Houston

Dust off your cowboy hats, prepare your tequila shooters and saddle up: Carín León has just announced his 2026 North American tour.

The Grammy-winning Mexican singer-songwriter will kick off the tour May 20 with a performance in Hidalgo, Texas. Over the course of this summer and fall, the Sonoran crooner will visit major U.S. cities including Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Chicago before wrapping up Oct. 9 in Portland, Ore.

In Los Angeles, the singer is expected to perform Sept. 20 at BMO Stadium, which accommodates over 20,000 fans for concerts.

The tour also includes his highly anticipated Las Vegas residency at the Sphere, which is already sold out on some dates. In September, León will make history as the first Latino artist to headline the one-of-a-kind venue, which will take place across seven nights in Sin City.

León is also doubling his stadium capacity for his singular Canada performance by moving to the TD Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, which holds an audience of about 18,000; the “Primera Cita” singer first performed in 2024 at the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, which holds roughly 9,000 people.

“Returning to the United States and Canada to reunite with my people fills me with excitement. I’m returning with new songs and all the history we’ve built together,” said León in a statement. “We’re preparing a very special production so we can feel closer than ever. De Sonora para el mundo… see you soon, mi gente.”

The “Que Vuelvas” singer last toured the states in 2024 following the release of his critically-acclaimed “Boca Chueca, Vol. 1,” which earned him his first Grammy for música mexicana album in 2025.

News of the upcoming North American tour follows another Grammy win for the balladeer, who on Sunday took home the golden gramophone once more in the same category as last year, this time for his 2025 album “Palabra de To’s.”

Throughout his career, León has bent the rules of música mexicana by collaborating with artists across a variety of genres, from Latin pop stars like Maluma and Camilo to U.S. country singers like Kane Brown and Kacey Musgraves.

The 36-year-old has always stood firmly on the idea that música mexicana extends beyond the regional confines of Mexico, sharing with The Times in 2023 that “Mexican music is no longer regional — it’s only become more global.”

Ticket sales for his North American tour begin Feb. 11, but resellers beware! León will be using Openstage Ticket Unlocks, which will reward real fans with personalized presale codes to limit bots.

Miguel Rojas is the latest Dodger to withdraw from consideration for the World Baseball Classic, joining Teoscar Hernández, Andy Pages, Andy Ibáñez and perhaps other players. MLB Network will reveal all 20 team rosters Thursday at 4 p.m. PT.

Rojas, who turns 37 next month, will not represent his native Venezuela because of difficulty obtaining insurance. The versatile World Series star expressed regret that he cannot play in an Instagram story that included a photo of himself with the Venezuelan flag draped over his shoulders.

“Today I am very sad,” he wrote in Spanish. “A real pity to not be able to represent my country and wear that flag on my chest. On this occasion, age wasn’t just a number.”

Insurance was required to guarantee his $5.5-million salary in case he missed Dodgers games because of injuries incurred during the WBC, which will take place March 5-17 in Tokyo, Miami, Houston and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Rojas’ situation is similar to that of Clayton Kershaw ahead of the 2023 WBC. The pitcher was disappointed that he couldn’t play for Team USA because his injury history made obtaining insurance impossible. The Dodgers declined to waive his insurance requirement and assume financial risk in case Kershaw got hurt during the tournament.

“I’m frustrated,” Kershaw said at the time. “They should make it easy for guys that want to play to play.”

Insurance coverage protects teams from having to pay a player for time missed because of an injury stemming from the WBC, which requires participants to undergo entrance and exit physicals to document injury information.

Players can be deemed uninsurable for several reasons, a source told The Times in 2023. Included are players who finished the previous season on the injured list or spent considerable time on the injured list. Also uninsurable are players diagnosed with a “chronic condition.”

Rojas, who has said this will be his last major league season as a player, has sustained a succession of lower-body injuries in recent years. The 12-year veteran utility infielder began his career with the Dodgers in 2014 then played for the Miami Marlins for eight years before rejoining the Dodgers in 2023.

