By JESSICA DAMIANO, Associated Press

Mother’s Day is coming, and the flower and candy ads are everywhere. There’s nothing wrong with either, of course, but both are fleeting.

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Instead of gifting your mom a bouquet of roses this year, why not give her a plant that will provide blossoms — and joy — for years to come?

And if you really want to be her favorite, offer to plant it for her, too (a box of that fleeting candy wouldn’t hurt, either.)

Here are eight newly developed rose varieties introduced to the market for the first time this spring, and the brands that grow them for our gardens:

Loves Me, Loves Me Not (Star Roses)

This hybrid tea rose puts forth large, 5-inch blooms with up to 250 deep-pink petals apiece. Highly fragrant with a scent reminiscent of lilacs, pineapples and gardenias, the upright, shrubby plant grows to 5 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide in zones 5-11.

Winning Streak (Star Roses)

This image shows Winning Streak, a new compact floribunda rose introduced by Star Roses and Plants for 2025. (Star Roses and Plants via AP)

Yellow-striped, cherry-red and fuchsia petals are strikingly set against dark green leaves on this rounded, bushy and compact floribunda. Expect it to grow 2 feet tall and wide in zones 6-11.

True Devotion (True Bloom Roses)

This image shows True Devotion, a new climbing hybrid tea rose available in spring 2025 from True Bloom Roses. (Altman Plants via AP)

Grow this disease-resistant climbing hybrid tea rose against a wall or up an arbor or trellis. Each of its 3 ½-inch, strongly scented flowers is packed with more than 50 light pink petals set against light green foliage. Reaches 7 feet tall and 3 feet wide in zones 5-10.

Candy Cream (Altman Plants)

This image shows Candy Cream, a new groundcover rose available in spring 2025 from Altman Plants. (Altman Plants via AP)

Pink-and-white striped, self-cleaning, double-blossomed roses will bloom all season long on this compact groundcover rose. Suited for smaller spaces (even containers) and offering excellent disease resistance, the vigorous bloomer grows to 2 feet tall and wide in zones 5-10.

Flavorette Pear’d (Proven Winners Color Choice)

This image shows Flavorette Pear’d, a new, edible rose from Proven Winners® ColorChoice. (Proven Winners ColorChoice via AP)

This fragrant, edible rose is as much a culinary herb as it is a garden specimen. Its pear-flavored, pale pink, semi-double petaled blossoms are held upright on sturdy, disease-resistant plants that reach 3-4 feet tall and wide in zones 4-8.

Oso Easy En Fuego (Proven Winners Color Choice)

This image shows Oso Easy En Fuego, a new, heat-tolerant rose from Proven Winners ColorChoice. (Proven Winners ColorChoice via AP)

Large, eye-catching roses emerge yellow and red, then open to reveal a burst of electric orange. Glossy green leaves create a lovely backdrop on the disease-resistant, heat-tolerant plant that blooms from summer to frost. Expect it to grow to 3-4 feet tall and 3 feet wide in zones 4-9.

Campfire Floribunda Rose (Jackson & Perkins)

This image shows Campfire Floribunda Rose, a new introduction from Jackson & Perkins for 2025. (Jackson & Perkins via AP)

Part of the Canadian Artist Series, this cold-hardy floribunda provides a multicolor display. Red and yellow buds open into deep, rose-edged, golden yellow flowers that mature to pink and ultimately cream. The low-maintenance, 6-foot-tall by 3-foot-wide plant is suitable for beds, borders and containers in zones 3 to 9.

Lemon Burst Floribunda Rose (Jackson & Perkins)

This image shows Lemon Burst Floribunda Rose, a new introduction from Jackson & Perkins for 2025. (Jackson & Perkins via AP)

Cupped, ruffled, yellow roses with up to 100 petals each exude a light, fruity fragrance and provide long-lasting color to beds, borders and containers. Set against glossy green foliage, its old-fashioned, 3-inch flowers rise from bushy, upright plants with a slightly spreading habit. The disease-resistant plants grow to 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide in zones 5-9.

Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

City Limits’ climate reporter Mariana Simões spoke with WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show to discuss her recent reporting on the Trump administration’s decision to layoff staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and what it means for local communities.

Lisa Garcia, a former EPA administrator, at an Earth Day Rally at City Hall last month. She recently spoke to City Limits about the impact the agency layoffs will have on New York City communities dealing with environmental issues. (Photo by Adi Talwar)

Last month, the day before Earth Day, the Trump administration told more than 450 staffers at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that they were being let go or reassigned—part of the White House’s plan to do away with “environmental justice” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” efforts at the federal agency.

But what is environmental justice exactly, and what does the elimination of those positions mean for New York City communities dealing with air pollution or contaminated land?

That was the subject of a segment on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show Wednesday, featuring City Limits’ climate reporter Mariana Simões, who joined the public radio host to discuss her recent reporting on EPA cuts and their local impact. They also took questions and heard feedback from callers who shared their thoughts on what environmental justice means to them.

“I grew up in the Bronx, and I remember when I was a kid, I would see hazardous waste trucks driving through my community, and I would always say to myself, ‘I don’t see these in Manhattan. I don’t see these in the suburbs,’” one caller said. “I think another way to think about environmental justice is simply racial justice.”

