Stewart

Jon Stewart’s biting satire may have made his new bosses squirm, but they went ahead and extended the comedian’s run on Comedy Central through December 2026.

The channel’s parent company, Paramount, announced Monday that Stewart will continue to host “The Daily Show” on Monday nights and serve as an executive producer through the end of next year.

Members of the show’s news team will continue to share Tuesday through Thursday hosting duties. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

“Jon Stewart continues to elevate the genre he created. His return is an ongoing commitment to the incisive comedy and sharp commentary that define The Daily Show,” Ari Pearce, Comedy Central’s manager said in a prepared statement. “We’re proud to support Jon and the extraordinary news team.”

Stewart’s contract was re-upped nearly four months after Paramount-owned sister network CBS notified Stephen Colbert, who rose to fame on “The Daily Show,” that it was dumping his late night show at the end of the season. The cancelation was revealed days after Colbert lambasted a $16 million settlement Paramount agreed to pay President Trump to end a lawsuit over edits to “60 Minutes.” Colbert called the arrangement “a big fat bribe.”

Paramount settled the Trump suit to win approval from the Trump administration of its sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media and RedBird Capital Partners. CBS has said the reason for Colbert’s cancellation was financial, not political, although many people have expressed doubts.

Ellison took ownership of Paramount in August. Stewart has joked that he, too, might be tossed as the company tries to reposition itself to the political center.

Last week, the company began a deep round of layoffs, cutting 1,000 employees with plans to terminate another 1,000 in the coming weeks, in an effort to trim its workforce by 10%.

After a nine-year absence, Stewart returned as a host in February 2024. He had helmed the show for 16 years before taking a break in 2015. His current contract was expiring.

The show was hosted by Trevor Noah until 2022, when he stepped down. That prompted a rotation of guest hosts, including Kal Penn, Charlamagne tha God, Sarah Silverman and Michelle Wolf.

Last month, during a conversation with the New Yorker at a cultural festival, Stewart was asked whether he might stick around longer. “We’re working on staying,” Stewart told the New Yorker’s David Remnick.

The rotation of “The Daily Show” hosts also will include Ronny Chieng, Josh Johnson, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta, and Desi Lydic with Troy Iwata and Grace Kuhlenschmidt.

SEATTLE — When the Dodgers traded for Brock Stewart at the trade deadline, they knew he came with some risk.

But on Friday, their worst-case scenario was realized.

Stewart will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, manager Dave Roberts announced, leaving the Dodgers without the only significant deadline addition they made to bolster their struggling bullpen.

Although the Dodgers have been managing several injury concerns — from Will Smith’s fractured hand, to Tommy Edman’s sore ankle, to leg bruises that Max Muncy revealed on Friday he has been dealing with — Stewart’s status had become among the most alarming.

Even after completing a minor-league rehab stint for a shoulder problem that had kept him out since early August, he continued to feel residual soreness.

After meeting with head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache this week, Stewart and the team decided surgery would be best. According to general manager Brandon Gomes, the 33-year-old is having a debridement procedure that should allow him to pitch the “majority” of next season, when he will still be under Dodgers control.

But for this October, the club will have to proceed without him.

“We had a lot of conversations with Brock, and he was like, ‘Hey, I want to help this team in any way possible,’” Gomes said. “But watching him throw and just having the conversations with him, there was still something that was just bothering him. As much as we would love to have him right now, we don’t want to put his long-term health at risk.”

Shoulder problems are nothing new for Stewart. Last season, he made just 16 appearances with the Minnesota Twins before undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery in August.

While this latest injury is not believed to be directly related to last year’s issue, Gomes did acknowledge that “any time you’re taking on a pitcher, we understand that there are risks.”

It’s not that the Dodgers overpaid for Stewart, giving up only former prospect James Outman in their deadline deal with the Twins. But, by not adding a bigger name in a bullpen that had been slumping even before the deadline (and has further spiraled in the two months since), the Dodgers put a lot of eggs in the right-hander’s basket. He was supposed to give the unit some experienced stability. Now, he leaves yet another hole to fill.

Without Stewart, the Dodgers’ right-handed relief hierarchy is somewhat unclear. They still have longtime stalwart Blake Treinen, but he has posted a career-worst 5.47 ERA and dealt with first-half arm troubles. Hard-throwing rookie Edgardo Henriquez has a 2.50 ERA in 21 appearances, but still has just 21⅓ career innings in the big leagues. And then there’s Roki Sasaki, the rookie Japanese phenom who returned from a nearly five-month shoulder injury with an auspicious inning out of the bullpen this week.

Another name that could enter the mix: Starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan, who was scheduled to pitch Friday’s series-opener against the Seattle Mariners but will likely be shifted to a multi-inning relief role out of the bullpen come the postseason.

In any event, however, Stewart’s absence will still hurt. What the Dodgers hoped would be a high-upside play, given his 2.38 ERA with the Twins this season, has instead become yet another bullpen letdown.

PHOENIX — Shohei Ohtani entered uncharted territory in his final pitching start of the regular season, shutting out the Arizona Diamondbacks over a season-high six innings in the Dodgers’ 5-4 walk-off loss Tuesday night.

The question now, with the start of the playoffs looming: When will the two-way star toe the rubber next?

After a season spent mostly in rehab mode as a pitcher, building his workload inning by inning as he slowly worked his way back from a second Tommy John surgery, Ohtani has checked every box in his recovery and looks primed for what will be his first career postseason pitching outing.

