struggles

British number two Cameron Norrie is out of the Cincinnati Open after suffering a second-round loss to veteran Roberto Bautista Agut.

Norrie recently beat the world number 53 in four sets at Wimbledon, with his first-round win sparking a run to the quarter-finals at the All England Club.

As the 32nd seed in Ohio, Norrie had a first-round bye before meeting the 37-year-old Spaniard, but with the temperature passing 30C, he seemed to struggle in the heat on the way to a 6-4 6-3 defeat.

Norrie’s last outing came at the Canadian Open, where he was beaten by world number 99 Aleksandar Vukic in the second round.

He continued his US Open preparations in Cincinnati and Bautista Agut did well to hold his serve following three lengthy games, while breaking Norrie’s in the fourth game.

When serving at 5-2 down, Norrie was visibly drenched in sweat and changed his shirt prior to deuce before staving off two set points.

The 29-year-old then broke back to make it 5-4 – from his sixth break point – but served a double fault in the following game, allowing Bautista Agut to clinch the first set.

Norrie continued to look unwell during the second but remained competitive, saving five match points to cut his deficit to 5-3, despite serving three double faults.

But Bautista Agut, playing just his second match since Wimbledon, made no mistake on his second match point in the following game.

After Montreal, this is the second straight tournament Norrie has fallen at his first hurdle and he has lost three of his five matches since his run at SW19 was halted by world number two Carlos Alcaraz.

Legal marijuana businesses in Los Angeles will pay thousands more dollars in renewal fees, the City Council decided Tuesday, bringing fresh financial woes to an already constricting market.

City officials said the fee increases are necessary to make up for declining tax revenue from the marijuana industry, at a time when the city is in dire financial straits.

“This is a difficult but necessary action for the continued functions of [the cannabis department] and to avoid further strain on our General Fund,” City Councilmember Imelda Padilla in a statement.

But some struggling business owners said the increased fees could threaten their survival.

Luis Rivera previously ran three different marijuana delivery businesses in the city, two of which have gone under. He’s now considering shuttering the remaining one, Bonafide Delivery in Sun Valley, due to the fee increases and low profit margins.

“There’s nowhere to pull the money from,” Rivera said. “The fees will be disastrous.”

The new fees, which the council approved unanimously, are expected to bring in about $6 million this year to the city’s Department of Cannabis Regulation, which is required to recoup all its expenses through fees or other charges.

After four straight years where gross receipt taxes from marijuana sales exceeded $100 million, the amount dropped to about $90 million in 2024, according to cannabis department data.

High state and local taxes and the high cost of doing business because of a lack of access to traditional banking and financing, as well as competition with the illegal cannabis market, have contributed to the falling revenue, said Bryan Bergman, an attorney who works with cannabis businesses.

The illegal dispensaries often undercut the prices of legal stores, in part because they do not pay taxes or fees, and have also been hotbeds of crime, according to law enforcement.

“The fee increases are coming at a really bad time for industry folks. And it’s a very significant increase,” Bergman said.

Cannabis products for sale at Bonafide in Sun Valley.

(David Butow/For the Times)

The cannabis department’s budget is $8.6 million for this fiscal year, and it is expected to pay additional $19 million to other parts of city government, such as the city attorney’s office, for their marijuana-related work.

While increasing fees for marijuana businesses, the new ordinance decreases fines for major violations of city rules and regulations. For example, delivering marijuana goods outside of allowable hours will now result in a $23,000 fine, down from $42,000.

The new ordinance also creates a new category of “severe” violation, such as diverting cannabis to unlawful establishments, which would result in a $34,000 fine. Cannabis Department officials said the goal was to avoid excessively heavy fines.

Los Angeles has the nation’s largest municipal commercial cannabis department, overseeing nearly 1,100 licenses for brick-and-mortar dispensaries, delivery businesses and growing operations.

Department officials argued that its fees, which had not gone up since 2020, did not match the cost of operations. Since the department first authorized fees in 2020, its staff has grown from 37 to 63 members. Through collective bargaining agreements, their salaries have also increased 19% since 2020.

The most widespread hit for marijuana businesses will come from renewal fees, which must be paid annually.

A license renewal will jump from $8,486 to $12,617. A temporary approval renewal will go from $4,233 to $6,294, and a record renewal will increase from $1,829 to $2,719.

The new ordinance also contains other fee changes, including an increase in the business diagram modification review fee and a drop in the ownership structure modification review fee.

A Cannabis Department spokesperson said that participants in its social equity program, which provides support to cannabis operators from communities most harmed by the war on drugs, will have some of their increased fees covered by money from a state grant.

The grant will cover about $3.1 million in new fees, said Jason Killeen, the cannabis department’s assistant executive director, during a city council committee meeting Tuesday. More than half of the money will cover the difference between the old renewal fee and the new one for the 317 social equity license holders. The rest of the grant money will go toward new applicants for social equity licenses.

The increased fees come as the city struggles with a budget crisis likely to continue for several years. This year’s budget closes a nearly $1-billion gap through layoffs and other cuts.

The City Council approved an increase in ticket prices for the L.A. Zoo and has taken steps to raise trash fees for roughly 740,000 customers. The city may also raise parking meter fees and extend the meters’ hours of operation.

The Cannabis Department has acknowledged that the new fees will be a hardship for businesses.

“Please understand that this fee study was necessitated by law and is central to DCR’s ability to continue serving this community effectively and equitably,” Executive Director Michelle Garakian wrote in a July news bulletin. “It’s easy to feel like no one at the City cares. But I assure you, DCR does. DCR has to navigate limited resources, competing needs, and make challenging decisions.”

WASHINGTON — Despite the sun bearing down on him and the sweat beading across his face, President Trump still lingered with reporters lined up outside the White House on Friday. He was leaving on a trip to Scotland, where he would visit his golf courses, and he wanted to talk about how his administration just finished “the best six months ever.”

But over and over, the journalists kept asking Trump about the Jeffrey Epstein case and whether he would pardon the disgraced financier’s imprisoned accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

“People should really focus on how well the country is doing,” Trump insisted. He shut down another question by saying, “I don’t want to talk about that.”

It was another example of how the Epstein saga — and his administration’s disjointed approach to it — has shadowed Trump when he’s otherwise at the height of his influence. He’s enacted a vast legislative agenda, reached trade deals with key countries and tightened his grip across the federal government. Yet he’s struggled to stamp out the embers of a political crisis that could become a full-on conflagration.

