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Of all the reams of words publicly spilled at Lakers media day Monday, only one really mattered.

When LeBron James was wrapping up his interview with the folks at Spectrum Sportsnet, host Chris McGee asked, “By the way, see you at next year’s media day?”

James’ laughing answer set the template for a season.

“Maybe.”

So the Lakers should treat the next eight months emptying their assets and foregoing their future and playing with the desperation of a team trying to earn one last piece of jewelry for arguably the greatest player ever?

Maybe.

So should the fans here and around the league show up in droves and line up around the block for their last live look at a living legend?

Maybe.

Or, if everything goes wrong and things get ugly, should the Lakers and James willingly part ways through a midseason buyout?

Maybe.

No matter what happens, the fact that James didn’t reveal his intentions in his first public appearance since last spring means that this Laker season has the chance to be a murky maybe mess.

Everybody knows where the Lakers stand, as Rob Pelinka said last week. He wants James to finish his career here.

“We would love if LeBron’s story would be he retire a Laker,” Pelinka said. “That would be a positive story.”

But still nobody knows where James stands, and it’s not obvious, because, while he’s 40 and entering his NBA-record 23rd season, he looks young, and acts energetic, and Monday at the Lakers facility he was at his charming best.

“Just excited about the journey and whatever this year has in store for me,” he said.

He’s probably not saying because he truly does not know. Next spring is a lifetime away. He doesn’t know how he’s going to feel. He doesn’t know how his basketball future could look.

But because he’s not saying, this season could seemingly go one of three ways.

It could go the Kershaw Way. James could once again be one of the top players in the league but get worn down by the strain on his body and in the last weeks of the season he could call it quits. The Crypto.com crowd gets a chance to say goodbye and his Lakers teammates can use his retirement as inspiration for a deep postseason run.

Or, it could go the Kobe Way. James could decide in the middle of the season that he’s had enough and embark on a league-wide farewell tour, the sort that once brought the tough Kobe Bryant to tears.

Or, given the organization’s recent sketchy history, it is entirely possible it could go the Typical Lakers Implosion Way.

LeBron James jokes with reporters as he arrives for interviews at Lakers media day on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

James could spend the year making the Lakers dangle on that “maybe,” subtly fighting against the loss of his team leadership to Luka Doncic, passively aggressively chiding Pelinka to improve the roster at the trade deadline, even occasionally threatening to quit on the spot.

Because it’s too tough to trade him and the Lakers don’t want to spend the bucks to buy him out, they spend the rest of the season dodging his barbs, then, simply let James’ contract expire and watch him flee to home Cleveland for his swan song.

Three scenarios, but only two happy endings, and to make matters even more complicated, much depends not on James, but on the roster around him.

Are the Lakers going to be any good? Are you ready for it?

Maybe.

The Lakers only played 23 games with both James and the recently acquired Doncic last season, and they were 15-8 and grabbed a third seed and were acting like the best team in the NBA at one point before they disintegrated against Minnesota in the playoffs.

They added Deandre Ayton for length, Jake LaRavia for defense, Marcus Smart for toughness, and a new body for Doncic, a formerly pudgy and breathless kid who has acknowledged his very adult transformation.

“I’m in a better place for sure,” he said Monday.

Is that good enough to lead a team to a better place in the competitive West? Who knows?

Will it be good enough to convince James to ask for a new contract and stick around for yet another year? That doesn’t seem likely but then again, The Oldest Living Baller currently exists in the unlikely.

The only certainty is that James is going to make this decision on his own time, in his own voice, through his own podcast or social media or heck, maybe another 30-minute TV special called, “The Last Decision?”

How ever this plays out, he’s not saying anything now, which was obvious when he answered the first question at his media day news conference with dodgy utterances.

“I mean, I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, I’m excited about today, I’m excited about an opportunity to be able to play a game that I love for another season. And whatever the journey, however the journey lays out this year, I’m just super invested, because … I don’t know when the end is, but I know it’s a lot sooner than later.”

He provided his most telling hint that he’s leaning into retirement when he talked about appreciating his final tours around the league.

“Knowing that the end is soon, not taking for granted, you know, a Tuesday night in a city that maybe I don’t want to be in that night … let’s lock in because you don’t know how many times you get the opportunity to play the game or to be able to compete,” he said. “So there’s times where you wake up and you just feel like you just don’t have it. So those will be the days where I know I can lock back in real fast, like, OK, well, you won’t have many days like this, so let’s lock in and enjoy the moment, enjoy the rest of the ride.”

