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. —its land, its power, its women—but The Mamas* of Eastern Congo are asserting that the world, in fact, want a piece of them (and could never capture them, try as they might). Instead, The Mamas are capturing the world and recapturing themselves through the lenses of their own cameras. With the art of photography, they build community, dignity, and self-determination, all while wielding the most potent kind of beauty as a weapon against the state: liberation—the animated subjectivity of the objectified. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the wealthiest countries on the globe. Despite the incalculable that intimidates the constraints of commercialism, the country’s worth has been codified to a strangely monetized . The country hosts numerous major mineral deposits—from cobalt and coltan to diamonds and gold—that power that fuel them. companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Tesla have been complicit in the exploitative supply chain in the Congo for decades, but the hands of consumers aren’t any more clean. Our participation in the development and usage of convenient, luxurious, solution-based innovation—from our interaction with digital content (including ) on our “smart” devices to the use of “sustainable” electric cars that are powered by Congolese minerals–-depend on the pillaging of The Congo. Additionally, the international community is on Congo’s Eastern border—Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and others—and their brutal participation in destabilizing The Congo. Their goal is to exploit the weakness of The DRC’s authority in the aftermath of the ethnic and political conflict of the 1990s. has not been “silent,” as it is often regarded; we simply have not been , even as it rhymes with other genocides that are being amplified in this global moment of polycrisis. Still, the since World War II—seeing 7.3 million people internally displaced, 25.4 million people who are in need of emergency support, and over 6 million people killed, most of whom are women and children. This catastrophe is too large to be ignored. So why has it been? The negligence of advocacy for Congolese liberation, even by the socially conscious world, can be ; many regard Africa—humanity’s motherland, the second largest continent in the world—as a mere mass of land meant for death, or the of its living and breathing land and people. I attribute this to the world’s inability to understand Africa and its people beyond colonial contexts. The brutal disregard for natural and human life is consistent with that of The DRC and is particularly potent as the world fails Congolese women. The war waged on women in The Congo is intentional. Along with resource deprivation tactics and bombardment that is formidably common in areas of displacement, the state also uses . Additionally, voyeurism and other exploitative journalism practices of is commonly overlooked in The Congo. This inhumane practice visually captures and manipulates aesthetics of Congolese women into images of impoverished, oversexualized, and destitute archetypes from the lens of the (usually Western-adjacent) voyeur, furthering agendas of objectification. Though the women in The Congo have been victimized, they refuse to be victims. The Mamas of Yolé! Africa’s initiative for displaced women are a prime example. The Mamas are a group of 50 mothers from 13 villages across Eastern Congo who are currently surviving internal displacement in the Bulengo displacement camp, which holds about 800,000 people. The Mamas began taking photography classes as a part of an empowerment initiative by , a Congo-based arts and culture organization that meets The women’s exposure to photography classes allows them to reclaim their own narratives and assert their own subjectivities in the face of terror. The photography classes of Yole! Africa is led by a brilliant Congolese visual artist, Botembe Moseka Maïté. Born, raised, and based in Kinshasa, Maïté graduated from Académie des Beaux-Arts (The Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa) with a degree in Visual Communications. Her focuses on “capturing time through her photographs” and “creating captivating archives and memories that tell timeless stories.” What was seeded as an art project for an internship with Yolé! Africa blossomed into a revolutionary training program with The Mamas. “We are here because we have to see the school of Yolé!” Maïté tells me via call a day after touching down in Goma with Yolé! Africa founder Petna Ndaliko Katondolo. “Yolé! Ekolojia... it’s currently under construction and we have to check if everything is going well—and meet with The Mamas who were excited to see that their classrooms are about to get ready.” Yolé! Ekolojia is a school that is currently being built in the Bulengo displacement camp, where the Mama’s first participated in Maïté’s photography class. As an extension of Yolé! Africa’s cultural organization, it offers many creative classes that center the experiences and practical needs of the displaced people in the area, from agro liberation farming and shoemaking to filmmaking and other forms of storytelling. “It offers a space of liberation,” Maïté explained, “a space of expression through art for The Mamas and the families of the camp... we teach them about liberation—how to integrate themselves through ancestral knowledge, ancestral ecology—and that’s really the spirit of Yolé! Ekolojia: community building.” When asked if the women have any “self-care regimens” that aid in their survival, Maïté reminded me, “that the space where they are currently is a place designed by violence. And in this space, they don’t really have that right to really think about health, about beauty, about makeup,” she says. “We do it freely, but they can’t. So in the school, they build their own space where they are not victims anymore, but they are actors of their own beauty—a beauty that is like resilience, that is a call of their own freedom. That’s