Critics say the 39 percent cap was a safeguard against excessive concentration of media ownership in the US.

The United States Federal Communications Commission has voted to rescind the rule that bars local broadcast station owners from reaching more than 39 percent of the total number of US TV households in a move that could help spark industry consolidation.

The FCC on Thursday voted 2-1 to lift the cap in favour of a new case-by-case approach. The commission’s sole Democrat, Anna Gomez, said the proposal was illegal and argued only the US Congress can lift the cap. Many critics argue the move will lead to excessive market power among station owners.

Under the rules, stations with weaker over-the-air signals can be partially counted against a company’s ownership cap. The FCC has limited ownership of local broadcast stations since 1941 and most recently raised the cap to 39 percent in 2004.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the move is about helping local broadcasters survive and pointed to the sharp decline in local newspapers.

“We should stop hamstringing this one segment of the broader market with outdated restrictions,” Carr said.

“The FCC kept a rule on the books in the name of localism that contributed to the gutting of local newspapers … I don’t want local broadcast TV to go the way of local newspapers.”

The FCC said the new rule would consider applications on television company mergers that would go above 39 percent on an individual basis to determine if they are in the public interest. The agency said it would “remove artificial restrictions on opportunities for broadcast television to attract capital and generate revenue”.

Gomez said the decision is “an invitation to bring in a lot of transactions”.

‘More control’

Lifting the cap hands “more control of the public airwaves to a small number of companies whose coverage pleases this administration … It is putting its thumb on the scale in favour of content that this administration likes,” she added.

Carr has said the change would allow local television owners to increase investment in local programming and give them more leverage against national networks.

In March, the FCC approved the $3.54bn sale of ‌local television station owner Tegna to Nexstar despite objections from Democratic-led states.

The acquisition, if not reversed by courts, will expand Nexstar’s presence to cover 80 percent of US TV households. The FCC has said it was waiving the 39 percent rule in approving the deal.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz, a Republican, said last month that he is sceptical the FCC can hike the 39 percent cap without an act of Congress.

Clayton Weimers, executive director at Reporters Without Borders North America, said in a statement that with this latest move, the FCC has “abandoned” one of the last significant safeguards against excessive concentration of media ownership in the US, which ensured that “no single company or individual should be allowed to dominate what millions of Americans see, hear, and understand about the world”.

“Today’s vote eliminates that safeguard and only benefits a handful of already powerful media conglomerates. This is not deregulation in the public interest. It is consolidation in the interest of the powerful,” Weimers said.

He said that the action exceeds the FCC’s legal authority and that Reporters Without Borders was evaluating every available legal avenue to challenge this decision.

TikTok said Wednesday it will close its Nashville office in October, laying off 250 workers.

The move is a retrenchment from the social video company’s expansion into Nashville in 2024 and comes as many tech companies are reevaluating their workforce amid the growth of artificial intelligence.

“We have decided to close our Nashville office to streamline our operations and better align our teams for long-term growth,” said TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which oversees TikTok’s U.S. operations. “We remain fully committed to providing secure, safe and positive experiences for the 200 million Americans that create, discover and connect with what they love on TikTok.”

The decision was specific to the Nashville office to bring its teams closer together, according to a TikTok USDS Joint Venture spokesperson.

TikTok‘s U.S. operator notified the State of Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development about the number of layoffs and the office closure on Wednesday. The WARN notice did not detail what roles were at the office, but some jobs were related to content moderation, according to Nashville Metro Councilmember Terry Vo.

“I’m disappointed for all the Nashvillians who are waking up to this reality,” Vo said.

TikTok did not respond to questions on what types of roles were at the Nashville office or whether artificial intelligence was a factor for the layoffs.

TikTok in 2024 signed a 143,610 square foot lease at the Moore Building in the Music Row area, having spent several million dollars to build out the space, according to the Tennessean. The lease also roughly tripled its office space in Nashville, the Tennessean reported.

The social media company has its U.S. headquarters in Culver City.

In 2024, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) expressed disapproval of the TikTok office opening in Nashville because at that time, TikTok’s parent company was Chinese tech giant ByteDance.

“When TikTok’s CEO was in Washington, I made it clear to him that Tennesseans are extremely concerned about China’s influence,” Blackburn said in a statement in 2024, adding there were concerns about how the company would handle U.S. user data and whether it would push for the Chinese government’s interests.

Since then, the U.S. government, TikTok and ByteDance came to an agreement last year to establish a separate entity called TikTok USDS Joint Venture overseeing TikTok’s operations and data protection in the U.S. that is majority American owned.

A spokesperson for Blackburn did not immediately return a request for comment on TikTok’s office closure in Nashville.

Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Oregon-based Enderle Group, said he expects more layoffs at other TikTok U.S. office locations due to the new ownership.

“When a new ownership takes over a company, they make adjustments to the staffing levels,” Enderle said.

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s choice for attorney general is facing a tight vote for confirmation in a Republican-controlled Senate nearly halfway through his second term, reflecting mounting doubts about his leadership of the Justice Department as bipartisan concerns over the weaponization of justice intensify.

The confirmation of Todd Blanche hangs on the support of two Republicans who have repeatedly criticized Trump’s stewardship of the department, where Blanche has served as deputy and acting attorney general, roles he assumed after working as the president’s personal lawyer for nearly two years.

Republican senators resisted Trump’s approach to the Justice Department from the start of the presidential transition, rejecting his first choice to lead it, Matt Gaetz, amid concerns he would use the department to pursue political retribution. But after Gaetz withdrew, Trump’s replacement, Pam Bondi, won bipartisan confirmation with the support of the entire Republican caucus.

Blanche is already guaranteed a narrower margin, with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announcing she will vote to reject his confirmation, and with Sen. Mitch McConnell absent for health reasons. Democrats are expected to be united in opposition against him.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a figure the president has referred to as a “terrible,” “Trump-deranged” “loser” who “should never be elected,” has refused to comment on her plans.

Her staff has said she is reviewing a commitment Blanche made in writing to formally rescind a controversial, $1.8-billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” announced in May to compensate Trump’s political allies, including those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Blanche also said he would limit immunity offered to Trump and his family for future tax audits, although his wording left the door open to negotiating a future deal along similar terms.

“I think certainly the fact that he has signed this order, basically disbanding [the Anti-Weaponization Fund] — that’s a pretty good step,” Murkowski said , adding that she would “like to find out a little bit more about the negotiations.”

Blanche has taken steps to curry Murkowski’s favor in recent months, visiting Alaska and announcing a $400-million settlement benefiting Alaska natives’ healthcare in July.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the other uncommitted lawmaker in the chamber, said he had concerns that Blanche was still effectively working as Trump’s personal attorney under the guise of public service.

“I am very concerned about so-called lawfare — people being prosecuted not for a valid reason beyond somebody in high office being angry at them,” Cassidy said.

“So, I’ve not made a decision regarding Mr. Blanche,” he added. “I’ve got to be convinced that he is an attorney general who just happens to have once been President Trump’s personal attorney, as opposed to President Trump’s personal attorney who is now the attorney general. I think there’s a big difference between the two.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said that he was still working to secure the votes needed for Blanche’s confirmation.

“I’m hoping we’ll get there eventually,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Blanche became the acting attorney general in April after Bondi was fired. Blanche had previously served as deputy attorney general and has been linked to some of the most controversial policies of the Trump administration.

His connection to the settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service took center stage during his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Blanche said during the hearing that the controversial fund created as part of the IRS settlement was dead.

But Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina refused to vote for Blanche until he issued a more explicit order that killed the fund, which was designed to provide payouts to allies of Trump.

Cornyn and Tillis also demanded that the Justice Department provide constraints to tax audit immunity that was granted to Trump, two of his sons and their business as part of the lawsuit settlement.

The federal judge who presided over the IRS case blasted the proceedings and the agreement as “improper” saying that the two sides — Trump and the IRS — were not truly independent of each other.

The written assurances provided by Blanche were enough to win support from Cornyn and Tillis, though Democrats pointed out that they did not foreclose the possibility that a similar fund could be resurrected in the future.

“The president himself has largely telegraphed that’s his plan,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the committee, said Tuesday before the vote.

Blanche has been the face of the administration’s release of files related to deceased sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein. Bondi told the House Oversight Committee in May that Blanche had overseen the process, which included delays in the release of files and major redaction issues.

Blanche also faced criticism for a July 2025 prison interview he conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of facilitating Epstein’s abuse.

Shortly after the interview, she was moved from her Florida prison to a low-security prison in Texas where she has reportedly gotten favorable treatment.

“It’s really good that you can see the club has made some changes,” Van de Ven told BBC Sport in July.

“You can see the club has a new ambition. It’s something that’s really important for players who have been here for a long time.

