The patrol units were responding to a call for additional units to set up a perimeter search for a DUI suspect, Officer Norma Eisenman said.

The two-vehicle collision occurred at about 10:25 p.m. Saturday at 8300 N. Wilbur Ave., just south of Sherman Way, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Lyndsey Lantz.

The three officers were rushed to a hospital, where they were treated and released, Eisenman said.

The injured officers were two 33-year-old men and a 30-year-old man, according to the LAFD.

Details of what led to the crash were not immediately available.

The DUI suspect was subsequently arrested on suspicion of felony evading, Eisenman said.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) ' President Donald Trump said Sunday that members of his newly created Board of Peace have pledged $5 billion toward rebuilding war-ravaged Gaza and will commit thousands of personnel to international stabilization and police forces for the territory.

The pledges will be formally announced when board members gather in Washington on Thursday for their first meeting, he said.

'The Board of Peace will prove to be the most consequential International Body in History, and it is my honor to serve as its Chairman,' Trump said in a social media posting announcing the pledges.

He did not detail which member nations were making the pledges for reconstruction or would contribute personnel to the stabilization force. But Indonesias military said Sunday that up to 8,000 of its troops are expected to be ready by the end of June for a potential deployment to Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission. Its the first firm commitment that the Republican president has received.

Rebuilding the Palestinian territory will be a daunting endeavor. The United Nations, World Bank and European Union estimate that reconstruction of the territory will cost $70 billion. Few places in the Gaza Strip were left unscathed by more than two years of Israeli bombardment.

The ceasefire deal calls for an armed international stabilization force to keep security and ensure the disarming of the militant Hamas group, a key demand of Israel. Thus far, few countries have expressed interest in taking part in the proposed force.

The Oct. 10 U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than 2-year war between Israel and Hamas. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones.

It is not clear how many of the more than 20 members of the Board of Peace will attend the first meeting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held White House talks with Trump last week, is not expected to be there.

Trumps new board was first seen as a mechanism focused on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. But it has taken shape with his ambition for a far broader mandate of resolving global crises and appears to be the latest U.S. effort to sidestep the United Nations as Trump aims to reset the post-World War II international order.

Many of Americas top allies in Europe and elsewhere have declined to join what they suspect may be an attempt to rival the Security Council.

Trump also confirmed that Thursdays meeting will take place at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which the State Department announced in December it was remaining the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace.

The building is the subject of litigation brought by former employees and executives of the nonprofit think tank after the Republican administration seized the facility last year and fired almost all the institutes staff.

WASHINGTON (AP) ' White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that more than 1,000 immigration agents have left Minnesotas Twin Cities area and hundreds more will depart in the days ahead as part of the Trump administrations drawdown of its immigration enforcement surge.

A 'small' security force will stay for a short period to protect remaining immigration agents and will respond 'when our agents are out and they get surrounded by agitators and things got out of control,' Homan told CBS 'Face the Nation.' He did not define 'small.'

He also said agents will keep investigating fraud allegations as well as the anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a church service.

'We already removed well over 1,000 people, and as of Monday, Tuesday, well remove several hundred more,' Homan said. 'Well get back to the original footprint.'

Thousands of officers were sent to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements 'Operation Metro Surge.' The Department of Homeland Security said it was its largest immigration enforcement operation ever and proved successful. But the crackdown came under increasing criticism as the situation grew more volatile and two U.S. citizens were killed.

Protests became common. A network of residents worked to help immigrants, warn of approaching agents or film immigration officers actions. The shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers drew condemnation and raised questions over officers conduct, prompting changes to the operation.

Homan announced last week that 700 federal officers would leave Minnesota immediately, but that still left more than 2,000 in the state. He said Thursday that a 'significant drawdown' was already underway and would continue through this week.

Homan said enforcement would not stop in the Twin Cities and that mass deportations will continue across the country. Officers leaving Minnesota will report back to their stations or be assigned elsewhere.

When asked if future deployments could match the scale of the Twin Cities operation, Homan said 'it depends on the situation.'

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) ' Lawmakers and the White House offered no signs of compromise Sunday in their battle over oversight of federal immigration officers that has led to a pause in funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

A partial government shutdown began Saturday after congressional Democrats and President Donald Trumps team failed to reach a deal on legislation to fund the department through September. Democrats are demanding changes to how immigration operations are conducted after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal officers in Minneapolis last month.

Congress is on recess until Feb. 23, and both sides appear dug into their positions. The impasse affects agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The work at ICE and CBP goes on unabated because Trumps tax and spending cut law from 2025 provided billions more to those agencies that can be tapped for deportation operations. About 90% of DHS employees were to continue working during the shutdown, but do so without pay ' and missed paychecks could mean financial hardships. Last year there was a record 43-day government shutdown.

White House border czar Tom Homan said the administration was unwilling to agree to Democrats demands that federal officers clearly identify themselves, remove masks during operations and display unique ID numbers.

'I dont like the masks, either,' Homan said, But, he said, 'These men and women have to protect themselves.'

Democrats also want to require immigration agents to wear body cameras and mandate judicial warrants for arrests on private property.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats are only asking for federal agents to abide by rules followed by law enforcement agencies around the country.

