Month: October 2026

WHEN it comes to value for money, not much beats Premier Inn for a cheap stay.

And now it is even better value for money with a free breakfast offer for EVERYONE in your group.

The budget hotel chain has launched a new offer that lets even adults have everything from Full English to cereal without having to pay for it.

All you need to do is book a standard rate stay by November 9 and use the code ‘FREEBREAKFAST’.

Your stay will need to be between November 13 and February 28, 2027.

Then enter the code into the ‘Promo code’ box before paying.

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Premier Inn breakfasts usually cost between £10 and £14 per person, depending on the location you are staying at.

Up to two children aged 15-years-old and under eat for free per paying adult guest.

Breakfast items typically include full cooked items such as bacon, sausages, eggs, hash browns and baked beans as well as a continental section with pastries and cereals.

There is also unlimited Costa coffee and juices.

The breakfast usually runs at each Premier Inn hotel between 6:30am and 10:30am on weekdays and then between 7am and 11am at weekends.

A standard Premier Inn room can cost as little as £35 per night.

You don’t even have to be a staying guest to enjoy a Premier Inn breakfast – all you need to do is book in advance.

However, you will have to pay for it, if you are a non-guest.

A seven-part mini-series starring Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet is the ‘most addictive’ show you will watch this year, a TV critic claims. So here’s where to stream it

A TV critic has lauded a programme as the “world’s best mini-series” owing to its 95 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes – urging others to binge-watch the entire production in just seven hours.

Luke Eccleston spotlighted the HBO Max series in a video, branding it the “most addictive” thing you’ll ever sit down to see. The show, which first aired in 2021, is an HBO original, featuring a stellar cast including Kate Winslet, Evan Peters and Julianne Nicholson.

“If you only watch one limited series this year, it has to be this one,” Luke declared on TikTok. “It isn’t just one of the most gripping and addictive dramas that I have seen, but it genuinely might be the best as well.

“Mare of Easttown is a seven-part limited series on HBO Max and honestly, when me and my girlfriend watched this show, we struggled to pause it.”

The drama centres on a young girl who is discovered dead in a river, setting off a murder investigation by local police.

Luke added: “This show is full of dark secrets, twists and turns. Every single episode you think you might know who did it – but genuinely, you will be guessing until the very end.”

The critic rounded off by noting that every single person he knows who has watched Mare of Easttown told him they “absolutely loved” it, adding: “It’s one of the highest-rated shows out there, so get it on your watch-list.”

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A synopsis for the mini-series reads: “A small-town police detective tries to keep her professional and personal lives separate while investigating the death of a teenage mother.

“A young woman is murdered in a small Pennsylvania town. On the case is Detective Sergeant Mare Sheehan, a highly skilled crime investigator. She has spent all of her life in Easttown and knows everybody in it. However, her life is dark and troubled, due largely to the recent death of her son.”

Kate, who is no stranger to stripping off on-screen, was adamant that her ‘normal’ body should not be edited or cut in any way as she wanted her character to look like a real middle-aged woman of today.

“Listen, I hope that in playing Mare as a middle-aged woman – I guess that’s why people have connected with this character in the way that they have done because there are clearly no filters,” the actress told the New York Times at the time of Mare of Easttown’s release.

“She’s a fully functioning, flawed woman with a body and a face that moves in a way that is synonymous with her age and her life and where she comes from. I think we’re starved of that a bit.”

Mare of Easttown also boasts an excellent rating on IMDb. There, it has achieved an impressive 8.4 out of 10 based on 230,000 reviews since its 2021 release.

One recent viewer commented: “I literally watched all 7 episodes in 1 day. Then, after it had all ended, I didn’t know what to do with my life. This series is a masterpiece! The writing is brilliant, the story is so good and the acting is second to none. This is a slow burner that will keep you captivated till the very end. Absolutely amazing.”

A second person enthused: “They never missed anything. Every single possible detail. Nothing happens without a reason. Not even a single word was wasted. Everything had a reason. In today’s world of TV (streaming) and cinema clichés, here is a story so very well told. The writing I think is pitch perfect. All the leads as well as the not-so-leads gave more than one hundred per cent.”

And a third IMDb user added: “Best series I have seen in a while! Quality quality quality from top to bottom. Kate Winslet and the rest of the cast were perfect. Directing was exceptional. The stories and all the themes presented was executed masterfully. The score was probably the weakest aspect of the whole show but still solid.

“The pilot was gripping and sucked me in with its realism. Character development and how they were being fleshed out kept me invested. Can’t believe how much was packed into just 7 episodes.”

The California Environmental Quality Act is one of the most consequential and controversial laws on the books.

CEQA, which dates to the 1970s, requires state and local agencies to consider the environmental effects of many proposed projects before approving them. If a project could cause significant environmental harm that can’t easily be avoided, it undergoes a more detailed environmental review to examine its potential effects and alternatives.

Backers say CEQA is a vital tool for environmental review and gives the community a voice in development. But critics say CEQA is too often used to slow down needed housing and has been exploited as a bureaucratic weapon.

Enter Proposition 45.

The basics

Proposition 45 would impose stricter deadlines on environmental reviews, permits and court challenges. Agencies would have to spell out application requirements up-front and could not make repeated requests for more information or project changes. The measure caps public comment periods, while current law only sets minimum lengths. It also limits what courts may consider in CEQA lawsuits.

The impact

The law clearly would change the CEQA process; whether that would be for better or worse is the subject of debate. Backers say it would make the process faster and easier. Critics say it would roll back important environmental protections.

