Singles Henry, Come On and Bluebird demonstrated her shift to Americana stylings.
THE ROLLING STONES
The Rolling Stones may be retiring from touring, but fans can still look forward to a new album this AprilCredit: Reuters
MICK JAGGER, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood may be hanging up their touring boots, but it still promises to be a momentous year for rock’s great survivors.
There was a huge 18-year gap between Hackney Diamonds (2023) and the Stones’ previous album of original songs, A Bigger Bang.
But in late April, we can expect a new one, again produced by US live wire Andrew Watt.
RAYE
Raye is set to follow up her Brits-winning album with a highly anticipated new release after debuting fresh tracks at Glastonbury ahead of an early 2026 launchCredit: Getty
WE can expect the much-anticipated follow-up to Raye’s all-conquering, soul-bearing, Brits-winning My 21st Century Blues.
The R&B singer debuted two unreleased songs at this summer’s Glastonbury with one, Where Is My Husband!, becoming the lead single from the as-yet-unnamed album.
Her official site promises an early 2026 release date.
FOO FIGHTERS
Foo Fighters are back in 2026 with a new album, first tracks with new drummer Ilan Rubin, and huge UK shows at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium
With another new drummer, ex-Nine Inch Nails Ilan Rubin, announced in the summer, the first recorded music with him appeared in the shape of single Asking For A Friend.
Two massive UK shows at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium are set for June.
ROBBIE WILLIAMS
Robbie Williams channels the mid‑’90s on his 13th album, BritpopCredit: Getty
INSPIRED by the mid-Nineties period after Robbie left Take That, Britpop is his 13th studio album.
It begins with the, er, rocket-fuelled Rocket, which is graced with suitably heavy riffing from Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi.
Bearing in mind the recent exploits of Oasis, Blur, Pulp and Suede, why not this celebration by one of the era’s favourite singers?
Out on February 6.
CHARLIE XCX
Charli XCX heads in a new direction with her Wuthering Heights soundtrack, out February 13Credit: Getty
AFTER the Brat summer of 2024, the singer heads in another direction with her soundtrack album for Wuthering Heights.
Out on February 13, same day as Emerald Fennell’s film version of Emily Bronte’s novel, it has already yielded singles House, with Velvet Underground legend John Cale, and Chains Of Love.
Charli says: “It couldn’t be more different from Brat.”
PAUL McCARTNEY
Paul McCartney is back in the studio, finishing 25 new songs for the follow-up to McCartney IIICredit: Supplied
AS far as his epic music career is concerned, Macca will never “let it be”.
The Beatles legend confirmed work on the follow-up to 2020’s excellent McCartney III.
In the foreword to a memoir about his other band, Wings, he wrote: “Right now, I have 25 songs that I’m finishing . . . new songs that are interesting.”
He’s also mentioned in despatches sessions in LA with Andrew Watt (Stones, Lady Gaga).
THE FACES
Rock legends Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones are back, recording their first album in over 50 years with a mix of unreleased and brand-new tracksCredit: AP
HERE’S a rock ’n’ roll reunion to savour.
The band’s three survivors, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones, have been preparing their first album in more than 50 years.
At least 11 songs have been recorded, which Jones says are “a mixture of stuff we never released but is worthy of releasing and some wonderful new stuff. Rod is writing the lyrics.”
COURTNEY BARNETT
The Aussie returns to electric guitar on her fourth album, recording in Joshua Tree – home of the legendary hard-rocking Desert SessionsCredit: Getty
THE Aussie rekindles her love of the electric guitar on her forthcoming fourth album.
After decamping to California, she’s been recording in Rancho De Luna, Joshua Tree, home of the legendary hard-rocking Desert Sessions.
First evidence of her labours is recent single Stay In Your Lane, complete with scuzzy bass lines and wonderfully deadpan vocals.
VAN MORRISON
Van Morrison, 80, follows up Remembering Now with blues-packed Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge, featuring Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal and more, out January 23Credit: Getty
HOT on the heels of his sublime return to form, Remembering Now, comes this love letter to the blues, Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge.
It includes Fats Domino’s Ain’t That A Shame, Blind Blake’s Delia’s Gone and features stellar
guests – Buddy Guy and Taj Mahal among them.
DANNY L HARLE
After producing hits for Dua Lipa and Caroline Polachek, Danny L Harle steps into the spotlight with debut album Cerulean, out February 13Credit: Getty
AFTER stellar production duties with Dua Lipa, Caroline Polachek and Olly Alexander, Harle steps into the limelight with the genre-hopping Cerulean (released February 13).