“Last season was a stressful season, unacceptable from our side, so to leave all of that behind and go into the new season fresh means a lot.”

Tottenham have finished 17th in the Premier League in back-to-back seasons and their battle to stay in the top flight ran to the final day of the 2025-2026 campaign.

After a turbulent nine months featuring three managers, Van de Ven said he is looking forward to a brighter future under De Zerbi.

“It’s going to be different compared to the manager we had last season,” Van de Ven said.

“It’s also going to be more enjoyable for people to watch because we’ll be playing offensive football.

“It is something we needed because everybody was a little bit down.”

The 26-year-old Brazil international had been linked with a move to English champions Arsenal.

Real Madrid have secured ⁠the ⁠future of Brazilian winger Vinicius Jr, extending his contract until ⁠June 2032, the Spanish giants announced, ⁠bringing an end to months of speculation over his future.

The 26-year-old Brazil international has been ‌a central figure in Real’s attack in recent seasons and had been linked with a move to English champions Arsenal.

His previous contract was ⁠due to expire in ⁠June 2027.

“Real Madrid and Vinicius Jr have agreed to extend our player’s ⁠contract, which now keeps him with the ⁠club through June ⁠30, 2032,” Real said in a statement on Thursday.

“Vinicius has become one of the most ‌important players during one of the most successful periods in ‌our history.”

Since joining from Brazilian club Flamengo in 2018, Vinicius has scored 128 goals and registered 100 assists for Real.

Spanish and British media had reported prolonged contract negotiations between the player and the club, while Arsenal were said to be monitoring the situation and exploring a potential move.

The extension removes the prospect of Real losing one of their most valuable players ⁠on a free transfer.

Vinicius also had a demanding summer with ⁠Brazil at the World Cup, where they were eliminated by Norway in the last 16.

The forward has built an impressive trophy collection during his time in Madrid, winning two Champions League titles and three ⁠La Liga crowns among numerous other honours.

He is set to work under Jose Mourinho for the first time after the Portuguese ⁠coach returned for a second spell in charge ⁠at Real in June.

The appointment followed a disappointing campaign for the record 15-time European champions, who finished runners-up to archrivals Barcelona in La Liga, exited the Champions League in the quarterfinals and ended the season ‌without a major trophy.

Tying down Vinicius represents another significant step in an active transfer window for Real.

The club have also strengthened their squad with the arrivals of winger Yan ‌Diomande, ‌midfielder Bernardo Silva, centre-back Ibrahima Konate, left-back Marc Cucurella and wing-back Denzel Dumfries ahead of the new season.

Women displaced by Sudan’s war are speaking publicly about surviving rape by Rapid Support Forces fighters. UN investigators verified 546 incidents affecting at least 838 victims, warning the documented cases represent only the tip of the iceberg.

A soap icon known for Coronation Street and a comedian join the cast as guest stars in the latest instalment of the Channel 5 drama

Benidorm is Murder is Channel 5‘s brand new detective drama.

Described as a “cosy crime” thriller, the murder mystery series comes from Death in Paradise writer Ian Jarvis and started last week on the channel.

The series has a star-studded cast list, including John Hannah, who plays burned-out ex-police officer Dennis, and newcomer Carolina Bécquer, you can find out more about the rising star here, who takes on the role of his unlikely sidekick Rosa.

Other permanent players include Ariadna Cabrol who stars as DS María Hernandez, Brian Bovell who plays Archie, Damian Schedler Cruz who takes on the role of PC Jesús Ballesteros, and Eva van der Gucht in the role of Jackie. You can see the cast list and where you recognise them from in full here.

But Benidorm is Murder also has an incredible roster of guest actors, two of whom will join for the second episode. Channel 5 has confirmed Coronation Steet star turned Loose Women Denise Welch will play Ziggy, the owner of Benidorm Palace, while comedian and actor Alistair McGowan will step into the shoes of faded 90s game-show star Vince Starky.

Denise Welch plays Ziggy

Denise plays Ziggy, owner of Benidorm Palace.

Writer and creator Ian Jarvis said of Denise in the role of Ziggy: “Denise Welch is amazing. We felt like we had TV royalty when we got Denise. She is brilliant in the role. She didn’t need much steering about this character. Ziggy is this low-rent showbiz queen, an agent in the stand-up comedy world. Denise is also just loads of fun to be around. She loves a chat. We spent a lot of time chatting about everything.”

Denise is best known for playing Natalie Barnes in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, in which she appeared in over 400 episodes.

She also starred as Steph Haydock in Waterloo Road, and Trish Minniver in Hollyoaks. Viewers might also recognise Denise from Spender, Soldier Soldier and Down to Earth. She is also a regular panellist on the ITV chat show Loose Women.

Alistair McGowan plays Vince Starky

Alistair McGowan plays faded 90s game-show star Vince Starky. His character appears in the Laughter Lounge alongside his younger wife, Vienna.

Alistair is a comic, actor, pianist, poet, and writer. He provided voices for eight series of Spitting Image and earned a BAFTA for his BBC One television series The Big Impression, with Ronni Ancona.

He is also known for All Quiet on the Preston Front and has been a regular on Radio 4 dramas and comedies, including Elvenquest and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Austen? He took the lead role in BBC One’s detective series Mayo, and has appeared in many stage roles over the years.

What is Die Laughing about?

A synopsis for the instalment reads: “At the Laughter Lounge, veteran comic Frank Mann is emceeing when his old friend, faded 90s game show star Vince Starky, blows in with younger wife Vienna. Vince’s comeback dates are tanking and owner Ziggy, drowning in debt, needs them to work…

“But the next morning, doorman Paco finds a dead body on the club roof. Maria begrudgingly asks Dennis to look at the scene, where he notes the head wound, scuff marks round the access door and, below, a fire extinguisher buried in a car windscreen.“As Rosa helps retrace the movements of everyone connected to the club, old grudges, financial pressures and buried secrets come bubbling to the surface. Has the killer been hiding in plain sight all along? And can Dennis convince Maria to reopen a case she’s so eager to keep closed?”

Benidorm is Murder continues on Thursday at 9pm on Channel 5.

Some say it’s ridiculous.

Some say it’s refreshing.

Some say it’s unprofessional.

Some say it’s all in good fun.

One thing is certain — Mets relief pitcher Jefry Yan got everyone’s attention with his high-flying, post-strikeout celebration during his MLB debut on Wednesday in Cleveland against the Guardians.

Called up from triple-A Syracuse a day earlier, the 29-year-old Dominican left-hander took the mound to start the bottom of the sixth inning and faced Guardians pinch-hitter Ángel Martínez. Five pitches into the at-bat, Yan caught the hitter looking on an 88.7-mph slider for a called third strike.

Then came the celebration. Yan jumped up — way up — into the air, contorting his legs into somewhat of a split. He landed in a crouch position and slapped the ground before popping up, standing still with his hands up for a fraction of a second, then walking back up the mound with a bit of a leg slide to commemorate his first Major League strikeout.

“Once I had him with two strikes I said, you know what, I’m going to throw that slider,” Yan said through an interpreter after the Mets’ 6-5 victory in 10 innings. “And if I freeze him, which is exactly what I did, I celebrated accordingly.”

Several batters later, however, Yan commemorated his second major league strikeout similarly. Yan had given up two singles and a walk to load the bases before getting Cleveland designated hitter Chase DeLauter on a 90-mph slider for strike three and the second out of the inning.

Once again, Yan did the whole jumping, landing, ground-slapping thing (no slide this time though). Later in the game, Cleveland’s José Ramírez was seen in the dugout apparently imitating Yan’s airborne style of rejoicing.

While most MLB fans might be seeing Yan’s post-strikeout air show for the first time, the celebrations have actually become a signature move for the player during his long, unconventional journey to the majors.

After initially signing with the Angels organization as a teenage international free agent in 2013, Yan eventually spent several years out of affiliated baseball, playing for semipro and amateur teams while also working odd jobs.

He was signed by the Miami Marlins organization in 2021, followed by the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball and the Colorado Rockies organization before the Mets last August.

Yan has other methods of celebrating during games as well. On Wednesday, after Guardians right fielder Jo Adell — playing his second game for Cleveland after being traded by the Angels earlier in the week — grounded into a fielder’s choice at shortstop to end the inning, Yan did a low slide move and slapped his chest, then smacked his glove emphatically several times and blew a kiss toward the sky while leaving the field.

Cleveland fans expressed their displeasure, but Yan wasn’t bothered.

“If they want to yell at me, if they want to boo me, they can do whatever they want,” Yan said. “I’m in my zone. And yeah, I’m going to enjoy my game any way that I want to.”

Yan gave up two hits and no runs with two strikeouts and one walk in one inning pitched. Five of his pitches, all sliders, reached triple digits on the speed gun.

