WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is drawing down the presence of people who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East due to the potential for regional unrest, the State Department and military said Wednesday.

<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-department-of-state">The State Department</a>&nbsp;said it has ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad based on its latest review and a commitment “to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad.” The embassy already had been on limited staffing, and the order will not affect a large number of personnel.

The department, however, also is authorizing the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait. That gives them an option on whether to leave those countries.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also “has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations” across the region, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The command “is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East.”

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly confirmed the moves.

“The State Department regularly reviews American personnel abroad, and this decision was made as a result of a recent review,” Kelly said.

Tensions in the region have been rising in recent days as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-nuclear-talks-analysis-israel-mideast-2cbea2d6982bd8806d7e8fa7771afc37">talks between the U.S. and Iran</a>&nbsp;over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-nuclear-resolution-board-9967699da494571d415a510b48b44313">its rapidly advancing nuclear program</a>&nbsp;appear to have hit an impasse. The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions that the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.

The next round of talks — the sixth — had been tentatively scheduled for this weekend in Oman, according to two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic matters. However, those officials said Wednesday that it looked increasingly unlikely that the talks would happen.

President Donald Trump, who has previously&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-trump-nuclear-weapons-program-702e7dfa4c3609f8cefdcb9f67b8117a">threatened to use military force against Iran</a>&nbsp;if negotiations failed, gave a less-than-optimistic view about reaching a deal with Iran, telling the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast that he was "getting more and more less confident about” a deal.

“They seem to be delaying, and I think that’s a shame. I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them," he said in the interview, which was recorded on Monday.

Iran’s mission to the U.N. posted on social media that “threats of overwhelming force won’t change the facts.”

“Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and U.S. militarism only fuels instability,” the Iranian mission wrote.

Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh separately told journalists Wednesday that he hoped talks with the U.S. would yield results, though Tehran stood ready to respond.

“If conflict is imposed on us, the opponent’s casualties will certainly be more than ours, and in that case, America must leave the region, because all its bases are within our reach,” he said. “We have access to them, and we will target all of them in the host countries without hesitation.”

Meanwhile, the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency was potentially set to vote on a measure to censure Iran. That could set in motion an effort to snap back United Nations sanctions on Iran via a measure in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that’s still active until October. Trump withdrew from that deal in his first term.

Earlier Wednesday, a statement from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, a Mideast-based effort overseen by the British navy, issued a warning to ships in the region that it “has been made aware of increased tensions within the region which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners.”

It urged caution in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. It did not name Iran, though those waterways have seen Iranian ship seizures and attacks in the past.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is drawing down the presence of people who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East due to the potential for regional unrest, the State Department and military said Wednesday.<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-department-of-state">The State Department</a>&nbsp;said it has ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad based on its latest review and a commitment “to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad.” The embassy already had been on limited staffing, and the order will not affect a large number of personnel.The department, however, also is authorizing the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait. That gives them an option on whether to leave those countries.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also “has authorized the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations” across the region, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. The command “is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East.”White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly confirmed the moves.“The State Department regularly reviews American personnel abroad, and this decision was made as a result of a recent review,” Kelly said.Tensions in the region have been rising in recent days as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-nuclear-talks-analysis-israel-mideast-2cbea2d6982bd8806d7e8fa7771afc37">talks between the U.S. and Iran</a>&nbsp;over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-nuclear-resolution-board-9967699da494571d415a510b48b44313">its rapidly advancing nuclear program</a>&nbsp;appear to have hit an impasse. The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions that the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.The next round of talks — the sixth — had been tentatively scheduled for this weekend in Oman, according to two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic matters. However, those officials said Wednesday that it looked increasingly unlikely that the talks would happen.President Donald Trump, who has previously&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-trump-nuclear-weapons-program-702e7dfa4c3609f8cefdcb9f67b8117a">threatened to use military force against Iran</a>&nbsp;if negotiations failed, gave a less-than-optimistic view about reaching a deal with Iran, telling the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast that he was "getting more and more less confident about” a deal.“They seem to be delaying, and I think that’s a shame. I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them," he said in the interview, which was recorded on Monday.Iran’s mission to the U.N. posted on social media that “threats of overwhelming force won’t change the facts.”“Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and U.S. militarism only fuels instability,” the Iranian mission wrote.Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh separately told journalists Wednesday that he hoped talks with the U.S. would yield results, though Tehran stood ready to respond.“If conflict is imposed on us, the opponent’s casualties will certainly be more than ours, and in that case, America must leave the region, because all its bases are within our reach,” he said. “We have access to them, and we will target all of them in the host countries without hesitation.”Meanwhile, the Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency was potentially set to vote on a measure to censure Iran. That could set in motion an effort to snap back United Nations sanctions on Iran via a measure in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that’s still active until October. Trump withdrew from that deal in his first term.Earlier Wednesday, a statement from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, a Mideast-based effort overseen by the British navy, issued a warning to ships in the region that it “has been made aware of increased tensions within the region which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners.”It urged caution in the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. It did not name Iran, though those waterways have seen Iranian ship seizures and attacks in the past.___

US orders nonessential staff to leave Baghdad Embassy as Iran tensions rise

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22DAVID%20A.%20LIEB%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By DAVID A. LIEB&nbsp;</a>

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers on Wednesday approved hundreds of millions of dollars of financial aid to try to persuade the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to remain in the state and help the St. Louis area recover from a devastating tornado.

House passage sends the legislative package to Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chiefs-royals-stadiums-missouri-kansas-tornado-9627dbb949df43a7736d0d72cd4ebf56">called lawmakers into special session</a>&nbsp;with a plea for urgent action. Kehoe is expected to sign the measures into law.

Missouri's session paired two otherwise unrelated national trends —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-stadiums-public-funding-nfl-mlb-a81d825286530bb95f227efc99f2e9d3">a movement for new taxpayer-funded sports stadiums</a>&nbsp;and a reevaluation of states' roles in natural disasters as President Donald Trump's administration&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fema-hurricane-season-disasters-fema-application-team-rubicon-united-way-1cdd11a3f36fb7cfd37a9ea2655e99f0">reassess federal aid programs</a>.

The stadium subsidies already were a top concern in Missouri when a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/storms-tornadoes-damage-destruction-3f7207e36dc589e9635755a1f579e926">deadly tornado struck St. Louis</a>&nbsp;on May 16, causing an estimated $1.6 billion of damage a day after lawmakers had wrapped up work in their annual regular session.

The disaster relief had widespread support. Lawmakers listened attentively on Wednesday as Democratic state Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins described with a cracking voice how she witnessed the tornado rip the roof off her house and damage her St. Louis neighborhood. Collins said she has no home insurance, slept in her car for days and has accepted food from others.

“Homes are crumbled and leveled,” said Collins, adding: “It hurts me to my core to see the families that have worked so hard, the businesses that have worked so hard, to see them ripped apart.”

Lawmakers approved $100 million of open-ended aid for St. Louis and $25 million for emergency housing assistance in any areas covered under requests for presidential disaster declarations. They also authorized a $5,000 income tax credit to offset insurance policy deductibles for homeowners and renters hit by this year’s storms — a provision that state budget director Dan Haug said could eventually cost up to $600 million.

The Chiefs and Royals currently play football and baseball in side-by-side stadiums in Jackson County, Missouri, under leases that expire in January 2031. Jackson County voters last year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chiefs-royals-kansas-city-stadiums-e9605296b85e91699441e4ba10e83212">defeated a sales tax extension</a>&nbsp;that would have helped finance an $800 million renovation of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium and a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City.

That prompted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-city-chiefs-royals-new-stadiums-3441b3084c8efab00057f593f4d9b95e">lawmakers in neighboring Kansas</a>&nbsp;last year to authorize bonds for up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums in Kansas to lure the teams to their state. The Royals have bought a mortgage for property in Kansas, though the team also has continued to pursue other possible sites in Missouri.

The Kansas offer is scheduled to expire June 30, creating urgency for Missouri to approve a counteroffer.

Missouri's legislation authorizes bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums, plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments. If they choose to stay in Missouri, the Chiefs plan a $1.15 billion renovation of Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs, in a statement to The Associated Press, described the legislative vote as a “significant step forward” that enables the team to continue exploring options to remain in Missouri. The Royals described the legislation as “a very important piece of our decision-making process" but made no site-specific commitment.

“Our focus remains the same: to prioritize the best interests of our team, fans, partners and regional community as we pursue the next generational home for the Kansas City Royals,” the team said in a statement to the AP.

Though they have no specific plans in the works, the St. Louis Cardinals also would be eligible for stadium aid if they undertake a project of at least $500 million.

Many economists contend public funding for stadiums isn’t worth it, because sports tend to divert discretionary spending away from other forms of entertainment rather than generate new income.

But supporters said Missouri stands to lose millions of dollars of tax revenue if Kansas City's most prominent professional sports teams move to Kansas. They said Missouri's reputation also would take a hit, particularly if it loses the Chiefs, which have won three of the past six Super Bowls.

“We have the chance to maybe save what is the symbol of this state,” Rep. Jim Murphy, a Republican from St. Louis County, said while illustrating cross-state support for the measure.

The legislation faced some bipartisan pushback from those who described it as a subsidy for wealthy sports team owners. Others raised concerns that a property tax break for homeowners, which was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/st-louis-tornado-chiefs-royals-stadiums-7bdf60809d968c82178fd7df17cce181">added in the Senate</a>&nbsp;to gain votes, violates the state constitution by providing different levels of tax relief in various counties while excluding others entirely.

