By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A 2018 Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates to legalized sports-betting industry, now worth billions of dollars a year, even as it recognized that the decision was controversial.

That high-court ruling is back in the spotlight after the arrests on Thursday of more than 30 people, including an NBA player and coach, in two cases alleging sprawling criminal schemes to rake in millions by rigging sports bets and poker games involving Mafia families.

What did the Supreme Court decide?

The court’s ruling struck down a 1992 federal law, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, that had barred betting on football, basketball, baseball and other sports in most states.

Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion that the way Congress went about the gambling ban, barring states from authorizing sports betting, violated the Constitution’s Tenth Amendment, which protects the power of states.

“The legalization of sports gambling requires an important policy choice, but the choice is not ours to make,” Alito wrote. The court’s “job is to interpret the law Congress has enacted and decide whether it is consistent with the Constitution. PASPA is not.”

The trouble with the law, Alito explained, was that Congress did not make betting on sports a federal crime. Instead, it prohibited states from authorizing legalized gambling, improperly infringing on their authority. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy, Neil Gorsuch and Elena Kagan joined Alito’s opinion.

Dissenting justices said the court should have acted more narrowly

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that even if the part of the law regulating the states’ behavior should be struck down, the rest of it should have survived. In particular, Ginsburg wrote that a separate provision that applied to private parties and betting schemes should have been left in place.

Writing for Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer, Ginsburg said that when a portion of a law violates the Constitution, the court “ordinarily engages in a salvage rather than a demolition operation,” preserving what it can. She said that instead of using a “scalpel to trim the statute” her colleagues used “an axe.” Breyer agreed with the majority that part of the law must be struck down but said that should not have doomed the rest of the law.

But Alito, in his majority opinion, wrote that Congress did not contemplate treating the two provisions separately.

Opponents of gambling warned about corruption

Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, a former college and NBA star, was a sponsor of the law that he said was needed to protect against “the dangers of sports betting.”

All four major U.S. professional sports leagues and the NCAA had urged the court to uphold the federal law, saying a gambling expansion would hurt the integrity of their games. They also said that with legal sports betting in the United States, they’d have to spend a lot more money monitoring betting patterns and investigating suspicious activity.

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The Trump administration also called for the law to be upheld.

Alito acknowledged in his majority opinion “the legalization of sports gambling is a controversial subject,” in part for its potential to “corrupt professional and college sports.”

He included references to the “Black Sox Scandal,” the fixing of the 1919 World Series by members of the Chicago White Sox, and the point-shaving scandal of the early 1950s that rocked college basketball.

But ultimately, he wrote, Congress couldn’t require states to keep sports gambling prohibitions in place.

By STEFANIE DAZIO

BERLIN (AP) — Forget France: The Louvre Museum jewelry heist was a classic case of German efficiency.

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Photos of a German-made freight lift that the thieves used in a lightning-fast daylight heist at the Louvre have gone viral. And its manufacturer is now riding high from the unexpected endorsement.

Alexander Böcker, the managing director and third-generation owner of Böcker Maschinenwerke GmbH, told The Associated Press that when he and his wife saw the images online, they were “shocked that our lift had been misused for this robbery.”

“Once the initial shock had subsided, black humour took over,” he wrote in an email to the AP.

Authorities say the thieves spent less than four minutes inside the Louvre on Sunday morning. They wheeled the freight lift up to the museum, rode the basket up the façade, forced open a window, smashed display cases and grabbed priceless Napoleonic jewels before spiriting away on motorbikes through central Paris.

It didn’t take long for the Germans to seize on the marketing opportunity. By Monday morning, Böcker’s company had come up with a social media post featuring a photo of the freight lift — which is typically used for furniture and construction materials — and a slogan in German that translates to “when something needs to be done quickly.”

The post also touts the ability of the “Böcker Agilo” to transport up to 880 pounds of “your treasures” at a speed of 46 yards per minute. And it moves “whisper quiet” thanks to its 230 Volt E-Motor, the post says.

“We had hoped for a bit of attention and some good humour, but the feedback was overwhelming,” Böcker wrote Thursday. “I can understand that not everyone shares this sense of humour, but the vast majority laughed heartily.”

But the freight lift is not permitted to transport humans, Böcker said.

Crown jewels, yes. Thieves, no.

Philipp Jenne in Vienna contributed to this report.

By SYLVIA HUI, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Voters in Ireland went to the polls Friday to elect one of two women as their new president for the next seven years, a largely ceremonial role in the European Union member country.

Catherine Connolly, a left-wing independent lawmaker who has the backing of Sinn Féin and is known for her strong stance against Israel, is widely seen as the leading candidate to become the head of state. The latest polls show she holds a significant lead with about 40% of support from voters, ahead of the 20% to 25% for her rival Heather Humphreys, representing center-right party Fine Gael.

Early voters arrive at Scoil Mhichil Naofa (St Michael’s National School) in Athy, Co Kildare, as voting beings in Ireland’s presidential election, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Niall Carson/PA via AP)

The two are the only contenders after Jim Gavin, the candidate for Prime Minister Micheál Martin’sFianna Fail party, quit the race earlier this month over a long-ago financial dispute. Others — including musician Bob Geldof and the former mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor — failed to receive enough backing for a nomination.

