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The Hurricanes’ first College Football Playoff game is approaching.

As the No. 10 seed, UM is headed on the road to College Station, Texas, to play No. 7 Texas A&M. The Aggies went 11-1 this season, winning their first 11 games before falling to Texas in their regular-season finale.

Miami and Texas A&M match up fairly evenly, and the game is expected to be a close one, which is reflected in the 3.5-point betting line that favors TAMU.

Here are five key matchups that will determine who wins Saturday’s game:

Miami’s defensive line vs. Texas A&M’s offensive line

Both of these teams are excellent in the trenches, so naturally, both line battles will play major roles in deciding the game.

Aggies offensive tackle Trey Zuhn III was the nation’s No. 1 pass-blocker, according to Pro Football Focus. He has allowed just one sack and eight total pressures this year. The team as a whole allowed 12 sacks, which is tied for 11th in the nation.

However, the Hurricanes’ pass rush is the best the Aggies have faced all year. Miami has a 91.8 pass-rush grade from PFF, trailing only fellow playoff team Texas Tech. Miami is tied for 18th in the nation with 34 sacks. Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor are two of the top five defensive ends in the nation, according to PFF’s defensive grade (among defensive ends with 100 or more snaps). Defensive tackle Ahmad Moten Sr. is 17th among all defensive tackles with 100 or more snaps.

When it comes to running the ball, Texas A&M ranks 61st with a 62 run-blocking grade. UM has the No. 14 run-defense grade with a 92.8 grade and is seventh nationally in rushing yards allowed per game.

Miami’s offensive line vs. Texas A&M’s defensive line

Like the Hurricanes, the Aggies have an elite pass rush. Texas A&M is tied for first in the nation with 41 sacks. All-American defensive end Cashius Howell has 11.5 sacks. His 90.5 pass-rushing grade from PFF was 16th nationally and second in the SEC among defenders with 200 or more snaps,

Miami will need to protect quarterback Carson Beck in order to keep its offense moving. Fortunately for the Hurricanes, their offensive line is tied for seventh in the nation with just 11 sacks allowed, and PFF gives Miami the No. 4 pass-blocking grade in the nation. Miami’s offensive line was rated the fourth-most efficient unit in the nation by PFF and allowed 47 quarterback pressures, which was fourth-best nationally.

Miami has also blocked well in the running game, ranking 10th nationally in run-blocking, according to PFF. Texas A&M has the No. 25 run defense by PFF grade and is 38th in rushing yards allowed per game.

Miami’s offensive line vs. the referees

The Hurricanes need to make sure they play a clean game on Saturday. The offensive linemen have been the culprit many times when it comes to penalties.

Miami ranks 125th nationally with 7.6 penalties per game. Five of the Hurricanes’ six main offensive linemen — Markel Bell, Anez Cooper, Matthew McCoy, Francis Mauigoa and Samson Okunlola — have been called for six penalties each. Center James Brockermeyer is right behind them with five penalties.

The Hurricanes’ season-ending win over Pittsburgh was their cleanest win to date, tying for a season-low five penalties (three of which were on offensive linemen) and getting docked only 28 yards. They need to keep that going on Saturday.

Carson Beck vs. the Texas A&M secondary

Beck has been one of the nation’s top quarterbacks over the last four weeks. Since UM’s loss to SMU, Beck has completed 79.5 of his passes for 1,125 yards and 11 touchdowns with only one interception.

Miami needs that Beck to show up on Saturday, not the one who threw four interceptions against Louisville earlier in the season.

The Aggies have been solid defending the pass this year, ranking 21st nationally with 182.8 passing yards allowed per game. But Texas A&M has not faced a passing attack as good as Miami’s, which ranks 19th in the nation with 275.8 yards per game. Not many TAMU defensive backs rank highly in coverage grade; safety Marcus Ratcliffe has the best PFF coverage grade among Aggies defensive backs with 200 or more coverage snaps, and he ranks 66th nationally and sixth in the SEC. The next-best Texas A&M defensive backs are cornerbacks Dezz Ricks and Will Lee III, whose 66.4 and 66.3 coverage grades rank 54th and 55th in the SEC, respectively.

The Aggies also struggle to force turnovers, recording only three interceptions all season. If Beck protects the ball from them and has time to throw, he could have a big game.

Miami’s cornerbacks vs. Mario Craver and KC Concepcion

The Aggies have two dynamic wide receivers who are among the SEC’s best: KC Concepcion and Mario Craver. They ranked second and third in receiving grade among SEC receivers with 50 or more targets, respectively.

Concepcion is fourth in the SEC with 886 receiving yards and tied for first with nine touchdown catches. Craver is right behind him with 825 receiving yards, though he has four touchdown catches.

Miami may get a boost to its cornerback room as OJ Frederique Jr. is expected to return from an injury, and slot cornerback Keionte Scott may as well. But whoever is covering Texas A&M’s top receiving threats will need to be on top of their game.

SUNRISE — Sam Bennett scored 10 seconds into the third period, Brad Marchand had two assists and the Florida Panthers beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Wednesday night to sweep the two-game season series.

Anton Lundell and Carter Verhaeghe also scored for Florida, which has won six of its last seven games. Daniil Tarasov made 27 saves for the Panthers, including a breakaway stop against the Kings’ Trevor Moore with just under five minutes left to preserve a one-goal lead.

Joel Armia and Kevin Fiala had the goals for Los Angeles, which fell to 0-2-2 in its last four contests. The four-game winless streak matches a season-long slide for the Kings, who were 0-2-2 from Oct. 11 through Oct. 18 as well.

Entering the late games on Wednesday, the Panthers (18-13-2), with 38 points, finally pushed back up into the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference.

Anton Forsberg stopped 25 shots for the Kings. Armia had the only goal in the first period, and Fiala made it 3-2 when a clearing attempt by Florida deflected off his shin and past Tarasov with 15:12 left.

Los Angeles had a chance in the final minutes to tie the game, after Florida’s Anton Lundell was called for high-sticking with 3:05 left. The Kings managed only one shot on the ensuing power play — about half of which was with a two-man advantage after Forsberg was pulled for an extra attacker — and the Panthers held on from there.

Bennett’s goal that gave Florida a 3-1 lead tied for the third-fastest to start any period this season.

Kirill Marchenko scored for Columbus seven seconds into a second period against Minnesota on Oct. 11; Jackson Lacombe scored for Anaheim nine seconds into a second period against Vancouver on Nov. 26; and Connor McDavid scored for Edmonton 10 seconds into a third period against Buffalo on Dec. 9.

Up next

Panthers: Host Carolina on Friday night.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Wednesday that it attacked a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people on the same day the House rejected efforts to limit President Donald Trump’s power to use military force against drug cartels.

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U.S. Southern Command stated on social media that the vessel was operated by narco-terrorists along a known trafficking route. The military didn’t provide evidence behind the allegations but posted a video of a boat moving through water before there was an explosion.

The attack brought the total number of known boat strikes to 26 while at least 99 people have been killed, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration. Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

The administration is facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers over the boat strike campaign. The first attack in early September involved a follow-up strike that killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage of a boat after the first hit.

