By MARTÍN ADAMES

PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic (AP) — Wander Franco, the suspended Tampa Bay Rays shortstop charged in a sexual abuse case, was found guilty on Thursday but received a two-year suspended sentence.

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Franco was arrested last year after being accused of having a four-month relationship with a girl who was 14 at the time, and of transferring thousands of dollars to her mother to consent to the illegal relationship.

Franco, now 24, also faced charges of sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor, and human trafficking, but was found not guilty of those.

Judge Jakayra Veras García said Franco made a bad decision as she addressed him during the ruling.

“Look at us, Wander,” she said. “Do not approach minors for sexual purposes. If you don’t like people very close to your age, you have to wait your time.”

Prosecutors had requested a five-year prison sentence against Franco and a 10-year sentence against the girl’s mother, who was found guilty and will serve the full term.

“Apparently she was the one who thought she was handling the bat in the big leagues,” Veras said of the mother and her request that Franco pay for her daughter’s schooling and other expenses.

Franco’s attorney, Irina Ventura, said she would appeal the judge’s ruling: “Evidently, justice was not done.”

Meanwhile, prosecutor Luis Martínez said he was pleased with the rulings but did not say whether the government would appeal.

Before the three judges issued their unanimous ruling, Veras orally reviewed the copious amount of evidence that prosecutors presented during trial, including certain testimony from 31 witnesses.

“This is a somewhat complex process,” Veras said.

More than an hour into her presentation, Veras said: “The court has understood that this minor was manipulated.”

As the judge continued her review, Franco looked ahead expressionless, leaning forward at times.

Franco, who was once the team’s star shortstop, had signed a $182 million, 11-year contract through 2032 in November 2021 but saw his career abruptly halted in August 2023 after authorities in the Dominican Republic announced they were investigating him for an alleged relationship with a minor. Franco was 22 at the time.

In January 2024, authorities arrested Franco in the Dominican Republic. Six months later, Tampa Bay placed him on the restricted list, which cut off the pay he had been receiving while on administrative leave.

He was placed on that list because he has not been able to report to the team and would need a new U.S. visa to do so.

While Franco awaited trial on conditional release, he was arrested again in November last year following what Dominican authorities called an altercation over a woman’s attention. He was charged with illegally carrying a semiautomatic Glock 19 that police said was registered to his uncle.

That case is still pending in court.

After the ruling, Major League Baseball issued a brief statement noting it had collectively bargained a joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy “that reflects our commitment to these issues.”

“We are aware of today’s verdict in the Wander Franco trial and will conclude our investigation at the appropriate time,” MLB said.

Associated Press writers Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Ron Blum in New York contributed.

Now that the 12-Day War of Israel’s pinpoint airstrikes on Iranian military and nuclear targets and Iran’s blind ballistic missiles slamming into Israeli apartment buildings and hospitals has ended by the Trump Truce (with some salty language from the president) the ultimate goal must continue: To completely deny Iran from having atomic arms.

That can be back at the negotiating table or back on the battlefield, which the U.S. joined by bombing nuclear sites at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. The choice is that of the ayatollah.

Forbidding the mullahs’ medieval theocratic regime, the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror, atomic arms, is not just something that Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and President Donald Trump want. No nukes for Iran has been the bipartisan U.S. policy for 30 years, going back to Bill Clinton’s time in the Oval Office.

Following Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Trump and Joe Biden all in turn have insisted that Tehran cannot have nukes.

Last week, at their summit in Alberta, the G-7 nations of the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain were united: “We have been consistently clear that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.” The key word is “never.”

Even Iran’s pal, Vladimir Putin, invader of Ukraine, who has been using Iranian drones against the Ukrainians, doesn’t want a nuclear Iran. The same for the Arab states threatened by Iran.

Whether Iran’s centrifuges and uranium enrichment facilities have been permanently destroyed or merely temporarily damaged drives home the same point: The two dominant military powers in the region, the U.S. and Israel, will act with force if needed to stop an Iranian nuke.

If the underground plant at Fordo didn’t collapse, but only had its entrances blocked by the bombardment of the bunker buster bombs dropped by B-2s, Fordo remains a target.

Of course, the Iranians will try again and the estimated 400 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium they have squirreled away needs to be pursued by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. But the words of the world have now been reinforced with decisive military action.

