The Brief

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A federal jury determined Ryan Routh was guilty Tuesday of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last year at his South Florida golf course.

Jurors convicted him on all five counts, including attempted assassination and weapons violations. Even though the rifle was never fired that day, federal lawyers say Routh had "intent" and made a "substantial step in the alleged attempt." He now faces up to life in prison.

Federal prosecutors rested their case last Friday after spending a total of seven days presenting 38 witnesses. They detailed what they say was Routh's planned attack against the then-GOP presidential candidate as he golfed at his West Palm Beach club on Sept. 15, 2024.

The verdict came after a trial that took two-and-a-half weeks, proceeding quicker than prosecutors and U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon anticipated. The main reason was that Routh, acting as his own attorney, spent relatively little time cross-examining prosecution witnesses and called just three people to testify in his defense.

His defense, which took just a few hours, came after a prosecution case that lasted seven days and called 38 witnesses.

Judge Cannon cautioned Routh as he prepared to deliver his closing argument Tuesday that he would have to restrict his remarks to evidence introduced at the trial. But he repeatedly flouted those judicial guidelines, prompting objections from the prosecution and a warning from the judge.

Routh tried to explain to the jury why he offered such a limited defense. He said he wanted to subpoena twenty witnesses and introduce 500 exhibits, but rulings by the court prevented that. That led Judge Cannon to temporarily halt the proceedings and issue Routh a stern warning.

In his closing, Routh told the jury the case was about "intent and whether someone can actually pull the trigger and take someone's life." Acting as his own lawyer and referring to himself as "the defendant," Routh suggested to jurors that he had actually planned an attempt on Trump's life while the then-presidential candidate was golfing on the 5th hole, 375 yards from the sniper's hiding place. "The opportunity was there and the trigger was not pulled, "he said. "The crime was not committed."

This screengrab shows Ryan Routh speaking during an interview at a rally to urge foreign leaders and international organizations to help provide humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians and Ukrainian servicemen in Kyiv on April 27, 2022, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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Routh said he wasn't capable of taking someone's life. "Mere planning of something is not intent," he said. "It is only a dream, a fantasy," one he never intended to execute.

In his closing, prosecutor Christopher Browne methodically walked jurors through the trove of evidence of what he said were Routh's plans to assassinate Trump. On the question of Routh's intent, Browne said, "Why did he take these actions? Why did he load this rifle if his intent was not to kill?" In the rebuttal, prosecutor John Shipley reminded the jury that no one needs to be shot and no weapon needs to be fired for a charge of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.

In his opening, Shipley told jurors Routh wanted to ensure that voters would not be able to elect Donald Trump as president in 2024. "The defendant decided to take the choice away from the American voters," he said. The plot Routh is charged with, he said, "was carefully crafted and deadly serious."

Former Secret Service agent Robert Fercano, now with the Department of Homeland Security, said he foiled Routh's alleged attempt to shoot Trump. Fercano testified about his encounter with a man he first saw as a "face in the bushes" as Trump was golfing.

As he scanned the 6th hole of the golf course, ahead of where Trump was playing, he told the court, "I encountered what appeared to be the face of an individual (and) the barrel of a weapon protruding from the fence line."

Fercano testified he got off his golf cart and said, "Hey sir!" At first, he said, he thought he was possibly encountering a homeless person and there wasn't an imminent threat. In response, he said, "I heard what appeared to be a groan and the subject smiled at me."

Law enforcement officials work at the crime scene outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Sept. 16, 2024, the day after the attempted assassination of then-GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

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At about the same time, Fercano told jurors he saw a gun barrel protruding from the fence line, which moved toward him as he backed away. He says he also noticed ballistic "bulletproof vest" plates positioned on the fence. Fercano, an ex-Marine and trained marksman, said, "This appeared to be a textbook ambush scenario."

Another prosecution witness, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Kimberly McGreevy spent hours on the stand over two days. She detailed evidence that tracked Routh's activities a month prior to the attempted shooting.

McGreevy drew on data from Routh's cell phones — he had six of them — and surveillance camera video to track his movements. The agent testified that the accused moved between Mar-a-Lago, Trump's golf club, the airport where the president keeps his plane and a truck stop where Routh was living in his SUV.