House Republicans rejected a pair of Democratic-backed resolutions Wednesday that would have forced the Trump administration to seek authorization from Congress before continuing attacks against cartels. They were the first votes in the House on Trump’s military campaign in Central and South America. A majority of Republicans in the Senate had previously voted against similar resolutions, and Trump would almost certainly veto them if they were to pass Congress.

By DAVID KLEPPER and AAMER MADHANI

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump demanded Wednesday that Venezuela return assets that it seized from U.S. oil companies years ago, justifying anew his announcement of a “blockade” against oil tankers traveling to or from the South American country that face American sanctions.

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Trump cited the lost U.S. investments in Venezuela when asked about his newest tactic in a monthslong pressure campaign against leader Nicolás Maduro, suggesting his administration’s moves to confront leaders in Caracas are at least somewhat motivated by disputes over oil investments, along with accusations of drug trafficking. Some sanctioned tankers already are diverting away from Venezuela.

“We’re not going to be letting anybody going through who shouldn’t be going through,” Trump told reporters of his call for a blockade. “You remember they took all of our energy rights. They took all of our oil not that long ago. And we want it back. They took it — they illegally took it.”

U.S. oil companies dominated Venezuela’s petroleum industry until the country’s leaders moved to nationalize the sector, first in the 1970s and again in the 21st century under Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez. Compensation offered by Venezuela was deemed insufficient, and in 2014 an international arbitration panel ordered the country’s socialist government to pay $1.6 billion to ExxonMobil.

While Venezuela’s oil has long dominated relations with the U.S., the Trump administration has focused on Maduro’s links to drug traffickers, accusing his administration of facilitating the shipment of dangerous drugs into the U.S. In his social media post Tuesday night, Trump said Venezuela was using using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes.

U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast amid a massive military buildup that includes the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier.

The Trump administration also has carried out a series of strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that have killed a combined total of at least 99 people, including four in a strike Wednesday. Those attacks have prompted questions from lawmakers and legal experts about their legal justification. Trump also has said he is considering strikes on land.

Trump’s talk of ‘stolen assets’

Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, likened Venezuela’s move to nationalize its oil industry to a heist.

“American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela,” Miller wrote on social media Wednesday. “Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property. These pillaged assets were then used to fund terrorism and flood our streets with killers, mercenaries and drugs.”

Venezuela first moved to nationalize its oil industry in the 1970s, a process that expanded under Chávez, who nationalized hundreds of private businesses and foreign-owned assets, including oil projects run by ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. That led to the arbitration panel’s 2014 order.

“There is a case that can be made that Venezuela owes this money to Exxon. I don’t think it’s ever been paid,” economist Philip Verleger said.

Trump blamed his predecessors for not taking a harder line against Venezuela over the asset seizures.

“They took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn’t watching,” Trump said Wednesday. “But they’re not going to do that again. We want it back. They took our oil rights — we had a lot of oil there. As you know they threw our companies out, and we want it back.”

Chevron has a waiver from the U.S. government to continue oil production in Venezuela, and the Texas-based oil giant says its operations have not been disrupted.

Venezuela’s debt to Chevron “has decreased substantially” since the company’s license to resume exporting Venezuelan oil to the U.S. was first granted in 2022, said Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University in Houston. He said the amount is not public.

A new designation for Maduro’s government?

There was no change Wednesday to the list of foreign terrorist organizations after Trump said in his post that the “Venezuelan Regime” has been designated as one.

Officials at several national security agencies were told not to take Trump’s remarks about the designation literally and they should be treated as a figure of speech, according to a U.S. official involved in the discussions.

That official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal interagency communications, also stressed that the “blockade” Trump announced applies only to previously sanctioned vessels against which certain actions are already authorized, such as the seizure last week.

The State Department, which oversees the foreign terror list, didn’t respond to requests for clarification.

Trump’s Justice Department in 2020 indicted Maduro on narcoterrorism charges and U.S. authorities have alleged that Venezuela’s leaders have looted the country and profited from the trafficking of drugs. Last month, the Trump administration designated a group linked to Maduro — the Cartel de los Soles — as a terrorist organization.

Venezuela decries American ‘piracy’ Nicolas Maduro speaks at a rally marking the anniversary of the Battle of Santa Ines, which took place during Venezuela’s 19th-century Federal War, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Maduro called United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday for a conversation “regarding the current tensions in the region,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

“During the call, the secretary-general reaffirmed the United Nations’ position on the need for member states to respect international law, particularly the United Nations Charter, exert restraint and de-escalate tensions to preserve regional stability,” Haq said.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil demanded in a letter to the U.N. Security Council, which was obtained by The Associated Press, that the U.S. immediately release the “kidnapped crew” and return the oil illegally confiscated on the high seas.

In addition to urging the Security Council to condemn the taking of the tanker, Gil urged the U.N.’s most powerful body for a written statement stating that it hasn’t authorized actions against Venezuela “or against the international commercialization of its oil.”

While the strikes on alleged drug boats have raised questions about the use of military force, Trump’s seizure of the tanker and other actions against sanctioned entities are consistent with past American policy, said retired U.S. Vice Admiral Robert Murrett, now a professor at Syracuse University.

He also noted that from a military standpoint, seizing sanctioned oil tankers and imposing a blockade are far less risky than direct military confrontation.

“U.S. policy supports peaceful, democratic transition in Venezuela,” Murrett said. “If Maduro agrees tomorrow to step down and have a free and open election, I think we’d be delighted, Democrats and Republicans alike.”

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, Cathy Bussewitz in New York and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Mario Cristobal has said throughout the week that star defensive back Keionte Scott could return to the field for Miami’s playoff game against Texas A&M on Saturday.

On Wednesday, the Hurricanes listed Scott as probable on the initial availability report. Additionally, the Hurricanes listed Damari Brown as questionable, linebacker Malik Bryant was out and wide receiver Daylyn Upshaw as doubtful.

Cristobal said Scott has been practicing and progressing toward playing.

“He looks OK, looks like he’s certainly progressing,” Cristobal said Wednesday. “He’s getting a fair amount of reps. And again, I stated on Sunday, we were hopeful and we still are. We feel confident in his progress and, you know, feel like he’s gaining ground towards being able to play on Saturday.”

Scott excelled in Miami’s first nine games of the season, racking up 44 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, three sacks and an interception this year. Pro Football Focus gives Scott a 90.3 defensive grade, which is fourth in the nation among cornerbacks with 100 or more snaps.

Scott missed UM’s last three regular-season games with a foot injury. His replacement, freshman Bryce Fitzgerald, has performed well in his place.

Miami safety Jakobe Thomas said Scott has stayed involved with the defensive backs, trying to help coach them up even while he was absent.

“Keionte’s the best teammate that I think I’ve ever had,” Thomas said. “He’s working absolutely as hard as he possibly can to get back as fast as possible at 100 percent. But day to day, he’s just in the room with us every day, motivating, keeping guys locked in (and) focused, helping us focus on the little minor details and everything.”

Brown would be a big loss for the Hurricanes. He has done well at outside cornerback this season. Brown has 24 tackles and one pass deflection, and he has earned a 75.9 defensive grade from PFF.

