This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Fox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Controversial Olympic athlete Eileen Gu called out the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) over the tight Olympic schedule she has, which she said will prevent her from getting in the proper training sessions she needs for a freeski event. Gu, who is representing China during the 2026 Winter Olympics, made her thoughts known after she clinched a spot in the big air final, which takes place Monday. She said competing in the final will take her away from properly practicing for the qualifying round of the halfpipe final, which takes place on Thursday. China's Eileen Gu warms up before the women's freestyle skiing big air qualifications at the Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. "I think the Olympics should epitomize aspiration, and I think being able to do something that's beyond the ordinary should be celebrated instead of punished." Gu said she wasn't trying to get special treatment, only the same amount of practice time as her competitors. Gu already won silver in slopestyle earlier this week. Eileen Gu waits for her score as she competes in the women's freestyle skiing big air qualifications at the Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. I think it's punishing excellence, to be completely honest with you," Gu added. "Because I dare to do three events, and this is making it completely impossible to train fairly for the third event." FIS scheduled three training sessions before qualifying – an increase from two for a typical World Cup event. "But as we have already seen at these Games, for athletes who choose to compete in multiple disciplines and/or multiple events, conflicts can sometimes be inevitable," he said. Gu, who was born in the U.S. but chose to compete for China, hasn't skied in a halfpipe event since December and hasn't competed in big air since winning the gold in the 2022 Beijing Games. Eileen Gu reacts after her first jump in the women's freestyle skiing big air qualification during the Winter Games at Livigno Snow Park on Feb. 14, 2026. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter. Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. From slope and sunlight to soil, rainfall and elevation, an Arizona winemaker tells Fox News Digital how terroir transforms identical Syrah into unique expressions. Eric Glomski still remembers the first time he discovered his "liquid landscape." "I remember closing my eyes and smelling this wine, and it reminded me exactly of the place where I harvested those apples," he recalled in an interview with Fox News Digital. Glomski had not been a winemaker at that time. He was a restoration ecologist, hiking the perennial streams of central Arizona, cataloging river systems and abandoned homesteads. It was there he found heirloom apples growing wild. He hauled them out in a backpack, made apple wine with a mentor and, eight months later, experienced what he calls his epiphany. He dropped out of graduate school, moved to California and volunteered at wineries — sleeping in his truck. For nearly six years, Glomski immersed himself in a culture guided by one principle: "What's best for the wine?" The region's volcanic soils, limestone deposits and elevation offered what he saw as untapped potential. Page Springs Cellars & Vineyards has been pouring wine for visitors since 2003. Contrary to popular perception, Arizona wine country is not a blistering desert floor, Glomski said. "My two biggest issues are frost and freeze, and monsoon rains — the exact opposite of what people expect," he said. His vineyards stretch from 3,500 to 5,500 feet in elevation. "It snows in my vineyards regularly," he said. "People don't realize this, because Arizona is very mountainous." "I like to think of myself as an ambassador for Arizona." That elevation, combined with volcanic, limestone and even granite soils, allows him to grow Rhône varietals that express distinct personalities depending on where they're planted. He grows Syrah in multiple estate vineyards, and said the differences are unmistakable. The vineyards at Page Springs stretch from 3,500 to 5,500 feet in elevation. "They're so distinctive because of these different ecological characters," he said. "I like to think of myself as an ambassador for Arizona," he said. That belief was tested in 2006, when out-of-state distributors introduced legislation that would have prevented small Arizona wineries from selling directly to consumers and retailers. The vineyards at Page Springs are home to a distinctive variety of wines. Wineries would have been forced to sell exclusively through wholesalers — even buying back their own bottles to pour in tasting rooms, Glomski said. "It was this very heavy-handed middleman move to control the market," he said. Working with a volunteer attorney and a handful of fellow winemakers, Glomski spent two months going "door-to-door" at the state Capitol, meeting "every senator and every representative in our state" to help reform the legislation, he said. Glomski, left, dropped out of graduate school, went to work for a California vineyard and eventually opened Page Springs Cellars in Arizona. In the decade that followed, Arizona's winery count grew from eight to more than 100. "If that isn't case in point about what a difference that made to the ability for a free market and these businesses to grow," Glomski said. "I think in the next decade-plus, you're going to see Arizona really making some waves." Today, that growth is finding a national audience. Page Springs' Alma del Suelo red and white wines are featured in the Fox News Wine Shop. He believes the state is still defining itself. Glomski took on Arizona legislation that would have prevented Page Springs and other small wineries from selling directly to consumers and retailers. "Arizona is still, I think, figuring that out," he said. "I think in the next decade-plus, you're going to see Arizona really making some waves," he said. Learn more about the Fox News Wine Shop here. Peter Burke is a lifestyle editor with Fox News Digital. He covers various lifestyle topics, with an emphasis on food and drink. A look at the top-trending stories in food, relationships, great outdoors and more. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military forces boarded another sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said Sunday. Venezuela had faced U.S. sanctions on its oil for several years, relying on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains. President Donald Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned tankers in December to pressure then-President Nicolás Maduro before Maduro was apprehended in January during an American military operation. The Defense Department said in a post on X that U.S. forces boarded the Veronica III, conducting “a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding.” “The vessel tried to defy President Trump's quarantine — hoping to slip away,” the Pentagon said. The Veronica III is a Panamanian-flagged vessel under U.S. sanctions related to Iran, according to the website of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The Veronica III left Venezuela on Jan. 3, the same day as Maduro's capture, with nearly 2 million barrels of crude and fuel oil, TankerTrackers.com posted Sunday on X. “Since 2023, she's been involved with Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil,” the organization said. Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, told The Associated Press in January that his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document that at least 16 tankers left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine. The Trump administration has been seizing tankers as part of its broader efforts to take control of the Venezuela's oil. The Pentagon did not say in the post whether the Veronica III was formally seized and placed under U.S. control, and later told the AP in an email that it had no additional information to provide beyond that post. The ship was being held while its ultimate fate was decided by the United States, according to a defense official who spoke last week on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing decision-making. Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. A student group affiliated with Turning Point USA is facing criticism for hosting an event at a Maryland high school in December, with one woman saying that Child Protective Services had been notified. A local community member, who was identified as Nancy, expressed "serious concern" about the December TPUSA-affiliated event at a February 12 board meeting. That student said his group placed restrictions on the event after receiving "hate" online, including restricting access for adults they did not know who were not volunteers or parents of attendees. He also stated that all students who attended had parental permission. "We have been accused of many things. We have been accused of grooming children… an allegation that a random unnamed man was president of our group and had certain felony charges. I don't have any felony charges or convictions," the student said, adding an invitation to discuss any questions. Nancy spoke next, raising her issues with the TPUSA event. "While community building opportunities for students are important, this event raises serious concerns related to student safety, parental rights and governance oversight," the woman stated, claiming that parents and legal guardians were not permitted to attend the event. "Excluding parents and guardians from a student-focused event creates a lack of transparency and undermines established best practices for youth safety," she continued, going on to say that such events should be subject to supervision and background checks. "Students are widely recognized as vulnerable population, they are in critical developmental stages, and especially susceptible to influence," she added. "All Board of Education members in this room are mandated reporters under state law, as I am. Based on the circumstances surrounding this event, a report was made to Child Protective Services," the woman added as she concluded her remarks. People pray during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025, Dec. 18, 2025, in Phoenix. His wife, Erika Kirk, told Fox News' Shannon Bream in December that the organization intends to resume its normal presence on college campuses in particular. "We are not afraid," she said, adding that the TPUSA team will continue to host "Prove Me Wrong"–style debates as part of its campus outreach. Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk, speaks at Turning Point USA's annual AmericaFest event in Phoenix, Arizona on Dec. 18, 2025. Charlie Kirk was assassinated during an outdoor event on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University. The charismatic TPUSA founder rose to prominence through his signature political debates on college campuses. Moments before the fatal shot, he sat beneath a white tent emblazoned with the slogan "Prove Me Wrong," fielding open-mic questions from thousands in attendance. Fox News' Amanda Macias contributed to this report. Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Recessions and stock market crashes are inevitable in a market-based economy, but few Americans realize that their investments face risks far greater than falling stock prices. Because of largely unknown legal changes, millions of Americans could temporarily or even permanently lose their retirement and other investment savings in the next major financial crash, all while too-big-to-fail Wall Street firms and banks are protected. That might sound like a wild conspiracy theory, but the danger is real and well documented. Beginning in the 1970s, at the request of powerful Wall Street and banking institutions, state lawmakers quietly adopted a series of changes to the Uniform Commercial Code, a body of law enacted in all 50 states. These changes effectively allowed financial institutions to reassign direct ownership of most securities away from individual investors, including those holding retirement accounts and traditional brokerage accounts. Under the revised legal framework, direct ownership of securities such as stocks and bonds was centralized within a single financial institution controlled by Wall Street's largest firms and banks: the Depository Trust Company, or DTC. Today, DTC "provides custody and asset servicing for 1.44 million security issues from more than 170 countries and territories valued at more than US $100 trillion as of 2025." To put that figure in perspective, the entire federal budget is roughly $7 trillion. In January, I released a new book, "The Next Big Crash: Conspiracy, Collapse, and the Men Behind History's Biggest Heist," to explain how this legal framework was constructed, why it poses grave risks to consumers today, and to uncover the remarkable conspiracy behind DTC's creation. Major banks and broker-dealers, with the help of a mysterious figure with a long history of working for and alongside the CIA, created DTC in the early 1970s with the stated goal of alleviating Wall Street's growing paperwork crisis. At the time, buying and selling securities was a slow, paperwork-heavy process. By centralizing registered ownership of securities in a single institution, transfers could be executed simply by changing records, which today occurs electronically. What once took several days could be completed almost instantly. Lawmakers were told this shift was a technical modernization designed to improve efficiency and reduce risk. The cost and time required to do business on Wall Street dropped dramatically after DTC's creation. But these gains came at a steep price. Traditional securities ownership, grounded in clear title and constitutional protections, was replaced. Under the current DTC model, most investors no longer directly own their securities. Instead, they hold what the law refers to as a "security entitlement." You get a set of investment rights tied to that stock. It delivers enormous benefits to the most powerful financial institutions while weakening the ownership rights of ordinary investors. Centralized ownership allows securities transactions to be processed at extraordinary speed, fueling ever-increasing activity and on Wall Street. That activity generates massive fee revenue for large institutions. In recent years, institutions have also reaped enormous profits from riskier practices such as stock lending and derivatives trading. These activities could not have occurred at anything close to their current scale under the stronger ownership framework that existed prior to DTC's creation. Worse still, Wall Street and lawmakers did not stop there. Under Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code, if a brokerage firm collapses during a financial crisis, secured creditors, including banks, may seize securities used as collateral in lending arrangements with broker-dealers. This can include customer securities, such as stocks and bonds, if they were pledged as collateral for those loans. Investors might discover their retirement is in jeopardy during the next crash. As a result, during the next major crash, investors could lose their entire portfolios if their broker-dealer pledged customer assets to obtain financing. Current regulations generally prohibit investment firms from using most customer securities as collateral, other than for margin accounts. However, Article 8 permits secured creditors to seize customer assets pledged as collateral if a firm cannot pay its debts, even if the securities were improperly pledged. Moreover, as I document in the book, existing emergency powers laws could be invoked during a crisis to alter or suspend rules meant to protect customers. Lawmakers could also enact new legislation that weakens current consumer safeguards. A small number of lawmakers across the country have begun to recognize the danger and push back, but sustained public pressure will be required to achieve meaningful reform. The next financial crash could arrive sooner or later, and its precise trigger is impossible to predict. Unless Americans demand change now, many could discover too late that many of the rules governing their retirement savings were not designed to protect them. Justin Haskins is a New York Times bestselling author, vice president at The Heartland Institute, and a senior fellow for Our Republic. Justin Haskins is a New York Times bestselling author and a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute and Our Republic. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes.

