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ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Travis Kelce likes to call training camp with the Kansas City Chiefs his “sanctuary,” whether that be the quiet, hour-long drive north to Missouri Western State University or the solitude that he finds while living in college dorms for a month. Such refuge was probably never more welcome than on the heels of this past summer. It was just over a month ago that Kelce exchanged vows with Taylor Swift in a star-studded wedding that tied together one of the best tight ends in NFL history with the biggest pop star on the planet. At the intimate gathering in cavernous Madison Square Garden, Adam Sandler served as the surprise officiant, Stevie Nicks performed to a crowd of sports and entertainment icons, and fans lined the New York City sidewalks outside the historic venue hoping to catch a glimpse of it all. “The wedding was the best night of my life,” Kelce said Wednesday, speaking for the first time at camp. “I appreciate everybody who came out and celebrated and had fun with us. That’s about all I got for that night. It was a crazy night.” The guest list included actors Bradley Cooper, Zoë Kravitz, Hugh Grant and Ethan Hawke; models Gigi Hadid and Karlie Kloss; comic Chris Rock; film director Steven Spielberg; and plenty of NFL players, including retired quarterback Tom Brady and several of Kelce’s teammates with the Chiefs, like his best friend and quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. The Swift-Kelce relationship began with his failed attempt at giving her a friendship ring at a concert. Kelce invited Swift to watch him play at Arrowhead Stadium, she took him up on the offer, and the rest of their courtship has been a celebrity fairytale. Right down to the nuptials at Madison Square Garden, which has always captured Kelce’s imagination, and where Swift has played to plenty of sold-out shows; she also turned up there to watch the Knicks play the Spurs in the NBA Finals in June. “I always told myself I’d go for a playoff game when the Knicks were rocking, and my wife went when I was stuck in minicamp,” Kelce said with a wry smile. “It was kind of cool to live out my childhood dream to be in that venue. I can’t thank the owners of MSG enough for allowing us the opportunity to do that, knowing we wanted a private event.” Besides the wedding, Kelce has been busy pursuing several business opportunities since the end of last season, including his decision to buy a small share of David Blitzer’s stake in his hometown Cleveland Guardians. That puts him into rivalry territory with Mahomes, who owns his own small stake in the Kansas City Royals. Yet on the field, the quarterback and tight end continue in lockstep, and never has it been more important for them to lift each other up. Mahomes is coming off a season-ending knee injury that required surgery in December, and Kelce is trying to prove that at age 36 — he turns 37 in October — he can still get it done in a young man’s game. “I still got a lot of love for this game. I still think I can go out and play at a high level,” Kelce said. “I want to go out there and prove to myself that I can play at a better level than last year. I think that’s the biggest thing for me.” There are few things that Kelce has not accomplished over 13 seasons on an NFL field. He’s won three Super Bowl rings, was voted first-team All-Pro four times, and he has been invited to the Pro Bowl each of the last 11 seasons. He contemplated retirement prior to last year, but the fact that Kansas City had just been blown out by Philadelphia did not sit well with him. So, Kelce came back for another go-around, catching 76 passes for 851 yards and five touchdowns while playing in every game — numbers that would represent a career year for most tight ends. The Chiefs scuffled to a 6-11 finish, though. And if Kelce wasn’t going out on a Super Bowl loss, he certainly wasn’t quitting after a season like that. “The fact that we didn’t make the playoffs,” he said, “I moved on pretty quick.” He moved onto wedding planning, to be sure. But also into preparing for the upcoming season, which most believe will be his last, one way or another. Kelce was ever-present throughout the offseason, whether it was voluntary workouts or mandatory minicamp, and he has been a constant source of energy during the hot, humid practices that are the hallmark of training camp. “This is always going to be my sanctuary. I think St. Joe has a special place in my heart,” Kelce said. “You need to have these days. You need to have this time of grinding with the guys, being around them all day, starting to create that chemistry and standard for how we are going to do things. This year it’s ramped up even more. “I think that’s a big thing,” Kelce added, “just enjoy these moments with these guys I’ve built this culture with.” ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A new study suggests a protective vest tested on a manikin during NASA’s first Artemis moonshot could drastically cut the radiation exposure of lunar astronauts during severe solar storms. Scientists reported Wednesday on the radiation-shielding vest worn around the moon by a female test dummy in 2022. No one was aboard that Artemis I debut flight, which paved the way for humanity’s long-awaited return to the moon in April by a flyby crew of four. Radiation remains one of the biggest threats to astronauts as NASA works toward a moon base. Shielding garments could keep lunar crews safe when solar storms strike and even allow them to venture beyond their shelters if necessary, the U.S., German and Israeli team reported in the journal Science Advances. A version of the vest was previously tested on the International Space Station. It didn’t travel with the Artemis II astronauts since it was a short 10-day mission with limited room, but may wind up a carry-on for future moon crews. Meant to be worn only during high-radiation and potentially cancer-causing solar events, the vest covers the most vulnerable human organs and tissue: lungs, stomach, bone marrow, breasts and ovaries. Women are believed to be especially susceptible to radiation-induced cancer. Artemis I carried two female manikins that spent nearly a month flying to the moon and back. Dubbed Zohar and Helga, the manikins — each a life-size 3 feet from head to lower torso — were strapped into the passenger seats of NASA’s Orion capsule. Zohar wore the 57-pound (26-kilogram) AstroRad vest, developed by the U.S.