It was less than a month before the Nov. 3 election when Los Angeles city attorney front-runner Marissa Roy realized she’d missed her lucky manicure.

A deputy attorney general in the California Department of Justice, she had scarcely slept since her team clinched its historic $17-billion settlement with Meta in August. She’d been canvassing hundreds of voters and sounding out scores of deputy city attorneys in her bid to transform the troubled office where she’d launched her career in 2017 into the “largest public interest law firm” in L.A.

Between filming TikTok spots and prepping for formal debates, Roy has been fine-tuning her plans to avenge exploited tenants and claw back stolen wages, tame runaway civil liability, protect victims of child abuse and domestic violence, and join other elected attorneys in lawsuits against the Trump administration.

Nails didn’t make the cut.

“There’s just been too much to do,” Roy said of the chrome gel ritual she inaugurated as a volunteer for Eunisses Hernandez in 2022.

Marissa Roy outside L.A. City Hall. “I wanted the slogan ‘let’s sue it’ — that was violently nixed,” she said of her campaign.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Seen one way, Roy’s talismanic manicure is an object lesson for her fiercest critics: all flash and no substance, evidence the 34-year-old lacks the “gravitas” to be among the state’s most powerful elected lawyers.

But like the iridescent glitter in her campaign-matched chrome polish, the meaning shifts with the viewer’s perspective.

To supporters on the city’s restive left and the clique of California city attorneys eager to add Roy to their group chat, it’s a winking show of solidarity burnished through years of knocking on doors for fellow up-and-coming progressives. It was metallic blue for Hernandez, silver for Ysabel Jurado and ultraviolet for her own historic primary upset in June. Her backers see fierce loyalty reflected in the polish, a ritual she started while hunting salon wage thieves to sue.

“I wanted the slogan ‘let’s sue it’ — that was violently nixed,” Roy said of her campaign.

With her Democratic Socialists of America sass, bright amethyst blazers and Bollywood needle drops on Instagram, the lifelong Angeleno cuts a stark contrast to her rival, Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney, 58, who leapfrogged to a second-place finish in the primaries amid a stoic, law-and-order campaign that sometimes slipped into Spencer Pratt-style dystopian imagery.

McKinney’s boosters point to his extraordinary biography — from penniless orphan to director of special prosecutions in the country’s largest district attorney’s office — and celebrated courtroom prowess as evidence he is better suited to handle the 120,000 violations referred to the city attorney for potential charges every year.

“John has the experience, stature, reputation, and gravitas to do the job and will be both effective and respected,” said former Los Angeles City Atty. Burt Pines. “I do not have the same confidence in her.”

Campaign materials for the Los Angeles city attorney candidate at a canvassing event in Silverlake.

(Gary Coronado / For The Times)

Roy’s allies counter that prosecuting misdemeanors is only a third of the city attorney’s job — and typically the less complex part. Whereas McKinney has never worked a civil case, Roy has managed multicity litigation and shares the credit for legal victories no attorney could secure alone. In the Meta case, Roy and her team had argued that the social media giant had intentionally designed its products to hook young children and repeatedly misled the public about known risks.

“She was one of the original four team members in California that stayed up until 2 a.m. filing the [Meta] complaint,” said California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta. “She helped develop our legal strategy, particularly our deception theory, which was our core theory of legal liability for the case.”

Similarly, while McKinney’s camp paints a lawman of singular personal ability, Roy supporters describe her as brilliant, driven, and eager to lift the best and brightest around her.

“She is tenacious and works around the clock,” said San Francisco City Atty. David Chiu.

She’s also infamously bubbly: When a canvasser door-knocked 9th Circuit Judge Richard Paez, for whom Roy had clerked, he reportedly asked the volunteer to give her a hug.

“She has a natural enthusiasm about her that is infectious,” said Mark Ramos, chair of Los Angeles County Democratic Party. “She’s [always] shown up, and showing up matters.”

Which matters more — individual virtue or collaborative ingenuity — now in effect divides the race for the most abstruse job in local politics: Four of L.A’s former city attorneys have endorsed McKinney, while California’s current top elected lawyers have largely lined up behind Roy.

A head-to-head match with McKinney was not what Roy envisioned last year when she launched her campaign to unseat the incumbent city attorney, Hydee Feldstein Soto. After charming L.A.’s major power brokers, she had hoped to win the primary outright and avoid a runoff so she could focus exclusively on the Meta trial in August.

“I had been planning for things to end in June,” she said.

Feldstein Soto was bogged down by scandal and soaring civil liability costs for the city. She also faced criticism for ducking challenges to President Trump’s policies, including the deployment of military troops to Los Angeles last year, a fight the city joined but did not lead.

By early spring, Roy had racked up endorsements from the state’s legal elites and leftist kingmaker Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). She earned the imprimatur of the city’s powerful Democratic clubs and its influential labor unions, while enjoying widespread support from a democratic socialist base.

Marissa Roy, left, candidate for Los Angeles city attorney, and Alyssa Acevedo, with Service Employees International Union canvass in Silverlake.

(Gary Coronado / For The Times)

L.A. voters want “the transformational leadership that they’re seeing in [New York Mayor Zohran] Mamdani, and also in Mayor [Daniel] Lurie in San Francisco,” said L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, a longtime friend of Roy’s and among her earliest endorsers. “Angelenos are increasingly impatient in wanting to see that change come to their city, too.”

Then, in April, Feldstein Soto slipped from unpopular to politically radioactive after hackers stole thousands of LAPD files from her office. That inspired a late-breaking police union endorsement and a surge of corporate cash for McKinney, boosting him to a second-place finish and knocking out Feldstein Soto in a historic rout.

McKinney touts the city attorney’s prosecutor role as a means to stem quality-of-life crimes and curb homelessness. Roy has promised to keep more Angelenos housed and protect their livelihoods through “affirmative litigation” — suits brought against slumlords and exploitative corporations under the state’s Unfair Competition Law.

