Khalil Mack unspooled his elbow wrap and removed his brace as he spoke to reporters Thursday for the first time since sustaining his injury last month. Does Mack, the Chargers’ star outside linebacker, believe he can play Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts?
“For sure,” he said.
That will ultimately be up to general manager Joe Hortiz and coach Jim Harbaugh, Mack said. The 34-year-old, in his fourth season with the Chargers, said he’s “slightly ready to go” if his number is called upon, just days after his 21-day activation window opened Tuesday.
Mack was listed as questionable Friday, along with wide receiver Derius Davis, linebacker Troy Dye, offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer and linebacker Denzel Perryman. Running back Hassan Haskins also was listed as questionable after practicing all week.
Offensive tackle Joe Alt (ankle) was listed as doubtful for Sunday. Alt practiced Thursday and Friday.
“I’m not going to say I can or can’t,” Alt said Wednesday when asked whether he’d play. “We’re just going to continue to progress and see where it means for me going forward.”
Defensive back Elijah Molden (thumb) did not practice all week and was also listed as doubtful. Wide receiver Quentin Johnston (hamstring) is set to play after missing last week’s win over the Miami Dolphins.
The public release of a Young Republican group chat that included racist language, jokes about rape and flippant commentary on gas chambers prompted bipartisan calls for those involved to be removed from or resign their positions.
The Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40, called for those involved to step down from the organization. The group described the exchanges, first reported by Politico, as “unbecoming of any Republican.”
Republican Vice President JD Vance, however, has weighed in several times to speak out against what he characterized as “pearl clutching” over the leaked messages.
Politico obtained months of exchanges from a Telegram conversation between leaders and members of the Young Republican National Federation and some of its affiliates in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont.
Here’s a rundown of reaction to the inflammatory group chat, in which the operatives and officials involved openly worried that their comments might be leaked, even as they continued their conversation:
Vance
After Politico’s initial report Tuesday, Vance posted on X a screen grab from 2022 text messages in which Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate in Virginia’s attorney general race, suggested that a prominent Republican get “two bullets to the head.”
“This is far worse than anything said in a college group chat, and the guy who said it could become the AG of Virginia,” Vance wrote Tuesday. “I refuse to join the pearl clutching when powerful people call for political violence.”
Jones has taken “full responsibility” for his comments and offered a public apology to Todd Gilbert, who then was speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates.
Vance reiterated his initial sentiment Wednesday on “ The Charlie Kirk Show ” podcast, saying when asked about the reporting that a “person seriously wishing for political violence and political assassination is 1,000 times worse than what a bunch of young people, a bunch of kids say in a group chat, however offensive it might be.”
Vance, 41, said he grew up in a different era where “most of what I, the stupid things that I did as a teenager and as a young adult, they’re not on the internet.”
The father of three said he would caution his own children, “especially my boys, don’t put things on the internet, like, be careful with what you post. If you put something in a group chat, assume that some scumbag is going to leak it in an effort to try to cause you harm or cause your family harm.”
“I really don’t want to us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke, telling a very offensive, stupid joke is cause to ruin their lives,” Vance said.
Republicans
Other Republicans demanded more immediate intervention. Republican legislative leaders in Vermont, along with Gov. Phil Scott — also a Republican — called for the resignation of state Sen. Sam Douglass, revealed to be a participant in the chat. A joint statement from the GOP lawmakers termed the comments “unacceptable and deeply disturbing.”
Saying she was “absolutely appalled to learn about the alleged comments made by leaders of the New York State Young Republicans,” Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York called for those involved to step down from their positions. Danedri Herbert, chair of the Kansas GOP, said the remarks “do not reflect the beliefs of Republicans and certainly not of Kansas Republicans at large.”
In a statement posted to X on Tuesday, the Young Republican National Federation said it was “appalled” by the reported messages and calling for those involved to resign from their positions within the organization. Young Republican leaders said the behavior was “disgraceful, unbecoming of any Republican, and stands in direct opposition to the values our movement represents.”
Democrats
Democrats have been more uniform in their condemnation. On Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer asking for an investigation into the “vile and offensive text messages,” which he called “the definition of conduct that can create a hostile and discriminatory environment that violates civil rights laws.”
Speaking on the Senate floor, Senate Democratic leader Charles E. Schumer of New York on Tuesday described the chat as “revolting,” calling for Republicans including President Trump and Vance to “condemn these comments swiftly and unequivocally.”
Asked about the reporting, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the exchanges “vile” and called for consequences for those involved.
“Kick them out of the party. Take away their official roles. Stop using them as campaign advisers,” Hochul said. “There needs to be consequences. This bulls—- has to stop.”
Kinnard writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter, under fire for recently emerged videos showing her scolding a reporter and swearing at an aide, expressed remorse for her behavior on Tuesday in her first public remarks since the incidents were publicized.
“I think I’m known as someone who’s able to handle tough questions, who’s willing to answer questions,” Porter told Nikki Laurenzo, host of Inside California Politics and anchor on Fox40 in Sacramento. “I want people to know that I really value the incredible work that my staff can do. I think people who know me know I can be tough. But I need to do a better job expressing appreciation for the amazing work my team does.”
Last week, a video emerged of Porter telling a separate television reporter that she doesn’t need the support of the millions of Californians who voted for President Trump, and brusquely threatening to end the interview because the reporter asked follow-up questions. The following day, a second video emerged of Porter telling a young staffer “Get out of my f—ing shot!” while videoconferencing with a member of then-President Biden’s cabinet in 2021.
Porter on Tuesday said that she had apologized to the staffer. She repeatedly sidestepped Laurenzo’s questions about whether other videos could emerge.
“What I can tell you … is that I am taking responsibility for the situation,” Porter said.
Porter’s behavior in the videos underscored long-standing questions about her temperament and high staff turnover while she served in Congress.
The most recent polls showed that Porter held a narrow lead in the competitive race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is serving his second and final term as governor. After the videos emerged last week, several of Porter’s rivals criticized her behavior, including former state Controller Betty Yee, who said she should drop out of the race.
On Tuesday, Yee argued that Porter’s temperament could imperil Democrats’ efforts to pass Proposition 50, the Nov. 4 ballot measure to redraw congressional districts in California to boost their party’s numbers in the House.
Yee, a former vice chair of the state Democratic party, warned that a Republican could potentially win the governor’s race and Democrats could lose the U.S. House of Representatives because of Porter’s “demeanor.”
“I don’t relish picking a fight, and it’s not even a fight,” Yee said during a virtual press conference. “I’m doing what’s best for this party.”
Porter is also expected to address the issue Tuesday night during a virtual forum with the California Working Families Party.
Prior to her statements on Tuesday, Porter had released one statement about the 2021 video, saying, “It’s no secret I hold myself and my staff to a high standard, and that was especially true as a member of Congress. I have sought to be more intentional in showing gratitude to my staff for their important work.”
