The latest round of documents included excerpts of testimony from people who worked for Epstein, copies of phone messages he received — including one from Harvey Weinstein — and lots of legal memos from lawyers discussing who could potentially have been called as a witness if the lawsuit ever went to trial.

No blockbuster revelations were apparent. Lots of the records covered material that has been the subject of many past news stories about Epstein and his victims. But like other documents previously made public in lawsuits related to Epstein, they provide a window into the rarified world he inhabited.

The records are all related to a defamation lawsuit that one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, filed in 2015 against the millionaire's girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was accused by multiple women of helping Epstein recruit underage victims. The suit was settled in 2017. Maxwell was later prosecuted and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Here are some takeaways from the latest batch of released documents:

PRINCE ANDREW

The records released Friday include the 2009 deposition of a former housekeeper at Epstein's home in Palm Beach, Florida, who talked about how much time the financier spent with Prince Andrew, the British royal who was a longtime friend of Maxwell's.

Juan Alessi testified that “Prince Andrew spent weeks with us” and when he visited, he would receive daily massages at the mansion.

Alessi said Andrew would stay in the main guest bedroom, which he described as “the blue room.” He recalled seeing Andrew’s former wife, Sarah Ferguson, on one occasion, but added, “I don’t think she slept in there.”

Alessi also remembered seeing other celebrities including Donald Trump and “a lot of queens and other famous people that I can’t remember.”

Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago club is also in Palm Beach, would come over to Epstein’s home for dinner, Alessi said, but he “never sat at the table,” dining instead with Alessi in the kitchen. Asked whether Trump ever received massages, he said, “No. Because he’s got his own spa.”

Alessi, who worked at Epstein’s sprawling home from 1990 to 2002, previously testified at Maxwell’s 2021 trial that he saw “many, many, many” young adult female visitors, often lounging topless by the pool. He also admitted to stealing $6,300 from Epstein’s desk.

Prince Andrew was publicly criticized when photos emerged of him visiting Epstein in New York even after the financier was imprisoned in Florida for a sex crime.

Giuffre sued Andrew, accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was 17. Andrew said he didn't remember ever meeting Giuffre. The lawsuit was settled in 2022 without ever going to trial, but the allegations damaged his public standing and led Andrew to withdraw from some royal duties.

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they are the victims of sexual abuse unless they have come forward publicly with their stories, as Giuffre has.

PHONE RECORDS

One document unsealed Friday contains copies of phone messages Epstein received, handwritten by staffers, in 2004, a year before police in Palm Beach started investigating allegations that he was paying underage girls for sex.

At the time, Epstein was getting attention for hobnobbing with the rich and powerful, offering free rides on his private jet to celebrities including former President Bill Clinton and actor Kevin Spacey.

The phone messages, while mostly mundane, give a small taste of those associations.

“She had on the phone Mr. Harvey Weinstein,” reads one message about a missed call.

Weinstein, then a force in Hollywood, was once part of a media investment group that included Epstein. Weinstein would be charged years later with raping and sexually assaulting women in the entertainment business and is serving lengthy prison terms after convictions in New York and Los Angeles.

Weinstein's spokesman did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Friday.

There are also several messages about missed calls from Jean-Luc Brunel, a French modeling agent who was close to Epstein. Brunel was awaiting trial on charges that he raped underage girls when he killed himself in a Paris jail in 2022.

RECRUITING YOUNG GIRLS

When Epstein was initially investigated by Palm Beach police in 2005, detectives spoke to a number of girls from an area high school who said they had been paid money to give massages to Epstein.

Tony Figueroa, who worked as a driver for Epstein and once dated Giuffre, talked about the effort to recruit those girls during his 2016 deposition.

“Jeffrey was giving us $200 apiece for every one that we brought over,” he said. “I would get friends that I went to school with and I would take them over there and introduce them, and then I would just leave.”

He said Maxwell would also call him occasionally, “asking me to get girls.”

Figueroa has told the same story in media interviews in the years since that deposition.

“HAVE MY BABY”

A woman who worked for Epstein, Johanna Sjoberg, testified in her 2016 deposition that Epstein asked her to perform sexualized massages.

He also told her he wanted her to be the mother of his baby, a request she said he made several times.

