Credit agency Fitch Ratings has dealt another blow to the troubled Skylink people mover train at Los Angeles International Airport, downgrading the project’s debt deeper into junk bond territory over the continued inability of the contractor and city’s airport department to complete the project.
The downgrade — to B-, from BB four months ago — “reflects the near certainty” that contractor LINXS won’t have the 2.25-mile train running by Dec. 8, leading to a “technical event of default and could give rights to either LINXS or Los Angeles World Airports … to issue project termination notices,” Fitch said in a report this week.
“It’s an uncommon action of severity,” Fitch analyst Seth Lehman told The Times. “We were under the view that there was a fair amount of cushion for LAWA and LINXS to settle on disputes, or for LINXS to show that they can have the trains run safely per this reliability test.”
The contractor has already said the train won’t be ready until February 2027 — or even later. In a statement to The Times Thursday, a spokesperson said that “LINXS remains committed to working with LAWA to successfully deliver the Automated People Mover and provide a world-class transportation system for the Los Angeles region.”
LINXS, an acronym for LAX Integrated Express Solutions, is a consortium that includes Fluor, Balfour Beatty, Alstom Transport USA, ACS Infrastructure Development, HNTB, Dragaos USA. LINXS declined comment beyond the statement.
LAWA officials had no immediate comment on the latest bond downgrade.
The deadline for the train’s completion is Dec. 8. While the airport or the contractor could technically terminate the contract at that time, Lehman noted that there’s a 120-day buffering period to allow for additional time to settle issues.
“After you get past that date, then the question becomes: Will both sides still want to work with each other, or just decide to find a path toward separation?” Lehman said about the months-long grace period.
The contractor and city airport officials have long been at odds.
LINXS filed a complaint against the city over the summer blaming the airport for the delays. Last month, the airport disputed multiple claims that the contractor made in its monthly brief on the project. And meetings between chief executives for the contractor, airport officials and others that began last year stopped in August.
Though officials say the project is 99% done, there are multiple unresolved issues. Agreements to implement solar energy on the project have not been signed with the city’s water and power departments, and the cause of technical problems with the train are still under investigation, according to a recent report from the contractor’s technical advisor.
In order for the train to run, it must undergo 30-days of consecutive testing without substantial issues and get sign-off from the airport and an outside assessor. That month-long testing period has continued to restart.
The $3.3 billion train is the most-anticipated feature of the airport’s $30 billion overhaul. It was initially slated to open in 2023 — before the World Cup and the Super Bowl and long before the 2028 Olympics. It’s now three years behind schedule and more than $1 billion beyond its original construction budget. When it does open, the airport said it will shuttle travelers between terminals, parking lots, the LAX/Metro Transit Center and a new rideshare lot.
Lehman noted that the train is hardly a novel project as many major airports have one, making the delays at LAX all the more confounding.
“Each time there’s a path towards opening, there’s a setback,” he said.
Grammy Award-winning artist Macklemore said he is getting pushback from concert venues as he brings his Free Palestine benefit concerts to the U.S.
The rapper behind hits including “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us” said on Instagram that nine U.S. venues told him in mid-September that they had available dates for concerts, but “once they found out these were my benefit shows for Palestine, those dates were suddenly off the table. The doors were closed.”
Macklemore performs in 2024 in Australia.
(Morgan Hancock / Getty Images)
The nine venues include Inglewood’s Kia Forum, L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena and Madison Square Garden in New York.
Earlier this year, Macklemore said he was removed from Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour after venue owners told Sheeran they would not host him at their stadiums if Macklemore was still part of the concert. Sheeran has said his promoters made the decision, according to the BBC.
Macklemore launched his Free Palestine tour in October, playing in Dublin, Paris and London. The concert proceeds benefit organizations supporting the Palestinian movement, according to the tour’s website.
Fans pose as they make their way into the “Macklemore & Friends “Free Palestine” Tour last month at Wembley Arena in London.
(Alberto Pezzali / Getty Images)
Representatives for the Kia Forum and AEG, which owns Crypto.com Arena, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MSG Entertainment, which owns Madison Square Garden, said that Macklemore is “not an arena level act.”
“We have some of the busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability,” MSG Entertainment, said in a statement.
Spokespeople for the talent agency that reps Macklemore did not immediately return a request for comment.
Weighing in on the Palestinian issue can be a sensitive subject in Hollywood, as some people in the entertainment industry have received backlash on their social media posts on the topic.
Aerial view of Crypto.com Arena and the L.A. Live sports and entertainment district.
(AEG)
In 2023, a prominent agent at Creative Artists Agency stepped aside from her leadership roles at the company after she reposted inflammatory comments on Instagram calling Israel’s response to Hamas “genocide.” That same year, actor Melissa Barrera was dropped from her role in “Scream VII” after she shared pro-Palestinian statements on Instagram.
So far, Lake said Friday afternoon, he hasn’t heard back.
“I don’t know if he read it,” Lake told The Times. “He probably says, ‘I don’t care about it anymore. I’m not trying to see this. It doesn’t matter. You said what you said.’ But at the same time I … felt like it was right for me to at least say,’ Hey, man, I didn’t mean it in any disrespectful way.’”
Lake and teammate Trent McDuffie each intercepted a pass thrown by Herbert during the Rams’ 24-9 victory over the Chargers on Sunday. During an appearance on the “St. Brown Podcast” this week, Lake mentioned that Herbert “was throwing deli meat” and “seeing ghosts” during the game.
The comments left Lake and the two hosts — Detroit Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and his brother, former NFL receiver Equanimeous St. Brown — in stitches.
After his quotes went viral, however, Lake was left with a bad taste in his mouth.
“You know, I was with my boys,” said Lake, who played high school football with Amon-Ra St. Brown at Mater Dei. “I was in a comfortable environment. I was trying to say stuff funny. But looking back on it, they have a big platform. And when you say stuff like that, people are going to take it in ways that you may not mean it. … In no way shape or form was it supposed to be disrespectful.”
The Chargers are 0-7 this season, and Herbert is seen as a key contributing factor. A two-time Pro Bowl selection who is just two seasons removed from throwing for 23 touchdowns and three interceptions over 17 games, Herbert has only five touchdowns and a league-high 10 interceptions this year. He ranks 31st in QB rating among passers with at least 100 attempts.
But Lake said he thinks Herbert is “still a great quarterback,” citing the seventh-year player’s arm strength, running skills and processing ability.
“Obviously there’s some things going on over there that they probably want to fix and probably want to polish up,” Lake said. “You look at their roster from top to bottom, [they’re] still very, very talented, him included.”
The billionaires targeted by the wealth tax on the November ballot include owners of some of California’s top sports teams and, among them, there will be winners and losers if voters approve the measure.
Which owners would be ensnared by the proposed tax on billionaires’ assets remains unclear, since it’s largely dependent on whether they are declared official California residents, at least for state tax purposes. And that’s before lawyers and accountants get involved, an almost certain bet if the ballot measure is approved by California voters.
So it’s possible that the majority owner of the Los Angeles Chargers, Dean Spanos, would have to pay the the wealth tax while the owner of the Los Angeles Rams, San Kroenke, would not — even though both their teams are playing on the same home field at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. It all depends on whether the state considers Spanos or Kroenke official California residents and how their assets are tallied.
Other wealthy team owners or co-owners who have residences in California and could be subject to the tax include the Golden State Warriors’ Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the San Diego Padres’ José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones, the San Jose Sharks’ Hasso Plattner and the Anaheim Ducks’ Henry Samueli.
Among those who appear to live out of state, according to news reports, and may not be impacted: the San Francisco 49ers’ Denise DeBartolo York and John York, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Steve Ballmer, the San Francisco Giants’ Charles Johnson, the L.A. Kings’ and the L.A. Galaxy’s Philip Anschutz.
In August, embattled billionaire Mark Walter agreed to sell the L.A. Lakers to former Disney chief executive Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner. The proposed billionaire tax would apply to Iger, who lives in California, but not Kushner, who lives in New York. A spokesperson for Iger declined comment. Walter, who also owns the Dodgers and has been under federal investigation, told the California Post on Wednesday that he has no plans to sell the team.
There is uncertainty and disagreement about how the tax would be levied on sports team owners, and how their ownership stakes would be evaluated by the state when assessing their assets.
Representatives of the Warriors and Chargers, declined comment. Spokespeople for the Kings, Padres, Sharks and Ducks did not respond to requests for comment, nor did representatives of Kroenke or Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, who lives in California and whose $9.6-billion purchase of the Seattle Seahawks was finalized in September.
Legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg warned that the proposed tax would have unintended consequences. “It creates an uneven playing field,” he said. “Out-of-state owners get an advantage over in-state residents.”
Steinberg, who has represented more than 300 professional athletes including Troy Aikman, Drew Bledsoe, Michael Vick and Oscar De La Hoya, said the increased tax could be passed on to fans if voters approve Proposition 40 on Nov. 3.
“Ticket prices are high enough anyway, and somewhat prohibitive to a working person or young person attending a game live,” Steinberg said. “The last thing in the world positive for the growth of sports is passing on that surcharge.”
Dodgers fans buy food at Dodgers Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Proposition 40 would impose a one-time 5% levy on many of the assets of billionaires, including their holdings in companies. It was crafted by a healthcare union to compensate for federal healthcare cuts signed by President Trump last year that will cost California an estimated $100 billion, impacting the state’s most vulnerable residents.
