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The Habanos Festival, the annual cigar fair held in Havana, Cuba,has been postponedas the island nation faces a fuel crisis that has diverted travel to the country, the festival's organizers announced Feb. 14.

The 26th edition of the festival was to be held in the last week of February, but Habanos S.A., the joint venture between the state-owned Cubatabaco and tobacco giant Altadis that holds a global monopoly on Cuban cigars, said that the postponement aimed to "preserve its high standard of quality" for the festival.

"The postponement of (the festival's) celebration is a measure aimed at protecting this experience and guaranteeing its excellence," the organizers said.

Habanos S.A. did not provide a reschedule date for the festival, saying it would announce a new date "in a timely manner."

Cubatabaco said in the announcement that the postponement was caused by "the complex economic situation that the nation is facing, as a result of the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the Government of the United States against Cuba."

The Trump administration declared Cuba "an unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security and cut off the country from Venezuelan oil in the aftermath of the seizure of former Venezuelan PresidentNicolás Maduro. The administration has threatened to impose tariffs on other suppliers, like Mexico, if they continue to ship fuel to the island.

PresidentDonald Trumpposted on Truth Social Jan. 11 that Cuba should "make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE." Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel denounced Trumpon social media, saying that "those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to criticize Cuba for anything, absolutely anything."

Cuba warned international airlines that jet fuel would no longer be available on the island after Feb. 10 and three Canadian airlines suspended flights to the country Feb. 9. The country detailed its plans to navigate the deepening crisis on Feb. 6, including protecting essential services and rationing fuel, as the government dug in its heels in defiance of a U.S. effort to cut off oil supplies.

What is the Habanos Festival?

TheHabanos Festivalis a five-day event that draws cigar aficionados and industry representatives from around the world.

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The festival includes agala dinner, visits to atobacco farmandcigar factory,a trade show and an auction of highly sought-after cigars. In 2025, the auctionraised $18 million, according to the Associated Press. The main celebration in this year's edition would have been the60th anniversary of the Cohiba brand,according to the magazine Cigar Aficionado.

"This is, is not just a national source of revenue. This is a source of pride. This is a source of connection with the outside world in a nation that has very limited foreign access," saidAaron Sigmond, the magazine's luxury industry writer, publisher and editor. He has authoredmultiple books on cigars,including the most recent "Cigars: A Biography."

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Sigmond compared the cultural standing of the festival in the cigar world to major award ceremonies, including the BAFTA and Academy Awards, and said the cancellation will have a large impact on the country.

"It's an all-encompassing, devastating blow to the government, for its need for hard currency (and) for the individual people there, the citizens of Cuba, who rely on hard currency, tips, gratuities, goods," Sigmond told USA TODAY.

Sigmond added that regular attendees of the festival would bring medical supplies and clothing into the country "because they've made friends with some of the Cubans over the years." He said that the fallout of the postponement will largely fall on "the common man" in the country.

"The people who could not leave Cuba, or did not want to leave Cuba, which is fair and fine, those are the people who are suffering the most," Sigmond said. "They're being punished for things that are mostly out of their control."

The festival was previously cancelled in 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contributing: Kate Perez, USA TODAY; Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:2026 Habanos Festival postponed as Cuba faces fuel crisis

MILWAUKEE — One of the most popular and luxurious passenger steamers of its day has been found in Lake Michigan's deep waters, searchers announced last week, more than 150 years after it sank stern-first about 20 miles off Racine, Wisconsin.

Lac La Belle, originally registered in Cleveland but later moved to Milwaukee for its home port, carried 53 passengers and crew when it encountered a fierce storm in mid-October 1872. Eight people died.

The ship was discovered by Paul Ehorn, an Elgin, Illinois, shipwreck hunter who has found several wrecks, most notably the SS Senator, which he located in 2005. The steel-hulled freighter sank off Port Washington, taking nine lives and 268 Nash automobiles on Halloween 1929.

The discovery was announced in a release by Brendon Baillod, president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeological Association, on ShipwreckWorld.com.

Ehorn said Lac La Belle captured his interest because of his love of old wooden steamers. He and his partner, maritime historian and shipwreck hunter Bruce Bittner, were able to narrow down the location and then use sonar to find the ship. The two then recruited two divers to go down and film it.

