Los Angeles can feel like a microcosm of the whole world, particularly when it comes to dining. At some point, though, the road will call. Maybe it’s a two-hour drive into the desert, or a short flight to the Bay Area, or a quiet coastal stretch where the marine layer doesn’t burn off until early afternoon. There are reasons to go — and eat — everywhere in California.
Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Ethiopian, Syrian, Italian: As you’ll find in this guide to the 101 Best Restaurants in California, these cuisines embody who we are, and they’re only the jumping-off point. Many entries on the list include additional recommendations, and the Times has previously published deeper dives (based on my ongoing statewide reporting) into San Francisco, San Diego and Palm Springs. More will be coming.
LAS VEGAS — Rickea Jackson scored a career-high 30 points, Azura Stevens had 19 points and 10 rebounds in leading the Sparksto a 97-89Commissioner’s Cup win over the Aces in Las Vegas on Wednesday night.
The Aces were without star center A’ja Wilson for the final 11 minutes of the game after she left with 1:17 left in the third quarter with an injury. She was accidentally hit in the face on Dearica Hamby’s drive to the basket.
Jackson went 11 of 17 from the field, including four of eight from three-point range, and four of five at the free-throw line to top her previous best of 25 points against Dallas last season.
Hamby scored 19 points for the Sparks (4-7) to go with eight rebounds and seven assists. Kelsey Plum had 13 points and nine assists against her former team.
Jackie Young tied her career high with 34 points and Chelsea Gray added 28 for Las Vegas (4-4), which has lost two straight games. Wilson was 2 of 12 from the field and 9 of 10 at the free-throw line to finish with 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 28 minutes.
Young scored 14 straight Las Vegas points in the second quarter.
Hamby, Stevens and Jackson all scored in double figures in the first half to help the Sparks build a 50-41 lead.
David Greenwood adored basketball so much in middle school that he would play for three different teams in three different parks on the same day, multiple times a week.
His brother, Al, would be in the car driving around with him between games while David traded in his sweaty uniform for a fresh one, repeating the process over and over.
“He was relentless,” Al said, “because he loved the game.”
At home, David would get tossed around in driveway games by the cement contractor father who was twice his size, only to keep getting back up for more contact. In practices, he shot blindfolded to perfect his form, his brother having to let him know when he was close to going out of bounds so that he could get his bearings.
UCLA’s David Greenwood (34) shoots a basketball during a game against San Francisco at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on March 15, 1979
(Peter Read Miller / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Greenwood, the determined Compton kid who went from a star high school player at Verbum Dei to one of the top scorers in UCLA history to an NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons, died Sunday night at a Riverside hospital from cancer. He was 68.
True to the nature of someone who played through debilitating foot injuries throughout his career, Greenwood did not inform family of his illness until the end of his life.
“Everything happened so quickly,” said Bronson Greenwood, David’s nephew. “It was kind of a shock.”
One of the all-time great high school players in Southern California, Greenwood and teammate Roy Hamilton were among the final players recruited by legendary UCLA coach John Wooden. They were shocked when Wooden retired shortly after their senior season of high school and was replaced by Gene Bartow.
But they decided to stick with their commitments, lured in part by the pitch of a coach they would never play for in college.
“He told me if I went to USC or UNLV or Notre Dame, I’d be an All-American,” Greenwood once told The Times of Wooden’s proposal. “But if I went to UCLA, I’d be able to test myself against 12 other high school All-Americans every single day. … It was kind of like, ‘Come here and test your mettle.’ ”
Greenwood’s work ethic continued to push him as a Bruin. His practices with the team were followed by an hour in another gym, his brother feeding him passes. Along the way, he never shortchanged himself or teammates.
College athletes selected in the NBA draft pose with NBA commissioner Larry O’Brien, center, at New York’s Plaza Hotel on June 25, 1979. The players are, from left: Calvin Natt, Northeast Louisiana, drafted by New Jersey; Sidney Moncrief, Arkansas, drafted by Milwaukee; Bill Garthright, San Francisco, drafted by New York; O’Brien; Earvin Johnson, Michigan State, drafted by Los Angeles; Greg Kelser, Michigan State, drafted by Detroit; and David Greenwood, UCLA, drafted by Chicago.
(Associated Press)
“If he said he was going to shoot 100 free throws,” Al said, “it wasn’t 50, it wasn’t 65, it was 100 — and he didn’t stop until he got to 100.”
Having been dubbed “Batman and Robin” in high school, Greenwood and Hamilton remained close at UCLA, rooming together and biking to campus from where they lived in the Fairfax District. Hamilton remembered Greenwood as a remarkable rebounder who whipped outlet passes to him to get fast breaks started.
“We would always know how to motivate each other,” Hamilton said, “and connect with each other on the floor.”
Becoming a star by his sophomore season, Greenwood averaged a double-double in points and rebounds as a junior and a senior, finishing each season as an All-American. The 6-foot-9 forward’s go-to move was starting with his back about 10 to 12 feet from the basket before faking one way and unleashing a spin-around jumper.
One of his favorite memories as a Bruin, according to his brother, was a comeback against Washington State toward the end of his career in which the Bruins wiped out a late double-digit deficit, winning on Greenwood’s putback dunk only seconds before the buzzer.
The Bulls’ David Greenwood shoots over the Bullets’ Elvin Hayes during a game in 1981 at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. Greenwood played for the Bulls from 1979-85.
(Focus On Sport / Getty Images)
UCLA never recaptured the Wooden glory during Greenwood’s four seasons, reaching the Final Four his freshman year and a regional final his senior year. But Greenwood remains No. 15 on the school’s all-time scoring list, having tallied 1,721 points.
After the Lakers selected Magic Johnson with the first pick of the 1979 NBA draft, the Chicago Bulls took Greenwood second as part of their massive rebuilding efforts. (Hamilton was also a lottery pick, going 10th to the Pistons.)
“He wasn’t exciting, he was steady,” Al Greenwood said of his brother. “You knew you were going to get a double-double every night out of him regardless of what the score was.”
Greenwood started every game in his first NBA season, averaging 16.3 points and 9.4 rebounds while making the all-rookie team. The Bulls went 30-52, their loss total more than triple the 17 losses that Greenwood’s teams had absorbed in four seasons as a Bruin.
But he persevered through the losing and a series of foot injuries caused by a running style in which his heels would hit the ground before his toes. Al remembered his brother coming back to Los Angeles to play the Lakers and taking his shoes off at home, saying it felt as if they were full of broken glass.
“That was how his feet felt a lot of the time, but he just played even when he shouldn’t have,” Al said. “I always called him The Thoroughbred.”
Former UCLA standout David Greenwood talks about his career during a National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction event on Nov. 21, 2021, in Kansas City, Mo.
(Colin E. Braley / Associated Press)
Greenwood would undergo one Achilles’ surgery on one foot and two on the other, never missing a full season in the process.
In October 1985, before the widespread use of cell phones, Greenwood learned he had been traded to San Antonio for future Hall of Famer George Gervin while listening to the radio. Late in his 12-year NBA career, he was a surprise playoff contributor for the Detroit Pistons when they won the 1990 NBA championship. Hamilton worked for CBS Sports as part of the production team broadcasting the Finals that year.
“Having my best friend in the world on the team and winning a title,” Hamilton said, “that was a joy for me.”
Greenwood went on to own several Blockbuster video stores and coached at his alma mater, guiding Verbum Dei to state championships in 1998 and 1999. His nephew recalled a soft side, his uncle picking him up and giving him a good tickle.
Greenwood is survived by his brother, Al; sister, Laverne; son, Jemil; and daughter, Tiffany, along with his former wife, Joyce. Services are pending.
Six years later, the deal for George is considered tragically lopsided, the Clippers fleeced and forced to watch assets they surrendered lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to within three wins of an NBA championship.
The trade wouldn’t be looked upon harshly had the Clippers won a championship in the five seasons that George and Leonard played together. But the deepest the team advanced was the Western Conference finals in 2021.
George left as a free agent last offseason, signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. Leonard has played in only 266 of 472 games with the Clippers because of injuries. The Clippers paid George $195.9 million and have paid Leonard $194.6 million — with Leonard under contract for another two years and $100.3 million.