Bronny and LeBron James pose for photos at Lakers media day as Rui Hachimura takes a selfie in front of them.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

He was asked if, now that he’s played with son Bronny, would he stick around to play with his Arizona-freshman son Bryce? His answer was LeBron at his fatherly best.

“No, I’m not waiting on Bryce,’ he said. “No. I don’t know what his timeline is. He’s his own young man now, like he’s down in Tucson. We’ll see what happens this year, next year, you know, but he has his own timeline. I got my timeline, and I don’t know if they quite match up.”

He was asked if his decision would be influenced by a chance to play with Doncic. His answer was LeBron at his jabbing best.

“Ah, nah. As far as how long I go in my career? Nah. Zero,” he said. “The motivation to be able to play alongside him every night, that’s super motivating. That’s what I’m going to train my body for. Every night I go out there and try to be the best player I can for him, and we’re going to bounce that off one another. But as far as me weighing in on him and some other teammates of how far I go in my career, nah.”

It may be Luka Doncic’s team, but it’s still LeBron James’ world, and he’s going to control his narrative down to the last syllables of the last sentences of his final goodbye.

And that don’t mean maybe.

A MUM has been praised after sharing the genius hack she swears by to give her kids a toy room without making her house look messy.

As a home schooling mum, Paige has devoted a whole room in her abode to her kids’ learning – which also contains some toys.

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But as any parent knows, toys eventually make their way into different rooms, and can end up making the house look untidy.

So Paige came up with a clever idea to let her kids play in the lounge – one of the main family areas of the home – without it turning into another toy room.

In a video on her TikTok page, the mum-of-three showed the kitchen, toy room and lounge, all of which looked perfectly neat and tidy.

She then took the camera to behind the sofa, where she had set aside a large area for toys to go.

“Having a little mini toy room behind the couch was the best decision!” she wrote over the top of the video.

Thanks to the positioning of the sofa, the area is entirely invisible until you’re right on top of it.

And it also means that Paige doesn’t have to deal with tidying it up until she wants to.

“Really has help the house look a bit cleaner haha!” she added in the video caption.

People were quick to praise Paige in the comments section for the clever hack.

“This is so smart!” one wrote.

To which Paige replied: “It really works well!”

“So cute! Great idea!” another added.

“Your house is literally a dream – it’s beautiful,” a third gushed.

“Aww thank you!” Paige responded.

“We love it so much but we are growing and will need more room eventually.

“This space is huge, but tiny rooms is the down fall!”

How to baby-proof your house

IF you’ve got a baby coming very soon, here’s our top tips on how to get your home ready for their arrival…

Secure Furniture and Appliances: Use brackets or straps to anchor heavy furniture and TVs to the wall. Ensure that large appliances like fridges and ovens are stable and cannot tip over.

Install Safety Gates: Place gates at the top and bottom of stairs. Use gates to block off rooms that are not baby-proofed.

Cover Electrical Outlets: Use outlet covers or plates to prevent little fingers from poking into sockets. Ensure that electrical cords are out of reach or secured.

Lock Cabinets and Drawers: Install child-proof locks on cabinets and drawers, especially in the kitchen and bathroom. Store hazardous substances, sharp objects, and small items that can be swallowed out of reach.

Use Corner and Edge Protectors: Attach soft corner and edge protectors to furniture with sharp edges. Consider using them on low tables, countertops, and fireplace hearths.

Secure Windows and Doors: Install window guards or locks to prevent windows from opening more than a few inches. Use door knob covers and door stoppers to prevent pinched fingers.

Maintain a Safe Sleep Environment: Use a firm mattress and avoid placing pillows, blankets, or stuffed animals in the cot. Ensure the cot meets current safety standards.

Keep Small Items Out of Reach: Regularly check the floor for small objects that could be choking hazards. Be mindful of items like coins, buttons, and small toys.

Adjust Water Heater Temperature: Set your water heater to a maximum of 49°C (120°F) to prevent scalding. Always test bath water temperature before placing your baby in.

Use Baby Monitors: Place baby monitors in the nursery to keep an eye on your little one. Ensure the monitor cords are out of reach to avoid strangulation hazards.

