One Tech Tip: iOS 27 comes with revamped screen time controls and other useful new features

• September 24, 2026

By KELVIN CHAN, AP Business Writer

Apple’s latest mobile operating system update, iOS 27, rolled out last week, headlined by a more advanced version of its Siri assistant. But it also comes with a slew of other useful but less well known features for iPhone users.

The software upgrade, which is available for devices dating back to the iPhone 11 from 2019, includes a number of refinements and improvements to make things run faster, such as apps loading more quickly.

There are new features powered by Apple Intelligence, but they’re only available on newer devices, starting from iPhone 16, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models. A new Siri AI app is only available in beta at first, which means users need to join the waitlist through the settings menu. And Siri AI’s rollout in the European Union will be delayed because of a clash over the bloc’s digital rules.

Here’s a look at some of the most useful and interesting iOS 27 features:

New screen time controls

Apple has added new child safety features and revamped its screen time controls. The new system adds more granular controls for parents trying to manage what their kids can access and see on their devices.

A new setup process lets parents choose which apps kids can access and then add more over time.

A new feature, Ask to Browse, requires kids to ask permission from parents before they can access new websites in Safari. Like the existing Ask to Buy setting for online purchases and downloads, Ask to Browse is on by default for children under 13. Parents can assess and approve requests in their messages or do it directly on the child’s device using their passcode. It’s easier and more flexible than preapproving websites individually or imposing a blanket ban.

The revamped screen time controls allow parents to schedule when their kids can use various apps based on their category, such as entertainment, games or social media. To help kids focus, parents can allow some types of apps to be used during a certain “time window” during the day, such as before, during or after school. They also can set weekday and weekend schedules. Previously, parents could only set more general daily time limits for screen “downtime.”

Parents can completely suspend all access to devices when they want kids to pay full attention, like at dinnertime. It also works the other way, allowing parents to temporarily drop all restrictions if a child needs more time to finish something outside their window.

Apple also has tightened restrictions in its Communications Safety feature, which previously blocked nudity in images and videos shared in Messages or FaceTime. Now it also blocks “gore or violence.”

Don’t forget that for these parental controls to work, all devices must be updated with iOS 27 or the corresponding versions for iPads, MacBooks and Apple Watches.

Get Safari to notify you when something on a webpage changes

Want to keep tabs on a shopping website in case that pair of shoes you want goes on sale?

Apple’s Safari browser can now monitor webpages and let you know if anything changes.

The company says Notify Me can check a webpage for any updates such as “price changes and item availability.”

To turn it on, open Safari and go to the site that you want to monitor. Then, at the bottom of the screen, tap the three-line menu icon. Scroll down the menu to Notify Me, where you can type in what changes you’re looking for, and when and how often it should check — every hour, day, week or month.

I tested it out on a news site’s AI section, asking it to check every hour and notify me if there was a new story posted. I did get alerts about new headlines appearing, although it didn’t specify which of the randomly arranged posts was new.

While this feature is handy, some users might be disappointed that it can’t check more frequently, such as every few minutes, if they’re waiting for something important.

Edit your photos with new AI-powered tools

That group photo you took at the wedding party will be treasured for years, but it was taken at a slightly weird angle.

No problem, just use one of the new AI-powered photo editing tools to fix it. The new tools allow you to reframe a photo’s perspective, clean up any distracting things by removing them, or extend the background beyond the photo’s borders.

To find these tools, tap on the editing icon at the bottom of each photo, represented by three slider bars, then tap Tools.

I tried them out by reframing a picture of one of my kids standing outside the front door on the first day of school. The tool took a few seconds to analyze the picture and then let me move the perspective around, from one side to the other or up and down. The result was quite realistic.

However, when I used the extend tool on the same photo, the results were less impressive — even creepy.

The most glaring problem? It added a garbled house number — complete with a made up character — to the right side of the door to mirror one on the left.

Also, a black electrical conduit pipe barely visible in the original photo became drastically bigger, and a gas meter box was extended too much.

To be sure, it worked well for most other photos with backgrounds that were generic.

Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.

​ Orange County Register 

Idaho authorities say they have a new lead on the Tylenol murders. Illinois investigators are skeptical.

• September 24, 2026

An unknown man walked into the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Boise, Idaho, on Dec. 4, 1982.

He wore a Seiko watch, a leather belt and a bolo tie made of turquoise and silver. He carried a wallet but no identification. An envelope filled with 19 $100 bills sat inside his shirt pocket. His hair was dyed and he had a deep tan, not common in the Idaho winter.

