Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Noah Goldberg and David Zahniser, with an assist from Melissa Gomez and Connor Sheets, giving you the latest on city and county government.
The city of Los Angeles will shell out $120,000 for outside lawyers to fight a lawsuit filed by a councilmember challenging an ethics fine.
On Wednesday, the City Council voted unanimously to hire the law firm Hecker Fink LLP to represent the city’s Ethics Commission as it defends its decision to fine Councilmember John Lee $138,000 for allegedly violating city gift laws during a notorious 2017 trip to Las Vegas. Lee recused himself from the vote.
The city attorney’s office has said it can’t represent the Ethics Commission in Lee’s lawsuit because of a conflict of interest.
Lee was chief of staff to then-Councilmember Mitchell Englander when the two were plied with meals and alcohol, as well as hotel stays and gambling chips, by people seeking business with the city.
Lee, who represents the northwest San Fernando Valley, has claimed that he made a good faith effort to pay his own way. At a nearly $2,500 dinner that included Kobe beef, Maine lobster, Peking duck and sea bass, the only thing he ate was a spoonful of bird’s nest soup, he said at a hearing in his ethics case.
In 2020, Englander pleaded guilty to a single count of providing false information to the FBI and was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Three years later, he agreed to pay $79,830 to settle an Ethics Commission case focused on his own gift law violations.
The commission levied the fine against Lee in December, finding that he committed two counts of violating the city’s law against accepting gifts above a certain value, three counts of violating a law requiring that such gifts be disclosed to the public and five counts of misusing his city position.
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David Tristan, the Ethics Commission’s executive director, had asked the council to provide at least $120,000 to defend against Lee’s lawsuit.
Lee declined to comment on the vote. In his lawsuit, he claimed that the statute of limitations had expired on the matters that were investigated by the Ethics Commission. He also accused the commission of overvaluing the share of gifts he partook in.
Lee is seeking to get the fine overturned.
More churn in the Karen Bass campaign
Turns out the shakeup in Mayor Karen Bass’ campaign did not end with the departure of Douglas Herman, her top strategist.
Herman told The Times on Wednesday that he stepped down due to “strategic differences” over the Nov. 3 runoff campaign against City Councilmember Nithya Raman. Bass’ team said on the same day that they had replaced him with Julie Chávez Rodriguez, who was campaign manager for the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris presidential campaigns in 2024.
A day later, political consultant Larry Grisolano confirmed that he too is no longer with the Bass reelection effort. His company, Thematic Campaigns, had been providing media and digital strategy.
On Friday, Berkeley-based research consultant Mike Rice told The Times that his firm, VR Research, had also left the Bass campaign, effective Wednesday. He declined to comment further.
Bass campaign spokesperson Alex Stack declined to discuss the departures. Asked if the campaign is in disarray, he said no, adding that Chávez Rodriguez’s hiring “is a really big get for us.”
“We’re getting a lot of positive feedback,” Stack said.
Still waiting on eviction defense contracts
In March, it appeared that a battle between City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto and the nonprofit running L.A.’s eviction defense program was over.
At the time, Feldstein Soto said she had concerns over awarding funds to the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, which has sued the city successfully over homelessness issues on multiple occasions. Feldstein Soto argued that contracts should not be awarded without rigorous reports and invoice review from Legal Aid and other nonprofits.
The City Council awarded the contracts anyway, funding the initial portion of a three-year, $177-million deal for Legal Aid and three other nonprofits to provide eviction defense, short-term rental assistance, tenant outreach and more as part of the city’s Stay Housed L.A. program.
But months later, Feldstein Soto’s office still hasn’t executed the contracts, frustrating tenants rights advocates and the nonprofits, which are struggling to pay their staff without the funds from the city.
“We’ve been really in a state of purgatory for over a year,” said Mike Dennis, senior director of housing justice at the Liberty Hill Foundation, which does tenant outreach as part of the city’s program.
Dennis said the failure to execute the contracts has created planning and operational uncertainty for the community-based organizations that Liberty Hill works with. Soon, some of them may face serious issues.
“We’re quickly approaching a point where the organizations are not going to keep being able to pay staff and absorb those costs,” he said. “The longer this goes on, the more likely we are to see contractions in the work.”
Earlier this month, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado put forward a motion asking the city attorney to explain why the contracts have not been executed. Jurado said the delay has left $17 million in funds unused.
“At the same time, the selected contractors struggle to maintain staffing without this funding, placing services for those at risk of homelessness in jeopardy,” she wrote in the June 2 motion.
Feldstein Soto argued in a June 15 response that Legal Aid has failed to agree to the “accountability and reporting requirements” needed to execute the contracts. She said those requirements were designed to make sure that taxpayer funds are spent properly.
“This office will continue to work with proposed contractors until the concerns are sufficiently addressed,” she said in a statement.