Dig deeper

The fight over Proposition 45 comes as California struggles to build enough housing to meet demand, causing prices to skyrocket. Housing prices, polls show, are a major issue for California voters.

But the proposition also is touching on another hot-button issue: data centers. Supporters and foes are battling over whether the measure would make it easier to build more of those controversial facilities.

More reading

California’s Prop. 45 aims to speed construction projects. Opponents say data centers will benefit (L.A. Times)

CEQA overhaul outrages environmentalists (L.A. Times)

The history of CEQA and its future (L.A. Times)

Could Embracing Sprawl Ease California’s Housing Crunch? (New York Times)

This year, the Dodgers watched the World Series from home, with the Milwaukee Brewers’ World Series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays officially ushering in a fresh slate for the Dodgers to plan their 2027 championship pursuit.

“When you take the experience and the talent of our core guys, and you look at what is coming [up through the farm system], that is what gives us a high degree of confidence about being able to sustain this,” said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, in his end-of-season news conference, “not just in 2027, but as we look out.”

As the Dodgers attempt to strengthen their roster to climb back to the top, however, they’ll have to navigate a disjointed winter transaction window.

MLB owners are expected to impose a lockout when the collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1. If that happens, the offseason will grind to a halt, suspended indefinitely until the two sides sign a new agreement.

Will that expected shutdown spur early action in free agency?

Will the threat of a salary cap freeze the player market?

It’s unclear, but teams are readying themselves to jump into action whenever the market does move.

“There’ve been a number of things that we’ve done over the last couple of years that, in October, early-November planning we didn’t think was likely or that possible,” Friedman said. “An opportunity popped up, and we were at least prepared enough to act in the time to get something done — there’ve been trades, there’s been free-agent signings.

“So for us, it’s just about our internal meetings, getting as prepared as we can be. Because things are going to play out in ways and timing and things that we can’t anticipate, so be as prepared as we can be.”

Amid those unique circumstances, here’s a guide to the Dodgers’ offseason:

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Three audio recordings between Madrid’s control centre and two train drivers appear to show that one high-speed train was given clearance to move even though another train had stalled on the track, about 25km (15 miles) ahead.

Puente had said that the decision to instruct the trains to move again, without any speed restrictions, was “inexplicable”.

The leaking of the audio recordings has been criticised by some Spanish politicians, with Alberto Ibáñez, a member of Congress for the left-wing Sumar platform, writing on X that they were “despicable”.

Meanwhile, Irene Montero – the prime ministerial candidate for the left-wing Podemos party – said responsibility for the crash should not be placed on one worker, adding that train drivers and experts have been warning against the liberalisation of the railway sector for years.

On Friday Puente said he was “not going to use any worker as a shield”.

But he said “many questions” arose as a result of the tragedy and he wanted to look at them “one by one”.

“If the investigation shows there is human error we will act in consequence of that,” he said.

The country is observing three days of mourning, as the families of victims and the survivors of the crash struggle to comprehend how it could have happened.

The conservative People’s Party joined calls for Puente’s resignation after trade union CSIF called for the same earlier this week.

But Puente said on Friday he would not budge from his position.

“The easy thing for me would be to leave, but neither that fits with my character nor is it what the Prime Minister has asked me to do,” he said.

“I feel immense pain and immense sadness for the victims and their relatives… I cannot let this pain paralyse me though. We have to find solutions to this problem.”

Additional reporting by Sergi Forcada Freixas

Horror fans say the film based on a classic short story is one of the goriest they’ve ever seen

Another gruesome adaptation is now available for free.

The ‘brutal’ horror film is leaving viewers unsure whether or not they should laugh or cry. Either way it is leaving many audience members in tears.

It comes as the movie The Monkey has been made available on BBC iPlayer in time for Halloween. The film was written and directed for the screen by Oz Perkins, who also helmed the 2024 horror release Longlegs, which coincidentally is also keeping BBC viewers gripped this spooky season.

The Monkey is actually based on a short story written by acclaimed author Stephen King, the same writer behind original stories that served as inspiration for hit adaptations such as Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Long Walk, The Running Man and IT just to name a few.

Perkins actually features in the cast himself as Uncle Chip, alongside Downton Abbey and The Gentlemen star Theo James in a dual role as twins Bill and Hal. The stacked line-up also included Black Orphan’s Tatiana Maslany, Lord of the Rings actor Elijah Wood and Severance star Adam Scott.

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According to its synopsis, when twin brothers find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tears their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree, forcing the estranged siblings to confront the cursed toy.

Upon its original cinema release back in 2025, it mostly impressed critics, earning a respectable 77% score on website Rotten Tomatoes. One critic underlined the film’s central performance and shock value as they said: “A riotous hoot that’s delightfully wicked, especially thanks to a gloriously unhinged Theo James.”

Many fans were also just as impressed and many called out the gruesomeness of the film. One person posted online: “I can’t fully articulate why this is the best movie I’ve seen in a decade, but it just is.

“The movie combines the seriousness and light-heartedness of life and death. It shows how life has so much meaning and is simultaneously so meaningless. The movie leaves me feeling comforted in knowing that I’m not alone in wondering whether or not I should laugh or cry at it all.”

Another admitted: “My mouth was agape, and even more so after looking at how little the estimated budget was. This movie was probably one of the goriest movies I’ve seen, and if I’m honest the gore was a little over the top however that played into the comedy elements perfectly.”

Someone else added: “It reminded me very much of the Final Destination movies and that just made me love this movie even more. I don’t think there was a single moment of this movie I didn’t enjoy in either the comedy or horror aspects. Was definitely worth my time and money to go see. 10/10.”

