By MATT OTT

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern confirmed that they are in “advanced” merger talks that would create a single U.S railroad with service stretching from the East to the West Coast.

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The Associated Press reported last week that the companies were discussing a tie-up but neither company acknowledged that until Thursday morning.

The potential merger would combine the largest and smallest of the country’s six major freight railroads.

Independent railroad analyst Tony Hatch said that the disclosure by the railroads suggests that negotiations are further along than previously thought.

“What people will interpret out of that is that they have, one way or another, figured out what the benefits are,” Hatch said, adding that those benefits, such as efficiency, would be passed on to customers. That will be key for getting regulatory approval under the Surface Transportation Board’s enhanced competition clause.

There’s widespread debate over whether such a merger would be approved by the STB, which has established a high bar for consolidation in the crucial industry.

That’s largely because of the aftermath of an industry consolidation nearly 30 years ago that involved Union Pacific. Union Pacific merged with Southern Pacific in 1996 and the tie-up led to an extended period of snarled traffic on U.S. rails. Three years later, Conrail was divvied up by Norfolk Southern and CSX, which led to more backups on rails in the East.

However, just two years ago, the STB approved the first major rail merger in more than two decades. In that deal, which was supported by big shippers, Canadian Pacific acquired Kansas City Southern for $31 billion to create the CPKC railroad.

Still, some of the reasoning behind the approval was that it involved two of the smallest major railroads, and Kansas City Southern was the only operator with direct lines into Mexico. The combined railroad, regulators reasoned, would benefit trade across North America.

The deal left only six major freight railroads, which could become an issue when regulators consider whether to approve any deal between Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific.

To be approved, any major rail merger must show it will enhance competition and serve the public interest under rules established in 2001, in the wake of that pair of mergers.

Hatch also said that big shippers like Amazon, Dow and U.S. Steel — who use massive amounts of freight capacity — will likely weigh in with regulators as the merger process develops. Those shippers will first have to determine if a merger would improve their ability to move equipment and products, or harm it.

“If the shippers want this this merger, they’ll make it clear,” Hatch said. “They really hold the cards.”

Jeff Windau, an industry analyst with Edward Jones, expects a protracted regulatory process as the STB tries to determine whether the merger will meet its standard of enhancing competition.

“While we believe there could be benefits to a transcontinental railroad, we do feel that the regulatory approval process would be long and challenging,” Windau said, noting that the last major railroad merger — between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern — took 18 months to be completed.

Also Thursday, Union Pacific reported that its adjusted profit grew to $1.8 billion in the second quarter.

The Omaha, Nebraska company’s, per-share earnings rose rose to $3.03, beating Wall Street expectations and easily topping the $2.71 per-share profit it reported in the same period last year. Analysts were expecting profit of $2.91 per share for the recent quarter.

Operating revenue grew 2% over last year, to $6.2 billion, the company said.

Union Pacific shares fell 2% just at the opening bell Thursday, to $226.70 each. They had slumped to around $208 in early April, their lowest level of 2025, as President Donald Trump rolled out sweeping tariffs that threatened to upend global trade.

A street racing crash that killed two teens in Eagan led to two drivers being charged Thursday with third-degree murder and criminal vehicular homicide.

Three vehicles were involved in the 11:20 p.m. June 14 crash near Minnesota Highways 149 and 55 — a Jeep, a Honda Sedan and a Dodge SUV.

The driver of the Jeep, 19-year-old Reed Robert Schultz, and passenger 18-year-old Finnian Thomas Cronin, were found unresponsive. Schultz died soon after and Cronin died at the hospital on July 1.

Law enforcement found the Honda empty. Police learned the 20-year-old driver, Jordan John Wieland, had left in another vehicle, according to the criminal complaints.

Wieland, of White Bear Lake, was located at a local hospital. Police identified 24-year-old Melody Lynn Little as the driver of the Dodge. She wasn’t injured.

Little, of West St. Paul, and Wieland told police they were in a group of five to 10 vehicles at a “car meet up” in South St. Paul, the complaints said.

