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From Maddie Lee: Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas learned about 40 minutes before the Dodgers’ game against Blue Jays on Tuesday that his father, Miguel “Micky” Rojas, was being rushed to the hospital.

Just that afternoon, the elder Rojas had sent his son a photo of himself lying down in bed, ready to watch the game. He was excited to see him play, Micky wrote.

Then, as Rojas prepared to play, he started getting calls and texts from family members.

“There’s nothing I could do being this far,” Rojas said before Wednesday’s 4-3 series-finale loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. “Just support my family, and trying to understand a little bit of what’s going on. I found out that my dad, on the way to the hospital, passed away. He couldn’t live through the heart attack that he had. So it was suddenly that he passed away; he was feeling good. Really hard to understand. I’m still trying to process the whole thing.”

Micky Rojas’ funeral was scheduled for Wednesday. But being in Toronto complicated travel options back to Venezuela. Rojas would have had to fly back through the United States, on an extremely tight timeline.

“That’s how they do things in Venezuela,” Rojas said of the timing of the funeral. “It happens quick because they have to. They don’t have many places to hold these funerals.”

Rojas planned on returning to Los Angeles with the team, and then he might travel to Venezuela to be with his family.

“That hasn’t been decided yet,” Rojas said. “But the most important part for me today was showing up and playing, and then after that, I’ll be a family man on the off day and see what’s the best way to do things after that.”

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Dodgers-Blue Jays box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

UCLA women celebrate national title

UCLA women’s basketball players (from left) Lauren Betts, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Gabriela Jaquez dance during the Bruins’ national championship victory celebration Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

From the Associated Press: Lauren Betts and her UCLA teammates celebrated the Bruins’ first NCAA women’s basketball championship with their fans at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday night.

Betts, Gabriela Jaquez and Charlisse Leger-Walker capped the party by hitting the court to perform their TikTok dance with the championship trophy in the background. Angela Dugalic made a snow angel in the blue-and-gold confetti littering the court.

“This group is so special,” Jaquez told the crowd that filled half the arena. “We’re all best friends.”

Jaquez led a spirited eight-clap, the band blared the school fight song, and mascots Joe Bruin and Josie Bruin danced.

It’s been a whirlwind for the Bruins since their 79-51 rout of South Carolina in the title game in Phoenix on Sunday. The game averaged 9.9 million viewers, the third most-viewed women’s championship game since 1996.

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Dodgers great Davey Lopes dies at age 80

Davey Lopes acknowledges the cheers of the crowd after hitting his second home run of the game against the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the 1978 World Series at Dodger Stadium.

(Associated Press)

From Steve Henson: Davey Lopes, the no-nonsense, base-swiping second baseman of a Dodgers infield that played together for an MLB-record 8½ seasons, died Wednesday at age 80, the team announced.

The first 10 years of Lopes’ 16-year major league career were spent with the Dodgers, and he returned to the organization in 2010 to serve as first-base coach for five years. Lopes was a four-time All-Star who won two stolen base titles and one Gold Glove and helped the Dodgers to four World Series, including the championship in 1981.

Taken in the second round of a 1968 Dodgers draft haul considered by many the most talented in baseball history, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Lopes rose from a rough-and-tumble Rhode Island upbringing to become the team’s everyday second baseman and leadoff batter.

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Olympic ticket sticker shot hits L.A.

The LA28 logo at Venice Beach.

(Emma McIntyre / Getty Images for LA28)

From Suhauna Hussain and Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Andie Pangan did not even conceive of the possibility she would fail to snag tickets for tennis or climbing events at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

She has been watching tennis since she was young and desperately wanted tickets for a chance to see Filipina breakout star Alex Eala, who she hopes will qualify and be a trailblazer for the Philippines in the Olympics.

But when she logged on the website at 10 a.m. Monday, the start of her ticket-buying time slot, all the events she had even remotely wanted had sold out, were unavailable or were well out of her price range, more than $1,000.

“I was shocked. Even climbing was all gone,” said Pangan, who lives 10 minutes from the Carson Stadium, which will serve as an Olympic venue. “I never really thought I would come out of this presale without getting anything.”

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Lakers great Michael Cooper coaching at Cal State L.A.

Lakers great Michael Cooper speaks during a news conference at Cal State L.A. on Wednesday after being introduced as the university’s men’s basketball coach.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

From Kara Carrell: Michael Cooper’s return to Cal State Los Angeles is more than just another coaching stop — it’s a homecoming.

The Lakers legend was introduced Wednesday as the program’s 14th men’s basketball head coach, bringing with him decades of experience and a clear vision: return the Golden Eagles to championship form.

The goal for Cooper is to reestablish what the men’s basketball program achieved two years ago, winning a championship.

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How a dependence on painkillers took down Tiger Woods

In this image from police body camera video released by the Martin County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, golfer Tiger Woods is taken into custody following a car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., on March 27.

(Associated Press)

From Steve Henson: Reaction to Tiger Woods’ car crash and driving under the influence arrest last month ranged from sadness to dismay to exasperation. Few observers, however, expressed surprise.

Although widely recognized as perhaps the greatest golfer of all time, Woods, 50, has been in a downward spiral personally and professionally for years.

His struggles with prescription drugs became public in 2017 when police found him asleep at the wheel of his car with the engine running near his Jupiter, Fla., home. Multiple painkillers, sleep aids and THC were detected in his system. Woods checked into rehab shortly after that incident, saying his efforts to manage insomnia and pain from his staggering number of surgeries on his own was a mistake.

Now, though, he’s again in rehab, likely in Switzerland after his private jet landed in Zurich on Friday, according to reports. The latest crash is the fourth major incident involving Woods behind the wheel since 2009.

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Clippers can’t keep up with NBA-best Thunder

Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores over Clippers guard Jordan Miller in the first half Wednesday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

From the Associated Press: Chet Holmgren had 30 points and 14 rebounds, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 20 points and 11 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder clinched the NBA’s best record with a 128-110 victory over the Clippers on Wednesday night.

Jalen Williams scored 18 points for the NBA champion Thunder (64-16), who will have home-court advantage throughout the postseason in their title defense after holding off San Antonio (61-19), which is on an 18-2 run since February. Oklahoma City has won seven straight and 19 of 20 to earn the West’s No. 1 seed for the third straight season.

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Clippers-Thunder box score

NBA scores

NBA standings

Reid Detmers runs into trouble early in Angels’ loss

Angels starting pitcher Reid Detmers delivers against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday.

(William Liang / Associated Press)

From the Associated Press: Matt Olson homered, Grant Holmes pitched into the seventh inning, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Angels 8-2 on Wednesday.

Atlanta broke a 2-2 tie in the third inning on Olson’s third homer of the season — a two-out, two-run shot to center field against Reid Detmers (0-1). Austin Riley followed with a double and scored on shortstop Zach Neto’s throwing error to make it 5-2.

Holmes (1-1) left with two on and two outs in the seventh and Mike Trout due up. Joel Payamps struck out Trout on a full-count fastball. Trout was 0 for 4 and just one for nine in the series, his hit a pop fly misplayed for a single, and is hitting .190.

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Angels-Braves box score

This day in sports history

1912 — First exhibition baseball game at Fenway Park.

1946 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 6-3 to win the Stanley Cup in five games.

1947 — Leo Durocher, manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, is suspended for one year by Commissioner A.B. “Happy” Chandler for “conduct detrimental to baseball.” Durocher is linked to gambling interests.

1950 — Jimmy Demaret wins his third Masters, by two strokes over Jim Ferrier.

1959 — Thirteenth NBA Championship: Boston Celtics sweep Minnesota Lakers in 4 games.

1960 — The Boston Celtics beat the St. Louis Hawks 122-103 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals for their third NBA title in the last four years. Frank Ramsey leads the Celtics with 24 points and Bill Russell scores 22 points and grabs 35 rebounds.

1962 — Arnold Palmer wins a three-way playoff, beating Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald in the Masters.

1966 — Anaheim Stadium for California Angels opens.

1972 — 36th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jack Nicklaus leads wire-to-wire to win the 4th of his 6 Masters titles.

1978 — Gary Player shoots a final-round 64 to win his third Masters, edging Hubert Green, Rod Funseth and defending champion Tom Watson by a shot.

1978 — Denver’s David Thompson, battling San Antonio’s George Gervin for the NBA season scoring title, scores 73 points against the Detroit Pistons. It’s the third-highest output ever in an NBA game. Gervin, not to be outdone, later scores 63 against the New Orleans Jazz. It’s just enough to give Gervin the scoring crown, 27.22 points per game to Thompson’s 27.15, the tightest one-two finish ever.

1981 — Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela’s first start.

1987 — For 3rd time, Wayne Gretzky, scores 7 points (1 goal, 6 assists) in a Stanley Cup game and passes Jean Béliveau as all time playoff scoring champ.

1989 — Britain’s Nick Faldo makes a 25-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the Masters. Runner-up Scott Hoch missed a 2-foot putt for par on the first hole of the playoff that would have given him the title.

1995 — 59th Masters tournament, Augusta National GC: Ben Crenshaw wins his second Masters title.

1997 — Major League Soccer announces Miami & Chicago as expansion teams.

2000 — Fiji native Vijay Singh meets every challenge to win the Masters, closing with a 3-under 69 for a three-stroke victory over Ernie Els.

2001 — Australia sets a record for the most one-sided international win in FIFA history, beating Tonga 22-0 in an Oceania Group One qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup.

2005 — The United States beats Canada 3-1 in a penalty shootout after a scoreless regulation and 20-minute overtime to win the Women’s World Hockey Championship. The win ends the defending champions’ run of eight straight titles.

2006 — 70th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Phil Mickelson wins his 2nd green jacket.

2013 — 32nd NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: Connecticut beats Louisville, 93-60.

2016 — Manny Pacquiao returns from the biggest loss of his career with a bang, knocking down Timothy Bradley twice on his way to a unanimous 12-round decision in their welterweight showdown in Las Vegas.

2017 — Sergio Garcia overcomes a two-shot deficit with six holes to play and beats Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff at the Masters for his first major after nearly two decades of heartache. No one ever played more majors as a pro — 70 — before winning a major for the first time.

2017 — Russell Westbrook breaks Oscar Robertson’s 56-year-old record with his 42nd triple-double of the season, then he breaks the Denver Nuggets’ hearts with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer for a 106-105 victory. Westbrook has 50 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in breaking Robertson’s record of 41 triple-doubles that stood since the 1961-62 season. With his triple-double in the books, Westbrook scores his team’s final 15 points, including a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounds after a timeout with 2.9 seconds left.

2021 — San Diego Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove no-hits the Texas Rangers.

Compiled by the Associated Press.

Until next time…

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

WASHINGTON — A day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, the truce showed signs of strain Wednesday as Iranian leaders accused Americans of violating the agreement and reports emerged that Tehran had moved to restrict traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

The developments tested President Trump’s ability to parlay a fragile pause in fighting into a lasting peace deal with a country he has spent weeks threatening to destroy, and raised questions about whether the Trump administration had the diplomatic leverage to hold the deal together.

The White House sought to project confidence about the ceasefire, but the fragile deal grew shakier after Israel carried out its largest attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon since the conflict began. Iran said the strikes by the U.S. ally amounted to a breach of the ceasefire terms, even as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu maintained that Lebanon was not subject to the agreement.

“The big issue seems to be that the two sides can’t agree on what the agreement is,” said Michael Rubin, an expert on Iran at the American Enterprise Institute. At best, he said, the two sides had secured a “tactical pause.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the United States must choose between a ceasefire or “continued war via Israel.

“It cannot have both,” Araghchi wrote on X. “The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”

Whether Iran will draw a red line over Lebanon could become a key question. The Wednesday back-and-forth represented “threshold-testing” of Iran and whether it will be willing to reengage the United States in conflict over the issue, said Ross Harrison, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

The parties’ prospects for reaching an agreement — and what Trump’s options become for declaring success — will depend on how the ceasefire goes in the coming days, Harrison said.

“There’s some room here … if [the Iranians] see that negotiations are real and not a pretext for further attacks,” he said. “A lot of what the United States can get depends on what the United States is willing to give — not just in terms of the points of their plan, but also in terms of the signaling that they too have an interest in de-escalating.”

Reports that Iran had moved to restrict traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway whose opening was central to the truce negotiations, further complicated the ceasefire.

“Any vessel trying to travel into the sea … will be targeted and destroyed,” the Iranian navy told shipping vessels, Fars News reported. The news agency is aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

At a news briefing Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was aware of reports that the Strait of Hormuz had been closed, a move she called both “completely unacceptable” and “false.” She added that the president expects the waterway will be “reopened immediately, quickly and safely” during the ceasefire.

Leavitt sidestepped questions about who currently controls the oil route.

Earlier in the day, at a Pentagon briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that “commerce will flow” through the strait, but did not say whether U.S. warships would be escorting vessels through the waterway. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, who stood next to Hegseth, was asked whether the strait was open. He said: “I believe so.”

Hegseth emphasized that Iran should keep its end of the bargain or face the consequences.

He said the U.S. military plans to maintain a presence in the region to ensure Iranian compliance, saying American troops are ready to “go on offense and restart operations at a moment’s notice” if the truce broke down.