"When you search, you go down into like a neighborhood," Ehorn told the Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network. "You go down one street, then you go down the next street. If I would've started over in one lane, I would've found it in 30 seconds."

Perhaps most surprising, considering Lac La Belle's violent demise, the hull remains intact and the ship upright. Ehorn, 80, doesn't dive anymore but said he's "envious" of the divers who went to see Lac La Belle.

"It's in great condition," Ehorn said.

Gale force winds, extinguished boilers sealed doom

Built in 1864 in Cleveland, Lac La Belle was powered by a twin-cylinder high-pressure condensing steam engine. It was one of the first propeller ships on the Great Lakes to have twin stacks.

Built as a passenger steamer, Lac La Belle originally ran from Cleveland to Lake Superior. But it sank in an accident in 1866, and needed to be raised and refurbished, converted to a bulk freighter before resuming service.

On Oct. 13, 1872, Lac La Belle left Milwaukee at 9 p.m. local time, carrying 19,000bushelsof barley, 1,200 barrels of flour, 50 barrels of pork, 25 barrels of whiskey, 20 tons ofanimal feed, and sundries en route to Grand Haven, Michigan. About two hours into the trip, the ship began leaking badly from an unknown source, and it turned back to Milwaukee.

But the storm worsened with gale-force winds from the north, and eventually, water coming in extinguished the ship's boilers, leaving it at the mercy of the wind and the waves. Lifeboats were lowered, and the captain ordered the ship abandoned.

The captain ordered lifeboats lowered, and passengers and crew abandoned ship. All but one lifeboat returned to shore between Racine and Kenosha, Wisconsin. One capsized.

More wrecks are being discovered. This was especially coveted.

The shipwreck-hunting community had long coveted Lac La Belle. But it was never clear exactly where it went down. Ehorn said he and Bittner were "up for joy" when they realized they found it.

"I anticipated searching for a few weeks," Ehorn said. "I got lucky and had a lot of research."

Ehorn will be presenting the discovery in person at the2026 Ghost Ships Festivalin Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on March 7. He will show an underwater video of the site and tell the story of the discovery.

Beyond that, Ehorn's plans include creating a 3D photogrammetry model that will record the condition and layout of the wreck in detail before he releases the precise location.

In recent years, more shipwrecks have been discovered in the Great Lakes than ever before. Shifting water levels uncovering well-preserved sites, combined with better technology and increased public reporting, have all contributed to the boom.

"It's like an Easter egg hunt, and you found the egg," Ehorn said. "The picking gets slimmer as the years go by."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Searchers find missing luxury ship in Lake Michigan 153 years later

Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna was on shift in Minneapolis on a Wednesday evening last month, making deliveries as a DoorDash driver, when he realized he was being followed by ICE agents, his attorney said.

He drove home and was tackled by an agent but broke free and ran into the house where his cousin Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis was standing, the attorney said. As he shut the door and was trying to lock it, Sosa-Celis said he was shot in the leg by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

Coming just seven days after a federal agent fatally shotRenee Good, the incident spawned renewed protests andheated clasheswith police. An account of the events fromthe Department of Homeland Securitysoon after the incident conflicted with the narratives from the two men and their family members.

DHS claimed Sosa-Celis was driving the car and he, Aljorna and another man assaulted the agent before the agent fired his weapon.

The first inkling of the government questioning the DHS account came from the US Department of Justice. In a January 16 court filing supporting criminal charges against the two men, the DOJ asserted Aljorna was the one driving the vehicle.

In a stunning reversal, the Justice Department on Thursday filed a motion seeking to drop criminal charges against the two Venezuelan men. In it, the DOJ said federal prosecutors provided incorrect information to the court, while ICE issued a statement admitting its federal agents made "false statements" under oath.

The two federal agents involved have been placed on administrative leave while the Justice Department investigates their "untruthful statements," which were revealed by a review of video evidence, ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a statement.

The two officers may be fired and potentially face criminal prosecution, Lyons said.

DOJ's motion cited "newly discovered evidence" contradicting statements the agency included as the basis for filing criminal charges against the men.

It's not clear what video evidence was uncovered, described in the motion as "materially inconsistent with the allegations" from federal prosecutors in the charging document. CNN has reached out to DHS for further clarity on the evidence and whether it stands by the initial statement following the shooting but did not hear back. The DOJ declined to comment on the motion when contacted by CNN.