even the beauty of art, because through art, they extract themselves; they feel mentally and physically free.” The unimaginable stakes in the Mamas’ worlds bar them from access to many forms of care, including from themselves. Still, though the form of maintenance is not as concrete, what Maïté described a beauty regimen, and arguably the most potent form. I’m sure I have stars in my eyes as a Piscean Afrofuturist who luxuriates in dreamy optimism for African people globally. However, as an artist, I can testify to the incredible ways in which communal artistic practices and self-expression carry potential for healing and care, even on a cellular level. Art is a kind of maintenance—a more creative health regimen, a more spiritual wellness routine, and a more visceral ritual of adornment and beauty. One example of Yolé! Africa’s curriculum is, in itself, a masterclass in disassembling the visual politics of beauty as a colonial construct. Maïté details that, “The idea was to make a triptych of their own objects. While I was observing them, I thought, ‘why not [include] a piece of theater?’ So I asked them to each bring an object of value for them from home.” While recounting this part of the curriculum, she remembered how the class naturally and creatively reanimated objects for the assignment. “One who came with a jacket said, ‘this jacket, for me, is like a sister.’” Meanwhile, another “came with a spoon and called it ‘my brother who will help me nourish my kid.’” One who came with a mattress, “said that this mattress is her sister. She ran away from war three times with the same mattress. And her sister is always jealous each time she’s dirty.” The reanimation of what we deem inanimate play human-like roles in The Mama’s lives, turning still-life photography into a kind of portraiture. This perhaps reminded the women of their own ability to resist objectification through storytelling. Maïté intuitively offered to the class, “‘Why don’t you guys just give them a new name, give them a new story, and give them a new song?’ It started with storytelling, then presenting the objects, then presenting a song by a group of three. And, at the end, it was a show that we presented in another space in the town. And that was just beautiful.” The photographs in this article are selected works of a few of The Mamas in Yolé’s photography training program. These 50 Congolese women are showing us a more-than-physical beauty with lenses through which we could never even begin to peer. The subjecthood with which the women endow the focal elements of their photos makes a case for their subjectivity and agency as human beings, despite how the world seeks to objectify them. My interview with Maïté left me questioning the significance of aesthetic beauty as we celebrate it in our culture; does it even matter? Are Western beauty tutorials and trends, even when performed by Black people, relevant at all? If beauty is self-expression, then what are we expressing other than our ability to conform to an ideal that is ultimately irrelevant to our liberation? Even as we attempt to flex, force, and forge open the once seemingly immalleable standards of beauty to include greater differences, the concern with its manipulation alone implies our validation of an oppressive concept that was never going to free us. Black thinkers like that is “Black is beautiful.” Morrison’s commentary urges us to realize that liberation from white supremacist, patriarchal constructs isn’t possible through enrollment in yet another white supremacist, patriarchal construct. Her words are a reminder that aesthetic beauty is a concept created to drive an even deeper wedge between people who are deemed worthy of freedom and those who are not. bell hooks says it plain in her collection of essays , suggesting that, “We need to theorize the meaning of beauty in our lives so that we can educate for critical consciousness, talking through the issues: how we acquire and spend money, how we feel about beauty, what the place of beauty is in our lives when we lack material privilege and even basic resources for living, the meaning and significance of luxury, and the politics of envy.” The coloniality of—capital B—Beauty is more pungent than ever in today’s world. The world’s desperate subscription to Beauty and adjacent colonial constructs do not simply distract us from the current season of concurrent disasters; it also grants delusions of status and immunity from affect. These disasters and distractions are intentionally invented by white supremacist, patriarchal empires to work tangentially and symbiotically. This is how “Pretty Girl Core,” fascism, natural disasters, and dead people can alternate all-too-casually on the news feed of any given social networking app during a leisurely 5-minute scroll. To the conscious world, the former increasingly feels like the largest inconvenience of these examples, leaving many to question and critique its relevance—the first step in disrupting this dynamic. Black Beauty content in the digital age transforms its triviality into an ironic cruelty; Black beauty creators are benefitting from unspeakable violence on people with whom we share common origin by the hands of what is in our hands: our smartphones. . Whether or not our Beauty does is not as black-and-white. Both are concepts that we never needed to scream at the world but to prayerfully whisper into a salve for our own apathy. Our participation in irrelevant Beauty content from people who look like us that overshadows relevant liberation work from people who look like us is unethical. The fact that the former is produced by way of the technology that relies on the exploitation of the latter makes this dynamic existentially unbearable. To fully understand the tragedy of this reckless dereliction, we must collectively consider The Congo—not only for the ways in which it is being exploited, but for the beauty that The Mama’s are teaching us to on—the freedom they embody from in front of and behind their cameras. .

