THIS 90s pop icon has shown off her timeless beauty and looks like she hadn’t aged a day since finding fame 30 years ago.
Back in 1996, the singer, now 67, released a HUGE hit single – but do you recognise who it is?
The star in question is Welsh singer Donna Lewis who shot to fame in her mid-30s when she released her song, I Love You Always Forever.
But 30 years after she unleashed the smash hit song onto the world, the singer looks like time has stood still.
Sharing a video on TikTok, Donna could be seen lip-syncing to the hit that made her famous.
The star’s trademark blonde hair flowed around her shoulders and she sang along to I Love You Always Forever in her stunning garden.
Writing over the video, she penned: “POV: You wrote a song everyone knows 30 years later.”
Donna’s fans went wild for the video, with one writing: “One of the best songs ever written, and would fit any decade.”
I Love You Always Forever was such a smash hit that it not only charted in the UK, the song also did well in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, and the U.S.
In fact it was such a huge hit in America, the track reached Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Following the success of the song, in 1997, Donna enjoyed success at the Brit Awards, and was nominated for British Female Solo Artist.
The singer initially signed with Atlantic Records, but after releasing her second album, decided to go independent.
Over the years Donna has continued to release new music and can often be found touring.
Away from the spotlight, the singer lives in New York with her business manager husband, Martin Harris, and their son, Archie.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said about 2,000 residents had been displaced by the operation, which has led to at least one whole street appearing to have been flattened, according to footage shared online.
Even before the entry and exit bans on workers were announced by the IDF on Sunday, the military had cordoned off the city, heavily restricting the movement of its 200,000 residents.
It is common for Israeli forces to demolish the homes of Palestinians who are suspected of carrying out attacks on Israelis in the West Bank – a practice Israeli rights groups have criticised as collective punishment.
Friday’s shooting came during a tense time for the region, just days ahead of Israel’s election taking place on Tuesday.
In an interview with Israel’s i24 television channel released on Saturday, Netanyahu threatened a “very big surprise” for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the territory.
Hebron Mayor Youssef al-Jaabari said the operation was being “driven by the elections” and that Netanyahu and his ministers were attempting to secure the votes of the far right and the settlers.
On Saturday, thousands gathered in Tel Aviv for a large anti-government demonstration.
The protest was organised by the October Council, a group founded by the families of victims and hostages taken by militants on 7 October 2023, to demand accountability for the failure to prevent the Hamas-led attack.
“Three days before the election, we will hold the culminating event marking three years of struggle to uncover the truth, demand accountability, and establish a state commission of inquiry,” the October Council wrote on X ahead of the rally.
The gathering saw the participation of the leaders of the four main opposition parties, including Gadi Eisenkot, the former military chief of staff who is neck and neck with Netanyahu.
Protests across Europe have again turned violent. Police clashed with demonstrators in France, Italy and Spain over rising living costs, cuts to public services and military spending. Officers used tear gas and batons as protesters erected barricades and set fires in the streets.
Published On 25 Oct 202625 Oct 2026
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MISSION VIEJO — Twenty years after the GOP last won a state-level election in California, few Republican voters believe this will be the year.
But they can hope.
“I’m praying, praying, praying that people will come out of the woodwork and show up and just vote for Steve,” said Annette Owens, a 65-year-old Orange County resident and longtime special education teacher.
Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host originally from the United Kingdom, faces Xavier Becerra, a longtime Democratic politician who is heavily favored to win the Nov. 3 election to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The 2026 elections are looking particularly grim for California Republicans, whose statewide influence over the past two decades has atrophied to super-minority levels. Redistricting from Proposition 50 removed some key GOP seats in Congress. And nationally, the party is struggling with high prices, fallout from the war in Iran and polls showing President Trump’s popularity at all-time lows.
While she is “doubtful” Hilton or any other Republicans running statewide will beat their Democratic opponents, Owens says “if anyone’s going to do it,” it’s Hilton.
The candidate had just spent nearly 40 minutes addressing several dozen Orange County moms in Mission Viejo, a hilly and affluent enclave speckled with golf courses and Spanish colonial architecture.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton visits patrons at Victorio’s Ristorante in North Hollywood, which hosted a watch party for the CNN debate between him and Xavier Becerra.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Sipping mimosas in a glass-walled event space overlooking the city’s verdant public course, women — and a couple of tagalong husbands — listened as Hilton and local Republicans argued for a change after 16 years of Democrats controlling California government.
“We can make this a place where people follow their dreams and build their lives, and that’s the ultimate test: That people are moving back to California after my first four years in government,” Hilton said.
Rachel Darvish drove from her home in Pacific Palisades to support the gubernatorial candidate. In the aftermath of the January 2025 fires, Darvish was captured on viral video angrily confronting Newsom as he toured the wreckage. She joined the Republican Party after the fires.
“I considered myself an independent up until the day I realized we had no choice,” Darvish, wearing a Hilton campaign T-shirt, said. “I think this is really the first election that the R or the D really does matter, and there is an obvious difference.”
Hilton and other Republicans acknowledge the math. Democrats outnumber GOP voters nearly 2-to-1 in California, and no-party-preference voters largely side with Democrats in statewide contests.
Hilton, who is endorsed by Trump, often declares to supporters that the race against Becerra, a President Biden-era U.S. Health and Human Services secretary and former state attorney general, “is going to be really difficult to win, but not impossible.”
As he calculates his chances of victory, the former Fox News host considers three sets of facts. The “establishment polls,” as he calls them, conducted by widely trusted pollsters, including the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the Public Policy Institute of California, have shown him more than 20 percentage points behind. His internal polls also have him losing, albeit by smaller margins.
Then there are the people who come to his events.
California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra speaks at a rally Thursday in Bakersfield.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
“Every single day I get all these people saying, ‘I’m a lifelong Democrat, but I’m voting for you because we got to have some balance, we got to have a change,’” he said in an interview on the golf course patio following his event. “A lot of them say, ‘But I’m not telling anyone.’”
Midterm elections are historically more difficult for the incumbent president’s party. While never popular in California, Trump’s approval rating recently fell to a record low of 27% in a Berkeley IGS poll.
Political operatives expect anti-Trump sentiment to intensify the headwinds Republicans face in California. More than half of likely Democratic voters, and 37% overall, said a top motivator in this election is pushing back against the administration‘s policies.
“I’m not really anticipating Republicans winning for anything statewide,” said Jon Fleischman, a conservative writer and former executive director of the California GOP. “If somebody’s anticipating that, then they don’t know how to do math.”
He doesn’t expect Republican turnout to drop, but “Democrat turnout could be enhanced over what it normally is. Maybe it’s a distinction without a difference.”
Some Republicans are frustrated by the Democratic-only choices in the high-profile race for Los Angeles mayor, as well as the down-ballot contest for state insurance commissioner.
Darvish, who supported conservative Spencer Pratt for L.A. mayor in the primary, described the runoff between incumbent Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman as a choice between “Satan and Lucifer.”
“I’m going to have to vote for Karen Bass,” she said. “It’s really hard for me to say that,” but she does not want Raman or any candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America to win.
Some Republicans say they won’t vote for insurance commissioner, the only statewide race between two Democrats: Jane Kim, a former San Francisco supervisor, and state Sen. Ben Allen.
Fleischman described the DSA-endorsed Kim as “nuts” and Allen, who represents Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Beverly Hills and other cities, as “an extreme liberal” who “has enthusiastically supported virtually every Gavin Newsom policy I dislike.”
While Trump and Republicans will likely suffer midterm losses, many Democrats are “massively unpopular as well,” said Republican strategist Rob Stutzman. “All politicians are underwater right now. Voters are in a pretty bad mood.”
Hilton concedes it would be easier to run a midterm race with a sitting Democratic president, but believes the Trump endorsement is not as toxic to his campaign as it might seem.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton enjoys a light moment with a woman who was happy to get gas for $3 a gallon at a gas station in Los Angeles on Oct. 8.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“It doesn’t come up in really any of the meetings,” he said. “People really are asking about gas prices.”
Republican candidates and party officials are making the case that California’s longstanding homelessness and cost-of-living woes have little to do with the president.
“I can’t think of anything less relevant” than Trump, said Roxanne Hoge, chair of the Los Angeles Republican Party. “We are drowning in high taxes and high costs. Anyone trying to make this election about who the president is — and who will only be president for two more years — has a screw loose and also doesn’t have much of anything to offer.”
Federal authorities this week charged 28 people in California with illegally registering and casting ballots as part of a broader fight to exert more control over elections, which are run by states.
Having just won an election primary in June, Hilton walks a line when discussing claims of electoral fraud. He takes issue with rules like ballot harvesting and a seven-day, post-election deadline for mail ballots to arrive, but he does not believe there is systemic fraud or cheating.
“We mustn’t let ourselves believe that every time we lose an election, it’s because they cheated,” he said when a supporter made the accusation during a Modesto town hall in August. “We lose the elections [because] we don’t win enough votes, right?”
Viewers attend a watch party at Victorio’s Ristorante in North Hollywood during the debate between gubernatorial candidates Democrat Xavier Becerra, left, and Republican Steve Hilton earlier this month.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
That’s why he is trying to reach independent voters and Democrats who “can’t stand President Trump” but “are desperate for something to change in California,” he explained as applause rippled through the heavily Republican crowd.
Hilton is counting on voters like Summer Behan, a former Democrat, to not only vote for him but persuade other disenchanted voters.
