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NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says the city will resumeclearing makeshift homeless encampments, promising to take a more humane approach to a practice he previously criticized.

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Mamdani paused the previous mayor's policy for clearing encampments days after hetook officein January, arguing that it did not do enough to get people into housing.

But the Democrat on Wednesday said his new approach — led by the city's homeless services department, rather than police, and involving days of sustained outreach — will be more successful.

"We will meet them looking to connect them with shelter, looking to them with services, looking to connect them with a city that wants them to be sheltered and indoors and warm and safe. And that is something that I believe will yield far better results," he said at an unrelated news conference.

The decision came as at least 19 people havedied outsideover several days of brutal cold in the city, prompting concerns about the city's response. There is no evidence that anyone who died had been living in encampments, according to the mayor's office, which has conducted an aggressive campaign to coax homeless people into new shelters, heated buses and warming centers.

Still, the spate of outdoor deaths has posed an early test for the Mamdani administration, raising questions about whether the city could have done more and refocusing criticisms about the new mayor's relative lack ofmanagerial experience.

Mamdani's predecessor, Eric Adams, touted sweeps of makeshift encampments as a centerpiece of his efforts to restore order to the city. Led by police and sanitation crews, the efforts drew fierce protests from homeless advocacy groups and yielded mixed results; while most encampment sites were not re-established, only a fraction of those targeted in the sweeps accepted temporary shelter.

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Under the new approach, the mayor's office said the city would first post a notice that the encampment will be cleared and then send homeless department outreach workers there every day for a week to guide people into social services.

City sanitation workers would then dismantle the encampment on the seventh day, with the hope that people would have cleared out of the area. Police officers would be present as observers, a spokesperson said.

David Giffen, the executive director of Coalition for the Homeless, said his organization was "blindsided" by the announcement, which he decried as a "political response" that would do little to help homeless New Yorkers.

Rather, he said, the efforts would fray trust between the city's outreach workers and unsheltered residents, potentially resulting in more deaths during the next extreme weather event.

"When a city worker shows up and throws out all your belongings, you're not going to trust that person the next time they show up offering you a place to sleep inside," Giffen said.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, a Democrat, called Mamdani's move "an important step forward."

"Allowing New Yorkers to stay on the street during extreme weather is inhumane," Menin said in a statement, adding that after oversight hearings at the Council, "it was clear that the City needed to take a closer look at how this policy was being implemented. Protecting lives must remain our top priority."

CHICAGO (AP) — From jokes about his well-known stubbornness to tears grieving the loss of a parent, the adult children of the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. gave an emotional tribute Wednesday honoring the legacy of the late civil rights icon, a day after his death.

Jesse Jackson

Jackson died Tuesdayat his home in Chicago after battling arare neurological disorderthat affected his ability to move and speak. Standing on the steps outside his longtime Chicago home, five of his children, including U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, remembered him not only for his decades-long work in civil rights but also for his role as spiritual leader and father.

"Our father is a man who dedicated his life to public service to gain, protect and defend civil rights and human rights to make our nation better, to make the world more just, our people better neighbors with each other," said his youngest son, Yusef Jackson, fighting back tears at times.

The family said details on funeral arrangements for Jackson would be announced at a later time, but services will begin next week, with him lying in repose at the headquarters of the organization he founded, Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago, which his son Yusef oversees. Services will follow at a church large enough to accommodate expected crowds.

Jackson rose to prominence six decades ago as a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., joining thevoting rights marchKing led from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. King later dispatched Jackson to Chicago to launch Operation Breadbasket, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference effort to pressure companies to hire Black workers.

Jackson was with King on April 4, 1968, when the civil rights leader was slain.

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Remembrances have poured in worldwide for Jackson, including flowers left outside the home where large portraits of a smiling Jackson had been placed. But his children said he was a family man first.

"Our father took fatherhood very seriously," his eldest child, Santita Jackson, said. "It was his charge to keep."

His children's reflections were poetic in the style of the late civil rights icon — filled with prayer, tears and a few chuckles, including about disagreements that occur when growing up in a large, lively family.

