These Canadian rocks may be the oldest on Earth

These Canadian rocks may be the oldest on Earth

By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN AP Science Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists have identified what could be the oldest rocks on Earth from a rock formation in Canada.

The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt has long been known for its ancient rocks — plains of streaked gray stone on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in Quebec. But researchers disagree on exactly how old they are.

Work from two decades ago suggested the rocks could be 4.3 billion years old, placing them in the earliest period of Earth’s history. But other scientists using a different dating method contested the finding, arguing that long-ago contaminants were skewing the rocks’ age and that they were actually slightly younger at 3.8 billion years old.

Scientists say they’ve extracted some of the oldest rocks on Earth from a rock formation in northern Quebec. The rocks have been placed at approximately 4.16 billion years old during the Hadean-age and could offer new insights into the start of life on the planet. (AP Video)

In the new study, researchers sampled a different section of rock from the belt and estimated its age using the previous two dating techniques — measuring how one radioactive element decays into another over time. The result: The rocks were about 4.16 billion years old.

The different methods “gave exactly the same age,” said study author Jonathan O’Neil with the University of Ottawa.

The new research was published Thursday in the journal Science.

Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago from a collapsing cloud of dust and gas soon after the solar system existed. Primordial rocks often get melted and recycled by Earth’s moving tectonic plates, making them extremely rare on the surface today. Scientists have uncovered 4 billion-year-old rocks from another formation in Canada called the Acasta Gneiss Complex, but the Nuvvuagittuq rocks could be even older.

Studying rocks from Earth’s earliest history could give a glimpse into how the planet may have looked — how its roiling magma oceans gave way to tectonic plates — and even how life got started.

“To have a sample of what was going on on Earth way back then is really valuable,” said Mark Reagan with the University of Iowa, who studies volcanic rocks and lava and was not involved with the new study.

The rock formation is on tribal Inukjuak lands and the local Inuit community has temporarily restricted scientists from taking samples from the site due to damage from previous visits.

After some geologists visited the site, large chunks of rock were missing and the community noticed pieces for sale online, said Tommy Palliser, who manages the land with the Pituvik Landholding Corp. The Inuit community wants to work with scientists to set up a provincial park that would protect the land while allowing researchers to study it.

“There’s a lot of interest for these rocks, which we understand,” said Palliser, a member of the community. “We just don’t want any more damage.”

___

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

More refunds are being sent to Fortnite players ‘tricked’ into unwanted purchases. How you can apply

More refunds are being sent to Fortnite players ‘tricked’ into unwanted purchases. How you can apply

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is sending out the latest round of refunds to consumers it says were “tricked” into purchases they didn’t want from Fortnite maker Epic Games — and eligible players who haven’t been compensated yet still have time to apply.

In an announcement this week, the FTC said it was distributing more than 969,000 refunds totaling over $126 million to consumers on Wednesday and Thursday. That follows the regulator’s first round of payments amounting to more than $72 million, which went out in December 2024.

The refunds are part of a $520 million settlement that Epic agreed to pay back in 2022 — to address complaints revolving around children’s privacy and payment methods on its popular Fortnite video game. At the time, the FTC had alleged that the gaming giant used deceptive online design tactics to trick Fortnite players, including children, into making unintended purchases “based on the press of a single button.”

Consumers could be charged while doing something as simple as attempting the wake the game from sleep mode, for example, or by pressing a nearby button when trying to preview an item, the agency said. The FTC also accused Epic of blocking some users who disputed the charges from accessing the content they purchased.

Beyond a $275 million fine related to collecting personal information for players under the age of 13, the settlement, which was finalized in 2023, included $245 million in customer refunds. Between December’s payments and the refunds sent out this week, about $198 million of that has been sent out — leaving roughly $47 million left to be distributed.

The latest refunds are being doled out to consumers who filed a valid claim before Feb. 14 — meaning that any claims filed after that date are still under review, according to the FTC.

