“I mean, it’s been an incredible year with a really great group of people,” Flagg told the AP in March after winning national player of the year.
The 6-foot-9, 205-pound forward from Newport, Maine, averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals to lead the Blue Devils in each category. He’s a versatile threat who showed the ability to thrive as a scorer, playmaker and defender.
“His highlights, his statistics, the ways he impacted the game on both ends of the floor, really in every category, was off the charts — as good of a freshman season that a guy has had here,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said in a social media video from the program about Flagg’s NBA declaration.
“But to me the separator and the joy of coaching Cooper is the person he was every day, the teammate that he was — never about statistics or anything other than creating an environment and helping his team to win.”
Still, he was an elite and hypercompetitive force for one of college basketball’s top teams all season with a game far more advanced than his age, capable of making an impact from baseline to baseline and sideline to sideline. He won’t turn 19 until December, which would be roughly two months into his rookie season.
By VANESSA GERA and NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88. Here are the key things to know about the death of the Argentine pontiff, history’s first from Latin America, who presided over the Catholic Church for more than 12 years.
The timing of Pope Francis’ death
The death of Francis was announced by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Irish-born Vatican camerlengo, a position that will be important in the coming weeks as he takes charge of the administration of the Holy See until a new pope is elected.
“At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father,” Farrell said. “His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church.”
Farrell made the announcement just over two hours after Francis had died. Farrell spoke from Domus Santa Marta, the apartment on Vatican grounds where Francis lived and where he had returned to recover less than a month after being hospitalized for double pneumonia.
A final farewell on Easter Sunday
Francis made his final public appearance a day earlier on Easter Sunday. He appeared very frail, and had delegated the celebration of the Easter Mass to another cardinal. But though his voice was weak, he blessed a crowd of faithful from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
“Brothers and sisters, Happy Easter,” he said from the same loggia where Jorge Mario Bergoglio was introduced to the world on March 13, 2013 as the 266th pope.
The death of a pope initiates a centuries’ old ritual to elect a new pontiff (AP Video)
Francis also made a surprise ride in the square in his popemobile, drawing wild cheers and applause.
“I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill,” Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, said on Monday during a visit to India.
Reactions and global mourning
Even before the great bells of St. Peter’s Basilica began tolling to mark Francis’ death, messages of tribute began pouring in from across the world.
Catholic and non-Catholic leaders alike honored a spiritual leader who was a voice for the marginalized and the weak, for migrants and LGBTQ+ people, and for environmental protection.
He “cared about the great global challenges of our time — migration, climate change, inequalities, peace — as well as the everyday struggles of the one and all,” European Council President António Costa said.
The outgoing German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said that the world had lost “an advocate for the weak, a reconciling and a warm-hearted person.”
Other religious leaders also praised him for seeking dialogue. The head of the Church of England remembered him for his commitment to improving relations among the world’s religions, while Rome’s chief rabbi described Francis’ pontificate as an important new chapter in relations between Judaism and Catholicism.
The pope’s last months, and final day
Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital in Rome on Feb. 14, 2025, for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalization of his papacy.
For the faithful, those were weeks of fear that his illness could be fatal or lead to another papal resignation after that of Pope Benedict XVI, a surprise move that led to the election of Francis.
Francis’ death now sets off the process of allowing the faithful to pay their final respects, first for Vatican officials in the Santa Marta chapel and then in St. Peter’s for the general public.
A precise sequence of events will include the confirmation of death in the pontiff’s home, the transfer of the coffin to St. Peter’s Basilica for public viewing, a funeral Mass and burial.
The dates haven’t been announced yet, but the burial must take place between the fourth and sixth day after his death.
After the funeral, there are nine days of official mourning, known as the “novendiali.”
During this period, cardinals arrive in Rome to participate in a conclave to elect the next pope.
To give everyone time to assemble, the conclave must begin 15-20 days after the “sede vacante” — the “vacant See” — is declared, although it can start sooner if the cardinals agree.
The cardinals will vote in secret sessions, and after each voting sessions, the ballots will be burned in a special stove. Black smoke will indicate that no pope has been elected, while white smoke will indicate that the cardinals have chosen the next head of the Catholic Church.
His legacy
Even as Francis was being remembered as a humanitarian and defender of the weak, there were those who said he could have done better in other areas.
