South Florida Local News

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Brad Marchand scored twice, with his second coming midway through overtime, and the Florida Panthers won their third straight road game with a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.

Sam Reinhart had a goal and assist, Sam Bennett also scored, and the Panthers improved to 5-2 in their past seven. Reinhart’s goal was his 25th of the season, marking the sixth straight year and seventh time overall he’s scored that many.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 shots for his 207th career road win, and he moved into third on the NHL list behind only Martin Brodeur (310) and Marc-Andre Fleury (246). Bobrovsky began the day tied with Ed Belfour.

Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy had a goal and assist each, while Joel Eriksson Ek also scored for Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson stopped 30 shots in dropping to 9-2-4 in his past 13.

Marchand, who also added an assist, decided the game in being set up by Carter Verhaeghe on a 2-on-1 break. Verhaeghe gained control of the puck after Boldy was unable to control a pass from Quinn Hughes in the Florida end.

Boldy, in his first game after missing four with an upper-body injury, put the Wild ahead 3-2 with a short-handed goal with 7:51 left in regulation. Bennett, however, tied it 62 seconds later on the same Panthers’ power play.

Florida improved to 15-0-3 in games decided by one goal this season.

Kaprizov extended his points streak to five games, in which he’s combined for three goals and nine assists.

Minnesota’s John Hynes, who is from Rhode Island, coached his 800th career game, becoming the NHL’s fourth U.S.-born coach to reach that plateau.

Up next
Panthers: At Chicago on Sunday night.

SALT LAKE CITY — Observations and other notes of interest from Saturday night’s 147-116 victory over the Utah Jazz:

– Two weeks ago the Heat went into Indiana had the gall to discount their opposition.

– A loss to the league-worst Pacers followed.

– This time, no such arrogance.

– With no reason for such in light of what had been a 1-2 start to this five-game western swing that concludes Sunday night in Phoenix.

– This time, against an opponent that entered 15-30, the Heat were relentless.

– Not foolishly arrogant.

– “Our guys understand where we are and we’re not where we want to be,” coach Erik Spoelstra said going in. “So the time is now. We’re coming off a disappointing loss. We want to play a lot better, particularly on the defensive end.”

– His reference was Thursday night’s loss in Portland.

– “And, look,” Spoelstra said, “Utah has been dangerous on any given night, particularly the way they can score here at home.”

– Spoelstra added, “We’ve proven we can beat the top of each conference. We’ve also proved so far this season we can lose to the bottom of each conference. That’s the way the league is.”

– So needed desperation from a team that otherwise would have fallen to ninth in the East.

– With Davion Mitchell missing his fourth game with a shoulder contusion, the Heat opened with a lineup of Bam Adebayo, Norman Powell, Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson and Jakucionis.

– That lineup entered 1-1.

–  It was Larsson’s 24th start.

– Adebayo tied Udonis Haslem for second on the Heat all-time list for games started at 501.

– Dwyane Wade is the franchise’s all-time leader, at 847.

–  The Jazz opened with a lineup of Ace Bailey, Cody Williams, Jusuf Nurkic, Svi Mykhailiuk and Keyonte George.

– Larsson was called for his second foul 1:54 into the game, leading to the early insertion of Jaime Jaquez Jr.

– Nikola Jovic, amid his recent struggles, was next off the bench.

– Followed, together, by Simone Fontecchio and Dru Smith.

– With Myron Gardner making it 10 deep.

– Leaving Keshad Johnson the only active Heat player out of their rotation.

– Larsson then returned in the second quarter, with his activity allowing the Heat to move to their 73-52 halftime lead.

–  Gardner also was active in his early minutes.

– Likely leading to another rotation opportunity on Sunday, with Mitchell potentially to miss that one, as well.

– Jovic was uneven, but also active.

– Spoelstra went in stressing defense.

– “Defense has to travel, and we’ve had some slippage in containing the basketball one on one, some of our pick-and-roll defense has also slid, and we can’t afford it,” he said.

– Even with Kel’el Ware missing a fourth consecutive game with his hamstring strain, center Vlad Goldin was not summoned from the G League, as the Heat weigh balance with the 7-footer who is on a two-way contact.

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• Asked to be physically strong at center, Heat’s Jovic working on being mentally stronger
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– “We love the progress that he’s making,” Spoelstra said. “We want to continue to develop him there. He’ll spend time here. But right now, we’re just focused on the guys that are available.”

– Of his recent offensive success, Adebayo said at the morning shootaround, “I would say I wasn’t taking different shots than I was when I was in my slump. It’s just being consistent and now shots are falling. So that’s the biggest difference.”

– And when it comes to open threes, Adebayo said that make or miss, he is taking them.

– “There is no thought process,” he said. “If you’re open, shoot it.”

– Yes, Jakucionis said, he very much can sense he is being tested by veteran opponents.

– “I mean, obviously that’s the how the league is, and there’s a lot of like of very good, talented players and they just try to go at someone maybe they never saw, trying to test you,” he said. “So I’m just trying to be ready for that.”

– The game opened the 10th of the Heat’s league-high 17 back-to-back sets, with a 6-3 record on the second nights of such pairing.

SALT LAKE CITY — To a degree, the Miami Heat’s five-game western swing stood in the balance Saturday night against the Utah Jazz.

After a 1-2 start to the stretch of five road games in seven nights, Erik Spoelstra’s team stood in jeopardy of returning to South Florida with a losing record.

Instead, with a 147-116  victory, the Heat moved to 24-22, avoided falling to No. 9 in the Eastern Conference, and potentially could wind up with a winning trip, with the Phoenix Suns, Sunday’s opponent in the trip’s finale, to be without sidelined guard Devin Booker due to an ankle sprain.

Of such absences, the Heat know plenty, again playing in the absences of Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware and Davion Mitchell, and now with concerns with rookie point guard Kasparas Jakucionis.

Both Herro (ribs) and Ware (hamstring) already are back in Miami, with Mitchell likely to miss his third consecutive game Sunday with his shoulder contusion.

So this time the Heat did it by committee, with contributions throughout the rotation.

Center Bam Adebayo set a double-double tone, with 26 points and 15 rebounds, continuing his recent revival, this time 4 of 10 on 3-pointers.

“We know what we’re capable of, we just gotta be more consistent with it,” Adebayo said. “But that’s from top to bottom.”

There also were 23 points from Nikola Jovic, 20 from Pelle Larsson and 17 from Andrew Wiggins, as well as 13 from Norman Powell and 12 from Jakucionis.

The only downside of the loss was Jakucionis having to be helped off the court in the final minutes after going down behind the Heat basket after being elbowed in the head.

“I just kind of got hit in the head, I think, and fell down, got up,” he said. “But I’m good, so everything is fine.

“I stood up and I was fine. So just had to check in with the doctor, and we’re good.”

With the loss, the Jazz fell to 15-31, getting a 17-point, 12-assist, 10-rebound triple-double from center Jusuf Nurkic.

Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday night’s game:

1. Game flow: The Heat led 35-34 after the first period and 73-52 at halftime.

The Jazz clawed within 15 early in the third period, before the Heat pushed back to a 22-point lead, eventually taking a 108-89 lead into the fourth.

From there, the Heat again pushed their lead into the 20s, allowing, on the first night of the back-to-back set, Adebayo to take the rest of the night off with 5:32 to play.

For the Jazz, the close of the game seemingly was devoted to getting Nurkic his third consecutive triple-double.

2. Breaking glass: The Heat held a 19-1 edge on offensive rebounds in the first half, outscoring Utah 19-4 on second-chance points over the opening two periods.