His eldest son, Jesse Jackson Jr.,a former congressman, said his father's funeral services would welcome all, "Democrat, Republican, liberal and conservative, right wing, left wing — because his life is broad enough to cover the full spectrum of what it means to be an American."

The family asked only that those attending be respectful.

"If his life becomes a turning point in our national political discourse, amen," he said. "His last breath is not his last breath."

School districts across the country are reconsidering their picture day partnerships after social media posts pointed to a link between a major school photo company and a billionaire investor found in the Justice Department's files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

At least 10 districts across four states have canceled or paused their contracts with Lifetouch, the nation's largest school photographer. Other districts have announced they still plan to work with the company, while conducting ongoing reviews to ensure it is in the best interest of their students.

The controversy centers around Leon Black, who was an associate of Epstein's and the former CEO of Apollo Global Management, an investment fund that bought Lifetouch's parent company, Shutterfly, in September 2019.

In recent weeks, viral posts on Facebook and elsewhere have called Lifetouch's proximity to Epstein's orbit a "parental red flag,"and have warned families against allowing their children's photos and data to bekept by a company that could have been linkedto Epstein. There has been no evidence that has emerged that any children's photos were accessed inappropriately as news organizations review the thousands of Epstein documents released by the Department of Justice, and Lifetouch says on its website that when a student's photo is taken, "that image is safeguarded for families and schools, only, with no exceptions."

Lifetouch has called the alleged ties to Epstein "completely false." The company said it is committed to students' privacy and added that the timeline of events does not support a direct connection: Apollo's acquisition of Shutterfly came two months after Epstein was jailed on federal sex trafficking charges and a month after his suicide while awaiting trial.

"No Lifetouch executives have ever had any relationship or contact with Epstein and we have never shared student images with any third party, including Apollo," the company said in an email. "Apollo and its funds also have no role in Lifetouch's daily operations and have no access to student images."

Epstein and Black intersected as far back as 2001, when Epstein served as the director of Black's family foundation, a family statement in the Epstein files shows. Emails and texts in the trove of documents released by the Justice Department show the two had meetings over the years and indicate that Black received financial advice from Epstein. Black's full nameappears in the Epstein filesmore than 8,200 times, though some records may be duplicative.

Through his attorneys, Black declined to comment on Lifetouch.Citing health problemsthat he said were exacerbated by the public scrutiny over his dealings with Epstein, Black left Apollo Global Management in 2021, two years after the fund acquired Lifetouch's parent company.

Black's lawyer, Susan Estrich, has previously denied wrongdoing on his behalf.

Nonetheless, some families with schoolchildren feel uncomfortable.

East Texas mother Brittney McLain, who has three daughters, said she asked her children's school to cut ties with Lifetouch after she read about Shutterfly and Apollo's connection. When her kids' district, Malakoff Independent School District, announced last week that it was canceling Lifetouch's spring portraits, McLain was relieved — despite previously trusting the Lifetouch brand.

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"It just feels tainted," she said in a phone interview. "You have images, plus kids, plus data, that exist anywhere near corruption, and most parents — especially mothers — want distance."

Social media posts linking Lifetouch to Epstein and to broader conspiracy theories began to take off earlier this month. In one post onFeb. 3, an X account sympathetic to theunfounded QAnonandPizzagate conspiracy theoriesposted an 18-minute video that claimed Lifetouch, along with several other major brands, including Chuck E. Cheese, were part of a global child trafficking ring connected to Epstein. (In an email, Chuck E. Cheese said "There is no story here" and said its CEO was in the Epstein files only on a forwardedlist of conference speakersfrom 2018.)

NBC News identifiedseveral Feb. 5 postson Facebookand Xfrom accounts with as many as 324,000 followers that alleged photos of children taken by Lifetouch were at risk. Many Facebook posts used identical language, urging parents to "Ask questions" and "Protect your kids."One X postalone received 1.4 million views.

As online discussion increased, awidely-read Reddit postlast week from a self-identified teacher said the Epstein link caused their school to cancel picture day. The Reddit user did not identify the district but, by then, local news outlets in multiple states had reported that schools in their communities were scrambling to address parental concerns about Lifetouch.

