli or U.S. forces launching a ground invasion of a mountainous country of some 80 million people that is about four times as big as Iraq.

A split in Iran’s own security forces would furnish a ready-made insurgency, but it would also likely tip the country into civil war.

There’s also the question of how ordinary Iranians would respond.

Protests in recent years show that many Iranians believe their government is corrupt and repressive, and would welcome its demise. But the last time a foreign power attacked Iran — the Iraqi invasion of 1980 — people rallied around the flag.

At the moment, many appear to be lying low or leaving the capital.

Be wary of exiled opposition groups

Some of the biggest cheerleaders for the U.S. invasion of Iraq were exiled opposition figures, many of whom had left the country decades before. When they returned, essentially on the back of U.S. tanks, they were marginalized by local armed groups more loyal to Iran.

There are several large Iranian opposition groups based abroad. But they are not united and it’s unclear how much support any of them has inside the country.

The closest thing to a unifying opposition figure is Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought the theocracy to power. But many Iranians have bitter memories of repression under the shah, and others might reject Pahlavi over his outreach to Israel, especially if he tries to ride to power on the back of a foreign invasion.

Chaos is practically guaranteed

In Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya — and in Syria and Yemen after their 2011 uprisings — a familiar pattern emerged when governments were overthrown or seriously weakened.

Armed groups emerged with competing agendas. Neighboring countries backed local proxies. Weapons flowed in and large numbers of civilians fled. The fighting in some places boiled over into full-blown civil war, and ever more violent extremist groups sprouted from the chaos.

When it was all over, Saddam had been replaced by a corrupt and often dysfunctional government at least as friendly to Iran as it was to the United States. Gadhafi was replaced by myriad militias, many allied with foreign powers. The Taliban were replaced by the Taliban.

Weissert reported from Washington.

By MARK KENNEDY, AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Twenty-five years ago, a little girl with a bob haircut appeared on our TVs, speaking a mix of English and Spanish, with a spunky, can-do spirit. She had an adventure planned, a backpack, a monkey friend and upbeat songs.

“Hi, I’m Dora. What’s your name?” she asked.

This was, of course, “Dora the Explorer,” the first Latina to lead a major cartoon series and the girl who helped spearhead the rise of multicultural children’s programming in the U.S. on her way to becoming a cultural phenomenon.

“The show allowed Latinos to be depicted on TV as educators, teaching viewers how to speak our language, and yet at the same time, just teaching ordinary things that children need to learn,” said Brenda Victoria Castillo, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

Nickelodeon is celebrating Dora’s 25th anniversary with the feature-length live-action movie “Dora and the Search of Sol Dorado,” a third season of the rebooted animated series “Dora,” the podcast Dora’s Mermaid Adventures, an album of songs and plenty of toys and apparel.

“The great thing about Dora is that, yes, she celebrates Latin culture through every aspect — language, food, dress and music,” says Ramsey Naito, president of animation at Paramount and Nickelodeon. “But she also empowers everybody to be their true self and to be brave. She’s not exclusive. She’s inclusive.”

The original voice

Kathleen Herles had a special vantage point to see Dora’s influence: She was the original voice of the pint-size heroine, cast in the role when she was 7 and staying until she was 18 and off to college.

“It has been the longest journey and the greatest adventure of my life — no pun intended,” said Herles, who grew up in New York City to parents of Peruvian descent.

On the convention circuit, Herles would see firsthand the power of Dora. “I remember I would make kids cry, not intentionally,” she says. “Their mind goes to a memory, to a moment, it’s just incredible. It’s so special, it’s magical.”

Herles has lately been the voice actor for Dora’s mom on “Dora,” the reboot that started in 2024. It’s a full-circle moment for the actor and singer: “It changed my life forever, twice.”

“Dora the Explorer” led to what Herles laughingly calls the “Dora-verse” — the spinoff series “Go, Diego, Go!,” a sequel series “Dora and Friends: Into the City!” and the 2019 live-action feature film “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” starring Isabela Merced, Eva Longoria and Michael Peña.

“Dora” co-creator Chris Gifford has watched his creation age up and down and take human form. “She has been older and she has been younger and she has a hair clip now,” he says. “Her essence, her positive spirit, her I-can-do-anything-with-your-help attitude has stuck through.”

