Thursday

BOSTON — President Trump ’s administration asked a federal appeals court Friday to block a judge’s order that it distribute November’s full monthly SNAP food benefits amid a U.S. government shutdown, even as at least some states said they were moving quickly to get the money to people.

The judge gave the Trump administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But the administration asked the appeals court to suspend any court orders requiring it to spend more money than is available in a contingency fund, and instead allow it to continue with planned partial SNAP payments for the month.

The court filing came even as Wisconsin said Friday that some SNAP recipients in the state already got their full November payments overnight on Thursday.

“We’ve received confirmation that payments went through, including members reporting they can now see their balances,” said Britt Cudaback, a spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Uncertainty remains for many SNAP recipients

The court wrangling prolonged weeks of uncertainty for the food program that serves about 1 in 8 Americans, mostly with lower incomes.

An individual can receive a monthly maximum food benefit of nearly $300 and a family of four up to nearly $1,000, although many receive less than that under a formula that takes into consideration their income. For many SNAP participants, it remains unclear exactly how much they will receive this month, and when they will receive it.

Jasmen Youngbey of Newark, N.J., waited in line Friday at a food pantry in the state’s largest city. As a single mom attending college, Youngbey said she relies on SNAP to help feed her 7-month-old and 4-year-old sons. But she said her account balance was at $0.

“Not everybody has cash to pull out and say, ‘OK, I’m going to go and get this,’ especially with the cost of food right now,” she said.

Tihinna Franklin, a school bus guard who was waiting in the same line outside the United Community Corp. food pantry, said her SNAP account balance was at 9 cents and she was down to three items in her freezer. She typically relies on the roughly $290 a month in SNAP benefits to help feed her grandchildren.

“If I don’t get it, I won’t be eating,” she said. “My money I get paid for, that goes to the bills, rent, electricity, personal items. That is not fair to us as mothers and caregivers.”

The legal battle over SNAP takes another twist

Because of the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration originally had said SNAP benefits would not be available in November. However, two judges ruled last week that the administration could not skip November’s benefits entirely because of the shutdown. One of those judges was U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr., who ordered the full payments Thursday.

In both cases, the judges ordered the government to use one emergency reserve fund containing more than $4.6 billion to pay for SNAP for November but gave it leeway to tap other money to make the full payments, which cost between $8.5 billion and $9 billion each month.

On Monday, the administration said it would not use additional money, saying it was up to Congress to appropriate the funds for the program and that the other money was needed to shore up other child hunger programs.

Thursday’s federal court order rejected the Trump administration’s decision to cover only 65% of the maximum monthly benefit, a decision that could have left some recipients getting nothing for this month.

In its court filing Friday, Trump’s administration contended that Thursday’s directive to fund full SNAP benefits runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution.

“This unprecedented injunction makes a mockery of the separation of powers. Courts hold neither the power to appropriate nor the power to spend,” the U.S. Department of Justice wrote in its request to the court.

In response, attorneys for the cities and nonprofits challenging Trump’s administration said the government has plenty of available money and the court should “not allow them to further delay getting vital food assistance to individuals and families who need it now.”

States are taking different approaches to food aid

Some states said they stood ready to distribute SNAP money as quickly as possible.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said it directed a vendor servicing its SNAP electronic benefit cards to issue full SNAP benefits soon after the federal funding is received.

Benefits are provided to individuals on different days of the month. Those who normally receive benefits on the third, fifth or seventh of the month should receive their full SNAP allotment within 48 hours of funds becoming available, the Michigan agency said, and others should receive their full benefits on their regularly scheduled dates.

Meanwhile, North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services said that partial SNAP benefits were distributed Friday, based on the Trump administration’s previous decision. Officials in Illinois and North Dakota also said they were distributing partial November payments, starting as soon as Friday for some recipients.

In Missouri, where officials had been working on partial distribution, the latest court jostling raised new questions. A spokesperson for the state Department of Social Services said Friday that it is awaiting further guidance about how to proceed from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP.

Amid the federal uncertainty, Delaware’s Democratic Gov. Matt Meyer said the state used its own funds Friday to provide the first of could be a weekly relief payment to SNAP recipients.

On Thursday, Nebraska’s Republican Gov. Jim Pillen downplayed the effect of paused SNAP benefits on families in his state, saying, “Nobody’s going to go hungry.” The multimillionaire said food pantries, churches and other charitable services would fill the gap.

Lieb, Casey and Bauer write for the Associated Press. Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Mo., and Bauer from Madison, Wisc. AP writers Margery Beck in Omaha; Mike Catalini in Newark, N.J.; Jack Dura in Bismarck, N.D.; Mingson Lau in Claymont, Del.; John O’Connor, in Springfield, Ill.; and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

Officials announced Thursday that Los Angeles County has automated the process of notifying law enforcement agencies when people who violate restraining orders fail to comply with judges’ orders to hand their guns over to authorities.

Previously, court clerks had to identify which of the county’s 88 law enforcement agencies to notify about a firearm relinquishment by looking up addresses for the accused, which could take multiple days, Presiding Judge Sergio C. Tapia II of the L.A. County Superior Court said during a news conference.

Now, “notices are sent within minutes” to the appropriate agencies, Tapia said.

“This new system represents a step forward in ensuring timely, consistent and efficient communication between the court and law enforcement,” he said, “helping to remove firearms from individuals who are legally prohibited from possessing them.”

According to a news release, the court launched the platform, which the Judicial Council of California funded with a $4.12 million grant in conjunction with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s office, and the L.A. Police Department and city attorney’s office.

The court also rolled out a new portal for law enforcement that “streamlines interagency communications by providing justice partners with a centralized list of relevant cases for review” and allows agencies “to view all firearm relinquishment restraining order violations within their jurisdiction,” according to the release.

The new digital approach “represents a major enhancement in public safety,” Luna said.

“Each of those firearms,” he said, “represents a potential tragedy prevented or a domestic violence situation that did not escalate, a life that was not lost to gun violence.”

No one has won the City Section individual golf championship four times, but Layla Phillips has a chance to be the first.

The 14-year-old freshman from Harbor Teacher Prep carded a five-under-par 67 on Thursday at Balboa Golf Course in Encino, good enough for a six-stroke victory over Macy Lee of El Camino Real.

“She’s been playing since she was 2,” explained her father Kasey, who was there to watch his daughter’s round and could not have been more proud. “Our old house was right off of Maggie Hathaway Golf Course and balls were constantly flying onto our property. It was an annoying thing and my wife was afraid the kids might get hit playing in the backyard. So we complained about it and they offered us free lessons as kind of a peace offering.”

As fate would have it, Layla and her sister Roxanne, one year younger, both took to the sport like fish to water.

