By WILL WEISSERT and MICHELLE L. PRICE (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence used a Friday gathering of some of the nation’s leading Christian conservatives to urge his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination to support a 15-week federal abortion ban at minimum.

The exhortation at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual conference, coming a day before the first anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, amounted to a challenge for the GOP front-runner, Donald Trump, who has been reluctant to endorse a federal abortion ban. The former president is addressing the evangelical assembly on Saturday night.

“We must not rest and we must not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in this country,” Pence said. “Every Republican candidate for president should support a ban on abortion before 15 weeks as a minimum nationwide standard.”

Pence was among a number of 2024 Republican presidential hopefuls — including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina — to speak Friday before a ballroom of about 500 attendees. All of the candidates emphasized their anti-abortion credentials while urging like-minded activists to stay on the political offensive, even as leading Democrats insist their party’s defense of abortion rights will be a 2024 boon to them.

DeSantis, who signed a law in Florida banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, touted the measure with a nod toward Trump’s veiled criticism last month that it is “too harsh.”

“It was the right thing to do,” DeSantis told the crowd. “Don’t let anyone tell you it wasn’t.”

DeSantis has been less clear on where he stands on a federal abortion ban.

Not far from the conference site in Washington, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were rallying Friday with abortion rights supporters to mark the anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

That ruling, issued June 24, 2022, ended federal constitutional abortion protections and paved the way for near-total bans in some Republican-led states. Democrats have vowed to codify the right to an abortion in federal law, but don’t have the votes in Congress to do so.

“Since that dark June day last year, each one of you has worked tirelessly to fight back,” Biden told activists from reproductive rights groups. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Referring to supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, the president added, “What’s really remarkable is despite the will of the American people, MAGA Republicans made it clear that they won’t stop with the Dobbs decision.”

After stronger-than-expected results in last year’s midterm elections, Democrats believe issues surrounding abortion access can energize their base, attract moderates alienated by GOP hardliners and help the party hold the Senate, flip the House and reelect Biden

Even Trump has suggested that increased abortion restrictions are a weakness for Republicans, despite his three Supreme Court nominees making up the majority of justices who voted to overturn Roe last year.

He posted on his social media site in January that the party’s underwhelming midterm performance “wasn’t my fault” and blamed “’the ​’abortion issue,​’​ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother.”

Yet the mood at Friday’s Faith & Freedom Coalition session was jubilant, with attendees cheering every mention of Roe v. Wade’s reversal. “Thank God almighty for the Dobbs decision,” Scott told the crowd.

Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, said the conference’s dates were set years ago, so the fact that it spans the Dobbs anniversary is a “serendipitous coincidence.” Still, he said the gathering is out to ensure top Republican candidates don’t get complacent when it comes to opposing abortion.

“We’re certainly going to do everything that we can, as an organization and as a pro-life and pro-family movement, to give our candidates a little bit of a testosterone booster shot and explain to them that they should not be on the defensive,” Reed said in an interview before the conference began. “Those who are afraid of it need to, candidly, grow a backbone.”

Reed drew sustained cheers when he opened the gathering by saying that “after 50 years of prayer, and fasting and knocking on doors and electing candidates and registering voters and changing the culture of our country, Roe v Wade has been overturned.”

Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, head of the Democrats’ Senate campaign arm, said this week that top Republican presidential candidates will back a nationwide ban to win support in their GOP primaries, then shift to a more moderate position for the general election.

“They’re not going to get away with that,” Peters said.

Among GOP candidates, Pence has previously said he’d support banning abortion nationally after just six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

His declaration Friday that a ban at 15 weeks should be the “minimum nationwide standard” mirrors a call from the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. The organization has vowed not to support any White House candidate who doesn’t support a 15-week federal ban at a minimum.

Scott also has praised South Carolina’s six-week ban and backs a 15-week federal prohibition. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley supports a federal ban but hasn’t said at what point in pregnancy she would seek to ban abortions.

Trump has avoided specifying what national limits, if any, he would support on abortion.

A deeply devout, evangelical Christian, Pence was greeted far more warmly at this year’s Faith & Freedom Coalition conference than he was the last time he addressed the group in 2021. Then, he was booed by some and faced shouts of “traitor.” That event, held in Florida, came months after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, when Pence defied Trump’s unprecedented demands to overturn Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

The tamer reaction came after Reed warned Friday’s audience about booing or verbally expressing disagreement with any presidential candidates: “If they’re not where they need to be, then let’s just love them and pray them right where they need to go.”

Not everyone heeded that warning. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has built his 2024 candidacy around criticizing Trump, drew boos when he said the former president is more interested in promoting himself than the country’s interests.

A woman near the stage bellowed “We love Trump” and a few others tried to start chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” but Christie was able to finish his speech.

“You can boo all you want but here’s the thing, our faith teaches us that people have to take responsibility for what they do,” said Christie, who is Catholic. “People have to stand up and take accountability for what they do.”