“It’s real stuff. It’s really impressive,” Mets interim manager Andy Green said. “To get out of a bases-loaded jam, get your first punchout, just excited for him. He deserves that.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Aug. 6 (UPI) — The family of celebrity blogger Perez Hilton said in a statement that he is “able to communicate” following an incident of apparent self-harm during a livestream earlier this week.

Hilton, 48, was hospitalized after appearing to commit an act of self harm on TikTok on Tuesday. The Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office said he has been hospitalized under the state’s Baker Act which allows authorities to keep someone held if they pose a threat to themselves or others.

“Our family wants to once again thank everyone who has reached out with prayers, kind messages, and support for Perez,” Hilton’s family said in a statement on Wednesday. “Your compassionate humanity during this profoundly heartbreaking time has meant more than words can express. We have also been able to confirm that Perez is able to communicate, which has given our family hope.”

After the TikTok livestream, emergency responders were called to Hilton’s home. A short time later he was rushed to a local hospital.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that they received reports of a man “livestreaming acts of self-harm on social media.” They did not identify that man as Hilton, who is renowned as one of the world’s most prominent celebrity gossip bloggers.

“We respectfully ask for your continued prayers, understanding, and grace as Perez continues to recover,” the statement from Hilton’s family reads. “We will share additional updates as we receive confirmed information and are able to do so.”

Hilton’s TikTok account has been deactivated and the livestream has been removed, though some users have screen recorded and circulated the video.

Hilton was born Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., before taking on the pseudonym “Perez Hilton.”

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, confidential, free help is available from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

Even though it was late October, I couldn’t help but feel jealous as I watched my best friend Jenny swim into the calm, clear water of the American River near downtown Sacramento.

I was in town to cheer Jenny on as she competed in a long-distance triathlon. Although the race was such a fun experience, that moment on that tree-lined river bank stuck with me. In my home state of Oklahoma, I regularly swam in lakes and kayaked and rafted in rivers. But freshwater recreational opportunities were harder to come by once I moved to L.A.

This all led me to wonder: Will it ever be safe to swim in the Los Angeles River?

A large white bird stands along the L.A. River in the Glendale Narrows area of the waterway near Elysian Valley a.k.a. Frogtown.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

This felt like an especially relevant time to discuss this question, as Friends of the L.A. River will host its annual (free!) RiverFest this Sunday from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. at L.A. State Historic Park in Chinatown. This year also marks the organization’s 40th birthday.

After reading this edition of The Wild, our weekly outdoors newsletter, I hope you feel as fired up as I do about how we can work toward a day when the answer to my question is “Yes!” But we aren’t there yet. Let’s explore why.

The L.A. River is a 51-mile waterway that flows from the confluence of Bell Creek and Arroyo Calabasas in Canoga Park, ending in Long Beach as it flows into San Pedro Bay near the Queen Mary.

Candice Dickens-Russell, chief executive at Friends of the L.A. River, told me that her organization’s founder spent decades trying to persuade Angelenos to understand that our local watercourse was not a manmade concrete flood channel but actually a river that has been surrounded by concrete.

“I’m feeling like we’re at a tipping point for people to understand that the L.A. River is really a river, which is wonderful because our founder spent his entire life trying to get people to understand that,” she said.

Channelization of the L.A. River started in the mid-1930s after a number of devastating floods and was completed in 1960.

In an early 1936 article, Times real estate editor Charles C. Cohan seemingly praised the channelizing of a nine-mile stretch of the river from Fletcher Drive westerly to Lankershim Boulevard, calling it “one of the greatest stream-channel transformations ever undertaken in the West.”

Ducks hang out in the Glendale Narrows area of the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Cohan went on to write: “Men and machinery directed by the United States Army engineers are changing that vitally important length of the river from an irresponsible water course into a far larger, thoroughly conditioned channel that will be a vitally important flood protection while at the time conforming to the well-ordered, picturesque region through which it passes.”

It didn’t have to be this way.

Before the devastating flooding of 1938, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce commissioned two major landscape architecture firms in 1927 to develop a report analyzing how the region could develop more parkland in an already park-poor city.

“The report imagined an ‘emerald necklace,’ an urban paradise of parks and rivers and open spaces and public beaches encircling L.A. County, and it also laid out the practical, political and financial mechanisms to make it happen,” Times columnist Patt Morrison wrote in May.

The Glendale Narrows area of the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

The report’s authors wrote about how flood-prone land would make for better park space than business and residential developments, as anything built in these areas would inevitably be damaged during floods. The parks could also serve as their own kind of protection.

“Parkways along the river were intended to reduce the need for structural flood protection features,” according to a 2001 state report.

For political and financial reasons explored in the book “Eden by Design,” that plan was shelved and long forgotten after it was published in 1930. Around 1938, local officials worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to channelize the L.A. River, literally paving the way for what we experience today and what we’ve seen on film in everything from “Grease” to “Drive.”

In recent years, local groups have started advocating for a “rewilding” of the L.A. River, removing some level of concrete and instead using our natural environment and watershed as a means of flood control.

A large bird that appears to be a type of heron flies over the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

“If we develop and retrofit land to capture water, we can reduce the intensity of flood waters and peel back concrete to enable all of the essential functions healthy rivers and soil provide,” according to the local nonprofit the River Project.

This would certainly also change the swimming experience to a much more natural opportunity, rather than feeling like you’re floating about in a large, flowing swimming pool.

The future of the river becoming swimmable, though, depends in large part on how much water is left for recreation, a complicated equation for officials to develop in a region constantly grappling with how to rely less on imported water.

A person rests in the shade of trees along the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Presently, the L.A. River is fed, in part, by rain and snowmelt in the wet months.

In the dry months, its main water source is three water reclamation plants that release tertiary treated water into the river. “These plants take all the wastewater from apartment buildings, houses and commercial operations and cleans it. Some of that water is used for irrigation at city parks and golf courses. Some feeds Lake Balboa,” my former Times colleague Deborah Netburn wrote in 2018. “But most of it — more than 30 million gallons each day — ends up in the river.”

Dickens-Russell of Friends of the L.A. River said for the last three years, she has sat alongside leaders from government agencies, local nonprofits and more to discern, among other things, just how much water our river needs. (For my fellow nerds who want to Google their hearts out, the full name of this effort is the Los Angeles River California Environmental Flows Framework Project, or CEFF.)

The Glendale Narrows is one of three soft-bottomed areas of the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

For example, the L.A. River has three soft-bottomed areas where plant and animal life thrives. If the river were starved of reclaimed water in the dry months, what would happen to those ecosystems?

“No one is saying the river doesn’t need water — there is no debate about whether there should be water in the river — the debate is … how much water does the river need?” Dickens-Russell said. “We’re trying to establish that baseline.”

The CEFF group will meet for the last time in less than two weeks, and afterward, its members will send their findings to the state water board, which oversees any changes to river flow in California, she said.

The Glendale Narrows area of the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Even as officials discern the amount of the water the river needs for its multitude of uses, the L.A. River also has to be clean enough to swim in.

And humans and our behaviors are one of the biggest reasons our river water becomes polluted.

When it rains in cities, that water runs off buildings, driveways and roads, picking up fertilizer from our yards and farmlands, motor oil spilled on our streets and highways, pesticides sprayed on our plants, dirt and bacteria. This untreated runoff makes its way through storm drains and ditches into our local streams and rivers and eventually, the ocean.

Additionally, for years, runoff from industrial sites along the river have added to the problem, an effort that’s been highlighted as climate justice activists work to develop the former Taylor Yard, a railroad maintenance yard, into a park.

This is all part of a much larger problem beyond the banks of the L.A. River. “Polluted runoff is one of the greatest threats to clean water in the U.S.,” according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The river is especially gnarly after its so-called “first flush,” when L.A. experiences its first big rain after a lengthy dry spell, and everything that’s built up on our roadways flows into the river.

A sunflower-like plant resembling California brittlebush grows among invasive plants in the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Addressing this pollution to the extent that would make the L.A. River swimmable is not an impossible task, but it’s one that would require significant investment in our local infrastructure — like implementing creative solutions to keep out or remove trash from the river. That’s where public opinion and advocacy come into play, Dickens-Russell said.

Cities across the world like Portland and Copenhagen have successfully transformed their urban rivers into green spaces that offer reprieve from intense and increasingly frequent heat waves in our climate-changed world. Unlike Paris, which made a $1.5-billion investment in cleaning the Seine, our river won’t be ready — unless something substantial changes — for the 2028 Olympics.

The possibility of swimming in the L.A. River, though, is far from a new idea.

“Towards a swimmable, fishable, boatable river,” read the first page of the Friends of the L.A. River’s first “State of the Los Angeles River” report, published in 2005.

