los angeles times

It’s a day and night to celebrate women in sports.

MaxPreps is hosting an 18-team flag football tournament in San Diego. No. 1 JSerra is competing.

In the evening, Nike has flown in a custom-made outdoor volleyball court so Sherman Oaks Notre Dame can host Harvard-Westlake in a 7 p.m. girls’ volleyball match played on the Notre Dame baseball field. There will be food trucks, music and other surprises.

There’s also the Venice girls volleyball tournament taking place at Venice High and the Woodbridge Classic cross-country meet at the Great Park in Irvine.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

When her home burned down in the Eaton fire, artist Susannah Mills felt lost and adrift — but never alone. Her home was part of an Altadena artists collective called JJU, or John Joyce University, named after a beloved carpenter who lived there for 26 years. And although the residents were forced to scatter in the wake of the January 2025 devastation, they remained in contact, looking for ways to support one another through what is still an ongoing process of recovery.

A few months after her loss, Mills was accepted into an artist residency at BKN, a retreat in the northern Stockholm Archipelago, where she expanded her watercolor practice from relatively small works to large scale, and explored installation. Like JJU, BKN prides itself on building community, and while there Mills began talking with BKN curator Anna Viola Hallberg about bringing other L.A. fire survivors to Sweden to experience the same sense of connection and relief Mills was feeling.

Hallberg had already been thinking along those lines and suggested they create another residency to do just that. In the fall of 2025, Mills and Hallberg, with the help of another L.A. artist, Rick Gradone, started an organization named Los Angeles Wildfire Survivors, or L.A.W.S., and raised the funds to send 13 Eaton and Malibu-based artists to BKN for two months.

The result was life-altering for the artists, most of whom were still working to rebuild from the devastating loss — and some of whom had been so occupied with the logistics of recovery that they had not been able to make time to work.

“It creates a network, and people who work together in the residency continue to help each other,” said Hallberg in a recent interview. “So there’s a really true new arts community that lingers beyond the residency.”

It soon became clear to the team behind L.A.W.S. that more needed to be done, and they solicited another round of applications for a residency, set to begin later this month at Pilchuck Glass School in Washington state. Eight Eaton fire survivors have been selected in a competitive process, and plans are in the works to bring another cohort of artists to Sweden next Spring.

“We want to expand this outside of Los Angeles ultimately, because there are fires everywhere and there is climate disaster everywhere,” Mills said, explaining that the group’s mission is growing as changing weather patterns result in escalating cataclysm and displacement of artists globally.

“The media focuses on the disaster really fast, and they don’t understand just how long the recovery takes,” Gradone said in a recent interview. “So this puts some kind of resource in place where people can continue to to get help, especially artists who lose everything that they’ve made, lose their studio spaces and homes. That can’t be recovered in six months.”

L.A.W.S. operates as a not-for-profit and has applied for official nonprofit status, a process that can take some time in California. It is also actively looking for fiscal sponsorship. Up until now the group has relied on its personal connections to raise money to support its artist residencies. Mills’ partner, Brian Huskey, is a comedian and actor who has rallied celebrity friends to auction off small pieces of art on cards in support of L.A.W.S. But there is a need for more help as the group grows.

“Word has really caught on with people who want to have this experience, which I’m really happy about,” said Mills.

I’m arts editor Jessica Gelt, wishing I could turn back time, Cher-like, to an era before the world fast-tracked climate change with its laissez faire approach to global warming. This is your arts and culture news for the week.

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY

Bruce Willis, left, talks with director M. Night Shyamalan on the set of the 2000 film “Unbreakable.”

(Frank Masi / Touchstone Pictures)

Unbreakable
M. Night Shyamalan’s 2000 superhero thriller with a twist stars Bruce Willis, Charlayne Woodard, Robin Wright, Samuel L. Jackson and Spencer Treat Clark.
7 p.m. Vidiots, The Eagle, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd. vidiotsfoundation.org

SATURDAY

“the wheat leaping constantly from the shute,” Marley Freeman (2026). Oil, acrylic on linen, 58 by 54 inches.

(Marley Freeman / Parker Gallery)

Marley Freeman
The artist’s new exhibition of paintings, “worthless serpentine,” takes its title from the writings of Joan Didion.
Opening, 6-8 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Tuesday–Saturday, through Oct. 31. Parker Gallery, 6700 Melrose Ave. parkergallery.com

SUNDAY

Doyle Lane: Master Of Clay
The first major museum retrospective of the Los Angeles ceramic artist features more than 100 works from the 1950s through the 1980s, from functional pottery to monumental murals, as well as archival documents.
Through Feb 22. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. huntington.org

Marie Atoinette
A 20th anniversary screening of the semibiographical period film with a postpunk- and new wave-fueled soundtrack with writer-director Sofia Coppola and star Kirsten Dunst in person. Coppola and photographer Andrew Durham will sign copies of their new book, “Making Marie Antoinette,” at the Academy Museum Store in a separately ticketed event prior the screening.
6:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

TUESDAY

Andrea Bocelli performs live in Vienna on Aug. 22.

(Thomas Kronsteiner / Getty Images)

Andrea Bocelli
The Italian tenor arrives at the Hollywood Bowl for two nights on his Romanza 30th Anniversary World Tour. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

WEDNESDAY

Elliott Hundley
“Book of Sand” is an exhibition of new paintings, sculptures and tapestries focusing on the artist’s “own exuberant internal universe” created through compiling paint, paper cutouts, string, encaustic and other found materials.
Artist led walk–through, 11 a.m.; opening reception, 6-8 p.m.; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through Oct. 24. Regen Projects, 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles. regenprojects.com

The Peterson Show
The world premiere of Janine Nabers’ play about a group of former child stars from a beloved TV show about a Black family come together after a scandal entangles their famous TV father. Directed by Michelle Bossy.
Previews, 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, opens, 8 p.m. Saturday (sold out), runs through Oct. 26. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. echotheatercompany.com

THURSDAY

The Case-Book of C. Auguste Dupin
The world premiere of a new play adapted and directed by John Strysik, based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.
7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, through Oct. 18. Mary Levin Cutler Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills. theatre40.org

The Ford/Hill Project
A Waterwell Production created by Lee Sunday Evans and Elizabeth Marvel, this documentary theater piece is based on the verbatim Senate testimony of Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford during Supreme Court confirmation hearings, 30 years apart. The cast includes Rosemarie DeWitt, Betty Gabriel, Dulé Hill and Jerry O’Connell.
8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. redcat.org

The SoCal scene

A view of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles from a garden.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

Hey, have you heard? The Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts will open Sept. 22 and began member previews late last week. Just kidding. Of course you have heard, because hot takes currently abound on the new $1-billion museum. Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay, and Team Arts spent the week rolling out a spate of stories explaining how we got here, as well as what you can find in the shiny new 300,000-square-foot Ma Yansong-designed building.

Times film critic Amy Nicholson wrote about what “Star Wars” fans can expect from the new museum and contributed to a piece about 11 must-see things while you’re there. We also commissioned a handy artist-drawn map of the place that should help you navigate the 100,000 square feet of gallery space with its more than 30 discrete galleries arranged by theme. Finally, Times contributor Jane Horowitz wrote two stories: one about whether or not the museum’s disregard for established art hierarchies will upend the art world; and another on how the museum’s epic search for a forever home ended in L.A.’s Exposition Park.

I also wrote about a lawsuit that a contractor filed against the museum claiming unpaid work that shines fresh light on the Museum’s Exposition Park land deal.

Randolph Thompson, Desiree Mee Jung, Adam J. Smith, Nicole Javier and Julanne Chidi Hill in “Pericles” at Boston Court Pasadena.

(Brian Hashimoto)

Times theater critic Charles McNulty spent an evening at Boston Court Pasadena watching Ellen McLaughlin’s modern verse translation of Shakespeare’s “Pericles,” which takes place at a disaster relief center, where anxious evacuees improvise a play to escape their fear of the storm they are fleeing. “It’s hard to allow yourself to fully believe in the incredible turn of events when the prevailing attitude is so emphatically tongue-in-cheek,” McNulty wrote of the West Coast premiere.

McNulty also had lunch in Manhattan with playwright Samuel D. Hunter, who has two plays running in L.A.: “Grangeville,” which McNulty calls “Los Angeles’ most acclaimed theatrical offering of the summer” and has been extended at Ruskin Group Theatre through Sept. 21; and “A Case for the Existence of God,” in a recently opened Rogue Machine production at the Matrix Theater’s Henry Murray Stage. “Drama in Hunter’s hands is built around an encounter. He doesn’t force his characters to jump through hoops,” writes McNulty in a profile. “He listens to them, as they navigate their complicated feelings, closely tracking the way their intersecting paths lead them toward incremental revelation.”

Paintings from the private collection of the late music executive Clive Davis, estimated to fetch more than $35 million, are heading for auction at Christie’s in November.

Culture news

Lucien Smith attends the Hugo Boss Prize 2014 ceremony at Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

(Dimitrios Kambouris)

Lucien Smith, a Los Angeles–born multidisciplinary artist who garnered loads of attention in 2010s art scene, has died at 37.

IAMA Theatre Company is set to launch its ninth annual New Works Festival, which will take place Sept. 14-28 at Atwater Village Theatre, and will feature staged readings of six new plays. Tickets are $18 for each reading and can be found at iamatheatre.com. This year’s festival includes “The Half-Sibling Play” by Agyeiwaa Asante; “All Remaining Assets” by Serena Berman; “The Starters” by Laura Winters; “Betta Mus Come” by Alicia Carroll; “Werewolves” by Liba Vaynberg; and “The Great Florida Python Challenge” by John Lavelle.

Additional tumult is coming for the Smithsonian Institution as secretary Lonnie Bunch announced he will step down from his leadership position. The news comes in the midst of President Trump’s pressure campaign on the organization and his administration’s attempts to alter what Smithsonian museums include in their exhibitions.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Oh, no! In-N-Out is making tweaks to staples like buns and ketchup!

Rams lose to 49ers

From Gary Klein: Maybe, if the Rams still reach their intended destination at season’s end, they’ll look back at their very long trip to Australia — and purposely short stay — and be grateful.

A humbling punch in the face. A wake-up call. A rallying point that spurs them to even greater heights.

Until then, there is only one way to look at it:

The Rams embarrassed themselves, for a new part of the NFL world to see, in a humiliating 27-7 defeat by the San Francisco 49ers.

The Rams arrived here as the star-studded favorite to win Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium. They left star-crossed, stunned and searching for answers on their long flight back to Los Angeles.

The Rams sleep-walked through nearly all of the opener before a sold-out crowd of 100,021 at Melbourne Cricket Ground, in the first NFL game in Australia.

Coach Sean McVay’s strategy of arriving the day before the game backfired and resulted in a dull performance by a team featuring some of the NFL’s biggest stars.

“I don’t believe that’s why we didn’t play well enough, I really don’t,” McVay said. “It’s easy in hindsight to be able to say that was a miss.”

Continue reading here

Rams summary

Rams poll

We asked, “Will the Rams win the Super Bowl and how many games will they win, counting the playoffs?”

After 1,172 responses:

Will the Rams win the Super Bowl?

Yes, 62.8%
No, 37.2%

How many games will the Rams win this season, including the playoffs?

18, 25%
17, 22.2%
16, 14.2%
15, 11.9%
14, 7.4%
20, 5.1%
9, 4.9%
19, 4%
12, 2.8%
Fewer than 10, 1.2%
10, 0.7%
11, 0.6%

Ohtani on IL raises questions

From Maddie Lee: When it comes to Shohei Ohtani‘s injury management, it’s tempting to dwell on the what-ifs.

