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Dodgers president Stan Kasten wants to make it clear that majority owner Mark Walter will not sell the team.

Following Walter’s decision to sell his majority stake in the Lakers, questions about his majority ownership of the Dodgers were raised amid his company’s financial difficulties, which include a federal probe of his businesses. But Kasten said it will have no effect on Walter’s majority ownership of the Dodgers.

“The Dodgers are not being sold,” Kasten said. “They’re not going to be sold. They’re not for sale. There’s no process that has been started to sell [the franchise]. Period. … I just wanted this to be clear because this question keeps coming up. I understand the questions; I do. The Lakers thing was what we call sui generis, one of those one-of-a-kind things. Really has nothing to do with what’s happening with [the Dodgers] or the other teams.

“I wanted you to hear it definitively: We are not selling the Dodgers. We are continuing with our plans going forward, like we always have had them. This comes from Mark. He’s gung-ho about continuing to try to win, again, including next year, subject to whatever next year’s climate looks like.”

Kasten added that he doesn’t expect the Dodgers’ operations to be interrupted, describing the franchise as “very stable, well-managed, and [with] very solid ownership.”

“I know nothing involving the Dodgers is part of the investigation,” Kasten said. “I’m promising you, when it’s over, you’re going to realize [things] are being mischaracterized. You don’t have to trust me, but I’m telling you.”

When Kasten was asked about reports Walter is trying to sell his stake in English Premier League team Chelsea FC and tried to cash out of lucrative TV deals with Charter Communications, he said they were mischaracterized.

“Those things don’t go together for a bunch of reasons I’m not going to get into today,” Kasten said.

Kasten took a similar tone when asked about reports of Walter having to repay insurance companies.

“I’m not in that part of the investigation,” Kasten said. “Things are going on behind the scenes, obviously, in connection with that. I’m not privy to all of them, don’t need to know, don’t want to know. But one thing we are all certain about: the sports portfolio is going to remain intact.”

Walter has additional ownership stakes in the Sparks, the Cadillac Formula One team, the Professional Women’s Hockey League and the Billie Jean King Cup tennis event.

“I can tell you from the guy running the team, knowing how the business runs and what it can support in terms of revenues and expenses — the Dodgers aren’t going anywhere,” Kasten said. “I feel that very strongly, and Mark feels even stronger than I do. I’m 74. I don’t know how long I’m going to be running it, but Mark, I think, is going to be running it a lot longer.

“I think Mark has done an extraordinary job as an owner, and all he’s ever cared about is providing the best experience in order to make us more money, to make this project successful,” Kasten added. “I think so far it has been; I expect that to continue far into the future.”

Grammy-winning singer Jill Scott brought her “To Whom This May Concern” album — her first in more than a decade — to life at Inglewood’s YouTube Theater last week. Backed by a razor-sharp 11-piece all-male band (including background singers fittingly dubbed “Freeman”), Scott moved effortlessly through a two-hour set filled with songs from the genre-expansive album along with several fan favorites like “He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)” and “Gettin’ in the Way.”

Enforcing a phone-free policy at her personal request, the North Philadelphia native kept the audience intensely locked in — hanging onto her every word and every seemingly impossible note she struck with ease. Before long, it was easy to forget that we didn’t have our devices. Smiles filled the intimate room. Couples danced together. Strangers sang to each other in joyful unison, while others closed their eyes or held their hands on their chest in complete awe of witnessing a veteran artist in her element.

Jill Scott is on tour for “To Whom This May Concern,” her first album in over a decade.

(Jada Imani M)

In her only interview during the tour thus far, we caught up with Scott backstage to talk why she never performs a song the same way twice, how removing devices makes concerts better and why she thinks “To Whom This May Concern” deserves several accolades.

I’m still coming down from all of the energy from the show. How are you feeling post-show?

I am hot from the inside, and it’s gonna take me hours to calm down. [Laughs]

You’ve always described music as an intimate, two-way conversation between you and the audience. For this tour, you created a strictly phone-free space. Why did you decide to do that and how did this shift the experience for you as a performer?

In a couple of ways. One part is that it’s terrifying because there’s no buffer between me and them, so that’s actually scary, but I embrace it. The other part of it is that it’s wonderful because people initially come in kind of nervous about not having a buffer between myself and the space or themselves and space. Then I watch them gradually release, and I get a kick out of that every night. That’s my favorite part.

I’m surprised to hear that it’s scary for someone like you who’s been performing at such a high level for so many years.

Because I care. It matters to me. I really want them to have a good time. I really want them to release some things, allow themselves to be. If you want to make out, if you want to dance, if you want to cry, if you want to shout, or put up your hands in the air, or sit still, I want them to be able to do that. I think it’s important. That’s the relationship. That’s the real relationship between artist and fans of the music. It’s the connection between the music. I’m here to [be of] service. I’m here to push the ship along, but it’s really their relationship with the music and I’m a conduit. That part is probably one of my other favorites. You have to relinquish your id and allow the thing to be the thing. I think sometimes you can practice the joy and the life out of a thing. We practice a lot, but then we forget everything we practice so that it’s alive. My musicians’ freedom is mandatory. It’s a part of the job. So if they show up and play the exact same thing in the exact same way every night, they’re probably not going to be around very long. I need them to be wide open and to rediscover the music every night from their perspective. It’s their 11 perspectives on stage, and then of course there’s the lighting designer. I need him to be free. Don’t give me the same light at the same time every night. Even front-of-the-house sound engineer as well as our in-ear monitors, everybody is playing a part. “What does she need? Let’s read her. Let’s, you know, pay attention. What does she want?” It’s a lot of fun.

You could see really feel that from you and your entire band.

Tonight was a different audience. They were very attentive. Last night they danced all night long from the very beginning. I couldn’t even see the floor. Tonight they were listening. I know it’s a Wednesday night. Everybody’s got to go to work [the next morning], but they were beautiful. The listening audience is probably my favorite. They get quiet and I’m like “Oh, it’s so scary. Am I doing the right thing?” [Laughs] But that means they’re listening. Who doesn’t want to be heard?

Your son came out with you tonight. How was that experience for you?

It’s beautiful to see. He told me Tierra Whack is not traveling with us because she has a new album out, “Whack’s Museum,” so she’s a little busy. He was like, “Mom, how do you feel about me doing the second verse?” and I was like “Be at sound check tomorrow with a mic in your hand.”

He looked so comfortable on stage.

He does. It’s kind of scary. Super exciting. I don’t know what he’ll want to do, but he’s working our set, so he’s a part of the crew. So after he does his performance, he puts back on his blacks and he does his job, and I love that for him, to have that sense of responsibility. He’s exceeding anybody’s and everybody’s expectations. He’s so good at this. All the clothes you see, he steamed up.

He’s really working his way up.

Yes, you must earn your way.

Your album “To Whom This May Concern” released in February, and it feels like a love letter from your favorite auntie. There’s lessons about learning from your mistakes, honoring your ancestors and loving yourself. Now that your fans have been living with these songs for several months, I’m curious if performing them live has shifted your relationship with them at all?

No. On a great night, I like telling the stories that I’ve read. I like embodying them in front of other people. I like watching them experience them in a new way. I’m a fan of that. It just makes it more and more true. Then I see how many people are singing along and how many people are looking at me, and I’m like “Yesss.” It’s reaching the people and I know it’s going to be different because there’s a different audience every night. So I’m thrilled about the project and how it’s touching people. You hope you don’t work this hard at a thing for it to fall on deaf ears, and I know how microwavable music has been, but I believe the cream rises to the top. It’s been a beautiful 26 years. I look forward to 26 more — in my way.

Your album has been receiving a lot of praise from fans and critics. There’s still a few months before the Grammy nominations are announced, but at this point in your career, how important is that recognition to you? Is it as important as it was when you first started your career?

I think I deserve it. That’s all. [Flashes a smile]

I mean everything about this project from beginning to end is blood, sweat and tears. I stayed up many nights just to write, a hunger in my belly and a savage appetite. And I mean it. Everything is true and I love that for me. That’s the kind of thing that takes time and I think musically, it’s incredible. I think the stories are awesome and intentional, and everything about it, from the planning of it to the marketing, has been from my soul, and I think it deserves several.

A U.S. Air Force’s new EA-37B Compass Call electronic warfare jet made an appearance near the Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave on Tuesday. The flight was part of a large presence of U.S. and NATO reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft and Polish ground forces arrayed near the strategic Baltic Sea salient bordering Poland and Lithuania. This took place place against the backdrop of growing concerns about increasing Russian aggression in the region – including a growing fears of a potential limited action against a NATO member and concerning Russian naval operations in the Baltic Sea. However, NATO is downplaying the aerial mission as routine and not a reaction to any particular event.

“On 18 August 2026, NATO deployed a specialized reconnaissance and electronic warfare flight package over the Baltic Sea near the Kaliningrad Oblast,” a Polish military official told TWZ on Wednesday. “This operation involved the deployment of a rare US EA-37B ‘Compass Call II’ electronic warfare aircraft, relocated from Greece to Powidz in Poland, which operated alongside an E-3 AWACS and an ARTEMIS II surveillance plane.”

The Polish military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational details, declined to offer further information about the role of the Polish ground forces, how many there were, or how they were equipped.

A NATO official on Wednesday clarified to us that the activity, which is ongoing, is allied in nature and controlled by the U.S., not NATO. We have reached out to U.S. Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE) for additional details.