David Gamage, a tax law and policy professor at the University of Missouri’s law school, countered that consumers would be far more hurt by the impacts of the impending federal healthcare funding cuts than by potentially higher prices at sporting events.
“The billionaire wealth tax would address the healthcare crisis caused by the Trump administration slashing Medicaid and other healthcare funding. Passing the billionaire wealth tax would be expected to reduce healthcare costs and thereby keep the prices of hot dogs and other consumer goods lower,” Gamage said. “Trying to fool voters by implying otherwise is shameful.”
More than 200 billionaires live in California, some of whom moved themselves or their businesses out of the state because of the proposed tax. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of social media giant Meta, told company leaders that he planned to leave the state to avoid his control over the company being substantially diluted by being forced to sell enough stock to pay the proposed levy. Last week, the company announced the creation of a new nonvoting type of stock that would allow Zuckerberg to sell enough shares to pay the proposed tax while retaining his voting power in exchange for him agreeing to remain in the state for eight years.
Protesters in New York demonstrate against Elon Musk following the launch of the SpaceX initial public offering.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
Proposition 40 supporters say that billionaire sports team owners have benefited from Trump’s tax cuts — dividends they didn’t share with the fans who spend hard-earned money to bring their families to games — and that they need to pay their fair share.
Opponents argue that professional sports are among myriad California economic engines that will suffer if voters approve the proposition, in part because owners based in the state would be subject to the tax while those who reside in other parts of the country would be exempt.
The measure “will also drive up the cost of operating a sports team in California, increasing the price of tickets, concessions and merchandise,” said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable. “This is just one of many ways Proposition 40 will cost Californians.”
A poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies released Thursdayshowed public sentiment had turned against the billionaire tax, with half of likely voters opposing it and 42% supporting it.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer addresses the crowd.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
More than $404 million has been donated to efforts supporting and opposing the wealth tax, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office. Proponents of the ballot measure had raised $36.5 million as of Thursday, while opponents received nearly $368 million.
The residency of billionaires is often difficult to ascertain, given that many have multiple properties across the nation and around the world. It is not solely based on where the person is registered to vote.
Among the “facts and circumstances” the California Franchise Tax Board considers are the person’s employer, their spouse’s and childrens’ locations, where mail is delivered, and the location of doctors, accountants, lawyers, country club memberships and houses of worship. The number of days spent in California also is factored into the board’s assessment of residency.
Lakers part-owner Patrick Soon-Shiong at a game.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire, owns 4% of the Lakers and recently became a co-owner of a new women’s professional volleyball team in Los Angeles expected to start competing next year.
Soon-Shiong noted that it’s not only wealthy Californians who oppose the tax. Teachers, firefighters and other groups oppose Proposition 40 because of concerns about long-term impacts on the state. And, as a businessman with stakes in sports teams, he predicted bad effects on pro sports.
“It’s really, really expensive to bring a family to watch a professional game, whatever that game may be,” he said during an interview in September. “All those costs will go up, and for sure, it’ll be passed down to the cost of the ticket.”
Times Library Director Cary Schneider contributed to this report.
Former ESPN reporter Britt McHenry says she threw a drink at a man after he said “something truly vile to me” during an incident at a Washington Wizards game last week that reportedly led to McHenry resigning from her job with the U.S. Department of State the following day.
Video footage, posted by TMZ, from the Wizards’ game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 21 at Capital One Arena shows McHenry talking to a male companion and an usher from her seat while fans seated around her can be heard making negative comments about her and chanting, “Kick her out!”
As McHenry and her friend eventually start to leave on their own, a clear liquid can be seen hitting or coming close to hitting her on the back of the head. She then throws a drink of her own. As she makes her way up the stairs, McHenry gives the middle finger and blows kisses to the crowd as some people heckle and throw towels at her.
On Tuesday, McHenry posted a video on Instagram giving her side of the story. She said that a man sitting in front of her was making “egregiously loud” and “vile” comments toward Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma about the appearance of his fiancée, model Winnie Harlow, who has the skin condition vitiligo.
“I then make a snarky comment — probably shouldn’t have, but everyone behind me laughed — and just said, ‘Oh, I’m sure your girlfriend’s really beautiful, right?’” McHenry said. “Guy in that row, whether he was with that man or not, turns around and says to me, ‘Why don’t you shut the f— up, you dumb b—,’ quoting him, to which I say to him, like, ‘I wasn’t even talking to you. Who are you?’ And that’s where it escalates.”
McHenry says she and her friend, whom she identifies as Andrew, left their seats and went to a foyer, where an usher offered to move them to seats in another part of the arena.
“But I say to Drew, you purchased $250 to $300 a piece tickets,” McHenry said. “Why should we have to move because these men around us can’t behave and are heckling and harassing me. No, we’re going back. In hindsight, I wish we would have left.”
After they returned, McHenry said, people started throwing drinks at them.
“And the main agitator says something truly vile to me about what should be done to me, allegedly about getting gang raped outside,” McHenry said, “and that is when I threw the rest of my beer in that direction, turned around, and said, ‘Drew, let’s get out of here.’”
One video shows McHenry later speaking with a security worker near one of the venue’s entrances. When he gestures toward the exit, she appears stunned and asks, “What did I do?”
McHenry does not mention this encounter in her video and says she decided to leave the arena. But, she said, the “main agitator” was thrown out. Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the Wizards and Capital One Arena, did not immediately respond to questions from The Times about the incident.
McHenry worked at ESPN from 2014 to 2017, then spent several years with Fox News. In September, she announced on social media that she was working as a press advisor for the State Department.
Page Six reported Friday that McHenry had been “forced to resign” the previous day. McHenry then told Front Office Sports that she signed a resignation letter. The State Department told both publications that it does not comment on internal personnel matters.
McHenry, who did not mention her employment status in her video, doesn’t seem to have any regrets about her behavior that night.
“I was sticking up for Winnie Harlow, a woman that I admire, and many women and young girls look up to,” McHenry said. “And I was sticking up for myself.”
As California decides whether to slap billionaires with a special tax, the Golden State’s swarm of social media stars is chiming in — and increasingly getting paid to influence voters.
Unlikely influencers, from foodies to mothers to retirees, are weighing in on Proposition 40, a one-time 5% tax on the assets of the state’s roughly 200 billionaires and on other ballot measures created to cancel it.
Campaigns try to team up with and sometimes compensate key content creators, as their endorsements often hit harder than traditional political ads.
Between cheery Instagram videos about budget-friendly trips to a playground, a Halloween house and zoo with her kids, Bartley Chavez posted a video opposing Proposition 40 to her more than 47,500 followers.
“Look, I’m all for trying new things. A new recipe? Sure. A crazy haircut? Go for it. A quirky movie with the kids. Why not? But when we’re talking about California jobs, our family’s financial future, and the state’s economy, that’s not something I want to experiment with,” she says in the October video.
The video’s caption states the campaign opposing Proposition 40 paid her to post.
Getting political online does come with risks. In the video’s comments, one Instagram user said they unfollowed Chavez’s account, and another called her a “sell out.” Others backed her position. Chavez didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Los Angeles author and political influencer Leigh McGowan has built an audience of more than 3.5 million followers on different platforms with her no-nonsense takes on politics and other issues. She was already a supporter of the wealth tax when the Proposition 40 campaign started to pay for some of her posts.
“No one is punishing the rich. They are doing just fine,” she said in a sponsored video on Instagram. “We are simply asking them to pay an outstanding one-time tax that’ll help the rest of us.”
Campaigns have been paying attention to influencers as younger people turn to them for news, said McGowan, who’s known for pontificating from her kitchen. Many people distrust traditional media and want regular people to break down complex topics.
“We don’t know who to believe anymore, and there are just so many lies out there,” McGowan said in an interview. “The people who take the time to say authentically this is what they believe in, that’s who people believe.
In California, political ad spending in the 2026 election cycle is projected to approach $1 billion, more than any other state, according to political advertising intelligence firm AdImpact. Roughly $114 million is expected to go to digital platforms such as Facebook, Google, Snapchat and X.
The campaign opposing Proposition 40 has plenty of money to spend on political messaging in what’s become one of the most expensive ballot fights in California’s history. Billionaires such as Google co-founder Sergey Brin have donated millions to Building a Better California, a group funding ads against the wealth tax proposal. More than $350 million has been contributed to fight the billionaire tax and support two propositions — 41 and 42 — that could block it.
Campaign finance forms show how much groups spend on digital media, but they don’t say how much of that goes to influencers. While the data are limited, campaign leaders and other experts say social media stars are playing a bigger role in how brands and political movements advertise.
“Any modern campaign that wants to win needs to be active in spaces where voters get information — and that’s exactly what the No on 40 coalition is doing,” said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the coalition opposing Proposition 40.
Some political influencers broadcast their views independently or talk to campaigns without compensation. Others are paid a few hundred dollars or even up to $30,000 per post, according to an October report from the Center for Democracy & Technology and the Communication Technology Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh.
Influencers will post content for political campaigns to make money, but “genuine belief in political issues or candidates can — and often does — coexist with compensation,” the report said.