“We’ll be hanging around,” Hegseth said. “We are going to make sure Iran complies with this ceasefire and then ultimately comes to the table and makes a deal.”

The warning came as several Persian Gulf nations reported Iranian missile and drone attacks on their territories despite the ceasefire. Kuwait said its air defenses intercepted drones, while Bahrain reported that an Iranian attack has sparked a fire at one of its facilities.

Hegseth downplayed the continued Iranian attacks in the region, saying that “it takes time sometimes” for ceasefires to take hold, but advised Iran to “find a way to get a carrier pigeon to their troops in remote locations” and ensure compliance moving forward.

Israel, meanwhile, carried out its largest strike against Hezbollah since the militant group began launching rockets in solidarity with Iran last month. Lebanese health authorities said hundreds were killed and wounded in the Israeli strikes.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have maintained that Lebanon is not subject to the ceasefire agreement. Leavitt reiterated that stance, telling reporters that “Lebanon was not part of the ceasefire” and that it had been relayed to all parties.

Asked whether Trump would want to add Lebanon to the agreement in the future, Leavitt said that the matter “will continue to be discussed but that “at this point in time they are not included.”

More than a dozen European heads of state called on “all sides” to cease fire, including in Lebanon. In a Wednesday statement, they urged the parties to move quickly in diplomatic talks.

“The goal must now be to negotiate a swift and lasting end to the war within the coming days,” they said in the statement, which was signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, along with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as well as other European leaders.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who helped broker the ceasefire, wrote on X that ceasefire violations had been reported at “a few places across the conflict zone” and urged all parties to exercise restraint. He did not detail the violations but said the attacks “undermine the spirit of the peace process.”

The situation in the Strait of Hormuz underscores how much remains uncertain about the agreement between the United States and Iran. The full terms of the ceasefire have not been publicly disclosed, and Trump wrote on his social media website that the “only group of meaningful ‘POINTS’ that are acceptable to the United States” will be discussed behind closed doors.

Trump also seemed to take issue with the 10-point peace plan that Iran publicly released Wednesday. He said that there are terms being floated by people who have “absolutely nothing to do” with the negotiations between the United States and Iran. He said that “in many cases, they are total Fraudsters, Charlatans, and WORSE.”

Leavitt declined to offer details about the working proposal being negotiated, saying the talks will take place privately. Both Leavitt and Hegseth, however, mentioned that the U.S. wants to ensure Iran does not have stockpiles of enriched uranium, the fissile material that is key in developing nuclear weapons.

“This is on the top of the priority list for the president and his negotiating team as they head into the next round of discussions,” Leavitt said.

Hegseth told reporters earlier in the day that Iran may “hand it over.” If they don’t, he said, “we will take it out, or if we have to do something else ourselves like we did [with] Midnight Hammer or something like that, we reserve that opportunity.” He was referring to the 12-day war against Iran in June.

Leavitt reiterated that administration officials “hope it will be through diplomacy,” but left open the possibility that the uranium could be retrieved through ground operations.

There is probably negotiating room over enrichment, said Harrison of the Middle East Institue, while Iran may be less flexible on the Strait of Hormuz. The United States needs a resolution more quickly than Iran, he added.

“Time is their friend, not a friend of Donald Trump’s,” Harrison said.

Reaction to Tiger Woods’ car crash and driving under the influence arrest last month ranged from sadness to dismay to exasperation. Few observers, however, expressed surprise.

Although widely recognized as perhaps the greatest golfer of all time, Woods, 50, has been in a downward spiral personally and professionally for years.

His struggles with prescription drugs became public in 2017 when police found him asleep at the wheel of his car with the engine running near his Jupiter, Fla., home. Multiple painkillers, sleep aids and THC were detected in his system. Woods checked into rehab shortly after that incident, saying his efforts to manage insomnia and pain from his staggering number of surgeries on his own was a mistake.

Now, though, he’s again in rehab, likely in Switzerland after his private jet landed in Zurich on Friday, according to reports. The latest crash is the fourth major incident involving Woods behind the wheel since 2009.

“I feel bad for Tiger,” fellow golf great Jack Nicklaus told the Palm Beach Post. “He’s been taking painkillers for a long time and I don’t know how much pain he’s in. But I don’t think he’d be taking them if he didn’t need them.”

Woods’ current pivot to recovery follows a barrage of headlines about his rollover crash and unfocused, hiccups-laden aftermath captured on police officers’ body cameras that included a phone call to President Trump, failed field sobriety tests, handcuffs and a drive to jail in the back seat of a squad car.

A vehicle rests on its side after a rollover accident involving golfer Tiger Woods along a road in Rancho Palos Verdes on Feb. 23, 2021. Woods suffered leg injuries that required surgery.

(Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)

The episode also provides an opportunity to reflect on Woods’ meteoric rise, sustained excellence and precipitous decline on the golf course, his scandal-plagued personal life and what the future might hold.

What does this latest episode say about Tiger Woods and where does he goes from here?

Prodigy to supremacy

Born Eldrick Tont Woods on Dec. 30, 1975, Tiger was given his nickname by his father, Earl, a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and Green Beret who served in Vietnam. Earl’s combat partner was nicknamed Tiger and it was passed along.

Earl was deployed in the 1960s to the same base in Thailand where Kultida Punsawad worked as a secretary. They married and settled in the Orange County town of Cypress after the war. Tiger was their only child.

“When Tiger was 10 months old, I unstrapped him out of his high chair and he walked over and hit the ball,” Earl recalled on an HBO documentary about his son. “I said, ‘Oh my God, I’ve got something special.’ ”

Amateur Tiger Woods, right, talks with his father, Earl Woods, after practice for the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in the 1990s.

(Amy Sancetta / Associated Press)

That soon became apparent to everyone. At age 5, Woods showed his golfing prowess on the television show “That’s Incredible.” At 6, he played a televised two-hole exhibition at Calabasas Country Club with legendary golfer Sam Snead, whose record of 82 PGA Tour victories would be equaled by Woods nearly 40 years later.

Life wasn’t all manicured greens. The only black child in his kindergarten class, he was tied to a tree by sixth graders, The Times’ Bill Plaschke reported. Woods played in his first national junior tournament at 13 in Texarkana, Ark., and a local reporter accused him of participating only because he wanted to integrate the local country club.

His excellence eventually stifled racism and quieted critics. As a high school sophomore in 1992, Woods became the youngest golfer to play in a PGA Tour event, shooting a one-over-par 72 at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.

He first hurt his back during that historic round, pulling a muscle while hitting out of deep rough. Afterward he remained on site for treatment, foreshadowing what would be a career-threatening battle with back injuries that includes seven surgeries since 2014 — several microdiscectomies, a 2017 lumbar fusion and most recently a lumbar disc replacement performed in October 2025.

“Tiger Woods’ experience with spinal disease highlights a real and under-recognized issue among modern-era golfers,” said Dr. Corey Walker of the Barrow Neurological Institute. “Tiger’s use of the mechanics of the modern-day swing places a tremendous strain on the back.”

The high-torque swing emphasizes maximum rotation of Woods’ shoulders relative to his hips. It’s tough on his spine but also results in long drives and low scores.

Bothersome backs are common among golfers. Scotland-based osteopath Gavin Routledge, who has teamed with renowned golf coach Gary Nicol in developing a treatment program for spinal injuries, views Woods’ medical history as particularly telling.

“I honestly can’t see a way out for him,” Routledge told Golfweek. “We have known for decades that once you have one disc surgery, the chances of having another are substantially higher, especially if you use the fusion technique like Tiger. It’s a domino effect.”

Woods had no such worries in the mid-1990s. Amid winning three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles, he attended Stanford but left in 1996 after two years and turned pro at 20, smiling and saying “Hello, world” at his introductory news conference.

By 2000, he became the youngest golfer to complete the career Grand Slam of winning the Tour’s four majors and only the fifth ever to do so, following Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player, and Nicklaus.

His dominance accelerated quickly, and nearly every year from 1997 to 2013 he won at least four and as many as nine tournament championships. He had his first back surgery in 2014 and the victories ceased until he shocked the sports world in 2019 by winning the Masters — the tournament considered the pinnacle of golf — for the fifth time, but the first in 14 years.

Tiger Woods and caddie Steve Williams watch Woods’ chip shot teeter at the edge of the cup before dropping in the 16th hole during the final round of the 2005 Masters tournament.

(Al Tielemans / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

“It’s overwhelming, just because of what has transpired,” Woods said. “It’s unreal to experience this.”

A few months later he won the inaugural PGA Tour event in Japan to tie Snead’s record of 82 career titles, hoisting the trophy 23 years to the day of his first Tour title at the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational. It was his last victory.

Comeback attempts have been infrequent and unsuccessful, measured against the standards he set for decades. All the while, his injuries mounted and personal life deteriorated.

Losing his grip

Even with his career at its pinnacle and before his back became chronically balky, Woods found his way onto tabloid headlines. It all started with his first public car accident.

Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant outside his home in Isleworth, Fla., at 2:30 a.m. Nov. 27, 2009. He was treated at a hospital with minor injuries and the incident turned out to be the culmination of a whirlwind of missteps that revealed Woods having affairs with several women outside of his marriage to Swedish model Elin Nordegren, the mother of his two children.

Additional reporting identified Woods as a regular at the Mansion, a club for high rollers at the MGM Grand casino in Las Vegas, where he had a $1 million betting limit and played blackjack at $25,000 a hand with NBA superstars Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley.

Woods admitted in 2010 that he had a sex addiction and spent 45 days at an inpatient program in Hattiesburg, Miss. He and Nordegren divorced.

The turmoil took a toll on Woods’ golf game for two years, but he rebounded, winning three tournaments in 2012 and five in 2013. It wasn’t until his first back surgery in 2014 that his career plummeted for good.

Research indicates that retirees who define themselves primarily through their careers are vulnerable to prolonged distress. Few have had a professional life so clearly defined and wildly successful as Woods.

Tiger Woods hits from the fairway at the Riviera Country Club during the second round of the Genesis Invitational on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024 in Pacific Palisades.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

While not officially retired — he planned to play in this week’s Masters until his rollover crash and arrest — his last PGA Tour event was the Open Championship in Scotland in July 2024.

His most formidable obstacles to another comeback might be physical. Woods walks with a limp after suffering extensive damage to his right leg and ankle from a near-fatal single-car crash in Rancho Palos Verdes in 2021. And his most serious back surgery took place only six months ago.

Woods’ more immediate concern seems to be kicking his use of addictive opioid painkillers. A judge in Martin County, Fla., granted his request to seek treatment outside the U.S. He also turned down the role of United States Ryder Cup captain in 2027.

“I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today,” Woods said in a statement. “I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery.

“I’m committed to taking the time needed to return to a healthier, stronger, and more focused place, both personally and professionally. I appreciate your understanding and support, and ask for privacy for my family, loved ones and myself at this time.”

What now?

Woods will continue to make a sizable impact on golf even if he never sets another ball on a tee.

He serves as Founder and CEO of TGR, a multibrand enterprise that includes a charitable foundation, a golf course design company, an events production company and an upscale restaurant, among other holdings.

His $120 million earnings from PGA Tour purses pales in comparison to what he has made in endorsements — an estimated $2 billion, most notably from Nike.

His immense popularity lined the pockets of nearly everyone associated with the PGA Tour. TV ratings skyrocketed, tournament purses spiked and he single-handedly expanded golf’s demographic appeal.

The Masters is taking place this week in Augusta, Ga. Woods, who has donned the famed green jacket given the champion five times, is on the minds of many of the golfers.

Tiger Woods celebrates after sinking his putt on the 18th green to win the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 14, 2019.

(Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

“He was my hero growing up,” said Jason Day, a veteran pro golfer and close friend of Woods. “It must be hard to be who he is and have everyone kind of down on him.”

Later, Day added this: “The only thing I don’t understand is that it’s a bit selfish of him to drive and put other people in harm’s way as well. But when you’re the player he was and how strong-willed he is — he thinks he can do almost anything — and that’s probably why he’s driving and a little bit under the influence.”

Woods has also been on the mind of Nicklaus, at 86 the only living golfer who enjoyed anything close to the success of Woods.

“Sometimes you get too far down the line and just need somebody to help you,” he said. “I think Tiger probably needs some help. We all want to help him. We are all on his side.”

April 8 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1913, the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted, requiring that U.S. senators be “elected by the people.”

In 1918, actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin pitch Third Liberty Loan bonds in front of the Sub-Treasury (now Federal Hall National Memorial) in New York City.

In 1935, the U.S. Congress approved the Works Progress Administration, a central part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

In 1952, U.S. President Harry Truman ordered government seizure of the steel industry to avoid a general strike.

In 1960, the United States Senate passed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1960. President Dwight D. Eisenhower would sign it into law on May 6, 1960.

In 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s longstanding career record. Aaron played two more seasons, ending with 755 home runs, a total eventually surpassed by Barry Bonds, who had 762.

File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI

In 1990, Ryan White, who put the face of a child on AIDS, died of complications from the disease at age 18.

In 1992, former tennis great Arthur Ashe confirmed he had AIDS. He said he contracted the disease from a blood transfusion.

In 2005, about 250,000 mourners attended a 3-hour funeral mass for Pope John Paul II in Rome’s St. Peter’s Square while about 1 million others gathered nearby. Among those in attendance were U.S. President George W. Bush and about 100 other world leaders.

