By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN and SHELBY LUM

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — The pumpkin in Tony Scott’s backyard weighs almost as much as a small car.

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He’s been tending to it for months, feeding it fertilizer and covering it with a blanket at night to keep it at a stable temperature. A roll of measuring tape wrapped around the pumpkin gives him a rough estimate of its size.

“I’ve never seen anything grow this fast,” said Scott, a semiconductor engineer from upstate New York.

Every year, growers like Scott push their pumpkins to the limit. They compete in annual weigh-offs with colossal fruits that are well over 2,000 pounds. Scott’s pumpkin took third place this year, coming in at 1,931 pounds.

Pumpkins aren’t the only crops that can get giant. Other members of the gourd family like squashes, cucumbers and watermelons are capable of a similar feat. But the orange behemoths are especially massive and have earned a place of honor at fall festivals and Halloween fairs.

How to grow a giant pumpkin

A giant pumpkin starts off as the perfect seed. Growers choose seeds that have yielded large pumpkins in the past or test new ones. Scott and many other growers rely on the tried-and-true Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds.

After that, it comes down to the right combination of water, nutrients and care.

Giant pumpkins can guzzle hundreds of gallons of water in a day and make their own food from sunlight just like regular-sized plants do. Their internal plumbing system is more robust, allowing them to drink up sugary water and nutrients faster.

A measuring tape encircles Tony Scott’s pumpkin he grew in his Wappingers Falls, N.Y., backyard on Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Shelby Lum)

As the leafy patch begins to expand, growers remove smaller pumpkins so all the water and nutrients funnel into a single fruit.

“That helps make it extra big in a way that you might not see in the wild,” said Aleca Borsuk, a plant scientist at the New York Botanical Garden.

Because of gravity, giant pumpkins grow wide but not tall. They often resemble lopsided, lumpy pancakes. Scott’s pumpkin is also lighter in color because he covers it with a tarp during the day, protecting it from sunlight which can ripen and harden the skin. He waters it using an overhead sprinkler system.

Can giant pumpkins grow forever?

“The answer is no,” Borsuk said. No matter how big a pumpkin gets, it’ll eventually mature and its natural aging cycle will kick in.

Tony Scott’s pumpkin sits in his Wappingers Falls, N.Y., backyard on Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Shelby Lum)

Scott has nurtured giant pumpkins for eight years. It still blows his mind watching them inflate, putting on around 40 pounds to 50 pounds a day. He sets up reflective panels and even a fake wolf cutout to ward off hungry deer and other intruders looking for an orange-colored snack. Woodchucks have nibbled on the pumpkin’s vines in previous years.

After the all-important weighing competition, Scott shows off the giant pumpkin at various themed events and drives it around on a trailer. Eventually, he donates it to be displayed or carved.

On the way to events, he often gets stopped by people who ask what he’s got in the back.

Tony Scott stands with the pumpkin he grew in his Wappingers Falls, N.Y., backyard on Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Shelby Lum)

“The first question they ask is, ‘Is it real?’” Scott said. “Where would you buy a fake pumpkin this big?”

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

By STEPHEN WADE, Associated Press

Dr. Mark Harper recalls his first cold-water swim in the south of England 20 years ago. It was August, but the initial jolt from the plunge took his breath away.

The shock to his system lasted a minute or two until he was “recombobulated and able to think about something other than the cold,” Harper says. A surprise sensation soon replaced his discomfort.

“I remember getting out of the water the first time and feeling so good,” Harper, an anesthesiologist who has since researched the potential risks and rewards of taking a nippy dunk. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

FILE – Revelers enter the cold water during the annual Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, file)

Claims about the benefits of cold-water immersion date back centuries. Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third American president, wrote toward the end of his life about using a cold foot bath daily for 60 years. He also owned a book published in 1706 on the history of cold-water bathing.

While evidence is building around the positive health effects of swimming in chilly water, bathing in ice or taking cold showers, scientific confirmation is still lacking.

But Harper, who became a regular cold-water swimmer after his initiation, said there are strong signs that people can derive mental health benefits from the activity. He mentioned a positive effect on depression and general well-being.

“For now, we have a very strong base, but not hard evidence, that cold-water immersion is effective for mental health,” Harper told The Associated Press.

Boosting mental health

Harper said his own early experiences with cold-water swimming piqued his professional curiosity. As a physician, he wondered if the brief bodily shock had clinical uses for treating depression. He cited the biological phenomenon of hormesis, in which a stressor introduced at a low dose creates a positive response.

