Man

Whether in Missouri or Bruges, an isle off the coast of Ireland or a speck in the Pacific Ocean, a Martin McDonagh movie whisks audiences someplace remote for a detached view of the mess we’ve made of civilization. Human society continually tries to organize itself around religion, politics, empathy and law. His whip-smart and violent comedies are insights into why it keeps failing.

“Wild Horse Nine,” an exemplar of the format, is about two CIA agents, Chris and Lee (John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell), enjoying a getaway on Easter Island. It’s 1973 and the men are stationed in Santiago, Chile, where the U.S. has spent millions of dollars on a propaganda campaign to prevent the socialist Salvador Allende from winning the presidency. When Chileans vote for him anyway, Richard Nixon gives secret orders to “kick them in the ass,” empowering Henry Kissinger to tank the country’s economy, raise inflation, fund paid protesters and stoke extremist polarization.

“We came here to destabilize your country, and it’s going great,” Chris brags to a pair of flabbergasted young Chilean women, Monica and Alicia (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas), fellow tourists who gape at this Yankee old-timer in dismay. In a few months, a military coup will install Gen. Augusto Pinochet as dictator and begin to disappear liberal dissenters. The folk singer Victor Jara (Aron Hernández), the Woody Guthrie of Chile, is also in Easter Island to play a show and he, too, will soon be machine-gunned by the Army. McDonagh doesn’t show us this (and the soundtrack leans more on Jara’s mentor, Violeta Parra). But he’s definitely hoping you leave the theater and look him up.

Chris likely doesn’t have that long to live himself. The aging spy is suffering from several diseases including dementia, impaired judgment and a mildly guilty conscience — a fatal combination for a blabbermouth who claims to know the whereabouts of the rifle that may have shot John F. Kennedy. Some of what Chris says is a lie; some is addled and confused. His scariest statements are unapologetic facts about the CIA’s involvement in removing other progressive leaders in the Congo and Guatemala. Chris describes overthrowing governments as casually as if he was recalling yesterday’s lunch.

Only classic screwball comedians have delivered dialogue as blithely as Malkovich does here, with zingers that float off unburdened by the heaviness of the real world. He’s marvelous in this. His rogue is as destructive as his villains in “Dangerous Liaisons” and “Con Air,” but carries himself with the lightness of his self-mocking performance in “Being John Malkovich.” While Malkovich gets the best lines, Rockwell gets the best reaction shots, staring aghast at his pesky colleague. Yet, McDonagh himself doesn’t have quite as light of a touch as usual. One of Chris’ digressions about how he’s becoming kinder to insects is terrific, until the script goes one sentence too far and forces the character to blurt out the subtext: He’s nicer to Chile’s moths than to its people.

Ostensibly, the duo are on vacation. Narratively, one has evaded punishment for an outrageous crime and the other has been ordered by their boss, MJ (Steve Buscemi), to assassinate his friend before the truth escapes. The plot is so similar to McDonagh’s 2008 feature film debut, the masterpiece “In Bruges,” which starred Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell as exiled hit men, that the filmmaker should sue himself for plagiarism. I’ll forgive it only because “In Bruges” is one of the best movies of the 21st century. (And anyway, both films already owe a debt to John Steinbeck’s sympathetic galumphs George and Lennie in “Of Mice and Men.”)

In transplanting the setting from “Bruges’” moody, gloomy medieval hamlet to a sunshiny island populated by free-roaming ponies, McDonagh teases the idea that this is a western with a twist: a moral showdown told from the perspective of the hired guns who claim they’re too ignorant to take blame. (He even finagles an excuse to cut to Monument Valley.) Together, Chris and Lee have killed over six dozen people, but never for personal reasons — they’re employees. “Maybe I should have learned more about the places I went into,” Chris muses. Staying dumb allows him to pretend that he’s not John Wayne massacring the Comanches. He’s just the horse underneath John Wayne who doesn’t have any control over where he’s told to go.

McDonagh gets a kick out of making us enjoy palling around with sinners as they chitchat about the correlation between democracies and good cheese. Like him, they refuse to retire their favorite retrograde insults which, at this point, feels like McDonagh’s own in-joke for himself. I suspect it amuses him that audiences get more upset when one of his characters says a slur than when that same character shoots someone in the face.

No filmmaker working today is as merciless with a quip. Debating the power of mass protest with Monica and Alicia, Chris says, “Marches are just the place where we can get the cleanest photos of you without you knowing,” a punchline that lands with a wallop in today’s era of constant surveillance. We cringe at Chris’ aberrant chattiness and recoil from his stony confidence that men like him and Lee will continue to control the world, an assurance as implacable as Easter Island’s monolithic statues. Occasionally, cinematographer Ben Davis even lines up those centuries-old face carvings behind Malkovich to note their resemblance to his imposing profile.

Doom engulfs the movie much like the water circling the stunning coastline. The script’s air of inevitability prevents it from mustering up much suspense. Even when the danger ripples all the way to Lee’s wife (Parker Posey) back in the States, the tension drains away. You expect McDonagh to play around more with Chris’ memory loss and morphine addiction than he does; meanwhile, another junkie beat is so convenient that I can’t believe the film even tried to get away with it, and nearly succeeds.

“Wild Horse Nine’s” darkest prank is convincing us that a charming scoundrel like Chris should have a say in how and when he dies — a privilege he didn’t grant his own victims. What’s the use of punishing a terminally ill man? But that, McDonagh suggests, is how life actually works. Normal westerns mete out justice. This tropical one refuses.

The Dodgers lost four straight playoff games to the Milwaukee Brewers in a humiliating end to their season.

But this was worse.

Steve Hilton lost to Xavier Becerra in the race for governor before “Jeopardy” aired.

But this was worse.

President Trump lost early, late and often Tuesday night in the midterm elections.

In contests across the country — for governor, for Senate, for the House — he had told people to vote as if he was on the ballot.

They did, and Democrats ran the table, taking the House and then the Senate.

Trump lost big, inspected the wreckage, and claimed the problem was lousy candidates.

Has he lost a step? I would have expected him to say the election was stolen. All of the elections.

But maybe he realized that for all intents and purposes, his political career is over. Trump was trounced, the country triumphed, and the long national nightmare is over, but for the rest of his lame duck presidency.

I don’t think we were witnessing a national love affair with Democrats, nor do I think Tuesday night’s winning political party has all the answers on any of the day’s pressing matters. The Dems have their own problems, including an identity crisis and a shortage of bankable presidential prospects.

But the country’s voters signaled loud and clear that they’re tired of:

The lies.

The insults and name-calling.

The hatred.

The chaos.

The self-dealing.

The lack of civility.

The absence of humility.

