HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas man who went missing as a teenager in 2015 after last being seen walking his dogs in Houston has been found alive, his family and police said Monday. Police and firefighters found Rudolph “Rudy” Farias IV around 10 p.m. Thursday after getting a call of a person lying on the ground in front of a church in southeast Houston, police spokesman John Cannon said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking a valid U.S. passport for that 2023 trip? Buckle up, wishful traveler, for a very different journey before you step anywhere near an airport. A much-feared backup of U.S passport applications has smashed into a wall of government bureaucracy as worldwide travel rebounds toward record pre-pandemic levels — with too few humans to handle the load. The result, say aspiring travelers in the U.S. and around the world, is a maddening pre-travel purgatory defined, at best, by costly uncertainty.

PHOENIX (AP) — On the Friday before the Fourth of July, more than a dozen dog owners waited in triple-digit temperatures in south Phoenix to get into a microchipping event inside a shelter. It didn't hurt that Maricopa County was offering a discount. But, several were there because they knew having a microchip with their contact information implanted in their pups would increase the likelihood of their pet being returned if the worst happens on Independence Day.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Gunfire erupted at a block party in Baltimore on Sunday — killing two people, wounding 28 and leaving an extensive crime scene that marred the U.S. holiday weekend, police said. Three of the wounded were in critical condition. Baltimore Police Department Acting Commissioner Richard Worley told reporters there were a total of 30 victims during a press conference at the scene.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hungry ticks have some slick tricks. They can zoom through the air using static electricity to latch onto people, pets and other animals, new research shows. Humans and animals naturally pick up static charges as they go about their days. And those charges are enough to give ticks a boost to their next blood meal, according to a study published Friday in the journal Current Biology.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Smokey Bear said it best: “Only you can prevent wildfires.” Following in the footsteps of their famous mascot, U.S. Forest Service managers in the drought-stricken Southwest are urging people to swap their fireworks this Fourth of July for glow sticks, noisemakers and cans of red, white and blue Silly String.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply divided Supreme Court on Friday effectively killed President Joe Biden’s $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce federal student loan debts for millions of Americans. The 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, said the Biden administration overstepped its authority with the plan, and means borrowers must repay loans, with payments expected to resume by late summer.

The Canadian wildfires that have shrouded much of the nation in a smoky haze are making it much harder for American kids to enjoy one of the staples of summer camp: fresh country air. As a result, many camps in the Midwest and the East have been moving activities indoors, seeking advice from medical professionals and hoping the air quality improves soon so campers can get back to hiking, playing tetherball and waging games of capture the flag.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff’s deputy was acquitted Thursday of felony child neglect and other charges for failing to act during the 2018 Parkland school massacre, concluding the first trial in U.S. history of a law enforcement officer for conduct during an on-campus shooting. Former Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson wept as the verdicts were read. The jury had deliberated for 19 hours over four days.

The only break much of America can hope for anytime soon from eye-watering dangerous smoke from fire-struck Canada is brief bouts of shirt-soaking sweltering heat and humidity from a southern heat wave that has already proven deadly, forecasters say.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday used the case of a Christian mailman who didn't want to work Sundays to solidify protections for workers who ask for religious accommodations. In a unanimous decision the justices made clear that workers who ask for accommodations, such as taking the Sabbath off, should get them unless their employers show doing so would result in “substantial increased costs” to the business.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies. The court overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation's oldest private and public colleges, respectively.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Debris from the lost submersible Titan has been returned to land after a fatal implosion during its voyage to the wreck of the Titanic captured the world's attention last week. The return of the debris to port in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, is a key piece of the investigation into why the submersible imploded, killing all five people on board. Twisted chunks of the 22-foot submersible were unloaded at a Canadian Coast Guard pier on Wednesday.

West Texas could see scorching temperatures that are blamed for nearly a dozen deaths return to a more typical level by the weekend as a heat dome is expected to move eastward, a National Weather Service meteorologist said Wednesday. Daily temperatures have exceeded 100 degrees and heat indexes have topped 115 degrees, leading to deaths that include nine people in Webb County, which includes Laredo.

It's three years until the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, but festivities are already starting. The anniversary push will formally launch July 4 with an event during a Major League Baseball game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs in Milwaukee. The organization spearheading the celebration, known as America250, will start recruiting people to share their stories of what the country means to them.

CHICAGO (AP) — Drifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada is creating curtains of haze and raising air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region and in parts of the central and eastern United States. The Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov site showed parts of Illinois, lower Michigan and southern Wisconsin had the worst air quality in the U.S. on Tuesday afternoon, and Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee had air quality categorized as “very unhealthy."

NEW YORK (AP) — The United States has seen five cases of malaria spread by mosquitos in the last two months — the first time there's been local spread in 20 years. There were four cases detected in Florida and one in Texas, according to a health alert issued Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WASHINGTON (AP) — You know instantly when someone is speaking to an infant or small child. It turns out that dolphin mothers also use a kind of high-pitched baby talk. A study published Monday found that female bottlenose dolphins change their tone when addressing their calves. Researchers recorded the signature whistles of 19 mother dolphins in Florida, when accompanied by their young offspring and when swimming alone or with other adults.

Scorching temperatures brought on by a “heat dome” have taxed the Texas power grid and threaten to bring record highs to the state before they are expected to expand during the coming week, putting even more people at risk.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — James Meredith knew he was putting his life in danger in the 1960s by pursuing what he believes was his divine mission: conquering white supremacy in the deeply, and often violently, segregated state of Mississippi. A half-century later, the civil rights leader is still talking about his mission from God.

NEWTON, Mass. (AP) — A couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary were stabbed to death, along with another family member, in what law enforcement officials said was probably a random attack. The bodies were found in a home in Newton when the couple failed to arrive at church Sunday morning, police said. Police worry that the killer or killers may be still at large, and residents in nearby neighborhoods were urged to remain vigilant.

SHOALS, Ind. (AP) — A tornado struck an Indiana home, killing one occupant and injuring another while two people died in Arkansas after a tree fell onto a house there as severe weather rumbled through a number of states. The tornado that struck the home Sunday evening was part of a storm system that pushed through Martin County, Indiana, WXIN-TV reported.

COLUMBUS, Mont. (AP) — Preliminary testing of water and air quality along a stretch of the Yellowstone River where train cars carrying hazardous materials fell into the waterway following a bridge collapse did not indicate any threat to the public, state and federal officials said Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Normal operations at airports in the Washington, D.C., area resumed about an hour after they were suspended Sunday evening because of a problem at a major air traffic control facility, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — At least three people have been found dead, and at least five others are thought to be injured, police in Missouri said while investigating two shootings with multiple victims in the same area of Kansas City early Sunday morning.