A wealthy young Silicon Valley venture capitalist hopes to recruit statewide and congressional candidates and launch an affordable-housing ballot measure in 2018 because he says California’s leaders are failing to address flaws in the state’s governance that are killing opportunities for future generations.
“I think we have a fundamental breakdown of the American social contract and it’s desperately important that we fix it,” he said. “Even if we had a very well-functioning government, it would be a challenge, and our current government functions so badly it is an extra challenge.”
Altman is the president of Y Combinator, a technology incubator that has provided start-up funding to hundreds of Silicon Valley companies, notably Airbnb, Dropbox and Stripe. He first made his mark by co-founding a social media app called Loopt when he was 19 that later sold for $43 million.
He said he hopes to recruit a slate of four candidates to run for office — possibly for governor, lieutenant governor, mayor of a major city in California and Congress — and could provide technology platforms and seed money for their campaigns.
Though Altman said he is not specifically targeting Democratic politicians, he made clear he is not happy with incumbents such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein or the current gubernatorial field, which includes Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
“I’m not satisfied with the current choices,” Altman said. “I don’t want to make this about dumping on specific people, [but] I don’t think any of the current candidates are the best we could do.”
He would not be the first wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneur to try to shake up California politics based on his tech resume. Among them are former eBay chief Meg Whitman, who spent $144 million of her own money on an unsuccessful gubernatorial run in 2010, and former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina, who ran for Senate in 2010 before running for president in 2016.
In recent years, tech industry executives have played notable roles helping candidates get elected to top office, including Google parent company Alphabet Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt, who backed former President Obama, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, who supported President Trump.
Altman declined to say how much he was willing to spend on his effort but said he would prefer to invest heavily on a cause rather than underwriting individual campaigns.
“That’s always felt gross to me,” he said. “I’m happy to spend a lot of money supporting the movement.”
Over the years, Altman has been registered as a Democrat and as having no party preference, and his political donations swing between liberal and center-left.
Last year, he donated $100,000 to a San Francisco group working to elect moderates to the county Board of Supervisors, and $50,000 to an Airbnb committee that backed an increase in the city sales tax. He has also spent thousands of dollars backing Obama and national and local Democratic groups, as well as congressional, legislative and local candidates.
On a website that launches Wednesday, Altman lays out his concerns and policy goals. He argues that the state’s priorities have become unbalanced, resulting in inequality, stalled growth and declining opportunity. And it will only become worse because of an upcoming economic shift driven by automation, he says.
“We need to figure out a new social contract, and to ensure that everyone benefits from the coming changes,” Altman writes on the site.
Altman lays out 10 principles including lowering the cost of housing, creating single-payer healthcare, increasing clean energy use, improving education, reforming taxes and rebuilding infrastructure.
He has few specific policy edicts, and floats proposals that will generate controversy, such as creating a universal basic income for all Americans in an effort to equalize opportunity, public funding for the media and increasing taxes on property that is owned by foreigners, is unoccupied or has been “flipped” by investors seeking a quick return on an investment.
Altman said he recognizes he faces an uphill battle.
“Maybe this will go nowhere,” he said. “There’s always the possibility I put this out and there’s exactly one person who believes in this stuff and it’s me.”
Junior cornerback Ayden Celis recovered a fumble at San Fernando’s 22-yard line with 1:27 remaining and the second-seeded Tigers held on to beat No. 1-seeded Cleveland 21-14 at Birmingham High.
It was the ninth City title for San Fernando (11-3) and its first since 2017.
Melvin Pineda plowed into the end zone on fourth and goal from the one-yard line to end San Fernando’s first drive and, after teammate Brandan Marshall recovered a fumble at the Tigers’ 46, Pineda capped the ensuing possession with another one-yard touchdown, his sixth of the playoffs, to make it 14-0.
Cleveland marched to San Fernando’s eight-yard line late in the second quarter but a 25-yard field-goal attempt by Samael Cerritos hit the left upright.
Oluwafemi Okeola intercepted an overthrown pass at the San Fernando 46 early in the third quarter and nine plays later quarterback Domenik Fuentes scored on a three-yard keeper to pull the top-seeded Cavaliers within eight.
Three runs by Brandon Maldonado gained 37 yards to set up Fuentes’ one-yard plunge and a two-point conversion run by Joseph Hurtado that tied the score, 14-14, with 9:33 left.
San Fernando responded with a 75-yard drive, regaining the lead on a two-yard run by Andrew Newchurch, his 16th touchdown of the season, and a clutch extra point by Isaac Ortega with 4:36 remaining in the game.
“It was probably my last [high school] football game and we got the win,” Newchurch said. “The play was overload left and it was wide open. We’re proud to add to the school legacy — we hadn’t won City in a long time.”
The Tigers lost to eventual-champion Chatsworth in the first round of the Division II playoffs last season.
Friday was just another day at the office for Darnell Miller.
Santee’s senior running back arrived on time, rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns, and clocked out early as the Falcons soared past Hawkins 35-6 to win the City Section Division III championship at Birmingham High.
Watching from the sideline, as he does almost every game, was Darnell’s 10-year-old brother, Frederick, a fifth-grader at Twenty-Eighth Street Elementary who Darnell picks up from school and brings to practice every day.
“What I love most about this sport is all the friends I’ve made. … I’m a shy person, but it’s made me more vocal, taught me discipline and to take care of my responsibilities,” said Miller, who likes football best despite also playing guard on the basketball team in the winter and running for the track team in the spring. “I just do what I do. This is my last year, so I want to finish strong.”
Darnell Miller and his 10-year-old brother, Frederick, pose with the City championship trophy and plaque after Santee’s victory in Division III.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Miller began the day averaging 15.1 yards per carry, having rushed for 3,103 yards and 37 touchdowns, and wasted no time adding to those totals against the second-seeded Hawks (10-3). He ended Santee’s first drive with an 11-yard touchdown run, added a five-yarder in the second quarter and a nine-yarder in the third quarter to make it 35-0. Quarterback Daynian Alvarado scored the Falcons’ other two touchdowns on runs of one and 13 yards.
“Darnell is a very hard working, humble young man and everything you want a captain to be,” said Santee coach John Petty, who guided the Falcons to their only other City title in 2018. “He’s the first person in the locker room and the last to leave.”
The win wrapped up a dominant run for the No. 1-seeded Falcons (10-4), who defeated their four playoff opponents by an average margin of 29 points.
The Hawks averted the shutout midway through the fourth quarter when Justin Cortez capped a 10-play, 55-yard drive with a five-yard scoring run.
His job done, Miller got to sit out the entire fourth quarter after upping his touchdown count to 43 touchdowns this season (40 rushing, one receiving and two on kickoff returns). Despite impressive stats, Miller has received only one scholarship offer — from Pikeville, an NAIA program in Kentucky.
“My goal is to keep playing, wherever that is,” Miller said.
A catch worthy of a statue. An out at home plate by history-making inches. A cheating outfielder steals a victory. A struggling first baseman steals a marathon. A sore-handed catcher steals a title.
The greatest postseason game by one player in baseball history. The greatest World Series by one pitcher in baseball history. The greatest moment by a Dodger benchwarmer in baseball history, a guy so embedded in the landscape of Los Angeles sports that he will be forever known simply by two abbreviated versions of his name…
It’s perhaps appropriate today to give thanks for the drama, thanks for the art, thanks for the breathtaking uncertainty of the diamonds of October.
Thanks, baseball, for creating the tableau for the Dodgers’ 13 most memorable playoff moments, one for every win, one for every scream, one for every occasion when you thought it couldn’t get any crazier.
Then it did.
The Philadelphia Phillies’ Nick Castellanos is out at third after Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts gets the throw from Max Muncy and applies the tag in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS at Citizens Bank Park.
A high-ranking employee at the Department of Water and Power made staffers run personal errands for her, including purchasing tickets to a Snoop Dogg concert, according to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission’s director of enforcement.
Renette Anderson, who has worked as an executive assistant to the DWP’s general manager since 2002, asked subordinates to book a plane ticket for her personal travel, make physical therapy appointments for her, purchase party supplies for a non-work party at her home and make a service appointment at a Mercedes Benz dealership for her personal vehicle, wrote the enforcement director, Kenneth Hardy, in an accusation document dated Nov. 4.
Anderson’s requests to two DWP employees, Brian Johnson and Angenee Reygadas, were made during work hours in 2022 and 2023, and the employees used city resources to fulfill the requests, Hardy wrote.