After open-source flight trackers noticed the increased air activity near Kaliningrad on Tuesday, we reached out to NATO spokesman Col. Marty O’Donnell for comment.

“NATO is a defensive Alliance and Allies are constantly honing their defensive abilities,” he explained. “The Allied activity today in the Baltic region involving U.S. and Norwegian fighter aircraft, Polish ground forces, a NATO E-3A Airborne Warning & Control System (AWACS), and more, which is being overseen by the U.S., is one example of this approach.”

NATO aircraft operating near Kaliningrad is not a unique circumstance. The enclave – separated from Russia and ensconced between two NATO nations and the Baltic Sea – is a key Russian military outpost, hosting an array of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, anti-ship missiles, several squadrons of tactical jets and thousands of troops.It has also been a notorious hub of disruptive Russian electronic warfare activity itself.

However, having an EA-37B operating over the area is of note. This was reportedly the first time one of these highly specialized jets appeared near the enclave. Online flight trackers showed it flying orbits in Polish airspace near Kaliningrad for nearly two hours on Tuesday.

A heavily modified Gulfstream G550 business jet, the aircraft leverages the Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) configuration developed first for the Israel Defense Forces. The jet packs powerful active electronically scanned arrays is designed to provide critical stand-off jamming support, including against enemy radars and communications systems. The EA-37B also has a secondary intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) function given its ability to spot, track, and geolocate various types of emitters.

The Air Force is planning to procure 10 of these jets to replace the aging and ever smaller fleet of turboprop EC-130H Compass Call planes, of which only four remain. The 43rd Electronic Combat Squadron flew the first training sortie for the EA-37B on May 2, 2025, and flew its first combat missions during the Operation Epic Fury war against Iran.

The Compass Call is one of, if not the world’s most power airborne EW platform and blinding and deafening Russian forces in the enclave would be critical to minimizing any military impact that capabilities based there could have in a contingency.

As we noted earlier in this story, though NATO is downplaying the activity, it comes amid growing concerns about Russian actions in the region and against the backdrop of the still raging war in Ukraine.

Earlier this week, the Russian frigate Admiral Kasatonov escorted the Russian Floating Storage/Production ship Portovyy through the Baltics, according to The Telegraph. It was the second such transit of a Russian warship in the region in recent weeks and part of Moscow’s increasing efforts to protect its energy shipments in the wake of seizures of its shadow fleet vessels by European authorities, the independent Russian The Insider news outlet noted.

McKINNEY, Texas — The judge in the case of a Texas teenager convicted of fatally stabbing a 17-year-old athlete at a high school track meet was ordered removed Wednesday, as the defendant seeks a new trial in a case that drew national attention.

Karmelo Anthony, now 19, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 35 years in prison after a suburban Dallas jury in June rejected his claims of self-defense during a confrontation with Austin Metcalf in the stadium bleachers last year.

The case attracted national attention in part because of a flood of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors the tragedy had nothing to do with race.

Dozens of Anthony supporters gathered inside and outside the Collin County courtroom for Wednesday’s hearing, and some chanted “Free Karmelo!” in the parking lot after visiting Judge Sid Harle’s order to remove state District Judge John Roach as Anthony seeks a retrial.

A new judge will be assigned for Thursday’s hearing on Anthony’s request for a retrial.

Anthony’s legal team argued Wednesday that a retrial is needed in part because Roach enforced overly strict courtroom rules and gave an interview after the trial was over.

In the interview that was played as Wednesday’s hearing began, Roach was asked if the jury got “it right.”

“Yeah, they did,” Roach said, adding: “Whatever they say, they got it right.”

Harle said he did not know Roach and he believed Roach would be fair in a hearing for a retrial. But Harle agreed to Anthony’s request to remove him because of the way it might look to a third party.

Anthony attended the hearing wearing a green jumpsuit. His parents and Metcalf’s parents also were in the courtroom. Attorneys for Anthony’s and Metcalf’s families did not immediately comment on the ruling.

Anthony did not testify during the trial where students described a heated exchange over Anthony’s refusal on a rainy spring day to leave a tent that belonged to Metcalf’s team. The teens went to different high schools.

Several schools were competing when Anthony sat under the Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Austin Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.

Prosecutors said Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses testified that Anthony was the aggressor.

Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report.

Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.

Stengle writes for the Associated Press.

“Other than the needle drops, this is probably my favorite part about making ‘Beef,’” says creator Lee Sung Jin of the show’s episodic title cards, which in Season 2 marry historical paintings with abridged quotations from authors and poets. For the finale, which sees its two feuding couples (Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton) swept up in a seemingly inescapable fight for survival, the paintings of Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s “The Four Seasons” matched with the title “It Will Stay This Way And You Will Obey,” a reference to a passage in Marion Woodman’s “Coming Home to Myself: Reflections for Nurturing a Woman’s Body & Soul.” “It’s almost prisonlike because these very prominent faces of literally nature have created this wall that the title is stuck in. We wanted to express the cycles and how the four seasons come for you no matter what,” Lee says, alluding to the season’s central idea that people often repeat the same destructive habits. “The final shot is homage to the Buddhist concept of samsara. It was important for us to allow the audience to take a moment after all the craziness of the season to think about their own lives, think about society at large … and depending on where you are, come to your own conclusion.”

In early results from the special election runoff to complete the congressional term of disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell, state Sen. Aisha Wahab was in the lead late Tuesday by a narrow margin.

Wahab (D-Hayward) is competing against Melissa Hernandez, president of the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board and the former mayor of Dublin.

According to Associated Press results, Wahab had 51.0% of the vote to Hernandez’s 49.0% as of 10:11 p.m. with 62% of votes counted.

Swalwell’s District 14 seat has been vacant since he resigned in April amid sexual assault allegations, which he has repeatedly denied.

Wahab and Hernandez were the finalists in the June 16 special primary, in which the top two finishers regardless of party affiliation advanced to Tuesday’s special election.

The two also will compete, once again, in the fall in a slightly redrawn district for a full term that begins in January 2027.

Both versions of the district are contained entirely within Alameda County in the East Bay. The current district includes Hayward, Livermore, Pleasanton and Union City, as well as parts of San Leandro, Fremont and Dublin.

The two candidates are both Democrats, but Wahab leans more progressive, while Hernandez is generally considered the more moderate candidate.

Earlier this summer, Wahab initially emerged as the clear front-runner. She placed first in both the June 16 special primary for the partial-term seat and the June 2 primary for the full-term seat — leading Hernandez by more than 20 percentage points in both races.

But the race became much more competitive after the pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee funneled millions into campaign materials designed to defeat Wahab, who has publicly criticized Israel’s military actions in Gaza and called the humanitarian crisis there a genocide. Hernandez has said she supports Israel’s right to defend itself, but neither candidate has made the conflict a core part of their campaign.

United Democracy Project, a super political action committee backed by AIPAC, spent $1.2 million on the race in August in support of Hernandez and in opposition to Wahab, according to Federal Election Commission records. Another group, Bold America, which has received funding from United Democracy Project, has recently spent about $1.7 million supporting Hernandez.

In total, around $3.7 million in outside funding has been spent to promote Hernandez’s campaign since mid-July, compared to around $400,000 spent in support of Wahab’s campaign during the same time frame.

Over the course of the campaign, Hernandez has more than doubled Wahab’s fundraising and spending. However, both candidates ended July with roughly even amounts of cash in the bank.

Times staff writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.

For more than four decades, the Lakers were a family-run business. The sibling rivalries still remain.

Jeanie Buss is fighting back after her siblings reportedly voted to sell the family’s remaining stake in the Lakers on Monday. The team’s governor, Buss sent a letter through her attorney to her brothers’ attorneys stating any votes to sell the family’s remaining 17.8% stake in the team to new majority owners Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner are void because the sale cannot be completed without approval of the other trustees: Jeanie and her younger siblings, Janie and Joey.

ESPN reported Monday that the six Buss family siblings, who took over team ownership after their father, Jerry Buss, died in 2013, are selling their shares of the Lakers to Iger and Kushner following a family vote. Iger, the longtime Disney chief executive, and Kushner, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur, agreed last week to buy Mark Walter’s controlling stake of the Lakers for a record valuation of $12.5 billion.

The transactions still need to be approved by the NBA board of governors. Jeanie Buss, who was to remain the Lakers governor for at least five years after Walter’s purchase of the team was approved last October, no longer would be eligible to serve on the board if the Buss family sells its shares. Governors are required to own at least a 15% stake.

“The co-trustees are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that the minimum 15% ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain controlling owner,” the letter from Buss’ attorney reads, citing a 2017 court ruling outlining Jeanie Buss’ role. “Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.”

The trust was revised in 2017 after a series of legal battles between Jeanie and her older brothers, Johnny and Jim. It stipulated that co-trustees “would take all actions reasonably available to them, including voting the trust’s shares to ensure that [Jeanie Buss] is elected as the controlling owner of the Lakers on an annual basis during [her] lifetime.”

The statement to ESPN attributed to the Buss family regarding the sale read: “We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction. We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.” ESPN didn’t report a price for the shares.

The Buss family has owned the team since 1979, when Jerry Buss bought the franchise, the Forum and the Los Angeles Kings for $67.5 million. The family patriarch leveraged Hollywood glamour with entertainment spectacle to elevate the Lakers into an internationally recognized brand. The NBA’s biggest stars shone brightest in L.A.; Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant helped pile up 10 championships under Buss. The Laker Girls became a harbinger of sports dance teams to come. Celebrities flocked to the courtside seats. Books and TV shows told the team’s Hollywood story.