On Tuesday, his fastball was elite once again, topping out at 101.2 mph and accounting for five of his eight total strikeouts. The rest of his seven-pitch mix kept the wild-card-seeking Diamondbacks off balance, resulting in just five hits (all singles) and no walks.

Most of all, the right-hander was also efficient, needing only 91 throws to work past the fifth inning for the first time this year.

“Over the last three or four starts, there’s been a ramp-up of intensity and performance,” manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani, who has given up one run in 19 ⅓ innings over his last four outings to finish the regular season with a 2.87 ERA in 15 starts.

“I think that was his plan.”

Now, it’s up to the team to make a plan for its postseason pitching rotation and figure out exactly where Ohtani fits within it.

Roberts has virtually guaranteed that the reigning National League MVP will be used as a starter in next week’s best-of-three wild card round (which the Dodgers are all but assured of playing in, even if they sew up an NL West division title that has a magic number of three.

And as things currently stand, Ohtani would be lined up to go in Game 1, after the team moved his weekly pitching schedule this month to have him start on Tuesdays. Coincidentally or not, Game 1 of the wild-card round would be next Tuesday.

The reasons for opening that series with Ohtani on the mound are obvious — from his electric stuff, to his penchant for performing in big moments, to ensuring he does pitch in a series that could end in only two games.

However, Roberts insisted team officials “don’t know yet” how their postseason rotation will be ordered. Between the ever-present concerns about managing Ohtani’s two-way workload, and the team’s other wealth of starting options in what has been a resurgent rotation over the last month, there’s debate to be had about how to best maximize their $700-million superstar.

The Dodgers could, for instance, opt to start the wild-card series with Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Games 1 and 2, and save Ohtani for a potential Game 3. The benefit there: Ohtani could focus solely on his duties as designated hitter the first two games, and wouldn’t be required to play the day immediately after a pitching start (he is hitting only .138 in such games this season, and the Dodgers have made an effort to get him starts immediately before off days in recent months).

Because Ohtani isn’t as built-up as the team’s other starters, delaying his start could also ease the burden early in the series on a shaky bullpen, which coughed up a 4-0 lead Tuesday after rookies Jack Dreyer and Edgardo Henriquez combined to surrender three runs in the seventh, and closer Tanner Scott blew his 10th save in a two-run ninth punctuated by Geraldo Perdomo’s walk-off single.

“I think it just kind of gives us some options,” Roberts said of having Ohtani potentially lined up for a Game 1 start. “But the likelihood of him starting a playoff game in that first series is very high.”

Whenever Ohtani takes the mound again, the Dodgers are hopeful that concerns about his pitching stamina will be somewhat assuaged.

Up until this week, the team had a hard cap of five innings for whenever Ohtani took the mound. For the sake of his health, they were reluctant to waver from it, even when Ohtani had a no-hitter through five his last time out against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Prior to Tuesday’s series-opener at Chase Field, however, Roberts said that “if all goes well,” Ohtani would pitch into the sixth inning and that his leash could be further loosened in October after recent conversations between the player and club.

“I feel really good with the conversation I had with Shohei about how today could potentially play out,” Roberts said pregame. “This is me talking to the training staff, talking to Shohei, feeling like we’ve got a really good base now.”

Once the sixth arrived Tuesday night, Ohtani made Roberts’ decision easy. He had yielded just three hits to that point (one of them, a comebacker that got him in the palm of his glove in the third). The Dodgers had a comfortable early lead, after Teoscar Hernández homered in the second and belted a two-run, two-out triple in the top of the sixth (catcher Ben Rortvedt added a run with his first Dodgers homer in the seventh).

Five batters later, Ohtani’s night was done, the right-hander stranding a pair of sixth-inning singles by getting Gabriel Moreno to line out to center and retire the side.

The next time he takes the mound, it will be his first time pitching in a postseason setting. Whether it comes in Game 1, or later in the best-of-three wild card series, will now be up for the team to decide.

Bullpen reinforcements

The Dodgers have at least one bullpen reinforcement coming in this series, with rookie right-hander Roki Sasaki set to be activated on Wednesday in his long-awaited return from a shoulder injury.

However, the status of trade deadline acquisition Brock Stewart remains in question. Though Stewart completed a recent minor-league rehab stint, and was with the team in Arizona on Tuesday, Roberts said the club is still “making sure he feels good” after missing the last six weeks with a shoulder injury. It is unclear if he will be activated this week, as originally expected.

“[We’re] making sure he’s put in a position to feel good if he is activated,” Roberts said. “That’s no guarantee … We’ll know more tomorrow.”

Before Tuesday’s game, Stewart threw an extended flat-ground session in front of a team trainer and general manager Brandon Gomes. The three talked for several minutes once Stewart’s session was complete.

While Thursday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was preempted by a rerun of “Celebrity Family Feud,” continuing ABC’s indefinite suspension of the talk show, some of Kimmel’s late-night colleagues used their platform to sound off.

On “The Daily Show,” which airs on Paramount-owned Comedy Central and has rotating hosts, Jon Stewart suited up for emceeing duties outside his usual Monday slot. Desi Lydic had been hosting this week, but the comedian had something to say about the issues surrounding his friend Kimmel.

Stewart leaned heavy into irony from the start of the show, saying it is now the “all new, government-approved” version, and was introduced as the evening’s “patriotically obedient host.” Stewart frequently scolded the audience for laughing at his sarcastic pandering to the Trump administration. He said the show was being taped in the “crime-ridden cesspool that is New York City” and notes that “someone’s National Guard should invade this place, am I right?”