METAIRIE, La. – Dejounte Murray plans to return to the New Orleans Pelicans ' lineup on Wednesday night for the first time since fracturing his left hand in a season-opening victory over Chicago on Oct. 23. And when Murray takes the court against the Toronto Raptors , his mother will be on his mind. Recommended Videos After practice on Tuesday, Murray discussed his impending return and disclosed more details about the previously unspecified “personal matters” that caused him to leave the team during the final days of the preseason. His mother had a stroke, he said. “It was tough to leave and go deal with that. As she got better, she wanted me to come play,” Murray said of his last-minute decision to start against Chicago. He added that his hand injury near the end of that game was God's way of telling him, “‘Nah, you need to stay with your mom.’” “I was more concerned about my mother. That was my priority,” Murray continued. “I wasn’t really worried about my recovery.” Murray's mother has recovered well, he said, while he is “healthy and ready to help this team.” “I’m ready to hoop. Play for my mother — she’s going to be watching," Murray said. “I’m ready to compete, bring that winning spirit.” The Pelicans (4-14) certainly could use the help, having lost 14 of 16 games since opening the season with a pair of victories. Injuries have ravaged the roster. At times, all five starters have been out. Star power forward Zion Williamson has missed 12 games this season — one with an illness and 11 with a hamstring injury. Herb Jones has been sidelined by a shoulder strain and Brandon Ingram's status is in doubt after he sat out practice on Tuesday with calf soreness that also sidelined him during a loss on Monday night at Indiana. But at least two starters — Murray and fellow guard CJ McCollum — are expected to play against the Raptors. “I don’t care how many games we’ve lost. I just know every time I step on the floor I feel like we can win games,” said Murray, who had 14 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in his lone game with the Pelicans. "That’s just my mentality, and I feel like it can carry over to a lot of guys.” ___ AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBAStock market today: Wall Street gains ground as it heads for a winning weekWide receiver Vance Spafford is one of Georgia's earliest commitments in the 2026 signing class , and he's already drawn comparisons to ex-Bulldogs wideout Ladd McConkey. The question is whether those comparisons are warranted for the four-star prospect out of Mission Viejo (Calif.). Spafford is the No. 105 player in the country and the No. 14 wide receiver in the 2026 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports ratings. Despite the immediate comparisons to McConkey, that is one notable difference. Spafford is a more heralded prospect than McConkey, who was a three-star recruit and the No. 1,131 player in the 2020 signing class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. The reason Spafford has gotten more buzz on the recruiting trail can be attributed to his performance on the 7v7 circuit this past offseason. 247Sports national recruiting analyst Greg Biggins explained why Spafford turned so many heads. "Spafford had a huge sophomore season but really elevated his stock and brand the spring/summer before his junior year," Biggins said. "He dominated the 7v7 circuit and answered any questions about being just a reliable, 'possession guy,' with some big time track markers including a personal best 10.69-100m." While Spafford's 5-foot-11 and 175-pound frame isn't all that different from McConkey's, nor is his ability to run routes with expert precision. Biggins describes Spafford as an "elite route-runner" and says his football IQ is "off the charts." When asked how Spafford's game compares to