By The Associated Press

Follow along for live updates on the submersible that imploded deep in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all five people aboard during a voyage down to the Titanic shipwreck.

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CANADA’S TRANSPORTATION BOARD LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Friday it’s launching an investigation involving the loss of the Titan that will focus on the cargo vessel Polar Prince.

Polar Prince is a Canadian-flagged ship that served as mothership to the Titan submersible. The Transportation Safety Board will investigate the Polar Prince in its role as a support vessel and will conduct a safety investigation into the circumstances of the operation, the agency said.

The agency said a team of investigators is traveling to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador to gather information and conduct interviews. It said it will coordinate with other agencies in the days ahead.

There were 17 crew members and 24 people on board the Polar Prince, the agency said.

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What to know:

— What caused the Titan to implode? Right now, it’s not even clear who will lead the investigation

— How the unconventional design of the Titan sub may have destined it for disaster

— A Titanic expert, an adventurer, a CEO, and a father and son were killed in Titan’s implosion

— Tourist sub’s implosion draws attention to murky regulations of deep-sea expeditions

— ‘Titanic’ director James Cameron says the search for the missing sub became a ‘nightmarish charade’

— How much did Titan submersible search cost? US Coast Guard’s bill alone will be in the millions

— The latest on the Titan submersible tragedy and what’s next in the recovery efforts

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TITAN’S UNCONVENTIONAL DESIGN SUBJECTED CRAFT TO MORE WATER PRESSURE

The deadly implosion of the Titan submersible raises questions about whether the vessel exploring the Titanic wreckage was destined for disaster because of its unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to safety checks that are standard in the industry.

The Titan, owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions, first began taking people to the Titanic in 2021. It was touted for a design that included a carbon fiber composite hull and an elongated chamber for crew and passengers — a departure from more traditional spherical cabin areas and all-titanium construction.

Experts say the cabin where people sit in most submersibles is spherical because water pressure is exerted equally on all areas. By comparison, the Titan’s chamber was a larger, more elongated tube shape.

The 22-foot long (6.7-meter long), 23,000-pound (10,400-kilogram) Titan’s larger internal volume — while still cramped with a maximum of five seated people — meant it was subjected to more external pressure.

While OceanGate promoted the Titan’s carbon fiber and titanium construction as “lighter in weight and more efficient to mobilize than other deep diving submersible,” experts say carbon composites have limited life when subject to excessive loads or poor design which leads to stress concentrations.

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ADVENTURERS DROP OCEANGATE FRAUD LAWSUIT AFTER TITAN TRAGEDY

A pair of adventurers who sued OceanGate for fraud said they have dropped their lawsuit against the company that owned the Titan submersible.

Sharon and Marc Hagle sued OceanGate after they put money down for a trip to the Titanic wreckage site and the voyage never happened. The couple said the trip was both rescheduled and canceled, and they were told they would not receive a refund.

The Hagles are adventurers who became the first married couple on a commercial space flight last year, according to Purdue University, Marc’s alma mater.

The couple said in a statement to The Associated Press on Friday that they have decided to drop their legal action in the wake of CEO Stockton Rush’s death, along with four passengers, and the loss of the Titan at sea.

“Money is a driving force in our economy, but honor, respect and dignity are more important to the human soul,” the statement read. “We wish the entire OceanGate family and the families of those aboard the Titan the very best as they grieve the loss of their loved ones.”

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COST OF SEARCH FOR TITAN WILL EASILY STRETCH INTO MILLIONS OF DOLLARS

The cost of the search for the missing Titan submersible will easily stretch into the millions of dollars for the U.S. Coast Guard alone. The Canadian Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and other agencies and private entities also rushed to provide resources and expertise.

There’s no other comparable ocean search, especially with so many countries and even commercial enterprises being involved, said Norman Polmar, a naval historian, analyst and author based in Virginia.

The aircraft, alone, are expensive to operate.

The Pentagon has put the hourly cost at tens of thousands of dollars for turboprop P-3 Orion and jet-powered P-8 Poseidon sub hunters, along with C-130 Hercules, all utilized in the search.

Some agencies can seek reimbursements. But the U.S. Coast Guard is generally prohibited by federal law from collecting reimbursement pertaining to any search or rescue service, said Stephen Koerting, a U.S. attorney in Maine who specializes in maritime law.

The first priority in search and rescue is always saving a life, and search and rescue agencies budget for such expenses, said Mikki Hastings, president and CEO of the National Association for Search and Rescue.

Rescue agencies don’t want people in distress to be thinking about the cost of a helicopter or other resources when a life is in danger.

“Every person who is missing – they deserve to be found. That’s the mission regardless of who they are,” Hastings said.

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TITAN’S IMPLOSION HIGHLIGHTS MURKY REGULATIONS FOR DEEP-SEA VOYAGES

The Titan’s voyage down into the North Atlantic highlights the murkily regulated waters of deep-sea exploration.

