JENNIFER Lopez showed off her incredible figure in a satin white bikini for a new photoshoot.
The actress and singer, 57, confidently flaunted her taut abs in the two-piece, which she paired with polka dot court heels for a 1950s-esque look.
Jennifer Lopez looked stunning this week as she posed in a satin balcony two-pieceCredit: Charlie ChiuThe singer and actress displayed her taut abs for the picturesCredit: Charlie Chiu
Donning black sunglasses and a patterned headscarf, Jennifer posed up a storm for the selection of snaps as she channelled the past.
Sharing the pictures to Instagram, the star captioned the post: “Leo season continues🦁”.
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Fellow celebs such as Jessica Alba and Jenna Dewan took to the comment section to praise Jennifer’s looks.
It comes as the star has spent the summer enjoying a road trip around Italy with her children – documenting the trip with a post to Instagram last week.
She shared a collection of the snaps to InstagramCredit: Charlie ChiuJennifer channeled the 1950s with the ensembles and the vintage headscarf she donnedCredit: Charlie Chiu
She is currently thought to be single following her split from Ben Affleck, whom she divorced in 2024.
Last month, it was claimed that her marriage to Ben, which began in 2022 following their reunion after calling off a wedding 20 years prior, was a ‘publicity stunt’.
Speaking out, her first husband, personal trainer Ojani Noa, slammed in an interview: “That marriage was a publicity stunt. She needed people to talk about her again.”
Jennifer married Ojani in February 1997, following a whirlwind romance.
When you walk into a room with Los Primos del Este, the happy-go-lucky guys immediately make you feel like part of the family. What they first cultivate with silly banter and lighthearted ad-libs eases into a more vulnerable, introspective atmosphere, comparable to a cathartic therapy session.
When I met the norteño-sax band in at Interscope Records — the major label that signed them in early 2023 — it was just a couple of hours before the official release of Los Primos’ new album, “Dulce Amargo,” on Thursday.
For a young band of players in their early 20s, they play it cool; “Dulce Amargo” is their eighth LP to date. The project feels thoroughly chiseled to their refined sonic tastes (influenced by Julión Álvarez, Legado 7 and Remmy Valenzuela) inflected with raw, sentimental lyricism and a wailing saxophone that commands each track with the spirit of an electric guitar.
“Play it back to back and actually start understanding the sound more and realize there’s new sounds being created,” said lead vocalist Geovanni Flores. “Because a lot of people get stuck in their old ways.”
Made up of five members — Flores, bassist and supporting vocalist Ariel Jesus Lopez, accordionist Juan Luis Hernandez, drummer Alejandro Tellez and saxophonist David Tellez — the group has built a steady momentum in the música mexicana genre. They’ve championed the resurgence of norteño-sax, a subgenre that fuses the accordion sounds of norteño music with an invigorating alto saxophone, made popular by legendary groups like Conjunto Primavera.
Since forming in 2017, the North Carolina-based band has gained over 2 million listeners on Spotify through catchy norteño-sax songs like “No Es Mentira (Version Norteña),” “Poema” and “Mami” — drawn together by a polka-like beat that has made them a staple of Mexican dance venues.
In 2024 alone, the subgenre grew by 39% in both the U.S. and Mexico, per Spotify.
Los Primos del Este formed in 2017 out of North Carolina.
(Arwen Clemans / Los Angeles Times)
The band took a few years to find its groove. Its 2020 debut album, “PDE,” experimented more with the prickly, sad sierreño sound popularized by acts like Eslabon Armado and DannyLux — as well as trap-infused corridos tumbados with a thumping tololoche. Still, this was music one could bop their head to, even if dance parties were limited during the global pandemic. With norteño-sax, the group could incorporate contemporary dating themes into songs that bring people physically closer to one another on the dance floor.
“There’s been a sense of maturity that’s happened within the group. In the past, we would just make music to make music and release it,” said Flores. “ We thought about every single detail now, even down to the album cover.”
Before getting into the thick of their recent music catalog, Los Primos del Este quickly unfurled details of the album cover, which shows the group sprawled across the flatbed of a white truck. The image was inspired by Alejandro Cartagena, a Dominican Republic-born Mexican creative who photographed carpooling laborers on the flatbeds along a highway in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2012. The project was a visual representation of how everyday people — often marginalized individuals — navigate transit in a sprawling suburban area.
