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Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, our Capitol Hill team provides a status check on the “big, beautiful bill” as Senate Republicans aim to hold a vote this week. We also have the latest from the Middle East amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran. And Steve Kornacki previews tonight’s New York City mayoral primary.

Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.

— Adam Wollner

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🗣️ We want to hear from you!

Have a question for the NBC News Politics Desk about the latest from the Trump administration, Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill,” or the New York City mayoral primary?

Send your questions to [email protected] and we may answer them in a future edition of the newsletter.

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Senate Republicans scramble to resolve tense divisions as Trump ramps up pressure to pass his big bill

By Sahil Kapur, Julie Tsirkin, Frank Thorp V and Ryan Nobles

The Senate bill’s Medicaid cuts are too aggressive for politically vulnerable Republicans.

Its clean energy funding cuts are too tame for conservative House Republicans, who are threatening to sink the legislation.

And the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions is a nonstarter for key blue-state House Republicans.

The GOP-led Congress is barreling toward its own deadline for passage of the Big Beautiful Bill Act, and it’s getting messy in the final stretch as President Donald Trump ramps up the pressure on lawmakers to put it on his desk by July 4.

“To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don’t go home, and GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Work with the House so they can pick it up, and pass it, IMMEDIATELY. NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE.”

Passing the party-line bill through the House and Senate, where Republicans have three votes to spare in each chamber, will be a daunting task that requires bridging acrimonious divides. The toughest part will be settling on a final product that can unify Senate GOP moderates, like Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, with the far-right House Freedom Caucus. Those two factions have tended to drive the hardest bargain.

After a conference lunch meeting, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters that his chamber’s goal is to get the bill “across the finish line by the end of the week,” with the goal of crafting a package that can win 51 votes in the Senate.

A midterm warning: Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who faces re-election in a battleground state next year, warned his party during a Tuesday meeting that they will suffer losses in the 2026 elections if they push ahead on proposed Medicaid cuts. He compared the situation to the heavy losses Democrats suffered in the 2014 midterms after a rocky Obamacare rollout, according to one source in the room.

The meeting came one day after Tillis circulated a document with estimates of how much Medicaid money states would lose if the Senate bill passes, including $38.9 billion in losses for North Carolina, $16 billion for Tennessee and $6.1 billion for Missouri.

Read more on the latest from Capitol Hill →

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Strikes on Iran set back its nuclear program several months, sources say

By Gordon Lubold, Ken Dilanian, Julie Tsirkin, Dan De Luce and Rebecca Shabad

An initial assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency concludes that the U.S. airstrikes conducted over the weekend on Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites were not as effective as President Donald Trump said and only set the country’s nuclear program back by three to six months, according to three people with knowledge of the report.

“We were assuming that the damage was going to be much more significant than this assessment is finding,” said one of the three sources. “This assessment is already finding that these core pieces are still intact. That’s a bad sign for the overall program.”

The assessment’s conclusions were first reported by CNN.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the reporting on the intelligence assessment was inaccurate.

“This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community,” she said in a statement. “The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program.”

She added: “Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

Read more →

Catch up on our latest reporting on the Israel-Iran conflict:

Trump lashes out at Israel and Iran: ‘They don’t know what the f— they’re doing,’ by Megan Lebowitz

Democrats struggle to come up with a unified response to Trump’s Iran strikes, by Natasha Korecki, Sahil Kapur and Scott Wong

Speaker Mike Johnson says he believes the War Powers Act is ‘unconstitutional,’ by Rebecca Shabad

GOP lawmakers say Trump deserves Nobel Peace Prize over Iran-Israel ceasefire, by Rebecca Shabad

Follow live updates →

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Breaking down the state of New York’s mayoral race on primary day

Analysis by Steve Kornacki

The final public poll suggests the potential for an upset in Tuesday’s New York Democratic mayoral primary — an outcome that would be dramatic but that also might end up resolving nothing.

The Emerson College/WPIX/The Hill survey shows former Gov. Andrew Cuomo leading state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani 36% to 34% in the initial first-choice count, with Mamdani eventually overtaking Cuomo after multiple rounds of ranked choice tabulation and winning the final tally 52% to 48%.

But a few caveats are in order.

First, public polls in the campaign have been sparse. Only Emerson and Marist University have been regularly conducting them. And Marist’s final poll found a different result, with Cuomo up by double digits at both the start and the end of ranked choice tabulation.

One of those polls may be a lot more accurate than the other, although there is room for both to be right, since Marist’s was taken a week earlier and the race could have shifted in that time.

The composition of the electorate is uncertain, too. Both Emerson and Marist find that Cuomo has an advantage with voters who said they would cast ballots in person Tuesday, as opposed to taking part in early voting or voting by mail. But will those voters show up in the numbers pollsters expect? It’s a cliché to talk about how crucial turnout is as a variable, but there it is.

Moreover, ranked choice voting is still new to New York City; this is only the second mayoral contest since it was implemented. It’s still uncommon elsewhere. So no polling outlet has a deep and well-established track record when it comes to measuring such races. That said, Emerson’s final poll in the 2021 New York mayoral primary showed now-Mayor Eric Adams narrowly edging out Kathryn Garcia in the final ranked choice round, which almost perfectly matched the actual outcome.