"This was an absolute unreasonable use of force, and the officer was fabricating claims against my client to justify that," said Aljorna's attorney, Frederick J. Goetz.

The dismissed case fits into a larger pattern in which the federal government has been quick to release accounts after a shooting by its law enforcement agents, which were later proven to be false, misleading or incomplete, according to CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig. Examples include video evidence after federal agents fatally shot Good andAlex Pretti, which appeared to undermine elements of the government's accounts of what happened.

Similarly, prosecutors last year filed to drop charges againstMarimar Martinezin Chicago, who the government said rammed a federal agent's vehicle before he shot her several times. A judge, who noted the government's case included omissions that caused her to tread carefully, dismissed the charges against Martinez last year.

Martinez asked for evidence in the case to be released. When it was put out last week, the evidence bolstered Martinez's account that hers was the vehicle rammed, not the agent's. And text messages from the agent showed him bragging about the number of times he shot her. In anews release, the DHS called the shots "defensive fire."

The shifting narratives from the federal government in the case of Sosa-Celis and Aljorna have further chipped away at the Trump administration's credibility, as the motion to dismiss the charges with prejudice is a more dramatic admission from federal prosecutors because it indicates they put forth wrong information and means the case cannot be brought back, Honig said.

Lawyers for both Sosa-Celis and Aljorna commended the department's motion, calling it "extraordinary" and "exceedingly rare" in statements to CNN.

Here's what we know about the case and how it fell apart:

Federal agencies offered conflicting narratives

In a January 15news release, DHS claimed federal agents were targeting Sosa-Celis in a traffic stop – not Aljorna – as part of an immigration enforcement operation on January 14 when he attempted to evade arrest, crashed into a parked car and tried to flee on foot.

Sosa-Celis allegedly began to "resist and violently assault" one of the officers and the two were in a "struggle on the ground," then "got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broom stick," at which point the officer fired a "defensive shot," DHS said. Two other people came out of a nearby apartment and attacked the officer, the agency said.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem described the men's actions as "an attempted murder of federal law enforcement." The agency stood by its initial statement a few days after the shooting when contacted by CNN.

On January 16, however, the Justice Department offered an account painting a different picture of the events in a filing supporting criminal charges against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna. That document said the driver of the car was Aljorna, who prosecutors said was zigzagging through traffic while agents pursued the vehicle.

Aljorna, the affidavit claimed, hit a light pole before fleeing from the car, with an ICE agent chasing him on foot toward the home. Both Sosa-Celis and Aljorna were accused of hitting one of the agents with a shovel or broom before the agent pointed his weapon at the two men, causing them to run toward the home, the affidavit said.

As Sosa-Celis and Aljorna ran inside, the agent fired one round from his pistol "towards the vicinity" of the two men but at the time, the officer was "uncertain if his shot struck any of them," the DOJ's affidavit said.

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Videos, interviews with family discredit DHS account

Aljorna's attorney told CNN the Trump administration's claims his client and Sosa-Celis attacked federal agents with a broomstick or shovel "never happened."

Sosa-Celis, speaking from a hospital room on a livestream video on his Facebook account, described engaging in some sort of struggle with federal agents as he was helping his cousin escape arrest and get inside their shared home.

As Aljorna was being followed in his car, the fatal shooting of Good the week prior was fresh in his mind and he was fearful, according to Goetz, his attorney. Aljorna called his family members, who told him to get home.

Approaching his home, Aljorna lost control of the car due to ice on the roadway and hit a snowbank, Goetz said. Aljorna was then tackled by an ICE agent after running from the car, just 10 feet away from the door, where Sosa-Celis had walked out and called for him to get inside, the attorney said.

Aljorna was able to slip out of his jacket, freeing himself from the agent's grasp, and ran to his cousin, Goetz said. They both got behind the door and closed it when a shot rang out, he added.

The accounts from the two men were reiterated by their family members in interviews and livestream videos of their 911 calls, which differed from DHS' statement.

One of them showed a video call made by Sosa-Celis' partner and reviewed by CNN, frantically describing to family members what she says happened, according to Alicia Celis, Sosa-Celis' mother, who spoke to CNN.