It’s a space on the high seas where laws and conventions can be sidestepped by risk-taking entrepreneurs and the wealthy tourists who help fund their dreams. At least for now.

Thursday’s announcement by the U.S. Coast Guard that the Titan had imploded near the Titanic shipwreck, killing all five people on board, has drawn attention to how these expeditions are regulated.

The Titan operated in international waters, far from the reach of many laws of the United States or other nations. It wasn’t registered as a U.S. vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety, nor was it classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.

Stockton Rush, the OceanGate Expeditions CEO and Titan pilot who was among the dead, had said he didn’t want to be bogged down by such standards.

Experts say wrongful death and negligence lawsuits are likely in the Titan case — and they could be successful. But legal actions will face various challenges, including waivers signed by the Titan passengers that warned of the myriad ways they could die.

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CRITICS POINT TO LACK OF CERTIFICATION FOR TITAN SUBMERSIBLE

Bob Ballard, a member of the research team that found the Titanic wreck in 1985, called the lack of certification by outside experts “the smoking gun” in the case of the Titan submersible.

The U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday that the Titan, a small craft headed to the wreck of the Titanic, suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five aboard.

“We’ve made thousands and thousands and thousands of dives with other countries as well to these depths and have never had an incident,” Ballard said Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “So this is the first time, and the smoking gun is that this is the first time by a submarine that wasn’t classed.”

Appearing on the same show, “ Titanic” director James Cameron called the lack of certification by an engineering entity or “classing bureau” “a critical failure.”

He described several potential problems with the Titan’s design, but said the weakest link was the carbon fiber composite hull.

“You don’t use composites for vessels that are seeing external pressure. They’re great for internal pressure vessels, like scuba tanks, for example, but they’re terrible for external pressure,” he said. “So this was trying to apply aviation thinking to a deep submergence engineering problem. And we all said this was a flawed idea.”

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COAST GUARD SAYS FOCUS REMAINS ON SEARCH, OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION YET TO BE LAUNCHED

Still focused on the search, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday that an official investigation has yet to be launched into the disappearance and implosion of the Titan submersible.

Coast Guard officials announced Thursday that the craft that was headed to the wreck of the Titanic suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five aboard.

On Friday morning, the Coast Guard said an official investigation had not yet been launched because the agencies involved were focused on the search and still determining who has the appropriate jurisdiction and authority to lead it. Possibilities include the U.S. Coast Guard, Canadian Coast Guard, other federal or international agencies, or a joint effort.

The Coast Guard also said it was too soon to say whether any policy changes would be made.

By PATRICK WHITTLE and JENNIFER McDERMOTT (Associated Press)

A day after revelations that the Titan submersible imploded, officials searched the ocean floor for evidence and grappled Friday with vexing questions about who is responsible for investigating the international disaster.

A formal inquiry has not yet been launched because maritime agencies are still busy searching the area where the vessel fell apart, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday. Debris was located about 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) underwater, several hundred feet away from the Titanic wreckage it was on its way to explore. The U.S. Coast Guard led the initial search and rescue mission.

“I know there are also a lot of questions about how, why and when did this happen. Those are questions we will collect as much information as we can about now,” Rear Adm. John Mauger of the First Coast Guard District said Thursday.

It was not entirely clear Friday who would have the authority to lead what is sure to be a complex investigation involving several countries. OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owned and operated the Titan, is based in the U.S. but the submersible was registered in the Bahamas. OceanGate is based in Everett, Washington, but closed when the Titan was found. Meanwhile, the Titan’s mother ship, the Polar Prince, was from Canada, and the people on board the submersible were from England, Pakistan, France, and the U.S.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Friday that the U.S. Coast Guard has declared the loss of the Titan submersible to be a “major marine casualty” and the Coast Guard will lead the investigation. NTSB spokesperson Peter Knudson said that information was provided to the agency’s senior management by Coast Guard officials, and the NTSB has joined the investigation.

The Coast Guard has not confirmed that it will lead the investigation. Coast Guard headquarters said the Coast Guard First District in Boston will discuss future operations and plans, but did not say when. The First District did not respond to phone and email messages seeking comment Friday.

How the investigation will proceed is also complicated by the fact that the world of deep-sea exploration is not well-regulated. Deep-sea expeditions like those offered by OceanGate are scrutinized less than the companies that launch people into space, noted Salvatore Mercogliano, a history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina who focuses on maritime history and policy.

The Titan was not registered as a U.S. vessel or with international agencies that regulate safety. And it wasn’t classified by a maritime industry group that sets standards on matters such as hull construction.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the Titan when it imploded, complained that regulations can stifle progress.

“Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation,” Rush wrote in a blog post on his company’s website.

