In his first words directed specifically to Americans, Pope Leo XIV told young people on Saturday how to find hope and meaning in their lives through God and in service to others.

“So many people who suffer from different experiences of depression or sadness — they can discover that the love of God is truly healing, that it brings hope,” the first American pope said in a video broadcast on the jumbotron at the White Sox baseball stadium in Chicago.

The event — set in Leo’s hometown and at the home stadium of his favorite major league team — was organized by the Archdiocese of Chicago in honor of his recent election as pope. Leo seized the opportunity to speak directly to young people, tying his message to the Catholic Church’s ongoing Jubilee year of hope that was declared by Pope Francis.

In Saturday’s message, Leo urged those listening in the stadium and online to be beacons of hope capable of inspiring others.

“To share that message of hope with one another — in outreach, in service, in looking for ways to make our world a better place — gives true life to all of us, and is a sign of hope for the whole world.”

The afternoon program, emceed by Chicago Bulls announcer Chuck Swirsky, highlighted Leo’s roots, including music by the city’s Leo Catholic High School Choir and a musician from Peru, according to the event’s program. There was also a discussion featuring a former teacher of the pope as well as a high school classmate and fellow Augustinian.

The event also celebrated the mixing of Catholicism and baseball, including a special invitation from the team for Leo to throw out a ceremonial first pitch at a future White Sox game.

Leo, formerly Robert Prevost, was elected May 8, becoming the first American pope in the 2,000-year history of the church. Leo, 69, spent his career serving as an Augustinian missionary and ministering in Peru before taking over the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops. He succeeded Pope Francis, who died April 21.

“When I see each and every one of you, when I see how people gather together to celebrate their faith, I discover myself how much hope there is in the world,” Leo said in the video message.

The program was to be followed by a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago who was part of the conclave that elected Leo.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is in the homestretch of a term that has lately been dominated by the Trump administration’s emergency appeals of lower court orders seeking to slow President Donald Trump’s efforts to remake the federal government.

But the justices also have 21 cases to resolve that were argued between December and mid-May, including a push by Republican-led states to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors. One of the argued cases was an emergency appeal, the administration’s bid to be allowed to enforce Trump’s executive order denying birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally.

The court typically aims to finish its work by the end of June.

Here are some of the biggest remaining cases:

Tennessee and 26 other states have enacted bans on certain treatment for transgender youth

The oldest unresolved case, and arguably the term’s biggest, stems from a challenge to Tennessee’s law from transgender minors and their parents who argue that it is unconstitutional sex discrimination aimed at a vulnerable population.

At arguments in December, the court’s conservative majority seemed inclined to uphold the law, voicing skepticism of claims that it violates the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause. The post-Civil War provision requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same.

The court is weighing the case amid a range of other federal and state efforts to regulate the lives of transgender people, including which sports competitions they can join and which bathrooms they can use. In April, Trump’s administration sued Maine for not complying with the government’s push to ban transgender athletes in girls sports.

Trump also has sought to block federal spending on gender-affirming care for those under 19 and a conservative majority of justices allowed him to move forward with plans to oust transgender people from the U.S. military.

Trump’s birthright citizenship order has been blocked by lower courts

The court rarely hears arguments over emergency appeals, but it took up the administration’s plea to narrow orders that have prevented the citizenship changes from taking effect anywhere in the U.S.

The issue before the justices is whether to limit the authority of judges to issue nationwide injunctions, which have plagued both Republican and Democratic administrations in the past 10 years.

These nationwide court orders have emerged as an important check on Trump’s efforts and a source of mounting frustration to the Republican president and his allies.

At arguments last month, the court seemed intent on keeping a block on the citizenship restrictions while still looking for a way to scale back nationwide court orders. It was not clear what such a decision might look like, but a majority of the court expressed concerns about what would happen if the administration were allowed, even temporarily, to deny citizenship to children born to parents who are in the country illegally.

Democratic-led states, immigrants and rights groups who sued over Trump’s executive order argued that it would upset the settled understanding of birthright citizenship that has existed for more than 125 years.

The court seems likely to side with Maryland parents in a religious rights case over LGBTQ storybooks in public schools

Parents in the Montgomery County school system, in suburban Washington, want to be able to pull their children out of lessons that use the storybooks, which the county added to the curriculum to better reflect the district’s diversity.

The school system at one point allowed parents to remove their children from those lessons, but then reversed course because it found the opt-out policy to be disruptive. Sex education is the only area of instruction with an opt-out provision in the county’s schools.

The school district introduced the storybooks in 2022, with such titles as “Prince and Knight” and “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding.”

The case is one of several religious rights cases at the court this term. The justices have repeatedly endorsed claims of religious discrimination in recent years. The decision also comes amid increases in recent years in books being banned from public school and public libraries.

A three-year battle over congressional districts in Louisiana is making its second trip to the Supreme Court

Lower courts have struck down two Louisiana congressional maps since 2022 and the justices are weighing whether to send state lawmakers back to the map-drawing board for a third time.

The case involves the interplay between race and politics in drawing political boundaries in front of a conservative-led court that has been skeptical of considerations of race in public life.

At arguments in March, several of the court’s conservative justices suggested they could vote to throw out the map and make it harder, if not impossible, to bring redistricting lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act.

Before the court now is a map that created a second Black majority congressional district among Louisiana’s six seats in the House of Representatives. The district elected a Black Democrat in 2024.

A three-judge court found that the state relied too heavily on race in drawing the district, rejecting Louisiana’s arguments that politics predominated, specifically the preservation of the seats of influential members of Congress, including Speaker Mike Johnson. The Supreme Court ordered the challenged map to be used last year while the case went on.

Lawmakers only drew that map after civil rights advocates won a court ruling that a map with one Black majority district likely violated the landmark voting rights law.

The justices are weighing a Texas law aimed at blocking kids from seeing online pornography

Texas is among more than a dozen states with age verification laws. The states argue the laws are necessary as smartphones have made access to online porn, including hardcore obscene material, almost instantaneous.

The question for the court is whether the measure infringes on the constitutional rights of adults as well. The Free Speech Coalition, an adult-entertainment industry trade group, agrees that children shouldn’t be seeing pornography. But it says the Texas law is written too broadly and wrongly affects adults by requiring them to submit personal identifying information online that is vulnerable to hacking or tracking.

The justices appeared open to upholding the law, though they also could return it to a lower court for additional work. Some justices worried the lower court hadn’t applied a strict enough legal standard in determining whether the Texas law and others like that could run afoul of the First Amendment.

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s one of the largest repositories of Black history in the country — and its most devoted supporters say not enough people know about it. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture hopes to change that Saturday, as it celebrates its centennial with a festival combining two of its marquee annual events.

The Black Comic Book Festival and the Schomburg Literary Festival will run across a full day and will feature readings, panel discussions, workshops, children’s story times, and cosplay, as well as a vendor marketplace. Saturday’s celebration takes over 135th Street in Manhattan between Malcom X and Adam Clayton Powell boulevards.

Founded in New York City during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, the Schomburg Center will spend the next year exhibiting signature objects curated from its massive catalog of Black literature, art, recordings and films.

Artists, writers and community leaders have gone the center to be inspired, root their work in a deep understanding of the vastness of the African diaspora, and spread word of the global accomplishments of Black people.

It’s also the kind of place that, in an era of backlash against race-conscious education and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, exists as a free and accessible branch of the New York Public Library system. It’s open to the public during regular business hours, but its acclaimed research division requires an appointment.

“The longevity the Schomburg has invested in preserving the traditions of the Black literary arts is worth celebrating, especially in how it sits in the canon of all the great writers that came beforehand,” said Mahogany Brown, an author and poet-in-residence at the Lincoln Center, who will participate in Saturday’s literary festival.

For the centennial, the Schomburg’s leaders have curated more than 100 items for an exhibition that tells the center’s story through the objects, people, and the place — the historically Black neighborhood of Harlem — that shaped it. Those objects include a visitor register log from 1925-1940 featuring the signatures of Black literary icons and thought leaders, such as Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes; materials from the Fab 5 Freddy collection, documenting the earliest days of hip hop; and actor and director Ossie Davis’s copy of the “Purlie Victorious” stage play script.

