Dan Snow explores the ruins of Machu Picchu in a compelling new show for 5. But the father-of-three was struck when he discovered the mummified remains of a young girl.
Dan Snow was struck by a shock moment in his new Channel 5 show
Scaling Machu Picchu, Dan Snow ’s latest adventure is anything but ordinary. But he was rattled by his encounter with a 600-year-old Inca mummy.
The historian and presenter, 46, fronts Machu Picchu: The Discovery with Dan Snow on Channel 5, diving deep into the secrets of the ancient Peruvian city lost to the jungle for centuries.
“It is the most splendid and overwhelming location for a historical site. Nothing can prepare you for arriving there,” he says, “I’d never visited before and it was one of my bucket list places. I was so desperate to do it.”
Alongside the stunning scenery came cultural revelations. “The Incas were very different,” he says, “To understand their belief systems, you have to turn everything you understand from the West on its head.
They used to keep their Emperors mummified, bringing them out on special occasions. Death wasn’t the end for them. That was difficult because it’s so different.”
He adds: “Seeing the way the landscape is kind of organised – like a great big Coliseum. Such beautiful mountains, river valleys and then stunning buildings.
All built with these extraordinary, exquisite stonemasonry techniques of the Inca. It is truly like a lost city in the jungle. It’s the thing you dream about when you’re a little kid.”
But one of the most striking of the show moments came when Dan encountered the frozen remains of a 12-year-old-girl, sacrificed to the mountain gods.
“She was perfectly preserved in ice,” he says, “I had to hold her for a minute. She was my daughter’s age. It was one of the most overwhelming things.”
Dan Snow explores the ruins of the lost city of Machu Picchu in his new show – and he comes face to face with a 6,000-year-old mummy
Dan has been married to criminologist and philanthropist Lady Edwina Louise Grosvenor since November 2010. Edwina is the second daughter of the 6th Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor. She and Dan lead a happy family life in the New Forest with their three children.
Hidden from Spanish invaders and swallowed by rainforest, Machu Picchu remained untouched for centuries. “It was just so inaccessible,” says Dan.
The Spanish never managed to get to it. Everything grows so fast that it was abandoned: The Spanish never found it, and before you know it the jungle had just taken over.”
But reaching it wasn’t easy. “It was a really challenging place to film. Carrying all our equipment over these mountain paths,” he says, “At one stage, we were swinging the camera, and I almost fell off into the valley below. It was exhausting.”
The altitude only made things worse. “People were having nosebleeds as we were trying to operate equipment,” Dan adds. “Even in Cusco, one of the highest cities on Earth. It was one of the more challenging places I have had to operate for sure.”
Now back from his visit, Dan’s wanderlust is far from cured. “I’d love to visit Easter Island,” he says, “There are Roman ruins in North Africa, even in China! The great happiness is that there’s always opportunities.”
WASHINGTON — The family of a 4-year-old Bakersfield girl with a rare medical condition has been granted humanitarian protection from deportation, allowing her to continue receiving lifesaving treatment in the United States.
The plight of the girl, who The Times has identified by her initials, S.G.V., drew public outrage and galvanized dozens of lawmakers to advocate on her behalf. The girl and her parents, who are from Mexico, originally received temporary permission to enter the U.S. legally through Tijuana in 2023.
The Trump administration had rescinded the legal protections of S.G.V. and her parents, leaving them vulnerable to deportation. Her doctor at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles said she could die within days of losing her medical care for short bowel syndrome, a condition that prevents her body from completely absorbing nutrients from food.
Last week, 38 congressional Democrats, including California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, condemned the termination of the family’s status and urged the Department of Homeland Security to reinstate it.
“Without action, S.G.V. will die,” the lawmakers wrote May 29 to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. “We urge a prompt response from your Department and a swift decision to extend this family’s legal status in the U.S.” The lawmakers wrote that the family’s situation “clearly meets the need for humanitarian aid.”
In a letter Monday to the family and their attorney, acting field office director Carmen Paniagua of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services wrote: “This is to advise you that effective June 2, 2025, you have been granted Humanitarian Parole for a period of one year.”
In April, the girl’s mother, Deysi Vargas, received notice from the federal government that their humanitarian protections and permission to work legally had been terminated. The notice told them to leave voluntarily or else “the federal government will find you.”
An online fundraiser for S.G.V.’s care amassed more than $40,000 as of Tuesday.
The U.S. Justice Department ratcheted up its efforts to block transgender athletes from competing in school sports in California by warning school districts Monday that they will face legal trouble if they don’t break from the state and bar such athletes from competition within days.
The new warning followed similar threats by the Trump administration to the state and the California Interscholastic Federation, which governs youth sports and requires transgender athletes be allowed to compete. It also comes after AB Hernandez, a 16-year-old transgender junior from Jurupa Valley High School, won multiple medals at the state high school track and field championships on Saturday, despite a directive from President Trump that she not be allowed to compete.
Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon — a conservative California lawyer who focused on challenging LGBTQ+-friendly state laws before being appointed by Trump to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — wrote in a Monday letter to school districts that continuing to comply with CIF rules allowing transgender athletes to compete “would deprive girls of athletic opportunities and benefits based solely on their biological sex,” in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
To “avoid legal liability” for such violations, Dhillon wrote, each district must “certify in writing” by June 9 that it is no longer complying with the federation’s rules and barring transgender athletes from competition.
Dhillon said on the social media platform X that her office put “1600+ California schools on blast for violating equal protection in girls’ sports.”
Dhillon’s letter made no mention of the CIF’s rule change last week — after Trump threatened to revoke federal funding from California if Hernandez competed in the state championships. The change allowed any cisgender girl bumped from qualifying for event finals by a transgender athlete to compete anyway. It also ensured cisgender girls were awarded medals in every race, regardless of how Hernandez placed.
The policy was intended as a compromise, but it drew little support from those on the conservative right demanding a full ban on transgender athletes.
In addition to Trump’s funding threat, Dhillon’s office last week announced it was launching an investigation into the state, the interscholastic federation and the Jurupa Unified School District, where Hernandez competes.
A spokesperson for California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office said officials there were “very concerned with the Trump Administration’s ongoing threats to California schools and remain committed to defending and upholding California laws and all additional laws which ensure the rights of students — including transgender students — to be free from discrimination and harassment.”
The office was “reviewing the letter and closely monitoring the Trump Administration’s actions in this space,” the spokesperson said.
Elizabeth Sanders, a spokesperson for the California Department of Education, said the agency had no comment on Dhillon’s letter Monday but was “preparing to send guidance” out to districts Tuesday. She said California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond also had no response Monday.
The Los Angeles Unified School District declined to comment. Other local districts around L.A. did not respond to requests for comment.
LGBTQ+ advocates criticized Dhillon’s letter, calling it the latest proof that the Trump administration is not actually concerned with protecting cisgender athletes but with targeting transgender kids to score political points.
Shannon Minter, vice president of legal at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, helped draft the interscholastic federation’s original rules allowing transgender athletes to compete, and also supports the new rule — which he said ensures that both transgender and cisgender athletes get to compete.
At last weekend’s meet, for example, Hernandez’s competing did not push any cisgender girls out of competition.
Hernandez took gold in both the girls’ triple jump and girls’ high jump, and placed second in the girls’ long jump — but wasn’t alone in any of those spots.
For the triple jump, she stood on the podium alongside a cisgender girl who was also given gold. For the high jump, she shared the podium with two cisgender girls with whom she tied. For the long jump, she shared the second-place podium spot with a cisgender girl who also was awarded silver.
The new rule addressed “the concerns people had about taking opportunities away from non-transgender girls, and it makes sure that cannot happen — it literally eliminates that concern altogether,” Minter said.
By ignoring the new rules, he said, Dhillon’s letter “shows what we already knew, which is that this administration isn’t concerned at all about protecting athletic opportunities for girls, this is just about bias against transgender people — pure and simple.”
Critics of transgender youth participating in sports, meanwhile, cheered Dhillon’s letter as a major victory.
Sophia Lorey, outreach director for the conservative California Family Council, said it was “huge.” Lorey was kicked out of the state championships Saturday after handing out fliers urging people to sign a petition calling on the interscholastic federation to change its policies.
“Here we gooooo!” Lorey wrote on X. “As a born & raised Californian who played soccer through college — I am beyond grateful.”
At least a handful of California school districts with conservative elected leaders would be eager to comply with the new directive.
