event

It was a particularly busy Thursday morning for the Bixby Knolls neighborhood of Long Beach.

The area, which is home to an array of independently owned businesses and small restaurants, both of which boast unique facades from storefront to storefront, saw hundreds of eager fans start lining up outside its doors as early as 8 a.m.

Many crowded around one store in particular: Fingerprints Music, which only recently began to call Bixby Knolls its home — in April — after a roughly 15-year residency in downtown Long Beach. As crowd control barricades began springing up and artist security personnel lingered outside the famed vinyl record shop, passersby and neighbors alike began to ponder what could be going on.

It was simple: Cardi B.

The “Bodak Yellow” singer managed to squeeze in a meet-and-greet event at the store to commemorate last week’s release of her sophomore album, “Am I the Drama?” A link to tickets dropped on Fingerprints Music’s website on Sept. 9, which fans barely gave a chance to breathe.

“I follow her on Instagram — I have hard notifications on every platform — so, as soon as the video went up, I rushed to the website and bought it,” said Gerardo Torres of Gardena. “I was probably one of the first few [to buy tickets], less than five minutes after she announced it I already had mine.”

Arlene Heaton, left, of Kern County and Gerardo Torres of Gardena hold a Cardi B flag.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Torres stood near the front of the line, which he joined around 10:30 a.m. Next to him was Arlene Heaton of Rosamond, who had just driven three hours from the Kern County community to arrive at the same time. The two met in line and quickly became friends — she donning a rhinestone-studded ensemble and he draping a flag depicting Cardi B around his shoulders.

“If she would’ve been three hours away, I would have been there as well!” Torres added.

“It took about 10 minutes [to sell out],” Heaton said. “I love the album and I just had to get the CD… I wanted to support her and I came all the way from Rosamond to see this happen — history, this is history.”

Though the event was scheduled for a 2 p.m. start, it wasn’t until 2:30 that Cardi arrived on the scene. A few fans trickled out from behind the store, rejoicing that they’d seen her arrive.

Moments later, security formed a human barrier around the entrance, and Cardi stepped out of the store with a megaphone. Whatever she said was rendered unintelligible among the thunderous cheers of fans who surged forward, putting her entourage to the test.

“I do music myself, I’m not a fan of many, but her? Oh, my God, there was no way. I got up at like 8 in the morning; I set my alarm for 6:30,” said Curshawn Watts, who called herself the “Queen of Compton.” “I was out here! I didn’t care how early I had to be here — I had to be here!” Watts said.

Curshawn Watts, a rapper who calls herself the “Queen of Compton,” holds a CD of Cardi B’s “Am I the Drama?” at Thursday’s meet-and-greet in Long Beach.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

She’d been waiting since 10 a.m. and said the heat didn’t bother her: “It’s worth it all, baby!” she declared.

As fans made their way into the store, they were greeted by the sound of tracks from Cardi’s new album playing on the store speakers. “Am I the Drama?” vinyl records and CDs filled out the shelves, and portraits of Cardi stood above them.

Nestled in the back corner behind a black curtain sat the woman herself, visibly pregnant, in brown snakeskin heels, denim shorts, and adorning various gold statement pieces. She had confirmed in a CBS interview last week that she and NFL star Stefon Diggs were expecting a child.

An estimated 1,200 fans arrived on the blistering day in Long Beach, though only 800 were able to secure a guest list spot to see the 32-year-old hip-hop artist. Others assembled nearby, hoping for a chance to merely lay eyes on her or, perhaps, to get lucky enough to join the meet-and-greet.

Indeed, Fingerprints Music and Cardi B accommodated around 200 to 300 more people toward the tail end of the event from among those who didn’t make the list. The event lasted until well after 5 p.m.

By that time, the somewhat chaotic nature of the meet-and-greet’s afternoon heights had settled down. Street vendors no longer camped outside, artists wrapped up their pieces for sale, and the weather began to cool.

Cardi B prepares to take a photo with a fan at the meet-and-greet.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

“We don’t usually do that, but everyone seemed pretty chill,” said Rand Foster, owner of Fingerprints Music. “For somebody at that caliber to be that open was really refreshing.”

Cardi B even stayed overtime to do a surprise signing of an exclusive alternate cover of her album. Four photos from a courtroom appearance she made in August embellish that variant.

Foster said he considered Thursday’s event, the largest the store has held since moving to its new location, to be a resounding success. He noted that when the store was downtown, the store once hosted an Ozzy Osbourne meet-and-greet that had a roughly 2,300-person turnout.

At its location in Bixby Knolls, the store is still feeling out its neighborhood. Foster said not only did the event bring extra traffic to other businesses, but he “didn’t hear any neighbors put out by it.”

Cardi B could have easily opted for a location more central to Los Angeles, such as Amoeba Music, so many fans were surprised and happy to see Long Beach get some love.

One man, who called himself Mr. Boug’e and sported a uniquely curled beard, said it came down to Long Beach being “dope.”

Mr. Boug’e holds up two vinyl record variants of Cardi B’s latest album, “Am I the Drama?”

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

“I call it Strong Beach,” he joked. “She got love everywhere — it don’t matter. It can be in an alley… or Alaska; they gon’ love her.”

Foster, whose shop has a long-standing relationship with its Hollywood peers at Amoeba, said the decision by Cardi B’s team to hold her meet-and-greet in Long Beach probably also came down to logistics.

“Anybody who is doing this kind of event and doing it with an eye towards longevity has to be respectful to the neighbors,” he explained. “Our line got about six blocks long; I think that would be tough on Hollywood Boulevard.”

Waterloo Road star Tillie Armatey has not ruled out the possibility of replacing Dani Dyer on Strictly Come Dancing after the reality TV star fractured her ankle during rehearsals

Dani Dyer’s exit from Strictly Come Dancing had the entire nation in shock as she had been one of the few tipped to make it all the way to the final. But sadly, after fracturing her ankle during rehearsals, the 29 year old daughter of renowned actor Danny Dyer, was forced to bow out of the competition while focusing on her recovery.

And since news broke of her departure many names have been thrown into the hat as her replacement, namely Waterloo Road star Tillie Armatey.

When approached at a recent fashion event and asked if the rumours had some weight behind them, the 22 year old actress refused to shut down speculation.

And this has left many believing that BBC bosses have been in talks with her to become a late addition. Tillie attended the SHEIN clothing event alongside former Love Island star Shaughna Phillips, Phoebe Tomlinson and Meryl Williams. Other guests included TOWIE’s Ella Rae Wise and Dani Imbert.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Tillie confessed: “It’s all sequins, sparkles and speculation at the moment but the Christmas special was very special for me. I had the best time.”

She added: “I would never say no to strictly. I will 100% clear my diary always, but I’m a great believer in leaving it to the universe and obviously the main priority is Dani having a speedy recovery!”

Tillie reportedly quit her role on the BBC drama, which if true, would leave her open to join Strictly at any given moment.

An insider had told The Sun: “Tillie recently quit her role on Waterloo Road telling pals it was to make way for ‘another big’ project, which could be a game changer for her career. She’s been making several trips from her Leeds home to London for discussions with TV execs in recent weeks. “

They added: “The feeling is that if she is filling the shoes vacated by Dani, the programme needs another young, glam woman to take her spot. There is already an imbalance in the genders among the celebrities as there are nine men taking part and six women.”

The source concluded: ” It’s essential the number of females taking part doesn’t drop further, and they want to try and maintain a similar balance in terms of the variety of ages too.”

However, according to the Daily Mail a decision has not been made over Dani’s position on the show. A source told the publication: “Tillie hasn’t had any contact with Strictly Come Dancing. Bosses still don’t know if they are replacing Dani yet.”

Tillie has played Stacey on the school drama since last year and was part of the line-up in the dancing show’s Christmas special, two years ago.