What if the Dodgers forced him to give up pitching in July, when he needed a lubricant injection to alleviate irritation in his left knee?

It was clear by then that Ohtani was playing through multiple injuries. A right biceps problem popped up for the second time on July 3 — the last time he pitched in a game. The Dodgers said his knee inflammation was only aggravated by pitching and the biceps tightness was tied to hitting. And yet, they were confident that the MLB All-Star break would give Ohtani enough time to bounce back.

If the Dodgers had been more proactive, instead of starting and stopping Ohtani’s throwing program until his injuries forced a shutdown, would he be in the lineup Friday against the Miami Marlins instead of on the 15-day injured list?

Maybe.

Or maybe the injuries were significant enough that they would have affected him down the stretch regardless. Maybe seeing if he could return to the mound was worth the risk.

Maybe not.

Continue reading here

Shaikin: Why it’s past time for MLB players, owners to get a 2028 Olympics deal done

UCLA confident a big Iamaleava game is coming

From Connor Dullinger: UCLA senior wide receiver Mikey Matthews expects the Bruins’ aerial attack to be as electrifying and dominant as their ground game was in a season-opening win over California.

The passing offense lived up to Matthews’ expectations against Cal — but only for a half.

After quarterback Nico Iamaleava completed 12 of 18 passes for 179 yards in the first half, he completed just two more passes for five yards — the Bruins’ only yardage in the third quarter.

The rushing attack carried the Bruins to victory, breaking open a tied game with three fourth-quarter touchdown runs.

Continue reading here

Family values are key to Trent Mosley’s USC success

From Ryan Kartje: Since he was a boy, Trent Mosley was taught to live by the Five Ps: Proper preparation prevents poor performance.

The Five Ps weren’t so much a lesson in the Mosley household as “a lifestyle,” father Emmett Mosley explains. He can’t recall when or from whom he first heard the phrase, but ever since, the Five Ps have stuck with him. To the point that he and his wife, Cindy, made it a core tenet of their family. All four Mosley kids — their daughter, Jalyn, and three boys, Emmett Jr., Trent and Grant — were brought up on the principle that preparation was paramount.

So then, no one in the Mosley family was surprised to see Trent sprinting wide open in the second quarter last Friday night at the Coliseum, well on his way to another impressive performance in his second college game. Just like no one at USC is batting an eye at the freshman’s staggering start, which has him leading the nation with three touchdown catches and the Big Ten with 222 receiving yards.

To those who know Trent best, it’s like this sudden ascent to stardom simply was … inevitable. That’s the Five Ps at work, his father explains.

Continue reading here

This day in sports history

1886 — The Mayflower defends the America’s Cup by beating Britain’s Galatea in two straight heats.

1937 — Don Budge beats Gottfried von Cramm in five sets to win his first U.S. Open men’s singles title. Budge wins 6-1, 7-9, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.

1964 — ABC television cancels Fight of the Week, ending 18 years of regularly scheduled prime-time boxing on U.S. broadcast network television.

1976 — In the third race at Latonia, jockey John Oldham and his wife, Suzanne Picou, become the first husband and wife riding team to compete in a parimutuel race. Oldham finishes second aboard Harvey’s Hope and Picou rides My Girl Carla to an 11th-place finish.

1977 — In the last U.S. Open match played at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York, Guillermo Vilas beats Jimmy Connors, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-0, for the men’s singles title

1982 — Chris Evert wins her sixth U.S. Open singles title, defeating Hana Mandlikova, 6-3, 6-1.

1982 — In a 23-16 loss to Illinois, Ralf Mojsiejunko of Michigan State kicks a 61-yard field goal in his first collegiate attempt.

1983 — Pittsburgh running back Franco Harris runs for 118 yards in Steelers 25-21 win at Green Bay to become only the third player in NFL history to rush for 11,000 yards.

1988 — Mats Wilander wins the longest men’s final in U.S. Open history, edging Ivan Lendl, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

1994 — Andre Agassi wins the U.S. Open with a three-set victory over Michael Stich and becomes the first unseeded player to beat five seeded players in a Grand Slam and the first unseeded champion since Fred Stolle in 1966. Andre wins 6-1, 7-6, 7-5.

1999 — U.S. Open Women’s Tennis: Serena Williams wins her first Grand Slam title; beats world No. 1 Martina Hingis 6-3, 7-6.

2001 — Sports comes to a standstill after terrorism in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, with major league baseball postponing a full schedule of regular-season games for the first time since D-Day in 1944.

2010 — James Madison, a top team in the Football Championship Subdivision, beats No. 13 Virginia Tech 21-16. The last time Virginia Tech lost to a I-AA team was 1985, when Richmond beat the Hokies 24-14 at Lane Stadium.

2010 — The Penn State women’s volleyball team has its record winning streak ends at 109 matches with a 28-26, 25-12, 25-18 loss to Stanford in a tournament at Florida. Penn State’s streak is the second-longest in Division I team sports, behind the 137 straight wins by the Miami men’s tennis program from 1957-1964.

2011 — Carolina’s Cam Newton becomes the first rookie to throw for more than 400 yards in his NFL opener in a 28-21 loss to Arizona. Newton, the No. 1 draft pick playing on the same field where he led Auburn to the BCS championship in January, completes 24 of 37 passes for 422 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.

2015 — Roberta Vinci stuns Serena Williams to end her Grand Slam bid in one of the greatest upsets in tennis history. The 43rd-ranked Italian wins 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the U.S. Open semifinals.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1912 — Eddie Collins set a major league record with six stolen bases for the Philadelphia Athletics in a 9-7 win over the Detroit Tigers. Collins stole six more in a game on Sept. 22.

1918 — The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 behind the three-hit pitching of Carl Mays to win the World Series in six games. This was Boston’s third championship in a four-year stretch — 1915, 1916 and this season.

1936 — Hod Lisenbee of the Philadelphia A’s tied a major league record for hits allowed, giving up 26 in a 17-2 rout by the Chicago White Sox.

1949 — The New York Yankees sent 18 men to the plate in the third inning of the first game of a doubleheader against Washington. In the 50-minute half-inning the Senators walked a major-league record 11 batters as the Yankees went on to a 20-5 win. New York won the second game 2-1 in one hour and 22 minutes.

1959 — The Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4, putting an end to reliever Roy Face’s 22-game winning streak. It was his only loss of the season as he finished with an 18-1 record.

1974 — It took the St. Louis Cardinals 25 innings — seven hours, four minutes — to beat the New York Mets. There were a record 202 plate appearances. Felix Millan and John Milner had 12 appearances apiece.

1985 — Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds became the all-time hit leader with his 4,192nd hit to break Ty Cobb’s record. Rose lined a 2-1 pitch off San Diego pitcher Eric Show to left-center field for a single in the first inning. It was the 57th anniversary of Ty Cobb’s last game in the majors.

1987 — New York Mets third baseman Howard Johnson, with 34 homers, became the first National League infielder to reach 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season. His 30th stolen base came in the fourth inning of a 6-4, 10-inning loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

1996 — San Diego’s Ken Caminiti broke his own major league record by homering from both sides of the plate in a game for the fourth time this season. In a 6-5 win over Pittsburgh, Caminiti homered left-handed in the fifth inning, hitting a two-run shot. Batting right-handed in the seventh, he hit a solo shot to break his record set last year.

2008 — Albert Pujols drove in his 100th run with a sixth-inning double in the Cardinals’ 3-2 loss to the Cubs, becoming only the third player in major league history to reach the milestone in his first eight seasons. Pujols also extended his major league-record streak of reaching 30 homers and 100 RBIs in his first eight seasons, two more than any player in history.

2014 — Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton sustained multiple facial fractures, dental damage and cuts that needed stitches after being hit in the face by a pitch. Stanton was hit under the left eye by a fastball from Milwaukee’s Mike Fiers in the fifth inning of a 4-2 loss.

2021 — Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader of the Milwaukee Brewers throw a combined no-hitter to beat the Cleveland Indians 3-0. It was the record ninth no-hitter of the season.

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 houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Imagine Paris in the 1920s, only it’s Los Feliz today — the Figaro Bistro patio humming with literary gossip from mercurial poets through clouds of cigarette smoke. It’s a proposition that Sammy Ginsberg is willing to explore.

A longtime writer and former high school English teacher, Ginsberg found writer gatherings to be inaccessible — either too large in scope or too exclusive. Luckily, Vermont and Hillhurst avenues are just right. The Los Feliz Writer Festival was born.

“Los Feliz is super artsy and filled with writers. It’s fun to organize one in the neighborhood,” says Ginsberg.

Ginsberg is weary of the well-trodden conversations about the New York literary scene, steeped in endless mythology. We may not have the New Yorker or the Paris Review, but we have each other: “There are 40 million people who live in L.A. County. I’m like, ‘We don’t need New York. We have people.’ ”

Willa Lane writes in a notebook at the closing Los Feliz Writers Festival event that featured journaling and meditation in Barnsdall Art Park.

(Samahra Litte )

That scrappy DIY quality can make Los Angeles’ literary community feel mysterious, even to the people living in it. A San Fernando Valley native, Ginsberg knows there’s plenty happening around the city — you just have to know where to look.

“There’s a lot of things going on, but you have to be in the know,” she says. “It’s happening in someone’s living room because it costs so much money to book a venue.”

In late August, Ginsberg organized the second annual Los Feliz Writer Festival, a sprawling collection of readings, workshops, parties and other literary miscellany. “Last year we did it, and it went really well,” she says. “This year, it’s even bigger and crazier and magical.”

The festival is, in some ways, an extension of the community Ginsberg has been quietly building all year. Since October, she’s hosted a weekly “Shut Up & Write” at Los Feliz watering hole the Big Bar at Alcove. “We have dinner and then write next to each other quietly,” says Ginsberg. “You can see each other every week, and it’s a natural, slow way to get to know people.”

The Los Feliz Writer Festival kicked off with Poets Are the New Popstars, a reading-meets-house-party at a private home in Los Feliz. Over the course of the festival’s 13 events, writers could attend personal essay workshops, receive tarot readings, and celebrate the 100th birthdays of Frank O’Hara, Allen Ginsberg and Harper Lee at East Hollywood bar Tabula Rasa. “I made these limited-edition official after-party zines with a poem and quote from the authors,” says Ginsberg.

Alex Moreno reads from her poetry collection “Sticky Time” at Poets Are the New Popstars.

(Toby Shapiro)

Ginsberg imagines the literary scene as a collaborative project. “For me, this is kind of like hipster ‘Dungeons & Dragons.’ I’m playing with my friends,” she says of the festival, which she plans to organize annually. In the future, the festival hopes to include more diverse voices. “In the second year, we’re trying to open up the conversation,” she says. “We, too, believe that L.A. is for everyone and want it to be a writers festival for everyone.”

Christina Catherine Martinez, a critic, writer and comedian, has a more pointed take on the Los Angeles literary world.

“A lot of parties and readings, but not a lot of bylines,” she muses. “Substack IRL but still gunning for the traditional publishing deal — kind of an old world is dying, a new world is not yet born.”

Yet, Martinez welcomes the proliferation of readings that have emerged throughout the city. “I love that there are so many readings,” she says. “Fifteen years ago the only time I mingled with other writers was at the yearly Artforum dinner, when the lit scene was barnacled to the art scene.”

This fall, Los Angeles will host an eclectic mix of literary events, from readings by acclaimed novelists to intimate gatherings for emerging writers and readers. For those looking to immerse themselves in the city’s burgeoning literary scene, here are 16 readings and literary events taking place across Los Angeles.

U2 will be honored as the 2027 MusiCares Persons of the Year, the Recording Academy announced Thursday, half a century after the four members of the Irish rock band met as high school students in Dublin in 1976.