Dora is firmly part of the culture, as big as her Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. There’s a reference to her in “Inside Out 2,” she’s been mocked on “Saturday Night Live” and if you look carefully at the PBS show “Alma’s Way,” you can see a Dora doll in that heroine’s bedroom. TikTok users have embraced the “Backpack Song.”

“Those kids coming of age now — the ones who 25 years ago were just watching it as little preschoolers — they’re out there and they’re remembering,” says Valerie Walsh Valdes, co-creator of the original series and an executive producer on the new series and movie.

Creating a problem solver

Valdes and Gifford originally had the idea for a show about a little girl who was a problem solver. Like “Blue’s Clues,” it would reward kids for figuring out answers posed by the host.

“Preschoolers are the least powerful people in our world,” says Gifford. “They’re not able to button their sweater and not able to tie their shoes, but if they’re able to help Dora get to the City of Lost Toys and really feel like they helped, that’s something special.”

Nickelodeon suggested the girl be Latina and the creators ran with it, making her pan-Latina so no one would feel excluded. Latin representation on TV — then and now — has been a struggle.

The Latino Donor Collaborative’s 2024 Latinos in Media report found that Latino actors made up 9.8% of the main cast in lead, co-lead and ensemble roles in scripted shows. In non-scripted television, Latino hosts made up only 5% of host roles. That’s despite Latin people making up nearly 20% of the country.

“There were few programs at the time that featured Latina protagonists with Dora’s skin tone or features, so from that perspective, the representation is valuable,” says Erynn Masi de Casanova, head of the sociology department at the University of Cincinnati.

Dora was put in an animated world inside a computer, and the creators asked kids to help make the show better. They hired education consultants to tease out the skills Dora teaches, like spatial understanding and interpersonal. They brought in language and culture experts.

“We did it!” became her signature song.

Bilingual heroine

The series is seen in more than 150 countries and territories and translated in 32 languages on Nickelodeon channels and Paramount+. In English-speaking countries such as the United States and Australia, Dora teaches Spanish; in other markets — including the Hispanic U.S. markets — she teaches English.

Samantha Lorraine, 18, who grew up in Miami of Cuban heritage, had the Dora T-shirts and backpack. She laughs that she once even had the Dora bob.

In July, she’s starring as Dora in “Dora and the Search of Sol Dorado,” which was filmed in Colombia. “I’ve been doing my audition since day one,” she says.

“It’s an honor to be stepping into Dora’s shoes. It’s such a huge legacy,” she adds. “It’s really nice to be able to be a part of representation where it counts. And Dora is the epitome of that.”

Castillo, of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, puts Dora up there with Mickey Mouse in terms of an instantly recognized cultural character and says she’s relevant more than ever.

“We need more Doras,” she says. “If people were just open to being educated in other people’s languages and cultures and beliefs and not see it as a threat, we wouldn’t be in the situation that we’re in this country and the world.”

By MARIA SHERMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — A pit bull puppy peeing off a balcony. Mounted antlers in the kitchen on a crooked nail. Pink boiled eggs stay afloat in the brine. For its dedicated audience, the North Carolina alt-country-meets-indie rock band Wednesday is an exemplar in evocative songwriting, where whole worlds are found in short lyrical lines.

And that says nothing of what they sound like. The most exciting band in contemporary indie rock is informed by Drive-By Truckers and Pavement in equal measure, a distinctive sonic fabric of lap steel, guitar fuzz, folksy and jagged vocals.

On Sept. 19, they will release their sixth and most ambitious full-length, “Bleeds.”

“My songwriting is just better on this album,” Wednesday’s singer and songwriter Karly Hartzman explains. “Things are said more succinctly … the immediacy of these songs was the main growth.”

Wednesday began as Hartzman’s solo project, evidenced in 2018’s sweet-sounding “yep definitely.” They became a full band on 2020’s “I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone,” a dive into guitar distortions, and 2021’s “Twin Plagues,” a further refinement of their “creek rock” sound. The lineup consists of Hartzman, bassist Ethan Baechtold, lap steel player Xandy Chelmis, guitarist Jake Lenderman and drummer Alan Miller. Some also tour with Lenderman’s solo project, MJ Lenderman. (Hartzman and Lenderman previously dated.)