“When you file these suits, you have complete discretion,” said Pines, the former city attorney who successfully lobbied the state to extend Los Angeles that power in 1977 and watched in dismay as Feldstein Soto left it to whither.

In recent years, affirmative litigation has become an essential tool for defending against punitive federal policy and recovering public funds, Pines and others said.

Seeing the San Francisco city attorney’s office sue to overturn California’s ban on gay marriage — a law that would have stymied her gay younger brother — inspired Roy to give up her elementary school dream of decoding ancient texts to pursue the law.

“Childhood Marissa spent recesses in the library buried in books about ancient Egypt,” Roy said. “It was San Francisco suing — that was when I began to become aware of the power of lawyers.”

Unlike her opponent, Roy grew up comfortably in Monrovia, largely shielded from the sacrifices her family made to afford her an elite education. The daughter of an Indian immigrant mother and a white American father, she graduated from Flintridge Prep and attended University of Southern California on scholarship.

While studying law at Yale, she interned in the affirmative litigation department in the San Francisco city attorney’s office — a program Chiu lauded as “an essential training ground for the next generation of government lawyers” in a recent law review article.

Roy and her supporters say those early experiences cemented her commitment to teamwork, which is central to the less glamorous, more costly side of the city attorney’s job: serving as general counsel for myriad city agencies and legal advisor to City Hall.

“There’s absolutely more collaboration and it’s more significant given the things we’re up against,” said San Diego City Atty. Heather Ferbert, a close ally of Roy’s.

John McKinney, a Los Angeles County prosecutor running against Marissa Roy to become L.A. city attorney, speaks during a news conference on May 5, 2026.

(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)

Ferbert and others pointed to a surge in lawsuits against municipalities over everything from sidewalk trip-and-falls to police misconduct — cases that can lead to seven- or eight-figure payouts.

“If it’s not extremely unusual, it doesn’t make it to the city attorney’s desk,” said Oakland City Atty. Ryan Richardson, who endorsed Roy.

As a deputy city attorney, Roy spearheaded a trio of major wage-theft suits just a month after she was admitted to the bar. Independent expenditure groups supporting McKinney spent more than $350,000 trying to strip her of that title because she was paid by a nonprofit — an common arrangement employed by government law offices across the U.S. — while the city attorney’s office itself gave her permission to use it, and lists her as such in its court filings.

McKinney has since sought to paint Roy as the second coming of George Gascón, the polarizing district attorney who was drubbed in 2024 — a move that assumes most voters are still thinking about Gascón, or are likely to see the graying “godfather of progressive prosecutors” in a raven-haired deputy attorney general.

“The only way you disprove that is by putting your head down and doing the work 10 times harder,” Roy said. “Voters are smarter than that. People in the coalition see these tactics and are tired of them too.”

Meghan Markle is “distressed” following reports that her half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. found explicit material involving minors in their father’s possession.

On Thursday, British tabloid the Sun reported that Thomas Jr. claimed he’d found “hundreds, if not thousands” of child pornography images inside four large boxes at the Cebu, Philippines, home of his father, Thomas Markle Sr., and contacted authorities.

Meghan’s team issued a statement to The Times on Friday, writing that she was “deeply distressed” by the news.

“My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed,” she said.

“In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated,” she continued, adding, “I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them.”

The Duchess of Sussex said that she trusted authorities were “doing the same for other families.”

“Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.”

Meghan’s relationship with her 82-year-old father has been the subject of media scrutiny since 2018, when she and Prince Harry tied the knot. Thomas Markle Sr. did not attend the wedding.

The Met Police told People that they are looking to confirm the passing of a letter in 2018. The FBI did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment, but told People that the agency is aware of the allegations, will investigate any related allegations of federal violations of U.S. law, and “will provide support, as appropriate, to the Philippine authorities.”

Thomas Markle Sr. denied the accusations on Friday, calling them “bulls—” and “lies.” He told the Daily Mail that he was “shocked” and “hurt” by his son’s claims and that he “could never do” what he’s being accused of.

“It’s the worst thing anyone could accuse me of. … I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.”

Thomas Markle Jr. did not immediately respond on Friday to The Times’ request for comment, and Thomas Markle Sr. could not be reached for comment.

The news comes shortly after Meghan and Prince Harry closed their California chapter and returned to England with their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5.

The U.S. Justice Department expanded its efforts to intervene in California’s ongoing election Friday, sending letters to more than a dozen county elections offices statewide with demands that they segregate ballots from voters the Trump administration believes are noncitizens.

The letters — which give officials 48 hours to act and threaten them with criminal punishments if they refuse — follow similar correspondence the Justice Department sent last week to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Dean Logan, head of the L.A. County registrar’s office, calling for some 20,000 ballots statewide be set aside and left uncounted until state and local officials can prove that the voters are citizens.

When Weber and Logan balked, the Justice Department promptly sued them and the state in a case currently pending in federal court. The California officials have contended the Justice Department’s efforts are illegal.

The new letters, first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, follow previous threats from Justice Department officials and President Trump warning that local California elections officials could face criminal prosecution for being “aiders and abettors to a federal crime” if they tabulate votes from the “likely noncitizens” the administration has flagged.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said 57 of California’s 58 counties were served the letters, with the exception of Los Angeles, which had already received a notice.

“The letters speak for themselves. Any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy,” First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, said in a statement.

Essayli wrote Friday evening on X that “California does not verify citizenship status. We did the work for them. We obtained the registered voter list and told them who we believe are noncitizens on their rolls.”

Essayli wrote that “knowingly processing noncitizen ballots is a federal crime,” and said authorities “will hold election officials accountable. No one is above the law.”

The Justice Department did not respond to an inquiry from The Times. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office declined to comment.

Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber, who is president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said, “From what I’ve been able to gather, most counties if not all of the counties are doing what I’m doing: Sat down with our counsel, went over everything,” Webber said.

Webber said two people with Justice Department credentials showed up at her office Friday and handed her a manila envelope with the letter inside demanding she comply within 48 hours to determine the citizenship of 81 people in her county.

“I can’t tell you anything other than I’m looking at it and doing my due diligence,” she said. “This is not normal protocol for us.”