Bob Ballard, a member of the research team that found the Titanic wreck in 1985, called the lack of certification by outside experts “the smoking gun” in the Titan implosion.

“We’ve made thousands and thousands and thousands of dives … to these depths and have never had an incident,” Ballard said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“… The smoking gun is that this is the first time by a submarine that wasn’t classed,” he said.

One question that seems at least partially resolved is when the implosion likely happened. After the Titan was reported missing Sunday, the Navy went back and analyzed its acoustic data and found an “anomaly” that was consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the vessel was operating when communications were lost, said a senior U.S. Navy official.

The Navy passed on the information to the Coast Guard, which continued its search because the data was not considered definitive, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive acoustic detection system.

Condolences for and tributes to those who died flowed in from around the world. Killed in the implosion were Rush, two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The Titan launched at 8 a.m. Sunday, and was reported overdue Sunday afternoon about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to the site of the disappearance.

Any sliver of hope that remained for finding the crew alive was wiped away early Thursday, when the submersible’s 96-hour supply of air was expected to run out and the Coast Guard announced that debris had been found roughly 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the Titanic.

“The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber,” Mauger said.

A flurry of lawsuits is expected, but filing them will be complex and it’s unclear how successful they will be. Plaintiffs will run into the problem of establishing jurisdiction, which could be tricky, just as it will be for the investigation, said Steve Flynn, a retired Coast Guard officer and director of Northeastern University’s Global Resilience Institute.

The implosion happened “basically in a regulatory no man’s land,” Flynn said.

“There was essentially no oversight,” Flynn said. “To some extent, they leveraged the murkiness of jurisdiction to not have oversight.”

James Cameron, who directed the blockbuster movie “Titanic” and has made multiple dives to the iconic ship’s wreckage, told the BBC that he knew an “extreme catastrophic event” had happened as soon as he heard the submersible had lost navigation and communications at the same time.

“For me, there was no doubt,” Cameron said. “There was no search. When they finally got an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) down there that could make the depth, they found it within hours. Probably within minutes.”

The cost of the search will easily stretch into the millions of dollars for the U.S. Coast Guard alone. The Canadian coast guard, U.S. Navy and other agencies and private entities also rushed to provide resources and expertise.

There’s no other comparable ocean search, especially with so many countries and even commercial enterprises being involved, said Norman Polmar, a naval historian, analyst and author based in Virginia.

Some agencies can seek reimbursements. But the U.S. Coast Guard is generally prohibited by federal law from collecting reimbursement pertaining to any search or rescue service,” said Stephen Koerting, a U.S. attorney in Maine who specializes in maritime law.

At least 46 people successfully traveled on OceanGate’s submersible to the Titanic wreck site in 2021 and 2022, according to letters the company filed with a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, that oversees matters involving the Titanic shipwreck.

But questions about the submersible’s safety were raised by both by a former company employee and former passengers.

One of the company’s first customers, meanwhile, likened a dive he made to the site two years ago to a suicide mission.

“Imagine a metal tube a few meters long with a sheet of metal for a floor. You can’t stand. You can’t kneel. Everyone is sitting close to or on top of each other,” said Arthur Loibl, a retired businessman and adventurer from Germany. “You can’t be claustrophobic.”

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The fourth paragraph has been corrected to note that it was the Coast Guard, not Mauger, who gave the information on Friday.

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Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Holly Ramer in Concord, New Hampshire; David Sharp, in Portland, Maine; Lolita C. Baldor in Washington; Frank Jordans in Berlin; Danica Kirka in London; Gene Johnson in Seattle; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

By MARK SHERMAN (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a Republican-led challenge to a Biden administration policy that prioritizes the deportation of immigrants who are deemed to pose the greatest risk to public safety or were picked up at the border.

The justices voted 8-1 to allow the long-blocked policy to take effect, recognizing there is not enough money or manpower to deport all 11 million or so people who are in the United States illegally.

The case was one of two immigration cases decided Friday, the other upholding a section of federal law used to prosecute people who encourage illegal immigration..

In the deportation case, Louisiana and Texas had argued that federal immigration law requires authorities to detain and expel those in the U.S. illegally even if they pose little or no risk.

But the court held that the states lacked the legal standing, or right to sue, in the first place.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in his opinion for the court that the executive branch has no choice but to prioritize enforcement efforts.

“That is because the Executive Branch invariably lacks the resources to arrest and prosecute every violator of every law and must constantly react and adjust to the ever-shifting public-safety and public welfare needs of the American people,” Kavanaugh wrote.

At the center of the case is a September 2021 directive from the Department of Homeland Security that paused deportations unless individuals had committed acts of terrorism, espionage or “egregious threats to public safety.” The guidance, issued after Joe Biden became president, updated a Trump-era policy to remove people who were in the country illegally, regardless of criminal history or community ties.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas applauded Friday’s decision, saying it would allow immigration officers “to focus limited resources and enforcement actions on those who pose a threat to our national security, public safety and border security.”

