With just over a week to go before election day, Nithya Raman’s endorsement for mayor from the Democratic Socialists of America’s Los Angeles chapter is in jeopardy, as members of the local and national branches tussle over the city council member’s bonafides on Palestine.
The local chapter voted to endorse Raman last month, and with that comes teams of eager doorknockers canvassing for her across the city.
The endorsement wasn’t exactly full-throated — the tally was 937 in favor and 484 against — and since then factions within the DSA have argued that she isn’t in compliance with the organization’s stance on Palestine, namely, that she doesn’t support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
The DSA’s National Political Committee, or NPC, emailed the local’s leaders saying that they were out of compliance with “R22,” a DSA resolution that requires local chapters to inquire about a politician’s positions on the BDS movement before they are endorsed, DSA-L.A.’s co-chair Leslie Chang told The Times.
Chang acknowledged that the chapter didn’t include a question about BDS on its questionnaire for Raman before it endorsed her.
“This was an oversight,” she and co-chair Sean Wakasa wrote in an email to DSA-LA members. To the group’s national political committee, leadership wrote that Raman “has always supported the right of private citizens to engage in boycotts, including BDS.”
The Raman campaign declined to comment. At a forum last month, Raman called BDS a “legitimate form of peaceful protest” without saying whether she supports the movement.
The DSA’s national political committee, which was originally set to meet on the issue last week, is now expected to meet Monday to mull either suspending the endorsement or asking Raman to clarify her position.
Chang insists the national group has no authority to rescind an endorsement made by the L.A. chapter.
“Our endorsement of Nithya was a democratic decision made by the membership, and the NPC is violating its own bylaws by considering un-endorsement and expulsion without following proper procedure,” she said in a statement to The Times. “So we’re going to continue campaigning for our entire slate and protect our chapter’s vote by all means necessary.”
A spokesperson for the DSA national organization declined to comment.
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‘City of L.A. on steroids’
As voters ready to go to the polls next month, another local race is already looming large in the background: the contest for top dog in Los Angeles County government.
Measure G, approved by a slim margin of voters in November 2024, set in motion the process of creating both a new CEO position with broad executive powers and an independent ethics commission, and it expanded the Board of Supervisors from five members to nine.
But Supervisor Kathryn Barger is now asking her fellow supervisors to take a “pause,” telling the Times in an interview that “haste makes waste” and that she is concerned about that process and the speed of its implementation. She also called into question the ethics of a sitting supervisor running for an office that is expected to pay $558,000 in total compensation.
“This position is going to change the county. We’re going to become the city of L.A. on steroids,” she said Wednesday, a day after the board’s latest meeting devolved into a contentious discussion of the county executive issue and Barger’s intention to slow down the process.
“Once again,” she added, “we are rushing to put something together, I think maybe in the hopes that no one will peel back the curtain and expose what is going on.”
At Tuesday’s board meeting, Barger committed to not run for the CEO position and called on her fellow board members to do the same. Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis have now publicly stated that they too will follow the pledge.
But Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, widely viewed as a potential top contender for the position, has declined to pledge not to run. Instead, she criticized Barger’s approach in an emailed statement to The Times.
“Pressuring others out of an election is political interference, no matter how many times she calls it ethics,” Horvath said, adding that voters “took this power away from politicians like Supervisor Barger because they wanted to make this choice themselves. She doesn’t get to claw it back and dress up a power grab as an ethics crusade.”
Golfing for Gates
Thirty-four years after he left his post, former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates continues to be an unexpected flashpoint in this year’s mayoral contest.
Raman said during an Oct. 13 debate that the LAPD under Gates was “the gold standard” for its noncooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Bass responded by accusing her of romanticizing a chief who presided over the mistreatment of Black and Latino residents.
Raman initially accused Bass of twisting her words. But this week, the council member began issuing apologies, telling CNN she “should not have said it.”
Although Bass has repeatedly denounced Gates’ 14-year tenure on the campaign trail, one of her biggest financial supporters has been keeping his legacy alive.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents rank and file officers and is backing Bass, has been a long-standing host of a memorial golf tournament named after Gates, who died in 2010. This year’s was billed as one of the union’s “premier fundraising events.” According to the union, proceeds go to its Officer Needs Help Fund, which helps officers and their families in times of need.
Bass’ campaign, asked about the tournament, did not immediately offer a comment. Neither did Raman and the police union.
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed.
— WILL SHE, WON’T HE: Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath endorsed Raman on Tuesday, giving the City Council member a powerful boost in the battle for votes on the Westside and in the San Fernando Valley.
Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, however, declined once again to endorse either Bass or Raman in the Nov. 3 runoff election, but expressed what he called “extreme concern” about Raman’s plans to remove Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
— VALLEY RAIL: Construction is set to begin this week on a 6.7-mile rail line linking Van Nuys and Pacoima. The nearly $4-billion project, which will run along Van Nuys Boulevard, will include 11 street-level stations and is projected to open in 2032, according to L.A. Metro, the Los Angeles County transit agency.
— TOP COP FLOP: Raman’s police chief woes continued this week when she was asked by CNN anchor Elex Michaelson to name a police chief she respects. “I don’t know. I don’t know,” she said, before Michaelson continued with another question.
— GHOST OF GASCÓN: In the homestretch of the mayor and city attorney contests, George Gascón has been conjured as a boogeyman by opponents of progressive candidates Marissa Roy and Raman.
— LET THE GAMES BEGIN? The next mayor of Los Angeles will be in the global spotlight in 2028, when L.A. plays host to the Summer Olympic Games. And if Raman prevails over Bass, that mayor will be someone who didn’t even want the Olympics here in the first place.
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.
Meghan Markle is “distressed” following reports that her half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. found explicit material involving minors in their father’s possession.
On Thursday, British tabloid the Sun reported that Thomas Jr. claimed he’d found “hundreds, if not thousands” of child pornography images inside four large boxes at the Cebu, Philippines, home of his father, Thomas Markle Sr., and contacted authorities.
Meghan’s team issued a statement to The Times on Friday, writing that she was “deeply distressed” by the news.
“My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed,” she said.
“In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated,” she continued, adding, “I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them.”
The Duchess of Sussex said that she trusted authorities were “doing the same for other families.”
“Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.”
Meghan’s relationship with her 82-year-old father has been the subject of media scrutiny since 2018, when she and Prince Harry tied the knot. Thomas Markle Sr. did not attend the wedding.
The Met Police told People that they are looking to confirm the passing of a letter in 2018. The FBI did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment, but told People that the agency is aware of the allegations, will investigate any related allegations of federal violations of U.S. law, and “will provide support, as appropriate, to the Philippine authorities.”
Thomas Markle Sr. denied the accusations on Friday, calling them “bulls—” and “lies.” He told the Daily Mail that he was “shocked” and “hurt” by his son’s claims and that he “could never do” what he’s being accused of.
“It’s the worst thing anyone could accuse me of. … I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.”
Thomas Markle Jr. did not immediately respond on Friday to The Times’ request for comment, and Thomas Markle Sr. could not be reached for comment.
The news comes shortly after Meghan and Prince Harry closed their California chapter and returned to England with their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5.
Rams receiver Puka Nacua will not practice Friday because of a calf injury and will be listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, coach Sean McVay said Friday.
Nacua took part in the majority of practice on Thursday but did not finish it. McVay indicated that tests revealed “a little minor thing in there,” and that Nacua would be a game-time decision Sunday.
“I don’t think he knows exactly when it occurred,” McVay said, adding, “he felt it where he wasn’t able to have some of the power and full explosion … but i don’t think he was aware of any sort of specific play that led to it.”
Nacua played in the season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers and then sat out two games because of a hip injury that caused abdominal soreness. He returned and produced more than 100 yards receiving in each of the next two games, and then caught six passes for 80 yards in last Sunday’s 18-16 defeat by the Arizona Cardinals.
Nacua, the NFL receptions leader in 2025, has 37 catches for 417 yards and a touchdown, and he also has rushed for a touchdown this season.