In one video call, Sosa-Celis' partner said, "Julio arrived first. They were chasing Alfredo – he had to jump from his car."

"He ran and they threw themselves on top of him. After, Julio threw open the door, and they shot," she added.

A different video obtained by CNN shows what was happening outside the home while the family waited inside, revealing agents approaching the home and setting off a flash-bang. Smoke can be seen, and ramming sounds are heard as someone says, "They're in! There's more than a dozen of them."

"He told me, 'Mom, ICE was chasing me," Aljorna's mother Mabel Aljorna later said. "Once we were inside, they shot at Julio,'" she added.

In his livestream from the hospital, Sosa-Celis said, "The shot that was fired happened when my cousin managed to escape, and he entered inside. I closed the door and as I was locking it, I heard the shot, and that's when I realized I had been shot in the leg."

Judges call out government's credibility issues

Sosa-Celis is "relieved that the federal criminal case is over," his attorney Robin Wolpert said on his behalf, adding he is "determined to seek justice and hold the ICE officer accountable for his unlawful conduct."

Confrontations involving federal agents have routinely been captured on video from multiple angles, which later served to discount parts of the government's narrative of events. Videos fromthe killing of Renee Good, a mother of three, in her vehicle, raised questions about the federal agent's tactics and decision to use deadly force.

Similarly, footage showing federal agents killing Alex Pretti revealed the ICU nurse was holding a phone in his right hand, and an officer removing a gun from his back waistband before the shooting. The Trump administration claimed an agent "fired defensive shots" and asserted Pretti was "brandishing" a firearm.

"It's mind-boggling that DHS continues this pattern of making immediate, definitive statements about what happened that are very quickly disproved by actual evidence," said senior CNN legal analyst Honig.

Judges across the country who were appointed to the bench by presidents of both political parties have made findings on record about DHS not being forthcoming, truthful or credible, according to Honig.

The Trump administration has faced mounting credibility issues as its immigration crackdown has rolled out in blue cities nationwide. Even as several judges have acknowledged parts of its narratives may be true, others have described the government's claims in court as "unreliable," "untethered to the facts" and "simply not credible,"CNN previously reported.

The motion to dismiss the charges against Sosa-Celis and Aljorna with prejudice is "remarkably unusual," said Honig. It speaks to how the government has rushed to put out possibly premature statements, which are at times incomplete or inaccurate, only later to be contradicted by emerging facts, he added.

Federal prosecutors are put in a "very difficult position" when they realize later "that something they've said to a court is not true," Honig said, but they nevertheless have a duty to correct the record.

"While judges ordinarily give the Justice Department a lot of deference and a lot of implied credibility, that's changing now," he continued. "You have credibility only until you give it away."

CNN's Diego Mendoza, Caroll Alvarado and Alaa Elassar contributed to this report.

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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Two minutes before NBA commissioner Adam Silver was scheduled to address the media in an upstairs room at Intuit Dome, his deputy, Mark Tatum, cheerfully shook hands with reporters before taking his seat in the front row.

That the league's second-in-command was eagerly anticipating Silver's words, much like the other occupants in the room, was poignant. Given the most prominent talking points that have dominated league discourse lately — the tanking epidemic, sports betting issues and alleged cap circumvention — have become so prevalent, the build-up to Silver's news conference was seismic.

However, following the duration ofSilver's availability— he spoke for around 30 minutes — there were far more questions as a result of his answers (or lack thereof).

The first question posed to the commissioner, and the most detailed response Silver gave, was about the issue of tanking. This makes sense, given how quickly the league office acted in response to recent misbehavior from the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers. Both organizations were fined; $500,000 to the Jazz and $100,000 to the Pacers for actions detrimental to the core values of the NBA. Utah's modus operandi was far more egregious than Indiana's — sitting its two best players for entire fourth quarters in separate close games is worse than holding someone out under the guise of rest, but neither should be tolerated.

"Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we've seen in recent memory?" Silver asked Saturday. "Yes, it is my view. Which was what led to those fines, and not just those fines but to my statement that we're going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of teams' behavior, and very intentionally wanted teams to be on notice."