Last week I turned on the news and saw Trump making fun of the name of newly elected Michigan Sen. Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim.

An awful thing to see a president do, but here’s what’s worse:

I wasn’t surprised.

Then I saw him say at a political rally that he had looked at a man’s rear end, “and I’ve never done that before…Off the record, women, yes, men no, OK?”

Again, no surprise.

He once mocked the physical appearance of a female presidential primary foe, as well as the wife of a male foe, and insisted for years that the first Black president was secretly from Africa.

Trump had always been able to get away with this sort of numbskullery. His true believers were willing to put up with it as long as he seemed true to his promise of working on their behalf. Until they could no longer deny that he was only working on his own behalf.

The cryptocurrency profiteering. The bloody ballroom. The gold-plating of the White House.

All of it while working people, including staunch supporters, struggled to understand the goofball tariffs and wondered when the promise of lower grocery prices would be delivered.

Trump and the Republicans might have prevailed Tuesday night if not for the war in Iran, which everyone is still paying for at the gas pump. The president who promised we’d stay out of international conflicts went all in, for no good reason, then said it was over, we won, except that it’s not over, and we didn’t win.

And there’s no exit plan.

But so what?

It’s not like Trump is paying for gas. His golf cart is probably electric.

In the beginning, as a Republican populist who tapped into justifiable voter disapproval of Democratic leadership, Trump was onto something when he first ran for president. The scapegoating of immigrants was odious even then, but in 2016, at a Trump campaign rally in Arizona, I caught a glimpse of his appeal to adoring fans who cheered the presidential candidate’s vow to build a border wall, strengthen the military and make America great again. A struggling low-wage worker told me Trump was the best hope for a new day.

“We’re going to come back and rebuild our country,” Trump told the approving crowd that day in Arizona. “You will never be disappointed with me. … You are going to be so proud of your president.”

The act worked for way longer than I would have predicted. But 10 years later, and halfway through a second presidency, the gig is up. Voters said yes, they are disappointed, and no, they’re not so proud.

We thought we were having a mid-term election.

It turned out to be a political wake.

But also an awakening.

Red states voted for blue candidates in a nearly total Trump rebuke.

As I watched the returns Tuesday night, I thought about my daughter–an earth science grad student–and her generation. She’s 23, which means that for almost half her life, Trump has been a political force. Imagine being that young and living in a country that twice elected one of the most divisive and scabrous figures in history.

A man who attacked judges, invaded American cities, insisted ad nauseum that a lost election was stolen, pardoned the Jan. 6 barbarians, exonerated political donors and allies, called climate change a con job, gutted environmental protections and upended America’s global in scientific research.

It’s easy to understand why younger generations have lost faith in elections, both primary parties and the political/corporate establishment.

But on Tuesday, voters of all ages turned out and said enough already, in states red and blue.

The man who so bitterly divided us might ultimately have united us, at least for an evening.

That doesn’t mean that there is consensus on much of anything. Surely calamity awaits, just beyond the shadows, and new species of political trolls are being spawned as we live and breathe. But there was hope, on election night, in the collective declaration that we deserve and demand better.

Trump once said he was so popular and powerful, he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue in New York, shoot somebody, and not lose any voters.

It might have been true once.

But he’s lost them now.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

Projected season opening date: Nov. 27

What makes it special: Sugar Bowl is an independently-run resort with an old-school, European vibe. Its terrain stretches over four peaks on Donner Summit near Lake Tahoe, varying between steep tree skiing, wide-open groomers, terrain parks and beginner-friendly zones. Season passes and lift tickets are limited here, so the slopes aren’t crowded.

What’s new this season: Sugar Bowl Resort continues a multi-year, $100-million resort development project with major improvements debuting this winter, including a new Village Gondola, a reimagined main lodge and beginner experience, expanded terrain parks and snowmaking on the mountain and enhanced snowmaking at Sugar Rush Tubing.

Lift ticket prices: Dynamic lift ticket pricing, with midweek tickets starting at $99. Sugar Bowl is also introducing new 2-, 3- and 4-day packs. Mountain Collective and Ski California Gold passes honored.

Pro-tip: Sugar Bowl opened with the backing of Walt Disney in 1939, making it one of the oldest ski areas in North America. At the resort, look out for Mt. Disney, along with the Donald Duck run, off the Disney Express chairlift.

While United’s victory was certainly well received, it will not mask wider issues.

‘Green and gold’ protests against the ownership took place before kick-off and during a first-half when the home side were abysmal.

Chants against the Glazer family, minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and director of football Jason Wilcox will not stop just because of this victory, no matter how thrilling.

The sober assessment should also recall United came from behind to beat Atalanta 3-2 at Old Trafford during Solskjaer’s time. They lost 5-0 at home to Liverpool four days later. Within a month, the Norwegian had been sacked.

In October 2018, Jose Mourinho was on the brink of dismissal before a Premier League encounter with Newcastle. United trailed 2-0 after 10 minutes but fought back to win. Mourinho lasted 13 more games.

No-one can know how much time Carrick has bought himself with this victory.

“I don’t have a crystal ball to know what happens next,” he told Amazon Prime. “We move on to the weekend. We’ve got a really important game here against Aston Villa, which we need to prepare for.”

Chief executive Omar Berrada and Wilcox certainly looked much happier at the final whistle than they had done midway through the first half.

Suddenly United look like they can qualify for the next phase of the Champions League. For the first time since September, Carrick’s players are enjoying the winning feeling.

But it will mean little unless they can maintain the momentum against Villa, who were getting beaten heavily by Barcelona as Old Trafford was in tumult.

Asked if he will sleep better thanks to the win, Carrick was honest enough to admit that would not be the case.

“Genuinely, no. I don’t. Really, I don’t,” he said. “Whether that’s right or wrong, or normal or not, I don’t know, but I didn’t feel relief. It was more I was genuinely pleased for the players.

“I know how much they care, I know what they’re giving. Sometimes it looks like that, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes we play well, sometimes we haven’t, and I understand that.

“But I could feel their willingness to do well, and so for them to have to dig really deep, and to see everybody having that feeling that we all crave, that’s why we’re all here.”

Bruno Fernandes says Manchester United’s players “don’t need to save anyone’s job” after their improbable comeback win against Roma in the Champions League.

The Red Devils produced a remarkable second-half fightback to come from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and end a run of nine games without a victory.

Fernandes was speaking to the media for the first time since being dropped to the bench after publicly criticising manager Michael Carrick’s tactics in the wake of their 4-1 loss at Como.

Restored to the team for the Premier League defeat by Chelsea, the 32-year-old’s penalty on 58 minutes sparked an incredible revival to ease some of the pressure on Carrick.