On April 17, the Chino Valley Unified school board unanimously approved a resolution titled “Supporting Title IX and Fairness in Girls’ Interscholastic Sports.” The resolution stated that “biological differences between male and female athletes can create inherent advantage in competitive sports, particularly in categories designated specifically for girls.”
The school system called on state governing bodies to uphold protections for girls in sports under Title IX, a 1972 federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding.
In April, the school system also filed a Title IX complaint with the federal Justice Department against Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Department of Education, Thurmond and the California Interscholastic Federation.
The complaint said Chino Valley was “now caught between conflicting state and federal directives” and was requesting “urgent federal intervention.”
Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified school board, wrote on X that Dhillon’s letter was “a historic win” for parents, their daughters, the nation and “truth.”
“We will not bend. We will not compromise. We will protect our daughters at all costs,” wrote Shaw, who is running for state superintendent of public instruction. “The tide is turning. The silence is broken. And we are just getting started.”
Shaw also suggested that the support from the Trump administration could encourage her school system to take more aggressive action.
“I’m bringing this matter forward at our next board meeting,” Shaw said. “We will not comply with insanity. We will not be bullied into silence. We will not betray our girls to please radicals.”
Hernandez’s mother, Nereyda Hernandez, could not be reached Monday, but has previously said that it was heartbreaking to see her child being attacked “simply for being who they are,” and despite following all California laws and policies for competing.
She begged Trump to reconsider his efforts to oust transgender girls from sports.
“My child is a transgender student-athlete, a hardworking, disciplined, and passionate young person who just wants to play sports, continue to build friendships, and grow into their fullest potential like any other child,” she said.
Victoria Finnigan, 25, has instructed lawyers to investigate the cause of the E.coli infection after her daughter Freya Finnigan-Haynes was left needing emergency surgery
Milo Boyd Digital Travel Reporter and SWNSed (Ed Chatterton)
13:02, 02 Jun 2025
Freya Finnigan-Haynes was diagnosed with a severe bacterial infection
A mother has shared her harrowing tale of a dream holiday to Egypt that turned into “one of the worst experiences of her life” when her two-year-old daughter contracted deadly E.coli..
Victoria Finnigan, 25, has asked lawyers to investigate whether she has a claim after her little girl, Freya Finnigan-Haynes, required emergency surgery following their luxury trip to Hurghada. The toddler was diagnosed with a severe bacterial infection that resulted in both her kidneys failing after she fell seriously ill during the £2,000 holiday last November.
Victoria and her partner Thomas Sloan, 24, had taken Freya away for some winter sun, but all three fell ill with gastric symptoms following their holiday in Egypt.
Upon their return to the UK, Thomas recovered within a few weeks, however, Victoria and Freya were diagnosed with E.coli..
Freya’s condition worsened over the next two days, with her hands, feet and lips turning blue, leading to her being rushed to hospital by ambulance. Both of Freya’s kidneys failed and she was moved to another hospital for surgery to insert dialysis tubes.
She underwent dialysis for three weeks and received four blood transfusions, remaining in hospital over the Christmas period. Freya now has to take folic acid daily and will need annual check-ups until she turns 18.
Victoria, a home carer, and Thomas, a car body repairer, have since hired lawyers to investigate their illnesses. “We’d been looking forward to our holiday for a long time and couldn’t wait to get out there and enjoy some winter sun,” Victoria, from Twickenham, London, said.
“Instead, it turned into one of the worst experiences of our lives. It was awful when Thomas and I fell ill, but I hoped that Freya had escaped it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. To see my darling girl so unwell was incredibly traumatic, and to be told that she was suffering kidney failure devastated me.
“All I wanted to do was make her better. Sadly, she’ll have to have regular check-ups for a long time. We know we can’t change what happened but the least we deserve are some answers, especially for Freya.”
The family’s dream trip turned sour when Victoria and Thomas were struck down with sickness and diarrhoea shortly after their holiday began between November 29 to December 9 last year. Their daughter Freya started showing similar symptoms on the flight back home a week later.
While Victoria and Thomas got better within weeks of returning to the UK, Freya’s condition led to hospitalisation due to kidney failure, and she remained in care until New Year’s Eve.
Jatinder Paul, an international serious injury solicitor at Irwin Mitchell representing the family, commented on the ordeal: “The first-hand accounts we’ve heard from Victoria and Thomas are deeply concerning. The impact of gastric illness should never be underestimated. That Freya went on to develop kidney failure and had to undergo dialysis as a result, demonstrates the severity of what can happen.
“Understandably, Victoria and Thomas have a number of concerns over how their holiday was ruined by illness. We’re now investigating those concerns and are determined to provide the family with the answers they deserve.”
Insiders said Posh was away for work and Geri declined the invitation to the event.
We told last week how the Girls’ ex-manager is in talks for them to reunite as avatars, following in the steps of Abba.
An insider spilled: “Mel’s throwing a huge party in Leeds for her 50th. It’s also her fiance’s birthday today so it’s a joint celebration and will be a real family affair.
“But Geri and Posh can’t make it. Posh had a work commitment she couldn’t get out of.
“It’s a bit awkward given the reunion excitement.”
The Sun has contacted their reps for comment.
The snub comes just days after we revealed plans for the group to reunite as Avatars, following in the footsteps of pop legends Abba.
A BEAUTY enthusiast has revealed “the best hot girl holiday hack” that will ensure you never feel floated in a bikini again.
So if you’re lucky enough to be jetting aboard any time soon and want to feel confident in your swimwear this summer, you’ve come to the right place and will need to take notes.
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A young woman has revealed a savvy “holiday hack” to ensure you wave goodbye to bloated daysCredit: TikTok/@juliaglowguide
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So if you’re heading away and want to look fabulous in your bikini, you’ll need to check this outCredit: TikTok/@juliaglowguide
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Julia raved about the Pure Encapsulations Digestive Enzymes which facilitate the normal breakdown of proteins and tripeptidesCredit: Healf
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These supplements “relieve occasional bloating or gas” and work out at just 44p a timeCredit: Getty
In fact, it will work out at just 44p a time – yes, you heard that correctly.
Posting on social media, Julia, who is on a mission to “glow up” her life, revealed the key to staying slender whilst abroad.
The trainee nutritionist said: “Let me give you the best holiday bloating hot girl tip – I used to be that girl who’d go on holiday and be scared to eat all the food that I want, enjoy my time, because I’d constantly feel bloated.
“I just wouldn’t want to be in my bikini – the bloating would get so bad and uncomfortable because I was eating foods my body wasn’t used to.
“And I discovered the best hot girl holiday hack ever that means I can go away, feel comfortable in my bikini, not bloat, enjoy all the food and just have a great time.”
Julia explained that in order to put bloating at bay, she swears by the Pure Encapsulations Digestive Enzymes – supplements containing enzymes involved in the digestion of protein, carbohydrate, fat, fibre, and lactose.
Julia’s favourite Digestive Enzymes contain a high-strength, broad-spectrum mixture of vegetarian digestive enzymes that facilitate the normal breakdown of proteins and tripeptides.
According to the product description, these supplements contain alpha-galactosidase that promotes the breakdown of certain complex carbohydrates, such as raffinose and stachyose, found in some legumes, vegetables, and grains.
In turn, this helps “to relieve occasional bloating or gas.”
I’m a size 16 and I’ve found the perfect summer dress from F&F – it’s so comfy and great for bloated days on holiday
A pack of 30 capsules will cost you £13.49, working out at just 44p per tablet.
Clearly a huge fan of the supplements, the content creator continued: “I cannot tell you how much I love Digestive Enzymes – magic pill, take them 15 minutes before you eat any meal and these help you break down food your body’s not used to eating.
Omg been looking for a solution for this for years
TikTok user
“I can have a pizza and not bloat when I take Digestive Enzymes – trust me, this is worth your investment.”
The TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @juliaglowguide, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as in just three days, it has quickly racked up 235,700 views.
Bloating: Foods to eat and avoid
Eating the right foods can prevent bloating as well as reduce when it occurs.
But it depends entirely on what your symptoms are.
If you are bloated and constipated, eat:
Fruits and vegetables
Bran flakes
Oats
Skin-on potatoes
Dried fruits such as apricots and raisins
If you have trapped wind, avoid:
Cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and kale
Beans (baked, kidney, butter)
Lentils
These foods, including pulses like beans and lentils, are good to add into the diet slowly as they are high in fibre.
