son

In a matter of weeks, Ventura High football coach Tim Garcia will help move his son, quarterback Derek Garcia, into the dorms at Nevada Las Vegas. They’re having one last hurrah, and the memories are going to be priceless.

On Saturday night, Ventura won the Southern Section Division 6 football championship with a 63-28 win over St. Pius X-St. Matthias. It means Ventura’s season keeps going with next week’s state regional playoffs to be announced on Sunday.

Derek passed for 288 yards and one touchdown. Dad was also happy that running back James Watson had 247 yards rushing and four touchdowns.

Earlier this week at the championship luncheon, the Garcias were smiling even though the coach/son role will soon be ending at Ventura. It’s a rite of passage leaving the nest for the son to explore the world.

Derek is thankful he’s had his father at his side for four years of fun and excitement, and what a way to celebrate with a Southern Section championship and maybe even more.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of four sons of the Sinaloa cartel’s ‘El Chapo’, changes his plea to guilty, court documents show.

A son of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will plead guilty next week in the United States to narcotics trafficking charges, according to federal court documents.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of four sons of the jailed Sinaloa cartel leader “El Chapo”, originally pleaded not guilty after his arrest in July 2024 in Texas.

But federal documents released on Friday show that Guzman Lopez is to change his plea at a hearing set for Monday at the US District Court in Chicago.

Another of his three brothers, Ovidio Guzman, as part of a plea deal struck in exchange for a reduced sentence, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to conspiracy related to drug trafficking and two counts of participating in the activities of a criminal enterprise.

Ovidio Guzman also admitted that he and his brothers, known collectively as “Los Chapitos” (Little Chapos), had taken over their father’s operations within the cartel following his arrest in 2016.

Mexican broadcaster MVS Noticias said Guzman Lopez’s guilty plea could mean “a new chapter in the history of drug trafficking is about to be written”.

“This move has raised numerous questions about the possible ongoing negotiations between him and US authorities,” the news outlet said.

The ABC 7 Chicago news channel said federal prosecutors have said they will not now seek the death sentence for Guzman Lopez, and that there “is talk of a plea deal now in the works”.

He is due to appear in court in Chicago at 1:30pm (19:30 GMT) on Monday.

Two other “Chapitos” brothers, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, have also been indicted on drug trafficking charges in the US but remain at large.

Their 68-year-old father, “El Chapo”, is serving a life sentence at a supermax federal prison in Colorado following his arrest and conviction in 2019.

Guzman Lopez was taken into custody last year when he arrived in Texas on board a small private plane, along with the cofounder of the Sinaloa cartel, Ismael “Mayo” Zambada.

Zambada claimed to have been misled about the destination and that he was abducted by Guzman Lopez to be handed over against his will to authorities in the US.

Following the arrest, clashes intensified between two factions of the Sinaloa cartel, headed, respectively, by the “Los Chapitos” brothers and Zambada. The infighting led to approximately 1,200 deaths in Mexico and about 1,400 disappearances, according to official figures.

Officials in the US accuse the Sinaloa cartel of trafficking fentanyl to the country, where the synthetic drug has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths in recent years, straining relations with Mexico.

The cartel is also one of six Mexican drug-trafficking groups that US President Donald Trump has designated as global terrorist organisations.

Additional sanctions against the two fugitive “Los Chapitos” brothers were announced by Washington in June for fentanyl trafficking, and the reward for their capture was increased to $10m each.

VICTORIA Bechkam has shared an emotional photo and message for son Brooklyn as the festive season begins.

The mum posted a heartbreaking sign she wants son Brooklyn home for Christmas amid their ongoing family feud.

The family have been at odds for months but Victoria has sent an olive branch, proving she’s still thinking of her eldest son.

The singer and fashion mogul took to her Instagram Stories to share a video from her mother Jackie’s home, where all the grandchildren’s Christmas stockings are up. 

Notably tied to the fireplace was Brooklyn’s embroidered name into his very own stocking. 

Speaking to the camera as she panned over the decorations, she said: “So I’m here at my mom and dad’s house and look how cute. 

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“They’ve got all of the grandchildren’s stockings up ready for Christmas.”

Victoria’s message shows that Brooklyn is still welcome at the Beckham household for Christmas and that he’s in the family’s thoughts.

She also shared a clip of some vintage stockings from her and her younger siblings Louise and Christian’s childhood.

The family have always been close at Christmas often sharing a barrage of sweet pics together over the previous years.

Victoria’s subtle attempt to bridge the family feud comes after her youngest son Cruz made a more blatant plea to his estranged brother Brooklyn.

This week Cruz took to his social media posting a cryptic message hinting that the family rift is getting the better of him. 

Alongside a close-up photo of his face he wrote: “Life is too short to be silence, at least talk it out,” with a crying face emoji.

It seemed to be a subtle plea for his older brother to reach out to him in a bid to hash things out once and for all.

The pair are still not following each other on social media, suggesting they’re still in the midst of a feud.

The once tight knit Beckham clan was pulled apart earlier this year when Brooklyn and wife Nicola Peltz failed to attend his dad’s 50th birthday party.

Hot sauce entrepreneur Brooklyn was also absent from dad David’s knighthood celebrations earlier this month.

Golden Balls marked the honour, given to him by King Charles inside Windsor Castle, with a Michelin star meal at pal Gordon Ramsay‘s Chelsea restaurant.

Prior to that, Brooklyn failed to congratulate his dad on achieving the lifelong dream when the honours list was announced.

One of which, David’s fishing trip to Scotland with sons Cruz and Romeo, saw the dad-of-four write on Instagram afterwards: “You were missed Brooklyn Beckham.”

An insider has now said that while a public apology won’t thaw the ice overnight, it would go a long way to healing the feud which is said to be fuelled by ‘anti-Nicola’ stories briefed to the media.

It was previously claimed that a close aide of Victoria and David was responsible for circulating negative stories about Nicola and her family to manipulate a media narrative.

A source told the Mail: “There is an obvious first step which would be a public acknowledgement [by David and Victoria] of what they did, and an apology.

“It cannot be a performative thing. There is no realistic chance of a reconciliation without that happening first.”

The insider added: “It is hard to understand the intensity and the escalation. It seems that they thought they could heap abuse on Nicola without any consequence. They did not let up.

“It matters what was written. It seemed as if things were being said without any regard being paid to the impact on Brooklyn. He is loyal to his wife.”

Now in its fifth year, Windsor Illuminate snakes its way through the Great Park with a spell-binding array of displays and activities, including the world’s first LED snowman

Nothing says Christmas like a light trial, and Windsor Illuminated is up there with the best.

