july

Stevie Wonder is taking legal action against a reported ex-fiancée, filing a lawsuit this week to evict her after she allegedly lived rent-free at his property in Studio City for nearly four decades.

The prolific musician, whose legal name is Stevland Morris, filed a legal complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday against Carmen Efferson, whom he says has been living for free at a home on Oak Glen Drive since July 1988, according to the complaint obtained by The Times. Wonder seeks to evict Efferson after she allegedly refused to allow inspectors into the property earlier in the summer and failed to vacate the home in August, despite receiving a 30-day notice in late July.

Efferson, whom TMZ reported was once betrothed to the Grammy-winning “Songs in the Key of Life” musician, did not immediately respond to The Times’ multiple requests for response on Friday. A legal representative for Wonder, 76, did not comment and did not clarify the singer’s reported relationship with Efferson. Wonder has been married Tomeeka Bracy since 2017.

According to the musician’s complaint, Wonder and Efferson reached an oral agreement in 1988 that she can occupy the property without paying monthly rent. Tensions began in July this year when representatives for Wonder attempted to access the property multiple times “for purposes of updating and retaining property insurance,” according to an email between Wonder’s legal representatives and Efferson included in the complaint.

One attorney for Wonder notified Efferson on July 23 of a property inspection the following week. Efferson had choice words for the request, emailing another attorney for Wonder on July 25 to “please refrain from your rascist [sic] coldblooded ‘white male privilege’ tone.”

“I’m feeling harassed,” Efferson said, according to screenshots of her email. “Regarding your ORDERS of entering into the place where I am living, I do not consent.”

She ended her email with an explicit statement. An attorney for Wonder responded two days later, informing Efferson that the lawyer who issued the inspection notice “is neither racist, coldblooded, white or male.”

In an email dated July 27, Efferson also threatened to “immediately contact law enforcement” upon further attempts by Wonder’s representatives to enter the property. The next day, attorneys notified Efferson she had 30 days to vacate the home.

“You were given the opportunity to reconsider your decision to deny access and declined,” the notice said, according to the complaint. Efferson was ordered to vacate the property by Aug. 27

On Oct. 6, Wonder’s lawyers issued Efferson a three-day notice to leave the home due to her alleged violation of her oral agreement with the musician. Wonder’s legal representatives also claimed they gave Efferson “three additional opportunities to permit entry” for an inspection, but she failed to respond.

“Owner has been prejudiced by the cancellation of the property insurance policy and is now at substantial risk of economic loss by virtue of your actions to prevent the protection and preservation of the Premises,” attorneys said in the notice, according to exhibits. The attorneys also notified Efferson that Wonder would file a complaint should she refuse access again.

Wonder — celebrating the 50th anniversary of his seminal “Songs in the Key of Life” this year — is seeking forfeiture of the lease agreement with Efferson, legal fees and statutory damages up to $600.

The surge in soccer fans this summer was bad for some businesses in Los Angeles.

World Cup host cities had lofty economic expectations for the summer tournament. But the city’s hotels only got a 1% bump in occupancy, according to a report published this week by Hospitality Education and Research Organization, a project of the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles.

Seventy-two percent of surveyed hotels said the tournament hurt their 2026 finances, and 48% called the impact “extremely negative.” Just 2% said it met projections.

Downtown occupancy reached 66% in June, down from 71% a year earlier, the report says. Room nights fell between 10% and 12%.

Hotel guests at the Metropole restaurant just opposite the main lobby at the Hotel Indigo in downtown Los Angeles in May.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Ahead of World Cup tournaments, FIFA holds large blocks of rooms. But FIFA canceled or released up to 70% of the hotel room blocks it had reserved in host cities, including Los Angeles.

“We understood that we were maybe going to be disappointed with attendance going into the World Cup simply by the volume of cancellations that came out of the room block agreement,” said Jackie Filla, president and CEO of the Hotel Assn. of Los Angeles.

The disappointing turnout led to staff reductions. Of the hotels surveyed 82% reduced seasonal staff and more than six in 10 reported reducing employee shifts, scheduled hours, or permanent staff.

Hotels did raise prices, with the average daily rate hitting $228, the highest of any comparable L.A. event in three years. But occupancy was 71%, well below the 83% recorded during Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.