On June 22, 2023, after the Snoop Dogg & Friends concert at the Hollywood Bowl was canceled, Anderson asked Johnson to request a refund, Hardy wrote.
Hardy accused Anderson of seven counts of misusing her city position to create a personal benefit for herself. If the parties do not come to an agreement, the Ethics Commission will hold a hearing and decide what penalties to impose. Each count comes with a potential $5,000 fine.
John Harris, an attorney for Anderson, did not respond to a request for comment.
Paola Adler, a spokesperson for the DWP, said the department cannot comment on personnel matters but that it takes accusations of unethical conduct seriously.
Anderson serves as director of Equal Employment Opportunity Services and reports directly to Chief People Officer Tracey Pierce. Anderson was appointed to her role by a previous general manager, not by Janisse Quiñones, who has been in the role since May 2024, the DWP said.
For the record:
1:51 p.m. Nov. 26, 2025A previous version of this story said that Renette Anderson reports directly to DWP General Manager Janisse Quiñones. Anderson reports directly to Chief People Officer Tracey Pierce.
“She has been the primary voice on all matters related to Equal Employment Opportunity, workforce diversity, and the fair and equitable treatment of over 10,000 employees,” according to Anderson’s bio on the website of the Stovall Foundation, where she is a board member.
During practice Friday, UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close made it clear she wanted to see more from forward Angela Dugalic.
“You’re not using what you’ve earned,” Close recalled telling her while speaking with reporters Friday.
Dugalic is going to face some of the best players in the country this week. Close thinks she can match up with them, but she needs Dugalic to play like it. With all the work Dugalic has done on her low-post game over the offseason, she can’t settle for floating around the perimeter.
Close won’t let her.
“I just want her to be all she can be,” Close said. “She’s been an animal down there in the low post, and I want her to hunt for that. I don’t want her to settle for playing on the perimeter when she’s got a whole lot more tools in her toolbox that she’s not accessing.”
Close got that version of Dugalic in Sunday’s 88-37 rout of Southern at Pauley Pavilion. The third-ranked Bruins were in full control from whistle to whistle, even pitching a second-quarter shutout, and Dugalic led the way with 20 points, five rebounds and an assist. She shot eight for 15 from the floor with a trio of three-pointers.
It was pure dominance by UCLA. The Bruins shot 51% from the field while holding the Jaguars to 29%. They outrebounded Southern by 30. They forced 13 turnovers, nine in the first half, and scored 28 points off them. And on the offensive end, UCLA was flowing with 24 assists to Southern’s nine.
Gabriela Jaquez added eight rebounds and five assists to go with six points. Her first basket, a layup after cutting through the paint in the second quarter, gave the senior guard her 1,000th career point. Kiki Rice had 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists and Lauren Betts finished with 15 points and six rebounds.
Dugalic opened the scoring for UCLA with a midrange jumper followed by a fast-break layup. She finished the first half with nine points, tied for the team lead with freshman forward Lena Bilic, who finished the game with 14 points.
Despite Dugalic’s strong start, Close issued her another challenge at halftime.
“I just want you to focus on making the right basketball play,” Close said. “What’s the defense doing? I didn’t think she was reading the defense. I thought she shot it well, and I thought she got some great rebounds, but I didn’t think she was in the flow that we’ve been seeing from her the last few days and our last few games.”
Close added that she thinks Dugalić is playing some of the best basketball of her career, and she’s continuously fighting to raise her standard. It’s not about how many points she scores, it’s about her decision making her defense, her consistency.
The Bruins entered that second quarter with a 22-9 lead thanks to a 14-2 run over the final six minutes of the first quarter after holding Southern (1-4) scoreless during the final three minutes. UCLA then exploded for a 27-0 run in the second quarter while holding the Jaguars scoreless for the entire period. It was the first time the Bruins had held an opponent scoreless for an entire quarter since they achieved the same feat on Dec. 5, 2021 against San José State.
Still, Close wasn’t satisfied.
During halftime, Close said she reminded the Bruins of what they want to accomplish. Close wrote down a list of “passion plays,” or goals for every single player to get in the second half.
UCLA guard Kiki Rice controls the ball in front of Southern forward DeMya Porter during the first half of the Bruins’ win Sunday at Pauley Pavilion.
(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)
It’s part of a mentality Close is trying to instill in her players. They know a 51-point win against an unranked Southern team isn’t going to give them the feedback they need.
“Outcomes are actually a distraction,” Close said, referencing legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban. “What are the processes that we’re going to be committed to that are going to actually lead us to where we want to go?”
UCLA (6-0) will face No. 4 Texas on Wednesday in the Players Era Women’s Championship in Las Vegas, followed by either No. 2 South Carolina or Duke on Thanksgiving. The Bruins then will host No. 15 Tennessee on Nov. 30.
SHE was known for late-night partying with showbiz pals during her ladette days and Sara Cox admits that behind doors she was full of energy too.
The DJ says “no surface was safe” when she was at home with her advertising executive husband Ben Cyzer, who she has been with for two decades.
Former ladette turned Radio 2 presenter Sara Cox, who has just completed the equivalent of five marathons in five days to raise an astonishing £10m for Children In NeedCredit: Mark Hayman – FabulousSara talks to Radio 2 listeners on third day of her mammoth questCredit: Children in NeedA jubilant Sara at the end of her huge trek on November 14Credit: BBC/Sarah Louise Bennett
But flash forward to today and the 50-year-old mum of three says that “every surface is safe” and they often sleep in separate rooms because she can’t stand his snoring.
Sara said: “When I sometimes get on my little stool in the kitchen to reach for some Tupperware, I do think, ‘Oh, look, my fun area is really parallel with his face right at the moment’.
“But as the kids get older, you just can’t be doing that — they’d never get past it.
“I mean, when you’re in your early 30s and stuff, no surface is safe in the kitchen or the bathroom, is it? But now pretty much everywhere is safe.”
Sara, who has just completed the equivalent of five marathons in five days to raise an astonishing £10million for Children In Need, opened up about their sleeping habits at home in North London.
Just days before the epic fundraiser, she told The Teen Commandments Podcast: “This is my issue that I’ve got with Ben in the night.
“Just general breathing — just him breathing is annoying. Not during the day, I have to point that out. I just mean any slight noises.
“You know on a wildlife documentary where they have a shot of an animal that’s on high alert for a predator? I think I’ve got that kind of feeling in the middle of the night.
“Like, if I just hear the tiniest sound, it’s so magnified in the middle of the night — I think there’s a bit of anxiety in there.
“Because I remember in my 20s, if I woke up at 1.30am — well, I probably wouldn’t be in bed at half one — but if I woke in the middle of the night and it was like 3am in my 20s, I’d be, like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got loads of time to sleep, amazing’.
“And now I’m 50, I just go, ‘F**k, it’s three, I’m not going to sleep’. I nudge him and he’s really patient — he’s great about it. But we keep sleeping in separate rooms, which is a bit depressing.”
Bolton-born Sara doubtless needs plenty of rest after running a total of 135 miles from Kielder Forest in Northumberland to Pudsey in Leeds earlier this month — carrying the annual Beeb telethon’s mascot Pudsey Bear on her back.
During her Great Northern Marathon Challenge, the star was sent a message of encouragement by Prince William, who said: “Keep going — you’ve done fantastically well and the nation’s so proud of you.”
Sara says she was inspired to raise money for vulnerable kids after recalling the bullying she suffered at school from “two girls who made my life hell”.
This week she revealed she battled through the challenge by listening to tracks by rapper Stormzy and said it was a lot tougher than she ever expected.
Behind-the-scenes footage shown on Sara Cox: Every Step Of The Way For Children In Need, on BBC One on Wednesday, revealed the heartbreaking reason she decided to take on the challenge.
And now I’m 50, I just go, ‘F**k, it’s three, I’m not going to sleep’
Sara said: “My brother David died suddenly in 2019 and it completely destroyed the family — like, it came out of nowhere and he was a real athlete who ran countless Ironman competitions.
“I don’t think he’d believe I’m doing this, I think he’d be super-proud. I’m hoping that I’ve just got a bit of strength from him today.”
Sara’s children are now nearly the age she was when she found fame. Her eldest, Lola — from her first marriage — is 21, while Isaac and Renee are 17 and 15 respectively.