One Los Angeles influencer, The Speech Prof, who has more than 1.7 million combined followers on Instagram and TikTok, said he refused money to stop the billionaire tax.
The creator, also known as Professor Chesko, talks about everything from parenting and misogyny to politics. In September, he posted a viral video in which he says he rejected a large amount of money to oppose the billionaire tax.
This month, he posted a new video backing the billionaire tax, noting that the Proposition 40 campaign paid him to make the content. “It’s not nearly as much, but they’re a healthcare union and not corporate oligarchs. Plus I already said where I stand for free,” he said in the October video.
Professor Chesko didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The storm of new voices chiming in on the political debate, delivered through people’s personalized social media feeds, could be causing confusion, said Ramesh Srinivasan, professor of information studies at UCLA.
“If I’m seeing a completely different reality than you, whether it’s through influencers, AI or social media microtargeting,” he said. “Then it’s impossible to have a common basis for making decisions or choices.”
While the anti-billionaire tax war chest is much bigger, groups behind the tax say they’re still winning on social media.
“Despite being heavily outspent, the Prop. 40 campaign has been beating the billionaires on social media content and impact,” said Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff for the SEIU-UHW, the healthcare union backing the billionaire tax.
She said influencers support the tax even when they’re not paid because they understand that “California needs functioning hospitals and emergency rooms, not more tax breaks for billionaires.”
Some sponsored influencers are avoiding direct criticism of the billionaire tax and instead signaling support for a ballot measure that could nullify Proposition 40 even if voters approve it.
Proposition 42 prohibits new taxes on “retirement holdings, individually-owned assets, and other forms of personal savings,” but it conflicts with the billionaire tax proposal. If voters approve both, the one with the most “yes” votes generally would become law.
Karen Clay-Fenderson, a Los Angeles mom and retired teacher with more than 120,000 Instagram followers, has posted videos about Proposition 42.
“I did my research on 42, and I did see something about the billionaire tax. But I want to keep my retirement and my life savings. I don’t want that taxed,” she said in an interview.
She disclosed that the Proposition 42 campaign paid her for the videos, but didn’t go so far as to tell people how to vote.
“They understand that we have influence, and people listen to what we have to say,” she said. “That’s why I’m very cautious. This is what I’m doing, but you need to make your choice.”
In California, influencers must disclose that they are being paid by a political campaign. In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that would penalize influencers who failed to disclose that they were paid to post political content. Influencers could face fines of up to $5,000 per post.
Social media platforms also have their own rules. Instagram allows paid political ads, but TikTok doesn’t — though enforcement has been an issue.
Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Proposition 42, said their partners disclose they are paid and follow all campaign laws.
“Creators play an important role in the political conversation,” he said. “And campaigns across the country partner with them to ensure their audiences understand what’s at stake in the election.”
WASHINGTON — An immigrant detainee died Saturday morning at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, marking the 61st such death under the Trump administration.
In an emailed statement, an unnamed spokesperson with CoreCivic, the Tennessee-based private prison company that operates the facility, confirmed the death. Per the spokesperson, a staff member at the Otay Mesa facility called in a medical emergency around 11:36 a.m. Saturday after finding an unresponsive person in their assigned living area.
Medical staff arrived quickly, began lifesaving measures and called for emergency medical services, the spokesperson said. EMS arrived and continued those efforts, but the person was pronounced dead at the facility.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of anyone in our care,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was immediately notified.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment. CoreCivic did not provide information about the person’s identity.
San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, in a statement Tuesday, wrote that ICE and CoreCivic must quickly reach the person’s family, cooperate with a thorough investigation and share what they find with the public. Aguirre said she asked the county public health officer to determine what kind of follow-up is possible under a state law that allows local public health authorities to inspect ICE facilities.
“Somewhere, a family is waiting for a phone call, and my heart is with them,” she wrote.
This is the seventh person to die while in ICE custody in California under this administration, and the first to die at the Otay Mesa facility since 2023.
Deaths have increased as the Trump administration detained record numbers of people, with the population at one point ballooning past 70,000 nationwide.
The most recent death reported by ICE was that of Luis Sandoval, 48, a Salvadoran immigrant who died of apparent suicide Friday. Staff at the Folkston D. Ray ICE Processing Center in Georgia found Sandoval with a ligature around his neck, according to an ICE news release.
ICE policy is to notify the public and Congress within two business days of a detainee’s death. More extensive reports about each death, which were typically three pages, must be released within 90 days, though those have been reduced to a few paragraphs.
As Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy came under fire for releasing an attack ad featuring his Democratic competitor’s estranged mother, a mysterious news site was running a Facebook ad boosting the controversial video.
The Buckeye Bulletin, which bills itself as an Ohio-based news platform committed to “reliable journalism” and “strong editorial standards,” popped up suddenly this spring and began pumping out a steady stream of pro-Ramaswamy content.
The publication’s articles have no bylines. There is no list of staff. The website does not feature digital advertisements, nor does it prompt readers to subscribe, but there is also no disclosure of who is funding it.
A closer look at the Buckeye Bulletin’s Meta advertising data shows that its Facebook and Instagram accounts are managed by the Lincoln Media Foundation, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Orange County-based Lincoln Club — the oldest and largest conservative donor organization in California. IRS documents show that the club and foundation are associated organizations and share at least two key executives.
Meta’s advertising data shows that the Lincoln Media Foundation manages the Instagram and Facebook accounts for the Buckeye Bulletin.
(Meta)
The Buckeye Bulletin, Lincoln Club and Lincoln Media Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.
The Bulletin appears to be a partisan site posing as a local news outlet ahead of the midterm elections, a strategy political scientists refer to as “pink-slime” journalism.
This is not the first time a “pink-slime” outlet has been linked to the Lincoln Media Foundation. In 2024 Max Read, director of civic innovation for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, identified seven such alleged outlets.
With the exception of one Los Angeles-focused site, those outlets all targeted critical states for the 2024 presidential election such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Read reported that the media group had spent more than $63,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads, resulting in up to 18 million impressions during the last election cycle.
“[The sites were] very clearly designed to try to influence the information environment ahead of the presidential election,” Read told The Times. “They had all been started early in the year and used advertising on Meta platforms to juice their engagement numbers.”
When asked by The Times to take a look at the Buckeye Bulletin, Read said it appeared to be “pretty much copy and paste the same tactic that they used in 2024, even down to the aesthetics of the Facebook page and Instagram account.”
“It seems like they realized this worked at some level in 2024 and is worth doing again this year,” he said.
Earlier this year, CalMatters identified another outlet tied to the Lincoln Media Foundation called the California Courier, which had been circulating Facebook advertisements criticizing Gov. Gavin Newsom and the statewide redistricting ballot measure Proposition 50.
Since the Buckeye Bulletin’s Facebook and Instagram pages launched in March, the outlet has shared posts touting endorsements of Ramaswamy — a biotech billionaire and former presidential candidate — as well as his platform for addressing Ohio’s healthcare crisis and his stance on religious freedom in schools.
Simultaneously, the outlet’s social media posts have highlighted the refusal of his opponent — Amy Acton, Ohio’s former public health director — to debate, comments on how she “shut down” the state’s economy during the COVID-19 pandemic and a video with a watermark from right-wing political activist Laura Loomer.
This week, the outlet turned attention to Ramaswamy’s controversial campaign ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur. In the ad, Arthur calls her daughter a liar and urges voters not to support her.
However, the ad did not acknowledge that Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather, Arthur’s husband, was indicted for raping Acton when she was a child — an omission that drew fierce condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans, including Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Others, including President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, an Ohioan, have defended the ad.
Arthur and her husband fled to Pennsylvania after his 1978 indictment where he died in 2004 without having been brought back to Ohio to face the charge.
Peppered in between political content on the Bulletin’s social media feeds is a smattering of reels related to non-political news, often featuring videos lifted directly from local TV stations. These other posts are used to create a “veneer of genuine local journalism,” Read said.
The language on the Bulletin’s About Us page displays markers of artificial intelligence such as generic mission statements, polished but repetitive phrasing and vague claims about journalistic standards with no details about the publication’s staff.
Of the last 30 posts shared on the Bulletin’s Facebook as of 5 p.m. Friday, 21 were about state or national politics and 10 were about the gubernatorial race. Engagement on the posts dealing with Ramaswamy and Acton is consistently strong for a page with around 5,600 followers.
For example, a Wednesday post on Ohio State Medical Assn.’s PAC endorsing Ramaswamy received more than 770 likes, 260 comments and 150 shares. Another video posted Wednesday with the label “Amy Acton refuses to debate, says mother is lying about her” received more than 4,800 likes, 1,500 comments and 500 shares.
Meanwhile, a non-political Wednesday post on a chemical explosion in Toledo received two likes, no comments and no shares.
The unassuming social media scroller or person who clicked onto the website would have no clue of the Buckeye Bulletin’s apparent connection to a group of wealthy Southern California Republications.
The Lincoln Media Foundation was started by leaders of the historic Lincoln Club, which was founded in 1962 and once counted John Wayne and former President Richard Nixon as members.
Today, the club describes itself as being home to “the most prominent business and thought leaders” in California and says it offers members the opportunity to meet world leaders and “experience their hobbies come to life through a combination of extravagance and leisure.”
The foundation notes that it uses a digital approach to reach communities left out of the national conversation, but its website does not disclose providing funding to any news outlets.
