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Critic Bethanne Patrick recommends 10 promising titles, fiction and nonfiction, to consider for your July reading list.
It’s officially beach-reads season: Whether you do your reading outdoors or inside in air-conditioned comfort, July’s hot new releases will help you stay cool. Topics range from analog memories of Golden Age Hollywood to a maverick female athlete. Happy reading!
Baum, a journalist for the Hollywood Reporter, draws on knowledge he has gleaned about cosmetic surgery, the profession of his protagonist, Dr. Roya Delshad. Dr. Delshad, who is multiracial and once supposedly plain, remakes herself into a glorious bombshell — but then lands in prison. She’s agreed to consider interviews with a ghostwriter named Wes Easton, who will soon discover why she’s called “the Robin Hood of Roxbury Drive.”
Like the carriage of a well-oiled Olivetti, this novel moves between Carmel and Hollywood, in two different centuries, with ease. In 1957, actress Isabella Giori hopes to land a career-making role in a Hitchcock film; when her circumstances change and she winds up secluded in a tiny cottage in Carmel-on-the-Sea, a blacklisted emigre screenwriter named Léon Chazan saves her. In 2018, his screenwriter granddaughter finally learns how and why.
Vera, the child narrator of this wry and relevant new novel from Shteyngart (“Our Country Friends”), brings a half-Korean heritage to the Russian-Jewish-WASP Bradford-Shmulkin family. Between Daddy, Anne Mom, and her longing for her unknown bio Mom Mom, Vera has a lot to handle, while all she really wants is to help her dad and stepmom stay married — and to make a friend at school. It’s a must-read.
In the wake of her best friend Esther’s 2020 death, Miriam loses faith in almost everything, including the God that made her job teaching Christian scripture at a San Francisco private school bearable. She quits and takes a job as a mail carrier (as the author also did), not only finding moments of grace from neighborhood to neighborhood but also writing letters to Esther in an effort to understand the childhood difficulties that bonded them.
The title tells so much about how queer people must live in Nigeria, and so does the structure: Osunde (“Vagabonds!”) calls it a novel, although its chapters read more like short stories. If it doesn’t hang together like a traditional novel, that may be part of the point. Characters like May, struggling with gender identity, or Ziz, a gay man in Lagos, know that their identities don’t always hang together in traditional ways — and that’s definitely the point.
Decades of Cold War espionage between the United States and the Soviet Union included programs that leveraged cultural media. The Central Intelligence Agency’s Manhattan-based “book club” office was run by an emigre from Romania named George Midden, who managed to send 10 million books behind the Iron Curtain. Some of them were serious tomes, yes, but there were Agatha Christie novels, Orwell’s “1984” and art books too.
Crucially, MacGregor’s painstakingly researched history of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II includes Japanese perspectives. The historian (“Checkpoint Charlie”) treats the atomic bomb more as a weapon of mass murder and less as a scientific breakthrough, while managing to convey the urgency behind its development for the Allied forces.
Let this sink in (basketball pun very much intended): Caitlin Clark has scored more points than any player in major college basketball history. Not just the female players — the male players too. Now that she’s in the WNBA as a rookie for the Indiana Fever, Clark is attracting the kind of fan base once reserved for male basketball stars like Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Brennan’s longtime coverage of Clark’s career makes this book a slam dunk.
Each stratum, or layer, of our planet tells a story. Science writer Poppick explains what those millions of strata can tell us about four instances that changed life dramatically, from oxygen entering the atmosphere all the way to the dinosaur era. Ultimately, she argues that these strata show us that when stressed, the earth reacts by changing and moving toward stability. It’s a fascinating peek into the globe’s core that might offer clues about sustainability.
The once-unassuming Roxie Laybourne became the world’s first forensic ornithologist in 1960, when the FAA asked the Smithsonian — where Laybourne was an avian taxidermist — to help them identify shredded feathers from a fatal airplane crash in Boston. She analyzed specimens that contributed to arrests in racial attacks, as well as in catching game poachers and preventing deaths of fighter pilots. In her way, Laybourne was a badass.
July 1 (UPI) — More people will be traveling around the United States by car over the Independence Day holiday than ever before, according to the American Automobile Association.
AAA forecasted in June that about 72.2 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home between June 28 and July 6. Of that group, 61.6 million are projected to be getting around by car, which would not only be a 2.2% increase over 2024, but the highest volume on the organization’s record.
This would also equal out to 1.3 million more people behind the wheel over the holiday period than last year. July 3 is expected to be the busiest day for those who plan to rent a car to travel, as stated by the Hertz car rental company, the car rental partner of AAA.
Motorists are also advised to have their vehicles tuned up and to keep an emergency kit handy, as AAA said it responded to approximately 700,000 calls for emergency roadside assistance calls over the 2024 Independence Day holiday stretch.
AAA also predicts a record 5.84 million travelers will get around by air as well, which would surpass the 2024 record of 5.76 million. As for those who will make a trip via other methods of transportation, such as a cruise, or by train or bus, that amount is also expected to rise 7.4% over last year to 4.78 million.
The INRIX transportation data analysis company lists July 2 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and July 6 from noon to 6 p.m. as likely to be the heaviest travel days and times, and generally recommends that trips be made most mornings before noon or 11 a.m.
Its data also states those seeking to avoid delays on Saturdays should travel before 10 a.m.
This Fourth of July, patriotism for many Americans feels a bit slippery.
As citizens of our near 250-year-old republic reminisce about the Independence Days of their childhoods — adorned with American flag motifs and smelling of charred hot dogs — some, particularly in 2025, are wrestling with thoughts about what it means to love one’s country.
Such dialogue has exploded as protesters over the last month have publicly condemned ongoing immigration enforcement raids. In L.A., several communities fearing the consequences of those raids are canceling their Independence Day events in an effort to protect vulnerable residents.
Organizers of the Gloria Molina Grand Park Summer Block Party in downtown L.A. posted on Instagram that they postponed the annual event “out of an abundance of caution and in light of ongoing events across L.A. county.”
Although celebrating American independence may look different this year, L.A. still has a spirited slate of parades, concerts, boat rides and firework shows where you can show your patriotism — whatever that means to you.
Here is a list of 52 places and events in L.A. County to ring in the holiday. (Events start Wednesday and continue through Sunday, but be sure to watch for any new cancellations.)
A feeling of tension and anxiety has settled over the greater Los Angeles area since June 6, when Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents targeting immigrants for sudden deportation touched down in the region.
L.A. restaurant owners are also scrambling to protect their staff and customers, with strategies ranging from informational events to train managers on what to say in the event of an ICE raid to the launch of rapid-response networks.