Muscles and bones put under stress —for example, with weight-bearing exercise — also respond and grow.

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Harper acknowledged that the positive effects he’s observed may be the result of the placebo effect, a phenomenon in which people who are given a medicine they think will help them report responding to the treatment even if it had no active ingredients.

In the case of cold-water immersion, the benefits may come from meeting people, the exercise itself, or simply accepting a challenge and accomplishing it, which improves self-confidence, he said.

“Personally, I think it’s all of those things, and the cold has an additive effect,” Harper said. “I think we have a good physiological basis for that. The basic science tells us the cold has a very strong effect on the body.

“What we’re talking about is an intervention, when it’s used clinically, that produces beneficial effects on mental health. So in a way it doesn’t matter which aspect is generating the positive effects.”

Harper cited what he said was a common reaction among first-timers who have taken the plunge.

They often say “the fact that I’ve done this means I can do anything,” he said. “It’s quite a confidence builder and it’s something people stick to because they enjoy it so much.”

Know the risks when you start

Dr. Mike Tipton, a physiologist at the University of Portsmouth in England who has studied extreme environments, authored a paper along with Harper and two more researchers several years ago. The title highlighted the potential advantages and dangers of stimulating the body with a sudden drop in temperature: “Cold Water Immersion: Kill or Cure.”

“Like other environmental constituents such as pressure, heat and oxygen, cold water can be either good or bad, threat or treatment depending on circumstance,” they wrote after reviewing the research then available on the topic.

One of their findings: The activity presents dangers. Deaths from cold-water immersion are not uncommon. The shock of frigid water can cause people to hyperventilate and drown. But Tipton told The AP the risks can be managed with common sense and precautions.

How cold, how long?

You do not need to go to extremes to get a potential payoff. Entering water at a temperature of 68-59 degrees farenheit and staying for only a few minutes is sufficient.

Tipton explained if the water is colder than that, you may get more benefit — but limit your exposure.

“If you ask me what protocol you would follow if you thought this was going to be doing you good, I wouldn’t go in water much below 54F, and I wouldn’t stay in for much more than two minutes,” Tipton said.

Tipton and Harper both said that any benefits from cold-water immersion come from the body’s cold-shock response: the sudden fall of skin temperature, the release of the stress hormones, the release of endorphins, and the anti-inflammatory effect.

Tipton cautioned against long spells in an ice bath.

“Sitting in water for as long as I can fills me with horror,” Tipton said. “This could destroy small nerves, blood vessels in extremities and could result in amputation the same way frostbite can.”

Harper, who has swum as long as four-hour stretches in open water, advised vigilance.

“People think it’s got to be super cold, super long and the longer the better,” Harper said, “and that’s wrong.”

Be safe. You’re a tropical animal

Tipton said he’s not trying to be the “fun police” but suggested caution and a medical screening if you take the plunge. He said humans are considered “tropical animals” who need to adapt to the cold and are better suited to warm conditions.

A human’s resting body temperature is about 97.7 to 99.5 degrees farenheit. Because of that, cold-water immersion is stressful and carries risks for the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Not to mention the risk of drowning.

“We don’t want to stop people doing it, but we want to make sure they do it in a way that maximizes the benefits and minimizes the risks,” Tipton said.

He suggested swimming in a life-guarded area, or going with experienced outdoor swimmers. He also suggested knowing the body of water you’re swimming in. Hazards, among others, include tides, temperature, depth and pollution.

“Understand that taking a tropical animal and putting it in cold water is probably the greatest stress that most people will experience in their life,” Tipton said.

He suggested entering the water in a controlled fashion instead of jumping in.

“Be sensible about it,” he said. “Incremental is the key.”

By ALON BERNSTEIN and MELANIE LIDMAN, Associated Press

REIM, Israel (AP) — Thousands of people converged on southern Israel on Tuesday to mourn the dead as the nation marked two years since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack plunged the region into a devastating war, while Israel and Hamas pressed on with indirect peace talks in Egypt.

The main memorial in Tel Aviv, planned for later in the evening and organized by the bereaved families, is separate from a ceremony that the government will hold on the anniversary next week according to the Hebrew calendar.

People visit the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted by Hamas and taken into Gaza, as Israel marks the second year anniversary of the attack, near Kibbutz Reim, southern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

The split in the ceremonies reflects deep divisions over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s leadership, which many blame for the failure to secure a ceasefire that would free the remaining hostages held by the militants.