An audio guide to the exhibition has been narrated by actor and literacy advocate LeVar Burton, the former host of the long-running TV show “Reading Rainbow.”

Whether they are new to the center or devoted supporters, visitors to the centennial exhibition will get a broader understanding of the Schomburg’s history, the communities it has served, and the people who made it possible, said Joy Bivins, the Director of the Schomburg Center, who curated the centennial collection.

“Visitors will understand how the purposeful preservation of the cultural heritage of people of African descent has generated and fueled creativity across time and disciplines,” Bivins said.

Novella Ford, associate director of public programs and exhibitions, said the Schomburg Center approaches its work through a Black lens, focusing on Black being and Black aliveness as it addresses current events, theories, or issues.

“We’re constantly connecting the present to the past, always looking back to move forward, and vice versa,” Ford said.

Still, many people outside the Schomburg community remain unaware of the center’s existence — a concerning reality at a time when the Harlem neighborhood continues to gentrify around it and when the Trump administration is actively working to restrict the kind of race-conscious education and initiatives embedded in the center’s mission.

“We amplify scholars of color,” Ford said. “It’s about reawakening. It gives us the tools and the voice to push back by affirming the beauty, complexity, and presence of Black identity.”

Founder’s donation seeds center’s legacy

The Schomburg Center has 11 million items in one of the oldest and largest collections of materials documenting the history and culture of people of African descent. That’s a credit to founder Arturo Schomburg, an Afro-Latino historian born to a German father and African mother in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He was inspired to collect materials on Afro-Latin Americans and African American culture after a that Black people lacked major figures and a noteworthy history.

Schomburg moved to New York in 1891 and, during the height of the Harlem Renaissance in 1926, sold his collection of approximately 4,000 books and pamphlets to the New York Public Library. Selections from Schomburg’s personal holdings, known as the seed library, are part of the centennial exhibition.

Ernestine Rose, who was the head librarian at the 135th Street branch, and Catherine Latimer, the New York Public Library’s first Black librarian, built on Schomburg’s donation by documenting Black culture to reflect the neighborhoods around the library.

Today, the library serves as a research archive of art, artifacts, manuscripts, rare books, photos, moving images, and recorded sound. Over the years, it has grown in size, from a reading room on the third floor to three buildings that include a small theater and an auditorium for public programs, performances and movie screenings.

Tammi Lawson, who has been visiting the Schomburg Center for over 40 years, recently noticed the absence of Black women artists in the center’s permanent collection. Now, as the curator of the arts and artifacts division, she is focused on acquiring works by Black women artists from around the world, adding to an already impressive catalog at the center.

“Preserving Black art and artifacts affirms our creativity and our cultural contributions to the world,” Lawson said. “What makes the Schomburg Center’s arts and artifacts division so unique and rare is that we started collecting 50 years before anyone else thought to do it. Therefore, we have the most comprehensive collection of Black art in a public institution.”

Youth scholars seen as key to center’s future

For years, the Schomburg aimed to uplift New York’s Black community through its , a tuition-free program that awards dozens of youth from 6th through 12th grade. The scholars gain access to the center’s repository and use it to create a multimedia showcase reflecting the richness, achievements, and struggles of today’s Black experience.

It’s a lesser-known aspect of the Schomburg Center’s legacy. That’s in part because some in the Harlem community felt a divide between the institution and the neighborhood it purports to serve, said Damond Haynes, a former coordinator of interpretive programs at the center, who also worked with the Junior Scholars Program. But Harlem has changed since Haynes started working for the program about two decades ago.

“The Schomburg was like a castle,” Haynes said. “It was like a church, you know what I mean? Only the members go in. You admire the building.”

For those who are exposed to the center’s collections, the impact on their sense of self is undeniable, Haynes said. Kids are learning about themselves like Black history scholars, and it’s like many families are passing the torch in a right of passage, he said.

“A lot of the teens, the avenues that they pick during the program, media, dance, poetry, visual art, they end up going into those programs,” Haynes said. “A lot the teens actually find their identity within the program.”

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 1.15 million power banks are under recall across the U.S. after some fires and explosions were reported by consumers.

According to a from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, electronics maker Anker Innovations is recalling certain “PowerCore 10000” power banks because the lithium-ion battery inside can overheat.

An overheating battery can lead to “melting of plastic components, smoke, and fire hazards,” Anker wrote in an accompanying . The company added that it was conducting this recall “out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety of our customers.”

According to the CPSC, China-based Anker has received 19 reports of fires and explosions involving these now-recalled portable chargers. That includes two minor burn injuries and 11 reports of property damage amounting to over $60,700.

The recalled “PowerCore 10000” power banks have a model number of A1263. They were sold online at Anker’s website — as well as Amazon, eBay and Newegg — between June 2016 and December 2022 for about $27 across the U.S., per the recall notice.

Consumers in possession these now-recalled chargers are urged to stop using them immediately — and for a free replacement.

Impacted consumers can for more information and register for the recall. To receive a replacement, consumers will need to submit a photo of their recalled power bank that shows its model number, serial number, their name, date and the word “recalled” written on the product.

Both the CPSC and Anker note that these power banks should not be thrown directly in the trash or general recycling streams. Due to fire risks, recalled lithium-ion batteries must be disposed of differently than other batteries — so it’s important to check local guidance.

More than 75 years after Flag Day became U.S. law, the stars and stripes grab our gaze these days in constant portraits of how Americans see their country’s promise — sometimes dotted along historic graves of military veterans, draped upside down over a protester, or painted on a barn.

Flag Day commemorates the 1777 approval of a national flag design by the Continental Congress. It was established by federal law in 1949 as June 14. Observances preceded that, including in 1891 at a Philadelphia house of Betsy Ross. But the fervor for the flag that exists today has strong roots in the Civil War, when flag bearers were regarded with particularly high honor.

At the Betsy Ross House, a flag bearing a circle of 13 stars for each of the colonies is flown. And at a family farm near Loring, Kansas, 38 stars are painted on the flag on its barn, the number of states when the barn was built in 1884. Those throwback versions and others are still around, but the 50-star flag is never far from view. It has been patterned on a pro golfer’s shorts, colored onto the roof of a business, and brandished during confrontations at public demonstrations.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

NEW YORK (AP) — A shaky economy. Overwhelming student debt. Few job prospects. Some recent college graduates have a burdensome mountain of reasons to move back home. For others, the choice may be easy as they seek to save money, or desire the physical and emotional comforts of family.

But the familiar may feel different with the changing dynamics that come with growing up. One thing is certain: If you’re a new grad or the parents of one, you’re not alone in navigating new terrain.

Maturity and respect among all parties is a good place to start before those packing boxes arrive. So is having a clear path forward. Consider these tips for making it all work.

Set clear expectations early

Richard Ramos, a parenting trainer and author of “Parents on a Mission,” urges parents and their young adult children to break from their traditional roles.

For parents, shift from authority to ally.

“You’re no longer parenting a teenager. You’re relating to an emerging adult. Move from ‘manager’ to ‘mentor.’ Offer guidance, not control. Maintain your home as a launchpad, not a landing strip for them to get too comfortable in,” he says.

Grads, come home with humility.

“You may have a degree, but you’re still under your parents’ roof,” Ramos says. “Show appreciation. Contribute to the household. Asking before assuming you can simply take shows your growth as a young adult. Honor the space they’ve made for you.”

Drill down to specifics

As a counselor and parent, Veronica Lichtenstein knows firsthand what Ramos means. Her 26-year-old son has been living at home for two years since graduation to save money for his first house.

“I’ve learned that clear, collaborative boundaries are the foundation of harmony,” she says.

Lichtenstein has lots of practical advice, starting with a “living contract” created cooperatively.

“His proposed terms became the starting point for negotiation. This empowered him to take ownership while ensuring mutual respect. The final signed agreement covered everything from chores to quiet hours,” she says.

Common areas must be left clean, for example, and advance notice is required if he plans group gatherings.

“Emphasize that this is a temporary, goal-oriented arrangement,” Lichtenstein says. By that, she means: “We’re happy to support you for 12 months while you save X dollars.”

Regular check-ins keep everyone accountable.