Kristin Connelly, head of the Contra Costa County registrar’s office, said she was also among those who received a letter. She said she had not yet responded as of late Friday, but was in contact with her county counsel and “colleagues around the state who received similar letters today.”

“The non-partisan Contra Costa County Elections Division administers elections according to all state and federal election laws, as well as the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California. Our work is observable,” Connelly said. “This threat is not helpful and is intended to intimidate.”

The letter she received, from U.S. Atty. Craig Missakian, was full of threats of criminal punishment for tabulating votes from individuals whom the county is “on actual notice” may not be U.S. citizens.

Missakian, the top federal prosecutor in the Northern District of California, wrote that he was providing Connelly with a “subset” of “407 likely aliens” from the broader statewide list of 20,000 voters, and demanded that Connelly commit within 48 hours to working with Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security officials to identify who among those 407 “is a citizen and who is not.”

“That means sending us the nonpublic information associated with each suspected alien’s registration, which includes everything in your possession from the following: a social security number, a copy of a state ID or driver’s license or the information that appears on it, a copy of the voter registration application supporting the registration, and a copy or list of documents that were presented by the registrant at the time the person registered to vote or obtained their driver’s license if registered as part of motor voter,” Missakian wrote.

He also wrote that he was reaching out by letter “to make unmistakably clear the legal implications of continuing to send vote-by-mail ballots to those people on the list or tabulating ballots cast by them until citizenship can be verified.”

The Justice Department previously sued California for its voter records. A federal judge rejected the lawsuit, calling the demands a threat to democracy. The Justice Department has also lost similar cases demanding voter rolls in dozens of other states.

California Sen. Alex Padilla said in a statement Friday that, “Donald Trump and Todd Blanche are trying to interfere in California elections.”

Padilla, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which has oversight over federal elections, added: No matter how many lawsuits they file or how many election officials they threaten, they do not have the authority to interfere.”

Padilla told local election officials, “We have your back.”

“The Trump administration is afraid and desperate,” he said. “Their attempts to take over our elections will fail.”

The Justice Department has received some records by subpoenaing state and county officials for the records of specific voters.

The letters were a topic of discussion among members of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials Friday, with officials working on how to respond.

Logan, L.A. County’s top elections official, sent an email to fellow association members saying he had seen a copy of the letter to some counties — which he condemned as misrepresenting facts and threatening elections officials “twelve days before the election” through a “posture of intimidation.”

Logan called the 48-hour deadline for responses “unenforceable,” and noted that the Justice Department was “demanding individual level data from the named counties similar to what it has previously only obtained through subpoenas.”

Logan’s office has also said that an initial review it conducted of a subset of the 20,000 voters the Justice Department initially flagged found many were born in the U.S., many weren’t actually registered and many had never voted.

MILWAUKEE — It was an evening for pomp and pageantry, for celebrating a World Series between two of the five major league teams never to win one. But, before the first pitch of the first game, the commissioner of baseball and the head of the players’ union held separate media gatherings that only served to reinforce the notion that a lockout in December is a virtual certainty and Opening Day next March is in serious jeopardy.

Of all the major North American sports, baseball is the only one without a salary cap. The players and their union vow to keep it that way, and union chief Bruce Meyer said every proposal the owners make on every issue is contingent upon a salary cap. How, someone asked commissioner Rob Manfred, can the owners strike a deal if the union is entrenched against a cap?

“Re-thinking where you are is a really important part of trying to make a deal,” Manfred said. “It’s actually a skill in collective bargaining. It’s easy to say, ‘I’m here and I’m never moving.’ That’s not a particularly skilled approach to the process.”

That is perilously close to telling the other guy at the negotiating table how to negotiate. It’s also something you might say when you’re feeling pretty darn good that you’re going to win the negotiation.

“We have an unprecedented level of unanimity among ownership that it is something that we need to do,” Manfred said.

He wouldn’t say otherwise at this point, of course. The owners were unified in 1994, when they last demanded a salary cap. They didn’t win, and fans lost the final two months of the 1994 season and the first month of the 1995 season.

When the NHL got its salary cap, owners shut down the league for a full year. Would MLB owners forgo a year — or at least several months — of ticket sales and media revenue to get their cap? Would MLB players forgo a year — or at least several months — of their salaries to stave off a cap?

We won’t know the answer to either question until the spring, and until then a new collective bargaining agreement would require one side or the other to abandon its position.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred speaks with the media before Game 1 of the World Series in Milwaukee on Friday.

(John Fisher / Getty Images)

That makes this year’s World Series something of a Rorschach test: Is a Brewers-Rays series proof that the system actually works just fine the way it is?

To Manfred, the answer is no. A series featuring two of baseball’s smaller markets is an anomaly when history shows a correlation between payroll and success, not only in the regular season but in advancing through the playoffs.

“It’s not that no small market can win,” Manfred said. “It’s just that it’s pretty rare.”

To Meyer, the answer is yes.

“It has nothing to do with what the Dodgers are doing,” Meyer said. “There is no reason whatsoever that the Pirates can’t do what the Brewers have done, or what the Rays have done.”

The Pirates, Meyer said, do not spend all the money they are allotted to sign draft picks. The Brewers, playing in baseball’s smallest market, might not routinely hand out free-agent riches, but owner Mark Attanasio said his team ranks “right in the middle” of the 30 teams in spending on baseball operations.

Attanasio publicly stumped for a salary cap here Friday, saying it would “help us compete but more importantly all of the other teams with lower payrolls too.” He said Brewers fans already fear it might take another 44 years to return to the World Series.

Said Meyer: “That doesn’t seem like a great way, with all due respect, to try and generate excitement among your fans.”

Meyer said this year’s series “undermines their argument” for what he called “the nuclear bomb of a salary cap.” He said the owners are uninterested in the union’s proposals for addressing competitive balance, including increased revenue sharing among owners and a tax against teams that fail to win consistently, and he alleged the league’s argument is “a charade” for what the owners really want: “to suppress salaries and gut player rights.”