“This bill is unconstitutional, it’s fiscally reckless, it’s morally wrong," said Republican state Rep. Bryant Wolfin.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/5/1748716070795.png" alt=" GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals-photo Anna Spoerre/The Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals-photo Anna Spoerre/The Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22DAVID%20A.%20LIEB%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By DAVID A. LIEB&nbsp;</a>JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers on Wednesday approved hundreds of millions of dollars of financial aid to try to persuade the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to remain in the state and help the St. Louis area recover from a devastating tornado.House passage sends the legislative package to Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chiefs-royals-stadiums-missouri-kansas-tornado-9627dbb949df43a7736d0d72cd4ebf56">called lawmakers into special session</a>&nbsp;with a plea for urgent action. Kehoe is expected to sign the measures into law.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Mayor Lucas Applauds Passage of Show-Me Sports Investment Act <a href="https://t.co/hu2susLDkr">pic.twitter.com/hu2susLDkr</a>&mdash; Mayor Quinton Lucas (@MayorLucasKC) <a href="https://twitter.com/MayorLucasKC/status/1932889603188666558?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Missouri's session paired two otherwise unrelated national trends —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-stadiums-public-funding-nfl-mlb-a81d825286530bb95f227efc99f2e9d3">a movement for new taxpayer-funded sports stadiums</a>&nbsp;and a reevaluation of states' roles in natural disasters as President Donald Trump's administration&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fema-hurricane-season-disasters-fema-application-team-rubicon-united-way-1cdd11a3f36fb7cfd37a9ea2655e99f0">reassess federal aid programs</a>.The stadium subsidies already were a top concern in Missouri when a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/storms-tornadoes-damage-destruction-3f7207e36dc589e9635755a1f579e926">deadly tornado struck St. Louis</a>&nbsp;on May 16, causing an estimated $1.6 billion of damage a day after lawmakers had wrapped up work in their annual regular session.The disaster relief had widespread support. Lawmakers listened attentively on Wednesday as Democratic state Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins described with a cracking voice how she witnessed the tornado rip the roof off her house and damage her St. Louis neighborhood. Collins said she has no home insurance, slept in her car for days and has accepted food from others.“Homes are crumbled and leveled,” said Collins, adding: “It hurts me to my core to see the families that have worked so hard, the businesses that have worked so hard, to see them ripped apart.”Lawmakers approved $100 million of open-ended aid for St. Louis and $25 million for emergency housing assistance in any areas covered under requests for presidential disaster declarations. They also authorized a $5,000 income tax credit to offset insurance policy deductibles for homeowners and renters hit by this year’s storms — a provision that state budget director Dan Haug said could eventually cost up to $600 million.The Chiefs and Royals currently play football and baseball in side-by-side stadiums in Jackson County, Missouri, under leases that expire in January 2031. Jackson County voters last year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chiefs-royals-kansas-city-stadiums-e9605296b85e91699441e4ba10e83212">defeated a sales tax extension</a>&nbsp;that would have helped finance an $800 million renovation of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium and a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City.That prompted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-city-chiefs-royals-new-stadiums-3441b3084c8efab00057f593f4d9b95e">lawmakers in neighboring Kansas</a>&nbsp;last year to authorize bonds for up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums in Kansas to lure the teams to their state. The Royals have bought a mortgage for property in Kansas, though the team also has continued to pursue other possible sites in Missouri.The Kansas offer is scheduled to expire June 30, creating urgency for Missouri to approve a counteroffer.Missouri's legislation authorizes bonds covering up to 50% of the cost of new or renovated stadiums, plus up to $50 million of tax credits for each stadium and unspecified aid from local governments. If they choose to stay in Missouri, the Chiefs plan a $1.15 billion renovation of Arrowhead Stadium.The Chiefs, in a statement to The Associated Press, described the legislative vote as a “significant step forward” that enables the team to continue exploring options to remain in Missouri. The Royals described the legislation as “a very important piece of our decision-making process" but made no site-specific commitment.“Our focus remains the same: to prioritize the best interests of our team, fans, partners and regional community as we pursue the next generational home for the Kansas City Royals,” the team said in a statement to the AP.Though they have no specific plans in the works, the St. Louis Cardinals also would be eligible for stadium aid if they undertake a project of at least $500 million.Many economists contend public funding for stadiums isn’t worth it, because sports tend to divert discretionary spending away from other forms of entertainment rather than generate new income.But supporters said Missouri stands to lose millions of dollars of tax revenue if Kansas City's most prominent professional sports teams move to Kansas. They said Missouri's reputation also would take a hit, particularly if it loses the Chiefs, which have won three of the past six Super Bowls.“We have the chance to maybe save what is the symbol of this state,” Rep. Jim Murphy, a Republican from St. Louis County, said while illustrating cross-state support for the measure.The legislation faced some bipartisan pushback from those who described it as a subsidy for wealthy sports team owners. Others raised concerns that a property tax break for homeowners, which was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/st-louis-tornado-chiefs-royals-stadiums-7bdf60809d968c82178fd7df17cce181">added in the Senate</a>&nbsp;to gain votes, violates the state constitution by providing different levels of tax relief in various counties while excluding others entirely.“This bill is unconstitutional, it’s fiscally reckless, it’s morally wrong," said Republican state Rep. Bryant Wolfin.

Chiefs, Royals respond to approved funding bill to keep teams in Missouri

SHAWNEE COUNTY—One person was injured in an accident just after 10:30a.m. Tuesday in Shawnee County.

A man was working on a tractor in the 2900 Block of SE Tecumseh Road, when the tractor fell on him, according to the Shawnee County Sheriff's Deputy Abigail Christian..

American Medical Response transported the man to an area hospital for treatment of serious injuries.&nbsp; The victim's name has not been released.

SHAWNEE COUNTY—One person was injured in an accident just after 10:30a.m. Tuesday in Shawnee County.A man was working on a tractor in the 2900 Block of SE Tecumseh Road, when the tractor fell on him, according to the Shawnee County Sheriff's Deputy Abigail Christian..American Medical Response transported the man to an area hospital for treatment of serious injuries.&nbsp; The victim's name has not been released.

Sheriff: Kan. man hospitalized after tractor fell on him

As many as 100 people could have been affected, owner and witnesses say

By:&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/author/cindygonzalez/">Cindy Gonzalez</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/author/aaron-sanderford/">Aaron Sanderford</a> <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/fortenberry-seeks-two-month-delay-of-re-trial-to-wait-for-trump-justice-department/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

OMAHA — As many as 100 workers suspected of being in the country illegally were ensnared, witnesses said, in what immigration officials said was its largest Nebraska enforcement operation since President Donald Trump took office.

Outside of Glenn Valley Foods, community advocates, including a pastor, said they had seen people being removed from the plant. Some were placed in three 15-passenger vans. Others were loaded onto a bus with boarded up windows and a law enforcement escort.

Witnesses who were afraid to give their names told a reporter they saw family members of workers arrive and try to bring documentation to their loved ones. One didn’t stop when asked to by local officers.

That resulted in a tense moment when a handful of people approached a law enforcement vehicle and some loudly expressed frustration with the scope and scale of the operation. At least two people tried to block the movement of the vehicle and were moved, video footage confirmed.

Several observers said Glenn Valley was approached by ICE agents Tuesday morning and allowed agents inside the plant.

Gary Rohwer, owner and CEO of Glenn Valley Foods, told Omaha’s WOWT that federal investigators told him 97 employees had false IDs. He said the company had used e-Verify.

Immigration authorities confirmed to a local member of Congress that 75 to 80 people had been detained. Others were being interviewed about related law enforcement concerns.

“They’re good, hardworking, honest,” he said. “They’re part of our family.”

Community leaders said workers have told them they were separating people in the plant they could prove were citizens and those that they couldn’t.

The operations had several local elected Latino leaders visiting various work sites, some South Omaha businesses shutting their doors for the time being and area residents checking in with each other in a frenzy.

Latino leaders tracking the situation, posting about it on social media and speaking with workers said they had heard of up to a half-dozen worksites where federal immigration agents may have visited.

A federal official described the raid at Glenn Valley Foods as likely the largest in Nebraska since Trump took office after promising a massive crackdown on illegal immigration.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and federal law enforcement partners, executed a federal search warrant at Glenn Valley Foods, today, based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the large-scale employment of aliens without authorization to work in the United States,” said a statement from Tanya Roman, ICE spokesperson.

Roman, in a follow-up call with the Examiner, clarified that Glenn Valley was the only Omaha-area operation federal immigration agents carried out Tuesday and that it attempted no others and made no individual arrests at other businesses.

Community leaders began gathering early Tuesday at a South Omaha location, after having heard late Monday of possible enforcement activities ahead.

Roger Garcia, chairman of the Douglas County board, announced during a county board meeting Tuesday morning that he had to leave because his community was “being terrorized.”

“I have to depart,” he said. “As we speak, there’s word of at least two raids happening at this moment, so I have to go. I have to try and help.”

He was among leaders posting in English and Spanish on social media to keep the community informed. Rumors swirled for much of the day about potentially targeted businesses beyond Glenn Valley Foods, including LALA’s and JBS, processing and production plants in the eastern part of the city. A JBS official told the Nebraska Examiner that no raid or immigration agents targeted JBS. LALA officials said they were not targeted and received no visit either.

Later, Garcia, gathering with others on South 24th Street, said he found no redeeming value in the federal action.

“None of this is doing anything to positively help society, but rather is doing the opposite,” he said. “These were individuals that were literally at work, trying to provide for their families, people contributing to our local economy.”

