The Pride of Britain Awards 2026 air on ITV1 and ITVX tonight, Thursday, October 22, from 8pm until 10.05pm. Carol Vorderman returns as host for the 27th year running alongside co-host Ashley Banjo.
13:06, 22 Oct 2026Updated 13:07, 22 Oct 2026
Stars sparkle of the Pride on Britain red carpet
The Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards, in partnerhsip with P&O Cruises, returns to screens tonight to celebrate the nation’s most extraordinary, selfless unsung heroes.
While the glittering ceremony took place took place at London’s Grosvenor House earlier this week, viewers across the country will finally get the chance to experience every emotional standing ovation, surprise, and tear-jerking triumph from their living rooms this evening.
Established by late Mirror editor Peter Willis, the awards have become a cherished fixture in the national calendar, honouring everyday people who show astonishing bravery, tireless dedication, and boundless compassion. Key honours handed out tonight include the This Morning Local Hero Award, the Emergency Services Award, Child and Teenager of Courage, and the P&O Cruises Inspiration Award.
How to watch The Pride of Britain Awards on TV
The Pride of Britain Awards 2026 air tonight – Thursday, October 22 on ITV1 and ITVX from 8pm until 10.05pm.
This year’s ceremony from London’s Grosvenor House Hotel sees a star-studded line up including Jack Grealish, Davina McCall, PM Andy Burnham, and Alan Carr celebrating the nation’s unsung heroes.
Hosted by Carol Vorderman and Ashley Banjo, expect plenty of emotion and surprises along with inspirational stories of bravery, achievement and selflessness. Plus, stepping off their 25th Anniversary Tour for a special performance are boyband Blue.
Who is hosting The Pride of Britain Awards?
Telly legend Carol Vorderman, 65, has returned to front the ceremony for her 27th consecutive year, once again joined by co-host Ashley Banjo.
“Pride of Britain is needed now more than ever,” she told the Mirror. “We’re incredibly divided as a nation. And there are plenty of reasons to be miserable: the cost of living crisis, global uncertainty. But through it all, one thing unites us – and that is hope. And the goodness of people.”
One of Hollywood’s legendary music recording studios is for sale as its owner prepares to end his half-century run immortalizing many of the biggest acts.
The list of household names who have recorded at Conway Recording Studios spans generations and genres. Burt Bacharach, Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, U2, Guns N’ Roses, Daft Punk, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar are just a few of the artists who have recorded there.
While many studios have struggled, the unique space has attracted big names for decades.
Digital production tools and home studios have eliminated much of the need for traditional recording space, allowing artists to produce professional-quality music almost anywhere, real estate data provider CoStar said.
The digital revolution rocked the analog world of art, media and communication on a scale the industrial revolution did to agrarian and handicraft economies more than a century ago. The advent of Pro Tools recording software in the 1990s and the rise of music streaming services in the early aughts irrevocably changed the business.
Yet industry veterans say surviving facilities with expansive live rooms, vintage gear and decades of recording history may be becoming more valuable as they become harder to replicate. U.S. recorded-music revenue rose 7% to $6 billion in the first half of 2026, according to the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Streaming, physical formats and licensing all posted gains.
Conway Recording Studios is a jungly hideaway on bustling Melrose Avenue created by a transplant from chilly Buffalo, N.Y., who arrived in the 1970s with a vision to create an L.A.-style oasis in the middle of the city where he could pursue his craft as a sound engineer.
“I moved to California to be outside in the warm,” Buddy Brundo said. “I like sunlight.”
He defied recording studio conventions by bringing in natural light through large, soundproof windows instead of working in chambers sealed on all sides.
“You kind of feel like you’re in Hawaii or somewhere else,” at Conway studios, said entertainment real estate broker Nicole Mihalka of CBRE. “That’s what’s kept Conway so busy over the years.”
Among the musicians who came to work there lately was Korean pop group BTS, the subject of a Netflix documentary released in March that followed the young men as they recorded their comeback album “Arirang” after completing their military service.
Brundo appears in the film.
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1.“You kind of feel like you’re in Hawaii or somewhere else,” a real estate broker said of the studios. “That’s what’s kept Conway so busy over the years.”2.Conway’s clients have included Justin Timberlake, Kendrick Lamar, U2 and Counting Crows.(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Taylor Swift is a regular and once created a run on company merchandise by wearing a Conway Recording Studios sweatshirt in public.
People have asked Brundo for years when he might sell the studio he has operated since 1976, said Mihalka, who has the listing.
“Ten years ago I wouldn’t even think about this,” Brundo said. Now, “I’m 83, and how long can I keep this up? It’s best to walk away while I still can.”
He works out three times a week and appears fit, jumping up to play air guitar to Mötley Crüe’s “Girls, Girls, Girls” while showing off the powerful sound system in Studio B. The band recorded the hit 1987 album of the same name at Conway Studios, where members arrived by motorcycle.
Brundo is asking $15 million for the property that spans more than an acre on the edge of Melrose Hill, a niche neighborhood at Melrose and Western avenues known for its trendy restaurants.
It includes three studios, offices, tons of recording equipment, including two grand pianos, lounges, and a kitchen that pointedly lacks a stove.
“Every studio I worked with had a stove, and the kitchen was a mess,” Brundo said.
“Ten years ago I wouldn’t even think about this,” Conway’s Buddy Brundo said. Now, “I’m 83, and how long can I keep this up? It’s best to walk away while I still can.”
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Not that he hasn’t gone out of his way to accommodate his clients. Years ago he shrank his own office to enlarge a lounge for a singer-songwriter who needed space to camp out.
“Courtney Love wanted to book a bunch of time,” but also wanted a place to unwind outside the studio. “We lived here for two months with the kids and the clothes.”
One of his studio innovations was an air-conditioning and filtration system that whooshes out smoke and neutralizes it with charcoal filters and blue lights that kill bacteria, because the official smoking policy is “whatever they want,” he said. On a recent afternoon, a strong scent of cannabis came from Studio A.
To create his rambling California oasis in the middle of a busy neighborhood, Brundo acquired house after house on the south side of his lot over the years so he could keep expanding. He bought and tore down 10 of them.
“Each house was a battle,” he said, particularly one where the owners had an issue with guitarist and outdoorsman Ted Nugent, who accidentally shot an arrow into their yard.
While the property could be used for other purposes, Buddy Brundo hopes to find a buyer who will keep the music going.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Brundo had set up a Styrofoam deer and a bear on the back of his property to entertain archer Nugent. The musician missed a shot and his arrow passed through the fence and came close to striking a neighbor in her backyard as her husband stood nearby.
“He was really pissed off,” Brundo said of his neighbor. It took Brundo another year to buy the neighbors’ house “because the price went up,” he said.
Today, the foliage a full-time groundskeeper tends has grown tall and thick. Sleek cats roam the grounds.
The parking lot is large for the studio’s size, and its 59 striped spaces have accommodated about $2 million worth of fancy cars at a time, Brundo estimated. It’s also big enough for basketball games, and Brundo recently painted a full court on the asphalt so singer The Weeknd could play ball during downtime.
While the property could be turned to other uses such as stores and housing, Brundo hopes to sell it to someone who will keep the music going even as times change.
The recent backlash against AI-generated music has prompted “a reversion back to the real” with bands using more instruments and needing more space to record, Mihalka said. “There are fewer studios now where you can actually do this.”
On the balcony of a pink dockside building in San Pedro, a neon sign reading “Saturday Morning Fish Market” glows in the darkness. There’s a quiet stillness in the harbor — the only sounds are of the occasional gull and car whirring by. That is, until 1 a.m. rolls around.
Doors open at 1:30 a.m. at the Saturday Morning Fish Market.
This is when people begin to gather outside the roll-up door, some carrying backpacks ready to be filled.
At 1:30 a.m., a man in an orange apron lifts the door, releasing rays of white light onto the customers. They file inside, stepping onto the wet floor, eager to see the night’s beauties: freshly caught fish, filleted, deboned, washed and thrown onto thick mountains of crushed ice.
Shellfish, sardines, squid, mackerel and a market favorite, glowing salmon filets, sit on display. One employee pulls out crabs with a small net before letting a customer take their pick of the lot. Machines whir in an adjacent room, where fish are processed. Out back, sea lions bark, hoping for scraps.
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The Saturday Morning Fish Market, more formally known as J Deluca Fish Co., has existed for some time — owner John DeLuca claims a variation of the business began operating as early as the late ‘60s. As a child, DeLuca would greet his grandfather when he’d return to the San Pedro port with his catch, perhaps a fresh tuna or a bass to sell. For decades, the wholesale seafood distributor would open its market to the public just once a week — from 1:30 to 7:30 a.m. on Saturdays — usually seeing a smattering of mostly locals, the seafaring type, who might be shopping around after a late-night shift.
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1.Harikrishnan Babuchandran holds up his fresh fish. 2.Customers can watch their fish be processed.3.The fish that’s for sale changes from week to week. (Linnea Stephan / For The Times)
The Saturday Morning Fish Market in San Pedro has existed in some form since the late ‘60s but thanks to social media, flocks of new customers are wanting in on the late-night seafood-buying adventure.
Neither DeLuca nor his son and co-owner, Chris, could have predicted the San Pedro institution would experience the boom in popularity it’s seeing now, especially in an industry that’s struggled over the past two decades.
Thanks to social media, the market is witnessing an unprecedented revival. At its pre-pandemic peak, it would get around 800 to 1,000 customers on a typical Saturday morning. Nowadays, up to 2,000 people walk through the doors, according to Chris, many of whom are visiting for the first time.
Owners John and Chris DeLuca.
Regarding Instagram and TikTok, where posts giving a glimpse of the late-night fish market have gone viral, John, 73, says, “I know absolutely zero.”
To his credit, he does exhibit some understanding of its effect. And he’s glad for it. “People that live within walking distance never knew we existed. Now they do, and it’s got nothing to do with me,” he says, grinning.
What’s most notable is the number of young people roaming around the market well before the crack of dawn, Chris says. The business has changed a lot since his “father’s generation,” and social media unlocked access to a new audience.
“I think people like those hidden gems and people like that fresh seafood experience,” he says.
Between rows of sea bass and salmon, the energy is buzzing. Abdul Fahwami, dressed in jeans and flip-flops, visits the fish market at least once or twice a month, depending on how many people he‘s having over at his house that week.
“Every time we come here, we buy a minimum of between 100 and 200 pounds,” he says. “Red snapper is one of the best fish.”
Branzino is a favorite among customers and employees.
He smiles as he watches employees process his fish on a long table. First, blades run against the fish scales, removing them in quick fashion. Then, there’s a swift slice across its belly, starting at a hole near the tail and ending up near the gill plate. Finally, the guts are removed and filets are cut, skin optional.
Prices change week in and week out, and depend on supply. While prices are typically 10% to 40% less than at stores, market representative Joe Castelao says the team values the “quality of our products” over “trying to cater to bargain finders.” Another advantage for customers is the ability to buy seafood in bulk, which often isn’t possible at your standard, local grocer.
On this day, there wasn’t much branzino, the fish Fahwami came early to look for. “I found only 11 pieces,” he says. “I took all of it!”
Not far away, a man named Terry Jackson waits in line; he’s wearing black overalls and swaying side to side, eager to advance.
Customer Terry Jackson at the Saturday Morning Fish Market.
“It’s definitely worth waking up a little late — or a little early, you could say,” he says. “The quality of the fish is good, plus the pricing.”
His fish of choice? “Tuna, my new favorite is tuna!” he says, proudly raising a plastic bag full of bright red filets.
Briskly pacing across the market floor are team members Mike and George Stahl, a father-son duo both wearing orange aprons and gloves.
Mike got into the seafood business about two decades ago. At the time, he lived in Florida and often purchased products from J Deluca Fish Co. By 2018, he’d moved his family out to California and started working at the market.
He says his favorite part is the variety of duties. “No two days are the same,” he says. “One day I could be selling a couple containers of squid, the next day I could be meeting face to face with someone at a conference on the other side of the country.”
Staff member George Stahl helps a patron.
He brought in his son George during the pandemic. As George explains, “We were bored and didn’t have anything to do at home so my dad said, ‘Why don’t you come down and put some boots on and start working?’”
George has become somewhat of a micro-celebrity around the market, frequently appearing in its Instagram posts. However, his time with the company might be temporary — he’s currently in school and plans to be a physical therapist at some point.
While the market is riding a wave of success, John doesn’t gloss over the grim outlook of the fishing and seafood industry as a whole. He says the industry has taken a hit over the years, between restrictions, overfishing and changing regulations.
“It’s a dying business,” John says, bleakly. “There’s very few seiners down here because it’s very difficult to make a living [fishing].
