South Florida Local News

<p>By DAVID FISCHER, MIKE SCHNEIDER and FREIDA FRISARO</p><p>MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction Thursday halting further expansion and ordering the winding down of an <a href="https://apnews.com/article/alligator-alcatraz-immigration-detainees-florida-cc2fb9e34e760a50e97f13fe59cbf075">immigration detention center</a> built in the middle of the Florida Everglades and dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” that advocates said violated environmental laws.</p><p>U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams' injunction formalized a temporary halt she had ordered two weeks ago as witnesses continued to testify in a multiday hearing to determine whether construction should end until the ultimate resolution of the case. </p><p>The state of Florida filed a notice of appeal Thursday night, shortly after the ruling was issued.</p><p>“The deportations will continue until morale improves,” DeSantis spokesman Alex Lanfranconi said in response to the judge’s ruling.</p><p>The judge said she expected the population of the facility to decline within 60 days through the transferring of the detainees to other facilities, and once that happened, fencing, lighting and generators should be removed. She wrote the state and federal defendants can't bring anyone other than those who are already being detained at the facility onto the property. The order does not prohibit modification or repairs to existing facilities, “which are solely for the purpose of increasing safety or mitigating environmental or other risks at the site.,"</p><p>The preliminary injunction includes “those who are in active concert or participation with” the state of Florida or federal defendants or their officers, agents, employees," the judge wrote in an 82-page order.</p><p>The judge said state officials never sufficiently explained why the facility needed to be in the middle of the Florida Everglades. “What is apparent, however, is that in their haste to construct the detention camp, the State did not consider alternative locations,” Williams said.</p><h4>Judge cites decades-long efforts to preserve Everglades</h4><p>Williams said her order gave the state and federal defendants time to wind down the facility so that it can undergo the required environmental assessments. She noted the three-quarters century of efforts to preserve the Everglades.</p><p>“Since that time, every Florida governor, every Florida senator, and countless local and national political figures, including presidents, have publicly pledged their unequivocal support for the restoration, conservation, and protection of the Everglades,” she wrote. "This order does nothing more than uphold the basic requirements of legislation designed to fulfill those promises.”</p><p>President <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-congress-medicaid-snap-states-2e6ac67454045ee402f3361f62a5e97b">Donald Trump</a> toured the facility last month and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration races to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-everglades-immigrant-detention-facility-visit-5dc5568ec15534947c29c9149b773d1d">expand the infrastructure</a> necessary for increasing deportations.</p><p>Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe had argued that further construction and operations should be stopped until federal and state officials complied with federal environmental laws. Their lawsuit claims the project threatens environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars’ worth of environmental restoration.</p><p>Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades, called the ruling a landmark victory for the Everglades and Americans who believe this imperiled wilderness should be protected.</p><p>“It sends a clear message that environmental laws must be respected by leaders at the highest levels of our government — and there are consequences for ignoring them,” Samples said in a statement.</p><p>Miccosukee Tribe Chairman Talbert Cypress said this isn't the first time the tribe has has to fight for its land and rights.</p><p>“We will always stand up for our culture, our sovereignty, and for the Everglades,” Cypress said in a statement. </p><p>Attorneys for the state and federal defendants didn’t immediately respond to emailed inquiries late Thursday. But they have previously argued that, although the detention center would be holding federal detainees, the construction and operation of the facility was entirely under the state of Florida, meaning the federal environmental law didn’t apply.</p><p>The judge has said the detention facility was, at a minimum, a joint partnership between the state and federal government.</p><h4>Hasty construction of detention center</h4><p>The detention center was quickly built almost two months ago at a lightly used, single-runway training airport in the middle of the Everglades. It currently holds several hundred detainees but was designed to eventually hold up to 3,000 detainees in temporary tent structures. </p><p>Inside the compound’s large white tents, rows of bunkbeds are surrounded by chain-link cages. People held there say <a href="https://apnews.com/article/alligator-alcatraz-immigration-detainees-florida-cc2fb9e34e760a50e97f13fe59cbf075">worms turn up in the food</a>, toilets don’t flush and flood floors with fecal waste, while mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere. At times the air conditioners abruptly shut off in the sweltering heat. Detainees are said to go days without showering or getting prescription medicine, and can only speak to lawyers and loved ones by phone. </p><p>Witnesses for the environmental groups testified during the hearing that at least 20 acres (8 hectares) of asphalt had been added to the site since the Florida Division of Emergency Management began construction. They said additional paving could lead to an increase in water runoff to the adjacent wetlands, spread harmful chemicals into the Everglades and reduce the habitat for endangered Florida panthers. </p><p>Attorneys for federal and state agencies have asked Williams to dismiss or transfer the injunction request, saying the lawsuit was filed in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-immigration-alligator-alcatraz-940dd5fda8d22f4f385e2c2800fa525a">the wrong jurisdiction</a>. Williams ruled Thursday that her court was the proper venue.</p><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-immigration-ice-trump-alligator-alcatraz-034bdb7b4347dd1a6eaa840eda475401">Another federal judge</a> in Miami dismissed part of a lawsuit earlier this week that claimed detainees were denied access to the legal system at the immigration detention center and then moved the remaining counts of the case to another court.</p><p>Both lawsuits were being heard as Florida Republican Gov. <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/ron-desantis">Ron DeSantis</a> ′ administration apparently was preparing to build <a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-immigration-detention-center-alligator-alcatraz-contracts-af607a50f1e78ad85f6292cbef0adc92">a second immigration detention center</a> at a Florida National Guard training center in north Florida. </p>

A federal judge on Thursday barred the DeSantis and Trump administrations from bringing new detainees to Alligator Alcatraz and demanded the state begin closing out operations at the immigration detention facility within 60 days.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, in her 82-page ruling, prohibited the state and federal governments from bringing additional detainees to the detention center, which has drawn mass protests. She also stopped any expansion of the detention facility, including adding industrial lighting or erecting any new buildings, such as tents or dormitories.

Though her order does not prohibit the state from making repairs to the site, the most striking aspect of the order is her demand that the state begin removing all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste items that have transformed the airstrip into a detention center within 60 days, rendering the site uninhabitable. Williams said she expects attrition to make the stripping of the site safe.

Go to Herald.com for the full report.

A New York City man was extradited to Broward County this week after law enforcement officials say he drunkenly drove a car that crashed on Interstate 95, killing two people in 2022.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers say Nick-Quan Francis, 30, was intoxicated when he slammed the rented Honda sedan he was driving into a highway barrier at 89 mph about 6:30 a.m. on May 8, 2022, in Fort Lauderdale.

Two passengers not wearing seatbelts were ejected upon impact and died. A third passenger, who was wearing a seatbelt, lived and told troopers that Francis was driving, per his probable cause warrant.

Go to Herald.com for the full report.

By MEAD GRUVER

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming man who allegedly hit a wolf with a snowmobile, taped the wounded animal’s mouth shut and showed it off in a rural bar before killing it has been indicted on an animal cruelty charge by a grand jury nearly a year and a half after the incident.

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Cody Roberts last year paid a $250 fine for illegal possession of wildlife but avoided more serious charges as investigators struggled to find cooperative witnesses. Wyoming law gives wide leeway for people to kill wolves and other predators by a variety of means in the vast majority of the state.

