Moran

On the first official day for high school football practice in Southern California, few can say they were more excited than University High quarterback Jeremy Pacheco.

In the second quarter of the first game last season, he sustained a season-ending knee injury. After surgery in October, he went six weeks without walking and had to study from home taking online courses.

After months of rehabbing, he’s been cleared to play in his senior season.

“The energy getting back to play football is next-level,” he said Monday afternoon.

No one really knows how good he is, except for University coach Bryan Robinson, who believes he’s ready to show off a strong arm and strong leadership qualities.

At Eagle Rock, where coach Andy Moran began his 29th season of coaching, the optimism is valid, because Moran has a quarterback in Liam Pasten coming off a season in which he passed for 3,602 yards.

“It’s like Christmas,” Moran said before sending his players to the weight room. “Everyone is excited for that first day.”

Pasten has grown to 6 foot 1 but weighs a slim 145 pounds. Don’t worry about hits.

“I have a good understanding of having to take hits or avoid hits to protect myself,” Pasten said.

Eagle Rock All-City quarterback Liam Pasten is 6 foot 1 and 145 pounds.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Pasten is also known for being one of the best high school barbers. He’s up to giving 40 to 50 haircuts a month.

As for what’s the most popular cuts, Pasten said, “Lower and mid tapers.”

He might have to offer his linemen free haircuts for no sacks as an incentive to protect him at all costs.

The first three days of practices for City Section teams are conditioning days. Then helmets and shoulder pads go on.

Southern Section teams with Week 0 games also began practices on Monday.

July 9 (UPI) — Jason Moran, an acclaimed pianist, composer, educator, bandleader and recording artist, said he has left his position as jazz artistic director at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The center, which receives federal funds, has undergone dramatic changes since Donald Trump became president again and he installed himself as chairman. He ousted arts center President Deborah Rutter and Board Chairman David Rubenstein, and replaced board members appointed by former President Biden.

A number of artists have been replaced or have voluntarily quit, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, who canceled a run of his Broadway hit, Hamilton, next year.

The Kennedy Center declined to comment to NPR.

Moran, who accepted the position in 2011, one year after his predecessor, Billy Taylor, died, didn’t mention any disagreements with Trump or others in a post on Tuesday on Instagram.

Moran, 50, described “14 years of inviting thousands of artists to share their work with audiences.” And he was grateful “to an incredible staff that ushered artists from the negotiation to the after party.”

In his role, he developed programming and curated artists for one of the largest jazz programs in the United States.

He hosted performances and education programs that included the National Endowment for the Arts’ “NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert” and Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead, a residency for emerging artists of which Moran is an alum.

Moran, who scored the films Selma and 13th, tours the world as a performer. In 2010, he was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship.

“Thank you to the composers, comedians, choreographers, performance artists, skateboarders, filmmakers, authors, illustrators, dancers, photographers, sculptors, scientists, crews and on and on,” he wrote. “These young ones are beautifying the stage. And with that, I bowed on Juneteenth.”

Moran, who was born in Houston, began studying the piano at age 6, according to information posted on the Kennedy Center website. He attended Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and then Manhattan School of Music in New York City.

At the college, he attended a class by saxophonist Sonny Rollins.

“My first day on the job at The Kennedy Center was when Sonny Rollins was receiving his Kennedy Center Honor,” Moran wrote,

The center, which includes a 2,465-seat Concert Hall, the 2,347-seat Opera House, the 1,161-seat Eisenhower Theater and the 320-seat Family Theater, made its public debut on Sept. 8, 1971.

Trump attended the opening night of Les Miserables on June 11.

During his first term, Trump didn’t attend a performance there, including the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony after several performers honored at the annual gala spoke out against him.

Veteran ABC News correspondent Terry Moran is leaving the network, following his suspension over social media posts that were harshly critical of the Trump White House.

Moran, 65, was suspended Sunday after statements on X that described President Trump and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller as “world class” haters. He also called Miller “vile.”