The UC Irvine law professor has not responded to multiple interview requests from the Times.
Mehta reported from Los Angeles and Smith reported from Sacramento.
The new policy, from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is a dramatic departure from historic standards at the department, which previously required credentialed reporters to sign a simple, single-page document laying out safety protocols.
Replacing that document is a 21-page agreement that warns reporters against “soliciting” information, including unclassified material, without the Pentagon’s official authorization, characterizing individuals who do so as a “security risk.”
The policy would force journalists and media organizations to refrain from publishing any material that is not approved by the military — a clear violation of 1st Amendment protections to free speech, lawyers for media outlets said.
Major news organizations including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, as well as right-leaning outlets such as Newsmax and the Washington Times, have refused to sign the document, with only one far-right outlet — the cable channel One American News — agreeing to do so.
The Los Angeles Times also will not agree to the policy, said Terry Tang, the paper’s executive editor.
In a rare joint statement, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC said that the policy “is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections.”
“We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press,” the news outlets said.
But Hegseth, who has aggressively pursued leaks and sources of unfavorable news stories since the start of his turbulent tenure as secretary, has doubled down in recent days, posting emojis on social media waving goodbye as media organizations have issued statements condemning the policy. Journalists were given a deadline of 2 p.m. PDT on Tuesday to either sign the document or relinquish their credentials.
It is unclear whether it will be viable for the Pentagon to maintain the policy, leaving the secretary without a traveling press corps to highlight his official duties or public events. And it is also uncertain whether President Trump approves of the extreme measure.
At a White House event Tuesday, Hegseth said that the policy was “common sense” and that he was “proud” of it. He said credentials should not be given to reporters who will try to get officials “to break the law by giving them classified information.”
Asked last month whether the Pentagon should control what reporters gather and write, Trump said “no.”
But Trump said Tuesday that he understands why Hegseth is pushing for the new policy.
“I think he finds the press to be very destructive in terms of world peace and maybe security for our nation,” Trump said. “The press is very dishonest.”
The widespread revolt has generated a show of solidarity from the White House and State Department correspondents associations, which characterized the Pentagon policy in a joint statement Monday as an attack on freedom of the press.
“Access inside the Pentagon has never been about convenience to reporters,” the statement reads. “The public has a right to know how the government is conducting the people’s business. Unfettered reporting on the U.S. military and its civilian leadership provides a service to those in uniform, veterans, their families and all Americans.”
Beyond the restrictions on media outlets, the Pentagon has taken a series of steps this year to try and identify officials who are deemed disloyal or who provide information to reporters.
In April, the Pentagon dismissed three top officials after an investigation into potential leaks related to military operational plans. That same month, Hegseth’s team began subjecting officials to random polygraph tests, a practice that was temporarily halted after the White House intervened, according to the Washington Post.
Then, in October, the Pentagon drafted plans to renew the use of polygraphs and to require thousands of personnel to sign strict nondisclosure agreements that would “prohibit the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process.” The nondisclosure agreements include language that is similar to what reporters are being asked to sign by Tuesday.
Notably, many of Hegseth’s plans to target leaks have been leaked to news outlets, probably contributing to the Defense secretary’s suspicion about whom he can trust.
The timing of his efforts are also noteworthy, as they gained traction after he personally shared sensitive details about forthcoming strikes in Yemen in a private Signal group chat that mistakenly included a reporter from the Atlantic. Hegseth also shared information about the attacks in a separate Signal chat that included his wife, a former Fox News producer who is not a Defense Department employee.
Hegseth denied that any classified information was shared in the chat. Yet the situation led to an internal review of whether the disclosures were in violation of Defense Department policies.
The Pentagon has taken an even more aggressive approach to restricting reporters’ access than the White House, which months ago took control over press operations from the White House Correspondents Assn. — an independent group that had organized the White House press corps for decades.
Still, the White House has refrained from implementing changes to the briefing room seating chart, evicting outlets from workspaces within the White House complex or revoking press passes, after facing a legal challenge over an attempt to bar one major outlet — the Associated Press — from covering some presidential events at the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Trump, meanwhile, has continued to single out individual outlets he dislikes. On Tuesday, for example, the president refused to take questions from ABC News because he said he did not like how a news anchor had treated Vice President JD Vance.
“You’re ABC Fake News,” Trump said at a public appearance in the White House. “I don’t take questions from ABC Fake News!”
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday posthumously awarded America’s highest civilian honor to Charlie Kirk, the slain activist who inspired a generation of young conservatives and helped push the nation’s politics further to the right.
The ceremony coincided with what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday. It came just over a month after the Turning Point USA founder was fatally shot while speaking to a crowd at Utah Valley University.
In a sign of Kirk’s close ties to the administration, he was the first recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in Trump’s second term. The president also spoke at at Kirk’s funeral in September, calling him a “great American hero” and “martyr” for freedom, while Vice President JD Vance accompanied his body home to Arizona on Air Force Two along with Kirk’s widow, Erika.
“We’re here to honor and remember a fearless warrior for liberty, beloved leader who galvanized the next generation like nobody I’ve ever seen before, and an American patriot of the deepest conviction, the finest quality and the highest caliber,” Trump said Tuesday afternoon.
Of Kirk’s killing, Trump said: “He was assassinated in the prime of his life for boldly speaking the truth, for living his faith and relentless fighting for a better and stronger America.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by President Kennedy in 1963 for individuals making exceptional contributions to the country’s security or national interests or to world peace, or being responsible for significant cultural endeavors or public and private initiatives.
Tuesday’s event followed Trump returning to the U.S. in the predawn hours after a whirlwind trip to Israel and Egypt to celebrate a ceasefire agreement in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza that his administration was instrumental in brokering.
Trump joked that he almost requested to move the ceremony because of the trip.
“I raced back halfway around the globe,” Trump said. “I was going to call Erika and say, ‘Erika, could you maybe move it to Friday? And I didn’t have the courage to call. But you know why I didn’t call? Because I heard today was Charlie’s birthday.”
Argentine President Javier Milei, who had been visiting with the president at the White House earlier, stayed to attend the ceremony.
Trump has awarded a string of presidential medals going back to his first term, including to golf legend Tiger Woods, ex-football coach Lou Holtz and conservative economist Arthur Laffer, as well as to New York Yankees Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera and conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, the latter of which came during the 2020 State of the Union. He awarded posthumous medals to Babe Ruth and Elvis.
This term, Trump has also announced his intentions to award the medals to Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and a close former advisor, and to Ben Carson, who served as Trump’s first-term secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012. Trump has praised Kirk as one of the key reasons he was reelected.