“We started taking lessons at Chester Washington Golf Course because they had a better driving range there,” said Layla, who started playing the Toyota Tour Cup series 18 months ago. “We get along great and we practice together everyday. She’s following in my footsteps. We’re opposites. I get really nervous but she just hits the ball and doesn’t care. At times, we have to take advice from each other.”

After bogeying the first hole, Phillips birdied the second, eagled the third and birdied the fourth to vault to the top of the leaderboard. She maintained at least a two-shot lead the rest of the way. A bogey on No. 6 was followed by two pars and three consecutive birdies that stretched the margin to six.

“I can’t be too mad with my performance today but there’s always room for improvement,” said Phillips, who got to six-under before bogeying 18 and who finished two strokes off the City finals record of 65 set last year by Palisades senior Anna Song, now a freshman at Stanford. “I’ve only played this course twice before and I’d never played the back nine.”

Phillips tries to get a round in once a week and plays a two-day tournament every month. She shot six-under (equaling her personal best) to win a Southern California PGA Junior Tour championship in Palm Springs in December. She has won around 50 SCPGA Junior events since she was 10. In March, Roxanne won the L.A. City Junior championship by 15 shots on the same course when she was only 12.

“School lets out at 3:30 so I’m practicing from 4 to 7:30 p.m. at Los Verdes [in Palos Verdes] or Victoria [in Carson],” said Phillips, who finished in the top 10 at the Junior World Golf Championship last year in San Diego.

Phillips longs to play college golf (maybe at USC, which is only a 30-minute drive from where she lives in Harbor City). When told she could potentially be the first four-time City champion, she said: Yeah, it’s a possibility. My best competition in City might be my sister. She’s beaten me a couple of times already.”

She will also have to contend with fellow ninth grader Lauren Song (Anna’s sister) who shot a 75 to finish alone in third Thursday to help Palisades (+55) win its fifth straight team title, one shy of the City record accomplished twice by Granada Hills. The Highlanders finished second by 64 shots Thursday but still advanced to next week’s SoCal Regionals.

A look at the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland at the end of the regular season:

Rk. School (record) result; Next game; last week ranking

1. SIERRA CANYON (10-0) def. Loyola, 52-3; D1 vs. Santa Margarita, Nov. 14; 2

2. ST. JOHN BOSCO (9-1) lost to Mater Dei, 36-31; D1 vs. Orange Lutheran, Nov. 14; 1

3. CORONA CENTENNIAL (9-1) def. Chaparral, 60-29; D1 vs. Servite, Nov. 14; 3

4. MATER DEI (7-2) def. St. John Bosco, 36-31; D1 vs. Mission Viejo at Santa Ana Staidum, Nov. 14; 6

5. MISSION VIEJO (9-1) def. Los Alamitos, 76-49; D1 vs. Mater Dei at Santa Ana Stadium Stadium, Nov. 14; 4

6 SANTA MARGARITA (7-3) def. JSerra, 41-14; D1 at Sierra Canyon, Nov. 14; 5

7. SERVITE (6-4) def. Orange Lutheran, 30-28; D1 at Corona Centennial, Nov. 14; 8

8. ORANGE LUTHERAN (2-8*) lost to Servite, 30-28; D1 at St. John Bosco, Nov. 14; 9

9. LOS ALAMITOS (8-2) lost to Mission Viejo, 76-49; D2 vs. Yorba Linda, Friday; 7

10. OXNARD PACIFICA (10-0) def. Bishop Diego, 46-33; D3 vs. Oak Hills, Friday; 11

11. LEUZINGER (8-1) def. Lawndale, 45-10; D2, at Crean Lutheran, Friday; 12

12. MURRIETA VALLEY (7-3) def. Eastvale Roosevelt, 48-13; D2 vs. Corona del Mar, Friday; 14

13. SAN JUAN HILLS (1-9^) def. Tesoro, 41-7; D2 vs. Downey, Friday; 15

14. BEAUMONT (7-2) def. Redlands East Valley, 43-6; D2 at San Clemente, Friday; 16

15. DOWNEY (9-1) def. Dominguez, 34-0; D2 at San Juan Hills, Friday; 17

16. CREAN LUTHERAN (10-0) def. Laguna Hills, 50-7; D2, vs. Leuzinger, Fridays; 18

17. RANCHO CUCAMONGA (7-3) def. Chino Hills, 31-24; D2 vs. Tustin, Friday; 19

18. VISTA MURRIETA (7-3) lost to Norco, 17-7; D2, vs. Damien, Friday; 13

19. VALENCIA (9-1) def Castaic, 63-0; D3 vs. Palos Verdes, Friday 21

20. DAMIEN (8-2) def. Ayala, 35-13; D2 at Vista Murrieta, Friday; 22

21. AQUINAS (9-1) def. Village Christian, 42-12; D3 at Dana Hills, Friday; 23

22. YORBA LINDA (9-1); def. Corona del Mar, 35-28; D2 at Los Alamitos, Friday; NR

23. CORONA DEL MAR (9-1) lost to Yorba Linda, 35-28; D2 at Murrieta Valley, Friday; 10

24. CHINO HILLS (7-3) lost to Rancho Cucamonga, 31-24; D3 vs. Mira Costa, Friday; 20

25. PALOS VERDES (7-3) def. Mira Costa, 18-15; D3 at Valencia, Friday; NR

*-two forfeits / ^-nine forfeits

The marriage between Arcade Fire’s indie-rocker spouses Win Butler and Régine Chassagne has flamed out.

The longtime collaborators and romantic partners split “after a long and loving marriage,” the Canadian “Reflektor” group announced Thursday in a statement shared on social media. Butler, 45, and Chassagne, 49, married in 2003 and will “continue to love, admire and support each other as they co-parent their son,” the band said.

The Grammy-winning rock group, founded in 2001 and known for songs “The Suburbs” and “Wake Up,” announced the singers’ separation years after several people accused frontman Butler of sexual misconduct in 2022.

Four people came forward about their alleged experiences with Butler in a report published by Pitchfork in August 2022. Three women alleged they were subjected to sexual misconduct between 2016 and 2022 when they were between the ages of 18 and 23. The fourth, gender-fluid accuser alleged Butler sexually assaulted them in 2015 when they were 21 and he was 34.

Amid Pitchfork’s report, Butler denied the misconduct allegations in a statement and said he “had consensual relationships outside my marriage.” Chassagne, who gave birth to her son with Butler in 2013, remained firm in her support for her now-estranged husband in 2022. The “Sprawl II” singer said, “I know what is in his heart, and I know he has never, and would never, touch a woman without her consent and I am certain he never did.”

She added at the time: “He has lost his way and he has found his way back. I love him and love the life we have created together.”