To put those 19 first-half offensive rebounds into perspective, consider that the Heat had 12 and 14, respectively, in their previous two games, and recently had five and nine in consecutive games against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns.

The Heat closed with 26 offensive rebounds to the Jazz’s seven.

The Heat entered 17th in the NBA at 11.4 per game.

“We’ve been making more efforts with this,” Spoelstra said of the offensive rebounding. “It’s been an emphasis all year. But guys are doing a better job of making the efforts these last three weeks or so. Anything that has to do with just making a multiple effort, we want to do it as a basketball team.”

Related Articles

• Panthers, trailing with less than seven minutes left, rally, get Marchand OT goal in Minnesota
• Winderman’s view: Heat learn lesson, handle business against muted Jazz
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• Ira Winderman: Heat’s trade deadline could be hanging in the Tyler Herro balance
• ASK IRA: Is mix of youth and veterans leaving Heat caught in the middle?

3. Fouls, fury: Returning to what previously had been problematic, Larsson was forced to the bench with two fouls in the opening 1:54. For Larsson, fouls had haunted him throughout his rookie season, after being acquired by the Heat in the 2024 second round out of Arizona.

But rather than allow the whistles to stifle his game, Larsson returned on the attack in the second period, with eight points in the period to help spark the Heat to their 21-point halftime lead.

“It shows that he’s able to stay engaged on the sideline and not be taken out of any kind of rhythm,” Spoelstra said. “He’s not really a rhythm player, so it’s more effort, energy and making the intangible plays. The first foul he got, that really wasn’t a foul. So it was a cheap foul. And it was unfortunate he had to come out. But he’s mentally stable enough to be able to handle that and then came back in and made a big impact.”

Larsson also again showed his improved 3-point stroke, closing 3 of 6 from beyond the arc.

“I was worried it was going to be one of those nights,” Larsson said of the early whistles. “But Wiggs kind of took the assignment off of me after that when I came back in, so I didn’t risk getting more fouls. He did a great job, so I could just not worry about it.”

4. Stepping in: With Mitchell sidelined, Jakucionis, before he was hurt, thrived in his fourth career start, playing in attack mode both off the dribble and on the glass.

It was a solid bounce-back after being limited to three points and only 11 minutes in Thursday night’s loss in Portland.

“I’m encouraged by what Kas has been doing the last month,” Spoelstra said. “It’s not always going to translate to wow moments, but he was really steady tonight, played with energy, played also smart.”

Jakucionis scored nine points in the first 5:22 of the third period, which made it the highest-scoring quarter of his rookie season.

He closed 4 of 6 from the field, including 2 of 3 on 3-pointers, with five rebounds, his night ending in the locker room ahead of his teammates.

5. The Jovic-coaster: After a brutal outing Thursday in Portland that had him introspective at Saturday morning’s shootaround, Jovic was exponentially better Saturday — which actually was an upgrade.

Jovic was up to 11 points by halftime, playing with an aggressive bent that had him with six free throws over the opening two periods.

“This is what a lot of players go through, and he just has to stay the course,” Spoelstra said. “He’ll be just fine. And it was probably really good for him to see the ball go in, to find a way to get to the free-throw line, be able to make some plays. He’s important to what we’re trying to do.”

Jovic again played as backup center, with Ware missing his fourth consecutive game. He closed 6 of 12 from the field.

“I just trust in my work,” Jovic said. “I think it’s as simple as that. I think the team needed me. I felt responsible for some of the losses and I just wanted to show people that I’m worth it.”

GAINESVILLE — Coach Todd Golden’s Gators have been unbeatable at home, but no Florida team for decades had any trouble against Auburn in the O’Connell Center.

Until Saturday.

The Tigers stunned the Gators 76-67 for Auburn’s first win in Gainesville since 1996 and Florida’s first loss at home after 16 straight wins.

“Disappointing,” Golden said. “We had been playing really well. I don’t think we played great, but I want to credit Auburn. I thought they took the fight to us.”

In a rematch from the 2025 Final Four, Auburn was an 11.5-point underdog to the reigning national champion Gators (14-6, 5-2 SEC) riding a five-game winning streak. But the Tigers (13-7, 4-3) quickly silenced a raucous crowd of 11,004 behind swarming defense and a 22-point first half by Keyshawn Hall, who transferred from UCF.

“It was my fault,” Gators small forward Thomas Haugh said after defending Hall. “I know he is a really talented scorer. I let him get going, and once he gets hot it’s hard to stop.”

Down 43-28 at intermission, the Gators immediately allowed an Auburn 3-pointer to open the second half to trail by 18 points, the largest deficit Florida has faced all season. Florida rallied behind Haugh — who finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds — to tie the game at 54-54 with nine minutes to go.

The Gators eventually ran out of gas as the Tigers pulled away.

“That might be the best road game that we’ve ever had as a program,” Tigers first-year head coach Steven Pearl said after Auburn ended a 15-game skid at UF. “That’s probably the best crowd I’ve seen in this building since I’ve been at Auburn.”

Pearl served the past 10 seasons as an assistant to his father Bruce, who retired in September and handed the reins to his son.

The Pearls and Golden have a long, collegial history, including the 2014-16 seasons when Florida’s coach was a Tigers assistant.

The Gators’ inability to match the Tigers’ intensity did not sit well with Golden. Auburn had a 19-13 first-half advantage against the nation’s top rebounding team while outscoring Florida 36-28 in the paint. Big men Rueben Chinyelu and Alex Condon combined for just 11 points.

Auburn quickly took a 15-5 lead during the opening four minutes behind 10 points from Hall. The Gators trailed 19-5 after a 12-0 Tigers’ run, ended by a driving layup by point guard Boogie Fland. The basket spurred a 13-2 run, ending on consecutive 3s by Urban Klavzar and Xaivian Lee.

But the Gators could not assume control as Hall came alive again, scoring seven unanswered points to turn a 23-19 lead into a 30-19 advantage. Auburn continued to pull away to establish enough of a cushion to hold off Florida’s inevitable rally.

With the game tied 56-56 after a pair of free throws by Haugh, Auburn had a 6-0 run featuring two baskets by point guard Tahaad Pettiford, the second a driving layup with 4:24 remaining to push the lead to 62-56.

Florida was never closer than four points the rest of the way and trailed by as many as 10 down the stretch.

“I do think a big part of it was the fact that we had to expend so much energy getting back in the ballgame,” Golden said.

But Florida’s coach shouldered the blame for his team not being ready from the opening tip at a sold-out O’Dome.

“It starts with me,” he said. “Anytime you get to a point where you got things rolling a little bit and the moment you feel like you are on the right track, you get punched in the mouth.

“That’s what happened today.”