Read more from Steve →

Related: What to watch in New York City’s mayoral primary, by Ben Kamisar and Bridget Bowman

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🎙️Here’s the Scoop

This week, NBC News launched “Here’s the Scoop,” a new evening podcast that brings you a fresh take on the day’s top stories in 15 minutes or less.

In today’s episode, hosted by Morgan Chesky, chief international correspondent Keir Simmons discusses how the Middle East is responding to the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran. And national political correspondent Steve Kornacki explains why the rest of the country should be paying attention to New York City’s mayoral race.

Listen to the episode here →

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That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Dylan Ebs.

If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at [email protected]

And if you’re a fan, please share with everyone and anyone. They can sign up here.

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Rutgers men’s basketball coach Steve Pikiell remembers the first time he saw Ace Bailey. As a freshman at McEachern High School in Georgia, Bailey had a long, athletic frame and showed energy — but he “was learning how to be a basketball player.”

One year later, Pikiell and assistant coach Brandin Knight returned to see Bailey. They were both blown away by his development (and the extra 3 inches in height).

“I remember seeing him at the end of his sophomore year, and I just said to Brandin, ‘He could be off-the-charts good.’ And that’s what he’s become: off-the-charts good.”

Bailey, a five-star recruit, signed with Rutgers and had what many consider a very good freshman season. He was productive individually, earning All-Big Ten honors and averaging 17.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. But the Scarlet Knights finished 15-17, 11th in the conference and, despite having two NBA likely lottery picks in Bailey and Dylan Harper, failed to make the NCAA tournament.

Now, three months later and days away from the 2025 draft, the 18-year-old, 6-foot-8 small forward is once again trying to prove he belongs with the elite basketball players in the world.

Some view him as a can’t-miss NBA player, a scorer with size and skills capable of being a perennial All-Star. After former Duke star Cooper Flagg and Harper — the consensus top two selections — many say Bailey should be that next pick at No. 3.

Others, however, see him as a raw prospect with maturity issues not worth the risk at the top of the draft. He’s also reportedly fallen down teams’ rankings after questionable offseason decisions. The biggest? Not working out for any NBA team in the pre-draft process, a move rarely seen before. This includes canceling scheduled time with the Philadelphia 76ers, who hold the third selection.

All of this adds up to the most polarizing prospect in the 2025 class: You either love Bailey or want nothing to do with him.

“I think teams are overthinking it,” a Western Conference scout told NBC News. “I’ve heard his interviews have been ‘bad,’ but he’s a confident kid. Hard worker, believes in himself. Worst-case scenario he’s a Michael Porter Jr. type, and best case is a Paul George.”

Another college evaluator isn’t so sure. (The scouts spoke on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.)

“He’s obviously a top talent in the draft if everything maxed out. He scores a lot but doesn’t impact the game a ton outside of scoring,” they said. “Now you add in the off-the-court stuff where there are some teams scared about how he interviews and the people around him.”

Few know what Bailey brings — and could bring — better than his college coach. A former UConn point guard who played and coached under the legendary Jim Calhoun, Pikiell has been around many NBA stars over his decades on the court and on the sidelines.

He said the decision is a no-brainer for NBA franchises.

“Ace Bailey’s upside is higher than anybody’s in the entire draft,” Pikiell said. He added that included Rutgers’ stud guard Harper, whom many prognosticators view as the second-best prospect in the draft behind Flagg.

“What he does at 18 years old is ridiculous,” Pikiell said about Bailey, who turns 19 in August. “He’s got a special work ethic, he’s coachable, he’s got all the intangibles, his body matures. He’s got as quick a release as any player I’ve been around, including Ray Allen. He can get it off from deep and can create his own. He will get in the lane and get a shot off against all kinds of defenders.”

However, there’s a difference in getting a shot off and making a shot, a major criticism of Bailey. He’ll occasionally make a highlight-reel play but follow it up with an ill-timed or contested one.

The Athletic’s John Hollinger, a former vice president of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies, wrote that Bailey had “arguably the worst shot selection in college basketball.” He had Bailey as his 12th-best prospect.

ESPN college basketball and draft analyst Fran Fraschilla called that assessment of Bailey “garbage.”

“His strength is his ability to take tough and make tough shots. Getting your own shot off in the NBA is a skill in and of itself,” Fraschilla told NBC News. “When you have a 24-second clock and you’re playing against a playoff-level team, you’re not getting an easy shot on the first pass or two in the offense. And oftentimes, with the shot clock running down, you need somebody that can rise up and take a shot and make a shot. And he certainly has shown that capability.”

Pikiell was even more blunt.

“I did not want him to make passes. I wanted those other guys to rebound, and I wanted him to take shots. So his job for me was to score points,” he said. “When I watch these really good NBA guys, whether I’m watching the Celtics play or whether I’m watching OKC (Oklahoma City), those really good players make really difficult shots, and that’s what makes them superstars. I think he’s got a knack for making shots that other people would consider tough, and he practices them, too.”

