Black

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday put off ruling on a second Black majority congressional district in Louisiana, instead ordering new arguments in the fall.

The case is being closely watched because at arguments in March several of the court’s conservative justices suggested they could vote to throw out the map and make it harder, if not impossible, to bring redistricting lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act.

The case involves the interplay between race and politics in drawing political boundaries in front of a conservative-led court that has been skeptical of considerations of race in public life.

Justice Clarence Thomas noted in a brief dissent from Friday’s order that he would have decided the case now and imposed limits on “race-based redistricting.”

The order keeps alive a fight over political power stemming from the 2020 census halfway to the next one. Two maps were blocked by lower courts, and the Supreme Court intervened twice. Last year, the justices ordered the new map to be used in the 2024 elections, while the legal case proceeded.

The call for new arguments probably means that the district currently represented by Democratic Rep. Cleo Fields probably will remain intact for the 2026 elections because the high court has separately been reluctant to upend districts as elections draw near.

The state has changed its election process to replace its so-called jungle primary with partisan primary elections in the spring, followed by a November showdown between the party nominees.

The change means candidates can start gathering signatures in September to get on the primary ballot for 2026.

The state’s Republican-dominated legislature drew a new congressional map in 2022 to account for population shifts reflected in the 2020 census. But the changes effectively maintained the status quo of five Republican-leaning majority white districts and one Democratic-leaning majority Black district in a state in which Black people make up a third of the population.

Civil rights advocates won a lower-court ruling that the districts likely discriminated against Black voters.

The Supreme Court put the ruling on hold while it took a similar case from Alabama. The justices allowed both states to use congressional maps in the 2022 elections even though both had been ruled likely discriminatory by federal judges.

The high court eventually affirmed the ruling from Alabama, which led to a new map and a second district that could elect a Black lawmaker. The justices returned the Louisiana case to federal court, with the expectation that new maps would be in place for the 2024 elections.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave lawmakers in Louisiana a deadline of early 2024 to draw a new map or face the possibility of a court-imposed map.

The state complied and drew a new map, with two Black majority districts.

But white Louisiana voters claimed in their separate lawsuit challenging the new districts that race was the predominant factor driving the new map. A three-judge court agreed.

Louisiana appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in its final month of debris removal in Altadena. It has already cleared thousands of properties destroyed in January’s devastating Eaton fire and is working on the toxic ash and refuse that remains. Once the immediacy of that task fades, years of accounting for the neighborhood’s many losses lie ahead, as does the ongoing rebuilding.

The California African American Museum is contributing to that work with “Ode to ’Dena: Black Artistic Legacies of Altadena,” an exhibition on view through Oct. 12. The exhibition — organized in just three months in response to the fire — is curated by Dominique Gallery founder Dominique Clayton. It seeks to illustrate the importance of the unincorporated foothill community to Black artists including midcentury figures like Charles White, as well as contemporary practitioners including Martine Syms and Kenturah Davis.

Between 1910 and 1970, approximately 6 million Black Americans migrated from the South to other parts of the U.S.. In Southern California, Altadena became an attractive place for Black families to settle. The area didn’t participate in the redlining practices of other neighborhoods, making it a relatively welcoming place.

Many of those residents were artists and musicians, including the famed assemblage artist and former director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, John Outterbridge, whose home and studio burned in the fire. (Outterbridge died in 2020.)

In an online description of the “Ode to ’Dena” exhibition, CAAM notes that Altadena was “hailed as the epicenter of Black arts activity in Los Angeles County,” during the 1950s and ’60s, although that artistic center of gravity later shifted toward Watts after the 1965 Watts Rebellion. Nonetheless, CAAM notes, “Altadena continued to develop as a vibrant and creative haven with a distinctive Black cultural imprint. Since then, Altadena and the adjacent city of Pasadena have served as home to an extraordinary array of Black artists, educators, musicians, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and activists.”

In addition to Outterbridge, White, Syms and Davis, the CAAM exhibit includes work by Betye Saar, Richmond Barthé, Mark Steven Greenfield, Nikki High, Bennie Maupin, Marcus Leslie Singleton, La Monte Westmoreland and Keni “Arts” Davis.

The Times’ Noah Goldberg wrote a feature on Davis after the Eaton fire — highlighting how the retired 75-year-old Hollywood set painter spent 40 years creating watercolors of his beloved neighborhood. After the destruction, he began painting the wreckage.

For more information on CAAM and the exhibition, click here.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt here with an important Essential Arts update: From today forward, this newsletter will now run on Friday only — rather than Monday and Friday. Here’s this week’s slew of arts news.

Best bets: On our radar this week

The Euterpides & Serenade
It’s the last two weekends to catch young composer Alma Deutscher’s debut ballet, “The Euterpides,” a world-premiere collaboration with American Contemporary Ballet Director Lincoln Jones. The work is paired with George Balanchine’s “Serenade,” set to music by Tchaikovsky.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; June 26-28. Television City, 200 N. Fairfax Ave., Stage 33. acbdances.com

KCRW and CAAM Summer Nights
What better way to kick off summer than an all-ages dance party? In between live sets from guest DJ Damar Davis and KCRW DJ Novena Carmel cool your heels in California African American Museum’s galleries, currently featuring solo exhibitions by Awol Erizku, Darol Olu Kae, Nellie Mae Rowe and Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, plus the aforementioned “Ode to ’Dena” and a group exhibition of artists inspired by the concept of reparations. There will also be food trucks, a beer garden and crafts. Best of all? It’s free with an RSVP.
7-11 p.m. Friday. California African American Museum, 600 State Drive, Exposition Park. caamuseum.org

Patrick Dailey, center, and the W. Crimm Singers will perform Saturday at BroadStage in Santa Monica.

(BroadStage)

Sing the Story: Celebrating Black Artistry From Gospel To Soul
Patrick Dailey and the W. Crimm Singers, an ensemble devoted to the Black experience and its expression through music, take to the BroadStage for a genre-blending evening featuring spiritual medleys, soul classics and more. Part of a series of blues rhythms curated by the Reverend Shawn Amos.
8 p.m. Saturday. The Plaza, 1310 11th St. Santa Monica. broadstage.org/

Wendy Red Star, Indian Summer, 2016, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of Loren G. Lipson.

(Wendy Red Star)

Before You Now: Capturing the Self in Portraiture
The Vincent Price Museum hosts a selection of photographs, prints, drawings, videos and installation art from LACMA’s collections that explores how American artists see and present themselves in their work. Laura Aguilar, Kwame Brathwaite, Kalli Arte Collective, Jennifer Moon, Wendy Red Star, Roger Shimomura, Cindy Sherman, Rodrigo Valenzuela and June Wayne are among the more than 50 artists redefining and expanding the concept of identity.
Saturday through Aug. 30. Vincent Price Art Museum, East Los Angeles College, 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park. vincentpriceartmuseum.org

Woody De Othello, “Still Life (Luggage and Things in Hand, Ready to Go),” 2020. Acrylic, gouache, watercolor and crayon on paper, 25.75 x 20 x 1 in. Private collection.

(Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman Gallery.)

2025 California Biennial: Desperate, Scared, But Social
The latest edition of the large-scale, Golden State-focused exhibition explores the “richness of late adolescence, a stage of life full of hope and potential yet fraught with awkwardness, anxiety, and myriad pressures.” The show’s 12 featured artists include well-established veterans and some who are still teenagers: Seth Bogart; punk rock band Emily’s Sassy Lime (Emily Ryan, Amy Yao, Wendy Yao); rock band the Linda Lindas (Lucia de la Garza, Mila de la Garza, Eloise Won and Bela Salazar); Miranda July; Stanya Kahn; Heesoo Kwon; Woody De Othello; Laura Owens; Brontez Purnell; Griselda Rosas; Deanna Templeton; and Joey Terrill. The Biennial also features a presentation of paintings from the Gardena High School Art Collection, an assemblage of California Impressionism that began in 1919, and a program curated by present-day teenagers of works drawn from the Orange County Museum of Art collection.
Saturday through Jan. 4. Orange County Museum of Art, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. ocma.art

When the Violin
Choreographer/dancer Yamini Kalluri joins violinist Vijay Gupta for an evening of music by JS Bach and Reena Esmail. The program combines poetry, music and a combination of modern and traditional Kuchipudi dance.
7:30 p.m. Saturday. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. sierramadreplayhouse.org

Georgia O’Keeffe, 1918, by Alfred Stieglitz.

(National Gallery of Art)

Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light
A new documentary on the iconic American artist from Academy Award-winning director Paul Wagner (“The Stone Carver”). The film covers O’Keeffe’s life from Jazz Age New York to the New Mexico desert and features music by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch and narration by Hugh Dancy, with Claire Danes as the voice of O’Keeffe.
7 p.m. Tuesday. Laemmle Royal, 11523 Santa Monica Blvd.; Aug. 2, Laemmle Newhall, Laemmle Glendale, Laemmle Town Center 5, Encino, Laemmle Monica Film Center and Laemmle Claremont 5. laemmle.com/film/georgia-okeeffe-brightness-light

Culture news

Kim Sajet, director of the National Portrait Gallery, in 2017.

(Kevin Wolf / AP Images for National Portrait Gallery)

The drama surrounding President Trump’s purported firing of National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet reached a conclusion last week when Sajet decided to step down on her own terms. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to lead the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. This was not an easy decision, but I believe it is the right one,” Sajet wrote in a note to staff shared in an email by the Smithsonian Institution’s leader, Lonnie Bunch. Sajet’s announcement came two weeks after Trump claimed to have fired her for being, “a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.” About a week later, the Smithsonian Institution released a statement asserting its independence in the face of Trump’s order, but that seems to not have been enough to persuade Sajet to stay.