that of McConkey, Biggins said the similarities are very real. "The player comps to Ladd McConkey are pretty obvious and it's not inaccurate," Biggins said. "Similar in size, explosive speed and flash the ability to be both a possession guy and a run-after-catch threat." Biggins expects Spafford to make an "immediate impact" for the Bulldogs, which would be another contrast from McConkey, who redshirted in 2020 before helping Georgia win back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022. Of course, those comparisons probably don't even happen if Spafford had committed to one of the other two dozen schools that were recruiting him. One of those programs was Ole Miss, which was very much in the mix for Spafford's services. Blair Angulo, a 247Sports recruiting analyst who covered Spafford's recruitment, said the Rebels were Spafford's "childhood favorite team." Spafford's decision ultimately came down to his role in the Georgia offense, and the way offensive coordinator Mike Bobo used McConkey was a factor. "Spafford said he chose Georgia over more than two dozen other scholarship offers because of the offensive fit, including some comparisons to Ladd McConkey," Angulo said. "... Spafford loves the way offensive coordinator Mike Bobo calls plays, particularly with how he balances screens, mixes in play action and crossing patterns to get receivers in great spots to make plays." Spafford himself is well aware how often he gets likened to McConkey, and he addressed those comps with Angulo upon his commitment to Georgia . "I have heard the Ladd McConkey comparisons a little bit, but the coaches say I would be used in a different way because I'm a bit more dynamic and faster than he was at the same stage," Spafford said. "Coach Mike Bobo does an incredible job of play calling, balances a lot of screens and intermediate routes, uses play action well to get receivers in great spots. I'm really excited about how I fit into the scheme." If Spafford does follow a similar career path as McConkey, everything will work out for the four-star wide receiver and Georgia. The Bulldogs won a pair of national championships with McConkey playing a key role, and McConkey became a second-round NFL Draft pick who is flourishing at the next level.

Pune: People working for river conservation have claimed that thousands of dead fish were found floating in Mula-Mutha river, at the banks of Naik Bet, an island situated on the river at Bund Garden. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) officials visited the site and collected water samples on Monday. The incident came to light on Monday, when Prajkta Mahajan, a member of citizen group Pune River Revival, posted the dead fish incident on social media. In her post Mahajan mentioned that volunteers Amitraj and Nishad Sevekari on Sunday documented dead fish found floating along the riverbank from the Naidu STP outlet till Bund Garden. She alleged chemical contamination as the cause of death as volunteers reported bad odour in the river water. Mahajan said, “The dead fish mainly belonged to Tilapia species. There was a pungent odour likely related to a chemical in the water. The case needs a detailed investigation though we have not logged any formal complaint yet.” A MPCB official who visited the site requesting anonymity said, “We have collected water samples to determine the cause of fish death. We think that a sewage treatment plant developed some fault, but only the sample analysis and study will reveal the cause of death. We have instructed locals to not use the river water.” Incidents of fish dying due to contaminated water in Mula, Pavana and Indrayani rivers is a perennial problem in the Pimpri-Chinchwad area and activists have been demanding concrete measures to prevent river pollution rather than just focusing on beautification.

