By DÁNICA COTO

SANTA CRUZ DEL NORTE, Cuba (AP) — The smell of sulfur hits hard in this coastal town that produces petroleum and is home to one of Cuba’s largest thermoelectric plants. Yet, even as the plant cranks back to life, residents remain in the dark, surrounded by energy sources they cannot use.

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As tensions deepen between Cuba and the U.S. after it attacked Venezuela and disrupted oil shipments, so have the woes of Santa Cruz del Norte.

People in this town east of Havana are plunged into darkness daily and forced to cook with coal and firewood, but not everyone can afford this new reality.

Kenia Montoya said she recently ripped the wooden door off her bathroom in the crumbling cinderblock home that she shares with her children because she needed firewood, and they needed to eat.

“Things are getting worse for us now,” she said. “They don’t supply us with petroleum. They don’t supply us with food. Where does that leave us, then?”

A faded purple sheet now hangs over their bathroom. Nearby, only a handful of coal remains in a small bag.

The 50-year-old mother doesn’t know how she’ll cook once the coal runs out because supplies in the region have dwindled.

It’s one of many uncertainties gripping towns like this one across Cuba after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.

“Well, it’s a failed nation now,” Trump said this week. “And they’re not getting any money from Venezuela, and they’re not getting any money from anywhere.”

‘How are we going to live?’

Near the main entrance to Santa Cruz del Norte, a sprawling mural is emblazoned with the following message in all caps: “NO ONE GIVES UP HERE. LONG LIVE A FREE CUBA.”

But people wonder how long they can hold out.

The island’s crisis is deepening: severe blackouts, soaring prices and a shortage of basic goods.

Meanwhile, the Cuban government remains mum over its oil reserves, offering no word on whether Russia or anyone else would increase their shipments after oil supplies from Venezuela were disrupted when the U.S. attacked and arrested its president.

On Thursday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel described the situation as “complex” as he called the U.S. stance “aggressive and criminal,” saying it’s affecting things like transportation, hospitals, schools, tourism and the production of food.

He said that in a week, he would provide details about how Cuba will deal with the crisis.

Cuban officials recently lauded a phone call they had with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, although they did not share details. Meanwhile, Mexico has pledged to send humanitarian aid, including food, after Trump said he asked that it suspend oil shipments to the island.

Many in Santa Cruz del Norte feel the worst is yet to come.

“With all those tariffs they’re going to impose on countries, no oil will come in, and how are we going to live?” said Gladys Delgado.

The 67-year-old had cracked open her front door on a recent chilly afternoon to get some fresh air as she sewed small, colorful rugs made of clothing scraps to make extra cash because her pension is only $6 a month.

A couple of houses down, Minorkys Hoyos dropped a handful of cassava cubes into an old pot she filled with water from a barrel and placed it over a tiny, makeshift grill inside her home.

“You live with what you have,” she said, noting she had no other food available at that moment.

The few rechargeable items that used to light her small, disheveled home have broken down, and she began to bump into things until a neighbor gifted her an improvised lantern made with fuel and a reused baby food jar.

“When it’s dark, I don’t see,” said the 53-year-old diabetic.

It was late afternoon as she cooked, but her home was already dark.

Outside, two children sat on a dusty sidewalk. They stacked dominoes one atop the other to see how high they could go before the whole thing tumbled down.

‘If only we could do something’

For the past three months, Santa Cruz del Norte had electricity while most of Cuba was hit with constant outages stemming from aging infrastructure and fuel shortages at power plants.

People like Iván Amores were wary of rejoicing, fearful they would be plunged into the dark again like most of last year. Their fears materialized a week ago, when the outages hit again.

“This used to be wonderful,” he recalled of his town when it had electricity. “Now, it’s truly torture.”

He uses a tiny, makeshift barbecue pit to cook for himself, his daughter and young granddaughter, buying pricier coal at $3 a bag because it generates less smoke inside their tidy home.

