At the Beijing premiere of “Zootopia 2” last week, Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer Jared Bush encountered a wall filled with letters from people throughout China, all writing about what the original 2016 animated movie meant to them.
They highlighted the optimism of rabbit cop Judy Hopps and how they wanted to emulate her sunny outlook. They cited the unlikely friendship between Judy and her partner in crime, a fox named Nick Wilde, as hope that they could find common ground with different family members. It was a display Bush didn’t see at any other premiere.
“It’s more than just a story,” said Bush, who wrote and directed “Zootopia 2,” directing alongside Byron Howard. “A lot of the time, these characters have helped people through difficult moments of their life. They have a lot of love for these characters.”
To this day, the original “Zootopia” ranks as China’s highest-grossing Hollywood animated film, with a total box office haul there of $236 million. Marketing ahead of the new film has included promotions with 10 brands, as well as displays throughout the country, including in Shenzhen, Chengdu and Beijing.
But over the years, the China market for U.S.-made films has changed dramatically, leading to questions about whether “Zootopia,” which heads to theaters Wednesday, and its loyal following can break through the more difficult landscape that American movies face there today.
Once seen as a major — and lucrative — destination for big Hollywood blockbusters, the country now has a more robust local film industry that’s pumping out strong competitors. The fraying geopolitical relationship between the U.S. and China also hasn’t helped, nor has the increasing trend of younger audiences watching short-form content on their phones.
“It’s important to the industry that both ‘Zootopia’ and ‘Avatar’ work,” said Andrew Cripps, head of theatrical distribution for Walt Disney Studios, referring to the upcoming James Cameron-directed “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” “The overall industry needs some success at year-end, and I think this would be a tremendous sign of confidence in the marketplace.”
China was once seen as a gold mine for certain films — namely, big studio movies — that could get approval from its government for release.
A decade ago, Hollywood movies would regularly haul in more than $100 million at the Chinese box office, with massive blockbusters like 2015’s “Furious 7” and 2014’s “Transformers: Age of Extinction” drawing north of $300 million each. Some films with softer domestic debuts could count on China to supersize their box-office returns, like 2016’s “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter,” which grossed nearly $160 million in China alone, but just $26.8 million in the U.S. and Canada.
In 2016, the domestic Chinese film business saw a significant slowdown in box-office growth. As a result, revenue from imported films — largely those from the U.S., such as Universal Pictures’ “Warcraft” and Disney-owned Marvel Studios’ “Captain America: Civil War” — increased by 10.9%, said Ying Zhu, author of “Hollywood in China: Behind the Scenes of the World’s Largest Movie Market.”
Those foreign films accounted for 41.7% of the total market share at the time, up from 38.4% in 2015, she wrote in an email. To help boost year-end revenue, Chinese regulators even relaxed the so-called blackout on imported films during December, which was traditionally saved for local movies.
“Zootopia” opened in China to just $22 million at the box office, but momentum grew in subsequent weeks. Though a movie from the U.S. typically got a four-week run in China, Chinese regulators made an exception and added two extra weeks, said Bush, who co-directed and co-wrote the 2016 film.
“‘Zootopia’ was somewhat of a real surprise to us here in China,” he said on a video call from Beijing while on the film’s publicity tour. “We didn’t know that it was going to turn into this phenomenon here.”
Known in China as “Crazy Animal City,” the film’s dynamic between lead characters Nick and Judy and their imperfect but caring relationship appealed to Chinese audiences, as did Judy’s backstory of moving from a small town in the countryside to a major metropolis, Bush said. Animated films have also long been popular in the market.
After the film’s success, Disney built the “Zootopia”-themed land in Shanghai Disneyland, which opened in 2023 and is the only such land in any Disney park. The studio recently held the movie’s Shanghai premiere at the themed land, as crowds of fans (both there and in Beijing) dressed up as characters from the film, including lesser-known ones like Fru Fru the shrew and Officer Clauhauser, a pop culture-obsessed cheetah.
But since 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, China has pulled back from its embrace of Hollywood films, particularly as its political relationship with the U.S. has chilled.
Earlier this year, China planned to reduce the number of Hollywood films it allows into the country, amid tariff tensions with the U.S. At the same time, China’s homegrown film industry has matured, leading to more locally-produced movies at the box office. A notable success was the animated hit “Ne Zha 2,” which raked in almost $2.2 billion worldwide, $1.8 billion of which was in China.