“My car got broken into 14 times in a year and a half,” Behan told Hilton during the Modesto event. “Our homeowners insurance went from $180 to $860, so we had to sell our house.”
She drives more than two hours to her nonprofit job in San Francisco.
“It’s sort of an exhausting way to live,” Behan said after the town hall. Families from her children’s schools have moved to other states, but she wants to stay. “California is beautiful, and it’s just got so much to offer people, so I want to try and stick it out and see what it looks like with different leadership.”
Stevie Wonder is taking legal action against a reported ex-fiancée, filing a lawsuit this week to evict her after she allegedly lived rent-free at his property in Studio City for nearly four decades.
The prolific musician, whose legal name is Stevland Morris, filed a legal complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday against Carmen Efferson, whom he says has been living for free at a home on Oak Glen Drive since July 1988, according to the complaint obtained by The Times. Wonder seeks to evict Efferson after she allegedly refused to allow inspectors into the property earlier in the summer and failed to vacate the home in August, despite receiving a 30-day notice in late July.
Efferson, whom TMZ reported was once betrothed to the Grammy-winning “Songs in the Key of Life” musician, did not immediately respond to The Times’ multiple requests for response on Friday. A legal representative for Wonder, 76, did not comment and did not clarify the singer’s reported relationship with Efferson. Wonder has been married Tomeeka Bracy since 2017.
According to the musician’s complaint, Wonder and Efferson reached an oral agreement in 1988 that she can occupy the property without paying monthly rent. Tensions began in July this year when representatives for Wonder attempted to access the property multiple times “for purposes of updating and retaining property insurance,” according to an email between Wonder’s legal representatives and Efferson included in the complaint.
One attorney for Wonder notified Efferson on July 23 of a property inspection the following week. Efferson had choice words for the request, emailing another attorney for Wonder on July 25 to “please refrain from your rascist [sic] coldblooded ‘white male privilege’ tone.”
“I’m feeling harassed,” Efferson said, according to screenshots of her email. “Regarding your ORDERS of entering into the place where I am living, I do not consent.”
She ended her email with an explicit statement. An attorney for Wonder responded two days later, informing Efferson that the lawyer who issued the inspection notice “is neither racist, coldblooded, white or male.”
In an email dated July 27, Efferson also threatened to “immediately contact law enforcement” upon further attempts by Wonder’s representatives to enter the property. The next day, attorneys notified Efferson she had 30 days to vacate the home.
“You were given the opportunity to reconsider your decision to deny access and declined,” the notice said, according to the complaint. Efferson was ordered to vacate the property by Aug. 27
On Oct. 6, Wonder’s lawyers issued Efferson a three-day notice to leave the home due to her alleged violation of her oral agreement with the musician. Wonder’s legal representatives also claimed they gave Efferson “three additional opportunities to permit entry” for an inspection, but she failed to respond.
“Owner has been prejudiced by the cancellation of the property insurance policy and is now at substantial risk of economic loss by virtue of your actions to prevent the protection and preservation of the Premises,” attorneys said in the notice, according to exhibits. The attorneys also notified Efferson that Wonder would file a complaint should she refuse access again.
Wonder — celebrating the 50th anniversary of his seminal “Songs in the Key of Life” this year — is seeking forfeiture of the lease agreement with Efferson, legal fees and statutory damages up to $600.
In just 11 days, millions of Americans will head to the polls to vote on key local races and decide the fate of Congress.
Perhaps no voting bloc will be more crucial in swinging the balance of power than Latinos.
In 2024, after decades of reliably supporting Democrats, the electorate of roughly 36.2 million people (about 15% of all total voters) shifted massively to the right and supported Donald Trump at previously never-before-seen rates. After the election, armchair pundits and paid professionals proclaimed that Ronald Reagan had been right all along. Latinos were Republican. They just needed to realize it.
It didn’t take long for that narrative to start crumbling. A year after Trump’s reelection, Latinos in California helped pass Proposition 50, which allowed Democrats to redraw the state’s congressional map in their favor to counter a successful effort by Texas Republicans to do the same — coincidentally, the Texas gerrymander was at least partially motivated by said gains with Latino voters.
Latinos also helped Democrats pick up governorships in Virginia and New Jersey in 2025 — with two-thirds of their votes going for Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, respectively.
Whatever gains Republicans made with Latino voters appear to have vanished. Recent polls show the demographic to be experiencing buyers’ remorse, citing the increased cost of living, the Trump administration’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement tactics, involvement in wars abroad and a stagnating economy as reasons for the disillusionment.
President Trump’s approval rating among Latinos dipped to 27% in an early October NBC News survey. That same poll found that Democrats have a 24-point lead on whom Latino voters want to see in control of Congress.
But don’t expect this whiplash back to the left to be permanent.
“It’s not a realignment, it’s a de-alignment,” said Mike Madrid, a former Republican political consultant and author of “The Latino Century: How America’s Largest Minority Is Transforming Democracy.”
“Latinos are completely moving away from both parties and that’s what’s created this dramatic swing of 25 points towards Trump in four years and then massive swings back.”
So how will the Latino vote shake out in two weeks? Below are five races we are keeping tabs on.
You don’t need to go outside the city limits to find proof that Latino voters aren’t political ideologues.
During the 2022 mayoral primary, billionaire Rick Caruso won the largest share of the Latino vote (34%). A few months later, Karen Bass became mayor, winning 51% of the Latino vote.
Bass once again won the Latino vote during the 2026 primaries, carrying 35 Latino-majority neighborhoods in the June 2 election — compared with seven for her current challenger, Councilmember Nithya Raman.
Four months, much campaigning and the botched response to a massive warehouse fire in heavily Latino Boyle Heights later, Raman — a democratic socialist — now has a 24-point lead among Latino voters, according to an October Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll.
Notably, 34% of Latinos remain undecided heading into the Nov. 3 election.
“Latinos are about a third of the voters in L.A.,” Fernando Guerra, a professor of political science and Chicana/o studies at Loyola Marymount University, told The Times this month. “While they show preferences, they are not deeply committed to either candidate, so they are the quintessential swing voters who decide late.”
Will the embattled incumbent keep her job, or will Los Angeles become the next big city to elect a mayor backed by the Democratic Socialists of America? Latino Angelenos will decide.
Will Democrats’ Proposition 50 redistricting gambit pay off? Voters of this newly reconfigured Central Valley district populated by blue-collar and agrarian Latinos will decide.
Republican David Valadao is the incumbent and is being challenged by activist and educator Randy Villegas. In 2024, voters in the district backed failed Republican Senate candidate Steve Garvey.
Political forecasts have Villegas — a progressive populist — with a narrow lead over the incumbent.
Part of his appeal, Madrid said, was his messaging.
“[His message is] the establishment’s not working and that institutions aren’t working,” Madrid said. “It’s a much more populist message. I don’t believe this is ideological one bit.”
It doesn’t get more battleground than this congressional district located in the Denver suburbs. It is the center of Latino voting power in Colorado — Latinos account for 40% of the total electorate. .
The incumbent is Republican Gabe Evans and Trump carried the purple district by less than two percentage points.
Evans currently has a slight lead over Democratic candidate Manny Rutinel, an attorney and economist. Rutinel’s messaging has focused on the rising cost of living and the Republicans’ immigration policies.
It could get him elected. A local survey found that 56% of Latino voters in Colorado approve of Democrats in Congress, while 39% said they do not approve.
Will disassociating from Trump help this Republican incumbent keep her job?
Journalist-turned-Congress member María Elvira Salazar, a Cuban American, made headlines in September after releasing a political ad calling out the president’s immigration enforcement, alleging that Trump, who carried the majority Latino district by 15 points in 2024, had betrayed her constituents.
Elvira Salazar currently holds a narrow lead over her Democratic rival Elliott Rodriguez, who is also Cuban American.
“She’s trying to show distance and trying to show an independent streak,” Madrid said of the three-term incumbent. “She’s trying to say, ‘I’m not that.’ And you can’t do that on the economy as a Republican, because that changes all the time. What you can do as a Latino in a Latino district … is say your policies have gone too far.”
Okay, I’ll admit that I’m cheating with this one. But there’s just so much going on in Texas that it deserves its own section. The Lone Star State is ground zero for this supposed great political de-alignment.
In 2025, at the behest of Trump, Texas Republicans undertook an unprecedented mid-decade congressional redistricting in hopes of gerrymandering a map that would give the party an advantage in the 2026 midterm elections. They factored in the historic gains with Latino voters.
“They drew those districts based on what they thought were the 2024 numbers,” said Matt Barreto, a professor of political science and Chicana/o & Central American studies at UCLA. “And now those 2024 numbers are evaporating.”
The plan appears to be backfiring spectacularly, at least in south Texas.
Trump won Texas’ 15th congressional district in 2020 and 2024, and in 2022 the majority Latino electorate voted for Republican Monica De La Cruz. But polls now show that Democratic candidate and singer-turned-politician Bobby Pulido has a seven-point lead. Pulido, who bills himself as a moderate, has focused his messaging on affordability and the rising cost of living.
A similar situation is taking place in the Latino-dense 34th and 35th districts, where Republicans Eric Flores and Carlos De La Cruz, respectively, are hoping to take advantage of the redrawn Republican-friendly boundaries to flip those seats red. Both face uphill battles as polls show them neck-and-neck with their Democratic opponents.
