director

ATLANTA — Over the past three decades, the collection of DNA from convicted criminals has become standard in the U.S. justice system, and many states now also swab people arrested for serious crimes.

Legislation awaiting a final vote in Georgia would take that a step further by collecting DNA from people charged with less serious misdemeanors — but only if federal immigration authorities want them detained. That could include immigrants not ultimately deported.

If enacted, Georgia’s measure would make it the third state to single out immigrants believed to be in the U.S. illegally for the collection of genetic material that wouldn’t be taken from others. Florida passed a similar law in 2023. And Oklahoma in 2009 authorized DNA collection from immigrants in the U.S. illegally, though it remains subject to funding.

The new legislation comes as President Trump’s administration seeks to expand its use of DNA and biometrics in immigration enforcement as it carries out a plan to deport millions of people from the U.S.

“It is one example of something we are seeing across the landscape, which is government actors at all levels vacuuming up DNA in all available contexts,” said Stevie Glaberson, director of research and advocacy at the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University law school.

Immigrant DNA collection has grown in recent years

The FBI launched the National DNA Index System in 1998 to compile DNA samples submitted by federal, state and local authorities. It’s grown in size and scope and now contains more than 26 million DNA profiles, many from people convicted of crimes.

A federal law enacted 20 years ago allowed the attorney general to expand DNA collection to people arrested and to noncitizens detained under federal authority. But because of exceptions authorized by federal officials, few immigrants had their DNA collected.

That changed in 2020, during Trump’s first term, when a new Department of Justice rule took away much of that discretion. Over the next five years, the Department of Homeland Security added the DNA profiles of more than 2.6 million detainees to the national database, according to an analysis by the Center on Privacy and Technology.

The department did not answer questions from the Associated Press about the percentage of detained immigrants whose DNA has been collected during Trump’s second term.

But the department is looking to expand its authority. A proposed rule would allow it to collect DNA, including from U.S. citizens, to determine family relationships in immigrant benefit cases.

States don’t typically collect DNA for misdemeanor arrests

Though many states collect DNA from people arrested for felonies, just 10 states collect it from people arrested for certain misdemeanors, such as sex offenses, and none collect it for all misdemeanor arrests, according to an AP analysis of data compiled by the Boise State University Department of Criminal Justice.

But under the Florida and Oklahoma laws, any arrest could lead to DNA collection for immigrants subject to federal detainer requests. Officials in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation did not respond to questions about whether those laws are being used.

The Georgia legislation would require DNA collection from immigrants facing any misdemeanor or felony charges if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued a detainer request but has not picked up the person within 48 hours.

Georgia state Sen. Tim Bearden, a Republican sponsoring the bill, described the measure as a means of solving crimes.

“Technology is changing quickly, and DNA is one of those things that help us tremendously when we’re trying to make sure to bring justice to victims in this state and across this country,” Bearden said at a March hearing.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that “partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country.”

Could a broken tail light lead to a DNA swab?

A 2024 Georgia law mandates that local law enforcement cooperate with federal authorities to identify and detain immigrants in the U.S. illegally, or else lose state funding. This year’s legislation would build upon that.

Some legal experts say it could result in DNA collections from immigrants taken into custody for minor violations. Traffic offenses that are penalized as civil violations in some states are considered misdemeanors in Georgia, making them subject to the new law, said Mazie Lynn Guertin, executive director and policy advocate with the Georgia Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

“We don’t think that swabbing a person who’s committed a traffic violation is a boon for public safety,” Guertin said. “The correlation between a broken tail light and a crime that’s solvable with DNA is pretty attenuated in most cases.”

People subject to federal immigration detainer requests aren’t necessarily undocumented or deportable, because they may later prove their legal presence, said Kyle Gomez-Leineweber, director of policy for Common Cause Georgia. But such people could have their DNA collected under the Georgia legislation.

“What this really does is it creates a two-tiered system where some of the DNA would be collected based off of the perception of an individual’s immigration status,” said Gomez-Leineweber.

Legal experts raise questions about constitutional rights

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 upheld a Maryland law allowing DNA to be collected from people charged — but not yet convicted — of certain serious crimes. That law allows DNA to be added to a database after it’s determined there is probable cause to detain someone, provided it’s deleted if the person is not ultimately convicted.

The Maryland case often is cited as justification for an expansion of DNA collection. But some immigrant advocates question whether civil immigration detainers meet the probable cause threshold to make DNA collection acceptable under the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.

“There doesn’t appear to be any kind of meaningful justification for states to step in to require the collection of DNA — of genetic material — from noncitizens in their custody who have merely been accused of a crime, even a low-level crime,” said Jorge Loweree, managing director of the American Immigration Council. “It seems like this is just an effort to increase the surveillance of noncitizens.”

