By MARIA SHERMAN, AP Music Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift has regained control over her entire body of work.

In a lengthy note posted to her official website on Friday, Swift announced: “All of the music I’ve ever made now belongs to me.”

According to the note, the pop star has purchased her catalog of recordings — originally released through Big Machine Records — from their most recent owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital. She did not disclose the amount.

“We are thrilled with this outcome and are so happy for Taylor,” Shamrock Capital said in a statement.

Over the last few years, Swift has been re-recording and releasing her first six albums in an attempt to regain control of her music.

The series was instigated by music manager Scooter Braun’s purchase and sale of her early catalog and represents Swift’s effort to control her own songs and how they’re used. Previous “Taylor’s Version” releases have been more than conventional re-recordings, arriving with new “from the vault” music, Easter eggs and visuals that deepen understanding of her work.

In between re-recordings, she has released new music, including last year’s “The Tortured Poets Department,” announced during the 2024 Grammys and released during her record-breaking tour.

So far, there have been four re-recorded albums.

Swift’s last re-recording, “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” arrived in October 2023, just four months after the release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).” That was the same year Swift claimed the record for the woman with the most No. 1 albums in history.

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Fans have theorized that “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” would be next: On May 19, “Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version)” aired nearly in full during the opening scene of a Season 6 episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Prior to that, the song was teased in 2023’s Prime Video limited-series thriller “Wilderness” and in Apple TV+’s “The Dynasty: New England Patriots” in 2024. Also in 2023, she contributed “Delicate (Taylor’s Version)” to Prime Video’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”

But according to the note shared Friday, Swift says she hasn’t “even re-recorded a quarter of it.”

She did say, however, that she has completely rerecorded her self-titled debut album “and I really love how it sounds now.”

Swift writes that both her self-titled and “Reputation (Taylor’s Version)” “can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right.”

A representative for Swift did not immediately respond to request for comment.

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s top public health agency posted new recommendations that say healthy children may get COVID-19 vaccinations, removing language that said kids should get the shots.

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The change comes days after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that COVID-19 vaccines will no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women.

But the updated guidance on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website does not appear to end recommendations for vaccination of pregnant women, a change that was heavily criticized by medical and public health experts.

CDC and HHS officials did not immediately respond to questions about the new guidance.

Kennedy announced the coming changes in a 58-second video posted on the social media site X on Tuesday. No one from the CDC was in the video, and CDC officials referred questions about the announcement to Kennedy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

On Thursday, the CDC updated its website. The agency said that shots may be given to children ages 6 months to 17 years who do not have moderate or severe problems with their immune systems. Instead of recommending the shots, the CDC page now says parents may decide to get their children vaccinated in consultation with a doctor.

That kind of recommendation, known as shared decision-making, still means health insurers must pay for the vaccinations, according to the CDC. However, experts say vaccination rates tend to be lower when health authorities use that language and doctors are less emphatic with patients about getting shots.

Childhood vaccination rates for COVID-19 are already low — just 13% of children and 23% of adults have received the 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccine, according to CDC data.

Talk of changing the recommendations has been brewing. As the COVID-19 pandemic has waned, experts have discussed the possibility of focusing vaccination efforts on people 65 and older — who are among those most as risk for death and hospitalization.

A CDC advisory panel is set to meet in June to make recommendations about the fall shots. Among its options are suggesting shots for high-risk groups but still giving lower-risk people the choice to get vaccinated. A committee work group has endorsed the idea.

But Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine advocate before becoming health secretary, decided not to wait for the scientific panel’s review.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By KRISTIE RIEKEN, AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON (AP) — Soon after Lance McCullers Jr.’s family received online death threats following a tough start by the Houston Astros’ pitcher, his 5-year-old daughter, Ava, overheard wife Kara talking on the phone about it.

What followed was a painful conversation between McCullers and his little girl.

“She asked me when I came home: ‘Daddy like what is threats? Who wants to hurt us? Who wants to hurt me?’” McCullers told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “So, those conversations are tough to deal with.”

McCullers is one of two MLB pitchers whose families have received online death threats this month as internet abuse of players and their families is on the rise. Boston reliever Liam Hendriks took to social media soon after the incident with McCullers to call out people who were threatening his wife’s life and directing “vile” comments at him.

The Astros contacted MLB security and the Houston Police Department following the threats to McCullers. An police spokesperson said Thursday that it remains an ongoing investigation.

McCullers, who has two young daughters, took immediate action after the threats and hired 24-hour security for his family.

“You have to at that point,” he said.

Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich gestures after hitting a walk off grand slam during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

Abuse increasing with rise in sports gambling

Players from around the league agree that online abuse has gotten progressively worse in recent years. Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich, a 13-year MLB veteran and the 2018 NL MVP, said receiving online abuse is “a nightly thing” for most players.

“I think over the last few years it’s definitely increased,” he said. “It’s increased to the point that you’re just: ‘All right, here we go.’ It doesn’t even really register on your radar anymore. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing. You’re just so used to that on a day-to-day, night-to-night basis. It’s not just me. It’s everybody in here, based on performance.”