The SoCal scene

Noah Davis, “1975 (8),” 2013, oil on canvas

(Kerry McFate)

The work of Seattle-born, L.A.-based artist Noah Davis — who died of a rare form of liposarcoma at the the age of 32 — is the subject of Times art critic Christopher Knight’s latest review. The Hammer Museum is staging a retrospective of Davis’ paintings. It’s only composed of about three dozen pieces, but Knight says it’s more than enough to show that “when Davis was good, he was very good indeed.” It is clear, Knight notes, that had his life not been cut tragically short, Davis was well on his way to further accomplishment. “The show affirms his gift for what it was: Davis was a painter’s painter, a deeply thoughtful and idiosyncratic Black voice heard by other artists and aficionados, even as his work was in invigorating development,” Knight writes.

The 2025 Ojai Music Festival was one of the best, writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed, of the annual event in the bucolic Ventura County town. Founded nearly 80 years ago by an East Coast music lover named John Leopold Jergens Bauer, the event was originally meant to be California’s answer to the Salzburg Festival. That aspiration never quite came to pass, but over the years the progressive gathering staged mostly at the Libbey Bowl has come to embody a groundbreaking ideal of new music. This year’s music director was the flutist Claire Chase, who, according to Swed, “collected concerned composers on a quest for a kind of eco-sonics capable of conjuring up the pleasure of nature and, in the process, saving our sanity.”

Last Saturday, Esa-Pekka Salonen, “conducted his San Francisco Symphony in a staggering performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, known as the ‘Resurrection.’ It was a ferocious performance and an exalted one of gripping intensity,” Swed wrote in a glowing review of the legendary conductor’s final show with the troubled orchestra he opted to leave when he decided not to renew his contact after five years of serving as its music director. “The audience responded with a stunned and tumultuous standing ovation,” Swed notes.

Times reporter Kailyn Brown headed to the Music Center on Sunday — a day after the city’s massive “No Kings” protests — to talk to audience members who attended L.A. Opera’s “Rigoletto” and Center Theater Group’s “Hamlet” despite the recent tumult and nighttime curfew in downtown L.A. In a series of interviews, accompanied by smiling photos, Brown’s reporting shows what many Angelenos have been trying to tell friends and family outside of the city: It’s not as bad as it may seem on your social media feeds. Downtown L.A. is more or less back to normal. And besides: It’s never a bad idea to show up in support of the arts.

The marquee for the UCLA Nimoy Theater.

(Misha Gravenor)

CAP UCLA announced its 2025-26 season — its second under its new Executive and Artistic Director Edgar Miramontes. This season’s offerings include 30 performances featuring more than 100 international artists. “As borders become more intensified, Miramontes is committed to continued international exchange of ideas and learnings to encourage more empathy, connection, and shared understanding through presentations by acclaimed artists from around the world, spanning genre-defying jazz, Afro-Latin fusion, 21st-century classical music, and exciting new works in dance and theater,” the season release explains. Shows include: the Mexican collective Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol; basoonist and composer Joy Guidry; the jazz singer Lucía; trumpeter and composer Milena Casado; and Cuban musicians Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martínez, along with many others. “This season is more than a series of performances — it is a call to community,” Miramontes wrote in a note to patrons. “Exciting new theater, revolutionary music, and dance remind us that unity is not an ideal — it is an act. The stage becomes our platform, our laboratory, our refuge. Here, we witness. We reckon. We rejoice.” For tickets and the full schedule, click here.

Playwright Michael Shayan has released a new Audible Original play titled “Cruising.” It’s directed by Robert O’Hara, who was nominated for a Tony Award for directing “Slave Play” and is also in the midst of presenting his world-premiere adaptation of “Hamlet” at the Mark Taper Forum. The comedy follows an aspiring gay playwright who — suffering from a summer of writer’s block and apathy in his Encino apartment — embarks on a flamboyant cruise in his imagination, only to discover that his real life is falling apart around him. “Cruising” features the voices of Christine Baranski, Tituss Burgess, Cecily Strong, André de Shields and Andrew Rannells, and can be streamed here.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra announced its 2025-26 season, which continues this year at the Wallis in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. Offerings include a concert of classics led by Music Director Jaime Martín, featuring the German French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt; guest conductor Dinis Sousa with German violinist Isabelle Faust; violinist Anthony Marwood; pianist Richard Goode playing Mozart; a Brahms concert; a Baroque salon featuring harpsichordist Pierre Hantaï; and a performance by soprano Amanda Forsythe. For tickets and more info, click here.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

What? You say you’d like a good beef roll for lunch? Me too! Here’s a list for where to find the best eight in the city by Times Food columnist Jenn Harris.

Rhiannon Giddens is down at the river, carrying a flame of heritage, and she’s inviting anyone who wants to join her to come down and light their own wicks.

Rivers are traditionally sites of salvation, as well as play. Last summer, Giddens was making her new album of traditional banjo and fiddle tunes with Justin Robinson, “What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow,” and they were recording a few songs at Mill Prong House in Red Springs, N.C. Stepping inside the house, built on a plantation in 1795, Giddens recoiled at the intensity she felt.

“I knew who was working these fields,” she says. “I knew who was serving in this house — and it was people who looked like me. And then seeing up on the wall, like, a reunion photo of these old white dudes who went to Chapel Hill, at the end of the Civil War, and one of them had my Black family’s last name from Mebane [N.C.] … I was just like: I can’t right now. I had to run out to the river.”

In a moment captured by a photographer, she was crouching by the water just before it started to rain, “and I’m thinking: how many people have come down to this river for respite? How many people in the history of this plantation — turned manor house, turned private property — have come to exactly this spot, distressed over whatever reason?”

Giddens carries the weight of this on her shoulders — of the distress, but also of the joyful culture and music-making of her ancestors — and she extends an open invitation to audiences to share and learn their stories and their culture. She did so at her inaugural Biscuits & Banjos Festival in her native North Carolina, and she’s doing it in her current Old-Time Revue tour — which will make a special blockbuster stop at the Hollywood Bowl [on June 18].

The program will feature Giddens playing with Hollywood banjoists Steve Martin and Ed Helms, along with a reunion of the all-female banjo supergroup Our Native Daughters. “So many banjos,” she says. “This evening is going to be amazing. I wanted to call it a ‘Banjo Jamboree,’ but they wouldn’t let me,” she laughs, speaking to The Times via Zoom.

Balancing laughter and sorrow seems to come easily to Giddens, 48, who has been on a serious mission to rekindle the legacy of the banjo and string band traditions as authentically Black creations ever since she met fiddle player Joe Thompson in 2004 and became a disciple. She’s referred to as an “elder” in the “Blackbird” liner notes, which doesn’t bother her: “To an 18-year-old, I am an elder,” she says. “I’m almost 50, and we are the half generation. We’re the point five, because our parents didn’t pick this up.”

From the Carolina Chocolate Drops to her solo music, from composing the Pulitzer-winning opera “Omar” to helming the Silkroad Ensemble, Giddens is at the fore of a movement of Black artists — including Beyoncé, whose country album “Cowboy Carter” features Giddens on banjo — reclaiming their cultural heritage and making it sing again.

Rhiannon Giddens

(Rick Loomis / for the Los Angeles Times)

A river (of sorts) played a role in another piece of Black Southern iconography this year — in the climax of “Sinners.” Giddens was a musical consultant on Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster film and contributed her banjo to the song “Old Corn Liquor” on its soundtrack. She was also meant to appear onscreen in the central juke joint — her Chocolate Drops bandmate, Justin Robinson, does — but she couldn’t make it work with her busy schedule. She admittedly hasn’t seen the film (“I don’t like horror movies, so I actually don’t want to see it”) but she’s still a fan.

“I think what they’ve opened up with the whole conceit behind it is super important,” Giddens says.

In a way, “Sinners” is a vampiric, IMAX-sized version of her own project, in that it’s about how so much of our popular musical culture was invented by Black folks in the South and co-opted by white performers (whether Elvis, the Rolling Stones or the country and folk music industries) — but also about how music can be a time machine, a way to seance with people up the river of history.

“Beyoncé, ‘Sinners,’ and then, in its own small way, Biscuits & Banjos is like this little triangle of a cultural movement,” Giddens says, “which I didn’t see coming, and I’m just super grateful. Because it’s been a desert. … We’re all toiling in our corners, on our own, and it kind of feels like we’re carrying all of this on our own.”

Her Durham festival, which took place in April, drew musical legends — Taj Mahal, Christian McBride, the Legendary Ingramettes — and basically “most of my favorite people making music right now,” says Giddens. She also judged a biscuit competition and participated in contra dances, which is what got her into this music in the first place.

“People were just really ready,” she says, “ready to come and feel good, and to celebrate our humanity together.”

For Giddens, the stakes couldn’t be higher. She and Robinson learned their tunes and their art directly from Thompson, who died in 2012; they were playing his music together in Ojai recently “when it just hit me how important it was what we were doing,” she says, “like how complete the sound was together. I said: ‘If one of us gets hit by a bus, this tradition is dead.’ ”

That’s why she wanted to record the tunes they inherited from Thompson, as well as from Etta Baker and other North Carolina string band players — hence the “Blackbird” album. But she also insists that the only way to truly pass the flame is through playing together in person.

Rhiannon Giddens crouching by river near Mill Prong House in Red Springs, N.C.contemplating the historic struggle of her slave ancestors. “I’m thinking: how many people have come down to this river for respite?” she said. “How many people in the history of this plantation — turned manor house, turned private property — have come to exactly this spot, distressed over whatever reason?”

(Karen Cox)

“I know that learning from Joe forms the center of my character as a musician,” she says. “I learned stuff off of recordings, fine, but I have something to go back to that was a living transmission. And I just think you should have something of that, especially in this day and age.”

Giddens has passed her tradition down to many students in the past 20 years, including her nephew Justin “Demeanor” Harrington — who plays banjo and the bones, and also raps, and who is traveling with her Old-Time Revue.

This will be Giddens’ first time at the Bowl; likewise for Amythyst Kiah, a banjo player from Johnson City, Tenn., and one of Our Native Daughters. That project began in 2019 as a one-off album recorded in a small Louisiana studio, of songs inspired by the transatlantic slave trade and the suffering and often unheard voices of Black women.