Now in its fifth year, the stunning display in Windsor’s Great Park’s Savile Gardens sees visitors walk a 2.2km loop through ancient forests enjoying the Windsor Express Train, Snowball Elves, Woodfest, a dazzling Water Show and ‘Frosty Fred’ – the world’s first outdoor LED screen snowman. It takes between one and a half and two hours to complete.

Dog friendly, the trail has ample stops for little legs – and thirsty adults alike – with cosy alpine bars serving mulled wine and open fires to toast marshmallows lining the route. Organisers warn that some areas as unsuitable for pushchairs but there were many families giving it a crack when I visited with seemingly relative ease.

At one point, owls fly out of the trees as deer scatter, escaping a hungry wolf that stalks through the forest – all projected on huge screens.

Another section sees guests walk through a magical tunnel of snow but the most incredible part came at Woodfest – a stage buried in the woodland featuring cute performances from animals.

Setting the scene was a bubble machine, but these aren’t regular bubbles. Reaching out to pop one, it disappeared in a puff of smoke. My confusion soon turned to amazement. Magic! The only problem was that I couldn’t get my four year old to leave.

There’s a traditional funfair featuring a carousel, heater skelter and big wheel that my son convinced me to go on. He loved every second. I’m scared of heights and did not.

We finished off with a stop at the cosy outdoor bar where we tucked into hot chocolate around the fire pit. A lovely festive treat for all the family.

The trail runs until January 3 with a family ticket for two adults and two children starting at £56.10. For more information, visit https://www.windsorilluminated.com/.

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

Mahmood Mamdani, father of New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, says his son’s drive is both innovative and uncompromising – and he is fully aware of the enormity of the job ahead.

“PAUL will say to me, ‘There’s only four of us – now sadly two of us – who know what it’s like to be in The Beatles’.” 

So says Giles Martin, producer son of late producer, Sir George Martin, who some call “The Fifth Beatle”. 

For the past 20 years, Giles has been one of the chief keepers of The Beatles flame, involved in myriad releases from the band’s archive. 

For these, he maintains regular contact with those “two” — Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. 

The latest project to summon his skills is the one which, arguably, gets to the beating heart of The Fab Four more than any other — The Beatles Anthology. 

We’ll hear much more from Giles later but, to set the scene, let’s wind back to 1995 and catch what drummer Ringo has to say with his usual cheery charm. 

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“Now you can hear it from us,” he affirms. “Paul, George and myself — and old footage of John, of course — telling what it felt like to be a Beatle.” 

In 1995, it is 25 years after The Beatles split and 15 since the shocking assassination of John Lennon, and it is time for the world’s most famous band to tell their story. 

Over the previous four years, Macca, Ringo and George Harrison have been busy masterminding Anthology, a wildly ambitious, groundbreaking (you wouldn’t expect anything less) multimedia project. 

By using their own words, film and, of course, their immortal songs, they are in a unique position to reveal all — from the horse’s mouth. 

Here’s their chance to revisit their humble origins in Liverpool, cutting their teeth at the city’s Cavern Club and in the music dives of Hamburg.

They can relive having a first hit single, Love Me Do, Beatlemania, leading the British Invasion of the US, making madcap films like Help! and their eventual retreat from the live arena. 

They can share views on creating their psychedelic masterpiece, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the spiritual quest which leads them to India, their final studio hurrah, Abbey Road, and the various reasons behind them going their separate ways in 1970. 

This all results in an eight-episode documentary series filled with archive footage and candid interviews, three double albums of demos, alternate takes and snatches of spoken word and, later, an illuminating book. 

Now, in 2025 to mark the project’s 30th anniversary, we are being treated to an additional ninth episode of the series and a fourth volume of music. 

For his part, Giles Martin has created new audio mixes for most of the music featured on film, remastered the original LPs and curated the new album of 36 songs (13 previously unreleased). 

Episode 9 presents unseen glimpses of Paul, George and Ringo coming together in 1994 and ’95 to reflect on life as members of the Fab Four.  

Time, they say, is a great healer and the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, the three clearly enjoying each other’s company with some of the old banter returning.

We’ve heard from Ringo but what does Macca have to say about it?  

“We decided we might try to do the definitive story of The Beatles, seeing as other people had had a go at it. 

“We thought it might be good from the inside out rather than from the outside in.” 

Harrison, who died aged 58 six years later, gives this telling perspective: “I’m glad it didn’t get made until now.  

The good thing about Anthology is that it’s four of us, even though John’s not here, he is here. He’s represented, he talks — it’s old interviews and stuff.

Paul McCartney

“I think it’s been nice for us and the public just to forget about The Beatles for a while, let the dust settle, and now come back to it with a fresh point of view.” 

And it’s up to the “quiet” Beatle, not so quiet in this setting, to sum up the band’s immortality. 

“We’ll go on and on,” continues Harrison, “on those records and films and videos and books and in people’s memories and minds.  

“The Beatles have just become their own thing now. The Beatles, I think, exist without us.” 

Of course it was all done with a gaping Lennon-shaped hole but Paul, George and Ringo are hugely mindful of their fallen comrade who they clearly miss very much. 

“The good thing about Anthology is that it’s four of us,” says McCartney. “Even though John’s not here, he is here. He’s represented, he talks — it’s old interviews and stuff.” 

Harrison adds: “I feel sorry for John because the Beatles went through a lot of good times but also went through some turbulent times.  

“And, as everybody knows, when we split up, everybody was a bit fed up with each other.  

“But for Ringo, Paul and I, we’ve had the opportunity to have all that go down the river and under the bridge and to get together again in a new light. I feel sorry that John wasn’t able to do that.” 

‘Unfinished business’ 

One of the key elements of Episode 9 is how the three Beatles make new music together under the watchful eye of the Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne, a fellow member of the Traveling Wilburys supergroup with Harrison. 

Using Lennon demos from the 1970s, given to them by his partner Yoko Ono, they finish Free As A Bird and Real Love, employing John’s vocals backed by their vibrant new arrangements. 

Quite simply, it’s the nearest thing we’ll ever get to a full Beatles reunion. 

Another song, Now And Then, gets mentioned as “unfinished business” but, as you may remember, it finally saw the light of day in 2023 thanks to technological wizardry. 

Watching Paul, George and Ringo playing and singing along to John’s vocals is captivating, some of the old spark clearly etched on their faces. 

The affable Giles Martin, who I meet in Leicester Square this week and not at his usual stomping ground, Abbey Road Studios, has this take on the Anthology footage. 

“From talking to Paul and knowing him as much as I do, and from talking to Ringo, I know that the other Beatles were the favourite musicians that they ever played with.  

“Forget personalities, it was purely about being in a band — the best band they’d ever been in. 

“After they broke up, and I include my dad in this, they were looking for each other the whole time.  

“That’s the truth of the matter. I know that Paul misses my dad, and I know that Paul misses John.” 