Amid present circumstances, restaurateurs are still contending with the ongoing issues that make running a restaurant in this city challenging, including rising rents and the compounded financial loss from January wildfires and 2024 entertainment industry strikes.
That makes it all the more important for diners to support their local food scene in whatever ways possible, from grabbing tacos at a favorite street vendor to making a reservation for a newly opened restaurant. This month presents opportunities to dine at a stylish new destination for Caribbean cuisine, a freshly reopened Korean barbecue stalwart and an iconic California-inspired wine bar that’s scheduled to close on Aug. 1.
WASHINGTON — President Trump says he is not planning to extend a 90-day pause on tariffs on most nations beyond July 9, when the negotiating period he set would expire, and his administration will notify countries that the trade penalties will take effect unless there are deals with the United States.
Letters will start going out “pretty soon” before the approaching deadline, he said.
“We’ll look at how a country treats us — are they good, are they not so good — some countries we don’t care, we’ll just send a high number out,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” during a wide-ranging interview taped Friday and broadcast Sunday.
Those letters, he said, would say, “Congratulations, we’re allowing you to shop in the United States of America, you’re going to pay a 25% tariff, or a 35% or a 50% or 10%.”
Trump had played down the deadline at a White House news conference Friday by noting how difficult it would be to work out separate deals with each nation. The administration had set a goal of reaching 90 trade deals in 90 days.
Negotiations continue, but “there’s 200 countries, you can’t talk to all of them,” he said in the interview.
Trump also discussed a potential TikTok deal, relations with China, the U.S. strikes on Iran and his immigration crackdown.
Here are the key takeaways:
A group of wealthy investors will make an offer to buy TikTok, Trump said, hinting at a deal that could safeguard the future of the popular social media platform, which is owned by China’s ByteDance.
TikTok
“We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. I think I’ll need, probably, China approval, and I think President Xi [Jinping] will probably do it,” Trump said.
Trump did not offer any details about the investors, calling them “a group of very wealthy people.”
“I’ll tell you in about two weeks,” he said when asked for specifics.
It’s a time frame Trump often cites, most recently about a decision on whether the U.S. military would get directly involved in the war between Israel and Iran. The U.S. struck Iranian nuclear sites just days later.
Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to keep TikTok running in the U.S. for 90 more days to give his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership.
It is the third time Trump has extended the deadline. The first one was through an executive order on Jan. 20, his first day in office, after the platform went dark briefly when a national ban — approved by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court — took effect.
Strikes on Iran
Trump reiterated his assertion that the U.S. strikes on Iran had “obliterated” its nuclear facilities, and he said whoever leaked a preliminary intelligence assessment suggesting Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back only a few months should be prosecuted.
Trump claimed Iran was “weeks away” from achieving a nuclear weapon before he ordered the strikes, contradicting his own intelligence officials.
“It was obliterated like nobody’s ever seen before,” he said. “And that meant the end to their nuclear ambitions, at least for a period of time.”
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sunday on X that Trump “exaggerated to cover up and conceal the truth.” Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that his country’s nuclear program is peaceful and that uranium “enrichment is our right, and an inalienable right and we want to implement this right” under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. “I think that enrichment will not — never stop.”
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said on CBS that “it is clear that there has been severe damage, but it’s not total damage.”
Grossi also said his agency has faced pressure to report that Iran had a nuclear weapon or was close to one, but “we simply didn’t because this was not what we were seeing.”
Of the leak of the intelligence assessment, Trump said anyone found to be responsible should be prosecuted. Journalists who received it should be asked who their source was, he said: “You have to do that and I suspect we’ll be doing things like that.”
His press secretary said Thursday that the administration is investigating the matter.
Immigration raids
As he played up his immigration crackdown, Trump offered a more nuanced view when it comes to farm and hotel workers.
“I’m the strongest immigration guy that there’s ever been, but I’m also the strongest farmer guy that there’s ever been,” he said.
He said he wants to deport criminals, but it’s a problem when farmers lose their laborers and it destroys their businesses.
Trump said his administration is working on “some kind of a temporary pass” that could give farmers and hotel owners control over immigration raids at their facilities.
Earlier this month, Trump had called for a pause on immigration raids disrupting the farming, hotel and restaurant industries, but a top Homeland Security official followed up with a contradictory statement. Tricia McLaughlin said there would be “no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine” immigration enforcement efforts.
China trade talks
Trump praised a recent trade deal with Beijing over rare-earth exports from China and said establishing a fairer relationship would require significant tariffs.
“I think getting along well with China is a very good thing,” Trump said. “China’s going to be paying a lot of tariffs, but we have a big [trade] deficit, they understand that.”
Trump said he would be open to removing sanctions on Iranian oil shipments to China if Tehran could show “they can be peaceful and if they can show us they’re not going to do any more harm.”
But the president also indicated the U.S. might retaliate against Beijing. When Fox News Channel host Maria Bartiromo noted that China has tried to hack U.S. systems and steal intellectual property, Trump replied, “You don’t think we do that to them?”
Klepper and Swenson write for the Associated Press.
The second anniversary of the L.A. Times Plants newsletter is upon us. It started with roughly 3,000 readers back in July 2023 and now has more than 12,000 subscribers, strong evidence that Southern Californians care deeply about plants, gardening and our region’s changing landscapes.
Many thanks for your continued interest and support!
Per usual, this issue includes a list of plant-related events and activities below, but first I’d like to revisit a story from the first Plants newsletter with the happy news that while the wheels of progress often move slowly (or sometimes even backward) progress can happen, if the players just hang on.
A crow takes a drink from the small creek that runs through the Westwood Greenway between Overland Avenue and Westwood Boulevard in Los Angeles, along the Exposition rail line.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Two years ago, this newsletter’s inaugural story was about the “lovely but puzzling” Paul Koretz Westwood Greenway, an oasis of fragrant native plants and a burbling stream along a wide, curvy trail between Overland Avenue and Westwood Boulevard next to the Metro E line.
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“The project was a triumph for the Rancho Park community members who lobbied hard against early plans to build a 170-space parking lot on the site to serve Metro riders,” I wrote in 2023. “They envisioned an inviting green space for the neighborhood and an eco-friendly showcase for turning unused nuggets of city land into lush native plant habitats for birds, pollinators and other local critters.”
That vision was realized when the project was completed in October 2020, except for one thing: The public couldn’t get in.
The greenway wasn’t meant to be a park, the builders said. It was designed to capture water running through neighborhood gutters and clean out the nasties it collects along the way, such as road dirt and dog urine, before it reaches the ocean. The cleaning is done by exposing the water to sunlight and filtering it through native plants like cattails before it returns to storm drains and, eventually, the Santa Monica Bay.
