SACRAMENTO — Thousands of rebels gathered outside the state Capitol on Saturday, mindlessly trampling the lawn in their Hokas, even as the autumnal sun in Sacramento forced them to strip off their protective puffer vests.
With chants of “No Kings,” many of these chaotic protesters spilled off sidewalks into the street, as if curbs held no power of containment, no meaning in their anarchist hearts.
Clearly, the social order has broken. Where would it end, this reporter wondered. Would they next be demanding passersby honk? Could they dare offer fiery speeches?
The answer came all too soon, when within minutes, I spotted clear evidence of the organized anti-fascist underground that U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi has been warning us about.
The “Raging Grannies of Sacramento” had set up a stage, and were testing microphones in advance of bombarding the crowd with song. These women wore coordinating aprons! They had printed signs — signs with QR codes. If grandmothers who know how to use a QR code aren’t dangerous, I don’t know who it is.
Ellen Schwartz, 82, told me this Canadian-founded group operates without recognized leaders — an “international free-form group of gaggles of grannies,” is how she put it, and I wrote it all down for Kash Patel.
Within moments, they had robbed Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews of their most famous duet: “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” mutilating it into “super callous fragile racist narcissistic POTUS.”
Ellen Schwartz, 82, is a member of the “Raging Grannies,” a group that protested at the “No Kings” rally in Sacramento on Saturday.
(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)
Not to be outdone by the Silent Generation, 2-year-old Rhea also showed up, first clinging to her mom, then toddling around on her own as if she owned the place. This is a kid to keep an eye on.
Since Rhea cannot yet speak about her political beliefs, her parents gave me some insight into why she was there.
“I’m not sure if we’ll still have a civilization that allows protest very long, so I want her to at least have a memory of it,” said her dad, Neonn, who asked that their last names not be used. Like many Americans, he’s a bit hesitant to draw the eye of authority.
Kara, Rhea’s mom, had a more hopeful outlook.
“America is the people, so for me I want to keep bringing her here so that she knows she is part of something bigger: peace and justice,” she said, before walking off to see the dinosaurs.
Kara holds her 2-year-old daughter, Rhea, at the rally in Sacramento.
(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)
Dinosaurs, that’s right. And tigers. And roosters. And unicorns. Even a cow hugging a chipmunk, which I believe is now illegal in most of the South.
Yes, folks, the Portland frog has started something. The place was full of un-human participants acting like animals — dancing with abandon, stomping around, saying really mean things about President Trump.
Meanwhile, the smell of roasting meat was undeniable. People, they were eating the hot dogs! They were eating the grilled onions! There were immigrants everywhere selling the stuff (and it was delicious).
I spoke to a Tyrannosaurus Rex and asked him why he went Late Cretaceous.
“If you don’t do something soon, you will have democracy be extinct,” Jim Short told me from inside the suit.
Jim Short, left, and his wife, Patty Short, donned dinosaur costumes at the “No Kings” rally in Sacramento.
(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)
His wife, Patty, was ensconced in a coordinating suit, hers brown, his green. Didn’t they worry about being labeled anti-American for being here, as House Speaker Mike Johnson and others have claimed?
“I’m not afraid,” Patty said. “I’m antifa or a hardened criminal or what’s the other one?”
“Hamas?” Jim queried. “Or an illegal immigrant?”
“I think people need more history,” Patty said.
I agree.
And the day millions of very average Americans turned out to peacefully protect democracy — again — may be part of it.
Ian Roberts, superintendent of the Des Moines, Iowa, public school system, was arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement last week. The district announced it will file suit against the consulting firm that recommended him for the job. Photo courtesy of ICE.
Oct. 3 (UPI) — The Des Moines Public Schools plans to file a lawsuit against a consulting firm that recommended former superintendent Ian Roberts, who was detained by immigration officials.
JG Consulting is the superintendent search firm that helped the district find and vet potential candidates. The board paid $41,000 to JG Consulting.
The district said in a news release it claims breach of contract for failing to properly vet Roberts “and referred Roberts for consideration even though he could not lawfully hold the position.” It also claims negligence for presenting Roberts “as a suitable and viable candidate when he was not.”
The Des Moines Register’s own investigation found Roberts did not earn a doctorate from Morgan State, which he claimed. He also claimed he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and MIT had no record of his enrollment. He claimed he was awarded the Washington, D.C., “Principal of the Year” from George Washington University, which doesn’t exist.
JG Consulting CEO James Guerra wrote in a statement this week that another company, Baker-Eubanks, conducted a “comprehensive background review” of Roberts, the Des Moines Register reported.
“All required employment procedures were completed by DMPS prior to his appointment,” Guerra wrote. “As always, the authority to hire and oversee the Superintendent rests solely with the school board.”
Roberts was born in Guyana and came to the United States for college in 1999. He claimed he went on to get a Ph.D. and became a teacher and school administrator. He said he has worked in education for 20 years and had jobs in Maryland, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
He was arrested on Sept. 26 “in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife,” an ICE press release said. It said when his car was approached by officers, he sped away. “Roberts has existing weapon possession charges from Feb. 5, 2020. Roberts entered the United States in 1999 on a student visa and was given a final order of removal by an immigration judge in May of 2024.”
The district is requesting a jury trial with damages for reputational harm, superintendent pay and costs related to additional hiring processes, The Register reported.
Roberts is now in the Polk County Jail on a U.S. Marshals hold.
PORTLAND, Maine — Australian scientists tested the strength of bite-resistant wetsuits by allowing sharks to chomp the materials at sea and found that the suits can help keep swimmers safe.
Fatal shark bites are vanishingly rare, with less than 50 unprovoked shark bites on humans worldwide in 2024, according to the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History. But increased sightings of large sharks in some parts of the world have swimmers, surfers and divers looking for new ways to stay safe.
Scientists with Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, tested four bite-resistant materials and found they all reduced the amount of damage from shark bites. They performed the work by dragging samples of the materials behind boats and allowing white and tiger sharks to bite the samples.
The bites from such large sharks can still cause internal and crushing injuries, but the materials showed effectiveness beyond a standard neoprene wetsuit, the scientists said. The research found that the bite-resistant materials “can reduce injuries sustained from shark encounters,” said Flinders professor Charlie Huveneers, a member of the Southern Shark Ecology Group at Flinders and a study co-author.
“Bite-resistant material do not prevent shark bites, but can reduce injuries from shark bites and can be worn by surfers and divers,” Huveneers said.
There were small differences between the four tested materials, but they all “reduced the amount of substantial and critical damage, which would typically be associated with severe hemorrhaging and tissue or limb loss,” said Tom Clarke, a researcher with the science and engineering college at Flinders and a study co-author.
Chainmail suits to resist shark bites have existed for decades, but lack in flexibility for aquatic activities like surfing and diving, the scientists said in research published in the journal Wildlife Research on Thursday. Newer wetsuits can be designed to provide flexibility as well as protection.
The scientists tested the efficacy of wetsuit materials Aqua Armour, Shark Stop, ActionTX-S and Brewster. The scientists said in their paper that they found that all of the materials “offer an improved level of protection that can reduce severe wounds and blood loss, and should be considered as part of the toolbox and measures available to reduce shark-bite risk and resulting injuries.”