Nacua’s injury is the latest in a series suffered by a Rams team that opened the season as the favorite to win Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium, but has lost its last two games to fall to 2-4.
Receiver Davante Adams is expected to be sidelined six to 10 weeks because of a hamstring injury suffered against the Cardinals.
Jordan Whittington, Konata Mumpfield, Tutu Atwell and rookie CJ Daniels are other Rams receivers.
“It’s our job to figure out, all right, what are some of the spots we can put them in that accentuate their skillsets,” McVay said.
Inside linebacker Nate Landman is out because of a concussion, McVay said. So veteran Eric Kendricks, who was signed to the practice squad a few weeks ago, will be activated to the roster against the Raiders.
Cornerback Trent McDuffie, who sat out against the Cardinals because of a groin injury, did not practice this week and will be listed as questionable against the Raiders.
primeimages/iStock via Getty Images
The S&P 500 (SP500) recorded its largest-ever single-day put options trading volume by dollar notional value last Friday.
The index reached an estimated $3.3T-$3.4T, according to market data.
The surge represented roughly a 330% increase above the 2024 average, with approximately 4.1M
HAVE you been dreaming of that bucket-list Orlando holiday? Well, it’s about to get a whole lot cheaper.
AttractionTickets.com are launching a massive Black Friday sale, where you can save up to hundreds of pounds on visits to Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort and more.
The sale will include theme park and attraction tickets, as well as combo tickets and holiday packages with hotel or villa stays.
And you’ll want in on these Black Friday deals, as this is the website’s biggest sale of the year.
If you pre-register for the sale ahead of time, you’ll score yourself an EXTRA discount, which will land in your inbox on November 5.
This means that those pre-registered for Black Friday will have access to the absolute cheapest holidays and attraction tickets available on the website all year long.
Click here to sign up to the Black Friday sale so you’ll be among the first to know as soon as these deals drop.
Last year’s mega Black Friday sale saw 20% off all Orlando tickets, so theme park fans are already expecting big discounts again this year.
The deals will be for 2027 holidays, with major savings to be had during the school summer holidays.
While the exact offers are tightly under wraps until the big day, Attraction Tickets have revealed that the average customer will save hundreds of pounds on their holiday, based on the website’s typical orders.
So where could you go and what could you do with a holiday booked through AttractionTickets.com?
If you’re looking for a Florida holiday, you will be able to bag discounts on Disney, Universal, the Kennedy Space Centre and more, plus hotels and villas if you want to extend the magic by staying on-site.
The site also offers handy combo ticket deals – which are great if you want to tick off Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort in one trip, for example.
2027 is the ideal time to visit Disney World, with new upgrades including a Muppet takeover of the former Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster as well as the brand new Magic of Disney Animation zone in the Hollywood Studios park.
At Universal Orlando Resort, new coaster Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is set to launch in 2027, and the previews of this coaster have excited theme park fanatics around the world.
And if you’re wanting to visit California, now’s the time to get planning. You’ll also be able to save on tickets for Disneyland Resort California and Universal Studios Hollywood in this sale.
Disneyland Resort California is home to Cars Land, which you won’t find in Orlando, plus you can tick off the world-famous studio tour at Universal Studios Hollywood.
If you prefer a Spain or Tenerife holiday, you’ll be able to bag discounts at PortAventura World, Siam Park and Loro Parque.
Just make sure to pre-register ahead of the Black Friday deal to bag an extra discount to make your trip even cheaper.
Here are some of the top attractions included in the AttractionTickets.com Black Friday sale:
A look at the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland after Week 8:
Rk. School (record) result; Next game; last week’s ranking
1. SANTA MARGARITA (8-0) def. St. John Bosco, 21-7; vs. JSerra, Friday; 1
2. SIERRA CANYON (8-0) def. Chaminade, 41-0; at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Friday; 3
3. ST. JOHN BOSCO (6-2) lost to Santa Margarita, 21-7; at Servite, Friday; 2
4. CORONA CENTENNIAL (5-3) def. Norco, 46-14; at Chaparral, Friday; 4
5. MATER DEI (6-2) def. Servite, 38-15; vs. Orange Lutheran, Friday; 5
6. MISSION VIEJO (6-1) vs. San Clemente, canceled; at Los Alamitos, Friday; 6
7. ORANGE LUTHERAN (5-3) def. JSerra, 48-13; at Servite, Friday; 7
8. SAN CLEMENTE (7-0) vs. Mission Viejo, canceled; at San Juan Hills, Friday; 8
9. JSERRA (4-4) lost to Orange Lutheran, 48-13; at Santa Margarita, Friday; 10
10. BISHOP AMAT (7-1) def. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 48-28; vs. Loyola, Friday; 12
11. SERVITE (3-5) lost to Mater Dei, 38-15; vs. Orange Lutheran, Friday; 11
12. LA SERNA (7-1) def. Cerritos, 57-7; vs. Mayfair, Friday; 13
13. CREAN LUTHERAN (5-2) def. La Habra, 35-28; at Corona del Mar, Friday; 14
14. INGLEWOOD (8-1) def. Redondo Union, 33-7; at Leuzinger, Friday; 15
15. PALOS VERDES (7-1) def. Mira Costa, 34-14; at Redondo Union, Friday; 16
16. CORONA DEL MAR (7-1) lost to Capistrano Valley, 21-17; vs. Crean Lutheran, Friday; 9
17. CARSON (7-1) def. Narbonne, 60-0; vs. San Pedro, Friday; 18
18. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (7-1) lost to Bishop Amat, 48-28; vs. Sierra Canyon, Friday; 17
19. CHAMINADE (5-3) lost to Sierra Canyon, 41-0; vs. Gardena Serra, Friday; 19
20. HUNTINGTON BEACH (8-0) def. Western, 34-14; vs. Troy, Thursday; 20
21. SAN JACINTO (8-0) def. Elsinore, 49-16; vs. Granite Hills, Friday; 21
22. GARDENA SERRA (4-4) def. Loyola, 26-0; at Chaminade, Friday; 22
23. ORANGE (8-0) def. Beckman, 51-14; vs. Irvine, Thursday; 23
24. SAN JUAN HILLS (7-1) def. Yorba Linda, 14-10; vs. San Clemente, Friday; 24
25. CAPISTRANO VALLEY (7-1) def. Corona del Mar, 21-17; vs. Villa Park, Friday; 25
After the L.A. mayoral debate on NBC4 ended Tuesday, reporters rushed downstairs to a courtyard hoping to speak with the candidates or their surrogates.
Speaking for Mayor Karen Bass were Councilmember Monica Rodriguez and State Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles). On the other side, speaking for Councilmember Nithya Raman, the sole spin doctor was Controller Kenneth Mejia.
“What Councilmember Nithya Raman did up there was show a better path, a better vision for what this city could be,” Mejia told reporters outside the NBC4 and Telemundo52 studios in Universal City.
Mejia isn’t just listed as Raman’s top endorser on her campaign website. He’s also her biggest cheerleader, and the only elected official at City Hall publicly supporting her mayoral bid. (Raman’s camp has contended throughout the campaign that endorsements are not necessarily a sign of how the electorate is feeling.)
Of all the elected officials out there, Mejia is an obvious ally for a politician like Raman who has been somewhat ostracized at L.A. City Hall since she announced her candidacy in February. Not a single council member — even her three fellow comrades in the Democratic Socialists of America — has endorsed Raman’s candidacy.
“When you’re in office, once you learn how status quo works and how to game it, you don’t want to change it,” Mejia told The Times, referring to the three DSA council members supporting Bass.
As for Mejia, he doesn’t mind being on the outside.
“It’s been lonely since I’ve been here [at City Hall],” he said.
“People have told me, ‘Kenneth you ruined your political career by endorsing Nithya,’” he said. “I’m honored to be the only one endorsing her … Karen Bass said the political establishment doesn’t like Nithya and I said, ‘So? I won by bucking political establishment.’”
Mejia has turned into an attack dog for Raman over the past few weeks. After endorsing her in July, he has showed up at news conferences with her and posts sometimes multiple times per day on social media supporting her or attacking the mayor.
