By MICHAEL LIEDTKE (AP Technology Writer)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Netflix enjoyed its biggest springtime spurt in subscribers since the early days of the pandemic three years ago, providing the latest sign that a recent crackdown on password sharing and the rollout of a cheaper subscription option are paying off.

The video streaming service added 5.9 million subscribers during the April-June period, according to numbers released Wednesday along with its latest quarterly financial results. The gains easily surpassed the roughly 2.2 million additional subscribers that analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had anticipated. Netflix ended June with 238.4 million worldwide subscribers.

Investors seemed unsatisfied, perhaps rattled by management commentary in a shareholder letter warning that “quite a competitive battle” continues to unfold against the backdrop of ongoing strikes by both the writers and actors union in the U.S. that threaten to clog the pipelines feeding entertainment to streaming services. Netflix’s stock price fell 8% in Wednesday’s extended trading. The drop could also reflect some investors locking in profits that have accrued while the shares have climbed by more than 50% so far this year.

Money manager Louis Navellier said Netflix now appears “locked and loaded” again after going through a turbulent stretch that included losing 1.2 million subscribers during the first half of last year. Even though Netflix has bounced back this year, Investing.com analyst Jesse Cohen believes another slowdown may be coming. “It will be a challenge for Netflix to sustain this pace of subscriber growth in the future,” Cohen said.

Netflix predicted its subscriber growth during the July-September period will be similar to the numbers posted from April through June.

The second-quarter performance marked Netflix’s biggest spring —- traditionally the company’s slowest stretch of growth — since gaining 10 million subscribers during the same period in 2020 under dramatically different market conditions.

In 2020, people were still largely stuck at home and looking for ways to keep themselves entertained while governments around the world struggled to find a way to contain the spread of pandemic. Now, Netflix finds itself trying to bounce back from a growth slowdown amid stiff video streaming competition and inflationary pressures that have caused many households to clamp down on spending, especially on discretionary items such as entertainment.

As an antidote, Netflix last year introduced a low-priced option that includes commercials and then began to block the rampant sharing of passwords that has enabled an estimated 100 million people worldwide to watch its TV series and films for free. Freeloading viewers are now being required to open their own accounts unless a subscriber with a standard or premium plan agrees to pay an $8 monthly surcharge to allow more people living in different households to watch.

In its shareholder letter, management said the crackdown on password sharing is resulting in a “healthy conversion of borrower households into full paying Netflix memberships.”

And Netflix still isn’t done tinkering. As part of Wednesday’s earnings release, Netflix also revealed it’s phasing out its cheapest ad-free plan – a service that costs $10 in the U.S. Existing subscribers already paying for this basic plan will be allowed to keep it. The shift appears designed to get more people to switch to the $7 monthly plan that includes commercials in hopes of boosting ad revenue or sign up for its $15.50 monthly standard plan or $20 monthly premium plan.

“There is just tons of work ahead of us, tons of opportunity,” Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters said during a Wednesday conference call.

The pricing changes that have already been made helped Netflix boost its second-quarter revenue by 3% from the same time last year to $8.2 billon, falling below analyst forecasts. Netflix earned $1.49 billion during the period, compared with $1.44 billion last year. But earnings per share came in at $3.29 per share, eclipsing the average analyst estimate of $2.85 per share, according to FactSet.

Netflix didn’t delve into the potential fallout from the current walkout in the U.S. by writers and actors. The dispute revolves largely around the payment system used in video streaming and the rise of artificial intelligence technology threatening to exploit the work of humans and eventually replace them.

Unlike traditional movie and TV studios in the U.S., Netflix has been able to keep feeding its entertainment pipeline with shows that it has been able to use to keep luring in and retaining subscribers.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos deflected a question about how long Netflix could keep releasing new series and films if the strike drags on past Labor Day. “It’s beside the point,” Sarandos said during the conference call. “The real point is we need to get this strike to a conclusion so we can continue to move forward.”

By BEN FINLEY and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM (Associated Press)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A tornado heavily damaged a major Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in North Carolina on Wednesday, while torrential rain flooded communities in Kentucky and an area from California to South Florida endured more scorching heat.

Pfizer confirmed that the large manufacturing complex was damaged by a twister that touched down shortly after midday near Rocky Mount, but said in an email that it had no reports of serious injuries. A later company statement said all employees were safely evacuated and accounted for.

Parts of roofs were ripped open atop its massive buildings. The Pfizer plant stores large quantities of medicine that were tossed about, said Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone.

“I’ve got reports of 50,000 pallets of medicine that are strewn across the facility and damaged through the rain and the wind,” Stone said.

The plant produces anesthesia and other drugs as well as nearly 25% of all sterile injectable medications used in U.S. hospitals, Pfizer said on its website. Erin Fox, senior pharmacy director at University of Utah Health, said the damage “will likely lead to long-term shortages while Pfizer works to either move production to other sites or rebuilds.”

The National Weather Service said in a tweet that the damage was consistent with an EF3 tornado with wind speeds up to 150 mph (240 kph).

The Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office, where part of Rocky Mount is located, said on Facebook that they had reports of three people injured in the tornado, and that two of them had life-threatening injuries.