“Music has a way of disarming,” says Kiah, “so it allows for people to be able to engage with the subject matter in an easier way than just talking about it.”

The fierce foursome — which also includes Allison Russell and Leyla McCalla — toured with their songs before the pandemic, and later brought their banjos to Carnegie Hall in 2022. “Now we’re playing in a stadium,” says Kiah, “which is insane.”

The star-studded Bowl show is “not what I usually do,” says Giddens. “It’s stepping out a little bit for me, not to mention the size of the place, which is kind of freaking me out.”

But really it’s just another river — or rather, the same river Giddens has been inviting folks to join her at for the last 20 years.

Heading into the final stretch of the 2024 election, it seemed every cable news program had a segment dedicated to this one question: What will Black men do?

Progressives on the ground were voicing concerns about Black male voter turnout long before the 2022 midterms. But because the overturning of Roe vs. Wade enabled Democrats to avoid a “red wave” then, the urgency regarding Black men was muted. That quickly changed once former Vice President Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee and media personalities such as Stephen A. Smith and Charlamagne tha God began questioning her qualifications without a hint of irony.

In the end, nearly 75% of Black men voted for Harris, and all of those cable news segments about the concerns of that voting bloc went away. That’s unfortunate because in many ways the question at the center of it all — “What will Black men do?” — is more relevant today than it was seven months ago. Since President Trump has retaken office, federal civil rights offices have been gutted, grants for minority business programs canceled and the names of enslavers are making a comeback on military bases. Cable news may be waiting until the next election to talk about the concerns of Black men, but the Black community can’t wait that long. Khalil Thompson and Bakari Sellers agree.

The pair are part of the leadership team for Win With Black Men, a political advocacy group that began in 2022. Thompson said he was inspired to start the group by Win With Black Women, which started after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Both organizations were key to jump-starting the enthusiasm for Harris, especially financially, with each raising millions of dollars within days of her campaign’s launch.

Now, with the election behind us and three years of a hostile White House administration ahead of us, Thompson’s group has announced an 18-city listening tour starting in July to strategize about ways to help the community outside of the political system. The goal is to reach 3,500 Black men in person and another 25,000 through a national survey in hopes of building a database to better serve the community. Thompson said it’s particularly important to keep people engaged now that the election is over because of how the White House continues to test the limits of both presidential power and the support from his party.

“There has to be a moment where right is right,” said Thompson, a former operative for President Obama. “We raise our children to understand the basic tenets of being a good person. … We need to build a system that can adequately accommodate and support the vast majority of people in this country who just want to enjoy this small amount of time we have on this planet. I see the protests happening and the raids and I’m reminded of Ruby Bridges or the lunch counter in Greensboro. What is happening now in our cities — ripping parents away from their children — doesn’t speak to our better angels.”

Sellers added: “Democracy is participatory, and a lot of time people forget that. The choices are to be on the sideline or get engaged — either way, you are involved.”

He made that choice at a young age, becoming the youngest Black person in elected state office across the country in 2006, as a 22-year-old state representative in South Carolina. His early social justice work echoes that of his father, Cleveland Sellers, who was part of the leadership for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the civil rights movement.

“I’d rather get in the fight, be knocked around a little bit, face terror head on, knowing I’m doing it for a just and righteous cause,” Sellers said.

Thompson said that in addition to engagement, Win With Black Men is looking to be a vessel for helping people financially with their utility and grocery bills, as the steep federal cuts and job losses threaten to send millions of Americans into poverty. The current fundraising goal is $2.5 million. And while the organization is nonpartisan, Sellers said a prominent Democrat is the unofficial North Star: “We need to get back to the politics of Jesse Jackson. Meet people where they are, focus on the working class and facilitate conversations that uplift people, not demean them.”

Few things are more demeaning than feeling like your voice matters only once every four years. If nothing else, this upcoming listening tour is a reminder to Democrats that Black men are more than a vote.

@LZGranderson

On December 15, 2024, a powerful storm swept through the Black Sea. Two Russian oil tankers were wrecked in the Kerch Strait, spilling vast quantities of fuel oil into the surrounding waters. Within days, the thick black substance reached the shores of Russia’s Krasnodar region, annexed Crimea, and the Sea of Azov.

Evening reports from Greenpeace warned that the incident could mark one of the worst environmental disasters in decades. Yet, over six months later, key questions remain unanswered: how much fuel oil was on board, how much has spilled, and how much continues to leak? Russia has released no official data, and the opacity surrounding the incident has alarmed environmental observers across the region.

Scientists fear the worst. In the absence of containment, oil residues may soon reach the coastlines of Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Varna, Bulgaria, has been monitoring the situation closely. While no immediate threat has been detected in Bulgarian waters, local experts are cautious. The pollution zone, they say, could expand rapidly with changing winds and currents.

The Ukrainian Scientific Centre for Marine Ecology has published several projections showing the slow eastward spread of the slick through the Black Sea. Ukrainian Greenpeace confirms that oil traces have already reached the Odessa region and are approaching Romanian maritime boundaries.

Meanwhile, Russia’s official response — or lack thereof — has drawn sharp criticism. Unlike the Norilsk diesel spill in 2020, when a federal emergency was declared and Norilsk Nickel was fined billions, the Black Sea disaster has triggered no significant federal action. It is worth noting, however, that in the Norilsk case, the company went on to carry out extensive remediation, including full-scale river cleanup and contaminated soil removal.

In contrast, in 2025, volunteers are still collecting fuel oil from Russian beaches by hand. The companies responsible continue to dispute their liability in court. No fines, no cleanup mandate, no transparency. Only silence.

CORRIE beauty Helen Flanagan sizzles in a plunging black bikini as she lets her hair down on a Ibiza getaway.

The former Coronation Street actress, 34, looked incredible as she flaunted her ample assets in a bikini top while holidaying on the Canary Island.

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Helen could be seen with a huge smile on her face as she made the most of her time in the sun following her split from boyfriend, Robbie Talbot, 45.

The loved-up couple shocked fans when they called time on their romance despite appearing to be happier than ever just months ago.

But Helen appeared as though she didn’t have a care in the world as she danced and partied at Wayne Lineker‘s famed O Beach Ibiza club.

She could be seen cuddled up to the venue’s owner Wayne as she thanked him for his hospitality in hosting her and her friends at the venue.

Wayne could be seen planting a kiss on Helen’s head as she proudly held up one of the club’s signature orange cups as she wrote on Instagram: “Best day @obeachibiza always the most fun day x.”

Helen flaunted her incredible figure in the plunging bikini top as she soaked up the sun.

With her wavy blonde locks in a chic bob cut, Helen looked every inch the glam goddess with her minimal makeup and rosy pink lip.

However, the day after, the star took to her Instagram stories to describe her hangover from hell.

She captioned the video: “I never ever have hangovers as I am the worst on a hangover.”

And told her followers: “I am really hungover like a lizard. I am literally so hangover.

“I won’t be drinking for like a long time. I’ve got the school run tomorrow. Oh my god. I literally got in at six in the morning.”

Helen held her head in her hands and she took deep breaths.

She then enjoyed a relaxing spa day at the TRS Ibiza Hotel where she “finally found some zen.”

Helen is bouncing back after splitting from former non-league footballer Robbie after a year together.

What do we know about Helen Flanagan’s new boyfriend Robbie Talbot?

HELEN Flanagan has revealed that she is in a new relationship.

While appearing on Celebs Go Dating, she confessed that she was already taken – here’s everything we know about her boyfriend Robbie Talbot.

Helen has opened up about her relationship with former footballer Robbie Talbot.

He is a decade older than the actress.

Robbie was born in Liverpool on October 31, 1979 which is how he earned his nickname Halloween Hitman in football.

He has played for a series of non-league teams such as Burton Albion, Burscough and Morcambe.

He then became a coach at Ashton in 2010.

Robbie is retired from football.

He left his role as Assistant Manager at Ashton due to family and work commitments in 2011.

It’s unknown what he has done for work since leaving football.

Helen admitted that she was dating Robbie while appearing on Celebs Go Dating.

In a first for the show, it has been revealed that her relationship had to be written into the series due to requirements that those taking part have to be single.

The pair went public at her birthday party on August 10, 2024.

The Celebs Go Dating star had claimed she wanted children with the ex-non-league footie star.

But friends say the mum of three instead now wants to concentrate on her career and family.

A source said: “They want different things in life. She has just landed a new acting job and is trying to juggle work projects with the kids.

“She sat him down two weeks ago and said, ‘This isn’t working’. It was a grown-up chat.

“She just wants to be on her own for a while although she still has feelings for him.”

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Uriah Rennie, the Premier League’s first black referee, has died aged 65.

Rennie officiated more than 300 games between 1997 and 2008, including 175 Premier League matches.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our former chair and trailblazing referee, Uriah Rennie,” said a Sheffield & Hallamshire County Football Association statement., external

“Uriah made history as the Premier League’s first Black referee, officiating over 300 top-flight matches between 1997 and 2008. He broke down barriers, shaped our football community and inspired generations to come.”

Rennie recently revealed he was learning to walk again after a rare condition left him paralysed from the waist down.

Born in Jamaica, he moved to Sheffield as a child and grew up in the Wybourn area of the city.

He started refereeing in local football in 1979 before making history in 1997 when he oversaw a top-flight match between Derby County and Wimbledon.

“Incredibly sad news about the passing of Uriah Rennie. A Black pioneering referee and leader in the game,” said Leon Mann, co-founder of the Football Black List.

“We owe so much to those who push open the doors. Uriah should never, ever be forgotten.

“Thoughts and prayers with Uriah’s family and close friends.”

Former Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore said he was “incredibly sad” to hear of Rennie’s death, adding he was a “pioneer” and a “trailblazer”.

Rennie had been a magistrate in Sheffield since 1996 and campaigned on issues including improving equality and inclusion in sport, mental health and tackling deprivation.