One reason for his endorsement is that Bass declined to consent to Mejia performing an audit into her signature homelessness program Inside Safe.
Raman, meanwhile, has said she’ll open the books to Mejia.
If Raman wins, she will have a formidable City Hall ally in Mejia, who has not been shy about using social media to attack an assortment of political targets in and outside city government. On Friday, he announced that he had issued subpoenas to LA28, the private Olympic organizing committee, demanding financial records on the planning for the 2028 Games.
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Fourteen members of the Los Angeles City Council have endorsed Bass (yes, that includes Raman, who subsequently decided to challenge the incumbent).
The sole holdout on the council, Traci Park, made her allegiances — soft as they may be — abundantly clear Wednesday at a town hall in Pacific Palisades when she said she would be voting for Bass but not endorsing her.
“I want some change too,” Park said, addressing her constituents about the mayor’s race. “But the alternative does not actually get us where we want to be. I think it actually impedes our progress.”
“I have deep concerns about the leadership and effectiveness of both candidates. I have personally been deeply frustrated and angry with our current mayor. We have tangled on some major policy issues. But always respectfully.”
Park said that as difficult as things may be now, they could get worse if Raman were elected.
The council member, who represents a large swath of L.A.’s Westside, said she is “very, very concerned” about a Raman mayoralty.
Park represents the Palisades, where the Palisades fire burned last year, destroying thousands of homes and killing 12 people.
Park told The Times in an interview that an endorsement of Bass would have represented “an affirmative statement of support earned based on agreement with someone’s records or positions or accomplishments.”
But Bass is someone Park can work with, the council member told The Times.
“I cannot say the same thing about Nithya Raman. That’s the problem. She doesn’t work with others. I think that deep frustration with her unwillingness to collaborate with others is reflected in the fact that no other council members at all are endorsing her,” Park said.
Bass went hard after Raman at this week’s NBC4/Telemundo 52 debate, accusing her of neglecting constituents in her district, which stretches from Silver Lake to the San Fernando Valley. She pushed even harder the following morning, appearing with some of those dissatisfied residents and business owners in Sherman Oaks.
Standing outside the Valley Inn Restaurant and Martini Bar, Bass said she reached out to Raman early on as mayor to warn her that some of her Valley constituents had contacted the mayor’s office to voice unhappiness with Raman. Bass said she told Raman she was going to meet with them.
“She essentially said to me that … she knew that they didn’t like her, that it was a feeling that was mutual, and to have at it if I want,” Bass said. “To me, I thought that was a strange way to respond.”
Raman spokesperson Liz Garcia denounced Bass’ comments as “bizarre and simply not true,” saying her boss has maintained positive relationships with her constituents. In a statement, she pointed to recent polling that showed Raman with an 8-point lead in the Valley.
“Nithya’s results in her district help explain why: She has reduced encampments, tents and RVs by 70% in her district over the past three years, helped businesses succeed, protected tenants, installed traffic safety upgrades and improved quality of life for residents,” Garcia said.
Raman has been pushing back against the mayor’s claims in other ways, noting that two-thirds of voters in the June 2 primary chose someone other than the incumbent.
During this week’s debate, Raman criticized Bass for boasting that she had given Sherman Oaks residents her personal cell number, saying it showed that regular government operations are dysfunctional.
Standing outside the martini bar, Bass acknowledged that her own staffers aren’t always happy about her generosity with her cell number. But things were worse when she was a member of Congress, she said.
“My cellphone was on my business card,” Bass said.
— BLOW FOR BLOW: The gloves came off in the final debate between Bass and Raman this week, with the two candidates trading verbal jabs over public safety, the Palisades fire and the fate of Police Chief Jim McDonnell. Meanwhile, here’s who three L.A. Times columnists believe won the debate.
— A MOVING TARGET: Raman has shifted her position on police hiring, public safety spending, the so-called mansion tax and other issues, causing some to question what she stands for. Raman has defended her various policy shifts, saying she made them after receiving new information or recognizing changed circumstances.
— CHIEF AMONG THEM: Raman and Bass have diverged over whether to keep Chief McDonnell. Raman said she would replace the chief if she becomes mayor, although she offered mixed messages on the timing. Bass said that McDonnell’s replacement before the 2028 Olympics could throw the LAPD into turmoil.
— GATES-GATE: Bass denounced Raman for saying the “gold standard” for the LAPD’s noncooperation with immigration enforcement took place during the tenure of former police chief Daryl Gates. Bass suggested Raman is not in touch with the city’s Black community, while Raman said the mayor had deliberately twisted her words.
— HOPE FOR HOUSING: Both Bass and Raman have been talking up their work on housing affordability. Bass said her administration has fast-tracked tens of thousands of units of affordable housing, while Raman has boasted of her success in enacting the strongest tenant protections in L.A. in 40 years.
— FIGHTING FRAUD: Los Angeles County voters are concerned about a host of voter fraud issues that could disrupt the Nov. 3 general election, even though they have a high degree of confidence in local elections officials, according to a new poll funded by the nonprofit California Community Foundation.
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.
By Los Angeles Times staff
HIGH SCHOOL FLAG FOOTBALL
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
City Section
Eagle Rock 19, L.A. Wilson 0
Lincoln 21, L.A. Marshall 7
L.A. University 14, WISH Academy 8
MSAR 7, Valley Oaks CES 0
Monroe 7, Sun Valley Poly 0
Monroe 13, Sun Valley Poly 6
North Hollywood 52, Grant 0
North Hollywood 31, Grant 0
Panorama 7, GALA 0
San Fernando 16, Sylmar 0
Van Nuys 32, Reseda 0
By Los Angeles Times staff
A look at how the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland fared this week:
Rk. School (record) result; Next game
1. SANTA MARGARITA (8-0) def. St. John Bosco, 21-7; vs. JSerra, Friday
2. ST. JOHN BOSCO (6-2) lost to Santa Margarita, 21-7; at Servite, Friday
3. SIERRA CANYON (8-0) def. Chaminade, 41-0; at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Friday
4. CORONA CENTENNIAL (5-3) def. Norco, 46-14; at Chaparrel, Friday
5. MATER DEI (6-2) def. Servite, 38-15; vs. Orange Lutheran, Friday
6. MISSION VIEJO (6-1) at San Clemente, postponed; at Los Alamitos, Friday
7. ORANGE LUTHERAN (5-3) def. JSerra, 48-13; at Servite, Friday
8. SAN CLEMENTE (7-0) vs. Mission Viejo, postponed; at San Juan Hills, Friday
9. CORONA DEL MAR (7-0) at Capistrano Valley, Saturday; vs. Crean Lutheran, Friday
10. JSERRA (4-4) lost to Orange Lutheran, 48-13; at Santa Margarita, Friday
11. SERVITE (3-5) lost to Mater Dei, 38-15; vs. Orange Lutheran, Friday
12. BISHOP AMAT (7-1) def. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 48-28; vs. Loyola, Friday
13. LA SERNA (7-1) def. Cerritos, 57-7; vs. Mayfair, Friday
14. CREAN LUTHERAN (5-2) vs. La Habra, late; at Corona del Mar, Friday
15. INGLEWOOD (8-1) def. Redondo Union, 33-7; at Leuzinger, Friday
16. PALOS VERDES (7-1) def. Mira Costa, 34-14; at Redondo Union, Friday
17. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (7-1) lost to Bishop Amat, 48-28; vs. Sierra Canyon, Friday
18. CARSON (7-1) def. Narbonne, 48-14; vs. San Pedro, Friday
19. CHAMINADE (5-3) lost to Sierra Canyon, 41-0; vs. Gardena Serra, Friday
20. HUNTINGTON BEACH (8-0) def. Western, 34-14; vs. Troy, Thursday
21. SAN JACINTO (8-0) def. Elsinore, 49-16; vs. Granite Hills, Friday
22. GARDENA SERRA (4-4) def. Loyola, 26-0; at Chaminade, Friday
23. ORANGE (8-0) def. Beckman, 51-14; vs. Irvine, Thursday
24. SAN JUAN HILLS (7-1) def. Yorba Linda, 14-10; vs. San Clemente, Friday
25. CAPISTRANO VALLEY (6-1) vs. Corona del Mar, Saturday; vs. Villa Park, Friday
Selma Blair’s team has released a lengthy statement regarding the actor’s recent arrest following an incident while aboard a flight.
