US President Donald Trump said he discussed US arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during talks in Beijing. Trump also said he is considering lifting sanctions on Chinese companies that buy Iranian oil.

Professional visual artists hate generative AI. This should come as no surprise, but a new survey released last month by a trio of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University breaks down just how much: 99% of respondents out of a pool of 378 verified professional visual artists noted their dislike for the technology, with 92% categorizing it as “strong dislike.”

Even more jarring, the survey found that 80% of respondents believe that they’re in competition with the technology. The artists expressed deep concerns about the impact AI is having on their careers, with 54% saying it has diminished their income, 75% their job and clientele security, and 90% their income opportunities. Another 77% said it had negatively impacted their career growth, 61% the future of their career, and 74% their career sustainability.

The jobs most heavily affected include commercial artists, graphic designers and concept artists in entertainment whose work is sometimes entirely replaced — or largely commandeered — by images generated using tools like Midjourney, Adobe Fireplay or DALL-E; but fine artists working in traditional media are also experiencing a devaluation of their work and a shrinking pool of employers.

“I’m working on getting out of the field and planning to get my PhD in something non-art related because I can’t see my current work as being sustainable when I see them actively replacing me [with] chatGPT,” a costume designer and illustrator said in the survey, which notes, “Demoralization, disempowerment, disrespect, stress, and fear are also commonly expressed, not only regarding individual careers but also extending towards the field at large.”

“It’s been pretty demoralizing at times seeing a lot of younger artists giving up because they don’t see a future in art. That they’re abandoning their creative passions because of AI,” another illustrator said. A comic artist, writer and painter noted that AI underscores that art is not important to the general public. “It has been demoralizing largely because generated AI images look like crap but there is a segment of the population who seem to not care,” the artist said.

Then there is the unnervingly meta task of artists trying to prove they are human, or that they did not generate their work using AI.

“I find users online to be more critical, looking at art less to enjoy it and more so to figure out if it’s AI generated or not. There’s a lot of pressure and anxiety in proving you are a real person now,” one illustrator and designer said. Another artist and sculptor said, “I have seen false accusations for use of AI in work from other artists who do not use AI and I am fearful of being accused of this as well, I now record the creation process of most things so that I have proof AI was not utilized.”

This study affirms the findings of a less formal ongoing survey conducted by Brian Merchant, a former Times technology columnist who now writes an indispensable newsletter on Substack called “Blood in the Machine,” which keeps razor-sharp track of the ways AI is affecting labor, and the pattern of Big Tech deflecting responsibility for harm. As part of an ongoing series titled, “AI Killed My Job,” Merchant invited visual artists to write to him about their experiences, and published the most compelling — and crushing — responses.

In that column, Merchant discusses the “good enough” principle of AI-generated art, noting, “Creative workers aren’t typically worried that AI systems are so good they’ll be rendered obsolete as artists, or that AI-generated work will be better than theirs. Their fear is that clients, managers, and even consumers will deem AI art ‘good enough’ as the companies that produce it push down their wages and corrode their ability to earn a living.”

An idea highlighted in the following letter published by Merchant from an anonymous source:

“I’ve been out of work for a while now. I made children’s book illustrations, stock art, and took various art commissions.

Now I have several maxed out credit cards and use a donation bin for food. I haven’t had a steady contract in over a year. two weeks ago, when a client who has switched to AI found out about this he gave me $50 out of ‘a sense of guilt.’ Basically pity for the fact that Illustrator, as a job, does not exist anymore.”

One thing Merchant is exceedingly good at is reminding readers that there is a surge of dissent swelling from the proletariat — and that after you’re done feeling the necessary despair, you can join the anti-AI resistance. For visual artists that can be as simple as utilizing a growing number of defensive tools when it comes to protecting art, most notably Glaze and Nightshade. The former adds the smallest pixel-sized changes to your artwork, which serves to confuse AI so it can’t train on your style; the latter — as the name implies — acts more like a poison that corrupts AI training data so it can’t scrape from a protected image.

I’m Arts editor — and proud Luddite — Jessica Gelt. This is your arts and culture news for the week.

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY

Celeste Butler-Clayton as Coretta Scott King in “Experiencing the Dream: The MLK Musical.”

(Triple T Photography)

Experiencing the Dream: MLK the Musical
The show’s 26 songs will be recorded live with an orchestra of 27 musicians under the direction of Leon Lacy, with orchestrations by Felipe Paccagnella, vocal arrangements by Tony Jones and musical direction by arranger/producer William Taylor. The cast includes Eric Dawkins, Bishop Jonathan Mason, Yolanda Gibbons, Patricia Jackson, James Singleton, Melvin Crispell, Pam Blackmon Kendle and Celeste Butler-Clayton. Written by Kesha L. Ealy and Marcus S. Mason. Mason also composed the music.
7 p.m. Greater Emmanuel Temple, 3740 E. Imperial Hwy., Lynwood. MLKthemusical.com

Riverdance 30 — The New Generation
The Irish music and dance phenomenon marks its three decades with a special anniversary tour.
7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scfta.org

SATURDAY

Ryuichi Sakamoto, left; Bang on a Can All-Stars.

(The Wallis)

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Contemporary music sextet Bang on a Can All-Stars pay tribute to the Japanese composer with works from his album “1996,” which included pieces from his film scores, including “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (1983), “The Last Emperor” (1987), for which he won an Academy Award, “The Sheltering Sky” (1990) and “Little Buddha” (1993).
7:30 p.m. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org

Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith
The longtime collaborators perform music from their 2025 album “Defiant Life” which Iyer noted “was shaped by our ongoing sorrow and outrage over the past year’s cruelties, but also by our faith in human possibility.”
8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu

Radiance + Reverie
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra music director Jaime Martín leads the group in Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony, “Selah,” a world premiere of a new Double Concerto by Christopher Cerrone performed by violinist Anthony Marwood and cellist Coleman Itzkoff, and Tchaikovsky’s “Mozartiana.”
7:30 p.m. Saturday. Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; 4 p.m. Sunday. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. laco.org

Mads Mikkelsen and Zlatko Burić in ‘Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands.”

(Jens Juncker-Jensen / NWR / Magnolia Pictures )

Pusher trilogy
Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn’s gritty triptych takes us through the violent criminal underworld of Copenhagen in three interconnected films, each with a different protagonist: “Pusher” (1996), starring Kim Bodnia; “Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands” (2004), starring Mads Mikkelsen; “Pusher III: I’m The Angel Of Death,” starring Zlatko Burić.
5 p.m. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. americancinematheque.com

Jodi Siegel
The singer-songwriter and guitarist is joined by guitarist Greg Porée and percussionist Justin Porée for an evening of blues, R&B, soul and jazz.
8 p.m. Sierra Madre Playhouse, Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org

SUNDAY
Celebrating Photography
The Getty has a series of events inspired by the exhibition “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985” (which continues through June 14). It begins Sunday with a free, daylong Family Festival featuring live music, dance, storytelling and interactive workshops. On Wednesday evening, moderator Karen Grigsby Bates and authors Dr. Karin L. Stanford and Mark Speltz discuss the new book “Marching West: The Los Angeles Civil Rights Movement in Photographs.” Thursday morning, the panel “Backstage: An Unfurling of the JPC: Black Photography & Visual Culture” examines how the Johnson Publishing Company and its photographers impacted Black visual culture and the larger field of photography. Finally, on June 7, authors Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe (“Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers”) and Deborah Willis (“Black Photographers, 1840 to 1940: An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography”) discuss their work as artists and historians.
Family Festival, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday; “Backstage: An Unfurling of the JPC,” 10 a.m. Thursday (also online); “Marching West,” 7 p.m. Wednesday (also online); “Viewfinders,” 4 p.m. June 7 (also online). Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A. getty.edu

F For Fake
A 35 mm screening of Orson Welles’ 1973 enigmatic docudrama profiles professional art forger Elmyr de Hory as a starting point for examining authenticity and authorship.
6 p.m. Brain-Dead Studios, 611 N. Fairfax Ave. studios.wearebraindead.com

Philip Glass and the Poets
The first major Philip Glass 90th birthday celebration (he was born Jan. 31, 1927) features Timo Andres on piano and spoken word performance by Taylor Mac, with special guest appearances by Lucinda Childs and the San Francisco Girls Chorus and their artistic director Valérie Sainte-Agathe.
7 p.m. UC Santa Barbara, Campbell Hall. artsandlectures.ucsb.edu

TUESDAY

Gustavo Dudamel will lead the L.A. Phil in Wagner’s “Die Walküre” in three parts, Tuessday-Sunday at Disney Concert Hall.

(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)

Die Walküre
Conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Phil, along with director Alberto Arvelo, tackle the second installment in Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle in three stand-alone parts with opera stars Jamez McCorkle, Jessica Faselt, Christine Goerke and Ryan Speedo Green, and scenic designs by Frank Gehry.
Act I, 8 p.m. Tuesday and Friday; Act II, 8 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday; Act II, 8 p.m. Thursday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

WEDNESDAY
Being There
Peter Sellers received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a simple gardener catapulted into the media spotlight and presidential politics in Hal Ashby’s prescient 1979 satire. Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden and Melvyn Douglas co-star. Screening in 35 mm with an appearance by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel.
7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

Life of Mozart
The Pasadena Choral Society presents the composer’s unfinished “Requiem” within a dramatic framework using Mozart’s own words. Milo Brody plays Mozart, accompanied by pianist Tali Tadmor, with solos by soprano Erika Boychenko, alto Ali Frazzini, tenor Eric Wernerand bass Chris Tickner.
7:30 p.m. San Marino Community Church, 1750 Virginia Rd #0412. givebutter.com/lifeofmozart

Primary Trust
Times theater critic Charles McNulty described Eboni Booth’s 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning play as “a quirky, small-scale, quietly reflective work that’s as tenderhearted as it is spryly comic and as poignant as it is ultimately uplifting,” when it had its West Coast premiere at La Jolla Playhouse. Once again directed by Knud Adams, it arrives in Los Angeles with a cast that includes Ugo Chukwu, Rebecca S’manga Frank, Petey McGee and James Urbaniak, with music by Luke Wygodny.
Through June 28 Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. centertheatregroup.org

Studio installation view from “A Palace in Time” at the Skirball beginning May 20.

(Courtesy of Robert Russell and Lisa Edelstein.)