The case displayed a frequently used litigation strategy by Republican attorneys general and other officials that has succeeded in slowing Biden administration initiatives by going to Republican-friendly courts.

Texas and Louisiana claimed in their lawsuit that they would face added costs of having to detain people the federal government might allow to remain free inside the United States, despite their criminal records.

Last year, a federal judge in Texas ordered a nationwide halt to the guidance and a federal appellate panel in New Orleans declined to step in.

A federal appeals court in Cincinnati had earlier overturned a district judge’s order that put the policy on hold in a lawsuit filed by Arizona, Ohio and Montana.

But 11 months ago, when the administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene, the justices voted 5-4 to keep the policy on hold. At the same time, the court agreed to hear the case, which was argued in December.

In Friday’s decision, Kavanaugh’s opinion spoke for just five justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberals. Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett agreed with the outcome for other reasons.

Justice Samuel Alito filed a solo dissent, writing that the decision improperly favors the president over Congress. “And it renders states already laboring under the effects of massive illegal immigration even more helpless,” Alito wrote.

In a separate immigration-related decision also issued Friday, the court upheld a section of federal law that is used against people who encourage illegal immigration.

The justices by a 7-2 vote reinstated the criminal conviction of a California man, Helaman Hansen, who offered adult adoptions he falsely claimed would lead to U.S. citizenship. At least 471 people paid Hansen between $550 and $10,000 each, or more than $1.8 million in all, the government said.

He was prosecuted under a section of federal immigration law that says a person who “encourages or induces” a non-citizen to come to or remain in the United States illegally can be punished by up to five years in prison. That’s increased to 10 years if the person doing the encouraging is doing so for personal financial gain. The justices rejected an appeals court ruling that the law is too broad and violates the Constitution.

JAMES CITY — Driver’s education is necessary for most teenagers to drive legally in Virginia, but fulfilling that prerequisite has been easier for some Williamsburg-James City County students than it has been for others.

At Tuesday’s Williamsburg-James City County School Board meeting, board members and other speakers said some students at Lafayette High School were having to pay for private training because not enough classes were being offered.

Drivers under 18 must enroll in a Virginia-approved driver education program to meet the requirements to obtain a learner’s permit. At its high schools, the WJCC school division offers a yearlong course that students request the prior year.

WJCC spokesperson Kara Wall said for the past academic year, eight classes were offered at Warhill High School, five at Jamestown High School and four at Lafayette. At time of publication, she did not have information about a waitlist at Lafayette.

Lafayette has the smallest student body among high schools in the division and the highest percentage of minority students. The York-James City-Williamsburg branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People questioned whether the insufficient amount of driver’s education at that school was an equity issue.

Susan Hildum, with the NAACP branch’s education committee, said at the school board meeting that whether or not this disparity was intentional, it looks bad.

“It is remarkable that the fewest resources are available to the school with the most disadvantaged and minority students who likely have the least ability to access this essential training from a private source,” she said.

Jessica Anderson, a parent of a Lafayette student who is the Democratic candidate for the House of Delegates’ 71st district seat, said her family opted to find private driving instruction because there were not enough classes available.

Board members Kimberley Hundley and Julie Hummel, who have also had students at Lafayette, agreed. Hundley said as soon as her children were old enough, they wanted their learner’s permits, but they were not able to get the needed education at school.

“It’s really hard,” she said. “We have (had) to pay outside services for both of our children.”

Hummel said she paid for three of her children’s education classes outside of Lafayette.

“We could afford to pay and it was okay,” she said, “but they’re a lot of students who can’t, who don’t have the choice.”

Wall said that for the coming school year, 58 students have requested the driver’s education course at Lafayette, and current staffing can accommodate that number.

J.W. Caterine, [email protected]

By SYLVIE CORBET and SAMUEL PETREQUIN (Associated Press)

PARIS (AP) — Participants at a Paris summit stopped short Friday of a deal to create a tax on greenhouse gas emissions produced from international shipping, leaving climate NGOs and activists lamenting the lack of ambitious responses to fight climate change and the world’s inequalities brought forward at the meeting.

The two-day gathering of world leaders and finance bosses ended without a major announcement, though organizers did release a promised “road map” aimed at fulfilling French President Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to assess reforms of the international finance system over the next two years.

“We need to be clear that if we don’t change the institutions, the world will remain the same,” Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said. “Those who are rich will stay rich. Those who are poor will remain poor. This is the way it is.”

The idea of a global tax on the greenhouse gas emissions produced from international shipping has been gaining traction and could potentially be adopted at a July meeting of the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency regulating shipping. The money could be directed toward developing countries to help them deal with climate change.

Some experts believe that a tax on shipping alone could raise $100 billion a year, and a strong endorsement of it in Paris would have provided Macron with a symbolic win.

