AP News in Brief at 12:04 a.m. EST

Authorities said the skiers had little time to react.

“Someone saw the avalanche, yelled ‘Avalanche!’ and it overtook them rather quickly,” said Capt. Russell “Rusty” Greene, of the Nevada County sheriff’s office.

Six were rescued six hours after the avalanche hit Tuesday morning as they were concluding a three-day trek in Northern California’s Sierra Nevada during a monster winter storm. The tour included four guides, three of whom are presumed dead, authorities said.

The group was a mix of women and men between the ages of 30 and 55, authorities said. Some of the people killed were members of the Sugar Bowl Academy community, a private boarding school and ski and snowboard club on Donner Summit, according to the academy. School officials did not release the names of those killed or describe their connection to the academy.

Mark Zuckerberg quizzed on kids' Instagram use in social media trial

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mark Zuckerberg and opposing lawyers dueled in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday, where the Meta CEO answered questions about young people’s use of Instagram, his congressional testimony and internal advice he’s received about being “authentic” and not “robotic.”

Zuckerberg's testimony is part of an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta's platforms deliberately addict and harm children. During questioning by the plaintiff's lawyer, Zuckerberg said he still agrees with a previous statement he made that the existing body of scientific work has not proved that social media causes mental health harms.

The plaintiff’s attorney, Mark Lanier, asked Zuckerberg if people tend to use something more if it’s addictive.

“I’m not sure what to say to that,” Zuckerberg said. “I don’t think that applies here.”

Attorneys representing the plaintiff, a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, claim her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.

Billionaire Les Wexner says he was 'duped' by adviser Jeffrey Epstein, 'a world-class con man'

NEW ALBANY, Ohio (AP) — The billionaire behind the retail empire that once blanketed shopping malls with names such as Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch told members of Congress on Wednesday that he was “duped by a world-class con man” — close financial adviser Jeffrey Epstein. Les Wexner also denied knowing about the late sex offender’s crimes or participating in Epstein’s abuse of girls and young women.

“I was naive, foolish, and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein. He was a con man. And while I was conned, I have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide,” the 88-year-old retired founder of L Brands said in a statement to the House Oversight and Reform Committee released before his interview.

The panel's Democrats had subpoenaed him after the latest Justice Department release of Epstein-related documents revealed new details about Wexner’s relationship with the well-connected financier. Ranking member Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said Wexner “answered every question asked of him” during the 6-hour proceeding. A video and transcript are to released soon.

Wexner described himself to the lawmakers as a philanthropist, community builder and grandfather who always strove “to live my life in an ethical manner in line with my moral compass,” according to the statement. He said he was eager “to set the record straight” about his ties with Epstein. Their relation ended bitterly in 2007, after the Wexners discovered he'd been stealing from them.

As one of Epstein’s most prominent former friends, Wexner has spent years answering for their decades-long association and he sought to use the proceeding to dispel what he called “outrageous untrue statements and hurtful rumor, innuendo, and speculation” that have shadowed him.

Trump wants his Board of Peace to solve world conflicts. It still has a lot of work to do in Gaza

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is set to meet for the first time on Thursday in Washington, an early test of whether one of his marquee foreign policy initiatives can gain broad support and advance the shaky ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

Trump's ballooning ambitions for the board extend from governing and rebuilding Gaza as a futuristic metropolis to challenging the United Nations Security Council's role in solving conflicts. But they could be tempered by the realities of dealing with Gaza, where there has so far been limited progress in achieving the narrower aims of the ceasefire.

Palestinians, including many civilians, are still being killed in near-daily strikes that Israel says are aimed at militants who threaten or attack its forces. Hamas hasn't disarmed, no international forces have deployed, and a Palestinian committee meant to take over from Hamas is stuck in neighboring Egypt.

“If this meeting does not result in fast, tangible improvements on the ground — and particularly on the humanitarian front — its credibility will quickly crumble,” said Max Rodenbeck, Israel-Palestine Project Director at the International Crisis Group, a global think tank.

More than two dozen nations have signed on as the board's founding members.

Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential run inspired generations to carry his message

When the Rev. Jesse Jackson announced his second presidential bid in 1988 in Pittsburgh, he saw the campaign as a chance for the country to realize its highest ideals.

“If I can become president," said Jackson, who grew up poor and Black in segregated South Carolina, “every woman can. Every man can. I'm giving America a chance to make a choice to fulfill the highest and best of an authentic and honest democracy.”

While unsuccessful, the campaign captured the imaginations of countless Americans who were inspired by Jackson, who died Tuesday at 84.

Decades later, generations of young people who watched his historic campaigns or learned about his career have become veteran activists, clergy members, civic leaders and lawmakers. Many say that his unapologetic message of equality and justice informs their work today.

“Here I was, a kid growing up in public housing, and I got to witness this Black man running for president. He gave me a glimpse of what is possible, and he taught me how to say, ‘I am somebody’," said Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, referring to one of Jackson's slogans adopted from a poem.

Transportation Department says more than 550 driving schools must close over safety failures

More than 550 commercial driving schools in the U.S. that train truckers and bus drivers must close after investigators found they employed unqualified instructors, failed to adequately test students and had other safety issues, the federal Transportation Department announced Wednesday.