Skirball Spring Exhibitions
The Skirball Cultural Center launches three new exhibitions next week: “Inventing America: The Comic Book Revolution”; “Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels + Weirdos: Punk Culture 1976–1986”; and “Robert Russell and Lisa Edelstein: A Palace in Time.” All three open May 20, Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. skirball.org

THURSDAY

Ain’t Misbehavin’
Grammy Award-winning artist Ledisi headlines this Ebony Repertory Theatre production, in association with Fig Street Films, of the Tony Award-winning revue, a tribute to the music of Fats Waller. Directed by Wren T. Brown, with choreography by Dominique Kelley and music direction by William Foster McDaniel. Chester Gregory, Connie Jackson, Marty Austin Lamar and Natalie Wachen co-star.
May 21 through June 8. Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, 4718 W. Washington Blvd. L.A. ebony rep.org.

Arts anywhere

New and recent releases of arts-related media.

Shaina Taub, Jenna Bainbridge and the cast of “Suffs” during the 77th Annual Tony Awards in 2024.

(Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)

Suffs
When the national tour of Shaina Taub’s musical about the suffragette movement marched through the Hollywood Pantages last fall, Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote that it “is as informative as it is uplifting. It is above all a moving testament to the power of sisterhood. The struggle for equality continues to face crushing setbacks today, but Taub wants us to remember what can happen when people stand united for a just cause.” Captured on Broadway in December 2024, “Suffs,” starring Taub, who also wrote the book, music and lyrics for the show, debuted on PBS’ “Great Performances” earlier this month and is streaming online until the end of July. pbs.org

— Kevin Crust

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Johnie’s Coffee Shop in Los Angeles May 8.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

Artist Gary Baseman staged his first hometown show in more than a decade at the long-shuttered, but still iconic Johnie’s Coffee Shop along Miracle Mile on Wilshire Blvd. The Googie-style structure opened its doors for the exhibit, which featured a variety of Baseman’s drawings on menus from L.A.-area restaurants.

The critic Rex Reed died this week at the age of 87 and Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote an appreciation of the often acerbic provocateur. “He didn’t mince words or allow nuance or second thoughts to stand in the way of a zingy phrase or a colorful wisecrack. Unbridled opinion was his stock-in-trade,” McNulty wrote.

McNulty also weighed in with a review of a revival of Eugène Ionesco’s “Exit the King,” directed by Michael Michetti at A Noise Within. Ionesco, a Romanian-born French playwright, is one of the pillars of the Theatre of the Absurd, McNulty writes, adding, “The existential philosophy of Camus and Sartre, self-evident truths for these absurdist writers, is conveyed less through the content than through the style of their plays. Language is no longer a means of communication but a mark of the unbridgeable distance between human beings.”

People play a satirical video game installation titled “Operation Epic Furious Strait to Hell,” created by guerrilla art group Secret Handshake.

(Heather Diehl / Getty Images)

You can order a Diet Coke, or bomb Iran in a new video game about the Iran war called “Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell,” which was installed near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. by the anonymous arts activist group Secret Handshake. For the past year and a half the group has secured permits to erect an ongoing series of satirical public sculptures — mostly about President Trump’s alleged ties to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — on and around the National Mall. This is the group’s first foray into video games.

Times classical music critic Mark Swed devoted a recent column to the genius of the American theater director, playwright and performer Robert Wilson, who died last year at the age of 83. “So far this year, there have been, or will be through the end of June, major Wilson opera and theater productions in Moscow; Paris; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Düsseldorf, Germany; Adelaide, Australia; Kaunas, Lithuania; Vienna; Rome; Tokyo; Luxembourg City, Luxembourg; Berlin; Riga, Latvia; and Sophia, Bulgaria. That is to say, pretty much Wilson business as usual,” Swed writes, before examining two new performances of Wilson’s work in Brooklyn and Houston.

Artist Todd Gray stands in front of his work inside the Wilshire/La Cienega Metro Station on May 1 in Los Angeles.

(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)

Iris Kwok marked the opening of L.A. Metro’s new D Line extension by profiling four of the artists behind the public artwork in three new stations. Nine artists in total worked on site-specific installations: Mariana Castillo Deball, Eamon Ore-Giron, Ken Gonzales-Day, Todd Gray, Karl Haendel, Soo Kim, Fran Siegel, Susan Silton and Mark Dean Veca.

Julius Miller broke the news that a series of seven digital billboards promoting peace will go up across the city as part of the Broad Museum’s upcoming exhibit, “Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind,” which opens May 23. The billboards arrive nearly 57 years after Ono and John Lennon “erected a billboard near the Chateau Marmont emblazoned with the words, “WAR IS OVER! If You Want It.”

Culver City’s Wende Museum of the Cold War announced it will build a $16-million expansion in Hawthorne. It plans to transform a newly purchased Midcentury Modern building into a research institute and interactive storage facility for its collections — “a ‘living archive,’ as it’s calling the facility,” writes Deborah Vankin. The opening is currently set for 2028.

Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theatre’s Chalvar Montei leaps for the stars. The troupe will perform as part of the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center.

(Dario Calmese / Courtesy La Jolla Music Society
)

The Music Center announced its lineup this week for the 2026–27 season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center. Highlights include the Joffrey Ballet’s West Coast premiere of “The Sleeping Beauty,” Compañía Nacional de Danza’s North American premiere of “Don Quixote,” and the Los Angeles premiere of a Jerome Robbins ballet festival curated by Tiler Peck. Alvin Ailey Dance Theater is also part of the lineup, and choreographer Sonya Tayeh will unveil an L.A. premiere set to the music of Sinéad O’Connor.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced the 2026 summer season at the Ford. The open-air venue across from the Hollywood Bowl is now in its seventh season under LA Phil leadership, and shows are set to run through Oct. 31. Grab your picnic basket and select a date from a wide variety of shows including dance, music and film. Stand-out acts include Bilal and DJ Rashida, Matteo Bocelli, Jacob Collier, Judy Collins and Bruce Cockburn, Ani DiFranco and Valerie June, Helado Negro and Reyna Tropical, Joe Hisaishi, Iron & Wine, the L.A. Phil, and Punch Brothers.

The Institute of Latino Art has opened in Pomona, with a grand opening reception scheduled for June 13. Occupying the former Latino Art Museum space, the new gallery was founded by artist Oscar Magallanes. A news release notes, “ILA represents a new artist-led institution in the Inland Empire, working to connect regional communities with contemporary Latin American and Chicano art. The inaugural exhibition, ‘Reclamation: Art in Contested Spaces,’ features NSRGNTS, Lapiztola, and Rubén Ortiz-Torres.”

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Times columnist Mary McNamara went to Yorkshire and wrote that it was the bucket-list literary trip of her dreams. Mine too!

Visitors to one Italian destination say it’s “incredible”, but it was once a place shunned by many

Italy is a beautiful country with each province very different from the next – and each Italian area has its own identity and culture. While holidaymakers typically flock to the Amalfi Coast, cities such as Florence or Rome or Lake Garda or Lake Como, there’s a lesser-known spot that has left visitors speechless with delight.

Once famous for being the ‘shame of Italy’, Matera, a city based high on a rocktop in the southern Basilicata is now a luxurious tourist getaway. Here, a collection of old cave dwellings forged into the mountains in an area called Sassi offer a peaceful inland holiday infused with history.

The cave dwellings were evacuated by the Italian government in the 1950s, hailed as slums at the time with poor living conditions. Thousands of residents were transferred into modern housing and Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi, of the time, described Matera as a “national disgrace”.

It’s likely that not all the locals wanted to leave their Matera homes at the time, but the spot was deemed a health hazard with no ample sewage system or electricity – and it was poverty-stricken.

One former Matera resident once described living conditions as “brutal,” with “families of maybe nine or 10 children, sleeping next to mules and pigs”.

“We were dying of hunger”, said Luigi Plasmati recalling his family’s life in Matera several years ago, when he was 89-years-old.

These days things have really turned around – and several Airbnb cave-style accommodation stays are described as “exceptional” by those who visit.

Sassi di Matera covers two districts, with the city of Matera situated on a mountain top.

One TripAdvisor review by a guest staying in Pietragialla, which looks across to the city of Matera, described their cave stay as an “incredible experience”.

The cave stay reviewer wrote: “I am speechless for how good we felt. It was an incredible experience and everything was unbelievable. The room is fantastic. The bathroom is the best bathroom I’ve ever been and the bath tub is from another planet. But the most incredible thing is the silence.”

The visitor went on to describe “pure sleep” they experienced in the cave due to the peacefulness and darkness as the cave has “no windows”.

Breakfast, they went on, was already prepared the previous night so you “can have it at any time” and it included fresh fruit, juices, marmalades, fresh local bread, almonds and even almond milk.

The TripAdvisor reviewer added: “Once you leave the room you have in front of you the whole city centre, it looks like a fairy tale. Pietragialla is an experience that needs to be done once in life at least.”

The Sassi district boasts museums such as the Cave House in the Sassi of Matera, which show visitors what peasant life was like in the region just a few decades ago.

There are also churches made of rock that date back to the 13th-century, with St. Lucia alle Malve (a Catholic church in Matera) being described as the “most beautiful” with its ancient mosaics dating back centuries.

ATLANTA — Same fight. New generation.

That’s the mantra of a multiracial group of civil rights leaders and activists organizing opposition to a mostly white conservative alliance dismantling the Voting Rights Act and political districts that allowed Black and other nonwhite voters to choose more of their elected leaders for the last half-century.

“We have to respond as quickly as possible,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in an interview. “The real question,” Johnson told the Associated Press, “is how do we as a country really address the effort to shrink us backwards into a 1950s reality?”

Johnson’s 117-year-old association, which was at the forefront of legal and legislative fights for Black political rights in the 20th century, is among scores of groups coming together Saturday in Alabama for a rally and tribute to the Civil Rights Movement that helped bring about the 1965 Voting Rights Act. They plan events in Selma, where voting rights advocates were attacked by white law enforcement officers on Bloody Sunday, and Montgomery, where a rescheduled march concluded two weeks later.

Unlike 61 years ago, the Alabama events are not the pinnacle of a protracted movement. Instead, civil rights activists hope they serve as a catalyst for a renewed crusade after the U.S. Supreme Court, two weeks ago, further weakened the VRA by no longer allowing race to be considered in how congressional and other districts are drawn.

They acknowledge difficulty in countering a white-dominated conservative network entrenched in the White House, Capitol Hill, federal courts and many state legislatures of the Old Confederacy, where a majority of Black Americans still live.