But Kirk’s politics were also often divisive. He sharply criticized gay and transgender rights while inflaming racial tensions. Kirk also repeated Trump’s false claims that former Vice President Kamala Harris was responsible for policies that encouraged immigrants to come to the U.S. illegally and called George Floyd, a Black man whose killing by a Minneapolis police officer sparked a national debate over racial injustice, a “scumbag.”
Trump wrote in a social media post hours before the event that he was moving the ceremony from the White House’s East Room to the Rose Garden to accommodate a crowd he said would be “so big and enthusiastic.”
Constellation Energy Group(NASDAQ: CEG) saw a decent bump in its stock price on Tuesday following news that a company it will soon own has received funding for a new power plant. Constellation’s shares closed the day more than 2% higher, a rate high enough to beat the S&P 500 index’s 0.3% rise.
Peak progress
Constellation’s asset-to-be is privately held utility Calpine, which announced Tuesday afternoon it had secured a loan agreement with the Texas Energy Fund for the facility. Specifically, Calpine plans to construct a 460-megawatt peaking facility — an electric power plant that runs only at times of peak demand — adjacent to its Freestone Energy Center in the state.
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Image source: Getty Images.
The Texas Energy Fund is a state initiative aimed at supporting the development of power resources like Calpine’s planned facility. The company did not provide any financial details on the loan agreement in its press release on the matter.
The peaking facility is already under construction, and Calpine said it should be operational in 2026.
A $16 billion-plus deal
Constellation reached a deal to acquire Calpine back in January. The purchase is still awaiting approval from the relevant regulatory bodies, and is expected to close at some point this quarter. All told, Constellation is paying roughly $16.4 billion for the company in a cash-and-stock deal that includes assuming around $12.7 billion of Calpine’s debt.
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When Luka Doncic plays in his first exhibition game of the season for the Lakers against the Phoenix Suns Tuesday night, Coach JJ Redick said the plan with his star is pretty simple.
“Give him the ball,” Redick said, laughing.
Redick paused for a second.
“You talking about minutes?” he asked.
Redick said they are “still working through what that looks like” with the Lakers’ staff and Doncic’s team.
“I think very likely it’ll be some form of a ramp-up from tomorrow to whenever the second game is that he plays in,” Redick said. “What that looks like in terms of the total minute, I don’t know.”
But one thing is for certain when Doncic steps on the court with his teammates.
“Yeah, he’ll touch the basketball,” Redick said.
The Lakers then play a back-to-back game Wednesday night in Las Vegas against the Dallas Mavericks, Doncic’s old team, but it’s highly unlikely he plays in that game.
The Lakers finish their preseason against the Sacramento Kings Friday night at Crypto.com Arena, which is when Doncic probably will play, especially since he said last week that he wanted to play in two preseason games.
The Lakers open the regular season Oct. 21 against the Golden State Warriors at home and that is the main thing Doncic is getting ready for.
He’s done more in practice, giving his teammates a view of what Doncic is like.
“Oh, he’s moving great,” Jarred Vanderbilt said. “Everything that I’ve seen from him, he’s being vocal. He’s leading the charge. He’s being everything we need him to be right now. So, we’re happy to have him out there right now during this week, him getting some good practices and running with us, and just starting to build that momentum towards the regular season.”
Etc.
Redick said Marcus Smart, who has been recovering from an Achilles tendinopathy injury, will play against the Suns. … Redick said Maxi Kleber (quad) participated in the Lakers’ stay-ready game Monday.
US President Donald Trump says the Hamas-held captives in Gaza will be released “Monday or Tuesday” as part of his ceasefire plan creating “peace in the Middle East”. He added it is time for the war to end after Israel’s “big retribution” to Hamas’s October 7th attack.
There were more than 17,000 high school sports transfers recorded last school year in California, and one of the most bizarre involved Chaminade offensive lineman Harout Agazaryan.
On a Monday in January, he checked out of Chaminade. On Tuesday, he began classes and football practice at Burbank High. By Tuesday afternoon, when his mother picked him up after football practice, he told her, “I don’t think it’s the right place for me.”
“You’re probably right,” she said. “How do you feel? Do you want to go back to Chaminade?”
“Yes,” he said.
On Wednesday morning at Starbucks, he met with Chaminade football coach David Machuca and asked to return.
By Thursday, he was back at Chaminade in the same classes. He felt awkward, but his teachers joked, “You missed me already?”
It took courage to ask for a second chance, and what a decision it has turned out to be. Five times this season, Agazaryan has been named a team captain by his coach. The 6-foot-3, 255-pound senior been a standout offensive tackle and defensive lineman.
“He’s been amazing,” Machuca said. “You talk about a kid that did a 360. He’s representing what I believe is important to being a captain — dedication, holding people accountable. He’s doing everything right.”
There’s so many lessons to be learned from Agazaryan’s experiences.
“The grass isn’t always greener where you go,” he said. “I discovered there’s not many places better than Chaminade.”
It was his parents who gave him the green light to transfer even though they wanted him to stay.
“Honestly, at the time, I had a lot of friends [at Burbank],” he said. “They were texting me every day. I wasn’t doing very good academically here. I thought I needed a restart.”
He quickly determined he was wrong. But would he have a chance to return to his old school?
One of the most important decisions he made was to have a conversation with Machuca before he left. So many times, students and their parents don’t even inform the coach they are leaving.
“I feel you have to leave on good terms because I know teammates that left last year that didn’t talk to coach Machuca at all,” he said. “I felt as a man, I had to talk to him.”
That earlier discussion made Machuca open to welcoming Agazaryan’s return as long as parameters were followed.
“I actually told him when he was leaving I’m really happy we’re at the point of having a conversation,” Machuca said.
The second chance has not been wasted.
“It’s been way better,” Agazaryan said. “I feel when I came back, my head switched. I was a way better person, better in the classroom, better on the field. I felt I was controlling my emotions more.”
Coaches have been complaining that it’s harder to coach players these days, because they know if someone takes something they say the wrong way, they immediately think about transferring to another school.
Agazaryan warns, “Don’t ever burn your bridges because you never know what will happen. Just because one thing bad happens doesn’t mean you should take your stuff off and leave. You have to build a relationship with everyone on the campus, then you’ll really be happy.”
Many Los Angeles residents will soon be paying significantly more for trash collection after the City Council voted Tuesday to finalize a dramatic fee increase.
The trash program had become heavily subsidized, to the tune of about $500,000 a day, which officials said was no longer viable given the city’s dire financial straits, which left them scrambling to close a nearly $1-billion budget deficit earlier this year.
Having the cost subsidized by the city for so long contributed to that deficit, according to City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo.
“It should have been corrected a long time ago,” Szabo said. “If we didn’t get this rate increase, the subsidy would have been more than $200 million this year.”
