Along 2,400 miles of Route 66, small towns and road-trippers will be marking the highway’s 100th anniversary Wednesday. But for many business owners along the Mother Road, the birthday gifts have been coming in for months, thanks to a surge in spending by centennial travelers.
Hundreds of small businesses invested in upgrades and celebrations for 2026 — particularly during summer’s busy road trip season — including concerts, car shows, signs, murals, publications and a 19-day national caravan that began in Santa Monica in June.
“I’d say we’ve had probably double the travelers and double the spending,” said Gar Engman, owner of TeePee Curios, a novelty shop in Tucumcari, N.M., comparing this year with 2025.
Not every entrepreneur had numbers that rosy, and there’s no official measure of this year’s business along the route. But after driving the route myself for a Times travel guide that published in May, I reached out this week to several entrepreneurs I met on the way, and most said business was up sharply this year. In addition, many said they were seeing more Americans on the road this year — a notable trend, since international travelers have been the lifeblood of Route 66 for many years.
All along the road, there had been doubts about centennial traffic, given gas prices (up 30% from last year) and the many Route 66 devotees who come from countries that have been maligned or targeted for higher tariffs by President Trump, including the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Several entrepreneurs along the road said some international travelers did stay away, including Canadians who have been avoiding U.S. travel since 2025, when President Trump made comments about annexing Canada. But in many cases homegrown travelers filled the gap.
An amateur photographer captures the Roy’s sign in Amboy.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
At Roy’s in Amboy, manager Kenneth Large said 2026 has been “fantastic” so far, with receipts at his gas station and shop up 18% to 20% over last year. International visitors are still the majority of his customers, Large said, but “I think there were more domestic travelers this year.”
At the Aztec Motel & Creative Space in Seligman, Ariz., “it’s been a roller-coaster,” said co-owner Anne Marie Gonzalez. “Our numbers here were almost nonexistent until August. We were getting really worried. And then it finally kicked in.” Though her 2026 numbers remain behind 2025 and 2024, Gonzalez said, she has seen “more Americans than ever. … People seemed to decide to do it at the last minute.”
Sebastiaan de Boorder and Anna Marie Gonzalez own and operate the Aztec Motel and Creative Space in Seligman, Ariz.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
When I called the U Drop Inn Cafe in Shamrock, Texas, co-owner Lianne Halpern started by saying “Give me one second! Let me just take this dessert to this table.”
“It’s been huge,” she said a moment later. “Right now, we’re probably up about 30% year over year. … It’s always been disproportionately international versus domestic and I would stay that’s still true.”
The U Drop Inn Cafe, part of a 1936 Streamline Moderne filling station in Shamrock, Texas, is run by Lianne and Aldo Halpern.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
At the Rockwood Motor Court in Springfield, Mo., “it’s just been stellar,” said owner Phyllis Ferguson. Ferguson, whose motel has just 10 rooms, said that in June she filled 286 of 300 room-nights. By the end of that month, she said, she was already on the brink of passing her room-night total for all of 2025.
She was further encouraged by the number of younger travelers this year — so many, Ferguson said, that “I think Route 66 has become the honeymoon destination of young European couples.”
In Clinton, Okla., the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum reported that through the first half of 2026, business quadrupled over the first half of 2025.
In Tulsa, Buck Atom’s Atomic Curios and Meadow Gold Mack’s Route 66 Outpost have drawn a mix of young and old customers with their blend of irreverent and vintage wares items, perhaps offering a peek at the route’s future.
Rhys Martin, manager of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Route 66 program, said the positive reports have been fairly consistent along the highway’s “linear community,” which stretches from town to town across eight states.
Nov. 11, 1926, is considered the route’s official birth date because that’s when a group of state and national transportation officials formally agreed, after months of debate, that a highway would connect cities and towns from Chicago to Los Angeles, and that it would bear the number 66. It was another 12 years before the entire route was paved.
Martin was in Los Angeles over the weekend for a screening of director John Paget’s documentary “Route 66: The Main Street of America.” But he will soon be traveling to Washington, D.C., where Route 66 boosters are pushing a pair of identical bills that call for creation of a Route 66 National Historic Trail. In the House of Representatives, HR5470 still needs to clear a committee before a House vote. In the Senate, Martin said, S2887 awaits a full Senate vote.
The road “touches so many communities at so many levels,” Martin said. “It isn’t just good for the towns, it’s good for the story of the country.”
WASHINGTON — Just days ago, a resumption of war with Iran appeared inevitable, regardless of the outcome of the midterm elections. U.S. diplomats urged their Arab counterparts to prepare for an intense period of fighting. Nonessential foreign service and intelligence personnel across the Middle East were ordered home, while senior officials at the Pentagon debated the strategic objectives renewed hostilities could realistically achieve, two U.S. officials told The Times.
Now, the sharpest electoral rebuke in half a century is forcing a reckoning for President Trump, who insisted the day after the vote that his war against Tehran was worth the political cost. Renewed strikes on Iran remain a distinct possibility, the officials said.
But a sudden bipartisan push to oust Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his handling of the conflict, coupled with a statement of brazen defiance from his own vice president, JD Vance, opposing the war, could constrain Trump’s ability to resume the fight before Democrats take control of Congress next year.
A Republican lawmaker from Kentucky, Thomas Massie, plans to present impeachment articles against Hegseth next week over his role overseeing the war effort — a measure expected to gain enough support from Republicans to pass.
While maintaining public support for the Defense secretary, Trump has begun surveying advisors and confidants over Hegseth’s performance, according to multiple reports, a frequent tactic of the president before he proceeds with a firing.
Hegseth faces intense scrutiny for allegedly misleading Trump about the war’s risks, specifically regarding the safety of commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. And he orchestrated a highly controversial wartime purge of top military brass, including the Army secretary and chief of staff, when combat was at its fiercest.
U.S. supplies of critical munitions also remain a top Pentagon concern after eight months of conflict, and renewed fighting would further strain stockpiles. Defense officials told The Times that the campaign has already consumed multiple munitions per target to ensure successful strikes, raising internal questions over the conduct of the war under Hegseth’s leadership.
Vice President JD Vance approaches members of the media outside Air Force Two on Nov. 2, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md.
(Tom Brenner / Getty Images)
“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance wrote on social media the day after the election. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.
“But everyone knows why we lost,” he added, “and any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”
Responding to the vice president’s remarks, Trump said he agreed with him on the merits but stood by his initial decision to go to war — and would continue the fight if necessary.
“I think it’s largely true,” Trump said, “because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term. But at the same time, if I had it to do again, I’d have to do it again. Because long term, it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.
“The Iran thing, we had to do,” Trump continued, “and we continue to do it.”
If Trump chooses to proceed with renewed strikes, he will have roughly two months to do so before the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3.
Once Democrats take the gavels of the House and Senate, the new majority will be able to withhold defense funding unless the Trump administration ends the conflict. And a split Republican Party will give them a substantial boost in votes to demand a new direction in the war effort.
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed greets supporters during a midterm election night watch party in Detroit. El-Sayed ended up winning his race.
(Salwan Georges / Getty Images)
“Certainly, the funding of the war is going to be a huge issue,” said Howard Wolfson, a Democratic political strategist and advisor to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “I imagine the Democrats will be willing to shut the government down over it, rather than hand the president money for the continuation of the war.”