“Selma Blair experienced a medical emergency on the flight,” said the statement provided to People on Friday. “There was no attempt to open the door of the aircraft. Selma did not intend to harm anyone.”
The statement is intended to “correct the record on a few points already in public circulation” regarding Blair’s alleged violent conduct aboard a Delta Airlines flight. The Times has reached out to Blair’s reps for comment.
The “Cruel Intentions” star was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport late Sunday after an alleged altercation with staff during a flight from Los Angeles. Upon landing, Blair, 54, was taken into custody, then transported to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. In addition to her alleged actions aboard the flight, the “Legally Blonde” star has been accused of kicking a Port Authority Police Department officer as she was being transported to the hospital, as well as kicking a nurse.
“Since Sunday night, the public account of what happened to Selma aboard a flight to New York has been built almost entirely on a police statement and a decade-old headline,” Blair’s spokesperson said in the Friday statement to People.
The spokesperson called out the lack of “fair reporting” around the situation, adding that they are grateful for the “handful of journalists [who] have taken the time to report on Selma as a human being rather than a headline.”
Blair was charged with two counts of second-degree assault on Monday for her alleged actions involving the police officer and nurse. Blair pleaded not guilty to the charges. At the hearing, her attorney, Shawn Barnes, reportedly told the judge that “this was not an intentional assault” and that the actor had “missed several doses of … a powerful medication that controls severe neurological symptoms,” per the New York Post.
Blair lives with multiple sclerosis, a chronic neurological disorder and autoimmune disease, which she has been open about since 2018.
The statement also addressed Blair’s medical condition — denouncing any who suggest the actor does not have multiple sclerosis — how and why she travels with a service dog, her activism and her busy schedule as an actor and entrepreneur.
“Selma had never been arrested before Sunday night,” the statement said. “There is much more to this story than has been reported, and we ask to consider the entirety of the facts before rushing to judgment, whether in the courtroom or in the court of public opinion.”
By Will Weissert and Seung Min Kim
WASHINGTON — President Trump signaled Friday that his embattled new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, may be on her way out — a mere week after he picked her for the post.
Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn as he left for a rally in Georgia, Trump said he’d spoken to Zacharia and that he felt she didn’t deserve what he called negative media coverage.
Recounting what was said in that conversation, the president suggested that Zacharia might not stay on the job for long: “I told her, ‘I think you’re better off being happy.’”
He added: “I said, ‘Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this,’” and that he wanted “her to have a good life” and not be subjected to criticism, which he likened to being “brutalized by the media.”
The president said he’d make a final determination later, perhaps after his campaign travel on Friday and this weekend, adding, “When I get back, we’re gonna talk.”
Zacharia’s short tenure has been defined by questions about her professional background and lack of polish in fielding questions from journalists.
She was a surprise choice when Trump announced her appointment on Oct. 9, as the successor to Karoline Leavitt, the youngest-ever White House press secretary who had been part of Trump’s inner circle for years.
Zacharia came under immediate scrutiny when she appeared uncomfortable during her inaugural briefing, delivering halting remarks touting the president and his accomplishments.
She took questions from just three reporters, all from conservative-leaning or Trump-friendly outlets, and left after only about 14 minutes.
Zacharia has said she wanted to keep her briefing short to ensure Trump had enough time later that morning for his own question-and-answer session with reporters, and that she had not been fully briefed by White House staff beforehand.
She later traveled with Trump when he held rallies on Wednesday and Thursday in Alaska, Arizona and Montana — but did not hold more press briefings.
In an appearance on Fox News Channel earlier Friday, Zacharia was asked if she had the president’s confidence and responded: “I hope to be able to build the trust and confidence of everyone around me.”
But she also wouldn’t say when her next press briefing might be.
Zacharia, a Pepperdine University law graduate, also faced criticism for calling herself a “lawyer” when she had not passed a bar exam or was otherwise credentialed to practice.
She had described herself as such when appearing as a commentator on conservative television outlets. Zacharia said the term was a proper one to use when she was offering legal analysis, and said she had worked as a lawyer in China.
Zacharia said Friday on Fox News that she wasn’t asked about passing the bar before becoming press secretary, and Trump noted in his subsequent comments that she was hired as a spokesperson for the White House, not as an attorney.
Before joining the White House, Zacharia had been working in communications for Trump Media, the company that oversees the president’s social media site, Truth Social. She also briefly worked at the Department of Homeland Security during the second Trump administration.
Weissert and Kim write for the Associated Press.
As swiftly as Barry Manilow returned to the stage following a health-related hiatus, he has stepped away.
On Friday, Manilow cut his concert short just two songs after it began. The 83-year-old crooner abruptly told the crowd to talk among themselves as he walked off stage, according to concertgoers who detailed the incident on social media. The curtain dropped, and a few moments later the audience was told the show was a wrap. Manilow’s performance slated for Saturday was subsequently nixed.
The day before, on Thursday, the “Copacabana” singer had returned after a six-week break to perform at the International Theater at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, telling the audience, “I’m back!” Manilow appeared to be spry and energetic throughout the show. “God, I feel like I’m a teenage idol again,” he joked when a couple of audience members tossed underwear onto the stage. He picked up a pair of full-coverage briefs and asked if they needed to go to the laundry, then a pink lacy thong and joked, “I’ll keep this pair.”
“After a triumphant welcome-back concert on Thursday, Barry got hit with bronchitis and had to cancel his Friday and Saturday shows,” reps for Manilow told Paste Magazine.
Last year, Manilow revealed that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and that surgery would require him to postpone several performances. In May, he told The Times that, since he had surgery, he was getting winded just walking down the hallway. “Ninety minutes of screaming in tune, which is what I do for a living — I’m not up for that yet,” he said at the time. “I will be, but it’s taking a long time to get my voice back. They warned me that I’d have to learn to breathe again. So these days, I get up, I go to my piano and I try to be creative. Before I know it, the afternoon’s over.”
The star returned to the stage in June following a six-month hiatus, in support of his latest album, “What a Time,” his first LP loaded with new material in almost 15 years.
But in August, Manilow canceled shows because of vocal and technical problems before telling fans he needed to pause. “We just finished a fantastic summer tour, 29 shows in 68 days,” the singer said. “The shows were fantastic. The audiences were fantastic. And I sounded fantastic. But it seems that we were pushing a little too hard.
“Now we all need to sit down and shut up,” Manilow said.