The Monkey is streaming on BBC iPlayer.

Democratic and independent voters could play the spoiler in a battle between two Republican incumbents vying for a solidly red congressional seat in Orange and Riverside counties.

Thanks to redistricting, Reps. Ken Calvert of Corona and Young Kim of Anaheim are pitted against one another in Congressional District 40, a newly redrawn territory that consolidates Republican voters in an area stretching from Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita and Anaheim Hills in Orange County to Woodcrest, Menifee and Murrieta in Riverside County.

Democratic leaders remade the district map as part of an overall effort to boost their party’s numbers in the U.S. House of Representatives after President Trump cajoled Texas into carving out districts more favorable to Republicans.

While considered deep red, District 40 still claims many Democratic and independent voters who could help sway the outcome.

“The question is, who are the Democrats going to support?” said Jon Fleischman, former executive director of the California Republican Party. He expects about half of the Democrats to not vote at all.

Self-identifying conservatives make up 33% of the district compared with liberals’ 27%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. More independents lean Democratic (36%) than Republican (16%), according to the institute.

Democrats, so far, seem less than enthusiastic about their choices.

“I don’t care who wins in the 40th,” said Orange County Democratic Party Chair Florice Hoffman, who skipped voting in the race. “They’re both two bad choices, so I will not spend any time telling Democrats to go out to vote for either one of them.”

Kim may cast herself as a collaborative politician but if you look at her record, “she’s not any better than Ken Calvert. They both ran as 100% Trump — and really that’s how she votes,” said Hoffman, who lives in Orange.

Calvert topped the June primary, earning 35% to Kim’s 21%. Democrat Esther Kim-Varet came in third with 17%, followed by several Democrats and an independent.

Calvert, 73, retained about half of his constituents in the redrawn district. Kim, 64, kept about a third of hers.

Americans 4 Security PAC, which has spent more than $6 million backing Calvert, sent out fliers highlighting Trump and Kim’s ties, the Orange County Register reported. One mailer quoted Trump thanking Kim, while another announced: “Young Kim 100% pro-Trump.”

Political experts said these mail pieces are intended to dissuade Democrats from backing her.

With polls showing Democrats likely to take back the House, Los Angeles political consultant Jorge Flores said Kim’s reputation for working with others could help her among Democrats and independents deciding between two conservatives.

“Whether she convinces voters that she’s actually the right choice, I think it’s a steeper climb,” said Flores, who worked with the independent candidate in the primary.

The Democratic Party branches in Orange and Riverside counties make no mention of the race in their official endorsement guides.

Kim and Calvert are similar when it comes to backing Republican policies, Fleischman said, noting that both support Trump and have voted together about 95% of the time.

He described Young as someone who tries “to put together coalitions” while Calvert is “set in his ways.”

“Young probably has a better case to make to [Democrats], but it’s just too hard to tell,” said Fleischman.

A general election with two Republicans facing each other in a House seat is highly unusual. It’s a product of the state’s “jungle primary,” which advances the top two candidates, regardless of party, and Proposition 50, the voter-approved ballot measure that allowed the new congressional district lines.

Elected in 1992, Calvert is the longest-serving member of California’s Republican delegation in Congress.

Kim, known as a prolific fundraiser, was elected in 2020. She’s raised $10 million in direct donations, compared with Calvert’s $7 million.

Calvert sits on the House Appropriations Committee, where he chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. The Americans 4 Security PAC attacking Kim counts two executives from Miami-based Palantir, whose software is used by the U.S. military, among its donors.

Before the primary, Kim stripped her campaign website of “America first” branding and references to Trump.

Chris Pack, a Kim spokesperson, said last month that she was “proud of her work with President Trump to deliver results for Southern California,” arguing the campaign’s messaging is focused on Calvert’s record.

In a social media post this week, Kim hammered Calvert as a career politician. She supports legislation banning members of Congress from trading stocks, wants to enact term limits and portrays herself as a pragmatist.

“What kind of Republican do you want representing you?” Kim said in a recent NBC4 interview.

Calvert’s campaign, meanwhile, labels Kim a RINO, or Republican in name only, a pejorative used to describe a disloyal conservative. She co-sponsored legislation to censure Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, although Democrats widely viewed the move as a slap on the wrist.

Calvert’s campaign has pointed to Kim’s 2021 vote with Democrats to repeal a Trump-era rule that rolled back methane-emissions regulations.

Calvert, who appeared this week at a rally in Murrieta alongside Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton and Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego), labels himself a consistent conservative.

“People know exactly where I’m at,” he recently told Spectrum News. “I haven’t changed a bit in the 30 years, and so I’ll continue to give people the kind of common sense governance that they deserve.”

Nick Welch Jr., an improving 6-foot-9 senior center at Rolling Hills Prep, is scheduled to announce his college basketball choice on Sunday in Torrance.

Coach Harvey Kitani said, “He is the person we want all our athletes to be.”

Texas Christian, Stanford and California are the finalists for Welch, who enters his senior season much improved after three productive years of high school basketball.

His father, Nick Sr., was a standout player at Air Force.

TCU’s coach, Jamie Dixon, is a former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame star who has spent months returning to the Southland trying to recruit Welch.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Fans of BBC’s The Traitors might want to add the underrated town onto their list as it’s right by plenty of the beautiful locations you see on the hit show – and the castle itself

BBC’s The Traitors has us gripped with the tense roundtables, secret turret meetings, murders in plain sight and tense missions. However, it’s not just the drama that catches our attention; those beautiful backdrops make it very tempting to open up your laptop and book a Highlands getaway immediately.

