Commenters who never have been — and never will go — complain about the cost, the influencers, the hype. Purists wax poetic about the days when they disappeared into three days of music and the field wasn’t overtaken by brands like Barbie and e.l.f. cosmetics. Defenders claim they can camp their way to an affordable weekend, and others spend the whole time posting. A select few even talk about great performances they saw — it’s still a music festival.
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But one thing everybody can agree on: Coachella has changed. I should know. I’ve been covering it as a journalist since 2007.
Rapid advancements in technology and mass adoption of social media have brought out the best and worst of the festival — not just on screens thousands of miles away, but to those of us trying not to trip over the makeshift photoshoot you might have seen on Instagram.
In the early years, there were no brand activations on the field; nobody knew what an influencer was and the only corporate sign you saw was for Heineken in the beer gardens. (There was no Heineken House with its own stage, just signs advertising the beer.)
The grounds were also considerably smaller, making it easier to explore the different stages and discover new music. You didn’t have fancy food options, but a slice of Spicy Pie was less than $10. (Coachella upgraded its food options from festival staples to weekend outposts of L.A. restaurants in 2014.)
The music was the draw. The festival’s track record includes artists like the Killers, the Black Keys, Childish Gambino and Kendrick Lamar climbing up from small type to headliner on the lineup poster.
Livestreams and influencers made Coachella’s reach global
The vibes started to shift in 2010 as smartphones grew in popularity, although the service on the field was spotty. It was the first year Coachella offered a livestream — available via Facebook and MySpace. The next year, the stream moved to YouTube, where it remains and draws millions of viewers.
As Coachella expanded to twin weekends due to popular demand on the ground in 2012, it also had the first viral moment fans could enjoy from thousands of miles away: Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg brought 2Pac back to life via a hologram.
Celebrities were always at Coachella (I spotted Ryan Seacrest, Corbin Bernsen, David Hasselhoff and Danny DeVito in my early years), but the rise of social media made celebrity culture a key part of the event. By 2011, TMZ was posting about stars like Lindsay Lohan. Clips from Coachella went viral and ended up on shows like “Tosh.0” and referenced in “Community.”
The art, which was always part of the festival, became bigger and more iconic. On the growing photo app Instagram, larger-than-life sculptures of astronauts started appearing in selfies.
Brands saw an opportunity. American Express, H&M and Samsung launched activations on-site in 2015. The party scene outside the festival, with non-affiliated events that were timed because everyone was in town for Coachella, became marketing vehicles. Brands are still cashing in more than a decade later.
The next watershed moment was Beyoncé in 2018. Today, most headlining sets at the fest feel as if they are designed for the viewing experience on the livestream rather than the fans on the field (ahem, Justin Bieber and his laptop). But Beyoncé’s spectacle was just as mind-blowing on-site as it was at home. A year later, the “Homecoming” special debuted on Netflix, widening the reach.
Coachella became a key part of the pop culture landscape, and then it became a cornerstone of the influencer economy.
Behind all the hype, there’s still a music festival hiding
I inadvertently photobombed approximately 500 people just trying to go to and from the press tent last weekend and my inbox is overflowing with requests for coverage of off-site events with brands, celebs and TikTok influencers, including social media clips.
Coachella is what you make of it. And besides, everyone knows there are fewer influencers on Weekend 2.
Today’s top stories
A health worker administers a measles test on Fernando Tarin, of Seagraves, Texas, at a mobile testing site outside Seminole Hospital District on Feb. 21, 2025.
The Automated People Mover system began construction in 2019 and was initially slated to open to the public in 2023.
Nationwide recall of a popular anxiety drug
Specific bottles of Xanax, one of the most widely prescribed medications to treat anxiety and panic disorders, has been recalled due to its failure to dissolve at a standard rate.
FDA officials are not warning against consuming the product at this time.
What else is going on
Commentary and opinions
This morning’s must-read
Another must-read
For your downtime
Reporter Deborah Vankin gets a massage by an “Aescape” robot at Pause Wellness Studio.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Going out
Staying in
A question for you: Are you planning on leaving California for another state? If so, tell us why.
Laura says, “I left California during the pandemic. Part of the push factor for me was politics, but not blue politics. I had been living in OC since 2018 and was surprised it was so Conservative (and conservative). That became a bigger source of discomfort for me as the vaccine question demonstrated how our neighbors’ decisions can impact us directly. Rather than moving elsewhere in California, which would have sorted out the political discomfort nicely, I moved to a much more affordable state where I had family.”
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff reporter Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Andrew Campa, weekend writer Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
Americans could be forgiven if they’re unaware that President Trump recently performed one of his most essential tasks and sent his annual budget request to Congress, though months late and stunningly incomplete.
After all, so much else has been dominating the news lately: the Mideast war that Trump promised not to start. Price rises he’d vowed to end. His repeatedinsults of Pope Leo XIV. His portraying himself as Jesus Christ, then lying about having done so. An incompetent attorney general to fire. And the president’s actual priorities — plans for a $400-million White House ballroomand a massive “Triumphal Arch” nearby!
It’s a lot.
Once again, as in Trump’s first term, the public and press are inattentive to the nation’s fiscal health relative to past years. But that reflects the president’s own disengagement with reconciling spending and revenue — this from a president many Americans voted for based on his purported prowess as a businessman. For decades back to Ronald Reagan’s time, so-called deficit wars in Washington were a big story. Now, even Republicans in Congress complain of Trump’s absence from the fiscal fray as they struggle to belatedly finish this year’s budget work that was due last fall, and to end a weeks-old partial government shutdown, before turning to the budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
Yet it’s worth paying attention to U.S. budgets even if Trump won’t, for the sake of our children and grandchildren who’ll inherit the bills. In one document, a federal budget reflects the nation’s priorities. And these days, in the perennial guns-versus-butter debate, Trump has made his feelings all too plain.
“We’re fighting wars,” he told a group at the White House on April Fools’ Day. “We can’t take care of day care … Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.”
Forget that Trump swore to end wars. Or that last year, long before he went to war against Iran, he cut $1 trillion over 10 years from Medicaid and other healthcare programs in his misnamed “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Yes, budgets can be boring, especially to a president with a famously short attention span. Trump and many of us Americans are distracted constantly by all the shiny objects he throws at the national consciousness by his words, acts and social media postings at all hours.
Yet the budgetary trend is clear to anyone bothering to look: As president, Trump is once again exacerbating the nation’s unsustainable course of piling up debt. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, among other credible sources, debt is now approaching the highest level in U.S. history, which was reached during World War II. It already surpasses the size of the entire economy and threatens higher borrowing costs and reduced investments.
For all the achievements Trump likes to claim — ending eight wars in a year! — here’s one that’s real: He is on a path to break his own record for the most debt in a single presidential term, $8.4 trillion in Trump 1.0, which was nearly double the increase under President Biden.
Need further proof of Trump’s brazen mendacity? Of course you don’t, but here it is: In the face of the well-documented budget record, Trump declared both this year and last year to a joint session of Congress, on national television, that he would balance the federal budget —“overnight,” he said in February.
The inequitable tax cuts and big spending increases for the military and immigration crackdowns that Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress enacted last year are significantly greater than in his first term, and are driving up the debt despite Republicans’ deep healthcare cuts. Just months after Trump took office, the ratings firm Moody’s downgraded the nation’s sterling credit rating for the first time in more than a century.
And now, in his new budget request, Trump seeks to inflate military spending from under $1 trillion when he regained office to $1.5 trillion, for the biggest year-to-year increase in military budgets since World War II.
This fiscal irresponsibility is happening at the worst possible time. For the last quarter of the 20th century, presidents and Congresses of both parties annually debated how to reduce deficits and several times reached consequential multi-year deals, culminating during the second Clinton term in four straight years of surpluses. (Those surpluses ended — wait for it — with Republicans’ tax cuts and war spending during the George W. Bush administration.)
Politicians back then were moved not just by the deficits of their time — deficits that, as a share of the economy, were less than half what they are now. They also were responding to experts’ warnings of a demographic tsunami by the 2020s: With the aging of the huge baby-boomer population, spending for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid would greatly increase even as the workforce whose payroll taxes support those programs shrank. Today the number of people 65 or older is almost three times what it was 50 years ago, and rising.
This reckoning is upon us, though you wouldn’t know it as Trump keeps calling for cutting revenue and spending more for lawless wars, immigration raids and monuments to himself. Barring bipartisan action, in 2033 Social Security’s retirement fund and Medicare’s hospital fund will no longer be able to cover beneficiaries’ full claims, according to their trustees’ annual report, necessitating reduced benefits or shifts of money from other worthy programs.
Trump did put Vice President JD Vance in charge of a “war on fraud.” But that holds about as much promise as Elon Musk’s fiscal fiasco — remember DOGE? — that cost money instead of cutting $2 trillion as promised.
Like other problems, Trump likely will leave the fiscal follies to his successor, who, should he or she win two terms, would preside as Social Security and Medicare become insolvent. I’ve yet to hear any of the early 2028 presidential aspirants — or Trump — address or be asked about that.
For the second time in two weeks, President Trump used that phrase in a post about the Israel-U.S. war against Iran.
Crowing about the alleged destruction of Iran’s planes, ships and bases in a Truth Social post Saturday, he emphasized his greatest victory in the monthlong campaign: “Most importantly, their longtime ‘Leaders’ are no longer with us, praise be to Allah!”
Making sense of anything Trump says in the heat of posting is a fool’s errand, but it’s also entirely necessary. Sane wash his words we must, because no matter how unhinged or infantile, the world’s safety, fortunes and future are inextricably tied to America’s next move, and therefore to his next move.
So what is Trump trying to communicate, or provoke, by using the Arabic word for God, as Muslims do? Let’s translate.
The first and most likely explanation: “Praise be to Allah” was meant to disparage his adversaries in the Islamic Republic of Iran. They are Muslim, they refer to God as “Allah,” therefore, he will turn their phrasing against them. Word bombs to accompany the deadly ones falling in Iran and Lebanon.
All leaders deploy tough talk in times of war, but Trump’s posts read more like the feverish ramblings of mad Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) in “Apocalypse Now” — “You’re an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill” — than Winston Churchill’s galvanizing call to arms against the Nazis, “We shall fight on the beaches…”
Unlike the fictional Kurtz or the real Churchill, Trump has no military experience. He avoided the Vietnam War draft with four student deferments and one medical deferment for bone spurs. An area where he is experienced? Baiting foes. Antagonizing enemies, genuine or imagined, is a Trump specialty, be it from the Oval Office, on the campaign trail, or in the before times, as a reality TV personality.
Painting Muslims as the Other is nothing new for Trump, (unless they come bearing luxury airliners as gifts — then they’re friends). The same goes for others in his party. Since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) posted that Muslims don’t belong in American society. Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) wrote, “We need more Islamophobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational.” And Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) reposted an image of the Twin Towers burning side by side with an image of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, with his own caption: “The enemy is inside the gates.”