NBC News reached out to 10 school districts in states including Texas, Arizona, Michigan and New Jersey that have announced they are canceling or suspending their contracts with Lifetouch. None responded other than Malakoff, which said in an email that "after feedback from our parents, we have decided to keep all photos in-house for the time being."

Lifetouch photographs more than 25 million students each year at over 50,000 schools,according to its website. The 90-year-old company has gone viral for more light-hearted matters in the past — such as whether the laser-themed photo backgrounds it offered in the 1980s were too corny.

Some school districts are still open to using Lifetouch despite the recent controversy. In California, Alisal Union School District administrators said they are figuring out how to proceed.

"The Alisal Union School District takes very seriously its responsibility to protect the safety and security of its students and families," the district said, adding: "A decision like that must be made through consultation with a variety of stakeholders, including parents, staff, and its Board members."

And at the 32,000-student Weber School District in Utah, public information officer Lane Findlay said it has been "evaluating the situation" since receiving a few concerns from parents. After speaking with a contact for Lifetouch in Utah, the district felt confident that students' information was safe.

"Whatever that connection is, it is so far removed from where we're at locally. It's just such a jump," Findlay said. "We're comfortable, confident that there's been no compromise of any type of student data, student photos, and we are going to continue our relationship with Lifetouch."

But McLain, the Texas mother of three, does not feel she can trust the photography company.

"I understand that there may or may not be a direct or current connection, but I think for many parents, that doesn't erase the discomfort," she said, "Even the perception of association matters when children are involved."

The San Francisco 49ers had injury issues that were out of their control this past season. They overcame those challenges to make the playoffs, but missing several key players undoubtedly capped their potential to make a deeper run.

The NFL's league year doesn't even start until March, but we already know the 49ers have another massive roadblock awaiting them.

The 49ers announced they will play in Mexico City during the 2026 NFL regular season. That's not too unusual, but it is unprecedented that they'll play two international games next season in different continents. Add on the 49ers' announced game in Australia against the Los Angeles Rams, and suddenly travel becomes a big issue.

The 49ers will travel more miles than anyone in the NFL next season and more than any team ever has. That's a hefty challenge no other team is going to be dealing with next season.

A new record for the 49ers

The 49ers will travel more than 38,000 miles. There's the trip to Melbourne, Australia, the one to Mexico City, and also trips to face the Giants and Falcons in the Eastern time zone.

If that sounds like a lot of travel for one season, it is. That mileage will break an NFL record, set by the Chargers when they traveled more than 37,000 miles last season,according to Bill Speros of Bookies.com. That's despite having only eight road games in the 17-game schedule (that Mexico City game is a designated 49ers home game).

International travel can be tough on teams, and it can take a few weeks to feel back to normal. That's why most teams take a bye week after playing an international game. And the 49ers will get two international games. They will be the first team to play two international games in non-consecutive weeks. The Jaguars have played two games in London before. Last season the Vikings played two international games in a row, but both of those were in Europe with one in England and the other in Ireland. What the 49ers are being asked to do hasn't been done before.

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The good news for the 49ers is there is a long break between the two international trips.John Ourand of Puck reportedthe game against the Rams in Australia will be in Week 1, with a specific day to be determined. The Mexico City game, with an opponent that will be determined later, willbe in December.

But, that also means the 49ers have two international trips practically bookending their season.

49ers have a big challenge

The 49ers' leadership is happy to be making that second international trip.

"We are thrilled to return to Mexico and to play in front of one of the most passionate fan bases in the league," 49ers CEO Al Guido saidin a statement. "After two unforgettable experiences in 2005 and 2022 we are excited to reunite with the Mexico faithful."

The players might not be so excited to have 38,000 miles to fly during the season.

This will happen more often with theNFL's stated desireto get to 16 international games. There will be nine during the 2026 season. All that travel will make it tougher on the players, who already have a hard time getting through the expanded 17-game season healthy.

The 49ers know all about that. They had numerous star players miss games last season, though coach Kyle Shanahan did a marvelous job to get them to a 12-5 record. They go right from that strife to having to deal with the toughest travel schedule the NFL has ever seen, at least in terms of flight miles. They have to do that while trying to navigate one of the NFL's toughest divisions, with the Super Bowl champion Seahawks and NFC runner-up Rams.

