Someday, you might be able to ride a bike from the western San Fernando Valley to Long Beach along the Los Angeles River. But not yet.
The longest unfinished stretch is the eight miles from Elysian Park through downtown to Maywood. For decades, advocates of the path have tried to complete those eight miles along the concretized river.
Yet a decade later, the unrideable gap remains. The ambitious project remains mired in planning and bureaucratic complications, with groundbreaking still two years off and the cost nearly tripling to more than $1 billion — almost $24,000 per foot — documents reviewed by The Times show.
It looked like the prospects for the bike route to the sea were getting serious after Angelenos enthusiastically passed a half-cent tax for transit projects in 2016 that earmarked $365 million for the L.A. River Path.
At the time, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the lead on the project, priced out a simple path on one side of the river.
An aerial view of bicyclists where the Los Angeles River Path ends near Golden Shore and Shoreline Drive in Long Beach.
But by last year, the proposed designs were much wider and added seven pedestrian bridges. They also included sections where the path would be elevated above the ground, supported by beams. The changes responded to community input and comments from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and L.A. Department of Water and Power, among others. Estimated completion of the initial phase is not until 2031.
Navigating the web of nearby structures, like active rail lines and historic bridges, is part of what makes the construction so complex, Metro says. An original $75 million set aside for unforeseen expenses in 2016 swelled to $309 million last year, and the rising cost of construction also added to the high price tag.
Advocates for the path say this grander plan would be great, if there were a way to pay for it.
Yuval Bar-Zemer is a board member with Streets for All, a group that advocates for safer streets in L.A. He also is a downtown loft developer and commissioned studies that helped inform a far less expensive option that would run down near the flowing river, rather than up above. The path would be unusable during heavy rains, but Bar-Zemer and others say that would be less than 20 days each year.
This option was included in Metro’s initial scoping of the path in 2016 but has since been dropped, with the agency citing safety concerns. Bar-Zemer contends that safety features could be installed to make sure pedestrians have enough time to exit the pathway if water rises swiftly. He says he’s spent $350,000 of his own funds in engineering studies and advocacy to advance the path.
A pedestrian walks with an umbrella on the L.A. River Path near Lewis MacAdams Riverfront Park.
“The benefits are so obvious, it’s such a home run and such a low-hanging fruit that for me, it’s like criminal not to make it happen,” he said.
Currently, bikers headed southbound run out of path where Riverside Drive crosses the L.A. River at Egret Park. From there, they’re forced to weave through high-traffic streets in neighborhoods including Lincoln Heights, Chinatown, Downtown L.A. and Boyle Heights before they find the path again in Vernon.
“It’s a huge chasm,” said Michael Schneider, founder and chief executive of Streets for All. He called the gap in the L.A. River path “a shame because it’s an otherwise amazing resource.”
Some 76,000 residents live within walking distance of the proposed path, and a million within three miles of the L.A. River, according to Metro estimates from 2022. Around 17% of working-age people who live within a bikeable distance already walk, bike or take transit in their regular commute.
An aerial view of downtown Los Angeles and the Sixth Street Bridge amid an unfinished eight-mile gap in the L.A. River Path.
Metro had the eight-mile gap on its list of 28 projects it wanted ready for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As costs soared, it quietly was taken off the list.
Yet there are recent signs of progress for the L.A. River Path.
In late May, the Metro board voted to create a committee that brings together all the players needed to push it to toward completion.
The Los Angeles River runs under the Sixth Street Bridge amid an unfinished eight-mile gap in the L.A. River Path in downtown Los Angeles.
Mayor Karen Bass chairs the Metro board. Despite the project’s stagnation, she continues to convey optimism.
“Angelenos voted in 2016 to make the L.A. River Path path a reality, and Mayor Bass is marshaling the resources necessary to eliminate further distraction that have threatened the project’s pace and cost,” her office said in statement.
Metro staffers are reviewing comments on the draft environmental impact statement, the agency said. They intend to recommend a path forward in the fall.
‘We’re going backwards.’ Palestinians in Gaza say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of the US-backed 15-point plan has deepened uncertainty over an end to the war. Hamas says it remains committed to the agreement.
CHICAGO — After leaders of the Southeastern Conference spent last week warning of a Plan B to potentially “break away” from the NCAA, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti tried to steer away from that conversation and toward a Congressional solution on Tuesday.
But if Congress can’t pass the Protect College Sports Act in the coming weeks? Well, the conference is already talking contingency plans, Petitti said.
“Breakaway is a word that creates a lot of emotion,” Pettiti said during his annual Big Ten media day address on Tuesday. “Is there another path where if you can’t solve it in the bill and if you can’t solve it with your colleagues, is there some path where you have to have conference-based rules? That’s not necessarily breaking away. It doesn’t mean you’re not going to play anybody else. But is there a path to have rules that we can at least operate from the conference?