Within hours, he died by suicide inside the church. The cause was cyanide poisoning.

The Ada County Sheriff’s Office has spent decades searching for the man’s identity. At a Wednesday morning news conference, they announced they’ve uncovered the identity of the “Unknown Wanderer” and that he may be connected to the 1982 Tylenol murders. Illinois investigators, however, remain highly skeptical, pointing to a lack of physical evidence.

“The reliance on psychological profiles to prove a crime is no more reliable than the reliance of tarot cards or seeing how chicken bones line up in the dirt,” said former federal prosecutor Jeremy Margolis, who was a key player in the original task force in 1982.

Seven Chicago-area residents died after swallowing Tylenol capsules laced with potassium cyanide in September 1982. Widely regarded as an act of domestic terrorism — a term not in the country’s vernacular at the time — the murders led to tamper-evident packaging, copycat killings and myths about tainted Halloween candy. No one has been charged with the murders. The lone suspect died in 2023.

Tim Cooper, a detective with the Ada County sheriff’s office, said he reopened the “Unknown Wanderer” case in 2019 after a member of the Sacred Heart church approached him. He combed through 17,000 missing person records but it was an engraved key located with the man’s belongings that finally helped crack the case, he said.

He connected the key to Jacksonville, Florida, using its markings and etchings. There, detectives found a property owner who had gone missing in 1982 and was declared deceased in absentia seven years later.

They compared DNA from the missing man’s brother with the man who died in the Boise church. It found that the two men had the same father, Cooper said.

Cooper said they were then able to determine the “Unknown Wanderer” was Dr. Mathew Francis Betkouski.

Betkouski, an organic chemist, was by all accounts a “brilliant man” and had a documented fascination with explosives, Cooper alleged. Betkouski came from a prominent Los Angeles family.

In 1974, Betkouski sustained a traumatic brain injury that worsened his mental health problems, Cooper said. Co-workers at Flavors & Fragrances in the Jacksonville area reported him for discussing the “perfect crime” and that “cyanide could be used as a less messy means of taking one’s life,” Cooper alleged. He was later fired from the job.

“Dr. Betkouski was observed talking to himself on occasions and had fears that he was being tracked,” Cooper said.

Betkouski was terminated from another job in New Mexico in 1982, Cooper said. A fellow scientist recalled a comment from Betkouski that poison could be introduced into over-the-counter capsules. Betkouski also is believed to have taken home unauthorized material from the lab, Cooper alleged.

In recent years, detectives were able to examine Betkouski’s remaining items that his brother kept at his home in Los Angeles. In his desk, they found photos, letters, a map of Chicago and a small bottle of cyanide with a handwritten label.

Although heavily implied, officers at the news conference stopped short of labeling Betkouski as a suspect in the Tylenol murders. For one, Cooper said the cyanide they found in his desk was sodium cyanide, not potassium cyanide, which was the type used in the poisonings.

They also couldn’t prove Betkouski visited the Chicago area in 1982. The most recent pictures they found of him in the area are believed to be from December 1981, Cooper said. He also mentioned that Betkouski supposedly talked to a priest at the Boise church, but that the priest never gave an official statement to investigators.

“We have heard various things that may have been said or done in the church that day, and some are interesting,” Cooper said. “But in the end, we cannot independently verify what was or wasn’t said in the confessional on the day Dr. Betkouski died.”

The sheriff’s department also brought up forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz, who shared his belief that Betkouski committed the Tylenol murders. He said Betkouski’s brain injury made him more paranoid. Betkouski also allegedly indicated in a letter that “scenes of violence could produce euphoria,” which demonstrates a possible motive for such a violent event, Dietz theorized.

He said he presented the evidence to other forensic psychiatrists and criminal profilers who also labeled Betkouski as a “viable suspect.”

“It’s an extraordinary thing to have been around at the beginning in 1982, and now today in 2026 to see very likely closure,” Dietz said.

‘No credible evidence’

However, the news conference did not persuade current and former investigators with deep ties to the case, as Idaho law enforcement did not offer any physical evidence connecting Betkouski to the killings. They also downplayed the psychological profile outlined by Dietz.

“It was clear from the press conference that Idaho law enforcement, which does not regard the man as a suspect in the Tylenol murders, found no credible evidence he was involved in the Tylenol murders,” said Margolis, the former federal prosecutor.