Kramon and Lieb write for the Associated Press. Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Mo.

The feud between California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has escalated after Bonta asked a court to stop Bianco’s investigation into alleged election fraud.

In a 70-page petition filed with the Fourth Appellate District Monday, Bonta wrote that “the Sheriff’s misguided investigation threatens to sow distrust and jeopardize public confidence” in upcoming elections. The investigation, which he also called “sweeping and unprecedented,” is an abuse of the criminal process, he wrote.

Bianco, who is a leading Republican candidate for governor, last month seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in Riverside County in the November election for Proposition 50, which temporarily redrew the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats.

The sheriff has said that his investigators are looking into allegations by a local citizens group that “did their own audit” and found that the county’s tally was falsely inflated by more than 45,000 votes — a claim that local election officials have emphatically rejected.

Bianco has described his probe as a “fact-finding mission” to determine if votes were fraudulently counted. He has accused the attorney general, a Democrat, of improperly interfering with what he says is a lawful criminal investigation.

In Riverside County, the proposition passed by more than 82,000 votes. Statewide, it passed with about 64% of the vote and a margin of more than 3.3 million ballots.

“Well, well, well, the political corruption in California just gets bigger and bigger,” Bianco said in a social media video Monday night in response to Bonta’s petition.

“Why in the world would Rob Bonta want that count stopped unless he was afraid of what that count would uncover?” he added. “We have an extremely politically biased appeals court, so this is going to be interesting.”

Political observers have said that Bianco, an outspoken supporter of President Trump, appears to be vying for attention from Trump, who has called on the federal government to “nationalize” state-run elections, remains fixated on his 2020 election loss and has falsely claimed widespread fraud.

Kim Nalder, a political science professor and director of the Project for an Informed Electorate at Sacramento State, said that Bianco’s investigation appears to be “an electoral ploy.”

“At this stage in the election, most voters haven’t really tuned into the gubernatorial race, and there are a ton of candidates,” she said. “People who don’t know his background will know now. This is clear signaling.”

The sheriff has denied the probe has anything to do with his campaign.

A poll released last week by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times showed Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton leading the crowded field of gubernatorial candidates by slim margins, with the Democratic vote split among multiple candidates in a left-leaning state.

Bonta’s office said in a statement Monday evening that it was asking the court to pause the investigation “while we work to understand its basis.”

Bonta’s petition revealed that — in addition to warrants issued on Feb. 9 and 23 — the sheriff obtained a third warrant from the Riverside County Superior Court on March 19 to restart a paused recount of the ballots. The warrants now are under seal.

Bonta’s office called the warrants and the affidavits supporting them legally deficient because “the Sheriff has not identified any particular crime that may have been committed by anyone — a necessary predicate to obtain a criminal search warrant.”
Bonta had earlier questioned whether Bianco had concealed important information from the magistrate judge who approved the warrants.

In his petition, Bonta wrote that the sheriff’s department had planned to assign “12 employees working four days a week, five to seven hours each day” to count the votes.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research and a former senior trial attorney overseeing voting enforcement for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, agreed with Bonta’s assessment that the sheriff’s probe is a legally deficient “fishing expedition.” He questioned how Bianco got a judge to sign off on three warrants.

“You can’t use a warrant as a PR tool, as something to help your political campaign,” Becker said. “You have to meet certain standards in order to obtain a warrant, because a warrant is extraordinary. A warrant is saying we believe there is probable cause to seize evidence, and we need it now.”

Bianco said in a news conference Friday that a Riverside County Superior Court judge had ordered the appointment of a special master to oversee the count. His investigators had already begun counting, but the tally would start over under the court’s guidance, Bianco said.

“This isn’t about counting yes and no votes,” Bianco said in his social media video Monday. “This is simply counting the total ballots and comparing that total with the number of votes. … Plain and simple. Common sense.”

Scream queen Samara Weaving has an extraordinary yell: shrill, feral and ferocious, like a mongoose before it goes on the attack. Its vibrato fury bursts out only when she’s fighting for her life. Otherwise, her newly wed (and newly widowed) Grace MacCaullay stays quiet when being hunted, hence surviving a killer game of hide-and-go-seek in Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s 2019 hit “Ready or Not,” only to be forced to play again in their echoey sequel “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come.”

In the tradition of “Halloween II,” this one picks up the very second the last one ended. Grace, her white lace dress blackened with blood, is smoking a cigarette outside of an incinerated mansion that belongs to her in-laws, the Le Domas, who are all dead. On this bride’s wedding night, her groom permitted his relatives to sacrifice her to a demon, believing the lore that a wicked spirit named Le Bail gave the family its staggering fortune. They failed; she triumphed.