In the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed tens of thousands of people and razed entire towns and cities, those who can are fleeing another Israeli invasion of Gaza City while others are sheltering in place. Many are unable to make the arduous and costly journey south.

The worst attack in Israel’s history

It’s been two years since Hamas poured into southern Israel after a surprise barrage of rockets. They stormed army bases, farming communities and an outdoor music festival, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, including women, children and older adults.

They abducted 251 others, most of whom have since been released in ceasefires or other deals. Forty-eight hostages remain inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to still be alive. Hamas has said it will release them only in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until all of the captives are returned and Hamas has been disarmed.

People attend a memorial service marking two years since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas cross-border attack on Israel, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel where many of its community members were Killed and abducted, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The attack set in motion a cascade of events that led Israel into combat with Iran and its allies across the region, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which suffered major losses. The United States joined Israel in attacking Iran’s military and nuclear program in a 12-day war in June.

Israel has killed several top militants as well as Iranian generals and nuclear scientists, and it has vastly depleted the military capabilities of its enemies while seizing control over most of Gaza as well as parts of Lebanon and Syria.

But the failure to return the hostages has left the country deeply divided, with weekly mass protests against Netanyahu. Israel is more isolated internationally than it has been in decades.

A memorial at the scene of a massacre

Nearly 400 Israelis were killed and dozens abducted from the Nova music festival in the border community of Reim. Over the last two years, it has emerged as a memorial site, with portraits of the kidnapped and the fallen.

Though there was no official ceremony at the Nova site, due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot that coincides with the anniversary, thousands of people visited throughout the day to share memories of relatives and friends who were killed, weaving through hundreds of photos encircling the spot where the DJ booth stood.

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Many gathered before sunrise, playing the same track of music that was playing two years ago, stopping for a moment of silence at 6:29 a.m. — the exact time the attack began.

People embraced and spoke of their loss. Alon Muskinov, 28, who was at the festival and lost three of his closest friends, said survivors don’t need an anniversary to remember.

“We don’t need a specific day, because we live this every day anew,” he said.

Yehuda Rahmani, whose daughter Sharon — a police officer at the festival — was also among those killed, said he visits the Nova site every day. He drinks his morning cup of coffee next to a photo of his daughter at the last place where she was alive.

To this day, Rahmani keeps hoping he will run into a survivor who could tell him about his daughter’s last moments. He is angry at the government for not launching an inquiry into security failures of that day.

“When you don’t know what happened, it makes it so much harder,” he said.

Israeli artillery and the boom of explosions in Gaza echoed across the Nova site as smoke billowed over the Strip. The Israeli military said a rocket was launched from northern Gaza in the morning, but no damage or injuries were reported.

Israeli forces have arrested at least 35 people in the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and elsewhere since Monday, according to a group representing Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli military did not immediately confirm the arrests but said “regular counterterrorism activity” was underway.

In Tel Aviv, dozens gathered at a memorial site that was set up in a city square.

Shay Dickmann, whose aunt was killed in Kibbutz Be’eri and whose cousin, Carmel Gat, was taken hostage by Hamas and killed 11 months later, said all everyone wants is for the war to end.

“There is a deal on the table, there is an opportunity to end this war and bring everybody back home,” she said. “We all deserve it, we deserve it, our neighbors deserve it, we want this war to end and all to come back to their homes.”

Israel and Hamas discuss Trump peace plan

In neighboring Egypt, in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Israel and Hamas held indirect talks Monday to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan. The talks were to continue Tuesday.

The war has already killed over 67,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half the dead, and many independent experts say its figures are the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

Israel’s offensive has displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of some 2 million, often multiple times, and restrictions on humanitarian aid have contributed to a severe hunger crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.

In Gaza, Ghassan Abu Rejeila said the war has stripped Gaza of everything that gives life meaning, whether it’s a family gathering or a decent meal. “We’ve lost the beautiful moments. Our life has become hell upon hell. Every day, there is killing, strikes, death, martyrdom.”

For Maha Shbeir, a doctor at Nasser hospital, these last two years feel like two decades worth of tragedy, suffering, homelessness and hunger.

“I’ve seen cases of children, elderly people, women, cases of amputation, burns, head injuries,” she said. “They weren’t cases that a normal person could… I don’t know how we will recover in the future from them, from those scenes that we’ve seen.”

Experts and major rights groups have accused Israel of genocide, and the International Criminal Court is seeking the arrest of Netanyahu and his former defense minister for allegedly using starvation as a method of war.