And the FTC also says it’s reopening the claims process. Eligible consumers who have not been compensated yet now have until July 9 to file a claim.

If accepted, the refunds come in the form of checks or PayPal payments. To apply and learn more about the settlement, users should visit the FTC’s website. People who are eligible for these payouts include Fortnite players who were charged in-game currency for items they didn’t want or saw their account locked after complaining to a credit card company about wrongful charges between January 2017 and September 2022 — as well as parents whose kids made charges on their credit cards without their knowledge from January 2018 through November 2018.

The Associated Press reached out to Epic for comment on Thursday. At the time the settlement was announced in December 2022, Epic said it accepted the agreement because it wanted “to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.” The Cary, North Carolina-based company added that it was already rolling out changes “to ensure our ecosystem meets the expectations of our players and regulators, which we hope will be a helpful guide for others in our industry.”

US stocks climb to the brink of a record

US stocks climb to the brink of a record

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is rising toward the brink of another record.

The S&P 500 was 0.7% higher in afternoon trading and just 0.2% below its all-time high, which was set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 349 points, or 0.8%, as of 1:05 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% higher.

McCormick, the seller of cooking spices, helped lead the way and rallied 5% after delivering a better-than-expected profit report. The company also gave a forecast for profit over its full fiscal year that topped analysts’ expectations, including planned efforts to offset increased costs caused by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Over the longer term, it’s been big technology stocks that have led the market for years and since the S&P 500 fell roughly 20% below its record during the spring on worries about tariffs.

Chip company Nvidia, which has been the poster child of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, added 0.8%. It’s the most valuable company in the U.S. stock market after rushing 61% higher since the market hit a bottom on April 8, towering over the S&P 500’s gain of 23%. Another AI darling, Super Micro Computer, rose 5.3% to bring its gain since April 8 to more than 50%.

Micron Technology, which sells computer memory and data storage, swung between gains and losses after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said it’s seeing AI-driven memory demand, and the company gave a forecast for profit in the current quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. Its stock was most recently down 1.8%.

Wall Street’s worries about Trump’s tariffs have receded since the president shocked the world in April with stiff proposed levies, but they have not disappeared. The wait is still on to see how big the tariffs will ultimately be, how much they will hurt the economy and how much they will push up inflation.

The economy so far seems to be holding up OK, though slowing, and more reports arrived on Thursday bolstering that. One said that orders for washing machines and other manufactured goods that last at least three years grew by more last month than economists expected. A second said fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, a potential signal of fewer layoffs.

A third report said the U.S. economy shrank by more during the first three months of 2025 than earlier estimated. But many economists say those numbers got distorted by how many U.S. companies rushed early this year to buy foreign products ahead of tariffs, and they’re expecting a better performance in upcoming months.

Following the reports, Treasury yields swiveled up and down in the bond market, but they ultimately did not move very much.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.27% from 4.29% late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, held steady at 3.74%.

Analysts said yields may be feeling downward pressure because of a report from The Wall Street Journal saying Trump could name his nominee to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell unusually early, in an attempt to undermine him. That could hurt confidence among investors about the Fed’s capability to make unpopular decisions when it comes to fighting inflation.

Powell has been repeating recently that the Federal Reserve is waiting to see how tariffs will affect the economy before deciding when to resume cutting interest rates. It has been on pause this year because lower rates can help give inflation more fuel, along with giving the economy a boost.

Trump, though, has been adamant about wanting cuts to rates sooner and has insulted Powell repeatedly. Two of his appointees to the Fed have also said recently that they would consider cutting rates as soon as the Fed’s next meeting in about a month.

“Yields fell, the dollar weakened, and break evens rose, all suggesting that a puppet of the White House in the seat of the Chair could be bad for inflation,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. But Jacobsen said decisions on interest rates would still rest with a committee of Fed officials, not just the chair, and other officials could possibly keep the new leader “in check if needed.”