Filmed in the Scottish Highlands, the series offers sneak peeks of lochs with sparkling waters, dense forests, and breathtaking scenery that is the stuff of storybooks. For fans who want a taste, the good news is that there are budget-friendly places to stay in the area, a stone’s throw from plenty of the filming locations.

In fact, one town has recently been crowned as the ‘best for fans’ in the area. Dingwall may not be famed for being particularly beautiful or full of places to visit, but the underrated town is worth having on your radar whether you’re a Faithful or Traitor. A study from SMC Coach Hire named it the ‘best place for fans’ of the hit show, thanks to its location less than half an hour’s drive to plenty of The Traitors’ filming locations, not to mention the town boasts around 32 places to eat and drink as well as 11 places to stay.

There are also a few main attractions in the town including the Dingwall Museum, or the GlenWyvis Distillery which is approximately a 10-minute drive away. Meanwhile the Tulloch Castle Hotel is a firm favourite with visitors, while Lastminute.com offers stays at Dingwall hotels from £41 a night.

For Traitors fans, Dingwall is actually just a 24-minute drive from the actual Traitors Castle where the series takes place. Its real name is Ardross Castle but sadly it’s not a real hotel, nor is it a castle that’s open to the public. The 19th century castle boasts beautiful formal gardens and 100 acres of parkland you will no doubt recognise from the show, but if you want to visit there are only a few options; either you need to be filming a TV show or film and have permission there, or you can book out the entire venue for a wedding (although it’s worth noting that it will look very different when it’s not decked out with its Traitors decor).

Still, the missions in the show are filmed on the estate as well as around Alness, Inverness and local spots such as Loch Glass, Cairngorms National Park, and the Rothiemurchus Estate, all of which are open to the public, and less than a half hour’s drive from Dingwall.

If you do want to experience a hint of where the Faithfuls and Traitors stay, then you may want to consider a trip to the Courtyard by Marriott Inverness Airport. Despite the show offering scenes of the cast staying in lavish rooms in the castle, they actually stay at this airport hotel during filming! (If you’re in Inverness and want a budget stay, there are other options too including Travelodge and Premier Inn hotels in the city centre).

Warning: This article contains distressing content

A man has been found guilty of murdering a head teacher who was dragged to his death for more than a mile while trapped under the wheels of a car.

Simon Richardson crashed into 56-year-old Michael Mullins, who was cycling home from work on the evening of 20 April in the village of Warburton in Greater Manchester.

Prosecutors claimed Richardson, 35, fled the scene of the crash before stopping to try to dislodge the injured but still-living cyclist and then driving on with Mr Mullins still lodged underneath the vehicle.

Richardson was also convicted of dangerous driving and will return to Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court to be sentenced on Monday.

There were shouts of “Yes!” from the court’s public gallery as the murder verdict was returned.

Others could also be heard crying.

The judge, Mrs Justice Brunner, told Richardson that there was only one sentence for murder, namely life imprisonment.

She also thanked the jury and acknowledged their job “cannot have been easy”.

The court heard Richardson drove through “give way” markings at a junction in Warburton and collided with Mr Mullins, who went under the car.

Richardson then stopped at a country lane and twice got out of the vehicle in attempts to pull Mr Mullins free, the jury was told.

Richardson then mounted the grass verge in his Volvo and finally dislodged him before reversing over Mr Mullins, causing “crushing” chest injuries.

Judy Reyes was nursing a severe case of homesickness when she arrived in Los Angeles nearly 25 years ago.

“Every month we’d have a hiatus on ‘Scrubs’ and every month, I’d head back east,” says Reyes, who plays head nurse Carla Espinosa on the ABC medical dramedy. The Bronx-born Dominican actor missed her family, friends and the theater company she helped start in 1992. She also feared she would forget her New York roots and wanted to “keep it real,” she quips. “I was so worried about being fake and not keeping it real.”

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

Over time, her trips back home became less frequent, especially after she got pregnant with her now teenage son and her New York family relocated down South. She’s since settled into the place she’s called home for the last three decades.

Earlier this year, Reyes reprised her breakthrough TV role on “Scrubs,” which initially ended in 2010 after a nine-season run. Meanwhile, she’s been splitting her time on set with another ABC workplace drama, “High Potential.” She plays Lt. Selena Soto, who leads a team of LAPD crime solvers. Off screen, Reyes is also the executive producer of “Freestyle: A Love Story,” a stage production that follows two lovers who meet at a freestyle show.

Just weeks before the production debuts on Nov. 6 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Reyes shared a jam-packed Sunday Funday, which primarily takes place in Studio City. On the agenda are New York-style bagels (as a New Yorker, we trust her), getting a massage in the back of a sushi restaurant and enjoying sushi night with her husband and son as they’ve done since he was a baby.

“Before the kid, I was a Hollywood girl, but I’m annoyed when I have to go to Hollywood now,” she says. “I like to say we’ve contributed to the evolution of Studio City.”

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

5:15 a.m.: Admire the sunrise

I’m an early riser. I get up at like 5:15 or 5:30 a.m. I have a Breville machine, so I’ll make a cappuccino. I’ll take my supplements and I’ll pull up the shade on my terrace and watch the sunrise. I take photos and I send them to my besties on the East Coast. My bestie who lives in a high-rise on 43rd Street also has a terrace and sends me photos of her sunset. My husband’s an early riser too. He has business in the U.K., so he’s always up before me. If I’m not up by like 5:30 a.m., he’s like, ‘Babe, are you OK?’ So I’ll watch the sunrise, catch up on the news and do a little bit of doomscrolling to my detriment.

