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JOHN Torode directed the N-word at staff member as well as singing it in a Kanye West song, claimed a source.

We reported yesterday how the MasterChef star, 59, repeated lyrics from Gold Digger, which contain the racial slur, at an after-work ­gathering six or seven years ago.

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Torode is said to have used the word again while ­chatting to a pal on the BBC show’s production team – who did not take offence.

Torode, who vehemently denies ever using the N-word, is “utterly devastated” by the accusations and has “absolutely no recollection”.

He was sacked this week after an investigation by the Beeb and production company Banijay – which also saw former co-host Gregg Wallace axed for inappropriate behaviour.

However, the BBC has how revealed the second incident was not the one reported and led to a complaint.

The allegation was actually in reference to an incident that unfolded a year before.

An insider claimed Torode used the “extremely offensive racist term” on set after filming a MasterChef episode.

It was allegedly directed towards a member of staff.

And, there were eight further complaints lodged against Torode, which ranged from alleged racist comments, sexual remarks and abusive language towards junior production employees.

But, they were not upheld due to lack of evidence.

The report has also highlighted a complaint against a third unnamed person for swearing.

According to the BBC, this is in reference to a senior exec on the show.

The company also lifted the lid on Torode and Wallace’s partnership and how the on-screen pals were “never friends” behind the scenes.

An ex-staffer claimed: “Clearly they had a good chemistry when the cameras were rolling. But you rarely saw them interact when the cameras were off.

“And when Gregg was saying inappropriate things like that, John held his counsel. I never saw him step in.”

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Torode himself admitted “we’ve never been friends. We’ve not been to each other’s houses”, in 2017.

He even confessed to the Mirror there had been “a couple of standoffs” which left Torode walking away from his co-star.

When allegations about Wallace came to light last year, Torode’s lack of support was glaringly obvious.

In his brief statement, he said the “thought of anyone who has appeared on our show not having a brilliant experience is awful to hear”.

It was enough to reportedly make Wallace “furious” and led to the chef unfollowing him and his co-host’s wife Lisa Faulkner.

This comes after a source told The Sun Torode is in “a pretty bad way — he’s feeling very fragile” since being sacked this week.

Melbourne-born John moved to the UK in 1991 and started working in London restaurants including Quaglino’s.

It was there he met greengrocer Wallace, who provided their veg.

He started cooking on This Morning in 1996 before he and Wallace began hosting the revamped MasterChef in 2005.

But the host was only spoken to by a representative from legal firm Lewis Silkin at the end of June as part of the inquiry into his ­MasterChef co-host Gregg Wallace.

A source added: “One of the allegations is that he said the N-word while repeating Kanye’s Gold Digger song during a gathering with his colleagues when filming had ended. John is adamant he would never have used the N-word and only knows the radio version of the song which says, ‘Now I ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger, but she ain’t messin’ with no broke, broke’. The clean version of the song is the only one he knows.

“The person who raised the complaint didn’t say anything at the time. So John only found out a few weeks ago that this issue had been raised.

“This has hit him like a ton of bricks as he does not recall it.

“He insists he would never have repeated the N-word in those lyrics because he only knows the radio edit of that song.”

Those close to Torode have criticised the BBC’s handling of his departure, with his representatives only being made aware his contract wasn’t being renewed after the BBC press office released a statement.

A source added: “John is devastated by all of this. He is being supported by his wife Lisa and friends. They’re keeping him close because he has really been struggling.

“John abhors this kind of language and does not recall ever reciting a racist slur in a lyric, or directing one to someone he considered a friend at work.

“He adored MasterChef. It was a huge part of his life. To have it all ending like this is awful.”

Wallace, 60, was also officially sacked this week by the BBC and Banijay after an independent investigation was carried out into allegations of bad behaviour on the show between 2005 and 2024.

A total of 45 out of 83 allegations were upheld.

The majority were inappropriate sexual language.

One related to unwanted touching.

BBC boss Tim Davie has since broke his silence on the future of MasterChef following the scandal.

He said: “I absolutely think it does, I think a great programme that’s loved by audiences is much bigger than individuals.

“It absolutely can survive and prosper, but we’ve got to make sure we’re in the right place in terms of the culture of the show.”

The Sun revealed that the final MasterChef series, with Wallace and Torode as hosts, will air “once the dust has settled”.

Meanwhile, Torode’s wife Lisa Faulkner has revealed “I don’t read anything about us” as she opened up about her six-year marriage.

Lloyd Howell has resigned as executive director of the NFL Players Assn., citing distractions his leadership has caused in recent weeks.

“Two years ago, I accepted the role of Executive Director of the NFLPA because I believe deeply in the mission of this union and the power of collective action to drive positive change for the players of America’s most popular sport,” Howell said in a statement released late Thursday night. “Our members deserve a union that will fight relentlessly for their health, safety, financial futures, and long-term well-being. My priority has been to lead that fight by serving this union with focus and dedication.

“It’s clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day. For this reason, I have informed the NFLPA Executive Committee that I am stepping down as Executive Director of the NFLPA and Chairman of the Board of NFL Players effective immediately. I hope this will allow the NFLPA to maintain its focus on its player members ahead of the upcoming season.”

Howell has come under scrutiny since ESPN reported he has maintained a part-time consulting job with the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that holds league approval to seek minority ownership in NFL franchises.

That followed the revelation that the NFLPA and the league had a confidentiality agreement to keep quiet an arbitrator’s ruling about possible collusion by owners over quarterback salaries.

The latest issue was an ESPN report Thursday that revealed two player representatives who voted for Howell were not aware that he was sued in 2011 for sexual discrimination and retaliation while he was a senior executive at Booz Allen.

“I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish at the NFLPA over the past two years,” Howell said. “I will be rooting for the players from the sidelines as loud as ever, and I know the NFLPA will continue to ensure that players remain firmly at the center of football’s future.”

July 10 (UPI) — U.S. Border Patrol agents in Detroit arrested two men in the United States illegally over the past weekend, one of whom admitted to being a member of the gang MS-13 and spending time in a Salvadorian prison for murder.

Agents responded to a request for help from law enforcement partners in Sterling Heights, Mich., who were holding two men involved in a fight at a local motel Sunday, according to a press release from the Department of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Record checks showed that the two were in the United States illegally.

During interviews, one man claimed to be a member of the gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, and said he had spent 20 years in a Salvadorian prison for the murder of a rival gang member.

The department didn’t reveal the names of the men.

“This is a major win for the U.S. Border Patrol and the safety of our communities,” said Detroit Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Javier Geronimo Jr. “This arrest is a clear example of how agents and our law enforcement partners are protecting our towns by removing violent criminals from our country.”

Both men are being processed for removal from the country, the release said.

MS-13 is a known gang that began in Los Angeles and was created to protect Salvadorian immigrants. It has since become an organized crime organization and has spread throughout the Americas.

MS-13 is listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

Thanks to breakout singles like “Diet Pepsi” and to praise from the likes of Charli XCX and Lana Del Rey, Addison Rae is considered by many prognosticators to be in the mix for a best new artist nomination at next year’s 68th Grammy Awards.

Now the 24-year-old singer could help determine the results of the ceremony as well.

The Recording Academy on Wednesday said that it’s invited nearly 3,600 music professionals to become members of the organization behind music’s most prestigious awards ceremony — among them the former TikTok star who’s become a major pop presence in the last 12 months or so.

In addition to Rae, the academy extended invites to the rapper Joey Badass, the singer Mariah the Scientist, the comedian Nikki Glaser and the members of the K-pop-style girl group Katseye and the regional Mexican music band Grupo Firme.

In a statement, Rae called the invitation “a huge honor” and said she’s “so lucky to be surrounded by talent and poise that inspires me to create fearlessly.” Added Glaser: “This is the greatest thing the Grammys have given me since the half of Benson Boone’s tuxedo I kept” after February’s show.

Of the 3,600 new invitees, approximately 2,600 (including the aforementioned artists) are being offered voting membership in the academy. The group currently has around 13,000 members who vote on the Grammys; last year, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. told The Times that in addition to adding new members — part of a broader effort to diversify an electorate long criticized for being too old, too male and too white — the group was shedding voters that no longer met the organization’s qualifications for membership.

As an example, Mason described “voters that maybe had a hit record or a song published in the ’70s or ’80s and just kept voting.” His goal, he added, was a voting body composed of “relevant music people.”

In its statement, the academy said that 49% of the new invitees are women, 56% are people of color and 60% are people under the age of 40. Those invited have until July 31 to accept the invitation in order to take part in next year’s ceremony. First-round voting for the 68th Grammys (in which nominations are determined) opens Oct. 3; the show itself will take place Feb. 1 at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.