“This is tax-free sector. And there’s no reason why it’s not taxed,” Macron said. But the French president, who hosted the summit, suggested that China and the U.S were not supporting the idea.

“If China and the U.S. and several key European countries are not on board, then you would put a tax in place that would not have any impact,” he added.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who attended the summit, called the tax “a very constructive suggestion” and said the U.S. would look at it.

It was unclear which countries at the summit supported the proposal, which could be an important step toward getting a heavily emitting industry to pitch in to the cost of fighting climate change. The French presidency said 23 nations, which were not identified in the official statement, backed the initiative.

Shipping accounts for almost 3% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the International Maritime Organization. A European Parliament report has warned that share could increase dramatically by 2050.

The gathering had no mandate to make formal decisions, but Macron had pledged to deliver a to-do list that would be accompanied by a progress-tracking tool. A 15-page document released soon after the summit ended relied heavily on calls for action by groups like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and others, such as changing the way risk is calculated on projects in the developing world and financing projects with local currency.

Both moves could reduce borrowing costs that are typically much higher for low-income nations that often face massive challenges in adapting to climate change at the same time they’re confronted by poverty and myriad other issues.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said during the closing ceremony that African nations are not “beggars.”

“It’s important in the new era where the world is in now, that there should be a good measure of equality among sovereign nations … We should go to demonstrate that Africa should never be seen as a continent that needs generosity. We want to be treated as equals.”

During the summit, the World Bank announced a plan to provide a pause in debt repayments for the most vulnerable countries when they are hit by a crisis or catastrophe.

The International Monetary Fund has made $100 billion worth of assets — called Special Drawing Rights — available to certain vulnerable countries. The French presidency then said France would share 40% of its own assets from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The summit’s first day included announcements of a pair of deals. French officials said debt-burdened Zambia reached a deal with several creditors including China to restructure $6.3 billion in loans. And Senegal reached a deal with the European Union and western allies to support its efforts to improve its access to energy and increase its share of renewable energy to 40% by 2030.

NGOs and climate activists noted some positive outcomes from the summit, yet said it doesn’t go far enough.

“We are disappointed to see that most leaders of the world’s richest nations and most powerful institutions have once again gathered and emerged with insufficient solutions and lightly held promises,” Global Citizen and its partners said in a statement.

“By steering closer to private finance sources and tweaking on the edges of existing multilateral development banks, the summit merely dressed the old in new packaging, such as by suggesting ‘debt pauses’ for poor countries hit by disasters rather than full debt cancellation,” Climate Action Network said in a statement.

Activists have hoped for a tax on the fossil fuel industry and another one on financial transactions, but neither proposal appeared to have much support from wealthier nations.

“Silence on the fossil fuel industry paying for the mess they have caused was deafening at this summit,” Tracy Carty, climate politics expert at Greenpeace International, said.

Many officials from poor and climate-vulnerable nations attended, with only two top leaders from the Group of Seven most developed countries — Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — in the audience. The U.S. was represented by Yellen and climate envoy John Kerry. Other attendees included China’s Prime Minister Li Qiang, World Bank head Ajay Banga and IMF President Kristalina Georgieva.

Climate activists gathered in central Paris on Friday to ask for polluters to pay for climate damage.

“There will be no climate justice without making the polluters pay,” said Patience Nabukala, part of the Fridays for Futures Uganda activist group. “People from countries like mine, we cannot afford to lose more lives, we cannot afford to lose more properties.”

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Associated Press reporters Masha Macpherson, Catherine Gaschka and Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed. ___ Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

WILLIAMSBURG — Earlier this month, William & Mary hosted a group of active duty and veteran military members for an academic crash course.

The program is part of the Warrior Scholar Project, which offers a one-to-two week educational boot camp that serves as an introduction to the college setting. More than 2,000 active duty military and veterans have already been through the nationwide program’s array of boot camps and workshops since it began in 2012.

From June 4-9, a group of eight students participated in a humanities boot camp, staying on campus for a week while learning from William & Mary professors, who covered everything from essay writing to the Federalist Papers.

“William & Mary student veterans are the reason we sought after it,” said Charlie Foster, the engagement director for the school’s Office of Student Veteran Engagement. “They said this is something we should try for, and in my role, I feel like I can connect those past student veterans to current student veterans.”

Including William & Mary, more than 20 campuses are hosting the Warrior Scholar Project this summer. According to Foster, William & Mary has around 300 military and veteran students attending at any given time.

“Before the actual lights go up, the curtain parts and it’s show time, they’re able to try (college) here with real faculty — William & Mary’s world-class faculty — with great fellows who’ve been it before, showing them where they are on the map,” he said. “Showing them the lay of the land to orient them to what it’s going to be like.”

This is the second year that William & Mary has partnered with the program. In 2022, they participated virtually.

Britney Domine and David Kelly are two of the program’s fellows, having both been through it themselves. Now, they help out at boot camps.

