A judge in the US state of Kentucky has sentenced a police officer involved in the 2020 shooting death of Breonna Taylor to 33 months for violating her civil rights.
The sentencing of officer Brett Hankison was announced on Monday at the Louisville court and represents a repudiation to prosecutors, who had requested he receive a one-day sentence.
US District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings sentenced Hankison at a hearing on Monday afternoon. She said that no prison time “is not appropriate” for Hankison and that she was “startled” that more people had not been injured in the raid.
Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was killed in her apartment in the early hours of March 13, 2020, after police executed a so-called no-knock warrant, attempting to storm Taylor’s apartment unannounced, based on faulty evidence that her apartment was involved in a drug operation.
Thinking they were experiencing a home invasion, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired one shot at the suspected intruders. Police responded with approximately 22 shots, some of which went into a neighbour’s apartment, endangering a pregnant woman, her partner and five-year-old son.
A federal jury in November 2024 found Hankison responsible for using excessive force in violation of Taylor’s civil rights.
But last week, Department of Justice lawyers asked that Hankison be given a one-day sentence, plus three years of supervised release, arguing that a lengthy sentence would be “unjust”. Hankison shot 10 bullets into the apartment, though the shots he fired did not hit her.
Death was a catalyst for calls for racial justice
Taylor’s death, along with the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer, led to racial justice protests across the United States over the treatment of people of colour by police departments.
During former President Joe Biden’s administration, the Justice Department brought criminal civil rights charges against the officers involved in both Taylor and Floyd’s deaths.
Hankison was convicted by a federal jury in November 2024 of one count of violating Taylor’s civil rights, after the first attempt to prosecute him ended with a mistrial.
He was separately acquitted on state charges in 2022.
The Justice Department’s sentencing memo for Hankison downplayed his role in the raid at Taylor’s home, saying he “did not shoot Ms. Taylor and is not otherwise responsible for her death”. The memo was notable because it was not signed by any of the career prosecutors – those who were not political appointees – who had tried the case. It was submitted on July 16 by Harmeet Dhillon, a political appointee by Trump to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and her counsel, Robert Keenan.
Keenan previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, where he argued that a local deputy sheriff convicted of civil rights violations, Trevor Kirk, should have his conviction on the felony counts struck and should not serve prison time.
The efforts to strike the felony conviction led several prosecutors on the case to resign in protest, according to media reports and a person familiar with the matter.
The department’s sentencing recommendation in the Hankison case marks the latest effort by the Trump administration to put the brakes on the department’s police accountability work. Earlier this year, Dhillon nixed plans to enter into a court-approved settlement with the Louisville Police Department, and rescinded the Civil Rights Division’s prior findings of widespread civil rights abuses against people of colour.
Lawyers for Taylor’s family called the department’s sentencing recommendation for Hankison an insult, and urged the judge to “deliver true justice” for her.
On Monday, the Louisville Metro Police Department arrested four people in front of the court, who it said were “creating confrontation, kicking vehicles, or otherwise creating an unsafe environment”. Authorities did not list the charges those arrested would face.
“We understand this case caused pain and damaged trust between our department and the community,” a police statement said. “We particularly respect and value the 1st Amendment. However, what we saw today in front of the courthouse in the street was not safe, acceptable or legal.”
A pre-sentencing report by the US Probation Office said that Hankison should face 135 to 168 months imprisonment on the excessive force conviction, according to the sentencing memo. But federal prosecutors said multiple factors, including that Hankison’s two other trials ended with no convictions, should greatly reduce the potential punishment.
Cape Town, South Africa – When Patricia Blows heard a senior police official’s explosive allegations against South Africa’s political and law enforcement elite last week, her thoughts went straight to the stalled investigation into her son’s killing nine years ago.
Angelo, an apprentice boilermaker, was about to turn 28 when he was shot in an apparent robbery on a Sunday afternoon in March 2016 while walking home from work in Langlaagte, Johannesburg.
To this day, the investigation has gone nowhere despite Blows providing the police with evidence they said they lacked, including witness statements she collected herself.
The lack of progress in the case began to make sense last week when the police commissioner in coastal KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, claimed he had uncovered a crime syndicate involving politicians, senior police officers, correctional services officials, prosecutors, the judiciary and businesspeople in his province.
According to Mkhwanazi, speaking at a news conference on July 6, the systemic corruption rises all the way to the country’s police minister, Senzo Mchunu, whom he accused of disbanding a task force set up to investigate political killings in KZN to protect his shady associates.
Like millions of South Africans, Blows was outraged by Mkhwanazi’s allegations – but not entirely surprised.
“I immediately thought of our battle for justice. I just couldn’t find an open door. It still hurts like hell,” said Blows, a community activist from Blackheath on the Cape Flats, a part of Cape Town plagued by violent drug-trafficking gangs.
“I had fresh hope in Mchunu. Now this? Then doubt drifted in, and I had an overwhelming fear for [Mkhwanazi’s] safety,” Blows said from her suburb on the outskirts of the Cape Flats, where a police station came under attack about a month ago, presumably in retaliation for the arrest of a local crime boss.
‘Hands off Mkhwanazi’
Mkhwanazi’s revelations triggered an outpouring of support from crime-weary South Africans and politicians alike, who almost universally admire his no-nonsense approach to crime. Last month, after a series of police shootouts with criminals, he was quoted as saying he cared more about impact than strategy.
His popularity reflects a national malaise as well as a regional one that is particular to volatile KZN. The province regularly features among the country’s crime hotspots and is notorious for its history of political violence that dates back to the 1980s when the apartheid regime fomented tensions among the Black supporters of the African National Congress (ANC) and its rival Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in an attempt to undermine the planned transition to democracy.
National quarterly statistics for January to March indicated a decrease in violent crime compared with the same quarter in 2024. Murders decreased by 12.4 percent to 5,727, or an average of 64 per day, according to the Institute for Security Studies.
Still, violent crime is a major problem. According to the World Population Review, South Africa has the fifth highest crime index in the world, following Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan and Haiti.
South Africa also ranks 82nd in the world on the corruption perception index compiled by the NGO Transparency International.
In this context, Mkhwanazi has become a hero to many South Africans who are fed up with the government’s failure to address chronic social ills.
Not even an investigation into his conduct in March could dampen the support for Mkhwanazi. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate dropped the case after a “Hands off Mkhwanazi” campaign, which was revived on social media after his July 6 news conference.
Dressed in special operations fatigues and surrounded by armed guards, Mkhwanazi told journalists: “I am combat ready. I will die for this badge. I will not back down.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa [Reuters]
Ramaphosa’s legacy at risk
Much to the frustration of many South Africans, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s response to the unfolding crisis has been in sharp contrast to Mkhwanazi’s gung-ho attitude.
In a brief and carefully crafted televised address on Sunday, Ramaphosa announced that Mchunu had been placed on special leave and he would establish a judicial commission of inquiry to look into the allegations raised by Mkhwanazi.
Kagiso Pooe, a senior lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Governance in Johannesburg, was hoping for Mchunu to be suspended or fired and the country’s seemingly compromised security structure to be overhauled, especially after the recent arrest of a senior crime intelligence official and several officers for fraud.
Pooe believes Ramaphosa played it safe to preserve himself and his ANC party, which was forced to form a coalition government with rivals after it failed to secure an outright majority in last year’s general election. It was a historic defeat for Nelson Mandela’s party, which has dominated domestic politics since the democratic era began in 1994.
Before local government elections next year, Pooe believes the last thing Ramaphosa wants is to alienate an ally like Mchunu, who has a strong support base in the highly contested KZN and helped secure Ramaphosa’s presidency in 2017.
“He doesn’t rock the boat. It’s not in his nature,” Pooe said, pointing out that Ramaphosa is determined to accomplish what no president has managed to do since 1994 – complete a second term in office.