The president’s first usage of “Praise be to Allah” as a middle finger to Iran landed on a Christian holy day, Easter Sunday. He posted a demand that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz: “Open the F— Strait, you crazy b—, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” Hardly messaging that brings to mind Easter egg hunts on the White House lawn.
If the idea was to humiliate Iran into submission, it’s not working. Iran doesn’t appear to be backing down, even after Trump’s week-ago threat that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if it failed to meet his deadline to reopen the strait. The critical global shipping route is still closed. Trump didn’t appear all that interested in the art of the deal, either, even as Vice President JD Vance tried and failed to negotiate with Iranian leaders in Pakistan on Saturday. The president told reporters that he didn’t “care” what happens with Iran negotiations because “regardless what happens, we win.” He also said, “Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me.” He was seen later in Miami at an Ultimate Fighting Championship cage match with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Making the Allah references all the stranger were Trump’s other religious-themed posts this past weekend. One was a lengthy screed against Pope Leo XIV, whom Trump described as too liberal and “weak on crime.” It’s worth noting that more than half of American Catholics voted for Trump in the last election, and that his vice president is Catholic, as is the secretary of State and the first lady.
The other was a stand-alone, AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure. It showed the 79-year-old clad in a white robe and papal-red cape, a divine light emanating from the palm of one hand while the other hand was placed on an ailing man. The post was deleted Monday morning after a sizable backlash.
“I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker there, which we support,” Trump said, responding to a reporter Monday during a presser at the White House as DoorDash delivered an order from McDonald’s to promote the president’s “no tax on tips” policy.
There was no mention of Allah during that particular event.
Reaching his father’s time will be hugely challenging – some might say impossible.
“Most people who know swimming will be like, ‘he has no chance’,” Adam says. “But I want to try.”
But Adam says the 12 months ahead are about more than strokes, leg kicks, minutes and seconds.
Having not swam seriously since he was 18, he only got back into the sport after his father’s death to “feel connected to him” as he grieved.
Adam hopes to travel to some of the pools his father swam in, including in Sri Lanka – where David was born to Scottish parents, in Scotland itself, Miami and even Montreal.
He will also raise money for Sports Aid, who help support youngsters with the expense that come with chasing sporting dreams, and take advice from his dad’s former team-mates.
“Doing this challenge has allowed me to go back through his life,” Adam says.
“My dad retired at 22, long before I came along, so it’s a part of his life that I didn’t necessarily know that much about.
“I’m hoping I’ve got a lot of his swimming genes, so we’ll see as the year unfolds.
“I want this story to demonstrate how amazing swimmers are, how hard this sport is and how much effort, time and work these guys and girls put in to get to where they are.
After the first direct talks in decades, Israel and Lebanon have agreed to begin ongoing negotiations for the ‘security of both countries’. Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna explains why US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sees this ‘milestone’ meeting as just the ‘start of the process’.
Alex Cooper just asked Alix Earle what many extremely online people are wondering: “What’s the beef?”
Rumors of a feud between Cooper, the 31-year-old host of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, and Earle, the 25-year-old mega-famous influencer, have been circulating for some time, but this week Cooper addressed the conflict online in a video that invited Earle to finally air out the dirty laundry.
Cooper said in a TikTok video Monday that she was embarrassed responding to the internet-fueled drama, but after being inundated with tags, comments and direct messages, she decided making a statement was long overdue.
“Alix Earle, hey girl, the passive-aggressive reposts and the likes and the commenting on things. I gotta call you out here,” Cooper said. “You’re gonna need to get specific and just say what you gotta say about me. There’s no NDA, no one is stopping you. Stop hiding behind other people, and just say it yourself. What’s the beef?”
Cooper continued that she was tired of waking up and seeing Earle using “fake drama to distract” and that she’s not interested in participating. “I know what happened, and so do you,” she said. “So talk, unless the fake narrative that you’re creating happens to be way more interesting than the truth, I have nothing to hide when it comes to you and me.”
While the cryptic video confirmed the beef, Cooper still didn’t offer any explanation as to what initially caused the turmoil between them. But thanks to internet culture, there are theories, and receipts to back them. The ball is now in Earle’s court.
August 2023
Cooper launched the Unwell Network, a Gen-Z-focused media company spotlighting “unique voices that embrace social challenges and personal insecurities through honest conversation.” One of the first big names to sign with Unwell was Earle, who, according to Cooper at the time, has a unique presence that captivates audiences.
“I feel honored to be at a place in my career where I can pass along knowledge and advice for a new generation of creators to flourish,” Cooper said in a statement.
February 2025
Online speculation that there may be a feud between Cooper and Earle picked up when Earle didn’t attend Unwell’s Super Bowl party in New Orleans, even though she was reportedly in the Big Easy at the time with her friends and then-boyfriend, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Braxton Berrios.
February 2025
Weeks after Earle was MIA at Unwell’s Super Bowl shindig, Variety reported that the production company dropped Earle’s “Hot Mess” podcast. Sources told Variety that SiriusXM would no longer sell ads for Earle’s show and that the Unwell Network renounced all rights to “Hot Mess” so that Earle would be able to “freely explore future opportunities.”
A few days after news dropped that “Hot Mess” was nixed, Earle posted a TikTok update responding to the chatter online about her work saying she also had “no idea what’s going on.”
March 2025
Earle posted an update to TikTok regarding the future of “Hot Mess.”
“I have to put a pause on podcasting right now for the foreseeable future,” she said. “Don’t really want to get into the details of it all, and I kind of can’t get into the details of it all right now, but I’ve loved it so, so much, and I’m really proud of what I built with the podcast.” Earle added that she would be pivoting to vlogging for the foreseeable future.
May 2025
The Wall Street Journal published a feature on Earle, writing that the relationship between the influencer and her podcast network had unraveled. Earle told the outlet, “That was, behind the scenes, a little bit of a hot mess.”
“We have plans to bring things back, elevate things,” she said of the show. “It might look a little different, but I’m excited to see what we do with it.”
August 2025
Earle seems to be in the mood for revenge. “My Co–Star told me that I can start…today. I mean, is this my time that I’ve been waiting for to go? I have so much information. We could go,” she said, referring to her horoscope, in a TikTok video as she sipped an iced coffee. “I think I’m losing my mind … but I wake up every day, and I’m like, ‘What should I do, Co-Star?’ And today, it’s like, ‘Revenge. Let’s go get ’em.’”
In the comment section, one fan replied to egg on the content creator, “Yes, tell us what happened with Alex Cooper thank you.”
Earle quipped back, “How much time do you have?”
October 2025
Cooper returns the slight with an Instagram post promoting an Unwell event in Las Vegas that seemingly mocked Earle’s performance on “Dancing With the Stars” by using the same song — “Circus” by Britney Spears — and including a caption that began, “How much time do you have? Cause we could go all night … “
April 2026
Earle reposts a TikTok video that likens Cooper to the grim reaper. The post describes Cooper as an ambulance chaser who preys on people who have just gone through a horrific accident so she can get the exclusive.
April 2026
Cooper catches wind of Earle’s repost and finally addresses the beef in the aforementioned TikTok, telling Earle to “Just say it yourself. What’s the beef?” Earle responded by reposting Cooper’s video with the comment, “Okay on it!!”
Since Earle and Cooper took their fight to the internet streets this week, speculation has flooded social media. Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports who first put “Call Her Daddy” on the map in 2018, also weighed in.
On Monday’s episode of the “Chicks in the Office” podcast, Portnoy, who knows the feuding women well, said that while there have been rumors of jealousy between the women, he thinks the feud stems from conflicting business interests and contract disputes.
“I think people know this about Alex Cooper at this point — she’s a savage,” he said. “She’s a businesswoman, boss lady, savage.”
But will prying eyes across the interwebs ever learn the whole story? It’s anyone’s guess.
Ye, the controversial rapper formerly known as Kanye West, faces more legal backlash amid his latest efforts to mount a comeback.
The Grammy-winning “Bully” and “All of the Lights” musician, 48, has been accused of battery and intentional inflection of distress in a lawsuit submitted Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. An alleged altercation in April 2024 involving Ye and a man — identified in court documents as John Doe — is at the core of the complaint. The civil suit, reviewed by The Times, accuses Ye of punching Doe in the face and repeatedly punching him while he was unconscious, leading Doe to suffer “serious” physical injuries, incur medical expenses and experience a blow to his professional reputation.
Doe seeks a jury trial and is suing for an unspecified amount in damages including loss of earnings.
A representative for Ye did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The complaint resurfaces allegations that Ye punched a man in the late evening of April 16, 2024, in West Hollywood. At the time, TMZ reported the “Vultures” musician got physical after the unnamed man allegedly grabbed his wife, Bianca Censori, at Chateau Marmont. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that officers had responded to the 8200 block of Sunset Boulevard at around 12:30 a.m. for a “battery investigation” but did not confirm the suspect’s identity. A representative for Ye at the time denied the rapper was a suspect in the battery case and claimed in an email that “police aren’t even investigating.”
The complaint describes the unidentified plaintiff as someone whose business relies on “personal reputation, professional relationships, and public perceptions.” Ye’s accuser is also willing to disclose his identity, the filing said, under “an appropriate protective order,” though numerous outlets reported on the victim’s suspected identity around the original incident two years ago.
According to the suit, the altercation began when Ye approached the plaintiff’s table and punched him in the face, knocking the accuser “to the ground where he hit his head and lost consciousness.” Ye allegedly proceeded to “repeatedly” punch the man as he lay on the ground, the complaint says. The plaintiff said he did nothing to provoke the rapper’s “cowardly” attack, adding that the musician “acted with malice and oppression.”
The lawsuit alleges Ye fled the scene to the protection of his security detail, leaving his accuser injured on the floor. After the incident, Ye also allegedly “falsely” accused the plaintiff of inappropriate behavior toward a woman in his party. Ye then allegedly “embellished” his claims against the plaintiff during his appearance on a “widely viewed” podcast, though the lawsuit does not explicitly name the program.
“These false statements were republished and circulated widely across social media platforms,” the lawsuit says, “exposing Plaintiff to public scorn, suspicion, and ridicule.”
In a footnote, the plaintiff clarified that his brother was also present at the time of the incident and that neither of them engaged in inappropriate conduct toward the unidentified woman. The lawsuit also mentioned the existence of video from the scene of the alleged attack.
The lawsuit said the plaintiff has suffered “severe emotional distress, including anxiety, humiliation, loss of standing in his community and harm to his professional relationships” as a result of his squabble with Ye.
The latest allegations against Ye come less than two weeks after he delivered his first full live performance in Los Angeles since 2021 at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium on April 3. Notably, Ye fell out of public favor in recent years for a number antisemitic controversies including threatening violence to Jewish people on social media and selling T-shirts emblazoned with swastikas. He issued an apology for the scandals in January, taking out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal that attributed his behavior to his bipolar disorder.