The first film teased the idea that the family might be superstitious crackpots only to merrily reveal at the climax that the devil is actually real — and that, when disappointed, he makes his minions explode like a shaken bottle of Dom Pérignon. That gag no longer comes as a total shock, but returning screenwriters Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy find that the suspense of who is going to pop, and when and why, works just as well. “It’s always surprising,” Grace says with grim humor. (Between this and “Sirāt,” human combustion is the morbid punchline of the year.)

This very silly slasher doesn’t take much seriously, although I appreciated that once Grace exhales her tobacco, passes out and comes to in a hospital bed, she’s been handcuffed to the railing by a detective (Grant Nickalls) who wants to arrest her on suspicion of arson and murder. One real-world rule holds true: Someone’s gotta take the fall when this many rich people die, even if it’s their victim.

Now, four more posh families want to get in good with Le Bail by competing to see who can kill Grace first. Did the screenwriters toss around a dozen other playground games — killer dodgeball, killer cornhole, killer freeze tag — before sticking with the same hide-and-seek set-up? The only change is that there’s more of everything, including more prey as Grace’s estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) gets yoked into the action, grousing that her sibling’s “negative” energy has once again upended her life.

The host of the massacre is the powerful tycoon Chester Danforth (filmmaker David Cronenberg), a hotel and casino impresario, who entrusts the actual event planning to his adult children, twins Ursula and Titus (Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy). The director of “The Fly” and “Videodrome” isn’t in the film long, but he bequeaths prestige upon these splat-hijinks that they don’t quite deserve. The paterfamilias of gut-wrenchingly emotional body horror would never make a movie like this himself, although I do think he’d be impressed when the visual-effects team makes a human face dissolve like a bath bomb.

The rest of the ensemble represents titans of some vague industry or another from around the globe: the Rajans of London, the El Caídos of Madrid and the Wans of Shanghai, each arriving with multiple family members as backup. A mobbed-up type, Wilkinson (Kevin Durand) of Atlantic City, also pursues Grace as a solo renegade. There’s not much comic zing in the idea that a handful of selfish families rule the world. Still, it’s amusing to watch these soulless ghouls refer to Grace and Faith as “things” and shrug off each other’s deaths, too. Generation by generation, this greedy lot appears to be getting lazier, intoning “Hail Satan” as offhandedly as ordering their butler to fetch them a martini.

Individual characters don’t pop (except, of course, when they quite literally do). The movie would be a bit more interesting if we knew something about each family’s backstory. The one teasing bit of historical intrigue comes when Le Bail’s lawyer (Elijah Wood) insists that the rules state each clan must attack Grace and Faith using weapons from the era in which their ancestors made their satanic pact. It never gets mentioned again, but I spun restless fictions seeing the Danforths stab the girls with railroad spikes while Olivia Cheng’s more modern Chinese heiress chased them with a drone.

There’s still an awful lot of random gunfire and not much enticement to hang onto, nor any sort of a story in this dashed-off, deadly spin on “Succession.” I’ll note that the demon is a more honest and fair negotiator than his vassals, who occasionally cheat and are punished in exactly the way you’re hoping to see.

Hatosy’s Titus is the Danforths’ disappointing fail son and the actor keeps his face in a delightfully foolish little pout. But Titus’ fever to prove that he’s his own man makes him unpredictable and dangerous — and makes him the only villain with more layers than one. Still, my favorite of the ensemble is Maia Jae’s Francesca El Caído, the jilted former lover of Grace’s late husband, who struts into the film like a hellcat, fighting for her own ego as much as Le Bail’s tempting offer of world domination. Her sloppy showdown with Grace is the action highlight.

None of this is scary. The directors, who have also dabbled in the “Scream” franchise, would rather get a laugh than a gasp. Their favorite move is a gasp-laugh, as when they flash a gruesome image on screen that’s so disgusting you can’t help but giggle.

Yet, the prankish tone keeps Grace from having much of a personality, other than a rebellious screw this. Whenever a scene gives her a chance to catch her breath, it squanders it on a go-nowhere running joke about her desperate search for a cigarette.

At least Weaving has her scream and Newton, her impressive ability to take punishment. While new to this particular series, Newton is a skilled cartographer of comedy-horror terrain as the star of “Freaky,” “Lisa Frankenstein,” and the directors’ previous film, “Abigail.” Her kooky chipmunk moxie lets her get through any script relatively unscathed, including this one. And she has one of the best laugh lines in the movie when she bats her eyes at the baddies and tries to placate them with, “You guys seem like good people.”

The sisters’ mutual antagonism has a few clever beats, like when they bicker over who had the superior working-class restaurant job, Grace waiting tables or Faith as a hostess. But the few times they’re forced to play their hurt feelings sincerely are as forced as the moment when Grace zips her gory wedding gown back on before it’s even been washed.