So, in approaching Anthology, he clearly wanted to show how songs evolved. A bit of studio banter, all that kind of stuff

Giles Martin on his father George

This brings Giles to a significant moment during the completion of Now And Then, The Beatles’ final single. 

“I remember doing the string parts, and being with Paul,” he recalls. “He said, ‘That’s George playing the guitar again. Let’s listen to that because I want to respect what he’s doing, because he’s got great ideas’.”  

The original Anthology project wasn’t just a reunion for three Beatles but also for George Martin who came back into the fold to curate the double albums released on three separate dates between late ’95 and late ’96. 

Giles says: “My dad loved The Beatles — and he loved spending more time with them. 

“What I find interesting is the vulnerability on display, my dad included. Because no one else talked to them like that.” 

Being a Beatle or even The Beatles’ revered producer means that, out of respect, us mere mortals are not given to taking the p*ss. Seeing Harrison’s quip to McCartney, “Hello mate, vegetarian leather jacket?”, is a laugh-out-loud moment. 

Paul, with his famously meat-free diet, replies: “Yes it is. And my boots are vegetarian leather boots!” 

There’s a great scene where the band describe putting “uppers” in a teapot to get George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick to keep going and stay late into the evening for a session at Abbey Road. 

“My dad always denied it but he wouldn’t have known,” says Giles. “It was probably some sort of amphetamine or caffeine. 

“He used to say that, with each passing year, The Beatles started work an hour later.” 

You might imagine that the producer, with his schoolmasterly image and close attention to detail, was a perfectionist. 

But Giles says: “I don’t think he was a perfectionist — although he was upset at me once for not measuring out Pimm’s properly!  

“The music wouldn’t have sounded like it did, fresh and alive, if he had been one. 

“So, in approaching Anthology, he clearly wanted to show how songs evolved. A bit of studio banter, all that kind of stuff.”  

Giles adds that The Beatles were on board with this, seeing it rather like “a trawl through the photographs that don’t make it into the family album”. 

‘Close to John’ 

“A good example is [the early version of] Yellow Submarine with John originally coming up with the idea and singing, ‘In the town where I was born, no one cared, no one cared’. 

“Obviously, that was not right for Ringo to sing so Paul got involved and they changed it, developing it into the Yellow Submarine that children sang in schoolyards.” 

I ask Giles to describe his father’s relationship with each of the four Beatles and he begins with Lennon. 

“He was very close to John to begin with, because John was perceived as leader of the band. 

My dad and Ringo always loved each other. Ringo was an ardent fan and he was also the glue which kept things together.

Giles on his father’s relationship with Ringo Starr

“He was the older one out of Lennon and McCartney and they were like the two favourite children which George felt rather bitter about.”  

On Anthology Vol. 4, you hear the producer calmly encouraging Lennon to sing rehearsals of the White Album song Julia, about his mother who died when he was just 17. Both agree that it’s a “very hard” song to sing. 

Giles maintains that, as The Beatles’ journey progressed, his dad’s dealings with Lennon changed. 

“John wanted things to be immediate, to be rock and roll, but my dad’s process was different. Then it annoyed him when John went with Phil Spector [for Let It Be] and all that multi-layered stuff.” 

If Lennon made wayward comments after the band split up, an encounter just before he died helped heal the wounds.  

Giles says: “In 1980, John contacted my dad, who went to see him at the Dakota Building in New York.  

“Yoko went out, and John admitted he’d said loose-tongued things in the past, when he ‘was high’. 

“John told my dad, ‘I wish we could record everything again, properly this time’. Dad goes, ‘How about Strawberry Fields?’. And he replies, ‘Especially Strawberry Fields!’.  

But they talked about working together again. Then my dad flew back to England and John was shot, yet there was a weird kind of redemption to the whole thing.” 

As for McCartney and George Martin, Giles says: “Paul always maintained a very close relationship with my dad. 

“Towards the end of The Beatles, Paul was the one trying to keep the band going, but with his vision. Then, as we know, he went off to Scotland and decided to make it on his own. 

“But he got back with my dad for Live And Let Die [in 1973] and they had an ongoing friendship.” 

And what about Starr? “My dad and Ringo always loved each other. Ringo was an ardent fan and he was also the glue which kept things together.” 

There’s a wonderful scene in Anthology’s Episode 9 when McCartney and Harrison joke about doing a stadium “mud-wrestling” contest and Ringo interjects with, “I’ll be the ref!”.  

And finally, we arrive at George Martin’s association with George Harrison. 

Giles says: “My dad always felt guilty that he didn’t give George the attention he deserved — but he couldn’t do it all.  

“So George would go off and do his own thing, like Savoy Truffle. He could be quite stubborn and driven, like they all were.” 

But Giles remembers the abiding affection Harrison had for his father, first encountering him at a Simon & Garfunkel concert in 1982 at Wembley Stadium “when I was very young”. 

“I went to the loo and this man said, ‘Are you all right?’. I was a bit embarrassed but I said, ‘Yeah’. 

“When I went back out, he was standing with my parents. It was George. 

“My dad said, ‘This is my son, Giles’. And he said, ‘We just met having a p*ss’. I remember thinking that he was really nice.  

“When my father became ill the first time around, with prostate cancer, George was the one who went to see him and sat by his bed.” 

As we prepare to go our separate ways on this cold November day, I can’t help thinking how Giles Martin has inherited a deep affection for The Beatles from his illustrious father. 

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He’s currently working on the FOUR Sam Mendes-directed biopics, each one presented from a different band member’s point of view. 

Following in the footsteps of Dad, it’s a long and winding road that won’t end any day soon. 

THE BEATLES
Anthology Collection

★★★★★

When you’re a sportswriter covering high school sports in Southern California since the 1970s, you meet lots of sports families who come and go.

It’s going to be the end of an era for one of my favorite families, the Kymans. Bernie was the patriarch. He coached and was athletic director at so many high schools he could have worn a different mascot shirt every day for weeks. He was at Daniel Murphy, Los Angeles, St. Bonaventure, Moorpark, Chaminade (twice), Bishop Alemany, Littlerock, Cal Lutheran and Pierce College (twice).

His son, Coley, became a star in football and volleyball at Reseda in the 1980s, then the starting quarterback at Cal State Northridge and a Hall of Fame volleyball player for the Matadors. Coley’s wife, Michelle, won a national championship playing for UCLA’s women’s volleyball team. They had two sons, Jake and Brayden.

Jake helped Santa Margarita win a Southern Section Division 1 basketball championship in 2019, then spent three years at UCLA before transferring to Eastern Washington.

The last of the Kymans is Brayden, a 6-foot-7 senior at Santa Margarita and a Washington State commit who will get to play on Saturday for the first time where his father, mother and brother once played — UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. Santa Margarita faces Sherman Oaks Notre Dame in a 7 p.m. basketball game as part of a daylong showcase.

“Once I saw it on the schedule, I was really grateful and super excited,” Brayden said. “My brother played there, my parents played there. It’s kind of a full circle moment.”

His grandfather died in 2019 at the age of 78. Brayden said he learned plenty from a man who always believed in character and commitment.

“He taught me a lot and my dad, which was passed down to me — working hard and staying focused on what you want to do in life,” he said.

His parents both played professionally in volleyball, so they’ve been good role models and sounding boards for what to expect in the college journey.

“They always give me the best advice, whether it’s about recovery or a game,” he said. “They support me.”

Santa Margarita returns four starters this season and began the season as the No. 2-ranked team in the Southland by The Times. Kyman has already accomplished something few other top players are doing these days — staying from freshman season through senior season.

“It’s gone by super fast,” he said. “I remember yesterday I was a freshman. I’m grateful for the experience to be here all four years. I know that’s not as common now.”

After Brayden graduates, his parents are moving to Montana. It allows them to drive some five hours to his games in Pullman, Wash., while enjoy being away from big-city life. Just don’t expect Brayden to hang out in Montana. He makes it clear he’s a California boy for life.

“I think it’s crazy,” he said. “I’ve lived in the same house [in Aliso Vijeo] my whole life. I’m going to visit for a few days but not a whole week.”

He can also visit his brother, Jake, who’s living in Austin, Texas, and is a filmmaker. Brayden wants to keep playing basketball for as long as he can, then become a coach or trainer.

It’s been wonderful to see the Kymans make their mark in Southern California sports history.

Day session Saturday at Pauley Pavilion

Servite vs. Loyola, 9:30 a.m.

Orange Lutheran vs. St. Francis, 11 a.m.

Crean Lutheran vs. Campbell Hall, 12:30 p.m.

Mater Dei vs. Crespi, 2 p.m.

Night Session

JSerra vs. Sierra Canyon, 5:30 p.m.

Santa Margarita vs. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 7 p.m.

St. John Bosco vs. Harvard-Westlake, 8:30 p.m.

What would Jesus do if his early years were told as an unremarkable horror film?

It would probably be another opportunity to forgive, along with the very easy act of forgetting “The Carpenter’s Son,” a dingy alt-biblical slog that doesn’t even have the kitschy sense to use Nicolas Cage properly as a paranoid Joseph who isn’t sure if his kid comes from the good place or the bad one.

Writer-director Lotfy Nathan’s inspiration is an apocryphal 2nd century text called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which purports to describe the incident-filled childhood of a temperamental Jesus. It’s never been widely accepted Christian canon, but there’s no reason why what isn’t holy scripture couldn’t be a holy-moly script. In the Egyptian-American filmmaker’s retelling, a mixed-up boy (Noah Jupe) running from persecution with his devout dad, the Carpenter (Cage), and ethereal mother (a blank-faced FKA Twigs) is a superhero in waiting, with a bloody gauntlet of nightmares to get through first.

One of those is surviving his own birth, presented here in a sequence of torchlit, squishy labor that’s far from the twinkly manger of Christmas-diorama harmony. Onscreen, the text reads “Anno Domini,” in case it’s not clear whose umbilical cord is getting cut. “They’re coming for him,” his papa intones. Mom’s anguished childbirth moaning segues to those of young women nearby having their babies ripped from their arms and thrown into a bonfire. Barely escaping the scrutiny of the king’s killers, this new family escapes.

A time shift takes us to when the boy is 15 (not to mention sullen, bored-looking and wracked by violent visions of crucifixion). Our trio lands in a remote settlement that affords them the chance at a simple life, albeit under the Carpenter’s strict precautions against evil spirits: boarded windows, lots of praying, staying clean and making sure the boy sticks to his schooling. Attractive mute girl Lilith (Souheila Yacoub) draws the lad’s peeping gaze. But then there’s the young androgynous figure with mysterious scars (Isla Johnston), who seems intent on giving the new kid lessons in rule-breaking, not to mention cynical guidance about his destiny.

“You know who I am, but who are you?” this coaxing stranger offers, which is like a playground retort twisted to sound pseudo-philosophical. Nathan, via his thoroughly pedestrian directorial style, never exactly masks who it is anyway. But it sure makes for monotonous viewing. Meanwhile, the petulant Jesus starts feeling his powers and is suddenly called a savior by some, a malevolent sorcerer by others. Mostly, he’s one more uninteresting movie juvenile.

With its flat location visuals, B-movie gore (snakes pulled from mouths) and colorless score, “The Carpenter’s Son” is the uninspired origin story you never prayed for. But it really feels like a wasted opportunity when Cage is onscreen, sporting what appears to be a middle-aged man’s attempt at a Rachel haircut, saddled with boring dialogue about faith and fear and generally behaving like a reformed maniac under sedation.

“The Carpenter’s Son” wants to mix it up with an invented (and what some might call blasphemous) narrative about that time Satan almost seduced brooding teenage Jesus. But not letting Cage go biblical? That’s some kind of sin against cinema.

ADAM Peaty’s mum has told of her heartbreak at the ongoing family feud that saw the Olympic swimmer’s brother James arrested over alleged violent threats.

Gold medallist Adam’s wife-to-be Holly Ramsay called cops while he was on his stag do in Budapest over concerns he could be assaulted when he got back to the UK.

Adam and Holly are set to get married next month, with her famous parents Gordon and Tana Ramsay, and their celeb pals such as Sir David Beckham and his wife Victoria as guests.

She had her hen do at the weekend but Adam’s mum Caroline was not invited.

Caroline has now revealed she wants to repair the rift.

She told the Daily Mail: “I know it’s the end. But please, the message I want Adam to hear is no matter what happens in the future, please know I love you, your dad loves you, you can come home and talk to me at any point.

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“There’s nothing you’ve done that I would not forgive. I love you so much.

“I hope your marriage is a good one, I don’t wish any ill on you and I want you and Holly to have a long and happy marriage, like your dad and me. The reason I’m speaking out is I want all this to end.”

Caroline added that she has reached rock bottom over the family feud.

She also claimed to feel as though her son is being “pulled away” from her amid the rift.

This comes as Adam Peaty’s dad broke his silence today after the Olympic swimmer’s brother was arrested over alleged violent threats.

Gold medallist Adam’s wife-to-be Holly Ramsay called cops while he was on his stag do in Budapest over concerns he could be assaulted when he touched down in the UK.

Five officers met 30-year-old Adam’s plane when it arrived at Manchester Airport at the weekend and escorted him through passport control.

It has since emerged that his older brother James, 34, was arrested at his Staffordshire home and later bailed.