The takeaway: Don’t book non-refundable airline tickets and hotel rooms for spring training.

On other topics:

— As The Times has reported, MLB is keeping an eye on federal investigations into Dodgers owner Mark Walter and his insurance empire, which is under scrutiny for allegedly violating laws designed to protect investors. Walter also is a defendant in multiple civil lawsuits filed by investors alleging fraud and breach of contract.

“As always when we have an investigation — external, law enforcement, whatever — we monitor that,” Manfred said. “That’s where we are right now. We’re just watching what’s going on right now.”

Over the past two months, amid efforts to find what could be more than $20 billion to recapitalize insurance funds, Walter has sold his controlling interest in the Lakers and a minority share of Chelsea, the English Premier League club. On Friday, Bloomberg reported he is seeking to sell the Sparks. He has no plan to sell the Dodgers, team president Stan Kasten has said.

— Meyer said the MLBPA continues negotiations with LA28 over how major league players would be accommodated in the 2028 Olympics. “As of now, we’re not getting satisfaction on those things,” Meyer said.

Both the league and the union say they want to participate in the Games, but Manfred said MLB would normally start preparing its 2028 schedule early in 2027. The league has agreed to an extended All-Star break to accommodate the Olympics, but MLB also could tire of waiting for the union to agree with LA28, which badly wants MLB players to participate.

Comedian and TV star Miranda Hart had years of illness but became a fan favourite on Celebrity Traitors with her hilarious TV comeback, before being murdered by the Traitors

Miranda Hart fought back tears of sadness and joy when she left the Celebrity Traitors – as she explained the show was genuinely life changing for her. The 53-year-old fan’s favourite was murdered by the Traitors on the show tonight, and reacted by jokingly screwing up the piece of paper with her name on and saying “Bottoms! I knew it.”

But getting more serious, Miranda went on to explain how competing on the programme, her first major TV appearance for several years, meant a lot, having been bed-bound and housebound with chronic fatigue after being diagnosed with Lyme disease.

Getting emotional, she said: “Ultimately, in my little personal story, this has been quite extraordinary that I’ve been able to get back and do the thing that I love professionally and do the things that I love personally, like wandering around a Scottish highland and being in nature and laughing and connecting. There were times that I didn’t think that would be possible again.”

To see more of the stories you love from The Mirror and to find them easily in Google, then make us your preferred source. Free and easy to do, just click on the link here to find more from The Mirror at the top of your feed.

And in an interview after the cameras had finished rolling, the actor and comedian went on to say she was fulfilled and satisfied after getting herself back to work and competing.

Asked for her proudest achievement, she explained: “I think just getting there and being part of it full stop. I have missed doing television so much and it has been a very hard road to get to a place after restricting long term illness to be fit enough to do something again.”

She added: “I think it’s a good thing that I wasn’t banished because my speech would have ended up being emotional and mushy. I would have told them how precious the connection and the joy and playfulness had meant after years of not being able to experience that, knowing that they are the most important things in life. And then no doubt the floodgates would have opened.

“I also would have tried to extend the reveal of what I was an absurdly long time. Anything for some more airtime!” Miranda has been an amusing presence throughout the series, including one memorable scene where she was recreating a Little Mix dance with former band member Leigh-Anne Pinnock. It was so dramatic and funny that it led actor Michael Sheen to wrongly believe it could be some kind of smokescreen for a murder plot. But it was just Miranda having the time of her life.

She recalled: “I love Leigh-Anne so much for making my Big Mix wish come true. Though I would like to apologise to all viewers for the dance – bosoms as menopausally wobbly as mine should not have been doing those moves.

“However, I would like to say to Little Mix that I am available and will go into training. When Michael[Sheen] suggested it could have been the way I had been murdered in plain sight I did in part want that to be true – what a way to go!”

Miranda said she loved the game but admitted it was intense and during filming she thought of nothing else, even dreaming one night she was married to Michael Sheen.

She said: “The actual game was much harder than I thought it would be. And much more all-consuming. I am sure for many the idea of doing it is a hard no for a number of reasons – it’s an intense experience and being idiotic and vulnerable on international television isn’t for everyone! – but for me it combined so much of what I love.

“The landscape, games, playing, being part of a team, deep and fun connection with people, being able to look down a camera and have a chat from time to time. I could go on. But when I say it was intense, it REALLY was – way more than I expected. I understand now why you become close to people on shows like it.”

She said she felt closest to Michael, Joe Lycett and James Blunt, but was also wrongly certain that King Kenny was a faithful. Looking back, she concluded: “I think you will always go away from something as intense and unusual an experience as this learning something.

“I learnt many things, or rather relearnt. One being never judge a book by its cover and be open to being wrong about your first judgement about someone. Secondly, that however assured people come across we are all vulnerable, have needs, and ultimately desire to be kind, so look for the good in people and treat them how you want to be treated. Make time for people rather than always looking after your own interests socially – that’s a big one.

“And finally, it has cemented my hatred of the smart phone because the joy of being with people without their phones – we talked and connected in a way I remember when I was younger. We need to put those darn things away.”

Elsewhere in last night’s episode, the remaining Faithfuls continued to struggle to spot the three Traitors – Maya Jama, King Kenny and James Acaster. In fact, they were so bad that they picked to save the trio at the end of the mission called Field Of Screams, as the players who could be eligible for a “game-changing power”.

Grinning Maya joked: “I had to hold in my laughter. Of all people, you saved us. I just thought, ‘Oh my gosh, have we completed this game already? We are trusting, we are unsuspecting, we are killing you all.’”

Kenny added: “Can’t believe we’ve been chosen as the most trustworthy. What on earth? Feels too good to be true.” And James said: “None of this comes back to us because they keep on doing it themselves.”

After he was picked to have the new power by the Traitors, host Claudia Winkleman gave Kenny a dagger, which meant he had two votes instead of one in the latest Round Table. As the show ended, Sharon Rooney and Joanne McNally tied on four votes each, and so they had to make a final plea to survive being banished before a second vote took place.