'And the question that Americans are asking is, ‘Why arent Republicans going along with these commonsense proposals?' Schumer said. 'Theyre not crazy. Theyre not way out. Theyre what every police department in America does.'

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said he could back Democrats calls to equip immigration officers with body cameras and would support efforts to bolster training. But he balked at their demands that federal officers remove masks and clearly identify themselves, noting some officers taking part in immigration enforcement operations have faced doxing and other harassment.

'What are you going to do, expose their faces so you can intimidate their families?' Mullins said. 'What we want is ICE to be able to do their job. And we would love for local law enforcement and for states to cooperate with us.'

Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, a Trump ally who had pushed for a two-week extension of DHS funding while negotiations continued, said it was 'shortsighted of Democrats to walk away' from talks.

Trump made enforcement of the nations immigration laws a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign for the White House and he promised to be aggressive in detaining and deporting people living in the United States without legal permission.

DHS reports it has deported more than 675,000 migrants since Trumps return to office last year and claims some 2.2 million others have 'self-deported' as the Republican president has made his immigration crackdown a priority.

'President Trump is not going to back away from the mission, the mission that American people said they wanted him to complete, and that is securing our border and making sure that we actually do interior enforcement,' Britt said.

Homan was on CBS 'Face the Nation,' Schumer and Mullin appeared on CNNs 'State of the Union' and Britt was interviewed on 'Fox News Sunday.'

The glove, found in a field near the side of the road, were sent off for DNA testing. The FBI said in a statement Sunday that it received preliminary results Saturday and is awaiting official confirmation.

Approximately 16 gloves were found in various spots near the house, most of which were searchers’ gloves that had been discarded, the FBI said.

The discovery was revealed days after investigators had released surveillance videos of the masked person outside Guthrie’s front door. A porch camera recorded video of a person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket and gloves.

On Thursday, the FBI called the person a suspect. It described him as a man about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build. The agency said he was carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.

A few days before Christmas, California Attorney General Rob Bonta proposed new rules that would drastically alter how casinos run blackjack, baccarat, pai gow and other card games.

The changes are so disruptive that the cardroom industry says it will be forced to close down all blackjack-style games in California, pull back on card game tables generally, and target layoffs of nearly 13,000 to its statewide workforce.

Poker is the only card game immune to Bonta’s rule changes ' leading some cardroom operators to rethink their business models going forward.

Local governments where the cardrooms operate are so rattled by possible losses of tax revenue generated by the casinos in their communities that they met for an emergency video conference call Wednesday, Feb. 11, to discuss the economic impacts. Elected officials, administrators and finance staff from Hawaiian Gardens, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Compton, Gardena and elsewhere were listening in.

Those Los Angeles-area communities all have major cardroom casinos, including the Commerce Casino & Hotel, Crystal Casino, the Gardens Casino, Hustler Casino, Lucky Lady Casino and Parkwest Bicycle Casino ' which together make up a bulk of the multi-billion-dollar industry in California.

“I’m at a loss for words,” said Victor Farfan, councilmember with Hawaiian Gardens. “This decision will be devastating. It shakes at the very foundation of our city. We will not be able to provide essential services for our community.”

Hawaiian Gardens, a tiny, 612-acre city of 14,150 people and the smallest in Los Angeles County, collects about 60% of its general fund revenue of $20 million on taxes paid by the Gardens Casino cardroom along East Carson Street, according to Farfan.

Less than a block from the casino along Pioneer Boulevard, city staff in Hawaiian Gardens have held ongoing discussions about cuts in services ' including fire and police ' if the final year of its two-year budget cycle starting July 1 doesn’t realize the revenue stream it once anticipated.

If more than half of the city’s budget is wiped out ' which is likely if Bonta’s regulation goes into effect  ' Hawaiian Gardens may be forced to restructure its debt under a Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection filing, according to Farfan. Unlike other bankruptcies, Chapter 9 protects taxing entities from creditor lawsuits while it develops a plan to adjust debt obligations. During such a process, Farfan worries the city of Hawaiian Gardens could lose its independence and be absorbed by Los Angeles County or taken over by the state.

“This is the harsh reality,” Farfan said.

City budget shortfalls

The scramble to plug possible budget holes in local governments is coming nearly a week after Bonta finalized a complex set of gambling rules that he says are needed to force cardroom casinos into compliance with California laws.

At the moment, California has two different kinds of gaming systems that operate side-by-side ' one for tribal casinos and the other for cardrooms.

Tribal casinos operate under federal law and offer casino-style gaming on tribal land, granted by Proposition 1A. That proposition amended the state constitution to allow federally recognized Indian tribes to operate slot machines, lottery games, and banked card games.

A banked card game is a type of gambling game in which players place bets against a central dealer, known as the banker or house, rather than directly against each other.

Cardrooms ' like the Gardens Casino ' are state-licensed venues that, under state law, may only offer player-banked or peer-to-peer games ' or tables where players play against each other, not the house.

Bonta is now saying California laws on banked games must adhere to the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 and California Proposition 1A passed in 2000, according to the California National Indian Gaming Association. However, the cardroom industry disputes the tribal gaming industry’s legal interpretation of these laws, saying that Bonta’s rules could disrupt its business model.