Multiple law enforcement sources told the Tribune that Illinois authorities had compared Betkouski’s DNA with profiles found on the poisoned Tylenol bottles in recent years, but there was no match. The police task force formed in the wake of the 1982 killings also looked at the Idaho case at the time of Betkouski’s suicide but did not find any connection.

When asked at the news conference if the department was collaborating with the Arlington Heights Police Department, which has been the lead agency on the case, Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford said they communicated with them early on but that they haven’t heard from them “in quite some time now and I couldn’t tell you why.”

He said the department also shared its findings with Chicago police.

“It’s not our job to name him as a suspect. This is not an Idaho case. The Tylenol killers case remains with Chicago because that’s their job,” Clifford said. “We’ve sent everything to them and what they do with it is whatever they want to do. If they use it and rule him out then we’re all OK with that too.”

He said instead that additional details of the possible connection would be released in an Unsolved Mysteries documentary called “Unmasking the Tylenol Killer” that releases Oct. 9 on Roku.

“So I’m not going to beat around the bush with everybody, but this isn’t over, and what you’ve heard today could take months or even years to fully work through,” Clifford said.

Christopher Sefton, acting deputy chief of the Arlington Heights Police Department, said they received and reviewed Ada County’s information and that they “remain committed to collaborating with our law enforcement partners and pursuing any viable leads as they become available.” A Chicago police spokesperson also confirmed they’d been in contact with them.

An FBI spokesperson shared a stronger stance. The spokesperson said there have been “repeated claims over the past 44 years about alleged links to the Tylenol Murders which have (remained) unsubstantiated.”

“Out of respect for the ongoing, legitimate investigation, those impacted by the tragedy, and the law enforcement partners who have provided genuine support since the start, the FBI remains the lead on investigating and releasing credible information to the public once the evidence yields a true case resolution,” the spokesperson said.

Focus on another suspect

Illinois authorities have instead long identified James Lewis as the lone suspect in the Tylenol investigation.

As the Tribune first reported, Lewis’ body was found in his downtown Cambridge condominium in July 2023. He died at the age of 76 from a pulmonary thromboembolism — a blood clot in the lungs, according to Massachusetts medical examiner officials.

Though Illinois investigators looked at several potential suspects in the weeks following the murders, Lewis had been the authorities’ sole focus for decades. He did nothing to dull their interest, as he offered to help the FBI find the real killer, granted lengthy interviews to law enforcement and built a website taunting investigators.

Authorities long maintained they had a “chargeable, circumstantial case” against Lewis, but prosecutors were hesitant to seek an indictment without direct physical evidence linking Lewis to the poisonings.

Roy Lane, a retired FBI special agent who worked the case for decades, said Wednesday he remains convinced Lewis is the killer.

“I read all the (Ada County sheriff) reports,” Lane told the Tribune. “I’ll say this — the detective did do a great job developing background on (Betkouski) but there was nothing there to tie him to Tylenol.”

Lane also said the profiler information, while interesting, “doesn’t prove anything” as far as evidence in the Tylenol case.

Lewis — a convicted con man who inserted himself into the Tylenol investigation shortly after the poisonings by sending an extortion letter to the drug’s manufacturer — long denied being the killer, including in a brief Tribune interview in August 2022.

“Have you been harassed over something for 40 years that you didn’t have anything to do with?” he told the Tribune.

Lewis spent about 13 years in federal prison for attempted extortion related to that letter and for committing mail fraud in an earlier Kansas City credit card scam. He was released from prison in 1995 and joined his wife in Cambridge, where he lived the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, in the years since Lewis’ death, at least two books have been published with alternative theories behind the deadly poisonings.

In one, a California man alleges his father — an electrician living in southwest suburban Lyons at the time of the crime — made a deathbed confession in which he admitted to lacing the capsules with cyanide. His father died of pancreatic cancer in October 2023, according to Joseph Cibelli’s book, “The Tylenol Murders: A Father’s Confession to His Son.”

And, later this month, to coincide with the crime’s 44th anniversary, Mount Prospect resident Thomas A. Braun’s book, “Seven Innocents & the Tylenol Trail of Death,” will launch. Braun, a retired pharmacist, included a chapter regarding the Idaho cold case.

​ Orange County Register 

Driver pleads not guilty to murder charges in Chatsworth bus crash that killed 2

• September 24, 2026

A woman charged with murder for allegedly driving under the influence of drugs and at a high speed before slamming her SUV into a Metro bus in Chatsworth, killing two people and injuring herself and five others, pleaded not guilty Thursday, Sept. 24.