Trump faces pressure from his own supporters

The Republican president’s supporters want the government to release secret files about Epstein, who authorities say killed himself in his New York jail cell six years ago while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. They believe him to be the nexus of a dark web of powerful people who abused underage girls. Administration officials who once stoked conspiracy theories now insist there’s nothing more to disclose, a stance that has stirred skepticism because of Trump’s former friendship with Epstein.

Trump has repeatedly denied prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and claimed he cut off their relationship long ago. For a president skilled at manipulating the media and controlling the Republican Party, it has been the most challenging test of his ability to shift the conversation in his second term.

“This is a treadmill to nowhere. How do you get off of it?” said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist. “I genuinely don’t know the answer to that.”

Trump has demanded his supporters drop the matter and urged Republicans to block Democratic requests for documents on Capitol Hill. But he has also directed the Justice Department to divulge some additional information in hopes of satisfying his supporters.

A White House official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal strategy, said Trump is trying to stay focused on his agenda while also demonstrating some transparency. After facing countless scandals and investigations, the official said, Trump is on guard against the typical playbook of drip-drip disclosures that have plagued him in the past.

It’s clear Trump sees the Epstein case as a continuation of the “witch hunts” he’s faced over the years, starting with the investigation into Russian interference during his election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton nearly a decade ago. The sprawling inquiry led to convictions against some top advisors but did not substantiate allegations Trump conspired with Moscow.

Trump’s opponents, he wrote on social media on Thursday, “have gone absolutely CRAZY, and are playing another Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax but, this time, under the guise of what we will call the Jeffrey Epstein SCAM.”

During the Russia investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors were a straightforward foil for Trump to rail against. Ty Cobb, the lawyer who served as the White House’s point person, said the president “never felt exposed” because “he thought he had a legitimate gripe.”

The situation is different this time now that the Justice Department has been stocked with loyalists. “The people that he has to get mad at are basically his people as opposed to his inquisitors and adversaries,” Cobb said.

It was Trump’s allies who excavated the Epstein debacle

In fact, Trump’s own officials are the most responsible for bringing the Epstein case back to the forefront.

FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, regularly stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein before assuming their current jobs, floating the idea the government had covered up incriminating and compelling information that needed to be brought to light. “Put on your big-boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are,” Patel said in a 2023 podcast.

Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi played a key role too. She intimated in a Fox News Channel interview in February that an Epstein “client list” was sitting on her desk for review — she would later say she was referring to the Epstein files more generally — and greeted far-right influencers with binders of records from the case that consisted largely of information already in the public domain.

Tensions spiked earlier this month when the FBI and the Justice Department, in an unsigned two-page letter, said that no client list existed, that the evidence was clear Epstein had killed himself and that no additional records from the case would be released to the public. It was a seeming backtrack on the administration’s stated commitment to transparency. Amid a fierce backlash from Trump’s base and influential conservative personalities, Bongino and Bondi squabbled openly in a tense White House meeting.

Since then, the Trump administration has scrambled to appear transparent, including by seeking the unsealing of grand jury transcripts in the case — though it’s hardly clear that courts would grant that request or that those records include any eye-catching details anyway. Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche has taken the unusual step of interviewing the imprisoned Maxwell over the course of two days at a courthouse in Tallahassee, Fla., where her lawyer said she would “always testify truthfully.”

All the while, Trump and his allies have resurfaced the Russia investigation as a rallying cry for a political base that has otherwise been frustrated by the Epstein saga.

Trump’s director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who just weeks ago appeared on the outs with Trump over comments on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, seemed to return to the president’s good graces this week following the declassification and release of years-old documents she hoped would discredit long-settled conclusions about Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The developments allowed Trump to rehash long-standing grievances against President Obama and his Democratic advisors. Trump’s talk of investigations into perceived adversaries from years ago let him, in effect, go back in time to deflect attention from a very current crisis.

“Whether it’s right or wrong,” Trump said, “it’s time to go after people.”

Megerian and Tucker write for the Associated Press.

To bystanders at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, it sounded as though U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli would not take no for an answer.

A prosecutor had the irate Trump administration appointee on speaker phone outside the grand jury room, and his screaming was audible, according to three law enforcement officials aware of the encounter who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The grand jury had just refused to indict someone accused of attacking federal law enforcement officers during protests against the recent immigration raids throughout Southern California, two of the officials said.

It was an exceedingly rare outcome after a type of hearing that routinely leads to federal charges being filed.

On the overheard call, according to three officials, Essayli, 39, told a subordinate to disregard the federal government’s “Justice Manual,” which directs prosecutors to only bring cases they can win at trial. Essayli barked that prosecutors should press on and secure indictments as directed by U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, according to three officials.

Court records show the reason for Essayli’s frustration.

While his office has filed felony cases against at least 38 people for alleged misconduct that either took place during last month’s protests or near the sites of immigration raids, many have already been dismissed or reduced to misdemeanor charges.

The three officials who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity said prosecutors have struggled to get several protest-related cases past grand juries, which need only to find probable cause that a crime has been committed in order to move forward. That is a much lower bar than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard required for a criminal conviction.

Five cases have been dismissed without prejudice — meaning they could be refiled — and records show nine have been filed as misdemeanors, which do not require a grand jury indictment to proceed. In some cases, prosecutors reduced charges against defendants to misdemeanors after repeatedly falling short at the grand jury stage, according to three federal law enforcement officials.

Essayli declined to be interviewed for this article. A statement provided by his office on Tuesday accused The Times of spreading “factual inaccuracies and anonymous gossip,” but offered no specifics or further comment in response to questions.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue working unapologetically to charge all those who assault our agents or impede our federal investigations,” the statement said.

Legal experts said Essayli’s low number of indictments raised concerns about the strength of the cases he is filing.

Carley Palmer, a former federal prosecutor in L.A. who is now a partner at Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg, said the grand jury’s repeated rejection of cases was “a strong indication that the priorities of the prosecutor’s office are out of sync with the priorities of the general community.”

Essayli has won indictments in some serious cases, including two where defendants are accused of throwing or planning to throw Molotov cocktails at L.A. law enforcement officers, and a case where defendants allegedly fired a paintball gun at federal police. But in total, he has only secured seven indictments, which usually need to be obtained no later than 21 days after the filing of a criminal complaint. Three other cases have been resolved via plea deal, records show.

High-ranking Justice Department officials have repeatedly praised his work.

“My friend, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, is a champion for law and order who has done superlative work to prosecute rioters for attacking and obstructing law enforcement in Los Angeles,” Bondi said in a statement to The Times.

Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department on June 6 in Washington.

(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)

But legal experts and some of Essayli’s own prosecutors say he’s stretching legal limits to serve as Trump’s attack dog in L.A.