At the time of the Christmas special, Tilly was partnered with professional dancer Neil Jones and said: “I am feeling really overwhelmed, but so privileged to be part of such an amazing show. “

She added: “You can’t say no to Strictly. I want to prove to myself and other younger people, that you can do anything you put your mind too. Yes I’m an actress and a presenter, but why can’t I dance as well?!”

Addressing the fact she had a glimmer of dancing experience when younger, she continued: “When I was seven, maybe six, I did one dancing competition, because my mum was a dancer, and I did the competition, but then she asked me if I wanted to horse ride, so I took that instead as I didn’t do too well… so I’m going to say no!”

Sadly, Tillie was pipped to the post by former EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick and his pro dance partner Nancy Xu. In a statement confirming the uncertainty over Dani’s return to the competition, it was made clear that the door had been left open for her.

Dani also addressed her fans by posting a video on social media. In her statement she said: “I had a fall on Friday in rehearsals and landed funny. I thought I had rolled my foot but it swelled up badly over the weekend and after an MRI scan yesterday, it turns out I have fractured my ankle.”

She added: “Apparently doing the quickstep on a fracture is not advisable (!!) and the doctors have said I am not allowed to dance so l’ve had to pull out of the show. To say I’m heartbroken is the biggest understatement. I am so going to miss dancing with Nikita but will of course be watching closely and cheering all the couples on.”

Sarah James, Executive Producer for BBC Studios said: “Dani has brought so much passion, joy and enthusiasm to Strictly, and her partnership with Nikita was off to the most sensational start. Everyone on the show is incredibly sad that she’s no longer able to compete in this year’s series. We send her all our love and best wishes for a swift recovery, and we very much hope to welcome her back to the ballroom in the future.”

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Sept. 25 (UPI) — The White House has warned federal workers there will be more mass firings if Congress is unable to agree on a stopgap funding measure by the end of the month.

The warning came in the form of a memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget sent to federal agencies and viewed and first reported on by Politico.

CNN and The New York Times also viewed the memo sent Wednesday night.

The OMB asked the federal agencies to identify programs that would lose funding and have no other sources of funding if the stopgap measure measure fails to pass by Sept. 30. Programs that don’t align with President Donald Trump‘s priorities would then face a permanent elimination of jobs.

“Programs that did not benefit from an infusion of mandatory appropriations will bear the brunt of a shutdown,” the memo said.

“We remain hopeful that Democrats in Congress will not trigger a shutdown and the steps outlined above will not be necessary.”

The House passed a short-term funding measure Friday, but the bill failed in the Senate. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party wouldn’t support the legislation unless it included provisions extending Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the New Year.

Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries were expected to meet with Trump Tuesday, but the president canceled the meeting, saying he didn’t like their list of “demands.”

Schumer said Wednesday’s OMB memo was “an attempt at intimidation.”

“Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since day one — not to govern, but to scare,” he said. “This is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government. These unnecessary firings will either be overturned in court or the administration will end up hiring the workers back, just like they did as recently as today.”

The traditional seaside town’s weekly street market was shut down earlier this year, but the community rallied together to welcome the new market with open arms

Renowned for its golden sands, stunning buildings, and vibrant pier, this beloved traditional coastal resort is celebrating the comeback of its eagerly awaited weekly street market.

Following its closure earlier this year due to “out of control drinking, drug use, and violence”, the council had issued a call for fresh operators.

The market situated within the Arun District of West Sussex had become dangerous for vendors, but now it’s being completely organised and managed by residents from the classic South Coast resort. The revived market, which reopened in Littlehampton in July, features butchers, bakers, and even the sought-after weekly Community Market Stall for local charities.

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Local vendors Andrew Sleeman and Alf Franks, who teamed up to relaunch the market, told the BBC that the market hadn’t simply returned “bigger and better” but provided what residents desired.

Mr Sleeman said: “People wanted butchers, bakers, and fruit and veg stalls, which we have brought in. It’s paying off, and the street is looking busy.”

Generating numerous excited reactions from Littlehampton locals, one popular community page posted on Facebook in August: “Although the market doesn’t start till 9am, I can confirm that for the first time in a very long time, our little town has a green grocer and butchers!”.

One shopper with mobility challenges shared: “It was great to get down to the market today and see it was so busy. I have missed having a stroll around town the past couple of years due to mobility and health issues, and have missed having a wonder, browsing around the market”.

Another reported: “Butchers sold out of sausages, bacon, and chicken by 11am, and the green grocer’s very busy. Amazing to see our town buzzing and alive”. And one more confirmed: “We bought some lovely fruit and veg. The strawberries, though small, are super tasty and sweet.” On the whole, the feedback appears overwhelmingly encouraging.

In a different post from the Littlehampton page, one local resident commented: “More and more shops are coming to the area, the market has created a great vibe and more positivity for Littlehampton.”

Whilst another contributed: “For all the naysayers – think about the glass being half full instead of always half empty. Littlehampton has had a huge upsurge. Rejoice in it and try and support the shops.”

READ MORE: Lively commuter town half an hour from London with houses £150K cheaper

Regarding security concerns, in March, Chief Inspector William Keating Jones, district commander for Arun and Chichester, stated: “Our officers are working hard with partner agencies to address the causes and tackle problems caused by antisocial behaviour and crime.”

He continued: “Our officers are working hard alongside partner agencies to address the causes and to tackle the problems caused by antisocial behaviour and crime.”

“Every Friday, from 9am to 3pm, the High Street comes alive with the bustling market. Just a few days ago, Littlehampton Town Council took to Facebook to encourage locals to “come along, explore the stalls and support all our amazing local businesses!”

Earlier this year, Arun Council put out an online call for new operators, outlining their vision for the revamped market: “The proposed market will offer up to twenty 3m x 3m pitches along the central pedestrianised high street, to assist the revitalisation of the area with a carefully curated selection of stalls that boost the local economy and attract increased footfall.”

Councillor Billy Blanchard-Cooper, Chair of the Licensing Committee at Arun District Council, said: “This is about curating a market offer that enhances what’s already here. We want to create a vibrant, welcoming space that supports local businesses, attracts visitors, and adds real value to the town centre.”

“We’re encouraging quality market operators to come forward and tell us about their offer, and we will only select those who can genuinely contribute to the town’s future and help us build something special for the community.”

It is arguably the most festive time of year in Los Angeles: Halloween season.

Whether you lean spooky or playful, the days and weeks leading up to Oct. 31 are littered with events, often with no costume necessary. Consider October an excuse to throw a massive, fall-related bash.

There are staples that aim to terrify, such as Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights or Thousand Oaks’ popular haunted house Reign of Terror, which telegraphs its mission in its title. But there are also happenings that look to charm, such as the illuminated fantasylands of “Carved” at Descanso Gardens or the silliness that is the Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch.

Our goal here is to match you with a Halloween event (or several) happening over the next month. There are film screenings, nights at art institutions, walk-throughs of botanical gardens and more than a few interactive theatrical events. But be warned: Some of the latter are intimate affairs, and may sell out.

So go forth and peruse, but choose wisely. You’re being watched (not really).

“The Brady Bunch” superfans better hold onto their bell bottoms: The TV family’s retro home in Studio City will finally be accessible to the public for the first time.

The double doors to the midcentury Studio City home — made famous with its appearance in the beloved 1970s sitcom — will open to fans for three days in November thanks to a limited event by pop culture historian Alison Martino and her Vintage Los Angeles. Martino, an on-air host and producer for Spectrum news and the daughter of singer-actor Al Martino, unveiled the “Brady Experience” on Monday on Facebook.

“It’s like stepping back into our childhood! IT IS ASTONISHING and you will see every single room,” she announced. “I will personally be taking each and every one of you throughout the house.”

From Nov. 7 to 9, Martino will guide fans who have shelled out $275 each through the iconic Dilling Street property. The event is now sold out. Though the home’s facade appeared throughout the run of the family sitcom, its interior at the time bore no resemblance to the colorful rooms shown on screen. The interiors of the Brady residence were constructed on sets at Paramount Studios in Hollywood.