Amores also invested in a single tube light that a Cuban man in another town builds and sells; it can be charged and even comes with a USB port.

But even those kind of brilliant inventions Cubans are known for are out of reach for people like 67-year-old Mariela Viel; she and her husband still cannot afford to add a bathroom to their cinderblock home with a dirt floor.

Growing up, Viel said she never knew what a blackout was: “We were living well. We had food, money.”

She worked more than 40 years at the cafeteria of Cuba’s power company and now receives $8 a month in pension.

“What can I afford? Nothing. Not even a package of chicken,” she said.

When there’s power, she cooks rice and beans and listens to her favorite music: Cuban big bands.

Viel sat outside one recent afternoon, watching a couple neighbors walk briskly with buckets of warmed up water so their families could take showers during a cold snap that began in late January, with a record low of 32 degrees (0 degrees) recorded in a town southeast of Santa Cruz del Norte.

Celebrations also start earlier now, with one family organizing a boy’s 15th birthday — a milestone age across Latin America — mid-afternoon before he and his friends opted to finish partying outdoors under a big yellow moon.

It glowed on a group of people nearby who danced and sang outside next to a scooter blasting music from its speakers to celebrate the birthday of Olga Lilia Laurenti, now 61.

“I’m telling you, whatever’s meant to be, let it be, because we can’t stop it,” she said as she paused dancing.

“You’re not going to waste part of your life on something that’s out of your control. If only we could do something, but what are we going to do? We can’t suffer. You need laughter, you need joy.”

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

By MAKIYA SEMINERA

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Sandra Mosqueda watched with an amused smile as her 2-year-old son, Atreus, began sweeping the floor with a miniature mop.

Atreus is part of the inaugural class of infants and toddlers receiving free preschool in a citywide program in San Antonio, Texas. It’s something his mother doesn’t take for granted. As a child, she herself wasn’t able to start preschool this young. In the case of her two older boys — now in first grade and kindergarten — the free preschool set them up for success in elementary school.

The first five years of a child’s life are among the most critical for their development. Those years lay a foundation and prepare them for kindergarten, often setting them up for success throughout school and beyond. But immense disparities exist in whether parents across the country report their child as ready for kindergarten, new data from the National Survey for Children’s Health shows.

Nationally, nearly two-thirds of children were reported in the survey as on track for kindergarten, regardless of their families’ income. However, the gap in kindergarten readiness is substantial when comparing reports from the poorest families and the wealthiest — approximately a 20% difference.

Administered by the U.S. Census Bureau, the federal survey offers a glimpse into school readiness by collecting responses annually from thousands of parents and guardians on their children’s early learning, social-emotional development, self-regulation, motor development and health. The latest results were released in December.

Low-income children often have less access to experiences that boost school readiness, such as high-quality early learning opportunities. That isn’t to say those kids haven’t made gains. Over the past few years, the survey’s portion of on-track children from families earning less than the federal poverty line — just under $32,000 for a family of four in 2024 — has trended upward nationwide by a few percentage points.

Some city and state programs are working to boost that improvement by expanding preschool opportunities for children from low-income families. The mission is even more urgent as parents juggle soaring child care costs and a widening affordability gap.

San Antonio’s program, called Pre-K 4 SA, is a prime example. It’s designed to serve low-income and working-class families throughout the city, offering 2,000 preschool seats for 3- and 4-year-olds — 80% of them free to families who qualify. The program, which opened in 2013, is funded through the city’s sales tax and expanded last year to include four infant and toddler classrooms in its new South Education Center. The preschools also offer an unusually broad mix of services, in recognition that poverty raises a complex blend of obstacles to kindergarten readiness.

Citywide early childhood programs have also emerged in recent years in Denver, New York, Boston, and Chicago, among others.

