NEW YORK —

The historic indictment of former President Donald Trump thrust the 2024 presidential election into uncharted territory, raising the remarkable prospect that the leading contender for the Republican nomination will seek the White House while also facing trial for criminal charges in New York.

In an acknowledgment of the sway the former president holds with the voters who will decide the GOP contest next year, those eyeing a primary challenge to Trump were quick to criticize the indictment. Without naming Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the move "un-American." Former Vice President Mike Pence, whose life was threatened after Trump incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, told CNN the charges were "outrageous."

Video above: Former Vice President Mike Pence was among the lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who reacted to the indictment.

That posture speaks to the short-term incentives for Republicans to avoid anything that might antagonize Trump's loyal base. But the indictment raises profound questions for the GOP's future, particularly as Trump faces the possibility of additional charges soon in Atlanta and Washington. While that might galvanize his supporters, the turmoil could threaten the GOP's standing in the very swing-state suburbs that have abandoned the party in three successive elections, eroding its grip on the White House, Congress and key governorships.

Trump has spent four decades managing to skirt this type of legal jeopardy and expressed confidence again late Thursday, blaming the charges on "Thugs and Radical Left Monsters."

"THIS IS AN ATTACK ON OUR COUNTRY THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE," Trump wrote on his social media site.

Trump is "ready to fight," his attorney, Joe Tacopina, said on Fox News.

Trump is expected to surrender to authorities next week on charges connected to hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to women who alleged extramarital sexual encounters. For now, it remains unclear how the development will resonate with voters. Polls show Trump remains the undisputed frontrunner for the Republican nomination, and his standing has not faltered, even amid widespread reporting on the expected charges.

Trump's campaign and his allies have long hoped an indictment would serve as a rallying cry for his supporters, angering his "Make America Great Again" base, drawing small dollar donations and forcing Trump's potential rivals into the awkward position of having to defend him — or risk their wrath.

Indeed, Trump's campaign began fundraising off the news almost immediately after it broke, firing an email to supporters with the all-caps subject line "BREAKING: PRESIDENT TRUMP INDICTED."

At Trump's first rally of the 2024 campaign, held in Texas over the weekend, supporters expressed widespread disgust with the investigation and insisted the case wouldn't affect his chances.

"It's a joke," Patti Murphy, 63, of Fort Worth, Texas said. "It's just another way of them trying to get him out of their way."

Others in the crowd said their support for Trump had been waning since he left the White House, but the looming indictment made them more likely to support him in 2024 because they felt his anger had been justified.

Video below: Trump supporters gather at Mar-a-Lago after indictment

At the same time, there is little chance a criminal trial will help Trump in a general election, particularly with independents, who have grown tired of his constant chaos. That has provided an opening for alternatives like DeSantis, who are expected to paint themselves as champions of the former president's policies, but without all his baggage.

But there were no immediate signs the party was ready to use the indictment to move past him. Instead, Republicans, including members of Congress and Trump's rivals, rushed to his defense en masse. In addition to DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has already declared her candidacy, blasted the indictment as "more about revenge than it is about justice." Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is mulling a run, accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of "undermining America's confidence in our legal system," while also sending a fundraising text off the news.

Trump, meanwhile, has tried to turn the public against the case. Early on March 18, amid reports that police in New York were preparing for a possible indictment, he fired off a message on his social media site in which he declared that he expected to be arrested within days.

While that never came to pass (and his aides made clear it had not been based on any inside information), Trump used the time to highlight the case's widely-discussed weaknesses and to attack Bragg with a barrage of deeply personal — and at times racist — attacks.

Trump also sought to project an air of strength. The night of his post, he traveled with aides to a college wrestling championship, where he spent hours greeting supporters and posing for photos. On the way home, the assembled entourage watched mixed martial arts cage fighting aboard his plane.

And last weekend, Trump held a rally in Waco, Texas, where he railed against the case in front of thousands of supporters.

People who have spoken with Trump in recent weeks have described him as both angry and unbothered about the prospect of charges. Freshman Republican Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri said Trump was "upbeat" at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago the night before he warned of his arrest.

Indeed, Trump has at times appeared in denial about the gravity of the situation. He and his aides were caught off-guard by the news Thursday. And during the plane ride home from his Texas rally, Trump told reporters he believed the case had been dropped.

"I have no idea what's going to happen, but I can tell you that they have no case. So I think the case is — I think they've already dropped the case, from what I understand. I think it's been dropped," he said.

Still, Trump responded with anger when pressed, even as he insisted he was not frustrated.

Video below: The indictment in New York is from one of three known investigations linked to Donald Trump

Beyond the Manhattan case, Trump is facing several other investigations, including a Georgia inquiry into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and a federal probe into his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

It remains unclear how the public might respond if Trump ends up facing charges in additional cases, particularly if some lead to convictions and others are dismissed.