8 a.m.: Have L.A.’s most New York bagels

Everything opens late on Sundays, so we’ll wait. We’ll either go to Sam’s Bagels, which has the best bagels — the most New York bagels. We’ll either get a half dozen of the mini ones or four of the regular-sized ones with the seeds on them, and we’ll get cream cheese, of course, and lox. Or we’ll go to Belle Bakery Cafe on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. We’ll have either a full breakfast like bacon, eggs and toast or an omelet. They have the best fresh bread. You can get the bread during breakfast, but they won’t sell you the baguettes until after 11 a.m. You can’t make them give you anything earlier. You get there at 11 a.m. and you’re lucky if you get some. They sell out quickly.

10 a.m.: Pick up the best tuna from Erewhon

We’ll go to an Erewhon or Bristol Farms to get prepared foods for at least the first half of the week. Sometimes we’ll go to the farmers market on Fairfax, but that gets to be a little bit too busy. It’s too hot and there’s too much to do, and for my menopause, it’s not safe for the environment for me to be there. Erewhon has the best tuna fish, so we’ll pick that up that goes well with the bread that I told you about. I’ll add some capers or a pickle or two, then you have a sandwich for the rest of the day or into the next morning.

11 a.m.: A quick workout sesh at home

We’ll come back home and I’ll do some weights in the garage and my husband will do some stairs in the back of our house, or we’ll just do a walk in the hills near our house. I used to walk the hills a lot more before my dog passed away. I find it very sad, so I probably get a weekly walk in now, but I like to do my weights. It makes me feel good and prepared for the rest of the day.

1 p.m.: Get a massage in the back of a sushi restaurant

Sunday is nail day. My favorite place is Mod Nails on Ventura [Boulevard]. My girl Hannah, who runs the place, hooks my nails up, and we have nice, long talks. We rage talk about everything that’s wrong with the world and in our lives, and I get the coolest pedicure. I don’t have tips this time around because I have to keep going back between ‘Scrubs’ and ‘High Potential.’ Nurses can’t wear them long, so maybe next month I’ll get my gel fills, which is what she’s an expert at. Hannah does my nails better than anybody I’ve ever had. They run an acupuncture studio in the back. Her husband does acupuncture. It’s a really reasonably priced, wonderful experience.

Then on that street, I might go to Jonathan, who’s been my masseuse for 10 years, and get a nice beatdown. Interestingly, he works out of the back of a sushi restaurant called Iroha Sushi. He’s got his own little room back there that I’ve been going to for years. Best massage I’ve ever had. He keeps me in line especially when I have to travel. I had double hip replacement, so I’ve been dealing with a lot of pain. I also may go to my acupuncturist Dr. Yi if she’s available. She’s out in Culver City at Yi Qiao.

2:30 p.m.: Watch the L.A. Watford Women FC team practice at LACC

My husband and I co-own a women’s soccer team called L.A. Watford Women FC. We’ll go watch the girls practice at LACC. My husband is very active, as am I, in supporting these women. We were able to win a regional championship last year, so now we’re kind of devoted to going and rooting the girls on in practice, and encouraging them because it’s also an activist thing where you come for the game, but you stay for the activism.

4 p.m.: Go to rehearsals for my upcoming show

Now we’ll go to rehearsals at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre because we have a show, “Freestyle: A Love Story” coming up. We’ll meet with our dancers, actors and our DJ and the staging [team]. It’s not a terribly complicated show so we’re there for a couple of hours. The show is going to premiere on Nov. 6, so we’re running out of time. We do a lot of the social media and promotion because it’s a labor of love, faith, solidarity and community.

6 p.m.: Sushi Sunday with the fam

I’ve been doing Sushi Sunday with my husband and my son since he was 5 months old. We used to go with all these other couples, but people have outgrown us or moved on or gotten jobs in other states. It’s at Kiwami. We stuff our faces like it’s a job. I think we’ve been going there longer than the entire wait staff has been there. We sit at the same table, table number six right behind the sushi bar.

If we don’t go to Kiwami, we’ll go across the street to Black Market Liquor Bar. It’s also a place we’ve been going to for years. They have an appetizer-style, Southern, saucy-inspired menu where they have things breaded and fried. Oh, they have the greatest oysters and amazing pasta. If I’m not with the family and I’m just by myself or with a girlfriend, I’ll go to Laurel Tavern, which is a pub that has the greatest little menu.

7:30 p.m.: Read 10 pages before bed

Then we’ll come home. If there’s football, we’ll watch football. We go for the Jets. Poor Jets. I’m a New York fan so the Jets or the Giants are fine with me, but my husband is addicted to suffering. After football, we’ll both get in bed with our laptops and we’ll either watch something together and I’ll rub his head until he falls asleep. Or I’ll go back to doomscrolling and watching news until my feelings are hurt or I’ll read a book that I have. Because I’m on screen so much, I’m forcing myself to read at least 10 pages a night. I’m currently reading ”Communion” by bell hooks. It’s very heavy. Then I’ll do a little bit of journaling and I’m asleep by 9:30 p.m.

A BUSY UK train station is set to CLOSE for seven months for a major upgrade.

City Thameslink station in London has confirmed the next year closure, for a multi-million pound project to replace ten escalators.

The closure will take place from May 17, 2027 until late December 2027.