The promise of effective shark resistant wetsuits is encouraging for people who spend a lot of time in areas where there are large sharks, said Nick Whitney, a senior scientist and chair of the Fisheries Science and Emerging Technologies Program at the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life in Boston. That includes surfers and spearfishers, he said.
Whitney, who was not involved in the study, said it’s also encouraging that the materials are unlikely to make a person “feel invincible” and engage in risky behaviors around sharks.
“I also like it because it’s not relying on any impact on the shark’s behavior,” Whitney said. “It’s basically very, very simple. In the extremely rare event that you get bitten by a shark, this material will hopefully make you bleed less than you would if you were not wearing this.”
The researchers said the suits do not eliminate all risks from sharks, and precautions still need to be taken around the animals.
They are hopeful their research will help the public “make appropriate decisions about the suitability of using these products,” Huveneers said.
IT’S CLEAR that The Masked Singer is a huge asset to the ITV schedule. From the reaction of viewers at home, it seems that the competition is the epitome of primetime Saturday night telly at it’s best.
Alongside the likes of Saturday Night Takeaway and Britain’s Got Talent, the guessing game is one of the top three entertainment shows for the broadcaster as up to seven million people tune in to watch.
When we look at the show, we have a real mix of personalities involved. Joel Dommett’s unique style as a host is carefully balanced by the sharp and witty panel of judges. We have singing star power in the form of Rita Ora, veterans of the business in the form of Davina McCall and Jonathan Ross and comedy value from Mo Gilligan.
The dynamics of the panel work perfectly as Jonathan would take sarcastic jibes at Rita as Davina and Mo would be in hysterics
Last series Rita was forced to take time of the show as she had other commitments across the pond. Huge names such as Nicole Scherzinger, Olly Murs and Jennifer Saunders took her place.
Rita’s star is only on the rise in Hollywood and she’s set to star in a new film alongside the likes of legends such as Robert De Niro and Jamie Foxx in Tin Soldier. This is alongside her marriage to Academy Award winner Taika Waititi.
Clearly not happy with a part-time panelist and a rotating roster of guest judges, ITV bosses have chosen another name to take her place as Love Island star Maya Jama will join the panel. We don’t need to be worried about Rita as she will still be on the US edition.
Maya is a clear favourite amongst telly fans as they love to see her front a show like Love Island and let’s be honest, she’s the perfect fit for it. She is stunning to watch, she’s always on-trend, and very much appeals to the young fan base that flocks to the ITV2 dating show.
But The Masked Singer is a different show on a different channel. Maya is no doubt well versed in the world of television, but she will be surrounded by stars on the panel with decades more experience on air and with more universal appeal. Rita also has huge star power thanks to all her work in the music industry with several hits under her name, something which – despite her undoubted recognition as a star presenter – Maya just does not have.
By some, this could be considered as a risky move for ITV. Especially as networks fight to retain the loyalty of viewers in an age of Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+. With such drastic replacement in the panel and the inevitable shift in dynamics, the show is clearly about to change.
She opted for neutral-toned paisley patterned shoes with ankle tassels to match her brunette bob hairdo.
In terms of accessories, the singer opted for a choker necklace and a black clutch with an arm-length chain strap.
Her bold red lip gloss was complemented by chunky black and gold earrings as she smiled for the cameras.
Also in red was chart-topping musician Maisie Peters who looked absolutely tiny in her slimming red gown.
The Good Witch hitmaker stunned in an ankle-length red lace gown with pastel coloured shoes.
She wore her signature circular rimmed glasses whilst she showed off her short blonde bob.
LA QUINTA — Briana Ortega had been home for all of three minutes when she heard a fist pounding against her door.
She opened it to find a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy “claiming a black man with dreadlocks had jumped over her backyard fence” and was trying to break into her La Quinta home, according to court records.
Almost immediately, Ortega, 29, suspected Deputy Eric Piscatella was there for other reasons. The encounter last summer wasn’t the first time they’d met. It wasn’t even the first time he’d shown up at her home unannounced, according to an arrest affidavit and claims in a civil lawsuit.
“You look pretty without makeup … sorry I don’t mean to be rude or unprofessional,” Piscatella said, after spending a scant few seconds looking out a window for the purported suspect, according to a recording of the incident.
It was the fourth time in less than a year that Piscatella had either shown up at Ortega’s home or contacted her without a legitimate law enforcement purpose, according to the affidavit and lawsuit. Ortega shared text messages showing the deputy tried to flirt with her and ask her out on dates, but she rebuffed him at every turn.
A former Riverside County sheriff’s deputy is accused in a lawsuit of using law enforcement resources to pursue a woman he met at a public event.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
Last year, Riverside County prosecutors charged Piscatella, 30, with seven counts of illegally using law enforcement databases to look up information about Ortega.
But instead of resolving the situation, Ortega says, the way Piscatella’s case played out in criminal court has only prolonged her ordeal.
Ortega said she remains “terrified” of Piscatella and declined to testify against him. In July, a Riverside County judge downgraded all charges against Piscatella to misdemeanors. He pleaded guilty and received probation, avoiding jail time.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco kicks off his campaign to run for governor at Avila’s Historic 1929 center on Feb. 17 in Riverside.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“I feel like with him getting the misdemeanor, nothing is ever going to change… If it takes me having to [file this lawsuit], I will, if it helps,” she said.
Piscatella declined to comment through his defense attorney.
A spokesperson for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said Piscatella resigned last October after roughly five years on the job. His ability to work as a police officer in California is suspended, accreditation records show, but without a felony conviction it could be restored.
Ortega recalled her first run-in with Piscatella as innocent enough.
She was attending what she described as a “family fair,” with her two sons in Coachella in September 2023, enjoying amusement rides and carnival games when she said her oldest son ran up to a group of sheriff’s deputies who were giving out stickers. Piscatella was among them, according to Ortega, who said they had a polite but forgettable conversation.
They did not exchange contact information, but a few months later, in January of 2024, Ortega said, she got a text from an unknown number.
The texter claimed to be her “personal officer.” A fitness influencer with more than 100,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram, Ortega gets random flirtatious messages from men. So she shrugged it off.
That same month, Piscatella searched Ortega’s name and the city of La Quinta in both the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System and other sheriff’s databases shortly before the texts were sent, according to court records. In Ortega’s civil suit, she alleged this was how Piscatella tracked her down.
One month later, Piscatella showed up at Ortega’s La Quinta home while she was at work, according to her lawsuit. Her mother answered the door, and was “alarmed” when the deputy questioned where her daughter was. Still, Ortega wasn’t bothered.
“I’m like, he’s a cop, he can’t be that crazy. He’s on the force for a reason … of course he knows where I live,” she said.
Echoing claims in her lawsuit, she added: “I’m not thinking he’s going to continue to look for me or stalk me. If I would have known, I would have complained.”
Ortega was so unfazed that she actually went to Piscatella for help a month later. Her younger sister had been the victim of an assault and was struggling to get attention from the Sheriff’s Department. So Ortega contacted the man who claimed to be her “personal officer.”
But when Ortega began describing the purported crime, Piscatella responded by asking her to send a “selfie” and insisting they should go to the gym together. Annoyed, Ortega eventually changed her number when instead of help, all she got was a picture of Piscatella wearing Sheriff’s Department clothes, according to text messages.