He will always be remembered by Dodgers fans for his game-tying home run in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2025 World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The baseball Rojas struck sold for $156,000 at auction.

This will mark the second WBC in a row that Rojas has missed. He was on Venezuela’s 2023 roster but withdrew after fellow infielder Gavin Lux tore his ACL during spring training, increasing Rojas’ role with the Dodgers.

Hernández has elected not to play for the Dominican Republic while Pages and Ibáñez — who signed a one-year, $1.2-million contract with the Dodgers this offseason — won’t suit up for Cuba. It is unclear whether insurance concerns were factors in their decisions.

However, Houston Astros stars Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa were forced to withdraw because of their inability to obtain insurance. Altuve would have played for Venezuela and Correa for Puerto Rico.

Dodgers who plan to play in the WBC include World Series heroes Will Smith of Team USA and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto of Team Japan. Shohei Ohtani announced in November that he would play for Japan, although the two-way superstar has not decided whether he will pitch.

Smith will be a teammate of Kershaw, who because he retired from the Dodgers doesn’t need insurance now to participate in the WBC. In fact, he’s gone from needing insurance to being insurance.

“I just want to be the insurance policy,” Kershaw told MLB Network. “If anybody needs a breather, or if they need me to pitch back-to-back-to-back, or if they don’t need me to pitch at all, I’m just there to be there. I just want to be a part of this group.

“I learned a long time ago, you just want to be a part of great things.”

One of NASA’s high-flying WB-57F research aircraft went skidding down the runway on its belly at Ellington Airport in Houston, Texas, earlier today.

The incident occurred at around 11:30 AM local time, according to KHOU, a local CBS affiliate in Houston. KHOU has shared video footage showing the two-seat WB-57F spraying sparks and smoke after making contact with the runway. Additional footage shows the pilot exiting the plane with the help of first responders on the ground.

Plane appears to land without gears at Ellington Airport in Houston

NASA plane makes belly landing at Ellington Field, video shows

“Today, a mechanical issue with one of NASA’s WB-57s resulted in a gear-up landing at Ellington Field. Response to the incident is ongoing, and all crew are safe at this time,” NASA’s official account on X wrote in response to KHOU‘s report. “As with any incident, a thorough investigation will be conducted by NASA into the cause. NASA will transparently update the public as we gather more information.”

KHOU also reported that Ellington’s runway 17R–35L was closed as efforts were made to move the stricken WB-57F.

All three of NASA’s WB-57Fs are based at the Johnson Space Center, also located in Houston. The aircraft are well known for their high-altitude capabilities, and can fly as high as 63,000 feet depending on how they are configured. They can carry different sensors and other systems in modular payload bays under the fuselage, as well as in their noses and underwing pods. Though roughly similar in some respects, the WB-57F should not be confused with the U.S. Air Force’s higher-flying U-2s. NASA also operates a pair of ER-2 aircraft, which are modified U-2s.

The WB-57Fs, originally developed for the U.S. Air Force during the Cold War as high-flying intelligence-gathering platforms, are now used for various scientific research purposes. The jets have also been used to support various U.S. military operational and test and evaluation-type missions. One of them was notably called upon to help in the response to weeks of still unexplained drone incursions over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia in December 2023, which TWZ was first to report. Many aerial videos of space launches that we see are taken by the WB-57Fs, as well.

Overall, NASA’s WB-57Fs are the definition of an extremely low-density, high-demand asset, and what long-term impacts today’s belly landing may have on the future of the fleet remain be seen.

Update: 4:20 PM EST —

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has now provided TWZ with the following statement:

“A Martin WB-57 landed with its gear up at Ellington Airport in Houston around 11:25 a.m. local time on Tuesday, Jan. 27. Two people were on board. The FAA will investigate.”

Howard Altman contributed to this story.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com