Lino Jubilado using a tenkara-style fly fishing rod in the L.A. River in Long Beach.

(Jerry Hsu / For The Times)

Swimming in our river isn’t going to happen with just “one good project,” but instead a mix of people changing their behaviors and also pushing for change, Dickens-Russell said.

“Looking at your question, ‘When will we be able to swim in the L.A. River?’” Dickens-Russell said, “I don’t know that that’s the question. I think the question is what we’re willing to invest to make that possible. A swimmable river is an achievable goal, but it’s going to require sustained investment in water quality and things like habitat restoration and safe and equitable public access. Every project that reduces pollution and restores natural function brings us a little bit closer to that. And yeah, we should be planning for a future where Angelenos can safely swim in the L.A. River. Why not?”

While digging through The Times’ archives for this story, I found a new visual of a river to inspire me: Three boys swimming in the L.A. River in 1936.

“Viewing the dusty Los Angeles River bed last week no one would have thought of swimming in connection with it,” the caption read. “But yesterday Bob Henderson, Stanley Hayden and Archer Bolton frolicked in the flood waters near Bell, thanks to the week-end rain.”

Ninety years later, I’m dreaming of one day doing the same. How long will that take exactly? It’s up to all of us to find out.

3 things to do

Hikers learn about their local ecosystem on a previous hike with environmental educator Jason Wise and others.

(Jason Wise)

1. Celebrate the full spectrum of the animal kingdom in L.A.
Environmental educator Jason Wise and biological anthropologist Natalia Reagan will host a sunset queer ecology walk from 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 13 in Griffith Park. The co-hosts will dive deep into the world of animal homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality, polyamory and more. Suggested donation of $30. Register at eventbrite.com.

2. Churn up hills in L.A.
Labyrinth, a trail run club, will host Dirt & Dessert from 7:30 to 10 a.m. Saturday in Griffith Park. Participants will tackle a 5K trail run while churning their own ice cream. Runners should bring their own bag, vest or backpack to hold ice cream-making materials, which will be included in the $14 event fee. Register at eventbrite.com.

3. Nurture native habitat in Northeast L.A.
We Explore Earth needs volunteers from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Ascot Hills Park to beautify the park’s hillsides and trails. Participants will remove invasive species and support native habitat recovery. Register at eventbrite.com.

The must-read

Marc Papas cycles past graffiti next to the L.A. River.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Cyclist Marc Papas is on a mission to bike every public street in L.A., an estimated 7,516.07 miles. Papas moved to L.A. in late 2020 after completing his PhD at Georgia Tech, freelance journalist Oren Peleg wrote for The Times. Papas was initially scared to ride his bike around L.A., fearful of all he’d been told about our city’s car-filled and dangerous streets. Then he found himself asking: “With perfect weather year-round, and a mostly flat topography, why wasn’t everyone in L.A. riding bikes?” His passion evolved into “The Project,” of which he’s already ridden over 78% (about 5,840 miles) of our city’s streets.

Who else feels inspired to jump on their bike?

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

After my friend Maria told me she’d signed up for $10 kayaking classes after learning about them from my Instagram Stories, it made me realize that there were likely many others who’d like to know that information. L.A. County Parks and Recreation is hosting stand-up paddleboard and kayaking classes, and they’re only $10 per session. Instructors will teach participants about proper paddling technique, balance and coordination, and water safety. The classes will be offered at Santa Fe Dam, Bonelli Regional Park and Castaic Lake. August classes have sold out at Santa Fe Dam and Bonelli, but several spots remain at Castaic Lake, which sits north of L.A. and offers amazing views of the San Gabriel Mountains. Sign up by searching “kayak” or “stand” on the county’s activity registration website. A great way to have fun and stay cool this summer!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – facing a crucial election later this year – has hinted that he may be considering taking unilateral action to prolong a costly war with Iran, even as Washington and Tehran appear to be close to an interim deal to open the Strait of Hormuz.

“We heard today the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ahmad Vahidi, declare that Iran intends to continue developing a nuclear weapon,” Netanyahu claimed in an assertion, even though no official statement from Vahidi on the matter has been released by the Iranian government or official media.

Still, Netanyahu saw the opportunity to once again frame Iran’s nuclear threat as existential.

“As Israel’s prime minister, I am determined to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Netanyahu told attendees at a state ceremony in West Jerusalem.

Describing the United States as “Israel’s greatest ally”, Netanyahu nevertheless added that he was prepared to do “whatever is necessary” to guarantee Israel’s security.

Israel has officially struck Iran only once since April’s initial ceasefire between the US and Iran took effect, even after it later broke down and the two sides resumed hostilities in the US-Israel war on Iran.

But observers – including US President Donald Trump – believe that Netanyahu wants to keep the US engaged in the fight against Iran, which began in late February with a joint US-Israeli attack that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Addressing reports that Netanyahu planned to bring fresh intelligence to Washington alleging that Iran was stockpiling uranium at its Pickaxe Mountain facility near Natanz in central Iran, Trump told reporters: “I don’t need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved.”

He then sharpened his criticism of the Israeli prime minister, adding: “Why don’t you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world?”

Fight alone

With the US and Israel unable so far to topple the Iranian state or force concessions on the Strait of Hormuz, many analysts believe that the war has been unsuccessful.

Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – formerly a free waterway – has paralysed much of the world’s economy.

Global oil prices have increased, with shortages in the supplies of liquified gas, fertiliser exports, sulphur supplies, and petrochemical feedstocks all threatening to ripple through international supply lines.

“The war against Iran is a strategic catastrophe,” said Ahron Bregman, an Israeli security analyst and senior teaching fellow in the Department for War Studies at King’s College London. “None of the original aims has been achieved… Trump is desperate for an exit. Almost at any price. He only cares about opening the [strait].”

But in Israel, the focus is less on the world’s economy, and more on the perceived danger posed by Iran and its allied groups across the region.

Netanyahu has consistently pursued a hawkish line on Iran, a power he has repeatedly claimed is on the brink of crossing the threshold to nuclear weapons capability.

He is also thought to have been among the loudest voices that pushed for Trump to withdraw in 2018 from a nuclear deal agreed to by previous US President Barack Obama.

“Israel’s strategy is clear,” said Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Israel’s Misgav Institute for National Security. “Iran remains close to achieving nuclear capacity and has shown it’s able to continue producing ballistic missiles and supplying its proxy forces in the region.”

The war on Iran was currently a fiasco from Israel’s perspective, Michael added, with both the US and Iran insisting that they had won.

Michael, however, framed the current negotiations as “useless”, and unlikely to produce lasting security in the region, reflecting the sentiment in the Israeli security establishment.

Israel, Michael said, was prepared to fight alone if necessary.

“Israel can only have one strategy,” Michael said, “to strike directly at the head of the octopus that threatens global civilisation and to do that alone, if necessary.”

That might inflame tensions with the US, Michael added, concluding, “I can’t see any other option.”

Inconceivable

However, while some in Israel were confident of the country’s ability to strike unilaterally at Iran in defiance of US wishes, others expressed caution, suggesting that Netanyahu’s talk of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon might simply be little more than rhetoric ahead of an election that could conceivably jeopardise both his legacy and, as a result of his long-running corruption trial, his personal freedom.

The US relationship is important to the Israeli electorate, but relations between Netanyahu and Trump appear to be frostier than normal.

Beyond friction over Israel’s reluctance to accept terms apparently imposed on it in Gaza by the Trump-sponsored Board of Peace, there have also been widespread reports of tensions over Israeli strikes in Lebanon that have repeatedly threatened to derail US negotiations with Iran. Those attacks, however, have stopped far short of the unilateral strikes on Iran hinted at by Netanyahu on Wednesday.

“Israel launching unilateral action against Iran is inconceivable,” the US author and former diplomat Aaron David Miller said. “Something like that might be possible if Iran or Hezbollah struck Israel directly, but talk of Israel striking Iran now, when US negotiations are so close to a conclusion, is impossible.”

Relations between the two allies were entering a unique phase, he said. While the US had never cooperated so closely with an ally militarily since its relationship with the United Kingdom during World War II, diplomatic ties had rarely been so fraught.

“Trump’s leaked, expletive-laden criticism of Netanyahu; his direct negotiations with Hamas over Gaza; his lifting of sanctions on Syria despite Israel’s objections; and his negotiations with Iran without Israel’s involvement all point to a changing relationship,” Miller said. “What that might mean for future US military assistance to Israel – including defence cooperation, intelligence sharing, research and development, and diplomatic support in international forums – remains to be seen.”

However, he added: “Let me be clear. Netanyahu had a hell of a role in how this war started. He’s not going to have a role in how it shifts to its next phase.”

The ongoing explosion of revival screenings in Los Angeles is an opportunity not just to revisit accepted classics, but also to give a spotlight to undersung oddball picks deserving of broader attention.