Court records show Piscatella continued to use law enforcement databases to keep tabs on Ortega in the months that followed. In May 2024, he searched her name and ran her license plate, according to court records. He did the same in July, right before showing up at Ortega’s house, claiming he saw the man with dreadlocks break in.
At that point, Piscatella’s interest in Ortega had turned into an “obsession,” according to her lawsuit. Since he arrived just minutes after she’d returned from a trip to San Diego, Ortega said it felt like Piscatella was “waiting for me.” She alleges in her lawsuit that the deputy “used law enforcement resources and databases … to stalk her.”
After letting him in, she surreptitiously recorded the deputy standing in her living room, talking to her children. In the lawsuit, Ortega said she was “confused, scared and uncomfortable,” especially after Piscatella asked for her new number, which she gave him out of “fear.”
Piscatella texted her a short time later, according to messages reviewed by The Times, describing her kids as “so cool.”
“I don’t feel comfortable with everything that just happened. Please do not contact me again,” Ortega wrote back.
Briana Ortega filed a lawsuit alleging that she has been living in fear of a former Riverside County sheriff’s deputy.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
She made a complaint to the Sheriff’s Department the same day. Court records show the department launched an internal investigation and quickly determined Piscatella had used law enforcement databases to look up information on Ortega several times, according to an affidavit seeking a warrant for his arrest.
The affidavit shows there was “no corresponding call for service” related to the day Piscatella showed up at Ortega’s home and claimed someone was breaking in.
Riverside County prosecutors filed seven felony charges against Piscatella.
Ortega said she refused to testify because, even though the Sheriff’s Department had presented a case against one of their own, she feared Piscatella or a fellow deputy might seek retribution against her.
At a July court hearing in Indio, Piscatella made an open plea to the court seeking to downgrade each charge to a misdemeanor and avoid jail time, according to a transcript of the proceeding.
Riverside County Deputy Dist. Atty. Natasha Sorace pleaded with Superior Court Judge Helios J. Hernandez not to accept the lesser charges.
“The defendant was a police officer — a sheriff’s deputy, who used his position of power and the information he had access to as a result of that position to put someone in the community in significant fear for their safety,” Sorace said.
“He searched information — conducted a search about a particular individual and used that information to come up with an excuse to get into that woman’s house, where he proceeded to hit on her and make her feel uncomfortable in her own on home.”
But Hernandez rebuffed her attempts to argue the point further. In his view, “nothing actually happened.”
“He never, like, broke into the house or threatened her,” Hernandez said, according to a transcript of the hearing.
Hernandez sentenced Piscatella to probation and community service and ordered him to stay away from Ortega. Records show prosecutors have appealed the decision.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office would not say if Ortega’s refusal to testify affected their ability to bring other charges, including the stalking allegation she made in the civil suit.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s spokesperson declined to comment on the pending litigation.
The entire ordeal left Ortega feeling like law enforcement failed her at every level. She noted that Piscatella still knows where she lives.
While she previously did not hold a negative view of police, now she says she turns the other direction and grows anxious anytime she sees a Sheriff’s Department cruiser.
“It’s a betrayal of trust from law enforcement … who do you call when it’s the police who are the problem?” asked her attorney, Jamal Tooson. “When can you ever feel safe? You almost feel trapped, in your own house.”
Sept. 16 (UPI) — President Donald Trump filed a suit for defamation and libel against The New York Times, seeking $15 billion in damages over alleged false statements about him, family members and his businesses and accusing the newspaper of flagrant political bias.
Court records indicated that the lawsuit was filed in federal court in Tampa, Fla., on Monday.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to accuse the newspaper of being a “virtual mouthpiece for the Radical Left Democratic Party,” but did not give details of the alleged falsehoods.
The action for damages amounting to more than the full market capitalization of The New York Times Company, was, Trump said, motivated by an imperative to “restore integrity to journalism.”
“The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!” said Trump.”
He also criticized the paper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris for president in the 2024 election.
However, experts said it was another instance of a strategy of using lawsuits of doubtful legality to gag critical voices and suppress free speech.
Defamation and libel allegations are incredibly difficult to make stick in court because of the burden of proving “actual malice” — showing the defendant was aware the statements were untrue, or was reckless with regard to their veracity.
Endorsing a candidate running for political office is not defamatory.
The move came a week after Trump vowed to sue The New York Times over stories it ran about a letter he is alleged to have written to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and two months after he sued the Wall Street Journal over the same letter, a note consisting of the outline of a naked woman with text printed above his alleged signature.
The note, written for Epstein’s 50th birthday, dates from 2003, before Epstein was convicted.
Trump has won multi-million dollar settlements from ABC News and CBS News, in December and July, respectively, prompting groups representing the journalism industry to warn that opting to settle out of court was only fueling Trump’s “lawfare.”
Addressing the Reporters & Editors 50th anniversary gala in New York on Monday, before the latest suit was filed, NYT publisher A G Sulzberger warned of a growing so-called “anti-press playbook” trend among “aspiring strongmen” globally of leveraging civil law to exert financial pressure on media.
BBC Sport’s Chris Sutton says Ange Postecoglou will have learned from his time at Tottenham and will adapt his playing style to suit the squad at Nottingham Forest after being named manager.
The Oracle of Omaha’s Berkshire Hathaway is buying into troubled UnitedHealth.
For decades, UnitedHealth Group (UNH -0.40%) could do no wrong. The company raised its dividend by an exceptional 7,266% from 2010 to 2025, while shares rose as much as 1,700% during this run.
But shares have fallen roughly 40% year to date as the company faces a host of problems, from the murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of major business segment UnitedHealthcare, to federal investigations into allegedly fraudulent Medicare billing practices.
Nonetheless, shares surged 12% on Aug. 14 after filings revealed Berkshire Hathaway had bought over 5 million shares.
Berkshire’s move was seen as a major vote of confidence in the stock — and investors joined a stampede to follow Warren Buffett into the trade. Should you?
Image source: Getty Images.
Big growth potential for all segments
UnitedHealth operates through four segments. Its UnitedHealthcare segment provides consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for employers. Optum Health provides healthcare management and financial services, while Optum Insight offers data analysis tools, consulting, and tech solutions to healthcare providers. Optum Rx is a direct-to-consumer platform offering pharmacy services and 190 million prescriptions per year to U.S. homes.
In its second-quarter report on July 29, the company reported quarterly revenue of $111.6 billion, up roughly 13% from the year-ago period. The trouble is with margins. For UnitedHealthcare, the biggest segment, operating margin fell from 6.2% in Q1 2025 to 2.4% last quarter. Combined, margin for the three Optum segments fell from 6.1% in Q1 2025 to 4.6% in Q2.
These declines are steep enough that, even with revenue on the upswing, earnings fell from $9.1 billion in Q1 2025 to $5.2 billion last quarter.
Rising medical costs are the chief headwind. In the July earnings report, new CEO Stephen Hensley acknowledged that UNH “significantly underestimated the accelerating medical trend,” and medical costs totaled $6.5 billion more than anticipated.
But management is under no such illusions now. They’re taking actions to boost efficiency and cut waste, from stepping up audits of clinical policy and payment integrity tools, to scaling artificial intelligence (AI) efforts to improve provider and patient experiences while driving down costs. Implementation of AI technologies is part of initiatives the company hopes can deliver almost $1 billion in cost reductions. Perhaps most significantly, the company is raising premiums after saying it underpriced Medicare Advantage plans in 2025.