A local activist who handed out protective face shields to protesters last month during demonstrations against the Trump administration’s chaotic immigration raids was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday.

Alejandro Orellana, a 29-year-old member of the Boyle Heights-based community organization Centro CSO, faces charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting civil disorder, court records show.

According to the indictment, Orellana and at least two others drove around downtown L.A. in a pickup truck distributing Uvex Bionic face shields and other items to a crowd engaged in a protest near the federal building on Los Angeles Street on June 9.

Prosecutors allege Orellana was helping protesters withstand less-lethal munitions being deployed by Los Angeles police officers and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies after an unlawful assembly had been declared.

Orellana is due in court on Thursday morning. An e-mail to his federal public defender seeking comment was not immediately returned.

U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, a former California Assemblyman appointed by President Trump, has promised to aggressively prosecute anyone who interferes with Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations or harms police during protests. Federal prosecutors have brought at least 14 cases related to last month’s demonstrations and Essayli promised more people will be charged.

Asked how handing out defensive equipment was a crime during a news conference last month, Essayli insisted Orellana was specifically handing out supplies to violent demonstrators.

“He wasn’t handing masks out at the beach. … They’re covering their faces. They’re wearing backpacks. These weren’t peaceful protesters,” he said. “They weren’t holding up signs, with a political message. They came to do violence.”

Essayli described anyone who remained at a protest scene after an unlawful assembly was declared as a “rioter” and said peaceful protesters “don’t need a face shield.”

Orellana, who works for United Parcel Service, has no criminal record and previously served in the U.S. Marines, according to Carlos Montes, a fellow member of Centro CSO.

Montes said he believes Essayli is specifically targeting Centro CSO for its pro-immigrant activism, noting FBI agents seized another member’s cellphone last week as part of their investigation into Orellana.

“It’s ridiculous charges. We’re demanding they drop the charges now. They’re insignificant, ridiculous,” Montes said. “The most it amounts to is that he was passing out personal protective equipment, which includes boxes of water, hand sanitizer and snacks.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Marine Corps did not immediately respond to a request for Orellana’s service record.

Montes also challenged Essayli’s argument that peaceful protesters have no need for protective equipment, pointing to myriad instances in which people have been seriously injured by Los Angeles police and county sheriff’s deputies in recent years.

A Times investigation last month highlighted incidents in which protesters allege Los Angeles Police Department officers fired rubber rounds and other crowd control munitions without warning in recent weeks, causing demonstrators and members of the media to suffer broken bones, concussions and other forms of severe harm.

Times staff writer Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.

Protesters railed on Tuesday against an Orange County congresswoman who could be a critical vote on President Trump’s proposal to cut more than $1 trillion in federal dollars that helped pay for healthcare for those in need and extend tax cuts for millions of Americans.

Trump’s proposed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” narrowly passed the U.S. Senate hours before hundreds of people gathered in a cul-de-sac outside of the Anaheim field office of Republican Rep. Young Kim to protest those cuts. The legislation still needs to be voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives, which could happen before the end of the week.

“I don’t know why they call it beautiful, because there’s nothing about it that’s beautiful. It’s harmful, it’s reckless, and it’s cruel, and it’s going to hurt people,” said Melody Mendenhall, a nurse at UCLA who is active with the California Nurses Assn., which was among the groups that organized the protest. “Rep. Young Kim, hear our cry, hear our voices. We need our Medicaid. We cannot afford this type of reckless cuts and behavior.”

A security guard blocked the parking lot to Kim’s office and at least a half-dozen Anaheim police officers watched the protest unfold.

Several people who appeared to be Kim staffers watched the demonstration from outside the building before they dashed inside when protesters marched to the building, unsuccessfully sought to enter it and then began chanting “Shame! Shame!”

In a statement, Kim said that her door was always open to Californians in her district.

“I understand some of my constituents are concerned and know how important Medicaid services are for many in my community, which is why I voted to protect and strengthen Medicaid services for our most vulnerable citizens who truly need it,” Kim said. “I have met with many of these local healthcare advocates in recent months.”

Trump’s proposal would dramatically overhaul the nation’s tax code by making cuts approved during the president’s first term permanent, a major benefit to the corporations and the nation’s wealthy, while slashing funding for historic federal safety-net programs including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps provide food to low-income Americans.

Roughly 15 million Californians, more than a third of the state, are on Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, with some of the highest percentages in rural counties that supported Trump in the November election. More than half of California children receive healthcare coverage through Medi-Cal.

A version of the Republican bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives with Kim’s support. The U.S. Senate narrowly approved an amended version of the bill on Tuesday. The defection of three GOP senators meant Vice President JD Vance had to cast the tie-breaking vote for it to pass in that chamber.

The House and Senate will now work to reconcile their two different versions of the bill. This week was a district work week for members of Congress, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) ordered members back to Washington, D.C., for votes on the bill that could occur Wednesday or Thursday.

Republicans hope to get the legislation to President Trump’s desk for his signature by Friday, Independence Day, though there is some concern among its members about whether they will have enough votes to pass the bill because of potential defections and the united Democratic opposition.

An analysis released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Sunday estimated that the Senate version of the proposal would increase the national deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034 and would result in 11.8 million Americans losing health insurance in less than a decade.

Trump praised the passage of the bill on social media and urged House Republicans to support the Senate plan.

The proposal has caused a rift within the GOP, with and some House members have expressed reservations about the measure because of the amount it would add to the nation’s deficit and its impact on their constituents.

“I’ve been clear from the start that I will not support a final reconciliation bill that makes harmful cuts to Medicaid, puts critical funding at risk, or threatens the stability of healthcare providers” in his congressional district, Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) wrote on the social media site X on Sunday.

He represents more than half a million Central Valley residents who rely on Medicaid — the most of any congressional district in California, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center. A spokesperson for Valadao on Tuesday didn’t respond to a question about how the congressman planned to vote.

Kim’s Orange County district is more affluent than Valadao’s, but roughly one in five of her constituents relies on Medicaid.

The congresswoman was en route to Washington at the time of the protest, according to a spokesperson.

Outside her Anaheim field office, protester after protester described how the bill would impact vulnerable Californians, such as disabled children, the elderly, veterans and those who would lose access to reproductive healthcare.

“The stakes have never been higher. We are living in a time when our rights are under attack,” said Emily Escobar, a public advocacy manager for Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties.

She said that federal funds do not pay for abortions, but help pay for other vital healthcare, such as cancer screenings, preventative care, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and access to contraception. More than one-third of Planned Parenthood’s patients nationwide reside in California.

These cuts will result in clinics being shut down, effectively reducing access to abortion, Escobar said.

“Let me make this clear, this bill is a backdoor abortion ban,” she said.

Shari Home, 73, said she and her husband were weighing how to divide their Social Security income on food, medication and medical supplies after her husband, who suffers several chronic health conditions, fell last year.

“The hospitalizations were so expensive, so we applied for and got Medi-Cal in January and food assistance, and it’s been such a lifesaver,” said the Laguna Woods resident. “Without Medi-Cal, I don’t know what we would do. Our lives would not be good. We would not have the medications that he needs.”

Michelle Del Rosario, 57, wore a button picturing her son William, 25, on her blouse. The Orange resident, one of Kim’s constituents who has previously voted for her, is the primary caregiver for her son, who has autism, epilepsy and does not speak.

Her son relies on his Medi-Cal coverage for his $5,000-a-month seizure medicine, as well as the home health support he receives, she said.

“He lives at home. He has desires, at some point, to live independently, to work, but he needs” these support services for that to happen, Del Rosario said.

The Writers Guild of America West has removed Randall Emmett from its “strike list” after the film producer paid $630,000 to resolve a judgment in a long-standing dispute over unpaid compensation.

The resolution comes more than five years after Emmett’s former production firm, Emmett/Furla Oasis, failed to pay health insurance benefits and other compensation to four writers on a proposed Arnold Schwarzenegger television show, “Pump,” that collapsed in 2019 when the action star bowed out.

“This was originally a financial obligation tied to former companies,” Emmett said in a statement. “However, I made the personal decision to take it on independently because it was simply the right thing to do.”

The WGA confirmed Monday that Emmett had been taken off its strike list after nearly five years, a penalty due to his former firm’s lingering debt. But a WGA representative said members should still refrain from working with him unless he becomes a signatory to the guild’s contract with producers.

Emmett/Furla Oasis has been defunct for years. His current production firm, Convergence Entertainment Group, is trying to mount a film project in collaboration with Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese. The filmmakers hope to bring to the screen “Wall of White,” a story of a deadly 1982 avalanche near Lake Tahoe.

However, in March, the WGA warned its members to stay clear of the project, citing the unpaid debt. The WGA’s high-profile advisory clouded Emmett’s endeavors.