An indictment — or even a conviction — would not bar Trump from running for president or serving as the Republican nominee.

_______

Associated Press writers Paul Weber in Waco, Texas, and Lisa Mascaro in Orlando contributed to this report.

ATLANTA, Ga. — A working furnace has been much appreciated this holiday season in many parts of the country, especially with record-breaking temperatures.

A working heating and cooling system is probably not something you think of until you need it.

However, new tax credits are making some of the most energy-efficient systems more affordable in the new year, creating an option to save your family money.

WHAT'S A HEAT PUMP?

Heat pumps have been around since the 1940s, but for many Americans, they are still a bit of a mystery.

That's why we reached out to Tim Uzar, the founder of Ecomech Geothermal Heating and Air.

"This is a geothermal heat pump," Uzar said.

While that sounds like a mouthful, because of new government tax breaks, homeowners may want to pay attention. A heat pump, generally, cools your home when it's hot outside and warms your home when it's cold.

In the summer, it works by taking hot air out of your house and replacing it with cool air.

In the winter, it pumps in the air that has been warmed from the outside. Heat pumps can be air-sourced or ground-sourced. Geothermal heat pumps are ground-sourced — storing and moving heat from deep underground.

"That's all we do is move heat from one space to another," Uzar says.

Heat pumps are in the news because the new tax credit taking effect on Jan. 1 makes installing heat pumps and other energy-efficient upgrades to your home more affordable. Some incentives are already in effect.

That matters because heat pumps are often more expensive than traditional heating and air systems.

"It's about two and a half to three times more expensive," Uzar says.

Once they are in, though, utility bills can go down.

When asked much a heat pump saves a homeowner, Uzar said, "Generally, 40-70%."

"You got to break an egg to make an omelet," Uzar added.

Still, the installation sticker shock has prevented many homeowners from making the switch. Depending on the size and model, heat pumps range from $4,000 to $40,000.

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT

That is why you want to read up on the Inflation Reduction Act. For instance, low-income households can cover 100% of specific heat pumps.

Moderate-income households can get 50% of the costs paid.

That's potentially an $8,000 savings.

If you are a higher-earning family, starting Jan. 1, a tax credit of up to $2,000 a year is available if you make any energy-efficient upgrade to your home.

Uzar showed us a geothermal heat pump — the most expensive and energy-efficient model. A new 30% tax credit for this is in effect.

"That brings it down to a more swallowable number," Uzar said.

If you are wondering why Washington and other governments worldwide are so interested in heat pumps, the answer is climate change.

In one neighborhood south of Atlanta, heat pumps are the only type of heating and cooling allowed because they don't emit as much carbon dioxide. They also don't require an ugly box on the side of your house, like a traditional air conditioner.

In Washington State, a new state law says all homes and apartments built after July must have them.

Uzar's advice to homeowners? Do some research.

"I do expect there to be more interest," Uzar says, referring to the tax changes.

A woman posted a heartwarming video to TikTok after she says she rescued a very sweet dog after it was in danger of being hit by a car in Atlanta, Georgia.

A TikTok user named "Tiffany" recorded the video after saving the dog she called "Deedee." She said that the dog was in traffic and in danger "in the middle of the street," as ViralHog reported.
The dog began to appear to become emotional and so the woman recorded it and said she "wanted to share her online in hopes that her owners would see her.

The dog was not microchipped she said.

@143tiffany Have you ever seen a dog cry real tears? she misses somebody! #lostdog #pitbullrescue #bullyrescue #lostdogatl #founddog #CloseYourRings #fyp ♬ original sound - Tiffany

User "@143Tiffany" posted a pinned comment under TikTok post writing, "DD has officially been reunited with her family because of this video!!!"

As ViralHog reported, the dog was said to be physically alright when she was rescued, but clearly emotionally worried after the ordeal.

The video gained over 986,000 likes on TikTok and generated over 8,576 comments with people worried for "Deedee" and her safety. After ViralHog posted the video to YouTube it gained at least 209,334 views there which all helped to reunite the sweet dog with her owner.

ATLANTA —

Billie Eilish had a moment during her Atlanta concert Saturday night that has gone viral for all the right reasons.

The Grammy winner was performing at State Farm Arena on her Happier Than Ever world tour when she stopped her concert to help out a fan in the crowd. "You need an inhaler?" Eilish is seen asking a young woman.

The moment was caught on camera by numerous concertgoers and posted to social media. In the video clips, Eilish turns to security and asks them to locate an inhaler.

A few moments go by while personnel check on the girl. Meanwhile, Eilish addressed the thousands of fans in the arena by saying, "It's OK ... give her some time. Don't crowd."

As for the girl, she appeared to be fine after the scare and stayed in the audience.