Arcade Fire rose to prominence in the 2000s for its anthemic rock, cementing its place in the Montreal indie scene with its Grammy-winning 2010 album “The Suburbs.” The group has been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards and has played some of music’s biggest stages including the Coachella and Lollapalooza music festivals. The group released its seventh album, “Pink Elephant,” in May.

Thursday’s statement clarified that Butler and Chassagne’s “bond as creative soulmates will endure, as will Arcade Fire.” The estranged spouses will also continue their charity work in addition to caring for their child.

“The band send their love and look forward to seeing you all on tour soon,” the statement said.

Times staff writer Stacy Perman contributed to this report.

Long Beach Poly, a 12-time Southern Section football champion, announced on Friday it will not participate in this season’s football playoffs despite finishing second in the Moore League. The school earlier this season had six transfer students declared ineligible for providing false information on paperwork to the Southern Section, a violation of CIF bylaw 202.

Here’s the statement from the Long Beach Unified School District:

“Long Beach Poly High School acknowledges the recent CIF ruling related to violations of CIF Bylaw 202 within its football program. In accordance with that ruling, and as part of an ongoing internal investigation, Poly will withdraw from postseason play.

“The school is fully cooperating with CIF and the District, as a thorough review of our processes and systems is conducted to ensure full compliance with CIF rules and District policy. While student and employee matters are confidential, our commitment remains to support our students while upholding the integrity of our athletic programs.”

San Juan Hills became the latest school to announce forfeits on Friday for using ineligible players. Two transfer students had been in the transfer portal listed as “under review.” The school will forfeit nine games and is now 1-9. Both players were held out of a game on Thursday.

Norco earlier this week forfeited six games, dropping to 1-9 after a win on Thursday.

This crackdown by the Southern Section against students providing false information started during the summer when schools began submitting transfer paperwork. The Southern Section is using new technological tools to verify information. Bishop Montgomery received the harshest punishment, with 24 players declared ineligible, forcing the school to cancel its football season.

Other schools found to have ineligible players this season include Long Beach Millikan, Compton, Bellflower, Victor Valley and Orange Lutheran.

Southern Section commissioner Mike West said last month, “We’ve had a real influx of fraudulent paperwork. It’s been significant and very disheartening.”

Two federal judges told the U.S. Department of Agriculture in separate rulings Friday that it must begin using billions of dollars in contingency funding to provide federal food assistance to poor American families despite the federal shutdown, but gave the agency until Monday to decide how to do so.

Both Obama-appointed judges rejected Trump administration arguments that more than $5 billion in USDA contingency funds could not legally be tapped to continue Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for nearly 42 million Americans while the federal government remains closed. But both also left unclear how exactly the relief should be provided, or when it will arrive for millions of families set to lose benefits starting Saturday.

The two rulings came almost simultaneously Friday.

In Massachusetts, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani stopped short of granting California and a coalition of 24 other Democrat-led states a temporary restraining order they had requested. But she ruled that the states were likely to succeed in their arguments that the USDA’s total shutoff of SNAP benefits — despite having billions in emergency contingency funds on hand — was unlawful.

Talwani gave USDA until Monday to tell her whether they would authorize “only reduced SNAP benefits” using the contingency funding — which would not cover the total $8.5 billion to $9 billion needed for all November benefits, according to the USDA — or would authorize “full SNAP benefits using both the Contingency Funds and additional available funds.”

Separately, in Rhode Island, U.S. District Judge John McConnell granted a temporary restraining order requested by nonprofit organizations, ruling from the bench that SNAP must be funded with at least the contingency funds, and requesting an update on progress by Monday.

The White House referred questions about the ruling to the Office of Management and Budget, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear if the administration would appeal the rulings.

The Massachusetts order was a win for California and the other Democrat-led states, which sued over the interruption to SNAP benefits — which were previously known as food stamps — as Republicans and Democrats continue to squabble over reopening the government in Washington.

However, it will not mean that all of the nation’s SNAP recipients — including 5.5 million Californians — will be spared a lapse in their food aid, state officials stressed, as state and local food banks continued scrambling to prepare for a deluge of need starting Saturday.

Asked Thursday if a ruling in the states’ favor would mean SNAP funds would be immediately loaded onto CalFresh and other benefits cards, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta — whose office helped bring the states’ lawsuit — said “the answer is no, unfortunately.”

“Our best estimates are that [SNAP benefit] cards could be loaded and used in about a week,” he said, calling that lag “problematic.”

“There could be about a week where people are hungry and need food,” he said. For new applicants to the program, he said, it could take even longer.

The rulings came as the now monthlong shutdown continued Friday with no immediate end in sight. The Senate adjourned Thursday with no plans to meet again until Monday.

It also came after President Trump called Thursday for the Senate to end the shutdown by first ending the filibuster, a longstanding rule that requires 60 votes to overcome objections to legislation. The rule has traditionally been favored by lawmakers as a means of blocking particularly partisan measures, and is currently being used by Democrats to resist the will of the current 53-seat Republican majority.

“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Los Angeles Regional Food Bank Chief Executive Michael Flood, standing alongside Bonta as members of the California National Guard worked behind them stuffing food boxes, said his organization was preparing for massive lines come Saturday, the first of the month.

He said he expected long lines of families in need of food appearing outside food distribution locations throughout the region, just as they did during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is a disaster type of situation for us here in Los Angeles County, throughout the state of California and throughout the country,” Flood said.

“5.5 million Californians, 1.5 million children and adults in L.A. County alone, will be left high and dry — illegally so, unnecessarily so, in a way that is morally bankrupt,” Bonta said.

Bonta blamed the shutdown on Trump and his administration, and said the USDA has billions of dollars in contingency funds designed to ensure SNAP benefits continue during emergencies and broke the law by not tapping those funds in the current situation.

Bonta said SNAP benefits have never been disrupted during previous federal government shutdowns, and should never have been disrupted during this shutdown, either.

“That was avoidable,” he said. “Trump created this problem.”

The Trump administration has blamed the shutdown and the looming disruption to SNAP benefits entirely on Democrats in Congress, who have blocked short-term spending measures to restart the government and fund SNAP. Democrats are holding out to pressure Republicans into rescinding massive cuts to subsidies that help millions of Americans afford health insurance.

Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, previously told The Times that Democrats should be the ones getting asked “when the shutdown will end,” because “they are the ones who have decided to shut down the government so they can use working Americans and SNAP benefits as ‘leverage’ to pursue their radical left wing agenda.”

“Americans are suffering because of Democrats,” Jackson said.

In their opposition to the states’ request for a temporary restraining order requiring the disbursement of funds, attorneys for the USDA argued that using emergency funds to cover November SNAP benefits would deplete funds meant to provide “critical support in the event of natural disasters and other uncontrollable catastrophes,” and could actually cause more disruption to benefits down the line.