Pai gow was the first card game using a player-dealer position in the cardroom industry in 1983.

Outsourced player-dealer services' or third party proposition players as they are known in casino parlance ' came in 1990. An outsourced player-dealer service is a licensed independent company, not the casino itself, whose employees play in cardroom table games to ensure they remain active and filled, acting as a neutral party like any other player in the game.

Bonta’s new rules would upend the card games.

The cardroom rules, which were submitted by Bonta and the Bureau of Gambling Control and approved by the state’s Administrative Law Office in early February, go into effect April 1. The rules give cardrooms until May 31 to report how they’ll modify their card games ' but the industry says it can’t comply with the rule because of their “vagueness” and belief that they don’t line up with their interpretation of what are permissible card games.

The rules also end their ability to have blackjack-style tables '  a big money draw for cardrooms.

So, is the sky falling?

The California Gaming Association, which represents the interests of cardrooms, is preparing to file a lawsuit against the state in the coming weeks, citing the new rules as a break from longstanding precedent that allowed such table games at cardrooms since before passage of Prop. 1A, according to cardroom advocates interviewed.

Layoffs coming?

Keith Sharp, general counsel at The Gardens Casino, said he is bracing for layoffs approaching nearly half of his workforce of 1,300 people who work as dealers, customer service representatives, food workers, and others.

The new rules would effectively end at least 11 of the blackjack-styled tables and threaten the remaining 70 or so tables of baccarat, pai gow and other card games, said Sharp on  Wednesday.

“We’ve been playing blackjack forever, and now he’s (Bonta) decided we can’t,” said Sharp, who alleges Bonta is influenced by lobbyists from the tribal casinos in California. “A handful of people, wealthy tribes, want to control all gambling in California. They want to monopolize the industry. As a result, we will lay off hundreds of people here.”

For decades, California tribes have spent hundreds of millions of dollar in a long string of casino-related ballot initiatives over the years, including:

• Prop 5. In 1998, Californians passed a measure that would have enacted tribal-state compacts to set up gambling on tribal lands. A union, the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees, brought a suit against the validity of Prop 5. Most of the measure was struck down by the California Supreme Court, “jeopardizing Indian gaming tribal self-sufficiency.”
• Prop 1A.  A constitutional amendment that fundamentally shifted the landscape of gaming in California, allowing tribal governments to operate gambling in California on reservation lands, passed in 2000.
• Prop 26. In 2022, the tribes pushed this measure ' which failed ' that would have legalized in-person sports betting on tribal lands and permitted craps and roulette.
• Prop 27. Also in 2022, concurrent with the tribal-backed Prop. 26, California’s tribes lobbied heavily against an initaitive from DraftKings and FanDuel that would have legalized online sports bettting. This measure also failed.
• Prop 68. In November 2004, Californians rejected a ballot measure that would have authorized slot machines in 16 California cardrooms and racetracks.
• Prop 70. In November 2004, voters rejected a measure that would have allowed tribes unlimited expansion of casinos on their reservations.
• Props 94, 95, 96, and 97.  In February 2008, all four propositions were approved, expanding the scope of tribal gambling enterprises in California.

Change rattles dealers

Nary Chin, a 55-year-old cardroom dealer at Hawaiian Gardens, put her four children through local universities and colleges since joining the casino in 1999.

“This will affect my life a great deal [if layoffs happen] because I’m a single mom,” said Chin, who earns a six-figure salary with tips. “This is like family here. I learned how to speak English at the tables. Why do we need to change when everything is going so well already?”

Chin has memories of growing up poor with her family in San Bernardino when they first immigrated to the U.S. from Cambodia, and later moving to Long Beach. “I came from a very poor family, where we barely had food on the table. I don’t want to go back to that,” said Chin, who says she’s been getting panic attacks worrying about the layoffs.

Diane Nguyen, a 49-year-old customer service representative at Hawaiian Gardens, joined the cardroom in 2001.

“I heard they want to take away our blackjack tables. That’s going to hurt a lot of us,” Nguyen said. “Hopefully, this doesn’t happen.”

She financially supports her mom, father and child, the latter of whom attends online classes at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. “If I lose this job, I don’t know what I’d do,” said Nguyen who has a mortgage to pay in La Puente. “I’m always stressed.”

The layoffs may still come despite best efforts by the cardroom industry to save them.

Kyle Kirkland, president and general manager of Club One Casino in Fresno, and president of the California Gaming Association, forecasts layoffs statewide approaching 13,000 in an industry with 20,000 directly employed by cardroom casinos and another 10,000 who are vendors.

“If 60% of my business goes away, or is disrupted, we seriously have to think about what the reboot is for our business,” said Kirkland, whose group represents 72 cardrooms. “What Bonta is doing is pandering to the tribes.”

Illegal gaming?

James Siva, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, has a different take.

He said that Bonta’s regulations are an important step in combating “unscrupulous and illegal gaming in California.”

“The regulations further clarify that games and practices employed by commercial card rooms are indeed prohibited under California law. Running a business contrary to that law is an illicit business, period,” said Siva in a statement. “We hope that the [state] Department of Justice will now enforce these regulations so California can ensure a well-regulated gaming industry that is safe for consumers.'