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters. At Vox, our mission is to help you make sense of the world — and that work has never been more vital. But we can't do it on our own. We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today? Why everyone is obsessed with Internal Family Systems, even though its claims are dubious. To submit a question, fill out this anonymous form. Here's this week's question from a reader, condensed and edited for clarity: What's going on with Internal Family Systems therapy? It looks like IFS is becoming really popular, an increasing number of my friends are trying it, and mostly they report extremely positive experiences. There's a mantra in IFS: Inside us, there are “no bad parts.” That may well be true of us, but I don't think it's true of IFS itself. This is a type of therapy that has a lot going for it, but it also has some parts that should absolutely make you skeptical. Inspired by family systems therapy, he argued that just as a family is made up of members who form alliances, get into conflicts, and protect each other in patterned ways — so too is your mind. Schwartz says your parts fall into a few categories. “Exiles” are wounded parts that carry pain and shame from when you were younger. “Managers” are protectors that try to prevent those painful exiles from surfacing — for example, through perfectionism. “Firefighters” are like the emergency response team that jumps into action when painful exiles break through anyway; they'll use drinking, bingeing, or numbing out to protect you from the fiery, difficult feelings. And finally, there's “Self” — note the capital S — which is your supposed true essence, undamaged by trauma, always waiting for you underneath everything else. Your Self is characterized by calm, curiosity, compassion, and clarity. If you can access it, you can more easily build trusting relationships with all your parts, understand why they developed the coping mechanisms they did, and gradually help them release the maladaptive ones so you can live a healthier life. Now, here's what I think is really going on. There's a lot people like about the IFS model — and with good reason. Let's start with the core idea that your mind is not a single unified thing. You can tell it's intuitive because we all commonly say things like “a part of me wants X, but a part of me wants Y,” or “I'm of two minds about that.” We have a natural sense that we each contain multitudes. If you've ever taken a psychology or neuroscience class, you know that the brain isn't a single command center — it's a collection of systems that evolved at different times for different purposes, and they don't always agree. IFS's acknowledgement of multiplicity is especially refreshing because Western philosophy has spent centuries trying to convince us that we humans are “the rational animal” — that rationality and cool logic are at the center of what it means to be human. But the brain isn't actually organized that way. And by acknowledging that we're not fully rational beings, IFS frees us up from the expectation that we should be — a feature that bedevils other forms of therapy, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. CBT is based on the idea that we can catch our automatic thoughts and assumptions, check to see if they're true, and simply change them if not. But you can't logic your way out of everything. It can also make you feel ashamed: If you don't manage to get your moods and reactions under rational control, it feels like you've got nobody to blame but your one and only self. By contrast, IFS insists that even though some parts of you may act in misguided ways, they're just trying their best to protect you. And that brings us to what is, for my money, the number one thing drawing people to IFS: This modality, and particularly the catchphrase “no bad parts,” gives people a rubric for tapping into self-compassion rather than self-judgment. We think: I know that's not a smart thing to do, but I did it anyway — what's wrong with me? It's incredibly helpful to instead be able to say: This is coming from a part of me that's trying to protect me in some way, and even though it's not going about it very well, I know the intentions are good. It's got some genuinely positive aspects — and it doesn't hurt that movies like Inside Out helped popularize the idea that we're all made up of lots of little parts! But holy hell are there also some problematic aspects to IFS. For one thing, let's talk about the evidence base. As an investigation in The Cut noted last year, the strongest evidence for IFS, according to Schwartz, comes from a small 2013 study he co-wrote in which rheumatoid arthritis patients undergoing the therapy reported, on average, improved joint pain, reduced depressive symptoms, and more self-compassion several months later. Some people with eating disorders have gotten sicker, The Cut reported, as their IFS treatment focused on dredging up harrowing memories rather than stabilizing them. And some people developed “memories” of being abused by their