By taking these steps, you can create a safer environment for your baby.

“With all that wood accenting going on in there you could easily turn this into a hobbit house,” someone else pointed out.

Paige’s family home is located in Northern California, and is nestled within 10 acres of woodland.

She lives there with her other half and their three children – River Wildfox, Cedar Moon and Sequoia Rain.

MY DINING table doubles up as my workspace, which means I’m no stranger to a dusting of toast crumbs on my desk.

When I spotted Lakeland’s super-cute countertop vacuum, which costs just £9.99, I was seriously intrigued.

As long as the compact gadget worked well enough, I thought it had potential to be a game-changing cleaning hack.

Mini Countertop Vacuum, £9.99 from Lakeland

On first glance, the Lakeland vacuum is small and sleek. It’s also super easy to use, with a single setting — you press the button to fire it into action, and then you simply move it across any surface to suck up the crumbs.

Technically, that’s something you could do with a normal cordless vacuum cleaner, but, being honest, that feels like too much effort.

Plus, this feels more hygienic, as you can restrict its use to just surfaces and not floors.

Performance

I would usually grab a cloth or a piece of kitchen towel to wipe down the dining table after a meal, but keeping the vacuum nearby presents a much more convenient alternative.

It’s got bristles underneath, which help guide crumbs to underneath the vacuum.

I found the best method was to use it to sweep the crumbs into a corner (while switched off) before turning it on, and then sucking them up.

Mini Countertop Vacuum, £9.99 from Lakeland

Another handy use for the Mini Countertop Vacuum is in the kitchen, when you’re preparing food and creating a mess — I found it particularly useful to have on hand when making toast.

The suction isn’t going to rival a normal vacuum, but it’s easily powerful enough for crumbs, so it definitely does what it claims to — and at £9.99, you’ve got to class that as a win.

I’d recommend it for those quick clean-ups in between proper household cleans.

If you have kids, I can only imagine how much use you’d get out of it — especially since the description says it’ll even suck up glitter!

If you have kids, I can only imagine how much use you’d get out of it — especially since the description says it’ll even suck up glitter!

I might live in an adult-only household, but as a fiend for messy help-yourself meals, I’ve found myself reaching for the countertop vacuum often.

If you work in an office, the device would be useful to keep in a drawer for when you need to do a swift cleanup of your workspace.

It’s not too noisy (although you’re only likely to use it for a few seconds anyway), and it’s also cordless, charging up via a USB cable. 

The small and lightweight design means you could even take it away with you if you’re staying somewhere self-catered.

The only thing it won’t help with is wet spills, so drips and splashes from drinks or sauces will still need to be wiped up.

Mini Countertop Vacuum, £9.99 from LakelandVacuum £9.99

While we’re on the topic of handy household gadgets, I swear by an Amazon clothes steamer that costs £21.99 and helps me avoid ironing.

I also recently tested out one of the most compact cooking devices money can buy, in my Ninja Crispi air fryer review.

Another series of Love Island has sadly come to an end as millions watched Toni and Cach take the crown last night – but one raunchy secret was kept on the downlow – until now…

Last night, millions watched on as Toni and Cach took home the crown in what has been named as the raunchiest Love Island series yet.

The 12th series of the iconic ITV2 reality show had more arguments than we can count, but there was reportedly a lot more going on behind closed doors as producers

OG fans who watched the show back from 2015 will remember ITV showing some NSF work scenes, most memorably the explicit ‘over the covers’ scene with Terry and Emma in season 2. Now, things are much more reserved, but it doesn’t mean things don’t happen off camera. It comes after Maya Jama shared her true feelings over Harry and Shakira’s reunion.

READ MORE: Love Island’s Casey O’Gorman admits struggles with relationship after All Stars victoryREAD MORE: Big Brother confirms return to ITV with ‘new look’ as iconic show celebrates 25 years

Spilling all the tea to Christine Lampard on Tuesday morning’s Lorraine the day after the final, Aftersun panellist Joe Baggs revealed this had been the ‘raunchiest’ season in history – with producers having to make one huge change to cater to the contestants.

Speaking to Christine asked whether it was true that it had been the raunchiest series to date.

Letting ITV viewers in on some behind the scenes raunchy secrets, Joe said: “Yes. There’s been a lot going on in that bedroom. I actually went in to the bedroom.