A look at the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland after Week 6:
Rk. School (record) result; Next game; last week’s ranking
1. SANTA MARGARITA (7-0) def. Servite, 27-3; at St. John Bosco, Friday; 1
2. ST. JOHN BOSCO (6-1) def. Orange Lutheran, 28-14; vs. Santa Margarita, Friday; 2
3. SIERRA CANYON (7-0) def. Gardena Serra, 58-0; at Chaminade, Friday; 3
4. CORONA CENTENNIAL (4-3) def. Murrieta Valley, 42-20; vs. Norco, Thursday; 4
5. MATER DEI (5-2) def. JSerra, 41-7; at Servite, Thursday; 5
6. MISSION VIEJO (6-1) def. Yorba Linda, 27-26; at San Clemente, Friday; 6
7. ORANGE LUTHERAN (4-3) lost to St. John Bosco, 28-14; vs. JSerra, Friday; 7
8. SAN CLEMENTE (7-0) def. Los Alamitos, 40-0; vs. Mission Viejo, Friday; 8
9. CORONA DEL MAR (7-0) def. Tustin, 28-14; at Capistrano Valley, Friday; 12
10. JSERRA (4-3) lost to Mater Dei, 41-7; at Orange Lutheran, Friday; 10
11. SERVITE (3-4) lost to Santa Margarita, 27-3; vs. Mater Dei, Thursday; 11
12. BISHOP AMAT (6-1) def. Chaminade, 28-7; at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Friday; 13
13. LA SERNA (6-1) def. La Mirada, 56-19; vs. Cerritos, Friday; 14
14. CREAN LUTHERAN (5-2) def. Capistrano Valley, 30-22; vs. La Habra, Friday; 15
15. INGLEWOOD (7-1) def. Palos Verdes, 26-23; vs. Redondo Union, Friday; NR
16. PALOS VERDES (6-1) lost to Inglewood, 26-23; at Mira Costa, Thursday; 9
17. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (7-0) def Loyola, 49-21; vs. Bishop Amat, Friday; 23
18. CARSON (6-1) def. Banning, 41-3; at Narbonne, Friday; 16
19. CHAMINADE (5-2) lost to Bishop Amat, 28-7; vs. Sierra Canyon, Friday; 18
20. HUNTINGTON BEACH (7-0) def Dana Hills, 21-16; at Western, Thursday; 20
21. SAN JACINTO (7-0) def. Tahquitz, 48-7; at Elsinore, Thursday; 21
22. GARDENA SERRA (3-4) lost to Sierra Canyon, 58-0; at Loyola, Friday; 19
23. ORANGE (7-0) def. Segerstrom, 53-7; at Beckman, Friday; 22
24. SAN JUAN HILLS (6-1) def. Huntington Beach Edison, 28-20; vs. Yorba Linda, Thursday; NR
25. CAPISTRANO VALLEY (6-1) lost to Crean Lutheran, 30-22; vs. Corona del Mar, Friday; 24
By Los Angeles Times staff
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
City Section
Arleta 45, Monroe 0
GALA 21, Verdugo Hills 0
Granada Hills Kennedy 57, Sylmar 0
Jefferson 28, Santee 6
Los Ángeles 28, Lincoln 10
North Hollywood 53, Sun Valley Poly 0
Panorama 27, San Fernando 0
San Fernando Arroyo 8, Grant 0
Southern Section
Aquinas 14, Yucaipa 6
Bishop Montgomery 45, Compton Early College 0
Chaminade 45, Immaculate Heart 0
Edison 25, Corona del Mar 7
Hueneme 35, Bishop Diego 0
Peninsula 32, Chadwick 0
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 41, Louisville 0
Sierra Canyon 19, Harvard-Westlake 12
St. Mary’s Academy 21, Environmental Charter 0
Whitney 20, Oxford Academy 19
Intersectional
JSerra 44, Campo Verde 14
SATURDAY’S RESULTS
Southern Section
Adelanto 19, Arroyo Valley 0
Bloomington 6, Colton 2
Chaminade 32, Flintridge Sacred Heart 7
Kaiser 47, Rialto 8
Murrieta Valley 12, Temecula Prep 0
Rosary 15, Sunny Hills 13
San Dimas 42, Corona 28
Serrano 38, Arrowhead Christian 12
St. Bonaventure 41, Cate 6
Summit 25, San Gorgonio 0
Windward 7, Burbank Providence 0
Intersectional
Gilbert (Ariz.) 20, Channel Islands 19
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman will be on the same stage Tuesday night for their final debate before the Nov. 3 election, but the two mayoral candidates are expected to come in with starkly different game plans.
With recent polls showing Raman in the lead, the councilmember will likely try to avoid making any kind of flub during the in-studio debate hosted by NBC4 and Telemundo52 in Universal City.
“A successful debate for Raman is one in which not very much happens,” said Dan Schnur, a professor of politics at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine.
Raman floundered at the last NBC4/Telemundo debate during the mayoral primary, when Spencer Pratt was also on stage. She got better marks after a debate with Bass before the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. in August.
Along with avoiding mistakes, Raman will need to paint a positive view of the city she hopes to lead, said Sara Sadhwani, a professor of politics at Pomona College.
“She needs to able to spell out a vision for the city of Los Angeles and inspire confidence that she would be able to deliver on such a vision,” she said.
For Bass, it’s a different task entirely. The mayor was the top vote-getter in the June 2 primary, but numerous several polls now show her trailing. The Berkeley IGS / L.A. Times poll, conducted Sept. 15-20, showed Raman with an 11-point lead over the incumbent.
To gain ground, Bass needs to go on the attack and convince voters that Raman isn’t fit to lead, Schnur said.
“Bass needs to explain to voters why voting for a relatively unproven candidate would be a dangerous risk to take,” he said. “I’m curious if it will go down the road of the nasty,” Sadhwani said.
The debate, being conducted in partnership with Loyola Marymount University, will run from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will be moderated by NBC4 news anchor Colleen Williams, NBC4 chief political reporter Conan Nolan and Telemundo 52 news anchor Alejandra Ortiz.
The Times will have live coverage.
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An influencer digs in on Bass
Social media creator Ed Choi made headlines this week, posting and then removing an Instagram video showing him and Raman declaring in unison: “Only you can stop fascist liars.”
The pair used that phrase as an image of Bass appeared on the video. Raman, facing criticism for her words, said she was referring to Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, not the mayor or Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell, and had asked for the video to be taken down.
Choi defended his messaging, saying in a subsequent Instagram video that Bass is in fact a fascist, pointing to to Bass’ decision to appoint McDonnell, a former L.A. County sheriff. He also cited the Los Angeles Police Department’s treatment of anti-ICE demonstrators as evidence that the city is “descending into fascism.
Raman voted in 2024 to support Bass’ selection of McDonnell, even as her fellow Democratic Socialists of America colleagues on the council cast opposed his appointment. On the campaign trail, she has repeatedly criticized McDonnell, saying the LAPD should not have used tear gas on anti-ICE protesters exercising their First Amendment rights.
Choi also claims in his video that Raman is committed to defunding the police. But Raman no longer supports that idea, saying in February that LAPD staffing should not get any smaller.
When the Los Angeles City Council considered banning the use of the N-word and C-word at its meetings last year, Stacey Segarra-Bohlinger was in attendance to give the politicians a piece of her mind.
“This is going to bring lawsuits,” said Segarra-Bohlinger, who often sings parody songs at council meetings and has been a member of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council.
Segarra-Bohlinger filed suit Tuesday, represented by lawyers with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. The group contends that word bans — which can lead to people who use those words getting kicked out of meetings and potentially barred from future ones — violate First Amendment protections of free speech.
“The Council has weaponized the Word Ban and Meeting Ban to silence, remove, and prospectively exclude its critics,” asserts Segarra-Bohlinger’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
Segarra-Bohlinger filed the suit after her repeated use of the C-word at two council meetings last year, once while singing a parody song of the Ghostbusters theme song in which she repeated the line “Council is afraid of the word c—” four times.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson is standing by the ban.
“In a moment of very serious attacks on our basic rights in this country, it’s especially absurd that some individuals would waste the court’s time defending the right of racists and misogynists to hurl invectives at the public simply to hear their own profanity,” he said in a statement to The Times.
—MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Hedge fund manager Aaron Sosnick dropped another $3 million into Estamos Con Nithya, the pro-Raman independent expenditure committee sponsored by Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. Sosnick, who has been pushing for an expansion of the city’s bike lane network, has now put $6 million into the committee.
— UNION KERFUFFLE: The LAPD’s officer union said Tuesday it will oppose Measure FD, the half-cent sales tax measure on the Nov. 3 ballot pushed by the city firefighters’ union — setting up a bitter and expensive clash between two of the city’s most powerful unions.
— LEFT UNREAD: Citing lingering concerns about the potential misuse of police license plate readers, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to delay an agreement that would enable the deployment of hundreds of the controversial devices until officials are satisfied that the technology will be wielded responsibly.
— LAUSD WOES: The state’s school Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team concluded that the Los Angeles Unified School District is at “high risk” of insolvency — and needs to move quickly to avoid losing control over budget decisions.
— HIT THE SKIDS: Federal authorities along with local partners like LAPD made more than a dozen arrests on Skid Row during a massive drug trafficking crackdown in the troubled Downtown neighborhood.