But advocates in the community support group Westwood Greenway Inc. noted that the space was also supposed to be a demonstration garden of sorts, to encourage similar projects around L.A. Members of the nonprofit group had a key to let them enter the space for volunteer weeding parties or monthly tours, but otherwise the site was kept behind glass (or, in this case, an ugly chain-link fence) much to the frustration of longtime advocate Jonathan Weiss, president of Westwood Greenway Inc., and Annette Mercer, the board’s chair.
Orange spires of apricot mallow frame the work of Alexis Wieland, a former board member for Westwood Greenway Inc. as he pulls weeds near the Metro E train line in June 2023.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
“The point was to educate the public,” Weiss said, “but how do we do that if it’s behind a damn fence?”
But two years later, I’m happy to report that the wheels kept moving, albeit “very, very, very slowly,” Mercer said. When Phase 2 of the project is completed this summer, the public will finally have daily access to the greenway via gates that automatically unlock at 8 a.m. and lock up again at 6 p.m.
Phase 2 was supposed to be completed on June 30 Weiss said, but a week before, he was notified that the finish date had been pushed to Aug. 1. The delay is disappointing, he said, “but this is just a hiccup. After five years, I’m extremely excited it will be open to the public. It’s finally coming, so I’m not going to sweat an extra month.”
The L.A. Sanitation project includes installing taller fences at the east and west edges of the greenway, building an ADA ramp from the Metro stop near Overland Avenue to the greenway trail, and repairing the decomposed granite (DG) path that was damaged by trucks coming into the area, said Leo Daube, communications director for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, whose Council District 5 oversees the area.
And that’s not the only good news. Westwood Greenway Inc. and the Nature Nexus Institute, a nonprofit focused on nature education, got a $100,842 grant from the Measure W-funded Safe Clean Water Program in May. The grant will help pay for a Nature Nexus Institute-trained employee to develop an education program about the greenway’s purpose and history and bring in visitors for tours, Weiss said. The grant will also pay for a small trailer at the west end of the greenway so the employee has a place to work, and a porta-potty at the site (although right now it’s not certain anyone besides the employee will be able to use the toilet. The community group has asked the city council to install public modular restrooms for the visiting public).
Bright purple blooms of native Cleveland sage highlight spiky copper-colored clumps of deergrass and bright green coyote brush inside the Paul Koretz Westwood Greenway, which will be open to the public later this summer.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
There are still concerns, Weiss said. The greenway has two sections that run north and south of the Metro E Line and bike trail. The weeds have returned with vigor since construction began on the north side because volunteers can’t get in until the work is completed, Mercer said. And the area to the south, where stormwater runs through more native plant filters before returning to the drains, will remain fenced off to visitors even after Phase 2 is complete.
But the grant is getting them much closer to their goals. Weiss hopes the council will allow them to install signs along the bike trail to help passersby understand they’re not just looking at pretty flowers behind that chain-link fence but California native plants that can save water and create habitats for threatened pollinators and wildlife.
His disappointment about the delay suddenly vanishes as he lays out the possibilities. “What an opportunity to educate people!” he exclaimed, his enthusiasm still evident — and inspiring — despite his many years of lobbying and waiting. And that, folks, — that sometimes annoyed, sometimes frustrated but always unrelenting passion — may be the secret sauce to getting things done.
Speaking of slow-but-sweet success stories: Here’s another about rhubarb, a tangy garden staple that grows like a weed in colder climes but is rarely seen in SoCal gardens because it prefers freezing winters. Thanks to the tenacity of the West L.A Chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers, varieties nurtured in Australia are growing with gusto around L.A. and available for you to buy for planting through the chapter’s annual Rhubarb Rodeo.
This rhubarb variety, named Success, has deep red stalks — the only edible part of the plant — and a sweeter flavor than most. Just avoid the leaves, which are high in toxic oxalic acid.
(Ronni Kern)
It all started in 2020 when chapter President Ronni Kern, a Rhode Island native now living in Santa Monica, got a hankering for the rhubarb she loved as a child. She learned the great plant breeder Luther Burbank successfully developed varieties from New Zealand to grow in Southern California in the late 1800s, but those strains disappeared after Burbank died in 1926. After a long search, she discovered tasty, heat-resistant varieties developed by Australian farmers Colin and Tina Clayton of French Harvest and bought several types of their rhubarb seeds for chapter members to grow.
The results were spectacular, she said, so successful that in 2022 the chapter began selling rhubarb plants as a fundraiser. They are offering four varieties this year — including Success (the tastiest and deepest red of all, according to Kern) and Tina’s Noble, hands down the easiest to grow, she said. Prices are $10 for plants in 5-inch pots or $20 or $25 for gallon pots, but no mail order; you must drive to Culver City or Santa Monica to pick them up.
This rhubarb variety, named Tina’s Noble, has paler stalks than Success, but it has good flavor and grows well. Just be sure to only eat the stalks since the leaves are high in toxic oxalic acid.
(Ronni Kern)
Rhubarb is a vegetable that grows in tall reddish stalks topped by big broad leaves. The plant is so rare in Southern California that people sometimes confuse it with chard, “but you must never eat rhubarb leaves,” Kern said, because they contain high levels of toxic oxalic acid. Just snap off the leaves and eat the reddish celery-shaped stalks, which add a nice, tart bite to sweet desserts or can even be roasted.
You can buy rhubarb at local farmers markets, Kern said, from people who grow the plants as annuals, but she believes their flavor and pale color are far inferior to the plants she and other chapter members are growing from the Aussie seed. A last note about growing rhubarb in SoCal: the plants don’t require lots of water — Kern just uses drip irrigation twice a week — but they do prefer cooler temps. So the hotter your area, she said, the more shade the plants will require, whether from a tree or 90% shade cloth strung up on supports.
