By TRÂN NGUYỄN, Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California state lawmakers have passed legislation that would ban most law enforcement officers from covering their faces while carrying out operations, a response to recent immigration raids in Los Angeles.

But even if the governor signs the measure into law, it’s unclear whether the state could enforce it on the federal agents who have been carrying out those raids.

It is the first such bill to be approved by a state legislature, though Democrats in Congress and lawmakers in several states, including Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, have introduced similar proposals calling for mask bans for law enforcement officers.

California’s legislation, approved in the Democratic-controlled Legislature on Thursday, is among a number of bills state lawmakers were considering this year in response to the immigration raids.

The bill would prohibit neck gator, ski masks and other facial covering for local and federal officers, including immigration enforcement agents, while they conduct official business. It makes exceptions for undercover agents, medical masks such as N95 respirators or tactical gear.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has about a month to decide whether to sign it into law. The Democratic governor has criticized federal agents’ use of masks while making arrests but in July also questioned the state’s authority over federal agents. His office said Friday it does not typically comment on pending legislation.

Proponents of the bill said the proposal is necessary, especially after the Supreme Court earlier this week ruled that the federal administration can resume the sweeping immigration operations for now in Los Angeles.

Assemblymember Juan Carrillo, vice chair of the Latino caucus, said the decision is “effectively allowing federal agents stop suspects based solely on their race, language, or job.”

“How is anyone supposed to reasonably believe that they are law enforcement officers and not masked individuals trying to kidnap you?” he said prior to the vote. “Imagine the absolute fear of being pulled over at gunpoint by a group of masked individuals.”

Supporters also cited an opinion from constitutional law expert Erwin Chemerinsky at the University of California, Berkeley to defend the proposal. A state cannot directly regulate the federal government, he wrote in an opinion piece for the Sacramento Bee, but that does not mean federal employees do not have to follow state rules “unless doing so would significantly interfere with the performance of their duties. For example, while on the job, federal employees must stop at red lights.”

“ICE agents have never before worn masks when apprehending people, and that never has posed a problem. Nor have other officers of local, state and federal law enforcement faced dangers from the public because they don’t wear masks in the streets,” he wrote.

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Republican lawmakers and law enforcement agencies said the legislation would only make the job more dangerous for officers.

“Bad guys wear masks because they don’t want to get caught. Good guys wear masks because they don’t want to get killed,” said state Republican Sen. Kelly Seyarto on Thursday.

The increase in high-profile immigration enforcement was already contentious between those opposed to the actions of Trump’s administration and those in support of them. The sight of masked agents carrying it out is creating a whole new level of conflict, in a way that has no real comparison in the U.S. history of policing.

Trump administration officials have consistently defended the practice, saying that immigration agents have faced strident and increasing harassment in public and online as they have gone about their enforcement in service of Trump’s drive toward mass deportation, and hiding their identities is for their and their families’ safety.

Democrats and others, including several state attorneys general, have pushed back, saying the use of face masks generates public fear and should be halted.

By DORANY PINEDA, Associated Press

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, Calif. (AP) — When sculptor Bobby Zokaites moved to Phoenix in the summer of 2011, walking the half mile to classes at Arizona State University in triple-digit heat felt risky. He learned to find shade along his route — resting in a stoplight’s sliver of it, dodging the sizzling sun at each opportunity.

“It was pretty crazy,” he recalled.

Those experiences influenced one of Zokaites’ latest projects: He was one of nine artists commissioned this year to bring shade to the region.

Reflections on Sunnyslope, an art piece by Jessica Arias, that also functions as a shade structure, stands at Sunnyslope Park in Phoenix, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)

Across the U.S., cities are weaving art, science and community engagement to protect people from extreme heat and communicate its risks. As cities adapt to hotter temperatures, driven by human-caused climate change, and contend with urban heat, shade is playing a critical role. But communicating heat risks and safety can be challenging. That is where art comes in. It can engage, bring hope and even enhance how cool someone feels.

Shade “can be much more than functional,” said David Hondula, Phoenix’s director of heat response and mitigation. “It can enrich our public spaces.”

Art and shade in one of America’s hottest cities

At one park in Phoenix, a large awning is held up with panels of dazzling colors. On them are painted whimsical creatures called “alebrijes” from Mexican folk art, and the structure contains a solar-powered misting system. At another park, a canopy decorated with colorful drawings uses reflective paint and an ultraviolet-resistant canvas.