Now, therealproblem with tanking, at least from the vantage point of one writer, is it's the lone arena where 29 other teams can't share in the winnings. At least not initially. (Lottery picks don't always pan out, and sometimes the late firsts and early seconds become the mainstays.) But don't worry, there's no proposal of a quick fix to what's going on, although I'm sure you'veread or heard a plethora of ideas this week alone. All I'm suggesting is Silverhadto do something. For what it's worth, he honestly didn't even want to dignify the mere word of "tanking," but it's reached a point of no return.

There's an answer that lies somewhere in the middle of the ongoing epidemic; not completely punishing teams for losing, but not rewarding the seemingly cunning ones that try to game the system. Sometimes, you're the Sacramento Kings, which goes hand in hand with parity and purgatory. How much better are the Chicago Bulls set up for their future than, say, the Brooklyn Nets? The Clippers and Hornets are both 26-29 heading into the All-Star break — would you consider them to be on equal footing?

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"Part of the problem is if you step back," Silver said, "the fundamental theory behind a draft is to help your worst-performing teams restock and be able to compete, and by the way, yes, we want parity, but parity of opportunity. … My sense is, talking to GMs and coaches around the league, that there's probably even more parity than is reflected in our records. That goes to the incentive issue. It's not clear to me, for example, that the 30th performing team is that much measurably worse than the 22nd performing team, particularly if you have incentive to perform poorly to get a better draft pick. It's a bit of a conundrum."

So where does it end? The Jazz aren't going to suddenly turn over a new leaf and be competitive the rest of the way. Half a million isn't enough to deter or prevent future behavior — Utah has clearly shown it's fine with throwing away money. Vince Williams Jr., who arrived at the deadline, played seven minutes in a 135-119 loss to Portland this week — he's owed $2.3 million. (The Jazz are only on the hook for a prorated amount, but you get the point.) How do you also govern the other teams that could potentially fall under the same umbrella? Silver needs to move quickly before tanking takes on a life of its own, especially considering the talent of incoming players in a few months.

On the topic of expansion, Silver essentially confirmed, then tried to reverse his words about the possibilities of Las Vegas and Seattle being the NBA's next destinations.

"My sense is at the March Board of Governors meetings, we'll be having further discussions around an expansion process," Silver said. "We won't be voting at the March meeting, but we will likely come out of those meetings ready, prepared to take a next step in terms of potentially talking to interested parties. No, it doesn't have to be a two-team expansion. Frankly, it doesn't have to be any number of teams."

Hmm, sure? There are a number of hoops to jump through before arriving at City X and/or Y as expansion teams, but kicking the can down the road by saying you'll make a decision on making a decision in a few months is not as clear as one may think.

In the case of Kawhi Leonard, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and alleged cap circumvention, Silver conceded judiciary control to the Wachtell Lipton firm, the NBA's go-to litigation arm. Ballmer and the Clippers are alleged to have orchestrated a $28 million endorsement deal — an absurd amount of money, enough to seriously threaten the integrity of the league. Maybe it's not as outlandish as former referee Tim Donaghy's scandal (Wachtell Lipton took around a year to finalize its investigation in that matter, according to The Athletic), but the league doesn't need this to drag on for nearly the same length of time. The backlash, not only from fans and media, but the other 29 owners could be seismic.

"I'm not involved day-to-day in the investigation," Silver said. "I think, as I've said before, it's enormously complex. You have a company in bankruptcy. You have thousands of documents, multiple witnesses that have been needed to be interviewed. Our charge to the Wachtell law firm is to do the work and then come back and make recommendations to the league office, and that's where things now stand."

All-Star Weekend, in its purest form, is supposed to be a celebration of the good parts of the NBA — the inclusivity, the opportunity and the excellence. An uplifting view of the state of the league. Instead, we're reminded of the economic and moral perils of basketball at the highest level, and head into the break with a slew of unsolved problems.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Texas Tech's JT Toppin had already scored three baskets in overtime so the next time he got the ball, Arizona's defense collapsed, trying to make anyone besides thepreseason All-America selectionbeat them.

Toppin obliged.

The 6-foot-9 forward whipped the ball back out to the perimeter where Donovan Atwell was waiting. The guard made a 3-pointer that was crucial toNo. 16 Texas Tech finishing a 78-75 road victory over No. 1 Arizonaon Saturday.

"I knew he was going to be over there," Toppin said. "We work on that every day."