Kenny will have the deciding vote at the start of next week’s episodes, but whoever leaves, they are both part of team Faithful. It means the three Traitors will have all survived until the final week of the contest, and the struggling Faithfuls are up against it.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

NEW YORK — The reports erupt on social media every election year: Voters say they tapped a candidate’s name on a touchscreen voting machine, only for the wrong person to light up as their selection.

With some trial and error, and occasionally help from poll workers, the voters are generally able to cast their intended ballots. Nevertheless, some come away from the experience assuming the worst — that the anecdotal issues are proof of a partisan election-rigging scheme.

As early voting in November’s midterm elections gets underway in most states, with soaring turnout in many of them, the claims have returned in force, with voters — especially Democratic ones — in Kansas, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas documenting difficulties with the ballot marking devices.

Many voters have described their experiences on social media, with some falsely interpreting the troubles as attempts at election tampering to favor Republicans. The claims come as an AP-NORC poll shows many Democrats have lost trust in election results over the last four years, with many seeing the president interfering with the vote as a major concern.

Election officials say the touchscreen challenges are almost always the result of user error or an easily fixed screen miscalibration, and say the number of complaints this year isn’t higher than it has been in years past, despite the outsized attention on social media. They emphasize that voters can select a candidate as many times as needed, consult a poll worker for help and review selections before submitting their ballot.

Elections in the U.S. are decentralized, with thousands of election jurisdictions controlling the vote, each with different rules set by state and sometimes local governments. That structure makes the nation’s voting process extraordinarily complicated. It also shields it from widespread fraud.

“Almost all of the claims of vote flipping are understandable human error,” said David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, who noted disinformation purveyors often seize on well-meaning concerns to sow doubt in the voting process. “Is there one of us who hasn’t had a butt dial or mistyped something on our phones? It is not nefarious.”

Many voters, including Dolly Parton’s sister, report issues

The complaints about touchscreen machines switching votes have gathered tens of thousands of likes, shares and views on social media in recent days, popping up in various high-population areas across the country, including Tennessee’s Williamson and Davidson counties, homes to Franklin and Nashville.

Stella Parton, the sister of the late country singer Dolly Parton, wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday that at her polling place near Nashville she had to “go back three times and correct my vote” because it kept defaulting to Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn.

She added: “I’m putting this out here because when we vote, we take it seriously but we try not to hold up the long lines. Do it anyway. Don’t let them rig this election.”

Chad Gray, election administrator in Williamson County, said officials there had found no discrepancies in the voting equipment. If problems or questions do arise, he said, people from each party will examine the devices and make sure they are working properly.

Tennessee Elections Coordinator Mark Goins told WSMV in Nashville that the issues reported in his area were “not a vote-flipping situation.” “It’s more like an unintended touch that they may not even realize,” Goins said.

Another Facebook user explained in a video that when his mother-in-law attempted to vote for Democratic candidates in Kendall County, Texas, the machine kept selecting Republicans. He said she was ultimately able to vote as desired and contended that it could have been user error, but still concluded people were “jacking with our elections.”

Staci Decker, elections administrator in Kendall County, said “100% of the time” the issue can be attributed to a voter tapping the wrong part of the box onscreen or from voters tapping the screen too hard, causing it to become miscalibrated. She said her policy is for staff to recalibrate the screens every few days to ensure the accuracy of the touchscreen.

“This is part of an attempt at every election (especially the bigger ones) to scare voters away,” Decker said in an email. “Every single piece of equipment used in our election is tested before it can be used in an election.”

Reports of voting machine errors common during high-turnout elections

In South Carolina, where an X user said a machine made it hard for her to vote for Democratic Senate nominee Annie Andrews, state election officials haven’t seen any unusual increase in reports of voters having trouble making selections, said Sydni Bain, a spokesperson with the state’s election commission.

“We commonly receive some of these reports during elections, particularly statewide elections with high turnout,” she said. “We encourage all voters to be careful in making their selections and to review their ballot before it is cast.”

In Bexar County, Texas, where an X user reported having to tap the screen forcefully to get the machine to register her choice of Democrat James Talarico instead of Republican Ken Paxton for Senate, election officials said they couldn’t confirm any equipment issues.

“This could possibly be user error,” said John Moreno, the county’s assistant public information officer. “If a voter has concerns about their ballot, they should bring it to the attention of the on-site judge.”

Kristin Miles, president of the Texas Assn. of County Election Officials and election administrator in Bastrop County, said “vote-switching” claims come up every election cycle.

“Nearly every case comes back to the screen calibration on older touchscreen machines, not a change to anyone’s vote,” she said.

Officials emphasized that machines are tested before each election and that in most jurisdictions, there is a postelection audit that consists of a manual hand count of a sample of paper ballots.

Voting machine company explains what to do if you encounter problems

Voters across the country cast ballots in various ways, including with ballot marking devices that print a paper record or with paper ballots they fill out by hand.

The counties where most of the recent vote-flipping social media reports are concentrated use ExpressVote ballot marking devices from a company called Election Systems & Software. The machines let voters make their selections on a touchscreen. Then, a paper record is typically printed for review before the votes are tabulated.

Katina Granger, senior manager of public relations for the Nebraska-based ES&S, said the company works closely with election officials and provides technical support when needed but has not been made aware of any widespread issue with voting machines this cycle.

She said when a voter is having difficulty, they should ask a poll worker for assistance. If they’ve already printed a ballot that doesn’t reflect their intended selections, “they should notify a poll worker rather than cast it so the jurisdiction can follow its procedures for replacing the ballot.”

Swenson and Goldin write for the Associated Press. AP writers Anna Wilder in Austin, Texas, and video journalist Kristin M. Hall in Nashville contributed to this report.

Lawrence McCutcheon, a five-time Pro Bowl running back for the Rams who went on to have a long career in the team’s front office, died Friday. He was 76.

McCutcheon’s family announced his death through the Rams. In a statement, the family said McCutcheon had “a long, courageous battle with Parkinson’s disease.”