Wednesday’s last album, the narrative “Rat Saw God,” was named one of the best albums of 2023 by The Associated Press partially for its uncanny ability to dive into the particularities and complications of Southern identity. “Bleeds” sharpens those tools.

On “Bleeds,” a band evolves

“Originally, I was going to call it ‘Carolina Girl’ but my bandmates did not like that,’” Hartzman jokes.

“Bleeds” comes from the explosive opening track, “Reality TV Argument Bleeds.”

She likes how the band name and album title sound together — “’Wednesday Bleeds,’ which I feel like I do, when I play music … I’m almost, in a way, bloodletting and exorcising a demon.”

Lyrically, “Bleeds” features some of Wednesday’s best work — even in the revisiting of an older song, “Phish Pepsi,” that hilariously references both the jam band and the most disturbing movie released in 2010 — a kind of specificity born from Hartzman’s writing practices. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she and Lenderman “wrote 20 lines of writing each day,” a practice adopted from Silver Jews’ David Berman. She’s also a documentarian of memory: She takes notes of things her friends say and images that are affecting, to later collage them together in songs.

“The well never runs dry,” Hartzman says. “Because I’ve admitted not everything can come from inside. I need to look outward outside of myself for inspiration.”

Remembering, she says, “is the goal for most of the (expletive) I do. … I care. I want stories to persist.”

Storytelling through song

“Bleeds” manages cohesion across a variance of sound. “Wasp” is hard-core catharsis; lead single “Elderberry Wine” drops guitar noise for shimmery, fermented country. “Wound Up Here (By Holding On),” which references the Appalachian poet Evan Gray, is a pretty indie rock track about a hometown hero who drowns.

The quietest moment on the album, the plucked “The Way Love Goes,” was written as “a love song for Jake when we were still together. ‘Elderberry Wine’ as well.’” Hartzman explains. “‘Elderberry Wine’ is kind of talking about me noticing slight changes in a relationship.”

These are not breakup songs; they exist right before the point of dissolution. “Sweet song is a long con / I drove ya to the airport with the E-brake on,” she sings on the latter.

Later: “Sometimes in my head I give up and / Flip the board completely.”

“I’m understanding how sound creates emotion. That’s what I’m learning over time,” Hartzman says of her musical growth. “I’m also listening to more music with every year that passes. So, my understanding of what’s possible, or what I can be inspired by, shifts.”

A number of the songs pull from childhood memory, as they always have across Wednesday’s discography. “I think about growing up a lot,” she says. “When I think of trying to tell … a story that’s vivid and intense, that’s just the easiest time in my life, where everything felt vivid and intense.”

Longtime fans of the band will find recurring themes and characters from past songs. For example, “Gary’s” from their 2021 album returns as the “Bleeds” closer in “Gary’s II,” where he gets into a bar fight.

“In a way, I’m writing the same songs over and over, but I’m just trying to make them better,” she says.

There is always more humanity to excavate. And often, those emotions, “they aren’t done with you,” she adds. “They’re not letting you go.”

So, let the bloodletting begin.

A previous version of this story incorrectly listed Margo Schulz as Wednesday’s bassist. Ethan Baechtold is the current bassist. Schulz parted ways with the group before the release of the 2023 album “Rat Saw God.”

Today is Monday, June 23, the 174th day of 2025. There are 191 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On June 23, 1972, President Richard Nixon signed into law the Education Amendments of 1972, including Title IX, which barred discrimination on the basis of sex for “any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

Also on this date:

In 1888, abolitionist Frederick Douglass received one vote from the Kentucky delegation at the Republican convention in Chicago, making him the first Black candidate to have his name placed in nomination for U.S. president.

In 1931, aviators Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from Roosevelt Field in New York on an around-the-world flight that lasted eight days and 15 hours.

In 1947, the Senate joined the House in overriding President Harry S. Truman’s veto of the Taft-Hartley Act, designed to limit the power of organized labor.

In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser was elected president of Egypt.

In 1969, Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief justice of the United States by his predecessor, Earl Warren.

In 1985, all 329 people on an Air India Boeing 747 were killed when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland after a bomb planted by Sikh separatists exploded onboard.

In 1992, mob boss John Gotti was sentenced to life after being found guilty of murder, racketeering and other charges. (Gotti would die in prison in 2002.)