Here is Miami’s initial availability report for Texas A&M

OUT

-LB Malik Bryant

DOUBTFUL

-WR Daylyn Upshaw

QUESTIONABLE

-DB Damari Brown

PROBABLE

-DB Keionte Scott

By Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — When Greg heard about the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner, and the alleged involvement of their son Nick, the news struck a painfully familiar chord.

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It wasn’t the violence that resonated, but rather the heartache and desperation that comes with loving a family member who suffers from an illness that the best efforts and intentions alone can’t cure.

Greg has an adult child who, like Nick Reiner, has had a long and difficult struggle with addiction.

“It just rings close to home,” said Greg, chair of Families Anonymous, a national support program for friends and family members of people with addiction. (In keeping with the organization’s policy of anonymity for members, The Times is withholding Greg’s last name.)

“It’s just so horrible to be the parent or a loved one of somebody that struggles with [addiction], because you can’t make any sense of this,” he said. “You can’t find a way to help them.”

Every family’s experience is different, and the full picture is almost always more complicated than it appears from the outside. Public details about the Reiner family’s private struggles are relatively few.

But some parts of their story are likely recognizable to the millions of U.S. families affected by addiction.

“This is really bringing to light something that’s going on in homes across the country,” said Emily Feinstein, executive vice president of the nonprofit Partnership to End Addiction.

Over the years, Nick Reiner, 32, and his parents publicly discussed his years-long struggle with drug use, which included periods of homelessness and multiple rehab stints.

Most recently, he was living in a guesthouse on his parents’ Brentwood property. Family friends told The Times that Michele Singer Reiner had become increasingly concerned about Nick’s mental health in recent weeks.

The couple were found dead in their home Sunday afternoon. Los Angeles police officers arrested Nick hours later. On Tuesday, he was charged with their murder. He is currently being held without bail and has been placed under special supervision due to potential suicide risk, a law enforcement official told The Times.

Experts in substance use cautioned against drawing a direct line between addiction and violence.

“Addiction or mental health issues never excuse a horrific act of violence like this, and these sort of acts are not a direct result or a trait of addiction in general,” said Zac Jones, executive director of Beit T’Shuvah, a nonprofit Los Angeles-based addiction treatment center.

The circumstances around the Reiners’ highly publicized deaths are far from ordinary. The fact that addiction touched their family is not.

Nearly 1 in 5 people in the U.S. has personally experienced addiction, a 2023 poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found.

Two-thirds of Americans have a family member with the disease, a proportion that is similar across rural, urban and suburban dwellers, and across Black, Latino and white respondents.

“Substance use disorders, addiction, do not discriminate,” Jones said. “It affects everyone from the highest of the high [socioeconomic status] to people that are experiencing homelessness on Skid Row. … There is no solution that can be bought.”

During interviews for the 2015 film “Becoming Charlie,” a semi-autobiographical film directed by Rob Reiner and co-written by Nick Reiner, the family told journalists that Nick, then in his early 20s, had been to rehab an estimated 18 times since his early teens. Nick Reiner has also spoken publicly about his use of heroin as a teenager.

Such cycles of rehab and relapse are common, experts said. One 2019 study found that it took an average of five recovery attempts to effectively stop using and maintain sobriety, though the authors noted that many respondents reported 10 or more attempts.

Many families empty their savings in search of a cure, Feinstein said. Even those with abundant resources often end up in a similarly despairing cycle.

“Unfortunately, the system that is set up to treat people is not addressing the complexity or the intensity of the illness, and in most cases, it’s very hard to find effective evidence-based treatment,” Feinstein said. “No matter how much money you have, it doesn’t guarantee a better outcome.”

Addiction is a complex disorder with intermingled roots in genetics, biology and environmental triggers.

Repeated drug use, particularly in adolescence and early adulthood when the brain is still developing, physically alters the circuitry that governs reward and motivation.

On top of that, co-occurring mental health conditions, traumas and other factors mean that no two cases of substance abuse disorders are exactly the same.

There are not enough quality rehabilitation programs to begin with, experts said, and even an effective program that one patient responds to successfully may not work at all for someone else.

“There is always the risk of relapse. That can be hard to process,” Greg said.

Families Anonymous counsels members to accept the “Three Cs” of a loved one’s addiction, Greg said: you didn’t cause it, you can’t cure it and you can’t control it.

“Good, loving families, people that care, deal with this problem just as much,” he said. “This is just so common out there, but people don’t really talk about it. Especially parents, for fear of being judged.”

After the killings, a family friend told The Times that they had “never known a family so dedicated to a child” as Rob and Michele Reiner, and that the couple “did everything for Nick. Every treatment program, therapy sessions and put aside their lives to save Nick’s repeatedly.”

But the painful fact is that devotion alone cannot cure a complex, chronic disease.

“If you could love someone into sobriety, into recovery, into remission from their psychiatric issues, then we’d have a lot fewer clients here,” Jones said. “Unfortunately, love isn’t enough. It’s certainly a part of the solution, but it isn’t enough.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, help is available. Call 988 to connect to trained mental health counselors or text “HOME” to 741741 in the U.S. and Canada to reach the Crisis Text Line.

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By JOSH FUNK, AP Transportation Writer

The U.S. government admitted Wednesday that the actions of an air traffic controller and Army helicopter pilot played a role in causing the collision last January between an airliner and a Black Hawk near the nation’s capital, killing 67 people.

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It was the deadliest crash on American soil in more than two decades.

The official response to the first lawsuit filed by one of the victims’ families said that the government is liable in the crash partly because the air traffic controller violated procedures about when to rely on pilots to maintain visual separation that night. Plus, the filing said, the Army helicopter pilots’ “failure to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid” the airline jet makes the government liable.

But the filing suggested that others, including the pilots of the jet and the airlines, may also have played a role. The lawsuit also blamed American Airlines and its regional partner, PSA Airlines, for roles in the crash, but those airlines have filed motions to dismiss.

And the government denied that any air traffic controllers or officials at the Federal Aviation Administration or Army were negligent.

At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter collided with the American Airlines regional jet while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport in northern Virginia, just across the river from Washington, D.C., officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.

Attorney says loss of life was needless

Robert Clifford, one of the attorneys for the family of victim Casey Crafton, said the government admitted “the Army’s responsibility for the needless loss of life” and the FAA’s failure to follow air traffic control procedures while “rightfully” acknowledging others –- American Airlines and PSA Airlines -– also contributed to the deaths.

The families of the victims “remain deeply saddened and anchored in the grief caused by this tragic loss of life,” he said.

The government’s lawyers said in the filing that “the United States admits that it owed a duty of care to plaintiffs, which it breached, thereby proximately causing the tragic accident.”

An American spokesman declined to comment on the filing, but in the airline’s motion to dismiss, American said “plaintiffs’ proper legal recourse is not against American. It is against the United States government … The Court should therefore dismiss American from this lawsuit.” The airline said that since the crash it has focused on supporting the families of the victims.

Investigators highlight factors that contributed to crash

The National Transportation Safety Board will release its report on the cause of the crash early next year, but investigators have already highlighted a number of factors that contributed, including the helicopter flying 78 feet higher (24 meters) than the 200-foot (61-meter) limit on a route that allowed only scant separation between planes landing on Reagan’s secondary runway and helicopters passing below. Plus, the NTSB said, the FAA failed to recognize the dangers around the busy airport even after 85 near misses in the three years before the crash.