And similar to the U.S., the Chinese film market has also been dented by the growth of short-form content and increasing popularity of watching entertainment on phones and tablets, keeping theatergoers at home.
That’s all meant a less reliable haul for U.S. films. So far this year, the top-grossing American film in China was Universal’s “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” which brought in $79 million — a far cry from the massive returns some U.S. movies once commanded. The last Disney film that was released in China and made more than $100 million was 2024’s “Alien: Romulus.”
But there are still niches that appeal to Chinese audiences, including family movies, big blockbusters laden with special effects and animated franchises. Cripps said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the film’s reception in China, because of the franchise recognition and the themed land in Shanghai.
“Given what’s happened over the last two to three years, it’s hard to get overly excited until you see some actual data,” he said. “But certainly, it feels good going into it.”
Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where USC’s loss to Oregon on Saturday has left me grappling with what it means to have a successful season in this day and age of college football.
USC will not be going to the College Football Playoff. It’ll be the fourth straight year under Lincoln Riley that USC is left out of the field. In that time, Indiana — which last won a conference title in 1967 — will have twice been a Playoff team. Assuming Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon all make this year’s field as expected, the Big Ten’s current membership will have accounted for 19 bids to the Playoff since it began in 2014 … none from USC.
There’s no getting around these facts. USC expects to compete for national titles every year, but in four seasons with Riley as coach, it hasn’t even made it to the dance floor. That’s not what USC was promised when it handed Riley a massive $110-million contract.
Fight on! Are you a true Trojans fan?
If USC beats UCLA next week, as expected, it will finish this season 9-3. That’s better than most rational observers would have expected — myself included. Oddsmakers had USC’s win total set at 7 1/2. I wrote in this space that I thought USC would win eight regular season games, but the best case was 10 and a Playoff bid. USC was within striking distance of that scenario. It fell just short.
Riley would like for you to focus on how narrow that gap is.
“We’re right there,” the coach said again Saturday. But no matter how many plays away USC might be from a Playoff bid in 2025 or four straight national titles in his tenure, Riley’s repeated assurances that this is the case have ceased to mean much to those he thinks he’s assuring. At some point, USC needs to stop being close and actually break through.
It took a step closer to that this season. There’s no shame in losing to three teams ranked in the top 21 of the CFP rankings. USC beat all the teams it was supposed to beat. It won on the road at Nebraska, Riley’s first road win over a .500 team since 2022. And it blew just one fourth-quarter lead, not five like last season.
In the 16 years since Pete Carroll left USC, the Trojans have reached the nine-win mark in the regular season just five times. With a win next week, Riley will have reached that mark twice in four years.
But without a Playoff bid, does a nine-win season really mean anything anymore? Is it possible for USC — or any Power Four team, for that matter — to miss the field and still view its season as a success?
If you thought that USC was going to make the College Football Playoff, you are no doubt disappointed. Most people, though, didn’t. And perhaps the fact that no one is surprised at the way this went is why it’s hard for anyone to feel excited about a 9-3 finish and a second-rate bowl game.
USC took a step forward this season. It wasn’t the leap many fans were hoping for. But it was a step. The reality is this was never a team that was going to seriously compete for a national title. It didn’t have enough talent.
Riley didn’t necessarily do USC any favors in that regard. Progress aside, he simply hasn’t done enough to make anyone, his bosses included, feel good about where next season might go.
There are reasons for optimism. Riley will have the No. 1 recruiting class at his disposal, along with several young returners USC will be counting on to make a leap. But he’ll also have to contend with a schedule that includes Ohio State, Oregon, Washington, Indiana and Penn State.
The road to the Playoff will be as difficult as it has ever been. But that is the bar that Riley must now clear. And by this time next season, we should have a pretty good idea of whether Riley is capable of clearing it.
Going polling
I want to hear what you think about this season as a whole. Do you consider USC’s season to be a success, even without a Playoff bid?
Tanook Hines catches a pass thrown by third-string quarterback Sam Huard on a fake punt against Northwestern.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
—The leaping penalty was a major turning point in the loss to Oregon. But should it have been a penalty? The flag on linebacker Desman Stephens negated what would’ve been a key missed field goal by Oregon, and afterward, Riley explained that Stephens “panicked” and did something they don’t teach. But NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay, who you may remember from his disdain for USC’s fake punt ploy, posited on social media that it was actually a totally legal play. McAulay wrote that Stephens “leaps into the gap” on the play and “the fact that part of his body is over part of an opponent does not violate the rule,” which states that a player cannot leap into the plane directly above the frame of an opponent. We should note USC lost this game by two touchdowns, so reversing that one wouldn’t have made the difference. That said, I will be curious to ask Riley for his take on Tuesday.