The famous abode, originally built in 1959 with late modernist architecture, was renovated decades after “The Brady Bunch” ended in 1974.

HGTV purchased the home in 2018 for $3.5 million (more than twice the asking price) and renovated the interior to match what “Brady Bunch” audiences saw onscreen. The home renovation network documented that process in “A Very Brady Renovation,” which featured the stars who portrayed the Brady children.

As part of the renovations, HGTV reproduced the groovy spaces from the set in the home, adding a second floor to accommodate the additional rooms. The network sold the home in 2023 for $3.2 million to Tina Trahan, a historic-home enthusiast and wife to former HBO executive Chris Albrecht.

The home, in all its “Brady Bunch” glory, has become “even more groovy with more remarkable vintage decor added,” Martino added in her announcement. She said nothing in the home would be off limits, allowing fans to “see every detail up close.”

Proceeds for the three-day event will benefit animal rescue Wags and Walks, a cause that Martino said Brady family dog “Tiger would definitely approve!”

Baby Yoda fans rejoice: The first trailer for “The Mandalorian and Grogu” is finally here.

Walt Disney Studios released a new teaser for its upcoming “Star Wars” film on Monday, offering a first look at the Mandalorian Din Djarin and his charge Grogu’s next adventure. The movie is a spin-off of TV’s “The Mandalorian” and picks up after the events in the Disney+ series’ third season, which aired in 2023.

The trailer includes plenty of footage of the fan-favorite Force-wielding toddler being his usual adorable self as he flips switches on a spaceship, eats snacks and hangs out with Anzellans — the diminutive alien species who are often droidsmiths. It also shows Mando (potrayed by Pedro Pascal) and Grogu blowing up an AT-AT, taking in an event at a Hutt arena and meeting up with Sigourney Weaver’s character, a New Republic colonel named Ward. Ward seems unimpressed with Grogu’s attempts to help himself to her bar snacks.

The trailer was released amid the heightened scrutiny of Disney after its suspension of late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. Last week, the company’s broadcast network ABC announced it was dropping “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” indefinitely following remarks the host made in the aftermath of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk’s killing that drew the ire of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr as well as affiliate-station owners Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” teaser release had been planned for last week.

Among the backlash to ABC’s decision were calls for a boycott and to cancel subscriptions to Disney-owned services such as Hulu and Disney+. So it’s no surprise that folks online — including those in the comments section on the trailer’s YouTube video — had called out the new trailer as a distraction from Disney’s current troubles. The company has since announced “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return Tuesday.

Directed by “The Mandalorian” creator Jon Favreau, “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” will be the first movie set in the galaxy far, far away to hit theaters since “Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker” in 2019. The new movie is slated for a May 22 release.

In our fiercely tribal and divisive culture, when consensus is illusory and we can’t seem to agree on even the most fundamental facts, the notion of shared history as a societal precept has left the building. But if we are indeed living in a post-truth era, Ian McEwan is here to tell us that things will only get worse.

In his bracing new time bender of a novel, the great British novelist posits that the past is irretrievably past, particularly in matters of the human heart, and any attempt by historians or biographers to wrench it into the present is folly — or in the case of this novel’s protagonist Thomas Metcalfe, intellectual vanity.

Metcalfe is an associate humanities professor and a researcher living in England in the 22nd century (2119, to be exact) who has taken it upon himself to unlock the mystery of a poem called “A Corona for Vivien,” written in 2014 by a deceased literary eminence named Francis Blundy, a poet whose genius, we learn, once rivaled that of Seamus Heaney. The poem was composed for his wife Vivien’s birthday dinner in October 2014, an evening that has taken on mythic proportions in certain academic circles in the intervening years. It even has a name: The Second Immortal Dinner, in which Blundy for the first time read his corona, a poem composed as a sequence of sonnets, that had been lost long ago.

In Metcalfe’s hothouse literary universe, Blundy’s poem is important because it is a revenant. In the intervening years, interpretive speculation about it has run rampant. Some have called it a warning about climate change. Others say Blundy was paid a six-figure sum by an energy company to suppress the poem. Only fragments of it exist, certain fugitive lines that appear in correspondence between Vivien, Blundy and Blundy’s editor, Harold T. Kitchener. Metcalfe has taken it upon himself to find the long-lost document, allegedly written by Blundy on a vellum scroll and buried by Vivien somewhere on Blundy’s property.

Metcalfe’s task is greatly complicated by the fact that he lives in a future world where much of the planet has been either immolated or else submerged underwater by a nuclear cataclysm that McEwan calls “The Inundation.” There has also been a mass migration — “The Derangement” — in which millions, deprived of resources and land, have been driven from England into Africa. Entire cities have been lost, “the land beneath them compressed and lowered, so they did not drain, but persisted like glacial lakes.” Whatever repositories of learning that weren’t destroyed now exist on higher ground in the mountains, where the “knowledge base and collective memory were largely preserved.”

The built environment has eroded, but fortunately for Metcalfe, the digital world of the past is intact. Biographers from 2000 onward, McEwan writes, are “heirs to more than a century of what the Blundy era airily called ‘the cloud’ ever expanding like a giant summer cumulus, though, of course, it simply consisted of data-storage machines.” Here in the cloud are the many hundreds of emails and texts from Blundy, his wife and their circle, allowing Metcalfe the satisfaction of knowing he can piece together the events of the epochal dinner party down to granular details: cutlery used, foods prepared, toasts proffered.

Ian McEwan’s elegantly structured and provocative novel is a strong argument for how little raw data, or even the most sublime art, can tell us about humans and their contrary natures.

(Annalena McAfee)

What Metcalfe knows of the Blundys’ life together can be gleaned from the 12 extant volumes of Vivien’s journals. From the journals Metcalfe has surmised that Vivien, herself a brilliant literary scholar and teacher, had willfully lived out her marriage under Blundy’s shadow, the dutiful handmaiden to a literary eminence. “She enjoyed producing a well-turned meal,” Metcalfe posits. “She was once a don, a candidate for a professorship. Abandoning it was a liberation. She always felt herself to be in control. But it had surprised her how … she had emptied herself of ambition, salary, status and achievement.”

Despite the pile-up of particulars, Metcalfe knows he must find the lost poem, that it is the keystone without which the story crumbles into insignificance. If he fails in this task Metcalfe, already feeling like an “intruder on the intentions and achievements” of Blundy, loses his mojo: his mission aborted, his career stalled.

But just when it seems as if Metcalfe, after a long and arduous journey across land and water, has discovered something significant, McEwan drops the curtain on that story, and rewinds the narrative 107 years, back to Vivien Blundy and her story. At first, the basic contours conform to Metcalfe’s version of events: Vivien did forsake her academic ambitions for Blundy, who did write a poem for her that he read aloud on her birthday, and so on.

But Metcalfe, as it turns out, has the details right and the motives all wrong, never more so than when McEwan reveals the fact of a murder, conceived in such a way that no snooping academic could ever unearth it. Emails are composed yet remain unsent. Digital correspondence is deleted into the ether, sneaky evasions that are beyond the biographer’s grasp. Metcalfe’s thesis is driven by a romanticized notion of Blundy’s life, but as McEwan slowly and carefully reveals, his poem, ostensibly a “repository of dreams,” more closely resembles a passive-aggressive act. As for Vivien, the narrative she has proffered in her journals is far from the whole story. She is resentful of Blundy, thwarted in her career, simmering with resentment. Despite his scholarly assiduity, Metcalfe is moving down an errant path that will never square the facts with lived experience.

Of course, facts are important, but they don’t necessarily reveal anything; it is the biographer’s folly to ascribe deeper meaning to them, to extrapolate truth from a disparate series of events. Metcalfe’s pursuit of revelation in a single lost poem is magical thinking, a relentless grasping for a chimera. McEwan’s elegantly structured and provocative novel is a strong argument for how little raw data, or even the most sublime art, can tell us about humans and their contrary natures.

Weingarten is the author of “Thirsty: William Mulholland, California Water, and the Real Chinatown.”