That was the other criticism that made the Rutgers coach laugh — the idea Bailey wasn’t yet mature on or off the court. This was a player, he said, that teammates loved to play with, was coachable in both practice and games and constantly watched film.

“And he takes responsibility. When he doesn’t play well, he takes responsibility for it. He tries to make changes when needed,” he said. “For a kid who won’t be 19 until the end of August, and he’ll be drafted as an 18-year-old, he is very mature in accepting responsibility for his basketball. That’s truly a strength.”

If this is all true, it seems valid to wonder why Rutgers did not make the NCAA tournament, especially with two star players like Harper and Bailey. Pikiell says some of it comes down to the strength of the Big Ten, arguably the best conference in the country. Harper and Bailey also did not play together much, he said, as both were injured at different times over the season and sill had to shoulder a major part of the offense.

It led to both taking on a much bigger role than anticipated, especially considering they were by far the biggest threats for opposing teams. If only one was on the court, defenses would often double and sometimes triple team to take them out of the game.

A counter example would be Flagg, who played at Duke with two other expected lottery picks and a host of former All-American recruits.

“There’s players in our country here that can’t be triple teamed because the other five players are getting drafted, too,” Pikiell said. “That wasn’t what these guys faced every day, and every game they faced different looks by different teams and older players.”

Adds Fraschilla: “People criticize Rutgers for not going to the NCAA Tournament, but essentially, he and Dylan Harper were the only two high-major players on the team. Everybody else was a mid-major player.”

In the end, it’s up to NBA scouting departments and front offices to determine whether Bailey is worth the risk. Executives could easily chalk up Pikiell’s comments simply as a coach defending his player … or they could use it to push past the recent wave of negativity toward the young prospect.

They also must decide whether Bailey skipping workouts before the draft is concerning or just a tactic by his agent to get him to a team they view as more favorable for his game.

How teams answer these questions could be the difference in whether they become a winner or remain at the bottom of the NBA hierarchy.

Is Bailey worth that risk? If you ask his former coach, the upside is worth betting on.

“He’s 18 years old,” Pikiell said. “I don’t even know if he shaves yet.”

LOS ANGELES — A woman who masterminded the killing of her husband, an internationally known hairdresser and beauty company executive, at their Los Angeles home eight years ago was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Monica Sementilli, 53, was convicted in April of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the 2017 stabbing death of Fabio Sementilli in their backyard in the upscale Woodlands Hills neighborhood. He was found by their daughter in a pool of blood with multiple wounds to his face, jawline, neck, chest and thigh.

Prosecutors said Monica Sementilli conspired with her lover and former racquetball coach, Robert Baker, to kill her 49-year-old husband for a $1.6 million insurance policy.

Baker, now 63, pleaded no contest in July 2023 to murder and conspiracy charges. He is serving life without the possibility of parole.

Baker testified at her trial that the mother of two had nothing to do with the plot to kill her husband. “I murdered him because I wanted her,” Baker told the court.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen rejected a defense bid to have Sementilli sentenced to 25 years to life, calling her the “mastermind in this conspiracy to commit murder,” the Los Angeles Times reported. Coen said Baker, who carried out the attack, “did not have the intelligence to plan the brutal, well-thought-out slaughter.”

The Canadian-born Fabio Sementilli worked for decades as a trendsetting hair stylist and served as vice president of education for beauty products giant Coty Inc.

A week before they are due to start work at U.S. hospitals, hundreds of doctors from abroad are still waiting to obtain visas granting them temporary stays in the country.

Many of them have been in limbo since late May, when the State Department suspended applications for J-1 visas, which allow people to come to the U.S. for exchange visitor programs. The visas are the most common way for international doctors to attend residencies in the U.S., which provide medical graduates with training in a given specialty.

The State Department announced last week that embassies or consulates could resume visa interviews but that applicants would be required to make their social media accounts public.

However, many doctors still haven’t been able to schedule visa appointments because their embassies haven’t reopened slots, according to Project IMG, a networking and support group for international medical students and graduates. Others have been told at visa appointments over the last several days that their applications require additional vetting.

Still others have been denied visas because they are originally from countries listed on the Trump administration’s recent travel ban. The administration this month partially restricted visas for people from seven countries and fully suspended visas for an additional 12 countries.

NBC News spoke with eight doctors who have struggled to obtain visas ahead of their residencies, most of whom asked to remain anonymous for fear of affecting their visa application process. They said their dreams are now up in the air after years of studying, financial sacrifice and lost time with loved ones. The cost of medical licensing exams, which anyone starting a medical residency in the U.S. is required to pass, can exceed $2,000. They also worry about the communities they’re supposed to serve in the U.S., many of which have doctor shortages and rely on incoming medical residents to fill those gaps.

Several doctors said they are frantically refreshing embassy pages in hopes that an appointment opens up or looking for slots in nearby countries. Others who have been denied visas are trying to schedule new appointments, but are starting to lose hope.

“Sometimes I want to give up, to be honest,” said one doctor, originally from a travel ban country, who was accepted to a pediatric residency in rural Texas. “I’m tired. I have studied a lot. I have spent a lot of money.”