In recent months, the conflict with Iran has settled into a war of attrition. The two sides continue to exchange sporadic strikes, while the United States maintains its naval blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran restricts access to the Strait of Hormuz. No ceasefire or peace agreement is in place, and negotiations remain stalled.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland poised to become chair of the House Judiciary Committee, told reporters Thursday that he expected a robust debate over war funding when the new Congress is seated.
“When we get back together, we are going to be able to discuss precisely that question,” Raskin said. “But I can tell you that there is tremendous sentiment within the majority caucus, just like there’s tremendous sentiment in the country, that this war has been an absolute folly and a disaster, and we have to try to reverse Donald Trump’s mistake the best we can.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gives a State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico on Sept. 30, 2026, in Virginia.
(Alex Wong / Getty Images)
Hegseth has pushed back against the coming impeachment effort as a “sham,” likening himself to Trump, who was impeached twice by the House in his first term.
“Their obsession with political theater, disguised as power, drives them to try to destroy their opponent. It’s all about the politics of personal destruction,” Hegseth said in a video on the steps of the Defense Department, which he and Trump have attempted to rebrand as the Department of War. “It didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that.”
The midterm elections results were also watched closely in Tehran, where Iran’s chief negotiator and parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued a warning Wednesday.
“Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Qalibaf wrote on social media.
Pete Hegseth speaks during a National POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony on the Pentagon River Terrace Parade Field on Sept. 18, 2026, in Arlington, Va.
(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)
If the U.S. government “betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers,” he added, “it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare.”
Times staff writer Justine McDaniel contributed to this report.
Kansas City Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, claiming nearly $3.5 million in debts to just over $677,000 in assets.
According to a bankruptcy petition filed Wednesday in the Northern District of Texas, much of the money Rice owes stems from civil litigation tied to his role in a 2024 vehicle crash that left multiple people injured and assault allegations made earlier this year by his ex-girlfriend and mother of his two children.
In July 2025, Rice pleaded guilty to third-degree felony charges of collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. He was suspended for the first six weeks of the 2025 season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
Rice owes more than $2 million following civil lawsuits by six people who were injured in the accident, according to the bankruptcy petition, with some of that amount coming from settlements and some still being disputed by Rice.
The largest amount he owes in debt is $979,837 to crash victim Kathryn Kuykendall, the remainder of a $1 million settlement from last year that has not yet been garnished from Rice’s wages.
Rice also owes $200,000 to ex-girlfriend Dacoda Jones tied to a civil lawsuit she filed in February, accusing him of physically assaulting her multiple times during their relationship between December 2023 and July 2025. That debt is also listed as disputed by Rice, who was not suspended by the NFL following Jones’ allegations.
The fourth-year player is in the final season of his rookie contract, which has a total value of $6.5 million and a base salary of $1.6 million this season. According to the bankruptcy filing, he receives a total monthly income of $59,512.44 but only nets $3,610.31 a month after payroll deductions and expenses. His total wages and commission since Jan. 1, 2024, adds up to more than $4.7 million, with no listed income source other than the Chiefs.
His assets are valued at $677,054 and include a 2023 Mercedes Benz ($53,800) and his Super Bowl LVIII ring ($160,000), the latter of which is being held as collateral by one of his attorneys, according to the document. Rice caught six passes for 39 yards in that game, a 25-22 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 11, 2024. Overall, he has 176 receptions for 2,040 yards and 16 touchdowns.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed said on Wednesday that Michigan voters had rejected “a hateful, spiteful campaign” after months of Republican attacks on his Muslim identity in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races.
In an interview with the Associated Press, El-Sayed said he was “running on adrenaline and caffeine” after his race with Republican Mike Rogers was called early Wednesday, giving Democrats another significant victory in a premier swing state as they won a substantial majority in the Senate in Tuesday’s midterms.
Throughout the cycle, Republicans sought to demonize El-Sayed, who was born in the U.S. after his parents emigrated from Egypt. President Trump repeatedly called him a “jihadist” who was “on the side of the terrorists.”
“Michigan proved just how big we are. Rejected a hateful, spiteful campaign that had nothing to say about the issues and only wanted to point to my name and my face,” El-Sayed said. “Michiganders rejected that. Every single county, every single one, pushed against that.”
In a sign of how combative the race had become, Rogers and El-Sayed had not spoken as of Wednesday afternoon, even after Rogers issued a statement conceding the race. In 2024, Rogers called then-Rep. Elissa Slotkin to concede on Wednesday morning, before the AP had even called the race.
El-Sayed, who will become the nation’s first Muslim senator, told the AP by phone that the morning was “a moment of reflection,” including about what his victory would mean to his two young daughters. His 3-year-old, he said, has no idea what happened, while his 8-year-old understands but sees it as normal.
“Now, this is something they read about in the history books,” he said.
With approximately 97% of the vote in, El-Sayed held a lead of 7 percentage points over Rogers. Every county in the state shifted toward Democrats compared with 2024, according to AP voting data.
The AP Voter Poll, an expansive survey of more than 4,500 voters in Michigan, showed that Michigan Senate voters were roughly split on whether El-Sayed’s views were “too extreme,” with about half saying they were.
El-Sayed rose from a double-digit defeat eight years ago in the state’s Democratic gubernatorial election to an upset victory of an establishment-backed candidate in the primary after being outspent by tens of millions of dollars. He said his campaign proved that “old-fashioned politics can work if you’re willing to do the work.”
El-Sayed quickly pivoted, though, toward the future, saying his victory is “not the success” and that “the success is what you’re able to do with the seat.”
He would not commit to supporting Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York for another term, saying he did not yet know who else might run. Schumer is expected to retain the leadership position.
“I do believe we need new leadership and I think people are hungry for it,” El-Sayed added.
Cappelletti writes for the Associated Press. AP reporter Linley Sanders contributed to this report.
Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been barred from driving for six months after a hit-and-run crash into a parked car, prosecutors said.
Paul Pelosi, 86, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of hit-and-run and a traffic infraction of making an unlawful turn in connection with the July crash in Yountsville, the Napa County District Attorney’s Office said.
Under the plea agreement, Napa County Superior Court Judge Scott R.L. Young placed Pelosi on one year of probation and barred him from driving for six months — the maximum time allowed.
The court also ordered Pelosi to complete a 10-day work program and pay fines. As part of the plea agreement, Pelosi paid about $11,200 in restitution to the owner of the damaged vehicle.
During the crash, his brown Maserati convertible collided with an unoccupied Tesla, according to the criminal complaint filed in July.
Authorities at the time said witnesses saw the convertible briefly stop before driving away. The parked car was unoccupied, and no injuries were reported.
Prosecutors said they do not typically issue news releases regarding misdemeanor hit-and-run cases involving only property damage, but that the release was being issued due to public interest around the case.
Paul Pelosi has been issued at least eight driving violations over a more than a decade before the Yountville crash, cited for speeding, blowing through several red lights, and driving the wrong way down a one-way street, a New York Times review of court records found.
In 2022, he pleaded guilty to charges of driving under the influence after crashing his Porsche into an oncoming Jeep. He was fined, sentenced to five days in jail, and put on probation for three years.
Melissa Rycroft has broken her silence following her Halloween arrest.
The “Bachelor” and “Dancing With the Stars” reality television star wants fans to know “how deeply ashamed and embarrassed” she is after Southlake, Texas, police arrested her for allegedly driving while intoxicated, colliding with an ambulance and fleeing the scene on Saturday. The incident comes just months after the mom of three pleaded guilty to a separate DWI charge and agreed to serve 20 months of probation.