He said a team of community representatives is working to get current information, including what’s next for those detained.&nbsp;

He said at least one trusted source said the source’s mom was taken to Iowa and offered the option to voluntarily deport or to fight the deportation through legal means.&nbsp;He said various community members have stepped up to offer legal services.&nbsp;

Garcia said he’s hearing trepidation that another Nebraska town could be next.&nbsp;

State Sens. Dunixi Guereca and Margo Juarez of South Omaha gathered mid-morning with a half dozen other community representatives on South 24th Street. Guereca pointed at the quiet business corridor, the heart of Nebraska’s largest Latino business district, and said: “This is fear.”

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., issued a statement Tuesday saying he understood the “concerns” for people’s loved ones and personal safety and said he had “full confidence and expectations” that ICE would operate legally and treat people respectfully. He said his office supports “the rule of law.”

The statement said his office had been told the investigation and warrant being served at the plant concerned “stolen identities.”

Local law enforcement agencies said they were not participating in the federal raids, but that they are providing agents and the public with traffic enforcement around targeted locations, as needed.

”The Department of Homeland Security recently notified OPD of the operations and OPD officers responded to the areas for traffic control,” Omaha Police Lt. Neal Bonacci said in a statement.

Guereca said he was disappointed in the way federal agents carried out the operation, which he said created unnecessary fear for families, customers and merchants.

“Businesses closed their doors. Not only are folks not going to work, they’re not consuming,” he said.&nbsp;

Yesenia Peck, who heads the Nebraska Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, also came to the 24th Street district to check on businesses. As she approached one store, a customer was attempting to open the door, but it was locked.

She said she knew of at least one foreign consulate office based in Omaha, the Guatemalan Consulate, that was sending a representative to an affected worksite.

“Everybody is scared right now. Businesses are closing,” she said. “This is not life…”

Peck said one merchant asked her, “How are we going to pay the bills? Pay rent?”

Martha Barrera, who owns a salon on 24th Street, said her workers have continued to accept customers, but she said people are in panic mode about what is happening outside the doors. She said she is happy that community leaders have offered information on rights and how to respond if federal agents were to come to her business or any others.&nbsp;

She and others on the business corridor said their stores rely on Latino families and are worried about future commerce.

Peck said she understands there are laws and people must abide by those.

“But this is not the way it should be done,” she said. “Not cruelly.”

“What is happening right now is unbelievable. I’ve seen this kind of thing in other countries,” she said, including her homeland of Peru. “It’s just not the right way.”

Meanwhile in Lincoln, an impromptu protest with roughly 20 people marched near the State Capitol as a result of federal immigration enforcement.

Peaceful protests were developing elsewhere in Omaha, too, including an “Omaha Stands with Immigrants rally.”

Hundreds protested the federal immigration operation, lining both sides of L Street near 33rd at the dinner hours. Signs and chalked sidewalks offered sentiment: “Undocumented hands feed you.” “F— ICE.” “Keep families together” “Abolish ICE.”

An Omaha Tribal group led chants, crossing back and forth at crosslight. “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state.”

A woman in purple plastic boots held a yellow “immigrants welcome here” sign and banged a gong, saying, “It’s the loudest thing I own.”

Others passed out “know your rights” information packets.&nbsp;There was no shortage of honks from passer by motorists.&nbsp;

Jaqueline Chino walked up to the chanting crowd and stood on a light pole base, with her handmade sign: “Families belong together.”

Asked by a reporter what brought her to the event, she said her dad was deported when she was 5 years old.

Her mom raised her family alone, as her dad is in Guerrero, Mexico.&nbsp;

“I know the pain,” she said. “Growing up without a father figure is very hard for a girl.”

Another gathering on South 24th Street drew about 25 people.

Said Anna Hernandez, an organizer: “Obviously we can’t do anything at the worksites. But we can show that this is our community and this is breaking up our families.”

She said people are reaching out to community members seeking ways to demonstrate support. “There are children who will be forever affected by this.”

Mayor John Ewing Jr., on his second official day in office, released a statement saying that his office had been alerted that some sort of immigration action would take place on Tuesday, though was not “privy to details.”

He noted that he had asked ICE for a heads-up courtesy on enforcement activities, following the ICE-led arrest over the weekend at a west Omaha restaurant that disturbed patrons and others as it circulated widely on social media.

“I am trying to get to the bottom of what happened today,” Ewing said in a statement. “We know that actions like these affect families. My administration is working with community groups to understand the scale of need.”

Ewing said he knows the ICE actions caused fear. “We do not want people to be so afraid they stop reporting crimes. Our Omaha Police Department will respond to 911 calls and not ask about legal status.”

He reiterated that the city was not in the business of immigration enforcement, and said it was the federal government leading that charge.

“Our Omaha police officers do not and will not seek individuals to check their legal status,” Ewing said. “OPD was on scene today to assist in traffic control and public safety in areas near their operations.”

Saul Lopez, of LULAC National, was headed with other community members to pass out information about worker rights at workplaces and said a concern was for parents who might be separated from children.

“We’re very worried right now about what’s going on with the families.”

A leader of an Omaha nonprofit that works with youths said Tuesday that the organization has been working to identify families whose working parent may have been detained and separated from their children.

So far, the organization’s leader said at least two kids in their care who are from two different families have a parent caught up in the operations. The organization was busy getting a hold of emergency contacts for the kids.

Also Tuesday, immigration advocates and community leaders had turned a South Omaha organization into a sort of information headquarters to better understand and coordinate legal, outreach and response activities.

Also among the elected officials gathered at the South Omaha hub was Yanira Garcia of the Omaha Regional Metropolitan Transit Board and Omaha City Councilman Ron Hug.