More than 6,600 doctors who are non-U.S. citizens were accepted into residency programs this year, according to the National Resident Matching Program. Once they’re matched with a program, these doctors have a brief window — around three months — to obtain a visa before their residencies start on July 1. Many international doctors were able to schedule interviews and obtain visas before the Trump administration’s visa pause, according to Project IMG. But others were still waiting on documents from their government to complete their applications or couldn’t get an interview until June.

Project IMG said Tuesday it estimates that hundreds of doctors are still stuck abroad due to the Trump administration’s visa restrictions.

“We gotta solve this crisis by July 1,” said Dr. Sebastian Arruarana, the organization’s founder.

Many residency programs are doing their best to reserve people’s spots while the visa process plays out, but it’s not a guarantee. While programs can’t revoke a spot outright, they can apply for a waiver with the National Resident Matching Program that would release them of their commitment to a doctor. They can also defer a doctor’s spot to the following year.

A spokesperson for the State Department told NBC News last Friday that protecting national security is the highest priority in the visa process. However, they noted that “visas for qualified medical professionals have played an important role in helping the United States address critical health care shortages.”

Many hospitals are indeed counting on incoming residents to address provider shortages, particularly in rural or low-income areas.

Dr. Artur Polechshuk and Dr. Kseniia Tonkoshkurova, an engaged couple from Novi Sad, Serbia, were matched into a pediatric residency at a hospital in Kanawha County, West Virginia. The county is designated by the federal government as a medically underserved area with a shortage of primary care providers. Out of nine first-year residents in the couple’s program, three were held up by the J-1 visa suspension, Tonkoshkurova said.

“You can imagine how three physicians are crucial [to] health care for this small community,” she said. “It’s patients who will have delays. And doctors who are already there, they will work more.”

After weeks of waiting, the couple finally managed to obtain an appointment for a visa interview next week. The Trump administration has directed U.S. embassies and consulates to review applicants’ online presences, including social media activity, for any signs of hostility toward the U.S., support for antisemitic harassment or advocacy for foreign terrorist groups. Polechshuk said they have nothing to hide in their social media profiles, which are already public, but they’re nervous about how the interview will go.

“Due to these new rules, we don’t know what they will ask,” he said. “When you are in a really stressful situation, you fear to be in this small percentage of people who were declined.”

International doctors are often matched with hospitals in underserved communities in part because the positions are less coveted by U.S. applicants. But many international doctors also bring a unique skillset to neighborhoods — they speak languages other than English and may be familiar with diseases that aren’t common in the U.S.

Training in the U.S. can also benefit populations abroad. Dr. Gabriel Pena, a family medicine doctor from Venezuela who was accepted to a residency program in Chino, California, said he plans to use his training in the U.S. to treat people in his home country.

“In the states, you put a lot of resources toward research, towards finding new treatments to help others,” Pena said. “You guys have a lot of tools that I’m sure in the future I will be able to use back there in my country.”

Like many of his colleagues, Pena is struggling to obtain a visa because of the travel ban. The secretary of state or the secretary of homeland security can grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis for individuals whose stays in the U.S. serve the national interest. But the State Department said it expects “such exceptions to be very rare.”

Dr. Conrad Fischer, residency program director at One Brooklyn Health, a hospital network in New York, said the visa ban could make it harder to attract talented doctors to residency programs next year. Applications open in September.

“We need the help of people who are making these decisions at the State Department and other places to understand the full impacts of the policies,” Fischer said.

Bobby Sherman, whose winsome smile and fashionable shaggy mop top helped make him into a teen idol in the 1960s and ’70s with bubblegum pop hits like “Little Woman” and “Julie, Do Ya Love Me,” has died. He was 81.

His wife, Brigitte Poublon, announced the death Tuesday and family friend John Stamos posted her message on Instagram: “Bobby left this world holding my hand — just as he held up our life with love, courage, and unwavering grace.” Sherman revealed he had Stage 4 cancer earlier this year.

Sherman was a squeaky-clean regular on the covers of Tiger Beat and Sixteen magazines, often with hair over his eyes and a choker on his neck. His face was printed on lunchboxes, cereal boxes and posters that hung on the bedroom walls of his adoring fans. He landed at No. 8 in TV Guide’s list of “TV’s 25 Greatest Teen Idols.”

He was part of a lineage of teen heartthrobs who emerged as mass-market, youth-oriented magazines and TV took off, connecting fresh-scrubbed Ricky Nelson in the 1950s to David Cassidy in the ’60s, all the way to Justin Bieber in the 2000s.

Sherman had four Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — “Little Woman,” “Julie, Do Ya Love Me,” “Easy Come, Easy Go,” and “La La La (If I Had You).” He had six albums on the Billboard 200 chart, including “Here Comes Bobby,” which spent 48 weeks on the album chart, peaking at No. 10. His career got its jump start when he was cast in the ABC rock ’n’ roll show “Shindig!” in the mid-’60s. Later, he starred in two television series — “Here Come the Brides” (1968-70) and “Getting Together” (1971).