“They had a night where the camera was off and it was quite a mess,” he laughed. “Apparently they had to bring in extra condoms, extra protection for this series of Love Island and they used them all up.

“I actually saw quite a few packets on the floor, so…” he said as Christine expressed her shock.

This series, fans were left shocked during one particular scene between Harrison, Lauren, Harry and Helena. As the Islanders got cosy in bed, Harrison and Lauren decided it wasn’t time for lights out just yet – as he reached over to ask Harry and Helena if he could borrow a condom.

Harrison could be seen reaching over to Helena and Harry’s bed via the night cam, as he asked: “Do you have a condom?”

Harry and Helena could be seen in hysterics as Helena quickly pulled one out the drawer, with Harry passing it over. The couple then got under the covers, as the cameras panned to them kissing – but not much more was shown.

And just days before the final, fans were left “horrified” during some very raunchy bedroom scenes between Meg and Dejon.

After kissing and making up following their huge spat after date night, Meg and Dejon were filmed getting hot and steamy under the blankets, but viewers were less than impressed as they called the scenes ‘disgusting’.

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Late in Italian writer-director Giovanni Tortorici’s pop-up book of a coming-of-age movie “Diciannove (Nineteen),” there’s a great scene in which his arrogant, neurotic protagonist, Leonardo (Manfredi Marini), a student of classical Italian literature in Siena, is visiting a cousin (Zackari Delmas) attending university in Milan. As the two commiserate over crazy adventures, the chatter turns to disagreements and griping (culture, language, kids today, drugs aren’t fun anymore) and suddenly they sound like middle-aged men bemoaning why anything ever had to change.

The cusp of 20 is a laughably unformed time to be convinced of anything, but what Tortorici’s higgledy-piggledy debut feature makes breathlessly clear is that when you’re in the middle of it, youth is a candy-colored tornado of temptations and responsibilities. You’re the star of your own solipsistic, hallucinatory epic, even if what you imagine for yourself might be a straightforward affair with a clear-cut message about the meaning of life.

“Diciannove” hums with the dissonance of repression plus expression in Leonardo’s consequential 19th year. If you notice a similarity to the playful moods and textures of Tortorici’s countryman Luca Guadagnino, there’s a reason: The “Call Me by Your Name” filmmaker produced his protégé Tortorici’s autobiographical debut feature and a lineage of tenderness and vivacity in evoking the emotional waves of adolescence is more than evident.

We meet Leonardo as a nosebleed-suffering, dreamy-eyed Palermo teen with a haranguing mom. He’s headed to business school in London, where his older sister Arianna (Vittoria Planeta) also lives. But once there, after a round of hard-partying with her friends and the sense that he’s replaced one hypercritical family member for another, he makes a last-minute decision to change the course of his educational life and enroll as a literature student back in Italy.

Cut to picturesque Siena and cue the baroque score. In this ancient Tuscan city, Leonardo is awakened by his writerly ambitions, a swoony love for medieval Italian authors like Dante and an intellectual disdain for the 20th century. But it also turns him into a lonely, rigidly neoclassicist oddball who scorns his professors, prefers books to his flighty peers and still can’t seem to take care of himself. Sealing himself off in a stuffy, antiquated notion of personal morality only makes the trappings of real life (desire, depression, cleanliness, online enticements) harder to deal with, leading his journey of self-discovery to some internally and externally messy places.

And some messy filmmaking too, even if that’s the point of this elegantly shapeless headspace travelogue. With unapologetic brio, Tortorici, cinematographer Massimiliano Kuveiller and editor Marco Costa empty out their tool kit of angles, splits, tracks, smudges, zooms, smashes, jumps, needle drops, montages and text cards. Though never disorienting or obnoxious (à la “Euphoria”), it can get tiring: a restlessness of spirit and technique that occasionally separates us from this lost antihero when we crave a closer connection to him. Especially since first-time actor Marini is stellar casting. There’s an easygoing inscrutability to his demeanor and his sad, mischievous eyes compel our curiosity — he’ll never let you think you’ve watched a thousand coming-of-age movies.