Each of Buss’ six children — Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — held titles in the organization. Jeanie was her father’s hand-picked successor. She fought to maintain her position against Johnny and Jim, who tried to reorganize the board of directors to push Jeanie out in 2017. She eventually ousted them from team operations. Joey and Jessie, the two youngest, were fired by the new owners last November. Joey was the team’s alternate governor and vice president of research and development, and Jesse was the assistant general manager. Janie held an administrative role directing the team’s charitable services.

The booming sports business quickly caught up to the team that once held the attention of the city with the league’s biggest stars, iconic “Showtime” style and old Hollywood feel. The Lakers slogged through a six-year playoff drought from 2013-19. The team started falling behind in resources and revenue compared to other organizations that controlled their own arenas and could maximize alternative revenue streams. The Buss family voted to relinquish a majority ownership of the team last year, bringing in Walter, who also owns the Dodgers.

Walter then shockingly flipped the NBA’s crown jewel franchise for a profit of $2.5 billion last week. The investment mogul who is under federal investigation for unpaid loans agreed to sell his stake in the Lakers to Kushner and Iger. Kushner is a co-founder of Thrive Capital, which started a permanent holdings company, Thrive Eternal, this year to invest in sports and cultural brands. Iger is the longtime Disney CEO who already owns Southland soccer club Angel City FC and previously flirted with NFL ownership by trying to build a stadium in Carson before the project ultimately went to the Stan Kroenke-led group that built SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

Before including the Buss shares, the deal for the Lakers’ majority stake already was the largest sum paid for any professional sports franchise, surpassed only by Walter’s $10-billion purchase of the team. It still sits below Sportico’s estimate for the most valuable franchise, with the outlet listing the Dallas Cowboys’ valuation at $15.5 billion.

Minority stakeholders Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who also owns the Los Angeles Times Media Group; real estate billionaire Ed Roski; and Walter business partner Todd Boehly own about 14% of the Lakers, according to Sportico.

How Iger and Kushner will finance the Lakers deal is unclear.

When the duo agreed to buy Walter’s share last week, Kushner and Iger released a statement that in part praised the Buss family’s work with the Lakers.

“We have immense respect for the leadership and vision of Jerry and Jeanie Buss,” the statement read. “Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level, and serve this extraordinary team, its fans, and the city of Los Angeles.”

For all their vaunted power, superheroes are at the mercy of the people who write them, draw them, play them on the screen, and by extension the producers and executives who decide what should go where and for how much. Sort of powerless, really.

Sometimes this combination of forces works out well for the hero, and sometimes not so much. The Green Lantern, a secondary figure in the DC Comics pantheon, had the ill luck to be trapped in a 2011 Ryan Reynolds film even its director didn’t like. Fifteen years later, he has had the very good fortune to be played by Kyle Chandler, and additionally to star in a television series — “Lanterns,” premiering Sunday on HBO — rather than a theatrical feature, with its investment in noisy set pieces and earth-shaking battles royale.

I’ve often championed the supposedly humbler medium as the best place to tell these stories, with the time to investigate character, in all its shadings and ambiguities, and a haven for concepts too quirky or niche or … conceptual for conservative big-budget theatrical IP exploitation. And here again, I have been proved right.

Creators Damon Lindelof (“Lost,” “Watchmen” and, best of all, “Mrs. Davis”), comic book writer Tom King and Chris Mundy, who wrote for “Criminal Minds,” “Ozark” and “Bloodline” (in which Chandler starred), have expressly looked to television for inspiration — specifically to “True Detective” (on which Mundy worked), with its uncomfortable partnerships, and “Slow Horses” (for its disreputable hero, I guess), with “Slow Horses” director James Hawes helming the first two episodes. (I detect a hint of “Fargo” as well, for its Midwestern plainscape, dark comedy and bigger-than-life yet somehow ordinary characters.)

“I’m a regular person, like you,” Hal Jordan (Chandler) says in a 1996 TV interview that opens the series; indeed, he’s only super powerful by reason of the gear that comes with the job, a human “beat cop” working as part of the Green Lantern Corps, an extraterrestrial galactic peacekeeping organization — the special ring and the lantern-shaped gizmo that charges it. It gives him the ability to fly and to manifest objects at will, most often a protective green bubble, but also a bottle opener and a $10 bill. (There’s a uniform, but for the most part, he leaves it in the closet.)

Watching that interview is young John Stewart (then a Lantern-obsessed child). We’ll meet him again in 2016, played by Aaron Pierre (“The Underground Railroad”), when most of the action takes place, as a former Marine sniper and art student — human talents that will prove useful — assigned to Hal as a “trainee,” ostensibly to provide backup if something happens to him. Hal, after two seemingly successful decades in the job, is unused to the company and suspicious of the arrangement. (“The big blue bosses may think you’re hot s— but you’re just a f—ing substitute teacher.”) He sets John tests that might kill him, if he is not actually trying to kill him. But he’s also the more genial of the two.

Through an agent whose identity the producers are counting as a spoiler — I’m sure I don’t know why — Hal receives a message that there’s hail in Rushville, Neb. (i.e., aliens!), at which point he jets off from the taco stand where he’s happily been signing autographs and posing for selfies, leaving John to fly there on his own, in the usual way, while the Stooges’ “No Fun” plays on the soundtrack.

They arrive, separately, in the aftermath of a high school football game that has left dead bodies on the field. (Hal suspects some sort of alien rumble.) Here we meet Kelly Macdonald, suppressing her Scottish accent as tough but tender Sheriff Kerry, asserting her jurisdictional rights. Hal finds her “something incredible.” (John: “I think she hates your guts.” Hal: “Yeah, but it’s the way she hates them.”) Kerry is married to lawyer Billy Macon (Jason Ritter), whose father, William (Garret Dillahunt), is a local bigwig, with a cowboy militia and a wife, Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan), who possibly not coincidentally meets John in a bar.

At 60, Chandler is arguably more attractive than ever, with the sort of seasoning that served James Garner so well as Jim Rockford, TV’s greatest detective. Five seasons of “Friday Night Lights” have cemented him in the popular consciousness as a preternaturally decent guy, which allows us to excuse Hal’s less creditable moments, or at least to see things through his eyes. Pierre, 32, who competes in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, has the body of a superhero; he plays John wound tight, humorless, grimly ambitious — he grew up letting his father shoot apples off his head to prove his fearlessness, the primary requirement for a Green Lantern — though the character warms up across the course of the season (which also takes place in 2026). The actors are at their best in their scenes together, which the writers make happen even when it seems impossible. (Spoilers, or I’d explain.)

Combining detective work and science fiction is nothing new — see “Sugar,” currently; “The X-Files,” classically. (And there’s an interrogation scene I’m pretty sure nods knowingly to “Blade Runner.”) “Lanterns” isn’t totally free of cliches, which is practically impossible for sci-fi and crime stories anyway, so many have been told over the years, and to some degree that’s just what we come for. But the series is fresh enough in its details and execution, and strong enough in its writing, and so well performed, that it feels quite original.

I watched “Lanterns” without any particular knowledge of the character, who has been around since 1940, and in this particular version since 1959. (I did a little reading afterward.) Happily, the show is not up to its cowl in DC cross-references and crossovers. There are fleeting mentions of Gotham and Metropolis (where Superman works) and Nathan Fillion reprises his bad-hair Green Lantern from the 2025 “Superman” movie (a long story), but “Lanterns” comes equipped with everything you need to know. Bringing in extra mythology wouldn’t make the confusing parts any less confusing, and would just confuse the parts that aren’t confusing at all. Most every character, whichever side they’re on — and it’s not always easy to tell, given that the aliens look exactly like the humans — comes with layers.

Did I ever fully understand what these factions were after, or even what exactly the factions were? Nope. Did it matter? Nope.

PlayOn Sports continues to expand its high school sports empire in California, winning the bidding for broadcast rights for state playoff games and state championships.

The 10-year deal was announced Thursday by the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports in the state.

Previously, Spectrum signed a 15-year contract for $8.1 million in 2011. The contract expired this summer, with the CIF receiving bids from several organizations.

The CIF will be receiving $165,000 from the NFHS Network in the first year of the agreement that has a 3% escalator each year. PlayOn Sports will pay $810,000 in the first year that also escalates 3% each year of the contract. The total will be $11.1 million.

PlayOn Sports has become a powerful force in the state, now owning MaxPreps, NFHS (National Federation of State High School Assns.) Network, GoFan.co and state playoff broadcast rights. The NFHS Network will be the exclusive content distribution partner. State football, basketball and girls volleyball will be put on linear television.

MaxPreps is the last one standing in California after SB Live (formerly Scorebook Live) stopped sponsoring the CIF following the 2024-25 season and laid off its full-time writers in California while turning to freelancers who get paid by their story clicks as part of a digital agreement with the owners of SI.com.

CIF media rights contract with PlayOn Sports and the NFHS Network.

(Los Angeles Times)

MaxPreps is a free site driven by individual schools uploading their rosters, scores and stats. It has started streaming games with the help of the NFHS Network. GoFan.co has been adopted by most schools as the way to buy digital tickets to games and charges a fee to those buying tickets.