The VRA “was the foundational nucleus of the Civil Rights Movement,” said Jared Evans of the Louisiana-based Power Coalition for Equity and Justice. “They’ve taken that from us,” he said, with the recent Louisiana v. Callais decision on congressional districts and the earlier Shelby v. Holder decision in 2013 that rolled back federal oversight of election procedures in states and localities with a history of discrimination.

Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, who is senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, said from his pulpit that the result is “Jim Crow in new clothes.”

Warnock pointed to King and the last voting rights movement. “We need political power. We need economic power. We need personal power,” he said, assuring parishioners that “your adversaries know that your voice matters” because they’re “bending over backwards” to diminish it.

Evans reached further back into history to say what must happen next.

“Our response must be and will be a second Reconstruction period,” Evans said.

Some Democrats want an answer from Congress

The ultimate goal, organizers said, is to win more elections, sway policy fights and protect diverse political representation at all levels.

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, a Black lawmaker who represents Selma, Alabama, said an immediate priority is to “reform and reintroduce” Democrats’ flagship voting bill, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act.

Sewell, whose seat ultimately could be threatened under redistricting, said Democrats want to “completely” eliminate partisan gerrymandering.

She also said the legislation would “bring back pre-clearance,” the requirement for certain federal approvals that the court struck down in Shelby.

“We need to come up with a modern-day formula for showing just how egregious the behavior of these state actors is,” Sewell said.

The Supreme Court ruled in Callais that states do not have to draw majority nonwhite districts under the Voting Rights Act and, in fact, should not consider race at all when drawing boundaries. By arguing that the law’s remedies to combat discrimination had themselves become racist, the decision allows states to redraw heavily Black districts that have historically elected Democrats while arguing that the designs are based on party interests, not race.

President Trump praised the decision as “a BIG WIN for Equal Protection under the Law, as it returns the Voting Rights Act to its Original Intent, which was to protect against intentional Racial Discrimination.”

Groups mobilized for redistricting sessions

Many of the same groups who’ll be in Alabama on Saturday have already gone to Southern statehouses, where white Republican lawmakers moved swiftly to redraw congressional districts after Callais.

Alabama and Louisiana lawmakers reverted to a single majority-Black district, each scrapping a second district that had been ordered by lower federal courts under now-reversed VRA interpretations. Tennessee lawmakers gutted a majority Black district by splitting greater Memphis into three different sprawling districts — itself an obvious racial gerrymander the court had previously forbidden, Evans said.

Anticipating the Callais outcome, Florida and Texas proceeded with redistricting before it came down. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a term-limited Republican, has called a June session to redraw congressional lines for the 2028 cycle. Mississippi and South Carolina have delayed the matter for now.

South Carolina state Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey was among the few white Republicans who pushed back against GOP redistricting plans. He said that not even pressure from Trump could sell him on disenfranchising Black South Carolinians instead of doing what’s best for his state.

Other white conservatives are still talking openly about ousting Reps. Jim Clyburn and Bennie Thompson, the only Black U.S. House members from South Carolina and Mississippi, respectively.

Evans, the Louisiana activist, predicted the fight ahead won’t just be about congressional representation.

“Look for them to go after state house and state senate seats — and then it will be the local level,” he said, adding that “it’s going to be an entire erasure of Black representation.”

The issue is more than a partisan Washington fight

Heavily minority districts drawn under the VRA before Callais nearly always elect Democrats. Black Americans have overwhelmingly aligned with the party since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, sparking a decades-long migration of most white Southern politicians to the Republicans. Latino and Hispanic voters still lean Democratic in most places as well.

The immediate fight shapes the midterm campaign scramble for control of the U.S. House during the final years of Trump’s presidency. Trump initially pushed Republican-run states to redistrict to protect the party’s fragile House majority.

But Johnson, the NAACP leader, said all voters should see more than partisan warfare or a regional battle over race.

Beyond party allegiance, Johnson argued, white conservatives want to curtail a range of rights “depending on how you pray, depending on who you love,” while also pushing economic policies that punish workers across racial and ethnic lines. From legislation to the confirmation of federal judges who decide constitutional questions, those policy outcomes start with election results.

“It’s not a Black problem,” Johnson said. “That’s an American problem.”

There is no singular movement or leader yet

Evans, Johnson and others acknowledged the complexity in harnessing disparate organizations and galvanizing voters on issues like redistricting and gerrymandering. But they insist the brazen nature of Republicans’ course has spurred engagement.

Johnson said he was on an organizing call in Mississippi this week that had 8,000 participants. Evans pointed to packed hallways in the state Capitols in Baton Rouge and Nashville, respectively.

The NAACP and allies have challenged new maps in multiple states, despite Callais. Many groups want to spur midterm turnout among Black voters, and others are disenchanted with white conservatives’ maneuvers in racially diverse places.

Johnson stressed the need for perseverance.

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision was seismic, with a unanimous court declaring segregated public schools unconstitutional and reversing 19th-century precedents denying Black Americans’ fundamental rights.

But it took 17 years — and many more court battles — for it to be implemented in most Southern school districts. Fights over mandated student busing continued beyond the South. It was a decade after Brown before Congress and Johnson enacted the movement’s seminal laws.

There’s no clear leader of a modern movement.

Johnson said it’s worth remembering that even with King at the helm before his assassination, “there was tension around strategy” in the 1950s and 1960s.

But even “through that tension, through many episodes, we were able to get directly in the right place.”

Barrow and Brown write for the Associated Press.

During this tournament, she has been able to lean on Meg Jones a little more to lift her mood.

Like the new England skipper, Packer was born and raised in Wales. The pair will occasionally swap a word or two of Welsh, a reminder of home and family.

“We have just some funny phrases that no-one else really understands, but it really makes us laugh,” says Packer.

“She’s very good at making things quite light and I’m probably the opposite – I make it quite serious.”

There is plenty to be serious about when they face France in Bordeaux.

Given England’s home run at the 2025 Rugby World Cup, WXV’s sparse crowds and an expected record attendance at the 42,000-capacity Stade Atlantique, it is likely to be the most hostile environment the Red Roses have played in since that fateful defeat in Eden Park in 2022.

The streak of 37 straight wins England have put together since is in definite peril.

But, beyond her notes and focus points, there is something else, less easily defined, that bolsters Packer amid the stress.

“As a team we are all overly critical of ourselves, but there is a bond that’s really important to us,” she says.

“The biggest thing is how tight we are as a group – and that just really carries us through.”

Packer, her team and that togetherness will be tested.

But the scrum-half, book smart, street smart and quick smart at the breakdown, can pass most things.

May 15 (UPI) — The Democratic Republic of Congo declared an Ebola outbreak on Friday as 65 people have died from the disease in the country’s eastern region.

There have been about 246 cases reported, many of them in the Ituri province’s small mining towns of Mongbwalu and Rwampara. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement Friday that it is meeting with DRC, Ugandan and South Sudanese leaders to prepare a response to the outbreak.

Uganda and South Sudan border the Ituri province.

Africa CDC said that the DRC’s national research laboratory has detected Ebola in 13 of 20 samples it has tested.

There have been 16 prior Ebola outbreaks in the DRC since 1976 when it first identified the virus within its borders. Vaccines are available for the Zaire strain. Africa CDC said that early testing indicates the current strain is not the Zaire strain.

“Africa CDC stands in solidarity with the government and people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as they respond to this outbreak,” Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC, said in a statement. “Given the high population movement between affected areas and neighboring countries, rapid regional coordination is essential.”

The mining towns where the outbreak is centered experience a lot of inbound and outbound traffic, raising concerns about the disease spreading further.

Ebola is a severe illness with a high fatality rate in humans, reaching as high as 90% in some cases, the World Health Organization says.

Infection can be spread by direct contact with a person who is infected or object surfaces that are contaminated with bodily fluids from a person who is sick or has died from the disease.

The Ebola virus can incubate between two and 21 days. Symptoms include fever, fatigue, malaise, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, before progressing to vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, rash and symptoms related to impaired kidney and liver functions.

There were 64 cases of Ebola reported in the DRC last year, with 45 deaths, a 70% rate of fatality, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That outbreak occurred from September to December in the remote Bulape health zone in the Kasai province, which has a relatively low population density.

Israel is moving to enhance the capabilities of its F-35I Adir fighter, funding a new external fuel tank upgrade that will boost the Israeli Air Force’s potential for conducting long-range strikes. The announcement comes after the jets saw extensive action striking targets in Iran during the campaigns this year and last. In the process, the fleet ran at a tempo of operations that raised questions about Israel’s ability to provide adequate refueling support. The new modification for the F-35I will help address that.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense confirmed today that the development and integration of the external fuel tanks on the F-35I will be carried out by Elbit Systems’ Cyclone subsidiary. Elbit says the deal is valued at over $34 million and will involve tanks based on an existing Cyclone design originally developed for the F-16.

“The new capability is expected to extend the aircraft’s operational range, reduce reliance on aerial refueling, and enhance operational flexibility across long-range missions,” the company added.

Based on the reference to the F-16, the announcement has been widely taken to refer to external drop tanks, but it remains possible, although improbable, that the F-35I is getting some kind of conformal, flush-mounted fuel tank. This could have a reduced impact on stealth and overall performance, but would likely also involve significant shape change and alterations to the airframe. Integrating and clearing tanks of this kind for operational service would be a complex and potentially very lengthy process, since they would disrupt the highly quantified low-observable moldline of the aircraft. However, Israel has experience in operating both F-15s and F-16s with conformal tanks.

Obviously, adding external fuel tanks of any kind to the stealthy F-35I will degrade its low-observable features. However, with the Israeli Air Force putting a premium on its ability to conduct long-range strikes, this is clearly seen as a worthwhile tradeoff. If the upgrade does involve drop tanks, they are also likely to be jettisonable, possibly together with their pylons, meaning they could be discarded before penetrating a hostile air defense system, for example. This would only be the case on extremely high-risk long-range missions, and could not be sustained for long campaigns. They could also be dropped when under threat, giving the F-35I back critical agility and providing a lower radar signature.

There are also means of mitigating the penalty that drop tanks impose on a stealth aircraft. This is best evidenced by the new fuel tanks for the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor, which are seen as a critical addition to ensure that the fighter is able to better cover the vast distances involved in a potential future conflict in the Indo-Pacific.

The new faceted, low-drag tanks for the F-22, like the older ones, can be jettisoned from the jet to restore the full scope of its performance and further reduce its radar cross-section. However, Lockheed Martin says it expects the Raptor to go into direct combat, at least in some scenarios, with the tanks fitted.

There have also been steady signals that some kind of range extension was in the works for the Israeli F-35I.