In a statement issued Feb. 9, Bonta said that he followed all the proper requirements to submit the regulations for public comment and gather input. His office refused to answer additional questions submitted by the Southern California News Group.

The proposed regulations were first introduced in the spring of 2025.

“Prior to their introduction, DOJ held numerous meetings with stakeholders to discuss potential regulation of games,” said Bonta, pointing out that the regulations were ultimately sent to the Office of Administrative Law for review on Dec. 23, 2025, with their approval coming Feb. 6.

Players at cardrooms are surprised by the changes.

“It’s absolutely ludicrous,” said Jack Gardner, a Norco plumber who lost $130 playing in a poker tournament on Wednesday at the Gardens Casino. “The poker side could be impacted as well if they make cuts on blackjack and other card games. This is the closest one to my house. There’s a lot of people who work in these casinos, and now they could be without jobs. That’s terrible. It’s another sign of why business is leaving California.”

John Doan, an entertainment consultant from Garden Grove, drives to the Gardens Casino twice a week to play blackjack. “If they change the fundamentals, the game disappears,” said Doan, who won $340 on Wednesday. “I’m a blackjack player. Once you change the fundamentals of the game, it’s not football any more, it’s soccer.”

The Trump administrations move to give deportation officials access to Medicaid data is putting hospitals and states in a bind as they weigh whether to alert immigrant patients that their personal information, including home addresses, could be used in efforts to remove them from the country.

Warning patients could deter them from signing up for a program called Emergency Medicaid, through which the government reimburses hospitals for the cost of emergency treatment for immigrants who are ineligible for standard Medicaid coverage.

But if hospitals dont disclose that the patients information is shared with federal law enforcement, they might not know that their medical coverage puts them at risk of being located by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

'If hospitals tell people that their Emergency Medicaid information will be shared with ICE, it is foreseeable that many immigrants would simply stop getting emergency medical treatment,' said Leonardo Cuello, a research professor at Georgetown Universitys Center for Children and Families. 'Half of the Emergency Medicaid cases are for the delivery of U.S. citizen babies. Do we want these mothers avoiding the hospital when they go into labor?'

For more than a decade, hospitals and states have assured patients that their personal information, including their home addresses and immigration status, would not be shared with immigration enforcement officials when they apply for federal health care coverage. A 2013 ICE policy memo guaranteed the agency would not use information from health coverage applications for enforcement activities.

But that changed last year, after President Donald Trump returned to the White House and ordered one of the most aggressive immigration crackdowns in recent history. His administration began funneling data from a variety of government agencies to the Department of Homeland Security, including tax information filed with the IRS.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, agreed last spring to give ICE officials direct access to a Medicaid database that includes enrollees addresses and citizenship status.

Twenty-two states, all but one led by Democratic governors, sued to block the Medicaid data-sharing agreement, which the administration did not formally announce until a federal judge ordered it to do so last summer. The judge ruled in December that in those states, ICE could access information in the Medicaid database only about people in the country unlawfully. KFF Health News contacted more than a dozen hospitals and hospital associations in states and cities that have been targets of ICE sweeps. Many declined to comment on whether theyve updated their disclosure policies after the ruling.

Of those that responded, none said they are directly warning patients that their personal information may be shared with ICE when they apply for Medicaid coverage.

'We do not provide legal advice about federal government data-sharing between agencies,' Aimee Jordon, a spokesperson for M Health Fairview, a Minneapolis-based hospital system, said in an email to KFF Health News. 'We encourage patients with questions about benefits or immigration-related concerns to seek guidance from appropriate state resources and qualified legal counsel.'

Information on applications

Some states Emergency Medicaid applications specifically ask for a patients immigration status ' and still assure people that their information will be kept secure and out of the hands of immigration enforcement officials.

For example, as of Feb. 3, Californias application still included language advising applicants that their immigration information is 'confidential.'

'We only use it to see if you qualify for health insurance,' states the 44-page form, which the states Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, posted on social media in January.

California Department of Health Care Services spokesperson Anthony Cava said in a statement that the agency, which oversees Medi-Cal, will 'ensure that Californians have accurate information on the privacy of their data, including by revising additional publications as necessary.'

Until late January, Utahs Medicaid website also claimed its Emergency Medicaid program did not share its information with immigration officials. After KFF Health News contacted the state agency, Kolbi Young, a spokesperson, said Jan. 23 that the language would be taken down immediately. It was removed that day.

Oregon Health & Science University, a hospital system based in Portland, offers immigrant patients a Q&A document developed by the state Medicaid program for those with concerns about how their information might be used. The document does not directly say that Medicaid enrollees information is shared with ICE officials.

Hospitals rely on Emergency Medicaid to reimburse them for treating people who would qualify for Medicaid if not for their citizenship status ' those in the country illegally and lawfully present immigrants, such as those with a student or work visa. The coverage pays only for emergency medical and pregnancy care. Typically, hospital representatives help patients apply while they are still in the medical facility.

The main Medicaid program, which covers a much broader range of services for over 77 million low-income and disabled people, does not cover people living in the country illegally.