A preliminary report from neighboring Nash County said 13 people were injured and 89 structures were damaged, WRAL-TV reported.

Three homes owned by Brian Varnell and his family members in the nearby Dortches area were damaged. He told the news outlet he is thankful they are all alive. His sister and her children hid in their home’s laundry room.

“They got where they needed to be within the house and it all worked out for the best,” Varnell said near a home that was missing exterior walls and a large chunk of the roof.

Elsewhere in the U.S., an onslaught of searing temperatures and rising floodwaters continued, with Phoenix breaking an all-time temperature record and rescuers pulling people from rain-swamped homes and vehicles in Kentucky.

Forecasters said little relief appears in sight from the heat and storms. For example, Miami has endured a heat index of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) or more for weeks, with temperatures expected to rise this weekend.

In Kentucky, meteorologists warned of a “life-threatening situation” in the communities of Mayfield and Wingo, which were inundated by flash flooding this week from thunderstorms. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency there Wednesday as more storms threatened.

Forecasters expect up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain could yet fall on parts of Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri near where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers converge.

The storm system is forecast to move Thursday and Friday over New England, where the ground remains saturated after recent floods. In Connecticut, a mother and her 5-year-old daughter died after being swept down a swollen river Tuesday. In southeastern Pennsylvania, a search continued for two children caught in flash flooding Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Phoenix broke an all-time record Wednesday morning for a warm low temperature of 97 F (36.1 C), raising the threat of heat-related illness for residents unable to cool off adequately overnight. The previous record was 96 F (35.6 C) in 2003, the weather service reported.

Lindsay LaMont, who works at the Sweet Republic ice cream shop Phoenix, said business had been slow during the day with people sheltering inside to escape the heat. “But I’m definitely seeing a lot more people come in the evening to get their ice cream when things start cooling off,” LaMont said.

Heat-related deaths continue to rise in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located. Public health officials Wednesday reported that six more heat-associated fatalities were confirmed last week, bringing the year’s total so far to 18. All six deaths didn’t necessarily occur last week as some may have happened weeks earlier but were confirmed as heat-related only after a thorough investigation.

By this time last year, there had been 29 confirmed heat-associated deaths in the county and another 193 under investigation.

Phoenix, a desert city of more than 1.6 million people, had set a separate record Tuesday among U.S. cities by marking 19 straight days of temperatures of 110 F (43.3 C) or more. It topped 110 again Wednesday.

National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Hirsh said Phoenix’s 119 F (48.3 C) high Wednesday tied the fourth highest temperature recorded in the city ever. The highest temperature of all time was 122 F (50 C), set in 1990.

Across the country, Miami marked its 16th straight day of heat indexes in excess of 105 F (40.6 C). The previous record was five days in June 2019.

“And it’s only looking to increase as we head into the later part of the week and the weekend,” said Cameron Pine, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

The region has also seen 38 consecutive days with a heat index threshold of 100 F (37.8 C), and sea surface temperatures are reported to be several degrees warmer than normal.

“There really is no immediate relief in sight,” Pine said.

A 71-year-old Los Angeles-area man died at a trailhead in Death Valley National Park in eastern California on Tuesday afternoon as temperatures reached 121 F (49.4 C) or higher and rangers suspect heat was a factor, the National Park Service said in a statement Wednesday.

It is possibly the second heat-related fatality in Death Valley this summer. A 65-year-old man was found dead in a car on July 3.

Human-caused climate change and a newly formed El Nino are combining to shatter heat records worldwide, scientists say.

The entire globe has simmered to record heat both in June and July. Nearly every day this month, the global average temperature has been warmer than the unofficial hottest day recorded before 2023, according to University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer.

Atmospheric scientists say the global warming responsible for unrelenting heat in the Southwest also is making extreme rainfall a more frequent reality.

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Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Anita Snow in Phoenix, Freida Frisaro in Miami, JoNel Aleccia in Temecula, California, and Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.

By NICK PERRY and JENNA FRYER (Associated Press)

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — A man stormed a high-rise construction site in downtown Auckland early Thursday morning, shooting at terrified workers and killing two people hours before New Zealand planned to host the first game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament.

The gunman was found dead after a police shootout, during which an officer was shot and wounded. Four civilians were also injured.

The shooting happened near hotels where Team Norway and other soccer teams have been staying.

New Zealand Prime Minster Chris Hipkins said the tournament would go ahead as scheduled.

“Clearly with the FIFA World Cup kicking off this evening, there are a lot of eyes on Auckland,” Hipkins said. “The government has spoken to FIFA organizers this morning and the tournament will proceed as planned.”

“I want to reiterate that there is no wider national security threat,” he added. “This appears to be the action of one individual.”

The shooting jarred New Zealand, where active shooter incidents are rare, leading the country’s the main news websites and broadcasts.

Hipkins said the man was armed with a shotgun, adding that police arrived within minutes of the first emergency call and ran into harm’s way to save lives.

“These kinds of situations move fast, and the actions of those who risk their lives to save others are nothing short of heroic,” Hipkins said.

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the gunman was a 24-year-old who had previously worked at the building site, and his motive appeared to be connected to his work there.