Crystalize chores and shared resources

Amy McCready is the founder of PositiveParentingSolutions.com and author of “The Me, Me, Me Epidemic — A Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Capable, Grateful Kids in an Over-Entitled World.”

She suggests setting expectations when it comes to shared resources.

“If they’ll be driving your vehicle, be clear about when it’s available, who pays for gas or maintenance, and what responsibilities go with the privilege,” McCready says. “Use ‘when-then’ phrasing to keep things respectful and direct: When your responsibilities are done, then the car is available.”

If conflict arises, it’s often because everyone reverts to old roles and old rules, she says. “Pause and ask, ‘Are we interacting like we did when they were 17?’”

Then reset with intention.

What about special guests?

Parents need to decide if conjugal visits for resident adult children are something they’re comfortable with. Such overnight visits with romantic partners can be tricky, McCready notes.

“If overnight visits aren’t something you’re OK with, it’s completely appropriate to set that boundary,” she says. “You might say, ‘We’re so glad you’re here, and we want everyone to feel comfortable. For us, that means no overnight guests while you’re living at home.’”

Parents can ask to be told ahead of time if their grad plans to sleep elsewhere.

Parents, be careful not to judge

Eric Wood, director of the Counseling & Mental Health Center at Texas Christian University, says parents should check in on their frustrations over the new living scenario. Their graduate might feel embarrassed and worry that they’re a burden.

“Don’t judge, especially with the current job market and recent global events. It’s important not to be critical of a graduate who must return home,” he says. “Just like we advise incoming college students not to rush into a certain academic major, it’s more important not to rush into an entry career position. Establishing a solid trajectory for a successful and happy career is the priority.”

Wood said the new mantra for parents should be: Support, but don’t problem solve when it comes to fully launching a grad.

“It’s important for the parent or family member not to act as if they are trying to solve a problem,” he says. “Doing so will only send a message that the graduate is a problem and could lead to conflicts.”

NEW YORK (AP) — A string of recent cyberattacks and data breaches involving the systems of major retailers have started affecting shoppers.

United Natural Foods, a wholesale distributor that supplies Whole Foods and other grocers, said this week that a breach of its systems was disrupting its ability to fulfill orders — leaving many stores without certain items.

In the U.K., consumers could not order from the website of Marks & Spencer for more than six weeks — and found fewer in-store options after hackers targeted the British clothing, home goods and food retailer. A cyberattack on Co-op, a U.K. grocery chain, also led to empty shelves in some stores.

Cyberattacks have been on the rise across industries. But infiltrations of corporate technology carry their own set of implications when the target is a consumer-facing business.

Beyond potentially halting sales of physical goods, breaches can expose customers’ personal data to future phishing or fraud attempts.

Here’s what you need to know.

Cyberattacks are on the rise overall

Despite ongoing efforts from organizations to boost their cybersecurity defenses, experts note that cyberattacks continue to increase across the board.

In the past year, there’s also been an “uptick in the retail victims” of such attacks, said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the National Cybersecurity Alliance, a U.S. nonprofit.

“Cyber criminals are moving a little quicker than we are in terms of securing our systems,” he said.

Ransomware attacks — in which hackers demand a hefty payment to restore hacked systems — account for a growing share of cyber crimes, experts note. And of course, retail isn’t the only affected sector. by NCC Group, a global cybersecurity and software escrow firm, showed that industrial businesses were most often targeted for ransomware attacks in April, followed by companies in the “consumer discretionary” sector.

Attackers know there’s a particular impact when going after well-known brands and products that shoppers buy or need every day, experts note.

“Creating that chaos and that panic with consumers puts pressure on the retailer,” Steinhauer said, especially if there’s a ransom demand involved.

Ade Clewlow, an associate director and senior adviser at the NCC Group, points specifically to food supply chain disruptions. Following the cyberattacks targeting M&S and Co-op, for example, supermarkets in remote areas of the U.K., where inventory already was strained, saw product shortages.

“People were literally going without the basics,” Clewlow said.

Personal data is also at risk

Along with impacting business operations, cyber breaches may compromise customer data. The information can range from names and email addresses, to more sensitive data like credit card numbers, depending on the scope of the breach. Consumers therefore need to stay alert, according to experts.

“If (consumers have) given their personal information to these retailers, then they just have to be on their guard. Not just immediately, but really going forward,” Clewlow said, noting that recipients of the data may try to commit fraud “downstream.”

Fraudsters might send look-alike emails asking a retailer’s account holders to change their passwords or promising fake promotions to get customers to click on a sketchy link. A good rule of thumb is to pause before opening anything and to visit the company’s recognized website or call an official customer service hotline to verify the email, experts say.

It’s also best not to reuse the same passwords across multiple websites — because if one platform is breached, that login information could be used to get into other accounts, through a tactic known as “credential stuffing.” Steinhauer adds that using multifactor authentication, when available, and freezing your credit are also useful for added lines of defense.

Which companies have reported recent cybersecurity incidents?

A range of consumer-facing companies have reported cybersecurity incidents recently — including breaches that have caused some businesses to halt operations.

United Natural Foods, a major distributor for Whole Foods and other grocers across North America, took some of its systems offline after discovering “unauthorized activity” on June 5.

In a , the company said the incident had impacted its “ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders.” United Natural Foods said in a Wednesday update that it was “working steadily” to gradually restore the services.

Still, that’s meant leaner supplies of certain items this week. A Whole Foods spokesperson told The Associated Press via email that it was working to restock shelves as soon as possible. The Amazon-owned grocer’s partnership with United Natural Foods currently runs through May 2032.

Meanwhile, a security breach detected by Victoria’s Secret last month led the popular lingerie seller to shut down its U.S. shopping site for nearly four days, as well as to halt some in-store services. Victoria’s Secret later disclosed that its corporate systems also were affected, too, causing the company to delay the release of its first quarter earnings.

Several British retailers — M&S, Harrods and Co-op — have all pointed to impacts of recent cyberattacks. The attack targeting M&S, which was first reported around Easter weekend, stopped it from processing online orders and also emptied some store shelves.

The company estimated last month that the it would incur costs of 300 million pounds ($400 million) from the attack. But progress towards recovery was shared Tuesday, when M&S that some of its online order operations were back — with more set to be added in the coming weeks.

Other breaches exposed customer data, with brands like Adidas, The North Face and Cartier all disclosing that some contact information was compromised recently.

In a statement, The North Face said it discovered a “small-scale credential stuffing attack” on its website in April. The company reported that no credit card data was compromised and said the incident, which impacted 1,500 consumers, was “quickly contained.”

Meanwhile, Adidas last month that an “unauthorized external party” obtained some data, which was mostly contact information, through a third-party customer service provider.

Whether or not the incidents are connected is unknown. Experts like Steinhauer note that hackers sometimes target a piece of software used by many different companies and organizations. But the range of tactics used could indicate the involvement of different groups.

Companies’ language around cyberattacks and security breaches also varies — and may depend on what they know when. But many don’t immediately or publicly specify whether ransomware was involved.

Still, Steinhauer says the likelihood of ransomware attacks is “pretty high” in today’s cybersecurity landscape — and key indicators can include businesses taking their systems offline or delaying financial reporting.

Overall, experts say it’s important to build up “cyber hygiene” defenses and preparations across organizations.

“Cyber is a business risk, and it needs to be treated that way,” Clewlow said.

A New York man is laying claim to the record for most consecutive hours playing golf — a 35-hour stint on a course on Long Island that began early Sunday evening and ended early Tuesday morning.

Kelechi Ezihie initially planned to play 24 hours to set a Guinness World Record, only to learn hours into his effort that a British golfer had played for 32 straight hours on a course in Norway at the end of May. His sister had called him after seeing the 32-hour record while searching the internet, he said.

Surprised but determined, he plodded on through rain, fatigue and drenched and aching feet to outlast the Brit, Isaac Rowlands.

“I feel proud to be able to say I am a world champion,” he said. “This is an opportunity that not many people have. It’s definitely something I will definitely be telling my kids and my grandkids moving forward in the future.”

Armed with friends, flashlights and glow-in-the-dark golf balls, the 27-year-old Ezihie teed off at Huntington Crescent Club at about 6:30 p.m. on Sunday and sank his last putt shortly after 5:30 a.m. Tuesday — playing the 18 holes seven times for a total of 126 holes, he said.

