QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuadorian soccer player Jackson Rodríguez’s wife and 5-year-old child were kidnapped early Wednesday, police reported, when men broke into their home in search of the Emelec defender, who told investigators he hid under a bed.
The kidnappings took place around 3 a.m. in the coastal city of Guayaquil, police chief Édison Rodríguez said.
In his testimony to police, the 26-year-old fullback said he hid under a bed when he heard the front door being broken down, according to the police chief.
The perpetrators took Rodriguez’s wife and child after asking the woman if Rodríguez was at the residence.
According to police, Rodríguez saw at a window “that the individuals were traveling in a gray-colored double-cab pickup truck.”
The incident occurred amid a state of emergency declared 10 days ago by the government in nine areas of the country, including the province of Guayas, to which Guayaquil belongs. The measure allows the mobilization of security forces in those territories to combat the operations of organized crime groups, which authorities blame for the wave of violence.
Insecurity and crime have plagued Ecuador for four years, with an increase in the first few months of the year, according to the government. Between January and March, 2,345 violent deaths were reported, 742 of which occurred in Guayaquil, located 270 kilometers (168 miles) southwest of the capital Quito.
The port city is considered one of the most dangerous areas in the country. From those ports, illegal drug shipments are sent to Europe, Central America, and the United States, according to authorities.
Other athletes have been targeted in the past. In December 2024, soccer player Pedro Perlaza, who played for Liga de Quito also was kidnapped in Esmeraldas, a city located 182 kilometers northwest of Quito, and rescued alive a few days later.
Jay Leno opened up on caring for his wife, Mavis Leno, following her advanced dementia diagnosis, saying it has been “challenging,” but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
The 74-year-old comedian has been married to his wife, Mavis Leno since 1980.
“I have never been particularly challenged. I was not in the army, I didn’t have to shoot anybody, I didn’t have to risk my life. When you get married, you take a vow — Will I live up to this? Or will I be like a sleazy guy, if something happens to my wife, I’m out banging the cashier at the mini mart?” he said on Wednesday’s episode of the “In Depth with Graham Bensinger” podcast.
“No, I didn’t. I enjoy the time with my wife. I go home, I cook dinner for her, watch TV, it’s okay. It’s basically what we did before except now I have to feed her and do all the things. But, I like it. I like taking care of her,” he continued.
He described his wife as a “very independent person,” and with her diagnosis, “I like that I’m needed.”
“When you have to feed someone and change them, carry them to the bathroom and do that kind of stuff every day. It’s a challenge,” he explained. “And it’s not that I enjoy doing it, but I guess I enjoy doing it.”
Leno said it’s important to find the humor in every day things. He said a special moment for him is doing flashcards with pictures with his wife to refresh her memory.
“Remember this honey? It’s kind of funny. Honey, that’s President Obama, we had dinner,” he recalled telling her. She responded with “Oh, not me.” Leno replied: “Yeah honey, it was you… We went to the White House!”
Leno said that in his decades together with Mavis, he feels there’s more love now than ever before.
“We’ve been married 45 years. The first 40 — unbelievable. The last five have been challenging, put it that way. I think there’s more love now. Because, why am I doing this? You know? Well, this is why,” he said.
“At some point in my life I’m going to be called upon to defend myself, stand up, whatever it might be. I think that’s really what defines a marriage. That’s really what love is. That’s what you do. I’m glad I didn’t cut and run, I’m glad I didn’t run off with some woman half my age or any of that silly nonsense. I would rather be with her than doing something else.”
Reflecting on his marriage he said, “I married the person that had the ideals I wish I had.”
The petition for conservatorship said Mavis had “been progressively losing capacity and orientation to space and time for several years.” At the time a court-appointed lawyer recommended approving Leno’s request for conservatorship, saying his wife “sometimes does not know her husband, Jay, nor her date of birth.”
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to allow it to enforce a ban on transgender service members in the military.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed an emergency application at the court seeking to block a nationwide injunction issued by a judge in Washington state.
Challengers say that, among other things, the ban violates the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which requires that people be treated equally under the law.
Sauer wrote in the court filing that the judge’s injunction “cannot be squared with the substantial deference that the department’s professional military judgements are owed.”
The ban is an expanded version of a policy Trump implemented in his first term, which the Supreme Court allowed to go into effect. President Joe Biden rolled back those restrictions when he was in office.
The policy “generally disqualifies from military service individuals who have gender dysphoria or have undergone medical interventions for gender dysphoria,” Sauer wrote.