parents, only to later allege that those were false memories introduced in the course of IFS therapy. Experts have also begun warning that encouraging a client to play out conversations between their parts can be dangerous if the client doesn't have a firm grasp on reality. “Our concern is that encouraging splitting of the self into parts for those who struggle with reality testing might be disorganizing,” wrote psychologist Lisa Brownstone and co-authors in a paper last year. Even for very high-functioning clients, there's a feature of IFS therapy that risks leading them further away from what's real. Tell an IFS therapist that you're skeptical about some aspect of the therapy, and too often the therapist will say something like: Oh, that's your skeptical part talking. They may invite that part to express its thoughts, but you're still expected to buy the premise that your unease is coming from some part that's not to be fully trusted. When any resistance tends to be interpreted as just another fearful part of you acting up, the therapeutic logic you end up with is a tight, self-confirming loop — one that makes it harder for you to challenge your therapist's depiction of reality, even if it seems off to you. Feel free to email me at sigal.samuel@vox.com or fill out this anonymous form! But it's Bessel van der Kolk's world, and we're all just living in it: So popular is the idea that “the body keeps the score,” that people sometimes feel implicit pressure to imagine they can locate an emotional pain somewhere physical. One of my colleagues confessed to me that when he's been asked this, “all I can think of is ‘my shoulders'...because I have bad posture and have a desk job”! If an individual walks away from a therapy session like this and feels better, I'm glad for them. But when IFS is being held up as a treatment for very serious conditions like depression and addiction, it really matters for the underlying science to be right. Ironically, for all its insistence that we are not unitary creatures, IFS does posit that underneath all our parts there is a unitary essence. Believing that we each have a wise inner self is fine if you hold the idea lightly, as a kind of metaphor. But some IFS therapists talk about it way too literally. Asked to connect with my Self, I remembered a day when I was 11 years old, singing joyously from the bleachers in my neighborhood park. I didn't actually believe it was — it seemed more like one version of me, a version I like and want to cultivate more. This wasn't great, both because I felt epistemically wronged (I know the one true Self is not a thing), and because it would've actually been more empowering if I'd just been told: “No, this isn't the essential you, buried deep down within and therefore sometimes accessible but sometimes not. And you can do that at any moment, because this is about your agency — not some preexisting metaphysical essence.” Finally, while we're talking about metaphysics, I need to mention the demons. Some leading figures in IFS, like the therapist and author Robert Falconer, believe that people sometimes become possessed by literal demons — though they call them “Unattached Burdens.” Last year, Falconer wrote a book about these malevolent beings and how to exorcise them, and Schwartz wrote the foreword. The journalist and researcher Jules Evans argues there's a significant risk that by talking to clients about these supposed demons, IFS therapists will end up actually implanting a belief in demons into their clients — which could terrify some clients and actually worsen their mental health. The power of suggestion is not to be underestimated. If they suffer from a serious condition — an eating disorder, a history of abuse or trauma — then I do think it's good to make them aware of the problems with IFS. If their issues are more run-of-the-mill (think: someone who just doesn't get along great with their mom), then IFS might be helping them overall, even in spite of some of IFS's own features. And as for whether you should try IFS yourself? I wouldn't recommend starting on that path. If, as I believe, one of the key advantages of IFS is that it helps people cultivate self-compassion, why not cut out the IFS middleman and go straight to the source by taking a self-compassion class? A few years ago, I tried IFS therapy and, separately, an eight-week self-compassion course run by the nonprofit Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. I benefited a bit from the former, but I felt like it actually required me to push away some parts of myself. Meanwhile, I gained hugely from the latter, and I didn't feel like it asked me to leave my critical thinking at the door. Here at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country. Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change. We rely on readers like you — join us. Apply here to receive a free annual Membership, made possible by another reader. We're finally making progress toward a universal flu vaccine. Around the world, energy is becoming abundant — there's just one problem.

