stick

Dominic Perfetti is a 6-foot-7 starting basketball player for St. John Bosco. Even more impressive is that he’s one of the top high school lacrosse players in the nation and has committed to Syracuse.

He became interested in lacrosse when a friend gave him a stick when he was 6 years old. He started fooling around with it and has been playing lacrosse ever since. He got so good that top programs on the East Coast reached out. And he’s been playing for a club team, too.

He’s so tall as a defender that it makes him a unique player.

“I might be the tallest lacrosse player in history,” Perfetti joked.

His size, combined with 6-9 Christian Collins and 7-1 Howie Wu, gives St. John Bosco a formidable trio in basketball. If his team is busy in the basketball playoffs, he’ll also try to play lacrosse simultaneously for the Braves.

He’ll gladly demonstrate his shooting ability in lacrosse if anyone presents him with a stick and ball. And he can dunk, too.

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

For most retirees, Social Security is more than just a monthly deposit into their bank accounts. It represents a financial lifeline that helps them make ends meet.

In 2023, Social Security lifted more than 22 million people out of poverty, according to an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), and 16.3 million of these recipients were aged 65 and over. If Social Security didn’t exist, the CBPP estimates the poverty rate for adults aged 65 and up would jump nearly fourfold, from 10.1% (with existing payouts) to 37.3%.

Meanwhile, 24 years of annual surveys from Gallup show that 80% to 90% of aged beneficiaries lean on their payouts in some capacity to cover their expenses.

For retirees, few announcements have more bearing than the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) reveal in October. Though Social Security payouts are on track to do something that hasn’t been witnessed in almost 30 years, next year’s “raise” appears set to give retirees the short end of the stick, yet again!

Image source: Getty Images.

What is Social Security’s COLA and why might the 2026 reveal be delayed?

The fabled “COLA” you’ve probably been hearing and reading about over the last couple of weeks is the tool the Social Security Administration (SSA) has on its proverbial toolbelt to keep benefits aligned with inflation.

Hypothetically, if a large basket of goods and services that retirees regularly purchase increases in cost by 2% from one year to the next, Social Security benefits would also need to climb by 2%. Otherwise, these folks would see their buying power decline. Social Security’s COLA attempts to mirror the inflationary pressures that program recipients are facing so they don’t lose purchasing power.

This near-annual raise is based on changes to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which has measured price changes for Social Security since 1975. It has more than 200 individually weighted categories, which allows the CPI-W to be chiseled down to a single figure at the end of each month. These readings can be compared to the prior-year period to determine if prices are collectively rising (inflation) or declining (deflation).

What makes the COLA calculation unique is that only CPI-W readings from July, August, and September (the third quarter) are used to determine the upcoming year’s raise. If the average third-quarter CPI-W reading in the current year is higher than the comparable period last year, prices, as a whole, have risen, and so will Social Security checks in the upcoming year.

The catch with Social Security’s 2026 COLA is that its expected reveal on Oct. 15 may be delayed. The September inflation report is the final puzzle piece needed to calculate the program’s cost-of-living adjustment. However, most economic data releases are delayed during a federal government shutdown, which, in turn, can postpone the Oct. 15 COLA announcement set for 8:30 a.m. ET.

A higher prevailing rate of inflation in recent years has led to beefier annual COLAs. U.S. Inflation Rate data by YCharts.

A first-of-its-century raise is eventually headed retirees’ way

Once the SSA does have the necessary data to calculate and reveal the 2026 COLA, it’s a virtual certainty that beneficiaries will witness history being made.

Over the last four years, Social Security recipients — retired workers, workers with disabilities, and survivor beneficiaries — have enjoyed above-average cost-of-living adjustments. From 2022 through 2025, their Social Security checks grew by 5.9%, 8.7%, 3.2%, and 2.5%, respectively. To put these figures into some sort of context, the average COLA increase over the last 16 years was 2.3%.

Based on two independent estimates that were updated following the release of the August inflation report, a fifth-consecutive year above this 16-year average is expected.

Nonpartisan senior advocacy association The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) has pegged their 2026 COLA forecast at 2.7%, while independent Social Security and Medicare policy analyst Mary Johnson is calling for a slightly higher boost of 2.8%. These two forecasts would imply a roughly $54 to $56 per-month increase in the average retired-worker benefit in the new year.