The pass to Atwell capped a sensational day for Toppin, who had arguably his best all-around performance of the season with 31 points on 13 of 22 shooting, 13 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. While the Red Raiders (19-6, 9-3 Big 12) have been slightly inconsistent this season, Toppin has been unshakable, scoring at least 10 points in 21 straight games.

Texas Tech beat the No. 1 team for just the third time in school history. The last time was a 65-62 win over Baylor on Jan. 11, 2022.

Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland said Toppin's pass was indicative of the team's dedication as they navigate a difficult conference schedule. Texas Tech has won three straight.

"We're not guessing — this isn't luck," McCasland said. "These dudes practice hard and put themselves in position every day. There's no shortcuts to this. It's a grind and you've got to love it. These dudes love it."

Toppin finished with his 16th double-double of the season and 47th of his career and is now averaging 21.9 points and 11 rebounds per game. He played all but 41 seconds in Saturday's win, showing incredible stamina in a rugged game between two of the most physical teams in the country.

He was at his best during the opening minutes of overtime, scoring on an array of tip-ins and low-post moves that Arizona couldn't defend.

The Wildcats had nothing but good things to say about him postgame.

"He has a really quick second jump," Arizona forward Tobe Awaka said, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds. "He has great body placement, in terms of the ball and tracking it down. He seems to always be in the right place at the right time. Just kudos to him and the type of player he is."

Texas Tech wasn't a one-man show Saturday. Christian Anderson scored 19 points after making six 3-pointers. Atwell finished with 11, including the clutch 3 in overtime and another from behind the arc with 25 seconds left in regulation that capped a 9-0 Red Raiders run and helped push the game to overtime.

Still, Toppin is the team's All-America selection for a reason. He lived up to the billing on a huge stage in a raucous road environment.

"JT Toppin was not going to be denied at the end of this game," McCasland said.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign uphereandhere(AP News mobile app). AP college basketball:https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-pollandhttps://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Put aside, just for a moment, the LIV Golf-PGA Tour's subtext of perpetual scuffling. Try not to think about the posturing and skepticism that accompanies virtually every LIV story. Focus, just for a second, on the simple facts:

Anthony Kim won a golf tournament. Against Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. In 2026.

Kim, one of sports' true prodigal sons, claimed LIV's Adelaide event in Australia on Sunday, riding a final-round, nine-birdie 63, turning a five-shot deficit into a three-shot victory. If nothing else — if Kim's story goes no further than this right here — it's a pretty incredible comeback for a guy who briefly ruled the golf world, then literally disappeared for more than a decade.

Every so often, golf produces one of these back-to-the-mountaintop stories, when a name from the past has a late-career week of their lives. Think Jack Nicklaus at the Masters in 1986, Tom Watson (almost) at the Open Championship in 2009, Tiger Woods at the Masters in 2019, Phil Mickelson at the PGA Championship in 2021. Everything comes together for one weekend, past meeting present, and it's remarkable to see.

Obviously, Kim's victory doesn't have anywhere near that historical resonance; about the only thing Adelaide and Augusta National have in common is a starting letter. But Kim's first professional win in nearly 16 years is an impressive story of facing down the demons of addiction and injury.

"For anyone who's struggling, you can get through anything" -@AnthonyKim_GolfInspirational.#LIVGolfAdelaidepic.twitter.com/oRvavK7iPC

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league)February 15, 2026

It's tough to remember now, but for a brief moment, Kim's popularity in golf was second only to Woods — and Woods' personal scandals erupted right as Kim was playing his best golf. Before Scottie Scheffler, before Brooks Koepka, before Jordan Spieth, before Rahm and DeChambeau, before Rory McIlroy had won a single tournament, there was Kim. He went toe-to-toe with Tiger, he hung with Michael Jordan, he was a SportsCenter darling back when SportsCenter was, well, the center of the sports universe.

Scanning leaderboards from Kim's prime 2009-10 era feels like looking at faded family pictures in a scrapbook. There's only one player from Kim's most recent win, the 2010 Shell Houston Open, still in the top 20: ageless wonder Justin Rose. The tee sheet at Kim's most recent Masters, 2011, included Ernie Els, Mark O'Meara, Craig Stadler and Watson.