Along the way, friends took video of the entire outing and other people served as witnesses so Guinness could verify the record, he said. He was allowed a five-minute break per hour, under Guinness rules, and ended up taking 20-minute breaks at the end of each round while still following the rules.

Kylie Galloway, a spokesperson for London-based Guinness, said it takes 12 to 15 weeks for specialists with the organization to review evidence and declare whether a record has been set. He said no one currently holds the record for longest golf marathon, and anyone who applies must have played at least 24 hours.

Ezihie, an assistant manager at an organization that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and autism, said he wanted to set the record to promote diversity in golf.

“People become intimidated when they hear about golf and they think it’s for the wealthy,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday. “I see how much golf has taught me, and I just believe that golf is a game that everybody should be able to get a chance to play and they could definitely learn life lessons from this game.”

Ezihie, who has been playing golf for only two and a half years, also promotes golf locally and is trying to raise funds to build a golf center in Imo State in Nigeria, where he is from, to build interest in the sport among children. He has lived in the U.S. since 2008.

Near the end of his golf marathon in Tuesday’s early hours, Ezihie said his feet were really hurting.

“I was willing to play ’til the wheels fell off, and I did just that. My legs gave up on me and I was limping almost through the whole round,” he said, adding “I enjoyed every round.”

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — That perfect slice of Jersey pizza. Garden State puns about putting down roots. A whirlwind lesson on Navy helicopters.

And diners, lots of diners.

If you’re paying attention to New Jersey’s race for governor between Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli and looking for signs about the national mood on President Donald Trump’s agenda and how voters are reacting to Democrats’ messaging, getting to know the candidates might help decode things for you.

Both Sherrill and Ciattarelli emerged from competitive primaries and began the general election campaign Wednesday with efforts to unify their parties.

And they both found subtle (and overt) ways to broadcast their backgrounds to voters during the campaign: Ciattarelli turned up at a pizzeria — a classic wood-paneled joint — in his hometown with supporters casting him as a homegrown guy. Sherrill leans into her military service as a Navy helicopter pilot; her campaign signs have little choppers hovering above her name, for instance. They’re both campaigning at the state’s famed diners.

Here’s a closer look at each of the candidates.

New Jersey, my home

Giacchino “Jack” Ciattarelli (Chit-a-REL-ee), 63, has made being a lifelong New Jersey resident part of his campaign pitch and put his hometown of suburban Raritan at the center of some key campaign events. He conceded the close 2021 loss to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy there and said he’d run again.

“New Jersey is my home. Always has been, always will be,” he said Tuesday. “Unfortunately New Jersey is broken. Make no mistake, it can be fixed.”

Four years after his defeat, he’s the GOP nominee again.

A Trump critic during his first run for governor in 2017, he’s come to support the president, who endorsed Ciattarelli as “ALL IN” on the MAGA agenda.

Ciattarelli attended Seton Hall University for undergraduate and graduate school, eventually getting an MBA at the South Orange school and becoming a certified public accountant. He founded Galen Publishing, which produces medical literature, and served in elected office at various levels. He was a member of the Raritan Borough Council before becoming a Somerset County Freeholder (now called commissioners). He was elected to the state Assembly in 2011 and served until 2018 after not seeking reelection because of his first run for governor.

The father of four adult children, Ciattarelli said in 2023 he and his longtime wife Melinda had separated.

‘Grow your dreams’

Rebecca Michelle “Mikie” Sherrill, 53, is a Montclair resident who first ran for political office in 2018, when she won in the long-time GOP-held 11th District in northern New Jersey’s wealthy suburbs.

She was born in northern Virginia and attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where she met her husband Jason Hedberg. Alluding to her later-in-life arrival to New Jersey, she invoked New Jersey’s Garden State nickname on primary night.

“This is where you plant your family and you grow your dreams,” she said.

Sherrill served for a decade in the Navy, piloting Sea King helicopters, an ever-present part of her story on the campaign trail. She attended Georgetown for law school after her military service and worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of New Jersey.

She and her husband also have four children, and she’s put motherhood at the center of her campaign, frequently pointing to being the mom of four kids along with her military and prosecutorial experience. She was reelected to the U.S. House three times since her 2018 victory.

Hints about the general election

Even before voters settled the primary, Sherrill and Ciattarelli hinted at how the general election race could take shape.

In sparring over social media, Sherrill opposed the GOP-backed legislation in Congress that Republicans have been calling the “ Big Beautiful Bill,” while Ciattarelli talked up the benefits of its tax cuts.

Beauty, of course, is subjective. Sherrill said the bill would drive up costs and attempted to link Ciattarelli to health care and food assistance cuts.

On Tuesday she called him a “lackey” for Trump.

Ciattarelli jabbed Sherrill over opposing what would amount to tax cuts for many residents.

The tax cuts in the bill working its way through Congress are needed in New Jersey, he wrote, “thanks to Democrats making NJ the highest taxed state in America.”

Suggesting Republicans’ desire to link Sherrill to the term-limited Murphy, Ciattarelli called Sherrill “Phil Murphy 2.0” on Tuesday.

Purple New Jersey?

Election Day is Nov. 4. Democrats outnumber Republicans among registered voters, but independents are a significant chunk of the electorate.

While Democrats have had a long-time lock in presidential and Senate races, Republicans frequently break through in races for governor. Each of the last three Republican governors was reelected. Murphy became the first Democrat to win reelection in more than four decades in 2021.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — A bison gored a man Tuesday after a large group of visitors got too close to the animal in Yellowstone National Park, officials said.

The 30-year-old from Randolph, New Jersey, was treated for minor injuries after being gored around 9:45 a.m. in the Old Faithful area, according to a park statement.

Park officials didn’t release the man’s name or condition, saying what happened was under investigation and no more information was available for release.

He was the second person gored by a bison already this spring in Yellowstone. A 47-year-old Cape Coral, Florida, man had minor injuries after being gored in the Lake Village area May 7.

Bison gored at least two people in Yellowstone last year including an 83-year-old South Carolina woman who was an Arizona woman in the park in 2023.

Yellowstone bison injured two people in 2022.

Bison have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other wild animal. They can run up to 35 mph (56 kph), faster than the men’s world record in the 100-meter dash.

Standing up to 6 feet (2 meters) tall and weighing up to 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms), they are North America’s biggest land animal.

Park regulations require visitors to keep at least 25 yards (22.86 meters) away from bison and other large herbivores and 100 yards (91 meters) away from wolves and bears.

DALLAS (AP) — The origin of the Juneteenth celebrations marking the end of slavery in the U.S. goes back to an order issued as Union troops arrived in Texas at the end of the Civil War. It declared that all enslaved people in the state were free and had “absolute equality.”

Word quickly spread of General Order No. 3 — issued on June 19, 1865, when U.S. Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger landed in the South Texas port city of Galveston — as troops posted handbills and newspapers published them.

The Dallas Historical Society will put one of those original handbills on display at the Hall of State in Fair Park starting June 19.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in the U.S. in 2021 but has been celebrated in Texas since 1866. As time passed, communities in other states also started to mark the day.

“There’d be barbecue and celebrations,” said Portia D. Hopkins, the historian for Rice University in Houston. “It was really an effort for people to say: Look at how far we’ve come. Look at what we’ve been able to endure as a community.”

Progression of freedom

On Jan. 1, 1863, nearly two years into the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the freedom of “all persons held as slaves” in the still rebellious states of the Confederacy. But it didn’t mean immediate freedom.

“It would take the Union armies moving through the South and effectively freeing those people for that to come to pass,” said Edward T. Cotham Jr., a historian and author of the book “Juneteenth: The Story Behind the Celebration.”

The proclamation didn’t apply to the border states that allowed enslavement but didn’t leave the Union, nor the states occupied by the Union at the time, said Erin Stewart Mauldin, chair of southern history at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg.

“You have to think of emancipation as a patchwork,” she said. “It doesn’t happen all at once. It is hyper local.”

Still, she said, the proclamation “was recognized immediately as this watershed moment in history.”

“The Emancipation Proclamation is the promise that the end of slavery is now a war aim,” Mauldin said.

