Friday

WASHINGTON — The White House budget office said Friday that mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers in the ongoing government shutdown.

Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, said on the social media site X that the “RIFs have begun,” referring to reduction-in-force plans aimed at reducing the size of the federal government.

A spokesperson for the budget office said the reductions are “substantial” but did not offer more immediate details.

The Education Department is among the agencies hit by new layoffs, a department spokesperson said Friday without providing more details. The department had about 4,100 employees when Trump took office in January, but its workforce was nearly halved amid mass layoffs in the Republican administration’s first months. At the start of the shutdown, it had about 2,500 employees.

The White House previewed that it would pursue the aggressive layoff tactic shortly before the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, telling all federal agencies to submit their reduction-in-force plans to the budget office for its review. It said reduction-in-force plans could apply for federal programs whose funding would lapse in a government shutdown, are otherwise not funded and are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”

This goes far beyond what usually happens in a government shutdown, which is that federal workers are furloughed but restored to their jobs once the shutdown ends.

Democrats have tried to call the administration’s bluff, arguing the firings could be illegal, and seemed bolstered by the fact the White House had yet to carry out the firings.

But President Trump had said earlier this week that he would soon have more information about how many federal jobs would be eliminated.

“I’ll be able to tell you that in four or five days if this keeps going on,” he said Tuesday in the Oval Office as he met with Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney. “If this keeps going on, it’ll be substantial, and a lot of those jobs will never come back.”

Meanwhile, the halls of the Capitol were quiet on Friday, then 10th day of the shutdown, with both the House and the Senate out of Washington and both sides digging in for a protracted shutdown fight. Senate Republicans have tried repeatedly to cajole Democratic holdouts to vote for a stopgap bill to reopen the government, but Democrats have refused as they hold out for a firm commitment to extend health care benefits.

There was no sign that the top Democratic and Republican Senate leaders were even talking about a way to solve the impasse. Instead, Senate Majority Leader John Thune continued to try to peel away centrist Democrats who may be willing to cross party lines as the shutdown pain dragged on.

“It’s time for them to get a backbone,” Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said during a news conference.

Kim and Groves write for the Associated Press. AP writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.

Shares of Levi Strauss (LEVI -11.74%) faded on Friday, like a pair of bleached jeans. The apparel maker reported third-quarter results on Thursday evening, beating Wall Street’s estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

The stock still fell as much as 14% in the morning session due to modest management commentary and lofty expectations.

Image source: Getty Images.

Q3 2025 results and Q4 guidance

Q3 revenues rose 6.9% year over year to $1.54 billion. Levi Strauss saw double-digit growth in Asia and a weaker currency-adjusted increase of 3% in Europe. The analyst consensus had called for $1.50 billion.

On the bottom line, adjusted earnings rose from $0.33 to $0.34 per diluted share. Here, your average analyst would have settled for $0.30 per share.

Management also raised its full-year guidance targets across the board, but wrapped the increases in cautious caveats. Levi Strauss should achieve roughly Street-level guidance targets, but only if tariffs hold steady and consumers don’t face macroeconomic pressure in the upcoming holiday season.

On the earnings call, CFO Harmit Singh noted that organic revenue growth held flat in 2023, saw a 3% gain in 2024, and should rise to approximately 6% in the updated 2025 projections. That’s an impressive top-line acceleration.

Is Levi Strauss a good buy after the price drop?

This share-price cut took the edge off Levi Strauss’s recent gains. The stock has still risen 49% in six months, reflecting strong organic sales even in this unpredictable economy.

Trading at 18.7 times trailing earnings today, Levi Strauss shares are neither terribly expensive nor extremely cheap. If you thought the stock was overvalued yesterday, this could be a good time to pick up lower-priced shares, locking in the effective dividend yield at a generous 2.6%.

Beauty fans, do you need to stock up your make-up bag?

The Charlotte Tilbury Black Friday sale is your moment to snap up those cult favourites for less.

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In previous years, the brand has run up to 30% off across selected makeup deals, skincare deals and bundles — with savings on icons like Pillow Talk lipstick, Hollywood Flawless Filter and Charlotte’s Magic Cream — so similar deals are likely on the cards for 2025.

We’ll be updating this guide all month with the most significant price drops, bundle steals and limited-time codes, so you can move fast when the best offers hit.

When is Black Friday 2025?

Black Friday 2025 lands on Friday, November 28 — pop it in your calendar if you’re planning a pre-Christmas haul.

It’s the day after Thanksgiving in the US, which is why retailers ramp up offers across the long Black Friday weekend.

If you’re eyeing Charlotte Tilbury Black Friday drops, that timeline usually means early-bird bundles and sitewide codes ahead of the big day.

We’ll keep this page updated throughout November with the standout offers as they appear, so you can move fast and nail your wishlist in time for December.

There’s also more meaning behind Black Friday than just sales and savings, and our explainer covers everything you need to know.

Live deals on Charlotte Tilbury

• Charlotte’s Magic Cream & Setting Spray Duo, £94.35 (was £111) – buy here
• Charlotte’s Award-Winning Complexion Trio, £60.90 (was £87) – buy here
• The Airbrush Bronzing Kit, £68.85 (was £81) – buy here
• The Pillow Talk Eye & Blush Duo, £68.85 (was £81) – buy here
• Bronzed, Blushing Beauty Kit, £67.20 (was £84) – buy here
• Flawless, Poreless Skin Secrets, £62.40 (was £78) – buy here
• Beautiful Skin Complexion Kit, £53.60 (was £67) – buy here
• Pillow Talk Collagen Lip Bath Kit, £41.65 (was £49) – buy here
• Charlotte’s Magic Hydration Revival Duo, £23.20 (was £29) at Cult Beauty – buy here
• Love Effect Lipstick – Love Talk, £23.20 (was £29) at Cult Beauty – buy here
• Fire Rose Luxury Palette, £36.80 (was £46) at Cult Beauty – buy here
• Lip Cheat Bad Romance, £17.60 (was £22) at Cult Beauty – buy here

Is Charlotte Tilbury taking part in Black Friday this year?

Charlotte Tilbury has some of the best Black Friday deals in beauty, and all signs point to the brand taking part again in 2025.

In recent events, Charlotte Tilbury has run up to 30% off across selected edits and bundles, plus tiered “the more you shop, the more you save” offers on its own site.

It’s also worth checking major stockists, as many mirror or add their own discounts alongside the brand’s offers. You can also check out our pick of the best Charlotte Tilbury dupes, if you’re feeling extra-thrifty.

We’ll update this page as soon as the first deals drop so you can compare bundles and bag the best prices.

Here are some of the best sites to buy the brand’s products:

What deals to expect from Charlotte Tilbury’s Black Friday sale 2025?

In 2024, we also saw limited-time kits up to 40% off, as well as the buzzed-about mystery boxes, which tended to sell out quickly.

Deals typically build across Cyber Weekend, with fresh offers landing over the long weekend — 2024’s sale went live on Black Friday and kept momentum with limited-time picks that sold fast.

If you’re chasing hero products, past discounts have included Magic Cream, Beautiful Skin Foundation, Airbrush Bronzer and Exaggereyes Volume Mascara, so keep those on your watchlist.

When is Cyber Monday 2025 and is Charlotte Tilbury taking part?

Cyber Monday 2025 falls on Monday, December 1, making it the online finale to the Black Friday weekend and a prime time to snag any beauty buys you missed the first time around.

Expect a fresh wave of online-only offers and flash deals to land on the day, often with slightly lower discounts than Black Friday but solid savings on bestsellers and bundles all the same.

As for Charlotte Tilbury, the brand typically maintains momentum going into Cyber Monday, so we’re expecting more edits, bundle drops, and sitewide codes to carry through the Monday rush.

Keep an eye on CharlotteTilbury.com as well as major stockists, as retailers often mirror the brand’s promos or throw in their own perks like freebies or extra cashback.

Our advice? If you see a good price on your wishlist items, pounce—sell-outs are common once the weekend wraps.

How much does Charlotte Tilbury’s shipping cost?

Standard delivery is free when you spend £49 or more, and it’s also free for Silver and Rose Gold Loyalty Members.

If your basket is under £49, Standard costs £2.95 and usually arrives in 2–5 working days.

Express delivery is free on orders over £185 and for Rose Gold Loyalty Members; otherwise it’s £5.95.

Order by 10:30pm Monday–Friday for next‑day delivery; placed after 10:30pm or over the weekend, it’ll arrive in 1–2 working days.

You can add gift wrapping from £1.95 (free on orders over £150).

For the full list of options, including click and collect, head to the Charlotte Tilbury shipping page.

Delivery promos often appear around Black Friday, so it’s worth checking during November.

As ever, prices and timeframes can change—double‑check at checkout before you buy.

Does Charlotte Tilbury offer any other discounts?

Yes! Beyond the big Charlotte Tilbury Black Friday rush, there are a few year-round ways to save.

Keep an eye out for gift-with-purchase promos: recent offers have included a FREE Unreal makeup bag when you buy three products, automatically added at checkout while stocks last.

The brand also runs rotating freebies (think surprise full-size treats when you hit a spend threshold), plus you can choose two complimentary samples with every order to test new formulas before you commit. 

Charlotte Tilbury’s site regularly features promo codes, curated kits and ‘magical savings’ edits with built‑in discounts, so it’s worth checking the offers hub before you check out.

Students and key workers can often access partner discounts via platforms like UNiDAYS and Health Service Discounts—availability can vary—while makeup artists can apply to the Pro Program for exclusive pro-only pricing and perks.