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.6%, and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.9% for two of the bigger moves.

In the oil market, which has been the center of much of this week’s action, crude prices made up a bit more ground after plunging earlier this week. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 1.8% to $66.09, though it still remains below where it was when Israel’s war with Iran began.

___

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

College graduates face toughest job market in more than a decade as hiring slows

College graduates face toughest job market in more than a decade as hiring slows

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — While completing a master’s degree in data analysis, Palwasha Zahid moved from Dallas to a town near Silicon Valley. The location made it easy to visit the campuses of tech stalwarts such as Google, Apple, and Nvidia.

Zahid, 25, completed her studies in December, but so far she hasn’t found a job in the industry that surrounds her.

“It stings a little bit,” she said. “I never imagined it would be this difficult just to get a foot in the door.”

Young people graduating from college this spring and summer are facing one of the toughest job markets in more than a decade. The unemployment rate for degree holders ages 22 to 27 has reached its highest level in a dozen years, excluding the coronavirus pandemic. Joblessness among that group is now higher than the overall unemployment rate, and the gap is larger than it has been in more than three decades.

The rise in unemployment has worried many economists as well as officials at the Federal Reserve because it could be an early sign of trouble for the economy. It suggests businesses are holding off on hiring new workers because of rampant uncertainty stemming from the Trump administration’s tariff increases, which could slow growth.

“Young people are bearing the brunt of a lot of economic uncertainty,” Brad Hersbein, senior economist at the Upjohn Institute, a labor-focused think tank, said. “The people that you often are most hesitant in hiring when economic conditions are uncertain are entry-level positions.”

The growth of artifical intelligence may be playing an additional role by eating away at positions for beginners in white-collar professions such as information technology, finance, and law.

Higher unemployment for younger graduates has also renewed concerns about the value of a college degree. More workers than ever have a four-year degree, which makes it less of a distinguishing factor in job applications. Murat Tasci, an economist at JPMorgan, calculates that 45% of workers have a four-year degree, up from 26% in 1992.

While the difficulty of finding work has demoralized young people like Zahid, most economists argue that holding a college degree still offers clear lifetime benefits. Graduates earn higher pay and experience much less unemployment over their lifetimes.

The overall U.S. unemployment rate is a still-low 4.2%, and the government’s monthly jobs reports show the economy is generating modest job gains. But the additional jobs are concentrated in health care, government, and restaurants and hotels. Job gains in professions with more college grads, such as information technology, legal services, and accounting have languished in the past 12 months.

The unemployment rate has stayed low mostly because layoffs are still relatively rare. The actual hiring rate — new hires as a percentage of all jobs — has fallen to 2014 levels, when the unemployment rate was much higher, at 6.2%. Economists call it a no-hire, no-fire economy.

For college graduates 22 to 27 years old, the unemployment rate was 5.8% in March — the highest, excluding the pandemic, since 2012, and far above the nationwide rate.

Lexie Lindo, 23, saw how reluctant companies were to hire while applying for more than 100 jobs last summer and fall after graduating from Clark Atlanta University with a business degree and 3.8 GPA. She had several summer internships in fields such as logistics and real estate while getting her degree, but no offer came.

“Nobody was taking interviews or responding back to any applications that I filled out,” Lindo, who is from Auburn, Georgia, said. “My resume is full, there’s no gaps or anything. Every summer I’m doing something. It’s just, ‘OK, so what else are you looking for?’”

She has returned to Clark for a master’s program in supply chain studies and has an internship this summer at a Fortune 500 company in Austin, Texas. She’s hopeful it will lead to a job next year.

Artificial intelligence could be a culprit, particularly in IT. Matthew Martin, senior U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, has calculated that employment for college graduates 28 and above in computer science and mathematical occupations has increased a slight 0.8% since 2022. For those ages 22 to 27, it has fallen 8%, according to Martin.