Take for example 1988’s “Tapeheads.” An offbeat comedy about two friends trying to break into the then-emergent world of music videos, the film stars John Cusack and Tim Robbins just as their careers were starting to take off. A snapshot of a specific moment in Los Angeles — some shots of downtown’s skyline at sundown have an unexpected beauty — the film has never been lost exactly, but it is deserving of renewed interest.

The movie will show on Monday as part of the American Cinematheque’s Cinematic Void program at Los Feliz Theatre, screening from a rare 35mm print provided by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Director and co-writer Bill Fishman will be there along with producer and co-writer Peter McCarthy, producer Eric Barrett and production designer (later turned director) Catherine Hardwicke.

Cusack and Robbins star as Ivan and Josh, friends since childhood now working as nighttime security guards until they figure out their future. Cusack’s Ivan has ambition and drive while Robbins’ Josh is sensitive and creative. Together they launch a music video business and take it upon themselves to revive the careers of their favorite soul singers, the fictional Swanky Modes (played by real-life soul legends Sam Moore and Junior Walker). Josh and Ivan soon find themselves accidentally wrapped up in a blackmail scheme involving a sex tape and a conservative politician, complicating everything.

“It was a hustler and an artist and the merging of the two, trying to get some sort of balance with your creative side and what you needed to do to make a living,” explains Fishman, now 68, during a recent video interview from Venice, Calif. “We came up with the credo ‘You do what you gotta till you can do what you wanna.’ And that was really where it came from.”

Before making his feature debut with “Tapeheads,” the native New Yorker had already found success in his 20s as a music video director himself, creating clips for songs such as Suicidal Tendencies’ “Institutionalized” and the Georgia Satellites’ No. 2 hit “Keep Your Hands to Yourself.” Straddling the music scene and Hollywood, Fishman found that a satire of conservative politics came to him naturally.

“Music videos seemed to be an easy thing for me to do because I knew that world,” he says. “Even though the story was what we thought would be completely ludicrous, it ended up being much more realistic than we believed.”

John Cusack, left, and Tim Robbins in the movie “Tapeheads.”

(American Cinematheque)

James Branscome, who programs the Cinematic Void series for the American Cinematheque, calls the rare chance to show the film a bucket-list experience.

“It was a weird movie that felt lost, especially when it stars John Cusack and Tim Robbins being zany in a way they don’t often get to be,” he says by phone. “It felt like this very organic, perfect movie, like: This checks so many boxes for me.”

Among the producers on the film is Michael Nesmith, a former member of the Monkees, and through him the project fell under the production umbrella of NBC. Fishman remembers being invited to the home of Brandon Tartikoff, president of NBC Entertainment and a green-lighter of titles including “Miami Vice” and “Seinfeld.” What he thought was going to be a relatively brief meeting was instead hours of Tartikoff patiently going through the script page by page.

“I did not know anything,” remembers Fishman, whose most recent credit is the 2024 film “Waltzing With Brando,” starring Billy Zane. “I thought Hollywood was always going to be like this. But I didn’t realize that my best experience was my first and then we were going to have to fight and claw for the rest of it.”

It was young casting director Victoria Thomas (lately of “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” and “Michael”) who brought in Cusack and Robbins. Cusack, a Chicagoan, was in Los Angeles to appear onstage with Robbins’ theater group the Actors’ Gang and the two of them came in to audition together.

“They had really prepared,” says Fishman. “And after an hour or more of the interview, which went great, I said, ‘I want you guys to switch roles.’ And that freaked them out. They were like, ‘We can’t do that. We rehearsed. We can’t just throw this together for you.’ I said, ‘I really think you should.’ And they said, ‘OK, give us 15 minutes.’ And they walked out onto the street in Venice and they came back in as the other characters, redid the audition and that’s how they were cast.”

Mary Crosby and John Cusack in the movie “Tapeheads.”

(American Cinematheque)

Fishman made sure to show Cusack the 1957 film “Sweet Smell of Success,” with Tony Curtis’ smarmy press agent an influence on his character. Fishman also says Cusack’s greased-back hair and pencil mustache were partly inspired by Eric Roberts in “Star 80.”

“Tapeheads” captures a specific moment in Los Angeles history, sure to be nostalgic for some, from a desolate downtown to a percolating music scene. Legendary local party band Fishbone provided music for the score and appears briefly as a country-and-western bar combo. Devo rerecorded a version of their song “Baby Doll” in Swedish to stand in for an international boy band’s hit. The film is also full of cameo appearances by real-life music figures, including “Soul Train” host Don Cornelius, MTV’s Martha Quinn, comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, rapper Doug E. Fresh and musicians “Weird Al” Yankovic, Ted Nugent and Stiv Bators. (A then-largely unknown Courtney Love has an uncredited appearance as a dominatrix on a sex tape.)

“The soundtrack and the people we used in the film were reflective of the wide spectrum of what was unifying, I thought, for the counterculture in specifically L.A.,” says Fishman. “It wasn’t a film about punk rock, it wasn’t a film about rhythm and blues or hip-hop. It was a film about young people expressing themselves.

“When you would go out in Los Angeles at that time, you would go to nightclubs and all these bands would be playing in the same club,” he says. “If you were part of the counterculture you could play anything or dress any way and you were sort of accepted. It was a creative scene and that’s what the film was about.”

One highlight of the movie is a commercial Ivan and Josh make for local L.A. eatery Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘N Waffles (still going strong), featuring a memorable rap by blues singer King Cotton and done with a bold yellow and black look.

“I grew up in New York City and chicken and waffles was not a thing,” says Fishman. “People here would go get it late night in Hollywood and when I was looking for some business that they could do a video for, it just struck me as an absurd combination, which was all about what the film was about: absurd combinations. And it happens to be delicious.”

“That Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffle commercial is incredible,” says programmer Branscome. “Which is the most California thing because outside of L.A. no one knows what a Roscoe’s is unless you’ve been here. It’s full of very niche stuff that is elevated. It works on one level, but if you know exactly what it is, it gives it a different dynamic.”

Tim Robbins in the movie “Tapeheads.”

(American Cinematheque)

When “Tapeheads” was released in October 1988 (after a berth at the film festival that would be later renamed Sundance), it struggled to find theaters. Moore and Walker performed on “Late Night With David Letterman” as the Swanky Modes. According to Fishman, Cusack and Robbins were both reluctant to do press for the film at the time “because they thought it was uncool.”

It was not until it hit the VHS market that the movie truly began to find its audience. That said, it has never been on Blu-ray and is available to stream from only a few scattered sites. Perhaps this sold-out L.A. screening, with the support of some of the key behind-scenes-team, will help spur the film toward a broader renaissance. It deserves to be seen as more than just a cult curio.

“As soon as people saw the film, they said, ‘Oh, this is a cult film’ and I always hated that,” says Fishman. “I was like, ‘No, it’s not a cult film — it’s a pop movie.’ We wrote it to play to everybody.”

The day after the state’s Senate primary, I was at a gym in Michigan when I overheard a brief exchange about the results of the close race.

The small group of voters were all elderly and white. Most of them expressed disappointment that Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens lost. Most of them questioned victor Abdul El-Sayed’s ability to win in November against a Republican. One of them called El-Sayed — a born and raised Michigander who attended the University of Michigan and ran the Department of Health, Human and Veteran Services for the largest county in the state — “a radical.”

For a few seconds, the group went quiet.

The only sound heard was the echo from the dog whistle that was just blown.

The prejudicial rot at the heart of that comment is just one of the challenges facing El-Sayed in November, however it is the most significant.

MAGA Republicans may complain about identity politics, but they aren’t afraid to use them. During the primary campaign, both Republican gubernatorial candidates in the state continuously ran ads characterizing immigrants as violent criminals. That will likely continue. El-Sayed’s opponent, Mike Rogers, is endorsed by President Trump, who has been making racially offensive statements for more than half a century.

That’s documented as far back as the 1973 lawsuit the Nixon administration filed against him and his family for racial discrimination, and it’s documented as recently as the octogenarian’s latest social posts about people from Somalia and Haiti. Not to be outdone by his boss, Vice President JD Vance started his fearmongering during a supposed anti-fraud event this week. The 2028 presidential hopeful quipped “God forbid, you’re going to have President El-Sayed in three years” — a thought I had not considered until he said it.

Many of us hadn’t given El-Sayed much consideration at all until recent months. When Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) announced he was not seeking reelection in January 2025, El-Sayed was not considered a strong contender to replace him. Many establishment Democrats believed former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who quietly moved to Michigan after running for the White House in 2020, or Stevens, were the party’s best shot of holding on to the seat and helping Michigan do its part to flip the Senate.