Tip: sign up for emails and app alerts ahead of November—delivery perks, early-bird bundles and limited-time codes tend to land around Charlotte Tilbury Black Friday.

Is Charlotte Tilbury cruelty-free?

Yes, Charlotte Tilbury is officially cruelty‑free.

The brand has the Leaping Bunny seal of approval by Cruelty Free International, a certification it announced in 2021 and continues to hold.

Leaping Bunny is the globally recognised “gold standard” for cruelty‑free beauty, meaning brands must meet strict, supply‑chain‑wide criteria and agree to ongoing independent checks to keep their status.

You’ll also spot the Leaping Bunny logo across Charlotte Tilbury’s communications and packaging as a quick reassurance while you shop.

For the latest wording direct from the brand, Charlotte Tilbury’s help centre confirms its Leaping Bunny approval and cruelty‑free position..

Who is Charlotte Tilbury?

Charlotte Tilbury is the British makeup artist turned beauty entrepreneur behind the eponymous brand.

She’s an MBE and the founder, chair and chief creative officer of Charlotte Tilbury Beauty, which she launched in 2013 after years of shaping red‑carpet and runway looks.

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Charlotte Tilbury sits at a premium price point, but the payoff is there on the brand’s biggest hitters.

Our writers highly rate the textures, flattering shades, and long-wear finishes.

Sun Shopping writer, Maisie Bovingdon, put the Pillow Talk Plumpgasm lip gloss to the test and shared: “The formula is not tacky or sticky, but silky smooth like a nourishing lip oil should be, but the best part and a non-negotiable for me is the product doesn’t slip.”

While our writer, Harriet Flook, tried the Charlotte Tilbury Unreal Skin Foundation Stick and loved it so much, she now “won’t use anything else.”

It’s the same story with icons like Hollywood Flawless Filter, Airbrush powders and setting spray, and Charlotte’s Magic Cream—once they’re in your kit, they’re hard to swap out.

The brand also has a cult following, including beauty influencers, pros, and celebrities such as Kate Moss, Gigi Hadid, and Jourdan Dunn.

That said, it’s still worth matching formulas to your skin type and testing shades where you can—minis, samples and curated kits help you dial in the right fit.

If you’re value-minded, keep an eye on bundle edits, loyalty perks and, of course, Charlotte Tilbury Black Friday, when you’ll often see sitewide codes or set savings that make the splurge smarter.

What are Charlotte Tilbury’s most popular products?

Charlotte Tilbury’s icons are the ones shoppers talk about for a reason.

Charlotte’s Magic Cream is the glow-boosting moisturiser makeup artists reach for to prep and plump skin before foundation.

Hollywood Flawless Filter is the radiance hero you can wear alone or mix with base for that soft-focus sheen fans love.

Pillow Talk stays the brand’s most famous pink‑nude across lipstick and liner, with Lip Cheat in Iconic Nude, another everyday liner favourite.

For a smooth, airbrushed finish that lasts, the Airbrush Flawless Finish powder and Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray are repeat buys.

If you’re building an easy soft‑glam eye, the Luxury Palette quads are always a safe bet.

Keep these on your radar for Charlotte Tilbury Black Friday—they’re the first to fly.

WASHINGTON — President Trump was passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday despite jockeying from his fellow Republicans, various world leaders and — most vocally — himself.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was honoring Machado “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

Machado, however, said she wanted to dedicate the win to Trump, along with the people of her country, as she praised the president for support of her cause.

The White House responded bitterly to the news of the award Friday, with communications director Steven Cheung saying members of “the Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace” because they didn’t recognize Trump, especially after the Gaza ceasefire deal his administration helped strike this week.

“He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” Cheung wrote on social media.

The White House did not comment on Machado’s recognition, but Trump on social media shared Machado’s post praising him.

Her opposition to President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela aligns with the Trump administration’s own stance on Venezuela, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously praised her as “the personification of resilience, tenacity, and patriotism.”

Trump, who has long coveted the prestigious prize, has been outspoken about his desire for the honor during both of his presidential terms, particularly lately as he takes credit for ending conflicts around the world. The Republican president had expressed doubts that the Nobel committee would ever grant him the award.

“They’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives,” Trump said Thursday.

Although Trump received nominations for the prize, many of them occurred after the Feb. 1 deadline for the 2025 award, which fell just a week and a half into his second term. His name was, however, put forward in December by Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York, her office said in a statement, for his brokering of the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states in 2020.

A long history of lobbying for the prize

Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the committee has seen various campaigns in its long history of awarding the peace prize.

“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace,” he said. “This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates, and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”

The peace prize, first awarded in 1901, was created partly to encourage ongoing peace efforts. Alfred Nobel stipulated in his will that the prize should go to someone “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Three sitting U.S. presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Barack Obama in 2009. Jimmy Carter won the prize in 2002, a full two decades after leaving office. Former Vice President Al Gore received the prize in 2007.

Obama, a Democrat who was a focus of Trump’s attacks well before the Republican was elected, won the prize early in his tenure as president.

“They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country,” Trump said Thursday.

Wars in Gaza and elsewhere

As one of his reasons for deserving the award, Trump often says he has ended seven wars, though some of the conflicts the president claims to have resolved were merely tensions and his role in easing them is disputed.

But while there is hope for the end to Israel and Hamas’ war, with Israel saying a ceasefire agreement with Hamas came into effect Friday, much remains uncertain about the aspects of the broader plan, including whether and how Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza. And little progress seems to have been made in the Russia-Ukraine war, a conflict Trump claimed during the 2024 campaign that he could end in one day.

As Trump pushes for peaceful resolutions to conflicts abroad, the country he governs remains deeply divided and politically fraught. Trump has kicked off what he hopes to be the largest deportation program in American history to remove immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. He is using the levers of government, including the Justice Department, to go after his perceived political enemies. He has sent the military into U.S. cities over local opposition to stop crime and crack down on immigration enforcement.

He withdrew the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement, dealing a blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming. He touched off global trade wars with his on-again, off-again tariffs, which he wields as a threat to bend other countries and companies to his will. He asserted presidential war powers by declaring cartels to be unlawful combatants and launching lethal strikes on boats in the Caribbean that he alleged were carrying drugs.

The full list of people nominated is secret, but anyone who submits a nomination is free to talk about it. Trump’s detractors say supporters, foreign leaders and others are submitting Trump’s name for nomination for the prize — and announcing it publicly — not because he deserves it but because they see it as a way to manipulate him and stay in his good graces.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who this summer said he was nominating Trump for the prize, on Friday reposted Cheung’s response with the comment: “The Nobel Committee talks about peace. President @realDonaldTrump makes it happen.”

“The facts speak for themselves,” Netanyahu’s office said on X. “President #Trump deserves it.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sent troops to Ukraine in 2022 and has sought to show alignment with Trump, told reporters in Taijikistan on Friday that it’s not up to him to judge whether Trump should have received the prize, but he praised the ceasefire deal for Gaza.

He also criticized the Nobel Committee’s prior decisions, saying it has in the past awarded the prize to those who have done little to advance global peace.

Putin’s remarks nearly echoed the comments Trump made about Obama, and the U.S. leader responded to his Russian counterpart’s praise by posting on social media: “Thank you to President Putin!”

Others who formally submitted a nomination for Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — but after this year’s deadline — include Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Pakistan’s government, all citing his work in helping end conflicts in their regions.

Pesoli and Price write for the Associated Press. AP writers Chris Megerian in Washington, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Lakers entered training camp with hopes of finally establishing chemistry between stars Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves. But the trio have yet to see the court together. On Sunday, they all stayed on the bench during the Lakers’ 111-103 loss to the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center.

With Doncic (rest) and James (glute) already out, Reaves was rested Sunday after an already full first week of training camp. The fifth-year guard had the highest workload on the team entering the first preseason game that took place after three days of practice. He scored 20 points against the Phoenix Suns as one of the few offensive bright spots in Friday’s blowout loss.

Without their top offensive playmakers, the Lakers got a lift from guard Gabe Vincent, who made his preseason debut after nursing a knee injury. He had 16 points and five assists while center Deandre Ayton, who scored just one point on two shots in Friday’s preseason game, scored seven points, all in the first quarter, with seven rebounds.

“We came with more intention,” Vincent said compared to the Lakers’ 103-81 loss to the Suns on Friday. “We were more focused. Obviously it’s different with those three not playing. They’re a huge part of our team and everything that we do. But next man up.”

After their first two preseason games, the Lakers have one week of practice until their first home preseason game against the Warriors on Oct. 12. Coach JJ Redick said that although Doncic was scheduled to rest for the first two preseason games after he played in EuroBasket with his national team, the Slovenian superstar is still expected to play before the team officially opens its season on Oct. 21. The Lakers have four preseason games remaining.

Whether James, who was held out of early training camp practices because of nerve irritation in his glute, will play in the preseason remains to be seen. Entering an unprecedented 23rd NBA season, James is on a slower ramp-up schedule than previous years, Redick said.

The Warriors took a similarly cautious approach with their aging superstars as Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler III and Al Horford were all limited to one half. The 37-year-old Curry still scored 14 points in 15 minutes, draining five of seven shots from the field and drawing loud cheers from a nearly full Chase Center crowd when he laid up an acrobatic shot through contact and pointed two finger guns into the ESPN baseline camera.