Meanwhile, one of the two players shipped to the Thunder along with five first-round draft picks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, has blossomed into the NBA‘s most valuable player. And the 2022 draft pick acquired from the Clippers was used to select Jalen Williams, a rising star who averaged 21.6 points a game this season.
Both are bargains. Gilgeous-Alexander — known as SGA — was paid just $13.5 million his first three seasons with the Thunder before signing a five-year, $173-million contract that will take him through the 2026-27 season. Williams has made $13.7 million in three seasons and will be paid $6.6 million next season, the last of his rookie contract.
And it’s a deal that just keeps giving — to the Thunder, who as a result of the trade get the Nos. 15 and 24 picks in this year’s draft and the Clippers’ first-round pick in 2026.
Asked to evaluate the deal moments after the Clippers defeated the Thunder in January 2024, George grudgingly acknowledged that the pendulum had swung toward Oklahoma City.
“I just think both sides won,” he said. “I did think it was quite a lot that the Clippers were willing to give up. … When that trade first happened, we knew Shai was going to be really, really good, but he’s special.”
George sighed and continued: “I guess in a way, Oklahoma won that trade with the picks and future MVP, but both sides won.”
The fact is, the Clippers couldn’t say no to the deal. Why? Because Leonard was a free agent coming off an NBA title with Toronto in which he was Finals MVP, and he was weighing offers from the Lakers and Raptors as well as the Clippers.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer needed to be convinced that giving up the slew of draft picks was a smart move. Leonard signing with the Lakers was an unthinkable outcome to Clippers coach Doc Rivers, and he jokingly told Ballmer the Clippers would need to relocate to Seattle if that happened.
“Steve Ballmer was nervous about the picks,” Rivers told The Times in 2019. “I said, ‘Steve, you keep saying six picks for Paul George is insane, but you’re saying it wrong. It’s not six for Paul; it’s six for Paul and Kawhi. So three for each. I would do that.’ You have to look at it in those terms.”
Knowing the Clippers desperately needed to consummate the deal, Thunder general manager Sam Presti demanded SGA — who was coming off an impressive rookie campaign — respected forward Danilo Gallinari and the draft picks.
Unforeseen was that SGA would rapidly rise from promising youngster to foundational piece to perhaps the best player in the NBA. He led the league in scoring this season with 32.7 points a game. He put up 34 points, eight assists and five rebounds in the Thunder’s win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the Finals on Sunday.
In Game 1, a stunning Pacers comeback was helped by two late missed shots by SGA. Still, he scored 38 points, and his 72 in his first two NBA Finals games is a league record.
“I’m being myself,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters. “I don’t think I tried to reinvent the wheel or step up to the plate with a different mindset. Just try to attack the game the right way. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that so far.”
Through 18 playoff games, SGA is averaging 30.4 points, 6.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals. Only Michael Jordan and LeBron James have recorded those numbers during a playoff run of 16 or more games.
None of this is a complete surprise. SGA provided the Clippers with opportunities to feel seller’s remorse soon after the trade. On Dec. 22, 2019, he scored 32 points with five assists and two steals in a 118–112 Thunder victory. Two years later almost to the day, he made a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Thunder a 104–103 win.
Next is closing out the Finals and delivering a title to Oklahoma City — something that has proven elusive for the Clippers, the oldest franchise in North American professional sports to have never played in a championship game.
“This is where we are, you can’t go back in the past,” SGA said. “You can only make the future better. That’s what I’m focused on.”
Kelsey Plum initially sat quietly, holding back tears.
One issue weighed heavily on her mind — the lack of foul calls.
Calls that might have cost the Sparks a chance at victory in an 89-81 overtime loss to the Golden State Valkyries at Crypto.com Arena on Monday night.
Plum’s voice eventually broke as she expressed her frustration during the postgame news conference.
“I drive more than anyone in the league, so to shoot six free throws is… absurd,” Plum said, preempting her comments with an acknowledgment that the WNBA might fine her for criticizing the officiating. “I’ve got scratches on my face. I’ve got scratches on my body. And these guards on the other team get these ticky-tack fouls — I’m sick of it.”
The lack of foul calls overshadowed the Sparks’ second loss in three matchups this season against the expansion Valkyries, adding to what has been a tough, 3-7 start for the team.
Plum said she felt she was getting fouled on nearly “every possession.” Although the Sparks edged the Valkyries in free-throw attempts 25-23, Plum was dumbfounded that she hardly got any whistles. She made all six of her free-throw attempts, with her final trip to the line coming with 7:54 remaining in the third quarter — off a three-point attempt.
“I don’t know what else to do,” Plum said, referring to the no-calls at the end of the third and fourth quarters in a close game. “There were multiple shots at the end of the game — end of the third, end of the fourth — where they’re just coming in… swinging, and they don’t call anything.”
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts backed Plum, echoing her frustrations. She pointed out how Plum earned her trips to the line, while Plum whispered to her coach that she’d cover any potential fine that might come her way.
“Three of those were off a three. One was technical, a three-second violation,” Roberts said. “She got one time to the free-throw line attacking. When you think about it, it’s not right. … Obviously, the scouting report is to be as physical as you can with her. And it’s being allowed. So we’ve got to talk to the league about it, but it isn’t right.
“You watch some of the other stars in the league, they don’t get fouled like that without going to the free throw line.”
After the news conference, Plum spoke with the officiating crew — Jenna Reneau, Biniam Maru and Blanca Burns — for several minutes outside their designated room at Crypto.com Arena.
Despite the physical play thrown her way, Plum once again led the Sparks with 24 points, seven assists and four rebounds — and had multiple chances to win the game. After a back-and-forth stretch, the Sparks briefly reclaimed control behind Plum’s late-game heroics.
With 37.8 seconds left in regulation, everyone inside Crypto.com Arena knew where the ball was going. The Valkyries (4-5) threw everything they had at Kelsey Plum, trying to deny her a shot. But with defenders draped all over her, Plum delivered — drilling a clutch three-pointer over Temi Fágbénlé to give the Sparks a 78–76 lead.
It looked like the breakthrough the Sparks needed to finally close it out — but an easy layup on the other end tied it with 17.8 seconds remaining. Plum had another chance to win it at the buzzer, but her floater rimmed out, sending the game to overtime.
Dearica Hamby had 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Janelle Salaun led Golden State with 21 points and eight rebounds.
Golden State controlled the offensive glass, grabbing 17 rebounds to the Sparks’ six — a feat Roberts cited as a reason why the Valkyries won. Golden State finished with 49 total rebounds compared to the Sparks’ 34, further exposing L.A.’s struggles on the boards — they’re averaging just 32.2 per game.
Having already faced the Valkyries three times, the Sparks knew they would need to slow down their balanced offense and match the Valkyries’ physicality on defense.
For the most part, Roberts said her team did that by “forcing them to take some long, contested twos, and some tough, challenged threes.”
Roberts added: “They didn’t shoot it that much better than we did. Neither team had a tremendous shooting night, but if you get 17 second chances, you’re probably going to win.”
Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase knew her team needed extra possessions to beat the Sparks. She said that at halftime, she was frustrated by the lack of rebounds — a problem that Golden State quickly resolved in the second half.
“First time, I feel like I really had to dig deep and go off on them, but they responded,” Nakase said. “We knew five wasn’t enough — that’s not enough to beat this team. … A lot of extra possessions, just credit to them for that hunger.”
Israeli attacks at aid distribution sites sending increased number of casualties to hospitals says ICRC.
Gaza’s healthcare system is “extremely fragile” amid the ongoing Israeli war, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned.
The organisation said in a statement on Sunday that the enclave’s hospitals are in urgent need of protection and reinforcement amid Israel’s continued bombardment and blockade. It added that the system is facing growing pressure due to increasing casualty rates from Israeli attacks at aid points.
“In the last two weeks, the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah has had to activate its mass casualty incident procedure 12 times, receiving high numbers of patients with gunshot and shrapnel wounds,” ICRC said in a statement on X on Sunday.
“An overwhelming majority of patients from the recent incidents said they had been trying to reach assistance distribution sites,” it continued.
The healthcare system in Gaza is extremely fragile. To avert preventable deaths, the services of the remaining health-care facilities must be preserved and reinforced. pic.twitter.com/LhPBz6mSpy
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire around aid distribution sites operated by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) since it launched on May 27.