Company announcements have further fueled concerns. Tobi Lutke, CEO of online commerce software company Shopify, said in an April memo that before requesting new hires, “teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI.”

Last week, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said AI would likely reduce the company’s corporate work force over the next few years.

“We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” Jassy said in a message to employees. “We expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce as we get efficiency gains from using AI extensively across the company.”

Zahid worries that AI is hurting her chances. She remembers seeing big billboard ads for AI at the San Francisco airport that asked, “Why hire a human when you could use AI?”

Still, many economists argue that blaming AI is premature. Most companies are in the early stages of adopting the technology.

Professional networking platform LinkedIn categorized occupations based on their exposure to AI and did not see big hiring differences between professions where AI was more prevalent and where it wasn’t, said Kory Kantenga, the firm’s head of economics for the Americas.

“We don’t see any broad-based evidence that AI is having a disproportionate impact in the labor market or even a disproportionate impact on younger workers versus older workers,” Kantenga said.

He added that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have also slowed hiring in tech. Many IT firms expanded when the Fed pinned its short-term rate at nearly zero after the pandemic. In 2022, the Fed began cranking up rates to combat inflation, which made it harder to borrow and grow.

In fact, IT’s hiring spree when rates were low — fueled by millions of Americans ramping up their online shopping and video conferencing — left many firms with too many workers, economists say.

Cory Stahle, an economist at the job-listings website Indeed, says postings for software development jobs, for example, have fallen 40% compared with four years ago. It’s a sharp shift for students who began studying computer science when hiring was near its peak.

Zahid, who lives in Dublin, California, has experienced this whiplash firsthand. When she entered college in 2019, her father, who is a network engineer, encouraged her to study IT and said it would be easy for her to get a job in the field.

She initially studied psychology but decided she wanted something more hands-on and gravitated to data analysis. Her husband, 33, has a software development job, and friends of hers in IT received immediate job offers upon graduation a few years ago. Such rapid hiring seems to have disappeared now, she said.

She has her college diploma, but hasn’t hung it up yet.

“I will put it up when I actually get a job, confirming that it was worth it all,” she said.

___

AP Writer Matt Sedensky in New York contributed to this report.

Record-breaking holiday travel expected in NC this Fourth of July

Record-breaking holiday travel expected in NC this Fourth of July

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) – Carolina roads and runways are about to get crowded–motor club AAA says a record-breaking 2.3 million North Carolinians are expected to travel this Fourth of July, which is around 80,000 more than last year. Tiffany Wright of the AAA Carolinas in Charlotte says this Fourth of July holiday travel period is a nine day period.

“The trends that we’ve been seeing over the last few years and how people have been leaving earlier to get to their destinations…because we’re seeing more and more of an increase in folks leaving earlier that’s why we extended the forecast,” said Wright.

For those traveling this week, it’s difficult to tell when the busiest times on the road will be as road congestion changes every year.

“I think a busy day is going to be Saturday, June 28–again this is a nine day period forecast we’re talking about–so I think we’ll see a lot more ebbs and flows,” said Wright.

For many traveling between the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. is considered to be ‘rush hour’ traffic. Wright believes the worst traveling time on any day during this period would be between noon and 5 p.m.

According to the AAA of the Carolinas, from a standpoint of just wanting to get to your destination, you are more likely to get there in a safer manner if you don’t travel during that rush hour time frame.

“Sometimes you just can’t help it when it comes to holiday travel, but if you can avoid the afternoon to early evening times that’s going to help you out as far as saving some time on the roads,” said Wright. “Make sure you’re giving yourself plenty of time to reach your destination.”

People in North Carolina tend to take this time to travel all over the state, the coast, the country and even internationally. Wright says there are many places people could possibly be traveling to during this travel period.

“Orlando is still big, Seattle, New York, Alaska continues to be one of our top destinations–usually in the top five–as people are looking to take Alaskan Cruises, Florida’s very busy–Miami and Fort Lauderdale–and if we move out west and look at Denver, Colorado that’s also a popular place,” said Moreton. “If we’re looking at international travel, folks are excited about going to Rome, Paris, London and Barcelona.”