“I don’t know who this ‘Johnny Drimmel Live’ ABC character is, but the point is, our great administration has laid out very clear rules on free speech,” Stewart said. “Some naysayers may argue that this administration’s speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy, a thin gruel of a ruse, a smoke screen to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power and unitary intimidation, principleless and coldly antithetical to any experiment in a constitutional republic governance. Some people would say that. Not me, though, I think it’s great.”

Stewart and the correspondents then serenaded the president with an off-key tune filled with compliments and praises.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” briefly addressed the situation in his monologue Thursday night saying, “To be honest with you all, I don’t know what’s going on — no one does. But I do know Jimmy Kimmel, and he is a decent, funny and loving guy. And I hope he comes back.”

Fallon said he would continue his monologue “just like I normally would,” but the punchline of his jokes about Trump came with an announcer interrupting any possible slights with flattery.

Earlier in the day, the host had canceled a scheduled appearance at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival in New York City, where he was set to join a panel titled “Staying on Brand”; organizers did not respond to a request for comment about the cancellation of his appearance.

Seth Meyers, host of NBC’s “Late Night,” also didn’t avoid the topic. He opened his segment “A Closer Look” on Thursday by cracking jokes about how anything negative he’s said about the president is an AI-generated deepfake. “I’ve always believed he was a visionary, an innovator, a great president and even better golfer,” he joked.

He proceeded to show clips from Trump’s recent trip to the U.K., poking fun at the president’s comments and protesters who rallied against his visit. But later in the segment, Meyers’ began to show clips of Trump touting his efforts to “stop all government censorship” and bring back free speech, before cutting to news clips about Kimmel’s suspension.

“Trump promised to end government censorship and bring back free speech, and he’s doing the opposite, and it has experts worried that we’re rapidly devolving into an oppressive autocracy in the style of Russia or Hungary, much faster than anyone could have predicted,” Meyers continued.

The host also commented on his personal relationship with Kimmel, saying it’s a “privilege and an honor” to be his friend, in the same way he feels privileged to host his own show. “I wake up every day, I count my blessings that I live in a country that at least purports to value freedom of speech, and we’re going to keep doing our show the way we’ve always done it, with enthusiasm and integrity,” he said.

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” added David Remnick, the editor in chief of the New Yorker, to its lineup Thursday, which already included CNN journalist Jake Tapper. Colbert’s show generated its own headlines this summer when CBS announced the late-night talk show would be canceled after the season wraps in May 2026 — effectively ending the franchise after 33 years on the air. The decision, the company said, was due to financial reasons rather than a response to Colbert’s criticism of a deal between the Trump administration and Paramount, the parent company of CBS, the network that airs “The Late Show,” as many have speculated.

Colbert used his vocal talents Thursday to sing a tune about the situation, presenting a short song as a message from ABC and its parent company, Walt Disney. The song was to the tune of “Be Our Guest,” the “Beauty and The Beast” classic — except the repeating refrain is “shut your trap.”

Colbert sings as an animated clip of the candlestick character Lumière from the movie plays, but he’s donning a red MAGA hat here. “Shut your trap, we’re warning you to cut the crap. Our dear leader’s skin is thinner than a sheet of plastic wrap,” he sings.”Mum’s the word, have you heard, kissing a— is what’s preferred. Don’t insult our great dictator or he’ll hit you with this turd,” the song continues as a photo of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr appears on screen.

“The new rule at ABC: Don’t make fun of Donny T,” he sings. “So don’t you make a scene or mention Jeff Epstein, or your show will be scrapped — shut your trap.”

Colbert also spoke about the suspension in a monologue, reading a social media post from Carr that said “While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values.”

“You know what my community values are, buster?” Colbert asked. “Freedom of speech.”

Colbert discussed Kimmel’s situation with Tapper, who brought up the Department of Justice’s review of Disney’s deal to take a controlling stake in streaming company FuboTV, which brings up potential antitrust issues. Tapper questioned what Bob Iger, Disney’s chief executive, would do about Kimmel given that he has business before the Justice Department. “Is he going to poke the bear, Donald Trump, or is he going to ignore this great tradition we have in this country, of not acquiescing — of media, newspapers, comedians, television — not acquiescing to power?”

Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly is also scheduled to appear in an episode of “The Late Show” airing Monday; Kelly last appeared on the show last year ahead of the November 2024 presidential election, discussing border security and gun reform.

Earlier on Thursday, while taking part in a panel conversation moderated by the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, late-night veteran David Letterman, who once helmed “The Late Show” on CBS, described this week’s turn of events as “misery.”

“In the world of somebody who’s an authoritarian, maybe a dictatorship, sooner or later, everyone is going to be touched,” Letterman said. He first addressed what transpired with Colbert and the cancellation of “The Late Show,” alluding to political pressure as the real culprit, before addressing the decision to yank Kimmel’s show.

“I just feel bad about this because we all see where this is going, correct?” he said. “It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous. And you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian — a criminal — administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”

With three decades in the late-night circuit, Letterman never shied from mocking presidents: “Beating up on these people,” he said, “rightly or wrongly, accurately or perhaps inaccurately, in the name of comedy — not once were we squeezed by anyone from any government agency, let alone the dreaded FCC.”

ABC carried out the decision to take Kimmel off the air Wednesday after the comedian and host made comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death during his opening monologue on Monday night.