The government admitted in its filing that the United States “was on notice of certain near-miss events between its Army-operated Black Hawk helicopters and aircraft traffic transiting in and around helicopter routes 1 and 4” around Washington.

Before the collision, the controller twice asked the helicopter pilots whether they had the jet in sight, and the pilots said they did and asked for visual separation approval so they could use their own eyes to maintain distance. FAA officials acknowledged at the NTSB’s investigative hearings that the controllers at Reagan had become overly reliant on the use of visual separation. That’s a practice the agency has since ended.

Witnesses told the NTSB that they have serious questions about how well the helicopter crew could spot the plane while wearing night vision goggles and whether the pilots were even looking in the right spot.

Investigators have said the helicopter pilots might not have realized how high they were because the barometric altimeter they were relying on was reading 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 meters) lower than the altitude registered by the flight data recorder.

The crash victims included a group of elite young figure skaters, their parents and coaches who had just attended a competition in Wichita, Kansas, and four union steamfitters from the Washington area.

General Daily Insight for December 18, 2025

Soft words are likely to land better than bombastic arguments. A meet-up between the emotional Moon and cerebral Mercury, both in loquacious Sagittarius, helps us talk through feelings. With romantic Venus trining healing Chiron at 4:17 pm EST, we may find that kindness repairs old aches as we name needs honestly. As Venus goes on to engage with extravagant Jupiter, perhaps adjusting our sense of fairness will be necessary to move forward. When compassion replaces defensiveness, we can solve problems without shutting down.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

Perspective could now open doors that felt closed. Relational Venus in your 9th House of Travel and Big Ideas trines healing Chiron in your 1st House of Identity, inviting a brave conversation that widens understanding across different backgrounds. A teacher, student, or faraway friend may open up about a sore spot. Your straightforward support helps both of you release old judgment. It’s not wrong to want clarity, but choose humility over being right. Your courage invites the answers you’ve been seeking.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Healing a shared worry is possible now. Trust deepens as sensual Venus in your intimacy zone trines therapeutic Chiron in your 12th House of Closure, helping you address tender boundaries without blame. You may revisit holiday expenses or repay a favor as a private fear surfaces. Your ability to be vulnerable while remaining basically calm could also help someone else feel safe enough to soften. Although painful memories might be easy to access, forgiving the past frees energy for honest closeness.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

A promise deserves careful words. You’re potentially on the hunt for harmony as appeasing Venus in your partnership sector trines wounded healer Chiron. It’s not a bad thing to want agreement with someone important in your daily world, but your quick mind can race too far ahead. Slow down to check shared assumptions, and you’ll avoid crossed wires that cause unnecessary second-guessing. Although your social network might offer helpful feedback, let one voice matter most so the plan actually moves forward.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

Gentle course corrections have the potential to make your day. Venus, the planet of self-worth, in your 6th House of Work and Wellness collaborates with therapeutic Chiron, calling for patient routines that are kinder to your body. You can still care about results, but consistent fixes build the reputation you want at home and at work. When you model calm accountability rather than reacting with protection or blame, you’ll likely find others willing to own their part and do what they can to support you.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

When care meets courage, play returns. Loving Venus in your 5th House of Romance and Creativity trines wounded healer Chiron in your adventurous 9th house, urging you to share a heartfelt idea or invite someone out with confidence. Your companion may hesitate, yet your enthusiasm draws them in because you keep it playful while honoring real feelings. One bold step close to home can rekindle joy and prime the pump for bigger journeys. Lead with warmth so creativity flows toward connection.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Your domestic sphere can feel lighter when truth is front and center. An honest check-in soothes tensions as connection-craving Venus in your vulnerable 8th house aligns with tender Chiron in your 4th House of Home and Family, inviting repairs to patterns learned long ago. Someone at home may finally tell the story behind a bothersome habit. Careful listening helps everyone choose kinder routines. Although you’ll probably have to work around certain quirks or insecurities, clear agreements about chores or expenses are necessary to move forward.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Ready to talk and really listen? As relationship planet Venus in your communication sector reaches out to tender Chiron in your 7th House of One-on-One Bonds, a significant person may be ready to move a discussion toward understanding. You value fairness, Libra, so restate what you hear before sharing your view, and watch a defensive posture relax into something closer to partnership. There may still be legitimate differences between the two of you, but naming any shared goals should point you toward workable next steps.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

Scorpio, your values speak softly yet with strength. Financial calm grows as lavish Venus in your 2nd House of Money and Self-Worth reins in anxious Chiron in your practical 6th house, encouraging a realistic plan that honors both generosity and limits. You might renegotiate shared bills with a partner or map out a fresh budget for gifts. Once you start looking, you’ll likely find ways to protect your savings without draining joy from meaningful moments. Follow your heart, but keep the numbers true.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

Warm confidence hums beneath every choice. Venus, planet of pleasure, spotlights your 1st House of Identity, but that doesn’t necessarily make you shallow. Wise Chiron weighing in from your self-expression sector gives you an informed perspective. When you know what’s not worth worrying about anymore, you can convincingly convey an openhearted ease that inspires others to meet you halfway. Use this window to reintroduce yourself in the spaces that matter to you. Your natural optimism is likely to carry your message further than you expect!

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

A quiet, thoughtful pause can nourish you now. A release begins as Venus, planet of values, in your 12th House of Solitude and Closure brings perspective to moody Chiron in your private 4th house. You may write a letter you never send or sort keepsakes that you’re finally ready to let go of. Although there may be other people involved in a situation that you’re chewing on, some forgiveness rituals might be just for you. Let calm acceptance replace any harsh self-critique.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

Connecting with friends and acquaintances could inspire you today. Your 11th House of Social Networks brightens as free-loving Venus there trines thoughtful Chiron, offering opportunities for deep growth. In turn, perhaps you’ll help a group project or community effort regain spirit and momentum. Reach out to someone who often feels overlooked, and you may discover a brilliant workaround when their differing perspective refreshes the team’s stuck pattern. The answers you need are available if you’re willing to seek them out!

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Broadening your reputation could help you now. As harmonious Venus in your 10th House of Career and Status trines world-weary Chiron in your self-worth sector, adding a human touch to your public messages and reviews has the potential to make them more relatable and convincing. No matter what your role, you can share a mistake you learned from, and people will see your integrity more clearly. You may still have your sore spots, but give yourself credit for growth over time.

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) — A pilot was taken to the hospital with injuries Wednesday after a small plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in southern New Hampshire, authorities said.

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Emergency crews found the aircraft upside down in a snow bank in the parking lot of a wooded condominium complex in Nashua Wednesday afternoon.

Police said the pilot was the only person on board and was the only person injured. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

The Velocity V-Twin plane crashed at the Cannongate Condominiums shortly after departing from the nearby Nashua Airport around 2:10 p.m. local time, according to the FAA.