Most travelers are sticking to the road this Fourth of July, with over two million expected to drive—while others will pack airports, hop on trains or even set sail for the holiday.

States can cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court rules

States can cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court rules

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court allowed states to cut off Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood in a ruling handed down Thursday amid a wider Republican-backed push to defund the country’s biggest abortion provider.

The 6-3 opinion comes in a case that wasn’t directly about abortion. It’s instead about Medicaid funding for other health care services Planned Parenthood provides, like contraception, cancer screenings and pregnancy testing.

The ruling authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch and joined by the rest of the court’s conservatives could have broader implications for Medicaid patients because it blocks them from suing to make sure they can visit the provider they choose.

Public health care money generally can’t be used to pay for abortions. Medicaid patients go to Planned Parenthood for other needs in part because it can be tough to find a doctor who takes the publicly funded insurance, the organization has said.

South Carolina’s Republican governor says no taxpayer money should go the organization. The budget bill backed by President Donald Trump in Congress would also cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. That could force the closure of about 200 centers, most of them in states where abortion is legal, the organization has said.

Gov. Henry McMaster first moved to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood in 2018 but was blocked in court after a lawsuit from a patient named Julie Edwards. Edwards wanted to keep going there for birth control because her diabetes makes pregnancy potentially dangerous, so she sued over a provision in Medicaid law that allows patients to choose their own qualified provider.

South Carolina, though, argued that patients shouldn’t be able to file those lawsuits. The state pointed to lower courts that have been swayed by similar arguments and allowed states such as Texas to block Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood.

The high court majority agreed. “Deciding whether to permit private enforcement poses delicate policy questions involving competing costs and benefits — decisions for elected representatives, not judges,” Gorsuch wrote.

In a dissent joined by her liberal colleagues, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the ruling is “likely to result in tangible harm to real people.”

“It will strip those South Carolinians — and countless other Medicaid recipients around the country — of a deeply personal freedom: the ‘ability to decide who treats us at our most vulnerable,'” she wrote.

Public health groups like the American Cancer Society said in court papers that lawsuits are the only real way that Medicaid patients have been able to enforce their right to choose their own doctor. Losing that right would reduce access to health care for people on the program, which is estimated to include one-quarter of everyone in the country. Rural areas could be especially affected, advocates said in court papers.

In South Carolina, $90,000 in Medicaid funding goes to Planned Parenthood every year, a tiny fraction of the state’s total Medicaid spending. The state banned abortion at about six weeks’ gestation after the high court overturned it as a nationwide right in 2022. The state says other providers can fill a health care void left by Planned Parenthood’s removal from Medicaid.

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Photo by Getty Images

Vegetarian French Onion Soup Recipe from Food With Feeling

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 70 minutes

Serving size: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds yellow onions, about 5 large, peeled and sliced (I cut mine in half and then slice them into half moons)
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons butter, use vegan where applicable
  • 1 teaspoon sugar, you can use coconut sugar here if you’d prefer
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 8 cups vegetable broth
  • ½ cup red wine
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, can use dried if desired
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 slices French bread, or something similar, cut into thick slices
  • 1 cup Gruyere cheese, freshly grated (optional or sub for vegan cheese)