U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle ruled on March 27 that “The government’s arguments are not persuasive, and it is not an especially close question.” He noted that the government had failed to provide any updated evidence on why the new policy was needed.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to block Settle’s ruling.
The administration relies on a Pentagon decision made during the first Trump administration that said people with gender dysphoria are a threat to “military effectiveness and lethality.”
A separate case is ongoing in the District of Columbia, with the administration seeking to overturn a similar injunction. An appeals court heard oral arguments in that case on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court has asked the challengers to file a response to the administration’s request by May 1. In the meantime, the ban remains blocked.
A 19-year-old from Ocean Township, New Jersey, is accused of starting a massive wildfire that prompted thousands of evacuations, burned around 15,000 acres and destroyed a commercial building.
Joseph Kling was arrested and charged with aggravated arson and arson, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday. The fire, named the Jones Road Wildfire, erupted Tuesday in Waretown and has spread throughout the southern Ocean County area.
Prosecutors accused Kling of setting wooden pallets on fire and then leaving the area without ensuring that the fire was fully extinguished.
As of Thursday morning, it was 50% contained. There have been no reports of deaths or loss of homes.
The Cedar Bridge Fire Tower located a plume of smoke coming from the area of Jones Road and Bryant Road in Ocean Township just before 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Emergency personnel observed a fire within the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust’s Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area.
The cause of the fire was determined to be incendiary by an improperly extinguished bonfire, the prosecutor’s office said in a news release.
Kling is being held at the Ocean County jail pending a detention hearing.
The inferno has burned about 15,000 acres in Ocean and Lacey Townships, New Jersey Forest Fire Service said Thursday morning in an update on Facebook. Eight structures have been threatened, and one commercial building was destroyed.
About 5,000 residents were evacuated, but evacuations have since been lifted.
On Wednesday, acting New Jersey Gov. Tahesha Way declared a state of emergency. Fire officials and Shawn M. LaTourette, state commissioner of environmental protection, have said that the fire is expected to burn for a couple more days.
LaTourette said it could end up being the biggest wildfire in the state in 20 years.
“Thanks to the incredible, heroic work of the good men and women of our New Jersey Forest Fire Service, folks’ homes and lives have been saved and we’ve truly averted a major disaster,” he said Wednesday. “Now, this wildfire is not under full and complete control. We still have a lot of work to do to achieve complete containment of the wildfire.”
A seaside Massachusetts town appears to have fallen prey to an overzealous pileated woodpecker that damaged more than 20 vehicles, one resident said.
For weeks, Rockport locals have dealt with broken car windshields and side mirrors. Resident Janelle Favaloro was able to capture a photo of the culprit: a large, crow-sized bird whacking away at vehicles.
“We seem to have a vandal in our neighborhood. I’m describing him as 18 to 24 inches tall, wearing black and white with a red hat,” Favaloro said on NBC’s “TODAY” show.
She said the woodpecker is responsible for damaging at least 25 vehicles.
“The woodpecker showed up and landed on the windshield wipers of the RV in our yard and was looking at its reflection. And we were like, ‘You know what, I bet he was the one that damaged the mirrors as well.’”
The pileated woodpecker is nearly the size of a crow and has white stripes down the neck and a flaming-red crest, according to Allaboutbirds.org
A pileated woodpecker perches Monday on a pickup truck in Rockport, Mass.Billy Hickey / The New York Times / Redux Pictures
Ron Magill, Zoo Miami’s communications director, said one reason for the woodpecker’s aggressive behavior could be the result of peak mating season.
“This time of year is breeding season, so all these male birds, not just pileated woodpeckers, but all birds are getting into a very aggressive territorial courtship display,” he said on NBC’s “TODAY” show.
“If they’re seeing their reflections of themselves, they don’t understand it’s a reflection,” he continued. “They think it’s a competitor.”
One day after longtime Sen. Dick Durbin announced he would retire and not seek reelection, Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, launched her bid for his seat.
She is the first contender to enter what Democrats here are expecting to be a jam-packed field for a senatorial seat that hasn’t been vacant in nearly 30 years.
Stratton has served at JB Pritzker’s side since the billionaire businessman launched his bid for governor in 2017. In 2018, she became the first Black woman to hold the position of lieutenant governor in the state.
Stratton for months signaled her interest in seeking Durbin’s seat, launching the Level Up PAC in January, specifically to support a future bid for the post.
Durbin, first elected to his position in 1996, said on Wednesday he would not seek reelection at the end of his term.