Bailee Rios, 36, of Simi Valley is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one felony count of driving under the influence causing injury, along with a misdemeanor count of reckless driving. The charges include allegations of causing great bodily injury.

Rios remains jailed in lieu of $4.1 million bail and is due back in court Nov. 2 for a preliminary hearing date to be set.

Her arraignment in a San Fernando courtroom had been repeatedly delayed because of medical reasons. On Friday, Rios was brought to the San Fernando courthouse by ambulance and wheeled into the building on a gurney, but Judge Patrick Hare found good cause to postpone the arraignment at the request of the defense, which noted her medical condition.

District Attorney Nathan Hochman said last week that Rios could face a maximum of life in prison if convicted.

He called the crash a “preventable tragedy” and said Rios “was impaired by drugs at the time.” Narcotics were allegedly found in her SUV, but Hochman did not specify what type of drugs were involved.

Rios was allegedly driving a gray 2004 Ford Expedition south in the northbound lanes of De Soto Avenue just after 5 p.m. Sept. 15 when she ran a red light and nearly collided with an eastbound vehicle before hitting the side of a Metro Line 166 bus in the 20900 block of Nordhoff Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The impact fully ejected one passenger from the bus and partially ejected another, police said. Six people were taken to hospitals, including Rios and the bus driver.

The county medical examiner identified the two people killed as Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31. Castillo died on the bus, while Weida died on the street nearby after apparently being thrown from the bus during the collision.

Rios was arrested on the night of Sept. 15 by investigators with the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division and booked on suspicion of murder.

A cousin of Castillo spoke outside the courthouse last week following the postponed arraignment.

“Danny was loved by everybody,” the cousin said. “She broke our family … she needs to come and face what she did.”

An NBC4 helicopter crew reporting on the bus collision crashed nearby shortly before 7 p.m. last Tuesday, killing three people and injuring two others.

Federal authorities are investigating the helicopter crash. Hochman said his office will determine after that investigation whether there is any connection that could affect the prosecution of Rios.

​ Orange County Register 

Hundreds of trucks jam Turkey-Iran border crossing as US blockade pushes trade overland

• September 24, 2026

By SERRA YEDIKARDES and AMIR-HUSSEIN RADJY

GURBULAK BORDER CROSSING, Turkey (AP) — Hundreds of trucks idle along the road into Iran from Turkey’s mountainous eastern border. Bustling even in normal times, the countries’ largest crossing is now a make-or-break economic lifeline for Tehran as the U.S. navy blockades its ports.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has pressed to accelerate overland trade as the blockade limits the vast majority of imports while cutting off the oil and gas sales that largely keep the economy alive.

It’s the latest test of Iran’s endurance. Frustrated Iranian truck drivers spoke to The Associated Press at the Turkey border crossing, where lines now stretch for miles.

“I’ve been driving through this border gate for 15 years. I’ve never had to wait as long as now,” said Muhammed Rıza Shiri, 55, who had waited four days to carry his load of rubber into Iran. “We had to wait at the end of a seven-kilometer (4.3-mile) line. We used to wait, maximum, for three days here. Because of the war, the waiting times exceed five days.”

Iran accuses the U.S. of trying to weaken the country.

“They are trying to create difficulties wherever they can, and they are holding nothing back. They are closing off routes, shutting down air routes, blocking land routes and trying to fuel internal divisions,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tuesday.

Iran insists the pressure will not change its stance in negotiations with Washington. Tehran wants the U.S. blockade to end before it allows commercial shipping to flow again through the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran’s grip has shaken global markets and oil prices.

Iran had relied on the gulf for over 80% of its trade

Iran has a huge challenge as it tries to shift trade from sea to land. Its economy relied on the gulf for over 80% of its trade before the war, according to Iran economist Mohammad Farzanegan.

Now Iran’s land crossings with Turkey to the west and Pakistan to the east are crucial in connecting with Europe and Asia. Drivers carry goods that are vital to Iran’s petrochemical and other manufacturing that were badly damaged by U.S. and Israeli strikes.

But the land crossings are badly strained.

“Logistics, capacities of these borders are limited. Regulations, border controls, corruption, all these things would make the transit much more difficult and time-consuming,” Farzanegan said. Overland trade “would not basically be able to substitute or compensate for the blockade.”

At Turkey’s Gürbulak border, truck waiting times have more than quadrupled since the war began, according to data from the International Transporters Association, which represents Turkey’s international logistics sector.