“It’s just generally a culture of ‘if Bill asks you to jump, you ask how high,’” said one prosecutor who feared retaliation. “Any case he wants to charge, find a way to make it a yes.”

Questions about Essayli’s effectiveness come at a critical time for the former California Assembly member. Bondi appointed him in early April, giving him 120 days to serve as interim U.S. attorney until receiving Senate approval. If he is not confirmed by then, a panel of federal judges will have the opportunity to appoint him — or someone else — to the position.

Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla of California raised concerns about Essayli’s leadership of the office in interviews with The Times, and a direct approval from the bench is no sure thing. Earlier this month, a federal judicial panel blocked Trump’s choice for U.S. attorney in upstate New York after the time limit for Senate confirmation had expired.

On Tuesday, another judicial panel declined to appoint New Jersey’s interim federal prosecutor, Alina Habba, one of Trump’s former personal lawyers. Bondi, however, decried the judges for going “rogue,” fired their choice for U.S. attorney and reappointed Habba. Legal experts say the move is unprecedented.

Meghan Blanco, a former federal prosecutor in L.A. who serves as defense counsel to one of the protesters who is facing charges, said the cases are faltering in part because of unreliable information provided by immigration agents claiming to be victims.

“Frankly, they’re not deserving of prosecution,” she said. “What is being alleged isn’t a federal crime, or it simply did not happen.”

Blanco represents Jose Mojica, who was accused of pushing a federal officer in Paramount on June 7.

According to an investigation summary of the incident reviewed by The Times, a U.S. Border Patrol officer claimed a man was screaming in his face that he was going to “shoot him,” then punched him. The officer said he and other agents started chasing the man, but were “stopped by two other males,” later identified as Mojica and Bryan Ramos-Brito.

Blanco said she obtained social media videos showing no such chase took place and presented them at Mojica’s first court appearance. The charges were soon dropped.

“The agent lied and said he was in hot pursuit of a person who punched him,” Blanco said. “The entirety of the affidavit is false.”

Felony charges against Ramos-Brito and two related defendants, Ashley and Joceline Rodriguez, were also dismissed, though prosecutors refiled misdemeanor cases against them.

Christian Camacho-Cerna, the man who allegedly punched an agent, has been indicted. He has pleaded not guilty, with trial set for next month.

Similar issues arose in the case of Andrea Velez, who was charged on June 25 with assaulting a federal officer. The criminal complaint alleged Velez, who is 4 feet 11 inches, stood in the path of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with her arms extended, striking his head and chest when they collided.

Diane Bass, Velez’s attorney, said the incident occurred when masked, unidentified men in plainclothes pulled up to question a downtown L.A. street vendor.

Velez had just been dropped off for work when some of the masked men ran at her and one shoved her to the ground, Bass said. Velez, fearing she was being abducted, held up her work bag to shield herself.

Bass requested body-worn camera footage and witness statements cited in the complaint. Soon after, she said, the prosecutor dismissed the case.

One federal law enforcement official not authorized to speak publicly said concerns are growing among prosecutors about the accuracy of statements by federal immigration agents that serve as the basis of criminal charges.

“There are a lot of hot-headed [Customs and Border Protection] officers who are kind of arresting first and asking questions later. We’re finding there’s not probable cause to support it,” said the prosecutor who requested anonymity over concerns of repercussions.

A demonstrator waves a Mexican flag in front of a dumpster fire after another night of unrest during a protest against immigration raids on June 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

One case under close scrutiny is that of Adrian Martinez, a 20-year-old charged in a criminal complaint last month with conspiracy to impede a federal officer.

Martinez said he was on a break from his job at Walmart when he spotted immigration agents chasing down a maintenance worker, and told them to leave the man alone.

Video footage shows Martinez being thrown to the ground and shoved into a truck, which he said took him to a parking structure.

Once there, Martinez said he was told he’d been arrested for assaulting a federal officer by striking an agent in the face and breaking his glasses. Martinez, who weighs around 150 pounds, said the agents arresting him pointed to the colleague he was being accused of attacking, who looked “like a grizzly bear.”

“I don’t even remember you,” Martinez recalled saying. “It just seemed like they were trying to get me to say like, ‘yes, you assaulted him,’ but I knew I didn’t.”

The next day, Essayli posted a photo on X of Martinez, still in his blue Walmart vest. Martinez, he wrote, had been arrested “for an allegation of punching a border patrol agent in the face.”

The criminal complaint makes no reference to a punch and video taken at the scene does not clearly show Martinez strike anyone. Federal prosecutors instead charged Martinez with conspiracy to impede a federal officer, alleging he blocked federal law enforcement vehicles with his car and then later a trash can.

Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, previously told The Times that complaints do not always include “the full scope of a defendant’s conduct, or the evidence that will be presented at trial.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency could not comment on cases under active litigation.

“Our officers are facing a surge in assaults and attacks against them as they put their lives on the line to enforce our nation’s laws,” the DHS statement said.

Charges against nonviolent defendants have repeatedly raised alarm bells among current and former federal prosecutors. In early June, union leader David Huerta was charged with conspiracy to impede a federal officer for allegedly interfering with immigration enforcement actions in the downtown L.A. garment district. Legal experts said Huerta’s conduct did not appear criminal.

“Where do you draw the line between an organized protest and a conspiracy to impede?” Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, asked last month. “It’ll actually be interesting to see if a grand jury indicts these cases.”

Huerta has denied all wrongdoing and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment. A deadline of Aug. 5 looms for prosecutors to secure an indictment.

Court filings show some prosecutors appear to be refusing to sign their names to contentious cases.

An indictment returned against Alejandro Orellana — who is accused of conspiracy and aiding in civil disorder for passing out gas masks at a protest scene in early June — was only signed by Essayli and his second-in-command, Jennifer Waier, records show. Such cases are typically handled by rank-and-file assistant U.S. attorneys.

In early May, when Essayli pushed to offer a lenient plea deal to L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Trevor Kirk months after a jury convicted him of assaulting a woman during a 2023 arrest, several prosecutors refused to sign the document asking for the deal, and some later resigned.

Times staff writer Kevin Rector contributed to this report.

Sectarian clashes have continued in southern Syria despite an “immediate ceasefire” announced by the country’s president.

Reports say that Druze fighters on Saturday pushed out Bedouin gunmen from the city of Suweida – but fighting continued in other parts of the province. This has not been verified by the BBC.

Government forces deployed earlier this week by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa were blamed for joining in attacks on the Druze. More than 900 people are reported to have been killed in the past week. All sides are accused of atrocities.

The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, demanded an end to “the rape and slaughter of innocent people” in Syria, in a post on X on Saturday.