They discounted El-Sayed’s chances in large part because they misread the moment we are in. The days of performative campaign endorsements, huge war chests and strongly worded posts started fading noticeably in 2016 — after Jeb Bush dropped out of the race early despite having north of $100 million at his disposal. Yet over the last decade, establishment Democrats have continued to replay the same playbook with mixed results. And in totality, Tuesday’s primaries in Michigan, Kansas, Missouri, Virginia and Washington are a mixed bag with no clear message beyond whatever you read into these facts: El-Sayed is a Muslim who has criticized the government of Israel, and yet he won a Democratic primary. Even so, the chatter before and after the vote is more revealing than the primary outcome. (On Tuesday, roughly 2 out of 10 eligible voters in the state cast a ballot in Michigan. Sweeping interpretations of El-Sayed’s narrow victory are rather bold when 80% of voters didn’t participate.)

Questions about his electability have little to do with his résumé — the Rhodes scholar led Columbia University’s research on global population health — and more to do with him being the son of Egyptian immigrants who prays five times a day. The president takes photos holding an upside-down Bible and has a 22-foot gold statue of himself, but it is El-Sayed’s faith that should worry good Christian folks?

Over the weeks leading to Tuesday, we saw entire interviews with El-Sayed — an epidemiologist — that dwelled solely on his thoughts about Israel, while voters in his state were dealing with a cyclosporiasis outbreak. He has plenty to say on other topics. Getting “money out of politics” is not only central to his campaign messaging, but also is an actual grassroots ballot initiative in Michigan. Yet the talk about El-Sayed mostly orbits around one foreign policy topic.

To be clear: The issue for establishment Democrats isn’t that something like “Medicare for all” is too radical of an idea to champion. Both President Obama and President Clinton campaigned heavily on healthcare, and history views them both as centrist. No, the concern is how easy it is for Trump, Rogers and other Republicans to “other” El-Sayed, so when he does question our spending priorities it can be painted as un-American or antisemitic. As a result, election analysis is indirectly being dictated by his identity, all but ignoring he’s one of the top healthcare experts in a state still reeling from a foodborne illness.

What El-Sayed and his supporters are questioning isn’t Israel’s right to exist. They’re wondering why the United States, the richest of all the developed democracies, is still the only one that does not guarantee healthcare to its citizens? The list of nations that do guarantee access includes Israel, which receives billions in U.S. aid. For a doctor who has written a book on healthcare access and co-authored about 100 scholarly articles on health, that line of questioning doesn’t seem radical at all.

It is who is doing the asking that unnerves some.

YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow

CHICAGO — The boo birds were active at Wrigley Field this week, as the Dodgers were swept by the Cubs in a three-game series.

The vitriol for the World Series favorites, days after they traded for the best player available at the deadline (two-time CY Young winner Tarik Skubal) touched almost every player in the Dodgers lineup. But Cubs fans’ boos were by far the most enthusiastic for the right fielder who’d departed their team in free agency this past winter.

Kyle Tucker, for his part, dodged the first question that mentioned the hostile reception he received in his first series back at Wrigley Field since signing a four-year, $240 million contract with the Dodgers over the offseason.

“I liked playing here last year,” Tucker said after the game Monday. “There were some really great guys over there, and they have a good team. So it’s nice being back and playing here. I liked it.”

When pressed on whether he understood the boos, Tucker said: “I don’t know. I tried my hardest last year. I tried playing through a hand fracture and calf thing, just trying to get back to the playoffs for them and trying to do what I could to help out the team last year with them. Hit really well in the first half, and second half didn’t go as great, and kind of didn’t end up great at the end of the year. But I had a good run.”

Let’s unpack that.

This year, Dodgers fans have mostly seen a version of Tucker who’s on pace for one of the worst offensive seasons in the four-time All-Star’s career. But when the Cubs landed Tucker in a blockbuster trade with the Astros before the 2025 season, hoping he’d elevate their offense, he did just that for the first three months of the season.

His best month was June (.982), when, unbeknownst to the public, he was playing through a small fracture in his right hand.

Not being able to grip the bat properly eventually took a toll on his swing mechanics, sending him into an extended slump. When he finally seemed to be coming out of it in late August, a left calf injury sidelined him in early September.

When the injury lingered far longer than initially expected, hoping to return in time to contribute in the postseason, Tucker made the unorthodox decision to travel to Tampa to work with the physical therapy group that helped him recover from a fractured shin the year before.

Unable to completely eradicate the symptoms of his strained calf, Tucker returned to the Cubs lineup as the designated hitter the last weekend of the regular season and through the playoffs, where he went 7-for-27 with a home run in Game 4 of the NLDS.

Through the ups and downs of the season, Tucker still came out of it with a 2025 Silver Slugger award. He had the second-highest OPS on the team (.841) among players with at least 100 plate appearances, behind former Dodger Michael Busch (.866).

In response to Tucker’s comments Monday, Cubs fans on social media said they were upset with Tucker for playing through his hand injury, and for leaving the team to address his calf injury — which seemed to set up a no-win situation for his relationship with the fan base.

Tucker’s union with the Cubs was always expected to be short term. That was always the case from the moment they acquired him one season away from what was projected to be a lucrative free agency. Nothing had changed by the last out of the team’s 2025 season, as they fell one win shy of meeting the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

With the Dodgers, Tucker has yet to put together a real hot streak at the plate. He’s hit far better in away games (.828 OPS) than at home (.601) this year.

On the road again, Tucker went 5-for-11 in three games against the Cubs this week — perhaps a sign of good things to come, in a season full of false starts.

“Just working every single day, just trying to be consistent with my work and what I do in the cage and everything and trying to translate it out onto the field,” he said Monday. “Felt pretty good today. Had good at-bats the past couple days and stuff. So just trying to continue that moving forward into tomorrow’s game and so forth.”

His biggest moment of the series came Tuesday. In his first at-bat of the game, he lifted a solo home run into the left-field bleachers and trotted around the bases to a chorus of boos.

It was the Dodgers’ only run of the game.

Aug. 6 (UPI) — Brazil and China have launched a pilot program that will allow Chinese tourists and consumers to pay with the UnionPay app at Brazilian businesses that accept Pix.

The initiative expands financial cooperation between the two countries as Brazil’s payment system remains part of the backdrop of the trade dispute between Brazil and the United States.

UnionPay International and the Chinese Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro announced the project and said users of the UnionPay app and participating Chinese banks will be able to make payments by scanning QR codes at businesses connected to Pix.

According to the consulate, the initiative will facilitate travel, trade and bilateral exchanges through “safer, faster and more convenient” payments.

During this initial phase, announced Tuesday, Chinese users can use their regular app to pay directly in Brazil. In a later phase, the service will gradually expand to other digital wallets associated with UnionPay, the People’s Daily reported.

The measure also comes as Chinese tourism to Brazil continues to grow.

The country welcomed 94,400 Chinese tourists between January and November 2025, a 34% increase from a year earlier, according to the Brazilian Agency for International Tourism Promotion, or Embratur. That established China as one of Brazil’s tourism markets with the greatest growth potential.

Embratur expects that flow to reach a record in 2026, officially designated as the “Brazil-China Year of Culture.” The agency attributed the trend to its strategy of strengthening Brazil’s presence in Asia.

Its president, Marcelo Freixo, described China as “a key market with enormous expansion potential, as it is the world’s largest source of outbound tourists,” according to El Diario del Viaje.

The integration of UnionPay and Pix is part of broader financial cooperation between the two governments. According to Brasil 247, the People’s Bank of China and the Central Bank of Brazil signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic financial cooperation in May 2025.

In June this year, the two institutions held another meeting of their working group to examine mechanisms that facilitate payments and financial transactions linked to trade between the countries.

Experts cited by the People’s Daily said the connection between UnionPay and Pix could make it easier for Chinese tourists to shop in Brazil and serve as a model for expanding this type of payment to other Latin American countries.

Pix’s international expansion also comes as the system remains at the center of the commercial debate between Brazil and the United States.

An investigation conducted by Washington under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 concluded that Pix’s regulatory framework gave preferential treatment to the system operated by the Central Bank of Brazil over other electronic payment companies.

The investigation contedned that the Central Bank acts as both the market regulator and the operator of Pix and questioned the requirement that financial institutions prominently display the system in their apps without charging users any fees.

The United States said those conditions affect U.S. payment companies, such as Visa and Mastercard.

The investigation was one of the factors later considered by Washington when it announced additional tariffs on Brazilian products, according to BBC News.

Brazil rejected those conclusions. The government said Pix is a public infrastructure designed to increase competition and expand financial inclusion, while the Brazilian Federation of Banks said the system reduces payment costs and encourages innovation.

Launched by the Central Bank of Brazil in 2020, Pix currently has 176 million users and processes more than 7 billion transactions each month, according to Central Bank data.