Examiner reporter Juan Salinas II contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749657037037.jpeg" alt=" Jaqueline Chino, protesting immigration enforcement actions in Omaha on Tuesday, said she wanted to “stand up for people – even if I have to stand alone on this pole.” (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption> Jaqueline Chino, protesting immigration enforcement actions in Omaha on Tuesday, said she wanted to “stand up for people – even if I have to stand alone on this pole.” (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>As many as 100 people could have been affected, owner and witnesses say</h2>By:&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/author/cindygonzalez/">Cindy Gonzalez</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/author/aaron-sanderford/">Aaron Sanderford</a> <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/fortenberry-seeks-two-month-delay-of-re-trial-to-wait-for-trump-justice-department/">Nebraska Examiner</a>OMAHA — As many as 100 workers suspected of being in the country illegally were ensnared, witnesses said, in what immigration officials said was its largest Nebraska enforcement operation since President Donald Trump took office.Outside of Glenn Valley Foods, community advocates, including a pastor, said they had seen people being removed from the plant. Some were placed in three 15-passenger vans. Others were loaded onto a bus with boarded up windows and a law enforcement escort.Witnesses who were afraid to give their names told a reporter they saw family members of workers arrive and try to bring documentation to their loved ones. One didn’t stop when asked to by local officers.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749657133004.png" alt="ederal immigration agents raided an Omaha food plant, Glenn Valley Foods, on Tuesday. Witnesses saw people placed into three vans and a bus. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>ederal immigration agents raided an Omaha food plant, Glenn Valley Foods, on Tuesday. Witnesses saw people placed into three vans and a bus. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>That resulted in a tense moment when a handful of people approached a law enforcement vehicle and some loudly expressed frustration with the scope and scale of the operation. At least two people tried to block the movement of the vehicle and were moved, video footage confirmed.<h2>Workers targeted</h2>Several observers said Glenn Valley was approached by ICE agents Tuesday morning and allowed agents inside the plant.Gary Rohwer, owner and CEO of Glenn Valley Foods, told Omaha’s WOWT that federal investigators told him 97 employees had false IDs. He said the company had used e-Verify.Immigration authorities confirmed to a local member of Congress that 75 to 80 people had been detained. Others were being interviewed about related law enforcement concerns.“They’re good, hardworking, honest,” he said. “They’re part of our family.”Community leaders said workers have told them they were separating people in the plant they could prove were citizens and those that they couldn’t.The operations had several local elected Latino leaders visiting various work sites, some South Omaha businesses shutting their doors for the time being and area residents checking in with each other in a frenzy.<h2>Community reacts to raid</h2>Latino leaders tracking the situation, posting about it on social media and speaking with workers said they had heard of up to a half-dozen worksites where federal immigration agents may have visited.A federal official described the raid at Glenn Valley Foods as likely the largest in Nebraska since Trump took office after promising a massive crackdown on illegal immigration.“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and federal law enforcement partners, executed a federal search warrant at Glenn Valley Foods, today, based on an ongoing criminal investigation into the large-scale employment of aliens without authorization to work in the United States,” said a statement from Tanya Roman, ICE spokesperson.She said the investigation is ongoing.Roman, in a follow-up call with the Examiner, clarified that Glenn Valley was the only Omaha-area operation federal immigration agents carried out Tuesday and that it attempted no others and made no individual arrests at other businesses.Community leaders began gathering early Tuesday at a South Omaha location, after having heard late Monday of possible enforcement activities ahead.Roger Garcia, chairman of the Douglas County board, announced during a county board meeting Tuesday morning that he had to leave because his community was “being terrorized.”“I have to depart,” he said. “As we speak, there’s word of at least two raids happening at this moment, so I have to go. I have to try and help.”<h2>Law enforcement fights rumors</h2>He was among leaders posting in English and Spanish on social media to keep the community informed. Rumors swirled for much of the day about potentially targeted businesses beyond Glenn Valley Foods, including LALA’s and JBS, processing and production plants in the eastern part of the city. A JBS official told the Nebraska Examiner that no raid or immigration agents targeted JBS. LALA officials said they were not targeted and received no visit either.Later, Garcia, gathering with others on South 24th Street, said he found no redeeming value in the federal action.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749657211817.png" alt="Yesenia Peck, who heads the Nebraska Hispanic Chamber, was checking on South Omaha merchants Tuesday in the wake of reports that immigration raids were unfolding. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Yesenia Peck, who heads the Nebraska Hispanic Chamber, was checking on South Omaha merchants Tuesday in the wake of reports that immigration raids were unfolding. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>“None of this is doing anything to positively help society, but rather is doing the opposite,” he said. “These were individuals that were literally at work, trying to provide for their families, people contributing to our local economy.”He said a team of community representatives is working to get current information, including what’s next for those detained.&nbsp;He said at least one trusted source said the source’s mom was taken to Iowa and offered the option to voluntarily deport or to fight the deportation through legal means.&nbsp;He said various community members have stepped up to offer legal services.&nbsp;Garcia said he’s hearing trepidation that another Nebraska town could be next.&nbsp;State Sens. Dunixi Guereca and Margo Juarez of South Omaha gathered mid-morning with a half dozen other community representatives on South 24th Street. Guereca pointed at the quiet business corridor, the heart of Nebraska’s largest Latino business district, and said: “This is fear.”U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., issued a statement Tuesday saying he understood the “concerns” for people’s loved ones and personal safety and said he had “full confidence and expectations” that ICE would operate legally and treat people respectfully. He said his office supports “the rule of law.”The statement said his office had been told the investigation and warrant being served at the plant concerned “stolen identities.”Local law enforcement agencies said they were not participating in the federal raids, but that they are providing agents and the public with traffic enforcement around targeted locations, as needed.”The Department of Homeland Security recently notified OPD of the operations and OPD officers responded to the areas for traffic control,” Omaha Police Lt. Neal Bonacci said in a statement.<h2>Business impacted</h2>Guereca said he was disappointed in the way federal agents carried out the operation, which he said created unnecessary fear for families, customers and merchants.“Businesses closed their doors. Not only are folks not going to work, they’re not consuming,” he said.&nbsp;Yesenia Peck, who heads the Nebraska Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, also came to the 24th Street district to check on businesses. As she approached one store, a customer was attempting to open the door, but it was locked.She said she knew of at least one foreign consulate office based in Omaha, the Guatemalan Consulate, that was sending a representative to an affected worksite.“Everybody is scared right now. Businesses are closing,” she said. “This is not life…”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749657282067.png" alt="State Sen. Dunixi Guereca of South Omaha stands along South 24th Street with business owner Martha Barrera and discuss the federal immigration enforcement operation that had people and businesses talking on Tuesday. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>State Sen. Dunixi Guereca of South Omaha stands along South 24th Street with business owner Martha Barrera and discuss the federal immigration enforcement operation that had people and businesses talking on Tuesday. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>Peck said one merchant asked her, “How are we going to pay the bills? Pay rent?”Martha Barrera, who owns a salon on 24th Street, said her workers have continued to accept customers, but she said people are in panic mode about what is happening outside the doors. She said she is happy that community leaders have offered information on rights and how to respond if federal agents were to come to her business or any others.&nbsp;She and others on the business corridor said their stores rely on Latino families and are worried about future commerce.Peck said she understands there are laws and people must abide by those.“But this is not the way it should be done,” she said. “Not cruelly.”“What is happening right now is unbelievable. I’ve seen this kind of thing in other countries,” she said, including her homeland of Peru. “It’s just not the right way.”<h2>Protests gather</h2>Meanwhile in Lincoln, an impromptu protest with roughly 20 people marched near the State Capitol as a result of federal immigration enforcement.Peaceful protests were developing elsewhere in Omaha, too, including an “Omaha Stands with Immigrants rally.”Hundreds protested the federal immigration operation, lining both sides of L Street near 33rd at the dinner hours. Signs and chalked sidewalks offered sentiment: “Undocumented hands feed you.” “F— ICE.” “Keep families together” “Abolish ICE.”An Omaha Tribal group led chants, crossing back and forth at crosslight. “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state.”A woman in purple plastic boots held a yellow “immigrants welcome here” sign and banged a gong, saying, “It’s the loudest thing I own.”Others passed out “know your rights” information packets.&nbsp;There was no shortage of honks from passer by motorists.&nbsp;Jaqueline Chino walked up to the chanting crowd and stood on a light pole base, with her handmade sign: “Families belong together.”Asked by a reporter what brought her to the event, she said her dad was deported when she was 5 years old.Her mom raised her family alone, as her dad is in Guerrero, Mexico.&nbsp;“I know the pain,” she said. “Growing up without a father figure is very hard for a girl.”Another gathering on South 24th Street drew about 25 people.Said Anna Hernandez, an organizer: “Obviously we can’t do anything at the worksites. But we can show that this is our community and this is breaking up our families.”She said people are reaching out to community members seeking ways to demonstrate support. “There are children who will be forever affected by this.”<h2>Mayor, advocates weigh in</h2>Mayor John Ewing Jr., on his second official day in office, released a statement saying that his office had been alerted that some sort of immigration action would take place on Tuesday, though was not “privy to details.”He noted that he had asked ICE for a heads-up courtesy on enforcement activities, following the ICE-led arrest over the weekend at a west Omaha restaurant that disturbed patrons and others as it circulated widely on social media.“I am trying to get to the bottom of what happened today,” Ewing said in a statement. “We know that actions like these affect families. My administration is working with community groups to understand the scale of need.”Ewing said he knows the ICE actions caused fear. “We do not want people to be so afraid they stop reporting crimes. Our Omaha Police Department will respond to 911 calls and not ask about legal status.”He reiterated that the city was not in the business of immigration enforcement, and said it was the federal government leading that charge.“Our Omaha police officers do not and will not seek individuals to check their legal status,” Ewing said. “OPD was on scene today to assist in traffic control and public safety in areas near their operations.”Saul Lopez, of LULAC National, was headed with other community members to pass out information about worker rights at workplaces and said a concern was for parents who might be separated from children.“We’re very worried right now about what’s going on with the families.”A leader of an Omaha nonprofit that works with youths said Tuesday that the organization has been working to identify families whose working parent may have been detained and separated from their children.So far, the organization’s leader said at least two kids in their care who are from two different families have a parent caught up in the operations. The organization was busy getting a hold of emergency contacts for the kids.Also Tuesday, immigration advocates and community leaders had turned a South Omaha organization into a sort of information headquarters to better understand and coordinate legal, outreach and response activities.Also among the elected officials gathered at the South Omaha hub was Yanira Garcia of the Omaha Regional Metropolitan Transit Board and Omaha City Councilman Ron Hug.Examiner reporter Juan Salinas II contributed to this report.

Federal immigration raid hits Omaha plant

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22HILLEL%20ITALIE%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer</a>

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/brian-wilson-music-entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-6574d4bcebf3f3d98b46c3eb2593cfa5">Brian Wilson,</a>&nbsp;the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world’s most influential recording artists, has died at 82.

Wilson's family posted news of his death to his website and social media accounts Wednesday. Further details weren't immediately available. Since May 2024,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/brian-wilson-conservatorship-beach-boys-283adf3e04aef5744ac818c36131cf9e">Wilson had been under a court conservatorship</a>&nbsp;to oversee his personal and medical affairs, with Wilson’s longtime representatives, publicist Jean Sievers and manager LeeAnn Hard, in charge.

<a href="https://www.brianwilson.com/timeline">Click here to visit t</a>he Brian Wilson web site.

The eldest and last surviving of three musical brothers — Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/beach-boys-disney-documentary-wilson-love-ceb664cc94dc979f7a5f856f749a7e23">he and his fellow Beach Boys</a>&nbsp;rose in the 1960s from local California band to national hitmakers to international ambassadors of surf and sun. Wilson himself was celebrated for his gifts and pitied for his demons. He was one of rock’s great Romantics, a tormented man who in his peak years embarked on an ever-steeper path to aural perfection, the one true sound.

The Beach Boys rank among the most popular groups of the rock era, with more than 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of more than 100 million. The 1966 album “Pet Sounds” was voted No. 2 in a 2003 Rolling Stone list of the best 500 albums, losing out, as Wilson had done before, to the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The Beach Boys, who also featured Wilson cousin Mike Love and childhood friend Al Jardine, were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Wilson feuded with Love over songwriting credits, but peers otherwise adored him beyond envy, from Elton John and Bruce Springsteen to Smokey Robinson and Carole King. The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon, fantasized about joining the Beach Boys. Paul McCartney cited “Pet Sounds” as a direct inspiration on the Beatles and the ballad “God Only Knows” as among his favorite songs, often bringing him to tears.

Wilson moved and fascinated fans and musicians long after he stopped having hits. In his later years, Wilson and a devoted entourage of younger musicians performed “Pet Sounds” and his restored opus, “Smile,” before worshipful crowds in concert halls. Meanwhile, The Go-Go’s, Lindsey Buckingham, Animal Collective and Janelle Monáe were among a wide range of artists who emulated him, whether as a master of crafting pop music or as a pioneer of pulling it apart.

The Beach Boys’ music was like an ongoing party, with Wilson as host and wallflower. He was a tall, shy man, partially deaf (allegedly because of beatings by his father, Murry Wilson), with a sweet, crooked grin, and he rarely touched a surfboard unless a photographer was around. But out of the lifestyle that he observed and such musical influences as Chuck Berry and the Four Freshmen, he conjured a golden soundscape — sweet melodies, shining harmonies, vignettes of beaches, cars and girls — that resonated across time and climates.