These are part of Phoenix’s temporary public art pieces created with help from locals. Each was unveiled during a community event featuring information about shade and heat safety, along with free cooling towels and sunscreen.

HOLD FOR ALYSSA “Reflections on Sunnyslope,” an art piece by Jessica Arias that also functions as a shade structure, stands at Sunnyslope Park in Phoenix, Ariz., Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)

“The more you know and the more you can recognize your own body’s response, the better you can take care of yourself,” said Carrie Brown, deputy director for the city’s office of art and culture.

These art installations are one element of the city’s plan to expand shade. Studies show that shade significantly reduces air and surface temperature and how intensely people feel heat. In a city that has averaged in the last decade more than 115 days annually with day temperatures past 100 F, cooling shade can be lifesaving.

Shade can feel even cooler when combined with beauty. One study in Phoenix, co-authored by Hondula, found that people rated aesthetically pleasing bus stops as being cooler than less beautiful ones. In another from Hong Kong, findings suggested that people had a higher heat tolerance when they perceived their environment as quiet and beautiful.

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, a place accustomed to dreary winters but not heat, a project titled “Shade is Social Justice” is helping the city convey heat dangers and safety with creative designs. One installation features hanging flowers that open when temperatures hit 85 F, signaling to people to cool down with water and shade, said Claudia Zarazua, the city’s art and cultural planning director.

Technology gathers human data without exposing people to heat

On a recent afternoon in Phoenix, Arizona State University doctoral student Muhammad Abdullah rolled an advanced mobile weather station called MaRTy 3D+ next to a shade art installation in Cielito Park. He measured temperature, humidity, wind and radiation, then estimated what could be happening to a person’s body in both the shade and in direct sun light.

Arizona State University doctoral student Muhammad Abdullah sets up MaRTY, an instrument used to take measurements in direct sun and shade, at the Reflections on Sunnyslope shade structure, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, at Sunnyslope Park in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)

He found that moving from sun to shade dropped the mean radiant temperature from about 145 F to 88 F. The change did not significantly affect core temperature, but skin temperature decreased immediately. When MaRTy3D+ returned to the sun, skin temperature rose again.

MaRTy 3D+’s ability to model and measure how different people thermoregulate is unique. It can tell researchers, for instance, the skin and core temperature as well as cardiac strain in someone who is elderly or on a specific medication, said Jennifer Vanos, an associate professor at ASU who studies heat’s impacts on the human body and how to mitigate them. This technology allows them to collect real-time data in sometimes risky situations without impacting humans. They are using their findings to make recommendations to the city.

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Highlighting shade inequity and solutions

Edith de Guzman, a cooperative extension researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, has spent years researching how to increase shade in communities most impacted by heat. With colleagues, she has also quantified that shade can reduce up to 25% of heat-related deaths in LA and up to 66% of heat-related emergency room visits. When the opportunity emerged to curate an art exhibit about shade and who lacks access to it, she and her husband took it.

“Roots of Cool: A Celebration of Trees and Shade in a Warming World” takes visitors into the past, present and future roles of shade in LA with textiles, paintings, mixed media, interactive maps, suspended multicolored umbrellas and more. Their goal is not just to highlight the issue, but also show the general public that solutions exist, de Guzman said.

A three-part installation by artist Leslie K. Gray invites visitors to consider the past, current and future experiences of public transportation users in the city. Each features a silhouetted woman waiting at a bus stop with either no shade, a little bit or ample amounts. The bus stop signs include facts about the dangers of heat, the benefits of shade and the disparate access to it.

The exhibit ends in a room with hundreds of postcards with handwritten messages from visitors to the past, present or future. On the other side are drawings showing how they would bring much-needed shade to a bus stop.

Behind one card dated Sept. 1, a visitor wrote this message: “Dear people from the past. Take care of others among you. Take care of mother earth or we will be at fault for its destruction and ours. Sincerely — Someone (who’s) watching the effects of our actions occur.”

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.

St. Thomas has something special brewing early this fall.

After opening with a convincing victory over Lindenwood, the Tommies more than held their own last weekend in a 37-30 loss at nationally-ranked Idaho.