Thameslink trains will continue to run as normal but will not stop at the station.

Network Rail is recommending travellers to use Blackfriars as an alternative, which is around a six- minute walk away.

Lucy McAuliffe, Sussex Route Director for Network Rail, said: “We know closing City Thameslink is a significant change and we’re sorry for the disruption it will cause.

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“This is not a decision we have taken lightly. We have looked long and hard at every possible option and, although none of them are without impact, a single closure is the least disruptive and most efficient way to carry out this vital work.

“City Thameslink’s escalators are at the end of their operational life. By replacing them now we’re tackling the root causes of access disruption for passengers in one go.

“This means that when City Thameslink reopens in December 2027, customers will benefit from completely renewed escalators, designed to provide safer, more dependable and accessible journeys through this important station on our network.”

The current escalators have been at the station for around 35 years, but recent flooding damaged them.

The station, which opened in 1990, welcomes around 7.6 million people a year, as it is near popular attractions like St Paul’s Cathedral.

A full closure of the station was decided on instead of a partial closure for safety reasons.

If you’ve watched anything from “Jesse Watters Primetime” to “The Daily Show” this week, you’re already up to date on the most important issue in America today: the decor of the Cheesecake Factory.

Earlier this week, former President Obama made a quip at a Cleveland rally that President Trump has renovated the White House to look like “Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.”

Trump lost it. If we’ve learned anything about the president in recent years, it’s that he loves gold as much as he hates Obama. Roll them together in one moment, and the leader of the free world can’t help but freak out. He freaked out so badly, in fact, that he sent Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — a guy worth at least $500 million — to eat a French dip cheeseburger at the chain just to prove how great it was.

Absolutely, positively by random chance, Fox News happened to be outside when Bessent emerged from his everyman munch, just to let us know that “I had a great meal, always have a great meal.” OK, Scott.

But if you think this is all a silly back and forth with an unserious administration, think again. Obama is masterful at political strategy, and this wasn’t just a joke. It was rage-bait, crafted for engagement.

Why Saddam Hussein?

The deeper point of Obama’s remarks seemed entirely buried by media coverage that focused on the Cheesecake part. But why Saddam Hussein?

Trump didn’t seem to take issue with being likened to the brutal dictator responsible for killing and disappearing thousands to maintain power. In fact, in all of the rebuttals from Trump and his minions, the Hussein reference hasn’t been mentioned once.

But don’t think Obama choose that reference carelessly, or just for humor.

Hussein ruled Iraq in no small measure though a cult of personality. Like Trump, he loved showy monuments to his power, including a “Victory Arch” in Baghdad (Trump also wants to build an arch); weird fantasy artwork of muscle-bound men and dragons (similar maybe to Trump’s love of AI-generated images of himself); and of course, gold! There were marble and granite and gilt and gold everywhere in Hussein’s homes, even the infamous gold-plated toilet accessories American and British soldiers found when they made it into his palaces.

That ostentatious excess wasn’t just bad taste. It was a show of power. At the same time that Hussein was amassing his wealth and consolidating that cult of personality, his people were broke. Now, I’m in no way saying that Americans in 2026 are suffering the way Iraqis were under Hussein. But there’s a Marie Antoinette-style similarity between Hussein’s narcissist tendencies and Trump’s obsession with all that glitters — from the water in the reflecting pool to the walls of the Oval Office — even as the economy crashes.

Obama clearly understands that: Maybe you don’t want to cut food stamps to millions while you’re slapping up a new ballroom. Obama, after all, could have said the White House looked like Liberace had opened a Cheesecake Factory, but he didn’t. Instead, he chose to insert Hussein, a man whose ego-driven rule came at the expense of his own people.

Which brings me to the absolute brilliance of the joke. Sure, it was funny. Yes, it was quickly picked up as a viral clip.

But more than anything, it got to Trump in a way that was entirely predictable with his unbridled ego, and a way in which Obama almost certainly knew it would. In a way that links him to a dictator who cared more about gilt than people, but in a way so clever Trump himself grabbed the bait and ran with it.

Trump couldn’t stop himself

Hearing his taste criticized, all his beautiful, shiny gold mocked — by Obama of all people — was rage-bait that Trump could not ignore. Trump could not stop himself from responding, and even more, he couldn’t stop himself from demanding others defend him and his gaudy aesthetics.

And the ever-willing members of his cult of personality across government and right-wing media quickly complied — with an attack that Obama surely knew would be the only possible pushback: That he was elitist for making fun of the decor of a wildly popular average-family spot (Obama quickly hit back that the Factory was “his jam” and he, like many parents of teens, myself included, had eaten there numerous times.)

Dozens and dozens of Trump minions parroted the same line for days — how dare Obama mock such a beloved American eatery? How out of touch. How tan-suit, Martha’s Vineyard of him. Trump brought it up at multiple rallies. The official White House social media account posted about it. It was all over the right-wing ecosphere for days.

Never mind the economy, or the war in Iran, or inflation that makes a meal at the Cheesecake Factory increasingly feel like a caviar-and-Champagne night.

Or even this insane comment from Trump about inviting supporters to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club that makes the Las Vegas Strip look classy, to spend the money he’s promised to them if Republicans win elections: “You’ll be my guest at Mar-a-Lago,” he promised at an Ohio rally. “The problem is that for $5,000, the most you’ll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert. … I’m not even sure you could buy that. No, don’t go there. That’s not a good place if you’re price conscious.”

And Obama’s elitist? That’s bonkers-level disconnection from the audience, but back to my point.

