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A few passing clouds. Low 62F. Winds light and variable..

A few passing clouds. Low 62F. Winds light and variable.

CHICAGO — For many of the women and girls playing baseball this summer, the Rockford Peaches — a team that hasn’t played in more than 60 years — remain a source of inspiration. One of the original four teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), the Peaches won the most championships in league history.

Even though the team dissolved in 1954, the organization lives again through the efforts of baseball historian Kat Williams and the International Women’s Baseball Center along with the City of Rockford — and of course the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own.”

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Deshaun Watson’s disciplinary hearing concluded Thursday with the NFL adamant about an indefinite suspension of at least one year and the quarterback’s legal team arguing there’s no basis for that punishment, two people with knowledge of the case told The Associated Press. Both sides presented their arguments over three days before former U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson in Delaware, according to both people who spoke on condition of anonymity because the hearing isn’t public. Watson was accused of sexual misconduct by 24 women and settled 20 of the civil lawsuits.

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. were elected Thursday to start in the July 20 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium. The pair were chosen under new rules that give starting spots to the top vote-getter in each league in the first phase of online voting, which began June 8 and ended Thursday. Others advanced to the second phase, which runs from noon EDT on Tuesday and ends at 2 p.m. EDT on July 8. Votes from the first phase do not carry over. Starters will be announced July 8, and pitchers and reserves on July 10.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has approved a roughly $48 billion state budget while cutting $500 million for tax refunds. Parson signed the budget Thursday. But he also slashed funding that lawmakers had set aside for tax refunds for middle-income taxpayers. The budget still includes enough money to fully pay for the state’s share of public K-12 busing costs, as well as a program to increase teacher pay to at least $38,000 a year. The budget also pays for expanded access to the Medicaid health care program.

Texas districts must inspect every exterior door of each campus before the start of the next school year.

Public schools in Texas would describe slavery to second graders as “involuntary relocation” under new social studies standards proposed to the state’s education board. The Texas Tribune reports that a group of nine educators submitted the idea to the State Board of Education as part of Texas’ efforts to develop new social studies curriculum. The once-a-decade process updates what children learn in the state’s nearly 8,900 public schools. The board is considering curriculum changes after Texas passed a law to eliminate topics from schools that make students “feel discomfort.” Board member Aicha Davis, a Democrat who represents Dallas and Fort Worth, raised concerns during a June 15 meeting that the term wasn’t a fair representation of the slave trade.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has approved a roughly $48 billion state budget while cutting $500 million for tax refunds. Parson signed the budget Thursday. But he also slashed funding that lawmakers had set aside for tax refunds for middle-income taxpayers. The budget still includes enough money to fully pay for the state’s share of public K-12 busing costs, as well as a program to increase teacher pay to at least $38,000 a year. The budget also pays for expanded access to the Medicaid health care program.

Texas districts must inspect every exterior door of each campus before the start of the next school year.

Public schools in Texas would describe slavery to second graders as “involuntary relocation” under new social studies standards proposed to the state’s education board. The Texas Tribune reports that a group of nine educators submitted the idea to the State Board of Education as part of Texas’ efforts to develop new social studies curriculum. The once-a-decade process updates what children learn in the state’s nearly 8,900 public schools. The board is considering curriculum changes after Texas passed a law to eliminate topics from schools that make students “feel discomfort.” Board member Aicha Davis, a Democrat who represents Dallas and Fort Worth, raised concerns during a June 15 meeting that the term wasn’t a fair representation of the slave trade.

A cruise ship that struck an iceberg in Alaska has docked in Seattle for repairs. The Norwegian Sun hit part of an iceberg on Saturday near Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. The ship was turned around to Juneau, where it under went inspection. It was cleared to travel at lower speeds to Seattle by authorities. It arrived early morning Thursday.

The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed enforcement of a 2021 Arizona law that lets prosecutors bring felony charges against doctors who knowingly terminate pregnancies solely because the fetuses have a genetic abnormality such as Down syndrome. Thursday's decision comes in the wake of the high court’s June 24 decision that said women have no constitutional right to obtain an abortion. It has no immediate effect because Arizona providers stopped all abortions following last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling. It was unclear if a pre-statehood law banning all abortions was enforceable, but Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich said Wednesday it can be. Democratic attorney general candidate Kris Mays says Brnovich “just took us back to 1901.”

Regan Deering wins Republican nomination for U.S. House in Illinois' 13th Congressional District.

Eric Carlson wins Republican nomination for U.S. House in Illinois' 1st Congressional District.

A northern Michigan man has been arrested and charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Prosecutors say Luke Michael Lints, 27, of Traverse City was charged Thursday in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with civil disorder, a felony, and related misdemeanor offenses. Court documents say Lints was among rioters who repeatedly engaged in violence against law enforcement officers guarding the Capitol, They say he confronted officers in the Lower West Terrace and tunnel areas of the Capitol and entered the tunnel there, making his way towards the front of the police line.