• Airplane wreckage rests in a wooded neighborhood, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
• Airplane wreckage rests in a wooded neighborhood, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Show Caption1 of 2Airplane wreckage rests in a wooded neighborhood, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Expand

Aerial video from NBC10 Boston showed damage to the roof of one of the condos near the crash site.

President Donald Trump addressed the nation at a crucial time as he tries to rebuild his steadily eroding popularity.

Public polling shows most U.S. adults are frustrated with his handling of the economy as inflation picked up after his tariffs raised prices and hiring slowed.

The Associated Press provided a livestream of Trump’s address below:

Contributing: Josh Boak, Associated Press

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 17, the 351st day of 2025. There are 14 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 17, 1979, Arthur McDuffie, a Black insurance broker and former Marine, was beaten by police after leading them on a chase with his motorcycle in Miami. McDuffie died four days later. (Four white police officers accused of beating McDuffie were acquitted in 2000, sparking riots in Miami that led to several deaths and millions of dollars in damages.)

Also on this date:

In 1777, France becomes one of the first nations to officially recognize the independence of the United States.

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In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright conducted the first successful manned, powered airplane flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, using their experimental craft, the Wright Flyer.

In 1933, the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants 23-21 in the first NFL championship game.

In 1944, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Henry C. Pratt rescinded incarceration orders for people of Japanese ancestry during World War II; more than 110,000 people, about two-thirds of them U.S. citizens, had been forced into camps after a February 1942 executive order by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Clean Air Act into law; it was the first federal legislation targeting the control of air pollution.

In 1975, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Gerald R. Ford in Sacramento, California. (She was paroled in August 2009.)

In 1989, “The Simpsons” debuts on Fox television; it has become the longest-running animated U.S. TV series.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in separate ceremonies; NAFTA went into effect in 2004 and was replaced by the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement in 2020.

In 2014, the United States and Cuba announced they would restore diplomatic relations, which had been severed in 1961 after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution overthrew a U.S.-backed government. Full diplomatic relations resumed in 2015.

In 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, a senior Russian general, was killed by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service accused him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons in Russia’s war in Ukraine. A Ukrainian official said the service carried out the attack in which Kirillov’s assistant also died.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Armin Mueller-Stahl is 95.
• Actor Ernie Hudson is 80.
• Political commentator Chris Matthews is 80.
• Comedian-actor Eugene Levy is 79.
• Actor Wes Studi is 78.
• Rock singer Paul Rodgers is 76.
• Actor Bill Pullman is 72.
• Filmmaker Peter Farrelly is 69.
• Rock musician Mike Mills (R.E.M.) is 67.
• Country singer Tracy Byrd is 59.
• Actor Laurie Holden is 56.
• Actor Claire Forlani is 54.
• Filmmaker Rian Johnson is 52.
• Actor Sarah Paulson is 51.
• Actor Giovanni Ribisi is 51.
• Actor Milla Jovovich (YO’-vuh-vich) is 50.
• Boxer Manny Pacquiao is 47.
• Actor Emma Bell is 39.
• Actor-singer Nat Wolff is 31.

CORAL GABLES — Shelton Henderson scored 30 points as the Miami Hurricanes beat Florida International 98-81 on Tuesday.

Henderson had five rebounds for the Hurricanes (10-2). Malik Reneau scored 22 points and added six rebounds. Tru Washington went 5 of 8 from the field (2 for 4 from 3-point range) to finish with 13 points.

Corey Stephenson led the Panthers (5-4) in scoring, finishing with 23 points, six assists and three steals. Florida International also got 17 points and two steals from Julian Mackey. Thiago Sucatzky had 10 points and two steals.

Miami got a team-high 16 points in the first half from Henderson, but it was only enough to head to the locker room tied 43-43 at halftime. Miami took the lead for good on Washington’s layup with 17:24 remaining in the second half and outscored Florida International by 17 points in the final stretch.

MIAMI — For the first time since guard Terry Rozier was arrested in October as part of an FBI gambling investigation and subsequently placed on leave by the league, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday directly addressed the impact on the Miami Heat.

Rozier, who was arraigned last week, remains listed on the Heat roster, with his $26.6 million salary continuing to count against the team’s payroll. In addition, the Heat still owe the Charlotte Hornets a future first-round draft choice from the teams’ January 2024 trade.

Multiple NBA sources have confirmed that neither the league nor the Hornets made the Heat aware at the time of the trade that Rozier already was under investigation in an NBA gambling probe.

For the Heat, expediency remains paramount, with Jan. 7 the date that Rozier’s salary becomes fully guaranteed for the season, and the Feb. 5 NBA trading deadline now less than two months away.

Plus, if the Heat were to receive draft relief, they then would have as many as four future first-round picks to put into a trade, as opposed to their current limitation of two.

Such issues remain unresolved at a time when Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis and other NBA stars could potentially reach the trade market.

“In terms of Miami, this is an unprecedented situation,” Silver said in response to a question from Miami-based Associated Press writer Tim Reynolds, as Silver addressed the media in Las Vegas ahead of the championship game of the NBA Cup. “I think I’m incredibly sympathetic to the Heat and to their fans. But I think we’re going to try to work something through, work this out with them.”

Silver, however, did not offer anything concrete, even with Rozier charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

“But there’s no obvious solution here,” he said. “I would just say that there’s no doubt at the moment they have a player that can’t perform services for them. And as to the draft pick they conveyed — obviously he hasn’t been convicted of anything yet, either, but this is an unfortunate circumstance.

“But sometimes there’s unique events and maybe sometimes they require unique solutions. We’ll be looking at this with the Heat and the other teams in the league and see if there’s any satisfactory relief, but at the moment there is none.”

Rozier issues already are being addressed, including a Wednesday hearing between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association to determine whether the league can continue to divert Rozier’s 2025-26 salary into an escrow-type interest-bearing account.

The next scheduled pre-trial hearing for Rozier is in March, with Rozier free on $3 million bond posted with his South Florida home as equity.

Silver said the league has to continue to allow the legal process to play out.

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“First of all, on the timeline, it’s essentially out of our hands,” he said. “As you know, these are federal indictments. In the case of Terry Rozier, in Brooklyn, New York, the Eastern District of New York.

“We had investigated him at some point earlier. We had not found sufficient evidence to discipline under the rules of the league, and then at some point that investigation was taken over by federal authorities. As I said, it’s in their hands, and also now he’s been indicted and trial schedule, et cetera.”

But Silver indicated the league has resumed inspection into the matter.

“There are tangential issues that we’re looking into in that indictment, which is public record,” he said. “There were also references to other players, other incidents, as has been reported. Much of that information was new to us.

“So in essence, on a parallel path with the federal authorities, we are using whatever investigative powers we have to look into those incidents, as well, but we don’t have ultimately the leverage, the authority that federal investigators have. We take a backseat to their work, so timeline uncertain.”

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO

CHICAGO (AP) — Senior Border Patrol official Greg Bovino returned to the Chicago area on Tuesday, about a month after leaving to lead immigration enforcements in other cities, immigration advocates say.

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Bovino, the face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, was photographed Tuesday in the predominantly Mexican American neighborhood of Little Village by the Chicago Sun-Times as neighbors and activists blew whistles and shouted.