Rubio wrote: “If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria free of ISIS [Islamic State] and of Iranian control they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres.

“And they must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks,” the top US diplomat added.

On Saturday evening, the Syrian interior ministry said clashes in Suweida had been halted after the intervention of its forces in the city.

Reuters news agency reported that fighting persisted in other parts of Suweida province.

Earlier this week, Israel declared support for the Druze and intervened, hitting government forces and the defence ministry in the capital Damascus.

Sharaa announced a ceasefire on Saturday as Syrian security forces were deployed to Suweida to end the clashes. The deal included a halt to Israeli military strikes and was approved by Israel as part of a US-brokered pact, as long as the Druze citizens were protected.

Government troops have been setting up checkpoints to try to prevent more people joining the fighting. But gunfire was reported inside Suweida earlier on Saturday.

A correspondent for AFP news agency said they had seen armed men looting shops and setting fire to them.

Also on Saturday, Israel’s foreign minister cast doubt on the renewed pledge by the president to protect minorities and all Syrians.

Suweida’s Druze community follows a secretive, unique faith derived from Shia Islam, and distrusts the current government in Damascus. They are a minority in Syria, as well as in neighbouring Israel and Lebanon.

In a social media post, Gideon Saar said it was “very dangerous” to be part of a minority in Syria, and “this has been proven time and again over the past six months”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to prevent harm to the Druze in Syria because of their ties to those living in Israel.

Watch: How a day of bombing unfolded in Damascus

Long-running tensions between Druze and Bedouin tribes in Suweida erupted into deadly sectarian clashes last Sunday, following the abduction of a Druze merchant on the highway to Damascus.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR), 940 people have been killed since then.

The ceasefire between Israel and Syria on Friday was announced by US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack on Friday.

“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbours,” he said.

The BBC’s Middle East correspondent Lina Sinjab, reporting from Syria, said violence towards the Druze has been spreading across the country.

Earlier this week, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said his office had received credible reports indicating widespread violations and abuses during clashes, including summary executions and arbitrary killings in Suweida.

Among the alleged perpetrators were members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with the interim government, as well as local Druze and Bedouin armed elements, Türk said in a statement.

“This bloodshed and the violence must stop,” he warned, adding that “those responsible must be held to account”.

In his comments on Saturday morning, the Syrian leader said that his government “is committed to protecting all minorities and sects in the country and is proceeding to hold all violators accountable from any party. No-one will escape accountability.”

Additional reporting by Jack Burgess

SAN FRANCISCO — The Dodgers finally looked like the Dodgers again on Friday night.

Too bad it didn’t happen until they were already down six runs.

For the first time in a week, the highest-scoring offense in baseball finally rediscovered its high-flying form, handing San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb his worst start all season while sending shivers up the spine of the orange-clad contingent at Oracle Park.

But by the time it happened, the club had already dug a hole too deep for even its star-studded lineup to climb out of, unable to completely erase an early six-run deficit in a 8-7 loss to their division rivals — sending the Dodgers to a seven-game losing streak that marks their longest skid since September 2017.

“I like the fight. I thought one through nine, there were good at-bats in there, scored some runs, had a chance to win again,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And unfortunately, on the pitching side, we just couldn’t prevent enough.”

Friday, of course, never figured to favor the Dodgers given the difference in caliber of the starting pitching matchup.

On one side stood Webb, the crafty and relentless All-Star right-hander who has largely dominated the Dodgers in his seven-year career.

On the other was Dustin May, the once-promising Dodgers right-hander who has yet to realize his tantalizing potential in what has been his first fully healthy big-league season so far.

Still, for a little while on a cold night along the San Francisco Bay, little separated the two sinker-ball specialists, the Dodgers and Giants locked in the kind of close contest that has been the hallmark of this rivalry in recent years.

In the top of the third, Shohei Ohtani even put the Dodgers in front, splashing his NL-leading 32nd home run of the season into McCovey Cove beyond right field for only the eighth splash-down home run by a Dodger player in Oracle Park history.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani tosses his bat after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Giants on Friday.

(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)

But eventually, May came unglued, giving up seven runs in less than five innings as the Giants surged to an 8-2 lead. And though the Dodgers (56-39) eventually got to within one, tagging Webb with a season-high six runs, they came up empty in their final couple trips to the plate, wasting plenty of positive subplots in another losing story.

“Today we were able to string some hits together, put some innings together,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “But we just come up short.”

After starting his night with increased fastball velocity and ruthless assault of the strike zone, May lost his command in the fourth inning.

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May delivers against the Giants on Friday.

(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)

Rafael Devers walked on four pitches to start the inning. Matt Chapman received another free pass despite a mid-at-bat mound visit from catcher Will Smith. And with one out, Jung Hoo Lee laced a two-run triple over the outstretched glove of Teoscar Hernández, who returned to the lineup after missing the last four games with a foot contusion but still seemed hobbled while trying to track the ball down in the right-field gap.

“Just got a little bit out of sync, couldn’t time things back up,” May said of his delivery, which has teetered between flashes of dominance and stretches of frustration during his return from a second career elbow surgery.

“During my warm-up throws in the fourth, it felt a little off. Trying to get my foot down a little earlier didn’t really help. That’s been a cue. But yeah, it just went bad.”

Things got worse in the fifth, when the Giants (52-43) plated five more while sending 10 batters to the plate.

Dominic Smith led the inning off with a homer. May then gave up a single and two walks to load the bases. The Dodgers missed their chance to escape the inning, when Hyeseong Kim failed to turn a difficult but potential inning-ending double play quickly enough at second base.

May was replaced by Anthony Banda, who was greeted with another two-run triple by Willy Adames (who had already homered to open the scoring in the second inning) and a run-scoring infield single from Lee, who outraced Banda to first base to punctuate a painfully long inning.

“To win a big-league ballgame is tough, but you’ve still got to pitch well, you’ve got to catch it and you’ve got to take good at-bats,” Roberts said. “If all three of those things don’t line up in one night, it’s hard to get a win.”

Mookie Betts grimaces in pain after being hit by a pitch in the sixth inning against the Giants on Friday night.

(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)

It was at that point, coming off a six-game stretch in which they’d scored 10 total runs, that the Dodgers’ bats finally came to life.

In the top of the sixth, Hernández launched a two-run double that Lee couldn’t quite corral on the run at the warning track, before Michael Conforto followed with a two-run homer that chased Webb and cut the deficit to two.

In the seventh, the Dodgers struck again, when Betts slid into third after hitting another ball just beyond Lee’s reach in center and later scored on Smith’s RBI single.