McCutcheon played his first eight NFL seasons for the Rams, who drafted him out of Colorado State in 1972. The native of Plainview, Texas, quickly emerged as one of the most dynamic running backs of the 1970s, earning a Pro Bowl selection and leading the Rams in rushing each year from 1973 to 1977 in coach Chuck Knox’s productive offense.

McCutcheon, nicknamed “Clutch,” was a second-team AP All-Pro selection in 1974.

Rams running back Lawrence McCutcheon carries the ball against the St. Louis Cardinals in a divisional round playoff game at the Coliseum in December 1975.

(Associated Press)

He appeared in 11 postseason games for the Rams. In the Super Bowl in January 1980, he even threw a touchdown pass to Ron Smith to put Los Angeles ahead before the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied to win.

McCutcheon was the Rams’ career rushing leader when he left in 1980. After he finished his playing career with stops in Denver, Seattle and Buffalo over two seasons, McCutcheon became an executive for the Rams, eventually spending more than three decades in their front office.

McCutcheon rose to become the St. Louis Rams’ director of player personnel from 2003 until his retirement in 2016, shortly before the team moved back to Los Angeles.

“Through a decade-long playing career and another 32 years in the Rams’ front office, Clutch earned the respect and admiration of teammates, opposing players, colleagues and fans alike,” McCutcheon’s family said in its statement. “Clutch will be missed and remembered forever.”

McCutcheon’s son, Daylon, was a cornerback for the Cleveland Browns from 1999 to 2006. Lawrence McCutcheon’s grandson, Dyson, is a defensive back at Middle Tennessee.

Beacham writes for the Associated Press.

President Javier Milei’s role in cryptocurrency launch does not translate into a fraudulent scheme, judge says.

An Argentinian federal judge has dropped a criminal investigation into President Javier Milei and his sister Karina Milei over the collapse of a cryptocurrency he promoted online.

Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi issued the decision on Friday, according to court records, ending an inquiry into Milei’s role in the launch of the $Libra token, which crashed after a brief rally.

“The reported events do not constitute a criminal offence,” the judge said in a ruling. He also wrote that investor losses and the rise and fall in the currency’s price were insufficient to establish fraud.

In his ruling, Martinez de Giorgi said that Milei’s institutional standing could have given the launch “greater impact” when he posted about it, but that does not translate into a fraudulent scheme.

Javier Milei recommended the little-known meme coin in a post on X in February 2025. He later deleted the post and denied any link to the cryptocurrency, whose value soon plunged.

The judge also dismissed an investigation into US businessman Hayden Davis, who described himself as a “launch adviser” for the token. Davis has acknowledged that he held close to $100m after the crash and denies any wrongdoing.

“For the first time in history, a President of the Nation was investigated with complete freedom, resulting in absolute proof of his innocence,” read a post shared on X by the official presidential office.

“The question that remains is this: Who will take responsibility for having wasted Argentine taxpayers’ money and the President of the Nation’s time in a failed attempt at an institutional coup?”

Milei’s friendship with Trump

Milei is one of US President Donald Trump’s closest allies. Trump firmly backed him a year ago and has called him his “favourite president”.

Trump made clear the support hinged on a victory for Milei’s party.

“I’m with this man because his philosophy is correct,” he said ahead of a White House lunch with the Argentinian leader last year. “If he wins, we’re staying with him. And if he doesn’t win, we’re gone.”

Earlier this month, Milei urged Trump to emerge stronger from the US midterm elections, saying the vote mattered for the West as a whole.

Austerity at home

Since taking office in 2023, Milei has laid off thousands of state employees, shut ministries, cut subsidies and reduced government-funded programmes. The measures were meant to fight high inflation, which has fallen to about 2 percent a month.

Milei says his plan is working, claiming that Argentina has grown for 27 consecutive months and is expanding at four times its historical rate.

When the coin crashed, Milei said he had acted “in good faith” and accused his political rivals of trying to exploit the situation.

But there are two issues to consider.

Firstly, this is about political choices, and the UK chooses to dedicate larger amounts to items such as universal healthcare.

And secondly, with ageing populations, the OECD reckons the amount needed for pensions may be set to soar in many nations by 2060 (the exceptions largely being those that are deploying changes).

Its predictions for the UK are likely to rise by less under the revised triple lock system being put in place by Andy Burnham but it may still mean more borrowing.

As it is, £1 in every £13 the UK government spends is to pay the interest on existing debt. And countries with more generous pensions, such as Italy, have faced pressure to reform.

So in many ways, with auto-enrolment into workplace pensions, the UK appears to be ahead of the game in insisting on universal privately funded pensions for workers. But that system raises another issue: the gender pension gap.

The gender pension gap is the difference between the average pension income of men and women aged 65 and over, as a percentage of men’s average pension income.

It found that the typical gap in most wealthy countries is around 22.8% in favour of men.

Stevie Wonder is taking legal action against a reported ex-fiancée, filing a lawsuit this week to evict her after she allegedly lived rent-free at his property in Studio City for nearly four decades.

The prolific musician, whose legal name is Stevland Morris, filed a legal complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday against Carmen Efferson, whom he says has been living for free at a home on Oak Glen Drive since July 1988, according to the complaint obtained by The Times. Wonder seeks to evict Efferson after she allegedly refused to allow inspectors into the property earlier in the summer and failed to vacate the home in August, despite receiving a 30-day notice in late July.

Efferson, whom TMZ reported was once betrothed to the Grammy-winning “Songs in the Key of Life” musician, did not immediately respond to The Times’ multiple requests for response on Friday. A legal representative for Wonder, 76, did not comment and did not clarify the singer’s reported relationship with Efferson. Wonder has been married Tomeeka Bracy since 2017.

According to the musician’s complaint, Wonder and Efferson reached an oral agreement in 1988 that she can occupy the property without paying monthly rent. Tensions began in July this year when representatives for Wonder attempted to access the property multiple times “for purposes of updating and retaining property insurance,” according to an email between Wonder’s legal representatives and Efferson included in the complaint.