File Photo by Tom Theobald/UPI

In 2008, American Airlines grounded all 300 of its MD-80 jetliners after an FAA review found faulty wiring in nine of them. Over the next five days, American canceled about 3,300 flights, disrupting travel of more than 100,000 passengers.

In 2013, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the merger of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham, or ISIS.

In 2021, archaeologists announced what they called the most important ancient Egyptian discovery since that of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 — that of the so-called “Lost Golden City” of Aten.

In 2022, SpaceX made history by launching the first private crew of astronauts to the International Space Station to conduct dozens of science experiments. The Ax-1 mission docked with the ISS the next day.

In 2024, a rare total solar eclipse, the first in seven years and the last in two decades over the continental United States, completed its trek across the sky, viewable throughout North America.

File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI

A spokesman for Rep. Eric Swalwell, a leading Democratic candidate for California governor, on Tuesday denounced online claims that the congressman had inappropriate relationships with young congressional staff members.

“This false, outrageous rumor is being spread 27 days before an election begins by flailing opponents who have sadly teamed up with MAGA conspiracy theorists because they know Eric Swalwell is the frontrunner in this race,” spokesman Micah Beasley said in a statement that was first reported by Politico.

Allegations that Swalwell (D-Dublin) acted sexually inappropriately with young women have been swirling online for weeks, with the tempo growing in recent days as Democratic strategists, Washington, D.C., insiders and social media influencers posted about the allegations, including that he made these women sign nondisclosure agreements.

“In 13 years, no one in Eric Swalwell’s Congressional office has ever been asked to sign an NDA. Ever,” Beasley said. “In 13 years, not a single ethics complaint by any staff in his office or any other office has ever been lodged. Ever.”

The Times has not independently corroborated reports of inappropriate behavior.

Swalwell, 45, did not respond to requests for comment.

He entered the campaign to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom in November, and recent opinion polls show he is among the Democratic front-runners. Swalwell had the support of 13.7% of voters in an average of recent polling compiled by Real Clear Politics, behind only Republican Steve Hilton, a conservative commentator who had an average of 14.7%

This is the second controversy Swalwell has faced in recent days.

Late last month, he accused President Trump of trying to sway the governor’s race based on reports that the FBI could release documents related to a decade-old investigation about his association with an alleged Chinese spy.

The investigation centered on Swalwell’s ties to a suspected intelligence operative, Christine Fang, or Fang Fang, who worked as a volunteer raising money for his congressional campaign. Swalwell cut off ties to Fang in 2015 after intelligence officials briefed him and other members of Congress about Chinese efforts to infiltrate the legislative body.

Swalwell was never accused of wrongdoing. In an interview with The Times in November, he said he was cleared by the FBI and a GOP-led House Ethics Committee of any impropriety in his ties to Fang.

FBI Director Kash Patel directed agents in the bureau’s San Francisco office to redact the case files for public release, according to a report by the Washington Post, a highly unusual move to release case files tied to a investigation that did not result in criminal charges.

Swalwell’s attorneys filed a cease and desist letter with Patel and the FBI. No documents have been released as of Tuesday afternoon.

Times staff writer Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — President Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die” on Tuesday night if Iran does not meet his deadline to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, escalating tensions as diplomatic talks to end the war remain underway.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” Trump wrote Tuesday morning on Truth Social. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

The extraordinary threat signaled Trump’s willingness to authorize U.S. military strikes on Iranian infrastructure — including bridges and power plants —- if the United States and Tehran are unable to reach a ceasefire deal by a Trump-imposed deadline of 5 p.m. PDT on Tuesday.

Trump has a history of issuing deadline in diplomatic standoffs, only to quietly walk them back when they pass without resolution. But Trump’s warning on Tuesday stood apart as it invoked apocalyptic language that goes well beyond his previous ultimatums.

The threat came a day after Trump indicated that a ceasefire proposal communicated by mediators in the Middle East ahead of the deadline was insufficient. He called the offer “not good enough,” but acknowledged it as a “significant step” in negotiations.

Trump declined to provide details on the ceasefire negotiations on Monday, but he has made clear that a core part of the negotiations hinges on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes flows through daily.

On Tuesday morning, Iranian leaders remained defiant ahead of the looming deadline.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X that “more than 14 million proud Iranians have so far registered to sacrifice their lives to defend Iran.”

“I too have been, am, and will remain devoted to giving my life for Iran,” Pezeshkian wrote ahead of the looming deadline.

Trump on Monday mused about taking control of the waterway and charging tolls for passage, as well as taking control of Iranian oil.

“If it were up to me, I’d take the oil, keep the oil and make plenty of money,” Trump told reporters at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

Iranian officials on Monday rejected a ceasefire proposal, calling American demands “both highly excessive and unusual, as well as illogical.”

The ceasefire proposals have been communicated through mediators from Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey, according to the Associated Press.

After Iranians rejected the American proposal, Trump said at a news briefing on Monday that the U.S. military was prepared to strike Iran’s vital infrastructure if a deal cannot be reached.

The president has also dismissed questions that targets to infrastructure would amount to war crimes because it would impact civilians.

“You know what’s a war crime? Allowing a sick country with demented leadership to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

AFTER just one day of emergency scenario training and mastering the art of the trolley service, I’ve learnt more about life at 30,000ft than in all my years of flying.

It takes five weeks for Virgin Atlantic cabin crew to earn their wings (qualifying to fly as cabin crew) – I had less than eight hours.

Recently, I joined Virgin Atlantic’s ‘Group 1000’ – the landmark 1,000th cabin crew intake to train at the Canadian Aviation Electronics (CAE) centre in Gatwick – which is part of the world’s largest civil aviation training network.

And across the day I discovered things I never knew about cabin crew and some brilliant tips for when you fly…

Dashing in red

For these recruits, getting their uniform isn’t like getting dressed for school: it’s a rite of passage.

One Group 1000 crew member even told me that getting your ‘red threads’ is like your unofficial graduation before getting your wings.

Read more on travel inspo

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Having explored Virgin Atlantic’s ‘uniform boutique,’ I knew exactly why.

It’s like stepping into a walk-in wardrobe drenched in two shades of red – bright and burgundy.

Pro tip: Next time you’re on board, look at the shoes.

Female cabin crew will be wearing red ballet flats during the flight for comfort and safety, but pop on their signature red heels when back on the solid ground.

In case of emergency

Donning the iconic Vivienne Westwood red uniform, I was ready to join Group 1000 for the day – though they had already been training for four-and-a-half weeks and had now been wearing their uniform for a few days.

Moving from glamour to grit, I got a sneak peak at what it is like to train for emergencies by sitting in on a scenario with trainees where the cabin filled with smoke.

With noises of the plane grumbling and smoke weaving between rows of seats, it didn’t feel like a movie – it felt terrifyingly real.

Watching the crew spring into action, one shouted “I’m coordinator” while another shouted “I’m the firefighter”.

By defining roles, each cabin crew member knows their responsibilities in the emergency.

The coordinator got to work, ushering passengers away from the smoke; this is the person you must listen to.

The firefighter then calmly investigated the area, using the back of their hand to feel if the panels of the side of the plane were warm.

When they found a ‘burning’ iPad (which you might hear them calling a PED (Personal Electronic Device)) another member of the cabin crew opened a special lithium battery fire bag – a piece of kit not every airline has.

It allows cabin crew to seal off the device and the flight to continue as normal.

My biggest surprise, during another training exercise, is that you may not even know a fire is happening.

When a small fire emerged in the area cabin crew prepare food, it was dealt with quickly, without alarming passengers, and the flight was able to continue unaffected.

Cracking the codes

Whoever thought in-flight food service could be so complicated?

I certainly didn’t until I learnt that cabin crew actually have to memorise 14 different food options, each with a specific letter code.

For example, ‘VGML’ means Vegan Meal and ‘CHML’ means child’s meal and will usually be chicken nuggets or pasta.

Passengers can of course request a meal before flying, depending on their needs.

For flying with kids, this can be extremely useful to ensure picky kids get an easy meal or a baby gets fruit or veg pouches or a jar of baby food when ‘BBML’ is requested.

There’s even a ‘DBML’ Diet Balanced Meal, which is generally low in sugar, low in salt and low in fat.

Virgin Atlantic also caters for a variety of religions, including a ‘VJML’ Vegetarian Jain Meal, which is prepared according to strict Jain dietary customs and will be in a plastic bag that the passenger opens themselves.

Trolley service secrets

One of the best things about a long haul flight is the free alcohol.

On flights, it comes as a double measure (50ml) and you’ll get a can of mixer.

But don’t be afraid to ask for a second can of mixer if you don’t like your drink strong – they will be more than happy to give it to you.

Virgin Atlantic cabin crew will also make you a cocktail if they have the ingredients.

For example, they can make a Bloody Mary and even have Worcestershire sauce for you to add to it.

They can also make a Screwdriver (orange and vodka) and even have a pre-made Mojito mix that can be drunk on its own or with rum.

Note – they will never ‘lampshade’ (where the cup is placed upside down over the top of a can) as no one knows what might have come into contact with the top of the drinks can…

Avoiding jet lag

Another Pro Tip: If you are on a long-haul flight and want to avoid jet lag, it is best to eat in line with the times of your destination.

For example, say you normally eat lunch at 12pm.

You shouldn’t eat when it is 12pm in the place you have flown from, but instead when it is 12pm at the destination you are flying to.

This helps your body’s circadian rhythm (its internal 24-hour clock) to adjust to your destination’s time zone, helping to reduce jet lag.

Something I will definitely be doing on all my flights in the future is taking electrolytes with me on board.

Group 1000 informed me that flying is highly dehydrating, hence why you should always have water on a flight and remember to drink it.

As such, cabin crew swear by electrolytes as it helps give your body minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium that are essential for hydration, muscle function, nerve signalling and pH balance.

By keeping hydrated, you can also better manage jet lag.

For more cabin crew tips, one air steward has flown to thousands of destinations and here are three reasons why UK holidays beat them all.

Plus, a Jet2 cabin crew member shares the affordable holiday spot they go back to every year with highs of 18C in January.

GROWING up in Hertfordshire might make me biased, but I believe it has some of the most beautiful hidden gems in the country.

And one of the quaintest of spots has made its way onto Condé Nast Traveller’s list of the 15 prettiest villages near London.

Ashwell is a beautiful and what I’d say is a classic countryside village tucked in-between the bigger towns of Royston and Baldock.

It’s not too easily found and others who have visited described it as being “off the beaten track”.

As a Hertfordshire local, Ashwell happens to be where I have spent many weekends.

It’s the perfect spot for a family day trip, thanks to the springs, old-school bakery, pretty pastel cottages, half-timbered houses and enormous church in the middle of town.

GO SEA IT

£9.50 holiday spot with shipwrecks, seals offshore & horseshoe-shaped waterfalls

SIGHT SEA

£9.50 holidaymakers’ favourite Skegness activities… away from the beach

The springs are one of the most popular spots in the summer months where you’ll see kids in their wellies hopping in and out of the freshwater.

There are stepping stones across the banks if you don’t want to get your feet wet, but lots fall victim to slipping on the algae and tumbling in (including me).

When you’ve worked up a thirst, pop into one of Ashwell’s many pubs, like The Three Tuns, or The Rose & Crown.

And make sure to pay a visit to the bakery in the high street called the Days of Ashwell.

Any Hertfordshire local will know Days, as the bakery has since opened other branches in spots like Ware, Hitchin and Buntingford.

But the bakery started in Ashwell, it was founded there in 1741, making it one of the oldest family bakeries in the UK.

On a sunny day, make sure to head into the bakery first as on busier days and weekends, it will run out of goodies.

You can get pastries, cakes, sausages rolls and freshly made sandwiches.

My order of choice would always be a tuna and sweetcorn roll followed by a pink stripy donut.

For more beautiful places in the UK – here are some of the prettiest seaside towns…

*If you click on a link in this box, we will earn affiliate revenue

Sidmouth, Devon
Take a trip to Sidmouth on the Jurassic Coast and wander down Jacob’s Ladder to its pretty shingle beach. Make sure to walk along the promenade and check out the independent shops and boutiques. Stay at the four-star Harbour Hotel for sea views and traditional afternoon tea from £135 per room.

BOOK A STAY

Whitby, North Yorkshire
With a history of sailors and vampires, a dramatic coastal path, and the very best in pints and scampi, it takes a lot to beat Whitby. Pop in the amusements, eat award-winning fish and chips, and board the all-singing Captain Cook boat tour on the harbour. The Royal Hotel overlooks the harbour with stays from just £68 per room.

BOOK A STAY

Old Hunstanton, Norfolk
This town has some of the best beach walks beside striped limestone cliffs, a Victorian lighthouse, and 13th-century ruins. The beach has golden sands with rolling dunes and colourful beach huts, backed by a pretty pinewood forest. Stay at a beachfront hotel from £100 per room.

BOOK A STAY

Seahouses, Northumberland
This is an authentic British seaside break, with fishing boats bobbing on its pretty harbour and fresh catches of the day to enjoy in local restaurants. There’s no flashing arcades here, but there’s a great beach with rockpools, boat trips, and you may even spot a grey seal, too. Treat yourself to a stay at the Bamburgh Castle Inn from £129 per room.

