World – Brandon Sun

People attend the inaugural ceremony for the David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new central building is a ‘machine of discovery’

Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press 4 minute read 5:51 PM CDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It looks like a freeway on-ramp as it hovers over Wilshire Boulevard, but people behind the new building anchoring the Los Angeles County Museum of Art define it with aquatic imagery.

The free-flowing sections of the David Geffen Galleries housing the museum's permanent collection are named for the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and they're meant to run together physically and culturally in the way bodies of water do.

Technically, the Geffen Galleries represent the third phase of a two-decade series of renovations. But the opening of this space to the public on May 4 is the truly huge moment of reinvention for the institution known to locals and the broader art world by the acronym LACMA.

It's a $724 million, 347,600 square-foot (32,293 square-meter) monument designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor that gives the museum an entirely new orientation, footprint, feeling and, ideally, an identity that it has largely lacked to the outside world.

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Celeste Rivas Hernandez, teen in murder case against singer D4vd, grew up in sleepy California town

Kaitlyn Huamani, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Celeste Rivas Hernandez, teen in murder case against singer D4vd, grew up in sleepy California town

Kaitlyn Huamani, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: 4:59 PM CDT

LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. (AP) — Just down the road from Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s house is the high school she would have attended, where a slew of college flags show the schools chosen by students after they left sleepy Lake Elsinore in Southern California.

Rivas Hernandez did not live long enough to study there. She was killed before her 15th birthday. An autopsy report released Wednesday said she still had braces when she died.

Her brief life unfolded in this unassuming community with a population of more than 70,000 and a sprawling lake at the center of town that is home to a lively water sports scene.

Almost eight months have passed since her decomposed and dismembered body was discovered in the trunk of a Tesla registered to the singer D4vd. The 21-year-old musician, whose legal name is David Burke, was charged with first-degree murder and other offenses in connection with the death and his relationship with Rivas Hernandez. He pleaded not guilty this week.

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Updated: 4:59 PM CDT

A makeshift Memorial for Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who was killed and found inside a vehicle owned by singer D4vd, is placed outside her home in Lake Elsinore, Calif., on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Pentagon says Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving, in latest departure of a top defense leader

Konstantin Toropin And Ben Finley, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Pentagon says Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving, in latest departure of a top defense leader

Konstantin Toropin And Ben Finley, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: 5:24 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving his job, the Pentagon abruptly announced Wednesday, the first head of a military service to depart during President Donald Trump’s second term but just the latest top defense leader to step down or be ousted.

No reason was given for the unexpected departure of the Navy’s top civilian official, coming as the sea service has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports and is targeting ships linked to Tehran around the world during a tenuous ceasefire in the war.

Phelan’s departure is the latest in a series of shakeups of top leadership at the Pentagon, just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George. Hegseth also has fired several other top generals, admirals and other defense leaders since taking office last year.

Showing how sudden the latest move was, Phelan the day before had addressed a large crowd of sailors and industry professionals at the Navy’s annual conference in Washington and spoke with reporters about his agenda.

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Updated: 5:24 PM CDT

FILE - Secretary of the Navy John Phelan speaks, as President Donald Trump listens, at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)

Inside the Kennedy Center as it prepares for a 2-year renovation

Steven Sloan, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Inside the Kennedy Center as it prepares for a 2-year renovation

Steven Sloan, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: 5:03 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — To President Donald Trump, the Kennedy Center is a “tired, broken, and dilapidated” building in urgent need of repair. To artists like Jane Fonda and Billy Porter, it’s a protest site symbolizing the administration’s effort to reshape the nation’s cultural institutions.

For the Kennedy Center’s new leadership, it’s a gargantuan structure corroded by water damage so severe that steel in some places is tissue-thin.

Away from the political controversy that has consumed the iconic performing arts venue for the better part of Trump’s second term, Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s new executive director and chief operating officer, guided a group of journalists through the building on Wednesday. They viewed the outdoor terrace overlooking the Potomac River, along with parking decks, loading docks, an electrical vault and the Opera House stage.