Videos obtained by The Associated Press showed several unmarked cars and Border Patrol agents deploying pepper balls and detaining a man in the neighborhood’s business corridor.

Bovino arrived in the Chicago area in September amid Operation Midway Blitz, which has yielded thousands of arrests and fueled fear among immigrant communities. The operation has become known for its aggressive tactics, including the use of chemical munitions and car chases. Since the operation began, federal agents deployed tear gas in neighborhood streets, hit protesters and journalists with pepper balls and shot at least two people, killing one.

Bovino left Chicago in November to lead immigration operations in New Orleans and North Carolina. While immigration operations had continued in Chicago, they were noticeably subdued with fewer tense confrontations, and Tuesday’s enforcements were among the most visible since Bovino left town.

“As we said a month ago, we aren’t leaving Chicago and operations are ongoing,” said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker complained that he was not given notice that Bovino and additional Border Patrol agents were returning to the Chicago area on Tuesday. And he said he doesn’t know how long they’ll stay.

Pritzker also called on Bovino to testify in front of an Illinois commission created in October to document misconduct by federal agents.

“I’m so proud of the people of Illinois, for doing as they have, which is to protect their neighborhoods and their neighbors, to do the right thing,” Pritzker said Tuesday. “And so, I think we’re in a much better position.”

• Federal immigration enforcement agents detain an individual near West 27th Street and South Ridgeway Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
• Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino walks alongside his agents after they detain an individual near West 27th Street and South Ridgeway Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
• Federal immigration enforcement agents ask to clear the area after they detain an individual at West 27th Street and South Ridgeway Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
• Federal immigration enforcement agents stand guard in front of their vehicles at West 33rd Street and South Ridgeway Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Show Caption1 of 4Federal immigration enforcement agents detain an individual near West 27th Street and South Ridgeway Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP) Expand

At a Tuesday news conference, activists vowed to continue supporting immigrant communities in the Chicago area. Advocates said 15 people, including day laborers and a tamale vendor, were detained Tuesday on the city’s Southwest side and in suburban Berwyn and Cicero.

“We are tired but we are not weary,” said Illinois State Senator Celina Villanueva. “… Every single time that they come, we are going to show up.”

Victor Rodriguez II, a lifelong resident of Little Village, said he helped a woman when her husband was detained after a “caravan of masked agents began terrorizing our community,” including using pepper balls in neighborhood streets. Rodriguez accused Bovino of “targeted political theater.”

Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, said Border Patrol agents questioned striking laborers on Chicago’s Southwest side and accused Bovino of “coming to our picket line to chill union activity.”

“We have seen the first act of this political theater they have brought,” he said. “Now it’s the second act, and we’re ready.”

By BILL BARROW

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles offered an unusually candid look inside President Donald Trump’s administration in a series of interviews published Tuesday by Vanity Fair magazine, delivering details and reservations that presidential aides usually save for memoirs.

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From criticizing Attorney General Pam Bondi as having “whiffed” on the Jeffrey Epstein case to saying that no rational person could believe Elon Musk did a good job dismantling the United States Agency for International Development, Wiles revealed her own thoughts about her boss and the work of his aggressive administration. The assessments are even more notable because Wiles, before now, has maintained a low profile.

Wiles dismissed Vanity Fair’s work as a “hit piece,” and a number of Cabinet officials and other aides rushed to her defense. But Wiles notably has not denied any details or quotes.

Here are some takeaways from Wiles’ interview:

Wiles defends Trump while comparing him to an alcoholic

Wiles described Trump as an intense figure who thinks in broad strokes yet is often unconcerned about process and policy details.

She assessed Trump as having “an alcoholic’s personality,” even though the president does not drink. But the personality trait is something she recognizes from her father, the famous sports broadcaster Pat Summerall.

“High-functioning alcoholics or alcoholics in general, their personalities are exaggerated when they drink. And so I’m a little bit of an expert in big personalities,” she said.

Said Wiles: “I’m not an enabler. … I try to be thoughtful about what I even engage in. I guess time will tell whether I’ve been effective.”

Trump’s revenge crusade has gone longer than Wiles initially wanted

Wiles affirmed Trump’s ruthlessness and determination to achieve retribution against those he considers his political enemies, especially those who prosecuted him.

“We have a loose agreement that the score settling will end before the first 90 days are over,” Wiles said early in Trump’s second administration, telling Vanity Fair she did try to tamp down Trump’s penchant for retribution.

But in August 2025, she shifted. “I don’t think he’s on a retribution tour,” she said, arguing Trump has a different principle: “‘I don’t want what happened to me to happen to somebody else.’”

Still, she said, “there may be an element of that from time to time” and Trump “will go for it … when there’s an opportunity.”

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles arrives before the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

“Who would blame him?” she asked rhetorically. “Not me.”

Asked about the prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud, Wiles allowed, “Well, that might be the one retribution.”

On Epstein, Pam Bondi gets scorched and Trump was ‘wrong’ about Bill Clinton

In some of her most eye-popping commentary, Wiles said Attorney General Pam Bondi “whiffed” on handling the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, particularly trying to manage public expectations by suggesting the Justice Department had a client list waiting to be disclosed only for the administration to later say it doesn’t exist.

Wiles also said Trump pushed false narratives that former President Bill Clinton frequented Epstein’s infamous island. “There is no evidence” those visits happened, according to Wiles, and there are no damning findings concerning Clinton at all.

“The president was wrong about that,” Wiles said.

Wiles pays attention to Trump’s inner circle — and has thoughts

Wiles often sits to the side in the Oval Office, out of camera view. But she’s paying attention.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and White House communications director Steven Cheung listen as President Donald Trump talks after meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Vice President JD Vance has been “a conspiracy theorist for a decade,” she said, and his MAGA conversion — he once compared Trump to Adolf Hitler — was “sort of political.”

Elon Musk overstepped on his Department of Government Efficiency efforts, she said. She called him “a complete solo actor … an odd, odd duck” and an “avowed ketamine user.” (Musk has acknowledged using the dissociative anesthetic.) She recalled having to explain to him that “you can’t just lock people out of their offices” and said his gutting of USAID left her “initially aghast.“

“Because I think anybody that pays attention to government and has ever paid attention to USAID believed, as I did, that they do very good work,” she said, adding that “no rational person could think the USAID process was a good one. Nobody.”

She calls Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “quirky Bobby” and White House budget chief Russell Vought “a right-wing absolute zealot.”

But in praising Kennedy, Wiles explained her embrace of the administration’s hard-liners: “He pushes the envelope — some would say too far. But I say in order to get back to the middle, you have to push it too far.”

Wiles sees Trump’s tariffs as ‘more painful’ than expected

Few events undermined Trump’s standing quite like his April 2 announcement of “Liberation Day” tariffs, in which he announced import taxes ranging from 10% to 99% on most of the world. Trump’s move sparked recession fears and a delay in imposing his wider tariff strategy, leading to a rollercoaster of negotiations and new tariff threats.

Wiles called the April rollout “so much thinking out loud” and said there were internal disputes about it among Trump’s aides. She said she told aides to “work into what he’s already thinking” and asked Vance to tell Trump to “not talk about tariffs today” until his team was “in complete unity.”

Trump proceeded on his own.