The organisation ousted the United Nations and other independent agencies from the aid distribution effort following an 11-week blockade of the enclave that prompted numerous warnings that many of Gaza’s people now face famine.
Gaza’s Government Media Office reported on Sunday that the death toll from events centred on the GHF aid sites had risen to 125. A further 736 are reported to have been wounded, with nine missing.
‘Increase in hostilities’
The Hamas-run office said 13 people were killed and 153 injured in the latest attacks. Israeli forces were reported to have opened fire on civilians gathered near aid distribution centres east of Rafah and Wadi Gaza Bridge, in central Gaza.
Witness Abdallah Nour al-Din told the AFP news agency that “people started gathering in the al-Alam area of Rafah” in the early morning.
“After about an hour and a half, hundreds moved towards the site and the army opened fire,” he said.
The Israeli military said it fired on people who “continued advancing in a way that endangered the soldiers” despite warnings.
A GHF statement said there had been no incidents “at any of our three sites” on Sunday.
‘Urgent action’
The Red Cross also expressed concern that the intensifying conflict is putting the enclave’s few functional medical facilities at risk.
“Recent days have seen an increase in hostilities around the few remaining and functional hospitals,” it said in the statement.
“This has made patient transfers between facilities increasingly challenging, and in many cases, patients cannot receive the intensive or specialized care they require.”
The ICRC warned that further loss of life is inevitable without urgent action and called for the protection of healthcare infrastructure and personnel.
“It requires taking all feasible steps to support their work, ensure their safety, and guarantee that they are not deprived of vital resources needed to carry out their work.”
OKLAHOMA CITY — This has been Oklahoma City’s formula all season: Lose one game, respond in the next.
That’s exactly what the Thunder did in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points, Alex Caruso added 20 off the bench and the Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 123-107 on Sunday night to tie these finals at one game apiece.
Jalen Williams scored 19, Aaron Wiggins had 18 and Chet Holmgren finished with 15 for the Thunder. It was the franchise’s first finals game win since the opener of the 2012 series against Miami.
“We did some things good tonight. We did some things bad,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’ve got to be able to get better and be ready for Game 3.”
Tyrese Haliburton scored 17 for Indiana, which erased a 15-point, fourth-quarter deficit in Game 1 but never made a push on Sunday. Myles Turner scored 16 and Pascal Siakam added 15 for the Pacers, the first team since Miami in 2013 to not have a 20-point scorer in the first two games of the finals.
Game 3 is Wednesday at Indianapolis, in what will be the first finals game in that city in 25 years.
“A bad first half, obviously, was a big problem,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “And we just played poorly. A little better in the second half. But you can’t be a team that’s reactive and expect to be successful or have consistency.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s first basket of the night was a history-maker: It gave him 3,000 points on the season, including the regular season and playoffs. And later in Game 2, he passed New York’s Jalen Brunson (514) as the leading overall scorer in these playoffs.
But the real milestone for the MVP came a couple hours later, when he and most everybody else on the Thunder got a finals win for the first time.
A 19-2 run in the second quarter turned what was a six-point game into a 23-point Thunder lead. It might have seemed wobbly a couple of times — an immediate 10-0 rebuttal by the Pacers made it 52-39, and Indiana was within 13 again after Andrew Nembhard’s layup with 7:09 left in the third — but the Thunder lead was never in serious doubt.
“They did a good job being disruptive,” Siakam said. “They got out in transition. … They were super aggressive, which is what they do.”
With the noise level in the building often topping 100 decibels — a chain saw is 110 dB, for comparison purposes — the Thunder did what they’ve done pretty much all season. They came off a loss, this time a 111-110 defeat in Game 1, and blew somebody out as their response.
Including the NBA Cup title game, which doesn’t count in any standings, the Thunder are now 18-2 this season when coming off a loss. Of those 18 wins, 12 have been by double digits.
“That’s a long 48 hours when you lose Game 1 like that, coming into Game 2,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “The guys did a great job of just focusing on what we needed to do to stack to a win tonight. That’s how we got it.”
WASHINGTON — After the raucous rainbow-hued festivities of Saturday’s parade, the final day of World Pride 2025 in the nation’s capital kicked off on a more downbeat note.
More than 1,000 people gathered under gray skies Sunday morning at the Lincoln Memorial for a rally that will lead into a protest march, as the community gathers its strength for a looming fight under President Trump’s second administration.
“This is not just a party,” Ashley Smith, board president of Capital Pride Alliance. “This is a rally for our lives.”
Smith acknowledged that international attendance numbers for the biannual World Pride were measurably down, with many potential attendees avoiding travel to the U.S. because of either fear of harassment or in protest of Trump’s policies.
“That should disturb us and mobilize us,” Smith said.
More than 1,000 people cheered on LGBTQ+ activists taking the stage while waving traditional Pride flags and flags representing transgender, bisexual, intersex and other communities. Many had rainbow glitter and rhinestones adorning their faces. They held signs declaring, “Fight back,” “Gay is good,” “Ban bombs not bathrooms” and “We will not be erased.”
Trump’s campaign against transgender protections and oft-stated antipathy for drag shows have set the community on edge, with some hoping to see a renewed wave of street politics in response.
“Trans people just want to be loved. Everybody wants to live their own lives and I don’t understand the problem with it all,” said Tyler Cargill, who came wearing an elaborate costume with a hat topped by a replica of the U.S. Capitol building.
Wes Kincaid drove roughly six hours from Charlotte, N.C., to attend this year. Sitting on a park bench near the reflecting pond, Kincaid said he made a point of attending this year, “because it’s more important than ever to show up for our community.”
Drag dancer Violeta puts on a show for visitors to Beaches Pride Paradise at the WeHo Pride Street Fair along Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood on May 31.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Reminders of the cuts to federal government programs were on full display Sunday. One attendee waved a massive rainbow flag affixed on the same staff as a large USAID flag; another held a “Proud gay federal worker” sign; and a third held an umbrella with the logos of various federal programs facing cuts — including the PBS logo.
Trump’s anti-trans rhetoric had fueled fears of violence or protests targeting World Pride participants; at one point earlier this spring, rumors circulated that the Proud Boys were planning to disrupt this weekend’s celebrations. Those concerns prompted organizers to install security fencing around the entire two-day street party on a multi-block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue.
But so far, the only clear act of aggression has been the vandalizing of a queer bar last week. Late Saturday night, there was a pair of violent incidents near Dupont Circle — one of the epicenters of the World Pride celebrations. Two juveniles were stabbed and a man was shot in the foot in separate incidents. The Metropolitan Police Department says it is not clear if either incident was directly related to World Pride.
Fernando, Hussein, Martin and Pesoli write for the Associated Press.
DALLAS — Azurá Stevens had 21 points, including a career-high five three-pointers, Dearica Hamby added 20 points, and the Sparks beat the Dallas Wings 93-79 on Friday night to end a three-game losing streak.
Hamby and Stevens each reached 20-plus points for the fourth time this season. Odyssey Sims, who was coming off a 32-point performance in an 85-80 loss to Phoenix on Sunday, added 19 points and a trio of three-pointers for the Sparks.
The Sparks took a 45-40 lead at halftime after Sims converted a three-point play with 2.2 seconds left. Sims finished the half with nine points, Stevens added 13 and Hamby had 11.
Sparks forward Dearica Hamby, right, drives against Dallas Wings center Teaira McCowan during the first half Friday.
(LM Otero / Associated Press)
The Sparks started the third quarter on a 6-0 run and added a 9-0 run to begin the fourth for a 76-55 lead. The Wings had three turnovers and two missed shots in the opening three minutes of the fourth.
Stevens hit her fifth three-pointer with 4:45 left in the fourth on a wide-open shot from the corner off a nice drive and pass by Kelsey Plum.
Plum had 11 points, five rebounds and nine assists and Rickea Jackson scored 10 for the Sparks (3-6).
DiJonai Carrington scored 16 points and JJ Quinerly had a career-high 14 for Dallas (1-8). Luisa Geiselsoder had 11 points and 10 rebounds for her first double-double. Kaila Charles had 10 points.
Dallas has yielded 90-plus points three times during its four-game losing streak.
Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer harassed and retaliated against a high-ranking female prosecutor in his office after she raised concerns about his conduct and tried to protect other prosecutors who were sexually harassed by another superior, according to a jury verdict Thursday.
The jury, which heard the case in San Diego County to avoid potential conflicts, found Spitzer acted with malice against Tracy Miller, who was at one point the highest-ranking woman in the prosecutor’s office.
The jury also found that the county did not take reasonable steps to prevent workplace harassment, and took “adverse employment action” against Miller.
“Tracy Miller had the fortitude to resist the most powerful law enforcement person in the county, and she prevailed,” John Barnett, Miller’s attorney, said after the verdict was read. “It took a lot of courage, and the jury saw that she was right.”
The county declined to comment on the verdict.
The jury found the county, Spitzer and former Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Shawn Nelson liable for $3 million in damages, including $1.5 million for past emotional distress.
Late Thursday, the jury also ruled Spitzer would be liable for an additional $25,000 in punitive damages.
In a statement to The Times, Spitzer said he accepted “full responsibility for any and all actions which occur in my administration, including my own actions and the actions of my former Chief Assistant District Attorney Shawn Nelson.”
Spitzer, in the statement, made no mention of the allegations of retaliation or harassment made by Miller in the lawsuit but said he had “set a very high standard which I expected all my employees to meet, and Ms. Miller was overseeing extremely important assignments.”
“It is no secret that there was a lot of frustration on my part with her lack of performance in handling these very serious matters,” Spitzer said in the statement after the jury returned with their verdict. “I respect the jury’s decision, and I am heartbroken over the fact that any of my actions could have been interpreted as anything other than a good faith effort to clean up the public corruption in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, and to create a work ethic that adheres to what Orange County residents demand of its District Attorney.”
Unlike criminal trials, civil trials in California do not require a unanimous verdict. In this civil case, juror decisions ranged from 12 to 0 to 9 to 3 for the various claims upheld against the defendants. The jury voted 10 to 2 to award punitive damages against Spitzer.
Miller accused Orange County, Spitzer and Nelson of retaliation and forcing Miller out after she objected to Spitzer’s actions while heading the office. Miller alleged she tried to protect female prosecutors from being retaliated against after they alleged they were sexually harassed by Gary LoGalbo, a former supervisor who was also friends with Spitzer.
Former and current prosecutors in the office described a “challenging” and “demanding” environment inside the prosecutors office, but some said they faced threats of being fired or demoted.
In her testimony, Miller said Spitzer and Nelson used “gender-based slurs,” disrespected her and undermined her authority in the office.
According to her suit, Miller alleged she had raised concerns that Spitzer had violated the Racial Justice Act by bringing up questions about race while determining whether to seek the death penalty against a Black defendant, and that Spitzer used race in case assignments.
Miller said in court that Spitzer, in retaliation, had threatened to fire her close friends in the office and dismantle programs she had spearheaded.
But much of the trial centered on what occurred shortly after several female prosecutors alleged they were sexually harassed by LoGalbo, a former police officer and the best man at Spitzer’s wedding.
When an internal county investigation confirmed the women were harassed, the report identified Miller and her testimony by describing her position and gender. Afterward, Miller testified, Spitzer targeted her and criticized her for writing notes during executive meetings.
“You could see anytime a subject came up, Tracy was taking notes about our meetings,” Spitzer testified. “There was a point of time where it was very curious to me, why do you seem to be memorializing everything we’re doing?”
Spitzer, who testified on multiple days during the trial, denied the accusations of harassment and retaliation. He acknowledged deep tensions within the office after he assumed the role in 2018 but attributed the opposition to employees who supported the previous district attorney, Tony Rackauckas.
“I knew it was going to be miserable, and it was miserable,” Spitzer said in testimony, at one point wiping away tears.
He said that was part of the reason he chose Nelson, now a county Superior Court judge, as chief assistant district attorney when he first took office.
“I picked him because I was going into battle, in the lions’ den,” Spitzer said.
But Miller testified Nelson’s actions also raised problems in the district attorney’s office after the allegations of sexual harassment were made. For example, prosecutors testified that during a sexual harassment training session for managers, Nelson stood up and said there were “no victims.”
On Thursday, one of the attorneys representing Miller urged jurors to seek punitive damages against Spitzer, arguing that the acts of retaliation and harassment against Miller were not isolated events.
“This wasn’t just a single incident,” he told jurors. “It wasn’t negligence. This was intentional. It was a long-term, long series of events.”
In his statement Thursday, Spitzer apologized while also criticizing Miller’s work performance during her time in the office.
“In hindsight, I realize that I was not as sensitive to the issues Ms. Miller was facing at the time as I should have been, and for that I am truly sorry,” the statement read.
Tracy Kennedy, an attorney representing the county, told jurors that there was no need to seek additional punitive damages against Spitzer, and that the $3 million sent a message to the district attorney about his behavior in office.
“He’s heard it, he understands,” she said. “He has been punished.”
The county still faces eight sexual harassment lawsuits involving allegations that were made against LoGalbo.
“It’s very important for the public to know what happened,” said Barnett, Miller’s attorney. “I was confident that our case was strong and we were right.”
More laughable errors: Livingston, the first city in the Central Valley to declare itself a sanctuary for immigrants in 2017, isn’t on the list. Yet Santee in San Diego County, so notorious for its racism that people still call it “Klantee,” is.
There’s even Represa. Ever heard of it? Me, neither. Turns out it’s not a city but the name of the post office for two places not exactly known as sanctuaries: Folsom State Prison and California State Prison, Sacramento.
Within hours of his inauguration, Donald Trump signed an executive order tellingly titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” that, among other things, stated that sanctuary jurisdictions should no longer receive federal funds.
But the May 29 list laying out the jurisdictions that are supposedly subject to the penalty was so flawed that it was taken off the Homeland Security website within days. It’s still not back up. The effort seemed cobbled together by someone who typed “sanctuary” and a city’s name into Google and swallowed whatever the AI spat up without even bothering to cross-check with Wikipedia.
Trump’s opponents are already depicting this fiasco as emblematic of an administration that loves to shoot itself in the foot, then put the bloody foot in its mouth. But it’s even worse than that.
The list shows how blinded by fury the Trump administration is about illegal immigration. There is no mistake too big or too small for Trump to forgive, as long as it’s in the name of deportation and border walls. The president’s obsession with tying all of this country’s real and imagined ills to newcomers reminds me of Cato the Elder, the Roman Republic politician famous for allegedly saying “Carthage must be destroyed” at the end of all his speeches, no matter the topic.
That’s why the pushback by politicians against Homeland Security’s big, beautiful boo-boo has been quick — and hilarious.
Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns listens to speakers discuss the city’s plan to make Huntington Beach “a non-sanctuary city for illegal immigration” during a City Council meeting in January
(James Carbone)
Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns appeared on KCAL News to declare that Surf City’s inclusion was “pure negligence” while holding a small white bust of Donald Trump the way a toddler clings to its blankey.
Vista Mayor John Franklin, meanwhile, was on the city council that voted in 2018 to support the Trump administration’s unsuccessful lawsuit against California’s sanctuary state law. He told ABC 10News San Diego that he thought Vista made the list because “another city in the county that bears a similar name to ours … may have, and I haven’t confirmed it yet, adopted a sanctuary policy.”
Dude, say the city’s name: Chula Vista, a far cooler, muy Latino town closer to the U.S.-Mexico border than Vista is. It’s also on the list and isn’t a sanctuary city, either.
On the other end of the political spectrum, Rep. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) told the Voice of OC that he recently advised Santa Ana officials to “keep their head low” and not make a big deal about their sanctuary city status — as if hiding under a desk, like a “Scooby Doo” caper, will somehow save the city from the Trump administration’s haphazard hammer.
Immigration, more than any other part of Trump’s agenda, exemplifies the Silicon Valley cliché of moving fast and breaking things. His administration has deported people by mistake and given the middle finger to judges who order them brought back. Trump officials are now shipping immigrants to countries they have no ties to, and shrugging their shoulders. Immigration agents are trying to apprehend people in places long considered off-limits, like schools and places of worship.
And yet, this still isn’t enough for Trump.