You can read Simões reporting on what’s happening at the EPA here, and can listen to the full WNYC segment below.

The post LISTEN: How Trump’s Environmental Justice Layoffs Will Impact New York appeared first on City Limits.

By WAFAA SHURAFA and TIA GOLDENBERG

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 92 people, including women, children and a local journalist, officials said Wednesday, as Israel prepares to ramp up its campaign in the strip, with the devastating war now entering its 20th month.

Two Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday in central Gaza killed at least 33 people and wounded 86, including several children, though the actual death toll is likely higher, according to health officials.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.

The new bloodshed comes days after Israel approved a plan to intensify its operations in the Palestinian enclave, which would include seizing Gaza, holding on to captured territories, forcibly displacing Palestinians to southern Gaza and taking control of aid distribution along with private security companies.

Israel is also calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers to carry out the plan. Israel says the plan will be gradual and will not be implemented until after U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up his visit to the region later this month.

Any escalation of fighting would likely drive up the death toll. And with Israel already controlling some 50% of Gaza, increasing its hold on the territory, for an indefinite amount of time, could open up the potential for a military occupation, which would raise questions about how Israel plans to have the territory governed, especially at a time when it is considering how to implement Trump’s vision to take over Gaza.

The Israeli offensive has so far killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Israel blames Hamas for the death toll, saying it operates from civilian infrastructure, including schools. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Strikes target crowds in Gaza City

Wednesday’s strikes included two attacks on a crowded market area in Gaza City, health officials said.

Footage posted online reportedly showed the aftermath with men found dead, including one still seated in a chair inside a Thai restaurant, used by locals as a gathering spot, and several children lying motionless on the ground, covered in blood.

Journalist Yahya Sobeih, who freelanced for several local outlets, was among those killed, according to Gaza’s media office. He had shared a photo on Instagram of his newborn baby girl.

Victims of the blasts, some with severe injuries, were taken to nearby Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza health ministry spokesperson Zaher al-Wahidi told The Associated Press.

An attack Tuesday night on a school sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians killed 27 people, officials from the Al-Aqsa Hospital said, including nine women and three children. The school has been struck repeatedly since the war began. Earlier, a strike on another school turned shelter in Gaza City killed 16 people, according to officials at Al-Ahli Hospital, while strikes in other areas killed at least 16 others.

In Bureij, an urban refugee camp, paramedics and rescuers rushed to pull people out of a blaze after a large column of smoke and fires pierced the dark skies above the school shelter.

Trump jars Israelis with remark on hostage figures

The war began when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.

Trump on Tuesday stunned many in Israel when he declared that only 21 of the 59 hostages remaining in Gaza are still alive. Israel insists the figure stands at 24, although an Israeli official said there was “serious concern” for the lives of three captives. The official said there has been no sign of life from those three, whom the official did not identify. He said that until there is evidence proving otherwise, the three are considered to be alive. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details related to the war, said the families of the captives were updated on those developments.

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The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the families of the captives, demanded from Israel’s government that if there is “new information being kept from us, give it to us immediately.” It also called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the war in Gaza until all hostages are returned. “This is the most urgent and important national mission,” it said on a post on X.

Since Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas in mid-March, it has unleashed fierce strikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds and captured swaths of territory. Before the truce ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into the territory, including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in 19 months of war.

Key interlocutors Qatar and Egypt said Wednesday that mediation efforts were “ongoing and consistent.” But Israel and Hamas remain far apart on how they see the war ending. Israel says it won’t end the war until Hamas’ governing and military capabilities are dismantled, something it has failed to do in 19 months of war.

Hamas says it is prepared to release all of the hostages for an end to the war and a long-term truce with Israel.

The US-Houthi deal does not appear to cover Israel

Against the backdrop of the plans to intensify the campaign in Gaza, fighting has also escalated between Israel and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The Houthis fired a ballistic missile earlier this week that landed on the grounds of Israel’s main international airport. Israel responded with a series of airstrikes over two days, whose targets included the airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

The Houthis have been striking Israel and targets in a main Red Sea shipping route since the war began in solidarity with the Palestinians. On Tuesday, Trump said the U.S. would halt a nearly two-monthlong campaign against the Houthis in Yemen, after the rebel group agreed not to target U.S. ships.

Israel does not appear to be covered by the U.S.-Houthi agreement.

The Israeli official said the deal came as a surprise to Israel and that it was concerned by it because of what it meant for the continuation of hostilities between it and the Houthis.

Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press reporter Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

All-American forward Abbey Murphy is returning to the University of Minnesota women’s hockey program for her final season of eligibility, head coach Brad Frost announced on Wednesday.

“We are ecstatic that Murph has chosen to come back,” Frost said in a statement. “She is a staple within our Gopher program and women’s hockey worldwide. Our team and college hockey will be better with her in it.”

Murphy, a senior last season, finished with a career-high 65 points during the 2024-25 season, second in the nation in goals (33) and fourth in point. She has the opportunity to return because of an Olympic redshirt during the 2021-22 season and an extra year of eligibility that was granted in 2020 due to the circumstances surrounding COVID-19.

“I’m beyond excited to announce I will be coming back for my final year of college hockey,” Murphy said in a statement. “I am pumped for another go around with this team. It’s been a great ride but we’re not done yet.”

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