Such an open stance on community issues appears to be a norteño-sax speciality. In 2000, their forefathers Conjunto Primavera previously told The Times that they make music for working-class audiences: “Wealthy people don’t like what we do.”
“Personally, I found myself in the bed of a truck at one point, low-income, trying to make something out of nothing,” said Lopez. “That’s the world I grew up in, and that’s the world I wanna show everybody. It’s not all sweet, you know?”
The band also nods to injustices faced by immigrant communities — including the recent fatal shootings of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and 26-year-old Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Texas and Maine, respectively.
“We’re willing to take the heat,” said Lopez, referring to the band’s pro-immigrant stance. “The community looks at us as a negative presence, but in reality, we’re hard-working, dedicated family people.”
It is both that honesty and vulnerability that are etched into the 14-track LP “Dulce Amargo,” which translates to “bittersweet” in English. The band shared that each member contributed details of his own personal experience to the brainstorming sessions — a process they likened to therapy.
“We were comfortable enough with each other to let [our] stories be heard,” said Lopez. “In the Latino community, there is kinda like that stereotype [that] you have to be strong. I think this message goes out to everybody — if you’re feeling something, specifically the men, it’s OK to just let it out.”
(Arwen Clemans/Los Angeles Times)
The hazy love melody “Tremenda,” for example, underscores an intense yearning for connection. Written after Lopez was starstruck by a woman, its first lyrics begin in wondrous marvel: “Tal vez fue tu mirada,” or, “Perhaps it was your gaze.”
“What’s the first thing you do when you look at somebody? I look at the eyes,” said Lopez. “They say the eyes are the doors to the soul.”
Alejandro Tellez’s contribution came with the punchy “Linda Sonrisa,” that pleads for someone to realize the realities of the mistreatment they’re facing with another lover.
“How many times are you gonna let him do you wrong until you realize that you have the right guy in front of you?” said Alejandro Tellez in a sing-song twang. “That’s a story that I went through in high school.”
For Flores, the EDM-fused, echoing melody “Mejor Sin Ti,” struck a personal chord; could a relationship be the only thing standing in your way to personal success? “Some people do hold you back, some people tie you down — that’s what I felt,” said Flores.
Hernandez gets a bit teary-eyed when talking about his favorite song, “Sentimientos,” a whirling polka-driven ballad about an avoidant situationship, he said. “To me, it’s like we both kinda love each other already, but we’re kind of afraid to say it,” he explained. “A lot of people are afraid of falling in love again, so that song hits close to home.”
The concept behind “Mereces Mejor,” a trance-inducing ode with floating melodies that implores a loved one to recognize their self-worth, was inspired by David Tellez’s own experience with unrequited love: “She’s trying to go to the bad guy, and I’m over here giving everything I got.”
As the five artists prepare to take their new album on the road — including an upcoming performance at the Lone Star State’s Truck Show Texas Fest on July 25 — they want to make clear that norteño-sax is not a stagnant subgenre. Like most of música mexicana, it, too, is evolving, both in sound and lyricism, encapsulating today’s complex dating culture. Their emotional vulnerability is welcome in a field flooded with artists that may otherwise shrink away from such honesty — perhaps due to the stigma of mental health issues in the Latino community, especially among men.
“We understand that changing the sound may not be for everybody, but we’re making music for the next generation,” said Lopez. “Who knows? Maybe their parents might end up liking this too.”
Until Tuesday night, only one Mexican-born player had been an NBA draft pick. Eduardo Nájera was selected 38th overall in the second round by the Houston Rockets in 2000 and enjoyed a 12-year career as a backup forward with five teams.
Karim López joined him when the Detroit Pistons snapped him up at No. 21, making him the first Mexican-born first-round draft selection.
Lopez donned the Pistons’ cap handed to him by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, then was immediately traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.
López, a 19-year-old 6-foot-9 forward, became emotional when Silver announced the pick. He sobbed beneath the cap.
“It’s just super special,” he said. “I’m blessed. I mean, I have no words.”
Born in Hermosillo in the Mexican state of Sonora, López joined the prestigious Joventut Badalona youth academy in Badalona, Spain, at age 14 to accelerate his development. The academy counts former NBA players Ricky Rubio, Rudy Fernández and Raül López among its alumni.
During his post-draft television interview, he displayed a custom design inside his suit jacket: Mexico’s tricolor flag.
“I just wanted to represent my culture, represent where I’m from, represent my faith, and just represent myself, basically,” López said. “Show who I am.”