While they are not advisable to help in the moment, they do help in the long-run by boosting gut health.
Try adding them slowly into your diet.
If you are bloated with diarrhoea, you may have a stomach bug and should eat:
Plain foods: bananas, white rice, bread or toast
Boiled potatoes
Oatmeal
Small and frequent meals
Other tips for preventing bloating are:
Exercise regularly
Chew with your mouth shut
Eat smaller more frequent meals than large meals
Avoid fizzy drinks, alcohol or caffeine
Limit processed, sugary, spicy or fatty foods
One person said: “I’ve never heard of these! Thank you.”
Another added: “Omg been looking for a solution for this for years.”
Meanwhile, one woman beamed: “They’re amazing, only thing that’s worked for me.”
Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme – Sun Club
CLOVIS, Calif. — Overcoming intense pressure to quit from President Trump, dozens of local protesters and other prominent critics of transgender athletes in girls’ sports, 16-year-old AB Hernandez bounded past many of her peers to win multiple gold medals at California’s high school track and field championships Saturday.
The transgender junior from Jurupa Valley High School — who competed despite a directive from Trump that she be barred from doing so — won state titles in the girls’ triple jump and the girl’s high jump and took second place in the girls’ long jump.
Hernandez’s success at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships in Clovis came amid high heat — with temperatures above 100 degrees for much of the day — and under an intense spotlight.
Earlier in the week, Trump had said on social media that he was “ordering local authorities, if necessary, to not allow” Hernandez to compete, wrongly alleging she had won “everything” in a prior meet and calling her “practically unbeatable.” Protesters gathered outside the meet both Friday and Saturday to denounce her inclusion and the LGBTQ+-friendly state laws allowing it.
Despite all that, Hernandez appeared calm and focused as she competed. When her name was announced for the long jump, she waved to the crowd. When she was announced for the high jump, she smiled.
Hernandez beat out all other competitors in the triple jump, though the runner-up was also awarded 1st place under new rules established by the California Interscholastic Federation after Trump issued his threats.
Hernandez tied with two other girls in the high jump, with the three of them all clearing the same height and sharing the gold.
Hernandez’s mother, Nereyda Hernandez, heaped praise on her after the events in a statement provided to The Times, saying, “As your mother, I cannot fully express how PROUD I am of you.”
“Watching you rise above months of being targeted, misunderstood, and judged not by peers, but by adults who should’ve known better, has left me in awe of your strength,” her mother said. “Despite it all, you stayed focused. You kept training, you kept showing up, and now you’re bringing THE GOLD HOME!!!
During some of Hernandez’s jumps, a protester could be heard on a bullhorn from outside the Buchanan High School stadium chanting “No boys in girls’ sports!” California Interscholastic Federation officials banned protest signs inside the facility, but outside protesters held a range of them — including ones that read “No Child Is Born in the Wrong Body,” “Trans Girls Are Boys: CIF Do Better,” and “She Trains to Win. He takes the trophy?”
Josh Fulfer, a 46-year-old father and conservative online influencer who lives near the stadium, said he was the protester on the bullhorn. He said Hernandez should not have been competing — regardless of how she placed — because her presence in the competition had a negative “psychological effect” on her cisgender competitors.
“I stand with truth,” he said. “Males should not be pretending to be females, and they shouldn’t be competing against female athletes.”
Loren Webster, a senior from Wilson High School in Long Beach who beat Hernandez in the long jump, said she wasn’t giving Hernandez much thought — instead, she was focused on her own performance.
“It wasn’t any other person I was worried about. I knew what I was capable of,” Webster said. “I can’t control the uncontrollable.”
A child holds a protest sign alongside a family member and others opposed to transgender athlete AB Hernandez competing in the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships, at Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)
The intense focus on Hernandez over two days of competition Friday and Saturday reflected a broad rise in conservative outrage over transgender girls competing in sporting events nationwide, despite their representing a tiny fraction of competitors. It also reflected a concerted effort by Trump and other prominent conservative figures to single out Hernandez, individually, as an unwitting poster child for such concerns.
Recent polls, including one conducted by The Times last year, have shown that many Americans support transgender rights, but a majority oppose transgender girls participating in youth sports. California has long defended transgender kids and their right to participate in youth athletics, but other states have increasingly moved to limit or remove such rights entirely.
Marci Strange supports protestors as they protest against transgender athlete AB Hernandez competing In the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships, at Veterans Memorial Stadium In the campus of Buchanan High School in Clovis.
(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)
Trump first latched onto transgender issues with fervor during his presidential campaign, spending millions of dollars on anti-transgender political ads. Since being elected, he has issued a wave of executive orders and other policies aimed at rolling back transgender rights and protections.
Again and again, Hernandez has been singled out in that discussion.
Earlier this week, Trump referenced Hernandez in a social media post in which he said his administration would cut federal funding to California if it didn’t block her from competing in this weekend’s state finals and more broadly get in line with his executive order purporting to ban transgender youth from participating in school sports nationwide.
The following day, U.S. Justice Department officials referenced Hernandez again, announcing the launch of an investigation into whether California, its interscholastic sports federation and the Jurupa Unified School District are violating the civil rights of cisgender girls by allowing transgender students such as Hernandez to compete in sports.
Transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed for Jurupa Valley High School in the high jump at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)
At the meet Friday and Saturday, Hernandez often blended in with the hundreds of other athletes, hardly drawing attention. She was less conspicuous by far than the protesters there to denounce her for competing.
Hernandez’s mother has pleaded with Trump and other adults in recent days to show her daughter compassion, calling it heartbreaking “every time I see my child being attacked, not for a wrongdoing, but simply for being who they are.”
She has said her daughter “is not a threat,” while the harassment directed at her is “not just cruel, it’s dangerous.”
Local protesters — some with ties to national conservative organizations — cast Hernandez’s competing in girls’ events in starkly different terms.
Before being escorted out by police, Sophia Lorey, outreach director for the conservative California Family Council, walked around the stadium Saturday wearing a hat reading, “Women’s Sports, Women Only.” She told members of the crowd that Hernandez was a boy and handed out pink “Save Girls’ Sports” bracelets and fliers directing people to an online petition calling on the California Interscholastic Federation to change its policies to bar transgender athletes from competition.
Trump administration officials have taken a similar stance.
In a letter Wednesday to interscholastic federation executive director Ronald W. Nocetti, Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon, who was appointed by Trump to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, called Hernandez’s success in recent track and field events “alarming.” And she said the California policies allowing Hernandez to compete are a potential violation of Title IX, the 1972 federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs and other activities that receive federal funding.
Transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed in three events including the high jump, triple jump and long jump at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)
The remark came in a conversation on Newsom’s podcast in March, in which Hernandez was also singled out.
Kirk, a co-founder of the conservative organization Turning Point USA, asked Newsom whether he would voice his opposition to Hernandez competing in girls’ track and field events. Newsom said he agreed such situations were “unfair” but that he also took issue with “the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities,” including transgender people.
When Kirk suggested Newsom could say that he has “a heart for” Hernandez but still thinks her competing is unfair, Newsom again said he agreed.
Newsom has issued no such statement since. But, the playing field has shifted in California for transgender athletes since Trump started talking about Hernandez.
On Wednesday, the CIF announced a change in its rules for this weekend’s championships. Under the new rules, a cisgender girl who is bumped from qualifying for an event final by a transgender athlete will still advance to compete in the finals. In addition, the federation said, any cisgender girl who is beaten by a transgender competitor will be awarded whichever medal she would have claimed had the transgender athlete not been competing.
Transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed for Jurupa Valley High School in the high jump at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)
The CIF did not mention Hernandez by name in announcing its policy change, but it did make direct reference to the high jump, triple jump and long jump — the three events in which she was to compete.
Under the new rules, Hernandez shared her place on each of the event podiums with other girls.
The CIF did not respond to a list of questions about its new policy. A spokesman for Newsom applauded the change, but others were unimpressed.
Critics of transgender athletes rejected it as insufficient and demanded a full ban on transgender athletes. Fulfer, the protester on the bullhorn, said the CIF was “admitting that they’ve got it wrong for a long time” while still not doing enough to fix it — which Trump would see clearly.
“I hope Donald Trump sees what happens this weekend, and I hope he pulls the funding away from California,” Fulfer said.