Tortorici doesn’t give his searcher a tidy ending. There’s a hilarious psychoanalysis by a wealthy aesthete (Sergio Benvenuto) who sees right through his posturing. But the night air beckons. As Leonardo walks away from us at the end after serving up a rascally smile (in a very “400 Blows”-ish freeze frame), Tortorici has him stumble briefly on the cobblestones, and somehow it feels like the wit of “Diciannove” in a split second of screen time: Youth means missteps, so why dwell on them?

Coronation Street actress Natalie Anderson, who plays Danielle Silverton on the ITV soap, has responded to a new romance twist involving newcomer Noah on the show

One Coronation Street star has reacted to a new twist involving two characters, which comes as a shock to some residents.

Spoilers for next weeks episodes of the ITV soap revealed that sinister character Noah strikes up a romance with Danielle Silverton in upcoming scenes. The romance is exposed next week to Danielle’s ex Theo Silverton, who shares a sad past with Noah.

Noah was revealed to have been involved when Theo was forced into conversion therapy years earlier. Theo, who only recently began to accept his sexuality and started a relationship with Todd Grimshaw, has struggled with the trauma of his past.

Things have turned nasty with wife Danielle who was heartbroken when Theo revealed he was leaving her for Todd, with their children also meddling to stop this from happening. So when Theo finds out Noah and Danielle are now an item, he does not take it very well.

READ MORE: Coronation Street sad exit twist ‘sealed’ with character’s final storyline underway

But is the relationship real, and does Noah have a sinister plan for Danielle amid his history with Theo and now his drama with Todd? Is Danielle using Noah to hurt Theo knowing what went down?

Speaking about the big twist and what’s ahead, Danielle actress Natalie Anderson revealed Noah’s real intentions for her character. She also teased whether Danielle was being genuine, and teased “messy” scenes ahead.

She shared: “Noah is so disappointed in Theo and his choice because he’s so devoutly religious. Noah is angry and thinks if you don’t want to take care of this amazing family, I will. He is stepping up to the plate, looking after Danielle and the children, keeping them in the faith, providing a happy, stable relationship.

“There’s an element of duty from Noah. He’s very cosy and getting his feet under the table. Its for him to keep the family unit together and make sure Danielle and the children are not questioning the faith as well.

“There’s an agenda for Noah to protect this family unit from this awfulness that is happening to her, and be the hero.” As for Danielle’s plans, she went on: “There’s two things happening. One is trying to show Theo what he’s missing with his family life, this is what he’s throwing away.

“And there might be an element of her trying to fill the void, Danielle and Theo were married for 19 years, that’s a huge amount of time. I’ve been with my husband 20 years and can’t even imagine him not being around. It’s a little bit of a rebound.”

Natalie added: “While she cares for Noah but is not completely committing wholeheartedly, she is kind of drawing this out a little bit. If there’s an opportunity to be around Theo, she will take it.

“On the one hand she wants to do the right thing by her kids, but the right thing for her would be for their dad to come home and she’s not going to give up on that.”

On what’s ahead, she said: “As you can imagine it does get messier and more heated. We fall into two camps between Danielle and Theo, and the children will be caught in the middle of that. It is difficult, and representative of a lot of families going through messy divorces.

“That’s been amazing to play and its not something I’ve done before, there’s a lot of figuring out what’s next and figuring out what’s best for the children. When it starts to become a legal thing, how nasty does that get?

“It’s one thing trying to sort it out between yourselves, but when it gets to that next level things becomes more weaponised. There are some calculating things coming up, I’m not sure the audience will still be on Danielle’s side after that!”

Coronation Street airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITV X. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

Every half-decade or so, Justin Bieber sloughs off the callused skin of the pop superstar he became at age 15 to reveal the tender and quirky R&B singer he’s always been at heart. He did it in 2013 with his album “Journals,” then in 2020 with “Changes.”

Neither project did anything like the numbers of his shinier, smilier teen-idol stuff, though each seemed like a crucial reset for a guy battling the pressures of early onset celebrity. Now, at 31, he’s done it again with “Swag,” the surprise LP he dropped Thursday night just hours after revealing that it existed.

Like those earlier albums, the 21-track “Swag” comes after a period of change and tumult for Bieber: In 2022, citing the need to focus on his health, he called off a world tour behind the previous year’s “Justice” album; in 2023, he parted ways with his longtime manager, Scooter Braun; last year, he and his wife, Hailey Baldwin, had their first child together. (Somewhere in there he also sold the rights to his music catalog for a reported $200 million.) More recently, he’s been caught on video in a series of confrontations with paparazzi that got people talking about his well-being.