Every time a woman comes forward with her story of sexual assault, this is the first question she faces. OK, maybe the second — after some variation of “Are you a lying slut?”
At least we are consistent. But on behalf of all survivors everywhere, of any gender, identity or age, let me give you some blanket answers to “Why now?”
Survivors come forward now, whenever now is, because they have reached the point in their recovery when facing the inevitable “lying slut” accusation is less terrible than watching their abuser strut around as if that person is not a dangerous, cruel predator who is almost certainly going to hurt someone else if they are not stopped.
Whether it’s in Congress, on a movie set, in the halls of their school — wherever that predator is just living their life without consequence — there is a survivor who has been cowering in the shadows of her own life, in pain, wanting to scream to the world that this person is not what they seem.
But the price of that honesty has always been steep. Too steep. Even after #MeToo.
Even powerful women can’t escape the blowback, the fear. Even powerful women are steamrolled over and over again by the overwhelming presumption that they are lying, and there is an ulterior motive for coming forward at this particular moment.
Imagine just being an average person holding that secret. Who are any of us to stand up alone against a rich and powerful man whose very freedom will depend on crushing our credibility?
P. Diddy. Harvey Weinstein. Donald Trump. Cesar Chavez. Larry Nassar. Eric Swalwell.
Those men know power, and know how to use it.
“He thought he was untouchable. He acted with total impunity. He never thought that the consequences of his actions would follow him,” Ally Sammarco, one of the women who has spoken out about Swalwell (who has previously denied allegations of misconduct), told CBS.
It’s why the women of the Epstein files stayed silent for so long. It’s why there are thousands of rape survivors out there right now who have never said a word about what they endured, and maybe never will.
“Why now?” is just a more palatable version of “lying slut,” a question based on ignorance about how trauma — and society — works. A question meant not to elicit fact, but to feed the Jezebel frenzy men always use in their attempt to escape justice.
Here’s the truth about sexual assault: There is no right way to respond to it, no right time. There is no one reaction that proves it happened or that creates the perfect scenario that will protect the survivor’s reputation while delivering justice upon the predator. In fact, there is really no way at all to respond to a sexual assault that won’t bring secondary trauma.
Wait years and face disdain — that it didn’t happen, wasn’t serious, is only coming out now for some agenda, like politics or money.
Report it immediately and be prepared for every move, every smile, every sip of a drink, to be examined for signs that this was, if not consensual, somehow deserved — a gray area of shared responsibility.
Imagine, at a moment of crushing vulnerability, when your body has been violated and your mind is reeling trying to find safe ground, being bludgeoned by these accusations, stated or implied, that you brought this on yourself.
“Why now?” becomes “Why would you?”
Even when the scenario is one in which there can be no defense — such as the UCLA gynecologist, James Heaps, who on Tuesday pleaded guilty to sexually abusing five of his patients during exams — the cost of reporting is terrible. That case has wound on for years, leaving each of the victims to constantly relive their worst moments, constantly fear that all of their courage would come to nothing.
Which is why survivors don’t always come forward. Maybe they need time to put themselves back together, even just a little bit. Maybe the fear of all that societal scrutiny is just too much. Maybe they fear they won’t be believed, and their attacker will be free to harm them again.
Maybe they just want it to all go away. Maybe they do blame themselves, and are paralyzed by an unfounded shame.
There are so many reasons why survivors stay silent — and none of them are because it didn’t happen, or because they are lying.
So is “undecided” going to remain the leader in the race until voters are forced to fill in their ballots? Even Republicans, with the Trump-endorsed Steve Hilton and Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco as their main choices, can’t make up their minds.
Times columnists Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak ponder why the race is such a hot mess, who benefits from the Swalwell implosion, whether anyone will ever get excited about any of these candidates — and what all that means for the future of California.
Chabria: We are less than 50 days out from the primary on June 2 and somehow this race remains both boring and unpredictable.
There’s lots of talk about whether the two remaining top Democratic candidates, former Rep. Katie Porter and billionaire investor Tom Steyer, will scoop up Swalwell’s supporters — or if a second-tier contender such as San José Mayor Matt Mahan, former state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra or ex-L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa may rise from the near-dead with a surprise surge.
With such a short amount of time and candidates who have already proved their lack of charisma, I’m worried that what happens next really comes down to money — which Steyer and Mahan have. Mahan’s tech-industry backers are already said to be lining up millions of dollars in ad buys to blitz his name and image on our consciousness in these final days, like a breakfast cereal we didn’t know we wanted to buy.
Ditto Steyer, though he’s got a much higher profile and backing from several key unions.
If Tom Steyer was some schmo named Tom Steinway without a vast fortune buoying his political ambitions, he wouldn’t be remotely in the running, much less talked about as one of the putative front-runners. As it is, Steyer has burned through the equivalent of a small country’s GDP and he’s still not cracking 15% in polls.
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, notwithstanding all those he’s managed to leverage through his wealth.
California has a long history of rejecting moneybag candidates. In fact, not one has ever been elected governor. That said, we’ve never seen a contest like this one — and that was before Swalwell’s candidacy went up in salacious smoke.
The closest parallel — absent that above-referenced self-immolation — was in 1998. Voters weren’t crazy about the two leading candidates, including a rich guy blasting them with a firehose of TV advertising, so they opted for the colorless guy running far back in the pack. (And yes, dear reader, Gray Davis was eventually recalled, but that came well after the fact.)
There’s a saying in Iowa, around its presidential caucuses. The secret is to organize, organize, organize and then get hot at the end. California, obviously, is not the kind of state you win by holding a million and one kaffeeklatsches. But the principle — lay the groundwork, then count on timing and good fortune — could apply here.
Who might that be? Mahan’s sudden cash gusher can’t hurt. But your guess is as good as mine.
Chabria: The thing about organizing is that for Democrats, much of that work is done by labor unions. They provide the people, the phone banks, the door knockers. The California Labor Federation this time around endorsed basically everybody (Swalwell, Steyer, Villaraigosa and Porter), giving none of the Democratic candidates an advantage.
In a rare move, the California Labor Federation and Service Employees International Union California pulled their endorsement of Swalwell, as have other unions after these allegations came out. But labor remains split among the other candidates (though Steyer seems to be gaining unions’ affections), a real problem when it comes to that kind of organizing.
It’s that division of real people power that makes me worry money will have even more influence this time around.
But also, there is the unknown. There’s chatter online that a famous or strong contender (Kamala? A celebrity?) could stage a last-minute write-in campaign. Although state law no longer allows a write-in for the general election, there’s a tiny window left for one in the primary. What do you think? Could someone new swoop in and excite the voters enough to go rogue?
He’s a rich real estate developer who quit the race in November after an unsung yearlong campaign. Upon exiting, he enthusiastically endorsed his close friend, Eric Swalwell.
Speaking with our colleague Seema Mehta, Cloobeck said he wished the Legislature would amend the state Constitution so he could file to reenter the governor’s race — a delusion right up there alongside President Trump comparing himself to Jesus.
Seriously, political gossips abhor a vacuum, so they fill it with all sorts of fantastical scenarios of candidates riding in on white horses and rescuing us from … what exactly?
I’ve been the rare voice arguing this governor’s race is not at all boring. Boring would have been Kamala Harris holding a commanding lead for the Democratic nomination and people speculating whether anyone could stop her. While this bunch of candidates won’t send laser light dancing across the darkened sky, there are plenty of quite capable people still in the running, unless you’re looking for someone to entertain and/or offer California four years of distraction and diversion.
And we’ve seen what putting a reality-TV star in the White House has gotten us.
Chabria: At the end of the day, or at least election day, this is a question of whom we trust with the future of California. Ultimately, that’s why this race is a hot mess — none of the candidates, Republican or Democrat, have offered a vision inspiring enough to make voters want to trust them with the next four or eight years.
To me, that’s the real failure here. I don’t think voters would mind boring at all, if it was dolled up with credibility and competence.
I agree with you that we don’t need another reality star in any elected office. And more than one of these candidates has the skills to run the state. But in an era of deceit, arrogance and flashy incompetence, voters do want someone they feel they can trust.
So far, none of the candidates have delivered that sense of security, that they are campaigning as a public servant — instead of the thirsty contender hoping for a rose.
So either someone steps up and earns the rose, or it goes to the top-two least-worst. The June primary is holding on to her secrets for now.
Barabak: You know me; always one to look on the bright side!
If you’re a Republican, the bright side is the long shot, but not impossible, prospect of Bianco and Hilton nabbing both spots on June 2. That would mean one of the two lands in the governor’s office in January, notwithstanding California’s overwhelmingly Democratic leaning.
For an unaffiliated voter and political noncombatant like me, a Californian who deeply cares about my home state, the bright side is this: At least people are finally paying attention to the governor’s race.
So dive in! You’ve got just under seven weeks to make up your mind.
Welcome back to The Times’ Lakers newsletter, where it’s finally the postseason.
The Lakers begin the playoffs Saturday against the Houston Rockets, a team that a month ago looked like one of the most vulnerable playoff targets in the West. Now the tables have turned. The Lakers, without Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic, are the team everyone wanted to see in the first round. They’re shorthanded. They’re vulnerable. But they’re not giving up.
“All season people have counted us out and all we season we have continued to show why we belong here and that we really don’t care what people say,” guard Marcus Smart said. “And that’s us. That’s who we are and I think it shows with our two guys down and the way we finished the season and the miles we had going into the playoffs.”
One player on this team has significantly more miles on his tread, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from watching him race down the court for another crowd-pleasing dunk.
All things Lakers, all the time.
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The crown still fits
LeBron James chuckled at the suggestion. He smiled before the question was done.
How does he feel like he’s handled the shift back to the being the Lakers’ primary option?
“What’s wrong with you, man?” James said with a smile.
He’s not new to this. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer is taking back the reins as the Lakers’ No. 1 playmaker and steering the team straight into the postseason.
Since Doncic and Reaves were injured, James has averaged 25.5 points, 11 assists, 6.8 rebounds and 2.5 steals, finishing the season with an exclamation point against the Utah Jazz: 18 points, six assists and three steals in less than 17 minutes Sunday. A month after acknowledging and adjusting to life as the world’s most accomplished third fiddle, James was named Western Conference player of the week Monday, the 70th such honor of his career.
“He had not a good season, not a great [season],” Lakers coach JJ Redick said, “he had a remarkable season, all things considered.”
Like the wine he’s cut out of his diet, James is aging just fine. After sitting out of the first 14 games, James played in 60 of the final 68. Even though he often joked that at his age he was questionable for every game, he averaged 23.3 points in his six appearances playing with zero days of rest, shooting 58% from the field with 8.3 assists and 6.7 rebounds per game. It was more points than he averaged on one or two days’ rest.
With Doncic orchestrating most of the Lakers’ offense, James found a different way to thrive. The 41-year-old led the league with 5.7 fast-break points per game.