Meanwhile, Brasil 247 reported that transactions made in Brazil during the first half of 2026 using UnionPay cards issued in China increased by more than 30% compared with the same period a year earlier, reflecting growing economic exchanges between the two countries.

A chapbook by Henry Opeyemi 

Publisher: Felis Catus Press

“The purpose of literature is to turn blood into ink.”

T.S. Eliot

Henry Opeyemi is an oracle, and this chapbook is a miracle of sorts; it is a prayer of consolation, a hymn, a psalm, a song that gives birth to awakening after awakening, enlightenment after enlightenment. It starts with conscientising and ends by raising a phoenix-like awareness of boyhood and its challenges on the African continent. Where Rumi, Khalil Gibran, Weldon Kees, Mzi Mahola, and Ken Saro-Wiwa walked, where Rethabile Masilo walks, now Henry Opeyemi walks alongside these giants. There was Derek Walcott, Langston Hughes, those constellations feeding galaxies, and now there is Henry Opeyemi.

Perhaps all poets have an innate sense of clairvoyance. They can recognise the pains of the land, the masculine and feminine pains of the vessel of an African body, the psychological torment, the mental despair, the stigmatized struggle, the social alienation, the estrangement from the land of our ancestors, and the unbearable loneliness that every waking moment a poet experiences, lives with, suffers from, and the devastation of the internal landscape of the wounded children of Africa. Yes, yes, yes. Henry Opeyemi has turned blood into ink, and the veins are enriched with shelter.

These poems, each one “peeling itself into joy” (from the poem, Wanderers on pg.5).

This manuscript cleanses like the sea. Writing is a spiritual act, a spiritual dance. It is meditative and comes with instructions. It is sacred. When the hand of God moves through the pen, the poet must obey, and Henry Opeyemi has obeyed. The title of this chapbook speaks about black vulnerability, black stigma, the rallying cry of injustice and inequality, systemic racism, the undertow of the vision of poverty-stricken, disenfranchised and marginalised Africa. Henry Opeyemi writes about miracles in the same breath that he confronts suicide ideation, and when he writes, as he does in his dedication, “of the land of his youth”, he is addressing the social ills of the day, he is speaking to every man, woman, youth and child on the African continent. 

The dedication is a searing polemic, a testimony to a time that came before, and that sadly, heartwrenchingly still exists. The bittersweet river of the sands of time through the hourglass, the tapestry of exile, the memory of the silent witness, the memory of the historian and recorder and poet, the novel dispensation that we are living and co-existing in with the pains of a wandering soul, and history, have not erased anything. We, as African poets, living on the African continent beset with problems of despair and conflict, a continent ravaged by “hungry bowls” as the poet writes, we are the angry souls, the grief, heartbreak and emptiness of our rages.

There is beauty in the poetic sense and sensibility of Henry Opeyemi, and a sense of isolation. Every poet from this continent writes about what we have faced, endured, survived (colonialism, liberation, independence, civil war), and the terrible price we have had to pay, the debts of love of our mothers, the considerable debts of love of the maternal figures in our lives. There is the moral distress, the psychiatric distress, and cry of the poet, the language of moral decay in these verses, and the injury, the sickness, the mental tension, the utter mental turmoil and devastation, and the moral distress of the decay of the mind, of the psychological framework, of the alienation, the social ineptitude and isolation, the rejection from the church, from the community, from society who has labeled the citizens and inhabitants of African descent as interlopers, from the immediate and maternal and paternal family of the individual, of the poet.

Henry Opeyemi is the poetic version of Moses Molelekwa, and in his verses abound “genes and spirits”, ancestral kingdoms and bloodlines.

Every African writer, every African novelist and African poet who lives on the continent and finds themselves elsewhere in the world, writes about stigma, whether they acknowledge this consciously or subconsciously. It is written on the blueprint of our consciousness. Henry Opeyemi (remember this name) writes about the wounded child, the boy, the youth’s fractured sense of self and the youth’s spoiled identity, marginalised identity, wanting to seek validation and approval from the powers that be, from the same gender parent, from adult supervision, from their contemporaries, from leaders, from mentors. Every poet is a wanderer, a directionless nomad, a seeker, a believer if he has found the certainty of faith, of religious instructions and meditative practices. When I write, I write as an African, who lives on the African continent first and foremost; secondly, I write as a woman.

On these pages, a particular tenderness is personified in the writing. The wound is sacred and as omnipresent as the omega, and the grief our mothers have carried is a sacred kind of grief that their cells carried when they were in the womb of the maternal grandmother. The mother-figure is the portal, the origin of humanity. It is where the tension and spark of history coincide with the psychological repair, release and repair of life. 

The poet serves grief, heartbreak, their loneliness on a silver platter to humanity, like a beacon, an anchor, a lighthouse in the storm, like the being of light, like daybreak, like an oyster it is consumed, eaten, studied, investigated, and it is this noble endeavour, the practice of writing poetry about grief, heartbreak, and loneliness, that serves us, our collective humanity, exile and history, that is a remainder of colonialism that will last the test of time, that will serve as proof of evidence that we existed, that we were here, that this was our collective emotional pain on the face of the African continent.

The grief of Africa is, unfortunately, not bloodless. Even her tears are, in fact, tears of blood, of war, of strife, of conflict, of genocide. Poetry is our only method of self-defence. It is the survival, coping and defence mechanism of the novelist, the journalist, the filmmaker, the editor, most of all, the poet. It always has been since the onset of slavery and colonialism and independence. Henry Opeyemi does what poets have done before and after colonialism, he discusses emancipation, personal freedom, personal growth, missionary education, liberation, self-improvement, his youth, his Africa, he addresses the ritual of bone, blood, bowl, the question of God and religion, yes, how immortal religion defies and defines us, guides and interrogates us, he mentions the roles of Big Pharma, and the use of pharmaceuticals in society, are they of help or hindrance? He speaks about the mother-figure, the abandonment of Eve, the resurrection of Lady Macbeth on these pages. The mosque becomes an education, the mind of the young intellectual like a feverish young tree, eager for verdant-green growth, branches like limbs, eager to be acknowledged in a garden of other poets, all vying for attention and literary prizes, or, or, humility, imaginative grace, which is, to all intents and purposes more powerful than attention and literary prizes. 

Creative writing, the practice of writing poetry, is an intellectual pursuit. It is the cultural endeavour of the modern-day philosopher, and all poets are wanderers for an eternity of time.

Sidenote: Henry Opeyemi, welcome to the African Renaissance. May you mentor other poets, you, young poet, young leader, young intellectual. Africa is in good hands. Be, go forth, onwards and upwards; be as all princes from this continent who write poetry; be King of the World. Take the empire back. Build your own empires of gold from the dust of the colonial masters, from the powers that be.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 in favor of allowing TV station ownership groups to own more outlets, easing the way for more consolidation.

The Thursday vote that favored the change means companies can own local stations that cover more than 39% of the U.S. They could also own more than two stations in a single market.

The measure supported by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr will allow the agency to approve deals that put station ownership groups over the cap if the agency determines that they are promoting the public interest. Carr has said the agency would consider such issues as commitment to local journalism and “viewpoint diversity.”

“In my view, if you care about trusted sources of local news and information, you have to care about the future of local TV stations,” Carr said. “They are the economic engines that produce the paychecks for so many of the local journalists that remain in the business. So how can the FCC maximize the odds that those institutions continue to survive and hopefully thrive into the future? To start, we should stop hamstringing this one segment of the broader market with outdated restrictions.”

The station groups say the ability of tech companies such as Google and Netflix to reach every consumer in the U.S. puts them at a disadvantage. At the same time, streaming now accounts for more than 40% of all viewing, according to Nielsen, pulling consumers away from traditional TV. Television stations are also seeing their share of carriage fees from cable and satellite companies shrink due to cord-cutting.

Declining viewership and revenue have also made it more challenging to sustain multiple local TV news operations in a single market.

Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the commission, opposed the measure, saying the rule change will only help big firms get bigger and more powerful.

“Eliminating the cap does not free local broadcasters from economic pressure, it just changes who is doing the squeezing,” Gomez said in a statement issued ahead of the vote. “The large station groups positioned to grow even larger under this decision are not local broadcasters, they are national companies that own local stations and increasingly dictate what airs on them.”

The measure ending the cap limits also faced push back from consumer groups and state government officials who believe station consolidation will result in journalist layoffs and fewer voices for the communities they serve.

TV station owners and its lobbying group the National Assn. of Broadcasters have been clamoring for a change in the rule, citing the changes in technology that have occurred since the ownership limit. The 39% threshold was set in 2004 when streaming video was still a nascent business.