“I don’t believe that I said flat-out no. I didn’t agree to it. I would just say, ’Oh, yeah, really? Okay,” Sjoberg testified, according to a transcript of her deposition.

Later in her questioning, Sjoberg was asked if Maxwell ever made the same request. Sjoberg said no.

Maxwell was also asked about that in her 2016 deposition, and she called the claim “completely rubbish.”

“I can’t testify to anything Jeffrey did or didn’t do when I am not present, but I have never asked anybody to carry a baby for me,” Maxwell said. She added that she didn't remember having any conversations with Epstein about babies.

Sjoberg also testified that Epstein took her on a shopping trip to Victoria’s Secret where he “picked out everything and went into the room with me, the fitting room, which was very odd.”

Sjoberg said that while in the room, Epstein joked that he’d previously been in there with another girl who called him “Dad.”

Sjoberg, like Giuffre, has previously gone public with her story in media interviews.

PUBLIC RELATIONS DISASTER

The legal storm that Epstein and Maxwell were facing is captured well in a Jan. 11, 2015, email by her attorney Philip Barden, who referred to Maxwell as “G,” and to Epstein as “JE.”

He urged a strong public response to Giuffre's claims because silence was “reputational suicide.”

“Now it is reported that G engaged in direct abuse — as I feared would happen. Next reports to the authorities will be made,” Barden wrote in a message to an individual whose name was blacked out, with Maxwell copied on the missive.

“It is necessary from a litigation, investigatory and reputational reason to issue a cogent denial. I can see why JE doesn’t want this as it may not suit him but he is already toast,” he added.

Four years later Epstein would be dead by suicide, found in a jail cell after he was arrested in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. It would be two more years before a jury in New York agreed that Maxwell helped Epstein recruit and groom teenage girls for sexual abuse and sometimes joined in the abuse.

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) -- Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has signed on to an amicus brief with attorneys general from 24 other states to keep former President Donald Trump on the Colorado ballot.

The attorneys general signing on to the brief are all from states in which Trump either won the electoral votes in the 2020 election or have Republican governors. The Arizona House of Representatives and Arizona Senate, both controlled by Republicans, also signed the brief.

"The state court's choice to declare former President Donald Trump an insurrectionist under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment has vast consequences that reach far beyond Colorado," the attorneys general argue.

The brief argues that the Fourteenth Amendment is not "self-executing," and "anticipates" Congress should decide who is eligible for office.

"The Colorado court's decision to dilute former President Trump's votes in the upcoming election cannot stand for several reasons," the brief reads. "It threatens to throw the 2024 presidential election into chaos."

The brief also says Colorado used a loose definition of "insurrection" and that courts shouldn't decide the word's definition.

"Now that the Colorado court has intruded into an arena where courts previously have feared to tread, swift intervention is essential," the brief states.

The attorneys general argue that the Supreme Court should side with Trump. The Supreme Court said on Friday that it would review the case.

Attorneys general from the following states signed the brief:

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arkansas
• Florida
• Georgia
• Idaho
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Virginia
• Wyoming

Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger and six others, including two staff members and four teenage students, were injured in the Thursday morning shooting that left one sixth-grader dead. The 17-year-old student who opened fire also died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.

The state Department of Public Safety said Marburger, who is being treated in a Des Moines hospital, “acted selflessly and placed himself in harm’s way in an apparent effort to protect his students.”

A day after the shooting, the small community of Perry was somber. Yellow crime tape still lined the campus that Perry High School shares with the town’s middle school, flowers and stuffed toys had cropped up in mini memorials, and classes across the district were canceled Friday in favor of counseling.

Perry Superintendent Clark Wicks said the soonest classes will resume in the town will be next Friday.

“This is an extremely painful and difficult time for our entire school community, and in our grief, we will take time to remember,” Wicks said.

The shooting happened just after 7:30 a.m. Thursday, shortly before classes were set to begin on the first day back after winter break. Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation spokesman Mitch Mortvedt said the shooting started in the cafeteria, where students from several grades were eating breakfast, then spilled outside the cafeteria but was contained to the north end of the school.

The student killed was identified as 11-year-old Ahmir Jollif. An autopsy showed he had been shot three times.