The man identified as the shooter had a history of family violence and was serving a sentence of home detention, but had an exemption to work at the lower Queen Street site, Coster said.

The shooting began at about 7:20 a.m., and police soon swarmed the area.

The shooter moved through the unfinished building firing at people, Coster said, as many workers fled or hid. He then barricaded himself in an elevator shaft on the third floor, Coster said, where SWAT-type officers engaged him after securing the floors above and below.

“The offender fired at police, injuring an officer,” Coster said. “Shots were exchanged and the offender was later found deceased.”

Coster said it wasn’t yet clear whether police had shot the man or he had killed himself. He said the suspected shooter didn’t have a gun license and so shouldn’t have been in possession of a firearm.

Outside, armed police officers placed an area in Auckland’s downtown on heavy lockdown, with streets cordoned off surrounding the harbor ferry terminal, which is popular with tourists. Police ordered bystanders to disperse and told people inside office buildings to shelter in place.

The shooting happened as soccer teams and fans gathered in New Zealand for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which the country is hosting jointly with Australia. The opening match is scheduled to be played in Auckland on Thursday evening, between New Zealand and Norway. Hipkins said he was considering whether he’d attend the match as planned.

Team Norway captain Maren Mjelde said her teammates were woken up abruptly when a helicopter began hovering outside the hotel window.

“We felt safe the whole time,” she said in a statement. “FIFA has a good security system at the hotel, and we have our own security officer in the squad. Everyone seems calm and we are preparing as normal for the game tonight.”

Team USA said all its players and staff were safe and accounted for. It said the team was in contact with local authorities and proceeding with its daily schedule.

New Zealand banned most semi-automatic weapons in 2019, weeks after a man killed 51 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch during the nation’s worst mass shooting. A subsequent buyback scheme saw gun owners hand over more than 50,000 banned weapons to police.

Coster said the shotgun used in Thursday’s shooting is not on the list of banned weapons.

“I want to acknowledge that this has been a shocking and traumatic event for those people who came to work and found themselves in the middle of an armed emergency,” Coster said. “Thankfully, many people were able to escape the building, but I know for those who hid or remained trapped, this was a terrifying experience.”

Coster said the officer who was shot was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, had stabilized, and was expected to undergo surgery Thursday. He said the others had injuries ranging from moderate to critical. It wasn’t immediately clear if all those injured had been shot.

Officials at Eden Park, where the opening match of the FIFA tournament is taking place, said they were encouraging ticket holders to arrive early and there would be an increased security presence at the venue.

Tourism New Zealand canceled a media welcome party that was to have been held Thursday afternoon at a location within the cordoned-off area.

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Perry reported from Wellington, New Zealand.

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and LISA MASCARO (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans raised unsubstantiated allegations Wednesday against President Joe Biden over his family’s finances as they summoned IRS whistleblowers to testify publicly for the first time about claims the Justice Department improperly interfered with a tax investigation into Biden’s son Hunter.

Lawmakers heard from the two IRS agents assigned to the Hunter Biden case, which looked into his failure to pay taxes, for six hours of what was often grueling back-and-forth testimony. The hearing came after the president’s son pleaded guilty last month to misdemeanor tax charges in what Republicans have derided as a “sweetheart” deal.

Still, House Republicans are deepening their own investigation, making broad claims of corruption and wrongdoing by the Bidens, which they acknowledge have not been proven to be true.

“We will continue to follow the money trail,” said Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, as he opened the session. The Justice Department has denied the whistleblowers’ allegations. And the White House, in a statement, called the investigation and subsequent hearing part of “politically-motivated attacks on a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, the rule of law, and the independence of our justice system.”

The top Democrat on the committee, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, said the hearing was “a theater of the absurd.”

IRS supervisory special agent Greg Shapley, and a second agent, Joe Ziegler, claimed there was what Shapley called in testimony a pattern of “slow-walking investigative steps” into Hunter Biden, including during the Trump administration in the months before the 2020 election that Joe Biden won.

One of Shapley’s most detailed claims was that U.S. Attorney David Weiss in Delaware, the federal prosecutor who led the investigation, asked for special counsel status in order to bring the tax cases against Hunter Biden in jurisdictions outside Delaware, including the District of Columbia and California, but was denied.

Weiss and the Justice Department have denied that, saying he had “full authority” and never sought to bring charges in other states.

Shapley testified during an exchange with Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, that he wrote an email later that day to memorialize the October 2022 meeting with Weiss and five others. Shapley insisted Wednesday on his own recollection of what was said.

The second IRS whistleblower, Ziegler, described his frustrations with the way the case was handled, dating to the Trump administration under Attorney General William Barr. The tax agency employee said he started the investigation into Hunter Biden in 2015 and began to delve deeply into the now 53-year-old’s life and finances.

Ziegler, whose name was withheld in closed-door interview transcripts released last month by Republicans, said Wednesday that he decided to come forward publicly “not as a hero or a victim,” but as a married, gay Democrat “compelled to disclose the truth.”

Democrats on the committee pushed back on the whistleblower claims that Hunter Biden received special treatment because his father was the nominee for president in the upcoming 2020 election. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., made the point that it was Donald Trump who was president during the 2020 time frame when the whistleblowers allege there was interference.