After the limelight moved on, Sherman became a certified medical emergency technician and instructor for the Los Angeles Police Department, teaching police recruits first aid and CPR. He donated his salary.

“A lot of times, people say, ‘Well, if you could go back and change things, what would you do?’” he told The Tulsa World in 1997. “And I don’t think I’d change a thing — except to maybe be a little bit more aware of it, because I probably could’ve relished the fun of it a little more. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears. But it was the best of times.”

A life-changing Hollywood party

Sherman, with sky blue eyes and dimples, grew up in the San Fernando Valley, singing Ricky Nelson songs and performing with a high-school rock band.

“I was brought up in a fairly strict family,” he told the Sunday News newspaper in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1998. “Law and order were important. Respect your fellow neighbor, remember other people’s feelings. I was the kind of boy who didn’t do things just to be mischievous.”

He was studying child psychology at a community college in 1964 when his girlfriend took him to a Hollywood party, which would change his life. He stepped onstage and sang with the band. Afterward, guests Jane Fonda, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo asked him who his agent was. They took his number and, a few days later, an agent called him and set him up with “Shindig!”

Sherman hit true teen idol status in 1968, when he appeared in “Here Come the Brides,” a comedy-adventure set in boom town Seattle in the 1870s. He sang the show’s theme song, “Seattle,” and starred as young logger Jeremy Bolt, often at loggerheads with brother, played by David Soul. It lasted two seasons.

Following the series, Sherman starred in “Getting Together,” a spinoff of “The Partridge Family,” about a songwriter struggling to make it in the music business. He became the first performer to star in three TV series before the age of 30. That television exposure soon translated into a fruitful recording career: His first single, “Little Woman,” earned a gold record in 1969.

“While the rest of the world seemed jumbled up and threatening, Sherman’s smiling visage beamed from the bedroom walls of hundreds of thousands of teen-age girls, a reassuring totem against the riots, drugs, war protests and free love that raged outside,” The Tulsa World said in 1997.

His movies included “Wild In Streets,” “He is My Brother” and “Get Crazy.”

From music to medicine

Sherman pulled back from his celebrity career after several years of a frantic schedule, telling The Washington Post: “I’d film five days a week, get on a plane on a Friday night and go someplace for matinee and evening shows Saturday and Sunday, then get on a plane and go back to the studio to start filming again. It was so hectic for three years that I didn’t know what home was.”

Sherman’s pivot to becoming an emergency medical technician in 1988 was born out of a longtime fascination with medicine. Sherman said that affinity blossomed when he raised his sons with his first wife, Patti Carnel. They would get scrapes and bloody noses and he became the family’s first-aid provider. So he started learning basic first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation from the Red Cross.

“If I see an accident, I feel compelled to stop and give aid even if I’m in my own car,” he told the St. Petersburg Times. “I carry equipment with me. And there’s not a better feeling than the one you get from helping somebody out. I would recommend it to everybody.”

In addition to his work with the Los Angeles Police Department, he was a reserve deputy with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, working security at the courthouse. Sherman estimated that, as a paramedic, he helped five women deliver babies in the backseats of cars or other impromptu locations.

In one case, he helped deliver a baby on the sidewalk and, after the birth, the new mother asked Sherman’s partner what his name was. “When he told her Bobby, she named the baby Roberta. I was glad he didn’t tell her my name was Sherman,” he told the St. Petersburg Times in 1997.

The teen idols grow up

He was named LAPD’s Reserve Officer of the Year for 1999 and received the FBI’s Exceptional Service Award and the “Twice a Citizen” Award by the Los Angeles County Reserve Foundation.

In a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004, then-Rep. Howard McKeon wrote: “Bobby is a stellar example of the statement ‘to protect and serve.’ We can only say a simple and heartfelt thank you to Bobby Sherman and to all the men and women who courageously protect and serve the citizens of America.”

Later, Sherman would join the 1990s-era “Teen Idols Tour” with former 1960s heartthrobs Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones of the Monkees and Peter Noone of Herman’s Hermits.

The Chicago Sun-Times in 1998 described one of Sherman’s performances: “Dressed to kill in black leather pants and white shirt, he was showered with roses and teddy bears as he started things off with ‘Easy Come, Easy Go.’ As he signed scores of autographs at the foot of the stage, it was quickly draped by female fans of every conceivable age group.”

Sherman also co-founded the Brigitte and Bobby Sherman Children’s Foundation in Ghana, which provides education, health, and welfare programs to children in need.

He is survived by two sons, Christopher and Tyler, and his wife.

“Even in his final days, he stayed strong for me. That’s who Bobby was — brave, gentle, and full of light,” Poublon wrote.

Scared, alone and heartbroken: that’s how 19-year-old Caroline Dias Goncalves said she felt the two weeks she spent in a detention center in Colorado after immigration authorities arrested her following a traffic stop.

“The past 15 days have been the hardest of my life,” Dias Goncalves, who is a student at the University of Utah, said in her first statement since being released on bond over the weekend.