One attorney for Wonder notified Efferson on July 23 of a property inspection the following week. Efferson had choice words for the request, emailing another attorney for Wonder on July 25 to “please refrain from your rascist [sic] coldblooded ‘white male privilege’ tone.”

“I’m feeling harassed,” Efferson said, according to screenshots of her email. “Regarding your ORDERS of entering into the place where I am living, I do not consent.”

She ended her email with an explicit statement. An attorney for Wonder responded two days later, informing Efferson that the lawyer who issued the inspection notice “is neither racist, coldblooded, white or male.”

In an email dated July 27, Efferson also threatened to “immediately contact law enforcement” upon further attempts by Wonder’s representatives to enter the property. The next day, attorneys notified Efferson she had 30 days to vacate the home.

“You were given the opportunity to reconsider your decision to deny access and declined,” the notice said, according to the complaint. Efferson was ordered to vacate the property by Aug. 27

On Oct. 6, Wonder’s lawyers issued Efferson a three-day notice to leave the home due to her alleged violation of her oral agreement with the musician. Wonder’s legal representatives also claimed they gave Efferson “three additional opportunities to permit entry” for an inspection, but she failed to respond.

“Owner has been prejudiced by the cancellation of the property insurance policy and is now at substantial risk of economic loss by virtue of your actions to prevent the protection and preservation of the Premises,” attorneys said in the notice, according to exhibits. The attorneys also notified Efferson that Wonder would file a complaint should she refuse access again.

Wonder — celebrating the 50th anniversary of his seminal “Songs in the Key of Life” this year — is seeking forfeiture of the lease agreement with Efferson, legal fees and statutory damages up to $600.

BLAINE, Wash. — The Trump administration’s top border official defended plans to build a wall and other infrastructure in Texas’ Big Bend region despite mounting opposition against the project and a court-ordered pause on construction, saying his goal of fortifying the country’s borders was “non-negotiable.”

In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott argued that the $46-billion wall project was justified despite a bipartisan coalition of landowners, local businesses and environmentalists who view it as a waste of taxpayer money that could be destructive to a region with historically low migrant crossings.

“Our No. 1 goal right out the gate is we have to know who and what is coming into the United States,” Scott said on Thursday. If the Big Bend region were left without a wall or other border infrastructure while other areas along the border get those fortifications, he said, “I am 100% convinced it will be completely overrun and destroyed.”

The fight over Big Bend has become a major test for how far the Republican administration is willing to go for the border wall, President Trump’s signature infrastructure project.

Scott, a former Border Patrol agent, was tapped by Trump to complete it.

His agency is responsible for executing a plan funded last summer by Republicans in Congress to line the roughly 2,000-mile border with Mexico with a mixture of 30-foot-tall steel walls, vehicle barriers, new roads and surveillance technology to prevent illegal immigration and smuggling.

The Trump administration says it is building about 12 miles a week. Scott, who gets daily progress updates, said it will be complete by the end of Trump’s second term. The primary border wall — some areas also get a secondary layer — will be done by the end of December 2027.

“We’re actually ahead of schedule,” Scott said.

1

2

1. Charlie Angell stands on an overlook of the Rio Grande river 2. Pamela Priddy, center, holds up signs with others during a weekly protest against barriers along the border in the Big Bend region, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, in Study Butte, Texas. (John Locher / Ap Photo/john Locher)

Big Bend is a test for the Trump administration’s plans for the wall

The wall plan has run into resistance in places like Big Bend. The Trump administration was dealt a major setback earlier this month when a judge ordered a pause on border wall construction in the region, citing what could be a likelihood that plaintiffs “will suffer serious, irreparable harm without an injunction.” The administration has asked the Supreme Court to lift the order.

The ruling included any construction in Big Bend National Park, an area that has seen a loud bipartisan outcry, including from some Republican lawmakers.

After bulldozers were spotted in the park tearing up ground in August, Scott ordered a pause on all construction-related activity there while he went to talk to people in the region. He said the agency is making other outreach to locals to discuss how to build projects so they don’t mar the park.

“We’re talking through and figuring out what is the right solution for that area,” he said.

Scott said he can’t get into specific details on what the agency’s plans are for the park because of the numerous ongoing lawsuits, but he reiterated that the project won’t include tall steel walls.

He also said that the agency’s stated goal of protecting the country and knowing what’s coming in and going out is “non-negotiable.”

He said the region’s formidable natural barriers were not enough to prevent people from entering the country illegally through other more navigable points. And he expressed concern that cartels that control smuggling from Mexico into the U.S. would exploit any opening.

CBP has come under fire for immigration enforcement tactics

Scott leads an agency of 67,000 employees responsible for controlling who and what comes into the country through official border crossings like airports or seaports and stopping illegal smuggling and migration outside those official border crossing points.

The agency came under heavy scrutiny last year when its officers were sent into cities deep inside the country to help carry out Trump’s immigration crackdown alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Agents with the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol and Customs Enforcement patrol in a neighborhood after apprehending a person on Jan. 31 in St. Paul, Minn.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

As protests against an operation rocked Minneapolis, a Border Patrol officer and a CBP officer both fired shots in an encounter that killed a U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti. The shooting eventually prompted the Trump administration to wind down high-profile city-based crackdowns. A CBP officer who was the face of the missions, Gregory Bovino, who led a helicopter raid at a large apartment building and used chemical agents to confront demonstrators, retired earlier this year.

Scott said while CBP still helps ICE, it’s now less involved in immigration enforcement far from the country’s borders because ICE has since hired more officers to its ranks. Scott wouldn’t comment on the investigation into the Pretti killing, saying that it was being handled by the FBI and was ongoing. And when asked about Bovino’s tactics, he said the officer didn’t report to him during the operations.

Scott spoke to the AP just outside the border with Canada, where he met with border security representatives from other countries to share information about threats and trends. During his trip, he visited an operations center where he said Canadian and American law enforcement work together.

That border has far fewer threats than the U.S. border with Mexico. Scott said cartels in Mexico are increasingly sending drones into the United States to move contraband and keep tabs on Border Patrol agents. In Mexico, the cartels have been using drones to attack each other or Mexican law enforcement.