Sara had been working as a model when, at the age of 22 she landed her first TV job hosting The Girlie Show on Channel 4.
Sara with husband Ben at an album launch in London in 2015Credit: GettyParty girl Sara on a night out in 1998Credit: Big Pictures
They became notorious for their wild nights and were dubbed ladettes — a term Sara has always hated, saying it suggested they were “just trying to be like the boys . . . and we were never trying to be like the boys”.
Her lifestyle changed dramatically when she became mum to Lola in 2004, a year before she separated from her first husband DJ Jon Carter, who she had married in 2001.
Sara began dating Ben, now 50, in 2005 and they married in 2013 a year after she signalled another shift by quitting BBC Radio 1 to host the breakfast show on its more mature sister station, Radio 2. ‘Mind-boggling behaviour’.
She has admitted: “Yes, I used to drink loads. I thought nothing of having wine with lunch then going to the pub later, but they were different times. It all stops when you have children, to be replaced with other things that are just as pleasurable.
“The first ten years of my career I was out a lot more and the second decade I was explaining my behaviour in the first decade and apologising for it.”
And she said she never felt pressure to bring back her “Coxy” alter ego, because she had “buried her with some vodka and Marlboro Lights”.
The first ten years of my career I was out a lot more and the second decade I was explaining my behaviour in the first decade and apologising for it
Now her work has changed too. The BBC Radio 2 presenter has been hosting the station’s Drivetime show since January 2019 and next up is a new BBC One series, starting on December 1, about professional model-makers, called The Marvellous Miniatures Workshop.
When she’s not on the TV or the radio, Sara is busy hosting The Teen Commandments podcast with her best friend Clare Hamilton, who she has known since they were children.
The pair launched the podcast in January, having raised five teenagers between them.
The show casts light on the “mind-boggling behaviour” of their youngsters and how they tackled it with “wisdom that only comes from being rule-breakers themselves”.
On this week’s episode, Sara revealed she has been trying to break her family’s addiction to mobile phones.
She confided: “I just feel like a st mum because I am not stopping it, and I feel completely powerless.
My brother David died suddenly in 2019. He was a real athlete. I don’t think he’d believe I’m doing this, I think he’d be super proud
“I did suggest something, but it was immediately . . . I mean, the faces I was met with . . .
“I should have really got Ben more on side because what can happen sometimes is that I will suggest something for us to do as a family, and Ben will immediately side with the teenagers and undermine me.
“I told him that I wanted to do something where we start having more time together as a family and we put the phones away.
“So over dinner, I was like, ‘Right, this weekend, can we do it where we just have four hours without our phones or our laptops or anything?’
“Immediately, Ben piped up, ‘That’s too long’. I’m giving him daggers when the youngest pipes up that she’s got to revise. She needs her phone. Fair enough.
“But I’m really worried that we’re not living our lives together as a family, where we look at each other and where we chat and where we do things and hang out.
“So I’m just, like, ‘Whether we go out on a big dog walk or we just do something as a family, let’s put the phones away for four hours’.”
Sara is unlikely to be popping out for a stroll any time soon as she complains she cannot walk following her fundraising efforts.
But she still feels like she is in the best shape of her life, explaining on her podcast: “It’s good on this side of 50, I’ve got to say.
“I think — especially when you’re a woman — it’s always like, ‘How do you feel about turning 50? What are you going to do?’ But this age seems better than the alternative, babe.”
As California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta ponders a run for governor, he faces scrutiny for his ties to people central to a federal corruption investigation in Oakland and payments to private attorneys.
Bonta has not been accused of impropriety, but the questions come at an inopportune time for Democrat, who says he is reassessing a gubernatorial bid after repeatedly dismissing a run earlier this year.
Bonta said the decisions by former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla not to seek the office altered the contours of the race.
“I had two horses in the governor’s race already,” Bonta said in an interview with The Times on Friday. “They decided not to get involved in the end. … The race is fundamentally different today, right?”
Bonta said he has received significant encouragement to join the crowded gubernatorial field and that he expects to make a decision “definitely sooner rather than later.” Political advisors to the 54-year-old Alameda politician have been reaching out to powerful Democrats across the state to gauge his possible support.
Historically, serving as California attorney general has been a launching pad to higher office or a top post in Washington. Harris, elected to two terms as the state attorney general, was later elected to the U.S. Senate and then as vice president. Jerry Brown served in the post before voters elected him for a second go-around as governor in 2010. Earl Warren later became the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
Bonta, the first Filipino American to serve as the state’s top law enforcement official, was appointed in March 2021 by Gov. Gavin Newsom after Xavier Becerra resigned to become U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. Bonta easily won election as attorney general in 2022.
Bonta was a deputy city attorney in San Francisco and vice mayor for the city of Alameda before being elected to the state Assembly in 2012. During his tenure representing the Alameda area, Bonta developed a reputation as a progressive willing to push policies to strengthen tenants’ rights and to reform the criminal justice system.
In his role as the state’s top law enforcement official, Bonta has aggressively fought President Trump’s policies and actions, filing 46 lawsuits against the administration.
Bonta also faced controversy this past week in what Bonta’s advisers say they suspect is an attempt to damage him as he considers a potential run.
“Political hacks understand it’s actually a badge of respect, almost an endorsement. Clearly others fear him,” said veteran Democratic strategist Dan Newman, a Bonta adviser.
On Monday, KCRA reported that Bonta had spent nearly $500,000 in campaign funds last year on personal lawyers to represent him in dealings with federal investigators working on a public corruption probe in Oakland.
On Thursday, the website East Bay Insider reported that as that probe was heating up in spring 2024, Bonta had received a letter from an Oakland businessman warning him that he might soon be subject to blackmail.
The letter writer, Mario Juarez, warned Bonta that another businessman, Andy Duong, possessed “a recording of you in a compromising situation.”
Duong was later indicted, along with his father David Duong and former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, on federal bribery charges. All have pleaded not guilty. An attorney for David Duong this week said that Juarez, who is widely believed to be an informant in the case against the Duongs and Thao, was not credible. Juarez could not be reached for comment.
Bonta said his legal expenditures came about after he began speaking with the U.S. Attorney’s office, who approached him because prosecutors thought he could be a victim of blackmail or extortion. Bonta said the outreach came after he already had turned over the letter he had received from Juarez to law enforcement.
Bonta said he hired lawyers to help him review information in his possession that could be helpful to federal investigators.
“I wanted to get them all the information that they wanted, that they needed, give it to him as fast as as I could, to assist, to help,” Bonta said. “Maybe I had a puzzle piece or two that could assist them in their investigation.”
He said he may have made “an audible gasp” when he saw the legal bill, but that it was necessary to quickly turn over all documents and communications that could be relevant to the federal investigation.
“The billing rate is high or not insignificant at private law firms,” Bonta said. “We were moving quickly to be as responsive as possible, to be as helpful as possible, to assist as as much as possible, and that meant multiple attorneys working a lot of hours.”
Bonta said the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission also has alerted him that it received a complaint against him. Bonta and his advisers believe is about the use of campaign funds to pay the legal expenses and suspect it was filed by the campaign of a current gubernatorial candidate.
“We’re not worried,” Bonta said. “That’s politics.”
Asked whether these news stories could create obstacles to a potential gubernatorial campaign, Bonta pushed back against any assertion that he may have “baggage.” He said he was assisting federal prosecutors with their investigation with the hopes of holding people accountable.
“That’s what I would expect anyone to do, certainly someone who is committed as I am to public safety.,” he said. “That’s my job, to assist, to support, to provide information, to help.”
In early November, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election in a landslide, a victory that sent shockwaves across United States politics and galvanised the country’s political left.
It was a dramatic turnaround for a campaign that – less than a year earlier – had been polling at 1 percent support.
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Among those who were most surprised was Zohran’s own father, Mahmood Mamdani.
“He surprised me and his mother,” Mahmood told Al Jazeera Mushaber reporter Allaa Azzam in an interview this week. “We wouldn’t expect him to become mayor of New York City. We never thought about it.”
But Mahmood, an anthropology professor and postcolonial scholar at Columbia University, framed his son’s electoral success as evidence of a shifting political landscape.
Zohran, for instance, campaigned heavily on questions of affordability and refused to back away from his criticisms of Israel’s abuses against Palestinians, long considered a taboo subject in US politics.
