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Thousands of union workers, their family members and supporters marched through the streets of industrial Wilmington on Monday, taking part in a Labor Day parade whose festive mood overshadowed their serious concerns about the future.

Jesse Munoz, a 63-year-old longshoreman, who belongs to International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13, talked of how automation has eliminated more than 2,000 jobs over the last 15 years or so and worries that foreign-owned companies will do more to shrink the workforce and worsen working conditions.

“The concern is the future,” Munoz said. “I have a son that’s on a list to become a casual worker, which is a worker that will accumulate his hours, and then hopefully within time become a regular member of the union. But the future is not as promising as we would like it to be.”

“If you eliminate the workforce, you eliminate taxes. You eliminate pensions,” he said.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union members throw candy to onlookers at Monday’s Labor Day parade.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

The Wilmington rally joined Labor Day events throughout the nation Monday, a holiday that also marks a prime campaign opportunity for candidates in midterm elections and other political races.

The first U.S. Labor Day celebration took place in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882, with 10,000 marchers. In 1894, President Cleveland signed a congressional act establishing the first Monday of September as a legal holiday, which has become known for promotional sales as well as a day off for many.

The holiday has particular resonance in Southern California, where the labor movement remains large in numbers and powerful in political influence. Across the nation, that’s far from a given.

The number of workers represented by unions rose by 463,000 in 2025, according to data collected by the pro-labor American Prospect, and national density — meaning the number of U.S. workers who are unionized — edged from 9.9% to 10.0%. However, private-sector union density stayed at 5.9%, meaning the numerical gain came chiefly from government employment.

Munoz said he has a message for President Trump, who has used steep tariffs on foreign-made goods in an attempt to return more manufacturing to the United States, leading to price increases domestically.

“Stop those tariffs and stop this automation,” Munoz said. “Just get the people back to work. Help the economy build itself up again with the workers, not with politicians.”

Giovanna Mendez, right, hugs her sibling’s elementary school teacher during the Labor Day parade in Wilmington.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

While the Wilmington crowd was heavily Democratic, one longshoreman in his early 60s showed it was possible to be pro-labor and pro-Trump.

“We’re a lot better than when [President] Biden was in, way better,” said the worker, who also spoke of his union as “wonderful.”

Jordan Gonzales, a 20-year longshoreman, expressed worries about the future of trade work.

“A lot of people would rather be in the office and in the AC,” said Gonzales. “We’ve lost our workers that are outside of an office.”

He was enjoying a hearty free breakfast at a union hall and looking forward to his 12-year-old’s marching band performance in the parade, where she played a glockenspiel.

Participating school bands included San Pedro High, Banning High, Harry Bridges Middle, Port of Los Angeles High and Garfield High.

Delegations from many unions marched with their local chapters and a procession of restored and souped-up cars completed the picture. L.A. Mayor Bass was front and center behind the banner of the shore workers.

Politicians at work on Labor Day

In the pre-parade free breakfast inside the Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Memorial Assn. cavernous meeting hall, a parade of elected and aspiring politicians introduced themselves, straining to be heard and noticed in brief remarks over a sometimes inattentive din.

Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor spoke briefly, thanking union members for their daily labors and campaign support.

“None of us should forget where we came from,” Becerra said. “Let us work hard,” he said, referring to election day. “November 3rd belongs to us just the way Labor Day belongs to us.”

Also on hand were both Los Angeles mayoral candidates: incumbent Bass and challenger Nithya Raman.

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1. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass speaks to security during the Labor Day parade in Wilmington. 2. L.A. mayoral candidate Nithya Raman greets parade watchers. (Photographs by Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Bass praised the city and union movement for positive strides “even in the midst of Donald Trump, who has done everything he can do against working people, including invading our city, but we are back, and we stay united, and we’re going to continue to do that,” she said. “L.A. is a labor city, and I am there with you 100%.”

Labor leaders also are almost 100% behind her in terms of endorsements. One exception is the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, which endorsed Raman. The union represents about 65,000 members across 10 states.

“We need more housing in L.A.,” said Doug Hicks, the union’s vice president and director of organizing. “How many cranes are there in downtown Los Angeles today?”