In 2016, Britain voted to leave the European Union after a bitterly divisive referendum campaign, toppling Prime Minister David Cameron, who led the drive to remain in the bloc.

In 2020, the Louisville police department fired an officer involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor more than three months earlier, saying Brett Hankison showed “extreme indifference to the value of human life” when he fired 10 rounds into her apartment.

In 2022, in a major expansion of gun rights, the Supreme Court said Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Author Richard Bach is 89.
• Computer scientist Vint Cerf is 82.
• Actor Bryan Brown is 78.
• Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is 77.
• Musician Glenn Danzig is 70.
• Former “American Idol” judge Randy Jackson is 69.
• Actor Frances McDormand is 68.
• Golf Hall of Famer Colin Montgomerie is 62.
• Actor Selma Blair is 53.
• French soccer manager and former player Zinedine Zidane is 53.
• Actor Joel Edgerton is 51.
• Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz is 48.
• Rapper Memphis Bleek is 47.
• Football Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson is 46.
• Actor Melissa Rauch (“The Big Bang Theory”) is 45.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander walked off the court for the final time this season, collapsed into the arms of coach Mark Daigneault and finally smiled.

It was over.

The best team all season was the best team at the end, bringing the NBA title to Oklahoma City for the first time. Gilgeous-Alexander finished off his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists, and the Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers — who lost Tyrese Haliburton to a serious leg injury in the opening minutes — 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.

“It doesn’t feel real,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, the Finals MVP. “So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. It’s crazy to know that we’re all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours and we deserve this.”

Jalen Williams scored 20 points and Chet Holmgren had 18 for the Thunder, who finished off a season for the ages. Oklahoma City won 84 games between the regular season and the playoffs, tying the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for third most in any season.

Only Golden State (88 in 2016-17) and the Bulls (87 in 2015-16) won more.

It’s the second championship for the franchise. The Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA title in 1979; the team was moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. There’s nothing in the rafters in Oklahoma City to commemorate that title.

In October, a championship banner is finally coming. A Thunder banner.

The Pacers led 48-47 at the half even after losing Haliburton to what his father said was an Achilles tendon injury about seven minutes into the game. But they were outscored 34-20 in the third quarter as the Thunder built a 13-point lead and began to run away.

Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which still is waiting for its first NBA title. The Pacers — who were 10-15 after 25 games and were bidding to be the first team in NBA history to turn that bad of a start into a championship — had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the series, but they simply didn’t have enough in the end.

Home teams improved to 16-4 in NBA Finals Game 7s. And the Thunder became the seventh champion in the last seven seasons, a run of parity like none other in NBA history.

Pacers forward Pascal Siakam was part of the Toronto team that won in 2019, Thunder guard Alex Caruso was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team that won in the pandemic “bubble” in 2020, Milwaukee won in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Pacers forward Thomas Bryant and Denver prevailed in 2023, and Boston won last year’s title.

And now, the Thunder get their turn. The youngest team to win a title in nearly a half-century has reached the NBA mountaintop.

The Thunder are the ninth franchise to win a title in NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s 12 seasons. His predecessor, David Stern, saw eight franchises win titles in his 30 seasons as commissioner.

“They behave like champions. They compete like champions,” Daigneault said. “They root for each other’s success, which is rare in professional sports. I’ve said it many times and now I’m going to say it one more time. They are an uncommon team and now they’re champions.”

— By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Basketball Writer

Riley Greene had three hits and Wenceel Prez and Parker Meadows each homered and drove in three runs and Detroit snapped a three-game losing streak with a 9-3 win at Tampa Bay on Sunday at Steinbrenner Field.

Prez broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run blast in the seventh inning off Garrett Cleavinger (0-3). Dillon Dingler added two hits and an RBI for Detroit, which maintained the best record in the majors (49-30).

All three of Greenes hits, including doubles in the second and ninth, led off run-scoring innings. In left field, meanwhile, he made sliding catches to rob Jake Mangum and Junior Caminero of extra bases. And with two outs in the third, he retired Brandon Lowe on an acrobatic catch in foul territory, nearly flipping into the Tigers bullpen.

Yandy Daz (13 games) and Lowe (11 games) each extended hitting streaks with infield singles for Tampa Bay.