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes CBP, recently announced temporary flight restrictions targeting unauthorized drone activity in a zone extending a mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border as a way to counter cartels.

“We want to make sure,” Scott said, “that threat does not come into the United States.”

Santana writes for the Associated Press.

Mark Walter is looking to sell the WNBA’s Sparks, taking another step in the dismantling of his sports-team empire, according to people familiar with the matter.

Walter, a co-founder of money management firm Guggenheim Partners, sold the Lakers earlier this year at a $12.5 billion valuation to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger, but the WNBA team had remained under his ownership. Kushner and Iger later discussed acquiring the Sparks, but they are not among potential buyers, said the people, who asked to not be identified because the talks are private.

Sportico values the team at $400 million. Walter is looking to sell the franchise and a related practice facility for more than $700 million, said one of the people, who wasn’t authorized to speak discussing private dealings. The practice facility, which was constructed for $150 million, is scheduled to open before the start of the 2027 season. The franchise plays in the Crypto.com Arena.

Such a deal would be by far the largest WNBA franchise sale in history. The current record of $300 million is held by Tilman Fertitta, the owner of the Houston Rockets who bought the Connecticut Sun and is in the midst of moving the franchise to Houston.

A spokesperson for Iger and Kushner declined to comment. A spokesperson for TWG Global, Walter’s holding company, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Federal prosecutors have been probing dealings at Walter’s insurance firms, prompting him to reshape his holdings and stirring up deal talks on multiple fronts, including his sports franchises. After selling the Lakers, he sold his stake in Chelsea FC to Clearlake Capital. Walter’s other sports holdings include the Dodgers, the Cadillac Formula One team and the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Dodgers President Stan Kasten told The Times in August that the team isn’t for sale. “There’s no process that has been started to sell it, period,” he said.

The Sparks finished 16-28 during the WNBA season and have missed the playoffs for six straight seasons. The Sparks were one of the original eight teams when the WNBA was founded in 1997.

Williams, Natarajan and Shaw write for Bloomberg.

Global crude prices continue to climb, with Brent benchmark hitting $117.30 a barrel to build on four-year highs as market fears grow over a potential resumption of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the beginning of the first clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine in the outbreak that started in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a social media post on Friday that participants in the trial were vaccinated with the Ervebo vaccine in Bunia, the capital of the DRC’s northeastern Ituri province, which is the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak.

Ervebo, a vaccine approved for use against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, will be put through a full-scale human trial to see if it offers any cross-protection against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola that is behind the epidemic.

“This trial will help us understand whether any of the vaccine candidates designed for Bundibugyo virus work,” the WHO chief said on X.

“WHO is supporting this DRC-led effort to find answers and save lives,” he added.

The DRC declared its 17th and worst-ever Ebola outbreak in May and has since reported more than 9,700 cases, with the number of deaths exceeding 4,600.

The WHO, in response, triggered a public health emergency of international concern, its second-highest alert level.

The current outbreak has now been reported in four countries across eastern, central ⁠⁠and western Africa, giving it the widest geographic spread of any Ebola outbreak on the continent to date.

Vaccines in the pipeline

The so-called Tumaini trial is a single trial framework that can test the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of multiple vaccines.

The trial will use a ring vaccination approach: immunising contacts deemed to be at high risk of infection.

The trial is set to incorporate two Bundibugyo-specific candidate vaccines, which are currently advancing through earlier-stage, smaller-scale clinical trials.

One is a ChAdOx1 adenoviral vector jab being developed by the University of Oxford; the other, by the US-based Moderna group, uses mRNA technology.

Both have received funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and are expected to enter the trial “shortly”, CEPI said in a statement.

The trial will include pregnant women and children aged 12 years and older, generating evidence for populations that are often excluded from clinical trials.

WHO emergencies director Chikwe Ihekweazu said the trial was set up to generate the rigorous evidence needed to determine whether the participating vaccines could protect people at risk.

Prince William revealed he met with Ross Kemp recently and confirmed “he was really jumpy” as he opened up on his family’s love for The Celebroity Traitors on The Graham Norton Show

The Prince of Wales has revealed his family’s love of The Celebrity Traitors, adding that he even touched paranoid faithful Ross Kemp “to see what reaction I got from him”.

The EastEnders star had been on alert about being murdered in plain sight through touch since the first episode of the BBC One series. The paranoia proved justified in Thursday’s episode, when he was indeed murdered in plain sight by traitors James Acaster and Maya Jama.

But instead of touch, he was murdered by yawning and inhaling a poisoned perfume. Discussing the star-studded programme during a surprise appearance on an Earthshot Prize edition of The Graham Norton Show, William said: “I love it, the family love it. Charlotte and Louis are obsessed with it. It’s really good telly.

“I saw Ross Kemp the day after the first episode and I couldn’t help but try – in the most appropriate way – to touch him to see what reaction I got from him. Turns out he was really jumpy!”

To see more of the stories you love from The Mirror and to find them easily in Google, then make us your preferred source. Free and easy to do, just click on the link here to find more from The Mirror at the top of your feed.

Asked how he switches off, he said: “It is music and film. I love getting immersed in deep-thinking films. I like action films too, but I like something a bit different. I’m a big fan of everything Christopher Nolan does. His films are fantastic – The Dark Knight series is psychologically dark and deep and I absolutely love that.

“He takes concepts that are completely out there and makes them incredibly entertaining.”

William joined Cate Blanchett, Robert Irwin and Hannah Waddingham on the chat show to gasps from the audience to speak about the environmental award, which connects all four guests.

Blanchett is an Earthshot Prize council member, Irwin is a global ambassador for the prize and Waddingham hosted the 2023 Earthshot awards in Singapore.

Mumbai will stage the Earthshot Prize next month where the future king will meet Bollywood stars as he learns about India’s hugely popular film industry, play with cricketing royalty and preside over the ceremony awarding £5 million in prize money.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.