In her brief breakfast remarks, Raman, an L.A. City councilmember, said that “automation, AI, are taking away jobs all over this country, and it is up to us to step up and fight back, and that is why I’m here to stand alongside the workers of this country.”

Master carpenter Joseph W., who did not want to give his last name, declined to speak about endorsements, focusing instead on the challenges of workers.

“We build the houses, but we can’t buy them,” he said. In 1977, his dad bought a house in Norwalk in 1977 for less than $50,000. Now that property is worth close to a million dollars.

“That’s 20 times what my dad paid for it,” said Joseph, who is 55 and rents his own home. “I don’t make 20 times what my dad got paid.”

The younger workers included members of ILWU Local 56, the “ship scalers” union, which cleans up hazardous materials and provides environmental remediation both in the ports and beyond. Its members were involved in wildfire cleanups and removing waste from the hazardous Lineage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights in June.

Two members of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters bump fists after Monday’s Labor Day parade.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Evan Briseno, 18, would like to move on to safer work before his health is potentially affected. But fellow union member Francisco, 21 — who declined to give his last name, wants to move up in the trade, while noting that some areas are so dangerous that every patch of skin needs to be covered.

Neither follows politics, but they’re both concerned with workplace safety issues.

Other unions included Teamsters, Service Employees International, SAG-AFTRA (for performers) and teachers — along with their students.

Mark Ramos wore multiple hats as chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Western States Council and UFCW Local 1428.

Ramos said one current union battle is to make self-serve checkout lines manageable for the workers who must supervise them.

Former Dragons and Bath forward Faletau has played only 30 times for Cardiff since signing in 2022, but a one-year contract extension was announced at the start of July.

“We all know that he is a quality player and you just feel and sense when he is around that something special is going to happen, either from him or the guy next to him” said Van Zyl, whose side play a friendly at Worcester on Saturday.

“Still in training, every time he steps in, you feel the difference. He brings a lot and gives everybody confidence. He’s a world-class athlete.”

Faletau racked up the games with club and country when with Dragons between 2009 and 2016 but has since been plagued by injuries.

Van Zyl hopes that a summer off and full pre-season will help him thrive at Cardiff, where his game time will be managed thanks to the presence of Alun Lawrence and Taine Basham.

“I think for his body, it’s been good,” said the head coach. “His fitness levels are up there, it’s the contact conditioning that he needs to top up now.

“In different years, he’s had different injuries but he looks in a good place.”

WASHINGTON — Beginning on Day One, House Democrats plan to “hold the crooks accountable.”

That’s the promise House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has made, previewing an ambitious agenda with oversight of President Trump’s administration and legislation to address the high costs of living, if Democrats seize majority control from Republicans in the midterm elections.

But first, the Democratic leaders have to ensure they can keep their own politically diverse — and sometimes rebellious — big-tent caucus in line, which was tested this week. Two go-their-own-way Democrats bucked the party on a routine procedural vote, angering colleagues and raising a red flag about potential party divisions to come.

“His greatest challenge will be governing,” Ashley Etienne, a former top aide to Nancy Pelosi during her historic tenure as House speaker, said of Jeffries.

The House majority is expected to be decided by a handful of seats in a shrinking number of competitive districts, potentially creating a similar political dynamic to the past four years under GOP control, a chaotic new era in Congress.

In the House, the size of the majority matters. When the majority is slim, any single lawmaker can become a kingmaker, determining whether a party’s agenda sinks or soars. House Speaker Mike Johnson is tested by his narrow majority almost daily, and his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was the first in history to be booted from office, ousted by a small number of opponents from his own side.

Jeffries, who is poised to become the House speaker if his party wins power and would be the first Democrat to wield the gavel since Pelosi, faces a party at a crossroads. It has a new generation of candidates, some far-left from the Democratic Socialists of America, and they are eager for change.

The Democratic leadership team responded swiftly to the slight from the two centrist lawmakers this week over the thwarted procedural vote, sending a message that they will not tolerate the kind of disruptions that have often left Republicans in disarray.

But the damage was done.

“It was disappointing,” said seasoned Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee. ”It makes us look as bad as them.”