The former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader issued a mea culpa on Instagram on Tuesday, writing, “I want to share something personal, and to be honest, I am very ashamed to share it, but I can’t hide it anymore. I’ve been struggling with my mental health for quite some time now. It has completely overwhelmed me. I’ve tried to hide what I’ve been going through by putting on a smile, but behind the scenes, things have been much harder than anyone realized or that I have let on, even to my family.”
According to the Southlake Police Department, Rycroft allegedly collided with a Southlake Fire Department ambulance that was sitting at a stop sign just before 6 p.m. A short time later, officers tracked down the “hit-and-run vehicle” and identified the driver as Rycroft. While no injuries were reported, she was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, second offense; an accident involving damage of more than $200; and driving with an invalid license.
In Rycroft’s statement, she said that she was pursuing professional help. “No excuses at all, but I’m finally admitting that I need help. I’ve fought this for a long time on my own, and it’s time to admit that I can’t do it anymore,” she wrote. “I’m getting professional care. This is so hard to say and the shame is still very much there, but I’m ready to feel like myself again, for me and for my family. They have stood by me through all of this, and they deserve honesty. They deserve me at my best. That’s what I’m working toward for all of us.”
The TV personality then asked her followers to give her grace as she tries to get healthy. “And please respect my family’s privacy as they navigate this with me, too,” she added.
Jamie Foxx, 58, and girlfriend Alyce Huckstepp, 31, have welcomed their first child.
People reports that Foxx is now a dad of three. The Times reached out to the actor’s representatives for details including the birth date and gender of the child but did not hear back.
Foxx and Huckstepp — reportedly a onetime fitness instructor who keeps a relatively low public profile — first sparked relationship rumors in August 2022 when she was spotted supporting him at the world premiere of his Netflix film “Day Shift,” though they did not hit the red carpet together.
A year later, they were spotted leaving a group date at Nobu Malibu. Their relationship reportedly occurred after Foxx suffered a brain bleed that led to a stroke while filming the action-comedy “Back in Action” alongside Cameron Diaz, a health detail he would later reveal in his 2024 comedy special “Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was …”
In the aftermath of Foxx’s health complication, Huckstepp was “there for him,” a supportive presence in the actor’s life, People reported in 2024.
The two split briefly in January 2025, but they were photographed three months later, coincidentally leaving the same Nobu restaurant. The couple remained together and were seen by People spending time at Kiki on the River in Miami last Halloween.
News of the pregnancy was first reported by TMZ back in May, with the outlet sharing that the Australian model was already “several months along.”
Foxx is already a seasoned father with two adult daughters, ages 32 and 18. He welcomed oldest daughter Corinne in 1994 with ex Connie Kline, then Anelise Bishop in 2008 with ex Kristin Grannis.
Foxx has never been married, sharing in his 2021 memoir, “Act Like You Got Some Sense: And Other Things My Daughters Taught Me,” that he’s never been convinced that marriage is a good idea for him.
“It never seemed like marriage was necessary to raise my children in a safe and loving atmosphere,” Foxx wrote.
Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON — Over the past decade, President Trump has steadily expanded executive power, pushing the limits of his authority and evading traditional constraints. But a Democratic takeover of Congress on Tuesday could set up one final constitutional test for the Trump era, challenging the legislative branch to reclaim its role as a check on an increasingly powerful White House.
A blue wave could give Democrats control of both chambers of Congress, handing them not only investigative and subpoena powers in the House, but also, through the Senate, the authority to confirm presidential appointments, pursue impeachments trials, and control legislation and federal spending.
That would historically be enough to bring a president to heel. Yet the Trump administration’s broad assertion of executive privilege and politicization of the Justice Department could make oversight from a Democratic Congress sluggish — if not impossible — over Trump’s final two years.
The Office of Legal Counsel has claimed that even Trump’s communications with private advisors could be shielded by privilege. Independent watchdogs across the federal government, which have traditionally supported congressional oversight, have been systematically removed. And a Justice Department that historically pursued congressional criminal referrals regardless of their political implications is poised to ignore them under current leadership.
A combative administration will pose a challenge to Democratic congressional leaders, who may face internal party calls to pursue a third impeachment of the president over any number of scandals, and will likely shape debate over the coming presidential campaign season.
“Our system of checks and balances and the requirements of super majorities makes it difficult for the legislature to hold the executive fully accountable,” said Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard and a lawyer to Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial.
“This is a good thing,” he added, “leaving ultimate accountability to the voters, who are the ultimate check in a democracy.”
Norm Eisen, who served as chief ethics lawyer for President Obama and counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment trial, acknowledged the Trump administration is likely to aggressively resist Democratic probes.
“To be sure, those in the government may resist,” Eisen said, “but the incredible scale of corruption over the past 20 months has also implicated a wide variety of those in the private sector. They will cooperate because the consequences for not doing so are too great.”
Democratic control will also challenge the expansive vision of presidential power that Trump and his closest aides have successfully advanced since the 2024 campaign.
Project 2025 — a conservative effort pioneered by Trump allies that ultimately joined the administration — embraced a sweeping theory of unitary power, under which the president would exercise near-total control over the executive branch, including the Justice Department.
A conservative Supreme Court, featuring three Trump appointees, has endorsed key elements of that theory, affirming broad presidential authority to remove executive officials and granting presidents absolute immunity for exercising their core constitutional powers, along with presumptive immunity for other official acts.
Practical limits on the oversight powers of a Democratic Congress already has some leaders thinking of other, coercive means of using congressional power to exact accountability.
A cabinet fleeing for the campaign trail, or for the safety of the private sector, may create a series of openings that will be difficult for Trump to fill with a Democratic majority in the Senate, said Andrew Rudalevige, a professor of government at Bowdoin College and author of “The New Imperial Presidency.”
“Trump doesn’t have a huge legislative agenda, but there are some things he wants,” Rudalevige said. “Those can be held up. And relatedly, Democrats could embrace the power of the purse, since the budget is the one bill that needs to pass.”
Already, several Democratic House members are debating whether to demand the resignation of Pete Hegseth, Trump’s embattled defense secretary, as a condition of further appropriations funding for the department in its pursuit of war with Iran, the Hill first reported last month.
Democrats may find it difficult to hold the administration accountable for past actions, much of which are already being litigated in federal courts, said Peter Kastor, history department chair at Washington University in St. Louis. The larger question, he said, is how the two parties could govern together — particularly if Trump defies congressional authority, such as by impounding funds appropriated by lawmakers.
“I think it will be extremely difficult for Democrats to take any action to punish the administration for its actions until now, much as Democrats may want this,” Kastor said, suggesting the greatest wild card may lie not in Democratic strategy, but in the actions of a Republican minority.
“The big question is not whether they will desert Trump,” he added, “but rather what role they would see for themselves as a minority caught in the middle of a grand political battle.”
In an interview with the New York Post, Trump suggested he is expecting a wave, stating he will “become Mr. Veto” if Democrats sweep control.
But a president who long viewed concession as weakness may now have to pivot.
“At some point, we’ll probably make deals,” he added.
“Pretty in Pink” is playing Nov. 14 at Vidiots. Tickets here.
The Trump administration’s online accounts are circulating images of a pumpkin carved with a sombrero design and a fake Halloween-themed background around a Black man apparently accused of food assistance fraud, in social media posts slammed by critics as racially inflammatory rhetoric.