Nevertheless, kudos to the costume team for a different outfit that Grace wears in the second half of the film that’s an absolute jaw-dropper of goth couture with black netting and a tiara. It pairs majestically with Weaving’s defiant chin and gleaming eyes. Despite this sequel’s thin and rote stretches, it once again closes strong with a few images that will stick in your head for at least a week or two. No spoilers, but it’s no coincidence that “Here I Come” finally gets more interesting once it tires of hide and seek. Finding a fresh plot twist is the only way it ekes out a draw.

WASHINGTON — Robert S. Mueller III, the FBI director who transformed the nation’s premier law enforcement agency into a terrorism-fighting force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and later became special counsel in charge of investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has died. He was 81.

“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”

President Trump, responding on social media, said: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead.” He added: “He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

At the FBI, Mueller set about almost immediately overhauling the bureau’s mission to meet the law enforcement needs of the 21st century, beginning his 12-year tenure just one week before the Sept. 11 attacks and serving across presidents of both political parties. He was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush.

The cataclysmic event instantaneously switched the bureau’s top priority from solving domestic crime to preventing terrorism, a shift that imposed an almost impossibly difficult standard on Mueller and the rest of the federal government: Preventing 99 out of 100 terrorist plots wasn’t good enough.

Later, he was special counsel in the Justice Department’s investigation into whether Russia’s attempts to help Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign amounted to illegal cooperation to sway the outcome.

Mueller was a patrician Princeton graduate and Vietnam veteran who walked away from a lucrative midcareer job to stay in public service, and his old-school, buttoned-down style made him an anachronism during a social-media-saturated era.

In a statement, former President Obama called Mueller “one of the finest directors in the history of the FBI” who saved “countless lives” after transforming the bureau. “But it was his relentless commitment to the rule of law and his unwavering belief in our bedrock values that made him one of the most respected public servants of our time,” Obama added.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. The FBI Agents Assn., a nonprofit advocacy group representing current and former agency employees, lauded Mueller for his “commitment to public service and to the FBI’s mission.“

Investigator of a sitting president

The second-longest-serving director in FBI history, behind only J. Edgar Hoover, Mueller held the job until 2013 after agreeing to Obama’s request to stay on beyond his 10-year term.

After several years in private law practice, Mueller was asked by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein to return to public service as special counsel in the Trump-Russia inquiry.

Mueller’s stern visage and taciturn demeanor matched the seriousness of the mission, as his team spent nearly two years quietly conducting one of the most consequential, and divisive, investigations in Justice Department history. He held no news conferences and made no public appearances during the investigation, remaining quiet despite attacks from Trump and his supporters and creating an aura of mystery around his work.

All told, Mueller brought criminal charges against six of the president’s associates, including his campaign chairman and first national security advisor.

His 448-page report released in April 2019 identified substantial contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia but did not allege a criminal conspiracy. He laid out damaging details about Trump’s efforts to seize control of the investigation, and even shut it down, though he declined to decide whether Trump had broken the law, in part because of Justice Department policy barring the indictment of a sitting president.

In perhaps the most memorable language of the report, Mueller pointedly noted: “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”

The nebulous conclusion did not deliver the knockout punch to the administration that some Trump opponents had hoped for, nor did it trigger a sustained push by House Democrats to impeach the president — though he was later tried and acquitted on impeachment charges related to pressuring Ukraine for campaign dirt on Joe Biden and Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 riot and insurrection.

The outcome of the Mueller investigation also left room for Atty. Gen. William Barr to insert his own views. He and his team made their own determination that Trump did not obstruct justice, and he and Mueller privately tangled over a four-page summary letter from Barr that Mueller argued did not adequately capture his report’s damaging conclusion.

Mueller deflated Democrats during a highly anticipated congressional hearing on his report when he offered terse, one-word answers and appeared hesitant at times in his testimony. Frequently, he seemed to waver on details of his investigation. It was hardly the commanding performance many had expected from Mueller, who had a towering reputation in Washington.

Over the next months, Barr made clear his own disagreements with the foundations of the Russia investigation, moving to dismiss a false-statements prosecution that Mueller had brought against former national security advisor Michael Flynn, even though that investigation ended in a guilty plea.

Mueller’s tenure as special counsel was the capstone of a career spent in government.

A transformation at the FBI

His time as FBI director was defined by the Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath, as the agency — granted broad new surveillance and national security powers — scrambled to confront an ascendant Al Qaeda, interrupt plots and take terrorists off the street before they could act.

It was a new model of policing for an FBI that had long been accustomed to investigating crimes that had already occurred.

When he became FBI director, “I had expected to focus on areas familiar to me as a prosecutor: drug cases, white-collar criminal cases and violent crime,” Mueller told a group of lawyers in October 2012.