“We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said.

Kimmel has not yet commented publicly on the matter. But his show’s suspension quickly ignited fierce debate, with critics accusing ABC and its parent company, Disney, of capitulating to political pressure. Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said Wednesday that his agency might take action against ABC because of Kimmel’s comments.

“This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney,” Carr said on the Benny Johnson podcast. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

President Trump lauded Kimmel’s suspension in a post he wrote on his Truth Social media site: “Great News for America: The ratings challenged Jimmy Kimmel Show is CANCELLED.” (The show has not been canceled, but remains on hold.)

It’s also worth noting Kimmel’s outspoken daytime counterparts were mum on the issue. “The View’s” panelists did not address the Kimmel situation during Thursday’s episode. (“Good Morning America,” which is produced by ABC News, did mention the news of the Kimmel hiatus without additional commentary.)

Meanwhile, Kimmel’s fictional late-night competitor, Deborah Vance, has an opinion on the ordeal — or rather, actor Jean Smart does. She may only play a late-night television host on TV, but the “Hacks” actress was quick to share her thoughts on the decision to pull Kimmel from the air: “What Jimmy said was FREE speech, not hate speech,” Smart shared in an Instagram post. “People seem to only want to protect free speech when its suits THEIR agenda.” (Kimmel made a cameo in the recent season of “Hacks.”)

She went on to write: “Thought I didn’t agree at ALL with Charlie Kirk; his shooting death sickened me; and should have sickened any decent human being. What is happening to our country?”

Almost hidden in a mocha pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt, and wearing those same fire-red Air Jordans from his Aug. 4 return to Los Angeles, Clippers royalty Chris Paul adorned the Sparks’ bench.

And though the 20-year veteran barely lifted a palm — leaving the cheering to his wife and daughter — Paul’s court savvy still seemed to seep across the hardwood, finding its way to the Sparks’ Kelsey Plum.

Plum, who can very well be the tale of any Sparks game, but “chooses to win,” as coach Lynne Roberts says, seemed to be scoring and assisting at will through a coast-to-coast battle against the New York Liberty, a tug-of-war that stayed taut until the rope finally slipped from the Sparks’ grasp, 105-97.

The Sparks’ stalwart finished with 26 points alongside five rebounds and five assists.

“It came down to them scoring 105 points,” Plum said, “like, 97 is a lot of points.”

Across the court, with veteran Breanna Stewart sidelined with a a right knee bone bruise, the internationally seasoned presence of Emma Meesseman assumed control to keep the Liberty’s offense in rhythm, its poise intact and restart its win streak.

Emma Meesseman, who made her Liberty debut soon after Stewart’s exit, looked nothing like someone fresh off a lengthy league layoff on Thursday. The 2019 Finals MVP returned Aug. 3 after a three-year hiatus from the WNBA — time she spent competing for Belgium — and scored a season-high 24 points with nine rebounds.

“She’s one of the best players in the world,” Roberts said, “so, there’s a lot of problems one of the best players in the world can bring you. She’s got great hands, … she’s just good. She’s so smart, skilled, big, she changes their team.”

Stewart took the hit to her knee during the last edition of the East-West rivalry on July 26. And that was also a game before Sparks sophomore star Cameron Brink returned from a 13-month-long left knee injury.

About three minutes before halftime, Brink sat on the bench while trainers wrapped her left ankle during a Sparks timeout. She never joined the team’s halftime huddle as play resumed after the break, and when she finally emerged at the 6:17 mark in the third quarter, she watched the rest of the game from her seat.

“I have not talked to the medical team yet,” Roberts said, “but yeah, she tweaked her ankle. She’s still on a minutes restriction, so the decision was made not to put her back in.”

In absence of the Sparks’ most threatening defensive presence, though, Dearica Hamby and Azurá Stevens policed the key and cleaned up under the rim to ensure the Sparks stayed close. The two combined for 38 points and 12 rebounds, but couldn’t produce the same pressure defensively.

“We’ve got to do a better job defensively,” Roberts said in reference to the Liberty’s 50% shooting from three and 55.9% from the field. “I have not lost an ounce of faith or confidence in them [the Sparks], just a tough night for us tonight.

The loudest battle, however, seemed to be the fans versus the officials.

Fans groaned and barked over whistles — and the no-calls in between — as the night wore on. Roberts shared the mood, zeroing in on referee Tyler Mirkovich during a defensive sequence late in the second quarter. She sustained dialogue through the ensuing timeout, punctuating her point with a seemingly sarcastic double thumbs-up in Mirkovich’s direction.

“I mean, I would appreciate being communicated to from an official,” Roberts said. “Nothing will piss a coach off more than not being communicated to.”

Whether the whistles were with merit, no call was going to bail the Sparks out of a 10-point ditch with 22 seconds left to play.

Aug. 7 (UPI) — Six soldiers at Fort Stewart, Ga., were honored Thursday with medals for their actions after a sergeant opened fire, shooting and injuring five fellow soldiers on Wednesday.

Officials said Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, shot his co-workers in the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team with his personal handgun. The Army post was placed under lockdown at 11 a.m. Wednesday. It was declared “all clear” just before 2 p.m.

Some soldiers disarmed and tackled the shooter, while others rushed to try to save the victims. Two victims are still hospitalized Thursday. Their names haven’t been released.