The IDF’s Operation Rising Lion and the Pentagon’s Operation Midnight Hammer could only happen and successfully bomb Iran’s bomb factories without risking a reprisal attack from Iran’s proxies because those proxies are all defanged and defeated.

Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Assad dictatorship in Syria, the Houthis in Yemen and Shiite militias in Iraq, once the supposed “Axis of Resistance” ringing Israel and threatening U.S. bases, are all either vanquished or neutered.

Thus the IDF in the air (and the Mossad on the ground) along with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy could get the job done and pound Iran’s nukes.

Denuded of air defenses, the skies over Iran remain free for Israeli and American planes.

So now the ayatollah, who had a symbolic retaliation by firing some nonlethal missiles at the American’s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, has to decide his course going forward.

Sit down in Geneva or Vienna or Qatar and fully and permanently surrender this mad nightmare to acquire nukes, or face more of the same devastation. Or give up the chase (and the terror) and join the community of nations.

— The New York Daily News

By KEVIN FREKING

WASHINGTON (AP) — A few Republicans reacted with indignation Thursday after the Senate parliamentarian advised that some of the measures in their tax and immigration bill could not be included in the legislation.

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Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., tweeted on X that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough should be fired, “ASAP.” Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., intimated that she was partisan, asking why an “unelected swamp bureaucrat, who was appointed by Harry Reid over a decade ago” gets to decide what’s in the bill?”

It’s hardly the first time the parliamentarian’s normally low-key and lawyerly role has drawn a blast of public criticism.

MacDonough also dashed Democratic plans over the years, advising in 2021 that they couldn’t include a minimum wage increase in their COVID-19 relief bill. Later that same year, she advised that Democrats needed to drop an effort to let millions of immigrants remain temporarily in the U.S. as part of their big climate bill.

But the attention falling on MacDonough’s rulings in recent years also reflects a broader change in Congress, with lawmakers increasingly trying to wedge their top policy priorities into bills that can’t be filibustered in the Senate. The process comes with special rules designed to deter provisions unrelated to spending or taxes — and that’s where the parliamentarian comes in, offering analysis of what does and doesn’t qualify.

Her latest round of decisions Thursday was a blow to the GOP’s efforts to wring hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid over the next decade. Senate Republicans could opt to try to override her recommendations, but they are unlikely to do so.

Here’s a closer look at what the Senate parliamentarian does and why lawmakers are so focused on her recommendations right now.

The crucial role of the parliamentarian

Both the House and Senate have a parliamentarian to provide assistance on that chamber’s rules and precedents. They are often seen advising whoever is presiding over the chamber on the proper procedures to be followed and the appropriate responses to a parliamentary inquiry.

They are also charged with providing information to lawmakers and their respective staff on a strictly nonpartisan and confidential basis.

The parliamentarians and their staff only offer advice. Their recommendations are not binding. In the case of the massive tax and spending bill now before both chambers, the parliamentarian plays a critical role in advising whether the reconciliation bill’s provisions remain focused on fiscal issues.

How MacDonough became the first woman in the job

MacDonough, an English literature major, is the Senate’s first woman to be parliamentarian and just the sixth person to hold the position since its creation in 1935.

She began her Senate career in its library before leaving to get a law degree at Vermont Law School. She worked briefly as a Justice Department trial attorney before returning to the Senate in 1999, this time as an assistant in the parliamentarian’s office. She was initially appointed parliamentarian in 2012 by Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada, Senate majority leader at the time. She was retained by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., when he became majority leader in 2015.

She helped Chief Justice John Roberts preside over Trump’s 2020 Senate impeachment trial and was beside then-Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., for Trump’s second trial the following year. Trump was acquitted both times.

In this Jan. 6, 2021, photo, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, second from left, works beside Vice President Mike Pence during the certification of Electoral College ballots in the presidential election, in the House chamber at the Capitol in Washington. Shortly afterward, the Capitol was stormed by rioters determined to disrupt the certification. MacDonough has guided the Senate through two impeachment trials, vexed Democrats and Republicans alike with parliamentary opinions and helped rescue Electoral College certificates from a pro-Trump mob ransacking the Capitol. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

When Trump supporters fought past police and into the Capitol in hopes of disrupting Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, MacDonough and other staffers rescued those ballots and hustled mahogany boxes containing them to safety. MacDonough’s office, on the Capitol’s first floor, was ransacked and declared a crime scene.