Instead, “we had to focus on long-term, strategic change. We had to enhance our intelligence capabilities and upgrade our technology. We had to build upon strong partnerships and forge new friendships, both here at home and abroad.”

In response, the FBI shifted 2,000 of the total 5,000 agents in the bureau’s criminal programs to national security.

In hindsight, the transformation was a success. At the time, there were problems, and Mueller said as much. In a speech near the end of his tenure, he recalled “those days when we were under attack by the media and being clobbered by Congress; when the attorney general was not at all happy with me.”

Among the issues: The Justice Department’s inspector general found that the FBI circumvented the law to obtain thousands of phone call records for terrorism investigations.

Mueller decided that the FBI would not take part in abusive interrogation techniques of suspected terrorists, but the policy was not effectively communicated down the line for nearly two years.

In an effort to move the FBI into a paperless environment, the bureau spent more than $600 million on two computer systems — one that was 2½ years overdue and a predecessor that was only partly completed and had to be scrapped after consultants declared it obsolete and riddled with problems.

For the nation’s top law enforcement agency, it was a rocky trip through rough terrain.

But there were many successes as well, including thwarted terrorism plots and headline-making criminal cases like the one against corporate fraudster Bernie Madoff. The Republican also cultivated an apolitical reputation on the job, nearly quitting in a clash with the Bush administration over a surveillance program that he and his successor, James B. Comey, considered unlawful.

He famously stood alongside Comey, then deputy attorney general, during a dramatic 2004 hospital standoff over federal wiretapping rules. The two men planted themselves at the bedside of the ailing Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft to block Bush administration officials from making an end run to get Ashcroft’s permission to reauthorize a secret no-warrant wiretapping program.

In an extraordinary vote of confidence, Congress, at the Obama administration’s request, approved a two-year extension for Mueller to remain at his post beyond its 10-year term.

A Marine who served in Vietnam

Mueller was born in New York City and grew up in a well-to-do suburb of Philadelphia.

He received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree in international relations from New York University. He then joined the Marines, serving three years as an officer during the Vietnam War. He led a rifle platoon and was awarded a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and two Navy Commendation Medals. After his military service, Mueller earned a law degree from the University of Virginia.

Mueller became a federal prosecutor and relished the work of handling criminal cases. He rose quickly through the ranks in U.S. attorneys’ offices in San Francisco and Boston from 1976 to 1988. Later, as head of the Justice Department’s criminal division in Washington, he oversaw a range of high-profile prosecutions that chalked up victories against targets as varied as Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and New York crime boss John Gotti.

In a midcareer switch that shocked colleagues, Mueller left a job at a prestigious Boston law firm to join the homicide division of the U.S. attorney’s office in the nation’s capital. There, he immersed himself as a senior litigator in a bulging caseload of unsolved drug-related homicides in a city rife with violence.

Mueller was driven by a career-long passion for the painstaking work of building successful criminal cases. Even as head of the FBI, he would dig into the details of investigations, some of them major cases but others less so, sometimes surprising agents who suddenly found themselves on the phone with the director.

“The management books will tell you that as the head of an organization, you should focus on the vision,” Mueller once said. But “for me there were and are today those areas where one needs to be substantially personally involved,” especially in regard to “the terrorist threat and the need to know and understand that threat to its roots.”

Two terrorist attacks occurred toward the end of Mueller’s watch: the Boston Marathon bombing and the Ft. Hood shootings in Texas. Both weighed heavily on him, he acknowledged in an interview two weeks before his departure.

“You sit down with victims’ families, you see the pain they go through, and you always wonder whether there isn’t something more” that could have been done, he said.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Nicolas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.

US President Donald Trump has reacted to the resignation of the US National Counterterrorism Centre’s director, Joe Kent, saying that he couldn’t work with somebody who didn’t believe Iran was a threat. Trump also said his decision to bomb Iran avoided a ‘nuclear holocaust’.

ROB Reiner’s friends held back tears at the Oscars as the ceremony honored the late director and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, after their tragic deaths.

The couple died in December 2025 after being brutally attacked in their Los Angeles home, and their son, Nick Reiner, is the primary suspect in their murders.

Hollywood was shocked by the loss of Rob, 78, and Michele, 70, and it was expected that there would be a special tribute to them at the 98th Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday.

Rob and Michele were honored Sunday in a speech by Billy Crystal, one of the stars of When Harry Met Sally.

Rob famously rewrote the ending of When Harry Met Sally after meeting his wife, Michele, while shooting the film.

“I first met Rob Reiner in 1975. When I was cast as his best friend in an episode of All in the Family,” Billy’s began in his tribute.

“Rob said, it was fun playing your best friend, why don’t we keep it going. And it was a thrill to see him evolve from a great comic actor to a master storyteller.