TOKYO — When Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone powered though the final curve of the 400-meter final at world championships, she glanced to her right and saw something that hadn’t been there in a while.

Another runner.

She had a race on her hands.

The best way to explain how McLaughlin-Levrone became the first woman in nearly 40 years to crack the all-but-unscalable 48-second mark in the 400 is that the opponent she beat Thursday night on a rain-glistened track in Tokyo, Marileidy Paulino, broke 48 seconds, too.

“You don’t run something like that without amazing women pushing you to it,” McLaughlin-Levrone said.

The final numbers in this one: McLaughlin-Levrone 47.78 seconds. Paulino 47.98.

They are the second and third fastest times in history, short only of the 47.60 by East Germany’s Marita Koch, set Oct. 6, 1985 — one of the last vestiges from an Eastern Bloc doping system that was exposed years after it ended, but too late for the records to be stripped from the books.

McLaughlin-Levrone, who stepped away from hurdles to see what she might be able to do in the 400 flat, said she was every bit as focused on winning the title in a new event as going after a record that had always been thought unapproachable.

American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone reacts after winning gold medal in the women’s 400 meters final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Thursday.

(Eugene Hoshiko / Associated Press)

And Paulino, the reigning Olympic and world champion in this event, wasn’t just going to give it away.

This was an even race, the likes of which McLaughlin-Levrone hadn’t been part of in at least three years in the hurdles, as the runners rounded the stretch. McLaughlin-Levrone opened a gap of about four body lengths with 30 meters left, but Paulino was actually gaining ground when they both lunged into the finish line.

“At the end of the day, this wasn’t my title to hold onto, it was mine to gain,” McLaughlin-Levrone said. “Bobby uses boxing terms all the time. He said, ’You’ve got to go out there and take the belt. It’s not yours. You’ve got to go earn it.’”

Bobby is Bobby Kersee, the wizardly coach who helped transform McLaughlin-Levrone into the greatest female hurdler ever and might be doing the same in the 400. Brutal training sessions with one-time UCLA quarter-miler Willington Wright were part of the regimen.

“I felt that somebody was going to have to run 47-something to win this,” Kersee told The Associated Press. “She trained for it. She took on the challenge, took on the risk. She’s just an amazing athlete that I can have no complaints about.”

As the times came up on the scoreboard, the crowd roared. The enormity of the moment wasn’t lost on anyone.

Nobody had come within a half-second of Koch’s mark until this race. Third-place finisher Salwa Eid Nasar clocked 48.19, a time that would have won the last two world championships.

“It’s just amazing what the 400 has become the last couple years,” said Britain’s Amber Anning, who finished fifth in 49.36. “I love it, it makes me want to step up my game. To see it done, it gives hope to us that anything’s possible in the 4.”

Paulino, meanwhile, was more focused on her unique place in history than not winning the race.

“I’m thankful for having the opportunity to break 48,” she said. “I still feel like a winner. I’ve spent five years every day training for this.”

McLaughlin-Levrone took up the 400 flat in 2023, but injuries derailed her run at a world championship that year. She focused on hurdles last year for her second Olympic gold medal in the event, then came back to the flat for 2025.

When she ran 48.29 in the semifinal, she broke a 19-year-old American record and said she still felt she had “something left in the tank.”

Then, with a push from Paulino, she let it loose.

“Today was a really great race for track and field, and I’m grateful to put myself in position to bring an exciting event to our sport,” McLaughlin-Levrone said.

It’s still an open question as to whether she will stick around in this race long enough to go after Koch’s record, or return to the hurdles, where the number “50” hangs out there much like “48” did in the race she won Thursday night.

Nobody had thought much about 50 seconds in hurdles until McLaughlin-Levrone started breaking the record in that event on a semi-regular basis. Four years ago at the Olympics, she lowered it to 51.46 in the empty stadium in Tokyo.

American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone crosses the finish line, winning the women’s 400 meters final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Thursday.

(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

She broke it three more times and then, in Paris last year, took it down by another .28 seconds to 50.37.

Over time, those races became mere matters of McLaughlin-Levrone against the clock.

This time, something different — a bona fide showdown for the gold medal that knocked down a once-unthinkable barrier in racing.

Whatever McLaughlin-Levrone’s next move is, it’s bound to be fast.

“I think, now, 47 tells her that she can break 50,” Kersee said. “Knowing her, she’s probably going back to the hurdles and try to take what she learned now in the quarter(-mile) and try to execute a plan to run 49.99 or better.”

Pells writes for the Associated Press.

If Kerley were to run quicker than Usain Bolt’s 100m record of 9.58 seconds, he would receive $1m (£730,000) in prize money from the Enhanced Games.

Earlier this month, Olympic swimmer Ben Proud became the first British athlete to sign up, despite World Aquatics being the first international sport federation to ban athletes, coaches and officials from its events if they have taken part in the competition.

An athlete commission from UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) described the Enhanced Games as a “reckless venture” which could “damage the integrity of world sport irrevocably.”

In January, Kerley was tasered and arrested by police following a confrontation with officers in Miami but said later in May it was down to a “misunderstanding”.

He was reported to have been arrested for allegedly punching his former girlfriend and fellow athlete Alaysha Johnson in the face.

As well as his bronze in Paris, Kerley also won 100m silver at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

He has also won world 4x100m and 4x400m gold medals, and recorded the sixth-fastest 100m time in history with 9.76 seconds.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke out forcefully Monday against the partisan effort to redraw California’s congressional districts that voters will decide in a November special election.

“They are trying to fight for democracy by getting rid of the democratic principles of California,” Schwarzenegger told hundred of students at an event celebrating democracy at the University of Southern California. “It is insane to let that happen.

The Hollywood action star turn Republican governor urged the students to vote against the redistricting measure, Proposition 50.

The special election in November would redraw the districts and probably boost the number of Democrats California sends to Congress, an effort championed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to counter efforts in GOP-led states such as Texas to send more Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Schwarzenegger has long championed political reform. During his final year as governor, he prioritized the ballot measure that created independent congressional redistricting. Four former members of the independent commission were recognized by Schwarzenegger at the event, and he had lunch with them and members of the university’s student governmentafterward.

He said he grew interested in the esoteric process of redistricting when he was governor and realized that districts drawn by politicians protected their political interests instead of voters.

“They want to dismantle this independent commission. They want to get rid of it under the auspices of we have to fight Trump,” Schwarzenegger said. “It doesn’t make any sense to me because we have to fight Trump, [yet] we become Trump.”

Since leaving office, Schwarzenegger has prioritized good governance at his institute at USC and campaigned for independent redistricting across the nation. The governor’s remarks were being recorded by the anti-Proposition 50 campaign in what could easily be turned into a television ad.

Outside, student Democrats passed out fliers in support of Proposition 50.

The event, a discussion with USC Interim President Beong-Soo Kim marking the International Day of Democracy, was scheduled to take place before conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot last week while speaking at a Utah college campus.

Schwarzenegger reflected on Kirk’s death as he warned about the fragile state of democracy.

“That someone’s life was taken because they had a different opinion, I mean it’s just unbelievable,” Schwarzenegger said, noting that Kirk was a skilled communicator who connected with young people, even those who disagreed with him. “A human life is gone. He was a great father, a great husband, and I was thinking about his children — they will only be reading about him now instead of him reading to them bedtime stories.”

He warned that the nation’s political climate was spiraling.

“We are getting hit from so many angles and we have to be very careful we don’t get closer to the cliff. When you fall down there, there is no democracy,” Schwarzenegger said, blaming social media, the mainstream media and the political parties for dividing Americans. “It’s very important that we turn this around.”

He urged the hundreds of students who attended the event to show that people can disagree politically without demonizing one another.

American Ben Griffin warmed up for the Ryder Cup by moving into a three-shot lead at the end of the second round of the Procore Championship.

Griffin, who is part of a 12-strong United States team to play the Ryder Cup from 26-28 September in New York, shot a second round 66 in Napa, California.