The award, which recognizes an act’s philanthropy and cultural impact and comes with an all-star tribute concert typically held two nights before the annual Grammy Awards, will be presented to the group’s Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Feb. 5.

In a statement, MusiCares Executive Director Theresa Wolters hailed the band’s work on issues “spanning global health, disaster response, addiction recovery, mental health and access to music education” and said that what “resonates so strongly” with the Recording Academy’s charitable arm is the members’ “belief that success in music comes with an opportunity to care for the people around you.”

Added Harvey Mason Jr., the academy’s CEO: “Not only has their music defined generations, but they’ve been equally exemplary in their dedication to humanitarian work and using their platform for good.”

The statement quoted the members of U2 as saying they’re “huge fans of MusiCares and the lifelines they provide across the incredible pool of talent that is the music industry. We’ve been recording and touring for 50 years because of that pool, from producers and engineers to carpenters and riggers.” The band said they are “very excited to be in the front row of our first ever U2 gig,” adding, “We know we’re gonna be outplayed.”

In late January, Mariah Carey received the MusiCares award at a gala that featured performances by Foo Fighters, Jennifer Hudson, Teddy Swims, Busta Rhymes, Laufey, Jon Batiste and Charlie Puth. Previous honorees include Joni Mitchell, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Bob Dylan and Barbra Streisand; Bono was previously named Person of the Year on his own in 2003.

U2’s recognition comes in the wake of a much-discussed residency at Sphere in Las Vegas, where the band looked back at its 1991 album “Achtung Baby” in a high-tech multimedia presentation. In July, the group released “Street of Dreams,” the lead single from a studio album due out later this year.

WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS

City Section

Belmont 66, Annenberg 3

Port of Los Angeles d. Los Angeles Jordan, forfeit

Stern 26, Smidt Tech 0

Southern Section

Aliso Niguel 26, Villa Park 6

Anaheim Canyon 9, Esperanza 6

Aquinas 26, Ontario Christian 21

Bellflower 26, Mayfair 0

Bonita 13, San Dimas 6

Burbank Burroughs 31, South Pasadena 6

Cajon 56, Alhambra 0

California Military Institute 28, Workman 0

Compton Early College 7, Dominguez 6

Desert Hot Springs 20, San Jacinto Valley Academy 0

El Modena 27, El Dorado 6

Elsinore 12, Palm Springs 0

Hacienda Heights Wilson 24, La Puente 0

JSerra 41, Santa Margarita 7

La Canada 24, Temple City 7

La Habra 18, Garden Grove Pacifica 6

Linfield Christian 28, Corona 21

Los Altos 42, St. Lucy’s 14

Millikan 26, Long Beach Wilson 7

Mountain View 25, Bassett 0

Newport Harbor 39, Fountain Valley 0

Palm Desert 24, Valley View 6

Paloma Valley 27, Liberty 0

Pomona 13, Keppel 0

Ramona Convent 36, El Monte Arroyo 6

Rancho Verde 41, Heritage 0

Rosary 12, Irvine 6

Sage Hill 25, Irvine University 18

South Hills 20, West Covina 8

St. Margaret’s 40, Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 12

Tesoro 56, San Juan Hills 27

Vista Murrieta 22, Temescal Canyon 6

Westlake 61, Calabasas 0

Yucaipa 25, Arrowhead Christian 14

Intersectional

Granada Hills Kennedy 19, Vasquez 7

Harvard-Westlake 23, Birmingham 0

Venice 25, St. Monica 0

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

City Section

Cleveland 20, Los Angeles Roosevelt 0

Contreras 6, San Fernando Arroyo 0

Jefferson 43, Santee 0

King/Drew 20, GALA 7

San Fernando Arroyo 19, Contreras 13

Southern Section

Agoura 28, Newbury Park 13

Antelope Valley 6, Lancaster 0

Canyon Country Canyon 37, Golden valley 16

Castaic 13, Saugus 0

Cerritos 20, Artesia 0

Channel Islands 24, Buena 12

Dos Pueblos 27, Ventura 6

Eastside 18, Knight 6

El Toro 19, Northwood 0

Hart 12, West Ranch 6

Highland 26, Palmdale 0

Hueneme 38, Fillmore 12

Lawndale 6, Compton Centennial 0

Lakewood St. Joseph 27, Gardena Serra 0

Mater Dei 26, Sierra Canyon 20

Miller 45, Fontana 0

Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 14, Ontario Christian 0

North Torrance 31, West Torrance 7

Oaks Christian 32, Thousand Oaks 12

Oxnard 13, San Marcos 12

Oxnard Pacifica 6, Santa Barbara 2

Palos Verdes 19, Mira Costa 7

Quartz Hill 2, Littlerock 0

Redondo Union 28, Torrance 0

Rio Mesa 41, Del Sol 6

San Clemente 50, Capistrano Valley 0

Santa Monica 56, Beverly Hills 0

South Torrance 19, El Segundo 13

Warren 38, La Serna 12

Woodbridge 51, Laguna Beach 8

Intersectional

Oceanside 31, Dana Hills 19

Harry Styles isn’t ready to end his Together Together tour just quite yet.

The three-time Grammy winner and One Direction alum announced on Thursday that he will extend his tour well into 2027. The newest leg will include additional stops across several locations including Los Angeles, where he will take over the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on April 23 and 24 with some assistance from Kylie Minogue.

Styles begins his tour extension in April with Tinashe in Phoenix before later hitting the road with additional guests including LCD Soundsystem, the Womack Sisters and Caroline Polachek. His stateside shows include stops in Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago. The “As It Was” and “Watermelon Sugar” singer will also take his music back across the Atlantic for concerts in Berlin, Paris, Madrid and London, where he will close out the tour in late August.

The 32-year-old musician launched his Together Together tour in May and is currently in the second month of his marathon 30-night residency at Madison Square Garden. He obviously knows a thing or two about going the distance.

Styles announced his Together Together tour in January, with some help from NBC’s Steve Kornacki, ahead of the release of his latest album “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.” This year’s album marked Styles’ fourth solo release, following 2022’s “Harry’s House,” which earned the singer two Grammy awards including album of the year in 2023.

A man was arrested this week near Kris Jenner’s home in Calabasas on suspicion of stalking. It wasn’t the reality TV star’s first brush with the alleged stalker.

Officers with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Monday arrested the man, identified as 25-year-old Zenwilliam Robson, after he was detained by Jenner’s security in her neighborhood, The Times confirmed.

It was not clear whether Jenner was at home at the time of Robson’s arrest.

Robson was booked Monday evening and charged with one misdemeanor count of trespassing and refusing to leave private property, according to court records.

He is currently jailed at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles and is set to appear in court on Sept. 22. A representative for Robson could not immediately be reached for comment.

A representative for the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star declined to comment. But according to a source familiar with the case who was not authorized to speak publicly, Jenner’s team is aware of Robson and that he tried to contact the 70-year-old reality TV personality and businesswoman in the past.

Thousands of Salvadoran immigrants nationwide faced uncertainty after the federal government failed to decide by a Wednesday deadline whether to extend or terminate their longtime temporary protections against deportation.

Those protections, known as Temporary Protected Status or TPS, allow immigrants to obtain work permits and by Thursday some Salvadorans had already been fired from their jobs. Others who had been let go were reinstated after the Trump administration clarified that an announcement on TPS for Salvadorans would come “at the appropriate time” and that they would retain work authorization in the meantime.

Employers also expressed uncertainty about whether the statement was enough to legally keep Salvadoran employees on their payroll. Those who lost their jobs worked across the U.S. in construction, at hotels and as janitors.

Some took the announcement that work authorizations remained in place — made late Wednesday by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — as a cause for hope, while others saw it as prolonged mental torture. There are 170,000 Salvadoran TPS holders, including 36,000 living in California.

Asked for further guidance on Thursday, Homeland Security sent a link to the USCIS website.

Advocates with the National TPS Alliance distributed a letter including the administration’s announcement for TPS holders to share with their employers and stating that “any decision to terminate could not take effect for a minimum of 60 days.” The letter seemed to help, as advocates reported that some fired employees had been able to return to work.

Not everyone was reinstated. Jose Ramirez reported to his construction job in Santa Monica for the last time on Wednesday.

The 63-year-old had been legally working in the U.S. since 2001, when TPS was first extended to Salvadoran immigrants.

Jose Ramirez, a TPS holder from El Salvador, speaks during a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

He had been in the country for six years before that, and constantly struggled to find stable work. The work permit was a lifeline. He’d dedicated the last 25 years to construction, during which he fathered three daughters and set roots in Compton.

Still, his boss said Ramirez could no longer present for work Thursday.

“I’ve worked on buildings that reach the skies of Los Angeles,” Ramirez said. “I’ve contributed economically and lent my labor to this great country.”

Ramirez’s boss said his job would be available to him, but he’d need to show proof of an active work permit. A notice or a letter is not enough, Ramirez said.

The USCIS announcement was “a ray of hope that they will give us an extension,” Ramirez said. “But, it’s just not certain. Anything can happen. We’re just praying to God that the government will make it official.”

Signs at a news conference to provide an update on the status of TPS designation for Salvadoran immigrants.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Ending TPS would be a shock to El Salvador’s economy, where remittances from Salvadorans in the U.S. make up nearly a quarter of the nation’s GDP — nearly $10 billion last year. In 2019, President Nayib Bukele, an ally of President Trump, publicly called on the U.S. to extend TPS for Salvadoran immigrants.

More recently, Bukele has embraced Trump’s deportation agenda, including by accepting controversial deals to house foreign detainees in the country’s mega-prison. The number of people deported to El Salvador nearly doubled in the first three months of 2026.

The decision by the Department of Homeland Security to extend or terminate TPS typically has been made at least 60 days before the designation was set to expire. DHS can extend the program for a six, 12 or 18-month period or decide to cancel the designation.

But the Trump administration has delayed announcements, including some made days after the designation expired. A Supreme Court ruling in June determined that the Homeland Security secretary has final authority over the program and cut down the ability for advocates to sue.

Lauren Truslow, CEO of 3D Enviro, a Virginia company that does identification and abatement of hazardous materials, said the lack of a decision on TPS has been stressful and costly. Three of her 30 employees are TPS holders from El Salvador. Another, who is married to a Salvadoran TPS holder, told her his family plans to leave the country if the program is canceled.

3D Enviro is a federal contractor, and Truslow said that her employees’ driver’s licenses and federal badges expired on Wednesday.

“How do they continue to work for me?” she said. “No one seems to know the answer to that. They can’t get into federal facilities without valid ID. Them showing a memo from USCIS is not going to cut it.”

During a news conference organized on Thursday by the Central American Resource Center of Los Angeles, other immigrant rights groups and local elected officials, speakers urged TPS holders to form a plan for their families and schedule a legal consultation with a trusted lawyer. They also called on the administration to issue a decision on TPS for El Salvador and a pathway to permanent legal status.

“Salvadoran families deserve clear, timely and trustworthy information from the government,” said Martha Arévalo, CARECEN’s executive director. “As we gather this morning, we don’t have an extension for TPS. … What we have is another waiting game and a renewed limbo for families.”

“We are going to fight this,” vowed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

In a statement, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) called the USCIS announcement “clear as mud.”

“Once again, the Trump Administration is punishing immigrants who have followed the rules with chaos, uncertainty, and cruelty,” he wrote.

Also in attendance at the news conference was Carmen Sanchez, 49, who works the night janitorial shift cleaning offices in Los Angeles. She said many of her co-workers who were also protected under TPS were told not to return to work after Wednesday.

Sanchez planned to report to work Thursday evening, but was sure she’d suffer the same fate. She said she has three adult children in El Salvador and is helping two of them pay for college.