The six honored were awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

“We’re going to take a moment and thank these six soldiers,” U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said. “Under duress and fire, they ran into battle to the sound of the gunfire, took down the assailant, and then took care of their comrades, and that made all the difference.”

“They were unarmed and ran at and tackled an armed person who they knew was actively shooting their buddies, their colleagues, their fellow soldiers,” Driscoll told reporters Thursday.

Those honored were: First Sgt. Joshua Arnold, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, Sgt. Eve Rodarte, Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor, Master Sgt. Justin Thomas and Sgt. Aaron Turner.

Turner, of Farmington, N.M, was the first to subdue the suspect, with Thomas from Kingwood, Texas, helping to keep him restrained, according to the Army.

Pacheco, Rodarte and Taylor are combat medics.

All five victims were expected to recover, Army Brig. Gen. John Lubas said. Two of the injured soldiers were taken to a trauma center in Savannah, and three were treated at the Winn Army Community Hospital on the post. One underwent surgery.

“Our priority focus is first caring for our injured soldiers and their families and also supporting the soldiers of the Spartan Brigade,” Lubas said.

“When we spoke to the surgeons in the hospital, it was clear that the actions [the medics] took, primarily stopping that bleeding before they were loaded up into ambulances and quickly evacuated to Winn Army Medical, certainly saved their lives,” Lubas said.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution told Turner’s story. He said, “We were trying to make sure we locked everything down, securing it. And then the next thing you know, he ended up walking through.”

Turner said he began talking to Radford “to try and de-escalate him.” He said he knew him, but not well.

“I had never seen any signs of him being out of character or anything,” Turner said.

When Turner approached him, Radford told him, “Go home.”

Radford told him this didn’t have anything to do with Turner or other soldiers, “that it was pretty much leaders” he was after.

At some point, Turner said Radford tried to reload the pistol, and Turner grabbed the gun’s barrel and kept it aimed toward the ground until Radford could be subdued with help from others.

Thomas helped restrain Radford, giving Turner the ability to take the gun away.

“I was able to disarm him, drop the magazine and eject the round,” said Turner.

Being his coworker makes it difficult, he said.

“Knowing the fact that it’s a teammate, it never ends up getting to the point where you really process that,” Turner said.

Radford’s father, Eddie Radford, 52, who lives in Jacksonville, Fla., told the New York Times late Wednesday that there were no signs that he noticed to cause concern before the attack.

“It’s hard for me to process,” he said.

He said his son was seeking a transfer from Fort Stewart and had complained to his family that he had experienced racism at the post, where he had been stationed for several years.

Radford, who is Black, sent a text message to his aunt on Wednesday morning which “said that he loved everybody, and that he’ll be in a better place because he was about to go and do something,” Eddie Radford said.

He had not seen the message himself, he said, but it was described to him by the aunt.

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House the “entire nation is praying for the victims and their families,” calling the suspect “horrible.”

“Today, a cowardly shooting at Fort Stewart left five brave soldiers wounded,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. “Swift justice will be brought to the perpetrator and anyone else found to be involved.”

Radford, who is in a civilian jail, will likely be transferred to a military detention center, said Ryan O’Connor, Army Criminal Investigation Division special agent in charge. O’Connor said Radford is in custody and that CID is working through the Uniform Code of Military Justice processes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Radford had a recent arrest for driving under the influence, Lubas said. The arrest was “unknown to his chain of command until the (shooting) occurred.”

About 8,800 people live at Fort Stewart, in Hinesville, about 40 miles southwest of Savannah.

Before trade rumors heated up and dream scenarios were briefly envisioned, before the Dodgers were linked to a string of big names who all wound up anywhere but Los Angeles, the team’s front office foreshadowed what proved to be a rather straightforward, unremarkable trade deadline on Thursday afternoon.

“This group is really talented,” general manager Brandon Gomes said last week. “I would argue it’s better than the team that won the World Series last year.”

“It’s really about our internal guys, and the fact that these are veteran guys that have well-established watermarks,” echoed president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, amid a July slump that fueled deadline speculation about what the team would need.

“I think the fact that we see the work they put in, how much they care, just makes it easier to bet on.”

On Thursday, maintaining faith in their current group is exactly what the Dodgers did.

The team did address its two main needs ahead of MLB’s annual midseason trade deadline. In the bullpen, it reunited with right-handed veteran Brock Stewart in a trade with the Minnesota Twins. In the outfield, it added solid-hitting, defensively serviceable 30-year-old Alex Call in a deal with the Washington Nationals.

But compared with the flurry of blockbuster deals that reverberated around them in the National League — from a head-spinning seven-player shopping spree by the San Diego Padres, to a bullpen arms race between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies — the Dodgers’ moves were mild, tame and certainly cost-conscientious.

They didn’t splurge for one of the several established closers that were dealt for sky-high prices throughout the league. They didn’t remake their lineup by landing someone such as Steven Kwan, or any other hitter with anything close to All-Star pedigree.

In fact, the Dodgers hardly gave up much at all, content to round out the margins of their roster while parting with little in the way of prospect capital.

High-A pitchers Eriq Swan and Sean Paul Liñan (the 16th- and 20th-ranked players in their farm system by MLB Pipeline) were shipped to Washington. But otherwise, the only other departures were 40-man roster players unlikely to factor much into the team’s late-season plans: James Outman, who went to Minnesota in exchange for Stewart; Dustin May, who was dealt to the Boston Red Sox for a prospect a few months before entering free agency; and minor league catcher Hunter Feduccia, who was part of a three-team deal late Wednesday night that netted the Dodgers two pitching prospects and a journeyman catcher.

The Dodgers’ James Outman (33) celebrates after hitting a three-run home run during a game against the Miami Marlins in May.

(Marta Lavandier / Associated Press)

Compared to last year — when the Dodgers added Jack Flaherty (their eventual Game 1 starter in the World Series), Tommy Edman (the eventual National League Championship Series MVP) and Michael Kopech (a key piece in a bullpen that carried the team to a World Series title) — it all felt rather anticlimactic.

Which, as the Dodgers’ top two executives had noted the week before, appeared to be perfectly fine by them.

In Stewart, the team got a lower-cost addition in what was an expensive seller’s reliever market.

The 33-year-old has only two career saves, and is unlikely to fix the Dodgers’ ninth-inning problems. But, he is having a strong statistical season with 14 holds and a 2.38 ERA, 14th-best in the American League among relievers with 30 innings. He will give the Dodgers a stout option against right-handed hitters, who have just a .104 average and .372 OPS against him. And he comes with familiarity in the organization, still thought highly of after starting his career with the Dodgers from 2016-2019 — back before he reinvented himself with a fastball that now sits in the mid-to-upper 90 mph range.

In Call, the Dodgers gave themselves more versatility in the outfield.

The right-handed hitter has appeared in just 277 career games over four MLB seasons with the Nationals and Cleveland Guardians.

But the former third-round draft pick is having a nice 2025 season, highlighted by a .274 batting average, .756 OPS and decent (if unspectacular) defensive grades at all three outfield positions.

While Call’s role wasn’t immediately clear, he could factor into a platoon with recently resurgent left-handed hitting outfielder Michael Conforto. He also gives the Dodgers another option in center field, specifically, which would allow Andy Pages to spend more time in a more naturally suited corner outfield spot.

For those Dodgers, the moves checked off their two big priorities: Adding another dependable right-handed reliever in the bullpen, and improving their defensive options in the outfield.

What was missing from the Dodgers’ deadline, however, was the kind of big splash so many other contenders reeled off this week. The Padres acquired Mason Miller, Ramon Laureano, and Ryan O’Hearn without sacrificing any key big-league pieces. The Mets added Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley and Gregory Soto to their already stout bullpen, while the Phillies upgraded theirs with the addition of Jhoan Durán.

Already this year, the rest of the NL was keeping pace with what was billed as a seemingly invincible Dodgers team. Suddenly, the competition looks that much stronger, not only for the club to defend its World Series, but even to preserve the narrow three-game lead it holds over the Padres in the NL West.

The Dodgers, however, see internal improvement as the key to the rest of the season.

Already, their pitching staff is getting healthy. Tyler Glasnow, Blake Treinen and (as of this coming Saturday) Blake Snell are all back from extended injuries. Michael Kopech, Brusdar Graterol, Tanner Scott and Roki Sasaki are also scheduled to return over the final two months.

Offensively, the club is confident that slumping stars Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Tesocar Hernández will get back on track, and that Max Muncy will provide a jolt in his return from injury next week. All that — coupled with the MVP-caliber play of Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith — they believe should yield a lineup capable of repeating a run to the World Series.

“It’s always tricky when you’re in the midst of a swoon in team performance, because in those moments you feel like we need everything,” Friedman acknowledged leading into the deadline, with the team enduring a 10-14 slide in July. “So for us, it’s about, all right, let’s look ahead to August, September. Let’s look at what our best-case scenario is. Let’s look at, if we have a few injuries here and there, what areas are we exposed? What areas do we feel like we have depth?”

Apparently, the Dodgers still liked what they already had, rolling the dice on their current group while other contenders stocked up all around them.

Jon Stewart took aim at his network’s parent firm Paramount Global for paying $16 million to settle President Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News, calling the move a payoff for approval of a pending merger.

On the Monday edition of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” Stewart and guest and former “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft laid out the details of the legal skirmish, which they agreed felt like an organized crime shakedown.

“I’m obviously not a lawyer, but I did watch ‘Goodfellas,’” Stewart said. “That sounds illegal.”

Last week, Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to settle the legal volley from Trump, who claimed “60 Minutes” edited an interview with his 2024 election opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, to make her look better and bolster her chances in the election. CBS denied the claims, saying the edits were routine.

But the suit — described as frivolous by 1st Amendment experts — was seen as an obstacle to Paramount Global’s proposed $8-billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. The deal requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission, led by Trump acolyte Brendan Carr.

Stewart rhetorically asked Kroft if this settlement was “just a payment so this merger can go through and not be challenged by Trump’s FCC?”

Kroft, who noted that Paramount Global majority shareholder Shari Redstone wants the sale to go through, confirmed Stewart’s assessment.

Kroft noted that “60 Minutes” never said it screwed up, “they just paid the money.”

“So just flat-out protection money,” Stewart said.

“Yeah, it was a shakedown,” Kroft said.

Comedy Central, the cable network that serves as the home of “The Daily Show,” will be included in the Skydance deal. But Stewart remained relentless throughout the segment.

“It doesn’t feel like scrutiny on news networks — it feels like fealty,” Stewart said. “They are being held to a standard that will never be satisfactory to Donald Trump. No one can ever kiss his ass enough.”

Stewart has always spoken his mind on “The Daily Show,” delivering mostly harsh assessments of Trump. It remains to be seen if he’ll have that freedom when Skydance, led by Trump supporter Larry Ellison and his son David, eventually takes over.