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Upcoming events
Through July 15 Applications for Conejo Valley Audubon Society Lawns to Habitat & Ashes to Habitat Grants; successful applicants will receive $250 worth of bird-friendly native plants (roughly 40 to 50 plants at wholesale prices) for their new residential landscapes. Applicants must live in Agoura Hills, unincorporated Agoura, Oak Park, Simi Valley, Moorpark, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park or Camarillo and certify they have no outdoor cats with access to the property. Ashes to Habitat applicants must also show proof that the project property was within a neighborhood affected by fires from 2018 to present, but successful applicants will also receive a higher financial grant and extended time for ordering and planting. Full details available online. wp.conejovalleyaudubon.org
Through August 6 Apply for free Xerces Society Southern California Residential Habitat Kits, for residential properties, schoolyards, community gardens and urban gardens in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties. The kits include 22 plants from 10 different species, sufficient to cover about 150 to 200 square feet, designed to support threatened insects such as monarch butterflies and native bumblebees. The kits must be picked up Dec. 9-13 in (no deliveries or special orders) and planted within the month after pickup. Recipients will be required to email photographic evidence of the kit being planted and pledge not to use pesticides. xerces.org
July 5 & 6 Introduction to Wild Buckwheats (Eriogonum) of California, a two-day class starting in a classroom at 9 a.m. until noon at the California Botanic Garden in Claremont on July 5. The next day, participants will meet at Big Bear Lake from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to observe the many varieties of buckwheat in the wild. Participants must provide their own transportation. Register online, $125 ($110 for members of California Botanic Garden). calbg.org
July 5, 12 South Bay Parkland Conservancy El Segundo Blue butterfly walks at 10:30 a.m or 12:30 p.m., both days near Miramar Park in Redondo Beach. The free guided walks will be led by conservancy board members Ann Dakley, Esplanade Bluff Restoration Project biologist, and Mary Simun. Registration is required. southbayparks.org
July 5 Wizarding World of Plants Family Hike Night and Adult Night Hike, 5:30-7 p.m. for the family hike night and 7:30 to 9 p.m. for the adult night hike at the Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia. Learn the secrets behind wands, wishing trees and other plant folklore and myths. Tickets are $20 ($15 for members) for the family hike night and $25 ($20 members) for the adult night hike. arboretum.org
July 6, 20, Aug. 1, 10, 17 Twilight Estate Tours at the Huntington, a 90-minute docent-led walking tour of the gardens explaining how Henry E. and Arabella Huntington turned their San Marino Ranch into the famous gardens, library and museums. Tours are offered at 5 and 5:30 p.m. each day. Advance registration required. Tickets are $49 adults, $39 children 4-11. huntington.org
July 8, 15 & 22 Three-part California Native Garden Design taught by Phil Davis, principal designer of Green House landscape design, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. each day at the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley. Learn how to evaluate your existing garden, convert existing irrigation systems and consider different design approaches for a garden of California native plants. The foundation’s online course Right Plant, Right Place ($39.19 or $28.52 for members) is a prerequisite and should be taken in tandem with the design course. Register online for the design course, $348.65 ($295.29 for members) or $412.67 for couples working on one project ($359.32 for members). eventbrite.com
July 10-11, Aug. 14-15, Sept. 25-26 and Oct. 23-24 Southern California Garden Club 27th Gardening School, a series of four ten-hour courses offered by National Garden Clubs since 1958. “Courses are designed to stimulate interest in all phases of landscape design and to develop greater appreciation, pride and knowledge about residential, public and historic gardens.” Each 10-hour course is $85 ($70 for members), or $300 ($240 for members) for all four. The classes will run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day at the Sepulveda Center in Encino. Register online. socalgardenclub.org
July 12 BioBlitz at California State University, Northridge, G.A.R.D.E.N. to learn about creating habitat for pollinators from 9 to 11 a.m. on the half-acre campus site managed by the Institute for Sustainability. The free event will be led by two Xerces Society endangered-species conservation biologists, monarch overwintering specialist Sara Cuadra-Vargas and pollinator habitat specialist Giovanni Di Franco who helped develop the society’s habitat kit program. The event is free but registration is required. xerces.org
Efficient Watering for Fruit Trees and Vegetable Gardens, a free workshop by the Chino Basin Water Conservation District, 9 a.m. to noon at the Waterwise Community Center in Montclair. Scott Kleinrock, the district’s conservation programs manager, will demonstrate two approaches to irrigating fruit trees and how to build and run drip irrigation systems for vegetable gardens. Registration online. cbwcd.org
Santa Rita Hills Lavender Farm’s 2nd Lavender Festival from noon to 5 p.m. in Lompoc. The event includes an artisan’s market, pony rides for children, classes in making lavender wreaths and distilling lavender oil, lavender-flavored food and drink and, of course, blooming fields of lavender. Tickets are $12 if purchased in advance or $20 at the gate. santaritahillslavender.com
Irrigation Basics for Native Plants, a walk-and-talk class led by Erik Blank, horticulture educator at the Theodore Payne Foundation from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the foundation nursery in Sun Valley. Learn about a variety of irrigation methods for native gardens during the dry months. Register online, $39.19 ($28.52 members) eventbrite.com
California Native Plant Cyanotype Printing, a class photographing native plants using one of the earliest photographic printing methods taught by multimedia artist and naturalist Hannah Perez, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley. All materials provided. Register online, $60.54 ($49.87 members). eventbrite.com
Reptiles of Theodore Payne: A walk-and-talk course with Diego Blanco, a research assistant at the Occidential College Lab of Ornithology and reptile fan, from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley. Learn about the various lizards and snakes of Southern California’s mountains and chaparrals. Participants are encouraged to wear closed-toe shoes, long pants and sun protection, and bring binoculars for easier viewing from a distance. Register online, $39.19 ($28.52 members). eventbrite.com
Bind Your Own Nature Sketch Book, noon to 4 p.m. at California Botanic Garden in Claremont. Create a handmade sketchbook with natural papers and “nature-themed embellishments” in a class taught by mixed-media artist Christina Frausto of Rotten Apple Studio. All materials provided. Register online, $70 ($60 members). calbg.org
July 16 Propagatng California Native Plants from Seed with Ella Andersson, chief botanical technician for the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Each student will take home the seeds they have sown from 10 species of native seeds. All materials provided. Register online, $92.55 ($81.88 members). eventbrite.com
July 18-19 11th Plumeria Festival at the Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia from 4 to 8 p.m. on July 18 and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on July 19. The festival includes talks by experts and more than 20 vendors selling plumeria, staghorn ferns, epiphyllums, hibiscus, succulents and other plants, as well as garden art and supplies. arboretum.org
Planning and Caring for a Southern California Rain Garden, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. at California Botanic Garden in Claremont. The garden’s senior horticulturist, Jennifer Chebahtah, explains the importance of creating rain gardens in urban and residential areas, along with tips for how to make them. Register online, $38 ($28 members). calbg.org
Guided Family Nature Walk at White Point Nature Preserve in San Pedro at 10:30 a.m. with naturalists from the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy to discover the wildlife, plants and beautiful ocean views in the coastal sage scrub habitat. Meet in front of the Nature Center. The walk is free. Reservations are not required. pvplc.org
July 26 Intro to Waterwise Home Landscape Renovation and Turf Replacement Rebates, a free workshop by the Chino Basin Water Conservation District, 9 a.m. to noon at the Waterwise Community Center in Montclair. Jacob Jones, the district’s conservation and sprinkler evaluation specialist, will discuss the benefits and basics of turf-removal rebate projects and converting to a low-water landscape. Register online. cbwcd.org
Where have all the gardeners gone? Immigration raids are worrying Southern California’s undocumented gardeners, the workers so prevalent in suburban neighborhoods that the sound of weed whackers and leaf blowers can feel like ambient noise. “People are afraid,” one gardener said, “but they still have to work.”