Emmett was the subject of a 2022 Times investigation and subsequent Hulu documentary that surfaced allegations of mistreatment of women, assistants and business partners, which he has denied.

Emmett has continued to crank out low-budget films, primarily starring John Travolta and Sylvester Stallone.

Last year, Emmett attempted to fly under the radar by using the moniker “Ives,” which is his middle name.

Emmett ran afoul of union rules in 2019 after hiring four guild writers to develop scripts for a TV series loosely based on Schwarzenegger’s early years in California.

Writers of the project previously told The Times they wanted “Pump” to be a love letter to Venice Beach in the early 1970s and the birth of the modern bodybuilding culture.

At the time, Emmett’s firm was burning through cash, according to internal documents previously viewed by The Times. The writers were also brought on board before Schwarzenegger committed to the project.

The WGA won a $541,464 judgment against Emmett/Furla Oasis in 2021 after it filed a claim on behalf of writers. The debt swelled with interest.

The “Wall of White” project draws on a 2010 book as well as a 2021 documentary, “Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche.” After a heavy spring storm in Northern California in 1982, tons of snow rushed down a mountain and into a village, trapping eight people at a ski resort. Seven died, and rescuers pulled one woman from the wreckage.

Screenwriter Petter Skavlan, a WGA member, was attached to the film, according to IMDb.

Book author Jennifer Woodlief also has been listed as a screenwriter.

Emmett has been working on the project for more than a year. He introduced the Netflix documentary to Scorsese, according to a March article in the Tahoe Guide, which touted how the local tragedy was being adapted into a feature film.

The filmmakers are searching for a director.

“We expect to finalize an A-list director by this summer in preparation for a February 1st production start,” Emmett said.

The project is expected to film in Nevada, Ohio and Canada, he said.

WASHINGTON — Just hours after she pleaded not guilty to federal charges brought by the Trump administration, Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey was surrounded by dozens of supportive Democratic colleagues in the halls of the Capitol. The case, they argued, strikes at the heart of congressional power.

“If they can break LaMonica, they can break the House of Representatives,” said New York Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Federal prosecutors allege that McIver interfered with law enforcement during a visit with two other House Democrats to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark. She calls the charges “baseless.”

It’s far from the only clash between congressional Democrats and the Republican administration as officials ramp up deportations of immigrants around the country.

Sen. Alex Padilla of California was forcibly removed by federal agents, wrestled to the ground and held while attempting to ask a question at a news conference of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. At least six groups of House Democrats have recently been denied entry to ICE detention centers. In early June, federal agents entered the district office of Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and briefly detained a staffer.

Congressional Republicans have largely criticized Democrats’ behavior as inflammatory and inappropriate, and some have publicly supported the prosecution of McIver.

Often in the dark about the Trump administration’s moves, congressional Democrats are wrestling with how to perform their oversight duties at a time of roiling tensions with the White House and new restrictions on lawmakers visiting federal facilities.

“We have the authority to conduct oversight business, and clearly, House Republicans are not doing that oversight here,” said New Jersey Rep. Rob Menendez, one of the House Democrats who went with McIver to the Newark ICE facility.

“It’s our obligation to continue to do it on-site at these detention facilities. And even if they don’t want us to, we are going to continue to exert our right.”

A stark new reality

The prospect of facing charges for once routine oversight activity has alarmed many congressional Democrats who never expected to face criminal prosecution as elected officials. Lawmakers in both parties were also unnerved by the recent targeted shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers — one of them fatal — and the nation’s tense political atmosphere.

“It’s a moment that calls for personal courage of members of Congress,” said Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.). “I wish that we had more physical protection. I think that’s one of those harsh realities that members of Congress who are not in leadership recognize: that oftentimes, we do this job at our own peril, and we do it anyway.”

The arrests and detentions of lawmakers have led some Democrats to take precautionary measures. Several have consulted with the House general counsel about their right to conduct oversight. Multiple lawmakers also sought personal legal counsel, while others have called for a review of congressional rules to provide greater protections.

“The Capitol Police are the security force for members of Congress. We need them to travel with us, to go to facilities and events that the president may have us arrested for,” said Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.).

‘Not a lot of transparency’

As the minority party in the House, Democrats lack the subpoena power to force the White House to provide information. That’s a problem, they say, because the Trump administration is unusually secretive about its actions.

“There’s not a lot of transparency. From day to day, oftentimes, we’re learning about what’s happening at the same time as the rest of the nation,” said Rep. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.), who led a prayer for McIver at the Capitol rally.

To amplify their concerns, Democrats have turned to public letters, confronted officials at congressional hearings and used digital and media outreach to try to create public pressure.

“We’ve been very successful when they come in before committees,” said Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), who added that she believed the public inquiries have “100%” resonated with voters.

Tapping into the information pipeline

Congressional Democrats say they often rely on local lawmakers, business leaders and advocates to be their eyes and ears on the ground.

A few Democrats say their best sources of information are across the political aisle, since Republicans typically have clearer lines of communication with the White House.

“I know who to call in Houston with the chamber. I think all of us do that,” Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) said of how business leaders are keeping her updated.

Garcia said Democrats “need to put more pressure” on leading figures in the agriculture, restaurant and hospitality sectors to take their concerns about the immigrant crackdown to President Trump’s White House.

“They’re the ones he’ll listen to. They’re the ones who can add the pressure. He’s not going to listen to me, a Democrat who was an impeachment manager, who is on the bottom of his list, if I’m on it at all,” Garcia said.

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) had a working relationship with a for-profit ICE facility in his district until the Department of Homeland Security in February ended reports as part of an agency-wide policy change. A member of Crow’s staff now regularly goes to the facility and waits, at times for hours, until staff at the Aurora facility respond to detailed questions posed by the office.

‘Real oversight’ requires winning elections

Still, many House Democrats concede that they can conduct little of their desired oversight until they are back in the majority.

Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) said that “real oversight power and muscle” only comes “when you have a gavel.”

“Nothing else matters. No rousing oratory, no tours, no speeches, no social media or entertainment, none of that stuff,” Veasey said. “Because the thing that keeps Trump up at night more than anything else is the idea he’s going to lose this House and there’ll be real oversight pressure applied to him.”

Brown writes for the Associated Press.

The concrete walls of the David Geffen Galleries were still bare Thursday evening. The landscaping outside was still settling in, and pockets of construction were still visible. But the minute the music poured out of the upstairs entryway, it finally hit: The new LACMA was actually here.

After five years of construction, so much debate about its scale, design and ambitions, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art held its first event Thursday night inside the Peter Zumthor-designed building. A sprawling, immersive concert by composer and SoCal jazz hero Kamasi Washington called for multiple bands, each with about a dozen musicians, to play site-specific arrangements throughout the empty galleries before art has been installed. A woodwind ensemble overlooked Park La Brea through floor-to-ceiling glass; a choir stacked harmonies that floated over the span of the structure as it crossed Wilshire Boulevard.

Hundreds of VIPs and members of the media took it all in. The project has its skeptics, including how the museum’s permanent collection will function in it. But for now, museum members could slink about the echoing halls of L.A.’s newest landmark and ponder the possibilities.

Guests at the sneak peek inside the new building Thursday cross a glass-lined expanse that crosses over Wilshire Boulevard.

LACMA Director Michael Govan addresses members of the media assembled for the first public peek inside the empty building, which still needs to complete some construction details and install the art before opening, targeted for April 2026.

The design of the museum has morphed over the years, from a dark, curvaceous amoeba-like form that echoed the nearby La Brea Tar Pits to a design that retains the curves up top but shifts to rectilinear glass on the galleries level below.

The preview event Thursday featured musicians staged throughout the building.

Preview events give museum members a chance to view Zumthor’s design before art is installed. One of the lingering questions is how the concrete walls will fare given the museum’s new plan to shift from permanent collection displays to ever-rotating exhibitions — and all the rehanging of artworks that will be required.

The setting sun casts long shadows from visitors looking out toward the rooftop of Renzo Piano’s Resnick Pavilion and, off in the distance on the left, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ domed terrace.

Artist Tony Smith’s installation “Smoke” has a new home outside the David Geffen Galleries. The museum recently announced the addition of a forthcoming Jeff Koons’ sculpture, “Split-Rocker.”

When the new building opens in April 2026, LACMA has said, the ticketing process will be handled at kiosks on the ground level.

Inside another one of the galleries. Some of the architecture-circle speculation about the building has centered on the finish of the building’s concrete, inside and out.

The view from the David Geffen Galleries as it crosses Wilshire Boulevard.

Times art critic Christopher Knight, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his early analysis of the LACMA building plan, and Times music critic Mark Swed attended the preview concert event Thursday. Check back for their first impressions of the new space.