Stewart returned to Comedy Central after parting ways with Apple TV in 2023. His last program, “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” ended after Apple executives reportedly expressed concerns over the comedian’s handling of potential show topics related to China and artificial intelligence.

Apple has deep ties to China and has launched an artificial intelligence product incorporated into its operating systems.

Stewart demonstrated the shakiness of the Trump lawsuit’s claims with an edited Fox News interview with Trump from last year.

Trump appeared to give a simple yes when asked on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” if he would de-classify government files on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. However, Trump equivocated in a longer version of the answer that aired later on the network.

With the Harris interview, CBS News split an answer on Israel that she gave to “60 Minutes” presenting one portion on its Sunday round table program on “Face the Nation.” A different portion aired on the actual program, which led Trump supporters to cry foul.

“I would like to know why the ’60 Minutes’ edit was worthy of a $16-million acquiescence of what is considered the Tiffany news, gold standard network … when very clearly, Fox just did what seems to me a more egregious edit,” Stewart said.

A representative for Paramount Global had no comment on Stewart’s remarks.

Kroft said the the mood is bleak at “60 Minutes” in the aftermath of the settlement.

“I think there is a lot of fear over there,” he said. “Fear of losing their jobs. Fear of losing their country. Fear of losing the 1st Amendment.”

Chefs who behave badly get their own show. Also, pink Champagne cake at Madonna Inn plus more road food favorites. And can fish be too fresh? I’m Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with this week’s Tasting Notes.

Too hot in the kitchen

Some of the contestants in the NBC competition show “Yes, Chef!” From left, Michelle Francis, Katsuji Tanabe, Jake Lawler, Peter Richardson, Christopher Morales and Julia Chebotar. Martha Stewart and chef José Andrés host.

(Pief Weyman / NBC via Getty Images)

“For far too long,” Martha Stewart says into the camera during the opening moments of NBC’s new “Yes, Chef!” cooking competition show, “the pressure of the kitchen has been an excuse for out-of-control behavior.”

“That kind of behavior doesn’t make a great chef,” adds her co-host, chef José Andrés. “It holds them back.”

Stewart and Andrés are correct. And yet, that kind of behavior — yelling at fellow chefs, throwing pans in frustration, undermining colleagues and sometimes inflicting more harmful abuse — has been the roiling soup that has fed reality TV cooking competitions for more than 25 years. It’s also been the kind of behavior that restaurant workers have tried, with varying degrees of success, to root out as cheffing became an aspirational profession instead of disrespected grunt work.

You can read about the pain as well as the allure of working in and around restaurant kitchens in several recent memoirs, including Laurie Woolever’s “Care and Feeding,” which restaurant critic Bill Addison praised in this newsletter last month, Hannah Selinger’s “Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly” and books by two chefs and reality TV cooking show insiders, Tom Colicchio’s “Why I Cook” and Kristen Kish’s “Accidentally on Purpose,” which I wrote about last week.

If you’ve watched even a few minutes of a reality TV cooking competition — from “Hell’s Kitchen’s” Gordon Ramsay angrily dumping out a contestant’s overcooked steak to even the sweet contestants on “The Great British Baking Show” expressing frustration — chances are good that you’ve seen how the kitchen pressure Stewart talks about often does lead to bad behavior.

So can a reality TV cooking competition really help chefs become better people — and better bosses?

Possibly. But three episodes into the inaugural season of “Yes, Chef!” — a show cast with “12 professional chefs, each with one thing standing in their way: themselves,” Stewart says — it looks as though the cards are stacked against redemption.

“In our kitchen,” Stewart tells viewers about the chefs, “it takes a lot more than good food to win. They’ll need to figure out how to work together.”

Andrés and Stewart have a lot of life experience and advice to offer, with Stewart admitting, “I have been known to be a perfectionist. And that kind of holds you back sometimes.”

But when it comes down to which team wins and which team loses, it turns out that good food does matter more than bad behavior. (Note that there are spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched the show yet.)

After TV competition show veteran and designated villain Katsuji Tanabe (“Top Chef,” “Chopped”) takes all the eggs in the kitchen so that the opposing team has none to work with, he and his teammates are rewarded with a win. The reasoning: The losing chefs struggled to, in the language of the show, “pivot.”

Even worse for the development of the chefs, the decision of who stays and who goes at the end of each episode is not made by Andrés or Stewart. Instead, a one-on-one cook-off is set up between the contestant deemed to be the Most Valuable Chef (MVC) and another contestant that the MVC strategically chooses to go up against. If the MVC wins, the challenger chef goes home. But if the challenger chef beats the MVC, the challenger becomes the decider. So far, this has led to one of the better chefs, Torrece “Chef T” Gregoire, being booted largely to reduce the competition, followed by the executioner of that decision, Michelle Francis, getting axed in the next episode, possibly comeuppance for sending home a popular player the week before and partly because of her dish — even though she was handicapped by the egg theft.

The sharp edges and head games almost feel retro, closer to the template set 25 years ago this month when “Survivor” first aired and popularized the whole “I’m not here to make friends” trope that was common in sports and then became emblematic of reality TV posturing.

We’ll see as the season progresses whether the chefs can turn around the bad attitudes and insecurities that led to them being cast on the show. I certainly hope Andrés and Stewart are given more time to guide the chefs toward their better selves in future episodes.