Texas at the end of the war

As the war progressed, many enslavers from the South fled to Texas, causing the state’s enslaved population to balloon from about 182,000 in 1860 to 250,000 by the end of the war in 1865, Mauldin said.

Cotham said that while enslaved people were emancipated “on a lot of different dates in a lot of different places across the country,” June 19 is the most appropriate date to celebrate the end of slavery because it represents the “last large intact body of enslaved people to be freed.”

He said many enslaved people across the South knew of the Emancipation Proclamation, but that it didn’t mean anything until troops arrived to enforce it.

About six months after General Order No. 3 was issued, the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was ratified.

General Order No. 3

The order begins by saying “all slaves are free” and have “absolute equality” of rights. Going forward, the relationship between “former masters and slaves” will be that of employer and hired laborer.

It advises freedmen to “remain at their present homes and work for wages,” adding that they must not collect at military posts and “will not be supported in idleness.”

The handbills were also handed out to church and local officials. Cotham said Union chaplains would travel from farm to farm to explain the order to workers, and many former enslavers read the order to the people they had enslaved, emphasizing the part about continuing to work.

The Dallas Historical Society’s handbill came from the collection of newspaperman George Bannerman Dealey, who founded the society, said Karl Chiao, the society’s executive director. Dealey began working at a Galveston newspaper in 1874 before being sent to Dallas by the publisher to start The Dallas Morning News.

Chiao said their handbill is the only one they know of that still exists. The the official handwritten record of General Order No. 3.

What freedom looks like

“Some of the people who were set free stayed on the plantations and worked for their former owners, others left, they went to Houston, to Dallas, or they went to San Antonio seeking work,” said W. Marvin Dulaney, deputy director of the African American Museum of Dallas.

While there was excitement, the newly freed people knew they had to “build up what citizenship looked like for them,” Hopkins of Rice University said, and that there was still “a lot of work to do.”

“You changed the relationship between the enslaver and the enslaved but you didn’t change the culture or the societal norms with how enslavers treated enslaved people,” she said.

Mauldin said participants in early Juneteenth celebrations were “incredibly brave,” noting that by 1868, the Ku Klux Klan was established in Texas. They were celebrating their freedom, she said, “under constant threat of violence.”

“It does take time for sort of what freedom is going to look like to be made real, and in large part the reason that freedom is made real is because of ex-slaves pushing for what they think freedom should be,” Mauldin said. “It’s not being given to them, they are actively fighting for it.”

NEW YORK (AP) — The leaders of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” have been convicted of federal forced labor charges.

A Brooklyn jury on Monday found Nicole Daedone, founder of OneTaste Inc., and Rachel Cherwitz, the California-based company’s former sales director, guilty of forced labor conspiracy after deliberating for less than two days following a roughly monthlong trial.

Daedone’s defense team had cast her as a “ceiling-shattering feminist entrepreneur” who created a unique business around women’s sexuality and empowerment.

But prosecutors argued the two women ran a yearslong scheme that groomed adherents — many of them victims of sexual trauma — to do their bidding.

They said Daedone and Cherwitz used economic, sexual and psychological abuse, intimidation and indoctrination to force OneTaste members into sexual acts they found uncomfortable or repulsive, such as having sex with prospective investors or clients.

The two told followers the questionable acts were necessary in order to obtain “freedom” and “enlightenment” and demonstrate their commitment to the organization’s principles.

Prosecutors said OneTaste leaders also didn’t pay promised earnings to the members-turned-workers and even forced some of them to take out new credit cards to continue taking the company’s courses.

Lawyers for the two women didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Monday.

OneTaste started in San Francisco around 2005 as a sort of self-help commune that viewed female orgasms as key to sexual and psychological wellness and interpersonal connection.

A centerpiece was “orgasmic meditation,” carried out by men manually stimulating women in a group setting.

The company quickly opened outposts from Los Angeles to London following glowing media coverage in the 2010s. At the time, OneTaste was portrayed as a cutting-edge enterprise that prioritized women’s sexual pleasure.

But Daedone sold her stake in 2017 — a year before OneTaste’s marketing and labor practices came under scrutiny.

The company’s current owners, who have rebranded it the Institute of OM Foundation, have said its work has been misconstrued and the charges against its former executives were unjustified.

They maintain sexual consent has always been a cornerstone of the organization. The company didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — I’m cruising around Bowser’s Castle with my old pal Toad. It’s not exactly relaxing, what with all the lava pits and banana peels and turtle shells littering the road. Add 23 other characters — is that a cow driving? — who are trying to get to the finish line first, and it’s chaos.

The hectic, high-speed insanity of any race in the new would have caused the eight-year-old Switch console to wheeze a bit. And that’s why we’ve got the ($449.99), the souped-up sequel to Nintendo’s popular home-and-portable hybrid.

It looks prettier, too. The 7.9-inch portable display (up from 6.2 inches) boosts the resolution to 1020p (from 720p), and while the LCD screen isn’t quite as sharp as an OLED screen might have been, it’s much cleaner than the original recipe Switch. It looks even better when connected to an HDTV since it now supports 4K and HDR.

Nintendo has always stood apart from the technological arms race that fans of Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox obsess over, insisting that first-rate games don’t necessarily depend on high-powered computer chips. But you could feel the strain in 2023’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, with its at-times blurry graphics and sluggish framerate. The Switch 2, with a faster framerate of 120 fps, corrects much of the fuzziness.

That’s not to say it comes close to matching the high-definition performance of the PlayStation 5 or the Xbox X/S. If you’re expecting the jaw-dropping graphics of, say, … well, no.

There is good news for those of us who have gotten weary of the old Switch’s dinky 32 gigabytes of internal storage. The Switch 2 multiplies that by eight, for 256 GB. Of course, flashier games take up more space, so if you want more room you’ll have to invest in a microSD Express card — which is a bit pricier than the standard memory card used in most portable devices.

Magnets, how do they work?

The Switch 2’s Joy-Con controllers have undergone some tinkering. As before, you can attach them to the sides of the screen if you’re playing on the go. If you’re at home, you can attach them to a doohickey that feels more like a traditional joystick. Either way, they’re now more firmly connected with magnets, which provide a satisfying snap.

Both the left and right Joy-Cons now include an optical mouse, which you can use by placing the controller on its edge and rolling it around on a table. (Nintendo says you can also use it on your pants, but I prefer using a clipboard on my lap.) It remains to be seen how many Switch 2 games will call for a mouse, but 2K’s port of Sid Meier’s Civilization VII seems like a good candidate.

What about the social options?

And then there’s a new button labeled “C” on the right-hand Joy-Con. That calls up GameChat, which lets you start up a conversation with other players — provided you’ve all taken the time to register yourselves as friends. (Eventually, you’ll also need to subscribe to the Nintendo Switch Online service, but that requirement doesn’t kick in until March 31, 2016.) The microphone is built into the Switch 2, though if you want to upgrade to video chat, you’ll need to buy a separate Nintendo camera.

Finally, there’s GameShare, which lets you play selected titles with other Switch users even if they don’t own the software.

Nintendo has been emphasizing the new social features in its marketing, though it feels like it’s catching up to the competition. The kids I know who play Fortnite or Minecraft on competing consoles seem to have figured out long ago how to chat with their pals. Welcome to the 2010s?

Who’s got game?

As with any console launch, the driving question is: Does it have the games?

There are just a couple of Switch 2 exclusives out now: Mario Kart World and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, a $10 demo package that really should have been free. There are some new-to-Nintendo ports of excellent titles like Split Fiction and Cyberpunk 2077. You can get upgrades of classics like the last two Legend of Zelda adventures. And the Switch 2 is fully backward-compatible, so you can play everything that came out for the Switch as well as a substantial library of older titles.

There’s no other machine that will let you play future installments of beloved franchises like Zelda, Super Mario Bros., Super Smash Bros. and Animal Crossing. None of those have been announced yet, but some marquee names — Donkey Kong and Kirby — will star in Switch 2 exclusives later this year.