In the meantime, each of these segments could grow significantly in the years ahead. UnitedHealthcare Employer & Individual just rolled out services in its 30th state, while Optum Rx’s growth outlook is 5%-8% annually. Optum Insight is targeting operating margin of 18%-22%, while the 4.7 million patients receiving value-based care from OptumHealth represent only a fraction of the nearly 340 million Americans who could fall under its 100-plus health plans.
It’s not just Berkshire buying
Berkshire Hathaway’s move in UnitedHealth is getting headlines. But billionaire David Tepper also scooped up 2.3 million shares, while Michael Burry of The Big Short fame bought 350,000 call options on the stock in a bet that shares would rise.
In addition, BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, bought over 1 million shares last quarter. Goldman Sachs bought over 1.1 million shares, while Renaissance Technologies (the fabled fund that achieved an average annual return of 66% for decades) bought over 1.35 million.
As for management, Stephen Hensley invested $25 million just days after becoming CEO, while the company’s CFO bought another $5 million worth in shares. All told, the insider buying of UNH stock outweighed insider selling by a nearly 4:1 margin last quarter.
As the investing legend Peter Lynch observed, insiders can sell for many reasons unrelated to a stock. But they buy for only one: They think shares will go up.
Why UnitedHealth is a buy for retail investors, too
Berkshire officials haven’t commented publicly on their rationale for buying UnitedHealthcare, but it’s possible to speculate on their reasons.
Warren Buffett has called cash flow the most important metric in assessing a business’s potential. In a 2000 letter to shareholders, he wrote that dividend yield, the price-to-earnings ratio, book value, and even growth rates “have nothing to do with valuation except to the extent they provide clues to the amount and timing of cash flows into and from the business.”
Positive cash flow shows the company can cover its obligations, return money to shareholders, and potentially pursue growth and expansion. After floundering in 2024, UnitedHealth’s trailing-12-month operating cash flow has rebounded to $29 billion compared to $24.2 billion at the end of last year.
And if price-to-earnings, dividend yield, and growth rates are only background clues to cash flow, these metrics seem to bode well for UnitedHealth, too.
The company’s price-to-earnings ratio of 13.7 is cheap compared to the S&P 500, with its average P/E ratio of around 26, while revenue growth of 13% year over year further fuels the bull case. Meanwhile, the company’s recent 5.2% dividend increase — its 15th consecutive annual payout hike — brings its yield to 2.8% as I write this, nearly triple the S&P 500 average.
For investors willing to take a long-term approach and be rewarded with rising income in the meantime, UnitedHealth is a buy.
Sept. 4 (UPI) — The District of Columbia has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump for bringing in National Guard soldiers to police its streets.
The suit alleges that “the President has launched an unprecedented assault on the District’s sovereignty.”
“We are suing to defend D.C. home rule and stop the unlawful deployment of the National Guard,” said Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb in an X post Thursday. “Our nation was founded on the fundamental principles of freedom and self-governance that are stake in this case.”
Schwalb posted several times to explain the situation.
“The National Guard deployment does not only undermine public safety,” he wrote in a separate post. “It also hurts D.C.’s economy — depressing vital industries like restaurants, hotels, and tourism.”
“And critically, it infringes on D.C.’s sovereign authority and right to self-governance under the Home Rule Act,” he added.
Schwalb went on to state that more troops arrived in the district this week and noted that President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order last week that “directs the creation of a dedicated D.C. National Guard unit to ‘enforce Federal law.'”
That order titled “Additional Measures to Address the Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia,” tells the Secretary of Defense to create “a specialized unit within the District of Columbia National Guard” that would be deputized to do as Schwalb described.
Around 2,300 National Guard troops have been deployed in Washington, D.C., since mid-August, who have joined with other federal agents and the District’s Metropolitan Police Department to ramp up patrols throughout the city.
Schwalb further declared that Trump’s use of the National Guard in the district is illegal under the Posse Comitatus Act, which bans the use of any part of the Army or Air Force to execute law enforcement unless authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress.
“Yet the Administration launched a massive, indefinite law enforcement operation in DC under direct military command,” Schwalb wrote. “This is plainly illegal, and it threatens our democracy and civil liberties.”
He also declared that the deployment denies the District of the local autonomy granted by the Home Rule Act, under which the elected Council of the District of Columbia adopts laws and approves the District’s annual budget in conjunction with the District’s mayor.
The lawsuit comes at a time when House Republicans are considering legislation to remove Schwalb, who was elected to his post in 2022, and replace him with a presidential appointee, according to a Thursday report by The Washington Post.
BALTIMORE — A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Maryland’s entire federal bench over an order by the chief judge that stopped the immediate deportation of migrants challenging their removals.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen granted a request by the judges to toss the case, saying to do otherwise “would run counter to overwhelming precedent, depart from longstanding constitutional tradition, and offend the rule of law.”
“In their wisdom, the Constitution’s framers joined three coordinate branches to establish a single sovereign,” Cullen wrote. “That structure may occasionally engender clashes between two branches and encroachment by one branch on another’s authority. But mediating those disputes must occur in a manner that respects the Judiciary’s constitutional role.”
The White House had no immediate comment.
Cullen was nominated to the federal bench by Trump in 2020. He serves in the Western District of Virginia, but he was tapped to oversee the case because all 15 of Maryland’s federal judges are named as defendants, a highly unusual circumstance that reflects the Republican administration’s harsh response to judges who slow or stop its policies.
Cullen expressed skepticism of the lawsuit during a hearing in August. He questioned why it was necessary for the Trump administration to sue all the judges as a means of challenging the order.
Signed by Chief Maryland District Judge George L. Russell III, the order prevents the Trump administration from immediately deporting any immigrants seeking review of their detention in Maryland district court. It blocks their removal until 4 p.m. on the second business day after their habeas corpus petition is filed.
The order says it aims to maintain existing conditions and the potential jurisdiction of the court, ensure immigrant petitioners are able to participate in court proceedings and access attorneys and give the government “fulsome opportunity to brief and present arguments in its defense.”
The Justice Department, which filed the suit in June, says the automatic pause violates a Supreme Court ruling and impedes the president’s authority to enforce immigration laws. The department has grown increasingly frustrated by rulings blocking Trump’s agenda, repeatedly accusing federal judges of improperly impeding his powers.
The lawsuit was an extraordinary legal maneuver, ratcheting up the administration’s fight with the federal judiciary.
Attorneys for the Maryland judges argued the lawsuit was intended to limit the power of the judiciary to review certain immigration proceedings while the Trump administration pursues a mass deportation agenda.
“The executive branch seeks to bring suit in the name of the United States against a co-equal branch of government,” attorney Paul Clement said during the hearing. “There really is no precursor for this suit”
Clement is a prominent conservative lawyer who served as solicitor general under Republican President George W. Bush. He listed several other avenues the administration could have taken to challenge the order, such as filing an appeal in an individual habeas case.
Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Themins Hedges said the government was simply seeking relief from a legal roadblock preventing effective immigration enforcement.
“The United States is a plaintiff here because the United States is being harmed,” she said.
In an amended order pausing deportations, Russell said the court had received an influx of habeas petitions after hours that “resulted in hurried and frustrating hearings in that obtaining clear and concrete information about the location and status of the petitioners is elusive.” Habeas petitions allow people to challenge their detention by the government.