“We absolutely have to do everything we can to prepare for every one of those things.”
The future of college football continues to hang in the balance as Congress works to get the two power conferences on board with a bill that has not received their full support. Petitti said on Tuesday morning that he’d yet to see the new language of the Protect College Sports Act, which added revisions to appease the SEC and Big Ten, but expected to see it later Tuesday.
The commissioner said he didn’t expect the bill to be “perfect for us in every one one of those places,” but he expected concessions to be included in the newest version, including potential provisions around a super league, pre-enrollment inducements for high school prospects and a carve-out for up to $20 million in additional cap space to retain players.
Whether those concessions will be enough to get the two power conferences on board remains to be seen. Time is running out for a bill to be passed before Congress takes a lengthy recess, significantly delaying any meaningful reform in college athletics.
“If Congress is going to be involved in deciding who can be in what conference and when you can move and how you move and how you schedule based on certain things happening, we just need to get that right,” Petitti said. “And so we want to make sure that the productive conversations we’ve had the last couple of weeks on that section specifically are reflected in the drafting of the bill.”
Petitti said that the Big Ten would’ve preferred “a much skinnier bill” than the current version, but “that is not the reality right now.”
“Is there more good here than not, right?” Petitti said. “That’s the way to look at it.”
Passing that bill is the primary focus for now. It’s why Petitti has been to Washington 21 times, he said, during his tenure as commissioner. But other uncertainty still looms over the sport.
The Big Ten is still also pushing for a 24-team College Football Playoff, but Petitti said that the conference’s stance has evolved since he first started pushing the idea a year ago.
“We’ve made adjustments in our league,” Petitti said. “We were focused on automatic qualifiers. We’re not focused on that anymore. We’re looking at the committee picking the field of 24. We feel that ultimately will still unlock the power of scheduling that we want.”
We know from statements issued by the 2015 National Assembly Delegated Commission, the 2026 National Assembly, and the State Department that August 1 was set as the launching date of a roadmap leading to a political transition in Venezuela.
The incentives for the various actors to accelerate or delay this political negotiation process are clear. The Venezuelan interim government (as the State Department statement refers to it) will have an interest in delaying the process as much as possible to prolong its time in power and preserve the current state of affairs. For the 2015 National Assembly Delegated Commission, it offers a window of opportunity to gain relevance and demonstrate its ability to accelerate the agenda that Dinorah Figuera announced before any other actor. The Trump administration will want this process to proceed at a pace that does not jeopardize its control of the country until the elections (and perhaps even after). It is in María Corina Machado’s best interest for the situation to develop in a way that allows her to gain control and create the conditions for her to be the opposition candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.
Other, less prominent actors will try to influence the process. We have already seen AD leader Henry Ramos Allup trying to position himself, for example, to defend Machado’s participation, as did Henrique Capriles, and other voices will surely emerge along those lines in the coming days. Those aspiring to a new National Assembly and new elections for governorships and mayoralties will certainly also try to influence the process.
But let’s turn to the most relevant conversation, with just under two weeks until August 1: what could be the institutional path to achieving this political transition through free elections?
A new National Electoral Council (CNE)
Since the elections are administered by the National Electoral Council, it would seem that the first step should be, precisely, to elect a new CNE board.
Choosing a reliable one could be the first challenge. What has been offered previously is insufficient: a majority of three or four people close to or allied with the government and one or two “independents” or those close to the opposition. A board is needed that complies with Article 296 of the Constitution, composed of “five people not affiliated with political organizations.”
This CNE must begin with an essential task: the purging and updating of the Permanent Electoral Registry. It is crucial that Venezuelans abroad be allowed to vote and that the necessary logistical and diplomatic conditions be established to make this possible.
A new Supreme Court
Under the Venezuelan constitutional system, the decisions of the CNE can be subject to judicial review by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). Directly by the Electoral Chamber. Indirectly by the Constitutional Chamber.
Therefore, the appointment of new justices to both the Electoral Chamber and the Constitutional Chamber is necessary at the outset of this process. Article 263 of the Constitution clearly outlines the requirements for becoming a Supreme Court Justice. In May of this year, the Supreme Court Law was amended to increase the number of justices from 20 to 32. The Constitutional Chamber (the most important chamber) is composed of seven justices. This increase means that 12 new justices must be elected. Furthermore, a significant number of the current 20 justices are of retirement age.
This, as with the CNE, is debated and decided in the National Assembly, whose majority is controlled by Jorge Rodríguez. It would have to be a decision by chavismo, or the result of a political rupture, for the political rights of the non-government-controlled population to be considered both when electing CNE board members and when appointing Supreme Court justices. This relates to the next point.