Of James’ 919 total made field goals, 97 were dunks. The 11.2% was tied for the largest percentage of dunks in a season in his career. It was nearly a decade ago — 2016-17 — that he dunked this often. More than 20% of his made field goals are dunks, the most of any season in his career.
“I think there’s an enjoyment level that I think he gets from making highlight plays and it feeds into it with the crowd,” Redick said. “I think that’s just part of it. The other part of it is, for him, I think he recognizes that’s one of the ways that he can really impact winning on our team. And so he’s taken [the] responsibility of, like, ‘I’m going to be the best transition player in the NBA,’ and he has been.”
James’ ruthlessness in transition set the tone for teammates, who couldn’t be seen moving slower than someone who is closer to their father’s age than theirs.
“If we see him run down, he beats us down the court, that’s not a good thing,” center Jaxson Hayes said. “So I feel like I got to get down there when I see him start going.”
The 22-time All-Star is now leading more than just a fast break for the Lakers. The team experienced an emotional hangover after the regular season-ending injuries to Reaves and Doncic. The Lakers needed more than just points from James to cure their woes.
He delivered by locking in against Golden State, being vocal during the team’s pregame meeting and showing the trademark determination that teammates can’t help but follow. It sparked a three-game winning streak to finish the regular season that James punctuated with several soaring dunks against the Jazz.
“You have no idea how much I have a respect for him,” forward Rui Hachimura said. “It’s his Year 26 or 27, or whatever the hell it is. He’s still playing the last game of the season against the team that, they’re not trying to win. We really appreciate that.”
Smart moves
Marcus Smart
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
He’s not Doncic. He’s not Reaves. But Smart’s return to the Lakers’ lineup is still significant in time for the playoffs.
The guard played the final two games of the regular season after missing what felt like the longest, three-week, nine-game stretch in basketball history. Scrambling on the floor next to Maxi Kleber to find Jarred Vanderbilt for a cutting dunk against the Suns on Friday, Smart made the expected immediate defensive difference. But with 17 assists in two appearances, Smart flashed his ability to deliver in different ways on offense.
His timely return can ease the playmaking pressure on Luke Kennard, who filled in admirably in an emergency stretch with 31 assists in four games, and help handle the load next to James.
Smart is especially aware of the energy of his teammates. He is eager to reward centers for running the floor. He shovels the ball to teammates who are going through shooting slumps to prioritize scoring over his own. It’s not a coincidence that he fired two early passes to Deandre Ayton for dunks against the Jazz and Ayton finished with his first 20-point double-double in a month.
“Even post-Boston the last couple seasons he’s graded out well as a secondary playmaker,” Redick said of Smart. “So he’s been in that position before. He knows how to get other guys involved.”
Smart knows the pressure of the playoffs. He helped the Boston Celtics reach the NBA Finals in 2022, but hasn’t played in the postseason since he was traded in 2023. He missed it. So even if he’ll begin this postseason journey without two of his main teammates, Smart will relish this chance.
“It ain’t gonna be easy,” Smart said. “We all know it, but it’s gonna be fun, and we’re gonna enjoy this ride.”
On tap
Saturday vs. Rockets, 5:30 p.m.
Here we go, friends. Game 1 of the playoffs. In March, these teams played a two-game series in Houston that felt like a playoff preview, but circumstances have changed completely since Doncic’s clutch time brilliance led the Lakers to two key wins. The Lakers went 22-8 in games within five points in the last five minutes this season, but the Rockets had a 22-23 clutch time record, which ranked 16th in the NBA, the worst clutch-time winning percentage for any Western Conference playoff team.
Status report
Jaxson Hayes: left foot soreness
Hayes missed the past four games of the regular season. He was a late scratch before the game against Oklahoma City on April 7 and has remained day to day since.
Luka Doncic: left hamstring strain
After getting injections on his injured hamstring in Spain, Doncic will be back stateside by Friday but there is no timetable for his return to the lineup.
Austin Reaves: left oblique strain
Reaves is working hard to return this season but similar to Doncic, there’s no timeline for his comeback yet.
Favorite thing I ate this week
Lotus root kofta curry (left), paratha and duck confit biryani from Rasa in Burlingame, Calif.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
On my way to San Francisco last week, my colleague Broderick Turner texted me to “find a good restaurant.” You don’t have to tell me twice.
I went straight from the airport to Rasa in Burlingame, which specializes in Southern Indian dishes. We explored the tasting menu, which offered two appetizers, a dosa and two entrees. We started with the rasa sliders, which were spiced potato fritters with a tamarind chutney and cilantro chutney, General Tso’s cauliflower, an Indian-Chinese crossover with a familiar spicy sauce. The dosa was filled with a tamarind-spiced potato masala with basil chutney, ginger, garlic and cilantro. It was my favorite dish of the night, but I was so consumed by eating it, I forgot to take a picture. The mains (pictured) were a vegan lotus root kofta curry and duck confit biryani. I could barely touch my entree because I was so full from the first two courses, but it made great leftovers for the morning after the game.
TV producer Sid Krofft, the puppeteer and co-mastermind behind fantastical 1970s Saturday morning television shows like “H.R. Pufnstuf” and “Land of the Lost,” has died. He was 96.
Krofft died in his sleep on Friday at the home of his friend and business partner Kelly Killian, she announced on Instagram. His youngest brother and business partner, Marty Krofft, died in 2023.
“I loved Sid with my whole heart. The last six years of my life were devoted to him, and his to me,” Killian wrote. “In that time, he taught me more than I could ever put into words — about the art of Hollywood, the magic of the stage, and the depth and complexity of human nature. I wish so very much that I had more time with him.”
“Sid Krofft was an icon who did what he loved most until the very end — being out in public with his legions of fans,” his publicist Adam Fenton said in a statement. “Sid never slowed down, attending his final show where it all began just last November in his home state of Rhode Island. Sid was a beacon of light and will be greatly missed.”
Sid co-created 1960s and ’70s children’s TV shows that featured colorful and quirky characters like Weenie the Genie, Horatio J. HooDoo and Cha-Ka the ape-boy. Together, he and Marty produced through their production company, Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, popular series, including their television debut and cult hit, “H.R. Pufnstuf.”
“H.R. Pufnstuf,” a combination of live-action and puppetry that Sid once referred to as “our first baby,” follows the adventures of a young boy, a talking flute and a 6-foot-tall dragon. That was the start of a television enterprise. The brothers went on to create more (mostly short-lived) shows, including “Lidsville,” about a teenage boy who falls into the top hat of a magician. He finds himself in the titular Lidsville, a land of living hats.
Other shows included “The Bugaloos,” about four teenage musicians with wings and antennae, “Electra Woman and Dyna Girl,” which follows the adventures of a superhero and her sidekick, and “Pryor’s Place,” a live-action children’s show starring comedian Richard Pryor.
The Krofft puppets frequently made cameos on other well-known shows during the 1970s and ’80s.
Most recently, the beloved character H.R. Pufnstuf appeared in the brothers’ 2016 Nick Jr. show, “Mutt & Stuff,” about an animatronic dog at a canine school.
The brothers also produced other beloved shows such as “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” “Land of the Lost,” “D.C. Follies” and the prime-time variety shows “Donny and Marie” and “Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.”
Sid, left, and brother Marty Krofft pose with some of the life-size puppets created for their syndicated series “D.C. Follies” in Los Angeles in 1987.
(Reed Saxon / Associated Press)
Because the shows often featured eccentric and larger-than-life characters, Sid once told The Times that people were convinced the ideas came from using psychedelics. But he insisted the concepts were born during his daily runs along the Los Angeles coastline.
“I’m a runner, and I thought of them during my runs on the beach at Santa Monica,” Sid said. “That’s where they came from.”
While the 1970s were the defining decade for the Krofft brothers, they got their start as puppeteers decades prior.
In a long-standing rumor, Sid and Marty were said to be fifth-generation puppeteers. In an interview with The Times, Sid confessed that the whole thing was a lie concocted by a publicist in the 1940s. Their father, Peter Krofft, was a clock salesman and joined Sid when he was on tour as a teenager.
Sid was born July 30, 1929, in Montreal. The brothers immigrated to New York City from Canada with their father. Sid started working as a professional puppeteer at age 10. By the time he was 15, he had joined the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as “the world’s youngest puppeteer.” By his late 20s, he was working as the opening act for big industry figures like the Andrews Sisters, Judy Garland and Cyd Charisse. That’s around the time he hired his brother — who was seven years younger and a salesman — as his assistant.
“I desperately needed an assistant and saw this as a great opportunity to bring out my brother Marty,” Sid said of his youngest brother. “That single moment in my life is what started our long-running career together.”
They later created cabaret-inspired “Les Poupées de Paris,” which opened in 1961 at the Gilded Rafters in the San Fernando Valley, then played at Hollywood’s P.J.’s. It toured the country throughout the ’60s.
While Sid was the creative force behind their projects, Marty was the brains behind the business operation.
Sid Krofft sits for portraits at his home in Los Angeles in 2021.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Sid wrote a tribute to his brother for The Times after his death.
“Marty and I were oil and vinegar,” he wrote. “We worked in different ways, but if you shook us up, we were a great dressing.”
The brothers’ relationship was publicly known to be rocky at times. “It’s not easy for two brothers to work together,” Marty told The Times.
Their shows were low budget; shot on sets that were once thought to be outdated by the 1980s. But the brothers maintained the rights to their creative properties, and some of their most popular stories had revivals or remakes.
In 2009, Universal Pictures adapted “Land of the Lost” into a $100-million box-office flop about the tales of a family stranded in a dinosaur-ridden jungle.
In 2018, the brothers were honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Daytime Emmys, and in 2020, they received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2021, Kroff resurfaced in the public eye with an Instagram Live show called “Sundays With Sid.” Marty created his own YouTube series soon after called “Mondays With Marty.”
Former Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías, whose second suspension expired last July, has not signed with any team since then.
Scott Boras, the agent for Urías, declined to say whether any team had offered Urías a contract this year but said he has not solicited offers from any clubs.
“I have to have the authority from my client even to talk about the subject,” Boras said, “and I don’t have that yet.”
In January, the Mexican baseball site Puro Beisbol posted pictures of Urías throwing with children in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, with the Spanish-language site Diario AS calling it “the first time he had been seen throwing a baseball in public since September 2023,” the month he last pitched for the Dodgers.
Urías sat out the 2024 season during a Major League Baseball investigation. His suspension covered the first half of the 2025 season. When he was reinstated, Boras said Urías had “every intention to continue his career.”
When the suspension of former Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer ended before the 2023 season, Bauer signed to play in Japan that year and in Mexico the following year before returning to Japan in 2025. He has signed to play with the independent Long Island Ducks this year.
If Urías, 29, wishes to play this year, Boras said he believes Urías would have little trouble finding a job.