Caminero hit his team-leading 19th homer and reached the 50-RBI mark on the year.

Tigers starter Casey Mize left a 1-1 game in the sixth after a visit from athletic trainer Kelly Rhoades, leaving with an undisclosed injury. He allowed one run and six hits in five innings, with no walks and five strikeouts.

Two Detroit starting pitchers already are on the injured list, right-handers Jackson Jobe (right elbow surgery) and Reese Olson (right ring finger inflammation).

Tyler Holton (3-3) picked up the win in relief.

Heavy ninth-inning rain jump-started the Tigers offense. Through the storm, Detroit hit for the cycle in the six-run inning, breaking open a 3-1 game with six consecutive hits. Greene and Spencer Torkelson led off with doubles, Javier Bez tripled and Meadows blasted a three-run homer.

Following the barrage, play resumed after an 18-minute delay.

Greene batted .600 (6 for 10) in the series with five runs, two doubles, two homers and four RBI.

Detroit opens a home series Tuesday against the Athletics, with LHP Tarik Subal (8-2, 2.06 ERA) facing RHP Luis Severino (2-7, 4.42).

Rays RHP Taj Bradley (4-5, 4.95) starts Tuesday at Kansas City against LHP Kris Bubic (6-2, 4.12).

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

The Houston Rockets are acquiring 15-time All-Star and four-time Olympic gold medalist Kevin Durant from the Phoenix Suns in a blockbuster deal struck Sunday, a person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press.

The Rockets are giving up Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green and six future picks — including the No. 10 selection in Wednesday’s opening round of this year’s draft — according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal was still pending NBA approval.

ESPN first reported the trade.

Fans learned of the news while Durant was on stage in New York at Fanatics Fest NYC, and when they began reacting, Durant started smiling broadly.

“We’re gonna see, man,” Durant said from the stage. “We’re gonna see.”

Boardroom, the ever-growing media company that Durant and his business partner, Rich Kleiman, co-founded in 2019, teams up with Fanatics on a number of projects. The panel that Durant was set to appear on there Sunday was called “Global Game Changers.”

He certainly figures to change the game for the Rockets.

Houston finished No. 2 in the Western Conference in the regular season, albeit 16 games behind No. 1 Oklahoma City. It now adds a two-time champion to its young core as it looks to make another jump next season.

Durant averaged 26.6 points this season, his 17th in the NBA — not counting one year missed because of injury. For his career, the 6-foot-11 forward is averaging 27.2 points and seven rebounds per game.

The move brings Durant back to the state of Texas, where he played his one year of college basketball for the Longhorns and was the college player of the year before going as the No. 2 pick in the 2007 draft by Seattle.

Houston will become his fifth franchise, joining the SuperSonics (who then became the Oklahoma City Thunder), Golden State, Brooklyn and Phoenix. Durant won his two titles with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018, and last summer in Paris he became the highest-scoring player in U.S. Olympic basketball history and the first men’s player to be part of four gold-medal teams.

Durant is a four-time scoring champion, a two-time Finals MVP and one of eight players in NBA history with more than 30,000 career points, joining the club on Feb. 11.

Durant is under contract next season for roughly $50 million before becoming a free agent in 2026.

His departure from the Suns was expected and ends a disappointing 2 1/2 years in the desert. Durant never enjoyed consistent team success despite being part of a trio that included star guards Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.

Durant was acquired by the Suns from the Brooklyn Nets in a four-team trade-deadline deal in 2023, just days after new owner Mat Ishbia bought the team for roughly $4 billion. Phoenix gave up a lot to acquire the then-34-year-old, sending young standouts Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, along with four future first-round picks, to Brooklyn.

___

— By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Basketball Writer

AP Sports Writer David Brandt in Phoenix contributed to this report.

The post US steps into war between Israel and Iran, strikes 3 Iranian nuclear sites appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

By KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — “Have you seen the cats?”

That’s a common refrain in my household because our two felines, Maple and Juniper, can venture outside through a flap in the backdoor. Like many other London house cats, they’re free to come and go, roaming the surrounding backyards and beyond, equipped with microchips to identify them if they get lost.

If your cat likes to prowl outdoors for long stretches, or your dog has a tendency to run off, it can be distressing when they don’t return as expected.

If you’re worried about your furry friend’s whereabouts, technology can help you keep tabs on them.