Moran, a senior national correspondent for the news division who interviewed Trump in the Oval Office in April, is not a commentator. An ABC News representative said his actions violated editorial standards and his contract was not renewed. He had been with the network since 1997.

“We are at the end of our agreement with Terry Moran and based on his recent post — which was a clear violation of ABC News policies — we have made the decision to not renew,” the representative said in a statement. “At ABC News, we hold all of our reporters to the highest standards of objectivity, fairness and professionalism, and we remain committed to delivering straightforward, trusted journalism.”

Moran’s expulsion from the network is a sign that news organizations are concerned about journalists incurring the wrath of Trump, who has shown a willingness to fight back against his critics in the press. Moran is the first high profile journalist to lose his job over publicly lambasting the president and his aides.

Moran wrote on a now deleted X post that “Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater…You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.”

Other outlets are getting pummeled by the White House as well, such as PBS and NPR. Trump wants their federal funding ended, calling their programming “left wing propaganda.”

Trump is suing CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview in October that he claims was deceptively edited to help his 2024 election opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris. The suit — an obstacle to CBS parent Paramount Global’s deal to merge with Skydance Media — has gone to a mediator.

ABC News paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit Trump filed over statements by “Good Morning America” co-host George Stephanopoulos, who incorrectly said on air that the president had been liable of rape, when it was sexual abuse. Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger has asked that ABC’s “The View” spend less time talking about Trump, who typically leads the daytime talk show’s hot topics segment.

Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta — who battled Trump in the White House briefing room during the president’s first term — left the network rather than take a midnight time slot that would have lowered his profile considerably. Acosta has since launched his own program on Substack.

Veteran ABC News correspondent Terry Moran was suspended Sunday after he posted a harsh criticism of the Trump White House on X.

Moran, 65, took aim Saturday at President Trump and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who has been outspoken in his desire to see a step up in the deportation of undocumented migrants.

“Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater,” Moran wrote his post, which has been deleted. “You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate.” He also described Miller as “vile.”

Moran went on to call Trump “a world class hater” adding, “but his hatred only a means to an end and that end is his own glorification. That’s his spiritual nourishment.”

Moran, whose title is senior national correspondent, has been an ABC News journalist since 1999 and is not a commentator. He conducted an Oval Office interview with Trump in April to discuss the first 100 days of the president’s second term.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks to reporters Friday outside the White House.

(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)

In a statement, an ABC News representative said Moran’s statements violated the division’s policy.

“ABC News stands for objectivity and impartiality in its news coverage and does not condone subjective personal attacks on others,” the representative said. “The post does not reflect the views of ABC News and violated our standards — as a result, Terry Moran has been suspended pending further evaluation.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt ripped Moran and called for action by ABC when the journalist’s post was raised during an interview Sunday on Fox News.

“This is unacceptable and unhinged rhetoric coming from someone who works at a major television network,” Leavitt said. “We have reached out to ABC, they have said they will be taking action, so we will see what they do. But I think this speaks to the distrust the American public have in the legacy media.”

The rapid suspension by ABC News demonstrates how networks are on edge over their news organizations antagonizing the Trump White House, which has shown a willingness to extract revenge on its critics.

Trump has asked Congress to cut off federal funding from public media outlets PBS and NPR, calling their programming “left wing propaganda.”

Trump is suing CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview last October that he claims was deceptively edited to help his 2024 election opponent Vice President Kamala Harris. The suit — an obstacle to CBS parent Paramount Global’s deal to merge with Skydance Media — has gone to a mediator.

ABC News paid $15 million to settle a lawsuit Trump filed over statements by “Good Morning America” co-host George Stephanopoulos, who incorrectly said on air that the president had been liable of rape, when it was sexual abuse. Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger has asked that ABC’s “The View” spend less time talking about Trump, who typically leads the daytime talk show’s hot topics segment.