A theme emerged at virtually every stop: The water damage was real, apparent in some places through discoloration and pooling. Some pieces of equipment, including several 800-ton chillers that help cool the building, are decades old and in need of replacement.

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Updated: 5:03 PM CDT

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is seen following a media tour intended to show building damage, Wednesday, April 22, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Celeste Rivas Hernandez, girl who singer D4vd is charged with killing, died from penetrating wounds

Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Celeste Rivas Hernandez, girl who singer D4vd is charged with killing, died from penetrating wounds

Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 3:53 PM CDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the 14-year-old girl singer D4vd is charged with killing, died from penetrating wounds to her upper body, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday.

Her death was ruled a homicide in the report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office that had been blocked from release for months.

The autopsy was limited by “extensive postmortem changes” to the body that was dismembered and decomposing when it was found in two bags in the trunk of a Tesla parked in the Hollywood Hills in September.

The examination revealed “two penetrating wounds of the torso with smooth edges that may represent sharp force injuries.” One wound on the upper abdomen penetrated the liver. Another on the left chest damaged her ribs. A tube top she was wearing appeared to be cut in three places.

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Updated: 3:53 PM CDT

A photo of Celeste Rivas Hernandez is displayed Monday, April 20, 2026, in Los Angeles for a press conference regarding the case of singer D4vd, who was charged on suspicion of killing the 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in his car. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Immigration officer is charged with assault after protest outside Colorado ICE facility, DA says

Colleen Slevin And Morgan Lee, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Immigration officer is charged with assault after protest outside Colorado ICE facility, DA says

Colleen Slevin And Morgan Lee, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 4:44 PM CDT

An immigration officer has been charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief following an investigation into how he treated a protester who said the officer put her in a chokehold.

Multiple videos from bystanders show a masked agent grabbing and pulling Franci Stagi across the street during a protest in October against the detention of three Colombian asylum-seekers in Durango, Colorado. She said he grabbed her by the hair and put her in a chokehold. The state is among several that prohibited or severely limited police officers from using chokeholds and neck restraints since George Floyd’s death in 2020.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigations launched an investigation into the officer's actions against Stagi at the request of Durango Police Department Chief Brice Current, who raised concerns about possible violations of state law — an unusual if not unprecedented request.

A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which launched its own investigation, acknowledged a request Wednesday seeking comment but didn’t immediately respond to questions about the charges. Court documents didn’t list any attorney as representing the officer, Nicholas Rice.

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Updated: 4:44 PM CDT

FILE - A federal agent wears an Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge, June 10, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

Federal appeals court blocks California law requiring federal agents to wear identification

Jaimie Ding, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Federal appeals court blocks California law requiring federal agents to wear identification

Jaimie Ding, The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: 1:29 PM CDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An appeals court has blocked a California law passed in 2025 requiring federal immigration agents to wear a badge or some form of identification.

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit in November challenging the law, arguing that it would threaten the safety of officers who are facing harassment, doxing, and violence and that they violated the constitution because the state is directly regulating the federal government.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction pending appeal Wednesday. It had already granted a temporary administrative injunction to block the implementation of the law.

At a hearing March 3, Justice Department lawyers argued that the California law sought to regulate the federal government, violating the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

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Updated: 1:29 PM CDT

FILE - Law enforcement respond to protesters after federal immigration authorities conducted operations, June 7, 2025, in Paramount, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

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Virginia Evans and Susan Choi are among 6 finalists for the Women’s Prize for Fiction

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Virginia Evans and Susan Choi are among 6 finalists for the Women’s Prize for Fiction

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: 8:10 AM CDT

LONDON (AP) — Four debut novelists are among six books on a U.S.-dominated list of finalists for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction, which is open to female English-language writers from any country.

American authors take four of the six places on the shortlist for the 30,000 pounds ($40,000) prize, announced Wednesday by a judging panel led by former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Among them are bestselling writer Lily King’s campus-set romance “Heart the Lover” and Susan Choi’s twisty family saga “Flashlight,” a finalist for last year’s Booker Prize.