He is the first Muslim person to become mayor of the country’s largest city by population, as well as its first mayor of South Asian descent.
“There were certain things that were near and dear to him,” Mahmood explained. “Social justice was one of them. The rights of Palestinians was another.”
“These two issues he has stuck by. He’s not been willing to trade them, to compromise them, to minimise them.”
Inside the Mamdani family
The son of Mahmood and Indian American director Mira Nair, Zohran first emerged as the frontrunner in the mayoral race in June, when his dark-horse campaign dominated the Democratic Party primary.
He earned 56 percent of the final tally, besting former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
When Cuomo ran as an independent in the November 4 election, Zohran once again beat him by a wide margin, with more than 50 percent of the vote to Cuomo’s 41 percent.
Mahmood told Al Jazeera that, while his son’s sudden political ascent came as a surprise, his resilience did not.
“It didn’t surprise us, with his grit and determination,” he said of the election. “I don’t think he joined the race thinking that he was going to win it. I think he joined the race wanting to make a point.”
He traced back some of Zohran’s electoral finesse to his upbringing. Zohran, Mahmood explained, was not raised in a typical US nuclear family but instead shared his home with three generations of family members.
Living with a diverse age range allowed Zohran to expand his understanding and build his people skills, according to Mahmood.
“He grew up with love and patience. He learned to be very patient with people who are slower, people who were not necessarily what his generation was,” Mahmood said.
“He was very different from the American kids around here who hardly ever see their grandparents.”
Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani stands with his wife Rama Duwaji, mother Mira Nair and father Mahmood Mamdani after winning the 2025 New York City mayoral race [Jeenah Moon/Reuters]
A ‘mood of change’
Mahmood also credited his son’s victory to a shifting political landscape, one where voters are fed up with the status quo.
“There’s a mood of change. The young voted like they never voted before,” Mahmood said.
“Sections of the population which had been completely thrown into the sidelines – Muslims, recent immigrants whether Muslim or not – he gave them enormous confidence. They came out and they voted. They mobilised.”
Local media outlets in New York reported that turnout for November’s mayoral race was the highest in more than 50 years. More than two million voters cast a ballot in the closely watched race.
Mahmood cast his son’s upcoming tenure as mayor as a test of whether that voter faith would be rewarded.
“America is marked by low levels of electoral participation, and they’ve always claimed that this is because most people are satisfied with the system,” Mahmood said.
“But now the levels of political participation are increasing. And most people, it’s not just that they are not satisfied, but they no longer believe – or they begin to believe that maybe the electoral system is a way to change things. Zohran’s mayoral term will tell us whether it is or it is not.”
Mahmood was frank that his son faces an uphill battle as mayor. He described politics as a sphere dominated by the influence of moneyed powers.
“ I am not sure he knows that world well,” Mahmood said of his son. “He’s a fast learner, and he will learn it.”
He noted that significant resources were mobilised during the mayoral election to blunt Zohran’s campaign.
“ He’s taking on powerful forces. He’s being opposed by powerful forces. They failed during the campaign,” Mahmood said. That defeat, he added, “exposed the failure of money” as a defining force in the race.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in on January 1 [File: Seth Wenig/AP Photo]
A focus on Palestine
Mahmood also addressed the role of Zohran’s advocacy on the campaign trail.
Though faced with criticism from his mayoral rivals, Mamdani has refused to retreat from his stance that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide.
That position, though widely affirmed by rights groups and experts, including at the United Nations, is relatively rare in mainstream US politics, where opposition to Israel is a political third rail.
Still, voters appear to be shifting on the question of US support for Israel.
A March poll from the Pew Research Center found that the percentage of US respondents with an unfavourable view of Israel has increased from 42 percent in 2022 to 53 percent in 2025.
While unfavourable views were most pronounced among Democratic voters, they have also increased among conservatives, especially those under the age of 50.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 69,500 Palestinians since its start in October 2023, and there has been continued outrage over widespread Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank as well.
Mahmood said the undeniable human rights abuses are causing a shift in public perception – and not just in the US.
“The real consequence of Gaza is not limited to Gaza. It is global,” said Mahmood. “Gaza has brought us a new phase in world history.”
“There will never be a return to a period when the world believes that what Israel is doing is defending itself.”
Nov. 21 (UPI) — Former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, has decided not to run for governor of his state in 2026.
“After careful consideration, much prayer and reflection, and after long conversations with my family, my closest friends and advisors, I’ve made the decision not to run for governor in 2026,” Ryan said in a statement.
Gov. Mike DeWine can’t run again due to term limits.
Ryan has faced criticism from Democrats for his ties to cryptocurrency. He represented some of the Akron and Youngstown areas for 20 years in Congress and ran for Senate in 2021, but lost to Vice President JD Vance.
Recently, he has been considering running for governor. An advisor said Ryan’s interest in running for governor was “renewed and heightened” by former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown‘s decision to run for Senate again instead of Ohio governor, Cleveland.com reported.
Billionaire hedge fund founder Tom Steyer announced Wednesday that he is running for governor of California, arguing that he is not beholden to special interests and can take on corporations that are making life unaffordable in the state.
“The richest people in America think that they earned everything themselves. Bulls—, man. That’s so ridiculous,” Steyer said in an online video announcing his campaign. “We have a broken government. It’s been bought by corporations and my question is: Who do you think is going to change that? Sacramento politicians are afraid to change up this system. I’m not. They’re going to hate this. Bring it on.”
Protesters hold placards and banners during a rally against Whitehaven Coal in Sydney in 2014. Dozens of protesters and activists gathered downtown to protest against the controversial massive Maules Creek coal mine project in northern New South Wales.
(Saeed Khan / AFP/Getty Images)
Steyer, 68, founded Farallon Capital Management, one of the nation’s largest hedge funds, and left it in 2012 after 26 years. Since his departure, he has become a global environmental activist and a major donor to Democratic candidates and causes.
But the hedge firm’s investments — notably a giant coal mine in Australia that cleared 3,700 acres of koala habitat and a company that runs migrant detention centers on the U.S.-Mexico border for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — will make him susceptible to political attack by his gubernatorial rivals.
Steyer has expressed regret for his involvement in such projects, saying it was why he left Farallon and started focusing his energy on fighting climate change.
Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer addresses a crowd during a presidential primary election-night party in Columbia, S.C.
(Sean Rayford / Getty Images)
Steyer previously flirted with running for governor and the U.S. Senate but decided against it, instead opting to run for president in 2020. He dropped out after spending nearly $342 million on his campaign, which gained little traction before he ended his run after the South Carolina primary.
Next year’s gubernatorial race is in flux, after former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla decided not to run and Proposition 50, the successful Democratic effort to redraw congressional districts, consumed all of the political oxygen during an off-year election.
In recent years, Steyer has been a longtime benefactor of progressive causes, most recently spending $12 million to support the redistricting ballot measure. But when he was the focus of one of the ads, rumors spiraled that he was considering a run for governor.
In prior California ballot initiatives, Steyer successfully supported efforts to close a corporate tax loophole and to raise tobacco taxes, and fought oil-industry-backed efforts to roll back environmental law.
His campaign platform is to build 1 million homes in four years, lower energy costs by ending monopolies, make preschool and community college free and ban corporate contributions to political action committees in California elections.
Steyer’s brother Jim, the leader of Common Sense Media, and former Biden administration U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy are aiming to put an initiative on next year’s ballot to protect children from social media, specifically the chatbots that have been accused of prompting young people to kill themselves. Newsom recently vetoed a bill aimed at addressing this artificial intelligence issue.
The battle to replace storied, 80-year-old union chief Jack Henning as head of the California Labor Federation appears to have been wrapped up with a deal calling for the two leading candidates to join forces and run on a combined slate.
The quietly negotiated pact, averting a potentially divisive battle among California’s unions in a pivotal election year, calls for 43-year-old Art Pulaski, head of the San Mateo County Central Labor Council, to move into Henning’s job as executive secretary-treasurer.
Slated to take the No. 2 job of president is Tom Rankin, 54, who for nearly 13 years has served as Henning’s top legislative aide. As president, Rankin would continue handling similar legislative duties.
Left out of the coalition ticket was the only other declared candidate for the helm of the labor federation, Dan Curtin, director of the California Council of Carpenters. Curtin, considered previously to be a distant third in the running and now believed to hold virtually no chance of derailing the Pulaski-Rankin ticket, could not be reached for comment.