Pre-K 4 SA teacher Deziree Arce, center, plays a game with her students, Oct. 9, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Students who have completed Pre-K 4 SA have scored higher than the state average on third grade math and reading, according to the Urban Education Institute at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Those outcomes contribute to what Sarah Baray, CEO of Pre-K 4 SA, views as a key success of the program: Children with the greatest needs receive the same quality education as kids from wealthier families.

“The quality is so high that even families who could afford to go anywhere try to get into our schools,” Baray said.

High-quality education as a solution for all families, regardless of income

Many experts agree that one of the best ways to boost school readiness is to ensure programs meet high-quality standards, such as smaller class sizes and child-to-staff ratios.

Pre-K 4 SA has implemented a “whole child” approach that develops a range of skills, including socioemotional learning. Baray said the program prepares children “not just (for) academic success, but life success.”

Kids in Deziree Arce’s class learn to count and recognize shapes just like other preschoolers. But the children also receive guidance from Arce on social-emotional skills to test out all day, whether it’s consoling a crying classmate or resolving a conflict on who sits where at their classroom table.

Pre-K 4 SA students play on the playground, Oct. 9, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

“When I see kids that come from, like, where I came from, I’m giving them something that I never got,” said Arce, who grew up in a low-income family and has taught at Pre-K 4 SA for nine years.

Pre-K 4 SA also intentionally incorporates opportunities for children to refine their motor skills. For lunch, the children in Arce’s class pinched turkey burgers — provided by a local food bank — with tongs out of aluminum trays and onto their plates. Exploding ketchup packets were met with celebration, as some students opened them by themselves for the first time.

Outdoor play is another critical component to improving motor skills. Students spend an hour outside every day unless weather conditions are severe. In an era of much screen time and time indoors, Pre-K 4 SA students are encouraged to engage in “risky play.” That could mean racing tricycles around the perimeter of the playground, climbing up the slide or spraying water from a pump. Those experiences teach students their physical limits early, said Pre-K 4 SA Chief of Schools Tonda Brown.

Finding solutions to get families off the waitlist

A major challenge for San Antonio’s program, as well as in citywide efforts around the country, is meeting the demand.

More than 1,600 families were on Pre-K 4 SA’s waitlist this school year, Baray said. To help wait-listed families, the program’s enrollment team connects them with other local options, such as school district-run preschools or private centers partnered with Pre-K 4 SA.

Pre-K 4 SA students eat a provided lunch, Oct. 9, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Other cities distribute the demand across a wide variety of high-quality preschool programs by offering financial assistance to families.

Denver Preschool Program offers tuition credits to all families with 4-year-olds. Selected families can then put that money toward any licensed public or private preschool participating in the sales tax-funded program, said Priscilla Hopkins, executive director of Denver Public Schools’ early education office. About 80% of DPP’s providers were rated four- or five-star in Colorado’s quality rating system, according to the program’s 2024 impact report.

The level of financial support given to a family is determined by income. In 2024, nearly 1,800 4-year-olds who received DPP’s tuition support were in the lowest income tier — up to 135% of the federal poverty line. More than $21 million in tuition credits were dispersed in the 2023-2024 school year, according to program leaders.

Sandra Mosqueda and her 2-year-old son make a visit to Pre-K 4 SA, Oct. 9, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

However, in large swathes of the country, especially rural areas, private preschools are the only high-quality option but often come with a hefty price tag and little financial assistance. That leaves low-income families with fewer preschool options than their wealthier peers, said Kelly Purtell, a human development and family science professor at Ohio State University.

“There’s all sorts of challenges that then really limit what preschools are even kind of on the table for them,” Purtell said.

Helping families outside the classroom, too

Reliable transportation can be another obstacle for low-income families, especially for parents who work outside normal business hours, Purtell said.

Pre-K 4 SA students arrive to catch the school bus, Oct. 9, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Pre-K 4 SA’s South Education Center offers free bus transportation to fill that gap.

As children boarded the bus at a designated pickup spot near Southside Lions Park, cheerful bus monitors greeted them and strapped each one into their seat with a safety harness. Their bus driver offered each child a cartoon sticker for their school-provided backpacks.