But for now, they’re able to survive. They watch as customers walk out of the market into the wee hours of the morning, proudly grasping their bags of the day’s freshest catch.
“A lot of things have gone the opposite direction,” John says. “But we’re still here.”
The fish market’s blue neon sign shines through the night.
Dodger Stadium was eerily quiet on Wednesday, as a light rain fell over the already-yellowing grass. A crow perched on an empty seat. Scattered lights flickered in mostly-dark hallways.
Before the World Series had begun, the stadium was closed down for the season, hosting just one last event before officially wrapping up the 2026 slate.
In the interview room, tucked away at the entrance to the clubhouse, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes took their seats at the podium for their end-of-season press conference.
There was the usual end-of-season checklist. Are you expecting any changes to the coaching staff or front office? “I expect status quo,” Friedman said. Is Shohei Ohtani going to undergo offseason surgery? “That’s not on the table,” Friedman said.
“I welcome it,” Friedman said of such claims. “For us, and we’ve talked about this a lot, even after successes and we winning a World Series and then winning back to back, everything we do is for our fans. And there’s a lot of noise around us in general. We don’t really pay much attention to it. It’s a partnership we feel with our fans, and so people saying that we’re done and we’re on the downside of this run — it’s just more noise to us because everything for us is about the motivation we have to have a parade in the streets of Los Angeles next November.”
Friedman also didn’t seem to anticipate any trickle down from Walter’s outside ventures — Walter’s insurance companies are under federal investigation and face several lawsuits — affecting the Dodgers’ offseason budget.
“It’s been business as usual for us,” Friedman said. “We talked to Mark after we lost, and he was obviously really disappointed. But so much of his focus was on, ‘OK, what can we do? What are our plans? What are our thoughts for the off season?’ And our brains weren’t quite there yet, but so much of his focus was how do we put ourselves in the best position to win in ‘27?”
How will the Dodgers go about picking themselves up from their NLCS exit?
The Dodgers’ 2026 season wasn’t exactly a failure. They won 100 games in the regular season and lost in the playoffs to the only team that won more than that — the Brewers. But the Dodgers, with their star power and payroll, aren’t in the business of accepting moral victories.
Though plenty went wrong in the postseason, from Ohtani’s struggles following hisinjured list stint, to stalwart Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s surprising short start in Game 2 of the NLCS, the overarching theme in the Dodgers’ four straight losses to the Brewers was a lack of offensive execution, especially with runners in scoring position.
“Obviously throughout the latter part of the year, it was stuff we were talking about and trying to put our finger on,” Friedman said of the offense. “And in a lot of ways, it’s a little bit of a game of whack-a-mole, where it can be one thing for some period of time, and then it’s something else, and then it’s something else. Sometimes it’s noise, and sometimes it’s real. And what’s important for us is to be able to sift out the noise and isolate what’s real and what things we can improve upon. We’ll spend a lot of time really focusing on that in the off season.”
Asked if the age of the lineup could be a contributing factor, Friedman pointed to the strong finishes of some of the more veteran players on the roster.
“I don’t think it’s as easy as to paint it with that broad of a stroke,” he said.
Friedman, in an effort to continue to extend the Dodgers’ run of success, has kept in mind the cliff that successful veteran teams can fall off of, if the roster isn’t properly backfilled.
“This isn’t something that we just woke up and were like, ‘Oh wow, the age of our position player group,’” Friedman said. “We knew what things were going to look like in ‘26, ‘27, but also how talented these guys are, the way they prepare. And so much of our long-term contract bats are betting on the human — betting on the person, betting on the work ethic, betting on them doing everything they can to keep themselves in the best position to have success. But when you couple the core talent that we have at the major league level with the position-player strengths that we have in our farm system, that’s what makes us excited, is the art of how to onboard some of these young, talented minor league players.”
The Dodgers had the No. 1 ranked farm system as of mid-August, according to MLB Pipeline. But many of those prospects, including the three outfielders who the Dodgers’ Top 3 (Josue De Paula, Eduardo Quintero and Mike Sirota), are blocked by veteran players.
“For us, it’s just about having as many many talented players as we can, and things tend to sort themselves out,” Friedman said.
This offseason, the Dodgers will also have to figure out what to do about their soon-to-be free agents, a group headlined by left-hander Tarik Skubal. The two-time Cy Young winner was not only the best pitcher available on the trade market when the Dodgers acquired him from the Tigers at the trade deadline, but he’s in line to be the best pitcher available this offseason as well.
“It’s not easy for a guy to get traded in the middle of a season to come to a new city, new clubhouse,” Friedman said. “You have set routines, and you have to make those adjustments. It’s not easy. The way he was able to seamlessly transition, not just in terms of on the field, but in the clubhouse, I can’t say enough good things about the impact that he made in such a short period of time.
“We have a tremendous amount of respect for him on and off the field. … He’s put himself in this position to go out and be a free agent. And for us, it’s, continue to talk to [his agent, Scott Boras]. But he and his family have to make a choice over where they want to spend the next X number of years, and obviously we wish him nothing but the best.”
When asked about negotiations, however, Friedman spoke generally, saying the Dodgers were still “wrapping [their] arms around” their offseason strategy.
The impending lockout, which is expected to go into effect on Dec. 1 as soon as the current CBA expires, and uncertainty over changes in the next CBA, will certainly affect the free agent and trade markets this offseason. And though MLB navigated a lockout just five years ago, the owners’ push for a salary cap has many around the industry bracing for a longer work stoppage and murkier landscape on the other side.
“I never have any feel for how a market’s going to play out,” Friedman said. “We’ve kidded ourselves in the past that, like, ‘Hey, we think this is going to happen,’ and it just takes on its own life form. So for us, it’s just about being as prepared as we possibly can be, and pouncing on opportunities.”
LEWISTON, Maine — Maine Republican Susan Collins has promoted her reputation as one of the most independent U.S. senators and she is using the waning days of the election season to sell that message to voters by campaigning with a former colleague who has endorsed her.
Collins is trying to fend off a challenge from Democrat Troy Jackson, a onetime state Senate president, and on Wednesday she made appearances with Joe Manchin III, a West Virginian who was a Democrat then became an independent late in his career before retiring.
After stopping for breakfast at Simones’ Hot Dog Stand in Lewiston, Collins spoke of how she and Manchin were “part of every piece of bipartisan legislation that passed and became law” during their time together in office.
Manchin said to lose Collins would be “to lose the soul of the Senate.” He praised her independent streak, her willingness to buck Republican President Trump and her record of fighting for Maine’s interests.
“This is a true blue-blooded Maine person who knows exactly where she came from,” Manchin said.
They planned a stop later at a New Balance shoe facility in Norway. Jackson, 58, is scheduled to campaign Thursday in Portland with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive congresswoman from New York.
Collins, 73, is in what may be her toughest reelection fight as she seeks her sixth term.
It’s only the second time that she has sought reelection in a midterm with a sitting Republican president, and the national trends are much less favorable to the GOP than they were the last time she did so, in 2002. Trump’s approval has fallen well below where it was when he took office last year, and a recent poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that a strong majority of voters want change in Washington.
Collins has been working to persuade voters that she is independent of Trump and willing to break with him. In Manchin, she enlisted a politician who was one of the most moderate voices in the Senate. Manchin said in 2023 that Trump would “ destroy democracy in America” if he was elected to a second term.
Among the few dozen Collins supporters at the Lewiston event was Mike Marcotte.
“I may not have always been a fan of her complete package of votes, but when I look at the vitriol that’s in the U.S. Senate right now, we need more people like Susan Collins,” he said.
Jackson got a late start on campaigning after the party’s initial nominee exited the race but trails Collins in the money race by less than $3 million after an aggressive quarter in which he raised more than $20 million. Jackson has campaigned relentlessly and his events have drawn hundreds. Collins has largely stuck to smaller appearances.
Some of Jackson’s backers demonstrated across the street from the hot dog stand. A few held signs bearing the face of Brett M. Kavanaugh, the U.S. Supreme Court justice whom Collins voted to confirm and whose vote eventually helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion.
“Someone needs to stand up and be a check on Donald Trump and his harmful policies,” said David Sysko.
Collins has broken with Trump and Republicans over the years. She voted to convict him at his impeachment trial in 2021. Increasingly during the campaign, she has worked to distance herself from the president as Democrats argue that she is too close to him.
Collins said in early October that she is “not exactly his favorite senator,” and that she did not expect Trump to campaign in Maine. He has steered clear of the state with the Nov. 3 election nearing.
Pinning Collins to Trump is central to the Democrats’ strategy. In one ad, a nurse says the state is in a healthcare crisis “because of Susan Collins and Donald Trump,” citing Collins’ vote for Trump’s push for Medicaid cuts. Collins did vote to advance the bill but ultimately voted against it.
Trump also was a major focus of four contentious debates between the candidates this month, where Collins sought to distance herself from the president and Jackson repeatedly accused her of doing Trump’s bidding.
Asked at the final debate to name a time in which she bucked her own party and succeeded, Collins gave the example of rallying support against Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth, who was confirmed as Defense secretary.
Democrats seized on the moment and released a statement that said the exchange “underscores a central question in the Maine Senate race: Does Collins, a Republican in a state that disapproves of President Donald Trump and has grown bluer in recent years, stand up to her party enough to earn the independent streak she has staked her career on?”
Jackson has characterized Collins as out of touch with the struggles of working-class people in Maine. He has described Collins as a “rubber stamp” for the president and criticized her votes on Kavanaugh and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s second-term Health secretary. Collins has said she does not regret either vote.
Republican ads against Jackson, a logger from northern Maine, have focused more on accusations of his having a volatile personality and behaving like a bully with female colleagues. Jackson has denied those accusations.
Collins distanced herself on Wednesday from a Republican super PAC attack ad that she said “should be taken down.”
The senator was a top target of Democrats in 2020 when she defeated challenger Sara Gideon by nearly 9 percentage points. Collins is the only Republican senator from New England, a distinction she has had since January 2013.
Eric Dangerfield is surrounded by senior citizens.
After a packed set at Riot Fest the previous weekend, the 25-year-old lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the Paradox welcomed the quiet of his boomer-dominated neighborhood.
“I’m a suburban dude,” he said, smiling from his home in metro Atlanta, his cropped two-toned dreads bobbing as he spoke.
The Paradox spent much of the summer on the festival circuit, powering through a growing discography of pop-punk gems, so Dangerfield and the three other band members are taking a brief breather before their Proceed With Caution Tour starts this month — their first as headliners.
It’s peaceful. That is, “Except when the boys come over,” he adds.
On a late morning in September, the boys are here and accounted for: patching in to a video call, minutes apart, from their homes, also in suburban ATL. Dangerfield, born with the perfect stage name, has ideas that flow faster than he can seem to get them out. Then there’s Donald Bryant on bass. Yin to Dangerfield’s yang, with a quiet, commanding presence.
Percy “PC3” Crews has been playing drums since he was 3, and his vicious skills on the drum kit contrast with a cheery, relaxed demeanor. Finally, there’s Christopher Bernard, a.k.a. Xelan — the lead guitarist and Dangerfield’s vocal complement.
Dangerfield likens the four to musical superheroes from a Marvel series. But not so much the “Earth’s mightiest heroes” variety.
On their first headlining tour, the band brings its new EP, “Proceed With Caution,” to Los Angeles while claiming space in a historically white genre and weaving social commentary into its pop-punk sound.
(Shorefire Media)
“I’m like Mister Fantastic and Donald’s my Invisible Woman. Xelan’s the Thing, and Percy is John Storm,” he says of his partners in musical mischief. “If I’m ugly, just say that,” quips Xelan, the band’s oldest member at 30. “Yeah. Because you’re strong, bro,” reassures Eric.
By this time, the interview has devolved into fun-loving chaos.
They finish each other’s sentences and switch up their Google Meet backgrounds, cracking up as an awkward graduation portrait pops up. At some point, Bernard decides to give a bedroom tour, showing off his collection of Blink-182 and Fall Out Boy posters.
A photo of him with Travis Barker hangs next to a framed Billboard plaque on a nightstand. Barker was featured on the Paradox’s 2025 single “Bender” and performed with the group at Vans Warped Tour the same year.
The Billboard plaque commemorates the band’s song “Get the Message” from its debut EP, “NSFW,” reaching No. 1 on the Alternative Airplay chart in January — a great achievement for any rock artist — but the Paradox also happens to be the first all-Black band to do so.
The success, although rapid, didn’t come from nowhere. All of the members have been working toward music in some form for years.
Dangerfield had a deal with a small label where he was originally making a go of it as a pop and R&B soloist. He also put out his music online. Looking for something different, he remembered his passing interest in pop-punk from his days growing up in Palm Coast, Fla. It was the “Fat Lip” video by Sum 41 that sealed the deal.