Travis Hunter just won the Heisman Trophy, which was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of his life. Unfortunately, almost tragically, the only narrative that those on social media have latched onto surrounds his controversial fiancee, Leanna Lenee, rather than his unprecedented on-field exploits during the 2024 NCAA football season. The most recent development was the most salacious, as a video emerged of Lenee that caused Hunter to deactivate his Instagram. The internet sleuths lived up to their names on this one, as they found a video and a picture that pretty clearly depicts Lenee twerking on and cozying up to another man who’s not Hunter at a club. When the videos and pictures were taken is unknown, but either way, netizens believe that it’s not a great look for Lenee. However, former running back Shady McCoy has a different perspective. Following the uproar on social media, McCoy felt the need to step in. He tried to talk some sense into the people on the internet who seem to know what’s best for Hunter’s relationship at every turn. McCoy’s main point was that many of these Tweeters are the last people whose advice should be heeded on this topic. Not to mention that Hunter has one of the greatest mentors in sports right now in Deion Sanders , his coach for two years at Colorado and for another year prior to that at Jackson State. No doubt Coach Prime is speaking sense to Hunter right now. The discourse about Travis Hunter and Leanna Lenee’s relationship has become toxic. Hunter deactivating his account and focusing more on his upcoming Bowl game will certainly help with his mental health. Whether or not Lenee is indeed good for him is up to no one but him.Prince George's Christmas list says it all about his upbringing

The leader of Sinn Fein has expressed determination to form a government of the left in Ireland as she insisted her party’s performance in the General Election had broken the state’s political mould. Despite Mary Lou McDonald’s confidence around shaping a coalition without Fine Gael and Fianna Fail – the two parties that have dominated the landscape of Irish politics for a century – the pathway to government for Sinn Fein still appears challenging. With counting following Friday’s election still in the relatively early stages – after an exit poll that showed the main three parties effectively neck-and-neck – there is some way to go before the final picture emerges and the options for government formation crystalise. Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, Simon Harris, has dismissed talk of a Sinn Fein surge and said he was “cautiously optimistic” about where his party will stand after all the votes are counted. Meanwhile, Ireland’s deputy premier and Fianna Fail leader, Micheal Martin, insisted his party has a “very clear route back to government” as he predicted seat gains. The counting process could last days because of Ireland’s complex system of proportional representation with a single transferable vote (PR-STV), where candidates are ranked by preference. The early indications have turned the focus to the tricky arithmetic of government formation, as the country’s several smaller parties and many independents potentially jockey for a place in government. Ms McDonald told reporters at the RDS count centre in Dublin that she would be “very, very actively pursuing” the potential to form a government with other parties on the left of the political spectrum. The smaller, left-leaning parties in Ireland include the Social Democrats, the Irish Labour Party, the Green Party and People Before Profit-Solidarity. Ms McDonald said her party had delivered an “incredible performance” in the election. “I think it’s fair to say that we have now confirmed that we have broken the political mould here in this state,” she said. “Two party politics is now gone. It’s consigned to the dustbin of history and that, in itself, is very significant.” She added: “I am looking to bring about a government of change, and I’m going to go and look at all formulations. “If you want my bottom line, the idea of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael for another five years, in our strong opinion, is not a good outcome for Irish society. “Obviously, I want to talk to other parties of the left and those that we share very significant policy objectives with. So I’m going to do that first and just hear their mind, hear their thinking. But be very clear, we will be very, very actively pursuing entrance into government.” In Friday night’s exit poll, Sinn Fein was predicted to take 21.1% of first-preference votes, narrowly ahead of outgoing coalition partners Fine Gael and Fianna Fail at 21% and 19.5% respectively. Prior to the election, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael both ruled out entering government with Sinn Fein. Fine Gael leader Mr Harris rejected suggestions Sinn Fein had broken new ground. He told reporters in his count centre in Greystones, Co Wicklow: “Certainly we haven’t seen a Sinn Fein surge or anything like it. “I mean, it looks likely, on the figures that we’ve seen now, fewer people, many fewer people would have voted Sinn Fein in this election than the last one. “In fact, I think they’re down by around 5% and actually the parties, particularly the two parties, the two larger parties in government, are likely to receive significant support from the electorate. So definitely, politics in Ireland has gotten much more fragmented.” He said it was too early to tell what the next government would look like. “I think anybody who makes any suggestion about who is going to be the largest party or the construct of the next government, they’re a braver person than I am,” he said. “Our electoral system dictates that there’ll be many, many transfers that will go on for hours, if not days, before we know the final computations at all. “But what I am very confident about is that my party will have a very significant role to play in the years ahead, and I’m cautiously optimistic and excited.” Fianna Fail’s Mr Martin told reporters at a count centre in Cork he was confident that the numbers exist to form a government with