Trump’s Justice Department, he noted, issued a memorandum in February 2020 telling prosecutors to “exercise particular care regarding sensitive investigations and prosecutions that relate to political candidates, campaigns and other politically sensitive individuals and organizations,” his voice rising. “Especially in an election year!”

Democrats also pointed out that Weiss was appointed by Trump and the federal investigation into Hunter Biden was initiated under Trump. Biden kept Weiss on the case after he won the election. But the hearing took several twists and turns as dozens of members from both sides of the dais sought to maximize their time with the two witnesses.

In one startling moment, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., displayed graphic sexual images of Hunter Biden with women, suggesting he had paid for them to travel to Washington, D.C., presumably for sex, in a potential violation of the law. Democrats led by Raskin objected to the graphic content being shown at a public hearing by Greene, saying it was inappropriate.

Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, said questioned whether this was an investigation into the president or “of his son, who does not and has never worked at the White House.”

As Republicans decry what they say is a justice system favoring the politically connected, Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., pointed to the killing of Emmett Till and the treatment of other Black Americans across U.S. history and said: “This is the two-tiered justice system.”

Republicans for their part have sought testimony from other agents involved in the case and held a transcribed interview this week with an FBI agent, now retired, who they said was involved. But other witnesses have declined to appear before the panel.

Before the hearing, Comer, R-Ky., acknowledged it has been difficult for Republicans to succinctly outline Hunter Biden’s tangled financial affairs or to provide convincing evidence of any specific wrongdoing by the president or his family.

“It’s so hard to explain,” Comer told reporters. “Hopefully these IRS agents can do a better job explaining than I can.”

In the previous closed-door interviews, Shapley had described IRS agents’ efforts to execute a search warrant of a Virginia storage facility where the younger Biden’s documents were being stored. He said the assistant U.S. attorney involved in the case reached out to Hunter Biden’s lawyers, in a move that is seen as customary in cases involving high-profile individuals, but it ruined “our chance to get to evidence before being destroyed, manipulated, or concealed.”

A similar occurrence happened when the FBI officials notified Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail ahead of an effort to interview him and several of his business associates in order to avoid a potential shoot-off between two law enforcement bodies.

Justice Department officials have countered these claims by pointing to the extraordinary set of circumstances surrounding a criminal case into a subject who at the time was the son of a leading presidential candidate. Department policy has long warned prosecutors to take care in charging cases with potential political overtones around the time of an election, to avoid any possible influence on the outcome.

During the hourslong testimony, Democrats sought to chalk up the entirety of the whistleblowers’ claims as a disagreement between prosecutors and investigators on how to move forward with charges against Hunter Biden.

“My view here is that we’re spending hours on a disagreement on whether to charge someone and we have a whole democratic process that decides that,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. “You don’t get to decide that.”

Republicans pushed back, saying that beyond charging decisions, it was clear that the prosecutors didn’t want to touch anything that would include Hunter Biden’s father. In one instance, Shapley testified that in a meeting with Weiss and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf after the 2020 election, he and other agents wanted to discuss an email between Hunter Biden associates where one person made reference to the “big guy.” Shapley said Wolf refused to do so, saying she did not want to ask questions about ’dad.””

Republicans have moved ahead, issuing a series of requests for voluntary testimony from senior Justice officials, including Weiss.

Weiss said in a letter to Jordan earlier this month that he would be happy to testify before the committee when he is legally able to share information with Congress without violating the longstanding department policy of discussing an ongoing investigation.

Testimony from Justice Department officials could come after Hunter Biden appears for his plea hearing next week.

By TAMMY WEBBER and NOAH BERGER (Associated Press)

EAST PRAIRIE METIS SETTLEMENT, Alberta (AP) — Carrol Johnston counted her blessings as she stood on the barren site where her home was destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire that forced her to flee her northern Alberta community two months ago.

Her family escaped unharmed, though her beloved cat, Missy, didn’t make it out before a “fireball” dropped on the house in early May. But peony bushes passed down from her late mother survived and the blackened Mayday tree planted in memory of her longtime partner is sending up new shoots — hopeful signs as she prepares to start over in the East Prairie Métis Settlement, about 240 miles (385 kilometers) northwest of Edmonton.

“I just can’t leave,” said Johnston, 72, who shared a home with her son and daughter-in-law. “Why would I want to leave such beautiful memories?”

The worst wildfire season in Canadian history is displacing Indigenous communities from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, blanketing them in thick smoke, destroying homes and forests and threatening important cultural activities like hunting, fishing and gathering native plants.

Thousands of fires have scorched more than 42,000 square miles (110,000 square kilometers) across the country so far. On Tuesday, almost 900 fires were burning— most of them out of control — according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre website.

Fires aren’t uncommon on Indigenous lands, but they’re now occurring over such a widespread area that many more people are experiencing them at the same time — and some for the first time — stoking fears of what a hotter, drier future will bring, especially to communities where traditions run deep.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Raymond Supernault, chairman of the East Prairie Métis Settlement, where he said more than 85% of the 129-square-mile (334-square-kilometer) settlement burned in the first wildfire there in over 60 years. Fourteen houses and 60 other structures were destroyed by the intense, fast-moving fire that led to the evacuation of almost 300 people and decimated forested land.

