By NICHOLAS RICCARDI

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Like many in the tech industry, Jeremy Lyons used to think of himself as a relatively apolitical guy.

The only time he had participated in a demonstration before now was in the opening days of Donald Trump’s first presidential term, when he joined fellow Google workers walking out of the company’s Silicon Valley campus to protest immigration restrictions. Google’s co-founder and its chief executive officer joined them.

Last weekend was Lyons’ second, also against Trump, but it had a very different feel.

The man directing thousands of marchers with a bullhorn in downtown San Jose on April 5 was another tech worker who would not give his full name for fear of being identified by Trump backers. Marchers were urged not to harass drivers of Tesla vehicles, which have gone from a symbol of Silicon Valley’s environmental futurism to a pro-Trump icon. And no tech executives were anywhere to be seen, only months after several had joined Trump at his January inauguration.

To Lyons, 54, the change says as much about what’s happened to Silicon Valley over the past quarter-century as it does about the atmosphere of fear surrounding many Trump critics nowadays.

“One of the things I’ve seen over that time is a shift from a nerdy utopia to a money first, move fast and break things,” Lyons said.

Political gap seen between tech leaders and their workforce

The tech industry’s political allegiances remain divided. But as some in the upper echelons of Silicon Valley began shifting to the right politically, many of the tech industry’s everyday workers have remained liberal — but also increasingly nervous and disillusioned. Their mood is in stark contrast to the prominent tech leaders who have embraced a conservative populist ideology.

“I think you’re seeing a real gap between the leadership elite here in Silicon Valley and their workforce,” said Ann Skeet, senior director of leadership ethics at an ethics institute at Santa Clara University and a longtime observer of the industry.

“The shift hasn’t been for a lot of people,” said Lenny Siegel, a former mayor of Mountain View and longtime liberal activist in the valley. “It’s a handful of people who’ve gotten the attention.”

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The biggest example of that is Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and CEO of the world’s best-known electric car company who has taken on a prominent role slashing federal agencies in Trump’s administration. Musk has been joined by several tech billionaires, including investor David Sacks, who helped fundraise for Trump’s campaign and became the White House’s artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency czar, and venture capitalist Marc Andreesen. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also attended Trump’s inauguration in Washington.

Zuckerberg began praising Trump after the then-candidate, angered over money Zuckerberg steered toward local election offices in some states in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, threatened last summer to imprison him. Zuckerberg also donated $1 million to the president’s inauguration fund and co-hosted an inauguration reception for billionaire Republican donors.

Trump has filled a number of his administration’s posts with billionaires and his support from wealthy tech leaders led Democratic President Joe Biden to warn that the United States risked becoming an oligarchy ruled by elites. During Trump’s first term, the valley and its leaders were a bulwark of resistance to the Republican, especially over immigration, given that the industry draws its workforce from around the globe.

It’s against that backdrop that thousands of people attended the recent rally at a downtown San Jose park to protest the actions of Trump and Musk.

Even as tech industry has changed, Silicon Valley has leaned Democratic

Santa Clara County, which comprises most of Silicon Valley, swung 8 percentage points toward Trump in November election against Democrat Kamala Harris, matching the shift across California. Even with that swing, the county voted 68% to 28% for the then-vice president and remains a Democratic stronghold.

“We’re still in the belly of the beast,” said Dave Johnson, the new executive director of the Santa Clara GOP, who said the party has gained some new members in the county but few from the tech industry. “If the lake was frozen, there’s a little glimmer on top. I would not say there are cracks in the ice.”

The valley has long leaned Democratic, but with an unusual political mix: a general dislike of getting too involved in Washington’s business coupled with an at-times contradictory mix of libertarian individualism, Bay Area activism and belief in the ability of science to solve the world’s problems.

That has persisted even as the tech industry has changed.

The tech boom was fueled by scrappy startups that catered to their workers’ dreams of changing the world for the better. Google’s motto was “don’t be evil,” a phrase it removed from its code of conduct by 2018, when it and other companies such as Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, had grown into multinational behemoths. The companies have had layoffs in recent years, a shock to an industry that not long ago seemed poised for unlimited growth.

Entrepreneurs once dreamed of building startups that would change the world, said Jan English-Lueck, a San Jose State University professor who has been studying Silicon Valley culture for more than 20 years.

“Now,” she said, “if you’re part of a startup, you’re hoping you’ll be absorbed in a way that’s profitable.”

Discontent among some in the tech industry about where it’s headed

Even before some prominent tech leaders shifted toward Trump, there was mounting discontent among some in the industry over its direction. IdaRose Sylvester runs a business promoting a Silicon Valley-style approach to entrepreneurs in other countries.

“I feel sick to my stomach now,” she said.

Sylvester was already disenchanted with the growing inequality in the valley and the environmental cost of all the energy needed to power crypto, AI and data centers. She took part in protests against Trump in 2017, but felt that energy fade once he lost the 2020 election to Biden.

“I saw a lot of people get out of politics once Biden won. There was a feeling it was all OK,” Sylvester said. “It was not all OK.”