What the new CIF contract means is more opportunities for the NFHS Network, an on-demand high school sports site that streams games for a fee in which fans can buy access to watch one game or pay a monthly or yearly fee for unlimited access. Sometimes the NFHS Network uses automatic cameras supplied to schools or were purchased by schools. Unlimited online access is $99.99 a year.

Nine of the 10 sections in the state leave it up to schools to decide regular-season broadcasts. The Southern Section is the one section that has its own media contract and requires schools to pay a fee for streaming and then returns compensation to the schools later.

For those who worry that PlayOn Sports has so much control it could easily raise prices and face little pushback, CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti said, “Any deal we have with any company that involves cost [with schools], we always get to be part of that conversation.”

Reporting from Washington — President Obama had occupied the Oval Office for nearly a full term when government engineers came to him with a request: that he move out for a few months while they completed an overdue renovation of the West Wing.

Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s oldest family friend and a senior advisor, objected.

“Nobody else had to do that,” she said. Other White House staffers were concerned that displacing Obama, though he had no problem with it, could be read as a sign of disrespect for the nation’s first black president.

The moment was a small glimpse into how Obama and his image-makers navigated the sensitive question of race during their eight years in the White House.

On policy and in speeches, Obama showed a determination to pursue equality for all minorities. But he faced resistance — not only from the right but also from allies on the left who felt he wasn’t moving decisively enough. That resistance, along with high-profile instances of racial violence that rekindled a national debate over racial progress, resulted in an uneven record for the Obama administration on the issue of race.

The president leaves office in an age marked by increasing racial tensions. The election to choose his successor featured a backlash reminiscent of the political upheaval of a half-century ago, when the so-called Silent Majority ushered Richard Nixon into office after the turmoil of the 1960s. On Jan. 20, President-elect Donald Trump will take the oath of office in part because a significant number of voters rejected Obama’s quest for broader equality.

Though the election of Obama was celebrated as a moment transcending the country’s dark racial history, the president himself has always taken a more measured view: that race is a complex issue and progress comes in fits and starts.

“After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America,” Obama said in his farewell address last week. “And such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic. Race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society. … And all of us have more work to do.”

From the beginning of his presidency, Obama made clear to his staff that he wanted to do two things at once — lift up the disenfranchised while moving beyond stereotypes and prejudices. He encountered those personally from the start.

In one of his first White House meetings with Republican lawmakers, one representative lectured the new president — and former senator — on how the legislative process works.

So dismissive was his tone that Obama would marvel afterward to a couple of aides, “He did everything but call me ‘boy.’”

As the meeting broke up, Vice President Joe Biden started to make a beeline for the offender when he felt Obama’s hand on his arm.

“Let’s let that go,” Obama said, stopping him.

Biden attributed Obama’s cool to a lifetime of navigating such dismissiveness.

“His self-awareness is so damn amazing,” Biden said in an interview last month. “It doesn’t mean, I don’t think, he doesn’t remember [or] it doesn’t hurt.” But, Biden added, it suggested that, as a black man growing up in America, Obama had learned when to fight and when to let go.

Another early experience reinforced that. During his first summer in office, police arrested a black Harvard professor and leading scholar of African American literature, Henry Louis Gates Jr., at his home. Asked about the case, Obama said officers had “acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.”

The backlash from police around the country stunned the president. Aides say the reaction taught Obama he had to speak more carefully on race.

“When the president says it,” one senior aide said, “it has enormous weight.”

Obama instead set about shaping his policy agenda, which over the next eight years would include lasting gains for minorities.

Obama’s signature healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, nearly erased the disparity in healthcare access between black children and white children and helped more than 20 million Americans get health coverage. He signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which banned sex-based wage discrimination. His immigration policy has at least temporarily freed millions of Latinos from life in the shadows.

By the administration’s estimate, the economic stimulus law that was one of Obama’s earliest accomplishments kept 5.3 million Americans, a group that was heavily black and Latino, from falling into poverty.

And though he was slower to publicly embrace same-sex marriage than some others, his support for those he warmly referred to as “LGBT folks” helped foster a movement that ultimately saw gay marriage legalized through a Supreme Court ruling. He celebrated the moment in vivid fashion by ordering the White House exterior illuminated in the rainbow colors of the gay pride flag.

Obama pushed for fair-sentencing laws that narrowed the gap in penalties between felonies involving crack and powder cocaine, a divide that had resulted in disproportionately long sentences for blacks. He commuted the sentences of 1,176 people, more than the past 11 presidents combined. The vast majority were drug offenders.

High school dropout rates also fell to historic lows, with African Americans and Latinos charting the greatest progress.

Other gains are harder to quantify. When the killings of black men by white police officers thrust the issue of race and policing into the national spotlight, he directed the Department of Justice to examine the practices of police at the center of those conflicts, including in Cleveland, Baltimore and suburban Ferguson, Mo. Investigators there found a pattern of abuse against blacks and recommended dozens of reforms.

Additionally, he ordered that surplus military equipment no longer be sent to local governments. The sight of law enforcement officers riding in tanks or conducting raids in riot gear helped contribute to the perception among some that police were invading, rather than protecting, communities.

In early 2012, amid Obama’s campaign for reelection, a shooting in Florida overwhelmed his reticence to speak up amid heated debates on race. Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, was shot to death by a neighborhood watch captain who told a 911 dispatcher he was suspicious of Martin’s movements.

The shooting seized the nation’s attention, provoking an outpouring of complex emotions.

At the White House, Obama told aides he had something he wanted to say if asked about the shooting, as he was certain to be.

“If I’d had a son,” Obama said, “he’d look like Trayvon.”

Are you sure you want to make it that personal, one advisor asked.

Obama’s answer was to repeat the line, as if considering the sound of it. Yes, he said. He did want to say that.

Uttered later on live television, the remark proved a defining moment in Obama’s tenure; the president had injected himself into a racially charged story for the first time since the Gates episode.

Obama’s description that day of how he had personally grappled with racial injustice was the first of several instances in his second term in which he used his rhetorical gifts to guide the nation through its most emotionally complicated moments.

He broke out into a chorus of “Amazing Grace” in Charleston, S.C., in 2015, during a memorial service for nine people gunned down by a white man at a historically black church. A year later, in Dallas to mourn the shooting deaths of five officers during a peaceful protest of killings of black men in confrontations with police in Louisiana and Minnesota, Obama exhorted both law enforcement and protesters to search for common ground.

“With an open heart, we can learn to stand in each other’s shoes and look at the world through each other’s eyes, so that maybe the police officer sees his own son in that teenager with a hoodie who’s kind of goofing off but not dangerous. Maybe the teenager will see in the police officer the same words and values and authority of his parents.”

By then, the campaign to succeed Obama was shifting into a bitter general election, pulsing with an undercurrent of racial animosity that would culminate in the election of Trump.

The anti-Obama backlash was evident months earlier at rallies for Trump, the most prominent promoter of the lie that the president was born outside the U.S., itself an attempt to delegitimize him.

Trump railed against Obama, complaining that he had presided over a period of “political correctness” that prevented whites from speaking frankly about their concerns and confronting conflict. Trump’s crowds roared their approval.

White nationalists supported Trump more actively than they had any presidential candidate in decades. Trump named as his campaign chairman the chief executive of a website that has given a platform to the so-called alt-right, a collection of openly racist and anti-Semitic activists.

Trump, who kicked off his campaign by saying Mexican immigrants were “criminals” and “rapists,” threatened to ban Muslims from entering the country and said little about his backing from white supremacists, downplaying accusations that he stoked racial unrest.

In Obama’s final year in office, a friend from his days in the Illinois Statehouse told him that he was convinced many of the roadblocks the president had faced were based on racism.

Republicans in Congress “were afraid of you, more so than anything else,” said Denny Jacobs, a white Democrat and longtime state senator from farm country. “They were afraid of you for a couple of reasons. No. 1, you were black. And I talk to my Republican friends — and I’ve got a lot of them — and that’s all they could ever talk about, was the race card, the race. You know, he’s a nice guy, he’s this, he’s that, but he’s black.”

Obama paused and smiled.

“I have no doubt that there are people who voted against me because of race, or didn’t approve of my agenda because of race,” he told Jacobs. “I also suspect there were a bunch of people who were excited and voted for me, or I got political benefits because of the notion of the first African American president.”

“Those things,” he said, “cut both ways.”

christi.parsons@latimes.com, michael.memoli@latimes.com

Twitter: @cparsons, @mikememoli

ICRC facilitates first known transfer of detainees between Congolese government and M23 rebels in North Kivu.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has released 15 prisoners and handed them over to rebels from ⁠the Congo River Alliance/March 23 movement (AFC/M23) in the east of the country.

The release was announced by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which facilitated this first known transfer of prisoners under last year’s Qatar-mediated deal to end the fighting in the region.

The handover happened on Thursday and Friday after months of talks thrashing out the names of detainees to be freed.

An ICRC statement said the 15 prisoners agreed to be transferred before leaving the government-held eastern Congolese city of Beni in a convoy on Thursday evening.

The journey continued through Uganda before the convoy arrived in Rutshuru Territory in DRC’s North Kivu province, where the prisoners were ⁠⁠handed over to AFC/M23 on Friday, the statement added.

M23 seized the regional capitals in North and South Kivu from the Congolese government’s control in early 2025.

Stephanie Eller, head of ICRC operations in the capital ‌Kinshasa, said she hoped the transfer would pave the way for more releases.