But when asked if the result would save his job, United captain Fernandes told Amazon Prime: “We don’t need to save anyone’s job.”

He continued: “The club needed that win, the players needed that win. We have been working so hard to get out of this situation all together.

“It’s been tough, there’s been a lot of speculation in the media. A lot of lies around many things that have happened between me and the manager, that we have cleared the air, then after that the manager took the decision to put me on the bench because I’m not performing.

“Everyone thought that was a punishment for the words that I had. If it was, it was right. The manager is the one who makes the decisions.

“It doesn’t change the belief I have of the manager and the staff and every player in this club. It doesn’t change my aim to win every game that I have ahead of me.”

More to follow.

Nov. 3, 2026 11:26 AM PT

OKLAHOMA CITY — Federal authorities charged an Oklahoma City man with sending hundreds of letters containing nonhazardous white powder to public officials ahead of the 2024 and 2026 elections.

The powders turned out to be yeast or flour, though not all letters have been fully tested, the FBI said in a court filing made public Tuesday.

Robin Martin is charged with conveying a hoax and mailing threatening communications. Martin was arrested Monday and was expected to make an appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City.

Online records do not list an attorney who could comment on his behalf, and several relatives didn’t immediately respond to social media messages seeking comment.

Federal authorities announced last month that they were investigating letters with “suspicious substances” that had been mailed to congressional and election offices nationwide and urged recipients to treat the mailings as “potentially hazardous.”

The packages led to the evacuation in October of election offices in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Numerous states, from Idaho to Florida, said their election offices either received letters or had them intercepted by the Postal Service.

Investigators believe more than 700 mailings appeared to be associated with the same sender. They were addressed to election officials, members of Congress, pollsters, news media and federal law enforcement, FBI agent David Cole said in an affidavit.

The investigation stretched back to 2024 when multiple election officials in every state reported mail with a white substance and a three-page letter declaring war, the FBI said. Some bore ominous messages that could only be read under ultraviolet light.

The sender wrote a return address as “U.S.T.E.A., United States Traitor Elimination Army, Takoma Park, MD.”

A common message in the 2024 and 2026 mailings was a warning to recipients about upcoming arrests for treason “or worse!!”

The FBI said it has video evidence of Martin’s car stopping in October at mailboxes at Postal Service sites in Oklahoma City, Dallas and San Antonio. Investigators also gleaned his fingerprints from a letter addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel, whose first name was written as “Kashyap.”

The Democratic Socialists of America apparently assisted the FBI in the investigation. The FBI said it believes Martin, posing as someone using the name George Livingston, posted a message to a DSA email list in October, warning that members were traitors and eligible for arrest for treason if they vote in the Nov. 3 election.

White and Hollingsworth write for the Associated Press. AP journalist Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington contributed reporting.

Angel City and “Ted Lasso” both came to life in the summer of 2020 when the rest of the world was preoccupied with something far more serious, the global COVID-19 pandemic.

In those dark times, the series about kindness, grace, optimism — and soccer — became the show we didn’t know we needed, but suddenly couldn’t do without.

Angel City, meanwhile, would play its first NWSL game two years later, by which time “Lasso” and Jason Sudeikis, the title character of the Apple TV series about a fictional Premier League team and its manager, had already won multiple Emmys.

Hollywood is a small town, so it wasn’t long before Sudeikis reached out to Kara Nortman, a venture capitalist who co-founded Angel City in 2020, and asked to talk about women’s soccer.

Angel City co-founders Natalie Portman, left, Kara Nortman and Julie Uhrman speak during the team’s equity summit in Australia during the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

(Hanna Lassen / Getty Images)

“And I was like, ‘You had me at hello,’” Nortman said.

What was supposed to be an hour-long phone call turned into four-hour meeting in person, Nortman said.

“The most fun conversation I’ve had in a long time,” she remembered last month. “It really started as a shared passion and interest in women’s sports and building communities and new leadership models and all the things that ‘Ted Lasso’ is about that are far beyond football.”

What the conversation led to was the foundation for the just-completed fourth season of “Ted Lasso,” which focused on the unique challenges faced by women’s soccer teams and players — challenges Nortman knows only too well as the co-owner of a team. That’s why she was credited as a consultant on the series.

And the collaboration comes at a time when the soccer team and the soccer TV series are both at the top of their game, with “Lasso” drawing record audience numbers this summer and Angel City advancing to this weekend’s NWSL playoff quarterfinals after the most successful season in its history.

“They could have continued writing about the men’s team,” Nortman said. “They chose to write about women’s football.

“I’m super proud that we were part of what helped them really understand how to write a beautiful script that was really representative of a lot of challenges we went through.”

The challenges go beyond just salaries, media attention and funding to things as serious as child care and the rash of ACL injuries in the women’s game and as frustrating as hand-me-down uniforms and locker rooms. In “Ted Lasso,” the women’s team Sudeikis coaches — a man coaching women? That topic is addressed, too — uses a dressing room abandoned by a men’s team, one with urinals but without enough working showers.

Angel City captain Sarah Gorden dribbles the ball in front of Boston Legacy’s Sarah Schupansky at Dignity Health Sports Park on Sunday.

(Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)

One player nearly misses a game because she can’t find a babysitter, something that really happened to Angel City captain Sarah Gorden. Another player is recognized by a fan while working for a food-delivery company to supplement her tiny soccer salary, something that really happened to English star Lucy Bronze in her early playing days.

For many viewers, the “Ted Lasso” plot lines were their introduction to those real-life issues.

“The vibe of authenticity,” Nortman calls it.

“They got right the ACLs, they got right the locker-room dynamic, they got right the training facility,” she said. “I think they got all those things right.”

Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt, the creative geniuses behind “Ted Lasso,” declined to be interviewed for this story, as did everyone involved with the series. But Sudeikis has long denied the show is about soccer.

“This show is as much about soccer as ‘Rocky’ is about boxing,” said Sudeikis, who described the eponymous title character as a cross between John Wooden and Mister Rogers.

Actors Jason Sudeikis, center, and Tanya Reynolds, right, lead a professional women’s soccer team through authentic challenges during the fourth season of “Ted Lasso.”

(Colin Hutton / Apple TV)

But the series has always had soccer in it. So it was natural that Sudeikis and Hunt, who both have long supported women’s sports, would turn their massive spotlight on women’s soccer and bring attention to the glaring inequalities that had slowed the development of the game.

And Nortman wasn’t the only one from NWSL to join that cause. The “Lasso” season opener, shot largely in Kansas City, Mo., was a paean to that city’s women’s soccer team, the Current, and its stadium, where the team has sold out every game over the last three seasons and is unbeaten in its last 32 matches there. (Angel City opens the playoffs in Kansas City on Saturday.)