The 29-year-old sank six birdies without dropping a shot as he moved to 14 under.

“I’ve been pretty focused on this golf tournament,” said Griffin, who was a captain’s pick by US Ryder Cup skipper Keegan Bradley and will be making his debut in the event.

“Without a doubt, off the golf course hanging out with the guys and stuff, there’s been some Ryder Cup presence. But once I get on the first tee, I’m thinking I’m trying to play well here.

“This week I’m trying to literally do the same stuff I’m doing. I’m trying to stay confident, stay motivated and keep the pedal down.”

Less than 24 hours after a bullet whizzed across a Utah college campus and claimed the life of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, polarizing figures from across the political spectrum swiftly canceled public events.

Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) decided to postpone a North Carolina stop on the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this weekend, while Trump allies Stephen K. Bannon and Rudolph W. Giuliani reportedly nixed plans for a New York gathering due to “increased security concerns.”

Popular leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who was set to debate Kirk at Dartmouth College later this month, told Politico he would “wait for the temperature to lower” before holding in-person events again.

Kirk’s assassination comes amid a spate of attacks on high-profile political figures — including two assassination attempts on President Trump — that security experts say will change the way large-scale political events are held, with open-air venues increasingly seen as risky.

“In the current threat environment, outdoor venues for political events should be avoided at all costs,” said Art Acevedo, the former head of the Houston and Miami police departments.

Even with a security apparatus as powerful as the U.S. Secret Service, experts say it is incredibly difficult to establish a firm perimeter at outdoor rallies with a large number of attendees. The gunman who opened fire on Trump in Butler, Pa., during the 2024 presidential campaign did so from more than 400 feet away. Kirk was shot from a distance of more than 400 feet with a powerful bolt-action rifle.

The suspected gunman, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was arrested Friday morning, authorities said. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said ammunition recovered and linked to the shooting had anti-fascist engravings on it.

A PBS/Marist Poll conducted last year found that 1 in 5 Americans believe violent acts would be justified to “get the country back on track.”

Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman was killed alongside her husband at their Minnesota home in June by a gunman allegedly motivated by conservative politics. In April, police arrested a man who allegedly tried to set fire to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence while the Democrat slept inside with his family.

Politicians aren’t the only ones being targeted. The killing in December in Manhattan of a healthcare industry executive turned suspected gunman Luigi Mangione into an object of public fascination, with some applauding the act of vigilantism.

With Americans increasingly viewing their political foes as enemy combatants, researchers who study extremist violence and event security professionals say Kirk’s killing on Wednesday could mark a turning point in how well-known individuals protect themselves.

“The bottom line is, for public political and other figures, it is increasingly difficult to protect them anywhere, but even more so in an outdoor environment because it’s getting harder to screen people and devices in those open spaces,” said Brian Levin, a former New York City police officer and professor emeritus at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.

Kirk was being protected by roughly a half-dozen Utah Valley University police officers and a handful of private security guards Wednesday, according to campus security officials. While that kind of presence might deter a close-quarters threat, snipers and other assailants with long-range capabilities would not be affected.

Typically, security professionals seek to create three “rings of protection” around the focus of a public event, according to Kent Moyer, founder of World Protection Group, an international security firm.

The inner ring often consists of barriers and security personnel meant to separate Kirk from the crowd immediately in front of him, not someone hundreds of yards away. In the middle ring, security guards positioned farther from the focus of the event monitor the temperature of the crowd and try to clock individuals acting strangely or becoming aggressive. An outer ring would serve to search bags and screen individuals before they enter the event.

It did not appear there was any screening of attendees at the event where Kirk was killed, and it is legal to openly carry firearms on a college campus in Utah.

Levin said he expects to see drones deployed at similar events in the future, an assessment seconded by Acevedo.

“If you’re going to do an outdoor event you better make sure you have some kind of surveillance of rooftops,” Levin said.

When doing risk assessments, Levin said, police and security professionals need to be cognizant that politicians themselves are no longer the sole targets for political violence.

What Levin called “idiosyncratic actors” are increasingly likely to lash out at those connected to political and policy positions they find unjust. While Kirk was not a politician himself, he was a beloved figure in Trump’s orbit, and his activist group, Turning Point USA, has often been credited with driving younger voters to support the president.

“It’s not just elected officials. It’s pundits, it includes corporate people, people involved in policy and education,” said Levin.

But a heavy security detail doesn’t come cheap.

While elected officials are guarded by a range of federal and state law enforcement agencies, political influencers like Kirk must rely on their own vendors as well as security personnel hired by the venues where they speak.

Levin warned that law enforcement assigned to political events should be on high alert for retaliatory attacks in the near future, given the “dehumanizing” rhetoric some have taken up in the wake of Kirk’s killing.

Specifically, he pointed to Trump’s Oval Office remarks late Wednesday blaming Kirk’s death on “the radical left,” despite the fact that Kirk’s killer had not been identified at that time and federal law enforcement officials had not disclosed a motive in the shooting.

Trump also rattled off a number of attacks on Republicans during his remarks, while making no mention of Hortman’s slaying, the 2022 attack on the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, or the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — all violent incidents carried out by people who espoused right-wing political values.

“More and more people across the ideological spectrum, though more concentrated on the far hard right, think violence is justified to achieve political outcomes,” Levin said.

We whine and purr and howl, a collective release.

About 20 of us are huddled in a patch of shade, beneath a cluster of palm trees, in a sleepy Culver City garden. Paired up, we face our partners, cup our hands behind our ears and let out loud, primal noises. And we laugh.

We’re participating in a “tuning exercise” led by the performing arts group Cantilever Collective. It’s part of a movement workshop meant to facilitate connection between individuals and help regulate our central nervous systems so as to release stress and promote a sense of overall well-being.

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Where are we, exactly? At one of Los Angeles’ newest and most robust wellness hubs — held, perhaps counterintuitively, inside the Wende Museum of the Cold War. The Culver City museum, which opened its doors in 2017, debuted its Glorya Kaufman Community Center last weekend, a 7,500-square-foot space for cultural programming and wellness activities. The three-story, modernist concrete building, which sits across the sculpture garden from the museum’s exhibition hall, was made possible with funding from the late philanthropist Glorya Kaufman, who passed away in August. Her foundation provided the lead gift toward the $17-million new building and committed $6 million toward programming.

The new community center includes a 150-seat theater inside a refurbished, century-old A-frame structure, an old MGM prop house. It will host all the expected cultural programming such as screenings, live talks and dance performances, among other events. But it will also offer yoga classes, guided meditations, sound baths, dance and movement classe, and healing writing workshops for L.A. wildfire victims, as well as herb and incense-making workshops and matcha tea-making classes.

Most notably? All of these wellness activities are free to the public. The center will also offer about 100 hours of free therapy a year, with licensed psychologists, as well as life-coaching sessions.

The modernist concrete building evokes Cold War–era architecture.

The Wende is quickly becoming “the living room of Culver City,” as visitor Lisette Palley, 74, describes it. She attends meditations at the community center, which soft-launched in January, weekly. “This place, it has an ease about it, an openness, a generosity that you don’t find everywhere you go,” Palley says.

Increasingly, museums and art galleries have been adding wellness activities to event calendars. The Hammer Museum has long held weekly mindfulness meditations on its campus, the Huntington regularly holds forest bathing and tai chi workshops and the J. Paul Getty Museum’s education department offers a “Wellness Day for Educators” at the Getty Center that includes yoga, a sound bath and guided mindfulness — to name a few. But typically, such wellness events are the programming exception at museums, and often they’re in conversation with an exhibition on view. The Glorya Kaufman Community Center at the Wende will host wellness activities nearly every day of the week, with “Wellness Wednesdays” being especially robust.

“There’s an affordability crisis in this country right now, and the things we’re providing are human rights,” says Wende founder and executive director Justin Jampol. “This museum — art — has always been sustenance for your soul. Now it’s sustenance for your mind and body. We realize we can’t inspire people if they’re hungry or sick. We have to tend to the whole person.”

