By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) — Triple-digit temperatures more commonly seen in the throes of summer and not in the spring were making an unwelcome visit to Texas and other parts of the southeastern United States this week, placing millions of Americans under extreme heat warnings.

“Definitely more like August this week than May,” Cameron Self, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in the Houston and Galveston area, said Tuesday.

A very strong ridge of high pressure over the south-central United States that is centered over the Gulf of Mexico will be responsible for the extreme heat.

For the next six to 10 days, much of south central and the southeastern United States will be warmer than normal, with the highest temperatures occurring over parts of Texas and Florida, Self said.

Some parts of southeast Texas could easily break daily record highs and some could come close to breaking their monthly record highs, Self said.

Areas like Houston that are closer to the Gulf of Mexico could have their temperatures “modified somewhat” because water temperatures are still cool enough, but parts of Texas farther west of the Gulf are going to see temperatures well over 100 degrees, Self said.

It’s not uncommon to get a day or two with temperatures around 94 or 95 degrees in May in Houston.

“But getting long stretches of temperatures well in the 90s that usually holds off till June,” Self said.

“There’s a chance that this could go into next week or longer,” Self said.

Trump signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. The order only carries authority within the U.S. Other countries and international institutions continue to use the name the Gulf of Mexico.

By Amanda Hernández, Stateline.org

For help, call 1-888-373-7888 or text *233733 for the 24/7 National Human Trafficking Hotline, a national, toll-free hotline.

States are moving to strengthen protections against human trafficking, but some advocates warn that federal funding cuts could undermine efforts to support survivors.

This year, lawmakers in several states have introduced bills to expand education, strengthen penalties and fund survivor support. But some victim service providers say these efforts might fall short, with millions of dollars in federal cuts threatening programs that help trafficking victims heal and rebuild their lives.

Human trafficking is the exploitation of people through force, fraud or coercion for the purposes of sex or labor. It often involves victims who lack control over their circumstances — whether due to threats, manipulation or economic dependency — and can occur in both illicit and legal industries, from commercial sex work to agriculture, domestic work and construction.

A poll released in March by the University of California, Irvine and the anti-trafficking nonprofit EverFree found that while nearly 99% of Americans view trafficking as a global and national issue, only about 80% believe it’s a problem in their own state — a gap that hinders local prevention efforts, experts say.

The poll, which was conducted in October, also found that just 19% of respondents ranked human trafficking as a top national concern.

“Because it’s such a dark, challenging issue, there’s a dissonance that happens where you don’t want to believe that [trafficking] happens in your community,” Kelsey Morgan, the CEO and co-founder of EverFree, said in an interview. “To admit or to acknowledge that it’s happening in your community requires action.”

Lawmakers across the country are considering or have already passed a range of bills this year aimed at curbing human trafficking and supporting survivors. Many approaches focus on prevention, education, tougher penalties and expanding support services.

In Michigan, a pair of new laws will allow certain hearsay statements from trafficking survivors to be admitted in court and permit relevant prior acts to be used as evidence in human trafficking cases. In March, Utah enacted a law that increases criminal penalties for sex and labor trafficking offenses. In Tennessee, a new law set to take effect next year requires tattoo artists to complete up to one hour of training on recognizing and reporting signs of trafficking.

In California, lawmakers are considering a bill that would establish a “Survivor Support Fund” and criminalize loitering with the intent to purchase sex. The Oregon House passed legislation in April targeting illicit massage businesses by expanding enforcement authority and increasing criminal penalties and fines.

Other states are taking steps to raise awareness and improve accountability. The Florida and Montana legislatures passed bills mandating trafficking prevention education and training in schools. Both bills await action by governors.

A bill in Indiana would require gas stations, rest areas and welcome centers to display trafficking awareness posters, and mandate training for employees at food and lodging establishments. It passed in April and was sent to the governor.

Lawmakers in Florida and Georgia also have passed legislation that aims to strengthen criminal trafficking penalties, particularly in trafficking cases involving children or people with disabilities.