-Israeli startup StemRad and Lockheed Martin. The companies had already tested a prototype on the space station for comfort and function, modeling it after gear worn by nuclear disaster teams. Helga flew vest-less, but like its companion contained thousands of radiation sensors. The study’s lead author, StemRad’s Jordan Houri, called it “the largest experiment ever conducted to determine astronaut radiation exposure beyond low-Earth orbit.” NASA, the German Aerospace Center and the Israel Space Agency provided the funding. Radiation exposure is much less for space travelers closer to home, thanks to Earth’s protective atmosphere and magnetic field. Artemis I encountered no major solar outbursts. But based on measurements gathered as NASA’s Orion capsule zipped through the inner Van Allen radiation belt, Houri and his team simulated how much protection the vest would provide during extreme solar particle events like those in 1972 and 1989 that detonated magnetic sea mines and collapsed a power grid. Lucky for NASA, the 1972 solar outburst occurred in between that year’s two moon landings, keeping the crews of Apollo 16 and 17 safe from potentially lethal radiation exposure. The latest findings showed the vest could reduce an astronaut’s radiation dose by about 60% in a solar storm as fierce as the one in 1972 and by nearly 40% in a calamity mirroring 1989. That’s equivalent to 193 days and 131 days, respectively, of unnecessary deep space radiation exposure, the scientists noted. While none of the Apollo moonshots exceeded two weeks, the moon-base stays envisioned by NASA will likely last weeks, if not months, driving up the risk of enduring a dangerous solar storm. Mars expeditions will last even longer — months, years and possibly entire lifetimes if SpaceX CEO Elon Musk achieves his goal of building a city on the red planet. The scientists are using their observations to trim more weight from the vest without sacrificing protection. They’re also investigating how to make radiation shielding from items already aboard a spacecraft — recycling that could save the lives of crews. Houri doesn’t anticipate a need for further deep-space testing anytime soon, since Zohar and Helga “provided us with an exceptionally large, high-fidelity dataset.” Zohar and her vest are now on display at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, where their journey to the moon began. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

CHICAGO (AP) — It started as a limited promotion for a specialty theme night. Then the Chicago White Sox heard from their fans. Everyone wanted a pope-themed hat. “When things go bananas … that’s when it gets really fun,” said Brooks Boyer, Chicago’s chief revenue and marketing officer. Fun is the overarching theme when it comes to stadium giveaways, and business has been good at major league ballparks this year. An array of creative promotions — everything from the New York Mets handing out fake glasses and mustaches for a Bobby Valentine Disguise Night to the Texas Rangers giving away a Nolan Ryan bloody lip jersey — has played at least a small role in an MLB-wide average attendance of 29,618 through Tuesday’s games, the highest such number for a full season since 2017. Bobbleheads remain popular — like the Brandon Nimmo Bull Riding bobblehead in Texas, or the butter-churning Nick Kurtz “Big Amish” bobblehead with the Athletics — but it’s not just those iconic figurines that are drawing big crowds. The Brewers handed out 25,000 bar dice sets to fans 21 and over on Saturday, and they had a crowd of 40,625 at American Family Field. The pitch clock and other innovative rules introduced by MLB in 2023 are often credited for spurring fan interest. But it’s clear from the long lines — and occasionally astronomical resale prices on eBay — what a clever giveaway can do for ticket sales, too. “I definitely think across the league, there’s been an increase in demand and desire, and even necessity, to do things that are outside of the box,” said Meagan Hermosillo, the director of marketing and promotions for the Arizona Diamondbacks. “For us, we can’t really do a standard bobblehead or a standard anything. It has to have some kind of unique factor if we want it to move the needle.” The White Sox ended up giving the pope hats — shaped like the Pope’s miter, with the team’s sock logo in the middle — to everyone in the crowd of 38,113 for Tuesday night’s 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The tribute to Pope Leo XIV, a Chicago native and longtime White Sox fan, helped push the club’s season-long attendance to 1,460,383, surpassing its total of 1,445,738 for all of 2025. The team leaned into the theme. There were signs posted in the ballpark that read “LEO KNOWS MUNE” and “LEO KNOWS KONERKO,” referring to current White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami and former slugger Paul Konerko. Sister Mary Jo Sobieck threw out a ceremonial first pitch, and former White Sox pitcher Donn “The Pope” Pall kicked off the game with the “play ball” announcement. “I thought it was a great idea, knowing that the Pope is from Chicago and he’s a Sox fan, which is great,” said Edward Lopez, 58, a truck driver from the south side of the city. Lopez was supposed to go to the game with his girlfriend, but she wasn’t able to make it. So he went through two different gates to make sure he secured two pope hats. “It was worth it,” he said. Promotions for the White Sox go through a committee led by senior director of marketing and promotions Mike Downey. They throw out ideas and concepts, and they also look at samples from different vendors. The team also is handing out wooden domino sets to 10,000 fans on Aug. 22 and magic wands to 20,000 fans on Sept. 4, a nod to the viral wand-waving dugout displays of