BOOK A STAY

Newer spots include Rhubarb & Mustard which is known by locals as the Ashwell Coffee House.

It’s also on the high street, and if you fancy enjoying your cake outside – it has a pretty courtyard out the back.

Ashwell even has its own gallery and museum if you fancy learning more about its history.

Ashwell holds events throughout the year, with one of the biggest coming up next month

On May 10, there’s Ashwell at Home which is a day of live music, dance performances, lots of locals even open up their own gardens so public can have a look around at the pretty flower beds.

There are street food stalls with plenty of drinks – and of course, tea and cake.

On August 31, there’s the Ashwell Show at Elbrook Meadow, where there are horse and dog shows, lots of stalls, and plenty of vintage tractors and cars will be on display too.

As for how to get there from London, it’s easily doable.

Take the direct train from London St Pancras which will get you into Ashwell & Morden station in 47minutes.

From there, you’ll need to hop in a taxi, which takes just 5 minutes to get into the village of Ashwell.

Here are the other 15 prettiest villages near London, according to Conde Nast Traveller

West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

Finchingfield, Essex

Thaxted, Essex

Castle Hedingham, Essex

Ashwell, Hertfordshire

Cookham, Berkshire

Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire

Mickleham, Surrey

Shere, Surrey

Ripley, Derbyshire

Lurgashall, West Sussex

Alfriston, East Sussex

Firle, East Sussex

Aylesford, Kent

Biddenden, Kent

For more on quaint British villages with toy-town cottages, car-free roads and cosy pubs – these ones are travel writers’ favourites.

And this is the most beautiful village in the world, which is in the UK, and it has a very famous row of houses.

In early spring, the California mountain town of Julian sits suspended between seasons. At more than 4,000 feet, up in the Cuyamaca Mountains, it rests among coastal live oak woodlands and Coulter pine forests. Snow sometimes dusts the surrounding slopes, melting by afternoon into damp earth as manzanita and mountain lilac begin to flower. Along Main Street, the mingled scents of woodsmoke and apple pie drift from storefronts.

It is here that my journey along State Route 78 begins, following its long eastward descent from the mountain forest into the stark badlands of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, then skirting the southern edge of the Salton Sea, crossing the Algodones Dunes and continuing toward the Colorado River — a 140-mile corridor spanning one of the most dramatic ecological transitions across public lands in the American Southwest.

This road trip continues a series exploring California’s overlooked scenic highways, inspired in part by artist Earl Thollander’s “Back Roads of California,” whose sketches and travel notes celebrated a slower way of seeing. After tracing Highway 127 along the edge of Death Valley, the journey now shifts south.

Julian Cafe and Bakery, the start of the trip off Route 78.

(Josh Jackson)

Within minutes of leaving town, the pavement twists downward through tight turns and steep grades as the mountain air begins to warm, the vegetation giving way to chaparral and scattered juniper, then to the stark silhouettes of ocotillo and Mojave yucca. By the time it reaches the Pacific Crest Trail crossing 12 miles east of Julian, travelers have already descended nearly 2,000 feet.

Here, the highway passes quietly into Anza-Borrego, homeland of the Kumeyaay, Cahuilla and Cupeño peoples. At nearly 650,000 acres — just smaller than Yosemite — the park unfolds as a vast mosaic of mountains, badlands and open desert valleys extending far beyond the reach of the pavement.

Wildflowers along the route.

(Josh Jackson)

Bri Fordem, executive director of the Anza-Borrego Foundation, said the landscape reveals itself slowly to first-time visitors. “I think a lot of people drive right by it and go, ‘Oh yeah, there’s a desert there,’” she said. “But when you stop and you go a little slower and take a closer look, a whole world opens up.”

That invitation begins at mile 18, where the Yaqui Pass Road turnoff leads northeast toward the desert basin and the gateway community of Borrego Springs. The 2.8-mile Borrego Palm Canyon Trail offers one of the park’s most accessible routes into the desert’s interior. Cholla gardens and brittlebush rise from pale alluvial slopes, and a seasonal stream leads to one of California’s few native fan palm oases.

In wet winters, the valleys beyond town awaken in color as sand verbena, desert sunflower, evening primrose and pincushion gather in brief, luminous blooms across the desert floor. The Anza-Borrego Foundation tracks these seasonal displays and offers guidance on how to witness them responsibly.

The short detour returns to Highway 78 along Borrego Springs Road, where the pavement drops abruptly through the Texas Dip near mile 27 — a stark, cinematic wash where scenes from the closing sequence of “One Battle After Another” were filmed. Wandering through the wash, the mind drifts not to the film but to the flash floods that move through this channel after heavy rains, sudden torrents cutting and reshaping the valley floor in a matter of hours.

Ocotillo plants rise up from the desert floor in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

(Josh Jackson)

The sun hangs in the middle of the sky as I drive toward one of the most rapidly changing shorelines in California. From almost any vantage point, the Salton Sea appears lifeless — a gray expanse rimmed with salt and windblown dust. But at its southern terminus, that impression begins to shift. The basin gathers into shallow wetlands where movement returns to the landscape.

Sixty miles from Julian, I turn onto Bannister Road and bump north along a gravel track for three miles into the basin, to a parking lot 164 feet below sea level. The lot sits within Unit 1 of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge. A short walk along an irrigation canal leads to a weathered observation deck rising two stories above a patchwork of saturated flats where saltgrass, iodine bush and cattail take root. Here, the Pacific Flyway compresses into a living mosaic of wings, water and soil. Each spring, hundreds of thousands of birds gather here to feed and rest before lifting north again, following migratory paths far older than the farms and highways that now define the valley.

The wetlands near the Salton Sea provide a vital habitat for birds.

(Josh Jackson)

The place overwhelms the senses: a wash of emerald against open sky, thousands of snow geese honking in chorus, orange-crowned warblers and Abert’s towhees singing in the trees, and the persistent tang of salt in the air.

I meet three birders standing quietly on the platform, scanning the horizon through binoculars and recounting the 73 avian species they had tallied over the last two days — burrowing owls, American avocets, sandhill cranes and black-necked stilts among them. For 30 minutes we watch a northern harrier on the hunt, dive-bombing blue-winged and cinnamon teal, though he always comes up empty. Between scans of the horizon, we bond over “Listers,” the 2025 documentary that turns obsessive birdwatching into both comedy and a tale of devotion.

A burrowing owl stands in the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge.

(Josh Jackson)

Leaving the refuge, the vibrant color palette and moisture give way to muted browns and the returning austerity of desert air. By mile 97, the road rises to the Hugh T. Osborne Overlook, where the landscape shifts once again, opening into a vast ocean of sand.

The Algodones Dunes stretch toward the horizon in pale, wind-sculpted ridges, a narrow ribbon of shifting terrain running south into Mexico. The highway passes directly through their center.

From the overlook, the road reads as a line dividing two expressions of the same dune system. To the south lie the Bureau of Land Management’s Imperial Sand Dunes, where dune buggies and motorcycles trace arcs across bare slopes. North of the pavement, the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness holds a quieter terrain, where sunflower, ephedra and honey mesquite anchor the sand in subtle defiance of the wind.

A person walks along the Algodones Dunes.

(Josh Jackson)

Here the road becomes a boundary between different ways of moving through — and loving — the same landscape: speed and stillness, noise and silence, crowds and solitude.

By late afternoon, the final miles carry me east toward the Colorado River, where it meanders past willow and cottonwood. The light softened toward sunset, an evening echo of the same violet sky that hovered over Julian at the start of the day. After 140 miles, my road trip had come to an end. Yet as I pitched my tent that night, the motion of the landscapes lingered in mind.

The Colorado continued its long course south. Snow geese lifted north from refuge marshes. Wind reshaped the dunes, erasing the day’s tracks. Wildflowers that had briefly lit the desert floor would soon fade as heat gathered strength. The road ended, but the living systems it crossed moved steadily onward, already turning toward the next season.

Road trip planner: State Route 78

Highway 78 illustrated map.

(Illustrated map by Noah Smith)

The route: Julian to Palo Verde.

Distance: 140 miles (one way).

Drive time: 3 hours straight through; allow a full day for stops.

Best time to go: October through April. Summer temperatures frequently exceed 110 degrees.

Fuel and essentials:

• Julian (Mile 0): Gas station, Julian Market and Deli, lots of restaurants.
• Borrego Springs (Mile 18): Gas station, groceries, cafes.
• Brawley (Mile 74): Gas station, restaurants.

Eat and drink:

Camping:

Lodging:

Hike and explore:

Safety notes:

• Water: Carry at least 1 gallon per person per day.
• Connectivity: Cell service is dependable along the route.
• Wildlife: Watch for bighorn sheep and coyotes on the road, especially at dawn and dusk.

  

  Wildflowers along Highway 78.

  (Josh Jackson)

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. I hope those of you who participate enjoyed the Easter festivities over the weekend. But why does a rabbit bring eggs? Shouldn’t it be the Easter Chicken?

We are only nine games into the season, far too early to reach any conclusions. Yes, the offense struggled for a few games, but the Dodgers are still 7-2. And the offense’s struggles wouldn’t have been noticeable if it had happened for a few games in the middle of the season instead of right at the start.

So let’s turn our attention to something else. I get emails every week asking about Charley Steiner. He handled the radio call for the first three innings on opening day, then left and hasn’t been back since. Stephen Nelson put up a picture of Steiner and Rick Monday that you can see by clicking here.

In October 2024, Bill Plaschke wrote a column detailing Steiner’s battle with multiple myeloma blood cancer. You can read that column here. Steiner sat out the 2004 season because of it. He called six innings on opening day in 2025 and three innings on opening day this year.

In his column, Plaschke wrote:

—”He endured constant debilitating lower back pain. He lost 50 pounds. He was confined to a wheelchair. He initially moved his bed from the second floor of his Westside home down to the family room because he couldn’t climb the stairs. He enlisted the full-time help of nurses. It wasn’t pretty.”

—“He’s gone through hell,” said his longtime radio partner Rick Monday.

—”An extremely private person, Steiner lived the nightmare without fanfare, without telling anyone outside of his inner circle, the loquacious storyteller keeping his most important words to himself.”

At the time, Steiner’s cancer was in remission, which is why he talked about it. I don’t want to speculate too much about his current health, but the fact he has called only nine innings since then can’t be a great sign. The Dodgers have kept him on the payroll and support him, just as they have done with Andrew Toles. It is one of the great things about the organization.

When Steiner was calling games on the radio full time, I would occasionally criticize him for not mentioning the score and game situation enough. Now that seems rather meaningless.

So, with so much divisiveness and unkindness in the world, here is what I would like you to do. If you remember a particular call of Steiner’s, or a moment he made you laugh, or if you just want to wish him well and let him know Dodgers fans have not forgotten him, send me an email at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and I will compile them in a future newsletter. I’m sure he will see it, and if we can bring a little sunshine into someone’s day, then we have accomplished a good thing.

A couple of my favorite Steiner moments:

When Steiner was with ESPN, he couldn’t stop laughing after hearing Carl Lewis singing the national anthem. His laughter will make you laugh. You can watch that here.

Steiner talks about growing up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and how much Vin Scully meant to him. You can watch that here.

Mookie injured

Mookie Betts injured his back while running the bases during Saturday’s victory and was put on the injured list on Sunday because of a strained right oblique. According to WebMD, the oblique muscles are broad, diagonal abdominal muscles located on the sides of the torso (internal and external) that enable trunk rotation, side-bending, and core stability. They assist in breathing and protect the spine, with external obliques running over internal obliques in opposite directions and…. this is why I’m not a doctor.

Injuries are one of the biggest things that could derail the Dodgers this season. Can they survive for four-to-six weeks without Betts? Sure, their offense is build to withstand things such as that. But if multiple hitters start ailing, then there could be a problem. Just look at the Lakers. Cruising toward the playoffs, with some experts saying they could at least reach the conference finals. Then, suddenly Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are injured, and winning a first-round series now seems problematic.

The Dodgers recalled Hyeseong Kim from Oklahoma City, where he has been crushing the ball. Kim and Miguel Rojas will share time to shortstop.

How much is too much?

On opening day, the Dodgers offered a Shohei Ohtani collectors cup for $75, with free soda all game. Many fans online were outraged by the price. For the second game of the season, the Dodgers dropped the price to $68.99 and said you could get free refills of soda all season long.

And actually, if you go to a few games a season and drink soda, that is quite a bargain, considering sodas at the stadium cost around $11.99. Of course, your ensuing bill for the onset of diabetes will make it less of a bargain.

Survey says

We asked, “Which Dodger closer had the best entrance music?” The results, after 10,941 votes:

Eric Gagne, “Welcome to the Jungle” — 53.9%
Edwin Díaz, “Narco” — 30.9%
Kenley Jansen, “California Love” — 15.2%

Up next

Monday: Dodgers (*-Justin Wrobleski, 0-0, 6.75 ERA) at Toronto (Max Scherzer, 1-0, 1.50 ERA), 4:05 p.m., Sportsnet LA, FS1, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 1-1, 3.00 ERA) at Toronto (Kevin Gausman, 0-0, 0.75 ERA), 4:05 p.m., Sportsnet LA, TBS, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 1-0, 0.00 ERA) at Toronto (Dylan Cease, 0-0, 2.79 ERA), noon, Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Dodgers put Mookie Betts on IL, call up Hyeseong Kim before sweeping Nationals

Dodgers offense stays hot as Andy Pages and Kyle Tucker balance lineup with big hits

‘A new day’: Shohei Ohtani hits first homer of the season, Dodgers wake up at the plate

Dodgers Debate: LET’S PANIC! Or let’s wait for that?