Minnesota is weighing several new proposals, including one to increase oversight of adult entertainment venues and massage parlors. The governor signed into law another measure that will require biennial legislative reports on the state’s child trafficking prevention efforts.

Funding to help victims recover

Some advocates say the legislation nationwide reflects growing awareness of trafficking’s scope — but caution that without consistent funding for victim services and a deeper public understanding of the issue, laws alone won’t be enough to support survivors or prevent trafficking.

In late April, the U.S. Department of Justice canceled 365 federal public safety grants — including some that supported anti-human trafficking programs — disrupting a wide range of services for crime victims, local police departments and correctional facilities.

Since then, the department has restored at least two of the canceled grants — one supporting a national crime victim hotline and another funding a national domestic violence network.

The cuts, which totaled $811 million, were administered through the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which awarded roughly $3 billion in competitive grants during the 2024 fiscal year, according to Reuters.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the cuts in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating that the department has cut “millions of dollars in wasteful grants.” She also signaled that additional cuts may be on the way.

Underreported to police

Human trafficking data in the United States is limited, but available figures suggest the problem is both widespread and underreported.

FBI data shows that in 2023, there were 2,584 reported trafficking incidents and 3,117 identified victims — a sharp increase from just 22 incidents in 2013, when the agency began tracking trafficking through its Uniform Crime Reporting system. The rise is largely attributed to more law enforcement agencies participating in the data collection system.

Separate data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline, which offers support to victims, identified 9,619 trafficking cases in 2023 — up from 5,551 in 2015. In 2023, the hotline received more than 30,000 tips, or “signals.”

Experts and advocates emphasize that both the hotline and the crime data capture only a fraction of trafficking incidents, given the hidden nature of the crime and the barriers victims face in reporting to police.

Although national data struggles to capture the full scope of trafficking, Minnesota is among the states that have taken extra steps to build their own data collection systems to better understand the issue and support victims.

Its efforts have drawn attention for state officials’ focus on both urban and rural communities, as well as on Native populations that often face barriers to accessing services.

Experts say it’s a common misconception that trafficking is primarily an urban issue — in reality, it can and does happen everywhere.

Still, some victims — including boys and men — may be overlooked.

“Sometimes for male youth, they are not identified as victims. They may show up in the criminal justice system as defendants or they may be adjudicated as juvenile delinquents,” said Caroline Palmer, the human trafficking prevention director at the Minnesota Department of Health. “There’s not really a close look at what might be happening in the background in terms of their victimization and trafficking exploitation.”

Palmer noted that while Minnesota offers programming for all genders, some male-identifying people may not feel comfortable with certain services, highlighting the need for more tailored support to meet everyone’s unique needs.

More than three-quarters of respondents to the UC Irvine-EverFree poll said being a woman greatly increases the risk of trafficking, but only 2% of respondents said the same about men — despite the fact that trafficking affects people of all genders.

Public perceptions about survivors were also influenced by the victim’s age: While 83% of respondents believe minors who are trafficked are always victims, only 61% say the same about adults — a gap that, advocates warn, can contribute to the criminalization of adult survivors.

Stateline reporter Amanda Hernández can be reached at ahernandez@stateline.org.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By THOMAS BEAUMONT, Associated Press

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Pete Buttigieg returns to Iowa on Tuesday for an event focused on veterans, six years after he burst onto the national political stage with a strong run ahead of the state’s leadoff presidential caucuses.

Buttigieg, a former intelligence officer in the Navy Reserves who served in Afghanistan, will headline a town hall in Cedar Rapids sponsored by the Democratic political organization VoteVets, which is focusing on President Donald Trump’s cuts to federal agencies and how they affect veterans and military families.

While the 43-year-old former transportation secretary has not confirmed he will make a second White House run, he has tangled with Trump online and has spoken out about changes he wants to see in the Democratic Party.

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Opposition to the Republican president “has to travel with a clearer picture of what we are actually for,” Buttigieg said during a recent interview with former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki on MSNBC.