The move marks the Trump administration's latest effort to improve safety in the trucking industry. And unlike its actions last fall to decertify up to 7,500 schools that included many defunct operations, this latest step is focused on active schools inspectors identified as having significant shortcomings in 1,426 site visits completed in December.

The department has been aggressively going after states that handed out commercial driver's licenses to immigrants who shouldn't have qualified for them ever since a fatal crash in August. A truck driver who Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says wasn't authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people. Other fatal crashes since then, including one in Indiana that killed four earlier this month, have only heightened concerns.

Duffy said 448 schools failed to meet basic safety standards. Inspectors found such deficiencies as employing unqualified instructors, failing to test students' skills or teach them how to handle hazardous materials and using the wrong equipment to teach drivers. Another 109 schools removed themselves from the registry of schools when they learned inspections were planned.

“American families should have confidence that our school bus and truck drivers are following every letter of the law and that starts with receiving proper training before getting behind the wheel,” Duffy said.

Many Democrats are still down on the Democratic Party, a new AP-NORC poll finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic candidates have notched a series of wins in recent special elections — but a new AP-NORC poll finds views of the Democratic Party among rank-and-file Democrats have not bounced back since President Donald Trump’s victory in 2024.

Only about 7 in 10 Democrats have a positive view of the Democratic Party, according to new polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. While the overwhelming majority of Democrats still feel good about their party, they're much less positive than they've been in the past.

The midterm elections are still many months away, and lackluster favorability doesn't spell electoral doom. Other factors could benefit Democrats this year, including broadly negative views of Trump and other Republicans. Additionally, recent polling has found that independents tend to identify more with the party that’s out of power, which could boost Democrats this year too. Historically, the party not in the White House has picked up seats in Congress in midterm elections.

But the lack of enthusiasm could be a longer-term problem for the party. Democrats' favorability of their party plummeted after the 2024 election, from 85% in September 2024 to 67% in October 2025. And despite overwhelming victories in November’s off-season elections and a string of wins since then, those views haven’t recovered. Other polling indicates that Democrats are deeply frustrated with their party.

At the same time, there's some potential good news for Democrats in the new poll. Although Republicans are slightly more enthusiastic about their own party, Americans in general don't think highly of either party. Health care is on many Americans' minds this year, and it's an issue where Democrats have a large advantage, according to the survey. Meanwhile, Republicans have lost some ground on two of Trump's signature issues, the economy and immigration, although Americans don't necessarily trust Democrats more on those issues as a result.

Envoys signal no breakthrough on bridging Russia and Ukraine's political and military differences

GENEVA (AP) — The latest U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Moscow and Kyiv over Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine ended Wednesday with no sign of a breakthrough and with both sides saying the talks were “difficult,” as the war’s fourth anniversary approaches next week.

The negotiations in Switzerland were the third round of direct talks organized by the U.S., after meetings earlier this year in Abu Dhabi that officials described as constructive but which also made no major headway. Expectations for significant progress in Geneva were low.

“The negotiations were not easy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the talks broke up and he spoke briefly by phone from Kyiv with his negotiating team.

He earlier accused Russia of “trying to drag out negotiations" while it presses on with its invasion — an accusation he and European leaders have repeatedly made in the past.

Despite that, some progress was made on military issues although political differences remain deep, including over the future of land in eastern Ukraine that is occupied by the Russian army and that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to keep, Zelenskyy said.

Late-night host Stephen Colbert isn't backing down from public dispute with CBS bosses

Stephen Colbert isn't backing down in an extraordinary public dispute with his bosses at CBS over what he can air on his late-night talk show.

On “The Late Show” Tuesday, Colbert said he was surprised by a statement from CBS denying that its lawyers told him he couldn't show an interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico — which the host said had happened the night before.

He then took a copy of the network statement, wrapped it in a dog poop bag, and tossed it away.

Colbert had instead shown his Talarico interview on YouTube, but told viewers why he couldn't show it on CBS. The network was concerned about FCC Chairman Brendan Carr trying to enforce a rule that required broadcasters to give “equal time” to opposing candidates when an interview was broadcast with one of them.

“We looked and we can't find one example of this rule being enforced for any talk show interview, not only for my entire late-night career, but for anyone's late-night career going back to the 1960s,” Colbert said.

Winter Olympics recap: Shiffrin takes slalom gold, Canada and US advance with OT wins in hockey

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Redemption, at last, for Mikaela Shiffrin at the Winter Olympics.

The American superstar put in two dominant runs to win the women’s slalom on Wednesday by a massive 1.50 seconds, ending a run of eight straight Olympic races without a medal for perhaps the greatest Alpine skier of all time.

It was the largest margin of victory in any Alpine skiing event at the Olympics since 1998 and the third biggest in women’s slalom, the event she won as a fresh-faced 18-year-old in Sochi in 2014.

After adding gold and silver to her collection in Pyeongchang in 2018, Shiffrin went 0 for 6 in Beijing in 2022 and failed to medal in either the team combined or giant slalom in Cortina before nailing the slalom.

Shiffrin became the first American skier to win three Alpine gold medals.