“This is my debut album. This is the big one,” says the North Londoner.
Singles already released Starlight (ft PinkPantheress) and Azimuth (ft Polachek) offer much promise.
BJORK
Icelandic icon Björk teases new music for 2026, her first since 2022’s Fossora, with a Reykjavik exhibition offering immersive audio-visual previewsCredit: Getty
THE Icelandic icon has given a strong hint of new material in the new year, her first since 2022’s Fossora.
She’s involved in a huge exhibition in Reykjavik involving immersive audio and visual installations.
A social media post reveals that the third and last of these is “a new work based on music from her forthcoming album, currently in development.”
LEIGH-ANNE
Former Little Mix star Leigh-Anne goes solo with 15-track debut My Ego Told Me To, blending reggae and pop while exploring family and empowermentCredit: PA
THE impressive former Little Mix singer can finally do things her way when
she releases her 15-track debut album as an independent solo artist. Following the singles Been A Minute, Burning Up and Dead And Gone, she delivers My Ego Told Me To in February.
Rooted in reggae and pop, it explores personal themes of family and empowerment.
GORILLAZ
Gorillaz return with ninth album The Mountain on March 20, blending Indian music with guest spots from Sparks, Gruff Rhys, Idles and Johnny MarrCredit: Supplied
MURDOC, Russel Hobbs, 2D and Noodle – the brainchildren of Damon Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett – release The Mountain on March 20.
The ninth Gorillaz album brings Indian music to the fore but also finds room for guest appearances by Sparks, Gruff Rhys, Idles and Johnny Marr. Drummer Hobbs calls it “a journey of the soul – with beats.”
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
The Boss has a new solo album lined up for 2026, following a busy year of UK shows and archival releasesCredit: Danny Clinch Photography 2019
Another visit to the UK with the E Street Band followed by two significant raids on his archives – Tracks II with its SEVEN unreleased albums and an expanded Nebraska to coincide with the recent biopic.
Yet he told Rolling Stone: “I have a record finished. It’s a solo record . . . I imagine it will come out in ’26 some time.”
MUMFORD & SONS
Mumford & Sons return with their sixth album, Prizefighter, produced by Aaron Dessner and featuring guests including Gracie Abrams, Chris Stapleton and Hozier, out February 13Credit: Getty Images – Getty
THE trio of Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett and Ted Deane have reunited with Taylor Swift associate, The National’s Aaron Dessner.
He has produced and co-writes Prizefighter.
Set for release on Feb 13, the band’s sixth studio album arrives less than a year after their UK No 1 fifth, Rushmere. Gracie Abrams, Chris Stapleton & Hozier guest.
LUCINDA WILLIAMS
Lucinda Williams returns with World’s Gone Wrong on January 23, tackling America’s divisions and duetting with Mavis Staples on Bob Marley’s So Much Trouble In The World
BEARER of one of the most passionate voices in American music, Williams returns with World’s Gone Wrong on January 23.
She addresses head-on the divisions in her country while taking specific aim at the sandy-haired White House incumbent.
She duets with the mighty Mavis Staples on a cover of Bob Marley’s So Much Trouble In The World.
THE DAMNED
The Damned honour late founder Brian James with covers album Not Like Everybody Else, out January 23, featuring unique takes on Sixties classicsCredit: PR/SUPPLIED
WHEN the punk pioneers’ founder member Brian James died earlier this year, the current line-up recorded a covers album celebrating the Sixties music loved by their fallen comrade.
Not Like Everybody Else is out on January 23.
Singer Dave Vanian turns There’s A Ghost In My House into a hoot and Captain Sensible takes the lead on Pink Floyd’s See Emily Play.
To rebel is to defy. It is to understand that the world as it is can and should be better.
So it’s no surprise rebels were everywhere on our movie screens in 2025. Filmmakers in the U.S. and abroad depicted the lengths to which people will go to stand up against the bland (and at times violent) vision of conformity they see around them. It’s a theme that comes through most organically in these films’ costume designs.
In “Wicked: For Good,” for instance, Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba Thropp stands apart from the glossy superficiality of the Emerald City. Paul Tazewell, an Oscar winner earlier this year for the first “Wicked,” once again wrapped Elphaba’s defiant spirit in the very fabric of her costumes. As she fights for animal rights and defies the authority of that fraud of a Wizard, the titular witch dons dresses and capes (and, yes, even a knitted cardigan that had the internet abuzz) that ground her in that land “made of dirt and rock and loam” she sings about.