Coronavirus testing sites in New York City will begin issuing the antiviral COVID-19 drug paxlovid to people who test positive for the virus as part of the city’s new “Test to Treat” initiative — the first of its kind in the United States.

A California agency has cleared the way for the Oakland Athletics to move forward with a $12 billion waterfront ballpark project. The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission voted Thursday to reclassify a terminal at the Port of Oakland as a mixed-use area where a new ballpark could be built. The vote is the first in a series of hurdles before the team could get permission to break ground for the project. The Athletics have also been working on plans to relocate to Nevada and find a spot for a new stadium in Las Vegas.

The Brooklyn Nets have acquired forward Royce O’Neale from the Utah Jazz in exchange for a conditional 2023 first-round draft pick. The Nets announced the deal Thursday, noting the Jazz will receive the least favorable of the Brooklyn/Houston first-round pick swap and Philadelphia’s first-round pick that was previously acquired by Brooklyn. O’Neale has appeared in 370 NBA games in five seasons in Utah, averaging 6.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists. He has shot 44.8% from the field in his career. The 29-year-old appeared in and started 77 games this past season, averaging a career-high 7.4 points and 31.2 minutes.

A measure that would change the California constitution to prohibit involuntary servitude in criminal punishment did not pass the Senate in time to make a deadline for the November ballot, disappointing prison reform advocates who called it critical in addressing the state’s history of enslavement.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A federal judge on Thursday ordered two men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to stand for a retrial, nearly three months after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict on their guilt.

The Detroit Red Wings have hired two-time Stanley Cup-winning assistant Derek Lalonde as coach after a lengthy search process. Lalonde was on Jon Cooper's Tampa Bay Lightning staff the past four years in which they won the Cup twice and most recently reached the final. Lalonde is now in charge of a team in Detroit on the upswing of a long-term rebuild. Lalonde is the first active Cooper assistant to take a head coaching job in the NHL. He replaces Jeff Blashill who coached the Red Wings for seven seasons.

The federal control board that oversees the finances of Puerto Rico’s government has approved a $12.4 billion budget for the U.S. territory after legislators failed to approve one amid bickering. The board’s version of the budget approved Thursday had been rejected last month by Gov. Pedro Pierluisi because it reduced government spending by $100 million. He said then that legislators would submit their own version, but the presidents of the island’s Senate and House of Representatives clashed and failed to approve anything before the July 1 deadline. The board says the general fund budget includes $5.5 billion for public health, $4.6 billion for education and $1.3 billion “to protect future government pensions from economic uncertainty.”

NEW YORK — The show must go on — and so will the masks for “The Minutes.”

Essence’s chief executive officer said she’s been asked many times whether the Essence Festival of Culture is staying in New Orleans. On Thursday, Caroline Wanga made her answer very clear. She told a news conference held to welcome the festival back to the city after a two-year hiatus brought on by the pandemic that the festival is never leaving New Orleans. The city's current contract with the festival runs through 2024. Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration said discussions are underway to extend that date. Since 1995, every festival has been held in New Orleans except in 2006, when Essence moved to Houston after Hurricane Katrina.

A Maine superfund mining site is receiving $21 million in Environmental Protection Agency funding to expedite contamination cleanup efforts. The EPA said in a statement Tuesday the Callahan Mine superfund site in Brooksville originally received $9 million from the bipartisan federal infrastructure bill passed in November last year but an additional $12 million has now been approved to address the contamination at the site. The funding is a part of a larger plan the agency has to help clean up superfund sites in communities across the country.

The sales tax on groceries in Illinois will be suspended for a year starting Friday. The state’s tax relief program was part of the state budget signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in April. It will also postpone a gas tax increase until January, and cut school supply taxes from 6.25% to 1.25% from Aug. 5 to 14. The measures were part of a $1.8 billion state tax-break deal. GOP leaders derided the measures as a campaign tool for Pritzker and other Democrats in an election year.

The parade through the streets of Denver to celebrate the Colorado Avalanche’s Stanley Cup title offered a little bit of everything. That included dogs wearing Avalanche sweaters, Nathan MacKinnon jumping off the fire truck to shake hands with the swarm of fans and defenseman Bowen Byram being momentarily confused for a fan by security. It also included the crowd chanting “We Got The Cup,” and a shirtless Gabriel Landeskog hoisting the Cup they secured by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was the Avalanche's first title in 21 years and third in the franchise's history.

Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards have agreed on a five-year contract that could pay him as much as $251 million -- one of the largest contracts in NBA history. Beal’s announcement was made by his agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports. The decision came almost immediately after this season’s NBA free agent negotiating window opened Thursday, and is a max-value deal.