“I give the president 33 percent, which is the average score for everything he does,” he said.
Pooe bemoaned the idea of yet another commission of inquiry under Ramaphosa. In May, the president even appointed a commission to investigate the by-product of a previous commission set up in 1996 that failed to deal with apartheid-era crimes. Decades on, more than 100 cases that arose from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have yet to be prosecuted.
The most high-profile commission under Ramaphosa was established shortly after he took office in 2017. The Zondo Commission was meant to investigate corruption that was so deeply entrenched under Ramaphosa’s predecessor Jacob Zuma that it became known as “state capture”.
After millions of dollars and years of highly publicised testimony, the findings of the commission have yet to deliver a major prosecution.
Toyin Adetiba, a professor at the University of Zululand’s Department of Political and International Studies, said Ramaphosa could pay a dear price for failing to act decisively, especially at a time when he is trying to burnish South Africa’s international reputation and fend off the threat of potentially damaging tariffs from the United States.
“Remember, he will soon be out as the president of the country and that of the ANC. The respect that he commands among political leaders across the continent will suffer a setback, and for him to play the role of elder statesperson after leaving office will be a Herculean task as no one will respect his opinion, no matter how important and genuine it might be,” Adetiba said.
In a strange twist of timing, this crisis comes as the country marks the anniversary of the July 2021 unrest when riots broke out in two of the country’s most populous provinces – KZN and Gauteng – after Zuma’s imprisonment for contempt of court following his refusal to testify before the Zondo Commission.
The leader of the minority party Freedom Front Plus, Pieter Groenewald, blamed the unrest on a failure of the intelligence services. Pooe said Mkhwanazi’s allegations supported the view that the country’s intelligence has been compromised.
“South Africa is literally naked intelligence-wise. Think about it from the perspective of foreign entities and criminals,” Pooe said. “If this [the allegations of corruption] is happening, don’t you think criminals also know that you can take advantage of a country like South Africa?”
As the country processes Ramaphosa’s much-awaited speech in response to Mkhwanazi’s allegations and wonders what is to come, Blows is recovering from the shock of another shooting in her neighbourhood, reported on a community WhatsApp group. This time, it sounded like an automatic weapon was used.
“I seriously pray daily against the high crime. Many parents suffer as I do,” Blows said. “Our lives are controlled by crime.”
The UN warns that funding cuts will have catastrophic consequences for the fight against the disease.
The United Nations AIDS agency is warning that severe international funding cuts could lead to an additional 4 million deaths related to the disease by 2029.
The United States was the single biggest donor to the global response to HIV/AIDS before the administration of President Donald Trump abruptly halted foreign development assistance in January.
UNAIDS says the withdrawal of assistance will have catastrophic consequences for the fight against the pandemic.
So, what can countries do to reduce the impact of the funding cuts?
And why did wealthy nations end support for AIDS prevention and treatment programmes?
Presenter: Adrian Finighan
Guests:
Dr Helen Rees – director of the Reproductive Health and HIV Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand
Dr Krishna Udayakumar – founding director of the Duke Global Health Innovation Center
Nidhi Bouri – former deputy assistant administrator for Global Health at USAID
There were so many mines on Larisa Sysenko’s small farm in Kamyanka in eastern Ukraine after the Russians withdrew that she and her husband Viktor began demining it themselves — with rakes.
Along the front line at Korobchyne near Kharkiv, Mykola Pereverzev started clearing fields with his farm machinery.
“My tractor was blown up three times. We had to get a new one. It was completely unrepairable. But we ended up clearing 200 hectares of minefields in two months,” he said.
“Absolutely everyone demines by themselves,” declared Igor Kniazev, who farms half an hour from Larisa’s.
Ukraine is one of the world’s renowned breadbaskets, its black earth so rich and fertile you want to scoop it up and inhale its aroma.
But that dark soil is now almost certainly the most heavily mined on the planet, experts told the AFP news agency.
More than three years of relentless artillery barrages — the most intense since World War II — have scattered it with millions of tonnes of ordnance, much still unexploded.
Experts estimate one in 10 shells fail to detonate, with up to a third of North Korean munitions fired by Russia remaining intact, their high explosives deteriorating where they fall.
Yet the drones revolutionising warfare in Ukraine may also transform the demining process.
Ukraine and many of the 80-plus nongovernmental organisations and commercial groups operating there already employ drones to accelerate the enormous task of land clearance, supported by substantial international funding.
Despite the dangers and official warnings, farmers themselves often take the initiative, like the Sysenkos.
They were among the first to return to devastated Kamyanka, which Russian forces occupied from March to September 2022.
Two weeks after Ukrainian soldiers recaptured the village, Larisa and Viktor returned to find their house uninhabitable, without utilities.
After waiting out the winter, they returned in March 2023 to take stock and begin cleanup, first removing the gallows Russian soldiers had erected in their yard.
Then they started demining, with rakes. “There were many mines, and our guys in the Ukrainian army couldn’t prioritise us. So we slowly demined ourselves with rakes,” Larisa said cheerfully.
Boxes of Russian artillery shells — 152mm howitzer shells specifically, Viktor noted with a mischievous smile — still sit stacked before their house.
“I served in Soviet artillery, so I know something about them,” the 56-year-old added.
That summer, Swiss FSD Foundation deminers discovered 54 mines in the Sysenkos’ field.
The deminers instructed the Sysenkos “to evacuate the house”.
“Their protocols prohibited us from staying. So we complied. The demining machine traversed the area repeatedly, triggering numerous explosions.”
While Kamyanka remains largely a ghost village with gutted homes, about 40 people have returned — far below its pre-war population of 1,200.
Many fear the mines, and several residents have stepped on them.
Yet farmers cannot afford to wait and have resumed working the vast fields of Ukraine’s renowned “chernozem” soil, famous for its intense blackness and fertility.
“Looking at surrounding villages, farmers have modified tractors themselves for clearance and are already planting wheat and sunflowers,” Viktor added.
On a day the Sparks retired the jersey of the superstar whose departure has coincided with their five-year funk, Candace Parker nearly missed her pregame news conference.
With a room full of media types eager to write that rare positive Sparks story, Parker got caught in convention traffic and was so late that the game was starting and she took just five minutes’ worth of questions.
The Candace Curse struck late.
In the fourth quarter against the Chicago Sky at Crypto.com Arena, in front of a crowd waving yellow Candace Parker T-shirts, the Sparks did something they’ve been doing in bunches since Parker skipped town after the 2020 season.
This was once a special franchise, as the classy halftime jersey retirement ceremony for Parker reminded everyone, with Lisa Leslie introducing and Parker embracing and the standing crowd a little teary.
This is now a blight of a franchise, as the surrounding 40 minutes of basketball reminded everyone, the Sparks playing hard but sorely lacking in talent, direction and any sort of playoff future.
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DODGERS
From Jack Harris: The glasses might’ve come first. But it was a light bulb moment with the swing that made the most profound change.
Just over a month into the season this year, veteran Dodgers slugger Max Muncy was in a desperate search for answers.
Through the team’s first 30 games, his batting average started with a one and his home run total was stuck on zero. His role as the team’s starting third baseman was being called into question, fueling early-season speculation that the team would need to replace him before the trade deadline. He was absorbing daily criticism from fans, while trying not to succumb to internal self-flagellation.
The 10-year veteran had gone through cold starts before. But nothing quite so frustrating as this.
The 162-game trek of the regular season is familiar to the 35-year-old Southern California native across his 12-year career. With Joe Maddon as his manager for the first half of his career, Hendricks was provided room to screw up — messing around with his mechanics and pitch arsenal — to become a top-end starting pitcher who helped the Chicago Cubs claim the 2016 World Series.