Attorneys for the Trump administration accused the Maryland judges of prioritizing a regular schedule, writing in court documents that “a sense of frustration and a desire for greater convenience do not give Defendants license to flout the law.”
Among the judges named in the lawsuit is Paula Xinis, who found the Trump administration in March illegally deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador — a case that quickly became a flashpoint in Trump’s immigration crackdown. Abrego Garcia was held in a notorious Salvadoran megaprison, where he claims to have been beaten and tortured.
Trump has railed against unfavorable judicial rulings, and in one case called for the impeachment of a federal judge in Washington who ordered planeloads of deported immigrants to be turned around. In July, the Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint against the judge.
Bill Ackman doesn’t hold that many companies in Pershing Square Capital’s portfolio, so when he buys shares, it’s worth taking note.
Billionaire Bill Ackman was busy in the second quarter, investing in two of the world’s largest tech companies. His hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital, started a new position in Amazon(AMZN 3.12%) and boosted its stake in Alphabet(GOOGL 3.10%)(GOOG 2.98%).
Ackman is a well-regarded investor known for running a concentrated portfolio: As of June 30, Pershing Square Capital’s portfolio had only 10 companies in it. So when it makes a big investment, it’s worth it for retail investors to pay attention and consider whether they want to follow.
Amazon
Pershing established a new position in Amazon in the second quarter, picking up 5.8 million shares. That made it the fund’s fifth-largest holding, accounting for 9.3% of its value as of Aug. 14.
Amazon’s logistics network has always been the backbone of its e-commerce business, and now the company is employing artificial intelligence (AI) and even more robotics than before to make it even more efficient. The company is applying AI to such tasks as optimizing delivery routes, stocking warehouses more effectively, and directing drivers to hard-to-find drop-off locations in places like large apartment complexes.
Meanwhile, the company now has over 1 million robots working in its fulfillment facilities, and they’re being carefully orchestrated by its Deepfleet AI model. Its newer robots can do more than just lift heavy packages. Some can spot damaged goods better than humans (which lowers the number of returns), while some can even repair themselves. All of this saves money and speeds up shipping times.
AI is also strengthening Amazon’s advertising unit. Merchants can use its AI tools to create better product listings and ad campaigns. Advertising is a high-margin business that also has been one of the company’s fastest growing, with revenue up 23% last quarter.
Altogether, AI is helping drive strong operating leverage in Amazon’s e-commerce operations. Last quarter, its North American segment’s revenue rose 8% while its operating income climbed 16%. That kind of leverage is exactly what investors want to see.
Amazon’s cloud computing division, AWS, meanwhile, remains its most profitable segment and its fastest-growing. The company created the cloud infrastructure market and still holds a nearly 30% share of it. AI is now a major driver in that segment, too. Services like Bedrock and SageMaker allow customers to build and run models directly on AWS, while it recently introduced Strands and Agentcore to help customers build AI agents and safely run them in a secure, server-less environment. Meanwhile, the company’s custom-designed AI accelerator chips, Trainium and Inferentia, give it an edge in cost and performance. AWS continues to grow quickly: Revenue climbed 17.5% last quarter to $30.9 billion
Amazon is spending heavily on AI infrastructure, but history shows the company has a knack for winning big when it spends big. Trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of about 30 based on analysts’ consensus 2026 estimates, the stock still looks appealing, particularly given its growth runway.
Alphabet
Amazon wasn’t the only tech stock Pershing was buying in the second quarter. It also picked up another 925,000 shares of Alphabet’s Class A stock. That increased its total stake in the company (which includes both Class A and Class C shares) by 8.6% to almost 10.8 million shares. Based on the latest public information, that made it the hedge fund’s third-largest holding, accounting for 15% of its value as of Aug 14.
Investors have worried that the growing use of AI chatbots will chip away at Alphabet’s Google Search business, but so far, that hasn’t happened. In fact, last quarter, Google Search’s revenue growth accelerated, increasing by 12% year over year to $54.2 billion. Alphabet has also built AI into its products. More than 2 billion people are already using AI Overviews in Google Search, and its new AI Mode is just starting to gain traction. The company is also using AI to advance its tools beyond simple text queries, with Google Lens and Circle to Search standing out as two prime examples. New commerce-focused tools like Shop by AI should also create new monetization opportunities for the company.
One key aspect of Alphabet’s competitive moat is distribution. Chrome currently controls two-thirds of the browser market, while its Android operating system runs more than 70% of smartphones. That makes Google the first touchpoint to the internet for billions of users. It also gives Alphabet a huge volume of data and search query histories that it can then funnel into its massive ad network.
Cloud computing is another big growth driver for Alphabet. Google Cloud’s revenue jumped by 32% in Q2 while its operating income more than doubled. Customers are drawn to Alphabet’s Gemini models, Vertex AI platform, and its custom-designed tensor processing units (TPUs). These TPUs lower costs for AI workloads and give Google Cloud a cost advantage. The business has finally reached scale and is now showing strong operating leverage.
Image source: Getty Images
Alphabet also has longer-term bets. It’s deploying its Waymo unit’s robotaxis into new cities as the driverless ride-share business shows strong momentum. Meanwhile, with its Willow quantum computing chip, it has made meaningful progress on error-reduction — one of the core challenges in quantum computing technology. These businesses are a long way from being mature, but their upside potential is enormous.
Despite all of this, Alphabet trades at just 19 times analysts’ 2026 earnings estimates. That is cheap for a company that’s an established leader in search, cloud, video streaming, mobile, and AI infrastructure. Among the big AI stocks, Alphabet looks the most attractively valued.
Solid buys
In my view, Amazon and Alphabet look like solid buys for long-term investors. While the stocks aren’t without risks, given their market positioning and current valuations, I think it makes sense to follow Ackman’s lead and own both stocks.
Newsmax will pay $67 million to settle a defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election that aired on the right wing news channel.
The network announced the settlement with the voting equipment maker Monday, but did not apologize for its reporting.
“Newsmax believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020,” the company said in a statement. “We stand by our coverage as fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.”
Earlier this year, Delaware Court Judge Eric Davis ruled that Newsmax made defamatory statements about Dominion in its reporting on President Trump’s allegations that the company was involved in rigging the 2020 presidential election to favor Joe Biden.
He was ready to send the case to a jury that would have determined if Newsmax acted with malice and whether any damages should be awarded to Dominion.
Newsmax was among the channels presenting false claims by President Trump’s allies and supporters that Dominion, a provider of vote-counting machines and software, was created in Venezuela to rig elections for leader Hugo Chavez and that it has the ability to switch votes.
“We are pleased to have settled this matter,” a Dominion representative said in a statement.
Fox News settled a similar case with Dominiion in April 2023 for $787.5 million after it aired incorrect election claims.
Newsmax previously settled a defamation suit filed by Smartmatic, another voting equipment company that has sued right wing outlets over their reporting on Trump’s false claims. The terms of the settlement were confidential.
In that case, Davis also ruled that false statements were made, but ruled that Smartmatic had to prove the actual financial damage of Newsmax’s actions.
Fox News has argued that there is no evidence Smartmatic has lost any business due to its reporting. The network argued that reporting on Trump’s false claims was newsworthy and protected under the 1st amendment.