“In blink of eye, we lost so much … it was devastating. I can’t stress that enough,” said Supernault, who said he hasn’t seen any elk or moose, both important food sources, since the fire.

“We don’t just jump in the car and go to the IGA,” for groceries, Supernault said. “We go to the bush.”

In Canada, 5% of the population identifies as Indigenous — First Nation, Métis or Inuit — with an even smaller percentage living in predominantly Indigenous communities. Yet more than 42% of wildfire evacuations have been from communities that are more than half Indigenous, said Amy Cardinal Christianson, an Indigenous fire specialist with Parks Canada.

As of Monday, 106 wildfires have affected 93 First Nations communities this year, and there have been 64 evacuations involving almost 25,000 people, according to Indigenous Services Canada.

It’s not uncommon for Indigenous communities to evacuate repeatedly, Christianson said. A recent analysis of the Canadian Wildland Fire Evacuation database found that 16 communities were evacuated five or more times from 1980–2021 — all but two of them First Nations reserves, said Christianson, who participated in the analysis by the Canadian Forest Service.

Fires now “are so dangerous and so fast-moving” that evacuations increasingly are necessary, a challenge in some remote communities where there might be one road in, or no roads at all, said Christianson, who is Métis.

Ken McMullen, president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and fire chief in Red Deer, Alberta — a province where about 7,600 square miles (19,800 square kilometers) have already burned, compared to just over 695 square miles (1,800 square kilometers) in all of 2022 — said some places burning again this year haven’t fully recovered from previous fires.

“It’s going to take a long time,” said McMullen, calling it the worst fire season in Canadian history. “These are life-altering events.”

Christianson said the effects will be felt for generations, because the intense heat is burning the soil and making it difficult for trees and other plants to regenerate.

She said Indigenous communities are increasingly vulnerable because they’re often left out of decisions about forest management and fire response, and often can’t afford to hire emergency managers. What’s more, when fires affect urban centers at the same time, fire suppression shifts to larger communities.

Indigenous communities “really want to be leaders in managing fires in their territory,” including a return to preventive burning that was long suppressed by the government, said Christianson.

The Algonquins of Barriere Lake in northern Quebec evacuated in June because of heavy smoke from wildfires that came within 9 miles (15 kilometers) of and almost surrounded the reserve where about 350 to 400 people live, often miles apart, said Chief Casey Ratt, who never experienced a forest fire before this year.

“Last year, me and my wife were talking about how many fires there were in Alberta, then boom! There were so many in Quebec this year,” said Ratt. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, now we’re dealing with wildfires like they are out west.’”

But it also wasn’t a total surprise, said Ratt, because summer heat is more intense and ice forms later in the winter and melts faster in the spring. That diminishes their ability to ice-fish and hunt for moose and beaver, which often requires crossing a lake to an island.

“Something is happening,” said Ratt, who believes climate change is largely to blame. “I think this will be the norm moving forward.”

The biggest concern is whether cultural traditions that have been passed down from generations of elders will survive into the future, said Supernault, from the East Prairie Métis Settlement.

“Our earth is changing … and our traditional way of life is now put on hold,” said Supernault. “You can’t put a price on culture and traditional loss.”

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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.

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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.

By BEN FINLEY and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM (Associated Press)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A tornado heavily damaged a major Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in North Carolina on Wednesday, the latest in a string of extreme weather events plaguing the U.S. on a day when floods deluged communities in Kentucky and scorching heat smothered Phoenix and Miami.

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer confirmed that the large manufacturing complex was damaged by a twister that touched down near Rocky Mount, but said via email that it had no reports of serious injuries there. It said in a later email, without giving workforce numbers, that the plant employees followed safety procedures and evacuated and all “are safe and accounted for.”

Parts of roofs were ripped open atop its massive buildings. The Pfizer plant stores large quantities of medicine that were tossed about by the storm, said Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone, adding, “I’ve got reports of 50,000 pallets of medicine that are strewn across the facility and damaged through the rain and the wind.”

The plant produces anesthesia and other drugs as well as nearly 25 percent of all sterile injectable medications used in U.S. hospitals, Pfizer said on its website. Erin Fox, senior pharmacy director at University of Utah Health, said the damage “will likely lead to long-term shortages while Pfizer works to either move production to other sites or rebuilds.”

The National Weather Service said in a tweet that the damage was consistent with an EF3 tornado with wind speeds up to 150 mph (240 kph). The storm temporarily closed a stretch of Interstate 95 in both directions in North Carolina, causing miles (kilometers) of congestion.

Elsewhere, an onslaught of searing temperatures and rising floodwaters continued to lash out at other parts of the U.S., with Phoenix breaking an all-time temperature record and rescuers pulling people from rain-swamped homes and vehicles in Kentucky. Forecasters said little relief appears in sight after days of extreme weather.

For example, Miami has endured a heat index of at 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) or more for weeks, with temperatures expected to rise this weekend.