The synergy helped both sides, with “Lasso” shattering viewership records, trailing only Amazon Prime Video’s “Reacher” as the most-streamed series overall in September, while NWSL’s viewership numbers through the first half of the season jumped 61% on ABC and ESPN. The average season attendance of 11,032 was the second-highest in history.

“Once we knew that Jason and the cast were going to feature a season about women’s soccer and start that season at one of our stadiums with one of our teams, the authenticity with that just lent itself to doing an integration,” said Jennifer Levine, the league’s vice president for public relations and communications.

Kansas City Current fans cheer during the team’s first match at CPKC Stadium in 2024. It is the first stadium built solely for a pro women’s soccer team and was featured in the latest season of “Ted Lasso.”

(Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

“There was a lot of crossover between what they were doing and what we’re doing. So it kind of created a perfect storm for us. Being a part of the cultural conversation as part of ‘Ted Lasso’ will only add to the excitement around the NWSL.”

But will it solve the problems and level the inequities that continue to plague women’s soccer?

“I like to hope it helps,” Levine said. “They have been honest. … I think the writing team and the cast did an incredible job portraying what it’s like to be a women’s footballer.

“Everything that we’re doing at the league with investing in infrastructure and building more purpose-built stadiums and building training facilities, it’s all to improve the experience that viewers are seeing in ‘Ted Lasso.’”

Or as Sudeikis’ character once put it, “doing the right thing is never the wrong thing.”

⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.

Oct. 31, 2026 2:31 PM PT

A federal immigration officer charged with aggravated assault after he ran over a Mexican man with his car in Houston will turn himself in on Monday, according to his attorney.

Mario Alberto Morales, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, struck Miguel Parra Hernandez, a 48-year-old construction worker, with his unmarked SUV on Oct. 10, as he chased Parra Hernandez through a parking lot. A grand jury indicted Morales on Friday on a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Morales is planning to turn himself in at a courthouse sometime Monday, his attorney, David Lindenmuth, told the Associated Press. Lindenmuth previously told the AP that the incident was “clearly just an accident” and that local officials had “invented a crime out of thin air.”

Parra Hernandez broke his leg and is recovering at a rehabilitation facility while in federal custody, Harris County Dist. Atty. Sean Teare told reporters Friday.

ICE has said Parra Hernandez ran in front of Morales’ car.

Previously released surveillance camera video shows Morales’ vehicle drive over a median and strike Parra Hernandez as he runs away.

Teare played video from Morales’ body camera on Friday that showed the agent making sharp turns with his steering wheel. He then stops and exits the vehicle and turns toward Parra Hernandez, who is lying on the ground, screaming.

“I was coming in, and I hit him with the car,” Morales can be heard saying after another ICE agent arrives.

Parra Hernandez told deputies that he fled the traffic stop when Morales started pulling on a mask, and Morales “threw the car” at him, according to a Harris County Sheriff’s Office incident report reviewed by the AP. Morales told deputies that he did not brake before he hit Parra Hernandez, but that he did not intentionally strike him, according to the report.

ICE said after the incident that the target of the operation was a man named Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who the agency said was seen getting into a car with Parra Hernandez. Mendoza-Cervantes’ daughter told the immigrants’ rights group FIEL that her father has been dead for nearly a decade.

Morales is among a small group of federal agents who have been criminally charged for wounding people during the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown. ICE agent Christian Castro pleaded not guilty last month to charges that he lied to the FBI after he shot and wounded a Venezuelan man as immigration agents swept Minneapolis earlier this year.

Many other ICE shootings, including some that were fatal, have not resulted in charges for the agents involved.

Morales, 34, has served as an ICE agent for a little over a year, according to Lindenmuth.

Teare said Friday that authorities have a “significant amount of information” on Morales, and that, in his experience, law enforcement agencies would not hire someone with his background. He did not elaborate.

Morales was charged with a misdemeanor in 2013 for stealing four DVDs, according to Harris County court records. Those charges were dismissed after he paid a $270 fine and struck a plea deal.

Morales unsuccessfully ran to represent Texas’ 34th Congressional District in this year’s election cycle under the name “Bam Morales,” which Lindenmuth confirmed. Morales served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and later as a corrections officer and law enforcement officer, he wrote in a Ballotpedia candidate survey. He wrote that his top priorities were veterans’ rights, economic issues and service guided by the Christian principles of “compassion, integrity, service, and accountability.” He listed illegal immigration as one of the country’s greatest challenges.

Morales also wrote in the survey that he was endorsed by an organization called Make America Godlier Again.

Morales appeared at a 2024 Christian conference held by televangelist Johnson Suleman. In video of the conference, Morales appears to act as a Spanish translator as Suleman serves free food and “extends his touch of love to migrants.”

“I want to pray for the immigrants,” Suleman said, as Morales translated those words into Spanish. “I bless you. May the Lord grant your request and open your doors.”

Mayes-Osterman and Brook write for the Associated Press.

There could have very easily been a different outcome.

This was an afternoon when Manchester City accumulated an xG of 1.92, compared to 1.00 for Brighton, so there was no shortage of chances for the hosts.

Home head coach Enzo Maresca will be all too aware that City will have to rediscover their finishing touch – and quickly – if they are to mark his debut campaign in charge with a first Premier League title since 2024.

Manchester City had 21 shots on target without scoring, their highest number without doing so in the Premier League since November 2024, when they managed 24 in a game and drew a blank.

When Maresca sits down to pick apart his side’s shortcomings, he will look rueful at chances from Iliman Ndiaye, Abdukodir Khusanov and Nunes in particular.

But to say Brighton‘s victory only came because of an off performance from City would be an extreme injustice to Hurzeler’s side, who are quickly becoming one of the most well-rounded in the Premier League.

In addition to being the division’s highest scorers – having found the back of the net 24 times in nine matches this season – Brighton have also kept the most clean sheets (six).

Only Premier League champions Arsenal – who have played one game less and travel to Anfield to face Liverpool on Sunday – have conceded fewer goals than Brighton‘s seven. Arsenal have shipped five, going into the Liverpool game.

One of the main reasons behind Brighton‘s solid rearguard has been the signing of Luka Vuskovic from Tottenham Hotspur.

The 19-year-old has been a transformative figure since arriving at Amex Stadium for a club record fee in July, starting all nine Premier League matches.

The Croatian has formed a rock-solid partnership with fellow centre-back Lewis Dunk and built an understanding with goalkeeper Verbruggen, all of whom played the full 90 minutes at the Etihad.

“It was a good game from all of us,” said Verbruggen. “I’m happy to help the team and make some important saves, but I wasn’t the only one.