Back in 2021, a cryptic announcement from Lockheed Martin confirmed that the company was working with an unnamed foreign buyer to develop a modification of the F-35 to the tune of tens of millions of dollars in engineering support work. An Israeli fuel-carriage enhancement was a possibility, as you can read more about this here.

Then, in 2022, separate reports emerged suggesting that Israel had developed an unspecified means of extending the range of its F-35Is, allegedly providing them with enough reach to hit targets in Iran without needing aerial refueling. The 2022 reports might have involved a prototype version of the tanks mentioned in the announcement today, some other kind of external fuel carriage, or they might have been erroneous.

More recently, just before the latest campaign against Iran, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter provided what was likely the first official confirmation that range-extending fuel tanks for the F-35I are already in service. In an interview in mid-February, he stated: “We developed fuel tanks that extend the aircraft’s range without compromising stealth.” Exactly how this was achieved was not revealed, but even small internal tanks may be a possibility, while also presenting a serious engineering challenge.

In the United States, range-extending external fuel tanks for the F-35 also re-emerged in 2025 as part of the ongoing Block 4 modernization effort for those aircraft, years after a requirement for streamlined drop tanks was eliminated. The Pentagon confirmed it will explore the feasibility of all forms of external fuel tanks, including underwing tanks, for all three variants of the F-35.

Overall, the idea of integrating external fuel tanks on the F-35 is far from new. Back in 2019, TWZ reported on how Lockheed Martin was looking at adding two 600-gallon drop tanks under the F-35’s wings as part of a larger range-extension study. This would have increased total fuel capacity by around 40 percent. Prior to that, studies had looked at adding smaller 480- and 460-gallon tanks.

Of these, the original 480-gallon drop tank was abandoned after aerodynamic and stores separation issues emerged. The subsequent 460-gallon design was also not ultimately pursued, and it was found that additional drag also eroded the range increase.

It is notable that Aviation Week previously reported that Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Cyclone had worked on both a conformal tank design for the F-35I and the 600-gallon drop tank.

As an Israeli-specific version of the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A, the Adir already incorporates some significant Israeli-developed systems. Many of these have been tested on a specially outfitted one-off version of the aircraft, which arrived in the country in 2020. Israeli additions include electronic warfare systems and also weaponry. The F-35I fleet is expected to be armed with the Rafael SPICE precision-guided bomb, but may eventually include air-to-air missiles and other weapons, too.

At the same time, the F-35’s inboard stores hardpoints are still plumbed for the carriage of external fuel tanks, suggesting that introducing this capability, including on the Israeli-specific F-35I variant, might not be too complicated.

The Israeli requirement for the F-35I to be less reliant on aerial refueling is especially important. The Israeli Air Force currently operates a fleet of only around seven aging Boeing 707 tankers. The overreliance on these aging tankers for long-range missions has led to previous speculation that the Israeli Air Force has relied upon U.S. Air Force refueling support when it has gone into combat. The Pentagon denied this.

At the same time, a strike package that doesn’t require tanker support is in some ways more flexible and more survivable. Moreover, the survivability of traditional refueling jets in or near contested airspace is becoming a growing concern. Meanwhile, Israel is now starting to modernize its tanker fleet, with the first of its more modern KC-46s having begun flight trials earlier this month.

Israel has also previously shown that it is willing to degrade the stealth characteristics of the F-35I to increase its strike capacity. The type has been seen flying strike sorties with external ordnance, demonstrating the F-35’s so-called ‘beast mode,’ featuring loads on underwing pylons.

Israel has repeatedly used its F-35Is in strikes on targets both closer to Israel and much further afield. In 2018, it became the first operator to use the jet on offensive operations. Meanwhile, it has also recorded success in aerial combat against hostile drones.

Last year, the Adir was involved in strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. There were reports that Israeli fighters often landed on fumes after their initial sorties during this conflict. With these jets operating to the edge of their endurance, fuel starvation was a serious threat, and it is perhaps surprising that none were lost. External drop tanks were also found in multiple locations in eastern Iraq, pointing to their use to maximize long-range sortie rates early in the conflict.

The F-35I also played an important role in striking Iranian targets during the joint U.S.-Israeli campaign launched at the end of February this year.

The Israeli effort against Iran, Operation Lion’s Roar, also saw an Israeli Adir claim the first aerial victory for any F-35 against a crewed aircraft. On March 4, in an incident that you can read more about here, an F-35I brought down an Iranian Yak-130 Mitten combat trainer over Tehran.

The importance of the F-35I to Israel has also been demonstrated by the country’s successively adding to its orders for the type.

Earlier this month, it was confirmed that the Israeli Air Force is set to receive a fourth F-35I squadron, bolstering its fighter inventory with another 25 of the aircraft.

In 2023, Israel opted to buy a third squadron of F-35Is, covering 25 more jets. This batch is scheduled to be delivered starting in 2028.

Once all four squadrons are stood up, Israel will have a total of 100 F-35Is.

Before long, we are likely to see at least some of these jets sporting the long-range upgrade announced today. At that point, the precise nature of these external fuel tanks will finally be revealed.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Monty Don says he often felt like ‘summer had arrived without me’ when spending time at boarding school as a child, a feeling he experiences now when filming a hit BBC show

Monty Don finds himself “restraining tears” as he opened up about a moment that makes him “resent” a BBC show. Monty, 70, says he has long realised that “home is the epicentre” of his world.

It came after he was sent to boarding school as a youngster and found himself feeling as though “summer had arrived without me”. Monty says that while the seasons shifted at school, home is where they “truly existed”.

He admits that his world now “spins” around his Longmeadow home, which he purchased in 1991. The property consisted of an abandoned field with a single tree in it when Monty bought it.

It now boasts a series of lovingly crafted gardens. It is at Longmeadow that Monty often finds himself feeling like he did when he was a small child, bursting into tears as he realised the seasons had come and gone.

Writing in the Gardeners’ World magazine, he said: “I still have a moment or two like that every year in the garden, although now, 67 years later, I do my best to restrain the tears.”

Monty says a garden often has a “watershed moment” where it seems as though one season becomes the next. The star believes it can often happen with “seemingly no transition” between the two.

On the whole though, Monty explains that in gardening, things “change constantly” through “slow mergings”. He says one moment he often notices the change at Longmeadow is when he goes to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Monty presents the coverage alongside the likes of Rachel de Thame, Angellica Bell and Nikki Chapman. Monty says he leaves Herefordshire on the Sunday and returns a week later.

In that time, he jokes that his garden has “completely rearranged itself”. “Spring has toppled into summer and I was not there to see it,” he explains.

It brings a “complicated mess of emotions” for Monty, a hark back to his days as a boy at boarding school. He says he feels a sense of “betrayal” from his garden, as well as the delight at welcoming in the new season.

And in part, Monty says he blames the Chelsea Flower Show for taking him away from Longmeadow. He continued: “I do not want to miss out on the greatest garden extravaganza of the year and am delighted to and privileged to present the programme from there, and yet part of me resents being taken away from the garden at this critical moment.”

Monty will return to screens this evening from 8pm (May 15) on BBC Two with Gardeners’ World. He will be making a start on some of his amazing summer planters, including working on his leeks and making fertiliser.

Elsewhere, Frances Tophill will be in Berkshire learning about biodynamic gardening and the benefits it can bring. Adam Frost will be showing viewers around his new garden as it begins to take shape.

The ‘smart’ holiday hack went viral on social media after a family used it on their recent trip

A family has gone viral after using what’s been described as the ‘ultimate’ travel hack to simplify their holiday. The ‘smart’ method could be ideal for anyone visiting crowded tourist areas.

According to Clarissa Hen, who posts on TikTok under the username @Clarhens, her family used AirTags to keep track of each other during a recent day out in Japan. Sharing a video of the ‘genius’ hack in action, Clarissa wrote: “Ultimate travel hack: Put airtags on everyone before going to crowded tourist traps.”

As seen in the post, everyone received a lanyard with their own AirTag, making it easier to find each other after they were finished exploring. The idea caught the attention of social media users.

The video went viral, racking up over one million views and more than 50,000 likes. In her caption, Clarissa asked viewers if they thought the hack was ‘smart or extra’.

Explaining why her family gave it a go, she wrote: “When everyone has the attention span of a goldfish, airtags are key!!! No need to worry about someone’s phone dying or them not replying/answering (like my dad and sister) you can just track them like lost luggage lol.”

In response, TikTok users were quick to share their thoughts. While not everyone was convinced, several viewers loved the idea. Someone commented: “We just have meeting spots when we break up and come back together at the same place.”

Another social media user said: “Me and my friends shared our google maps locations and it was so helpful.” A different response read: “Use the Life360 app!! It’s free and it is super accurate! Used it to find my friends when we went to Japan.”

Meanwhile, a commenter wrote: “But if y’all have iPhones you wouldn’t need AirTags, just saying.” But Clarissa replied: “Yes we have our phone locations on too but iPhone batteries can run out within the day and cell service isn’t always reliable so AirTags are a great alternative!”

Other social media users loved the hack. A fan of the idea commented: “Needed this for all my aunties.” Another reply said: “Genius.” Someone else wrote: “Very smart.” More praise read: “I love this!”

A viewer shared: “That’s literally what I did with my family in Japan so I can freely roam around.” Meanwhile, a commenter replied: “Wait!!!! This is so smart! I gotta do this with my family at Disney.”

Clarissa said: “Right!?? Soo useful lol we all lost each other then I tracked them down.” Someone else claimed: “Save those for Tokyo Disney if you’re going. I got lost TWICE for HOURS both times and I was just trying to find a place to pee.”

It was hit shortly after taking off from Gatwick Airport. The moment was captured on camera

An easyJet aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing after being struck by lightning shortly following takeoff. Flight U28305 was hit not long after departing from runway 08R at Gatwick Airport on Thursday, 14 May at 2.22pm.

Turbulent weather conditions, including strong winds and heavy rain, were reported in the area at the time. The lightning strike was captured on camera and widely shared across social media platforms.

The aircraft continued to climb briefly before the pilots, having reached 16,000 feet, requested permission to land and turned back to Gatwick for a full inspection. The plane, an Airbus A319 registered as G-EZDH, had been scheduled to travel to Milan, Italy, but touched back down at Gatwick just 27 minutes after taking off.

easyJet confirmed that no passengers or crew were injured, and that the aircraft returned ‘as a routine precaution’. A spokesperson stated: “EasyJet can confirm that flight U28305 from London Gatwick to Milan diverted back to London due to a lightning strike on the aircraft. The aircraft landed safely and was met by emergency services as a routine precaution.”