IRS records show that the nonprofit’s financial activities kicked up dramatically in 2024, the latest year for which data are available. The Lincoln Media Foundation reported $3.88 million in revenue in 2024, compared with $738,000 in 2023, $453,000 in 2022 and $415,000 in 2021.
The Buckeye Bulletin’s Facebook and Instagram accounts have spent just over $10,000 boosting posts this year, according to Meta’s ad library.
That’s barely a drop in the bucket in Ohio, where hotly contested races for governor and U.S. Senate have drawn hundreds of millions in spending. But presenting a slanted political view under the guise of local news tends to offer more bang for your buck than traditional advertisements, said Georgia Kernell, an associate professor in the departments of communications and political science at UCLA.
“Voters are so sick of ads; they’re getting tons of clear paid advertisements on the radio, on the television and on their social media feeds now,” she said. “Anything that can kind of look different is going to be more likely to keep their attention.”
Presenting as a traditional news source also increases the likelihood of viewers believing that the information presented is well-researched, she said.
Nik Usher, associate professor of communications at the University of San Diego, said it’s unclear how much influence pink-slime journalism is having on voting behavior, but political strategists are willing to try any new approach to possibly make a difference in tight races.
“This is one strategic effort to throw more spaghetti at the wall, hoping it’ll stick,” Usher said.
Creators of these partisan sites further stand to benefit from the fact that artificial intelligence tools are constantly scraping content from news websites without paywalls.
Researchers at NewsGuard recently found that leading AI chat bots are citing pink-slime websites nearly half the time when users ask questions about candidates and issues in the midterm elections.
Democrats and Republicans have increasingly leveraged pink-slime journalism to influence voters in the past few election cycles.
In 2020, the New York Times identified a network of 1,300 news sites that paid freelance writers to produce biased content for Republican groups and corporate public relations firms. In 2024, the left-leaning Star Spangled Media group used a site called the Morning Mirror to promote down-ballot Democratic candidates, according to research from Columbia Journalism School’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism.
More recently, the evolution of AI has increased the ease with which these websites can be populated with content, eliminating the need to pay writers and automating the production of social media posts.
Usher described pink-slime websites as “explosive bombs for public trust” that take advantage of the gap created by the loss of independent local papers and further diminish expectations for news to be fairly reported.
“Once these sorts of sites are pointed out to the public it further undermines distrust in political institutions, political parties, the news media,” Usher said, “especially when AI is associated with this kind of stuff.”
The “H3 Podcast” is cutting ties with host Ethan Klein after his wife and co-host, Hila Klein, accused him of having an affair for the past six months.
The crew agreed to not continue working with Ethan or profiting in any way, sharing, “We stand with Hila and will support her every step of the way,” an “H3 Podcast” Instagram post read late Thursday evening.
The podcast’s indefinite hiatus comes shortly after Hila accused her husband of infidelity on her own Instagram account late Thursday night.
“I am living in a nightmare I can’t wake up from. …,” she stated on her Instagram post. “I have been fed lie after lie for months. I am tired of lies. Here’s the truth.
“I could sense something was wrong. I tried to ask him questions and share my concerns and hurt feelings. But I was met with dismissive answers and no action. Things that bothered me continued to bother me, and he did nothing about it,” Hila wrote.
Ethan and Hila have been together for 20 years and married for 14. They met while Ethan was on a Birthright trip to Israel where Hila was doing mandatory military service in the Israel Defense Forces. They maintained regular contact via Skype before Hila moved to Ethan’s college town of Santa Cruz, according to a 2017 video uploaded by the pair to their YouTube channel, h3h3Productions.
“The betrayal I feel is immeasurable. The person I loved and trusted for 20 years evaporated overnight. He was my safe place, my partner in marriage, parenting, and business. My only family on this side of the world. How do I even begin to make sense of this?” the post continued.
Hila shared that she does not know what comes next, adding, “I’m in survival mode, trying to navigate separation, co-parenting, and unthinkable heartbreak.”
Ethan didn’t immediately respond on Friday to The Times’ request for comment. He did, however, post on social media.
”I know a lot of people are understandably looking for a comment from me,” a post to his Instagram Stories read, “but I ask that you please respect my family’s privacy and do not contact them looking for me or asking for their comments. They have nothing to do with this and share in your outrage and disappointment. Thank you.”
Hila and Ethan share three sons ages 7, 4 and 2.
“All I can do right now is focus on taking care of myself and my children, one day at a time,” Hila said. “You’re not crazy. Trust your instincts. Trust yourself. If you’re not being treated right, get up and leave.”
The couple first rose to internet fame through their popular YouTube channel h3h3Productions, which often featured Ethan and Hila in sketches and vlogs. Around 2013, the channel picked up steam as the couple began posting reaction videos to viral social media clips. As of today, they have amassed over 5 million followers.
“H3 Podcast” began in 2017 and first featured guest interviews with internet personalities such as PewDiePie and Jake Paul.
Many online sleuths were quick to pull out clips from Ethan’s past that might have foreshadowed this incident, including in Oct. 2020 when Ethan’s former “Frenemies” podcast co-host Trisha Paytas said to him: “I feel/lowkey wish you could be single while you’re famous and rich because I feel like you didn’t get that out of your system. Like knowing that every girl wants to f— you because you’re famous and rich.”
Ethan responded: “I mean, it would be fun to date, but I’m not interested in that. I’m very happily married.”
The “H3 Podcast” subseries fizzled out in 2021 due to revenue disputes. Paytas married Hila’s brother, Moses Hacmon, in 2021.
Meghan Markle is “distressed” following reports that her half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. found explicit material involving minors in their father’s possession.
On Thursday, British tabloid the Sun reported that Thomas Jr. claimed he’d found “hundreds, if not thousands” of child pornography images inside four large boxes at the Cebu, Philippines, home of his father, Thomas Markle Sr., and contacted authorities.
Meghan’s team issued a statement to The Times on Friday, writing that she was “deeply distressed” by the news.
“My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed,” she said.
“In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated,” she continued, adding, “I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them.”
The Duchess of Sussex said that she trusted authorities were “doing the same for other families.”
“Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.”
Meghan’s relationship with her 82-year-old father has been the subject of media scrutiny since 2018, when she and Prince Harry tied the knot. Thomas Markle Sr. did not attend the wedding.
The Met Police told People that they are looking to confirm the passing of a letter in 2018. The FBI did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment, but told People that the agency is aware of the allegations, will investigate any related allegations of federal violations of U.S. law, and “will provide support, as appropriate, to the Philippine authorities.”
Thomas Markle Sr. denied the accusations on Friday, calling them “bulls—” and “lies.” He told the Daily Mail that he was “shocked” and “hurt” by his son’s claims and that he “could never do” what he’s being accused of.
“It’s the worst thing anyone could accuse me of. … I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.”
Thomas Markle Jr. did not immediately respond on Friday to The Times’ request for comment, and Thomas Markle Sr. could not be reached for comment.
The news comes shortly after Meghan and Prince Harry closed their California chapter and returned to England with their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5.
Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has set aside the death sentence handed to a Sri Lankan migrant worker over a comment he made on Facebook, Colombo’s Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra said.
Anojan Sivarasa, 27, was sentenced to death in September after a Saudi appellate court convicted him of blasphemy against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad over his comment.
Saudi Arabia’s top court set aside the sentence on Wednesday, Hemachandra said in a post on Facebook, where he thanked the authorities and legal teams of both nations for their efforts.
In late June, footage of a young Muslim man kicking a dog following Hindu pilgrims circulated widely on social media, triggering religious arguments online.
During the exchange, a user posted derogatory remarks about a Hindu deity, leading Sivarasa to respond in Tamil insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Although Sivarasa promptly deleted the comment and posted an apology video, a screenshot of it was brought to the attention of his employer and Saudi officials, leading to his arrest in July.
It is not clear if there will be further legal proceedings or whether Sivarasa will remain in detention, and for how long. He was initially sentenced to five years in prison as well as a fine of three million Saudi riyals ($0.8m; £0.6m) by the Al-Ahsa Criminal Court.
Faizer Mustafa, a Sri Lankan lawmaker who is involved in legal negotiations with Saudi Arabia regarding Sivarasa’s case, confirmed to BBC Sinhala that Saudi Arabia had overturned the death sentence, adding that they are reviewing the Supreme Court’s latest ruling.
Sivarasa’s family had earlier said they have had no direct contact with him since 28 September.
International rights groups had also joined calls for Saudi to spare his life.
“Saudi authorities should end their use of abusive laws to hand out extraordinary sentences for speech-related offenses, especially against migrant workers who are already in a vulnerable position with limited protections,” Joey Shea, senior Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said on Tuesday.
Troubled LAX people mover drops further into junk bond status as key deadline nears
Credit agency Fitch Ratings has dealt another blow to the troubled Skylink people mover train at Los Angeles International Airport, downgrading the project’s debt deeper into junk bond territory over the continued inability of the contractor and city’s airport department to complete the project.
The downgrade — to B-, from BB four months ago — “reflects the near certainty” that contractor LINXS won’t have the 2.25-mile train running by Dec. 8, leading to a “technical event of default and could give rights to either LINXS or Los Angeles World Airports … to issue project termination notices,” Fitch said in a report this week.