A routine procedural vote becomes anything but

The procedural rule vote, which sets the terms for debate, was long a non-issue in the House. The party in power voted for it, the minority party voted against. But conservative Republicans have routinely bucked their own GOP majority on the votes, tanking the agenda.

As the tally Tuesday was teetering, it appeared Johnson once again had a revolt on his hands. Then two Democrats, retiring Rep. Jared Golden of Maine and outsider Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, voted with the Republicans, salvaging the outcome and the week’s agenda.

Golden was working to ensure passage of his bill on the lobster industry. Gluesenkamp, often an ally as a fellow Blue Dog Democrat in a Trump-won congressional district, had joined.

Democrats were livid. Some were eager for a reprimand. Others expressed the angst coming from voters who want the party to stick together to fight Trump. The Pelosi-ism, “Unity is our strength,” was revived.

“The challenge is, that if you don’t have the numbers, all of a sudden a few people can be very decisive,” said Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., a former party leader who recently lost his own primary bid for reelection.

“You can never ask people to vote against their own interest,” he said. ”But you also have to emphasize the camaraderie and concept of working together as a team.”

A cautious Democratic leader faces new challenges

Jeffries is known as a careful leader and, as he says himself, chooses calm over chaos at a time when many Democrats prefer a quicker, attention-grabbing reaction.

The New York Democrat is singularly focused on winning back control of the House. In office since 2013, Jeffries is confronting the party’s quickly changing climate, as he works to hold together what is arguably the most diverse party caucus in U.S. history.

“We’re fighting to make healthcare affordable for every single American,” he said earlier in the week. “And we certainly will fight to hold the crooks accountable who have unleashed unprecedented corruption on the American people.”

Two weeks ago, Jeffries ran into trouble with progressives after having accepted a meeting with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, an outside adviser to the White House.

The two New Yorkers had known each other and worked together on legislation during the first Trump administration. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles had suggested Kushner reach out. But liberals questioned why Jeffries would even meet with those close to Trump.

“He asked for a meeting, and I took it,” Jeffries said in a defiant video the next day.

The Democrats have established five working groups to tackle affordability issues — in housing, healthcare, child care, groceries and gas and utilities. The top Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary committees are preparing to root out corruption.

Jeffries also sketched out the pillars of a Democratic legislative agenda for the coming year: repealing Republican Medicaid cuts, restoring expanded tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, repealing Trump’s tariffs and ending the Iran war.

“These are issues that we know unite Democrats,” Jeffries said. “But I don’t want to get out ahead of the caucus, because there are a whole host of things that need to be worked on.”

Mascaro writes for the Associated Press.

Tiger Woods was suspended from driving for five years and fined after reaching a plea deal at a Florida court Wednesday in connection with a rollover crash in March.

The golf legend pleaded guilty to reckless driving and refusal to submit to a lawful urinalysis test. The agreement also includes a $1,000 fine.

Woods, 50, initially pleaded not guilty after being charged with driving under the influence on March 27. His Land Rover clipped a truck, rolled onto its side and he was arrested by police officers who responded to the incident after he failed a sobriety test.

An arrest affidavit indicated Woods said he was looking at his cellphone and changing the radio station when the crash occurred. The breathalyzer test showed no traces of alcohol, but Woods refused to take a urine test, had two hydrocodone pills in his pocket and admitted to taking “a few pills,” the report said.

Woods’ attorney, Douglas Duncan, pleaded not guilty to both charges March 31 and requested a jury trial. The judge allowed Woods to leave the country for inpatient treatment at a rehab facility in Switzerland.

Woods’ pivot to recovery came after a barrage of headlines about his rollover crash and unfocused, hiccups-laden aftermath captured on police officers’ body cameras that included a phone call to President Trump, the failed field sobriety tests, handcuffs and a drive to jail in the back seat of a squad car.

At a hearing in May, Steele granted prosecutors’ request for access to “any and all prescription medication on file” for Woods, including type of prescription, number of pills and dosage amount. Those details presumably would have been submitted as evidence at a trial, which now will not take place.

“I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in today,” Woods said in a statement in March. “I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health. This is necessary in order for me to prioritize my well-being and work toward lasting recovery. I’m committed to taking the time needed to return to a healthier, stronger, and more focused place, both personally and professionally.”