The city hadn’t raised trash pickup fees in 17 years, and a 2016 state law governing organic waste disposal significantly increased operational costs. Large raises for city sanitation workers and rising equipment costs also bumped up expenditures.
Once the new fees go into effect, probably in mid-November, residents of single-family homes or apartments with four units or less will pay $55.95 a month per unit.
That sum is more than double the $24.33 a month that occupants of triplexes and fourplexes had been paying, and a roughly 50% increase on the $36.32 previously paid by residents of single-family homes and duplexes.
Those customers put their waste in black bins for regular trash, blue bins for recycling and green bins for organic waste, which are emptied by city workers once a week. Larger apartment buildings will be unaffected by the changes, because their waste collection is administered through a separate program.
The fees will increase by an additional $10 over the next four years.
By next year, the increased fees will reflect the actual cost of trash pickup and will be on par with or slightly below what residents pay in nearby cities such as Long Beach, Pasadena, Culver City and Glendale.
Still, the new fees will almost certainly engender sticker shock for L.A. residents already contending with skyrocketing insurance premiums, rising rents and eye-popping grocery prices. Rates will be reduced for low-income customers who qualify for the city’s EZ-SAVE or Lifeline programs.
The City Council approved the increase on a 12-2 vote, with Councilmembers Monica Rodriguez and Adrin Nazarian dissenting.
“After approving a $2.6-billion Convention Center expansion, the council is asking residents to pay more for basic services like trash collection while delivering less. That doesn’t reflect the priorities of working Angelenos,” Rodriguez said after Tuesday’s vote. “I can’t, in good conscience, support that approach.”
A number of factors catalyzed the city’s financial issues, which exploded into public view during the budget process earlier this year. Los Angeles had taken in weaker than expected tax revenues, paid out more in legal liabilities and adopted large-scale raises for city employees.
When Mayor Karen Bass first presented her budget in the spring, layoffs for more than 1,600 city workers were on the table. She and the City Council were ultimately able to avoid those cuts through a number of cost-saving measures.
The matter was complicated by Proposition 218, a 1996 statewide ballot measure designed to make it harder for local governments to raise taxes and fees. To satisfy the proposition’s requirements, the city had to hold public hearings and give every affected resident the opportunity to weigh in via a notice mailed to their homes before the increase could move forward.
The fee hike legislation still has to be signed by the mayor and formally published by the city clerk. The fee can’t go into effect until 31 days after that, or mid-November at the earliest.
The city budget, however, was calculated under the assumption that the new fees would go into effect Oct. 1. The delay will leave the city on the hook for an extra $500,000 a day.
Because Tuesday’s vote was not unanimous, the ordinance will receive a second reading next week before the council formally approves it and sends it to the mayor — a technicality that will cost the city $3.5 million. The mayor plans to sign it as soon as she receives it, her office said.
The delay to mid-November will cost the city a total of at least $22 million, creating another deficit that will have to be adjusted for down the line.
Still, some residents decried the ballooning fees, with one calling the increase “preposterous.”
“Listen to our cries,” the person, who did not give their name,said in a written public comment. “We can barely keep a roof over our heads — at this time! Los Angeles is falling apart. It is your job to fix it more practically.”
The Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council also opposed the rate hike, arguing that residents are already facing steep cost-of-living increases and that layering more fees on top of that would be “neither fair nor sustainable.”
The last time the city increased trash fees, back in the summer of 2008, City Controller Kenneth Mejia was a few months out of high school, George W. Bush was in the Oval Office and Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” was topping the Billboard charts.
Amid a global economic downturn, the city was facing widespread cuts, and leaders looked — as they often do — to the price tag of city services to try to balance the budget.
Times staff writers David Zahniser and Dakota Smith contributed to this report.
A judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from requiring recipients of federal teen pregnancy prevention grants to comply with the president’s orders aimed at curtailing “radical indoctrination” and “gender ideology.”
The ruling is a victory for three Planned Parenthood affiliates — in California, Iowa and New York — that sued to try to block enforcement of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services policy document issued in July that they contend contradicts the requirements of the grants as established by Congress.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who was appointed to the bench by former President Obama, blasted the administration’s policy change in her written ruling, saying it was “motivated solely by political concerns, devoid of any considered process or analysis, and ignorant of the statutory emphasis on evidence-based programming.”
The policy requiring changes to the pregnancy prevention program was part of the fallout from a series of executive orders Trump signed starting in his first day back in the White House aimed at rolling back recognition of LGBTQ+ people and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
In the policy, the administration objected to teaching that promotes same-sex marriage and that “normalizes, or promotes sexual activity for minors.”
The Planned Parenthood affiliates argued that the new directives were at odds with the requirements of the program — and that they were so vague it wasn’t clear what needed to be done to follow them.
Howell agreed.
The decision applies not only to the handful of Planned Parenthood groups among the dozens of recipients of the funding, but also to nonprofit groups, city and county health departments, Native American tribes and universities that received grants.
The Health and Human Services Department, which oversees the program, declined to comment on Tuesday’s ruling. It previously said the guidance for the program “ensures that taxpayer dollars no longer support content that undermines parental rights, promotes radical gender ideology, or exposes children to sexually explicit material under the banner of public health.”
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court justices on Tuesday heard a free-speech challenge to state laws against “conversion therapy” and sounded likely to rule the measures violate the 1st Amendment.
California and more than 20 other states have adopted laws to forbid licensed counselors from urging or encouraging gay or transgender teens to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
They were adopted in reaction to a history of dangerous and discredited practices, including treatments that induced nausea and vomiting or administered electric shocks.
Lawmakers and medical experts said these efforts to “cure” LGBTQ+ teens were cruel and ineffective and caused lasting harm.
But these “talk therapy” laws have been challenged by a number of Christian counselors who believe they can help young people who want to talk about their feelings and their sexual identity.
The court on Tuesday heard an appeal from Kaley Chiles, a counselor from Colorado Springs, Colo. She says she is an evangelical Christian, but does not seek to “cure” young people of a same-sex attraction or change their gender identity.
But she sued, alleging the state law seeks to “censor” her conversations and threatens her with punishment.
She lost before a federal judge and a U.S. appeals court, both of whom said the state has the authority to regulate the practice of medicine and to prevent substandard healthcare.
But the justices, both conservative and liberal, said the Colorado law appeared to violate the 1st Amendment.
“What’s being regulated here is pure speech,” said Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Moreover, he said, the state law enforces a double standard. It would punish a licensed counselor who agrees to talk to a teenage client who wants to “overcome same-sex attractions,” but not if she encourages the teen to accept or affirm those attractions.
Justice Elena Kagan said she too saw a potential 1st Amendment violation. And Justice Sonia Sotomayor said there was less evidence that talk therapy alone has caused real harm.
In defense of the law, Colorado state solicitor Shannon Stevenson said the law applies only to licensed counselors. It does not extend to others, including religious ministers.