Surveillance camera footage from the Minnesota Department of Transportation showed all three vehicles speeding south on Highway 149 toward Highway 55. The Jeep and Honda lost control and crossed the concrete median. The Jeep collided with a semaphore pole, severing the vehicle in two.

Speedometers in the Honda and the Dodge were captured on cell phone video moments before the crash, and showed the vehicles were traveling about 110 mph, the complaints said.

The Dakota County Attorney’s Office charged both Little and Wieland with two counts of third-degree murder (perpetrating an eminently dangerous act and evincing a depraved mind) and two counts of criminal vehicular homicide (gross negligence). They were not in custody as of Thursday afternoon.

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By ELENA BECATOROS

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — For six hours every day after school, Nahideh works in a cemetery, collecting water from a nearby shrine to sell to mourners visiting loved ones’ graves. She dreams of becoming a doctor — but knows it is a futile dream.

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When the next school year starts, she will be enrolling in a madrassa, a religious school, to learn about the Quran and Islam — and little else.

“I prefer to go to school, but I can’t, so I will go to a madrassa,” she said, dark brown eyes peering out from beneath her tightly wrapped black headscarf. “If I could go to school then I could learn and become a doctor. But I can’t.”

At the age of 13, Nahideh is in the last grade of primary school, the limit of education allowed for girls in Afghanistan. The country’s Taliban government banned girls from secondary school and university three years ago — the only country in the world to do so. The ban is part of myriad restrictions on women and girls, dictating everything from what they can wear to where they can go and who they can go with.

With no option for higher education, many girls and women are turning to madrassas instead.

The only learning allowed

“Since the schools are closed to girls, they see this as an opportunity,” said Zahid-ur-Rehman Sahibi, director of the Tasnim Nasrat Islamic Sciences Educational Center in Kabul. “So, they come here to stay engaged in learning and studying religious sciences.”

The center’s roughly 400 students range in ages from about 3 to 60, and 90% are female. They study the Quran, Islamic jurisprudence, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, and Arabic, the language of the Quran.

A teacher gives a religious studies lesson to girls at a religious education center in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Most Afghans, Sahibi noted, are religious. “Even before the schools were closed, many used to attend madrassas,” he said. “But after the closure of schools, the interest has increased significantly, because the doors of the madrassas remain open to them.”

No recent official figures are available on the number of girls enrolled in madrassas, but officials say the popularity of religious schools overall has been growing. Last September, Deputy Minister of Education Karamatullah Akhundzada said at least 1 million students had enrolled in madrassas over the past year alone, bringing the total to over 3 million.

Studying the Quran

Sheltered from the heat of an early summer’s day in a basement room at the Tasnim Nasrat center, Sahibi’s students knelt at small plastic tables on the carpeted floor, their pencils tracing lines of Arabic script in their Qurans. All 10 young women wore black niqabs, the all-encompassing garment that includes a veil, leaving only the eyes visible.

Afghan girls attend a religious studies class at an religious education center in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

“It is very good for girls and women to study at a madrassa, because … the Quran is the word of Allah, and we are Muslims,” said 25-year-old Faiza, who had enrolled at the center five months earlier. “Therefore, it is our duty to know what is in the book that Allah has revealed to us, to understand its interpretation and translation.”

Given a choice, she would have studied medicine. While she knows that is now impossible, she still harbors hope that if she shows she is a pious student dedicated to her religion, she will be eventually allowed to. The medical profession is one of the very few still open to women in Afghanistan.

“When my family sees that I am learning Quranic sciences and that I am practicing all the teachings of the Quran in my life, and they are assured of this, they will definitely allow me to continue my studies,” she said.

Her teacher said he’d prefer if women were not strictly limited to religious studies.

“In my opinion, it is very important for a sister or a woman to learn both religious sciences and other subjects, because modern knowledge is also an important part of society,” Sahibi said. “Islam also recommends that modern sciences should be learned because they are necessary, and religious sciences are important alongside them. Both should be learned simultaneously.”