In Kentucky, meteorologists warned of a “life-threatening situation” in the communities of Mayfield and Wingo, inundated by flash flooding from waves of thunderstorms. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency Wednesday in those areas as more storms threatened.

Forecasters expect up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain could yet fall on Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri near where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers converge, prompting flash flood watches and warnings.

The storm system is then forecast to move Thursday and Friday over New England, where the ground remains saturated after recent floods. In Connecticut, a mother and her 5-year-old daughter died after being swept down a swollen river Tuesday. In southeastern Pennsylvania, a search continued for two children caught in flash flooding Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Phoenix broke an all-time record Wednesday morning for a warm low temperature at 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36.1 degrees Celsius), raising the threat of heat-related illness for residents unable to cool off adequately overnight. The previous record was 96 degrees Fahrenheit (35.6 degrees Celsius) in 2003, the weather service reported.

Heat-related deaths continue to rise in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located. Public health officials reported Wednesday that there were six more heat-associated fatalities last week, bringing the year’s total so far to 18. By this time last year, there had been 29 confirmed heat-associated deaths in the county and another 193 were under investigation.

City of Phoenix heat chief David Hondula noted last week that heat deaths seemed to be lagging this year but warned against drawing any conclusions this early in the season.

There were 425 heat-associated deaths in Maricopa County for all of 2022.

Phoenix, a desert city of more than 1.6 million people, had set a separate record Tuesday among U.S. cities by marking 19 straight days of temperatures of 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) or more.

No other major city –- defined as the 25 most populous in the U.S. -– has had any stretch of 110-degree (43.3 Celsius) days or 90-degree (32.2 Celsius) nights longer than Phoenix, said weather historian Christopher Burt of the Weather Company.

Across the country, Miami marked its 16th straight day of heat indexes in excess of 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40-plus Celsius). The previous record was five days in June 2019.

“And it’s only looking to increase as we head into the later part of the week and the weekend,” said Cameron Pine, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

The region has also seen 38 consecutive days with a heat index threshold of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), and sea surface temperatures are reported to be several degrees warmer than normal. Said Pine, “there really is no immediate relief in sight.”

A 71-year-old Los Angeles-area man died at a trailhead in Death Valley National Park in eastern California on Tuesday afternoon as temperatures reached 121 degrees (49 Celsius) or higher and rangers suspect heat was a factor, the National Park Service said in a statement Wednesday.

The man collapsed outside a restroom at Golden Canyon and other visitors called 911 but rangers were unable to save him despite using CPR and a defibrillator. Park officials believe the man had been hiking.

The official temperature at Furnace Creek was 121 degrees (49-plus Celsius) but temperatures in the canyon were likely higher, the statement said. It is possibly the second heat-related fatality in Death Valley this summer. A 65-year-old man was found dead in a car on July 3.

Human-caused climate change and a newly formed El Nino are combining to shatter heat records worldwide, scientists say.

The entire globe has simmered to record heat both in June and July. Nearly every day this month, the global average temperature has been warmer than the unofficial hottest day recorded before 2023, according to University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer. Atmospheric scientists say the global warming responsible for unrelenting heat in the Southwest also is making extreme rainfall a more frequent reality.

In Connecticut, fire officials said, a mother in her 30s and her young daughter were carried downstream and found unconscious after swimming in the rain-swollen Shetucket River in Sprague. The woman died Tuesday and her daughter on Wednesday, state police said.

And in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, searchers are still seeking two young siblings visiting from South Carolina caught in what one fire chief called “a wall of water” that hit their family and killed their mother Saturday. Four others also died in the Pennsylvania flash floods.

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Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Anita Snow in Phoenix, Freida Frisaro in Miami, JoNel Aleccia in Temecula, California, and Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this story.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

William & Mary linebacker John Pius earned another national honor Wednesday when he was selected to the HERO Sports FCS Preseason All-America Team.

It is the third All-America team the junior from Arlington has made this preseason. Earlier this summer, he made the All-America teams of Athlon Sports and The Bluebloods.

Pius was the runner-up last year for the Stats Perform Buck Buchanan Award, which honors the national defensive player of the year in the FCS. He also was the CAA Defensive Player of the Year and the Virginia Defensive Player of the Year by VaSID.

He ranked fourth nationally in sacks (11.5) and fifth in tackles for loss (19) while leading the Tribe in tackles (72) and quarterback hurries (12).

BASKETBALL

HBCUnited falls in TBT opener

Cameron Young scored 16 points and Jalon Miller added 10 points and 10 rebounds as In The Lab rolled past HBCUnited 88-58 in a first-round game of The Basketball Tournament in Lubbock, Texas.

HBCUnited, coached by Norfolk State’s Robert Jones, was the third seed in the Lubbock Region. It trailed only 38-32 at the half, but In The Lab took control with a 30-12 third quarter.

Tajh Green paced HBCUnited with 16 points and five rebounds, while Stanley Davis Jr. added 10 points.

In the Lab, a team with no college affiliation, limited former NSU players Joe Bryant Jr. (6 points), Dana Tate (2) and Devante Carter (4) and former Norcom High and Hampton University player Malique Trent (5) in the contest.