— LAPD’S LEGAL BILLS: The city of Los Angeles has shelled out nearly $480 million over the last five and a half years to end legal disputes involving the Police Department, including claims of excessive force, litigation over traffic accidents and cases filed by employees who allegedly faced retaliation after reporting misconduct.
— POLLING UPDATE: New polling from the pro-Nithya Raman independent expenditure group that was conducted between Oct. 2 and Oct. 7 found that Raman is leading the mayor 43% to 33% with 23% undecided. The poll’s margin of error is 3.5%.
— A separate poll sponsored by the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, Local 112 and conducted between Sept. 25 and Oct. 5 found a tighter race, within the margin of error, with Raman leading 35% to 33% with 19% undecided. That poll’s margin of error was 4%.
— A third poll conducted for the Bass independent expenditure group Unidos con Bass of 602 likely Latino voters found the incumbent ahead by 12 points, 40% to 28% for Raman. The poll, conducted between Oct. 1 and Oct. 8, has a margin of error was 4%. That’s a 36-point swing from a UC Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll from September that found Raman ahead with Latinos by 24 points, 45% to 21%.
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.
By Los Angeles Times staff
A look at how the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland fared this week:
Rk. School (record) result; Next game
1. SANTA MARGARITA (7-0) def. Servite, 27-3; at St. John Bosco, Friday
2. ST. JOHN BOSCO (6-1) def. Orange Lutheran, 28-14; vs. Santa Margarita, Friday
3. SIERRA CANYON (7-0) def. Gardena Serra, 58-0; at Chaminade, Friday
4. CORONA CENTENNIAL (4-3) def. Murrieta Valley, 42-20; vs. Norco, Thursday
5. MATER DEI (5-2) def. JSerra, 41-7; at Servite, Thursday
6. MISSION VIEJO (6-1) def. Yorba Linda, 27-26; at San Clemente, Friday
7. ORANGE LUTHERAN (4-3) lost to St. John Bosco, 28-24; vs. JSerra, Friday
8. SAN CLEMENTE (7-0) def. Los Alamitos, 40-0; vs. Mission Viejo, Friday
9. PALOS VERDES (6-1) lost to Inglewood, 26-23; at Mira Costa, Thursday
10. JSERRA (4-3) lost to Mater Dei, 41-7; at Orange Lutheran, Friday
11. SERVITE (3-4) lost to Santa Margarita, 27-3; vs. Mater Dei, Thursday
12. CORONA DEL MAR (7-0) def. Tustin, 28-14; at Capistrano Valley, Friday
13. BISHOP AMAT (6-1) def. Chaminade, 28-7; at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Friday
14. LA SERNA (6-1) def. La Mirada, 56-19; vs. Cerritos, Friday
15. CREAN LUTHERAN (5-2) def. Capistrano Valley, 30-22; vs. La Habra, Friday
16. CARSON (6-1) def. Banning, 41-3; at Narbonne, Friday
17. OXNARD PACIFICA (5-2) lost to Newbury Park, 21-16; at Bishop Diego, Friday
18. CHAMINADE (5-2) lost to Bishop Amat, 21-0; vs. Sierra Canyon, Friday
19. GARDENA SERRA (3-4) lost to Sierra Canyon, 58-0; at Loyola, Friday
20. HUNTINGTON BEACH (709) def Dana Hills, 21-16; at Western, Thursday
21. SAN JACINTO (7-0) def. Tahquitz, 48-7; at Elsinore, Thursday
22. ORANGE (7-0) def. Segerstrom, 53-7; at Beckman, Friday
23. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (7-0) def Loyola, 49-21; vs. Bishop Amat, Friday
24. CAPISTRANO VALLEY (6-1) lost to Crean Lutheran, 30-22; vs. Corona del Mar, Friday
25. YORBA LINDA (0-7) lost to Mission Viejo, 27-26; vs. San Juan Hills, Thursday
By Michelle L. Price and Collin Binkley
WASHINGTON — President Trump said that he has struck a deal to obtain diesel from Russia, a stunning reversal of years of U.S. pressure on Moscow over its war with Ukraine and an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.
Trump said on social media on Friday that he struck the deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call in which he was expected to discuss a suspected case of plague in Russia. Instead, Trump announced that Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.” Russia will deliver another 3 million tons “within a short period of time” after that, he wrote.
Trump’s shocking announcement comes after he signed a sweeping Russia sanctions law last month that aimed at clamping down on Russia’s energy economy, among other areas, that fuel its war against Ukraine.
His move casts doubt on the likelihood of the White House imposing sanctions on Russia this month, given that a bipartisan law passed by Congress directs the administration to target the top importers of Russian oil and gas.
Trump, in his announcement, did not address the sanctions or Russia’s war but said, “Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority.”
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about who was paying for the diesel from Russia and when the fuel being supplied under the agreement would become available. It also did not clarify whether subsequent supplies of Russian diesel set to come next month would be supplied prior to Election Day on Nov. 3.
Gas prices globally have surged as the war in Iran upends the energy sector. The national average for a gallon of diesel in the U.S. was $6.23 on Friday, according to AAA, after hitting a record $6.52 on Sept. 22.
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev reposted the Treasury Department’s announcement on X Friday and said that “Russia-US cooperation on diesel and energy will benefit the world.”
Rep. Don Beyer, the senior House Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee, called Trump’s announcement, “infuriating.”
“This is what we warned anyone who would listen: Trump isn’t the slightest bit trustworthy when it comes to Russia,” Beyer said in a statement on X. “Giving him expanded tariff powers in hopes he would use them to help Ukraine was a mistake. Now he’s lifting sanctions on Russian fossil fuels.”
The law Trump signed last month envisions sanctions on Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers and bans all new U.S. investment in Russia and the handling of sovereign debt.
It also directed Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas, with an exception for countries that import less than 15% of Russia’s natural gas exports and have taken significant steps to reduce those imports.
The U.S. has not imported Russian oil or gas since 2022, when the Biden administration banned them because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Shortly after Trump made the announcement, the Treasury Department said it was immediately issuing a temporary license allowing Russian diesel to be supplied to the global market.
This is the latest in several licenses the U.S. Treasury has issued regarding Russian fuel shipments since the start of the Iran war earlier this year. But it is the first such license to ease sanctions on diesel for a period lasting longer than the standard 30-day window since the start of the Ukraine war.
The new so-called general license means U.S. sanctions will not apply until April 2027 on deliveries of Russian diesel that has been loaded onto tankers as of Friday. The department extended similar easing of sanctions in March and April even though Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had ruled out such a move earlier in the year.
The extensions continue to underscore how the fallout from the Iran war has boosted Moscow’s ability to profit from its energy exports, which had been restrained by the U.S. and other allies since the invasion of Ukraine.
Price and Binkley write for the Associated Press. AP writer Will Weissert in Washington and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.