Yearning to be in a band, he started working with Bernard, whom he met online and shared his passion for the genre. Bryant was Dangerfield’s childhood friend from Palm Coast who had also moved to Atlanta, while Crews had been a fixture on the local music scene. And the name? It came from Dangerfield’s love of quantum physics.
Shortly after the group officially formed in June 2024, Dangerfield’s then-girlfriend — now wife and band “momager” Lexi Dangerfield — opened Instagram and TikTok accounts filming and posting their homey videos. The band’s song “Kaitlyn” and some covers blew up. The artists’ perspective, filtered through a Gen Z lens, struck a multigenerational nerve.
Attention came so quickly that Dangerfield felt the need to defend against online detractors who were convinced the group was an industry plant.
From there, the fairy-tale plot thickened. Billie Joe Armstrong followed Dangerfield on Instagram, and the two struck up a friendship that led to the Paradox opening for Green Day on the Atlanta stop of its Saviors Tour. But this was, of course, after Jack White’s people called — who the group ended up opening for at Basement East in Nashville.
Things haven’t slowed down in the two years since, with opportunities coming fast and furious. In the spring of last year, the band signed a deal with Hundred Days Records, a subsidiary of Virgin Music Group, and teamed up with producers Mike Pepe and Robopop to work on “NSFW.”
“Bender,” the group’s collaboration with Barker, and “Do Me Like That” are featured on Madden NFL 27 and NBA 2K26 video game soundtracks. Last month, the musicians streamed a concert from Twitch superstar Kai Cenat’s house. And now, instead of opening for their idols, they are inviting them up on stage as guests. For their second Warped Tour in Long Beach, that meant Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 and Logan Henderson from Big Time Rush.
The embrace from established musicians has definitely helped the band navigate its rise. In a moment of doubt, Crews said Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden, in particular, came through with sage advice.
“He asked me a question: ‘How does it feel being where we were?’ And I was like, ‘It feels like a dream.’ It felt like I was gonna wake up on my desk sophomore year with drool on my f— table. And I was telling him that, and he was like, ‘You know, it may feel that way, but it is real … It’s real, and it’s you … you belong in these rooms.’”
The irony of being embraced in a mostly white subgenre of punk rock while Black American culture formed its foundation is not lost on the group. Had the band come about during one of Dangerfield’s favorite eras of music, the ’50s and ’60s — there would likely have been rooms in which they weren’t welcomed.
While the band members understand the impact their visibility has — especially for non-white kids who grew up in the suburbs as they did: skating, riding BMX, building Legos, watching anime, dreaming of a life onstage — it does require some balance. “They’re not asking Taking Back Sunday this stuff,” Dangerfield acknowledged when asked if they might tire of the representation mantle. “Or Blink, but … We are a minority in this space and in this country, and I think that you know the stuff that comes with being Black should definitely be talked about. I think those conversations are important.”
He said as much in August, when the group made its Tiny Desk debut in celebration of NPR’s Black Music Month. “Now, like they said, we made history,” he said, leaning into the mic after the first song. “And the Paradox is in the business of bringing rock ’n’ roll back to the originators.”
A glance at the comment section under the video makes clear the group’s authenticity resonates with those who haven’t felt seen or heard in certain spaces.
“I’m a black girl from the suburbs of Metro ATL,” wrote @rainjojo. “And I’m glad to see representation of people who are like me indulging in punk rock. I got into this genre from childhood shows like “16,” “Stoked”, and other early 2000 to 2010 shows, and I remember being bullied for being whitewashed. Please keep making more music like this.”
The tour is named after “Proceed With Caution,” the band’s sophomore EP released on Oct. 2. Across six tracks, it continues in the same vein as “NSFW,” with sharp melodies and a dash of humor thrown in. But on “That’s Not Fair,” the group wades deeper into social commentary. It was also the most difficult to record, cut raw with no click track.
“We were just trying to think of things that were not fair, [from] small and trivial like losing your keys to, I don’t know, using it as a bridge to talk about larger issues and things like that,” Dangerfield says of the song. “I think a big thing for me personally, it’s not political … is kind of the fact that everything is getting so expensive. The price of everything is rising so rapidly, and the salaries that people are being paid are not really growing to match that.”
The Paradox perform at The Moroccan Lounge on Thursday, Oct. 22.
(Hunter Lyon)
“And it’s like, we got very lucky, but the thing is, most people don’t,” he continued. “If you’re gonna sacrifice all your time, slaving away working for big corporations and stuff like that, you should at least be able to, you know, buy a candy bar or something.”
So far, the musicians aren’t taking anything for granted and are trying to enjoy the in-between moments.
Dangerfield and his wife took their daughter on a Disney cruise for her second birthday — she’s spent much of her young life traveling with the band.
With some of his publishing money, Bernard indulged his love of vintage Japanese fashion and has a 2000s-era Tuscan house on his vision board. Crews stays healthy, listens to lots of Snarky Puppy, and looks forward to the relaxed cannabis laws of L.A. when the tour stops at the Moroccan Lounge on Oct. 22 and 23. If time allows, he might even have time to surf in Malibu.
Bryant, who counts Mike Dirnt, Mark Hoppus and James Jamerson among his biggest influences, balances a dream of seeing his band play for thousands with looking forward to a life lived like his older brother: a chiropractor with a nice family.
But some dreams will have to wait as the band goes back to making music, hopefully with lasting impact. The members want to become household names, “like Nirvana,” with music people will play for hundreds of years. Why not?
Anything is possible when you are a fantastic foursome.
French yields have been rising for weeks as lawmakers wrangle over a 2027 budget that calls for billions of euros in spending cuts to reduce a debt pile that now stands at around 120% of France’s GDP – one of the highest levels in the eurozone and well above the EU limit of 60%.
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The French Treasury’s OAT bond is also used to set interest rates across a wide swath of the economy, meaning borrowing costs could begin rising for businesses and households.
The last time it was that high was during the dot-com financial crisis.
The spread between the 10-year yield and the German 10-year bond, considered the European benchmark of creditworthiness, also surged to nearly 160 basis points.
The bond selloff puts further pressure on the government ahead of a decision Friday by the ratings agency Moody’s on France’s sovereign credit rating, with most economists expecting a downgrade that would automatically raise the government’s borrowing costs.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is trying to get a 2027 budget approved in parliament despite not having a political majority for the €43 billion ($48bn) in spending cuts he seeks.
Even if approved, the budget would bring France’s deficit down to only 5% of GDP next year, well above the 3% limit for EU members.
Meanwhile, protests over the weekend calling in part for more spending on schools and other public services, degenerated into the worst street violence seen in years.
WASHINGTON — Xavier Becerra was dubbed a “rising star” before he even entered the halls of Congress.
His June 1992 Democratic primary victory over Los Angeles school board member Leticia Quezada in California’s 30th Congressional District earned the 34-year-old candidate that description in The Times.
When the boyish, affable congressman became the first Latino lawmaker appointed to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in his second term, national outlets took notice.
Thirty years later, in the final weeks of his gubernatorial race with Republican Steve Hilton, Becerra now finds himself poised to lead the most populous state in the country.
An examination of Becerra’s more than 25 years in Washington shows a politician who was skilled at building important alliances and amassing power on Capitol Hill, but had some stumbles along the way and faced criticism for his performance in his highest profile role.
Becerra built his reputation as a diligent consensus-builder — a workhorse rather than a show horse, to use an analogy favored by political scientists — but also revealed himself to be an ambitious political operator in key moments.
“He’s an affable person who’s not afraid to pull out a knife in politics while smiling,” said Christian Grose, a political science professor at USC.
Becerra’s campaign declined to comment on his time in Washington.
Becerra’s origin story traces back to his youth in Sacramento, and a moment when a high school friend was about to throw out a blank, unused application to Stanford University. The elite university was only 125 miles away, but it might as well have been across the ocean from the working-class world Becerra was raised in. Still, he applied.
He earned a law degree there four years later, and it was at Stanford that he met his wife, Carolyn Reyes, who became a physician.
After living in Boston while Reyes attended Harvard Medical School, Becerra moved to Los Angeles to work for state Sen. Art Torres. Within a few years he was tapped by Henry Lozano, then chief of staff to trailblazing Latino Rep. Edward Roybal, to run for state Assembly in 1990; and then, two years later, to succeed Roybal, who was retiring after 30 years in Congress.
Roybal endorsed Becerra, whose victory in the heavily Latino district that included Central and Eastside Los Angeles communities, was seen as a passing of the torch to the next generation.
Frank Villalobos, the founder and president of Barrio Architects, was among the leaders in East L.A. who encouraged Becerra to run for political office, and he said he was impressed early on by Becerra’s genuine commitment to the community and his ability to unite the area’s sometimes divided political factions.
“I thought if we kept this going, someday he’ll become the governor,” Villalobos said.
Becerra was part of a wave of young Latino lawmakers entering Congress, and his growing power within Democratic ranks helped him escape Roybal’s long shadow. Soon after Becerra’s barrier-breaking appointment to the Ways and Means Committee — which writes tax legislation — Becerra became chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a position he held from 1997 to 1999.
An early test
He put his growing stature to the test a few years later when he decided to enter the L.A. mayor’s race in 2001.
It didn’t go well.
Former state Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa was also running, and Becerra — who had slept on Villaraigosa’s couch when he first ran for Congress — faced criticism for potentially splitting the Latino vote.
Becerra performed poorly, winning only 6% of the vote in the Democratic primary. His nice-guy reputation took a hit when his campaign was found to have been behind automated phone calls attacking Villaraigosa by a woman who falsely gave the impression that she was county Supervisor Gloria Molina, whose endorsement had been crucial in Becerra’s first run for Congress.
Becerra also faced criticism for his role in contacting White House staffers as part of an effort to push for the release of convicted L.A. cocaine dealer Carlos Vignali, whose father was a political contributor to Becerra. Vignali’s sentence was commuted by President Clinton on his last day in office; Becerra acknowledged calling the White House several times to discuss the possibility of Vignali’s release. Villaraigosa also wrote a letter on Vignali’s behalf.
Becerra told The Times in 2001 that he wasn’t lobbying for Vignali’s release, but merely asking White House officials to review the details of the conviction on behalf of the family.
“If I was going to try to put pressure on, I would have tried to call the president,” Becerra said at the time.
Villaraigosa fared better than Becerra but ultimately lost the 2001 election to City Atty. James Hahn, then rebounded to win the first of two terms as mayor in 2005.
Becerra got the better of Villaraigosa in their rematch this year in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, and won Villaraigosa’s support after.
“We’ve been friends a long time and, yes, we’ve been adversaries as well, but most of the time we’ve been friends,” Villaraigosa told The Times. “He’s got the experience and the wherewithal to lead this state.”
As for Becerra as a house guest during his first run for Congress?
“He makes his bed. He was neat,” said Villaraigosa. “He was pretty inconspicuous.”
Capitol Hill climbing
After his mayoral defeat, Becerra’s focus returned to Washington, where an alliance with another powerful Californian was a boon to his career on Capitol Hill.
Becerra was a close ally of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), serving as assistant to the speaker from 2007 to 2009.
John Lawrence, Pelosi’s former chief of staff, said that Becerra’s standing within the California delegation and particularly among Latino lawmakers was a big part of his appeal.
“Speaker Pelosi had set a goal of elevating minorities and women who had historically been excluded from leadership,” he said.
Their relationship took a hit after Becerra told progressive lawmakers in 2009 that he believed party leadership gave up too easily on including a public option in the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law the following year.
“I understand I have tire tracks on my back because Xavier threw me under the bus,” Pelosi said during a Democratic Party leadership meeting in 2009, Politico reported.
And Pelosi would later question Becerra’s appointment in 2021 to be secretary of Health and Human Services. She has not endorsed Becerra in the gubernatorial race.
But any bad blood between the two didn’t stop Becerra from continuing to advance within the party ranks.
He became chair of the House Democratic Caucus in 2012, leading weekly meetings of all Democrats in the House and uniting the party’s members.
Former Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Ron Kind said Becerra was an excellent listener and skilled at building consensus.
“He could get in the room with anyone and find common ground,” Kind said.
Becerra joined several high-stakes negotiations, notably a 2013 bipartisan effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform, in the wake of the “Gang of Eight” deal struck in the Senate.
John Yarmuth, a Democratic congressman from Kentucky who was also part of the House negotiation, said Becerra was “an amazing positive force” in the process.
“I think he, more than anyone else, was focused on fixing the problem,” Yarmuth said.
Xavier Becerra bumps elbows with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) before his Senate committee confirmation hearing for Health and Human Services secretary in 2021.