More importantly, a 2.7% or 2.8% COLA would result in an event that hasn’t been witnessed in almost three decades. From 1988 through 1997, Social Security COLAs vacillated between 2.6% and 5.4%. If the 2026 COLA comes in at 2.5% or above, which looks like a virtual certainty based on independent estimates, it would mark the first time in 29 years that benefits will have risen by at least 2.5% for five consecutive years.

Image source: Getty Images.

The purchasing power of a Social Security dollar isn’t what it used to be

Unfortunately, this potentially history-making moment won’t be fully felt or enjoyed by aged beneficiaries. Though nominal payouts have notably climbed in recent years, the painful reality is that the buying power of Social Security income simply isn’t what it once was.

For example, you might be surprised to learn that the CPI-W isn’t doing retirees any favors. While this index is designed to mirror the inflationary pressures that Social Security’s retired workers are contending with, it has built-in flaws that keep this from happening.

The CPI-W is an index that tracks the cost pressures faced by “urban wage earners and clerical workers,” who, in many cases, are workers under the age of 62. By comparison, 87% of Social Security beneficiaries are 62 and above, as of December 2024.

Aged beneficiaries spend their money differently than workers under the age of 62. Specifically, retirees spend a higher percentage of their budget on medical care services and shelter than younger folks. Even though seniors make up 87% of all Social Security recipients, the CPI-W doesn’t account for the added importance of shelter and medical-care service costs in the COLA calculation.

Furthermore, the trailing-12-month inflation rate for shelter and medical care services has pretty consistently been higher than the annual COLAs beneficiaries have received. According to TSCL, this disparity has played a role in reducing the buying power of Social Security income by 20% from 2010 to 2024. A 2.7% or 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment isn’t going to offset or halt this decline in purchasing power.

To make matters worse, dual enrollees — those receiving Social Security income who are also enrolled in traditional Medicare — are expected to see sizable COLA offsets due to a projected double-digit percentage increase in the Part B premium in 2026.

Part B is the portion of Medicare responsible for outpatient services, and the premium for Part B is commonly deducted from a Social Security recipient’s monthly benefit. An estimate from the 2025 Medicare Trustees Report calls for an 11.5% jump in the Part B premium to $206.20 next year. For lifetime low earners, this increase might gobble up every cent of their projected 2026 COLA.

Regardless of whether or not Social Security’s 2026 COLA is delayed, it’ll mark another year where retirees get the short end of the stick.

Headlines are filled with news of the U.S. government shutdown thanks to a budget impasse. There are real-world impacts from this event and it is both serious and worth watching. However, you need to keep what is likely to be a short-term issue in perspective when you consider the long-term investment approach you take. Here’s what you should do instead of panicking.

The media’s job is to grab your attention

Budget battles in Washington are actually a pretty common affair, as each political faction attempts to advance its priorities. On occasion disagreements lead to a failure to find common ground, and the necessary bills needed to fund the government don’t get passed in time to keep the government funded. When that happens the government is “shut down.” Even the U.S. government needs to work within a budget.

Image source: Getty Images.

“Shutdown” is a rather harsh word, since the government isn’t exactly shut down. For example, the Social Security Administration (SSA) provided a contingency plan for a shutdown before it began. According to that plan, the SSA employed 51,825 people before the shutdown and following the shutdown it plans to retain 45,628 of those employees. That’s hardly shutting down, and Social Security recipients are still going to be paid.

Simply put, the government will continue to operate select services that are deemed vital. The big impact is going to be on what some would consider less essential government-run operations, such as national parks and museums. And some essential employees may be asked to work without pay until a budget is passed, and then get paid retroactively. On that note, it is important to keep in mind that the longest shutdown to date lasted roughly a month (35 days).

Even though most media outlets are covering the shutdown intensely, and it could affect parts of the economy directly and indirectly, history suggests that it probably isn’t as big a deal as it may seem for most investors and for the markets. Remember, the media, including financial media, is trying to get your attention so it can generate advertising revenue. Turning news events into something huge and exciting is how it does that.

Step away from your portfolio

There is a problem here that investors should pay attention to. The news frenzy around the budget impasse could lead some people to make short-term investment decisions that end up being bad for their long-term financial health. Letting emotions drive investment choices is usually a bad choice. The chart below offers evidence that government shutdowns have little real effect on markets.

Data by YCharts.