1 of 12 | People attend a demonstration held by Free DC Project near the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Friday. Earlier in the day, Washington, D.C., sued the federal government over its takeover of the Metropolitan Police Force after Attorney General Pam Bondi named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as the district’s “emergency police commissioner.” Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 15 (UPI) — The District of Columbia is suing the Trump administration Friday, alleging overreach after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi installed an emergency police chief.
“We are suing to block the federal government takeover of D.C. police,” Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb posted to social media Friday. “By illegally declaring a takeover of [the Metropolitan Police Department], the Administration is abusing its temporary, limited authority under the law.”
The district filed both a complaint and a request for a temporary restraining order that would block President Donald Trump‘s memorandum which mobilized the district’s National Guard for policing purposes and deny Bondi’s installation of DEA Administrator Terrence Cole as the temporary police chief.
“This is the gravest threat to Home Rule DC has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it,” he added.
The Home Rule Act, passed in 1973, puts a mayor and a legislative council in charge of the district.
“The federal government’s power over DC is not absolute, and it should not be exercised as such,” Schwalb said in a separate post.
Schwalb continued in a series of posts, calling the Trump administration’s actions “brazenly unlawful,” and called the federal appropriation of policing control a “hostile takeover.”
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Ana Reyes has since scheduled both parties in the case to appear at a 2 p.m. EDT Friday hearing at which Reyes will rule on the district’s restraining order request.
A Hawaii real estate investor and broker are suing Shohei Ohtani, claiming the Dodgers’ star and his agent got them fired from a $240-million luxury housing development on the Big Island’s coveted Hapuna Coast that they brought him in to endorse.
According to the lawsuit filed in Hawaii Circuit Court on Friday, Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, increasingly demanded concessions from developer Kevin J. Hayes Sr. and real estate broker Tomoko Matsumoto before demanding that their business partner, Kingsbarn Realty Capital, drop them from the deal.
“Balelo and [Ohtani], who were brought into the venture solely for [Ohtani’]s promotional and branding value, exploited their celebrity leverage to destabilize and ultimately dismantle Plaintiffs’ role in the project — for no reason other than their own financial self-interest,” the lawsuit claims.
The suit accuses Ohtani and Balelo of tortious interference and unjust enrichment. Hayes, a developer with 40 years of experience, and Matsumoto, who was to be the listing agent for the houses averaging $17.3 million each, say that Ohtani and Balelo also tried to undermine their interests in a second, neighboring venture.
A spokesman for Balelo’s agency, CAA Baseball, declined comment. Attempts to reach Kingsbarn officials for comment were not immediately successful.
“This case is about abuse of power,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants used threats and baseless legal claims to force a business partner to betray its contractual obligations and strip Plaintiffs of the very project they conceived and built.
“Defendants must be held accountable for their actions, not shielded by fame or behind-the-scenes agents acting with impunity. Plaintiffs bring this suit to expose Defendants’ misconduct and to ensure that the rules of contract, fair dealing, and accountability apply equally to all — celebrity or not.”
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, left, speaks with his agent, Nez Balelo, while attending a game between the Rams and New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium in December 2023.
(Ryan Sun / Associated Press)
Ohtani, 31, arrived from Japan in 2018 as perhaps the most heralded international star in baseball history, with an ability to both pitch and hit that made him doubly valuable to his team. A five-time All-Star and three-time most valuable player, he signed a record 10-year, $700-million contract with the Dodgers before last season and helped the team win the 2024 World Series.
Investment materials for The Vista at Mauna Kea Resort, which remained online on Monday night, listed Hayes and Matsumoto as part of the management team, along with Kingsbarn. It called Ohtani “Japan’s Babe Ruth” and the “1st Resident,” giving him top billing ahead of the iconic Mauna Kea Resort, “one of the most celebrated hotels in Hawaii,” Hapuna Beach, “rated the #1 beach in America by Conde Nast Traveler” and two golf courses — one designed by Arnold Palmer, the other by Robert Trent Jones Sr.
“Ohtani will act as the celebrity spokesperson for the project and has committed to purchasing one of the 14 residences within the project,” the brochure says. “He also intends to spend significant time at The Vista in the off-season and will construct a small hitting and pitching facility for preseason training.”
The suit says the developers spent 11 years working on the deal and “as part of a bold marketing strategy” signed an endorsement deal in 2023 with Ohtani, “one of the most high-profile endorsements imaginable.”
“This partnership with Ohtani will elevate the demand and create buzz within the Japanese luxury vacation home market, which is a primary target audience for the project,” the investment brochure said. “We see Shohei Ohtani’s homeownership as having a significant impact on the global exposure of the project and expect to accelerate the pace of sales, thereby helping us achieve our pricing objectives.”
The suit said Balelo “quickly became a disruptive force,” threatening to pull Ohtani from the deal if concessions weren’t made.
“Kingsbarn began capitulating to Balelo’s every whim,” the suit said. “Over time, it became increasingly obvious that Kingsbarn was more concerned about preserving its relationship with [Ohtani] than honoring its obligations to its business partners.”
Last month, in what the suit called “a coordinated ambush,” Kingsbarn fired Hayes and Matsumoto.
“Kingsbarn openly admitted during the call that Balelo had demanded the terminations and that they were being done solely to placate him,” the suit said. “Plaintiffs stand to lose millions of dollars in compensation tied to projected homebuilding profit, construction management fees, and broker commissions.”
A former labor relations employee at Netflix is suing the company, claiming she was wrongfully terminated after raising concerns over her superiors’ discrimination against women of color and allegations of sexual harassment.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that the employee’s managers broke laws and policies that protect employees from race- and gender-based discrimination, and from retaliation for reporting alleged discrimination or harassment.
Nhu-Y Phan was hired at Netflix as legal counsel in labor relations in May 2021. She was fired due to “unspecified performance issues” in September 2024, her lawsuit said. According to the complaint, Phan had never been subject to any discipline and had received overwhelmingly positive performance reviews and feedback throughout her time at the company.
She is seeking punitive damages, emotional distress damages, past and future lost income and other forms of relief, as well as a jury trial.
A Netflix spokesperson said in a brief statement the claims outlined in the suit “lack merit and we intend to defend this matter vigorously.”
For the first year of her Netflix career, Phan was supervised by Ted Sinclair, who is named as a defendant in the suit. Phan alleges that Sinclair repeatedly excluded her and other women of color on her team from professional opportunities that he offered to white colleagues, and that he “encouraged a white employee” to take credit for her work.
Phan made multiple verbal and written complaints about this unequal treatment, including through meetings with both the human resources department and with Sinclair directly, but was still denied opportunities, the lawsuit said. She asked to be removed from Sinclair’s direct supervision in the summer of 2022.
Later, a female colleague confided in Phan, alleging that her new supervior, Jonah Cozien, was sexually harassing her, the complaint said. Cozien is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Phan reported the behavior to human resources, and after doing so, Cozien became “frequently hostile” toward her, limiting her professional opportunities and giving her critical feedback despite never having provided feedback before she made the report, according to the suit.
Sinclair and Cozien did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and their lawyers could not be identified.
After Phan was fired, her lawyers say Netflix filed a lawsuit against her to compel arbitration. Brian Olney, one of the attorneys from Pasadena-based Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai who is representing Phan, said forcing her into arbitration proceedings is a violation of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, which became law in 2022.