There’s plenty of competition out there, though, and not just in the TV-connected console market Switch shares with the PlayStation and the Xbox. Nintendo no longer has the portable market to itself, thanks to Valve’s . Some models of that device cost less than the Switch 2, and it already has a huge library of PC games. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced over the weekend that it’s teaming up with Asus on the , a handheld that will be out before Christmas.

Honestly, we’ll probably have a better idea of the Switch’s quality a few years down the line, after developers get a handle on what the new hardware can do. If you’re dying to get back behind the wheel with Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach right now, though, you know what you need to do.

Southern Baptists meeting this week in Dallas will be asked to approve resolutions calling for a legal ban on pornography and a reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court’s approval of same-sex marriage.

The proposed resolutions call for laws on gender, marriage and family based on what they say is the biblically stated order of divine creation. They also call for legislators to curtail sports betting and to support policies that promote childbearing.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, is also expected to debate controversies within its own house during its annual meeting Tuesday and Wednesday — such as a proposed ban on churches with women pastors. There are also calls to defund the organization’s public policy arm, whose anti-abortion stance hasn’t extended to supporting criminal charges for women having abortions.

In a denomination where support for President Donald Trump is strong, there is little on the advance agenda referencing specific actions by Trump since taking office in January in areas such as tariffs, immigration or the pending budget bill containing cuts in taxes, food aid and Medicaid.

Remnants of the epic showdown in Dallas 40 years ago

Southern Baptists will be meeting on the 40th anniversary of another Dallas annual meeting. An epic showdown took place when a record-shattering 45,000 church representatives clashed in what became a decisive blow in the takeover of the convention — and its seminaries and other agencies — by a more conservative faction that was also aligned with the growing Christian conservative movement in presidential politics.

The 1985 showdown was “the hinge convention in terms of the old and the new in the SBC,” said Albert Mohler, who became a key agent in the denomination’s rightward shift as longtime president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Attendance this week will likely be a fraction of 1985’s, but that meeting’s influence will be evident. Any debates will be among solidly conservative members.

Many of the proposed resolutions — on gambling, pornography, sex, gender and marriage — reflect long-standing positions of the convention, though they are especially pointed in their demands on the wider political world. They are proposed by the official Committee on Resolutions, whose recommendations typically get strong support.

A proposed resolution says legislators have a duty to “pass laws that reflect the truth of creation and natural law — about marriage, sex, human life, and family” and to oppose laws contradicting “what God has made plain through nature and Scripture.”

To some outside observers, such language is theocratic.

“When you talk about God’s design for anything, there’s not a lot of room for compromise,” said Nancy Ammerman, professor emerita of sociology of religion at Boston University. She was an eyewitness to the Dallas meeting and author of “Baptist Battles,” a history of the 1980s controversy between theological conservatives and moderates.

“There’s not a lot of room for people who don’t have the same understanding of who God is and how God operates in the world,” she said.

Mohler said the resolutions reflect a divinely created order that predates the writing of the Scriptures and is affirmed by them. He said the Christian church has always asserted that the created order “is binding on all persons, in all times, everywhere.”

Southern Baptist views more politically viable today

Separate resolutions decry pornography and sports betting as destructive, calling for the former to be banned and the latter curtailed.

At least some of these political stances are in the realm of plausibility at a time when their conservative allies control all levers of power in Washington and many have embraced aspects of a Christian nationalist agenda.

A Southern Baptist, Mike Johnson, is speaker of the House of Representatives and third in line to the presidency.

At least one Supreme Court justice, Clarence Thomas, has called for revisiting the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. Other religious conservatives — including some in the Catholic postliberal movement, which has influenced Vice President JD Vance — have promoted the view that a robust government should legislate morality, such as banning pornography while easing church-state separation.

And conservatives of various stripes have echoed one of the resolution’s call for pro-natalist policies and its decrying of “willful childlessness which contributes to a declining fertility rate.”

Some call for eliminating Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

Some preconvention talk has focused on defunding the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, which has been accused of being ineffective. Ten former Southern Baptist presidents endorsed its continued funding, though one other called for the opposite.

A staunchly conservative group, the Center for Baptist Leadership, has posted online articles critical of the commission, which is adamantly anti-abortion but has opposed state laws criminalizing women seeking abortions.

The commission has appealed to Southern Baptists for support, citing its advocacy for religious liberty and against abortion and transgender identity.

“Without the ERLC, you will send the message to our nation’s lawmakers and the public at large that the SBC has chosen to abandon the public square at a time when the Southern Baptist voice is most needed,” said a video statement from the commission president, Brent Leatherwood.

A group of Southern Baptist ethnic groups and leaders signed a statement in April citing concern over Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying it has hurt church attendance and raised fears. “Law and order are necessary, but enforcement must be accompanied with compassion that doesn’t demonize those fleeing oppression, violence, and persecution,” the statement said.

The Center for Baptist Leadership, however, denounced the denominational Baptist Press for working to “weaponize empathy” in its reporting on the statement and Leatherwood for supporting it.

Texas pastor Dwight McKissic, a Black pastor who shares many of the Southern Baptist Convention’s conservative stances, criticized what he sees as a backlash against the commission, “the most racially progressive entity in the SBC.”

“The SBC is transitioning from an evangelical organization to a fundamentalist organization,” he posted on the social media site X. “Fewer and fewer Black churches will make the transition with them.”

Amendment to ban churches with women pastors

An amendment to ban churches with women pastors failed in 2024 after narrowly failing to gain a two-thirds supermajority for two consecutive years. It is expected to be reintroduced.

The denomination’s belief statement says the office of pastor is limited to men, but there remain disagreements over whether this applies only to the lead pastor or to assistants as well. In recent years, the convention began purging churches that either had women as lead pastors or asserted that they could serve that role. But when an SBC committee this year retained a South Carolina megachurch with a woman on its pastoral staff, some argued this proved the need for a constitutional amendment. (The church later quit the denomination of its own accord.)

The meeting comes as the Southern Baptist Convention continues its long membership slide, down 2% in 2024 from the previous year in its 18th consecutive annual decline. The organization now reports a membership of 12.7 million members, still the largest among Protestant denominations, many of whom are shrinking faster.

More promising are Southern Baptists’ baptism numbers — a key spiritual vital sign. They stand at 250,643, exceeding pre-pandemic levels and, at least for now, reversing a long slide.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — After stumbling out of the starting gate in Big Tech’s pivotal race to capitalize on artificial intelligence, Apple tried to regain its footing Monday during an annual developers conference that focused mostly on incremental advances and cosmetic changes in its technology.

The presummer rite, which attracted thousands of developers from nearly 60 countries to Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters, was more subdued than the feverish anticipation that surrounded the event during the previous two years.

Apple highlighted plans for more AI tools designed to simplify people’s lives and make its products even more intuitive while also providing an early glimpse at the biggest redesign of its iPhone software in a decade. In doing so, Apple executives refrained from issuing bold promises of breakthroughs that punctuated recent conferences.

In 2023, Apple unveiled a mixed-reality headset that has been little more than a niche product, and last year WWDC trumpeted its first major foray into the AI craze with an array of new features highlighted by the promise of a smarter and more versatile version of its virtual assistant, Siri — a goal that has hasn’t been achieved yet.

Apple had intended the planned Siri upgrade to herald its long-awaited attempt to become a major player in the AI craze after getting a late start in a phenomenon that so far has been largely led by OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and an array of cutting-edge startups.

“This work needed more time to reach our high-quality bar,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s top software executive, said Monday at the outset of the conference.

The showcase unfolded amid nagging questions about whether Apple has lost some of the mystique and innovative drive that turned it into a tech trendsetter during its nearly 50-year history.

Instead of making a big splash as it did with the Vision Pro headset and its AI suite, Apple took a mostly low-key approach that emphasized its effort to spruce up the look of its software while also unveiling a new hub for its video games and new features like a “Workout Buddy” to help track physical fitness on its smartwatch.

Apple executives promised will make its software more compatible with the increasingly sophisticated computer chips that have been powering its products while also making it easier to toggle between the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

“Our product experience has become even more seamless and enjoyable,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told the crowd as the 90-minute showcase wrapped up.

Even though it might look like Apple is becoming a technological laggard, Forrester Research analyst Thomas Husson contends the company still has ample time to catch up in an AI race that’s “more of a marathon, than a sprint. It will force Apple to evolve its operating systems.”