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

General Daily Insight for January 25, 2026

We might be craving comfort. The Moon sets off these desires when she steps into Taurus at 1:05 PM EST, reminding us to slow down and take our time. By leaning into our usual routines and focusing on simpler tasks, we give ourselves room to listen, allowing us to respond to frustration with patience rather than anger. Later, as fiery Mars stirs urgency, we can pick our battles carefully and avoid wasting energy on unnecessary struggles. We’re allowed to take care of ourselves.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

Confidence grows as you count your resources. Your 2nd House of Logistics welcomes the Moon, encouraging practical choices that leave room for creature comforts. End a disused subscription to increase your coffee budget, or skip a fast fashion haul in favor of investing in a few classic pieces. Set a clear spending limit to avoid impulse buys. Take your time researching potential purchases to ensure you don’t get saddled with debt for something you don’t even like. Well-reasoned plans protect peace and build confidence.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Taurus, your presence speaks before you do. The reflective Moon is stepping into your sign, inviting you to move at a kinder pace and let your natural steadiness lead the room. This is the time to be your authentic self — wear what makes you smile, be somewhere you’re comfortable, and do the things that fulfil your soul. When in doubt, let your instincts take charge. You don’t have to pay naysayers any attention whatsoever. This self-care strengthens your present and future presence.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

A moment of solace can be found today, even if your schedule is jam-packed with events. Your 12th House of Secrets is empowered by the Moon’s entry, reminding you that private time is necessary to recharge your mind. A tense square later stirs the urge to overcommit, especially when it comes to travel plans. Guard your downtime by silencing notifications before returning the most urgent calls. Protecting your inner quiet should make tomorrow’s choices much more manageable. Subtle boundaries can safeguard your energy.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

This afternoon favors friendly, low-pressure plans. Your friends are key, as Luna is entering your 11th House of Social Circles to build trust and improve overall teamwork. You could send a kind text to a friend or compliment their outfit so they feel seen. Steer clear of doing everything yourself, because sharing simple tasks invites others to contribute and strengthens the shared bond. If everyone’s energy levels allow, you could go out together, but spending time chilling at home is just as valuable.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Recognition follows your steady, well-timed efforts. This is underlined by the Moon marching into your visible 10th house, guiding you to present your work with the confidence it deserves. When you put your all into something, others should appreciate the effort, at minimum. Though pressure could arrive in a public situation, you can stand strong. Perhaps you’ll come up with a solution that could save time without cutting quality. Even if you don’t have a specific answer, being willing to try means a lot.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Curiosity maps out points of interest throughout your day. Your 9th House of Extension awakens a need to reach out and connect dots, enlightening you as you search for answers of any kind. Maybe you’re fixing a car issue on your own for the first time, though you could also be learning about a more lighthearted topic, like a recent hobby or upcoming event. At work, you may share your notes with a teammate who appreciates careful thinking. Following your interest fuels motivation.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Trust grows where you feed it. If you want someone to feel safe being vulnerable around you, you ought to offer them a similar level of openness. This is underlined by the Moon gliding into your 8th House of Trust, which insists upon honest conversations, especially around delicate topics. With Luna on your side, you’re prepared to listen carefully and make suggestions that benefit everyone. If emotions rise, take a breath and pause to think before leaping to conclusions. Choose transparency and compassion.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

Scorpio, partnership talks deserve clear ground rules. The moody Moon activates your 7th House of Connections and squares combative Mars in your 4th House of Home, so plans may bump against home needs. You’re allowed to make demands — but you might have to compromise with someone else’s, especially if you live with them or deeply care about their opinions. Naming feelings out loud prevents assumptions, and doing so politely keeps negotiations respectful. Lead the tone with a level head to keep progress possible.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

Morning routines set an encouraging pace. Your 6th House of Holistics settles into a manageable rhythm as the thoughtful Moon supports measured improvements to your daily grind. Avoid cluttered spaces if you want to have a clear mind. Your optimistic nature loves big leaps, yet everyday progress is currently the best way to build momentum. If you wear yourself out, check tomorrow’s schedule and see if you could move one commitment to restore some breathing room. Respect your limits to ensure your energy lasts.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

Play restores courage and fuels bright ideas. Luna is skipping into your delightful 5th house, shining light on all areas of life that spark joy. Taking risks may sound tempting — and that’s okay, but avoid betting anything that truly matters. You can work on a personal project or learn a new hobby, just don’t invest the family fortune in such things. Whatever your role, happiness increases your stamina and helps you see fresh angles. Make play purposeful, because joy refreshes creative courage.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

Your abode could use some attention today. The temperamental Moon bounces into your 4th House of Home and squares action-oriented Mars (currently in your sign!), so be ready to handle some friction between your ideas and the requirements of your living situation. You may have to buckle down and do some extra work, though a compromise could help you lessen the total load. Perhaps everyone works together, then everyone gets some free time. Be honest about your goals, then invite others to suggest workable adjustments.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Which words will carry kindness and clarity? Your 3rd House of Vocabulary comes alive as the intuitive Moon helps you speak plainly and listen for what is unspoken. Write an email or make a call that admits a once-hidden motivation, or ask a follow-up question to confirm you understood correctly. If a chat takes a negative turn, slow down and return to the facts that everyone recognizes. Practice waiting before replying so your intuition has a chance to speak. Communication nurtures understanding.

GAINESVILLE — Jon Sumrall’s winter workouts are underway, but something is missing as the Gators push to gain favor with their new coach and his staff.

The iconic, ubiquitous logo that defines Florida football will not be given to those who fall short this offseason.

“Gotta earn it. Gotta earn the logo,” Sumrall said Saturday. “We ain’t earned it yet. We haven’t earned a damn thing. All we’ve got is our name. Where are you gonna put your freaking name on every day? So to wear the Florida Gator logo, to wear the Gators across your helmet and to wear the Gator head, you got to earn that.”

Urban Meyer, a big Sumrall fan and advocate during UF’s coaching search, had a similar approach when he first arrived after the 2004 season.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Sumrall said. “I didn’t know that, but that doesn’t surprise me. I know a lot about Urban. We hadn’t talked about that.”

Sumrall hopes the tactic produces similar results. Meyer’s Gators won two national titles (2006, 2008) during his first four seasons in Gainesville.

Florida has not contended since then while cycling through four coaches before hiring Sumrall on Nov. 30.

A native of Alabama who played at Kentucky, Sumrall is aware of the standard set decades ago by Meyer and before him by Steve Spurrier. The two Hall of Fame coaches attended Sumrall’s introductory press conference Dec. 1 when the 43-year-old vowed to win big.

New Florida coach Jon Sumrall inherited a 4-8 team with holes to fill and attitudes to adjust while building a new culture. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

Sumrall reiterated his message Saturday during the first half of Florida’s 76-67 loss to Auburn at the O’Connell Center. Florida trailed 43-28 by halftime as a 16-game home winning streak came to an end.

But Florida’s new coach energized the crowd.

“We’re going to do everything in our power. We’re going extremely hard every day, tirelessly, to bring championship football back to the University of Florida,” he said.

Sumrall then spent the final four minutes of the half seated in the student section known as the Rowdy Reptiles.

Earlier, Sumrall and Co. hosted about 50 recruiting prospects in the 2027 and 2028 classes as Florida’s new staff pushes to build a championship roster.

Sumrall inherited a 4-8 team with holes to fill and attitudes to adjust while building a new culture after former coach Billy Napier’s teams managed to win just 23 games.

The first order of business was to retain the best players from the 2025 Gators. Sumrall and new general manager Dave Caldwell prioritized five of them: linebacker Myles Graham, receivers Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson, running back Jadan Baugh and edge rusher Jayden Woods.

Sumrall said keeping Graham took little effort, given the legacy established by his father Earnest, a tailback from 1999-2002. The fact Brown’s father played at Florida from 2002-05 — his final season spent on Meyer’s first team — helped secure a 19-year-old who led UF in receiving as  true freshman.

Wilson was trickier. Even though the 6-foot-3, 213-pound sophomore did not enter the transfer portal, Sumrall said, he had plenty of suitors.

Florida offensive lineman Bryce Lovett trains during the Gators' rigorous offseason program implemented by new strength and conditioning coach Rusty Whitt. (Courtesy UF's University Athletics Association).

Retaining Baugh and Woods required more work.

Sumrall and his family, including his mother and her dog, visited Baugh for 90 minutes on Christmas Eve at his family’s home in Atlanta.