Restoring civil and political rights
For several years, Venezuela’s main political parties and actors were subjected to confiscation and persecution through various administrative measures, such as those issued by the Comptroller General of the Republic to disqualify candidates, and even judicial measures to replace the boards of directors of opposition parties like COPEI, Primero Justicia, and Acción Democrática. It is essential to compile a report detailing all these measures and establish an action plan to reverse them, allowing political parties and leaders to operate and return to Venezuela.
Then, reforms must be made to those laws and administrative regulations that, long before January 3rd, restricted freedom of expression and the conditions for holding elections, such as the Constitutional Law Against Hatred, the Simón Bolívar Law, and the Law of the Comptroller General of the Republic. The same must be done with respect to the resolutions of the CNE that have restricted political and civic participation in the electoral processes. Furthermore, cases where it has been argued that the 2026 Amnesty Law is inapplicable, such as that of María Corina Machado, must be reviewed.
Given that the incentives of the actors in this process are not and will not be aligned, as shown above, it is crucial to immediately establish timelines for the phases of the process, beginning August 1. This will allow us to gauge the level of commitment among the parties to move forward with the transition.
There are certainly conditions attached to this process that are not public, and that will shape its phases and pace. However, we must begin a public conversation about ideas for addressing this crucial phase of political life starting August 1.
A NEW 34-mile coastal path linking two pretty English villages has opened today.
It will give hikers access to previously unwalkable routes and forms part of a huge coastal path project.
A new section of coastal path has been opened today in Cumbria (stock photo)Credit: Alamy Stock PhotoVisitors will be treated to coastal views around the region and gain access to previously unwalkable areas (stock photo here of St Bees in Cumbria)Credit: Getty Images
A major new 34-mile section of the King Charles III England Coast Path has officially opened today, Thursday July 23.
Running between Foxfield and Greenodd, the opening of the path is the latest milestone in completing the 200-mile coastal stretch from Gretna to Silverdale, on the Lancashire border.
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The new opening now brings the grand total of walkable Coast Path in the North West to around 208 miles.
Those looking to walk the path will be treated to charming coastal communities, nature reserves and historic industrial landscapes.
When fully complete, the King Charles III England Coast Path will become a 2,700-mile stretch around the entire English coast.
The National Trail route is set to be the longest managed coastal walking route in the world.
From today, walkers can now explore the new section of path located on the eastern edge of the Furness Peninsula.
The new section of path is a key milestone in the delivery of the 70-mile stretch of coastal route from Silecroft to Silverdale.
Winding through a number of coastal communities, visitors will pass by Kirkby-in-Furness, Askam-in-Furness, Barrow-in-Furness, Bardsea and Ulverston, before crossing the Leven Estuary.
The route also offers views of Morecambe Bay and passes the end of the Ulverston Canal.
Walkers can also spot a number of distinctive slag banks, sand dunes and an abundance of wildlife along the path.
The delivery of the new path will move visitors away from previously unavoidable shores, leading to a greater discovery of the area’s coastal landscape.
Natural England deputy director for Cumbria, Claire Argent, said: “The Furness Peninsula is one of those places that genuinely takes your breath away, whether you’re watching the light change across Morecambe Bay, listening for curlews over the estuary, or discovering the layers of history tucked into these coastal communities.
“This new stretch of the King Charles III England Coast Path gives people the chance to experience all of that on foot, safely, sustainably and responsibly, whilst learning about and caring for our wonderful landscapes and nature.
“We’re proud to see this route taking shape and look forward to completing the full 200-mile Cumbrian stretch.”
The path is located on a mix of existing public rights of way, permissive access routes and new access.
Councillor Adrian Waite said the project was a “huge job” which required “securing contracts and permissions, specifying work, getting quotes, managing the contractors and liaising with landowners”.
The cabinet member for Environmental Services and Transport at Westmorland and Furness Council said the teams had put in “more than 300 signs and waymark posts, 10 sets of steps, 23 bridges, around 60 gates” and five kilometres of fencing and surfacing.
Anyone looking to grab their hiking boots and try out the coastal path is reminded to follow the Countryside and Coastal codes when walking the route.
Travellers are also warned to exercise caution around Morecambe Bay, as fast-moving tides and quicksands in the area could be dangerous when venturing onto sands and saltmarshes without an experienced guide.
If he becomes PM, Burnham has already ruled out an early election, telling an online forum last week: “I’m going to work to the 2024 manifesto.”
By September at the latest, the UK will have had seven prime ministers in the past decade.
Four prime ministers took over mid-term without having fought and won a general election: Theresa May in 2016, Boris Johnson in 2016, and Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, both in 2022.
In each of these cases, there have been questions from opposition parties about their legitimacy in office.
But the next prime minister, like their predecessors, is under no obligation to call a general election before the scheduled end of the Parliament in 2029.
The current system sees the electorate vote for their MPs and a party, and those MPs and that party choose their leader.
The last general election was held on 4 July 2024, with Labour winning a landslide majority, meaning the next election must legally be held by August 2029, though a prime minister can choose to call one at any point before this.