He had a master’s degree in business administration and law and, in November 2023, was awarded an honorary doctorate by Sheffield Hallam University for his distinguished contributions to sport and his work with South Yorkshire communities.

In May, Rennie was installed as the new chancellor of the university.

In 2022, Kyra Davis Lurie heard a story on KCRW’s “Curbed Los Angeles” about the residents of South L.A.’s West Adams Heights, nicknamed Sugar Hill after a community of wealthy Black Harlemites. Learning about the sumptuous soirees Academy Award-winning actor Hattie McDaniel hosted in her Sugar Hill mansion, Lurie realized there was a hidden Black history waiting for her to unearth. But how she created the enthralling historical novel “The Great Mann” is a story that owes as much to Lurie’s ability to reinvent herself as it does to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” the iconic 20th century critique of the American dream, which provided a touchstone for the novel.

Lurie, 52, grew up in Santa Cruz, far from the neighborhood where McDaniel, Louise Beavers, Ethel Waters and other striving Black actors and business pioneers depicted in “The Great Mann” lived. While she visited family regularly in L.A., Lurie stayed up north, where she penned the light-hearted 2005 book “Sex, Murder and a Double Latte.” She quickly followed it with two more mysteries. Encouraged by her success, Lurie struck out for L.A. to pursue her dream of getting into a TV writers room. The 2007 writers’ strike deferred that goal, so Lurie pivoted to write three erotic novels which, she reveals, were “critiques of capitalism wrapped in a romance novel.”

By the time she heard about Sugar Hill and its famous inhabitants, Lurie was ready to take on a more nuanced challenge. But many literary agents weren’t receptive to her change of genre. “It was as if Marlon James had gone from writing comic books to ‘A [Brief] History of Seven Killings,’” she says, name-checking the famous Jamaican writer and his Man Booker Prize-winning novel. But as Lurie continued researching the neighborhood and its history, she knew she had to tell its story, even if using “The Great Gatsby” as her North Star proved problematic.

“I’m a huge Fitzgerald fan,” Lurie says, “even though there was a line in that book that always bothered me.” She’s referring to Nick Carraway’s reference to “two bucks and a girl” upon seeing three wealthy Black people passing by in a white-chauffeured limousine. “While it was probably used to get a laugh in 1925, it was demeaning,” Lurie says of the scene. “In the wake of the Red Summer of 1919 [when a record number of race riots and lynchings of Black Americans occurred in the U.S.] and the destruction of Black Wall Street in the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, Fitzgerald’s language says a lot about America’s cultural climate at the time.”

Was it subversive to use Fitzerald’s most famous novel to frame the story of a vibrant Black enclave whose prosperity rivaled that of Jay Gatsby and his ilk? Absolutely, Lurie says, adding, “Through a Black reimagining of ‘The Great Gatsby,’ I tried to marry a family’s story with a little-known part of L.A. history.”

The family story is told through the lens of Charlie Trammell III, a World War II veteran emotionally scarred by the violence he witnessed on the battlefield and at home in Jim Crow Virginia. Charlie arrives in L.A. looking for a fresh start and to reconnect with his cousin Margie, with whom he shares pivotal childhood experiences. But Margie, who now goes by the more exotic Marguerite, has shaken off the past and married Terrance Lewis, a vice president at Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. The Lewises live with their son in Sugar Hill, along with McDaniel, Beavers and Norman O. Houston, the real-life co-founder and president of Golden State Mutual.

Soon Charlie is swept into the world of L.A.’s wealthy Black elite, a mix of real Angelenos like John and Vada Somerville, pioneering Black dentists and founders of Central Avenue’s famed Dunbar Hotel; singers-actors Waters and Lena Horne; and fictional characters including James Mann, the mysterious Black businessman recently arrived in Sugar Hill who hosts lavish parties unlike anything Charlie’s ever seen: “The air is flavored with flowery perfumes and earthy cigars. All around me diamonds glitter from brown earlobes, gold watches flash against brown wrists. The only things white are the walls.”

Mann befriends Charlie, treating the recently discharged veteran to his first hand-tailored suit and fine wine, but soon embroils him in his quest to reunite with Marguerite, the love of his life since the two met some 10 years before when they both lived in the South.

“Through a Black reimagining of ‘The Great Gatsby,’ I tried to marry a family’s story with a little-known part of L.A. history,” Kyra Davis Lurie said.

(Yvette Roman Photography)

Like Fitzgerald’s classic juxtaposition of West Egg and East Egg in “Gatsby,” “The Great Mann” is about new money versus old — interlopers like Mann and the entertainers versus businesspeople like Houston and the Somervilles. But Lurie “tried not to invent flaws” in her historical figures by doing her homework, sourcing accounts in Black newspapers, biographies and even letters between Houston and NAACP leader Walter White to depict these frictions.

“The Great Mann” is also about people reinventing themselves amid the realities and contradictions of the time. Like Black actors who played maids but employed Black “help” in real life. Or the controversy over the stereotypically demeaning roles Black actors depicted. Chief among them was Delilah Johnson, the subservient Black maid portrayed by Beavers in the 1934 film “Imitation of Life.” It’s a debate that’s introduced in “The Great Mann” when Marguerite and Terrance tell Charlie that Beavers’ home, where he will be staying and which is much grander than theirs, is paid for “with Black shame.” Also addressed in the novel are touchier subjects like White’s advocacy for the lighter-skinned Horne to get roles over her darker-skinned colleagues like McDaniel or Beavers.

But the engine that fires up the plot of “The Great Mann,” and which sets it apart from “Gatsby,” is the battle Black creatives and business owners faced to hold onto their properties. A clause placed in thousands of L.A. property deeds in 1902 restricted housing covenants at the time West Adams Heights and many other L.A. County communities were developed, prohibiting homes from being sold to anyone “other than the white or Caucasian race.” But some white sellers sold property to Black buyers anyway, who then had to fight white groups — like the West Adams Heights Improvement Assn. — to prevent eviction from their own homes.

To say how Sugar Hill’s Black residents fared in court would spoil the enjoyment of this suspenseful tale, which has put Lurie on a new path in writing historical fiction. She has another project percolating, but for now, she’s just grateful to have found her niche. “It’s been a journey,” she says of the twists and turns of her writing life, “but writing about historical Black lives feels like home to me, what I was meant to do.”

Lurie will be discussing “The Great Mann” at Vroman’s Bookstore at 7 p.m. June 10; Diesel, a Bookstore at 6:30 p.m. June 11; and Chevalier’s Books at 6:30 p.m. June 19.

SAN ANSELMO, Calif. — It’s hard to miss Brian Colbert. It’s not just his burly 6-foot-4 frame, his clean-shaven head or the boldly patterned, brightly colored Hawaiian shirts he’s adopted as an unofficial uniform.

Colbert is one of just a small number of Black people who live in wealthy, woodsy and very white Marin County — and the first Black supervisor elected since the county’s founding more than 175 years ago.

He didn’t lean into race, or history, as he campaigned in the fall. He didn’t have to. “As a large Black man,” he said, his physicality and the barrier-breaking nature of his candidacy were self-evident.

Rather, Colbert won after knocking, by his count, on 20,000 doors, wearing out several pairs of size 15 shoes and putting parochial concerns, such as wildfire prevention, disaster preparedness and flood control, at the center of his campaign. He continues, during these early months in office, to focus on a garden variety of municipal issues: housing, traffic, making local government more accessible and responsive.

That’s not to say, however, that Colbert doesn’t have deeply felt thoughts on the precedent his election set, or the significance of the lived experience he brings to office — different from most in this privileged slice of the San Francisco Bay Area — at a time President Trump is turning his back on civil rights and his administration treats diversity, equity and inclusion as though they were four-letter words.

“I think of the challenges, the indignities that my grandparents suffered on a daily basis” living under Jim Crow, Colbert said over lunch recently in his hometown of San Anselmo. He carefully chose his words, at one point resting an index finger on his temple to signal a pause as he gathered his thoughts.

Colbert recalled visits to Savannah, Ga., where he attended Baptist church services with his mother’s parents.

“I remember looking at the faces,” Colbert said, “and to me they were the faces of African Americans waiting for death, because they were aware and knew of the opportunities that had been denied to them simply because of the color of their skin. But what gave them hope was the belief their kids and grandkids would have a better life. I am a product of that hope, in so many ways.”

Colbert, 57, grew up in Bethel, Conn., about 60 miles northeast of New York City. Residents tried to prevent his parents — an accountant and a stay-at-home mom — from moving into the overwhelmingly white community. Neighbors circulated a petition urging the owners to not sell their home to the Black couple. They did so anyway.

Colbert went on to earn degrees in political science and acting, public policy and law. He traveled the world with his wife, a Syrian American, practiced law on Wall Street, ran a chocolate company and a small tech firm. He lived for 3½ years in Turkey, where he taught international law and political science at a private university.

In 2007, when the couple returned to the U.S., they set their sights on the Bay Area, drawn by the weather, the natural beauty and the entrepreneurial spirit that drew countless opportunity seekers before them. (Colbert started wearing Hawaiian shirts on the Silicon Valley conference circuit, after being mistaken one too many times for a security guard.)

In 2013, Colbert, his wife and their daughter settled in San Anselmo, a charmy tree-lined community about 15 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The relatively short commute to San Francisco, where he manages a medical concierge service, the quality schools and the vast open space were big attractions — though Colbert knew he and his family would stand out, just as he had in Bethel.

San Anselmo, with its rugged hillsides and red-brick downtown, has about 13,000 residents. The Black population is less than 2%. But Colbert’s extensive travels and life overseas convinced him that people “on a certain level [are] the same” everywhere — “warm, welcoming, kind, generous, helpful.”

He had an abiding interest in policy and public service, so in 2013 Colbert joined the city’s Economic Development Council. Four years later, he was elected to the Town Council. He served seven years, one in the rotating position of mayor, before running for the nonpartisan Board of Supervisors.