Nuggets add another ex-UVA star

The NBA champion Denver Nuggets have developed a pipeline to the University of Virginia. The Nuggets signed guard Armaan Franklin to a training-camp contract.

Franklin will join former UVA stars and teammates Braxton Key and Jay Huff, whom the Nuggets signed to two-way contracts earlier.

Franklin, a 6-4 guard from Indianapolis, averaged 12.4 points and 4.1 rebounds a game for the Cavaliers last season.

COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD

VWU’s Ciano earns academic honor

Virginia Wesleyan’s Norah Ciano has been selected for the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic team.

Athletes must have a minimum GPA of 3.30 through the most recently completed grading period to be eligible.

LOCAL BASEBALL

Two Pilots win all-star skills titles

A pair of Peninsula Pilots players picked up victories in the Coastal Plain League’s All-Star Skill Championship on Tuesday.

Trey Morgan of VMI won the pitching competition, while Mason Dunaway of James Madison captured the bunting competition.

The CPL All-Star Game was Wednesday night.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Former Hokie signs with D-backs

Former Virginia Tech star outfielder Jack Hurley has signed a contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, according to MLB.com’s Jim Callis.

• The Arizona Diamondbacks have recalled former Virginia Tech pitcher Joe Mantiply from Triple-A Reno. He went 3-0 with a 4.97 ERA in 11 games with Reno.

By NICK PERRY and JENNA FRYER (Associated Press)

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — A gunman killed two people at a downtown construction site in New Zealand’s largest city of Auckland on Thursday, as the nation prepared to host games in the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament. Authorities said the shooter was also dead.

Police said six other people, including at least one officer, were injured during the shooting, which took place near hotels where Team Norway and other soccer teams have been staying.

New Zealand Prime Minster Chris Hipkins said the tournament would go ahead as planned.

“Clearly with the FIFA World Cup kicking off this evening, there are a lot of eyes on Auckland,” Hipkins said. “The government has spoken to FIFA organizers this morning and the tournament will proceed as planned. I want to reiterate that there is no wider national security threat. This appears to be the action of one individual.”

Hipkins said the shooter was armed with a pump-action shotgun. Police arrived 1 minute after the first emergency call and had run into harm’s way to save lives, he said.

“These kinds of situations move fast and the actions of those who risk their lives to save others are nothing short of heroic,” Hipkins said.

Acting Police Superintendent Sunny Patel said the man began shooting at the site on lower Queen Street at about 7:20 a.m. Police swarmed the area.

The man moved through the building, firing at people there, Patel said.

“Upon reaching the upper levels of the building, the male has contained himself within the elevator shaft and our staff have attempted to engage with him,” Patel said in a statement. “Further shots were fired from the male and he was located deceased a short time later.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if police had shot the gunman or he had killed himself.

Outside, armed police officers had the commercial business district on heavy lockdown with streets cordoned off surrounding the tourist harbor ferry terminal area. Police demanded bystanders disperse and ordered those already inside their office buildings to shelter in place.

The incident comes as soccer teams and fans gathered in New Zealand for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The opening match is scheduled for Thursday between New Zealand and Norway.

Team Norway captain Maren Mjelde said people woke up quickly when a helicopter began hovering outside the hotel window.

“We felt safe the whole time,” she said in a statement. “FIFA has a good security system at the hotel, and we have our own security officer in the squad. Everyone seems calm and we are preparing as normal for the game tonight.”

Team USA said all its players and staff were accounted for and safe. It said the team was in communication with local authorities and proceeding with its daily schedule.

New Zealand in 2019 banned assault weapons, weeks after a gunman slaughtered 51 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch during the nation’s worst mass shooting.

A subsequent buyback scheme saw gun owners hand over more than 50,000 AR-15-style rifles and other assault weapons to police.

The ban does not include all semi-automatic weapons. Hipkins said he wasn’t immediately clear if the weapon the gunman used would have been covered by the ban.

Officials at Eden Park, where the opening match is taking place, said they were encouraging ticket holders to arrive early and there would be an increased security presence at the venue.

Tourism New Zealand canceled a media welcome party, which was scheduled to be held Thursday afternoon at a location within the cordoned off area.

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Perry reported from Wellington, New Zealand

By JONATHAN LANDRUM JR. (AP Entertainment Writer)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An investigation into Tupac Shakur’s unsolved killing has been revived. It took nearly three decades, but a new twist came when authorities in Nevada served a search warrant this week in connection with the rap star’s shooting death, they confirmed Tuesday.

Here’s what to know about one of the most infamous fatal shootings in hip-hop history:

Las Vegas police served a search warrant in connection to the killing of Shakur, who was gunned down Sept. 7, 1996.

The warrant was executed Monday in the nearby city of Henderson. It’s unclear what they were looking for or where they searched.

Citing the ongoing investigation, a police spokesperson said he couldn’t provide further details on the latest development in the case, including whether a suspect has been identified.

The 25-year-old rapper was traveling in a black BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight in a convoy of about 10 cars, apparently headed to a nightclub, after watching Mike Tyson knock out Bruce Seldon in a championship fight at the MGM Grand.

After the fight, Shakur, Knight and associates were involved in a fight at the hotel.