A PM calling an early election depends on a number of factors – how the party is performing in the polls, and whether the prime minister wants to seek a new mandate from the electorate to set out his own agenda in government.
So while Burnham has ruled out an immediate election, there may still be one before the end of 2029.
Playing in goal for the U.S. men’s national soccer team is a little like playing right field for the Yankees. You’re following a long line of great players, making the comparisons — and the high expectations — unavoidable.
Matt Freese is the latest to be thrown into that crucible. But he considers that pressure to be a privilege, not a problem.
“I wouldn’t say it’s intimidating, I would say it’s inspiring,” he said before the U.S. training session Tuesday morning in Irvine. “It’s a long line of goalkeepers that I’ve looked up to for my whole life — and there were some before my life as well.”
Two games into this summer’s World Cup he’s certainly held his own with that group, giving up just one goal for a team that’s unbeaten and already through to the next round. However Thursday’s group-stage finale with winless Turkey will be far from meaningless for Freese since his first start for the U.S. came against Turkey 55 weeks ago, bringing his whirlwind international team career full circle.
U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese waves to the crowd after beating Paraguay during a World Cup match at SoFi Stadium on June 12.
(Kelvin Kuo/Los Angeles Times)
He lost that game but his performance was good enough to make him the starter in the Gold Cup, where he was even better. A little over a year ago he was just a faint blip on coach Mauricio Pochettino’s radar. Now he has a World Cup shutout and with another clean sheet Thursday, he’ll join Matt Turner as the only American keepers to post back-to-back shutouts in a World Cup in 96 years.
“I dreamt of this opportunity. But you never know if it’s going to come,” Freese said. “I learned the ones that work hard without the promise of reward are the ones that usually succeed.”
Turner, who gave up just a goal in the group stage in Qatar four years ago, is Freese’s backup in this tournament. And he’s just the most recent U.S. keeper to stand out in a World Cup. In 2014, Tim Howard set a tournament record with 16 saves in a knockout-stage loss to Belgium and 12 years before that Brad Friedel made six stops in a 2-0 win over Mexico to send the U.S. to the quarterfinals for the only time.
“To have my name next to theirs as the next guy up is an incredible honor, and it’s something I’ve dreamed of,” Freese said. “The bar is set high and I’m going to strive to reach that bar and raise it even higher.”
Freese, 27, took an unusual route to that bar. The son of a neurosurgeon who earned a doctorate from MIT and the grandson of scientists who immigrated from Germany after World War II, Freese grew up in a household where academics were more important than athletics. So while he joined the Philadelphia Union academy as a teen, he craved the demands of school and left soon afterward to enroll at Harvard.
“When you’re a professional athlete at age 18, 19 sometimes it can be difficult to keep a routine, keep a regimen that keeps you focused and keeps you hungry,” Freese said. “For me, taking classes was something that occupied my time, occupied my mind and gave a very natural release off the field.
“I think at that age it was necessary.”
After two seasons at Harvard, he returned to Philadelphia to sign with the MLS team while continuing to take classes online, once writing a paper on penalty-kick analytics. In 2022, he graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics.
The soccer part wasn’t going nearly as well. Playing behind Andre Blake, a three-time MLS keeper of the year, Freese rarely saw the field in Philadelphia. But a trade to New York City FC in the winter of 2023 gave him a second chance and likely saved his career.
He made the most of it, earning the starting job in his second season, when he finished third in the league in saves, and getting his first call-up to a national team training camp in January 2025.
Six months later he was the team’s starter in goal.
The late-blooming Freese’s journey was unusual in another way too since he traveled to the World Cup from MLS. In the five World Cups between 1998 and 2014, the U.S. started Friedel, Kasey Keller and Howard — three English Premier League keepers — in goal. A dozen years later, the Athletic reports, there are no American goalkeepers in the top five European club leagues and the three goalies on this summer’s roster all play in MLS.
U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese clears the ball as Australia’s Mohamed Toure closes in during a World Cup match in Seattle on June 19.
(Maddy Grassy / Ap Photo/maddy Grassy)
However as a guy with a Harvard diploma on his resume, Freese knows enough to know that getting to a World Cup isn’t about where you came from or even how long it took you to get there. All that matters is that you made it. And now that he’s there, his job isn’t to stand out, but to blend in.
“Being a goalkeeper is recognizing that it’s not always about you. And I’m comfortable with that,” he said. “The less action I have in a game means the better that we’re playing, and the more likely we are going to win.
“So I’m typically more focused on that and preventing any shots rather than just being only ready to save them.”
Gap in the L.A. River bike path downtown has a billion-dollar problem
Someday, you might be able to ride a bike from the western San Fernando Valley to Long Beach along the Los Angeles River. But not yet.