Dodgers confident their bats will come alive soon despite series loss to Guardians

Shohei Ohtani battles through the rain to throw a one-hit gem in Dodgers’ win

And finally

Shohei Ohtani hits his first home run of the season. Watch and listen here.

Until next time….

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Before the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival became a world-famous event, it started as a much more modest music festival in Southern California’s desert in 1999.

During the festival, the Empire Polo Club in Indio has been the site of some of the biggest music and pop culture moments of the century, from Daft Punk’s iconic pyramid spectacle in the Sahara Tent in 2006 to Beyoncé bringing a legendary “Homecoming” to Coachella’s largest stage in 2018.

As the festival kicks off its 25th year, we combed through The Times’ extensive archives to take a trip down Coachella’s memory lane. Scroll through and you’ll see those epic moments from Daft Punk, Beyoncé, Prince and Madonna, but also the iconic large art installations at the festival and just how much the event has grown and changed over the years.

1999

The inaugural Coachella happened in October 1999 and was a two-day affair headlined by Beck, Rage Against the Machine and Tool, which The Times’ then-pop music critic Robert Hilburn dubbed the “Anti-Woodstock 99.” However, the inaugural event was marred by a triple-digit heat wave and was a financial disaster.

Dennis Carrillo wears a sombrero as a shield against the blistering sun as he and friend Dario Soto, both of Los Angeles, walk toward the stage at the inaugural Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio in October 1999, where the temperature hit triple digits.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Beck was one of the headliners of the original Coachella in October 1999.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Thousands of music fans wait at the main stage area at the inaugural Coachella in 1999.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Rage Against the Machine was one of the headliners of the inaugural Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 1999.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

2001

Due to the financial losses, Coachella skipped a year and returned in April 2001 as a one-day event with a headlining set by Jane’s Addiction and a bill featuring artists such as Weezer and Paul Oakenfold. It drew more than 32,000 people to the desert.

When Coachella returned as a one-day event in 2001, Jane’s Addiction headlined the show.

(Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)

Even in its early years, Coachella made art part of the vibe. In 2001, people on stilts roamed the field in front of the main stage.

(Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)

Thousands of fans hang out on the main field at Coachella in 2001.

(Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)

Paul Oakenfold’s first time playing Coachella was in 2001.

(Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times)

2002

Coachella went back to being a two-day event in 2002, headlined by Bjork and Oasis. One of the emerging acts on the bill that year was a rock combo out of New York called The Strokes.

Oasis, with guitarist Noel Gallagher, headlined the second day of Coachella 2002.

(Kevin P. Casey / Los Angeles Times)

When The Strokes first played Coachella in 2002, the New York band was just emerging in the rock scene. Singer Julian Casablancas and the group will perform again in 2026.

(Kevin P. Casey / Los Angeles Times)

The first time Bjork headlined Coachella was the 2002 edition of the festival.

(Kevin P. Casey / Los Angeles Times)

Fans watch arm in arm as Oasis closes out Coachella 2002.

(Kevin P. Casey / Los Angeles Times)

2003

The Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers headlined Coachella 2003, but the lineup also included The White Stripes, Iggy and The Stooges, Underworld and the Blue Man Group.

Coachella attracted about 35,000 fans per day in 2003.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The White Stripes were one of the standout acts at Coachella 2003.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The Sahara Tent has always been the heartbeat of Coachella’s dance scene, but in 2003 it was much smaller than the airplane hangar-sized stage it is today.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

The Blue Man Group performed at the 2003 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

2004

In 2004, the Flaming Lips created an iconic Coachella moment when singer Wayne Coyne traveled over the crowd in a giant inflatable ball. Headlined by Radiohead and The Cure, the festival also included a reunion of the Pixies. It also marked Coachella’s first sellout, with 60,000 attendees per day.

The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne travels over the Coachella 2004 crowd in an inflated plastic bubble.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Syd Klinge’s “Cauac” Tesla coil was one of Coachella’s firstart pieces. It made its debut in 2004.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Coachella 2004 featured a highly-regarded reunion of the Pixies.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Fans brave sweltering heat as they wait for the Pixies to perform at Coachella 2004.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

2005

Coldplay and Nine Inch Nails headlined Coachella in 2005. Weezer, The Chemical Brothers and Wilco were some of the other notable acts on the bill. Among the memorable moments was the reunion of Bauhaus and singer Peter Murphy performing “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” while hanging upside down like a bat.

Wilco performs before a crowd of tens of thousands at dusk at the 2005 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails headlined Coachella in 2005. Reznor will return to the festival in 2026 with German music producer Boys Noize to perform as Nine Inch Noize.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Music fans break a sweat dancing in the Sahara Tent during the 2005 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Allen Writhen, of Santa Maria, takes a spin on a bicycle at the Cyclecide arena at Coachella 2005. Cyclecide, a San Francisco–based bicycle rodeo group, brought bike-centric art installations to Coachella for multiple years.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

2006

Technically Depeche Mode and Tool headlined Coachella in 2006, but neither of those is the act everyone remembers from that year. Daft Punk brought out its elaborate pyramid stage and changed the festival and dance music. It was also the year that Madonna surprised Coachella fans by performing in the Sahara Tent. Kanye West was added to the lineup two days before the festival.

One of the most iconic moments in Coachella’s history was the performance by French electronic duo Daft Punk at the 2006 festival.

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Madonna surprised Coachella fans by making her festival debut in the Sahara Tent in 2006.

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Alisa Davis, of Las Vegas, enjoys the music and the view at Coachella 200 from Michael Christian’s climbable sculpture “Hypha.”

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Dave Gahan and Depeche Mode headlined the opening night of Coachella 2006.

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

2007

Coachella expanded to three days in 2007 with headliners Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine. Amy Winehouse performed to an overflowing Gobi Tent. However, it was the reunited Rage that made headlines, particularly when Zack de la Rocha called for the George W. Bush administration to be “hung and tried and shot” for war crimes during “Wake Up.”

Zack de la Rocha called for the Bush administration to be tried for war crimes during Rage Against the Machine’s reunion set at Coachella 2007.

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Stefano Corazza’s “A Field of Sunflower Robots” was one of the interactive art installations at Coachella 2007.

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times )

Raising the flag, music fans from all over the world set up camp at Coachella 2007.

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Abigail Plumhof traveled from New York to Indio for Coachella 2007.

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

2008

Prince was added as a headliner two weeks before the festival began and performed a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” that is still talked about. It was also the one year that there was a dedicated Coachella Express Amtrak train from Los Angeles to Indio. Jack Johnson headlined the first night and Roger Waters closed the main stage, performing Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and letting a giant inflatable pig loose in the sky.

Prince headlined Saturday night of Coachella 2008, performing a memorable cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.”

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Kestrin Pantera dances while Marc Goldstein DJs aboard a special Amtrak charter, the Coachella Express, which traveled from Los Angeles to Indio in 2008. The free train service provided transportation to Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival attendees.

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Roger Waters performed Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” during the final day of Coachella 2008. His set also included a giant inflatable pig that was let loose into the Indio night.

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

A dance circle develops inside the Do Lab at the 2008 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

2009

Coachella 2009 marked the final year the general public could buy single-day tickets to the festival. Paul McCartney headlined opening night and played 50-plus minutes after curfew. When The Cure tried the same thing to close down Sunday, the sound was cut earlier. Sandwiched in between was a headlining set from The Killers. Other notable performers included M.I.A., who stepped in after Amy Winehouse dropped off the lineup, Morrissey, who complained about the smell of burning flesh, and Leonard Cohen.

Paul McCartney headlined the main stage at Coachella 2009 in a career-spanning set that went nearly an hour past the 1 a.m. curfew.

(Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

Festivalgoers find shade in the Do Lab at Coachella 2009.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

M.I.A. stepped in to perform at Coachella 2009 after Amy Winehouse dropped off the lineup.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

“Bamboo Starscraper” was a 90-foot-tall bamboo tower by Gerard Minakawa that was part of the art at the festival in 2009.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

2010

This year was the first time the festival only offered three-day passes and Coachella drew a record 75,000 people per day, up nearly 15,000 from the previous year. It was also the year Coachella had its first rap headliner with Jay-Z, who brought out wife Beyoncé to perform “Young Forever.” The other headliners in 2010 were Muse and Gorillaz. The eruption of an Icelandic volcano kept some artists from getting to the festival, including The Cribs and Frightened Rabbit. Then there was Sly Stone’s oft-delayed set that ended with him ranting about his former manager and led to a slander lawsuit. The full festival was also livestreamed for the first time.

In 2010, Jay-Z became the first rapper to headline Coachella. He brought out wife Beyoncé as a surprise guest.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Members of the Old Crow Medicine Show jam in the VIP area of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio in 2010.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

DJ Lance Rock and the creatures of “Yo Gabba Gabba!” performed at Coachella in 2010.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The crowd reacts during Benny Benassi’s DJ set in the Sahara Tent at Coachella 2010.

(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

2011

Kanye West closed out Coachella 2011, the year before the fest expanded to double weekends, with a theatrical main stage set that featured dozens of dancers. He co-headlined with The Strokes on a lineup that also included Kings of Leon and Arcade Fire, the latter of which dropped giant light-up LED balls on the crowd as part of the performance.

Kanye West had an elaborate headlining set with dancers to close Coachella 2011.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

A concertgoer crowd-surfs as Death From Above 1979 performed at Coachella 2011.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Arcade Fire dropped giant balloons that had LED lights in them during its 2011 Coachella headlining set.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Concertgoers cool off at Coachella 2011.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

2012

In 2012, Coachella added a second weekend. It also marked the first time in Coachella history when the famously sunny desert festival received rain. The big moment of the festival was the Tupac Shakur hologram that appeared on stage with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg during their headlining performance. The other artists topping the bill included The Black Keys — who brought out John Fogerty for a Levon Helm tribute Weekend 2 — Radiohead, Pulp and Swedish House Mafia. Attendance was estimated at 85,000 people per weekend.

Snoop Dogg performs with a hologram of Tupac Shakur near the end of the Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre’s headlining set at Coachella 2012.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Laura Newton, left, Lucy Holme and Louise Watkins from Britain attended their first Coachella in 2012 and protected themselves from the rain that swept in on opening day with garbage bags.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

David Guetta brought lots of lasers to his performance in the Sahara Tent at Coachella 2012.

(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

An aerial view of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

(Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles Times)

2013

Blur and The Stone Roses shared headlining duties on opening night in a celebration of Britpop while Phoenix and the Red Hot Chili Peppers also had headlining turns during the weekends, the latter battling a nasty dust storm Weekend 1. The house-centric (and air-conditioned) nightclub-like Yuma Tent also made its debut in 2013. Art collective Poetic Kinetics brought “Helix Poeticus,” colloquially known as the Coachella Snail, to Indio.

“Helix Poeticus,” created by Poetic Kinetics makes its way, slowly, across the polo field at Coachella 2013.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers headlined Sunday night at the 2013 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The Yuma Tent made its debut at Coachella 2013 with air conditioning, a hardwood floor and comfy chairs.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Tesla coils by artist Syd Klinge go off along with the “Coachella Power Station,” left, by artists Vanessa Bonet, Derek Doublin and Chris Waggoner at Coachella 2013.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

2014

A reunited Outkast, Muse and Arcade Fire headlined Coachella 2014, but one of the most memorable performances was Pharrell Williams’ star-studded set on the Outdoor Theatre. We also saw the debut of Poetic Kinetics’ “Escape Velocity,” a.k.a. the Coachella astronaut, and the mirrored “Reflection Fields” by Phillip K. Smith among the festival’s major art installations.

A nearly 40-foot tall astronaut, “Escape Velocity” by L.A. art collective Poetic Kinetics, is reflected in “Reflection Fields” by Phillip K. Smith at the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Andre 3000 of Outkast performs inside a screen box opening day of the 2014 festival. Andre 3000 and Big Boi reunited for the festival.

(Bethany Mollenkof / Los Angeles Times)

Fans pack the Sahara Tent for the performance of Showtek at Coachella 2014.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pharell Williams performs at the second weekend of the 2014 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

2015

AC/DC, Jack White and Drake headlined, the latter bringing out Madonna for a smooch, but Florence + The Machine was one of the breakout performances from the year, literally. Florence Welch broke her foot Weeken d 1. This year also featured some of the most memorable art in the festival’s history, with the hippos running “Corporate Headquarters” and the transformation of Poetic Kinetics’ Coachella caterpillar into a butterfly.

