planning

Whilst he may be a stranger to Wales, Govil is quick to point out his familiarity with franchise success.

His Washington Freedom side have won the most games in the three years of MLC, taking home the trophy in 2024 and finishing runners-up in 2025.

“I have a history of doing this, it’s not just the Washington Freedom. I had a professional badminton team in India and in the very first year we won the championship,” the Maryland-based entrepreneur said.

“Even business, I’ve taken over assets, which are really underperforming and turned it around.”

The secret to his success?

“It’s all about looking at a big picture, having the right components, and creating an environment which is very fertile towards success,” he explained.

Fire have already been busy trying to acquire the right components.

Salt, Chris Woakes, Marco Jansen and Rachin Ravindra have joined the men’s side as direct signings whilst Freya Kemp, Georgia Wareham and Georgia Voll have signed with the women’s team.

If Govil is to be successful in reversing the fortunes of his new franchise, the team’s performances on the field will need to mirror his own bold confidence.

The next step to building this team will come in this week’s inaugural auction.

As well as having the opportunity to build a competitive team Govil will have the chance to shine a light on Welsh talent and create an identity fans are more likely to subscribe to.

Then, comes the hope of bringing a history of success to a place that has not yet experienced it.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to spend $19 million promoting California and dispelling “myths driven by misinformation and political rhetoric” in a marketing campaign that would run through the final months of his administration as he weighs a potential run for president.

The new contract, which is in the bidding process, comes as Newsom’s political future and national standing are closely tied to how voters view California’s economy, crime and quality of life — issues that have become central to attacks from President Trump and conservative media outlets.

The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development is seeking a contractor to design a statewide taxpayer-funded “California Brand Campaign,” with two-thirds of spending under the proposal to be used for paid advertising and media placements. Bidding on the contract opened Feb. 24 and is expected to end March 13.

The solicitation frames the campaign as an effort to push back on what Newsom has often described as misleading narratives about California. The campaign would launch during a period of financial uncertainty for the state, with Newsom’s January budget projecting a $3-billion deficit next fiscal year.

“California and its business climate have been falsely and maliciously maligned for years, and the state has a right to tell the true story — California is a great place to do live, work, invest and visit,” said Newsom spokesperson Tara Gallegos. “Setting the record straight will benefit every business, worker and resident of this state.”

Newsom is contemplating a run for president in 2028 and says he remains undecided about whether he will pursue the Oval Office.

State Sen. Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks), who is vice chair of the Senate budget committee, said the language of the proposal request is concerning. He said it would make it easier to stifle criticisms of policies that he says make it difficult to do business in California.

“This is clearly part of the Gavin Newsom for President campaign, but what is most troubling to me is that this is a program to be developed by some private-sector contractor to define what is acceptable speech in the state of California,” Niello said. “That scares the stuffing out of me.”

The negative image of California — homeless encampments lining the streets, smash-and-grab robberies at malls and an exodus of residents and businesses fleeing high taxes and nanny-state governance — could be a liability for Newsom if he runs for president.

Newsom has seen his popularity surge in the last year after his fight-fire-with-fire approach to countering Trump’s rhetoric. The two-term governor has used his expanding platform, including a podcast and nationwide book tour for his recently released memoir, to repeatedly push back on Trump’s criticisms of California. He argues that California remains one of the world’s largest and most dynamic economies and the envy of other states.

The tone of the marketing campaign bid request itself echoes that message, with its introductory paragraph pulled directly from Newsom’s State of the State speech in January.

“California has never been about perfection,” it reads. “It’s about persistence. The courage of our convictions and the strength to embody them. That’s the California Way.”

Mike Madrid, a Republican strategist who runs the research nonprofit Latino Working Class Project, said scrutiny of the campaign will depend on whether the ads veer into politics or overtly promote Newsom in the way federal border security ads showcased the now ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“You have to ask why now?” Madrid said of Newsom’s timing for the California ad campaign. “He’s in the eighth inning of a nine-inning baseball game. Timing and tone are everything when considering the appropriateness.”

The use of taxpayer dollars to combat negative publicity about the state and the governor isn’t new under the Newsom administration.

Newsom tapped an employee in his communications office to serve as his “deputy director of rapid response” in 2024. Staff member Brandon Richards, who made $136,000 last year, is tasked with quickly dispatching responses to information the governor’s team deems inaccurate or misleading that is spread on social media and in the media.

When right-wing accounts claimed in February that Newsom allows dogs to vote in California, Richards responded with a CBS News article reporting that a woman was charged with five felonies for registering her canine. Richards and the governor’s office pushed back on false assertions that Newsom and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, were stealing money from the state through her office that same day.

Newsom’s frustration reached a boiling point over claims about the state’s response to the Los Angeles wildfires last year. President Trump publicly blamed Newsom and “his Los Angeles crew” for the disaster, though the Republican’s claims that a lack of water in Southern California led to a shortage for firefighters were widely debunked.