“It’s not clocking to you that I’m standing on business,” he tells a photographer in one clip that went viral last month — so viral, in fact, that Bieber excerpts it on “Swag,” which puts his luscious crooning over spacey, cooled-out grooves full of pillowy synths, twanging electric guitars and reverbed chillwave-’80s beats.

What distinguishes “Swag” from “Journals” and “Changes” is that this album feels much rawer and more improvisatory than the earlier ones; the production throughout is murky and smeared, and the record includes a couple of demo-like tracks that suggest Bieber simply AirDropped unfinished voice memos from his phone to whomever was sitting behind the computer in the recording studio. (One of them, a gorgeous little gospel-blues ditty, is titled “Glory Voice Memo.”) The idea that “Swag” puts across pretty sympathetically is that a messy life — let’s not forget that Bieber is also involved in a Christian organization that some have compared to a cult — yields messy music.

“When the money comes and the money goes / Only thing that’s left is the love we hold,” he sings in the thrumming “Butterflies,” which samples another of those paparazzi run-ins; “Walking Away,” a lightly psychedelic soul-rock jam, has him describing the challenges of his highly scrutinized marriage with an endearing frankness about his desire to wise up emotionally. (Braun, whom Bieber is said to have paid millions of dollars recently to settle an old debt, wrote on Instagram that “Swag” “is, without a doubt, the most authentically Justin Bieber album to date.”)

In un-polishing his music, the singer is also adapting to the scrappy and proudly idiosyncratic vibe of modern pop as found on records by the likes of SZA, Charli XCX, Lana Del Rey, even Drake — A-plus stars who’ve achieved domination in the streaming era not by honing a streamlined vision but by pursuing odd impulses and allowing the listener to feel like part of the journey. One of Bieber’s key collaborators here is Mk.gee, the mysterious guitar virtuoso whose 2024 debut made him perhaps the most talked-about musician’s musician of the last few years; “Swag” feels shaped by the way Mk.gee thinks about how a great pop song should balance novelty and familiarity. Other members of the creative team Bieber gathered for loose jam sessions at his home in Los Angeles include Dijon, a frequent partner of Mk.gee’s, and Carter Lang, who’s worked closely with SZA.

Given Bieber’s attentive nature and his good taste — think of his relatively ahead-of-the-curve participation in remixes of Wizkid’s “Essence” and “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee — it probably figures that in 2025 he’d make a record that imagines Phil Collins sitting in with Scritti Politti. Yet as a tinkerer luxuriating in rough edges, Bieber stands alone among his fellow white male pop stars (or at last the few of them who remain near the center of the conversation): Benson Boone is doing well-rehearsed back flips on every awards show stage that will have him, while Ed Sheeran has said his upcoming album represents a return to his old hit-seeking ways after a spell in the folky wilderness. And then there’s Morgan Wallen, whose thematically gloomy “I’m the Problem” is so sonically dialed in that you almost fear what the album’s enormous success will end up doing to the guy.

Does Bieber relish his outlier status? In one of several very cringe interludes on “Swag,” the internet comedian Druski tells the singer that, although his skin is white, his soul is Black — to which Bieber, clearly operating without the guidance of a strong manager, responds, “Thank you.” Still, you can’t argue with Druski’s assessment that he can “hear the soul” on this album: Bieber’s singing has never sounded more instinctual than in songs like the crunchy “Daisies” and the country-soul “Devotion,” and even when they’re bad, his lyrics have an awkward charm, as in “Go Baby,” in which he plugs the iPhone-case-slash-lip-gloss-holder sold by his wife’s beauty brand, and “405,” a song about flirting with Baldwin in the car that rhymes “Hit the gas” with “Spider-Man on your ass.”

Shaggy, disarming, often quite beautiful, the LP argues that swag is not something to be taught (as indeed Bieber once famously enlisted someone to do) — not a skill nor a technique to be perfected and deployed. It’s a state of mind, bro. Is that clocking to you?

In 2022, Robert Ellis pledged $200,000 to create a garden in the Los Angeles Zoo’s bird theater.

By January, the city of Los Angeles had sued its nonprofit partner, the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., amid longstanding tensions over spending and other issues.