State of play
— UNHAPPY MEMORIES: Bass was out of town when the Boyle Heights warehouse fire erupted, which is giving voters a fresh reminder of her absence at the start of the Palisades fire. The situation could have an impact on her reelection campaign against Raman.
— HEADING TO THE BALLOT: A half-cent sales tax hike that would generate $345 million annually for the Los Angeles Fire Department will go before voters in the Nov. 3 election. The measure has been spearheaded by the city’s firefighter union, which gathered the signatures to qualify it for the ballot.
— D.A. DENIED: A judge has rejected Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman’s request to freeze payments in the $4-billion sex abuse settlement approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The ruling boots Hochman from his brief stint in a civil courtroom as he moves forward with his criminal investigation into lawyers, recruiters and medical practitioners who may have submitted fraudulent claims.
— SOCIALIST SURGE: L.A.’s democratic socialists are looking to expand their power at City Hall yet again, setting their sights on the races for mayor and city attorney. Raman and city attorney hopeful Marissa Roy, both members of the L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, are heading into the runoff after strong showings in the June 2 primary. (DSA-LA endorsed Roy but not Raman in the primary.)
— A BLOWOUT ELECTION: Property owners across the city voted overwhelmingly against increasing the assessment they pay to maintain streetlights. City leaders had hoped to use the funds — an additional $80 million a year — to speed up repairs and upgrade the city’s 225,000 streetlights.
— CLEARING THE LAND: Overgrown lots razed by the Eaton and Palisades fires pose an increasing wildfire threat to surrounding properties. The county Board of Supervisors recently passed a motion calling on county departments to develop a plan to clear vegetation in Altadena and Sunset Mesa.
QUICK HITS
Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to combat homelessness went to the area around the Wiltern Theatre in Koreatown this week. The area is represented by Councilmember Heather Hutt.
On the docket next week: On Tuesday, the council takes up a package of ballot measures that would rewrite the City Charter. The changes cover topics such as voting rights for noncitizens, expanded park funding and City Council oversight of policies at the Los Angeles Police Department.
Stay in touch
That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
The scheme was introduced in 2024 to try and combat overtourism in peak monthsCredit: GettyThose who do not buy a ticket can be hit with a €300 fineCredit: Getty
Under the current system, day-trippers who book less than four days before their visit pay €10, while those who reserve more than four days in advance pay €5.
Visitors entering before 8.30am or after 4pm are exempt, as are residents, people born in Venice, students and workers.
Tourists staying overnight in hotels or rental accommodation also do not have to pay.
Tickets are purchased online and checked at key entry points, including the railway station.
Those caught without one can face fines of up to €300.
The city is also expanding the scheme, increasing the number of chargeable days from 54 to 60 this year.
Opponents argue the scheme has done little to reduce visitor numbers.
Official figures show average daily visitor numbers fell only slightly during the summer, from 16,676 in 2024 to 13,046 in 2025.
Venturini insists the goal is not to put a cap on tourism altogether.
He said: “We need to keep an eye on the total number of visitors to Venice, but we do not want to put a maximum limit on tourists, so instead we can aim to get them to spread out and avoid coming on those days when we face the prospect of 80,000 visitors.
“That means getting the Italian parliament to approve higher prices, let’s say €30 or €50.
“That will cover the cost of services for tourists, including removing the growing amount of rubbish, but we could also offer ticket holders discounts for museums.”
The idea of charging visitors even more has provoked strong opposition.
Critics argue that if Venice is serious about reducing overcrowding, it should instead focus on limiting the number of properties being rented out through Airbnb.
Former mayor Massimo Cacciari said: “There is no other Italian or European city that you have to buy a ticket to enter, as if it were a museum.
“This is barbarous, uncivil and in my opinion anti-constitutional.”
Constitutional expert Ludovico Mazzarolli also told Corriere della Sera that a €50 entry fee could conflict with the Italian Constitution’s principle of free movement within the country.
Venice is not the only city trying to manage surging visitor numbers.
The president held a cage fight on the White House South Lawn, complete with flyovers, fireworks, mini-skirted “octagon girls” and the surrealistic sight of mixed martial arts fighters striding through historic White House rooms flanked by National Medal of Honor winners.
Despite wide public disapproval for Sunday’s event and much scathing commentary about the political and psychological messaging of Donald Trump’s choice of a Vegas-like spectacle to celebrate his 80th birthday, and the country’s 250th, the sky did not fall, the original Constitution in the nearby National Archives did not tear in two and none of the fighters passed out from the heat or bug bites.
Things didn’t even get bloody until the final match in the fifth hour, when Justin Gaethje kicked and punched the crap out of widely favored Ilia Topuria.
Even so, it was impossible to emerge from watching UFC Freedom 250 without feeling punch-drunk.
Not because of the fighting; because of almost everything that was not the fighting.