Directions

  1. In a large pot, heat the olive over medium high heat. Once hot, add in the sliced onions and begin to caramelize. Cook, stirring often, until the onions start to soften, about 20 minutes.
  2. Add in the butter and continue to cook the onions until they begin to brown, about 15-20 additional minutes. Really watch it and adjust the heat if the onions are starting to burn at all. You want them to slowly cook so that they brown slowly.
  3. Stir in the sugar and salt and continue cooking for 15 more minutes until the onions become well browned. During the last couple of minutes, add in the garlic and continue to stir.
  4. Deglaze the pot by stirring in the red wine and use a wooden spoon to scrap any bits and flavor from the sides and bottom of the pot. Stir in the veggie broth, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, thyme, and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes. Stir every few minutes.
  5. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Brush or spray the slices of bread with oil or cooking spray and place on a baking sheet. Toast for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through. You want the bread to be lightly toasted. Once done, set aside.
  6. Season soup to taste with additional salt and pepper as needed. Ladle the soup into oven proof bowls, top with the toasted bread, and even sprinkle the cheese across the 4 bowls. Place the bowls on a large baking tray and broil in the oven until the cheese is melted and bubbling around the sides.
  7. Serve immediately.
Cooper Flagg the new Maine man for the Mavericks as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft

Cooper Flagg the new Maine man for the Mavericks as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft

By BRIAN MAHONEY AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Cooper Flagg is the new Maine man in Dallas.

The Mavericks took the Duke forward with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Wednesday night, hoping they have found their next franchise superstar less than five months after trading one away.

Mavericks fans were furious when Dallas traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 1, some immediately threatening to end their support of the team.

But the ones who stuck around may quickly love Flagg, the college player of the year who averaged 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds while leading Duke to the Final Four. The Mavericks quickly announced that Flagg would wear No. 32 in Dallas, where fellow Duke products Kyrie Irving and Dereck Lively II are on the roster.

“I’m really excited. I think I keep saying I’m excited to be a sponge, to get down there and just learn, be surrounded by Hall of Fame-caliber guys and just to be able to learn from them,” Flagg said. “It’s going to be an incredible experience.”

His selection — considered likely ever since Flagg showed off his considerable game last summer after being invited to the U.S. Olympic team’s training camp — was a daylong celebration in his home state for the 18-year-old forward from Newport, Maine.

“It means a lot to me to have the support of the whole state. I know how many people showed up today and supported me at some of the draft parties back home,” Flagg said. “It feels amazing knowing I can inspire younger kids. I was in their shoes really not that long ago, so just to know I can give those kids those feelings and have the whole state behind me, it means a lot.”

He joined Elton Brand, Irving, Zion Williamson and Paolo Banchero as Duke players drafted No. 1 since 1999, and he returned the draft to its longtime start with a one-and-done college player.

That’s the way the draft began every year from 2010 until Banchero’s selection in 2022, but the last two No. 1 picks, Victor Wembanyama and Zaccherie Risacher, are both from France.

Rutgers freshman Dylan Harper was taken by the Spurs with the No. 2 pick and will try to follow Wembanyama and Stephon Castle and give San Antonio a third straight NBA Rookie of the Year.

“It’s definitely a goal of mine to make it three in a row,” Harper said. “I think the coaching staff and the players are going to make it easy for me to go out there and showcase my talent, so definitely.”

The 76ers then took Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe, getting the first sustained burst of loud cheers of the draft from what seemed to be a number of Philadelphia fans who made the trip to Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The first two picks had long been expected, but the No. 3 spot was the first one where there was intrigue.

Kon Knueppel made it two Duke players in the first four picks when the Charlotte Hornets took him at No. 4. When big man Khaman Maluach went at No. 10 — a pick made by the Houston Rockets but headed to Phoenix as part of the trade for Kevin Durant that can’t become official until next month — it gave the Blue Devils three top-10 picks and 50 in the first round since 1989, moving past Kentucky (48) for most by any school.

“It was so emotional getting to see my teammates, my fellow freshmen getting drafted,” Maluach said. “I was so happy for them because they deserve everything they have. They worked hard for it, for that moment, too.”

Ace Bailey, Harper’s teammate with the Scarlet Knights who could have been in the mix to go third but declined to work out for the 76ers, ended up going at No. 5 to Utah to end a draft process in which he was criticized for how his camp handled it.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Bailey said. “I’m ready to play some basketball now.”