The job of executive secretary-treasurer would catapult Pulaski into a hugely influential role as chief spokesman for the state’s unionized workers. The federation represents 1,200 AFL-CIO local unions covering 1.5-million workers in California.
If elected at the federation’s upcoming convention, which is scheduled for the last week of July in Los Angeles, Pulaski said his main goal would be to promote grass-roots union political campaigning throughout the state.
To that end, Pulaski said he would try to hire as many as 10 political staffers to help labor organizations throughout the state to push union-friendly candidates and issues. “We’ll be targeting districts where we can put in people more responsive to worker interests,” he said.
Leading the Pulaski-Rankin agenda is a proposition expected to be on California’s November ballot to raise the minimum wage, which has been $4.25 an hour since 1988, up to $5.75 an hour as of March 1998.
Both Pulaski and Rankin said they recently were persuaded to team up by union supporters around the state who wanted to avoid a punishing election struggle.
Rankin would replace Albin J. Gruhn, 81, as president. Gruhn, widely expected to retire this year after 36 years as the federation’s No. 2 official, said Monday that he will officially announce his plans next month.
Currently, the executive secretary-treasurer’s job pays $82,500 a year, while the president’s post pays $71,500.
Henning, who has played no public role in the contest to determine his successor, could not be reached for comment.
It was two years ago this month, with USC’s defense at an unthinkable nadir, that Lincoln Riley finally decided to fire Alex Grinch, his first defensive coordinator.
“I am that committed, and we are all that committed to playing great defense here,” Riley said in 2023. “Whatever it takes to get that done, that’s what we’re going to do.”
Not everyone took Riley’s comments seriously at the time.
“There’s a school on the West Coast right now that’s going to re-commit to defense,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said a month later. “You give up [46] to Tulane last year in a bowl game — at a place where Ronnie Lott played. Now they’re going to think about defense. That was the first thing we thought about 25 years ago.”
Rest assured, USC has thought about it plenty since. And now two years into the rethinking process, with the College Football Playoff very much within reach in mid-November, USC’s defense is still the biggest question mark facing Riley and his staff over the final stretch of this season which continues, fittingly, against Ferentz and his 21st-ranked Hawkeyes on Saturday.
On paper, the defensive improvement has been palpable, year over year, even if it’s a bit less drastic from this season to last. USC is giving up more than two fewer points per game in 2025 and fewer yards per game through the air and on the ground than in 2024. The defense has created more pressure, already with three more sacks than last season (24 to 21), and clamped down in the red zone, with opponents scoring only 67% of the time, third-best in the nation.
But that progress hasn’t always been linear, admits D’Anton Lynn, the Trojans defensive coordinator. Where in his first season, Lynn had a litany of experienced defenders from the transfer portal to lean on, his second season has made for a much different experience.
“This team is more talented, but they’re just young,” Lynn said. “It’s just guys who haven’t played before. There are certain mistakes you have to live through.”
Those mistakes have surfaced at some of the worst possible times this season. In the loss to Illinois, a late pass interference call and a missed tackle on a swing pass proved to be the difference. At Notre Dame, a blatant missed run fit saw Irish back Jeremiyah Love break off an explosive touchdown run that turned the tides. The run defense ended up coming unglued, giving up over 300 yards in a rainy defeat.
The last two games have been much more encouraging, with USC holding Northwestern and Nebraska to three points apiece after halftime. The difference between the two halves was significant as the Trojans held the two opponents to a combined total of 209 second-half yards.
In both cases, the defense didn’t find its stride until it was first punched in the mouth. But Riley credited Lynn for his adjustments from there.
“When leaks have sprung, we’ve been able to get them closed pretty quickly,” Riley said.
The next step is stopping those leaks before they burst. And that starts, Lynn says, with letting the mistakes they make roll off their shoulders.
That mental hurdle is one that USC’s young defense has struggled with this season.
“Just kind of all year with us, we’ve had those moments where we shoot ourselves in the foot, or we get good calls, and we just mess it up ourselves,” cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson said. “We’re just zoning in on that, and just the battle within ourselves. Like man we’ve gotta buckle down right, and we’ve gotta get this stuff done.”
That battle is quickly reaching its crescendo with just three weeks left in the season. But as that final stretch approaches, the blueprint for USC’s defense is clear to Lynn.
“We need to be consistent up front,” Lynn said. “We need to stop the run. We need to limit big plays. When we do those things, we can be a really good defense. That’s easier said than done, but again, it just comes back to being consistent.”
The resurgence of sleeper trains on the continent hit a kink in the tracks in September, when the Austrian state operator ÖBB announced that it would be axing its two Nightjet services – Paris to Vienna and Paris to Berlin – from 14 December. ÖBB cited the French government’s ending of subsidies, dealing a blow to the night-train renaissance.
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. European Sleeper has told the Guardian that it will be taking over the route from Paris to Berlin, with the first train to run on 26 March 2026. The train will operate three times a week with departures likely to be from Paris Gare du Nord on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings and the return service from Berlin Hauptbahnhof and Ostbahnhof on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The current Nightjet service departs Paris Gare de l’Est just after 7pm and winds east via Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Erfurt and Halle before arriving in Berlin around 8.30am. European Sleeper intends to make the journey via Brussels, with precise route details and timings currently being confirmed with infrastructure managers in France, Belgium and Germany.
“I think Nightjet’s existing market will certainly be interested in travelling on European Sleeper,” said Chris Engelsman, the company’s co-founder. “We will also be able to extend the ridership as we offer higher capacity than the Nightjet. ÖBB operates 12 coaches from Paris but it splits to Vienna and then Berlin. On the other hand, we have 12 to 14 coaches that will run entirely to Berlin, with a capacity of 600-700 passengers.”
The news is certainly welcomed by Oui au train de nuit!, a French campaign group who in September took to the platforms of Paris Gare de l’Est in their nightwear and threw a pyjama party to protest against the cuts to the sleeper services out of Paris. “This is a partial victory for the 91,000 people who signed our petition,” said Nicolas Forien, spokesperson for the group.
European Sleeper plans to use carriages from the 1990s on the new routes
European Sleeper, a Dutch cooperative, ran its inaugural service from Berlin to Brussels on 25 May 2023 and the route was extended to Dresden and Prague a year later. The company has already carried over 230,000 passengers on more than 750 night trains and has been a key player in the sleeper-train market, which has not quite seen the spike in services some had hoped for, owing to a lack of rolling stock equipped with sleeper berths and cross-border complications. The company has also received mixed reviews as a result of technical glitches, sudden downgrades and delays. But, overall, many passengers have enjoyed the mishmash of old carriages and no-frills nostalgia offered by the firm, while embracing the idea of the journey itself being as important as the destination.
According to Engelsman, German-rented coaches for the new route were made in the 1990s. “They are quite similar to the comfort level on the Nightjet at the moment. Our sleeper coaches on the Prague service are relatively old – from as far back as 1956 – but we will not use them on this route. They will be newer.”
And the key question: will there be a dining car? “Not from the start,” Engelsman said. “We would love to have a dining car but, in terms of profitability, it is a challenge and we would need that specific type of coach. It’s difficult to break even on sales of meals and drinks. The rental costs of the coach and staff costs are very high.”
Prices for the European Sleeper from Paris to Berlin will start from €59 or €69 for a couchette compartment. Tickets will be available from 16 December 2025
A U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington on Tuesday overturned a decision requiring organizations that run election-related television ads to reveal their funders, saying a lower court erred in finding that Congress intended to require such disclosure — a victory for some of the biggest groups participating in the 2012 campaign.
In an unsigned decision, the three-judge panel wrote that it was “doubtful” that Congress anticipated how campaign finance rules would change and sent the case back to the lower court for further review.
But for the remainder of this election the ruling lets up the pressure on GOP-allied organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity and Crossroads GPS, which changed their ad strategies after a federal judge ruled this spring that Congress intended such groups to disclose their donors.
“We’re just delighted,” said Thomas Kirby, an attorney for the Center for Individual Freedom, one of two groups that pursued an appeal of the case. “CFIF believes that the right to engage in political speech should not be needlessly conditioned upon the loss of anonymity.”
Rep. Christopher Van Hollen (D-Md.), who brought the original case against the Federal Election Commission that upheld the donor disclosure requirement, issued a statement saying the appellate decision “struck a blow against transparency in the funding of political campaigns.”