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in “Wicked: For Good.”
(Giles Keyte / Universal Pictures)
Not that all rebels choose to stand out. In Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically urgent thriller “One Battle After Another” — costumed by four-time Oscar winner Colleen Atwood — members of the French 75 revolutionary group know better than to draw attention to themselves.
“Take Deandra [played by Regina Hall], for instance, who’s always lived off the grid,” Atwood tells The Envelope. “They have lives, but they are still somewhere on the wanted list, and some weirdo can suddenly know who they are. So they really have to blend in. They have to be not noticeable. That was a big goal with everybody’s costume in the movie, all the French 75 costumes — and Leo as well.”
That’s why DiCaprio spends much of the film in a red bathrobe, making him both incredibly hard to miss and also decidedly ordinary-looking. “Would you wear it the whole time?” Atwood remembers asking herself: “Would he get rid of it? And Paul goes, ‘Why would you take off your clothes if you’re running?’”
Leonardo DiCaprio, left, and Benicio Del Toro in “One Battle After Another.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
Atwood’s choice to put Benicio Del Toro in a gi and a turtleneck was similarly driven by this approach: These are all people who move through the world wanting to disrupt the system without making such disruption all that conspicuous. Here we may also add the off-the-rack suits Teddy and Don (Jesse Plemons and Aiden Delbis) wear in “Bugonia” to face their kidnapped CEO; the beret-and-turtleneck-wearing revolutionary (Richard Ayoade) in “The Phoenician Scheme”; and the stylish, delightfully unbuttoned shirts Wagner Moura wears throughout “The Secret Agent.”
Not all instances of rebellion are so obviously political. Take Harry Lighton’s deliciously kinky dom-com “Pillion,” which finds shy young Colin (Harry Melling) entering into a BDSM relationship with an enigmatic biker called Ray (Alexander Skarsgård).
“Ray’s an anomaly; he’s the rebel, you can’t place him,” costume designer Grace Snell says. When we first meet him, he is wearing a striking white leather biking outfit: “I wanted him to be like a light at night on this bike and a shiny toy for Colin.”
Harry Melling, left, and Alexander Skarsgård in “Pillion.”
(Festival de Cannes)
The leather and kink gear that Skarsgård, Melling and the rest of the “Pillion” cast wear allowed Snell to give audiences the Tom of Finland fantasy Lighton’s film clearly demands. Yet the film is about a quieter rebellion.
“Colin’s kind of testing his boundaries and understanding who he is as a gay man, and exploring what that means for him,” Snell says. It’s why he spends much of the film in uniform, as a traffic warden, as a member of a barbershop quartet, and later as the new member of Ray’s biker gang.
“Pillion” is about self-fashioning at its most elemental: how gear and uniforms, roles and positions, can help you bloom into yourself; how in losing yourself in another you can find who you want to be.
Blending such a lesson in ways political and personal is Bill Condon’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” also costumed by Atwood. The musical is framed by the tension between Valentin (Diego Luna), a righteous revolutionary, and Molina (Tonatiuh), a gay hairdresser, who share a prison cell under Argentina’s military regime.
Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”
(Roadside Attractions)
Along with designer Christine L. Cantella, Atwood aimed to honor the history the film was depicting and the message it embodies. “Not only is it set in a revolutionary time, but it’s also about two people opening each other’s eyes to the world,” Atwood says, “in a way that is such a great message for today.”
Atwood and Cantella had to balance the dingy reality of the prison — where Molina finds modest beauty in his silk robes — and the movie musical he loses himself in — where Jennifer Lopez’s Aurora is dressed like a silver-screen siren throughout. Lopez’s big number, where she dons an ode to the all-white ensemble Chita Rivera wore in the original Broadway show, including a fedora to match, is all about the lure of escapist Hollywood fantasy: “Turn off the lights and turn on your mind,” she sings.
As the ending of the musical attests, there may be a way to do both, to be politically engaged and still enjoy the beauty of the world around you. For, as these varied films attest, a rebel doesn’t just voice their discontent at the status quo. They wear it proudly.