As the definition of autism has widened, there's a growing push to separate profound autism into its own diagnosis. People with this condition, such as Connor and Ronan, 9-year-old twins, need lifelong care. Ronan Murphy hugs his mother, Andrea, while looking at the snow falling outside their home in Ayer, Mass., on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. Ronan Murphy works on a sorting problem during an applied behavior analysis after school in his home in Ayer, Mass., on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. Connor Murphy takes a break from a matching problem during an applied behavior analysis after school in his home in Ayer, Mass., on Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. Ronan Murphy snuggles with his mom, Andrea, while looking at the snow falling outside his home while brother, Connor sits nearby in Ayer, Mass., on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP) — Connor Murphy walked in circles around his dad, then flopped down on the kitchen floor, got up and walked in circles again. His dad turned the 9-year-old's repetitive behavior into a chance to connect. “Want me to pick you up?” Matthew Murphy asked, lifting, tickling and spinning with his son. Such spontaneous moments are common in the Murphy household, which revolves around the needs of Connor and his twin brother Ronan, who both have profound autism. Autism rates have been rising for decades, and two of the main reasons for the increase have, in a strange twist, taken some of the focus off helping people with round-the-clock needs. The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, adopted in 2013, is now very broad, including many people with low support needs. Also, better awareness of the condition has helped many more children get diagnosed than in the past — and most of those cases are relatively mild. At the same time, the Trump Administration is promoting unproven and debunked claims about what causes autism, which experts say muddles efforts to understand the condition and fuels misinformation that threatens public health, even as officials funnel more money into research. There's now a growing push to separate profound autism — in which people need constant care for life, have a certain level of intellectual disability and are nonspeaking or minimally verbal — into its own diagnosis. Andy Shih, chief science officer for Autism Speaks, said no matter where people fall on the debate, “there's absolutely no doubt that we need to elevate awareness about the needs of this group.” The Murphys knew early on that their children had a greater-than-average chance of having neurodevelopmental disabilities. Twin births are associated with a higher risk. Some studies suggest the type of in vitro fertilization they used is too. At first, the couple wasn't too concerned that the babies missed developmental milestones; twins born prematurely tend to run a bit behind. But when the boys weren't walking at around 1 ½ years old, the Murphys sought an evaluation and began speech and occupational therapy. At age 4, the boys were officially diagnosed with level 3 autism, representing the highest level of need, like profound autism. Now, at 9, they often speak in one- to three-word sentences. Last summer, Connor briefly left the house in his pajamas, without shoes, and walked half a mile. They worked to get the boys' schoolyard fenced in and raised money for their local police to have Project Lifesaver, a search-and-rescue program. One snowy Saturday, the family headed to Target. On the ride over, Ronan rocked back and forth in his seat. Inside the store, Andrea Murphy put her hand on Connor's back to make him feel secure as he walked behind the shopping cart. Meanwhile, her husband made his way down a toy aisle with Ronan, who spotted Bluey figurines. This upset Ronan, and he collapsed on the floor. “We can't live our lives in a bubble,” said Matthew Murphy, 48. And they savor the affection both boys shower on them -- like when Connor nuzzled into his mom as they sang “You Are My Sunshine” together. In the past, the boys may have been diagnosed with autistic disorder -- one of five subtypes, along with Asperger's, of a diagnosis called pervasive developmental disorders. But in 2013, the American Psychiatric Association removed that diagnosis and created autism spectrum disorder. People in this category lack appropriate treatments, supports and enough providers trained to handle their level of care, she said. And the vast majority of clinical research doesn't include them. You won't have achievable services and supports,” said Ursitti, whose adult son has profound autism. The difference with our population is they're constant.” She said there's nothing wrong with being autistic; the problem lies in “the massive lack of supports and services” in our society. “We need to come together in a unified voice to talk about services for the entirety of the spectrum.” In the meantime, he and his wife do all they can to help their children thrive. That includes arranging for professionals from The Autism Community Therapists in Acton to come to the house for three hours of applied behavior analysis every weekday after school. One evening, Ronan sat with Julia Orareo at the kitchen table, practicing his language skills by giving her instructions on how to draw an elephant. “Draw a body,” he said, and she did. He thought for a second, then replied: “Draw an eye.” Minutes later, he implored, “Do a hug?” And they did. Connor, who was practicing language and matching skills in the living room, soon joined his brother at the kitchen table. They began a long process of trying new foods designed to expand their limited diets -- cherry tomatoes for Connor and broccoli for Ronan. “Seeing that on the plate is kind of step one. Step three would be kind of either smelling it or putting it to their lips,” Andrea Murphy said, explaining that there are even more steps after that. A deadline of sorts looms: age 22, when public educational support for children ends in Massachusetts. The Murphys both work full-time -- Matthew at a nonprofit that helps injured veterans and Andrea in health care -- but they don't know how they can possibly earn enough to provide for their children throughout adulthood. “The thing that keeps me awake at night is what their future looks like … That's the great unknown.” The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The Internal Revenue Service 1040 tax form for 2022 is seen on April 17, 2023. NEW YORK (AP) — Tax season is underway and you have until April 15 to file your return with the IRS. “Don't wait until the last minute but also don't rush,” said Tom O'Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals, Gathering all your documents, signing up for direct deposit and keeping copies of your tax returns are some of the best practices when it comes to preparing to fill out your taxes. This year, due to the Republican tax and spending bill that President Donald Trump signed over the summer, there are new deductions taxpayers should know about. Among them are no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, deductions for car loan interest, and deductions for people who were 65 or older by Dec. 31, said Miguel Burgos, a certified public accountant and an expert for TurboTax. This year, analysts have projected it could be $1,000 higher, thanks to changes in tax law. More than 165 million individual income tax returns were processed last year, with 94% submitted electronically. Here are some things you need to know: While the required documents might depend on your individual case, here is a general list of what everyone needs: —Any eligible deduction, such as educational expenses, medical bills, charitable donations, etc. To find a more detailed