Angus Young duck walked in his traditional schoolboy uniform during AC/DC’s Coachella 2015 headlining performance.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Music fans flock to “Desiderium Eruca,” Poetic Kinetics’ large butterfly sculpture that replaced the “Papilio Merraculous” caterpillar sculpture at Coachella 2015.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Florence + The Machine was one of the memorable performances at Coachella 2015. Singer Florence Welch broke her foot when she leaped from the stage during Weekend 1.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Aerial performers spin above the crowd at the Do Lab at Coachella 2015.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

2016

Guns N’ Roses reunited for the festival, where singer Axl Rose performed from a throne after breaking his foot at a warm-up show at the Troubadour a week before. The festival also included performances from Ice Cube (with a reunion of N.W.A) and Mavis Staples as well as headlining sets from the reunited LCD Soundsystem and Calvin Harris, who brought out Rihanna.

After breaking his foot the week before Coachella 2016 during Guns N’ Roses’ Troubadour warm-up show, Axl Rose performed on stage at Coachella atop the motorized throne Dave Grohl previously used on tour after breaking his leg.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Alejandro Murcia and Wanda Quintero take a photo in front of R&R Studios’ “Besame Mucho” installation at Coachella 2016. The typographic sign was covered in silk flowers and is among the more memorable art pieces from the year. Today, the installation lives on at Miami International Airport.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Ice Cube’s performance at Coachella in 2016 led to an on-stage reunion with the surviving members of N.W.A, featuring MC Ren and DJ Yella Weekend 1 with Dr. Dre joining them on Weekend 2.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Brian Sneed and Claudia Jerez jump as a friend takes their photo in front of the “Katrina Chairs” art installation at Coachella 2016.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

2017

Beyoncé was originally supposed to headline Coachella in 2017 but was pregnant, so Lady Gaga stepped in. Kendrick Lamar and Radiohead also headlined, with the former releasing “Damn.” on the first day of the festival. Hans Zimmer brought an orchestra and performed his biggest music from the movies too. The festival grounds expanded 20 acres and Coachella boosted capacity from 99,000 to 125,000 people. This year was also the debut of the Sonora Tent, which offers air-conditioning and rock club vibes.

The first time Lady Gaga headlined Coachella was in 2017 and it was because she stepped in after Beyoncé had to postpone due to her pregnancy.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Crowds of people take photos of Gustavo Prado’s art piece “Lamp Beside the Golden Door”at Coachella 2017. The sculpture featured more than 2,100 mirrors.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Kendrick Lamar released “Damn.” the Friday of Coachella 2017 Weekend 1, two days before his headlining performance that included ninjas.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Olalekan Jeyifous’ 50-foot-tall “Crown Ether” treehouse art installation provided a backdrop for photos at Coachella 2017.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

2018

Coachella was already regarded globally as a music festival. Then Beyoncé turned Coachella into the pop culture moment of the year. Coachella became Beychella and her Homecoming performance was nothing short of epic, even becoming its own Netflix special. Beyond Beyoncé, Eminem and The Weeknd headlined, but one of the other standouts was Cardi B’s TLC-inspired performance on the main stage. On the grounds, 2018 was the year “Spectra,” the cylindrical rainbow tower, became part of the festival’s landscape.

Beyoncé’s stunning headlining performance at Coachella 2018 celebrated America’s historically Black colleges and universities. Her set also featured cameos from husband Jay-Z, sister Solange and a Destiny’s Child reunion.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The rainbow-colored cylindrical tower “Spectra” made its debut at Coachella in 2018.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Cardi B performed a set inspired by TLC at Coachella in 2018.

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Festival goers walk in front of Edoardo Tresoldi’s “Etherea” wire mesh cathedral structures and Randy Polumbo’s “Lodestar,” which was made with the fuselage of a military jet, at Coachella 2018.

(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)

2019

Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino and Tame Impala headlined Coachella in 2019, but the big memories from that year were the rise of artists like Bad Bunny and Billie Eilish as they were becoming bona fide superstars. Arguably the most memorable performance of the year wasn’t even during normal festival hours — it was when Kanye West held a Sunday Service in the campgrounds on Easter Sunday during Weekend 2. Meanwhile, to mark Coachella’s 20th year, Poetic Kinetics brought back the famous roving Coachella astronaut in a new form as “Overview Effect.”

Bad Bunny’s set at Coachella 2019 included a guest spot from J Balvin.

(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

Kanye West’s Easter Sunday Service happened outside of the main festival grounds during Weekend 2 of the Coachella 2019.

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

“Overview Effect,” a roaming astronaut sculpture made by Poetic Kinetics, roams around the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club grounds in Indio.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Fans go wild as confetti drops during Tame Impala’s headlining performance at Coachella 2019.

(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

2022

After the coronavirus pandemic canceled Coachella in 2020 and 2021, fans were excited to be back at the polo grounds in 2022. L.A. native Billie Eilish rose to headliner status, along with Harry Styles. Kanye West was supposed to headline Sunday night but canceled two weeks before the fest and was replaced by The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia.

Billie Eilish’s 2022 Coachella headlining turn included a guest spot from Damon Albarn to join her for “Getting Older” and “Feel Good Inc.”

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Wearing the signature blue wigs of Karol G, music fans cheered the star as she arrived on the main stage at Coachella 2022.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Swedish House Mafia x The Weeknd became a last-minute headliner replacement for Kanye West at Coachella 2022.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

One of the largest art installations at Coachella 2022 was Cristopher Cichocki’s “Circular Dimensions x Microscape,” which was made with more than 25,000 feet of PVC tubes and was five stories tall. At night, images were projected on the piece.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

2023

Bad Bunny and Blackpink headlined both weekends of the 2023 festival. Frank Ocean gave a divisive performance Weekend 1 before dropping off the Weekend 2 lineup. A reunited Blink-182 was initially a surprise addition to the festival’s bill and played in the Sahara Tent Weekend 1 before moving to the main stage to help fill the gap left by Ocean Weekend 2. The festival also added a combo of Skrillex, Fred Again.. and Four Tet to replace the absent headliner.

Bad Bunny performs at Coachella Weekend 1 in 2023.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

People walk by Güvenç Özel’s sculpture “Holoflux” at Coachella 2023.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Doechii performs at Coachella 2023.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

A reunited Blink-182 joined the Coachella 2023 lineup days before the festival. The band played in the Sahara Tent during Weekend 1 before moving to the main stage Weekend 2 to help fill the gap left by headliner Frank Ocean dropping off the bill.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

2024

Lana del Rey, Tyler, the Creator and Doja Cat headlined the festival in 2024, but one of the big draws was the reunion of No Doubt, who brought out Olivia Rodrigo. Sabrina Carpenter, who is headlining the 2026 festival, also performed on the main stage during the day. The big changes in 2024 were that the main festival grounds expanded with a larger Sahara Tent on the southern end of the site and the addition of the Quasar Stage.

Tyler, the Creator’s headlining set at Coachella 2024 featured the rapper dressed as a park ranger and an elaborate national park-like stage set.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Gwen Stefani of No Doubt performs at Coachella 2024. The band reunited for the festival and brought out Olivia Rodrigo as a guest.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Doja Cat was the Sunday night headliner at Coachella 2024 and her performance included dancers dressed like yetis.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Chappell Roan was one of the breakout stars at Coachella 2024.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

2025

Lady Gaga, Green Day and Post Malone headlined the festival, but other memorable moments included Benson Boone and his acrobatics, Gustavo Dudamel conducting the L.A. Phil and a surprise appearance by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day performs on the main stage at Coachella 2025.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Benson Boone leaps over Queen guitarist Brian May at Coachella 2025.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Emma Liu poses for pictures at sunset at Coachella 2025.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the L.A. Phil at Coachella 2025.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

President Trump endorsed conservative commentator Steve Hilton for California governor late Sunday night.

The endorsement could have a major impact on a race that remains up for grabs, with recent opinion polls showing Hilton and his top Republican rival, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, as top contenders in the 2026 contest.

“He is a truly fine man, one who has watched as this once great State has gone to Hell,” Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that he has known Hilton for many years.

Trump in his endorsement praised Hilton while attacking the record of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, using a derogatory name for the governor. Newsom is serving the last year of his final term as governor as he weighs running for president in 2028.

“Gavin Newscum and the Democrats have done an absolutely horrendous job. People are fleeing, crime is increasing, and Taxes are the highest of any State in the Country, maybe the World. Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so! With Federal help,” Trump said.

Despite California’s solidly Democratic electorate, a recent poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies found Hilton and Bianco leading the crowded field of candidates just months before the June 2 primary — leading to the possibility of Democrats being shut out of a November election that will determine California’s next governor. The crowded field of Democrats in the race has splintered their party’s voters, providing an opening for the Republicans, the poll showed.

Under the state’s top-two primary system, the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of their party affiliation.

If Trump’s endorsement leads to California Republican voters coalescing behind Hilton, severely damaging Bianco’s campaign, that likely would reduce the odds of two GOP candidates finishing in first and second place in the primary.

Trump’s endorsement came the day after Hilton and Bianco squared off in a testy debate in Rancho Mirage that was moderated by Richard Grenell, Trump’s former ambassador to Germany, and days before the state GOP meets in San Diego to consider an endorsement in the race.

On Saturday, Bianco said he suspected that Trump would weigh in on the race and that his team had been in talks with the president’s advisors.

“Of course, I would want him to support me. He’s the president of the United States,” Bianco said in an interview.

Hilton on Saturday questioned whether the president would weigh in on the race.

“I’ve said that I’d be honored to have the President’s endorsement. I think that the California Governor’s race is pretty low on his [agenda] right now,” he said in an interview. “I haven’t asked for that, and I’m not expecting him to weigh in.”

Jon Fleischman, the former executive director of the California Republican Party, wrote on Substack late Sunday that he believes that Trump’s endorsement will significantly boost Hilton’s support among GOP voters.

“This Timing Is Not Accidental,” he wrote, noting that while it was previously unclear whether either candidate could receive the 60% of delegate votes to secure the party nod at its upcoming convention. “Well, obviously this endorsement from the President for Hilton will supercharge his momentum going into the weekend convention”

SOPHIE Kasaei was feeling emotional as she got to spend Easter Sunday at home with boyfriend Jordan Brook after he has spent the last three weeks in hospital.

The Geordie Shore star, 36, was delighted to have her other half back home after his terrifying meningitis battle, which saw him unable to walk.

After a scary few weeks, pregnant Sophie finally got to enjoy Easter with Jordan, 31, as the couple enjoyed a Sunday roast at home.

Sharing a slew of pictures from the day, Sophie could be seen planting a kiss on Jordan as they cradled her growing baby bump.

She captioned the post: “Watching you walk out of those hospital doors felt like getting my whole world back.

“These past weeks have been the hardest I’ve ever known. But you never stopped fighting, not just for yourself, but for us for your family, for our little boy growing inside me.

OH HEL!

Helen Flanagan nearly spills out of corset in sexy Easter Bunny outfit

NO JOKE

I’m a Celeb’s Seann Walsh screams as he takes on sky-high trial with Sinitta

“The goal was to be home for Easter, and you did it!”

Thankful that things are finally getting back to normal, she continued: “Having JB home, hand on my bump, smiling again means more than words will ever be able to say.

“We are blessed, grateful, and whole again.

“Happy Easter from us. Enjoy it with loved ones, sit back soak it up. Life is a precious gift.”

Also taking to her Instagram Stories, Sophie admitted she had been “praying” Jordan would return home in time for Easter.

Jordan was discharged from hospital this week after a 22-day stay, which saw him diagnosed with meningitis.

The harrowing ordeal left Jordan unable to walk, with the Towie star using a wheelchair, and with “acute memory loss” amid a host of other symptoms.

As he revealed he was finally getting to return home earlier this week, Jordan also revealed just how awful his health battle has been.

He told fans: “The top 1% percent of the worst case of viral meningitis and encephilitis that my Dr has ever seen.

“Brain swelling, inflammation. Acute memory loss, the only memories I have are ones I would like to forget forever.”

Jordan went on to thank his family for their unwavering support throughout the illness, and the NHS workers for “saving my life”.

Sophie is set to give birth to hers and Jordan’s baby boy around mid June and the pair are hoping Jordan will make a full recovery before then.

They are welcoming their first child following an emotional two-year fertility battle.

Jordan and Sophie have been together since 2022 and have documented their quest to become parents on Towie and Geordie Shore.

It was dominating. It was overwhelming. It was powder-blue pummeling, eight-clap crushing, Westwood wonderful.

It was the UCLA women’s basketball team needing barely two hours to complete the struggles of 45 years, a stunningly swarming triumph unmatched in even the finest of Bruin athletic traditions.

Break out a new banner. Make room in the Pauley rafters. A new collection of heroes is coming home, and they started the party early.

For the first time since 1978, and the first time in the NCAA era, the UCLA women are national basketball champions after a 79-51 finals blowout victory Sunday over favored powerhouse South Carolina.

“Oh my gosh,” said weeping star Lauren Betts after the final buzzer.

Oh my, Lauren. This was a heartfelt triumph for the towering tournament Most Outstanding Player who overcame mental health issues to become the toughest figure on the floor.

“I do it for my teammates,” she said during the celebration. “I don’t do it for me.”

Oh my, Gabby. This was a legendary triumph for Gabriela Jaquez, who scored 21 points with 10 rebounds in the finals while her brother, former Bruin star Jaime Jaquez Jr., watched from the stands one day after he scored 32 points for the Miami Heat.

UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez hugs coach Cori Close during the second half of the Bruins’ win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s national championship Sunday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

“I imagined this moment, I imagined it so many times,” she said. “Oh my gosh, I’m so happy.”

Oh my, Kiki Rice, Angela Dugalic, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker, this being a victory for the rarest of teams in college basketball — a group led by six seniors and graduate students who scored more than 90% of the points during the tournament and were openly fueled by a desire to play one more game together.

Oh my, Cori, this being a legacy triumph for Coach Cori Close, a John Wooden disciple who led through thoughtful motivation instead of mindless screaming. This was her 15th season as the Bruins’ boss, which previously made her the longest tenured coach without a national title.

“It’s truly indescribable,” she said from the celebration stage afterward. “The loyalty, the steadfast spirit, the character that they’ve chosen day in and day out. … I am just so humbled that they’ve chosen to commit to our mission.”

One of Close’ mantras is, “Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us.”

In Sunday’s finale, it was always all of them, a scrambling, scrapping bunch that stunned the three-time champion Gamecocks into submission in the third biggest blowout in women’s final history.

This was UCLA’s first finals appearance in the NCAA era, and they were trying to win their first title since Anne Meyers-Drysdale led the Bruins to an AIAW championship in 1978.

Yet they never blinked.

“This was a business trip for us,” said Dugalic. “We had the mentality that the job’s not finished. Now the job is finished.”

Jaquez set the tone in the first quarter by following a Dugalic miss with a flying layup as she was sent sprawling to the floor. She was fouled, converted a three-point play, and the Bruins were quickly sending a message.

They would not be intimidated. They would not be pushed around. And they would play every second, as evidenced by the first-quarter, buzzer-beating trey by Rice as she tumbled backward to give them a 21-10 lead.

The Bruins didn’t even panic when their leader seemed to panic, as Betts spent nearly half of the first quarter on the bench complaining that, “I’ve got something stuck in my throat.”

UCLA coach Cori Close, center, celebrates with her players after guiding the Bruins to the NCAA women’s basketball national championship on Sunday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Trainers checked her throat, gave her an inhaler and eventually nursed her back on to the court, where she told an ESPN interviewer that her throat was just dry from the desert air.

The Bruins kept the heat on during a second quarter in which they made mistakes, seemed to lose momentum, then collected themselves to maintain their huge edge. At one point UCLA committed four consecutive turnovers and the Gamecocks closed the gap to 11, but then UCLA’s defense got tough again and layups by Rice and Kneepkens helped them regain their advantage.

At halftime UCLA led 36-23 and the game was essentially over.

Jaquez put the bow on it when she hit a late three-pointer that made it 79-45, her shot followed by a smile and a scream to the heavens.

Highlights from UCLA’s win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game.

“Gabs is incredible,” said Leger-Walker. “She is that person that you never doubt is going to give her all. She impacts the game in so many ways.”

Leger-Walker ended the afternoon dancing with her teammates just as they have danced all season.

“I’m still processing the fact that we are national champions,” she said.

Believe it. These Bruins will be dancing forever.

UCLA players celebrate after defeating South Carolina for the NCAA women’s basketball championship.

SACRAMENTO — Every morning, Jack Kavanagh brews himself a cup of coffee or tea, pads down a short hallway, past the dining room, and turns left into his small home office, where he brings California to the world.

It’s been his routine for decades, through all manner of upheaval and events — social, political, natural and man-made.

Kavanagh, a somewhat-retired former TV newsman, has documented the policy and personalities behind those developments one curated paragraph at a time, complete with links, so others can follow his trail, feel the pulse of the state and take away what they will.

California: Unbiased and unvarnished.

What began as a summary for colleagues at a television station in Sacramento has developed a worldwide following, an achievement noteworthy not just for its duration — Kavanagh’s catalog may be the state’s longest-running news aggregator — but for all the things his website is not.

There are no flashy graphics on Rough & Tumble. No eyeball-grabbing videos, no partisan commentary or agenda, and none of the edge or snark that greases the gears of the perpetual-political-outrage machine.

There are just headlines and short summaries, presented as simply and unadorned as the plain-spoken Kavanagh himself. “The bottom line,” he said, “is trust” — vouching that an article is credible and worthy of a reader’s time.

“It all comes down to that. And now, with the age of AI fakes and all the other social media and stuff like that, it’s even more important. It’s even more unique.”

Kavanagh, 78, is a New Englander by birth and Californian by choice.

He grew up in Providence, R.I., and by his own account was aimless until his 21st year. One night, in June 1968, Kavanagh watched the small black-and-white television in his bedroom as live coverage of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination unfolded. Captivated, he knew from that moment on what he wished to do with his life.

A low-level job at a local radio station led to an on-air position at its TV affiliate, where Kavanagh’s big break came in 1978 when a massive blizzard hammered the Northeast. His marathon coverage garnered national notice and, two years later, an offer to move to a larger market in Milwaukee. He was prepared to go, when another offer came from a TV station out West.

“Do you know many nanoseconds it takes,” Kavanagh asked rhetorically, “to make a decision between Milwaukee, Wisc., and Sacramento, Calif.?”

Especially after an epic snowstorm or two.

Two Emmys for television reporting adorn Jack Kavanagh’s home office in Sacramento.

(Sara Nevis/For The Times)

Kavanagh had never set foot in the state and part of his steep California learning curve was devouring as many newspapers — back when they abounded — as he could. He noticed a large stack that sat untouched each day in the newsroom; most of his colleagues, he said, were simply too busy to dive in. So he began typing up a summary of the top headlines and stuffing copies in people’s mailboxes.

When the internet was still in its infancy — Kavanagh guesses the year was 1994, or so — he began putting his compendium online, so those working at the station’s Stockton bureau could partake as well.

There wasn’t much interest. But people in the capital began noticing. Kavanagh’s daily wrap-up developed an audience among political insiders — lawmakers, lobbyists, legislative staffers — and then a following that grew to include other reporters and, eventually, readers throughout California and beyond.

Rough & Tumble — the name captures the sweat and grit of politics — has continued without interruption for 30-plus years. In that time, Kavanagh has missed only a few days here and there.

That includes in 2004, when he underwent quadruple bypass surgery. Another time, when Kavanagh was suffering ulcerative colitis, he brought his laptop and worked from a hospital bed. (The laptop also accompanies Kavanagh and his very indulgent wife of 42 years on their vacations.)

Kavanagh typically starts each morning scanning dozens of news sites. He posts the big headlines of the day. He also looks for trends and stories that connect the dots, which are collected beneath subheads — AI, water, housing, education and the like.

“I want it to be a tip sheet for anybody who is in a Fortune 500 company, or who is a kid on a scholarship in a high school somewhere,” Kavanagh said over lunch at a favorite Mexican restaurant. “I want them both to be able to zoom through this and figure out what’s going on and move onto something else.”

Mindful of his global audience, he updates his site with fresh headlines starting in the late afternoon. (Analytics allow Kavanagh to watch as the world wakes up and readers from as far away as Russia and China, represented by a blue dot, begin showing up on his computer monitor.) In all, he said, he devotes four to five hours a day to his one-man enterprise.

Rough & Tumble gets about 1.1 million page views a year, Kavanagh said, and while it’s not a huge moneymaker, the business allows him to write off his many subscriptions. A small amount of advertising also helps pay for the occasional trip.

Years after leaving the television business and a brief career as a media coach, Kavanagh runs the site as a kind of public service and a way to stay engaged and keep mentally fit. He’s still captivated by his adopted home state. “Every day,” he said, “I learn something new about California that I didn’t know yesterday.”

Kavanagh has no succession plan. He said Rough & Tumble will end the day he does — or sooner, if artificial intelligence renders Kavanagh and his role as host, news-gatherer and California guide obsolete.

Either way, it will be a loss.

It was a risky move and Jonathan Torres knew it, but he did it anyway. He let an out-of-town guest stay with him in his room.

Torres, 40, had been living at the Highland Park Motel as part of Inside Safe, Mayor Karen Bass’ flagship program to combat homelessness. He and his neighbors, many of them from a downtown encampment, were told that visitors were not allowed.

Still, Torres kept having people over. After the third violation, he said, the facility kicked him out.

Jonathan Torres spent about two years in a city-leased motel in Highland Park. He told The Times he was kicked out of the facility in December.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s nobody’s fault but my own, but I just feel it’s unfair,” said Torres, who now lives in a tent in Chinatown. “In the real world, you’re allowed to have people come over. You have visitors. That’s part of keeping your sanity, you know?”

Los Angeles has spent more than $300 million on Inside Safe since Bass launched the program in December 2022, clearing scores of homeless encampments and moving about 5,800 people into interim housing — mostly hotels and motels. The goal was to get each of those people into permanent housing, typically taxpayer-funded apartments.

But even as the mayor’s initiative brings more people indoors, a growing number are winding up back on the street.

The longer the program exists, the greater the share of participants who have returned to “unsheltered” homelessness, according to monthly dashboards which were posted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA, and analyzed by The Times.

Jeremiah Flores, center, packs up his belongings during an Inside Safe operation in North Hollywood last month.

In 2023, at the program’s one-year mark, nearly 20% had returned to the street, according to numbers posted by LAHSA at the time.

Halfway into Bass’ four-year term, the figure had climbed above 30%.

In December, as the program finished its third year, about 40% of the people who had gone indoors — 2,300 of the 5,800 — were back on the street, according to LAHSA’s dashboard. That includes people who were kicked out of their housing or disappeared from the system altogether.

The growing exodus reflects the challenges Bass faces while trying to help some of the city’s neediest residents, many of whom struggle with mental health conditions, substance use issues or major physical ailments.

Workers with Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program clean up a homeless encampment along Hollywood Boulevard in 2024.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Bass, asked about the worrisome trend, said she believes that Inside Safe participants need more services to address those issues. She also said she suspects that the longer people stay, the more likely they are to violate the rules and face expulsion.

The goal of Inside Safe is to find permanent homes within 90 days, with a maximum stay of six months, according to the written agreement issued by the city to each participant.

At this point, the average stay is 362 days — just shy of a year, according to recent LAHSA figures.

Bass did not offer any definitive conclusions, saying the city now has outside researchers assessing the problem.

“It’s critically important that we look at the people who left, why they left [and] what do we need to do strengthen the interim housing that we have,” she said. “I have my opinions about it, but the opinions have to be based in science.”

Bass has staked much of her reelection campaign on her handling of the homelessness crisis, which she made a top priority as soon as she took office. She credits Inside Safe with producing a 17.5% drop in “unsheltered homelessness” — people living outdoors or in their vehicles — over a two-year span. That number fell from about 33,000 to nearly 27,000, according to the most recent homeless count.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass prepares to leave a homeless encampment along the San Diego (405) Freeway in Van Nuys targeted by Inside Safe in July. “The homeless should never be living in these conditions,” she said.

By clearing encampments, Inside Safe also benefits the surrounding community, making sidewalks more accessible and reducing the number of encampment fires, Bass said.

UCLA Law School professor emeritus Gary Blasi, an expert on homelessness, said the program has become too expensive to justify the results — and is in need of “a thorough re-engineering.”

Blasi said there were never enough vouchers and low-cost apartments to provide permanent housing to Inside Safe participants in a timely way. As a result, the city has been paying for them to live in expensive motel rooms for long stretches, he said.

“Once they started having people in interim housing for nine months or a year, that should have rang some alarm bells, because that’s just not sustainable,” he said.

Last summer, the Inside Safe program cleared away a large homeless encampment next to the San Diego Freeway in Van Nuys. Some residents went to the Budget Inn in North Hills.

Inside Safe participants also face a wide array of rules. They are barred from leaving the premises for three consecutive days without prior approval. Alcohol and illegal drugs are prohibited in their rooms, which are inspected multiple times a day.

Participants also are frequently barred from bringing in outside food, to keep from attracting roaches, mice and other pests.

“The rules are dumb. They treat houseless people like children. They don’t give people agency,” said Paisley Mares, who lives in an RV in the San Fernando Valley and has several friends who took part in the program.

Executives with the nonprofit groups that run the Inside Safe facilities said the restrictions are needed to protect residents, keeping them on track to find permanent housing.

Violence, threats of violence and property damage are prohibited, and can result in immediate removal from the program. The ban on guests is designed to prevent people from being physically attacked, sexually assaulted or engaging in high-risk behavior, such as drug use, behind closed doors, those nonprofit leaders said.

“We are bringing people indoors, mostly from encampments, where drugs are often the trade of the street. There is also often physical violence. That’s the way people survive on the streets,” said John Maceri, chief executive officer of the nonprofit the People Concern, which runs two Inside Safe motels in Hollywood. “All of those behaviors don’t stop when people come into an Inside Safe setting.”

Executives at the People Concern estimate that 50% to 65% of the shelter clients they work with — not just for Inside Safe, but other homeless housing programs — have serious issues with drugs or alcohol. The number with serious mental health issues, particularly trauma, is also “very high,” they said.

Inside Safe providers acknowledged that motel rooms can be a huge adjustment, leaving people feeling lonely and isolated. They said they work closely with participants to improve their behavior — and turn to expulsion only as a last resort.

“My goal is never to exit anyone to the streets,” said Joseph Bradford III, chief executive officer of BARE Truth, which runs two Inside Safe motels on the Eastside. “I want to keep people inside until they find permanent housing.”