Beginning with Paramount+, owned by the Trump-friendly Ellison family’s Paramount Skydance, which recently received Justice Department clearance for its highly controversial acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The jarring sight of past UFC matches being seemingly projected onto the Jefferson Memorial and the Capitol gave way to a series of poorly produced “historical” moments in which UFC fighters were cast as inheriting the same “fighting spirit” that motivated this nation’s Founding Fathers, past presidents and war veterans. Down to the inevitable strains of the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” (the baffling anthem of MAGA), the event projected a macho-man view of patriotism that was just as ghastly as many feared it would be.
UFC fighters are indeed dedicated and talented athletes who have overcome all manner of personal obstacles. But to compare them with Thomas Jefferson or American soldiers storming the beaches of Normandy is absurd and more than a little insulting.
The tens of thousands of UFC and Trump fans who gathered on the South Lawn and the Ellipse, however, were clearly having a very good time. Proceedings were delayed an hour by the threat of storms, but the weather cooperated in the end. “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, and in particular, soloist Staff Sgt. Hannah Davis, gave masterful performances throughout. And while the Claw, the 600-ton steel structure arching above the Octagon, certainly looked like the first stage of an alien attack during the day, it put on a pretty terrific (if more than a little Vegasy) light show at night.
For those watching from home, however, these bright spots were glimpsed and heard infrequently, drowned out by the endless hyperbolic intonations of commentators (including Joe Rogan, who initially criticized the event), the long and invariably self-aggrandizing introductions of the various participants and the onslaught of frequently militaristic commercials, more than a few of which, included ads for Ram, featured UFC President and Chief Executive Dana White.
Which isn’t surprising when you think about it. White’s longtime support for the president culminated in his organization covering the event’s $60 million in production costs, and from the moment a smiling White joined Trump as he made his way through the White House to the front row, the event served as an almost-six-hour ad for the UFC.
Though I am not a UFC fan, I realize that showmanship is key to the sport’s wild and increasingly broad popularity. Championship matches, which rarely last longer than 30 minutes and sometimes much less, are inevitably preceded by hours of participants making all manner of florid claims and trash-talking their opponents. (Which may explain Trump’s fondness for the UFC.)
But when all of this strutting, preening and wild-eyed reaction revolves around what was, for better and worse, a series of rules-free brawls being force-fed into a narrative about this country’s enduring strength, what emerges is not so much a sporting event as it is a piece of naked and nationalistic propaganda.
Which came to a head in the final fight. After the six previous matches concluded rather quickly with bloodless knockouts (a UFC record), the fight between American Gaethje and the German-born, Georgia and Spain-representing Topuria lasted much longer. Gaethje, introduced as “the most violent man in the most violent sport,” left the lightweight champion’s face such a mess that even Rogan was shocked.
By all metrics, including Topuria’s refusal to go down, it was the best fight of the night. But hearing the crowd chant “USA, USA” as the bloody blows fell … well, let’s just say it was not everyone’s notion of a presidential birthday celebration.
Some have suggested that Trump staged the event in the hope of regaining the support of young men who helped him win the last election. Even if that was not the case, it was difficult to view UFC Freedom 250 in any way nonpartisan (especially after British former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury strode out of the White House wearing a “Trump for Prime Minister” hat).
Yes, several of the six non-American participants entered to Spanish or Portuguese songs (why so much fuss then about Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl?) but some of the winners are longtime MAGA supporters and made that very clear — Bo Nickal thanked Trump for being the only one “to have the balls” to stage such an event while Josh Hokit followed up his thanks to “my lord and savior Jesus Christ” with “Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?”
Every morning, Harvard-Westlake tennis player Chase Klugo’s house shakes like it’s in the middle of a small earthquake. His alarm clock, a big and bulky machine that’s Bluetooth-connected to the house’s fire alarm, rattles his room until he finally shuts it off.
Klugo’s moderate-to-severe hearing loss requires hearing aids to navigate life, a daily reminder that he isn’t like his teammates. Instead of forgetting his sneakers or a racket at home, Klugo might mistakenly leave without his hearing aid’s batteries.
In Sacramento, Gov. Gavin Newsom is negotiating with the legislature to pass the 2026-27 budget by a June 15 deadline. Klugo wants to add language to the budget to include hearing aid coverage — an idea that, despite bipartisan support, has stalled on Newsom’s desk multiple times.
“It’s been instilled in me since I was young that it’s important for not only yourself to thrive, but your community to thrive,” Klugo said, sitting in his family’s house in the San Fernando Valley. “I find it insane how someone can be denied one of their five senses, and not only one of their five senses, but one of the most important senses that you could possibly have.”
Off the court, Klugo is quieter, more reserved. His coach at Harvard-Westlake, Robert “Bo” Hardt, described him as a 45-year-old man trapped in a 17-year-old’s body. Hardt reminds Klugo to go to parties and enjoy his high school experience, but it’s the furthest thing from Klugo’s mind.
Instead, he does community outreach for the about 20,000 deaf or hard-of-hearing children in the state whose hearing aids are not covered by their insurance. He works with Michelle Marciniak, the founder of Let California Kids Hear, to share his story.