Even so, the 12-person grand jury found enough evidence over the past two weeks to support the charge of felony animal cruelty, Sublette County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich said in a statement Wednesday.

Melinkovich had no further comment on the case. Roberts has not commented on the case and did not have a listed working number, nor an attorney on file in state District Court who might comment on his behalf.

If convicted, Roberts faces up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Widely circulated photos showed a man identified as Roberts posing with the wolf, its mouth bound with tape, on Feb. 29, 2024, in a bar near Daniel, a town of about 150 people about 50 miles south of Jackson.

Video clips showed the same animal lying on a floor, alive but barely moving.

The light punishment against Roberts led to calls for a Wyoming tourism boycott, to little apparent effect. Yellowstone National Park had its second-busiest year on record in 2024, up more than 5% from 2023.

Grand juries in Wyoming are rare. The last one to get significant attention, in 2019, found that a sheriff’s deputy did not commit involuntary manslaughter by killing an unarmed man after a traffic stop.

Government-sponsored poisoning, trapping and bounty hunting all but wiped out wolves in the lower 48 states in the 19th and 20th centuries. Starting in the 1990s, a reintroduction program brought them back to Yellowstone and central Idaho, and their numbers have rebounded.

Though wolves remain listed as a federally endangered or threatened species in most of the country, they have no such protection in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, where they can be hunted and trapped.

Exceptions include Yellowstone and neighboring Grand Teton National Park, where hunting is prohibited and the wild canines are a major attraction for millions of tourists. In 85% percent of Wyoming, wolves are classified as predators and can be freely killed by virtually any means.

The so-called predator zone includes Sublette County, where the wolf was killed. Groups including the Humane Society argued that Wyoming’s animal cruelty law could nonetheless apply there.

By MELISSA GOLDIN

The food pyramid that once guided Americans’ diets has been retired for more than a decade, but that has not stopped President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from regularly criticizing the concept.

He often highlights the pyramid, misrepresenting dietary standards and criticizing health initiatives of the Biden administration. Such claims were featured in a video aired Tuesday, before his appearance on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

KENNEDY: “The dietary guidelines that we inherited from the Biden administration were 453 pages long. They were driven by the same commercial impulses that put Froot Loops at the top of the food pyramid.”

THE FACTS: The original food pyramid did not mention any specific products. But at the very top, it recommended that oils, fats and sugar be consumed “sparingly.” Grains such as bread, cereal, rice and pasta were on the bottom tier, where six to 11 portions a day were recommended. The current dietary guidelines are 164 pages long, not 453. They were released in December 2020 during Trump’s first term, along with a four-page executive summary.

A scientific report used to develop the dietary guidelines is published every five years by an advisory committee. The latest report, released in December by the Biden administration, is 421 pages long. Trump’s first administration released an 835-page scientific report in July 2020 that informed the current guidelines.

“The dietary guidelines include several documents, including a scientific report which summarizes the scientific evidence supporting the dietary guidelines,” said Laura Bellows, an associate professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University. “It can be long due to the comprehensive nature of the document. That said, these findings are distilled down into concise guidelines that are foundational to the creation of consumer information and educational materials.”

Experts said that Froot Loops, a breakfast cereal, would have fallen into multiple categories under the pyramid concept, offering vague guidance to consumers.

“It’s a bit trickier than just one grouping,” Bellows said in an email. She said Froot Loops “would fall more in foods that we should ‘moderate’ … but does contribute to the grain group.” The cereal is high in sugar, she added, but does have fiber and other key nutrients.

The Agriculture Department introduced an updated pyramid guide in 2005 that incorporated new nutritional standards. It retired the pyramid idea altogether in 2011 and now uses the MyPlate concept, which stresses eating a healthy balance of different foods based on factors such as age and sex.

MyPlate recommends making half of the grains one eats in a day whole grains and cutting back on added sugars. Similar to the food pyramid, this puts Froot Loops, which has whole grains and added sugars, in both categories.

“MyPlate, not the Food Pyramid, has been the visual graphic for the US Dietary Guidelines since 2011,” said Bellows. “So, referring to the ‘top of the pyramid’ is a dated reference.”

Kennedy’s other criticism of Froot Loops has focused primarily on its manufacturer’s use of artificial dyes to enhance its color. He has made getting rid of artificial colors in foods an important part of his “Make America Healthy Again” plan.

Asked for comment on Kennedy’s remarks, the Health and Human Services Department said work is on track to release the final 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The agency said Kennedy is committed to ensuring those guidelines “are grounded in gold-standard science and reflect a clear focus on healthy, whole, and nutritious foods.”

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

By MATTHEW BROWN and COLLEEN SLEVIN

DENVER (AP) — State inspectors in Colorado found about 20 decomposing bodies behind a hidden door in a funeral home owned by a county coroner, who told them he may have given fake ashes to next of kin who sought cremations, authorities disclosed Thursday.

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The bodies were discovered in a room behind a door hidden by a cardboard display during an inspection of Davis Mortuary in Pueblo, about 110 miles south of Denver. Inspectors found a “strong odor of decomposition” after arriving at the business on Wednesday. Brian Cotter — the owner and Pueblo County coroner — had asked them not to enter the room, according to a document from state regulators.

Colorado long had some of the weakest oversight of funeral homes in the nation, with no routine inspections or qualification requirements for funeral home operators. That has allowed numerous abuses, including a pending case involving nearly 200 decomposing bodies that were found stored at room temperature in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about 30 miles from Pueblo.

A sentencing in that case of one of the funeral home’s owners for corpse abuse is set for Friday.

The discovery in Pueblo came during the first inspection of Davis Mortuary under rules adopted last year in response to prior crimes within Colorado’s funeral industry.

Before the law changed, funeral homes could only be inspected if a complaint had been filed against them. Davis Mortuary did not have any complaints, said Sam Delp, director of the Division of Professions and Occupations in the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies.

Cotter told inspectors that some of the bodies had been awaiting cremation for about 15 years, according to the document from state regulators that explained why the state suspended the mortuary’s registration.

“This is a profound violation of trust and a heartbreaking betrayal of the families who entrusted their loved ones to this funeral home,” Colorado Bureau of Investigation director Armando Saldate III said.

The estimate of 20 bodies in the room came from funeral home staff. The corpses were not immediately removed, and authorities said as a result, they did not yet have a precise number.

Investigators on Thursday were collecting evidence with the help of state troopers trained in responding to hazardous materials, Saldate said, noting that they were “respectfully and humanely” handling the bodies.

Cotter has not been arrested, and Pueblo County District Attorney Kala Beauvais said no charges have been filed as the investigation continues.

A woman who answered the phone at the mortuary said it had no comment and declined to make Cotter available for an interview.

Cotter did not immediately respond to a message left with the coroner’s office.

Cotter and his brother, Chris, bought Davis Mortuary in 1989, according to the business’s website. It said the brothers brought with them an “old school” way of operating that they learned from their father, who owned and operated funeral homes in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska.

In most states, funeral homes are routinely inspected, but for many years, no such rules were on the books in Colorado.