Redick called it a challenge to get a proper evaluation of his team in a 48-minute preseason game when his top three stars are out, but after Friday’s preseason opener, he was looking for better organization on offense early in the shot clock, playing with pace and more physicality.

“We’ve got to be more physical getting open,” Redick said before the game. “We’ve got to be more physical with our screening. That doesn’t change based on who’s in the lineup, so that habit, we can build that.”

“Championship habits” is one of three pillars Redick has preached relentlessly during training camp, along with championship communication and championship shape. He said he would judge the latter in part by whether players are sprinting back on defense.

The Lakers were outscored 23-5 in transition Sunday and 42-11 through two preseason games.

With the exception of a 10-0 Warriors run to end the second quarter and a nearly six-minute stretch to begin the third quarter during which Golden State pushed a seven-point halftime lead into a 23-point rout, Redick said the overall competitiveness was “much better” than against Phoenix. But the next challenge will be to put forth that effort consistently.

It follows a recent theme Redick introduced to the team: Kaizen, the Japanese word for improvement.

“It’s just getting 1% better each day,” said forward Jake LaRavia, who had 10 points and three assists. “And that goes along with just winning the day. We thought when we played Phoenix, we didn’t. Today, we thought we did a good amount better, obviously, still not the result that we wanted, but we’re working in the right direction.”

A look at the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland:

Rk. School (record) result; Next game; last week ranking

1. ST. JOHN BOSCO (6-0) def. JSerra, 70-21; vs. Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast Coll., Friday; 1

2. SIERRA CANYON (6-0) def. Gardena Serra, 30-0; vs. Chaminade, Friday; 2

3. CORONA CENTENNIAL (4-1) def. Eastvale Roosevelt, 62-20; vs. Vista Murrieta, Friday; 3

4. MATER DEI (5-1) def. Orange Lutheran, 25-10; vs. Santa Margarita at Santa Ana Stadium, Friday; 4

5. MISSION VIEJO (6-1) def. Long Beach Poly, 56-7; vs. San Clemente, Oct. 17; 5

6. SANTA MARGARITA (4-2) def. Servite, 17-7; vs. Mater Dei at Santa Ana Stadium, Friday; 6

7. LOS ALAMITOS (7-0) did not play; vs. Edison at SoFi Stadium, Oct. 16; 7

8. ORANGE LUTHERAN (3-3) lost to Mater Dei, 25-10; vs. St. John Bosco at Orange Coast Coll., Friday; 8

9. CORONA DEL MAR (6-0) def. San Juan Hills, 33-10; vs. Newport Harbor, Saturday; 17

10. SERVITE (4-2) lost to Santa Margarita, 17-7; vs. JSerra at Cerritos College, Friday; 10

11. BEAUMONT (5-1) def. Redlands, 58-0; at Cajon, Friday; 13

12. OXNARD PACIFICA (6-0) def. Oaks Christian, 17-13; vs. St. Bonaventure, Friday; 18

13. MURRIETA VALLEY (5-1) def. Norco, 55-45; vs. Chaparral, Friday; 19

14. VISTA MURRIETA (5-1) lost to Chaparral, 28-20; at Corona Centennial, Friday; 9

15. DAMIEN (5-1) lost to Rancho Cucamonga, 24-22; at Etiwanda, Friday; 11

16. SAN JUAN HILLS (4-2) lost to Corona del Mar, 33-10; vs. Yorba Linda, Friday; 12

17. JSERRA (3-3) lost to St. John Bosco, 70-21; vs. Servite at Cerritos College, Friday; 14

18. GARDENA SERRA (3-3) lost to Sierra Canyon, 33-0; vs. Loyola at SoFi Stadium, Thursday; 15

19. DOWNEY (5-1) def. Mayfair, 33-14; vs. La Mirada, Friday; 16

20. YORBA LINDA (5-1) def. Villa Park; 28-7; at San Juan Hills, Friday; 20

21. LEUZINGER (5-1) def. Inglewood, 43-32; vs. Palos Verdes at SoFi Stadium, Friday ; 21

22. EDISON (5-2) def. Summit, 21-10; vs. Los Alamitos at SoFi Stadium, Oct. 16; 22

23. PALOS VERDES (4-2) def. Culver City, 48-7; vs. Leuzinger at SoFi Stadium, Friday; 23

24. CREAN LUTHERAN (6-0) def. 40-14); at El Dorado, Friday; 24

25. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (4-2) def. Loyola, 35-10; at Bishop Amat, Friday; 25

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

CITY SECTION

Bell 27, Garfield 14

Bernstein 27, Hollywood 6

Eagle Rock 7, L.A. Marshall 0

L.A. Hamilton 36, Fairfax 12

L.A. Wilson 26, Franklin 12

Legacy 12, L.A. Roosevelt 6

Panorama 26, Granada Hills Kennedy 6

Roybal 22, Mendez 13

South East 18, Huntington Park 0

Sylmar 31, Van Nuys 6

Venice 20, L.A. University 0

SOUTHERN SECTION

Beverly Hills 12, Immaculate Heart 0

Brentwood 19, Providence 7

Cerritos 40, Whitney 0

Mira Costa 18, Peninsula 7

Orange County Pacifica Christian 41, Garden Grove Santiago 6

Torrance 19, North Torrance 8

St. Bonaventure 28, Del Sol 14

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

SOUTHERN SECTION

Ayala 19, Highland 6

Bellflower 31, Corona 7

Bellflower 19, Fullerton 12

Castaic d. Fillmore, forfeit

Castaic 18, Knight 6

Corona 25, Crean Lutheran 0

Corona del Mar 27, Inglewood 18

Corona del Mar 35, St. Paul 0

Corona Centennial 13, Riverside Poly 6

Fullerton 25, Corona del Mar 19

Hart 12, Ayala 6

Hueneme d. Canyon Country Canyon, forfeit

Hueneme 6, Lompoc Cabrillo 0

Huntington Beach 46, Buena 0

Huntington Beach 41, Channel Islands 7

Knight d. Fillmore, forfeit

Knight 19, Castaic 6

Lompoc 20, Windward 18

Lompoc Cabrillo 19, Saugus 7

Oxnard Pacifica 18, Saugus 13

Segerstrom 20, Garden Grove 6

Segerstrom 20, St. Paul 18

Simi Valley 34, Hueneme 12

Simi Valley 28, St. Bonaventure 12

Simi Valley 26, Valencia 12

Ventura 39, Ayala 0

INTERSECTIONAL

Fullerton 18, San Pedro 14

Gilbert (Ariz.) Campo Verde 34, Western Christian 7

Huntington Beach 23, LA Marshall 0

L.A. Marshall 27, Hart 7

L.A. Marshall 18, Ventura 14

King/Drew 21, Buena Park 13

King/Drew 42, Nuview Bridge 7

Madera 12, Windward 7

Narbonne 31, Destiny Christian Academy 0

San Pedro 27, Corona 7

San Pedro 34, Inglewood 13

Segerstrom 20, King/Drew 6

Vacaville 27, Narbonne 7

PHILADELPHIA — When Clayton Kershaw was left off the Dodgers’ roster for the best-of-three wild card round against the Cincinnati Reds, it marked the first time since his 2008 rookie season that he pitch didn’t in one of the team’s playoff series when healthy.

But on Saturday, ahead of Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Dodgers decided to add Kershaw back in the mix, ensuring he will likely get the chance to take the mound at least one more time before entering retirement this offseason.

Kershaw and fellow left-handed pitcher Anthony Banda were the only two changes the Dodgers made to their NLDS roster Saturday, swapping them in on an 11-man pitching staff in place of multi-inning left-hander Justin Wrobleski (who didn’t pitch in the wild card series) and rookie right-hander Edgardo Henriquez (who walked two batters and gave up a hit while recording no outs in Game 1 against the Reds).

The Dodgers made no changes to their 15-man position player group from the wild card round, once again keeping three catchers on the roster (as Will Smith continues to recover from a fractured hand) as well as speedy defensive specialists Justin Deal and Hyeseong Kim.

Kershaw’s return was had been expected, even before manager Dave Roberts officially confirmed on Friday that the future Hall of Famer would be on the roster for the NLDS.

First and foremost, the Dodgers will need added left-handed pitching depth to combat a Phillies lineup that includes left-handed threats like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott. That’s why Banda was included as well.

But Kershaw, who went 11-2 this season with a 3.36 ERA, also gives the Dodgers a steady veteran presence out of the bullpen (where he is expected to pitch).

They missed that in the wild-card round, when a string of younger pitchers struggled to consistently find the strike zone while pitching in relief.

Thus, they will be hoping their 18-year veteran can provide it, in what would be his final career postseason series if the Dodgers don’t advance.

The only other major roster question facing the Dodgers entering this series is at catcher. Roberts said Friday that Smith “will be available to catch” in this NLDS, but was unsure if he’d be able to start right away in Game 1. Smith, who has taken only live at-bats in the last week while nursing his injury, did not appear in the wild-card series despite being on the roster. He took more live at-bats during the team’s Friday night workout at Citizens Bank Park.

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Julia Wick and David Zahniser, giving you the latest on city and county government.

It’s been a minute since Hugo Soto-Martínez and Colter Carlisle last bumped into each other in the laundry room of their apartment complex.

Not since before Carlisle, who serves as vice president of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council, filed paperwork Monday to challenge Soto-Martínez for his L.A. City Council seat.

“I am wondering if it will be the most awkward moment of my entire life,” Carlisle said of his inevitable laundry room run-in with his new opponent. “But we’ll see how it goes.”