Earlier in the day, about 50 visitors enjoyed a mindfulness meditation in the A-frame theater led by Christiane Wolf, a former physician turned meditation teacher. Wolfe encouraged the crowd to “just be … lean on the strength of community.”

Light bites are served in the courtyard. Soon, the center will debut its new Konsum Cafe.

Afterward, guests mingled in the courtyard over borscht and Russian tea made from fermented fireweed, honey and pine bud, among other offerings. A soon-to-debut Konsum Cafe will serve freshly baked bread from Clark Street, specialty coffees and teas, and a rotating menu of homemade soups from regions around the world that relate to its exhibition programming (first up: borscht, Hungarian goulash and Vietnamese pho). All of the food and drink in the cafe will also be free.

“We’re hardwired to come together as communities, and if we’re sharing food, it’s very regulating for our nervous systems,” Wolf says. “It creates a sense of safety.”

Early on, there were some concerns that people would balk at a Cold War history museum entering the wellness space. But Jampol says it actually makes sense paired with the collection.

“This place, it’s become this subversive museum,” he says. “First, because of the collections — they’re so much about dissonant movements and revolutions — and because it documents and celebrates the human spirit. Even in the face of totalitarian authority and oppression and restrictions, the human spirit has a way of fighting back; the human spirit always finds a way.”

Considering the federal government’s slashing of funding for the arts and public health programs in U.S., the community center is even more relevant now, Jampol says.

A portrait of the late Glorya Kaufman by artist Boris Vansier hangs inside the center.

“The things that get cut first are the things people need most: self-care, eating right, having opportunities for art and culture, going to the theater — those are stress relievers,” he says. “So the idea is to try and address that here in our own small way.”

Kaufman, who died at 95, was a transformative dance world philanthropist in L.A. She established the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, as well as the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center. At the Wende, she did more than just fund the new center — it was her idea in the first place. She regularly attended music programs and dance events at the Wende, starting not long after its opening. Back then, museum staffers would move chairs and art around to make space for public events. One day in 2019, Kaufman told Jampol, “This is ridiculous. You can’t have heads poking around a statue; this is super weird,” he recalls. They began hatching plans to create a new space for events.

Kaufman and Jampol felt the COVID pandemic only heightened the need for health and wellness programming. The new building broke ground in 2022, designed by AUX Architecture (which designed the Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center at Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services). Other lead donors include the Ahmanson Foundation, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and the Rose Hills Foundation. Culver City donated the plot of land. Wellness activities debuted in the nearby sculpture garden even as construction was underway.

Visitors weren’t deterred by the construction cacophony. Event attendance has more than doubled since last year, Jampol says: about 15,000 program attendees in 2024 compared with about 32,000 so far in 2025.

The theater, with its restored slow-growth Douglas fir, is the crown jewel of the new building. It has a retractable seating system so it can morph into a space with room for a dance floor or sound baths. Practitioners can select the type of event they’ll be leading on a digital keypad and the room will automatically reconfigure itself. Hit “screening” and the lights dim in the audience and a screen drops down, for example. Select “dance hall” and disco lights swirl around the room.

A concrete fountain in the sculpture garden.

On a recent Wellness Wednesday, free snacks included borscht and bread.

Guests mingle in the Wende’s sculpture garden, a space for community connection.

The Wende’s wellness vision also includes a 4,000-square-foot Zen-inspired mediation garden, created by designer Michael Boyd, a scholar of postwar gardens and Midcentury Modern architecture. It features a decomposed granite ground surface studded with river stones and succulents, and is filled with the sounds of crickets and a rushing stream, digitally piped in. The museum is also turning about 200 feet of a median strip along Culver Boulevard into an “herb and incense garden” that will serve the cafe and upcoming incense-making workshops.

Much of the programming will be internally curated and the museum will pay its practitioners (those events will still be free to the public). Other programming will be “community curated.” Meaning, the Wende will make its center available, for free, to any wellness practitioner in L.A. who wants to hold an event there. The only caveat? Their event must be free to the public.

Kaufman may not be able to attend any of these events, but her presence is deeply felt. A portrait of the late philanthropist, by Russian-born, Swiss artist Boris Vansier, hangs by the entrance to the theater.

Participants enjoy a movement workshop with Cantilever Collective at the new Glorya Kaufman Community Center.

Surveying the new building, as Wellness Wednesday attendees stream in and out of it, Jampol appears certain of the museum’s mission and role in the city.

“It’s about these moments of joy and happiness and togetherness amidst awfulness,” he says. “Having these kinds of oases in our lives is so important. There’s a certain tranquility in being in beautiful spaces and being present and being in community with one another. In a way, that is the ultimate purpose of museums.”

Multiple videos from the scene show graphic details about the killing of conservative commentator and political organizer Charlie Kirk at a university in Utah on Wednesday.

Authorities are now poring over the video as part of the investigation into Kirk’s killing. They are still looking for the gunman after briefly detaining and then freeing two people of interest.

Charlie Kirk speaks before he is fatally shot during an event Wednesday at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

(Tess Crowley / Deseret News / AP)

The shooting

Kirk drew a large crowd to the event at Utah Valley University. He was gunned down at 12:20 p.m. while talking about mass shootings.

“Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” an audience member asks.

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk responds.

Almost immediately, Kirk is shot in the neck. One video shows blood pouring from the wound as he falls over. As the crowd realizes what has taken place, people are heard screaming and running away.

“This incident occurred with a large crowd around. There was one shot fired, one victim,” Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety, said on Wednesday afternoon. “While the suspect is at large, we believe this was a targeted attack toward one individual.”

Members of the crowd screamed and ran after a gunshot was heard and Kirk toppled from his chair.

(Tess Crowley / Deseret News / AP)

The shooter is believed to have fired from the roof of a building at Kirk as he participated in the public event in the student courtyard, where around 3,000 people were gathered, according to the Department of Public Safety.

A source familiar with the investigation told The Times that a bullet struck Kirk’s carotid artery.

Moments later, many in the crowd begin running.

Jeffrey Long, chief of the university’s Police Department, said six of the force’s officers, including some plainclothes officers embedded in the crowd, were working with members of Kirk’s personal security team to manage safety at the event.

The shooter

Several videos show a person who appears to be dressed in black moving on the roof of university’s Losee Center moments before the gunfire.

Mason, of the Utah Department of Public Safety, said authorities were analyzing campus security video that showed a suspect in dark clothing who might have shot at Kirk from a roof.

The gunman is believed to have killed Kirk from at least 200 yards away using some type of sniper rifle, law enforcement sources told The Times.

Allison Hemingway-Witty cries after the shooting.

(Tess Crowley / Deseret News / AP)

Some experts who have seen videos believe that the assailant probably had experience with firearms, given the precision with which the single shot was fired from a considerable distance.

Witness Seth Teasdale told the Salt Lake Tribune that the gunshot was so loud it echoed across the pavilion where Kirk was speaking.

Brynlee Holms told the Tribune the shot was “super loud,” which added to the panic in the crowd.

“I just heard a clear shot, ‘Boom!’ And that was it,” another witness told KUTV.

Police detained George Zinn and Zachariah Qureshi as suspects and later released them after determining they had no ties to the shooting, according to the Department of Public Safety. The manhunt for the shooter continues.

What is not shown

No videos have surfaced showing the gunman firing the shot or fleeing the scene.

Mason said authorities were reviewing closed-circuit television video. “We’re analyzing it, but it is security camera footage, so you can kind of guess what the quality of that is,” Mason said. “We do know [the suspect was] dressed in all dark clothing. We don’t have a much better description.”

Utah Gov. Stephen Cox called the attack “a political assassination” and said Wednesday was “a dark day for our state” and “a tragic day for our nation.”

Law enforcement was working “multiple active crime scenes” including the area Kirk was shot as well as the locations where the suspect and victim traveled, according to the Public Safety Department. They did not provide any further information on the suspect.