Decades after its first release, a Beach Boys song can still conjure instant summer — the wake-up guitar riff that opens “Surfin’ USA”; the melting vocals of “Don’t Worry Baby”; the chants of “fun, fun, fun” or “good, good, GOOD, good vibrations”; the behind-the-wheel chorus “’Round, ’round, get around, I get around.” Beach Boys songs have endured from turntables and transistor radios to boom boxes and iPhones, or any device that could lay on a beach towel or be placed upright in the sand.

The band’s innocent appeal survived the group’s increasingly troubled back story, whether Brian’s many personal trials, the feuds and lawsuits among band members or the alcoholism of Dennis Wilson, who drowned in 1983. Brian Wilson’s ambition raised the Beach Boys beyond the pleasures of their early hits and into a world transcendent, eccentric and destructive. They seemed to live out every fantasy, and many nightmares, of the California myth they helped create.

Brian Wilson was born June 20, 1942, two days after McCartney. His musical gifts were soon obvious, and as a boy he was playing piano and teaching his brothers to sing harmony. The Beach Boys started as a neighborhood act, rehearsing in Brian’s bedroom and in the garage of their house in suburban Hawthorne, California. Surf music, mostly instrumental in its early years, was catching on locally: Dennis Wilson, the group’s only real surfer, suggested they cash in. Brian and Love hastily wrote up their first single, “Surfin,’” a minor hit released in 1961.

They wanted to call themselves the Pendletones, in honor of a popular flannel shirt they wore in early publicity photos. But when they first saw the pressings for “Surfin,’” they discovered the record label had tagged them “The Beach Boys.” Other decisions were handled by their father, a musician of some frustration who hired himself as manager and holy terror. By mid-decade, Murry Wilson had been displaced and Brian, who had been running the band’s recording sessions almost from the start, was in charge, making the Beach Boys the rare group of the time to work without an outside producer.

Their breakthrough came in early 1963 with “Surfin’ USA,” so closely modeled on Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” that Berry successfully sued to get a songwriting credit. It was their first Top 10 hit and a boast to the nation: “If everybody had an ocean / across the USA / then everybody’d be surfin,’ / like Cali-for-nye-ay.” From 1963-66, they were rarely off the charts, hitting No. 1 with “I Get Around” and “Help Me, Rhonda” and narrowly missing with “California Girls” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” For television appearances, they wore candy-striped shirts and grinned as they mimed their latest hit, with a hot rod or surfboard nearby.

Their music echoed private differences. Wilson often contrasted his own bright falsetto with Love’s nasal, deadpan tenor. The extroverted Love was out front on the fast songs, but when it was time for a slow one, Brian took over. “The Warmth of the Sun” was a song of despair and consolation that Wilson alleged — to some skepticism — he wrote the morning after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. “Don’t Worry Baby,” a ballad equally intoxicating and heartbreaking, was a leading man’s confession of doubt and dependence, an early sign of Brian’s crippling anxieties.

Stress and exhaustion led to a breakdown in 1964 and his retirement from touring, his place soon filled by Bruce Johnston, who remained with the group for decades. Wilson was an admirer of Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” productions and emulated him on Beach Boys tracks, adding sleigh bells to “Dance, Dance, Dance” or arranging a mini-theme park of guitar, horns, percussion and organ as the overture to “California Girls.”

By the mid-1960s, the Beach Boys were being held up as the country’s answer to the Beatles, a friendly game embraced by each group, transporting pop music to the level of “art” and leaving Wilson a broken man.

The Beatles opened with “Rubber Soul,” released in late 1965 and their first studio album made without the distractions of movies or touring. It was immediately praised as a major advance, the lyrics far more personal and the music far more subtle and sophisticated than such earlier hits as “She Loves You” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” Wilson would recall getting high and listening to the record for the first time, promising himself he would not only keep up with the British band, but top them.

Wilson worked for months on what became “Pet Sounds,” and months on the single “Good Vibrations.” He hired an outside lyricist, Tony Asher, and used various studios, with dozens of musicians and instruments ranging from violins to bongos to the harpsichord. The air seemed to cool on some tracks and the mood turn reflective, autumnal. From “I Know There’s an Answer” to “You Still Believe in Me,” many of the songs were ballads, reveries, brushstrokes of melody, culminating in the sonic wonders of “Good Vibrations,” a psychedelic montage that at times sounded as if recorded in outer space.

The results were momentous, yet disappointing. “Good Vibrations” was the group’s first million-seller and “Pet Sounds,” which included the hits “Sloop John B” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” awed McCartney, John Lennon and Eric Clapton among others. Widely regarded as a new kind of rock LP, it was more suited to headphones than to the radio, a “concept” album in which individual songs built to a unified experience, so elaborately crafted in the studio that “Pet Sounds” couldn’t be replicated live with the technology of the time. Wilson was likened not just to the Beatles, but to Mozart and George Gershwin, whose “Rhapsody in Blue” had inspired him since childhood.

But the album didn’t chart as highly as previous Beach Boys releases and was treated indifferently by the U.S. record label, Capitol. The Beatles, meanwhile, were absorbing lessons from the Beach Boys and teaching some in return. “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper,” the Beatles’ next two albums, drew upon the Beach Boys’ vocal tapestries and melodic bass lines and even upon the animal sounds from the title track of “Pet Sounds.” The Beatles’ epic “A Day in the Life” reconfirmed the British band as kings of the pop world and “Sgt. Pepper” as the album to beat.

All eyes turned to Wilson and his intended masterpiece — a “teenage symphony to God” he called “Smile.” It was a whimsical cycle of songs on nature and American folklore written with lyricist Van Dyke Parks. The production bordered on method acting; for a song about fire, Wilson wore a fire helmet in the studio. The other Beach Boys were confused, and strained to work with him. A shaken Wilson delayed “Smile,” then canceled it.

Remnants, including the songs “Heroes and Villains” and “Wind Chimes” were re-recorded and issued in September 1967 on “Smiley Smile,” dismissed by Carl Wilson as a “bunt instead of a grand slam.” The stripped down “Wild Honey,” released three months later, became a critical favorite but didn’t restore the band’s reputation. The Beach Boys soon descended into an oldies act, out of touch with the radical ’60s, and Wilson withdrew into seclusion.

Years of struggle, and late life validation

Addicted to drugs and psychologically helpless, sometimes idling in a sandbox he had built in his living room, Wilson didn’t fully produce another Beach Boys record for years. Their biggest hit of the 1970s was a greatest hits album, “Endless Summer,” that also helped reestablish them as popular concert performers.

Although well enough in the 21st century to miraculously finish “Smile” and tour and record again, Wilson had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and baffled interviewers with brief and disjointed answers. Among the stranger episodes of Wilson’s life was his relationship with Dr. Eugene Landy, a psychotherapist accused of holding a Svengali-like power over him. A 1991 lawsuit from Wilson’s family blocked Landy from Wilson’s personal and business affairs.

His first marriage, to singer Marilyn Rovell, ended in divorce and he became estranged from daughters Carnie and Wendy, who would help form the pop trio Wilson Phillips. His life stabilized in 1995 with his marriage to Melinda Ledbetter, who gave birth to two more daughters, Daria and Delanie. He also reconciled with Carnie and Wendy and they sang together on the 1997 album “The Wilsons.” (Melinda Ledbetter died in 2024.)

In 1992, Brian Wilson eventually won a $10 million out-of-court settlement for lost songwriting royalties. But that victory and his 1991 autobiography, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice: My Own Story,” set off other lawsuits that tore apart the musical family.

Carl Wilson and other relatives believed the book was essentially Landy’s version of Brian’s life and questioned whether Brian had even read it. Their mother, Audree Wilson, unsuccessfully sued publisher HarperCollins because the book said she passively watched as her husband beat Brian as a child. Love successfully sued Brian Wilson, saying he was unfairly deprived of royalties after contributing lyrics to dozens of songs. He would eventually gain ownership of the band’s name.

The Beach Boys still released an occasional hit single: “Kokomo,” made without Wilson, hit No. 1 in 1988. Wilson, meanwhile, released such solo albums as “Brian Wilson” and “Gettin’ In Over My Head,” with cameos by McCartney and Clapton among others. He also completed a pair of albums for the Walt Disney label — a collection of Gershwin songs and music from Disney movies. In 2012, surviving members of the Beach Boys reunited for a 50th anniversary album, which quickly hit the Top 10 before the group again bickered and separated.