The news that seven students and staff suffered “wounds or injuries of varying degree” during the shooting was two more than authorities said Thursday afternoon. Mortvedt said the number of injured increased after investigators later learned about two more wounded faculty members. All seven are believed to have been either wounded or grazed by bullets, and suffered injuries ranging from significant to minor.

On Friday, Marburger and two students remained hospitalized.

In a Facebook post Thursday night, the principal’s daughter said he was in “surgery all day, and is currently stable.”

Claire Marburger called her father a “gentle giant” and it wasn't surprising that her father tried to protect his students.

“As I heard of a gunman, I instantly had a feeling my Dad would be a victim as he would put himself in harms way for the benefit of the kids and his staff,” his daughter wrote. “That’s just Dad.”

Authorities said the suspect, identified as Dylan Butler, had a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun. Mortvedt told The Associated Press that authorities also found a “pretty rudimentary” improvised explosive device in Butler's belongings, and that experts advised “it was something that they needed to disarm.” It was rendered safe.

Mortvedt said Marburger, who has been principal since 1995, did some “pretty significant things” to protect others during the shooting, but didn't release details. Wicks, the superintendent, said Marburger was a “hero” who intervened with Butler so students could escape. Wicks said other staff also acted heroically, including Middle School Assistant Principal Adam Jessen who “carried a wounded student into a safe area.”

A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said federal and state investigators were interviewing Butler’s friends and analyzing Butler’s social media profiles, including posts on TikTok and Reddit. However, authorities have provided no information about a possible motive.

Shortly before Thursday’s shooting, Butler posted a photo on TikTok inside the bathroom of Perry High School, the official said. The photo was captioned “now we wait” and the song “Stray Bullet” by the German band KMFDM accompanied it. Investigators also have found photos Butler posted posing with firearms, according to the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Two friends and their mother who spoke with the AP said Butler was a quiet person who had been bullied relentlessly since elementary school. Sisters Yesenia Roeder and Khamya Hall, both 17, said alongside their mother, Alita, that it escalated recently when Butler's younger sister started getting picked on, too.

“He was hurting. He got tired. He got tired of the bullying. He got tired of the harassment," Yesenia Roeder Hall said. "Was it a smart idea to shoot up the school? No. God, no.”

Police said Thursday they believe that Butler acted alone. But investigators have not said how Butler obtained the firearms.

Investigators are still working to get a “good grasp of who Dylan was,” and the parents have been cooperating, Mortvedt said. The investigation will include Butler’s background along with the “environment of the school,” he said.

Wicks wouldn’t discuss whether Butler had been bullied but he defended the way his district responds to those situations.

“We take every bullying situation seriously and our goal is to always have that safe and inviting atmosphere, but I’m not going to comment on this individual case as well as any other individual case,” Wicks said.

Butler’s parents have been fixtures of the Perry community. His father is director of the city’s airport after serving as its public works director for years, where he won praise helping clean up Perry after a devastating wind storm in 2020. His mother has also owned a small business and served on a city development board. The parents have not responded to messages seeking comment.

On Thursday night, hundreds gathered for a candlelight prayer vigil at a park where hours earlier, students had been brought to reunite with their families after the shooting. Bundled up against freezing temperatures, they listened to clergy from many faiths and heard a message of hope in both English and Spanish.

Perry has about 8,000 residents and is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of Des Moines, on the edge of the state capital’s metropolitan area. It is home to a large pork-processing plant and low-slung, single-story homes spread among trees now shorn of their leaves by winter.

The high school is part of the 1,785-student Perry Community School District. Perry is more diverse than Iowa as a whole. Census figures show 31% of its residents are Hispanic, compared with less than 7% statewide. Those figures also show nearly 19% of the town’s residents were born outside the U.S.

Despite the shock of the shooting, Perry Mayor Dirk Cavanaugh expressed confidence the community would get through the painful experience.

“We are a small town, but we will pull together in a big way to get through this.”

___

McFetridge reported from Des Moines, Iowa, Foley from Iowa City, Iowa, and Funk from Omaha, Nebraska. Also contributing were Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia, Mike Balsamo in New York City, and Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis.