LGBTQ+ advocates also criticized the rule change, but for different reasons, calling it a crass capitulation that singled out a teenager to appease a crowd of bullies picking a political fight.
“The fact that these same political players continue to bully and harass one child, even after CIF changed its policy, shows this was never about sports or fairness,” said Kristi Hirst, co-founder of the public education advocacy group Our Schools USA.
“It was simply about using a child, while compromising their personal safety on a national scale, to score political points and distract from the serious issues families and communities in this country are actually concerned about,” Hirst said, “affording groceries, the loss of health care, and access to quality teachers and resources in their public schools.”
Transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed for Jurupa Valley High School in the long jump at the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)
Nereyda Hernandez said she hoped AB’s wins would serve as inspiration for other kids who feel “unseen.”
“To every young person watching, especially those who feel unseen or unheard, let AB be your reminder that authenticity, courage, and resilience shine BRIGHTER than hate,” she said. “It won’t be easy, but definitely worth it.”
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers this week condemned the Trump administration’s termination of humanitarian protections that have left a 4-year-old girl who is receiving critical medical treatment in Los Angeles vulnerable to deportation and death.
On Tuesday, The Times published the story of S.G.V., who has short bowel syndrome — a rare condition that prevents her body from completely absorbing nutrients. She and her parents received temporary permission to enter the U.S. legally through Tijuana in 2023.
In a letter Thursday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, 38 congressional Democrats, including California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, urged her to reconsider the termination of the family’s legal status.
“We believe this family’s situation clearly meets the need for humanitarian aid and urge you and this Administration to reconsider its decision,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is our duty to protect the sick, vulnerable, and defenseless.”
Last month, S.G.V.’s family, who now live in Bakersfield, received notice from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that their status had been terminated and that they had to leave the country immediately. Earlier this month, they applied again for humanitarian protections.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary in the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that the family is not actively in the deportation process and that their application is still being considered.
The girl’s physician, Dr. John Arsenault of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, wrote in a letter requested by her family that any interruption in her daily nutrition system “could be fatal within a matter of days.”
The story about S.G.V. drew swift public outcry. An online fundraiser for the girl’s care had amassed nearly $26,000 as of Thursday morning.
The letter to Noem was led by Reps. Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles). Rivas said state legislators and constituents messaged her about the family, asking what she could do to help.
While the family lives outside of Rivas’ district, which encompasses the north-central San Fernando Valley, she said it is her role as a California Democrat and a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to speak up for immigrant constituents in districts where Republican representatives may not do so.
“That’s why we’re organizing as members of Congress,” Rivas said. “Without action from Secretary Noem and this administration, this little girl will die within days.”
In a post on X, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) called the situation “heartbreaking.” Seeking to deport the girl despite her medical condition is “cruel and inexcusable,” Chu added.
In another X post, Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) wrote: “Trump wants to deport a four-year-old who could die from a life-threatening medical condition if her treatment is interrupted. How does this cruelty make us a stronger nation?”
The family and their attorneys held a news conference Wednesday at the Koreatown office of the pro bono firm, Public Counsel. The lawyers explained that the equipment administered by the hospital to S.G.V. for home use is not available outside the U.S.
“If they deport us and they take away my daughter’s access to specialized medical care, she will die,” said Deysi Vargas.
Attorneys for the family noted that S.G.V. is not the only child affected in recent months by the Trump administration’s immigration policies. In an attempt to speed up arrests and deportations, they said, children are needlessly being swept up in the process.
Gina Amato Lough, directing attorney at Public Counsel, said the girl’s case “is a symbol of the recklessness of this administration’s deportation policies.”
“We’re seeing a pattern of cruelty and a violation of our most treasured rights and values,” said Amato Lough. “These are people coming to us for protection, and instead we’re sending them to die. That’s not justice, and it doesn’t make us any safer.”
Crews have scoured the dam since yesterday afternoonCredit: Ben Lack
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The teen had been enjoying a half-term walk with her dad when she vanishedCredit: Ben Lack
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Family told how the youngster had a “really bright future”Credit: Ben Lack
A cordon was put in place at the reservoir in Ripponden, West Yorkshire, after cops were called at around 1.20pm on Wednesday.
Search teams worked around the clock in an attempt to find the youngster, with two RIBs (rigid inflatable boats) spotted at the site this morning.
The teenager, from Halifax, had been posing for pictures with her dad when she tragically fell into the 140ft-deep water.
It is understood she hit the water after falling roughly 30ft from the parapet of the dam.
Local resident Sue Ferris helped comfort the girl’s family, who told her that the youngster had a “bright future“.
The 80-year-old said: “She had just got into grammar school, they told me.
“She wanted to walk round the reservoir with her dad because it was half term, but the rest of the family didn’t want to go.
“It was just dad and daughter at the reservoir when she fell in. The rest of the family came after the accident.
“Dad had been taking photographs, according to a witness, and he also heard dad screaming and shouting her name after she fell in – but he did not go into the water.
“He had some kind of heart problem and was clutching his chest soon afterwards and was taken away by ambulance.
Major search underway after girl falls into huge dam lake as cops launch hunt
“They were very proud of her. She had a really bright future.”
Mrs Ferris, who has lived in the same house overlooking the reservoir for 20 years, slammed officials for a buoyancy aids around the water.
She added: “It is disgraceful that there are no life rings anywhere on the parapet.
“Yorkshire Water added the white metal railings on top of the stone structure some years ago now.
“But it only adds about half a foot to the barrier height and actually helps people to climb onto the wall.
“It gives them something to grip on to.
“All it is doing is helping people to stand on the wall.”
Four West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue crews were sent out to the dam on Wednesday, assisted by Littleborough crew.
Yorkshire Ambulance Service also confirmed they sent officers from their Hazardous Area Response Team.
Speaking on Wednesday, a West Yorkshire police spokesperson said: “Shortly after 1.17pm this afternoon police were called to a report a girl had fallen into water at Baitings Dam near Ripponden.
“Emergency services are currently on the scene, with searches ongoing to locate the girl.”
Deysi Vargas’ daughter was nearly 2½ when she took her first steps.
The girl was a year delayed because she had spent most of her short life in a hospital in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, tethered to feeding tubes 24 hours a day. She has short bowel syndrome, a rare condition that prevents her body from completely absorbing the nutrients of regular food.
Vargas and her husband were desperate to get their daughter, whom The Times is identifying by her initials, S.G.V., better medical care. In 2023, they received temporary humanitarian permission to enter the U.S. legally through Tijuana.
Now in Bakersfield, the family received notice last month that their legal status had been terminated. The letter warned them: “It is in your best interest to avoid deportation and leave the United States of your own accord.”
But doing so would put S.G.V., now a bubbly 4-year-old, at immediate risk of death.
“This is a textbook example of medical need,” said the family’s attorney, Rebecca Brown, of the pro bono legal firm Public Counsel. “This child will die and there’s no sense for that to happen. It would just be a cruel sacrifice.”
A spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services declined to comment.
S.G.V.’s medication is stored in a small refrigerator.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where the girl regularly receives treatment, declined to comment. But in a letter requested by the family, Dr. John Arsenault of CHLA wrote that he sees the girl every six weeks.
If there is an interruption in her daily nutrition system, called Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), the doctor wrote, “this could be fatal within a matter of days.”
“As such, patients on home TPN are not allowed to leave the country because the infrastructure to provide TPN or provide immediate intervention if there is a problem with IV access depends on our program’s utilization of U.S.-based healthcare resources and does not transfer across borders,” Arsenault wrote.
Vargas, 28, is from the Mexican state of Oaxaca; her husband, 34, is from Colombia. They met in Cancun, where they were working. Just before S.G.V. was born, the couple moved to nearby Playa del Carmen so her husband could work as an Uber driver.
The girl was born a month premature and quickly taken to intensive care. After doctors discovered her condition, she underwent six surgeries to fix an intestinal blockage. But Vargas said the doctors cut out too much, and the girl was left with short bowels. She experienced repeated blood infections, including one that nearly killed her.
The girl’s weight fluctuated severely. One month, she would look emaciated, her tiny limbs and bulging stomach incongruous with the family’s relative access to resources. Another month, she was as round-cheeked as any other baby.
When S.G.V. was 7 months old, a doctor suggested that the family relocate to Mexico City, where pediatric care for short bowel syndrome was the best in the country. But although her condition initially improved, the blood infections continued.