Born in Brazil and raised in Utah since she was 7 years old, Dias Goncalves is one of nearly 2.5 million Dreamers living in the United States. The word “Dreamer” refers to undocumented young immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Her detention gained attention after questions were raised over how Immigration and Customs Enforcement became aware of Dias Goncalves’ location and immigration status quickly after a sheriff’s deputy stopped her in Colorado, a state with laws restricting coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

Dias Goncalves was driving on Interstate 70 outside Loma on June 5 when a Mesa County sheriff’s deputy pulled her over because she was driving too close to a semitruck.

The deputy released Dias Goncalves with a warning, but shortly after she exited the highway, ICE agents stopped her, arrested her and took her to an immigration detention center in the city of Aurora.

According to Dias Goncalves’ statement, one ICE officer who detained her “kept apologizing” and told her he wanted to let her go, “but his ‘hands were tied.’ There was nothing he could do, even though he knew it wasn’t right,” she wrote.

Dias Goncalves said she forgave the ICE officer “because I believe that people can make better choices when they’re allowed to.”

According to Dias Goncalves, while in detention, “we were given soggy, wet food — even the bread would come wet. We were kept on confusing schedules,” she said in her statement. “I was scared and felt alone. I was placed in a system that treated me like I didn’t matter.”

But that changed when officers at the detention center realized she spoke English, according to Dias Goncalves. “Suddenly, I was treated better than others.”

“That broke my heart. Because no one deserves to be treated like that. Not in a country that I’ve called home since I was 7 years old and is all I’ve ever known,” she said.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The sheriff’s deputy who stopped Dias Goncalves was placed on administrative leave last week pending the outcome of an administrative investigation, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said.

Initial findings of their investigation revealed that the deputy who stopped Dias Goncalves was part of a communication group that included local, state and federal law enforcement partners participating in drug crackdown efforts.

Federal authorities began using that information for immigration enforcement purposes, according to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office. “Unfortunately, it resulted in the later contact between ICE and Miss Dias Goncalves.”

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office has said it was “unaware that the communication group was used for anything other than drug interdiction efforts” and has since removed all members of their office from the group.

“I hope no one else has to go through what I did,” Dias Goncalves said, adding that over 1,300 people still in the Aurora detention facility continue living “that same nightmare.”

“They are just like me — including other people who’ve grown up here, who love this country, who want nothing more than a chance to belong,” Dias Goncalves said.

In her statement, she expressed her gratitude toward her friends, family and church community who “stood up for me” and “never stopped fighting for me.”

Now at home with her family, Dias Goncalves said she is trying to move forward and “focus on work, on school and on healing.”

“But I won’t forget this,” she said. “Immigrants like me — we’re not asking for anything special. Just a fair chance to adjust our status, to feel safe, and to keep building the lives we’ve worked so hard for in the country we call home.”

Relatives of Dias Goncalves previously told The Salt Lake Tribune she arrived in the U.S. as a child with her family on a tourist visa, which they overstayed. Finding a way to remain in the country legally, Dias Goncalves applied for asylum. That case remains pending.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told NBC News in an email last week that the visa Dias Goncalves had come in with had expired over a decade ago.

McLaughlin added that President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem “are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S.”

Dias Goncalves’ attorney, Jon Hyman, has said his client “has no criminal record and she was not shown a warrant” at the time of her ICE arrest.

Dias Goncalves is a recipient of the TheDream.US national scholarship, which helps undocumented youths with financial needs go to college.

Gaby Pacheco, president of TheDream.US, was in Aurora when Dias Goncalves was released on bond Friday evening. In a statement, Pacheco said she felt relieved when she saw Dias Goncalves walk out of the ICE detention center.

“She never should have been there,” Pacheco said. “How many more youth are being funneled into this system of cruelty, locked up for simply existing in the only country they’ve ever known?”

Dias Goncalves’ case mirrors that of Ximena Arias-Cristobal, a fellow 19-year-old Dreamer and TheDream.US scholar, in Georgia who was also in immigration detention after police in Dalton wrongly pulled her over.

Asked about possible plans for immigration protections for Dreamers, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told NBC News in a statement June 4, “The Trump Administration’s top priority is deporting criminal illegal aliens from the United States, of which there are many.”

The Indiana Pacers were playing for the NBA championship on Sunday night. But when star Tyrese Haliburton was carried off the floor with an Achilles injury late in the first quarter of Game 7 of the finals, the franchise’s hopes plummeted.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder would go on to win the title with a 103-97 victory, but questions remain about what would have happened had Haliburton been able to play the final three quarters.

His injury also reopened discussion about why so many NBA players are tearing their Achilles tendon. This postseason alone, Haliburton, Bucks guard Damian Lillard and Celtics wing Jayson Tatum all sustained the same injury.

Some have argued that 82 regular-season games and a busy playoff schedule result in a higher likelihood of injuries.

But NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said this month that postseason injuries were “considerably down” compared to other years, noting that he didn’t think the more compressed nature of the schedule was linked to more injuries.

“I don’t really see the benefit to reducing the number of games,” he told members of the media. “People used to say you should reduce the number of games because it will lead to reduction in the number of injuries. There’s absolutely no data to suggest that.”