A visitor walks in the lobby of the Hotel Indigo in downtown Los Angeles.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The survey drew 58 responses from 210 hotels, and the analysis was done by travel-data firm Rove using CoStar and AirDNA data. International visitors were also scarce, with Los Angeles welcoming 700,000 international arrivals in June and July — roughly 80,000 visitors below 2024 levels for the same period, the report says.

“We particularly didn’t see a lot of foreign visitors and that’s something that was disappointing,” Filla said. “Foreign visitors do spend three times the amount of money as the average domestic traveler.”

Short-term rentals, meanwhile, gained. Their demand rose 23% and revenue 21% versus July 2024, while hotel revenue fell 3.3%. Airbnb, the tournament’s official fan accommodation, offered new hosts $750 incentives.

The city is currently weighing a temporary proposal to ease its short-term rental rules through the end of 2028 to accommodate tourists. “That will really, truly undercut the business of hotels,” Filla added. “We saw some of that with the World Cup.”

The worry is carrying over to the Olympic Games, set to be hosted in Los Angeles in 2028. Six in 10 surveyed hoteliers expect an Olympic rental surge to hurt their bookings and rates, the report says.

The World Cup “gave us false hope to recover from a negative year,” one Los Angeles hotelier said, according to the report. “I also feel [the] same thing will probably happen for [the] Super Bowl and Olympics.”

Carlo Holse scored three goals in the first 21 minutes and had the second hat trick in club history to help St. Louis City beat the Galaxy 6-2 on Sunday night to extend their unbeaten streak across all competitions to 20 games and tie the MLS record.

St. Louis, which is 13-0-5 in its past 18 regular-season games, tied the mark set when the New York Red Bulls went unbeaten in an MLS-record 20 consecutive games across all competitions in 2016.

Rafael Navarro converted from the penalty spot in the 45th minute, scored again in the 53rd and added two assists for St. Louis (14-6-8). Lukas MacNaughton scored on a diving header in the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time and Roman Burki had five saves.

Holse opened the scoring in the second minute, added a goal in the seventh and skipped a shot inside the right post from the center of the area to make it 3-0 in the 21st minute to record the second-fastest hat trick in MLS history. Hany Mukhtar scored three goals for Nashville in the first 16 minutes of 5-1 win over Chicago on July 17, 2021.

The Galaxy’s Kyogo Furuhashi went off because of an apparent hamstring injury and was replaced in the 10th minute by João Klauss, whose goal in the 71st minute capped the scoring. Klauss, a 29-year-old midfielder in his first season with the Galaxy, had St. Louis City’s first hat trick in a 3-3 tie with the Galaxy on June 14, 2025.

Robert Taylor scored in the 31st minute for the Galaxy (9-11-9).

St. Louis beat the Galaxy 3-1 on July 22 at Dignity Health Sports Park.

In the Cairngorms national park, the bracken is changing from dark green to russet and umber. Birch leaves are lined with gold, while the Scots pines remain proudly green. Autumn is arriving with a little sigh of relief here, after a summer few will forget.

The wildfire that began near Glenmore and Abernethy on 15 July burned more than 33 sq km (13 sq miles) of moorland and forest. More than 500 firefighters were involved; homes and businesses were evacuated; and the emergency response lasted over a month. Visiting now, it’s hard to see, or even imagine, the damage. Much of the burned area is high on the hill and far from the roads. It’s a huge loss but, in a national park stretching 4,528 sq km (1,748 sq miles), surprisingly easy to miss.

I have come with a gravel bike to retest new bikepacking routes with Kees Wouters and Yannick Ferbeek from Legendary Rides, which offers self-guided tours, and Bikepacking Scotland founder Markus Stitz, who helped develop the routes.

I arrive in Aviemore from Edinburgh on an electric Ember bus, which allows bikes to be booked on board, a welcome development in Scottish public transport. Soon I’m heading out of town through heather and Scots pines, my bike bags stuffed with everything I need for the next few days.

The original route would have taken us through Glenmore, past Loch Morlich and Ryvoan bothy, but there are still path closures. Instead, we take a new line towards Nethy Bridge. Sunlight falls through birch and rowan and the track is soft with pine needles. At Loch Garten, where ospreys nest in spring and summer, it is hard to imagine the smoke and helicopters of July.