The chart shows the performance of the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.36%) since 1974, which is when the Congressional Budget Act was passed. It’s a pretty darn good return, right? As the chart highlights, the S&P 500 index has advanced more than 6,700% even though there have been multiple government shutdowns along the way. So far, not a single shutdown has resulted in the permanent destruction of capital.

Data by YCharts.

The shutdown started Oct. 1. As the one-month chart above shows, the market isn’t reacting negatively … so far and is maintaining its current upward trajectory. That said, there could be near-term uncertainty. Emotions can be a powerful force on Wall Street, and the longer the shutdown lasts the more emotional investors are likely to get. Try not to get carried along with the herd. Step back and think about your long-term goals. For example, if you are a buy-and-hold investor, don’t suddenly start selling all of your stocks. If history is any guide, this situation will blow over in a month or so, and maybe much sooner.

Little reaction so far

So far there’s no indication that a precipitous bear market has begun. Wall Street appears to have seen the news and continued along its merry way. That’s exactly what you should do, too. In fact, history suggests you should keep doing that even if Wall Street starts to notice that there is a government shutdown going on.

Sticking to a long-term buy-and-hold investment plan has been the winning play through all of the shutdowns that have taken place to date. In other words, you are better off doing nothing than reacting rashly and making emotionally driven portfolio decisions.

Joelinton says it was troubling to see Newcastle United team-mate Lewis Miley “get stick” after a landmark moment, but the Brazilian believes genuine supporters are firmly behind the teenager.

Miley chose to limit replies to a post he made on X to mark his 50th first-team game for Newcastle at the weekend. It is understood this was a precaution as he is still young.

The 19-year-old put in an accomplished display in the goalless draw against Bournemouth – his first Premier League start since February – but he still came in for criticism from a small minority of social media users who questioned his first-team credentials.

Miley’s course of action on the social media platform was noticed, and fans have since sent messages of support, while captain Bruno Guimaraes hailed his fellow midfielder as a “top player and guy”.

Joelinton played alongside academy graduate Miley in Newcastle’s 4-1 win against Bradford City on Wednesday night and said the youngster has a “great future in front of him”.

“It’s always difficult when you see your team-mate get stick,” Joelinton said following the Carabao Cup third-round tie. “I have had a difficult time here, too. I know how it is.

“I know the fans are behind the team and a really good young player. He played really well on Sunday. The team has to get better and everyone has to look on the mirror and get better.”

Miley praised Newcastle’s “amazing” travelling support in his post on Sunday, saying he was “very proud” to have hit the milestone for his boyhood club.

The midfielder broke a number of records during a breakout campaign at Newcastle a couple of years ago, including becoming the youngest player in Champions League history to provide an assist for an English side by doing so at the age of 17 years and 226 days.

Miley went on to suffer back and foot injuries and has faced intense competition for a starting berth while competing with fellow midfielders Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali.

But Miley, tellingly, kept his place in Eddie Howe’s starting line-up for the visit of Bradford.

“I thought Lewie was excellent,” the Newcastle head coach said. “In part, I think he really helped us in the first half. He played some lovely little deft touches and short passes into midfield using Joe and Bruno as a springboard, really, to control that midfield area.

“He’s come back into the team and produced two really good performances back-to-back. I thought he was really good against Bournemouth in maybe a slightly different way to tonight, but he’s developing his experience all the time and I’m really pleased with him.”

The California League might be ending its long run in Modesto, but professional baseball appears poised to remain.

The independent Pioneer League is in talks to place a team at John Thurman Field, the current home of the Modesto Nuts.

In a closed session Tuesday, the Modesto City Council discussed the potential terms of a lease under negotiation between the city manager and Pioneer League President Michael Shapiro. The council took no action Tuesday, and neither Shapiro nor a city spokesperson immediately returned messages seeking comment.

Modesto’s California League history dates to 1946 — John Thurman Field opened in 1955 — but the Nuts are down to their final three homestands.

After negotiations for a renovated stadium and a new lease collapsed, the team was sold last December and will move to San Bernardino next season, part of a California League shuffle that includes the Dodgers’ affiliate moving into a new ballpark in Ontario.

A Modesto team would give the league two new teams next year and 14 in all; leagues prefer an even number of teams for scheduling purposes.

The other new team would play in Long Beach, in what would be the city’s first entry in an independent league since 2009.

On Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council unanimously approved pursuing an agreement with an expansion Pioneer League team that would share historic Blair Field with the Long Beach State baseball program.

“A team in Long Beach is a chance to show what makes Long Beach great: our diversity, our passion and our community spirit,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement.

Paul Freedman, the co-founder of the Pioneer League’s Oakland Ballers, would be one of the owners of the Long Beach team. In a Times story last year about the Ballers and how they were filling the baseball void created in Oakland by the departure of the Athletics, Freedman already had his eye on Long Beach.

“I think Long Beach should have a Pioneer League team,” Freedman said then. “Long Beach has its own unique identity. If I’m from Long Beach, I don’t want to be told I have to be a Dodger or Angel fan.”

Spanish tourists have been handed a list of 10 strict rules they must follow while visiting Malaga. The new campaign by the local council is aimed at reducing bad behaviour

British holidaymakers visiting Malaga are now being confronted with a fresh initiative designed to tackle unruly conduct in the city.

The local authority’s “Improve your stay in Málaga drive features a comprehensive list of 10 guidelines that travellers are encouraged to follow, in a bid to curb inappropriate behaviour. The guidelines tackle a broad spectrum of problems, ranging from attire standards and hygiene to sound disturbance and the responsible operation of bicycles and e-scooters.

Tourists are being urged to remain considerate and behave in a manner that respects peaceful coexistence with residents of the local community.

Additional measures highlighted by the council include the ‘Keep the City Clean’ drive, requesting visitors to utilise the rubbish bins available and the public conveniences scattered throughout the city, whilst also ensuring respect for historic sites, green spaces, and municipal amenities such as park seating.

READ MORE: NASA tests new supersonic plane with revolutionary tech that solves Concorde’s fatal flaw

Local authorities have also emphasised the significance of refraining from shouting or blasting music during evening hours in residential neighbourhoods, advising tourists to “do not be conspicuous.” Dressing suitably within the city represents another concern mentioned, with the council stating simply “dress completely.”

This likely refers to avoiding venturing into urban areas shirtless or in swimwear, as such clothing is only acceptable on the beach.

A further aspect of the initiative concentrates on transportation, with the message “Sidewalks Are for Pedestrians,” highlighting that cycles and scooters must stick to their designated routes. The initiative has received extensive promotion – across social media platforms, on buses and at every essential location throughout the city.

Málaga has previously tackled reports of antisocial conduct by ramping up penalties for violations including dropping litter and excessive noise levels.

The previous year also witnessed pandemonium surrounding overtourism in the city, with locals marching through the streets in protest against the deluge of visitors. Residents argued they were being forced out of their communities due to short-term holiday rentals, whilst also voicing concerns about disruptive behaviour and certain tourists’ conduct.

READ MORE: UK’s worst seaside town now overwhelmed by terrible mystery smell ‘from France’READ MORE: ‘I’m a world record traveller but there are two islands left on my bucket list’

During the peak of the protests, some demonstrators even stuck anti-tourism stickers throughout the area, featuring messages such as “This used to be my home”, “go f****** home”, “stinking of tourist” and “this used to be the city centre,” used.

Protests regarding mass tourism and anti-tourism sentiment took place across Spain throughout 2024, with numerous campaigns continuing into 2025. In the opening quarter of 2025, Spain reportedly received 17.1 million overseas visitors. For the complete year of 2024, this number reached a record-shattering 94 million.

The nation remains particularly beloved by Brits, who descend upon the country seeking a sunny getaway.

WASHINGTON — In 2016, the nonpartisan Pew Research Center surveyed the American electorate and discovered levels of partisan mistrust and animosity worse than any in a generation. The findings helped explain how tribal American politics have become and the rise of a political figure, President Trump, who has made exploiting those divisions his main stock in trade.

Three years later, Pew is out with a new report, based on a survey of 9,895 American adults. Its conclusion? Partisan divisions have gotten worse.

Just over half of people who identify themselves as Republicans say that Democrats are “more immoral” than other Americans, for example. Just under half of people who identify themselves as Democrats say the same about Republicans. In both cases, the share holding that view of the other side has increased since 2016.

And this latest survey was conducted in early September — before the impeachment debate took hold.

IT’S NOT JUST TRUMP

Democratic figures, most notably former Vice President Joe Biden, often blame Trump for the divisions in American society. But while the president has definitely stoked the fires of grievance, the earlier Pew study serves as a reminder that the blaze existed before him — he probably wouldn’t have captured the Republican nomination without it.