“The Court of Appeals’ decision today will keep the American people, for the time being, in the dark about who is attempting to influence their vote with secret money,” he added.
The case hinges on the FEC’s interpretation of the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act, a landmark campaign finance reform measure that, among other things, required groups that engage in “electioneering communications” to reveal all their contributors.
Five years later, the FEC issued a rule stating that such organizations only had to reveal the donors who gave for the purpose of financing TV ads.
Van Hollen — backed by lawyers from the campaign finance reform organizations Democracy 21, Public Citizen, Campaign Legal Center and the law firm WilmerHale — sued the FEC, arguing that the rule created a major loophole that undermined the intent of the McCain-Feingold Act. A federal judge agreed, ruling on March 30 that the FEC had overstepped its authority.
“Congress intended to shine light on whoever was behind the communications bombarding voters immediately prior to elections,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote in her decision.
Her ruling threw out the 2007 rule and reinstated a 2003 FEC regulation that required organizations doing electioneering to report all donations of $1,000 or more dating back to the first day of the preceding year.
That triggered a scramble among politically active groups on the right that have been fighting efforts to force them to reveal their funders. Despite the fact that they are organized as nonprofit social welfare organizations – or, in the case of the Chamber, as a trade group — the groups began running explicitly political ads, taking advantage of the conflicting patchwork of campaign finance rules that did not require disclosure of those doing “express advocacy.”
That move came with its own risk: paying for overtly political spots could jeopardize their tax status.
Such a tactic is no longer necessary after Tuesday’s ruling by the appellate court, which declared that the McCain-Feingold Act is “anything but clear” in light of major court cases that have followed it, including the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United.
The panel chided the FEC for not clearly dealing with the changes in the law or defending its stance in court. The appellate court sent the case back to the lower court, ordering it to refer the matter back to the FEC to defend its current rules or issue new ones.
But with the FEC locked in partisan gridlock, it remains unclear whether the six commissioners will be able to come to agreement on how to proceed.
Campaign finance reform advocates said they were not giving up, saying they still believed they had a strong argument to make at the district court level if the FEC chooses to defend the current rules.
“The Court of Appeals got it wrong,” said Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21. “There is no way Congress enacted a statute to result in no disclosure of contributors when the statute calls for all disclosure of contributors.”
Wertheimer said his group would also continue to press the Internal Revenue Service to scrutinize the activities of groups such as Crossroads GPS that claim to be nonprofit social welfare organizations.
But he admitted that in the prospect of forcing such organizations to reveal their donors this year has been effectively shut down.
“They’ll go back to doing electioneering and claim that their campaign ads are not campaign ads,” Wertheimer said.
After launch there was the question of how to fill the days at sea.
“In my case, you eat,” says Larter. “Honestly, I’ve never had, either before or since, such a sustained spell of magnificent eating.
“The stewards loved us. They’d bring these great trolleys of wonderful food, and they knew we’d eat it.”
With copious amounts of food available and an Ashes series to prepare for, the players had to keep fit.
“We’d have an exercise session in the morning, then there were badminton courts netted off for us. We’d shove weights about, and jump up and down and things like that,” says Larter.
The England management wanted to take things a stage further.
By chance, Dexter found that British athlete Gordon Pirie was on board. Pirie won 5,000m silver at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.
“He was invited to organise us,” says Larter. “He turned up with his shorts on and decided the best exercise would be running around the boat.
“It’s quite a long way around one of those big boats, but I did what I was told.”
Not everyone in the touring party was as agreeable as Larter. Trueman, never shy of speaking his mind, had just bowled more than 1,100 overs in the English summer.
“Fred voiced an opinion which meant in no way was he running around,” says Larter. “That just wasn’t what we did to get fit. To get fit, we played cricket.
“Fred said he’d just bowled all those overs in the season, and he wasn’t going to run around a boat for anyone. The Gordon Pirie thing died off after that.”
For Larter, the trip was not just a first England tour, but a first time out of the country. On the upper deck he mixed with the wealthy travellers, lower down he encountered the Poms emigrating to a new life down under.
“We found the greatest reception came downstairs,” he says. “There were people emigrating or moving for all sorts of reasons. A lot of them were young, out to make new lives. It was interesting to meet them. There were more than a couple of decent bars and you could have a quiet pint.”
The journey was not a straight passage to Perth. Remarkably, England tuned up for a tour of Australia by hopping off in Sri Lanka to play a game in Colombo.
“We walked out on to the field and Ted Dexter said I would be opening the bowling,” says Larter.
“I marked out a run, ran in, and fell flat on my face. A real sprawler. I picked myself up, went back, came in again and did the same thing.
“I’d lost my land legs. They weren’t going where I wanted, because I’d been on the boat.
“Ted came across and said ‘what’s wrong?’. I said they don’t work! He took me off. Barry Knight had to finish the over.
“We were entertained and looked after by the British Army. They put on a big barbecue on the beach for us. How do you get to that from a small town in Suffolk? On the beach in Sri Lanka with all of these nice people. It was an eye-opener, just being there.”
Fans can’t get enough of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami’s limited edition Dodgers gear, decorated with colorful, cartoon flowers featuring smiling faces in surprisingly un-jockish colors like pastel pink and butter yellow. The merch sold out in a matter of minutes at a pop-up store in March before the two-game season opening in Japan. A second collection was released in April.
Three’s a charm — as always.
On Friday at 1 p.m. a final Murakami collection will go on sale, this time commemorating the Dodgers’ historic World Series Championship. The series of T-shirts and hoodies — decorated in Murakami’s distinctive flowers, and featuring the team name in Japanese Katakana characters — is being presented by the sports and youth culture platforms Fanatics and Complex. The merch can be found on their websites as well as MLBShop online stores, the MLB app, the Dodger Stadium Team Store and the MLB Flagship Store in New York City.
I know friends who spent hours trying to obtain a single Murakami-designed Dodgers baseball cap last spring, so I expect the merch to sell fast. I’d set an alarm for 12:55 p.m. and log in exactly at 1 p.m. if I were hoping to score an item or two.
Dodgers fans are more than fans after their team won in what many are calling a “series for the ages” — they are fanatics. I should know. I wrote a story that mentioned the game, and I referred to the Dodgers being one “point” down to the Toronto Blue Jays. I awoke to an inbox full of letters from readers alerting me to the fact that a “point” in baseball is called a “run.” Some said it not so nicely.
Point taken! I mean, run. Either way, I’ve made much worse mistakes and never gotten so much as a single letter. That’s how I know Dodgers fans are not messing around. Neither is the merchandising machine surrounding the team’s epic win.
I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, shooting baskets for baseball and scoring touchdowns for a home run. Here’s your arts and culture news this week.
On our radar
Joshua Francique with Alonzo King Lines Ballet.
(RJ Muna)
Alonzo King Lines Ballet Choreographer and California Hall of Fame inductee Alonzo King brings his San Francisco-based contemporary ballet company to Long Beach for an evening of dance immersed in the spiritually rooted, avant-garde jazz stylings of Alice Coltrane, including her seminal album “Journey in Satchidananda.” In addition to this tribute to one of America’s only jazz harpists, the company will present a fresh take on Maurice Ravel’s suite of Mother Goose fairy tales, “Ma mère l’Oye,” which was originally written as a piano duet in 1910. — Jessica Gelt 8 p.m. Saturday. Carpenter Center is located at 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach. carpenterarts.org
Pacific Opera Project Daniel-François-Esprit Auber’s funny, tuneful, gang-can’t-shoot-straight, long-out-of-fashion early 19th century comic French opera, “Fra Diavolo” is just the kind of thing on which Pacific Opera Project (POP) has made its irrepressibly wackier-than-thou reputation. While the company performs a range of operas, serious and not-so-serious, here and there (including Descanso Gardens and Forest Lawn), its heart is at the Ebell, a historic Highland Park club, where you sit at tables with wine and hors d’oeuvres, surrounded by dazzling singers, goofy costumes and sets, and the intoxicating hokum that the company’s irrepressible founder and director, Josh Shaw, comes up with. — Mark Swed 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Wednesday and Nov. 14; 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15 and 16. The Highland Park Ebell, 131 S. Ave. 57. pacificoperaproject.com
A stage version of the horror franchise “Paranormal Activity” comes to the Ahmanson.