Inevitably, he encountered racism along the way. There were threatening phone calls and emails. He got the occasional side-eye as he canvassed door-to-door in all-white neighborhoods. For the most part, however, “people were incredibly pleasant” and campaigning “was no more challenging … than it would be [for] any candidate.”

On a recent sunny afternoon, Colbert was greeted heartily — “Hey, Brian!” “Hey, supervisor!” — as he strode past Town Hall to Imagination Park, a gift the city’s most famous resident, filmmaker George Lucas, bequeathed along with life-sized statues of Yoda and Indiana Jones.

These are fraught times. The reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd has given way to a backlash and a president who disdains efforts at equality, complains of anti-white prejudice and purges powerful Black men and women in the name of a mythical colorblind society.

Given a chance to speak directly to Trump, what would Colbert — a Democrat — say?

“Mr. President, thank you for your service,” he began. “Being in public offices is hard and difficult.”

He paused. Several beats passed. A waiter cleared away dishes.

“I would encourage you to change your tone, certainly publicly, and broaden your perspective and embrace those who might have a different perspective than you,” Colbert went on. “Many people have come to this country and they’ve added value. They’ve made this country for the better.

“Remember those who don’t necessarily have easy access to power. Remember those who are struggling. Focus on those who are most vulnerable and are highly dependent on the government to help them through a short amount of time. I mean, the American experiment is incredible. Keep that in mind. A little empathy. Simple acts of kindness. Place yourself into someone else’s shoes.

“Thank you, Mr. President.”

Its been over 20 years since the first Unity Cup and since then it has yet to return however this year that all changed – The friendly competition is back but this time starring more countries than before.

This week, four nations with deep roots in the UK brought community, culture and football to Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium for the long-awaited return of the Unity Cup.

From steel pans and DJs to flags waving proudly in every direction, this was more than a football cup, it was a full on cultural link up and one that had been missing from the scene for twenty one years.

On Tuesday 27th May, Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz beat Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Warriors in a fierce Caribbean clash. The following day, Nigeria’s Super Eagles edged past Ghana’s The Black Stars, securing their place in the final. With the third-place match and final showdown happening on Saturday , fans showed up not just to support their teams but to celebrate community, culture and shared roots.

What is the Unity Cup?

The Unity Cup is an international friendly football tournament originally launched in 2004, when teams from Nigeria, Jamaica and Ireland faced off at Charlton Athletic’s ground. Then it was a moment, now it’s a movement.

Two decades later, the tournament returned with clearer purpose: to celebrate the cultural impact of African and Caribbean communities in the UK, particularly in London. Where those communities have helped shape the city’s identity through food, music, language and history.

This year’s line-up features Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria and Ghana – four nations chosen for their heritage, their undeniable pride and their presence in the UK’s multicultural landscape.

From the food we eat, to the rhythms we dance to each of these cultures have left a mark in British identity in countless ways. The Unity Cup is a tribute to that legacy.

Why Brentford?

It’s no coincidence that the tournament was hosted by Brentford FC. West London is known for its multicultural spirit, and Brentford’s commitment to inclusion made it the perfect stage.

Just weeks ago, the club was awarded the Premier League’s Intermediate Level for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (PLEDIS), highlighting their work both on and off the pitch – the decision to bring the Unity Cup her shows this wasn’t just a football event – it was a celebration designed to reflect the city.

From start to finish, the vibes were immaculate. On one end, a steel pan band played sweet melodies throughout the match. On the other, artist performances and DJs kept the energy high, soundtracking the day with bashment, afrobeats, gospel and everything in between.

Crowds were filled out in jerseys and flags, the crowd came with whistles ready. It wasn’t just a game – it felt like a mini carnival, with football as the headliner.

But beyond the party, there was a powerful undercurrent of unity. Because although every player on that pitch shares a Black identity, the cultural nuances between African and Caribbean communities are deep but the Unity Cup created space for both and what came from that space was a beautiful sight.

Brentford FC and NHS Blood & Transplant also used the event to host a ‘Bee A Hero’ blood donor drive – encouraging attendees to get their blood type tested and sign up as donors. This wasn’t a side initiative. It was central part of what made the Unity Cup feel different and deeply necessary.

This is especially important for Black communities, where conditions like sickle cell disproportionately affect lives. It the fastest-growing genetic condition in the UK. It causes excruciating pain, organ damage, and in many cases, lifelong complications. Treatment often relies on blood transfusions – but only 2% of donors in the UK are Black, even though over 55% of Black Londoners have the rare Ro subtype, which is crucial for sickle cell patients.

The Unity Cup didn’t just bring people together. It reminded them how they can help keep each other alive.

Before the big final, the third-place playoff saw Ghana beat Trinidad & Tobago 4-0, securing the bronze position after dominating both halves. But what most people really came to see is the fight for the first place title – Jamaica vs Nigeria.

The first half saw both teams scoring once, but in the final half the pressure was evident, the tackles were fiercer, the chants were louder – both teams were battling for the crown. The friendly competition started to look not so friendly.

But when the final whistle came, both teams had scored twice. Which left no option, but a penalty shootout – all eyes were peeled. In a tense final few minutes, Nigeria came out on top, edging past Jamaica after the Reggae Boyz missed a crucial spot-kick.

Whether it was the Reggae Boyz or the Super Eagles lifting the trophy, or you call it plan-tain or plan-tin, the real win was seeing the stands full of colour, culture, and connection in Brentford FC.

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Major League Baseball has been trying for years to increase the number of Black players participating in the sport, creating such programs as the Compton Youth Academy and the DREAM Series. There were 59 Black players on opening day MLB rosters, a slight increase from the previous year but far from the numbers in the 1980s.

St. John Bosco’s baseball team, which plays for a Southern Section Division 1 championship on Friday against Santa Margarita at Cal State Fullerton, offers hope for the future with five Black players in the starting lineup.

“Definitely something to be proud of,” center fielder Miles Clark said.

The sports of football and basketball have been taking away Black athletes, but St. John Bosco’s group of Clark, his twin brother James, Noah Everly, Jaden Jackson and Macade Maxwell have embraced baseball and put themselves in position to pursue college baseball and beyond.

Each player offers speed and athleticism. Maxwell had an RBI single in the semifinals against Seth Hernandez of Corona. James Clark and Everly lead the team in hitting at .394 and .347, respectively. St. John Bosco won its first Trinity League title since 2017 and is 24-5. …

Santa Margarita is much improved after getting players back from injuries, so ignore the fact it has 12 losses. Carter Enoch came back to add hitting to the Eagles’ lineup and Brennan Bauer has been the winning pitcher in all four playoff games. Seventeen seniors are graduating at 10 a.m. at the Honda Center.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

As the “Mothers of the Movement” came on stage to talk about the deaths of their children and endorse Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, chants emerged from the crowd: “Black lives matter!”

Geneva Reed-Veal, standing in a half circle with eight other black mothers, attempted to quiet the audience.

“Give me two moments to tell you how good God is. Give me a moment to say thank you,” said Reed-Veal, whose 28-year-old daughter, Sandra Bland, died in jail after being pulled over for a traffic stop in 2015. “We are not standing here because he’s not good. We are standing here because he’s great.”

What followed was one of the most powerful moments of Tuesday’s convention, as the mothers held back tears to speak about the deaths that ignited a national debate about police reform and race relations.

“So many of our children gone but not forgotten,” Reed-Veal said. “I’m here with Hillary Clinton because she is a leader and a mother who will say our children’s names. Hillary knows that when a young black life is cut short, it’s not just a personal loss. It is a national loss. It is a loss that diminishes all of us.”

The short speeches, which followed a video of Hillary Clinton meeting and praying with the mothers, who have joined her at campaign events across the country, gave the Black Lives Matter movement one of its highest-profile moments. Officially, Black Lives Matter has not endorsed a presidential candidate, but the women are among the movement’s best-known names.

The deaths have spurred hundreds of demonstrations across the U.S. over the last four years and raised the pressure on both major political parties to deal with the issue of gun violence and racial disparities.

Full convention coverage »

Mothers of African Americans killed by gun violence speak at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide

“You don’t stop being a parent when your child dies,” said Lucia McBath, whose 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2012. “I am still Jordan Davis’ mother. His life ended the day he was shot and killed for playing loud music. But my job as his mother didn’t.”

“Hillary Clinton isn’t afraid to say black lives matter,” she said. “She isn’t afraid to sit at a table with grieving mothers and bear the full force of our anguish. She doesn’t build walls around her heart. Not only did she listen to our problems, she invited us to become part of the solution.”

The segment provided a window into how the Clinton campaign is responding to pressure to address race relations and police reform while acknowledging the dangers police officers face after a series of deadly shootings around the country.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay, who has been praised for his handling of protests in his city, introduced the mothers after saying Americans should “respect and support our police officers while at the same time pushing for these important criminal justice reforms.”

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, said that while she “didn’t want this spotlight” she would do everything she could “to focus some of that light on a path out of this darkness.”

Fulton praised Clinton for having “courage to lead the fight for common-sense gun legislation” and a “plan to repair the divide that so often exists between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”

Day Two of the Democratic National Convention in less than 3 minutes. Full coverage at latimes.com/trailguide

The speakers included:

Fulton, the mother of 17-year-old Martin, who died after being shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Fla. A jury acquitted Zimmerman of all charges related to Martin’s death on July 13, 2013.

Lezley McSpadden, the mother of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was shot by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson, Mo., police officer on Aug. 9, 2014. The shooting caused days of unrest in the St. Louis suburb, raising questions about police use of military equipment and bringing scrutiny to the issue of racial disparities between police and the communities where they work. On November 21, 2014, a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson in Brown’s death.

See the most-read stories in National News this hour >>

Gwen Carr, the mother of 43-year-old Eric Garner, who died after a police officer put him a chokehold in Staten Island, N.Y., on July 17, 2014. In a bystander video that went viral, Garner can be heard repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe,” while being restrained by police. The phrase became a protest mantra, especially after a jury decided to not indict the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, on Dec. 13, 2014. The Department of Justice is currently investigating the case.