Adam’s father Mark told The Sun: “They’re brothers.

“They’ve always been close but like any normal family, brothers fight, argue, fall out, make-up and start all over again. But it’s got out of hand.

“There’s been very little empathy towards Jamie’s genuine mental health difficulties.”

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: “We arrested a 34-year-old man, from the Uttoxeter area, on November 11, 2025, on suspicion of harassment.

“The man was released on conditional bail while our enquiries continue.”

It follows Adam’s mum Caroline, 59, being snubbed from Holly’s hen do and uninvited from next month’s wedding at Bath Abbey, a move that sparked a furious online outburst from the athlete’s auntie Louise.

However, a source close to Adam and Holly said: “This feud is heart-breaking from both sides.

“But the reality is that Adam sees his mum Caroline to be enabling his brother’s actions rather than pushing him to deal with his demons.

“Poor Caroline must feel utterly torn and it’s just very hard for everyone.

“Gordon has been incredibly supportive of Holly and Adam; after all, he’s been through similar issues with his own brother.”

Adam has been forced to cancel a two-day event in the US after the ordeal.

The Olympic champion swimmer was due to fly to the US this weekend for a two-day training clinic with aspiring swimmers who signed up to his AP Race company.

He founded the business in 2019 to provide clinics to athletes across the globe.

Adam was expected to fly to Orlando, Florida, for a two-day session on November 15 and 16.

A source close to Adam said: “With everything going on Adam is going to remain in the UK.

“His team will still be delivering a first class clinic.”

The Sun first told this week how a secret feud between Adam and certain members of his family had imploded.

His mother, Caroline, was banned from attending his wedding to his fiancee Holly Ramsay, 25, next month.

Those close to the family branded six-time Olympic medalist Adam a “narcissist” and said he was “ashamed” of the family.

In a statement, a friend of Adam and Holly hit back and said the issue wasn’t cut and dry as his family were making out.

A friend said: “The issues that have been reported don’t stem from hen do or wedding invitations; it goes so much deeper.

“Things escalated over the weekend when someone became increasingly abusive and threatening over text.

“Adam was trying to enjoy his stag do and was getting freaked out by it all.

“He then received a threat that he’d be met off the plane.

“He told Holly who called the cops after consulting with her family.

“Gordon and Tana have been 100 per cent supportive of them in this.

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“They are both brilliant in a crisis.

“The police were sufficiently concerned that they went to the airport to accompany him through passport control, baggage area, arrivals hall and into a waiting vehicle.”

Before FKA Twigs could discuss her upcoming album, “Afterglow,” she needed a matcha.

The British singer-songwriter had first answered a Zoom call from the backseat of a dimly lit car in New York, where she confessed to running on “2% personality.” She explained that she had flown in that morning from London and had spent the day promoting her upcoming movie, “The Carpenter’s Son,” a biblical horror co-starring Nicolas Cage.

Luckily, only a few minutes into the interview, the singer born Tahliah Debrett Barnett spotted a familiar matcha spot coming up on her route. In a split-second decision, she runs into the cafe, eager for a caffeine boost, and orders everything matcha she could get her hands on — a hot lavender matcha latte, a matcha soft serve and matcha-flavored pudding.

“Oh, we’re gonna be buzzing,” said Twigs, who laughs a bit about how she hasn’t eaten much that day and decided to exclusively consume matcha desserts. After making it back to the car and indulging in a few sips, she declares, “It feels like I have my personality back. That was quite an authentic experience.”

With a revived glint in her eyes, she was ready to debrief “Afterglow,” the unexpected continuation of her third studio album, “Eusexua.” The 37-year-old singer released “Eusexua” in January as both the namesake of her record and a term she coined to describe a transcendent state of being.

Now, less than a year later and set to be released the same day as “The Carpenter’s Son,” her latest album is meant to “beautifully unravel” the questions of humanity she presents on “Eusexua.”

From the start, she says, she knew that “Eusexua” was something bigger than a singular album — equating it to an era. Inspired by Prague’s underground rave culture, the record itself is centered around life’s purest experiences. Over tattered drum and bass patterns, retro-futuristic crescendos and ephemeral melodies, Twigs attempts to bottle the way dance music makes her feel. Lyrically, she embraces a childlike wonder, shares her vulnerabilities and indulges in sweet nothings — all with the intention of capturing what it means to be a person.

Where “Eusexua” is “the bird’s eye view of the human experience,” Twigs says, “Afterglow” is meant to capture humanity through a more direct lens, where feelings are unfiltered and instantaneous. Changing this viewpoint was something that came to her with ease.

“Sometimes when you’re creating something, it feels like you’re rubbing against something or you’re pushing something uphill. But with this project, it didn’t feel like that. It was flowing naturally,” said Twigs.

Most of “Afterglow” was made post-“Eusexua” from the comfort of her home studio in Hackney, London. Despite “Eusexua’s” successful release, she couldn’t shake the feeling of still having more to give.

“I can’t explain it. Sometimes you put out an album, and then it feels like you need to stop for a while,” said Twigs. “But with ‘Eusexua,’ it felt like it was still growing. The message was still spreading, and people still wanted a deeper understanding of what it was.”

For over a decade, Twigs has been known to cushion her albums with a few years between each release. Her debut, “LP1,” released in 2014, was followed by “Magdalene” in 2019 and “Eusexua” in 2025. She also released a mixtape, called “Caprisongs,” in 2022. On each project, she bears a new side to herself, often diving headfirst into the depths of her identity, love life and womanhood. Uncovering raw emotions, like loss, lust and jealousy, she’s able to capture their complexities through erratic rhythms, unorthodox mechanics and a trance-like ambiance.

FKA Twigs performs at Camp Flog Gnaw in November 2019.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Before becoming a musician, she found success at an early age as a professional dancer. In her late teens and early 20s, she appeared as a dancer in music videos for artists like Ed Sheeran, Jessie J and Kylie Minogue. To this day, she relies on dancing and bodily movement as an essential part of how she understands music.

“When you dance, it’s really good to know the rules and the fundamentals, like with ballet. But once you know ballet, then you can mess it up and let go. You can dance with more freedom,” said Twigs, in between bites of her matcha pudding. “That’s kind of what ‘Afterglow’ is. It’s ‘Eusexua,’ but it’s wild, sensual and irresistible. It’s meant to quench a thirst.”

Since she’d laid out the groundwork with her previous release, she approached its follow-up with a carefree sense of freedom. The 11-track album is meant to be a concept album of sorts, detailing the aftermath of a night out. From the feeling of fresh air after leaving a sweaty dance floor to the drunken temptations of texting an ex-lover and the inevitable rush of not wanting the night to end, Twigs proves she has the “afters” down to a formula.