And many players believe it’s directly linked to the rise in legalized sports betting.

“You get a lot of DMs or stuff like that about you ruining someone’s bet or something ridiculous like that,” veteran Red Sox reliever Justin Wilson said. “I guess they should make better bets.”

Boston Red Sox pitcher Liam Hendriks celebrates after the final out of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Hendriks has had enough

Hendriks, a 36-year-old reliever who previously battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma, said on Instagram that he and his wife received death threats after a loss to the Mets. He added that people left comments saying that they wished he would have died from cancer among other abusive comments.

He later discussed the issue and his decision to speak out about it.

“Enough is enough,” he said. “Like at some point, everyone just like sucking up and dealing with it isn’t accomplishing anything. And we pass along to security. We pass along to whoever we need to, but nothing ends up happening. And it happens again the next night. And so, at some point, someone has to make a stand. And it’s one of those things where the more eyes we get on it, the more voices we get talking about it. Hopefully it can push it in the right direction.”

What teams are doing

Both the Astros and the Red Sox are working with MLB security to take action against social media users who direct threats toward players and their families. Red Sox spokesperson Abby Murphy added that they’ve taken steps in recent years to make sure player’ families are safe during games. That includes security staff and Boston police stationed in the family section at home and dedicated security in the traveling party to monitor the family section on the road.

Murphy said identifying those who make anonymous threats online is difficult, but: “both the Red Sox and MLB have cyber programs and analysts dedicated to identifying and removing these accounts.”

The Astros have uniformed police officers stationed in the family section, a practice that was implemented well before the threats to McCullers and his family.

Abandoning social media

For some players, online abuse has gotten so bad that they’ve abandoned social media. Detroit All-Star outfielder Riley Greene is one of them, saying he got off because he received so many messages from people blaming him for failed bets.

“I deleted it,” he said of Instagram. “I’m off it. It sucks, but it’s the world we live in, and we can’t do anything about it. People would DM me and say nasty things, tell me how bad of a player I am, and say nasty stuff that we don’t want to hear.”

Criticism is part of the game, threats are not

The 31-year-old McCullers, who returned this year after missing two full seasons with injuries, said dealing with this has been the worst thing that’s happened in his career. He understands the passion of fans and knows that being criticized for a poor performance is part of the game. But he believes there’s a “moral line” that fans shouldn’t cross.

“People should want us to succeed,” he said. “We want to succeed, but it shouldn’t come at a cost to our families, the kids in our life, having to feel like they’re not safe where they live or where they sit at games.”

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Houston manager Joe Espada was livid when he learned about the threats to McCullers and his family and was visibly upset when he addressed what happened with reporters.

Espada added that the team has mental health professionals available to the players to talk about the toll such abuse takes on them and any other issues they may be dealing with.

“We are aware that when we step on the field, fans expect and we expect the best out of ourselves,” Espada said this week. “But when we are trying to do our best and things don’t go our way while we’re trying to give you everything we got and now you’re threatening our families and kids — now I do have a big issue with that, right? I just did not like it.”

Kansas City Royals designated hitter Salvador Perez, right, celebrates his RBI single against the Minnesota Twins during the fifth inning of baseball game Saturday, May 24, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

Kansas City’s Salvador Perez, a 14-year MLB veteran, hasn’t experienced online abuse but was appalled by what happened to McCullers. If something like that happened to him he said it would change the way he interacts with fans.

“Now some fans, real fans, they’re gonna pay for that, too,” he said. “Because if I was him, I wouldn’t take a picture or sign anything for noboby because of that one day.”

McCullers wouldn’t go that far but admitted it has changed his mindset.

“It does make you kind of shell up a little bit,” he said. “It does make you kind of not want to go places. I guess that’s just probably the human reaction to it.”

Houston Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. reacts after Athletics’ Jacob Wilson’s home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

Finding a solution

While most players have dealt with some level of online abuse in their careers, no one has a good idea of how to stop it.

“I’m thankful I’m not in a position where I have to find a solution to this,” Tigers’ pitcher Tyler Holton said. “But as a person who is involved in this, I wish this wasn’t a topic of conversation.”

White Sox outfielder Mike Tauchman is disheartened at how bad player abuse has gotten. While it’s mostly online, he added that he’s had teammates that have had racist and homophobic things yelled at them during games.

“Outside of just simply not having social media I really don’t see that getting better before it just continues to get worse,” he said. “I mean, I think it’s kind of the way things are now. Like, people just feel like they have the right to say whatever they want to whoever they want and it’s behind a keyboard and there’s really no repercussions, right?”

AP Baseball Writer Mike Fitzpatrick and AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen, Kyle Hightower, Larry Lage and Steve Megargee contributed to this report.