(Greg Nash / Associated Press)
The group was able to achieve a compromise, but it never saw the light of day.
Then-House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, later blamed then-President Obama, whom he accused of “poisoning the well” on an immigration compromise. Yarmuth said Republicans were spooked about potential blowback.
Several potential off-ramps appeared during Becerra’s time in Washington. He was considered by Obama for U.S. trade representative in 2008, but Becerra declined the offer. After flirting with the idea of running for outgoing U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s seat, Becerra declined to enter the race, ultimately won by then-California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris. He was briefly floated as a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, but that didn’t materialize either.
In late 2016, Becerra found himself at a crossroads.
After more than a decade on the Ways and Means Committee, he faced the possibility of becoming the top Democrat on the committee and had the endorsement of the outgoing top Democrat, Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan.
But Harris’ victory in the 2016 Senate race created a vacancy for state attorney general.
Becerra decided to return home to Sacramento to take the role and spent the next four years as the state’s top law enforcement official, serving as “defender-in-chief” of the state, as USC’s Grose put it, against the Trump administration.
Fraught second act in D.C.
Becerra returned to Washington in 2021 for a second act that would prove to be far more controversial than his first.
Despite having no background in healthcare, Becerra was nominated to be the secretary of Health and Human Services and confirmed, over significant opposition by Republicans.
He took the reins of the healthcare agency as the country was still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and struggled to establish a clear role for himself in a response effort that was centered in the White House.
In his first year in office, he was called out by reporters for failing to hold regular press briefings.
And he faced criticism when health officials under his purview offered contradictory information in late 2021 about reduced quarantine requirements for people testing positive for COVID-19.
And Becerra’s chief of staff at Health and Human Services and longtime advisor, Sean McCluskie, pleaded guilty last year to participating in a scheme to use campaign funds from a dormant Becerra state political committee to pay for McCluskie’s frequent travel between Washington and California.
Dana Williamson, a longtime political consultant for Becerra and former chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom, pleaded guilty earlier this year for her role in the scheme. McCluskie and Williamson are scheduled to be sentenced in December. Neither Becerra nor Newsom were accused of wrongdoing.
Democratic operative Xochitl Hinojosa, who served as the spokesperson for the Department of Justice in the Biden administration, earlier this year offered a blunt assessment of Becerra’s performance.
“He was not effective in government, and I think that a lot of people in the Biden administration are talking about this because they realize that he was not an effective HHS secretary,” Hinojosa said on CNN in May.
While other members of the Biden administration have defended Becerra’s performance, his time at the helm highlighted an issue that even allies concede has bedeviled Becerra in the past, his tendency to sometimes recede into the background.
Loretta Sanchez, a former Democratic congresswoman from Orange County who credits Becerra with encouraging her to run for Congress, put it simply.
“Will Xavier be bold?” she said. “I hope he takes those bold moves, because California needs it.”
New photos provide an interesting first public look inside the payload bay of Australia’s Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle (XL-AUV), and a glimpse of the highly modular concept at the heart of the Royal Australian Navy’s emerging undersea warfare capability. Australian authorities had said in the past that they plan to use Ghost Sharks to conduct “persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike” missions, but without any real elaboration.
The photographs were taken during a recent visit to the Anduril Australia factory in Sydney, New South Wales, by Pat Conroy, Australia’s Minister for Defense Industry. They emerged as the Australian government announced new details of payload development for Ghost Shark, the Speartooth large uncrewed underwater vehicle (LUUV), and the BlueBottle uncrewed surface vessel (USV), on October 19. While the announcement described the payloads in very broad terms, the photos plus additional details from the Anduril event reveal a more concrete picture of the missions Ghost Shark is being designed to perform.
Left to right: David Goodrich, CEO of Anduril Australia; Chief of Navy, Vice Adm. Matthew Buckley; Professor Tanya Monro, AC Chief Defense Scientist; and Pat Conroy, Minister for Defense Industry, stand in front of a Ghost Shark, with payload bay open, at the Anduril Australia factory in Sydney, New South Wales. Australian Department of Defense
The three previously undisclosed payload options include deploying up to 12 sea mines in a mission, leaving supply caches on the seabed, and launching Anduril’s ALTIUS aerial drones for reconnaissance or strike missions.
“Ghost Shark now has teeth, and will have the ability to inflict damage on any potential adversary,” Conroy said.
The payload bay image is significant in its own right. Ghost Shark’s modular design is intended to accommodate different mission-specific systems, allowing the Royal Australian Navy to configure the same underlying platform for different operational requirements. Ghost Shark was designed to be extremely modular, flexible, and readily reconfigurable. As part of this, the overall payload portion can be readily configured in different ways using different-sized modular hull sections. Since the nose and the tail are different pieces, with an expandable section in the middle, there is plenty of scope for different payloads as well.
Seeing the internal bay for the first time provides a more tangible look at that approach than earlier photographs of the submarine’s exterior.
Chief of Navy, Vice Adm. Matthew Buckley, makes an address at the Anduril Australia factory in Sydney, New South Wales. The payload-bay spacers are seen immediately behind him. Australian Department of Defense
Inside the bay of one of the Ghost Sharks on display, there appear to be cylindrical spacers, formed in segments, rather than operational stores. These spacers, and other areas inside the bay, look as if they are fabricated from plywood or similar. Overall, this means it is not entirely clear if they represent the kind of ballast that would be loaded to take the place of actual payloads during trials, or whether they are part of a mockup.
Of the three payload options, the ability to deploy ALTIUS aerial drones is particularly noteworthy. An underwater vehicle capable of releasing aerial systems could extend a naval force’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) reach beyond the submarine’s own sensors. Depending on the drone variant and mission configuration, it could also provide a means of delivering effects at a distance without putting personnel directly in harm’s way. Other roles could include stimulating enemy air defense networks, perhaps even responding to pop-up air defence threats as they appear and attacking them. The ability to put miniaturized satcom terminals, as well as AI, on small drones also greatly opens up the possibilities for UUV-launched aerial drones.
The Anduril ALTIUS-600 is displayed during a press conference at the Anduril Australia factory in Sydney, New South Wales. Australian Department of Defense
Which ALTIUS variants the Ghost Shark will be able to deploy has not been publicly disclosed. The models displayed at the Altus factory are all derivatives of the ALTIUS-600 family. Notable versions include the ALTIUS-600 for ISR, as well as the ALTIUS-600M, which is designed for strike missions. As you can read here, the basic drone has an overall weight of between 20 and 27 pounds, depending on its payload, which typically weighs between three and seven pounds. The ALTIUS-600 has a maximum range of around 275 miles and can remain airborne for at least four hours, according to its developer. Unarmed variants of the ALTIUS-600 are designed to be recoverable and reusable, although it is unclear how practical that would be after launch from a UUV.
ALTIUS-600M Loitering Munition
There is another missing part of the payload puzzle, namely the kinds of capsules that would contain the ALTIUS UAVs for launch from the sub.
The Rheinmetall Asteria 533mm-diameter mine pictured alongside the Ghost Shark is not installed in the vehicle’s payload bay. Its appearance nevertheless provides an intriguing visual counterpart to the newly disclosed mine-delivery capability. According to the manufacturer, the Asteria can be deployed from surface vessels, aircraft, and submarines (normally via torpedo tubes). It can be remotely controlled via an acoustic link and is optimized for the defense of harbors, straits, ports, and other critical areas.
Professor Tanya Monro, AC Chief Defense Scientist, makes an address at the Anduril Australia factory, with the Rheinmetall Asteria mine behind her, immediately to her right, marked with a blue band. Australian Department of Defense
The seabed supply-cache concept points to a different operational role. Ghost Shark could position equipment and supplies underwater for later retrieval, potentially supporting forces operating in areas where conventional resupply is difficult or risky.
The notional supply cache payloads — which are under development by the Defense Science and Technology Group (DSTG) — don’t appear to be on display here. Alex Luck, a naval analyst who closely tracks submarine developments, told TWZ that the cache payloads would likely take the form of capsules, similar in shape to the Asteria mine, but containing whatever supplies need to be moved. It is not immediately clear who would use those caches. One option could be special operations forces, but if the payloads could later rise to the surface, they could be accessed by other forces, too.
It should also be noted that the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, in particular, are envisioning future fleets of UUVs and USVs that can carry out kinetic attacks and employ electronic warfare and other non-kinetic effects, as well as emplace mines, providing a direct parallel with the planned mission set for Ghost Shark.
A rendering of a Ghost Shark in Royal Australian Navy service. Australian Defense Force
Some of the new payload capabilities are due to be featured in Exercise Maritime Big Play Pacific in San Diego, an AUKUS Pillar II activity focused on advanced maritime capabilities and interoperability. The Australian government says the development effort involves the Royal Australian Navy, Defense Science and Technology Group, the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator and defense industry.
The Ghost Shark ‘Alpha’ first prototype was co-developed by Defense Science and Technology Group, the Royal Australian Navy, and Anduril Australia. Australian Department of Defense
Under AUKUS Pillar II, Australia is collaborating with the United Kingdom and the United States on Ghost Shark and its associated capabilities. While Pillar I centers on providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, Pillar II focuses on the joint development of advanced defence technologies, including artificial intelligence and autonomous systems.
Exactly how the Ghost Shark will be deployed during the Maritime Big Play Pacific exercise is unclear, but, speaking about the concept of operations, Conroy described examples of it being deployed from a shipping container or launched from the back of a small vessel using a crane. In the past, we have also seen the Ghost Shark loaded in a standard shipping container and transported in a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A Globemaster III airlifter.
A Ghost Shark loaded in a standard shipping container for transport in a Royal Australian Air Force C-17A. Anduril
Australia’s 2026 National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program allocate up to A$5.8 billion (approximately $4.05 billion) over the decade to autonomous and uncrewed undersea warfare capabilities, including A$1.7 billion (approximately $1.19 billion) for a new fleet of Australian-designed and built Ghost Shark vehicles.
The newly released imagery and payload details offer the clearest picture yet of how Australia intends to expand Ghost Shark beyond a conventional underwater surveillance role. The next key milestones should provide more details of how the payloads will be integrated into the vehicle, and how they might be deployed in practice.
Come Election Day, a Quaker leader will travel from the nation’s capital to her home state of Ohio. A Christian minister and a Jewish rabbi will stand vigil outside a polling place in Arizona. A Buddhist nun will offer support to voters in Wisconsin.
In battleground states across the country, these faith leaders and hundreds of their colleagues will assume the role of poll chaplains for one day. They will deploy to nine states — Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia and Texas — where contentious races are expected to raise political tensions.
Faiths United in Saving Democracy, a nonpartisan coalition of interfaith and secular partners, is helping to train and certify this volunteer force of clergy members and lay peacekeepers in time for the Nov. 3 elections.
They’ll wear identifying hats and vests, and stay outside the poll centers, with the goal of maintaining a calm, reassuring presence to encourage more voters to exercise their rights without fear or hesitation, said co-founder Barbara Williams-Skinner. As of Oct. 19, they’ve recruited 1,235 poll chaplains and peacekeepers, she said.
A non-partisan effort to take the fear out of voting
While the idea of poll chaplains has been around for several years, Williams-Skinner said “2026 is going to be different” because there is widespread concern that the presence of federal immigration agents could create a chilling effect.
“The fear is real,” she says, worrying that it could deter eligible voters in mixed-immigration-status families and communities of color. Department of Homeland Security officials have consistently said they have no plans to send immigration agents to the polls, although DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said they could show up for a specific reason, such as arresting someone if they have a warrant.
The coalition has offered training online and in person. Participants get information about immigrant rights, de-escalation techniques and phone numbers to call in tight situations, Williams-Skinner said.
The initiative, strongly rooted in the Black church, has expanded to include diverse faiths as well as non-religious people, she said.
“This is a movement built by unusual coalitions,” she said. “You have white, Mainline Protestants, Quakers, traditional Baptists, Black church leaders, imams, rabbis — all kinds of people who probably would not work together or haven’t worked together in the past.”
While most participating groups are moderate or progressive, Williams-Skinner says it is a strictly nonpartisan initiative.
“We don’t get hung up on who’s moderate or who’s conservative. People just need to be able to vote, unafraid,” she said.
Concerns about voter intimidation motivate chaplains
A Pew survey following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September 2025 showed 85% of Americans, across political lines, believe political violence is on the rise.
Polling places have been targeted by protesters in past elections. In 2022, members of a group claiming to monitor ballot drop boxes in Arizona were ordered to stay at least 250 feet away after voters complained about intimidation. In 2020, following Election Day, a crowd stormed a vote-counting center in Detroit, many incited by online conspiracy theories about election fraud.