But if you want to watch a show where the chefs are modeling kitchen behavior we’d like to see more of in our star chefs, may I suggest the current season of Bravo’s “Top Chef.”

Both “Yes, Chef!” and “Top Chef” are made by the production company Magical Elves, but “Top Chef,” now in its 22nd season, is showcasing a group of chefs who actually seem to care about each other. Yes, there are big personalities on the show, notably Massimo Piedimonte, who often generates eye rolls by the other chefs when his bravado goes overboard. But he is seen in quieter moments trying to tame his impulses and become a better person. And there is genuine emotion displayed when chef Tristen Epps gets word right before a big challenge that his father-in-law has died and his mother encourages him to continue competing. The entire show, from the production staffer who takes him off the set to his fellow competitors seem to support him.

There is even camaraderie among the losing contestants who try to work their way back into the competition through the spin-off “Last Chance Kitchen,” judged solo by Colicchio showing his mentoring skills. When Chicago’s North Pond chef César Murillo is pitted against three-time “Last Chance” winner Katianna Hong, co-owner of the recently closed Arts District restaurant Yangban, there is support and respect shown for both talented competitors by the eliminated chefs watching the proceedings, including chef Kat Turner of L.A.’s Highly Likely.

“Top Chef” contestants Katianna Hong, left, and Cesar Murillo before the judges.

(David Moir / Bravo via Getty Images)

“Top Chef” used to have a lot more hotheads. “I’m not your bitch, bitch,” was a catchphrase in the show’s early years when one chef pushed another too far. But the new season, which has just a few more episodes to go, is proving that you can cool down the temperature in the kitchen and still entertain.

Think pink

The very pink dining room at San Luis Obispo’s Madonna Inn; inset, the Inn’s pink Champagne cake.

(Nic Coury and David Fotus / For The Times)

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the motel — the first use of the word is credited to the 1925 opening of the Milestone Mo-Tel in San Luis Obispo — Food’s writers and editors joined our colleagues in Features to put together Motel California, a story series that includes a guide to the state’s “34 coolest, kitschiest, most fascinating motels” and our team’s picks for the best roadside diners and restaurants. Also in the package: Christopher Reynolds’ account of his 2,500-mile search for California’s greatest motels, a roadside attractions guide and Marah Eakin’s profile of Barkev Msrlyan, creator of the Merch Motel brand of retro souvenirs.

Food’s Stephanie Breijo spent time at the very pink San Luis Obispo landmark, the Madonna Inn, and says that the “maze-like, kaleidoscopic lair of chroma and whimsy is home to some of the most iconic food on the Central Coast.” She came away with insider knowledge of the red oak grills at Alex Madonna’s Gold Rush Steak House and of the Inn’s famed pink Champagne cakes — made in the hundreds each week. But the pink cake recipe remains a secret. Breijo did, however, get the recipe for the Inn’s Pink Cloud cocktail — topped with whipped cream and a cherry.

Plus: Julie Wolfson guides us to some great coffee shops along the Santa Barbara coast.

L.A. Timeless

(Samantha Hahn / For The Times)

This week, the paper introduced a new feature, L.A. Timeless, which highlights stories from our archives. The first two stories this week come from former L.A. Times restaurant critic Ruth Reichl, who wrote about learning to shop for fish at L.A. supermarkets with Jon Rowley, the man Julia Child once called “the fish missionary.” I got to go along on that reporting trip all those years ago and I’ll never forget the lessons Rowley taught us. Her companion story on Rowley went into one of his obsessions: “[T]hat fish can be too fresh … a fish coming out of rigor mortis five or six days after harvest (in ice, of course) can be far better eating than a fish less than one day out of the water.”

Great Australian Bite

Chef Curtis Stone poses at his Four Stones Farm in Agoura Hills.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Tickets are on sale for our second-annual Great Australian Bite. Last year, we were on the Malibu Pier. This year, chef Curtis Stone is hosting the event with Tourism Australia on his Four Stones Farm. He’s partnering with chef Clare Falzon of the restaurant Staġuni in South Australia’s Barossa. Read more about the event and how to get tickets here.

Also …

On Pasjoli’s bar menu, the dry-aged beef burger is topped with white cheddar, red onion “au poivre” and a marrow aioli on a brioche bun.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

• Jenn Harris reports on the reasons behind the upcoming two-week closure (starting May 31) of Dave Beran’s Pasjoli, the Santa Monica restaurant that, she writes, “has undergone a series of changes to its menu and format, ever striving to embody the spirit of the neighborhood French bistro.” Now that Beran has Seline as an outlet for his fine-dining tendencies, he can relax more at Pasjoli. When it reopens June 12, the restaurant should be, Harris writes, “more approachable, more interactive and a lot more fun.”
• Stephanie Breijo reports that after a health department shutdown, AC Barbeque restaurant, owned by comedians Anthony Anderson and Cedric the Entertainer, has reopened in Century City.
• Breijo also reports that Michelin is adding three L.A. restaurants to its 2025 California guide with a full new list to be revealed June 25.
• And, for good measure, Breijo also has restaurant opening news on Anthony Wang’s recently opened Firstborn, “one of L.A.’s most exciting new Chinese restaurants,” a Brentwood outpost of Beverly Hills’ steak-focused Matu called Matu Kai, sandwich shop All Too Well, the Pasadena branch of Sarah Hymanson and Sara Kramer’s Kismet Rotisserie, Kristin Colazas Rodriguez’s Colossus in San Pedro and details of Dine Latino Restaurant Week.