Owners of a funeral home in Grand Junction, Colorado, were convicted in 2022 of selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes. In yet another case, a woman’s body was found last year in the back of a hearse where a suburban Denver funeral home had left it for over a year. At least 30 sets of cremated remains were found stashed throughout that funeral director’s home.

Colorado lawmakers last year approved changes intended to tighten oversight, bringing the state in line with most other states. One requires regulators to routinely inspect funeral homes and gives them more enforcement power. Another implements licensing for funeral directors and other workers in the industry. They would need to pass background checks and a national exam while possessing degrees and work experience.

Previously, funeral home directors in Colorado didn’t have to graduate from high school, let alone have a degree.

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

A Hillsborough County circuit judge reinstated an injunction that stops state-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. from forcing policyholders’ claims disputes to an arbitration panel that the company funds.

Circuit Judge Melissa Polo on Aug. 1 granted a temporary injunction requested by attorneys for Martin Alvarez, a Tampa man who was planning to sue the state’s insurer of last resort over its offer to settle his hurricane damage claim.

Polo’s order, rather than stopping action only in Alvarez’ case, barred Citizens from diverting any and all claims disputes to the state’s Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) and paused cases that were already underway. She ruled that Alvarez demonstrated a “substantial likelihood of success” in its claim that the practice violates policyholders’ constitutional rights to fair trials.

Polo also denied Citizens’ motion to move the trial to Leon County, where the company is headquartered.

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On Aug. 5, Citizens filed a notice to appeal the decision to the 2nd District Court of Appeal, triggering an automatic stay of the injunction and allowing Citizens’ DOAH cases to proceed.

On Thursday, Polo ruled that failing to lift the stay while Citizens pursued its appeal “risks depriving policyholders of constitutional protections.”

After Thursday’s ruling, Citizens spokesman Michael Peltier responded, “We will certainly adhere to the order while it remains in effect. The DOAH process offers a fair and efficient venue for settling disputed claims and the statute that specifically authorizes Citizens to use DOAH is constitutional. We look forward to making our case on appeal.”

Alvarez’ attorney Lynn Brauer did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the latest ruling.

The DOAH system, approved by both Citizens’ Board of Governors and the Florida Legislature, is forced on Citizens policyholders through a policy provision they have no opportunity to reject.

By contrast, private market insurers can offer policy provisions — known as endorsements — giving them the right to divert disputes to arbitration, but those are typically in exchange for a premium discount and policyholders have the right to reject the provisions.

Under Citizens’ mandatory endorsement, policyholders surrender their rights to a “jury trial, access to courts, and due process on the breach of their contract claims” while being offered “neither a fair alternative nor a reduction in premiums,” Polo wrote in a four-page order.

Since 2024, Citizens moved more than 1,300 claims to the DOAH courts. A South Florida Sun Sentinel analysis in July found that Citizens prevailed in 47 of 51 cases that advanced to a final hearing prior to July 10.

Advised by their lawyers that the system sets them up to fail, a majority of policyholders either settle or drop their claims before advancing to a hearing, plaintiffs attorneys told the Sun Sentinel.

“Irreparable harm is unmistakable and severe,” Polo wrote. Alvarez has demonstrated that the DOAH forum is “structurally biased and deprives policyholders of neutral discovery, motion practice and judicial review,” the judge wrote.

Meanwhile, “the record shows that DOAH repeatedly awards fees and/or costs to (Citizens) while denying the same relief to the insureds,” she wrote.

Plaintiffs attorneys have said that Citizens routinely offers $250 or $500 settlements that, if rejected, subject policyholders to legal fee rulings by DOAH judges whether they lose their hearings or later decide to drop their claims.

The DOAH endorsement “itself does not provide a way to challenge the validity of any proposals for settlement served prior to a hearing on the amounts,” Polo wrote.

DOAH judges even “routinely award costs to [Citizens] in cases where [Citizens] does not file proposals for settlement,” the judge wrote. “The result is that ordinary citizens … are stripped of their constitutional rights and left powerless in a tribunal that appears to favor the state’s insurer.”

Last year, Citizens’ Board of Governors approved paying DOAH $19.3 million to administer the program through 2027.

Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071 or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.

By BEN FINLEY

A U.S. magistrate judge is expected to order the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a Tennessee jail Friday while he awaits trial on federal human smuggling charges.

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The release will provide the closest thing to freedom Abrego Garcia has felt since he was wrongfully deported to a notorious El Salvador prison in March, making him a face — if not the face — of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers stated in a court filings Tuesday that a private security firm will take Abrego Garcia from Tennessee to Maryland when he’s freed.

But Abrego Garcia’s liberty before trial could be short-lived. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may detain him once he arrives in his adopted state of Maryland and could try to deport him again.

Depending on who’s telling his story, there are two very different versions of Abrego Garcia.

Trump and his administration cast him as an MS-13 gang member and a tireless smuggler of migrants across the country. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys portray him as a family man and construction worker who was arbitrarily deported and then vindictively charged to save political face.

As Abrego Garcia’s story takes yet another turn, here’s what to know:

‘Well-founded fear’

Abrego Garcia, 30, grew up in El Salvador and fled at 16 because a local gang extorted and terrorized his family, court records state. He traveled to Maryland, where his brother lives as a U.S. citizen, but was not authorized to stay.

Abrego Garcia found work in construction and met his future wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura. In 2018, he moved in with her and her two children after she became pregnant with his child. They lived in Prince George’s County, just outside Washington.

In March 2019, Abrego Garcia went to a Home Depot seeking work as a laborer when he and three other men were detained by local police, court records state. They were suspected of being in MS-13 based on tattoos and clothing.

A criminal informant told police that Abrego Garcia was in MS-13, court records state, but police did not charge him and turned him over to ICE.

A U.S. immigration judge denied Abrego Garcia’s subsequent asylum claim because more than a year had passed since his arrival. But the judge granted him protection from being deported back to El Salvador, determining that he had a “well-founded fear” of gang persecution there, court records state.

Abrego Garcia was released and placed under federal supervision. He received a federal work permit and checked in with ICE each year, his lawyers said. He joined a union and was employed full-time as a sheet metal apprentice.

‘Audacity to fight back’

In February, the Trump administration designated MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization. In March, it deported Abrego Garcia to the prison in El Salvador, violating the U.S. immigration judge’s 2019 order.

Abrego Garcia later claimed in court documents that he was beaten and psychologically tortured, while El Salvador President Nayib Bukele denied the allegations.

The Trump administration described its violation of the immigration judge’s 2019 order as an administrative error. Trump and other officials also doubled down on claims Abrego Garcia was in MS-13.

Vasquez Sura filed a lawsuit to bring her husband back. Following mounting political pressure and a Supreme Court order, the Trump administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. in early June. But it was to face the human smuggling charges.

The smuggling case stems from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding, during which Abrego Garcia was driving a vehicle with nine passengers. Police in Tennessee suspected human smuggling, but he was allowed to drive on and wasn’t charged with anything.

Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the smuggling charges filed in June. The case relies on the testimony of cooperating witnesses, some of whom have requested or received help with immigration and criminal matters, according to pre-trial testimony.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers on Tuesday filed a rarely used motion to dismiss the case based on “vindictive and selective prosecution.”