Woods’ struggles with prescription drugs became public in 2017 when police found him asleep at the wheel of his car with the engine running near his Jupiter, Fla., home. Painkillers, sleep aids and THC were detected in his system. Woods checked into rehab shortly after that incident, saying his efforts to manage insomnia and pain from his staggering number of back surgeries on his own was a mistake.

The latest crash is the fourth major incident involving Woods behind the wheel since 2009.

“I feel bad for Tiger,” fellow golf great Jack Nicklaus told the Palm Beach Post in April. “He’s been taking painkillers for a long time and I don’t know how much pain he’s in. But I don’t think he’d be taking them if he didn’t need them.”

Woods first hurt his back as a high school sophomore in 1992 when he became the youngest golfer to play in a PGA Tour event, shooting a one-over-par 72 at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. That began a career-threatening battle with back injuries that includes seven surgeries since 2014 — several microdiscectomies, a 2017 lumbar fusion and most recently a lumbar disc replacement performed in October 2025.

“Tiger Woods’ experience with spinal disease highlights a real and under-recognized issue among modern-era golfers,” said Dr. Corey Walker of the Barrow Neurological Institute. “Tiger’s use of the mechanics of the modern-day swing places a tremendous strain on the back.”

Woods last played in an official PGA Tour event at The Open Championship on July 19, 2024, at Royal Troon, missing the cut.

Tour Championship, final leaderboard

-16 S Scheffler (US); -13 V Hovland (Nor); -12 R Gerard (US); -11 A Fitzpatrick (Eng), C Gotterup (US), R McIlroy (NI), R Henley (US), MW Lee (Aus), J Bridgeman (US), L Aberg (Swe)

Selected others: -10 T Fleetwood (Eng), C Young (US), A Scott (Aus); -9 C Morikawa (US); -7 J Rose (Eng); -5 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), W Clark (US); E R MacIntyre (Sco)

Full leaderboard

At times it felt like there was a certain inevitability about Scottie Scheffler collecting his second Fedex Cup title on Sunday.

As those around him began to falter, the world number one, who started the day three strokes adrift of overnight leader Viktor Hovland, produced a typically metronomic performance with the winning cheque in sight.

And what a prize. Scheffler’s reward for his 22nd career victory at the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta will see his bank account credited to the tune of $10m (£7.4m).

The 2024 champion also joins Tiger Woods (2007 and 2009) and Rory McIlroy (2016, 2019 and 2022) to have won the event on multiple occasions.

“To come from behind and be able to win tournament is a really cool feeling,” Scheffler said.

“There were a lot of talented guys in front of me on the leaderboard. I was fortunate to get off to a good start and put myself in the mix. It’s a gift to be out here on tour. Each and every day I’m going to try to give it my best.”

Across the final three pairings, Scheffler’s four-under 66 was the only round to break par with his superb ability to find green after green giving him a substantial edge over his rivals.

Hovland, whose driving became more erratic, also found that his putter had gone cold when he most needed it, and the Norwegian signed for a two-over 72 as he finished three back in second place.

American debutant Ryan Gerard, who started one behind Hovland, ended the day in the same position and third overall on 12 under par after also taking 72 shots.

McIlroy was unable to rediscover the rhythm that rocketed him into contention on Saturday, with his topsy-turvy round of 69 containing four birdies and an eagle mixed with five bogeys.

Aside from the Northern Irishman there were few moments of sparkle on show elsewhere among the potential contenders, albeit Justin Rose’s hole-in-one on the ninth was an obvious exception.

While Rose was unable to gather any momentum from that to seriously challenge, ending the day at seven under overall, another Englishman Alex Fitzpatrick matched Scheffler’s 66, the lowest round of the day, to catapult himself up the leaderboard to conclude the tournament alongside six-time major winner McIlroy at 11 under.

It earned the 27-year-old a tie for fourth on his debut to cap a remarkable season in which he won his first DP World Tour event at the Indian Open before teaming up with his elder brother, the 2022 US Open champion Matt, to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans pairs event.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested nearly 50,000 people during July, the highest single monthly arrest total during the second Trump administration, according to new figures.

The spike in immigration arrests shows that the administration has continued to advance its mass deportations agenda despite a shift in approach earlier this year from high-profile operations in large American cities that sparked a public outcry to arrests that have garnered less attention but have nonetheless been disruptive.