“You now have these two districts, Texas 9th and 35th, that are 51% Latino, but now Latinos are telling us they have lost confidence in the Republican Party,” Barreto said. “What we’re seeing is very strong evidence that Latinos are shifting back even more so against Trump and Republicans because they did not deliver on any of their promises from 2024.”
In the statewide Senate and gubernatorial races, Democrats are feeling hopeful. Democratic challenger James Talarico currently has a slight lead on his Republican opponent Ken Paxton. Among Latinos, that lead was clocked at a whopping 30 points in an October Fox News survey.
But what has been Talarico’s key to connecting with Latino voters?
“He’s turning away from race and ethnic-based politics to class consciousness,” Madrid said. “[He’s acknowledged] that Latinos have had their futures taken away from them.”
The seminary student and educator has also been critical of his own party — calling it out for ineptitude, leaving voters behind — and arguing that anti-establishment messaging is enticing to Latinos who have been spurned by both major parties.
If Texas gets its first Democratic senator since 1993, it’ll be thanks to the Latino vote.
Texas Latinos’ faith in the ruling party is so low that even the state’s governor, Republican powerhouse Greg Abbott, finds himself in a tight race with Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa. Roughly 56% of Latinos were in favor of Hinojosa over the incumbent, an October poll found.
“Latinos are the only voters voting rationally in a broken system,” Madrid said. “We’re shifting by 25 points. If you don’t pay attention to our priority issues, we’ll vote you out, that’s how the system was designed.”
Latinos appear to be swinging back to the left, but Democrats shouldn’t take those gains for granted, Madrid said.
“The Democratic Party has done nothing to win these voters back. They’re just not Republicans,” Madrid said. “And for the moment, that’s good enough.”
(Jackie Rivera / For The Times; Martina Ibáñez-Baldor / Los Angeles Times)
Dia de los Muertos at Hollywood Forever
(Diana Ramirez / De Los)
This Saturday, join De Los at Hollywood Forever Cemetery to celebrate Día de Muertos. We’ll have an altar set up from noon to 8 p.m. where visitors can write ofrendas that will be displayed throughout the event.
There will also be a photo booth run by Las Fotos Project on site from 2 to 6 p.m.
This is an all-ages event and will feature performances by música Mexicana act DannyLux, soul singer Trish Toledo, psychedelic cumbia group Tropa Magica and indie rock band Los Shadows.
Registration and event information can be found here.
If you’re looking for more places to partake in Día de Muertos festivities this year, check out De Los’ list of 50 ways to celebrate the holiday throughout Southern California.
Unless otherwise noted, stories below were published by the Los Angeles Times.
Theme parks attractions are never really finished, especially those intended to be built to last. And so it is with Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure, which officially reopens Friday after a six-week refurbishment. The ride is looking as fresh as it has in years. There were minor changes — more large spiders and other creepy critters were added to one foreboding tunnel — but also some substantial ones designed to increase the attraction’s capacity and reliability.
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While some ride refurbishment closures result in very noticeable changes to the guest — for instance, the recent addition of a face-shifting buccaneer on Pirates of the Caribbean, or the temple-shattering projections that were added to Indiana Jones Adventure back in 2023 — other updates are less visible yet enhance the experience, such as helping to eliminate downtime.
That is the case for Indiana Jones Adventure. Behind-the-scenes engineering modifications over the last year have boosted not only the attraction’s reliability, but allowed its capacity to increase by about 125 people per hour. Ultimately, that allows for about 1,000 more guests per day, says Nicholas DiBernardo, an area manager for Attractions Engineering Services and eight-year veteran of the resort.
A yearly rehab of the ride is required, says DiBernardo, in part because it is one of the resort’s most complex, with many moving show elements. To ensure that it continues to meet the theatrical and safety standards required, it may appear to Disneyland regulars that Indiana Jones Adventure receives tune-ups with more regularity than other rides at the resort.
Nicholas DiBernardo surveys the guest load-in area of Indiana Jones Adventure. DiBernardo, an area manager for Attractions Engineering Services, helped oversee the recent refurb.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
When asked whether that’s the reality, DiBernardo answers: “Yes and no.”
“Every attraction is different,” he says. “Indiana Jones typically has a refurbishment every year just because of the size of the attraction and the amount of work that goes into keeping this attraction up. It all depends on the needs for improving show quality or maintenance reliability.”
An audio-animatronic figure of Indiana Jones, which was disassembled and rebuilt during the recent refurbishment of the attraction.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Two key changes were made to the attraction in 2026. The most recent — and the reason for the ride’s downtime this fall — was something of a wishlist item, and that was changing the machinations that drive its first major show scene, the doors that lead guests face-to-face with Mara, the deity within the Temple of the Forbidden Eye that drives the ride’s action. Prior to the refurbishment, the doors were controlled by hydraulic actuators. Now they’re fully electric. In simple terms, DiBernardo says the doors are now easier to maintain, there’s no longer a risk of a hydraulic spill, and they should properly open and close with significantly more dependability.
That may not sound like a sexy ride enhancement, but it’s one that DiBernardo says will ensure Indiana Jones Adventure runs more efficiently. “In the past, when the old actuators would fail, the doors would have to remain open, ruining the guest’s show experience,” he explains. Not just that, but it slowed down the ride, as fewer cars could be dispatched so riders weren’t seeing the vehicle in front of them.
Nicholas DiBernardo gives a tour of Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure, which just completed a six-week tune-up.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Elsewhere, DiBernardo says capacity was able to be increased by improving the loading and unloading process, again a change that will be invisible to guests. Essentially, the vehicles park more accurately.
DiBernardo, who works Disneyland’s third shift from 2 a.m. to 11 a.m., says this adjustment, a mix of hardware and software changes, was made over the course of the past year. The problem, oversimplified: Vehicles did not always park in their precise loading and unloading position. Because a theme park attraction needs to operate with extreme exactness to ensure guest safety, DiBernardo says that before this fix, operators would have to send vehicles through the temple sans guests to reset them.
“That was a major win for us,” says the lifelong San Pedro resident. The parking issue was completed in May, and it’s changed the ride’s capacity.
Skulls on Indiana Jones Adventure. The area received a cleaning and a lighting refresh.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Of course, a huge cause of downtime for a Disneyland attraction is often largely out of the park’s control. It’s us, the guests, who are the problem.
“Our No. 1 downtime driver is guest items,” DiBernardo says. “Guests will be on the attraction, and they’ll have a large water bottle or a backpack. All the vehicles have a pouch for them to store everything, but if they don’t do that, there’s many twists and turns throughout the ride, and those articles can fly out. We’ll have to stop the ride. Not only are we working on ways we can improve maintenance reliability, we’re also working with our operations to help notify guests to store their items.”
Nicholas DiBernardo, who helped lead the recent refurbishment of Indiana Jones Adventure, walks toward Mara, the deity within the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
To that end, each Indiana Jones Adventure vehicle has been outfitted with new, bigger pouches that should make it easier for riders to dump in their items. All of that should ensure more guests throughout the day can enjoy the attraction, and right now they’ll want to, as all the figures have been dusted, blacklight paint has been reapplied, and the Indiana Jones audio-animatronics have been disassembled and rebuilt.
Walking through the attraction on Thursday, DiBernardo pointed out how all the figures are currently moving with full mobility. The first time we see Indy he’s attempting to force shut a door, one that moves with the figure in front of vibrant animations. Later, he’s hanging over a guest in one of the ride’s grandest illusions, one designed to trick guests into believing the vehicle is reversing (it doesn’t move backward, but rather the walls shift) as a crater of a ball closes in on us.
Walking the track, I noticed many a detail I hadn’t seen on my hundreds of rides on the attraction over the decades. As Indy hovers above us, for instance, his legs and hips subtly shift. Elsewhere in the ride, when a vehicle dips down a hill, it’s actually going down steps. The latter are painted on the track, but DiBernardo notes that over time the cars eventually strip away the paint. I had never seen the stairs. Of course, it’s easy to be distracted by the skull in front of us hovering over a pit of lava, where many of the lights have now been refreshed.
Flames amid a decaying skull on Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Indiana Jones Adventure has changed over the years. Some opening day effects are long gone, such as the illusion created by actual shifting doors at the start of the attraction, or visions of tumbling rubble near its beginning. But Indiana Jones Adventure remains one of the park’s most detailed attractions, one in which I’m still discovering artistic minutiae more than 30 years after it opened in 1995. And as the recent refurbishment proves, it’s an attraction that remains an ever-evolving work of art.
“The sky is the limit on what we can also add to this attraction,” DiBernardo teases. But for now, it looks good as new.
Mr. Todd’s Wild Ride comes out every Tuesday, but we occasionally publish special editions (like this one!) when we have breaking theme park news. Make sure you’ve signed up to be the first to know.
NEW YORK — Artemi Panarin had two goals, Brandt Clarke scored in overtime and the Kings won their second consecutive game, 3-2, at the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
The Kings have back-to-back victories after losing their first six games. They were the final NHL team without a win before defeating Washington on Tuesday night.
The Kings were outplayed for much of the game and were outshot 43 to 26. Panarin beat rusty backup Semyon Varlamov glove side twice, and Darcy Kuemper kept making stops even as his rebound control was lacking, finishing with 41 saves.
Kuemper cracked for the first time with just under six minutes left in the second period when rookie Victor Eklund’s shot squeezed through on a power play. Matthew Schaefer wired a wrist shot past Kuemper 7:06 into the third.