The longest unfinished stretch is the eight miles from Elysian Park through downtown to Maywood. For decades, advocates of the path have tried to complete those eight miles along the concretized river.
Yet a decade later, the unrideable gap remains. The ambitious project remains mired in planning and bureaucratic complications, with groundbreaking still two years off and the cost nearly tripling to more than $1 billion — almost $24,000 per foot — documents reviewed by The Times show.
It looked like the prospects for the bike route to the sea were getting serious after Angelenos enthusiastically passed a half-cent tax for transit projects in 2016 that earmarked $365 million for the L.A. River Path.
At the time, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the lead on the project, priced out a simple path on one side of the river.
An aerial view of bicyclists where the Los Angeles River Path ends near Golden Shore and Shoreline Drive in Long Beach.
But by last year, the proposed designs were much wider and added seven pedestrian bridges. They also included sections where the path would be elevated above the ground, supported by beams. The changes responded to community input and comments from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and L.A. Department of Water and Power, among others. Estimated completion of the initial phase is not until 2031.
Navigating the web of nearby structures, like active rail lines and historic bridges, is part of what makes the construction so complex, Metro says. An original $75 million set aside for unforeseen expenses in 2016 swelled to $309 million last year, and the rising cost of construction also added to the high price tag.
Advocates for the path say this grander plan would be great, if there were a way to pay for it.
Yuval Bar-Zemer is a board member with Streets for All, a group that advocates for safer streets in L.A. He also is a downtown loft developer and commissioned studies that helped inform a far less expensive option that would run down near the flowing river, rather than up above. The path would be unusable during heavy rains, but Bar-Zemer and others say that would be less than 20 days each year.
This option was included in Metro’s initial scoping of the path in 2016 but has since been dropped, with the agency citing safety concerns. Bar-Zemer contends that safety features could be installed to make sure pedestrians have enough time to exit the pathway if water rises swiftly. He says he’s spent $350,000 of his own funds in engineering studies and advocacy to advance the path.
A pedestrian walks with an umbrella on the L.A. River Path near Lewis MacAdams Riverfront Park.
“The benefits are so obvious, it’s such a home run and such a low-hanging fruit that for me, it’s like criminal not to make it happen,” he said.
Currently, bikers headed southbound run out of path where Riverside Drive crosses the L.A. River at Egret Park. From there, they’re forced to weave through high-traffic streets in neighborhoods including Lincoln Heights, Chinatown, Downtown L.A. and Boyle Heights before they find the path again in Vernon.
“It’s a huge chasm,” said Michael Schneider, founder and chief executive of Streets for All. He called the gap in the L.A. River path “a shame because it’s an otherwise amazing resource.”
Some 76,000 residents live within walking distance of the proposed path, and a million within three miles of the L.A. River, according to Metro estimates from 2022. Around 17% of working-age people who live within a bikeable distance already walk, bike or take transit in their regular commute.
An aerial view of downtown Los Angeles and the Sixth Street Bridge amid an unfinished eight-mile gap in the L.A. River Path.
More recent numbers could be higher since high fuel prices have motivated many to use transit, bikes, e-bikes and scooters. The path also could provide recreational benefits to an area that has some of the most limited access to green space in Los Angeles.
Metro had the eight-mile gap on its list of 28 projects it wanted ready for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As costs soared, it quietly was taken off the list.
Yet there are recent signs of progress for the L.A. River Path.
In late May, the Metro board voted to create a committee that brings together all the players needed to push it to toward completion.
The Los Angeles River runs under the Sixth Street Bridge amid an unfinished eight-mile gap in the L.A. River Path in downtown Los Angeles.
Mayor Karen Bass chairs the Metro board. Despite the project’s stagnation, she continues to convey optimism.
“Angelenos voted in 2016 to make the L.A. River Path path a reality, and Mayor Bass is marshaling the resources necessary to eliminate further distraction that have threatened the project’s pace and cost,” her office said in statement.
Metro staffers are reviewing comments on the draft environmental impact statement, the agency said. They intend to recommend a path forward in the fall.
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Palestinians say Netanyahu’s decision leaves ‘no clear path’ to peace | Gaza News
‘We’re going backwards.’ Palestinians in Gaza say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of the US-backed 15-point plan has deepened uncertainty over an end to the war. Hamas says it remains committed to the agreement.
Published On 9 Aug 20269 Aug 2026
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Big Ten commissioner pushes back against breaking away from NCAA
CHICAGO — After leaders of the Southeastern Conference spent last week warning of a Plan B to potentially “break away” from the NCAA, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti tried to steer away from that conversation and toward a Congressional solution on Tuesday.
But if Congress can’t pass the Protect College Sports Act in the coming weeks? Well, the conference is already talking contingency plans, Petitti said.
“Breakaway is a word that creates a lot of emotion,” Pettiti said during his annual Big Ten media day address on Tuesday. “Is there another path where if you can’t solve it in the bill and if you can’t solve it with your colleagues, is there some path where you have to have conference-based rules? That’s not necessarily breaking away. It doesn’t mean you’re not going to play anybody else. But is there a path to have rules that we can at least operate from the conference?
“We absolutely have to do everything we can to prepare for every one of those things.”
The future of college football continues to hang in the balance as Congress works to get the two power conferences on board with a bill that has not received their full support. Petitti said on Tuesday morning that he’d yet to see the new language of the Protect College Sports Act, which added revisions to appease the SEC and Big Ten, but expected to see it later Tuesday.
The commissioner said he didn’t expect the bill to be “perfect for us in every one one of those places,” but he expected concessions to be included in the newest version, including potential provisions around a super league, pre-enrollment inducements for high school prospects and a carve-out for up to $20 million in additional cap space to retain players.
Whether those concessions will be enough to get the two power conferences on board remains to be seen. Time is running out for a bill to be passed before Congress takes a lengthy recess, significantly delaying any meaningful reform in college athletics.
“If Congress is going to be involved in deciding who can be in what conference and when you can move and how you move and how you schedule based on certain things happening, we just need to get that right,” Petitti said. “And so we want to make sure that the productive conversations we’ve had the last couple of weeks on that section specifically are reflected in the drafting of the bill.”
Petitti said that the Big Ten would’ve preferred “a much skinnier bill” than the current version, but “that is not the reality right now.”
“Is there more good here than not, right?” Petitti said. “That’s the way to look at it.”
Passing that bill is the primary focus for now. It’s why Petitti has been to Washington 21 times, he said, during his tenure as commissioner. But other uncertainty still looms over the sport.
The Big Ten is still also pushing for a 24-team College Football Playoff, but Petitti said that the conference’s stance has evolved since he first started pushing the idea a year ago.
“We’ve made adjustments in our league,” Petitti said. “We were focused on automatic qualifiers. We’re not focused on that anymore. We’re looking at the committee picking the field of 24. We feel that ultimately will still unlock the power of scheduling that we want.”
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What Could Be the Institutional Path to Transition From August 1?
We know from statements issued by the 2015 National Assembly Delegated Commission, the 2026 National Assembly, and the State Department that August 1 was set as the launching date of a roadmap leading to a political transition in Venezuela.
The incentives for the various actors to accelerate or delay this political negotiation process are clear. The Venezuelan interim government (as the State Department statement refers to it) will have an interest in delaying the process as much as possible to prolong its time in power and preserve the current state of affairs. For the 2015 National Assembly Delegated Commission, it offers a window of opportunity to gain relevance and demonstrate its ability to accelerate the agenda that Dinorah Figuera announced before any other actor. The Trump administration will want this process to proceed at a pace that does not jeopardize its control of the country until the elections (and perhaps even after). It is in María Corina Machado’s best interest for the situation to develop in a way that allows her to gain control and create the conditions for her to be the opposition candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.
Other, less prominent actors will try to influence the process. We have already seen AD leader Henry Ramos Allup trying to position himself, for example, to defend Machado’s participation, as did Henrique Capriles, and other voices will surely emerge along those lines in the coming days. Those aspiring to a new National Assembly and new elections for governorships and mayoralties will certainly also try to influence the process.
But let’s turn to the most relevant conversation, with just under two weeks until August 1: what could be the institutional path to achieving this political transition through free elections?
A new National Electoral Council (CNE)
Since the elections are administered by the National Electoral Council, it would seem that the first step should be, precisely, to elect a new CNE board.
Choosing a reliable one could be the first challenge. What has been offered previously is insufficient: a majority of three or four people close to or allied with the government and one or two “independents” or those close to the opposition. A board is needed that complies with Article 296 of the Constitution, composed of “five people not affiliated with political organizations.”
This CNE must begin with an essential task: the purging and updating of the Permanent Electoral Registry. It is crucial that Venezuelans abroad be allowed to vote and that the necessary logistical and diplomatic conditions be established to make this possible.
A new Supreme Court
Under the Venezuelan constitutional system, the decisions of the CNE can be subject to judicial review by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). Directly by the Electoral Chamber. Indirectly by the Constitutional Chamber.
Therefore, the appointment of new justices to both the Electoral Chamber and the Constitutional Chamber is necessary at the outset of this process. Article 263 of the Constitution clearly outlines the requirements for becoming a Supreme Court Justice. In May of this year, the Supreme Court Law was amended to increase the number of justices from 20 to 32. The Constitutional Chamber (the most important chamber) is composed of seven justices. This increase means that 12 new justices must be elected. Furthermore, a significant number of the current 20 justices are of retirement age.
This, as with the CNE, is debated and decided in the National Assembly, whose majority is controlled by Jorge Rodríguez. It would have to be a decision by chavismo, or the result of a political rupture, for the political rights of the non-government-controlled population to be considered both when electing CNE board members and when appointing Supreme Court justices. This relates to the next point.
Restoring civil and political rights
For several years, Venezuela’s main political parties and actors were subjected to confiscation and persecution through various administrative measures, such as those issued by the Comptroller General of the Republic to disqualify candidates, and even judicial measures to replace the boards of directors of opposition parties like COPEI, Primero Justicia, and Acción Democrática. It is essential to compile a report detailing all these measures and establish an action plan to reverse them, allowing political parties and leaders to operate and return to Venezuela.
Then, reforms must be made to those laws and administrative regulations that, long before January 3rd, restricted freedom of expression and the conditions for holding elections, such as the Constitutional Law Against Hatred, the Simón Bolívar Law, and the Law of the Comptroller General of the Republic. The same must be done with respect to the resolutions of the CNE that have restricted political and civic participation in the electoral processes. Furthermore, cases where it has been argued that the 2026 Amnesty Law is inapplicable, such as that of María Corina Machado, must be reviewed.
Given that the incentives of the actors in this process are not and will not be aligned, as shown above, it is crucial to immediately establish timelines for the phases of the process, beginning August 1. This will allow us to gauge the level of commitment among the parties to move forward with the transition.
There are certainly conditions attached to this process that are not public, and that will shape its phases and pace. However, we must begin a public conversation about ideas for addressing this crucial phase of political life starting August 1.
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New 34-mile coastal path linking two pretty English villages opens today
A NEW 34-mile coastal path linking two pretty English villages has opened today.
It will give hikers access to previously unwalkable routes and forms part of a huge coastal path project.
A major new 34-mile section of the King Charles III England Coast Path has officially opened today, Thursday July 23.
Running between Foxfield and Greenodd, the opening of the path is the latest milestone in completing the 200-mile coastal stretch from Gretna to Silverdale, on the Lancashire border.
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The new opening now brings the grand total of walkable Coast Path in the North West to around 208 miles.
Those looking to walk the path will be treated to charming coastal communities, nature reserves and historic industrial landscapes.
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When fully complete, the King Charles III England Coast Path will become a 2,700-mile stretch around the entire English coast.
The National Trail route is set to be the longest managed coastal walking route in the world.
From today, walkers can now explore the new section of path located on the eastern edge of the Furness Peninsula.
The new section of path is a key milestone in the delivery of the 70-mile stretch of coastal route from Silecroft to Silverdale.
Winding through a number of coastal communities, visitors will pass by Kirkby-in-Furness, Askam-in-Furness, Barrow-in-Furness, Bardsea and Ulverston, before crossing the Leven Estuary.
The route also offers views of Morecambe Bay and passes the end of the Ulverston Canal.
Walkers can also spot a number of distinctive slag banks, sand dunes and an abundance of wildlife along the path.
The delivery of the new path will move visitors away from previously unavoidable shores, leading to a greater discovery of the area’s coastal landscape.
Natural England deputy director for Cumbria, Claire Argent, said: “The Furness Peninsula is one of those places that genuinely takes your breath away, whether you’re watching the light change across Morecambe Bay, listening for curlews over the estuary, or discovering the layers of history tucked into these coastal communities.
“This new stretch of the King Charles III England Coast Path gives people the chance to experience all of that on foot, safely, sustainably and responsibly, whilst learning about and caring for our wonderful landscapes and nature.
“We’re proud to see this route taking shape and look forward to completing the full 200-mile Cumbrian stretch.”
The path is located on a mix of existing public rights of way, permissive access routes and new access.
Councillor Adrian Waite said the project was a “huge job” which required “securing contracts and permissions, specifying work, getting quotes, managing the contractors and liaising with landowners”.
The cabinet member for Environmental Services and Transport at Westmorland and Furness Council said the teams had put in “more than 300 signs and waymark posts, 10 sets of steps, 23 bridges, around 60 gates” and five kilometres of fencing and surfacing.
Anyone looking to grab their hiking boots and try out the coastal path is reminded to follow the Countryside and Coastal codes when walking the route.
Travellers are also warned to exercise caution around Morecambe Bay, as fast-moving tides and quicksands in the area could be dangerous when venturing onto sands and saltmarshes without an experienced guide.
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Andy Burnham’s path to becoming prime minister
If he becomes PM, Burnham has already ruled out an early election, telling an online forum last week: “I’m going to work to the 2024 manifesto.”
By September at the latest, the UK will have had seven prime ministers in the past decade.
Four prime ministers took over mid-term without having fought and won a general election: Theresa May in 2016, Boris Johnson in 2016, and Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, both in 2022.
In each of these cases, there have been questions from opposition parties about their legitimacy in office.
But the next prime minister, like their predecessors, is under no obligation to call a general election before the scheduled end of the Parliament in 2029.
The current system sees the electorate vote for their MPs and a party, and those MPs and that party choose their leader.
The last general election was held on 4 July 2024, with Labour winning a landslide majority, meaning the next election must legally be held by August 2029, though a prime minister can choose to call one at any point before this.
A PM calling an early election depends on a number of factors – how the party is performing in the polls, and whether the prime minister wants to seek a new mandate from the electorate to set out his own agenda in government.
So while Burnham has ruled out an immediate election, there may still be one before the end of 2029.
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Harvard’s Matt Freese took an unusual path to U.S. World Cup lineup
Playing in goal for the U.S. men’s national soccer team is a little like playing right field for the Yankees. You’re following a long line of great players, making the comparisons — and the high expectations — unavoidable.
Matt Freese is the latest to be thrown into that crucible. But he considers that pressure to be a privilege, not a problem.
“I wouldn’t say it’s intimidating, I would say it’s inspiring,” he said before the U.S. training session Tuesday morning in Irvine. “It’s a long line of goalkeepers that I’ve looked up to for my whole life — and there were some before my life as well.”
Two games into this summer’s World Cup he’s certainly held his own with that group, giving up just one goal for a team that’s unbeaten and already through to the next round. However Thursday’s group-stage finale with winless Turkey will be far from meaningless for Freese since his first start for the U.S. came against Turkey 55 weeks ago, bringing his whirlwind international team career full circle.
U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese waves to the crowd after beating Paraguay during a World Cup match at SoFi Stadium on June 12.
(Kelvin Kuo/Los Angeles Times)
He lost that game but his performance was good enough to make him the starter in the Gold Cup, where he was even better. A little over a year ago he was just a faint blip on coach Mauricio Pochettino’s radar. Now he has a World Cup shutout and with another clean sheet Thursday, he’ll join Matt Turner as the only American keepers to post back-to-back shutouts in a World Cup in 96 years.
“I dreamt of this opportunity. But you never know if it’s going to come,” Freese said. “I learned the ones that work hard without the promise of reward are the ones that usually succeed.”
Turner, who gave up just a goal in the group stage in Qatar four years ago, is Freese’s backup in this tournament. And he’s just the most recent U.S. keeper to stand out in a World Cup. In 2014, Tim Howard set a tournament record with 16 saves in a knockout-stage loss to Belgium and 12 years before that Brad Friedel made six stops in a 2-0 win over Mexico to send the U.S. to the quarterfinals for the only time.
“To have my name next to theirs as the next guy up is an incredible honor, and it’s something I’ve dreamed of,” Freese said. “The bar is set high and I’m going to strive to reach that bar and raise it even higher.”
Freese, 27, took an unusual route to that bar. The son of a neurosurgeon who earned a doctorate from MIT and the grandson of scientists who immigrated from Germany after World War II, Freese grew up in a household where academics were more important than athletics. So while he joined the Philadelphia Union academy as a teen, he craved the demands of school and left soon afterward to enroll at Harvard.
“When you’re a professional athlete at age 18, 19 sometimes it can be difficult to keep a routine, keep a regimen that keeps you focused and keeps you hungry,” Freese said. “For me, taking classes was something that occupied my time, occupied my mind and gave a very natural release off the field.
“I think at that age it was necessary.”
After two seasons at Harvard, he returned to Philadelphia to sign with the MLS team while continuing to take classes online, once writing a paper on penalty-kick analytics. In 2022, he graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics.
The soccer part wasn’t going nearly as well. Playing behind Andre Blake, a three-time MLS keeper of the year, Freese rarely saw the field in Philadelphia. But a trade to New York City FC in the winter of 2023 gave him a second chance and likely saved his career.
He made the most of it, earning the starting job in his second season, when he finished third in the league in saves, and getting his first call-up to a national team training camp in January 2025.
Six months later he was the team’s starter in goal.
The late-blooming Freese’s journey was unusual in another way too since he traveled to the World Cup from MLS. In the five World Cups between 1998 and 2014, the U.S. started Friedel, Kasey Keller and Howard — three English Premier League keepers — in goal. A dozen years later, the Athletic reports, there are no American goalkeepers in the top five European club leagues and the three goalies on this summer’s roster all play in MLS.
U.S. goalkeeper Matt Freese clears the ball as Australia’s Mohamed Toure closes in during a World Cup match in Seattle on June 19.
(Maddy Grassy / Ap Photo/maddy Grassy)
However as a guy with a Harvard diploma on his resume, Freese knows enough to know that getting to a World Cup isn’t about where you came from or even how long it took you to get there. All that matters is that you made it. And now that he’s there, his job isn’t to stand out, but to blend in.
“Being a goalkeeper is recognizing that it’s not always about you. And I’m comfortable with that,” he said. “The less action I have in a game means the better that we’re playing, and the more likely we are going to win.
“So I’m typically more focused on that and preventing any shots rather than just being only ready to save them.”
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