As the mob banged on the center’s doors and windows, the Rev. Steve Bland was among several faith leaders who put their bodies between the building and the crowd. Bland, who leads Detroit’s Liberty Temple Baptist Church, is continuing that work as a poll chaplain.
The pastor says de-escalation often involves “using the right words to calm a situation” or giving intimidated voters the moral support and reassurance that they are safe to exercise their civic right. Bland said he did precisely that for an elderly, Black woman during a prior election.
“She left and came back with two of her grandsons who also voted,” he said. “Without that intervention, three people wouldn’t have voted that day.”
The Rev. Bankole Akinbinu, senior pastor of Baptist Grove Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, said training in conflict resolution and de-escalation has given him the confidence to serve as a poll chaplain. A millennial, he has sought to engage younger people by recruiting peacekeepers from college campuses.
His motivation comes from seeing voter suppression attempts in North Carolina and other states.
“I look at our forefathers and the struggle they had to endure to afford us the privilege of voting,” Akinbinu said. “I look at my children and the nation I want to hand them.”
Steven Huefner, deputy director of the Election Law Program at The Ohio State University, says poll chaplains might be able to calm the frayed nerves of a voting public that is constantly exposed to divisive rhetoric and news about political violence. While political violence has increased, he says, it’s not widespread.
“Election workers are well-trained and can run elections quite well,” he said.
Faith leaders have historically played the role of peacekeepers, said Wendy Cadge, professor of sociology at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and founder of the think tank Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.
And now chaplaincy — beyond traditional worship spaces — is attracting more clergy.
“People are feeling called to chaplaincy because they want to be with people in difficult times,” Cadge said. “They don’t want to worry about what color the carpet is in the church or if their youth programs are attracting enough people. It’s a different kind of work.”
Chaplains find inspiration in theology
Clergy deploying on Election Day say they are heeding a strong, faith-driven calling to serve as poll chaplains.
In Arizona, Rev. Katie Sexton, executive director of Arizona Faith Network, embraces the initiative as a way to reach across the political divide.
“The ballot box is a place where we’re all seen as equal,” she said, adding that it reflects the Christian belief that all humans are created in the image of God. “There is such power in that.”
On Oct. 6, Sexton and several others participated in a training session — one of the last before the midterms — at Temple Chai, a Reform synagogue in Scottsdale.
Rabbi Emily Segal, who leads the congregation, will be a poll chaplain for the first time next month. The work, she says, aligns with what the Torah and Talmud teach about a healthy and just society.
Throughout American history, interfaith coalitions have created powerful change and served as sources of inspiration, Segal said. “Any time we can come together with faith partners around our shared values for societal good is a real source of holiness for our community.”
Bridget Moix, a Quaker leader, will travel to her native Ohio on Election Day.
“In our faith tradition, we think about voting as a sacred act we want to protect,” she said.
For Reirin Gumbel, resident teacher at the Milwaukee Zen Center, it’ll be a third time, come November.
“As Buddhists, the Metta Sutra we chant says every being has the same rights, and that we should have compassion toward all,” she said.
Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi, spiritual leader of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, is considering becoming a poll chaplain for the first time. In a highly contentious campaign in Elahi’s state, Abdul El-Sayed is the first Muslim Democratic candidate to run for a U.S. Senate seat.
The imam said he is tired of anti-Muslim vitriol that has surfaced ahead of the midterms.
“As interfaith clergy, we stand for principles not personalities,” he said. “The Quran tells us to stand for what’s right — truth, justice, peace, human rights and the dignity of human beings, whoever they may be.”
Welcome back to The Times’ Lakers newsletter and welcome back to real NBA games.
The regular season begins Tuesday with a triple-header. It’s the first time in eight years that the Lakers are watching the opening day action at home. That could be a small sign of where the Lakers stand in the NBA pecking order now.
Not many people know what to make of this team. There are nine new players. Another ownership change is pending. The Western Conference has two juggernauts at the top.
But within this summer of change, the Lakers managed to maintain one key partnership.
All things Lakers, all the time.
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Two-headed monster
With more than half of their roster wearing the purple and gold for the first time, some Lakers might still be getting on the same page after less than three weeks of practices. Meanwhile, Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are already playing a completely different game.
“They’re always, like, playing chess out there,” guard Collin Sexton said.
After an offseason of change, it’s still the Lakers’ two most established stars who will control the season’s fate. Doncic and Reaves were 30-11 in games played together last season. In 1,092 minutes, lineups with Doncic and Reaves together outscored opponents by 8.9 points per 100 possessions, the third-best net rating on the team for any pair of regular rotation players. Their established chemistry gives the Lakers a strong foundation for the season.
“Austin and Luka, they kind of see things before it happens,” Sexton said. “And I feel like that allows them to be so good offensively and be able to score, but also to put us in the right situation to be successful as well.”
The duo that could be one of the most offensively potent pairings in the league proved that they could have success last season, helping the Lakers surge up the Western Conference standings during a magical March. Doncic scored 600 points during the month, despite missing one game because of a technical foul accumulation suspension. Reaves averaged 5.8 assists, his highest average for a month with more than six appearances last season. With LeBron James serving as the most heralded third option in the history of basketball, the Lakers went 15-2.
It was painful but a little poetic that Doncic and Reaves — whose wholesome friendship became the envy of NBA Twitter — suffered injuries during the same game to end the hot streak.
Doncic told Sports Illustrated this summer that he “regret[ted]” coming back into the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder after he felt a twinge in his hamstring during the first half. The severity of the injury kept him out for the rest of the season.
“I thought we had a team that could compete for a championship,” Doncic said during training camp. “So I was kind of disappointed, kind of let the team down, so it’s definitely motivating for this season.”
Reaves returned during the postseason after an oblique injury, but couldn’t regain his consistency. He played in a career-low 51 games last season and missed out on what could have been his first All-Star selection.
Determined to fortify his body for another long season, Reaves hired former Lakers head strength and conditioning coach Ed Streit to work with him. He hoped that having a dedicated strength coach, which stars including James and Doncic already have, would help him take “the next step,” Reaves said.
After waiting and learning behind veterans such as James and Anthony Davis, Reaves is now an undisputed top-two player on the Lakers. He signed the richest contract ever for an undrafted player this offseason. Doncic was among his most vocal supporters.
“We talked about it even middle of last year, towards the end of last year, continuing this partnership for as long as we can,” Reaves said. “I enjoy being around him so much that coming back and being a Laker was the main thing when the season ended.”
Initially Reaves didn’t know if he would establish a close bond with Doncic after the former Dallas superstar was shockingly traded. Doncic was quiet when he first arrived in L.A. Now Reaves, who loves to hate his newest best friend, is sad to admit that they’re so similar.
They share a creative style of basketball. They’re ruthless competitors. They love golf.
The most important thing is another shared obsession.
“At the end of the day, we care about winning,” Reaves said, “and that’s all that matters.”
General managers voted on the top four teams in each conference, with four points awarded for each first-place vote, three points for second place, two for third and one for fourth, and the Lakers received 10% of fourth-place votes and 1% of total available points, which placed sixth in the total score.
The San Antonio Spurs, who were also the general managers’ choice to win the NBA title, had 53% of first-place points in the Western Conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder were effectively tied in the survey, with both teams getting 34% of the available points. With two young, deep teams at the top of the conference, all roads seem to lead to an encore of last year’s Western Conference final.
But this league celebrates its parity. Eight champions in eight years? Almost nothing compared to more than the 40 years since a repeat Western Conference finals matchup. The West hasn’t had a conference finals sequel since the Lakers and Spurs in 1982 and 1983.
The season could turn unexpectedly for one of the top teams, opening the door for another team to crash the party. NBA general managers don’t think the Lakers would be first inside the velvet ropes, but executives believe the team could be an enigma. In response to a NBA.com survey question on which team’s success is the toughest to predict this season, the Lakers received the third-most votes.
The league can’t tell the type of team the Lakers will be. They at least have their goals clear.
“Realistically, I would say championship,” Doncic said at the Spectrum broadcast desk on media day. “If that’s not your goal, I don’t know what you’re doing here.”
Poll question
Where do you think the Lakers will finish in the Western Conference?
It’s here! The opener! The Lakers should be familiar with the Warriors after playing two preseason games against their in-state rivals. Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg emerged as an immediate impact player, averaging 15.6 points and 7.4 rebounds on 56.9% shooting during the preseason.
Friday vs. Clippers, 7 p.m. PDT
Old friend Rui Hachimura returns with the Clippers, who have moved on from the Kawhi Leonard Era but begin the season without Brandon Ingram (Achilles) and Max Strus (foot). Rookie guard Keaton Wagler could be one of the few bright spots for the struggling franchise this season.
Sunday at Jazz, 2 p.m. PDT
The Lakers’ first road game is a homecoming for Walker Kessler, returning to the franchise that drafted him, and a reunion with another former Laker Jaxson Hayes. Hayes, who signed a two-year, $12-million contract with the Jazz, is in line to get significant minutes for Utah after an early injury to Jusuf Nurkic (foot).
Favorite thing I ate this week
Poke from Redondo Beach’s Jus’ Poke.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
The Lakers did not bless us with a tropical training camp (looking at you, Clippers and Warriors) so a trip to Redondo Beach’s Jus’ Poke will have to be the closest I get to Hawaii for now. The poke selections are always fresh and stand out for their simplicity and execution. No superfluous toppings and sauces. Just, as the name suggests, really good poke.
The singer and presenter returned to our screens on Tuesday afternoon (October 20), alongside fellow panellists Coleen Rooney, Kaye Adams, Janet Street-Porter and Ruth Langsford.
As the ITV stars discussed their individual journeys to motherhood, 57-year-old Brenda revealed she suffered a miscarriage before the birth of Jamal., who died aged 31 in 2022.
Brenda started by explaining that she always dreamed of having two children. “I did grow up saying ‘by the time that I’m 27, I want to have a job, I want to have a husband. I want to have two children.’ It was always two children. I wasn’t going for a football [team] or anything,” she said.
She went on to admit that her excitement to become a mother was partially due to losing her own parents at just four years old. Brenda explained: “There was a little bit of me that wanted to have children [and] to raise them because I wasn’t raised by my mum and dad. I was four when my parents died but I was kind of thinking ‘I’d like to go past that age that we were.'”
The Luton-born actress went on to give birth to her late son Jamal at 21 years old, then her daughter Tanisha. However, she unfortunately miscarried before Jamal was born.
She shared: “I was 21 when I had Jamal and then Tanisha and then I did finally get married at 27,” before adding: “I did unfortunately have a miscarriage before Jamal came.
“And when that happened, it really made me think ‘Oh my god, that would have been so lovely. What would that have been like if I hadn’t [miscarried]?’ So I see children as a blessing.”
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It comes four years after Brenda’s son Jamal sadly died after suffering a cardiac arrhythmia. The Loose Women presenter recently paid tribute to him on what would have been his 36th birthday.
Posting a series of childhood photos on Instagram, she wrote: “Jamms 36 years ago today you were born, the sun was shining bright just like your beautiful smile. These photographs capture so many beautiful memories that will never be forgotten. I miss you each and every second of every day!! I love you always and forever.”
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Sands. You can call them on 0808 164 3332 or emailhelpline@sands.org.uk.
Loose Women airs 12:30pm on ITV1 from Monday to Friday
Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where I am thrilled to be writing to you today after a harrowing couple of weeks at the Kartje household. But after a bout with stomach ulcers — don’t recommend it! — and a brief hospital stay, I’m now back and ready for the home stretch of USC’s football season, which has gotten a lot more intriguing since we last spoke.
Not only did Lincoln Riley secure a critical road win at Penn State, but the rest of college football’s top tier also collapsed in the week since. The teams ranked Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 all lost on Saturday. At 3-1 in the Big Ten, USC is now tied for second place, while the three other teams at the top of the conference — UCLA, Indiana and Ohio State — are all still on the Trojans’ schedule. Two of those teams will face USC with a backup quarterback.
The Playoff picture certainly looks brighter for USC than it did before that trip to State College. But it’s still up to Riley to prove his team can actually deliver on that promise for more than one night.
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That starts Saturday, in Madison, Wis., for my money, one of the best college towns in America. But since we’re roughly at the midway point of the football season, let’s look back at the first half for USC, with an eye on where the team could be headed in the second.
Quarterbacks: B
Jayden Maiava is coming off one of his better games as USC’s starting quarterback, having guided the Trojans to victory in State College. And maybe that performance was what Maiava needed to snap out of whatever funk he seemed to be in. Because for a few weeks, his timing and mechanics were a bit out of whack.
He’s still been putting up numbers — seventh in passing yards per game, in spite of my nitpicking. But if he is back to slinging it like he was against Penn State for the rest of the season, USC can keep up with anyone, including Indiana and Ohio State. But through the first half, I would say Maiava was good, not great.
