Kristen Welker bids a heartfelt farewell to 'Today' viewers, co

Kristen Welker bid a heartfelt farewell to viewers and longtime co-anchor Peter Alexander during her final episode of NBC's "Today" show.

The Saturday "Today" anchor and chief White House correspondent for NBC News fought back tears this weekend as her colleagues surprised her with a studio visit from her husband and young daughter to celebrate her last episode on the morning news program.

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Monday

Anti-government protests in southern Syria have entered their second week, with demonstrators waving the colorful flag of the minority Druze community, burning banners of President Bashar Assad, and at one point raiding several offices of his ruling party. The protests were initially driven by surging inflation and the war-torn country’s spiraling economy, but quickly shifted focus, with marchers calling for the fall of the Assad government. In a scene that once would have been unthinkable in the Druze stronghold, protesters have kicked members of Assad’s Baath party out of some of their offices. They have welded the doors shut, and spray-painted anti-government slogans on the walls.

Police are searching for both the weapon and the motive in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that left one faculty member dead and prompted an hours-long lockdown. No other injuries were reported after the Monday afternoon shooting. Officials said the assailant in Monday afternoon’s shooting at a science building in the heart of the flagship university’s campus was taken into custody about an hour and a half after the gunfire was first reported. Neither the suspect nor the victim were immediately identified, and formal charges were pending. Police also say they're still searching for the gun.

Dozens of tribal citizens and employees have benefitted in recent years from tribal climate camps that serve as a refuge for Native Americans on the front lines of climate change. Tribes suffer some of the most severe impacts of climate change in the U.S. but often have the fewest resources to respond. This makes the intensive camps an important training ground and community-building space. A recent camp in northwestern Washington state attracted participants from as far away as Alaska and Minnesota. Attendees learned about the restoration of salmon runs after the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe fought to tear down dams, and shared wisdom on initiatives to counter the effects of climate change.

Novak Djokovic has made a winning return to the U.S. Open. He rolled to a 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Alexandre Muller on Monday night. The 23-time Grand Slam champion shook off a late start after an opening-night ceremony, racing through the first set in 23 minutes. Djokovic missed the tournament last year, not allowed to travel to the U.S. because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic improved to 17-0 in first-round matches at the U.S. Open and assured he will regain the No. 1 ranking on Sept. 11. It will be his 390th week atop the rankings, extending his own record.

A Colorado dentist accused of killing his wife by lacing her protein shakes with poison is set to make a plea in court to first-degree murder Tuesday. Police said that James Craig, who began an affair before his wife’s March 18 death, had searched online if arsenic was detectable in autopsies and how to make murder look like a heart attack. Authorities said the autopsy showed Craig's wife died of poison exposure, and alleged that Craig had ordered poisons including cyanide in the lead up to her death. James Craig is being represented by the public defender’s office, which does not comment on cases.

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Taiwan’s weather authorities warned residents of heavy rain and strong winds starting Wednesday as Typhoon Saola skirts by the island’s southern coast on its way to China. The typhoon is moving northwest with sustained winds of 101 mph, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau. The typhoon’s eye won’t hit Taiwan’s mainland, but is expected to graze the island’s southern cities with its outer bands. The typhoon is then expected to hit southern Fujian and Guangdong provinces in China’s south. Saola caused flooding in the northern part of the Philippines in the past few days. Hundreds of people have been displaced, but no casualties have been reported.

HBCU president lauds students, officer for stopping Jacksonville killer before racist store attack

Barack and Michelle Obama saw Coco Gauff's US Open win and met with her afterward

A founder of Backpage.com will face his second trial on charges of facilitating prostitution and laundering money in what authorities say was a scheme to knowingly sell ads for sex on the classified site. Jury selection for Michael Lacey and four former Backpage employees is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Their first trial ended in a mistrial when a judge concluded prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking in a case where no one faced such a charge. Backpage’s operators said they never allowed ads for sex and used people and automated tools to try to delete such ads.

Across the country, schools are scrambling to catch up students in math as post-pandemic test scores reveal the depth of missing skills. On average, education analysts say students’ math knowledge is about half a school year behind where it should be. The plunge in scores exacerbated racial and socioeconomic inequities in math performance. And students aren’t bouncing back as quickly as hoped, supercharging worries about how they will fare in high school. Using federal relief money, some schools have added tutors and other recovery programs. But the September 2024 deadline for allocating that money will arrive before many children have caught up.

After a rousing tribute from former first lady Michelle Obama, Billie Jean King on Monday celebrated the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Open becoming the first sporting event to offer equal prize money to female and male competitors, promising to never stop fighting to maintain that hard-won progress. “Our work is far from done,” King said in a speech to a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd between matches in the night session. Obama introduced the 79-year-old tennis legend by recalling how King as the defending U.S. Open champion in 1973 rallied her fellow women players not to play in that year’s tournament unless women got the same pay as men.

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Sitting alone before a grand piano in a stark studio, Ryuichi Sakamoto takes the listener on a journey of his life, playing 20 of his compositions. Shot entirely in black and white, on three 4K cameras, the film “Opus,” directed by Neo Sora, is the Japanese composer’s farewell, poetic yet bold, and deeply heartfelt. Its world premiere is set for the Venice International Film Festival next month. The filming took place over several days, just a half year before his death on March 28 at 71. Sakamoto, battling cancer since 2014, could no longer do concerts. He turned to film.

With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump. They are recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to Trump's own. It's being led by the Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials with a nearly 1,000-page how-to book. They want to shrink government from within by firing up to 50,000 federal workers whom Republicans call “deep state” bureaucrats.

HBCU president lauds students, officer for stopping Jacksonville killer before racist store attack

Florida residents are evacuating from homes in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast as forecasters predict that Tropical Storm Idalia will hit the state as a major hurricane by Wednesday. Idalia would be the first storm to hit Florida this hurricane season and a big blow to the state, which is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Ian almost a year ago. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 46 counties, evacuation notices were issued in 21 counties and the state has mobilized 1,100 National Guard members. On Monday, Idalia was thrashing Cuba with heavy rains, especially the westernmost part of the island, which was also seriously affected by Ian.

A judge could decide Tuesday whether the prosecution of a mentally ill man charged with killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 can resume now that the state mental hospital says he is mentally competent, at least for now. Judge Ingrid Bakke is set to hold an afternoon hearing to discuss the status of the case against Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, who has schizophrenia. He is charged in the shooting at a crowded King Soopers store in Boulder in 2021. Criminal proceedings have been on hold for about two years after his attorneys raised concerns about whether he was able to understand court proceedings and communicate with them to help his defense.

Ron DeSantis scoffed when the NAACP issued a travel advisory this spring warning Black people to use “extreme care” if traveling to Florida. Just three months later, the Republican governor is struggling to lead his state through the aftermath of a racist attack that left three African Americans dead and the Black community outraged. African American leaders are arguing that DeSantis created the conditions that led to the weekend shooting. The tragedy cast a shadow across the Republican presidential campaign as candidates were forced to confront uncomfortable questions about the party’s increasing appeal among right-wing extremists. Virtually every GOP presidential candidate has embraced a message that downplays the existence of racism in America.

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