“His first film was This Is Spinal Tap. You could stop right there … The comedy was turned up to an 11.”

Billy went on to discuss Rob’s other iconic films, including Stand By Me.

“Audiences then lined up to see his funny, charming films, so he gave them misery!” Billy continued.

“My friend Rob’s movies will last for lifetimes. Because they were about what makes us laugh and cry and what we aspire to be, far better in his eyes, far kinder, far funnier, far more human.”

“And when Michele Singer entered his life, they were unstoppable. A gifted photographer, she not only produced films with Rob, but it was her energy that had them working tirelessly to fight social injustice in the country that they both loved.

“Rob and Michele Reiner became the driving force in the landmark decision for marriage equality across the United States. And their loss is immeasurable.”

He said Rob told him several times that “it meant everything to him that his work meant something to you.”

“And for us, who had the privilege of working with and knowing him and loving him, all we can say is, ‘Buddy, what fun we had storming the castle.”

Billy’s speech concluded with several actors joining him on stage, including Kathy Bates, Demi Moore and Mandy Patinkin.

More late stars honored at the Oscars

Diane Keaton was also honored at the Oscars’ In Memoriam tribute.

Rachel McAdams, who starred alongside the late actress in The Family Stone, took the stage to honor Diane.

“For over 50 years, luminous on screen and indelible in life, believe me when I say there isn’t an actress of my generation who is not inspired by and enthralled with her absolute singularity,” she said.

“She wore so many hats, literally and figuratively, actress, artist, author, activist, but no hat more important to her than being a mother to her two children.

“She meant so much to so many of us. I remember she used to sing this old Girl Scout song on set, which is just so her: ‘Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, and the other is gold. A circle is round, it has no end. That’s how long I’ll be your friend.’

“And so to our friend, Diane Keaton, celebrating a life in silver and gold, a legend with no end.”

Diane, a four-time Academy Award nominee, died in October 2025 of bacterial pneumonia.

Other stars were honored during the In memoriam segment, including Robert Duvall, known for his roles in The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Robert Redford, known for All the President’s Men and The Sting and Catherine O’Hara, known for her role in Home Alone and Schitt’s Creek.

“She made us laugh until we cried,” Rachel said of Catherine at the Oscars.

The death of Rob Reiner

Corey Feldman, who portrayed Teddy Duchamp in Stand by Me, was reportedly not asked to participate in the tribute to Rob, despite being one of the main characters alongside Jerry and Wil.

A source recently told the Daily Mail that Corey was “devastated” by the apparent snub and “wanted nothing more than to honor Rob.”

In January, Rob was subtly recognized at the Golden Globes by host Nikki Glaser, who ended the show wearing a Spinal Tap cap, a reference to the filmmaker’s 1984 film, This Is Spinal Tap.

The comedian also closed the ceremony, saying, “This one went to 11. Thank you, guys, for an amazing night,” a reference to the movie’s famous moments between Rob and co-star Christopher Guest.

Rob and Michele allegedly had their throats slit while lying in bed, and Nick, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was battling a drug addiction, has been charged with their murders.

The incident occurred hours after the trio attended Conan O’Brien’s holiday party, where Rob and Nick had an explosive fight about Nick’s behavior.

Last month, Conan O’Brien, host of the 98th Academy Awards, broke his silence about the tragedy during a sit-down with The New Yorker.

“I knew Rob and Michele, and then increasingly got closer and closer to them, and I was seeing them a lot,” the talk show host said.

“My wife and I were seeing them a lot, and they were so — they were just such lovely people.

Most Awarded Oscar Winners of All Time

Best Director:

John Ford — 4 wins

• The Informer (1935)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
• How Green Was My Valley (1941)
• The Quiet Man (1952)

Frank Capra — 3 wins

• It Happened One Night (1934)
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
• You Can’t Take It with You (1938)

William Wyler — 3 wins

• Mrs. Miniver (1942)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
• Ben-Hur (1959)

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

Daniel Day‑Lewis — 3 wins (most in history)

• My Left Foot (1989)
• There Will Be Blood (2007)
• Lincoln (2012)

A slew of actors are tied in second place having won 2 Oscars, including: Marlon Brando, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Sean Penn, Anthony Hopkins, and more.