Examining Emergency Medicaid enrollment is the most obvious way, then, for deportation officials to identify immigrants, including those who might not reside in the U.S. lawfully.

HHS spokesperson Rich Danker said in an email that CMS ' which oversees Medicaid, a joint state-federal program ' is sharing data with ICE after the judges ruling. But he would not answer how the agency is ensuring it is sharing information only on people who are not lawfully present, as the judge required.

With ICE now getting direct access to the personal information of millions of Medicaid enrollees, hospitals ' while 'definitely in a tough position' ' should be up-front about the changes, said Sarah Grusin, an attorney at the National Health Law Program, an advocacy group.

'They need to be telling people that the judge has permitted sharing of information, including their address, for people who are not lawfully residing,' she said. 'Once this information is submitted, you cant protect it from disclosure at this point.'

Grusin said she advises families to weigh the importance of seeking medical care against the risk of having their information shared with ICE.

'We want to give candid, honest information even if it means the decision people have to make is really hard,' she said.

Those who have previously enrolled in Medicaid or can easily search their address online should assume that immigration officials already have their information, she added.

Emergency Medicaid

Emergency Medicaid coverage was established in the mid-1980s, when a federal law began requiring hospitals to treat and stabilize all patients who show up at their doors with a life-threatening condition.

Federal government spending on Emergency Medicaid accounted for nearly $4 billion in 2023, or about 0.4% of total federal spending on Medicaid.

States send monthly reports to the federal government with detailed information about who enrolls in Medicaid and what services they receive. The judges ruling in December limited what CMS can share with ICE to only basic information, including addresses, about Medicaid enrollees in the 22 states that sued over the data-sharing arrangement. ICE officials are not supposed to access information about the medical services people receive, per the judges order.

The judge also prohibited the agency from sharing the data of U.S. citizens or lawfully present immigrants from those states.

Deportation officials have access to personal Medicaid information of all enrollees in the remaining 28 states.

The federal health agency has not clarified how it is ensuring that certain states information on citizens and legal residents is not shared with ICE. But Medicaid experts say it would be nearly impossible for the agency to separate the data, raising questions about whether the Trump administration is complying with the judges order.

The Trump administrations efforts to deport immigrants living in the country illegally have had implications on immigrant families seeking care. About a third of adult immigrants reported skipping or postponing health care in the past year, according to a KFF/New York Times poll released in November. (KFF is a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.)

Bethany Pray, the chief legal and policy officer at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, warned that sharing Medicaid data directly with deportation officials will force even tougher decisions upon some families.

'This is very concerning,' Pray said. 'People should not have to choose between giving birth in a hospital and wondering if that means they risk deportation.'

©2026 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

NEW YORK (AP) ' Daniel Moore was about 30 the first time it happened. At the end of a long, hot, stressful day, he chugged an ice-cold glass of milk.

'It felt like a bunny rabbit trying to jump out of my chest,' said Moore, now 60.

Moore, a radiologist, knew what it was: A-fib.

Short for atrial fibrillation, A-fib is a quivering or irregular heartbeat that is a worrisome stage-setter for blood clots, stroke and heart failure. Some researchers believe more than 10 million Americans have it ' most of them older. And its expected to become even more common in the years ahead.

Yet, University of Utah heart researcher Dr. T. Jared Bunch sees reason for optimism.

'Even though we see more of the disease, were better at treating it,' said Bunch, who co-authored a book on A-fib.

Symptoms can include shortness of breath

A-fib occurs when the hearts upper chambers, called the atria, beat out of sync with the lower chambers, the ventricles. Not everyone is aware something is wrong, but some people suffer alarming symptoms like a pounding heartbeat and shortness of breath.

'I definitely have no exercise tolerance when Im in it,' Moore said. 'I cant run. Walking is tiring faster. I get a little light-headed standing up.'

The heart can surpass 200 beats per minute for someone with A-fib, more than double the 60 to 100 beats typical for a healthy adults resting heart rate.

Symptoms can come and go, and its not usually life-threatening by itself. But the erratic beating can lead to blood pooling in the heart that can become clots in days or even hours. Those clots, in turn, can travel to the brain and cause strokes.

A-fib also can increase the risk of developing ventricular fibrillation ' a more serious condition.

Diagnosis is becoming more common

Experts say smartwatches and other devices that can detect erratic heartbeats are one reason A-fib diagnoses are increasing.

Many people who experience symptoms dont understand what is happening.

The American Heart Association found that more than half of people with A-fib didnt know about the condition before they were diagnosed.

Studies have suggested 15% or more of strokes can be tied to A-fib, and that the percentage rises in older people. The condition is one reason that U.S. stroke deaths rose in the last decade, although the stroke death rate has dipped in the last few years.

What causes A-fib?

Researchers attribute A-fib to damage in the hearts upper chambers and its electrical signaling. Genetics can play a role, but other contributors include high blood pressure, diabetes, stress, sleep apnea, smoking and alcohol.

Those harms accumulate over time, which is one reason why the condition tends to hit older adults. About 70% of A-fib cases are people 65 and older, Bunch said.