It is worse now, she said. She helped organize one of several demonstrations across the valley last weekend during a national day of protests against the new administration.

At first glance, the one in downtown San Jose could have been a typical anti-Trump protest anywhere. A large crowd of largely middle-age and older people carried signs against the president and Musk while chanting against oligarchs.

But it was clearly a Silicon Valley crowd, one still reeling not only from Trump’s challenges to the country’s system of checks and balances but also from the actions of the valley’s top executives.

“The money is all shifting to the wealthiest, and that terrifies me,” said Dianne Wood, who works at a startup. “Unfortunately, you’ve got the Zuckerbergs and Elon Musks of the world who are taking that over.”

“Just coming here, everyone’s saying turn off the facial recognition on your phone,” Wood added. “We’re all scared.”

Kamal Ali, who works in AI, said he felt betrayed by that shift.

“The trust is broken. A lot of employees are very upset by what’s going on,” he said. “It’s going to be different forever.”

Associated Press writer Sarah Parvini in Los Angeles and video journalist Haven Daley contributed to this report.

By JON GAMBRELL

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Suspected U.S. airstrikes around Yemen’s rebel-held capital killed at least seven people and wounded 29 overnight, the Houthis said Monday as they also claimed shooting down another American MQ-9 Reaper drone.

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Since its start nearly a month ago, the intense campaign of U.S. airstrikes under President Donald Trump targeting the rebels over their attacks on shipping in Mideast waters — related to the Israel-Hamas war — has killed over 120 people, according to casualty figures released Monday by the Houthis’ Health Ministry.

Footage aired by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel showed firefighters spraying water on a raging fire they described as being sparked by the airstrikes.

Rubble littered a street as rescuers carried one person away from the site, which the rebels claimed was a ceramics factory in the Bani Matar neighborhood of Sanaa, the capital. The Associated Press could not independently verify what was struck.

The U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations, did not acknowledge the strikes. That follows a pattern for the command, which now has authorization from the White House to conduct strikes at will in the campaign that began March 15.

The American military also hasn’t been providing any information on targets hit. The White House has said over 200 strikes have been conducted so far.

Houthis claim another American drone shot down

The Houthis separately claimed Sunday night they shot down an MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen’s Hajjah governorate, which sits to the northwest of the country on the Red Sea on the country’s border with Saudi Arabia.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, described the downing in a prerecorded video message as the fourth in two weeks by the rebels. Saree said the rebels targeted the drone with “a locally manufactured missile.” The Houthis have surface-to-air missiles — such as the Iranian missile known as the 358 — capable of downing aircraft.

Iran denies arming the rebels, though Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Shiite Houthi rebels despite a United Nations arms embargo.

General Atomics Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes over 40,000 feet (12,100 meters) and remain in the air for over 30 hours. They have been flown by both the U.S. military and the CIA for years over Afghanistan, Iraq and now Yemen.

Central Command said it was aware of “reports” of the drone being shot down but did not elaborate.

US strikes come as part of monthlong intense campaign

An AP review has found the new U.S. operation against the Houthis under President Donald Trump appears more extensive than that under former President Joe Biden, as Washington moves from solely targeting launch sites to firing at ranking personnel and dropping bombs on cities.

The new campaign of airstrikes started after the rebels threatened to begin targeting “Israeli” ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip. The rebels have loosely defined what constitutes an Israeli ship, meaning many vessels could be targeted.

The Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors from November 2023 until January of this year. They also launched attacks targeting American warships without success.

The U.S. campaign shows no signs of stopping, as the Trump administration has also linked its airstrikes on the Houthis to an effort to pressure Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program.

“What we’re doing with the Houthis and what we’re doing in the region, we’ve shown a capability to go far, to go deep and to go big,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday on Fox News. “We don’t want to do that. But if we have to, we will to prevent a nuclear bomb in Iran’s hands.”

Hegseth added: “We know Iran … is taking a look at what’s happening to the Houthis and realizing they don’t want any part of it.”

By CLAIRE RUSH and GARY FIELDS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Community celebrations being planned to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary next year are at risk of being significantly scaled back or canceled because of federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration, according to multiple state humanities councils across the country.

The councils have been working on programming for America250, an initiative marking the milestone anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But the Republican administration’s deep cost-cutting effort across the federal government has led the National Endowment for the Humanities to cancel its grants for state humanities councils. That has left them with less money for programming to plan for the celebration, ranging from themed K-12 school curriculums to special events at public libraries.

“I cannot imagine how we’re supposed to have a national commemoration that’s meaningful for people where they live without the humanities being supported,” said Gabrielle Lyon, executive director of Illinois Humanities, the state’s humanities council.

“What is it going to mean for small towns and rural communities who were expecting the possibility of having grants to do special exhibits, special commemorations, their own programs, and speakers and performers? All of that is now extremely tenuous. And those are exactly the kinds of things people have been looking forward to.”

Trying to reshape history

The head of Washington state’s humanities council said the NEH funding cuts appeared at odds with Trump’s focus on the commemorations. Earlier this year, the president signed an executive order creating a White House task force to plan a “grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of American Independence.”