—The offensive line injuries finally caught up to USC. When center Kilian O’Connor went down with what appeared to be another knee injury Saturday and returned to the sideline on crutches, with his leg mobilized, it felt like a foreboding sign. A hobbled J’Onre Reed struggled in his place. Up against a stout Oregon front seven, the Trojans’ line was facing an uphill battle, and it never made much headway. USC ran for just 52 yards, its worst mark in two years. Oregon barely had to blitz — it rushed with four on 27 of 31 dropbacks. This was simply a better defensive line beating up on a more limited offensive line. But USC’s offensive line showed a lot of heart over the course of the last six weeks, and there are plenty of reasons to feel optimistic. USC returns everyone in the room except for Reed and has several freshmen whose progress has impressed the staff this season.
—Tanook Hines can be a star as soon as next season. You saw once again what Hines is capable of as he leaped into the air to reel in Makai Lemon’s pass and tapped his toes in the end zone on the way down. The raw ability is apparent, and his propensity for big plays has been terrific for a freshman. The question now is whether he can emerge as a more consistent threat that’s leaned on to do more than just make highlight catches in traffic. Lemon is leaving for the NFL after this season, and while USC will surely try to convince Ja’Kobi Lane to stay, my guess is he’ll be ready to go, too, depending on his draft grade. That leaves Hines and whichever star transfer wideout(s) general manager Chad Bowden unearths in the portal to lead the receiving corps. Hines should be a big part of those plans, no matter what, and if he makes the leap, he could be in for a huge sophomore season.
—USC won’t be going to the Playoff, but there will be a consolation bowl appearance. Assuming the Trojans can win next week against UCLA, they’re most likely headed to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Dec. 30. The Holiday Bowl on Jan. 2 is also in play. USC has played in the Holiday Bowl four times in the last 12 years. It has never appeared in the Alamo Bowl.
—After a brutal loss to Notre Dame, USC women’s basketball faces a critical stretch ahead. The Trojans had a chance to win in South Bend with a layup after a frustrating fourth quarter, but missed it, and Hannah Hidalgo ended the game on the other end. They have four games between now and a Dec. 13 matchup with Connecticut at Galen Center, and they’ll need that time to iron things out. Kennedy Smith needs to be more consistent on offense, and the frontcourt remains a mystery. The next two weeks should help answer some pertinent questions.
Olympic sports spotlight
With two games left in its regular season slate, USC’s women’s volleyball team matched its season-high for wins under coach Brad Keller with its 24th victory on Saturday. It should surpass that mark this week.
It’s been a stellar season so far for the Trojans, who are tied for fourth in the Big Ten. The question now is just how far they can go in the postseason. Right now, according to ESPN’s college volleyball bracketology, USC is predicted to be a fourth seed.
Will (Noah Schnapp) and Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) come face to face in Season 5 of “Stranger Things.”
(Netflix)
We’ve waited over three years, if you can believe it, for a new season of “Stranger Things.” So long that none of the kids in the show are even kids anymore. (Two of them have actually become rock stars in the meantime.)
But I’m one of those who have been eagerly awaiting the series conclusion, and finally, that day has come. We still only get Volume 1 from Netflix on Wednesday. But that should be enough to hold us off until late December, when the remaining episodes drop.
Until next time …
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected], and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Clarkson’s Farm quickly became a fan favourite when it debuted in 2021, with viewers captivated by the comedic hurdles and blunders the former Top Gear host encountered while trying to run his Cotswolds farm.
Throughout his journey, Jeremy has been assisted by a cast of characters including Kaleb Cooper, Charlie Ireland, Gerald Cooper, Harriet Cowan and his partner Lisa Hogan, all of whom have become beloved figures on the show.
However, Jeremy’s long-time producer Andy Wilman revealed that the presenter didn’t believe he would ever have another hit after leaving the BBC motoring programme.
Speaking on Wednesday’s episode of The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X, Andy confessed that they never anticipated the success of the show, reports Gloucestershire Live.