“If we lose our work permit, we lose our job. We lose our stability. We lose everything,” Sanchez said. “We’re being kept on this thread of extensions, and we don’t know when that thread is going to break.”

As a kid growing up in rural Oklahoma, I feared what lurked beneath the lake water.

I’d listen as my family spun yarns about the massive catfish they’d discovered while noodling. I was terrified that, despite their docile nature that not a single adult told me about, an alligator gar would eat me while I bobbed in the lake. Old timers would recount finding a water moccasin in their boat. And I’ve still never recovered from the concept of a “breeding ball,” which a friend’s cousin’s cousin claimed to have run into while water skiing.

Despite the fact that nothing bad ever happened to me in a lake, my fear stayed with me into adulthood. I’ve met several Californians who hold fears similar to mine, but rather than lakes, their outsized anxieties lie within the ocean. It not only keeps them from swimming at our local beaches but also from venturing beyond the shallow shoreline.

An underwater view near Terranea Resort on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

In this week’s edition of The Wild, our weekly outdoors newsletter, I will discuss how to safely tackle those fears and start exploring with a snorkeling kit. Get ready to learn about the incredibly diverse and colorful world that lives beneath our local waters — you’re about to feel like Ariel exploring a whole new world! Let’s dive in.

I spoke to Ralph Buck, who founded Barnacle Busters, an L.A.-based LGBTQ scuba club, with two others almost 40 years ago. Buck’s passion for helping others learn how to safely explore the ocean was so infectious that by the time we ended our call, I was seriously considering whether I should get my scuba certification (which is a story for another day).

Here’s what Buck advised regarding snorkeling.

The Wild writer Jaclyn Cosgrove snorkels among what appear to be grunion or topsmelt near the coastline of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

1. Get the right gear

Generally you will need the following gear to get started:

• A correctly sized mask and snorkel.
• A wetsuit (with booties, as a bonus, to protect your feet): Generally, 7 mm is a great thickness for Southern California, although our water is warmer because of our El Niño season (and climate change).
• A life jacket or flotation device: This is considered optional, as the wetsuit will help you float, but there’s absolutely no shame in being extra safe! (And if you don’t have a wetsuit, please do wear a life jacket.)
• Fins: It might be too strong to suggest they’re “optional,” but they can be awkward for those new to snorkeling and not necessary if you’re in calm enough waters or an overall strong swimmer.
• Camera: Very, very optional. While out at Santa Cruz Island two weeks ago, I took some terrible underwater photos with my iPhone and wished I’d just left it on the shore.
• Weight belt: If you want to dive, you might need a weight belt to help you go under. That said, this is a more advanced tool, and it’s good to just focus on the basics as you get more comfortable in the water.

One thing new snorkelers might not realize is the level of buoyancy that a wetsuit gives you. Both times I’ve been in the past month, I wore a 7-mm suit and loved how easy it was to float above the eel grass at Santa Cruz Island and the kelp on the coast of Palos Verdes. I love a sport that includes just lying around.

Kelp, sea grass and various algae grow beneath the water at Terranea Beach Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

2. Plan for getting your wetsuit on

For anyone on the shore of Prisoners Harbor two weeks ago, they got the pleasure of watching me groan (and curse) as I maneuvered into a thick wetsuit without anything but my swimsuit on. I told my friend I knew what sausage felt like as it’s shoved into its casing.

Zach Cantrell, owner of Ventura Dive and Sport, gave me a tip I will be eternally grateful for: Bring a plastic bag or something else that will help you slide into your wetsuit, as it helps reduce the friction between your body and the wetsuit. I brought one with me when my colleague, Allen J. Schaben, and I went out last week, and getting my wetsuit on was a breeze. No human sausage vibes (or cursing).

Buck suggested other options might be pantyhose or a long-sleeved unitard. Anything to help you slide into your wetsuit!

3. Before going out, practice in a pool

“I would suggest before hitting the open water, go hop in a pool and maybe find an experienced snorkeler to go with you simply because there are some subtle little pieces to the puzzle, which are” easy to miss for a new snorkeler, Buck said.

That includes the direction to point your snorkel. If it’s pointing too far forward, you will likely find yourself breathing straight saltwater as the waves hit you. But if you point it straight up or tilt it a bit backward, it’ll help your breathing apparatus stay clear.

A variety of marine life living around the rocky bottom of Terranea Beach Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

4. Never snorkel alone

You look out at the ocean and see calm waters. You hear the siren’s call. You are alone. Resist.

Despite looking like a fairly chill activity, snorkeling still comes with significant risks that will be exacerbated if swimming alone. While out with my colleague off the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes, he pointed out a massive rock that I thought I could maneuver around. I timed my movements wrong and whacked right into it. I was fine, but also glad someone had my back if I wasn’t.

5. Assess the day’s conditions

• Check the weather. If it is a particularly windy day, it’s likely not a good day for snorkeling, not only for safety reasons but also visibility.
• Check the surf. There are several websites that pull data about the height of the surf, including the L.A. County Department of Beaches & Harbors.
• Before entering, scan the shore to assess the movement of the water.
• Learn how to spot rip currents. Rip currents “most commonly form at low spots or breaks in sandbars and near structures such as groins, jetties, and piers,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“If you’re a beginner, and the waves are higher than knee high, I would just go to brunch,” Buck said. “If the surf’s too big, your visibility is going to suck anyway.”

I do love any excuse to have waffles.

The Wild writer Jaclyn Cosgrove carefully enters the water at Terranea Cove Beach in Rancho Palos Verdes.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

6. Choose an area that’s easy to enter and exit

This includes sandy beaches, where you can easily wade into the water without losing your balance. At Prisoners Harbor, I fell over several times because the shore is covered in various fist-sized rocks. (I need to work on my balance.) Snorkeling off the Palos Verdes Peninsula, I took my time, watched the waves and slowly moved into the water as the waves allowed. I found that, when there are rocks around, walking into the water like I’m navigating a balance beam is a good approach.

Also, in terms of looking for the best spots to snorkel, look for kelp forests and rock reefs. And because you’re newer, I would stick to spots known for snorkeling.

7. Plan for fog

Buck said before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Barnacle Busters, like most diver clubs, would recommend a simple solution to fog in your goggles: Spit. They still recommend using your spit in bodies of water where your germs won’t immediately affect other swimmers like in the ocean.

You can also buy an anti-fogging agent for your goggles. If you take your goggles off at any point as you snorkel, you’ll need to reapply either spit or anti-fog spray.

While I was out snorkeling, I was amazed at how well spit worked. (And if you want to understand the science behind why this works, check out this blog post from Scuba.com.)

A garibaldi, California’s state fish, at Casino Point Dive Park on Catalina Island in 2016.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

8. Check in with yourself and your partner

You should check in with your partner every 30 seconds. That might feel like it’s way too frequent, but you’ll be amazed at how far apart you can float from your friend in that time frame. It can be as simple as making sure you see them and they see you.

9. Keep an eye out for hazards

When entering the water, you’ll want to do the “stingray shuffle” to ensure you alert any nearby rays of your presence. Around L.A. County, you’ll also want to watch out for sea urchins because their spines can prick your skin, which will require treatment if you bump into them.

As our county lifeguards point out, L.A. beaches aren’t typically places you’ll find the most dangerous jellyfish. “Jellyfish in Southern California are usually smaller in scale and have a more mild sting than other species found around the world,” according to the agency’s website.

(And don’t worry. Electric eels don’t live in the ocean.)

I asked Buck how often he and his fellow divers check for hazards like sharks.

He told me that outside of rocks, high surf and going out too deep for one’s skill level, he and his diving partners don’t think too much about hazards in our local waters.

Purple sea urchins grow on a rock near the shore of Prisoners Harbor on Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands National Park.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

“Well, we don’t consider sharks to be a hazard at all. My husband and I blame Steven Spielberg for the irrational fear of sharks,” Buck said, referencing Spielberg’s 1975 film “Jaws” and the adverse effects the film had on white sharks.

Buck said he and his husband rarely see sharks. He does give some weight to the argument that divers in wetsuits can resemble seals and sea lions when floating on the surface.

“But in areas where you’ll probably be snorkeling, you’ll probably be snorkeling on shallow rocky reefs or shallow kelp. It’s not even a consideration for us,” he said.

Lastly, if you or your partner start to shiver, get out.

The Wild writer Jaclyn Cosgrove snorkels at Terranea Cove Beach in Rancho Palos Verdes.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

10. Don’t touch anything

Practice Leave No Trace in the ocean too. “That’s our philosophy for diving too,” Buck said. “Look, but don’t touch.”

And never feed the marine life.

11. Have fun!

Since learning to snorkel, I’ve already found two friends who also enjoy it, and I plan to ping them to go out soon. If you don’t have anyone in your circle who snorkels yet, consider joining a local club.

In a world that feels hard right now, I felt like I had a two-hour vacation as I floated above the bright green sea grass and golden yellow kelp, watching garibaldi and what appeared to be grunion or topsmelt bob and dive around me. I came out refreshed and grateful to live here.

3 things to do

The hike to Eaton Canyon Falls in the San Gabriel Mountains before the 2025 Eaton fire.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

1. Learn about Eaton Canyon’s future in Arcadia
L.A. County Parks and Recreation will host From Ashes to Action: Reimagining Eaton Canyon from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the L.A. County Arboretum’s Ayres Hall (301 N. Baldwin Ave. in Arcadia). Attendees will learn about design concepts for the next Eaton Canyon nature center along with the latest work completed in the natural area. The event is free, but registration is required. Register at arboretum.org.

2. Service sage in San Pedro
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium (3720 Stephen M. White Drive) needs volunteers from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday to work on its native plant garden. Participants will learn about plants as they work. All ages welcome. Learn more at cma.recreation.parks.lacity.gov.

3. Launch into Latino Conservation Week in L.A.
The Audubon Center at Debs Park will kick off Latino Conservation Week from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday at Metabolic Studio (1745 N. Spring St.). Activities include a bachata class, panel discussion and guided nature hike. Learn more at act.aubudon.org.

The must-read

Burn damage to the Torrey pine grove at Santa Rosa Island, as seen from a ferry on June 8.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Last week, the National Park Service announced that up to 80% of the rare Torrey pines on Santa Rosa Island in the Channel Islands National Park could die after being harmed by a wildfire in May. Times staff writer Corinne Purtill wrote that initially park officials were hopeful that because the fire, which charred through 40% of the 18,000-acre island, burned at low intensity through the grove, the trees could recover. Research found the fire hurt the mature trees’ exposed root systems. However, I am holding onto hope — for a few reasons. “Park staff have also collected more than 14,000 seeds released from the pine cones. Viable seeds will be planted and raised in a nursery until the seedlings can be planted in the grove,” Purtill wrote.

Another reason is that volunteers are already actively working to save these trees. You can help with that. The California Institute of Environmental Studies needs volunteers to help with recovery as well as with Channel Islands Restoration. You can also donate to the Channel Islands Park Foundation’s Santa Rosa fire resilience fund.

Now more than ever, it’s on us to protect our public lands.

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

While out kayaking off the coast of Santa Cruz Island last month, I yanked a plastic wrapper out of the ocean. I frequently pick up plastic snack wrappers and corners of wrappers that people have accidentally dropped on the trail. And not infrequently have I found thick plastic bags — those said to be reusable — floating in shallow water near the beach. In recent years, California lawmakers have passed laws to address our state’s plastic consumption, including the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, or Senate Bill 54. Starting in 2027, the state will receive $500 million every year for 10 years to address plastic pollution, and state leaders want to hear from you how to best spend that money. You can submit your thoughts through Sept. 30 using this form or send your message using the email listed on the form’s webpage. Times staff writer Susanne Rust recently wrote about how there’s a secretive multimillion-dollar campaign to crush California’s landmark plastics law. If the battle over single-use plastic in California is something you’re passionate about, consider subscribing to Boiling Point, where my Times colleagues explore what’s happening to our climate-changed world. They’ll definitely keep you posted!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

Throughout his 40 years in Los Angeles, one piece of advice on where to live still rings true for Jimmy Smits, known for starring in “L.A. Law,” “NYPD Blue” and “Sons of Anarchy.” Long ago, producer Steven Bochco, who helped launch Smits’ TV career, encouraged the native New Yorker to stick around.