Deportation rates are rising, but still not to the levels seen in some years of the Biden and Obama administrations, and not even close to Operation Wetback, the Eisenhower-era program that deported over a million Mexican nationals. Trump’s deportation dream team — Homeland Security head Kristi Noem, border czar Tom Homan and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — has berated ICE officials for not doing more to comply with Trump’s wishes.
The sanctuary list embodies all of this. Who cares if the wreckage involves human lives, or the Constitution? The sloppiness is the point. The cruelty is the point.
Homeland Security didn’t answer my request to explain the flaws in its sanctuary jurisdiction list and why it was taken down. Instead, a spokesperson emailed a statement saying “the list is being constantly reviewed and can be changed at any time and will be updated regularly.” The decision whether to include a place, the statement said, “is based on the evaluation of numerous factors.”
Except the truth, it seems.
Let’s laugh at the absurd mistakes while we can. Really, how pendejo can you be to think that Huntington Beach is friendly to undocumented immigrants but Santa Ana isn’t? Let’s laugh while we can, because things are going to get much worse before they get better.
Sunday’s matchup between the Sparks and Phoenix Mercury felt like déjà vu. When the Sparks faced Phoenix last month, the game ended with a failed Sparks comeback.
In a twist of fate, Sunday’s comeback belonged to Phoenix.
Unable to stay ahead after building an 18-point lead, the Sparks fell 85-80 to the Mercury at Crypto.com Arena for their third consecutive loss.
As with the first meeting, the third quarter proved to be the Sparks’ undoing. After scoring just seven points in the third quarter of their loss to Phoenix on May 21, the Sparks were outscored 24-9 in the third Sunday.
“You’ve got to live with it,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “Sometimes we have a bad day. It’s a bad day to have a bad day. We have a lead like that, but that’s the game.”
Before the game, Roberts said consistency in transition defense, avoiding prolonged bad stretches and fluid ball movement would define a strong third quarter. None of that materialized against Phoenix (5-2).
But even more costly was their inability to score in the second half.
“This game came down to us not shooting,” Roberts said. “We had eight threes in the first half. We finished with eight. They had the same amount of field goals we did. They just hit four more threes.”
After opening with their best first quarter of the season, the Sparks became visibly frustrated in the second half. A three-pointer from Kathryn Westbeld with 2:11 left in the third gave the Mercury their first lead, 58-57, and capped a 21-5 run.
The shift in energy was palpable in what became a chippy, physical game. Momentum swung in Phoenix’s favor late in the third when Satou Sabally was fouled by Kelsey Plum while scoring on a layup, pointing and shouting to the Sparks bench as she celebrated.
Sabbaly exchanged words with the Sparks bench throughout the game, and drew a technical foul before halftime. After the game, she said her and-one celebration was aimed at her former assistant — now Sparks assistant coach — Zak Buncik.
“Well, he just motivated me a little bit. So, I was telling him, ‘Thanks,’” she said.
Sabally finished as the Mercury’s leading scorer with 24 points. She also had nine rebounds.
The teams traded leads early in the fourth quarter. Trailing by two, with 25 seconds left, Plum turned over the ball while trying to pass to an open shooter. Plum then fouled Kitija Laksa, who made two free throws to make it a four-point game.
Plum was one for 13 in the second half, finishing with 15 points and six rebounds.
“I just missed,” Plum said. “I had four really good looks that felt good coming out of my hands at the end of the game. I’m going to get another chance to do it, and I’ll hit them. But, I mean, I just didn’t feel like I had my legs.”
Playing seven games in 15 days, the loss capped off a grueling stretch — one that Roberts attributed to the team’s inconsistency as a result of lost practice time.
The Sparks (2-6) were a different team in the first quarter behind a new starting lineup of Julie Allemand, Dearica Hamby, Azurá Stevens, Odyssey Sims, Plum. With Allemand in the lineup, Sarah Ashlee Barker, who had started the previous five games, came off the bench.
The Sparks scored 27 points and had a 10-point lead going into the second quarter. After struggling with flat starts all season, the team finally found an early rhythm — one they’ve shown in flashes, but haven’t sustained.
Standing at 5-foot-8, Sims — one of the Sparks’ fiercest competitors — helped keep the team in the game, scoring a game-high 32 points.
She relentlessly attacked the basket, giving Mercury defender Sami Whitcomb the “too small’ gesture in the process. She hit the floor multiple times on hard drives, fighting through contact, and getting in the faces of Mercury defenders to confront them about foul calls. At times, the toll of her effort showed, as she walked with a slight limp between plays.
“It was a little bit more aggressive,” Sims said of her performance. “I think the run was kind of big for me today. I tried to stay in that mode. We were up going into halftime, and I just wanted to just basically keep my foot on their necks.”
Despite the effort, Sims says the team “let this one slip away.”
Plum praised Sims’ ability to respond to the Mercury’s runs almost single-handedly — she scored 15 of the Sparks’ 30 second-half points — but it wasn’t enough to secure a much-needed win for a Sparks team that plays eight of its next 11 games on the road.
“Of course, this one stings,” Sims said. “We know it’s the third quarter. We keep saying the same thing over and over, kind of beating a dead horse at this point, but it’s going to be less talking about it, and more doing it.”
After the Palisades fire ignited, top brass at the Los Angeles Fire Department were quick to say that they were hampered by broken fire engines and a lack of mechanics to fix them.
If the roughly 40 fire engines that were in the shop had been repaired, they said, the battle against what turned out to be one of the costliest and most destructive disasters in Los Angeles history might have unfolded differently.
Then-Fire Chief Kristin Crowley cited the disabled engines as a reason fire officials didn’t dispatch more personnel to fire-prone areas as the winds escalated, and why they sent home firefighters who showed up to help as the blaze raged out of control. The department, she said, should have had three times as many mechanics.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right, and Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley address the media at a press conference onJan. 11.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
But many of the broken engines highlighted by LAFD officials had been out of service for many months or even years — and not necessarily for a lack of mechanics, according to a Times review of engine work orders as of Jan. 3, four days before the fire.
What’s more, the LAFD had dozens of other engines that could have been staffed and deployed in advance of the fire.
Instead, the service records point to a broader problem: the city’s longtime reliance on an aging fleet of engines.
Well over half of the LAFD’s fire engines are due to be replaced. According to an LAFD report presented to the city Fire Commission last month, 127 out of 210 fire engines — 60% — and 29 out of 60 ladder trucks — 48% — are operating beyond their recommended lifespans.
“It just hasn’t been a priority,” said Frank Líma, general secretary treasurer of the International Assn. of Fire Fighters who is also an LAFD captain, adding that frontline rigs are “getting pounded like never before” as the number of 911 calls increases.
That means officials are relying heavily on reserve engines — older vehicles that can be used in emergencies or when regular engines are in the shop. The goal is to use no more than half of those vehicles, but for the last three years, LAFD has used, on average, 80% of the trucks, engines and ambulances in reserve, according to the Fire Commission report.
“That’s indicative of a fleet that’s just getting older,” said Assistant Chief Peter Hsiao, who oversees LAFD’s supply and maintenance division, in an interview with The Times.
“As our fleet gets older, the repairs become more difficult,” Hsiao told the Fire Commission. “We’re now doing things like rebuilding suspensions, rebuilding pump transmissions, rebuilding transmissions, engine overhauls.”
The problem stems from long-term funding challenges, Hsiao said in the interview, with the department receiving varying amounts of money each year that have to be divvied up among competing equipment needs.
“If you extrapolate that over a longer period of time, then you end up in a situation where we are,” he said.
To make matters worse, Hsiao said, the price of new engines and trucks has doubled since the pandemic. Engines that cost $775,000 a few years ago are now pushing $1.5 million — and it takes three years or more to build them, he said.
The number of fire engine manufacturers has also declined.
Recently, the IAFF asked the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate a consolidation in emergency vehicle manufacturers that it said has resulted in skyrocketing costs and “brutal” wait times. In a letter, the IAFF said that at least two dozen companies have been rolled up into just three main manufacturers.
Firefighters battle the Palisades fire on El Medio Avenue on Jan. 7 in Pacific Palisades.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
“These problems have reduced the readiness of fire departments to respond to emergencies, with dire consequences for public safety,” the letter said.
The IAFF is the parent organization of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, the local union representing LAFD firefighters. IAFF has been running the local labor group since suspending its top officers last month over allegations of financial impropriety.