PILTON, England — Irish-language rap group Kneecap gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans on Saturday at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terrorism charge against one of the trio.

Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August.

“Glastonbury, I’m a free man!” O hAnnaidh shouted as Kneecap took the stage at Glastonbury’s West Holts field, which holds about 30,000 people. Dozens of Palestinian flags flew in the capacity crowd as the show opened with an audio montage of news clips referring to the band’s critics and legal woes.

Between high-energy numbers that had fans forming a large mosh pit, the band members led the audience in chants of “Free Palestine” and “Free Mo Chara.” They also aimed an expletive-laden chant at U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has said he didn’t think it was “appropriate” for Kneecap to play Glastonbury.

The trio thanked festival organizers Michael and Emily Eavis for resisting pressure to cancel Kneecap’s gig and gave a shout-out to Palestine Action, a protest group that the British government plans to ban under terrorism laws after its members vandalized planes on a Royal Air Force base.

The Belfast trio is known for anarchic energy, satirical lyrics and use of symbolism associated with the Irish republican movement, which seeks to unite Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., with the Republic of Ireland.

More than 3,600 people were killed during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland involving Irish republican militants, pro-British Loyalist militias and the U.K. security forces. Kneecap takes its name from a brutal punishment — shooting in the leg — that was dealt out by paramilitary groups to informers and drug dealers.

The group has faced criticism for lyrics laden with expletives and drug references, and for political statements, especially since videos emerged allegedly showing the band shouting, “up Hamas, up Hezbollah,” and calling on people to kill lawmakers.

Members of the group say they don’t support Hezbollah or Hamas, nor condone violence, and O hAnnaidh says he picked up a flag that was thrown onto the stage without knowing what it represented. Kneecap has accused critics of trying to silence the band because of its support for the Palestinian cause throughout the war in the Gaza Strip.

A performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April — where the band accused Israel, with U.S. support, of committing genocide against the Palestinians — sparked calls for the group members’ U.S. visas to be revoked.

Several Kneecap gigs have since been canceled as a result of the controversy.

The BBC, which airs many hours of Glastonbury performances, didn’t show Kneecap’s set live, but said it would “look to make an on-demand version of Kneecap’s performance available on our digital platforms” afterward.

About 200,000 ticket holders have gathered at Worthy Farm in southwest England for Britain’s most prestigious summer music festival, which features almost 4,000 performers on 120 stages. Headline acts performing over three days ending Sunday include Neil Young, Charli XCX, Rod Stewart, Busta Rhymes, Olivia Rodrigo and Doechii.

Glastonbury highlights Friday included a performance from U.K. rockers the 1975, an unannounced set by New Zealand singer Lorde, a raucous reception for Alanis Morissette and an emotional return for Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi, two years after he took a break from touring to adjust to the effect of the neurological condition Tourette syndrome.

Dixon writes for the Associated Press.

In the wacky political world of Southeast Los Angeles County — where scandals seem to bloom every year with the regularity of jacarandas — there’s never been a mess as pendejo as the one stirred up this week by Cudahy Vice Mayor Cynthia Gonzalez.

How else would you describe an elected official telling gang leaders, in a video posted to social media, to “f— get your members in order” and take to the streets against Donald Trump’s immigration raids?

Gonzalez’s rant has set off a national storm at the worst possible time. Conservative media is depicting her as a politician — a Latino, of course — issuing a green light to gangs to go after la migra. On social media, the Department of Homeland Security shared her video, which it called “despicable,” and insisted that “this kind of garbage” has fueled “assaults” against its agents.

Gonzalez later asked her Facebook friends to help her find a lawyer, because “the FBI just came to my house.” To my colleague Ruben Vives, the agency didn’t confirm or deny Gonzalez’s assertion.

The first-term council member deserves all the reprimands being heaped on her — most of all because the video that set off this pathetic episode is so cringe.

“I want to know where all the cholos are at in Los Angeles — 18th Street, Florencia, where’s the leadership at?” Gonzalez said at the beginning of her video, which was quickly taken down. “You guys tag everything up claiming ‘hood,’ and now that your hood’s being invaded by the biggest gang there is, there ain’t a peep out of you!”

Gonzalez went on to claim that 18th Street and Florencia 13 — rivals that are among the largest and most notorious gangs in Southern California — shouldn’t be “trying to claim no block, no nothing, if you’re not showing up right now trying to, like, help out and organize. I don’t want to hear a peep out of you once they’re gone.”

The Cudahy council’s second-in-command seems to have recorded the clip at a party, judging by her black halter top, bright red lipstick, fresh hairstyle and fancy earrings, with club music thumping in the background. She looked and sounded like an older cousin who grew up in the barrio and now lives in Downey, trying to sound hard in front of her bemused cholo relatives.

The Trump administration is looking for any reason to send in even more National Guard troops and Marines to quell what it has characterized as an insurrection. If inviting a gang to help — let alone two gangs as notorious as 18th Street and Florencia — doesn’t sound like what Trump claims he’s trying to quash, I’m not sure what is.

Perhaps worst of all, Gonzalez brought political ignominy once again on Southeast L.A. County, better known as SELA. Its small, supermajority Latino cities have long been synonymous with political corruption and never seem to get a lucky break from their leaders, even as Gonzalez’s generation has vowed not to repeat the sins of the past.

Cudahy Vice Mayor Cynthia Gonzalez

(City of Cudahy)

“In her post, Dr. Gonzalez issued a challenge to the Latino community: join the thousands of Angelenos already peacefully organizing in response to ongoing enforcement actions,” her attorney, Damian J. Martinez, said in a written statement. “Importantly, Dr. Gonzalez in no way encouraged anyone to engage in violence. Any suggestion that she advocated for violence is categorically false and without merit.”

For their part, Cudahy officials said that Gonzalez’s thoughts “reflect her personal views and do not represent the views or official position of the City of Cudahy.”

Raised in Huntington Park and a graduate of Bell High, Gonzalez has spent 22 years as a teacher, principal and administrator in the Los Angeles Unified School District. In 2023, after Cudahy — a suburb of about 22,000 residents that’s 98% Latino — became the first city in Southern California to approve a Gaza ceasefire resolution, she told The Times’ De Los section that Latinos “understand what it means to be left behind.”

A few weeks ago, Gonzalez appeared alongside Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and elected leaders from Los Angeles and Ventura counties to decry the immigration raids that were just ramping up.

“I want to speak to Americans, especially those who have allowed our community to be the scapegoat of this administration that made you feel that your American dream hasn’t happened because of us,” Gonzalez said, adding that corporations “are using our brown bodies to avoid the conversation that this administration is a failure and they do not know how to legislate.”

Last week, she announced that she will be running for the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees for a third time, urging Facebook followers to forego donating to her campaign in favor of organizations helping immigrants. “Our priorities must reflect the urgency of the times,” she wrote.

In those settings, Gonzalez comes off as just another wokosa politician. But the feds now see her as a wannabe Big Homie.

Trying to enlist gangs to advocate for immigrants comes off as both laughable and offensive — and describing 18th Street and Florencia as “the Latino community” is like describing the Manson family as “fun-loving hippies.” Gang members have extorted immigrant entrepreneurs and terrorized immigrant communities going back to the days of “Gangs of New York.” Their modus operandi — expanding turf, profit and power via fear and bloodshed — will forever peg Latinos as prone to violence in the minds of too many Americans. Transnational gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13 are Trump’s ostensible reason for his deportation tsunami — and now a politician thinks it’s wise to ask cholos to draw closer?

And yet I sympathize — and even agree — with what Gonzalez was really getting at, as imperfect and bumbling as she was. Homeland Security’s claim that she was riling up gangs to “commit violence against our brave ICE law enforcement” doesn’t hold up in the context of history.

For decades, Latino activists have strained to inspire gang members to join el movimiento — not as stormtroopers but as wayward youngsters and veteranos who can leave la vida loca behind if only they become enlightened. El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, a manifesto published in 1969 at the height of the Chicano movement, envisioned a world where “there will no longer be acts of juvenile delinquency, but revolutionary acts.” Its sister document, El Plan de Santa Barbara, warned activists that they “must be able to relate to all segments of the Barrio, from the middle-class assimilationists to the vatos locos.”

From Homeboy Industries to colleges that allow prison inmates to earn a degree, people still believe in the power of forgiveness and strive to reincorporate gang members into society as productive people. They’re relatives and friends and community members, the thinking goes, not irredeemable monsters.

Gonzalez’s video comes from that do-gooder vein. A closer listen shows she isn’t lionizing 18th Street or Florencia 13. She’s pushing them to be truly tough by practicing civil — not criminal — disobedience.