California’s current $30 million plan, the Hearing Aid Coverage for Children program, had just 314 active participants as of April. The $6,000 out-of-pocket cost every three years of hearing aids can force some parents into debt or to delay or skip treatment, Marciniak said.
An insurance mandate would decrease the taxpayer money spent on the HACCP, reducing the number of children who need the program’s assistance. Instead, more private insurance companies would cover costs associated with hearing aids for children and young adults under 21-years-old, she said.
Harvard-Westlake tennis coach Robert “Bo” Hardt described Chase Klugo as a 45-year-old man trapped in a 17-year-old’s body.
(Courtesy of Harvard-Westlake)
Newsom has cited concerns about the precedent of adding requirements to California’s affordable care act insurance and raising prices for those who don’t need the hearing aid coverage, favoring expanding the state-funded program instead, according to Cal Matters.
Let California Kids Hear and Klugo have been steadfast in their response that insurance costs would be minimal and the state program falls far short of fulfilling needs throughout the state. Thirty-five other states require coverage of children’s hearing aids — through a state mandate for all insurers, their affordable care act insurance or both.
Klugo is persistent for a reason. Those most affected by any legislation can’t knock on state representatives’ doors or write letters to Newsom, he said. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children are more likely to achieve a high quality of life personally and professionally when hearing concerns are identified and intervened with before they’re 6 months old, according to the World Health Organization.
Children who don’t receive treatment for hearing loss are more likely to be at risk for developmental issues in speech perception, language, cognitive and social skills, according to the World Health Organization’s 2021 world report on hearing.
“These babies, they can’t tell their stories about what’s actually happening. I’m sure the parents are obviously furious and they can advocate, but they don’t have that experience of what it’s like to actually firsthand experience it,” Klugo said. “So I think it’s my job to do that.”
Marciniak has worked with hard-of-hearing teenagers like Klugo to spread awareness for nearly a decade.
“It’s a really heavy weight,” Marciniak said. “Every single person, every single year has supported this. It’s not a red, it’s not a blue issue. This is about a child’s ability to hear, and it shouldn’t be dependent on their zip code or their family’s income.”
“It haunts me.”
Tennis has been Klugo’s outlet to release the weight he feels on his shoulders sometimes, he said. An overflowing duffle bag of tennis balls sat by the front door, the only chaos in a tidy house. Klugo’s parents — Karen, a former tennis player in high school, and his father, a Penn State swimmer — each carried the genes that could lead to hearing loss. Neither, though, was affected.
Karen first found out about hearing loss when Klugo’s older sister failed a routine newborn auditory test. Klugo did, too. The family adapted to its new normal, and Klugo and his sister enrolled in athletic programs.
Still, Klugo’s hearing loss couldn’t be brushed away. In fourth grade, he was reading a book and had turned off his hearing aids. He only realized something was wrong when he looked at his teacher, whose face was drained. He looked around. All his classmates had pushed in their chairs, and he was the only one left in the classroom in the middle of a fire drill.
Not every situation is life-threatening, but most that Klugo encountered in school required self-advocacy. Sure, teachers needed to talk louder, especially when they turned around and Klugo couldn’t read their lips. But he also needed his friends to be more patient. Sometimes it took one or two times to understand what they were saying.
When the family moved from Ohio after his freshman year, Klugo’s self-reliance helped elevate the tennis team. In return, Klugo joined a built-in support system.
“He’s intense, but he’s good, and they respect the way he works, and that rubbed off on a lot of the team, too. It’s like a pro in his practice habits and his work,” Hardt said. Take his doubles teammate Aaron Chung, for instance. Chung speaks in a low, hushed tone, but to accommodate Klugo, he becomes a bit louder — though not too loud to give away their attack plans to their opponents.
“I told him that you got to speak up, because I’m not gonna be able to hear if it’s super loud and you’re very quiet,” Klugo said. “He’s typically a pretty quiet person too on the court, which has been cool to see him transform a little bit. He’s been doing a great job helping me out.”
After Chung and Klugo huddle, they line up on the court like two halves of the same body, moving in tandem as the balls ricochet off rackets. It’s a flow of squeaking of tennis shoes and the pitter-patter of the ball hitting the concrete court until either Klugo or Chung scores. The same teenager who drafts op-eds to send to places like the Times plots his next battle attack.
When either of the two scores, Klugo releases a full-chested yell in celebration, and they slapped hands, a rhythm that repeats until the sets are over, until the game is over. From a distance, his mom watches in the shade on the benches. His dad paces in the background.
Every so often, the sun catches on the small, clear wires of Klugo’s hearing aids. Otherwise, they’re shielded from the sun under his white baseball cap and his curly hair.