By Los Angeles Times staff
FRIDAY’S RESULTS
City Section
Panorama 14, Granada Hills Kennedy 13
San Fernando Arroyo 18, Sun Valley Poly 0
Van Nuys 25, Sylmar 0
Verdugo Hills 35, Monroe 6
Southern Section
Brentwood 26, Culver City 6
Harvard-Westlake 41, Flintridge Sacred Heart 0
Los Alamitos 28, Marina 0
Murrieta Mesa 20, Murrieta Valley 6
SATURDAY’S RESULTS
Southern Section
Ayala d. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, forfeit
Bishop Amat 40, Oxnard Pacifica 19
Cajon d. Shadow Hills, forfeit
Cajon 12, Ayala 6
California Military Institute 24, St. Lucy’s 20
Camarillo 14, Bishop Amat 12
Camarillo 32, Channel Islands 21
Chaparral 26, Temecula Valley 0
Culver City 12, Cathedral City 0
Culver City d. Temple City, forfeit
Esperanza 18, Culver City 7
Esperanza 33, Cathedral City 0
Hart 13, Ayala 12
Hart d. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, forfeit
Mission Viejo 21, Cerritos Valley Christian 7
Newbury Park 21, Del Sol 0
Newbury Park 50, Fillmore 13
Newbury Park 14, Hueneme 13
Oxnard 21, Cajon 6
Oxnard 27, Hart 0
Oxnard d. Shadow Hills, forfeit
Palos Verdes 20, Bellflower 0
Santa Barbara 26, Channel Islands 25
Segerstrom 21, Cerritos Valley Christian 7
St. Paul 46, Ramona Convent 6
Valencia 7, Oxnard Pacifica 7
Ventura 14, Santa Barbara 6
Ventura 19, Camarillo 13
Vista Murrieta 19, Great Oak 13
Westlake 53, Valencia 7
Westlake 51, Bishop Amat 26
Westlake 45, Ventura 26
Intersectional
El Camino Real 21, Buena 19
Hueneme 32, El Camino Real 26
Sage Hill 34, Venice 6
Wilmington Banning 12, Cypress 0
Hours before Nithya Raman took the stage at Jewish Federation L.A.’s mayoral forum this week, Mayor Karen Bass’ campaign blasted out a press release accusing the council member of skipping a City Council Jewish Heritage Month event to appear on Hasan Piker’s livestream.
The Raman camp’s response: “The Mayor is deliberately spreading misinformation that the public record directly contradicts,” said Liz Garcia, a campaign spokesperson.
Piker is a left-wing streamer on the platform Twitch and a fierce critic of Israel. Raman appeared on his stream on May 15, where he asked her if she thought Israel was committing genocide in Palestine. She said she did.
That same day, Raman missed a Jewish Heritage Month event at City Hall. Debbie Paperman, who is on the executive board of Democrats for Israel Los Angeles, said Raman told her that she had not been feeling well.
The Bass campaign, citing the fact that Raman appeared on Piker’s stream the same day, fired off an email to reporters claiming the councilmember had lied about her reasons for missing the Jewish heritage event.
The Raman campaign said that Raman was, in fact, ill.
Video from the May 15 council meeting shows Raman was present at the start of the meeting, but no longer at her seat during the heritage event, in which Councilmember Bob Blumenfield celebrated Jewish athletes. More than an hour later, Raman was back in council to make a speech and introduce other speakers for Hapa Day, celebrating people of mixed Asian and Pacific Island heritage, during which she said she wasn’t feeling well.
Raman’s team said she was still at City Hall during the Jewish Heritage Month event, but that she left council chambers due to her illness.
She felt better later that afternoon, the Raman camp said, allowing her to appear on Piker’s show.
Paperman said she wasn’t convinced. “It happened that you were sick for the multiple hours this was going on and you happened to get better to go on this psycho’s stream?” said Paperman. “I don’t believe that.”
Piker, meanwhile, shot back at the mayor for using his name to try to dissuade voters from supporting Raman.
“Karen Bass is deploying the same nasty tactic that Donald Trump used recently at a press conference, wondering out loud why any Jewish person would vote for Democrats, due to my presence in the big tent,” he told The Times in a text message.
Piker said he will vote for Raman, though he supported Bass against billionaire Rick Caruso in 2022.
“I was also a fan of [her] past work in Cuba,” he told The Times. “Karen Bass used to be quite the radical.”
Bass will need to rely on undecided Republican and conservative voters to propel her to a mayoral victory, a new poll paid for by a group supporting her found.
The incumbent mayor is trailing Raman by 4 percentage points, 39% to 35%, with a quarter of the electorate still undecided, according to the initial results from an FM3 Research poll that was commissioned by the Central City Assn.’s PAC, an independent expenditure group supporting the mayor.
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When the pollsters gave likely voters additional, critical information about both candidates, Bass shot up by 5 points and took a narrow lead over Raman, 40% to 39%, with 21% undecided, according to FM3.
“The undecided voters — including many that say they will refuse to make a choice between Bass and Raman by Election Day — are disproportionately: Republicans, conservatives, 65+, homeowners, Democratic women over the age of 50 and those who do not hold a college degree,” wrote the research company in a polling memorandum.
The poll surveyed 809 likely L.A. voters from Sept. 21-28. It has a 3.5% margin of error.
“The mayoral race remains a statistical tie,” said Nella McOsker, the president of the Central City Assn. “Our poll demonstrates that some of the most reliable voting blocs swing to Bass once they fully learn both candidates’ records.”
A poll conducted between Sept. 15 and Sept. 20 by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, found Raman was ahead 39% to 28%.
A woman walks out of her home carrying a full garbage bag, then starts venting about the high cost of trash pickup.
“Karen Bass has nearly bankrupted L.A., so the city doubled my trash fees. Isn’t L.A. expensive enough?” the woman says angrily, before slamming the lid on a black trash bin.
That message is at the heart of a campaign video created by Streets For All, a transportation advocacy group now spending about $1.2 million to promote Raman and tear down Bass.
That ad is missing a key piece of information: Raman voted to hike those trash fees several times last year, even as two of her council colleagues spoke out against them.
“I was one of two no votes,” said City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who is supporting Bass’ reelection, in an interview. “She never once pushed back.”
Rodriguez called the ad misleading, saying it implies that Raman was an opponent of the fee hikes.
Michael Schneider, who runs the Streets For All campaign committee, defended the 14-second spot, saying council members hiked the trash fees to make up for bad budget decisions made by the mayor — including her support for a $2.6-billion upgrade of the Convention Center.
The council boosted the trash fee to $55.95 per month last year for small apartment buildings, up from $24.33. For single-family homes, the monthly fee was also hiked to $55.95, up from $36.32.
The city’s budget advisors said the increases were needed in large part because the monthly fees had not been increased in 17 years. As a result, L.A.’s residential trash customers were not being charged the full cost of garbage pickup, leaving the city budget to cover the difference.
L.A.’s summer of 2026 will be remembered for stifling heat, innumerable Dodgers injuries and, especially, World Cup watch parties.
Teams, corporate sponsors and the city of Los Angeles welcomed in the world, producing large crowds and kumbaya moments — with fans of opposing teams partying side-by-side in (relative) peace and harmony.
Mayor Karen Bass’ “Kick it in the Park” events drew a total of 45,000 fans over the length of the quadrennial soccer tournament. A survey of about 2,000 of them registered overwhelming support for the free shindigs.
Paul Krekorian, executive director of the mayor’s Office of Major Events, declared victory in a meeting with City Council members this week. He also said that substantial planning is already underway to bring the city even more viewing parties and “activations” during the 2028 Olympics.
While the city hosted a maximum of three viewing parties a day during the World Cup, it plans to stage as many as 15 a day when the Olympics come to town. A list has been drawn up of possible locations for the festivities — spread around every corner of the city and distant from Olympic venues to avoid overcrowding.
Among the possible viewing party locations: MacArthur Park, the Greek Theatre, Pan Pacific Park, Leimert Park Plaza, Koreatown, Penmar Recreation Center, Echo Park Lake, Angels Gate Park and the Watts Towers.
Given the welter of Olympic events, it will be a challenge to schedule the parties, whose centerpieces are usually big screen projections of the live events, with food and live performances often thrown in.
— SPLIT ON GAZA: Bass and Raman split on Tuesday over whether Israel has committed genocide in Gaza during the Israel Gaza war. The two candidates gave their opinions during a forum hosted by Jewish Federation Los Angeles. Raman said she agrees with the experts who use the term, while Bass said she would not use the term genocide to describe Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza.
— WILDFIRE FAILURES: A long-awaited independent investigation commissioned by Gov. Gavin Newsom offered the most in-depth review of the Jan. 7, 2025, Palisades and Eaton fires, describing the chaos and poor communication that made firefighting, rescues and evacuations even more difficult. The 724-page report also cited the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the Jan. 1 Lachman fire, which reignited days later, and Los Angeles County’s failure to provide timely evacuation alerts in Altadena.
— ESTAMOS CON WHOM?: Recent polling by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, found that likely Latino voters favor Councilmember Raman over incumbent Bass by a wide margin — 45% to 21%, with 34% undecided. That’s an even bigger lead than Raman had over Bass with voters overall in the most recent Berkeley IGS/L.A. Times poll.