Medical experts say that the high caliber of the sport — not simply the number of games — may provide an explanation.

The Achilles tendon connects the calf muscles to the heel bone. It’s the longest and largest tendon in the body and can take on the stress of about six times a person’s body weight, said Dr. Julia Iafrate, a sports medicine doctor at NYU Langone. But basketball’s continuously fast and explosive movements increase the risk of Achilles injuries, she said.

Basketball players load their tendons more “aggressively,” increasing the risk for injury, she said.

“Usually they are standing still, then they go to take a step aggressively, to speed run somewhere, or to take off, and that’s when the injury happens.”

“I think that there’s more pressure to perform at a high level and with these high level athletes, the expectation of them to constantly be able to push through injury creates an environment that maybe makes them a higher risk,” she added.

Dr. Adam Bitterman, chairman of the department of orthopedic surgery at Northwell Medicine in New York, said Achilles injuries can happen in any activity that produces a sudden eccentric contraction of the Achilles tendon, meaning it’s lengthened when under tension.

Bitterman said he’s noticed higher rates of Achilles tendon injuries recently, from high school athletes to professionals to weekend warriors. The reasons could stem from lifestyle choices, the shoes they’re wearing or pre-existing conditions, he said.

Haliburton suffered a calf strain in Game 5 of the NBA Finals but still went on to play the final two games at less than 100%. After the strain, he said he was determined to be on the floor despite the injury.

“If I can walk, then I want to play,” Haliburton said after the Pacers lost Game 5.

Haliburton said he had an “honest conversation” with head coach Rick Carlisle to take him out of Game 6 if he “was hurting the team.”

“Obviously, I want to be on the floor,” he said. “But I want to win more than anything.”

Haliburton finished with 14 points and five assists in an Indiana win that forced Game 7, but it’s possible the extra tension on his Achilles and the calf strain may have contributed to his Achilles injury, both Bitterman and Iafrate said, neither of whom have treated Haliburton.

“It’s hard to give it an exact number, but certainly playing on a strained calf muscle or strained tendon can certainly increase the risk for further injury if it has continued trauma to it,” Iafrate said.

“If he’s stiffer than usual, then no matter how well he warms up, that tendon is trying to protect itself, so it’s not able to absorb as much force,” she said.

Bitterman said it usually takes nine months to a year to recover from an Achilles tear — though professional athletes may push the envelope to speed up recovery time. Still, it’s likely Haliburton will miss all or most of the 2025-2026 NBA season. The Pacers announced that Haliburton was operated on Monday by Dr. Martin O’Malley at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

Haliburton’s injury is eerily similar to what happened to Kevin Durant during the 2019 NBA Finals. Durant was with the Golden State Warriors when he tore his Achilles in Game 5 after returning from a calf injury. The Warriors then lost the series in six games to the Toronto Raptors.

Durant missed the entire next season.

More than 60 record-high temperatures were set across the country on Monday, with more expected Tuesday from the Southeast into New England.

Several cities, including Boston, Providence, Rhode Island, and Hartford, Connecticut, are on track to break their all-time June monthly records on Tuesday.

Heat index values on Tuesday could reach 104 degrees in New York City, 106 degrees in Boston, 102 degrees in Atlanta and 110 degrees in Washington, D.C.

Conditions will also remain stiflingly hot in the evening hours, according to the National Weather Service.

“Overnight lows are forecast to only drop into the 70s, with urban centers along the East Coast struggling to drop below 80 degrees at night,” the weather service said Tuesday in its short-range forecast.

Some relief is expected later this week, heading into the weekend, but heat and humidity will continue to soar in the coming days.

“The most significant cumulative heat impacts are anticipated across the Mid-Atlantic through Thursday and eastern Ohio Valley into Friday, leading to several consecutive days of oppressive heat,” the NWS said.

Anyone is susceptible to heat-related illness or death, but excessively hot and humid conditions — especially for days on end — are particularly risky for children, people with pre-existing health conditions, the elderly and individuals who work outdoors. These health impacts are a significant concern as heat waves become more frequent, intense and longer-lasting due to climate change.

As the eastern half of the country bakes under the heat dome, severe storms could hit parts of Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota and Nebraska. Heavy rainfall and flooding is also possible for much of New Mexico and far southwestern Texas.

WASHINGTON — Democrats on Tuesday elected Rep. Robert Garcia of California as their leader on the House Oversight Committee, installing a young, fresh face in one of the party’s key roles to take on President Donald Trump.

It marks a rapid ascent for Garcia, 47, who is only in his second term Congress. Some lawmakers have served decades on Capitol Hill and have never become a committee chairman or ranking member.

Garcia would be in line to chair the powerful Oversight Committee if Democrats win control of the House in next year’s midterm elections.

There initially had been four candidates vying to succeed the late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., on the Oversight Committee. But two of them — Reps. Kweisi Mfume of Maryland and Jasmine Crockett of Texas — dropped out of the race after poor showings in a vote Monday night in the Democratic steering committee, a little-known but influential panel closely aligned with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. and his leadership team.

The steering panel overwhelmingly recommended Garcia for the job.