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

Katharine Hepburn — 4 wins

• Morning Glory (1933)
• Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
• The Lion in Winter (1968)
• On Golden Pond (1981)

Frances McDormand — 3 wins

• Fargo (1996)
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
• Nomadland (2020)

Meryl Streep — 3 wins (two lead, one supporting)

• Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) — Supporting Actress
• Sophie’s Choice (1982) — Lead Actress
• The Iron Lady (2011) — Lead Actress

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

Walter Brennan — 3 wins

• Come and Get It (1936)
• Kentucky (1938)
• The Westerner (1940)

Many actors are tied for the second place honor with 2 nominations, including: Michael Caine, Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson, Christoph Waltz, and Mahershala Ali.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

Dianne Wiest — 2 wins

• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
• Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

Shelley Winters — 2 wins

• The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
• A Patch of Blue (1965)

Maggie Smith — 2 wins

• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) — Lead Actress
• California Suite (1978) — Supporting Actress

“And to have that experience of saying goodnight to somebody and having them leave and then find out the next day that they’re gone. … I think I was in shock for quite a while afterward. I mean, there’s no other word for it. It’s just very — it’s so awful. It’s just so awful.”

Conan also admitted that it was still “hard for me to comprehend” what happened to his friends.

The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed that Nick could inherit his family’s $196million fortune even if he’s found guilty of his parents’ deaths.

This would be the case if Nick is found legally insane, which, by California law, would still entitle him to the inheritance.

Nick has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

The list of candidates running for Los Angeles city and school board offices is set, with a number of incumbents facing what could be competitive primary elections on June 2.

Fourteen Angelenos have qualified to run for mayor, including incumbent Karen Bass, City Councilmember Nithya Raman and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt.

Seven City Council incumbents face at least one challenger, while Councilmember Monica Rodriguez is running unopposed to represent her northeast San Fernando Valley district.

City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto is running against three opponents — deputy attorney general Marissa Roy, human rights attorney Aida Ashouri and Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney.

In the race for city controller, incumbent Kenneth Mejia will battle it out against Zach Sokoloff, who is on sabbatical from his job as senior vice president of asset management at Hackman Capital Partners.

For the last week and a half, workers at the City Clerk’s Office have been verifying the legitimacy of voter signatures submitted by the candidates, finishing the last batch on Friday.

Gathering the required 500 signatures is relatively easy in citywide races but harder in council and school board districts. Some candidates who submitted petitions by the March 4 deadline failed to qualify because some of their signatures were deemed invalid.

In each race, if no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in June, the top two finishers will compete in a November runoff.

The field of 14 for mayor narrowed significantly from the roughly 40 who filed initial paperwork on Feb. 7. The qualifiers include a game streamer, a singer-songwriter and a tech entrepreneur, as well as government veterans like Asaad Alnajjar, a longtime engineer for the city. Rae Huang, a pastor and housing advocate, will also appear on the ballot.

Raman, a former Bass ally, shook up the race with her surprise entry, hours before the filing deadline.

A recent poll found that about 51% of Los Angeles voters are undecided on who they want for mayor. Bass led at 20%, followed by Pratt at just over 10% and Raman at slightly more than 9%, according to the Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics poll.

Tech entrepreneur Adam Miller was supported by just over 4% of those polled, with Huang at about 3%.

In District 1, which stretches from Glassell Park and Highland Park to Chinatown and Pico Union, four challengers are looking to unseat City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez. They are Maria Lou Calanche, a former Los Angeles Police Commissioner and founder of the nonprofit Legacy LA; Nelson Grande, an executive consultant and former president of Avenida Entertainment Group; Raul Claros, founder of CD1 Coalition, which organizes cleanup days; and Sylvia Robledo, a small-business owner and former council aide.

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield is terming out in District 3, leaving the race to represent the southwestern San Fernando Valley open to a newcomer. The three candidates are Timothy K. Gaspar, who founded a private insurance company; Barri Worth Girvan, a director of community affairs for an L.A. County supervisor; and Christopher Robert “C.R.” Celona, a tech entrepreneur.

In District 5, which includes Bel-Air, Westwood, Hancock Park and other West L.A. communities, Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky faces two challengers: tenants rights attorney Henry Mantel and accountant Morgan Oyler.

With Councilmember Curren Price terming out in District 9, six candidates are vying to represent parts of downtown and South L.A. They are Jose Ugarte, who was formerly Price’s deputy chief of staff; Estuardo Mazariegos, a lead organizer at the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment; nonprofit director Elmer Roldan; entrepreneur Jorge Nuño; professor and therapist Martha Sánchez; and educator Jorge Hernandez Rosas.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Westside communities of District 11, including Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and Venice, will face off against civil rights attorney Faizah Malik.

In District 13, which includes Hollywood and East Hollywood as well as parts of Silver Lake, Echo Park and Westlake, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez is defending his seat against three challengers. They are Colter Carlisle, vice president of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council; Dylan Kendall, an entrepreneur and founder of Grow Hollywood; and Rich Sarian, vice president of strategic initiatives for the Social District.

And in District 15, which includes San Pedro and other harbor-area communities as well as Watts, Councilmember Tim McOsker is running against community organizer Jordan Rivers, who is continuing his campaign after reports that he stabbed a neighbor when he was 12. Rivers said it was an “accident” that happened a decade ago.