Then it was Tre Johnson of Texas to the Washington Wizards at No. 6 and Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears to New Orleans at No. 7, before the host Nets took BYU’s Egor Demin at No. 8, Brooklyn’s first of potentially five selections in the first round. Toronto took South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles at No. 9.

The NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder took Georgetown center Thomas Sorber at No. 15, their first of two picks in the first round.

One more sizzling hot day for the eastern US before temperatures plunge 30 degrees

One more sizzling hot day for the eastern US before temperatures plunge 30 degrees

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A record-smashing heat wave broiled the U.S. East for another day Wednesday, even as thermometers were forecast to soon plunge by as many as 30 degrees in the same areas.

The day’s heat wasn’t expected to be as intense as Tuesday, when at least 50 heat records were matched or broken and 21 places hit triple-digit temperatures. About 127 million Americans remained under National Weather Service heat advisories, down from the previous day. Sizzling temperatures sent utilities scrambling to keep the air conditioning and lights on amid massive demand for power.

“It’s still going to be, I think, pretty bad across the East,” meteorologist Bob Oravec of the Weather Prediction Center said Wednesday morning. ”I think today is probably the last day of widespread record potential. It might not be quite as hot as yesterday by a few degrees. But still, high temperatures are expected in the upper 90s across a good section of the East.”

The weather service warned of “extreme heat” for a stretch of the country from North Carolina to New York and west to West Virginia. Highs could approach triple digits from New York to Richmond, Oravec said.

Temperatures Wednesday morning were “a little bit warmer than expected” because of northwesterly winds bringing “warm leftovers from yesterday,” said former NOAA chief scientist Ryan Maue, a private meteorologist. Nantucket, Massachusetts, was above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) when its forecast high was 82.

Weather whiplash

The high pressure heat dome that has baked the East was forecast to break. A cold front began moving south from New England, bringing with it clouds and cooler temperatures — not only cooler than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), but cooler than normal.

That air mass drawing on cool ocean waters will send temperatures plummeting by the end of the week in Philadelphia, which hit a record high of 101 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, said Ray Martin, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Air temperatures will be in the low 70s Fahrenheit (20s Celsius).

“It’s going to feel like a shock to the system, but it’s not anything particularly unusual,” said Martin.

Boston’s forecast high for Friday is 34 degrees lower than what it hit Tuesday.

“It’s going to feel like a different season,” Oravec said.

However, it won’t last. After one or two days, slightly hotter than normal temperatures are forecast, but not anywhere near the highs from earlier this week, Oravec said.

Weather whiplash from one extreme to another occurs more often as the world warms overall from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, scientists said.

Records smashed

Tuesday was likely the peak of the heat, with Baltimore the king of swelter. The city’s high of 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) smashed a previous record by four degrees. At night, when the human body needs cooling, temperatures only dropped to 87 Fahrenheit (30 Celsius).

Baltimore was hardly alone. A dozen weather stations were 101 degrees or higher, including two New York airports. Boston hit 102, breaking its old record by seven degrees. Augusta, Maine’s 100-degrees also broke its old record by seven degrees.

Every coastal state from Maine to South Carolina hit 100 degrees somewhere, with Georgia and Florida clocking in at 99 on Tuesday.

As temperatures rise “things become less reliable and more unstable,” said Climate Central Chief Meteorologist Bernadette Woods Placky.

The heat meant more demand for power. The nation’s largest power grid operator, PJM Interconnection, on Monday recorded its highest demand since 2011, with only a slight drop off Tuesday and Wednesday, spokesman Dan Lockwood said.

“We have an aging grid infrastructure already in United States, so you can see the impacts of that heat on that infrastructure,” said Kate Guy, senior research fellow at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy. The aging system is less capable of transmitting power at the voltages needed, she said. “At the same time, you’re seeing a really big spike in demand. This is what they (utilities) are increasingly experiencing because of climate change,” Guy said. “Frankly, with each year is increased, historic temperatures and that intense heat arriving earlier than ever, just putting an immense pressure on the electrical grid.”