The second, final and most complicated stage of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing starts this month. The project won’t be completed before the end of 2026, but already the first non-insect wildlife has been spotted on the structure that currently leads to nowhere — a Western fence lizard that somehow climbed 75 feet up to the top.
This year’s jacaranda bloom in L.A. was short a few trees following the January wildfires, but experts say many burned trees will recover. Just give them water and time, arborists say.
Are these community gardens or playgrounds for the rich? Santa Monica officials are set to approve 200% price hikes on community garden plots, with the largest plots going for $600 a year.
Olivier Giroud is parting ways with LAFC after one disappointing year with the club.
The 38-year-old Giroud and LAFC announced the decision Friday on social media. He will play in his final match Sunday night at home against Vancouver.
After scoring only five goals in 37 matches for LAFC, Giroud will become a free agent after his departure. He is widely expected to join Lille, which finished fifth in the French league last season, on a free transfer.
“I want to thank all of the fans, my teammates and the staff at LAFC for making this an enjoyable stop in my career,” Giroud said in a statement. “I am happy to have played a part in the success of LAFC. From winning a trophy last season to participating in the Club World Cup, this has been a great experience in LA for me and my family.”
Giroud joined LAFC in July 2024 as a designated player after a long European career highlighted by prolific tenures with Arsenal and Chelsea. The top goal-scorer in the history of France’s national team was expected to provide dynamic offense alongside MLS stars and fellow Frenchmen Denis Bouanga and Hugo Lloris.
Instead, Giroud clearly struggled to adapt to the MLS game and to LAFC’s counter-attacking style under coach Steve Cherundolo. LAFC also failed to figure out ways to involve Giroud in the offense consistently, unable to provide service to one of the sport’s most dangerous finishers earlier in his career.
Giroud usually played as a substitute for LAFC, and he didn’t score his first MLS goal until last April 19. He did find the net in big moments, scoring in the U.S. Open Cup final last season and in the Leagues Cup final.
“Olivier has been an exemplary professional during his time at LAFC,” general manager John Thorrington said. “He brought humility and a winning mentality that helped elevate everyone around him. Olivier has been a tremendous ambassador for the club on and off the field. We are grateful for his contributions.”
LAFC is suddenly a team in full transition after a winless three-game run at the Club World Cup earlier this month. Cherundolo already has announced he will leave the club to move back to Germany after the season, and LAFC could be down to Bouanga as its only designated player by next month.
LAFC added Dutch winger Javairô Dilrosun on loan from Club América earlier this month, but the loan is only through July 24. Dilrosun replaced Cengiz Ünder, whose disappointing MLS tenure ended this month.
LAFC’s lengthy pursuit of Antoine Griezmann also came up fruitless earlier this month when the French star extended his contract with Atlético Madrid through 2027.
LAFC (7-4-5) still sits sixth in the Western Conference standings with two or three games in hand on every club above it, and it has an infusion of cash from beating América in a play-in match to reach the Club World Cup.
Brazilian international Lorena stopped a penalty kick and countrywoman Bia Zaneratto scored to keep the Current perfect at home on Friday night.
The 1-0 victory secured a sixth consecutive win for Kansas City, which remained atop the NWSL standings. The Current (11-2-0) have won all six of their games at CPKC Stadium. Kansas City hasn’t dropped a game at home since a July 2024 loss to Orlando.
With the score tied 0-0, Lorena leapt to her right to parry a spot kick by Angel City forward Alyssa Thompson in the 56th minute. The ball was tipped onto the crossbar before bobbling out for a corner kick.
It was Lorena’s first penalty save and Thompson’s first failed conversion in the NWSL.
Reigning NWSL MVP Temwa Chawinga broke away on a dribble and had her low shot saved by Angel City goalkeeper Angelina Anderson, only for Zaneratto to scoop up the rebound and the tuck the ball away in the 69th minute.
Zaneratto has five goals, tied for the second-most of any Current player behind Chawinga with eight.
Angel City (5-5-3) is winless in its last five games, and has secured one tie and two losses since Alex Straus took over as coach three weeks ago.
That made sense. The Red Sox were no longer using Devers as a third baseman, a decision backed by publicly available defensive metrics and the presence of Alex Bregman. The San Francisco Giants, the team that acquired Devers, say they’ll use him as a first baseman and designated hitter, and the Dodgers are more than covered there by Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.
But, in the wake of the biggest trade so far this season, I thought back to the mission statement the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations put upon himself last winter. Here we are two weeks from July, and here was that Friedman statement from December: “I do not want to buy in July.”
What Friedman does not want might not matter a month from now. He could see a pretty picture, or he could need a pretty pitcher.
For all the scrutiny of their shortcomings, the first-place Dodgers are in a pretty good spot. They lead the majors in runs, home runs and OPS.
They have won six of their past eight games, all against the teams immediately below them in the National League West standings: the Giants and the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers lead the toughest division in the majors by a season-high 3½ games over San Francisco, 5 games over San Diego.
After the Padres leave town Thursday, the Dodgers play 12 consecutive games against teams with losing records, including the team with the worst record in the NL and the worst record in the American League — the Colorado Rockies and the Chicago White Sox, respectively.
Friedman would rather not trade in July because the cost in prospects tends to be high. However, for the Dodgers, the annual expectation of winning the World Series trumps that.
“It’s been our goal the last three or four years not to buy in July,” Friedman said Tuesday. “It hasn’t necessarily played out according to plan.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts chats with outfielder Michael Conforto during batting practice before a game against the Pirates in May.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
On offense, the lone hole is glaring. The only starting position player not performing above league average on offense is left fielder Michael Conforto, who is batting .168 with a .277 slugging percentage and a negative WAR. The Dodgers do have Hyeseong Kim as a wild card on the bench, and on a roster loaded with positional flexibility.
“To date, obviously, Michael hasn’t performed up to what he expected or we expected,” Friedman said. “But, watching the way he is working, watching the progress being made, I would bet that his next two months are way better than his last two months.