“I know it’s time to pass the torch,” Durbin, 80, said, noting he has “given over half of my life to House and Senate congressional service.”
Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton has jumped into the Senate race.Charles Rex Arbogast / AP file
In 2016, Stratton won a state legislative seat with the help of then- President Barack Obama, who himself had once served in the Illinois Legislature. In a rare instance, Obama filmed a TV ad in a state legislative race to boost her candidacy.
As lieutenant governor, Stratton can tout advancing key initiatives alongside Pritzker, from raising the minimum wage to eliminating the state’s tax on groceries to protecting reproductive rights, as red states surrounding Illinois shuttered abortion facilities.
In recent months, Stratton has served as an opposing voice to President Donald Trump’s administration, including in advocating for additional funding for education in the state amid announced federal cuts.
Trump says the U.S. and China are ‘actively’ discussing tariffs. Beijing says that’s false.
Jennifer Jett and Peter Guo
China on Thursday directly contradicted President Donald Trump’s claims that Beijing and Washington are actively discussing resolutions to a trade war that threatens to upend the global economy.
While Trump said Wednesday that the world’s two largest economies are “actively” talking, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson responded that “China and the U.S. have not engaged in any consultations or negotiations regarding tariffs, let alone reached an agreement.”
The spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, made the comments at a briefing in Beijing, saying that reports of ongoing talks were false. He added that while China is open to negotiations, “if it’s a fight, we will fight to the end.”
At 145%, Trump’s tariffs are higher on China than any other country. As he ratcheted up tariffs on Chinese goods in recent weeks, citing unfair trade practices, Beijing has responded in kind, bringing its total tariff on U.S. goods to 125% — levels that amount to a mutual trade embargo.
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan duo in the House is leading a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi expressing “deep concern” that the Trump administration has put at risk funding grants for programs that help survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Young Kim, R-Calif., have been collecting signatures for the letter, which was first obtained by NBC News and is backed by more than 100 House members. The letter will be sent to Bondi on Thursday.
In February, the Justice Department’s Office of Violence Against Women removed all notices of grant opportunities for fiscal year 2025 from its website, sparking alarm from nonprofit groups that provide services to abuse victims, Politico reported.
“We write to express our deep concern about reports that the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has withdrawn its Notice of 2025 Funding Opportunities. OVW administers critical grant programs that provide lifesaving support to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking,” the letter reads.
“The sudden withdrawal of these funding opportunities threatens to disrupt essential services, jeopardize the stability of victim assistance programs, and undermine the bipartisan commitment to combating these forms of violence,” it continues. “We respectfully urge the Department of Justice to clarify the status of these grants as soon as possible and take swift action to ensure funding remains available to support survivors and the organizations that serve them.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter is a rare bipartisan rebuke of the Trump administration’s handling of federal funding. Gottheimer is running for governor of New Jersey this year, while Kim is a moderate Republican from Southern California who faces a tough re-election fight next year.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, also signed on to the letter. The signers also include two Republican delegates to the House, Kimberlyn King-Hinds of the Northern Mariana Islands and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa.
Other Democrats helping with the effort are Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan, a member of the party’s leadership in the House, and Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin.
The Office on Violence Against Women was created through the Violence Against Women Act, a bipartisan law known as VAWA, which administers grant programs that provide services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking.
VAWA was signed into law in 1994 and reauthorized several times, most recently in 2022. Democrats have pointed out that at her Senate confirmation hearing, Bondi vowed to “faithfully implement these programs” and “ensure that all programs administered by the Department, including those at OVW, are administered effectively and in accordance with their missions as enacted by Congress.”
The lawmakers wrote in their letter: “A delay or reduction in OVW funding will have devastating consequences for the countless individuals who rely on these resources for safety, legal protection, and recovery. This abrupt withdrawal of funding has created severe uncertainty that threatens the well-being of survivors who cannot afford these delays.
“We ask that the Department clarify its plans to rectify this situation and ensure that OVW grant funding is fully restored without further delay to continue providing care to survivors of domestic violence.”
CHICAGO — With his massive frame and larger-than-life persona, Steve McMichael was natural for the gridiron and the squared circle.
The man known as “Mongo” and “Ming The Merciless” left a trail of battered and beaten opponents during a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears. Then he did the same as a professional wrestler.
McMichael, a star defensive tackle on the Bears’ famed 1985 Super Bowl championship team who remained a fixture in the Windy City for decades, died Wednesday following a battle with ALS. He was 67.