injured reliever Mike Vasil. “We’ve always looked to have our giveaways be something that we know people would wear or use or value because it adds value to the ticket,” Boyer said. “So it starts with that.” While planning the pope hat night, religious sensitivities were part of the conversation for the promotions committee. “We haven’t done items that would be Pope Leo’s likeness,” Boyer said. “We wouldn’t do that without the permission of the Vatican. … We’ve been very careful. There is a little bit of nuance and finesse that needs to be done. And items, you know a lot of items may not be for everybody.” The Baltimore Orioles handed out a Tupac Shakur bobblehead in May. The New York Yankees gave out a “ KPop Demon Hunters ” bobblehead on Tuesday night, and they have a George Costanza calzone bobblehead — paying tribute to a 1996 “Seinfeld” episode — coming up on Aug. 27. Every MLB team except Toronto had a Star Wars Night this season. Following in the footsteps of the minor leagues in many cases, it’s not enough anymore to just feature a popular player for a giveaway. “You can see that teams are doing a much better job with their understanding (of) who they’re trying to target,” said Jim Strode, an associate dean and professor at Ohio University’s College of Business. “When I think of the ‘Seinfeld’ one, I’m thinking, you know, they’re targeting Gen X, they are targeting some, you know, younger baby boomers to try to get out to the ballpark.” There is also what Lauren Anderson, the director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon, described as the “collector chase game.” There were multiple fans looking to buy additional pope hats at Tuesday night’s game, and there were several listings for the giveaway and the “KPop Demon Hunters” bobblehead on eBay on Wednesday. “You want something that’s unique and cool and something that you can, you know, I’m one of 5,000 people to get these, I’m one of 10,000,” Anderson said. “I mean, there is also a bit of the game of people want something that’s limited so they can flip it and sell it, like on an eBay.” ___ AP Baseball Writer David Brandt contributed to this report. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani security forces clashed with militants in the country’s insurgency-hit southwestern province of Balochistan, killing 10 insurgents. Also on Wednesday, a botched car bomb detonated prematurely, killing three people at a nearby home and also eight militants who were rigging the explosives. The clashes were part of a government operation against what it calls members of “ Fitna Al Hindustan, ” a term Pakistani authorities use for Baloch separatist groups that Islamabad alleges are backed by India. New Delhi denies supporting militants in Pakistan. The military said two soldiers were also wounded. The car bombing took place in the province’s district of Surab. Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but least populous province and has long faced a separatist insurgency led by the outlawed ethnic Baloch Liberation Army. The BLA has carried out numerous attacks in recent years, often targeting security forces, Chinese interests and infrastructure projects. Balochistan has also seen attacks by Pakistani Taliban who are a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

Washington (AP) — U.S. airstrikes targeting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last year killed more than 150 civilians, according to a Pentagon review of the attacks, which comes as concerns rise over civilian casualties during military campaigns under the Trump administration. The unclassified assessment, obtained by The Associated Press, was sent to Congress as part of an annual report on civilian casualties and reported earlier by NBC News. A Pentagon official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the department will submit the report in the coming months but had nothing more to announce. The Pentagon review focused on three airstrikes in April 2025 that were launched during the U.S. campaign against the Houthis. The militants were attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route that leads to the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean, as well as Israel. Those strikes targeted hostile forces in or near Yemen’s rebel-held capital city of Sanaa as well as the Ras Isa port, the report said. A total of 153 civilians were killed and 243 were injured. The strike on the port was the most deadly, killing 80 people and injuring 171 others. It sent massive fireballs billowing skyward and turned tanker trucks into burning wrecks. The Houthis aired graphic footage of the aftermath on their al-Masirah satellite news channel, showing corpses strewn about the port. U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said at the time that the “strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen.” “U.S. forces took action to eliminate this source of fuel for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists and deprive them of illegal revenue that has funded Houthi efforts to terrorize the entire region for over 10 years,” U.S. Central Command said in its statement in April 2025. The command determined that the three strikes “more likely than not” resulted in civilian harm, the review said. The information was based on U.S. intelligence sources, imagery and open-source reporting. Civilian casualties from U.S. military operations have drawn concerns, including from lawmakers in Congress, after a U.S. missile struck an Iranian primary school in the opening days of this year’s war, killing up to 168 people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is said to have slashed the size of an office focused on reducing civilian harm, the AP has reported. The Pentagon assessment comes as the Houthis are carrying out a growing number of strikes against government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government, and the kingdom’s shipping in the Red Sea. Fears are growing that the renewed violence could reignite Yemen’s civil war following a 2022 truce and open a new front in the Middle East war. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com