“He said, ‘I think you’re going to be working at Fox or around here for a while,’” Smits recalls. “‘Don’t be a schmuck. Stay near, so you can get to work on time. Get the s— house in the best ZIP Code you can.’”

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

And so, from West Los Angeles to Santa Monica to Brentwood, Smits and his wife, actor Wanda De Jesus, have made the Westside their home base.

“Even when I lived in Brooklyn, we were near water,” Smits says. “It’s not Coney Island, but it’s the Santa Monica Pier. We have this New York-L.A. thing.”

When he’s not working, Smits prioritizes relaxation and his spiritual life. Most Saturday evenings, there’s a Mass to attend. All physical activities are done near water.

Beyond acting, the Emmy and Golden Globe winner is an advocate for education and the arts. This year is the 30th anniversary of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, which he co-founded to support emerging talent in the performing arts.

Here’s a look at his ideal Sunday, with a bit of a New York-L.A. state of mind.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

6:30 a.m.: First, the news

I still love reading the newspaper, tactile-wise. I keep the entertainment sections for weeks at a time for both the L.A. Times and New York Times. I recently had to go digital with the New York Times because my wife was like, “we can’t have all these newspapers around here!”

8 a.m.: People watching over breakfast

We’re not real foodies. Food is more like fuel for me. I love to experiment with different types of cuisines, but going to restaurants is more about the atmosphere. For breakfast, we’ll go to the Brentwood Farmers Market off San Vicente or the Coast Beach Café at Shutters on the Beach. You can people watch there. Or, they have an enclosure in the back that’s more chill. You can feel the ocean breeze on the water. If I’m really hungry, I’ll have the brioche French toast with some scrambled eggs and turkey bacon. But most of the time, it’s a pressed juice, English breakfast tea with warm milk and honey and a blueberry muffin.

9:30 a.m.: Beachside workouts

Part of the day will always have some kind of physical thing, and it’ll always relate to the water. Biking, brisk walking or wogging on the beach is ideal. If we’re biking, we’ll go up to where Will Rogers State Park is. It’s much quieter around there. We’ll start there and go towards the Santa Monica Pier and do laps back and forth. We’ll make stops along the way, at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica or the bluffs at Palisades Park in Santa Monica, where they have a rose garden, [the California Incline roadway] and a lot of ways to get physical activity.

11:30 a.m.: What’s for lunch? Pasta

For lunch, it’s Divino, which is an Italian place in Brentwood. I’d order a light pasta and salad.

1 p.m.: Head to the playhouse for a matinee

My main go-to theaters are the Geffen Playhouse, which is close to us on the Westside; the Center Theatre Group, with the Ahmanson Theatre or the Mark Taper Forum, the Pasadena Playhouse or the Latino Theater Company Center at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, which specializes in Latino and multicultural productions. I get my New York theater fix by going to see plays at one of those places.

4 p.m.: Family time

At some point in the day, there would always be an East Coast call that winds up lasting way too long. With FaceTime, wherever we’re at, we can talk with the family, who are mostly in New York.

6 p.m.: Longtime faves for dinner

One of our favorite restaurants is Carlitos Gardel Argentine Steakhouse on Melrose Avenue, which has been around since the ‘90s. Italy plays big in Argentinian food, so you can get wonderful pastas there. I’ll usually have the entraña, which is a wood-grilled skirt steak, and the gnocchi is off the hook. The place reminds me of my college buddy-celebrity chef Michael Lomonaco, and his [former] restaurant Porter House in New York, where we’d go after the theater.

If not there, we’ll go to the restaurant we’ve been going to since I first got here. One of my first jobs was at then-MGM, which is now Sony, in Culver City. In ’86, I was working on “L.A. Law” and had a lunch break. I just wanted to walk around and found a Cuban restaurant called Versailles. I thought it was the closest I was going to get to the way Mom cooked. I developed a great relationship with the owners, the Garcia family. They have great Cuban food. I’ll have their arroz con pollo, which is chicken and rice.

8:30 p.m.: TV catch-up time

After dinner, we’d go home and get ready for the week. Depending on whether we go to a matinee or evening play, we would DVR stuff, like whatever sports that were on during the day that I missed. We’d definitely watch “60 Minutes,” “John Oliver” and pop in a movie or watch a stand-up comedy show. If we’re shooting something, I have to study for the next day. If not, we just relax, watch TV and go to bed between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Thousands of longtime immigrants from El Salvador and their loved ones are anxiously awaiting word from the Trump administration about whether they will face the possibility of deportation if their temporary legal protections expire as scheduled Wednesday.

The Department of Homeland Security has not yet announced whether it will end or extend Temporary Protected Status for some 170,000 Salvadorans, including 36,000 in California. But federal officials have targeted for arrest other immigrant groups whose TPS expired.

Since their status ended in July, many Haitians have been outfitted with ankle monitors and some have already been sent back to the politically unstable country plagued by gang violence.

As federal officials have whittled down the countries that still qualify for Temporary Protected Status, Salvadorans make up the largest population of remaining beneficiaries.

Just over 100,000 people from Sudan, Ukraine and Lebanon still have TPS protections until later this year, the vast majority of them Ukrainians.

Under TPS, recipients are able to obtain permits allowing them to work legally in the country. More than 150,000 U.S. citizen children nationwide have Salvadoran parents with TPS.

Asked by The Times on Tuesday about the administration’s plans regarding TPS for Salvadorans, border advisor Tom Homan said he does not know and that the decision is up to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

Later Tuesday, Homeland Security released a statement that left the long-term outlook for Salvadorans with TPS uncertain: “An announcement on El Salvador’s TPS will be made at the appropriate time. Until such announcement is made, Salvadoran individuals present in the U.S. under TPS retain protection.”

Homan, for his part, noted that El Salvador is a “much safer country” now, perhaps suggesting the conditions that prompted people to leave El Salvador had improved.

Addressing the administration’s handling of TPS in general, he said, “I’m glad they’re finally sticking to what the statute says — temporary means temporary.”

The looming deadline set off a wave of alarm among communities in Los Angeles and beyond.

Lorena Zepeda of Los Angeles spent most of Friday with tears in her eyes as she waited for news about the fate of the program that has spared her, for nearly half her lifetime, from being deported back to El Salvador.

“Even though my work permit has been temporary, my life here is not temporary,” said Zepeda, 57. “From the second I stepped foot in the U.S., I have lived. And, I want to continue to live here. I’ve set down my roots here.”

California has the highest concentration of Salvadoran TPS holders in the nation, with smaller concentrations in Texas, Maryland and New York, according to the immigrant advocacy organization FWD.us. Most work in construction, groundskeeping and in transportation, the organization said, and they pay an estimated $1.5 billion in combined taxes.

About 1.3 million people from 17 countries were enrolled in the program when President Trump returned to office last year. The Supreme Court ruled in June that Trump can, without judicial review, end temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Haiti and Syria, a decision that also cleared the way for further TPS terminations.

The administration has now ended TPS for more than 1 million immigrants from 13 countries.

Some terminations were announced at or after the expiration date. For instance, the administration announced the terminations for Nicaragua and Honduras three days after they were set to expire on July 8, 2025, but provided a 60-day extension.

A termination for citizens of El Salvador in particular stands to upend the lives of people with deep roots in the U.S. because they have had TPS for 25 years — the longest of any country. Trump administration officials and other conservatives have argued that the program has gone far beyond its original intent as a temporary means of reprieve.

Originally established in 1990 under the George H.W. Bush administration, TPS has been used in the years since under Democratic and Republican administrations alike. Congress authorized the emergency relief for immigrants whose countries had been racked by armed conflict or natural disasters and who could not safely return home.

Trump tried to terminate TPS for Salvadorans during his first term, but an appeal kept the protections in place until President Biden took office and reversed the decision. Biden then substantially expanded the number of immigrants who qualified for protections under the program.

For Zepeda, who came to the U.S. in the early 1990s, saving TPS has been a years-long pursuit.

Zepeda works as a community coordinator for the Los Angeles-based Central American Resource Center, or CARECEN, the largest Central American organization in the country that provides low-cost immigration legal services and policy advocacy. She has gone to Sacramento and Washington to persuade lawmakers to keep the program alive.

She began receiving calls Tuesday morning from frantic TPS holders asking whether they should still attend medical appointments or how they will pay their rent without work permits. Aging Salvadorans fear losing their retirement benefits, she said.

“We’ve marched. We’ve led hunger strikes. We’ve done it all…No matter what happens, the fight does not end,” Zepeda said. “We will continue pushing to find legal stability in this country.”

Castillo reported from Washington and Luna from Los Angeles. Staff writer Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.

Dodgers edge the Reds

From Maddie Lee: Even Dodgers catcher Will Smith, who’d never be accused of wearing his emotions on his sleeve, was a little worried during his monthslong absence because of a persistent neck injury that he might not be healthy by the end of the season.

“‘It was kind of the ‘who knows how long it’s going to take,’” Smith said when the Dodgers activated him at the beginning of the month. “But at some point I was going to be fed up and just kind of deal with it.”

It apparently didn’t come to that. And in the Dodgers’ 3-2 win against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, Smith’s fifth time in the lineup since returning from the injured list, he put the Dodgers ahead with a first-inning home run and guided Dodgers left-handed starter Tarik Skubal through 7 ⅓ innings of two-run ball.

“He called a great game,” Skubal said of his Team USA teammate. “And the targets that he sets up, and the way that he goes about it, he gives me a ton of confidence back there.”

A neck problem that was initially expected to resolve on its own in a few days turned into a nearly three-month IL stint. With the revolving door behind the plate in Smith’s absence, getting him back down the stretch and into the postseason was going to be key.

While Smith was on the IL, backup catcher Dalton Rushing was thrown into the starting role, learning how to balance the defensive responsibility of serving as the main backstop at the major-league level with a desire to also contribute offensively.

Continue reading here

Shohei Ohtani out of the Dodgers lineup, available to pinch-hit

Shaikin: An October bye-bye? Dodgers need bye to save Shohei Ohtani

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Aaron Donald won’t play in Rams’ season opener

From Austin Knoblauch: Defensive lineman Aaron Donald will not travel with the Rams to Melbourne to play in their season opener against the San Francisco 49ers, coach Sean McVay said Tuesday.

Donald, who rejoined the Rams last month after a two-year retirement, wouldn’t confirm if he was planning to play in the season opener when asked multiple times by reporters on Monday, only saying he was “feeling really good. Feeling great.”

The development isn’t surprising considering McVay and his assistants weren’t pushing Donald to play. Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula said Monday that the team was taking a “day-to-day” approach regarding Donald’s status.

“I think he’ll be ready to go sooner rather than later, but we’re making a decision that we think is best for him and for our team,” McVay said. “He’s attacked this the right way, but it would have been a really quick turnaround.”

Continue reading here

Rams used player ‘guinea pigs’ to help craft their Australia travel plan

How the Rams turned their weakest link into a strength with secondary makeover

Rams vs. 49ers will be a mini Super Bowl for Melbourne’s iconic cricket ground

More than just a coaching tree: Why Sean McVay is so good at forging NFL coaches

Rams poll

Two questions for you: Will the Rams win the Super Bowl and how many games will they win, counting the playoffs? Click here to vote in our survey. Results announced on Friday.