One Iranian official said the number of trucks has shot up.

“Instead of 200 trucks, there are 1,200 trucks at the border, and the destination country does not have the capacity to accept this number of trucks,” Amir Roshanbakhsh Ghanbari, deputy head for a government agency that promotes Iranian trade, said in an interview with a semiofficial news outlet, ILNA.

Ghanbari blamed the border backup in part on neighboring countries: “Destination countries are not willing to develop infrastructure because it is not clear how long this situation will continue.”

But an AP reporter visiting the Turkey border crossing on Tuesday saw road work aimed at building extra lanes. Two staffers from a local road authority, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to comment publicly, said Turkey was improving border infrastructure based on a three-year-old plan.

Some truckers are protesting the delays

A Telegram channel linked with groups representing Iranian truckers and other transportation drivers is flooded with messages protesting conditions. Their low-wage work is further squeezed after Iranian authorities raised fuel prices and tightened fuel quotas.

“With the rising costs, increased maintenance expenses, high prices for tires and parts and, on the other hand, reduced cargo loads and decreased driver income, it has become very difficult for many of us to continue working,” one message read, warning truckers “will not remain silent in the face of this increased pressure on drivers.”

Akbar Sadigi, 42, an Iranian truck driver from Tabriz waiting at the crossing, said longer waiting times have cut his twice-monthly trips to once a month.

“I make half of what I used to make because of this,” he said. Fuel prices for his truck have risen by 25% in Iran since his last trip, he added.

“Some Turkish drivers can bribe and get ahead of the line. Our money is worth nothing here. We can’t do that,” Sadigi said.

Drivers said the customs line is even longer on the Iranian side, with wait times in the past month ranging from 12 to 25 days. Many blamed longer inspections by Turkish authorities of trucks leaving Iran.

Akbar Yahyai, an Iranian truck driver who said his loads vary from machinery parts to chemical components, said he had been waiting four days.

“It’s a shame for us drivers here. There is no toilet or shower we can use here while waiting. You can see it from how we look and smell,” he said, adding that he barely makes enough money to eat.

Iran and its neighbors try to address the problem

Iran’s leaders have acknowledged the high stakes. The economy shrank by over 10% in the three months following the start of Iran’s calendar year on March 20, compared to the same period the previous year, according to its statistics agency. Iran’s non-oil economy shrank by 4.6%.

The value of Iran’s currency, the rial, has sunk and inflation has soared since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran on Feb. 28. Weeks before that, plummeting economic conditions had sparked anti-government protests that led to a deadly crackdown.

Officials in Iran and its neighbors said they are trying to speed up border crossings.

“The Turkish customs have deceased the waiting times of vehicles coming from Iran from 30 to 22 days by increasing the number of lanes at fuel measurement stations and doubling X-ray scanning machines,” Ersin Şimşek, Gürbulak representative of the International Transporters Association, said in a phone interview.

And at the border between Iran and Pakistan, drivers also have reported delays. Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni this week said the countries plan to boost flows by keeping crossings open 24 hours a day.

They also have agreements to open a new crossing at Kuhak, Iran’s state news agency reported Momeni as saying after his Pakistani counterpart visited Tehran on Monday.

Radjy reported from Pittsburgh.

​ Orange County Register 

Senate to vote on resolution to halt the Iran war as gas prices upend midterms

• September 24, 2026

By LISA MASCARO, AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — Increasingly anxious about the Iran war, senators are set to vote Thursday on a war powers resolution seeking to halt President Donald Trump ‘s military action, which has been largely blamed for the spike in fuel prices and become a flashpoint in the midterm election.

The Senate vote, days after Trump’s bombastic address to the United Nations in which he threatened to “annihilate” Iran, is likely to be the last chance for lawmakers to go on record about the war ahead of November. More Republicans are peeling way from the president as the war drags on, a rare slap back to Trump, as they campaign for control of Congress.

“They have been carrying water for this ridiculous and illegal war for months and months and months and not listening to their constituents,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who pushed the war powers resolution forward. “And now they finally are.”

About half of rural American voters believe the economy is worse off now than when Trump returned to office, according to a new survey from The Associated Press in partnership with KFF. The costs of groceries, gas and healthcare rank as top pain points for the rural voters.

“We’ve got to break the cycle,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who now says he is leaning toward voting for the resolution to end the war.

War powers resolutions are largely political statements, without the full force of law, but stand among the sharper tools the House and Senate have to express disapproval of the White House, short of halting funds for Trump’s military actions. As resolutions, they do not go to the president’s desk for his signature.