Klugo’s teammates help out with more than winning sets. Klugo’s Bluetooth alarm clock isn’t portable, and the hotel alarms ring too softly for him to hear. He can’t sleep in his hearing aids. The device will completely block the ear canal and cause a low buzzing noise that makes drifting off hard. So, when Harvard-Westlake travels, one of his teammates wakes him.
Klugo wears his hearing aids while competing, but even then he might miss something. Karen has watched her son accidentally miss his opponents saying something as he turns to get a stray ball.
Nonetheless, Klugo’s leadership as a junior on the team makes him a leading team captain candidate next season, Hardt said.
On the court, the well-spoken, thoughtful Klugo sheds any semblance of the person who takes time to answer questions and lists off numbers about hearing loss.
But, tennis doesn’t change who Klugo is, Karen said. The sport only amplified his personality.
“It’s helped me be a better person off the court,” Klugo said. “On the tennis court, too. It’s a game of who’s going to be better on that day, and I feel like the person who wants the most and is advocating the most for themselves is going to end up winning.”
Tommy will fight former World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall this weekendCredit: facebook/@SportskeedacombatTommy has been a hands on dad in the build up to the boutCredit: Instagram
The insider continued: “Now the little fella is here it’s a no-brainer — what better way to announce his name than on his dad’s boxing shorts.
“Molly is now obsessed with it — she’s hoping to be there.
“They’re working out the walk outs at the minute because that’s when it will be revealed, with music and blue fireworks — it will be cool.
President Trump plans to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary — and his own 80th birthday — next month by watching bare-chested and bloody UFC fighters kick, punch and choke each other on the storied South Lawn of the White House.
Later, during the administration’s summer-long festival to commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, IndyCars will race in a fossil fuel-burning extravaganza around and around the National Mall — home to the U.S. Capitol and the Washington and Lincoln monuments.
Both venues are National Park Service land and are administered by the agency.
The planned spectacles — UFC Freedom 250 and the Freedom 250 Grand Prix — stray so far from the park service’s traditional mission and ethos that advocates and career employees are crying foul.
“These events are inappropriate and disrespectful to the history and importance of the White House and the National Mall,” said Jonathan Jarvis, who began his career as a park ranger on the Mall in 1976 and was named director of the National Park Service by President Obama in 2009.
White House officials insist that IndyCar and the UFC are extremely popular with everyday Americans: the race and the fights will be exuberant celebrations of patriotism and pride, they say.
The UFC event, in particular, “will be one of the greatest and most historic sports events in history, and President Trump hosting it at the White House is a testament to his vision to celebrate America’s monumental 250th anniversary,” said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle.
President Trump is hosting a UFC match on the White House grounds in honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States.
(Alex Wong / Getty Images)
To organize this summer’s events, the Trump administration asked the National Park Foundation — a congressionally chartered nonprofit that works closely with the park service and collects private donations to help maintain hiking trails and fund programs to get kids outdoors — to lend a hand.
Because of the scale of the planned celebrations, the foundation created a limited liability company, “Freedom 250,” to “execute events, activities, and celebrations in or around national parks,” according to the Freedom 250 website.
Freedom 250 has its own employees, but the foundation provides funds and the park service approves the events and reviews their budgets, according to the website.
Which is why advocates are appalled.
“Essentially, this is a hijacking of one of America’s oldest and most well-respected conservation organizations,” said Aaron Weiss, director of the Center for Western Priorities, an environmental nonprofit based in Denver. “There are so many very good people at the foundation, with so many years doing real work on behalf of America’s national parks, it’s heartbreaking to watch.”
When Jarvis was director of the park service — and therefore an ex-officio board member of the foundation — the two organizations worked hand in hand to ensure that the foundation’s work complemented that of the park service. They organized the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House South Lawn and lit the Christmas tree on the Ellipse, Jarvis said.
Workers continue to paint the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall.
(Alex Wong / Getty Images)
Occasionally, the president made special requests, which were reviewed carefully to ensure they were consistent with park service principles. Michelle Obama’s famous “Kitchen Garden” passed the test, Jarvis said with a chuckle, providing fruits and vegetables for family meals — and the occasional state dinner — for years.
It’s hard to imagine any career parks employee, or the foundation board members he served with, coming up with the current agenda, Jarvis said.
In addition to the IndyCar race and cage fights, the National Park Foundation is sponsoring“Freedom Trucks” — six red, white and blue tractor trailers traveling the country as rolling museums — andRededicate 250, a large Christian revival meeting held on the Mall earlier this month that raised objections about the mixing of church and state.
“I think the foundation is being told what to do,” Jarvis said. “And I think it’s hard to say no to the White House these days.”
Josh deBerge, a spokesperson for the National Park Foundation, insisted that no money from Freedom 250 is being spent on the IndyCar race or the UFC fights.
But the IndyCar race is listed as a “signature” event on the Freedom 250 website, and both IndyCar and the UFC are listed as Freedom 250 sponsors.