Wiles said she believed a middle ground on tariffs would be successful. But, she concluded, “It’s been more painful than I expected.”

Wiles concedes mistakes on immigration

When a federal judge chided the administration for deporting Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Trump publicly defended the approach despite the administration telling the court it was a mistake. Wiles did not mince words, telling Vanity Fair at the time, “We’ve got to look harder at our process for deportation.”

FILE – White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles waves after disembarking Air Force One, June 25, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

When the administration deported two mothers and their U.S. citizen children, including one who was a cancer patient, Wiles was even more plainspoken: “It could be an overzealous Border Patrol agent, I don’t know. I can’t understand how you make that mistake, but somebody did.”

Trump is more skeptical of Putin’s intentions than reflected in public

After nearly four years of fighting, Trump has made the case that Russian President Vladimir Putin can be persuaded to end the war in Ukraine if Kyiv agrees to cede Ukrainian land in the eastern Donbas region and if Western powers offer economic incentives that would bring Russia back into the economic world order.

“I actually think that President Putin wants to see it end,” Trump told reporters Monday.

But Wiles offered deep skepticism to Vanity Fair about Putin.

“The experts think that if he could get the rest of Donetsk, then he would be happy,” Wiles said in August, referring to the oblast that is a key part of Donbas.

“Donald Trump thinks he wants the whole country,” Wiles told her interviewer.

For Trump, boat strikes are about knocking Nicolás Maduro out of power

Wiles said in November that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”

Trump has repeatedly said Maduro’s “days are numbered” as the U.S. intensifies deadly attacks on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific. The administration alleges the targets are drug-smuggling cartels.

Still, Trump and administration officials have stopped short of saying they want to topple the Maduro regime. They insist the strikes, which have killed at least 95 people in 25 known incidents since September, are a strategy to stem the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs into the U.S.

Associated Press reporters Aamer Madhani and Josh Boak contributed from Washington.

By SOPHIE BATES

A woman who allegedly pushed razor blades into loaves of bread at two Biloxi, Mississippi, Walmart stores was arrested on Tuesday.

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Camille Benson, 33, of Texas, has been charged with attempted mayhem. Her bond is set at $100,000.

Customers reported finding the razor blades at a Walmart Supercenter and a Walmart Neighborhood Market, said Lt. Candace Young, a public information officer for the Biloxi Police Department.

Walmart employees told police a customer first reported finding a razor blade in a loaf purchased from the Walmart Supercenter on Dec. 5. On Dec. 8, a customer who bought a loaf at the Walmart Neighborhood Market also reported finding a razor blade.

After another customer complained to the Walmart Supercenter on Sunday, employees inspected the merchandise and found several more loaves had been tampered with, law enforcement officials said.

The police department was notified on Monday.

In a press release, the department asked all citizens who bought bread from those Walmart locations to inspect the loaves and report any findings.

“The health and safety of our customers is always a top priority,” Walmart said in a statement. “We have removed and thoroughly inspected all potentially affected products at impacted stores in Biloxi. We appreciate law enforcement for their swift action and will continue cooperating with them as they investigate.”

The Biloxi Police Department said it does not believe any other stores have been targeted.

If customers purchase a product that has been tampered with, they should immediately throw it out and visit their local Walmart for a full refund, the company said.

By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country’s economy.

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Trump’s escalation comes after U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the U.S. had a claim.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”

Pentagon officials referred all questions about the post to the White House.

Venezuela’s government press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But before Trump’s announcement Tuesday, Maduro praised Venezuela for having “proven to be a strong country” in the face of U.S. pressure.

“Venezuela has 25 weeks denouncing, confronting and defeating a campaign of multidimensional aggression, ranging from psychological terrorism to the piracy of the corsairs who assaulted the oil tanker,” Maduro said on state television Tuesday.

He added, “We have taken the oath to defend our homeland, and that on this soil peace and shared happiness triumph.”

The buildup has been accompanied by a series of military strikes on boats in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The campaign, which has drawn bipartisan scrutiny among U.S. lawmakers, has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels.

Trump has for weeks said that the U.S. will move its campaign beyond the water and start strikes on land.

The Trump administration has defended the strikes as a success, saying they have prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and pushed back on concerns that they are stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.

The Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the U.S., but Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles appeared to confirm in a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday that the campaign is part of a push to oust Maduro.

Wiles said Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”

Tuesday night’s announcement seemed to have a similar aim.

Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day, has long relied on oil revenue as a lifeblood of its economy.

Since the Trump administration began imposing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro’s government has relied on a shadowy fleet of unflagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.

The state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA, has been locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions. It sells most of its exports at a steep discount in the black market in China.

Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University in Houston, said about 850,000 barrels of the 1 million daily production is exported. Of that, he said, 80% goes to China, 15% to 17% goes to the U.S. through Chevron Corp., and the remainder goes to Cuba.

In October, Trump appeared to confirm reports that Maduro has offered a stake in Venezuela’s oil and other mineral wealth in recent months to try to stave off mounting pressure from the United States.

“He’s offered everything,” Trump said at the time. “You know why? Because he doesn’t want to f—- around with the United States.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how the U.S. planned to enact what Trump called a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”

But the U.S. Navy has 11 ships, including an aircraft carrier and several amphibious assault ships, in the region.

Those ships carry a wide complement of aircraft, including helicopters and V-22 Ospreys. Additionally, the Navy has been operating a handful of P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the region.

All told, those assets provide the military a significant ability to monitor marine traffic coming in and out of the country.

Trump in his post said that the “Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” but it wasn’t clear what he was referring to.

The foreign terrorist organization designation has been historically reserved for non-state actors that do not have sovereign immunities conferred by either treaties or United Nations membership.

In November, the Trump administration announced it was designating the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. The term Cartel de los Soles originally referred to Venezuelan military officers involved in drug-running, but it is not a cartel per se.

Governments that U.S. administrations seek to sanction for financing, otherwise fomenting or tolerating extremist violence are usually designated “state sponsors of terrorism.”

Venezuela is not on that list.

In rare cases, the U.S. has designated an element of a foreign government as an “FTO.” The Trump administration in its first term did so with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an arm of the Iranian government, which had already been designated a state sponsor of terrorism.

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Matt Le in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

General Daily Insight for December 17, 2025

Opportunities to get out of our heads are likely to find us today. When the melancholy Scorpio Moon faces off against unpredictable Uranus, surprise glitches could interrupt our ruminations. Luna’s trine to dreamy Neptune softens reactions and helps us rebuild optimism. Once the emotional Moon enters the adventurous territory of Sagittarius at 11:38 am EST, we may embrace movement and a wider view of our choices. The world is probably a lot bigger than some of the things we worry about!