Reed-Veal, the mother of 28-year-old Bland, who was found hanged with a trash bag in a Waller County, Texas, jail on July 13, 2015. Three days before, Bland was stopped for a traffic violation and got into an argument with the state trooper who stopped her, resulting in her arrest. After a dash-cam video was released, a Bland family lawyer argued that the officer did not have probable cause for the stop. Family members disputed a medical examiner’s ruling that her death was a suicide. In December 2015, a grand jury decided not to indict her jailers in connection with Bland’s death. The trooper is facing a misdemeanor charge.

Lucia McBath, mother of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, who was shot by Michael Dunn in Jacksonville, Fla., on Nov. 12, 2012. The shooting occurred after Dunn, who is white, complained that the music Davis and his friends were playing in their car was too loud, and an argument ensued. After a first trial ended in a mistrial, Dunn, a software developer, was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Maria Hamilton, the mother of Dontré Hamilton, who was fatally shot by a white police officer in Milwaukee on April 30, 2014. Protests ensued after charges were not brought against the officer, Christopher Manney.

Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, the mother of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot by two gang members in a Chicago park on Jan. 29, 2013. The shooters were arrested and charged with first-degree murder, and First Lady Michelle Obama attended Pendleton’s funeral.

Annette Nance-Holt, the mother of 16-year-old Blair Holt, who died on a Chicago Transit Authority bus in May 2007 after trying to shield a friend from a gang member’s shots.

Wanda Johnson, the mother of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who died after being shot by a white Bay Area Rapid Transit officer on New Year’s Day in 2009. The officer, Johannes Mehserle, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison in 2010. Mehserle received credit for time already served and was released on June 13, 2011.

Notably absent was Samaria Rice, the mother of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who died in November 2014 after being shot by police in Cleveland while he played in a park with a replica pellet gun. Rice has declined to endorse Clinton or Trump.

No candidate is “speaking my language about police reform,” Samaria Rice recently told Fusion, saying she wants “a lot on the table, not a little bit of talk, a lot of talk about police brutality, police accountability, making new policies, taking some away, and just reforming the whole system.”

She has also been critical of President Obama.

“He may mention something about it, but he’s not really going to go into details about it and hold the government responsible for killing innocent people,” she said in the same interview, echoing similar criticisms from some activists.

Even before their speeches, the appearance of the Mothers of the Movement had caused controversy. The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police said its members were “shocked and saddened” that widows of fallen police officers were not included in the lineup.

“It is sad that to win an election, Mrs. Clinton must pander to the interests of people who do not know all the facts, while the men and women they seek to destroy are outside protecting the political institutions of this country,” the police group said in a statement.

The mothers aren’t strangers to the campaign trail. Several have been featured in a Clinton TV ad that aired in Chicago and St. Louis and the campaign has also covered their airfares to Democratic debates.

Not all the family members of black Americans who have died in high-profile police-involved incidents have been Clinton supporters. Erica Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner, has been a strong supporter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Still, Tuesday’s group represented one of the strongest lineups of black activists involved in any recent presidential campaign campaign.

“We must bring awareness.… Don’t wait until tragedy knocks on your door,” Carr said in a recent ABC News segment on her support of Clinton, which also addressed violence against police.

“This is a bad time to be a good cop in this country,” Reed-Veal said in the same segment. “OK? We need to remember they have lives too.”

[email protected]

Jaweed Kaleem is The Times’ national race and justice correspondent. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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UPDATES:

7:35 p.m.: This article was updated with more details about the speeches.

6:20 p.m.: This article was updated after the women spoke.

This article was originally published at 4:40 p.m.

L.A. has long been a beacon for the arts. So it’s only fitting that “Forever,” the Netflix series that showrunner Mara Brock Akil envisioned as “a love story within a love letter to Los Angeles,” celebrates local artists.

The Midcentury Modern home of Justin Edwards, one half of the couple whose love story informs the show — an adaptation of Judy Blume’s 1975 novel — is flooded with work from Black Angelenos.

“Local Los Angeles artists were important for me to put into the sets, and the Edwards family home, specifically, being collectors of Los Angeles art,” Akil, an L.A. native, told The Times.

Production designer Suzuki Ingerslev and set decorator Ron Franco are also Angelenos, which they said contributed to the cultural competency of their work on “Forever.” Although the writers’ strike made elements of their jobs difficult, both agreed that their experience on “Forever” was uniquely positive, in large part because of their curation of the art in the Edwards’ home.

“Sometimes art can really make a space and it makes a statement and it tells you who the character is,” said Ingerslev. “In this case, you really knew who the Edwards were — they curated art and they cared about where they live — and I thought that really made a big difference through the art and through the furnishings as well.”

Franco agreed, saying he had fun sourcing artwork from Black artists that matched Ingerslev’s color palette and also contained themes pertinent to the show.

“A lot of times the shows that you see now are just headshots and everything that we put up becomes a background piece that’s kind of blurred,” he said. “We are very lucky in that this camera really opened up, and you follow everybody through both of the [permanent] sets and you really feel a lot.”

Audiences noticed their effort, said Ingerslev, who’s been bombarded with questions about the artworks in “Forever,” which was just renewed for a second season.

Here are five local Black artists whose work are featured in the show.

Noah Humes, 31

Humes cites a book about artist and writer Romare Bearden that he received from Akil when he was 6 years old as the foundation for his worldview as an artist. (Humes’ mother was a casting director on “Girlfriends,” the 2000s TV series created by Akil, whom Humes calls “Auntie Mara.”)

“I look back [and] that’s what helped form and shape my energy with how I approach the canvas, wanting to tell the story of my community and different things that I see — social moments, political moments, historical remnants,” said the figurative painter.

Humes is drawn to bright colors that capture the vibrancy of his hometown of L.A. “Her” and “Mid City,” which feature prominently in the Edwards family’s media room in “Forever,” depict solitary figures against yellow backgrounds. The foliage in “Her” grows in Humes’ mother’s frontyard. “Mid City,” the neighborhood where Humes was raised, features the red-crowned parrots that wake him up every morning.

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1. “Her” (Noah Humes) 2. “Mid City” (Noah Humes)

“I felt inclined to represent and show a certain subtlety of ‘We’re here, we’re centered, we’re always a focal point of unfortunate times, but also we can overcome things and become stronger than we have been,’” Humes said of the twin paintings, which he completed in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder and the national racial reckoning that followed.

Humes also credits his neighbors in L.A., a “system of Black excellence,” for positively influencing his artistry. Animator Lyndon Barrois (“Happy Feet,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks”) is his mentor, and members of the hip-hop collective Odd Future, including siblings Syd and Travis “Taco” Bennett, as well as Thebe Kgositsile — who uses the stage name Earl Sweatshirt — are his childhood friends.

Francis ‘Tommy’ Mitchell, 41

(Francis “Tommy” Mitchell)

Mitchell has been drawing for as long as he can remember, but it was a high school classmate pointing out the permanent nature of a ballpoint pen that led to his aha moment.

“You can erase graphite, you can paint over acrylic and oil,” said the Baltimore- and L.A.-based artist. “Ink is one of those things that I just think of, no pun intended here, it’s forever.”

Mitchell’s portraits feature individuals shaded with ink set against monochromatic acyrlic background. Because it is extremely time-consuming, most artists working in ink compose smaller, more intimate images, said Mitchell. In contrast, his portraits are huge. If the work were hung on the walls of a museum, the viewer may never notice the figure’s skin was drawn in ink and not paint.

“Going to museums or galleries as a kid, I would see these amazing European paintings, and I’m like, ‘Wow, these are amazing,’ but there’s no one that looks like me,” he said, of his desire to focus on portraiture.

“Francis R. of City College”

(Francis “Tommy” Mitchell)

The subject of “Francis R. of City College,” Mitchell’s painting featured in the Edwards’ dining room in “Forever,” is modeled after his father. For Mitchell, the work represents a young man with his whole life ahead of him. Making the painting in his Baltimore studio less than a mile away from City College, where his father attended high school, felt like a full-circle moment.

Seeing the work on television only adds to the significance.

“One of my goals is to always promote those who work in ink because it’s not a traditional medium,” he said, pointing to tattoo artists Jun Cha and Mister Cartoon as inspirations. “So for it to be seen on television, it lends credence to, ‘Hey, we’re doing something special as well.’”

Edwin Marcelin, 50

Marcelin’s first job as a teenager was at Stüssy, a Laguna Beach streetwear brand founded in the early 1980s. Minimalist graphic design, a trademark of Stüssy as well as brands Supreme and Undefeated, has always informed his art.

“Everything usually is about engagement, confrontation or affection,” said Marcelin. “Those are things that I tend to generate towards by using very minimal strokes.”

During his time at the California College of the Arts — then called the California College of Arts and Crafts — Marcelin was drawn to Bauhaus, a German school of art that melds functionality and design. Marcelin applies those abstract Bauhaus fundamentals and adds the element of movement.

“If it ain’t moving, it ain’t me,” said the L.A.-born-and-raised artist.

Marcelin said his emphasis on motion lends itself well to the screen — his piece “Clarity,” a dynamic painting of Michael Jordan taking flight, hangs in basketball-loving Justin’s bedroom in “Forever.”

“I think Black folks in Los Angeles are dynamic, so I try to keep dynamic images, people doing things, not standing there, and I think that translates to film very well,” said Marcelin.

“Clarity” is part of a 23-painting series titled “Black Jesus.” Each image in the series, which took Marcelin about five months to complete in its entirety, references Jordan, who Marcelin said is disappearing visually from pop culture. Case in point: He said his 19- and 16-year-old sons may recognize the Jumpman logo, but they wouldn’t instantly recognize an image of Jordan himself.

“There’ll be more basketball players, but I wanted to do something that was completely abstract representing him because he has so many moments that are fantastically beautiful,” said Marcelin.

Corey Pemberton, 34

With a background in collage, glassblowing and painting, Pemberton’s large mixed-media works — of a man singing into his toothbrush in the bathroom, a naked woman smoking marijuana in bed, a man devouring a plate of his mother’s food — are both intimate and mundane.