Clarke scored the winner with 2:18 left in overtime after he and his teammates possessed the puck for several shifts in a row.
Varlamov, the 38-year-old making his first home start since Nov. 25, 2024, after double partial knee replacements, denied Adrian Kempe on a penalty shot and made some big-time saves after giving up the soft goals to Panarin on the Kings’ first five shots.
Panarin has four points in two games after four combined over the first six.
Kings forward Quinton Byfield was out after getting hurt against the Capitals. Byfield did not take part in the morning skate and is considered day to day with an upper-body injury.
Up next for the Kings: at the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
AS a live music lover, I have visited London’s The O2 – the UK’s most popular live entertainment venue – numerous times in my adult life.
But with my primary school aged child? Despite living half an hour from the venue, I’ve never even considered it as a day out.
Until that is, I took my son to iFly Indoor Skydiving over the summer holidays and we had a whale of a time.
Swapping my O2 beer goggles for mum goggles, I suddenly became acutely aware of all the other activities the massive dome offered, outside of huge concerts and bar-hopping.
So we boomeranged back there during a rainy weekend to try out yet another one of their kid-friendly attractions – Activate.
Activate bills itself as a ‘live-action gaming adventure,’ with nine different interactive game rooms featuring a bunch of activities for all ages and skill levels.
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In the laser room, we dodged moving laser beams to reach a target, in the hoops room we had to sink a certain number of basketballs in the hoop, in the grid room we pranced across a lit-up dancefloor, and in the strike room we aimed balls to blast asteroids out of the sky.
The best thing was every activity took max two minutes, so you were never waiting longer to get into your next game.
During our session, which costs from £22.95pp for 60 minutes, there were families with kids my son’s age, groups of ten year olds, mums with teenagers and twenty-somethings who’d come for an afternoon out, because you can set the level at each room before you enter.
It was the same when we visited iFly. In our group of seven, there were two tweens, a 16-year-old and a twenty-something couple on a date alongside my seven-year-old son and I.
And we all had an equally brilliant time.
While anyone aged 3 to 93 is welcome at iFly, you do need a degree of bravery because you have to get inside a huge, glass wind tunnel that sends air upwards at speeds of 120mph to 165mph, and attempt to do your best flying squirrel impression.
The wind is STRONG. So strong that you simply have to flop forwards as you enter the tunnel.
But I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a big grin on my son’s face as the moment he first flew off the ground, which only got wider when he opted for the special “High Flight” add-on, where the instructor took him on a spinning flight, 40 feet up towards the top of the tunnel.
Each session lasts around a minute, and everyone in our group got four sessions as part of their package (although that might change depending on group size), with the opportunity to add a High Flight to each of their goes in the wind tunnel, which cost £15 a pop.
It’s well worth doing the add-on at least once if you can afford the extra cost, as unless you’re planning on jumping out of a plane anytime soon, this is the closest you’ll ever come to flying high above the ground.
There are plenty more family attractions at the O2 too, especially the famous roof climb – with a special ‘Halloween Up at The O2 climb’ scheduled for on October 31.
But there’s also Oxygen Activeplay trampoline park and Clip N’ Climb, plus later this year they’ve got Guinness World Records London opening – the first permanent entertainment venue from Guinness World Records.
If all that fun makes you hungry, there are stacks of restaurants offering kid-friendly food – from pizza and burgers for the less adventurous eaters, to Mexican, Brazilian street food and Chinese hotpot.
We opted for Maki and Ramen, a chain inspired by the ramen shops of Japan.
As well as an extensive sushi menu, they serve up very good bowls of steaming ramen – we opted for their signature pork tonkatsu with a side of beef (my son) and the tofu hell ramen with a side of kimchi (me).
If you visit during the week, you can also take advantage of their £18 lunch deal that gets you a main, side and drink.
We popped next door to Haute Dolci for pudding, sharing two of their signature gelato sundaes garnished with warm chocolate cake, fondue chocolate and crushed Ferrero Rocher.
Stuffed to the brim with noodles and ice cream, my son was unusually compliant about a trip to the O2’s outlet shops.
The venue has a number of high street brands like Nike, Adidas, Kurt Geiger and Whittards offering up to 70 per cent off RRP, and I managed to pick up a couple of dresses for a significant discount and a pair of Nike trainers for my son for £20.
Great fun, great grub and great shopping in a totally rainproof destination? We’ll definitely be back.
Only problem now is my son’s keen to go to a gig now too…
On the balcony of a pink dockside building in San Pedro, a neon sign reading “Saturday Morning Fish Market” glows in the darkness. There’s a quiet stillness in the harbor — the only sounds are of the occasional gull and car whirring by. That is, until 1 a.m. rolls around.
Doors open at 1:30 a.m. at the Saturday Morning Fish Market.
This is when people begin to gather outside the roll-up door, some carrying backpacks ready to be filled.
At 1:30 a.m., a man in an orange apron lifts the door, releasing rays of white light onto the customers. They file inside, stepping onto the wet floor, eager to see the night’s beauties: freshly caught fish, filleted, deboned, washed and thrown onto thick mountains of crushed ice.
Shellfish, sardines, squid, mackerel and a market favorite, glowing salmon filets, sit on display. One employee pulls out crabs with a small net before letting a customer take their pick of the lot. Machines whir in an adjacent room, where fish are processed. Out back, sea lions bark, hoping for scraps.
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The Saturday Morning Fish Market, more formally known as J Deluca Fish Co., has existed for some time — owner John DeLuca claims a variation of the business began operating as early as the late ‘60s. As a child, DeLuca would greet his grandfather when he’d return to the San Pedro port with his catch, perhaps a fresh tuna or a bass to sell. For decades, the wholesale seafood distributor would open its market to the public just once a week — from 1:30 to 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays — usually seeing a smattering of mostly locals, the seafaring type, who might be shopping around after a late-night shift.
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1. Harikrishnan Babuchandran holds up his fresh fish. 2. Customers can watch their fish be processed. 3. The fish that’s for sale changes from week to week. (Linnea Stephan / For The Times)
The Saturday Morning Fish Market in San Pedro has existed in some form since the late ‘60s but thanks to social media, flocks of new customers are wanting in on the late-night seafood-buying adventure.
Neither DeLuca nor his son and co-owner, Chris, could have predicted the San Pedro institution would experience the boom in popularity it’s seeing now, especially in an industry that’s struggled over the past two decades.
Thanks to social media, the market is witnessing an unprecedented revival. At its pre-pandemic peak, it would get around 800 to 1,000 customers on a typical Saturday morning. Nowadays, up to 2,000 people walk through the doors, according to Chris, many of whom are visiting for the first time.
Owners John and Chris DeLuca.
Regarding Instagram and TikTok, where posts giving a glimpse of the late-night fish market have gone viral, John, 73, says, “I know absolutely zero.”
To his credit, he does exhibit some understanding of its effect. And he’s glad for it. “People that live within walking distance never knew we existed. Now they do, and it’s got nothing to do with me,” he says, grinning.
What’s most notable is the number of young people roaming around the market well before the crack of dawn, Chris says. The business has changed a lot since his “father’s generation,” and social media unlocked access to a new audience.
“I think people like those hidden gems and people like that fresh seafood experience,” he says.
Between rows of sea bass and salmon, the energy is buzzing. Abdul Fahwami, dressed in jeans and flip-flops, visits the fish market at least once or twice a month, depending on how many people he‘s having over at his house that week.
“Every time we come here, we buy a minimum of between 100 and 200 pounds,” he says. “Red snapper is one of the best fish.”
Branzino is a favorite among customers and employees.
He smiles as he watches employees process his fish on a long table. First, blades run against the fish scales, removing them in quick fashion. Then, there’s a swift slice across its belly, starting at a hole near the tail and ending up near the gill plate. Finally, the guts are removed and filets are cut, skin optional.
Prices change week in and week out, and depend on supply. While prices are typically 10% to 40% less than at stores, market representative Joe Castelao says the team values the “quality of our products” over “trying to cater to bargain finders.” Another advantage for customers is the ability to buy seafood in bulk, which often isn’t possible at your standard, local grocer.
On this day, there wasn’t much branzino, the fish Fahwami came early to look for. “I found only 11 pieces,” he says. “I took all of it!”
Not far away, a man named Terry Jackson waits in line; he’s wearing black overalls and swaying side to side, eager to advance.
Customer Terry Jackson at the Saturday Morning Fish Market.
“It’s definitely worth waking up a little late — or a little early, you could say,” he says. “The quality of the fish is good, plus the pricing.”
His fish of choice? “Tuna, my new favorite is tuna!” he says, proudly raising a plastic bag full of bright red filets.
Briskly pacing across the market floor are team members Mike and George Stahl, a father-son duo both wearing orange aprons and gloves.
Mike got into the seafood business about two decades ago. At the time, he lived in Florida and often purchased products from J Deluca Fish Co. By 2018, he’d moved his family out to California and started working at the market.
He says his favorite part is the variety of duties. “No two days are the same,” he says. “One day I could be selling a couple containers of squid, the next day I could be meeting face to face with someone at a conference on the other side of the country.”
Staff member George Stahl helps a patron.
He brought in his son George during the pandemic. As George explains, “We were bored and didn’t have anything to do at home so my dad said, ‘Why don’t you come down and put some boots on and start working?’”