“Obviously, like we will with all of our players, we will continue to assess where they are. The important thing is, if we have an injury or (poor) performance, do we feel like we have different ways to maneuver? We do.”
Is there a possibility of trading for a left fielder?
“Never say never,” Friedman said, “but I think we would hold a very high bar and find it very unlikely.”
On the field, Yamamoto has a 5.65 earned-run average this month. It is unlikely the perennially cautious Dodgers would let Ohtani and Kershaw make every start from now through the end of the season, even if the two stayed healthy. And it is uncertain whether Glasnow and Snell can return healthy and effective by the time Friedman would have to decide whether to trade prospects for a starting pitcher.
No buy in July?
“I’m still optimistic,” Friedman said. “It requires guys coming back on or close to the timelines that we have penciled out.
“We have shown that, if we’re not in position to do that, we’ll be aggressive to add. But our strong desire is not to.”
It is not that the Dodgers consider a bullpen game some sort of failure, or last resort. The Dodgers ran a bullpen game in an elimination game last October. They won that game, and another bullpen game in which they clinched the NL championship.
They have run bullpen games in each of their past four games against San Diego, and they have won three. They’ll essentially run another one Wednesday, since Emmet Sheehan will be activated after four triple-A starts, none of which lasted more than 3⅓ innings.
So far, so good. But the Dodgers are about October, and getting there may not be painless with Jack Dreyer making one fewer start than Glasnow, and twice as many as Snell.
New rules governing short-term rentals in Spain come into force on July 1, potentially removing large numbers of holiday homes from the legal system and causing chaos for holidaymakers
09:54, 17 Jun 2025Updated 09:54, 17 Jun 2025
The new rule is designed to control holiday lets in Spain(Image: Getty Images)
Brits heading on summer holidays in Spain have been warned that they may not have a place to stay.
In just two weeks, on July 1, regulations governing short-term rentals will come into force in Spain. It includes a single register for short-term lets. It has been predicted that the change could see as much as 70% of the supply wiped from the market, potentially wiping £11 billion from the Spanish economy.
The impact on holidaymakers could be that trips away are thrown into chaos. On Monday, the Spanish Federation of Tourist Housing and Apartment Associations warned that booked holiday homes could simply “disappear” from the system.
“Families who have booked an apartment or holiday home are likely to be left without accommodation, as a large part of the legal supply cannot be registered in the Single Digital Window system and will disappear from the platforms,” explained its president, Silvia Blasco, in a statement.
Have you turned up on holiday to discover you have nowhere to stay? Email [email protected]
The new rules could impact holidaymakers (Image: Beth Rafferty / SWNS)
The organisation – which has a vested interest in the holiday home sector given its role representing ” more than 185,000 apartments” across the country – has argued that the new system will “lead to an increase in the black economy and a rise in illegal housing.”
Around 100,000 registrations have been made throughout the country so far, according to data from Spain’s Association of Registrars. Many Spanish owners are also having difficulties with the process, sources familiar with it told The Objective.
The Spanish government approved the new regulations on tourist rentals at the end of 2024, although the rules officially come into force on January 2, 2025. The law established a transition period lasting until 1 July 2025, in which all short-term, tourist property owners affected can register in the new system.
Once July 1 arrives, all owners of tourist and seasonal rental properties in Spain must have a unique registration number to operate legally.
Carlos Babot, a lawyer at Babot-Aranguren Asociados, told the Objective that signing people up has been “chaos”.
“We have encountered a lot of chaos, especially because of the criteria being followed by each property registry, which are different… You go to registry 9 in Málaga and they ask you for one set of documents, you go to registry 10 in Málaga and they ask you for a completely different set of documents,” he said.
If you are due to stay in a holiday home in Spain after July 1, it may be wise to contact the person who booked it with to make sure that you still have somewhere to stay.
The transition is coming to an end during a period of significant upheaval in Spain, with huge numbers of protesters hitting the streets in opposition to mass tourism.
The top official on the watchdog commission that oversees the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is being terminated from his position, according to correspondence reviewed by The Times.
Robert Bonner, chair of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, wrote in a Wednesday letter to L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger that he received a letter from her on May 13 that said he was being replaced.
Bonner wrote in the Wednesday letter that he had contacted Barger’s office to request “an opportunity to meet with you and to express ‘my personal wish to be able to finish out the year.’” Barger’s office said on May 15 that a scheduler would reach out to set up a meeting, but that never happened, according to Bonner’s Wednesday letter. He added that he is “involuntarily leaving the Commission” and that he would prefer to stay on to finish work that is underway.
“Given the length of time that I have been on the Commission, and that I am the current Chair of the Commission with another possible year as Chair, I expected as a matter of courtesy that you would want to speak with me and hear me out,” Bonner, 83, wrote.
Bonner and Barger, who chairs the County Board of Supervisors, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday morning. Bonner’s Wednesday letter did not say when he will serve his final day as a member of the commission.
A former federal judge, Bonner began his second stint as chair of the commission in July. He previously served as its first chair for two years between 2016 and 2018. Chairs and officers of the oversight commission are elected to one-year terms each July and can only serve two consecutive years in those roles.
Bonner’s letter stated that he has been working on several important issues that he was hoping to see through.
The initiatives included revisions to the Los Angeles County Code to help ensure the commission can serve as an independent oversight body; legal action to ensure the commission can review confidential documents in closed session; the shepherding of AB 847, a bill passed by the state Assembly on June 2 that would ensure civilian oversight commissions can review confidential documents in closed session; and efforts to eliminate deputy gangs and cliques.
“Hopefully,” Bonner wrote in his Wednesday letter, his colleagues on the commission “will be able to implement these goals while I am attempting to improve my tennis game.”
June 11 (UPI) — President Donald Trump‘s sweeping tariffs given the green light to stay in place through July by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The court on Tuesday granted a request by the Trump administration to put a pause on the ruling of a lower court that blocked the tariffs pending appeal, which leaves the tariffs in effect until at least July 31 when the appellate judges will hear oral arguments in the case.
“Having considered the traditional stay factors,” wrote the judges who participated in the ruling, “the court concludes a stay is warranted under the circumstances.”
The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled last month that several of the tariffs put into action are illegal, after a coalition of 12 states with Democratic leaders sued the Trump administration over the duties.
The Federal Circuit Court judges did not give any reasons behind their decision to keep the tariffs active, nor did they sign the ruling.
WASHINGTON — President Trump wants his “big, beautiful” bill of tax breaks and spending cuts on his desk to be signed into law by the Fourth of July, and he’s pushing the slow-rolling Senate to make it happen sooner rather than later.