“This case results from the government’s concerted effort to punish him for having the audacity to fight back,” his lawyers wrote.

The government’s response is due in court by Tuesday.

Deportation fears realized

U.S. Magistrate Barbara Holmes in Nashville ruled in June that Abrego Garcia has a right to be released from jail while he awaits trial, determining that he’s not a flight risk or danger to the community.

Holmes discussed at a court hearing conditions of release that would require Abrego Garcia to stay with his brother in Maryland. He would also have electronic monitoring and be placed on home detention.

But Abrego Garcia has remained in jail at his attorneys’ request for about 11 weeks over fears that ICE would immediately try to deport him. Those fears were confirmed in federal court in Maryland, where Abrego Garcia’s wife is suing the Trump administration.

Thomas Giles, an assistant director for ICE, testified last month that Abrego Garcia would be detained as soon as he’s freed. He added that Mexico or South Sudan may be willing to accept Abrego Garcia, but the Trump administration hadn’t decided on anything yet.

U.S. officials have argued that Abrego Garcia can be deported because he came to the U.S. illegally and because a U.S. immigration judge deemed him eligible for expulsion in 2019, just not to his native El Salvador.

Judge provides some protections

Despite the fears of deportation, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have asked Holmes to finally release him from jail in Tennessee. A stay of release that they had requested expires Friday.

In a filing Thursday, Holmes wrote that she will enter an order regarding Abrego Garcia’s pretrial release on conditions. The order was not published as of Thursday afternoon.

Abrego Garcia’s expected release comes after a federal judge in Maryland provided some protections for him.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who is overseeing the lawsuit, has prohibited ICE from immediately detaining Abrego Garcia when he’s released in Tennessee.

In a late July order, Xinis required that any removal proceedings begin in Baltimore. That’s where they should have begun when the Trump administration wrongfully deported him to El Salvador, Xinis wrote.

Xinis also ordered that ICE provide three business days notice if it intends to initiate removal proceedings. The time will give Abrego Garcia and his attorneys the opportunity to raise any credible fears of persecution or torture in the country to which ICE plans to send him.

Xinis wrote that the Trump administration has “done little to assure the Court that absent intervention, Abrego Garcia’s due process rights will be protected.”

If ICE wanted to return him to El Salvador, it would have to reopen his 2019 case before an immigration judge, Xinis wrote. And that would require formal notice and “an opportunity to be heard.”

Xinis acknowledged that Abrego Garcia may be ordered to appear in Baltimore for immigration proceedings, which “may or may not include lawful arrest, detention and eventual removal.

“So long as such actions are taken within the bounds of the Constitution and applicable statutes, this Court will have nothing further to say,” Xinis wrote.

NEW YORK (AP) — Cracker Barrel is marching forward with an ongoing makeover. And to the dismay of some fans, the chain’s new logo now ditches the barrel itself.

Or rather, the drawing many have associated with Cracker Barrel over the years. The man leaning on that barrel is also gone, as are the words “Old Country Store.” Instead, the new emblem features a simpler design with just “Cracker Barrel” written on a gold background, which also has a semi-updated shape.

FILE – The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store logo in Pearl, Miss., is photographed, Sept. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

“Anchored in Cracker Barrel’s signature gold and brown tones, the updated visuals will appear across menus and marketing collateral,” the Tennessee-based company wrote in a Tuesday announcement. Cracker Barrel added that its logo is “now rooted even more closely to the iconic barrel shape and word mark that started it all.”

According to Cracker Barrel, this latest look marks the brand’s “fifth evolution” of its logo to date. It was unveiled as part of a campaign from the company called “All the More,” which also advertises some new fall menu items.

Cracker Barrel has been working on a wider rebrand for some time. Beyond a new logo, that’s included remodeling its country-style restaurants and retail stores. The company began ramping up this overhaul last year by swapping out older, more antique-filled designs with lighter paint and modern furniture.

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Founded in 1969, Cracker Barrel operates nearly 660 locations across the U.S. today. Those attached to the chain’s previous look have been quick to express ire about both the new logo and restaurant remodels online.

“Our values haven’t changed, and the heart and soul of Cracker Barrel haven’t changed,” Cracker Barrel said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Thursday. The company added that the man on its former logo, known as Uncle Herschel, “remains front and center in our restaurants and on our menu,” as he represents “The Herschel Way,” which is “the foundation of how our 70,000 plus employees provide the country hospitality for which we are known.”

Shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store fell more than 7% by market close Thursday.

Today is Thursday, Aug. 21, the 233rd day of 2025. There are 132 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 21, 2017, Americans witnessed their first full-blown coast-to-coast solar eclipse since World War I, with eclipse-watchers gathering along a path of totality extending 2,600 miles across the continent.

Also on this date:

In 1831, Nat Turner launched a violent slave rebellion in Virginia, resulting in the deaths of at least 55 white people; scores of Black people were killed in retribution in the aftermath of the rebellion, and Turner was later executed.

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In 1858, the first of seven debates took place between Illinois senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.

In 1911, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. (It was recovered two years later in Italy.)

In 1944, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China opened talks at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington that helped pave the way for establishment of the United Nations.

In 1959, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation officially declaring Hawaii the 50th state.

In 1983, Filipino politician Benigno Aquino Jr. was assassinated as he exited an aircraft at Manila International Airport. (His widow, Corazon Aquino, would become president of the Philippines three years later.)

In 1991, a hardline coup against Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev collapsed in the face of a popular uprising led by Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin.

In 1992, an 11-day siege began at the cabin of white separatist Randy Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as government agents tried to arrest Weaver for failing to appear in court on charges of selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns; on the first day of the siege, Weaver’s teenage son, Samuel, and Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan were killed.

In 1993, in a serious setback for NASA, engineers lost contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft as it was about to reach the red planet on a $980 million mission.

In 2000, rescue efforts to reach the sunken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk ended with divers announcing none of the 118 sailors had survived.

In 2010, Iranian and Russian engineers began loading fuel into Iran’s first nuclear power plant, which Moscow promised to safeguard to prevent material at the site from being used in any potential weapons production.

In 2015, a trio of Americans, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Spencer Stone, National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos and college student Anthony Sadler, and a British businessman, Chris Norman, tackled and disarmed a Moroccan gunman on a high-speed train between Amsterdam and Paris.

In 2018, Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, pleaded guilty to campaign-finance violations and other charges; Cohen said Trump directed him to arrange the payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to fend off damage to his White House bid. (Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the payments in May 2024.)

In 2020, a former police officer who became known as the Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo, told victims and family members in a Sacramento courtroom that he was “truly sorry” before he was sentenced to multiple life prison sentences for a decade-long string of rapes and murders.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Rock and Roll Hall of Famer James Burton is 86.
• Singer Jackie DeShannon is 84.
• Film director Peter Weir is 81.
• Football Hall of Famer Willie Lanier is 80.
• Actor Loretta Devine is 76.
• Two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin is 71.
• Actor Kim Cattrall is 69.
• Former NFL quarterback Jim McMahon is 66.
• Rock musician Serj Tankian (System of a Down) is 58.
• Actor Carrie-Anne Moss is 58.
• Google co-founder Sergei Brin is 52.
• Singer Kelis (kuh-LEES’) is 46.
• TV personality Brody Jenner is 42.
• Olympic gold medal sprinter Usain (yoo-SAYN’) Bolt is 39.
• Country singer Kacey Musgraves is 37.
• Soccer player Robert Lewandowski is 37.
• Actor Hayden Panettiere (pan’-uh-tee-EHR’) is 36.
• Comedian-singer-filmmaker Bo Burnham is 35.