“It’s everyone else who’s not about the gang life that’s out there protesting and speaking up,” the vice mayor said, her voice heavy with the Eastside accent. “We’re out there, like, fighting for our turf, protecting our turf, protecting our people, and like, where you at? Bien calladitos, bien calladitos li’l cholitos.”

Good and quiet, little cholitos, which translates as “baby gangsters” but is far more dismissive in Spanish.

Her delivery was terrible, but the message stands, to gang members and really to anyone else who hasn’t yet shown up for immigrants: if not now, when? If not you, who?

It’ll be a miracle if Gonzalez’s political career recovers. But future chroniclers of L.A. should treat her kindly. Calling out cholos for being cholos is easy. Challenging them to make good of themselves at a key moment in history isn’t.

When Wu-Tang Clan and Run the Jewels took over the Crypto.com Arena in downtown L.A. on Sunday night, it wasn’t just a concert — it was a cultural earthquake. Crammed full of rap royalty, fans were packed together tighter than a “36” Chain” in a charged celebration of hip-hop’s powerful lasting impact.

The stop was part of the group’s Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber farewell tour that began June 6 in Baltimore and concludes July 18 in Philadelphia, comprising 27 shows.

The tour features Wu-Tang’s surviving members — RZA, GZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and Cappadonna — along with Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s son, Young Dirty Bastard, and DJ Mathematics.

The night began with an fierce performance from Run the Jewels, who set the tone with their explosive energy and charisma. Killer Mike and El-P, self-described as the new PB&J, commanded the stage effortlessly as they tore through their set list, kicking off with “Legend Has It” and moving into iconic hits like “Gold,” “Lie, Cheat, Steal,” “Ooh La La” and “Close Your Eyes.” The crowd was electric, rapping every word in unison while raising hand pistols and fists in solidarity. The duo’s sharp-witted lyrics, relentless rhythm and uncontainable passion ensured that their performance would be etched in memory as one of the highlights of the evening.

RZA of Wu-Tang Clan performs Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

By 9 p.m., it was officially time for Wu-Tang Clan to “Bring Da Ruckus,” and it did so with the fiery conviction of a team that defined an era in hip-hop. Arguably one of the most influential groups in music history, Wu delivered a performance that was both nostalgic and invigorating. Each member’s unique style and lyrical prowess shone brightly as classics like “C.R.E.A.M.,” “Protect Ya Neck,” “Method Man,” “Can It Be All So Simple” and Triumph” reverberated through the arena, igniting waves of energy throughout the audience. The powerful bass lines and raw, unfiltered sound reminded everyone why Wu-Tang Clan remains one of the most significant outfits in hip-hop.

Inspectah Deck and U-God of Wu-Tang Clan perform Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

Every hit Wu performed was like a time machine, taking the crowd on a ride through decades of influence, innovation and street-born poetry. The chamber members didn’t just perform, they took victory laps in front of a crowd that knew every word. You could feel the respect and weight of history in every moment.

Young Dirty Bastard and Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan perform Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

Adding a poignant touch to the evening, YDB took the stage to honor his late father, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, with renditions of his hits “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” and “Got Your Money.” The crowd rapped along passionately, creating a collective moment of tribute. The show also featured an unexpected twist, with multiple interludes promoting RZA’s latest action thriller, “One Spoon of Chocolate,” as well as the “Purple Tape Files” doc produced by him and Raekwon, blending entertainment with strategic promotion. Smart? Probably — even if it did seem oddly shoehorned in the middle of the show.

Fans of Wu-Tang Clan cheer as the band performs Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

Sunday at Crypto.com was much more than a gathering of two legendary crews sharing a stage. It was a historic celebration that lighted up Los Angeles with the full force of hip-hop excellence. From the thundering beats to the infectious energy of the crowd, every moment served as an in-your-face reminder that music shapes, inspires, and unites. And the performances? Those were a living testament to hip-hop’s enduring role in culture, and the audience left buzzing with the echoes of greatness that had filled every corner of the arena — Wu-Tang forever.

When an author decides to tackle the story of a popular and important band like Talking Heads, the contours of which are familiar to many of its fans, the remit should be to illuminate the unexplored corners, the hidden details and anecdotes that provide a more full-bodied narrative and ultimately bring the band into sharper relief than ever before. Unfortunately, Jonathan Gould has almost completely ignored this directive in “Burning Down the House,” his new Talking Heads biography. This lumpy book, full of redundant stories and unnecessary detours that provide little illumination but plenty of needless bulk, lacks participation by the group’s members and is not the biography that this great and important band deserves.

As fans of the Heads already know, three of the four members met as students at the Rhode Island School of Design in the mid-’70s, children of privilege with artsy aspirations and not much direction. David Byrne came from Baltimore by way of Scotland, a socially awkward dabbler in conceptualist experiments with photography and a veteran of various mediocre cover bands. It was drummer Chris Frantz who enlisted Byrne to join one such band; bassist Tina Weymouth, Frantz’s girlfriend and the daughter of a decorated Navy vice admiral, played bass. They were an anti-jam band and pro-avant; the first decent song they came up with was a shambolic version of what became “Psycho Killer,” with Weymouth contributing the French recitatif in the song’s bridge.

For the emergent Heads, timing was everything. When Frantz signed the lease on a spacious loft on Chrystie Street in East Village in October 1974, he had unwittingly found the practice space where the three musicians would hone their craft. The loft was also a short walk to CBGB, soon to become the proving ground of New York’s punk revolution and the Heads’ primary live performance venue at the start of their career.

In March 1975, Byrne, Weymouth and Frantz attended a gig by Boston’s Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers at the Kitchen, an arts collective space in Soho, and it showed them a new way to approach their music. Richman, “who dressed like a kid that everyone laughed at in high school,” influenced the band’s preppy visual template and Byrne’s clenched singing voice. Within a year of moving to the city, Talking Heads had found its look, sound and favored club. When Frantz bumped into Modern Lovers bassist Ernie Brooks in a West Village Cafe, Frantz inquired about keyboardist Jerry Harrison; Brooks gave him Harrison’s number, Harrison joined the band and the classic Talking Heads lineup was complete.

What followed was a contract with Seymour Stein’s label Sire and the band’s collaboration with producer Brian Eno, beginning with its second album, “More Songs About Buildings and Food.” By the time the band released 1980’s groundbreaking “Remain in Light,” Eno’s role had expanded beyond his production duties. He was now writing songs with Byrne, which created friction within the band. When Byrne allegedly reneged on songwriting credits (the album listed “David Byrne, Brian Eno and Talking Heads,” rather than the individual band members), it created a rift that never healed, even as the band was selling millions of copies of its follow-up “Speaking in Tongues” and the soundtrack to the Jonathan Demme concert film “Stop Making Sense.” The final act was recriminatory, as Byrne commanded an ever greater share of the spotlight while the other members quietly seethed. The band’s final album, “Naked,” was its weakest, and Talking Heads dissolved in 1991, after Byrne removed himself from the lineup to explore outside projects.

Author Jonathan Gould

(Richard Edelman)

Gould does a serviceable job of telling the Heads’ story in a book that arrives 50 years after the band’s first gig at CBGB. Curiously, for someone who has tasked himself with explaining Manhattan’s late ‘70s downtown renaissance, Gould regards many of the key players in that scene with derision bordering on contempt. Gould refers to Richard Hell, a prime architect of New York punk, as a mediocrity whose “singing, songwriting and bass playing remained as pedestrian as his poetry.” Patti Smith’s music “verged on a parody of beat poetry,” while the vastly influential Velvet Underground, a band that made New York punk possible, is hobbled by its “pretensions to hipness, irony and amorality.” Even Chris Frantz’s drumming is “exceptionally unimaginative.” Gould is also careless with his descriptors. Jonathan Richman’s band displays a “willful lack” of commercial instinct, the Heads assert a “willful conventionality” to their stage appearance, Johnny Ramone is a “willfully obnoxious” guitarist and so on.

It’s hard to fathom how a biographer intent on cracking the code of one of rock’s seminal bands can do so with so much contempt for the culture that spawned it. An inquiring fan might want to go to Will Hermes’ 2011 book “Love Goes to Buildings on Fire” for a more nuanced and knowledgeable portrait of the creative ferment that made the Heads possible. As for a biography of Talking Heads, we are still left with a lacuna that Gould has unfortunately not filled.

Weingarten is the author of “Thirsty: William Mulholland, California Water, and the Real Chinatown.”

WASHINGTON — The day after immigration raids began in Los Angeles, Rep. Norma Torres (D-Pomona) and three other members of Congress were denied entry to the immigrant detention facility inside the Roybal Federal Building.