By now, Inside Safe operations are a well-oiled machine. Sanitation trucks roll up to encampments. Traffic officers cordon off the sidewalk with yellow tape. Encampment residents lug their bags onto a bus and head to their destinations.

Robert Martinez, 40, moved to a Budget Inn in North Hills last summer from an encampment near the 405 Freeway. He had been homeless for about five years and jobless even longer, he said.

Martinez, who used to work at a water filtration company, said the Inside Safe motel was better than the street. Still, he chafed at the rules. He wanted his children to visit, which was not permitted.

In November, after learning that a beloved uncle had died, Martinez left the motel for several days — and didn’t “want to be around anybody.”

When he returned, he said, program staffers informed him he’d been away more than 72 hours and would have to leave.

“I had 30 minutes to get my stuff,” said Martinez, who has been living on a sidewalk in Van Nuys.

Erica Y. Pena, left, and Jose Monteon at a homeless encampment in Van Nuys. Monteon told The Times he spent about two months in an Inside Safe motel last year.

(David Butow / For The Times)

Jose Monteon, 29, moved into the same motel as part of the same Inside Safe operation. He said he was kicked out two months later, after program managers accused him of fighting and making threats.

Monteon, who has spent some nights sleeping his car, denied getting physical. But he admitted expressing frustration over the theft of his bicycle and other possessions.

“Yes, I said some s—. But I never said it to a specific person,” he said. “I said ‘Whoever I find out is taking my s—, I’m going to stab their b— ass.’”

Monteon corrected himself. “My bad — poke. I didn’t say stab, I said poke.”

Ken Craft, whose nonprofit supervises the Budget Inn, declined to discuss specific cases. But he said his staff gives Inside Safe participants three chances — unless they have engaged in threats or violence — and tries to find another place for them to go.

“We’re trying to end homelessness, not have people recycle back to homelessness,” he said.

Even with its challenges, Inside Safe has been gradually moving a greater percentage of its residents into permanent housing, where they are no longer governed by such a wide array of rules.

In December, about one out of every four people who participated in Inside Safe since its inception was in permanent housing, according to that month’s LAHSA dashboard. Two years earlier, that figure was about 15%.

Once the program’s hotels, motels and other temporary lodging are factored in, about 55% were in some form of housing.

Bass said those facilities are a vast improvement over the street, providing bathrooms, heating, air conditioning, hot showers, three meals a day and doors that lock. The program is one of several reasons why Los Angeles County officials reported a double-digit reduction in the homeless mortality rate in 2024, she said.

“The value of the interim housing, number one, is to save lives,” Bass said.

Torres, the Inside Safe participant now in a tent in Chinatown, experienced the difference. He entered the program with a history of gastrointestinal issues and abdominal surgeries.

Jonathan Torres walks his dog in November. At the time, he was living in an Inside Safe motel in Highland Park.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

“The whole time I had my housing, not once did I get sick or have to be hospitalized,” said Torres, who grew up in Redlands and Baldwin Park.

Torres said he was in the program for nearly two years. The longer he stayed, the more frustrated he grew over the wait for permanent housing.

In November, Torres told The Times he had received a notice stating that he had violated the motel’s prohibition on guests and was in danger of being expelled.

By then, he was worried about his health and his dog Waku, a Belgian Malinois/Akita mix. (The program allows “emotional support” animals.)

First To Serve, the nonprofit that supervises the hotel, did not respond to inquiries from The Times.

Even after the written notice, Torres struggled to comply with the rules. He said he allowed a woman from out of state to stay in his room for more than a week during last year’s rains.

The day after Christmas, he was back on the street.

In February, his dog was struck and killed by a car. Days later, sanitation workers cleared the encampment where he’d been living. Soon afterward, he was in the hospital, receiving treatment for a blockage in his bowels.

He eventually returned to Chinatown, setting up another tent. He’s been using meth, saying it helps with his medical issues.

For now, Torres has found some of the companionship he craved. In recent days, he’s been sharing his tent with his new girlfriend.

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. fell ill at an event in Philadelphia last month and was treated for dehydration before returning home to suburban Washington, the court’s spokeswoman said Friday.

Alito’s illness did not require an overnight hospital stay and he was back on the bench the following Monday, spokeswoman Patricia McCabe said in a statement.

Alito was an active questioner during arguments that day in an important case about mailed ballots and participated in all the court’s hearings over the ensuing two weeks.

Alito, who turned 76 on Wednesday, is the second-oldest member of the court, after 77-year-old Justice Clarence Thomas.

The episode was first reported by CNN, which also said the treatment was administered at a Philadelphia hospital. The court did not say where Alito had been taken.

The incident is the latest example of the justices’ reticence to discuss their health, at least until the news somehow leaks.

In 2020, the court confirmed that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. had spent a night in the hospital after a fall that required stitches in his forehead, only after the Washington Post reported it first.

Alito was driven by his security detail from Washington to what CNN said was a dinner following a Federalist Society panel that looked at his 20 years on the court.

When he didn’t feel well in the evening, “he agreed with his security detail’s recommendation to see a physician before the three-hour drive home” to northern Virginia, McCabe said. He was given fluids for dehydration, she said.

While the justice has not said anything about retirement, speculation has swirled that Alito might soon step down, which would give President Trump the chance to appoint a fourth justice, after the three who were confirmed during his first term.

While Alito is young by Supreme Court standards, he might not want to stay around and gamble on the possibility of Democrats flipping the Senate in the November elections and seeing a Democrat capture the White House two years later.

Retiring in the summer would allow Trump to name a similarly conservative but much younger replacement who would almost certainly win confirmation from the Republican-led Senate.

Sherman writes for the Associated Press.

BROOKLYN Beckham cut a stern figure as he took a long phone call outside of a hotel in Los Angeles.

The estranged son of Victoria and David Beckham paced outside of the steps of the hotel while on the 30-minute call during a day out with wife Nicola Peltz.

Brooklyn was dressed casually in a black t-shirt and Nike baseball cap outside the Sunset Plaza Hotel in West Hollywood on Friday. 

He completed the look with black Doc Martens and black jeans.

Brooklyn and Nicola married in 2022 and live in a £12million home in Los Angeles.

They have been at war with Posh and Becks since last year when they skipped David’s 50th birthday in May.

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Brooklyn confirmed he had severed all ties in January in an explosive six-page statement.

His tense phone call comes after it was reported that the couple has been approached by an US streamer for a tell-all series to rival his estranged parents’ Netflix deal.

His American management teams are said to be in early talks with production heads at Hulu.

An insider said: “Brooklyn is keen. Alongside documenting his culinary business venture, Hulu bosses will hope he will open up about the bombshell rift with his parents.

“This isn’t just any platform. Hulu which is owned by Disney is home to global smash hits like The Kardashians.

“They’d be instantly propelled firmly into the big leagues and in direct competition with Netflix, which, of course, has its own Beckham ties having run authored documentaries by both of his parents.

“Brooklyn and Nicola have been offered big money interviews before but turned them all down.

“When they do decide to speak, it will be on their own terms.

“They also want to make it clear they are not being controlled by the Peltz family and that they make their own decisions.”

Actress Nicola, 31, has appeared in several Hulu productions including The Beauty and When The Streetlights Go On.

Her billionaire dad, Nelson, once controlled a huge stake in Disney.

Nicola ramped up the war with David and Victoria last week by claiming her parents treat Brooklyn, 27, “like another son”.

April 4 (UPI) — Israel’s military suspended attacks in an area of Iran where a U.S. airman is believed to be lost as U.S. forces carried out a second day of search-and-rescue operations Saturday.

The service member was one of two pilots on board an F-15E fighter jet that Iran shot down over its airspace on Friday. U.S. officials were able to safely rescue one of the pilots, but the second was missing.

An unnamed Israeli official told The New York Times that the Israeli military halted its operations in the area — the mountainous regions of Kohgiluyeh, Boyer-Ahmad and Khuzestan provinces — amid the search. The official said it was also sharing information with U.S. officials to aid in the rescue mission.

Meanwhile, state-run media in Iran encouraged civilians in the region to also look for the missing U.S. airman, The Guardian reported.

Speaking Friday with NBC News, President Donald Trump said the downed U.S. fighter jet won’t affect the United States’ negotiations with Iran more than a month after U.S. and Israeli forces began strikes on the country.

“No, not at all,” Trump said of the possibility. “No, it’s war. We’re in war.”

A U.S. official told NBC News that it’s believed that the downed F-14E fighter jet was originally based out of Royal Air Force Lakenheath in Britain.

Elsewhere, Iraq closed its border crossing with Iran at Shalamja on Saturday after an Iranian missile strike at the site killed one person and injured five others. Lt. Gen. Omar al-Waeli, who heads the Border Ports Authority, said the injured were injured were taken to a hospital in Iran.

All trade and passenger traffic were halted, the Iraqi News Agency reported.

“There are alternatives to Shalamja crossing, regarding the entry of goods, such as the Safwan border crossing, in addition to the existence of other land crossings operating in the rest of the govern orates in order to secure the entry of goods and commodities,” al-Waeli said.

JUST off the coast of Portugal is a tiny archipelago that very few tourists visit, or even know about.

The little-known collection of Berlenga Islands consists of three islands – Berlenga Grande, Estelas and Farilhões-Forcado

Berlengas is primarily a nature reserve, home to lots of birds like the yellow-legged gull, guillemot, and sea life which you might spot while snorkelling.

Due to it being protected, and reasonably small, the islands have a daily limit of 550 visitors – and it can only be accessed between March and October.

With the weather this time between 18C and 25C, it’s the perfect time to visit and spend time on its beach – which is one of the prettiest in Europe.

This is Praia da Berlenga Grande, which is also the most famous beach on the island and ideal for relaxing on the golden sands.

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It’s also a good spot for swimming with one visitor saying the clear waters reminded them ‘of the Caribbean‘.

Just be prepared for it to be chill, seeing as the islands are in the Atlantic Ocean.

National Geographic called it one of Portugal’s best beaches with ‘desert vibes’.

One visitor advised to visit in September as it was quieter and they had the beach all to themselves for an hour.

Another popular way to explore the island is by boat with plenty of tours throughout the day.

Bobbing around on the water means you can see the caves that have naturally formed into the cliffside.

One of Berlengas’ most famous rock formations is the Elephant’s Trunk – which literally looks like an elephant’s head and trunk which dips into the ocean.

Another is Dream Cave, or Cova do Donho, which is where fishermen used to spend the night because of its calmer waters.

Visitors can actually stay on the island if they wish and enjoy quieter evenings when the daytrippers leave.

There’s a hotel called Berlenga Bed & Breakfast which has just five rooms and sits on the clifftop so it has incredible views across the ocean.

You can check them out from the hotel’s pretty terrace bar and restaurant.

Anyone feeling brave and wants to sleep within nature can camp out at Forte São João Baptista.

The island’s fort has camping spots and is said to give an “immersive, authentic experience”.

Visitors can sleep in an old cell and have to bring their own sleeping bags or bedding.

There’s a campsite too where visitors can literally pitch up with their own tent with rates from €8 (£6.92) per night – pitches must be booked in advance with the tourist board.

As for how to get there, ferries go to the island three times from Peniche.

The journey between the mainland and the island takes around 30-minutes with tickets costing between £15 and £35.

Get Your Guide has tours on offer to explore the island, like a Cave Tour from €41 (£35.48).

There are also catamaran tours with snorkelling stops from €42 (£36.35) and round-trip boat tours of the islands from €29 (£25.10).

Peniche is a just over an hour’s drive from Lisbon which has direct UK flights for as little as £15.

For more islands, here are some of the most beautiful in Europe with direct UK flights and some of the world’s best beaches.

And check out the world’s best island in Greece with restaurants right on the beach.

April 4 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1841, President William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia after serving one month in office. He was the ninth President of the United States, and the first to die in office. He was succeeded by Vice President John Tyler, the first person to occupy the office without being elected to it.

In 1850, the city of Los Angeles was incorporated.

In 1887, Susanna Madora Salter was elected as the first female mayor in the United States — in Argonia, Kan.

In 1933, the USS Akron, a U.S. Navy airship, is destroyed during a major storm off the coast of New Jersey. The tragedy claimed the lives of 73 of the 76 crewmen and passengers.

In 1949, representatives of 12 nations gathered in Washington to sign the North Atlantic Treaty, creating the NATO alliance.

In 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tenn. He was 39.

In 1975, Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off on its inaugural mission.

In 1991, Sen. John Heinz, R-Pa., and six others were killed in the midair collision of a chartered airplane and a helicopter that was inspecting the plane’s landing gear near Philadelphia.

In 2005, the president of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, officially resigned. He had been driven out by a coup a month earlier.

In 2013, Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago film critic Roger Ebert died after a long battle with cancer. He was 70.

File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI

In 2014, the United Nations announced that the millionth refugee from war-torn Syria had entered Lebanon.

In 2017, Syrian government forces kill dozens of civilians in a chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun.

In 2019, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reversed its policy denying the children of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents to be blessed as infants and baptized as members.

In 2024, a copy of Action Comics No. 1, which introduced Superman to the world in 1938, became the world’s most expensive comic book when it fetched $6 million at auction.

File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI