number

Projected season opening date: By Thanksgiving, if Mother Nature cooperates, or by Yule on Dec. 21 at the latest.

What makes it special: Only 45 miles from Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains, Mt. Baldy has 26 runs spread over 800 acres and three mountains. It also has a respectable vertical descent of 2,100 feet with wide-open glades, tree runs, bowls, moguls, groomed runs, cornices and quarter pipes. For those who don’t ski or snowboard, Mt. Baldy also offers snow tubing.

What’s new this season: With upgrades, Lift No. 3 now features more comfortable carriers to the top of Thunder Mountain at 8,600 feet. Chair No. 4 on the west side has a new drive and control system, allowing year-round use with both uphill and downhill loading when conditions permit. Continuous improvements to snowmaking are also helping Mt. Baldy open earlier each season. The resort’s former Last Name Brewing has rebranded as Mt. Baldy Brewery.

Lift ticket prices: Mt. Baldy season passes are currently on sale through Christmas Day: adults are $549 (regularly $799), teens and seniors are $449 (regularly $639) and children under 12 are $279 (regularly $399). You can pre-purchase lift tickets online for a discount. Walk-up tickets are $129 on busy days when the mountain is in full operation.

Pro-tip: Mt. Baldy has the most steep runs in Southern California. Advanced and expert skiers and snowboarders might want to head to Chair 1 to try “Nightmare,” a 36-degree slope that maintains its drop for 1,000 vertical feet.

A Nov. 4 statewide ballot measure pushed by California Democrats to help the party’s efforts to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives and stifle President Trump’s agenda has a substantial lead in a new poll released on Thursday.

Six out of 10 likely voters support Proposition 50, the proposal by Gov. Gavin Newsom and his allies to redraw the state’s congressional districts to try to increase the number of Democrats in Congress, according to a survey by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies that was co-sponsored by The Times. About 38% of likely voters oppose the ballot measure.

Notable in an off-year special election about the arcane and complicated process of redistricting, 71% of likely voters said they had heard a significant amount of information about the ballot measure, according to the poll.

“That’s extraordinary,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the IGS poll. “Even though it’s kind of an esoteric topic that doesn’t affect their daily lives, it’s something voters are paying attention to.”

That may be because roughly $158 million has been donated in less than three months to the main campaign committees supporting and opposing the measure, according to campaign fundraising reports filed with the state last week. Voters in the state have been flooded with political ads.

Californians watching Tuesday night’s World Series game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays saw that firsthand.

In the first minutes of the game, former President Obama, Newsom, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other prominent Democrats spoke in favor of Proposition 50 in an ad that probably cost at least $250,000 to air, according to a Democratic media buyer who is not associated with the campaign.

According to the survey, the breakdown among voters was highly partisan, with more than 9 out of 10 Democrats supporting Proposition 50 and a similar proportion of Republicans opposing it. Among voters who belong to other parties, or identify as “no party preference,” 57% favored the ballot measure, while 39% opposed it.

Only 2% of the likely voters surveyed said they were undecided, which DiCamillo said was highly unusual.

Historically, undecided voters, particularly independents, often end up opposing ballot measures they are uncertain about, preferring to stick with the status quo, he said.

“Usually there was always a rule — look at the undecideds in late-breaking polls, and assume most would vote no,” he said. “But this poll shows there are very few of them out there. Voters have a bead on this one.”

In the voter-rich urban areas of Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay area, Proposition 50 led by wide margins, the poll found. Voters in Orange County, the Inland Empire and the Central Valley were pretty evenly divided.

Redistricting battles are underway in states across the nation, but California’s Proposition 50 has received a major share of national attention and donations. The Newsom committee supporting Proposition 50 has raised far more money than the two main committees opposing it, so much so that the governor this week told supporters to stop sending checks.

The U.S. House of Representatives is controlled by the GOP but is narrowly divided. The party that wins control of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections will determine whether Trump can continue enacting his agenda or whether he is the subject of investigations and possibly another impeachment effort.

California’s 52 congressional districts — the most of any state — currently are drawn by a voter-approved independent commission once every decade following the U.S. census.

But after Trump urged GOP leaders in Texas this summer to redraw their districts to bolster the number of Republicans in Congress, Newsom and other California Democrats decided in August to ask voters to allow a rare mid-decade partisan redrawing of the state’s district boundaries. If passed, Proposition 50 could potentially add five more Democrats to the state’s congressional delegation.

Supporters of Proposition 50 have painted their effort as a proxy fight against Trump and his policies that have overwhelmingly affected Californians, such as immigration raids and the deployment of the National Guard on the streets of Los Angeles.

Opponents of the proposition have focused on the mechanics of redistricting, arguing the ballot measure subverts the will of California voters who enacted the independent redistricting commission more than a decade ago.

“The results suggest that Democrats have succeeded in framing the debate surrounding the proposition around support or opposition to President Trump and national Republicans, rather than about voters’ more general preference for nonpartisan redistricting,” Eric Schickler, co-director of IGS, said in a statement.

Early voting data suggest the pro-Proposition 50 message has been successful.

As of Tuesday, nearly 5 million Californians — about 21% of the state’s 23 million registered voters — had cast ballots, according to trackers run by Democratic and Republican strategists.

Democrats greatly outnumber Republicans among the state’s registered voters, and they have outpaced them in returning ballots, 52% to 27%. Voters who do not have a party preference or who support other political parties have returned 21% of the ballots.

The Berkeley/L.A. Times poll findings mirrored recent surveys by the Public Policy Institute of California, CBS News/YouGov and Emerson College.

Among voters surveyed by the Berkeley/L.A. Times poll, 67% of Californians who had already voted supported Proposition 50, while 33% said they had weighed in against the ballot measure.

The proposition also had an edge among those who planned to vote but had not yet cast their ballots, with 57% saying they planned to support the effort and 40% saying they planned to oppose it.

However, 70% of voters who plan to cast ballots in person on Nov. 4, election day, said they would vote against Proposition 50, according to the poll. Less than 3 in 10 who said they would vote at their local polling place said they would support the rare mid-decade redistricting.

These numbers highlight a recent shift in how Americans vote. Historically, Republicans voted by mail early, while Democrats cast ballots on election day. But this dynamic was upended in recent years after Trump questioned the security of early voting and mail voting, including just recently when he criticized Proposition 50.

“No mail-in or ‘Early’ Voting, Yes to Voter ID! Watch how totally dishonest the California Prop Vote is! Millions of Ballots being ‘shipped,’” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. “GET SMART REPUBLICANS, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!!!”