Running backs: B-
King Miller has been a workhorse for USC this season.
(Adam Hunger / Associated Press)
I had high hopes for Waymond Jordan this season, but since his ankle surgeries, he simply hasn’t been the same player through the first half that he was a year ago. Fortunately for USC, that hasn’t been a huge problem. King Miller’s added muscle has given him some added durability, and in turn, USC has used him like a workhorse, with more carries per game so far than basically any other back in the Riley era. But he hasn’t been quite as explosive as he was last season, and that absence of explosion has been noticeable in USC’s offense. The Trojans have just five runs of 20-plus yards in seven games.
Wide receivers/tight ends: A
It’s pretty rare that a team entrusts its entire passing attack to a fleet of freshmen right from the jump. And it’s even more extraordinary to see that trust pay immediate dividends. But that’s been the case for USC so far this season. Trent Mosley has been the most dynamic freshman pass-catcher in the country when healthy. Kayden Dixon-Wyatt leads all Power Four freshmen wideouts in receiving yards (400). And Mark Bowman’s absence has been felt since he’s been out of the lineup. I’ve been blown away by what we’ve seen out of this group, given all it had lost. The last two weeks, we’ve also seen Tanook Hines return to the level on which he left off last year.
Offensive line: A
It’s a credit to what offensive line coach Zach Hanson has been able to accomplish with his group’s development that true freshman Vlad Dyakonov could step in to start at left tackle in the most brutal of circumstances at Penn State and more than hold his own. USC has been able to navigate injuries up front with ease so far this season, after actually losing its starting center before the season even started. The unit has only given up seven sacks in seven games, and their run blocking has been mostly strong as well.
Defensive line: B
USC’s defense looks entirely different when it can effectively pressure opposing quarterbacks. Over the last two weeks, it has managed to rack up seven sacks, one fewer than USC had over its previous five games. That’s a major step forward, and it starts with Luke Wafle and Kameryn Crawford getting more pressure off the edges. If Jide Abasiri and Jahkeem Stewart can use the bye week to get healthier, then suddenly this group looks very dangerous ahead of the second half.
Linebackers: C
I like what I saw out of Ta’Mere Robinson and Elijah Newby in recent weeks, and it’s certainly possible that the linebacker room looks decidedly different coming out of the bye week, with either stepping into a bigger role. It feels like a fork-in-the-road moment for Desman Stephens, given what happened with Oregon and how he’s played outside of that one bad decision. It’s Year 3, and he’s not always in the right place. There’s a lot to work out here still.
Secondary: D+
Through seven games, USC ranks 128th in the nation in pass yards allowed per attempt. Which means I’m probably being kind giving this group the benefit of the doubt inherent to a D-plus. In some sense, this group is what it is. The personnel at safety has not appeared to fit whatever Gary Patterson wants at the position. But the healthy return of Alex Graham at slot corner has helped matters, and Jontez Williams has been solid, albeit unspectacular. Otherwise, well … yeesh. Best-case scenario is Patterson figures out something in the bye week to get the best out of this group.
Injuries shape start of men’s basketball season
We already knew that 7-footer Eric Reibe will miss at least all of USC’s non-conference slate after foot surgery. But according to a person familiar with USC’s roster situation but not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that the Trojans may also be without five-star freshman Christian Collins when they open the season on Nov. 2 against Milwaukee. Collins has been out for several weeks of the preseason with an undisclosed injury, but he’s expected to return sometime in early November. Assuming he continues to progress, he won’t miss much more time.
The earliest Reibe could return, I’m told, is the first week of January, when USC opens conference play. But even that would be an optimistic outlook, considering when Reibe had his surgery. He’d sat out for almost two months, hoping to let the foot heal on its own, before opting for the operation.
A note on House of Troy, Chapter 5
Given my recent health situation, we’ll be taking a one-week break from “House of Troy.” But we’ll be back the following Tuesday, Oct. 27, when Chapter 5 will ready for you wherever you get your podcasts!
Notable quotable
“We have one loss. We just had a terrific win on the road at Penn State. And we’re gonna continue to get things done for the rest of the season. Then, we’ll see what happens.”
—USC president Beong-Soo Kim, when asked about the potential of moving on from Lincoln Riley
Olympic sports spotlight
It’s been a tough season for USC women’s soccer. Entering the weekend, the Trojans had just one win in 14 matches this season … and that lone win came in late August.
But that changed at Northwestern, as USC scored in the first minute of the game and never looked back, delivering a 3-0 win over the Wildcats.
The win won’t change what’s frankly been an unacceptable campaign for a program that was 18-1-4 just two seasons ago. USC is now 2-8-5, with three matches remaining. The time to save this subpar season is already past.
What I’m watching this week
Samantha Sloyan and Summer H. Howell in “Carrie.”
(Liane Hentscher / Prime)
While I was doubled over on the couch for the better part of two weeks, I did happen to stumble onto one of my favorite shows of the year to date. I have a deep respect and love for Stephen King, so I was wary of Amazon’s new adaptation of “Carrie.” But it honestly shattered my expectations.
Adapted by writer and director Mike Flanagan, this modernized version of the classic King story is born out of social media and an Instagram account, “CarrieRed,” which starts terrorizing other students and teachers alike. Meanwhile, Carrie White, the titular character, is thrust into this brutal world of modern high school having spent her life to that point shut in with her strict mother and father. It could’ve been a caricature of high school today, but I thought it was really well done. And it kept me guessing throughout.
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email Ryan at ryan.kartje@latimes.com, and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Management upheaval at Netflix continued Monday as the streamer’s head of films Dan Lin exited, according to two people familiar with the matter who declined to be named.
Lin was appointed to the position in February 2024 and was tasked with making fewer, better and bigger movies. During his tenure, Netflix rolled out movies including crime thriller “The Rip,” starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and animated hit “KPop Demon Hunters.” His exit arrives as Netflix is going to release highly anticipated movies in theaters in the coming months including David Fincher-directed “The Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth” starring Brad Pitt in November and Greta Gerwig-directed “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew next year.
Netflix did not have an immediate response to a request for comment.
Lin’s exit followed massive layoffs at Netflix that began last week, trimming 6% of staff or roughly 1,000 people. Netflix last Thursday announced the company’s Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria was no longer at the streamer and named her replacement, Peter Rice, a former chairman of Walt Disney Television and chairman of general entertainment for The Walt Disney Co.
After Bajaria was pushed out, many people in the industry expected Lin would be next, according to sources who declined to be named.
Rice will also oversee the film team until a new film head is announced.
Analysts and investors have raised concerns about Netflix’s growth. In the first half of 2026, hours watched on Netflix increased 2% compared to a year earlier, according to the streamer. Investors had hoped for more robust growth, given that the streamer increased its content budget 11% to $20 billion.
Netflix is profitable and continues to grow its revenue. But analysts say the streamer hasn’t had enough big hits recently and are skeptical about Netflix‘s ability to increase prices and grow its subscriber base if it doesn’t have enough popular content.
Netflix stock has dropped 42% compared to a year ago. By mid-morning on Monday, shares were trading at $69.53, down 1%.
In a note to staff about Bajaria’s exit, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote that he saw an opportunity to take the streamer’s slate to the “next level” especially in the United States and Canada market, “where we have an outsize impact in creating big, buzzy hits that our members love and drive conversation around the world.”
Lin’s role was controversial in Hollywood, as he was named to the role after former Netflix film chief Scott Stuber left. Under Stuber’s leadership, Netflix ramped up its movie production and produced big budget films including 2022‘s “The Gray Man” starring Ryan Gosling but is not ranked in Netflix’s top 10 films of all time. “The Gray Man” cost nearly $200 million to make and at the time was Netflix’s most expensive movie, according to the New York Times.
Lin’s directive to be more budget conscious also irked some people in the industry.
While films released during his tenure including the animated film “Swapped,” as well as action films “Carry-On” and “Back in Action” made Netflix’s top 10 most-watched films list, based on views at the time of their debut, some of his other films were not as successful, analysts said.
Brandon Katz, director of insights and content strategy at Greenlight Analytics, said Netflix’s five most-watched English-language scripted summer movie releases in their first eight weeks posted the lowest average hours watched compared with the streamer’s top five summer releases in 2025, 2024 and 2023, citing Nielsen data.
Analysts and investors are eagerly anticipating Netflix’s third quarter earnings results Tuesday, as executives are expected to address how they plan to move the company forward.
The Dodgers’ offseason began at 8:07 Thursday night. Heavily favored to win a third straight World Series, they were swept into winter by the Milwaukee Brewers.
The final score doesn’t really matter, but for the record it was 6-4 Brewers. It wasn’t really that close.
The Dodgers led in every game of the National League Championship Series. They didn’t win any of them. No team has ever done that while getting swept in a best-of-seven series. So while the Dodgers didn’t three-peat, they made history just the same.
“They were relentless with everything that they did,” Dodgers infielder Max Muncy said of the Brewers. “They just strung together good at-bat after good at-bat. That’s usually what we do.
“We didn’t do it this series and they did.”
The Dodgers’ starting rotation, the most expensive in history, gave up 16 hits and 13 runs in 18 innings for a 6.50 earned-run average. The bullpen was nearly as bad, posting a 4.50 ERA in 16 innings.
The Brewers’ relievers, on the other hand, were spectacular. Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy went to his bullpen 14 times and just twice did a reliever give up a run. All four victories against the Dodgers and all seven Brewers wins this postseason have gone to a reliever, with the bullpen posting a 1.33 ERA in 40⅔ innings.
“Pitcher after pitcher came in and executed,” Muncy said. “When one of their pitchers faltered, the next guy came in and picked up the slack.”
And each time the Dodgers took a lead, the Brewers waited no more than two innings to cut into the deficit. Milwaukee trailed 4-0 after two innings Thursday. By the top of the fifth, the score was tied. An inning later, the Brewers went ahead to stay, becoming the first team with six comeback wins in their first eight postseason games.
“They respond,” Murphy said of his players. “We’ve talked about it all year long. You have a bad week, you have a bad game, you have a bad at-bat, you bounce back.”
“I love the Dodgers. I love their players. They’ve got legendary players,” he continued. “But we came in with a group that would not be denied. They were hungry, very hungry.”
The two-time defending champion Dodgers, meanwhile, appeared to be full. They hit with runners in scoring position as often as they hit into double plays, going four for 27 and stranding 24.
“We had our opportunities. We just didn’t get the job done,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “We won two [titles]. We came up short on the third.
Milwaukee’s Garrett Mitchell, right, celebrates with Cooper Pratt after hitting the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning of a 6-4 win over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLCS on Thursday night.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“There’s a lot of hurt at the end of the season. Sometimes you just get beat. That’s just kind of how it goes. You have to give credit to the Brewers. They played really good baseball.”
A year ago the Dodgers swept the Brewers in the NLCS. This fall the results were reversed.
“The sadness is we just didn’t accomplish our goal,” Muncy said. “The goal every year is to be the last team standing. This year we had a chance to do something historic, and we didn’t accomplish it. And every single time you’re not the last team standing, it’s heartbreak and it’s failure and it’s not what you’re looking for.”
The Dodgers’ clubhouse was closed for more than 35 minutes after the game, partly to process that heartbreak but also to give manager Dave Roberts and veteran infielder Miguel Rojas, who announced his retirement, a chance to address the team. When the doors finally opened, nearly every player was sitting in front of his locker, most still in uniform, waiting to explain what seemed to be inexplicable.
How did the greatest team money can buy wind up so flat when the stakes were so high?
“We’ve been grinding all season long,” said right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who retired the first 10 Brewers in order, but lasted just one more inning. “No one slacked off at all. Everyone just came in and worked hard. They just played a lot better than us. They were hitting on everything. It wasn’t our year.”
“Not every time it’s gonna be us,” left fielder Teoscar Hernández added through a forced smile. “It’s not fair for us to be doing the same thing over and over every year. Teams are going to learn from their losses the same way we’re gonna learn from this one.
“So hopefully we come back next year stronger.”
Speaking of next year, no one would.
Half the players on the Dodgers 26-man NLCS roster are on expiring contracts. The core of the team — Mookie Betts, Freeman, Muncy, Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández along with pitchers Blake Snell and Glasnow — are 33 or older. The Dodgers could look very different when spring training starts — if spring training starts — in February.
“There’ll come a time when we think about next year,” Muncy said. “But that’s not right at this moment.”
The Dodgers have an extra-long winter to get through first.
CLEVELAND — Drew Rasmussen allowed one run over seven innings for his second postseason win, Tampa Bay’s offense kept on constant pressure and the Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 Sunday night to take a 3-2 lead in the American League Championship Series.