He said: “That was absolutely out of the blue. Jeremy never thought he was going to have another hit, you know? We were done.”
As Dominic Byrne praised the quality of the show, Andy explained that they had an agreement with Amazon for Grand Tours which required them to continue working, leading to individual projects.
He added: “Jeremy went, ‘I want to do life on my farm.’ And if I had a quid for every exec who rang me and went, ‘Can you talk him out of that?'”
Admitting he rang the TV personality to explain that nobody fancied him doing a programme about farm life, Jeremy confessed he couldn’t fault people for attempting to dissuade Andy from it.
Andy revealed that Jeremy was anxious as he reckoned it might be ‘the most boring thing’, but the personalities on Clarkson’s Farm made a massive difference to its triumph.
He added: “We didn’t see that cast coming.”
Thanks to Clarkson’s Farm’s popularity, it’s led to Kaleb securing his own show which he’s presently shooting in Australia.
The fresh four-part series on Prime Video will witness the TV personality exchange Chipping Norton for existence down under.
Discussing the forthcoming programme, he said: “I spend most of my time with the most travelled man in the world, so I got brave and booked my first ever flight to see what all the fuss was about. Australia here I come!
“And Australia, you’ll be gaining a new farmer for a couple of months as I discover if I can make my farming contracting business go international.”
Clarkson’s Farm is available to watch on Prime Video. Tune into The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X weekdays from 6:30am – 10am and on Global Player
Last December, Ravyn Lenae stood in the street and pointed her phone at herself to film a TikTok set to her song “Love Me Not.”
“Me after linking with him one last time cause I’m not bringing him into 2025,” she captioned the video — a cutesy kiss-off to a guy she’d clearly decided was holding her back from where she was meant to go.
Nearly a year later, it appears the singer was right: In early April, “Love Me Not” — a swinging, lightly psychedelic soul number about a hot-and-cold lover — gave Lenae her first entry on Billboard’s Hot 100; a week later, she made her debut at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Several months after that, she performed to an enthusiastic crowd at Lollapalooza just before “Love Me Not” peaked at No. 5 in mid-August.
Now, with one of 2025’s biggest hits under her belt, Lenae, 26, is winding down her breakout year by opening for Sabrina Carpenter as Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet tour wraps up this week with six sold-out shows through Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
“A lot of this period has been me asking other artists, ‘Is this how it normally is?’” Lenae tells me on a recent evening. “How do you balance the social aspect and the online aspect and the touring with also staying highly creative?”
Not to mention tending to a personal life.
“What’s that?” she asks with a laugh. “That’s literally nonexistent.”
The runaway success of “Love Me Not,” which has been streamed more than 700 million times on Spotify, is no doubt what’s put the breathy-voiced Lenae before many listeners for the first time. (A remix featuring Rex Orange County has another 164 million Spotify streams.)
At one point as the song was blowing up, she responded to a fan on TikTok who’d been surprised to learn that Lenae is Black — “Y’all didn’t read the name Ravyn Lenae and think, ‘Oh, that’s a Black girl?’” the singer asks in the clip — then went ahead and clarified that also she’s not British, as some evidently had assumed.
Yet “Love Me Not” actually comes a decade into a career that began while Lenae was still in high school. She signed to Atlantic Records at age 16 and soon was touring and working in the studio with the likes of SZA and Steve Lacy; “Hypnos,” her debut LP, came out in 2022 and made Pitchfork’s closely watched list of the year’s best albums.
“I’m pretty conceited about the fact that I’ve loved Ravyn for as long as I have,” says the singer and actor Reneé Rapp, who like Carpenter took Lenae out on the road this year as an opening act. Rapp discovered one of Lenae’s early EPs when she herself was in high school and has been a fan ever since. “I’m like, ‘You bitches are new, and don’t get me wrong — I’m so happy you’re here. But let’s get it right: I was boots on the ground first.’”
To Rapp’s ears, Lenae’s airy soprano “has this beautiful ping at the top that I’ve only ever heard in Minnie Riperton,” she says. “She’s just like a little fairy. She floats around, and her voice does the same thing.”
“Love Me Not,” which is still hanging out in the upper reaches of the Hot 100, is from Lenae’s sophomore album, “Bird’s Eye,” which came out in August 2024. She recorded the song with the producer Dahi, who’s known for his work with Kendrick Lamar and Vince Staples; Dahi started the track years ago with Anderson .Paak then put it in a drawer before he’d finished it.