Only days before the midterm elections, the posts coincide with the government’s sweeping campaign to show its aggressive immigration enforcement, and highlight efforts it says are needed to crack down on fraud to save taxpayers money — as rising healthcare costs and other economic stressors have made affordability a top voter concern.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins posted Saturday on X a photo of the Black man standing in front of stacks of what appear to be U.S. currency with the headline SNAP FRAUDSTER, an apparent reference to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. He is holding aloft what appears to be a bill set aflame.
“Some costumes come with a price tag. This one comes with a prison sentence,” it says against the backdrop of fake Spirit Halloween costume packaging.
Another photo posted by the White House on X on Thursday showed a pumpkin with the shape of a sombrero carved across it and the words “Spooky szn is here.”
The post by Rollins appears to be taken from an Instagram post from September 2025 by an account under the name Shawty Dred.
Earlier this month, Mercedes Reshard New, identified by the Justice Department as a social media personality also known as “Shawty Dred,” was arrested on federal charges for fraudulently obtaining more than $4 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits in Georgia.
It’s not the first time the White House has been accused of posting inflammatory images on official government social media accounts.
Just over a year ago during the government shutdown, the White House revived a deepfake video posted by Trump of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a fake mustache and sombrero to accuse the Democrats of acting on behalf of illegal immigrants instead of U.S. citizens. Jeffries described the meme as bigoted. Administration officials played it on repeat in the White House briefing room, and Vice President JD Vance promised that the “sombrero memes will stop” when Democrats agreed to end the shutdown.
The NAACP did not respond to an email seeking comment, nor did the White House or Rollins.
The Trump administration in recent weeks has ratcheted up its anti-immigrant rhetoric and accusations of fraud, including against U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whose Washington, D.C., home was searched by federal agents earlier this month. Federal authorities are investigating potential fraud in her family’s immigration paperwork. Omar, who was born in Somalia, is a naturalized U.S. citizen.
It also has taken a series of punitive steps linked to allegations of fraud in mostly Democratic-led states, including California and Minnesota, whose governors accused the federal government of targeting their states for political reasons.
Federal prosecutors said in a news release Oct. 21 that the influencer New controlled more than 350 fraudulent SNAP accounts under stolen identities between January 2020 and July 2026. He allegedly applied for his company, Shawty Dred LLC, to become an authorized SNAP retailer and used EBT debit cards to extract about $4 million from the accounts.
New’s Instagram account, which has more than 2 million followers, has flaunted his extravagant lifestyle, federal prosecutors said. Posts depict him flying on private jets, posing with Rolls-Royce vehicles in front of his “super mansion” and handling massive stacks of cash.
“Instead of this money feeding families in need, New, the social media personality known as ‘Shawty Dred,’ allegedly used the cash to bankroll a life of luxury,” Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta Marlo Graham said in the release.
New was indicted by a federal grand jury Oct. 7 on dozens of counts of mail fraud and aggravated identity theft, and one count each of SNAP fraud and illegal transactions with access devices. He was arrested Oct. 13 and remains in federal custody.
According to Fulton County, Ga., jail records, New has been arrested multiple times on suspicion of crimes including identity theft, insurance fraud, financial transaction card fraud, forgery and simple assault.
A federal defender listed in court records as representing New, Joseph Austin, did not return a phone message.
A MAJOR European airport is closing for an entire month with the last flights taking off today.
Naples Capodichino Airport is one of the busiest airports in Italy behind Milan and Rome.
Not only that, but lots of low-cost airlines like Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air operate from the airport.
Yet from tomorrow (November 1), all flights will be suspended until next month.
This is due to a huge €30million (£25.1million) runway refurbishment, as part of a larger €250million (£209.2million).
Currently, around 13million passengers use the airport, with plans for this to increase to 17.3million by 2035.
The airport states on the website: “Naples Airport will be closed in November 2026 for extensive and planned runway upgrades, in compliance with stringent industry regulations and in line with GESAC’s priority commitment to ensuring the highest safety standards.”
The decision to close in November was due to this being the quietest month for the airport.
EasyJet currently operates flights to Naples from London Gatwick, while Ryanair has flights from Manchester, London Stansted and Edinburgh.
Passengers heading to Naples will instead fly to Salerno-Pontecagnano Airport.
A shuttle bus will then operate from the airport instead, costing €12 (£10).
Otherwise the train from Salerno to Naples Central is a cheaper option for £5 each way.
Naples Airport will reopen by November 30.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge said Friday she would open a “formal inquiry” to investigate if attorneys for the Trump administration violated ethical boundaries during a legal dispute about a golf course project — one in a pair of plans that are revealing the breadth of the president’s attempts to mold parts of the District of Columbia to his own vision.
The two cases, unfolding at the same time in the same federal courthouse, also showcase the underlying executive authority claims that lie beneath them — a glimpse into the uses of presidential power under Donald Trump.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes’ declaration that the court would appoint a “special master” into whether agency officials, and Justice Department attorneys, had made misrepresentations in the court is a far cry from her relationship with the government until this month. She had rejected numerous motions from the plaintiffs to step in, saying she trusted the government attorneys.
The cases involved are an impending shutdown and reconfiguration of a historic public golf course and the construction of a monumental arch that, at 250 feet, would be 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty is from its base to the top of the torch. The two projects are barely three miles apart.
The hearing on the golf course change began as other recent ones have: Reyes questioned Associate Atty. Gen. Stanley Woodward Jr. over how Trump’s desires to turn the golf course, near the National Mall, into a world-class facility have become urgent plans that match his public pronouncements.
Reyes stopped the hearing several times and adjourned to her chambers to check previous transcripts of the trial as she questioned Woodward. Among things she wants examined: Was a National Park Service official told to exclude details in a court declaration? Did witnesses offer misleading testimony about the extent of plans in place for the course’s closure and renovation?
At one point, Reyes read the code of conduct to government attorneys on presenting erroneous or false information during a hearing.
Reyes ordered Friday’s hearing after multiple Truth Social posts by Trump indicated that there were plans for the golf course and construction was expected to begin Nov. 15. Trump said the park would be closed for 15 months while work goes on.
The presidential posts, which began Oct. 18, created a tense dynamic in multiple court hearings afterward when officials from the Interior Department, Justice and Park Service could not confirm the existence of the plans under questioning from Reyes. She eventually asked whom she should trust. The Justice Department filed notice Wednesday night that the plans were real.
“On Friday, October 30, 2026, the National Park Service will submit to the National Capital Planning Commission for review a rendering designed by Tom Fazio for a World Class, championship-level golf course that is capable of hosting major events,” the notice said.
Reyes locked in on the filing and Trump’s multiple Truth Social announcements as she questioned Woodward.
At one point, as they talked about plans that Woodward said came about only this week, he slipped and included tree cutting as part of the preparation for the closure.
Reyes responded immediately: “News flash.” She allowed him to correct himself that the tree cutting, which occurred earlier this month, was not part of the plan to close the East Potomac Park Golf Course.
The golf course lawsuit was one of two cases in court Friday dealing with the Trump administration’s push to expand its executive authority as the president remakes the federal areas of the capital near the National Mall and along the Potomac River.
Three courtrooms away, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan was to hold a hearing on a motion asking that she call a temporary halt to plans to begin construction as early as Nov. 5 on the memorial arch. The arch is opposed by a small group of veterans and an architectural historian who sued in federal court in Washington, saying Congress must endorse the project.