“It’s an uncommon action of severity,” Fitch analyst Seth Lehman told The Times. “We were under the view that there was a fair amount of cushion for LAWA and LINXS to settle on disputes, or for LINXS to show that they can have the trains run safely per this reliability test.”
The contractor has already said the train won’t be ready until February 2027 — or even later. In a statement to The Times Thursday, a spokesperson said that “LINXS remains committed to working with LAWA to successfully deliver the Automated People Mover and provide a world-class transportation system for the Los Angeles region.”
LINXS, an acronym for LAX Integrated Express Solutions, is a consortium that includes Fluor, Balfour Beatty, Alstom Transport USA, ACS Infrastructure Development, HNTB, Dragaos USA. LINXS declined comment beyond the statement.
LAWA officials had no immediate comment on the latest bond downgrade.
The deadline for the train’s completion is Dec. 8. While the airport or the contractor could technically terminate the contract at that time, Lehman noted that there’s a 120-day buffering period to allow for additional time to settle issues.
“After you get past that date, then the question becomes: Will both sides still want to work with each other, or just decide to find a path toward separation?” Lehman said about the months-long grace period.
The contractor and city airport officials have long been at odds.
LINXS filed a complaint against the city over the summer blaming the airport for the delays. Last month, the airport disputed multiple claims that the contractor made in its monthly brief on the project. And meetings between chief executives for the contractor, airport officials and others that began last year stopped in August.
Though officials say the project is 99% done, there are multiple unresolved issues. Agreements to implement solar energy on the project have not been signed with the city’s water and power departments, and the cause of technical problems with the train are still under investigation, according to a recent report from the contractor’s technical advisor.
In order for the train to run, it must undergo 30-days of consecutive testing without substantial issues and get sign-off from the airport and an outside assessor. That month-long testing period has continued to restart.
The $3.3 billion train is the most-anticipated feature of the airport’s $30 billion overhaul. It was initially slated to open in 2023 — before the World Cup and the Super Bowl and long before the 2028 Olympics. It’s now three years behind schedule and more than $1 billion beyond its original construction budget. When it does open, the airport said it will shuttle travelers between terminals, parking lots, the LAX/Metro Transit Center and a new rideshare lot.
Lehman noted that the train is hardly a novel project as many major airports have one, making the delays at LAX all the more confounding.
“Each time there’s a path towards opening, there’s a setback,” he said.
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Macklemore says L.A. area venues rejected ‘Free Palestine’ concerts
Grammy Award-winning artist Macklemore said he is getting pushback from concert venues as he brings his Free Palestine benefit concerts to the U.S.
The rapper behind hits including “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us” said on Instagram that nine U.S. venues told him in mid-September that they had available dates for concerts, but “once they found out these were my benefit shows for Palestine, those dates were suddenly off the table. The doors were closed.”
Macklemore performs in 2024 in Australia.
(Morgan Hancock / Getty Images)
The nine venues include Inglewood’s Kia Forum, L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena and Madison Square Garden in New York.
Earlier this year, Macklemore said he was removed from Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour after venue owners told Sheeran they would not host him at their stadiums if Macklemore was still part of the concert. Sheeran has said his promoters made the decision, according to the BBC.
Macklemore launched his Free Palestine tour in October, playing in Dublin, Paris and London. The concert proceeds benefit organizations supporting the Palestinian movement, according to the tour’s website.
Fans pose as they make their way into the “Macklemore & Friends “Free Palestine” Tour last month at Wembley Arena in London.
(Alberto Pezzali / Getty Images)
Representatives for the Kia Forum and AEG, which owns Crypto.com Arena, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
MSG Entertainment, which owns Madison Square Garden, said that Macklemore is “not an arena level act.”
“We have some of the busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability,” MSG Entertainment, said in a statement.
Spokespeople for the talent agency that reps Macklemore did not immediately return a request for comment.
Weighing in on the Palestinian issue can be a sensitive subject in Hollywood, as some people in the entertainment industry have received backlash on their social media posts on the topic.
Aerial view of Crypto.com Arena and the L.A. Live sports and entertainment district.
(AEG)
In 2023, a prominent agent at Creative Artists Agency stepped aside from her leadership roles at the company after she reposted inflammatory comments on Instagram calling Israel’s response to Hamas “genocide.” That same year, actor Melissa Barrera was dropped from her role in “Scream VII” after she shared pro-Palestinian statements on Instagram.
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Quentin Lake texted apology to Justin Herbert for ‘deli meat’ comment
Rams safety Quentin Lake says he texted Justin Herbert to apologize for comments he made about the Chargers quarterback on a podcast earlier this week.
So far, Lake said Friday afternoon, he hasn’t heard back.
“I don’t know if he read it,” Lake told The Times. “He probably says, ‘I don’t care about it anymore. I’m not trying to see this. It doesn’t matter. You said what you said.’ But at the same time I … felt like it was right for me to at least say,’ Hey, man, I didn’t mean it in any disrespectful way.’”
Lake and teammate Trent McDuffie each intercepted a pass thrown by Herbert during the Rams’ 24-9 victory over the Chargers on Sunday. During an appearance on the “St. Brown Podcast” this week, Lake mentioned that Herbert “was throwing deli meat” and “seeing ghosts” during the game.
The comments left Lake and the two hosts — Detroit Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and his brother, former NFL receiver Equanimeous St. Brown — in stitches.
After his quotes went viral, however, Lake was left with a bad taste in his mouth.
“You know, I was with my boys,” said Lake, who played high school football with Amon-Ra St. Brown at Mater Dei. “I was in a comfortable environment. I was trying to say stuff funny. But looking back on it, they have a big platform. And when you say stuff like that, people are going to take it in ways that you may not mean it. … In no way shape or form was it supposed to be disrespectful.”
The Chargers are 0-7 this season, and Herbert is seen as a key contributing factor. A two-time Pro Bowl selection who is just two seasons removed from throwing for 23 touchdowns and three interceptions over 17 games, Herbert has only five touchdowns and a league-high 10 interceptions this year. He ranks 31st in QB rating among passers with at least 100 attempts.
But Lake said he thinks Herbert is “still a great quarterback,” citing the seventh-year player’s arm strength, running skills and processing ability.
“Obviously there’s some things going on over there that they probably want to fix and probably want to polish up,” Lake said. “You look at their roster from top to bottom, [they’re] still very, very talented, him included.”
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Proposed wealth tax could disproportionately impact California teams
The billionaires targeted by the wealth tax on the November ballot include owners of some of California’s top sports teams and, among them, there will be winners and losers if voters approve the measure.
Which owners would be ensnared by the proposed tax on billionaires’ assets remains unclear, since it’s largely dependent on whether they are declared official California residents, at least for state tax purposes. And that’s before lawyers and accountants get involved, an almost certain bet if the ballot measure is approved by California voters.
So it’s possible that the majority owner of the Los Angeles Chargers, Dean Spanos, would have to pay the the wealth tax while the owner of the Los Angeles Rams, San Kroenke, would not — even though both their teams are playing on the same home field at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. It all depends on whether the state considers Spanos or Kroenke official California residents and how their assets are tallied.
Other wealthy team owners or co-owners who have residences in California and could be subject to the tax include the Golden State Warriors’ Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, the San Diego Padres’ José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones, the San Jose Sharks’ Hasso Plattner and the Anaheim Ducks’ Henry Samueli.
Among those who appear to live out of state, according to news reports, and may not be impacted: the San Francisco 49ers’ Denise DeBartolo York and John York, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Steve Ballmer, the San Francisco Giants’ Charles Johnson, the L.A. Kings’ and the L.A. Galaxy’s Philip Anschutz.
In August, embattled billionaire Mark Walter agreed to sell the L.A. Lakers to former Disney chief executive Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner. The proposed billionaire tax would apply to Iger, who lives in California, but not Kushner, who lives in New York. A spokesperson for Iger declined comment. Walter, who also owns the Dodgers and has been under federal investigation, told the California Post on Wednesday that he has no plans to sell the team.
There is uncertainty and disagreement about how the tax would be levied on sports team owners, and how their ownership stakes would be evaluated by the state when assessing their assets.
Representatives of the Warriors and Chargers, declined comment. Spokespeople for the Kings, Padres, Sharks and Ducks did not respond to requests for comment, nor did representatives of Kroenke or Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, who lives in California and whose $9.6-billion purchase of the Seattle Seahawks was finalized in September.
Legendary sports agent Leigh Steinberg warned that the proposed tax would have unintended consequences. “It creates an uneven playing field,” he said. “Out-of-state owners get an advantage over in-state residents.”
Steinberg, who has represented more than 300 professional athletes including Troy Aikman, Drew Bledsoe, Michael Vick and Oscar De La Hoya, said the increased tax could be passed on to fans if voters approve Proposition 40 on Nov. 3.
“Ticket prices are high enough anyway, and somewhat prohibitive to a working person or young person attending a game live,” Steinberg said. “The last thing in the world positive for the growth of sports is passing on that surcharge.”
Dodgers fans buy food at Dodgers Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Proposition 40 would impose a one-time 5% levy on many of the assets of billionaires, including their holdings in companies. It was crafted by a healthcare union to compensate for federal healthcare cuts signed by President Trump last year that will cost California an estimated $100 billion, impacting the state’s most vulnerable residents.