They wrote that SNAP requires between $8.5 billion and $9 billion each month, and the USDA’s contingency fund has only about $5.25 billion, meaning it could not fully fund November benefits even if it did release contingency funding. Meanwhile, “a partial payment has never been made — and for good reason,” because it would force every state to recalculate benefits for recipients and then recalibrate their systems to provide the new amounts, they wrote.

That “would take weeks, if it can be done at all,” and would then have to be undone in order to issue December benefits at normal levels, assuming the shutdown would have lifted by then, they wrote. “The disruption this would entail, with each State required to repeatedly reprogram its systems, would lead to chaos and uncertainty for the following months, even after a lapse concludes,” they wrote.

Simply pausing the benefits to immediately be reissued whenever the shutdown ends is the smarter and less disruptive course of action, they argued.

During a Thursday hearing in the states’ case, Talwani had suggested that existing rules required action by the government to prevent the sort of suffering that a total disruption to food assistance would cause, regardless of whatever political showdown is occurring between the parties in Washington.

“If you don’t have money, you tighten your belt,” she said in court. “You are not going to make everyone drop dead because it’s a political game someplace.”

In addition to suing the administration, California and its leaders have been rushing to ensure that hungry families have something to eat in coming days. Gov. Gavin Newsom directed $80 million to food banks to stock up on provisions, and activated the National Guard to help package food for those who need it.

Counties have also been working to offset the need, including by directing additional funding to food banks and other resource centers and asking partners in the private sector to assist.

Dozens of organizations in California have written to Newsom calling on him to use state funds to fully cover the missing federal benefits, in order to prevent “a crisis of unthinkable magnitude,” but Newsom has suggested that is not possible given the scale of funding withheld.

According to the USDA, about 41.7 million Americans were served through SNAP per month in fiscal 2024, at an annual cost of nearly $100 billion. Of the 5.5 million Californian recipients, children and older people account for more than 63%.

This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.

JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s government on Friday criticized the U.S. refugee policy shift that gives priority to Afrikaners, the country’s white minority group of Dutch descent.

The Trump administration on Thursday announced a ceiling of 7,500 refugees to be admitted to the United States, a sharp decrease from the previous 125,000 spots and said Afrikaners would be given preference over other groups.

U.S. President Trump has claimed that there is a “genocide” against Afrikaners in South Africa and that they are facing persecution and discrimination because of the country’s redress policies and the levels of crime in the country.

It’s one of the contentious issues that has seen diplomatic relations between South Africa and U.S. hit an all-time low, with Trump suspending all financial aid to South Africa and setting one of the highest tariffs for the country’s exports to the U.S.

The South African government’s international relations department said Friday that the latest move was concerning as it “still appears to rest on a premise that is factually inaccurate.”

“The claim of a ‘white genocide’ in South Africa is widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence,” spokesman Chrispin Phiri said.

Phiri said that a program designed to facilitate the immigration and resettlement of Afrikaners as refugees was deeply flawed and disregarded the country’s constitutional processes.

“The limited uptake of this offer by South Africans is a telling indicator of this reality,” Phiri said.

The U.S. notice, which signifies a huge policy shift toward refugees, mentioned only Afrikaners as a specific group and said the admission of the 7,500 refugees during the 2026 budget year “justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.”

Trump’s asylum offer for Afrikaners has sparked divisive debate in South Africa, but has been largely rejected even by many in the Afrikaner community.

This week, a group of prominent Afrikaners including politicians, activists, writers and businesspeople penned an open letter rejecting the notion that Afrikaners needed to emigrate from South Africa.

“The idea that white South Africans deserve special asylum status because of their race undermines the very principles of the refugee program. Vulnerability — not race — should guide humanitarian policy,” they wrote in the widely publicized letter.

However, some Afrikaner groups continue to be very critical of the South African government’s handling of crime and redress policies even though they reject the “white genocide” claim.

An Afrikaner lobbyist group, Afriforum, on Thursday said that it doesn’t call the murder of white farmers a genocide, but raised concerns about white people’s safety in South Africa.

“This does not mean AfriForum rejects or scoffs at Trump’s refugee status offer — there will be Afrikaners that apply and they should have the option, especially those who have been victims of horrific farm attacks or the South African government’s many racially discriminatory policies,” AfriForum spokesman Ernst van Zyl said.

While it’s unclear how many white South Africans have applied for refugee status in the U.S., a group of 59 white South Africans were granted asylum and were received with much fanfare in May.

Magome writes for the Associated Press.

A look at how the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland fared this week:

Rk. School (record) result; Next game

A look at the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland:

1. ST. JOHN BOSCO (9-0) vs. Mater Dei, Friday; Southern Section playoffs

2. SIERRA CANYON (9-0) at Loyola, Friday; Southern Section playoffs

3. CORONA CENTENNIAL (9-1) def. Chaparral, 60-29; Southern Section playoffs

4. MISSION VIEJO (9-1) def. Los Alamitos, 76-49; Southern Section playoffs

5. SANTA MARGARITA (6-3) at JSerra, Friday; Southern Section playoffs

6. MATER DEI (7-2) at St. John Bosco, Friday; Southern Section playoffs

7. LOS ALAMITOS (8-2) lost to Mission Viejo, 76-49; Southern Section playoffs

8. SERVITE (5-4) vs. Orange Lutheran, Friday; Southern Section playoffs

9. ORANGE LUTHERAN (2-7*) vs. Servite, Friday; Southern Section playoffs

10. CORONA DEL MAR (9-1) lost to Yorba Linda, 35-28; Southern Section playoffs

11. OXNARD PACIFICA (9-0) at Bishop Diego, Friday; Southern Section playoffs

12. LEUZINGER (8-1) def. Lawndale, 45-10; Southern Section playoffs

13. VISTA MURRIETA (7-3) lost to Norco, 17-7; Southern Section playoffs

14. MURRIETA VALLEY (7-3) def. Eastvale Roosevelt, 48-13; Southern Section playoffs

15. SAN JUAN HILLS (8-2) def. Tesoro, 41-7; Southern Section playoffs

16. BEAUMONT (7-2) def. Redlands East Valley, 43-6; Southern Section playoffs

17. DOWNEY (8-1) at Dominguez, Thursday; Southern Section playoffs

18. CREAN LUTHERAN (10-0) def. Laguna Hills, 50-7; Southern Section playoffs

19. RANCHO CUCAMONGA (7-3) def. Chino Hills, 31-24; Southern Section playoffs

20. CHINO HILLS (7-3) lost to Rancho Cucamonga, 31-24; Southern Section playoffs

21. VALENCIA (8-1) at Castaic, Friday; Southern Section playoffs

22. DAMIEN (8-2) def. Ayala, 35-13; Southern Section playoffs

23. AQUINAS (8-1) vs. Village Christian, Friday; Southern Section playoffs

24. CHAPARRAL (5-5) lost to Corona Centennial, 60-29; Southern Section playoffs

25. CHAMINADE (5-4) at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Friday; Southern Section playoffs

*-two forfeit losses

TORONTO — It was a miserably cold, rainy and gray afternoon outside Rogers Centre on Thursday.