The July arrest tally of 49,571 marks a 15% jump from 43,021 arrests a month earlier and a 70% increase from 29,241 in February, in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s enforcement surge in Minnesota, according to government data that was provided by ICE to the University of California, Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Associated Press.

Immigration arrests the month before Trump entered office hovered a little over 8,000 a figure largely made up of immigrants transferred from city or state jails and prisons and turned over to ICE to remove from the country. During Trump’s first year in office the numbers started climbing as the administration loosened restrictions on where and who ICE could arrest while it also infused the agency with billions of dollars.

By December, the number of arrests jumped to more than 40,177, according to the data, which was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

In the aftermath of two fatal shootings in Minnesota in January that sparked protests and an uproar from Democratic lawmakers, arrests began to fall to nearly 30,000 in February. After remaining stagnant for months, the numbers of people arrested in June jumped to more than 43,000 and then to roughly 49,500 in July.

In his confirmation hearing earlier this year, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin pledged to keep ICE out of the headlines, suggesting that the administration’s immigration crackdown might take a softer approach. But his tenure has been marred by a number of fatal shootings of immigrants in encounters with ICE officers. And the figures show Mullin hasn’t shifted the agency from President Trump’s vision for mass deportations.

Texas and Florida accounted for nearly 20,000 of the July arrests, in a sign of how important those states have become to the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda. Both states have leaned heavily into cooperation agreements with ICE called 287g agreements that allow local and state law enforcement to essentially operate as arms of federal immigration enforcement.

The spike in arrests comes as the agency, infused with billions of dollars last summer by Congress, has also hired 12,000 new deportation officers and investigative agents.

Santana writes for the Associated Press.

The final statistics are in for transfers for the 2025-26 school year compiled by the 10 sections that make up the California Interscholastic Federation, and it was another record year for transfers.

There were 17,618 transfers, according to the CIF. The 2023-24 school year marked the first time the transfers exceeded 17,000 with 17,068.

The Southern Section led the way with 7,248, a record.

CIF transfer numbers for 2025-26.

(Los Angeles Times)

Transfers have been a major topic for discussions in high school sports around the country, with state associations coming up with different ideas, from making athletes ineligible for one year in Texas if they transfer for athletic reasons to offering one-time free transfers.

The CIF held a roundtable for discussions in 2025 about possible policy changes but everything has been on hold while waiting for a court case to play out that was dismissed for a second time recently.

CIF membership has been cautious about intervening or limiting transfer opportunities for fear politicians in Sacramento might get involved.

Wealth, perhaps second only to loyalty, has been a prized attribute for Donald Trump during his second presidency.

The number of people worth at least $100 million whom the Republican president has appointed to his administration is more than four times the combined total under the three previous presidents, according to a report from the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.

It’s the numbers for the Trump administration, in the context of previous administrations, that stand out in Public Citizen’s report, published on Monday. In all, 57 Trump officials are worth at least $100 million, including 17 ambassadors and the remaining 40 in senior posts across the executive branch.

Look no further than Trump’s Cabinet. Eight of its 23 members fit the category, notably Treasury Secretary Howard Lutnick and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, both billionaires.

The president, himself a billionaire, has described his inclination toward appointing the ultrawealthy as deference to financial success. And yet, Trump, who owes his White House comeback to support from middle-income, working Americans drawn to his pledge to lower everyday costs, now faces a midterm election electorate decidedly less keen on his handling of the economy.

Presidents have long sought counsel from the nation’s wealthiest people and tapped some for high-profile administrative leadership roles. Likewise, presidents routinely reward wealthy and influential supporters with ambassadorships.

Among the most notable examples is Andrew Mellon, the aluminum, oil and banking tycoon who was among the handful of the nation’s wealthiest people in the 1920s and served as treasury secretary for three presidents.

The Trump officials worth at least $100 million include Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg and Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler, who are also billionaires, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and special envoy Steve Witkoff, both worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

By comparison, Republican George W. Bush’s administration and Democrat Joe Biden’s each included five members worth $100 million or more. Democrat Barack Obama’s included three, the report states.