Earlier this week, the "Winter Pink" Stanley x Starbucks tumblers, sold exclusively at Target, caused a frenzy that had the insulated cups flying off the shelves. Videos of the events went viral, likely causing even more interest and demand for the insulated Stanley-brand cups.

The "Quenchers," which are hugely popular on TikTok and Instagram, come in several sizes and colors, and their popularity has led to them becoming something of a status symbol or lifestyle brand — especially on what's known as #watertok. Tumbler mania has hit Target stores particularly hard, since the stores recently released two limited-edition Stanley tumblers: the aforementioned Stanley x Starbucks collaboration cups, in addition to exclusive "Cosmo Pink" and "Target Red" editions for Valentine's Day.

Both cup drops were in limited quantities and sold out instantly — and those who still want one may be out of luck. Neither the Valentine's Day cups nor the Starbucks collaboration cups will be coming back.

“We are seeing an enthusiastic response to the limited-edition, pink Starbucks x Stanley Quencher (40 fl. oz.) available at Target stores in the U.S. for a limited time, while supplies last,” a Starbucks representative wrote in a statement shared with Nexstar earlier this week. “It will not be restocked.”

With many more Stanley fans still hoping to get one, police in Morton Grove, Illinois, are now warning shoppers who are looking to buy Stanley cups online: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

"Beware of tricky websites using the brand’s popularity. Shady websites pretending to offer discounts on Stanley cups have been found to be scamming shoppers. If you purchase a cup through a shady website, your personal information may be compromised and your money...gone," the department stated in a post on Facebook.

The police department shared the following tips to avoid online scams:

• Only make purchases through verified, trusted sellers
• Watch out for imitation websites
• Be cautious about social media ads
• Check out a businesses’ social media feed, website and read reviews

Scams involving alleged official Stanley cups are now so common that the Better Business Bureau even has a resource page. The bureau warns consumers not to be fooled just because an ad shows up on a reputable website, like major social media sites. Just because it appears in your feed doesn't mean it is coming from a verified seller.

And if all else fails, you can always drink out of the glasses already in your cabinet! Stay hydrated and vigilant.

Ryder said Friday that it's not clear when Austin will be released from the hospital, but said the secretary is “recovering well and is expecting to resume his full duties today.”

The Pentagon’s failure to disclose Austin’s hospitalization is counter to normal practice with other senior U.S. and Cabinet officials, including the president. The Pentagon Press Association, which represents media members who cover the Defense Department, sent a letter of protest to Ryder and Chris Meagher, who is the assistant defense secretary for public affairs.

“The fact that he has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for four days and the Pentagon is only now alerting the public late on a Friday evening is an outrage,” the PPA said in its letter. “At a time when there are growing threats to U.S. military service members in the Middle East and the U.S. is playing key national security roles in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is particularly critical for the American public to be informed about the health status and decision-making ability of its top defense leader.”

Ryder said that this has been an “evolving situation,” and due to privacy and medical issues the department did not make Austin's absence public. He declined to provide any other details about Austin's medical procedure or health.

In a statement, Ryder said that at all times, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks “was prepared to act for and exercise the powers of the Secretary, if required.”

Austin, 70, spent 41 years in the military, retiring as a four-star Army general in 2016.

The exchange came as lawyers for both sides filed papers highlighting their takeaways from the trial in court filings ahead of closing arguments, set for next Thursday. Trump is expected to attend, though plans could change.

It will be the final chance for state and defense lawyers to make their cases. The civil lawsuit, which accuses the leading Republican presidential hopeful of deceiving banks and insurers by vastly inflating his net worth, is consequential for him even while he fights four criminal cases in various courts.

The New York civil case could end up barring him from doing business in the state where he built his real estate empire. On top of that, state Attorney General Letitia James is seeking the $370 million penalty, plus interest — up from a pretrial figure of $250 million, nudged to over $300 million during the proceeding.

The state says the new sum reflects windfalls from wrongdoing, chiefly $199 million in profits from property sales and $169 million in savings on interest rates, as calculated by an investment banking expert hired by James' office.

Trump bristled at the proposed penalty, calling it “a disgrace” at a campaign stop in Sioux Center, Iowa.