The practice of medical care “is a heavily regulated area. A doctor doesn’t have a 1st Amendment right to give wrong advice to patients,” she said.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett and others suggested counselors could still face a medical malpractice lawsuit, even if the court rules the state law violates the 1st Amendment.
A Tesla Model Y car is on display inside a new Tesla car showroom in Mumbai, India, in July. Some Elon Musk teasers on X seem to announce a new vehicle for Tuesday. File Photo by Divyakant Solanki/EPA
Oct. 6 (UPI) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk made two posts on X that appear to tease a new car or relaunch of an existing car for “10/7.”
Because of the teasers, Tesla stock rose by 4.72%, on pace for its largest one-day percentage gain in a little over a week, MarketWatch said.
Theories about what the teasers mean include that it could be the next-generation Roadster that Musk has been touting for years, or that Tesla is going to release a mass-market model.
Musk teased the next-gen Roadster in 2017 and 2018. He has since hyped the vehicle repeatedly and, in September, said on X that “the new Roadster is something special beyond a car.” He didn’t elaborate.
Tesla has been saying a cheaper mass-market car will be released this year. But Musk has said this lower-cost vehicle will be a stripped down Model Y, NBC reported.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. Basketball season is a month away, and the big question is did everyone learn something from the football scandals this fall?
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The Southern Section has made more than 40 fall athletes ineligible for two years for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves providing false information on transfer paperwork. The majority are football players. Players have left California to play elsewhere. Bishop Montgomery, which had 24 transfers declared ineligible, has seen students move to Arizona and Florida. A Long Beach Millikan player also left for Arizona.
Athletic directors will soon start submitting transfer paperwork for numerous basketball players. How many will try to gain immediate eligibility with a valid change of residence? How many will seek sit-out period eligibility? How many will be declared ineligible because of undue influence, otherwise known as illegal recruiting?
Southern Section commissioner Mike West has received support from some football coaches for having his assistant commissioners enforce and uncover rule violations among transfers. But there’s lots of skepticism whether basketball will face the same scrutiny since powerful programs have been relying on transfers for years and one of the continuing public perception issues, right or wrong, has been “unequal” enforcement of rules.
West has insisted the Southern Section is committed to using its new investigative tools to determine the accuracy of transfer paperwork submitted by schools as filled out by parents, so athletic directors and principals have been put on notice to investigate before making a decision to send in the paperwork.
If there are lots of sit-out period athletes, it will mean teams won’t be at full strength until Dec. 26, the day the sit-out period ends for boys and girls basketball. And, as shown during football season, just because the Southern Section initially approves or denies a transfer, it doesn’t mean the athlete’s status won’t change when additional facts are brought forward.
Call it Crampgate. While Sierra Canyon rolled to a 30-0 victory over Gardena Serra, a controversial decision by the Trailblazers to purposely fake cramps in retaliation for what it thought was Serra’s repeated issues with cramps caused quite a debate. Here’s the story.
There were a number of losses by top 25 teams. No. 8 Orange Lutheran lost 25-10 to No. 4 Mater Dei. No. 9 Vista Murrieta lost 28-20 to Chaparral. No. 10 Servite lost 17-7 to No. 6 Santa Margarita. No. 11 Damien lost 24-22 to Rancho Cucamonga. No. 12 San Juan Hills lost 33-10 to No. 17 Corona del Mar.
Leuzinger defeated Inglewood 43-32 for the first time since 1999 in a Bay League showdown. Next up is another great league matchup, with Palos Verdes playing Leuzinger on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at SoFi Stadium.
Mary Star took control of the Camino Real League with a 21-12 win over St. Genevieve. Sophomore running back Johnny Rivera, with nearly 800 yards rushing, has provided a big boost this season.
Corona Centennial coach Matt Logan (right) receives trophy from athletic director Tony Barile after 300th coaching win.
Crenshaw wide receiver Deance’ Lewis (11) celebrates his touchdown with tight end De’Andre Kirkpatrick (10) against Dorsey.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Crenshaw continues to make strides, knocking off rival Dorsey 12-8 in a game that featured a halftime concert by Mustard. Here’s the report.
The Western League began with the expected wins by Hamilton, Venice and Palisades. Hamilton won’t find out where it stands until facing Palisades on Oct. 24 and Venice on Oct. 30. The big matchup is on Friday when Venice hosts Palisades.
Van Nuys defeated Sylmar for the first time in more than 30 years 49-46. Coach Ken Osorio credited his offensive line that features right tackle Ernesto Gomez, right guard Jiancarlos Lopez, center Omar Hernandez, left guard Angel Avendano and left tackle Eli Taitz. Quarterback Carlos Herrera ran for four touchdowns and threw another.
Gardena began Marine League play with a 29-6 win over Banning. Quarterback Kevin Martinez had two touchdowns passing and two touchdowns running.
Eagle Rock handed Marshall its first defeat 41-7 in a Northern League opener.
Quarterback Brady Smigiel of Newbury Park, The Times’ reigning player of the year in Southern California, suffered a torn ACL knee injury on Friday night against Santa Barbara, ending his high school career, his father, Joe, said. He’s committed to Michigan and will undergo surgery.
Newbury Park quarterback Brady Smigiel suffered a torn ACL injury to his knee on Friday.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
He came into this season with 11,222 career yards passing and 147 touchdowns. This season, in six games, he passed for 1,624 yards and 15 touchdowns.
From the moment I saw Brady Smigiel as a freshman in a summer passing tournament, I was convinced he had the ability to be a top quarterback. He got better every season. A leader. A fighter. To see him and his father together for four years was special at Newbury Park.
His work ethic combined with surgery should allow him to have a complete recovery. He will go down as one of the most prolific football players in Ventura County history.
JSerra quarterback Kate Meier reaches across the goal line for the winning touchdown an instant before her flag is pulled.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
The showdown between No. 1 Orange Lutheran and No. 2 JSerra turned out as fun as expected, with JSerra winning 18-7 on the strength of four interceptions. Here’s the report.
Dos Pueblos quarterback Kacey Hurley and coach Doug Caines bump fists.
It was a big week for Sierra Canyon. The Trailblazers went to five sets to win their Mission League showdown against Marymount 25-19, 24-26, 25-22, 25-27, 15-11.
Then Sierra Canyon won the Mira Costa/Redondo Union tournament championship over Archbishop Mitty, which pretty much makes the Trailblazers the top team in Southern California and perhaps the state.