“We hope that this ⁠operation will help bring relief ⁠to families who have been separated from their loved ones for a long time,” Eller said.

The release of detainees was one of the conditions in the Qatari-mediated agreement signed by the Congolese government and AFC/M23 in September.

Qatar welcomed the releases on Friday.

“The release of the detained persons represents an important step towards enhancing confidence between the parties and creating favourable conditions for further progress towards reaching peaceful and sustainable solutions,” Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

It added that Qatar “expresses its hope that this step will serve as an impetus for further measures that enhance confidence-building between the parties and meet the aspirations of the Congolese people for peace, development and prosperity”.

DRC, the United Nations and Western powers have repeatedly accused neighbouring Rwanda of supporting the M23 with its ‌own ‌troops and weapons as the armed group has advanced in the east, a charge Rwanda denies.

SAN DIEGO — This is where it all started for Jim Harbaugh, this idyllic hilltop University of San Diego campus with its sweeping views of the city and ocean, Spanish Renaissance architecture and courtyards lined with palm trees.

Harbaugh had been an assistant coach elsewhere, learning the ropes as an offensive consultant at Western Kentucky and quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders, but this was his first chance to be a head coach. It launched a second career for the longtime NFL quarterback, taking him to Stanford, the San Francisco 49ers — where his team fell just short of a Lombardi Trophy — to a national championship at Michigan, and now to the Chargers, with whom he’s beginning his third season.

The Chargers have moved training camp to USD for Tuesday and Wednesday this week, reuniting Harbaugh with a place legendary Raiders owner Al Davis advised him not to come.

“Awww, Jimmy, Jimmy, I thought you wanted to be a pro coach,” Davis, voice dripping with disappointment, told him in 2004 when he learned Harbaugh was leaving his Raiders gig.

“But Mr. Davis, you coached college football,” Harbaugh countered.

“Yeah,” Davis said, “but that was at USC, not U-S-D.”

Harbaugh knows he made the right decision, and never doubted it, even when he and defensive coordinator Dave Adolph — another NFL fixture — had to roll up their sleeves and scrub down the cramped and filthy USD locker room themselves; even when he and his assistant coaches routinely made hundreds of PB&J sandwiches to provide late-night snacks for their players, who don’t receive scholarships at the NCAA Division I FCS level; and even when he pushed himself so hard at practice — he was the head coach, mind you — that he got sick all over himself.

“He was very demanding of us,” recalled former Toreros linebacker Matt Gabbard, “but it wasn’t something he didn’t demand of himself.”

They still call it Harbaugh Hill, a steep dirt road overlooking the practice fields on campus. Football players would plod up it as part of their training camp, and Harbaugh would run with them and urge them along. It bothered him that nobody could keep pace with receiver Nick Garton, who also excelled in soccer and track in high school, and could breeze up the grade like it was nothing.

“Isn’t anybody going to challenge this guy?” Harbaugh said. “Finally, I said, ‘I’ll do it.’”

Jim Harbaugh smiles during a practice with the University of San Diego in November 2005.

(Lenny Ignelzi / Associated Press)

So he did, matching Garton stride for stride before losing his breakfast all over himself. The coach didn’t stop running, though.

“I finished second,” he said, recalling the episode after Chargers practice this week and clearly still proud of his accomplishment.

Harbaugh coached at USD for three seasons, starting in 2004, and was three years removed from his playing career. He was 40 when he took the job and still had thoughts of putting the pads back on. He even looked into playing arena football and entertained the idea of playing for the Los Angeles Avengers, but that thought only lasted a day or so. He really wanted to be a coach, and brought along his dad, Jack Harbaugh, to oversee the running backs in that first season.

Jim and Jack would carpool to campus every day from their Coronado homes, father and son talking plays, personnel, family and life.

“What I saw was passion,” said Jack Harbaugh, who spent six decades coaching high school and college football. “If I could use one word, it’s Jim’s passion for the game. He would coach as if that was maybe the last job he’d ever had.”

That resonated with the players.

“When we saw coach Harbaugh come in and have that next-level intensity, you kind of get chills running down your spine,” defensive back Phil Bretsch said. “Like, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be different.’ But you’re ready for it, right? We’re not there for any other reason other than we love football.”

The turnaround was abrupt. Harbaugh inherited a historically mediocre program and coached his team to a 29-6 record in three seasons. The 2006 team went 11-1, won the Pioneer League, and Harbaugh was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award, presented to the top coach in the FCS.

One of his biggest accomplishments was luring Adolph out of retirement. The defensive specialist was almost 70 and was a turnaround artist with all sorts of NFL franchises — Cleveland, Kansas City, Raiders and Chargers — but in his later years was the primary caregiver for his ailing wife. Harbaugh asked and asked and asked, and finally got a yes when he helped arrange for in-home care for the Adolphs for several hours a day.

Coaching at this level was about making sacrifices for the love of the game. There was no school money to feed the hungry players after their team meetings, so Harbaugh and the other coaches — essentially volunteers — shelled out for tubs of peanut butter, vats of jelly and dozens of loaves of bread every night.

“We were always on the hunt for calories,” Bretsch said. “I think I stayed alive off Carl’s Jr. 99-cent chicken sandwiches for about six months throughout my career. We always joked, ‘What if we would have had the training table the big programs had? What would we have been like?’”

But those teams had something different. They had Harbaugh.

“We had a competitive advantage from a coaching standpoint every game we went into,” said running back J.T. Rogan, who went on to work with Harbaugh at Stanford and Michigan. “I would refer to him as my father in football, but that would probably be diminishing the impact he’s had on my life.”

It wasn’t just about Harbaugh’s football mind or unwavering intensity and enthusiasm. He had connections. When he took his team up to play Menlo College, he had Jerry Rice deliver the pregame talk. Steve Mariucci spoke to the team as well. So did longtime college basketball coach Tom Crean, Harbaugh’s brother-in-law.

Jim Harbaugh huddles with his teammates during a game between the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos in October 2000.

(Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)

When the Toreros needed cold-weather clothing for a game at Dayton, Harbaugh cajoled the Chargers, with whom he spent part of his playing career, into donating some of their mothballed gear.

“We got turtlenecks with the Chargers insignia on them,” Rogan recalled. “We’d have these jackets with a big Chargers lightning bolt, the dark-blue stuff before the baby-blue stuff was en vogue.”

For Harbaugh, the job was part-coaching and part “Let’s Make a Deal.”

When Saint Mary’s dropped its football program, he called the East Bay school not only to recruit players but to round up equipment that would otherwise go unused. He wound up buying virtually everything the program had, writing a $10,000 check out of his personal account.

“I got all the practice pants, the helmets, the thigh boards, everything,” he said.

He rented a U-Haul and drove to Moraga to collect the stuff. When Harbaugh was about to head out, the Saint Mary’s coach asked one more question:

“You need goalposts?”

Harbaugh was all ears.

“He showed me these year-old goalposts,” he said. “They were beautiful. I put them in the U-Haul and took them too.”

Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh watches training camp at the University of San Diego on Tuesday.

(Gregory Bull / Associated Press)

With the truck loaded and as he was preparing to pull out, Harbaugh got a call on his cell. It was an unheralded USD quarterback recruit from Oakland named Josh Johnson. He was supposed to be at freshman orientation but didn’t have a way to get from the Bay Area down to San Diego.

Harbaugh was quick on his feet.

“He said, ‘My parents are working and can’t take me down there,’” Harbaugh said. “I said, ‘Tell you what, can you be ready in an hour?’ He said he could be, so I drove the U-Haul over to his place and picked him up an hour later.”

The two spent the next seven hours together, driving to USD. Even now, Harbaugh made clear he wasn’t bending the rules.

“It wasn’t an extra benefit for Josh Johnson,” he said. “I put him to work. He unloaded the whole truck.”

In his first practice, Johnson went from seventh on the quarterback depth chart to second. He would go on to become one of the greatest players in the history of the program, leading the Toreros to back-to-back Pioneer League championships. He set many school records, including his 2007 season in which he threw 42 touchdown passes with one interception.

Johnson, now playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, has played for 14 NFL franchises, some more than once. That’s the most in league history for a quarterback. It’s an astounding rise from a tiny, non-scholarship university in San Diego. An odyssey of an ascent.

Harbaugh, for one, can relate.

Dory Funk Jr., a pro wrestling icon and one of three members of the Funk family to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, has died at age 85.

Marti Funk, Funk’s wife of 40 years, told Florida’s Ocala Gazette that her husband died Tuesday while in hospice care. No further details were given.

Born on Feb. 3, 1941, in Hammond, Ind., Funk was the oldest of Dory and Dorothy Funk’s two sons. Spending most of his childhood in Amarillo, Texas, Funk grew up admiring his father, a professional wrestler and promoter who once wrestled in Canada as a heel named the Outlaw who hailed from the fictitious location Double Cross Ranch. As wrestlers, Funk and his brother, Terry, often were billed as being from there as well.

“As a kid, I used to dream I could do all the things my father could do,” Funk said during a 2007 interview for World Wrestling Entertainment. “I wanted to be just like him.”

Funk played offensive and defensive line on the West Texas State University football team (now West Texas A&M) from 1959 to 1962 — he was inducted into the university’s athletics Hall of Fame in 1990 — and went straight into professional wrestling. His 50-plus years in the business included stints in a number of associations across the U.S. and Japan.