Leaning into a slightly less alien soundscape than the one heard on “Eusexua,” the singer indulges in a masterful form of electronic edging — never going the predictable route. On songs like “Slushy” and “Predictable Girl,” she intertwines a menagerie of robotic, spacey sirens with tinges of Jersey club beats and ’90s-influenced R&B chords. While on equally hypnotic tracks like “Cheap Hotel” and “Sushi,” she commands the heavily-layered soundscape with an intoxicating sense of recklessness.

“Sometimes I go out to reset my brain a little bit. Obviously, I love what I do so much. I love being an artist. But sometimes, it just gets unnecessarily stressful,” explains Twigs, who touches on the complications of fame with the track “Wild and Alone,” alongside fellow British pop music innovator PinkPantheress.

“So when I go out, it makes me put everything into perspective and realize what’s really important in my life, who I want to be and who I want to be around.”

Powered by these realizations, she’ll continue to lose herself in foggy nightclub dance floors, masses of sweaty bodies and blinding strobe lights. But she says, when it comes to making art, there’s one thing she’ll never lose sight of.

The only thing that can affect her creative output, she says, is “whether you’re telling the truth or not, and how honest you’re being.”

REMEMBER those big rectangular pre-digital VHS tapes?  

Well, Shooter Jennings, son of late country music great Waylon, has held on to a few of them. 

Now I’ll explain why they’re so precious to him.  

They contain episodes of a TV show almost as popular as Dallas in the early Eighties — The Dukes Of Hazzard. 

As the opening credits roll, you see “The General Lee”, a souped-up 1969 orange Dodge Charger, careering into view.  

Inside are outlaw cousins Bo and Luke Duke, on the run from crooked officials, Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P Coltrane. 

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You hear the rollicking theme tune, Good Ol’ Boys, being sung in commanding, if tongue-in-cheek fashion by — you might have guessed — Waylon Jennings. 

He also serves as the show’s laidback narrator, The Balladeer, and one of his pearls of wisdom is about poster girl Daisy Duke, remembered for her skimpy denim shorts. 

“She drives like [stock car racer] Richard Petty, shoots like Annie Oakley, and knows the words to all of Dolly Parton’s songs.” 

But he doesn’t appear on screen until season seven when, after demands from fans, he is presented as an old friend of the Dukes in an ­episode titled Welcome, Waylon Jennings. 

‘A massive cultural moment’ 

“Just last night, my wife and I were watching some episodes,” Shooter tells me via Zoom from America’s West Coast as we discuss a fabulous new project involving his father’s previously unreleased music. 

“It made me think what a massive cultural moment the show was,” he continues. “Just how perfect my father’s voice was for it. 

“I think he loved doing those shows and it wasn’t a lot of work for him. He’d be on the road and just stop by a studio and do the voiceovers. 

“There’s real humility about them. He seems to be making fun of himself the whole time. It’s really funny to hear.”  

Waylon is remembered as a ­pioneer of the “Outlaw” country scene, a singer who wrestled the Nashville music-making machine and won control over his recorded output. 

Hellraiser, maverick and bearer of a rich baritone, he was an obvious choice to join fellow renegades Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson in Eighties supergroup The Highwaymen. 

Born in Littlefield, Texas, in 1937, he was consumed by music at an early age and, in 1958, came under the wing of Buddy Holly, who arranged his first recording ­session. 

The stuff of legend, Waylon gave up his seat on the flight that killed Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens on February 3, 1959 — “the day the music died”. 

Shooter says: “If my dad had got on the plane, the music world would be quite different. I often think what it must have been like for him to have survived that. 

“Throughout his life, Buddy was huge to him and he used to talk about him all the time. 

“A lot of his spirit and energy came from rock and roll, from Buddy, who gave him little lessons in songwriting. 

“But he also loved country music, the beauty and sentiment of it, and his voice was just so ­vulnerable and awesome.” 

From the mid-Sixties onwards, Waylon would become a fixture at the top of the country charts but his best work appeared after he gained creative control from RCA Records in 1973.  

He delivered a string of fine unvarnished albums including Lonesome, On’ry And Mean, Honky Tonk Heroes, Dreaming My Dreams and Are You Ready For The Country. 

In 1979, he and fourth wife Jessi Colter, a fellow “Outlaw” country singer, had their only child together, Waylon Albright “Shooter” Jennings. 

The Albright comes from Richie Albright, Waylon Snr’s right- hand man and drummer in The Waylors. 

And the main reason I’m talking to Shooter is because he has unearthed a goldmine of un­released Waylon recordings, taped between 1973 and 1984. 

This has resulted in the appearance of Songbird, the first of three albums culled from the material and lovingly restored by him with the help of surviving members of his dad’s band, along with younger musicians and backing singers. 

‘Passion and soul alive today’ 

“It’s been surreal,” says Shooter, a singer in his own right and in-demand producer. “Everything has lined up for me to have this purpose. 

“This project has given me an entirely new chapter in my relationship with my father and working on this music has brought a whole new understanding about how, when and why my dad made music.  

“The hard work is there on the tapes and the passion and the soul within is as alive today as it was the day it was recorded.” 

I guess the reason The Dukes Of Hazzard cropped up in our chat is because much of the Songbird album’s music was recorded around the same time as the show aired. 

Then I just kept finding these hidden albums,” he says. “It didn’t feel like stuff that was not meant to be released and there were songs I never knew he’d attempted.

Shooter Jennings

Shooter became aware of Waylon’s buried treasure in 2008, “about six years after he died” aged 64 from complications of diabetes.  

But the project only began in earnest last summer when he started sorting through hundreds of high-resolution multitrack transfers of his father’s personal studio recordings.  

What Shooter discovered blew his mind.  

Listening to his dad performing with his ace band became “a wild adventure”. When Shooter heard their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours track Songbird, written by Christine McVie, he realised he was on to something “really exciting”. 

“Then I just kept finding these hidden albums,” he says. “It didn’t feel like stuff that was not meant to be released and there were songs I never knew he’d attempted.” 

Shooter says that much of the material was “professional cuts with a lot of attention to detail, much more than sketches”. 

“My mom told me that my dad always said that every song he recorded should be good enough to be a single when it was done. He had a great work ethic.” 

Shooter settled on Songbird as the opening track and album title because he realised that Waylon “was a kind of songbird”. 

“I wanted to hit home how good a song interpreter he was and how he could make a song his own,” he says. “And I wanted to bring him back with an emotional song, one that’s going to make you cry. 

“Every time I play it for anyone, they tear up at the bit which goes, ‘And I feel that when I’m with you, it’s all right’. 

“It’s such a beautiful take that people are shocked they haven’t heard it before.” 

In order to take Songbird to even greater heights, Shooter enlisted contemporary country singers Ashley Monroe and Elizabeth Cook to provide backing vocals. 