“I think there were four or five shots blocked in an amazing way as well. It was a joint effort from everyone. We celebrate and go again.”

Manchester United one place outside EPL bottom three as Coventry City climb with 3-1 win against Sunderland.

Joint record Premier League winners Manchester United were plunged to the brink of the relegation zone by their defeat at Chelsea followed by Coventry City’s win against Sunderland.

Ten-man United were beaten 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the early kickoff in the English top flight, leaving them on their first nine-match winless run since 1986. The Red Devils have already made their worst start to a league season in 40 years.

Despite an improved display in the first-half, in which recalled captain Bruno Fernandes spurned one of many key chances, United were beaten by a brilliant solo goal by Morgan Rogers and a penalty converted by Cole Palmer.

Lisandro Martinez was shown a second yellow card for a reckless challenge on Wesley Fofana in an aerial duel from a corner.

United’s day was about to get worse.

Coventry City’s 3-1 home win against Sunderland saw them leapfrog the fallen giants, leaving United just one point and one place outside the relegation zone.

There’s a chance the 20-time English champions, who have won only once in nine league games, could be in the bottom three by the end of Matchweek 9 – a desperate situation for a club widely regarded as the biggest in the country.

Man United’s only two victories from 13 matches in all competitions this season were against promoted Ipswich in the Premier League and tournament newcomer Sabah in the Champions League.

United’s next match is at home to Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday with yet more doubts on whether Carrick will still be in charge.

“I think the mentality was there right from the first minute,” United forward Bryan Mbeumo said. “We still trust everyone.

“Maybe today we just missed some chances. We could have been up early in the game, but that’s a positive to take out of this game.”

Only Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 defeat at Brentford ensured United did not drop into the bottom three.

The pressure regardless is piling onto Manchester United manager Michael Carrick, who is only in his first full season in charge.

The former midfielder remains in defiant mood.

“The two halves of football couldn’t probably be further apart,” said Carrick, who added he expects to be in charge for Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Roma.

“We looked in a good place going into half-time and then found a way of unravelling it second half.”

A point for Crystal Palace in the last Premier League game of the day at Tottenham will see United fall into the bottom three.

Michael Carrick’s stay of execution as Manchester United boss may not last long after his team imploded in a 2-0 Premier League loss at Chelsea.

The visitors wasted a string of chances to take the lead at Stamford Bridge on Saturday before Morgan Rogers waltzed through the heart of the United defence to open the scoring on 50 minutes.

Lisandro Martinez then ruined any chance of a revival from Carrick’s men with two quickfire yellow cards, the second of which also conceded a penalty converted by Cole Palmer.

Winless in nine games, their defeat leaves the 20-time English champions still just one point above the relegation zone and in danger of ending the weekend in the bottom three.

Many expected Carrick to be axed following last weekend’s 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth.

The former United midfielder was instead given the chance to turn his side’s fortunes around and will lament a lack of ruthlessness during the first half.

Carrick recalled captain Bruno Fernandes after he was left out last weekend in the wake of criticising his manager’s tactics during the 4-1 thrashing at Como in the Champions League.

Fernandes should have marked his return with the opener when he blazed over from Bryan Mbeumo’s inviting cross.

The roles were reversed when Mbeumo could not stretch to meet Fernandes’s delivery at the back post before Amad Diallo was twice denied by Chelsea’s stand-in goalkeeper Mike Penders.

United did finally get the ball in the net when Matheus Cunha turned in Harry Maguire’s header from a corner, but the Brazilian had strayed just offside.

Carrick could not hide his frustration in a half-time interview with broadcasters and his mood soured further with a disastrous start to the second period.

Chelsea’s Rogers credits Carrick for revitalising his career during a spell together at Middlesbrough, but dealt a potentially decisive blow to his former boss.

The England international collected the ball inside the centre circle but was allowed to drive directly towards the United goal before dinking the ball over Senne Lammens.

Martinez also spoke out publicly in recent weeks to criticise United’s lack of spending in the transfer market to bolster Carrick’s squad.

But on this season’s evidence, Martinez is one of those most in need of replacing.

The Argentine international could not cope with Rogers’s strength moments later as he was penalised for hauling back the Chelsea forward.

From the resulting free-kick, Martinez then needlessly crashed into Wesley Fofana with a raised forearm.

After a VAR review, referee Peter Banks awarded a penalty and showed Martinez a second yellow card.

Lammens got hands to Palmer’s spot-kick but still allowed the ball to trickle into the bottom corner.

On a rare start since Xabi Alonso took charge of the Blues, Estevao had a third goal disallowed for offside when he crashed a pass from Palmer into the top corner.

Cries of “sacked in the morning” rained down from the Chelsea fans as their side toyed with United for the final quarter without adding to their lead.

Another big decision awaits the United hierarchy before the massive Champions League clash at home to Roma on Tuesday.

Beaten in two of their three European games so far, United face both the embarrassment and financial shock of an early exit should they fall to another defeat against the Italians at Old Trafford.

Ian McKellen is saying goodbye to his dear friend Patrick Stewart.

Stewart, the storied actor whose performances spanned comic book films, Shakespearean stage productions and sci-fi TV, died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia. He was 86. While tributes from former co-stars across the “X-Men” films and “Star Trek” franchise poured in, fans of Stewart were keeping a close eye out for McKellen’s remarks, as the two had a famously close friendship, often on full display with red-carpet smooches and pally interviews.

On Thursday, McKellen posted a tribute to Stewart.

“Before everything else, Patrick was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, the proud county in the north of England which he loved to the end,” McKellen’s statement began. “You could hear it in his accented voice and in the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt. Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues. He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.”

Although the two had known each other since they were young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1970s, Stewart said he initially was too shy to approach McKellen, but was “impressed.” Stewart said the two had “X-Men” to thank for their close bond. On set, the two had trailers that were next door to each other, and with time to kill between filming, they would head next door and chat for hours.

“It was a delight for me to find that the enthusiasms and passions that I’d had all my life were shared by Ian,” the late actor said in a 2014 interview. When asked to write a hashtag that summed up their bromance, Stewart wrote #Aren’twelucky, and McKellen wrote #eternal.

In addition to playing rivals across multiple “X-Men” films, Patrick and McKellen starred together in “Waiting for Godot” and “No Man’s Land” on Broadway and London’s West End.

“We first met as ambitious young actors with the Royal Shakespeare Company half a century ago but we weren’t in the same productions,” McKellen’s tribute continued. “My first strong memory was a few years later, meeting him in the street in central London when he told me about an offer to take over a leading part in ‘Star Trek.’”

McKellen recalled saying, “But Patrick think of your stage career in the UK. Do you really want to risk—getting lost in Hollywood for years and years?”