In recent years he faced criticism for what seemed to be an unclear position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Francis tried to maintain the Vatican’s traditional diplomatic neutrality, but that often was accompanied by apparent sympathy with Russia’s rationale for invading Ukraine — like when he said NATO was “barking at Russia’s door” with its eastward expansion. And last year he called on Ukraine to show the “courage” to negotiate peace, which seemed to suggest it should capitulate to Russian aggression.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a condolence message praised Francis as a “consistent defender of the high values of humanism and justice.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said his country was grieving and recalled how the pope often prayed for peace in Ukraine.
Francis also had critics who argued that he failed to bring justice to victims of clergy sex abuse or to bring the needed reforms to the church.
“In this realm, where Francis had supreme power, he refused to make the necessary changes. This choice is having devastating consequences for the Church’s most powerless members. It will forever tarnish the legacy of this remarkable man,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a United States-based watchdog.
The Women’s Ordination Conference also lamented Francis’ unwillingness to push for the ordination of women. “This made him a complicated, frustrating and sometimes heart-breaking figure for many women,” it said.
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Vanessa Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Colleen Barry contributed to this report from Milan.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court acted “literally in the middle of the night” and without sufficient explanation in blocking the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th-century wartime law, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a sharp dissent that castigated the seven-member majority.
Joined by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, Alito said there was “dubious factual support” for granting the request in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union. The group contended that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart such removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The majority did not provide a detailed explanation in the order early Saturday, as is typical, but the court previously said deportations could proceed only after those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given “a reasonable time” to contest their pending removals.
“Both the Executive and the Judiciary have an obligation to follow the law,” Alito said in the dissent released hours after the court’s intervention against Republican President Donald Trump’s administration.
The justices’ brief order directed the administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center “until further order of this court.”
Alito said that “unprecedented” relief was “hastily and prematurely granted.”
He wrote that it was not clear whether the Supreme Court had jurisdiction at this stage of the case, saying that not all legal avenues had been played out in lower courts and the justices had not had the chance to hear the government’s side.
“The only papers before this Court were those submitted by the applicants. The Court had not ordered or received a response by the Government regarding either the applicants’ factual allegations or any of the legal issues presented by the application. And the Court did not have the benefit of a Government response filed in any of the lower courts either,” Alito said.
Alito said the legal filings, “while alleging that the applicants were in imminent danger of removal, provided little concrete support for that allegation.” He noted that while the court did not hear directly from the government regarding any planned deportations under the Alien Enemies Act in this case, a government lawyer in a different matter had told a U.S. District Court in a hearing Friday evening that no such deportations were then planned to occur either Friday or Saturday.
“In sum, literally in the middle of the night, the Court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule, without hearing from the opposing party, within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order, and without providing any explanation for its order,” Alito wrote. “I refused to join the Court’s order because we had no good reason to think that, under the circumstances, issuing an order at midnight was necessary or appropriate. Both the Executive and the Judiciary have an obligation to follow the law.”
The administration has filed paperwork urging the high court to reconsider its hold.
On Friday, two federal judges refused to step in as lawyers for the men launched a desperate legal campaign to prevent their deportation. Early Saturday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to issue an order protecting the detainees from being deported.
The ACLU had already sued to block deportations of two Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet facility and sought an order barring removals of any immigrants in the region under the Alien Enemies Act.
In the emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan men held there of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which would make them subject to Trump’s use of the law.
It has only been invoked three previous times in U.S. history, most recently during World War II to hold Japanese-American civilians in internment camps. The administration contends it gives them the power to swiftly remove immigrants they identified as members of the gang, regardless of their immigration status.
Following the unanimous high court order on April 9, federal judges in Colorado, New York and southern Texas promptly issued orders barring removal of detainees under the law until the administration provides a process for them to make claims in court.
But there had been no such order issued in the area of Texas that covers Bluebonnet, which is 24 miles north of Abilene in the far northern end of the state.
Some Venezuelans subject to Trump’s use of the law have been sent to El Salvador and housed in its notorious main prison.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Logan Stankoven provided an immediate jolt in his first playoff game with the Carolina Hurricanes.
The 22-year-old forward scored twice in the second period Sunday to help the Hurricanes beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 in the opener of their first-round playoff series. It was part of a strong debut that included his work on the Hurricanes’ top defensive forward line with captain Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook.
“I love playing in the big games and meaningful hockey. I’m motivated to try to contribute in any way possible,” Stankoven said. “Yeah, it’s always a nice feeling to get on the scoresheet.”
“He’s got a little more skill than me and Marty, and obviously he can put the puck in the net,” Staal said. “He’s a good little player obviously: finds holes, he’s got good speed, and he can shoot the puck. So he’s just getting warmed up.”