Newsom’s political team launched a website in January 2025 to fight misinformation about the L.A. fires, which he said at the time would “ensure the public has access to fact-based data.” The site, www.californiafirefacts.com, no longer appears to exist.

At one point, however, it redirected viewers to the redistricting campaign website for Proposition 50, according to internet archives. Newsom championed the successful redistricting ballot measure to add more Democrats to California’s congressional delegation, a direct response to Trump urging Texas and other Republican states to reconfigure their congressional boundaries to elect more Republicans to Congress.

Newsom adopted an even more aggressive social media strategy last summer after Trump deployed the National Guard and U.S. Marines to California during federal immigration sweeps. The governor directed his team to match the brash communication tactics emanating from the White House. His aides continue to shoot down criticism and launch their own snarky assaults on Trump and his allies.

The new ad campaign appears to be an extension of his work to refute the anti-California narrative.

The request for bids says “some look at this state and try to tear down our progress. They attack our values and caricature our culture. They distort the data to diminish our accomplishments.”

Here’s the story…of how a seemingly non-descript home in the San Fernando Valley turned into an L.A. landmark.

The L.A. City Council voted to designate the “Brady Bunch” house as a historic-cultural monument on Wednesday, enshrining the Studio City Midcentury as a piece of the city’s history.

“Long before it became a pop‑culture pilgrimage site and backdrop for countless photo ops, the Brady Bunch House helped shape America’s vision of family life in the late 1960s and early ’70s — especially the idea of a blended family,” said Adrian Scott Fine, president of the L.A. Conservancy. “We’re thrilled to see it now designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument, ensuring the Brady Bunch — and their iconic home — remain part of Los Angeles’ story.”

The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission unanimously voted to recommend the house, located at 11222 Dilling St. in Studio City, as a landmark on Jan. 15. The Planning and Land Use Commission approved the designation a month later, sending final say to the City Council.

“I look forward to seeing this memorialized in the appropriate way as part of San Fernando Valley television history,” Councilmember Adin Nazarian said during the Planning meeting.

The landmark status protects the home from demolition, but doesn’t prohibit it. If the owner ever wants to destroy the home, the Cultural Heritage Commission can delay the process for up to a year to find preservation solutions. The commission also gets more oversight on proposed alterations.

“The Brady Bunch” was filmed in a studio for the entirety of its iconic run from 1969 to 1974. So how does a house that was merely for exterior shots wind up as a landmark?

Through painstaking renovations and a bit of reality TV magic.

The house was built in 1959 by architect Harry M. Londelius, who gave the contemporary ranch a shake roof, cathedral ceilings and heaps of Palos Verdes stone. After starring in the show, the home became a symbol for Southern California’s suburban, single-family charm.

For decades, it was owned by Violet and George McCallister, who bought it for $61,000 in 1973. Once they died, their children sold it in 2018 for $3.5 million — nearly twice the original ask.

The bloated sale price was the result of a bidding war, as offers poured in from TV enthusiasts and celebrities, including ‘N Sync’s Lance Bass. In the end, cable network HGTV emerged as the winner.

The channel had big plans for the property, announcing a $1.9-million remodel that would recreate the interiors exactly how they looked in the show. The entire process was documented in a four-part miniseries titled “A Very Brady Renovation.”

The show featured the actors who played the Brady kids taking sledgehammers to the interiors while “Property Brothers” stars Drew and Jonathan Scott reshaped the living spaces.

An inside look at the “Brady Bunch” house in Studio City.

(Ryan Lahiff for Eklund | Gomes)

The final result was a near picture-perfect replica of the Brady abode: the floating staircase, the groovy orange kitchen counters, even the famous vase destroyed by a stray basketball during a famous episode. (“She always says don’t play ball in the house.”) To make space for the throwback bedrooms, the crew added 2,000 square feet to the rear of the house, as well as a second story — which they hid from the street by lowering the foundation by a foot.

The renovation nearly doubled the square footage, featuring five bedrooms and five bathrooms across more than 5,000 square feet.

After the miniseries, HGTV took a bath on the sale. They flipped it for $3.2 million in 2023 — $300,000 less than they paid for it five years earlier and $2 million less than the asking price.

The house was bought by historic-home enthusiast Tina Trahan and her husband Chris Elbrecht, former chief executive of HBO. It came with a few Brady-themed furniture throw-ins such as a green floral couch and credenza complete with a 3-D printed horse sculpture.

Fans still flock to the house to take photos from the street, but Trahan and Elbrecht opened it to the public for the first time in November, offering a limited run of tours for $275.

Reports are emerging that the US and Israel are supporting separatist groups in Iran to launch attacks. The reports claim its part of an evolving US strategy to weaking Iran’s defences and possibly collapse the Islamic Republic. Soraya Lennie breaks it down.