The FBI agent said that during that time, "He was living at that truck stop, conducting physical and electronic surveillance … and stalking the former president."

McGreevy also detailed Routh's alleged purchase of the SKS-style rifle seized at the golf course by federal agents and his attempt to buy a more powerful weapon.

According to McGreevy's testimony, Routh sent a text to his girlfriend in Hawaii, asking, "How many bullets does an SKS rifle hold? An AK-47 can shoot to 500 meters. I have to get to 400."

Judge Cannon agreed to allow Routh to represent himself in the trial after hearings and motions in which he said he was unhappy with his court-appointed lawyers.

In his defense, he called two character witnesses (who discussed examples of what Routh said were his "peacefulness, gentleness and non-violence") and a gun expert. Michael McClay, an ex-Marine sniper, was presented to discuss a sniper's tactics and positioning.

McClay said that when he test-fired the SKS-style rifle left at the scene several months after Routh's arrest, it malfunctioned. The gun fired — but the second round in the magazine repeatedly jammed. Prosecutors attributed that to the effects of acid used by investigators to recover the gun's obliterated serial numbers.

Other testimony from McClay was less helpful to Routh's defense. The ex-Marine sniper visited the golf course and surveyed the area around the 6th hole where prosecutors say, "a sniper's hide" was set up just outside the fence. McClay told the court it offered what he called "a clear shot" to the 6th hole where Trump was soon to arrive.

Routh then asked about whether the gun would be effective firing at the 5th hole, where Trump was golfing at the time, an area much farther away. "Depending on the skill of the shooter," McClay said, "yes."

Before his arrest, Routh already had a criminal record, including a 2002 conviction in North Carolina for possessing an explosive device. He spent much of his life in North Carolina before moving to Hawaii. He was a strong supporter of Ukraine following the invasion by Russian troops. He has said he backed Trump for president in 2016 and regrets that decision.

The attempt on Trump's life was the second that year — following a shooting during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. in July 2024. A gunman, perched on a building rooftop, fired as Trump spoke to supporters. Trump's ear was struck, and an attendee died. The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Copyright 2025 NPR

CHICAGO — For the past five weeks, a bar in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood has become one of the country's biggest World Cup watch parties, with lines stretching around the block for the biggest games.

This is all the doing of Chicago's Major League Soccer club, the Fire. By the time the final whistle is blown on the World Cup between Argentina and Spain on Sunday, an estimated 60,000 people or more will have come through at some point in the summer for a taste of World Cup fever.

This watch party and others like it around the country are one piece of Major League Soccer's efforts to capitalize on this World Cup summer here in the U.S.

Hosting the 1994 World Cup was transformative for the sport of soccer in the United States. World Cup fever led millions of children to sign up for youth leagues. Many Americans saw games aired on TV for the first time. And it led directly to the creation of Major League Soccer, as the establishment of a top-division men's professional outdoor league was a condition of awarding the U.S. the tournament.

Since then, the league has done decades of work to grow its fanbase and stature in the world of soccer. MLS kicked off in 1996 with 10 teams; last season it reached 30 teams, the same number as Major League Baseball and the NBA. In the early years, only a few dozen games were on TV each season; today, every game is televised on Apple TV.

Now, MLS hopes that 2026 can be just as transformative as 1994. The question is: how?

FOX Sports host Rob Stone (L) and MLS Commissioner Don Garber speak at the MLS "The Next Chapter" Press Conference on July 16, 2026 in New York City. With the World Cup ending, the MLS motto is: "Thanks world. We'll take it from here"

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The Costco free sample experience

The Chicago Fire had a puzzle to solve. The FIFA World Cup was coming back to the United States — and with it would come a once-in-a-generation opportunity to use the world's largest sporting event as a potent accelerant to grow its fanbase, like harnessing a cart to a rocket ship.

But Chicago would not host any games, having sat out the bidding process at the behest of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who found FIFA's demands for expensive renovations to the city's premier stadium, Soldier Field, too much to ask of city taxpayers.

"At the end of the day, this is the biggest sporting event in the world that takes place once every four years. And it's not happening in Chicago," said Dave Baldwin, the Fire's president of business operations.