“It established a lot of confidence in me,” said Hendricks, who started more than 30 games four times in five seasons from 2015-19. “The organization handing you the ball every fifth day, having that confidence in you to give the team a chance to win. That’s how you learn.”
Learning has arrived in spades for the Angels pitching staff. The starting rotation owns a 4.22 earned-run average, fostering a crop of middle-of-the-pack pitchers that doesn’t feature a traditional ace, nor former Cy Young Award winners. (The Angels’ overall staff ERA of 4.58 ranks 24th in MLB entering Monday.)
But there’s something that makes this group stand out from the rest of the league: pitching every fifth day.
The Angels feature the only pitching staff in baseball to have their season-opening rotation — of Yusei Kikuchi, Jack Kochanowicz, José Soriano, Tyler Anderson and Hendricks — make every start of the season.
From Broderick Turner: The Lakers lost a key role player when forward Dorian Finney-Smith agreed to a deal with the Houston Rockets, but they quickly moved onward by agreeing to a deal with forward Jake LaRavia when NBA free agency opened Monday afternoon.
According to people not authorized to speak on the matter, Finney-Smith agreed to a four-year, $53-million deal with the Rockets. Finney-Smith had opted out of his $15.3-million deal with the Lakers.
The Lakers kept moving forward by getting wing player LaRavia to agree to a deal for two years and $12 million. The 6-7 LaRavia averaged 6.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and shot 47.5% from the field, 42.3% from three-point range with Memphis and Sacramento last season.
From Broderick Turner: The Clippers got the backup center they have yearned for when Brook Lopez agreed to a two-year, $18-million deal, according to people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Lopez, who spent the last seven seasons with Milwaukee, averaged 13 points, 5.0 rebounds and shot 37.3% from three-point range.
From Steve Henson: Aidan Zingg, a motocross prodigy who recently signed with Kawasaki’s prestigious Team Green program, died Saturday at age 16 from injuries sustained during the Mammoth Mountain MX event in Mammoth Lakes.
During a 250cc B class race, Zingg “went down in a corner,” according to industry website Dirtbikelover.com and was run over by other bikes.
Zingg, who grew up in Hemet before his family moved to the state of Washington, won the American Motorcyclist Assn. 2024 Amateur National Championship in Supermini 2, held at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. He recently qualified for the championships for a seventh consecutive year.
1859 — Amherst defeats Williams 73-32 in the first intercollegiate baseball game. The game is played by Massachusetts Rules, a wide-open form of the sport commonly known as roundball and Amherst wins by reaching the pre-established score of 65 runs. Amherst exceeds 65-run limit during a 10-run 26th inning.
1903 — Maurice Garin wins the first stage of the first Tour de France bicycle race. Garin finishes 55 seconds ahead of Emile Pagie. The first stage, from Paris to Lyon, is 467 kilometers long, and takes 17 hours and 45 minutes, riding both day and night. Only 37 riders of 60 are able to complete the day’s race.
1920 — Suzanne Lenglen of France becomes the first player to win three Wimbledon titles in one year, taking the singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
1932 — Helen Moody wins her fifth women’s singles title in six years at Wimbledon, defeating Helen Jacobs 6-3, 6-1.
1938 — Don Budge defeats Henry Austin 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 to win the men’s singles title and sweep the singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon for the second straight year.
1947 — Basketball Association of America (BAA), which later became the National Basketball Association (NBA), holds its inaugural college player draft.
1951 — Beverly Hanson wins the Eastern Open by three strokes over Babe Zaharias in her first start on the LPGA Tour. Hanson is the only golfer to win a tournament in her first pro start.
1961 — Mickey Wright beats defending champion Betsy Rawls by six strokes to win the U.S. Women’s Open.
1977 — Britain’s Virginia Wade wins the singles title on the 100th anniversary of Wimbledon, defeating Betty Stove 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
1990 — Cathy Johnston completes a wire-to-wire performance, beating Patty Sheehan by two strokes to win the LPGA du Maurier Classic.
1995 — The NBA locks out its players at 12:01 a.m., the first work stoppage in league history.
1997 — Nevada Athletic Commission suspends Mike Tyson indefinitely & withholds $20m purse for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear during their heavyweight title fight 28 June.
2007 — Cristie Kerr wins the U.S. Women’s Open by making only two bogeys over her final 45 holes. Kerr finishes at 5-under 279 for her 10th career victory.
2011 — The NBA locks out its players, a long-expected move putting the 2011-12 season in jeopardy.
2012 — Spain wins its third straight major soccer title, beating Italy 4-0 in the European Championship final in Kiev, Ukraine. The Spanish, who won the Euro 2008 title and World Cup title in 2010, posts the largest score in a Euro final.
2012 — Tiger Woods wins the AT&T National at Congressional in Bethesda, Md. for the 74th win of his career. That moves him past Jack Nicklaus into second place on the tour list, eight short of Sam Snead.
2018 — NBA super star LeBron James agrees to a 4-year $154m deal with the Lakers, moving from Cleveland Cavaliers.
2018 — Park Sung-hyun wins the PGA Women’s Championship at Kemper Lakes Golf Course in a playoff with Nasa Hataoka and Ryu So-yeon.
2018 — David Toms wins the Men’ US Senior Open at Broadmoor Golf Course by one stroke ove Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jerry Kelly and Tim Petrovic.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1910 — Comiskey Park — then known as White Sox Park — held its first major league game, with the St. Louis Browns beating Chicago 2-0.
1917 — Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds pitched complete-game victories in a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Toney threw a three-hitter in each game for 4-1 and 5-1 wins, setting a record for the fewest hits allowed in a doubleheader by a pitcher.
1920 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators defeated the Boston Red Sox 1-0 at Fenway Park with the season’s only no-hitter.
1925 — Hack Wilson of the New York Giants hit two home runs in the third inning of a 16-7 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader. Wilson also doubled twice during the game.
1941 — Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees singled off Boston’s Jack Wilson in the fourth inning, tying Willie Keeler’s hitting streak of 44 games.
1951 — Bob Feller of the Indians pitched his third career no-hitter, beating the Detroit Tigers 2-1 in the first game of a doubleheader at Cleveland.
1990 — Andy Hawkins of the New York Yankees pitched the sixth no-hitter in the majors this season and the third in less than 48 hours, but lost 4-0 to the Chicago White Sox on two outfield errors in the eighth inning.
1997 — Detroit’s Bobby Higginson homered in the first inning against the New York Mets, tying a major league record by homering in four consecutive at-bats over two games. Higginson, who struck out looking in his next at-bat, became the 23rd player since 1900 to accomplish the feat and the fourth Tiger.
2009 — One run was enough for a victory for three National League teams, the first time in 33 years there were three 1-0 games in one league on the same day. The Mets, Dodgers and Reds came away with 1-0 victories. The last time there were three 1-0 games in one league was Sept. 1, 1976, in the NL.
2009 — Hanley Ramirez extended his RBI streak to 10 games in the Florida Marlins’ 5-3 victory over the Washington Nationals. Ramirez hit a two-run double in the third inning to become the first shortstop in NL history with an RBI streak of double-digit games.
2013 — Andy Pettitte passes Whitey Ford for the most strikeouts in New York Yankees history when he records his 1,957th in the Yankees’ 10-4 win over the Twins. The win goes to reliever Joba Chamberlain, his first of the year, as he benefits from a three-run outburst off reliever Jared Burton in the 8th. The Yankees then add four runs in the top of the 9th as they end a five-game losing streak.