Memphis clearly targeted López while adroitly obtaining five second-round picks in the process. They received three picks from the Pistons and two from the Oklahoma City Thunder in return for moving back from the No. 16 draft position.
Whether López fulfills his potential and becomes the fifth Mexican-born player to take the court with an NBA team remains to be seen. Reviews are mixed.
“I had Karim López rated quite a bit higher than [the No. 21 pick] and was surprised to see him slide this far,” Hollinger wrote, giving the pick an “A” grade partially because the Grizzlies also collected the five second-round picks.
Vecenie pointed out that López doesn’t shoot well and has defensive deficiencies, saying that his game might be better suited for European leagues than the NBA.
“I’m not sure how he gets on an NBA court early in his career,” he wrote. “I love his frame and physicality. I love that he rebounds and attacks with aggression. But I’m not sure he’s good enough without the ball to make an early impact in the NBA.”
Should López make the Grizzlies’ roster, he would join Horacio Llamas, Gustavo Ayón, Jorge Gutiérrez and Nájera as the only NBA players born in Mexico.
“It means a lot to me,” Lopez said. “It’s just a great opportunity for me and my country to have this platform and have this opportunity. So super blessed and definitely take it with a lot of pride.”
Noteworthy NBA players of Mexican descent born in the United States include former UCLA standout Jaime Jaquez Jr. and former Lakers reserve Juan Toscano-Anderson.
Jaquez averaged 15.4 points a game in 2025-2026, his third season with the Miami Heat. Toscano-Anderson played five seasons in the NBA — including winning a championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2022 — and now is with Pallacanestro Trieste of the top Italian league. López is already a veteran of international basketball, having spent the last two seasons with the New Zealand Breakers in Australia’s top pro league. He averaged 11.9 points and 6.1 rebounds last season.
He will join No. 3 overall pick Cameron Boozer with the Grizzlies, who are rebuilding after finishing 25-57 and 13th in the Western Conference last season.
“A goal of mine is to hopefully reach young people in Mexico,” Lopez told ESPN in March when he declared for the draft. “Trying to grow the sport and inspire athletes and people in general to follow their dreams. Show people that it doesn’t matter where you’re from.”
On election night, Santa Ana City Council member Jessie Lopez found herself in third place, far behind fellow Democratic council colleague David Penaloza and Republican business owner Mayra Ruiz in the race to represent Orange County’s 68th Assembly District.
Tearful supporters at a California Working Families Party shindig at the Mission Control bar and arcade in downtown Santa Ana hugged Lopez, gifted her flowers and wished her well.
If the 37-year-old was sad, she didn’t show it. Lopez had seen this game play out before.
In 2023, the councilmember decisively beat back a recall attempt funded by Santa Ana’s police union and apartment owners who didn’t like her unabashedly progressive views in a city where centrist Democrats have dominated politics for decades and lefty ones were long ostracized.
I wrote a column shortly after, heralding Lopez’s overwhelming victory as a new era for Latino politics in Orange County, where Latinos make up a third of the population but still wield little power.
Lopez spent the next three years along with her fellow progressive Santa Ana council members shoring up the city’s rent control policies and its immigrant defense fund. Nevertheless, few gave Lopez a chance in her assembly race.
Penaloza — who declined to vote when the council deadlocked on whether to cancel Lopez’s recall election — had the backing of the Orange County and California Democratic Party establishment, from current 68th District Assemblymember Avelino Valencia (who’s running to represent the 34th Senate District) to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas to Katie Porter, a former Orange County congresswoman who ran unsuccessfully for governor this year.
Penaloza’s campaign mailers and video ads were so ubiquitous these past few weeks that they filled up my mailbox and interrupted my binging of Hulu’s “Vanderpump Villa.”
So did anti-Lopez mailers and commercials, funded by nearly $2.7 million in independent expenditures. Yet Lopez once again beat back her well-funded opposition.
As of Wednesday evening, the latest Orange County Registrar of Voters election results had her in second place — less than 1,000 votes away from Penaloza.
“Voters proved that while money can influence politics, it can’t buy community support,” Lopez said this week as she unsuccessfully tried to enjoy tacos and guacamole at Lola Gaspar in downtown Santa Ana, where well-wishers kept calling her or congratulating the candidate in person. “This race is about the future of California — whether we answer to corporations and insiders or to the hard-working people we’re elected to serve.”
With Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento easily winning reelection and Unite Here Local 11 co-president Ada Briceño currently coming up short in her bid to represent the 67th Assembly District, which includes parts of Los Angeles County, Lopez may be the sole O.C. Latino progressive running in November for a seat beyond the local level.
Expect Lopez versus Penaloza to become a referendum on whether the leftward trend of Latino voters in Orange County continues — or whether its center holds.
“I’ve chosen my side,” Lopez told me. “I’m proud to stand with working people.”
Then she excused herself — someone else wanted to say what’s up.
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Ideas expressed in the piece
The column portrays Jessie Lopez as a symbol of an emergent, unapologetically progressive Latino politics in Orange County, arguing that this movement is challenging decades of centrist Democratic dominance and Latino underrepresentation in positions of real power.
It emphasizes that Lopez’s political credibility comes from having already survived a 2023 recall effort backed by Santa Ana’s police union and apartment owners, which the piece describes as a decisive victory that marked a turning point for left-leaning Latinos in the region.[1]
The article frames Lopez’s record on the Santa Ana City Council—particularly work to strengthen rent control and expand an immigrant defense fund—as proof that progressive Latinos are now governing, not just organizing, and that these policies are resonating with working-class residents.[1]
It stresses the scale of opposition Lopez faces, noting that powerful interests and nearly $2.7 million in independent expenditures were deployed against her, and yet she still advanced to November, which the article casts as evidence that grassroots support can overcome big money in politics.
The column contrasts Lopez’s underdog status with the institutional backing behind rival Democrat David Penaloza, who is aligned with the county and state Democratic establishment, and interprets Lopez’s surge into second place as a rebuke to party insiders who had largely written off her chances.
It presents Lopez’s own framing of the race as a choice between “corporations and insiders” and “hard-working people,” highlighting endorsements from labor and progressive leaders as reinforcing her identity as a champion for working families rather than entrenched interests.[2]
The piece suggests that the Lopez–Penaloza matchup will function as a broader referendum on whether Latino voters in Orange County will continue a leftward drift or whether a more centrist orientation will reassert itself, positioning Lopez as the standard-bearer for the progressive side of that divide.
It further underscores Lopez’s uniqueness by noting that, with some other Latino progressives either safely re-elected at the local level or trailing in their own legislative bids, Lopez may be the only Orange County Latino progressive on the November ballot for higher office, heightening the stakes of her campaign.
Different views on the topic
Critics of Lopez in Santa Ana have argued that the councilmember’s agenda is too ideologically driven and insufficiently attentive to public safety and fiscal stability, a view that surfaced prominently during the 2023 recall, when backers contended that her policy positions undermined effective governance and community security.[1]
Recall supporters, including police union and property-owner interests, have maintained that Lopez’s role in strengthening rent control and supporting tenant protections represents an overreach that they believe discourages investment, burdens small landlords, and could ultimately reduce the supply and quality of housing in the city.[1]
Opponents have further asserted that her stances on issues such as policing and criminal justice skew too far left for parts of the electorate, arguing that more moderate Democrats or centrist candidates are better positioned to balance reform with public safety and to appeal to a broader cross-section of Orange County voters.[1]
From the perspective of some business-oriented and landlord groups, Lopez’s alignment with organized labor and progressive advocacy organizations, along with endorsements from high-profile national progressives, signals a policy direction they associate with higher regulatory costs, stricter labor standards, and a political climate they view as hostile to business growth.[2]
Within Democratic circles, the strong institutional support for David Penaloza and other establishment-aligned candidates reflects a competing view that stability, incremental change, and coalition-building with moderates are more effective strategies in competitive areas like Orange County than the confrontational style and ambitious reforms favored by progressive challengers.
Additionally, some analysts and political operatives point to mixed results for progressive Latino candidates elsewhere in the region as evidence that Lopez’s success is not guaranteed to translate into a broader realignment, and argue that many Latino voters in Orange County remain pragmatic swing voters rather than committed partisans of the left.
Skeptics of Lopez’s framing of “insiders versus working people” contend that such rhetoric oversimplifies complex policy debates, noting that unions, nonprofits, and progressive political organizations backing her are themselves powerful actors that shape legislation and budgets, and that community interests cannot be neatly divided into grassroots versus establishment.[2]
Finally, opponents warn that if Lopez’s approach becomes the dominant model for Latino politics in Orange County, it could sharpen ideological polarization inside local Democratic politics, potentially weakening the party’s ability to compete against Republicans in closely contested districts and to assemble broad coalitions needed to pass durable reforms.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — As Augie Lopez trotted around the bases late Monday night, the small contingent of USC fans could finally be heard at Blue Bell Park. With one towering blast to right field, the Trojans’ designated hitter silenced Texas A&M’s rowdy 12th Man.