By ANDRES JAIME-MENDEZ

FORT LAUDERDALE — Luis Suarez scored twice on penalty kicks and Inter Miami overcame Lionel Messi’s absence to beat Tigres UANL from Mexico 2-1 in a Leagues Cup quarterfinal Wednesday night.

After leading his team to victory over the LA Galaxy, Messi did not train ahead of the game Wednesday.

Suarez converted his first penalty after Jordi Alba’s cross hit the arm of sliding Tigres defender Javier Aquino. Ángel Correa scored for Tigres, slicing through the defense for the equalizer. Then, the ball once again hit Aquino’s arm in the box and Suarez scored the winner from the penalty spot.

A late header from Tigres’ Edgar Lopez ricocheted off both posts.

Miami coach Javier Mascherano was given a red card before the second half began. Mascherano was seen talking on the phone and giving instructions after being sent off, which is prohibited per Leagues Cup rules.

Inter Miami’s Jordi Alba left early in the second half after hurting his lower leg in a collision late in the first half.

___

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

MIAMI (AP) — Sandy Alcántara pitched two-run ball for seven innings, rookie Máximo Acosta homered for his career hit and the Miami Marlins beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Wednesday night.

Heriberto Hernández had three hits and two RBIs and Troy Johnston singled twice for the Marlins, who avoided a three-game series sweep.

Alcántara (7-11) scattered five hits and struck out a season-high nine. It was the 29-year-old right-hander’s third outing of the season that lasted seven innings.

Acosta, who was hitless in eight at-bats since being called up Monday, hit a fastball from Cardinals starter Andre Pallante 418 feet over the wall in center in the sixth inning to increase Miami’s lead to 5-2.

The Cardinals had cut their deficit to 4-2 in the top of the inning Willson Contreras’ solo homer, his 17th.

Hernández scored from third on a double-play groundout in the second, and gave the Marlins a 3-0 lead with a two-run single in the third.

Lars Nootbaar’s RBI double in the fifth put the Cardinals on the board before Johnston hit a run-scoring single in the bottom half to give the Marlins another three-run advantage.

Pallante (6-11) was lifted after 5 1/3 innings. He gave up five runs and eight hits with four strikeouts.

Key moment

Jakob Marsee and Agustín Hernández completed a double steal before Hernández’s single in the third.

Key stat

Alcántara made his 163rd career start, surpassing Dontrelle Willis for second in Marlins’ history. Ricky Nolasco leads with 197.

Up next

RHP Sonny Gray (11-6, 4.30 ERA) will start the opener of a three-game series at Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Rays will go with RHP Joe Boyle (1-2, 4.68).

The Marlins have not announced a starter for the opener of a three-game home series against Toronto on Friday. RHP Shane Bieber will make his season debut for the Blue Jays.

___

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

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Power & Light and numerous groups and businesses have hammered out a proposed settlement that would increase base electric rates over the next four years — but not by as much as the utility originally sought.

The proposed settlement, filed Wednesday at the Florida Public Service Commission, would lead to increases of $945 million in 2026 and $766 million in 2027, according to the utility. FPL also would collect additional amounts in 2028 and 2029 for solar-energy and battery-storage projects.

FPL filed a proposal in February that sought increases of $1.545 billion in 2026 and $927 million in 2027, along with passing along costs in 2028 and 2029 for solar and battery projects. But on Aug. 8, three days before the Public Service Commission was scheduled to start a likely-contentious hearing on that proposal, FPL and other parties announced they had reached a “settlement in principle.”

That led the regulatory commission to pause the rate case as details of the proposed settlement were finalized.

But other parties in the case have not agreed to the proposed settlement, including the state Office of Public Counsel, which is designated by law to represent utility customers. The Public Service Commission is expected to hold a hearing this fall to determine if the proposal should be approved.

“This settlement agreement is a win for all FPL customers and a win for Florida,” FPL President and CEO Armando Pimentel said in a prepared statement Wednesday. “It supports our ongoing commitment to meet the resiliency and reliability needs of our fast-growing state, while keeping customer bills well below the national average.”

But attorneys for three parties that did not sign on to the proposed settlement — Florida Rising, the League of United Latin American Citizens of Florida and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida — quickly blasted the potential deal. The groups, in a filing at the commission, argued that the settlement was tilted toward large FPL customers at the expense of residential power users.

“To allow residential customers and small businesses to pay only their fair share of the costs would require Florida’s largest and most profitable businesses to pay their fair share of the costs, and this they most certainly do not want to do,” the groups’ attorneys, from the Earthjustice legal organization, wrote in the filing.

FPL reached the proposed settlement with the Florida Industrial Power Users Group; the Florida Retail Federation; the Florida Energy for Innovation Association; Americans for Affordable Clean Energy; the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy; Walmart Inc.; EVgo Services, LLC; Circle K Stores, Inc.; RaceTrac Inc.; Wawa, Inc.; Electrify America, LLC; Armstrong World Industries, Inc.; and federal government agencies.

Base rates make up a major part of customers’ monthly bills, along with costs such as power-plant fuel. Base-rate cases play out over months at the Public Service Commission and involve voluminous amounts of financial and other data.

As a benchmark, utilities cite bills for residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month. FPL in recent years also has had different bill amounts for customers in its traditional service area and Northwest Florida customers who were previously served by Gulf Power Co.

If the proposed settlement is approved, FPL said Wednesday that residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt hours a month in the traditional territory would see their bills go from the current $134.14 to $137.93 in January 2026; $143.05 in January 2027; $146.24 in January 2028; and $148.15 in December 2029.

The Office of Public Counsel has said FPL’s February rate proposal would have led, cumulatively, to customers paying $9.819 billion during the next four years over their current rates. FPL said in a news release Wednesday that the proposed settlement would result in base-rate revenues that would be about $2.9 billion less than originally requested.

As the Public Service Commission considers the proposed settlement, it will face myriad issues, including how the details would affect FPL’s various types of customers.

Also, for example, a closely watched issue in base-rate cases is utilities’ allowed “return on equity,” a measure of profitability. The proposed settlement includes a 10.95 percent target for return on equity. The original proposal called for 11.9 percent.

By MAURICIO SAVARESE and GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s federal police said that messages found on the telephone of embattled former President Jair Bolsonaro show that at one point he wanted to flee to Argentina and request political asylum, according to documents seen Wednesday by the Associated Press.

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Bolsonaro is currently waiting for a Supreme Court ruling next month about an alleged coup attempt and he might face another case as police formally accused him and one of his sons of obstruction of justice in connection with his pending trial.