The lawmakers were attempting an unannounced inspection, a common and long-standing practice under congressional oversight powers.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said too many protesters were present on June 7 and officers deployed chemical agents multiple times. In a letter later to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, Torres said she ended up in the emergency room for respiratory treatment. She also said the protest had been small and peaceful.

Torres is one of many Democratic members of Congress, from states including California, New York and Illinois, who have been denied entry to immigrant detention facilities in recent weeks.

Jim Townsend, director of the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne State University in Michigan, said the denials mark a profound — and illegal — shift from past practice.

“Denying members of Congress access to facilities is a direct assault on our system of checks and balances,” he said. “What members of Congress are trying to do now is to be part of a proud bipartisan tradition of what we like to call oversight by showing up.”

Subsequent attempts by lawmakers to inspect the facility inside the Roybal Building have also been unsuccessful.

Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles), who was with Torres the day she was hospitalized, went back twice more — on June 9 and on Tuesday — and was rebuffed. Torres and Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) tried at separate times Wednesday and were both denied.

Gomez and other Democrats have pointed to a federal statute, detailed in yearly appropriations packages since 2020, which states that funds may not be used to prevent a member of Congress “from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house aliens …”

The statute also states that nothing in that section “may be construed to require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility” for the purpose of conducting oversight. Under the statute, federal officials may require at least 24 hours notice for a visit by congressional staff — but not members themselves.

Under ICE guidelines published this month for members of Congress and their staff, the agency requests at least 72 hours notice from lawmakers and requires at least 24 hours notice from staff.

The agency says it has discretion to deny or reschedule a visit if an emergency arises or the safety of the facility is jeopardized, though such contingencies are not mentioned in the law.

Gomez said an ICE official called him Tuesday to say that oversight law doesn’t apply to the downtown L.A. facility because it is a field office, not a detention facility.

“Well it does say Metropolitan Detention Center right here in big, bold letters,” he says in a video posted afterward on social media, gesturing toward a sign outside the building. “But they say this is a processing center. So I smell bull—.”

Department of Homeland Security police patrol the street after detaining a protester at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown L.A. on June 12.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

If no one is technically being detained, Gomez said he rhetorically asked the official during their call, are they free to leave?

Torres visited the facility in February by setting up an appointment, her staff said. She got another appointment for last Saturday, but ICE canceled it because of the protests. When members emailed ICE to set up a new appointment, they got no response.

Gomez said he believes ICE doesn’t want lawmakers to see field offices because of poor conditions and lack of attorney access because of ramped-up arrests that have reportedly left some detainees there overnight without beds and limited food.

In some cases, lawmakers have had success showing up unannounced. On Friday, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands) toured the Adelanto ICE Processing Facility, north of San Bernardino. After being denied entry to the Adelanto Facility on June 8, Chu and four other California Democrats were allowed in on Tuesday.

“Just because ICE has opened their doors to a few members of Congress does not excuse their inflammatory tactics to meet deportation quotas,” said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside), who visited Adelanto with Chu. “Accountability means showing a consistent pattern of accessibility, not just a one-off event.”

The representatives learned the facility is now at full capacity with 1,100 detainees, up from 300 a month ago. Chu said they spoke to detainees from the L.A. raids, who she said were not criminals and who are now living in inhumane conditions — without enough food, unable to change their underwear for 10 days or to call their families and lawyers.

Chu said the group arrived early and stood in the lobby to avoid a repeat of their previous attempt, when facility guards kept them off the property by locking a fence.

Tom Homan, President Trump’s border policy advisor, departs a meeting with Republican senators who are working to cancel $9.4 billion in spending already approved by Congress at the Capitol in Washington on June 11.

(J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

In an interview with The Times this month, Trump’s chief border policy advisor Tom Homan said members of Congress are welcome to conduct oversight, but that they must contact the facility first to make arrangements. The agency has to look after the safety and security of the facility, officers and detainees, he said.

“Please go in and look at them,” he said. “They’re the best facilities that money can buy, the highest detention standards in the industry. But there’s a right way and wrong way to do it.”

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for Homeland Security, said in a statement to The Times that requests for visits are needed because “ICE law enforcement have seen a surge in assaults, disruptions and obstructions to enforcement, including by politicians themselves.”

She added that requests for visits should be made with enough time — “a week is sufficient” — to not interfere with the president’s authority under Article II of the Constitution to oversee executive branch functions.

DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin, flanked by Deputy Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Madison Sheahan, left, and acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons, speaks during a news conference in Washington on May 21.

(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, slammed the guidance Wednesday on X.

“This unlawful policy is a smokescreen to deny Member visits to ICE offices across the country, which are holding migrants — and sometimes even U.S. citizens — for days at a time,” he wrote. “They are therefore facilities and are subject to oversight and inspection at any time. DHS pretending otherwise is simply their latest lie.”

Townsend, the congressional oversight expert, said the practice goes back to when President Truman was a senator and established a committee to investigate problems among contractors who were supplying the World War II effort.

“That committee conducted hundreds of field visits, and they would show up unannounced in many instances,” Townsend said.

More recently, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) drove to the Pentagon in 1983 and demanded access to ask questions about overspending after being stonewalled, he said, by Department of Defense officials.

The Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution to mean that Congress has wide authority to conduct oversight to show up unannounced in order to secure accurate information, Townsend said.

National Guard members stand at post at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles on June 10.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said the Trump administration is trying to hide the truth from the public. Last week, Padilla was shoved out of a news conference, forced to the ground and handcuffed after attempting to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“The Trump administration has done everything in their power but to provide transparency to the American people about their mission in Los Angeles,” he said during an impassioned floor speech Wednesday in which he cried recounting the ordeal.

In an interview Wednesday with Newsmax, McLaughlin accused Democratic lawmakers of using oversight as an excuse to stage publicity stunts.

“The Democrats are reeling,” she said. “They have no actual message and so they’re doing this to get more attention and to manufacture viral moments.”

On Tuesday, Gomez wore a suit jacket with his congressional lapel pin and carried his congressional ID card and business card in his hand — “so there would be no mistake” as to who he was. He said he was concerned that what happened to Padilla could also happen to him. He was denied access anyway.

Gomez said federal officials should be fined each time they deny oversight access to members of Congress. He said he and other members are also discussing whether to file a lawsuit to compel access.

“When you have an administration that is operating outside the bounds of the law, they’re basically saying, ‘What recourse do you have? Can you force us? You don’t have an army. We don’t need to listen to you,’” Gomez said. “Then you have to put some real teeth into it.”

Times staff writer Nathan Solis in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

All eyes are on Shohei Ohtani, as he made his long-awaited return to the pitching mound and delivered his first pitches as a member of the Dodgers on Monday night in a 6-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Ohtani last pitched on Aug. 23, 2023, while with the Angels. He underwent his second Tommy John surgery the following month.

Ohtani is 38-19 with 3.01 earned-run average over 86 starts in his MLB career entering Monday’s game and finished fourth in the AL Cy Young Award voting in 2022, when he went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA. He is expected to help bolster a depleted Dodgers starting rotation that has been missing Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, among others, for extended stretches this season.

Shohei Ohtani pitches for the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Shohei Ohtani delivers against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Shohei Ohtani pitches against the San Diego Padres on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani in Phoenix in February.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani throws during spring training in Phoenix in February.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani enters the field at the Tokyo Dome for a workout ahead of the Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs in March.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani warms up during a baseball spring training workout in Phoenix.

(Matt York / Associated Press)

Fans head up some stairs wearing Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto jerseys before the game between the Dodgers and the Detroit Tigers at Dodger Stadium on March 27.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani runs onto the field during introductions during the Dodgers’ home opener in March.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani throws a live batting practice before a game against the New York Mets on May 25.

(Adam Hunger/AP)

The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani throws in the outfield before a game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 4.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers coaches keep a watchful eye as Shohei Ohtani throws in the bullpen before the game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 4.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Dodgers fans watch as Shohei Ohtani throws in the outfield before the game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 4.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani plays catch before the Dodgers take on the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium on June 2.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

Shohei Ohtani walks past a throng of journalists before the Dodgers play an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome in March.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

NEW YORK — All 17 experts recently dismissed from a government vaccine advisory panel published an essay Monday decrying “destabilizing decisions” made by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that could lead to more preventable disease spread.

Kennedy last week announced he would “retire” the entire panel that guides U.S. vaccine policy. He also quietly removed Dr. Melinda Wharton — the veteran Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who coordinated the committee’s meetings.

Two days later, he named eight new people to the influential panel. The list included a scientist who criticized COVID-19 vaccines, a leading critic of pandemic-era lockdowns and someone who worked with a group widely considered to be a leading source of vaccine misinformation.