The stress of poverty can hinder a parent’s ability to give their child enriching experiences key to school readiness, which is why services that promote family stability are important, said Katie Paschall, a researcher at Child Trends. At Pre-K 4 SA, that means healthy cooking classes, mobile vaccination clinics and even “family cafes” where parents can get help from staff to apply for jobs. By eliminating those at-home issues, parents can focus more on setting their children up for a better future.

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In Mosqueda’s case, having her kids in preschool allowed her to return to school after Atreus’ birth halted her studies to become a respiratory therapist. She completed a dental assistant degree and got a job at a nearby dental office. No one has cheered on Mosqueda more than her boys — her oldest son proudly took videos of his mom at her graduation last year.

“It’s showing them you can still do anything, no matter what comes in your way, and having the help to do it makes it possible,” she said.

Data journalist Todd Feathers contributed reporting.

The Associated Press’ education 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.

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate barely budged this week, staying close to 6% as the spring homebuying season nears.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate edged up to 6.11%, essentially flat compared to last week when it was 6.1%, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.89%.

This is the latest increase since the average rate eased three weeks ago to 6.06%, its lowest level in more than three years.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also ticked up this week. That average rate inched up to 5.5% from 5.49% last week. A year ago, it was at 6.05%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.21% at midday Thursday, down from 4.23% a week ago.

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By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — During the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts worried that disruptions to cancer diagnosis and treatment would cost lives. A new study suggests they were right.

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The federally funded study published Thursday by the medical journal JAMA Oncology is being called the first to assess the effects of pandemic-related disruptions on the short-term survival of cancer patients.

Researchers found that people diagnosed with cancer in 2020 and 2021 had worse short-term survival than those diagnosed between 2015 and 2019. That was true across a range of cancers, and whether they were diagnosed at a late or early stage.

Of course, COVID-19 itself was especially dangerous to patients already weakened by cancer, but the researchers worked to filter out deaths mainly attributed to the coronavirus, so they could see if other factors played a role.

The researchers were not able to definitively show what drove worse survival, said Todd Burus of the University of Kentucky, the study’s lead author.

“But disruptions to the health care system were probably a key contributor,” said Burus, who specializes in medical data analysis.

COVID-19 forced many people to postpone cancer screenings — colonoscopies, mammograms and lung scans — as the coronavirus overwhelmed doctors and hospitals, especially in 2020.

Earlier research had shown that overall cancer death rates in the U.S. continued to decline throughout the pandemic, and there weren’t huge shifts in late diagnoses.

Recinda Sherman, a researcher on that earlier paper, applauded the new work.

“As this study is the first to document pandemic-related, cause-specific survival, I think it is important,” said Sherman, of the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. “The more we understand about the impact of COVID-19, the better we will be able to prepare for the next one.”

How could overall cancer death rates decline in 2020 and 2021, while short-term survival worsen for newly diagnosed patients?

Cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment measures that for years had been pushing cancer death rates down did not suddenly disappear during the pandemic, Burus noted.

“We didn’t forget how to do those things,” he said. “But disruptions could have changed access, could have changed how quickly people were getting treated.”

Further research will show if any impact was lasting, said Hyuna Sung, senior principal scientist and cancer epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society.

“Transient declines in survival that quickly recover may have little impact on long-term mortality trends,” she said.

The new study tapped national cancer registry data to focus more specifically on patients who had a first diagnosis of a malignant cancer in 2020 and 2021. More than 1 million people were diagnosed with cancer in those two years, and about 144,000 died within one year, according to the researchers’ data.

The researchers looked at one-year survival rates for those patients, checking for what stage they were at the time of diagnosis.

They calculated that one-year survival was lower for both early- and late-stage diagnoses, for all cancer sites combined. Most worrisome were large differences seen in colorectal, prostate and pancreatic cancers, they said.

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.