“That was unique,” Sumrall said. “I don’t think I’ve ever done an in-home visit with a current player that’s not in the portal, that’s on your team. I’ve never done an in-home visit on Christmas Eve.”

Of the five Gators, Woods was the only one to enter the portal. To get him back to Florida, Sumrall, defensive coordinator Brad White and linebackers coach Bam Hardmon flew to Kansas City to convince him to play his sophomore season at Florida.

“He’s got an awesome dad that we got to meet,” Sumrall recalled. “His grandparents, complete rock stars.”

Sumrall’s effort paid off with a talented core group to build around.

“The most important thing to me was trying to retain our best players that we could,” he said. “There’s a coaching change, there’s going to be some change and some transition, but that part was critical for us to have any opportunity to have success next year.

“Keeping Jaden Baugh and Jayden Woods makes coaching a lot easier. Those guys are not just really good football players, but they’re the kind of guys you want to build the culture around because of how they carry themselves.”

The Gators’ Big Five, their returning teammates, two dozen transfers and 17 early enrollees from the 19-player 2026 signing class are quickly finding out about Sumrall’s expectations.

New strength coach Rusty Whitt gives no quarter as he puts players through the paces while they don a shirt with only their name and Jordan Brand logo on it. The Gator head will be awarded in due time.

When is anyone’s guess.

“I haven’t thought about that yet,” Sumrall said. “I just want to see them work their ass off.”

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Malik Reneau had a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double, Tre Donaldson and Shelton Henderson each added 16 points, and Miami defeated Syracuse 85-76 on Saturday.

Reneau picked up his sixth double-double of the season, and was 8-for-12 shooting from the floor and 1 for 2 from beyond the arc. He also dished five assists to tie Donaldson for a team-high.

The Hurricanes (16-4, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) snapped a two-game skid after winning their first four games of conference play.

Miami got off to a hot start, opening on a 9-0 run and building a double-digit lead. They took a 41-36 lead into halftime after Syracuse rallied back, but held the lead for all of the second half to win comfortably.

Tru Washington chipped in with 14 points on 6-for-13 shooting and the Hurricanes turned in a stellar shooting performance, making 61% of their shots from the field and 54% from beyond the arc. They had 20 of 33 made shots off assists.

Miami entered the contest leading the ACC in field-goal percentage and third in assists per game.

For the Orange (12-8, 3-4), Donnie Freeman led with 14 points, and Kiyan Anthony and Naithan George each had 13 points. Syracuse shot 49% from the field and 29% from deep.

Up next

Miami hosts Stanford on Wednesday.

Syracuse visits NC State on Tuesday.

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

• Wine is poured at the Restaurant People Experience during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• People enjoy the offerings during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Roasted oysters from Boatyard during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Grilled meats cooking during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Caviar bumps are passed out by costumed cowboys during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• A colorful display from Lona Cocina y Tequileria at the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Cheese steak sandwich from Steak 954 at the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Fresh pizzas from Frank Pepe during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• People gather under the palm trees during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Coconut Shrimp ceviche from Omni during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Wine is poured at the Restaurant People Experience during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Peruvian Nikkei fusion from E41 during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• People gather under the palm trees during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• There were plenty of drink offerings during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Costumed cowgirls from the Restaurant People Experience during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Qui Lam, Alex Kuk, and Mike Mayo during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Grilled meats during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Pickle shots at the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Evelyn’s Fort Lauderdale offered treats during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
• Offering from Casablanca Cafe during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Show Caption1 of 20Wine is poured at the Restaurant People Experience during the Visit Lauderdale Food and Wine Festival Grand Tasting at Las Olas Oceanside Park on Saturday, January 24, 2026. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)ExpandThe Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival hosted its signature event, The Grand Tasting, on Saturday at Las Olas Oceanside Park. The beachfront gathering featured more than 100 food and drink samples from a record 70 participating restaurants, alongside live music and culinary demonstrations. The photo gallery captures the highlights from the afternoon, showcasing the local culinary talent and the variety of offerings from eateries across Broward County.

Bobby Slowik, who came to the Miami Dolphins last season as the senior pass game coordinator, will be named as their new offensive coordinator, a league source has confirmed to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. ESPN was the first to report Slowik’s promotion.

Slowik served as the Houston Texans’ offensive coordinator for the two seasons (2023-24) before he joined the Dolphins, helping to develop young quarterback C.J. Stroud.

Slowik’s offense ranked No. 7 in 2023 and No. 2 in pass plays of more than 25 yards (41). Stroud had 23 touchdowns, five interceptions and a 100.8 passer rating.

The Texans dipped to No. 22 in total offense in 2024 as injuries hit the offensive line. Stroud had 20 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and an 87.0 passer rating.

Still, Houston finished 10-7 and had three offensive Pro Bowl selections— left tackle Laremy Tunsil, running back Joe Mixon and wide receiver Nico Collins.

The Dolphins will be looking to revamp an offense that thrived on speed and finesse under former coach Mike McDaniel.

New Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley has already expressed part of his offensive vision.

“Now I need to hire an offensive coordinator,” he said at Thursday’s introductory news conference, “and there are certain core beliefs that I really do believe in like running the ball and being really physical up front, so when they know we’re going to run the ball, we’re still going to run it well. That’s going to be huge for me. And then we do, we need to build it around the quarterback, and you have to surround that quarterback with weapons — the o-line, the wideouts, the backs so it’s not all him.”

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Most likely Slowik’s top job will be replacing quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, but he will likely also need to replace wide receiver Tyreek Hill and find a backup right tackle (behind Austin Jackson), a starting or backup right guard (for James Daniels) and depth all around. It’s not known whether Slowik’s offense would require fullback Alec Ingold, a team leader.

The Dolphins famously had the NFL’s No. 1 offense in 2023 at 401.3 yards per game. They were No. 2 at 29.2 points per game, finishing with an 11-6 record and earning a wild-card round playoff berth before losing to the Kansas City Chiefs, 26-7, in a frigid postseason game.

After that the offense went into somewhat of a descent, largely due to Tagovailoa’s injuries and declining play.

Slowik will work with talent such as running back De’Von Achane, the 2025 team MVP after rushing for a career-best 1,350 yards last season, center Aaron Brewer, an All Pro selection, left tackle Patrick Paul, and wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.

One option at quarterback for Miami could be the Green Bay Packers’ Malik Willis, who is due to hit free agency in March. Hafley and new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan worked with Willis closely in Green Bay, where both Sullivan and Hafley were before joining the Dolphins.

Sullivan said Thursday that he has a philosophy in quarterbacks.

“I’ve learned if you can help it, don’t wait till you don’t have a quarterback to find one, you know what I mean?” Sullivan said. “It starts there.”

Sullivan also spoke of other qualities he wants from his offense.

“I think obviously it always starts with the quarterback,” he said. “Anybody that’s in this business will tell you that, but we’ll build this from the inside out. I think you have to do that.

“I think you have to make sure that your line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball is big, tough, resilient and that there’s depth so that you can survive the — it’s a violent game, there’s going to be injuries — that you can survive injuries. The thing that I think we have to focus most on right now is making sure that we build infrastructure.”

Hafley made the first hire on his coaching staff Friday night, bringing in Chris Tabor as special teams coordinator.

And Hafley has interviewed Philadelphia Eagles defensive line coach, and former former Miami Hurricanes player and assistant coach, Clint Hurtt for his defensive coordinator vacancy. Hurtt has previously served as a defensive coordinator with the Seattle Seahawks.