Inside the stadium, however, the Dodgers found some rays of emotional sunshine.

No, this is not where the team wanted to be, facing a 3-2 deficit in the World Series entering Game 6 on Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.

And no, there was not much to feel good about after a disastrous 48 hours in Games 4 and 5 of this Fall Classic, in which the Dodgers relinquished control of the series and allowed their title-defense campaign to be put on life support.

But during an off-day workout, the club tried to rebound from that disappointment and reframe the downtrodden mindset that permeated the clubhouse after Game 5.

Every player showed up to the ballpark, even though attendance was optional after a long night of travel.

“That was pretty exciting for me, and just speaks to where these guys are at,” manager Dave Roberts said. “They realize that the job’s not done.”

Roberts brought some levity to the start of the workout, too, challenging speedster Hyeseong Kim to a race around the bases — only to stumble face-first on the turn around second while trying to preserve his comically large head start.

“Cut the cameras,” Roberts yelled to media members, as he playfully grabbed at his hamstring and wiped dirt off his sweatshirt.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts reacts after falling while challenging Hyeseong Kim to a race on the basepaths during a team workout at Rogers Centre on Thursday.

(Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images)

Then, the Dodgers got to work on their primary task: Trying to sync up an offense that had looked lost the last two games, and has scuffled through much of October.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this … and I could dive into my thoughts,” Roberts said of the team’s offensive struggles, which he noted could include another lineup alteration for Game 6.

“But I think at the end of the day,” Roberts continued, “they just have to compete and fight in the batter’s box. It’s one-on-one, the hitter versus the pitcher, and that’s it. Really. I mean, I think that that sort of mindset is all I’ll be looking for. And I expect good things to happen from that.”

In the losses at Chavez Ravine, the majors’ second-highest scoring offense struggled to hone that ethos. The Dodgers scored only three runs, racked up a woeful 10 hits and looked more like the version of themselves that stumbled through much of the second half of the season before entering the playoffs on a late-season surge.

Their biggest stars stopped hitting. Their teamwide approach went by the wayside. And in the aftermath of Game 5, they almost seemed to be searching for their identity as a team at the plate — trying to couple their naturally gifted slugging ability, with the need to work more competitive at-bats and earn hittable pitches first.

“We’re just not having good at-bats,” third baseman Max Muncy said.

“We’ve got to figure something out,” echoed shortstop Mookie Betts.

Take a quick glance at the numbers in this World Series, and the Dodgers’ hitting problems are relatively easy to explain.

Shohei Ohtani (who took another Ruthian round of batting practice Thursday) does not have a hit since reaching base nine times in the 18-inning Game 3 marathon. Betts (who spent as much time hitting as anyone Thursday) has bottomed out with a three-for-25 performance.

Other important bats, including Muncy and Tommy Edman, are hitting under .200. And as a team, the Dodgers have 55 strikeouts (11 more than the Blue Jays), a .201 overall average and just six hits in 30 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

“We got a lot of guys who aren’t hot right now, aren’t feeling the best,” Edman said Wednesday night. “But we got to turn the page, and hopefully we can swing it better the next couple days.”

“As a group,” Kiké Hernández added, “it’s time for us to show our character and put up a fight and see what happens. … It’s time for us, for the offense, to show up.”

Better production from Betts would be a good start.

On Wednesday night, the shortstop did not mince words about his recent offensive struggles, saying he has “just been terrible” after batting .164 in 13 games since the start of the National League Division Series.

Roberts tried to take some pressure off the former MVP in Game 5, moving him from second to third in a reshuffled batting order. But after that yielded yet another hitless performance, Roberts further simplified the task for his 33-year-old star.

“Focus on one game, and be good for one game,” Roberts said. “Go out there and compete.”

On Thursday, that was Betts’ focus, with multiple people around the team noting a quiet and renewed confidence he carried into his off-day batting practice session. He had long talks with hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc, special assistant Ron Roenicke and Roberts around the hitting cage. He searched for answers to a swing that, of late, has generated too many shallow pop-ups and mishit balls.

Dodgers teammates Mookie Betts, left, Max Muncy, Tommy Edman and Freddie Freeman wait on the infield during a pitching change in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“He looked great,” fellow hitting coach Aaron Bates said. “Actually, his head was in a good place. Good spirits. The whole group, guys were great. Everyone came and showed up and hit and got their work in.”

For the Dodgers to save their season, it isn’t only Betts who will need to find a turnaround.

While Blue Jays starters Shane Bieber and Trey Yesavage pitched well in Games 4 and 5, the Dodgers also seemed to struggle to adapt their plan of attack — getting stuck in an “in-between” state, as both Roberts and several players noted, of both trying to attack fastballs and protect against secondary stuff.

“Sometimes we’re too aggressive,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “Sometimes we’re too patient.”

“It seems like at-bats are snowballing on us right now,” Kiké Hernández added. “We’re getting pitches to hit, we’re missing them. And we’re expanding the zone with two strikes.”

Being “in-between” was a problem for the Dodgers late in the season, when they ranked just 12th in the majors in scoring after the All-Star break. That it is happening again raises a familiar question about the identity of the club.

Do they want to be an aggressive, slugging lineup that lives and dies by the home run? Or more of a contact-minded unit capable of grinding out at-bats and stressing an opposing pitcher’s pitch count. Roberts’ emphasis on better “compete” signaled the need to do more of the latter.

Freeman echoed that notion leading up to Game 5.

“If we’re going up there just trying to hit home runs, it’s just not the name of the game,” Freeman said. “We just need to check down and have, like, almost a 0-1 mindset. Just build innings, extend ‘em, work counts, be who we are.”

So, how do they actually go about doing that, ahead of a Game 6 matchup with a pitcher in Kevin Gausman who excels at mixing his fastball and splitter?

“Basically, you have to keep to your strengths,” Bates said. “And see what the next pitcher brings to the table.”

The only silver lining: The Dodgers have been in this spot before.

Last year, at the very start of their World Series run, they faced a similar situation in the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, winning back-to-back games with clutch offensive outbursts that helped catapult them to an eventual World Series title.

“We can do it again,” Freeman said.

“I think we’re a more talented team than we were last year,” Kike Hernández added.

Entering Friday, they will have two games to prove it. Now or never. Do, or watch their dreams of cementing a dynasty die.

Oct. 30 (UPI) — Hurricane Melissa, now a Category 2 storm, was heading toward Bermuda on Thursday evening after battering the Caribbean over the past few days, forecasters said.