2014 — The Cleveland Indians executed an unorthodox triple play in the fourth inning against the Dodgers that required two video replay reviews to sort out. With runners on first and third, Adrian Gonzalez lifted a fly ball to left fielder Michael Brantley, who threw out Dee Gordon at the plate. Catcher Yan Gomes then fired to second baseman Jason Kipnis for the tag on Yasiel Puig as he slid headfirst. Cleveland manager Terry Francona challenged the original safe call at second and got the play overturned after a replay delay that lasted 1 minute, 29 seconds. Dodgers skipper Don Mattingly then challenged the call at the plate, but that call stood after another wait of 1 minute, 34 seconds. Cleveland went on to a 10-3 win.
2015 — Carlos Carrasco came within one strike of throwing the Cleveland Indians’ first no-hitter since 1981, giving up an RBI single to Joey Butler over leaping second baseman Jason Kipnis’ glove in an 8-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
2019 — Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs is found dead in his hotel room a few hour before the team’s scheduled game with the Texas Rangers. Police confirm that no foul play is suspected.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
The morning after the night before and it is an easy ‘take’ to say Henry Pollock should start for the British and Irish Lions in the first Test against Australia.
It was certainly an eye-catching performance from the 20-year-old Northampton Saints star in the 54-7 win over Western Force, one that captured the attention of the Australian media.
The state broadcaster, ABC News, said Pollock “showcased his star potential” and “produced a series of tackle-busting runs”.
The headline in the Australian read: ‘Lions wonder kid, playmaker put Wallabies on notice.’
Pollock, making his first Lions start, looked like a kid in the candy store.
With a smile on his face, he gorged on Western Force at times. His pace and lung-busting break set up a first-half try for Tomos Williams, the power matched by a sublime offload to the Welsh scrum-half.
In the second half came the audacious chip over the top, chase and gather before alertly leaving the ball when he went to ground. The move resulted in a try for Joe McCarthy.
“I thought he was brilliant today,” said Lions captain Dan Sheehan.
“He does his own thing. He has his own way of playing. He’s probably different to a lot of the forwards.
“I enjoy that rugby – off the cuff, see what’s in front of you and make it happen. And with his skillset and speed, he can certainly make it happen.
“It’s just about trying to make sure that he’s doing the right thing for the team all the time.
“He’ll be continuously developing. All these big games are massive for him and massive for all of us – the experience. He’ll just get better and better from here.”
Even his opponents heaped praise on Pollock.
“Henry Pollock lived up to the hype. He came into his own as they kept on the intensity and he’s a hell of a ball-carrier,” proclaimed Australia international Nic White.
PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio — Nearly 10 years after he changed the lives of every queer person in America, Jim Obergefell sat in a crowded bar on a small island in Lake Erie, watching the close-knit local community celebrate its third annual Pride.
Jim, 58, made history as the lead plaintiff in the landmark legal case Obergefell vs. Hodges, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2015, that same-sex couples nationwide have a constitutional right to marry.
The last decade has diminished the familiarity of his face, once everywhere on cable news, and he appeared to sit anonymously now, sipping a beer in a booth. But Jim’s legacy still resonates deeply with LGBTQ+ people all over the country, in both red and blue states and in little purplish outposts like Put-in-Bay, too — as Molly Kearney, the queer comedian on stage, would soon make clear.
Kearney spent years working at island bars and restaurants before making it big and landing a gig as the first nonbinary cast member of “Saturday Night Live.” They are something of a legend on the island about three miles off the Ohio coast, and the crowd was loving their set — which was chock full of stories about getting drunk at local watering holes and navigating life and family as a young queer person.
Then Kearney brought up Jim’s case.
The day the Supreme Court issued its decision, Kearney was working at a restaurant called The Forge alongside co-owner Marc Wright, who is gay and one of the organizers of Put-in-Bay Pride. Wright immediately told the LGBTQ+ staff their work day was done.
“I just remember that day so vividly,” Kearney said. “He’s like, ‘All right, all the straight people have to work. All the gay people, leave work — we’re going out on the town!’”
A large Pride flag is held by supporters in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on April 28, 2015. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2015, that same-sex couples nationwide have a constitutional right to marry.
(Allison Shelley / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The crowd erupted in laughter and cheers, and in apparent approval for Wright, the emcee who had just introduced Kearney.
“It was awesome,” Kearney said, recalling how the whole town seemed to come together to celebrate. “It was a magnificent day.”
Jim, caught off guard, was also clearly tickled as he quietly took in the many smiling faces around him.
A lot of people have told him over the last decade how much his case transformed their lives. Many have cried upon meeting him. Some have said his victory gave them the courage to come out to their families and friends, and even to themselves. One told him she was preparing to take her own life until his win.
Still, Kearney’s story might be his “new favorite,” he said.
For starters, it was darn funny, he said. But it also was rooted in queer acceptance in a small community not unlike the coastal town a short ferry ride away, Sandusky, Ohio, where Jim grew up — and now lives again.
It captured something Jim has observed in his own life the last few years in Ohio, something that might be his greatest legacy, especially in light of recent political efforts to push LGBTQ+ rights backward and queer people back into the closet.
Kearney’s story captured people in an average, not especially progressive American community not just accepting their queer neighbors and friends — but celebrating their right to love.
Signs mark the city limits and some of the notable residents of Sandusky.
Murals and paintings seen in downtown on a Sunday in June.
At home in Sandusky
The night before the comedy show, Jim was in Sandusky, hosting a dinner party in his well-appointed and art-adorned apartment with about a dozen of his closest friends, family and neighbors.
He served some of his own wine — he’s a co-founder of Equality Vines out of Guerneville — and ordered a bunch of pizza, including a Sandusky special: sausage and sauerkraut.
There was his older brother and sister-in-law, Chuck and Janice Obergefell, who recalled traveling to D.C. for the Supreme Court arguments. Their kids are also close to Jim.
“The minute we heard you were going to Washington, we just thought, ‘Wow, this is too cool,’” Janice told Jim. “We’re awfully darn proud of you, but you know that.”
Chuck had worked his whole life in local plants, and had known a few gay men there — regular blue-collar guys who also happened to be the “friendliest people I’ve ever met,” he said. So when Jim came out to him in the early 1990s, it didn’t bother him much, though he did worry about HIV/AIDS.
“I just told him, ‘You’re my brother, I love ya, just be careful,’” Chuck said.
“Then he brought John around,” said Janice, of Jim’s late husband John Arthur.
“And I liked John more than Jim!” Chuck said with a wry smile.
There were several of Jim’s oldest and dearest friends, including Kay Hollek, a friend since they were 4; Judi Nath, a friend since 7th grade; Jennifer Arthur, his 1984 prom date; and Betsy Kay, a friend from high school chorus.
There were also newer friends from town, including Marsha Gray Carrington, a photographer and painter whose work adorns Jim’s walls, and from Jim’s “gayborhood,” as he called it — including neighbors Dick Ries and Jim Ervin, a married couple who briefly employed Jim as a Sandusky segway tour guide, and Debbie Braun, a retired Los Angeles teacher who, like Jim, decided to move back to her hometown.
The conversation ranged freely from Jim’s personal legacy to local politics in Sandusky, which is moderate compared to the red rural towns and bigger blue cities nearby. The talk jumped to national politics and recent attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, which have made some of them worry for Jim’s safety as “an icon of a movement,” as his former prom date put it.
An oil painting hangs on the wall of Jim Obergefell’s parents’ home in June.
Ries and Ervin, who started dating about 17 years ago, drew laughs with a story about learning of the Supreme Court decision. Ervin was bawling — tears of joy — when he called Ries, who was driving and immediately thought something horrible had happened.
“I think the house has burned down, he’s wrecked the car, the dog is dead,” Ries said with a chuckle. It wasn’t until he pulled over that he understood the happy news.
The couple had held off having a marriage ceremony because they wanted it to be “real,” including in the eyes of their home state, Ervin said. After the ruling, they quickly made plans, and married less than 8 months later on Feb. 6, 2016.
“To me, it was profound that once and for all, we could all get married,” Ervin said.