Unable to work, Vargas spent all day, every day, at the hospital with her daughter. Some days, she said, nurses would mistakenly administer the wrong medication to S.G.V. Other days, Vargas would arrive to find that her daughter had thrown up on herself overnight and no one had cleaned her up.
As part of her daily routine, Deysi Vargas runs a saline solution through her daughter’s intravenous line.
Vargas tried to keep a watchful eye over her daughter. Even so, she said a nurse once mistakenly sped up S.G.V.’s nutrition system, causing her to quickly pee it out. The girl became dehydrated and her glucose levels skyrocketed before doctors whisked her to intensive care, where her condition stabilized.
S.G.V. as a baby, taken in Mexico before treatment for short bowel syndrome.
(Deysi Vargas)
Vargas had read about children similar to her daughter going on to have normal lives in other countries. In Mexico, her daughter was being kept alive — but at 2, her condition had not improved.
So when Vargas learned that the Biden administration had begun offering migrants appointments with border agents through a phone application called CBP One, she signed up. Those let in received two-year protection from deportation and work permits.
With the appointment set for July 31, 2023, Vargas and her family set out for Tijuana two days earlier. She carefully carried her daughter out of the hospital, her nutrition bags still connected intravenously.
Her husband told agents that he had once been kidnapped by cartel members in Mexico who extorted money and threatened to kill him. They also looked at the girl, whose vulnerable condition was obvious.
“God knew she needed better treatment,” Vargas said. “When we got to the entrance, they saw her and asked us if we needed medical help.”
By that afternoon, the family had been whisked to Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego.
S.G.V. quickly improved. Although she once was hooked up 24 hours a day to the feeding system that delivered nutrients directly into the bloodstream, doctors began weaning her off as her intestines got stronger.
The Trump administration has revoked the family’s humanitarian parole that they received in 2023 to treat the 4-year-old girl’s short bowel syndrome. Doctors say she could die within days without treatment.
A year later, doctors referred her to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which has one of the top-ranked gastroenterology programs in the country.
Both of her parents worked, holding down odd jobs, and by September 2024, the family had settled in Bakersfield and S.G.V. was discharged from the hospital.
For the first time, S.G.V. experienced the outside world. At Walmart, her eyes widened from the shopping cart and she and her mom strolled the aisles.
“It was incredible,” Vargas said. “I had waited so long for doctors to tell me, ‘Ma’am, your daughter is OK now. She can go home.’”
Now, the girl spends 14 hours each night hooked up to the intravenous feeding system. She wears a backpack to take it on the go.
Four times a day, for an hour, her mom administers a different type of nutrition that goes straight into her stomach through a gastric tube. When the girl goes to preschool, she takes a larger backpack containing the milky fluid, and the school nurse administers her noon feeding.
Before S.G.V. takes a shower, Vargas unplugs her IV tubes, flushes them with saline and tapes a plastic sheet over her chest to keep water from getting in and infecting the area.
On a recent morning, Vargas dressed the girl in pink leggings, a Hello Kitty T-shirt and black Puma sneakers. As they left hand-in-hand for preschool, S.G.V.’s curly black hair was still wet and the adult-size backpack dangled behind her knees as she walked.
S.G.V.’s care is covered through Medi-Cal. But life in the U.S. isn’t cheap.
Their modest living room contains little more than a hot plate on a folding table, a mini-fridge, a single chair and an IV bag stand. With no full kitchen, Vargas mostly makes sandwiches or soups. The fridge is filled with S.G.V.’s nutrition packs.
Vargas recently found steady work cleaning a restaurant. Finally, she thought, the family was achieving a sense of stability.
Then in April she received the notice from immigration authorities. This month, she received a notice terminating her employment authorization.
Vargas said she and her husband sometimes eat just once a day after paying rent and utilities, as well as for diapers and other necessities. Her husband is currently unemployed because of an injury, and she fears that losing her income could leave them homeless.
The thought of being forced by immigration agents to return to Mexico terrifies Vargas.
“I know the treatment they have there for her is not adequate, because we already lived it,” she said. “Those were bad times. Here she is living the most normal life possible.”
If not for her daughter’s medical condition, Vargas said, they probably would still be in Mexico. They want to stay only for as long as the girl needs treatment. Exactly how long that could be is unclear, but the couple are hopeful that their child’s condition will improve enough that she stops requiring supplemental nutrition.
Brown, their lawyer, submitted a petition for a continuation of their temporary humanitarian legal status based on S.G.V.’s medical condition. She believes the family’s legal status was prematurely terminated by mistake.
President Trump lambasted Biden over his broad expansion of programs allowing humanitarian entry, known as parole. On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order to ensure that the discretionary authority be “exercised on only a case-by-case basis” for urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit.
Deysi Vargas and her daughter, S.G.V., walk about 15 minutes to the child’s preschool.
“This is the intended purpose — to help the most vulnerable who need attention here,” Brown said. “We can avoid having harmed the child and the family.”
Although Trump said on the campaign trail that he would target criminals for deportation, his administration quickly began revoking the legal status of immigrants who have no criminal history.
The Trump administration has stripped humanitarian protections from hundreds of thousands of immigrants who entered the U.S. under various Biden-era programs. Thousands of people who similarly entered the country using the CBP One app received notices from the federal government around the same time Vargas did, ordering them to leave voluntarily or face criminal prosecution and other legal actions.
The same phone app that Vargas used to enter the country has since been turned into CBP Home, to help immigrants such as her self-deport. If not, it says, “the federal government will find you.”
Times staff photographer Myung J. Chun in Bakersfield contributed to this report.
One day after making a big announcement about his future, RJ Sermons concentrated on the present and rebounded from a disappointing effort in the boys’ 100 meters to beat a loaded field in the 200 meters Saturday in the Southern Section Masters Meet at Moorpark High.
“Not having the best race in the 100 gave me more fire in the 200 and I feel like I understand that race all the way,” Sermons said after building a sizable lead around the turn and winning in 20.97 seconds — not quite matching his personal-best 20.88 achieved three weeks ago at Baseline League finals. “The most important thing right now is to stay level-headed and prepare well for state.”
A four-star cornerback from Rancho Cucamonga, Sermons declared on Friday he will forgo his senior year, reclassifying from the class of 2026 to 2025 in order to join his older brother Cameron at USC this summer.
“I was thinking about it for two months, finalized my decision about a month ago and announced it yesterday because Thursday was the last day of school,” said the 6-foot, 185-pounder who committed to USC in mid-December, fulfilling a lifelong wish to follow in the footsteps of his father, Rodney Sr., a running back for the Trojans from 1994-97.
Before he turns his attention to college football, though, Sermons still has unfinished business on the high school track and has definite goals for the state meet on May 30 and 31 at Buchanan High in Clovis.
“For the 200, I can go 20.8 [seconds] for sure and my goal is 20.6,” he said, after finishing fourth in the 100 in 10.47 Saturday and finishing in 10.36 at the section finals last week. “In the 100, I’ll need to run high 10.1 or low 10.2 to win state. My focus [in the 100] will be the start. The key is getting out of the blocks fast.”
Alemany sophomore Demare Dezeurn repeated as boys’ 100 meters champion in 10.35 seconds Saturday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Defending his Masters title in the boys’ 100 meters before placing second to Sermons in the 200 with a personal-best 21.04 was Bishop Alemany sophomore Demare Dezeurn, whose winning time of 10.35 seconds bettered his Division 4 record-setting 10.42 and was one hundredth of a second faster than his wind-aided time at last year’s Masters.
“My goal is to win next week and one day be able to tell my kids I was state champion,” said Dezeurn, who confirmed he is transferring to Palisades and wants to play football in the fall. “This is just the beginning for me. I wasn’t planning to win today, I just wanted to put a good time on the board.”
Servite sophomore Benjamin Harris, second to Dezeurn last year in the 100 and fifth at state, stumbled and fell while crossing the finishing line in the 100 (he was third in 10.44) and had to scratch from the 200.
Robert Gardner, right, anchors Servite’s 4×100 relay, which posted the fastest time at the Southern Section Masters Meet on Saturday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Servite’s depth makes it a state title contender in the boys’ 4×100-meter relay. The team of Jace Wells, Jaelen Hunter, Kamal Pelovello and Robert Gardner, won Saturday in 40.40. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame was runner-up in 40.77.