— VOTER GUIDES: The Times released its much-anticipated voter guides for the November election this week, including a mayoral guide and a guide to the Council District 9 race, among many others.
— OLYMPIC OBSCURA: The nonprofit organizer of the 2028 Summer Olympics, LA28, has provided less information in its annual reports than it agreed to in a 2021 contract with the city. The group has stopped reporting the contracts it signs over $1 million, leaving taxpayers with less information about the work going into the Games. LA28 says it has provided all necessary info.
The city also asked LA28 to take out a $650-million insurance policy, and agree to cover any potential losses above that amount, should the Games be canceled by a calamity.
— LAPD BLUES: Secret recordings documenting LAPD officers making racist comments have renewed questions about whether the force, which is now less than 50% white, has made forward progress on stamping out prejudice in its ranks.
— STORM’S BREWING: L.A.’s sanitation agency is bracing for the coming ‘Super’ El Niño, which could wreak havoc with the city’s Hyperion sewage treatment plant.
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.
By Los Angeles Times staff
A look at how the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland fared this week:
Rk. School (record) result; Next game
1. SANTA MARGARITA (6-0) def. Mater Dei, 14-7; vs. Servite, Friday
2. ST. JOHN BOSCO (5-1) def. JSerra, 40-14; vs. Orange Lutheran, Friday
3. SIERRA CANYON (6-0) def. Loyola, 41-0; at Gardena Serra, Friday
4. CORONA CENTENNIAL (3-3) def. Vista Murrieta, 65-14; vs. Murietta Valley, Friday
5. MATER DEI (4-2) lost to Santa Margarita, 14-7; at JSerra, Friday
6. MISSION VIEJO (4-1) def. Huntington Beach Edison, 42-14; at Yorba Linda, Thursday
7. ORANGE LUTHERAN (4-2) def. Servite, 56-21; at St. John Bosco, Friday
8. SAN CLEMENTE (6-0) def. Yorba Linda, 28-0; at Los Alamitos, Friday
9 . CHAMINADE (5-1) lost to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 28-21; at Bishop Amat, Friday
10. PALOS VERDES (6-0) def. Long Beach Millikan, 42-7; vs. Inglewood, Friday
11. JSERRA (4-2) lost to St. John Bosco, 40-14; vs. Mater Dei, Friday
12. SERVITE (3-3) lost to Orange Lutheran, 56-21; at Santa Margarita, Friday
13. CORONA DEL MAR (6-0) def. Villa Park, 24-10; vs. Tustin, Friday
14. BISHOP AMAT (5-1) def. Gardena Serra, 27-26; vs. Chaminade, Friday
15. LA SERNA (5-1) def. Warren, 27-3; vs. La Mirada, Friday
16. CREAN LUTHERAN (4-2) def. Tustin, 21-7; vs. Capistrano Valley, Friday
17. CARSON (5-1) def. Gardena, 57-0; at Banning, Friday
18. OXNARD PACIFICA (5-1) def. Oaks Christian, 38-17; at Newbury Park, Friday
19. GARDENA SERRA (3-3) lost to Bishop Amat, 27-26; vs. Sierra Canyon, Friday
20. TUSTIN (4-2) lost to Crean Lutheran, 21-7; at Corona del Mar, Friday
21. LA HABRA (5-1) lost to Capistrano Valley, 42-10; vs. Villa Park, Friday
22. HUNTINGTON BEACH (6-0) def. El Modena, 24-21; at Dana Hills, Friday
23. YORBA LINDA (4-2) lost to San Clemente, 28-0; vs. Mission Viejo, Thursday
24. SAN JACINTO (6-0) def. Temescal Canyon, 49-0; vs. Tahquitz, Friday
25. ORANGE (6-0) def. El Dorado, 42-14; vs. Segerstrom, Friday
Results from CIF City and Southern Section high school football games on Friday, Oct. 2.
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Star receiver Puka Nacua will play against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in Philadelphia, but star defensive lineman Aaron Donald is out because of a back issue, Rams coach Sean McVay said Friday.
Donald, a three-time defensive player of the year, has not practiced this week following the Rams’ loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday in Denver. McVay said Donald, 35, was experiencing back soreness.
“He’s as tough as it gets. Just not feeling good enough,” McVay said, adding, “He would do it and he could probably go be productive but part of our job is to protect these tough dudes like him from themselves.”
Donald has played in two games since ending a two-year retirement in late August. He did not make the trip to Australia for the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers, but made three tackles in the Rams’ 28-6 victory over the New York Giants at SoFi Stadium.
Donald had one tackle and one quarterback hit in the 30-26 loss to the Broncos.
“He’s working as hard as he can to get himself feeling as good as possible and we’re hopeful and optimistic that good days are ahead,” McVay said.
Nacua sat out the last two games because of a hip injury that caused hip, groin and abdominal soreness.
McVay said Nacua has been “strong, looks sturdy, looks explosive,” during practice this week.
“I think it will really just be a feel for the overall conditioning,” McVay said, adding that he hopes “the magic of the [game] jersey” will help Nacua have a productive game against the Eagles.
Tight end Terrance Ferguson (ankle) and cornerback Jaylen Watson (shoulder) will not play on Sunday, McVay said. Tight end Colby Parkinson (shoulder, knee) and edge rusher Josaiah Stewart (groin) are questionable.
Rams tight end Terrance Ferguson jogs back to the locker room against the Giants on Sept. 21.
(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)
The Rams opened the season with five tight ends on the roster, which some might have regarded as a surplus.
But the Rams need the depth.
On Friday, the team put Terrance Ferguson on injured reserve because of an ankle injury.
Ferguson, a 2025 second-round draft pick, was injured Sept. 21 against the Giants, but he played through it against the Broncos.
Ferguson has seven catches for 63 yards and a touchdown.
Ferguson must sit out at least the next four games against the Eagles, Buffalo Bills, Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders. He is eligible to return for the Nov. 1 game against the Chargers.
The Rams began the season with five tight ends on the roster. Tyler Higbee and Davis Allen are at full strength. Max Klare, a second-round draft pick from Michigan, could get his first action on offense against the Eagles.
Rams wide receiver Xavier Smith runs the ball against the Kansas City Chiefs during a preseason game in August.
(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)
What a difference a day makes.
Less than 24 hours after Rams special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone said the team was not going to replace punt returner Xavier Smith, the team released him.
“We just need better production out of that position,” McVay said, adding that some of the “decisions” that Smith made in last Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos proved costly.
“We’ve got to make better decisions,” McVay said. “We’ve got to be able to field it.”
Receiver Alex Bachman is expected to be promoted from the practice squad to handle punt returns. McVay said he was “optimistic that I think we’re going to see some good stuff from Alex on Sunday.”
Smith, 29, is a third-year pro who signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent and worked his way into a role as a kick returner and rotational receiver.
Smith appeared to be on his way to overcoming a major error in last season’s NFC championship game, when he lost a fumble in the 31-27 defeat by the Seattle Seahawks.
But through three games, Ventrone on Thursday described Smith’s performance as “inconsistent.”
“We need to do a better job of tracking the ball, judging the ball, fielding the ball when necessary, not fielding it in other situations,” Ventrone told reporters. “He knows that and hopefully we’ll get the improvements that we need in that area.”
Ventrone was asked if there was any thought about replacing Smith as the punt returner.
“No, we have a lot of trust in ‘X’, I really do,” Ventrone said. “He’s put in a lot of time and effort in training camp and obviously moving into the season. I think that he’ll do the necessary things to be able to sustain at that position for us.”
But on Friday morning, the Rams announced they had waived Smith.
McVay said the Rams “weren’t thinking” about making a change when Ventrone spoke to reporters Thursday.
“As you get a chance to kind of take a step back, evaluate the totality of our group, what’s the best way to try to be able to put together all three phases, did feel like that was in the best interest of the group,” McVay said, adding, “and that decision was made kind of later [Thursday night].”