California is banning state-funded travel to four states that passed laws this year prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in school sports according to their gender identities.

Energy companies have paid more than $22 million to secure drilling rights on about 110 square miles of federal lands in the western U.S.. Thursday's sale of onshore oil and gas leases in eight Western states was the first since President Joe Biden took office. Leases on about 90 square miles went unsold in the online auctions. Republicans have pressed Biden to expand U.S. crude production. But companies have been hesitant to expand too quickly because of uncertainty over how long high prices will continue.

CLEVELAND — The Twins endured another cringeworthy loss to the Guardians on Thursday, losing 5-3 at Progressive Field on Andres Gimenez' walk-off, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has denounced a Kentucky law designed to impose a near-total ban on abortions as “extremist.” Beshear pointed to the measure's lack of exceptions for rape and incest victims. In doing so, he pushed back on an issue Republicans have made a policymaking priority. Beshear's comments came after a state judge on Thursday temporarily suspended enforcement of the state’s so-called trigger law. The 2019 measure took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week to end federal constitutional protections for abortions. A ruling Thursday by Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry allowed abortions to resume in Kentucky.

Energy companies have paid more than $22 million to secure drilling rights on about 110 square miles of federal lands in the western U.S.. Thursday's sale of onshore oil and gas leases in eight Western states was the first since President Joe Biden took office. Leases on about 90 square miles went unsold in the online auctions. Republicans have pressed Biden to expand U.S. crude production. But companies have been hesitant to expand too quickly because of uncertainty over how long high prices will continue.

CLEVELAND — The Twins endured another cringeworthy loss to the Guardians on Thursday, losing 5-3 at Progressive Field on Andres Gimenez' walk-off, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has denounced a Kentucky law designed to impose a near-total ban on abortions as “extremist.” Beshear pointed to the measure's lack of exceptions for rape and incest victims. In doing so, he pushed back on an issue Republicans have made a policymaking priority. Beshear's comments came after a state judge on Thursday temporarily suspended enforcement of the state’s so-called trigger law. The 2019 measure took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week to end federal constitutional protections for abortions. A ruling Thursday by Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry allowed abortions to resume in Kentucky.

Police in northern Virginia say an officer has shot a suspect outside a shopping mall. Fairfax County Police said on Twitter late Thursday afternoon that their preliminary investigation indicates officers were trying to stop a wanted suspect outside Springfield Town Center when the confrontation occurred. The suspect was taken to a hospital. No further details were immediately available. The shooting occurred Thursday afternoon and helicopter footage showed a large police presence in a mall parking lot. Thursday’s shooting comes less than two weeks after a shooting at another Fairfax County mall, Tysons Corner Center. No one was injured by bullets in that shooting, but three people were hurt fleeing the mall.

The U.S. Justice Department has distributed about $92 million in additional compensation from money forfeited by convicted officials and associated companies resulting from the government’s prosecution of corruption in soccer. The money is for compensation for losses sustained by FIFA, the Confederation of North and Central American amd Caribbean Football, the South American governing body CONMEBOL and various national soccer federations. The Justice Department last August recognized losses of more than $201 million in the cases, which began with indictments in 2015, and it announced $32.2 million payment to a “World Football Remission Fund” overseen by the FIFA Foundation charity.

The U.N. Security Council has adopted a resolution extending an arms embargo on armed groups in Congo, which is facing an upsurge in violence in the mineral-rich east. Russia, China and the council's three African members abstained in Thursday's vote. Congo’s government has repeatedly called for a requirement to give advance notice of any shipments of arms and other supplies and military assistance it receives to the council committee monitoring sanctions. The requirement was eased in the French-drafted resolution that was adopted by a vote of 10-0. The five countries that abstained backed Congo and wanted the requirement lifted.

French champion Paris Saint-Germain has made its first signing of the offseason by bringing in midfielder Vitinha from Portuguese side Porto. PSG said the 22-year-old Portugal international has signed a five-year contract until 2027. No financial details were given in the club’s statement but Vitinha reportedly cost PSG 40 million euros ($42 million). He is seen as an eventual replacement for PSG’s 29-year-old Italy midfielder Marco Verratti. Vitinha has played three times for Portugal.

Withdraws from its CFPB approval order to facilitate change

NEW YORK — It was over before it started.

New York Democrats are considering enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution following the overturn of Roe v. Wade. It possibly could be part of a broader amendment that would also prohibit discrimination based on gender expression. Lawmakers held a special legislative session Thursday that Gov. Kathy Hochul called primarily to pass an emergency overhaul of the state’s gun permitting rules after they were struck down by a Supreme Court Court ruling. But the Democrats were talking privately about whether to also use the emergency session to launch the process of amending the state constitution to protect the right to abortions.

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