Phil Jackson to get statue

From Chuck Schilken: Phil Jackson will be the next member of the Lakers to receive a statue outside Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers announced on Tuesday that they have commissioned a statue of the coach who led them to five NBA championships — with help from Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Pau Gasol and others — that will be unveiled April 9 when the Minnesota Timberwolves are in Los Angeles for the next-to-last game of the 2026-27 season.

Continue reading here

Angels defeat the Red Sox

Reid Detmers struck out nine and gave up one hit over six shutout innings, Zach Neto was four for five with a two-run homer, and the Angels beat the Red Sox 6-1 on Tuesday night to end Boston’s five-game winning streak.

Vaughn Grissom and Jose Siri hit RBI singles and the Angels scored twice on double-play grounders, providing ample offense for Detmers (5-8), who got his first win since a 1-0 decision over Kansas City on Aug. 15.

Detmers struck out at least one in all six innings he pitched and allowed only three runners. He retired the last 10 batters he faced after hitting Jahmai Jones with a pitch in the third, then was pulled before the seventh after throwing a career-high 112 pitches.

Continue reading here

Angels box score

MLB standings

This day in sports history

1909 — Jack Johnson retains his heavyweight boxing title when he fights Al Kaufman to a no decision in 10 rounds at Coffroth’s Arena in San Francisco.

1940 — Donald McNeil beats Bobby Riggs after losing the first two sets to capture the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. title. Alice Marble wins her third straight title with a two-set triumph over Helen Jacobs.

1956 — Australia’s Ken Rosewall wins the U.S. Lawn Tennis Assn. title with a four-set victory over Lewis Hoad. Shirley Fry beats Althea Gibson 6-3, 6-4 for the women’s title.

1960 — The Denver Broncos beat the Boston Patriots 13-10 in the American Football League’s first regular-season game. The game is played on a Friday night at Boston University’s Nickerson Field.

1968 — Arthur Ashe wins the U.S. Open by beating Tom Okker 14-12, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Ashe is the first Black male to win a Grand Slam tournament. As an amateur, Ashe is ineligible to receive the $14,000 winner’s prize, but collects $280 in expenses for the two-week tournament.

1972 — UCLA’s Efren Herrera kicks a 20-yard field goal with 22 seconds remaining to beat preseason No. 1 Nebraska 20-17 at the Coliseum.

1974 — Jimmy Connors romps to a 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 victory over Ken Rosewall to win the U.S. Open.

1978 — Chris Evert beats 16-year-old Pam Shriver 7-5, 6-4 to win her fourth straight U.S. Open.

1979 — In an all-New Yorker U.S. Open men’s final, John McEnroe beats Vitas Gerulaitis, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. Tracy Austin, at 16 years, 8 months and 28 days, becomes the youngest U.S. Open women’s singles champion, ending Chris Evert’s 31-match win streak at the Open with a 6-4, 6-3 win.

1984 — John McEnroe beats Ivan Lendl 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 to win his fourth U.S. Open.

1990 — Pete Sampras, at the age of 19 years and 28 days, becomes the youngest U.S. Open men’s singles champion, defeating Andre Agassi, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

2000 — Venus Williams wins her first U.S. Open singles title, defeating Lindsay Davenport, 6-4, 7-5.

2006 — Top-ranked Ohio State tightens its hold on the No. 1 spot after beating the No. 2 ranked and defending champion Texas Longhorns 24-7 in Austin, Texas.

2007 — Asafa Powell sets another world record in the 100 meters, winning a heat at the Rieti Grand Prix in 9.74 seconds. The world’s fastest man improves his record by 0.03 seconds, having run 9.77 three times.

2012 — Serena Williams, two points from defeat, suddenly regains her composure and her game, coming back to win the last four games and beat No. 1-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 for her fourth U.S. Open championship and 15th Grand Slam title overall.

2015 — Japan’s Saori Yoshida wins her 16th world or Olympic freestyle title at the world wrestling championships. The most decorated athlete in wrestling history, the 32-year-old Yoshida wins her 13th title at worlds — to go with three Olympic golds in as many tries.

2017 — Sloane Stephens dominates Madison Keys in the U.S. Open final and wins 6-3, 6-0 for her first Grand Slam title. The 83rd-ranked Stephens is the second unseeded woman to win the tournament in the Open era, which began in 1968.

2018 — Alabama strengthens its hold on No. 1 over No. 2 Clemson. The Crimson Tide made its 106th overall appearance at the top of the AP football rankings, which started in 1936, passing Ohio State for the most by any school.

2018 — Green Bay Packers start 100th season with historic 24-23 comeback win over Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field; first ever Packer recovery from 17+ points deficit after three quarters (20-3).

2018 — Cleveland ends its 17-game losing streak with a 21-21 tie against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

2021 — Tom Brady becomes the first player in NFL history to start 300 regular season games. Brady and the Buccaneers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 31-29 on opening day of the 2021 season.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1914 — George Davis of the Boston Braves pitched a 7-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader. Davis’ no-hitter was the first thrown at Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox.

1922 — Baby Doll Jacobson hit three triples to lead the St. Louis Browns to a 16-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

1936 — The New York Yankees clinched their eighth American League pennant with a doubleheader sweep of the Cleveland Indians, 11-3 and 12-9. The Yankees finished 19½ games ahead of the Detroit Tigers for the largest margin in team history.

1945 — Dick Fowler of the Philadelphia Athletics pitched a 1-0 no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns in the second game of a doubleheader.

1948 — Rex Barney of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched a 2-0 no-hit victory against the New York Giants on a rainy day at the Polo Grounds. He walked two and struck out four.

1965 — Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers tossed his fourth no-hitter, a perfect game, against the Chicago Cubs. Koufax fanned 14 in the 1-0 victory while Cubs pitcher Bob Hendley gave up one hit — a double by Lou Johnson.

1987 — Nolan Ryan strikes out his 4,500th batter.

1988 — Atlanta’s Bruce Sutter joined Rollie Fingers and Rich Gossage as the only pitchers to save 300 games as the Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 5-4 in 11 innings.

1992 — Robin Yount became the 17th player to reach 3,000 hits in the Milwaukee Brewers’ 5-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians. Yount singled to right center off Cleveland’s Jose Mesa in the seventh inning.

1998 — The New York Yankees officially clinched the AL East title, the earliest in AL history, beating the Boston Red Sox 7-5. The Yankees improved to 102-41 — 20½ games ahead of second-place Boston.

2001 — Barry Bonds hit three home runs to give him 63 for the season. The third homer was a three-run shot in the 11th inning lifting San Francisco over the Colorado Rockies 9-4. Bonds broke Roger Maris’ record of 61 for most homers in a season by a left-handed hitter.

2004 — Joe Randa had six hits and tied a major league record with six runs, and Alex Berroa hit a three-run homer and drove in a career-high five runs in Kansas City’s 26-5 victory over Detroit in the first game of a doubleheader. Randa became the first AL player to have six hits and six runs in the same nine-inning game.

2007 — Milwaukee became the third team in major league history to open a game with three straight home runs when Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun connected off Cincinnati’s Phil Dumatrait in a 10-5 victory. Weeks and Braun each hit two home runs and J.J. Hardy homered and hit two doubles — all in the first four innings.

2017 — Jose Abreu became the first White Sox player to hit for the cycle in 17 years in Chicago’s 13-1 rout of the San Francisco Giants.

2020 — At the urging of Roberto Clemente’s family, Major League Baseball pays tribute to its first Latin American superstar by allowing Puerto Rican players and others to wear his uniform number, 21, in his honor, on this day. This is akin to the wearing of No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day. In addition, all members of the Pirates, Clemente’s former team, wear the number, the first time it has been worn by a team member since Clemente’s passing 48 years earlier.

2022 — Major League Baseball announces the adoption of a number of changes to the rules to be introduced at the start of the 2023 season. They include a pitch clock, limits on defensive shifts, and larger bases. All of these changes have already been successfully tested in minor league games and aim to improve pace of play, reduce injuries and create more in-game action.

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 houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

HIGH SCHOOL FLAG FOOTBALL
TUESDAY’S RESULTS

Southern Section
Adelanto 27, Victor Valley 8
Alta Loma 19, Covina 13
Antelope Valley 18, Eastside 0
Aquinas 41, Arrowhead Christian 6
Arlington 34, Vista del Lago 0
Arroyo Valley 47, Fontana 0
Ayala 18, Glendora 6
Baldwin Park 15, Garey 7
Banning 19, Indio 8
Burbank Providence 19, Pasadena Poly 18
Cajon 14, Vista Murrieta 6
California 19, Mayfair 0
Camarillo 25, Royal 21
Cerritos Valley Christian 19, Village Christian 7
Chaminade 20, Thousand Oaks 7
Citrus Valley 18, Norte Vista 7
Colony 7, Etiwanda 0
Dos Pueblos 49, Lompoc 0
Downey 19, La Serna 6
Eastvale Roosevelt 6, Rancho Cucamonga 0
Edison 39, San Clemente 14
Eisenhower 26, Carter 6
El Rancho 13, Paramont 0
Elsinore 27, West Valley 12
Fillmore 38, Bishop Diego 0
Gahr 60, Long Beach Jordan 0
Garden Grove 34, La Palma Kennedy 6
Grand Terrace 19, Bloomington 14
Hart 46, Golden Valley 6
Heritage 32, Citrus Hill 12
Highland d. Littlerock, forfeit
Hillcrest 25, Canyon Springs 6
Hueneme 37, St. Bonaventure 25
Indian Springs 21, Rialto 19
Jurupa Hills 20, Summit 14
Jurupa Valley 36, San Bernardino 0
Knight 0, Palmdale 0
Liberty 31, Orange Vista 12
Los Alamitos 31, Lakewood 6
Los Osos 29, Ontario 0
Moorpark 20, Oak Park 6
Moreno Valley 39, Valley View 6
Mountain View 13, Pomona 6
Nogales 51, Duarte 0
Norco 33, Riverside North 7
Northview 21, Temple City 6
Oaks Christian 24, Ventura 13
Orange Lutheran 19, Mater Dei 12
Oxnard Pacifica 38, Rio Mesa 20
Patriot 34, Corona 27
Quartz Hill 31, Lancaster 0
Rancho Verde 13, Paloma Valley 7
Rim of the World 20, Colton 14
Rio Hondo Prep 33, Chadwick 0
Riverside Poly 32, Hemet 0
Rowland 19, Whittier 6
Sage Hill 33, San Juan Hills 9
San Gorgonio 14, Kaiser 6
San Jacinto Valley Academy 7, Nuview Bridge 6
Santa Barbara 13, Santa Paula 0
Saugus 14, West Ranch 12
Segerstrom 7, Placentia Valencia 6
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 52, Louisville 0
Simi Valley 32, Newbury Park 12
St. Paul 24, San Marino 6
Sunny Hills 20, Chino Hills 0
Tahquitz 13, San Jacinto 6
Temecula Prep 47, Desert Christian Academy 0
Temescal Canyon 34, Riverside King 26
United Christian Academy 14, Public Safety Academy 0
Valencia 12, Castaic 7
Vasquez 32, PACS 6
Windward 53, YULA 0

Intersectional
Brentwood 33, Cleveland 7

MONDAY’S RESULTS
No games, Labor Day

Days before California voters receive their mail-in ballots, gubernatorial candidates Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, and Steve Hilton, a Republican, will debate in a nationally televised face-off.

On Sept. 30 at CNN’s Burbank studio, the two candidates hoping to succeed termed-out Gov. Gavin Newson are expected to spar over sharply divergent visions for the future of the state. California’s next leader is expected to face pressing fiscal issues, as well as continued battle with the Trump administration.