Viruses can also pose a threat because they can affect the proteins behind the hearts electrical signals or prompt an immune response that damages heart tissue. COVID-19 is among the list of viral culprits, and likely contributed to A-fib in some patients, experts say.

Studies have found no link to COVID-19 shots, said Dr. Jose Joglar, a Dallas-based expert who helped author American Heart Association guidelines on A-fib diagnosis and management.

Doctors have a range of treatment options

Theres no cure, but a number of therapies can help manage the problem.

'Were miles beyond where we used to be' in treating A-fib, said Dr. Laurence Epstein, of Hofstra University and Northwell Health. 'The technology has really evolved.'

One initial treatment is a cardioversion, which involves using a defibrillator to deliver an electric shock to the heart to restore rhythm. Its often successful, but sometimes only temporarily.

For some patients, doctors may recommend implanted devices. Pacemakers can regulate heart rhythm, and a device called a Watchman can close off a clot-prone area of the upper heart.

And then theres ablation. Its a procedure in which a doctor uses heat, cold or electric pulses to zap certain areas of the heart, creating scars that block faulty electric signals. Traditionally, ablation was used when other approaches failed, but in recent years ablation techniques have become more advanced and it has become a first choice for certain patients, including those with heart failure.

Medications to regulate the heart or thin the blood to reduce stroke risk can have problematic side effects.

How to lower your risk

People can lower their risk of developing A-fib by living a healthy lifestyle. That includes exercising, getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet, managing high blood pressure, and avoiding tobacco products and alcohol.

Doctors also have long warned about excessive levels of caffeine, although some new evidence suggests that at least a little may be OK. One small study published recently found that patients who averaged one cup a day saw less recurrence of symptoms than those who abstained entirely.

If symptoms do develop, its important to take them seriously, said Amy Stahley, who was first diagnosed three years ago.

She went to bed one night and her heart began racing to more than 150 beats per minute. She immediately went to a hospital.

'If youre feeling a little off, get it checked out,' said Stahley, who is a nurse and dean of Davenport Universitys College of Health Professions in Michigan.

Moore, a radiology professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, agreed.

'The longer you stay in A-fib, the more likely you are to stay in it for life,' he said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

As Americans grow increasingly frustrated over their electricity bills, states are trying to keep the nations growing number of data centers from causing higher energy costs for consumers.

For years, many states competed aggressively to land data centers, sprawling campuses full of the computer servers that store and transmit the data behind apps and websites. But many officials are now scrutinizing how those power-hungry projects might affect the electric bills of households, small businesses and other industries.

Oregon last year became one of the first states to enact a law requiring utilities to charge data centers different electric prices than other industries because of how they drive up the cost of energy production and transmission.

'We are now making data centers pay a higher rate commensurate with the amount of energy theyre sucking out of the system,' said Oregon state Rep. Tom Andersen, a Democrat.

Republican and Democratic leaders in at least a dozen states have targeted data centers with separate, higher electric rates to protect other customers. States also are requiring long-term commitments and financial guarantees through collateral before greenlighting infrastructure investments for new data center projects. But lawmakers acknowledge that numerous factors affect energy prices, so targeting data center-specific costs can be complicated.

An increasingly digital world and the rise of energy-intensive artificial intelligence has led to major expansion of data centers: Consultant McKinsey & Company expects companies to spend nearly $7 trillion worldwide on data centers by 2030. But the industry is facing growing scrutiny, from neighbors who dont want to live near the massive server farms and from residents worried about how data centers will affect their own swelling utility bills.

Delaware legislation that would charge data centers higher rates advanced out of committee last week. On Tuesday, a Florida state Senate committee approved a bill that would create new rate structures for data centers.

In Oklahoma, a Republican state senator has proposed a moratorium on new data centers until late 2029, allowing the state to study how data centers affect utility rates, the environment and property values.

Separate legislation from state Rep. Brad Boles will seek to protect other ratepayers from the costs of data centers. Boles, the Republican chair of the state Energy and Natural Resources Oversight Committee, said his in-the-works measure would ensure data centers pay their fair share.

Boles told Stateline that his constituents are increasingly worried about data centers, with a dozen potential major ones proposed across the state.

'Were trying to ensure that those data centers pay for their own infrastructure and we dont shift that cost or burden to everyday Oklahomans,' he said.

In Oregon, Andersens legislation created a new rate structure for data centers with long-term contracts and required regulators to separate the costs of those facilities from other ratepayers.

But consumer advocates have already accused the states largest utility of trying to skirt the new law by making residential customers pay part of the long-term cost of supplying large data centers in a pending rate case.

Andersen, a member of the state House Committee on Climate, Energy and Environment, said the new rate structure is unlikely to immediately lower consumer bills. Rather, it aims to curb future increases as data centers require more power generation and transmission.

'Were not going to change the rates that are being currently paid by the ratepayers and the users of the electricity,' he said. 'Its just going to stop future raises.'

The data center boom

Rising utility bills continue to outpace inflation, sparking anger from consumers and more scrutiny from state regulators, governors and lawmakers.

The boom of data centers is frequently cited as a prime reason for rising electricity prices, as their operation requires more power generation, transmission and distribution upgrades. A Bloomberg News analysis in September found wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more for a single month than it did five years ago in areas with significant data center activity.