parties that shared his political viewpoint. Mr Martin said it “remains to be seen” whether he would return to the role of Taoiseach – a position he held between 2020 and 2022 – but he expressed confidence his party would outperform the exit poll prediction. “It’s a bit too early yet to call the exact type of government that will be formed or the composition of the next government,” he said. “But I think there are, there will be a sufficiency of seats, it seems to me, that aligns with the core principles that I articulated at the outset of this campaign and throughout the campaign, around the pro-enterprise economy, around a positively pro-European position, a government that will strongly push for home ownership and around parties that are transparently democratic in how they conduct their affairs.” Asked if it would be in a coalition with Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Social Democrats, he said that would be “racing a bit too far ahead”. The final result may dictate that if Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are to return to government, they may need more than one junior partner, or potentially the buy-in of several independent TDs. Mr Martin said it was unclear how quickly a government can be formed, as he predicted his party would gain new seats. “It will be challenging. This is not easy,” he added. The junior partner in the outgoing government – the Green Party – looks set for a bruising set of results. Green leader Roderic O’Gorman is in a fight to hold onto his seat, as are a number of party colleagues, including Media Minister Catherine Martin. “It’s clear the Green Party has not had a good day,” he said. The early counting also suggested potential trouble for Fianna Fail in Wicklow, where the party’s only candidate in the constituency, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, is considered to have a battle ahead, with the risk of losing his seat. Meanwhile, there is significant focus on independent candidate Gerard Hutch who, on Saturday evening, was sitting in fourth place in the four-seat constituency of Dublin Central. Last spring, Mr Hutch was found not guilty by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of the murder of David Byrne, in one of the first deadly attacks of the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud. Mr Byrne, 33, died after being shot six times at a crowded boxing weigh-in event at the Regency Hotel in February 2016. A Special Criminal Court judge described Mr Hutch, 61, as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation and said he had engaged in “serious criminal conduct”. The constituency will be closely watched as other hopefuls wait to see if transfers from eliminated candidates may eventually rule him out of contention. In the constituency of Louth, the much-criticised selection of John McGahon appeared not to have paid off for Fine Gael. The party’s campaign was beset by questioning over footage entering the public domain of the candidate engaged in a fight outside a pub in 2018. The Social Democrats have a strong chance of emerging as the largest of the smaller parties. The party’s leader, Holly Cairns, was already celebrating before a single vote was counted however, having announced the birth of her baby girl on polling day.EZ LYNK's ELD Technology Achieves Certification in Canada, Streamlining Compliance and Enhancing Fleet Efficiency

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Married couples across the U.S. have had access to no-fault divorce for more than 50 years, an option many call crucial to supporting domestic abuse victims and key to preventing already crowded family courts from drowning in complicated divorce proceedings. But some advocates for women worried as old comments from now Vice President-elect JD Vance circulated during the presidential campaign opposing no-fault divorce. After President-elect Donald Trump and Vance won the election, warnings began popping up on social media urging women who might be considering divorce to "pull the trigger" while they still could. Some attorneys posted saying they saw a spike in calls from women seeking divorce consultations. Donald and Ivana Trump pose in May 1988 outside the Federal Courthouse in New York after she was sworn in as a United States citizen. Trump — who is twice-divorced — hasn't championed overhauling the country's divorce laws, but in 2021 Vance lamented that divorce is too easily accessible, as have conservative podcasters and others. "We've run this experiment in real time and what we have is a lot of very, very real family dysfunction that's making our kids unhappy," Vance said during a speech at a Christian high school in California, where he criticized people being able to "shift spouses like they change their underwear." Marriage rates held steady but divorce rates of women age 15 and older declined from 2012 to 2022, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in October. Despite concerns, even those who want to make divorces harder to get say they don't expect big, swift changes. There is not a national coordinated effort underway. States determine their own divorce laws, so national leaders can't directly change policy. "Even in some of the so-called red states, it hasn't gotten anywhere," said Beverly Willett, co-chair of the Coalition for Divorce Reform, whose group unsuccessfully attempted to convince states to repeal their no-fault divorce laws. A couple exchanges wedding bands Oct. 11, 2018, at City Hall in Philadelphia. Mark A. Smith, a political science professor at the University of Washington, said while many Americans became accustomed to no-fault divorce being an option, Vance's previous comments on making it more difficult to separate from a spouse could help jump-start that effort. "Even though he's not directly proposing a policy, it's a topic that hasn't gotten a ton of discussion in the last 15 years," Smith said. "And so to have a national profile politician talk that way is noteworthy." Meanwhile, Republican Party platforms in Texas and Nebraska were amended in 2022 to call for the removal of no-fault divorce. Louisiana's Republican