Danielle Alvarez, a former Trump campaign senior advisor, is a spokesperson for Freedom 250. She acknowledged that the race and the cage fights are happening on national park land and under the banner of Freedom 250, but said neither is receiving funds or logistical support from her organization.
“Many groups have adopted ‘Freedom 250’ branding as part of their festivities, even though it does not mean it is backed by Freedom 250 funding,” Alvarez said in a text message. “The shared terminology is a natural expression of collective pride in 250 years of American independence.”
Neither IndyCar nor the UFC responded to requests for comment.
All of this comes as the Trump administration has taken an ax to the National Park Service, cutting its staff by 25% through buyouts and layoffs since 2025, and proposing another 25% staff reduction this year.
A worker applies hot wax during the restoration process of the Gen. Nathanael Greene statue in Stanton Park on Capitol Hill.
(Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call / Getty Images)
Trump has also proposed slashing nearly $800 million from the park system’s roughly $3-billion operating budget — potentially diminishing the ability to keep facilities clean and control crowds. Already this year, Yosemite National Park has ditched a reservation system, leading to enormous crowds in the valley and on nearby trails.
Parks advocates fear it’s part of a broader and deliberate strategy to marginalize an agency that has long been a sanctuary for environmentalists and progressives — most of whom presumably did not vote for Trump.
In addition to the staff and budget cuts, Trump last year instructed the National Park Service toscrub any language he would deem negative, unpatriotic or smacking of “improper partisan ideology” from signs and presentations visitors encounter at parks and historic sites.
Instead, he ordered the agency to ensure that its signs remind Americans of our “extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity and human flourishing.”
Those marching orders left opponents and free speech advocates in disbelief, wondering how park employees were supposed to put a sunny spin on monuments acknowledging slavery, Jim Crow laws and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Trump opponents also question the political wisdom of picking on an agency that’s routinely ranked among the most admired branches of the large and sprawling federal government. Even Americans who pay little attention to politics will probably never forget standing in Yosemite Valley and admiring a towering waterfall.
There were more than 323 million visits to America’s national parks in 2025, dwarfing attendance — 135 million — at professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey games combined.
That has not stopped the assault by the current administration.
Black granite was installed last month as the new walkway for the West Wing Colonnade at the White House.
(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)
“The ideologues in power now take a very dim view of the federal government in general, and the last thing they want is a highly popular and successful federal agency,” Jarvis said. “So if they can kill it, or diminish it through neglect, they win. They don’t really care about the public’s opinion.”
Chuck Sams, the last director of the National Park Service, stepped down the day Trump was inaugurated. Since then, the agency has not had a Senate-confirmed director.
Sams agreed that the Trump administration seems to have it in for the Park Service and worried that the guardrails that used to prevent the executive branch from doing whatever it wants with park land are disappearing.
Destroying the East Wing of the White House for Trump’s proposed ballroom and paving over portions of the White House Rose Garden lawn are prime examples, Sams said.
During his tenure, any proposed change to the White House or its grounds was approached in a “very concerted and deliberate manner with a lot of educated professionals weighing in,” Sams said. “Was it slow? Absolutely, but that was because everyone understood these places belong to the people.”
Asked what he thought of the IndyCar race and the cage fights, Sams said, “We are in uncharted territory, on uncharted ground.”
Things took an emotional turn on ITV’s This Morning as Olly Murs admitted he’s ‘petrified’ ahead of his mammoth charity challenge
Shivon Watson Screen Time Reporter
12:02, 11 May 2026Updated 12:14, 11 May 2026
This Morning: Olly Murs discusses his marathon challenge
Olly Murs shared his fears before taking on the Soccer Aid UNICEF marathon.
Emotions were running high during the latest instalment of ITV’s This Morning, as 41-year-old singer Olly was interviewed before he set off on a five-day, 400km endurance challenge. Into The Unknown will see Olly travelling from Manchester’s Old Trafford to London Stadium, covering over 400km by running, rowing, and also cycling.
Appearing via video link from Old Trafford, Olly spoke to Jake Quickenden about the mammoth ordeal he has ahead of him. As This Morning presenters Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley watched from the studio, Olly said: “I’m petrified, I am scared. I’m nervous, I’m excited.
“It’s here now. I’ve done the ten weeks of training, you know there’s so many people behind the cameras. There are lovely people here who have come down to see me.”
When asked which activity he’s most scared to do, Olly confessed that the idea of rowing solo is making him feel nervous.
Later in the chat, a video was shown to viewers explaining why the former Voice judge was chosen for the challenge, which aims to raise money for children affected by the war in Ukraine.
After seeing the footage, Olly fought back tears. He said: “It makes me feel really emotional actually and it makes me more determined to get out and raise as much money as you can,” he added: “All we want to do is keep our kids safe and imagine doing that with a war going on.”
Olly will run, row and cycle from Manchester’s Old Trafford, the birthplace of Soccer Aid, all the way to London Stadium in Stratford, which will host this year’s landmark match.