First novels making the list include U.S. writer Virginia Evans’ “The Correspondent,” a novel told in letters with an older woman as protagonist that became a slow-burn hit after its release in 2025; and Addie E. Citchens’ “Dominion,” a story of power and patriarchy centered on a Black church in Mississippi.

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Updated: 8:10 AM CDT

FILE - Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia, speaks during a forum on climate change and health at the headquarters of Commonwealth Secretariat in London, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

Searchers find body of 1 of 6 missing crew members from ship that overturned during typhoon

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Searchers find body of 1 of 6 missing crew members from ship that overturned during typhoon

The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: 5:13 AM CDT

HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Authorities have found the body of one of the six missing crew members from a cargo ship that overturned near the Northern Mariana Islands during a typhoon.

U.S. Air Force divers “used an underwater remotely operated drone to search the interior of the vessel” and recovered the body Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release.

Additional divers from the Japan Coast Guard further examined the ship. They did not find any additional crew members, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

“Coast Guard aircrews continue to search for the five missing crewmen and an orange 12-person life raft in the vicinity of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,” the news release said.

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Updated: 5:13 AM CDT

A U.S. Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules airplane crew assigned to Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point flies over an overturned vessel offshore Saipan, Saturday, April 18, 2026, while searching for a missing vessel, the Mariana, that experienced an engine failure April 15. (U.S. Coast Guard/Air Station Barbers Point via AP)

Virginia voters approve redistricting plan that could boost Democrats’ seats in Congress

David A. Lieb, The Associated Press 6 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:47 PM CDT

Virginia voters approved a mid-decade redistricting plan Tuesday that could boost Democrats’ chances of winning four additional U.S. House seats in November’s midterm elections that will decide control of the closely divided Congress.

The constitutional amendment narrowly backed by voters bypasses a bipartisan redistricting commission to allow the use of new districts drawn by Virginia’s Democratic-led General Assembly. But the public vote may not be the final word. The state Supreme Court is considering whether the plan is illegal in a case that could make the referendum results meaningless.

The Virginia redistricting referendum marked a setback for President Donald Trump, who kicked off a national redistricting battle last year by urging Republican officials in Texas to redraw districts. The goal was to help Republicans win more seats in the November elections and hold on to a narrow House majority in the face of political headwinds that typically favor the party out of power during midterm elections.

But the Virginia redistricting referendum could help nullify Republican gains elsewhere.

Texas can require public schools to display Ten Commandments in classrooms, court rules

Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Texas can require public schools to display Ten Commandments in classrooms, court rules

Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 10:50 PM CDT

DALLAS (AP) — Texas can require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools, a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday in a victory for conservatives who have long sought to incorporate more religion into classrooms.

The 9-8 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals delivered a boost to backers of similar laws in Arkansas and Louisiana. Opponents have argued that hanging the Ten Commandments in classrooms proselytizes to students and amounts to religious indoctrination by the government.

In a lengthy majority opinion, the conservative-leaning appeals court in New Orleans rejected those arguments in Texas, saying the requirement does not step on the rights of parents or students.

“No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin,” the ruling says.

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Updated: Yesterday at 10:50 PM CDT

FILE - A copy of the Ten Commandments is posted along with other historical documents in a hallway of the Georgia Capitol, Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

Man who set neighbor on fire after she found him burglarizing her home is executed in Florida

David Fischer, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 5:40 PM CDT

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man who set his neighbor on fire after she returned from work to find him burglarizing her home was executed Tuesday evening.

Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, received a three-drug injection and was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1990 killing of Marlys Sather. It was Florida's fifth execution this year.

The curtain to the execution chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6:00 p.m. time, and the lethal injection got underway 2 minutes later, after Willacy made a brief statement.

He apologized to his own family and friends and urged his ” brothers on the row” to stay strong. He maintained his innocence, saying that he would never kill his friend.

Rex Heuermann told ex-wife he murdered Gilgo Beach victims at family’s home, documentary reveals

Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Rex Heuermann told ex-wife he murdered Gilgo Beach victims at family’s home, documentary reveals

Philip Marcelo, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 4:56 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — The man who recently pleaded guilty to New York's Gilgo Beach serial murders told his ex-wife while in jail that he killed most of his female victims in the basement of the family’s dilapidated home, the latest episode of a documentary series shows.

His ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, said in a teaser for the episode airing Thursday on NBC’s streaming service Peacock that Rex Heuermann also told her that the eight women he has admitted to killing were his only victims.

Ellerup says later in the teaser that he told her that he killed seven of them in the basement of the family's house in Massapequa Park on Long Island while she was away.

“I said to him, ‘So Mr. Heuermann, I understand that you are confessing to me on these murders. Can you please tell me how many of these women did you kill’?,” she said in the 90-second clip. “He said, ‘Eight’.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 4:56 PM CDT

Asa Ellerup, wife, of Rex Heuermann waits to give her statement outside the courthouse as Rex Heuermann, accused in Long Island's infamous Gilgo Beach serial killings, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Trump’s approval on economy falls in AP-NORC poll, showing new warning signs for president

Josh Boak, Jesse Bedayn And Linley Sanders, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Trump’s approval on economy falls in AP-NORC poll, showing new warning signs for president

Josh Boak, Jesse Bedayn And Linley Sanders, The Associated Press 6 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 4:13 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s approval rating on the economy has slumped over the past month as the Iran war drives prices higher, according to a new AP-NORC poll, with even Republicans showing less faith in his leadership.

The findings from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research show a president who is struggling with unfulfilled promises to tame inflation and testing Americans’ patience with a conflict in the Middle East that has dragged on longer than expected.

Trump’s approval rating on the economy dropped to 30% in April from 38% in a March AP-NORC poll. A similarly low share of U.S. adults, 32%, approve of the president’s leadership on Iran, which is unchanged since last month.

The poll was conducted April 16-20, during which time the Strait of Hormuz was reopened by Iran, then closed again, an example of the whiplash that has characterized the conflict.

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Updated: Yesterday at 4:13 PM CDT

President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Democrat Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida resigns before the House can sanction her in ethics case

Kevin Freking And Stephen Groves, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Democrat Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida resigns before the House can sanction her in ethics case

Kevin Freking And Stephen Groves, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:49 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida resigned from office on Tuesday moments before the start of a hearing that could have led to a recommendation that she be expelled from Congress.

Cherfilus-McCormick was the subject of a more than two-year investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which had determined recently that she had violated multiple federal laws and House rules. Support from her own party was increasingly in doubt.

It's the third resignation in a little more than a week from a House lawmaker. Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, announced within hours of each other that they were leaving Congress. Both men were facing sexual misconduct allegations and possible expulsion.

In a statement, Cherfilus-McCormick said the House committee denied her new attorney's request for more time to prepare a defense. She also said she would not pretend that the investigation had been anything other than a “witch hunt,” and rather than play political games, she would resign, effective immediately.

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Updated: Yesterday at 8:49 PM CDT

FILE - Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., condemns hate speech and misinformation about Haitian immigrants, at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

2 US officials killed in Mexico crash after anti-drug operation worked for CIA, AP sources say

Megan Janetsky, David Klepper And Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

2 US officials killed in Mexico crash after anti-drug operation worked for CIA, AP sources say

Megan Janetsky, David Klepper And Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press 4 minute read Updated: 12:23 AM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two U.S. officials killed in a vehicle crash as they returned from destroying a clandestine drug lab in northern Mexico over the weekend were working for the CIA, according to a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the matter.

Two Mexican investigators also were killed in the crash, which Mexican authorities said occurred while the convoy was returning from an operation to destroy drug labs of criminal groups. There have been discrepancies in the public accounts of what happened from U.S. and Mexican officials, which experts say underscores heightened American involvement in security operations in Mexico and across the region.

The CIA's involvement was confirmed Tuesday by the three with knowledge of the crash, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. That the U.S. officials worked for the CIA was reported earlier by The Washington Post.

It comes after days of contradictions from Mexican and U.S. authorities about the role that American officials played in an operation to bust a narco-laboratory in northern Chihuahua state.

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Updated: 12:23 AM CDT

April 22, 2026

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