Forecasters said Melissa was forecast to pass Bermuda, where a hurricane warning is in effect, on Thursday night.

The eye of Melissa was about 260 miles west-southwest of Bermuda, the National Hurricane Center said in its 8 p.m. EDT update.

It had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, and was making its way northeast toward Bermuda at 21 mph. Earlier in its lifecycle, the storm was largely stationary, moving at about 2 mph as it made its way toward a Jamaican landfall Tuesday.

Forecasts indicate the storm would pick up more speed as it moves away from the Bahamas. It was forecast to pass to the northwest of Bermuda on Thursday night and should become a strong extratropical cyclone near the southeastern tip of Newfoundland on Friday.

The outer bands of Melissa could pour an additional 1 to 2 inches of rain over Bermuda through Thursday night, while a brief period of heavy rain was considered possible for the southern Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland on Friday night.

Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday at about 1 p.m. as a powerful Category 5 storm, with estimated maximum sustained winds of 185 mph. It was the strongest direct hit on Jamaica since records have been kept in the Atlantic basin. It was also the first storm to make landfall in the Caribbean this season.

The storm lost some strength as it traveled over Jamaica’s western mountains, but maintained major hurricane status as it headed for Cuba. It remained a hurricane when it reached the Bahamas.

Melissa is the 13th named storm and fifth hurricane of the season. The other Category 5 storms in the Atlantic this season have been Erin and Humberto.

In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and devastated the Bahamian islands, including the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, as a Category 5 storm.

The all-time highest sustained wind speed recorded in the Atlantic was Hurricane Allen at 190 mph in August 1980 over the Yucatan Peninsula before weakening to a Category 3 when it struck South Texas.

The most destructive Category 5 storm in the United States was Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, causing $27.3 billion in damage. Hurricane Michael, also a Category 5 storm, struck the less populated Florida Panhandle in October 2018.

Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica in 1988 as a Category 3 storm.

NEW YORK — Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball was fined $35,000 by the NBA on Thursday for making an obscene gesture on Tuesday night.

Ball was assessed a technical foul for making the gesture with 4:02 to play in the fourth quarter of a 144-117 loss to Miami. He finished the game with 20 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

Ball leads the Hornets in all three categories through their first four games with averages of 26.3 points, 9.5 assists and 8.3 rebounds.

Charlotte hosts the Orlando Magic on Thursday night.

Oct. 30 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate is meeting Thursday to vote on various bills, though the House-passed bill to reopen the government is not on the agenda.

Thursday is Day 30 of the federal government shutdown with votes scheduled for 11:45 a.m. EDT. Democrats are holding out for funding for marketplace health insurance plans, and Republicans want to continue without the funding, leading to the 30-day impasse. The longest government shutdown in history was 34 days.

The Senate has voted on the funding bill 13 times.

The Senate will first look at a resolution on the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska involving lease sales of land. The second is on a bill sponsored by Democrats that confronts the use of an emergency declaration that President Donald Trump used to create tariffs.

A report released Thursday from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the federal government shutdown has cost businesses that contract with the government $12 billion in the first four weeks.

The Chamber is sending the report to members of Congress. It says that 65,000 small businesses are losing about $3 billion per week. Those businesses include providers of high-tech machinery, office supplies, and landscaping services, the report said.

“The Chamber is again calling on Congress to immediately pass the continuing resolution to reopen and fund the government,” Neil Bradley, the Chamber’s executive vice president and chief policy officer, wrote in a letter to Congress. “We also urge Congress to consider ways to help make federal contractors, especially small business contractors, whole.”

The Senate this week passed resolutions to block Trump’s tariffs on Brazil and Canada, which were approved with the backing of some Republicans. The bills aren’t expected to make it through the House of Representatives.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Wednesday that bipartisan discussions on opening the government have “picked up,” saying there’s a “higher level of conversation.”

“But there are a lot of rank-and-file members that continue, I think, to want to pursue solutions and be able to address the issues they care about, including healthcare, which … we’re willing to do, but it obviously is contingent upon them opening up the government,” Thune said.

“The open-enrollment period is beginning on Saturday and tragically the Republicans have won their battle to increase health care costs on the American people. That is the result of the position that they’ve taken in this negotiation. Now we know that the American people’s health care costs are going to go up because the Republican Party in Washington is refusing to extend the Obamacare tax credits,” The Hill reported Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., said. Bennet is a member of the Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over health insurance tax subsidies.

The Trump administration has said it’s against extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies. Trump has falsely claimed that undocumented immigrants use them. People here without proper documentation are not eligible for health insurance under the ACA, according to the federal healthcare.gov website.

Oct. 26 (UPI) — President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could “consummate” the TikTok deal announced last month this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

“We reached a final deal on TikTok. We reached one in Madrid, and I believe that as of today, all the details are ironed out, and that will be for the two leaders to consummate that transaction on Thursday in Korea,” Bessent said in an interview Sunday morning on “Face the Nation.”

Trump had signed an executive order in late September to complete a deal estimated at $14 billion that would create a U.S. entity to control TikTok, with American investors owning 80% of the company and its parent company ByteDance maintaining less than 20%.

It would satisfy an April 2024 law passed by Congress in the Biden administration requiring ByteDance to divest from the company or the platform would be banned for some 170 million U.S. users.

The president said at the time that the deal was approved by Xi in a phone conversation.

Bessent did not provide new details of the deal in the interview Sunday.

“My remit was to get the Chinese to agree to approve the transaction, and I believe we successfully accomplished that over the past two days,” Bessent said.

The White House said at the time the executive order was signed that the federal government would not play a role in selecting members for TikTok’s board. And when asked if the platform would begin to favor “MAGA” content, Trump responded it will be fair.

“If I could make it 100% MAGA I would but it’s not going to work out that way unfortunately,” Trump said. “Everyone is going to be treated fairly. Every group, every philosophy will be treated fairly.”

A number of academic studies have shown that TikTok already “tends to lean toward right-wing content, with right-wing praise being a significant predictor of user engagement.”

A look at the top performers from high school football across the Southland during Week 9.

RUSHING

• Dean Gibson, Corona Centennial: Rushed for 183 yards and four touchdowns in win over Norco.

• Eli Robinson, Tustin: Rushed for 187 yards and two touchdowns in win over Western.

• Gaven Zamora, North Hollywood: Rushed for 119 yards in nine carries and scored two touchdowns in win over Chavez.

• Radley Geiss, Dana Hills: Rushed for 237 yards and five touchdowns in loss to Laguna Beach.

• Ethan Mundt, Troy: Gained 184 yards and scored three touchdowns in win over Irvine.

• Journee Tonga, Leuzinger: Rushed for 195 yards and one touchdown, passed for 73 yards and two touchdowns in win over Mira Costa.