According to the National Weather Service, aircraft are struck by lightning on average once or twice annually. It notes: “They are designed and built to have conducting paths through the plane to take the lightning strike and conduct the currents.

“Actually, aircraft often initiate the strike because their presence enhances the ambient electric fields typical for thunderstorms and facilitates electrical breakdown through air.”

Aircraft must undergo a compulsory inspection following a lightning strike to assess any potential damage. Numerous planes aren’t required to be built with lightning protection as standard. There hasn’t been a lightning-related commercial transport aeroplane crash in decades.

Tom Harp has been coaching volleyball at Granada Hills High for so long that few remember he won a City Section championship as a co-head football coach with Darryl Stroh in 1987.

In the 1990s, he turned exclusively to coaching boys’ and girls’ volleyball, winning a combined 15 City titles and making 28 finals appearances. The top-seeded Highlanders will try to deliver a seventh Open Division championship on Saturday when they face West Valley League rival Chatsworth in a 4 p.m. final at Birmingham.

The league rivals split their two West Valley matches, with each going five games. Chatsworth knocked off 17-time champion Palisades in the semifinals. MIT-bound Grant Chang is Chatsworth’s 6-foot-6 powerful outside hitter.

All-City volleyball player RJ Francisco of Granada Hills shows off his hitting skills against Chatsworth.

(Craig Weston)

Granada Hills has RJ Francisco, who had 19 kills in a win over Chatsworth.

The Southern Section Division 1 final is Friday night, with Mira Costa taking on Loyola in a 7:30 p.m. match at Cerritos College.

Regional and state playoffs begin next week.

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

A group of Israeli settlers attacked Israeli rights activists as they were conducting a tour near illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israeli security forces arrested the activists.

IF you want a family day out with big thrills consider a visit to the ‘Mega Slide Mountain’.

Claiming to be the the longest of its kind in the UK, the 200ft slide will let you hit top speeds of 12mph.

Follow The Sun’s award-winning travel team on Instagram and Tiktok for top holiday tips and inspiration @thesuntravel.

Found at National Forest Adventure Farm, the enormous slide is up a 30ft hill and has two slides next to each other – so riders can race to the bottom.

To enjoy the Mega Slide Mountain, it’s £1 per go or if that isn’t enough, it’s £5 for an unlimited ride wristband.

Anyone going down the slide must be over 107cm.

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It is currently the longest outdoor tube slide in the UK at 200ft, but will soon be overtaken by one at Heaton Park’s Zip World on May 22, which will be 288ft.

There’s plenty more to enjoy at National Forest Adventure Farm like the 9 hole outdoor crazy golf course with water, bridges and milk churns.

Also outside are two huge jumping pillows – with one especially designed for those under eight years old.

Other activities include pedal go-karts, hopping on JCB diggers, navigating a musical maze, the assault course and fossil sand play.

There’s a chance to take a tour of the farm and spot some sheep in the Tractor & Trailer Ride and sit in the bumpy Barrel Stampede Ride.

When it comes to animals, children can explore the farm barn meeting and feeding resident cows, sheep and goats.

When the weather doesn’t play ball, there is an indoor play barn with drop slides, soft play and a dedicated zone for children under five.

There’s a Farmhouse Kitchen for food which serves up seasonal lunches as well as ‘street food’ inspired food and drink.

During the summer there’s a ‘Farmarama’ event which ‘brings the beach to Burton‘ with five huge paddling pools and over 250 tonnes of sand.

General Farm Entry days, which includes entry to the indoor soft play, outdoor adventure zones, and animal barn start from £12.50 (if booked in advance) – under two’s go free.

During May half-term entry starts from £15.95.

The U.S. Navy’s near-total abandonment of surface combatants with nuclear propulsion after the end of the Cold War is “one of the largest mistakes” it’s ever made, according to the service’s top officer. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle made this remark today while voicing support for the recently announced decision that the future Trump class battleships will be nuclear-powered. He also explicitly highlighted challenges the Navy has faced when it comes to fueling conventionally-powered ships taking part in operations against Iran, something TWZ recently reported on in detail.

Adm. Caudle, as well as Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao and Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith, testified before members of the House Armed Services Committee today. The focus of the hearing was on the Department of the Navy’s 2027 Fiscal Year budget request. The Navy disclosed that it had decided the Trump class warships will feature nuclear propulsion in its latest long-term shipbuilding plan, which was released on Monday.

“I know there have been many conversations and questions over the past few days regarding the news that the Trump class battleship will be nuclear powered. And, as you know, Virginia has a long history of nuclear shipbuilding. What specific design plans can you share at this point and can [you] speak to how nuclear power would enable this system to be successful?” Rep. John McGuire, a Virginia Republican and former U.S. Navy SEAL, asked Adm. Caudle directly.

“Sir, we walked away from surface nuclear power decades ago, and that was one of the largest mistakes the Navy ever did, and we’re bringing it back,” the Chief of Naval Operations said in response. “We need nuclear-powered surface ships to sustain combat operations with our nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.”

Though a major operator of nuclear-powered submarines, the Navy’s aircraft carriers are currently its only nuclear-powered surface ships. The service previously had a mixture of nuclear-powered surface combatants. This included three one-of-a-kind ships, the cruiser USS Long Beach, the destroyer USS Truxtun (later recategorized as a cruiser), and the frigate USS Bainbridge. There were also two California class and four Virginia class cruisers, the latter not to be confused with the subsequent Virginia class of attack submarines. All of these ships entered service in the 1960s and 1970s. Expensive and complex to operate compared to similar conventionally-powered ships, they were all retired in the 1990s as part of post-Cold War drawdowns across the U.S. military.

As Caudle highlighted, the central benefit of nuclear propulsion is functionally unlimited range since naval reactors can operate for decades without needing to be refueled. In the context of modern ships packed with ever-more advanced weapons and other systems, it can also offer an important boost in onboard power generation. As noted, this does come at a cost. Today, Russia is the only country anywhere in the world with a nuclear-powered surface combatant, the Kirov class battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov. In terms of nuclear-powered surface naval ships of any kind, the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is the only other example. Russia also has several nuclear-powered icebreakers, but these are operated by the state-run nuclear company Rosatom.

“Imagine what that would have looked like in the Arabian Gulf if I’d had a nuclear-powered battleship there to give the air and defense and fires [sic] power that it could sustain – rotate ships that roll, that need gasoline around it,” Caudle continued today in his response to Rep. McGuire’s question. “So the imperative for this is crucial to develop that level of payload capacity.”

Navy officials have already acknowledged that Iranian attacks on friendly countries in the Middle East in the course of recent operations significantly disrupted established logistics chains. In particular, this impacted how the service delivered fuel to conventionally-powered warships in the region, as you can read more about here.

Threats to fuel supplies would be something the Navy would have to take into account in any future conflict, especially a high-end fight against China across the broad expanses of the Pacific. There are other logistics requirements that nuclear ships do still have in common with their conventionally-powered counterparts, as well, such as food for the crew and fuel for any embarked aircraft. Even with nuclear propulsion, maintenance and other requirements mean that ships cannot stay at sea indefinitely.

“We intend to, with all we can do, use pull-through technologies, [including] things from that we’ve worked on with DDG(X),” the Navy’s top officer added, speaking about the plans for the Trump class specifically. “It will have the SPY-6 radar. It will have the Baseline 10 Aegis combat system. It will pull through, of course, the A1B Ford class reactor plant and all the design that goes with that. The only thing inherently new to it will be the actual hull itself, and so most of the fixtures in it. And I would say the directed energy [weapons] and up gunning, that will also be new.”

Caudle had first shared the A1B reactor detail at another budget-related hearing earlier this week. It was previously known that the Trump class battleship program would leverage prior work done in relation to the now-defunct DDG(X) next-generation destroyer.

Multiple types of laser-directed energy weapons, as well as an electromagnetic railgun, are core elements of the planned armament package on the future Trump class warships. They are also set to be loaded with a mix of nuclear and conventional missiles, including hypersonic types, in several large vertical launch system (VLS) arrays, and have a pair of traditional 5-inch naval guns.

The Navy has previously stated that the battleships, now also referred to as BBGNs, will displace approximately 35,000 tons. This is very roughly three times that of the newest Flight III subvariant of the Arleigh Burke class destroyer. The Trump class vessels are expected to be between 840 and 880 feet long, have a beam (the widest point in the hull) between 105 and 115 feet, and be able to reach a top speed greater than 30 knots, as well.

It is worth noting here that Caudle’s comments today represent a huge change in tone from how he had previously talked about the prospect of nuclear propulsion for the Trump class. Speaking to the press at the Surface Navy Association’s (SNA) main annual symposium back in January, he had notably appeared to downplay the possibility.

“I think it’s a logical question to think, hey, here’s a big capital ship. It’s going to be carrying a lot of load, you know, in places that we don’t necessarily need a strike enforcement air wing as a large ship there that’s in command of a flotilla,” he said at that time. “Wouldn’t it be logical to be nuclear powered? And that brings a tail to the construction of that that [sic] just really fell outside the scope of what we want to do on the speed to get this thing in the water. And so what you trade off with, with persistency that only nuclear power can do, is you end up having, you know, the ability to go produce that — it pushes the battleship into a timeframe that just didn’t meet the operational need of the ship.”

Just last month, former Secretary of the Navy John Phelan had also said making the Trump class ships nuclear-powered was unlikely, citing the need to balance cost and complexity against aggressive schedule demands. Phelan was fired unexpectedly just two days after making those comments. There have been reports that disagreements over plans for the battleships, specifically, as well as other friction within the Trump administration, factored into his dismissal.

“He’s a very good man. I really liked him, but he had some conflict with, not necessarily with [Secretary] Pete [Hegseth], but with some other[s],” President Trump said about Phelan while speaking to the press on April 23. “He’s a hard charger, and he had some conflicts with some other people, mostly as to building and buying new ships. I’m very aggressive in the new shipbuilding.”

As it stands now, the Navy still does not expect to order the first Trump class battleship until Fiscal Year 2028 and or see that ship enter service before Fiscal Year 2036. The first example, at least, currently has an estimated unit cost of around $17 billion, which is considerably more than the projected price tag of any of the next four Ford class aircraft carriers.