The FBI created a tip line to gather information that may lead to the shooter’s arrest.

SIMI VALLEY — Jadyn Winsett twisted her new engagement ring around her finger, scanning the sea of navy sport coats, sailor stripes and string pearls at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for a glimpse of a Supreme Court justice.

Across the room stood Amy Coney Barrett, the high court’s youngest member, who could hardly have picked a more dramatic moment to turn up.

A day earlier, Barrett joined the conservative majority in a decision that cleared federal immigration agents to detain people in Southern California simply because they have brown skin or speak Spanish.

The response across much of Los Angeles was outrage and concern that the 4th Amendment has been trampled.

But at the Reagan Library, the mood was triumphant.

Winsett, 23, and her fiance were among the admirers who gathered to hear Barrett speak about her new memoir, “Listening to the Law.” For the supporters who turned up, Barrett evokes values cherished by President Trump’s faith-driven acolytes: beatific motherhood, Southern charm, Christian piety and steadfast constitutional originalism.

A Texas native, Winsett’s partner had popped the question two days before at Yosemite National Park. She said the proposal was the highlight of the couple’s California holiday. But the chance to meet Barrett at Reagan’s final resting place was a close second.

“I sent [my fiance] so many text messages in the span of a couple minutes just being excited that this event was going on, and we had to come,” Winsett said. “I’m a really big fan of Justice Scalia … so knowing [Barrett’s] book is supposed to bit of an expansion on Justice Scalia’s ‘Reading Law,’ that’s gonna be really cool. “

Jadyn Winsett, left, and Reese Johnson, a newly engaged couple from Texas, planned their trip to attend the justice’s book launch.

(Al Seib / For The Times)

Barrett said almost nothing about her controversial rise to the court or the jurisprudence behind her most contested decisions during Tuesday’s event, instead dishing out details about Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s race with the Nationals’ foam-headed Lincoln and Roosevelt mascots and how she’d brought Starbucks coffee to the Supreme Court cafeteria.

But the previous day’s immigration raid ruling still hovered in the air.

When asked to explain the court’s “shadow docket”, she ad-libbed a hypothetical all but identical to Monday’s real decision.

“Let’s say that some policy of the administration has been enjoined,” Barrett said. “The administration might say, ‘While we are litigating this case, having this injunction in place is irreparably harming us in a way we can’t recover from, so in the interim, please stay this injunction.’”

A packed room listens and watches monitors as Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett takes questions at the launch of her new book.

(Al Seib / For The Times)

Later, when asked about constitutional interpretation, she opined about the slippery text of the 4th Amendment, the same amendment implicated in Monday’s unsigned order.

“[Look at] the protection against unreasonable search and seizures,” she invited the audience.

“When you have a word like that, ‘unreasonable,’ there’ll be a range where everybody will say, outside of this, we all agree this is unreasonable,” Barrett explained. “Then, there’s a range right here where we all say this is reasonable. But then there’s going to be a band where there’s room for disagreement. One of the great things about the Constitution is that it leaves some of that play in the joints.”

People line up to get their book signed at the Reagan Library.

(Al Seib / For The Times)

Earlier in the evening, Barrett and her husband, Jesse, had paid their respects at the Reagan Memorial and briefly admired the chunk of Berlin Wall, flanked by a coterie of federal agents while protests raged outside.

Many in the crowd said they, like the Catholic justice, were devout Christian believers and credited her with casting the decisive vote to end abortion as a constitutional right in the United States.

“I’m a born-again Christian and I believe it was the hand of God that put her on the court … to be able to overturn Roe vs. Wade,” said Glovioell Dixon of Pasadena, who’d arrived hours before the program to beat the crowds.

Others were taken with Barrett’s command of the law — several mentioned the fact she’d barely used notes at her confirmation hearing — and her poise under pressure.

“She’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever observed,” said Elizabeth Pierce of Newbury Park, the lone red baseball cap in a field of cognac loafers and Chanel-inspired skirt suits. “This is the chance of a lifetime.”

A few even credited the justice for realizing their American dream.

Sean Chen, 52, of East Los Angeles said he’d just attended his daughter’s medical school white coat ceremony and praised Barrett’s 2023 ruling to strike down race-based affirmative action in the case Fair Admissions vs. Harvard.

“That’s directly related to the future of my kids,” Chen said. “Without the work from the Supreme Court [overturning affirmative action], maybe I wouldn’t even have that chance.”

A Chinese immigrant, Chen called the opportunity to learn from one of the nation’s nine law-givers part of his journey to becoming “spiritually American.”

Barrett divulged little Tuesday about her memoir, for which she was paid $425,000 in 2021, the first tranche of a reported $2-million advance, according to financial disclosures.

“We’re gonna pray we’re gonna get our books signed!” an event coordinator encouraged those near the back of the line as the sun set over the golden hills.

Die-hard fans were reminded not to try to snap selfies, though keepsake photos would be taken and could be purchased after the event.

Julia Quiroz, 23, left, and her mom, Gaby Quiroz, in line waiting to get their book signed by the Supreme Court justice.

(Al Seib / For The Times)

Julia Quiroz, 23, waited with her mother to have her book signed.

“I see her as exemplary in her vocation as a mother,” Quiroz said of Barrett.

Her mom, Gaby, agreed — mostly.

As a Catholic, Quiroz said she agrees with Barrett’s rulings on abortion, but despaired of realizing the family’s dream of ending the procedure from coast to coast.

“She’s going to do the right thing for the country and the law,” Gaby Quiroz said. “I don’t know that her decisions will always align with ours.”

Other attendees said they were in lockstep with Barrett and her rulings in support of the president’s agenda — whatever its impact on their neighbors.

“I’m very happy,” said Kevin Rivero of Palmdale. “She is ensuring the president has the power to do what the executive branch is empowered to do. As an L.A. citizen, I’m for it.”

Dixon, the Pasadena Christian, said she agreed with the Supreme Court’s ruling on immigration raids even though her ex-husband was once an undocumented immigrant, who could have faced deportation had they not gotten married.

“America’s for everyone. We’re a welcoming country, you know?” Dixon said. “Bring us your poor — what was that saying on the Statue of Liberty? That line? I’m all for that. But do it in a way that honors our country.”

Olympic swimmer Ben Proud has become the first British athlete to join the controversial Enhanced Games – but says he would never do anything to undermine ‘clean’ sport.

Proud, 30, is a world and European champion at 50m freestyle, and won silver at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

But he has now committed to an event which allows athletes to take banned performance-enhancing drugs.

He never won Olympic gold or broke the 50m freestyle world record, which has stood since 2009, but feels that the Enhances Games “give me a new opportunity to continue this pursuit and see how far I can take things”.

Asked if he thinks the event undermines clean sport, Proud told BBC Sport: “No. I think it opens up the potential avenue to excel in a very different way.

“Speaking for myself, I think realistically I’ve achieved everything I can, and now the Enhanced [Games] is giving me a new opportunity. I definitely don’t think that’s undermining a clean sport.

“I really respect the sport I’ve been part of, and I would never step back in knowing I’ve done something which isn’t in the rules.”

Proud has previously supported UK Anti-Doping’s Clean Sport Week while British team-mates Adam Peaty and Duncan Scott have been outspoken against doping.

Proud said he sees ‘traditional sport’ and the Enhanced Games as “two very separate entities”, and that he found athletes breaking the rules “incredibly frustrating”.

“I see doping in clean sports as a complete no-go,” he said. “I don’t have any time for that.

“The fact it’s still happening is a problem. It’ll always be a cat and mouse game, there will always be people developing new techniques or people getting away with things.

“That’s one thing that has ruined sport for a lot of people. The anti-doping agencies just don’t have the ability to completely make sure everyone is clean and on a level playing field, and that to me has always been the biggest frustration.

“If you were part of my life for the past 12, 13 years, you’d see how much time you have to allocate to making sure we’re available to be tested on a daily basis, making sure we’re constantly giving our samples.”