• Jeremiah Watson, Murrieta Valley: Rushed for 199 yards in loss to Vista Murrieta.

PASSING

• Dominick Catalano, Corona Centennial: Passed for 331 yards and three touchdowns in win over Norco.

• Julian Medina, Norco: Passed for 384 yards and six touchdowns in loss to Corona Centennial.

• Jack Hurst, Laguna Beach: Passed for 387 yards and five touchdowns in win over Dana Hills.

• Luke Fahey, Mission Viejo: Passed for 361 yards and two touchdowns, ran for one touchdown in win over Edison.

• Taylor Lee, Oxnard Pacifica: Passed for 375 yards and two touchdowns in win over Simi Valley.

• Seth Solorio, San Pedro: Passed for four touchdowns, ran for one touchdown in win over Gardena.

• Chris Fields, Carson: Had six touchdown passes in win over Narbonne.

• Michael Gonzalez, South Gate: Passed for 305 yards and five touchdowns in win over Huntington Park.

• Jack Thomas, Palisades: Passed for 421 yards and seven touchdowns in win over Hamilton.

• Koa Malau’ulu, St. John Bosco: Passed for 219 yards and three touchdowns in win over Servite.

• Thaddeus Breaux, Hamilton: Passed for 382 yards and three touchdowns in loss to Palisades.

RECEIVING

• Blake Wong, Norco: Caught 14 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns in win over Corona Centennial.

• Kristian Leslie, Hamilton: Made 10 catches in loss to Palisades, giving him 98 receptions, breaking the City Section record for most catches in a regular season.

• Elyjah Staples, Marquez: Made four touchdown catches, ran for a touchdown and had two sacks and two fumble recoveries in win over Manual Arts.

• Thomas Jones, Long Beach Wilson: Caught four passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns in win over Long Beach Jordan.

• Jaxson Rex, San Clemente: Caught nine passes for 112 yards and three touchdowns in win over Los Alamitos.

• Jack Junker, Mission Viejo: Caught 10 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns in win over Edison.

• Anthony Jacobs Jr., Oxnard Pacifica: Had five catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns in win over Simi Valley.

• Demare Dezeurn, Palisades: Caught nine passes for 172 yards and four touchdowns in win over Hamilton.

DEFENSE

• Jaden Walk-Green, Corona Centennial: Scored his fifth touchdown of the season on defense by returning a fumble in win over Norco.

• Joshua Kerst, San Clemente: Had three sacks in win over Los Alamitos.

• Jack Norman, Dana Hills: Had interception and recovered a fumble on onside kick in loss to Laguna Beach.

• Brennan Martinez, Vista Murrieta: Had two touchdowns on interception returns in win over Murrieta Valley.

• Nick Yakubik, Palos Verdes: Had two interceptions in win over Inglewood.

• Duvay Williams, Gardena Serra: Returned interception for touchdown in win over Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

SPECIAL TEAMS

• DJ Parker, Hamilton: Returned a kickoff 81 yards for touchdown vs. Palisades.

• Jack Strosnider, Mira Costa: Blocked a punt and scored touchdown in loss to Leuzinger.

• Carter Sobel, Sierra Canyon: Made field goals from 25 and 43 yards in win over Bishop Amat.

MEXICO CITY — The United States slapped sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Friday and said it was sending a massive aircraft carrier to the waters off South America, a new escalation of what the White House has described as a war against drug traffickers in the region. Also Friday, the U.S. military conducted its 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat, killing six people in the Caribbean Sea.

The Treasury Department said it was sanctioning Petro, his wife, his son and a political associate for failing to stop the flow of cocaine to the United States, noting that cocaine production in Colombia has risen in recent years. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused Petro of “poisoning Americans.”

Petro denied those claims in a statement on X, saying he has fought to combat drug trafficking for decades. He said it was “quite a paradox” to be sanctioned by a country with high rates of cocaine consumption.

The sanctions put Petro in the same category as the leaders of Russia and North Korea and limit his ability to travel to the United States. They mark a new low for relations between Colombia and the United States, which until recently were strong allies, sharing military intelligence, a robust trade relationship and a multibillion-dollar fight against drug trafficking.

Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior analyst for the Andes region at the International Crisis Group, a think tank, said that while Petro and the U.S. government have had disagreements over how to tackle trafficking — with the Americans more interested in eradicating coca fields and Colombians focused on cocaine seizures — the two countries have been working for decades toward the same goal.

“To suggest that Colombia is not trying is false and disingenuous,” Dickinson said. “If the U.S. has a partner in counternarcotics in Latin America, it’s Colombia. Colombian forces have been working hand in hand with the Americans for literally four decades. They are the best, most capable and frankly most willing partner the U.S. has in the region.

“If the U.S. were to cut this relationship, it would really be the U.S. shooting themselves in the foot.”

Many viewed the sanctions as punishment for Petro’s criticism of Trump. In recent days, Petro has accused the U.S. of murder, saying American strikes on alleged drug boats lack legal justification and have killed civilians. He has also accused the U.S. of building up its military in South America in an attempt to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The quickened pace of U.S. airstrikes in the region and the unusually large buildup of military force in the Caribbean Sea have fueled those speculations.

On Friday, a Pentagon official said the U.S. ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to deploy to U.S. Southern Command to “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States.”

The USS Ford is currently deployed to the Mediterranean Sea along with three destroyers. It would probably take several days for the ships to make the journey to South America.

The White House has increasingly drawn a direct comparison between the war on terrorism that the U.S. declared after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Trump administration’s crackdown on drug traffickers.

Trump this month declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and said the U.S. was in an “armed conflict” with them, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration after 9/11.

When reporters asked Trump on Thursday whether he would request that Congress issue a declaration of war against the cartels, he said that wasn’t the plan.

“I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We’re going to kill them, you know? They’re going to be like, dead,” Trump said during a roundtable at the White House with Homeland Security officials.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A planned increase in federal immigration enforcement in the Bay Area is now on pause throughout the region and in major East Bay cities, not just in San Francisco, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said Friday.

Lee said in a statement that Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez had “confirmed through her communications” with federal immigration officials that the planned operations were “cancelled for the greater Bay Area — which includes Oakland — at this time.”

The announcement followed lingering concerns about ramped up immigration enforcement among East Bay leaders after President Trump and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced Thursday that a planned “surge” had been called off in San Francisco.

Trump and Lurie had very specifically addressed San Francisco, even as additional Border Patrol agents were being staged across the bay on Coast Guard Island, which is in the waters between Alameda and Oakland.

At a press conference following Trump’s annoucement about San Francisco, Lee had said the situation remained “fluid,” that she had received no such assurances about the East Bay and that Oakland was continuing to prepare for enhanced immigration enforcement in the region.