“It’s definitely more encouraging,” said Betts, who has been among the coldest hitters in the Dodgers lineup lately. “I can’t speak for everyone. But I haven’t done anything this whole time … Just to get us going, get some hits there, that’s the positive that you can take out of it.”

That, however, was as close as the Dodgers got. Smith was left stranded to end the seventh. Kim’s two-out double in the eighth was squandered. And, in the most frustrating of endings, a two-on, one-out opportunity in the ninth went by the wayside when Smith rolled into a double play.

The division lead is down to four.

And as the Dodgers continue to stumble toward the All-Star break, moral victories remain the only wins in sight.

“I know it sucks, but you have to try to take some positive out of it,” Betts said. “At least we battled back.”

SEOUL — As the Trump administration has been churning out trade threats this week, South Korea, a crucial trading partner and military ally, has been struggling — like many — to navigate the uncertainty that looms over trade negotiations with Washington.

On Monday, Trump sent a letter dictating new tariff rates to 14 countries including South Korea, which was hit with a 25% tax. The levies were set to kick in Tuesday, but were postponed to Aug. 1. Trump left the door open for another extension, telling reporters the new deadline was “firm but not 100% firm,” depending on what trade partners could offer.

But it’s unclear whether the additional three weeks will be enough to resolve the longstanding disagreements between Washington and Seoul. One of the biggest points of contention is South Korea’s auto industry, which was the third biggest exporter of automobiles to the U.S. last year.

Although White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump’s phone was ringing “off the hook from world leaders all the time who are begging him to come to a deal,” the tone in Seoul has been reserved.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, left, walks across the tarmac on Sunday as President Trump boards Air Force One. On Monday, Trump dictated new tariff rates to 14 countries, including a 25% tax on South Korea.

(Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

Last week, ahead of the initial July 8 deadline, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who took office last month, said “it’s difficult to say for certain that we can finish [the trade talks] by July 8.”

“Both sides are doing their best and we need to come up with an outcome that can be mutually beneficial to both parties, but we still have not yet been able to clearly establish what each party wants,” he added.

Since then, senior South Korean trade officials have been dispatched to Washington with the hopes of bringing a deal within striking distance.

“It’s time to speed up the negotiations and find a landing zone,” Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said after meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday.

So far, the only two countries that have struck new trade deals with the Trump administration are the U.K. and Vietnam.

But the Lee administration has maintained a note of caution. At a high-level meeting held Tuesday to discuss the current state of the negotiations, Lee’s presidential chief of staff for policy, Kim Yong-beom, reportedly emphasized the “national interest” over speedy dealmaking, instructing officials to support tariff-affected industries and “diversify” South Korea’s export markets.

Under a decades-long free trade agreement, South Korean tariffs on most U.S. goods are already zero, meaning there are fewer concessions Seoul can offer, analysts say. And on the key points of contention such as automobiles, there is little daylight to be found.

“This announcement will send a chilling message to others,” Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Washington-based Asia Society Policy Institute and former deputy U.S. trade negotiator, said in a post on X.

Trump’s letter also suggested that the U.S. will “not be open to reprieves” from sectoral tariffs, including those on automobiles, Cutler added.

South Korean trade officials have stressed that removing or significantly reducing the 25% tariffs on cars is a top priority.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a trade letter sent by the White House to South Korea during a news conference on Monday.

(Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But South Korean cars from Hyundai and Kia factor significantly into the $66-billion trade deficit that Trump has decried as unfair. Last year, South Korea was the third biggest exporter of automobiles to the United States, to the tune of $34.7 billion. It bought $2.1 billion worth of cars from the U.S.

Until now, the country’s flagship automakers Hyundai and Kia have been able to sidestep any major tariff shocks, achieving instead record sales in the first half of the year by selling existing inventory in the U.S.

But many believe it is only a matter of time until they will have to raise vehicle sticker prices, as some competitors have done. Both companies’ operating profits are now forecasted to hit double-digit declines compared with the previous year.

The U.S. has also reportedly demanded concessions that touch on sensitive issues of food or national security in South Korea — a far harder sell to the public than the expanded manufacturing cooperation that South Korea has sought to center in the trade talks.

Among these are opening up South Korea’s rice market to U.S. imports and allowing Google to export high-precision geographic data to its servers outside of South Korea.

As an essential crop that represents a significant portion of farmers’ incomes, rice is one of the few heavily protected goods in South Korea’s trade relationships. Under its free trade agreement with the United States, Seoul imposes a 5% tariff on U.S. rice up to 132,304 tons, and 513% for anything after that.

U.S. Army soldiers attend a ceremony last month in Dongducheon, South Korea. A 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that it cost $19.2 billion to maintain American troops in South Korea from 2016 through 2019.

(Kim Jae-Hwan / SOPA Images via Getty Images)

The South Korean government has long denied Google’s requests to export high-precision geographic data — which is used for the company’s map services — on the grounds that it could reveal sensitive military sites that are essential for defense against North Korea. Last year, Ukraine accused Google of exposing the locations of some of its military systems to Russia.

Equally vexing are Trump’s long-running demands that Seoul should pay more to host the some 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

“South Korea is making a lot of money, and they’re very good. They’re very good, but, you know, they should be paying for their own military,” Trump said at a White House Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, adding that he told South Korea it should pay $10 billion a year.

Over a four-year period from 2016 through 2019, the total cost of maintaining U.S. troops in South Korea was $19.2 billion, or around $4.8 billion a year, according to a 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Over that period, South Korea footed about 30% of the total annual costs, in addition to providing indirect financial support such as waived taxes or foregone rents.

Under the Special Measures Agreement, the joint framework that governs this arrangement, Seoul’s payments have grown over time. Under the latest version, which covers 2026 to 2030, Seoul’s annual contribution beginning next year will be $1.19 billion, an 8.3% increase from 2025, and will increase yearly thereafter.

Trump’s demand for nearly 10 times that — along with the threats that the U.S. might pull its troops from the country — has previously drawn widespread outrage in the country, spurring calls by some for the development of South Korea’s own nuclear arsenal.

“The Special Measures Agreement (SMA) guarantees stable conditions for U.S. troops stationed in Korea and strengthens the joint South Korea – U.S. defense posture,” a spokesperson for South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response to Trump’s comments.

“Our stance is that the South Korean government will adhere to the 12th SMA, which was agreed upon and implemented in a legitimate manner.”

The giant rainbow-colored headdress sitting atop a bison beckoned generations of Angelenos and other drivers heading into Nevada on the 15 Freeway.

Sure, Las Vegas was only 40 minutes north, but at Buffalo Bill’s Resort and Casino, patrons could enjoy gaming, drinking, neon lights and entertainment without the Sin City prices and crowds.