But after suffering an Achilles injury in 2012, Kim stepped away from the game. And not in the "showing-up-on-NBA-sidelines-and-ESPN-red-carpets" kind of way. No, he flat-outvanishedfor more than a decade. Rumors of Kim surfaced here and there — he was playing golf with buddies in Oklahoma, he was keeping in shape in California, he hadn't touched a club in five years — but no one managed to get even a picture of Kim, much less his story.

"I was around some bad people," Kim said in 2024. "People that took advantage of me. Scam artists. When you're 24, 25, even 30 years old, you don't realize the snakes that are living under your roof."

That's why Greg Norman'sdramatic 2024 reveal of Kimas a new LIV addition caused such a ripple in certain segments of golf fandom. Kim was once the coolest dude possible, the heir to Woods, the herald of a new era of golf. What would he have left after so many years away from the game?

Not much, to start. He failed to earn even a single point in his first two seasons on the tour, and was relegated. That could have been the end of his story, but he managed to place third in LIV's Promotions Event, posted a T22 in the first tournament of the season … and now this. A win is a win, especially when two of the world's best are in your final grouping.

It'll be interesting to see how the golf establishment views this victory. LIV players, as expected, haveralliedaroundKim. European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald was one of the first non-LIV players to praise Kim's achievement, unsurprising given that it occurred in the middle of the night for America:

Way to go AK!Redemption stories always resonate. From being one of the most talented players in the world, to disappearing from the game, to putting in the work to get yourself back into the winner's circle - that takes something special.We all fail at times. Not everyone has…

— Luke Donald (@LukeDonald)February 15, 2026

For LIV, this is undoubtedly the most significant victory in the tour's history. This story will break wide in a way that, say, Rippers GC's latest team victory at Adelaide won't. The presence of Rahm and DeChambeau legitimizes the win, and LIV's challenge now is transforming this burst of fans' attention into longer-term connections.

For Kim, the takeaway is much more simple. Yes, he'll rise up to around 200th in the world rankings, but that's not the real story here. Kim picked himself up from life's floor, got his life back together, and returned to the top of the leaderboard. Right now, that's more than enough.

As Hakeem Jeffries sits in the minority of a GOP-controlled Washington, he is still haunted by a Republican gerrymandering gambit that he believes cost him the speaker's gavel — and cost his party control of the House.

This time, he's making sure Democrats fight back.

Jeffries is leading the Democratic party's counterpunch toPresident Donald Trump's aggressive mid-decaderedistricting push.He's going all in with money, legal firepower and his own political capital to make sure no seat is left on the table for Democrats — forcing the party to abandon the left's longtime moral opposition to party-line map meddling.

"Republicans started this redistricting war, and Democrats have made clear, we're going to finish it," Jeffries said in an interview with CNN. "When they go low, we strike back."

Top Democrats, including Jeffries, are buoyed by signs of surging anti-Trump sentiment across the country —with special election wins even in ruby red parts of Texas— and believe they will capture the House, and possibly the Senate, in November. But Jeffries believes he can't afford to ignore the GOP's gerrymandering, when just three seats in North Carolina in 2024 were enough to cost Democrats the majority.

Aftera huge win on redistricting in California, Jeffries is vowing to spend "tens of millions" of dollars to push through an April ballot initiativein Virginiato potentially give Democrats four more seats. And he is now turning his attention to Maryland, where Democrats' big gerrymandering gamble is facing its most difficult test yet. Jeffries and other top Democrats are now intensifying pressure on a key party leader, the 42-year-old Baltimorean who runs the state Senate, who refuses to help draw his party another more favorable seat that would target the state's lone GOP-held congressional district.

Jeffries issued a stark warning to that Democrat, state Senate President Bill Ferguson — suggesting the move could help Trump's GOP win the midterms.

"One man shouldn't stand in the way of the people of Maryland … being able to decide, 'Should we go in this direction? Or should we not answer Donald Trump's continued efforts to rig the midterm election?'" Jeffries said.

If Ferguson doesn't back down, Jeffries vowed to personally apply the pressure: "At some point I'm going to have a conversation with him if he continues to stand in the way of an up-or-down vote." CNN has reached out to Ferguson for comment.

The prevailing sentiment in the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus, however, is one of skepticism. They insist a new map at this point would only backfire on Democrats.