Besides redesigning its software. Apple will switch to a method that automakers have used to telegraph their latest car models by linking them to the year after they first arrive at dealerships. That means the next version of the iPhone operating system due out this autumn will be known as iOS 26 instead of iOS 19 — as it would be under the previous naming approach that has been used since the device’s 2007 debut.

The iOS 26 upgrade is expected to be released in September around the same time Apple traditionally rolls out the next iPhone models.

In an early sign that AI was going to be a focal point of this year’s conference, Apple opened the proceedings with a short video clip featuring Federighi speeding around a track in a Formula 1 race car. Although it was meant to promote the June 27 release of the Apple film, “F1” starring Brad Pitt, the segment could also be viewed as an unintentional analogy to the company’s attempt to catch up to the rest of the pack in AI technology.

While some of the new AI tricks compatible with the latest iPhones began rolling out late last year as part of free software updates, Apple still hasn’t been able to soup up Siri in the ways that it touted at last year’s conference. The delays became so glaring that a chastened Apple retreated from promoting Siri in its AI marketing campaigns earlier this year.

While Apple has been struggling to make AI that meets its standards, the gap separating it from other tech powerhouses is widening. Google keeps packing more AI into its Pixel smartphone lineup while introducing more of the technology into its search engine to dramatically change the way it works. Samsung, Apple’s biggest smartphone rival, is also leaning heavily into AI. Meanwhile, ChatGPT recently struck a deal that will bring former Apple design guru Jony Ive into the fold to work on a new device expected to compete against the iPhone.

Besides grappling with innovation challenges, Apple also faces regulatory threats that could siphon away billions of dollars in revenue that help finance its research and development. A federal judge is currently weighing whether proposed countermeasures to Google’s illegal monopoly in search should include a ban on long-running deals worth $20 billion annually to Apple while another federal judge recently banned the company from collecting commission on in-app transactions processed outside its once-exclusive payment system.

On top of all that, Apple has been caught in the cross-hairs of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, a key manufacturing hub for the Cupertino, California, company. Cook successfully persuaded Trump to exempt the iPhone from tariffs during the president’s first administration, but he has had less success during Trump’s second term, which seems more determined to prod Apple to make its products in the U.S.

“The trade war and uncertainty linked to the tariff policy is of much more concern today for Apple’s business than the perception that Apple is lagging behind on AI innovation,” Husson said.

The multi-dimensional gauntlet facing Apple is spooking investors, causing the company’s stock price to plunge by nearly 20% so far this year — a decline that has erased $750 billion in shareholder wealth. After beginning the year as the most valuable company in the world, Apple now ranks third behind longtime rival Microsoft, another AI leader, and AI chipmaker Nvidia.

Apple’s shares slipped by more than 1% in Monday’s late afternoon trading — an early indication the company’s latest announcements didn’t inspire investors.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As they get ready in their hotel room, Bella Bautista trades makeup tips with the roommate she has just met.

Bautista, her cheekbones high and her confidence glowing, asks her roommate to curl her highlighted hair in the back. Jae Douglas obliges cheerfully.

Bautista, 22, is a college cheerleader turned pageant contestant. Last month, she competed in the Miss Supranational USA pageant in Miami, representing Tennessee. She hails from Cartersville, a small Georgia town north of Atlanta. She works as a social media intern for the Global Trans Equity Project.

She has come to Washington, D.C., to attend World Pride activities in the wake of the Trump administration’s policies legislating against gender-affirming care and its rhetoric against transgender girls in sports. During a speech she delivers to the trans community she announces what could be the anthem for her audience: “I’m not asking for permission to be who I am, I am who I am.”

Bautista says she is the first and only transgender woman to compete in the Miss Supranational pageant. It is part of a lengthier process of embracing her identity — both within herself and to the world.

Marching in an impending rain with a hundred others from the National Trans Visibility March, en route to the Lincoln Memorial to join the World Pride rally, Bella reflected, “I’m not fighting for myself anymore. I’m fighting for a larger cause alongside other people, which is good for a change. You know, being the only transgender person from my small town, it’s different to be in the capital of the USA. But so many people that are also fighting alongside with me are here, and have that same struggle.”

“In previous years, I felt more compelled to live my life stealth,” Bautista says. “But with everything going on with the current administration, I felt the need to give an actual face to the issue.”

And so she has come to World Pride, determined to be present and to fly the flag of who she is.

Coming out was a process

When Bautista transitioned during her senior year of high school in 2020, there were many pro-Trump demonstrations by students at her school during school hours. So she started a “diversity club” to create a safe place for LGBTQ+ students and students of color.

“I came out to my mom when I was 13, and I asked her, “Am I a girl?′ She said she didn’t know — ‘That’s something we need to look into.’ I didn’t know what being trans meant or anything like that. I’ve always been flexible with my gender and sexuality.”

Puberty was an upsetting time for her, before she was able to access gender-affirming care. “Having male hormones in my body gave me a lot of anxiety, dysphoria. And I felt that testosterone was going to destroy my body,” she says. With her family’s assent, she ordered hormones online and medically transitioned at 17, during her senior year.

As a gamer, she chose the name “Bella” online. It stuck.

“When I went to college I chose that name and told people, ‘Hi, I am Bella, I’m a woman.’ And I was stealth. No one on campus knew I was trans at the start. I just really wanted to live a normal college life, be a normal college girl.”

But things changed during her second year at college. She awakened to all the “harmful stereotypes” — and realized she could use them to help others.

“People would say that I don’t look trans, I don’t sound trans, so for me to be openly trans, it gives people more perspective,” she says. “I’m a normal college girl. I’m a cheerleader. This is what I look and sound like. It really resonates with both political parties.”

This past winter, she decided to testify at the Georgia State Capitol about her experience as a young trans woman athlete. It was illuminating for her.

“I had to speak in front of Republican members and I would run into them in the hallways or the elevators, or outside the bathroom, and they’d say, ’Oh, you’re testifying against my bill but you’re amazing, I loved your speech. Politicians politicize trans rights to gain votes. A big part of my platform is saying that my trans identify is not a political agenda for either side.”

She later began an organization called “This Does Not Define Me,” referring to her experiences with PTSD, a speech impediment, being Mexican American and fighting trans stereotypes. The organization is about visibility — and a sense that the challenges faced by people, especially within the trans community, shouldn’t define them.

“I hope that as more people meet me I put them at ease,” she says, “and I get more empathy for the trans community. As people have more interactions with trans people they’ll realize we are just normal people, with dreams, and this just happens to be my story.”

She dreams about the future, but is right here in the now

Bautista’s own journey has defined her in many ways, though, including her professional aspirations. She hopes to become a civil rights attorney, to stand up for marginalized people, and someday to run for public office in Georgia.

That’s later, though. Now, in a climate that doesn’t always accept people like her, there is power in just being who she is.

“I think the most powerful thing that I can do right now as a young trans woman is to educate the populace that this is my experience and that I am so much more than just being trans.”

Back at the hotel, ahead of attending a conference for the National Trans Visibility March, Bautista has Douglas take a video of her striding through the lobby in a gold gown. It’s for her Instagram feed. A family with two young children stops her. “Are you a model? Where may we have seen you before?” Bella smiles demurely and says, “Oh, I’m a pageant girl.”

She turns to a visitor. “I get that a lot,” she says.

Coming to World Pride from a hometown where she’s the only trans person is raising some questions for Bautista. Is allyship enough? Are gay members of the community fully backing trans rights? “It really feels like it’s LGB and then T,” she says. “We are going through so much. I am hoping these people waving the gay flag are also considering what we are going through at this time.”

Add onto that her identity as a Mexican woman and — with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown on many fronts — there is still more she wants to advocate. So much more to do.

Bella Bautista was silent for a while. No longer.

“It feels good to represent … something bigger and to be proud of that,” she says.

“I kind of want to be like, ‘I’m here,’ you know?” she says. “I’m just a normal college girl, I’m a cheerleader, I do pageants, and I happen to be trans, but that does not define my ability to succeed. Being trans is part of who I am, but I still deserve access to those dreams.”

