By MARK THIESSEN

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The brawny bruins on the Alaska Peninsula are ready to brawl it out to see which will win this year’s fattest bear title in the wildly popular annual online voting contest known as Fat Bear Week.

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The main event featuring adult bears starts next week, but first up Thursday is what the National Park Service calls a “chubby cubby appetizer.” Fat Bear Jr. voters can cast ballots through Friday for their favorite adolescent ursine, with the winner advancing to the big show.

The contest, which began in 2014, is meant to showcase the resiliency of the brown bears, which pack on the pounds each fall to survive the harsh winter by gorging on salmon at Brooks River in remote Katmai National Park and Preserve. People can watch the bears on livestream cameras.

“It really is an opportunity for people to think about how bears survive, what they need to do to survive, what the ecosystem provides them and look at their individual success stories, as well,” said explore.org naturalist Mike Fitz, who started the contest when he was a ranger at Katmai.

This year’s sockeye run has been abundant, so voters can expect some especially corpulent contestants.

Here’s a closer look at the popular online event:

How to vote in Fat Bear Week

The 12 bears — which will be announced Monday — will be featured in the single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. All voting is done online at www.fatbearweek.org, with the winner declared Sept. 30.

The first round features eight bears squaring off in four separate contests to advance to the second round. Four bears receive first-round byes.

This image provided by the National Park Service shows 26 male cub at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska on Sept. 13, 2025. (C. Loberg/National Park Service via AP)

There are about 2,200 brown bears within Katmai, a 6,562-square-mile park on the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state’s southwest corner toward the Aleutian Islands. To be featured in the contest, the bears must frequent the area of the main Brooks Camp.

Getting a bear on a scale is impossible

Actually weighing the bears would be a dangerous and monumental task, so it’s up to voters to judge size by looks alone. Male brown bears at Katmai weigh about 700 to 900 pounds mid-summer and can bloat to over a 1,000 pounds by September or October, thanks to successful foraging.

A 1,200-pound male bear isn’t unusual at Katmai. Others have been estimated to be about 1,400 pounds. Females are about half to two-thirds the size of adult males.

Not all about the fatness

There are factors other than girth to consider, Fitz said.

Voters could consider the challenges some contestants have had to overcome, such as the multitasking females who protect their young and produce milk for the cubs while also fattening up for winter themselves.

This image provided by the National Park Service shows the cubs 803s at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska on July 19, 2025. (C. Loberg/National Park Service via AP)

There’s precedent for a mama bear to take the prize. Grazer, the two-time defending Fat Bear Week champion, beat one of the biggest bears in the Brooks River, Chunk, in last year’s final.

Even though the contest is virtual, the two bears did actually fight it out in the park months earlier. Chunk attacked one of Grazer’s cubs after it fell over a waterfall, an attack that was broadcast live. Grazer fought off Chunk, but the cub later died.

Chunk adapts to a newly broken jaw

Chunk is back at the park this year but returned to Brooks River in June with a broken jaw, Fitz said. The right side of his jaw is hanging loose and will never heal properly.

It probably happened in a fight with another bear. When they attack each other, they target the head and neck, and sometimes they lock jaws. The torque can snap a brown bear’s mandible.

The good news for Chunk is that he’s already adapted to his new disability and it doesn’t seem to have affected his appetite. He remains one of the largest bears on the river.

Exceptional salmon run equals fat bears

Brooks Falls is famous for brown bears snagging salmon out of the air as the fish try to jump upstream to get to their spawning ground.

This image provided by the National Park Service shows cub 128 at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska on June 26, 2025. (C. Loberg/National Park Service via AP)

That didn’t happen much this year, as an exceptional salmon run reduced the need for bears to compete for fishing spots at the falls.

“We are kind of expecting really to have some of the fattest bears we’ve ever seen in the event,” Fitz said.

Fat Bear Jr.

Fat Bear Jr. is going to have a familial feel to it this year.

In one semifinal Thursday, cub 128 Junior will face off against a pair of cubs competing together.

This image provided by the National Park Service shows bear 26 male cub at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska on July 23, 2025. (C. Loberg/National Park Service via AP)

Cub 128 Junior is the offspring of two-time champ Grazer and sibling of the bear killed by Chunk last year.

She will face the 803s, cubs from bear 803. They are known for being mischievous, trying to get into vehicles and boats, and playing with one of the livestream cameras.

The other semifinal pits siblings from the same spring litter of bear 26. 26 Female is smaller and lighter in color than her brother, 26 Male, and a little more subdued. The male is bolder than his sister, which might give him an edge if food is limited.

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage fell again this week, echoing a decline in long-term U.S. Treasury bond yields ahead of the Federal Reserve’s first rate cut this year.

The rate eased to 6.26% from 6.35% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.09%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell. The average rate slipped to 5.41% from 5.5% last week. A year ago, it was 5.15%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has been mostly declining since late July amid expectations that Fed would cut rates for the first time since last year.

As expected, the central bank delivered a quarter-point cut Wednesday and projected it would lower its benchmark rate twice more this year, reflecting growing concern over the U.S. job market.