document list, visit the IRS website. Once you create a number, the IRS will require it to file your tax return. For married couples filing jointly, it has increased to $31,500. For heads of households, the standard deduction is $23,625. — Change to state and local taxes (SALT) deduction The deduction cap on state and local taxes has increased from $10,000 to $40,000. “This is a big benefit, especially for states like California, New York, and New Jersey, that have a higher state income tax,” said Keith Hall, president and CEO of the National Association for the Self-Employed and a certified CPA. The total deduction had been capped at $10,000 since it started in 2018. People who have not previously itemized their SALT deduction might want to consider it this year. But the main thing is, hey, it has to be voluntary (tips),” Burgos said. Some of the included industries are bartenders, food servers, musicians and housekeeping cleaners. To claim the new tax break, you will need to fill out a new tax form called Schedule 1-A. Schedule 1-A is an IRS form used to claim and calculate four tax deductions originating from the tax and spending bill. For those who make $89,000 or less per year, IRS Free File offers free guided tax preparation; you can choose from eight IRS partners, such as TaxAct and FreeTaxUSA. Beyond companies such as TurboTax and H&R Block, taxpayers can also hire licensed professionals, such as certified public accountants. Those who are 60 or older qualify for the TCE program. The IRS has a site for locating organizations hosting VITA and TCE clinics. Many people fear getting in trouble with the IRS if they make a mistake. Here's how to avoid some of the most common ones: When working with clients, O'Saben asks them to double-check their number and their legal name, which can change when people get married. “If you got married last year and you now want to use your married name, that married name doesn't exist if you haven't filed it with Social Security,” O'Saben said. Many people opt out of physical mail but when you do, it can also include your tax documents. And because of that, you may need to go get those documents yourself,” O'Saben said. An audit means that the IRS will ask you for more documentation. This refund is called the Additional Child Tax Credit. You qualify for the full amount of the Child Tax Credit for each qualifying child if you meet all eligibility factors and your annual income is not more than $200,000 ($400,000 if filing a joint return). Parents and guardians with higher incomes may be eligible to claim a partial credit. You can find more details about the child tax credit here. Last September, the IRS began phasing out paper tax refund checks. These scams can come via phone, text, email and social media. The IRS uses none of those means to contact taxpayers. Sometimes scams are even operated by tax preparers, so it's important to ask lots of questions. If you can't see what your tax preparer is working on, get a copy of the tax return and ask questions about each of the entries. It's always good practice to keep a record of your tax returns, just in case the IRS audits you for an item you reported years ago. O'Saben recommend keeping copies of your tax return documents five to seven years. The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.

In its third iteration, the “new and improved” SAVE America Act, which would require both proof of United States citizenship at the time of voter registration and physical identification when casting a ballot, passed the House this week despite scant Democratic support. Their most recent claims, also hyperbolic or reliant on far-fetched scenarios, similarly fail to survive basic scrutiny. Some critics of the SAVE America Act, such as Vice President Kamala Harris, have argued that certain voters cannot possibly photocopy their identification documents due to a supposed dearth of photocopy services. In a 2021 interview that recently went viral on social media, Harris publicly opposed voter ID legislation because she said it would be “almost impossible” for Americans living in remote areas to make photocopies of their ID cards. By 2019, FedEx Office was offering photocopy services at 2,000 locations across the country — and it is far from the only place where customers today can make copies of their documents. Thousands of places providing photocopy services, whether commercial or self-service, currently exist in the U.S. Photocopy machines are widely available at more than 5,300 UPS Store locations, 831 Staples sites, 9,207 public libraries, and over 4,700 CVS stores across the country. Furthermore, the vast majority of voters would not even need to provide photocopies under the SAVE America Act, and would only need to do so in instances where they vote by absentee ballot. In most cases, residents registering to vote can simply show their passport, or other government-issued ID displaying a U.S. birthplace, at their Department of Motor Vehicles office. While voting, U.S. citizens need only present “a tangible (not digital)” document bearing their photograph and citizenship status. Voters unable to appear in person at the polling place on Election Day must include a copy of their photo ID with requests for and submissions of an absentee ballot. But the measure making its way through Congress takes these rural, shut-in, and disabled voters into account. A subsection of the SAVE America Act, titled “ACCESSIBILITY,” would require each state to ensure that voters casting a ballot by mail have access to “reasonable accommodations,” such as scanning and printing services, for submitting the mail-in forms. In a social media statement, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) claimed that the bill would disenfranchise millions of black voters. “The SAVE Act is nothing more than Jim Crow 2.0,” said Schumer, declaring, “Every single Senate Democrat will vote against any bill that contains it,” after Republicans initially sought to include it in a funding package. The number of votes cast on Day One of early voting surged to nearly twice the figures recorded in 2018. That year, Georgia witnessed unprecedented voter turnout across the board. “Voter turnout in Georgia reached historic highs on the first day of early voting in this midterm election, and Black Voters comprised 35% of all those who turned out to vote,” the BLM organization, composed of voting rights activists, touted at the time. Notably, many black-majority countries, like Haiti and Jamaica, have their own voter ID laws. And the long list of African nations that enforce ID-based voter eligibility regulations include Kenya, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Botswana, Mali, Mauritania, Ghana, South Africa, and Senegal. Democrats are characterizing Republican attempts to tighten registration requirements as an affront to women's suffrage, renewing allegations that requiring supporting documentation of U.S. citizenship would somehow infringe on the voting rights of married women all over America who have legally changed their maiden name. Progressives say that if women's names upon marriage do not match the surnames on their birth certificates, they will be deprived of the right to vote. The bill's proposed language stipulates that a valid driver's license indicating citizenship; a U.S. passport; military ID; or official photo identification from a federal, state, local, or tribal government showing one's place of birth was within the U.S. are all acceptable forms of documentary proof at the registration booth. If someone's supporting documents do not match their birth name because they got married, divorced, were adopted, or changed their name for any number of reasons, the SAVE America Act would compel states to create a fallback process for people in those specific predicaments. Although the bill does not explicitly spell out what “other evidence” entails, it could include records explaining mismatched or missing paperwork that help bridge gaps in identity confirmation. The last time the SAVE America Act was up for consideration, House Republicans specified that the bill does not rule out letting married women use a combination of documents to account for any discrepancies due to name changes. A 2025 study from the University of Maryland found that only 2% of voting-eligible Americans do not possess documentary proof of citizenship and another 7% who do have proof cannot easily access it. The researchers defined “easy access” as being able to readily retrieve the document within 24 hours, restricted by situations such as if a birth certificate is in another state, lost, held by a family member, or locked away in a filing system.