How pet tech works

Dedicated pet trackers are collar-worn devices that typically use GPS signals to pinpoint the location of the animal wearing them. They use a 4G cellphone signal or your home Wi-Fi connection to relay the position to a smartphone app.

There are many products on the market. Tractive, Jiobit and Pawfit are among brands that offer trackers for both dogs and cats. Devices for the latter are generally smaller and lighter.

Dog trackers with integrated collars are available from Fi and Whistle. PetTracer is a cat collar that uses both GPS and radio signals from a home base station. FitBark, also for dogs, has an Apple Watch app to monitor location and other activity.

Garmin has a range of GPS dog collars that work with handheld devices resembling walkie-talkies, but they’re pricey and aimed at outdoors enthusiasts like hunters.

Phone signals

Most trackers let you designate a safe zone on a map, usually your house and surrounding area, and alert you if your pet has left it.

They usually operate on the 4G LTE spectrum commonly used by wireless carriers. It typically has the longest range of any cellular signal, said Andrew Bleiman, Tractive’s executive vice president for North America.

That means strong connectivity in most of Europe and North America “unless you’re in a really far flung place like the middle of a national park,” Bleiman said.

What it costs

Exact price depends on brand and model. Most devices sell for less than $100. However, keep in mind you’ll also have to pay a subscription fee for the cell service to function.

While that could cost $100 or more a year, for some pet owners it’s worth the “peace of mind,” Bleiman said.

Battery life

The collars usually have a built-in rechargeable battery but battery life varies. Most will be last at least two to three days before they need charging, and a lot longer in ideal conditions.

One big factor is signal strength. The battery will drain faster if the device has to work harder to pick up the GPS or connect to Wi-Fi. Some save power by not sending coordinates in the safe zone.

Other features

Like fitness watches for humans, pet tracking apps offer health and activity monitoring features. You can see how long your cat or dog has spent resting or exercising on a daily or hourly basis.

But be aware, a tracker is “not going to keep your pet in the backyard,” Bleiman said. It will only “alert you when they leave the virtual fence area that you set up.”

How to use it

This One Tech Tip was inspired by Maple, who once went AWOL for days. It turned out he was hanging out in a backyard 10 doors down the street. We only found out after the residents got hold of a pet microchip scanner to look up our contact details to let us know so we could retrieve him.

Tractive provided a loaner device to try. Using the included breakaway collar, we put it on Maple, who clearly didn’t like it at first. He dashed out the back door and jumped through a hole in the fence.

Over the next day, I used the Tractive app to monitor his movements. It showed his travels back and forth onto various neighboring properties. He came back to rest for a few hours around midnight, went out to prowl again around 3 a.m, then came back after an hour to nap some more.

It was fascinating to see where he was spending his time. According to the app’s “heatmap,” one of Maple’s favorite spots was the same backyard where we had to retrieve him previously.

Losing track

About 24 hours after I attached the Tractive collar on Maple, I noticed he was no longer wearing it. It had somehow come off.

If you can’t find your pet’s exact location, or the device gets lost, Tractive has a “radar” feature to pinpoint it with your phone’s Bluetooth. Other brands have similar features.

On the app’s map, I could see it was in a nearby backyard and that I was getting closer because the circle was getting bigger. But I couldn’t figure out where it was and, not wanting to disturb the neighbors, I gave up.

Bleiman recommends using a harness for cats that don’t like collars, but I’m not convinced.

Microchips

It’s common for cats and dogs to be implanted with microchips, with the details added to a database. That makes it much easier to reunite owners with lost dogs and cats, even if they’ve strayed hundreds of miles away or gone missing for years.

Pet microchips, about the size of a grain of rice implanted just below the skin, are legally required in some European countries. There’s no federal law in the U.S., though some places like Hawaii now require them, so check with state or local authorities.

But there’s some confusion about what microchips can do. Because they don’t have a power supply, they can’t be tracked in real time. Whoever finds your pet would need to take it to a vet or a shelter to can scan the device for contact details.

Air Tags and similar devices are another option

Many pet owners use Bluetooth trackers like Apple’s Air Tags, Samsung’s SmartTags or similar devices from Tile, Cube and Chipolo, which rely on low-power signals relayed by passing smartphones.