A sitting council member being challenged by a member of a neighborhood council is far from an unusual occurrence. But this is the first time, to our knowledge, that a council member will face off against their upstairs neighbor.

“I want to be clear that me running has zero to do with the fact that he’s my downstairs neighbor,” Carlisle said.

Carlisle, who works in freelance legal sales and has served on the neighborhood council since 2021, will face a vertiginously steep path in his quest to unseat Soto-Martínez.

Soto-Martínez ousted an incumbent in 2022, expanding the council’s left flank to represent a densely packed collection of neighborhoods that includes Silver Lake, Echo Park, Atwater Village and Hollywood.

A former union organizer, Soto-Martínez has deep support from the city’s powerful labor unions and the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. He is one of the few renters on the council and was running unopposed until Carlisle entered the race.

It was “a massive coincidence,” Carlisle said, that the neighborhood council member (who won his 2023 election with 16 votes) and the City Council member (who won his 2022 election with 38,069 votes) lived in the same East Hollywood complex in the first place.

“After he won, we were both kind of like, ‘Wait, are we, like, co-workers now?’” Carlisle recalled. “When that happened, it was sort of like, OK, I don’t want to bother him at home. I don’t want him to come home and worry he’s going to run into me. Both of us need to come home and decompress.”

Carlisle voted for Soto-Martínez for 2022, he said, but housing issues catalyzed his decision to challenge his neighbor in 2026.

Carlisle argues that the city’s push to build more housing is displacing long-term residents. He thinks the payouts the city requires for tenants who are pushed out by new construction are insufficient.

“I don’t believe that knocking down the rent-controlled apartments is going to lead to more affordability in Los Angeles,” Carlisle said.

He takes particular issue with Soto-Martínez’s support for Senate Bill 79 — a housing bill on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk that would override local zoning and allow far more density near transit stops.

Carlisle vehemently opposes the bill, contending that new construction will come at the expense of existing rent-stabilized units. (The bill exempts most rent-stabilized buildings, but not duplexes.)

He also thinks Soto-Martínez should have fought a planned eight-story apartment building on Carlton Way. The development will require demolishing a number of small rent-stabilized apartment buildings to build 131 new apartment units — 17 of which will be set aside for low- or very low-income residents.

Soto-Martínez spokesperson Nick Barnes-Batista said the council member’s office had been working closely with the tenants on Carlton Way and that the project followed affordability guidelines. Although the remaining 114 units in the building will be market rate, they will all fall under the city’s rent-stabilization ordinance, Barnes-Batista said.

Barnes-Batista also clarified that his boss did not take an official position on SB 79: He merely voted to oppose a resolution opposing it, rather than voting to support it.

(We apologize that you will have to read the prior sentence twice, slowly, to understand what the heck it means. The semantic distinction is there, but it’s a narrow one.)

“Renters make up over 60% of the city, yet they’ve historically been left out of decision-making at City Hall. We’re changing that with a full-time team helping tenants facing eviction stay in their homes, and we have a motion in committee right now to hopefully cap rent increases at 3% for every rent-stabilized tenant in Los Angeles,” Soto-Martínez said in a written statement.

And for those keeping track at home, Councilmember Tim McOsker is now the only incumbent running unopposed.

State of play

— PAYING PLAINTIFFS? Seven people told The Times they were paid to sue Los Angeles County over sexual abuse at juvenile halls. The claims were part of a $4-billion payout — the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history. A Times investigation found that a nebulous network of vendors ushered people desperate for cash toward a law firm that could profit significantly from the business.

— SCRUTINIZING SB 79: Gov. Gavin Newsom still hasn’t decided the fate of Senate Bill 79, the aforementioned landmark housing bill that would upzone scores of neighborhoods across the city, paving the way for taller, denser buildings near public transit. But the scramble is already on by homeowners, renters’ rights advocates and even politicians to figure out which locations are covered by SB 79 — a task made difficult by the bill’s various exemptions and deferrals.

— HOUSING SLUMP: Apartment construction in L.A. has dropped by nearly a third over the last three years, as real estate developers struggle with unprofitable economics and continued uncertainty around city and state housing laws. “L.A. has been redlined by the majority of the investment community,” said Ari Kahan, a principal of California Landmark Group.

— RAISING THE WAGE: Speaking of new regulations, six members of the City Council are looking at increasing the hourly pay of private sector construction workers with a law that would give them a $32.35 per hour minimum wage and a $7.65 per hour healthcare credit. Under their proposal, the council would need to authorize a study of the idea first.

— AUTOMATIC APPROVAL: One of Mayor Karen Bass’ appointees on the Board of Police Commissioners has secured another term, but not because he was approved by the City Council. The mayor’s reappointment of Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent turned top USC security official, showed up on several council agendas. But the council, facing protesters at several meetings, never actually acted, allowing Southers’ approval to become automatic.

— FAREWELL, ZACH! Bass is losing her top press deputy. Deputy Mayor Zach Seidl has taken a job as managing director of Click Strategies, a political consulting firm based in L.A. run by former Newsom comms chief Nathan Click. Seidl, who departs Oct. 17, has been an aide to Bass over the last decade, working for her in the U.S. Congress, on the campaign trail and inside City Hall. Bass has named Samuel Jean, a communications strategist, as her interim communications director.

(Fun fact: Back in December, Seidl helped Click pull off his marriage proposal to his now-fiance and Seidl’s then-colleague, former Bass deputy mayor Joey Freeman, on the observation deck of City Hall.)

— RESISTING THE RVS: A proposed RV park in L.A.’s Harbor City neighborhood has been met with fierce opposition from local residents, spurring a lengthy battle inside and outside City Hall.

— FINDING THE BEDS: A new tracking system at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority was supposed to modernize an antiquated process for filling beds inside L.A. County’s homeless shelters, ensuring that more people get off the streets. But the nonprofits who run the shelters say the data produced by the system are often inaccurate.

— POLICE BLOTTER: LAPD officers apprehended a man on Friday who drove a car onto the Spring Street steps of City Hall and wouldn’t come out of his vehicle for about two hours.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to address homelessness did not launch any new encampment operations this week.
• On the docket next week: The City Council votes Tuesday on whether to finalize a big increase in trash fees for single-family homes and small apartments. Meetings will be canceled on Wednesday and Friday so members can attend the annual League of California Cities conference.

Stay in touch

That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to [email protected]. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

CITY SECTION

Central League

Bernstein 54, Hollywood 0

Contreras 46, Belmont 6

Roybal 35, Mendez 0

Coliseum League

Crenshaw 12, Dorsey 8

Washington 38, Fremont 8

East Valley League

Grant 48, Fulton 13

North Hollywood 24, Arleta 20

Chavez 28, Sun Valley Poly 16

Verdugo Hills 55, Monroe 20

Eastern League

Garfield 34, Bell 19

Huntington Park 28, South East 7

L.A. Roosevelt 16, Legacy 13

East Valley League

Chavez 28, Sun Valley Poly 16

Exposition League

Jefferson 56, Angelou 0

Marquez 50, Santee 0

Marine League

Gardena 29, Wilmington Banning 6

San Pedro 48, Narbonne 6

Metro League

Hawkins 20, Rancho Dominguez 6

Northern League

Eagle Rock 41, L.A. Marshall 7

Franklin 21, L.A. Wilson 2

Southern League

Los Angeles 44, West Adams 0

Maywood CES 62, Rivera 0

Valley Mission League

Canoga Park 37, Reseda 0

Granada Hills Kennedy 42, Panorama 7

Van Nuys 49, Sylmar 46

Western League

LA Hamilton 26, Fairfax 6

Palisades 35, Westchester 19

Venice 27, LA University 7

West Valley League

Birmingham 42, El Camino Real 7

Cleveland 36, Chatsworth 19

Granada Hills 46, Taft 30

SOUTHERN SECTION

Almont League

Montebello 52, Keppel 12

Angelus League

Cathedral 56, St. Paul 25

Paraclete 49, Alemany 6

St. Pius X-St. Matthias 42, St. Francis 15

Baseline League

Chino Hills 27, Upland 21

Etiwanda 40, Ayala 0

Rancho Cucamonga 24, Damien 22

Bay League

Leuzinger 43, Inglewood 32

Mira Costa 14, Lawndale 0 (postponed in first quarter)