Even before the nuclear propulsion decision was announced, TWZ had raised numerous questions about the plans for these warships, including their exact operational utility, as well as the costs and risks involved. Caudle’s comments today about leveraging pull-through notwithstanding, nuclear-powered ships are inherently complex and expensive, which are the tradeoffs for the aforementioned boost in capability. A specialized workforce and supply chains are required to build such vessels. Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the only yard in the United States currently building surface ships with nuclear propulsion, in the form of new Ford class carriers, all of which have suffered delays.

Enterprise (CVN 80) Construction Update

There are two more yards in the country that make nuclear-powered submarines, both of which are already under strain to meet Navy demands. There is a particular need to keep on schedule with the new Columbia class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines to avoid any gap in capacity when it comes to the sea leg of America’s nuclear deterrent triad. Additional plans now to supply Virginia class submarines to the Royal Australian Navy, which Adm. Caudle said today he vehemently supports, can only further add to that workload.

The U.S. naval shipbuilding industry, collectively, has other demands to keep churning out conventionally-powered warships like Arleigh Burke class destroyers, as well. This is an industry that has contracted to a worrisome degree, overall, since the end of the Cold War, especially when compared to the completely opposite trend that has been observed in China. Efforts to reinvigorate America’s shipyards, and the continued challenges the Navy is facing in doing so, were key points of discussion at today’s House Armed Services Committee hearing.

Adm. Caudle’s broad statement of support today for a nuclear-powered surface Navy raises the additional question now of whether the service might be interested in expanding this capability beyond the Trump class. Some of the Navy’s prior nuclear-powered surface combatants were derived from conventionally-powered designs. At the same time, any such decision would run up against the same shipbuilding capacity and other questions facing the new battleships.

Just when it comes to the Trump class, the plans for the ships could easily still evolve further, or even come to an end entirely. The timeline laid out now has the battleship program continuing well into the next presidential administration, where the fortunes of a new nuclear-powered surface navy could change dramatically.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Benidorm star Crissy Rock has warned that political correctness has possibly “gone too far” for the beloved sitcom to make a comeback but has a new project that she says is perfect for fans of the show

Crissy Rock has warned that political correctness might put a stop to a reboot of Benidorm. The actress, 67, starred as Janey Yorke in the first four series of the sunny sitcom, which ran from 2007 until 2018.

Whilst the star would jump at the chance to go back to her role as the Solana hotel manageress, who was eventually replaced by Sherrie Hewson as Joyce Temple-Savage, she worries that certain attitudes these days might make a comeback impossible.

She told The Mirror: “There’s always whispers [about a reboot], this, that and the other. I’m sure there would be a place for it because it’s so in demand, but with all this political correctness you can’t say this and you can’t say that now.

“You can’t even smoke! I was watching something the other day and a thing came up saying ‘May contain smoking!’ What’s wrong? The world’s gone mad!”

READ MORE: Benidorm favourite Elsie Kelly dies as co-star pays heartfelt tributeREAD MORE: Sherrie Hewson shares bleak Benidorm update amid reboot rumours

The former I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! contestant, who starred on Benidorm alongside other TV favourites like Siobhan Finneran, Johnny Vegas and Sheridan Smith amongst a host of others, tries to stay away from politics when she performs her stand-up routines, but still thinks that it has all “gone too far” with what can and can’t be said these days.

She added: “In my own show, I don’t do politics. My act has been practically the same for years but I just think [political correctness] has all gone too far the other way. In pantomime, you can’t have the Prince kiss Snow White anymore but you can have a dog come on and lick her face, I mean, it’s gone too far! Someone said I couldn’t say ‘Alright, love’ anymore. It’s just gone stupid!”

Despite her willingness to make a comeback should the chance ever appear, Crissy doesn’t have all good memories from working on the set in the Spanish city.

She said: “It was lovely, and then the reality kicked in that you were stuck in a building with no air conditioning, really roasting with the lights and, half the time you couldn’t hardly breathe. Then you have to start turning the lights off and put the air conditioning on because it was really, really hot, especially when they’re doing all the indoor scenes in the club.”

But for now, Crissy, who shot to fame when she took on the leading role of the 1994 film Ladybird, Ladybird, is happy to be back on stage with a new production of Desperate Scousewives. She stars as Lily, who along with Susan and Vanessa, must navigate things when Trisha, a single mum from Manchester, arrives on their tight-knit backstreet in Liverpool.

All set during a hen do, where the bride is preparing to get married to man in prison she has never actually met, Crissy thinks it will be the perfect night out for fans of the ITV sitcom.

She explained: “Desperate Scousewives is a bit like Benidorm, because the reason Benidorm was so successful is people would watch it and go, ‘Doesn’t that remind you of that drunk around the corner, oh what about her? I know someone just like her!’

“So everyone recognised themselves as someone. And with Desperate Scousewives, everyone who goes will say, ‘I remember that,’ and ‘I recognise her!'”

Desperate Scousewives is written by Lynne Fitzgerald, who also stars as Susan in the production, and embraces the kind of Northern humour that has become synonymous with programmes like Coronation Street, The Royle Family and Shameless.

Liverpool-born Crissy was challenged by someone who wondered how that kind of humour would go down across the nation but she remained full of confidence that it is a universally funny piece of work.

She said: “I met someone who wasn’t from up north who said ‘How do you think this is going to travel?’ and I said ‘Perfectly!’ because we are the street anywhere in the country.

“There’s three or four women exactly like that in every other street in the county. It’s not about your voice or where you’re from, it’s… individuals, their lives, So it could be any street in any part of England.

“I play bit of a matriarch. Nosey, absolutely nosey. And she wants to know everyone’s business but she doesn’t want anyone to know her business and then when she meets anyone new she puts this telephone voice on, trying to talk posh.

“The others will be telling her to shut up and she’ll go ‘Oh, take no notice of those little b*****s!’ It’s been such good fun [in rehearsals], we can’t look at each other without laughing!”

Desperate Scousewives is on tour across the UK. For tickets and more information, go to www.scousewivesonstage.com

BRITS will have to follow the new EES rules in Greece this summer – despite previously saying they WON’T have to.

Called the Entry/Exit System, the new biometric scans required from Brits has already caused problems across Europe.

This has seen queues as long as six hours at some airports due to the time each takes, with some families even missing their flights.

Last month, Greece said that Brits would be able to skip these queues in an attempt to ease fears.

The Greek Embassy said “As of April 10, 2026, British passport holders are exempt from biometric registration at Greek border crossing points.”

This was backed by the director of the Greek National Tourism Organisation in the UK, who said Brits will “no longer need to undergo additional EES biometric procedures, ensuring a smoother and more efficient arrival experience in Greece”.

GO SEA IT

Beautiful island with cheap hotels & NO EES checks is 26C next week

QUEUE KNEW!

I avoided dreaded EES airport chaos in Spain – how I skipped the mega queues

However, in a u-turn, officials have now said that Brits will not be exempt and will have to follow the new EES rules.

The Greek Foreign Ministry said they have not received any information that “specific nationalities are temporarily exempt from the relevant procedure,” according to local media.

Instead, the rules will only be temporarily paused if there are high volumes of passengers at once, caused by a number of planes landing at the same time.

This won’t just affect Brits, but any non-EU nationals that have to go via the biometric scanners.

And queues have already started to cause problems – one passenger told local media it took “nearly two and a half hours to get through [passport control] in Athens” while island airports like Zante were facing similar wait times.

One source warned it was “just the beginning,” with summer seeing as many as 15,000 passenger a day travel through Athens, the busiest airport in Greece.

If you want to try and avoid the chaos, make sure your plane doesn’t land between 12pm and 2pm, they warned, as that’s when a huge number enter Athens at one point.

Portugal is also another country struggling with huge queues, with one expert saying a family waiting more than six hours because of the EES waits.

It was hoped that both Portugal and Italy would suspend the EES rules until after summer, but they have also echoed Greece in saying this would only be during busy passenger periods.

Ryanair has called on airlines to pause the roll out of the new rules – which started last week – until after summer.

Here are all of the countries where the EES rules are in place.

And here is how one person managed to avoid the long queues in Europe – with two clever hacks.

Passengers were told to bring their own food and drinks on board after a fire caused a supply disruption

Jet2 has released a fresh update for passengers after many were informed that certain services would be unavailable on their flights. Earlier this week, it emerged that Jet2 had suspended food and drink services and in-flight retail for passengers on selected routes.

At the time, the airline stated it was dealing with an ‘operational issue’ that was ‘outside its control’. The disruption was reportedly triggered by a major supply chain disruption following a fire at Jet2‘s Retail Operations Centre in Middlewich.

The warehouse is reportedly responsible for stocking all catering carts. Consequently, the airline was forced to suspend all food, drink, and Jet2shop retail services on the affected flights.

This meant some passengers were unable to purchase snacks, soft drinks, alcohol, hot beverages, or duty-free items from the cabin trolley. Pre-booked meals were scrapped, and those who had paid in advance for a hot meal or snack deal did not receive their order.

In a fresh update, sent to the Liverpool Echo today (May 15), a Jet2 spokesperson said: “Due to an operational issue outside of our control, there was limited food and drink available to buy on board on Sunday, May 10. We are pleased to say that, since then, customers have been continuing to enjoy our award-winning flights and can choose from a wide selection of food and drink onboard.”

They added: “Our full in-flight retail and food and drink offering will be completely back to normal in the coming days.” Jet2 has also confirmed it is automatically processing refunds for all pre-booked catering back to the original payment method.

While the problem persisted, travellers were advised to bring their own food, drinks and snacks on board, after clearing airport security. However, passengers are prohibited from bringing hot coffee, tea, or hot food from the airport terminal onto the plane. A statement on the Jet2 website states: “You can’t bring hot food or hot drinks onboard our planes for safety reasons.”

At the time, many people turned to social media to find out more about the ‘operational issue’ and to alert fellow passengers. On X, one passenger with the username @BigDogStaff wrote: “@Jet2tweets just had an email and a text message to say there will be no food or drinks available for our five hour flight.”

Jet2 responded: “Hi there, we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by our food and drink services and in-flight retail by unavailable on your flight. Sadly, this is due to an operational issue outside our control. (1/2).”

The airline went on to say: “You are welcome to bring snacks and soft drinks purchased in the terminal onboard with you, but for safety reasons, hot drinks cannot be brought on board. If you have any further questions, feel free to let us know. ^Ellie (2/2).” On the Facebook group, Jet2.Com and Jet2holidays Customer Service and Support, a user asked: “What is happening with no food or drink on Jet2 planes? Just had an email about no food or drink on the planes tomorrow, any idea what happening?”