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This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

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Jacquelyn Martin is an Associated Press photographer based in Washington.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Gray skies and drizzle gave way to sunshine, multicolored flags and celebrations as the nation’s capital held the World Pride parade Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people participated in parades and other festivities, in defiance of what activists say is an unprecedented assault on the LGBTQ+ community that challenges the rights many have fought for over the years.

A rainbow flag the length of three football fields flowed through the streets, carried by 500 members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., to kick off the parade. Behind them, people waved Pride flags and flags representing the transgender, asexual and bisexual communities from atop a bus.

Singer-songwriter and actor Reneé Rapp laughed and blew kisses from the back of a pickup truck draped with a transgender flag while Laverne Cox, a transgender actress and activist known for her role in Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black,” waved from an open convertible.

“Pride means us looking out for each other no matter what,” she declared to the crowd as the convertible rolled to a stop. “We know how to be there for each other.”

Many LGBTQ+ travelers have expressed concerns or decided to skip World Pride due to anxieties about safety, border policies and a hostile political climate that they say hearkens back to another time. But that did not keep international travelers and other participants away, with groups visible from Iran, Namibia, Kenya and Russia.

Along the parade route, hundreds gathered outside the National City Christian Church as rainbow flags and balloons lined its steps and columns. A child with rainbow face paint blew bubbles at the base of the steps while Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” blared from loudspeakers.”

“D.C. is already one of the biggest cities in the country for celebrating Pride,” said Cheo White, 33, from Annapolis, Maryland, “But we are all collectively more united and turning out more because of what’s happening in the White House.”

Many have said the gathering has taken on a new meaning amid the Trump administration’s aggressive policies against protections for transgender Americans and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

White’s partner, Nick Kerver, 26, who was visiting from Toledo, Ohio, said Pride has “always been a political tool” but has taken on more importance this year amid mounting threats to the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgender and nonbinary Americans.“

“It feels more important than ever,” Kerver said while wearing a rainbow hat, sunglasses and a T-shirt. “But we also have to get involved in our local communities too.“

David Begler, a 58-year-old gay man from Philadelphia, expressed disappointment that many international travelers felt unsafe visiting D.C. for World Pride but said he appreciates its presence in the city during this political climate.

“It’s the perfect time to have World Pride in D.C.,” Begler said. “We need it right now. I want us to send a message to the White House to focus on uplifting each other instead of dividing.“

Stay DeRoux, 36, usually plans a day trip to D.C. Pride from her home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. But this year, she and her wife, Deenie DeRoux, planned a full weekend. ““This is a really big year,” Stay DeRoux said. “There’s been a lot of turmoil. So it’s an amazing thing to be among allies, among people who love because we’ve experienced so much hate on a daily basis.”

For the day, the idea of threats and opposition took a backseat to the celebration. Streets were closed, but filled with floats, and impromptu parties broke out with music and food in streets adjoining the parade route.

Johnny Cervantes Jr., dressed in a black suit and top hat, headed to a grandstand at a church themed float to marry his partner of 28 years, Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant in Arlington, Virginia.

Events culminate tomorrow with a rally and protest March Sunday and a covering a multi-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue.

“This is World Pride in the best city in the world,” Mayor Muriel Bowser declared as she walked the parade hand-in-hand with her daughter, Miranda.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — David Perry recalls being young and gay in 1980s Washington D.C. and having “an absolute blast.” He was fresh out of college, raised in Richmond, Virginia, and had long viewed the nation’s capital as “the big city” where he could finally embrace his true self.

He came out of the closet here, got a job at the National Endowment for the Arts where his boss was a gay Republican, and “lost my virginity in D.C. on August 27, 1980,” he says, chuckling.

The bars and clubs were packed with gay men and women — Republican and Democrat — and almost all of them deep in the closet.

“There were a lot of gay men in D.C., and they all seemed to work for the White House or members of Congress. It was kind of a joke. This was pre-Internet, pre-Facebook, pre-all of that. So people could be kind of on the down-low. You would run into congresspeople at the bar,” Perry says. “The closet was pretty transparent. It’s just that no one talked about it.”

He also remembers a billboard near the Dupont Circle Metro station with a counter ticking off the total number of of AIDS deaths in the District of Columbia.

“I remember when the number was three,” says Perry, 63.

Now Perry, a public relations professional in San Francisco, is part of a generation that can find itself overshadowed amidst the after-parties and DJ sets of World Pride, which wraps up this weekend with a on Pennsylvania Avenue. Advocates warn of a quiet crisis among retirement-age LGBTQ+ people and a community at risk of becoming marginalized inside their own community.

“It’s really easy for Pride to be about young people and parties,” says Sophie Fisher, LGBTQ program coordinator for Seabury Resources for Aging, a company that runs queer-friendly retirement homes and assisted-living facilities and which organized a last month for LGBTQ+ people over age 55.

These were “the first people through the wall” in the battle for gay rights and protections, Fisher says. Now, “they kind of get swept under the rug.”

Loneliness and isolation

The challenges and obstacles for elderly LGBTQ+ people can be daunting.

“We’re a society that really values youth as is. When you throw in LGBTQ on top of that, it’s a double whammy,” says Christina Da Costa of the group SAGE — Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders. “When you combine so many factors, you have a population that’s a lot less likely to thrive than their younger brethren.”

Older LGBTQ+ people are far more likely to have no contact with their family and less likely to have children to help care for them, Da Costa says. Gay men over 60 are the precise generation that saw their peer group decimated by AIDS. The result: chronic loneliness and isolation.

“As you age, it becomes difficult to find your peer group because you don’t go out to bars anymore,” says Yvonne Smith, a 73-year-old D.C. resident who moved to Washington at age 14. “There are people isolated and alone out there.”

These seniors are also often poorer than their younger brethren. Many were kicked out of the house the moment they came out of the closet, and being openly queer or nonbinary could make you unemployable or vulnerable to firing deep into the 1990s.

“You didn’t want to be coming out of a gay bar, see one of your co-workers or one of your students,” Smith says. “People were afraid that if it was known you were gay, they would lose their security clearance or not be hired at all.”

In April, founders cut the ribbon on , a new 15-unit living facility for LGBTQ+ seniors in southeast Washington. These kind of inclusive senior-care centers are becoming an increasing priority for LGBTQ+ elders.

Rayceen Pendarvis, a D.C. queer icon, performer and presenter, says older community members who enter retirement homes or assisted-living centers can face social isolation or hostility from judgmental residents.

“As we age, we lose our peers. We lose our loved ones and some of us no longer have the ability to maintain our homes,” says Pendarvis, who identifies as and eschews all pronouns. “Sometimes they go in, and they go back into the closet. It’s very painful for some.”

A generation gap

Perry and others see a clear divide between their generation and the younger LGBTQ+ crowd. Younger people, Perry says, drink and smoke a lot less and do much less bar-hopping in the dating-app age.

Others can’t help but gripe a bit about how these youngsters don’t know how good they have it.

“They take all these protections for granted,” Smith says.

The younger generation “got comfortable,” Pendarvis says, and sometimes doesn’t fully understand the multigenerational fight that came before.

“We had to fight to get the rights that we have today,” Pendarvis said. “We fought for a place at the table. We CREATED the table!”

Now that fight is on again as President Donald Trump’s administration sets the community on edge with an open culture war targeting trans protections and drag shows, and enforcing a binary view of gender identity.

The struggle against that campaign may be complicated by a quiet reality inside the LGBTQ+ community: These issues remain a topic of controversy among some LGBTQ+ seniors.

Perry said he has observed that some older lesbians remain leery of trans women; likewise, he said, some older gay men are leery of the drag-queen phenomenon.

“There is a good deal of generational sensitivity that needs to be practiced by our older gay brethren,” he says. “The gender fluidity that has come about in the last 15 years, I would be lying if I said I didn’t have to adjust my understanding of it sometimes.”

Despite the internal complexities, many are hoping to see a renewed sense of militancy and street politics in the younger LGBTQ+ generation. Sunday’s rally and , starting at the Lincoln Memorial, is expected to be particularly defiant given the 2025 context.

“I think we’re going to see a whole new era of activism,” Perry says. “I think we will find our spine and our walking shoes – maybe orthopedic – and protest again. But I really hope that the younger generation helps us pick up this torch.”