George has become somewhat of a micro-celebrity around the market, frequently appearing in its Instagram posts. However, his time with the company might be temporary — he’s currently in school and plans to be a physical therapist at some point.
While the market is riding a wave of success, John doesn’t gloss over the grim outlook of the fishing and seafood industry as a whole. He says the industry has taken a hit over the years, between restrictions, overfishing and changing regulations.
“It’s a dying business,” John says, bleakly. “There’s very few seiners down here because it’s very difficult to make a living [fishing].
But for now, they’re able to survive. They watch as customers walk out of the market into the wee hours of the morning, proudly grasping their bags of the day’s freshest catch.
“A lot of things have gone the opposite direction,” John says. “But we’re still here.”
The fish market’s blue neon sign shines through the night.
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s latest embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin is deepening alarm in Washington and among America’s allies that the White House pressure campaign could leave Ukraine vulnerable as Moscow advances.
Trump’s push to end the war, which has raged since 2022, comes on the cusp of a midterm election that could give Democrats partial or full control of Congress, expanding their oversight powers, and as polls show more than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of foreign policy and support Kyiv’s fight against Russian aggression.
On Monday, Trump dismissed Russia’s ongoing assault on its neighbor, telling reporters that “they haven’t been doing much,” even as Russian forces bombed a park in Kharkiv that day, killing a mother and her 14-month-old child in her stroller.
Two days later, in St. Petersburg, Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, described Putin as a “humanitarian,” despite his invasion unleashing Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
“You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir,” Witkoff said after securing the release of a detained U.S. citizen from the Kremlin. At least two other Americans, both from Los Angeles, remain wrongfully detained by Russia. “I salute you, and I commend you,” he added.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) described Witkoff’s remarks as “another embarrassment” after a steady stream of entreaties to Moscow from the Trump administration.
The diplomatic push follows Trump’s decision two weeks ago to import Russian diesel, a move that could bolster Moscow’s war effort and violate U.S. law. Days later, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly condemned the move, Trump ally Elon Musk reportedly throttled the speed of Starshield, a military-grade satellite internet service from Starlink that Kyiv relies on to defend itself against Russian attacks.
The Trump administration failed to provide Kyiv with intelligence warnings of incoming ballistic missile strikes, blaming the weather. The president waived sanctions on Russia that were passed just months earlier with overwhelming bipartisan support in the aftermath of the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally and Ukraine supporter. And Trump declined to approve the transfer of interceptor missiles to Ukraine — more defensive weaponry used to protect the country from Russian strikes that have increasingly targeted civilian areas.
The developments have raised fresh questions over whether Trump has exceeded his legal authority in reshaping U.S. policy on Ukraine.
Russian diesel imports could violate a 2022 federal ban, the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act, and throttling Starshield, withholding intelligence and delaying missile transfers could breach contractual or statutory obligations set forth by Congress — all potential subjects of investigation for a willing Congress.
And Trump’s push comes at a moment of political peril, as he faces the prospect of a Democratic-led legislature and a Republican Party ready to move beyond his lame-duck presidency.
But freedom from political obligation could also allow Trump to pursue his agenda without the needs for coalitions or popular support.
The prospect of an unchecked Trump has stoked fears on Capitol Hill that the White House could abandon Kyiv altogether.
Nine senators from both parties have asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate the Starlink episode, while lawmakers across the aisle have condemned the speed restrictions. And should they take power after the midterms, Democrats are also weighing whether to make Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s resignation a condition of further defense funding, citing his criticism of Ukraine, according to a report in the newspaper the Hill.
“Congress will unequivocally reaffirm that Ukraine is an indispensable ally to the United States, that Russia is a self-declared enemy of the United States, and that the United States will 100% support and defend the people of Ukraine in their fight for their own freedom against this brutal, illegal, and unprovoked Russian invasion,” said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.).
“The United States must provide any and all defensive equipment that Ukraine needs to defend itself,” Fitzpatrick added. “Anyone who attempts to limit the use of Starshield for Ukraine will be fully investigated and will be held fully accountable, to include public congressional oversight hearings.”
Marco Rubio, the president’s secretary of State and national security advisor, was initially silent on Trump’s moves. But he ultimately defended them when confronted by reporters on a recent visit to Central Asia.
“We’re no longer going to be defensive about this topic,” Rubio said. “If it were not for the assistance of the United States, including under the Trump administration, there would be no Ukraine right now. Ukraine, as a sovereign state, would not exist.”
Still, Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio), a former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that Rubio’s explanation of Ukraine’s loss of Starlink access was “absolutely not” sufficient.
“This is something where there needs to be an investigation, there needs to be a congressional investigation,” Turner told CBS. “Lives are at risk, and lives are lost over these things.”
Trump has told reporters in recent days that his goal remains to secure a peace deal that ends the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II. But Mitt Romney, a former GOP senator from Utah and the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, dismissed Trump’s arguments as a break from U.S. values.
“Churchill could have shortened WW2 by years if he had just ‘done a deal’ with Hitler,” Romney wrote on social media. “George Washington could have done a deal to end the American Revolution.”
Zelensky “is in good company,” he added.
Europe, too, is preparing for a new confrontation with the Trump administration over the defense of Ukraine.
Germany’s chancellor rejected Trump’s approach, saying of Europe, “We are the firewall.” And the European diplomatic service responded with derision to Trump’s waiver of sanctions.
“When Russia escalates aggression against Ukraine,” the European Union’s diplomatic service said in a statement, “Europe responds with more pressure on the aggressor.”
Trump has floated a trilateral summit with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Shenzhen, China, next month, fueling European fears that he could strike a deal on Ukraine without Kyiv at the table.
The Russians and Ukrainians agreed this week in principle to begin peace talks at a technical level moderated by the United States. No timeline or framework has been set for the talks.
In an interview on Fox News, Zelensky said that he was prepared to agree to a peace deal that froze the existing battle lines, ceding nearly a quarter of Ukrainian land to Russian control. Over the last year, Russia has demanded that Kyiv also relinquish land in the Donbas region that it has failed to conquer through military means.
“Right now, we have to freeze. And I think this is a real way to end this war. We call this ceasefire,” Zelensky said. “This is minimum what we need from Russia today.”
“The most important is peace, and secure peace,” he added, “not to be afraid that occupation will come back, aggression will come back, killing will come back.”
What role will the Latino vote have in the upcoming midterm elections?
In the latest episode of “The De Los Podcast,” hosts and Times editors Fidel Martinez and Suzy Exposito welcome Times columnist Gustavo Arellano to dissect the increasingly important electorate, one that will help decide races locally and at the national level.
Long considered a reliable vote for the Democratic Party, Latinos shifted rightward in 2024.
“The Republican Party has always known — going back to the days of [President Dwight D.] Eisenhower — that there is something there in this demographic as it starts getting bigger,” Arellano said.
Arellano documented the history of Democratic support among California Latinos, highlighting the passage of 1994’s California Proposition 187 — which prohibited undocumented immigrants from using the state’s public services including non-emergency healthcare and education resources — as a turning point.
“It turned a whole generation of Latinos into voting Democrat, but it also showed the Republican Party that anti-immigrant politics work,” he said. “The problem with the Democratic Party in California for basically the next 30 years is all they would do is say, ‘You as a Latino should never vote Republican because they did 187.’”
A Pew Research Center study showed that in the 2024 presidential election, a slight majority of Latinos voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris — but they also voted for President Trump at a much higher rate than they did in 2020.
Trump garnered 48% of the Latino vote compared with Harris’ 51% share and significantly jumped past the 36% clip he received in the 2020 presidential election. The study’s results reveal that the initial 2024 exit polls actually underestimated Latinos’ Trump support, with the Republican candidate tracking at 46% of the Latino vote on election day.
Arellano contributed this shift in voting pattern to a lack of effective messaging from Democrats and widespread material hardships among Latinos.
“[You now have] an entire generation who have grown up and life has been harder for them because they are working-class folks,” he said. “And they’re saying, ‘The Republicans are racist? Well, life hasn’t improved for me as a Democrat, let me just take my chance with the racist.’”
But recent polling shows Latinos might have buyers’ remorse. The community cited increased cost of living, immigration tactics, involvement in wars across the world and a struggling economy as reasons for retreating from Republican leadership. Trump’s approval rating among Latinos dipped to 27% in an early October NBC News study. That same poll found that Democrats have a 24-point lead on whom Latino voters want to see in control of Congress.
“The Republican Party was given this extraordinary gift of the Latino vote, and what did they do? They blew it,” Arellano said.
He spotlighted Texas as a prime of example of how Republicans squandered their grip on Latino voters. The demographic voted heavily in favor of Trump in 2024, even in the long-Democratic borderland region of the state.
“Texas [Republicans] gerrymandered their state because they thought, “We have now this permanent Latino shift to our party, so let’s make these districts even more Latino because they’re going to vote Republican,’” Arellano said. “And now Latinos are running away [from the Republican Party] hard.”
Across the country, Latinos have also soured on the Republican Party due to the public display that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have put on in recent years, Arellano noted.
“To see people dragged and beaten … that weighs on you,” he said. “On top of that, the economy sucks, we’re in a stupid war, this president is increasingly saying crazy things … and now this immigration stuff. So [people are wondering] what good is it to be with [Trump] now.”
You can watch the entire episode below.
If Katich’s words seem strong for a side 1-0 up in the series, this South African subsidence was the latest example of an Australian batting line-up only consistent for its inconsistency.