Shalen Sheppard has left Brentwood for Crossroads.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Shalen Sheppard, a 6-foot-8 sophomore who was expected to be the standout basketball player at Brentwood, has transferred to rival Crossroads. Brentwood coach Ryan Bailey developed him into one of the top freshman players last season. …
Tyran Stokes from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Brandon McCoy from Sierra Canyon have signed NIL deals with Nike. …
Tajh Ariza of St. John Bosco, last season’s co-City Section basketball player of the year at Westchester, has committed to Oregon. …
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Melissa Seidemann is the new girls water polo coach at Orange Lutheran. Here’s the report. …
Adam Goldstein was named baseball coach at Agoura. …
Junior lacrosse player Brody Booen of Santa Margarita has committed to Virginia. …
Tight end Keawe Browne of Corona Centennial has committed to Boise State. …
San Pedro softball player Caroline Baker has committed to Louisiana Tech. …
Quarterback Kade Casillas of Lakewood has committed to Wayne State. …
Former Crespi and UC Riverside basketball player Kyle Owens has died after a bout with cancer. He was 24. …
Pitcher Abby Ford of JSerra has committed to Washington for softball.
From the archives: Romeo Doubs
Green Bay Packers’ Romeo Doubs.
(Morry Gash / Associated Press)
Former Jefferson High standout Romeo Doubshas become a standout receiver in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers. His is a great story to tell, having been a double-wing T quarterback at Jefferson in the City Section. He got a scholarship to Nevada and kept improving as a receiver.
From Substack, a story on former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame star Giancarlo Stanton.
From the Washington Post, a story on a high school football team with two former Super Bowl winners on the coaching staff.
From the Orange County Register, a story on former Loyola linebacker Scott Taylor contributing for UCLA as a freshman.
Tweets you might have missed
Hunter Greene is the third pitcher in MLB history to pitch 100 or more innings and average at least 10 strikeouts per nine innings in each of his first four seasons (2022-25). The others are Yu Darvish (first five seasons: 2012-17; DNP in 2015) and Mark Prior (2002-05). pic.twitter.com/FBqyrIyOB1
What can coaches do anymore. You coach, you sit down a player to get him to understand what you want, they either learn or rebel. It’s a crazy time to coach. Criticism is forbidden. Saying only good things is a must even if it’s untrue. Good luck to all.
Two great football coaches. Dick Bruich and Dave White. They had some battles in the 1980s and 1990s at Fontana and Edison, respectively. pic.twitter.com/agELy3KtWc
The Marmonte League needs to change its league name for teams in the league playing football only next season. Options: Surfer League. 101 League. We shake hands League.
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WASHINGTON — Fox news made its way to Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) identified himself as the victim of a fox attack. Bera, a doctor, told reporters he was walking near a Senate office building Monday when he felt something around his ankle.
“Yeah, I was just walking, as I often would, over by that park over by Russell [Senate Office Building] and felt something lunge — totally unprovoked, right — at the back of my leg,” Bera said, adding that he was thankful he had an umbrella with him to help fend off the wild animal. “It felt like a small dog.”
The disclosure of a fox attack on a member of Congress followed a memo that went out Tuesday warning of possible fox dens on Capitol grounds.
The Office of the Sergeant at Arms sent an alert notifying members of Congress and staff that U.S. Capitol Police had received reports Monday of people being attacked or bitten by a fox.
The notice, which was also forwarded to journalists who cover Congress, described the locations of two encounters and said Capitol Police had received a call Tuesday morning about a fox approaching staff near an intersection.
“There are possibly several fox dens on Capitol grounds,” the notification said. “Animal Control is currently on the grounds seeking to trap and relocate any foxes they find. Foxes are wild animals that are very protective of their dens and territory. Please do not approach any fox you see.”
Bera said the bite didn’t appear to puncture through his sock and into his skin. He said he will take a seven-shot anti-rabies regimen as a precaution and advised everyone on Capitol grounds to take encounters with wild animals seriously.
He tweeted that he is “healthy and back at work serving the people of #CA07.”
A Politico reporter said she was also bitten by a fox as she was leaving the Capitol on Tuesday, because “that’s of course something I expect in THE MIDDLE OF DC.”
Shortly after, Capitol Police broke some news of its own: It captured a fox.
A parody Twitter account was created as the identity of the Capitol fox. It released a statement on its “illegal arrest.”
“As a fox, I cannot speak. And too often — I have nobody to speak for me,” the statement began.
“Today, I was forcibly removed from my den by very scary and mean individuals,” it continued. “I am innocent of the crimes in question. This will not be the end.”
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily halted a Trump administration plan to reduce disaster relief and anti-terrorism funding for states with so-called sanctuary policies for undocumented immigrants.
U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy granted the temporary restraining order curtailing the cuts at the request of California, 10 other states and the District of Columbia, which argued in a lawsuit Monday that the policy appeared to have illegally cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.
The states said they were first notified of the cuts over the weekend. McElroy made her decision during an emergency hearing on the states’ motion in Rhode Island District Court on Tuesday afternoon.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta cheered the decision as the state’s latest win in pushing back against what he described as a series of unlawful, funding-related power grabs by the Trump administration.
“Over and over, the courts have stopped the Trump Administration’s illegal efforts to tie unrelated grant funding to state policies,” Bonta said. “It’s a little thing called state sovereignty, but given the President’s propensity to violate the Constitution, it’s unsurprising that he’s unfamiliar with it.”
Neither the White House nor the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the funding and notified the states of the cuts, immediately responded to a request for comment Tuesday.
Sanctuary policies are not uniform and the term is imprecise, but it generally refers to policies that bar states and localities — and their local law enforcement agencies — from participating in federal immigration raids or other enforcement initiatives.
The Trump administration and other Republicans have cast such policies as undermining law and order. Democrats and progressives including in California say instead that states and cities have finite public safety resources and that engaging in immigration enforcement serves only to undermine the trust they and their law enforcement agencies need to maintain with the public in order to prevent and solve crime, including in large immigrant communities.
In their lawsuit Monday, the states said the funding being reduced was part of billions in federal dollars annually distributed to the states to “prepare for, protect against, respond to, and recover from catastrophic disasters,” and which administrations of both political parties distributed “evenhandedly” for decades before Trump.
Authorized by Congress after events such as Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina, the funding covers the salaries of first responders, testing of state computer networks for cyberattack vulnerabilities, mutual aid compacts between regional partners and emergency responses after disasters, the states said.
Bonta’s office said California was informed over the weekend by Homeland Security officials that it would be receiving $110 million instead of $165 million, a reduction of its budget by about a third. The states’ lawsuit said other blue states saw even more dramatic cuts, with Illinois seeing a 69% reduction and New York receiving a 79% reduction, while red states saw substantial funding increases.
Bonta on Tuesday said the administration’s reshuffling of funds based on state compliance with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement priorities was illegal and needed to be halted — and restored to previous levels based on risk assessment — in order to keep everyone in the country safe.