BBC Sport has asked the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) for comment.

Wada’s latest Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) report, external was published in July, covering 2022. It said that from 241,143 samples, 1,979 (0.82%) were reported to be adverse findings, of which 1,376 (69.5%) resulted in an ADRV.

If you’re eager to mark the holidays this year with a Danish flair but Copenhagen seems a tad too far away, you might find the answer in Solvang. An answer that includes gnomes and a troll.

That city, founded in 1911 by Danish immigrants, celebrates its Julefest — the winter holidays — with an emphasis on visitor-friendly Old World traditions. This year’s schedule includes a series of events and activities from Nov. 28 through Jan. 4 — roaming carolers, European-style night markets, candlelight tours and shops transformed into micro winter wonderlands.

If you’re planning a winter road trip, here are some things to know.

The most quaint hotels in town are tiny, so book early

Solvang, about 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, has about 20 hotels and most are smallish and independent. The largest is the Corque Hotel (122 rooms), which is affiliated with Marriott but owned by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.

The most intimate and affordable hotels — often in a vintage motel sort of way — include the Atterdag Inn (8 rooms), New Haven Inn (10 rooms), Hamlet Inn (13 rooms), Mirabelle Inn (13 rooms), the Viking Inn (13 rooms) and the Winston (14 rooms).

The most luxurious is the Alisal Guest Ranch & Resort, whose 73 rooms and cottages routinely rent for $1,500 nightly or more (the property includes a lake and two golf courses).

A tree will rise, amid carols, craft markets and more

Solvang’s holiday celebrations include a tree lighting, like this one in 2023.

(SolvangUSA)

Tree lighting will happen at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, in Solvang Park, followed by a Julefest Parade the next morning at 11 a.m.

Caroling is scheduled on several Saturdays, Nov. 29, Dec. 6, 13 and 20, from 5 to 8 p.m. in Solvang Park (weather permitting). Art and craft markets will materialize on Wednesdays, Dec. 3, 10 and 17, from 3 to 7 p.m.

There will be European-style markets to peruse.

(SolvangUSA)

Solvang Park will offer hourlong light and music shows nightly from 5 to 10 p.m. Nov. 28 through Jan. 4. There are also evening trolley rides through the San Ynez Valley and meet-and-greet opportunities with Santa (in Solvang Park) are set for noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, Nov. 29 and 30, then Dec. 6, 7, 13,14, 20 and 21.

On Dec. 31, attention shifts to Julefest’s Copenhagen Countdown in Solvang Park, ringing in the Danish new year at 3 p.m., Pacific Standard Time. This event, from 2 to 4 p.m., will feature live music from an ’80s tribute band known as the Molly Ringwald Project.

Gnomes and a troll are expected

The seasonal offerings also include candlelight tours (featuring LED candles and hosts in costume), Christmas light tours and daily hunting for nisser (gnomes) throughout downtown Solvang.

The troll — nicknamed Lulu Hyggelig — isn’t really a seasonal addition. It (or she, if you prefer) is a permanent resident of the city’s California Nature Art Museum, added in February. Lulu, made of recycled pallets and wine barrels, is one of many trolls created worldwide by Danish artist and recycling activist Thomas Dambo and his team of veteran builders and volunteers.

Christmas trees will burn — and that’s part of the celebration

Solvang’s holiday Julefest season often ends with a Christmas tree burn. This one happened in 2023.

(Randy De La Pena/SolvangUSA)

The season ends with a Christmas tree burn, billed as a safety demonstration, supervised by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department and scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9, weather permitting.

Nassourdine Imavov beats Caio Borralho in Paris, then issued a title challenge to UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev.

Nassourdine Imavov outlasted Caio Borralho in the main event of UFC Fight Night in France, earning a unanimous decision and consolidating his claim as a potential title challenger to middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev.

Imavov, fighting in front of his home crowd at Accor Arena in Paris, secured a fifth straight UFC victory, with the three judges delivering a clear win for the 84kg (185-pound) fighter: 50-45, 49-46, 49-46.

The Saturday night bout was one-sided, with Imavov (20-4 MMA) controlling the distance for the fight’s duration with clean boxing and pressure volume, not allowing Borralho (17-2 MMA) to find openings, as he entered the contest with an imposing 62 percent of his wins by either KO/TKO or submission.

Imanov, who laid claim to the UFC middleweight division’s No 2 ranking, was hard on himself about not finishing Borralho as he had planned.

Despite not earning a stoppage victory, he had one message for Chimaev (15-0 MMA).

“I am next,” Imavov said as the crowd erupted during his post-fight speech. “[Borralho] was unbeaten for 10 years. I just beat him, and beat him with style as well. I need to be the next one [to fight for the UFC middleweight title].”

The loss for the No 7-ranked Borralho marked his first inside the UFC. After the fight, he acknowledged Imavov as one of the toughest opponents of his career.

“Thank you, Nassourdine, for the respect,” Borralho said. “Thank you so much… I think Nassourdine was the better man today. He was very fast, as I was expecting. He did very good in the fight. I couldn’t really adapt [my strategy] that much. I wanted to make this fight entertaining for the fans and the UFC. So, I tried to strike with one of the best strikers in the world, and that’s what you guys saw: a great war.”

In the co-headline fight, lightweight Benoit Saint Denis secured a rear-naked choke over Mauricio Ruffy at 2:56 of the second round.

Saint Denis (15-3 MMA) got a large lift from the hometown crowd and became the first fighter to submit Ruffy (12-2 MMA) in his career.

Ruffy’s loss to Saint Denis snapped a seven-fight winning streak dating back to November 2019.

Maybe Mike Tyson should pick on someone his own size.

Maybe Floyd Mayweather Jr. should pick on someone his own age.

Maybe both men should stay retired.

Or maybe we should just kick back and enjoy an unexpected but extremely intriguing contest between two all-time great boxers from different eras (and weight classes).

Might as well take the last option because Tyson vs. Mayweather is happening in spring 2026.

CSI Sports / Fight Sports on Thursday announced the upcoming exhibition bout without providing too many other details, such as the date or location of the event or at what weight the fight will take place.

Another detail that hasn’t been revealed is how much money each fighter will earn. No doubt it will be quite a hefty amount, a notion Mayweather may have been referencing when he posted multiple videos Thursday on his Instagram Stories featuring himself sitting in what appears to be a private jet and handling large stacks of cash.

The hype machine has already started, though.

CSI Sports / Fight Sports co-founders Richard and Craig Miele predicted in a news release that the fight would be bigger than Tyson’s record-setting bout with Jake Paul last November. That fight was the most-streamed sporting event of all time and brought in the largest gate for a U.S. boxing or MMA event held outside of Las Vegas.

“Tyson vs. Mayweather will break every broadcast, streaming and economic record set by Mike Tyson in 2024,” the Miele brothers said. “We are planning a robust promotional campaign complete with weekly premium storytelling and worldwide marketing reach. The event itself will be in a world-class venue and be presented to a global audience with new in-ring technology elements that will reshape how boxing is presented, and scoring is achieved for years to come.”

Tyson (59-7, 44 KO) was the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987-1990. The then-57-year-old Tyson ended nearly two decades of retirement from professional fighting last year when he fought the then-27-year-old Paul in a sanctioned bout. Paul won that match by unanimous decision.

Mayweather (50-0, 27 KO) won 15 championship belts spanning five weight classes, from super featherweight to light middleweight. He is now 48 and hasn’t fought a professional bout since his 10th-round technical knockout of Conor McGregor in 2017.

The boxers are already in hype mode as well, as evidenced by their comments in the press release announcing the event.

“I still can’t believe Floyd wants to really do this,” Tyson said. “It’s going to be detrimental to his health, but he wants to do it, so it’s signed and it’s happening!”

Mayweather said: “There hasn’t been a single fighter that can tarnish my legacy. … I’m the best in the business of boxing.”