Abbey Clancy shared the sad news that her family pet – her cat Maggie – has passed away at the age of 20 just weeks after they welcomed a new puppy
Abbey Clancy revealed one of her beloved family pets has died (Image: Getty Images)
Abbey Clancy has said she is ‘heartbroken’ after the death of her beloved cat Maggie. The 39-year-old model took to social media to share the sad news their family pet had passed away at the age of 20.
Posting a photo of two of her children cuddling Maggie to her Instagram stories, she wrote over the top: “‘Goodnight my beautiful baby. You were one in a million. 20 years with you I’m heartbroken.”
In another snap the mum-of-four posted a pic of one of her sons cuddling Maggie on what looked like the kitchen floor and wrote: “Lost without you baby,” followed by a red love heart.
Her sad news comes just weeks after Abbey – who shares daughters Sophia Ruby, 14, Liberty Rose, 10, and sons Johnny, seven, and six-year-old Jack with football pundit husband Peter Crouch, 44 – welcomed a new furry friend into the family.
Speaking on The Therapy Crouch podcast she does with Pete, Abbey revealed she’d recently got a new pet dog for her daughter Liberty. This is in addition to their black labrador, cavapoo, tabby cat, a stray kitten they recently adopted from Portugal and a lizard, which was a birthday request from her youngest son Jack for his fifth birthday.
The latest addition is a ‘teacup’ Maltese dog called Bambi, which is the same breed as Abbey’s mum’s dog, Bella. She said: “Lib was saying please, mummy, can I get a Bella? And I just thought, you know what? I’m going to get one.”
Though Pete protested he didn’t want any more pets in the house, Abbey didn’t listen and came home with Bambi in November. He recalled: “I’m sitting there on a Sunday, and Abbey walks in with it under her jumper, saying ‘It’s arrived!’ I just couldn’t believe it. We talk about losing the dressing room, right? I’ve lost the household.”
Abbey has insisted her love of having animals in the house stems from her own childhood when she wasn’t allowed pets. And the one pet she did have – a kitten – was given away by her mum to a policeman. She shared: “I’ve still got PTSD from my childhood because I was never allowed a pet. The one kitten I had, my mum gave away to a policeman.”
In a chat with OK! magazine, Abbey said: “I wasn’t allowed pets growing up. My mum was a bit of a clean freak, too – so I’m reliving my childhood through my kids. Every time they want a pet, I’m like ‘yeah’.
“I’m surprised Pete let us bring the stray cat home. He’s often said that if we introduce another human or animal in this house, he’s running away.”
Abbey also has a horse called Enzo that she rides every day and is in talks with animal charities to offer mistreated horses a new lease of life in the grounds of her sprawling country estate in Surrey.
Husband Pete joked: “I’m worried that, you know, we’re basically opening up a horse sanctuary.” It’s said that animal-mad Abbey is just waiting to be vetted before their new houseguests can move in.
She said: “Some have been rescued, they’ve been treated badly, they are rehabilitated but are homeless. You won’t be able to ride them, they’re just companions. But what better way to live out their remaining years than in the Crouch clan?”
STATESVILLE, N.C. — A business jet crashed Thursday while trying to return to a North Carolina airport shortly after takeoff, killing all seven people aboard, including retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family, authorities said.
The Cessna C550 erupted into a large fire when it hit the ground. It had departed Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles north of Charlotte, but soon crashed while trying to return and land, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol said.
Flight records show the plane was registered to a company run by Biffle. The cause of the crash wasn’t immediately known, nor was the reason for the plane’s return to the airport in drizzle and cloudy conditions.
Biffle was on the plane with his wife, Cristina, and children Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14, according to the highway patrol and a family statement. Others on the plane were identified as Dennis Dutton, his son Jack, and Craig Wadsworth.
“Each of them meant everything to us, and their absence leaves an immeasurable void in our lives,” the joint family statement said.
Biffle, 55, won more than 50 races across NASCAR’s three circuits, including 19 at the Cup Series level. He also won the Trucks Series championship in 2000 and the Xfinity Series title in 2002.
NASCAR said it was devastated by the news.
“Greg was more than a champion driver; he was a beloved member of the NASCAR community, a fierce competitor, and a friend to so many,” NASCAR said. “His passion for racing, his integrity, and his commitment to fans and fellow competitors alike made a lasting impact on the sport.”
The plane, bound for Florida, took off from the Statesville airport shortly after 10 a.m., according to tracking data posted by FlightAware.com.
Golfers playing next to the airport were shocked as they witnessed the disaster, even dropping to the ground at the Lakewood Golf Club while the plane was overhead. The ninth hole was covered with debris.