GOP leaders across the state have pushed back at such messaging without calling out the president. Urging Republicans to vote early, they argue that waiting to cast ballots only gives Democrats a greater advantage in California elections.

Among the arguments promoted by the campaigns, likely voters agreed with every one posited by the supporters of Proposition 50, notably that the ballot measure would help Democrats win control of the House, while standing up to Trump and his attempts to rig the 2026 election, according to the poll. But they also agreed that the ballot measure would further diminish the power of the GOP in California, and that they didn’t trust partisan state lawmakers to draw congressional districts.

The Berkeley IGS/Times poll surveyed 8,141 California registered voters online in English and Spanish from Oct. 20 to 27. The results are estimated to have a margin of error of 2 percentage points in either direction in the overall sample, and larger numbers for subgroups.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is restricting the number of refugees it admits into the country to 7,500 and they will mostly be white South Africans, a dramatic drop after the U.S. previously allowed in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution from around the world.

The administration published the news Thursday in a notice on the Federal Registry.

No reason was given for the numbers, which are a dramatic decrease from last year’s ceiling set under the Biden administration of 125,000. The Associated Press previously reported that the administration was considering admitting as few as 7,500 refugees and mostly white South Africans.

The memo said only that the admission of the 7,500 refugees during 2026 fiscal year was “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.”

Santana writes for the Associated Press.

Littler closed the gap on Humphries when he won the World Grand Prix earlier this month, saying afterwards: “Obviously, until I get that world number one spot, I will never call myself the best in the world.

“I don’t want to think about it too much, but I could be world number one before that World Championship.

“I’ve just got to keep chucking away and put as much pressure as I can on Luke.”

Littler begins his European Championship campaign against five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld, 58, on Friday.

Humphries, 30, faces Pole Krzysztof Ratajski in the first round and could potentially meet Littler in the quarter-finals.

A day after his Grand Prix victory, Littler was beaten in the World Youth Championship semi-finals by Beau Greaves, before he then won the Players Championship 32 event.

He has also announced a new management deal with Target Darts after splitting with Martin Foulds of ZXF Sports Management, who had managed him for five years.

Littler will hope to improve his recent record in Germany, where he has skipped some tournaments after facing a hostile reception from spectators. He was booed alongside Humphries when the pair lost to Germany at the World Cup of Darts in Frankfurt in June.

After the European Championship, there are two big tournaments before the World Championship starts on 11 December – the Grand Slam of Darts (8-16 November) and Players Championship Finals (21-23 November).

The scary thing about retirement is that it’s hard to know exactly how much money you’ll need to cover your costs until that period of life begins. Sure, you can estimate a budget based on certain assumptions, like where you’ll live and how you’ll spend your days. But nailing down an exact budget is pretty difficult.

Meanwhile, one of the most tricky retirement expenses to estimate is none other than healthcare. That’s because the cost there will hinge on factors like:

• How long you live
• What health issues you end up experiencing
• What Medicare plan you choose

Image source: Getty Images.

Still, it’s important to have a basic handle on what healthcare might cost you down the line. And recent data reveals that a good chunk of Americans are clueless in that regard.

Do you know what you might spend on healthcare in retirement?

In a recent report, Fidelity found that the typical 65-year-old today can expect to spend $172,500 on healthcare costs during retirement. But it also found that 20% of Americans have never thought about what healthcare might cost them down the line.

There are two reasons it’s important to plan for healthcare costs in retirement. First, it’s one expense that’s non-negotiable.

You can downsize your home if the costs of maintaining it are too high. And you can move to a state that’s cheaper if it helps you stretch your income and Social Security benefits. But you can’t not pay for healthcare. If you need a certain medication to function, you may not have a choice about taking it.

Secondly, healthcare has, for many years, outpaced broad inflation. When Fidelity first started estimating healthcare costs for retirement back in 2002, it found that the typical senior would spend $80,000 throughout their senior years. In the past two decades and change, that projection has more than doubled. And chances are, it’ll continue to climb.

Have a plan for tackling healthcare expenses

There are steps you can take to make healthcare in retirement more affordable, like going to your scheduled physicals and screening appointments to get ahead of potential issues and choosing the right Medicare plan. But there may be only so much you can do to keep your costs down.

That’s why it’s so important to save well for healthcare specifically. And while you could always boost your IRA or 401(k) plan contributions, you may want to allocate funds in a separate account specifically for healthcare.

In that regard, a health savings account, or HSA, is a great option to look at. The nice thing about HSAs is that they’re triple tax-advantaged, which means:

• Contributions go in tax-free
• Investment gains are tax-free
• Withdrawals are tax-free when used to cover qualifying healthcare expenses

Plus, HSAs are extremely flexible. You can withdraw your money at any time, and your money will never expire.

Also, if you end up in the enviable position of having lower healthcare costs in retirement than expected, your HSA won’t go to waste. When you’re under age 65, HSA withdrawals for non-medical expenses incur a steep penalty. But that penalty is waived once you turn 65, at which point an HSA can function like a traditional IRA or 401(k) plan.

Between Medicare premiums, deductibles, copays, and other expenses, you may find that healthcare in retirement costs more than expected. Read up on healthcare costs so you’re not caught off guard once your career comes to an end. Better yet, make sure you’re saving for your future healthcare needs so you never have to be in a position where you have to skimp on care because of the price tag attached to it.

British number three Katie Boulter’s poor run of form continued with a straight-sets loss to world number 44 Eva Lys in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

Boulter, 29, was beaten 6-2 6-1 in just one hour and 14 minutes by the 23-year-old German.

After coming through two rounds of qualifying, she was the only British player in the main draw after Emma Raducanu withdrew, ending her season early through illness.

The Briton was only able to win 50% of the points on her first serve and was broken five times by Lys.

This latest defeat caps a disappointing run of form, which has seen the former world number 29 unable to progress beyond the second round of a tournament since the Nottingham Open in June.

It also comes five days after the Briton lost in straight sets in the second round of the Japan Open by world number 51 Sorana Cirstea.

Elsewhere, British number four Fran Jones was beaten in straight sets by China’s Wang Xiyu in the first round of the Guangzhou Open.

Seventh seed Jones was broken four times in the match as she lost 6-4 6-4 to the world number 163.

“I’ve absolutely loved my time at Saracens and have made some friends for life,” explained Reading-born Willis, whose brother Jack plays for French club Toulouse.

“I will continue to give everything for this club for the remainder of the season and I’m very excited about what this squad can achieve.”

The Telegraph, external has reported that Willis is set to rejoin Bordeaux-Begles, having left them for Saracens in January 2023.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall said he is “disappointed” by Willis’ desire to leave but respected the player’s “decision to pursue a new challenge”.

“He [Willis] has made a great impact on the field and been a popular team-mate off it,” McCall added.

“I know he is determined to give everything to the group over the coming months.”

World number 204 Valentin Vacherot upset his cousin Arthur Rinderknech to win his first ATP title at the Shanghai Masters.

Monaco’s Vacherot fought back from a set down to win 4-6 6-3 6-3 against the world number 54 to become the lowest-ranked ATP Masters 1000 champion since the series began in 1990.

The 26-year-old sealed the success with a searing forehand down the line and, after hugging Rinderknech at the net, sprinted off court and up to one of the boxes to celebrate with his coach and family.

Vacherot then continued the winner’s tradition of writing a message on one of the courtside cameras, writing “Grandpa and Grandma would be proud”.

Both players struggled to hold back tears during their post-match speeches on court.

“It is unreal what just happened – I have no idea what is happening right now. I am not even dreaming, it is just crazy,” said Vacherot.

“There has to be one loser but I think there are two winners today. One family that won and I think for the sport of tennis, the story is unreal.

Frenchman Rinderknech added: “Valentin, you gave everything I am so happy for you. Two cousins are stronger than one.”

Natalia Bryant has made her debut as a creative director with a short film that features a subject matter with which she’s very familiar.

The 70-second piece is called “Forever Iconic: Purple and Gold Always,” and it’s all about the worldwide impact of the Lakers — something Bryant has experienced throughout her life as the oldest daughter of one of the Lakers’ great icons, Kobe Bryant.

The film, posted online Wednesday by the Lakers, is a fast-paced tribute to the team and its fans. It features a number of celebrity cameos — Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani takes batting practice wearing a Lakers cap; current Lakers star Luka Doncic yells “Kobe!” as he shoots a towel into a hamper; fashion designer Jeff Hamilton creates a number of Lakers jackets; actor Brenda Song obsessively watches and cheers for the team on her computer; Lakers legend Magic Johnson declares, “It’s Showtime, baby!”

Mixed in are shots of regular fans paying tribute to the team in their own ways.

“This project was an amazing, collaborative environment with such creative people and we all came together to try and portray the Lakers’ impact, not only in L.A. but around the world,” Natalia Bryant said in a statement released by the Lakers. “Everyone has their own connection to the Lakers. I hope those who already love this team watch this project and remember what that pride feels like. And if you’re not a Lakers fan yet, I hope you watch this, and it makes you want to be.”

Natalia Bryant’s first short film as a creative director is “Forever Iconic: Purple and Gold Always.”

(Los Angeles Lakers)

Bryant, who graduated from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in May, included some famous Lakers clips, such as LeBron James arguing, “It’s our ball, ain’t it?” and her father hitting a buzzer-beating shot against the Phoenix Suns during the 2006 playoffs.

“Such an honor to be apart of this project!” Bryant wrote on Instagram. “Thank you @lakers for having me join as creative director💛lakers family forever”

Lakers controlling owner and president Jeanie Buss also posted the video on Instagram.

“Cheers to the millions of fans around the world who make the Lakers the most popular team in the NBA!!” Buss wrote. “You are the best fans in the league. Congratulations and huge thanks to the amazing @nataliabryant who helped bring this film to life for her creative director debut.”

Lakers superfan Song also posted a number of photos related to the project on Instagram, including one of herself with Bryant.

“Lake show for life,” Song wrote.

Bryant responded in the comments, “For life!”

This Morning fans rushed to social media to complain about Alison Hammond’s constant mispronunciation of rock and roll legend Elvis during her chat with Priscilla Presley

Of late Alison Hammond has had nothing but praise heaped on her as she became the nation’s sweetheart. But it looks as though her run of good luck may be coming to an end as she has found herself on the receiving end of harsh criticism by viewers of This Morning.

The 50 year old TV presenter, who had her first taste of fame back in 2002 while appearing on Big Brother, was introducing her next guest when viewers noticed that she was constantly mis-pronouncing the name of Priscilla Presley’s legendary ex husband – Elvis. Instead she kept referring to him as Alvis.

Priscilla attended the popular daytime TV show and sat on the infamous sofa with Dermot O’Leary and Alison to promote her latest memoir, Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis.

But before Priscilla started talking about her life with the rock and roll legend before and after their split, fans felt the need to air their feelings on X. One person said: “Who is Alvis, Alison?”

Another added: “Just waiting for Priscilla to ask who the hell is this person Alvis you keep mentioning.” A third person joked: “She fell in love with Alvis. Good job Elvis didn’t find out about that!”

Meanwhile a fourth added: “I’d love to see Priscilla correct Alison on name pronunciation.” “Just waiting for Priscilla to ask who the hell is this person Alvis you keep mentioning,” said a fifth.

And sharing the same sentiment, a sixth chimed in saying: “Wasn’t Alvis one of those Chipmunks?” During her interview on This Morning, Priscilla opened up on the moment she first met the iconic star, who sadly passed away in 1977 at the age of 42 from a cardiac arrest.

The star, 80, was only 14 at the time she met Elvis in 1959, who was 10 years her senior at the time. By 1968, the pair welcomed their only daughter into the world, Lisa Marie Presley.

But due to his demanding career as a rock and roll icon, hectic travelling schedule and a string of infidelities, Priscilla finally had enough of the marriage.

And it was at this point she embarked on an affair in 1972 and finalised their divorce the following year. After her divorce, Priscilla met Brazilian screenwriter Marco Garibaldi and they welcomed a son named Navarone, in 1987.

In her latest memoir, the businesswoman and author recalls the moment Elvis was considering hiring a hitman to murder her boyfriend, Mike Stone who worked as a karate Instructor.

Elvis struggled with the idea of Priscilla being with another man she entered into a relationship with Mike while legally married.

But this came after she found out a host of women had been sending the singer letters to their home address, and this apparently, was enough proof she needed that their marriage had come to an end.

In the book, according to Fox News, she wrote: “When I turned the key in the mailbox, however, what poured out wasn’t bills or junk mail. The mailbox was stuffed full of letters from girls. I finally held written proof of what I’d always feared. I was deeply hurt, but I was also furious. I called Elvis and demanded an explanation.”

She continued: “When that tactic failed, he resorted to saying the girls were all lying. This time, though, turning the tables didn’t work. If Elvis was having affairs that were none of my business, then it was none of his business what I was doing. The close friendship that Mike and I had developed turned into an affair.”

But on learning about her affair, she revealed: “Elvis found the thought of me with another man unbearable. In the weeks after my departure, he told the guys that Mike had to die. He even asked Joe [Esposito] to find a hit man. Eventually, Elvis was talked out of eliminating Mike. Joe warned me to be careful. When I offered to bring Lisa [Marie Presley] to Vegas for one of Elvis’s shows, Joe advised against it.

Priscilla added: “Seeing me might set Elvis off. Over time, and with a lot of persuasion from his father and the guys, Elvis gradually calmed down and gave up the idea of killing Mike, thank God.”

READ MORE: £6 ‘pain-free’ razors has shoppers ditching professional exfoliating

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Draper was modelling next summer’s collection for one of his sponsors last week and has been working out regularly at the National Tennis Centre in London this week.

The work is primarily physical at the moment, and when pre-season training begins in earnest later this month, the initial on-court drills are likely to be low in intensity.

The British number one first felt discomfort in his upper left serving arm during the clay court season in the spring, and following a scan after Wimbledon, did not hit any serves for a month.

But the period of rest proved insufficient. He won his first-round match at the US Open, but withdrew before the second, and the opportunity to make his debut at the season ending ATP Finals was gone.

”He’s top 10 and he played half of the year. Just to say how good he is…” Mouratoglou added.

“His only problem for the moment is the injuries: he has been through several injuries already in the past.

“I always thought he was going to be a top player, but for every player that is supposed to become a top player, there are things to solve.

“For him, it’s to find a way to be injury free as much as possible because that’s what made him lose a little bit of time otherwise he would be higher [in the rankings], I think.”

Seventy percent of the 20 most destructive wildfires in state history have occurred since fall 2017, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

To understand the pace and extent of rebuilding in the most significant of these fires, The Times relied on data from state and local governments.

The Times obtained data in February from the Cal Fire Damage Inspection Database, known as DINS, which documents buildings burned in wildfires. We filtered for residential structures — single-residence, multiple-residence and mixed-use commercial/residential — that were destroyed.

We limited our reporting to fires that destroyed 1,000 or more residential structures during this period — aside from January’s Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles County. There were five: Tubbs (2017), Carr (2018), Camp (2018), Woolsey (2018) and North Complex (2020).

The Times analysis showed 22,438 residential structures burned in the five fires. About 75% were single-family homes, 23% were mobile homes and fewer than 2% were apartment, condominium or other multifamily buildings. Because of data limitations, a multifamily building was counted as one residential structure no matter how many units it had. In its reporting, The Times used “residential structure” and “home” interchangeably.

The fires destroyed homes across 16 local jurisdictions. To determine when and how many homes were rebuilt, The Times in March and April collected certificate of occupancy data from building departments in each community. Additionally, The Times accessed data from the California Department of Housing and Community Development, which regulates mobile home parks.

Using GIS software, The Times plotted coordinates in the Cal Fire data to match each destroyed structure to the city or county responsible for issuing a permit to rebuild it. From there, The Times merged assessor parcel numbers of destroyed homes from the Cal Fire data with those of rebuilt homes from local and state building data obtained from each jurisdiction. Finally, The Times summarized certificates of occupancy issued by day to plot the reconstruction timeline for each fire. For uniformity, the results are limited to homes approved prior to April 1.

The Times deviated from its methodology for a specific situation. The Tubbs fire destroyed a 162-lot mobile home park in Santa Rosa. Two apartment buildings for low-income senior citizens together comprising 132 units have been built on the site. Given that the Times analysis designated 162 mobile homes as destroyed, the analysis was adjusted to count the 132 replacement apartment units.

Overall, the analysis concluded that 8,420 homes have been rebuilt, 38% of those destroyed in the five fires.

The Times results could differ from reports published by some jurisdictions for two reasons: Local jurisdictions may have conducted more rigorous inventories of destroyed buildings than detailed in the Cal Fire DINS data and their rebuilding numbers can be continuously updated.

A RECORD number of prisoners were freed in error last year.

There were 262 wrongly released in the 12 months to March, figures show.

1

It is a 128 per cent rise on the 115 between 2023 and 2024 — the biggest year-on-year increase.

Some were released as their crimes for breaching restraining orders were wrongly logged.

HM Prison and Probation Service said the total included some incorrectly let out under Labour’s early release scheme.

Thousands were freed after serving just 40 per cent of their time.

It led to farcical scenes of lags popping champagne corks.

Former Tory minister Sir Alec Shelbrooke said then-Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood should “take accountability” for the figures.

He fumed: “These figures are very alarming.

“There should be accountability when a prisoner is released early in error – and it has to go right to the top of the chain, including the Justice Secretary.

“Nobody wants to live in a lawless society. The idea that multiple people a week can be set free by mistake is scandalous.”

The Ministry of Justice said: “We’ve set up a specialist team to clamp down on those releases.”

From Jack Harris: If the Dodgers are going to win 13 games in October, they will likely have to master the playbook they ran Wednesday night.

Starting pitchers came out of the bullpen. Another late-inning collapse didn’t cripple their psyche. The offense delivered timely hits when it needed to. And the team grinded out a 5-4 extra-innings win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The story of the night, in an unexpected but entirely warranted late-season plot twist, was Roki Sasaki and Clayton Kershaw throwing scoreless innings of relief for a beleaguered Dodgers bullpen.

The theme, however, was improvisation with the roster and resiliency in the dugout, moving the team within a win of another National League West division championship.

“I know the word resilience gets thrown out a lot, but it was a resilient win and a resilient group,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We fought our tails off until the end. It didn’t look good at different points of the game. But Arizona fought as well. So it was a heck of a ball game … Really good stuff.”

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Dodgers bullpen remains a mess. Can Roki Sasaki’s return provide trustworthy relief?

How Bill Russell stayed connected to baseball, and reconnected with the Dodgers

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

ANGELS

Taylor Ward homered, Kenley Jansen earned his 475th career save and the Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 on Wednesday night to avoid a series sweep.

Only four pitchers have at least 475 saves: Jansen, Mariano Rivera (652), Trevor Hoffman (601) and Lee Smith (478).

Yusei Kikuchi (7-11) gave up just one hit while striking out six over five innings. He was removed with a left forearm cramp before the sixth. Jansen struck out two in the ninth for his 28th save of the season.

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Despite rough season, Angels’ Mike Trout still believes he can recapture his MVP form

Angels box score

MLB standings

RAMS

From Gary Klein: No reset necessary. No reason to make more of some rare misfires.

After 16-plus seasons, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford knows how to put less-than-efficient performances behind.

So the passes he missed in last Sunday’s defeat by the Philadelphia Eagles are not cause for concern as he prepares for Sunday’s game against the unbeaten Indianapolis Colts at SoFi Stadium.

“It happens,” Stafford said Wednesday before practice. “I’m not too worried about it.”

Stafford completed 19 of 33 passes (57.6%) for 198 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. Despite missing on some passes he usually completes, he finished the game by directing a two-minute drive that positioned the Rams to win the game. The Eagles blocked a last-second field-goal attempt and returned it for a touchdown.

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UCLA UNLOCKED

Sign up for UCLA Unlocked, our new weekly newsletter featuring all things Bruins athletics. Ben Bolch, in his 10th season covering UCLA football and men’s basketball for The Times, will be your host. To sign up to get this newsletter delivered every Monday to your inbox, click here.

UCLA POLL

Almost every week in UCLA Unlocked, there is a poll for readers to give their opinion on UCLA athletics. This week’s poll:

Who would you rather have as UCLA’s next football coach?

An exciting lower-level coach such as Tulane’s Jon Sumrall?

A rising star such as Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein?

An existing Power Four coach such as Arizona’s Jedd Fisch?

A wild card such as Mississippi’s Lane Kiffin?

Click here to vote in our survey.

From Ryan Kartje: Walker Lyons took his place in the slot and looked right. Lake McRee crouched on the opposite wing and looked left. The two Trojan tight ends had spent all last Saturday night moving around USC’s formations — split out wide, in the backfield, on the line of scrimmage — paving rush lanes and creating mismatches wherever they went.

Now it was third and short, early in the third quarter of USC’s win over Michigan State, and the two of them were on the field together again, forcing the Spartan defense to decide in a hurry just how Lincoln Riley planned to deploy them.

That unpredictability was precisely the point of the position. It’s why the tight end has been a critical tenet of his Riley’s offense since he started as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator in 2015. No other position, Riley has come to believe, adds more versatility to an offense.

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TIMES OF TROY

Times of Troy is our weekly newsletter featuring all things Trojans athletics. Ryan Kartje, who covers USC football and men’s basketball for The Times, is your host. To sign up to get this newsletter delivered every Monday to your inbox, click here.

SPARKS

The Sparks announced they are joining the WNBA’s facilities upgrade boom, building a $150-million, 55,000-square-foot training and practice facility in El Segundo that is set to open ahead of the 2027 season.

The venue will include two WNBA regulation basketball courts along with a locker room, weight room and athletic training space. The team states the facility will also feature an outdoor spa, indoor hydrotherapy suites, dedicated nap rooms, wellness spaces for yoga or mediation, and extensive use of natural light and retractable doors.

“We’re building a place where Sparks players can be at their best on and off the court,” said Eric Holoman, Sparks managing partner and governor. “From cutting-edge training and recovery spaces to family and community areas, every corner of this facility was designed with them at the center.”

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DODGERS DUGOUT

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THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1866 — Jerome Park, named for its founder Leonard Jerome, opens in the Bronx in New York. Jerome, seeking to emulate the British racing system, also establishes the American Jockey Club, precursor to the present Jockey Club, formed in 1894.

1920 — Molly Bjurstedt Mallory wins her fifth title in six years with a two-set victory over Marion Zinderstein in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association championships.

1926 — Walter Hagen wins his third straight and fourth overall PGA Championship. Hagen beats Leo Diegel 4 and 3 in the championship match at Salisbury Golf Links in Westbury, N.Y.

1949 — Louise Suggs wins the U.S. Women’s Open by 14 strokes over Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

1962 — Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson at 2:06 of the first round at Comiskey Park in Chicago to win the world heavyweight title.

1966 — Gloria Ehret wins the LPGA Championship by three strokes over four-time champion Mickey Wright.

1982 — Ricky Edwards rushes for 177 yards and four touchdowns to help Northwestern end its 34-game losing streak in a 31-6 victory over Northern Illinois.

1988 — Americans sweep the medals in the long jump at the Seoul Olympics; Carl Lewis wins his second gold of the Games with leap of 8.72m ahead of teammates Mike Powell and Larry Myricks.

1988 — Swimmer Matt Biondi wins his 5th gold medal of the Seoul Olympics anchoring the victorious American 4 x 100m medley relay team.

1994 — Oliver McCall scores a major upset by stopping Lennox Lewis 31 seconds into the second round to capture the WBC heavyweight title in London.

1995 — Jerry Rice has 181 yards receiving in San Francisco’s 27-24 loss to Detroit. It’s his 51st 100-yard game, which breaks Don Maynard’s NFL record.

1997 — WNBA announces it will add Detroit & Washington, D.C. franchises.

2000 — American basketball player Vince Carter jumps over 7 foot 2 Frédéric Weis in 2000 Summer Olympics, known in France as “le dunk de la mort” (the dunk of death).

2004 — Bobby Seck of Hofstra throws eight touchdown passes to tie an Atlantic 10 mark and set a school record in the Pride’s 62-43 victory over Rhode Island.

2005 — Fernando Alonso becomes Formula One’s youngest champion by finishing third in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Alonso, 24, a six-time winner in his third full season in Formula One, ends Michael Schumacher’s five-year hold on the title.

2010 — Collingwood and St. Kilda plays to a 68-68 tie, the first in an Australian Rules football grand final since 1977, setting up a rematch to decide the league title.

2011 — The Detroit Lions snap a 13-game losing streak with a 26-23 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions, who won in the Metrodome for the first time since 1997, are 3-0 for the first time since 1980.

2013 — Skipper Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA win the America’s Cup with one of the greatest comebacks in sports history to keep the oldest trophy in international sports in the United States. Spithill steers Oracle’s space-age, 72-foot catamaran to its eighth straight victory, speeding past Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in the winner-take-all Race 19 on San Francisco Bay. All but defeated a week ago, the 34-year-old Australian and his international crew twice rallies from seven-point deficits to win 9-8.

2016 — Rory McIlroy rallies to enter a three-man playoff and win the FedEx Cup. After trailing by three shots with three holes to play in the Tour Championship, McIlroy holes a 15-foot birdie putt on the fourth extra hole to win the playoff and claim the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus.

2022 — Laver Cup Men’s Tennis, London: Team World sweeps final day for 13-8 victory over Team Europe; tournament marks retirement of Roger Federer.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1941 — Pete Reiser’s homer and Whitlow Wyatt’s five-hitter helped Brooklyn beat the Boston Braves 6-0 and clinch the Dodgers’ first pennant in 21 years.

1955 — Detroit’s Al Kaline, at the age of 20, became the youngest player to win a batting title, finishing his second season with a .340 average. Ty Cobb was one day older when he won the crown, batting .350 in 1907, also playing for Detroit.

1956 — Sal Maglie of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched a 5-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies.

1960 — The New York Yankees clinched manager Casey Stengel’s 10th and last American League pennant with a 4-3 victory over Boston.

1965 — Satchel Paige, at 59, became the oldest player in the majors, taking the mound for Kansas City and pitching three scoreless innings over the Boston Red Sox. He gave up one hit, to Carl Yastrzemski.

1965 — Willie Mays, who hit 51 home runs in 1955, joined Ralph Kiner as only the National Leaguers to have more than one 50-home run season.

1974 — Dr. Frank Jobe transplanted a tendon from Tommy John’s right wrist to the Dodger pitcher’s left elbow. The revolutionary ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction allowed John to win an additional 164 games, more than half of his career total of 288 victories.

1980 — Oakland’s Brian Kingman lost his 20th game when the A’s were defeated by the Chicago White Sox 6-4. Kingman was the first pitcher to lose 20 games with a winning team since Dolf Luque went 13-23 for the 1922 Cincinnati Reds.

1984 — Rusty Staub of the Mets became the second player to hit homers as a teenager and past his 40th birthday. Staub’s game-winning home run off Larry Andersen to give the Mets a 6-4 victory over Philadelphia at Shea Stadium. Ty Cobb was the other major leaguer to accomplish the feat.

1987 — San Diego’s Benito Santiago set a modern major league record for rookies by hitting safely in his 27th consecutive game in a 5-3 loss to the Dodgers.

1998 — The New York Yankees set the AL record for wins with their 112th, beating Tampa Bay 6-1 to break the victory mark held by the 1954 Cleveland Indians.

2001 — Richie Sexson and Jeromy Burnitz became the first teammates to hit three home runs apiece in a game as Milwaukee defeated Arizona 9-4.

2003 — Toronto’s Carlos Delgado became the sixth player to homer in four straight at-bats in one game as the Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 10-8 at SkyDome. Delgado tied the score at 8-8 in the eighth with his fourth homer, a solo shot off Lance Carter.

2007 — Prince Fielder, at 23 years, 139 days old, became the youngest major league player to hit 50 home runs in a season, connecting twice in Milwaukee’s 9-1 rout of St. Louis.

2013 — The New York Yankees failed to make the playoffs for only the second time in 19 years, getting mathematically eliminated during their 8-3 loss to Tampa Bay.

2016 — Jose Fernandez, 24, ace right-hander for the Miami Marlins, was killed in a boating accident.

2017 — Aaron Judge broke Mark McGwire’s major league record for home runs by a rookie, hitting a pair for the second straight day to raise his total to 50 and lead the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 11-3.

2018 — Max Scherzer became the 17th pitcher since 1900 to strike out 300 batters in a season, reaching that milestone by fanning 10 in seven innings during Washington’s 9-4 win over Miami.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

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PHOENIX — The Dodgers might’ve finally found an answer to their long-maddening bullpen problems.

Just use some starters.

In a 5-4 extra-innings win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that lowered their magic number to clinch the National League West to one, the Dodgers again squandered a late-game lead when their traditional relievers faltered. They still didn’t make winning look as simple as it should have.

But win, they did on this night — thanks in large part to two scoreless innings of relief from Roki Sasaki and Clayton Kershaw.

The game wasn’t decided until the 11th inning, when Tommy Edman gave the Dodgers a lead they finally wouldn’t relinquish.

It never would’ve gotten there, however, without the contributions of Sasaki and Kershaw out of the bullpen.

Activated from the injured list shortly before the game, and making his first appearance in the majors since suffering a shoulder injury in early May, Sasaki flashed promising signs with a scoreless frame in the bottom of the seventh, protecting a 3-1 lead the team had been staked to by Blake Snell’s six-inning, one-run start, and an early offensive outburst that included a two-run homer from Andy Pages.

Sasaki’s fastball averaged 98-99 mph, was located with precision on the corners of the strike zone, and even induced a couple of swing-and-misses, things he never did consistently while posting a 4.72 ERA in eight starts at the beginning of the season.

He paired it with a trademark splitter that was also commanded with more precision than at any point in his initial MLB stint.

Sasaki needed only 13 pitches to retire the side in order, punctuating his outing with a pair of strikeouts on 99-mph four-seamers. As he walked back to the dugout, he glanced toward his teammates with a stoic glare. Just about all of them, including Shohei Ohtani, applauded in approval.

Disaster did strike in the eighth, after the Dodgers extended their lead to 4-1 on Teoscar Hernández’s RBI double in the top half of the inning.

The bullpen’s one season-long stalwart, Alex Vesia, ran into trouble by giving up a single to Ketel Marte, a walk to Geraldo Perdomo, and an RBI double to Corbin Carroll — all with one out.

Hard-throwing rookie righty Edgardo Henriquez couldn’t put out the fire from there, giving up one run on a swinging bunt from Gabriel Moreno in front of the plate that spun away from catcher Ben Rortvedt, then another when pinch-hitter Adrian Del Castillo stayed alive on a generous two-strike call (which was no doubt impacted by Rortvedt dropping the pitch behind the plate) before lifting a sacrifice fly to center.

For the second straight night, a late-game three-run lead had evaporated into thin air.

This time, however, manager Dave Roberts had a new card to play. A night after Kershaw volunteered to pitch in relief, the future Hall of Fame left-hander was summoned for the ninth inning.

In what was his first relief appearance since the infamous fifth game of the 2019 NL Division Series, Kershaw was effective. He retired the side in order with the help of a diving catch from Tommy Edman in center. He looked comfortable in the kind of high-leverage relief role the Dodgers might need him to fill come October.

In extras, the rest of the bullpen finally held up. Blake Treinen inherited a bases-loaded jam with two out in the 10th, but got James McCann to fly out to shallow right field. Justin Wrobleski (another pitcher who began this season as a starter) was handed a save situation in the 11th, after Edman singled home a run with his third hit of the night, and retired all three batters he faced.

In May, when Stokes backed Pope following the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, the captain said there was an “agenda” against his then deputy.

Pope made a century in the first innings of the first Test against India in June, but passed 50 only once more in the five-match series.

Bethell, 21, played only one first-class match in the run-up to coming into the England team for the final Test at The Oval and struggled as a result, but the left-hander then made his first professional century in a one-day international against South Africa earlier this month.