In the comments, one person wrote: “Been on lots of posts – supply issues due to a fire in a warehouse apparently- just get something in the airport to take on board with you.” Another added: “Just arrived in Greece via Jet2, we pre-ordered hot food but got an email saying it was limited. There was no food, drinks, snacks, and no duty-free trolley, all we got was water.”

A third commented: “Someone I know is flying tomorrow, and they were told this evening that there would be no food, including pre-booked. Maybe it depends on the airport or route.”

In a separate Facebook post, another user warned: “Just a heads up. A friend who is travelling from Leeds tonight has received this. So it may be the same on the return journey.” They shared a screenshot of what appears to be a text message from Jet2.

The message reads: “Due to an operational issue outside of our control, there will be no food, drink or Jet2shop available to buy on board your flight. Unfortunately, this also means that any pre-booked food or drink items will not be available, and we will automatically arrange any refunds for these.

“You are welcome to bring snacks and soft drinks purchased in the terminal (after security) on the flight with you, but for safety reasons, hot drinks cannot be brought on board. We are very sorry for any disappointment this may cause.”

A separate Facebook post by UK travel agency Camel Travel states: “Heads up for those flying with Jet2 at the moment. A fire at Jet2’s Retail Operations Centre in Middlewich on Wednesday has impacted the availability of food and drinks on some flights.”

What seems to be a screenshot of an email sent by Jet2 is also featured. It states: “We will process the refund right away to the payment card used when you booked – but like all refunds these days, it could take three to five working days for the funds to reach you. We’re sorry if you don’t receive any pre-booked items. Our friendly Cabin Crew are looking forward to welcoming you on board and will ensure you have a lovely flight.”

CHICAGO — President-elect Bill Clinton used a community college in Chicago Monday to try out an updated economic message that Americans will be hearing frequently from him in the weeks to come: We’re not out of the woods yet.

“When you read that things are getting better with the unemployment rate, inflation rate, housing starts, things of that kind, that’s a good thing,” Clinton told an audience of some 150 students at Wilbur Wright Community College on this city’s northwest side. But, he warned, those improvements are merely part of the short-term business cycle.

“Underneath that,” he said, are “20 years of problems.”

“We may or may not be coming out of the recession,” Clinton said. “There are some good indicators that we are, but the long-term problems are there and that is what I have to address.”

Clinton’s statements reflect a basic dilemma that he faces: He relied on a bad economy to help him get elected. And while he would like to see improvements, he must rely on continued worries about the economy to get his programs enacted over what is certain to be fierce opposition from vested interests in Washington. In addition, of course, having defeated President Bush on the issue of the economy, Clinton would like to be able to say that economic improvements occurred on his watch, not on that of his predecessor.

With the economy showing steady signs of improvement, those factors have impelled Clinton and his aides to try with increasing diligence to focus public attention on the long-term trends of economic stagnation–and his long-term agenda to change them–rather than on talk of a short-term stimulus to help an economy that may well be moving out of recession on its own.

The emphasis on the long-term agenda will be central to the economic conference that Clinton plans to convene in Little Rock next week. Aides envision the conclave in large part as a tutorial to explain to Americans why the country needs Clinton’s agenda of raising taxes, revamping the health care system, and increasing spending on education, training and new technologies to reduce the deficit.

In answering questions from the students, Clinton provided the most detailed view since the election of how he intends to form a coherent agenda out of the many promises he made in the campaign.

Repeatedly he referred to two key proposals: His plan for a national service trust fund to let Americans finance their educations by borrowing money and paying part of it back through public-service work, and his plans to reform the nation’s health care system.

Changing the health care system is the one thing that he would do “if I could wave a magic wand,” Clinton said, reminding the students of the effect that rising health care costs have had on the ability of American companies to compete.

At the same time, the session with the students showcased a shift in Clinton’s rhetoric from the language of the campaign to the sterner realities of governing. During the campaign, Clinton struggled against his natural tendency to give four-part answers to all questions. Now he appears to have given up that fight.

And repeatedly, as the students asked Clinton for more federal money for program after program, the President-elect, mindful of the massive deficit he soon will inherit, responded with a polite version of “no.”

One woman asked if he would provide special incentives for minority students to attend college. No, Clinton said, the goal should be to make loans and scholarship funds broadly available and then recruit in minority communities. A nursing student asked about special incentives to encourage people to pursue nursing careers. No, Clinton replied, noting that nursing salaries have gone up because of shortages.

Still another noted that some of the classes he wanted to take have been canceled due to a lack of funds. Could the federal government help? he asked. “The federal government, with the huge deficits we are now facing, does not have the capacity to take over substantial funding of the community college system,” Clinton replied.

Despite that, Clinton seemed to win the student’s enthusiasm simply by having shown up.

“He could have just gone to Princeton or Yale and spoken in their auditorium. Instead he came here,” said Erika Marie Dimitrijevic, a 35-year-old mother who attends an ultrasound training program at the school. “I think he wants to get closer to the people.”

Dimitrijevic is in many ways representative of the school, whose average student is a 31-year-old woman. Roughly 50% of the 14,000 Wright students are white, while 20% are black and 30% are Latino. About 15% are women who head households.

The President-elect also used the occasion to score some points with the area’s political leaders, who were crucial in his battles to win his party’s nomination and to defeat President Bush. They will be equally important to whatever success he manages in the next four years. Clinton took time to meet with Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, along with Daley’s brother William, who has been touted in Chicago as a potential secretary of transportation in the Clinton Administration.

And in speaking to the students, Clinton made a point of praising their local congressman, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, whose panel will have jurisdiction over much of Clinton’s economic and health care proposals and whose help Clinton has courted assiduously in recent weeks.

If he succeeds in changing the nation’s health care system, “it will be in no small measure because of Danny Rostenkowski’s leadership,” he said.

Later in the day, Clinton arrived in Washington and courted members of Congress by attending a reception for newly elected freshmen.

He will spend most of today on Capitol Hill, meeting with freshmen congressmen again as well as with congressional committee chairmen.

Clinton’s attempts to woo members of Congress, both the powerful and the new, are in sharp–and deliberate–contrast to the approach of Jimmy Carter, the last Democratic President, whose relations with Capitol Hill were tense and troubled. Clinton and his aides, by contrast, have taken every possible opportunity to try to bring members of Congress onto his team, an effort which is likely to include appointing several to his Cabinet.

The first of those expected Cabinet appointments are expected later this week.

As Clinton left the White House guest quarters at Blair House Monday night, en route to a party at the home of Washington Post Co. Chairwoman Katharine Graham, he was accompanied by several members of his transition team and Lawrence Summers, a World Bank economist, who is considered a possible choice for economic security adviser.

After a scheduled return to Little Rock tonight, Clinton likely will resign from the post of governor Wednesday, closing a 12-year chapter of his life. He is also expected to release new ethics guidelines for his Administration.

Researcher Tracy Shryer in Chicago contributed to this story.

Ducks lose to Golden Knights

From Kevin Baxter: The carriage has turned back into a pumpkin, the ballgown is once again just tattered clothing and all the horses have gone back to being mice.

The Ducks’ Cinderella run through the NHL playoffs came to an end Thursday in a 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series. And the end came well before midnight, with goals by Mitch Marner and Brett Howden in the first 8½ minutes giving Vegas a commanding lead before many in the late-arriving weeknight crowd had made it to their seats at the Honda Center.

The Golden Knights will move on to the Western Conference final with the Colorado Avalanche next week while the Ducks will move on to summer. But it’s the team’s latest start on the offseason since 2017, the last time the Ducks made it to the second round of the playoffs. So even if the glass slipper didn’t fit this time, the Ducks have reason to celebrate.

“I think our team, we learned, myself included, just how to play in those games,” said winger Troy Terry, the only remaining link to the Ducks’ last playoff team. “That’s kind of the difference in some of these games, a team like Vegas, learning how to manage those close games. It stings right now, but I think I speak for everyone that we’ll be hungry going into the summer.

“It was fun to play in this. It’s been a long time.”

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL playoffs schedule

Ducks playoffs schedule

Second round

at Vegas 3, Ducks 1 (summary)
Ducks 3, at Vegas 1 (summary)
Vegas 6, at Ducks 2 (summary)
at Ducks 4, Vegas 3 (summary)
at Vegas 3, Ducks 2 (OT) (summary)
Vegas 5, at Ducks 1 (summary)

Dodgers defeat the Giants

From Liana Handler: You better run. Those three words were the only thought racing through pinch-hitter Alex Call’s head when he laced a pitch from San Francisco Giants reliever Matt Gage into right field.

The two-run single, which gave the Dodgers the lead, sparked a three-run rally in the sixth inning that concluded when Miguel Rojas drove in Call on a single to center field.

“It felt like I hit it,” said Call, who initially hesitated to run after making contact. “But I guess I just didn’t quite see it off the bat, and I’m like looking for it, keep looking up, and then all of a sudden I hear the crowd get really loud.”

Call’s single helped the Dodgers beat the Giants 5-2 on Thursday night, reclaiming first in the National League West after San Diego lost to Milwaukee. The Dodgers also escaped a third straight series loss at home ahead of their weekend road series against the Angels.

Call wasn’t the only Dodger who thrived under pressure. Designated hitter Will Smith, whom Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described earlier in the day as “unflappable,” hit from the leadoff spot for the first time in his career and homered to right-center field in the first inning to set the tone for the series-splitting win.

“That was nice, huh?” Roberts said. “Like I said before the game, just to be able to plug him in, you feel confident that no matter what, he’s going to give you his best. And I didn’t expect a homer, but it was a good way to start.”

Continue reading here

Kiké Hernández ‘little bit shocked’ by reception in Albuquerque while on rehab assignment

Dodgers pitcher, horse racing jockeys linked to cockfighting in Puerto Rico

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Rams schedule

From Gary Klein: The Rams will begin the season by traveling about 8,000 air miles to play against the San Francisco 49ers in Australia.

They aim to end the season playing in Super Bowl LXI on their home turf at SoFi Stadium.

The Sept. 10 opener — a Thursday night in the United States and the morning of Sept. 11 in Melbourne — is the first of 17 games on a schedule announced Thursday by the NFL.

With reigning NFL most valuable player Matthew Stafford and a roster fortified by the addition of All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, the Rams are regarded as a Super Bowl favorite. And their marquee status is reflected in a schedule that includes the maximum six prime-time appearances, an increase of two over last season when the Rams finished 12-5 and advanced to the NFC championship game before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks.