“Teams ask me about him all the time,” Boras said. “With the pitching market in this world, Julio could play in a minute. But I think it’s about him deciding if it’s something he wants to go do right now.”
The suspension resulted from a September 2023 incident outside BMO Stadium, in which witness video obtained by The Times showed Urías pulled aside his wife’s hair and shoved her against a fence. After the two were separated, the video showed Urías swinging at her with his left hand.
Urías was arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence, but the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office determined that “neither the victim’s injuries nor the defendant’s criminal history justify a felony filing.” The city attorney’s office subsequently filed five misdemeanor charges against Urías. He pleaded no contest to one, the other four were dropped, and he agreed to enter a yearlong domestic violence treatment program.
He also agreed to complete a similar program in 2019, when he was arrested after an incident in the Beverly Center parking lot. Witnesses said he pushed his fiancee, she said she fell, and no charges were filed.
The league then suspended him for 20 games. Under its policy, the the league can suspend a player even if no charges are filed.
Urías recorded the final out of the Dodgers’ World Series championship in 2020. He led the National League in victories (20) in 2021 and earned-run average (2.16) in 2022.
The picturesque village has been named the “prettiest in England” and it’ll make you feel like you’re stepping into a place that’s “frozen in time” with ancient stone cottages
Christine Younan Deputy Editor Social Newsdesk
14:48, 13 Apr 2026
There’s plenty to do at this destination(Image: Getty Images)
A village named one of the “prettiest in England” will transport you to somewhere that feels “frozen in time”. Whether it’s a place for hiking or seeking the finest coffee spots around town, we all crave a touch of adventure.
Now one travel account dedicated to “explore the UK’s ‘secret’ spots” has unearthed the “prettiest village in the Peak District”. It’s a settlement that’s wonderfully photogenic and brimming with attractions. According to the account, it resembles somewhere “frozen in time”. The location receiving countless glowing tributes is Tissington.
This charming village sits within the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, close to Ashbourne on the park’s southern boundary.
In the TikTok post, the page’s description stated: “I spent some mornings wandering through a place that feels completely frozen in time.
“Walking past these ancient stone cottages and visiting the local tea room felt like stepping into a classic British storybook.
“There’s a unique stillness here – no modern street lights, just the sounds of the countryside and centuries of history in every stone.
“It’s the perfect ‘hidden gem’ for anyone looking to escape the 21st century for a few hours.”
Content cannot be displayed without consent
Top attractions in Tissington:
The storybook settlement showcases stunning cottages arranged around an historic hall, impressive church and duck pond.
Should you explore Tissington Hall, this welcomes guests during specific periods featuring tearooms, gift boutiques and craft outlets.
The tradition of Well Dressing is believed to have originated here, and each Ascension Day five wells are adorned with floral displays as a tribute to God for the gift of water.
Tissington is equally celebrated for its 13-mile traffic-free trail, which is perfectly suited to both walking and cycling, whatever takes your fancy.
Top activities in the village include cycling, exploring the centre, visiting the tea rooms, and touring the hall.
For those feeling a touch creative, the One a Wick and a Prayer Candle Workshop is a much-loved candle-making destination within the village.
While the village itself has no pub, The Bluebell Inn can be found on the A52 near Tissington Gates.
How to get to Tissington:
If you’re coming from London, this is a 153 mile car journey via the M1 which takes around 3 hours.
Public transport is a lot quicker, taking 1 hour and 25 minutes with East Midlands Railway.
Meanwhile if you live more north, it takes around 1 hour and a half from Manchester, or 50 minutes from Stoke.
If you’re coming from Birmingham, this is around 1 hour and 22 minutes by car, while you’re looking at nearly 2 hours drive from Liverpool.
Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where it’s officially team-building season across college basketball. It’s a critical time for any program in the transfer portal era. But for Eric Musselman and USC this April, it’s especially paramount.
The last two springs, Musselman has had to rebuild USC’s entire roster essentially from scratch. The coach’s first two teams each had just one carryover from the previous year. Two years ago, just as USC was joining the Big Ten, Musselman had to make over the roster in May … a month after everyone else. Then last spring, he lost his top two scorers (Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates) somewhat unexpectedly — one on the very last day of the portal.
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This offseason, Musselman is starting from a more stable place. USC announced last week that guard Rodney Rice, who was expected to be USC’s best player a year ago, will return next season. He’s a future NBA player. Forward Jacob Cofie should be back after dipping his toes in the NBA draft waters, along with 7-foot-5 center Gabe Dynes. Then there are three top-25 recruits on the way in Darius and Adonis Ratliff and Christian Collins.
It’s looking more and more likely, too, that Alijah Arenas will buck his long-standing plans to declare for the draft and return to college. Whether that would be at USC or somewhere else, however, remains to be seen.
Whatever happens, there is at least a semblance of a nucleus for USC to build around this spring. Which is fortunate for Musselman, given there will be less means to lure players from the portal.
At this time last year, NIL spending had yet to be capped. So Musselman and his staff were given a significant chunk of change to work with, a number nearing eight figures. And they used it to pay up for the likes of not just Rice, Chad Baker-Mazara and Ezra Ausar, but also reserves such as Dynes, Jordan Marsh and Ryan Cornish. The reasoning was to pay a bit above-market to build the team Musselman wanted, to take advantage of their limited window with Arenas, who they hoped would be a program catalyst.
The return on that investment was … less than stellar. Arenas got into a car accident, then had knee surgery, and didn’t play until January. Baker-Mazara, the highest-paid player on the roster, was dismissed from the team before the end of the season. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. But also, many of the bets USC made went belly-up.
This time, the budget won’t be quite as bottomless, both because of NIL restrictions and as a matter of course correction. The approach will have to be more conservative, more targeted. Considering the portal isn’t getting any cheaper, with most starters now going for north of $1 million, it’ll be on Musselman to use his funds expeditiously.
That means, presumably, much less spending on the middle of the roster. It’s part of why Amarion Dickerson isn’t returning, even though USC would’ve presumably welcomed him back. There’s no room to spend up on a sixth man at the moment. Especially one who sat out most of last season.
A lot of basketball programs are reckoning with those realities now that spending is, in some sense, more capped. But many of those programs have a general manager handling those matters. At USC, that’s Musselman. He’s the coach and GM.
He prefers it that way. But it also adds an extra layer of pressure ahead of next season.
Musselman has proven himself plenty capable of building a basketball team. His first serious job in the sport was as general manager of the Rapid City Thrillers in the now-defunct CBA. He built that team into a juggernaut in his early 20’s.
Musselman won’t be able to do that at USC in just a single transfer portal window. But the moves USC makes over the coming weeks should tell us plenty about how much he learned from the last one.
Baseball bounces back
USC pitcher Mason Edwards.
(Shotgun Spratling / For The Times)
After a historically strong start to this season, the Trojans suddenly found themselves in a four-game slump heading into the weekend. But the slide was stopped dead by USC’s ace pitcher, Mason Edwards.
In one of college baseball’s more dominant pitching efforts this season, Edwards struck out 16 of the 30 Iowa batters he faced Friday. Twelve of those 16 came on swinging strikes. Through eight innings, Edwards gave up just one hit before Iowa finally chased him in the ninth.
Thanks to its stellar rotation, USC walked away with a sweep over Iowa, right when it needed one most. Awaiting the Trojans on the road next weekend is Nebraska, which has lost just two Big Ten games this season and just one of its 16 home games.
USC top recruit Saniyah Hall during the final match of the U19 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup last summer.
(Lukas Kabon / Anadolu via Getty Images)
—USC has officially hit the $200 million fundraising mark for its Athletics West capital project. That means at least $25 million has been raised since the start of last football season, which is quite a bit to ask of your big-time donors. But what’s maybe more impressive is that during that same stretch, USC also managed to increase the size of the Trojan Victory Fund by more than 770%, according to athletic director Jennifer Cohen. Those extra funds are how USC is managing to stay afloat in this new era where money matters more than ever. The question is whether it can keep up the pace for the foreseeable future.
—The future of USC women’s basketball was on display at the Nike Hoop Summit. A trio of incoming Trojans were featured in Portland last weekend, headlined by No. 1 overall recruit Saniyah Hall, who continues to look like a Day 1 difference-maker on both ends. She led all scorers with 19, while also adding eight rebounds and four steals. Sitaya Fagan and Sara Okeke both suited up for the World team, and Fagan, in particular, impressed with her work in the paint. She got to the line early and often and ended up leading the World team with 15 points.
—The USC women are losing five players to the transfer portal. None of the five — Vivian Iwuchukwu, Gerda Raulusaityte, Yakiya Milton, Dayana Mendes and Malia Samuels — would’ve made much of an impact in a much deeper rotation next season. Samuels played the most of the five last year, but struggled in a reserve point guard role. The Women of Troy will need some reinforcements from the transfer portal, but any additions will be more about padding the rotation instead of finding starters.
—National title-winning Michigan coach Dusty May got his start in college basketball as a USC video coordinator. A quarter-century before May led the Wolverines to a championship, he was a part of the 2001 Trojans team that went to the Elite Eight. Henry Bibby gave May a job on the blind recommendation of two Indiana assistant coaches, who were impressed with his time as an Indiana student manager. He broke down film during the season and ran camps during the summer. In between, he helped out with day-to-day operations. May worked under Bibby through the 2002 season, when legendary Hoosiers coach Bob Knight hired him to do the same job in Bloomington.
Olympic sports spotlight
A hat tip to Times of Troy reader, Craig Schrager, who noted that I’d made no mention recently of USC’s top-ranked women’s water polo team, which had won a dozen matches in a row heading into Sunday’s MPSF tournament final against No. 2 Stanford.
The Trojans looked on their way to a 13th straight win and an MPSF tournament title before the fourth quarter of Sunday’s final. Entering the last quarter with a lead, USC gave up six goals in the final minutes and only responded with two in return, costing them what should’ve been their first MPSF title since 2021.
In spite of the loss, USC should be one of the leading contenders for an NCAA title, when the tournament begins on April 24.
What I’m watching this week
Hannah Einbinder, left, and Jean Smart in “Hacks” season 4.
(HBO Max)
It’s rare these days that a hit show calls it quits at the right time. More often than not, they hang on too long, wringing out every possible drop of content and damaging the show’s legacy in the process.
“Hacks” is a rare exception. I wasn’t sure at the time how this HBO comedy would do a second season, let alone a fifth. But it has proven me wrong at every step. Jean Smart only seems to get better with age, while this show has managed to re-invent itself on multiple occasions. Its final season follows Smart, again as comedian Deborah Vance, as she’s found herself legally unable to perform after breaking her late-night host contract. And somehow, it’s just as funny as ever.
Until next time …
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at ryan.kartje@latimes.com, and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Channel 5 viewers are in for a treat this week as a brand-new crime drama is set to air.
Missed Call features Slow Horses star Joanna Scanlan as Sarah, a mother whose worst fears come to life after her daughter goes on a school exchange trip to the South of France. The trip is being supervised by teacher Neil Scott and Sarah’s boyfriend, Jason Bradley, who is driving the group to Saint-Michel.