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the audience during a session at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, hands Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a microphone during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov, second right, speaks while inspecting the troops involved in the fighting in Ukraine. In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, Russian Chief of General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov speaks while inspecting the troops involved in the fighting in Ukraine. A Ukrainian drone strike ignited fires at one of Russia's Black Sea ports, officials said Sunday, ahead of fresh talks aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old war. Two people were wounded in the attack on the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, which damaged an oil storage tank, warehouse and terminals, according to regional Gov. Meanwhile, falling debris from Russian drones damaged civilian and transport infrastructure in Ukraine's Odesa region, officials said, causing disruption to the power and water supply. Ukraine's long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested there were still questions remaining over future security guarantees for his country. Zelenskyy's concerns were echoed by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a ranking member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Unless we have real security guarantees on whatever peace agreement is ultimately determined, we are going to be here again, because one of the things we know is that Russia has geared up not just for Ukraine, but to go beyond Ukraine,” she told reporters in Munich on Sunday. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia was hoping to win diplomatically what it had failed to achieve on the battlefield, and was banking on the U.S. to deliver concessions at the negotiating table. But Kallas told the Munich conference Sunday that key Russian demands — including the lifting of sanctions and unfreezing of assets — were decisions for Europe. Previous U.S.-led efforts to find consensus on ending the war, most recently two rounds of talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, have failed to resolve difficult issues, such as the future of Ukraine's Donbas industrial heartland that is largely occupied by Russian forces. Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Back in December, Kevin Warsh hinted how he may argue for lower interest rates. AI is ushering in “the most productivity-enhancing wave of our lifetimes — past, present and future,” Warsh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump as Fed chair on January 30, said in an interview with fintech entrepreneur Sadi Khan. In recent years, US productivity has grown at a robust pace, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In economics, if productivity is strong, then growth can run hot without stoking inflation — this means the Fed doesn't have to step in with interest rate hikes. It's unclear if that same logic can apply to rate cuts. If he's confirmed by the Senate to lead the central bank after Chair Jerome Powell's term ends in May, Warsh will preside over a 12-person rate-setting committee that has become starkly divided in recent months. Fed chairs are tasked with building consensus around rate decisions, with each person having only one vote, including the chair. That means Warsh has to convince his colleagues — some of whom are still concerned about inflation — that AI-driven productivity is enough for additional interest rate cuts. But it's too soon to conclude AI will boost productivity in a long-lasting way, according to most economists, and some key monetary policymakers have already suggested it may not even warrant lower rates. When Warsh served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, he was known for his “hawkish” views, or preference for policies that restrain the economy and keep a lid on inflation. “It's clear that we are at the nascent stages of a productivity boom, not unlike the 1990s,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC recently. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, who was a finalist for Fed chair, has also echoed that view. Some current central bankers — such as Fed governors Christopher Waller and Lisa Cook, in addition to Powell himself — have concluded AI has the potential to significantly boost productivity. Warsh argues Fed policymakers should take the same leap of faith on the new technology that they did with the internet, under Fed Chair Alan Greenspan, and lean toward looser monetary policy. In his December interview, Warsh pointed out how Greenspan “believed based on anecdotes and rather esoteric data that we weren't in a position where we needed to raise rates,” despite signs that the economy was heating up at the time. Economists say productivity is usually understood better in retrospect, but Greenspan concluded that policymakers should let the economy run hot because anecdotes all pointed to strong productivity aided by the internet. “But it wasn't an argument for cutting rates into accommodative territory,” he said. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, who votes on policy moves this year, said in a December interview with the Wall Street Journal that stronger productivity could translate into a higher so-called “neutral rate of interest,” a theoretical level of borrowing costs that neither stimulates nor weakens economic activity. “That could be more upward biased, if (AI) is having more material productivity impact,” Hammack said, who has also telegraphed her concerns with 2026 being the fifth consecutive year of elevated inflation. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, who is also a Fed voter this year, recounted in a 2024 speech a series of anecdotes of AI enhancing productivity for businesses across industries. But like Hammack, Logan is described by economists as a hawk, still concerned about inflation, and has suggested she would have cast a dissenting vote on the Fed's decision to cut rates in December. “Productivity is an important and powerful force, but it's one of the great unknowns of economics,” said Josh Jamner, senior investment strategy analyst at ClearBridge Investments. “A lot of people compare this to the late 90s, but if you look back to that time, there was also a meaningful amount of labor-force growth going on.” “Now we have an aging population and shifts in immigration policy that have made labor-force growth harder, so there are similarities with the 90s, but there are also some important differences,” he added. US market indices are shown in real time, except for the S&P 500 which is refreshed every two minutes. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. Market holidays and trading hours provided by Copp Clark Limited.