(Pamela Raith)
Paranormal Activity The premiere of an original story set in the world of the film franchise, the show seems determined to scare you silly. The theater has caught the horror bug — and why not? Fear knows no bounds. Written by Levi Holloway, whose “Grey House” had a brief Broadway run in 2023, and directed by Felix Barrett, whose immersive “Sleep No More” captivated New York audiences for years, the production sets out to give new meaning to the term stage fright. — Charles McNulty Through Dec. 7, check days and times. Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. centertheatregroup.org
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
The new play “Border Crisis” at City Garage.
(City Garage)
Border Crisis A new absurdist comedy by playwright Charles A. Duncombe, based on “The House on the Border” by Sławomir Mrożek as translated by Pavel Rybak-Rudzki, about a typical U.S. family that finds itself at the center of an international crisis, has its world premiere. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 4 p.m. Sunday, through Dec. 13. City Garage, Bergamot Station Arts Center, 2525 Michigan Ave. T1, Santa Monica, citygarage.org
Leah Ollman In addition to a reading and book signing, the author will discuss her new publication, “Ensnaring the Moment: On the Intersection of Poetry and Photography,” with poet Rae Armantrout. 6 p.m. Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla. mcasd.org
SATURDAY
Katherine Ross, Paul Newman, seated, and Robert Redford in the 1969 movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
(20th Century Fox)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid The American Cinematheque’s tribute to Robert Redford continues with the 1969 George Roy Hill-directed western that first paired the late actor with Paul Newman in one of Hollywood’s great buddy movies. 2 p.m. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. americancinematheque.com
The Butterfly Effect The reopening of a secret cafe where people are rumored to have time traveled is the setting for the latest immersive and interactive audience experience from Last Call Theatre. 8 p.m. Saturday and Nov. 14-15, 20-22, Dec. 4-6. Stella Coffee, 6210 San Vicente Blvd. ticketleap.events
Comic Creators Block Party A full day of signings, meet and greets, live panels, food and vendors featuring some of your favorite writers and artists, including Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday. Revenge Of Comics, 3420 Eagle Rock Blvd., Suite A. comiccreatorsblockparty.com
iam8bit 20th Anniversary Art Show The creative production company celebrates two decades of innovation with an exhibition heavy on video game and pop culture history. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Studio 8, 614 E. 12th St., Los Angeles. eventbrite.com
Redrawing the Rancho The performance platform homeLA presents a program of interdisciplinary performance, dance and installation work by Nao Bustamante, Eva Aguila, Rosa Rodríguez-Frazier and Victoria Marks that evaluate the legacy of Southern California’s oldest surviving brick structure. the Rowland Mansion, and the complex history behind it. 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. John Rowland Mansion and Dibble Roundhouse Museum, 16021 Gale Ave., City of Industry. homela.org
“Sweet Nothings,” 2025. Aluminum and bowling balls. 223⁄4 x 183⁄4 x 221⁄4 in. (57.78 x 47.63 x 56.52 cm) by Kathleen Ryan.
(@ Kathleen Ryan. Courtesy the artist and Karma/Artwork photography by Lance Brewer)
Kathleen Ryan Everyday objects become the stuff of dreams in the exhibition “Souvenir,” featuring nine sculptures rooted in the artist’s use of motifs, techniques and conceptual decisions. Opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through Dec. 20. Karma, 7351 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles. karmakarma.org
Wild Up L.A.’s transformative new music chamber orchestra and collective was founded 15 years ago by Christopher Rountree with a seemingly limitless collection of inventive ideas for bringing classical music into the 21st century and beyond. This fall it begins a new series at the Nimoy, home of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, beginning with “What I Call Sound,” a look at the historic influence L.A. jazz has had on new music of all sorts. Given that Wild Up is composed of accomplished improvisers and composers, it is ideally suited to follow the course of the avant-garde jazz scene from Eric Dolphy in the late 1950s to such current leading figures as Anthony Braxton. — Mark Swed 8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu
SUNDAY Deep Cuts: Block Printing Across Cultures The exhibition features more than 150 works from around the world exploring the medium as both a means of creative expression and a vehicle for mass production of both images and ideas, extending from the patterned fabrics of India to German Expressionist artists and contemporary makers like Christiane Baumgartner. Also includes the Los Angeles–based Block Shop demonstrating reinterpretations of the ageless art form. Through Sept. 13, 2026. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Resnick Pavilion, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org
Burt Lancaster See the Hollywood legend in two very different films and performances: The American Cinematheque screens Luchino Visconti’s 1963 drama “The Leopard,” in which Lancaster stars opposite Claudia Cardinale; at the New Beverly, the actor appears in the delightful 1983 comedy “Local Hero” with Peter Riegert (on a double feature with another Bill Forsyth film, “Housekeeping”). “The Leopard,” 2 p.m. Sunday. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. americancinematheque.com; “Local Hero,” 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Blvd. thenewbev.com
TUESDAY An Evening with Annie Leibovitz The celebrated photographer discusses her new book, “Women,” which features Louise Bourgeois, Hillary Clinton, Joan Didion, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Patti Smith, Elizabeth Taylor, and Serena and Venus Williams. 7 p.m. The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd. livenation.com
Recovecos The LA Phil New Music Group, conducted by Raquel Acevedo Klein, explores works by Caribbean and Latin American composers in a program curated by Angélica Negrón and featuring vocalist Lido Pimienta. 8 p.m. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
WEDNESDAY
Broadway star Melissa Errico performs Wednesday at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach.
(David Kenas)
Melissa Errico In her new show “The Streisand Effect,” Errico, accompanied by a quartet that includes Streisand’s own 40-year pianist Randy Waldman, performs such favorites as “Send In the Clowns,” “I’d Rather Be Blue,” and “I Never Meant to Hurt You.” 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Carpenter Center is located at 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach. carpenterarts.org
THURSDAY Celebrating 50 years of Laverne & Shirley Producer Bob Boyett presents the Garry Marshall Theatre’s annual fundraiser, which this year marks a half-century since the debut of Marshall’s hit ABC sitcom and welcomes special guest Michael McKean, who had a breakout role on the show as Lenny. The event, which includes dinner and entertainment, also honors actor Yeardly Smith of “The Simpsons.” Tickets are $500-1000. 6:30 p.m. Verse Restaurant, 4212 Lankershim Blvd., Toluca Lake garrymarshalltheatre.org/50years
An Inspector Calls Theatre 40 presents J.B. Priestley’s classic drawing-room mystery about the investigation of a young woman’s death that disrupts an upper-class British family’s engagement party in the industrial north Midlands in 1912. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; also, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3 and 10; dark on Nov. 27 and 28, through Dec. 14. Beverly Hills High school, Mary Levin Cutler Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Dr. theatre40.org
New Original Works (NOW) The second weekend of REDCAT’s annual festival of experimental performance features a program of works by Gabriela Burdsall; Orin Calcagne and Jenson Titus; and Divya Victor, Carolyn Chen, AMOC (American Modern Opera Company). NOW 2025 continues with additional programming Nov. 20-22. 8 p.m Thursday-Saturday. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. redcat.org
Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Hollywood, 1992, Silver Gelatin Photograph, Ed. of 25, 20 x 16 inches, by Herb Ritts.
(Fahey/Klein Gallery)
Herb Ritts The exhibition “Allies & Icons” presents the photographer’s portraits of activists, artists and cultural leaders who led the global fight against AIDS, including Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John, Magic Johnson, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Sharon Stone, Tina Turner, Keith Haring and many others. In celebration of STORIES: The AIDS Monument, which opens Nov. 16 in West Hollywood. Opening reception, 6-8 p.m. Thursday; Regular hours, 1-7 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, through Dec. 21. ONE Gallery, 626 N. Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood. faheykleingallery.com
Culture news and the SoCal scene
The Scourged Back. The scarred back of an African American slave named Gordon who escaped from Mississippi and reached a Union Army camp in Louisiana in 1863. The photograph is one of many targeted for removal by the Trump administration.
(Getty Images)
National treasure “In recent months, a small army of historians, librarians, scientists and other volunteers has fanned out across America’s national parks and museums to photograph and painstakingly archive cultural and intellectual treasures they fear are under threat from President Trump’s war against ‘woke’,” writes Times investigative reporter Jack Dolan in a recent story about the volunteers creating a “citizen’s record” of existing exhibits and more, “in case the administration carries out Trump’s orders to scrub public signs and displays of language he and his allies deem too negative about America’s past.”