The AP had access to the police investigation and reviewed the documents, which were sent to Brazil’s Supreme Court. The Argentine government did not respond a request for comment from the AP.

Silas Malafaia, an evangelical pastor who is a staunch ally of Bolsonaro’s, was also targeted by police. He had his passport seized by investigators but was not formally accused of obstruction of justice.

Brazilian federal police investigators said in a 170-page report that Bolsonaro had a draft of a request for political asylum from Argentine President Javier Milei’s government dated Feb. 10, 2024. The former president saved the document two days after authorities searched his home and office as part of an investigation into an alleged coup plot.

In a 33-page letter addressed to Milei, Bolsonaro claimed he was being politically persecuted in Brazil.

“I, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, request political asylum from Your Excellency in the Republic of Argentina, under an urgent regime, as I find myself in a situation of political persecution in Brazil and fear for my life,” the Brazilian leader wrote.

On Feb. 12, Bolsonaro reportedly spent two nights at the Hungarian Embassy in Brasília, fueling speculation among critics that he may have been attempting to avoid arrest.

Brazilian federal police investigators also said in their report that Bolsonaro’s decision to ignore precautionary measures established for his house arrest and spread content to his allies “sought to directly hit Brazilian democratic institutions, notably the Supreme Court and even Brazil’s Congress.”

Sá Pessoa reported from Sao Paulo.

By THOMAS ADAMSON

PARIS (AP) — When Olivier Baroin moved into an apartment in Montmartre about 15 years ago, it felt like he was living in a village in the heart of Paris. Not anymore.

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Stores for residents are disappearing, along with the friendly atmosphere, he says. In their place are hordes of people taking selfies, shops selling tourist trinkets, and cafés whose seating spills into the narrow, cobbled streets as overtourism takes its toll.

Baroin has had enough. He put his apartment up for sale after local streets were designated pedestrian-only while accommodating the growing number of visitors.

“I told myself that I had no other choice but to leave since, as I have a disability, it’s even more complicated when you can no longer take your car, when you have to call a taxi from morning to night,” he told The Associated Press.

Overtourism in European cities

From Venice to Barcelona to Amsterdam, European cities are struggling to absorb surging numbers of tourists.

A banner reading “Montmartre under threat. Are residents being forgotten?” hangs at windows in the Montmartre district in Paris, France, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Some residents in one of Paris’ most popular tourist neighborhoods are now pushing back. A black banner strung between two balconies in Montmartre reads, in English: “Behind the postcard: locals mistreated by the Mayor.” Another, in French, says: “Montmartre residents resisting.”

Atop the hill where the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur crowns the city’s skyline, residents lament what they call the “Disneyfication” of the once-bohemian slice of Paris. The basilica says it now attracts up to 11 million people a year — even more than the Eiffel Tower — while daily life in the neighborhood has been overtaken by tuk-tuks, tour groups, photo queues and short-term rentals.

“Now, there are no more shops at all, there are no more food shops, so everything must be delivered,” said 56-year-old Baroin, a member of a residents’ protest group called Vivre a Montmartre, or Living in Montmartre.

Tourists stroll in the Montmartre district in Paris, France, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

The unrest echoes tensions across town at the Louvre Museum, where staff in June staged a brief wildcat strike over chronic overcrowding, understaffing and deteriorating conditions. The Louvre logged 8.7 million visitors in 2024, more than double what its infrastructure was designed to handle.

A postcard under pressure

Paris, a city of just over 2 million residents if you count its sprawling suburbs, welcomed 48.7 million tourists in 2024, a 2% increase from the previous year.

Sacré-Cœur, the most visited monument in France in 2024, and the surrounding Montmartre neighborhood have turned into what some locals call an open-air theme park.

Local staples like butchers, bakeries and grocers are vanishing, replaced by ice-cream stalls, bubble-tea vendors and souvenir T-shirt stands.

Paris authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Visitors seemed largely to be enjoying the packed streets on a sunny Tuesday this week.

Tourists stroll in the Montmartre district in Paris, France, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

“For the most part, all of Paris has been pretty busy, but full of life, for sure,” said American tourist Adam Davidson. “Coming from Washington, D.C., which is a lively city as well, I would say this is definitely full of life to a different degree for sure.”

Europe’s breaking point

In Barcelona, thousands have taken to the streets this year, some wielding water pistols, demanding limits on cruise ships and short-term tourist rentals. Venice now charges an entry fee for day-trippers and caps visitor numbers. And in Athens, authorities are imposing a daily limit on visitors to the Acropolis, to protect the ancient monument from record-breaking tourist crowds.

Urban planners warn that historic neighborhoods risk becoming what some critics call “zombie cities” — picturesque but lifeless, their residents displaced by short-term visitors.

A banner reading “The City Hall despises us” hangs from a balcony in the Montmartre district in Paris, France, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Paris is trying to mitigate the problems by cracking down on short-term rentals and unlicensed properties.

But tourism pressures are growing. By 2050, the world’s population is projected to reach nearly 10 billion, according to United Nations estimates. With the global middle class expanding, low-cost flights booming and digital platforms guiding travelers to the same viral landmarks, many more visitors are expected in iconic cities like Paris.

The question now, residents say, is whether any space is left for those who call it home.

By KEN MORITSUGU and NG HAN GUAN

TALATAN, China (AP) — High on the Tibetan plateau, Chinese government officials last month showed off what they say will be the world’s largest solar farm when completed — 235 square miles, the size of the American city of Chicago.

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China has been installing solar panels at a blistering pace, far faster than anywhere else in the world, and the investment is starting to pay off. A study released Thursday found that the country’s carbon emissions edged down 1% in the first six months of the year compared to a year earlier, extending a trend that began in March 2024.

The good news is China’s carbon emissions may have peaked well ahead of a government target of doing so before 2030. But China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, will need to bring them down much more sharply to play its part in slowing global climate change.

For China to reach its declared goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, emissions would need to fall 3% on average over the next 35 years, said Lauri Myllyvirta, the Finland-based author of the study and lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

“China needs to get to that 3% territory as soon as possible,” he said.

China’s emissions have fallen even as it uses more electricity

China’s emissions have fallen before during economic slowdowns. What’s different this time is electricity demand is growing — up 3.7% in the first half of this year — but the increase in power from solar, wind and nuclear has easily outpaced that, according to Myllyvirta, who analyzes the most recent data in a study published on the U.K.-based Carbon Brief website.

A solar farm is visible in Hainan prefecture of western China’s Qinghai province on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

“We’re talking really for the first time about a structural declining trend in China’s emissions,” he said.

China installed 212 gigawatts of solar capacity in the first six months of the year, more than America’s entire capacity of 178 gigawatts as of the end of 2024, the study said. Electricity from solar has overtaken hydropower in China and is poised to surpass wind this year to become the country’s largest source of clean energy. Some 51 gigawatts of wind power was added from January to June.

Li Shuo, the director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington, described the plateauing of China’s carbon emissions as a turning point in the effort to combat climate change.

“This is a moment of global significance, offering a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak climate landscape,” he wrote in an email response. It also shows that a country can cut emissions while still growing economically, he said.

But Li cautioned that China’s heavy reliance on coal remains a serious threat to progress on climate and said the economy needs to shift to less resource-intensive sectors. “There’s still a long road ahead,” he said.

