By MARK KENNEDY

NEW YORK (AP) — Charlie Brown and Snoopy go to sleepaway camp in a new, bittersweet Apple TV+ special fueled by a pair of Emmy Award-nominated songwriters that’s being billed as the first “Peanuts” musical in 35 years.

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“My motivation has always been to preserve and enhance my dad’s legacy,” says co-writer Craig Schulz, a son of the iconic comic strip “Peanuts” creator Charles. S. Schulz. “So it’s really an honor to get to play with these kids.”

“Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical,” which premieres Friday, features five songs — two by Jeff Morrow, Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner — and three by Ben Folds.

“If someone asked me to write for a stupid kids thing, I would find it difficult because I don’t like talking down to anyone, much less kids,” says Folds. “’Peanuts’ isn’t like that. We’re working in very rich, fertile soil.”

What’s the special about?

The special opens with the kids getting ready to catch the bus to Cloverhill Ranch camp, but Sally isn’t so sure it’s going to be great. “Honestly, big brother, I could stay home,” she says.

Sally is initially intimidated by the camp’s inside jokes and rituals, turned off by the insects, the endless climbing, no TV, cold lake water and lumpy beds.

“You wake at dawn/Like you would in jail,” she sings in the song “A Place Like This.” “The food’s not what you’d call upscale/This whole endeavor, an epic fail/And that’s being diplomatic.”

Trust “Peanuts” to explore reluctance to leave home and fear of change. Craig Schulz, who co-wrote the script with his son, Bryan, and Cornelius Uliano, channeled some of his own childhood.

“Cloverhill Ranch actually is a take-off of the one in Santa Rosa called Cloverleaf that I went to as a child and hated. I bailed out after a week and went home,” he says. “So many connections in the film kind of date back to my childhood that we weaved into the film.”

While Sally warms to camp, Snoopy discovers what he thinks is a treasure map that will transform him into a wealthy pooch, one who will lay on top of a gold dog house. And Charlie Brown learns that this summer will be the last for his beloved but struggling camp — unless he does something.

“I guess your generation would rather sit in front of the television than sit under the stars,” he tells Sally. “We have to protect these kinds of places because once they’re gone, they’re gone forever.”

A concert to save the camp

Charlie Brown comes up with the idea to invite generations of camp-goers back for a fundraising concert, but the skies darken on the big day, threatening to cancel the event and sending him into a “Good grief” spiral.

“Charlie Brown is different in this special,” says director Erik Wiese. “He’s really happy. He loves this place. And so that’s why when we get to that scene it’s so effective because he returned back to the zero we sort of know him traditionally.”

Folds supplies the lovely, last three songs — “When We Were Light,” “Look Up, Charlie Brown” and “Leave It Better” — and credits his songwriting collaborators for setting the stage.

“I entered when those first two songs existed, and I get to just sort of step in at the point where things get really complex and melancholic,” he says.

Folds has had a flirtation with musical theater before, having written the “Peanuts” Earth Day song “It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown” in 2022 and a few songs for the movie “Over the Hedge” in 2006.

“People can easily confuse a song that sounds like musical theater with a song that should be musical theater,” he says. “Really what the value of the song is that it obviates the need for a good five to 10 pages of script.”

This October marks the 75th anniversary of “Peanuts,” and the musical arrives with a boatload of branding, from tote bags by Coach to shoes by Crocs and Starbucks mugs.

This image released by Apple TV+ shows promotional art for “Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical.” (Apple TV+ via AP)

Craig Schulz is already at work on a second animated musical with his son, having long ago fallen in love with the family business.

“I used to always wonder how in the world my dad could go to the office every day for 50 years and write a comic strip every day,” he says, comparing it to the “I Love Lucy” episode with Lucy trying to keep up with a chocolate conveyor belt.

“Then I came to realize that he had his family of five kids, but I really think he enjoyed going to the studio and working with the ‘Peanuts’ characters even more so than his real family. He got to go in there and embrace them, draw them, make him happy, sad, whatever. It was a world that I don’t think he could ever leave.”

A district court judge ordered that immigrants held for processing receive access to phone calls, more space and bedding mats, among other things. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, refuted the claims and says it will appeal the order.

Immigration officers outside 26 Federal Plaza in June. (Ayman Siam/Office of NYC Comptroller)

A federal judge in Manhattan issued a temporary restraining order requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to improve conditions in the processing area on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza, where dozens of immigrants are being detained.

This order follows a class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Make the Road New York, and Wang Hecker LLP, which painted a bleak picture of conditions inside the facility.

The order requires ICE to align with its own standards for detention sites, which include providing at least 50 square feet of personal space and bedding mats for each person sleeping there, as well as access to hygiene products and medications.

Additionally, the order requires those being held have access to free and confidential calls with attorneys within 24 hours of detention, plus access to interpreters if needed.