Wilson won two just competitive Grammys, for the solo instrumental “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow” and for “The Smile Sessions” box set. Otherwise, his honors ranged from a Grammy lifetime achievement prize to a tribute at the Kennedy Center to induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2018, he returned to his old high school in Hawthorne and witnessed the literal rewriting of his past: The principal erased an “F” he had been given in music and awarded him an “A.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749661501754.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22HILLEL%20ITALIE%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer</a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/brian-wilson-music-entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-6574d4bcebf3f3d98b46c3eb2593cfa5">Brian Wilson,</a>&nbsp;the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression inspired “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls” and other summertime anthems and made him one of the world’s most influential recording artists, has died at 82.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749661423740.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Wilson's family posted news of his death to his website and social media accounts Wednesday. Further details weren't immediately available. Since May 2024,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/brian-wilson-conservatorship-beach-boys-283adf3e04aef5744ac818c36131cf9e">Wilson had been under a court conservatorship</a>&nbsp;to oversee his personal and medical affairs, with Wilson’s longtime representatives, publicist Jean Sievers and manager LeeAnn Hard, in charge.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We are heartbroken to announced that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now. Please respect our privacy at this time as our family grieving. We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world. Love &amp; Mercy <a href="https://t.co/sIe7TUUdOm">pic.twitter.com/sIe7TUUdOm</a>&mdash; Brian Wilson (@BrianWilsonLive) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianWilsonLive/status/1932838576955302326?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><a href="https://www.brianwilson.com/timeline">Click here to visit t</a>he Brian Wilson web site.The eldest and last surviving of three musical brothers — Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/beach-boys-disney-documentary-wilson-love-ceb664cc94dc979f7a5f856f749a7e23">he and his fellow Beach Boys</a>&nbsp;rose in the 1960s from local California band to national hitmakers to international ambassadors of surf and sun. Wilson himself was celebrated for his gifts and pitied for his demons. He was one of rock’s great Romantics, a tormented man who in his peak years embarked on an ever-steeper path to aural perfection, the one true sound.The Beach Boys rank among the most popular groups of the rock era, with more than 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of more than 100 million. The 1966 album “Pet Sounds” was voted No. 2 in a 2003 Rolling Stone list of the best 500 albums, losing out, as Wilson had done before, to the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The Beach Boys, who also featured Wilson cousin Mike Love and childhood friend Al Jardine, were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.Wilson feuded with Love over songwriting credits, but peers otherwise adored him beyond envy, from Elton John and Bruce Springsteen to Smokey Robinson and Carole King. The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon, fantasized about joining the Beach Boys. Paul McCartney cited “Pet Sounds” as a direct inspiration on the Beatles and the ballad “God Only Knows” as among his favorite songs, often bringing him to tears.Wilson moved and fascinated fans and musicians long after he stopped having hits. In his later years, Wilson and a devoted entourage of younger musicians performed “Pet Sounds” and his restored opus, “Smile,” before worshipful crowds in concert halls. Meanwhile, The Go-Go’s, Lindsey Buckingham, Animal Collective and Janelle Monáe were among a wide range of artists who emulated him, whether as a master of crafting pop music or as a pioneer of pulling it apart.<h2>An endless summer</h2>The Beach Boys’ music was like an ongoing party, with Wilson as host and wallflower. He was a tall, shy man, partially deaf (allegedly because of beatings by his father, Murry Wilson), with a sweet, crooked grin, and he rarely touched a surfboard unless a photographer was around. But out of the lifestyle that he observed and such musical influences as Chuck Berry and the Four Freshmen, he conjured a golden soundscape — sweet melodies, shining harmonies, vignettes of beaches, cars and girls — that resonated across time and climates.Decades after its first release, a Beach Boys song can still conjure instant summer — the wake-up guitar riff that opens “Surfin’ USA”; the melting vocals of “Don’t Worry Baby”; the chants of “fun, fun, fun” or “good, good, GOOD, good vibrations”; the behind-the-wheel chorus “’Round, ’round, get around, I get around.” Beach Boys songs have endured from turntables and transistor radios to boom boxes and iPhones, or any device that could lay on a beach towel or be placed upright in the sand.The band’s innocent appeal survived the group’s increasingly troubled back story, whether Brian’s many personal trials, the feuds and lawsuits among band members or the alcoholism of Dennis Wilson, who drowned in 1983. Brian Wilson’s ambition raised the Beach Boys beyond the pleasures of their early hits and into a world transcendent, eccentric and destructive. They seemed to live out every fantasy, and many nightmares, of the California myth they helped create.<h2>From the suburbs to the national stage</h2>Brian Wilson was born June 20, 1942, two days after McCartney. His musical gifts were soon obvious, and as a boy he was playing piano and teaching his brothers to sing harmony. The Beach Boys started as a neighborhood act, rehearsing in Brian’s bedroom and in the garage of their house in suburban Hawthorne, California. Surf music, mostly instrumental in its early years, was catching on locally: Dennis Wilson, the group’s only real surfer, suggested they cash in. Brian and Love hastily wrote up their first single, “Surfin,’” a minor hit released in 1961.They wanted to call themselves the Pendletones, in honor of a popular flannel shirt they wore in early publicity photos. But when they first saw the pressings for “Surfin,’” they discovered the record label had tagged them “The Beach Boys.” Other decisions were handled by their father, a musician of some frustration who hired himself as manager and holy terror. By mid-decade, Murry Wilson had been displaced and Brian, who had been running the band’s recording sessions almost from the start, was in charge, making the Beach Boys the rare group of the time to work without an outside producer.Their breakthrough came in early 1963 with “Surfin’ USA,” so closely modeled on Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” that Berry successfully sued to get a songwriting credit. It was their first Top 10 hit and a boast to the nation: “If everybody had an ocean / across the USA / then everybody’d be surfin,’ / like Cali-for-nye-ay.” From 1963-66, they were rarely off the charts, hitting No. 1 with “I Get Around” and “Help Me, Rhonda” and narrowly missing with “California Girls” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” For television appearances, they wore candy-striped shirts and grinned as they mimed their latest hit, with a hot rod or surfboard nearby.Their music echoed private differences. Wilson often contrasted his own bright falsetto with Love’s nasal, deadpan tenor. The extroverted Love was out front on the fast songs, but when it was time for a slow one, Brian took over. “The Warmth of the Sun” was a song of despair and consolation that Wilson alleged — to some skepticism — he wrote the morning after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. “Don’t Worry Baby,” a ballad equally intoxicating and heartbreaking, was a leading man’s confession of doubt and dependence, an early sign of Brian’s crippling anxieties.Stress and exhaustion led to a breakdown in 1964 and his retirement from touring, his place soon filled by Bruce Johnston, who remained with the group for decades. Wilson was an admirer of Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” productions and emulated him on Beach Boys tracks, adding sleigh bells to “Dance, Dance, Dance” or arranging a mini-theme park of guitar, horns, percussion and organ as the overture to “California Girls.”By the mid-1960s, the Beach Boys were being held up as the country’s answer to the Beatles, a friendly game embraced by each group, transporting pop music to the level of “art” and leaving Wilson a broken man.<h2>The Beach Boys vs. The Beatles</h2>The Beatles opened with “Rubber Soul,” released in late 1965 and their first studio album made without the distractions of movies or touring. It was immediately praised as a major advance, the lyrics far more personal and the music far more subtle and sophisticated than such earlier hits as “She Loves You” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” Wilson would recall getting high and listening to the record for the first time, promising himself he would not only keep up with the British band, but top them.Wilson worked for months on what became “Pet Sounds,” and months on the single “Good Vibrations.” He hired an outside lyricist, Tony Asher, and used various studios, with dozens of musicians and instruments ranging from violins to bongos to the harpsichord. The air seemed to cool on some tracks and the mood turn reflective, autumnal. From “I Know There’s an Answer” to “You Still Believe in Me,” many of the songs were ballads, reveries, brushstrokes of melody, culminating in the sonic wonders of “Good Vibrations,” a psychedelic montage that at times sounded as if recorded in outer space.The results were momentous, yet disappointing. “Good Vibrations” was the group’s first million-seller and “Pet Sounds,” which included the hits “Sloop John B” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” awed McCartney, John Lennon and Eric Clapton among others. Widely regarded as a new kind of rock LP, it was more suited to headphones than to the radio, a “concept” album in which individual songs built to a unified experience, so elaborately crafted in the studio that “Pet Sounds” couldn’t be replicated live with the technology of the time. Wilson was likened not just to the Beatles, but to Mozart and George Gershwin, whose “Rhapsody in Blue” had inspired him since childhood.But the album didn’t chart as highly as previous Beach Boys releases and was treated indifferently by the U.S. record label, Capitol. The Beatles, meanwhile, were absorbing lessons from the Beach Boys and teaching some in return. “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper,” the Beatles’ next two albums, drew upon the Beach Boys’ vocal tapestries and melodic bass lines and even upon the animal sounds from the title track of “Pet Sounds.” The Beatles’ epic “A Day in the Life” reconfirmed the British band as kings of the pop world and “Sgt. Pepper” as the album to beat.All eyes turned to Wilson and his intended masterpiece — a “teenage symphony to God” he called “Smile.” It was a whimsical cycle of songs on nature and American folklore written with lyricist Van Dyke Parks. The production bordered on method acting; for a song about fire, Wilson wore a fire helmet in the studio. The other Beach Boys were confused, and strained to work with him. A shaken Wilson delayed “Smile,” then canceled it.Remnants, including the songs “Heroes and Villains” and “Wind Chimes” were re-recorded and issued in September 1967 on “Smiley Smile,” dismissed by Carl Wilson as a “bunt instead of a grand slam.” The stripped down “Wild Honey,” released three months later, became a critical favorite but didn’t restore the band’s reputation. The Beach Boys soon descended into an oldies act, out of touch with the radical ’60s, and Wilson withdrew into seclusion.<h2>Years of struggle, and late life validation</h2>Addicted to drugs and psychologically helpless, sometimes idling in a sandbox he had built in his living room, Wilson didn’t fully produce another Beach Boys record for years. Their biggest hit of the 1970s was a greatest hits album, “Endless Summer,” that also helped reestablish them as popular concert performers.Although well enough in the 21st century to miraculously finish “Smile” and tour and record again, Wilson had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and baffled interviewers with brief and disjointed answers. Among the stranger episodes of Wilson’s life was his relationship with Dr. Eugene Landy, a psychotherapist accused of holding a Svengali-like power over him. A 1991 lawsuit from Wilson’s family blocked Landy from Wilson’s personal and business affairs.His first marriage, to singer Marilyn Rovell, ended in divorce and he became estranged from daughters Carnie and Wendy, who would help form the pop trio Wilson Phillips. His life stabilized in 1995 with his marriage to Melinda Ledbetter, who gave birth to two more daughters, Daria and Delanie. He also reconciled with Carnie and Wendy and they sang together on the 1997 album “The Wilsons.” (Melinda Ledbetter died in 2024.)In 1992, Brian Wilson eventually won a $10 million out-of-court settlement for lost songwriting royalties. But that victory and his 1991 autobiography, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice: My Own Story,” set off other lawsuits that tore apart the musical family.Carl Wilson and other relatives believed the book was essentially Landy’s version of Brian’s life and questioned whether Brian had even read it. Their mother, Audree Wilson, unsuccessfully sued publisher HarperCollins because the book said she passively watched as her husband beat Brian as a child. Love successfully sued Brian Wilson, saying he was unfairly deprived of royalties after contributing lyrics to dozens of songs. He would eventually gain ownership of the band’s name.The Beach Boys still released an occasional hit single: “Kokomo,” made without Wilson, hit No. 1 in 1988. Wilson, meanwhile, released such solo albums as “Brian Wilson” and “Gettin’ In Over My Head,” with cameos by McCartney and Clapton among others. He also completed a pair of albums for the Walt Disney label — a collection of Gershwin songs and music from Disney movies. In 2012, surviving members of the Beach Boys reunited for a 50th anniversary album, which quickly hit the Top 10 before the group again bickered and separated.Wilson won two just competitive Grammys, for the solo instrumental “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow” and for “The Smile Sessions” box set. Otherwise, his honors ranged from a Grammy lifetime achievement prize to a tribute at the Kennedy Center to induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2018, he returned to his old high school in Hawthorne and witnessed the literal rewriting of his past: The principal erased an “F” he had been given in music and awarded him an “A.”