‘Obsessed with Hank Williams’ 

“They’re the funniest people, like a duo, and they’re hill­billies like me,” he says. 

“Elizabeth and I have been really good friends for 15 years plus and she brought Ashley to my studio around the time I was going through this. 

“And they were so moved by Songbird. I realised their airy, birdlike voices could elevate it to some fantasy realm. 

“So I asked them to come back and do some background vocals and they really killed it.” 

Also adding finishing flourishes to the album’s ten tracks are some surviving Waylors including guitarist Gordon Payne, bassist Jerry Bridges, keyboardist Barny Robertson, and backing vocalist Carter Robertson. 

The second song The Cowboy (Small Texas Town) is credited to Johnny Rodriguez but Shooter suspects his father had a hand in writing it. 

These telling lines back up that theory: “My long shaggy hair, and the clothes that I wear/Ain’t fit for no big fancy ball.” 

The song fits with Waylon’s image of staying true to his humble origins — a quality Shooter sees in today’s stars such as Charley Crockett, Tyler Childers and Benjamin Tod. 

He credits his father with blazing a trail for these independent spirits thanks to his battle with RCA Records. “My dad really opened it up. And even though Nashville got their grip back on it for a little while, they’ve been blown apart now.

“They’re just scrambling to find anyone who’s like one of these guys.” 

I ask Shooter what Waylon used to tell him about growing up in Littlefield, Texas. 

“He would tell me how poor they were, for sure, that they had dirt floors, that his mom would put him in places the rats wouldn’t get to.”  

When Waylon became famous, the town would hold a Waylon Jennings Day and their favourite son “would go back there and do a show”. 

Shooter adds: “I loved my dad’s family, his brothers and his mom. I got to know all of them and his brother James is still around and runs this little gas station there.” 

Unbeknown to the residents of Littlefield in 2025, Shooter decided to put up billboards around town featuring lyrics to some of the Songbird songs.

He and Johnny [Cash] came from the exact same background. They both picked cotton. They both listened to Hank Williams on the radio and both journeyed to Mecca [Nashville] to make music.

Shooter Jennings

“I didn’t even tell them. But when we put out that song, The Cowboy, I really wanted to put the focus on Littlefield.” 

We’ve heard about Buddy Holly but I’m keen to find out from Shooter who else was his father’s music hero. He instantly mentions country music’s first superstar — Hank Williams, who lived fast and died young. 

“My father was obsessed with Hank Williams. He was similar in a way because of the vision he had for his songs.” 

As for Waylon’s reputation as a hellraiser, Shooter has this to say: “It’s funny, he didn’t drink. People always get that wrong. 

“He only did the uppers but we had an empty alcohol cabinet in our house because he just didn’t get any.” 

And what does Waylon’s recently remarried widow Jessi Colter, Shooter’s mother, think of the Songbird project? 

“She has helped us,” he replies. “I had to borrow money from her to do it because I didn’t want to get a label involved. 

“She was also a great emotional support to me, even if she wasn’t emotionally tied up in the project.” 

Hearing Waylon sing “didn’t make her sad but she loved it. She’d say something like, ‘They sound like they were having a good time that day.’ ”  

Before we go our separate ways, Shooter opens up about Waylon’s famous friends, notably his Highwaymen buddies Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, still touring and making records at 94.

Waylon and Cash shared an apartment in Nashville in the mid-Sixties and had a strong, if sometimes tempestuous bond. 

“They loved each other,” says Shooter. “Just like anybody else, they would have little bicker fights and not talk for a couple of weeks here or there.  

“But he had a great relationship with Johnny and June [Carter Cash].  

“He and Johnny came from the exact same background. They both picked cotton. They both listened to Hank Williams on the radio and both journeyed to Mecca [Nashville] to make music.” 

Shooter continues: “And I loved Cash. We used to go to his house when I was little. He was always very nice to me.” 

He also remembers hanging out with Nelson’s daughters Amy and Paula. “We were all around the same age and together on the road during the Waylon and Willie tours.  

“And then The Highwaymen happened and I was around Kristofferson’s kids because they lived in Tennessee. 

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“Life’s weird, man,” decides Shooter. “I got dealt a really good hand being born to who I was. So I don’t take it lightly.” 

Hence a son’s labour of love to bring Waylon’s music to a whole new audience. 

WAYLON JENNINGS 

Songbird 

★★★★☆

As Los Angeles city officials worked on an agreement to modernize the Convention Center, more than one member of the McOsker family was playing a key role.

City Councilmember Tim McOsker supported the $2.6-billion expansion, which could bring more tourism but threatens to further exacerbate Los Angeles’ dire fiscal situation.

Nella McOsker, his daughter, runs the Central City Assn., an influential downtown Los Angeles business group, which advocated strenuously for the project.

And his nephew, Emmett McOsker, who was an aide to former Mayor Eric Garcetti, works for the Tourism Department — handling the Convention Center.

Central City Assn. President and Chief Executive Nella McOsker.

(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)

Nella McOsker often argued for the project as her father listened with his council colleagues. In September, he cast a “yes” vote.

“It’s just a family tradition of public service,” said Doane Liu, executive director of the Tourism Department, who is a longtime friend and former colleague of Tim McOsker — and Emmett McOsker’s boss. “I wish there were more McOskers working at City Hall.”

And there are. Flying a little beneath the radar, due to her last name, is a fourth family member, Anissa Raja — the councilmember’s niece (cousin to Emmett and Nella), who is also his legislative director and president of the Los Angeles County Young Democrats.

Raja does not lead with the fact that she is the councilmember’s relative.

“I don’t mention it because I’m a staffer. I keep it professional at work,” she said.

While the interplay between McOskers can create potential conflicts of interest, Nella says she logs every lobbying conversation she has with Tim’s office to the city’s Ethics Commission, just like she does with other councilmembers.

Plus, she and her dad often disagree. And in L.A. city government, lobbying a close family member is perfectly legal, as long as neither party has a financial stake.

“As a city, we made a policy decision that it shouldn’t be just because you’re related to someone that you can’t try to exert influence over them if they’re in an elected position,” said Jessica Levinson, a professor of law at Loyola Marymount University and former head of the city’s Ethics Commission.

Councilmember Tim McOsker speaking during a 2023 meeting at City Hall.

(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

For decades, the McOskers — a large, tight-knit Irish Catholic family from San Pedro — have wielded power at Los Angeles City Hall. Unlike the Garcettis and the Hahns, the McOskers have not served in citywide or countywide elected office. But their breadth of influence in Los Angeles politics over the last quarter century may be unparalleled.

The McOskers are hardly alone in making city politics the family business.