Jim Obergefell, left, and John Arthur, right, are married by officiant Paulette Roberts, rear center, in a plane on the tarmac at Baltimore/Washington International Airport in Glen Burnie, Md., in 2013.
(Glenn Hartong / The Cincinnati Enquirer via Associated Press)
The group talked about what kept them in or brought them to Sandusky: family, the low cost of living, small-town friendliness. They talked about the other queer people in their lives, including some of their children. They mentioned how the only gay bar in town recently closed.
In between the heavier discussions, they chatted in the warm, cheeky patterns of old friends catching up over pizza and wine. At one point, Jim and several of his girlfriends gathered in the kitchen to discuss — what else? — Jim’s dating life.
Just the week before, Jim said, he had realized he was “ready to let go” of John’s ashes, to spread them somewhere special as John had requested, and finally ready to date again.
“I’m open,” he said, as his girlfriends’ eyes lit up.
The case that landed Jim before the Supreme Court started during one of the hardest periods of his life, when John was dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. The couple had been together for decades, and in July 2013, three months before John’s death, exchanged vows in Maryland, one of the states that recognized same-sex marriages at the time.
However, Ohio refused to acknowledge that marriage, meaning that, when John died, Jim would not be listed as the surviving spouse on his state death certificate. So they sued.
For years after John’s death and the subsequent court rulings in their favor, Jim kept busy co-writing a book, traveling the country giving speeches and attending Pride events and LGBTQ+ fundraisers as a guest of honor. He was mourning John, too, of course, but amid so many other draws on his focus and attention, he said.
“It’s almost like you didn’t get to do it right away,” said Betsy. “You had it delayed.”
After living in Cincinnati from 1984 to 2016 — most of that time with John — Jim moved to D.C. for a few years, but “missed Ohio,” he said.
In 2021, as the COVID pandemic raged, he found himself increasingly lonely, he said, so he decided to move back to Sandusky to be closer to family and friends. Since then, he has been happier, rekindling old connections, making some new ones and even running — unsuccessfully — for office.
Betsy, a mother of nine — some queer — and a ball of energy, said it’s wonderful to have Jim back in town. The one catch, she acknowledged, is the gay dating pool in Sandusky, population about 24,000, is not exactly deep.
To make matters worse, Jim is hopelessly oblivious when it comes to flirting, she said. The other women in the kitchen nodded.
Taking the cue, Jim went to his bedroom and returned with a small pin Betsy had given him, which read, “If you’re flirting with me, please let me know. And be extremely specific. Seriously, I’m clueless.”
Jim looked around his apartment, in his hometown, brimming with fiercely loyal friends and family who not only love him, but want him to find love.
Thanks in part to him, it was a scene that lucky, happy queer people might find familiar nationwide.
A “Greetings from Sandusky, Ohio” sign.
The Ceiling Art Company and a row of buildings on West Market Street downtown.
Jim Obergefell holds a button with a message that reads in part, “if you’re flirting with me please let me know.”.
Back on the island
Shortly after Kearney’s set at Put-in-Bay Pride, Kristin Vogel-Campbell, a 45-year-old bisexual educator from nearby Port Clinton, approached Jim at his booth.
Her friend had just pointed Jim out — told her who he was — and she just had to thank him.
“You’ve done so much for our community,” she said. “You put yourself out there, and did the work that was needed to get the job done.”
Jim, not anonymous after all, smiled and thanked her.
A few moments later, Kearney came through the crowd, high-fiving and hugging old friends. When they, too, were told who Jim was, their jaw dropped.
“Are you serious? … Hold on.”
Marc Wright, left, and Molly Kearney snap a picture together at Put-in-Bay Pride on June 9.
(Courtesy of Marc Wright)
Kearney ran over and grabbed Wright out of another conversation and explained who Jim was. Wright’s eyes went wide — then he reached out and touched Jim on the chest, as if to verify he was real.
Kearney, sticking their arms out to show goosebumps, said, “I have the chillies.”
Kearney doesn’t often include the story of the Supreme Court ruling in their sets, they said, but thought the local crowd would get a kick out of it, because they knew that day had meant a lot to so many people.
“That day — thanks to you — was a very big day for me,” Kearney told Jim. “I didn’t feel fully comfortable — I still don’t — so that day was really important, because everyone was, like, cheering!”
Wright nodded along.
He first came to Put-in-Bay from Cleveland when he was 21 — or a “baby gay,” as he put it. And initially, it was intimidating. “It’s easy to feel like an outcast in a small community, because you’re living in a fish bowl,” he said.
Soon enough, however, the town made him one of their own. People on the island “knew I was gay before I knew, and everyone was like, ‘Yeah, it’s OK,’” Wright said.
He said such acceptance, which has only grown on the island since, is thanks to pioneers like Jim — and like Kearney, whose own success has increased understanding of nonbinary people.
“Just to have Molly go out and live their life so unapologetically, it’s so validating,” Wright said.
Introducing Kearney that afternoon, Wright had thanked the crowd — many of them locals — for proving that Put-in-Bay stands for love and equality, especially at such a difficult time for the LGBTQ+ community.
“Put-in-Bay is for everyone — one island, one family,” he said.
Now, as Jim praised the event, saying it was just the sort of thing that’s needed in small towns all across the country, Wright beamed.
On May 25, Olorato Mongale, a 30-year-old woman from South Africa, went on a date with a man she had recently met.
Less than two hours later, she was dead.
Her half-naked body was found by the roadside in Lombardy West, a suburb north of Johannesburg. It showed signs of severe trauma and bruising. Investigators concluded that she had been murdered elsewhere and dumped at the scene.
Her brutal and senseless killing led to a wave of grief and outrage on social media. Days later, a family spokesperson revealed that Mongale – a master’s student at the University of the Witwatersrand – had once worked as a journalist. She left the profession seven years ago due to the emotional toll of reporting on gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
Her family said Mongale had grown increasingly anxious about her own vulnerability to male violence. In particular, the 2017 murder of 22-year-old Karabo Mokoena haunted her. Mokoena was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend, Sandile Mantsoe, who then burned her body beyond recognition and buried the remains in open grassland in Lyndhurst – a suburb just kilometres from where Mongale’s body was found.
Despite her conscious efforts to avoid Mokoena’s fate, Mongale ultimately became what she had feared most: another name added to the long and growing list of South African women murdered by men.
At her funeral on June 1, her mother, Keabetswe Mongale, said her daughter had tried desperately to fight off her attacker.
“When I saw her at the government mortuary, I could see that my daughter fought. She fought until her nails broke,” she said.
Her devastating death serves as a stark reminder that women and girls across South Africa continue to face an existential threat from gender-based violence, despite years of government promises and reforms.
On May 24, 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a bill establishing the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide. The body is mandated to provide leadership and coordination in the fight against GBVF. While it appeared to be a step forward, it did not represent a transformative policy shift.
This is not the first such initiative. In 2012, then-Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe launched the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence, with a similar mandate to coordinate national anti-GBV efforts.
More than a decade later, with yet another council in place, GBVF crimes continue.
In November 2023, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa released the country’s first national study on GBVF. It found that the persistence of gender-based violence is rooted in “deeply ingrained societal norms and structures that perpetuate male dominance and reinforce gender hierarchies … leading to female subordination, systemic inequalities, and violence against women”.
The destructive effect of entrenched patriarchy is undeniable. In South Africa, a woman is murdered every three hours. That is approximately 8 women a day. One study estimates that around 7.8 million women in the country have experienced physical or sexual violence.
While women of all races and backgrounds are affected, Black women face higher rates of GBVF – an enduring legacy of apartheid and its structural inequalities.
This crisis is not unique to South Africa. The terror faced by women and girls is a continent-wide phenomenon.
In November 2024, the United Nations published its report Femicides in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides, revealing that Africa had the world’s highest rate of partner-related femicide that year.