He was the National Wrestling Alliance heavyweight champion for more than four years uninterrupted (February 1969 to May 24, 1973). In 1986, Funk and his brother joined WWE (then known as WWF) as a team and defeated Tito Santana and Junkyard Dog at WrestleMania 2.

Funk’s involvement in wrestling also expanded into promotion. In addition, he and Marti owned and operated the Funking Conservatory, a wrestling school where he trained a number of future WWE superstars including Kurt Angle, Christian, Edge, the Hardy Boyz, Mark Henry and Mickie James.

“He was such a good guy,” Marti told the Ocala Gazette, “such a good guy!”

The Funk brothers were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009. Dory Funk Sr., who died in 1973 at age 54, was inducted posthumously to the hall’s Legacy Wing in 2025. Terry Funk died in 2023 at age 79.

WWE chief content officer Triple H announced Funk’s death Tuesday afternoon on social media.

“From the Double Cross Ranch to the @WWE Hall of Fame, Dory’s style inspired countless performers in our industry” Triple H wrote. “Whether it was at WrestleMania 2, WCW, ECW, or the dozens of NWA-affiliated promotions, his travels across North America and Asia were a part of the early blueprint that helped build this business into a global phenomena.

“A hard-nosed and fierce competitor, his rugged in-ring style was only eclipsed by the decades he spent training athletes to perform in the squared circle he loved so much. My thoughts and those of the entire @WWE Universe are with his loved ones during this difficult time.”

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said Tuesday that his office has protected more than $200 billion in federal funding for the state, defended core civil rights and removed military forces from Los Angeles streets by suing the Trump administration about once a week.

“Since President Trump returned to office, California has been under attack — and has led the way in fighting back,” Bonta said.

Bonta said his office has filed 82 lawsuits against the administration since Trump’s inauguration last year, in addition to 122 amicus briefs supporting lawsuits against the administration by other parties and 112 comment letters in response to federal actions.

That work has saved the state an estimated $207.1 billion, Bonta said, including $168 billion — equal to a third of the state’s annual budget — that was threatened when the Trump administration tried to freeze trillions of dollars in federal funding to the states last year. Billions in threatened cuts to transportation, emergency preparedness, education and family assistance funding were also prevented, Bonta said.

The work has also protected birthright citizenship for the U.S.- born children of immigrants, ensured that National Guard troops are not deployed in major California cities against the wishes of local leaders, lifted multiple sets of tariffs driving up costs for American consumers and repeatedly blocked administration efforts to interfere in California’s elections, Bonta said.

“We’ve protected funding that keeps our communities safe, feeds hungry families, and ensures our kids get the education they deserve. We’ve gone all the way to the Supreme Court to defend constitutional rights — and won. We’ve protected our elections and stopped the militarization of our cities. We’ve defended our right to prioritize public safety over assisting with the President’s inhumane immigration agenda,” Bonta said.

As it has done in the past, the White House on Tuesday derided Bonta’s lawsuits as misguided.

“Instead of bragging about filing frivolous lawsuits against the Trump Administration, the California AG should focus on addressing problems in his own state — like the countless criminal illegal aliens the Newscum Administration allows to roam free and terrorize communities,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement to The Times.

The White House has previously said Trump is “trying to restore American Greatness” and that Californians would be “infinitely better off” if Bonta got out of the president’s way.

Bonta’s office is required to report annually to the state Legislature on its work fighting the Trump administration as part of a 2025 special session measure delivering it an extra $25 million to fund such litigation. His office published its latest report to lawmakers Tuesday.

The report said the office had received $19.2 million of the special session funding through July 30, which had “contributed to — but in no way has been sufficient to cover — the costs of the litigation.”

Bonta’s office has also received regular appropriations to fund such litigation in each of the state’s last two budgets, of $14.2 million last fiscal year and $23.9 million this fiscal year. The office’s overall budget is about $1.4 billion.

At a morning news conference with other state leaders, Bonta said his office has spent close to $30 million on its “federal accountability work” overall since Trump took office, and argued that investment has been “paying off in droves” given the billions saved.

Senate President Pro Tempore Monique Limón (D-Goleta) and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister), standing with Bonta, agreed.

Limón said she was proud to have worked with Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom to form a “collective backstop” against the Trump administration, while Rivas said the funding provided to Bonta’s office “may be one of the smartest investments that this legislature has ever made.”

Of the 82 lawsuits, 66 remain active, according to the report. Despite that, Bonta said his office has won 45 orders providing some early relief from the Trump administration’s actions, and 21 final orders in its favor. In eight cases, he said, the administration “backed down” in advance of a trial.

Bonta’s office has lost arguments made against the Trump administration, including on behalf of other litigants, particularly on issues related to transgender rights and the scope of Trump’s executive power to reshape government and federal immigration policy.

However, Bonta claimed his office has won in 83% of the court orders issued in cases brought by the state and praised his team for having “worked around the clock on behalf of Californians, pulling countless all-nighters along the way” to make it possible.

Bonta, who is up for reelection in November, is campaigning in part on his willingness to stand up to Trump — which polling and voting has suggested many Californians want their elected officials to do.

Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor, is running on a similar message. Before he was the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, Becerra had Bonta’s job and sued the first Trump administration more than 120 times, often successfully.

Bonta said he expects Becerra will be an “incredible partner” in the fight moving forward.

Republicans Michael Gates, who is running against Bonta, and Steve Hilton, who is running against Becerra and is endorsed by Trump, have said they would work collaboratively with the Trump administration to ensure the needs of Californians are met, rather than fighting it at every turn.

“I would be wanting to work with the administration to help Californians,” Hilton has said. Gates has called Bonta’s campaign against Trump “out of touch.”

Many of the lawsuits Bonta’s office has brought against the administration have been filed as part of a multistate coalition of Democratic attorneys general. As presidents of both parties have flexed more executive power in recent decades, state attorneys general have become more collaborative and litigious in fighting back — and that has been especially true under Trump.

Bonta said Trump will be remembered in part for his “repeated attacks on California, on Californians, on our Constitution, and on our democracy,” but California will be remembered for fighting back.

“Are these trying times? 100%. Absolutely, yes,” Bonta said. “But we shouldn’t be helpless, because we’re not helpless.”

CHICAGO — The Dodgers came away from the trade deadline with major wins — a two-time Cy Young Award winner in Tarik Skubal, necessary catching depth with Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia, and a 2025 All-Star in pitcher Kris Bubic.

All of that momentum, and the staggering amount of talent on the roster, have overshadowed the Dodgers’ recent poor play. A clean slate against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field was a chance to set a new tone after being swept by the Boston Red Sox at home. Instead, they lost 10-5 to open the three-game series.

“This is a playoff-contending team,” manager Dave Roberts said of the Cubs before the game. “We’ve got to play well. Like I said [Sunday], we got outplayed. Outcompeted against. So we need to play better. We’re going to play better this series. I don’t know the results, but we will play with more urgency.”

The Dodgers (69-44) essentially played out that prophecy to begin the game. Against left-hander Matthew Boyd, Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages hit back-to-back singles, and Tommy Edman roped a three-run homer to left.

Then Boyd settled in. He got out of the inning with three straight fly outs — Cubs fans enthusiastically booing Kyle Tucker, who was never expected to re-sign with the team when he hit free agency after one season in Chicago, when he flied out to right field.

Dodgers left-handed All-Star Justin Wrobleski struggled. For the second start in a row, he surrendered four home runs.

The first three came with men on base, expediting the damage. And they came from all over the Cubs lineup. In the first inning, No. 2 hitter Seiya Suzuki lined a fastball into the stands for two runs. The next inning, it was No. 9 hitter Kevin Alcántara who put the Cubs (64-49) ahead with a two-run blast. In the third, cleanup hitter Carson Kelly jumped on a slider for a two-run shot.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, right, is tagged out by Chicago Cubs first baseman Michael Busch, left, on a pickoff at first base in the second inning Monday.

(David Banks / Associated Press)

Wrobleski finally threw a hitless fourth, working around a leadoff walk to briefly stymie the Cubs’ offensive push. Then in the fifth, he threw a sinker down the middle to left-handed hitter Michael Busch, who drove it out for a solo homer.

Busch, a former Dodger, coincidentally is part of the Skubal trade tree. The Cubs acquired him and reliever Yency Almonte for pitching prospect Jackson Ferris and outfield prospect Zyhir Hope. Hope was part of the trade package for Skubal.

Roberts pulled Wrobleski after Busch’s home run. The seven earned runs he gave up tied a season high. But this time, he only pitched 4⅓ innings, compared to the 8⅔ innings he threw against the Atlanta Braves on May 10.

The Dodgers countered with a one-run rally in the fourth, and Teoscar Hernández hit a solo home run onto Waveland Ave. in the sixth inning.

The Cubs, however, squashed thoughts of a potential comeback with a three-run rally in the sixth against Edgardo Henriquez and Tanner Scott.

Over the weekend, the Inland Empire radio station, KCAL-FM 96.7, started playing music without any on-air staff.

The Redlands-based radio station laid off all of its radio personalities last week and transitioned into an “All Music, All the Time” classic rock format.

“96.7 KCAL Rocks is turning the page today. Thank you to every listener who made the last chapter what it was,” the station’s staff wrote in a social media post. “Classic rock. Nothing but music. All day across the Inland Empire.”