"And we had a decision to make," he said. "One was to just bury our head in the sand and just watch on TV like everyone else, or the other one was to really rally behind it, put some dollars behind it."

In the end, the Chicago Fire put just under $3 million to build up the space at the bar, called Recess. It is massive, with ample space indoors and out. In the center of the patio stands what looks like a jumbotron plucked from an arena nearby and set down on a platform, with all four sides showing that day's game. Around the space are Chicago Fire decorations, sign-up sheets, contests and team merch for sale.

"I compare converting non-soccer fans to soccer fans to my experience when I go shopping at Costco, which is I never knew that I needed 800 teriyaki meatballs, but I was walking through the line, I had a chance to sample, and I said, 'Oh my gosh, this is amazing,' and I go buy one of those giant boxes," Baldwin said. "I have met very few people that come out to a match and don't want to come back."

As the MLS season kicks back into gear, 22 clubs are running a promotion called "First Match on Us" or "Next Match on Us," with free tickets for first-time attendees.

Casual sports fans view soccer differently today than they did in the 1990s, said Brian Bilello, the president of the New England Revolution, one of the teams participating in the promotion.

Bilello played a key role in bringing World Cup matches to Gillette Stadium, the home of both the Revolution and the New England Patriots. The stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, also hosted France and Brazil in a pre-World Cup tune-up friendly in March. The Revolution saw the World Cup as an opportunity to attract fans who aren't diehard soccer followers, but rather the Boston sports fan who simply had yet to try a Revs game.

"One of the most important fans that we need to grow collectively in our league is that core sports fan that also likes soccer. In 1994, I don't think those fans were open to that. They were just like, 'Ah, soccer sucks. I don't like soccer,'" said Bilello. "That doesn't really exist as much anymore."

Lionel Messi of Inter Miami CF in action during the MLS match against the New England Revolution on April 25, 2026 in Miami, Fla.

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The Messi effect

This week, Major League Soccer rolled out an ambitious, eight-figure marketing campaign called "Thanks World, We'll Take It From Here." It includes a star-studded commercial that aired during both semifinal games and will run again during Sunday's final, which is expected to be watched by tens of millions of American viewers.

The centerpiece of the ad is Lionel Messi, the 39-year-old global superstar and captain of the Argentina national team. In 2023, Messi left a wildly successful career in Europe to join the MLS club Inter Miami, a blockbuster move that has already paid dividends for the league as a whole, with attendance and viewership up since his arrival.

"There were a lot of people that thought he was coming here to retire, and it's been the opposite," said Camilo Durana, the league's chief business officer. "Rarely do you see him getting subbed off. He wants to play the 90 minutes. He's intense. He wants to win."

Messi's performance in the World Cup has been another advertisement for MLS, Durana said. Argentina will play in Sunday's final against Spain; a win would be its second consecutive title with Messi at the helm, and he's in the running to win the Golden Boot race for most goals scored in the tournament. Messi has scored eight times and is in second place behind France's Kylian Mbappé, who has 10 goals.

"What Messi's arrival did — and what this World Cup we believe will do — is it'll encourage more players to come," Durana said.

Players are the other big audience MLS is targeting with this World Cup. Even as its quality of play has improved dramatically over the years, MLS is still dogged by a reputation for being a tier or two below Europe's domestic leagues.

MLS was directly involved in the U.S. bid for this World Cup to ensure that its teams' facilities would be front and center in the hosting plan.

Each host stadium was paired with nearby soccer facilities for visiting teams to train in the days immediately preceding each game; MLS worked to ensure those venues were, as often as possible, MLS team stadiums or training centers. (Other venue training sites included Division I college soccer facilities, municipal sporting complexes and one NWSL stadium, the Kansas City Current.)

Additionally, each World Cup team chose a base camp in North America to stay and train between games. Many chose MLS facilities. That included high-profile teams like Argentina, which stayed in Kansas City to train at a Sporting Kansas City center, and Brazil, which trained at Red Bull New York's state-of-the-art Columbia Park Training Facility in New Jersey.