“The public interest leans heavily against allowing defendants to blaze ahead,” the plaintiffs said in seeking the injunction. “This court should enter a preliminary injunction blocking defendants from beginning construction on Memorial Circle in the hope that they can render the arch a fait accompli before this Court has made a final determination.”
Legal experts who have been watching the numerous cases underway say that what might appear at first glance to be vanity projects are in truth cases that test the limits of presidential power.
Past administrations pursued legal theories that were sometimes legally sound, sometimes not, said David Super, law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.
“But there was always the assumption that you would try to do things that were legal,” he said. “What we’re seeing here now is that if you think the federal courts can’t stop you,” you can break the law.
That’s ”going to do long-term damage to the country,” Super said.
Fields writes for the Associated Press.
Judy Reyes was nursing a severe case of homesickness when she arrived in Los Angeles nearly 25 years ago.
“Every month we’d have a hiatus on ‘Scrubs’ and every month, I’d head back east,” says Reyes, who plays head nurse Carla Espinosa on the ABC medical dramedy. The Bronx-born Dominican actor missed her family, friends and the theater company she helped start in 1992. She also feared she would forget her New York roots and wanted to “keep it real,” she quips. “I was so worried about being fake and not keeping it real.”
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Over time, her trips back home became less frequent, especially after she got pregnant with her now teenage son and her New York family relocated down South. She’s since settled into the place she’s called home for the last three decades.
Earlier this year, Reyes reprised her breakthrough TV role on “Scrubs,” which initially ended in 2010 after a nine-season run. Meanwhile, she’s been splitting her time on set with another ABC workplace drama, “High Potential.” She plays Lt. Selena Soto, who leads a team of LAPD crime solvers. Off screen, Reyes is also the executive producer of “Freestyle: A Love Story,” a stage production that follows two lovers who meet at a freestyle show.
Just weeks before the production debuts on Nov. 6 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Reyes shared a jam-packed Sunday Funday, which primarily takes place in Studio City. On the agenda are New York-style bagels (as a New Yorker, we trust her), getting a massage in the back of a sushi restaurant and enjoying sushi night with her husband and son as they’ve done since he was a baby.
“Before the kid, I was a Hollywood girl, but I’m annoyed when I have to go to Hollywood now,” she says. “I like to say we’ve contributed to the evolution of Studio City.”
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
5:15 a.m.: Admire the sunrise
I’m an early riser. I get up at like 5:15 or 5:30 a.m. I have a Breville machine, so I’ll make a cappuccino. I’ll take my supplements and I’ll pull up the shade on my terrace and watch the sunrise. I take photos and I send them to my besties on the East Coast. My bestie who lives in a high-rise on 43rd Street also has a terrace and sends me photos of her sunset. My husband’s an early riser too. He has business in the U.K., so he’s always up before me. If I’m not up by like 5:30 a.m., he’s like, ‘Babe, are you OK?’ So I’ll watch the sunrise, catch up on the news and do a little bit of doomscrolling to my detriment.
8 a.m.: Have L.A.’s most New York bagels
Everything opens late on Sundays, so we’ll wait. We’ll either go to Sam’s Bagels, which has the best bagels — the most New York bagels. We’ll either get a half dozen of the mini ones or four of the regular-sized ones with the seeds on them, and we’ll get cream cheese, of course, and lox. Or we’ll go to Belle Bakery Cafe on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. We’ll have either a full breakfast like bacon, eggs and toast or an omelet. They have the best fresh bread. You can get the bread during breakfast, but they won’t sell you the baguettes until after 11 a.m. You can’t make them give you anything earlier. You get there at 11 a.m. and you’re lucky if you get some. They sell out quickly.
10 a.m.: Pick up the best tuna from Erewhon
We’ll go to an Erewhon or Bristol Farms to get prepared foods for at least the first half of the week. Sometimes we’ll go to the farmers market on Fairfax, but that gets to be a little bit too busy. It’s too hot and there’s too much to do, and for my menopause, it’s not safe for the environment for me to be there. Erewhon has the best tuna fish, so we’ll pick that up that goes well with the bread that I told you about. I’ll add some capers or a pickle or two, then you have a sandwich for the rest of the day or into the next morning.
11 a.m.: A quick workout sesh at home
We’ll come back home and I’ll do some weights in the garage and my husband will do some stairs in the back of our house, or we’ll just do a walk in the hills near our house. I used to walk the hills a lot more before my dog passed away. I find it very sad, so I probably get a weekly walk in now, but I like to do my weights. It makes me feel good and prepared for the rest of the day.
1 p.m.: Get a massage in the back of a sushi restaurant
Sunday is nail day. My favorite place is Mod Nails on Ventura [Boulevard]. My girl Hannah, who runs the place, hooks my nails up, and we have nice, long talks. We rage talk about everything that’s wrong with the world and in our lives, and I get the coolest pedicure. I don’t have tips this time around because I have to keep going back between ‘Scrubs’ and ‘High Potential.’ Nurses can’t wear them long, so maybe next month I’ll get my gel fills, which is what she’s an expert at. Hannah does my nails better than anybody I’ve ever had. They run an acupuncture studio in the back. Her husband does acupuncture. It’s a really reasonably priced, wonderful experience.
Then on that street, I might go to Jonathan, who’s been my masseuse for 10 years, and get a nice beatdown. Interestingly, he works out of the back of a sushi restaurant called Iroha Sushi. He’s got his own little room back there that I’ve been going to for years. Best massage I’ve ever had. He keeps me in line especially when I have to travel. I had double hip replacement, so I’ve been dealing with a lot of pain. I also may go to my acupuncturist Dr. Yi if she’s available. She’s out in Culver City at Yi Qiao.
2:30 p.m.: Watch the L.A. Watford Women FC team practice at LACC
My husband and I co-own a women’s soccer team called L.A. Watford Women FC. We’ll go watch the girls practice at LACC. My husband is very active, as am I, in supporting these women. We were able to win a regional championship last year, so now we’re kind of devoted to going and rooting the girls on in practice, and encouraging them because it’s also an activist thing where you come for the game, but you stay for the activism.
4 p.m.: Go to rehearsals for my upcoming show
Now we’ll go to rehearsals at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre because we have a show, “Freestyle: A Love Story” coming up. We’ll meet with our dancers, actors and our DJ and the staging [team]. It’s not a terribly complicated show so we’re there for a couple of hours. The show is going to premiere on Nov. 6, so we’re running out of time. We do a lot of the social media and promotion because it’s a labor of love, faith, solidarity and community.
6 p.m.: Sushi Sunday with the fam
I’ve been doing Sushi Sunday with my husband and my son since he was 5 months old. We used to go with all these other couples, but people have outgrown us or moved on or gotten jobs in other states. It’s at Kiwami. We stuff our faces like it’s a job. I think we’ve been going there longer than the entire wait staff has been there. We sit at the same table, table number six right behind the sushi bar.
If we don’t go to Kiwami, we’ll go across the street to Black Market Liquor Bar. It’s also a place we’ve been going to for years. They have an appetizer-style, Southern, saucy-inspired menu where they have things breaded and fried. Oh, they have the greatest oysters and amazing pasta. If I’m not with the family and I’m just by myself or with a girlfriend, I’ll go to Laurel Tavern, which is a pub that has the greatest little menu.