The station’s veteran radio hosts, part-time and weekend fill-ins, were all cut from the rock station, including Daryl Norsell, who worked at the station for 42 years; Patrick Tish, who said he worked at the station for 15 years and Nikki Preston. John DeSantis, the evening host and program director for the past six years, confirmed the layoffs in a social media post.

“They will be moving to an automated, human-less format. To say this is shocking is an understatement. I have a lot to process, and will be saying more shortly,” DeSantis wrote. “But for right now, I just want to thank all of you for letting me be part of the KCAL family. It has been a radio dream come true. You will always rock.”

The radio station has served the Inland Empire ever since first hitting the airwaves in 1965. KCAL is owned by Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation, which also operates the area’s classic hits radio station, KOLA 99.9FM. Together, the two stations reach over 800,000 weekly listeners in the Riverside-San Bernardino market, according to Anaheim Broadcasting. The company could not be reached directly for a comment on the layoffs.

“We rebuilt KCAL around the music our listeners grew up on, the songs and the artists that made classic rock,” Kelly Sanders, the chief operating officer of Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation, said in a news release to the Southern California News Group “KCAL will deliver a focused, consistent listening experience with broader appeal for both our audience and advertising partners.”

The release also noted that the change “expands the station’s musical focus and will have fewer interruptions and more music throughout the day” and did not address the layoffs, according to a report from the OC Register.

This is the second major blow to the Inland Empire’s broadcast community this summer. In June, the last local on-air hosts at Riverside-based KGGI-FM were laid off, in iHeartMedia’s latest round of national job cuts. In an internal memo, the media giant said the cuts were meant to restructure its radio programming to better “leverage” the company’s technology.

Steve “Razz” Brazill started working at KCAL FM in 1987, as the station’s resident concert photographer and radio personality. In a social media post, he called KCAL his “home” and reminisced about hosting live events at the now-closed Whiskey Creek restaurant in Redlands.

“KCAL has been a part of my identity. And I’m so happy to say I never really had coworkers, I had friends and family, and memories I’ll cherish forever,” wrote Brazill. “Being a part of KCAL ended for all of us today, but those relationships won’t. I’ll miss seeing you all at the studio, but I look forward to seeing you in real life.”

July 31 (UPI) — British oil giant BP announced plans Friday to sell off its North Sea business, ending six decades of exploration and extraction in the U.K. Continental Shelf since the company first struck gas there in 1964.

The firm said that nothing would change for the time being while a buyer was found, vowing in a news release that it was fully committed to continuing to run its operations, prioritizing safety and dependability, while delivering for its customers, partners and investors.

The outcome of a review of its portfolio, BP said the goal was to enhance the value of the company by making it simpler and stronger through adhering to its approach of allocating capital in a rigorous fashion.

“The North Sea remains integral to the U.K.’s energy system. However, as we focus our portfolio and direct capital to our highest-value opportunities, we believe our North Sea business will be better positioned as part of another company. It has world-class people, resilient assets and a proud heritage, and it is precisely these qualities that can attract an owner ready to back its next chapter,” said BP.

“We are seeking an outcome that recognizes that value.”

CEO Meg O’Neill stressed that Britain would remain of key importance to the company going forward, saying BP was proud of the employment it generated, its input to the economy and its role in keeping energy flowing every day.

As recently as May, O’Neill described the North Sea basin as one of “untapped potential.”

The share price gained slightly on the news, rising a little more than 1% to $7.36 in mid afternoon trade on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.

BP has 24 fields across five main nodes in the North Sea, including its key Clair Ridge and Schielhallion fields of the Shetland Islands, with 1,100 workers pumping a little under 100,000 barrels of gas and oil daily.

Energy consultant Rystad, which estimates the North Sea business was worth $2.6 billion, told the Financial Times that it believed that the TotalEnergies-HitecVision-Repsol joint venture Neo Next +, Delek Group of Israel or Eni of Italy were in the running to buy it.

George and Amal Clooney evacuated their 425-acre Provence wine estate in southeastern France amid the wildfires spreading across Europe.

The “Jay Kelly” star revealed the news in a letter to Didier Bremond, the mayor of the town of Brignoles, east of Marseille.

“Dear Didier, [a]t this point we have no idea whether our beautiful home makes it through this terrible moment,” the letter read.

“As we evacuate Brignoles we want to emphasise 2 things, first we hope you and the people of our city are safe and second that Amal and [I] are committed to making sure that whatever happens to our village, we are part of this community and we’ll be part of making it whole.

“We love Brignoles and our friends who live there.”

The fire near Brignoles sparked on Wednesday and burned about 250 acres. The Brignoles fire was significantly smaller than the massive wildfire that recently ravaged southwestern France near Bordeaux, where 84,000 evacuees were allowed to return home Thursday as firefighters gained control over flames that had burned an area four times the size of Paris.

In December, the French government announced that the Clooneys, including their 9-year-old twins, Ella and Alexander, were awarded citizenship.

The Clooneys bought property in France — a farm, he recently told Esquire — in August 2021 for $8.3 million, when their twins were 4. He said it was a “much better life” there for the children.

“Yeah, we’re very lucky. … A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid I hated the whole idea of it. But now, for them, it’s like — they’re not on their iPads, you know?” he said in the interview, published in the magazine’s October/November issue.

“I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life. France — they kind of don’t give a s— about fame. I don’t want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don’t want them being compared to somebody else’s famous kids.”

George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin, a human-rights lawyer, tied the knot in September 2014 in Venice, Italy.

The Associated Press and former Times staff writer Christie D’Zurilla contributed to this report.

This popular tourist town started as a small fishing village and is now an iconic British location

Summer is here and the temperature is rising. If you’re like me and live in a city with no easy access to the beach, fleeing the urban sprawl for a seaside town is a very tempting idea. It was this idea that struck my boyfriend and I a few weeks ago when we decided to get out of London for the day and head to the coastal city of Brighton for some fresh air and sunshine.

I had visited before, but never as an adult. On the weekend we decided to take our trip, temperatures in London were forecast to soar above 30°C, and it felt like the perfect excuse to escape the capital and breathe in some fresh sea air.

Brighton may now be one of the UK’s best-known seaside destinations, where millions flock every summer but it didn’t always feel that way.

From fishing village to tourism hotspot

In the 18th century this once small fishing settlement began to become a tourist destination for Britain’s wealthy. At the time, there was a belief that sea air, bathing in the ocean and even drinking seawater could have health benefits – and so Brighton became one of the UK’s first wellness retreats.

It was also a favourite of King George IV who created the Royal Pavilion – one of the city’s most iconic landmarks.

He’s not the only member of the elite who loved Brighton.

The city’s mix of history, creativity and seaside charm continues to draw artists and performers and it is easy to see why.

The city of Brighton has long since been a haven for famous creatives. From DJ Fatboy Slim to Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, Brighton has been home to all sorts of famous people.

When the railway arrived in the 19th century, it became more accessible for people from London (like my boyfriend and myself) which helped Brighton become even more popular now.

Today, Brighton is still an incredibly popular place to visit – and the railway is still letting Londoners flock to the sea in droves, as we found out.

Joining the crowds

The moment my boyfriend and I arrived at London Bridge to catch our train,it became abundantly clear we had no chance of getting a seat. It seemed almost everyone in London had decided to spend the day by the seaside.

The carriages were so rammed that the train bypassed several stops and took us directly to Brighton. As we travelled towards the coast alongside droves of heat-weary Londoners, I quickly realised that spending the day on the beach was not at the top of my agenda.

For one thing, I hadn’t brought a swimming costume. For another, I’m from New Zealand, where beaches are often made up of pristine white sand and, even at the height of summer, can be blissfully quiet.

The prospect of squeezing onto Brighton’s pebbles alongside thousands of strangers held absolutely no appeal.

Instead, we hopped off our train and headed for North Laine.

And escaping them

Tucked away in the heart of Brighton, North Laine is a vibrant maze of colourful streets and winding lanes packed with independent shops, boutiques, cafés and restaurants.

While much of the bank holiday crowd had gravitated towards the seafront, North Laine felt noticeably calmer.

We wandered through the lively streets, dipping in and out of shops as we went. There was everything from jewellery and homeware to driftwood art and vintage clothing, with something to suit almost every taste.

For me, it was the perfect way to while away an afternoon — and a far more appealing alternative to fighting for a patch of pebbles.

After a few hours of browsing, we had worked up an appetite and began the hunt for somewhere to eat.

We settled on Mange Tout, an independent French restaurant tucked away in North Laine.

Having travelled from London during a bank holiday heatwave, we had prepared ourselves for a scramble to find a table or the prospect of being added to a lengthy waiting list.

Instead, we had our pick of tables.

We sat outside in the glorious sunshine, watching the world drift by. It felt worlds away from the mayhem we knew was unfolding on the seafront.

For lunch, my boyfriend ordered a breakfast bun while I tucked into moules marinière. We washed it all down with a couple of drinks — we were on holiday, after all.

Seeing the sea – and the surprise cost

After lunch, we decided we couldn’t visit Brighton without at least catching a glimpse of the sea.

We made our way back through North Laine towards the coast, stopping in several shops we had overlooked during our first walk.

Eventually, the ocean came into view.

I had expected the beach to be busy, but the sheer number of people sprawled across it had to be seen to be believed.

As far as the eye could see in both directions, the pebbled shore was packed with sunbathers, paddlers and groups sheltering beneath umbrellas.

Out at sea, jet skis darted back and forth while one particularly intrepid snorkeller ventured further and further from the shore.