Trump met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune at the White House early this week and has been dialing senators for one-on-one chats, using both the carrot and stick to nudge, badger and encourage them to act. But it’s still a long road ahead for the 1,000-page-plus package.
“His question to me was, How do you think the bill’s going to go in the Senate?” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said about his call with Trump. “Do you think there’s going to be problems?”
It’s a potentially tumultuous three-week sprint for senators preparing to put their own imprint on the massive Republican package that cleared the House late last month by a single vote. The senators have been meeting for weeks behind closed doors, including as they returned to Washington late Monday, to revise the package ahead of what is expected to be a similarly narrow vote in the Senate.
“Passing THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL is a Historic Opportunity to turn our Country around,” Trump posted on social media. He urged them Monday “to work as fast as they can to get this Bill to MY DESK before the Fourth of JULY.”
Thune, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, has few votes to spare from the Senate’s slim, 53-seat GOP majority. Democrats are waging an all-out political assault on GOP proposals to cut Medicaid, food stamps and green energy investments to help pay for more than $4.5 trillion in tax cuts — with many lawmakers being hammered at boisterous town halls back home.
“It’d be nice if we could have everybody on board to do it, but, you know, individual members are going to stake out their positions,” Thune said Tuesday.
“But in the end, we have to succeed. Failure’s not an option. We’ve got to get to 51. So we’ll figure out the path forward to do that over the next couple of weeks.”
At its core, the package seeks to extend the tax cuts approved in 2017, during Trump’s first term at the White House, and add new ones the president campaigned on, including no taxes on tips and others. It also includes a massive build-up of $350 billion for border security, deportations and national security.
To defray the lost tax revenue to the government and avoid piling onto the nation’s $36-trillion debt load, Republicans want to reduce federal spending by imposing work requirements for some Americans who rely on government safety net services. Estimates are 8.6 million people would no longer have healthcare and nearly 4 million would lose Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits.
The package also would raise the nation’s debt limit by $4 trillion to allow more borrowing to pay the bills.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump’s bill “is ugly to its very core.”
Schumer said Tuesday it’s a “lie” that the cuts won’t hurt Americans. “Behind the smoke and mirrors lies a cruel and draconian truth: tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy paid for by gutting healthcare for millions of Americans,” said the New York senator.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is expected to soon provide an overall analysis of the package’s impacts on the government balance sheets, particular its rising annual deficits. But Republicans are ready to blast those findings from the congressional scorekeeper as flawed.
Trump on Tuesday switched to tougher tactics, deriding the holdout Republican senators to get on board.
The president laid into Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the libertarian-leaning deficit hawk who has made a career of arguing against government spending. Paul wants the package’s $4-trillion increase to the debt ceiling out of the bill.
“Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas. His ideas are actually crazy (losers!).” Trump posted.
The July 4 deadline is not only aspirational for the president, it’s all but mandatory for his Treasury Department. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned Congress that the nation will run out of money to pay its bills if the debt ceiling, now at $36 trillion, is not lifted by mid-July or early August to allow more borrowing. Bessent has also been meeting behind closed doors with senators and GOP leadership.
Thune acknowledged Tuesday that lifting the debt ceiling is not up for debate.
“It’s got to be done,” the South Dakota senator said.
The road ahead is also a test for Thune, who, like Johnson, is a newer leader in Congress and among the many Republicans adjusting their own priorities with Trump’s return to the White House.
While Johnson has warned against massive changes to the package, Thune faces demands from his senators for adjustments.
To make most of the tax cuts permanent — particularly the business tax breaks that are the Senate priorities — senators may shave some of Trump’s proposed new tax breaks on automobile loans or overtime pay, which are policies less prized by some senators.
There are also discussions about altering the $40,000 cap that the House proposed for state and local deductions, known as SALT, which are important to lawmakers in high-tax New York, California and other states, but less so among GOP senators.
“We’re having all those discussions,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another key voice in the debate.
Hawley is among a group of senators, including Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, who have raised concerns about the Medicaid changes that could boot people from health insurance.
A potential copay of up to $35 for Medicaid services that was part of the House package, as well as a termination of a provider tax that many states rely on to help fund rural hospitals, have also raised concerns.
“The best way to not be accused of cutting Medicaid is to not cut Medicaid,” Hawley said.
Collins said she is reviewing the details.
There’s also a House provision that would allow the auction of spectrum bandwidth that some senators oppose.
Mascaro and Jalonick write for the Associated Press. AP writer Matt Brown contributed to this report.
A new law will make it illegal to do something that’s common in the UK – and holidaymakers could face a hefty fine if they are caught breaking this rule.
Tourists visiting France this summer will need to be aware of the new rules – or risk fines(Image: Getty Images)
People jetting off to France for their summer getaway must be aware of this crackdown on a common behaviour that some won’t think twice about. From July, French police could hand out fines every time they spot someone breaking the rule.
A BBC report shared that, from July 1, France will get tougher on smokers and implement a major ban on smoking in public places, including beaches, parks and outside schools. The clampdown aims to protect children from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke, reports Wales Online.
According to the NHS, second-hand smoke or passive smoke can damage their health of those around you. The health trust claimed: “People who breathe in secondhand smoke regularly are more likely to get the same diseases as smokers, including lung cancer and heart disease.”
Ignorance won’t be an excuse for rule-breakers who could face a €135 penalty (that’s about £113 or $153). France’s minister for children, health and family, Catherine Vautrin, said enforcement duties have been passed onto the police, but with a nudge that the public should also aim to “self-regulate.”
She told Ouest-France daily: “Tobacco must disappear where there are children”. With around 16.4 million residents in France over the age of 15 smoking, it is a habit deeply ingrained in French culture, revealed by a Global Action to End Smoking stat.
France’s minister for children, health and family Catherine Vautrin(Image: Thierry NECTOUX/GAMMA RAPHO via Getty)
The French government isn’t taking this ban lightly, and plans are in the works to ensure people take note through signs and campaigns promoting good practice. This move extends the smoke-free zones already in place across parts of France, which has seen smoking banned in restaurants and clubs since 2008.
Brits visiting France may find it tricky to break their habits with the new rule, as the UK’s smoking laws only apply indoors. Since July 2007, smoking in enclosed public spaces and workplaces has been banned in the UK.
However, in 2024, the BBC reported that the UK Government is contemplating similar measures by extending legislation in England to outdoor areas like playgrounds and hospital grounds to “protect children and the most vulnerable from the harms of second-hand smoke”.