Kenya stands out for its staggering figures.
Between September 2023 and December 2024, the country recorded more than 7,100 cases of sexual and gender-based violence. These included the murders of at least 100 women by male acquaintances, relatives, or intimate partners in just four months.
Among the victims was Rebecca Cheptegei, a Ugandan Olympian and mother of two, who competed in the marathon at the 2024 Paris Games. On September 5, 2024, she died in Eldoret, Kenya, from severe burns after her former partner doused her in petrol and set her alight during a domestic dispute. He himself later died in a hospital from his injuries.
The Kenyan government later recognised GBVF as the most pressing security challenge facing the country — a belated but crucial move.
On May 26, Kenya’s National Gender and Equality Commission noted that the surge in GBVF crimes was driven by “a complex interplay of cultural, social, economic, and legal factors”. Patriarchal traditions continue to fuel inequality and legitimise violence, while harmful practices such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), and dowry-related violence further endanger women’s lives. Economic hardship and women’s financial dependence only deepen their vulnerability.
Across the continent, we are witnessing a dangerous resurgence of archaic patriarchal norms.
The COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 further exposed the scale of the crisis. Since then, countless behavioural change campaigns have been launched, but they have largely failed.
This is no surprise.
According to Afrobarometer data from November 2023, nearly 48 percent of all Africans believe domestic violence is a private matter, not a criminal offence.
The uncomfortable truth is that many African men, regardless of education or economic status, do not prioritise the safety or rights of women and girls.
On International Women’s Day last year, South African rugby captain Siya Kolisi said it plainly: “Men are not doing enough.”
Indeed, many continue to uphold harmful customs such as child marriage and remain disengaged from efforts to protect women. Years of empty rhetoric have led to a growing body count.
It is time for African men to take full ownership of this crisis and commit to radical change.
They must reject cultural practices and ideals of manhood that dehumanise women. African cultures are not unchangeable, and patriarchy is not destiny. A new, egalitarian model of African masculinity must be nurtured — one based on dignity, equality, and nonviolence.
This cultural reorientation must begin in families and be sustained through schools, religious and traditional forums, and community life.
It must happen for Olarato Mongale. For Rebecca Cheptegei. For the thousands of others whose lives were stolen.
And most urgently, it must happen for the women and girls across Africa who live each day knowing that their greatest threat may come from the men closest to them.
There can be no just African future unless African manhood is transformed.
THE mother of a 21-year-old student who was murdered by a vile sex offender has slammed a ridiculous legal loophole that allows pervs to dodge the sex offenders register.
Lisa Squire’s daughter Libby was killed in Hull in 2019 by a prolific sex offender leaving Lisa heartbroken.
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Her daughter was tragically killed in 2019 by vile Pawel RelowiczCredit: ITV
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Lisa was left shocked to discover sexual offenders could avoid the registerCredit: PA
Lisa was horrified to learn that men who commit indecent exposure can avoid being put on the sex offenders register.
The loophole that prevents pervs from being put on the register means those who commit indecent exposure can avoid being monitored by police.
Pawel Relowicz, the vile sex offender who murdered Libby, had a history of indecent exposure.
Evil police officer Wayne Couzens who murdered Sarah Everard in 2021 also had a history of indecent exposure.
Ministers have been pushing for stronger legislation with mounting evidence showing those who commit indecent exposure go on to commit violent offences.
A landmark Bill making sure offenders can’t slip through the net is set to make its way back through the commons this week.
Libby’s mother, Lisa, branded the Bill Libby’s Law Part One and told The Mirror: “It’s a perfect legacy for Libby.
“Her death was so preventable, it shouldn’t have happened, but she’s making a difference.
“If we can learn from her death that’s perfect, it makes it a bit less senseless.”
Current laws require prosecutors to prove an offender caused alarm or distress with their actions to get a conviction for exposure.
I felt guilty for not making my daughter report indecent exposure – it could’ve saved her life, says Libby Squire’s mum
Commonly offenders are charged with outraging public decency instead which does not result in them being added to the sex offenders register and allows them to dodge police monitoring.
Soon after Libby’s killer Relowicz was arrested Lisa was told by cops that he had a history of committing sexual offences.
The evil killer plead guilty to nine sexual offences unrelated to Libby’s murder, including voyeurism and outraging public decency.
Lisa said: “If more people had come forward and reported their experiences, and if police had been able to join the dots there might have been a different situation.”
Since the horror loss of her daughter Lisa has campaigned for victims to report non-contact sex offences to police, saying doing so will prevent more cases like her daughter’s.
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Lisa has urged victims to report non-contact offences
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Libby was killed by a vile repeat sex offenderCredit: PA:Press Association
The distraught mum was shocked to learn that offenders charged with outraging public decency can avoid being put on the register.
She said: “I never even imagined that they wouldn’t be. When I found out they weren’t I thought it was ridiculous. These are people that we should be watching.”
Lisa has demanded compulsory treatment programmes to stop those charged with indecent exposure’s behaviour escalating to more violent crimes and called for jail terms for those convicted of non-contact sex offences like exposure and voyeurism.
She reportedly believes her daughters death could have been prevented if more serious action was taken against vile Relowicz at an earlier stage.
Lisa believes that lives could be saved with the loophole closed and has campaigned tirelessly to make that a reality.
The Mirror reveal data showing the number of indecent exposure cases reported to police has skyrocketed since 2019.
Data from 37 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales shows a 15% rise in five years, while arrests have gone up by around 35%.
Dame Diana Johnson, Labour’s Policing Minister, told MPs last year that in five years almost 250 men found guilty of indecent exposure were later found guilty of rape.
She told the Commons: “Indecent exposure and non-contact sexual offences are gateway crimes that are still not taken seriously enough.”
The Home Office has now commissioned research into the link between non-contact sex offences and more violent crimes.
A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman said: “Sexual exposure is an incredibly serious crime which can be invasive and distressing for victims.
“We have been working hard to improve our response to sexual exposure and other non-contact sexual offences.”
Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones said: “Exposure is a degrading and cowardly crime, which can often escalate into serious offending.
“We’re strengthening the law to bolster protection for victims, meaning offenders with a broader range of motivations, such as the intention to cause humiliation or for the purpose of sexual gratification, can be prosecuted – and added to the sex offender register where necessary.
“I am grateful to Libby’s family, and other victims and survivors, who have bravely campaigned for change in this area.”
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Lisa has campaigned to protect victims for yearsCredit:
TIM STEWART NEWS LIMITED
SAN DIEGO — Rivalries in baseball can sometimes be difficult to define.
There are the obvious ones. Like the Yankees and Red Sox. The Cardinals and Cubs. And for the Dodgers, going back to their founding in New York, a generations-old hatred for the Giants.
“By definition, you can’t just decide to choose your rivalry because one team gets good,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said. “And for the Dodgers, that’ll always be the Giants.”
But periodically, there are other emotionally charged, highly competitive, and simmering clashes; often taking root between simultaneous contenders, bad-blooded division foes or closely situated fan bases sharing a mutual dislike.
Over the last half-decade, that’s what has slowly been built between the Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
And in their first renewal of the season on Monday night at Petco Park, an 8-7 extra-innings win for the Dodgers, the two clubs lived up to the matchup’s ever-growing hype.
“Both teams are good. The fan bases are very adamant. Both environments have been hostile over the last several years,” Muncy said. “It brings everything that a rivalry should bring.”
A traditional rivalry, it’s still not quite. The Dodgers have as many World Series titles as the Padres do playoff appearances (eight each). Since the Padres last won the National League West in 2006, the Dodgers have done it 13 times.
But after three playoff meetings in the last five years, and a seemingly tight division race on tap this season, Dodgers-Padres is now a full-blown, certifiably legitimate rivalry — at least in the eyes of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
“I think it’s become a rivalry,” Roberts said, “because the stakes have been higher.”