It’s an era that will soon end as Primm Valley Resorts — which operates Buffalo Bill’s on the desert strip known as Primm along the California-Nevada border — announced the resort’s imminent closure.

“In order to deliver the best possible experience for today’s guest expectations, Buffalo Bill’s will be shifting its 24/7 operations to Primm Valley Resort & Casino,” the company said in a release Tuesday afternoon, referring to the sister resort adjacent to Buffalo Bill’s.

Primm Valley, owned by Affinity Gaming, added that Buffalo Bill’s would still host concerts and special events at its Star of the Desert Arena.

The company did not say when the hotel would be closing. Las Vegas insider Vegas Advantage broke the news Monday evening.

Hotel reservations for Buffalo Bill’s could be booked through the Primm Valley site and third-party vendors, but they do not show rooms as available after Sunday. Guests who try to book reservations at Buffalo Bill’s for after Sunday are redirected to Primm Valley Resort.

Primm Valley did not disclose in its announcement what would happen to workers employed at Buffalo Bill’s.

The resort was the final of three built by the Primm family and placed in the unincorporated Clark County town previously known as State Line.

Whiskey Pete’s, which shuttered in December, was first opened in 1977, followed by Primm Valley in 1990 and Buffalo Bill’s in 1994.

The hotel boasted 592 rooms at its opening (the Bellagio has nearly 4,000 rooms) and eventually expanded to 1,242 rooms.

Buffalo Bill’s utilized low prices and attractions to lure guests.

There was the Desperado roller coaster, which was the tallest, fastest coaster in the world when it opened in 1994; it sent visitors screaming 209 feet above the freeway right outside the resort.

The Star of the Desert Arena hosted major acts, including the Captain & Tennille in its opening year. It also booked Reba McEntire, Aretha Franklin and Snoop Dogg in 2009, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

The Sun wrote that year that the hotel also offered “$2 beers, $7 prime rib dinners and $25 shows” to guests who wanted a taste of old Las Vegas.

Buffalo Bill’s temporarily closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic and reopened in December 2022 but struggled to attract customers, like all hotels in Primm.

Visitors posted videos of vacant stores and restaurants in the Primm Outlet Mall and of vacant gaming floors.

Primm Valley did not provide information on what would happen to the Desperado or attractions inside the hotel such as the famed Bonnie & Clyde V-8 Ford, which the outlaws were riding in when they were fatally shot.

Affinity Gaming is hoping patrons will gravitate toward the last casino standing.

“We invite our guests to join us at Primm Valley where they will find the newest slots on our redesigned casino floor, beautifully appointed rooms, oasis pool experience, and wonderful dining,” their note read.

GENEROUS Alex Iowbi wants to keep his charity work strictly OFF the pitch.

Fulham made a habit of taking points off the big boys last season but giving too many against the teams they felt they should beat.

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League doubles over Newcastle and Nottingham Forest were supplemented by beating Chelsea and taking four points off champions Liverpool.

But painful defeats to Wolves, West Ham, Everton and two against struggling Manchester United denied the Cottagers a spot in Europe. 

So rather than handing out freebies to their Prem rivals, Iwobi is determined to keep supporting those less fortunate with his Project 17 charity. 

Set up in 2021, Iwobi was keen to use his public profile and platform to make a positive impact in society.

Ventures have included a homeless shelter and setting up a shop of free food at Christmas.

And this weekend was the latest P17 Cup – his very own football tournament. 

After previous editions in Dagenham and Enfield, this year’s event was in Bromley in association with ACLT, a life-saving charity working to increase the number of black blood, stem cell and organ donors.

Representation in blood donation is urgent. Only two per cent of donors are black, yet conditions like sickle cell disease primarily affect black communities.

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Iwobi, 29, told SunSport: “We’re trying to raise awareness for people that are suffering with sickle cell and educate others.

“We started Project 17 after Covid lockdown when my secondary school boys said I should show I’m human and there’s more to me than just football.

“Obviously, I like to do the music, I like to do fashion and I also like to also give back to charities.

“It’s not just the good, but also the bad stuff as well. I want people to know that not only that I go through the great times, but there’s also tough times in my life.

“For example, everyone suffers with mental illness or mental struggles. I do have my struggles as well.”

Iwobi says honest and vulnerable conversations about mental health take place in the “brotherhood” that is the Fulham dressing room.

But there have also been frank conversations about results, especially after slipping up against teams Marco Silva’s men expected to beat last season. 

The West Londoners paid the price last season by finishing 11th.

Now after seeing Crystal Palace lift their first major trophy and qualify for Europe, Fulham want to do the same. 

Iwobi added: “Of course. We were so close last season to achieving Europe. 

“We always seem to do well against the so-called bigger teams. I don’t know if we just mentally get psyched up and prepared to play.

“They are a bit more open in the sense that they all want to attack, attack, attack. They may leave a few more gaps for us to exploit.

“But against the least-favoured teams, the teams we should be favoured to win, we seem to struggle a bit more, they defend patiently.

“We’re trying to work on it in training. Hopefully, next season, we’ll find ways to break down teams that like to defend with 11 men behind the ball and produce a lot more consistent results.”

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Women face big decisions and even bigger challenges when it comes to their health, so we’re sharing some stories that don’t get talked about enough. We begin with one woman’s decision to freeze her eggs holding space for the future she hopes to build on her own terms. Then, we hear from a woman living with endometriosis – an all-too-common condition that’s often misunderstood or misdiagnosed. We speak to an expert to help you or someone you know navigate this disease. Finally, we speak to a thyroid cancer survivor who fought for years to have her symptoms be taken seriously – and a doctor who offers empowering, practical guidance for anyone having the same experience.

This week on Now You Know, we’re taking you on a journey through some of our most powerful health stories – stories that speak to the challenges and resilience of women today.

REALITY TV star Lateysha Grace rushed her sick six-month-old baby to hospital after she started struggling to breathe.

The 32-year-old’s daughter “took a turn for the worse” before she was diagnosed with bronchitis and croup.

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Posting a snap from hospital, the terrified mum of Navy Storm Grace told fans: “Sorry I’ve been so MIA guys.

“Navy took a turn for the worse on Friday night and we ended up in hospital until Saturday.

“It was so scary. She got diagnosed with bronchitis and croup bless her.

“I’m going to add a video in of her breathing to warn other parents to go straight to A&E if their child has similar symptoms.

“She’s on the mend now. Her breathing is so much better.

“She’s drinking her milk and her temperature has gone.”

Lateysh added: “Apparently she had it for a couple of days prior and day four or five is the worst, which were the days we were in hospital.