While driving down the Las Vegas Strip, a white Cadillac with four men inside pulled alongside the BMW while it was stopped at a red light. One person opened fire, riddling the passenger side of Knight’s car with bullets, police said. Sitting in the passenger seat, Shakur was shot four times, at least twice in the chest. Knight was grazed by a bullet fragment or shrapnel from the car.

Shakur was rushed to a hospital, where he died six days later.

Shakur is one of the most prolific figures in hip-hop, also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli. His professional music career only lasted five years, but he sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including the diamond-certified album “All Eyez on Me,” which was packed with hits including “California Love (Remix),” “I Ain’t Mad at Cha” and “How Do U Want It.”

Shakur has had five No. 1 albums including “Me Against the World” in 1995 and “All Eyez on Me” in 1996, along with three posthumous releases: 1996’s “The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory,” 2001’s “Until the End of Time” and 2004’s “Loyal to the Game.”

The six-time Grammy-nominated artist was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Snoop Dogg in 2017.

As a rising actor, Shakur starred in several popular films such as John Singleton’s “Poetic Justice” with Janet Jackson and Ernest Dickerson’s “Juice.” He also played major roles in “Gang Related” and “Above the Rim.”

In April, a five-part FX docuseries called “ Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur” delved into the past of the rapper’s mother, Afeni Shakur, as a female leader in the Black Panther Party, while exploring Tupac’s journey as a political visionary and becoming one of the greatest rap artists of all time.

Last month, Shakur received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“He defied the distinction between art and activism,” said radio personality Big Boy, who emceed the ceremony.

Shakur has been remembered with museum exhibits, including “Tupac Shakur. Wake Me When I’m Free” in 2021 and “All Eyez on Me” at the Grammy Museum in 2015. He’ll soon have a stretch of an Oakland street renamed after him.

Shakur’s death came amid his feud with rap rival the Notorious B.I.G., who was fatally shot six months later. At the time, both rappers were in the middle of the infamous East Coast-West Coast rivalry, which primarily defined the hip-hop scene during the mid-1990s.

The feud was ignited after Shakur was seriously wounded in another shooting during a robbery in the lobby of a midtown Manhattan hotel in 1994. He was shot several times and lost $40,000.

Shakur openly accused B.I.G. and Sean “Diddy” Combs of having prior knowledge of the shooting, which both vehemently denied. The shooting sparked enough of a feud that created a serious divide within the hip-hop community and fans.

The New York-born Shakur represented the West Coast after he signed with the Los Angeles-based Death Row Records. He often traded verbal jabs with New York-natives B.I.G. and Combs, who hailed from the East Coast while representing New York City-based Bad Boy Records.

Diss tracks were seemingly delivered to drive home their ferocious points across. Shakur released the aggressive single “Hit ’Em Up,” which took aim at B.I.G., who on the other hand returned with “Who Shot Ya?,” a record that was received as a taunt. However, B.I.G. claimed the song was not directed toward Shakur.

Shakur was born June 16, 1971, in New York City. He later moved to Baltimore and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he began writing raps. He eventually made his way to Marin City, California, near San Francisco, and continued to write and record.

As a member of the Grammy-nominated group Digital Underground, Shakur appeared on the 1991 track “Same Song″ from ”This Is an EP Release″ and on the album “Sons of the P.″

That same year, Shakur achieved individual recognition with the album “2Pacalypse Now,″ which spawned the successful singles “Trapped” and “Brenda’s Got a Baby.”

The album, with references to police officers being killed, drew notoriety when a lawyer claimed a man accused of killing a Texas trooper had been riled up by the record. Then-Vice President Dan Quayle targeted “2Pacalypse Now″ in his 1992 battle with Hollywood over traditional values.

In 1993, Shakur followed up with the sophomore album, which produced songs ”I Get Around,” “Keep Ya Head Up″ and “Papa’z Song,″ and he was nominated for an American Music Award as best new rap hip-hop artist.

The next year he appeared with hip-hop group Thug Life on the “Above The Rim″ soundtrack and on the group’s album “Volume 1.″ In a photo on the album liner, he framed his face between his two extended middle fingers.

Over the years, Shakur had some brushes with the law. He served several months in a New York prison for sex abuse.

While in prison, Shakur indicated he was rethinking his lifestyle. He had support from Black leaders including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who counseled him while he was locked up.

“Thug Life to me is dead. If it’s real, let somebody else represent it, because I’m tired of it,″ Shakur told Vibe magazine. ”I represented it too much. I was Thug Life.″

Shakur was up-front about his troubled life in the 1995 release “Me Against The World,″ a multimillion-selling album that contained the ominously titled tracks ”If I Die 2Nite″ and “Death Around The Corner.″

“It ain’t easy being me. … Will I see the penitentiary, or will I stay free?″ Shakur rapped on the album, which produced the Grammy-nominated “Dear Mama″ and standout singles “So Many Tears″ and ”Temptations.″

The Las Vegas shooting occurred as Shakur’s fourth solo album, “All Eyez on Me,″ remained on the charts, with some 5 million copies sold.

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Associated Press writer Travis Loller reported from Nashville.