“At a certain point, I turned an interest to those who had been marginalized by society in some way, whether it was because of the color of their skin or their gender expression or their socioeconomic status, and developed an interest in depicting those people in a way that both celebrated them but also gave them some space to just exist,” he said.

Such themes of ownership and viewership are etched into Pemberton’s work. For example, he depicts the space and objects around his figures in vivid detail. Objects are important, he said, because they carry memories of “the people who created them or gave them to us or lived with them before us.”

Similarly, his painting “The Collector” celebrates “a young black person who’s making a concerted effort to own and conserve our culture, which is so often falling into the hands of people who don’t care about us on a deeper level.” And in many of Pemberton’s pieces, miniature renderings of his previous works can be found on the walls of his subjects’ homes.

“I think when you see a work presented that way, it sort of brings a heightened level of importance,” said Pemberton.

“I Used to Cook More”

(Corey Pemberton)

So it’s doubly significant that Pemberton’s work is on display in the wealthy Edwards’ home in “Forever.” The art in question, “I Used to Cook More,” can be found in the family’s kitchen and depicts Pemberton’s friend and fellow collector Jared Culp eating out of a white takeout container.

“We were talking about all of the takeout that we now consume as busy young Black creatives in L.A. trying to claw our way to the top of something,” said Pemberton.

But success in the art world has been easier to come by in L.A., where he relocated to after six years in rural North Carolina, said Pemberton.

“When I moved to Los Angeles, not only was I selling work but I was selling work to people with shared experience,” he said. “I was getting feedback that not only were these works that people wanted to live with, but they were works that people saw themselves reflected in, and that I was doing something important or meaningful to more people than just myself.”

Charles A. Bibbs, 77

Bibbs worked in corporate America for 25 years before becoming an artist full time. For Bibbs, art — in a crosshatching style, in his case — is all about communicating universal ideas.

“I mix that crosshatching with different colors and paint, and it’s just one layer on top of another until you get your desired effect,” Bibbs said of his “spontaneous” way of creating that’s “almost like magic sometimes.”

Like many Black artists, Bibbs chose his subject matter out of necessity. As a young man, he encountered few Black artists, yet innately understood the power of positive images of the Black experience, especially in the home.

“It’s a very honorable occupation because you’re giving people a part of you that is changing their lives in an aesthetic way,” he said. “All of those things play into people proud to be who they are.”

“Daddy’s Love”

(Charles A. Bibbs)

In “Forever,” viewers may catch a glimpse of “Daddy’s Love,” a drawing of Bibbs’ father and Bibbs and his sister as children, on the wall outside Justin’s bedroom. But this isn’t the first time his work has made it to the screen. Bibbs is credited with the Black Madonna artwork on the honey jar central to the plot of the 2008 film “The Secret Life of Bees.” He said the experience underscored the importance of art, which he said touches the “subconscious mind.”

“[My work] was part of the presentation of the movie and in some way or another may have helped them understand what that movie was really all about.”

DOWNIEVILLE, Calif. — Patrice Miller, 71, lived by herself in a small yellow house beneath towering mountain peaks on the edge of a burbling river in this Sierra County village. She doted on her cats and her exotic orchids, and was known to neighbors for her delicious homemade bread. One fall afternoon in 2023, after Miller had failed for several days to make her customary appearance at the town market, a store clerk asked authorities to check on her.

A short time later, a sheriff’s deputy found Miller’s lifeless body in her kitchen. Her right leg and left arm had been partially gnawed off. On the floor around her were the large paw prints of a bear.

Months after her death, officials would make a stunning disclosure, revealing that an autopsy had determined that Miller had likely been killed by the animal after it broke into her home. It marked the first known instance in California history of a fatal bear attack on a human.

But amid the contentious politics around black bears and other apex predators in California, not everyone accepts the official version of how she died.

“We don’t believe the bear did it,” said Ann Bryant, executive director of the Bear League in the Tahoe Basin. “And I will go on record as saying that. … We’ve never had a bear kill anybody.”

The story of Miller’s grisly end — and the increasingly heated battles around predators in California — have come roaring into the state Capitol this spring. Lawmakers representing conservative rural districts in the state’s rugged northern reaches argue that their communities are under attack, and point to Miller as one example of the worst that can happen. One solution they have pushed is changing the law to allow people to set packs of hunting dogs after bears to haze them. A similar measure has been floated — for now unsuccessfully — to ward off mountain lions considered a threat.

Wildlife conservation advocates are aghast. They say turning dogs on bears is barbaric and won’t make anyone safer. They contend the proposed laws don’t reflect a scientifically backed approach to managing wild populations but instead are pro-hunting bills dressed up in the guise of public safety. The real solution, they say, is for humans living near bears to learn to safely co-exist by not leaving out food or otherwise attracting them.

“These people are using [Miller’s death] to try to start hounding bears again,” said Bryant, who maintains that Miller, who was in poor health, must have died before the bear came into her home and devoured her. “She would roll in her grave if she knew that in her death people would create a situation where people were going to mistreat bears, because she loved bears.”

In a recent report, the Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates there are now 60,000 black bears roaming California and notes a marked increase in reports of human-bear conflicts.

(John Axtell / Nevada Department of Wildlife)

Founded in 1849, Downieville, population 300, is one of California’s oldest towns, and also one of its quaintest. Colorfully painted wooden buildings sit at the junction of two rivers, beneath majestic pines and mountain peaks.

Along with tourists, who flood in in the summer for rafting and mountain biking, the town also receives frequent visits from bears and mountain lions. More recently, wolves have arrived with deadly force, snatching domesticated cattle off the open pastures that stretch across the plains on the other side of the mountains east of town.

Miller wound up here about a decade ago, at the end of a rich, complicated life. She had worked in an oil refinery, and also as a contractor. She was a master gardener, expert at transplanting Japanese maples, according to her neighbor, Patty Hall. She was a voracious reader and a skilled pianist. But she also struggled with a variety of serious ailments and substance abuse, according to neighbors and officials.

Longtime residents in the area were used to the challenges of living among wild animals. But in the summer of 2023, Sierra County Sheriff Mike Fisher said he started getting an overwhelming number of calls about problem bears.

“We had three or four habituated bears that were constantly here in town,” said Fisher. “They had zero fear. I would say, almost daily, we were having to go out and chase these bears away, haze them.”

But bears have a sharp sense of smell, a long memory for food sources and an incredible sense of direction. If a tourist tosses them a pizza crust or the last bits of an ice cream cone, or leaves the lid off a trash can, they will return again and again, even if they are relocated miles away.

That summer, Fisher said, no matter what he did, the bears kept lumbering back into town. It was unlike anything he had experienced, he said, and he had grown up in Downieville. “A police car with an air horn or the siren, we would push the bear up out of the community. Fifteen minutes later, they were right back downtown,” he said.

Founded in 1849, Downieville, population 300, is one of California’s oldest towns and also one of its quaintest.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

And then there were the bears harassing Miller and her neighbors.

“There were three bears,” recalled Hall, who lives just up the hill from the home Miller rented. “Twice a night they would walk up and down our [porch] stairs. The Ring cameras were constantly going off.”

Fisher said some of Miller’s neighbors complained that she was part of the lure, because she was not disposing of her garbage properly. Some also alleged she was tossing food on her porch for her cats — and that the bears were coming for it. Miller’s daughter later told sheriff’s officials that bears were “constantly trying” to get into her house, and that “her mother had physically hit one” to keep it out. One particular bear, which Miller had nicknamed “Big Bastard,” was a frequent pest.

Fifty miles from Downieville, in the Lake Tahoe Basin, the Bear League was getting calls about Miller, too. The organization, which Bryant founded more than two decades ago, seeks to protect bears by helping residents coexist with them. This includes educating people about locking down their trash and helping to haze bears away from homes.

“We got calls [from her neighbors] that told us she had been feeding the bears, tossing food out to them, and let them come into her house,” Bryant said. She added that some thought, erroneously, that the Bear League was a government organization, and “maybe we had the ability to enforce the law” against feeding bears.

Hall, Miller’s friend, told The Times that Miller was not feeding bears. Still, the problems continued.

Eventually, officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife were called and told Miller she could sign a “depredation permit,” after which authorities could kill bears trying to get into her house. But Miller declined to do so, Fisher said.

In early November, Miller stopped showing up around town, prompting calls for a welfare check.

A little before 3 p.m. on Nov. 8, 2023, Deputy Malcolm Fadden approached Miller’s home, which was a short walk from the sheriff’s office. The security bars on the kitchen window had been ripped off. The window itself had been busted from the outside.

“I knocked on the door,” Fadden wrote in his report, but got no answer.

Patrice Miller was found dead in her rental cottage in November 2023. Bear advocates take issue with an autopsy report that said she probably was killed in a bear attack.

(Jessica Garrison / Los Angeles Times)

Through the window, he saw blood streaked across the living room floor. He took out his gun and burst into the house, where he was greeted by a giant pile of bear scat. He found Miller in the kitchen, her half-eaten body surrounded by food and garbage, which, Fadden wrote, had been “apparently scattered by bears.”

Fisher was horrified. Already frustrated at what he saw as the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s lackluster response to the escalating bear incursions that summer, now he wanted the bear that had fed on Miller to be trapped and killed.

He said the department told him that for the bear to be killed, “the person who lives at the house has to sign the [depredation] permit.” Fisher said he responded: “How many times do I have to tell you the person who lives at that house was eaten by the bear?”

This was the start of a long-running conflict between the sheriff and agency officials that would complicate the release of the autopsy findings about Miller’s death, and also convince Fisher that more aggressive steps were needed to protect his community.

Eventually, Fisher managed to get a depredation permit for the bear that had fed on Miller; his deputies tracked down her landlord, who as the homeowner could sign it. Wildlife officials set up a trap near Miller’s house, and in short order, a bear was caught.