Argentina's team trains ahead of its World Cup round of 32 match against Cape Verde at Sporting KC Training Center in Kansas City on June 29, 2026. MLS was directly involved in the U.S. bid for this World Cup to ensure that its teams' facilities would be front and center in the hosting plan.

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The goal was to show top-flight players from around the world what life could be like in MLS.

"Players talk," said Durana. "Often, before a player is transferred, they ask around and ask people what they think. So it's really important for us that players have great experiences as they experience the World Cup."

Many American soccer fans still prefer watching higher-tier European leagues like the English Premier League or Germany's Bundesliga. But improving the quality of players in MLS could lead to higher-quality competition — which then would draw more fans, MLS hopes.

"Major League Soccer players scored 10 goals in the group stage, and so I think that validates everything that we're doing, and it shows the quality that we have on the MLS pitch," Durana said.
Copyright 2026 NPR

The city of Long Beach plans to dip into its emergency reserves to balance its books this year as lagging tax revenue and rising expenses worsen its financial position ahead of the budget’s close on Sept. 30.

The city says it will pull $27 million from a total of four reserve accounts, exhausting its operating reserves and taking out $16.5 million from its $50.1 million emergency reserve — money set aside specifically for natural disasters and unforeseen crises.

The city last tapped that reserve during fiscal years 2020 and 2021, as officials awaited COVID-19 federal relief money while stay-at-home orders shuttered businesses and forced the city into furloughs.

While not in the midst of a natural disaster, city administrators say Long Beach’s financial picture demands the use of these funds. “I don’t think it’s a secret that we have been hit pretty hard by the economic conditions that are out there,” City Manager Tom Modica said in an interview Wednesday.

City revenues are projected to come in about $21 million below expectations this year, while expenses are set to run $20.8 million over. The city’s utility tax alone is down nearly $14.7 million as residents use less electricity and gas. Airport revenue has stayed flat even as passenger traffic at Long Beach Airport fell 11%, its second straight yearly decline. And Measure LB, a tax on power plants that voters approved in 2024, has fallen well short of projections, prompting the city auditor to request documents and open a review, Modica said.

Interest earnings have also slipped as low rates and heavy infrastructure spending leave less cash to invest, said city Financial Management Director Kevin Riper.

The city’s Health Department, meanwhile, needs an $11 million bailout from the city’s general fund after losing about $18 million in federal grant funding — its second consecutive deficit as stagnant state money fails to keep pace with rising costs in its $254 million budget.

Adding to the strain: Labor agreements with city unions have layered on $38.3 million in new structural costs over three years, insurance costs are booming, and a hiring push that cut the police vacancy rate from 26% to 13% and lowered firefighter vacancies to 3.2% means the city is now paying salaries it had budgeted to save on through unfilled positions — a $10.6 million underestimate in the citywide activities budget.

City departments began cutting costs last fall in anticipation of the gap when Modica asked them to find 3% savings through hiring delays and paused capital projects. Most hit between 2% and 7%, though Economic Development and the Health Department both ran about 11% over budget.

The Police Department cut the most of any department — nearly $11 million — by trimming overtime, deferring its next recruit academy to the next fiscal year, freezing professional-staff hiring and scaling back non-critical purchases.

The city also found $16 million in savings by leasing or financing new vehicles instead of buying them outright, though Riper cautioned the move is effectively irreversible without the city eventually having to “double collect” to rebuild cash for future fleet purchases.

Despite those steps, they weren’t enough to close the gap without dipping into reserves for the second year running.

The city now heads into its next budget cycle with its reserves at their lowest level in years and little cushion to absorb another bad year. Modica is set to unveil a proposed fiscal year 2027 budget on July 30 that he says will require “very difficult changes” for both residents and city staff, though he has offered few specifics beyond warning that service reductions are coming.

“My goal with the Proposed Budget, which will include very difficult changes for both the community and our organization, will be to outline a path to fiscal sustainability and create a plan to replenish our reserves,” Modica wrote in an email to city staff this week.

The city has pledged to prioritize rebuilding the emergency reserve as part of that process — but with revenues still soft and costs still climbing, officials have offered no guarantee the city won’t be back in the same position next year.