Because records in arbitration are protected, employers that have arbitration clauses in their employment contracts can avoid public attention on cases involving sexual harassment and assault. The House Judiciary Committee said passing the law would bring justice to victims who were “locked out of the court system and are forced to settle their disputes against companies in a private system of arbitration that often favors the company over the individual.”
“Netflix fired Nhu Phan and tried to force her into secretive arbitration proceedings to silence her voice,” Olney said in a statement. “With her lawsuit, she is standing up to this corporate bully and their outrageous and despicable conduct.”
July 19 (UPI) — President Donald Trump sued the Wall Street Journal and its parent company, seeking at least $10 billion in damages, after the newspaper published an article one day earlier about a letter Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein before the financier was convicted of sex crimes.
The 18-page lawsuit, which was filed Friday in the Southern District of Florida in Miami’s division, names the two reporters, The Wall Street Journal, as well as Dow Jones, News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch, who controls the company, and New Corp’s CEO Robert Thomson.
“Defendants concocted this story to malign President Trump’s character and integrity and deceptively portray him in a false light,” the lawsuit, signed by Alejandro Brito of the Ian Michael law firm in Coral Gables, reads.
“We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit,” a Dow Jones spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal, which noted that News Corp did not respond to its request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump sent Epstein a letter for his 50th birthday consisting of text in the outline of a naked woman over her signature. As noted in the filing, the newspaper did not publish the letter.
The letter was one of several published in a leather-bound album of birthday messages Epstein received as a gift that is reportedly among documents examined by the Justice Department several years ago.
“The reason for those failures is because no authentic letter or drawing exists,” Trump’s lawyer wrote in the lawsuit.
On Friday night, Trump posted on Truth Social: “We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal. ….
“This lawsuit is filed not only on behalf of your favorite President, ME, but also in order to continue standing up for ALL Americans who will no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media. I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case. Thank you for your attention to this matter. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
On his Truth Social account on Thursday, Trump claimed the letter was fake, and said “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women. It’s not my language. It’s not my words,” threatening to sue.
“The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly by President Donald J. Trump that the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued,” the president posted Thursday.
He noted that Murdoch told him “he would take care to it. But, obviously, did not have the power to do it.”
Trump has been pressured by his Make America Great Again base and Democrats to release files on Epstein, of which the grand jury testimony is a small portion.
Attorney General Palm Bondi said earlier this month in a memo said that much of the information is under legal seal but that there is “no incriminating ‘client list'” in the files and that “there was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.”
On Thursday, Trump ordered grand jury testimony to be released by DOJ with victims’ names likely redacted.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in his Manhattan jail cell as he was awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges in connection with allegations of running a child sex-trafficking ring. The memo also confirmed he died by suicide with surveillance video included through three minutes were missing.
Elvis Presley’s worn Omega wristwatch, gifted to him by Johnny Cash, sold for $103,700 this week.
Goldin, a leading sports and pop culture memorabilia auction house, sold the engraved timepiece as part of its inaugural music memorabilia auction, which closed Wednesday night. Other high-selling items included a D.A. Millings & Son custom suit worn by John Lennon in 1963 ($102,480), a signed copy of Led Zeppelin’s album “Presence” ($19,520) and George Harrison’s sunglasses ($47,590). Goldin also set a new sale record for a type 1 photo — or photo developed from an original negative within two years of when the picture was taken— of rapper Tupac Shakur, which sold for $10,370, according to the auction house.
Though sports and trading card auctions are Goldin’s “bread and butter,” the company is venturing more into pop culture, said head of revenue Dave Amerman. This transition is documented in Goldin’s Netflix show, “King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch,” which premiered in 2023 and was just renewed for a third season.
“We realized that we get so many music items and we build them into our pop culture sales, we just want to separate it and make its own event out of it,” Amerman told The Times.
Many of the Beatles items belonged to music promoter Chris Agajanian, who’s been building his collection for more than 40 years. Agajanian owns more than 2,000 pieces of Beatles memorabilia and signed letters of provenance for many of the items in the Goldin sale.
The music auction also included more than 500 concert posters graded by the Certified Guaranty Company, the leader in comic book grading. Poster subjects ranged from the Grateful Dead and the Beatles to Sonic Youth and Blink-182.
In 2020, Goldin sold one of the most expensive albums of all time: a copy of Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Double Fantasy” that Lennon unwittingly signed for his assassin, Mark David Chapman, just before the Beatle was shot in 1980. It went for $900,000.
Additionally, the auction house holds the record for most expensive toy sold at an auction: a 1979 prototype action figure of “Star Wars” bounty hunter Boba Fett that went for more than $1 million in 2024.
NEW YORK — New York City’s former interim police commissioner is suing Mayor Eric Adams and his top deputies, accusing them of operating the NYPD as a “criminal enterprise.”
In a federal racketeering lawsuit filed Wednesday, the ex-commissioner, Thomas Donlon, alleges Adams and his inner circle showered unqualified loyalists with promotions, buried allegations of misconduct and gratuitously punished whistleblowers.
It is the latest in a series of recent lawsuits by former NYPD leaders describing a department ruled by graft and cronyism, with swift repercussions for those who questioned the mayor’s allies.
In a statement, City Hall spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus called the allegations “baseless,” blasting Donlon as a “disgruntled former employee who — when given the opportunity to lead the greatest police department in the world — proved himself to be ineffective.”
Donlon, a longtime FBI official, was appointed last fall by Adams to stabilize a department shaken by federal investigations and high-profile resignations.
He stepped down less than a month into the job, after federal authorities searched his home for decades-old documents that he said were unrelated to his work at the department.
During his brief tenure, Donlon said he uncovered “systemic corruption and criminal conduct” enabled by Adams and carried out by his hand-picked confidants who operated outside the department’s standard chain of command.
Their alleged corruption triggered a “massive, unlawful transfer of public wealth,” the suit alleges, through unearned salary increases, overtime payments, pension enhancement and other benefits.
In one case, Donlon said he caught the department’s former top spokesperson, Tarik Sheppard, improperly using his rubber signature to give himself a raise and promotion. When Donlon confronted him, Sheppard allegedly threatened to kill him.
Later, when Donlon’s wife was involved in a minor car accident, Sheppard leaked personal family details to the press, according to the lawsuit.
Sheppard, who left the department in May, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The lawsuit also accuses police leaders of blocking internal investigations requested by Donlon and refusing to cooperate with federal authorities. And it outlines several instances in which officers with little experience — but close connections to Adams’ allies — received promotions, sometimes in exchange for favors.
The lawsuit names Adams and eight current and former high-ranking NYPD officials, including Chief of Department John Chell and Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry.
It calls for a federal takeover of the NYPD and unspecified damages for Donlon, whose professional reputation was “deliberately destroyed,” according to the suit.
Before joining the NYPD, Donlon spent decades working on terrorism cases for the FBI, including the investigation into the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. He also led New York state’s Office of Homeland Security before going into the private sector security industry.
He was replaced as commissioner by Jessica Tisch, who has pledged to restore trust within the department. But as Adams seeks reelection on a platform touting decreases in crime, he now faces renewed scrutiny over his management of the police force.
Last week, four other former high-ranking New York City police officials filed separate lawsuits against Adams and his top deputies, alleging a culture of rampant corruption and bribes that preceded Donlon’s appointment.