McMichael died at Lightways Hospice in suburban Joliet, his publicist, Betsy Shepherd, told The Associated Press.
An All-Pro in 1985 and 1987, McMichael was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024. He played in a franchise-record 191 consecutive games from 1981 to 1993 and ranks second to Richard Dent on the Bears’ career sacks list with 92 1/2. His final NFL season was with Green Bay in 1994.
McMichael’s brash personality and willingness to say whatever was on his mind made him a perfect fit for pro wrestling. He began working for World Championship Wrestling in the 1990s at the height of the “Monday Night Wars” with the World Wrestling Federation, starting as a color commentator and later joining Ric Flair in the “Four Horsemen” group.
McMichael revealed in April 2021 that he was battling ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control.
“I promise you, this epitaph that I’m going to have on me now? This ain’t ever how I envisioned this was going to end,” McMichael told the Chicago Tribune.
Steve McMichael in 2021.John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune / TNS via Getty Images
McMichael had been experiencing tingling in his arms for some time that he figured was a neck or spine issue stemming from his playing days or his work as a wrestler. A neurosurgeon at the Mayo Clinic suggested in September 2020 that he had ALS. McMichael sought other opinions, and in January 2021, doctors in Chicago confirmed the diagnosis.
Though he mostly retreated from public life following his announcement, photos posted on social media by family and friends showed his decline. McMichael went from a 270-pound giant who used to blast through blockers and drive wrestlers headfirst into the mat with the “Mongo spike” to someone who was rail-thin, bedridden and hooked up to machines as his body failed him.
“He’s scared to die and he shouldn’t be because he’s the most badass man I’ve ever known inside and out,” his wife, Misty McMichael, told The Associated Press prior to his Hall of Fame induction on Aug. 3, 2024. “He’s a good man. He’s gonna be in heaven before any of us, so I don’t know what he’s afraid of. But I’ve told him to please hang on ‘til the (induction) and then, you know, I don’t want to see him suffer anymore. He’s been suffering.”
Born in Houston, McMichael’s parents separated when he was about 2. His mom, Betty, married an oil company executive named E.V. McMichael, and the younger McMichael considered him his dad and took on his surname.
The family moved to Freer, Texas, and McMichael went on to letter in football, basketball, baseball, track, tennis and golf as a senior. A catcher, he preferred baseball. The Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals showed interest, but his parents wanted him to go to college.
He received recruiting letters for football from about 75 schools. Bear Bryant wanted to use him as a tight end at Alabama, while Darrell Royal recruited him to Texas as a defensive end. McMichael went on to star for the Longhorns from 1976-79. Although his freshman season was marred by the death of his stepfather, he became a consensus first-team All-American as a senior and entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
The New England Patriots drafted McMichael in the third round in 1980. He didn’t last long, appearing in six games as a rookie before getting released prior to his second season. McMichael would play hard on and off the field, getting in fights in practice and taking in Boston’s nightlife afterward.
“They looked at me and said, ‘Steve, we think you’re the criminal element in the league. Get out,’” McMichael said in his Gridiron Greats Hall of Fame induction speech in 2019.
The same traits that apparently led to a ticket out of New England were welcomed in Chicago. In that same speech, McMichael recalled walking into founder George Halas’ office — “It was like I was walking into a 1920 gangster movie and he was James Cagney” — when he signed with Chicago.
“Papa Bear” made it clear. “You know what he said to me, guys?” McMichael said. “I’ve heard what kind of dirty rat you are in practice. Don’t change, Steve.”
His nasty demeanor and oversized personality made McMichael one of the most feared players on arguably the greatest defense ever assembled. But longtime friend Dave Siden remembered him as master storyteller and a generous man who would sign over his preseason paychecks to the team trainers as a token of appreciation and buy baskets of toys for children. Through McMichael, Siden met golfer Ben Crenshaw and went backstage at wrestling events.
“I knew him as one of the nicest, most giving friends you could have,” Siden said, his voice cracking.
McMichael played alongside Hall of Famers Dent, Mike Singletary and Dan Hampton, and the 1985 Bears, led by their dominant defense, shuffled their way to the franchise’s lone Super Bowl championship. McMichael was an All-Pro that season with eight sacks.
He played 15 years in the NFL — 13 with Chicago before his final season with the rival Packers.