Three seats are open on the Los Angeles Unified School District board.

In District 2, incumbent Rocío Rivas is being challenged by Raquel Zamora, an LAUSD teacher and attendance counselor.

In District 4, incumbent Nick Melvoin is facing off against Ankur Patel, director of outreach at the Hindu University of America.

District 5 school board member Kelly Gonez is running unopposed for her third term.

The tumult continues at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as the National Symphony Orchestra’s executive director, Jean Davidson, steps down from her role to become executive director and chief executive of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Davidson will assume her new position May 4, the Wallis announced Friday.

Davidson is not new to L.A., having served as the president and CEO of the Los Angeles Master Chorale at the Music Center from 2015 to 2023. She left the Master Chorale for the NSO in Washington, D.C., where she worked for two years until President Trump began his controversial takeover of the Kennedy Center, firing its board and installing himself as chairman. Major artist defections ensued, culminating with a board vote to rename the center the Trump Kennedy Center in December and February’s surprise announcement that the center would close for two years for renovations, beginning July 4.

“I’ve learned a lot in the last three years, and I think it’s no secret that it’s been a hard year,” Davidson told The Times, adding that the politicization of the Kennedy Center was a factor in her decision-making. “I had intended to stay through the [orchestra’s] 100th anniversary in 2031, but found it more and more difficult to achieve the goals that we had set out to achieve given the external forces that are at work that are just so far beyond my control.”

It seemed like “I had reached a natural ending point,” she said.

With the imminent closure of the Kennedy Center, speculation has swirled around the NSO’s future, especially in light of the Washington National Opera’s decision in January to cut ties with the storied venue, which has been its home since 1971. The Kennedy Center’s Trump-appointed leadership, however, made it clear that it intended to support the NSO in the long term, and the orchestra’s board chair assured musicians that the orchestra and its staff would remain intact.

Davidson said the NSO is in the process of identifying venues for the next two years, and that the orchestra has been told by the Kennedy Center that its financial support is not in question.

“Many venue operators in the D.C. area have been very generously reaching out to us, asking how they can help,” she said. “Of course, we plan our seasons years in advance, and so next season was already planned. We already have conductors and soloists and all of that, and so it’s a bit of a jigsaw puzzle aligning our existing programming and obligations to those artists with venues that are appropriate for those programs.”

It will take several more weeks to come up with a cohesive plan and it will probably include several venues, “but we will have a season,” Davidson said. “And we hope that everybody will come.”

In many ways, Davidson said, the NSO is stronger than it has been in quite some time. During her tenure, Davidson helped reboot the orchestra’s international and domestic touring, which includes upcoming shows at New York’s Carnegie Hall in May and at the Hollywood Bowl in August. The orchestra also extended acclaimed music director Gianandrea Noseda’s contract through 2031.

“The orchestra is just playing at such a high level and they really have never sounded so good,” said Davidson, echoing what notable critics have also been saying. “We’re still welcoming many new players after our audition process, and I think that’s all very positive for the NSO.”

Davidson knows that leaving her role will be difficult for the orchestra, but she believes it will emerge stronger.

“I care deeply about the NSO and I am so proud of everything that we’ve accomplished together. I think the world of Gianandrea, of [principal conductor] Steven Reineke, our musicians, our staff and board — it’s a great community of people,” said Davidson.

Davidson also believes that the upcoming renovations to the Kennedy Center will ultimately result in a better experience for audiences and artists. She just wishes there had been much more advance notice.

“Usually orchestras will plan for being out of their hall years in advance, and we only have months to do that, so it is causing a bit of strain,” she said. “I think the most important thing is that our audiences and donors continue to support the NSO during this transition period.”

Davidson will now embark on her own transition as she moves from D.C. to L.A., rejoining her husband who has stayed in the area as a music professor at UC Irvine.

“This is an opportunity that’s been on my bucket list of things that I want to do in my life and it seems like the right time,” said Davidson of her new role at the Wallis in Beverly Hills.

Compared with the NSO, the Wallis is practically brand new, having opened in 2013.

Davidson is excited that there is lots of room for growth, and that the Wallis has evolved into one of the region’s most exciting multidisciplinary performing arts presenters and home base to a variety of local arts groups.

“I think anytime you’re starting a new role, there’s a lot of learning that needs to occur,” Davidson said. “And I’m not somebody that is prone to walking in with a big vision that’s going to suddenly change course. I think they’ve been doing a lot of great work and so I’m looking forward to collaborating with the team that’s there — to learn and to create a shared vision for the future.”

It’s an exciting time to be in Los Angeles, Davidson said.

“The last decade or so has seen a lot of growth in the art sector, and there are so many talented artists and organizations in L.A. that need a place to perform.”