SALT LAKE CITY — Being physically strong has been a necessity for Nikola Jovic at times such as these, with the Miami Heat without sidelined center Kel’el Ware.

Being mentally strong appears to be an ongoing challenge for the 22-year-old Serbian forward, including a brutal outing in Thursday night’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, when all semblance of confidence appeared to be lost.

“I don’t even know how to explain it,” Jovic said at Saturday morning’s shootaround at Delta Center, ahead of Saturday night’s game against the Utah Jazz. “I want to play good. I’m not making shots right now, and I get a little bit down on myself. That’s it.”

With a pair of Jovic missed free throws, an airballed 3-pointer, a turnover in the backcourt after a rebound and then a three-shot foul on that same sequence, coach Erik Spoelstra seemingly had no choice in pulling Jovic for the balance of Thursday night’s loss.

“He’ll be fine,” Spoelstra said Saturday, with the Heat next moving on to Sunday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns, the final stop on this five-game western swing. “Every player goes through some pockets of the season where it’s not going exactly how you want to. I think these are big opportunities for growth. When you face it and you embrace it, and then eventually you overcome it, you gain a lot of confidence from that. He’ll be just fine.”

A week ago, it was Spoelstra upping the ante with verbal challenges of Ware, before Ware was lost with the hamstring strain that has him back in Miami, missing all five games of this trip. Jovic said no prodding needed in his case.

“I have my own sense of drive. I want to win. They want to win, too. And, I mean, at the end of the day, I want to be a great player,” he said. “That’s what drives me every day — not the fact that coaches have to drive me and stuff like that. I drive myself, and I think I’m my biggest motivator. That’s about it.”

With Ware out, the moments are now coming at center. It might not be Jovic’s position of choice with his perimeter skill set, but one he appreciates he has to fulfill.

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“Yeah, it is a little bit different,” Jovic said of playing up in weight class. “I think defensively, not as much. It’s actually easier for me, because if I’m going to guard somewhere, it’s in the post. The big guys are not as fast. The only thing I’ve got to worry about is rebounding. But offensively, I just think I’ve got to be a little bit more smarter.

“We don’t run a lot of plays. So I’ve got to figure out how, as a five, do I space a floor and what do I do. Sometimes I feel like I’m lost on the court a little bit, like in spacing. Because I’m not sure where exactly to be.

But, no, there is no bucking the process.

“Whatever coaches need us to do, I’ll do it,” he said. “I’m not a system player. I mean, I’m not a guy who you build a system around right now. We’re not going to build our offense around me. So for right now, it’s just whatever coaches need me to do and whatever our play style, whatever play style they want to play, I just have to adapt.”

Mitchell’s caution

After an abbreviated two-game return after previously missing two games with a shoulder contusion, point guard Davion Mitchell said Saturday it is time to make sure he gets things right, with Saturday his second consecutive missed game.

“I think I just got to kind of take my time and kind of let this heal, because I don’t want it to kind of it to be like this like the whole season where I’m feeling good and I think I’m fine, and it happens again and I’m going back to square one. So, I just got to take my time.

“What happened was I didn’t play contact before when I got back. And then when I first got contact, it was in the game.”

Mitchell initially was injured in the Jan. 13 home victory over the Suns, then missing the next two games. He returned in the loss to the Golden State Warriors at the start of this trip and then aggravated the contusion in Tuesday night’s victory over the Sacramento Kings.

“It was the beginning of the third quarter with the Kings, when I was guarding Russ,” he said of Russell Westbrook. “And I kind of reached my arm out and he kind of bumped it a little bit. And it kind of aggravated it then.  And then afterwards, it just didn’t feel too good.”

Today is Saturday, Jan. 24, the 24th day of 2026. There are 341 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Jan. 24, 2011, a suicide bomber attacked Moscow’s busiest airport, killing 37 people; Chechen separatists claimed responsibility.

Also on this date:

In 1835, a major slave rebellion began in Bahia, Brazil, leading to the deaths of dozens of enslaved people in clashes with troops, police and armed civilians in the provincial capital of Salvador. The uprising was seen as influential in helping to bring about an end to slavery in the country decades later.

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In 1848, James W. Marshall found a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in northern California, a discovery that sparked the California gold rush.

In 1945, Associated Press war correspondent Joseph Morton was among a group of captives executed by German soldiers at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria.

In 1965, Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.

In 1978, a nuclear-powered Soviet satellite, Kosmos 954, plunged through Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over parts of northern Canada.

In 1984, Apple Computer began selling its first Macintosh model, which boasted a built-in 9-inch monochrome display, a clock rate of 8 megahertz and 128k of RAM.

In 1989, confessed serial killer Ted Bundy was executed in Florida’s electric chair.

In 2003, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was sworn as the first secretary of the new Department of Homeland Security.

In 2013, President Barack Obama’s Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the lifting of a ban on women serving in direct ground combat roles.

In 2018, former sports doctor Larry Nassar, who had admitted to molesting some of the United States’ top gymnasts for years under the guise of medical treatment, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison.

In 2023, a farmworker killed seven people in back-to-back shootings in a case of “workplace violence” at two Northern California mushroom farms. It marked the state’s third mass killing in just over a week.

Today’s birthdays:

• Cajun musician Doug Kershaw is 90.
• Singer-songwriter Ray Stevens is 87.
• Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond is 85.
• Singer Aaron Neville is 85.
• Physicist Michio Kaku is 79.
• Actor Daniel Auteuil is 76.
• Comedian Yakov Smirnoff is 75.
• Actor William Allen Young is 72.
• Musician Jools Holland is 68.
• Actor Nastassja Kinski is 65.
• Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Mary Lou Retton is 58.
• Actor Matthew Lillard is 56.
• Musician Beth Hart is 54.
• Actor Ed Helms is 52.
• Actor-comedian Kristen Schaal is 48.
• Actor Tatyana Ali is 47.
• Actor Carrie Coon is 45.
• Actor and rapper Daveed Diggs is 44.
• Actor Mischa Barton is 40.
• NFL coach Sean McVay is 40.
• Soccer player Luis Suárez is 39.
• Actor Callan McAuliffe is 31.
• Singer Johnny Orlando is 23.

The Broward School District has agreed to return most graduation ceremonies to rented venues after a plan to move them to three high school gymnasiums generated a firestorm of controversy.

Superintendent Howard Hepburn issued a memo to Broward School Board members late Friday announcing the change in plans.

The School Board heard from numerous students, parents and elected officials at a Wednesday meeting opposing the use of high school gyms.

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Public speakers questioned why some classes got to graduate in expensive venues such as Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood and Nova Southeastern University’s Don Taft Center, while most others were scheduled for high school gymnasiums.

District officials said a graduation at a high school gym cost about $3,000 per ceremony, compared with $25,000 for NSU and $50,000 for Hard Rock Live. The district had planned to use external venues for only the 11 largest graduating classes, which officials said would have reduced graduation costs by $500,000.

School Board members initially had agreed to the idea in October, but they were inundated with complaints once the list became public in mid-January.  Board members directed Hepburn to explore other possible options.

“After receiving extensive feedback from Board members and the community during the January 21, 2026, Regular School Board Meeting, staff will publish a revised graduation schedule next week,” Hepburn wrote. “Funding has been secured to ensure that each school will host its commencement ceremony in the same venue, or a comparable venue, as used in 2025.”

He said each graduate will be guaranteed a minimum of four guest tickets, regardless of venue.

“Staff will continue to collaborate with schools and engage the community as we plan for graduation venues in future years,” Hepburn wrote. “We look forward to celebrating the accomplishments of the Class of 2026 and ensuring this milestone remains a meaningful and memorable experience for our students and their families.”