“It’s a cruel irony that the Bears’ Ironman succumbed to this dreaded disease,” Bears chairman George McCaskey said in a statement. “Yet Steve showed us throughout his struggle that his real strength was internal, and he demonstrated on a daily basis his class, his dignity and his humanity. He is at peace now. We offer our condolences to Misty, (daughter) Macy, the rest of Steve’s family, his teammates, and countless friends and fans of a great Bear.”
Pro Football Hall of Fame president and CEO Jim Porter said in a statement: “Steve McMichael told everyone he would fight ALS with the same tenacity he showed for 15 seasons in the National Football League. And he did just that. Everyone who played with or against Steve shares the same opinion: No one battled longer or harder from the snap until the whistle than Steve the player.”
Soon after his career ended, McMichael got involved with wrestling.
In April 1995, he was in Lawrence Taylor’s corner at the WWF’s WrestleMania when the New York Giants great met Bam Bam Bigelow. Later that year, he started with WCW as a commentator.
McMichael began his in-ring career in 1996, feuding with Flair over then-wife Debra McMichael, then a wrestling valet. He remained with the company through 1999.
“The World Just Lost The Incredible Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael!” Flair posted on X. “He Was My Best Friend Through It All! An Amazing Athlete And Human Being!”
He and Debra divorced in 1998. He married the former Misty Davenport in 2001, and Macy was born in 2008.
BISMARCK, N.D. — A federal judge on Wednesday found the state of North Dakota entitled to nearly $28 million for responding to protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in 2016 and 2017 — a win for the state in its multiyear effort to recoup the costs from the federal government.
The state filed the lawsuit in 2019, seeking $38 million for policing the protests. The sometimes-chaotic demonstrations drew international attention for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s opposition to the pipeline’s Missouri River crossing upstream of the tribe’s reservation. The tribe has long opposed the pipeline, fearing an oil spill polluting its water supply.
A trial played out over several weeks in early 2024 in federal court in Bismarck, the state capital. People who testified included former North Dakota governors Doug Burgum, who took office in December 2016 during the protests’ height, and Jack Dalrymple, whose administration responded to the protests’ early months.
U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor found the United States liable to the state on all claims and for more than $27.8 million in damages.
The judge wrote: “The bottom line: United States had a mandatory procedure, it did not follow that procedure, and harm occurred to the state of North Dakota. The law allows reimbursement for this harm. More than that, the rule of law requires this Court to hold the United States liable to remind it of its role in the larger picture of ensuring peace, not chaos.”
Thousands of people camped and demonstrated against the pipeline near the crossing for months, resulting in hundreds of arrests. Sometimes-violent clashes occurred between protesters and law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officers from around the state and region responded to the protests.
The protest camps were cleared in February 2017. An attorney for the state said the protests ended in a response of more than seven months involving 178 agencies, resulting in 761 arrests and requiring four days of cleanup of the camp to remove millions of pounds of trash.
Military veterans protest at the Dakota Access oil pipeline site in Cannon Ball, N.D., in 2016.David Goldman / AP
In a joint statement, Gov. Kelly Armstrong and Attorney General Drew Wrigley said: “As outlined in trial testimony and Judge Traynor’s ruling, decisions made by the Obama administration emboldened protestors and ultimately caused millions of dollars in damage to North Dakota, while endangering the health and safety of North Dakota communities, families and law enforcement officers who responded to the protests.”
The state’s claims included negligence, gross negligence, civil trespass and public nuisance.
Attorneys for the government said at trial that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials “acted reasonably given limited options at their disposal” during the protests, and that the state’s claim is “greatly overstated.” The government asked the judge to find a lack of legal jurisdiction for the state’s claims, that the state hasn’t proven its claims and is not entitled to damages.
The Associated Press sent an email to an attorney who argued for the federal government at trial seeking comment.
The pipeline has been transporting oil since June 2017. Many state government officials and industry leaders support the pipeline as crucial infrastructure in the country’s No. 3 oil-producing state. The pipeline carries roughly 5% of the United States’ daily oil production.
In 2017, the pipeline company, Energy Transfer, donated $15 million to help cover the response costs. That same year, the U.S. Justice Department gave a $10 million grant to the state for reimbursing the response. The judge found the former to be a gift and reduced the latter from the state’s total recovery.
Then-President Donald Trump denied a 2017 request from the state for the federal government to cover the costs through a disaster declaration.
The pipeline is operating while a court-ordered environmental review of the river crossing is carried out.
A North Dakota jury recently found Greenpeace liable for defamation and other claims brought by the pipeline’s builder in connection with protest activities, with damages surpassing $660 million against three Greenpeace organizations.