Ellis, a GLAZA board member, redirected his donation to a fund for the nonprofit’s legal fees.

At stake in the messy divorce between the city and the association is a nearly $50-million endowment that each side claims is theirs and that funds much of the zoo’s special projects, capital improvements and exhibit construction.

The city’s contract with GLAZA, which governs fundraising, special events and more, ends Tuesday, leaving the zoo in a precarious place, with no firm plan for how to proceed.

The elephant exhibit is empty after the last two Asian elephants, Billy and Tina, were transferred to the Tulsa Zoo.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

The zoo, which houses more than 1,600 animals, has become increasingly dilapidated. Exhibits including the lions, bears, sea lions and pelicans have closed because they need major renovations. The last two elephants, Billy and Tina, recently departed for the Tulsa Zoo after decades of campaigning by animal rights advocates over living conditions and a history of deaths and health challenges.

The 59-year-old zoo, which occupies 133 acres in the northeast corner of Griffith Park, is struggling to maintain its national accreditation, with federal regulators finding peeling paint and rust in some exhibits.

U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors and the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums found a “critical lack of funding and staffing to address even the most basic repairs,” L.A. Zoo officials wrote in a budget document in November 2024.

A sign designating a closed exhibit is posted in an animal enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Meanwhile, attendance has declined to a projected 1.5 million visitors in 2024-25, down about 100,000 from the previous year, the zoo said, citing “outdated infrastructure” and closed exhibits as part of the reason.

“We’re not vibrant like we should be,” said Karen Winnick, president of the city Board of Zoo Commissioners.

GLAZA has been the zoo’s main partner since it opened in 1966, handling fundraising, special events, membership, publications, volunteers and sponsorship.

The zoo’s $31-million operating budget comes largely from tickets and other sources, with only 1% to 2% directly from the association, according to City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo.

But the indirect amount is higher, since GLAZA raises money through membership and special events, depositing some of it in a fund that covers most of the zoo’s budget.

Outside of the operating budget, the group also raises money for facility renovations and programs such as animal care, conservation and education.

Through a spokesperson, Ellis and other GLAZA board members declined to comment.

Devin Donahue, a lawyer for GLAZA, said in a statement that the nonprofit “spent more than 60 years building up an eight-figure endowment that the City of Los Angeles is now attempting to seize without concern for the intent of the donors who chose to give to a trusted charity, and not to a city running a billion-dollar deficit. To remove GLAZA’s safeguarding hand from Zoo funding would be catastrophic for both the LA Zoo and its animals.”

A flamingo basks in water at the Los Angeles Zoo.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

One GLAZA insider blamed the conflicts on Zoo Director and CEO Denise Verret, saying she has tried to take power away from the association since she assumed the role in 2019.

Another source familiar with the relationship said that zoo officials believe they don’t need GLAZA and have wanted to end the partnership for years.

“They [the city] believe they could do this on their own,” said the second source, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the partnership amid the ongoing litigation. “There’s a lot of animosity, as opposed to it being a healthy relationship or one of gratitude.”

The relationship between the zoo and GLAZA has been fraught for decades, stemming from issues regarding money and power, said Manuel Mollinedo, who was zoo director from 1995 to 2002.

“They would make the zoo literally beg for money,” Mollinedo said. “The problem with GLAZA is they see themselves as an entity only responsible in answering to themselves. They don’t see themselves as an organization there to support and work with the zoo.”

Mollinedo said he always thought the zoo would be better off taking some power away from GLAZA and instead partnering with different organizations.

GLAZA has accused the zoo of not properly spending the money that the association raises.

“Notwithstanding red flag warnings of disrepair at the Zoo, enclosure and exhibit closures, and troubling risks to the health and safety of the Zoo’s animals, the City has failed to spend money raised by GLAZA and available to it for necessary remediation,” the nonprofit said in court papers.

In 2023, more than 20 years after Mollinedo left the zoo, city officials announced that they would open up “requests for proposals” for organizations interested in performing GLAZA’s functions, in what they described as an effort to promote fairness and transparency and ensure that the zoo was getting the best services.

By initiating the application process, the city showed that it had no interest in continuing its “overarching partnership” with the organization, Erika Aronson Stern, chair of the GLAZA Board of Trustees, said in a letter to Mayor Karen Bass in October.