Partisanship has raged out of control because the two party labels have become proxies for so many preexisting divides. Democrats have become a party of a racially diverse, urban, coastal population, much of which is unmoored from traditional religious practices and accepting of immigration and dramatic changes in gender roles and sexual mores. Republicans are increasingly the party of older, white, rural conservatives, suspicious of urban elites and feeling threatened by immigrants and what they see as a decline of traditional morality and social order.

The breadth and bitterness of the partisan division explains why Trump is so unlikely to lose the support of his core voters in the current impeachment debate — it’s not some special magic of his own so much as the dislike, often revulsion, they feel toward the other side.

Indeed, the fact that, despite partisanship, a significant minority of Republicans currently say they find Trump’s conduct in the Ukraine scandal “troubling” — about one in five in the latest Fox News poll, for example — is a strong indicator of just how serious his problems are.

Not all partisan division is a bad thing. Just a couple of decades ago, a lot of Americans thought the two parties didn’t differ much. Only about a third of Americans saw real differences between Democrats and Republicans through much of the 1980s and ’90s and on into the early years of the current decade.

Voters need “a choice, not an echo,” the conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly famously declared half a century ago in an assault on liberal Republicans. Well, we got that. Today, “liberal Republican” is an oxymoron and fewer than one in 10 Americans think the two parties have “hardly any” difference.

Now, a large majority of Americans feel the difference has gone too far.

On both sides of the aisle, a large majority of Americans see partisan division as a problem: More than 70% say voters in both parties “not only disagree over plans and policies, but also cannot agree on the basic facts.” More than 80% see partisan division as a cause of concern.

But that concern doesn’t mean either side is suddenly about to lower tensions.

The two parties are not strictly mirror images of each other. By most measures, Republicans are somewhat more negative about Democrats than the other way around — 63% of Republicans see Democrats as “more unpatriotic” than the rest of the country, for example, and almost half of them see Democrats as lazier.

Democrats, in turn, see Republicans as “more closed-minded” than other Americans, with three-quarters of Democrats holding that view.

And Democrats are somewhat more open to compromise — at least in the abstract. Almost six in 10 say it’s important for their presidential candidates, if elected, to find common ground with Republicans on policies even if that means giving up some things Democrats really want; about four in 10 say they should push hard for things the party wants, even if that means less gets done.

Among Republicans, the split is more even, with slightly more saying Trump should push hard for things the GOP wants, even if that means less gets done.

But on both sides, the level of animosity — already high in 2016 — has grown during the Trump years. Americans who pay the most attention to politics have led the way. They are the most partisan. They’re also the most likely to express negative views about the other side.

And while the ranks of self-described independents have grown markedly in the last decade, that doesn’t represent a way out of the partisan divide. The vast majority of independents lean toward one party or the other, and those leaners are about as likely as partisans to express negative views of the other side. What makes them distinctive is that leaners are more likely to also express negative views about their own side, as well.

The Pew survey was conducted Sept. 3-15. It has a margin of error for its full sample of 1.5 percentage points in either direction.

ARRESTS BRING NEW TWIST TO IMPEACHMENT CASE

The Ukraine scandal — the focus of the impeachment case against Trump — continues to develop at startling speed. On Thursday, the case took what could prove to be a significant turn when two men who worked with Trump’s lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, were arrested on campaign finance charges.

As Eli Stokols and Alexa Díaz wrote, the men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were accused of several illegal acts, but the one that most directly connects them to the current case is that they allegedly provided campaign contributions to Pete Sessions, who at the time was a powerful Republican member of the House, to get him to help in a campaign to oust the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

She was ultimately removed from her post this spring, and House investigators want to know if that happened because she was opposing Giuliani’s efforts to get Ukraine to help Trump by announcing an investigation of Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

In the meantime, a defiant White House says it won’t participate in what Trump’s White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, called an “unconstitutional” impeachment inquiry. In a lengthy letter, Cipollone said Trump should be allowed to cross-examine witnesses, receive transcripts of testimony, have access to evidence the House collects and have counsel present during questioning, Noah Bierman, Sarah Wire and Díaz reported.

Legal scholars say that strategy is on shaky constitutional grounds, David Savage reported, but as is usually the case with Trump, the legal arguments may be secondary to the political goal of rousing his base.