Fans will have to wait nearly the entire season to see the Rams play the Seahawks. The first game between the NFC West rivals is Week 16 on Christmas night in Seattle. Two games later, on a date to be determined, they will play in the regular-season finale at SoFi Stadium.

Rams schedule

Sept. 10, San Francisco at Australia, 5:35 p.m. (Netflix)
Sept. 21, NY Giants, , 5:15 p.m. (ESPN)
Sept. 27, at Denver, 5:20 p.m., (NBC)
Oct. 4, at Philadelphia, 10 a.m. (Fox)
Oct. 12, Buffalo, 5:15 p.m. (ESPN)
Oct. 18, Arizona, 1:05 p.m., (Fox)
Oct. 25, at Las Vegas, 1:25 p.m. (Fox)
Nov. 1, chargers, 1:05 p.m. (Fox)
Nov. 8, at Washington, 10 a.m. (Fox)
Nov. 15, at Arizona, 1:05 p.m. (CBS)
Nov. 22, off week
Nov. 25, Green Bay, 5 p.m. (Netflix)
Dec. 3, Kansas City, 5:15 p.m. (Amazon Prime)
Dec. 13, at San Francisco, 1:25 p.m. (Fox)
Dec. 20, Dallas, 1:25 p.m. (CBS)
Dec. 25, at Seattle, 5:15 p.m. (Fox)
Week 17, at Tampa Bay, TBD
Week 18, Seattle, TBD

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Chargers schedule

From Sam Farmer: The Chargers essentially lived on an airplane last season, traveling more miles than any other NFL team.

This season, they will have a long runway followed by a dramatically sharp ascent.

They open against three first-time head coaches in succession, then face four Super Bowl-winning head coaches in a row.

Their first three games are against Arizona (Mike LaFleur), Las Vegas (Klint Kubiak) and Buffalo (Joe Brady), before squaring off against Seattle (Mike Macdonald), Denver (Sean Payton), Kansas City (Andy Reid) and — after a week off — the Rams (Sean McVay).

And it’s not as if the Chargers will be homebodies, as they have four coast-to-coast trips with road games at the Bills, Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Miami. So they will still be racking up the frequent-flier miles.

The NFL made an effort to put some space between those cross-country games for the Chargers.

“We’re always being sensitive, trying to make sure we’re not pingponging a team across the country with travel to the East Coast and back,” said Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s executive vice president of media distribution. “So we try to make sure those trips are broken up where we can, and we’re not doing too much of that back and forth.”

Chargers schedule

Sept. 13, Arizona, 1:25 p.m. (CBS)
Sept. 20, Las Vegas, 1:05 p.m. (CBS)
Sept. 27, at Buffalo, 10 a.m. (Fox)
Oct. 4, at Seattle, 1:25 p.m. (CBS)
Oct. 11, Denver, 1:05 p.m. (CBS)
Oct. 18, at Kansas City, 1:25 p.m. (CBS)
Oct. 25: Bye week
Nov. 1, at Rams, 1:05 p.m. (Fox)
Nov. 8, Houston, 1:05 p.m. (CBS)
Nov. 16, at Baltimore, 5:15 p.m. (ESPN)
Nov. 22, NY Jets, 1:05 p.m. (Fox)
Nov. 29, New England, 5:20 p.m. (NBC)
Dec. 6, at Tampa Bay, 10 a.m. (CBS)
Dec. 13, at Las Vegas, 1:05 p.m. (CBS)
Dec.17, San Francisco, 5:15 p.m. (Amazon Prime)
Dec. 27, at Miami, 10 a.m. (Fox)
Week 17, Kansas City, TBD
Week 18, at Denver, TBD

Continue reading here

Chargers couldn’t resist making references to Mike Vrabel, Dianna Russini in schedule video

Lisa Leslie to get a statue

From Marisa Ingemi: Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie didn’t expect to ever get a statue outside Crypto.com Arena. After all, it had been 15 years since her jersey retirement and no other Sparks player was featured among the Lakers and Kings heroes outside the area.

After years of hearing from fans that she deserve to be immortalized, Leslie learned she would join Sue Bird in Seattle as the second WNBA player to be honored with a statue at a franchise’s home arena.

“One thing I never had on my bucket list was a statue,” Leslie told The Times on Thursday. “I grew up seeing the statues of some of the amazing Lakers, so I’m just really grateful to be alive and to be one of the first, especially in the WNBA for L.A. Sparks. It means a lot to me, and I’m really hoping that our community will really rally around it.”

The Sparks announced Thursday morning that Leslie will receive a statue to be unveiled during a ceremony on Sept. 20 before a game against the Portland Fire

Continue reading here

This day in sports history

1937 — War Admiral, ridden by Charles Kurtsinger, battles Pompoon from the top of the stretch and wins the Preakness Stakes by a head.

1948 — Citation, ridden by Eddie Arcaro, wins the Preakness Stakes by 5½ lengths over Vulcan’s Forge.

1952 — Johnny Longden becomes second jockey to ride 4,000 winners.

1953 — In his first world heavyweight title defense, Rocky Marciano KOs former champion Jersey Joe Walcott in the 1st round at Chicago Stadium.

1963 — Tottenham Hotspur of England win 3rd European Cup winner’s Cup against Atlético Madrid of Spain 5-1 at Rotterdam.

1971 — Canonero II, ridden by Gustavo Avila, captures the Preakness Stakes by 1½ lengths over Eastern Fleet.

1985 — Everton of England wins 25th European Cup Winner’s Cup against Rapid Wien of Austria 3-1 in Rotterdam.

1990 — Petr Klima scores at 15:13 of the third overtime to end the longest game in Stanley Cup Final history for the Edmonton Oilers — a 3-2 series-opening victory over the Boston Bruins in a game delayed 25 minutes because of a lighting problem.

1991 — Manchester United of England win 31th European Cup Winner’s Cup against FC Barcelona 2-1 in Rotterdam.

1994 — LPGA Championship Women’s Golf, DuPont CC: Laura Davies of England wins her second major title, three strokes ahead of runner-up Alice Ritzman.

1998 — Notah Begay III joins Al Geiberger and Chip Beck as the only players to shoot a 59 on a U.S. pro tour. He does it at the Nike Old Dominion Open.

1999 — Charismatic wins the Preakness and a chance to become the 12th Triple Crown champion, finishing 1½ lengths ahead of Menifee. It’s the 12th Triple Crown race victory for trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

2002 — 10th UEFA Champions League Final: Real Madrid beats Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 at Glasgow.

2003 — The three-year championship reign of the Lakers ends. Tim Duncan has 37 points and 16 rebounds, and Tony Parker adds 27 points to help the San Antonio Spurs overpower the Lakers 110-82 to win the Western Conference semifinal series 4-2.

2004 — With one breathtaking surge, Smarty Jones posts a record 11½-length victory in the Preakness. Rock Hard Ten, in his fourth start, finishes strong for second ahead of Eddington.

2005 — Annika Sorenstam cruises to a 10-stroke win in the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship, finishing with a 23-under 265 total, matching the biggest 72-hole win of her career.

2010 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London (88,335): Chelsea beats Portsmouth,1-0; Didier Drogba scores 59′ winner; Blues’ 6th title.

2011 — Finland scores five late goals to beat Sweden 6-1 and claim its second title at the hockey world championships. The Finns also beat rival Sweden in the 1995 final.

2011 — English FA Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London (88,335): Chelsea beats Portsmouth,1-0; Didier Drogba scores 59′ winner; Blues’ 6th title.

2015 — Stephen Curry scores 32 points, including a 62-footer to end the third quarter, and Golden State advances to its first Western Conference finals since 1976 by beating Memphis 108-95. The Warriors the first team since 1985 to hit 14 or more threes in three consecutive playoff games.

2016 — PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: World #1 and reigning PGA Champion Jason Day of Australia leads wire-to-wire to win by four strokes ahead of Kevin Chappell.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1918 — Washington’s Walter Johnson pitched a 1-0, 18-inning victory over Lefty Williams of the Chicago White Sox, who also went the distance.

1919 — After 12 scoreless innings, Cincinnati scored 10 runs off Al Mamaux in the 13th to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 10-0.

1933 — The major leagues advance the cut-down date a month, limiting rosters to 23 players today instead of June 15th.

1935 — Lou Gehrig steals home in a 4-0 Yankee win over the Tigers. It is his 15th and last steal of home, all of which were double steals.

1941 — Joe DiMaggio began his 56-game hitting streak against Chicago’s Eddie Smith, going 1-for-4 with one RBI.

1944 — Clyde Shoun of the Reds tossed a no-hitter against the Boston Braves for a 1-0 victory in Cincinnati. Chuck Aleno’s only home run of the year was the difference.

1951 — At Fenway Park, the Red Sox celebrate the 50th anniversary of their first American League game in Boston.

1952 — Detroit’s Virgil Trucks pitched the first of his two no-hitters for the season, beating the Washington Senators 1-0. Vic Wertz’s two-out homer in the ninth off Bob Porterfield won the game.

1960 — Don Cardwell became the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in his first start after being traded. The Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 at Wrigley Field.

1973 — Nolan Ryan of the Angels pitched the first of a record seven no-hitters, beating the Kansas City Royals 3-0. Ryan tossed his second gem two months later.

1978 — His 7th-inning, two-run homer moves Willie Stargell past the late Roberto Clemente into sole possession of second place on Pittsburgh’s all-time RBI list, his total of 1,307 now trailing only Honus Wagner’s 1,475.

1981 — Len Barker of Cleveland pitched the first perfect game in 13 years as the Indians beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0 at Municipal Stadium.

1993 — The Montreal Expos retired their first number, No. 10 for Rusty Staub.

1996 — Chicago outfielder Tony Phillips went into the stands to confront a heckling fan during the White Sox’s 20-8 victory at Milwaukee. Phillips, who already had changed into street clothes after being taken out of the game in the sixth inning, went after a 23-year-old fan in the left-field bleachers.

2005 — Morgan Ensberg hit three home runs and finished 4-for-4 with five RBIs in Houston’s 9-0 victory over San Francisco.

2005 — New York’s Tino Martinez hit two homers and drove in three runs in the Yankees’ 6-4 win over Oakland. The two homers gave Martinez eight homers in his last eight games.

2018 — Two days after being sidelined by a broken bone in his hand, 2B Robinson Cano of the Mariners is suspended for 80 days for testing positive for a banned substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

2019 — Pitcher Edwin Jackson makes history by playing for his 14th team when he starts today’s game for the Blue Jays against the Giants.

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.