Jeff McCall, a professor of communications at DePaux University, agrees the current limit is outdated in the current media environment. “Local broadcasters are struggling in terms of audience and revenue, and this plan could give them some needed relief,” he said.

But McCall added that having the FCC decide who benefits from the rule change will face resistance.
“it will give the FCC wide discretionary powers and open up any decisions to second-guessing and, of course, court challenges,” he said.

There are also likely to be questions on how even-handed Carr will be when faced with a proposal that puts a station owner over the caps. The chairman has made his name by threatening to pull the broadcast licenses of TV stations that irritate President Trump with their coverage and commentary. Even Trump-supporting Republicans such as Sen. John Kennedy, R- La., have raised concerns the FCC’s scrutiny of broadcast content could be violating the right to free speech.

In April, the FCC called for an early review of the licenses for Disney’s eight broadcast TV stations, a day after Trump demanded that ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke about First Lady Melania Trump.

Carr also questioned whether ABC’s daytime show “The View,” where negative Trump commentary occurs often, should qualify as a bona fide news program that is exempt from giving equal time to qualified candidates.

Carr also believes large media companies such as Disney and NBCUniversal parent Comcast hold too much sway over the stations affiliated with their networks.

“New York and Hollywood interests have steamrolled those local TV stations and the broader media market in recent years in ways that run directly counter to the regulatory framework that Congress and the FCC put in place,” he wrote. “Their national programs naturally reflect the values of the New York and Hollywood executives that produce them. This power imbalance has contributed to a steady decline in locally produced news — and with it, a weakening of the public’s trust in the media.”

Earlier this year, a group of attorneys general filed suit to block Nexstar Media Group’s proposed $6.2-billion acquisition of Tegna, arguing it violates a 112-year-old U.S. antitrust law by knocking out a major competitor. The deal would give Irving, Texas-based Nexstar control of 265 television stations across the country, up from 164. And, in dozens of markets, including San Diego and Sacramento, Nexstar would own multiple TV network affiliates.

U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley issued a preliminary injunction in April that forbids Nexstar — which owns KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles — and Tegna, from combining operations. Nexstar is appealing.

Warner Bros. Discovery stumbled in the second quarter, demonstrating the hazard of depending heavily on blockbuster returns from its Burbank film studio.

Disappointing performances by “Supergirl” and “The Bride,” drove down quarterly theatrical revenue by 46%. The tepid showing illustrated how the Warner Bros. studio has fallen since last year when it was riding high at the box office with “Sinners,” and “A Minecraft Movie.”

Warner’s lackluster earnings, released Thursday, comes as tech scion David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance remains eager to complete its $111-billion deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery to combine streaming operations and the storied film studio with Melrose Avenue’s Paramount Pictures.

Overall, profit for Warner Bros. Discovery, which also is the parent of HBO, CNN, TLC and HGTV, plummeted 91% to $149 million, or 6 cents per share, compared to $1.6 billion in the second quarter of 2025 amid the film studio’s blazing run.

The company also fell short of Wall Street expectations for revenue, which sank 11% to $8.7 billion, despite noteworthy gains in its HBO Max streaming business.

Warner missed having NBA games on its TNT channel, which contributed to a 27% drop in advertising to $1.4 billion. The NBA’s departure, and the absence of the NHL Stanley Cup finals, contributed to a 17% ratings decline at Warner’s cable networks.

Chief Executive David Zaslav opted not to renew the pricey basketball contract as Warner has been straining to pay down debt brought on by its last merger in 2022. Instead, NBCUniversal picked up the NBA arrangement.

Warner executives disclosed the company still is carrying about $30 billion in debt.

The company’s earnings revealed continued weakness in the cable television division amid consumer cord-cutting, which has slowed down in recent quarters.

Still, the channels remain a significant part of Warner’s overall revenue and profit picture.

Revenue to the global linear networks, which includes TNT, Discovery and international channels, declined 17% to $4 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in that division fell 4% to $1.4 billion.

Despite the gloomy results, Warner’s stock climbed more than 1% in early Thursday trading to $26.25. Investors seemed heartened by news that British authorities have cleared Ellison’s proposed takeover.

Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority found the Paramount-Warner combination would not restrict media competition in Britain.

Warner investors are expecting more than $31 a share should Paramount succeed in its proposed Warner Bros. purchase. The blockbuster acquisition has stalled amid an antitrust challenge filed last month by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys.

Bonta’s coalition, including prosecutors from New York, Colorado, Minnesota and Nevada, contends the deal violates U.S. antitrust law.

“We’re confident this transaction will close,” Zaslav told analysts on an early morning conference call.

Earlier this week, a federal judge scheduled a March 2, 2027 trial — months later than Paramount had hoped — to determine whether the deal should move forward.

Paramount faces a June 4 deadline to wrap up the purchase — or pay a $7 billion breakup fee to Warner.

Warner’s earnings bright spot came from its streaming segment, which includes HBO.

Streaming revenue grew 10% to $3 billion as the company continued its international rollout of HBO Max. The service benefits from Warner films, cartoons and HBO’s critically acclaimed original content including “Euphoria,” “Hacks,” “The Gilded Age” and “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which debuted earlier this year.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the streaming division soared 75% to $512 million.

Streaming chief JB Perrette said his division was bullish about next year when HBO will introduce new seasons of “The White Lotus,” “The Last of Us” and “The Pitt.”

Warner executives acknowledged their film studio’s struggles. The company does not break out theatrical revenue figures, but said total revenue for the film and television studios declined 39% to $2.3 billion.

The studios’ adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization dropped 89% to $96 million.

Zaslav conceded Warner Bros. would release fewer films this year than it had initially anticipated because some weren’t ready for audiences. The studio should release 14 movies this year but plans to boost its output to 19 next year.

“We’re very confident that we’re going to be able to maintain that larger number,” Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said on the call.

The studio will rebound, Zaslav said.

“Next year, we’re going to have ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Batman,’ ‘Superman,’ [and] ‘Minecraft’ too,” Zaslav said. “Our overall philosophy [is] making sure that we bring the motion picture to the market when the film is ready.”

Ellison, in his bid for Warner Bros., has promised regulators that the combined studio would release 30 films a year — an amount that some experts believe is overly ambitious.

Late Wednesday, Regal Global Entertainment Chief Executive Eduardo Acuna cited Ellison’s commitment to a strong pipeline in announcing his theater chain’s support for the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.

“We need a thriving studio system to ensure that the industry has a platform from which to grow,” Acuna said in a statement. “I believe David is sincere in making these commitments, and he has offered to execute a consent decree to the State AGs. These are tangible and important commitments that will benefit the industry.”

Staff writer Samantha Masunaga contributed to this report.

Uefa is in something of a pickle as it tries to get rid of Infantino.

The easiest route to success was the slow turning of the vice throughout this week, hoping to exert enough pressure to force him to quit.

Yet the Swiss appears to have no intention of walking away.

European football looks like an outlier, struggling to gain enough support to topple him.

On Thursday, Lamin Kaba Bajo, the president of the Gambia Football Federation, praised Infantino’s “courage” and for the U-turn, and said he was “willing to give him my support more than ever”.

Only Jordan, one of the few countries which did not back Infantino before last week, has publicly stated it will not vote for his re-election in March.

Concacaf is the only other confederation to issue a public statement after the proposal was aborted but, unlike Uefa, it did not go as far as to say it had lost confidence in the Fifa president.

Conmebol, the South American confederation, said on Thursday it would not support “any action or procedure that disregards” Fifa’s mechanisms before the presidential election.

Ideally, Uefa would force an emergency meeting of the Fifa Council, to provide what it would consider to be a true chance to hold Infantino to account.

But getting the necessary 19 of 36 confederation and football association heads to support it has proven to be exceptionally difficult.

Uefa has also kept on the table the option of a vote of no confidence, which it can trigger via an extraordinary congress any time it wishes.

However, it would need a majority of Fifa’s 211 member associations – 106 votes – to pass the motion. It would be a de facto presidential election without a second candidate.

If Uefa does not think it can get to 106, which looks a stretch, then there is little point in triggering the vote.

The other option is to try to find a unity candidate to stand against Infantino in the election next March. The favourite would be Concacaf president Victor Montagliani.

Any option which takes time gives Infantino space to build bridges, and with Fifa due to announce new funding to member associations by the end of the year he could dangle another carrot for his re-election.

Unless Uefa sticks by the nuclear option – and goes through with its threat of a boycott.

This has issues, and it is not a lever you can pull very often, otherwise it gives the impression of riding roughshod over the rest of the world.

It is one thing use it to jettison the FFE proposal, another entirely to effectively dethrone the president with it.

Uefa’s stance will soon be tested, with the Fifa Women’s U20s World Cup kicking off in Poland on 5 September. Six European countries are due to take part, including England.