“[Detained migrants] also don’t have an opportunity to talk with immigration attorneys, because we’ve all tried, and [ICE] doesn’t facilitate calls for people who are detained at 26 Federal Plaza, no matter how long they are detained there,” said Karla Marie Ostolaza, managing director for the immigration practice in the The Bronx Defenders.

Advocates celebrated the decision after videos and media articles revealed conditions inside the facility, which the New York Immigration Coalition called “crowded and unsanitary,” with some people held for days or weeks without access to showers, bedding, change of clothes and other necessities.

Since late spring, ICE has been targeting migrants who show up to court for routine immigration hearings, part of the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up deportations across the country.

“The Constitution requires that no one—especially someone unlawfully arrested at their immigration hearing, which happened to so many people in this case—should have to endure the dehumanizing conditions we’ve challenged in 26 Federal Plaza,” said Bobby Hodgson, assistant legal director at the NYCLU. 

However, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, denied the claims and said it will appeal the order. “This order and this lawsuit are driven by complete fiction about 26 Federal Plaza,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said via email.

“Any claim of subprime conditions at ICE facilities are categorically false. 26 Federal Plaza operates as a processing center, brief intake for illegal aliens, and then transfer to an ICE detention center meeting national standards for care and custody, which are in most cases better than facilities which detain Americans,” she added.

District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered that everyone detained at the site receive a printed “notice of rights” within one hour of arrival, and have access to licensed medical care between 7 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. The order will remain in effect for 14 days.

The judge’s order also says that ICE’s Detainee Locator System, a way for loved ones to find the location of an ICE detainee online, must identify people’s locations in real time or as close to it as possible.

“ICE has repeatedly lied and skirted accountability about what is happening on the 10th floor, as people are being detained for days or weeks at a time without basic care,” said Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition.

Activists and faith leaders held a civil disobedience protest outside 26 Federal Plaza on Friday, August. 8, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Climate Defenders)

ICE ordered to work with NY orgs

Individuals detained at 26 Federal Plaza are typically recent arrestees by ICE and are awaiting transfer to other, more permanent detention centers.

In cases where the detainee entered the country and overstayed their visa, they would normally be eligible for bail or released under specific conditions.

However, this was not happening at the New York Field Office at 26 Federal Plaza in recent years, as described in the case of Velesaca v. Decker, a separate 2020 lawsuit that alleges the vast majority of detainees were not given individualized assessments and that ICE essentially operated a “no-release” policy.

“My initial determination that a No-Release Policy likely existed was based on data indicating that in the period from June 2017 to September 2019, less than 2 [percent] of cases resulted in release and less than 0.1 [percent] had a bond set,” explains a recent court motion in the case.

After years of legal battles, in 2022, a judge announced a settlement in which ICE agreed that “it is required to provide individualized initial custody determinations to covered noncitizens.”

However, as things seemed to remain unchanged, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Bronx Defenders—who had been at the forefront of the case since the beginning—filed a motion in March of this year asking the court to enforce the 2022 settlement.

On Aug. 7, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York ordered ICE to comply, meaning the New York Field Office must conduct assessments to determine whether to release or detain migrants.

According to Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s order, from March 2022 (when the settlement order was issued) to February 2025, only 0.8 percent of cases resulted in someone’s release, and only 0.4 percent had a bond set. Moreover, the judge’s decision requires ICE and the New York organizations that filed the suit to meet to develop a “compliance plan.”

“What compliance looks like isn’t clear,” said Anne Venhuizen, supervising attorney at The Bronx Defenders. The custody determination, explained Venhuizen, “is required to happen within 48 hours, unless, for some reason, there’s an exigent circumstance.” 

ICE didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling. 

“It makes me very hopeful for finding a better way to enforce people’s right to have an initial custody determination that is meaningful, that really takes into account people’s individual situations and whether they should be released or not, instead of every single person that goes through 26 Federal Plaza getting a rubber stamp, like you are not eligible,” Ostolaza said.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Daniel@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post ICE Ordered to Improve ‘Dehumanizing Conditions’ for Migrants Held at 26 Federal Plaza appeared first on City Limits.

By CALEIGH WELLS

It turns out many Americans aren’t great at identifying which personal decisions contribute most to climate change.

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A study recently published by the National Academy of Sciences found that when asked to rank actions, such as swapping a car that uses gasoline for an electric one, carpooling or reducing food waste, participants weren’t very accurate when assessing how much those actions contributed to climate change, which is caused mostly by the release of greenhouse gases that happen when fuels like gasoline, oil and coal are burned.

“People over-assign impact to actually pretty low-impact actions such as recycling, and underestimate the actual carbon impact of behaviors much more carbon intensive, like flying or eating meat,” said Madalina Vlasceanu, report co-author and professor of environmental social sciences at Stanford University.