“From my personal experience, you get to learn, ‘Wow, veterans can actually go to schools like this,’” Domine said. “Maybe you don’t necessarily want to do that, maybe a different school is a better fit for you, but it’s one of those things like that you could aspire to that. That is a possibility.”

Kelly is currently a junior at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he studies psychology as well as speech, rhetoric and communication. Part of the reason he decided to be a fellow was because he knew from his own time in the program how participants might be feeling during a transitional stage.

“I had a lot of anxieties about how I would make the transition from service to school,” he said. “One of the cool aspects of the program is … you get to ask personal questions or questions you normally wouldn’t be able to to current students who have (made that transition). (Fellows) are able to act as a liaison to facilitate that. Like, ‘Hey, these are the anxieties you have, we had those and here’s how to mitigate it.’”

Mike Ottersbach was one of the eight participants to take the humanities crash course at William & Mary this summer. He said he applied because he’s always looking for opportunities to better himself.

“Education is extremely important,” said Ottersbach, who is in the Army. “But I’ve delayed it for a very long time during my career. So, as I near the end of my career, I think it’s very important that I focus on education. And I heard that this program provides excellent tools for both preparing and completing a degree.”

Ottersbach hasn’t made a final decision about when he’ll decide to leave the service, but he said he wants to make sure he has his options open when he does.

“I would strongly encourage younger, older, all veterans of any stripe who are considering or want to go back to higher education to attend this program or a similar program,” he said. “The perspective is vital and the information is extremely useful.”

Sian Wilkerson, 757-342-6616, [email protected]

Jeffery Smith, who will retire at the end of the monthas Hampton City Schools superintendent, was selected as the next executive director of the Virginia Air & Space Science Center, according to a news release.

The center’s Board President L’Allegro Smith made the announcement during a community event Thursday afternoon. Smith will assume his new post July 1.

The superintendent retired after an eight-year tenure with Hampton schools, during which he was named Virginia Superintendent of the Year in 2020. Under his leadership, the Hampton system saw all schools become fully accredited, and the division’s on-time graduation rate increased from 88% to 97.64%.

“Dr. Smith brings a wealth of experience to this role,” said L’Allegro Smith. “We provide hands-on STEM experiences that make learning fun and relevant – the perfect combination. Dr. Smith has invigorated a love of learning in Hampton students, and now he can spark that excitement morebroadly among all our visitors.”

“As the site of the nation’s first Air Force Base and first NASA research center, Hampton has a special connection to advances in flight and space discoveries,” Smith said in the release. “The opportunities here are endless.”

The 31-year-old center is the official visitors center for NASA Langley Research Center and features interactive aviation exhibits spanning 100 years of flight, more than 30 historic aircraft, a hands-on space exploration gallery and unique space flight artifacts. It is also home to the Apollo12 Command Module and the Orion PA-1 Test Vehicle.

Nour Habib, [email protected]

BOSTON (AP) — A renowned Titanic expert, a world record-holding adventurer, two members of one of Pakistan’s wealthiest families and the CEO of the company leading an expedition to the world’s most famous shipwreck were killed aboard the Titan submersible when it imploded in the Atlantic Ocean sometime this week.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday said there were no survivors after the catastrophic implosion deep in the North Atlantic.

The search for the submersible — as well as any clues to explain what happened underwater — continued Thursday after a deep-sea robot found debris near the Titanic shipwreck. Rear Adm. John Mauger, of the First Coast Guard District, said search efforts will continue but that the prospect of finding or recovering remains was unknown.

The Titan was reported overdue Sunday night about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland, according to Canada’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center, spurring a desperate international rescue effort. Rescuers raced against the clock because it was feared the oxygen supply could run out by approximately 6 a.m. Thursday.

The expedition featuring the Titan was led by OceanGate, making its third voyage to the Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank in 1912, killing all but about 700 of the roughly 2,200 passengers and crew.

A pilot and four other people were on the Titan. They were:

STOCKTON RUSH

Although his background is in aerospace and technology, Rush founded OceanGate Inc. in 2009 to provide crewed submersibles for undersea researchers and explorers, according to the company’s website. Rush was the Titan’s pilot, said company spokesperson Andrew Von Kerens.

The private company based in Washington started bringing tourists to the Titanic in 2021 as part of its effort to chronicle the slow deterioration of the wreck.

“The ocean is taking this thing, and we need to document it before it all disappears or becomes unrecognizable,” Rush told The Associated Press in 2021.

In an interview with CBS News last year, Rush defended the safety of his submersible but said nothing is without risk.

“What I worry about most are things that will stop me from being able to get to the surface — overhangs, fish nets, entanglement hazard,” he said, adding that a good pilot can avoid such perils.

Rush became the youngest jet transport rated pilot in the world at age 19 in 1981, and flew commercial jets in college, according to his company biography. He joined McDonnell Douglas Corp. in 1984 as a flight test engineer. Over the past 20 years, he oversaw the development of multiple successful IP ventures.