As gas prices climb, Republicans start to question the war

Republicans in control of Congress have shied away from directly confronting Trump over the war, now stretching past the seven-month mark. But their unrest is beginning to surface as stubbornly high gas prices leave voters in a cash crunch back home.

Diesel costs, in particular, have almost doubled, topping $6 a gallon, according to AAA.

Just returning from a swing through Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska stumping for GOP candidates who are suddenly at risk in their elections, Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana called on Trump to hold a prime-time address to the nation to explain the Iran war strategy and the end game.

“People are confused about the war and upset about the cost of living,” he said.

But he and others are not yet ready to vote against the war.

“My own view is that the focus right now needs to be on attacking the cost of living issues,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who opposes the war powers resolution and believes the president is acting within his authority to conduct the military action.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries scoffed at the handful of Republicans now trying to distance themselves from what he called Trump’s failed economy. “Now all of a sudden they’re waking up,” he said.

Democrats keep pushing war powers votes in Congress

This would be the 14th time the Senate has considered a war powers resolution, since Trump launched the conflict on Feb. 28.

Earlier this month, the House for a third time approved a war powers resolution, this time with seven Republicans joining the Democrats, including two from battleground Iowa, Rep. Zach Nunn and Rep. Mariannette Miller Meeks, where affordability issues among rural voters are dominating the campaigns.

Senators, though, have rarely been able to confront Trump by passing a war powers resolution.

In June, the Senate approved a war powers resolution after four GOP senators joined Democrats, but Republicans abruptly reversed course the next day after Trump berated them during a private lunch over the outcome.

One GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, stood up to defend his vote only to end up in a shouting match with Trump. He later switched to oppose the war powers resolution after receiving a personal briefing from the White House.

Other options to halt the Iran war

As the war drags on, costing $43.5 billion so far, Congress is also seeking other ways to force Trump to rethink his military strategy in Iran.

Rep. Thomas Massie, the renegade Republican from Kentucky, pushed forward articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth before the GOP leadership abruptly adjourned the House and sent lawmakers home to campaign for the election, avoiding any potential vote on the matter.

Lawmakers also have the power of the purse to curtail military spending, something Republicans have been reluctant to do but Democrats are sure to tackle if they win power in the midterm election. The White House’s request for an additional $87.6 billion funding package for the war and other needs has idled in Congress.

First created in the aftermath of the Vietnam War as a way to hold a president accountable for military actions, the war powers act has long posed a test of the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of government.

While the Constitution says only Congress can declare war, the president as commander-in-chief is also able to engage the military. The war powers act seeks to provide clarity by requiring the president, within 60 days of any such action, to seek approval — or risk disapproval — from Congress.

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: Wouldn’t another Dodgers-Padres playoff series be fun?

• September 24, 2026

LOS ANGELES — If there are any messages being sent this week, they’re subtle ones.

The Dodgers and Padres have become quite the rivalry in recent years. The Padres’ stars, particularly Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, get on the nerves of Dodger fans. San Diegans, with their tendency to dislike all things associated with the metropolis to the north – except for that segment of folks who still can’t totally let go of the Chargers – relish the opportunity to, well, beat L.A.

Consider: When the Padres finally slew the dragon from the north as the late Peter Seidler, then owner, memorably predicted, they did everything but push back closing time in the Gaslamp Quarter. The roar that accompanied that 2022 National League Division Series victory might still be echoing in Petco Park all these years later, so hungry were Padres fans to take down the Dodgers, especially after L.A. had beaten them on neutral ground in the 2020 COVID-19-influenced postseason.

It’s also fairly obvious that the Dodgers’ 2022 failure, followed by a 2023 NLDS sweep by the Arizona Diamondbacks, helped create the monster in Chavez Ravine that is currently terrorizing all of baseball, including the segment of ownership that is willing to push the game to the brink in its zeal for a salary cap that labor has no intention of ever accepting.

You think Andrew Friedman and the rest of the Dodgers’ front office didn’t redouble their efforts following those two playoff flameouts? The mere possibility of a three-peat now should be proof of how much those losses stung. And the hype video in Dodger Stadium these nights is a pretty accurate representation of the state of mind here, the feeling that the Dodgers and their fans not only don’t care that they’ve become baseball’s villains, they relish it.