Given California’s deep Democratic tilt, there was a question whether the two men would debate.

On Aug. 19, Becerra promised multiple debates with Hilton ahead of the general election.

“We will have debates, and between now and Nov. 3, we will continue to go out there and meet with folks to make sure they have an opportunity to see the candidates,” Becerra told reporters after greeting business owners, community leaders and voters in a walking tour of Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. “Voters need to have good information. We’ll make sure they have it, and there will be debates.”

The following day, Hilton said he was skeptical of Becerra’s promise.

“I don’t believe him unless he commits to an actual debate. Invitations are on the table for dates and places,” Hilton said. “Why can’t he just accept them? I think he’s lying. I don’t think he wants to do debates because he doesn’t want to debate his record.”

September’s hour-long debate, taking place shortly before county elections officials begin mailing ballots to all the state’s registered voters, will be moderated by the cable network’s anchors Dana Bash and Jake Tapper.

It is the most attention a California gubernatorial contest has drawn since 2010, when “Today” show host Matt Lauer and NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd moderated nationally televised clashes.

That is perhaps unsurprising given how sharply the California electorate has swung left, with no Republican winning a statewide contest since 2006. Two did that year.

While there will not be a studio audience, the debate will air on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN.com and related TV and mobile apps for subscribers.

Times staff writer Nicole Nixon contributed to this report.

Retail employees in Los Angeles working irregular schedules, called in for shifts with just a few hours’ notice, got some relief years ago in the form of a city law requiring large retailers to give them notice of their schedules at least two weeks in advance.

Now, that 2024 law could be expanded to encompass the city’s fast-food industry, whose precarious workforce — largely women from immigrant communities — has long raised concerns over unstable schedules that they say make it difficult to plan their finances, child care, medical appointments and other obligations.

The L.A. City Council’s economic development and jobs committee late last month approved the ordinance, which also would establish a mandatory six-hour paid training to educate workers on minimum wage laws and other labor protections. It goes to the full council for a vote on Tuesday.

The proposal is backed by a statewide union of fast-food workers — established in 2024 — that is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, which for years has helped organize fast-food employee walkouts over wage theft, safety and pay.

The California Fast Food Workers Union‘s organizing director, Maria Maldonado, said workers often are unaware of their rights regarding heat exposure and other risky conditions common in kitchens. The training, she said, would show them they have recourse and city support for reporting employers when conditions are unsafe.

“If you know there is support to enforce the law, we are going to see a difference in the industry,” Maldonado said.

City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez first introduced the ordinance in 2024.

Although worker-friendly proposals usually are ultimately backed by the L.A. City Council, the process often is lengthy, with business interests lobbying against such measures.

The California Restaurant Assn. wrote in a letter to the council that the ordinance would greatly increase costs in a state that already is expensive to operate in and that it unfairly singles out an industry that has long served as a successful pathway to business ownership for minority entrepreneurs.

In the letter, business groups took issue with third parties administering worker training, arguing that labor groups could use them to prime the workforce for union campaigns.

The ordinance would “not only duplicate existing law but also force neighborhood restaurants to pay thousands of dollars so groups with ulterior motives can hold team members as a captive audience,” the letter said.

The group also argued that training would create third-party access to workers’ data even as many immigrant workers are fearful of heightened immigration enforcement, noting that the training might “require employers to disclose sensitive information to outside entities, creating serious privacy risks.”

A report commissioned by McDonald’s, compiled by the firm Beacon Economics and Pepperdine University, surveyed some 1,200 workers in L.A. County and found that a majority, about 70.6%, opposed the proposed paid training, while 29.4% said they would want such training, the survey said.

California’s fast-food industry employs more than 750,000 people and is a growing sector, according to state data. The state fast-food union has argued that local and state protections are crucial.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. The high school football season is rolling along with some very good games this week. Let’s take a look.

Big games

Week three in high school football has so many intriguing games that fans will have lots of choices this week. Let’s look.

Thursday

Corona del Mar (3-0) at Newport Harbor (2-1). The annual Battle of the Bay brings out the fans and pumps up the players so much you never can trust who’s the favorite. Corona del Mar has the favorite’s role after knocking off Edison last week. Corona del Mar has three standout athletes in tight end Jake Haley, receiver Tucker Murray and linebacker Nolan Scott. The pick: Corona del Mar.

Laguna Beach (1-2) at Westlake (3-0). The Breakers wanted tougher nonleague opponents, which has led to a slow start in the win column, but beware if quarterback Jack Hurst can get the passing game going. Westlake had a scare in its opening, beating Newbury Park in three overtimes, then routed two outmanned opponents. This opponent has some very good athletes to challenge the Warriors. The pick: Westlake.

Friday

Corona Centennial (1-1) vs. Mater Dei (3-0) at Santa Ana College. The Monarchs were not happy Centennial beat them twice last season. They’re coming in very motivated. Mater Dei has a strong defense and an offense that continues to use three quarterbacks — senior Cameron Pooley, junior Russell Sekona and freshman Paytyn Guess. It’s clear that running the ball successfully will be the key to victory to both teams. Centennial has had blocking issues because of injuries, but the dynamic duo of quarterback Jaden Jefferson and receiver Quentin Hale will give fans a reason to watch. The pick: Corona Centennial.

San Pedro (3-0) at Bell (3-0). This is an important game for City Section playoff seeding purposes and also provides more evidence which of these teams will compete for a league title. San Pedro has relied on the passing of Seth Solorio, who set a school record last week with seven touchdown passes against Westchester. Bell has been running the ball with Jordan Medrano and Christopher Luna. The pick: San Pedro.

University (2-1) at Crenshaw (3-0). Brothers Bryan and Jason Robinson grew up playing youth football for Crenshaw. Now they’re the head coach and defensive coordinator at University, and their father, former Locke coach EC Robinson, is a consultant. EC gave former Crenshaw coach Robert Garrett his first job. The brothers always get pumped up for this game. It’s a great matchup between two of the City Section’s best linebackers, De’Andre Kirkpatrick of Crenshaw and D’Elliott Jones of University. It’s the battle of the apostrophes. The pick: Crenshaw.

Orange Lutheran (2-1) at Gardena Serra (2-1). This is Orange Lutheran’s final tuneup before an epic game next week against unbeaten Sierra Canyon. The Lancers have the kind of balance on offense that gives Serra trouble. But Serra has running back AJ McBean, who can help his team chew up time on the clock. The pick: Orange Lutheran.

Rancho Cucamonga (2-1) at Chaparral (1-2). Chaparral has been without its standout quarterback, Dane Weber, because a thumb injury, so it has been a big adjustment for a team loaded with outstanding receivers. Rancho Cucamonga was upset by Oak Hills last week. Expect lots of points in this one. The pick: Chaparral.

La Cañada at South Pasadena (2-1). For those who like neighborhood teams, this is a good matchup. The Spartans have been relying on quarterback Joe Bell and his best friends from the baseball team. Evan Hyun has scored five touchdowns for South Pasadena. The pick: La Cañada.

The battle of the South Bay between Carson and Palos Verdes was played before a standing-room only crowd at Carson. Fans were treated to a game that lived up to expectations when it came to the play at quarterback.

Palos Verdes won 35-20. Here’s the report.

Orange Lutheran has one of the toughest nonleague schedules and knocked off nationally ranked Basha from Chandler, Ariz. Here’s the report.

Corona del Mar is 3-0 going into its rivalry game against Newport Harbor this week and proved this could be a special season with a big win over Edison. Here’s the report.

Northern California received a boost with Folsom defeating Mission Viejo 35-21. Corona Centennial travels to play De La Salle at Memorial Stadium later this month.

Mater Dei is 3-0 using three quarterbacks after a 38-22 win over Valor Christian from Colorado. The Monarchs are still strong along the offensive line and have a defense performing well under new co-defensive coordinator Ivan Stephenson, who came over from Gardena Serra.

The best individual performance of the week might have been the school-record rushing total of 306 yards from junior Rocky Martinez of Redondo Union in a win Culver City. Culver City quarterback Nick Hoang passed for 436 yards and four touchdowns.

Despite a loss to Moorpark, Birmingham made major improvement in its second game. Freshman quarterback Exavier Johnson passed for 171 yards and two touchdowns. As he gains experience, the Patriots’ chances in the City Section will grow stronger.

Crenshaw came away with a 34-13 win over Hamilton. The Cougars are looking like the No. 2 team in the City Section behind Carson.

First-year Narbonne coach Patrick Goodpaster picked up his first victory with a 28-18 win over Fairfax. Here’s the report on his efforts to start from scratch after sanctions sent the program reeling.

Here’s a look at top individual performances from last week.

Here’s this week’s top 25 rankings by The Times.

Here’s this week’s schedule.

Playing multiple sports

Quarterback Joe Bell (left) and his sophomore brother, Jake, a linebacker, are two of seven baseball players on La Canada football team.

(Yary Photography)

There’s seven high school baseball players playing on the La Cañada football team this season, and the happiest of all is quarterback Joe Bell and star left-handed pitcher.

He loves to tell people how playing multiple sports has helped him in his main sport, baseball.

Here’s a look at the special story unfolding at La Cañada.

Bell High’s football team is also relying on baseball players. The Eagles are 3-0. Here’s the report.

Powerful offensive line

Mission Viejo linemen work on blocking during football practice.

(Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)

Mission Viejo has one of its best offensive lines, with all five starters headed to colleges.

It has helped sophomore quarterback Brett Burnor transition more smoothly to varsity football.

Here’s a look at the offensive line.

Moorpark’s Davis Benson is a multisport athlete, competing in football as well as multiple track and field events.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Davis Benson is a terrific receiver at Moorpark. He’s also a decathlete who won Southern Section championships last spring in the long jump and 110 hurdles while finishing second in the high jump.

Not since the days of NFL receiver Drake London has Moorpark had such a talented athlete.

Here’s a profile on what makes Benson one of the best athletes in California.

Girls volleyball

Sierra Canyon might be No. 1 in California, but Mater Dei is not far behind. The Monarchs won the Dave Mohs tournament, defeating Marymount in the final 25-11, 25-21.

Mater Dei also defeated Mira Costa earlier in the week. Mater Dei is unbeaten has has matches against San Diego powers Cathedral Catholic and Torrey Pines this week.

Sierra Canyon is 13-0 and opens Mission League play Tuesday at Marymount.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is hosting Harvard-Westlake on Saturday night at 7 in a unique outdoor volleyball match on the school’s baseball diamond, helped by Nike, which is flying in a custom-made volleyball court. There will be food trucks, a DJ and a party atmosphere celebrating volleyball and women’s sports.

MaxPreps is sponsoring a tournament Friday and Saturday in Chula Vista. No. 1 JSerra is among the schools participating.

St. Joseph in Lakewood continues to quietly keep winning at 9-0.

In the City Section, it still looks like the Open Division champion will come from the Northern League. Wilson is 4-0, Eagle Rock 3-1 and Franklin 9-2.

Cross country

The unofficial start of cross-country season happens with the first big invitational of the year, and that will be held Friday and Saturday with the Woodbridge Classic at the Great Park in Irvine. Saturday’s top competition will happen at night, always a fun and interesting experience.

Redondo Union’s boys team won the Saddleback Cup over Trabuco Hills. Mario Montoya of Redondo won the two-mile race in 8:59.5. Santa Margarita took the girls competition.

Water polo

JSerra and Oaks Christian had an intense early season match, with the Lions prevailing 8-7. The Lions face 3-0 Mira Costa on Tuesday.