“Well, he took the risk and thank goodness for us all that he did for not just his devoted Trekkies but film and theatre audiences, who marvelled at his using international celebrity to star in a string of cinema successes (‘X-Men’ of course) and in great classical plays by Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett at Stratford-upon-Avon, in London’s West End and on Broadway.”

In 2014, Stewart admitted to Broadway.com that he was envious of McKellen for both his university education and his hair.

“Ian knows and he thinks I’m foolish to feel this way,” he said. “Ian went to Cambridge and my formal schooling ended when I was 15. I envy that, but I also envy your head of hair. If only because in the two plays you don’t wear a wig and yet you manage to make your hairstyle look completely different … I envy that whereas I have to stick on a wig.”

McKellen responded by telling Stewart that he was gorgeous with and without the wig.

In 2013, Stewart married longtime girlfriend Sunny Ozell in a Lake Tahoe ceremony that McKellen officiated.

“America was his adopted home, where he met his adored Sunny who has cared for him through sickness and health, through thick and thin. But he never forsook his origins: and the proudest achievement of the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic, was his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire.”

McKellen and Stewart star together again in the forthcoming “Avengers: Doomsday,” which hits theaters Dec. 18.

The officer faces charges after allegedly striking a fleeing construction worker with an SUV during an immigration raid.

A grand jury in Texas has indicted a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer accused of deliberately running over a Mexican construction worker during an operation in Houston this month.

ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the October 10 incident, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare announced on Friday.

Criminal charges against federal immigration officers have been rare during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, although several encounters involving officers have prompted investigations.

Morales is accused of striking 48-year-old Miguel Parra-Hernandez, an immigrant who has lived in Harris County for more than 30 years. Teare said that Parra-Hernandez had no criminal record.

Parra-Hernandez was running away from federal agents when an unmarked black Jeep Cherokee struck him in a car park near Clay Road and Highway 6, according to investigators. He suffered multiple fractures to his right leg and an ankle injury which required surgery.

The indictment follows a dispute between local prosecutors and federal authorities over what happened. ICE has maintained that Parra-Hernandez ran in front of the vehicle, dismissing the allegations that the officer intentionally struck him as “reckless and false.”

But Teare has said surveillance video contradicts the agency’s account.

It shows the SUV crossing a median and pursuing Parra-Hernandez as he runs away. Although another vehicle obscures the moment of impact, the video shows the man on the ground moments later.

Authorities also released body-camera footage on Friday. In the recording, Morales can be heard acknowledging that he struck Parra-Hernandez with his vehicle.

Teare also accused federal authorities of failing to cooperate with the investigation, including by removing the Jeep before local investigators could examine it for potential evidence.

A search warrant obtained by local media shows investigators had not been granted access to the vehicle as of October 23.

The case has also raised questions about the operation’s intended target. ICE said agents were searching for a man identified as Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, whom they believed to be travelling with Parra-Hernandez.

But Mendoza-Cervantes’s daughter told The New York Times that her father died in 2017. Parra-Hernandez’s family has disputed that the two men knew each other.

The Morales indictment comes as the Harris County District Attorney’s Office continues investigating the fatal shooting of another Mexican, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, on July 7.

An ICE officer, Gregory Feathers, has been accused of firing at the vehicle Salgado Araujo was driving on his way to work in Houston.

Federal authorities said the officer acted in self-defence, a claim the surviving passengers in the vehicle dispute.

Former ESPN reporter Britt McHenry says she threw a drink at a man after he said “something truly vile to me” during an incident at a Washington Wizards game last week that reportedly led to McHenry resigning from her job with the U.S. Department of State the following day.

Video footage, posted by TMZ, from the Wizards’ game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 21 at Capital One Arena shows McHenry talking to a male companion and an usher from her seat while fans seated around her can be heard making negative comments about her and chanting, “Kick her out!”

As McHenry and her friend eventually start to leave on their own, a clear liquid can be seen hitting or coming close to hitting her on the back of the head. She then throws a drink of her own. As she makes her way up the stairs, McHenry gives the middle finger and blows kisses to the crowd as some people heckle and throw towels at her.

On Tuesday, McHenry posted a video on Instagram giving her side of the story. She said that a man sitting in front of her was making “egregiously loud” and “vile” comments toward Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma about the appearance of his fiancée, model Winnie Harlow, who has the skin condition vitiligo.

“I then make a snarky comment — probably shouldn’t have, but everyone behind me laughed — and just said, ‘Oh, I’m sure your girlfriend’s really beautiful, right?’” McHenry said. “Guy in that row, whether he was with that man or not, turns around and says to me, ‘Why don’t you shut the f— up, you dumb b—,’ quoting him, to which I say to him, like, ‘I wasn’t even talking to you. Who are you?’ And that’s where it escalates.”

McHenry says she and her friend, whom she identifies as Andrew, left their seats and went to a foyer, where an usher offered to move them to seats in another part of the arena.

“But I say to Drew, you purchased $250 to $300 a piece tickets,” McHenry said. “Why should we have to move because these men around us can’t behave and are heckling and harassing me. No, we’re going back. In hindsight, I wish we would have left.”

After they returned, McHenry said, people started throwing drinks at them.

“And the main agitator says something truly vile to me about what should be done to me, allegedly about getting gang raped outside,” McHenry said, “and that is when I threw the rest of my beer in that direction, turned around, and said, ‘Drew, let’s get out of here.’”

One video shows McHenry later speaking with a security worker near one of the venue’s entrances. When he gestures toward the exit, she appears stunned and asks, “What did I do?”

McHenry does not mention this encounter in her video and says she decided to leave the arena. But, she said, the “main agitator” was thrown out. Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the Wizards and Capital One Arena, did not immediately respond to questions from The Times about the incident.

McHenry worked at ESPN from 2014 to 2017, then spent several years with Fox News. In September, she announced on social media that she was working as a press advisor for the State Department.

Page Six reported Friday that McHenry had been “forced to resign” the previous day. McHenry then told Front Office Sports that she signed a resignation letter. The State Department told both publications that it does not comment on internal personnel matters.

McHenry, who did not mention her employment status in her video, doesn’t seem to have any regrets about her behavior that night.

“I was sticking up for Winnie Harlow, a woman that I admire, and many women and young girls look up to,” McHenry said. “And I was sticking up for myself.”

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday set a September 2027 trial date for a man charged with attempting to kill President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner in April.

Cole Tomas Allen’s trial is scheduled to start with jury selection on Sept. 7 in Washington, D.C., and is expected to last approximately three to four weeks. Prosecutors had recommended starting the trial in May, but U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden set the later date after one of Allen’s attorneys asked for more time to prepare.