“California uses the grant funding at stake in our lawsuit to protect the safety of our communities from acts of terrorism and other disasters — meaning the stakes are quite literally life and death,” he said. “This is not something to play politics with. I’m grateful to the court for seeing the urgency of this dangerous diversion of homeland security funding.”
Homeland Security officials have previously argued that the agency should be able to withhold funding from states that it believes are not upholding or are actively undermining its core mission of defending the nation from threats, including the threat it sees from illegal immigration.
Other judges have also ruled against the administration conditioning disaster and public safety funding on states and localities complying with federal immigration policies.
Joining California in Monday’s lawsuit were Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.
TEHRAN, Iran — The United States will deport hundreds of Iranians back to Iran in the coming weeks, with the first 120 deportees being prepared for a flight in the next day or two, Iran said Tuesday.
The deportation of Iranians, not yet publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government, comes as tensions remain high between the two countries following the American bombings of Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Meanwhile, the United Nations reimposed sanctions on Iran this past week over its nuclear program, putting new pressure on the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy.
The deportations also represent a collision of a top priority of President Trump — targeting illegal immigration — against a decadeslong practice by the U.S. of welcoming Iranian dissidents, exiles and others since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
As many as 400 Iranians would be returning to Iran as part of the deal with the U.S., Iranian state television said, citing Hossein Noushabadi, director-general for parliamentary affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry. He said the majority of those people had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico illegally, while some faced other immigration issues.
Noushabadi said the first planeload of Iranians would arrive in a day or two, after stopping over in Qatar on the way. Authorities in Qatar have not confirmed that.
The U.S. State Department referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond. The New York Times first reported the deportations.
In the lead up to and after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, a large number of Iranians fled to the U.S. In the decades since, the U.S. had been sensitive in allowing those fleeing from Iran over religious, sexual or political persecution to seek residency.
In the 2024 fiscal year, for instance, the U.S. deported only 20 Iranians, according to statistics from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Iran has criticized Washington for hosting dissidents and others in the past. U.S. federal prosecutors have accused Iran of hiring hitmen to target dissidents as well in America.
It’s unclear exactly what has changed now in American policy. However, since returning to the White House, Trump has cracked down on those living in the U.S. illegally.
Noushabadi said that American authorities unilaterally made the decision without consultations with Iran.
But The New York Times said Tuesday, citing anonymous Iranian officials, that the deportations were “the culmination of months of discussions between the two countries.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, as well as President Masoud Pezeshkian, both attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York last week as a last-ditch effort to stop the reimposed sanctions. However, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei boxed in their efforts by describing diplomacy with the U.S. as a “sheer dead end.”
Speaking to state TV in footage aired Tuesday, Araghchi acknowledged that direct communication from Iran went to the U.S. government during the U.N. visit — something he had been careful not to highlight during five rounds of nuclear negotiations with the Americans earlier this year.
“With Americans, both directly and indirectly, messages were exchanged, and eventually, we are relieved that we did whatever it was necessary,” Araghchi said. “It was clear and evident to us after the interpretation the Supreme Leader made that negotiations with Americans is an obvious dead-end.”
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. If all goes as expected, Matt Logan of Corona Centennial will earn career victory No. 300 on Thursday night, becoming the 15th coach in state history to achieve that mark, according to CalHiSports.com records.
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Corona Centennial coach Matt Logan is in his 29th season.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
It’s going to be party time in Corona on Thursday night when Centennial hosts Eastvale Roosevelt. Centennial will be a heavy favorite to deliver win No. 300 for coach Matt Logan, who has made his program one of Southern California’s most consistent and perhaps the top public school football program in his 29th season.
Centennial is the last team to win the Southern Section title in 2015 other than St. John Bosco and Mater Dei. His teams have won 10 Southern Section titles and a state title in 2018. His influence has been immense.
Twenty-two former Centennial players have reached the NFL, including five on current rosters. More than 250 players have reached the college ranks. He became a trendsetter with his quick tempo, no-huddle offense that required officials to be in good shape because of the speed in which the Huskies would snap the ball after the whistle had been blown. He became the coach not afraid to play anyone, scheduling home and away games with Mater Dei, playing Florida’s IMG Academy and playing three Trinity League opponents this season.
Through the years, any time there was an opening at a top private school, Logan’s name got mentioned as a candidate. But the Norco High graduate was never going to leave the community he grew up in.
“I don’t think our school district and our area would be recognized without him,” said Anthony Catalano, a former quarterback and current assistant coach. “It changed the outlook of our community and kept a lot of people home. It set the standard for what our expectations are.”
One moment that is always most memorable comes at the end of the final game or final practice. The whole team lines up to salute every senior. Logan gives a hug to each senior offering words of appreciation and encouragement. That embrace to a teenager preparing to become an adult makes them Matt Logan fans for life.
Quarterback Taylor Lee of Oxnard Pacifica had four touchdown passes in 42-14 win over Hamilton.
(Craig Weston)
The Trinity League begins football action this week. Get ready for a five-week grind that ends on Halloween, with St. John Bosco hosting Mater Dei. On Friday, St. John Bosco is at JSerra, Mater Dei is playing Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast College and Santa Margarita is playing Servite at Santa Ana Stadium.
All six teams remain in contention for the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. The key will be how many teams are chosen for Division 1. Corona Centennial, Mission Viejo and Sierra Canyon are certain selections. If the Southern Section only goes with eight teams, then one Trinity League team won’t make it. Last season there were 10 teams selected. Los Alamitos is 7-0 and a contender going into its three league games against Edison, San Clemente and Mission Viejo. The rankings are done by hsratings.com.
Monrovia has lost sophomore quarterback Jesse Saucedo for the rest of the season after a knee injury.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame unveiled 6-foot-8 basketball star Tyran Stokes at receiver. Here’s the report.
Los Alamitos earned a long-deserved break after improving to 7-0 with a win over Calabasas. The surprising Griffins don’t play again until their league opener on Oct. 16. They can become a Division 1 playoff team by beating Edison, San Clemente and Mission Viejo over their final three games. Quarterback Colin Creason was 17 of 19 passing for 296 yards and three touchdowns against Calabasas. Talented tight end Beckham Hogland had seven catches for 140 yards.
Taylor Lee of Oxnard Pacifica has 19 touchdowns in his last three games after a 42-14 win over Hamilton. Here’s the report.
The City Section is closing in on booking L.A. Southwest College to host its Open Division championship game on Nov. 29. Birmingham would host championship games on Nov. 28.
Last week, L.A. Jordan (0-6) forfeited its game to Fremont because of lack of healthy players and first-year coach James Boyd is out. Boyd was a former Jordan standout. Leonard McConico was named interim coach. Also Dymally has officially canceled its season.
Carson had a breakthrough nonleague win over St. Pius X-St. Matthias. Sophomore defensive end Kingston Sula had four sacks.