Israel vehemently denies the allegations, saying it is waging a lawful war of self-defense and taking extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for the death and destruction in Gaza because the militants are deeply embedded in populated areas.

Hamas portrayed the Oct. 7 attack as a response to decades of Israeli land seizures, settlement construction and military occupation. But the attack has exacted a catastrophic toll on the Palestinians, whose dream of an independent state appears as distant as ever despite recent moves by major Western countries to recognize one.

Associated Press journalists Areej Hazboun in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wafaa Shurafa in Gaza and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and STEPHEN GROVES, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi defended herself against Democratic criticism that she had weaponized the Justice Department at a Tuesday congressional hearing where she was set to face tough questions over the political pressure on the law enforcement agency to pursue President Donald Trump’s perceived foes.

During her opening remarks, Bondi echoed conservative claims that President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, which brought two criminal cases against Trump, was the one that weaponized the law enforcement agency even though some of its most high-profile probes concerned the Democratic president and his son. Bondi pointed to revelations from a day earlier that the FBI had analyzed phone records of several Republican lawmakers as part of an investigation into Trump’s efforts to undo the results of his election loss to Biden in 2020.

“They were playing politics with law enforcement powers and will go down as a historic betrayal of public trust,” Bondi said. “This is the kind of conduct that shatters the American people’s faith in our law enforcement system. We will work to earn that back every single day.”

The testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee comes just ahead of former FBI Director James Comey’s first court appearance following an indictment that has deepened concerns that the department is being used to seek vengeance against the Republican president’s political opponents. It also comes as federal law enforcement officials surge into several cities across the U.S. to combat crime and enforce immigration laws.

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The hearing is likely to split along deeply partisan lines, with Republicans expected to laud the Justice Department’s focus on confronting violent crime and reversing Biden-era priorities. Democrats, by contrast, are poised to grill Bondi about a turbulent eight-month tenure that, besides politically charged investigations, has also been defined by mass firings and resignations of experienced prosecutors, including some who investigated Trump, resisted Trump administration pressure or simply served in senior roles in the prior administration.

As the hearing opened, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the committee’s Republican chairman, praised Bondi for “getting tough on criminals” and her efforts to scrutinize what conservatives have alleged was the targeting of conservatives by the Biden Justice Department.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committee’s top Democrat, lamented the surge of hundreds of career officials with a combined thousands of years of law enforcement experience. Durbin told Bondi that her actions at the Justice Department, including the diversion of agents to focus on immigration enforcement, are making America less safe.

“What has taken place since January 20th, 2025, would make even President Nixon recoil,” Durbin said of the president who resigned to avoid being impeached in connection with the Watergate scandal. “This is your legacy, Attorney General Bondi. In eight short months, you fundamentally transformed the Justice Department and left an enormous stain in American history. It will take decades to recover.”

Bondi’s appearance is her first before the panel since her confirmation hearing last January, when she pledged to not play politics with the Justice Department — a promise Democrats are likely to pounce on as they press the attorney general on whether she can withstand pressure from a president publicly calling to charge his perceived enemies.

Bondi and other Republican allies have said the Biden administration, which brought two criminal cases against Trump, was the one that weaponized the department even though some of its most high-profile probes concerned the Democratic president and his son.

The Comey indictment is likely to take center stage at the hearing. The U.S. attorney’s office in Virginia that brought the case had expressed reservations about the strength of evidence, and the Trump administration had to race to install a new prosecutor to secure the charges after the experienced leader of that office resigned days earlier under pressure.

Other inquiries are likely to come up as well.

The Justice Department under Bondi has opened criminal investigations into other vocal critics of the president, including Democratic U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, as well as New York Attorney General Letitia James and Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor and current mayoral candidate. They have all denied wrongdoing, as has Comey, and have slammed the investigations as politically motivated.

Bondi is likely to tout the Justice Department’s efforts to tackle violent crime by surging federal law enforcement in Washington and now Memphis, Tennessee. Republican lawmakers who make up the majority of the committee will also likely highlight the department’s focus on illegal immigration and dismantling Mexican cartels responsible for smuggling drugs into American communities.

The attorney general may also face questions about the Justice Department’s handling of investigative files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The wealthy New York financier’s case has dogged the department since its decision in July not to publicly release any more files in its possession after raising the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists.

But even in the face of intense conservative outrage, Bondi maintained the strong public support of the president.