There’s Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, whose father-in-law Zev Yaroslavsky once held her seat. And Herb Wesson, the former council speaker, whose son was his aide and whose daughter-in-law Alexis Wesson is chief of staff to Councilmember Adrin Nazarian.

Sometimes that leads to family members bumping up against each other in questionable ways.

Eric Garcetti’s father, Gil Garcetti — perhaps best known for being L.A. County district attorney during the O.J. Simpson trial — was president of the Ethics Commission when his son was on the City Council. That led to issues in 2006, when Gil inadvertently contributed to Eric’s reelection campaign, which was not allowed. Or consider Councilmember Curren Price, who has been charged with allegedly voting in favor of development projects his wife’s company was being paid to consult for.

The McOskers’ tradition of city service predates Tim, who worked for City Attorney James Hahn in the 1990s before becoming Hahn’s chief of staff when Hahn was mayor in the early 2000s. Tim’s father, Mac, was a city firefighter, which many in the family cite as the origin of the public service bug.

To this day, the family is as much, or more of, a fire family than a politics family — and some members have combined the two.

Tim’s brother Patrick is a retired LAFD engineer who served as president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, the powerful firefighters union. Another brother, Mike, who died in 2019, was vice president of the same union.

Emmett, Patrick’s son, said his father was always his hero and that he wanted to be a firefighter. But when he graduated college in 2011 following the Great Recession, the fire department wasn’t hiring, so he got into politics instead.

Tim, too, aspired to be a firefighter at one point. Two of his children are firefighters, one for LAFD and the other for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, while a cousin works for the county fire department.

In 2003, then-Councilmember Janice Hahn — sister of Mayor James Hahn and daughter of longtime county supervisor Kenneth Hahn — told The Times that Tim and his brothers Patrick, Mike and John (then vice president of the city’s Harbor Area Planning Commission) “are involved in everything.”

Rebecca Liu Morales, a former aide to then-Councilmember Eric Garcetti, was Nella McOsker’s close childhood friend in San Pedro.

“We grew up super familiar with public life and what it looks like. We were dragged to campaign events. We spent Saturdays volunteering,” said Liu Morales, who as Doane Liu’s daughter was also raised in a political family.

Little did Nella McOsker know that decades down the line, she would still be attending her father’s campaign events, helping him get elected to the City Council in 2022.

She worked as his operations director, referring to herself as his “Ego Killer” for always being willing to knock him down a peg. The campaign was filled out by volunteers from the family, from Tim’s wife, Connie, to brother Patrick, who was an avid doorknocker.

One politico who lives in the district noted that two McOskers separately knocked on his door and a third called him as part of a phone banking operation.

After Tim won his council seat, Nella took a job running the Central City Assn. Now, she lobbies councilmembers, including her father’s office.

Councilmember McOsker, along with Councilmember Yaroslavsky, proposed a law in 2023 that would have required lobbyists like Nella who are close relatives of councilmembers or high-level council staffers to disclose the relationship. They would have been prohibited from lobbying on land use development projects in that councilmember’s district. Because Nella works on issues involving downtown, not the San Pedro area, she and Tim would likely not have been affected. The law was never passed.

Rob Quan, who runs a transparency-focused good government advocacy group,
said there is no evidence that the McOskers have leveraged their relationships for undue advantage.

Tim said the family rarely talks local politics at dinners and holidays. First off, there are so many of them that the atmosphere can become chaotic.

Last time he hosted Thanksgiving, Tim said about 47 people showed up, and the tables stretched all the way outside onto the back patio. Mostly, they dote on the kids, and cousins reconnect.

“It’s not a lot about politics. It’s a lot about family,” Tim said.

When politics do come up, the McOskers often land on opposite sides.

Tim said he disagreed with his firefighter daughter Miranda and his brother Patrick, who believed LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley should have been reinstated after Mayor Karen Bass ousted her over her handling of the Palisades fire. The two showed up with other firefighters at the council chambers when the council was voting on the issue.

“You can’t have a mayor and a chief of fire … on different pages. It is dangerous,” Tim said.

While Tim and Nella both supported the Convention Center expansion, the two have split on other issues.

Earlier this year, Tim voted to increase the hotel and airport worker minimum wage — which Nella and the Central City Assn. fiercely opposed.

“There’s a different intensity I can get to with him [than with other councilmembers],” she said, referring to her conversations with her father about politics.

This summer, Nella McOsker and the Central City Assn. were part of a business coalition that proposed a ballot measure to repeal the city’s gross receipts tax on businesses, which generates about $800 million for the city annually. Her goal was to help struggling businesses by reducing their taxes.

“Terrible idea,” Tim McOsker said.

That was probably the most annoyed “Tim” got with her, Nella said.

She calls him Tim, not Dad — partially out of decorum in a world where she is lobbying him and his colleagues on a regular basis.

It’s also how she and her four younger siblings grew up — they’ve always called their parents Tim and Connie.

Nella’s son Omero is 4. She says he can be whatever he wants when he grows up, but some in the city family already have their eyes on him.

“I’m ready to offer him an internship,” Liu said.

RAPPER Young Bleed has tragically died aged 51 after suffering a brain aneurysm.

The star, whose real name was Glenn Clifton Jr, sadly passed away on Saturday, his son confirmed.

He had been rushed to hospital in the days leading up to his death after collapsing in Las Vegas.

Young Bleed rose to fame in the 90s with the hit “How You Do That” and went on to release nine studio albums.

The rap icon’s son, Ty’Gee Ramon Clifton, confirmed the tragic news with an Instagram video captioned: “RIP to the biggest legend I know.”

Addressing fans in the clip, he said: “As of November 1st, my dad gained his wings.

“This is a tough topic for me – not sure how it’s going to go. But I am here to clear up a lot of false narratives.”

He added: “I know with him being a legend worldwide, all lot of people were concerned for him, they wasn’t sure what they heard.

“So I’m here to confirm as his oldest child that he has gained his wings.

“My dad was 51 years out when this happened to him… The My dad didn’t have no real health issues, these are just chapters in life.

“I hope after this video that people that are going through grieving moments find peace in this video.

“My dad like most as you get in [older] in age take had high blood pressure. He would take his medicines… Once he collapsed he did pass from the aneurysm, the bleed to the brain.”

The late rapper’s mother has also set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of medical and funeral expenses. 

She had started the page when he had been hospitalized and admitted it was ‘completely unexpected and has turned our world upside down.’

Young Bleed was born on June 6, 1974, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and his passion for music was sparked at nine-years-old.

He shot to fame in the 90s and worked with fellow rappers C-Loc, Max Minelli, J-Von, and J-Von’s younger brother Chris Hamilton.

They created the group Concentration Camp in 1995 and his song with C-Loc How You Do That was released two years later, seeing him rise within the industry.

The song peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B and Hip Hop album charts the following year.