A government populated by so many of the economic elite presents potential problems, the report’s authors said.

“When the people holding the reins of government are drawn overwhelmingly from the ranks of the ultra-rich, it leads to misplaced incentives and corruption, and begs the question, ‘Whose interests they are truly serving?” said Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizen’s co-president.

The list does not include Trump, whose net worth Forbes estimates at more than $6 billion. Nor does it include space and social media giant Elon Musk, who advised Trump last year on an effort to reduce the federal government’s size, scope and workforce and is the world’s wealthiest person, with a net worth Forbes estimates at about $860 billion.

Trump’s views are well established: Financial success is evidence of executive mastery and negotiating strength.

“They have great competence, those people. Incredible competence. Some of the smartest business leaders,” Trump said last year in explaining why he put considerable weight on advice from business executives.

He has also pointed to investments by wealthy people as a signal of future economic growth. To encourage billionaires to deliver, Trump, in his first year back in the White House, pursued policies on artificial intelligence and financial regulation that could benefit wealthy people, along with tax cuts and reduced regulatory burdens for large-scale investments.

Still, last month, only 32% of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, down from 40% at the beginning of his second term and as his Republican Party faces headwinds in its attempt to hold both majorities in Congress in November.

Beaumont writes for the Associated Press.

St Jude Championship – round three leaderboard

-13 S Scheffler (US); -11 S Burns (US), Im (Kor); -8 J Knapp (US), T Fleetwood (Eng)

Selected others: -7 B Harman (US); -6 V Hovland (Nor); -5 W Clark (US); -4 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), J Spieth (US); -3 L Aberg (Swe); -2 H Hall (Eng); -1 A Rai (Eng); +6 J Rose (Eng), R McIlroy (NI)

Full leaderboard

World number one Scottie Scheffler will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the St Jude Championship as he chases his first victory since January.

Scheffler, 30, carded a two-under 68 on Saturday to sit at 13 under overall, with his American compatriot Sam Burns at 11 under alongside South Korea’s Im Sung-jae.

Burns produced a superb bogey-free 62 to move into contention in the FedEx Cup play-off opener at TPC Southwind in Memphis.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who is the defending FedEx Cup champion, is a further three strokes adrift at eight under with Jake Knapp.

And it ensures an intriguing fourth round, with close friends Scheffler and Burns in the final pairing.

“Strategy is still the same, just go out there and execute,” said Scheffler, who last led an event after 54 holes at the 2025 Open Championship.

“This is a golf course where that’s really all it comes down to. It’s always a little weird just because I want him to have success so much and I think he wants the same for me.

“It will be a competition like normal. It will be fun being out there with your friend but it’s also a bit weird.”

Sweden’s Alex Noren and Norway’s Viktor Hovland are well placed for strong finishes at seven and six under respectively.

However, six-time major winner Rory McIlroy and 2013 US Open champion Justin Rose both faltered badly on the 18th hole to sit well off the pace at six over.

Northern Ireland’s McIlroy carded a double-bogey six after driving into the water off the tee, while Rose fared even worse finding the same hazard twice on his way to a triple-bogey seven.

The top 50 players in the FedEx standings at the end of the weekend will advance into next week’s BMW Championship, with the top 30 after that advancing to the Tour Championship.

St Jude Championship – round two leaderboard

-11 S Scheffler (US); -8 Im (Kor), V Hovland (Nor); -7 L Aberg (Swe); -6 Nico Echavarria (Col), T Fleetwood (Eng), J Spieth (US), B Harman (US)

Selected others: -3 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), J Thomas (US); -2 A Rai (Eng); E H Hall (Eng); +1 S Lowry (Ire); +3 J Rose (Eng); +4 R McIlroy (NI), J Smith (Eng); +5 A Fitzpatrick (Eng)

Full leaderboard

Scottie Scheffler equalled the course record with a nine-under-par 61 as he opened up a three-stroke lead at the end of the second round of the St Jude Championship in Memphis.

The world number one, who already led the FedEx Cup standings heading into the first of three play-off events, birdied the first five holes at TPC Southwind.

The American proceeded to knock in a further six birdies, with bogeys on the eighth and 12th holes the only blemishes on his scorecard as he recorded his fourth career round of 61 or better on the PGA Tour.

“Really just a dream start. Probably one of the best starts I’ve had on tour, to be honest with you. I couldn’t tell you a time where I’ve been lower early in the round,” said Scheffler.

“My swing has felt really good in the past couple weeks, especially playing at home. It was nice to get out there and get things rolling early in the round and was able to keep the momentum going and shoot myself a nice round.”

South Korea’s Im Sung-jae is tied for second with Norway’s Viktor Hovland at eight under overall, with Ludvig Aberg a shot further back.

Reigning FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood is the highest placed British player and in a quartet that also includes Jordan Spieth at six under.

Matt Fitzpatrick and fellow Englishman Aaron Rai, who collected his first major at the US PGA Championship in May, are at three under and two under respectively, with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy at four over.

With there being no 36-hole cut at any FedEx play-off event, six-time major winner McIlroy will hope to fare better over the weekend.

One player who will be absent though is Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who withdrew prior to the start of play on Friday with a knee injury.

MacIntyre, who had limped to a 12-over 82 during the first round on Thursday, currently sits at 31st on the FedEx Cup points list.

The top 50 will head into next week’s BMW Championship.

Netflix said it is in the process of closing two of its gaming studios, as the division is making another round of organizational changes.

The Los Gatos, Calif., streamer said it closed the Hollywood-based gaming studio Night School, the maker of narrative games like “Oxenfree,” on Thursday and has proposed to close Helsinki, Finland-based gaming studio Moonloot. Night School was the first game developer Netflix purchased in 2021 as it expanded into gaming. At the time, the streamer was under pressure by investors to diversify its content to attract more customers, after experiencing two quarters of subscriber losses in 2022.

Night School viewed the acquisition at the time as “such a natural pairing” as the gaming studio wanted to stretch its narrative aspirations on original games and Netflix has a reputation of giving TV and film creators an “unprecedented canvas” to bring entertainment to millions of people, according to a blog post on its website.

In an email, a Netflix spokesperson said it is eliminating roles because the company believes it can operate more strategically and efficiently in its games business. The spokesperson declined to provide the number of workers affected.

Last year, the company shut down Boss Fight Entertainment, one of the gaming studios it acquired in 2022.

Games on Netflix have had mixed results. At the end of 2024, Epic Games executive Alain Tascan joined Netflix as president of the division and under his leadership, it has focused on key areas including kids, party games like “Netflix Minigolf,” narrative games and mainstream games like “FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition.” The company also removed games in part because they did not have high engagement from its library.

Last year, Netflix unveiled several party games including “Boggle Party” and “Pictionary: Game Night.”

In June, Netflix released a narrative game made by Night School called “Unhinged” about a woman who is trapped inside her apartment during a hurricane and is trying to find safety. Voice actors in the game include Zoë Kravitz and Sadie Sink.

In a July earnings presentation, Co-CEO Greg Peters reminded analysts of the market opportunity for games, with $150 billion in consumer spending not including ad revenue or markets in China and Russia. He said the streamer is seeing solid numbers from its cloud games such as FIFA and “Unhinged” and higher adoption and retention in the cloud games than mobile games. He also said there has been strong engagement and growth from kid games.

“We’re just getting started here,” Peters said. “We’re scratching the surface in terms of what we think the total potential of the space offers for us.”

The layoffs come as Netflix stock has declined 37% from a year ago. Investors are concerned about how much time people are spending on Netflix compared to rivals like YouTube. YouTube represents about 14% of streaming-watch time by U.S. viewers on TVs, compared to Netflix’s 8% in May, according to Nielsen.

In addition to games, Netflix has added other types of content to its streaming service over the years including live events like NFL football games and video podcasts.

WASHINGTON — Public health experts have been quick to condemn an executive order from President Trump aimed at upending childhood vaccinations in the U.S., but the biggest obstacles may be the unprecedented financial and logistical challenges it would impose on parents, health providers and drugmakers.

Monday’s announcement by the Republican president calls for separating combination shots — including the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine — into separate injections. Appointments for that and other vaccinations should be spaced out whenever possible, the order states.

To accomplish that, drugmakers would need to revive a slate of individual vaccines that have not been marketed separately in the U.S. for decades. They would also have to build new manufacturing plants capable of producing millions more vaccine doses than the nation currently uses.