“So even if your baby has the tiniest of coughs/colds get it checked out.

“I honestly thought it was nothing at first as she had no temperature and was eating, drink and sleeping normally.”

Croup is a common condition that mainly affects babies’ and young children’s airways.

Symptoms usually include a barking cough and high pitched, rasping sound when breathing in.

BALTIMORE — Charlie Morton struck out a season-high 10 batters in five innings, Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano hit home runs and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Angels 2-0 on Friday night in a game that was delayed by rain before the start and again in the fifth inning.

Morton (3-7) surrendered two straight singles to begin the fourth, but he struck out LaMonte Wade Jr. on three pitches before two groundballs got him out of the jam. Morton fanned Zach Neto leading off the fifth. He left after rain forced the second delay.

Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz (3-8) used three groundball outs to retire the side in order in the first, but O’Hearn hit his 10th home run on Kochanowicz’s first pitch in the second for a 1-0 lead. Laureano led off the fifth with his eighth homer for the final run. The second delay followed after a one-out single by Ramón Urías.

Yennier Cano, Gregory Soto and Bryan Baker each pitched a scoreless inning for Baltimore before Félix Bautista had the final two of 14 strikeouts by the Orioles in notching his 12th save in 13 chances.

Kochanowicz gave up two runs and four hits in 4 1/3 innings and the Angels used four relievers to finish.

The Orioles beat the Angels for the 20th time in the last 25 matchups. The Angels won two of three against Baltimore on May 9-11.

Key moment: Morton allowed the first two batters to reach in the first inning but came back to strike out Mike Trout and Jorge Soler looking and Logan O’Hoppe on a foul tip to set the game’s tone.

Key stat: The Orioles began the day with a staff ERA of 5.00 — second-worst in the AL followed by the Angels at 4.76.

Up next: Angels LHP Tyler Anderson (2-3, 3.99) starts Saturday against Orioles RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (5-4, 3.23).

The billing couldn’t have been bigger. Dodgers vs. Giants. Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Logan Webb. One of the game’s oldest rivalries, pitting what were supposed to be two of the game’s top pitchers.

On Friday night at Dodger Stadium, however, only one right-handed ace showed up.

In the first meeting of the season between the Dodgers and Giants, Webb did his thing, giving up just two runs on two hits over seven spectacular innings.

Opposite him, Yamamoto was no match, floundering in a five-run, 4 ⅔-inning start that sent the Dodgers to a 6-2 defeat — leaving the teams tied atop the National League West with identical 41-29 records at the 70-game mark.

The evening was a study in pitching excellence (or, in Yamamoto’s case, a lack thereof); serving as a reminder that, for as good as Yamamoto has become in his second major league season, there are tiers to his talent he has still yet to reach.

Where Webb got soft contact and quick outs, needing just 98 pitches to complete his seventh seven-inning outing of the season, Yamamoto labored through hitters’ counts and long at-bats, issuing a career-high five walks while finding the strike zone on just 56 of his 102 pitches.

Where Webb limited traffic and escaped rare damage, giving up just two hits while walking only three batters, Yamamoto toiled through self-inflicted trouble; none worse than when he walked the bases loaded in the third, before giving up a tie-breaking grand slam to Casey Schmitt.

Most of all, where Webb played the part of a contending team’s staff ace, lowering his earned-run average to 2.58 (fifth-best in the National League), Yamamoto faltered in a way that’s become uncomfortably familiar of late, his ERA rising to 2.64 despite an almost flawless opening month.

In his first seven starts, Yamamoto was 4-2 with a 0.90 ERA, a 0.925 WHIP and only one game in which he gave up even two earned runs.

“Right now, he’s pitching like the best pitcher in the world,” catcher Will Smith said on May 2, after Yamamoto pitched six shutout innings against the Atlanta Braves.

Since then, Yamamoto has been on a different planet — and not a good one.

Over his last seven outings, the 26-year-old Japanese star is 2-3 with a 4.46 ERA. In that span, he has more starts of less than five innings (two) than of seven full innings (one). He has given up three or more runs four times. And Friday was the second in which he was scored on five times, tying his MLB career-high.

The most consistent problem during that slump: Poor command.

Yamamoto has walked 17 batters in his last 38 ⅓ innings. And when he isn’t issuing free passes, he is putting himself in bad counts, like when Willy Adames opened the scoring Friday by getting ahead 2-and-0 and hitting a down-the-middle fastball to right for a solo home run.

Another potential factor in Yamamoto’s recent struggles: He has been forced to pitch on less rest between starts.

Over his first seven starts, Yamamoto pitched on at least six days of rest — mirroring the once-per-week schedule he had in Japan.

Since then, however, each of his outings have come on only five days’ rest.

Yamamoto has downplayed that factor in the past. And last year, he actually had slightly better numbers on five days of rest (2.97 ERA in 11 starts) than six (3.07 ERA in starts).

Still, for a Dodgers staff that has been shorthanded — leaving the club without the luxury of starting Yamamoto only once a week — it has been a marked drop-off, coming at a time when their once three-game lead in a competitive NL West has quickly evaporated amid a grueling stretch of the schedule.

The Dodgers’ lineup, of course, didn’t help Yamamoto much, either.

After scoring on an Andy Pages sacrifice fly in the second, when a throw home beat Smith but was dropped by Giants catcher Andrew Knizner while trying to apply a tag, the team’s only other production against Webb came via Teoscar Hernández, who lined the Dodgers’ first hit to right in the fourth before homering for a second-straight game on a solo blast in the seventh.

By then, however, Webb had already put the game on ice, becoming the latest starting pitcher this month to handle the Dodgers’ star-studded lineup (opposing starters have a 2.43 ERA against the Dodgers in June, and are averaging almost six innings per start).

It made Yamamoto’s clunker all the more costly, highlighting an extended slide in production that continues to plague the team’s only healthy ace.

OAKMONT, Pa. — J.J. Spaun is still new enough to the U.S. Open, and a newcomer to the brute that is Oakmont, that he was prepared for anything Thursday. He wound up with a clean card and a one-shot lead on an opening day that delivered just about everything.

Scottie Scheffler had more bogeys in one round than he had the entire tournament when he won the Memorial. He shot a 73, his highest start ever in a U.S. Open, four shots worse than when he made his Open debut at Oakmont as a 19-year-old at Texas.

Patrick Reed made the first albatross in 11 years at the U.S. Open when he holed out a 3-wood from 286 yards on the par-five fourth. He finished with a triple bogey.

Bryson DeChambeau was 39 yards from the hole at the par-five 12th and took four shots from the rough to get to the green.