“We were like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s way too low,’” said Joshua Green of Mooresville. “It was scary.”
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were investigating.
The Cessna plane, built in 1981, is a popular mid-sized business jet with an excellent reputation, aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said. It has two engines and typically seats six to eight passengers.
In 2024, Biffle was honored for his humanitarian efforts after Hurricane Helene struck the U.S., even using his personal helicopter to deliver aid to flooded, remote western North Carolina.
“The last time I spoke with Cristina, just a couple of weeks ago, she reached out to ask how she could help with relief efforts in Jamaica. That’s who the Biffles were,” U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, a Republican from North Carolina, said.
Wadsworth was Biffle’s friend and helped him with odd jobs, including delivering supplies to places hit by Hurricane Helene, roommate Benito Howell said.
“He didn’t know how to say no,” Howell said of Wadsworth, who had worked for several NASCAR teams. “He loved everybody. He always tried to help everybody.”
The joint family statement also spoke about Dutton and his son Jack, saying they were “deeply loved as well, and their loss is felt by all who knew them.”
With 2025 almost over, there have been 1,331 U.S. crashes this year investigated by the NTSB, from two-seat planes to commercial aircraft, compared to a total of 1,482 in 2024.
Major air disasters around the world in 2025 include the plane-helicopter collision that killed 67 in Washington, the Air India crash that killed 260 in India, and a crash in Russia’s Far East that claimed 48 lives. Fourteen people, including 11 on the ground, died in a UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky.
Los Angeles police are investigating an apparent homicide at the Brentwood home of Rob Reiner, where two people were found dead Sunday afternoon.
The bodies of a 78-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman were found at the home in the 200 block of Chadbourne Avenue, according to Police Capt. Mike Bland.
Law enforcement sources told The Times that a family member was being questioned in connection with the death. .
The sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation, confirmed that there was no sign of forced entry into the home. The names of the victims have not been released.
Margaret Stewart, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman, said the department was called to the residence around 3:30 p.m. for medical aid. Inside the home, fire personnel discovered the bodies of the man and woman.
Rob Reiner and wife Michele Reiner attend the 46th Kennedy Center Honors gala at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in December 2023.
(Kent Nishimulra / AFP via Getty Images)
Reiner, 78, has had a five-decade-long career in Hollywood.
Early in his career, he played Michael “Meathead” Stivic on the iconic sitcom “All in the Family” from 1971 to 1979, alongside Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker.
As a director, Reiner helmed a string of hits including “When Harry Met Sally,” “The Princess Bride” and “This Is Spinal Tap.” His work took a dramatic turn when he directed the 1986 adaptation of Steven King’s novella “Stand by Me.”
Reiner was finally nominated for an Academy Award for 1993’s “A Few Good Men,” which starred Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise, though the movie lost to Clint Eastwood’s western “Unforgiven.”
Reiner also was a leading political voice in Hollywood.
He was a co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the organization that led the fight to overturn Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. He’s also been active in children’s issues through the years, having led the campaign to pass Proposition 10, the California Children and Families Initiative, which created an ambitious program of early childhood development services.
Proposition 10 was considered landmark policy. Reiner enlisted help in the effort from Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams, and his own father, comedy legend Carl Reiner.
Reiner was married to Penny Marshall, star of “Laverne & Shirley,” from 1971 to 1981. He met photographer Michele Singer on the set of “When Harry Met Sally” and the two married in 1989, the year the movie came out.
Michele Singer Reiner began producing films over the last decade, including “Shock and Awe,” “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” and “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” all directed by her husband. She also produced “God & Country,” a look at Christian nationalism in the U.S.
By Sunday evening, law enforcement had swarmed Reiner’s sprawling estate in Brentwood, though an eerie quiet hung over Chadbourne Avenue, which had been sealed from the public with yellow crime scene tape.
Police cars were stationed at either ends of the block where the Reiner residence is located while a chopper circled overhead.
Officers spoke to a young man inside of the sealed off area, who left the scene around 7:30 p.m. in a white Tesla and declined to speak to the media.
Councilmember Traci Park, whose Westside district includes Brentwood, said in a statement that the LAPD had increased patrols in the neighborhood “out of an abundance of caution.”
“As we continue to wait for more updates, I want to express my profound concern and sadness at the news coming out of Brentwood,” Park wrote in the statement. “We are in close contact with LAPD as the homicide unit continues their investigation.”