School Board member Adam Cervera, the most vocal advocate on the board for using outside venues, called the decision a “big win” for students and families.

“This victory isn’t just about graduation venues — it’s a testament to what we can achieve when neighbors come together, voices are heard, and elected officials listen to their constituents,” he told the South Florida Sun Sentinel via text. “We still have important work ahead to keep this District moving forward, but for now we should all celebrate this tremendous victory for the Class of 2026!”

By TODD RICHMOND

Members of a motorcycle club and a street gang worked together in an attempt to kill an Indiana judge in hopes of derailing a domestic abuse case against one of their own, prosecutors alleged Friday, hours after police announced they had arrested five people in connection with the investigation.

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Steven Meyer, a Tippecanoe County Superior Court judge, and his wife, Kimberly Meyer, were injured Sunday afternoon in the attack at their Lafayette home. Steven Meyer suffered an injury to his arm and Kimberly Meyer an injury to her hip, according to authorities.

Probable cause affidavits unsealed Friday paint a sordid picture of a plan to attack the judge that unfolded over several weeks and how surveillance video, a trail of discarded clothing and a tip from a restaurant helped investigators piece the case together.

At the center of it all is 43-year-old Thomas Gregory Moss of Lafayette. The documents describe him as high-ranking member of Phantom MC, a Detroit-based motorcycle club with ties to the Vice Lords street gang.

Court records show Moss was charged in 2024 with beating his ex-girlfriend and firing a gun in her home. He was set to stand trial in that case Tuesday in front of Meyer.

A Lafayette woman named Amanda Milsap allegedly approached Moss’ ex-girlfriend at her home in Pennsylvania several weeks prior to Sunday’s attack. She told her that Moss and the Vice Lords wanted to pay her $10,000 not to testify against him.

Moss’ ex-girlfriend refused to accept the money. Raylen Ferguson, an affiliate of the Almighty Vice Lord Nation gang, and the woman he lives with, Zenada Greer, then traveled to Lafayette from Lexington, Kentucky, several days before the shooting, prosecutors allege.

Ferguson traveled to the Meyers’ home on Jan. 16 and knocked on the door saying he had a food delivery, but left, the records said. He returned to the home on Sunday afternoon, police said. The home’s surveillance video shows he was wearing and a mask and carrying a shotgun. Investigators later determined that another Phantom MC member, Blake Smith, had purchased the gun in early January, according to the records.

Ferguson knocked on the Meyers’ door and said he was looking for his dog. When Steven Meyer told him that he didn’t have his dog, Ferguson opened fire through the door, according to the records.

Police using a search dog later found the shotgun and Ferguson’s mask and clothes discarded near the Meyers’ home. Analysts matched DNA found on the mask to Ferguson.

Investigators used the home surveillance video to zero in on the food Ferguson brought to the Meyers’ house on Jan. 16 and tracked it to restaurant where Ferguson had bought it. The restaurant’s surveillance video showed a person who was dressed and walked like Ferguson leaving the restaurant.

Police from Indiana, Pennsylvania and Kentucky as well as U.S. marshals and the FBI worked on the case before the Lafayette Police Department finally announced late Thursday that Ferguson, Moss, Smith, Milsap and Greer all had been arrested.

Moss, 43, Ferguson, 38, and Smith, 32, each face attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, battery and intimidation counts. Milsap, 45, faces bribery and obstruction counts. Greer, 61, was charged with helping a criminal and obstruction.

Moss’ attorney in the domestic abuse case, Ben Jaffee, did not immediately return a message left at his office Friday. Court records did not list attorneys for the other four people facing charges in connection with the judge’s shooting.

Steven Meyer issued a statement thanking police and saying that it’s important to allow the judicial process to move forward.

Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush also released a statement saying a special judge appointment is expected Monday.

Threats against judges have been on the rise in recent years.

Rush noted in a news release that more than 150 of 214 judges who responded to a 2023 security survey said they had been threatened.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court recorded 188 threats against judges in that state in 2024, the most recent year data was available. That compares with 232 threats in 2023 and 74 threats in 2022. Retired Wisconsin state Judge John Roemer was shot and killed in 2022 by a man he had sentenced to prison for burglary.

The head of the U.S. Marshals Service said in congressional testimony in 2024 that the number of threats against federal judges had more than doubled over the last three years.

By JEFF AMY and CHARLOTTE KRAMON

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge in Georgia on Friday dismissed a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit seeking voter information from the state, ruling the federal government had sued in the wrong city.

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U.S. District Judge Ashley Royal found the government should have sued Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in Atlanta, and not in a separate federal judicial district in Macon, where the secretary of state also has an office.

Royal dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, meaning the Justice Department can refile it. The department declined to comment Friday.

The Justice Department has now filed lawsuits against 24 states and the District of Columbia seeking voter information as part of its effort to collect detailed voting data, including dates of birth and driver’s license and Social Security numbers. A federal judge in California rejected the lawsuit against that state on privacy grounds, while a judge in Oregon has suggested he may dismiss the case there.

The Trump administration characterizes the lawsuits as an effort to ensure election security, and the Justice Department says the states are violating federal law by refusing to provide voter lists and information.

Raffensperger has been the rare Republican to decline the demand, saying Georgia law prohibits the release of voters’ confidential personal unless certain qualifications are met. Raffensperger argues the federal government hasn’t met those conditions. He says he shared the public part of the voter roll and information about how Georgia removes ineligible or outdated registrations in December.

“I will always follow the law and follow the Constitution,” Raffensperger said in a statement Friday. “I won’t violate the oath I took to stand up for the people of this state, regardless of who or what compels me to do otherwise.”

The refusal to hand over the records has become an issue in Raffensperger’s 2026 run for governor. Raffensperger in January 2021 famously refused a demand from President Donald Trump in a phone call to “find” enough votes to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s win in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. Many Trump-loving Republicans still hold a grudge against Raffensperger.

The issue flared just Thursday in a hearing by a state Senate committee where multiple Republican state senators slammed Raffensperger for failing to comply, saying he legally could do so. The committee voted along party lines to advance a resolution calling on Raffensperger to hand over the data and calling it the “latest example of a pattern of behavior by the secretary and his office to refuse oversight of his administration of Georgia’s elections.”

State Sen. Randy Robertson, a Republican from Cataula who filed the resolution, said the dismissal is “frustrating” because even if the Justice Department refiles the lawsuit, the problem will take longer to resolve.

“As public officials we all should participate in any investigation done by a law enforcement agency,” Robertson told The Associated Press Friday.

Robertson is one of many Republican lawmakers backing Lt. Gov. Burt Jones over Raffensperger for the GOP governor nomination. Jones, who already has Trump’s endorsement for governor, was one of 16 state Republicans who signed a certificate that Trump had won Georgia and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.

By SOPHIE AUSTIN

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California sued the federal government Friday for approving a Texas-based company’s plans to restart two oil pipelines along the state’s coast, escalating a fight over the Trump administration’s removal of regulatory barriers to offshore oil drilling for the first time in decades.

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The administration has hailed the project by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. to restart production in waters off Santa Barbara damaged by a 2015 oil spill as the kind of project President Donald Trump wants to increase U.S. energy production.

The state oversees the pipelines that run through Santa Barbara and Kern counties, said Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“The federal administration has no right to usurp California’s regulatory authority,” he said at a news conference. “We’re taking them to court to draw a line in the sand and to protect our coast, beaches and communities from potentially hazardous pipelines.”