David Gamage, a tax law and policy professor at the University of Missouri’s law school, countered that consumers would be far more hurt by the impacts of the impending federal healthcare funding cuts than by potentially higher prices at sporting events.
“The billionaire wealth tax would address the healthcare crisis caused by the Trump administration slashing Medicaid and other healthcare funding. Passing the billionaire wealth tax would be expected to reduce healthcare costs and thereby keep the prices of hot dogs and other consumer goods lower,” Gamage said. “Trying to fool voters by implying otherwise is shameful.”
More than 200 billionaires live in California, some of whom moved themselves or their businesses out of the state because of the proposed tax. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of social media giant Meta, told company leaders that he planned to leave the state to avoid his control over the company being substantially diluted by being forced to sell enough stock to pay the proposed levy. Last week, the company announced the creation of a new nonvoting type of stock that would allow Zuckerberg to sell enough shares to pay the proposed tax while retaining his voting power in exchange for him agreeing to remain in the state for eight years.
Protesters in New York demonstrate against Elon Musk following the launch of the SpaceX initial public offering.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
Proposition 40 supporters say that billionaire sports team owners have benefited from Trump’s tax cuts — dividends they didn’t share with the fans who spend hard-earned money to bring their families to games — and that they need to pay their fair share.
Opponents argue that professional sports are among myriad California economic engines that will suffer if voters approve the proposition, in part because owners based in the state would be subject to the tax while those who reside in other parts of the country would be exempt.
The measure “will also drive up the cost of operating a sports team in California, increasing the price of tickets, concessions and merchandise,” said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable. “This is just one of many ways Proposition 40 will cost Californians.”
A poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies released Thursdayshowed public sentiment had turned against the billionaire tax, with half of likely voters opposing it and 42% supporting it.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer addresses the crowd.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
More than $404 million has been donated to efforts supporting and opposing the wealth tax, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office. Proponents of the ballot measure had raised $36.5 million as of Thursday, while opponents received nearly $368 million.
The residency of billionaires is often difficult to ascertain, given that many have multiple properties across the nation and around the world. It is not solely based on where the person is registered to vote.
Among the “facts and circumstances” the California Franchise Tax Board considers are the person’s employer, their spouse’s and childrens’ locations, where mail is delivered, and the location of doctors, accountants, lawyers, country club memberships and houses of worship. The number of days spent in California also is factored into the board’s assessment of residency.
Lakers part-owner Patrick Soon-Shiong at a game.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire, owns 4% of the Lakers and recently became a co-owner of a new women’s professional volleyball team in Los Angeles expected to start competing next year.
Soon-Shiong noted that it’s not only wealthy Californians who oppose the tax. Teachers, firefighters and other groups oppose Proposition 40 because of concerns about long-term impacts on the state. And, as a businessman with stakes in sports teams, he predicted bad effects on pro sports.
“It’s really, really expensive to bring a family to watch a professional game, whatever that game may be,” he said during an interview in September. “All those costs will go up, and for sure, it’ll be passed down to the cost of the ticket.”
Times Library Director Cary Schneider contributed to this report.
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Britt McHenry says ‘truly vile’ remark sparked drink-throwing incident
Former ESPN reporter Britt McHenry says she threw a drink at a man after he said “something truly vile to me” during an incident at a Washington Wizards game last week that reportedly led to McHenry resigning from her job with the U.S. Department of State the following day.
Video footage, posted by TMZ, from the Wizards’ game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 21 at Capital One Arena shows McHenry talking to a male companion and an usher from her seat while fans seated around her can be heard making negative comments about her and chanting, “Kick her out!”
As McHenry and her friend eventually start to leave on their own, a clear liquid can be seen hitting or coming close to hitting her on the back of the head. She then throws a drink of her own. As she makes her way up the stairs, McHenry gives the middle finger and blows kisses to the crowd as some people heckle and throw towels at her.
On Tuesday, McHenry posted a video on Instagram giving her side of the story. She said that a man sitting in front of her was making “egregiously loud” and “vile” comments toward Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma about the appearance of his fiancée, model Winnie Harlow, who has the skin condition vitiligo.
“I then make a snarky comment — probably shouldn’t have, but everyone behind me laughed — and just said, ‘Oh, I’m sure your girlfriend’s really beautiful, right?’” McHenry said. “Guy in that row, whether he was with that man or not, turns around and says to me, ‘Why don’t you shut the f— up, you dumb b—,’ quoting him, to which I say to him, like, ‘I wasn’t even talking to you. Who are you?’ And that’s where it escalates.”
McHenry says she and her friend, whom she identifies as Andrew, left their seats and went to a foyer, where an usher offered to move them to seats in another part of the arena.
“But I say to Drew, you purchased $250 to $300 a piece tickets,” McHenry said. “Why should we have to move because these men around us can’t behave and are heckling and harassing me. No, we’re going back. In hindsight, I wish we would have left.”
After they returned, McHenry said, people started throwing drinks at them.
“And the main agitator says something truly vile to me about what should be done to me, allegedly about getting gang raped outside,” McHenry said, “and that is when I threw the rest of my beer in that direction, turned around, and said, ‘Drew, let’s get out of here.’”
One video shows McHenry later speaking with a security worker near one of the venue’s entrances. When he gestures toward the exit, she appears stunned and asks, “What did I do?”
McHenry does not mention this encounter in her video and says she decided to leave the arena. But, she said, the “main agitator” was thrown out. Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the Wizards and Capital One Arena, did not immediately respond to questions from The Times about the incident.
McHenry worked at ESPN from 2014 to 2017, then spent several years with Fox News. In September, she announced on social media that she was working as a press advisor for the State Department.
Page Six reported Friday that McHenry had been “forced to resign” the previous day. McHenry then told Front Office Sports that she signed a resignation letter. The State Department told both publications that it does not comment on internal personnel matters.
McHenry, who did not mention her employment status in her video, doesn’t seem to have any regrets about her behavior that night.
“I was sticking up for Winnie Harlow, a woman that I admire, and many women and young girls look up to,” McHenry said. “And I was sticking up for myself.”
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California’s billionaire tax battle is playing out on Instagram—with paid influencers
As California decides whether to slap billionaires with a special tax, the Golden State’s swarm of social media stars is chiming in — and increasingly getting paid to influence voters.
Unlikely influencers, from foodies to mothers to retirees, are weighing in on Proposition 40, a one-time 5% tax on the assets of the state’s roughly 200 billionaires and on other ballot measures created to cancel it.
Campaigns try to team up with and sometimes compensate key content creators, as their endorsements often hit harder than traditional political ads.
Between cheery Instagram videos about budget-friendly trips to a playground, a Halloween house and zoo with her kids, Bartley Chavez posted a video opposing Proposition 40 to her more than 47,500 followers.
“Look, I’m all for trying new things. A new recipe? Sure. A crazy haircut? Go for it. A quirky movie with the kids. Why not? But when we’re talking about California jobs, our family’s financial future, and the state’s economy, that’s not something I want to experiment with,” she says in the October video.
The video’s caption states the campaign opposing Proposition 40 paid her to post.
Getting political online does come with risks. In the video’s comments, one Instagram user said they unfollowed Chavez’s account, and another called her a “sell out.” Others backed her position. Chavez didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Los Angeles author and political influencer Leigh McGowan has built an audience of more than 3.5 million followers on different platforms with her no-nonsense takes on politics and other issues. She was already a supporter of the wealth tax when the Proposition 40 campaign started to pay for some of her posts.
“No one is punishing the rich. They are doing just fine,” she said in a sponsored video on Instagram. “We are simply asking them to pay an outstanding one-time tax that’ll help the rest of us.”
Campaigns have been paying attention to influencers as younger people turn to them for news, said McGowan, who’s known for pontificating from her kitchen. Many people distrust traditional media and want regular people to break down complex topics.
“We don’t know who to believe anymore, and there are just so many lies out there,” McGowan said in an interview. “The people who take the time to say authentically this is what they believe in, that’s who people believe.
In California, political ad spending in the 2026 election cycle is projected to approach $1 billion, more than any other state, according to political advertising intelligence firm AdImpact. Roughly $114 million is expected to go to digital platforms such as Facebook, Google, Snapchat and X.
The campaign opposing Proposition 40 has plenty of money to spend on political messaging in what’s become one of the most expensive ballot fights in California’s history. Billionaires such as Google co-founder Sergey Brin have donated millions to Building a Better California, a group funding ads against the wealth tax proposal. More than $350 million has been contributed to fight the billionaire tax and support two propositions — 41 and 42 — that could block it.
Campaign finance forms show how much groups spend on digital media, but they don’t say how much of that goes to influencers. While the data are limited, campaign leaders and other experts say social media stars are playing a bigger role in how brands and political movements advertise.
“Any modern campaign that wants to win needs to be active in spaces where voters get information — and that’s exactly what the No on 40 coalition is doing,” said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the coalition opposing Proposition 40.
Some political influencers broadcast their views independently or talk to campaigns without compensation. Others are paid a few hundred dollars or even up to $30,000 per post, according to an October report from the Center for Democracy & Technology and the Communication Technology Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh.
Influencers will post content for political campaigns to make money, but “genuine belief in political issues or candidates can — and often does — coexist with compensation,” the report said.