The 5-foot-8, 165-pound Stankoven had five goals and four assists in 19 regular-season games with Carolina, with coach Rod Brind’Amour tinkering with the line groupings to find Stankoven’s best fit. That eventually led to Stankoven playing alongside the 6-4, 220-pound Staal and the 6-1, 208-pound Martinook more as the Hurricanes closed the regular season, even as they lost seven of eight after clinching their playoff spot on April 3 while resting key guys with the goal of being healthy for the postseason.
“It worked tonight,” Brind’Amour said. “But you’re right, it’s a safety net for players to play with two guys that do it the right way every shift — or at least certainly try to. there’s a lot of comfort there I think for any player that gets to play with guys like that.”
Stankoven’s first goal offered an example of the fit, coming when Martinook pushed up ice on the right side and tried to send a backhand feed across the ice back toward the crease. Devils center Nico Hischier knocked it down, but Martinook stayed on the forecheck and forced Hischier into a turnover behind the goal.
Martinook then slipped the puck to a trailing Stankoven, who sent the puck past Jacob Markstrom for a 2-0 lead. Stankoven slid to a stop as he bumped into Staal, the linemates facing each other as they raised both arms in victory before embracing with Martinook skating over to join them.
“I mean, I think they’ve got skill, too,” Stankoven said with a smile of his linemates. “It’s nice having a couple of big bodies on my line. They do such a good job of creating space for me, and I think we can thrive down low.”
Minutes later, Stankoven provided a needed punch to a power play. Fellow new addition Taylor Hall whipped a cross-ice pass to the right side to Stankoven, who had a clean lane from the faceoff dot with Markstrom. Stankoven whipped a rising shot past Markstrom’s right shoulder, the puck pinging off the inside of the left post and into the net for a 3-0 lead.
“I’m just trying to adapt to those players and be in the right spots to get pucks off,” Stankoven said. “Like you said, it takes a bit of time at first, but I think I’ve been adjusting pretty well. The guys have done a good job of communicating with me and helping me out.”
½ cup (100 g) brown sugar light or dark (I usually use light) tightly packed
10 pineapple slices patted dry (a 20oz can is typically enough)
maraschino cherries
Vanilla Cake
½ cup (115 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs room temperature preferred
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (195 g) all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (120 ml) whole milk room temperature preferred
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F (175C)
Pour melted butter into 9.5-10″ pie plate or deep cake pan, make sure it entirely covers the bottom of the pan and use a spoon or spatula to grease the sides of the pan.
Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter mixture. Arrange pineapple slices over the bottom of the pan, slice leftover slices in half and arrange up the sides of the pan, as seen in photo.
Place cherries in center of pineapple rings and as desired in empty spaces. Set aside.
To prepare vanilla cake, beat butter and sugar in medium-sized bowl until creamy and well-combined.
Add eggs, beating one at a time until combined.
Stir in vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Alternate adding flour and milk to the wet ingredients, starting and ending with flour and mixing until just combined after each addition (I prefer to do this part by hand with a spatula to be sure not to overmix).
Pour batter evenly over prepared cake pan over the pineapple/cherry layer.
Bake on 350F (175C) for 30 minutes. At the 30 minute mark, loosely cover with foil and continue to bake (still on 350F/175C) for another 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean with few crumbs (total cook time for cake will be 45 minutes).
Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes and then carefully invert cake onto serving platter (careful, it will still be very hot!).
2 sheets nori (dry seaweed), cut into 1/2-inch strips
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
Directions
Wash rice in a mesh strainer until water runs clear. Combine washed rice and 4 1/2 cups water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low; cover, and simmer rice until water is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Let rice rest for 15 minutes to continue to steam and become tender. Allow cooked rice to cool.
Combine remaining 1 cup water with salt in a small bowl; use to dampen hands before handling rice. Divide cooked rice into 8 equal portions. Use one portion of rice for each onigiri.
Divide one portion of rice in two. Create a dimple in rice and fill with a heaping teaspoon of bonito flakes. Cover with remaining portion of rice and press lightly to enclose filling inside rice ball. Gently press rice to shape into a triangle; wrap with a strip of nori and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat with remaining portions of rice.
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire nearly everyone at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was paused on Friday by a federal judge, who said she was “deeply concerned” about the plan.