7:30 p.m.: Read 10 pages before bed
Then we’ll come home. If there’s football, we’ll watch football. We go for the Jets. Poor Jets. I’m a New York fan so the Jets or the Giants are fine with me, but my husband is addicted to suffering. After football, we’ll both get in bed with our laptops and we’ll either watch something together and I’ll rub his head until he falls asleep. Or I’ll go back to doomscrolling and watching news until my feelings are hurt or I’ll read a book that I have. Because I’m on screen so much, I’m forcing myself to read at least 10 pages a night. I’m currently reading ”Communion” by bell hooks. It’s very heavy. Then I’ll do a little bit of journaling and I’m asleep by 9:30 p.m.
WITH soaring heating bills, expensive food shops and a trip to the fuel station easily costing you over £100 – even staying at home is hard on the wallet nowadays.
It all got me thinking: how much would it cost to swap all that for four weeks in an all inclusive hotel?
Somewhere your meals are prepared, selected drinks are included and your daily commute involves getting from your room to breakfast?
So I went looking and I found 28-night all inclusive holidays from £580pp – that’s four weeks away for less than £21 per person per night!
According to the 2026 Minimum Income Standard, a single working-age adult needs £973 per calendar month to afford daily essentials including food, energy and travel – before rent or a mortgage.
So here are seven 28-day holidays that cost less, and the seventh gets you a five-star beachfront stay for about £11 more. No-brainer.
A coastal setting, palm trees and four weeks where someone else is responsible for feeding you – Djerba makes a very tempting alternative to the usual November routine.
And El Mouradi Djerba Menzel offers a whole host of hotel amenities to make you really feel at home.
There are indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts and mini golf, so your days can involve a swim, a little friendly competition or simply finding a comfortable spot with a book.
The resort also has several restaurants and bars, with its main buffet providing the centre of your all inclusive dining routine (so no food shop and no washing-up).
The deal I found is 28 nights all inclusive from £580pp, including direct return flights from Manchester on November 21, 2026.
That works out at £20.71 per person per night, with the flights included – our cheapest on the list.
Alanya gives you a lovely coastal setting for a longer escape, and Kleopatra Atlas Hotel is the one I’d look at for an adults-only stay.
The hotel welcomes guests aged 16 and over, with a pool, a restaurant, a snack restaurant and poolside and lobby bars.
And Kleopatra Beach is also around 100 metres away, making a seaside stroll an easy addition to your daily routine.
The all inclusive package covers your main meals and selected drinks, which is particularly useful over four weeks.
Breakfast, a swim, lunch, a read and dinner later… Sounds pretty good, right?
The deal I found is 28 nights all inclusive from £635pp, with direct return flights from London Gatwick on November 23, 2026.
That’s £22.68 per person per night, including flights and accommodation.
For an adults-only hotel with meals included and the beach close by, that’s a very pleasing place to spend the run-up to Christmas.
Monastir brings the seaside setting and Delphin El Habib Hotel provides somewhere to make yourself VERY comfortable for four weeks.
The hotel has indoor and outdoor swimming pools, gardens and a terrace, giving you a choice of places to spend your days.
Rooms also all have balconies, and the central location makes a gentle wander an easy option when you fancy stretching your legs.
The indoor pool is a particularly useful feature for a long winter stay.
And here’s how I’d approach this one: settle in, find your favourite spot and enjoy having all your meals taken care of. Easy.
The deal I found includes 28 nights all inclusive from £635pp, with direct return flights from London Southend on November 11, 2026.
That works out at £22.68 per person per night for flights, accommodation, your main meals and selected drinks.
You’re getting four weeks of hotel living for a price that makes the daily supermarket trip look considerably less appealing.
If your idea of a good November involves a pool, some sunshine and all you can eat, Royal Jinene Sousse deserves a look.
This hotel has indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts and a buffet restaurant, with the beach just 100 metres away.
That gives you the ingredients for my ideal daily routine.
By that, I mean spending hours at the breakfast buffet, breaking up the day of swimming and sightseeing with more trips to the hotel restaurant.
For a four-week stay, it means you can spend time around the hotel, get out for some sea air and come back knowing dinner is already sorted.
The all inclusive basis does a lot of the work here, as your main meals and selected drinks are covered throughout the stay, helping keep the everyday spending predictable.
The deal I found is 28 nights all inclusive from £655pp, including direct return flights from Manchester on 12 November 2026.
That’s £23.39 per person per night, including the flights. Bargain.
Side gives you an endless coastline, and Sun Beach Park hotel is the ideal spot to enjoy it.
The hotel has plenty of pools and its own beach area too.
That’s a big part of the appeal over 28 nights, where you can pop to the beach after breakfast and even after lunch too, without having to spend a dime.
Early November is a good time to make the most of the region’s milder autumn weather too.
Antalya’s long-term average daytime high is around 22C in November, which isn’t boiling, but is much warmer than hanging off a radiator in the UK.
The deal I found is 28 nights all inclusive from £745pp, with direct return flights from London Gatwick on November 1, 2026.
That works out at £26.61 per person per night, with flights, accommodation, main meals and selected drinks included.
Four weeks where you’re fed, watered and close to the sea for that price? You can see why I’d be tempted.
A mountain backdrop and a private beach make Miarosa Kemer Beach a gorgeous place to swap November in the UK for something considerably more appealing to look at.
The hotel has swimming pools, a gym and loads of activities, with restaurants and bars providing the centre of your all inclusive stay.
I’d definitely make this one about taking your time over everything.
A proper breakfast, a decent bit of slow exercise, lunch and a long afternoon with nowhere urgent to be whatsoever.
Having your main meals and selected drinks included makes that particularly easy, because you’ve paid for the hotel stay, so you can settle in and just enjoy it all.
The deal I found is 28 nights’ all inclusive from £890pp, including direct return flights from London Gatwick on November 3, 2026.
That’s £31.79 per person per night, including flights.
A compelling alternative to another month of the usual routine.
Now, personally, this is the one I’d be choosing.
Iberostar Selection Diar El Andalous is a five-star beachfront hotel with direct access to the sand, gardens, outdoor pools and a heated indoor pool.
For four weeks away, that gives you a very attractive choice of places to chill out.
It’s all inclusive again, too, so you can tuck into a buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacks, ice cream and local-brand bar service.
You can swim, settle down with a book, enjoy lunch and work your way gently towards dinner.
The heated indoor pool adds another reason to enjoy the hotel during a stay that stretches into December.
The deal I found is 28 nights’ all inclusive from £910pp, with direct return flights from London Luton on November 22, 2026.
Despite being the most expensive on this list, that still works out at just £32.50 per person per night.
It’s about £11 more than the estimated four-week UK budget I mentioned at the start, but that gets you flights, a five-star beachfront hotel, your main meals and selected drinks all thrown in.
For me, that’s a very, very, very persuasive way to spend the difference.
EasyJet will be impacted by the closure of the airport in November(Image: Getty Images)
An airport in a popular European city will close in November, leaving busy airlines grounded at Naples Capodichino Airport. The airport is one of the busiest in Italy – but it will shut for major works.
The modernisation works come with the aim to increase passenger numbers. Around 13 million travellers pass through the hub annually, but this is expected to rise to 17.3 million by 2035. Footfall in November will slump however, with major airlines impacted by the closure.
The works include the refurbishment of the runway, a second terminal for non-Schengen flights, which would include flights to the UK, new aircraft stands, a new area for cargo and logistics and a new hotel, with road links and underground connections. The area surrounding the airport will also be redeveloped.