Palos Verdes 48, Culver City 7

Big West Lower League

Murrieta Mesa 35, Temecula Valley 21

Riverside King 44, Corona Santiago 28

Big West Upper League

Chaparral 28, Vista Murrieta 20

Murrieta Valley 55, Norco 45

Bravo League

Corona Del Mar 33, San Juan Hills 10

Tesoro 17, Newport Harbor 14

Yorba Linda 28, Villa Park 7

Camino Real League

Mary Star of the Sea 21, St. Genevieve 12

St. Bernard 48, Bosco Tech 8

Channel League

Ventura 62, Buena 13

Moorpark 52, Oak Park 27

Royal 20, Oxnard 0

Citrus Belt League

Beaumont 56, Redlands 0

Redlands East Valley 14, Citrus Valley 3

Citrus Coast League

Grace 53, Del Sol 6

Nordhoff 55, Channel Islands 14

Conejo Coast League

Newbury Park 31, Santa Barbara 21

Thousand Oaks 49, Calabasas 34

Westlake 49, Rio Mesa 20

Cottonwood League

Silver Valley 22, Temecula Prep 0

Del Rey League

Crespi 42, St. Anthony 6

La Salle 47, Harvard-Westlake 37

Salesian 64, Cantwell-Sacred Heart 7

Del Rio League

La Serna 30, El Rancho 13

Santa Fe 34, Whittier 12

Delta League

Capistrano Valley 41, Western 14

El Modena 21, Trabuco Hills 7

Desert Empire League

Palm Springs 32, La Quinta 13

Shadow Hills 18, Rancho Mirage 14

Xavier Prep 19, Palm Desert 14

Desert Sky League

Barstow 21, Victor Valley 7

Granite Hills 25, Adelanto 20

Epsilon League

Huntington Beach 65, Laguna Hills 10

Foothill League

Hart 63, West Ranch 21

Saugus 41, Canyon Country Canyon 13

Foxtrot League

Dana Hills 35, Aliso Niguel 14

Laguna Beach 42, Northwood 0

Gateway League

Dominguez 21, Paramount 14

Downey 33, Mayfair 14

Warren 27, La Mirada 13

Golden League

Highland 28, Littlerock 6

Lancaster 34, Quartz Hill 20

Palmdale 28, Knight 9

Hacienda League

Chino 49, Covina 27

Diamond Bar 30, Walnut 7

Inland Valley League

Moreno Valley 42, Citrus Hill 7

Perris 13, Lakeside 9

Iota League

El Toro 27, Anaheim Canyon 17

Irvine 43, Santa Ana 7

Troy 42, Sonora 9

Ironwood League

Aquinas 75, Ontario Christian 27

Cerritos Valley Christian 35, Capistrano Valley Christian 26

Village Christian 17, Heritage Christian 13

Ivy League

Orange Vista 49, Paloma Valley 20

Rancho Verde 21, Riverside North 14

Kappa League

Brea Olinda 21, Westminster 0

Esperanza 58, Garden Grove 33

Segerstrom 27, St. Margaret’s 14

Lambda League

Beckman 34, Fullerton 14

La Palma Kennedy 14, Placentia Valencia 7

Manzanita League

Bermuda Dunes Desert Christian 47, Nuview Bridge 0
Marmonte League

Oxnard Pacifica 17, Oaks Christian 13

St. Bonaventure 41, Simi Valley 16

Mesquite League

Maranatha 20, Linfield Christian 14

Whittier Christian 7, Arrowhead Christian 6

Mid-Cities League

Compton Early College 63, Firebaugh 49

Gahr 48, Bellflower 13

Norwalk 25, Lynwood 6

Miramonte League

Bassett 37, Workman 14

Ganesha 47, La Puente 20

Garey 41, Duarte 0

Mission League

Chaminade 35, Bishop Amat 0

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 35, Loyola 10

Sierra Canyon 30, Gardena Serra 0

Mission Valley League

El Monte 28, Rosemead 7

Gabrielino 30, South El Monte 28

Mojave River League

Oak Hills 28, Serrano 14

\Ridgecrest Burroughs 17, Sultana 7

Montview League

Hacienda Heights Wilson 42, Pomona 13

Nogales 53, Azusa 3

Ontario 49, Sierra Vista 31

Moore League

Long Beach Wilson 23, Compton 21

Millikan 49, Long Beach Jordan 10

Mountain Pass League

Elsinore 34, Temescal Canyon 18

San Jacinto 53, Tahquitz 7

Mountain Valley League

Indian Springs 30, San Bernardino 15

Mountain View 41, Pasadena Marshall 13

Ocean League

Compton Centennial 28, Beverly Hills 0

El Segundo 38, Hawthorne 0

Omicron League

Buena Park 30, Katella 3

Garden Grove Pacifica 42, Irvine University 6

Portola 17, Woodbridge 7

Pacific League

Burbank 55, Arcadia 23

Burbank Burroughs 34, Glendale 12

Muir 49, Crescenta Valley 0

Pasadena 66, Hoover 8

Pioneer League

Peninsula 35, South Torrance 34

Santa Monica 21, North Torrance 13

Torrance 34, Redondo Union 24

Rio Hondo League

La Canada 44, Temple City 3

South Pasadena 23, Monrovia 21

River Valley League

La Sierra 35, Rubidoux 24

Norte Vista 67, Jurupa Valley 0

Patriot 31, Ramona 27

Sierra League

Bonita 21, Colony 7

Charter Oak 40, Glendora 7

Claremont 28, Los Osos 24

Sigma League

Estancia 25, Rancho Alamitos 17

Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 42, Santa Ana Valley 14

Skyline League

Bloomington 16, Arroyo Valley 14

Rialto 19, Fontana 16

Sunbelt League

Hillcrest 41, Arlington 17

Riverside Poly 50, Hemet 0

Tango League

Anaheim 54, Loara 21

Bolsa Grande 14, Westminster La Quinta 7

Tri County League

Agoura 35, Santa Paula 10

Dos Pueblos 27, Hueneme 8

Fillmore 21, San Marcos 0

Trinity League

Mater Dei 25, Orange Lutheran 10

Santa Margarita 17, Servite 7

St. John Bosco 70, JSerra 21

Valle Vista League

Alta Loma 20, West Covina 6

San Dimas 35, Diamond Ranch 0

Zeta League

Saddleback 52, Godinez 14

Nonleague

Arroyo 27, Glenn 0

Brentwood 35, Don Lugo 0

Cathedral City 28, Indio 0

Mission Viejo 56, Long Beach Poly 7

Rim of the World 28, Chaffey 24

Rowland 57, Artesia 7

Yucca Valley 62, Banning 42

INTERSECTIONAL

Manual Arts 64, Verbum Dei 0

Rio Hondo Prep 49, Dallas First Baptist 28

8-MAN

CITY SECTION

City League

Animo Robinson 58, New Designs Watts 22

New Designs University Park 48, Stella 14

Valley League

Sherman Oaks CES 32, TEACH Tech 20

SOUTHERN SECTION

Nonleague

Cornerstone Christian 76, Public Safety Academy 20

Hesperia Christian 50, PAL Academy 18

Hillcrest Christian 60, Malibu 16

INTERSECTIONAL

California School for the Deaf Riverside 44, Colorado City (Ariz.) El Capitan 12

Vista St. Joseph Academy 50, California Lutheran 6

DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — President Trump said Friday that Hamas must agree to a proposed peace deal by Sunday evening, threatening an even greater military onslaught nearly two years into the war sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel.

Trump appears keen to deliver on pledges to end the war and return dozens of hostages ahead of the second anniversary of the attack on Tuesday. His peace plan has been accepted by Israel and welcomed internationally, but key mediators Egypt and Qatar, and at least one Hamas official, have said some elements need further negotiation, without elaborating.

“An Agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening at SIX (6) P.M., Washington, D.C. time,” Trump wrote Friday on social media. “Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas. THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”

Trump’s plan would end the fighting and return hostages

Under the plan, which Trump unveiled earlier this week alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas would immediately release the remaining 48 hostages — around 20 of them believed to be alive. It would also give up power and disarm.

In return, Israel would halt its offensive and withdraw from much of the territory, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allow an influx of humanitarian aid and eventual reconstruction. Plans to relocate much of Gaza’s population to other countries would be shelved.

The territory of some 2 million Palestinians would be placed under international governance, with Trump himself and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it. The plan provides no path for eventual reunification with the Israeli-occupied West Bank in a future Palestinian state.

A Hamas official told the Associated Press this week that some elements of the plan are unacceptable and need to be amended, without elaborating. Palestinians long for an end to the war, but many view this and previous U.S. proposals as strongly favoring Israel.

U.S. and Israel seek to pressure Hamas

Israel has sought to ramp up pressure on Hamas since ending an earlier ceasefire in March. It sealed the territory off from food, medicine and other goods for 2 1/2 months and has seized, flattened and largely depopulated large areas of the territory.

Experts determined that Gaza City had slid into famine shortly before Israel launched a major offensive aimed at occupying it. An estimated 400,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks, but hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind.

Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian office, said she saw several displaced families staying in the parking lot of Shifa Hospital during a visit on Thursday.

“They are not able to move south because they just cannot afford it,” Cherevko told the Associated Press. “One of the families had three children and the woman was pregnant with her fourth. And there were many other vulnerable cases there, including elderly people and people with disabilities.”

Trump wrote that most of Hamas’ fighters are “surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, ‘GO,’ for their lives to be quickly extinguished. As for the rest, we know where and who you are, and you will be hunted down, and killed.”

Most of Hamas’ top leaders in Gaza and thousands of its fighters have already been killed, but it still has influence in areas not controlled by the Israeli military and launches sporadic attacks that have killed and wounded Israeli soldiers.

Hamas has held firm to its position that it will only release the remaining hostages — its sole bargaining chip and potential human shields — in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has rejected those terms, saying Hamas must surrender and disarm.

Second anniversary approaches

Thousands of Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, attacking army bases, farming communities and an outdoor music festival, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. They abducted 251 others, most of them since released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says women and children make up around half the dead.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

The offensive has displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population, often multiple times, and left much of the territory uninhabitable.

Both the Biden and Trump administrations have tried to end the fighting and bring back the hostages while providing extensive military and diplomatic support to Israel.

Shurafa and Khaled write for the Associated Press. Khaled reported from Cairo. AP writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Five years after protests roiled Portland, Oregon, the city known for its history of civil disobedience is again at the center of a political maelstrom as it braces for the arrival of federal troops being deployed by President Donald Trump.

Months of demonstrations outside Portland’s immigration detention facility have escalated after conservative influencer Nick Sortor was arrested late Thursday on a disorderly conduct charge by Portland Police.