But, according to Fisher, officials initially said it wasn’t the same bear. They said DNA tests showed that the bear who had eaten her was male, and the bear they had caught appeared to be female. They intended to release the bear, he said.

Fisher padlocked the cage, and threatened to call the media. In response, he said, wildlife officials sent a biologist, who determined the bear in the trap was male. It was shot that night.

At that point, few people, including Fisher, believed that the bear had actually killed Miller, as opposed to feeding on her after she died of natural causes. Though there are recorded instances of fatal black bear maulings in other U.S. states, they are rare, and there had been no reports of one in California. Fisher issued a news release saying that the death was under investigation, but that “it is believed that Patrice Miller passed away before a bear, possibly drawn by the scent or other factors, accessed the residence.”

After performing an autopsy, however, the pathologist on contract with Sierra County came to a different conclusion. She issued a report that found that Miller had “deep hemorrhage of the face and neck“ as well as “puncture injuries (consistent with claw ‘swipe’ or ‘slap’).” These injuries, she noted, were “characteristics more suggestive of a vital reaction by a living person.” In short: The pathologist found that Miller was probably killed by the bear.

Because of Fisher’s feud with Fish and Wildlife, that autopsy report, dated Jan. 4, 2024, wouldn’t become public for months.

Fisher said the state agency was refusing to provide him with copies of the DNA analysis of the bear that had been trapped in Miller’s yard. He wanted to see for himself that it matched the DNA evidence collected at her home, saying he hated the thought that a bear that had feasted on a person might still be roaming his town.

“I requested DNA from Fish and Wildlife, and they refused to provide it to me,” he said. “So I withheld the coroner’s report. We stopped talking.”

He said he verbally told department officials that the pathologist believed Miller had been killed by the bear — a seemingly noteworthy development. He said that officials responded: “I guess we’ll see when we get the report.”

In an email to The Times, state wildlife officials confirmed that Fisher had verbally shared the results of the autopsy report, but said they felt they needed to see the report to do their “due diligence before making an announcement about the first fatal bear attack in California.” The agency had sent an investigator to the scene after Miller’s death, who like Fisher and his deputies, thought the evidence suggested she had died of natural causes, said agency spokesperson Peter Tira.

By the time Fisher got the autopsy report, it was deep winter in the mountains, and bear activity decreased. Then came spring, and along with the blossoms, the bears came back to Downieville.

Bears were knocking over trash cans and breaking into cars. In May, residents on Main Street reported that a bear had broken into multiple houses, including one incursion that involved a bear standing over 82-year-old Dale Hunter as he napped on his couch.

A few days later, a bear tried to break into the cafeteria at Downieville High School while students were at school.

Fisher declared the bear a threat to public safety. Fish and Wildlife eventually issued a depredation permit, and the bear was shot.

That led to a story in the Mountain Messenger, the local paper. In it, the sheriff dropped a bombshell: “Miller was mauled to death after a black bear entered her home,” the paper reported. The story went on to say that the sheriff had made “numerous attempts” to inform Fish and Wildlife “about Miller’s death and more recent dangerous situations.”

After the story ran, state Sen. Megan Dahle, a Lassen County Republican who at the time served in the Assembly, set up a conciliatory meeting between Fish and Wildlife and Fisher. They have been meeting regularly ever since, Fisher said.

Fisher got his DNA results confirming that the bear trapped in Miller’s yard was the same bear that had eaten her. And Fish and Wildlife officials finally got a copy of the pathology report, which said Miller was probably alive when she encountered the bear.

The revelation made headlines around the state. “We’re in new territory,” Capt. Patrick Foy of Fish and Wildlife’s law enforcement division told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Bryant and other bear advocates found the release of such a significant finding so long after the fact confounding.

“I absolutely do not believe it,” Bryant said. If the bear had killed her, Bryant added, “the evidence should have been so clear, like immediately.”

“We don’t believe the bear did it,” Ann Bryant, executive director of the Bear League, says of Patrice Miller’s death. “We’ve never had a bear kill anybody.”

(Max Whittaker / For The Times)

The Downieville saga unfolded as bears seemed to be making news all over California.

To many, it seemed there were just many more bears encroaching on human settlements. A Fish and Wildlife report released last month estimated there are now 60,000 black bears roaming the Golden State, roughly triple the figure from 1998, the last time the department issued a bear management plan. That’s the highest population estimate for anywhere in the contiguous U.S., although the report also suggests that California’s bear population has been stable for the last decade.

In the Lake Tahoe area, where 50,000 people live year-round and tens of thousands more crowd in on busy tourist weekends, bears were breaking into houses and raiding refrigerators; they were bursting into ice cream shops and strolling along packed beaches.

State and local officials went into overdrive, trying to teach residents and tourists how to avoid attracting bears. The state set money aside for distribution of bear-proof trash cans and “unwelcome mats” that deliver a jolt of electricity if bears try to break into homes.

The Bear League will loan Tahoe Basin residents “unwelcome mats” that deliver a little jolt of electricity to bears if they try to break into homes.

(Max Whittaker / For The Times)

The Bear League stepped up its efforts. From a small office on Bryant’s property, the organization’s 24-hour hotline was ringing, and volunteers were rushing out with paintball guns to haze bears and to advise people on how to bear-proof their houses.

The tensions continued to escalate, nonetheless, between people who wanted to protect bears at all costs and those who wanted some problem bears trapped and relocated — or killed. In 2024, after a homeowner in the Tahoe area fatally shot a bear he said had broken into his home, many people were outraged that the Department of Fish and Wildlife declined to file charges.

Advocates also complained that the state has fallen behind in its efforts to help people and bears coexist. In recent years, the state had hired dedicated staff to help people in bear country, but the money ran out and some of those people were laid off, said Jennifer Fearing, a wildlife advocate and lobbyist.

“We have the tools to minimize human-wildlife conflict in California,” Fearing said. “We need the state to invest in using them.”

In Sierra County, the sheriff had come to a different conclusion. “We’ve swung the pendulum too far on the environmental side on these apex predators,” Fisher said.

Earlier this year, Fisher found common cause with newly elected GOP Assemblymember Heather Hadwick. “Mountain lions, bears and wolves are my biggest issue. I get calls every day about some kind of predator, which is crazy,” said Hadwick, who represents 11 northern counties.

In February, she introduced a bill, AB 1038, that would allow hunters to sic trained dogs on bears to chase them through the woods, but not kill them. While California has a legal hunting season for bears, it is strictly regulated; the use of hounds to aid the chase has been banned since 2013.

Hadwick argued that hounding bears would increase their fear of humans, which she said some are starting to lose: “We’re keeping them in the forest, where they belong.”

Bears have a long memory for food sources and an incredible sense of direction. If a tourist tosses them a pizza crust or leaves the lid off a trash can, they will return again and again.

(California Department of Fish and Wildlife)

Wildlife advocates showed up in force last month to oppose Hadwick’s bill in an Assembly committee hearing. Sending hounds after bears is cruel, they said. Plus, hounding bears in the woods would have no impact on the bears knocking over neighborhood trash cans and sneaking into ice cream stores.

Fisher testified in favor of the bill, and spoke of Miller’s death.

Lawmakers listened, some with stricken looks on their faces. But in a Legislature controlled by Democrats, Hadwick did not garner enough votes to send her bill on to the full Assembly; it became a two-year bill, meaning it could come back next year.

Fisher returned to Sierra County, where he has continued to advocate for locals to have more power to go after predators. The current situation, he said, is “out of control.”

May 14 (UPI) — Democrat John Ewing Jr. defeated incumbent Republican Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert to become Omaha’s first Black mayor.

Ewing, a former Omaha deputy police chief and current Douglas County, Neb., treasurer, defeated Stothert by an unofficial margin of 48,693 to 37,758, as reported by the Douglas County Election Commission. The commission will canvass and make the election official on May 29.

Ewing will also be the first Democrat to serve as Omaha mayor since 2013. Stothert had won three consecutive terms before this loss. Stothert had been the first woman elected city mayor.

Democrats also won four of the seven City Council seats.

The mayor’s office is nonpartisan, but the candidates’ parties came into play as an ad from Stothert stated that “Ewing stands with radicals who want to allow boys in girls’ sports.” KETV-TV reported that Ewing said in response that “Nobody’s ever brought that question up. So I believe it’s a made-up issue by Jean Stothert and the Republican Party.”

Ewing ran an ad that connected Stothert to President Donald Trump, to which she told KETV that “Donald Trump does not call me and ask for advice.”

Omaha and its suburbs make up Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, and it carries a presidential electoral vote, which can be won by a party different than who may carry the state-wide election and its four electoral votes.

The state generally leans Republican, but Democrats have won the 2nd Congressional District with some regularity, as Kamala Harris did in 2024, Joe Biden in 2020 and Barack Obama in 2008. On the other hand, Republican Donald Trump won in 2016 and GOP member Mitt Romney took the vote in 2012.

Coventry had almost 60% of the ball on the night as Lampard’s side had 20 shots to Sunderland’s 16.

And Le Bris, who has now led Sunderland to a play-off final against Sheffield United in his first season at the club, conceded the visitors were the better team in normal time.

“It’s really fantastic because this scenario was absolutely incredible,” Le Bris told Sky Sports.

“We were probably too nervous for the first part of the game.

“During extra time, we were good. We played our football and we just enjoy it now.”

For Coventry, it’s a painful end to a season which has been on an upward trajectory since Lampard replaced Mark Robins in November.

Former Chelsea and Everton boss Lampard took over with the club 17th in the Championship and led them to a fifth-place finish, winning 16 of his 29 league games in charge.

“If anyone watched the two games, we dominated at home, we made a mistake and they scored,” Lampard told Sky Sports. “I think we dominated huge periods of this game [too]. We played, controlled and in the second half it was wave after wave.

“The players have given everything from where we’ve come from – 17th in the league in December and the players have been brilliant in the second half of the season.

“We’re not bitter, and congratulations to Sunderland, but we were the better team over the two football matches and that’s why they’ll be so happy going to Wembley.”