The top three individual actions that help the climate, including avoiding plane flights, choosing not to get a dog and using renewable electricity, were also the three that participants underestimated the most. Meanwhile, the lowest-impact actions were changing to more efficient appliances and swapping out light bulbs, recycling, and using less energy on washing clothes. Those were three of the top four overestimated actions in the report.

There are many reasons people get it wrong

Vlasceanu said marketing focuses more on recycling and using energy-efficient light bulbs than on why flights or dog adoption are relatively bad for the climate, so participants were more likely to give those actions more weight.

How the human brain is wired also plays a role.

“You can see the bottle being recycled. That’s visible. Whereas carbon emissions, that’s invisible to the human eye. So that’s why we don’t associate emissions with flying,” said Jiaying Zhao, who teaches psychology and sustainability at the University of British Columbia.

Zhao added it’s easier to bring actions to mind that we do more often. “Recycling is an almost daily action, whereas flying is less frequent. It’s less discussed,” she said. “As a result, people give a higher psychological weight to recycling.”

Of course, there is also a lot of misleading information. For example, some companies tout the recycling they do while not telling the public about pollution that comes from their overall operations.

“There has been a lot of deliberate confusion out there to support policies that are really out of date,” said Brenda Ekwurzel, a climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit.

Why dogs have a big climate impact

Dogs are big meat eaters, and meat is a significant contributor to climate change. That is because many of the farm animals, which will become food, release methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Beef is especially impactful, in part because around the world cattle are often raised on land that was illegally deforested. Since trees absorb carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas, cutting them to then raise cattle is a double whammy.

FILE – A woman walks her dog along the beach as the sun rises in Port Aransas, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

“People just don’t associate pets with carbon emissions. That link is not clear in people’s minds,” Zhao said.

Not all pets are the same, however. Zhao owns a dog and three rabbits.

“I can adopt 100 bunnies that will not be close to the emissions of a dog, because my dog is a carnivore,” she said.

The owner of a meat-eating pet can lower their impact by looking for food made from sources other than beef. Zhao, for example, tries to minimize her dog’s carbon footprint by feeding her less carbon-intensive protein sources, including seafood and turkey.

Pollution from air travel

Planes emit a lot of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, also greenhouse gases. Additionally, planes emit contrails, or vapor trails that prevent planet-warming gases from escaping into space. A round-trip economy-class flight on a 737 from New York to Los Angeles produces more than 1,300 pounds of emissions per passenger, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency.

Skipping that single flight saves about as much carbon as swearing off eating all types of meat a year, or living without a car for more than three months, according to U.N. estimates.

Other decisions, both impactful and minor

Switching to energy that comes from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, has a large positive impact because such sources don’t emit greenhouse gases. Some of the biggest climate decisions individuals can make include how they heat and cool their homes and the types of transportation they use. Switching to renewable energy minimizes the impact of both.

Recycling is effective at reducing waste headed for landfill, but its climate impact is relatively small because transporting, processing and repurposing recyclables typically relies on fossil fuels. Plus, less than 10% of plastics actually get recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Other decisions with overestimated impact, including washing clothes in cold water and switching to more efficient light bulbs, are relatively less important. That is because those appliances have a relatively small impact compared to other things, such plane flights and dogs, so improving on them, while beneficial, has a much more limited influence.

Experts say the best way to combat the human tendency to miscalculate climate-related decisions is with more readily available information. Zhao said that people are already more accurate in their estimations than they would have been 10 or 20 years ago because it’s easier to learn.

The study backs up that hypothesis. After participants finished ranking actions, the researchers corrected their mistakes, and they changed which actions they said they’d take to help the planet.

“People do learn from these interventions,” Vlasceanu said. “After learning, they are more willing to commit to actually more impactful actions.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

The FBI is warning people of a new scam involving fake packages with QR codes designed to steal data.

If people scan the code on a package they were not expecting, it prompts them to provide personal and financial information. They also might download malicious software that steals data from their phones, according to an FBI scam alert issued late last month. The criminals often ship the package without sender information to entice the victims to scan the code.

The fake packages, while not widespread, are a variation of a “brushing scam,” which is used by online vendors to increase ratings of their products. In a traditional brushing scam, online vendors send merchandise to an unsolicited recipient and then use the recipient’s information to post a positive review of the product. In this variation, scammers have used QR codes on packages to facilitate financial fraud activities, the FBI reported.

People should not accept packages they are not expecting from unknown sources and should not use their phones to scan QR codes provided by unknown sources.

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The FBI asks the public to report the fraudulent packages at www.ic3.gov and to include the name of the person or company that contacted them, the methods of communication used, any apps downloaded or any permissions provided on electronic devices.

Anyone older than 60 may call the U.S. Department of Justice elder hotline at (833) 372-8311.