One Los Angeles influencer, The Speech Prof, who has more than 1.7 million combined followers on Instagram and TikTok, said he refused money to stop the billionaire tax.
The creator, also known as Professor Chesko, talks about everything from parenting and misogyny to politics. In September, he posted a viral video in which he says he rejected a large amount of money to oppose the billionaire tax.
This month, he posted a new video backing the billionaire tax, noting that the Proposition 40 campaign paid him to make the content. “It’s not nearly as much, but they’re a healthcare union and not corporate oligarchs. Plus I already said where I stand for free,” he said in the October video.
Professor Chesko didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The storm of new voices chiming in on the political debate, delivered through people’s personalized social media feeds, could be causing confusion, said Ramesh Srinivasan, professor of information studies at UCLA.
“If I’m seeing a completely different reality than you, whether it’s through influencers, AI or social media microtargeting,” he said. “Then it’s impossible to have a common basis for making decisions or choices.”
While the anti-billionaire tax war chest is much bigger, groups behind the tax say they’re still winning on social media.
“Despite being heavily outspent, the Prop. 40 campaign has been beating the billionaires on social media content and impact,” said Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff for the SEIU-UHW, the healthcare union backing the billionaire tax.
She said influencers support the tax even when they’re not paid because they understand that “California needs functioning hospitals and emergency rooms, not more tax breaks for billionaires.”
Some sponsored influencers are avoiding direct criticism of the billionaire tax and instead signaling support for a ballot measure that could nullify Proposition 40 even if voters approve it.
Proposition 42 prohibits new taxes on “retirement holdings, individually-owned assets, and other forms of personal savings,” but it conflicts with the billionaire tax proposal. If voters approve both, the one with the most “yes” votes generally would become law.
Karen Clay-Fenderson, a Los Angeles mom and retired teacher with more than 120,000 Instagram followers, has posted videos about Proposition 42.
“I did my research on 42, and I did see something about the billionaire tax. But I want to keep my retirement and my life savings. I don’t want that taxed,” she said in an interview.
She disclosed that the Proposition 42 campaign paid her for the videos, but didn’t go so far as to tell people how to vote.
“They understand that we have influence, and people listen to what we have to say,” she said. “That’s why I’m very cautious. This is what I’m doing, but you need to make your choice.”
In California, influencers must disclose that they are being paid by a political campaign. In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that would penalize influencers who failed to disclose that they were paid to post political content. Influencers could face fines of up to $5,000 per post.
Social media platforms also have their own rules. Instagram allows paid political ads, but TikTok doesn’t — though enforcement has been an issue.
Nathan Click, a spokesperson for Proposition 42, said their partners disclose they are paid and follow all campaign laws.
“Creators play an important role in the political conversation,” he said. “And campaigns across the country partner with them to ensure their audiences understand what’s at stake in the election.”
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Immigrant detainee dies at San Diego ICE detention center
WASHINGTON — An immigrant detainee died Saturday morning at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, marking the 61st such death under the Trump administration.
In an emailed statement, an unnamed spokesperson with CoreCivic, the Tennessee-based private prison company that operates the facility, confirmed the death. Per the spokesperson, a staff member at the Otay Mesa facility called in a medical emergency around 11:36 a.m. Saturday after finding an unresponsive person in their assigned living area.
Medical staff arrived quickly, began lifesaving measures and called for emergency medical services, the spokesperson said. EMS arrived and continued those efforts, but the person was pronounced dead at the facility.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of anyone in our care,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was immediately notified.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment. CoreCivic did not provide information about the person’s identity.
The death was first reported by Daylight San Diego.
San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, in a statement Tuesday, wrote that ICE and CoreCivic must quickly reach the person’s family, cooperate with a thorough investigation and share what they find with the public. Aguirre said she asked the county public health officer to determine what kind of follow-up is possible under a state law that allows local public health authorities to inspect ICE facilities.
“Somewhere, a family is waiting for a phone call, and my heart is with them,” she wrote.
This is the seventh person to die while in ICE custody in California under this administration, and the first to die at the Otay Mesa facility since 2023.
Deaths have increased as the Trump administration detained record numbers of people, with the population at one point ballooning past 70,000 nationwide.
The most recent death reported by ICE was that of Luis Sandoval, 48, a Salvadoran immigrant who died of apparent suicide Friday. Staff at the Folkston D. Ray ICE Processing Center in Georgia found Sandoval with a ligature around his neck, according to an ICE news release.
ICE policy is to notify the public and Congress within two business days of a detainee’s death. More extensive reports about each death, which were typically three pages, must be released within 90 days, though those have been reduced to a few paragraphs.
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California GOP group linked to Ohio news site promoting Ramaswamy Acton ad
As Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy came under fire for releasing an attack ad featuring his Democratic competitor’s estranged mother, a mysterious news site was running a Facebook ad boosting the controversial video.
The Buckeye Bulletin, which bills itself as an Ohio-based news platform committed to “reliable journalism” and “strong editorial standards,” popped up suddenly this spring and began pumping out a steady stream of pro-Ramaswamy content.
The publication’s articles have no bylines. There is no list of staff. The website does not feature digital advertisements, nor does it prompt readers to subscribe, but there is also no disclosure of who is funding it.
A closer look at the Buckeye Bulletin’s Meta advertising data shows that its Facebook and Instagram accounts are managed by the Lincoln Media Foundation, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Orange County-based Lincoln Club — the oldest and largest conservative donor organization in California. IRS documents show that the club and foundation are associated organizations and share at least two key executives.
Meta’s advertising data shows that the Lincoln Media Foundation manages the Instagram and Facebook accounts for the Buckeye Bulletin.
(Meta)
The Buckeye Bulletin, Lincoln Club and Lincoln Media Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.
The Bulletin appears to be a partisan site posing as a local news outlet ahead of the midterm elections, a strategy political scientists refer to as “pink-slime” journalism.
This is not the first time a “pink-slime” outlet has been linked to the Lincoln Media Foundation. In 2024 Max Read, director of civic innovation for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, identified seven such alleged outlets.
With the exception of one Los Angeles-focused site, those outlets all targeted critical states for the 2024 presidential election such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Read reported that the media group had spent more than $63,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads, resulting in up to 18 million impressions during the last election cycle.
“[The sites were] very clearly designed to try to influence the information environment ahead of the presidential election,” Read told The Times. “They had all been started early in the year and used advertising on Meta platforms to juice their engagement numbers.”
When asked by The Times to take a look at the Buckeye Bulletin, Read said it appeared to be “pretty much copy and paste the same tactic that they used in 2024, even down to the aesthetics of the Facebook page and Instagram account.”
“It seems like they realized this worked at some level in 2024 and is worth doing again this year,” he said.
Earlier this year, CalMatters identified another outlet tied to the Lincoln Media Foundation called the California Courier, which had been circulating Facebook advertisements criticizing Gov. Gavin Newsom and the statewide redistricting ballot measure Proposition 50.
Since the Buckeye Bulletin’s Facebook and Instagram pages launched in March, the outlet has shared posts touting endorsements of Ramaswamy — a biotech billionaire and former presidential candidate — as well as his platform for addressing Ohio’s healthcare crisis and his stance on religious freedom in schools.
Simultaneously, the outlet’s social media posts have highlighted the refusal of his opponent — Amy Acton, Ohio’s former public health director — to debate, comments on how she “shut down” the state’s economy during the COVID-19 pandemic and a video with a watermark from right-wing political activist Laura Loomer.
This week, the outlet turned attention to Ramaswamy’s controversial campaign ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur. In the ad, Arthur calls her daughter a liar and urges voters not to support her.
However, the ad did not acknowledge that Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather, Arthur’s husband, was indicted for raping Acton when she was a child — an omission that drew fierce condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans, including Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Others, including President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, an Ohioan, have defended the ad.
Arthur and her husband fled to Pennsylvania after his 1978 indictment where he died in 2004 without having been brought back to Ohio to face the charge.
Peppered in between political content on the Bulletin’s social media feeds is a smattering of reels related to non-political news, often featuring videos lifted directly from local TV stations. These other posts are used to create a “veneer of genuine local journalism,” Read said.
The language on the Bulletin’s About Us page displays markers of artificial intelligence such as generic mission statements, polished but repetitive phrasing and vague claims about journalistic standards with no details about the publication’s staff.
Of the last 30 posts shared on the Bulletin’s Facebook as of 5 p.m. Friday, 21 were about state or national politics and 10 were about the gubernatorial race. Engagement on the posts dealing with Ramaswamy and Acton is consistently strong for a page with around 5,600 followers.
For example, a Wednesday post on Ohio State Medical Assn.’s PAC endorsing Ramaswamy received more than 770 likes, 260 comments and 150 shares. Another video posted Wednesday with the label “Amy Acton refuses to debate, says mother is lying about her” received more than 4,800 likes, 1,500 comments and 500 shares.
Meanwhile, a non-political Wednesday post on a chemical explosion in Toledo received two likes, no comments and no shares.
The unassuming social media scroller or person who clicked onto the website would have no clue of the Buckeye Bulletin’s apparent connection to a group of wealthy Southern California Republications.
The Lincoln Media Foundation was started by leaders of the historic Lincoln Club, which was founded in 1962 and once counted John Wayne and former President Richard Nixon as members.