“That needs to be as clear a picture as our response to the authoritarian tendencies of this administration,” he said. “We would not be in this situation if the government, the economy and the politics of our country were healthy. They’ve been unhealthy for a long time.”

Buttigieg finished atop the Iowa Democratic Party’s tallies in the glitch-plagued 2020 caucuses alongside Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, though The Associated Press did not call a winner given remaining concerns about whether the results as reported by the party are fully accurate.

Buttigieg, a former South Bend, Indiana, mayor who moved with his husband and twins to Michigan, turned down runs for his adoptive state’s open U.S. Senate and governor’s races. His aides insist his travel to Iowa is intended to meet people and hear their concerns, not just as an exercise to set up a presidential bid.

Still, a number of other potential 2028 contenders are traveling the country in the early days of the second Trump administration.

Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent joint rallies have drawn large crowds around the country, including in Republican-led Western states. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently called for mass mobilization of Democrats at a speech in New Hampshire, and Govs. Wes Moore of Maryland and Tim Walz of Minnesota plan stops in South Carolina at the end of May.

By STEVE KARNOWSKI and KRISTIN M. HALL, Associated Press

WAVERLY, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota farmer Dan Glessing isn’t ready to get too upset over President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

Farm country voted heavily for Trump last November. Now Glessing and many other farmers are taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the Republican president’s disputes with China and other international markets.

China normally would buy about one row out of every four of the Minnesota soybean crop and took in nearly $13 billion worth of soybeans from the U.S. as a whole last year. More than half of U.S. soybeans are exported internationally, with roughly half of those going to China, so it’s a critical market.

Minnesota farmer Dan Glessing and his corgi, Georgie, are shown in his tractor as they prepare to take a break from planting soybeans on Thursday, May 9, 2025, near Waverly, Minn. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)

Trump last month raised U.S. tariffs on products from China to 145%, and China retaliated with 125%. But Monday’s announcement of a 90-day truce between the two countries backed up the reluctance of many farmers to hit the panic button.

More good news came in an updated forecast from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday that projected higher corn exports and only slightly lower corn prices. The report also predicted somewhat lower soybean exports but higher domestic consumption, resulting in higher prices. Soybean futures surged.

After he finished planting his soybean crop on Monday, Glessing said he was excited by the news and hopes to see more progress. But he said he wasn’t really surprised.

Tariffs, weather and other uncertainty

On a bright, sunny day last week, as he began planting soybeans, Glessing said tariffs were only one of the things he’s worried about — and not necessarily the biggest. Farming, after all, is an enterprise built on loose soil, the whims of weather and other uncontrollable factors.

“Am I concerned about tariffs? Yeah. I mean, there’s uncertainty that comes with that,” Glessing said. “Is that the number one driving factor in these poor commodity prices the last two years? No.”

Soybeans are planted on Thursday, May 8, 2025 near Waverly, Minn. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

As he steered his 25-year-old Case IH tractor over a gently rolling field near the town of Waverly, he towed a planter that inserted his seeds through the stubble of last year’s corn crop. As he laid down the long rows, he rumbled past a pond where wild swans paddled about.

Riding shotgun was Georgie the Corgi, who alternated between roaming around his cab and half-dozing at his feet.

Perhaps more skeptical than Glessing is Matt Griggs, one of many soybean farmers in Tennessee paying close attention to the trade war. On Monday, he said the ripple effects on farmers might still be coming.

“We’re only on a 90-day pause,” Griggs said. “Who knows what is going to come after that?”

In this image from video, Matt Griggs fills up his tractor with fuel on Monday, May 5, 2025 at his farm in Humboldt, Tenn. Griggs, like many American farmers, is paying close attention to the trade war between the U.S. and China, a critical market for soybeans. (AP photo/Kristin M. Hall)

Joe Janzen, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois, said the commodity markets have largely shaken off the initial shock of the trade war, including Trumps’ declaration of April 2 as “Liberation Day,” when he announced stiff worldwide tariffs.