“We are deeply concerned that these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of U.S. immunization policy, impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put U.S. families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses,” the 17 panelists wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

The new committee is scheduled to meet next week. The agenda for that meeting has not yet been posted, but a recent federal notice said votes are expected on vaccinations against flu, COVID-19, HPV, RSV and meningococcal bacteria.

In addition to Wharton’s removal, CDC immunization staff have been cut and agency experts who gather or present data to committee members have resigned.

One, Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos, resigned after 12 years at CDC, disclosing her decision early this month in a note to members of a COVID-19 vaccines work group. Her decision came after Kennedy decided — without consulting the vaccine advisers — to pull back COVID-19 vaccination recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women.

“My career in public health and vaccinology started with a deep-seated desire to help the most vulnerable members of our population, and that is not something I am able to continue doing in this role,” she wrote in a message viewed by the Associated Press.

Those CDC personnel losses will make it hard for a group of new outside advisers to quickly come up to speed and make fact-based decisions about which vaccines to recommend to the public, the former committee members said.

“The termination of all members and its leadership in a single action undermines the committee’s capacity to operate effectively and efficiently, aside from raising questions about competence,” they wrote.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to the JAMA commentary, but instead pointed to Kennedy’s previous comments on the committee.

Kennedy, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement before becoming the U.S. government’s top health official, has accused the committee of being too closely aligned with vaccine manufacturers and of rubber-stamping vaccines.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the CDC director on how vaccines that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration should be used. CDC directors almost always approve those recommendations, which are widely heeded by doctors and guide vaccination programs.

ACIP policies require members to state past collaborations with vaccine companies and to recuse themselves from votes in which they had a conflict of interest, but Kennedy has dismissed those safeguards as weak.

Stobbe writes for the Associated Press.

NEW YORK — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday named eight new vaccine policy advisers to replace the panel that he abruptly dismissed earlier this week.

They include a scientist who researched mRNA vaccine technology and became a conservative darling for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines, a leading critic of pandemic-era lockdowns, and a professor of operations management.

Kennedy’s decision to “retire” the previous 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was widely decried by doctors’ groups and public health organizations, who feared the advisers would be replaced by a group aligned with Kennedy’s desire to reassess — and possibly end — longstanding vaccination recommendations.

On Tuesday, before he announced his picks, Kennedy said: “We’re going to bring great people onto the ACIP panel — not anti-vaxxers — bringing people on who are credentialed scientists.”

The new appointees include Vicky Pebsworth, a regional director for the National Assn. of Catholic Nurses. She has been listed as a board member and volunteer director for the National Vaccine Information Center, a group that is widely considered to be a leading source of vaccine misinformation.

Another is Dr. Robert Malone, the former mRNA researcher who emerged as a close adviser to Kennedy during the measles outbreak. Malone, who runs a wellness institute and a popular blog, rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as he relayed conspiracy theories around the outbreak and the vaccines that followed. He has appeared on podcasts and other conservative news outlets where he’s promoted unproven and alternative treatments for measles and COVID-19.

He has claimed that millions of Americans were hypnotized into taking the COVID-19 shots and has suggested that those vaccines cause a form of AIDS. He’s downplayed deaths related to one of the largest measles outbreaks in the U.S. in years.

Malone told the Associated Press he will do his best “to serve with unbiased objectivity and rigor.”

Other appointees include Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who was a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 letter maintaining that pandemic shutdowns were causing irreparable harm. Dr. Cody Meissner, a former ACIP member, also was named.

Abram Wagner of the University of Michigan’s school of public health, who investigates vaccination programs, said he’s not satisfied with the composition of the committee.

“The previous ACIP was made up of technical experts who have spent their lives studying vaccines,” he said. Most people on the current list “don’t have the technical capacity that we would expect out of people who would have to make really complicated decisions involving interpreting complicated scientific data.”

He said having Pebsworth on the board is “incredibly problematic” since she is involved in an organization that “distributes a lot of misinformation.”

Kennedy made the announcement in a social media post on Wednesday.

The committee, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC directors almost always approve those recommendations on how vaccines that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration should be used. The CDC’s final recommendations are widely heeded by doctors and guide vaccination programs.

The other appointees are:

• Dr. James Hibbeln, who formerly headed a National Institutes of Health group focused on nutritional neurosciences and who studies how nutrition affects the brain, including the potential benefits of seafood consumption during pregnancy.
• Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies business issues related to supply chain, logistics, pricing optimization and health and healthcare management. In a 2023 video pinned to an X profile under his name, Levi called for the end of the COVID-19 vaccination program, claiming the vaccines were ineffective and dangerous despite evidence they saved millions of lives. Levi told the AP he would try to help inform “public health policies with data and science, with the goal of improving the health and wellbeing of people and regain the public trust.”
• Dr. James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician from Los Angeles.
• Dr. Michael Ross, a Virginia-based obstetrician and gynecologist who previously served on a CDC breast and cervical cancer advisory committee. He is described as a “serial CEO and physician leader” in a bio for Havencrest Capital Management, a private equity investment firm where he is an operating partner.

Of the eight named by Kennedy, perhaps the most experienced in vaccine policy is Meissner, an expert in pediatric infectious diseases at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, who has previously served as a member of both ACIP and the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel.

During his five-year term as an FDA adviser, the committee was repeatedly asked to review and vote on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines that were rapidly developed to fight the pandemic. In September 2021, he joined the majority of panelists who voted against a plan from the Biden administration to offer an extra vaccine dose to all American adults. The panel instead recommended that the extra shot should be limited to seniors and those at higher risk of the disease.

Ultimately, the FDA disregarded the panel’s recommendation and approved an extra vaccine dose for all adults.

In addition to serving on government panels, Meissner has helped author policy statements and vaccination schedules for the American Academy of Pediatrics.

ACIP members typically serve in staggered four-year terms, although several appointments were delayed during the Biden administration before positions were filled last year. The voting members are all supposed to have scientific or clinical expertise in immunization, except for one “consumer representative” who can bring perspective on community and social facets of vaccine programs.

Kennedy, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement before becoming the U.S. government’s top health official, has accused the committee of being too closely aligned with vaccine manufacturers and of rubber-stamping vaccines. ACIP policies require members to state past collaborations with vaccine companies and to recuse themselves from votes in which they had a conflict of interest, but Kennedy has dismissed those safeguards as weak.

Most of the people who best understand vaccines are those who have researched them, which usually requires some degree of collaboration with the companies that develop and sell them, said Jason Schwartz, a Yale University health policy researcher.

“If you are to exclude any reputable, respected vaccine expert who has ever engaged even in a limited way with the vaccine industry, you’re likely to have a very small pool of folks to draw from,” Schwartz said.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Kennedy in February after he promised he would not change the vaccination schedule. But less than a week later, he vowed to investigate childhood vaccines that prevent measles, polio and other dangerous diseases.

Kennedy has ignored some of the recommendations ACIP voted for in April, including the endorsement of a new combination shot that protects against five strains of meningococcal bacteria and the expansion of vaccinations against RSV.

In late May, Kennedy disregarded the committee and announced the government would change the recommendation for children and pregnant women to get COVID-19 shots.

On Monday, Kennedy ousted all 17 members of the ACIP, saying he would appoint a new group before the next scheduled meeting in late June. The agenda for that meeting has not yet been posted, but a recent federal notice said votes are expected on vaccinations against flu, COVID-19, HPV, RSV and meningococcal bacteria.

A HHS spokesman did not respond to a question about whether there would be only eight ACIP members, or whether more will be named later.

Stobbe writes for the Associated Press. Associated Press reporters Matthew Perrone, Amanda Seitz, Devi Shastri and Laura Ungar contributed to this report. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

California Democrats plan to question Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday about the immigration raids that have roiled Los Angeles, the federal commandeering of the state’s National Guard and the deployment of Marines in the region when he testifies before the House Armed Services Committee.

Several committee members said they received no advance notice about the federal immigration sweeps at workplaces and other locations that started Friday and that prompted large and at times fiery protests in downtown Los Angeles.

“That’s going to change,” said Rep. Derek Tran (D-Orange), when the committee questions Hegseth on Thursday morning.

“We need to de-escalate the situation,” Tran said in an interview. President Trump and his administration’s moves, most recently deploying hundreds of Marines in Southern California, “escalates the situation, sending in troops that shouldn’t be there, that are trained to shoot and kill.”

Though largely peaceful, protests about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s actions have been punctuated by incidents of violence and lawlessness. As of Tuesday evening, several hundred people had been detained on suspicion of crimes or because of their immigration status.