Allen, of Torrance, is accused of storming the WHCA dinner while armed with guns and knives and firing a shotgun at a Secret Service officer who tried to stop the attack at the Washington Hilton hotel. The officer, who was struck once in a bullet-resistant vest, fired five shots but didn’t hit anybody, authorities said. Allen was injured but not from gunfire.

The attack led to an early end to one of the highest-profile annual events in the nation’s capital. Trump returned to speak at the rescheduled dinner three months later.

In writings that he sent to relatives before the attack, Allen railed against Trump administration policies and referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin,” authorities said.

Allen faces an attempted assassination charge that carries a maximum possible sentence of life in prison. He also is charged with assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon and two additional firearms counts.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.

Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville believes root of team’s problems is Glazer family, urges them to sell-up.

Gary Neville says managers sometimes need to be dismissed “for their own good” as Manchester United persist with under-pressure boss Michael Carrick.

Carrick’s future at Old Trafford has been the subject of intense speculation after a miserable run of eight games without a win.

Sunday’s 3-0 humbling at home to Bournemouth left the English giants one point above the Premier League relegation zone.

United have won just two of 12 matches in all competitions this season, with a return of seven points from eight league games representing their worst start to a league season in 40 years.

But Carrick, 45, and a former United and England midfielder, remains in charge and is expected to give a pre-match news conference later on Thursday ahead of the team’s league match away to Chelsea on Saturday.

“I reckon what’s happened in the 24 hours after Bournemouth is that [the United hierarchy] literally debated  [Carrick’s future] back and forth,” former Manchester United captain Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast.

“I don’t know this, but they’ve debated it to the point where they’ve got themselves into a muddle, and thought, ‘we’ll just stay with him’.”

“I think staying with him is a result of the lack of planning, the lack of probably available options, the lack of decision-making around the two people that probably are available. That’s when you’re really struggling.”

Neville, a former United teammate of Carrick, added: “Sometimes a manager needs sacking for their own good. I needed sacking at Valencia. I was happy that they put me out of my misery.”

‘Enough is enough’

Both Eddie Howe, previously in charge of Newcastle, and former Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann have been touted as possible replacements for Carrick at Old Trafford.

Carrick, however, appears to have the backing of the United faithful, being warmly applauded by fans as he made his way down the tunnel following the defeat by Bournemouth.

Moments later a chorus of boos erupted as the players left the pitch, as supporters made clear where they think the blame lies for United’s current malaise.

Carrick was handed a two-year deal in May after inspiring an impressive revival following the team’s struggles under Ruben Amorim — United secured third place in the Premier League and a return to the Champions League.

The drastic decline this season is an all-too-familiar story for United supporters, who last witnessed a Premier League title triumph 13 years ago under Alex Ferguson.

Neville believes the root of United’s woes is majority owners the Glazer family, saying “enough is enough” as he urged them to sell up.

The Glazers took control of the club in a controversial takeover in 2005. They remain majority owners after selling a minority stake to British billionaire businessman Jim Ratcliffe in 2024.

Neville, a longstanding critic, reiterated his call for the United States-based family to sell.

“There’s 1.2 billion pounds [$1.6 billion] of debt in that football club, they’re hamstrung in some ways,” said Neville, adding: “You’ve got a failure of 13, 14 years on the football side, you’ve subbed it out to somebody else [Ratcliffe] which is ridiculous, and not took responsibility … Enough is enough, they have to sell the whole club.”

“The fans have had enough. They have to go now.”

United have gone eight games without a win as they head to Chelsea – their worst run of results since 2015-16.

Not since the 1988-89 campaign have they had a sequence of nine matches without a win.

Nearly 40 hours passed between United losing against Bournemouth on Sunday and the club providing clarification on Carrick’s future, with the Englishman being given a chance to turn things around at Old Trafford.

Talks involving the Glazer family, minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox took place before Carrick’s immediate future was confirmed.

It seems likely he will remain in post for next Tuesday’s Champions League match against Roma, and the Premier League encounter with Aston Villa at Old Trafford on 8 November, after which there is a two-week international break.

Carrick, though, says he does not need guarantees over his position.

“I don’t need any assurances from anyone,” he said.

“I totally get the position. I understand the job. I understand the responsibilities. I understand what comes with that. So, I really don’t need any assurances from anyone in that regard.”

Asked if he was surprised to still be in a job, Carrick said: “No. I’m here to do my job. I’m here to do the best for the team, and I’m desperate to make us better and improve things. So, I’m not surprised, no.”

The touring production of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” that opened Tuesday at the Ahmanson Theatre isn’t an Actors’ Equity Assn. production. When I listed the revival, directed by Matt Lenz, among my fall preview highlights, I assumed it would be of the caliber we have come to expect from Center Theatre Group.

I attended Tuesday’s opening and was disappointed to find a community-theater-level production beneath the superficial sheen of a commercial national tour. The costumes (by Santo Loquasto from the 2022 Broadway revival starring Hugh Jackman) are stunning. The painterly, storybook scenic design by Ann Beyersdorfer, engineered for maximum efficiency, is also lovely and blends beautifully with the Loquasto’s color palette.

The singing is robust, full-throated and spirited. Elizabeth D’Aiuto, who plays Marian, the librarian of this small Iowa town who captures the roving eye of traveling salesman and con man Harold Hill (Elliott Andrews), has a piercing soprano that many an opera singer would envy.

The barbershop harmonies spin an alluring web. The ensemble fills the Ahmanson with blazing, amplified sound. But the strong singing seems disconnected from the actual story. The music has little character. We might as well be watching a concert version of the show.

The problem is the acting, which is broad, detached and, frankly, often amateurish. I felt as if I were watching a polished troupe of semi-amateurs. The less said about the supporting cast, the better. The characterizations are unsubtle across the board. And how could it be otherwise when the actors seem more intent on impressing the audience than relating to one another?

Andrews seems particularly guilty of this sin. But then his character is meant to be smugly self-congratulatory. Harold Hill has come to River City to pull off another swindle. He’s selling musical instruments and costumes to a town that doesn’t yet even have a children’s marching band.

A wiry presence with a capering physical comedy spryness reminiscent of Dick Van Dyke (who starred in the 1980 Broadway revival of “The Music Man” that had a pre-Broadway run at the Pantages Theatre), Andrews makes a rather dashing and daring Harold Hill. He’s no Hugh Jackman, who had the Broadway audience in the palm of his hand when he essayed the role. But Andrews handsomely fills out the part and can sing appealingly when not too much emotion is required. But his theatrical self-absorption makes it hard to care about Harold and even harder to understand why Marian would fall for this transparent fake.