Can the Senate ignore the parliamentarian’s advice?

Yes. The parliamentarian makes the recommendation, but it’s the presiding officer overseeing Senate proceedings who rules on provisions in the bill. If there is a dispute, it would be put to a vote.

Michael Thorning, director of structural democracy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank, said he doubts Republicans will want to go that route. And indeed, some Republican senators said as much Thursday.

“It’s the institutional integrity, even if I’m convinced 100% she’s wrong,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.

Thorning said lawmakers from both parties view MacDonough as “very much an honest broker.”

“And the Senate relies on her,” Thorning said. “Sometimes, those decisions cut your way, and sometimes, they don’t. I also think members recognize that once you start treating the parliamentarian’s advice as just something that could be easily dismissed, then the rules start to matter less.”

Have parliamentarians been fired?

Majority leaders from both parties have replaced the parliamentarian. For more than three decades, the position alternated between Robert Dove and Alan Frumin depending upon which party was in the majority.

Thorning said the two parliamentarians weren’t far apart though, in how they interpreted the Senate’s rules and precedents.

MacDonough succeeded Frumin as parliamentarian. He said the small number of calls Thursday for her dismissal “tells you all people need to know about the current parliamentarian.”

“Senators know this isn’t somebody playing politics,” Thorning said.

By KATE PAYNE

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is racing ahead with construction of a makeshift immigration detention facility at an airstrip in the Everglades over the opposition of Native American leaders who consider the area their sacred ancestral homelands.

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A string of portable generators and dump trucks loaded with fill dirt streamed into the site on Thursday, according to activist Jessica Namath, who witnessed the activity. The state is plowing ahead with building a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and other temporary buildings at the Miami Dade County-owned airfield located in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 45 miles west of downtown Miami.

A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

State officials have characterized the site as an ideal place to hold migrants, saying there’s “not much” there other than pythons and alligators.

Indigenous leaders dispute that and are condemning the state’s plans to build what’s been dubbed “ Alligator Alcatraz ” on their homelands. Native Americans can trace their roots to the area back thousands of years.

For generations, the sweeping wetlands of what is now South Florida have been home to Native peoples who today make up the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

“Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,” Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress wrote in a statement on social media.

There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, Cypress testified before Congress in 2024.

“We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here,” he said. “The Big Cypress is part of us, and we are a part of it.”

Garrett Stuart, who lives about 3 miles from the site, described the crystal clear waters, open prairies and lush tree islands of Big Cypress as teeming with life.

“Hearing the arguments of the frogs in the water, you know? And listen to the grunt of the alligator. You’re hearing the call of that osprey flying by and listening to the crows chatting,” he said. “It’s all just incredible.”

Critics have condemned the detention facility and what they call the state’s apparent reliance on alligators as a security measure as a cruel spectacle, while DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of Florida’s muscular efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“To have alligators and pythons be the security guards, only someone who’s never spent time in the swamp would ever say something like that,” Stuart said. “They’re afraid of human beings.”

The Florida National Guard is preparing to send up to 100 soldiers to the facility on July 1 to provide site security and staff augmentation, and other support “as directed.”

In this image from undated video released by the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier shows an isolated Everglades airfield about 45 miles (72 kms.) west of Miami that Florida officials said an immigration detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” is just days away from being operational. (Courtesy of the Office of Attorney General James Uthmeier via AP)

“We don’t have a set timeline for this mission due to the fluid nature of the situation, but we will stay on the ground for as long as we’re needed and at the direction of Governor DeSantis,” Guard spokesperson Brittianie Funderburk said in a statement.

Tribal leaders and environmentalists are urging the state to change course, noting billions of dollars in state and federal funds have been poured into Everglades restoration in recent years, an investment they say is jeopardized by plans to house some 1,000 migrants at the site for an undetermined amount of time.

Indigenous leaders and activists are planning to gather at the site again on Saturday to stage a demonstration highlighting why the area is “sacred” and should be “protected, not destroyed.”

“This place became our refuge in time of war. It provides us a place to continue our culture and traditions,” Miccosukee leader Betty Osceola wrote in a social media post announcing the demonstration.

“And we need to protect it for our future generations,” she added.

Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.