“Our markets have largely rebounded and are back where we were around April Second,” Janzen said. “Tariffs have not had a major impact on prices yet.”

Even something that might seem like good news — ideal planting conditions across much of the Midwest — has its downside. The potential for bigger crops sent prices downward, Glessing noted. High interest rates, seed and fertilizer costs pose additional challenges.

“There’s so many other factors besides just tariffs and my market price,” Glessing said.

Looking for signs of progress

But Glessing said he was encouraged by that morning’s news of a trade deal with the United Kingdom, and said he hopes the current uncertainty in talks with China and other countries ultimately leads to better trade deals going forward.

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Glessing had finished planting his corn the day before on the other half of a field that he rents from his father’s cousin, split between 45 acres of corn and 45 acres of beans. It’s at the farm where his grandfather grew up, and it’s part of the approximately 700 acres he plants on average. He locked in those planting decisions months earlier as he made deals for seeds, fertilizer and other supplies.

Back on his “home farm” closer to Waverly — where his late grandfather’s house, made of local brick, still stands and a cacophony of house sparrow songs filled the air — Glessing was pleased to spot the first signs of corn he had planted there about 10 days earlier poking above the soil.

Waverly is about an hour west of Minneapolis. Its most famous resident was Democratic former Vice President Hubert Humphrey. It’s in the congressional district represented by Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.

Glessing’s post as president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau puts him in close touch with other influential politicians, too. He and his wife, Seena, were Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s guests at the Capitol for Trump’s inauguration in January. Glessing declined to say who he voted for.

The Glessings have three kids, milk about 75 dairy cows, and grow corn, soybeans and alfalfa on a combination of parcels they own or rent. He uses the alfalfa and corn primarily to feed his cows. He sells his soybeans to a processing plant in Mankato, where some of them become soybean meal he adds to his animal feed. The milk from his cows goes to a co-op cheese plant in Litchfield that sells internationally.

Because Glessing has local buyers locked in and doesn’t directly export his crops, he’s partially cushioned from the volatility of world markets. But he’s quick to point out that everything in the agricultural economy is interconnected.

Lessons learned during Trump’s first trade war

On his farm near Humboldt, Tennessee, roughly midway between Memphis and Nashville, Griggs weathered the 2018 trade war during Trump’s first term and said he feels more prepared this time around.

“Back in 2018, prices were about the same as what they are now, and due to the trade war with China, prices dropped around 15%,” he said. “They dropped significantly lower, and they dropped in a hurry, and due to that, we lost a lot of demand from China.”

In this image from video provided by Matt Griggs, a tractor plants seeds in the ground on April 21, 2025 on the farm of Matt Griggs in Humboldt, Tenn. Griggs, like many American farmers, is paying close attention to the trade war between the U.S. and China, a critical market for soybeans. (Matt Griggs via AP)

Griggs said exports to China never fully rebounded. But he doesn’t think the impact of the current dispute will be nearly as drastic.

Griggs — who raises approximately 1,600 acres of cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat — said tariffs were just one consideration as he planned out this year’s crops. Growing a variety of crops helps him minimize the risk that comes with weather, volatile prices, and now the prospect of a trade war.

Griggs said he’s going to be watching for opportunities to sell when market volatility causes upticks in prices.

“The main thing I learned in 2018 was that if you do have a price period where prices have risen some, go ahead and take advantage of it instead of waiting for it to go higher,” said Griggs. “Because when it comes to the tariffs and everything, the markets can be very unpredictable. So my lesson learned was, ‘Don’t hold out for a home run, be satisfied with a double.’”

He said a temporary subsidy called the Market Facilitation Program helped soybean farmers withstand some of the losses last time could help if something similar is revived this year. But he said no farmer wants to make a living off government subsidies.

“We just want fair access to markets,” Griggs said. “And a fair price for the products we produce.”

AP videographer Kristin M. Hall reported from Humboldt, Tennessee. AP videographer Mark Vancleave also contributed from Waverly.