In response to that suit, a spokesperson for Adams said the administration “holds all city employees — including leadership at the NYPD — to the highest standards.”
Derek Dixon, the actor who raised allegations of sexual harassment against Tyler Perry, has broken his silence after suing the producer and media mogul for $260 million last month.
In his first interview since filing the bombshell lawsuit in June, “The Oval” actor Dixon told the Hollywood Reporter, “I couldn’t just let [Perry] get away with this.”
Dixon alleged in his complaint that when he worked for Perry from January 2020 to June 2024, the multi-hyphenate entertainer “sustained a pattern of workplace sexual harassment, assault and retaliation,” according to court documents reviewed by The Times. Dixon briefly appeared in BET’s “Ruthless” before landing a role in Perry’s “The Oval,” appearing in 85 episodes from 2021 to 2025.
“Everyone deserves to go to work and do their job without their boss trying to have sex with them,” Dixon said to THR in a story published Thursday. “My goal is to help ensure that the next generation of actors and creatives don’t have to choose between their dreams and their dignity.”
Seeking a response from Perry, The Times was referred Friday to the initial statement from Perry’s attorney Matthew Boyd, which denies Dixon’s allegations.
“This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam,” Boyd said in the statement. “But Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”
Dixon recalled to the trade outlet how he initially came to work for Perry and further spoke on the producer’s allegedly incessant attempts to spark a sexual relationship with his employee. In his suit, Dixon describes sexually suggestive text messages Perry allegedly sent, including one where he asks the actor “What’s it going to take for you to have guiltless sex?”
More damning were the allegations of sexual assault Dixon raised against Perry in his lawsuit. The 46-page complaint detailed multiple incidents, including one at Perry’s guest house in Georgia when the producer pulled down Dixon’s underwear and groped his buttocks. Dixon’s complaint also alleged Perry sexually assaulted him during a previous stay at his guest house and during a meeting in the director’s trailer.
According to the lawsuit, Dixon refused Perry’s advances and walked a fine line, keeping his interactions with Perry professional but friendly enough to remain in his good graces. Recalling the alleged assault in the trailer, Dixon said it would seem Perry would back off and “say things like ‘We need to just be business.’”
“And I would think, ‘Great. Yes.’ Every time I thought it would stop,” he said.
Dixon claims in his lawsuit that Perry leveraged his standing in the entertainment industry — specifically his ability to bring the actor’s own TV series to life — “to create a coercive, sexually exploitative dynamic.” The suit also says Dixon “woke up” in June 2024 and realized Perry was never going to be serious about helping Dixon ”grow his career.”
The actor reported the alleged abuse he experienced to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Though the lawsuit claims the complaint was not investigated, THR reports the case is pending. He told the magazine he felt compelled to sue Perry because “I was an employee, and he was my boss.”
He added: “For a long time, I convinced myself that it was part of the industry, or that somehow I had to accept it to keep working. But eventually, I couldn’t stay silent anymore.”
Since suing Perry, Dixon told THR he has received mixed reactions, including threats online and support from people who claim they experienced similar misconduct by Perry. He also said he decided to publicly accuse Perry as he feels attempts to settle matters privately “never result in the type of change necessary to protect victims.”
Despite going public with his allegations against Perry, Dixon said he fears that the producer “will be able to continue doing this without any major consequences.”
For months, CBS News has been roiled with trepidation that parent company Paramount Global would write a big check to make President Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit go away.
On Tuesday night, those fears came true.
Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s legal salvo against “60 Minutes” over the editing of an interview with his 2024 opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Within the news organization, there was anger over what is widely seen as a capitulation to Trump in order to clear a path for Paramount’s $8-billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. The case was labeled as frivolous by 1st Amendment experts.
But among some CBS News veterans, tempers were calmed by a sobering reality: that the outcome could have been worse.
The biggest concern inside the news division since Trump’s complaint was that the media company would be strong-armed into making an apology or statement of regret over a case that they believed had no merit. Amid the internal anger over the settlement, there is relief that that did not happen.
“Everybody knew that was a line in the sand,” said a relieved CBS News veteran not authorized to comment publicly on the matter.
Another journalist at the network, speaking on the same condition, said the thinking among many was that any financial payment of less than $20 million without an apology would count as a partial win.
As the negotiations to end the suit lingered, it became more apparent that corporate interests overrode any concerns about the appearance of caving to Trump’s demands.
Trump filed suit in October, claiming “60 Minutes” edited an interview with Harris to make her look smarter and bolster her chances in the election, which Trump won decisively. CBS denied the claims, saying the edits were routine.
“If there wasn’t a merger pending and they took this to court they would have won,” the journalist said of Trump’s case. “I think they understood that if they made an apology they would have an internal rebellion and they would have because there was nothing to apologize for.”
Some say that the departures of former “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens and CBS News and stations head Wendy McMahon were enough to satisfy the Trump camp‘s desire for an apology. Both executives were adamant that CBS News did nothing improper in the handling of the Harris of interview.
Trump’s legal team claimed victory.
“President Donald J. Trump delivers another win for the American people as he, once again, holds the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit,” a spokesman said in a statement.
But while “60 Minutes” avoided the humiliation that would have come with a statement of contrition, the program that is the foundation of the news division now has to move forward in an era of media mistrust on the political right and disappointment on the left by those who believe courage is in short supply.
According to several CBS News insiders who spoke to The Times, no one is expected to depart “60 Minutes” in protest of the settlement decision.
Andrew Heyward, a former CBS News president who is now a consultant, said it will be up to the new owners of CBS to maintain the program’s journalistic independence. “If that’s jeopardized in the future, that would be unfortunate for CBS News and the country,” he said.
Though there is anger, many feared a bleak future for the news organization and the rest of the network if Paramount Global couldn’t close the Skydance deal. The lawsuit was seen as an obstacle to the deal, which needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission, run by Trump appointee Brendan Carr.
“We can get outraged all we want, but the fact is we were in a really precarious situation,” said one of the journalists not authorized to speak publicly. “If that merger went dead, I don’t know if anyone would have come along and bought the whole company.”
While ownership change usually generates fear and uncertainty through media organizations, insiders at CBS News say they will be happy to see Paramount Global’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone in their rearview mirror once the Skydance deal is done.
The feelings inside the news division regarding Skydance range from hope for new investment from deep-pocketed Ellison to resignation that “it can’t get any worse.”
As for any damage to its reputation, CBS News is taking some comfort in the fact that ABC News hasn’t noticeably suffered from its own $16 million settlement over anchor George Stephanopoulos mistakenly saying Trump was convicted of rape rather than sexual abuse in the civil suit brought by E. Jean Carroll. Stephanopoulos signed a new contract at the network amid the controversy and his program “Good Morning America” hasn’t suffered a ratings loss since.
Viewers have high expectations for “60 Minutes,” which after 57 seasons still ranks as the most-watched news program on television (it’s also the most profitable show on CBS). If the program is allowed to maintain the same standard of deep reporting it’s known for, the audience will get past a bad corporate decision, according to Heyward.
“People on the right will say it’s another example of mainstream media getting what it deserves,” Heyward said. “People on the left will say it’s another example of a corporation caving to President Trump for its own selfish interests. And most people will go back to watching ’60 Minutes’ and expect strong independent reporting without fear or favor — that’s what really matters.”