“We’re a whole new team from last year but none of us like to lose and we’re going to practice getting the baton around better for next week,” said Gardner, who ran the anchor leg. Hunter later won the 400 meters in 46.91, one second faster than Jack Stadlman of Temecula Valley.
Long Beach Poly got revenge on Oaks Christian in the girls’ 4×100, as Leila Holland, Nevaeh Lewis, Aniyah Brooks and Brooklyn Lee won in 45.94 after finishing second to the Lions at state last year.
Anchor runner Brooklyn Lee, right, of Long Beach Poly sprints across the finish line first in the 4×100 relay at the Southern Section Masters Meet on Saturday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
“This was very important and it feels good but we’re going to state to redeem ourselves,” Lee said. Oaks Christian (46.12) was second and Redondo Union (46.96) third.
After repeating as Southern Section champion in the 100 a week ago, Georgia commit Keelan Wright (11.41) from Chaparral was edged by five hundredths of a second by North Carolina A&T-bound Journey Cole of Redondo Union in the 100, but rebounded to win the 200 in 23.21.
Corona Santiago’s Braelyn Combe followed her second straight Division 1 section title with a winning effort of 4 minutes 44.36 seconds in the girls’ 1,600 meters, improving her time from last week by more than two and a half seconds.
Corona Santiago’s Braelyn Combe runs during the girls’ 1,600 meters at the Southern Section Masters Meet on Saturday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Grant Miller of La Serna was the boys’ 1,600 champion in 4:09.86. Stanford-bound Evan Noonan, who opted not to run the 1,600 (he won the section Division 1 title last week) to save his energy for the 3,200 meters, won the event in 8:55.76.
University of Oregon commit and reigning girls’ state long jump champion Loren Webster of Long Beach Wilson leaped 18 feet 11½ inches — the third-best mark behind only Ab Hernandez of Jurupa Valley (19-03½) and Kaylee Best of Norco (19-¾).
“I’ve been dealing with patella tendinitis the entire season but over the weeks the pain has decreased,” Webster said. “I was confident I’d win state last year because I’d jumped over a foot better than anyone else. As for this year I’d say 20 feet should win.”
Defending state champion Loren Webster of Long Beach Wilson competes in the long jump at the Masters Meet on Saturday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Texas commit Brandon Gorski of Mater Dei qualified for state for the fourth time in the boys’ high jump with a height of 6-6 to finish third behind Chaminade’s Matthew Browner and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame junior JJ Harel (last year’s state runner-up), who both cleared 6-10. Gorski also posted the third-best mark in the long jump with a 22-10½ effort.
Long Beach Wilson won the girls’ 4×400-meter relay in 3:43.71 and Long Beach Poly won the boys’ race in 3:10.83.
Aliso Niguel’s Jaslene Massey won girls’ discus (165-06) and shot put (49-07½). Reigning state discus champion and 2023 state shot put champion Aja Johnson of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame took second in both with marks of 158-08 (discus) and 45-08 (shot put).
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1.Mater Dei senior Brandon Gorski competes in long jump at the Masters Meet on Saturday.2.Sherman Oaks Notre Dame junior JJ Harel competes in high jump.3.Servite freshman Jaelen Hunter separates from the pack on his way to winning the boys’ 400 meters.(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
A gritty, rock-inflected comedy using the nocturnal peculiarities of Mumbai slum life as a fertile (if at times fetid) palette, British-raised Karan Kandhari’s “Sister Midnight,” about a restless young housewife’s urban malaise, easily holds your attention for long stretches when seemingly little happens, but everything feels charged.
Don’t mistake this stylish feature debut for a misery wallow, however, or some poetic character study. It’s tantalizingly oddball and indelicate: a combined daymare and night odyssey that scratches until a feral hidden strength is revealed in the misfit main character, captivatingly played by Indian star Radhika Apte.
Though the movie ultimately can’t square its episodic unpredictability with the bubbling feminist-outlaw energy at its core — not to mention the comic-book twist that shakes it all up halfway through — that’s less a bug than a feature. Like a movie DJ, Kandhari is flexing a pulpy mood of big-city dislocation, building a trippy, jarring and blackly funny experience out of a city’s stray colors, sounds and personalities.
Arriving at their one-room hovel in the dead of night, arranged-marriage newlyweds and rural transplants Uma (Apte) and Gopal (Ashok Pathak) look more like thrown-together prison cellmates adjusting to a warden’s rules than a romantic couple embracing a future together. We glean that this was a match of undesirables: the timid, sexless guy no girl wanted and the girl too outspoken to be paired.
But here they are, having to make do. Gopal at least has a job to go to, from which he often comes home hammered after drinks with colleagues. Uma, left behind in the solitude of a shack that only allows one shaft of window light, is quick to profanely protest the joyless, intimacy-challenged rut they’ve entered. Alternating between angry and exhausted, she bristles at acclimating to the domesticity that her prickly neighbor wives treat like a club handshake.
Before long, Uma’s taste for cigarettes under the moonlight turns into regular solo walks at all hours. An impulsive journey to a coastal part of town hours away leads to her taking a cleaning job in an office building (and a friendship with a glumly simpatico elevator operator). Suddenly, she’s brandishing a mop and pail everywhere like a rootless knight without a quest or a horse. Then there’s a cryptic street encounter with a goat and things get even weirder. But also, somehow, more validating.
Kandhari, with his hypnotic Wes Anderson-by-way-of-David Lynch widescreen framing and deliberate tracking shots, seems more concerned with capturing something liminal in Uma’s alternative existence, as if the city were just weird and oppressive enough to tease out any transformation that was already lying dormant. (By the time the movie introduces stop-motion creatures roaming the streets, you’ve been primed to think, “Sure, why not?”)
A mischievously off-the-wall exercise like “Sister Midnight” (which eventually embraces some gnarlier elements) needs a certain steam to keep up its deadpan wildness. Kandhari is blessed in that regard with an active visual curiosity about his cracked fable’s punk potential, helped by Sverre Sørdal’s humid cinematography and a game lead in Apte, whose middle-finger energy is sometimes hilariously offset by a wonderful silent-film-star haplessness.
One wishes it all held together a little more, instead of laying seeds that tend to sprout vibes and distractions instead of an illuminating cohesiveness. Kandhari will too often keep Uma in cartoon rebel-goddess mode, needle-dropping another classic rock cut as if daring us to accept Motorhead or Buddy Holly as the only viable soundtrack for what’s going on. But those elements are a kick, too.
Of course, the title “Sister Midnight” is an Iggy Pop staple. “What can I do about my dreams?” it growls, an apt lyric for the singularly inventive and unmanageable fever of a movie that shares its name.
Competing in the same stadium he trains at every day, Antrell Harris sought to defend his home turf Thursday at the City Section Track and Field Championships.
And did he ever.
The Birmingham senior won the boys 100 meters and went on to win the 200 meters about 90 minutes later. Harris won the 100 in 10.92 seconds and took the lead on the backstretch to win the 200 in 21.66, holding off Granada Hills’ Justin Hart by nine hundredths of a second.
“I especially wanted to win the 200 because it’s my best race and I had to prove it,” said Harris, who ran his personal best in that event (21.32) at the Simi Valley Invitational. “My goal for state is to make the second day.”
The boys 400 meters, one of the most anticipated races of the meet, proved to be one of the closest. Hart took the lead around the final turn and held off a late kick by Venice’s Nathan Santa Cruz to prevail by three hundredths of a second in 47.45.
“I had to keep pumping my arms and hold my form the last 50 meters,” Hart said. “I knew it would be a tough race. My goals for state would be 46.6 in the 400 and 21.10 or lower for the 200.”
Carson sprinter Christina Gray defended both of her titles in the 100 and 200 meters.
Carson’s Christina Gray, center, takes the lead in the 200-meter dash at the City Section Track and Field Championships at Birmingham High School on Thursday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
“I was happy how I ran in both races,” the junior said after she finished in 12.07 in the 100 and 24.62 in the 200 while also running anchor on the Colts’ first-place 4×100 relay team. “Negative wind stopped me from getting PRs, especially in the 200 because it’s longer. I like the state meet and I’ve PR’d up there the last two years so hopefully I can do it again.”
GALA senior DeAuna Louis also repeated as champion in both the 100 hurdles (14.87) and 300 hurdles (46.12) after posting the fastest times in preliminaries.