“We’ll see a bit more of Jacob Bethell playing in white-ball cricket before the Ashes,” said former Kent and England batter Key. “We know a fair amount about Ollie Pope, but Jacob Bethell will continue to get experience.”

Talismanic captain Stokes missed the final Test against India with a shoulder injury, meaning the all-rounder has not completed any of England’s past four Test series.

However, the 34-year-old stepped up his return by bowling during intervals of his county Durham’s County Championship match against Yorkshire at Headingley on Wednesday.

“He won’t have a lot of cricket before the Ashes series, but that didn’t stop him against India,” said Key. “With the ball, it’s certainly the best I’ve seen him bowl for a long time, if not ever, and that was without playing a lot of cricket going into the summer.

“I have no issues with Ben Stokes at all. He’s generally the type of player that builds and everything he does gets himself ready for these big moments.”

Stokes’ Durham team-mate Wood has not played a Test since August 2024 because of elbow and knee injuries, but Key is “confident” the world’s fastest bowler will be fit for the first Ashes Test on 21 November.

“His recovery is probably a little bit slower than we thought but we’re always erring on the side of caution,” said Key.

“The thing Woody always has going for him is he’s never been someone that needs to play lots and lots of games to get into form. He’s someone that can bowl in nets, bowl in middle practice, then all of a sudden he runs up and bowls 95mph.”

Surrey all-rounder Jacks was chosen as the back-up spinner to Shoaib Bashir, ahead of Rehan Ahmed, Jack Leach and Liam Dawson.

Off-spinner Jacks has taken only five first-class wickets this year but, like Bashir, offers England height, as well as the option to boost their batting.

“In what we have coming up, we think Jacks offers a lot of different options,” said Key.

Key also confirmed leg-spinner Ahmed will be named in the England Lions squad that will be in Australia the same time as the senior group, so could be called into the Test party if required.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who championed the creation of an independent commission to draw California’s congressional districts, returns to state voters’ TV sets on Tuesday in a new ad opposing a November ballot measure by state Democrats to boost their party’s ranks in Congress.

A committee opposing Proposition 50, which would replace districts drawn by an independent commission with ones crafted by partisans, plans to spend $1 million per day airing the ad statewide. Schwarzenegger describes the ballot measure as one that does not favor voters but is in the interest of entrenched politicians.

“That’s what they want to do is take us backwards. This is why it is important for you to vote no on Proposition 50,” the Hollywood celebrity and former governor says in the ad, which was filmed last week when he spoke to USC students. “The Constitution does not start with ‘We, the politicians.’ It starts with ‘We, the people.’ … Democracy — we’ve got to protect it, and we’ve got to go and fight for it.”

Redistricting is the redrawing of congressional boundaries that typically occurs once a decade following the U.S. census to account for population shifts. The process rarely attracts the attention it has this year because of a heated battle to determine control of a closely divided Congress in the final two years of President Trump’s tenure.

After Trump urged Texas and other GOP-led states to redraw their congressional districts earlier this year to boost the number of Republicans in the House, California Democrats, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, countered by putting a rare mid-decade redistricting on a special-election November ballot that would likely boost the number of Democrats in the body.

Schwarzenegger, long a champion of political reform, is not part of any official Proposition 50 campaign. Since leaving office, he has prioritized good governance at his institute at USC and campaigned for independent redistricting across the nation.

His remarks were filmed, and the ad is being aired by the most well-funded effort opposing Proposition 50, which is bankrolled by Charles Munger Jr., a major GOP donor who underwrote the ballot measures that created California’s independent commission.

Munger has already donated $30 million to a campaign opposing the November ballot measure, according to fundraising disclosures filed with the secretary of state’s office. The other large opposition effort has raised more than $5 million. The main group supporting Proposition 50, led by Newsom, has raised more than $54 million.

These fundraising figures are based on required disclosures of large contributions. More complete fundraising numbers must be filed with the state on Thursday.

A UK airport is reportedly in talks to increase its number of flights, with hopes to become a “major hub” for holidaymaker around Europe.

Huge upgrades are included in the plans which hopes to have the airport better connected to more destinations.

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East Midlands Airport is having talks “already underway” with airlines about plans for more cargo and passenger flights.

Currently, passengers can fly to and from 70 destinations through East Midlands Airport.

These include countries in Europe and North Africa.

But new commerical director, Adam Andrews, revealed the airport wants to provide more one-stop connections for passengers.

He said: “We will build relationships with key decision makers and businesses from our region and its large three big cities to understand how we can work together to maximise the airports potential what they want from their local airport.

“This includes looking to increase the mix of leisure destinations, introduce business routes and enable year-round connectivity to the world.”

Increasing flight options during peak seasons, such as summer holidays, is in the works.

And plans for more flights during the traditional off-peak seasons are also being considered.

This would mean travellers are able to just go to their local airport for their flights rather than having to get across the country first.

Andrews hopes to draw on the airport’s success as the UK’s “number one express air freight hub” due to being central to both the country and world.

East Midlands Airport is strategically located between Africa, Europe and the US.

It has been a hub for low-budget airlines like Jet2, Ryanair and TUI Airways.

The airfield was originally built as a Royal Air Force station in 1943, before it was redeveloped as a civilian airport in 1965.

Busiest routes from East Midlands Aiport have been Alicante, Tenerife, and Mallorca.

But it has no direct access via a passenger rail network, with the nearest being East Midlands Parkway about four miles away.

Proposals have been made in the past for a dedicated railway station to be installed at the airport, but is unlikely to be completed for another decade or so.

Plans for East Midlands Airport come after it was announced over the weekend the Gatwick Airport would be getting a new full runway.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander signed off on the plan that involves a £2.2billion expansion.

The project will shift Gatwick’s emergency runway 12 metres north so it can be used alongside the main strip.

This will pave way for 100,000 extra flights a year from the second busiest airport in the UK.

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A handful of seats are all that keep Republicans in control of the House, giving President Trump untrammeled sway over, well, pretty much everything, from the economy to the jokes on late-night TV to the design of the Cracker Barrel logo.

It’s a number that’s both tantalizing and fraught, depending on your political perspective.

For Democrats, that eyelash-thin margin means they’re thisclose to regaining power and a political toehold in next year’s midterm election. All they need is a gain of three House seats. For Trump and fellow Republicans, it means their hegemony over Washington and life as we know it dangles by a perilously thin thread.

That tension explains the redistricting wars now blazing throughout our great land.

It started in Texas, where Trump pressured Republicans to redraw congressional lines in hopes of handing the GOP as many as five additional seats. That led California Democrats to ask voters, in a Nov. 4 special election, to approve an eye-for-an-eye gerrymander that could yield their party five new lawmakers.