Homicides in their community have risen so dramatically that one person has been killed every day on average this year. Palestinian citizens make up 20% of the country's population, and many say the Israeli government has not only failed to curb the crime wave, but that its inaction has helped spur a cycle of violence largely perpetrated by Arab organized crime groups. The data bears out a stark inequality: Israel Police has solved just 15% of homicides in Israel's Arab communities versus 65% among Jewish Israelis, according to data from Israel's parliament, the Knesset, and Eilaf, the Center for Advancing Security in Arab Society. Palestinian citizens of Israel are descendants of those who were not expelled or forced to flee their homes when Israel was established in 1948. They were given citizenship but lived under military rule until 1966, and many say they continue to face discrimination in Israeli society. Last year was the deadliest on record for the community, with 252 killed – the vast majority by gunfire – according to a report published by Abraham Initiatives, a group that advances social inclusion and equal rights for Israel's Palestinian citizens. It is a deadly reality that has raised alarm bells, with tens of thousands of the country's Palestinian citizens taking to the streets in recent weeks – joined by some Jewish Israelis – to demand government action. Attendees told CNN it was the largest demonstration the Arab community has seen in years, culminating a multi-day general strike from shop owners. What began there has since grown into a nationwide protest movement, with strikes and demonstrations taking place almost daily across Israel. Streets across the country were filled with a sea of black flags and water fountains were dyed red as citizens declared a “national day of disruption.” A week after the Sakhnin strike, Israeli President Isaac Herzog made a rare visit to the city, where he met with local Arab authorities and protest organizers. And on Thursday, Israel's Police Commissioner Daniel Levi declared crime in the Arab community “a state of national emergency” and “an intolerable situation that must stop.” For many Palestinian citizens of Israel, those declarations ring hollow. Abdullah had been filling in for another doctor that day. His father believes he was mistaken for someone else. “If you look at the Palestinian Arab community in Israel, how many are being killed daily and for no reason?” Awad said. “These people have nothing to do with the world of crime. They are collateral damage, and my son is one of them.” Bedouins in Israel say Gaza war has worsened decades of marginalization In the days following Abdullah's death, his parents say Israel Police visited and assured them they would investigate his death and identify the perpetrator. Like many others in his community, Awad believes the Israeli government intentionally neglects crime perpetrated against Palestinian citizens. “It is part of a policy to divide and conquer. ‘Let them kill each other while we sit back and relax,'” he said. Data compiled by Abraham Initiatives shows that homicide cases among Palestinian citizens of Israel more than doubled in 2023. That was far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir's first full year overseeing the police. Ben Gvir, who was convicted for supporting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab racism, has rejected responsibility, instead blaming local Arab leaders for turning a “blind eye” to criminal activity. Within months of entering office, Ben Gvir cut off key funding for an anti-Arab crime initiative called “Stop the Bleeding,” launched by the previous government. On Sunday, Ben Gvir defended the job he's done, saying on Kan Reshet Bet radio that there have been “great successes” during his tenure. “There is 20% less murder in the Jewish sector, let's put that on the table … 60% fewer murders of Jewish women, and 20% fewer car thefts.” Ben Gvir said crime in the Arab sector is a “grave phenomenon” and he intends to “combat it.” But he blamed the Attorney General, with whom he has had an ongoing feud, and “40 years of neglect” from authorities for the surge, despite record killings during his tenure. Iranian strikes expose bomb shelter shortage for Palestinian towns inside Israel “In light of weak governance, limited police presence, and declining trust in institutions, organized crime in Arab towns found a fertile ground for expansion, gradually building its economic and social influence by exploiting the vacuum left by the state,” said Rawyah Handaqlu, the head of Eilaf. She says the violence reflects the “exclusion and marginalization” of Palestinian citizens of Israel, arguing that the state has frequently relegated crime and violence to simply being a product of Arab society, which “holds society responsible for a reality imposed on it.” The Mosawa Center, a group advocating equal rights for Palestinian citizens, called it a “dangerous political step” that would do nothing to combat crime. “This can only be interpreted as a deliberate policy of further impoverishing Arab society and plunging it deeper into crises, including the scourge of crime.” Back at his home in Mazra'a, Awad's wait for justice continues. He finds comfort only in the photographs of his late son. Asked if he has any hope that there will be justice for his death, he sighs and points to the ceiling. Cyril Theophilos and Dana Karni contributed to this report.

Protesters congregated in Munich as a security conference featuring top Trump administration officials and European leaders takes place in the city this weekend. The demonstration reportedly saw around 200,000 people attend, with many waving pre-revolution Iranian flags, holding posters of exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, and chanting calls for regime change. Pahlavi was joined by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has been firmly behind the Iranian protesters after the regime's security forces killed thousands of them last month. Graham, donning a “Make Iran Great Again” hat, received a loud ovation from the crowd and was seen waving the pre-revolution Iranian flag as demonstrators broke out into “USA” chants. In his remarks, he repeatedly assured the Iranian people that “help is on the way,” referencing potential large-scale U.S. military action against Tehran. About Pahlavi potentially leading the country in some capacity, Trump has suggested he may not have popular support. Possible military intervention in Iran, meanwhile, has been on Trump's mind for months. After vowing to attack if Iran killed protesters, he held off after he claimed the regime canceled scheduled executions. Instead, Trump has surged military assets to the region, including what is now two U.S. aircraft carriers, as he weighs a response. He has also remained open to a nuclear deal with Iran, though only one round of talks has been held and the regime has been unwilling to stop enrichment or end its ballistic missile program. Nonetheless, a second round of negotiations will be held on Tuesday in Geneva, according to multiple reports.