“The organization that’s positioned to do that for America is the National Endowment for the Humanities,” said Julie Ziegler, CEO and executive director of Humanities Washington.

The White House and the NEH did not respond to requests for comment. America250, the initiative established by Congress to help orchestrate the commemorations, did not comment for this story.

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The humanities funding cuts come as Trump has targeted cultural establishments from the Smithsonian Institution to the Institute of Museum and Library Services in executive orders. The moves are part of his goals to downsize the federal government and end initiatives seen as promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. The order directed at the Smithsonian, for example, said it has “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.”

To comply with the orders, federal agencies have scrubbed images and information designated as DEI material from websites pertaining to certain parts of American history. That ranges from a webpage highlighting baseball trailblazer Jackie Robinson’s military service to the National Park Service removing content about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. Both were restored after a public outcry.

“I think that what’s happening is the administration is trying to shape the history that we’re going to tell in a way that’s unprecedented,” said James Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association. “The expertise of professional historians is being set aside in favor of a narrow, ideologically driven idea of the American past.”

DOGE places 80% of NEH staff on leave

State humanities councils across the country have been discussing how to present the myriad histories that make up the U.S. for the 250th commemoration events. But leaders of those councils say the loss of money from the National Endowment for the Humanities means some events are now unlikely to take place.

The NEH is a federal agency that awards money appropriated by Congress to a variety of recipients, including state humanities councils, museums, universities and historic sites. The money supports educational programs, research and preservation, among other things.

This month, the Trump administration’s Department of Governmental Efficiency, overseen by billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk, placed roughly 80% of NEH staff members on administrative leave, according to the Federation of State Humanities Councils.

The NEH also sent letters to state humanities councils across the country saying their federal grants had been terminated. The halt in funding came during the middle of the fiscal year for thousands of organizations and is causing widespread changes in their programs, including planning for the 250th anniversary.

‘Heartbreaking’ budget cuts

Georgia Humanities, the state’s humanities council, has been planning various events for the 250th anniversary, said president Mary McCartin Wearn.

They include a statewide “digital book club” in partnership with the state’s public library service, a program for speakers to travel across the state to give lectures and presentations, and a Smithsonian Institution program known as Museum on Main Street, which brings traveling exhibits to small towns and rural areas.

But the council has now lost $740,000 in federal funding that had been awarded to it, placing those programs in jeopardy, said McCartin Wearn, who has been fielding calls and emails from people asking about the status of their programming for the anniversary events.

“It’s really something that is heartbreaking, because it is a moment for reflection about who we are and who we want to be,” she said.

Adam Davis, executive director of Oregon Humanities, said his state had already run trainings at rural libraries and begun conversations about “freedom, equality, how we remember key events, why we monumentalize or memorialize big things, and how we should do that.”

“You can celebrate the 250th by having a commercial at the Super Bowl and waving a big flag,” Davis said. “You could also do things like get community members talking to each other about the core values in the country and what we hope for, and you can build trust and strengthen the fabric of our democracy.”

Without the funding, he said, “the scale is going to be quite different.”

A diminished telling of the nation’s history

Miranda Restovic, president and executive director of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, said the state’s role in the nation’s history makes the 250th anniversary “a really wonderful opportunity.” However, the funding cuts, which amount to $600,000 this fiscal year, put her organization in “contingency planning mode rather than continuing to think creatively about how we celebrate that important moment for our nation and our history.”

In a state that has shaped American history, cuisine and culture, the group’s plan for the 250th anniversary was to “nudge” people around the state to design programs that would show off the distinct flavors of their communities.

“We were planning to lean into us as a grant maker and support local initiatives that celebrated the 250th so that people can tell their own story,” Restovic said. “We are likely not going to be able to do that.”

Brenda Thomson, executive director of Arizona Humanities, said she had been imagining dramatic readings of the Bill of Rights, theater productions, parades, book readings and festivals as activities that communities would be putting on “with a heightened sense of pride” for the 250th anniversary.

She said the $1 million cut to her organization will mean curtailing those activities in a way that will not allow the telling of the nation’s full story. She lamented what would be lost.

“How do you know what you’re doing if you don’t know where you came from,” she said.

Rush reported from Portland, Ore.

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The Gophers men’s basketball program has added to its backcourt in consecutive days.

Western Michigan point guard Chansey Willis committed to the U on Monday, following combo guard Langston Reynolds from Northern Colorado on Sunday.

Willis, who is listed at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, averaged 16.8 points and 5.8 assists in 24 games last season. He shot 43% from the field, 28% from 3-point range and 72% from the free-throw line.

Willis might have two years of eligibility remaining for Minnesota, following the start of his college career at Saginaw Valley State (Division II) as a freshman and Henry Ford College (a junior college) as a sophomore. Within the last year, current college players have not had years spent at junior college count against their NCAA eligibility.

Willis, a Detroit native, was the state of Michigan’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2022.

The Gophers now have four scholarship spots still available for next season.

247Sports first reported Willis’ commitment to the U.

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