Municipalities across the region, including Santa Ana, Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange and Riverside County, have faced similar pressures to draw on reserves, blaming culprits like soft sales and hotel tax revenues, rising pension and labor costs, and federal and state aid that has either flattened or rescinded.

The city of Los Angeles pulled $358 million from its general fund reserves last year, and San Diego has repeatedly drawn down its savings, a trend officials there expect to continue.

After Modica presents his budget and the mayor recommends his changes, the Long Beach City Council must discuss, adjust and approve it by the end of September.

To understand how the World Cup went in Los Angeles this summer, look no further than the watch parties.

The city of L.A.'s events — branded "Kick it in the Park" — were neighborhood picnics. People could turn up, put up a camping chair, and watch the game in a local park.

In total, the city reports that at least 35,000 people attended them over the past month. Crowds packed Sycamore Grove Park to see Mexico take down Ecuador on a massive screen. At Echo Park Lake, people watched Lionel Messi score a hat trick in Argentina's opening match.

FIFA's official "fan zones" told another story. They were ticketed, fenced off and sometimes expensive. The one on Venice Beach had some locals in an uproar after organizers promised a free block party and under-delivered.

At another fan zone at the Original Farmer's Market, tickets were cheap but once inside, attendees were left to watch the matches from a hot parking lot. If you wanted a beer, the designated drinking area didn't have a clear view of the screens.

After 39 days of soccer, eight matches at SoFi Stadium and many more events big and small across the region, reviews of the tournament have broadly been positive.

People flocked to bars and public viewing parties. Angelenos wore green with pride to root for Mexico. New fans were, at least temporarily, won over by the beautiful game.

But FIFA, with its high ticket prices to get inside the stadium and branded events, had more mixed reviews, and faced protests, too. Some wondered what their community was getting out of all the hubbub.

A group gathered in Downtown Los Angeles last week to protest FIFA and 2026 World Cup corporate sponsors.

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This balance — enjoying the soccer, but being weary of what comes with it — was a throughline throughout the tournament. So was the sentiment that the World Cup was merely a warm-up lap for the coming 2028 summer Olympics.

" [It's] a tremendous opportunity for us to learn and practice for the '28 Games," said Paul Krekorian, the former L.A. City Council president who leads the city's major events office.

One example of this was public transit. Metro launched a special bus system specifically to take people to and from SoFi Stadium, and it delivered tens of thousands of people there each match. An even larger bus fleet will be needed for the Olympics, which event organizers compare to hosting seven Super Bowls a day for a month.

"The reason we were excited to take on an event like the World Cup before the Super Bowl and the 2028 Games in the first place is because this is where you get the true teaching moments," Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins wrote in a blog post about the World Cup success.

Metro unveiled its enhanced services during the 2026 World Cup on March 4.

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Other moments during the tournament hinted at the ways mega-events can go south.

A free city watch party for the Korea-Mexico match at Seoul Park was overcrowded and chaotic when thousands more people showed up than organizers expected.

The Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights broke out in flames during the World Cup, spewing thick smoke across swaths of the city and surrounding areas. The bad air didn't force FIFA to change plans at SoFi Stadium, but had things gone differently, it could have.

Crowds packed a block party near Mariachi Plaza to watch Mexico defeat South Korea one day after the fire sparked.

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And a community event in South L.A. was disrupted when someone flew a drone to take photos and the FBI, Homeland Security and LAPD descended to enforce a strict World Cup anti-drone policy. The nonprofit involved called it an unintended consequence of having high-security sporting events in Los Angeles.

All those issues — crowds, fires and security — will undoubtedly come up again in the lead-up to 2028. They also mean some people will be happy to bid the 2026 World Cup farewell.

Still, many will miss the tournament in Los Angeles, which brought thousands of us out to public spaces to be together. Many of L.A.'s communities got to celebrate their heritage. And everyone could participate. You could strike up conversation simply by wearing your team's jersey while out and about.

That collective, temporary madness is over now. But it was fun while it lasted.

A couple of years ago, as summer camps began to ban screens, a company called Camp Snap began to sell a screen-free camera that children could take along. The point-and-shoot had the vibes of a 1990s Kodak: just a viewfinder, a flash and no way to see the photos until the camera was hooked up to a computer.