Naples Airport website states: “Naples Airport will be closed in November 2026 for extensive and planned runway upgrades, in compliance with stringent industry regulations and in line with GESAC’s priority commitment to ensuring the highest safety standards.”
Airlines operating out of Naples airport include include easyJet from London Gatwick and Ryanair from London Stansted, Manchester and Edinburgh.
Travellers now need to head to the new Salerno-Pontecagnano Airport for the duration of the closure. The airport is scheduled to reopen on November 30.
GESAC, the company managing the Naples airport, has launched a shuttle bus between Naples Piazza Garibaldi and Salerno Costa d’Amalfi and Cilento Airport to help travellers get to the airport.
There will be eight services in each direction per day at a cost of €12 (£10.04) per person. There is also a train from Naples Central to Salerno for £5 per way.
IT’S BAD news for travellers heading to a popular European city as its airport is set to close for an ENTIRE month.
Naples Capodichino Airport, which is one of the busiest airports in Italy, will be closed for all of November to carry out major works.
Around €30million (£25.1million) of the €250million (£209.2million) project will focus on the runway with a complete refurbishment.
A second terminal for non-Schengen flights, which would include flights to the UK, will also be built.
Across the entire airport, there will be new aircraft stands, as well as a new area for cargo and logistics.
The airport will get a new hotel, with road links and underground connections as well.
Read more on travel inspo
And the overall airport will be modernised to allow for increased passenger numbers.
Currently 13million travellers use the airport each year, but this is set to rise to 17.3million by 2035.
The area surrounding the airport will also be redeveloped.
All the changes being made will allow the airport to use higher-capacity aircraft, which means more passengers at the airport.
Naples Airport website states: “Naples Airport will be closed in November 2026 for extensive and planned runway upgrades, in compliance with stringent industry regulations and in line with GESAC’s priority commitment to ensuring the highest safety standards.”
Current airlines that fly to the airport include easyJet from London Gatwick and Ryanair from London Stansted, Manchester and Edinburgh.
During the closure, travellers will need to head to the new Salerno-Pontecagnano Airport.
Gesac, the company managing the Naples airport, has launched a shuttle bus between Naples Piazza Garibaldi and Salerno Costa d’Amalfi and Cilento Airport to help travellers get to the airport.
There will be eight services in each direction, each day and costs €12 (£10.04) per person.
Alternatively, you can get the train from Naples Central to Salerno for £5 per way.
Naples airport will then reopen on November 30.
Already accused by his wife of sexually assaulting her, Marcellus Wiley is the defendant in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that he raped a 22-year-old USC student in 1999.
Wiley, a former NFL defensive end and longtime sports media personality, also has been accused by three women of sexual misconduct when he was a student at Columbia University in 1994 and by four additional women of similar criminal behavior from 1995 to 2009.
Those filings support a motion-seeking class-action status against Wiley and Columbia by one of the accusers, who filed her initial complaint in 2023 alleging that Wiley raped her in his Columbia dorm room in November 1994 after inviting her to study. She claimed university officials discouraged her from going to the police and handled the matter internally.
The filing Tuesday alleges that “Jane Doe” met Wiley in February 1999 and went on two dates with him. The lawsuit states that she told Wiley — who had just completed his third season with the Buffalo Bills — that she was sexually inexperienced and not interested in a romantic relationship. Nevertheless, she accompanied him to a L.A. nightclub and agreed to spend the night in his hotel room. Doe alleged that Wiley raped her after she fell asleep fully clothed.
“Jane told Wiley to stop and repeated ‘Please stop’ several times and told him, ‘You’re not listening to me,’” the lawsuit states.
While driving Doe to her dorm room, Wiley suggested that she be tested for a sexually transmitted disease because he “had the clap,” according to the filing. She claims they never spoke again.
Doe wrote that she filed a police report after a rape kit tested positive for Wiley’s semen. More than a month later she claims the district attorney’s office informed her that Wiley denied Doe’s allegations and that, “therefore, no charges would be filed.” Doe is suing Wiley for sexual battery, assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Wiley responded to the lawsuit by pointing to MenTooProject.org, a digital advocacy movement and platform he launched in August after the State of Florida declined to file charges against him following a July 4 domestic dispute with his estranged wife, Annemarie Wiley. She alleged that he poked her in the face and threatened to kill her in front of their 7-year-old daughter. Wiley denied the allegations.
The project, a spin-off of the #MenToo awareness campaign that gained widespread traction in India in 2019, invites men to “join us in the fight for truth, fairness, and justice,” Wiley wrote on the website. “My grandmother told me the truth always outruns a lie. She taught me not to chase the lie, just give the truth time to catch it.”
Wiley, 51, frequently addresses the allegations against him on his YouTube channel, “Dat Dude TV.”
“Pick a date, pick the encounter, pick the allegation. For every one of them, I either saw, communicated through email, text, phone, was invited by these individuals after these dates to engage, to be intimate, or all of the above, after the dates that are in question,” Wiley said in a May 2006 episode.
In a court filing two months later requesting a temporary restraining order, Annemarie Wiley accused him of raping her four separate times. The first alleged instance occurred in 2012 when they were dating and the other three allegedly took place in January 2026. Annemarie, a nurse anesthetist and former cast member of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” was granted the order as well as full custody of their children. She filed for divorce the same day.
In Sepember, a judge granted her request to extend the restraining order for three years. The July 4 episode that triggered the restraining order resulted in Wiley’s arrest, but a month later the Orange County State Attorney’s Office dropped criminal charges, stating that testimonial evidence lacked corroborating physical or other evidence required to pursue a conviction.
Wiley, who grew up in Compton and played 10 years in the NFL including three with the Chargers, defended himself publicly through a long social media post that read in part, “I owe it to my children to truthfully document what they and I have endured. To do that, I must address the lies Annemarie has told about me by telling the truth about her and our marriage.
“Over the years, I have compiled videos, photographs, text messages, emails, and other evidence that directly contradicts those baseless claims and provides a factual record of our family and the events leading to this unfortunate divorce,” he wrote.
Wiley has repeatedly lamented that the allegations, lawsuits and media reports could have a negative impact on his young son and two daughters. He pointed out on social media in May that three sexual assault claims were dismissed in New York County court in September 2025, while suggesting that his son, Marcellus Wiley Jr., could suffer from the allegations.
“To me, it’s about my son’s name, that he will one day Google and think this is about him, but he’s gonna know it’s about his dad,” he said on “Dat Dude TV” in May. “And how dare you stain the brain of my child.”
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia — A U.S. cruise ship on an around-the-world voyage that touted its cabins as floating homes suspended its three-year voyage in Cambodia due to fuel costs, forcing hundreds of passengers to disembark.
The MV Odyssey set sail two years ago on a voyage to the seven continents marketed as combining long-term living at sea with global travel. Its operator had offered to “make the Odyssey your permanent home,” with the purchase price of a suite for the lifetime of the vessel starting around $230,000.
For now, it is docked at the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand, with no certain departure date.
The ship has been carrying 203 passengers, mostly Americans, along with 156 crew members, according to Cambodian officials. It has a 650-passenger capacity.
Its Florida-based operator, Villa Vie Residences, said monthly fuel expenses per cabin that historically averaged $1,800 have reached an estimated $6,000 to $8,000 in parts of Asia due to the war in Iran. The company said it sought to reduce fuel consumption by slowing the itinerary and spending more time in port, but was unable to offset the surging costs.