Today, the club describes itself as being home to “the most prominent business and thought leaders” in California and says it offers members the opportunity to meet world leaders and “experience their hobbies come to life through a combination of extravagance and leisure.”
The foundation notes that it uses a digital approach to reach communities left out of the national conversation, but its website does not disclose providing funding to any news outlets.
IRS records show that the nonprofit’s financial activities kicked up dramatically in 2024, the latest year for which data are available. The Lincoln Media Foundation reported $3.88 million in revenue in 2024, compared with $738,000 in 2023, $453,000 in 2022 and $415,000 in 2021.
The Buckeye Bulletin’s Facebook and Instagram accounts have spent just over $10,000 boosting posts this year, according to Meta’s ad library.
That’s barely a drop in the bucket in Ohio, where hotly contested races for governor and U.S. Senate have drawn hundreds of millions in spending. But presenting a slanted political view under the guise of local news tends to offer more bang for your buck than traditional advertisements, said Georgia Kernell, an associate professor in the departments of communications and political science at UCLA.
“Voters are so sick of ads; they’re getting tons of clear paid advertisements on the radio, on the television and on their social media feeds now,” she said. “Anything that can kind of look different is going to be more likely to keep their attention.”
Presenting as a traditional news source also increases the likelihood of viewers believing that the information presented is well-researched, she said.
Nik Usher, associate professor of communications at the University of San Diego, said it’s unclear how much influence pink-slime journalism is having on voting behavior, but political strategists are willing to try any new approach to possibly make a difference in tight races.
“This is one strategic effort to throw more spaghetti at the wall, hoping it’ll stick,” Usher said.
Creators of these partisan sites further stand to benefit from the fact that artificial intelligence tools are constantly scraping content from news websites without paywalls.
Researchers at NewsGuard recently found that leading AI chat bots are citing pink-slime websites nearly half the time when users ask questions about candidates and issues in the midterm elections.
Democrats and Republicans have increasingly leveraged pink-slime journalism to influence voters in the past few election cycles.
In 2020, the New York Times identified a network of 1,300 news sites that paid freelance writers to produce biased content for Republican groups and corporate public relations firms. In 2024, the left-leaning Star Spangled Media group used a site called the Morning Mirror to promote down-ballot Democratic candidates, according to research from Columbia Journalism School’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism.
More recently, the evolution of AI has increased the ease with which these websites can be populated with content, eliminating the need to pay writers and automating the production of social media posts.
Usher described pink-slime websites as “explosive bombs for public trust” that take advantage of the gap created by the loss of independent local papers and further diminish expectations for news to be fairly reported.
“Once these sorts of sites are pointed out to the public it further undermines distrust in political institutions, political parties, the news media,” Usher said, “especially when AI is associated with this kind of stuff.”
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‘H3 Podcast’ cuts ties with co-host Ethan Klein amid wife’s claims
The “H3 Podcast” is cutting ties with host Ethan Klein after his wife and co-host, Hila Klein, accused him of having an affair for the past six months.
The crew agreed to not continue working with Ethan or profiting in any way, sharing, “We stand with Hila and will support her every step of the way,” an “H3 Podcast” Instagram post read late Thursday evening.
The podcast’s indefinite hiatus comes shortly after Hila accused her husband of infidelity on her own Instagram account late Thursday night.
“I am living in a nightmare I can’t wake up from. …,” she stated on her Instagram post. “I have been fed lie after lie for months. I am tired of lies. Here’s the truth.
“I could sense something was wrong. I tried to ask him questions and share my concerns and hurt feelings. But I was met with dismissive answers and no action. Things that bothered me continued to bother me, and he did nothing about it,” Hila wrote.
Ethan and Hila have been together for 20 years and married for 14. They met while Ethan was on a Birthright trip to Israel where Hila was doing mandatory military service in the Israel Defense Forces. They maintained regular contact via Skype before Hila moved to Ethan’s college town of Santa Cruz, according to a 2017 video uploaded by the pair to their YouTube channel, h3h3Productions.
“The betrayal I feel is immeasurable. The person I loved and trusted for 20 years evaporated overnight. He was my safe place, my partner in marriage, parenting, and business. My only family on this side of the world. How do I even begin to make sense of this?” the post continued.
Hila shared that she does not know what comes next, adding, “I’m in survival mode, trying to navigate separation, co-parenting, and unthinkable heartbreak.”
Ethan didn’t immediately respond on Friday to The Times’ request for comment. He did, however, post on social media.
”I know a lot of people are understandably looking for a comment from me,” a post to his Instagram Stories read, “but I ask that you please respect my family’s privacy and do not contact them looking for me or asking for their comments. They have nothing to do with this and share in your outrage and disappointment. Thank you.”
Hila and Ethan share three sons ages 7, 4 and 2.
“All I can do right now is focus on taking care of myself and my children, one day at a time,” Hila said. “You’re not crazy. Trust your instincts. Trust yourself. If you’re not being treated right, get up and leave.”
The couple first rose to internet fame through their popular YouTube channel h3h3Productions, which often featured Ethan and Hila in sketches and vlogs. Around 2013, the channel picked up steam as the couple began posting reaction videos to viral social media clips. As of today, they have amassed over 5 million followers.
“H3 Podcast” began in 2017 and first featured guest interviews with internet personalities such as PewDiePie and Jake Paul.
Many online sleuths were quick to pull out clips from Ethan’s past that might have foreshadowed this incident, including in Oct. 2020 when Ethan’s former “Frenemies” podcast co-host Trisha Paytas said to him: “I feel/lowkey wish you could be single while you’re famous and rich because I feel like you didn’t get that out of your system. Like knowing that every girl wants to f— you because you’re famous and rich.”
Ethan responded: “I mean, it would be fun to date, but I’m not interested in that. I’m very happily married.”
The “H3 Podcast” subseries fizzled out in 2021 due to revenue disputes. Paytas married Hila’s brother, Moses Hacmon, in 2021.
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Meghan Markle responds to child pornography allegations against father
Meghan Markle is “distressed” following reports that her half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. found explicit material involving minors in their father’s possession.
On Thursday, British tabloid the Sun reported that Thomas Jr. claimed he’d found “hundreds, if not thousands” of child pornography images inside four large boxes at the Cebu, Philippines, home of his father, Thomas Markle Sr., and contacted authorities.
Meghan’s team issued a statement to The Times on Friday, writing that she was “deeply distressed” by the news.
“My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed,” she said.
“In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated,” she continued, adding, “I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them.”
The Duchess of Sussex said that she trusted authorities were “doing the same for other families.”
“Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.”
Meghan’s relationship with her 82-year-old father has been the subject of media scrutiny since 2018, when she and Prince Harry tied the knot. Thomas Markle Sr. did not attend the wedding.
The Met Police told People that they are looking to confirm the passing of a letter in 2018. The FBI did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment, but told People that the agency is aware of the allegations, will investigate any related allegations of federal violations of U.S. law, and “will provide support, as appropriate, to the Philippine authorities.”
Thomas Markle Sr. denied the accusations on Friday, calling them “bulls—” and “lies.” He told the Daily Mail that he was “shocked” and “hurt” by his son’s claims and that he “could never do” what he’s being accused of.
“It’s the worst thing anyone could accuse me of. … I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.”
Thomas Markle Jr. did not immediately respond on Friday to The Times’ request for comment, and Thomas Markle Sr. could not be reached for comment.
The news comes shortly after Meghan and Prince Harry closed their California chapter and returned to England with their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5.
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Saudi Arabia overturns death sentence for man over Facebook comment
Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has set aside the death sentence handed to a Sri Lankan migrant worker over a comment he made on Facebook, Colombo’s Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra said.
Anojan Sivarasa, 27, was sentenced to death in September after a Saudi appellate court convicted him of blasphemy against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad over his comment.
The case sent shockwaves through Sri Lanka, spurring diplomatic efforts to seek clemency.
Saudi Arabia’s top court set aside the sentence on Wednesday, Hemachandra said in a post on Facebook, where he thanked the authorities and legal teams of both nations for their efforts.
In late June, footage of a young Muslim man kicking a dog following Hindu pilgrims circulated widely on social media, triggering religious arguments online.
During the exchange, a user posted derogatory remarks about a Hindu deity, leading Sivarasa to respond in Tamil insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Although Sivarasa promptly deleted the comment and posted an apology video, a screenshot of it was brought to the attention of his employer and Saudi officials, leading to his arrest in July.
It is not clear if there will be further legal proceedings or whether Sivarasa will remain in detention, and for how long. He was initially sentenced to five years in prison as well as a fine of three million Saudi riyals ($0.8m; £0.6m) by the Al-Ahsa Criminal Court.
Faizer Mustafa, a Sri Lankan lawmaker who is involved in legal negotiations with Saudi Arabia regarding Sivarasa’s case, confirmed to BBC Sinhala that Saudi Arabia had overturned the death sentence, adding that they are reviewing the Supreme Court’s latest ruling.
Sivarasa’s family had earlier said they have had no direct contact with him since 28 September.
International rights groups had also joined calls for Saudi to spare his life.
“Saudi authorities should end their use of abusive laws to hand out extraordinary sentences for speech-related offenses, especially against migrant workers who are already in a vulnerable position with limited protections,” Joey Shea, senior Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said on Tuesday.
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