For parents, unbundling the MMR vaccine and spacing out the shots would mean returning to the doctor’s office many more times than is currently needed. Those appointments could also strain pediatricians who typically administer the shots, while driving up costs tied to syringes and other medical supplies.

Studies in the U.S. and other countries have shown that combination vaccines increase the likelihood that children will be fully protected from infectious diseases before starting school.

Health experts say there is no scientific basis for changing course.

“We do things that are less convenient and more expensive if there’s a good reason to do it,” said Dr. Anna Durbin, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “There is no good justification for this. I think it’s very bad public health policy.”

Trump’s plan would require vaccine manufacturing overhaul

Under Trump’s executive order, federal officials are instructed to develop within 90 days plans for breaking up the MMR shot and spacing out other vaccines.

But pharmaceutical scientists and former regulators say those changes would likely take years and require drugmakers to spend tens of millions of dollars on new studies and manufacturing facilities.

Currently, there are no individual vaccines in the U.S. for measles, mumps or rubella. All the vaccines approved for those viruses by the Food and Drug Administration are combination shots. That three-in-one approach has been the standard in the U.S. since the early 1970s.

Dr. Jesse Goodman, a former FDA vaccine chief, said companies would have to conduct large studies showing new individual shots produced immune system-boosting reactions in children similar to the current versions.

Companies might also have to demonstrate the safety of new manufacturing facilities and procedures, given that individual measles shots haven’t been widely produced in the U.S. for roughly a half-century.

“The question is how much has changed since then and how comfortable will the FDA and the companies be relying on those comparisons?” said Goodman, who is now a professor at Georgetown University.

Designing, constructing and getting federal sign-off for new vaccine plants typically takes about five years, according to industry experts.

Additionally, Goodman said the FDA would have to review and license each unbundled vaccine separately, a process with no precedent.

“I don’t think there’s any comparable example of removing hugely effective public health measures that protect babies for no documented scientific reason,” he said.

Individual shots for measles and related diseases tend to be used by lower-income countries that can’t afford the MMR shot. Merck, GSK and the handful of other companies that supply U.S. childhood vaccines make only the combination shot.

In separate statements, Merck and GSK said they stand by the safety and effectiveness of their products. Neither discussed plans to unbundle their shots.

“To date, there has been no published scientific evidence that shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots,” Merck said in an emailed statement.

Parents would need to make many more trips to the doctor

The MMR shot is currently delivered in two doses — the first at the age of 1 and the second dose after age 4. Splitting up the shot into its three separate components would mean six office visits. Spacing out other shots for pertussis and other infectious diseases could multiply the number of visits many more times.

As the number of visits goes up, parents are more likely to miss appointments or stop making them, according to Durbin.

“It’s going to be less convenient, more expensive and you’re going to have fewer people getting vaccinated,” she said.

Since last year, Trump has repeatedly expressed concern about the number of vaccinations U.S. children are receiving and called on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reduce the number. Kennedy and other officials have pointed to smaller countries, such as Denmark, that recommended slightly fewer vaccines than the U.S.

But breaking up combination shots will result in kids receiving many more individual shots than other comparable nations, Durbin notes.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said the Trump administration’s efforts on the MMR vaccine “will give parents more options on timing and frequency for their children, which ultimately will increase vaccination rates for all three diseases.”

Vaccine order is not legally binding

Despite the precedent-breaking nature of Trump’s order, some experts are skeptical it will result in meaningful changes.

Neither the White House nor the FDA can compel drugmakers to develop and seek approval for new vaccines. And from a business perspective, companies have little incentive to develop individual versions of vaccines they already sell in combination shots.

“They’d be competing against themselves, and there’s no reason to do that,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia vaccine researcher and former government adviser.

While Trump’s order calls for more federal research and recommendations, only state governments have the legal authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. The order simply advises states to consider updating their laws to reflect the Trump administration’s approach.

“I think states will ignore this,” Offit said. “I think that bottom line is that we don’t need to look to Donald Trump for our medical advice.”

Perrone writes for the Associated Press. AP videojournalist Mary Conlon in New York contributed to this report.