The 49ers will get to see the world during the upcoming season. There will be a hidden cost attached.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Bears have promoted pass game coordinator Press Taylor to offensive coordinator to replace the departed Declan Doyle, one of four coaching moves announced by the team on Wednesday.

Bears Offensive Coordinator Football

Taylor was Jacksonville's offensive coordinator from 2022 to 2024. His promotion comes after Doyle left to call plays in Baltimore undernew Ravens coach Jesse Minter.

Coach Ben Johnson will continue to call plays after the Bears made the playoffs in his first season. Chicago's offense ranked sixth overall, with quarterbackCaleb Williams making big stridesin his second year. The No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, he threw for a franchise-record 3,942 yards with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

The Bears were third in rushing, with D'Andre Swift and rookie Kyle Monangai leading the way. Chicago also committed a league-low 11 turnovers.

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The Bears also hired Eric Studesville as running backs coach, Will Lawing as offensive analyst and Isaiah Ford as offensive quality control coach. A 29-year NFL coaching veteran, Studesville was a Bears assistant in the late 1990s and spent the past eight seasons in Miami, working alongside Johnson for part of that time. Studesville takes over forEric Bieniemy, who left to become Kansas City's offensive coordinator.

Chicago went 11-6 and won its first NFC North title since 2018 after finishing last the previous season. The Bears advanced in the playoffs for the first time in 15 years, rallying to beat Green Bay in a wild-card thriller before losing to the Los Angeles Rams in overtime in the divisional round.

AP NFL:https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Javier Báezhad little choice but offer a full mea culpa, even if the situation proved a little absurd.

"This is all my fault," hetold reportersin Lakeland, Florida regarding apositive test for marijuanathat will prevent him from representing Puerto Rico in next month's World Baseball Classic.

"I'm the one that failed the test. It really hurts my family, my reputation, but it's part of it. Other than that, I got a long season to go, and I got to prepare for that."

Báez, aDetroit Tigers2025 All-Star, would not have been caught up in a positive test simply under MLB's auspices. The league has not tested members of the 40-man roster for marijuana and after the 2019 season stopped suspending minor league players for positive tests for pot.

Yet the World Baseball Softball Federation, which administers the WBC, still considers it a banned substance, even in this era when other governing bodies prefer players use marijuana rather than opioids to manage pain and other maladies.

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His suspension landed at a particularly inopportune time for Puerto Rico's squad, which learned the same week that fellow All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor will not play due to insurance concerns; Lindor eventually suffered a hamate bone injury, anyway.

Báez, 33, is expected to play a key multi-positional role again for the Tigers. He just hoped to rep his home territory in the WBC before then.

"I understand the rules," says Báez, per the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. "It's not like I was taking steroids or anything to last longer or whatever. They made that decision.

"I'm fine with it – I mean, I'm not fine with it. I just keep my mouth shut."

MLB spring training 2026: Sunshine, good vibes in Arizona and Florida

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Tigers' Javy Baez takes blame for failed drug test that cost him WBC

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump'sBoard of Peaceisset to meetfor the first time on Thursday in Washington, an early test of whether one of his marquee foreign policy initiatives can gain broad support and advance the shaky ceasefire agreementin the Gaza Strip.

Board of Peace Explainer

Trump'sballooning ambitionsfor the board extend from governing and rebuilding Gaza as a futuristic metropolis to challenging the United Nations Security Council's role in solving conflicts. But they could be tempered by the realities of dealing with Gaza, where there has so far been limited progress in achievingthe narrower aimsof the ceasefire.

Palestinians, including many civilians, are still being killed innear-daily strikesthat Israel says are aimed at militants who threaten or attack its forces. Hamas hasn't disarmed, no international forces have deployed, and a Palestinian committee meant to take over from Hamas is stuck in neighboring Egypt.

"If this meeting does not result in fast, tangible improvements on the ground — and particularly on the humanitarian front — its credibility will quickly crumble," said Max Rodenbeck, Israel-Palestine Project Director at the International Crisis Group, a global think tank.

A new international body

More than two dozen nations have signed on as the board'sfounding members.