Extreme heat caused the road to buckle in two locations on an interstate highway in northern New Jersey. State transportation officials say the impact on the concrete roadway in Morris County on Tuesday afternoon forced some lane closures as temporary repairs were made. Crews then began work to replace the damaged areas and repave those sections.

Some downtown Chicago streets will close Wednesday night to repair pavement that has buckled due to hot temperatures amid an ongoing heat wave in the city.

“Pavement failures or blowouts occur when prolonged high temperatures cause the road to expand and buckle up or blow out, resulting in uneven driving surfaces,” the Illinois Department of Transportation said in a statement.

In Chesapeake, Virginia, a heat-related malfunction prompted a bridge to remain stuck in the open position.

___

Isabella O’Malley in Philadelphia; Alexa St. John in Detroit; Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton, New Jersey; and Christine Fernando contributed to this report.

___

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

US stocks hang near their record as Wall Street takes a breath following two big days

US stocks hang near their record as Wall Street takes a breath following two big days

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks hung near their all-time high on Wednesday as financial markets caught a breath following two big days bolstered by hopes that the Israel-Iran war will not disrupt the global flow of crude oil.

The S&P 500 barely budged after drifting through a quiet day of trading and is sitting just 0.8% below its all-time high, which was set in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 106 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%.

In the oil market, which has been the center of much of this week’s action, crude prices stabilized after plunging by roughly $10 per barrel in the last two days. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 55 cents to $64.92 per barrel, though it still remains below where it was before the fighting between Israel and Iran broke out nearly two weeks ago.

A fragile ceasefire between the two countries appears to be holding, at least for the moment.

On Wall Street, FedEx fell 3.3% despite reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It gave a forecast for profit in the current quarter that fell short of expectations.

General Mills, the company behind Pillsbury and Progresso soups, lost 5.1% after reporting weaker revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit topped forecasts. It also said an underlying measure of profit could fall by 10% to 15% this upcoming fiscal year.

On the winning side of Wall Street, Bumble jumped 25.1% after the online dating platform said it would cut about 30% of its workforce, or 240 jobs, to save up to $40 million in annual costs.

QuantumScape rallied 30.9% after announcing a breakthrough in its process for making solid-state batteries. Solid state battery technology promises to improve electric vehicle range, decrease charging times and minimize the risk of battery fires. But the batteries are expensive to research and difficult to manufacture at a large scale, giving them a reputation for being a Holy Grail for battery engineers all over the world.

Companies involved in the cryptocurrency industry, meanwhile, rose as the price of bitcoin continued to steam ahead with investors willing to take on more risk. Coinbase Global, the crypto exchange, climbed 3.1% as bitcoin topped $107,000.

All told, the S&P 500 edged down by 0.02 to 6,092.16 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 106.59 to 42,982.43, and the Nasdaq composite rose 61.02 to 19,973.55.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.28% from 4.30% late Tuesday.

Yields had dropped a day earlier after the chair of the Federal Reserve said it is waiting for the right moment to resume cutting interest rates. By lowering rates, the Fed could give the economy a boost, but it could also offer additional fuel for inflation.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said again on Wednesday that he wants to wait and see how President Donald Trump’s tariffs affect the economy and inflation before committing to its next move. In testimony before a Senate committee, Powell echoed many of his statements from the day before, when he spoke at the House of Representatives, and he said, “For the time being, we are well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell modestly in Europe after rising across much of Asia.

Stocks jumped 1.2% in Hong Kong and 1% in Shanghai for two of the bigger moves.

“The world can now move on to face other difficult choices like tariffs and things like that,” said Frances Lun, CEO of GEO Securities in Hong Kong. “So I think the market is well on its way to rebound and could again reach new levels.”

___

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Recent News

Powered By SoCast