Lopez’s three-run home run helped push the Trojans over Texas A&M 7-1 to reach the NCAA super regional for the first time in 21 years.
Lopez silenced most of the sellout crowd of 7,042, making it easy to hear USC fans serenading him during the College Station Regional Final.
“Augie! Augie! Augie!” USC fans chanted after Lopez returned to the dugout. After the win, he was named the regional’s most outstanding player.
It took a while, but the offense showed up to propel USC (47-16) to the Chapel Hill Super Regional against North Carolina.
Until Lopez’s blast, Texas A&M right-hander Clayton Freshcorn had slowed down a USC offense that had scored 48 runs combined while winning three consecutive games out of the losers’ bracket, including 14 on Sunday night against Texas A&M (41-16), to force the winner-take-all final.
USC right-hander Grant Govel, who had thrown 89 pitches over 5⅔ innings on Friday, retired the first seven Aggies before Bear Harrison hit a solo home run to left-center field in the third.
The Aggies ran out a threat in the fourth. Chris Hacopian drew a leadoff walk. Ben Royo kept the inning alive with a two-out single to left. Jorian Wilson followed with a single to shallow right-center field. Second baseman Abbrie Covarrubias was positioned perfectly to field the ball in the outfield, but his throw to first wasn’t in time.
Fortunately for the Trojans, Adrian Lopez alertly threw home to easily nail Hacopian by several feet to end the inning.
Covarrubias tied the score 1-1 with an RBI single to left-center in the fifth. One out later, Covarrubias stole second. Augie Lopez broke the tie with a single to right-center.
Two innings later, Lopez crushed his three-run blast.
Lopez quickly caught attention at Madrid, though her route to the top was not without major obstacles.
At just 11 years old she lost her mother to a brain tumour. When her mother’s condition worsened and her father practically lived at the hospital, Mellado and her Madrid team-mates helped Lopez get to training and kept her occupied.
From there, Lopez developed at remarkable speed. In 2019, she was named most valuable player at a La Liga-organised tournament for under-12s girls’ teams after scoring seven goals, including a hat-trick in the final.
She caught the eye by scoring 60 goals in 17 matches in the 2020-21 youth league, and began her journey through the country’s junior ranks.
In September 2021, Lopez became the youngest player to feature in Spain’s top flight when she came off the bench against Athletic Bilbao, aged 15 years and 42 days.
“Of course she had the ability – I always told her so,” Mellado said.
“I also pushed her hard, because if she really wanted it, she had to always give her best and she always did. She was one of the hardest-working and she never once complained.
“She knows what she wants – that’s very important, because it makes her strive every day to achieve it.”
In 2022, perennial Spanish champions Barcelona signed Lopez on her 16th birthday, and two months later she became the youngest debutant in the club’s professional history.
She did so wearing the number 30, the same shirt worn by Lionel Messi when he broke into the Barca first team.
That season Lopez became Barcelona’s youngest-ever Champions League debutant, male or female, and the youngest player ever to score in Liga F.
If fans were not already excited by her potential, they were in October that year when she was named MVP as Spain won the U17 World Cup in India.
Lopez made her senior Spain debut in February 2024, replacing national icon Jenni Hermoso during the Nations League semi-final. At 17 years, six months, and 27 days, she become her country’s youngest debutant.
A breakout 2024-25 campaign – during which she stepped in for the ill Aitana Bonmati to help Spain reach the final of Euro 2025 – led to her winning the Kopa Trophy for the best young player in the world.
After initially being used as a winger, Lopez is now largely used in a central role for club and country despite competition from the likes of Bonmati, Patri Guijarro and her idol Alexia Putellas.
A combination of intelligence, excellent technique and athleticism allows her to both score and create – she has contributed nine goals and nine assists in 26 Liga F games this season, 16 of them as a starter.
“She’s not afraid of anything and she tries everything. And I think that’s why, even in teams with so much talent, she’s starting to earn a place in the starting line-up,” Vidal said.
“As we say in Spain, she’s one of those footballers you buy a ticket to watch, because she enjoys the game and makes you enjoy it too.
“She’s just as extroverted on the pitch as she is off it.”