The Rays will try to capture their third AL pennant and first since 2020 on Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. Since the ALCS expanded to seven games in 1985, road teams winning Game 5 for a 3-2 lead have won the series four of five times.
Game 7 if needed would be Tuesday, and the World Series starts Friday at NL champion Milwaukee.
Cleveland has not won an ALCS when trailing 3-2.
Tampa Bay scored single runs in each of the first three innings, the first two off Parker Messick and the third against Tim Herrin.
Rasmussen shut down the Guardians’ offense after allowing two runs over six innings in the opener. After Chase DeLauter’s two-out single in the first, the 31-year-old right-hander retired nine straight batters and allowed only one other baserunner through the sixth.
Rasmussen gave up four hits, walked one and struck out six. He is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in three postseason starts, striking out 23 and walking three.
Cam Booser and Tyler Wells worked the eighth, with Wells striking out José Ramírez to strand a runner.
Bryan Baker came in for the ninth and converted his 35th straight save chance, his fifth of this postseason. Jo Adell was on second base when Travis Bazzana hit a game-ending groundout.
Steven Kwan had two of Cleveland’s five hits and made two fine defensive plays: He threw out Taylor Walls trying to score from second base on Jonathan Aranda’s fourth-inning single to left and made a leaping catch at the center-field wall on Victor Mesa Jr.’s eighth-inning drive, saving a run.
Tampa Bay’s leadoff hitter reached base in the first four innings — scoring in the first three frames — and six times overall. Rays’ leadoff batters have reached in 10 of 14 innings dating to Saturday.
Yandy Díaz had three hits while Aranda and Liam Hicks both had two hits and drove in a run.
Díaz scored on a bases-loaded walk by Messick to Jonny DeLuca in the first inning. Díaz led off with a line-drive double over center fielder Petey Halpin that rolled to the wall.
Aranda’s single drove in Ben Williamson for a 2-0 lead in the second, and Hicks looped a curveball from Herrin to center to score Chandler Simpson in the third.
Cleveland finally threatened in the seventh when Kwan and Ramírez singled to put runners at the corners and DeLauter grounded an RBI single between first and second.
Messick had the shortest outing of his big league career and didn’t make it past the third inning for the second time in four postseason starts. The 25-year-old left-hander went two innings and allowed two runs, five hits and three walks over two innings, throwing just 34 of 57 pitches for strikes.
Alexander Lovera is a founding member and spokesperson of the El Sur Existe Commune in Valencia, Carabobo State. A former student leader and participant of the MBR-200 revolutionary movement, he now focuses on urban planning and social property enterprises. In this interview, Lovera discusses the El Sur Existe communal project, its productive initiatives, and the relationship with state institutions.
How did the El Sur Existe Commune come about?
We began in 2011 as a political organizing collective called the Complejo Deportivo Recreativo del Sur, made up of 11 people.
Through that collective, we sought to secure spaces within the facilities of the Valencia National Racetrack in Carabobo State, creating recreational and cultural spaces for the communities, and it was there that we began to organize activities and envision the El Sur Existe Commune. The racetrack is next to the Santa Inés neighborhood, where all the communal councils in the area come together. Another community, Ciudad Plaza, also joined the commune.
Then, in 2013, we launched the El Sur Existe communal property enterprise (EPSDC), which serves as the umbrella organization for all the initiatives we have established in the area.
In 2015, we formally created the commune, which brought together 22 community councils covering the Ciudad Plaza and Santa Inés communities and several surrounding rural settlements. Subsequently, the territory was divided into other communes; today we have 14 communal councils.
Assembly at the El Sur Existe Commune. (@MinComunas)
The El Sur Existe Commune has been known for its focus on productive initiatives, such as the textile workshop and the animal feed plant. What is the history of these projects?
The textile workshop was born out of surplus from our first company, El Sur Existe. We purchased various types of sewing machines and began making school uniforms, both within the commune and in collaboration with nearby communities.
We started with 5,000 uniforms per school term. This initiative gave us the momentum to develop other ventures. Within the commune, with support from the Ministry of Communes, we managed to reclaim a space that had been abandoned. There, we created a communal market to sell products from local producers, as well as goods from agreements with companies nationalized by the government, such as Fama de América [coffee], Aceites Diana [cooking oil], and Lácteos Los Andes [dairy].
Long before the CLAPs [subsidized food program] began, we had a similar system that we called “the clock.” It worked like this: every week, a different communal council was in charge of distributing all the products available at the communal store. Later on, the management of all those state-owned companies changed, and we were no longer able to purchase their products.
In that same space, we opened a store, which we called La Tienda de Papel, where we distributed school supplies: notebooks, books, exam papers, and pencils. We also sold our school uniforms.
Starting in 2017, other projects began to take shape, such as the slaughterhouse, which arose from an agreement between the commune and a private entrepreneur. This project benefits local producers who cannot access the municipal slaughterhouse, as it is complicated to transport the cattle there.
We went on to establish the “Cárnicos El Sur Existe” Family Production Unit to process the cattle. We were able to set up a space within the slaughterhouse equipped with machines for cutting, grinding, and packaging. We also began producing sausages, ground beef for hamburgers, and other vacuum-sealed cuts. These products were distributed through the communal food market and during special events organized by the communal councils.
We then noticed that some byproducts, such as blood, bones, and fat, were left over in the slaughterhouse, and we realized they could serve as raw materials for producing animal feed. Thus, together with local producers, in 2021 we established the Aba El Auyamal social property firm, dedicated to the production of balanced animal feed.
What is the current status of these ventures? How have they dealt with problems such as shortages of raw materials and supplies, as well as the electricity crisis?
The projects have had their ups and downs, but they are still going strong. To summarize, the EPSDC El Sur Existe, which serves as the umbrella organization for all the projects, is currently still operating in our commune.
The textile factory is still active, with its fair share of obstacles, because the raw materials for making uniforms are expensive, and when sold on the market, the clothes end up being more expensive than imported ones. This is an issue that needs to be addressed at the government level, because small textile businesses cannot compete.
The slaughterhouse continues to operate, although the family production unit has scaled back its operations due to electrical problems. Three main freezers, the cold storage room containing all the vacuum-packed meat, and the engine were damaged by electrical surges. We are finding ways to replace the equipment so we can resume operations. We hope the electricity problem improves somewhat this year, because it has been severe in Carabobo State.
For now, the animal feed plant is processing only raw materials, because the prices of other components like corn, soybeans, and protein concentrates have risen sharply; the final product ends up being too expensive and harder to sell.
On the other hand, the Venezuelan food market is increasingly controlled by large agribusiness corporations. Even so, we’ve managed to source some items from local producers, who are also our main customers for animal feed. In addition, we have other projects, such as raising chickens and pigs, and we distribute eggs and meat through our communal store.
These projects have faced setbacks, but we’ve tried to keep them going using our own resources. The economic situation has been difficult, and exchange rate instability also affects us.
Through our enterprises, we’ve also tried to support many local entrepreneurs. These ventures have also served as spaces for political interactions, where delegations come to learn from our experiences so they can replicate them in other territories.
We have recently established ties with the University of the Communes (UNACOM) and its communal production communities to offer classes in these spaces. Here in the territory, we are offering classes in business administration and veterinary medicine, and we will soon begin offering training in food production. All students will participate in these production units. We have served as a model within the territory and will continue to drive this process forward so that the government recognizes these productive initiatives and gives them greater support.
Meat products from El Sur Existe. (@comunaelsurexiste)
The El Sur Existe Commune developed self-government mechanisms for the direct management of public services in coordination with the mayor’s office. What can you tell us about these initiatives?
From the El Sur Existe Commune, the political coordination team sought to form community brigades in the area. Many comrades joined this effort.
In 2019, there was a nationwide surge in the formation of Communal Brigades (BRICOM) to carry out or support work in areas such as electricity and plumbing. We attempted to establish the BRICOM through the Ministry of Communes, making it a legal entity, but that is where the process began to stall.
Through the BRICOMs, we carried out various projects in the area. We supported the communal councils on projects related to wastewater, drinking water, and electricity. We also carried out various electricity-related projects in the agricultural communal councils. However, there came a point when the mayor’s office and the regional government realized that we were occupying a space they had previously managed.
We were unable to make further progress through the ministry. We wanted to establish socially owned enterprises so that the municipal and regional governments, using the resources allocated to them, could contract these enterprises to work within the territory. But this touched on vested interests: certain political groups that controlled those contracts did not allow the project to move forward.
Later on, the BRICOMs ceased to function. Then there was another initiative called BRICOMILES, with brigades that included the military, but they never actually came into existence. In Carabobo State, this was a ploy to give the impression that the communal councils participated in the projects carried out by the mayor’s office or the governor’s office, when in fact almost all of them were executed by companies linked to those very same government institutions.
Building a commune in an urban setting like Valencia, Carabobo State, means fighting against the individualistic logic of capitalism, compounded by migration and the impact of the country’s economic crisis. How is the commune responding to the challenge of incorporating new generations?
Engaging in politics here, in Carabobo State, primarily within the municipality of Valencia, is very challenging. This is in part because the communal project has not yet been embraced by government institutions. The mayor’s office and the governor’s office are not closely aligned with popular power.
Although on all television and radio shows, government officials claim to work with popular power, reality tells a different story. These institutions lack the political will to fully support the commune.
Despite everything, we have pressed forward with the communal process. We, the communards, are driven by conviction and the idealism of our Comandante Chávez. We strive to ensure that our territories, be they urban or rural, since our commune includes both, develop with the goal of making the commune economically self-sustaining over time.
Regarding the process of engaging young people, we prioritize culture in the territory. We try to involve the youth in cultural activities, music, modeling, and educational programs. In the commune, we’re offering courses in more practical fields such as hairdressing, baking, cosmetics, and safe operation of motorcycle taxis.
Of course, we start by recruiting the youth and then provide them with political orientation. Engaging in politics in the midst of the crisis has been difficult, and even worse since January 3. Since that US attack and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, the political landscape has changed drastically across the board.
Valencia is a stronghold where individualism and unbridled capitalism prevail. Even so, we’re working to spread the commune’s philosophy, including through sports. It’s been another way to reach young people, and we’ve had good results.
El Sur Existe has also fostered solidarity meetings with other popular power organizations. (@comunaelsurexiste)
From a big-picture perspective, how do you interpret the current relationship between Venezuela and the United States? How have issues such as the oil agreement with the Trump administration been addressed within the commune?
From my perspective, the way to describe Venezuela’s relationship with the United States right now is that the country has entered an era of tutelage. The national government argues that it is a win-win relationship, where the United States needs our resources and we also need its support to exploit them.
We must remember that for many years, our country suffered from US sanctions which caused a great deal of damage. People want to regain the quality of life they once had. Perhaps the Venezuelan economy can rebound if these agreements with the US and multinational corporations create a large number of jobs, which in turn generate other benefits.
Politically, our challenge is to deepen the revolution economically and socially within our territory. But unfortunately we haven’t really discussed national-scale issues, such as the oil agreement, here in the commune. In areas like Carabobo State, other needs take priority on the agenda, such as electricity and public services.
The third and final episode of Jimmy McGovern’s prison anthology drama Time has had BBC viewers saying the same thing
22:58, 18 Oct 2026Updated 22:58, 18 Oct 2026
David Tennant in BBC drama Time(Image: BBC)
Jimmy McGovern’s gripping drama Time has ended.
The third and final series reached its conclusion on BBC One on Sunday, October 18 and it seems fans were left more than impressed with the episode and the series as a whole starring David Tennant and Siobhan Finneran.
Set inside a Young Offenders Institution (HMYOI Alderwick) it follows the intersecting lives of staff and teenage inmates. A synopsis for the final episode read: “The possibility of romance and an opportunity at work makes Bailey (Tennant) question his choices, and he turns to Marie-Louise (Finneran) in a moment of need.
“She receives the sign she has been waiting for, but debates whether she is able to take a risk. Meanwhile, new evidence complicates loyalties between Peter and his friends, driving tensions higher, and James confronts his fears.”
After the credits rolled, viewers were rushing to X, formerly Twitter, to have their say. One said: “What a programme #Time is that is exceptionally well written by Jimmy McGovern and Sam Bailey. It leaves you with so much to think about.”
A second added: “Time was just spellbounding – the writing, the acting, everything. What drama should be.” Another commented: “Really enjoyed that #Time on @BBCOne with the fabulous #DavidTennant @SFinneranTV.”
A fourth posted: “#Time on @BBC, all three episodes – outstanding and brilliant drama. Possibly the best series of all three.” Agreeing to the post, one responded: “I’d have to agree. @ #Time was astoundingly good. Those young actors – all of them but especially the actor playing Peter. The writing. Just brilliant, emotionally draining but worth it. And glad some good endings.”