Bluetooth trackers have a range of 100 to 500 feet, depending on the model. The batteries last for months if not longer, and there’s no need to pay for a subscription.

However, they’re not specifically marketed for pets. That hasn’t stopped pet owners, judging from many recommendations they’ve posted in online forums.

Chipolo advises that its round plastic trackers are only for “in-house pets like house-trained cats and smaller dogs” and warns against using them on “larger dog breeds and outdoor cats.”

Still, they can be a solution for some pet owners.

“Bluetooth is a totally reasonable solution if you’re in a downtown urban core,” Bleiman said. “But pets move fast. And if you’re in a wooded park, or you’re in a suburban area — let alone a more rural or wilderness area — it’s pretty unlikely your pet is going to be close to a Bluetooth device.”

Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.

By MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday revived long-running lawsuits against Palestinian authorities from Americans who were killed or wounded in terrorism attacks in the Middle East.

The justices upheld a 2019 law enacted by Congress specifically to allow the victims’ lawsuits to go forward against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.

The attacks occurred in the early 2000s, killing 33 people and wounding hundreds more, and in 2018, when a U.S.-born settler was stabbed to death by a Palestinian assailant outside a mall in the West Bank.

The victims and their families assert that Palestinian agents either were involved in the attacks or incited them.

The Palestinians have consistently argued that the cases shouldn’t be allowed in American courts.

The federal appeals court in New York has repeatedly ruled in favor of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, despite Congress’ efforts to allow the victims’ lawsuits to be heard.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals first ruled in 2016 against the victims of the attacks from 20 years ago, tossing out a $654 million jury verdict in their favor. In that earlier ruling, the appeals court held U.S. courts can’t consider lawsuits against foreign-based groups over random attacks that were not aimed at the United States.

The victims had sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act, signed into law in 1992. The law was passed to open U.S. courts to victims of international terrorism, spurred by the killing of American Leon Klinghoffer during a 1985 terrorist attack aboard the Achille Lauro cruise ship.

The jury found the PLO and the Palestinian Authority liable for six attacks and awarded $218 million in damages. The award was automatically tripled under the law.

After the Supreme Court rejected the victims’ appeal in 2018, Congress again amended the law to make clear it did not want to close the courthouse door to the victims.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

By MICHAEL CASEY and REBECCA BOONE

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from withholding billions of dollars in transportation funds from states that don’t agree to participate in some immigration enforcement actions.

Twenty states sued after they said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to cut off funding to states that refused to comply with President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda. U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. barred federal transportation officials from carrying out that threat before the lawsuit is fully resolved.

“The Court finds that the States have demonstrated they will face irreparable and continuing harm if forced to agree to Defendants’ unlawful and unconstitutional immigration conditions imposed in order to receive federal transportation grant funds,” wrote McConnell, the chief judge for the federal district of Rhode island. “The States face losing billions of dollars in federal funding, are being put in a position of relinquishing their sovereign right to decide how to use their own police officers, are at risk of losing the trust built between local law enforcement and immigrant communities, and will have to scale back, reconsider, or cancel ongoing transportation projects.”

On April 24, states received letters from the Department of Transportation stating that they must cooperate on immigration efforts or risk losing the congressionally appropriated funds. No funding was immediately withheld, but some of the states feared the move was imminent.

Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin and Vermont filed the lawsuit in May, saying the new so-called “Duffy Directive” put them in an impossible position.

“The States can either attempt to comply with an unlawful and unconstitutional condition that would surrender their sovereign control over their own law enforcement officers and reduce immigrants’ willingness to report crimes and participate in public health programs — or they can forfeit tens of billions of dollars of funds they rely on regularly to support the roads, highways, railways, airways, ferries, and bridges that connect their communities and homes,” the attorneys general wrote in court documents.

But acting Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom told the judge that Congress has given the Department of Transportation the legal right to set conditions for the grant money it administers to states, and that requiring compliance and cooperation with federal law enforcement is a reasonable exercise of that discretion. Allowing the federal government to withhold the funds while the lawsuit moves forward doesn’t cause any lasting harm, Bloom wrote in court documents, because that money can always be disbursed later if needed.

But requiring the federal government to release the money to uncooperative states will likely make it impossible to recoup later, if the Department of Transportation wins the case, Bloom said.