Alameda County Dist. Atty. Ursula Jones Dickson had previously warned that the announced stand down in San Francisco could be a sign the administration was looking to focus on Oakland instead — and make an example of it.

“We know that they’re baiting Oakland, and that’s why San Francisco, all of a sudden, is off the table,” Jones Dickson said Thursday morning. “So I’m not going to be quiet about what we know is coming. We know that their expectation is that Oakland is going to do something to cause them to make us the example.”

The White House on Friday directed questions about the scope of the pause in operations and whether it applied to the East Bay to the Department of Homeland Security, which referred The Times back to Trump’s statement about San Francisco on Friday — despite its making no mention of the East Bay or Oakland.

In that statement, posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump had written that a “surge” had been planned for San Francisco starting Saturday, but that he had called it off after speaking to Lurie.

Trump said Lurie had asked “very nicely” that Trump “give him a chance to see if he can turn it around” in the city, and that business leaders — including Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Marc Benioff of Salesforce — had expressed confidence in Lurie.

Trump said he told Lurie that it would be “easier” to make San Francisco safer if federal forces were sent in, but told him, “let’s see how you do.”

Lurie in recent days has touted falling crime rates and numbers of homeless encampments in the city, and said in his own announcement of the stand down that he had told Trump that San Francisco was “on the rise” and that “having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery.”

In California and elsewhere, the Trump administration has aggressively sought to expand the reach and authority of the Border Patrol and federal immigration agents. Last month, the DOJ fired its top prosecutor in Sacramento after she told Gregory Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, that he could not carry out indiscriminate immigration raids around Sacramento this summer.

In Oakland on Thursday, the planned surge in enforcement had sparked protests near the entrance to Coast Guard Island, and drew widespread condemnation from local liberal officials and immigrant advocacy organizations.

On Thursday night, security officers at the base opened fire on the driver of a U-Haul truck who was reversing the truck toward them, wounding the driver and a civilian nearby. The FBI is investigating that incident.

Some liberal officials had warned that federal agents who violated the rights of Californians could face consequences — even possible arrest — from local law enforcement, which drew condemnation from federal officials.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche responded with a scathing letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and others on Thursday in which he wrote that any attempt by local law enforcement to arrest federal officers doing their jobs would be viewed by the Justice Department as “both illegal and futile” and as part of a “criminal conspiracy.”

Blanche wrote that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution precludes any federal law enforcement official to be “held on a state criminal charge where the alleged crime arose during the performance of his federal duties,” and that the Justice Department would pursue legal action against any state officials who advocate for such enforcement.

“In the meantime, federal agents and officers will continue to enforce federal law and will not be deterred by the threat of arrest by California authorities who have abdicated their duty to protect their constituents,” Blanche wrote.

The threat of arrest for federal officers had originated in part with San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins, who had written on social media that if federal agents “come to San Francisco and illegally harass our residents … I will not hesitate to do my job and hold you accountable just like I do other violators of the law every single day.”

Shaquille O’Neal said he’s “ashamed” of the people involved in the gambling scandal that rocked the NBA on Thursday.

Charles Barkley called two of the individuals involved in the matter “stupid.”

Kenny Smith said the situation is “super unfortunate.”

One day after the “Inside the NBA” crew made its ESPN debut, the three analysts, as well as host Ernie Johnson, had a huge story to discuss that had little to do with the actual game of basketball.

On Thursday morning, federal prosecutors unsealed two indictments that outlined separate schemes to rig sports bets and poker games. More than 30 people were arrested, including former Clippers player and current Portland head coach Chauncey Billups, who was charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games run by Mafia families.

Also arrested were Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, who is accused of being part of a scheme to provide private insider NBA information to help others profit from online bets, and retired player Damon Jones, who has been charged with taking part in both schemes.

“All these guys knew what was at stake, and I’m just ashamed that they put themselves and put their family and put the NBA in this position,” O’Neal said during Thursday’s broadcast. “We all know the rules. We all know the letter of the law. And it’s just unfortunate — you know, innocent till proven guilty, but usually when the FBI has something, they have you.”

He added: “I know Chauncey. I know Damon very well, played with Damon. … I’m ashamed that those guys will put their families and their careers in jeopardy. There’s an old saying in the hood, all money ain’t good money. So if you’re making $9 million, like, how much more do you need? Especially if you know you get caught, you can do jail time, lose your career, put a bad image on yourself or your family or on the NBA.”

Smith pointed out that “gambling is an addiction which could make you make illogical decisions,” but Barkley interjected his opinion that addiction had nothing to do with the decision Jones and Rozier made to help others make fraudulent bets.

“This ain’t got nothing to do with addiction. These dudes are stupid,” Barkley said. “Why are they stupid? You under no circumstances can you fix basketball games. Under no circumstances. … Like, Rozier makes $26 million. Him betting, giving people information or taking himself out of games — how much is he going to benefit taking himself out the game to get unders?”

Barkley added: “You can’t fix ball games. Like I said, this is separate from Chauncey, but the notion that guys are making all this money and giving information — come on, man, stop that. That got nothing to do with addiction. That’s just total stupidity on these two dudes parts.”

Billups — a five-time All-Star who was the 2004 NBA Finals MVP as a member of the Detroit Pistons and is in his fifth season as Portland’s coach — and 10-year NBA veteran Rozier were placed on immediate leave, the league announced Thursday.

Billups’ attorney issued a statement Thursday night strongly denying the allegations against his client.

“Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity,” attorney Chris Heywood said. “Men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others.”

Jones played three seasons with LeBron James on the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005 to 2008 and was an assistant coach during the Lakers star‘s second stint in Cleveland. In one of the indictments, prosecutors allege Jones was an unofficial coach with the Lakers from 2022 to 2023 when he used inside information for sports betting.

The hosts got into the end zone on each of their opening two drives, with Herbert making an eight-yard touchdown pass to Oronde Gadsden II before Kimani Vidal, who finished with 117 rushing yards, punched in his first NFL touchdown from three yards.

Herbert then launched a 27-yard pass to the corner for Ladd McConkey to help make it 21-3 at half-time, but the Chargers quarterback gave up his only interception midway through the third quarter.

The Vikings took advantage, with Carson Wentz finding Jordan Addison at the back of the end zone to make it 24-10, but the hosts emphasised their dominance with a Tre’ Harris touchdown and two field goals in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings are now 3-4 and Wentz struggled on his fifth start in place of the injured JJ McCarthy, throwing for 144 yards, one touchdown and one interception while being sacked five times.

McCarthy has been out with a high ankle sprain suffered in week two but head coach Kevin O’Connell hopes the second-year quarterback can return next week, when the Vikings face a tough game at divisional rivals the Detroit Lions.

“If JJ is healthy, JJ will play,” said O’Connell. “I believe we’re right around the corner from seeing him be healthy, have a week of preparation and go compete.”