Time first began in 2021 and has featured the likes of Stephen Graham, Jodie Whittaker and Bella Ramsey. McGovern explained that while the first series focused on a male prison and the second series was based on a female prison, he knew he wanted to focus on young offenders next, but didn’t have a story.
That was until he found a real-life story in his research about a mother going to see her son in a Young Offenders Institution, whom she hadn’t seen for years.
Speaking to RadioTimes about the series ending he said: “There’s very little altruism involved with these stories. I do them because I love doing them, although I think this will be the last time. I have said that many a time before, though, because these are also stories I feel bound to tell.”
Ahead of the series launch, Tennant, who plays Bobby Bailey, said of taking on the role: “Initially, you go, ‘It’s a Jimmy McGovern script, I’ve never worked with him, he’s the guv’nor and this is an opportunity I can’t pass up.’
“Then you read the script and what Jimmy and [co-writer] Sam Bailey have created is just so human and accessible. I was a huge admirer of the first two series; prison is such a fertile ground for storytelling, because it’s such an extreme situation, pushing that human experience to the limits.
“So, while these aren’t necessarily the easiest stories, they’re the best stories and exactly the kind of characters you want to have a go at.”
Meanwhile Finneran, who plays the returning character of Marie-Louise O’Dell, said of coming back for series 3: “Who doesn’t want to work on a McGovern script? They’re raw, but written with real heart and care, so it was a pretty big yes. I’m thrilled to bits.”
In the mindbending documentary “You Can See Everything,” comedian Nathan Fielder and professed inventor Elizabeth Holmes sit in her beach house staring at each other like gunslingers. Fielder is the creator of the TV series “The Rehearsal” and “Nathan for You” who constructs discombobulating sham realities that include bogus businesses such as Dumb Starbucks. Holmes is the former billionaire CEO of Theranos who pretended she’d built a revolutionary blood testing machine to squeeze investors for a few dollars more.
Each is an expert in the con. But Fielder is deadpan and cold where Holmes is earnest and warm — and he’s been nominated for Emmys while, in May of 2023 when the film begins, she’s about to serve an 11-year sentence in federal prison. As the camera cuts between close-ups of his narrowed eyes and her big, blue ones, Fielder tries to suss whether he can trust the famous fibber to be honest with him. The showdown is riveting.
“You’re being real right now?” Fielder asks, dubious.
Holmes beams. “I’m always being real,” she swears with a smile.
Her charm hits Fielder in the gut. His face stays neutral yet you can see his own confidence bleed out across the screen.
Co-directed by Fielder and Lance Oppenheim (“Primetime”), “You Can See Everything” is the closest Fielder has come to making a traditional documentary. A thrillingly cringe-tastic interviewer, he blurts out blunt questions like a bungee jumper leaping off a bridge, including asking Holmes’ romantic and business partner Billy Evans, the heir to a San Diego boutique hotel chain, whether it’s possible a woman convicted of fraud might be with him for his money.
At nearly three hours long, “You Can See Everything” won’t bore you for a minute. The hook is right there in the title, Fielder’s challenge to the audience: Here’s how Holmes held up to his scrutiny — do we think she’s telling the truth? But be alert. Fielder remains a trickster. One shot in particular proves you can see everything while being blind to what you’re actually watching.
In the first half of the movie, Holmes and Evans, the father of her two young children, give the small crew complete access to their lives during her last weeks of freedom, including inviting Fielder to sleep in their guest bedroom. It’s an act of “radical transparency,” Evans says. As evidence, there’s a fully nude shot of Evans in the shower, testifying to the intimacy the subjects claim they’re granting the team and the confidence they have that the documentary will make them look great. (Evans also boasts that he’s “excellent” in the sack.)
Holmes maintains both her innocence and her eerie smile, a rictus of empathy. She constantly nods, subliminally snake-charming the listener into a sense of agreement. That assessment might be fair or it might be her reputation making you over-analyze her tics. Doubling down, she even insists she’s never told a lie in her life — a claim that momentarily leaves Fielder at a loss for words.
Yet at times, Holmes really does appear to be sincere. Once she surrenders herself to the Bryan Federal Prison Camp in Texas (where, in an unmentioned coincidence, Epstein collaborator Ghislane Maxwell is also incarcerated), the tone shifts into film noir as Fielder struggles to reconcile Elizabeth Holmes’ dual identities. Is she the sweet-natured scientist, the only version of her he’s ever met, or a femme fatale who may still be running a scam?
“It’s personal,” Fielder says of his fixation. How frustrating that he of all people — the dark prince of pranks — may be Holmes’ latest patsy. Composer Ari Balouzian borrows bits of Bernard Herrmann’s violin score from “Vertigo” while cinematographer David Bolen makes the audience hold its breath by framing an image of Fielder and Holmes like they might kiss.
When the movie’s style gets weird, that’s when Fielder is most in his wheelhouse. Stop reading now if you want to preserve the surprise. Micro-analyzing his encounters with Holmes, he reenacts them with an actor, Amanda Seyfried, whose emotional intensity blows into the film like a gust of fresh air. Seyfried, of course, won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for playing Holmes in the 2022 miniseries “The Dropout.” The twists to come, however, feel as much like last year’s naughty hit “The Housemaid,” the domestic thriller in which Seyfried played a shady wife with a marriage made of lies.
Evans initially seems to think they’re participating in a project closer to Netflix’s glossy portrait of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. The couple doesn’t know much about humor, pop culture or Fielder himself. Fumbling to figure out what makes him tick, Evans attempts to neg the provocateur as someone who lacks the passion to think differently. (Evans may also be the person who used Holmes’ social media account to write a flattering post calling JD Vance “Lisan al-Gaib,” revealing he’s entirely missed the point of “Dune.”)
But thinking differently is Fielder’s awkward superpower. Sooner or later, all of his projects circle around to his concern that he’s simply wired to be unpleasant. His interactions with Holmes are pure cringe comedy, like when she starts to cry perhaps a bit on cue and he stiffly sputters, “Do you want, like, a tissue?” For the record, he brings her one.
As a viewer, the biggest strike against Holmes is this documentary’s very existence. Whether or not you think she’s guilty of fraud, she is about to be separated from her infant and toddler until they’re in grade school. Who on Earth would genuinely want Fielder, the human equivalent of a skunk, to crash their last moments with their loved ones as he does his darnedest to stink up the place?
Fielder is most comfortable as the film’s villain, shooting himself lurking in the couple’s house like “Halloween’s” Michael Myers. At times, his presence does feel monstrous. In one scene, he needles Evans about whether he thinks his soulmate has ever lied to him while Holmes is on the phone in the next room, tearing up as she asks how often she’ll be able to bathe in prison.
The film doesn’t drill into the technical details of Theranos beyond one dizzying scene where Fielder tries to pin Holmes down on exactly what she meant when she said her machine can run hundreds of different tests. She means it just as I would if I bragged I can benchpress a beer keg — that is, once I strength-train beyond my piddly 5 lb dumbbells.
Instead, it tilts into becoming a caper flick as Seyfried’s commitment to understanding her character’s motivation inspires the actor to invite herself along. The drama they uncover is psychological, as befits an era where Silicon Valley CEOs are closer to cult leaders than engineers, making their cash from being televangelists for their IPOs. And both are attuned to the moments when Evans lets his aggravation slip. One scene is a doozy.
Ultimately, suspicion reigns. “You Can See Everything” is an absorbing study of public presentation and private doubts, a documentary that asks more questions than it answers. I hope Fielder will smile and nod approvingly at me if I say I left the film distrusting him, too, especially Seyfried’s re-staging of a long monologue Holmes delivered in prison where recording devices aren’t allowed. Can we believe that Holmes really did say, “I’m tired of having other people speak for me,” or was that laugh line written by the master manipulator himself? I’m now as paranoid as he is — and what a pleasure.
Rams tight end Colby Parkinson scores a touchdown in front of Cardinals safety Andrew Wingard at SoFi Stadium Sunday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
First-year Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur, the Rams former offensive coordinator, outcoached and outmaneuvered friend and mentor Sean McVay.
With just more than a third of the season complete, the Rams are 2-4.
The Rams failed to bounce back from their overtime defeat by the powerful Buffalo Bills and lost to a Cardinals team that entered the game having given up at least 31 points in each of its last four.
Only six players from the team that won Super Bowl LVI are still on the roster: Quarterback Matthew Stafford, defensive lineman Aaron Donald, tight end Tyler Higbee, center Coleman Shelton, left tackle Alaric Jackson and receiver Tutu Atwell.
During the offseason they added two players with two Super Bowl rings each: cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford looks to pass the ball against the Cardinals at Sofi Stadium on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
But they have not looked anything like a Super Bowl contender.
An offense that went into the game as the league’s most productive from a yardage standpoint managed only a field goal and two touchdowns.
Stafford completed 25 of 33 passes for 222 yards.
With left tackle Alaric Jackson suspended for the game for punching Bill linebacker Bradley Chubb on the field after the Rams loss, veteran David Quessenberry started for the first time since 2023.
The Cardinals predictably brought pressure and blitzed, sacking Stafford three times and hitting him seven times.
Safety Quentin Lake intercepted a pass for a defense that was without All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie because of a groin injury. The defense gave up only field goals and gave the offense multiple opportunities.
And special teams continued to be a disaster.
New kicker Blake Grupe, signed this week after the Rams released struggling Harrison Mevis, kicked a 44-yard field goal in the first quarter. But on the ensuing kickoff, Devin Duvernay returned Grupe’s kick 40 yards before the 5-foot-7, 156-pound Grupe hurled his body to stop him. Grupe suffered a knee injury and did not return.
The Rams managed Grupe’s 44-yard field goal and Corum’s touchdown for a 9-9 tie at halftime.
The Cardinals consumed nearly nine minutes of the third quarter before kicking a field goal for a 12-9 lead.
The loss of Grupe then came into play again late in the third quarter. On a fourth-and-one at the Cardinals’ 27-yard, McVay opted to go for it. Davis Allen lined up in the backfield and took a handoff from Stafford, but the Cardinals stopped him for no gain.
The Cardinals added another field goal with 9:28 left for a 15-9 lead.
The Rams then put together a lively drive, but Higbee fumbled with just under eight minutes left.
They got the ball back with just less than seven minutes remaining. They drove into Cardinals’ territory with about three minutes left but a false-start penalty gave them a fourth-and-eight situation, and Stafford’s pass to running back Kyren Williams fell incomplete.
But the Rams got one more chance when they got the ball with 2:48 left.
Stafford escaped pressure and found Nacua, for a mid-range pass that he turned into a 32-yard gain. Stafford connected again with Nacua for 16 yards to the Cardinals’ 13-yard line.
Stafford’s six-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson tied the score, and punter Ethan Evans came on to kick the extra point to give the Rams the lead.
But the Cardinals came back with the help of a personal-foul penalty after a completed pass. And Ryland’s sixth field goal finished the Rams.
Netflix publicly reported box office results for the first time in its history this weekend as it released its queer drama “La Bola Negra” in U.S. theaters.
The Spanish-language film opened in limited release — just four theaters in Los Angeles and New York — and brought in $277,500 on a reported production budget of $15 million to $17 million. That averaged out to about $69,375 per screen, the second-highest per-screen average for a non-English language film.
Netflix acquired the U.S. rights to the film at Cannes, reportedly for about $5 million.
The Los Gatos-based streaming giant plans to expand the number of locations in the coming weeks to as many as 300 theaters across the country. The film already opened in Spain in late September.
“La Bola Negra” will be available on Netflix on Dec. 2.
Netflix has high hopes for the film, which won six audience awards on the festival circuit and will be Spain’s entry for the Academy Awards.
But the U.S. debut comes at a rocky time for Netflix, which cut 6% of its workforce, or about 1,000 jobs, last week. The layoffs, which are believed to be the largest in company history, included Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria, who was replaced by former Disney executive Peter Rice.
The move arrives as Netflix’s stock price has tumbled, and the company is under pressure from shareholders to churn out more hit films and TV shows, while increasing engagement on the platform.
Elsewhere at the box office, Paramount Pictures’ video game adaptation “Street Fighter” took the top spot, with a domestic haul of $31 million. It is the first major release from Skydance, the company formed when Paramount completed its $111-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this month.
A24’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary, “You Can See Everything,” which opened on only 855 screens, made about $15 million, while Universal Pictures’ “Other Mommy” ($8.3 million), Disney-owned 20th Century Studios’ “Whalefall” ($8 million) and Universal-owned Focus Features’ “Sense and Sensibility” ($7.2 million) rounded out the top five.