That left just two candidates in the final vote Tuesday before the full Democratic caucus: Garcia and Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., 70, one of the most senior members of the Oversight Committee who had been serving as acting ranking member after Connolly took a leave of absence in April.

The result of the closed-door, secret-ballot vote was 150 votes for Garcia and 63 votes for Lynch, according to two sources in the room.

Even before the steering committee vote, there were signs that Garcia was building momentum. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a large voting bloc, formally endorsed Garcia and aided his whip operation. And he also had broad support from members in the Progressive Caucus; Equality Caucus, composed of LGBTQ+ members; and the 43-member California delegation, the largest in the party.

“Robert is cool and calm under the storm, and I think we need that very steady, calm person to lead the Oversight Committee. There is too much at stake,” said Rep. Norma Torres, a fellow southern Californian and Hispanic Caucus member who helped whip votes for Garcia.

The crowded Oversight Committee race came amid a broader generational debate within the party, with Democrats expressing concern that older leaders are not meeting the moment in the fight against Trump.

The opening on the committee occurred after Connolly died of esophageal cancer at age 75 last month, just five months after he beat back an insurgent challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 35, of New York, for the ranking member position.

Before coming to Washington, Garcia had made history as the first Latino and first openly gay mayor of Long Beach, California.

Garcia, who emigrated with his mother from Peru at a young age, became a U.S. citizen in his early 20s. In southern California, he founded a local news site, the Long Beach Post, before he was elected to the city council there in 2009. Garcia served as Long Beach mayor from 2014 until 2022, when he won election to succeed Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., who did not seek reelection.

“Robert Garcia is a coalition builder. He’s shown steady and strong leadership that brings people together,” said Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif.

“He has a young, fresh energy that I think the Oversight Committee needs,” she added.

LA Clippers star player James Harden has been accused of negligence in a lawsuit that claims a woman was raped by his nephew while she was unconscious after a New Year’s Eve party at his Texas house last year.

Harden’s nephew, Justice Armani Blackburn, is accused of sexual assault against Marisa Watley, 40, in a civil complaint filed in Texas on Monday by law firm Wigdor and co-counsel Ellwanger Henderson.

The lawsuit alleges that security guards hired by Harden could have prevented the alleged rape and that he is “vicariously liable for the actions of his guards and their corporate employer.” It names Harden, Blackburn, and an unknown number of unidentified security guards as defendants, listed as “security guards 1-10,” and their unidentified employer.

Watley is seeking more than $100,000 in damages and wants a jury trial.

Representatives for both Harden and Blackburn were contacted for comment. Neither has responded publicly to the allegations.

“Plaintiff Marisa Watley was brutally raped by Defendant Justice Armani Blackburn following a New Years Eve party at Defendant James Harden’s mansion home,” the complaint says.

According to the lawsuit, filed in the Harris County District Clerk District, Watley’s friends had allegedly told the security team that she appeared to be missing in the house and that the guards were aware that women were passed out from intoxication throughout the house.

“Nonetheless, Mr. Harden’s security team recklessly failed to protect Ms. Watley on Mr. Harden’s property — and the result was a sexual assault from which she will suffer indefinitely,” the lawsuit says.

Watley, a real estate agent, said in a statement: “Since New Year’s Day, when I reported the rape by Mr. Blackburn to the police, I have remained puzzled by how Mr. Harden’s security behaved that day — it is painful to imagine that this all could have been stopped in time. I hope this complaint pushes security employees generally to act more responsibly when women are in danger.”

The complaint says she now speaks with a heavy stutter due to the “severe trauma” of the alleged rape.

The lawsuit says that Watley and two friends met at a restaurant on New Year’s Eve before going to a party at a nearby club. At about 3:30 a.m., they allegedly saw Harden in a VIP area and learned of a party at his house.

The three women took an Uber to his house — the complaint says Watley thought they were going to a friend’s apartment — where an armed security guard checked their IDs and told them to go to the recording studio inside, the lawsuit says.

There, the lawsuit says, Blackburn gave all three women a drink that caused them to pass out. The lawsuit says that Watley’s memory from this point “becomes extremely hazy” as she faded in and out of consciousness.

“The next thing Ms. Watley recalls is being shocked into consciousness while lying face down on a bed with a man behind her having aggressive sex with her,” the lawsuit says.

Watley alleges that after this, a security guard told her to leave. The lawsuit says her two friends had already been told to leave and were locked out despite telling security guards that their friend and some possessions were still inside.

The lawsuit says they were allegedly told no women were in the house, but the friends soon saw more women leaving.

Watley’s two friends had her iPhone and were able to contact her sister through her emergency contacts at 10:44 a.m., who then called the police. The lawsuit alleges that it wasn’t until after 1:29 p.m. that Watley emerged.

Her attorneys, Michael J. Willemin and John S. Crain from Wigdor, and Jay Ellwanger and Kaylyn Betts of Ellwanger Henderson, said in a joint statement that Watley showed “great strength and courage” in reporting the allegations.

“This rape was immediately reported to the police, and we will bring Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Harden to justice through the civil justice system,” they said.