“There was no victim. There was no default. There was no damages. No nothing,” he said. In an all-caps post hours earlier on his Truth Social platform, he complained that the attorney general was seeking $370 million and instead “should pay me,” asserting that businesses are fleeing New York.

(According to the state Labor Department, the number of private sector jobs in New York increased 1% in the year that ended this past November, compared to 1.6% nationally.)

James' office argued in a filing Friday that Trump, his company and executives clearly intended to defraud people.

“The myriad deceptive schemes they employed to inflate asset values and conceal facts were so outrageous that they belie innocent explanation," state lawyer Kevin Wallace wrote.

The state alleges Trump and his company ginned up exorbitant values for golf courses, hotels, and more, including Trump’s former home in his namesake tower in New York and his current home at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. The numbers were listed on personal financial statements that netted him attractive rates on loans and insurance, leaving him money to invest in other projects and even his 2016 presidential campaign, James' office says.

The defendants, including Trump's sons Donald Jr. and Eric, deny any wrongdoing. The former president has painted the case as a political maneuver by James, Judge Arthur Engoron and other Democrats, saying they’re abusing the legal system to try to cut off his chances of winning back the White House this year.

He asserts that his financial statements actually came in billions of dollars low, and that any overestimations — such as valuing his Trump Tower penthouse at nearly three times its actual size — were mere mistakes and made no difference in the overall picture of his fortune.

He also says the documents are essentially legally bulletproof because they said the numbers weren't audited, among other caveats. Recipients understood them as simply starting points for their own analyses, the defense says.

None of Trump’s lenders testified that they wouldn’t have made the loans or would have charged more interest if his financial statements had shown different numbers, and 10-plus weeks of testimony produced “no factual evidence from any witness that the gains were ill-gotten,” attorneys Michael Madaio and Christopher Kise wrote in a filing Friday. Nor, they said, was there proof that insurers were ripped off.

Separately, defense lawyers argued that claims against Executive Vice Presidents Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. should be dismissed because they never had “anything more than a peripheral knowledge or involvement in the creation, preparation, or use of” their father's financial statements.

The sons relied on the work of other Trump Organization executives and an outside accounting firm that prepared those documents, attorneys Clifford Robert and Michael Farina said, echoing the scions' own testimony.

Their father also took the stand, disputing the allegations, decrying the case as political and criticizing the judge and the attorney general. James' office argued in its filing Friday that Trump was “not a credible witness."

“He was evasive, gave irrelevant speeches and was incapable of answering questions in a direct and credible manner,” Wallace wrote.

The verdict is up to the judge because James brought the case under a state law that doesn’t allow for a jury. Engoron has said he hopes to decide by the end of this month.

He will weigh claims of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records. But he ruled before trial on the lawsuit's top claim, finding that Trump and other defendants engaged in fraud for years. With that ruling, the judge ordered that a receiver take control of some of the ex-president’s properties, but an appeals court has frozen that order for now.

During the trial, Engoron fined Trump a total of $15,000 after finding that he violated a gag order. The order, imposed after Trump maligned a law clerk, barred all trial participants from commenting publicly on the judge’s staff.

Trump’s lawyers are appealing the gag order.

___

Contributing were Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak and Jill Colvin in New York and Hannah Fingerhut in Sioux Center, Iowa.

The Capuchin Franciscans-Western American Province announced the news on its Facebook site where it posted images of a smiling LeBeouf receiving Communion, kneeling with his eyes shut in prayer at Mass and hugging friars who attended the ceremony.

The sacramental ceremony was held at Old Mission Santa Inés Parish in Solvang, California, the same friary where LaBeouf — who has acknowledged alcoholism and faced abuse allegations — trained for months for his role as one of Italy’s best-known and most revered saints in the 2022 film, “ Padre Pio.”

“The Capuchin Franciscan friars are overjoyed to welcome him into the fold and witness his deep commitment to his faith journey,” the Catholic religious order said.

LaBeouf “has embarked on a profound spiritual journey that has led him to embrace the teachings of the Catholic Church,” the order said. "His decision to fully enter the Church is a testament to his sincere desire to grow in his relationship with God and live out the Gospel values.”

LaBeouf first gained fame as a teenager on the Disney Channel show “Even Stevens,” and is best known for his roles in 2007′s “Transformers” and in 2008′s “Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.” He also starred in the 2019 film “The Peanut Butter Falcon.”