ATLANTA — Several Georgia officials attended the annual Martin Luther King Jr. service in Atlanta on Monday at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Those in attendance included the city's mayor, Andre Dickens, Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp, and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is the senior pastor, The Associated Press reported.

WATCH SERVICE RECAP:

Monday's service at Ebenezer Baptist Church and other events surrounding Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemorate what would have been King's 93rd birthday.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. served as a co-pastor at Ebenezer Baptist between 1960 and 1968.

In years past, many politicians packed the church, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, many of them sent pre-recorded speeches, the news outlet reported.

Vice President Kamala Harris delivered remarks virtually, where she touched upon the Biden Administration's push for expanding voting rights.

"Today, our freedom to vote is under assault," Harris said.

Related video above: U.S. Travelers Keep 'Forgetting' They Packed Loaded Guns

The accidental discharge of a passenger's weapon in a security area of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport caused widespread panic Saturday afternoon, prompting a brief halt of departing flights over the busy travel weekend.

The passenger was going through the screening process around 1:30 p.m. when "somebody recognized that there was a weapon in the bag," airport spokesperson Andrew Gobeil told CNN's Jim Acosta.

"When either the officer went in or when the passenger went in to get it, it accidentally discharged," Gobeil said, and the loud noise created a "sense of chaos."

According to Gobeil, after the gun went off, the passenger "took off and was able to make it outside of the airport."

Airport officials and Atlanta Police know who the individual is, Gobeil added, because the incident occurred while the passenger was being screened.

Erika Zeidler, who was traveling from Atlanta to Anchorage, Alaska, said she was sitting in a restaurant in Concourse T when people began running down the hallway.

"We thought they were late for a flight, and then more and more people started running," she told Acosta. "There was some screaming and then somebody stopped and said, 'There's a shooter, you need to go.'"

An investigation into the incident remains ongoing, Gobeil said.

In the meantime, there is no danger to passengers or employees, airport officials said on Twitter. Officials gave an "all-clear," and the airport was resuming normal operations.

A ground stop was called for the airport for all departing flights, per the Federal Aviation Administration, but was soon lifted.

An Atlanta police spokesperson confirmed no injuries had been reported as a result of the incident.

"There was an accidental discharge of a firearm near the main security checkpoint," Atlanta police Sgt. Jarius Daugherty said. "Officers are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident."

Details about the weapon or circumstances surrounding the accidental discharge have not been made available.

The FBI and the ATF are "providing investigative assistance" to the Atlanta police, according to a spokesperson for the ATF. The White House is also "monitoring" the incident, a White House official said, referring questions to local law enforcement.

The shooting scare comes as the Thanksgiving travel period is getting underway. On Friday, the Transportation Security Administration screened more than 2.2 million airport travelers across the country — the highest checkpoint volume for a single day since the pandemic began, according to a TSA spokesperson.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske recently told CNN that airline passengers bringing guns to the airport is a "huge problem." Last month, the agency reported catching 4,650 firearms — a majority of them loaded — at security checkpoints in the first ten months of 2021. That number surpassed the full-year record of 4,432, set in 2019.

Witnesses recount chaos after scare

Witnesses described confusion and disarray as panic erupted in one of the world's busiest airports.

Zeidler and others took shelter in a TGI Fridays restaurant, she said. Photos she shared on Twitter showed a crowd of people standing on the tarmac beneath a jetway as the incident unfolded.

Greg Romero had just gotten off a flight from Salt Lake City when he heard there was an emergency, he told CNN's Fredricka Whitfield. Airport personnel "shut off all the escalators and cut off all passengers and turned off the tram," said Romero, the father-in-law of CNN correspondent Nadia Romero.

"Right now airport personnel is doing a really good job keeping everybody calm," he added.

A few travelers were "a little bit panicked but more frustrated," Romero said. "They're trying to catch flights, to get out of the airport. For the most part, people are just lined up against the walls."

Dianne Callahan was traveling with her son and had just boarded her flight to New York when the crew closed the door to the plane. That's when she said she heard screams outside the plane. She also heard sirens, Callahan said, but didn't know what was going on.

"It was an extremely tense situation," she said. "People were pushing to get on the plane that were not even on our flight. That's how scared they were."

Callahan and her son were then sent to go back through security, she said.

In response to the incident, Delta Airlines, which is headquartered in Atlanta, announced it was issuing a travel waiver to assist impacted customers.

"With this, the fare difference for customers will be waived when rebooked travel occurs on or before Nov. 23, 2021, in the same cabin of service as originally booked," the statement said.

"Delta is coordinating with TSA and Atlanta airport officials to accommodate customers as quickly and safely as possible," the airline said. "We are also working to proactively accommodate customers who may have missed a flight."

A guy who spent most of the season in the minors kept the Braves in it. Then the offense finally came to life.

Just like that, Atlanta is one win from its first World Series title in 26 years.

Dansby Swanson and pinch-hitter Jorge Soler connected for back-to-back homers in the seventh inning Saturday night, propelling the Braves to a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros and a commanding 3-1 Series lead.

Game 5 is Sunday night. The Braves can wrap up the championship on their home field, just as they did two stadiums ago when they beat the Cleveland Indians in 1995.

That triumph at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium remains the franchise's only World Series crown since moving to the Deep South in 1966.

This is the closest they've been to a second title since then.

A huge shoutout goes to a most unlikely hero.

Former No. 1 draft pick Kyle Wright, who has largely been a huge disappointment in repeated chances with the Braves, turned in 4 2/3 gritty innings out of the bullpen after surprise starter Dylan Lee retired only one hitter.

Wright was hardly overpowering, giving up five hits — including a homer by Jose Altuve in the fourth that staked the Astros to a 2-0 lead — and three walks. But he continually pitched out of trouble, giving the Braves a semblance of hope until the offense woke up.

That finally occurred in the sixth when Eddie Rosario became the first Atlanta hitter to get past first base with a one-out double off Brooks Raley.

Rosario wound up scoring on another clutch postseason hit by Austin Riley, who lined a two-out single to left against Phil Maton.

The Braves left the bases loaded, but they weren't done. Just like that, they stunningly engineered the first lead change of the entire Series.

Facing Cristian Javier, Swanson went the opposite way for a homer that tied the game at 2, the ball hit so hard that it ricocheted off the tabled section in the right-field stands and rolled all the way back to the infield.

The celebration had barely simmered down when Soler stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter. On a 2-1 pitch from Javier, he got hold of a hanging slider and drove it into the Astros' bullpen in left, Yordan Alvarez hanging helplessly over the fence as the ball sailed over his head.

Luke Jackson worked a scoreless eighth, getting a great catch from Rosario slamming into the left-field wall that Soler homered over, and Will Smith worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save in six chances this postseason.

The Astros could only kick themselves for squandering countless chances, going hitless in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 on base overall.

Houston got just what it wanted from 38-year-old starter Zack Greinke, who threw four scoreless innings.

Greinke had last pitched in the World Series in 2019, when he was an 18-game winner acquired by the Astros in a trade-deadline deal.

Two years later, Greinke is no longer one of baseball's most dominant pitchers. But he gave the Astros just what they needed in the bullpen era — four solid innings to leave with a 2-0 lead.

The Braves' pitching was in a bit of disarray after Game 1 starter Charlie Morton was lost for the rest of the Series with a broken leg.

With former President Donald Trump watching from a private box down the right-field line — he even joined fans for the tomahawk chop — Atlanta decided to go with a parade of relievers, starting with a guy who was released by Miami before the season and spent most of the year in Triple-A.

Lee wasn't even told he would be starting until he got to the ballpark Saturday afternoon, in hopes that he wouldn't have too much time to get nervous.

But he looked overwhelmed by the moment, retiring only one hitter before he was lifted with the bases loaded, having walked two and thrown just five of 15 pitches for strikes.

It was the shortest Series start since 2003, when David Wells lasted only one inning for the Yankees in Game 5 before leaving with back spasms.

Wright escaped the jam with only one run scoring on a groundout and made only one major mistake before his night was done.

Altuve went deep with one out in the fourth, launching a 434-foot drive over the center-field wall. It was his 23rd homer in 77 postseason games, which pushed him to second place all alone on the career list behind Manny Ramirez with 29.

Altuve had been tied with longtime New York Yankees star Bernie Williams.

TRUMP'S CHOP

Only months after calling for a boycott of Major League Baseball, Trump chopped away with fans before the game while standing beside his wife, Melania.

Trump said he was invited to the game by Commissioner Rob Manfred and New York Yankees President Randy Levine. Major League Baseball denied making the invitation, saying the former president asked to attend the game.

Trump encouraged a boycott of MLB games after Manfred removed the All-Star Game from Atlanta over Georgia's new voting law. The game instead was held in Denver.

Unlike the 2019 World Series in Washington, when Trump was booed while still in office, there was no obvious reception for the former president at Truist Park.

His appearance was not announced to the crowd.

LEE STARTS

Lee was one of the most unlikely starters in World Series history.

The 27-year-old left-hander had never pitched in the big leagues until the final weekend of the regular season, when he was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett to make a couple of appearances after the Braves had already locked up the NL East title.

He had been released by the Miami Marlins at the end of spring training and signed a minor league deal with the Braves.

Lee didn't last long in Game 4, but he will forever be known as a World Series starter.

UP NEXT

Game 1 loser Framber Valdez gets his second start of the Series for the Astros. The left-hander lasted only two innings last Tuesday, giving up eight hits, five runs and two homers in a 6-2 setback.

The Braves will counter with their second consecutive bullpen game. No word on who will be the opener in a start that would've gone to Morton if not for a broken leg that ended his season in Game 1.

HOUSTON —

José Urquidy started Eddie Rosario with strikes. Five of them in a row.

Looking calm and poised a night after overamped rotation-mate Framber Valdez was chased early, Urquidy's control gave the Astros' bats a chance to break out, and Houston rode a four-run second inning to a 7-2 win over Atlanta on Wednesday night that tied the World Series at one game apiece.

A 26-year-old right-hander from Mazatlan, Urquidy became the first Mexican pitcher to make three World Series starts. He was looking to rebound from his Game 3 loss at Boston in the AL Championship Series, when he got just five outs in a 12-3 defeat.

"My last outing was for sure bad," he said through a translator Tuesday, "but there's good days and bad days."

This was a very good day.

Urquidy started 15 of 21 batters with strikes in improving his career Series record to 2-0. He allowed two runs and six hits in five innings with seven strikeouts, throwing 55 of 74 pitches for strikes.

He mixed 38 fastballs, 16 changeups (getting five swings and misses), 12 sliders and eight curveballs, keeping the Braves off-balance other than Travis d'Arnaud's tying home run in the second inning and Freddie Freeman's two-out RBI single in the fifth.

A night earlier, Valdez threw just 11 of 21 pitches for strikes in the first inning, and the Braves burst to a 2-0 lead and never trailed. Valdez overthrew, and while his velocity was up, so were his pitches.

Urquidy recalled this week feeling nervous at the start of his Series debut, when he pitched five shutout innings of two-hit ball in a Game 4 win at Washington two years ago. He returned to face the Nationals' final three batters of Houston's Game 7 loss.

By now, he's used to the Series pressure.

"I know that it's a big job that I have," he said," but I'm more excited and have left the nerves to the side a little bit."

ATLANTA —

Eddie Rosario capped a remarkable NL Championship Series with a three-run homer, sending the Atlanta Braves to the World Series for the first time since 1999 with a 4-2 victory over the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night.

The Braves won the best-of-seven series four games to two, exorcising the demons of last year's NLCS — when Atlanta squandered 2-0 and 3-1 leads against the Dodgers — and advancing to face the AL champion Astros.

Game 1 is Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

The Braves will be going for their first Series title since 1995, when they beat Cleveland with a team that included Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Jon Smoltz and Chipper Jones — a no-nonsense group that became better known for numerous postseason flops during a momentous run of 14 straight division titles.

This flashy team is led by a far more unlikely hero.

Rosario, acquired in a flush of deals just before the July 30 trade deadline that rebuilt the Braves' depleted outfield, set an Atlanta franchise record and became only the fifth player in baseball history to record 14 hits in a postseason series.

Will Smith worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his fourth save of the postseason after a brilliant relief stint by winner Tyler Matzek, who escaped a huge jam in the seventh by striking out the side. The left-hander has 11 strikeouts with runners in scoring position in the seventh inning or later this postseason.

Spurred on by chants of “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie” from the raucous sellout crowd of more than 43,000, Rosario finished 14 of 25 (.560) against the Dodgers, with three homers and nine RBIs.

His final hit was certainly the biggest of the 30-year-old Puerto Rican's career.

With the score tied at 1 in the bottom of the fourth, Rosario came up after pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza extended the inning with a two-out double into the right-field corner. Slow-running catcher Travis d'Arnaud was held at third by coach Ron Washington, surely aware of who was up next.

Rosario got into an extended duel with Walker Buehler, who stepped up to start on three days' rest after ace Max Scherzer wasn't able to go because of a tired arm.

Rosario swung and missed the first two pitches. Then he fouled one off. Then he took a ball. Then he fouled off two more pitches.

Finally, he got one he liked from the Dodgers' 16-game winner — a cutter that Rosario turned into a 105 mph rocket down the right-field line, higher and higher, straight as an arrow until it landed well back into the seats below the Chop House restaurant.

Rosario knew it was gone, dancing down the line after delivering a 361-foot finishing shot to a highly paid team that won 106 games during the regular season — 18 more than the NL East-winning Braves — but came up short in its bid to become baseball's first repeat champion since the 2000 New York Yankees won their third straight title.

The Braves will be looking to bury their city's reputation for playoff misery. From four World Series losses in the 1990s to the NFL Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead in the 2017 Super Bowl, Atlanta again finds itself on cusp of an extremely rare feat.

A championship.

Those ‘95 Braves remain the city's lone team in the four major sports — baseball, football, basketball and hockey — to capture a title. Freddie Freeman said after a Game 5 loss that the city's history would remain an issue “until we kill that narrative.”

They're four wins from doing just that.

After starter Ian Anderson allowed Cody Bellinger's run-scoring single in the fourth on his next-to-last hitter of the night, the well-rested Atlanta bullpen took over.

A.J. Minter struck out four in two innings of work. Luke Jackson failed to get an out in the seventh, giving up AJ Pollock's run-scoring double, but Matzek stranded runners at second and third with three straight strikeouts — the last of them by Mookie Betts on three pitches.

Matzek returned to the mound for a 1-2-3 eighth before handing off to Smith.

The Braves jumped ahead with back-to-back, two-out doubles off Buehler in the first — the second of them by Austin Riley, whose shot down the left-field line one-hopped into the Dodgers bullpen.

With their pitching staff in disarray, the Dodgers scuttled plans to start Scherzer. The right-hander had complained of a dead arm after Game 2, and he was still struggling to bounce back after a workout Friday.

Buehler, who had been projected to go in Game 7 if the series went that far, was bumped up to start for Scherzer on just three days' rest.

Scherzer, the Dodgers insisted, would be ready to go Sunday night.

Now, he's got all winter to rest up.

TRAINER'S ROOM

The Dodgers brought an extra pitcher to Atlanta after LHP Justin Bruihl felt something in his arm while warming up for Game 5. But Bruihl remained on the roster after assuring manager Dave Roberts he felt good enough to take an inning in Game 6. As it turned out, he wasn't needed.

UP NEXT

Dodgers: After a steak of seven straight victories in elimination games was snapped, they won't play another game that counts until the 2022 season opener against the Colorado Rockies. That comes on March 31 at Dodger Stadium.

Braves: Charlie Morton is set to go against his former team in the opener of the World Series. He memorably came out of the bullpen in Game 7 of the 2017 Series to pitch four innings of two-hit ball, closing out the lone title in Astros history with a 5-1 win over the Dodgers.

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta police have accused a suspect of felony murder and aggravated assault in a shooting that killed an 8-year-old girl near the site of an earlier police shooting.

Police said Wednesday that they issued warrants a day earlier for 19-year-old Julian Conley in the slaying of Secoriea Turner.

Conley's attorney, Jackie Patterson, said Conley turned himself in Wednesday.

Patterson says Conley was peacefully protesting and witnessed the shooting but did not open fire himself.

Secoriea was fatally shot on the Fourth of July while riding in an SUV with her mother and another adult near the Wendy's restaurant where Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, was killed by a white police officer on June 12.

An explosion rocked an apartment building in suburban Atlanta on Sunday, rendering the three-story complex unstable and leaving at least one person injured, authorities said.

The cause of the explosion was unknown, but a local utility had received a call from a resident about a strong odor of gas shortly before the midday blast, Dunwoody Deputy Fire Chief Melvin Carter said. One person was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

Carter said 90% of the building had been searched and officials were in the process of shoring up the rest of the complex so rescuers could continue searching for anyone who might be trapped. He said there were reports of two people being unaccounted for.

A helicopter and drone circled above the structure as the local Red Cross began canvassing residents to see who might need help finding accommodations. The building and several others nearby were evacuated. Residents were told that Monday was the earliest they could return to their homes.

Earlier, the Dunwoody Police Department wrote on social media that they received a report of an explosion at Arrive Apartments shortly before 1:30 p.m.

Brandon Winfield, 28, who lives in a building next to the one that collapsed, said he felt lucky that he avoided injury since he had driven by the site minutes before the explosion.

“I'm alive. I'm alive," he said.

The collapse reminded him of a terrible accident that happened when he was a teenager, severing his spinal cord while participating in motocross.

"I dodged two bullets,” he said.

Eboni Thornton said that she was in a moving truck outside the building when it felt like something fell on top of the vehicle. She said the whole vehicle shook. She was shocked at what she saw when she got out of the truck.

“The leasing office was collapsed on the left side, the double doors were blown out and I could hear a lady screaming her head off,” Thornton said.

Thornton said she saw a couple people limping and bleeding and being carried out of the rubble.

Police said they are working with fire officials to determine the cause of the blast in Dunwoody, a suburb just north of Atlanta.

Silento, the Atlanta rapper known for the hit single and viral dance "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)," was arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of his cousin, authorities said.

The 23-year-old, whose real name is Ricky Lamar Hawk, was arrested Monday after police investigated the death of his 34-year-old cousin, Frederick Rooks, according to a statement from the DeKalb County Police Department.

Police responded to a call about a shooting on Jan. 21 and found Rooks with multiple gunshot wounds lying on a road in the Atlanta area suburb of Panthersville, according to an incident report from DeKalb County police.

Rooks was pronounced dead at the scene, the report stated.

Security camera footage from nearby homes captured at least one gunshot before several vehicles fled the scene at high speeds, according to the report.

Police said in a statement that Silento was later identified as a suspect.

Investigators have not yet determined a motive for the shooting.

Silento was booked into jail on Monday and is currently being held there on a murder charge, jail records show. Authorities charged him with felony murder.

CNN has reached out to representatives for Silento.

Silento has faced several run-ins with the law in recent months.

Last October, the rapper was arrested in Atlanta after driving 143 mph in a 65-mph zone, according to a DeKalb County Police Department incident report. He was given citations for reckless driving, speeding, failure to maintain lane and improper stopping, jail records show. The charges are still pending, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Related video: Rapper Silento charged with felony assault

He was charged in September in Los Angeles with threatening two people with a hatchet. Prosecutors said that he reportedly walked into a stranger's unlocked home on Aug. 29 and attempted to hit two people with a hatchet before one of them disarmed him.

Silento pleaded not guilty, and the case is still pending, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

ACWORTH, Ga. —

A 21-year-old man has been captured in southwest Georgia, hours after eight people were killed in shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors.

Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said Robert Aaron Long of Woodstock, Georgia, was taken into custody in Crisp County on Tuesday night, about 150 miles south of Atlanta.

Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said three people were killed at a spa in northeast Atlanta, while a fourth person was killed at another spa across the street. He said all three victims were female, and “It appears that they may be Asian.”

Atlanta police officers responding to a call of a robbery in progress at one spa around 5:50 p.m. found three women dead from apparent gunshot wounds, police said. While they were at that scene, they learned of a call reporting shots fired at another spa across the street and found a woman who appeared to have been shot dead inside the business.

Earlier in the afternoon, authorities in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta, said three people were killed and two others injured at a massage parlor there, according to local news outlets.

It appears that all five victims were shot inside the business, Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The suspect was captured by surveillance video pulling up to the business around 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, minutes before the shooting, authorities said.

Authorities late Tuesday were searching for a suspect seen driving a dark-colored SUV. The sheriff’s office posted surveillance pictures on its Facebook page, asking people to share the images that show the man near the vehicle. They described the man as a suspect, and asked that anyone who recognizes him or the vehicle call 911.

The gunfire temporarily shut down traffic near the Cherokee County business located in the 6400 block of Highway 92, about 30 miles northwest of Atlanta.

Atlanta police said they had been in touch with authorities in Cherokee County. They said it was too early to tell whether the shootings were linked but that they were looking into that possibility.

With two shootings at massage parlors in Atlanta and the knowledge of the Cherokee County shootings, Atlanta police said they dispatched officer to check nearby similar businesses and increased patrols in the area.

Video above: Shooting 911 call audio released

Seven of the eight people killed were women; six were of Asian descent. The suspect, according to police, appeared to blame his actions on a "sex addiction."

While the U.S. has seen mass killings in recent years where police said gunmen had racist or misogynist motivations, advocates and scholars say the shootings this week at three Atlanta-area massage parlors targeted a group of people marginalized in more ways than one, in a crime that stitches together stigmas about race, gender, migrant work and sex work.

"In some ways this is another manifestation of the targeting of marginalized people in the U.S.," said Angela Jones, an associate professor of sociology at Farmingdale State College, State University of New York, whose research has focused on race, gender, sexuality and sex work.

The killings in Atlanta follow a wave of recent attacks against Asian Americans since the coronavirus first entered the United States, with the majority of reports coming from women. The 21-year-old suspect denied his attack was racially motivated and claimed to have a "sex addiction," with authorities saying he apparently saw massage parlors as sources of temptation.

Police told a news conference Thursday that investigators believe the gunman previously visited two of the massage parlors, but it's not yet clear if any the businesses offered sexual services. The Atlanta mayor said police hadn't previously been there beyond a minor potential theft. Still, the suspect equated the parlors to sex, and that drove him to kill, police said.

"There's this assumption that all these massage parlor workers are sex workers. That may or may not be the case," said Esther Kao, an organizer with New York-based Red Canary Song, a group of Asian and Asian American sex workers and allies that does outreach to massage parlors. "The majority of massage parlors are licensed businesses that also provide professional, non-sexual massages."

"There's this assumption of sexuality and fetishization of Asian women's bodies that is unique to this kind of crime," she said.

At least one of the victims was a patron, not an employee. Thirty-three-year-old Delaina Ashley Yaun and her husband had gone to the spa on a date, her mother, Margaret Rushing, told WAGA-TV. Yaun leaves behind a 13-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter.

The shootings follow high-profile instances of race and gender-based killings in recent years by white men. In 2014, a 22-year-old who had railed against women online killed six people and wounded 14 near the University of California, Santa Barbara. The following year, eight Black church members and their pastor were shot and killed in a racist attack in South Carolina. In 2018, a Florida gunman with what police called a "hatred towards women" killed two and injured five at a yoga studio. The year after that a shooter targeting Latinos opened fire at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart, killing 22 people.

"This is a thread that is woven through the histories of these gunmen. Toxic masculinity is truly a problem in this country," said Shannon Watts, founder of the gun-control group Moms Demand Action.

The fact the Georgia shooter targeted the businesses because he linked them to commercial sex is a nightmare scenario for those who work in erotic industries and are increasingly subjected to online harassment and attempts to report massage parlors to the IRS, said Kate D'Adamo, an organizer and advocate for sex worker rights. "At its core it's about going out and targeting sex workers as fallen women, blaming them for social ills," she said.

Prostitution laws mean women also fear reporting harassment or violence to police, afraid of being arrested themselves or their pleas ignored, she said. Those fears are even more pronounced for women of color, those who are immigrants or those with few language skills.

They feel they can't report crimes to police, said Barbara Brents, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas, sociology professor who studies the sex industry. "When they do, sex workers are not taken seriously and they're also subject to arrest themselves."

Researchers who spoke to more than 100 Chinese and Korean workers at illicit massage parlors for a 2019 study found that while some women did say they felt deceived or coerced into jobs that involved sex work, many more chose the profession after having bad experiences in the few other types of generally low-paying jobs available to them, like restaurants and nail salons.

While there were some reports of exploitation or mistreatment by managers, an "alarming" 40% of women told researchers that a client had forced them to have sex in the last year, the study said.

In the Atlanta shooting, the suspect's claims of sex addiction, meanwhile, ring hollow for some. It is not a condition recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, said David Ley, a clinical psychologist and author of "The Myth of Sex Addiction." And while it was cited by celebrities for a time, the Harvey Weinstein case became an emblem of how it can be used as an attempt to avoid taking responsibility for abuse and assault, he said.

There's also a disturbing thread of racism in some online discussions of sex addiction, he said.

"They hold other people — the porn industry, sex workers, even women in general — responsible for triggering these sexual desires in them they are afraid of," he said.

Moral views can shape beliefs about sexuality, and friends described the Atlanta shooting suspect as being deeply Christian. He also told police he had planned to go to Florida to target the porn industry.

The sex-addiction claim is a way to redirect blame, Kao said. "He's absolutely taking no responsibility and putting all of that on the workers themselves and it also distracts from the race issue," she said.

Meanwhile, the suspect, Robert Aaron Long has been arrested on charges of murder and assault. It wasn't clear yet if he had a lawyer who would represent him.

Police said Long confessed to the crime and told officials about a "temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate."

Talk about a science project.This teenager in an Atlanta suburb built a rollercoaster off his family home's back deck.Yes, it's safe.He filmed himself trying it out ... and even got his mom to ride the contraption.WSB-TV reports the teen, Ben Tolliday, will soon be going to college.But he's already showing off his skills.

CNN —

Eric Talley, the first police officer to arrive at the scene of the Boulder supermarket shooting last week, was the last of the gunman's 10 victims.

To honor his bravery, the nonprofit Tunnel to Towers Foundation, set up to support the families of fallen first responders and service members, announced Saturday it will pay off the mortgage on Talley's home.

Talley, 51, is survived by his wife and seven children.

The community came together to grieve him

Hundreds flooded the streets in the days after Talley's death, watching as a hearse transferred his body to an Aurora funeral home.

His patrol vehicle, parked in front of the police station, was adorned with flowers, cards and other tokens of grief and gratitude.

Talley was the first Boulder officer to be killed in the line of duty since 1994, and the sixth on-duty death in the department's history, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

His bravery was known to his friends and colleagues well before his death.

"Didn't surprise me he was the first one there," his father, Homer Talley, told CNN affiliate KUSA.

Talley had been a member of the Boulder police force since 2010.

He was aware of the danger he faced as a police officer. His father told KUSA he recently looked into becoming a drone operator because he thought it would be safer.

Police Chief Maris Herold said at a news conference that Talley was "willing to die to protect others" and embodied "everything policing deserves and needs."

Within 30 seconds of arriving at the King Soopers store, Talley led a team of officers inside to engage the shooter, the Boulder Police Department wrote in a tweet. After Talley, no one else was shot.

A non-profit for first responders is responding to Talley's death

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation was created in honor of New York firefighter Stephen Siller, who died responding to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The organization builds mortgage-free smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders, and pays off the mortgages of first responders and military servicemembers who are killed in the line of duty and leave behind young children.

The foundation also provides mortgage-free homes to surviving military spouses with young children.

The nonprofit's mission to honor fallen first responders prompted the effort to pay Talley's mortgage.

"It's so important because Eric gave his life and left behind a wife and seven children, and for him to rush in and go toward ... the danger to save people is just incredible," foundation CEO Frank Siller, Stephen Siller's brother, told "Fox & Friends" on Saturday.