Suddenly, in the middle of a pivotal election, all Republicans are hearing about is the Cheesecake Factory, and how wonderful it is their president is plastering gold all over everything while they are wondering if they’ll be able to pay the gas bill this month.

Granted, the Republicans don’t have a lot of bright spots to focus on as they give their final message to voters. But I am guessing that even the reddest of ballot-clutchers doesn’t want to hear about the Cheesecake Factory, or how much marble Trump has installed at the entrance to the White House. That seems tone-deaf.

Obama’s purposeful provocation completely derailed Republican messaging for multiple, critical news cycles, all because Trump couldn’t stand to have his taste criticized by a guy who has become a bogeyman in his own brain.

Trump had to defend his excess, he couldn’t resist — and in failing to check his own ego, again, he put into the bright spotlight the truth that his followers are increasingly unable to ignore: The only thing that matters to Trump is Trump. Not the economy. Not the war, and certainly not the concerns of voters in the final days of the election.

Obama’s one-liner wasn’t just a zinger. It was political gold, an artful bit of rage-bait trolling that casually took control of the narrative with a well-aimed poke.

What else you should be reading:

The must-read: How Meta struck a deal to keep Mark Zuckerberg in California despite looming billionaire tax
The California angle: As companies leave California, is the state’s $4.25-trillion economy really in trouble?
The L.A. Times Special: In Trumpworld, dogs who commit voter fraud aren’t as bad as immigrants

Stay Golden,

Anita Chabria

—

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Lakers show they are better without LeBron

From Bill Plaschke: They fly around the court, Luka Magic to AR to that new guy who dunks.

These joyous new Lakers have wings.

LeBron James would have grounded them.

They gesture to the crowd, point to each other, fill the postgame interviews with jokes and laughter and connection.

LeBron James would have silenced them.

Barely a week into the Lakers’ season, ignoring the records, forgetting the statistics, only one thing is abundantly clear.

The Lakers are better off without LeBron.

The Lakers are thriving without LeBron.

Continue reading here

‘A true professional’: Jarred Vanderbilt leads Lakers’ bench against Clippers

Rams discuss CTE and football

From Gary Klein: Rams players are increasingly aware of the risks of playing their sport, especially as it relates to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a neurodegenerative brain disease.

But they try not to think about it.

This week, a Boston University study was published that analyzed the medical records of more than 2,000 deceased former NFL players. The study estimated that 74.5% of them likely had CTE.

Defensive tackle Aaron Donald, 35, played 10 seasons before retiring after the 2023 season. He rejoined the Rams this season. When asked about the study and CTE, Donald said, “That’s a real thing.”

But he said, “You don’t think about it. You just play. When you sign up to play football, you know what you’re signing up for.

“You obviously don’t want nothing like that to occur.”

Continue reading here

Staggering 74.5% of NFL players who died from 2008 to 2023 likely had CTE, study finds

NFL Week 8 picks: Lions beat 6-0 Vikings; Steelers prevail over Browns

UCLA kicker happy to be part of team’s success

From Jordan Puente: UCLA football coach Bob Chesney trusted Mateen Bhaghani enough to trot him out for a 58-yard field goal attempt before halftime during the Bruins’ 28-10 win over Michigan State.

Bhaghani drilled a 54-yard field goal during last season’s 42-37 upset against Penn State.

His attempt to surpass his career long of 57 yards against the Spartans last week fell short, but Bhaghani doesn’t linger long on errant kicks. He knows he will only be successful when his team needs him most if he focuses on the fine details of every kick.

“I love the feeling of making field goals and helping the team win,” Bhaghani said. “It’s a different type of adrenaline; going out there, with all that pressure — is so fulfilling and relaxing for me.”

The daily attention to detail has helped Bhaghani hit all 102 of the extra points he has attempted during his college career.

The following interview with Bhaghani ahead of the Bruins’ game against Nevada Saturday has been edited for length and clarity.

Continue reading here

Kings win in overtime

Ottawa Senators forward Hayden Hodgson received a game misconduct and major penalty for boarding defenseman Brandt Clarke in the Kings’ 6-5 overtime victory Thursday night.

Hodgson took a run at Clarke, charging in at 21 mph according to the game broadcast. Clarke was just below the goal line when he was driven into the boards. The hit caused a brief scrum, and the Kings’ Erik Haula received a two-minute penalty for roughing Hodgson.

Clarke was ruled out for the rest of the game for what the Kings called an upper-body injury.

The play with 8:45 left in the second period came shortly after the Kings scored three goals in 4:03 to take a 4-1 lead and chase goalie Jonas Johansson.

Continue reading here

Kings summary

NHL standings

Struggling Ducks lose again

Tage Thompson had three goals and two assists, Zach Benson added a goal and two assists, and the Buffalo Sabres scored six consecutive goals during a 7-6 victory over the struggling Ducks on Thursday night.

Thompson’s 10th career hat trick tied him with Alexander Mogilny and Danny Gare for the third-most in Sabres history. One night before his 29th birthday, Thompson scored twice in 15 seconds in the second period, skating around the Ducks’ inert defense for a breakaway third goal that sent a dozen hats flying onto the Honda Center ice.

Tyson Kozak, Noah Ostlund and Jack Quinn also scored and Colten Ellis made 28 saves for the Sabres, who roared back from an early two-goal deficit and then hung on to improve to 2-0-1 on their four-game trip.

Captain Mikael Granlund scored and Leo Carlsson had three assists in the Ducks’ seventh loss in eight games.