Data center companies say they arent the only reason prices are rising.

'Its inaccurate to draw a clear line between large load customers like data centers coming online and increases in prices. Its just not that simple,' said Lucas Fykes, senior director of energy policy and regulatory counsel at the Data Center Coalition, a trade group representing data center owners and users, including Amazon, Meta and Visa.

He said many factors have contributed to higher electricity prices, including extreme weather events and the nations aging electric grid.

Fykes said his organization opposes rate structures that treat data centers differently from other large electric users such as industrial sites. The organization is working with regulators as states increasingly implement practices to ensure residents and small businesses arent on the hook for big energy investments if major projects including data centers dont come to fruition.

Fykes said the country is likely just in the 'beginning innings' of a longer ramp-up in technology and power needs.

'We are also in a global race to build out data centers, to support AI, to support cloud infrastructure,' he said. 'Its important to make sure that we maintain those assets here in the United States.'

That can pose competing interests for political leaders, including mayors, who have pushed hard to land investments from tech companies.

'We want to be leaders in AI, but we dont want the infrastructure needed to support it,' said Rusty Paul, the mayor of Sandy Springs, Georgia, in the Atlanta metro area.

He was among several mayors addressing the issue of data centers at last months winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. On a data center panel, Paul acknowledged the effect of Georgias tax incentives for data centers: 'Theyre just popping up everywhere,' he said.

But utilities and regulators are also making long overdue grid upgrades that arent tied to data centers, he said.

'The cost of electricity is going up for everybody ' and its not all related to data centers,' he said.

A bipartisan push

The Georgia Public Service Commission last year created new rules that officials said would protect ratepayers from data center costs. In addition to covering costs of power consumed at their facilities, data centers would have to fund the costs incurred by upstream generation, transmission and distribution, the regulator said.

But lawmakers arent convinced those steps went far enough.

State Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, a Republican, is again pushing legislation that would solidify the regulators rules into law. His bill would prohibit utilities from passing along the fuel, generation or transmission costs of data centers to other customers.

He told Stateline that the regulators rules need to be codified into law so they cant be weakened later.

Hufstetler said rising utility bills are among the biggest issues facing his constituents. High prices played a key role in Novembers election, when Democrats flipped two seats on the states Public Service Commission board ' the first time Democrats won statewide constitutional office in nearly two decades.

'I saw people with MAGA hats going into the election polling places that were saying, ‘Im not voting for those guys that raised my rates,' Hufstetler said, referring to the Republican incumbents who lost.

Hufstetler said the bill, which passed out of committee last year, has already gained major bipartisan support in the Senate, where it is sponsored by multiple Republicans and Democrats.

'This is very bipartisan,' he said. 'We have all heard from our people around the state of Georgia.'

The Georgia Public Service Commission agrees in principle with the legislation, said agency spokesperson Tom Krause. But he said the regulator worries about losing flexibility if its rules are written into law.

'Not just this bill, but whenever the legislature codifies a rule that we put in place, we get a little nervous because it can tie our hands in special circumstances,' he said.

A complex challenge

As part of implementing a law enacted last year, Marylands utility regulator is weighing a new rate structure for data centers and other large load users.

Proposed regulations would require certain preapproval analysis for heavy power users, a separate rate tariff for data centers and collateral to ensure other ratepayers dont end up paying for major investments if projects do not come to fruition.

Marylands Office of Peoples Counsel, an independent agency representing residential utility users, said the proposed changes meet statutory requirements but could do more to protect consumers.

In a news release last month, Maryland Peoples Counsel David S. Lapp said residents are already facing higher costs from data centers from outside the state.

'While we push for better federal rules to address those costs, Maryland has the power'and customers a clear need'to make sure data centers within Maryland take on every cost that they impose on residential customers,' Lapp said.

Democratic Gov. Wes Moore recently joined 12 other governors and the Trump administration in urging the regional grid operator, PJM Interconnection, to shield residents and businesses from the infrastructure costs from data centers.

Maryland state Del. Lorig Charkoudian, a Democrat, said the grid operator has for years failed residents in the 13 states plus the District of Columbia that it serves. By delaying renewable energy projects, she said, PJM has kept older, more expensive power plants online, driving up prices as data centers increase demand.

PJMs board last month rolled out a new data center plan that it said would improve demand forecasting, accelerate the addition of new generation projects and give states a larger role.

Charkoudian said states and utilities struggle to determine just how much power is needed. Data center users shop around for sites, which can cause wildly inaccurate forecasts of just how much power a utility will need.

'It actually has a very concrete financial impact on ratepayers,' she told Stateline. 'And so thats why one of the things that really could make a difference for ratepayers is if we actually had an accurate count of how much were getting online.'

While some of those challenges lie outside the realm of state control, Charkoudian said there are things the state can do, including the new rate structure for larger users. Shes crafting a bill encouraging data centers to curtail their power usage during peak periods, such as hot days, when the electrical system is taxed by heavy usage of air conditioners, Maryland Matters reported.

Charkoudian said adding solar generation and storage are low-cost ways to respond quickly to demand. And states can avoid the need for more generation by doubling down on energy efficiency programs that lower demand and also consumer costs.