Hsiao said the LAFD’s fleet is well-maintained, and engines don’t often break down.
But the age and condition of the fleet could deteriorate further, even with an infusion of cash to buy new equipment, because the wait times are so long.
Mayor Karen Bass’ office has previously said that she secured $51 million last year to purchase 10 fire engines, five trucks, 20 ambulances and other equipment. The 2025-26 budget passed by the City Council last month includes nearly $68 million for 10 fire engines, four trucks, 10 ambulances and a helicopter, among other equipment, the mayor’s office said.
“The Mayor’s Office is working with new leadership at LAFD to ensure that new vehicles are purchased in a timely manner and put into service,” a spokesperson said in an email.
A majority of the Fire Department’s budget goes toward pay and benefits for its more than 3,700 employees, most of them firefighters.
Members of the Los Angeles Fire Department fill the council chambers to show support for former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, who was at City Hall March 4 to appeal her termination to the Los Angeles City Council after Mayor Karen Bass fired her as head of the Fire Department. Under the city charter, Crowley would need the support of 10 of the 15 council members to be reinstated as chief.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Despite the city’s financial troubles, firefighters secured four years of pay raises last year through negotiations with Bass. And firefighters often make much more than their base pay, with about 30% of the LAFD’s payroll costs going to overtime, according to the city’s payroll database. Firefighters and fire captains each earned an average of $73,500 in overtime last year, on top of an average base salary of about $140,100, the data show.
Líma said that while new engines will be useful, “a one-year little infusion doesn’t help a systemic problem that’s developed over decades.” Asked whether firefighters would defer raises, he said they “shouldn’t fund the Fire Department off the backs of their salaries.”
The National Fire Protection Assn. recommends that fire engines move to reserve status after 15 years and out of the fleet altogether after 25 years.
But many larger cities need to act sooner, “because of the constant wear and tear city equipment takes,” said Marc Bashoor, a former fire chief who now trains firefighters across the country, in an email. “In my opinion, 10 years is OLD for city apparatus.”
Bashoor also noted that incorporating a variety of brands into a fleet, as the LAFD does, can increase repair times.
“When a fire department doesn’t have a standardized fleet, departments typically are unable to stock enough … parts to fit every brand,” he said in an email. “They then have to find the part or use a 3rd party, which can significantly delay repairs.”
Of the roughly 40 engines in the shop before the Palisades fire, three were built in 1999. Hsiao said engines that old are typically used for training and don’t respond to calls.
Those that are too old or damaged from collisions or fires to ever return to city streets sometimes remain in the yard so they can be stripped for parts or used for training. Some are kept as evidence in lawsuits.
According to the service records reviewed by The Times, a work order was opened in 2023 for a 2003 engine burned in a fire, with notes saying “strip for salvage.” A 2006 engine damaged in an accident was waiting for parts, according to notes associated with a work order from last April. Two 2018 engines were damaged in collisions, including one with “heavy damage” to the rear body that had to be towed in, according to notes for an order from last July. Other orders noted oil leaks or problems with head gaskets.
Almost 30 of the engines that were out of service before the fire — 70% on the list — were 15 or more years old, past what the city considers an appropriate lifespan. Only a dozen had work orders that were three months old or less. That included three newer engines — two built in 2019 and one in 2020 — whose service records showed they were waiting for “warranty” repairs.
“The LAFD does not have the funding mechanism to supply enough mechanics and enough money for the parts to repair these engines, the trucks, the ambulances,” Escobar told KTLA-TV.
The issues date back more than a decade. A 2019 report showed that LAFD’s equipment was even more outdated at the time, with 136 of 216 engines, or 63%, due for replacement, as well as 43 of 58 ladder trucks, or 74%. In a report from 2012, LAFD officials said they didn’t have enough mechanics to keep up with the workload.
“Of paramount concern is the Department’s aging and less reliable fleet, a growing backlog of deferred repairs, and increased maintenance expense,” the 2012 report said, adding that mechanics were primarily doing emergency repairs instead of preventative maintenance.
LAFD’s equipment and operations have been under heightened scrutiny since the Palisades fire erupted Jan. 7, destroying thousands of homes and killing 12 people, with many saying that officials were severely unprepared.
A total of 18 firefighters are typically on duty at the two fire stations in the Palisades — Stations 23 and 69 — to respond to emergencies. Only 14 of them are routinely available to fight brush fires, The Times previously reported. The other four are assigned to ambulances at the two stations, although they might help with evacuations or rescues during fires.
The Palisades fire burns along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
LAFD officials did not pre-deploy any engines to the Palisades ahead of the fire, despite warnings about extreme weather, a Times investigation found. In preparing for the winds, the department staffed only five of more than 40 engines available to supplement the regular firefighting force.
Those working engines could have been pre-positioned in the Palisades and elsewhere, as had been done in the past during similar weather.
Less than two months after the fire, Bass dismissed Crowley, citing the chief’s pre-deployment decisions as one of the reasons.
Bass has rejected the idea that there was any connection between reductions at the department and the city’s response to the wildfires.
Meanwhile, the number of mechanics on the job hasn’t changed much in recent years, fluctuating between 64 and 74 since 2020, according to records released by the LAFD in January. As of this year, the agency had 71 mechanics.
According to its report to the Fire Commission, the LAFD doesn’t have enough mechanics to maintain and repair its fleet, based on the average number of hours the department said it takes to maintain a single vehicle.
Last year, the report said, mechanics completed 31,331 of 32,317 work requests, or 97%. So far this year, they have completed 62%, according to the report.
“With a greater number of mechanics, we can reduce the delays. However, a limited facility size, parts availability, and warranty repairs compound the issue,” LAFD said in an unsigned email.
Special correspondent Paul Pringle contributed to this report.
The actors playing Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the new Harry Potter HBO show have been announced as the magical story gets a TV reboot thanks to American broadcaster HBO
22:38, 28 May 2025Updated 22:41, 28 May 2025
HBO have announced the cast for the Harry Potter reboot
The announcement of the lead cast for HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter reboot has sparked a wave of excitement from the fandom, but it hasn’t come without controversy. As the wizarding world prepares to welcome a new generation of Hogwarts students, some long-time fans are voicing frustration over one major issue.
Harry Potter still doesn’t have green eyes. Dominic McLaughlin has been cast as the Boy Who Lived in the new TV adaptation, with Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout playing Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley respectively. The young trio are stepping into the iconic roles that were made famous by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint in the original eight-film series.
Harry Potter fans have criticised the casting choice for the new HBO show(Image: AP)
While many were excited to hear the casting announcement, a number of fans took to social media to express their disappointment that once again Harry Potter’s most mentioned physical trait in the books has been overlooked.
One fan on Instagram asked: “PS Where’s the green-eyed kid for Harry?” Another commented: “Even after 25 years, they couldn’t find a kid with green eyes to play Harry.”
The criticism stems from the books’ constant emphasis on Harry’s green eyes, which are supposed to be a key link to his mother, Lily Potter. Many avid fans of the original novels feel that without this detail, certain key scenes don’t make sense, such as Snape admitting he is hard on Harry because his eyes remind the professor of his former love.
People have complained that once again the star playing Harry Potter does not have green eyes
A third fan hit out: “Physical traits matter. I can’t believe we’re getting another Harry with brown hair and blue eyes despite the author constantly pointing out his defining features as jet black hair and green eyes.”
Someone else who spoke out in defence of Hermione’s casting grumbled: “Our boy Harry on the other hand is never gonna get represented properly with black hair and green eyes. Brown and blue are apparently close enough.”
The same issue came up during the original films, when Daniel Radcliffe was cast as Harry despite having blue eyes. According to a behind-the-scenes video featuring producer David Heyman, the star initially tried wearing green contact lenses while the first film was being shot, but had an allergic reaction to them and had to give up.
Despite the backlash, JK Rowling has voiced her support for the new cast. She responded to a fan wishing the actors well on social media saying: “All three are wonderful. I couldn’t be happier.”
As an executive producer on the series, Rowling was reportedly involved in the casting process. The upcoming HBO series is being billed as a “faithful adaptation” of the beloved books, with each season dedicated to a single novel.
Showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod have also spoken highly of the cast in a joint statement, saying: “The talent of these three unique actors is wonderful to behold, and we cannot wait for the world to witness their magic together onscreen.”
They added: “We would like to thank all the tens of thousands of children who auditioned. It’s been a real pleasure to discover the plethora of young talent out there.”
When the Sparks traded for Kelsey Plum, the buzz around her reunion with former championship teammate Dearica Hamby centered on one thing: their pedigree elevating the franchise.
On Tuesday night, fans got a glimpse of the potential that the duo could attain. The chemistry. The comfort. The way they fed off each other’s energy — stepping up when the Sparks needed it most, looking to build momentum off a previous hard-fought victory.
By the fourth quarter of an 88-82 loss to the Atlanta Dream (4-2) on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, the Sparks (2-4) were on the verge of a comeback. A steal by Hamby near midcourt turned into an outlet on the fastbreak to Plum, who quickly dished it back for the finish, trimming the deficit to 66–63.
The second half belonged to them. Plum and Hamby combined for 39 points to rally the Sparks from a 40–31 halftime hole. Like clockwork, Plum buried a clutch three-pointer to cut the lead to 71–70 — the closest L.A. would get. Hamby’s late free throws pulled them to within two in the final minutes.
They led by example — attacking the basket, applying pressure on defense, diving for loose balls — doing everything necessary to win the close games the Sparks have so often found themselves in this season.
But in the end, like so often before, their effort fell just short.
Although the duo played with a sense of urgency, it’s still something the team as a whole struggles to sustain over a full 40 minutes, according to head coach Lynne Roberts. It seemed they might have turned a corner Sunday, but that performance now feels like the exception, not the start of a trend.
“My message to the group was we’ve got to be able to put 40 minutes together and not get down and then play with that urgency,” Roberts said. “We have the ability to play like that more, and that’s what I’d like to see when we go in those spurts or the droughts.”
As a team, the drought came in the second quarter. Coming off their highest-scoring game of the season, the Sparks looked out of sorts against a staunch Atlanta defense that refused to give up easy baskets.
The Dream disrupted the Sparks’ rhythm from the start, denying space for them to initiate sets, locate open shooters or generate meaningful possessions — the blueprint of Roberts’ offense. That inefficiency became more pronounced as the quarter progressed, when opportunities came sparingly and turnovers, whether from steals or denied attempts at the rim, became a recurring theme.
“I could do a better job,” Plum said, shouldering the brunt of the offensive inefficiency in the period. “Getting the people the ball, good shot. And I think we had a lot of good looks around the rim early… Just missed them, and credit to them.”
Plum finished with 27 points, five assists, three rebounds and four steals, and Hamby had 28 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals of her own, with Roberts adding that “those are stupid numbers. And her defense there in the second half got us back in it.”
With inconsistency still prevalent and struggles to close out games lingering, Plum and Hamby agree the team is close to improving, but the process is ongoing.
“If you watch these game, we’re right freaking there,” Plum said.
Hamby says success won’t come this early in the season, reflecting on her and Plum’s championship experience in Las Vegas.
“We enjoy the process — been part of the process,” Hamby said. “We know that it’s not like it happens overnight. It’s not going to happen in the first six games of the season.
“Obviously, we want to compete and we want to keep building. But perspective: this is a new group. We’re learning a whole new system. It’s predicated on chemistry, movement, space, team.”
But the road to success remains a marathon.
The Sparks will have only a few days to continue their team-building efforts before hitting the road for a matchup in Las Vegas against the Aces — the former home of both All-Stars. For Plum, it signifies her first return since the offseason trade.
The quick turnaround also gives Rickea Jackson, fresh off a concussion, more time to ease back into the lineup.
With starters logging heavy minutes and rookies thrust into high-pressure roles early in the season, the Sparks simply needed more bodies to ease the burden. The return of Rickea Jackson was a welcome boost.
Still, the Sparks took a cautious approach to her reintroduction. Jackson came off the bench and played limited minutes (12) mostly in the second half, as she worked to reacclimate to the pace of live play.
At times, she looked like a player still finding her rhythm, missing shots she typically makes and picking up uncharacteristic fouls. She finished with more fouls than any other stat: three fouls and just one rebound.
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark will be out at least two weeks with a left quad strain, the team announced Monday.
The Fever did not say when Clark suffered the injury. The team said further updates will be provided after she gets another evaluation.
Clark played 37:52 and had 18 points and 10 assists in a 90-88 loss to the New York Liberty on Saturday.
The Fever are 2-2 this season and could be without Clark for at least the next four games against the Mystics (twice), Sun and Sky. All the opponents sit below the Fever in the Eastern Conference.
Clark is averaging 19.0 points, 9.3 assists and 6.0 rebounds this season.
Against the Chicago Sky, the Sparks found themselves in a must-win situation, not in the grand scheme of the standings, but for peace of mind. A win to help with confidence and morale.
After a week riddled with injuries and a three-game skid, Sunday’s matchup carried weight beyond the court — it mattered in the locker room. The pressure was starting to show, with visible signs of frustration from head coach Lynne Roberts down to the end of the bench.
The Sparks were a team searching for anything to swing the momentum back in their favor.
That shift came in the form of their superstar, Kelsey Plum, who took it upon herself to ignite the turnaround with a shooting clinic in the third quarter. Her flurry helped lift L.A. to a much-needed 91-78 win over the Sky at Crypto.com Arena.
Despite a back-and-forth start and a 43-39 halftime lead, the question remained: Which version of the Sparks would emerge after the break — the lethargic, disconnected squad or a group finally ready to deliver the full 40-minute effort Roberts has pleaded for?
Out of the locker room, the Sparks found a renewed energy. What followed was a shooting barrage from beyond the arc.
Plum sparked the run, and fittingly, she helped seal it too.
As she let her first left-handed three fly, the confidence in her stroke started to build. The second, from the top of the key, came with a signature gesture — Plum pointing to her veins, signaling the ice running through them. Then came the heat check: back-to-back threes that only added to her fire. A final three dropped cleanly through the net, punctuating the outburst.
Plum went five for six in the quarter, scoring 15 of her 28 total points, helping L.A. stretch the lead to 76-64 by the end of the third. The Sparks finished eight of 11 from the field in the quarter as a team.
Plum left it all on the floor for the Sparks. At one point, she took a shot to the nose and stayed down for a couple of minutes. But after brushing off the injury, Plum returned to the lineup and finished the game, embodying the grit the Sparks desperately needed.
But even against the league’s worst scoring offense (66.0 points per game) and defense (96.0), in what seemed like the perfect opportunity to exploit a team with even worse early-season woes, the game unfolded as two physical squads refusing to back down.
Coming in, there was no doubt that low-post anchors Dearica Hamby and Azurá Stevens would face a tough challenge, tasked with matching up against Chicago’s frontcourt duo of Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese — both boasting a clear advantage in size and length.
In the first half, however, Hamby and Stevens limited Cardoso and Reese to a combined 12 points and nine rebounds — a small but important victory against a Sky team ranked third in the WNBA in rebounding (39.0 per game).
Reese finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds — her third double-double of the season — while Cardoso added 12 points but was limited to just six boards. The Sparks’ frontcourt tandem managed to keep the damage manageable, preventing the kind of interior dominance Chicago has leaned on throughout the early season.
The winless Galaxy (0-11-4, 4 points) scored first when Diego Fagúndez connected with a right-footed shot from the center of the box to the middle right zone in the 40th minute.
San Diego drew even a minute later with Luca de la Torre’s right-footed shot from the center of the box to the central bottom zone.
San Diego had a 57.2 possession percentage and outshot the Galaxy 13-9 overall and 2-1 in shots on goal. There were no goalkeeper saves in the match.
San Diego visits Seattle on Wednesday and the Galaxy hosts San José.
WEST POINT, N.Y. — President Trump used the first military commencement address of his second term Saturday to congratulate West Point cadets on their academic and physical accomplishments while veering sharply into politics, claiming credit for America’s military might while boasting about his election victory last fall.
“In a few moments, you’ll become graduates of the most elite and storied military academy in human history,” Trump said at the ceremony at Michie Stadium. “And you will become officers of the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known. And I know, because I rebuilt that army, and I rebuilt the military. And we rebuilt it like nobody has ever rebuilt it before in my first term.”
Wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, the Republican president told the 1,002 graduating cadets that the U.S. is the “hottest country in the world,” boasted of his administration’s record and underscored an “America first” theme for the U.S. military, which he called “the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.”
“We’re getting rid of distractions and we’re focusing our military on its core mission: crushing America’s adversaries, killing America’s enemies and defending our great American flag like it has never been defended before,” Trump said. He later said that “the job of the U.S. armed forces is not to host drag shows or transform foreign cultures,” a reference to drag shows on military bases that the Biden administration halted after Republican criticism.
Trump said the cadets were graduating at a “defining moment” in the Army’s history, as he criticized past political leaders, whom he said led soldiers into “nation-building crusades to nations that wanted nothing to do with us.” He said he was clearing the military of transgender ideas, “critical race theory” and trainings he called divisive and political.
“They subjected the armed forces to all manner of social projects and political causes while leaving our borders undefended and depleting our arsenals to fight other countries’ wars,” he said of past administrations.
Several points during his address at the football stadium on the military academy’s campus were indistinguishable from a political speech. Trump claimed that when he left the White House in 2021, “we had no wars, we had no problems, we had nothing but success, we had the most incredible economy” — although voters had just rejected his bid for reelection.
Turning to last year’s election, he noted that he won all seven swing states, arguing that those results gave him a “great mandate” and “it gives us the right to do what we want to do,” although he did not win a majority of votes nationwide.
The president also took several moments to acknowledge specific graduates’ achievements. He summoned Chris Verdugo onto the stage, noting that the cadet completed an 18.5-mile march on a freezing night in January in two hours and 30 minutes. Trump had the top-ranking lacrosse team stand to be recognized. He also brought West Point’s football quarterback, Bryson Daily, to the lectern, praising him as having a “steel”-like shoulder. He later used Daily as an example to make a case against transgender women participating in women’s athletics.
In a nod to presidential tradition, Trump also pardoned about half a dozen cadets who had faced disciplinary infractions.
“You could have done anything you wanted, you could have gone anywhere,” Trump told the class, later continuing: “Writing your own ticket to top jobs on Wall Street or Silicon Valley wouldn’t be bad, but I think what you’re doing is better.”
The president also ran through several pieces of advice for the graduating cadets, urging them to do what they love, think big, work hard, hold onto their culture, keep faith in America and take risks.
“This is a time of incredible change and we do not need an officer corps of careerists and yes men,” Trump said, going on to note recent advances in military technology. “We need patriots with guts and vision and backbone.”
Trump closed his speech by calling on the graduating cadets to “never ever give up,” then said he was leaving to deal with matters involving Russia and China.
“We’re going to keep winning, this country’s going to keep winning, and with you, the job is easy,” he said.
Just outside campus, about three dozen protesters gathered before the ceremony, waving miniature American flags. One in the crowd carried a sign that said “Support Our Veterans” and “Stop the Cuts,” while others held up plastic buckets with the message: “Go Army Beat Fascism.”
Trump gave the commencement address at West Point in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He urged the graduating cadets to “never forget” the soldiers who fought a war over slavery during his remarks that day, which came as the nation was reckoning with its history on race after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The ceremony five years ago drew scrutiny because the U.S. Military Academy forced the graduating cadets, who had been home because of COVID-19, to return to an area near a pandemic hot spot.
Trump traveled to Tuscaloosa, Ala., earlier this month to speak to the University of Alabama’s graduating class. His remarks mixed standard commencement fare and advice with political attacks against his Democratic predecessor, President Biden, musings about transgender athletes and lies about the 2020 election.
On Friday, Vice President JD Vance spoke to the graduating class at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Vance said in his remarks that Trump is working to ensure U.S. soldiers are deployed with clear goals, rather than “undefined missions” and “open-ended conflicts.”
Kim and Swenson write for the Associated Press and reported from West Point and Bridgewater, N.J., respectively.
Although not an official rivalry steeped in tradition just yet, the competitiveness between California’s two WNBA teams suggests the start of one.
With the Sparks and Golden State Valkyries trying to jump start new eras for their respective franchises, the meeting marked the third clash between the teams in as many weeks — and it left the Sparks emotionally and physically bruised.
On their first road trip to Southern California on Friday, the expansion Valkyries exacted revenge on one of the WNBA’s charter members, holding off a late Sparks comeback in an 82-73 win.
The Sparks’ frustration was evident after the game. Coach Lynne Roberts looked displeased. Beside her, rookie Sarah Ashlee Barker sat stone-faced, a fresh shiner darkening the area beneath her right eye. Dearica Hamby rested her head in her hands, her responses to questions from the media brief and subdued.
“They beat us tonight,” Roberts said. “They were more connected. They played harder. They played with more intensity.”
What began as a back-and-forth battle quickly underscored how evenly matched the two teams are despite being at different stages. The final score suggested a close game, but for much of the night, it looked like it would be a Valkyries rout.
The Sparks surged to an early 20-9 lead behind strong play from Odyssey Sims, Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby. Sims hit three early three-pointers and Plum added six points fueled by defensive pressure and steals. Hamby anchored the interior with physical play.
But much like their previous two matchups, inconsistency quickly crept in for the Sparks (1-3). The Sparks’ struggles emerged after halftime in their last two games. This time, the unraveling came earlier.
“We stopped following the game plan,” Roberts said. “It’s bad — we’ve got to fix it. We need to put together a full 40 minutes. We haven’t done that yet.”
A second-quarter collapse — marked by defensive breakdowns and offensive stagnation — put L.A. in a hole too big to overcome. Entering the period with a two-point lead, Golden State went on an 18-0 run to take a 45-26 lead.
Golden State (2-1) shot 10 for 18 (55.6%) from the field in the second quarter, looking every bit like a team determined to avenge its two earlier losses — one in the preseason and the other in their season opener.
Meanwhile, the Sparks appeared far removed from the cohesion and toughness they showed in a loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday — the kind of progress coach Lynne Roberts pointed to as a sign of early-season growth. The Sparks didn’t register a field goal in the second quarter until the 2:36 mark.
L.A. trailed 49-35 at halftime after shooting just 2 for 16 from the field and scoring nine points in the second quarter.
From the start, the Valkyries’ game plan centered on containing Kelsey Plum, who erupted for 37 points against them on May 16. Golden State’s defense swarmed Plum with traps and forced the ball out of her hands, limiting her to 16 points on six-of-18 shooting, including two for 10 from beyond the arc. She also had four steals.
Golden State’s lead hovered around 15 points for much of the third quarter. The Sparks only began to chip away at the deficit in the fourth quarter.
A three-pointer from Plum cut the Valkyries’ lead to 73-63 with just under six minutes remaining. Moments later, Hamby powered to the rim through heavy contact, converting a tough layup and drawing the foul. Her successful free throw made it an eight-point game.
Hamby continued to take charge, shooting a three-pointer with 2:32 left to make it a five-point game.
“We definitely picked up the defensive energy,” Hamby said of the fourth-quarter effort. “We got some good hustle plays and tried to build momentum — but I want to win, so I’m willing to do whatever it takes.”
But that was as close as the Sparks would get after Hamby fouled Kayla Thornton on a three-point attempt. Thornton made all three of her free-throw attempts.
Robert liked what she saw from the Sparks in the fourth quarter, but she wants to see that urgency deployed earlier and throughout the game.
“We can’t wait,” Roberts said. “We did show toughness — we didn’t fold. They kept competing, and we made it a game. … But why does it take us 30 minutes to play like that?”
Hamby scored 10 of her 25 points in the fourth quarter. She also had six rebounds and three blocks. Sims finished with 13 points as the Sparks suffered their third consecutive loss. Carla Leite led Golden State with 19 points.
Golden State’s win marked a special homecoming for Anaheim native and Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase, who said she felt a wave of emotion as the team flew into L.A. Seeing familiar landmarks from the window of the plane — including her childhood homes — stirred memories of her father and the path that led her to becoming a WNBA coach. Nasake served as an assistant coach under Clippers coach Doc Rivers.
“It’s like seeing the ushers — a lot of them I’ve known for a long time, and they’re just saying congratulations and what an accomplishment,” said Nakase of the surreal feeling of winning at Crypto.com Arena. “It’s nice to see a lot of familiar faces.”