Channel 5 viewers will see her daughter, called Katie, assigned to stay with the well-respected Morvan family, who also have a daughter called Emma. However, it’s not long before Katie finds herself wrapped up in the social life of the exchange students, as alcohol, parties, and tensions within the group begin.
When Sarah gets a late-night call from Katie that she misses, her worry grows when her daughter stops responding to her completely. While the school, supervising teacher and host family all insist Katie is out with friends, alarm bells start ringing for Sarah, who takes matters into her own hands.
A synopsis for the series reads: “When British teenager Katie Gleason vanishes during a school exchange in southern France, her mother Sarah rushes to Saint-Michel seeking answers.
“Met with evasive police and hostility from Katie’s powerful host family, the Morvans, Sarah launches her own investigation alongside local detective Lieutenant Virginie Taylor, exposing buried secrets, abuse, corruption, and trafficking within the tight-knit town.
“As bodies surface and suspicions reach influential figures – including Virginie’s father – alliances fracture. Betrayed and unravelling, Sarah learns that Katie may still be alive. Time is running out for them both and justice.”
Here’s everything you need to know about Missed Call.
When does Missed Call start?
The first episode of the five-part series will air on April 13 at 9pm on Channel 5.
It will then air each night consecutively until the series final on Friday, April 17.
A brief overview of episode one reads: “Unable to shake the feeling that her daughter is in danger, Sarah flies to France.
“Once in Saint-Michel, she finds a town reluctant to answer questions. The police appear slow to act, the Morvans seem strangely calm, and students at the school are evasive.
“As Sarah begins asking questions herself, she discovers Katie spent her last known night with a troubled local boy named Xavier and another unidentified girl. Surveillance footage soon confirms Katie was in town only hours before she vanished. Then Sarah receives a message from Katie’s phone – one that turns her worst fears into a terrifying possibility.”
Missed Call cast list in full
Viewers will see Joanna Scanlan take on the role of Sarah Gleason, while her daughter Katie Gleason is played by Emily Coates.
Claire Keim stars as Virginie Taylor, François-Xavier Demaison will play Jerome Ricard, Rupert Graves takes on the role of Jason Bradley as Robert Lindsay will star as Andrew Taylor.
Other supporting cast includes:
Lise Laffont as Audrey Lambert
Dean Fagan as Neil Scott
Lya Lessert as Emma Morvan
Xavier Lemaitre as Serge Henin
Célia Diane as Caroline Morvan
Hélène Azema as Yvette Henin
Cole Martin as Ben
Nicolas Van Beveren as Fabien Morvan
Andrew Lee Potts as Mark Jones
Daisy Axon as Lucy
Thorian De Decker as Officer Remy
Maxime Pipet as Xavier Henin
Sandra Teles as Rebecca
Arthur Combelles as Gabriel (The Pathologist)
Oliver Jenkins as British Reporter
Where is Missed Call filmed?
Actor Dean Fagan, who takes on the role of Neil Scott, told his Instagram followers the series was filmed in Montpellier in the South of France.
Villeneuvette was the main filming location for the fictional village of Saint-Michel, while the home Katie stayed during her exchange was filmed at Domaine St Martin de la Garrigue, according to 4filming,
Meanwhile, the UK scenes were filmed in and around London, as fans will see Sarah travel to France via the Port of Dover in Kent.
Lieutenant General Susan Coyle has held several senior command roles over her nearly 40-year military career, including during operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Published On 13 Apr 202613 Apr 2026
Australia has announced that its army will be led by a woman for the first time in its 125-year history, as part of a reshuffle of the country’s defence force leadership.
Lieutenant General Susan Coyle, the current chief of joint capabilities, will become the chief of army in July, the government said in a statement on Monday. She will replace Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, who assumed the post in July 2022.
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Coyle’s career spans nearly four decades, during which she has held several senior command roles, including during operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Her appointment comes as the Australian military seeks to boost the number of female officers in its ranks. It is facing a wave of allegations of systemic sexual harassment and discrimination.
“From July, we will have the first ever female chief of army in the Australian Army’s 125-year history,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.
Defence Minister Richard Marles called Coyle’s appointment a “deeply historic moment”.
“As Susan said to me, you cannot be what you cannot see,” Marles said.
“Susan’s achievement will be deeply significant to women who are serving in the Australian Defence Force today and women who are thinking about serving in the Australian Defence Force in the future.”
Australia’s army is undergoing a major transformation, equipping itself with long-range firepower, drones and other modern combat tools.
Coyle, 55, stressed her experience in areas such as cyber-warfare. “This breadth of experience provides a strong foundation for the responsibilities of command and the trust placed in me,” she said.
Women currently make up about 21 percent of the Australian defence forces, or ADF, and 18.5 percent of senior leadership roles. The ADF has set a target of 25 percent of overall participation for women by 2030.
Last October, a class action lawsuit was filed against the ADF alleging it failed to protect thousands of women officers from systematic sexual assault, harassment and discrimination.
The government on Monday also appointed Vice Admiral Mark Hammond, the current chief of the navy, as the head of the ADF, succeeding Admiral David Johnston.
The current deputy chief of the navy, Rear Admiral Matthew Buckley, will replace Hammond as head of the branch.
The airline has issued guidance online after a passenger shared their concerns
The new system has meant long waiting times for many passengers across Europe(Image: Getty )
EasyJet Holidays has responded after passengers shared concerns online that they may miss their flights due to long queues at popular European airports. As the European Union’s (EU) new Entry/Exit System (EES) continues to roll out across the continent, passengers face long waits because it requires non-EU travellers to register biometric data, such as fingerprints and photos, on arrival, replacing passport stamps.
The new automated digital border system launched on October 12, 2025, and is expected to be fully operational in the Schengen Area by April 10, 2026. A statement on Gov.uk reads: “EES may take each passenger extra time to complete, so be prepared to wait longer than usual at the border.”
The countries in the Schengen area include: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Many airports are reportedly facing long border check queues due to the new system.
The Republic of Ireland and Cyprus are not part of the Schengen area, so EES is not required when travelling to either country. Gov.uk adds: “You may also be asked to provide either your fingerprint or photo when you exit the Schengen area. The checks may take slightly longer than previously, so be prepared to wait during busy times.”
People have taken to social media to share their concerns about missing their flights due to long passport control queues, including EasyJet passengers. One woman, called Jenny, who goes by the username @MunchkinMumsie on X, posted about her worries of not getting through border control on time for her upcoming flight home.
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She said: “Hi @EasyJetholidays, I’m returning home from Palma tomorrow, our coach transfer is picking us up at 12.30, our flight is at 15.40 and we are 90 minutes away from the airport. I’m worried this will not give us enough time to get through the airport with my child, will this be ok?”
A spokesperson replied: “Hello Jenny, thanks for reaching out. Our transport providers are the local experts and will use their knowledge of the destination and airport experience to calculate your transfer pick up time to ensure your journey to the airport is stress free and that you arrive with enough time to drop off your bags and clear security. Do let us know if you’d prefer to make your own way, and we’ll be happy to update our suppliers! – Alex.”
Jenny then asked: “If we catch your transfer and don’t get through in time, do you cover all our expenses and book our alternate flight home?” The spokesperson told her: “Yes – our dedicated On Holiday Support teams will be more than happy to assist with rescue flights if required – Alex.”
Jenny responded with: “Thank you, there are lots of posts on Mallorca travel forums of the children’s queue for border control at Palma being 2-3 hours long. It seems crazy you are not arranging transfers for families to get to the airport earlier.”
Updating Jenny with guidance, the spokesperson issued an alert about ‘missed flights’ and what happens. They told her: “If we are alerted to any flights being missed, we will work alongside our in destination teams to address the issue at hand. As it stands, our customers have not advised us of any major issues with flights being missed – Alex.”
In another post in the thread, the spokesperson added: “Please do let us know if you are looking to make your own way to the airport on this occasion, and we’ll be more than happy to update our suppliers. We are unable to assist with adjusting your pick-up time – Alex.”
A statement on Palma Airport’s website reads: “The EES is mainly designed to save time and improve border security. It automates passport checks, identifies travellers who overstay, and helps detect fraudulent documents. It also supports authorities in preventing and investigating terrorism and other serious crimes.”
When passengers find out they might be late to their boarding gate, they should tell their airline using their app, email, or phone. They can also ask airport staff for assistance, since some airports have electric cars or allow passengers with short connections or flights leaving soon to skip to the front of the line.
It is advised that passengers arrive at the airport early to handle any unexpected delays at security or passport control. A spokesperson for ABTA, the association of travel agents and tour operators, says: “We’re advising passengers to go straight to passport control as soon as you have gone through check-in and security; that way you get the EES checks out of the way as early as possible.
“We’re also advising passengers to follow their transport provider’s advice on when to arrive at airports/ports etc. If flying, the usual rule is to arrive at the airport for a flight from Europe at least two hours before, so we’d encourage people to apply that as a minimum, but to also check with their airline and airport.”
Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki got up to 94 pitches Sunday and limited the Rangers to two runs. What a showing, right?
Well, there was a major caveat. That pitch count only got him through four innings.
“It’s not that many,” Sasaki said through Japanese interpreter Kensuke Okubo after the Dodgers’ 5-2 loss Sunday against the Rangers at Dodger Stadium. “So my goal is [to] go deeper in the game a little more.”
Sasaki’s inefficiency seemed to stem from the command issues that plagued him all spring. Manager Dave Roberts challenged him then to find a way to compete even when he didn’t have his best stuff.
In three starts, he’s done that for the most part, though he’s had several innings that have teetered on the edge of completely spiraling.
Especially with the Dodgers committed to a six-man rotation, which by definition limits the number of arms in the bullpen, that’s not going to be enough long term. In order to avoid regularly taxing the bullpen Sasaki is going to need to show that he can be more efficient.
“With the stuff that he had today, the six strikeouts and the swing-and-miss and all that stuff, that sets up for going deeper in the game,” Roberts said. “So that’s something that I talked to him about, and challenging him to, when you take the baseball, we’re trying to go five innings or more. So I think that’s the next progression for him, to be consistently able to do that.
“But I do feel the growth part of it is to hang in there and make pitches when he needs to.”
Even Sasaki’s line displayed that push and pull of good stuff but inconsistent command. He recorded six strikeouts, the most he’s had in a game in parts of two seasons in MLB. He also walked five, tying his major-league career high.
“Honestly, some of the misses were just off, certainly with the fastball,” Roberts said. “So I think that maybe trying to be a little bit too fine. … Where before, there were some bad misses and maybe a little too (much) running from the strike zone. Where I don’t see that now.”
After giving up a leadoff single to Brandon Nimmo and walking Evan Carter to begin the game, Sasaki struck out the next three batters he faced.