With a visit to Division-II Northern Michigan set for Saturday before the start of Pioneer Football League play, the Tommies have the look of a team capable of winning the league and qualifying for the FCS Championship playoffs in their first season of eligibility.

“I’m really happy with the continual growth,” Tommies head coach Glenn Caruso said. “That’s why we schedule games against non-conference opponents like Northern Iowa and Lindenwood, so you can see if you’re growing.

“And it’s obvious that we’re growing at a pretty fast rate right now. But not at the expense of the culture. And we’re doing it with great energy. It’s a unique team. I’d say we’ve probably had two or three teams that were like it over the last couple of decades.

“It’s one that, they work hard, they have a ton of fun, they love being around each other. But the really unique thing is that we learn and grow at a faster rate when we bring good energy for each other.”

Caruso sees that play out on the sidelines, as guys theoretically competing against one another for opportunities within a position group are one another’s biggest allies, and on the field, like when St. Thomas was down its top three corners against Idaho, but had a 17-year-old freshman step in.

“Those are the types of things that make me say I’m not only happy, I’m really proud,” Caruso said.

The early results are significant in that they came against teams that offer athletic scholarships. In their four previous Division-I seasons, the Tommies didn’t fare nearly as well against such teams.

“I’m not going to say that’s there’s not still a gap,” Caruso said, “but I think what we’ve said all along is that it’s not just about talent, it’s the right people doing the right thing the right way.”

It all adds up to what is looking to be a pivotal point in the program’s growth.

“I said from the beginning that to do this full transition, there’s three phases,” Caruso said. “In my mind, we’re at the very end of the first phase. I think a lot of people think we’re in the beginning of the second phase because of the playoff ruling. But that’s an external thing, something I don’t control or anything I allow my mind space to be used for.”

Caruso believes his team will reach the second phase when it has played as well as it currently is over an extended period of time.

“So it’s not going to be answered in a single game or a single year,” he said. “The lens we look through is a much longer lens than most other programs. That’s because I feel like it’s not that difficult to have a good football team.”

But he said it’s “wildly difficult to have a good football program.”

“The latter insinuates that you can replicate that over years of time — not games,” he said.

The Tommies’ recent success could have a direct impact on how aggressive Caruso and athletic director Phil Esten will be in scheduling the type of non-conference opponents that continue to measure the program’s growth.

The Tommies have three non-conference opponents lined up for next season — North Dakota, Northern Michigan and Southern Utah. Caruso said it is to be determined whether they had a fourth non-conference opponent.

After next year, the only other non-conference game that has been announced is a 2029 visit from Harvard.

“This season will tell us a lot as far as the right type of schedule for us,” Caruso said. “We’re still trying to find our way through that.”

Georgetown, Villanova and Holy Cross are three teams the Tommies hope to get on the schedule in the near future. They also would like to continue to play Ivy League teams. More compelling opportunities are out there as well.

“I’ve said many times that I wouldn’t mind having an FBS school on the schedule, but that day is not today,” Caruso said. “It certainly would have to be the right one. That’s never been out of the realm of possibility, it’s just never been what we’re focusing on right now.

“I want to make those decisions because it’s the right thing for our program and for our university, based on where we are as a program.”

By JEAN-YVES KAMALE, Associated Press

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — A boat with nearly 500 passengers caught fire and capsized in northwestern Congo, killing 107 people and leaving 146 missing, authorities said Friday, in the region’s second deadly boat accident over the past week.

The latest accident took place Thursday along the Congo River in the Equateur Province’s Lukolela territory, the Congolese humanitarian affairs ministry said in a report.

It came a day after 86 people were killed and several others left missing Wednesday in a separate boat accident in the province’s Basankusu territory, bringing the total deaths to nearly 200.

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It was not immediately clear what caused either accident.

State media attributed Wednesday’s accident to “improper loading and night navigation,” citing reports from the scene. Images that appeared to be from the scene showed villagers gathered around bodies as they mourned.

A local civil society group blamed Wednesday’s accident on the government and claimed the toll was higher. Authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.

The capsizing of boats is becoming increasingly frequent in this central African nation as more people are abandoning the few available roads for cheaper, wooden vessels crumbling under the weight of passengers and their goods.

In such trips, life jackets are rare and the vessels are usually overloaded.

Many of the boats also travel at night, complicating rescue efforts during accidents and leaving many bodies often unaccounted for.