Loyola has started off 3-0 in the Mission League and lost to Cathedral Catholic in a nonleague match. Harvard-Westlake is 4-0 and has matches coming up against Mira Costa and Corona del Mar.

Newport Harbor suffered a rare 12-10 defeat to Cathedral Catholic.

Santa Margarita is 2-0 and faces Mater Dei on Sept. 23 in a Trinity League showdown.

Notes . . .

Brad Wright, the 6-foot-11 former UCLA basketball player, announced his resignation from El Camino Real’s Board of Directors on Sunday.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Brad Wright announced Sunday that he is resigning from El Camino Real’s board of directors after weeks of growing pressure after the placement of three coaches on administrative live. Here’s the report….

Junior shortstop Lennex Minor of St. Bernard has committed to UCLA baseball….

Pitcher Sam Principe from Orange Lutheran has committed to Cal State Northridge….

The court case filed against the CIF challenging transfer and NIL rules has been “terminated,” according to court documents. It was Calhoun vs. CIF. Now the CIF can move forward with discussions on policy changes, though the plaintiff can still appeal to a higher court….

Former UCLA basketball player Bobby Webb, who was a successful boys and girls basketball coach at Montclair Prep, has died, his good friend and former Montclair Prep player KJ Johnson announced….

Standout junior softball player Destinee Herrera from Oxnard announced she has committed to UCLA.

From the archives: Jeff Cirillo

Jeff Cirillo in 2013 at Providence High School.

(DAN WATSON/Dan Watson / The Burbank Leader)

One of the best hitters produced from the San Fernando Valley came from tiny Providence High in Burbank. Jeff Cirillo made it the major leagues and played for 14 years, the longest with the Milwaukee Brewers from 1994-1999. He also played baseball at USC and has been a pro baseball scout.

Here’s a story from 2014 on Cirillo.

Here’s a story from 2000 when he was having one of his best MLB seasons.

Recommendations

From ABC7news.com, a story on former Newbury Park and Stanford soccer player Katie Meyer.

From the Riverside Press Enterprise, a story on a 462-yards passing night.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

Did you get this newsletter forwarded to you? To sign up and get it in your inbox, click here.

The NFL mountaintop this season sits 10 stories underground.

That’s the subterranean field at SoFi Stadium, playing host on Feb. 14, 2027 to its second Super Bowl. The first came five years earlier when the Rams beat Cincinnati on their home field.

It will mark the ninth Super Bowl in the Los Angeles area across three venues: the Coliseum (two), Rose Bowl (five) and SoFi (two). But in some ways, all those previous games were a drumroll leading up to this one — Super Bowl LXI, in a futuristic $5-billion stadium, absent the lingering restrictions of a pandemic.

“Super Bowl LVI was an amazing experience, but it was still on that tail end of COVID, and it was not everything that this Super Bowl LXI could be,” said Peter O’Reilly, NFL executive vice president of club business, international and league events.

“We didn’t do a Super Bowl Opening Night — it was virtual — and there were a lot of things we were still adjusting. … It was absolutely spectacular during the weekend and on game day, but I do think this Super Bowl gives us all the chance to do it full-on, in the way an L.A. Super Bowl can and should be.”

In the weeks leading up to the first Super Bowl at SoFi, there were misguided rumblings that the game might be moved to Dallas, because the NFL had secured that city as a backup. But those type of contingency plans are in place for every Super Bowl, and the game was not in serious peril of being moved. Still, there was a cloud of public doubt lingering over the event.

“Those rumors created a lot of havoc and uncertainty in our market,” said Kathy Schloessman, chief executive of the Los Angeles Super Bowl Host Committee for both games. “It was hard to get the excitement going because people didn’t know if the city was open or closed. I almost hate to say it because I don’t want to jinx anything, but this is our first normal Super Bowl planning.”

Super Bowls can take over a city. Look at the games played in New Orleans, Indianapolis or Houston. Seemingly every resident was aware the game was happening. But in some of the bigger cities — New York, Los Angeles, Miami — there aren’t reminders everywhere you turn.

Something that might offset that this season is ESPN is broadcasting the game for the first time, and has been hyping it ever since the most recent Super Bowl ended.

“It’s a year of the Super Bowl for them that ends in Los Angeles,” O’Reilly said. “That feels natural and poetic. I can’t say enough good things about the way they’ve embraced it.”

South side view of the field at SoFi Stadium.

(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times)

Disney is the parent company of ESPN, and likewise has embraced the game, which feels like a true confluence of the sports and entertainment industries.

“When I think about L.A. and brands coming together — Disney, SoFi Stadium, the Rams — I think it takes advantage of what the NFL had always hoped when bringing a Los Angeles team back,” Rams president Kevin Demoff said. “SoFi Stadium is that marriage of the NFL and entertainment.”

Whether they play in the game or not, the Rams are intimately connected to this Super Bowl, as they are the host team. That means they have a degree of financial responsibility to make good on the commitments made to the NFL when Los Angeles was awarded the game. They also are allotted more tickets to the game than the other franchises not hosting (or playing in) the event.

Although the Chargers were co-hosts for the first Super Bowl at SoFi, they opted not to host this one. According to a Chargers spokesman, they chose to cede the stage to Rams owner Stan Kroenke, whose vision they credit for the stadium and Hollywood Park development, but will make a “significant seven-figure financial commitment” to the host committee in the run-up to the game.

Part of Kroenke’s vision in moving the Rams and building the stadium and surrounding campus was to shift the center of gravity of the sporting world to Los Angeles. It’s worth noting that SoFi was a central location of the World Cup — the first U.S. goal was scored there — and will play host to swimming events in the 2028 Olympic Games.

“[SoFi] is now established as one of the world’s greatest sporting stages, which the Super Bowl helped put on the map the first time,” Demoff said. “But now it’s in the middle of this global run.”

It isn’t just the Super Bowl. SoFi will also play host to the NFL’s first-ever Thanksgiving Eve game — Rams versus Green Bay Packers — on Netflix.

“If you’re looking at the arc — not as a Super Bowl but how the NFL wanted to come back to Los Angeles — you have Disney, a longstanding, old-school entertainment partner,” Demoff said. “And then you have this element of streaming and new media and where the NFL is heading. It’s a really interesting juxtaposition.”

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has not played since Wednesday, when he struck out four times and winced noticeably at the plate.

On Saturday, the Dodgers held him out of the lineup for the third consecutive game because of pain in his right biceps.

Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani’s path back to the field is predicated on how he responds to hitting in the cage, which he planned to do before Saturday night’s game against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium.

“My expectation is that he’s going to hit today in the cage,” Roberts told reporters. “Once he hits and how he comes out of it, that’ll be telling for tomorrow.”

The injured list becomes a consideration if Ohtani is not trending in a positive direction Sunday, Roberts said.

Ohtani falls under the 15-day category for the IL, which covers pitchers and two-way players, as opposed to the 10-day list for position players. The Dodgers can backdate the move up to three days, akin to time served. So a 15-day window would be reduced to 12 days.

Although Roberts said he has not spoken to Ohtani about how he feels physically, the manager said he can get a hint from the player’s demeanor.

“When he doesn’t feel well physically, he gets more short and he’s not the same personality,” Roberts said, adding that Ohtani has seemed looser and more easygoing the past couple of days.

A look at the top performers from high school football games across the Southland this week.

RUSHING

• Justin Clinton, Bishop Amat: Rushed for 119 yards and one touchdown in win over Valencia.

• Myles Cross, Granada Hills: Rushed for two touchdowns and made game-saving interception in win over Palisades.

• Moyosoreoluwa Odebunmi, Cleveland: Rushed for 138 yards in 15 carries and scored one touchdown in win over Castaic.

• Will Biddle, L.A. University: Rushed for 215 yards and two touchdowns in win over Santee.

• Levin Whitney, South East: Rushed for 179 yards and two touchdowns in win over Fremont.

• AJ McBean, Gardena Serra: Rushed for 178 yards and three touchdowns in win over Los Alamitos.

• Brandon Hernandez, Panorama: Rushed for 275 yards and five touchdowns in win over Fulton Prep.

• Jordan Bonilla, La Serna: Rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns in win over Salesian.

• Matt Quintanilla, Granada Hills Kennedy: Rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns in win over Canyon Country Canyon.

• Gatsbee Gumban, Nogales: Rushed for 197 yards and three touchdowns in win over Cantwell-Sacred Heart.

• Rocky Martinez, Redondo Union: Set a school record with 306 yards rushing in 31 carries and one touchdown in win over Culver City.

• Ryan Christianson, Orange Lutheran: Had 32 carries for 165 yards and one touchdown in win over Chandler (Ariz.) Basha.

• William Fredericksen, JSerra: Rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns in win over Crean Lutheran.

PASSING

• Jacob Anzaldua, Banning: Passed for 462 yards and seven touchdowns in win over Carter.

• Ryan Rakowski, Palos Verdes: Ran for three touchdowns, passed for two touchdowns in win over Carson.

• Seth Solorio, San Pedro: Set a school record with seven touchdown passes in win over Westchester.

• Domenico Doran, Bishop Amat: Completed nine of 10 passes for 187 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 89 yards and two touchdowns vs. Valencia.

• Chase Curren, Crespi: Passed for 230 yards and two touchdowns, ran for two touchdowns in comeback win over St. Francis.

• Nathaniel Cadet, L.A. Marshall: Passed for 229 yards and three touchdowns in win over Bernstein.

• Donovan Shirley, Salesian: Passed for 319 yards and three touchdowns in loss to La Serna.

• Talon Spencer, Capistrano Valley: Passed for 225 yards and three touchdowns, ran for 177 yards in win over Great Oak.

• Trent Lux, Great Oak: Passed for 300 yards and three touchdowns in loss to Capistrano Valley.

• Bryce Johnson, South East: Passed for 223 yards, ran for 94 yards and three touchdowns in defeat of Fremont.

• Angelo Gutierrez, Marquez: Passed for 356 yards and five touchdowns, ran for 96 yards in loss to Mayfair.

RECEIVING

• Jordan Slye Jr., Salesian: Three catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns in loss to La Serna.

• Anthony Jacobs Jr., Oxnard Pacifica: Caught three passes for 115 yards and three touchdowns in win over Hart.

• Matthew Crowson, Great Oak: Caught five passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns in loss to Capistrano Valley.

DEFENSE

• Reginald Duncan, Crenshaw: Recorded three sacks in win over Hamilton.

• Chase Madrid, Hart: Had eight tackles and two interceptions in loss to Oxnard Pacifica.

• Alifeleti Tuihalamaka, Oaks Christian: Had 12 tackles, including a sack, in loss to Liberty.

• Malaika Sione, Oxnard Pacifica: Had 12 tackles in win over Hart.

• Nolan Scott, Corona del Mar: Had one sack, one interception and 65 receiving yards in win over Edison.

• Adrinn Ry and Isaac Guzman, Nogales: Had two interceptions each vs. Cantwell-Sacred Heart.

• King Rich Johnson, Orange Lutheran: Returned interception 84 yards for touchdown vs. Chandler (Ariz.) Basha.

• Elyjah Staples, Marquez: Credited with 21 tackles and scored on a blocked punt vs. Mayfair.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• Diego Mendez, Cleveland: The soccer player made six of six PATs and a 40-yard field goal vs. Castaic.

• Jorden Wells, Servite: Returned punt for touchdown in loss to Arizona Centennial.

• Stephen Nunez, Crespi: Returned a kickoff 57 yards, returned a punt 53 yards and had six catches for 93 yards and one TD in win over St. Francis.

• Connor White, El Toro: Blocked field-goal attempt and returned it 70 yards for touchdown in win over Aliso Niguel.

• Noah Ahrari, Chino Hills: Made 43-yard field goal in loss to San Juan Hills.