“At the time, I was really into MGMT,” Dahi says, referring to the alternative rock duo whose dreamy-jangly guitar sound echoes throughout “Love Me Not.” With Lenae, he pushed the song toward classic R&B — “something that would be played on ‘Happy Days’ or some s—,” he says — but retained a spacey vibe that keeps it from feeling rooted in any specific era or genre.
Lenae says her goal was to create something “soulful and Black but that transcends time and race”; the result can be heard in a lineage of enduring hard-to-classify hits like Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” and Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” that charm listeners across demographic lines.
“If you don’t like ‘Crazy,’ there’s something wrong with you,” Lenae says as a pedicurist exfoliates her feet in a West Hollywood hotel room. It’s the end of a long day that began with an early-morning flight from New York, where Lenae performed with Kali Uchis on “The Tonight Show” and at Madison Square Garden. Now, after a photo shoot, she’s changed into gray sweats to sneak in a moment of self-care during our chat.
“With the heels I’m wearing all the time, you can see the corns,” she says, looking down to check out the pedicurist’s progress. “I wonder what Beyoncé’s feet look like. ’Cause if mine look like this? She’s putting in work.”
Though “Love Me Not” was singled out by critics right away, the song really took off late last year after a DJ posted a viral TikTok that mashed it up with Solange’s “Losing You” as part of a series exploring “euphoric” breakup songs. An admiring post on X by SZA — “One of my fav albums this year,” she wrote of “Bird’s Eye” — helped bring more attention to Lenae’s music.
Ravyn Lenae in West Hollywood.
(Ian Spanier / For The Times)
The singer grew up in Chicago, where her mother’s parents landed in the late ’70s as immigrants from Panama. That’s their house on the city’s south side in the music video for “Love Me Not,” which Lenae directed and which shows her and her younger sister dancing just outside the bedroom where Lenae slept as a kid.
“I knew this song would be a lot of people’s introduction to me, so I wanted them to immediately jump into my world,” she says. “My grandparents are very shy people, and when my grandma saw the video, she was like, ‘Oh, Ravyn, baby …’”
Singing at talent shows as a 12-year-old, Lenae wanted to be a “a mix between Alicia Keys and Beyoncé,” as she puts it; later, she learned to perform Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” and Rihanna’s “Take a Bow.”
“I was like, ‘I’m-a win ’em over with this one,’” she says of the dramatic ballads. “I’m sure I sound crazy on video.”
Lenae, who went on to study at the Chicago High School for the Arts, came to understand that the soft lilt of her voice distinguished her from those powerhouses; she found inspiration in “the sensuality and the femininity” of music by Diana Ross, Patrice Rushen and Janet Jackson, whose “All for You” album — released in 2001, when Lenae was 2 — would become a touchstone.
“There’s a lot to win by not being the loudest in the room,” says Rapp.
Lenae moved to L.A. in 2020. Her first year here was rough, she says — she missed her mom and felt the burden of a bank account with $100 in it. “I remember some crying in the shower,” the singer says now.
Her 2022 song “Skin Tight,” a yearning flirtation she wrote and recorded with Lacy, registered as a turning point; so did the success of Lacy’s quirky soul-rock hit “Bad Habit,” which topped the Hot 100 on its way to Grammy nominations for record and song of the year.
“That was a historical moment for artists like us that have been working at it for a long time — Black artists who’ve always been a little to the left of what was going on,” Lenae says. “Steve going No. 1 showed there really are no rules and that there’s space for all of us.”
Beyond “Love Me Not,” highlights on “Bird’s Eye” include an intimate acoustic number, “From Scratch,” that Lenae says she and Dahi modeled on Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo’s “Nothing Even Matters”; the lush and whispery “Dream Girl,” which features input by Jackson’s longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis; and “Bad Idea,” a percussive electro-funk jam that interpolates Bow Wow and Ciara’s early-2000s “Like You.”
“All those Ciara hits, I had the choreo down,” Lenae says.
The album also contains the tender yet mournful “One Wish,” which Lenae wrote about her dad not being around as she was growing up.
“I never, ever thought I’d talk about that publicly, but I think I was just at a point in my life where it felt natural,” she says. “And me and him had just started reconciling, so it was very top of mind.” She invited her father to come to L.A. to appear in the song’s video, which depicts a young girl running after a car as a man angrily drives away; the day after the shoot, they went to Roscoe’s and had a long talk about her childhood.