But even entering Monday, the importance of this week’s three-game series at Petco Park — plus a four-game rematch between the teams next week at Dodger Stadium — had been magnified, the Dodgers leading the Padres by just one game in the National League West standings in their pursuit to defend last year’s World Series title.
“It’s going to be an intense series,” Roberts said. “It probably will feel like a playoff game tonight.”
It certainly played out that way.
Will Smith is showered in sunflower seeds thrown by Teoscar Hernández after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Padres on Monday night.
(Orlando Ramirez / Associated Press)
Both teams scored twice in the first inning. The lead then changed hands three times between the second, when the Padres scored on a Will Smith throwing error; and the third, when Smith answered with a two-run homer to punctuate a three-run rally, only for the Padres to score three on a bases-loaded triple from Tyler Wade that got past a diving Teoscar Hernández in right center.
The Dodgers (40-27) got the game tied again in the fifth, with Hyeseong Kim doubling home Muncy in a rare opportunity against a left-handed pitcher (he is three-for-three in such situations this season).
The Padres (37-28) skirted even more trouble along the way. In the fourth, the Dodgers couldn’t take advantage of an infield pop-up that dropped between three Padres fielders. In the eighth, San Diego reliever Adrian Morejon misfired on the most routine of throws to first base with two outs, letting Shohei Ohtani reach second, but then struck out Freddie Freeman to escape unscathed.
But once the game reached the 10th, the Dodgers surged ahead. Andy Pages led off with a line-drive RBI double that outfielder Brandon Lockridge badly misread in left. Tommy Edman followed with an RBI single that ricocheted off the second base bag. And though closer Tanner Scott gave up an RBI double to Jackson Merrill — one at-bat after Manny Machado was rung up on a controversial called third strike — the former Padres left-hander limited the damage there.
Round 1 of Dodgers-Padres this year went to the defending champions. More heavyweight fights figure to follow.
From allegations of infidelity to swinging scandals, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives offers a look into a version of Mormon life far removed from traditional public perception.
Set in suburban Utah, the TV series follows a group of Mormon women – most of whom rose to fame on TikTok and became MomTok influencers – as they manage scandals, confront marital breakdowns and clash over everything from business ventures to party invitations.
But beneath the sensational plotlines is a more complex story about the evolving dynamics within a tight-knit community.
The group of Mormon mothers have been making content online for the past five years but say the concept of reality TV still feels very new to them.
“I’ve heard that eventually people learn how to play the reality TV game but that’s not us yet, we’re still trying to figure it out,” Jessi Ngatikaura tells the BBC. “So you’re getting to see the real us.”
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What started off as a hobby has now become a job and the women speak openly on the show about the amount of money they make from reality TV and brand deals.
“It is totally our job now but we chose this and we could all walk away any time if we didn’t want to be part of it,” Jessi says.
Whitney Leavitt explains that “naturally dynamics will change when there’s more money and family involved and definitely some people get competitive” but reassures me the group are still friends off camera.
Across the two seasons of the show, Jessi and Whitney have had challenging storylines play out – Whitney is presented as the villain in season one and at the end of season two it is alleged Jessi has had an affair.
The pair speak candidly about the impact having your life watched and commented on by millions of people worldwide has had on them.
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“It’s been hard coming to terms with the fact we have no control over the narrative and you don’t ever really get over it,” Whitney explains. “But you have to accept that and let it go.”
As the show follows the lives of nine friends, it’s easy to see how some of them may create more drama for themselves in order to guarantee some screen time but Jessi insists that’s not the case and no one “plays up but naturally emotions are heightened”.
“We’re actually recording four or five days a week so we don’t know what will make the final edit.”
Jessi says her explosive Halloween party was not manufactured by producers and there is just “naturally so much drama that we don’t need to create more just for the show”.
‘Lots of resentment’
Given the intensity of drama and filming demands, the presence of strong aftercare is essential and both women praise the production for its duty of care standards.
“There are always therapists on hand and at first I was like why are Taylor and Jen having therapy all the time and now I’m having five or six hours of it a week,” Jessi confesses. “I’ve found it’s useful even if you’re not going through a hard time.”
Whitney also accessed some aftercare in season one after being presented as the villain of the show.
“It totally sucked being the villain and I was angry, had a lot of resentment and was really sad. There were so many overwhelming emotions for me but I was proud that instead of running away I stayed and had those hard conversations I didn’t want to have,” Whitney says.
Whitney was one of the members of the MomTok group that Taylor Frankie Paul publicly revealed was involved in “soft swinging”, something she denies and caused a rift to form in their friendship.
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There was some backlash to the reality TV show from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
The open discussions around sex, marital affairs and alcohol on the show has caused some backlash from the Mormon church.
“When the first trailer came out there was some backlash from the church because they were scared but actually we’re showing you how we live the Mormon life and we all live it differently,” Whitney says.
Jessi adds the docudrama shows how “we are all normal and everyday girls, not people wearing bonnets and churning butter like you might think”.
The women say that not only has the church come to accept the show, they are also helping young women think about their faith differently.
“We’ve definitely influenced people to question their faith, dive deeper into it or be more honest about it and I’ve had messages from some people saying that they’re joining the church because of me,” Jessi says.
While their religion plays an important part of their life, they’re keen to tell me that they are not the face of Mormonism.
“There are Mormons who still get upset about it but we’re just showing our version of it and I think that’s empowering as hopefully people can relate to our stories and struggles.”
As the “Mothers of the Movement” came on stage to talk about the deaths of their children and endorse Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, chants emerged from the crowd: “Black lives matter!”
Geneva Reed-Veal, standing in a half circle with eight other black mothers, attempted to quiet the audience.
“Give me two moments to tell you how good God is. Give me a moment to say thank you,” said Reed-Veal, whose 28-year-old daughter, Sandra Bland, died in jail after being pulled over for a traffic stop in 2015. “We are not standing here because he’s not good. We are standing here because he’s great.”
What followed was one of the most powerful moments of Tuesday’s convention, as the mothers held back tears to speak about the deaths that ignited a national debate about police reform and race relations.
“So many of our children gone but not forgotten,” Reed-Veal said. “I’m here with Hillary Clinton because she is a leader and a mother who will say our children’s names. Hillary knows that when a young black life is cut short, it’s not just a personal loss. It is a national loss. It is a loss that diminishes all of us.”
The short speeches, which followed a video of Hillary Clinton meeting and praying with the mothers, who have joined her at campaign events across the country, gave the Black Lives Matter movement one of its highest-profile moments. Officially, Black Lives Matter has not endorsed a presidential candidate, but the women are among the movement’s best-known names.
The deaths have spurred hundreds of demonstrations across the U.S. over the last four years and raised the pressure on both major political parties to deal with the issue of gun violence and racial disparities.
Mothers of African Americans killed by gun violence speak at the Democratic National Convention. More coverage at latimes.com/trailguide
“You don’t stop being a parent when your child dies,” said Lucia McBath, whose 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2012. “I am still Jordan Davis’ mother. His life ended the day he was shot and killed for playing loud music. But my job as his mother didn’t.”
“Hillary Clinton isn’t afraid to say black lives matter,” she said. “She isn’t afraid to sit at a table with grieving mothers and bear the full force of our anguish. She doesn’t build walls around her heart. Not only did she listen to our problems, she invited us to become part of the solution.”
The segment provided a window into how the Clinton campaign is responding to pressure to address race relations and police reform while acknowledging the dangers police officers face after a series of deadly shootings around the country.
Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay, who has been praised for his handling of protests in his city, introduced the mothers after saying Americans should “respect and support our police officers while at the same time pushing for these important criminal justice reforms.”
Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, said that while she “didn’t want this spotlight” she would do everything she could “to focus some of that light on a path out of this darkness.”
Fulton praised Clinton for having “courage to lead the fight for common-sense gun legislation” and a “plan to repair the divide that so often exists between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”
Day Two of the Democratic National Convention in less than 3 minutes. Full coverage at latimes.com/trailguide
The speakers included:
Fulton, the mother of 17-year-old Martin, who died after being shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Fla. A jury acquitted Zimmerman of all charges related to Martin’s death on July 13, 2013.
Lezley McSpadden, the mother of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was shot by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson, Mo., police officer on Aug. 9, 2014. The shooting caused days of unrest in the St. Louis suburb, raising questions about police use of military equipment and bringing scrutiny to the issue of racial disparities between police and the communities where they work. On November 21, 2014, a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson in Brown’s death.
Gwen Carr, the mother of 43-year-old Eric Garner, who died after a police officer put him a chokehold in Staten Island, N.Y., on July 17, 2014. In a bystander video that went viral, Garner can be heard repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe,” while being restrained by police. The phrase became a protest mantra, especially after a jury decided to not indict the officer, Daniel Pantaleo, on Dec. 13, 2014. The Department of Justice is currently investigating the case.
Reed-Veal, the mother of 28-year-old Bland, who was found hanged with a trash bag in a Waller County, Texas, jail on July 13, 2015. Three days before, Bland was stopped for a traffic violation and got into an argument with the state trooper who stopped her, resulting in her arrest. After a dash-cam video was released, a Bland family lawyer argued that the officer did not have probable cause for the stop. Family members disputed a medical examiner’s ruling that her death was a suicide. In December 2015, a grand jury decided not to indict her jailers in connection with Bland’s death. The trooper is facing a misdemeanor charge.
Lucia McBath, mother of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, who was shot by Michael Dunn in Jacksonville, Fla., on Nov. 12, 2012. The shooting occurred after Dunn, who is white, complained that the music Davis and his friends were playing in their car was too loud, and an argument ensued. After a first trial ended in a mistrial, Dunn, a software developer, was found guilty of first-degree murder.
Maria Hamilton, the mother of Dontré Hamilton, who was fatally shot by a white police officer in Milwaukee on April 30, 2014. Protests ensued after charges were not brought against the officer, Christopher Manney.
Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, the mother of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot by two gang members in a Chicago park on Jan. 29, 2013. The shooters were arrested and charged with first-degree murder, and First Lady Michelle Obama attended Pendleton’s funeral.
Annette Nance-Holt, the mother of 16-year-old Blair Holt, who died on a Chicago Transit Authority bus in May 2007 after trying to shield a friend from a gang member’s shots.
Wanda Johnson, the mother of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who died after being shot by a white Bay Area Rapid Transit officer on New Year’s Day in 2009. The officer, Johannes Mehserle, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison in 2010. Mehserle received credit for time already served and was released on June 13, 2011.
Notably absent was Samaria Rice, the mother of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who died in November 2014 after being shot by police in Cleveland while he played in a park with a replica pellet gun. Rice has declined to endorse Clinton or Trump.
No candidate is “speaking my language about police reform,” Samaria Rice recently told Fusion, saying she wants “a lot on the table, not a little bit of talk, a lot of talk about police brutality, police accountability, making new policies, taking some away, and just reforming the whole system.”
She has also been critical of President Obama.
“He may mention something about it, but he’s not really going to go into details about it and hold the government responsible for killing innocent people,” she said in the same interview, echoing similar criticisms from some activists.
Even before their speeches, the appearance of the Mothers of the Movement had caused controversy. The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police said its members were “shocked and saddened” that widows of fallen police officers were not included in the lineup.
“It is sad that to win an election, Mrs. Clinton must pander to the interests of people who do not know all the facts, while the men and women they seek to destroy are outside protecting the political institutions of this country,” the police group said in a statement.
The mothers aren’t strangers to the campaign trail. Several have been featured in a Clinton TV ad that aired in Chicago and St. Louis and the campaign has also covered their airfares to Democratic debates.
Not all the family members of black Americans who have died in high-profile police-involved incidents have been Clinton supporters. Erica Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner, has been a strong supporter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Still, Tuesday’s group represented one of the strongest lineups of black activists involved in any recent presidential campaign campaign.
“We must bring awareness.… Don’t wait until tragedy knocks on your door,” Carr said in a recent ABC News segment on her support of Clinton, which also addressed violence against police.
“This is a bad time to be a good cop in this country,” Reed-Veal said in the same segment. “OK? We need to remember they have lives too.”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives returns to screens for a second season this week, taking viewers right back into the world of #MomTok
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The scandalous Secret Lives of Mormon Wives returns in 10 new episodes this week
One of last year’s most viral reality series is back this week as The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives returns for a brand-new season. The hit reality series plunges viewers into the world of #MomTok, following a group of mum influencers in Utah’s Mormon community.
During season one, their ‘scandalous’ world imploded when they were caught in the midst of a sex scandal that made international headlines. The eight-part series broke viewership records when it premiered in September, becoming the most-watched unscripted season premiere on Disney+ in its first four days on the platform.
Now it’s back for season two with 10 new episodes available to stream exclusively on Disney+ on Thursday, May 15. The series follows the lives of influencers Taylor Frankie Paul, Demi Engemann, Jen Affleck, Jessi Ngatikaura, Layla Taylor, Mayci Neeley, Mikayla Matthews and Whitney Leavitt.
A lot’s happened since we last saw the group, with Mikayla Matthews, Mayci Neeley and Jen Affleck all announcing their pregnancies. Elsewhere, Taylor took to social media to confirm she is no longer dating Dakota. Season two will see new cast member Miranda McWhorter re-joining the group.
Disney+ now costs as little as £4.99 a month, but members can get 12 months for the price of 10 by paying for a year upfront on the ad-free Standard or Premium plans.
Disney+ is the only place to stream hit shows like Rivals, The Bear and Shōgun, plus blockbuster franchises like Star Wars and Marvel.
The official synopsis reads: “The scandalous world of Mormon #MomTok is back and bigger than ever. When an original swinger from their infamous sex scandal makes a surprise return, friendships threaten to unravel as secrets, lies, and allegations explode.
“In a battle for the soul of #MomTok, will betrayal shatter the sisterhood, or will the truth set them free?”
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives centres around a group of influencers in Utah
Following the success of season one, Disney+ confirmed The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives will return for 20 new episodes, suggesting a third season is already in the works. The latest instalment follows the return of Molly-Mae: Behind it All, the Love Island star’s hit docuseries that returned to Prime Videoearlier this month.
Disney+ dropped the final trailer for The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives in April, with fans flooding the comments in anticipation. One fan said: “I’m so ready for this wild new season.” Another said: “Finally, I just watched the entire first season and it was fire. I’m so excited for the new season.”
A third said: “I need this yesterday. ”Not everyone will be tuning in though, as other YouTube comments said ‘Why do people watch this’ and ‘None of the stuff seen in the show is real’. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season two will be available exclusively on Disney+ from May 15.
“We kept finding her on the streets so we involved her in our skate programs.”
Can skateboarding change lives? One organisation believes it can. Bangladesh Street Kids Aid supports children living on the streets by providing essentials, education, and skateboarding lessons. With over 3 million street children in Bangladesh – many facing poverty, addiction, or exploitation – this initiative offers a lifeline, especially for young girls.
Now You Know speaks with founder Susie Halsell to learn what inspired her to start this initiative and how it’s making a difference, especially in the lives of vulnerable young girls.
![President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa [Reuters]](https://www.occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2024-02-17T131059Z_2123240324_RC2B46ACDVK1_RTRMADP_3_AFRICA-SUMMIT-1711723172-1747294474.jpg)