One solar farm can power 5 million households

A seemingly endless expanse of solar panels stretches toward the horizon on the Tibetan plateau. White two-story buildings rise above them at regular intervals. Sheep graze on the scrubby vegetation that grows under them.

Tibetan sheep graze at a solar farm in Hainan prefecture of western China’s Qinghai province on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Solar panels have been installed on about two-thirds of the land. When completed, it will have more than 7 million panels and be capable of generating enough power for 5 million households.

Like many of China’s solar and wind farms, it was built in the relatively sparsely populated west. A major challenge is getting electricity to the population centers and factories in China’s east.

“The distribution of green energy resources is perfectly misaligned with the current industrial distribution of our country,” Zhang Jinming, the vice governor of Qinghai province, told journalists on a government-organized tour.

Part of the solution is building transmission lines traversing the country. One connects Qinghai to Henan province. Two more are planned, including one to Guangdong province in the southeast, almost at the opposite corner of the country.

Making full use of the power is hindered by the relatively inflexible way that China’s electricity grid is managed, tailored to the steady output of coal plants rather than more variable and less predictable wind and solar, Myllyvirta said.

“This is an issue that the policymakers have recognized and are trying to manage, but it does require big changes to the way coal-fired power plants operate and big changes to the way the transmission network operates,” he said. “So it’s no small task.”

Moritsugu reported from Beijing. Associated Press video producer Wayne Zhang contributed.

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

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Sixteen critically endangered western Santa Cruz tortoises born to some very old parents got a slow walk and the red carpet treatment Wednesday at a Philadelphia Zoo event to show off the highly prized hatchlings.

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Animal care specialists who have watched over the 16 since they were eggs held the animals on a pathway by the zoo’s tortoise habitat. The hatchlings are said to be eating well and growing.

The pampered turtles were born in a series of hatches this year to Mommy and Abrazzo, a couple that is estimated to both be about 100 years old. Mommy arrived at the zoo in 1932, but had not produced offspring until Abrazzo was brought in nearly five years ago from Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, South Carolina. The 16 are her first progeny.

“Now this animal, who’s been in Philadelphia since 1932, will be represented here for, hopefully, another 100 years because her offspring are now part of our collection,” said Lauren Augustine, the zoo’s director of herpetology.

Four females that hatched early this spring were named after characters in the TV show “ Golden Girls.” Three males were hatched in April, and that was followed by Mommy’s second clutch, which resulted in three females in June and six males this summer.

Mommy and Abrazzo are the Philadelphia Zoo’s oldest inhabitants and seen as highly genetically valuable for the survival of the species. Their offspring are considered a win in the effort to preserve western Santa Cruz tortoises.

• Mommy, a nearly 100-year-old Galapagos tortoise, and parent of 16 hatchlings in two clutches, walks in her enclosure at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
• A staff member holds one of the 16 critically endangered western Santa Cruz tortoise hatchlings during their debut at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
• Mommy, a nearly 100-year-old Galapagos tortoise, and parent of 16 hatchlings in two clutches, extends her neck as a staff member scratches her chin in her enclosure at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
• Mommy, a nearly 100-year-old Galapagos tortoise, and parent of 16 hatchlings in two clutches, walks in her enclosure at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
• Staff members pose for photographs with 16 critically endangered western Santa Cruz tortoise hatchlings during their debut at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
• Abrazzo, a nearly 100-year-old Galapagos tortoise, and father of 16 hatchlings in two clutches, extends her neck as a staff member splashes water oh his face at Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
• Director of Herpetology Lauren Augustine, left, and staff members pose for photograph s during the debut of 16 critically endangered western Santa Cruz tortoise hatchlings at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
• Staff members pose for photographs with 16 critically endangered western Santa Cruz tortoise hatchlings during their debut at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
• Mommy, left, and Abrazzo, a couple that is estimated to both be about 100 years old and the parents of 16 hatchlings in two clutches, move in their enclosure at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Show Caption1 of 9Mommy, a nearly 100-year-old Galapagos tortoise, and parent of 16 hatchlings in two clutches, walks in her enclosure at the Philadelphia Zoo in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Expand

They are expected to remain at the zoo for at least a year before being placed in different facilities next fall.

Western Santa Cruz tortoises are among the 13 living species of tortoise native to seven islands in the Galapagos chain in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ecuador. The largest species of tortoise, they are thought to live as long as 200 years.

The zoo is soliciting donors to suggest names for one of the hatchlings, a male, subject to zoo approval. Others are named Zee, James, Colette, Soledad, Isabelle, Roger, Fausto, Caldero, Lee, Marigold Puddlefoot and Kelpy. The zoo uses nontoxic nail polish in different colors to distinguish them from each other.

The Philadelphia Zoo also has two giant Aldabra tortoises, Wilma and Betty. A 135-year-old Galapagos tortoise named Goliath became a father for the first time at Zoo Miami in June.

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia.

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Laurie Marker, the founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF). which is caring for the cubs, said Wednesday they were all in a stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months.

She said one 8-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a 5-month-old was “very malnourished (a bag of bones), with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the skin.”

“But with cubs like this, we need to start them onto on food slowly due to refeeding syndrome, similar to people in starvation,” she added.

Two people who were in possession of the cubs were arrested during a Aug 14 operation in the northern Sallahley District. The authorities have urged the public to report suspected wildlife trade activities.

Environment Ministry Director Abdinasir Hussein Said told journalists that the cheetah cubs have joined a group of 109 others rescued in similar operations.

Somaliland is a major transit hub for the illegal wildlife trade. Hundreds of cheetahs and leopards from the Horn of Africa have been transported to Gulf countries through the Gulf of Aden.

Possession of wildlife is illegal in Somaliland, and police often crack down on suspected traders.

• One of 10 cheetah cubs rescued from the illegal wildlife pet trade receives treatment at the Cheetah Rescue and Conservation Centre (CRCC) in Geed-Deeble on the outskirts of Hargeisa, Somaliland, a semi-autonomous breakaway region of Somalia Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (CRCC via AP)
• One of 10 cheetah cubs rescued from the illegal wildlife pet trade receives treatment at the Cheetah Rescue and Conservation Centre (CRCC) in Geed-Deeble on the outskirts of Hargeisa, Somaliland, a semi-autonomous breakaway region of Somalia Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (CRCC via AP)
• One of 10 cheetah cubs rescued from the illegal wildlife pet trade receives treatment at the Cheetah Rescue and Conservation Centre (CRCC) in Geed-Deeble on the outskirts of Hargeisa, Somaliland, a semi-autonomous breakaway region of Somalia Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (CRCC via AP)
• One of 10 cheetah cubs rescued from the illegal wildlife pet trade receives treatment at the Cheetah Rescue and Conservation Centre (CRCC) in Geed-Deeble on the outskirts of Hargeisa, Somaliland, a semi-autonomous breakaway region of Somalia Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (CRCC via AP)

Show Caption1 of 4One of 10 cheetah cubs rescued from the illegal wildlife pet trade receives treatment at the Cheetah Rescue and Conservation Centre (CRCC) in Geed-Deeble on the outskirts of Hargeisa, Somaliland, a semi-autonomous breakaway region of Somalia Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (CRCC via AP) Expand

“We encourage the people of Somaliland to protect wildlife in their natural habitats, as their best interests lie there,” said Hussein. “We can imagine the distress of a mother being separated from her young.