Brian Wilson, Beach Boys visionary leader and summer's poet laureate, dies at 82

SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas woman accused of sex crimes is due back in court Wednesday afternoon.&nbsp;

Savana King, 31, will appear in Judge William Wooley's courtroom for a preliminary hearing, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

On January 29, an 18-year-old woman reported that she had been sexually assaulted by her former softball coach Savanah King over several years, between 2021 and 2024, before she reached the age of consent, according to Wichita Police Officer Juan Rebolledo.

Police arrested King on requested charges of aggravated indecent liberties with a child; fondling, criminal sodomy with a child under the age of 14 and unlawful sexual relations, according to Sedgwick County arrest records. After spending a weekend in jail, King met the requirement of a $250,00 bond and was released from jail.

<a href="https://friendsathletics.com/sports/softball/roster/savana-king/2824">King played softball for</a>&nbsp;Friends University, according to the school's website.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739222315038.png" alt="King photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>King photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas woman accused of sex crimes is due back in court Wednesday afternoon.&nbsp;Savana King, 31, will appear in Judge William Wooley's courtroom for a preliminary hearing, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.On January 29, an 18-year-old woman reported that she had been sexually assaulted by her former softball coach Savanah King over several years, between 2021 and 2024, before she reached the age of consent, according to Wichita Police Officer Juan Rebolledo.Police arrested King on requested charges of aggravated indecent liberties with a child; fondling, criminal sodomy with a child under the age of 14 and unlawful sexual relations, according to Sedgwick County arrest records. After spending a weekend in jail, King met the requirement of a $250,00 bond and was released from jail.<a href="https://friendsathletics.com/sports/softball/roster/savana-king/2824">King played softball for</a>&nbsp;Friends University, according to the school's website.

Preliminary hearing: Former softball coach in Kan. accused of sex crimes 

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;announced Wednesday that China will make it easier for American industry to obtain much-needed needed magnets and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rare-earths-trump-tariffs-china-trade-war-effd6a7ec64b5830df9d3c76ab9b607a">rare earth minerals</a>, clearing the way for talks to continue between the world's two biggest economies. In return, Trump said, the U.S. will stop efforts to revoke the visas of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/international-students-visas-trump-guidance-social-media-a1f5180ce83560aff66dd65534906697">Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses</a>.

Trump’s comment on social media came after two days of high-level U.S.-China trade talks in London.

Details remain scarce. Trump didn't fully spell out what concessions the U.S. made. Beijing has not confirmed what the negotiators agreed to, and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump himself have yet to sign off on it.

What Trump described as a “deal’’ is actually less than that: It’s a “framework’’ meant to set the stage for more substantive talks.

And Trump's own comments created confusion about what was happening to his taxes - tariffs — on Chinese imports, generating uncertainty about more than $660 billion in annual trade between the two countries.

On social media, Trump declared: “WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!” But a White House official, who was not authorized to discuss the terms publicly and insisted on anonymity to describe them, said the 55% was not an increase on the previous 30% tariff on China because Trump was including pre-existing tariffs, including some left over from his first term.

“We have no idea what the rules are,″ said Rick Woldenberg, CEO of the educational toy company Learning Resources, who is part of a lawsuit challenging Trump’s authority to impose the tariffs.

In a follow-up social media post, Trump said he and Xi "are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!”

The framework emerged late Tuesday in London after intense talks involving U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer. Leading the Chinese delegation was Vice Premier He Lifeng.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has deployed tariffs aggressively, seeing them as a way to raise money for the federal government, protect American industries, lure factories back to the United States and pressure other countries into bending to his will.

He has imposed baseline 10% tariffs on imports from almost every country on earth after having introduced and then suspended for 90 days bigger tariffs on countries based on the size of U.S. trade deficits last year.

To American trading partners and to businesses calculating their import tax bills, the president's mercurial approach to trade policy can be baffling. For example, he recently doubled his steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%, likely increasing costs for U.S. manufacturers and construction companies that rely on the metals as raw materials.

Likewise, he threatened a 50% tariff on the European Union under the belief that it would jumpstart talks with the bloc, only to back down as his self-imposed 90-day negotiating period is set to expire around July 9.

But his approach to China has been especially bewildering. After imposing a 20% tariff on Chinese imports, the American president quickly upped the ante, raising the levy to 54% to offset what he said were China’s unfair trade practices. Then, enraged when China retaliated with tariffs of its own, he increased those levies to a staggering 145%. Beijing counterpunched with 125% tariffs on U.S. imports.

Those triple-digit tariffs threatened to effectively end trade between the United States and China, causing a hair-raising selloff in financial markets. At a meeting in Geneva last month, the two countries agreed to back off: America's tariffs went back down to a still-high 30% and China's to 10%.

In April, the Chinese announced licensing requirements that slowed the supply of desperately needed rare earth minerals to the United States. Furious about the move, Trump threatened to call off the Geneva arrangement, setting the stage for talks Monday and Tuesday in London. And there the Chinese agreed to speed up the rare earths shipments.

The agreement came as an international rights group said that several global brands are among dozens of companies at risk of using forced labor through their Chinese supply chains because they use critical minerals or buy minerals-based products sourced from the far-western Xinjiang region of China.

The report by the Netherlands-based Global Rights Compliance says companies including Avon, Walmart, Nescafe, Coca-Cola and Sherwin-Williams may be linked to titanium sourced from Xinjiang, where rights groups allege the Chinese government runs coercive labor practices targeting&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-business-china-asia-beijing-d73f6a5b82a58209480f5aa010895100">predominantly Muslim Uyghurs</a>&nbsp;and other Turkic minorities.

Many analysts complained that all the drama hadn't accomplished much.

Dan Kritenbrink, who was assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Biden administration, said the London meeting produced “a fragile truce.”

“Both sides have now demonstrated that they know where the other’s weak points are,” said Kritenbank, now a partner at the Asia Group. "They demonstrated that they both have leverage and tools they can use to inflict damage on the other.''

The Chinese know that when it comes to rare earths they “can turn that spigot on and off at will... They really have incredible leverage over the United States in the global economy with rare earths, and they’re not afraid to use it.''

Still, he welcomed the London ceasefire because "the alternative is no truce at all, and a supply chain war that threatens not just U.S. and Chinese economies but the global economy as well.”

Danny Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Trump’s latest pressure campaign on China appeared to “be ending with a whimper, not a bang.”

“The U.S. found it needed to back off the restrictions it had thought would generate leverage,'' he said, "and in exchange, they get merely a promise by the Chinese to dole out critical minerals a bit more quickly.”

Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, dismissed the London truce as "a handshake deal ... It can change at any time.''