As the voiceover narrator puts it, “What’s wrong with being the bad guy? If being the best makes you bad, so be it. … If we’re being honest, sometimes it’s fun to root for the bad guy. … You need teams like us so you can point your finger and say, ‘That’s the bad guy.’”

The villainy works both ways, of course. Witness the first inning of the first game of this current series on Tuesday night.

Machado provokes strong reactions in L.A. because (a) he spent the final months of the 2018 season with the Dodgers, (b) his style of play was, shall we say, overly energy efficient – or, as he put it, “I’m not the type of player that’s going to be ‘Johnny Hustle’” – and (c) after that season he signed a 10-year, $300 million free agent contract with San Diego.

So, in Game 1 on Tuesday night, Brock Stewart’s first pitch to Machado knocked him down. The crowd jeered, loudly, and Machado took the moment to sit there and nod his head as if to say, “Yeah, it’s on.”

There were no further dust-ups in the first two games of this series, a 7-0 Dodgers victory on Tuesday night and a 5-1 Padres victory on Wednesday.

This wasn’t quite on the order of the series in June 2025, when then-Padres manager Mike Shildt and Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages exchanged words on the first night after Pages was hit by a pitch, Tatis and Shohei Ohtani were both plunked and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was eventually ejected the second night, and Roberts and Shildt exchanged words at home plate after Tatis was hit again in Game 3.

Actually, the teams have been comparatively sedate in 2026. As for their fans on social media … ah, we’ll leave that alone.

But a Dodgers-Padres postseason series would almost certainly bring all of the emotions to the surface. Remember, the Padres not only knocked the Dodgers off in 2022 but had them on the ropes in 2024, one game away from another early elimination, before an 8-0 victory in a Game 4 bullpen game in San Diego reversed the momentum.

Also, keep in mind that after the Padres had knocked out Clayton Kershaw in an early season game in San Diego in 2023, a “Crying Kershaw” meme was posted on the Petco Park scoreboard. Consider, too, that the Dodgers gave fans replica Kershaw World Series rings before the first game of this series.

Coincidence? I think not.

And so here we are again. Los Angeles and San Diego split the first two games of their series this week, and while it might not be a major topic of conversation in either clubhouse this week you can bet these teams are casting wary eyes at each other, aware that fate could throw them together in yet another best-of-five (or maybe even best-of-seven) classic.

First things first. After Wednesday night’s game the Dodgers were still one victory or one Atlanta defeat away from clinching the No. 2 spot among division winners and the right to skip the best-of-three Wild Card round. The Padres’ magic number for clinching a wild card berth, likewise, was one.

Will Smith wasn’t about to look ahead. “We’re still approaching it as trying to win some ballgames,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve clinched the bye yet, so we’re still trying to do that.”

But Roberts acknowledged that it was in the back of his mind.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s in there,” he said.

“We’re pretty familiar with these guys. But yeah, absolutely. You know, we’re gathering information on Robbie Ray (Wednesday night’s starter), and, you know, there are guys in the ’pen and (Michael) King (Monday) and we’ll see (Nick) Pivetta (Thursday). So, certainly.”

And, Roberts noted before Wednesday night’s game in response to a question from San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Tom Krasovic, “They’re a thorn in our side and great competition.”

The feeling, I’m sure, is mutual. And while it might wear both teams out, don’t you wish these teams went back to facing each other 18 times during the regular season instead of 13, as they did this season?

Come to think of it, a five-game playoff series … nah, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

jalexander@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

US government foots bill for television advertisement featuring Trump’s midterm messaging

• September 24, 2026

By MIKE CATALINI

At first glance, it looks like a typical Republican campaign advertisement. As images of President Donald Trump flash across the screen, the 30-second spot says “America will never be a communist country” and boasts about the “largest tax cuts in history.”

But there’s something different near the end — a bit of text at the bottom that says “paid for by the U.S. government.”

According to AdImpact, which tracks media spending, the advertisement cost $14,000 and it ran during conservative shows on Fox News and Newsmax.

It’s not clear what part of the U.S. government paid for the spot, which includes background music with singers crooning “love me” over and over. The White House did not immediately return a request for comment. Neither did Fox News or Newsmax.

The advertisement does not say who voters should support in the midterms, but it meshes with campaign messaging from Trump and other Republicans, particularly during the party’s unusual convention in Dallas earlier this month.

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who is in line to chair the House Judiciary Committee if his party wins the majority in November, said in a social media post that it’s a violation of the Hatch Act for government employees to work on such a video.