“I’m definitely faster this year … my PR is 14.46 and I was going for the City record in the 100 but came up short,” said Louis, who is headed to Hampton University in Virginia for academics but plans to walk-on in track. “I was seventh in the 300 and 10th in the 100 at state last spring. My goal is to make the finals in both.”
Granada Hills’ Savannah Williams won the girls 400 in 57.22 and North Hollywood’s Ananya Balaraman won the 1,600 meters in 5 minutes 3.75 seconds and later took the lead in the last 40 meters to win the 800 in 2:16.90.
Santee’s Angeles Feliciano won the girls 3,200 in 11:25.75 and Charles Simon won the boys 3,200 in 9:38.77. Carson took the 4×400 girls race in 4:02.77 and Palisades (3:23.98) barely edged Granada Hills (3:24.15) in the boys’ race.
Venice’s Lawrence Kensinger wins the shot put with a throw of 55 feet on Thursday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Lawrence Kensinger won shot put with a throw of 55 feet on his second attempt. He has high hopes for the state meet in Clovis.
“I quit football to concentrate on shot,” he said. “I love this sport. It’s you versus you. If you make a mistake it’s on you, when you win that’s on you too.”
Kensinger was on the football team in ninth and 10th grade, playing defensive end as a freshman and defensive tackle as a sophomore.
“My goal at state is to make the second day,” added Kensinger, whose best throw was 55-9 at City prelims last year. “Sixty feet for my junior year would be a dream. That’s when you know you’re with the top dogs.”
Marshall’s Oleana Taalman Koch clears the bar at five feet, two inches to win the girls high jump on Thursday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Birmingham’s Mandell Anthony won the boys long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 9¾ inches and Marshall’s Oleana Taalman Koch cleared 5-2 to win the girls high jump.
Granada Hills swept the team titles, the girls ending Carson’s record streak of nine straight.
Longtime race starter Saul Pacheco was honored for working his 43rd City finals meet. A 1956 graduate of Banning, where he was a half-miler, and a 1961 UCLA graduate, he served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division from 1962-65 and was the track and field and offensive line coach at Carson for 25 years.
Birmingham’s Mandell Anthony wins the high jump on Thursday.
Alyssa Lee of El Camino Real has achieved something few volleyball coaches can claim.
With El Camino Real’s boys team winning the City Section Open Division championship on Saturday after an upset over No. 1-seeded Venice, Lee has won City titles coaching El Camino Real’s boys, girls and beach volleyball teams, the Triple Crown of volleyball coaching.
“That’s very impressive,” said Granada Hills coach Tom Harp, who had Lee on his girls’ team when she graduated in 2009.
Harp, a future Hall of Fame coach in the City Section, said Lee is calm and comfortable on the bench and knows strategy well.
The CIF Southern California tennis championships will be held Friday and Saturday at Claremont Club. Here’s the bracket…
Southern Section golf team championships are set for Monday and Tuesday. The individual championship will be Thursday. The City Section championships are Wednesday at Harding Golf Course.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
In “Overcompensating,” Prime Video’s newly released comedy series, everyone is doing too much. That’s what Benito Skinner, the creator and star of the A24-produced show, experienced in college in the mid-2010s, and why it felt like a perfect backdrop to tell a heightened version of his own coming out story.
“Overcompensating” centers around Benny (played by Skinner), a closeted former high school football player turned college frat bro who spends too much energy posing as a straight guy by lowering his voice and keeping his love for Lorde’s songwriting in check. That’s the case even, or especially, when he’s greeted by “The Alliance of Gay People and Lesbians and Bisexual People and Asexuals too even” as he makes his way around campus.
But Skinner knew there was plenty of narrative potential in focusing on the thorny relationship Benny strikes up with Carmen, a girl who ends up being both his beard and his BFF. Only in this telling, Carmen, played by Wally Baram, isn’t just a supporting player in Benny’s path toward self-acceptance.
“Naturally that story and getting to college, it’s this coming of age thing,” Skinner says. “And for so many gay people, it’s meeting these girlfriends who are creating these safe spaces — all the while they have their own s— going on. What was so interesting to me is thinking how I’m going through this whole journey inside. But so is she. She is having this whole other experience too.”
Benny (Benito Skinner) and Carmen (Wally Baram) in “Overcompensating.”
(Sabrina Lantos / Prime Video)
Baram says when she read the show’s pilot episode, she instantly understood where the character was coming from.
“I got the script, and within the first three pages, there’s this character — this frizzy, curly haired girl who’s kind of awkward and just can’t do the same thing that everyone else is doing,” Baram recalls. “And who, over the course of the script, is overcompensating with love. That was just so me for a really large chunk of my life, frankly.”
After meeting at orientation — and bonding over the need to ignore the kid who insists on telling everyone he’s Amanda Knox’s cousin — Benny and Carmen fumble through a performed kind of meet-cute. Wishing to do away with his sexual urges for cute boys on campus and hoping to avoid becoming a campus pariah if he doesn’t sleep with a girl on his first day at school, Benny pursues Carmen.
Over the course of the eight-episode season of “Overcompensating,” their freshman situationship quickly gets more and more complicated. Carmen is clueless at first about why things aren’t clicking with Benny in the bedroom (or more like the dorm room). And the root of the issue can be difficult for her to discern.
“It’s like, how could you not know he was gay? But in these relationships I’ve had with women, there was so much confusion and miscommunication through sad dishonesty,” he says. “The Carmen character was so fun to write because this girl is experiencing this on the other side being like, ‘What the f— is wrong with this guy?’ I found that for women, gay was the last thing on their list of things why these relationships weren’t working. And I’m like, ‘No, babe, that’s No. 1.’ You did nothing wrong.”
Benito Skinner on writing the relationship between his character and Carmen: “I found that for women, gay was the last thing on their list of things why these relationships weren’t working. And I’m like, ‘No, babe, that’s No. 1.’ You did nothing wrong.”
(Dutch Doscher / For The Times)
Finding the right actress to nail Carmen’s charming awkwardness was a challenge. Like Benny, Carmen is trying to start anew and fit in at the fictional Yates University. She’s often pushing herself to perform whatever normalcy looks like for a college freshman.
Carmen doesn’t nail collegespeak — “Here’s to a night we’ll never remember with the friends we’ll never forgive,” she captions her first selfie with Benny — but she’s skilled at beer pong, first-person shooters and chugging drinks like the frat boys on campus. More importantly, she is sweet and attentive, the kind of tender girlfriend a closeted boy like Benny would naturally gravitate toward.
At the suggestion of A24 producer Alli Reich, Skinner watched Baram’s 2021 set on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” There, the young comedian, who’s Mexican and Syrian (“or as Fox News would call me, a ‘very lazy terrorist,’” she joked), poked fun at how she’s struggling with adulthood, especially since her body felt both childlike and grown-up at the same time. “I’m 5’2”, I have a baby face, but I’ve [got] boobs and the voice of like an eighth grade Jewish boy,” she deadpanned in the set.
“I had sat with this character for four and a half, five years,” Skinner recalls. “And I watched this video, and it was this very surreal moment. She was exactly what I had in my head for Carmen. I was like, ‘OK, well, it’s her.’”
Baram’s winsome self-deprecation felt like a perfect match for the cast of this off-kilter comedy Skinner was assembling.
“When we met in person, I felt like I had little maracas out,” Baram jokes. “The energy in that room was just like, ‘Oh, hello!’ Like when two dogs meet, and their tails go up.”
“It was so two chihuahuas meet, finally,” Skinner adds.
“When we met in person, I felt like I had little maracas out,” Wally Baram says about Benito Skinner.
(Dutch Doscher / For The Times)
“Overcompensating” hinges on their crackling chemistry. But as the season unfolds, the series becomes more and more of an ensemble piece. As Benny navigates his first semester at Yates, we spend more time with his sullen sister, Grace (Mary Beth Barone); her douchey frat boyfriend, Peter (Adam DiMarco); Benny’s swoon-worthy crush, Miles (Rish Shah) and Carmen’s brassy, sassy roommate Hailee (Holmes).
Together, they create a vision of college life that will make millennials cringe in recognition. The pilot, after all, opens with Britney Spears’ “Lucky” and the foundational queer film “George of the Jungle,” starring a chiseled, loin-clothed Brendan Fraser. But it’s the needle drops throughout the show that best capture that generation and moment in time. Charli XCX may get the spotlight treatment — she guest stars as herself in Episode 4 — but the deployment of a My Chemical Romance song in a later episode made the cast realize just how wounding and specific the writing on the show could be.