The decision leaves in limbo a bureau created after the Great Recession to safeguard against fraud, abuse and deceptive practices. Trump administration officials argue that it has overstepped its authority and should have a more limited mission.
On Thursday, the administration officials moved to fire roughly 1,500 people, leaving around 200 employees, through a reduction in force that would dramatically downsize the bureau.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she was worried the layoffs would violate her earlier order stopping the Republican administration from shutting down the CFPB. She’s been considering a lawsuit filed by an employee union that wants to preserve the bureau.
Jackson scheduled a hearing on April 28 to hear testimony from officials who worked on the reduction in force, or RIF.
“I’m willing to resolve it quickly, but I’m not going to let this RIF go forward until I have,” she said.
It’s the latest example of how Trump’s plans have faced legal hurdles as he works to reshape the federal government, saying it’s rife with fraud, waste and abuse. Other layoffs and policies have been subjected to stop-and-go litigation and court orders.
The CFPB has long frustrated businesses with its oversight and investigations, and Trump adviser Elon Musk made it a top target of his Department of Government Efficiency.
Mark Paoletta, the CFPB’s chief legal officer, wrote in a court declaration that “the bureau’s activities have pushed well beyond the limits of the law,” including what he described as “intrusive and wasteful fishing expeditions.”
He said officials have spent weeks developing “a much more limited vision for enforcement and supervision activities” with a “smaller, more efficient operation.”
Some of the CFPB’s responsibilities are required by law but would have only one person assigned to them under the Trump administration’s plan.
The enforcement division is slated to be cut from 248 to 50 employees. The supervision division faces an even deeper reduction, from 487 to 50, plus a relocation from Washington to the Southeastern region.
Before Friday’s hearing, attorneys for the National Treasury Employees Union filed a sworn statement from a CFPB employee identified only by the pseudonym Alex Doe. The employee said Gavin Kliger, a member of DOGE, was managing the agency’s RIF team charged with sending layoff notices.
“He kept the team up for 36 hours straight to ensure that the notices would go out yesterday,” the employee said. “Gavin was screaming at people he did not believe were working fast enough to ensure they could go out on this compressed timeline, calling them incompetent.”
The bureau’s chief operating officer, Adam Martinez, told the judge that he believes Kliger is an Office of Personnel Management employee detailed to the CFPB and doesn’t work directly for DOGE.
Jackson said she will require Kliger to attend and possibly testify at the April 28 hearing. She said she wants to know why he was there “and what we was doing.”
“We’re not going to decide what happened until we know what happened,” Jackson said.
The pseudonymous employee said team members raised concerns that the bureau had to conduct a “particularized assessment” before it could implement an RIF. Paoletta told them to ignore those concerns and move forward with mass firings, adding that “leadership would assume the risk,” the employee stated.
White House officials did not immediately respond to questions about the judge’s decision or the employee’s court declaration.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) – The North Carolina Football Club (NCFC) announced the group’s annual golf tournament generated more than $45,000 to expand opportunities for youth soccer. NCFC spokesperson Katherine Eberhardt says the tournament offered people a chance to showcase their swing while also supporting the club’s mission to grow the game of soccer across North Carolina.
“The event has grown over the years, it was our 20th annual event, and we’ve now taken over all three courses at Preston Wood which is a fantastic venue to host golfers. We raised more than $45,000 and had more than 281 golfers on the course. And all those funds are going to go right back into our community,” said Eberhardt.
For many families, the cost of youth sports can be a barrier — but NCFC is working to change that. With an expanded financial aid program in place, the club is aiming to ensure that every kid, no matter their background, has a chance to take the field.
“It’s gonna help open up the game to more kids in our community through our financial aid program, which is in place to help kids across all levels of play, so from the recreation level up to some of the highest levels of play. {It’s to} fill that gap between what a family can afford to pay and the club fees to make it happen,” said Eberhardt.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez is transferring to North Carolina.
Lopez announced his decision on social media Thursday night to join Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels, who wrapped up spring practices last weekend. Lopez proved to be a dual-threat option in his first full season as the starter, throwing for 2,559 yards and 18 touchdowns against five interceptions while running for 465 yards and seven scores.
Lopez started 11 games last year and had appeared in five games while preserving his redshirt season as a freshman in 2023, giving him three more seasons of eligibility.
In an interview with The Madison (Alabama) Record, Lopez pointed to the NFL experience of Belichick and his staff as an enticing option as he mulled his final school choices.
“I didn’t enter the portal to not be a starter, I can assure you of that fact,” Lopez told the Record.