A controversial ban

The female secondary and higher education ban has been controversial in Afghanistan, even within the ranks of the Taliban itself. In a rare sign of open dissent, Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Abbas Stanikzai said in a public speech in January that there was no justification for denying education to girls and women.

His remarks were reportedly not well tolerated by the Taliban leadership; Stanikzai is now officially on leave and is believed to have left the country. But they were a clear indication that many in Afghanistan recognize the long-term impact of denying education to girls.

Afghan girls attend a religious studies class at a religious school in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

“If this ban persists until 2030, over four million girls will have been deprived of their right to education beyond primary school,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement at the start of Afghanistan’s new school year in March. “The consequences for these girls — and for Afghanistan — are catastrophic. The ban negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation.”

The importance of religious education

For some in this deeply conservative society, the teachings of Islam are hard to overstate.

“Learning the Holy Quran is the foundation of all other sciences, whether it’s medicine, engineering, or other fields of knowledge,” said Mullah Mohammed Jan Mukhtar, 35, who runs a boys’ madrassa north of Kabul. “If someone first learns the Quran, they will then be able to learn these other sciences much better.”

Nahideh, 13, left, an Afghan girl, stands with her friend as they wait for customers to buy water at a cemetery in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

His madrassa first opened five years ago with 35 students. Now it has 160 boys aged 5-21, half of whom are boarders. Beyond religious studies, it offers a limited number of other classes such as English and math. There is also an affiliated girls’ madrassa, which currently has 90 students, he said.

“In my opinion, there should be more madrassas for women,” said Mukhtar, who has been a mullah for 14 years. He stressed the importance of religious education for women. “When they are aware of religious verdicts, they better understand the rights of their husbands, in-laws and other family members.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By MARK KENNEDY

NEW YORK (AP) — Two-time Grammy Award-winning musician Chuck Mangione, who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-flavored single “Feels So Good” and later became a voice actor on the animated TV comedy “King of the Hill,” has died. He was 84.

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Mangione died at his home in Rochester, New York, on Tuesday in his sleep, said his attorney, Peter S. Matorin of Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP. The musician had been retired since 2015.

Perhaps his biggest hit — “Feels So Good” — is a staple on most smooth-jazz radio stations and has been called one of the most recognized melodies since “Michelle” by the Beatles. It hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top of the Billboard adult contemporary chart.

“It identified for a lot of people a song with an artist, even though I had a pretty strong base audience that kept us out there touring as often as we wanted to, that song just topped out there and took it to a whole other level,” Mangione told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2008.

He followed that hit with “Give It All You Got,” commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, and he performed it at the closing ceremony.

Mangione, a flugelhorn and trumpet player and jazz composer, released more than 30 albums during a career in which he built a sizable following after recording several albums, doing all the writing.

He won his first Grammy Award in 1977 for his album “Bellavia,” which was named in honor of his mother. Another album, “Friends and Love,” was also Grammy-nominated, and he earned a best original score Golden Globe nomination and a second Grammy for the movie “The Children of Sanchez.”

FILE – Flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione rehearses the national anthem before a baseball game between the Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees, Oct. 24, 2009, in New York. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, file)

Mangione introduced himself to a new audience when he appeared on the first several seasons of “King of the Hill,” appearing as a commercial spokesman for Mega Lo Mart, where “shopping feels so good.”

Mangione, brother of jazz pianist Gap Mangione, with whom he partnered in The Jazz Brothers, started his career as a bebop jazz musician heavily inspired by Dizzy Gillespie.

“He also was one of the first musicians I saw who had a rapport with the audience by just telling the audience what he was going to play and who was in his band,” Mangione told the Post-Gazette.

Mangione earned a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music — where he would eventually return as director of the school’s jazz ensemble — and left home to play with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

FILE – New York Yankees Pitcher Dock Ellis, right, has a little fun with a Chuck Mangione’s horn before a game with the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium, April 19, 1977, in New York. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine, file)

He donated his signature brown felt hat and the score of his Grammy-winning single “Feels So Good,” as well as albums, songbooks and other ephemera from his long and illustrious career to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2009.