Palisades receiver Go Moriya makes a sliding catch in the second half of Friday night’s 35-28 intersectional win.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Palisades improved to 5-0 by rallying to beat Mary Star 35-28. Here’s the report.
Birmingham begins West Valley League play this week against El Camino Real and has a 49-game winning streak against City Section opponents.
Crenshaw hosts Dorsey on Friday night in a big Coliseum League game that will decide the main challenger to King/Drew.
Marshall is 6-0 after a 42-18 win over Jefferson. Junior quarterback Nathaniel Cadet has been a key player for the Barristers. Marshall will find out where it stands in a Northern League opener against Eagle Rock on Friday night.
Elyjah Staples is a star junior defensive end for Marquez and also straight-A student.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
It’s a tradition for the Marquez High football team to raise a black Gladiators flag up the stadium pole after each victory.
Imagine how often that flag could be raised each time Elyjah Staples, the school’s star outside linebacker, earned an A on his report card? That’s the only grade he’s gotten in three years of classes, no matter taking Chemistry, Algebra 2 or advance placement U.S. History.
It’s the game of the year in high school flag football.
On Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. at Orange Lutheran, the unbeaten Lancers (18-0) take on unbeaten JSerra (19-0) in a game that should attract a large crowd and produce a memorable matchup.
Orange Lutheran and quarterback Makena Cook are the defending Division 1 flag football champions. JSerra, bolstered by a group of talented freshmen, have been surging and preparing for this showdown. Freshman quarterback Katie Meier and freshman receiver Ava Irwin get to test themselves on a big stage.
LIONS POSTGAME: Junior G.G. Szczuka produced five catches for 105 yards and two touchdowns, while freshman quarterback Kate Meier threw for two touchdowns and ran for another score, as the JSerra Girls Flag Football team improved to 19-0 on the season with a 34-19 victory over… pic.twitter.com/QKUaOyreon
Venice continues to be a City Section title contender in girls volleyball, handing Palisades its first defeat in Western League play, 25-23, 22-25, 12-25, 25-21, 15-9.
Mira Costa came through with a win over rival Redondo Union to go to 4-0 in the Bay League and 14-7 overall.
Marymount hosts Sierra Canyon on Monday night in the first of two Mission League matches.
San Clemente athletic trainer Amber Anaya helped save a soccer assistant coach who went into cardiac arrest.
(San Clemente HS)
For those high schools in California that still don’t have an athletic trainer, what happened at San Clemente High was another reason why they are so valuable for the safety reasons. And also proven was the requirement that coaches be certified in CPR every two years.
Calabasas senior Elie Samouhi took out his electric guitar and played the national anthem before the Calabasas-Los Alamitos football game last week. What a performance. You can hear it here.
Basketball
Fall basketball is picking up steam more than a month away from the official start of the season.
Former St. John Bosco guard Brandon McCoy made his fall debut for Sierra Canyon, which has a number of transfer students that still need to be cleared by the school and Southern Section.
In fact, most of the Mission League is loaded with transfers, and if they’re eligible, it will be quite a league season ahead.
Freshman Nico Mecilli should be a contributor for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame basketball.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame might start a little slow with several players on the football team, including standout Tyran Stokes, but that will only give the newcomers the opportunity to play, such as 6-foot-5 Bishop Gorman transfer Ilan Nikolov and 6-5 freshman Nico Mecilli.
Three of the big risers have been 6-7 junior Kevin Keshishyan of Los Altos, 6-9 junior Nick Welch Jr. of Rolling Hills Prep and senior guard Josiah Johnson of Mayfair.
In girls basketball, Etiwanda and Ontario Christian are gearing up to be the top teams again, but watch for big improvement from Troy, where future Hall of Fame coach Kevin Kiernan has returned after being at Mater Dei and not coaching last season. Oak Park could be on the rise with several transfer students.
Transfer warning
Southern Section commissioner Mike West (left) addressed the Southern Section Council on Thursday.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
I’ve been trying to find a way to educate parents, fans, coaches and players about the ongoing crackdown of Southern Section transfer rules, and commissioner Mike West made a brief presentation at the Southern Section Council meeting to provide an update.
In the latest development, five Long Beach Poly football players and one volleyball player have been declared ineligible for two years for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves providing false information. Also Victor Valley lost four football players to two-year punishments. Pacific in San Bernardino lost two football players for one year.
Notes . . .
Chris Huber is the new girls lacrosse coach at Newbury Park. . . .
Tressa Beatty of Bonita has committed to Azusa Pacific for women’s basketball. . . .
Softball standout Mireya Gonzalez of La Mirada has committed to Connecticut. . . .
Emilia Krstevski, a 6-4 center at Sierra Canyon, has committed to play women’s basketball at Oregon. . . .
Rio Hondo Prep and Brentwood have moved their football game to SoFi Stadium on Oct. 16 at 4:30 p.m. . . .
Outfielder James Tronstein of Harvard-Westlake has committed to Vanderbilt. . . .
Junior outfielder/pitcher Carson Richter of Newbury Park has committed to Michigan. . . .
Junior Ivy Burnham of St. Anthony has committed to Stanford softball. . . .
South Hills softball standout Charli Moreno has committed to Washington. . . .
Junior pitcher Andrew Carlson from Trinity Classical Academy has committed to Texas Christian. . . .
Junior pitcher Tate Belfanti of Cypress has committed to Texas Christian. . . .
Pitcher Owen Shannon of Mater Dei has committed to Pittsburgh. . . .
Adam Goldstein, who has been an assistant baseball coach at Agoura, has emerged as the leading candidate for the vacant head coach position. . . .
Former standout offensive line Mark Schroller from Mission Viejo has medically retired from football at UCLA. . . .
Quarterback Wyatt Brown of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame takes off on a touchdown run against Culver City.
(Craig Weston)
Quarterback Wyatt Brown of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has committed to West Virginia. . . .
Linebacker Glenn Baranoski of Newport Harbor has committed to San Diego.
From the archives: Peyton Woodyard
Peyton Woodyard during his St. John Bosco days in 2022.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Freshman safety Peyton Woodyard, a St. John Bosco grad, is making an impact at Oregon.
It’s no surprise, since Woodyard was a key contributor for St. John Bosco over three seasons.
From the San Diego Union Tribune, a story on Torrey Pines having the best girls golf team in the nation.
Tweets you might have missed
The next Servite phenom. 6-4 freshman Tetairoa McMillan. Starter in basketball and volleyball. Football coaches drooling over his potential. pic.twitter.com/tOQA2W4Xvi
I’m so passionate about covering high school sports that I’ve spent 49 years doing it. But some are taking it too seriously. It’s not college, it’s not pros. No matter how angry you get, you can’t change the mission it will always be about _ to prepare teenagers for adulthood.
Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.
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