What the company didn't see coming was the demand from adults.

"All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a lot of Gen Z, millennial demographic started buying them," says Camp Snap President Trevor George. "We realized very quickly that, OK, this is way beyond kids at summer camp."

Camp Snap made a screen-free camera for kids to take to summer camps, but adults are now nearly just as big an audience.

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Perhaps it was only a matter of time after the cool kids put on low-rise jeans like Britney Spears that photo trends would cycle around too. But they come also as a whiplash —against the era of the smartphone.

Digicams have flooded bars, music venues, festivals and family gatherings. Canon told NPR that sales of the PowerShot, its renowned point-and-shoot, jumped nearly sevenfold from 2022 to 2025. Camp Snap says its sales more than doubled in the past year.

Last year, Camp Snap launched a screen-free retro camcorder too, and it showed up in the hands of celebrities including Selena Gomez and Joe Jonas. One was spotted at Taylor Swift's wedding.

A fresh look in the sea of smartphone photos

Jaden Williams, 16, first picked up a point-and-shoot in his yearbook class. The photos "felt more genuine," he says. Soon enough, he was noticing digicams all over TikTok and among friends. Last month, he requested — and received — one for his birthday. He uses it alongside his phone.

Jaden Williams says these are some of his favorite photos that he has taken with his new digicam lately: a selfie and a sunny snap of his dog, Chase.

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"If I'm about to take pictures of food or something, then I might use my phone," says Williams, from North Carolina. "But if I'm out with friends or at a party, I might use the camera for a more, like, warm vibe."

The turn-of-the-millennium digital photo is hard to mistake: a bit grainy, sometimes fuzzy, overexposed in the center with a blinding flash, often date-stamped in red or orange. A nostalgic haze gives photos the feel of an instant memory.

"The brightness and also the crispness of the photo — but having that blur and grain somehow added in as well — makes the photos look very flattering," says Katie Coyne, 24, from New York.

She'd bought a digital camera for a safari vacation but lately has lent it to her younger sister, Gwen Coyne, who lives in Philadelphia. They both find the vintage blur refreshing in the sea of hyper-sharp smartphone photos.

Katie and Gwen Coyne love the wistful, hazy aesthetic of digicam images. These show palm trees in the Dominican Republic, Gwen out with friends and a wine tasting in South Africa.

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"I feel like iPhone cameras look just so ... sometimes it looks a little too real," says Gwen. She recently brought the digicam on a trip, where she photographed palm trees against the sky and the ocean. "And I don't really know how to put it into words, but it gave such a vacation vibe."

The sisters think that for the vast majority of people on social media, the digicam is purely a trendy aesthetic. First came the 1970s-style Instagram filters, then the revival of Polaroid-style photos, now this.

But for many people, it's also a rebellion against their smartphones.

Part of the great disconnection

Christina Berkett, 34, has been carrying her point-and-shoot to avoid her phone.

"I think you get caught up in the digital world, where — OK, I'm pulling out my phone to take a photo and then I see a notification or I'm checking my email," says Berkett, from New Jersey.

Wedding photographer Christina Berkett is filming more ceremonies using an old-school camcorder, though she often holds it sideways for the smartphone-friendly vertical view.

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And with a digital camera? "You put it in your bag, you don't think about it, and then at the end of the night, you go through all the photos and kind of relive that moment."

This makes the digicam trend a small part of a growing movement of people un-phoning or de-phoning their lives. Camp Snap's George sees it as an analog reboot after decades of internet-connected everything, from watches to washing machines. eBay told NPR that it's seeing a surge of searches for old-school tech like iPods, CDs and Walkmans.

Berkett, who's a wedding photographer, says couples are printing real-world photo albums. They still request iPhone video footage for social media content, but many also pay extra for her to film ceremonies or speeches with an old-school camcorder — like she's someone's aunt, just a guest.

"They want it to feel like it's a home video," Berkett says. "I don't think they want something that's grainy. I think they want something to feel real."

She does hold the camcorder differently from how her parents once did when they made home videos. The device sits on her palm flipped to its side, so that the video Berkett films is vertical rather than horizontal — because most people will still watch it on their smartphone.
Copyright 2026 NPR