Theater beat Times theater critic Charles McNulty reviews a production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” at A Noise Within. McNulty deems the script, “arguably the finest work in August Wilson’s 10-play series chronicling the African American experience in the 20th century,” and writes that the new show — set in a Pittsburgh boarding house in 1911 — “seems like a gift from the other side, that mysterious, creative realm where history is spiritualized.”
McNulty also attended Lloyd Suh’s “The Heart Sellers,” at South Coast Repertory, for a production directed by Jennifer Chang, who staged the play’s 2023 world premiere at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre featuring the same two-person cast. The show explores the thorny, timely issue of immigration through the stories of two women — one from the Philippines, the other from South Korea — living in an unnamed mid-sized American city in 1973.
Angela Bassett arrives at the LACMA Art + Film Gala on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, at Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles.
(Jordan Strauss / Invision/AP)
LACMA ups and downs The Los Angeles County Museum of Art was in the news again this past week. I attended its celebrity-packed Art + Film gala on Saturday night — and watched the room explode in celebration after the Dodgers won the World Series. The annual event, this year honoring filmmaker Ryan Coogler and artist Mary Corse, raised more than $6.5 million in support of the museum and its programs.
40 authors, 40 dinners I also attended a dinner sponsored by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles featuring historian Rick Atkinson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 2003. Called “Literary Feasts” the biannual event featured 40 authors spread out at 40 dinners hosted at private homes across the city on a single night in order to raise funds for the foundation’s mission in support of the library and its community-driven efforts including adult education and homework support for kids.
Yoko goes solo It doesn’t seem possible, but it’s true: Yoko One, 92, is staging her first solo museum exhibition in Los Angeles. The show, “Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind,” will open at the Broad museum on May 23 and will run through Oct. 11, 2026. The interactive exhibition is organized in collaboration with Tate Modern in London.
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Faustian The Verdi Chorus is launching its 42nd season with a special, two-nights-only performance delving into Goethe’s “Faust.” Audiences can expect operatic renditions of Berlioz’s “La Damnation de Faust,” Gounod’s “Faust,” and Boito’s “Mefistofele.” The concerts will take place at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica on Nov. 15 and 16. Artistic director Anne Marie Ketchum will lead the performances, and it should be noted has been leading the group for all 42 years of its existence. The Verdi Chorus dubs itself, “the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music for opera chorus.”
Girl dad, the musical My mother’s heart was touched when a father named Matt Braaten — who is also the artistic director of Eagle Rock Theatre Company — wrote to me about a new musical at the theater called, “Daddy Daughter.” The show features Braaten and his 11-year-old daughter, Lily, as they explore the music that has touched her life and informed her childhood to date. “This family-friendly musical comedy celebrates the different stages of Lily’s life through banter and songs, and takes a musical journey from Elmo to Elsa to Elphaba and beyond,” Braaten wrote. I’m getting teary just thinking about it. The show is at 4 p.m. on Sunday Nov. 9, and Sunday Nov. 16.
It is, by both candidates’ admission, a Republican primary race without issues, conflict or many campaign dollars. The low-budget, low-profile contest does not bode well for the eventual nominee’s prospects against Democratic Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman of Tarzana in November.
Attorneys Tom Franklin of Beverly Hills and Edward Brown of Sherman Oaks are competing in the June 7 primary for the GOP nomination in the 43rd Assembly District. The affluent, heavily Democratic district stretches from Studio City to Topanga Canyon and over the Santa Monica Mountains to Beverly Hills, Westwood and Brentwood.
The campaign for the hearts and minds of the district’s 64,237 registered Republicans is being waged at GOP gatherings and door-to-door; neither candidate has raised enough money to mail any brochures or flyers. Both Franklin and Brown seek to contrast themselves with Friedman–who they maintain is too liberal for the district–rather than each other.
“I’m running against Terry Friedman,” Franklin said last week. “I don’t really know Mr. Brown’s interest in the major issues.”
Asked why Republican voters should choose him over Franklin, Brown replied, “I don’t know that they should. I’m not going to lower myself to some kind of mudslinging contest.”
Friedman, meanwhile, responds that his priorities of protecting the Santa Monica Mountains, upgrading education and aiding the elderly and underprivileged “are right in the mainstream of the district.” Democrats enjoy a 54%-to-36% registration advantage, although President Reagan carried the district in 1980 and 1984 and fellow Republican Gov. George Deukmejian won it in 1986.
Inside Track
Franklin, 29, appears to have the inside primary track because he has a base of support among Republicans in Beverly Hills, where he has been active, and has been more visible, according to GOP activists such as Shirley Whitney, chairman of the 43rd District Republican Committee. The committee does not endorse candidates in the primary.
Franklin has served as president of the Beverly Hills Republican Assembly, a 150-member volunteer organization that registers voters and supports candidates, and has been active in GOP politics since he was University of Southern California recruitment chairman for Reagan’s 1980 presidential bid.
The self-styled conservative has also garnered more campaign dollars than Brown, although Friedman has raised 100 times more money than each Republican. Franklin reported raising $1,395 and spending $531 as of March 22, when he filed a campaign statement with the secretary of state. He has a $15-a-person event scheduled Sunday at his parents’ Beverly Hills home but is well short of the pace he needs to attain his original goal of $200,000.
Brown, who says the subject of campaign finances is too personal to discuss, said he has raised less than $500. “I won’t take anything more than $10,” Brown said. “I don’t want to have any special pleading.”
He failed to file a campaign fund-raising report with the secretary of state in mid-March as required by state law, media director Caren Daniels-Meade said. He faces a possible fine, which would be determined by how much he has spent but not reported, she said.
Strongly favored to win a second term, Friedman reported raising $122,575 and having $127,678 on hand in his March 22 campaign statement. He said last week he subsequently took in $40,000 more at a fund-raiser. Many of his contributions are from fellow attorneys.
“Substantially, those are people who know me from my past work as executive director of Bet Tzedek Legal Services,” said Friedman, referring to the Los Angeles legal-service program for low-income elderly. “And from my work on several committees in the Legislature.”
Robert Townsend Leet of Tarzana, a Libertarian candidate, and Marjery Hinds of Los Angeles, the Peace and Freedom candidate, filed March campaign reports with the state stating they had not raised as much as $1,000 and didn’t expect to do so.
Brown, 58, is an ex-Democrat who unsuccessfully sought election to a municipal court judgeship and Congress in the 1960s and to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors in the early 1970s. He describes himself as a conservative who is also concerned about protecting individual constitutional rights.
Bush or Kemp
Franklin and Brown did differ in which candidates they favor for the 1988 Republican presidential primary. Franklin says he supports Vice President George Bush, the apparent nominee; Brown says U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) is his choice.
Franklin and Brown concur, however, in criticizing Friedman’s opposition to a bill to allow local and state police to eavesdrop electronically on suspected drug dealers. Advocates called it a tool to combat gang violence. It passed the Assembly on a bipartisan 48-18 vote last month and was sent to the Senate, which had previously approved a more sweeping bill.
“I don’t think these punks call each other up to decide where they’re going to do a drive-by shooting,” said Friedman, who says the measure is marred by loopholes and inconsistencies and would be financially inefficient. “That’s not how they plan their evil.
“I believe that the police sweeps in South-Central Los Angeles have been much more effective than any attention-grabbing attempt in Sacramento to appear tough on crime.”
Franklin ridiculed Friedman’s reasoning.
“It’s common knowledge that many gang members bring their beepers with them into the classrooms and that’s how they are informed they have a pending drug deal to consummate,” Franklin said. “It just shows how out of the mainstream he is, even in his own party.”
Brown said, “I’d like to bring in the National Guard. Every four or five blocks you’ll have a cop standing there in a little shed and you won’t have any more gangs.”
Manning was born in Norwich and played in their academy before switching briefly to Ipswich and then dropping into non-league football.
He began his coaching career with Belgian club Lommel and had spells in charge at MK Dons and Oxford United before joining Bristol City in November 2023.
The Norwich squad was transformed by 12 signings during the summer transfer window, but the club sold Borja Sainz, who supplied 18 goals last season, to Porto for £14.25m, and Marcelino Nunez to rivals Ipswich for £10m.
United States international Josh Sargent scored six goals in five league and cup games at the start of the campaign but has none in the past 11 – and no-one else has managed more than Mathias Kvistgaarden and Jovon Makama’s three.