The gruelling five-day challenge will push him to his limits, with each stage bringing fresh physical and mental demands. From steep climbs and difficult terrain to daunting stretches on the water, it’s set to be one of the toughest tests he’s ever faced.
To add to the pressure, Olly won’t discover the route for each day until just before he begins, with the details revealed live on national radio.
With no chance to prepare ahead of time, every stage will come with a new surprise.
The trailer for Kylie Minogue’s new Netflix documentary has finally launched, leaving fans emotional over the singer’s journey
Kylie official trailer for inspiring documentary
Fans have reacted with delight to a trailer for the new Netflix series about Kylie Minogue, in which she shares her own home movies and personal photographs for the first time. She is also seen close to tears talking about her cancer battle saying: “I was so scared of what was ahead of me.”
The actress and singer, 57, who allowed the cameras to follow her for a three-part documentary, teases at the start of the trailer: “They’re convincing me to let you in.”
One fan gushed: “She is everything that is right with the world, an inspiration, an icon.” While another agreed: “I’ve been a fan since she was in Neighbours and followed her ever since. This will be an emotional journey for all her true fans, can’t wait!”
The “intimate” films, released on May 20, will show how she has successfully reinvented herself many times, selling 80 million records along the way. There are clips of the Aussie soap star turned pop princess winning a Grammy and being chased down the street by fans shouting, “I love you Kylie.”
Talking about being photographed and filmed, she says: “I love the feeling around the shot. That feeling of freedom. I hate being boxed in.” And of her long and recording career, she declares: “Life makes sense to me on stage.” Hinting that she is a long way from hanging up her microphone, she adds: “I don’t know where we’re going. There’s certainly no end.”
In other clips she is seen laughing in black and white snaps with her former lover Michael Hutchence and also hanging out with Jason Donovan, her co-star in Neighbours.
In one clip from British TV, former daytime favourite Anne Diamond is seen asking her, in a slightly snippy tone: “When you started out, did you mean to be an actor or a singer?”
She admits to feeling “frustrated” by headlines labelling her the “singing budgie” and calling her “awful”, “mechanistic”, “talentless” and “terrible”. One scene shows her with her head in her hands on the edge of the stage as someone enquires” “How are you feeling? But in other moment, looking very happy, she declares: “I can’t actually speak just yet.”
Of her battle with breast cancer 21 years ago in 2005, when she was 36, Kylie admits: “I was so scared of what was ahead of me… f***!” Younger sister Dannii battles tears as she says: “We didn’t know if she was ever going to be well again. But I just wanted to be with my sister. Music kept us going.” One shocked fan reacted: “Almost 40 years in and the first time I’ve heard her swear! She is pure perfection.”
The pals that share their thoughts include Donovan, singer Nick Cave and hit-maker Pete Waterman, who put her on the path to superstardom all those years ago. Cave, her close friend with whom she recorded Where the Wild Roses Grow in 1995, explains: “Kylie is this force. It’s all outward. Giving.”
The films, from BAFTA Award-winner Michael Harte, will attempt to show viewers the woman behind the hits, focusing on “how she has faced public scrutiny, personal loss and illness with grit and grace”.
Neil Robertson established a narrow 5-3 lead over John Higgins in a fiercely contested opening to their quarter-final.
Higgins compiled breaks of 61 and 56 to take the first frame and the fourth to draw level at 2-2.
However, the emotional and physical toll of defeating Ronnie O’Sullivan 13-12 in an all-time Crucible classic on Monday appeared to weigh on the 50-year-old Scot at times.
The four-time champion made six unforced errors before reaching the mid-session interval and was far from his best in a scrappy affair.
Australia’s Robertson, who won the world title in 2010, also failed to hit the heights despite enjoying runs of 77 and 70 and, at one point, he even had to have his chair repaired, adding to the protracted nature of their contest.
While he took the final two frames of the session, his pragmatic approach and an unfortunate run of the balls contributed to a drawn-out eighth frame that lasted almost 52 minutes and delayed the start of the evening session.
Robertson and Higgins get back under way on Wednesday at 10:00 BST.
In contrast, Hossein Vafaei and Wu Yize are level at 4-4 after an entertaining start to their best-of-25 encounter.
With both players seemingly focused on attacking snooker, Iran’s Vafaei knocked in a break of 66 to lead 2-1 before Wu underlined his status as one of the game’s burgeoning talents with runs of 90, 56 and 56 to pull 4-2 ahead.
Vafaei, who had to win two qualifiers before advancing past Si Jiahui and then world number one Judd Trump in a final-frame thriller, responded with a break of 71.
And he drew level when Wu failed to knock in a presentable long black to the top left corner, clearing the table up to, and including, the pink.
They return for the second session of their best-of-25 encounter on Wednesday at 14:30 BST.
WASHINGTON — The criminal indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center this week was met with much outrage but little surprise from civil rights leaders, who have for more than a year prepared for heightened legal scrutiny from the Trump administration, and how to mount a coordinated response.