On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the agency would send additional federal agents. She also said the Justice Department was launching a civil rights investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sortor’s arrest, and whether Portland Police engage in viewpoint discrimination.

Meanwhile, a federal judge heard arguments Friday — but did not immediately rule — on whether to temporarily block Trump’s call-up of 200 Oregon National Guard members to protect the ICE facility and other federal buildings.

The escalation of federal law enforcement in Portland, population 636,000 and Oregon’s largest city, follows similar crackdowns to combat crime in other cities, including Chicago, Baltimore and Memphis. He deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C.

A conservative influencer arrested in Portland

Sortor, 27, who’s a regular guest on Fox News and whose X profile has more than 1 million followers, was arrested Thursday night with two other people outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. He is set to be arraigned on Monday.

What exactly led up to the arrests was not immediately clear. Portland police said in a news release that officers observed two men fighting and one of the men was knocked to the ground. Neither of the men wanted to file a police report. Police moved in about three hours later, as fights continued to break out, and arrested Sorter and two others.

All three were charged with second-degree disorderly conduct. Sorter was released Friday on his own recognizance, according to Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office’s online records. An email seeking comment from Sortor sent Friday went unanswered and no one answered phone numbers listed for him.

In a post on X on Friday morning, Sortor said his arrest proved that Portland Police are corrupt and controlled by “vioIent Antifa thugs who terrorize the streets.”

“You thought arresting me would make me shut up and go away,” he wrote.

Sortor also said that Attorney General Pam Bondi had ordered an investigation into the circumstances of his arrest and of the Portland Police Bureau.

A history of Portland protests led to this moment

Portland famously erupted in more than 100 days of sustained, nightly protests in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter movement. In his first term, Trump sent federal law enforcement to the city to protect the U.S. District Courthouse in the heart of Portland after protests attracted thousands of people following George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police.

The presence of the federal agents further inflamed the situation, with federal officers repeatedly firing rubber bullets and teargassing protestors. Viral videos captured militarized federal officers, often unidentified, arresting people and hustling them into unmarked vehicles.

At the same time, Portland police were unable to keep ahead of splinter groups of black-clad protesters who broke off and roamed the downtown area, at times breaking windows, spraying graffiti and setting small fires in moments that were also captured on video and shared widely on social media.

A report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found that while the federal government had legal authority to deploy the officers, many of them lacked the training and equipment needed to carry out the mission.

The tensions reached a peak in September 2020 when a self-identified member of the far-left anti-fascist movement fatally shot 39-year-old Aaron “Jay” Danielson in the chest. Danielson and a friend were seen heading downtown to protect a flag-waving caravan of Trump supporters shortly before the shooting.

The shooter, Michael Forest Reinoehl, was himself later shot and killed when he pulled a gun as a federal task force attempted to apprehend him near Lacey, Washington.

A different context for today’s protests

The situation in Portland is very different now.

There’s been a sustained and low-level protest outside the Portland ICE facility — far from the downtown clashes of 2020 — since Trump took office in January. Those protests flared in June, during the national protests surrounding Trump’s military parade, but have rarely attracted more than a few dozen people in the past two months.

Trump has once more turned his attention to the city, calling Portland “war ravaged,” and a “war zone” that is “burning down” and like “living in hell.” But local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020. Under a new mayor, the city has reduced crime, and the downtown has seen a decrease in homeless encampments and increased foot traffic.

Most violent crime around the country has actually declined in recent years, including in Portland, where a recent report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association found that homicides from January through June decreased by 51% this year compared to the same period in 2024.

City leaders have urged restraint and told residents not to “take the bait” this week after the announcement that the National Guard would be sent to Portland.

Oregon seeks to block National Guard deployment by Trump

On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments on whether to block the deployment of National Guard troops in Portland, where they would defend federal buildings such as the ICE facility from vandalism.

Oregon sued to stop the deployment on Sept. 28 after Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek failed to convince Trump to call off the deployment in a 10-minute phone call on Sept. 27.

Immergut did not immediately issue a ruling Friday after a short hearing and said she would issue an order later that day or over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the National Guard troops — from communities not too far from Portland — were training on the Oregon Coast in anticipation of deployment.

Thursday’s arrest of Sortor, however, likely means more federal law enforcement presence in Portland.

In an X post, which reposted a video from the protest and a photo of Sortor being detained, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said there would be an immediate increase in federal resources to the city with enhanced Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement resources.

“This violence will end under @POTUS Trump,” McLaughlin wrote.

Rush and Catalini write for the Associated Press.

McALLEN, Texas — The Trump administration said Friday that it would pay migrant children $2,500 to voluntarily return to their home countries, dangling a new incentive in efforts to persuade people to self-deport.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t say how much migrants would get or when the offer would take effect, but the Associated Press obtained an email to migrant shelters saying children 14 years of age and older would get $2,500 each. Children were given 24 hours to respond.

The notice to shelters from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s Administration for Families and Children did not indicate any consequences for children who decline the offer. It asked shelter directors to acknowledge the offer within four hours.

ICE said in a statement that the offer would initially be for 17-year-olds.

“Any payment to support a return home would be provided after an immigration judge grants the request and the individual arrives in their country of origin,” ICE said. “Access to financial support when returning home would assist should they choose that option.”

Advocates said the sizable sum may prevent children from making informed decisions.

“For a child, $2,500 might be the most money they’ve ever seen in their life, and that may make it very, very difficult for them to accurately weigh the long-term risks of taking voluntary departure versus trying to stay in the United States and going through the immigration court process to get relief that they may be legally entitled to,” Melissa Adamson, senior attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, said in response to the plans Friday.

ICE dismissed widespread reports among immigration lawyers and advocates that it was launching a much broader crackdown Friday to deport migrant children who entered the country without their parents, called “Freaky Friday.”

Gonzalez writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — Hopes for a quick end to the government shutdown faded Friday as Republicans and Democrats dug in for a prolonged fight and President Trump readied plans to unleash layoffs and cuts across the federal government.

Senators were headed back to the Capitol for another vote on government funding on the third day of the shutdown, but there has been no sign of any real progress toward ending their standoff. Democrats are demanding that Congress extend healthcare benefits, while Republicans are trying to wear them down with day after day of voting on a House-passed bill that would reopen the government temporarily, mostly at current spending levels.

“I don’t know how many times you’re going to give them a chance to vote no,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said at a news conference Friday. He added that he would give Democratic senators the weekend to think it over.

Although Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, the Senate’s filibuster rules make it necessary for the government funding legislation to gain support from at least 60 of the 100 senators. That’s given Democrats a rare opportunity to use their 47 Senate seats to hold out in exchange for policy concessions. The party has chosen to rally on the issue of healthcare, believing it could be key to their path back to power in Washington.

Their primary demand is that Congress extend tax credits that were boosted during the COVID-19 pandemic for healthcare plans offered under the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

Standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “Understand this, over the last few days and over the next few days, what you’re going to see is more than 20 million Americans experience dramatically increased healthcare premiums, co-pays and deductibles because of the Republican unwillingness to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”

The shutdown gamble

Democrats are running the high-risk strategy of effectively voting for a government shutdown to make their stand. Trump has vowed to make it as painful as possible for them.

The Republican president has called the government funding lapse an “unprecedented opportunity” to make vast cuts to federal agencies and potentially lay off federal workers, rather than the typical practice of furloughing them. White House budget director Russ Vought has already announced that he is withholding billions of dollars for infrastructure projects in states with Democratic senators.

On Friday morning, Vought said he would withhold $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects to extend its train system to the city’s South Side.

Jeffries has displayed no signs of budging under those threats.

“The cruelty that they might unleash on everyday Americans using the pretense of a shutdown is only going to backfire against them,” he said during an interview with the Associated Press and other outlets at the Capitol.

Still, the shutdown, no matter how long it lasts, could have far-reaching effects on the economy. Roughly 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, and they could lose out on $400 million in daily wages. That loss in wages until after the government reopens could drive down wider demand for goods and services.

“All around the country right now, real pain is being endured by real people because the Democrats have decided to play politics,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday.

Who will take the blame?

The American public usually spreads the blame around to both major political parties when it comes to a government shutdown. While Trump took a significant portion of the blame during the last partial government shutdown in 2018 as he demanded funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, this standoff could end differently because now it is Democrats making the policy demands.

Still, lawmakers were relentlessly trying to make their case to the American public with a constant beat of news conferences, social media videos and livestreams. Congressional leaders have been especially active.

Both sides expressed confidence that the other would ultimately be found at fault. And in the House, party leaders seemed to be moving further apart rather than closer to making a deal to end the shutdown.

Jeffries on Thursday called for a permanent extension to the ACA tax credits. Meanwhile, Johnson and Thune told reporters that they would not negotiate on the tax credits until the government is reopened.

Talks in the Senate

A few senators have engaged in bipartisan talks about launching negotiations on extending the ACA tax credits for one year while the Senate votes to reopen the government for several weeks. But those discussions are in their early stages and appear to have little involvement from leadership.

As senators prepared for their last scheduled vote for the week on Friday, they appeared resigned to allow the shutdown to continue at least into next week. Thune said that if the vote failed, he would “give them the weekend to think about it” before holding more votes.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), in a floor speech, called for Republicans to work with her and fellow Democrats to find “common ground” on the ACA subsidies, saying their expiration would affect plenty of people in states with GOP senators — especially in rural areas where farmers, ranchers and small business owners purchase their own health insurance.