He put away Corey Seager and Jake Burger with fastballs, getting away with one down the middle to Seager and getting Burger to chase up. And then he showcased the splitter as strike three to Joc Pederson.
“I think I was able to throw it on the plate, and also had a good depth,” Sasaki said.
Sasaki’s splitter generated six whiffs and three called strikes Sunday, a season high. One of them fooled Burger so thoroughly that he had to catch himself from falling forward. So, that development was promising.
As for Sasaki’s efficiency issues, walks were never an issue for him in Japan (2.0 walks per nine innings). And coming out of the bullpen late last season and through the playoffs, he showed he could take a more aggressive approach to attacking hitters. So, he at least has a blueprint.
“That’s kind of the mindset of a reliever, because you’re going to go shorter and you’re not going to throw as many pitches, so you can kind of empty the tank,” Roberts said. “With starters, they train for more pitches, more innings. And you have to have it in your head to still have that same mindset and trust that your work can sustain 90-100 pitches with the same mindset and effort. So that’s something that we’ve got to get to that point.”
It was not just a nation of sports fans and media that became entranced when former Chargers great Philip Rivers, like a soldier, answered the call to duty and joined another one of his former teams, the Indianapolis Colts, at age 44, five years after his last game. (Five years after! No misprint). Former players, like me, were curious and envious.
This was a selfless, noble act by Phil. A player is not eligible for the Hall of Fame until five years after his last season. Thus, Phil has delayed his consideration as a candidate by another five years.
The winter is not merely a matter of age; it is long after the time when the pro football player lived a life at full throttle, doing what years of unromantic labor crafted his mind and body to do.
Jim Porter, the president and chief executive officer of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, reported that about 35 million males, from youth leagues to high schools to colleges, have played organized football. Of that total, only about 22,000 have played in a professional game. Shameful pride compels me to say there are only about 300 players in the Hall of Fame.
Colts quarterback Philip Rivers throws the ball during a game against the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 22 in Indianapolis.
(Zach Bolinger / Associated Press)
Now, at 88 years old, I am in that winter of life; a time long after leaving that locker room, a place that was alive with bravado and bonds with teammates, each knowing the devastating work it took to, not only get there, but to stay there, because each year the team would bring in a fresh group of draftees and players acquired by trade who wanted your spot. As teammates, we had an unspoken contract to do the drills to the extent that the movements become instinct, to do the work, to play injured, to show up.
The memories of teammates stay fresh. I will share a few stories that stick with me about players early Charger fans will recall:
Power of Alworth
San Diego Chargers wide receiver Lance Alworth poses for a photo in 1970.
(Associated Press)
Lance Alworth is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Our team in the ‘60s had many players that deserve to be called great; however, we all held Lance in special regard because he encompassed high levels of skill and character. He had speed, elusiveness, and he blocked (something of a dirty word to many wide receivers). The best way to describe how I felt about Lance is to relate an incident that took place when our plane was returning from an East Coast game. The plane hit a long stretch of weather so bad that it caused the plane to rise and drop and shake to such an extent that I knew it was going to crash and kill us all. I truly felt it was all over. Then I remembered that Lance was on board and I relaxed, thinking we are safe because God would not kill Lance. I am still amused that I actually thought that.
A formidable man
Ernie Ladd, seen here in action for the San Diego Chargers, on Oct. 29, 1963.
(Associated Press)
Ernie Ladd was a 6-foot-9, 325-pound defensive tackle who played the position with skill and fury and, for four seasons, before severe knee injuries reduced him from great to good, was as skilled as anyone who ever played the position. And strong. Ernie joined the Chargers in 1961. In 1963, coach Sid Gilman made the Chargers the first team in professional football to employ a strength coach and direct that all players begin a weight-training program. At that time, I was one of only a few players in professional football that lifted year-round because coaches, at all levels of football, discouraged weightlifting, believing it tied up an athlete’s muscles. Ernie had never lifted weights. During our first training session with our strength coach, Alvin Roy, Ernie lifted 300 pounds over his head. I had trained for years and my best lift at that time was a military press of 325 pounds.
He demonstrated strength and restraint when a dispute arose between him and a teammate, who I will refer to as X, a defensive lineman whose play fell far below expectations when he was a high draft choice. Ernie was given to fun-loving razzing of others in the locker room. X took offense and swung his fist at Ernie. Ernie caught the fist in his big right hand, then grabbed X’s forearm and bent the wrist up, forcing X to the ground. Ernie then said, “X, if I let you up, are we done?” X, red with embarrassment, said it was over and Ernie released him.
The reason this stuck with me was because it reminded of an incident in the John Steinbeck novel, “Of Mice and Men,” in which Lennie, a slow-witted worker on a ranch, was being repeatedly struck by the ranch foreman until Lennie caught the foreman’s fist in the air and crushed his hand. The reference is a bit strained because Ernie was extremely bright.
Ernie was the most joyful game participant I had ever seen, bright and quick-witted, laughing before a game, getting energy from the thrill of what was about to take place. Before one of our games, he said to me in a mockingly serious voice, “Ronnie Jack, I hope I don’t kill anyone out there today. If I do, I want you to represent me and plead self-defense.” At the time, I was going to law school at night.
Surprising Wright
Ernie Wright left college early and joined the team at age of 20, the same year I signed up for the Chargers — 1960. He played offensive left tackle, making All-Pro several times. He was extremely bright, great work ethic, and proved it by having a very successful post-football business career.
Different players have different game-day, pre-event routines. I tried to stay calm and collected no matter how big the moment. I believed that if I allowed myself to get charged up by adrenaline rushes before the game started, I would use up energy I needed for the entire game.
My pregame ritual became a curious thing for Ernie. After one of our games, Ernie approached me, and the following conversation took place:
Ernie: I have been watching you before games and seeing your lips moving and I thought you were praying. I finally decided today to get closer so that I could hear what you were praying for. Was it for a team to win, was it to kick butt. You were singing to yourself! You were singing “Fly Me to the Moon.” Is that what you have been doing before all these games?
Me: That’s it. It is my way of staying calm.
Ernie (laughing): And here I thought you were deeply religious, and I have been careful not to swear around you.
A mind for politics
Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp accepts a jersey from football players at Fairfax High in 1996.
(John Hayes / Associated Press)
Jack Kemp was the Chargers’ first quarterback. After an injury in his third year, he played for the Buffalo Bills. After football, he became a congressman in the Buffalo area and, later, presidential candidate Bob Dole’s choice to join his Republican ticket as his vice presidential running mate. Jack and I were training camp roommates during our first year with the Chargers. We became close friends. Jack was constantly thinking about politics and the relationship between government and the public and how power and policy shape everyday life and collective freedom.
Jack’s early political beliefs embraced the John Birch Society, a movement that felt expansive federal power is a threat to individual liberty. Among the Birch beliefs that Jack embraced was that there should not be Social Security, that if it was absent, people would then accept the responsibility of regularly putting away funds for their retirement.
During the week before a game in San Diego, I told Jack that Social Security is earned insurance, not welfare, that it spreads the risks across society, and keeps seniors out of poverty. I gave as an example my mother, who was a first-generation American with only a fifth-grade education who, prior to my retiring her when I signed with the Chargers, held minimum wage jobs that barely covered monthly expenses of her raising my brother and me by herself. I told Jack that her, and likely millions like her, given the choice of setting aside a dollar a month for retirement or spending it to care for her family, would place family first.
The depth of Jack’s constant thinking of politics became clear to me the Sunday of that week. I have forgotten the name of our opponent, but I do remember that it was a brutally contested game on a very hot day and we were ahead by only three points. At halftime, our team was walking toward the locker room when I heard Jack call out to me: “Ron, Ron, wait up.” I thought he was going to ask my opinion on what run plays would be best to call. Nope. Jack said: “I’ve been thinking about what you said about Social Security and people like your mother. I agree with you. Social Security must stay.” Then he was back to football: “OK, then, let’s get ‘em.”
I was surprised. It was a, “Wait … did that just happen?” moment. We were in the middle of a football game!
Being a part of something special
Athletes, as a group, have always been ahead of the country in improving racial and religious relations among the population. I am reminded of my senior year at the University of Southern California in 1959 when Willie Wood and I were elected co-captains of the football team. That was done at a time when 99% of the fraternities at the school barred us from membership because Willie was Black and I was Jewish. That sentiment in America meant nothing to our predominately white Christian teammates who, true to the nature of sports, judged teammates only on their character, work ethic and production.
Missing the demands of the game
And then there were the opponents. How deeply they are missed, those men across the line who made excellence necessary. While it is true that some opponents were less skilled than others, the collisions with all of them were just as real.
Playing against greatness was a measurement of who you were. I had the, yes, the pleasure of playing directly against fellow Hall members such as Deacon Jones, Buck Buchanon, Bobby Bell and Claude Humphrey, and a slew of other notable defensive linemen. They, and others, were equally committed to stopping me from doing my job.
It has now been 54 years since I left the game and I still miss it.
Mix was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Lawrence Bennett wasn’t only a guardian of the green jackets — the iconic garment of Augusta National — but he also oversaw their cremation.
That was among his many responsibilities in a career that spanned 51 years, where he first picked up litter then picked up everyone from celebrities to sports heroes to ex-presidents as the club’s top chauffeur.
“All I’ve known from Day 1 was Augusta National,” said Bennett, 72, sitting in the living room of his tidy home six miles from the storied course. His hallways are painted Masters green. Paintings of the course hang on the walls, as do photographs of famous people with heartfelt inscriptions.
For decades, he embraced the club. The members hugged him back, from bankrolling his college tuition to sending him generous gifts when he retired in 2013 and donations when his beloved wife, Cheryl, died in 2020 after suffering a massive stroke.
Lawrence Bennett, a longtime chauffeur at Augusta National, holds a framed portion of the logo that appears on the green Masters jackets.
(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times)
Bennett isn’t watching the Masters this week — he tuned in for Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and some other greats over the years — and he said he’s never swung a golf club. But his job was his life, even though he moonlighted as a high school teacher and administrator.
His father, too, bled green. The late and legendary Freddie Bennett began as a young caddie and worked his way up to caddie master, looking for that ideal chemistry between club members or tournament competitors and the men who carried their golf bags and advised them on putting lines.
“Once you work at Augusta National, they don’t want half of your time,” the younger Bennett said. “They want all of your time. And that’s what he did, and that’s what I did.”
Father and son were highly regarded at the club.
“There’s no doubt they commanded respect,” said Ward Clayton, author of “The Legendary Caddies of Augusta National.” “But at the same time, they understood, whether you’re working for Augusta National or a top corporation, you’ve got to follow the guidelines of the place you’re working for. I think they understood that to the highest degree.”
Augusta National opens its gates to the world every April but otherwise is so secretive that it won’t confirm how many members it has, let alone name them. The waiting list for Masters tickets has been closed for decades and patron badges are passed down through families like heirlooms. The club is closed from mid-May until October, and new buildings appear as if by magic, yet fit in as if they’ve been around forever.