Graham Niven lives in Nethy Bridge with his wife, Amy, and runs the self-catering business Arbor Nethy beside the forest. He joined the local volunteer firefighting effort coordinated by the RSPB, part of a huge community response. “We see the forest as an extension of our home,” Graham says. The Abernethy forest is ecologically rich, filled with ancient Caledonian pine trees that are hundreds of years old. “It’s a unique and special habitat, and it’s very fragile. We were all just grieving for the forest,” he tells me.

The news cycle has long moved on, but locals are still dealing with the effects of the wildfire. “Only in the last few weeks have we been able to look back on it as something that’s come to an end,” Graham says. Peat smouldered underground for months, meaning firefighters had to keep returning to hotspots.

While business has largely returned to usual, Graham has noticed a dip in bookings for photography workshops and holiday lets. “What is less measurable is people’s confidence in booking or coming back. The buzzwords were ‘apocalyptic fire’ and Abernethy and Nethy Bridge, Cairngorms, and that does stick in people’s minds. People think of Abernethy and say: ‘Oh, it’s been burned down.’ I think it’s less than 10% of the old forest affected.” Nearby, Polly Cameron at The Dell of Abernethy has seen the same effect: “Bookings wise, we certainly experienced a dip, and October has still been much slower to fill.” That matters in a landscape where tourism is a vital part of the local economy.

We ride on along the Speyside Way, following the river through woods and farmland. Then the landscape opens. The Cairngorms change character as you head east: deep forests give way to sheep, grouse moors, abandoned crofts and long gravel roads. This is whisky country too, and we ride through the grounds of Glenlivet Distillery. It’s after hours, or the smell of malted barley would have tempted me to stop.

By late afternoon the hills have turned heather-purple. We started late and by the time we reach Hotel Square in Tomintoul, darkness has settled. Our bikes go into a storage room and, happily, hot curry and cold beer are still available.

The next day is shorter but steeper, taking us on to sections of the old military roads built in the 18th century after the Jacobite risings. I’m reminded of that history later at Corgarff, a white fortress on the crest of a hill. Built in the 16th century and later converted into a barracks, it was used to suppress Jacobite sympathisers and, later, the illicit whisky trade.

We spend the second night at Cairngorm Bothies, off-grid cabins surrounded by Scots pines. In each, there’s a little nature journal and I leaf through pages of children’s handwriting with tales of red squirrels and deer. When the rain starts, any disappointment about missing out on seeing the dark skies is replaced by relief not to be camping.

With a flexible route we stop often, for photos, snacks and whenever the fancy takes us. We walk through woodland to visit Burn O’Vat, a huge glacial pothole in the Muir of Dinnet national nature reserve. At Ballater we stop for coffee and morning rolls at The Bothy while one of our group gets a quick bike repair. The route is deliberately forgiving, and Legendary Rides provides shorter alternatives for challenging weather or tired legs, with prebooked accommodation, a personalised plan, GPX routes and WhatsApp support. “It allows you to relax and just enjoy the ride,” says Yannick.

From Ballater we wind towards Loch Muick, through the Balmoral estate. After a long, winding ascent over Capel Mounth the riding becomes rougher, with a rocky descent. The gentle undulating roads that follow to Glen Clova are a welcome contrast as we roll to Alyth.

I’ve visited the Cairngorms region often in the past, but this trip broadens my awareness of the diversity of landscapes it holds. To mountain peaks and forest trails I add river valleys, whisky country, high moorland, farmland and roads so empty that the only sound is the freewheel of a bicycle.

But this is not untouched wilderness. We cross private estates managed for deer stalking and grouse shooting, as well as national nature reserves. Debates over the right ways to manage this land span centuries, with wildfire prevention now a key part of that conversation. Scotland’s right to responsible access allows us to pass through this landscape, provided we leave no trace, close gates and avoid disturbing livestock and wildlife.

Autumn is an ideal time for this kind of journey. The midges have retreated, the roads are emptier and there is still plenty of golden light in the days. Cycling through the area helps to support local cafes, shops and accommodation providers, and there’s never been a better time to do so. “We want people to know we’re still here, we’re still awesome,” says Graham.

My tired legs power me to a final Pitlochry cafe stop before my Ember bus back to Edinburgh.

The trip was provided by Legendary Rides and Bikepacking Scotland. Legendary Rides offers four-day bikepacking trips from £759pp, including detailed route planning, accommodation, breakfast and personal support via WhatsApp