He has had several run-ins with the law during his career, including a 2017 New York City arrest for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct that was captured on a livestreamed video. He was sent to court-mandated rehabilitation.

LaBeouf, who has been accused by a former girlfriend of abuse, spent months in the California friary preparing for his role in “Padre Pio.”

The actor has said the chance to play the mystic Capuchin monk best known for having displayed the “stigmata” wounds of Christ — he bled from his hands, feet and sides — was a miracle for him personally.

LaBeouf said last year in an interview with Bishop Robert Barron, of the Winona-Rochester diocese in Minnesota, that he was agnostic before turning to Catholicism. He said he had a bar mitzvah as a 13-year-old boy but never embraced the Jewish faith.

Barron, in an email to The Associated Press on Friday, described LaBeouf's conversion as “a testament to God’s grace.”

“God seems to specialize in finding the lost,” Barron wrote. “Jesus himself said, ‘I have come not for the righteous but for sinners.’ So, forgiveness is always available; redemption is always possible.”

LaBeouf’s confirmation sponsor, Capuchin friar Brother Alexander Rodriguez, told the AP that LaBeouf “would not have become a Catholic if he had not gone through the personal difficulties and sins that we know about.”

“It is because of his sufferings that he’s gone through that he was able to come to know God, especially with playing the part of Padre Pio," the friar said in a telephone interview.

Padre Pio died in 1968 and was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, going on to become one of the most popular saints in Italy, the U.S. and beyond.

The Capuchin Friars Minor is a Catholic religious order of men inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi. On its site they say their life mission is to serve the poor and live the Gospel “through fraternity, simplicity, and contemplative prayer.”

__

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

The outside of the box reads "Wild Fork Porcini Mushroom Risotto Bites," but inside consumers may actually find hot dogs in puff pastry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said in a news release Friday. Sesame, a known allergy and ingredient in the puff pastry bites, isn't declared on the packaging, according to the FSIS.

The 7.5-ounce cardboard boxes were shipped to retailers in California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.   

If you think you may have one of the boxes in your freezer, check to see if it has a lot code of 101231, a "best by" date of 10/11/2024 and EST. 39896 on the side of the box. If so, the FSIS recommends throwing them away or returning them to the store where they were bought.

The FSIS says there is no recall, since the product is no longer being sold, but they chose to warn consumers since the item could still be in many peoples' freezers.

There haven't been any reports of adverse reactions as of Friday, according to the FSIS.

Exposure to the seed can cause immune system reactions that range from mild, like an outbreak of hives, to severe, which include anaphylaxis.

Sesame was declared the ninth major food allergen in the U.S. as part of the 2021 Food Safety, Treatment, Education, and Reasearch (FASTER) Act, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Starting Jan. 1, 2023, the FDA stipulations around sesame and the major allergens went into effect, including labeling and manufacturing requirements.

Anyone with further questions regarding the public health alert is asked to reach out to Jessica Levitzki, director of food safety & compliance, at 201-439-1036 ext. 22 or jessica@fillofactory.com.

"Just before the holidays, it was discovered that I had a brain tumor, which required immediate surgery," he said on Instagram. "Thanks to my incredible medical team, the surgery was a success."

Bolton said he planned to take a break from touring for the next few months as he focused on recovery. At the time of his announcement, his website still showed tour dates planned for Florida, California, Ohio, Illinois and Ontario, Canada, in February, as well as additional concerts through spring. It's not clear how many shows Bolton will cancel or reschedule.

"It is always the hardest thing for me to ever disappoint my fans or postpone a show, but have no doubt I am working hard to accelerate my recovery and get back to performing soon," he wrote.

The 70-year-old singer has been nominated four times for the Grammy Award for best male pop vocal performance. He won in the category twice: once in 1990 for "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You" and then again two years later for "When A Man Loves A Woman."

On Friday he thanked his fans for their support over his long career. "I am beyond grateful for all the love and support you have so generously shown me through the years," he wrote. "Know that I'm keeping your positive messages in my heart, and I'll give you more updates as soon as I can."

Introduced by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie as “the most pro-Second Amendment candidate in this race,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave his standard speech touting his record in his home state.