Aries

March 21 – April 19

Sometimes getting back on the horse is all it takes. The intuitive Moon arrives in your 9th House of Travel and Learning, potentially drawing your attention back toward a course of study you’ve drifted away from. Your energetic nature could thrive when you speak with a mentor and set a few clear milestones. You love a challenge, and you wouldn’t want to let down another person who’s counting on you! Momentum favors action more than perfection, so dig in however you can.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Deeper trust changes how money conversations flow. As the nurturing Moon lights up your 8th House of Shared Resources and Intimacy, you’re in an ideal position to negotiate a tender agreement that will ultimately provide both security and respect. Your sign is known to value comfort, and that’s helpful here because you’ve probably accumulated a lot of experience in naming what feels comfortable by now. Pursue progress by offering clear next steps that are fair and kind to everyone involved.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Partnership asks for transparent words at present. As the fluctuating Moon floats into your 7th House of Relationships, you might realize you’re not happy with the status quo in one of your close connections. If you’re able to translate your mixed feelings into plain terms without blaming anyone, you have a chance to build a fair agreement you can actually keep. While you’re reconfiguring things, try to make room for the possibility that your plans may change further in the future!

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

Patience and thoughtful judgment can help you pass the tests before you today. The temperamental Moon activates your 6th House of Work and Wellness, nudging you to streamline routines and care for your body with consistency. Your nurturing nature can calm the people around you if a small crisis pops up. Getting sucked too deeply into anyone else’s emotional upheaval isn’t ideal, though. You can also show leadership by breaking tasks into manageable pieces! Trust your instincts as to what’s most important.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

Your desire for excitement is likely to need an outlet today. The candid Moon in your 5th House of Creativity encourages heartfelt expression that feels fun and generous without pushing for attention. A simple gesture, like sharing a song, could open a door in a burgeoning friendship and help you start a conversation. Invite play into work, and let your dramatic tendencies develop into honest charm that builds trust rather than stealing the scene. Warm connections pave the way for bigger creative wins.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Home could ask for practical care today. The observant Moon wakes up your 4th House of Family and Roots, guiding you to make improvements that support your peace. Although it may be tempting to chase perfection, thoughtful triage is a better use of your analytical energy at this point. Prioritize fixing the squeaky hinge you encounter multiple times a day vs. complicated projects on your nice-to-have list. Any task that actually gets done is likely to build momentum for more!

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Having a good think about what really needs to be said could be necessary now. As the caring Moon pops into your 3rd House of Communication, you may be interested in starting a conversation to clear a misunderstanding. However, endless discussion often has the potential to worsen the sort of conflict that would otherwise fizzle out on its own. If you’re on the fence, try asking a test question that opens the dialogue. Listen carefully to the answer, and don’t push past obvious discomfort.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

Scorpio, your values ask for honest action. With the perceptive Moon passing into your 2nd House of Money and Self-Worth, you might reassess a financial decision that no longer fits your current priorities. Intense insight helps you hold a firm line during a negotiation, and you can maintain a respectful atmosphere by keeping your tone calm while you stick to numbers. Choose power that builds trust, not control that invites fear. You can convey to others that you’re serious without being mean about it!

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

The mood is likely to shift in your favor today. As the passionate Moon powers into your sign, your drive to start something new could land better than usual with the people around you. You might as well commit to action before doubts have a chance to develop. Momentum matters, so you can refine details later. Your confidence opens doors, and your enthusiasm reminds others why beginnings can be exciting. At that stage, just about any journey has the potential to be a great one!

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

Private time could clear fog and restore your footing today. The unconscious Moon draws attention to your 12th House of Solitude and Closure, inviting rest and reflection. You might be surprised to discover how much hidden stress you’ve been carrying! Your disciplined personality benefits from an occasional short break. Consider journaling to help your mind untangle private worries. Putting as many concerns as you can to rest at this time should free up energy for you to pursue new interests later.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

When friendship calls, your purpose may grow clearer. With the nourishing Moon emphasizing your 11th House of Friends and Community, group plans are likely to pull you in, highlighting where your unique approach can truly help. You have the potential to remind people why collaboration unlocks fresh possibilities. Even if logistics shift, you’re able to stay focused on the shared goal rather than getting derailed by the quirks in how others work. Your thoughtful contribution today might seed connections that support you later.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Taking the next brave step is possible now. The temperamental Moon spotlights your 10th House of Career and Status, asking you to act on a goal that influences your reputation. Perhaps your compassionate instincts will help you present a solution during a meeting, or your creativity will turn a fuzzy idea into something that earns respect. Do what you can to prepare, but don’t overthink it. Your natural strengths give you a lot to offer, so you might as well share that with the world!

By TODD RICHMOND

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A colleague of the Milwaukee judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant evade arrest testified Tuesday that she was shocked by her fellow judge’s behavior.

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“Judges shouldn’t help defendants evade arrest,” Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Kristela Cervera testified at Hannah Dugan’s trial.

The testimony on the second day of trial came after officers involved in the arrest told the jury that Dugan’s behavior on April 18 made it more dangerous for them to do their jobs.

Dugan is on trial on charges of obstruction and concealment in connection with the incident. The maximum sentence for obstruction, the more serious charge, is five years in prison, though federal judges have much discretion to go lower.

The highly unusual charges against a sitting judge are an extraordinary consequence of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Dugan’s supporters say Trump is looking to make an example of her to blunt judicial opposition to immigration arrests.

Eduardo Flores-Ruiz was scheduled to appear before Dugan on the morning of April 18 on state battery charges. Prosecutors allege that after Dugan learned that federal officers were in the hallway waiting to arrest him, she cleared a path for him to escape by directing the officers to the chief judge’s office and then leading Eduardo-Flores out of her courtroom through a private door.

Cervera testified that she was irritated that Dugan used her as backup during the incident, making her come out of her courtroom into the hallway while still wearing her robe.

Dugan proceeded to angrily confront two officers waiting to arrest Flores-Ruiz, telling them repeatedly that they needed a judicial warrant before sending them to the chief judge’s chambers, Cervera testified. She escorted the officers to the chambers while Dugan returned to her courtroom, she said.

Dugan approached her three days later and said she was “in the doghouse” with the chief judge, saying something to the effect that the chief was upset with her because she had “tried to help that guy,” Cervera testified.

When she learned that Dugan had led Flores-Ruiz out the private door, “I was shocked,” Cervera testified.

FBI agent Phillip Jackling testified on Tuesday that he was concerned that his team was divided when Dugan directed agents to speak with the chief judge.

Dugan appeared angry when she approached him in the hallway outside her courtroom, he said. Another member of the arrest team, Customs and Border Protection Supervisory Officer Joseph Zuraw, said Dugan jerked her thumb over her shoulder and told him to “get out” before directing him to the chief judge’s chambers.

Four of the arrest team’s six members were in the chief judge’s chambers or a hallway leading to the chambers when Flores-Ruiz left the courtroom, the agents testified. Zuraw said he remembered thinking: “This is a bad spot we’re in right now. It’s a bad spot because we don’t’ have a decent number of officers to safely make an arrest.”

The team followed him outside the courthouse and had to chase him down through traffic when they could have safely arrested him in the building, they testified.

Dugan’s defense team has suggested that agents could have arrested Flores-Ruiz at any point in the hallway and Dugan shouldn’t be blamed for their decision to wait until he was outside.

Defense attorney Steven Biskupic said in opening statements that the judge had no intention of obstructing agents. He said that Dugan was just following a draft courthouse policy that called for court personnel to refer immigration agents looking to make an arrest in the courthouse to supervisors.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in November that Flores-Ruiz had been deported.

Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report from Madison, Wisconsin.