After dissenters blocked the 101 Freeway, vandalized buildings in downtown Los Angeles and stole from businesses, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday imposed a curfew in the city’s civic core from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Thursday’s testimony before the House Armed Services Committee will be Hegseth’s third appearance on Capitol Hill this week. He was questioned Tuesday by the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense and the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.

Both appearances were testy. On Wednesday, Hegseth insisted the deployment of Marines in Los Angeles was lawful but couldn’t name the law under which it is allowed. On Tuesday, he was buffeted with questions about the “chaos” in his tenure, his discussion of national secrets on a Signal group chat and the lack of information provided to elected leaders about Defense Department operations and budgets, including the cost of the federal deployment in Los Angeles.

“I want your plan!” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) demanded. “What is your plan for the future? Can we get that in writing and on paper so that we know where you’re going? Because we don’t have anything today. We have zip! Nada!”

Hegseth responded that the agency has the details and would provide them to members of Congress. The Pentagon posted a video clip of the back-and-forth on X that tagged the congresswoman and was titled “WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING!”

Thursday’s hearing is especially notable because the committee oversees the Pentagon budget. None of the Republican members of the committee are from California. More than a dozen who were asked to weigh in on the hearing didn’t respond.

Republicans are expected to reflect the sentiments expressed by Trump, most recently on Wednesday when he took questions from reporters on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center shortly before attending a performance of “Les Miserables” with First Lady Melania Trump.

“We are going to have law and order in our country,” he said. “If I didn’t act quickly on that, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground right now.”

“These are radical left lunatics that you’re dealing with, and they’re tough, they’re smart, they’re probably paid, many of them, as you know, they’re professionals,” he added. “When you see them chopping up concrete because the bricks got captured, they’re chopping up concrete and they’re using that as a weapon. That’s pretty bad.”

Seven of the committee’s members are Democrats from California, and they are expected to press Hegseth on the legal underpinnings of the deployment of federal forces in the state, the lack of notification or coordination with state and local officials and the conditions and future of residents swept up in the raids.

“The president’s decision to deploy the National Guard and the U.S. Marines over the objections of California officials has escalated the situation, creating unnecessary chaos and putting public safety at risk,” said Rep. George Whitesides (D-Agua Dulce). “As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I’m deeply concerned with the precedent this sets, and the apparent lack of protocol followed, and I will be seeking answers.”

Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), a Mexican immigrant who served in the Marine Corps Reserve and is also a member of the committee, said Trump is doing what he does best.

“He likes to play arsonist and firefighter,” Carbajal said in an interview.

He argued Trump is using the raids to deflect attention from legislation that will harm the most vulnerable Americans while enriching the wealthy.

“There’s a question of whether what he’s doing is legal, regarding him and Hegseth sending in Marines. The governor and the mayor did not request the National Guard, let alone the Marines,” Carbajal said. “This is likely a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of U.S. forces in the U.S.”

Carbajal also said he expects what has unfolded in Los Angeles in recent days to be replicated in communities nationwide, a concern raised by Bass and other Democrats on Wednesday.

As a former Marine, Carbajal added that he and his fellow veterans had no role to play domestically, barring crisis.

“We’re not trained for this. There is no role for Marines on American soil unless rebellion is happening,” he said. “This is so ridiculous. It says a lot about the administration and what it’s willing to do to distract and create a more stressful, volatile environment.”

“Let’s make it clear,” he added. “We Democrats don’t support any violent protests. But as a Marine, there is no place for the U.S. military on domestic soil under the guise and reasoning he’s provided.”

California on Tuesday asked a federal court for a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s deployment of both state National Guard forces and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles amid mass protests over sweeping federal immigration enforcement efforts.

The request was filed in the same federal lawsuit the state and California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed Monday, in which they alleged Trump had exceeded his authority and violated the U.S. Constitution by sending military forces into an American city without the request or approval of the state governor or local officials.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, whose office is handling the litigation on behalf of both Newsom and the state, said the restraining order was necessary to bring an immediate stop to the deployments, which local officials have contended are not needed and only adding to tensions sparked by sweeping immigration detentions and arrests in communities with large immigrant communities.

“The President is looking for any pretense to place military forces on American streets to intimidate and quiet those who disagree with him,” Bonta said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s not just immoral — it’s illegal and dangerous.”

Newsom, in his own statement, echoed Bonta, saying the federal government “is now turning the military against American citizens.”

“Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy,” Newsom said. “Donald Trump is behaving like a tyrant, not a President.”

The state’s request Tuesday asked for the restraining order to be granted by 1 p.m. Tuesday “to prevent immediate and irreparable harm” to the state.

Absent such relief, the Trump administration’s “use of the military and the federalized National Guard to patrol communities or otherwise engage in general law enforcement activities creates imminent harm to State Sovereignty, deprives the State of vital resources, escalates tensions and promotes (rather than quells) civil unrest,” the state contended.

The request specifically notes that the use of military forces such as Marines to conduct domestic policing tasks is unlawful, and that Trump administration officials have stated that is how the Marines being deployed to Los Angeles may be used.

“The Marine Corps’ deployment for law enforcement purposes is likewise unlawful. For more than a century, the Posse Comitatus Act has expressly prohibited the use of the active duty armed forces and federalized national guard for civilian law enforcement,” the state’s request states. “And the President and Secretary Hegseth have made clear — publicly and privately — that the Marines are not in Los Angeles to stand outside a federal building.”

At Trump’s direction, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mobilized nearly 2,000 members of the state’s National Guard on Saturday after Trump said L.A. was descending into chaos and federal agents were in danger, then mobilized another 2,000 members on Monday. The Pentagon approved the deployment of 700 U.S. Marines from the base in Twentynine Palms to the city Monday, with the stated mission of protecting federal buildings and agents.

Hegseth said the deployments would last 60 days, and the acting Pentagon budget chief said the cost would be at least $134 million. He told members of the House appropriations defense subcommittee that the length of the deployments was intended to “ensure that those rioters, looters and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we’re not going anywhere.”

Local officials have decried acts of violence, property damage and burglaries that have occurred in tandem with the protests, but have also said that Trump administration officials have blown the problems out of proportion and that there is no need for federal forces in the city.

Constitutional scholars and some members of Congress have also questioned the domestic deployment of military forces, especially without the buy-in of local and state officials — calling it a tactic of dictators and authoritarian regimes.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass questioned what Marines would do on the ground, while Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the arrival of military forces in the city without “clear coordination” with local law enforcement “presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us tasked with safeguarding this city.”

Bonta had said Monday that the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limits federal power around such deployments, that the deployment of National Guard forces to quell protests without Newsom’s consent was “unlawful” and “unprecedented,” and that the deployment of Marines would be “similarly unlawful.”

On Tuesday, he said the state was asking the court to “immediately block the Trump Administration from ordering the military or federalized national guard from patrolling our communities or otherwise engaging in general law enforcement activities beyond federal property.”

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports one dead and two others wounded in the Israeli attack on a vehicle.

The Israeli army has again bombed Syria, claiming it killed a Hamas member during an air strike in the south of the country, in the latest in its series of attacks on Syria in the wake of former President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster last December.

In a statement on Telegram on Sunday morning, the Israeli army said it had struck the alleged Hamas member in the Mazraat Beit Jin area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that one person was killed and two others were wounded in the Israeli attack targeting a vehicle in the town near the United Nations-patrolled buffer zone.

Hamas has not yet commented on the death of the alleged member.

The observatory says Israel has carried out 61 attacks – 51 by air and 10 by ground – in Syria so far this year.

Two rockets launched from Syria targeted Israel earlier this week, a first since the fall of al-Assad.

Two groups claimed responsibility for the attack.

The first group, named the “Martyr Mohammed Deif Brigades”, is a little-known group named after the Hamas military commander who was killed last year. A second little-known group, the “Islamic Resistance Front in Syria”, called for action against Israel from southern Syria a few months ago.

Israel struck southern Syria shortly afterwards, with Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz saying that he was holding Syria “directly responsible”.

Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani condemned Israel’s attacks and called them “coordinated provocations aimed at undermining Syria’s progress and stability”.

“These actions create an opening for outlawed groups to exploit the resulting chaos,” he said, adding, “Syria has made its intentions clear: we are not seeking war, but rather reconstruction”.

Syria and Israel had recently engaged in indirect talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between states that have been on opposite sides of conflicts in the Middle East for decades.

But Israel has relentlessly waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that has destroyed much of Syria’s military infrastructure. It has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and taken more territory in the aftermath of al-Assad’s removal, citing lingering concerns over the country’s new government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who it dismisses as a “jihadist.”

Syria’s new government has taken several major steps towards international acceptance after the United States and European Union lifted sanctions on the country last month, giving a nation devastated by nearly 14 years of civil war a lifeline to recovery.