“It is blatantly unethical under numerous federal ethics provisions proscribing the use of government resources for political campaigns,” Raskin wrote.

​ Orange County Register 

Review: A revamped ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in Costa Mesa stays true to its tale

• September 24, 2026

“Beauty and the Beast” partisans have their treasured moments, and one of them is likely the infectious extended dance sequence in “Be Our Guest.”

There’s that who-can-forget overhead camera shot of dancers lying on a bare stage creating geometric patterns. Plus, the memorable breathtaking, stop-the-show extended tap dance sequence.

These images not ringing a bell? While Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” at Segerstrom Center for the next three weeks still has a Belle — even a lead actress with “Belle” in her name — 2026 is seeing a rethought touring production.

The revisions prove that while tales may be as old as time, touring version musicals are adaptable.

Before hardcore fans transform into villainous Gaston and the angry townspeople to assault the Segerstrom castle to protest any changes, they can be comforted to know that the overall story and its narrative arc remains unchanged.

But beyond revamped choreography, updating is sprinkled throughout.

For instance, dancing cutlery is largely absent and there are fewer kid-centric pratfall sound effects. The set design now uses oversized moveable scroll-work curlicue shaped pieces to form the castle.

Perhaps the one visual change that seems an aesthetic misstep is that the wolves-in-the-woods attacks — first on Belle’s father, later on again as Beast protects Belle — are unimpressive line-drawn jagged-edge screen projections. Not the best animation from a company renowned for it.

Undoubtedly, the No. 1 fan-centric talker about changes, introduced in 2025, finds Belle donning reading glasses — easier on the eyes in stage lighting, one supposes, for Disney’s ultimate bookworm to enchant Beast in his library.

While rarely a beauty in the eyes of theater critics, the “Beauty and the Beast” story has remained a durable perennial over four decades in the Disney canon.

Beyond transforming the company’s animated movie into the first live musical on Broadway in 1994, and in multiple different touring versions over the decades, the story and songs remain alive in venues as varied as high school auditoriums, theme parks and ice shows.

The lead acting and singing driving Segerstrom’s opening night performance — which saw a lights-up delay for a few minutes early on due to an offstage technical snafu — was well in place.

Kyra Belle Johnson is appealing for being a suitably determined and level-headed Belle, a quality she shares with Seal Beach-native actress Susan Egan, who created the role 40 years ago (sometime as the years rolled by, while the men still call her a “girl,” the townswomen now refer to Belle more precisely as a “young lady.”)

Johnson’s vocal delivery in the solos “Me,” and then “A Change in Me,” revealed she — mercifully — isn’t a belter, and her top was not slurred notes, but clarity.

In this show’s first hour, the male lead is more Gaston, the bluff town braggart. Stephen Mark Lukas is somehow physically a buff replication of the animated original come to life, likely reflecting plenty of gym time.

A supple baritone, Lukas stopped by Segerstrom in 2024 as gambler Nick Arnstein in the tour of “Funny Girl.” If the theater intends on casting him every couple of years, that would be a good thing.

Curiously, another Segerstrom alumnus Beast was on stage Tuesday night. Officially titled as the show’s “vacation standby” for Fergie L. Philippe, Devin Archer delivered a tightly coiled master of the house.

Another strong voice, Archer straddles baritone and tenor, allowing him to range up for high notes. It was on great display in his moving solo act 1 finale “If I Can’t Love Her.”

It’s quite likely that local theatergoers have had the pleasure of Archer’s company maybe without knowing it — his early professional proving ground included many Southern California stages including South Coast Repertory, La Mirada Theatre and Musical Theatre West.

(Archer continues as Beast through Sunday, Sept. 27 after which Philippe resumes singing the lead in the Costa Mesa run’s final two weeks).

In general, the show’s virtues continue to shine. “Beauty and the Beast” still glistens within Alan Menken’s soaring and yearning score and the Disney patina of production aspects always seem to have their own elevated shine.

Following that brief first act technical mishap, as the house lights once again darkened to resume the show, a disembodied voice on a microphone explained the slight problem, mentioning if it happened again, the audience might just “use your imaginations.”

This generated a big laugh, more than 2,500 Imagineers recruited right on the spot! That’s Disney for you.

Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’

Rating: 3 ½ stars (out of 4)

When: Through Oct. 11. 7:30 p.m., Tuesday-Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m., Saturday; Sunday, 1 and 6:30 p.m.

Where: Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa

Tickets: $44-$217.26

Information: 949-556-2787; www.scfta.org

​ Orange County Register