The magic of Marian’s love turning Harold into an upstanding man fizzles. Neither performer seems able to connect. Both are acting in their separate bubbles. It’s like we’re watching a pantomime of “The Music Man” with some glorious, blaring music.

For those who want to scratch an itch for golden age musical nostalgia, this sparkling yet empty production might suffice. But we should expect more from CTG, which is touting that this is the first major production of “The Music Man” to be done in Los Angeles in 46 years.

When I learned that this was a non-Equity production, I was disappointed that CTG was damaging its stature as a nonprofit theater leader by offering such an important showcase to this second-tier touring production. But now having seen the production, I’m more disappointed that audiences are being bamboozled as badly as the good people of River City.

Theatrical gimcrack is being palmed off as a precious stone. Yes, the score still shimmers, but not everything that glitters is gold.

One of the main reasons behind Estevao’s exile has been the form of Pedro Neto.

It was only a couple of months ago that Portugal international Neto looked destined to leave Chelsea, only two years after joining from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The 26-year-old was linked with a move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli, but he ultimately remained at Stamford Bridge.

That decision appears to have been influenced by Alonso, who has underlined his faith in Neto by handing him seven starts in eight Premier League matches this season.

His success out on the right – which also happens to be Estevao’s favoured position – has meant opportunities have been few and far between for the Brazilian.

He has primarily been deployed as a right-sided wing-back in Alonso’s 3-4-2-1 system, with his Premier League experience and greater defensive solidity compared to Estevao seemingly winning over the Spaniard.

After an impressive start to the campaign, in which he has scored four goals in 11 matches, Neto was rewarded with a new six-year deal at Stamford Bridge.

“He’s a player who is a little bit of a victim of the system,” former Reading midfielder Jobi McAnuff told Sky Sports.

“Alonso tends to play Neto in that hybrid wing-back role, expecting him to get high up the pitch as well. Maybe he doesn’t feel that suits Estevao, and I don’t feel it does either.”

One area that has not been a problem for the Blues this season is attack, with the forward positions firmly in the hands of Joao Pedro, Cole Palmer and Rogers, who has made a spectacular start to life at Stamford Bridge following his £117m move from Aston Villa.

Against Liverpool, though, Estevao couldn’t even get a look-in despite Chelsea being without the suspended Palmer and the injured Joao Pedro.

“How Estevao has not got on the pitch tonight, I do not know,” said former Crystal Palace forward Clinton Morrison.

“He must be thinking, ‘What do I have to do? We have injuries to two of the star players up front, and I’m still not getting on the pitch’.”

Estevao will be hoping he can follow in the footsteps of Neto and revive his Stamford Bridge career.

Oct. 28, 2026 7:16 PM PT

MINNEAPOLIS — Conservative activists James O’Keefe and Cam Higby were charged Wednesday with unlawful voting and identity theft after a Minnesota prosecutor said they gave false names to poll workers during the state’s primary election. The men recorded the exchanges for a video to expose what they say are vulnerabilities in the state’s voting laws.

Hennepin County Atty. Mary Moriarty announced the felony charges at a news conference. She said O’Keefe, 42, of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Higby, 26, of Covington, Wash., wore costumes and used the names of registered state voters while starting the “vouching” process in the Aug. 11 primary. The process provides a way for unregistered voters who lack proof of their current address to register and vote after signing an oath of eligibility.

Poll workers were suspicious and reported their behavior. Moriarty said the situation shows that “the system for identifying misconduct and responding to it functioned well during the primary.”

O’Keefe, who founded and later was ousted as leader of Project Veritas, gained notoriety by publishing undercover sting-style videos such as the one made at the Minnesota polling places. He was not immediately available for comment, and court records do not name an attorney to comment on his behalf.

Higby did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment and did not have an attorney in court records. Neither of them has had an opportunity to enter a plea.

Minnesota allows registered voters to “vouch” for another voter in the same precinct by signing an oath attesting to the second person’s identity and that they live in the precinct. The person being vouched for also must sign an oath attesting to their identity and eligibility to vote, and must also provide their Minnesota driver’s license or identification card number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.

The process is rarely used but is most commonly done by older adults who have not updated their address on a driver’s license because they no longer drive. In the November 2024 election, fewer than 0.6% of votes cast used the process, according to the Minnesota secretary of state’s office website.

Workers flag ‘strange behavior’

In their video that was posted to YouTube on Aug. 13, O’Keefe, Higby and others dressed in costumes similar to attire worn by some Muslims and used fake accents while asking about the vouching process at multiple Minneapolis voting sites. Higby’s face was covered, and when talking to poll workers, O’Keefe referred to him as his wife.

Moriarty said both men “identified themselves using names of registered voters in the precinct without those voters’ knowledge or permission.”

The poll workers noticed the “strange behavior” and flagged it to election officials, who asked police to investigate, Moriarty said. The men stopped short of signing the oath required for vouching, but Moriarty said that giving false names and starting the process was enough to justify the felony charges.

“Free and fair elections are the bedrock of democracy, and their protection is one of our highest priorities,” Moriarty said.

O’Keefe’s organization, O’Keefe Media Group, posted a statement and the video on its website and said the men presented “an intentionally extreme scenario to expose what they see as the lunacy of the state’s ‘vouching’ system.”

“The team wanted to determine how election workers would respond, what safeguards they would describe, and how far they would allow the vouching process to proceed,” the statement said. “Not every election worker reacted the same way. While several workers explained how the undercover team could proceed under the vouching rules, others became suspicious of the group and took issue with the investigation. Some workers communicated concerns about the team over their radios.”

David Becker, a former Justice Department official and the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said he wasn’t aware of any examples of vouching leading to organized or widespread fraud. But he said there have been more efforts recently by those pushing voter fraud claims to commit questionable acts themselves.

“Impersonating another voter is a very serious crime,” Becker said.

Voter ID laws vary

Voter identification laws vary from state to state. Thirty-six states have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, but that identification can range from a photo ID to documents such as a utility bill or bank statement.

In the remaining 14 states and Washington, D.C., voters can cast a ballot without showing ID. They must verify their identity in various other ways, such as signing an affidavit or providing personal information such as birth date, name or address.

Some states, such as Minnesota, allow election officials or other registered voters to vouch for people without a current ID. Alaska and New Hampshire, for instance, allow officials including a clerk or a supervisor to verify a voter’s identity if they know the voter personally. North Dakota allows people who lack ID cards because of a disability to have an attester certify that they are a qualified voter. West Virginia allows an adult who has known a voter for at least six months to sign a sworn statement verifying the voter’s identity.

Vancleave and Boone write for the Associated Press. Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. AP writer Ali Swenson contributed to this report.