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By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors.

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The Republican administration turned to the high court after an appeals court refused to go along with ousting Cook, part of President Donald Trump’s effort to reshape the Fed’s seven-member governing board and strike a blow at its independence.

The White House campaign to unseat Cook marks an unprecedented bid to reshape the Fed board, which was designed to be largely independent from day-to-day politics. No president has fired a sitting Fed governor in the agency’s 112-year history.

Cook, who was appointed to the Fed’s board by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has said she won’t leave her post and won’t be “bullied” by Trump. One of her lawyers, Abbe Lowell, has said she “will continue to carry out her sworn duties as a Senate-confirmed Board Governor.”

Separately, Senate Republicans on Monday confirmed Stephen Miran, Trump’s nominee to an open spot on the Fed’s board. Both Cook and Miran took part in Wednesday’s vote in which the Fed cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point.

Trump sought to fire Cook on Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled last week that the removal probably was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board. Trump has accused Cook of mortgage fraud because she appeared to claim two properties, in Michigan and Georgia, as “primary residences” in June and July 2021, before she joined the board. Such claims can lead to a lower mortgage rate and smaller down payment than if one of them was declared as a rental property or second home.

FILE – Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook, right, talks with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell before an open meeting of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve, June 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

“Put simply, the President may reasonably determine that interest rates paid by the American people should not be set by a Governor who appears to have lied about facts material to the interest rates she secured for herself — and refuses to explain the apparent misrepresentations,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in his Supreme Court filing.

But Cook has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, Cook did specify that her Atlanta condo would be a “vacation home,” according to a loan estimate she obtained in May 2021. And in a form seeking a security clearance, she described it as a “2nd home.” Both documents appear to undercut the Trump administration’s claims of fraud.

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled that the administration had not satisfied a legal requirement that Fed governors can only be fired “for cause,” which she said was limited to misconduct while in office. Cook did not join the Fed’s board until 2022.

Cobb also held that Trump’s firing would have deprived Cook of her due process, or legal right, to contest the firing.

By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the federal appeals court in Washington rejected the administration’s request to let Cook’s firing proceed.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that even if the conduct occurred before her time as governor, her alleged action “indisputably calls into question Cook’s trustworthiness and whether she can be a responsible steward of the interest rates and economy.”

Trump has previously won orders from the court’s conservative majority to fire the presidentially appointed leaders of other independent federal agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Trade Commission, even as legal fights continue.

Those firings have been at will, with no cause given. The Supreme Court has distinguished the Federal Reserve from those other agencies, strongly suggesting that Trump can’t act against Fed governors without cause.

In its new filing to the Supreme Court, the administration is asking Chief Justice John Roberts for a temporary order that would effectively remove Cook from the board and a more lasting order from the whole court that would be in place while her legal case continues.

The President notified Cook of the charges against her and waited five days for her to respond before removing her. Having declined to bring any de-fense to the President’s attention or to dispute any material facts, Cook cannot com-plain about insufficient process.

The district court alternatively

By SEUNG MIN KIM, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said early Thursday that he plans to designate antifa as a “major terrorist organization.”

Antifa, short for “anti-fascists,” is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups and is not a singular entity. They consist of groups that resist fascists and neo-Nazis, especially at demonstrations.

It’s unclear how the administration would label what is effectively a decentralized movement as a terrorist organization, and the White House on Wednesday did not immediately offer more details.

Trump, who is on a state visit to the United Kingdom, made the announcement in a social media post shortly before 1:30 a.m. Thursday local time. He called antifa a “SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER.” He also said he will be “strongly recommending” that funders of antifa be investigated.

Antifa is a domestic entity and, as such, is not a candidate for inclusion on the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations. Dozens of groups, including extremist organizations like the Islamic State and al-Qaida, are included on that list. The designation matters in part because it enables the Justice Department to prosecute those who give material support to entities on that list even if that support does not result in violence.

There is no domestic equivalent to that list in part because of broad First Amendment protections enjoyed by organizations operating within the United States. And despite periodic calls, particularly after mass shootings by white supremacists, to establish a domestic terrorism law, no singular statute now exists.

In an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said he would pursue a domestic terrorism designation for antifa if such a move had the support of Attorney General Pam Bondi and others in his Cabinet.

“It’s something I would do, yeah,” Trump said. ”I would do that 100%. Antifa is terrible.”

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Wednesday night, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., praised Trump’s announcement, saying: “Antifa seized upon a movement of legitimate grievances to promote violence and anarchy, working against justice for all. The President is right to recognize the destructive role of Antifa by designating them domestic terrorists.” In July 2019, Cassidy and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced a resolution in the Senate to condemn the violent acts of antifa and to designate the group a domestic terror organization.

In 2020, in the midst of the George Floyd protests, Trump also raised the idea of designating antifa as a terror organization.

Trump’s previous FBI director, Christopher Wray, said in testimony that year that antifa is an ideology, not an organization, lacking the hierarchical structure that would usually allow it to be designated as a terror group by the federal government.