“These animals are currently suffering due to being separated from their mothers, which may lead to the mothers experiencing stress and potentially dying. Once again, we emphasize the importance of protecting wildlife in their habitats.”

Conservationists in the Horn of Africa have previously expressed concern over the rise in demand for exotic pets in Gulf countries and the resulting illegal trade affecting ecosystems in Horn of Africa nations.

Associated Press journalist Mohamed Sheikh Nor contributed to this report from Mogadishu, Somalia

TALLAHASSEE — Siding with medical-marijuana patients in a Florida case, an appeals court on Wednesday found that federal restrictions barring pot patients from buying and using guns appears to run afoul of the Second Amendment.

The federal government “failed to meet its burden … to establish that disarming medical marijuana users is consistent with this nation’s history and tradition of firearm regulation,” the decision by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ panel said.

Then-Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and medical-marijuana patients filed the lawsuit in 2022 challenging the prohibitions. While marijuana is illegal under federal law, Florida voters in 2016 passed a constitutional amendment to allow patients to use marijuana for medical conditions.

The lawsuit said the federal prohibitions “forbid Floridians from possessing or purchasing a firearm on the sole basis that they are state-law-abiding medical marijuana patients.”

But U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor dismissed the case in November 2022, spurring the plaintiffs to go to the Atlanta-based appeals court. Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, who was elected in 2022 to succeed Fried, dropped out of the case, but it has continued with the patients as plaintiffs.

In citing, the “nation’s history and tradition of firearm regulation,” the panel used a standard that courts focus on when determining whether gun restrictions can withstand constitutional scrutiny. The analysis has evolved following a series of seminal U.S. Supreme Court decisions about gun regulations, including a 2024 ruling in a case known as United States v. Rahimi.

The panel heard arguments in the pot patients’ case in October 2023 but put it on hold pending the outcome of the Rahimi case.

Lawyers for then-President Joe Biden’s administration argued that the gun restrictions are warranted because they apply to people who “would endanger themselves or others” because of their drug use.

“Rahimi itself recognized that ‘(s)ince the founding, our nation’s firearm laws have included provisions preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms,’” a Justice Department brief said. “The limited restriction at issue here, which applies only to individuals engaged in the regular and ongoing use of illegal drugs, ‘fits comfortably’ within that tradition and the principles underpinning it.”

But Wednesday’s 26-page decision, authored by Judge Elizabeth Branch, said the allegations must be construed “in the light most favorable” to the plaintiffs and “do not lead to an inference that they, because they are medical marijuana users, can fairly be labeled as dangerous” and thus are “disarmed wrongly.”

The ruling, joined by Judges Gerald Tjoflat and Robert Luck, reversed Winsor’s dismissal of the case and sent it back to the judge for further consideration.

Fried, who is chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, lauded the appeals-court decision.

“This is a huge win for freedom. No medical cannabis patient should have to choose between their rights to their medicine or their right to bear arms,” Fried said in a text message.

In court documents, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that there was no historical tradition of disarming people “who have not committed serious or violent crimes and who have not shown themselves to be a threat to the safety of others.”

The panel appeared to agree.

Branch wrote that plaintiffs Vera Cooper and Nicole Hansell “cannot fairly be labeled as dangerous people solely due to their medicinal marijuana use.”

Cooper and Hansell disclosed they were medical-marijuana users when filling out a federal form that requires people seeking to purchase guns to identify if they are an “unlawful user of or addicted to marijuana … or any other controlled substance.” Gun stores refused to sell them firearms after they answered “yes,” according to court documents.

Another plaintiff, Neill Franklin, is a retired law-enforcement officer who owns a gun and wants to become a medical-marijuana patient.

The panel rejected the federal government’s argument that the restrictions are in keeping with the nation’s history of disarming people deemed dangerous, such as people who are mentally ill or drug addicts.

“Viewing these allegations in the light most favorable to Cooper and Hansell, it appears they use rational thought in making their decision to use marijuana and would stop their marijuana use if they were placed at risk of criminal prosecution. Accordingly, Cooper’s and Hansell’s mental state is a far cry from that of addicts and alcoholics whose actions are controlled by their need to use alcohol or drugs,” Wednesday’s ruling said.

Daniel Russell, an attorney with the Jones Walker firm who represents the plaintiffs, called the decision “an enormous step in the right direction toward normalization of Florida’s medical marijuana program.”

“Purchasing doctor-recommended medical marijuana, through Florida’s constitutionally implemented system, should not deprive anyone of their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms,” Russell said in a text message.

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 20, the 232nd day of 2025. There are 133 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 20, 2012, after 80 years in existence, Georgia’s Augusta National golf club (home to the Masters Tournament) invited former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore to become its first female members; both accepted.

Also on this date:

In 1858, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was first published, in the “Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society”.

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In 1862, the New York Tribune published an open letter by editor Horace Greeley calling on President Abraham Lincoln to take more aggressive measures to free enslaved people and end the South’s rebellion.

In 1866, President Andrew Johnson declared the official end of the Civil War.

In 1882, Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” had its premiere in Moscow.

In 1910, a series of wildfires swept through parts of Idaho, Montana and Washington, killing at least 85 people and burning some 3 million acres.

In 1920, the American Professional Football Conference was established by representatives of four professional football teams; two years later, with 18 teams, it would be renamed the National Football League.

In 1940, exiled Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky was attacked in Coyoacan, Mexico by assassin Ramon Mercader. (Trotsky died the next day.)

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Economic Opportunity Act, a nearly $1 billion anti-poverty measure.

In 1968, the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring” liberalization movement.

In 1986, postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill went on a deadly rampage at a post office in Edmond, Oklahoma, shooting 14 fellow workers to death before killing himself.

In 1989, 51 people died when the pleasure boat Marchioness sank in the River Thames in London after being struck by a dredger.

In 2023, Tropical Storm Hilary struck Baja California, killing three and causing $15 million in damage.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Boxing promoter Don King is 94.
• Former U.S. Senator and diplomat George Mitchell is 92.
• Former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is 90.
• Broadcast journalist Connie Chung is 79.
• Rock singer Robert Plant is 77.
• Country singer Rudy Gatlin is 73.
• Singer-songwriter John Hiatt is 73.
• Actor-director Peter Horton is 72.
• TV weather presenter Al Roker is 71.
• Actor Joan Allen is 69.
• Movie director David O. Russell is 67.
• Rapper KRS-One (Boogie Down Productions) is 60.
• Actor Colin Cunningham is 58.
• Actor Billy Gardell is 56.
• Rock singer Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit) is 55.
• Actor Ke Huy Quan is 54.
• Baseball Hall of Famer Todd Helton is 52.
• Actor Amy Adams is 51.
• Actor Misha Collins (TV: “Supernatural”) is 51.
• Actor Ben Barnes is 44.
• Actor Andrew Garfield is 42.
• Actor-singer Demi Lovato is 33.