“Unfortunately, right now our Republican colleagues are not working with us to find a bipartisan agreement to prevent the government shutdown and address the healthcare crisis,” she said. “We know that even when they float ideas — which we surely do appreciate — in the end the president appears to make the call.”

Groves and Brown write for the Associated Press. Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.

Oct. 2 (UPI) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to be sentenced Friday for his July 2 conviction of two counts of transportation for the purposes of prostitution.

The rapper and music mogul, 55, faced a long list of charges but was acquitted of the most serious — human trafficking.

In September, his lawyers asked the court to only sentence him to 14 months, which would be almost time served. But prosecutors have asked for 11 years.

“Mr. Combs’s near-13 months in prison has been life changing, productive, and a testament to his desire to return to his family and community and lead the best life possible,” his lawyers said. “He has taken the time to achieve necessary rehabilitation from day one at the [Metropolitan Detention Center] — including getting clean of all substances.”

The memo was 380 pages and included letters from his mother, children, friends and business associates. It took issue with recommendations by prosecutors and the Probation Department for tougher sentences.

Combs has been in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since his arrest in September 2024.

Last week, Combs’ attorneys asked Judge Arun Subramanian to throw out the convictions because his intent was voyeurism, not profit.

“To our knowledge, Mr. Combs is the only person ever convicted of violating the statute for conduct anything like this,” said his defense attorneys in a written filing. “The proof at trial showed that he typically hired the services of male escorts or dancers advertised openly through lawful businesses, that the men were paid for their time, and that they enjoyed the activities and had friendships with Ms. [Cassie] Ventura and Jane [a pseudonym] and were not merely traveling to have sex for money.”

They also argued that Combs’ actions are protected by the First Amendment because the events were recorded to watch privately.

“The freak-offs and hotel nights were performances that he or his girlfriends typically videotaped so they could watch them later. In other words, he was producing amateur pornography for later private viewing,” the defense said.

But prosecutors argued that Combs used violence and drugs to force the women to comply and that the prostitution transportation was for them to “engage in sex acts for pay.”

Subramanian denied Combs’ request.

Adding to Combs’ legal issues, on Sept. 24, his former stylist, who had testified against him in his criminal trial, filed a lawsuit against him. Deonte Nash, who was hired by Combs as a stylist at age 21 in 2008, alleges multiple violent and sexual charges, human-trafficking, and false imprisonment.

Nash “personally experienced sexual, physical, mental, and emotional abuse at the hands of Defendants during his 10-year employment,” court documents said.

This week’s City Section top 10 high school football rankings by The Times:

1. BIRMINGHAM (2-3): Patriots take 49-game winning streak against City Section teams into the start of West Valley League play.

2. CARSON (3-3): Colts upset St. Pius X-St. Matthias with the help of some sit-out transfer students becoming eligible.

3. PALISADES (5-0): Dolphins finally get tested by Mary Star and show they can run the ball when needed in comeback victory.

4. SAN PEDRO (2-4): Pirates put up good fight before losing to unbeaten Laguna Beach.

5. BANNING (4-2): It’s regroup time after back to back losses to Palos Verdes and Redondo Union.

6. GARFIELD (3-2): Ceasar Reyes keeps rolling up big yards on the ground.

7. KENNEDY (4-1): Golden Cougars face Panorama on Friday in Valley Mission League.

8. EAGLE ROCK (3-2): Offensive line protects QB Liam Pasten in win over Marquez.

9. KING/DREW (4-1): Golden Eagles, aided by sit-out period transfers, have become Coliseum League favorites.

10. VENICE (2-3): Gondoliers open Western League play against unbeaten University.

A look at the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland:

Rk. School (record) result; Next game; last week ranking

A look at how the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland fared this week:

1. ST. JOHN BOSCO (5-0) did not play; at JSerra, Friday; 1

2. SIERRA CANYON (5-0) did not play; vs. Gardena Serra, Friday; 2

3. CORONA CENTENNIAL (4-1) did not play; vs. Eastvale Roosevelt, Thursday; 3

4. MATER DEI (4-1) did not play; vs. Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast College, Friday; 4

5. MISSION VIEJO (5-1) def. Chaparral, 36-21; vs. Long Beach Poly, Friday; 5

6. SANTA MARGARITA (3-2) lost to Bishop Gorman, 14-0;, at Servite, Friday; 6

7. LOS ALAMITOS (7-0) def. Calabasas, 48-21; vs. Edison at SoFi Stadium, Oct. 16; 7

8. ORANGE LUTHERAN (3-2) did not play; vs. Mater Dei at Orange Coast College, Friday; 8

9. VISTA MURRIETA (5-0) def. Oceanside El Camino, 38-12; at Chaparral, Friday; 9

10. SERVITE (4-1) def. St. Paul, 49-18; vs. Santa Margarita at Santa Ana Stadium, Friday; 10

11. DAMIEN (5-0) did not play; vs. Rancho Cucamonga, Friday; 11

12. SAN JUAN HILLS (4-1) did not play; at Corona del Mar, Friday; 13

13. BEAUMONT (4-1) did not play; vs. Redlands, Friday; 14

14. JSERRA (3-2) did not play; vs. St. John Bosco, Friday; 15

15. GARDENA SERRA (3-2) did not play; at Sierra Canyon, Friday; 16

16. DOWNEY (4-1) did not play; at Mayfair, Friday; 17

17. CORONA DEL MAR (5-0) def. Trabuco Hills, 35-13; vs. San Juan Hills, Friday; 18

18. OXNARD PACIFICA (5-0) def. L.A. Hamilton, 42-14; vs. Oaks Christian, Friday; 19

19. MURRIETA VALLEY (4-1) def. San Clemente, 26-14; at Norco, Friday; 20

20. YORBA LINDA (4-1) did not play; at Villa Park; Friday; 21

21. LEUZINGER (4-1) def. Hawthorne, 59-6; at Inglewood, Friday; 22

22. EDISON (4-2) lost to La Serna, 23-21; vs. Summit, Thursday; 12

23. PALOS VERDES (3-2) did not play; vs. Culver City, Friday; 23

24. CREAN LUTHERAN (5-0) did not play; at Foothill, Saturday; 24

25. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (3-2) def. Culver City 57-14, vs. Loyola, Friday; 25

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

CITY SECTION

Chavez 49, Westbrook 6

L.A. Wilson 60, Los Angeles 0

Lincoln 60, Hollywood 0

New Designs University Park 12, Chavez 0

New Designs University Park 42, Westbrook 0

Stern 13, Sotomayor 7

SOUTHERN SECTION

Artesia 25, Whitney 13

Cypress 27, Edison 26

Cypress 32, Tesoro 12

Edison 38, Channel Islands 0

El Toro 28, Villa Park 19

Fullerton 50, Tustin 0

Gahr 7, El Toro 0

Godinez 20, Garden Grove Santiago 6

Huntington Beach 41, Northwood 13

Northwood 21, Western Christian 6

Tesoro 27, Channel Islands 13

Torrance 21, El Segundo 0

Ventura 42, Madera 0

Villa Park 12, Gahr 9

INTERSECTIONAL

Camarillo 26, LA Marshall 13

Etiwanda 13, LA Marshall 6

Etiwanda 30, Torrey Pines 20

Huntington Beach 27, McClatchy 11

Redondo Union 7, Wilmington Banning 6

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

CITY SECTION

Van Nuys 6, Sun Valley Poly 0

Van Nuys 13, Chatsworth 0

SOUTHERN SECTION

Corona Centennial 13, Ramona 12

Cypress 34, El Toro 30

Cypress 16, Edison 14

Dana Hills 31, Fairmont Prep 6

Del Sol 18, Bishop Diego 0

Edison 37, Channel Islands 18

Edison 14, Villa Park 0

El Toro 14, Tesoro 0

Etiwanda 20, Western Christian 12

Hemet 8, Murrieta Valley 6

Hemet 14, Riverside Poly 8

Huntington Beach 33, Etiwanda 31

Huntington Beach 20, Camarillo 18

Mater Dei 35, San Ysidro 21

Mission Viejo 6, Corona Centennial 0

Mission Viejo 7, Temecula Prep 6

Monrovia 26, Temple City 6

Northview 20, Victor Valley 6

Ramona 24, Temecula Prep 0

Rancho Cucamonga 24, West Covina 13

Riverside Poly 19, Murrieta Valley 6

San Dimas 14, Northview 0

San Dimas 33, Victor Valley 2

South El Monte 21, El Rancho 0

South Hills 30, Rancho Cucamonga 14

South Hills 21, San Dimas 0

South Hills 42, West Covina 8

Ventura 14, Los Gatos 12

INTERSECTIONAL

Eagle Rock 35, Castaic 6

Huntington Beach 43, LA Marshall 7

Ventura 20, Milpitas 13

Ventura 27, San Jose Independence 6

Ventura 27, San Jose Presentation 6

SANTA BARBARA — “In this next song,” said Paul McCartney, “we’d like you to sing along.”

Oh, this was the one?

By an hour or so into his concert Friday night at the Santa Barbara Bowl — basically somebody’s backyard by the standards of the former Beatle — McCartney had already gotten the capacity crowd to join in on a bunch of all-timers including “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” “Love Me Do,” “Jet,” “Getting Better,” “Lady Madonna,” “Let Me Roll It” and “Got to Get You Into My Life.”

But for Sir Paul, even (or especially) at age 83, there’s always a way to take an audience higher.