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL standings

This day in sports history

1943 — Gus Bodnar of Toronto scores a goal 15 seconds into his first NHL game as the Maple Leafs beat the New York Rangers 5-2.

1945 — Branch Rickey signs Jackie Robinson to the Montreal Royals.

1955 — Jim Patton of New York returns a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown as the Giants beat the Washington Redskins 35-7.

1966 — Jim Nance of the Boston Patriots rushes for 208 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders.

1971 — Eric Allen of Michigan State rushes for 350 yards in 43-10 rout of Purdue.

1974 — Muhammad Ali knocks out George Foreman in the eighth round in Kinshasa, Zaire, to regain the world heavyweight title in the “Rumble in the Jungle.”

1975 — John Bucyk of the Boston Bruins scores his 500th goal in a 3-2 victory over St. Louis.

1977 — Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears rushes for 205 yards and two touchdowns in a 26-0 triumph over the Green Bay Packers.

1993 — Erin Whitten becomes the first woman goalie in pro hockey to be credited with a victory as Toledo beats Dayton 6-5 in the East Coast Hockey League.

1996 — The WNBA announces the eight cities that will compete in the WNBAs inaugural season. Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston and New York will play in the Eastern Conference and Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento and Utah will compete the Western Conference.

1997 — Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona announces his retirement from football on his 37th birthday.

1997 — Violet Palmer makes pro sports history by becoming the first woman to officiate an NBA game. There is little reaction by the crowd when her name is announced just before tip-off of the game between the Dallas Mavericks and Vancouver Grizzlies.

1999 — Marques Tuiasosopo becomes the first college player to pass for 300 yards and run for 200, racking up a school-record 509 yards as Washington rallied to beat Stanford 35-30. Tuiasosopo completes 19-of-32 passes for 302 yards and a touchdown and rushes 22 times for 207 yards and two TDs.

2001 — Michael Jordan misses his biggest shot of the night and commits two crucial late turnovers in the Washington Wizards’ 93-91 loss to the New York Knicks, Jordan’s first regular-season game after a 3 1/2-year retirement.

2003 — In the first regular-season game of his NBA career, 18-year-old LeBron James has 25 points, nine assists, six rebounds and four steals, but the Cleveland Cavaliers lose 106-92 to the Sacramento Kings.

2004 — Trainer Bobby Frankel finally breaks through in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, with Ghostzapper blazing to victory in America’s richest race held at Lone Star Park. Frankel, who had just two wins with 62 Breeders’ Cup starters before the $4 million Classic, had saddled the beaten favorite the past three years.

2004 — Dana College’s Tom Lensch sets an all-division college record by attempting 101 passes in a 60-35 loss to Hastings College. Lensch completes 56 passes for a school-record 507 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions.

2011 — The Baltimore Ravens erase a 24-3 deficit to defeat Arizona 30-27. It marks the fifth time this season a team trailed by at least 20 points and came back to win. That is the most in a single season in NFL history.

2016 — Derek Carr throws a 41-yard touchdown pass to Seth Roberts with 1:45 remaining in overtime, capping a record-breaking day for the Oakland Raiders in a 30-24 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Carr throws for a franchise-record 513 yards — completing 40 of 59 passes without an interception — and the Raiders overcome an NFL-record 23 penalties for 200 yards.

2019 — World Series: Washington Nationals beat Houston Astros, 6-2 in Game 7 at Minute Maid Park, Houston to win first title in franchise history; MVP: Washington pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

2024 — World Series: Dodgers win eighth title in franchise history; overcome 5-0 deficit to beat New York Yankees 7-6 at Yankee Stadium for 4-1 series victory; MVP: Dodgers 1B Freddie Freeman (4 HR, 12 RBI).

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

A symbol of independent journalism, Novaya Gazeta has been classed as a ‘foreign agent’ by Moscow.

Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta has announced it will shut down, citing pressure from the authorities.

The independent outlet’s editorial board said in a statement released on Friday that the newspaper has been forced to end its operations.

The Russian media has come under increased scrutiny from the state amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine. The authorities recently searched the home of Novaya Gazeta’s senior editor and arrested the editor-in-chief.

“The newspaper is gone. The Russian authorities and … intelligence services forced the editorial staff to cease operations,” the editorial board said in the statement, which was entitled: “We were killed.”

Viewed as a relative bastion of independent journalism in Russia, Novaya Gazeta has been classed as a “foreign agent” by Moscow, a label used to stifle dissent.

“Novaya Gazeta is ceasing to exist,” editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov said in a video statement published on YouTube. “On November 9 we will turn off the lights in our home, where we have lived for 30 years. We will shut down the servers and leave.”

Earlier this month, Sokolov was taken in for questioning as Russian authorities searched his home due, they said, to a link to a criminal case involving his colleague Oleg Roldugin.

Roldugin was arrested in April and charged with “unlawful access to computerised information”.

“How far will the Kremlin’s relentless campaign against Novaya Gazeta go?” asked media watchdog Reporters Without Borders in a statement after Sokolov was arrested on October 15.

“Six of its journalists and staff members have been murdered, its newsroom has been raided, its journalists have been prosecuted, and the publication has been designated a ‘foreign agent’,” the press freedom organisation noted.

The forced closure of Novaya Gazeta marks another escalation in Russia’s crackdown on press freedom, with few independent media outlets or journalists left in the country, as censorship levels and arrests of regime critics have skyrocketed since it launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The newspaper had already trimmed production inside Russia after Moscow invaded Ukraine, as authorities revoked its media licence.

The paper’s then editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression” at the helm of the paper.