Bowled out for 132 in the first Test of the Ashes last winter, they piled up 511 in Brisbane in the next.
They scored 567 at the end of the Ashes, but were bundled out for 198 by Bangladesh in their next Test en route to a shock defeat.
Even the highs of Matt Renshaw’s 190 in the first-Test win in Durban were countered by the fact no other Australian made 50.
And after another failure, Marnus Labuschagne appears the most at risk. He will not get another chance to bat for his place before Cape Town hosts the third Test from 27 October.
After edging a drive to third slip for 14 off Anrich Nortje in the morning, he gave it away by hitting spinner Simon Harmer to long-on after tea for 39 – his third dismissal in the thirties in the series.
It was made worse by the fact he had only survived an lbw decision on review just three balls earlier.
It is now 47 innings since the 32-year-old, once the leading batter in the world, has made a Test century.
“Only he knows what was going through his mind when he tried to take Harmer down the ground, against the breeze, when Australia are trying to play for a draw,” added Katich.
“How will the Australian selectors view that dismissal?
“He’s been given plenty of rope over the past few years, when plenty of others haven’t, but he has.”
Accidents on roller coasters are rare. But that is precisely why when they happen, they are so disarming and affecting. Places such as theme and amusement parks are where we go to momentarily escape the stressors of daily life, often with friends or loved ones.
Last week, Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42, of Atlanta, was ejected from a roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia and struck other riders as he fell, the Cobb County Police Department said in a statement. It’s tragic and heartbreaking, and the type of event that can make all fans of these spaces begin to question their safety, and whether theme parks can be a third space where we can go for a respite.
Todd Martens’ newsletter delivers news and commentary on the past, present and future of theme parks, right from the theme park capital of the world — Southern California.
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It’s been a particularly rough year for Six Flags, a company still in transition after merging with Cedar Fair just a couple of years ago. Last month, Six Flags Magic Mountain closed its X2 coaster permanently after a history of injuries. While it’s important to note that there is no connection or similarities between the two incidents, their combination creates an overall public perception that the brand is compromised. The industry will be closely watching how Six Flags responds in the weeks and months that it may take to complete an investigation.
In the days since the Georgia accident, I have been asked repeatedly, by friends and even members of the media, if I have been scared on a roller coaster or would hesitate to get on one.
They’re not easy questions to answer. For one, roller coasters are safe, and yes, I have been scared on them, but they are designed to frighten, to thrill and provide airtime in our seats that makes us wonder just how secure they are. To be sure, this is not a flaw. This is their intent.
I was also reminded of a 2003 accident at the Disneyland Resort, when a guest died after a derailment on Big Thunder Mountain. The ride was shuttered for about six months before it was reopened, and when it did so it was immediately met with long lines and cheers. Such is the pull and trust of Disneyland, but the company at the time was relatively transparent about the cause of the accident — two bolts on the locomotive’s left guide wheel assembly fell off — and measures taken to retrain workers.
It took officials from the state of California three months to investigate the incident, and Disney detailed to the media the changes it made to park maintenance procedures. Big Thunder has operated without any headline-generating incidents since.
We don’t yet know what happened in Georgia, and it may be some time before we do, but I only hope Six Flags is similarly direct, especially if this accident was the result of mechanical or human error. There’s too often little reporting on roller-coaster incidents, in part because rules and regulations can vary by state, and also because most infractions are deemed relatively minor and quickly handled in-house by the various parks. Journalists, including myself, should do better when it comes to requesting public records and educating ourselves on coaster engineering.
And when the unthinkable happens, such as what occurred last week, the public should be made aware of exactly what caused it. We’re owed that. To be sure, this is less about assigning blame for an accident, and more about ensuring measures are taken to guarantee it doesn’t happen again. Park operators would be wise to realize the issue just won’t be forgotten or disappear.
Of course, nothing is 100% fail-proof. Daily life is full of risk-taking endeavors such as getting behind the wheel of a car, and riding a roller coaster is strictly optional. But theme and amusement parks — despite the warnings that accompany most any attraction — enter an unspoken contract with their guests. And that is that here, you are safe. I don’t know when or if Six Flags will regain the trust of those who may be rightfully coaster-timid at the moment. But I know that the way they respond can determine whether they’ll lose it for good.
The dinosaurs on the Disneyland Railroad.
(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)
Have a theme park tale to share? Whether it was a good day or less-than-perfect day, I would love to hear about it. Have a question? A tip? A fun photo from the parks to share? Email me at todd.martens@latimes.com. I may feature your note in an upcoming newsletter.
Ride on,
Todd Martens
The Ghost of Halloween Future (Samantha Aotaki) in “A Halloween Carol.”
(Lawrence Meyers)
On a lighter note, it’s spooky season, and that means the L.A. immersive scene is at its best. I’ve long maintained that there is a big overlap between the the theme park community and those who appreciate interactive, immersive entertainment, and that is why I would heartily recommend “A Halloween Carol,” which has a few more dates open before its run concludes next week.
The show, as the name implies, is a twist on the Charles Dickens classic, only here we are visited by the ghosts of Halloween past, present and future. It’s an insightful look at how, from a young age, we are asked to don metaphorical masks of sorts. The show asks us to grapple with what aspects of our personality we are hiding, or putting forth, and does so via intimate, one-on-one conversations, many of which take on a philosophical bent.
If you come ready to play, you may find yourself being disarmed to the point of vulnerability. I wouldn’t call it scary — some may even find some moments near the end a bit sexy — but it does ask us to thoughtfully confront how honest and performative we are being to get through the day.
Come Election Day, a Quaker leader will travel from the nation’s capital to her home state of Ohio. A Christian minister and a Jewish rabbi will stand vigil outside a polling place in Arizona. A Buddhist nun will offer support to voters in Wisconsin.
In battleground states across the country, these faith leaders and hundreds of their colleagues will assume the role of poll chaplains for one day. They will deploy to nine states — Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia and Texas — where contentious races are expected to raise political tensions.
Faiths United in Saving Democracy, a nonpartisan coalition of interfaith and secular partners, is helping to train and certify this volunteer force of clergy members and lay peacekeepers in time for the Nov. 3 elections.
They’ll wear identifying hats and vests, and stay outside the poll centers, with the goal of maintaining a calm, reassuring presence to encourage more voters to exercise their rights without fear or hesitation, said co-founder Barbara Williams-Skinner. As of Oct. 19, they’ve recruited 1,235 poll chaplains and peacekeepers, she said.
While the idea of poll chaplains has been around for several years, Williams-Skinner said “2026 is going to be different” because there is widespread concern that the presence of federal immigration agents could create a chilling effect.
“The fear is real,” she says, worrying that it could deter eligible voters in mixed-immigration-status families and communities of color. Department of Homeland Security officials have consistently said they have no plans to send immigration agents to the polls, although DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said they could show up for a specific reason, such as arresting someone if they have a warrant.
The coalition has offered training online and in person. Participants get information about immigrant rights, de-escalation techniques and phone numbers to call in tight situations, Williams-Skinner said.
The initiative, strongly rooted in the Black church, has expanded to include diverse faiths as well as non-religious people, she said.
“This is a movement built by unusual coalitions,” she said. “You have white, Mainline Protestants, Quakers, traditional Baptists, Black church leaders, imams, rabbis — all kinds of people who probably would not work together or haven’t worked together in the past.”
While most participating groups are moderate or progressive, Williams-Skinner says it is a strictly nonpartisan initiative.
“We don’t get hung up on who’s moderate or who’s conservative. People just need to be able to vote, unafraid,” she said.
A Pew survey following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September 2025 showed 85% of Americans, across political lines, believe political violence is on the rise.
Polling places have been targeted by protesters in past elections. In 2022, members of a group claiming to monitor ballot drop boxes in Arizona were ordered to stay at least 250 feet away after voters complained about intimidation. In 2020, following Election Day, a crowd stormed a vote-counting center in Detroit, many incited by online conspiracy theories about election fraud.
As the mob banged on the center’s doors and windows, the Rev. Steve Bland was among several faith leaders who put their bodies between the building and the crowd. Bland, who leads Detroit’s Liberty Temple Baptist Church, is continuing that work as a poll chaplain.
The pastor says de-escalation often involves “using the right words to calm a situation” or giving intimidated voters the moral support and reassurance that they are safe to exercise their civic right. Bland said he did precisely that for an elderly, Black woman during a prior election.
“She left and came back with two of her grandsons who also voted,” he said. “Without that intervention, three people wouldn’t have voted that day.”
The Rev. Bankole Akinbinu, senior pastor of Baptist Grove Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, said training in conflict resolution and de-escalation has given him the confidence to serve as a poll chaplain. A millennial, he has sought to engage younger people by recruiting peacekeepers from college campuses.
His motivation comes from seeing voter suppression attempts in North Carolina and other states.
“I look at our forefathers and the struggle they had to endure to afford us the privilege of voting,” Akinbinu said. “I look at my children and the nation I want to hand them.”
Steven Huefner, deputy director of the Election Law Program at The Ohio State University, says poll chaplains might be able to calm the frayed nerves of a voting public that is constantly exposed to divisive rhetoric and news about political violence. While political violence has increased, he says, it’s not widespread.
“Election workers are well-trained and can run elections quite well,” he said.
Faith leaders have historically played the role of peacekeepers, said Wendy Cadge, professor of sociology at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and founder of the think tank Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.