Then DeSantis opened the floor to questions. The first one was, “What actions would you take to reduce mass shootings?”

The shooting in Perry, Iowa, which left one sixth grader dead and seven more people injured, immediately cast a shadow over the state’s first-in-the-nation Republican presidential caucuses, scheduled for Jan. 15. Three candidates were asked about it Thursday and Friday at campaign stops, some just a short drive from the school where a 17-year-old junior opened fire as students were returning from winter break.

Pharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was set to hold an event elsewhere in Perry — a town of 8,000 people — when emergency vehicles began to stream toward the nearby school.

As candidates swung through the state, questions about the shooting kept bubbling up. Still, the candidates largely stuck to their routines, with none canceling subsequent campaign stops. The questions didn't disrupt the contenders' pitches to Iowa's conservative caucusgoers.

That’s a reflection of both the Republican Party’s resistance to any new measures restricting guns and how horribly commonplace attacks like the one in Perry have become in American life.

On Friday, former President Donald Trump briefly mentioned the shooting, giving his condolences to those affected.

“It’s a very terrible thing that happened and it’s just terrible,” Trump said at a rally in Sioux Center. “To see that happening. That seems terrible. So surprising to see it here. But we have to get over it. We have to move forward. We have to move forward.”

At a pair of CNN town halls Thursday night, the first questions to both DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley were about guns. A childcare provider asked DeSantis: “In light of the shooting today and without taking away any gun rights, what would you do to address the issue?”

After both politicians answered by stressing the need for more mental health services and school security — “we have to secure our schools the same way we secure our airports,” Haley said — the town halls both turned back to traditional political fodder with questions about the border, Israel and former President Donald Trump.

Hours after the shooting, Ramaswamy posted to the social media app X, formerly known as Twitter, a video of him being asked in Perry about the attack shortly after it unfolded. The man in the video framed his question by saying of teens: “I don't think it's that they're too accessible to firearms."

Haley made a quip Friday morning about Iowa's sub-freezing temperatures when she was handed the microphone at the downtown Des Moines Rotary Club meeting before diving into her well-rehearsed campaign speech. She did not mention the shooting.

Two speakers preceding her referenced what happened and noted some of the personal connections in the audience of more than 100 to the school and town 40 miles northwest of Des Moines.

“I was waiting to see if she would mention it, and was surprised she didn’t,” said Robin Heinemann of Des Moines, who prefers Haley to all other Republican presidential candidates. “It’s such an obvious thing to mention, even a word of condolence.”

Still, some voters didn't want to hear more — especially about guns. “Everybody in Iowa owns guns to go hunting; we are a state that hunts,” said Sheila Blake, a retired worker in the Federal Reserve's anti-fraud office, as she waited for DeSantis Friday. “Mental health is what caused yesterday.”

Blake's friend, Debbie Overholser, 69, also didn't want DeSantis to talk about the shooting. “I'd like to hear him talk about what he's going to do,” Overholser said. “I don't want to hear any more heartache.”

Nonetheless, DeSantis was prompted to address the shooting Friday morning. He began by talking about the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, before he became governor, and touted how he removed the sheriff and school board members for the flawed law enforcement response to the attack.

“Parents out there can count on me as somebody that is going to put the safety of our kids and the safety of our souls on the front burner,” DeSantis said. "It’s important.”

But after several more questions about the border, bringing the nation together and democracy, someone asked DeSantis at the event's close, again — what would he do to stop mass shootings?

DeSantis noted the 17-year-old shooter in Perry was too young to be able to legally own a gun and that whoever allowed him to have one needs to be held responsible. He then segued into politically safer grounds, complaining about leniency against criminals in Democratic-run cities like Chicago.

“You have to hold people accountable,” DeSantis said.

Kate Schweit, a former FBI agent and author of “Stop the Killing: How to End the Mass Shooting Crisis,” said in an interview that Republicans who talk about addressing mass shootings are wrong to avoid talking about changing gun laws.

“Saying, ‘Don’t take my guns away, it’s all mental health,’ is not a realistic solution, just like saying, ‘Take all the guns away, it’s not mental health,’ isn’t one either,” Schweit said.

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Associated Press reporter Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.