In rounds of calls immediately following the indictment, civil rights leaders discussed how to support the SPLC, a Montgomery, Ala.-based civil rights group founded in 1971 that has tracked white supremacist groups and been outspoken on voting rights, immigration and policing. Organizers on one call agreed that winning in the court of public opinion would be crucial as judicial proceedings began, leading to dozens of public statements of support and planned rallies.
And legal advisors to civil rights groups urged organizers to prepare themselves for similar criminal indictments, protracted legal action that may exhaust their resources and audits of their staff and internal documents.
The flurry of behind-the-scenes coordination represented a marked escalation and mobilization of plans for activist groups that have been at odds with the Justice Department since President Trump’s return to the White House last year. Organizers say they are prepared to back the SPLC in its legal fight.
“It’s a blatantly obvious attack on civil rights and civil liberties to whitewash the foot soldiers of the great replacement theory and other extremists. This coalition isn’t going silent,” said Maya Wiley, president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, an umbrella organization of hundreds of civil rights groups.
Without addressing the indictment, a coalition of more than 100 activist groups on Tuesday published a letter vowing solidarity with groups that are “unjustly targeted” by the federal government. SPLC was a signatory to the pact.
“An attack on one is an attack on all,” the coalition declared. “We will share knowledge, resources, and support with any organization threatened by abuses of power.”
DOJ alleges criminal conduct in SPLC’s longtime informant network
The Justice Department alleges that the SPLC, which rose to prominence for its work prosecuting and tracking hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, violated federal law through its network of paid informants in extremist groups. The DOJ claims the payments funded hate groups and misled the SPLC’s donors.
The SPLC now faces charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the case brought in the federal court in Alabama, where the organization is based.
“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said acting Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche at a news conference announcing the charges. Blanche promised the department “will hold the SPLC and every other fraudulent organization operating with the same deceptive playbook accountable.”
Longtime civil rights activists found the claims to be a disingenuous and partisan move that may empower extremist groups.
“The indictment is nakedly political and represents the Justice Department turning on itself,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League. “It places the Justice Department in the posture of, in effect, defending white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and others.”
Advocates also view the indictment as part of the administration’s broader upending of civil rights law and the Justice Department’s prosecution of Trump’s political opponents.
The SPLC in recent years became a bogeyman among conservatives who resented that the watchdog designated several rightwing organizations that engage in Republican politics as hateful or extremist.
In October, FBI Director Kash Patel canceled the agency’s longtime anti-extremism partnerships with the SPLC and the Anti-Defamation League, which combats antisemitism. Patel at the time called the SPLC a “partisan smear machine.”
The Justice Department and SPLC did not respond to requests for comment.
Indictment represents marked shift for civil rights work
Advocates dispute the DOJ’s characterization of the SPLC’s work, which civil rights activists credit to combating extremist groups across the country.
“The problem is that the indictment essentially claims that it was a fraud on SPLC’s donors to use their funds to fight the Klan, the neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups, when that is exactly why people gave to the organization,” said Norm Eisen, founder of Democracy Defenders Action, a legal group that works with organizations in legal disputes with the Trump administration.
Eisen added: “The notion that there’s something wrong with using informants and protecting their identities to prevent white supremacist violence is belied by the fact that that is not only what the SPLC did, but it is also the stock and trade of the FBI itself.”
Civil rights organizations are now preparing for further legal action against other organizations that disagree with or actively oppose the Trump administration. Organizations have reviewed their document retention, tax compliance and auditing policies over the last year to safeguard against any probes or lawsuits.
Some civil rights organizations have also floated creating new organizational structures that may better withstand legal scrutiny. On another recent call, activists floated restructuring some groups into for-profit entities, or potentially crafting new financial conduits for donors to give through to ensure that staff could receive pay if an organization’s assets were seized or frozen.
The preparations represent a marked shift for many civil rights leaders, who in recent years counted the Justice Department under both Democratic and Republican administrations as a reliable ally in key civil rights battles.
“What we are seeing in real time is an administration seeking to leverage its position to target individuals and organizations that do not agree with its political thought,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson, who said the Justice Department has been “weaponized by dangerous forces.”
But for other leaders, the SPLC indictment raised the specter of a return to a previous era, when the Justice Department monitored — and at times prosecuted — civil rights leaders to disrupt their activities.
“We’re not backing down, but we are clear-eyed. Everyone could be in some form of jeopardy if you’re in the crosshairs of this administration,” said Juan Proaño, CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a civil rights group suing the Trump administration over executive orders addressing birthright citizenship and mail-in voting.
“That’s what they’re looking for; they want this to have a chilling effect,” Proaño said.
(Bloomberg) — President Xi Jinping is wrapping up what’s been an unusually busy week of diplomacy in Beijing, showcasing the fervent interest of world leaders to develop ties with China while the US is embroiled in a conflict with Iran. Read More