Si Woo Kim shot a 68 and had no idea how.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m doing on the course,” Kim said. “Kind of hitting good but feel like this course is too hard for me.”

Through it all, Spaun played a steady hand in only his second U.S. Open. He played bogey-free and finished with 10 straight pars for a four-under 66 on America’s toughest course hosting the major known as the toughest test in golf.

He matched the low opening round in U.S. Opens at Oakmont — Andrew Landry also shot 66 the last time here in 2016 — and it was no mystery. Good putting never fails at any U.S. Open, and Spaun holed five par putts ranging from 7 feet to 16 feet to go along with four birdies.

“I didn’t really feel like I’m going to show a bogey-free round 4 under. I didn’t really know what to expect especially since I’ve never played here,” said Spaun, playing in only his second U.S. Open. “But yeah, maybe sometimes not having expectations is the best thing, so I’ll take it.”

Oakmont lived up to its reputation with a scoring average of about 74.6 despite a course still relatively soft from rain and moderate wind that didn’t stick around for long.

And oh, that rough.

Just ask Rory McIlroy, although he chose not to speak for the fifth straight competitive round at a major since his Masters victory. He had to hack out three times on the fourth hole to get it back to the fairway, and then he holed a 30-foot putt for a most unlikely bogey. He shot 74.

“Even for a guy like me, I can’t get out of it some of the times, depending on the lie,” DeChambeau said after a 73. “It was tough. It was a brutal test of golf.”

The start of the round included Maxwell Moldovan holing out for eagle on the 484-yard opening hole. Toward the end, Tony Finau hit an approach just over the green, off a sprinkler head and into the grandstand, his Titleist marked by green paint of the sprinkler. He saved par.

When the first round ended more than 13 hours after it started, only 10 players managed to break par. That’s one fewer than the opening round in 2016.

Scheffler, the heavy favorite as the No. 1 player in the world who had won three of his last four tournaments by a combined 17 shots, made a 6-foot birdie putt on his second hole. Then he found the Church Pew bunkers on the third and fourth holes, made bogey on both and was never under the rest of the day.

“I made some silly mistakes out there, but at the same time, I made some key putts and some good momentum saves in my round,” Scheffler said. “But overall just need to be a little sharper.“

Spaun, who started his round by chipping in from ankle-deep rough just right of the 10th green, was walking down the 18th fairway when a spectator looked at the group’s scoreboard and said, “J.J. Spaun. He’s four under?”

The emphasis was on the number, not the name.

But some of the names were surprising, starting with Spaun. He lost in a playoff at The Players Championship to McIlroy that helped move him to No. 25 in the world, meaning he didn’t have to go through U.S. Open qualifying for the first time.

Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, who contended at Royal Troon last summer, had six birdies in a round of 67.

And perhaps Brooks Koepka can count as a surprise because the five-time major champion has not contended in a major since winning the PGA Championship in 2023, and he missed the cut in the Masters and PGA Championship this year.

He looked like the Koepka of old, muscling way around Oakmont, limiting mistakes and closing with two birdies for a 68 that left him in a group with the South Korea duo of Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im.

“It’s nice to put a good round together. It’s been a while,” Koepka said. “It’s been so far off … but now it’s starting to click. Unfortunately, we’re about halfway through the season, so that’s not ideal, but we’re learning.”

Another shot back at 69 was a group that included two-time major champion Jon Rahm, who went 11 holes before making a birdie, and followed that with an eagle.

“I played some incredible golf to shoot one under, which we don’t usually say, right?” Rahm said.

The course allowed plenty of birdies, plenty of excitement, and doled out plenty of punishment.

McIlroy also was bogey-free, at least on his opening nine. Then he three-putted for bogey on No. 1 and wound up with a 41 on the front nine for a 74. Sam Burns was one shot out of the lead until playing the last four holes in five over for a 72 that felt a lot worse.

Spaun was not immune from this. He just made everything, particularly five par putts from seven feet or longer.

“I think today was one of my best maybe putting days I’ve had maybe all year,” Spaun said. “Converting those putts … that’s huge for momentum and keeping a round going, and that’s kind of what happens here at U.S. Opens.”

Spaun wouldn’t know that from experience. This is only his second U.S. Open, and his ninth major since his first one in 2018. He didn’t have to qualify, moving to No. 25 in the world on the strength of his playoff loss to McIlroy at The Players Championship.

“I haven’t played in too many,” Spaun said “I knew it was going to be tough. I did my best just to grind through it all.”

It was every bit of a grind, from the rough and on the fast greens. Three more days.

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.

Location, Location, Location viewers were left baffled while watching the Channel 4 show as one property hunter struggled to find a one bedroom flat in London with a hefty budget

Location, Location, Location fans were left enraged during a recent episode of the Channel 4 property show. It came after a woman with a whopping budget struggled to find a one-bedroom flat in the capital.

Hosts Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp were back to help buyers find their dream homes, as Phil headed to central London to find a flat for Chloe. The medic had a generous budget of £450,000, and told the host she wanted a one-bedroom flat with parking for her motorbike.

Junior doctor Chloe had been searching for a flat for 7 months, telling cameras it had been “a bit of an epic fail.”

Viewers saw Chloe and Phil head to areas such as Tooting, Balham, and Earlsfield to find her dream home. However, fans were distracted as they left fuming with how little property hunter Chloe could get with her hefty budget.

“£475k for a one bed house, Wtaf #locationlocationlocation,” said one enraged fan, while another penned: “Nearly half a million pounds and yet still hard to find a one bedroom flat in South London with space to park a motorbike pretty much sums up how much London is f****d.”

A third called for Chloe to move out of London, by writing: “How can you have a budget of £450k and it not get you a one bed flat with a bloody front door? Just move out of rip off London!”

However, another thought Chloe was being “too picky” with her search. “To picky in London and she only has £450,000!” they exclaimed.

Despite the struggles, Phil helped Chloe to find a flat in Earlsfield for £415,000.

The episode comes shortly after duo Phil and Kirsty 25 years of Location, Location, Location. At the end of April, Channel 4 celebrated with a whole night of programming dedicated to the show, including a special containing never-before-seen bloopers and outtakes.

The series kicked off its 43rd run on 14 May, and just before, Phil and Kirstie took a look back at the changing socio economic trends of the UK property market over the period.

Speaking on their 25 years together, Phil gushed: “Although quite surreal, it’s also been fun looking back and seeing not only how we have changed through the 25 years, but also watching how our friendship developed and then strengthened across the years.

“Being able to visit every part of the four nations and support hundreds of people in their home searches has been an enormous privilege – none of which would have been achievable without so many brilliant people behind the camera.”.

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