The winner will succeed Michael D. Higgins, who has been president since 2011, having served the maximum two seven-year terms. Connolly or Humphreys will be Ireland’s 10th president and the third woman to hold the post.

Here’s what to know about the election:

Parties on the left back Connolly

Connolly, 68, is a former barrister who has been an independent lawmaker since 2016. She has drawn criticism for her views on Palestinians and the militant group Hamas, among other issues.

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She was previously seen as an unlikely presidential candidate, but became the front-runner after Gavin dropped out. Though Gavin stopped campaigning, his name remains on the ballot paper.

In September, Martin criticized Connolly’s comments that called Hamas “part of the fabric of the Palestinian people,” saying she appeared reluctant to condemn the group’s actions in the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel that ignited the two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. She later maintained that she “utterly condemned” Hamas’ actions, while also criticizing Israel for carrying out what she said was a genocide in Gaza.

Opponents have said she risked alienating Ireland’s allies after she warned about the EU’s growing “militarization.” Some have also questioned her past role as a lawyer representing banks that repossessed people’s homes.

Connolly has garnered endorsements from left-leaning parties, including Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats.

She said this week she “will be an absolutely independent president with an independent mind.” Her campaign website says she “wants to be a president for all the people, especially for those often excluded and silenced” and a “voice for equality and justice.”

Connolly began her political career when she was elected as a local political representative on the Galway City Council in 1999. Five years later, she was elected mayor of the city of Galway.

Humphreys stresses centrist approach

Humphreys, 64, has been in government for more than a decade, formerly serving in several Cabinet positions where she oversaw arts and heritage, business and rural development.

She was first elected as a local politician in 2004 and was a member of parliament from 2011 until 2024. She has stressed that she is a pro-business, pro-EU candidate.

Raised a Presbyterian in the mostly Catholic country, she said she would strive for unity and “build bridges” with communities in Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K. and has a large Protestant population.

“I’m a center-ground person. I’m a middle-of-the-road person, like most Irish people,” she said in this week’s final presidential debate.

While Humphreys underlined her years of experience in government, Connolly criticized her as a representation of “more of the same,” saying she is aligned with the outlook of recent governments.

The president’s role

Ireland’s president plays an important ceremonial and constitutional role and represents the Irish state on the world stage.

The president appoints the prime minister, called the Taoiseach, after a vote in parliament, as well as other government officials and judges on the government’s advice.

The president also signs into law bills passed by lawmakers, and can call fresh elections if the prime minister no longer has the support of lawmakers.

While the role does not have the power to shape laws or policies, past presidents have been known to air their views on important issues. Higgins has spoken out on the war in Gaza and NATO spending, among other things.

When results will be known

Polls close at 10 p.m. local time Friday. Counting begins Saturday, and the result is likely to be known by late Saturday.

The new president will be inaugurated at a ceremony in Dublin Castle the day after.

By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press

The ongoing government shutdown continues to disrupt flights at times and put pressure on air traffic controllers who are working without pay.

Flights were delayed Thursday at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, New Jersey’s Newark airport and Washington’s Reagan National Airport because of air traffic controller shortages. The number of flight delays for any reason nationwide spiked to 6,158 Thursday after hovering around 4,000 a day earlier in the week, according to FlightAware.com.

Many Federal Aviation Administration facilities are so critically short on controllers that just a few absences can cause disruptions, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said that more air traffic controllers have been calling in sick since the shutdown began. Early on in the shutdown, there were a number of disruptions at airports across the country, but for the past couple of weeks, there haven’t been as many problems.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, left, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., walk through Statuary Hall at the Capitol to a news conference on day 23 of the government shutdown, in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Duffy plans to hold a news conference later on Friday at the Philadelphia airport with the head of the air traffic controllers union, Nick Daniels, to highlight the added stress the shutdown is putting on controllers. Already, some controllers have taken on second jobs to earn some cash to help them pay their bills while the shutdown drags on.

Daniels said in a message to union members Friday that controllers should be focused on keeping flights safe — not worrying about how to pay their bills. He said it’s not fair that controllers are facing impossible choices about whether to pay for rent or childcare or groceries. The union and some airports have offered to help connect controllers with food banks or other assistance to help them get through the shutdown.

“You are carrying the weight of the national airspace system and now doing it without a paycheck. This is not acceptable and it is not sustainable. No American worker should ever be put in this position,” Daniels said.

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Duffy has said that air traffic controllers who abuse their sick time during the shutdown could be fired.

Republicans and Democrats have been unable to reach an agreement to end the shutdown that began on Oct. 1. The airlines and major unions across the industry have urged Congress to reach an agreement to end the shutdown.

“Our aviation system has operated safely throughout the shutdown, but it’s putting an incredible and unnecessary strain on the system, and on our air traffic controllers, flight crews, and many other aviation professionals,” said Rep. Sam Graves, who is Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The Missouri Republican urged Democrats to support the GOP bill to fund the government.