As his father and other club employees did, Bennett signed a non-disclosure agreement that lasted 10 years. Now, more than a decade after his retirement, he’s telling some of his stories.
Hot pockets
When an Augusta member died, left the club or simply wanted a new green jacket, Bennett was responsible for disposing of the old garments. That meant cutting off a coat’s emblem on the pocket, buttons and name tags in the lining, then taking what was left to a local funeral home for cremation. It wasn’t an everyday event. Bennett and a security guard from the club would bring 20-30 of the jackets that would be placed in a coffin-like cardboard box and pushed into a 2,400-degree oven.
Lawrence Bennett, longtime chauffeur at Augusta National, points to a painting of the course in his home.
(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times)
“We had to wait until the ashes cooled down to make sure we weren’t leaving buttons or anything identifying about it, and the funeral home would take care of the rest,” Bennett said. “They would just toss it.”
Occasionally, deceased members were buried in their green jackets.
“Some members’ families started to request that,” he said. “And I know one guy — I had to go take the jacket, a local member — I had to watch them put it on him. Didn’t like that too good. Watch them put it on, fixing it neat, and report back to the club manager that it was on.”
Watch your speed
The club had three station wagons and a long blue limousine when Bennett began chauffeuring at age 17. He was well spoken and polite, so his bosses soon began sending him on the most important jobs.
Once, a member named Alexander Chisholm from Mississippi had come into town for a party and round of golf, then stayed over for a dinner at a fancy place called the Green Boundary Club in Aiken, S.C. Bennett brought him in the limo.
“My dad said, `Boy, if you’re going to South Carolina, slow down because they’ll give you a ticket in a minute. They watch for Augusta tags to give you tickets,’” Bennett recalled.
He started slow and cautious.
“Mr. Chisholm, with a big cigar in his mouth, said, ‘Can you go any faster than this?’” he said. “Now, I’m 19. That’s all I needed to hear. I stepped on the gas.”
As soon as he crossed the Savannah River, the police lights pulled up behind him.
“The officer wasn’t real nice,” Bennett said. “He said, `Boy, can’t you read? Can’t you see that speed limit?’ Mr. Chisholm was in back and said, `How much is the ticket?’ The officer said it was going to cost me $150.”
Chisholm peeled off three $100 bills.
“Here,” the member told the officer. “Take $300, because we’re going to be coming back the same damn way.”
Hail to the chief
Back when he was in first grade, Bennett feigned illness so he could get sent home and spend some time with his dad, whom he hadn’t seen in two weeks.
“I would hear him come home and get in the bed, but I didn’t see him because he came home when I was asleep,” he said. “He left when I was asleep. So one day I was at school, and I played sick. So I told my teacher my stomach was hurting.”
His mother was working at the time, so the school called the club.
“Dad came to get me, and he took me to work, gave me a Coca-Cola and a little pack of crackers,” he recalled. “He said, `You can’t be running around, because the President is here.’ Well, I’m 6 or 7. I thought he was talking about George Washington.”
Then, his father pulled a milk crate up to a hedge.
“He said, `You want to see the President?’ So I went out, and he put me on this box, and I could look over the top of the hedge, and there was Eisenhower. That was Clifford Roberts, and that was Bobby Jones,” he said, referencing the Roberts and Jones, co-founders of Augusta National.
Bennett has some snapshot memories of the president.
“I remember him being a big man, big stomach,” he said. “He had brown pants on with pleats, and he got up and made his tee shot off number one, and he looked over and saw me. He did just like this [crisply saluting the child]. I did it back at him.”
The moment left an impression.
“That was my first really inkling of what my daddy did,” he said, “and the type of people that were at the club.”
Supreme honor
As a young chauffeur, Bennett had all sorts of driving duties. He would take members’ wives antique shopping or sit through movies with the children of members who were bored at the tournament.
He picked up Christopher Lee at the airport once, and — as a big fan of Dracula — he half-believed he saw the English actor transforming into a vampire while they drove to the club.
“As we got back, it was getting dark, and all I could see — this was in my mind now — those fiery red eyes in the rear view mirror,” said Bennett, recounting the meeting on the “70 Years of Masters Magic” podcast.
Lawrence Bennett, longtime chauffeur at Augusta National, shows some Augusta National keepsakes at his home.
(Sam Farmer / Los Angeles Times)
“When he got out, I had to tell him. I said, `You know what? I was nervous because all I saw was your eyes and your face in the mirror.’ And it was illegal to get an autograph, but I got it.”
In 2013, the last Masters for Bennett, he drove Arnold Palmer back to the airport and they both got teary rolling back down Magnolia Lane and out of the club.
Maybe the most memorable assignment was picking up Sandra Day O’Connor. He was especially excited because he had just been teaching his ninth-grade students about her, the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The two became fast friends, and O’Connor gave him her personal pocket constitution. She inscribed it: “For Lawrence Bennett and his ninth-grade class, always remember the constitution protects you. Sandra Day O’Connor.”
Her husband, John Jay O’Connor, told Bennett: “Do you know what she has given you? She takes that to the bench every day she goes to work.”
It’s framed in Bennett’s den.
From the heart
Bennett, whose mother was a nurse and semi-professional bowler, was the first in his family to finish high school, and first to go to college, where he would earn three degrees. His younger sister followed him, earning a degree in nursing.
Tuition at Paine College wasn’t easy on the family. That’s where the club stepped in.
“Sometimes my dad didn’t have the money, so the club manager [Phil Wahl] said, `Lawrence, Freddie, everything OK?’ My dad said, `No, Mr. Wahl, I’ve got to pay $855.53 for that boy’s semester.’ Mr. Wahl said, `Go to the front desk and get a petty cash slip.’ They gave daddy $855.53 per semester for four or five years. Never asked for it back.
“So I owe a lot to Augusta National. I tried to pay it back but they wouldn’t take it.”
Freddie Bennett retired in 1999 after 46 years as caddie master and 51 years on the property — just as long as his son would work there. He died in 2006.
“Paine College, this huge chapel, we had daddy’s funeral down there,” the younger Bennett said. “It was packed. If you looked at the private field, you thought it was tournament time. The private jets came to his funeral.
“The club manager got up and spoke, and he talked about all of the things that Freddie had done, all the achievements he had done. But he said Freddie’s greatest accomplishment at this club: `He gave us Lawrence.’
“I lost it,” he said, tears welling, “I never thought anybody thought that of me.”
As the world famous Settle to Carlisle line celebrates 150 years of service, the Mirror joined the 1 m passengers expected this year.
150th anniversary of Settle to Carlisle line
It is widely lauded as one of the best train journeys in the world, and is just about to celebrate its 150th anniversary.
A huge public outcry and an appeal that raised £3m saved it from closure in the 1980s.
The Settle to Carlisle line survived and remains one of the most scenic in the country, crossing the Pennine Hills, the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria’s Eden Valley.
It celebrates 150 years since its first rail passenger journey with a series of events including a steam train service.
The Mirror joined some of the 1 million passengers expected to travel on the route this year.
It was wet, wild and stormy as we ventured south from Carlisle to the Ribblehead Viaduct.
Its magnificent 400m arches are 400 meters (1,300 ft) long. A huge workforce of 6,000 men – 2,300 specifically on the Viaduct – built it between 1870 and 1875.
You can imagine the conditions they faced during winter on the wide open moorland surrounding the giant structure.
The navvies who died are buried in the cemetery at Chapel-le-Dale. Even in the pouring rain, the path passing under its 24 arches remains busy with hikers and cyclists.
You must take a short break during your train journey to see the viaduct in all its glory.
From your train seat, you have a breathtaking backdrop of rolling countryside.
Wind bent the trees on the distant hills. The stations are straight out of a 1930s black-and-white film.
“I say that is my office window,” said Yvonne Harland, 52, a Carlisle-based conductor on the route.
“It is absolutely stunning. Many passengers are hikers and dog lovers heading outdoors.
“It does not matter if you are in the valleys around Dent or the Ribblehead Viaduct.
“It is a tonic. You have to get off the train to see the viaduct; otherwise, you only catch a glimpse.
“The Three Peaks are just beautiful too. No disrespect to people who work in an office, but it takes some beating.
“I was in education for 20 years, and I fancied a change.”
Regular passenger Robin Gilder, 83, a retired ITV newsman, remembers the campaign to save the line in the 1980s.
Now he enjoys bringing along his grandson Finley Doran, 12, for days out. “I use it regularly now,” he said. “Especially since I retired.
“They had a dog sign the petition to save the railway and there is a statue to him at Garsdale station.
“There was huge public outcry when they announced they were closing this line.
“They raised millions of pounds to keep it open. So I think we should use it as much as we can.”
Finley, tucking into some sweets and pop, added: “I have been on about twenty times now. We use it all the time.”
For Scottish pharmacist Amy Robertson, it is her maiden journey. The 28-year-old is heading to Leeds to see a former friend with the misty hills rolling by her window.
“It does remind me of Scotland,” she said. “This is really lovely and you get some really nice views when you go up to the north of Scotland around Fort William.
“The weather may not be very good, but the countryside is beautiful.”
Northern recorded 995,000 passenger journeys on the line in 2025, the highest number since the Covid-19 pandemic.
But demand is expected to rise this year. Commercial and customer director Alex Hornby said he was confident passenger numbers would hit 1m.
“Customers can enjoy miles of breathtaking scenery, which changes throughout the year, and there are plenty of opportunities to get off and explore,” he said.
The Settle to Carlisle section of the line was completed in 1875; freight trains ran for a year before passenger trains were introduced on May 1, 1876.
The Settle Carlisle Railway Development Company will run a chartered steam train between Carlisle and York on May 23.
Karen Morley-Chesworth, their community rail officer, told the Mirror: “The Lonely Planet said it was in the Top 10 most scenic railway journeys in Europe.
“So it brings in many tourists and serves local people all year round. It runs down the backbone of Britain through Cumbria, Yorkshire and the Pennines.
“But it is the beauty of it that stays with you; every station takes you back in time, and the history of the line still fascinates people. It remains important to communities all along the route.”
Northern is set to offer £1.50 tickets to customers travelling on the route to mark the milestone.
Thousands of workers contributed to its complex construction, which includes 14 tunnels and more than 20 viaducts along its 72 miles (116km) of track.
In 1983, British Rail announced plans to close the line to passengers amid concerns about the cost of repairing the Ribblehead Viaduct. But £3m was spent between 1988 and 1991 to bring it back into use.
The Settle Carlisle Railway Development Company’s chairman, Pete Myers, said the company was working with communities along the line to mark the “special anniversary year.”
He said: “The Settle to Carlisle line is unique, connecting communities from Yorkshire through to Cumbria, and also providing a sustainable and beautiful way for visitors to explore the Yorkshire Dales, Westmorland Dales and Lake District.”