So as his keyboard player plunked out the song’s lovably lopsided lick, McCartney and his band cranked through a fast and jumpy rendition of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” that left nobody any choice but to hop up and holler about the sweet certainty of life’s going on.

Paul McCartney and his band.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

A sellout pretty much as soon as it was announced, Friday’s show was a kind of warm-up gig ahead of the launch next week of the latest leg of McCartney’s Got Back world tour, which began criss-crossing the globe in 2022 and will resume Monday night in Palm Desert after a nine-month break.

On the road he’s playing arenas and stadiums, but this hillside amphitheater seats only 4,500 or so; to make the evening even more intimate, fans had to lock their phones in little pouches on the way into the venue. (The presence of several cameras swooping around on cranes suggested that McCartney was filming the concert for some unstated purpose.)

“That’s our wardrobe change of the evening,” he said at one point after taking off his jacket, and indeed this was a slightly trimmed-down version of the flashy multimedia production that he brought to SoFi Stadium three years ago. That night in 2022, he played three dozen tunes over two and a half hours; on Friday he did a dozen fewer — no “Maybe I’m Amazed,” no “Band on the Run” — in about an hour and 45 minutes.

The advantage of the smallness, of course, was that you could really hear what McCartney and his longtime backup band were doing up there: the folky campfire vocal harmonies in “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” the propulsive groove driving “Get Back,” the barely organized chaos of a downright raunchy “Helter Skelter.”

Then again, that assumes that tracking those details is why anybody turned up in Santa Barbara.

Though he dropped an album of new solo songs in 2020, McCartney has been pretty deep in nostalgia mode since the 2021 release of Peter Jackson’s widely adored “Get Back” docuseries. He’ll tend the machine this fall with a new book about his years with Wings and an expanded edition of the Beatles’ mid-’90s “Anthology” series; next year, a documentary about the Wings era is due from director Morgan Neville; in 2028, director Sam Mendes will unveil the four separate biopics he’s making about each Beatle, with Paul Mescal in the role of McCartney.

Paul McCartney takes the stage.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

All that looking back can make it hard for even a devoted fan to take in the legend standing before them in the flesh; instead of overwriting memories with fresh information, the mind steeped in myth can train itself to do the opposite (especially when the owner of that mind has shelled out hundreds of bucks for a concert ticket).

Yet you have to hand it to McCartney, whose face bore a dusting of silvery stubble on Friday: As predetermined as this audience was to have a good time, he was tapped into the energy of a musician making minute-to-minute decisions.

He opened the show with a zesty take on the Beatles’ “Help!,” which experts on the internet say he hadn’t played in concert since 1990, then followed it up with one of his quirkiest solo tunes in the disco-punk “Coming Up,” which he juiced with a bit of Henry Mancini’s “Peter Gunn” theme.

After a flirty “Love Me Do,” he asked the women in the crowd to “gimme a Beatles scream,” then nodded approvingly at the sound. “Imagine trying to play through that,” he added.

“Jet” had a nasty swagger and “I’ve Got a Feeling” a sexy strut; “Live and Let Die,” meanwhile, was just as trashy as you’d hope.

McCartney told moving if familiar stories about meeting Jimi Hendrix and about his mother coming to him in the dream that inspired “Let It Be”; he also told one I’d never heard about screwing up a performance of “Blackbird” — “Lot of changes,” he said of the song’s complicated guitar part — in front of Meryl Streep. Because his wife Nancy was in the house, he said, he played “My Valentine,” a weepy piano ballad anyone but Nancy probably would’ve gladly exchanged for “Junior’s Farm” or “Drive My Car.”

But then what was that choice if not a commitment to the circumstances of the moment?

Paul McCartney arrives at the Santa Barbara Bowl.

(Michael Owen Baker / For The Times)

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Noah Goldberg, with an assist from Rebecca Ellis, giving you the latest on city and county government.

A majority of the Los Angeles City Council believed that an expansion of the L.A. Convention Center was absolutely necessary.

The venue was losing out on event bookings to smaller cities like Anaheim and Las Vegas. But the expansion would be one of the most expensive publicly-financed projects in city history, and taxpayers would be paying down the debt for the next three decades.

The year was 1985. The number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 list was — and it couldn’t have been more apt — “We Built This City” by Starship.

That year, the council approved construction of the Convention Center’s South Hall, which Angelenos now know for its curving green facade facing the 110 Freeway. The project added hundreds of thousands of square feet of event space at a price tag of $310 million — though it ended up costing $500 million.

Now, history seems to be looping around again in last week’s debate about another Convention Center expansion, this time across Pico Boulevard to link the center’s two buildings.

The City Council voted last Friday to move forward with a $2.6-billion expansion that city budget advisers warned will draw taxpayer funds away from essential city services for decades. Any construction delays could endanger plans to host judo, wrestling and other Olympic competitions in 2028, triggering financial penalties if the venue isn’t ready in time.

In 1985, only Councilmember Joel Wachs voted against the expansion — though he told The Times he couldn’t remember the exact reason. It’s been 40 years, after all.

“That said, I’m not at all surprised I opposed it … as I did other projects where I felt the city would be on the hook for untold costs with no real meaningful assurances of benefits that could possibly justify it,” he said.

Wachs said that barring any convincing arguments on the other side, “I would also likely vote against it if I was on the council now.”

In 1985, Wachs was concerned about the long-term effects of the Convention Center upgrade on the city’s general fund.

The South Hall was finished in 1993, and the city made a nearly $42-million payment the next year, continuing to pay between $13.1 million and $48.4 million a year until 2023.

Just a few years after that old debt was finally paid off, the city is set to start payments on a similar project.

“History is repeating itself, because it’s become necessary to compete with other convention centers around the world again,” said Doane Liu, executive director of the city’s Tourism Department. “I’m certain it was a hard decision to make in [1985].”

While debating the new expansion, some on the City Council wondered how the two projects matched up and whether the 1985 vote could provide guidance for the current moment.

Councilmember Tim McOsker asked City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo to report on the cost of the 1985 expansion.

McOsker compared the numbers, arguing that the annual payments were similar, if adjusted for the growth of the city’s general fund over time.

The city’s first $42-million payment for the old expansion was about 1.7% of its $2.48-billion general fund.

Payments for the new expansion ratchet up over a three-year period, starting with around $40 million in 2029, then jumping by 2031 to about $192 million a year until 2055.

Each $192-million annual payment would be about 2.3% of the city’s current general fund.

The similarities go further than the general fund percentage, McOsker said, alluding to the nearly $1-billion deficit that city officials recently faced.

“You know what else we had in ‘94-’95 and ‘95-’96? A $1-billion deficit that we were struggling with,” he said at a council budget hearing on Sept. 16. “It was a tough time then, and I know that we may hear that maybe we shouldn’t have done it, but we did do it, and 30 years later, we have a Convention Center that needs it again.”

But was it worth it?

Former Councilmember Zev Yaroslavsky has come to regret his vote in favor of the 1993 expansion.

“I think I did make a mistake,” he said. “I regret that I drank the Kool-Aid.”

Yaroslavsky said the council was convinced in 1985 that the expanded convention center would generate enough revenue to pay off the bond issuance, and then some.

But after 30 years of payments, Yaroslavsky said he saw no evidence that he and his fellow council members were correct.

“That didn’t happen.”

State of play

— FRESNO-NO: Councilmember Ysabel Jurado found herself in the crosshairs of Fresno politicians this week after she suggested that L.A. should not be ceding major events to the city. “We can’t keep losing out to Fresno. Shakira ended her world tour in Fresno,” she said at a press conference in which she voiced support for the Convention Center expansion.

Fresno shot back. “There’s no need to degrade or make fun of other cities that literally feed Angelenos by picking the fruits and vegetables sold at the DTLA markets daily,” Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez wrote on Instagram.

— LAX DELAYS: The Automated People Mover that will connect travelers between airport terminals and the Metro could be delayed even further, the CEO of LAX told The Times. The train, which was supposed to open in January 2026, may now be delayed until June 2026 or later, imperiling the goal of opening in time for the World Cup.

— NO LAYOFFS: Mayor Karen Bass announced Tuesday that the city has managed to avert all 1,650 layoffs she proposed in April as part of her plan to close a nearly $1-billion deficit. Bass negotiated for months with labor unions, who made concessions to help stave off hundreds of the layoffs. Budget reductions from the City Council also helped save jobs.

— BATHROOM POOH-POOHED: The city’s plan to install a bathroom at popular hiking destination Runyon Canyon has come under fire from locals who worry it may bring unwanted smells and safety issues. Bass said the city has received requests from hikers for years asking for a bathroom in the park. The bathroom will be ready by summer 2026.

CHIMP INFANT: Two chimpanzees born at the L.A. Zoo in August and September and are the first chimp births at the zoo in 11 years. They do not yet have names.

DROPOUT: Last week’s newsletter mentioned Jake Rakov as a congressional candidate; he dropped out of the race earlier this month.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program hit two locations this week. On Tuesday, it brought people inside from West 88th Street and South Grand Boulevard in South Los Angeles. On Thursday, the program went to Roscoe and Balboa Boulevards in the San Fernando Valley. Over the two operations, nearly 60 Angelenos were brought off the street.
• On the docket next week: L.A. County supervisors will hear about the findings of a long-awaited report from the McChrystal Group into what went wrong during the Eaton fire. The 132-page report found that poor communication, understaffing and a lack of adequate planning amid the chaotic conditions contributed to the failures.

Stay in touch

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