But the U.S. Transportation Department agency that approved Sable’s plan pushed back on the lawsuit.

“Restarting the Las Flores Pipeline will bring much needed American energy to a state with the highest gas prices in the country,” said a spokesperson with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Sable did not respond for comment on the lawsuit.

Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term to reverse former President Joe Biden’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts. A federal court later struck down Biden’s order to withdraw 625 million acres of federal waters from oil development.

The federal administration in November announced plans for new offshore oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts, which the oil industry has backed for years.

But critics say the plans could harm coastal communities and ecosystems.

Bonta said one of the pipelines Sable wants to restart burst in 2015, spilling oil along the Southern California coast. The event was the state’s worst oil spill in decades. More than 140,000 gallons (3,300 barrels) of oil gushed out, blackening beaches for 150 miles from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. It polluted a biologically rich habitat for endangered whales and sea turtles, killing scores of pelicans, seals and dolphins, and decimating the fishing industry.

FILE – A worker removes oil from sand at Refugio State Beach, north of Goleta, Calif., May 21, 2015. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

The drilling platforms were subsequently shuttered.

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

“It’s crazy that we are even talking about restarting this pipeline,” said Alex Katz, executive director of the Environmental Defense Center, a Santa Barbara group formed in response to a catastrophic 1969 California oil spill.

The federal government’s approval to restart the pipelines ignores painful lessons the community learned from the 2015 oil spill, said California Assemblymember Gregg Hart, a Democrat representing Santa Barbara.

“California will not allow Trump and his Big Oil friends to bypass our essential environmental laws and threaten our coastline,” he said in a statement.

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

Meta is halting teens’ access to artificial intelligence characters, at least temporarily, the company said in a blog post Friday.

Meta Platforms Inc., which own Instagram and WhatsApp, said that starting in the “coming weeks,” teens will no longer be able to access AI characters “until the updated experience is ready”

This applies to anyone who gave Meta a birthday that makes them a minor, as well as “people who claim to be adults but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology.”

The move comes the week before Meta — along with TikTok and Google’s YouTube — is scheduled to stand trial in Los Angeles over its apps’ harms to children.

Teens will still be able to access Meta’s AI assistant, just not the characters.

Other companies have also banned teens from AI chatbots amid growing concerns about the effects of artificial intelligence conversations on children. Character.AI announced its ban last fall. That company is facing several lawsuits over child safety, including by the mother of a teenager who says the company’s chatbots pushed her teenage son to kill himself.

By JONEL ALECCIA

Powdered whole milk used to make ByHeart infant formula could be a source of contamination that led to an outbreak of botulism that has sickened dozens of babies, U.S. health officials indicated Friday.

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Testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found the type of bacteria that can cause the illness in two samples linked to the formula, officials said.

The agency found that bacteria in an unopened can of formula matched a sample from a sick baby — and it also matched contamination detected in samples of organic whole milk powder used to make ByHeart formula and collected and tested by the company.

FDA testing also found contamination in a sample of whole milk powder supplied to ByHeart — and it matched the germ in a finished sample of the company’s formula.

The findings are not conclusive, and the investigation continues “to determine the source of the contamination,” the agency said in a statement.

A ByHeart official said the finding helps shed light on what has become a “watershed moment” for the company.

“We are focused on the root cause and our responsibility to act on what we’ve learned to help create a safer future for ByHeart and infant formula,” said Dr. Devon Kuehn, ByHeart’s chief scientific and medical officer.

Neither FDA nor ByHeart named the supplier of the powdered whole milk.

At this time, there is no indication of a broader problem in the infant formula supply, the FDA said.

New York-based ByHeart has been at the center of a food poisoning outbreak that has sickened 51 babies in 19 states since December 2023. The problem was identified in November after officials with the California program that supplies the sole treatment for infant botulism detected a surge in cases in babies who consumed ByHeart formula.

No new cases in the outbreak have been identified since mid-December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

ByHeart initially recalled two lots of formula, but it expanded the recall to all products days later. Federal health officials later said they could not rule out contamination of all products made since the company launched in March 2022.

That followed company testing, announced in November, that found six of 36 samples of formula from three different lots contained the dangerous type of bacteria that causes infant botulism.

Illnesses caused by botulism bacteria in infant formula are rare, and the size and scope of the ByHeart outbreak is unprecedented, food safety experts said.

Some formula companies do test raw materials and finished formula for evidence of the contamination, but such testing should be required, said Sarah Sorscher, director of regulatory affairs for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group.

“FDA has not announced a plan to do testing, and that’s what we really want to see them do,” she said.

Even if the contamination was traced to a milk supplier, the company remains responsible for the harm caused by its product, said Bill Marler, a Seattle food safety lawyer who represents more than 30 families of babies who fell ill.

“Just because they are able to point the finger at dried powder as the ingredient that may have been contaminated, it doesn’t take any of the legal or moral responsibility away from ByHeart,” Marler said.

ByHeart, which accounted for about 1% of the U.S. infant formula market, previously sold about 200,000 cans of the product per month. It was marketed as an option close to human breast milk, one that used “organic, grass-fed whole milk.” Parents of babies sickened in the outbreak said they chose the formula, which cost about $42 per can, because of its touted health benefits.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

MADRID (AP) — Spanish state prosecutors said Friday they were shelving an initial investigation into accusations of sexual assault by Julio Iglesias in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic after concluding that Spain’s National Court lacked jurisdiction to judge the matter.

Earlier this month, Spanish prosecutors had opened an investigation studying allegations that the 82-year-old Grammy-winning global singing star had sexually assaulted two former employees at his residences in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

Iglesias denied the accusations, writing on social media that: “With deep sorrow, I respond to the accusations made by two people who previously worked at my home. I deny having abused, coerced or disrespected any woman. These accusations are absolutely false and cause me great sadness.”

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An email seeking comment sent to a Florida attorney whose website says Iglesias is among his clients was not immediately answered.

The two women had presented a complaint to the Spanish court earlier this month, according to Women’s Link Worldwide, a nongovernmental organization that represents them. The group said that the women were accusing Iglesias of “crimes against sexual freedom and indemnity such as sexual harassment” and of “human trafficking for the purpose of forced labor and servitude.”

The women also said Iglesias regularly checked their cellphones, barred them from leaving his house and demanded that they work up to 16 hours a day, with no contract or days off.

When the complaint was filed in Spain, the organization said it had not reached out to authorities in the Bahamas or the Dominican Republic and didn’t know whether investigations had begun in those Caribbean nations.

Iglesias has been among the world’s most successful singers in the decades since his 1969 debut album, “Yo Canto.” He has sold more than 300 million records in more than a dozen languages.

After making his start in Spain, Iglesias won immense popularity in the U.S. and wider world in the 1970s and 1980s, partly due to duets with U.S. artists including Willie Nelson and Diana Ross.

He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 and in 1988 won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance for his album “Un Hombre Solo.”

He’s also the father of pop star Enrique Iglesias.

By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

Vice President JD Vance on Friday encouraged anti-abortion activists to “take heart in how far we’ve come” on the quest to limit the practice, listing the Trump administration’s accomplishments including an expansion of a ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services.

“There is still much road ahead to travel together,” Vance told attendees at the annual March for Life demonstration, which draws tens of thousands of people annually to Washington. Attendees rallied on the National Mall before heading to the Supreme Court.

Vance, a Republican, has spent years passionately advocating for Americans to have more children. He repeatedly expressed alarm about declining birth rates as he launched his political career in 2021 with a successful bid for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, and as vice president he has continued on that mission.