This breaking news story will be updated.
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.
The army claims the member was working to re-establish Hamas’s capabilities in the Strip.
Published On 13 Dec 202513 Dec 2025
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The Israeli military has said it struck a “key” Hamas member in the area of Gaza City, without elaborating on who they may be.
In a post on Telegram, the army alleged that the member had been operating to re-establish Hamas’s capabilities, which have been severely depleted by more than two years of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
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There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian group.
The Wafa news agency reported that an Israeli drone hit a vehicle at the Nabulsi junction in the west of Gaza City, resulting in casualties.
The agency did not report on specific numbers, and it was not clear if the attack was the one that allegedly killed the Hamas member.
Since the ceasefire started in October, Israel has continued to attack Gaza daily – reaching nearly 800 times – in a clear breach of the agreement, according to authorities in Gaza.
Israel also continues to block the majority of aid trucks from entering the enclave. The United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly backed a resolution demanding that Israel open unrestricted humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip, stop attacking UN facilities, and comply with international law, in line with its obligations as an occupying power.
Months of tension between Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and members of the City Council burst into public view Friday when the council rebuffed the mayor’s request to significantly increase police hiring.
The face-off between the mayor and some council members has been brewing since the council voted in May as part of the city budget to reduce LAPD hiring to 240 officers this year — half of the 480 officers requested by Bass — in order to close a $1-billion budget shortfall and prevent layoffs of other city workers.
Then, when Bass signed the budget, she mentioned she had reached an agreement with Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson to find additional money to restore police hiring. The duo said they would find the money within 90 days.
The 90 days came and went. Then another 90 came and went. All the while, the LAPD continued hiring.
As of this month, nearly halfway through the fiscal year, the LAPD has already brought on all 240 new hires accounted for in the budget. To continue hiring officers, the City Council would need to allocate more money.
Against that backdrop, Bass sent a letter to the council Wednesday, calling on them to fund up to 410 new hires over this fiscal year, which ends in July. Some council members balked, saying they feared the hiring would cause a continuing deficit, since the new police officers will be on the city payroll for decades to come.
Bass’ push was backed by Councilmember John Lee, who called on his colleagues to fund the 410 hires by peeling $4.4 million away from other parts of the city budget, including the Human Resources Benefits Fund, the Police Health and Welfare Fund and the Innovation Fund.
The cost of the extra hires would jump to $24 million next year, and it was not clear how the city would fund their salaries in coming years.
Karen Bass at a farmers market on Nov. 4, 2022.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
“Here we are, considering an unvetted funding proposal none of us saw until this morning,” said Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, who chairs the council’s Budget and Finance Committee.
Yaroslavsky has said she would support hiring the 410 new officers if funding is available. She said the Budget Committee has repeatedly reached out to the mayor and the council president to find funding solutions but did not receive a response until this week, right before the council goes on recess for the holidays.
Yaroslavsky introduced her own proposal Friday to hire one additional class of 40 police recruits in January for $1.7 million — bringing the number of police hires up to 280 this fiscal year. She also requested that the LAPD and the city administrative officer return in January with ways to pay for more police hiring that does not come from one-time sources.
The council passed Yaroslavsky’s plan in an 11 to 4 vote.
Harris-Dawson, who supported the mayor’s goal of 410 officers, said that tensions over police hiring date back a half century. He cited a 2003 dispute between then-Mayor James Hahn and then-Council President Alex Padilla, with the council voting to delay police hiring due to the city’s financial issues.
“What we’re going through today is consistent with how the city of L.A. runs,” he said.
Bass had hoped to keep the department from shrinking significantly this year. The LAPD is anticipating losing 552 officers to attrition. If no more officers are hired beyond the 240 already brought on, the department could fall to 8,386 officers, the lowest number since 1995.
“Stopping the hiring of new police officers will have drastic and lasting consequences for our city,” Bass wrote in her letter to the City Council.
The mayor cited the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympics as reasons the city needs to grow its police force.
“We cannot knowingly and willingly increase the demands on our officers while reducing their workforce to the lowest levels in more than 20 years,” she said.
The city’s police union, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, supported Bass’ efforts to fund the 410 officers.
“Angelenos need this Council to understand that neighborhoods are clamoring for more police, not less, and it is time to end the political posturing and put their money where their mouths are and grow the force,” the union said in a statement Friday.
Times staff writers David Zahniser and Sandra McDonald contributed to this report.