Several other states have waded into the fight, assuming control of the House might be decided next year by just a few seats, one way or the other.

Which could happen.

Or not.

Anyone claiming to know for sure is either lying, trying to frighten you into giving money, or both.

“History is on Democrats’ side, but it’s too early to know what the national political environment is going to be like,” said Nathan Gonzales, one of the country’s top political handicappers and publisher of the nonpartisan campaign guide Inside Elections. “We don’t know the overall mood of the electorate, how satisfied voters [will be] with Republicans in power in Washington or how open to change they’ll be a year from now.”

A look back offers some clues, though it should be said no two election cycles are alike and the past is only illuminating insofar as it casts light on certain patterns.

(Take that as a caveat, weasel words or whatever you care to call it.)

In the last half century, there have been 13 midterm elections. The out party — that is, the one that doesn’t hold the presidency — has won 13 or more House seats in eight of those elections. Going back even further, since World War II the out party has gained an average of more than two dozen House seats.

In Trump’s last midterm election, in 2018, Democrats won 40 House seats — including seven in California — to seize control. (That was 17 more than they needed.) A Democratic gain of that magnitude seems unlikely next year, barring a complete and utter GOP collapse. That’s because there are fewer Republicans sitting in districts that Democrats carried in the most recent presidential election, which left them highly vulnerable.

In 2018, 25 Republicans represented districts won by Hillary Clinton. In 2026, there are just three Republicans in districts Kamala Harris carried. (Thirteen Democrats represent districts that Trump won.)

Let’s pause before diving into more numbers.

OK. Ready?

There are 435 House seats on the ballot next year. Most are a lock for one party or the other.

Based on the current congressional map, Inside Elections rates 64 House seats nationwide as being at least somewhat competitive, with a dozen considered toss-ups. The Cook Political Report, another gold-plated handicapper, rates 72 seats competitive or having the potential to be so, with 18 toss-ups.

Both agree that two of those coin-flip races are in California, where Democrats Adam Gray and Derek Tran are fighting to hang onto seats they narrowly won in, respectively, the Central Valley and Orange County. (The Democratic gerrymander seeks to shore up those incumbents.)

You really can’t assess the 2026 odds without knowing how the redistricting fight comes out.

Republicans could pick up as many as 16 seats through partisan map-making, Inside Elections forecasts, a number that would be reduced if California voters approve Proposition 50. Erin Covey, who analyzes House races for the Cook Report, puts GOP gains as high as 13, again depending on the November outcome in California.

Obviously, that would boost the GOP’s chances of hanging onto the House, which is precisely why Trump pushed for the extraordinary mid-decade redistricting.

But there are many other factors at play.

One huge element is Trump’s approval rating. Simply put, the less popular a president, the more his party tends to suffer at the polls.

Right now Trump’s approval rating is a dismal 43%, according to the Cook Report’s PollTracker. That could change, but it’s a danger sign for Republicans. Over the past three decades, every time the president’s net job approval was negative a year from the midterm election, his party lost House seats.

Another thing Democats have going for them is the passion of their voters, who’ve been flocking to the polls in off-year and special elections. The Downballot, which tracks races nationwide, finds Democratic candidates have far surpassed Kamala Harris’ 2024 performance, a potential harbinger of strong turnout in 2026.

Those advantages are somewhat offset by a GOP edge in two other measures. Republicans have significantly outraised Democrats and have limited the number of House members retiring. Generally speaking, it’s tougher for a party to defend a seat when it comes open.

In short, for all the partisan passions, the redistricting wars aren’t likely to decide control of the House.

“Opinions of the economy and Trump’s handling of it, the popularity (or lack thereof) of Republicans’ signature legislation” — the tax-cutting, Medicaid-slashing bill passed in July — as well as “partisan enthusiasm to vote are going to be more determinative to the 2026 outcome than redistricting alone,” Amy Walter, the Cook Report’s editor-in-chief, wrote in a recent analysis.

In other words, control of the House will most likely rest in the hands of voters, not scheming politicians.

Which is exactly where it belongs.

A BOY, 15, has been charged with murder after another teen, 15, who was stabbed to death after a ‘disturbance involving a number of people’.

Mohanad Abdullaahi Goobe was found with fatal injuries on Monton Street at around 4.30pm on Monday.

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Greater Manchester Police were called to Moss Side after a “disturbance involving a number of people”.

Paramedics tragically pronounced the teenager dead at the scene.

Cops arrested a boy, aged 15, on suspicion of murder, who has now been charged with the offence.

This comes after Mohanad’s devastated family released a heartbreaking tribute.

In a statement released by the force, they said: “Mohanad was our 15-year-old son, and a younger sibling to his sister and brother.

“Mohanad was the baby of the family, he was quick to laugh, easy to love, with a ready smile.

“Our son had an uncanny ability to make you laugh, making it sometimes difficult to be serious with him.

“Mohanad had many friends, he was loyal and often played the class clown, simply to see them laugh.

“Mohanad’s life has been cut tragically short, it is difficult to comprehend that seeing your son head off for school in the morning, would be the last time that we would see that handsome face.

“Mohanad deserves to be remembered for the young man who was loved by his family, and loved big in return, not as the boy whose life was taken with no thought or reason.

“We will not allow his name to be known as yet another statistic in the rise of knife crime.

“Remember Mohanad with love in your heart and a kind word on your lips.”

A GMP spokesperson said: “A 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with murder following the death of another 15-year-old boy in Manchester earlier this week.

“As part of our investigation, ongoing enquiries have identified a potentially linked prior incident that we responded to at Whitworth Park shortly before 4pm – half an hour before the victim’s death.

“We have referred our response to this incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) as a mandatory referral.

“At around 4.30pm on Monday 15 September, officers responded to a disturbance in the area of Moss Lane East and Monton Street. Despite the best efforts of medical professionals, Mohanad Abdullaahi Goobe sadly died later that evening.”

Chief Superintendent David Meeney, from the City of Manchester district, said: “Our thoughts remain with Mohanad’s family at this time and we are focused on getting all the answers for them.

“As a result of prior contact before Mohanad’s death, we have made a mandatory referral to the IOPC. We have kept the family updated and continue to support them.

“Our investigators have been working around the clock and during this investigation we have undertaken several warrants in relation to this incident as part of our commitment to getting justice for Mohanad and his family.

“Our Major Incident Portal remains open and we are keen for anyone who has information relation to this incident to please come forward.”

You can contact police via 101 or our Live Chat service at gmp.police.uk, quoting log 2327 of 16/09/25.

Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

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