“I read ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ and it sent a chill down my spine because I thought that was private to me, alone in my room,” Baram says. “And then you put it in there and I was like, ‘OK, so we all had that moment,’ which is both good and also, wow, my plight is not special.”
“That is so true that it felt private to all of us,” Skinner adds. “Because that was also something with Mary Beth, too. When we were talking about that song, she’s like, ‘I feel this in my bones, maybe in a good and a really mortifying way.’ I hope it has a resurgence. I do think Gen Z will really enjoy that song. It feels very them.”
Barone’s cringey karaoke rendition of that emo 2006 banger resonates because it captures the joy (and embarrassment) that comes from being unabashedly oneself — something every character in “Overcompensating” grapples with to varying degrees of success.
“Overcompensating” hinges on the chemistry between Wally Baram and Benito Skinner.
(Dutch Doscher / For The Times)
Skinner’s comedy excels at capturing those crippling feelings of inadequacy — whether you’re a closeted dude rushing a frat, a secretly emo girl trying to please her boyfriend or a shy freshman figuring out who she could be away from home.
“Some of these people that come into college where they’re like, ‘I’m gonna do me no matter what, and I’m coming in here like a bat out of hell’ — I felt so in awe watching them,” Skinner says. “I was like, ‘This is so incredible that you can do this.’ Meanwhile I feel so confident in one room and in the next room I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I should not be here.’”
That’s precisely what Baram keyed into when bringing Carmen to life, as well as listening to “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo to get into character.
“Because it reminds me of a time in my life in which I thought I was conquering the social. I was going to a party, and I thought that I was gonna, you know, get down and dirty,” she says. “But really, I was a disingenuous version of myself, and ultimately ended up feeling unrewarded at the end, no matter what I did, whether I had a successful social interaction or I failed miserably.”
“Overcompensating” broadens concepts that are central to the queer experience — like the closet and found families — and places them at the heart of the modern college experience. And, in between jokes about pink eye, Grindr dates gone wrong and a pitch perfect takedown of college improv, the series makes a heartfelt case for how to make the best out of those formative years.
“To do it right, I think, is the Benny and Carmen way,” Skinner says. “It’s finding the person that doesn’t make you feel like you have to be so inconsistent with who you are and the things you actually want to do. For me it’s like, you’re bad at overcompensating when you’re with the right person.”
Some advice: If you love something, set it free — even the Miu Miu heels.
This was the notion that two friends, Quinn Shephard and Francesca Goncalves, were discussing in a sun-kissed setting (a “pool somewhere,” Shephard recalls). They wanted to barter their old clothing, but that was a sticky prospect in Los Angeles — the scene is riddled with suspicious stares from thrift store employees and digital cold wars with teenagers on Depop. There’s pomp and circumstance at every turn.
Kristen Vaganos and Kate Mansi help a shopper try on some shoes.
(Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)
“So many people are like: I go to Wasteland or Crossroads and I get $3,” Shephard explains. “They’re not nice to me.”
Shephard and Goncalves wanted to start a closet sale that felt more like a fun hangout with friends. So one day last summer, Shephard and Goncalves hit the streets of Silver Lake, asking small businesses if they’d host an event that they were calling Outfit Repeater L.A. Shephard jokes that Goncalves is the “mayor of Silver Lake” — the kind of Gatsby-like woman who makes Los Angeles feel like a small town, chatting with strangers with an endearing openness. Finally, they arrived at Constellation Coffee, a contemporary, sleek coffee shop. To their surprise, the manager agreed to host Outfit Repeater L.A. that upcoming Sunday.
“She’s used to indie filmmaking, where you have to go up and ask people for things, and there’s power in that,” Goncalves says of Shephard, the director of TV shows including the Hulu drama “Under the Bridge.” Goncalves works in Stanford Medicine’s genetics department.
With their event fast approaching, Shephard and Goncalves created a blitzkrieg of advertisements across social media and posted fliers on lampposts throughout the neighborhood to drum up excitement. “We literally put up fliers until 2 am. It’s so funny because Quinn doesn’t do anything unless it’s 100%, and I’m like that too,” says Goncalves.
Clockwise from left: A shopper looks at a skirt.Seller Samantha Rose and Liv Hoffner.Outfit Repeater L.A. co-founder Francesca Goncalves talks with seller Mitch deQuilettes.(Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)
The first Outfit Repeater L.A. event was a success, drawing a crowd of fashion enthusiasts and women who wanted to sell their beloved wardrobes directly to buyers, bypassing the intermediary of a thrift store. Women attendees eagerly inquired about selling their own clothes at the next event, offering up locations and contacts. “New coffee shops wanted to host us, and new girls wanted to sell,” Goncalves says. “It snowballed into this thing where it’s just getting bigger and bigger, completely by accident.”
Since then, Outfit Repeater L.A. has garnered a reputation as the Eastside’s hippest trading post for “it” girls, creatives and fashion trendsetters. Sellers have included independent film darlings like Geraldine Viswanathan and Francesca Reale, as well as fashion influencers with enviable style, such as Macy Eleni.
Despite its newfound fame, at its core, the closet sale is inclusive and accessible to people of all income levels. “I wanted to keep it very accessible. I charge a seller fee that’s so low, just to cover expenses. It’s not just vintage resellers or influencers that can afford to sell,” says Goncalves.
Goncalves attributes the success of the event to a hunger for social events that offer an alternative to the monotony of bar hangs. “People are tired of the bar scene,” she says.
Shephard explains that the appeal is simple: “It’s like going to a party with your friends for the day, plus you make money.”
At a recent Outfit Repeater L.A. event at Lamill Coffee in Silver Lake, actor Kate Mansi was selling her wardrobe after discovering the event through a friend’s recommendation. “I’m always selling stuff on Instagram,” Mansi says. “It’s nice to do it face to face. Clothes have a story. It’s nice to hear the story of the piece you’re inheriting.”
Kate Mansi in front of her closet rack.
(Yasara Gunawardena / For The Times)
Mansi adds, “I have a very Virgo system with my closet where I turn the hanger backwards if it’s something I haven’t worn, and if in a year, I still haven’t worn it, it must go.” On this Sunday, one of those items was a well-loved blue polka-dot romper with puff sleeves, which Mansi found at a vintage store years earlier, and she sold it for $20. Another was an All Saints trenchcoat, priced at $40, and a gray A.L.C. blouse, for $30. A classic denim Levi’s jacket found a new home for $30.
Mansi parted ways with a black dress by Jonathan Simkhai, one of her favorite designers. To the woman who bought it, Mansi wisely prescribed that she wear the dress casually with flats or boots.
At a time when fashion retail has shifted online due to the pandemic, an in-person thrifting event has been warmly received by the community. “I’m focused on each sale being a unique thing that people walk away from, having gotten a cool piece and making a few new friends and maybe a lover or boyfriend,” says Goncalves.
Alena Nemitz, who has been creating social media content for Outfit Repeater L.A., met her partner of five months at one of the events. “I was selling, and they were walking through and introduced themselves to me,” she says. “Now we’re dating, which is so cute.”
Eleni, who wrote a book on thrifting called “Second Chances,” was one of Outfit Repeater’s earliest sellers and champions. Growing up with a single mother in Dayton, Ohio, Eleni explains that she was bullied for thrifting during her childhood and is overjoyed to see a new generation embrace it. She believes some of the newfound eagerness for thrifting comes from an increased awareness of the devastating impact of fast fashion. “When I was a teenager, I wasn’t seeing videos on my phone of the inside of a Shein factory,” she says. “The curtains have been lifted, and there’s no way to claim ignorance as to where things are coming from anymore.”
Outfit Repeater L.A. has built a community of shoppers excited about clothing, Eleni explains. “Everyone is gassing each other up about how fabulous they look,” she says. “I love seeing people’s faces light up over other people’s things that they’re ready to be done with. It’s less [about] people trying to flip a profit and more people just trying to swap their clothes, share their clothes with each other.”
Goncalves describes the endearing experience of spotting items she sold from her closet on other women around Silver Lake. The world suddenly feels smaller and warmer. “I think clothes are so personal, but they are fleeting in a way,” she says. You love something and you want to pass it on, but it’s still your life and your ecosystem, even if it’s not right for you anymore.”