"It's not a question of one man, but a caucus that measures the risk calculation differently given recent past experience," a person close to the Maryland Senate Democratic Caucus told CNN.

While the caucus agreed with Jeffries that fighting Trump should the top goal, this person added: "Unfortunately, mid-cycle redistricting in Maryland would have the opposite impact and likely backfire in the state courts, giving Trump and the GOP even more seats in Congress."

Top Democrats, including Jeffries, never expected a mid-decade redistricting push to be the centerpiece of their midterms strategy. It's expensive and legally fraught with plenty of political pitfalls. Already, Jeffries and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker struggled to find support for a mid-decade map redraw in blue Illinois. (With early voting already underway in Illinois, Jeffries' allies insist the state could still be muscled to act, if necessary, such as if the Supreme Court strikes down part of the Voting Rights Act and creates what one Democratic operative called "a worst-case-scenario" for the party.)

Democrats say they were dragged into the redistricting fight by Trump and the GOP, who kicked offthe redistricting arms race last year in Texas.Now, as many Democrats see it, it's the new future of House campaigning.

Jeffries and his team are already looking ahead to states like Washington, Colorado and even Pennsylvania for the 2028 cycle, according to multiple people familiar with party strategy. In their minds, it's not just the path to the House majority this year, it's the way to hold onto it.

"(Trump) wanted to rig the midterm elections, and for whatever the reason, didn't think that Democrats were going to forcefully respond. He got that wrong," Jeffries said.

Just months after the GOP's Texas effort, Democrats believe they are on track to gain as many as five seats in California, one in Utah and several in Virginia — moves that could nearly neutralize the GOP's own gerrymandering push. Another seat could be coming in New York if a court challenge goes their way.

Republicans, meanwhile, have enacted new congressional maps in four states, targeting nine House seats held by Democrats. (One seat in Missouri, though, is still tied up in courts.) A big push in Florida is still to come.

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Jeffries, though, believes it could end up as a wash.

"The best-case scenario for Republicans at this point is status quo, which is very different than what they were claiming when they were beating on their chest last year, saying they were going to gerrymander our opportunities out of existence," Jeffries said.

Both parties are closely watching another big state fight: Virginia.

Newly elected Gov. Abigail Spanberger and state Democrats are pursuing a strategy so aggressive that it's surprised even some Democrats in Washington. They are looking to eliminate as many as four GOP seats, transforming their House delegation — which has six Democrats and five Republicans — into one with 10 Democrats and just one Republican.

That's all in a state where Kamala Harris won by about 6 points.

Jeffries told CNN he is willing to devote "tens of millions of dollars" to make sure Democrats are successful on the ballot in April. (House Majority Forward, a group linked to Jeffries, committed $5 million last week, and it is expected to spend more before April, the group told CNN.)

Democrats are much more anxious about neighboring Maryland, where Jeffries and others are ratcheting up pressure on the state Senate president to yield in time.

It may not be enough. Ferguson and others in the caucus are insisting there is no path forward, both publicly and privately, according to interviews with a half-dozen people closely tracking the state's push.

"At the end of the day, if he won't bring it to a vote, there's not much you can do about that," Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Maryland Democrat, told CNN.

Ivey said he personally wouldn't have chosen this path if Trump hadn't forced Democrats' hand, adding: "It's an awful game."

But Ivey, like many others, is deeply anxious about what could happen if blue-leaning Maryland ignores what GOP leaders in Texas, Florida, North Carolina and other states are doing.

"We better not lose the House by one seat," Ivey said.

Ferguson and other skeptics believe a new Democratic map in Maryland would not survive the courts and could ultimately backfire. Andy Harris, the GOP lawmaker who stands to lose the seat if Democrats redraw the maps, predicted that Republicans could actually gain a seat if Democrats moved forward — with a court forcing them to redraw in favor of the GOP.

"We'll get a second seat. That's why the Senate president doesn't want to do it," Harris said in an interview with CNN.

But Jeffries was blunt when asked about a new map backfiring on Democrats: "That's not going to happen."

Top Democrats believe they can still win back the House even without that single additional seat in Maryland. But they don't want to take the gamble.

Asked if Ferguson's move could cost Democrats a possible majority, Jeffries said: "Well, he'd have to live with that."

CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi, Jeffrey Ackermann and Jenna Monnin contributed to this report.

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