The list includes Israel and other regional heavyweights involved in ceasefire negotiations, as well as countries from outside the Middle East whose leaders support Trump or hope to gain his favor. U.S. allies like France, Norway and Swedenhave so far declined.

Israelis are suspicious of the involvement of Qatar and Turkey, which have longstanding relations with Hamas. Palestinians object because their representatives weren't invited to the board, even as it weighs the future of a territory that is home to some 2 million of them.

Trump, the self-appointed chairman of the board, said earlier this week that member countrieshad pledged $5 billiontoward rebuilding Gaza and would commit thousands of personnel to peacekeeping and policing. No financial pledges — or an agenda for this week's meeting — have been made public.

"We want to make it successful. I think it has the chance to be the most consequential board ever assembled of any kind," Trump told reporters on Monday. He reiterated his criticism of the U.N.'s record on resolving international disputes.

Ambitious plans

Trump — along with son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff — has laid out ambitious plans for rebuilding Gaza with international investment.

In Davos last month,Kushner suggestedreconstruction could be complete in a matter of three years, even though U.N. forecasts suggest that clearing rubble and demining alone could take much longer.

Kushner's slides showed a reconstructed Gaza with a coastal tourism strip, industrial zones and data centers. He conceded that rebuilding would begin only in demilitarized areas and that security would be essential to attract investment.

The latest joint estimate by the U.N., European Union and World Bank says reconstruction will cost about $70 billion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there will be no reconstruction until Hamas disarms, leaving Palestinians in limbo among the widespread devastation.

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Halting progress

The ceasefire deal has halted major military operations,freed the last hostagesheld by Hamas and ramped up aid deliveries to Gaza. But a lasting resolution to the two-year war ignited byHamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attackinto Israel remains elusive.

The deal envisions Hamas handing over its weapons and Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza as international forces deploy. Itleft some questions unanswered and set no timelineto secure buy-in and defer confrontation over those issues.

Israel and the U.S. say Hamas' disarmament is key to progress on the other fronts. Arab and Muslim members of the Board of Peace have accused Israel of undermining the ceasefire with its daily strikes and want the U.S. to rein in its close ally. They have called on Hamas to disarm but say Israel's withdrawal is just as important.

Israel defines demilitarization as extending from heavy weapons like rocket-propelled grenades all the way down to rifles. Netanyahu said Sunday that Hamas would have to give up roughly 60,000 automatic rifles.

Despite accepting the agreement, Hamas has made only vague or conditional commitments to disarm as part of a process leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Senior Hamas officials have saidtheir security forcesneed to retain some weapons in order to maintain law and order during the transition.

Some of the ideas under discussion include Hamas "freezing" its arms by placing them in sealed depots under outside supervision or giving up heavy weapons while keeping some handguns for policing, according to two regional officials involved in the negotiations. One official said disarmament is a complicated process that could take months. The officials requested anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

It's far from certain that Israel or the United States would agree to such ideas.

A stabilization force

The ceasefire deal also calls for a temporary International Stabilization Force made up of soldiers from Arab and Muslim-majority countries to vet, train and support to a new Palestinian police force. Its mandate is not spelled out in detail, but would include securing aid deliveries and preventing weapons smuggling.

Countries being asked to contribute to the force insist that any deployment be framed as a peacekeeping mission. They have refused to take part in the disarmament of Hamas, a job that could put them in harm's way. Another concern is the presence ofarmed groups allied with Israel.

Indonesia has begun training a contingent ofup to 8,000 soldiersfor the force, though its foreign minister said last week that they would not take part in disarmament.

Postwar governance

Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamasis to hand over powerto a transitional committee of politically independent Palestinian administrators. The U.S. has named a 15-member committee and tapped former U.N. envoy Nickolay Mladenov to oversee them as the board's envoy to Gaza.

The committee, led by former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath, has not yet been granted Israeli permission to enter Gaza from Egypt. Israel hasn't commented on the matter.

Mladenov said last week that the committee will not be able to work unless Hamas hands over power and ceasefire violations stop.

"We're only embarrassing the committee and ultimately making it ineffective," he said at the Munich Security Conference. "All of this needs to move very fast."

__ Magdy reported from Cairo. Aamer Madhani in West Palm Beach, Fla. contributed reporting.