'The best time to fix this was five years ago,' she said. 'The next best time is right this minute, because its only going to get worse.'

Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira contributed to this story. Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org.

©2026 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The mid-January brawl broke out when seven girls rushed from one classroom inside Campus Kilpatrick to another and began “attacking and assaulting seven youth inside,” according to a notification sent to county officials.

All available officers responded to the classroom to stop the “major disturbance,” in which one officer was struck in her face “approximately three times causing injury,” the report states.

Vicky Waters, a spokesperson for the Probation Department, confirmed a staff member was placed on administrative leave.

“Department policy is also clear that OC spray is not to be issued to line staff assigned to Campus Kilpatrick,” Waters said. “Importantly, we remain committed to the Board of Supervisors motion regarding the prohibition of OC spray at that facility, maintaining accountability, and ensuring the safety and well-being of everyone who lives and works in our juvenile facilities.”

She could not say where the pepper spray came from, or whether the staff member who used it received permission from a supervisor.

If the investigation determines that “any actions were inconsistent with Department practices and policies, appropriate corrective and disciplinary action will be taken,” she said.

An incident notification sent to the Probation Oversight Commission on Jan. 13 made no mention of the use of pepper spray. A separate “OC Deployment Report” provided to the board weeks later stated that six youths were injured at the time and that officers failed to follow the department’s decontamination policy.

Such reports typically do not include Kilpatrick at all because pepper spray usage there is so rare.

Supervisor demands answers

County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath, upon learning about the incident, demanded answers from Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa at the supervisors’ Feb. 3 meeting.

“It is my understanding that there was a significant fight and use of force a few weeks ago and that OC spray was used by line staff despite an explicit commitment that line staff would not use OC spray and that it would only be available with supervisor approval in case of emergency,” Horvath said.

Viera Rosa responded that Horvath was right.

“Without being cryptic, what I can say is that you are correct in your statement, that does not reflect the policy of the Probation Department and that there are employees that currently are undergoing investigation and are not being allowed to work,” he said. “They’re off work because of the severity of these allegations.”

Viera Rosa reiterated the department’s commitment that line staff “are not issued OC spray, or pepper spray, when they are on that campus and any time an employee fails to follow our directives or uses force that is outside of the scope of policy, they will be investigated and disciplined properly.”

Pepper spray bans

Thirty-five states ' and seven California counties ' have banned pepper spray in juvenile halls. California is one of five states that allow probation officers to routinely carry canisters on their person.

Los Angeles County has unsuccessfully attempted to phase out the use of pepper spray inside its juvenile facilities for nearly seven years, and all of the current Board of Supervisors publicly oppose its continued use. Yet it is still deployed, almost daily on average, within the county’s two largest facilities.

In 2023, the Probation Department reopened one of those locations, Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, without any pepper spray. The ban lasted about two weeks before the decision was reversed following a violent escape attempt. The reinstatement of pepper spray, described as temporary at the time, has continued since then, with line staff arguing that it is necessary to keep them safe from violence amid perpetual short staffing.

Boys moved out

Until recently, Kilpatrick housed a small number of boys in a camp-like setting, but efforts to reduce the population at Los Padrinos, amid threats of a state takeover and the juvenile hall’s closure, led to a repurposing of the campus in the Santa Monica Mountains to hold all of the girls and gender expansive youth in county custody.

The Board of Supervisors directed the Probation Department to stop using pepper spray on those populations in 2022, but the broader reinstatement of the chemical agent at Los Padrinos led to its use against them again.

While department officials initially were cagey about whether pepper spray would be allowed at the new Kilpatrick, the department ultimately determined officers would not carry it.

Safety concerns not addressed

In a statement, the Supervising Deputy Probation Officers Union blamed the rapid expansion of Kilpatrick for the incident, saying the department had failed to “adequately account for critical safety, classification and operational considerations.”

The county eliminated the screening policy that limited the previous population at Kilpatrick, combined youth from “multiple bureaus and classifications, including off-the-street cases, into a single setting” and failed to address “predictable safety concerns,” the union’s leadership said.

Kilpatrick was designed to function as a “residential treatment-style, home-like environment,” not as a juvenile hall or Secure Youth Treatment Facility, a type of detention that houses youth who have been sentenced for the most serious of crimes. The union argued juvenile hall and SYTF settings “permit the use of OC spray.”

“It reflects a different security posture and risk profile,” the statement reads.

The department received warnings about potential conflicts and gang affiliations ahead of the moves last year.

'Reform cannot mean recklessness. When you eliminate screening, mix classifications, and ignore known rivalries, you are not advancing rehabilitation; you are creating preventable risk,” said Reggie Torres, president of the Supervising Deputy Probation Officers Union.

“Our members support meaningful change, but it must be grounded in sound correctional practice and safety for both youth and officers. What happened at Campus Kilpatrick was a preventable operational failure, and it needs to be corrected before someone gets seriously hurt.'

The county’s efforts to “depopulate” Los Padrinos have led to instability at its other facilities. Both Kilpatrick and Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall have failed recent inspections by state regulators.

Pepper spray usage and violent incidents surged at Nidorf last year following the transfers, according to data released by the department.