By JEFF MARTIN, ANDREW DeMILLO and SAFIYAH RIDDLE

A bloodhound picked up the scent shortly after the “ Devil in the Ozarks ” escaped from a lockup in northern Arkansas. The hound didn’t have to go far to begin the hunt — it lives at the prison as part of a specialized unit that uses man’s best friend to help track fugitives.

Although the scent of convicted killer Grant Hardin was lost because of heavy rain, experts say that even days after Sunday’s escape, the animal’s highly developed sense of small can still pick up a fresh trail.

Bloodhounds are known for being tenacious trackers, said Brian Tierney, president of the National Police Bloodhound Association. They’re playing a key role in the search for Hardin, now in its sixth day.

They also save lives, as one young bloodhound did just two weeks ago in Maine. Millie, a 10-month-old hound tracked a 5-year-old girl with autism who went missing from her home on May 16, Maine State Police said. The dog found the girl waist-deep in water in a cedar swamp, the agency said. Authorities credited Millie’s dedication and “incredible nose” for saving the girl.

Heavy rain interrupted the search for Hardin

Bad weather confounded the hunt for Hardin, who was serving a 30-year sentence for murder when he escaped from the North Central Unit, a medium-security prison in Calico Rock, Arkansas.

The hound found – then lost – Hardin’s scent when heavy rains blew through the area, said state prison spokesman Rand Champion. Hardin was tracked for less than a quarter of a mile when the bloodhound lost the trail. The fugitive could have gone in any direction after that.

“That was one of the most frustrating things, that they were able to track him but then they lost him because of the rain,” Champion said.

Hardin took almost nothing with him and left behind plenty of clothes, bedsheets and other items that are used to familiarize the bloodhounds with his scent, Champion said. Those items are shared with the dogs to give them the initial scent of the person they are seeking, Tierney said. It’s a process that’s standard operating procedure for Arkansas’ prison dogs.

Who is Grant Hardin?

A former police chief in the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, Hardin had been held at the Calico Rock prison since 2017 after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in a fatal shooting for which he was serving a 30-year sentence.

Hardin’s DNA was matched to the 1997 rape of a teacher at an elementary school in Rogers, north of Fayetteville. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for that crime. Eventually, his notoriety led to a TV documentary, “Devil in the Ozarks.”

Champion said that someone should have checked Hardin’s identity before he was allowed to leave, describing the lack of verification as a “lapse” that is being investigated.

Bloodhounds live at Calico Rock prison

Authorities haven’t disclosed how many dogs are involved in the manhunt, but the Calico Rock prison is known for its bloodhounds that live in a kennel on prison property. The nearly one dozen dogs at the prison have helped many other agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to track a variety of people over the years, according to a 2021 state audit report on the prison.

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Southern prisons have a long history of keeping bloodhounds around in case of escapes, like the one featured in country artist Blake Shelton’s song “Ol’ Red,” about a hound that hunts escaped inmates with “a nose that could smell a two-day trail.”

Dogs in Arkansas’ prison system have also been used to help other agencies find people who are not dangerous, such as missing children, people with special needs or elderly people, Champion said.

The bloodhounds tend to raise a ruckus when they find their mark. But the prison system uses other types of dogs in searching for children and vulnerable people who go missing, and those dogs tend to lick people and make friends with them when they are found, Champion said.

Fugitives use spices, other means to foil bloodhounds

Fugitives being hunted by bloodhounds have been known to take extreme steps to throw the dogs off their trail, Tierney said.

Two convicted killers who broke out of a maximum-security prison in upstate New York in 2015 collected dozens of containers of black and cayenne pepper before their escape. They had intended to use the pepper “to interfere with tracking dogs they assumed would be part of a manhunt for them after the escape,” a state investigation found. One of the men was shot and killed during the manhunt; another was also shot but survived and was captured.

Tierney said he’s heard of other methods used by fugitives to evade tracking dogs. Among them: Sleeping in trees could allow one’s scent to disperse before reaching the ground, he said.

Hardin has troubled past in law enforcement

In his first job as a police officer 35 years ago in the college town of Fayetteville, home of the University of Arkansas, Hardin struggled almost immediately, his supervisors said. “Other recruits do not like Grant,” one wrote in a performance review.

After a few months on the job, most shift supervisors concluded that he was “not suited for police work,” Fayetteville’s police chief at the time wrote to the director of the state commission on enforcement standards in the spring of 1991.

But after being dismissed by Fayetteville police, he kept getting hired for other law enforcement jobs in northwest Arkansas. In documents and interviews, other police leaders echoed what Fayetteville’s police chief had said — that Grant should not have become a police officer.

By the time he was the police chief in the small town of Gateway in 2016, “he was out chasing cars for no reason,” Cheryl Tillman, the town’s current mayor, recalled in the documentary “Devil in the Ozarks.”

He’s also been described by those who know him as a smart and cunning person who has learned many police tactics over the years and knows how law officers hunt fugitives.

“That individual probably watched the extended forecast before he went out,” Tierney said. “He would know that heavy rain is going to hinder the dogs.”

Associated Press Writer Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.