“I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vance said in addressing last year’s March for Life.

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Earlier this week, Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, announced in a social media post they are expecting a son, their fourth child, in late July.

“Let the record show, you have a vice president who practices what he preaches,” Vance said Friday.

Vance cited the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, calling it “the most important Supreme Court decision of my lifetime.” He said President Donald Trump’s leadership and appointment of conservative jurists “put a definitive end to the tyranny of judicial rule on the question of human life.”

He also lauded the “historic expansion of the Mexico City policy,” the broadening of a ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services, to include assistance going to international and domestic organizations and agencies that promote gender identity as well as diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

“We believe that every country in the world has the duty to protect life,” Vance said, to a sea of supporters waving signs reading “Choose Life,” “Make More Babies” and “I am the Pro-Life Generation.”

“It’s not our job as the United States of America to promote radical gender ideology,” he said. “It’s our job to promote families and human flourishing.”

From the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV — the first U.S.-born pope — sent a message of support to participants in the march.

“I would encourage you, especially the young people, to continue striving to ensure that life is respected in all of its stages,” Leo wrote in a letter shown on a video at the march. “May Jesus, who promised to be with us always, accompany you today as you courageously and peacefully march on behalf of unborn children.”

On Thursday, an official said the Trump administration was implementing new rules, halting foreign assistance from going not only to groups that provide abortion as a method of family planning but also to those that advocate “gender ideology” and DEI. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of the rules’ publication in the Federal Register on Friday.

First established under President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, the policy was rescinded by subsequent Democratic administrations and was reinstated in Trump’s first term.

With its origins in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that nationally enshrined federal protection for abortion rights, the March for Life developed an entrenched presence among conservatives arguing against abortion. In 2017, Trump addressed the march by video, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to make live remarks. Three years later, he attended the event in person, further cementing its role in conservative politics.

In a video address to this year’s crowd, Trump recounted his administration’s “unprecedented strides to protect innocent life and support the institution of the family like never before,” enumerating his appointment of “judges and justices who believed in interpreting the Constitution as written” and “reflecting on the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.

Since the June 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe, the march has become more celebratory, with organizers relishing a state-by-state fight in legislatures around the country and urging a continued fight until abortion is eliminated.

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.

General Daily Insight for January 24, 2026

Feelings test our plans, but patience helps. With the Moon squaring expansive Jupiter at 4:36 PM EST, impulses could clash with expectations. The morning favors slow starts, nudging us to notice needs early and respond without wasting time. Midday may bring ruffled feelings as we’re forced to adapt to changing circumstances. As long as we keep checking in with each other, we should be able to handle any mismatches. We’re balancing courage with care. Keep progress modest and grounded to let small wins stack up.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

Speak from the heart, but let your brain mull over the exact wording first! The emotional Moon is in your sign, electrifying your intuition. Today, it squares auspicious Jupiter in your 4th House of Family, so big feelings at home may press on your plans. If a relative asks for a favor, name your bandwidth and offer an honest timeline. You’re allowed to help others, but you must respect your own need for rest at home. Aim for transparency, since clear limits invite support.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

You don’t need to turn up the volume this morning. With the intuitive Moon drifting through your 12th House of Solitude, relaxation and reflection carry extra value. Luna squares jovial Jupiter in your 3rd House of Distractions, so brace for interruptions to your calm. If a neighbor drops by or your phone pings, feel free to wait to return any calls until you feel grounded. These quiet moments strengthen your patience, which helps later talks stay friendly and productive. Get some rest!

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

What turns a chat into shared momentum? The Moon and Jupiter, that’s what! With Luna squaring Jupiter across your aspirational 11th house and your resourceful 2nd house, vague group ideas might actually come to fruition. Keep everyone’s budget in mind — if friends suggest an expensive dinner, you could instead pitch a cozy, low-cost spot. Your natural curiosity becomes leadership when you ask questions and keep everyone focused on what matters: spending time together. Guide the plans gently to keep these connections flowing freely.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

Recognition grows when your effort stays focused. With Luna highlighting your 10th House of Goals, you’ve got the strength to start building your dreams in reality. The Moon also pokes lucky Jupiter in your very own sign, which pushes you to show up boldly without overextending yourself. If a supervisor adds a new task, negotiate the scope and timeline rather than accepting unnecessary work. Share wins warmly and give credit where it’s due. These small moments all add up to an amazing reputation!

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Big dreams ask for gentle pacing. The moody Moon in your 9th House of Journeys is squaring Jupiter in your quieter 12th house. Even as your mind reaches for bigger ideas and places, the stars are asking you to balance exploration with rest. If you’re studying or planning a trip, schedule regular breaks and protect buffers around bedtime. You shine when you stretch with wisdom, not strain, because an energized mind makes growth joyful. Plan pauses, since pacing keeps your fire bright.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

This afternoon favors delicate money talks. The temperamental Moon energizes your 8th House of Intimacy, while extravagant Jupiter emboldens your 11th House of Community. Their square today tests how you handle group expenses and promises. When you’re covered by someone else, be sure to show your gratitude. In a similar vein, if a friend owes you for tickets, ask kindly for repayment and suggest a system for next time. Keeping receipts isn’t a bad thing! Unambiguous money talks are a great way to build trust.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Certain connections may not fit as well as they once did. You’re more equipped to notice these imbalances during this Moon-Jupiter square, especially when it comes to close personal or professional partnerships. There may also be some pressure around public decisions and visible promises. If someone presses for an answer about timing, offer only what you can realistically commit to. Your diplomatic nature brings grace to tough talks because you listen before you decide. Seek fair terms to obtain the most long-term benefits.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

Detours, shmetours — you can handle any twist or turn in your path today. You can thank Luna and Jupiter for that! They’re colliding in an energetic square, emphasizing your 6th House of Habits and your 9th House of Learning. Conversely, it also means that big ideas may distract you from everyday necessities. Do your best to work with your brain, not against it. Look for tasks you can do while pondering philosophy or imagining the perfect comeback for potential debates. Thoughtful pacing is everything!

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

Where are you pouring your heart? The nurturing Moon in your inspired 5th house is nudging upbeat Jupiter in your earnest 8th house, reminding you to nourish your soul, wherever it lives. Look for ways to indulge in joy without splurging. For example, a couple of markers and scratch paper are all you need to draw something, and a phone is all you need to listen to new music. Your optimism shines when you lead with generosity while honoring agreements about money. Express yourself freely!

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

Home repairs — literal or emotional — are on the table today. The Moon and Jupiter are clashing, which could cause some tension, but could also benefit your energy levels. Family ties may need some mending, and once they’ve been handled, those bonds could be immensely helpful. If a partner or ally needs your time, share your to-do list and agree to meet up when you both have time. Sharing time and effort is currently the best way to improve your time at home.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

Conversations may seem to move faster than your thoughts. The temperamental Moon is visiting your 3rd House of Neighborhoods, where it squares Jupiter in your 6th House of Practice. Your local environment will probably keep you pretty busy today! If traffic snarls or a sibling vents, slow the pace so you can keep track of the topic without losing your own train of thought. Your innovative mind shines when you reframe delays as chances to improve the system. Ready, set, go!

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Treat your resources with care. The thoughtful Moon moves through your 2nd House of Values, spotlighting money choices and the worth you assign to your possessions. It squares lucky Jupiter in your 5th House of Originality, asking you to honor a limit and still welcome joy. If an art class or outing would stretch your budget, consider scheduling it for a more affordable future and staying in for the time being. Caring for your wallet is caring for yourself! Today is about lightening burdens.