Traffic has been curtailed in the Strait of Hormuz since the war in Iran began, squeezing supplies of all kinds of petroleum-based fuels, especially in Southeast Asia, and sharply increasing prices.
“We have been unable to continue carrying the resulting operating losses,” Villa Vie Residences said in a statement issued Tuesday. “Passing the full increase on to residents is not a realistic solution. Our focus now is on supporting residents, crew, and employees” while it tries to restructure.
“The company is working with residents to coordinate disembarkation and identify temporary living arrangements,” it said.
Passengers, however, said they received no support and had to make their own arrangements after being given seven hours notice on Tuesday to disembark. Some were devastated and expressed hope a new company could rescue the venture so life at sea can continue.
Paul and Lynn Montoya, a retired couple from Wyoming, said they bought a window cabin and had expected to sail for years. They boarded the ship 17 months ago in Panama.
Paul praised the concept of residential cruising but said the shipowner lacked the expertise to make the business financially sustainable. While rising fuel costs had been cited publicly as the reason for the suspension, he said the company had already been struggling. Changes to itinerary, unreliable internet access and declining food quality had pushed many residents to leave the ship in recent months, he said.
Lynn said residents were repeatedly asked to contribute additional money for fuel and other expenses, including a fresh call to raise funds for fuel to get out of Cambodia. She said the crew members were also not paid.
“We were tired of every two to four weeks being asked for money for fuel, money for everything,” she said. “We had hopes but they just kept sinking further and further into the hole through mismanagement.”
The company could not immediately be contacted for comment.
Yet for some, even the financial and logistical turmoil couldn’t outweigh the extraordinary experience of traveling the world and living at sea.
Carol Larson, 69, and her sister Crystal Lavering, 72, occupied separate cabins aboard the ship for 18 months. The siblings, from California, described the suspension as heartbreaking, and hoped the cruise would be resuscitated.
“I hope there is a movement for the residents to buy the ship and I am hoping that goes through because it’s a dream to live on the ship and I don’t want it to end,” Larson said.
Lavering said her health improved during her time on the ship, and that she didn’t need to use a cane to walk anymore. “You come to this ship to live … it’s just sad that it’s all over.”
Larson bought her cabin for $120,000, paid in installments, in addition to monthly maintenance fees, under a plan that had promised the possibility of living aboard for up to 15 years. She said she blamed U.S. President Donald Trump for the ship’s woes as fuel costs spiked due to the Iran war, in addition to poor management. But she said she didn’t regret her investment.
“Because it was a startup company, I believe that it was a risk. From the very first day, I said to myself that if it lasts a year, I can walk away and feel like I got my money’s worth … I still feel that way. I feel blessed to have been part of the experiment of residential cruising,” she said.
The ship arrived in Sihanoukville last Friday and was scheduled to depart Wednesday, according to a statement from Long Dimanche, the deputy governor of Preah Sihanouk province. He said it was now expected to refuel and depart Cambodia on Saturday, but the ship’s operator has not yet publicly confirmed any date.
Built in 1993 and operated under different names by several cruise lines over the years before being becalmed by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Odyssey was bought by Villa Vie Residences in 2023.
Its current cruise, originally intended to last 3 1/2 years, began in October 2024 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the ship had been refitted. A second cruise had been tentatively scheduled to end in August 2030.
The Odyssey is not the first cruise ship Sihanoukville has hosted in crisis.
In February 2020, the MS Westerdam was allowed to dock in Cambodia after being turned away at five ports in other nations because of fears of COVID-19, which just a month earlier had started to spread from China. It carried 1,455 passengers, more than 600 of them American citizens.
After being stranded at sea for two weeks, Cambodia’s then-Prime Minister Hun Sen allowed it to dock for what he said were humanitarian reasons. Cambodia won plaudits as passengers were welcomed ashore and arrangements were made for them to fly home.
Cheang writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge agreed Monday to extend an order blocking the Trump administration’s renovation plans for a century-old public golf course in the nation’s capital.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily bars the government from removing or damaging any additional trees on the East Potomac Golf Course. The administration must give 10 days’ notice in writing before making any “irreparable modification” to any “forms or features” of the course while the lawsuit is active.
“The Court earlier stated, ‘I am not the Lorax. I do not speak for the trees.’ The Court still does not speak for the trees. It speaks only for the rule of law,” Reyes wrote.
Reyes expressed astonishment that the government has asked her to “not to believe the sitting President” and disregard Trump’s statements about his plans for the golf course renovations.
“This started as a case about golf. That good walk spoiled. But it has become much more,” Reyes wrote. “It now forces the Court to reconcile assertions by President Donald J. Trump with the sworn testimony of multiple government employees and the argument of senior Department of Justice attorneys.”
On Oct. 18, Trump announced plans on social media to close the golf course for 15 months, starting Nov. 15, and redevelop the 106-year-old park and course despite a court challenge by the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers. A day later, Trump posted that the work would start immediately.
Reyes, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Biden, previously ordered the administration to suspend work on the project until at least Oct. 26.
Trump was asked about the case late Monday night as he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland following a rally in Mississippi and indicated that work on the golf course will proceed as planned.
“It has the go-ahead. The judge feels that she would like to approve it as it goes along. And I didn’t know she was an architectural critic of golf courses,” Trump said sarcastically.
He added of the judge: “She knows nothing about that, so we’ll appeal that” while also calling his planned overhaul a “beautiful project for Washington, D.C.”
Trump later in a social media post reiterated a statement he made Oct. 18 that the course would close for 15 months. “We are closing the East Potomac Golf Course Site as scheduled on November 15th in order to renovate and rebuild for Competitive (with other such projects!), Safety, Modernization, and Aesthetic reasons,” he wrote.
The plaintiffs challenging the project, DC Preservation League and two golfers, claim the work is inflicting irreversible damage. At a hearing, the judge excoriated the government after workers cut down at least 400 trees over a holiday weekend with little notice to the plaintiffs.
The course renovation project is part of the Republican president’s aggressive campaign to leave his personal imprint on Washington’s historic landscape. Those plans include construction of a huge ballroom at the White House, a massive arch and the creation of a National Garden of American Heroes in West Potomac Park. DC Preservation League is part of a coalition of organizations, including the Cultural Landscape Foundation and one D.C. resident, who have filed lawsuit challenging those plans.
Reyes rejected the administration’s request for her to recuse herself from the case. The government questioned her impartiality and accused her of engaging in “egregious” behavior from the bench during an emergency hearing in the case.
In Monday’s ruling Reyes stressed that she had hoped the parties could have resolved their dispute without judicial intervention. She noted that she had denied plaintiffs’ previous requests.
“The Court would much prefer not to have to resolve Lorax v. Once‑ler redux. Indeed, for months, the Court declined to intervene,” she wrote.
But she said the government forced her hand by bulldozing hundreds of trees without any notice, doing “what it assured all it would not do.”
Reyes quoted from a golf-related opinion written by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon, in stressing the temporary nature of her own decision.
“Here, golf and government have again clashed,” Reyes wrote. “By issuing this preliminary injunction, the Court does not end the round: it simply marks the ball until the parties can fully and fairly litigate this case.
Democracy Forward President & CEO Skye Perryman, whose organization is co-counsel representing the plaintiffs, called the ruling “a big win that will rightly protect East Potomac Park from further irreparable harm.” She added, in an email, that the move will stop activities “while the case continues, and we are eager to argue the case in court.”
Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press. AP reporters Gary Fields and Will Weissert contributed to this report.