In the distance, the outline of a wind farm stretched across the horizon. Curious to get a closer look, we decided to head down the pier.

Entry to the pier cost £1 each — another surprise — and as we made our way along it, we passed through an enormous arcade roughly halfway down. It was one of two arcades on the pier and, much like the beach, it was absolutely heaving.

The space was dark, deafening and so stifling that I felt as though I had tumbled straight off the pier and into the water below. Horrified, I quietly turned to my boyfriend and asked: “Why does this even exist? Who comes to the beach just to be inside?”

He immediately replied: “How often do you think the weather is actually good here?”

He had a point.

The pier was certainly an experience — although not one I would particularly rush to repeat. That said, if I were seven years old, I imagine it would feel utterly magical.

There were fairground rides, candy floss and doughnuts, all accompanied by the sound of waves lapping beneath your feet. Sadly, I’m 31, and the thrill of a fairground ride is well and truly lost on me.

Will I ever return?

Once we reached the end of the pier, we agreed it was time to make our way back to London.

But not before making one final stop in North Laine for a well-earned end-of-day pint.

Brighton’s beach may be its biggest draw, particularly when temperatures climb above 30°C, but for me, the city’s real charm was found away from the packed pebbles.

And while I may not have been tempted to join the crowds on the beach, I’ll happily return to explore more of Brighton’s vibrant streets.

NBCUniversal’s Peacock is stretching its wings by joining the subscription YouTube Premium service — a significant boost for the streaming platform that has struggled to find its niche in the increasingly crowded landscape.

NBCUniversal and YouTube on Monday announced the multi-year partnership. Beginning early next year, Peacock will be available as part of YouTube Premium’s U.S. subscription bundle, which also includes ad-free videos and music.

The pact represents Peacock’s largest wholesale distribution agreement to date, one that will introduce the service into millions of new homes.

On Friday, NBCUniversal owner Comcast disclosed the service had finally reached profitability in the second quarter after billions of dollars of investment.

The important benchmark comes as Comcast prepares to spin off NBCUniversal entertainment and news media businesses into a separate company. Peacock, which launched in 2020, grew its paid subscribers by 4% to 48 million in the second quarter, compared to the first quarter.

Comcast has long tried to make Peacock an asset for its Xfinity broadband and cable TV subscribers, but recently began to expand its partnerships in recognition that consumers were getting overloaded with pricey choices.

As part of the agreement, NBCUniversal’s linear television channels will remain on the YouTube TV service.

“This partnership brings NBCUniversal’s world-class content and iconic franchises to YouTube’s unmatched scale and global platforms,” Mike Cavanagh, NBCUniversal’s chief, said in a statement. “We’re excited to deepen our relationship with YouTube through a collaboration that reflects our strategy of partnering with industry leaders to drive sustained growth for NBCUniversal.”

The deal will give YouTube, owned by Google, a bevy of sports, including NFL football, NBA basketball, soccer and Major League Baseball.

“We’re incredibly excited to expand our partnership with NBCUniversal to redefine what a modern entertainment subscription can be for consumers,” YouTube Chief Executive Neal Mohan said in the statement. “YouTube Premium brings your favorite creators, artists and cultural moments together uninterrupted, and now, we’re pairing that ultimate viewing experience with Peacock’s expansive lineup of live sports.”

Kevin Lyman has always lived life on the move. For years it was a symptom of working to keep up with Warped Tour, a punk rock circus on wheels. Since bringing the festival back last year to celebrate its 30-year anniversary, he’s switched his mode of transport from buses to planes. What started as a two-month tour across the U.S. and parts of Canada is now a strategically placed, five-date extravaganza starting this weekend in Long Beach. With stops in Montreal, Mexico City, Orlando and Washington, the tour has gotten bigger with the partnership of EDM promoter Insomniac but Lyman insists that the soul of it remains the same.

Thriving on a mix of punk, emo, ska, hardcore, metal and action sports, Warped has become an entry point to festival culture for a new generation of fans, requiring Lyman to always move forward in his musical tastes while still trying to stay true to the essence of what made Warped more of a community than just an annual event.

Recently he chatted with The Times to discuss the process of continuing the fest’s revival and why it’s still a vital part of the summer festival ecosystem.

What were your initial thoughts after Warped Tour’s big comeback in Long Beach last year?

I was really nervous. To be honest, I knew I had one shot at getting it right. I knew there were going to be bigger stages, we were going to have video and lights, but I also knew that I had to make it feel like Warped Tour between the performances. So that little bit of controlled chaos we had between the stages — the merch tents, all the sponsorship booths, the skate ramps, the surprises we threw out each day — I think it was mission accomplished. The feedback overall has been fantastic from the fans. For some people closer to my age demo, maybe it was a little too much — their feet hurt. But Warped came back strong, we went back on sale [for 2026] fairly quickly, and to still have 50% of the people buy the tickets right away without knowing a band on the bill yet was great.

Jimmy Eat World is doing like their 25th anniversary of “Bleed American” at the fest this year. What does it mean to you to have some of those early Warped Tour bands like that on the bill again?

It felt good to have a lot of those bands. For me, one of the more emotional ones last year was Rise Against. They had such a big moment. They were such a part of Warped Tour, and you get them to come back and then watch that crowd, every phone went up in the crowd, and probably 50% of the people there had never seen them before.

“I’ve been a disruptor, and the disruption I’ve caused has attracted enough people. Now we’re a niche of people,” Lyman says. “Warped is a great niche.”

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You’ve always had your own way of doing things that created the culture of Warped Tour. Why do you feel it is still so vital in the festival ecosystem today?

I had to carve a niche out for myself in the industry. I was never going to really quite conform. I kind of came from that rebellious spirit that Goldenvoice instilled in me back in the ‘80s when I worked for them, and Gary Tovar was rebellious. So I’ve always kind of had that mentality of, “Hey, let’s go against the norm. Let’s make it something our own.” And even when I’m teaching at USC now, I say you have to learn the foundations of every business. And those foundations, to me, were working 12 years in the clubs of L.A., 320 nights a year, and then you have to make something your own. I always say when you decide to go for it — go for it. And I did, and it seemed to connect with enough people and resonated with enough people that I’d been around that said, “Wow, this is different. He needs to work on it. But instead of knocking him down, let’s support him.”… I’ve been a disruptor, and the disruption I’ve caused has attracted enough people. Now we’re a niche of people. Warped is a great niche.

How did you keep Warped on people’s minds year-round while you were planning it out this year?

That was a challenge because before we used to have the two-month tour, so we were able to build community to keep the conversation going. Community is a big driver for me. Everything we’re doing now is investing in the community, and I think it’s working. [In January] we had a downtown Long Beach event with the band Holy Wars, we had an event in Orlando. We had one event in a fraternity house backyard in Virginia, we had events in Mexico City and Montreal … canned food drives, blood drives or, you know, register to vote. We’ll drop those kind of events so we’re constantly in everyone’s mindset. And it’s not about monetizing. I think people are always asking “How do you monetize the superfan?” I’m like, “How do you reward them?” Giving people a free Sunday afternoon event in Long Beach, that’s a thank you. Those are the people that are going to spread the word when you post a video, they’re going to share it with all their friends, and then they’re going to be telling kids at their schools. A third of the people going to Warped had never been to a festival or even a concert before, so we need to engage them in a different way.

What are your ways of scouting out bands you want to take a chance on when booking the festival?

Well, I have a great booker named Amanda Phelan. She books with me, so she’s kind of that on the ground talking to the agents and things. I don’t necessarily do that much anymore. I talk to them, but my part is more like, “Oh, I want to see what bands other bands are talking about, or young people are talking about.” And then I’m also talking to lots of the independent promoters out there that you know I used to work with.

Why do you think younger generation of fest goers will keep discovering Warped Tour?

We used to be that festival where you know it was over by sunset, your mom could pick you up at the curb or you could get home by dark, and then you went off to other festivals. We were your entry point to festivals. We may be that entry point again, but a lot of it now will come down to price point. We know the economics of Warped Tour are conducive for people that want to go on two levels: ones that want to come and explore a festival, and other ones, maybe some of your peers, who don’t get to go out every night and see bands anymore because they all have real jobs and things. But they can go for one for two days and catch up on all music, which makes you feel like you’re staying young.

July 23 (UPI) — President Donald Trump said on social media Thursday that Saudi Arabia must sign the Abraham Accords as part of its nuclear deal with the United States.

Trump added that the nuclear deal will be approved but Saudi Arabia’s entry into the Abraham Accords is a required condition.

“The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!) being made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved, but it is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote. “The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities.”

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman signed the agreement on Wednesday. The Department of Energy says U.S. companies will benefit from the deal with involvement in establishing nuclear facilities in Saudi Arabia to the tune of billions of dollars.

The nuclear deal is to last 30 years and will involve the United States supporting Saudi nuclear development.

The Abraham Accords are meant to normalize relations between Israel and Arab nations in the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia’s entry into the Abraham Accords would be a step toward a diplomatic relationship with Israel.

Saudi Arabia has called for progress toward Palestinian statehood, a sticking point that has drawn Israel’s criticism of the nuclear deal with the United States.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have also voiced skepticism over the nuclear deal, fearing that it may ultimately lead to the enrichment of uranium and plutonium for the development of nuclear weapons.

“This agreement will set off a nuclear race in the region, further disincentivizing Iran from limiting its own program,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., posted on social media.