GLAZA declined to apply and announced that it would be walking away, along with its nearly $50-million endowment.

A giraffe watches as people pass by its enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

Some of the endowment money still needed to spent on the zoo, according to donors’ wishes, and GLAZA would transfer that money to the facility — but it refused to cede control of the fund.

Late last year, the city sued the association, arguing that it was the rightful owner of the endowment.

“GLAZA has only been permitted to raise funds on behalf of the City, never on its own exclusive behalf,” wrote Deputy City Atty. Steven Son.

GLAZA said it does have the right to raise funds for itself and asserted that the city has been mismanaging zoo money for years.

Los Angeles Zoo Director Denise Verret stands in front of an area of the zoo slated for redevelopment. The 20-acre expansion would include a new hilltop Yosemite lodge-style California Visitor Center with sweeping views of a 25,000- square-foot vineyard.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Verret, the zoo’s director, spent exorbitant amounts on activities unrelated to the zoo, GLAZA alleged in court documents, including $22,000 on a party celebrating her own appointment in 2019, $13,000 improving her office and $14,000 on the assistant director’s office.

The association also said in court documents that it provided at least $1.7 million at Verret’s request for conservation organizations that are “separate and distinct” from the zoo.

Verret argued in court papers that her use of the money was appropriate. She modernized “1960s-era” administrative offices, and her welcome party helped “strengthen relationships.” Conservation is one of the zoo’s “core purposes,” she said, noting that GLAZA didn’t raise the spending questions until after the city sued.

In a statement, Verret said the zoo is prepared to be on the international stage for the Summer Olympics in 2028.

“With the new structure and … new business partners in place, the L.A. Zoo is in a very healthy place now and continues to focus on its mission,” she said.

As for fundraising, she was less clear.

“Although we are still developing plans to establish a new fundraising model, we are future-focused with our priorities and efforts grounded in the gold-standard care and well-being for the animals at the zoo,” she said.

On Wednesday, a judge ruled that GLAZA cannot solicit donations “that are not for the exclusive benefit of the Los Angeles Zoo” and may not use funds from the endowment without the city’s permission. The question of who controls the endowment is still open.

Donahue, the GLAZA lawyer, called the judge’s ruling “wrong on the law and facts, deeply flawed analytically and not in the best interest of the Zoo, its animals, its donors, or the people of Los Angeles.” He said was confident that an appellate court would reach a different decision.

As the lawsuit moves forward, the City Council is working to approve new contracts with other organizations to handle concessions, memberships and other functions. City employees perform many core jobs, such as feeding and caring for the animals, but volunteers supplied by GLAZA, including the docents that gave tours, played a major role in the zoo’s day-to-day operations.

“It’s really a shame that it has devolved to this point,” said Ron Galperin, a former city controller who conducted a special review of the relationship between the nonprofit and the zoo in 2018 and found it “cumbersome and confusing.”

Galperin has advocated for the zoo to be run as a public-private partnership, with the city leasing the land and animals to an organization like GLAZA that would run it, similar to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art or the Hollywood Bowl.

The city previously explored that option after the 2008 financial crisis, but it was opposed by unions that represent zoo workers, as well as by animal rights activists who believed there would be less transparency surrounding the care of the animals.

About 73% of accredited zoos are managed by non-government entities — 57% by nonprofits and 16% by for-profit organizations, according to a study by the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums.

Winnick, the Zoo Commission president, believes a privately run zoo would raise funds more effectively and save the city money.

“We need new governance for our zoo, and this is the time to do it, with our city overwhelmed by so many problems,” she said. “It would serve people of L.A. and the community for us to go into public-private partnership.”

Instead, the city will run the zoo piecemeal, with at least two organizations taking over what GLAZA once did.

The city recently came to an agreement with SSA Group, LLC to run membership, special events and publications, while The Superlative Group will run sponsorship programs. The city plans to manage volunteers itself.

But the zoo still has not found a fundraising partner.

“For the city to lose a fundraising partner at this point in time, with the deficit we have and visitors we’re expecting to L.A., is sad,” said Richard Lichtenstein, a former member of the GLAZA board and a former zoo commissioner, who said he was speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the association.

“The city does deserve, and its residents deserve, a first-class facility, and without a funding partner, it is difficult to see how the zoo is going to be able to maintain itself as a world-class facility,” he said.

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