The ban will take effect from July 1, 2025(Image: Dazeley via Getty)
In France, once the new law is in place, smoking will still be permitted in outdoor areas of cafes and bar terraces. While electronic cigarettes are not included in the ban, the country is set to tighten vaping regulations soon.
Hotels typically allocate a few rooms for smokers. If you don’t specify you want one upon booking, you’ll be placed in a non-smoking room, according to the French Rivera Traveller.
The BBC said that, according to the French Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, nearly a quarter (23.1%) of the French population smokes daily. France’s National Committee Against Smoking adds that over 75,000 smokers die annually from tobacco-related illnesses – 13% of all deaths.
A recent report by the French cancer association La Ligue Contre le Cancer reveals that almost 80% of French people support a ban on smoking in public places like woodlands, beaches, parks, and terraces.
President Donald Trump crosses the South Portico after exiting Marine One at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, May 25, 2025. On Sunday, he announced a delay to tariffs on European Union goods until July 9. Photo by Tierney L. Cross/UPI | License Photo
May 25 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Sunday said he has agreed to delay imposing a 50% tariff on European goods until July 9 to allow more time for trade negotiations.
Trump announced the decision in a post on his Truth Social media platform, saying he made the decision following a call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had requested the extension.
“I agreed to the extension — July 9, 2025 — It was my privilege to do so,” he said in the statement. “The Commission President said that talks will begin rapidly. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
In a statement of her own published prior to Trump’s announcement, von der Leyen said she had a “good call” with the American president, and that to reach a “good” trade deal, they would need until July 9.
“The EU and U.S. share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship,” she said on X.
“Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively.”
The delay is the latest from the American president, who has turned to the threat of imposing tariffs as a negotiating tool to bring about a new deal with terms more favorable for the United States.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced that an agreement had been reached with China to reduce most of their tariffs for 90 days to allow time for negotiations. That agreement saw U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods drop from 145% to 30% and China’s reciprocal tariffs on American goods fall from 125% to 10%.
Trump had originally announced 20% tariffs on EU imports in April as part of his so-called reciprocal tariffs, which sought to use the tax to level out trade disparities.
He then reduced those tariffs to 10% for 90 days later.
On Friday, Trump announced that a 50% tariff on EU goods would go into effect June 1, claiming the 27-member bloc was being “very difficult to deal with.”
“Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable,” he said on Truth Social.
According to the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. goods trade deficit with the EU last year was $235.6 billion, an increase of nearly 13% from the year prior.
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Sunday that the U.S. will delay implementation of a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union until July 9 to buy time for negotiations with the bloc.
That agreement came after a call Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who had told Trump that she “wants to get down to serious negotiations,” according to the U.S. president.
“I told anybody that would listen, they have to do that,” Trump told reporters Sunday in Morristown, N.J., as he prepared to return to Washington. Von der Leyen, Trump said, vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out.”
In a social media post Friday, Trump had threatened to impose the 50% tariff on EU goods, asserting that the 27-member bloc had been “very difficult to deal with” on trade and that negotiations were “going nowhere.” Those tariffs would have kicked in starting June 1.
But the call with Von der Leyen appeared to smooth over tensions, at least for now.
“I agreed to the extension — July 9, 2025 — It was my privilege to do so,” Trump said on social media shortly after he spoke with reporters Sunday evening.
Von der Leyen said the EU and the U.S. “share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship.”
“Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively,” she said. “To reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9.”
The Avengers will return slightly later than expected.
Disney is pushing back the release dates of its next two “Avengers” movies. “Avengers: Doomsday” is now slated to hit theaters Dec. 18, 2026, and “Avengers: Secret Wars” will be released Dec. 17, 2027. Both films were previously planned for May in their respective years.
In March, Marvel revealed, in a five-plus hour livestream, 27 members of the “Doomsday” cast, which includes veteran “Avengers” stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki), as well as “Thunderbolts*” (a.k.a. New Avengers) actors Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian), Lewis Pullman (Bob Reynolds), Wyatt Russell (John Walker) and Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr/Ghost).
“Doomsday” will also feature members of the MCU’s newest superhero team, the Fantastic Four. Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm) will make their debut in the upcoming “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” which bows in theaters July 25. “First Steps” will mark the beginning of the MCU’s Phase 6. For now, Sony and Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is the only MCU film expected to be released between “First Steps” and “Doomsday” on July 31, 2026.
The MCU’s Phase 5 will officially conclude on TV with the upcoming series “Ironheart,” which premieres June 24 on Disney+.
Amid the “Avengers” release date shuffle, Disney also revealed that its “The Devil Wears Prada” sequel, which will reportedly see Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly navigating the decline of magazine publishing (too real, says this reporter), is scheduled to open May 1, 2026, while Ridley Scott’s adaptation of the post-apocalyptic “The Dog Stars” will hit theaters March 27, 2026.
Rather than stew over whether Pete Rose and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson should be admitted, the Baseball Hall of Fame should open a special wing for miscreants. Rose, the Black Sox members who are HOF-worthy, and PED users like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, whose accomplishments before they started using would have earned them plaques, would all be welcome.
Brian Lipson Beverly Hills
So MLB has reinstated Pete Rose, months after his death. What a major league error to Pete Rose and his family, the fans and the Hall of Fame.
I understand that he violated the rules and bet while a player/manager, but his numbers, which make him a Hall of Famer, had nothing to do with bets. He didn’t cheat, he violated a rule. The Astros cheated and still kept the World Series title.
Russell Morgan Carson
On the field a great player and fun to watch. Off the field bad news. His character a complete disaster. I hope he does not get in the Hall of Fame.
Phil Schneider Marina del Rey
Was that a bit of ironic humor from Bill Shaikin saying he checked with bookies to see what the odds are on Pete Rose getting into the Hall of Fame?
Sports betting is now at epidemic levels and appears in various commercials and program commentary throughout sports media as a display of odds changing throughout many games. It’s so out of control that it’s become normalized.
As for Rose, he brazenly and obsessively bet on baseball, including games involving his own team when he was a manager. That has always been considered a cardinal sin in the sport. He lied about it for decades, then came clean half-heartedly to make money on a book, then tried to play the aggrieved victim being denied his rightful place in the Hall. It was a nauseating spectacle that went on for years.
Rose was an exceptional player. But character and certain violations matter, otherwise there’s no point in trying to protect the integrity of the game.
T.R. Jahns Hemet
I understand the steroid thing with Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, and maybe they too will be honored in the Hall of Fame someday, but this “integrity, sportsmanship and character” purity test is nonsense! Look at Ty Cobb! What matters is what happened on the field. Let the all-time hits leader in ASAP.