And now chaplaincy — beyond traditional worship spaces — is attracting more clergy.
“People are feeling called to chaplaincy because they want to be with people in difficult times,” Cadge said. “They don’t want to worry about what color the carpet is in the church or if their youth programs are attracting enough people. It’s a different kind of work.”
Clergy deploying on Election Day say they are heeding a strong, faith-driven calling to serve as poll chaplains.
In Arizona, Rev. Katie Sexton, executive director of Arizona Faith Network, embraces the initiative as a way to reach across the political divide.
“The ballot box is a place where we’re all seen as equal,” she said, adding that it reflects the Christian belief that all humans are created in the image of God. “There is such power in that.”
On Oct. 6, Sexton and several others participated in a training session — one of the last before the midterms — at Temple Chai, a Reform synagogue in Scottsdale.
Rabbi Emily Segal, who leads the congregation, will be a poll chaplain for the first time next month. The work, she says, aligns with what the Torah and Talmud teach about a healthy and just society.
Throughout American history, interfaith coalitions have created powerful change and served as sources of inspiration, Segal said. “Any time we can come together with faith partners around our shared values for societal good is a real source of holiness for our community.”
Bridget Moix, a Quaker leader, will travel to her native Ohio on Election Day.
“In our faith tradition, we think about voting as a sacred act we want to protect,” she said.
For Reirin Gumbel, resident teacher at the Milwaukee Zen Center, it’ll be a third time, come November.
“As Buddhists, the Metta Sutra we chant says every being has the same rights, and that we should have compassion toward all,” she said.
Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi, spiritual leader of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, is considering becoming a poll chaplain for the first time. In a highly contentious campaign in Elahi’s state, Abdul El-Sayed is the first Muslim Democratic candidate to run for a U.S. Senate seat.
The imam said he is tired of anti-Muslim vitriol that has surfaced ahead of the midterms.
“As interfaith clergy, we stand for principles not personalities,” he said. “The Quran tells us to stand for what’s right — truth, justice, peace, human rights and the dignity of human beings, whoever they may be.”
Bharath writes for the Associated Press.
He is unwavering in his belief that the newly constructed Lakers can compete for an NBA championship this season and that is the conviction coach JJ Redick has instilled into his group.
It is why the Lakers play the game, Redick mused, and it is the standard this organization has set.
The Lakers have won 17 NBA championships — the second most in the league — with the last coming in 2020.
So, as the Lakers prepared to open the regular season Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena, Redick explained why he believes these Lakers are championship contenders.
“Well, I think that every season,” he said. “Unless somebody blatantly tells me that we’re not trying to win, I think that every year. That’s why I say I’m confident. I said the same thing last year and for all of January and February that we were going to figure it out at some point and we did. And then we had some injuries. So, being a championship-level team or being a — I don’t like the word ‘contender’ — but being a team that can make a run and can play in the playoffs and can play different ways in the playoffs, those things take time and it doesn’t mean you’re going to be in the NBA Finals.
“It’s just not the way this works, particularly with the way the playoffs work in terms of just matchups and what you can exploit and what you can’t exploit versus certain teams. But I think because of our talent, because of our fit, because of our depth, I really like our team.”
Luka Doncic said his first glimpse of what the Lakers could become was when he invited his teammates to his home country of Slovenia for a bonding experience.
As the unquestioned leader of the Lakers now that LeBron James has departed to Philadelphia, Doncic organized the trip. It was basketball, golfing and rowing. It was dinners and get-to-know-you conversations.
It was over these four or five days in August that Doncic also saw a Lakers team with championship potential.
“Since the first day. That simple,” Doncic said. “Since the first day everybody came together in Slovenia, I believed that we can win a championship.”
Yet this is a team with nine new players and Redick is trying to incorporate them on a Lakers team that is playing in the uber-tough Western Conference that most experts believe the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are the creme de la creme of the NBA.
The Lakers acquired Walker Kessler, a 7-foot-2 center they received from Utah in a sign-and-trade deal in which he was paid $130 million over four years and in which L.A. sent two unprotected first-round picks and two first-round swaps to the Jazz.
Lakers center Walker Kessler tries to block a shot by Warriors center Yaxel Lendeborg during a preseason game last week.
(Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
The Lakers added depth in Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, Matisse Thybulle, Ziaire Williams, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Kevon Looney.
They join Doncic, Austin Reaves, Jake LaRavia, Adou Thiero and others to form the 2026-27 Lakers.
“I think in terms of integrating all the new guys that have been available, which I think is everybody except for Collin in live play, it’s been pretty seamless,” Redick said. “It’s a smart group. … We’ve been able to probably install more, particularly on the defensive end, than we have in the last couple years.
“Last year we had six total practices in the preseason because of the amount of games and the back-to-backs and the travel and all that. And we played opening night, so that’s another day that we didn’t get to practice. So I think we end up with 12 [practices] this year. We get double the amount of practice time, so I think that’s a blessing when you have new guys.”
The starting five is still unclear.
Doncic, Reaves and Kessler are the sure things, but the other two spots are not certain. Those three started alongside Williams and Thybulle in the final preseason game against the Denver Nuggets on Friday night. Grimes started the first four preseason games.
Lakers guard Luka Doncic, left, bring the ball upcourt under pressure from Nuggets guard Christian Braun their final preseason game on Friday.
(Ben Liebenberg / Associated Press)
“I think we have a lot of guys that could start,” Reaves said. “Unfortunately there’s five guys that are gonna start. Like JJ said a while back, he’s pretty sure of three of them. The other two, regardless of who we roll out there, we have high confidence in.”
Reaves is the longest-tenured Laker entering his sixth season and he knows the high expectations that come with playing for the iconic franchise.
Last season, he had James to lean on, Marcus Smart was steady and Rui Hachimura was part of the fabric.
But they are all gone and now Reaves, who signed a four-year, $180-million contract extension, is one of the leaders.
“Yeah, I don’t know anything else,” Reaves said. “This is what I came to, but obviously it’s the Lakers, and it’s one of the most covered sports organizations in the world. So they’re gonna praise you when you’re doing good and not when you’re not.
“So you just gotta [know] whatever that goes on outside these walls doesn’t really matter. It’s just what goes on inside these walls. And if anybody has any questions, I’ll give them the best knowledge I have. But like I said, they’re high character guys that care about the right things. So, I think that’ll take care of itself.”
Lakers guard Austin Reaves gets past the Warriors defense for a left-handed layup during a preseason game last week.
(David Becker / Associated Press)
The Lakers were 53-29 last season, finishing fourth in the West and getting knocked out in the second round by the Thunder.
They have two more days of practice before the journey begins.
“I think you’re always trying to get better,” Redick said. “And even later in the season, you tweak plays, you tweak the offense and you tweak coverages. It’s just constantly evolving. There’s no like, ‘Oh, we’re done. Now we’re going to go play.’
“But we’re ready to go.”
The Lakers waived former first-round pick Dalton Knecht on Monday to reach the NBA’s maximum roster requirements before the season begins this week.
The 17th overall pick in the 2024 draft had fallen out of the rotation in the last two seasons but had a chance to prove himself during training camp and the preseason, when the Lakers had 16 players on guaranteed contracts. Knecht, who averaged 4.2 points per game and 10.2 minutes per game last season, played just 14 combined minutes in the last two preseason games.
Knecht’s role had greatly diminished since he flashed his scoring potential as a rookie. After scoring 37 points in a win over the Utah Jazz in November 2024 and tying the single-game rookie record with nine made three-pointers, Knecht looked as if he could have been the steal of the draft. But after a trade to Charlotte for center Mark Williams was rescinded, Knecht never settled back into the rotation.
The Lakers brought in nine new players during an offseason roster overhaul, further burying Knecht on the forward depth chart.
“The team changed,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said of Knecht ahead of the Lakers’ preseason finale last Friday. “The needs changed, the fit changed. I think he got better as a player over the last two years.”
The Lakers looked into acquiring center Jericho Sims from the Milwaukee Bucks during the preseason in exchange for Knecht, sources close to the situation but not authorized to speak publicly told The Times. But talks broke down when the Lakers were unwilling to part with multiple second-round draft picks.
The Lakers, who wanted to solidify their backup center position behind Walker Kessler, have only three second-round draft picks (2031, 2032 and 2033) available to trade. They already don’t control their first-round pick until 2032 after sending two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps to Utah to acquire Kessler this summer.
Knecht was given an “excused absence” from practice Monday, Redick said. The deadline for teams to reach the maximum of 15 standard contract players was 2 p.m. PDT Monday before regular-season games begin Tuesday. The Lakers open their season Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena against the Golden State Warriors.
Redick also said guard Bronny James was excused from practice, noting there were players who were “under the weather.” The third-year guard who was picked 55th overall in the same draft as Knecht remained on the Lakers’ updated roster.
James worked his way into the postseason rotation last season while the Lakers were struggling with injuries to their backcourt. He averaged 2.9 points and 1.2 assists during the regular season while shooting 38.6% from three.
Lakers guard Collin Sexton speaks during the team’s media day in El Segundo on Sept. 28.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
For the first time since training camp started, Collin Sexton was a full participant in practice with the Lakers on Monday. Still, Sexton wasn’t ready to fully commit to playing in the Lakers’ season-opener Wednesday.
Sexton missed all five preseason games and a lot of practices with a lower right leg injury.