“Yesterday was his birthday, and I forgot,” she tells me. “I felt horrible, but then I was like, Should I feel horrible? I go back and forth with it all the time.”
Lenae is extremely close with her mother, who’ll sometimes join her on the road “just to spend time with me or hold my hand — to sleep in the same hotel bed,” she says. “That’s the person I know I can keep counting on.”
After this week’s dates with Carpenter, Lenae will head east for a handful of shows on iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball tour — one more chance to build upon “Love Me Not’s” Top 40 breakthrough. Then she and Dahi plan to focus on finishing her next album.
So far, Lenae says, it’s shaping up to be “a little more punchy and explosive” than “Bird’s Eye.” One of the new songs is about her mom; Lenae played it for her when she was here visiting not long ago.
“I had the lyrics up, and as she was reading it, she looked up at me and there was a tear in her eye,” she recalls. “Then we started bawling together. I think that one might end up her favorite.”
WASHINGTON — A group of moderate Democrats has a tentative deal to reopen the government if Republicans promise to hold a vote on expiring healthcare subsidies by December, a potential breakthrough as lawmakers seek to end the shutdown.
The group of three former governors — New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine — has a deal to pass three annual spending bills and extend the rest of government funding until late January, according to three people familiar with the agreement who requested anonymity until the deal is made public.
The deal was far from assured, and final passage of the legislation could take several days. Republicans had not yet said whether they supported the deal, and it was unclear whether there would be enough Democrats to support it absent their central demand through the now 40-day shutdown — an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire Jan. 1.
After Democrats met for more than two hours to discuss the proposal, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer emerged to say he would vote “no.” Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, said as he walked into the meeting that it would be a “horrific mistake to cave in to Trump right now.”
Republicans have been working with the group of moderates as the shutdown continues to disrupt flights nationwide, threaten food assistance for millions of Americans and leave federal workers without pay. But many Democrats have warned their colleagues against giving in, arguing that they can’t end the fight without an agreement to extend the health subsidies.
Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said earlier in the day that a potential deal was “coming together.” But he has not yet publicly endorsed it.
“We’ll see where the votes are,” Thune said.
Returning to the White House on Sunday evening after attending a football game, Trump did not say whether he endorsed the deal. But he said, “it looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending.”
Democrats have now voted 14 times not to reopen the government as they have demanded the extension of tax credits that make coverage more affordable for health plans offered under the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have refused to negotiate on the healthcare subsidies while the government is closed, but they have so far been supportive of the proposal from moderate Democrats as it emerged over the last several days.
The contours of a deal
The agreement would fund parts of government — food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch, among other things — and extend funding for everything else until the end of January. It would take up Republicans on their longstanding offer to hold a future vote on the healthcare subsidies, with that vote occurring by the middle of December, the people said.
The deal would reinstate federal workers who received reduction-in-force, or layoff, notices and reimburses states that spent their own funds to keep federal programs running during the shutdown. It would also protect against future reductions in force through January, the people said, and guarantee all federal workers would be paid once the shutdown is over.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, home to millions of federal workers, said he would support the deal.
“I have long said that, to earn my vote, we need to be on a path toward fixing Republicans’ healthcare mess and to protect the federal workforce,” Kaine said.
Alongside the funding fix, Republicans released final legislative text of three full-year spending bills Sunday. That legislation keeps a ban on pay raises for lawmakers but boosts their security by $203.5 million in response to increased threats. There’s also a provision championed by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to prevent the sale of some hemp-based products.
Democratic pushback expected
Republicans only need five votes from Democrats to reopen the government, so a handful of senators could end the shutdown with only the promise of a later vote on healthcare. Around 10 to 12 Democrats have been involved in the talks, and the three people familiar with the agreement said they had enough votes to join with Republicans and pass the deal.
Many of their Democratic colleagues are saying the emerging deal is not enough.
“I really wanted to get something on healthcare,” said Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin. “I’m going to hear about it right now, but it doesn’t look like it has something concrete.”
House Democrats were also chiming in against it. Texas Rep. Greg Casar, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said a deal that didn’t reduce healthcare costs was a “betrayal” of millions of Americans who were counting on Democrats to fight.
“Accepting nothing but a pinky promise from Republicans isn’t a compromise — it’s capitulation,” Casar said in a post on X. “Millions of families would pay the price.”
Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota posted that “if people believe this is a ‘deal,’ I have a bridge to sell you.”
Even if the Senate were to move forward with funding legislation, getting to a final vote could take several days if Democrats who oppose the deal object and draw out the process. The first vote, which could come as soon as Sunday evening, would be to proceed to consideration of the legislation.
Republicans preview healthcare debate
There is no guarantee that the Affordable Care Act subsidies would be extended if Republicans agreed to a future vote on healthcare. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said he will not commit to a health vote.
Some Republicans have said they are open to extending the COVID-19-era tax credits as premiums could skyrocket for millions of people, but they also want new limits on who can receive the subsidies and argue that the tax dollars for the plans should be routed through individuals.
Other Republicans, including Trump, have used the debate to renew their years-long criticism of the law and called for it to be scrapped or overhauled.
“THE WORST HEALTHCARE FOR THE HIGHEST PRICE,” Trump said of the Affordable Care Act in a post Sunday.
Shutdown effects worsen
Meanwhile, the consequences of the shutdown were compounding. U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights on Sunday for the first time since the shutdown began, and there were more than 7,000 flight delays, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks air travel disruptions.
Treasury Secretary Sean Duffy said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that air travel ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday would be “reduced to a trickle” if the government didn’t reopen.
At the same time, food aid was delayed for tens of millions of people as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were caught up in legal battles related to the shutdown. More than two dozen states warned of “catastrophic operational disruptions” as Trump’s administration was demanding states “undo” benefits paid out under judges’ orders last week, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed those rulings.
And in Washington, home to millions of federal workers who have gone unpaid, the Capital Area Food Bank said it was providing 8 million more meals than it had prepared to in this budget year — a nearly 20% increase.
Jalonick and Mascaro write for the Associated Press. Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
Alan Carr won The Celebrity Traitors in a tense series finale on Thursday and, overcome with emotion, the comedian told viewers: “I am and have always been a traitor”
But his own career is now set to change, with The Celebrity Traitors thought to act as a springboard for more success. An insider has even said Alan is being considered for Strictly, as Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are set to leave. They added: “He has got to be up there with the BBC to get a huge new role… Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, Strictly.”
And a BBC source said: “Alan has always been a star – but it’s amazing what a month in a Scottish castle can do to elevate your career. He’s ours now.”
The Mirror had reported how chatter linked Alan to one of the Strictly vacancies, but now his triumph in the Scottish castle is said to have firmed his bid to take the Saturday night gig. The presenter had been praised for “super competitive streak” and charisma during his time on The Celebrity Traitors, which began at the start of October.
A source on The Celebrity Traitors said “people just love Alan”. The BBC believes viewers “loved him and [think] he has been the star of the Traitors,” one insider told the Daily Mail.
Alan, snubbed for a potential role as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent in 2023, was hoping for nothing more than a bit of a giggle when he signed up for the BBC show. He got off to a difficult start as fellow traitor Jonathan Ross worried Alan, born in Weymouth, Dorset, might give himself away.
But Alan showed the resilience and courage to thrive and eventually beat former England rugby star Joe Marler and his fellow Traitor Cat Burns. Bursting into tears when he was declared the winner, the comedian said: “I am and have always been a traitor… I’m so sorry, it’s been tearing me apart.” He told host Claudia Winkleman: “All that lying, all that treachery was worth it, wasn’t it?”
Nick Mohammed covered his mouth in shock when Alan revealed the other traitors. The Ted Lasso star said: “Not Joe!” He added: “Alan Carr. He played an absolute blinder.” Alan said: “What a rollercoaster, how did this happen? I was awful at lying and had a terrible poker face and here I am, the winner.”
Dean Herrington said he has been let go as football coach at St. Francis after five seasons during which his teams won three league championships and made two Southern Section finals.
The team went 2-8 this season and failed to make the playoffs in a season in which there were numerous injuries at the quarterback position. St. Francis ended the regular season with a stunning 28-21 win over Cathedral.
Herrington also enjoyed success as head coach at Bishop Alemany and Paraclete. He said Wednesday night, “It was shocking but maybe a good parting of ways.” The school told him there were concerns about culture and morale issues.
Herrington should be quick to pick up offers from other high schools and junior colleges. He has been known for developing top quarterbacks.
He took over at St. Francis for his good friend and former Hart player, the late Jim Bonds.