Party considered something similar this year but declined to do so. A handful of proposals were introduced in conservative-led statehouses over the years, but all immediately stalled after they were filed. In January, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Dusty Deevers introduced legislation that would have removed married couples from filing for divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. Deevers backed the bill after writing a piece declaring no-fault divorce was an "abolition of marital obligation." Sen. JD Vance smiles as his wife Usha Vance applauds Nov. 6 at an election-night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. Similarly, in South Carolina, two Republican lawmakers in 2023 filed a bill that would have required both spouses to file for a no-fault divorce application rather than just one. In South Dakota, a Republican lawmaker attempted to remove irreconcilable difference as grounds for divorce since 2020. None of the sponsors of these bills responded to interview requests from The Associated Press. All are members of their state's conservative Freedom Caucus. Nevertheless, some Democratic lawmakers say they remain worried about the future of no-fault divorce. They point to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to abortion in 2022 as an example of a long-accepted option that was revoked through a decades-long effort. "When you choose to be silent, you allow for this to creep in," said Democratic South Dakota Rep. Linda Duba. "These are the bills that gain a foothold because you choose to be silent." Before California became the first state to adopt a no-fault divorce option in 1969, married couples had to prove their spouse violated one of the approved "faults" outlined in their state's divorce law or risk a judge denying their divorce, said Joanna Grossman, a law professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Qualified reasons varied from state to state, but largely included infidelity, incarceration or abandonment. Donald and Marla Trump wave to photographers Dec. 20, 1993, as they enter their wedding reception in New York's Plaza Hotel. The system was a particular burden on domestic violence victims, who are often women who could be stuck in dangerous marriages while they try to prove their partner's abuse in court through expensive and lengthy legal proceedings. "If there was any evidence that the couple both wanted to get divorced that was supposed to be denied because divorce was not something you got because you wanted it, it was something you got because you've been wronged in a way that the state thought was significant," Grossman said. To date, every state in the U.S. adopted a no-fault divorce option. However, 33 states still have a list of approved "faults" to file as grounds for divorce — ranging from adultery to felony conviction. In 17 states, married people only have the option of choosing no-fault divorce to end their marriages. The link between rates of divorce and age at first marriage has been borne out over time, but it also explains geographic differences in rates of divorce. Today, most of the states with the lowest rates of divorce are also those with a higher median age for marriage. States like New Jersey, New York, California, and Massachusetts all stand out for having fewer than 10% of adults divorced and an age at first marriage above 30. One exception to this is Utah, which has the lowest overall median age for first marriage at 25.5 but also the third-lowest share of divorced adults at 9%, likely due in part to the state’s strong religious ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . In contrast, Maine and Nevada lead all states in the share of the population currently divorced at 13.9% and 13.8%, respectively. And at the local level, many of the cities with the highest levels of divorce are found in Florida, Appalachia, and the Southwest. The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 American Community Survey . To determine the most divorced locations, researchers at ChamberOfCommerce.org calculated the percentage of adults currently divorced. In the event of a tie, the location with the higher percentage of adults currently separated was ranked higher. To improve relevance, only cities with at least 100,000 residents were included. Additionally, cities were grouped into cohorts based on population size: small (100,000–149,999), midsize (150,000–349,999), and large (350,000 or more). Here are the most divorced cities in the U.S. Photo Credit: Jacob Boomsma / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: photo.ua / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Jonny Trego / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Tupungato / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Kevin J King / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Galina Savina / Shutterstock Photo Credit: f11photo / Shutterstock Photo Credit: CHARLES MORRA / Shutterstock Photo Credit: LHBLLC / Shutterstock Photo Credit: Valiik30 / Shutterstock Photo Credit: turtix / Shutterstock Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Arkansas defensive end Landon Jackson was carted off the field and taken to a hospital with a neck injury late in the first half of Saturday's game at No. 24 Missouri. Jackson appeared to injure his neck while trying to tackle Missouri running back Jamal Roberts. Medical personnel tended to Jackson for approximately 10 minutes before he was placed on a backboard and driven to a waiting ambulance. Jackson gave a thumbs-up sign as he was carted off the snow-covered field. Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said Jackson had movement in his arms and legs but was experiencing pain in his neck. He said Jackson was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Jackson leads the Razorbacks with 9 1/2 tackles for loss and 6 1/2 sacks, and is considered a potential first-round pick in next year's NFL draft. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Southwest states certify election results after the process led to controversy in previous years

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