Sexton, who said he felt good at practice, was asked about playing against the Warriors.
“We’ll be taking it day by day,” he said. “At the end of the day, I had a really good practice today, felt good. Super excited to be back out there with the guys, so I look forward to it.”
Sexton said he had some “tightness and stuff” in his lower leg, “but I feel pretty good.”
He was asked what caused the injury.
“Nothing particular,” Sexton said. “I think we figured it out and now we’re just moving forward and just continue to get these reps in, continue to play five on five, and get out there as soon as possible.”
Sexton is a 6-1 point guard the Lakers signed to back up Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves in the backcourt. The Lakers signed him to a two-year, $19.2-million deal.
“He’s another guy that can bring the ball up and can create his own [mismatch],” Doncic said. “So we’re excited to have him back.”
Second-year forward Adou Thiero and rookie guard Cameron Carr both missed practice Monday.
But having Sexton back was a good sign for the Lakers.
“It felt good, super excited to be back out there, honestly, just getting out there and getting up and down, legs felt a little heavy, but it was great,” Sexton said. “It was definitely a great day, great practice for the team as well, and the guys were really competing.”
primeimages/iStock via Getty Images
The S&P 500 (SP500) recorded its largest-ever single-day put options trading volume by dollar notional value last Friday.
The index reached an estimated $3.3T-$3.4T, according to market data.
The surge represented roughly a 330% increase above the 2024 average, with approximately 4.1M
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has blood clots in his lungs and will not be able to participate in football activities while he is being treated, according to a statement released Monday by the team and Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn.
Hurts has been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and a bilateral pulmonary emboli, the statement said, meaning a blood clot has traveled from his legs to his lungs. While no timeline was given for Hurts’ return to football, multiple media outlets report that the Super Bowl LIX MVP is out for the season.
“He is clinically stable and has no significant functional limitations,” the Eagles and Lynn said in their statement. “His treatment should only involve anticoagulation [i.e. “blood thinners”]. During this time, he will not be allowed to participate in any contact activities, including football.
“Jalen’s prognosis is very good, and we expect a full recovery. We anticipate that he will have the opportunity to resume contact football activities when off the blood thinners. In the meantime, he will remain active around the team and continue to condition. More importantly, we anticipate that he will have no long-term effects.”
Hurts injured his calf during an Oct. 4 loss to the Rams, according to a statement by the Eagles on Thursday, but did not inform his team of the injury until four days later. An ultrasound revealed a superficial blood clot, but Hurts was cleared to play Oct. 11 in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
A follow-up ultrasound “revealed movement in the small blood clot,” the team said Thursday, and Hurts was held from the following day’s game against the Carolina Panthers “as we determine the appropriate course of treatment.” Two days later, the Eagles announced that Hurts had been placed on injured reserve, meaning he would miss at least four games.
Tanner McKee started at quarterback for the Eagles on Sunday and completed 26 of 45 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown in the 25-14 loss.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The film is now available to watch on Netflix UK(Image: Quantrell Colbert/Perry Well Films 2/Netflix)
Scrolling through your Netflix can take ages to find something that’ll have you glued to your seats until 6am. Landing on a new series to watch is one thing, but what if you only have time for a film?
The streaming platform has a variety of genres to pick from – like comedy and horror. Sometimes people manage to watch one film, then decide to blitz through its sequels. But lately people can’t stop raving on about a movie which is about two hours long, so much so, they’re watching it multiple times in one day. So have you seen it?
Kim shared a snippet of the Tyler Perry film Doing Life which she rated a 10 out of 10. She captioned the clip: “I cried so much from beginning to end.”
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And it seems she’s not the only one to have glowing reviews of the 2026 film as one wrote in the comments: “I wish it was longer, a TV show or something. It was so good, I watched it TWICE today.”
Another admitted: “Try up to 4 times, I loved it. I can recite lines now.”
Starring Naomi Baker, Jay Reeves and Tamberla Perry, this Tyler Perry movie follows a single mum and prisoner forge an unlikely bond through heartfelt letters.
The romantic drama deals with real-life issues, like the cycle of poverty, absentee fathers, single mothers and incarceration. It was released on Netflix on October 2 and has already proven to be a hit.
Directed and written by Tyler Perry, along with Angi Bones and Tony L. Strickland as producers, this film is Perry’s seventh from his creative partnership with the streaming giant.
Speaking about the film, Perry said: “I was inspired by… the idea that sometimes the people we least expect can understand each other in ways no one else can.
“I wanted to tell a story about two people who, on the surface, seem like complete opposites, but who discover a deep commonality in the struggles they’re facing.”
Since its release at the start of the month, the American drama holds a 6.6 out of 10 score on IMDb, with a 69% approval rating based on general audience and social media reviews.
Meanwhile it pulled 9.3 million views in its first three days on Netflix, debuting at no.3 on the global English-language movie chart and reaching no.1 in the US.
You can watch Doing Life on Netflix UK now with a runtime of 1 hour and 48 minutes. So will you be watching it more than once in day?
They decided to embark upon their adventure after wanting more time with their two children before they started full-time nursery(Image: Ruth Rowe/SWNS)
A couple say they have saved around £36,000 by ditching the UK to travel the world with their children while living out of two suitcases on a budget of just £30 a day.
Ruth and Steven Rowe “sold everything” they owned and bought a one-way ticket to Sri Lanka back in 2023 and have been travelling ever since. They decided to embark upon their globe-trotting adventure after wanting more time with their two children before they started nursery and school.
Ruth was also not a fan of the cold and wet British weather, so the pair are now world-schooling their kids, Aurora, four, and Atlas, three, in exotic locations instead. The family have already been to 17 different countries, ticking off bucket-list destinations such as Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Indonesia.
They stay four weeks at a time in Airbnbs and have visited the likes of Thailand, Malaysia, Cyprus, USA, Colombia and Peru – all while saving around £12,000 a year. They have spent the last five months living and travelling around India and next year they plan to tour 10 more countries across Europe in a campervan.
Ruth, 34, and Steven, 35, had been renting a barn conversion in the village of Eardisley, Herefordshire, and had both children during the Covid-19 pandemic. But they had always thought about travelling full-time, so they sold “pretty much everything” on Facebook Marketplace or via car boot sales and set off with a couple of suitcases of clothes and a few toys.
They currently have no plans to return full-time and want to continue world schooling – while spending around £2,000 a month, compared to £3,000 back in the UK.
Ruth said: “We had travelled before and for us it got to the stage where we were going to put the kids into nursery and it just didn’t feel like the right time. We wanted more time with them as we know those early years are precious, so we thought, why not just do it? So we did.
“We sold pretty much everything we owned, which was an exhilarating experience – we mainly sold it through Facebook Marketplace and car boot sales. So our car, our furniture, everything but a couple of memory boxes with some of the children’s things inside and a few clothes.
“We set off at the start with two big suitcases – a medium and a small one – and a stroller. And since then we’ve downsized to just two suitcases – it is really surprising how little you really need.
“Possessions don’t make you happy, life experiences do. We bought a one-way ticket to Sri Lanka not knowing if or when we were coming back and we haven’t stopped since.
“We’ve been travelling full-time ever since, slow-exploring the world as a family, while my husband runs his coaching business remotely and we embrace world schooling on the road. It’s been beautiful, chaotic, challenging and incredibly freeing.”
The couple say their children are now educated through “life experiences” – whether that be picking up Spanish in Latin America or learning about volcanoes while hiking in Peru. They say giving the kids no screen time whatsoever on their travels has helped them to become more patient and creative.
Ruth added: “They are also learning counting through things like paying a tuk-tuk driver in different currencies and the first time Aurora ever wrote her name was in sand on a beach with a stick. We give them no screen time at all, which I think has taught them patience on their travels and to be more creative when they are bored sitting on a bus.
“They thought the TV back home was a radio, as we’d only use it for Spotify, and we think that’s allowed their imagination to flourish. I have just seen their confidence grow so much and of course there’s no way of really telling how they would have been at home, but they are just so open and talk to anyone – young and old.
“I will sit down and teach them some reading and phonics and writing, but we’re not rigid with it and it’s still very much about learning through playing. It wasn’t a case of we hated the UK – we just love the world. But I was never a fan of the cold and rain, so that is something I don’t miss. The only thing I miss is friends and family and also British chocolate.”
The couple also support themselves financially via Steven’s online coaching business, which he can still run wherever they are in the world.
Steven said: “These positive environments have brought such positive developments so far in our children. Atlas was swimming independently at two.
“This way, they get one-to-one without being part of the larger school system, which we have no issue with, we just see the benefits from doing it this way. We make sure the children are at the centre of what we do, we always research kids’ clubs and activities wherever we stay.
“They are loving learning about all the wildlife too – we had iguanas and sloths outside our doors in Costa Rica. Aurora had surf lessons in Bali and will be sandboarding in the Peruvian desert, it’s magical for them. We use Airbnbs mainly, but I’ve been working out of little cupboards in some places – it has been challenging at times, but we’re in a fortunate position.”
Sri Lanka
Indonesia
Thailand
Malaysia
Cyprus
USA
Guatemala
Costa Rica
Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
Bolivia
Brazil
India
Nepal
Portugal
Morocco
Follow their travels via Instagram.
Offices at the Supreme Court in Tirana were set ablaze as anti-government protests over corruption, education, and unemployment entered their fifth day.
Published On 18 Oct 202618 Oct 2026
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