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749643693613.png" alt="White House photo President Trump on his way to Fort Bragg on Tuesday" />
 <figcaption>White House photo President Trump on his way to Fort Bragg on Tuesday</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;announced Wednesday that China will make it easier for American industry to obtain much-needed needed magnets and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rare-earths-trump-tariffs-china-trade-war-effd6a7ec64b5830df9d3c76ab9b607a">rare earth minerals</a>, clearing the way for talks to continue between the world's two biggest economies. In return, Trump said, the U.S. will stop efforts to revoke the visas of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/international-students-visas-trump-guidance-social-media-a1f5180ce83560aff66dd65534906697">Chinese nationals on U.S. college campuses</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">It was fantastic to team up with Secretary Scott Bessent and Ambassador Jamieson Greer. World-class team delivering world-class results for America. <a href="https://t.co/hWxj1xyNv9">pic.twitter.com/hWxj1xyNv9</a>&mdash; Howard Lutnick (@howardlutnick) <a href="https://twitter.com/howardlutnick/status/1932788379080392886?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Trump’s comment on social media came after two days of high-level U.S.-China trade talks in London.Details remain scarce. Trump didn't fully spell out what concessions the U.S. made. Beijing has not confirmed what the negotiators agreed to, and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump himself have yet to sign off on it.What Trump described as a “deal’’ is actually less than that: It’s a “framework’’ meant to set the stage for more substantive talks.And Trump's own comments created confusion about what was happening to his taxes - tariffs — on Chinese imports, generating uncertainty about more than $660 billion in annual trade between the two countries.On social media, Trump declared: “WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!” But a White House official, who was not authorized to discuss the terms publicly and insisted on anonymity to describe them, said the 55% was not an increase on the previous 30% tariff on China because Trump was including pre-existing tariffs, including some left over from his first term.“We have no idea what the rules are,″ said Rick Woldenberg, CEO of the educational toy company Learning Resources, who is part of a lawsuit challenging Trump’s authority to impose the tariffs.In a follow-up social media post, Trump said he and Xi "are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade. This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!”The framework emerged late Tuesday in London after intense talks involving U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer. Leading the Chinese delegation was Vice Premier He Lifeng.Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has deployed tariffs aggressively, seeing them as a way to raise money for the federal government, protect American industries, lure factories back to the United States and pressure other countries into bending to his will.He has imposed baseline 10% tariffs on imports from almost every country on earth after having introduced and then suspended for 90 days bigger tariffs on countries based on the size of U.S. trade deficits last year.To American trading partners and to businesses calculating their import tax bills, the president's mercurial approach to trade policy can be baffling. For example, he recently doubled his steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%, likely increasing costs for U.S. manufacturers and construction companies that rely on the metals as raw materials.Likewise, he threatened a 50% tariff on the European Union under the belief that it would jumpstart talks with the bloc, only to back down as his self-imposed 90-day negotiating period is set to expire around July 9.But his approach to China has been especially bewildering. After imposing a 20% tariff on Chinese imports, the American president quickly upped the ante, raising the levy to 54% to offset what he said were China’s unfair trade practices. Then, enraged when China retaliated with tariffs of its own, he increased those levies to a staggering 145%. Beijing counterpunched with 125% tariffs on U.S. imports.Those triple-digit tariffs threatened to effectively end trade between the United States and China, causing a hair-raising selloff in financial markets. At a meeting in Geneva last month, the two countries agreed to back off: America's tariffs went back down to a still-high 30% and China's to 10%.In April, the Chinese announced licensing requirements that slowed the supply of desperately needed rare earth minerals to the United States. Furious about the move, Trump threatened to call off the Geneva arrangement, setting the stage for talks Monday and Tuesday in London. And there the Chinese agreed to speed up the rare earths shipments.The agreement came as an international rights group said that several global brands are among dozens of companies at risk of using forced labor through their Chinese supply chains because they use critical minerals or buy minerals-based products sourced from the far-western Xinjiang region of China.The report by the Netherlands-based Global Rights Compliance says companies including Avon, Walmart, Nescafe, Coca-Cola and Sherwin-Williams may be linked to titanium sourced from Xinjiang, where rights groups allege the Chinese government runs coercive labor practices targeting&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-business-china-asia-beijing-d73f6a5b82a58209480f5aa010895100">predominantly Muslim Uyghurs</a>&nbsp;and other Turkic minorities.Many analysts complained that all the drama hadn't accomplished much.Dan Kritenbrink, who was assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Biden administration, said the London meeting produced “a fragile truce.”“Both sides have now demonstrated that they know where the other’s weak points are,” said Kritenbank, now a partner at the Asia Group. "They demonstrated that they both have leverage and tools they can use to inflict damage on the other.''The Chinese know that when it comes to rare earths they “can turn that spigot on and off at will... They really have incredible leverage over the United States in the global economy with rare earths, and they’re not afraid to use it.''Still, he welcomed the London ceasefire because "the alternative is no truce at all, and a supply chain war that threatens not just U.S. and Chinese economies but the global economy as well.”Danny Russel, vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Trump’s latest pressure campaign on China appeared to “be ending with a whimper, not a bang.”“The U.S. found it needed to back off the restrictions it had thought would generate leverage,'' he said, "and in exchange, they get merely a promise by the Chinese to dole out critical minerals a bit more quickly.”Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, dismissed the London truce as "a handshake deal ... It can change at any time.''___

Trump shares good news on China trade deal, tariffs 

KANSAS CITY —One person was injured in a crash just before 12:30p.m. Tuesday in Kansas City.

The crash occurred&nbsp;near 1700 NE. Parvin Road, according to Kansas Fire Department Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins. 

An SUV with a single occupant struck the O'Reilly Auto Parts store causing significant damage to the building.&nbsp; EMS transported the driver to a local hospital for evaluation out of precaution, according to Hopkins.

&nbsp;No other injuries were reported at this incident. The tow truck company was able to safely remove the vehicle.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749592547837.png" alt="Photos KCFD" />
 <figcaption>Photos KCFD</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —One person was injured in a crash just before 12:30p.m. Tuesday in Kansas City.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749592567556.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The crash occurred&nbsp;near 1700 NE. Parvin Road, according to Kansas Fire Department Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins. An SUV with a single occupant struck the O'Reilly Auto Parts store causing significant damage to the building.&nbsp; EMS transported the driver to a local hospital for evaluation out of precaution, according to Hopkins.&nbsp;No other injuries were reported at this incident. The tow truck company was able to safely remove the vehicle.&nbsp;

One hospitalized after SUV slams into KC auto parts store

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A man accused in a fatal hit-and-run that killed a bicyclist is due in court Wednesday 

Christopher Johnson, 23, will appear before Judge Eric Williams for an arraignment hearing, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

In August, police responded to a traffic collision involving a vehicle and an electric bicycle at 2400 N. Hoover in Wichita, according to Officer Juan Rebolledo.

First responders found 43-year-old Thomas Doyle of Wichita who was riding the bike unresponsive. Thomas was later pronounced deceased at the scene by Sedgwick County EMS.

Investigators determined Doyle was northbound on Hoover when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Johnsaon that then continued driving north.

On August 22, police arrested Johnson on felony allegations, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/InmateSearch/Details.aspx?Id=751504">Sedgwick County booking records.</a>&nbsp; He bonded out of jail the following day.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1724409391079.png" alt="Johnson-photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Johnson-photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—A man accused in a fatal hit-and-run that killed a bicyclist is due in court Wednesday Christopher Johnson, 23, will appear before Judge Eric Williams for an arraignment hearing, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.In August, police responded to a traffic collision involving a vehicle and an electric bicycle at 2400 N. Hoover in Wichita, according to Officer Juan Rebolledo.First responders found 43-year-old Thomas Doyle of Wichita who was riding the bike unresponsive. Thomas was later pronounced deceased at the scene by Sedgwick County EMS.Investigators determined Doyle was northbound on Hoover when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Johnsaon that then continued driving north.On August 22, police arrested Johnson on felony allegations, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/InmateSearch/Details.aspx?Id=751504">Sedgwick County booking records.</a>&nbsp; He bonded out of jail the following day.

Kansas man back in court for fatal hit-and-run that killed bicyclist

WASHINGTON (AP)—Elon Musk stepped back from his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-their-own-words-c0108037881469f0b5bdd8df87eba6b4">explosive feud</a>&nbsp;with U.S. President Donald Trump,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1932695486684950962">writing on X</a>&nbsp;that he regrets some of his posts about his onetime ally and that they went “too far.”

Early Wednesday morning, he&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1932695486684950962">posted</a>&nbsp;“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”

Musk's break with a president whom he spent hundreds of millions of dollars to elect appeared to put an end to his influence in the White House and prompted concerns about effects on his companies. As a major government contractor, Musk’s businesses could be&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-tesla-spacex-starlink-social-media-63bb732f2ce6ad3744f24762526286c3">particularly vulnerable</a>&nbsp;to retribution, and Trump has already&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-their-own-words-c0108037881469f0b5bdd8df87eba6b4">threatened</a>&nbsp;to cut Musk’s contracts.

Musk earlier deleted a post in which he claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president’s association with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epstein-files-assassination-trump-fbi-conspiracies-aaeb07814bb8b6b3fe595f5b68e4163a">infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein</a>. Meanwhile, other posts that irritated Trump, including ones in which Musk called the spending bill an “abomination” and claimed credit for Trump’s election victory, remained live.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/5/1748629615367.png" alt="File image Elon Musk from White House video" />
 <figcaption>File image Elon Musk from White House video</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP)—Elon Musk stepped back from his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-their-own-words-c0108037881469f0b5bdd8df87eba6b4">explosive feud</a>&nbsp;with U.S. President Donald Trump,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1932695486684950962">writing on X</a>&nbsp;that he regrets some of his posts about his onetime ally and that they went “too far.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I regret some of my posts about President <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> last week. They went too far.&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1932695486684950962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Early Wednesday morning, he&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1932695486684950962">posted</a>&nbsp;“I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far.”Musk's break with a president whom he spent hundreds of millions of dollars to elect appeared to put an end to his influence in the White House and prompted concerns about effects on his companies. As a major government contractor, Musk’s businesses could be&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-tesla-spacex-starlink-social-media-63bb732f2ce6ad3744f24762526286c3">particularly vulnerable</a>&nbsp;to retribution, and Trump has already&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-their-own-words-c0108037881469f0b5bdd8df87eba6b4">threatened</a>&nbsp;to cut Musk’s contracts.Musk earlier deleted a post in which he claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president’s association with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epstein-files-assassination-trump-fbi-conspiracies-aaeb07814bb8b6b3fe595f5b68e4163a">infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein</a>. Meanwhile, other posts that irritated Trump, including ones in which Musk called the spending bill an “abomination” and claimed credit for Trump’s election victory, remained live.On Sunday, Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker that he has no desire to repair their relationship and warned that Musk could face “&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vance-elon-musk-theo-von-fd6f6af0b147d129836c243df31a7fc2">serious consequences</a>&nbsp;” if he tries to help Democrats in upcoming elections.