The moves took place just days after a second whistleblower emerged in the impeachment inquiry. As Laura King wrote, the lawyers who represent the initial whistleblower in the case said Sunday they now have “multiple” complainants.

Trump has tried to argue that during his fateful phone conversation with Ukraine’s president that sparked the impeachment inquiry, he was appropriately trying to battle corruption and that he has an “absolute right” to do so, Bierman reported. He also wrote about the millions of dollars that Trump’s children are taking in overseas even as he attacks Biden’s son.

What was Joe Biden’s actual connection with Ukraine? Tracy Wilkinson in Kyiv examined his actions as vice president.

One skirmish point in the House is over the refusal of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) to hold a full vote on the House floor to open the impeachment inquiry. A vote of that sort took place in both the Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton impeachment cases, but Pelosi notes there’s no rule requiring such a vote. One reason Pelosi doesn’t want a floor vote: It could open the way for Republicans to demand independent subpoena power, which they don’t currently have, Wire reported.

Democrats want to stop Republicans from hijacking the impeachment investigation by launching their own probes into the investigators. That’s already happened at the Justice Department, Del Wilber wrote.

LONG HISTORY OF WHISTLEBLOWERS

Whistleblowers are as American as apple pie, Laura King writes. The first U.S. whistleblower case dates to 1777 — before there was a Constitution — when 10 U.S. Navy sailors reported their commandant for brutal treatment of captured British sailors and won protection from the Continental Congress.

BIDEN CALLS FOR IMPEACHMENT

After considerable hesitation, Biden joined most of the rest of the Democratic presidential field and called for Trump’s impeachment. Of Trump’s actions, he said, “It’s wrong. It’s un-American.”

Trump escalated his rhetoric saying in tweets Sunday that Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) committed “treason” and should be “impeached.”

Most votes in the House are already nailed down. Texas Rep. Will Hurd, a Republican and former CIA officer is an exception. That makes him one of the most keenly watched House members, Molly O’Toole wrote.

ECONOMIC TROUBLES

While impeachment gets all the headlines, a quieter development could endanger Trump’s reelection: U.S.
manufacturing is now officially in recession, Don Lee wrote. As measured by the Federal Reserve, manufacturing output shrank over two straight quarters this year. That’s the common definition of recession.

Because most of the U.S. economy involves services, not manufacturing, a recession in the factories may not have as much national impact as it might have a few decades ago. But it could still be critical in some important states.

Trump might get good news on a different economic front, however: Democrats are warming to Trump’s revised NAFTA trade deal after Mexico pledged labor reforms, Jennifer Haberkorn wrote.

THE DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN

Seven years ago, Biden’s decision to publicly back same-sex marriage made major news, putting him briefly ahead of President Obama, who had not yet taken that step. This week, Democratic candidates held a televised forum on LGBTQ issues and vied to announce the most sweeping plans to reverse Trump’s rollback of LGBTQ rights, Michael Finnegan wrote.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein officially backed Biden for president, snubbing her fellow California Democrat, Sen. Kamala Harris, Melanie Mason reported.

Sen. Bernie Sanders set off a scramble by saying he would scale back campaigning after his heart attack, Finnegan reported. Sanders’ campaign spent much of the week trying to fend off rumors that he might drop out of the race.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren needs to connect with Latino voters. She has a plan for that, Mason and Matt Pearce reported. Whether it works remains to be seen.

JANE FONDA BACK IN D.C.

She’s 81 and launching a new activist campaign — this one on climate change. Jane Fonda talked with Evan Halper and Anna Phillips about why she is moving to Washington (for now).

A TOXIC LEGACY

Firefighting foam used at military bases has contaminated Californians’ drinking water, Phillips, David Cloud and Tony Barboza reported. No one knows how many people may be affected because the military does only limited testing off-base.

A CRISIS OF TRUMP’S MAKING

Trump’s abrupt announcement that had ordered U.S. troops to pull back in Syria, moving away from the border with Turkey, threatened chaos in the region and sparked a GOP revolt. The move essentially abandoned Syrian Kurds who have been U.S. allies to face Turkish advances alone.

As Doyle McManus wrote, the Trump Doctrine is allies can’t trust him.

LOGISTICS

That wraps up this week. Until next time, keep track of all the developments in national politics and the Trump administration on our Politics page and on Twitter @latimespolitics.

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