Greg Stone, a longtime ocean scientist and a friend of Rush, called him “a real pioneer” in the innovation of submersibles.

“Stockton was a risk-taker. He was smart. He was, he had a vision, he wanted to push things forward,” Stone said Tuesday.

HAMISH HARDING

A British businessman, Harding lived in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Action Aviation, an aircraft brokering company for which Harding served as chairman, said he was one of the mission specialists, who paid to go on the expedition.

Harding was a billionaire adventurer who held three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel. In March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench. In June 2022, he went into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.

“Both the Harding family and the team at Action Aviation are very grateful for all the kind messages of concern and support from our friends and colleagues,” the company said in a statement.

Harding’s family said in a statement: ”He was one of a kind and we adored him… What he achieved in his lifetime was truly remarkable and if we can take any small consolation from this tragedy, it’s that we lost him doing what he loved.”

In a Facebook post Saturday, Harding said he was “proud” to be part of the mission.

“Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023,” he posted. “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive (Sunday).”

Harding was “looking forward to conducting research” at the Titanic site, said Richard Garriott de Cayeux, the president of The Explorers Club, a group to which Harding belonged.

SHAHZADA AND SULEMAN DAWOOD

Father-and-son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were members of one of Pakistan’s most prominent families. Their family had said in a statement that they were both aboard the vessel.

Their firm, Dawood Hercules Corp., based in Karachi, is involved in agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunication infrastructure.

In Pakistan, the Dawood-owned Engro Corporation, a fertilizer company, announced the deaths of the two men early Friday.“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dawood family at this tragic time. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the family, colleagues, and friends and all those around the world who grieve the unthinkable loss,” the statement said.

When called, the company’s employees said they were reciting verses from the Quran for the Dawoods.

Shahzada Dawood also was on the board of trustees for the California-based SETI Institute that searches for extraterrestrial intelligence. The Dawoods lived in the UK, according to SETI.

Shahzada Dawood was also a member of the Global Advisory Board at the Prince’s Trust International, founded by Britain’s King Charles III to address youth unemployment.

He had degrees from the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom and Philadelphia University (now Thomas Jefferson University) in the U.S.

Condolences poured in from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, government officials, friends and ordinary Pakistanis. Pakistani TV stations halted their routine broadcasts and shared the news. Salman Sufi, an adviser to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, wrote on Twitter: “Very sad and unfortunate news. Prayers for the families of deceased. Mr Dawood and family are in our prayers.”

PAUL-HENRI NARGEOLET

Nargeolet was a former French navy officer who was considered a Titanic expert after making multiple trips to the wreckage over several decades.

He was director of underwater research for E/M Group and RMS Titanic Inc., had completed 37 dives to the wreck and supervised the recovery of 5,000 artifacts, according to his company profile.

RMS Titanic, Inc., the company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic shipwreck, mourned the longtime employee known as “PH.”

“The maritime world has lost an iconic and inspirational leader in deep-sea exploration, and we have lost a dear and treasured friend,” the company said in a statement Thursday.

Friend and former colleague Matthew Tulloch said Nargeolet loved his work from the time they first collaborated in the 1990s up until Nargeolet’s death.

“I never got the impression that he was looking forward to retirement,” Tulloch said with a small laugh. “You sort of think of people as they retire, then they can go on and do things that they love to do. This was exactly that for him — I can’t think of anything that I’m aware of that he would enjoy doing more than traveling around and sharing information and his experiences with people.”

Longtime friend and colleague Christian Pétron hailed Nargeolet as “surely one of the world’s greatest explorers of the deeps.”

Speaking Friday to broadcaster France-Info, the retired diver and underwater filmographer said he and Nargeolet had had known each other for more than 40 years after meeting in the French navy, and made repeated dives to the Titanic together.

He opined that Nargeolet was aware of the risks, but would have been powered by a thirst for further exploration of the Titanic wreck and its fauna and flora.

“There are always extraordinary things. When you descend deeper than 1,000 meters, you always find unknown things, unknown animals,” he said. “There’s always something to find on a wreck like that, which is a genuine oasis on a sandy bottom where there is absolutely nothing.”

Nargeolet was expedition leader on the most technologically advanced dive to the Titanic in 2010, which used high-resolution sonar and 3D optical imaging on the Titanic’s bow and stern sections as well as the debris field.

While with the French Institute for Research and Exploitation of Sea, he led the first recovery expedition to the Titanic in 1987.

NEWPORT NEWS — Virginia State Police are investigating a fatal crash involving a pedestrian that happened on Interstate 64 in Newport News Thursday night.

The crash happened at approximately 10:18 p.m. on the westbound lanes, near mile marker 251, which is just past the Fort Eustis Boulevard exit.

Crash reconstruction teams were on the scene investigating the incident Thursday.

This is a developing story.