Theo Leggett at the wheel of the oldest Ford Transit still in existence
Climbing into a 1965 Ford Transit is like stepping into a time capsule on wheels.
Forget your modern high-tech nicknacks like satnavs and touchscreens. All you get here is a steering wheel, a big chrome-lined speedometer dial and a chunky heater control. There isn’t even a radio.
Out on the road, it rattles and bangs and occasionally jumps out of gear.
Disconcertingly, there’s no seatbelt, the seat itself has an alarming tendency to move around, and the brakes don’t seem to do very much at all.
Beautiful as it is, it’s hard to imagine that this elderly machine was ever state of the art.
Yet when the original Transit first rolled off the production line at Ford’s plant in Langley, Berkshire, on 9 August 1965, it was a revelation.
By the standards of the day, it was remarkably spacious, powerful and practical. It was comfortable, had sharp handling, and put existing vans such as the Morris J4 firmly in the shade.
Sixty years later, the Transit has been redesigned many times, but the brand itself is still going strong. It remains a staple for many small businesses, even in an age when “white vans” are ten a penny, and the market is rife with competition.
It is the world’s best-selling van – and more than 13 million have been built so far.
“There are lots of iconic cars: the Morris Minor, the Mini, the Land Rover, the VW Beetle, but there’s only one iconic van, and that’s the Transit,” says Edmund King, president of the AA.
“It’s probably the only van that people really know”.
Erica Echenberg via Getty Images
Punk ban The Damned were one of the groups to use Ford Transit’s on tour, seen here in 1977
Originally a collaboration between Ford’s engineers in the UK and Germany, and primarily aimed at the British and European markets, the Transit was designed to be as versatile as possible.
It rapidly became a staple for tradespeople, including builders, carpenters, electricians and delivery drivers.
But it also appealed to others looking for spacious, cheap transport – including aspiring rock bands. It was almost a rite of passage. Among those who spent time on the road in one were Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Small Faces and Slade.
“It was the freedom to go where you want, when you want. Petrol was a lot cheaper than it is now,” says Peter Lee, founder of the Transit Van Club.
“I ended up in Spain, lived in one for 13 months as a hippy on a strawberry farm, then came back and started a business. Before you know it, I had 180 workers in 28 Transit vans driving around London.”
‘Britain’s most wanted van’
The Transit’s speed and loading space also appealed to people on the wrong side of the law.
In 1972, so the story goes, a Metropolitan Police spokesman claimed Transits were being used in 95% of bank raids, adding that its speed and loading space meant it had become the perfect getaway vehicle. This, he commented drily, made it “Britain’s most wanted van”.
Meanwhile the stereotype of the bullying “white van man”,defined by Sunday Times reporter Jonathan Leake in 1997 as “a tattooed species, often with a cigarette in his mouth, who is prone to flashing his lights as he descends on his prey”, did not specifically target Transit drivers.
But given how many of them were on the road by then, it is a fair bet they were implicated.
Made in Turkey
For nearly half a century, Transits were built in Britain – first at Langley, then at a factory just outside Southampton. But this closed in 2013, as Ford removed production to Turkey, where it said costs were “significantly lower”. It was a controversial move that put hundreds of employees out of work. It was described by unions as a ‘betrayal’.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Ford Transit production moved to Turkey in 2013
Today, Ford continues to highlight both the Transit’s British heritage and the work that still takes place here, especially at its UK headquarters in Dunton, Essex.
“Dunton is the home of the Transit,” insists Ford of Britain’s managing director, Lisa Brankin
“It’s where we manage all the engineering and design work for the new vans. But we also build our diesel engines in Dagenham, just down the road, and we make power packs for electric vans in Halewood, near Liverpool.”
Most of the company’s European production remains in Turkey, and that looks unlikely to change.
“It’s about efficiency and just centring manufacturing into one place, rather than having multiple sites across Europe,” Ms Brankin explains.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Ford promotes its electric vans at commercial vehicle fairs around the world
Much of the activity at Dunton now is focused on what the next generation of Transit vans will bring. But will there ever be another radical game-changer like the original model?
“We’re working on it,” says director of commercial vehicle development Seamus McDermott, when I ask him that question.
He believes that what customers want from a van has not really changed in 60 years. It is still all about having a reliable set of wheels that is versatile and cheap to run. But the way that goal is achieved is now very different.
“Electric vehicles are cheaper to run and cheaper to repair,” he says.
“Also, when we bring in more software defined, ‘smarter’ vehicles, the ability to manage fleets remotely will help bring down costs as well. So the revolution will be about propulsion and software.”
But while the Transit brand has already endured for 60 years, today it is heading into an uncertain future, according to AA president Edmund King.
“In the 60s, 70s and 80s, if someone’s father had a Transit, they would get a Transit,” he says.
“I think that’s changing now. There’s more competition across the van market, and therefore brand loyalty is certainly not as strong as it used to be.”
That’s the best way to describe identical twins Liam and Luke Meeker, football players at Mira Costa High.
Liam is the quarterback and Luke the receiver. They’ve been teaming up their whole life.
“Twin telepathy,” they joke.
Their father, George, who was a member of Edison’s surf team during his high school days, taught them to surf when they were 9. Luke claims to be the best, but it’s football where they are making their presence felt.
Both are 6 feet 2 and 200 pounds. Liam can throw and run. Luke can be physical and protective of his brother. They’re loyal and best friends.
“He’s a great quarterback,” Luke said.
“I know where he is on the field,” Liam said.
With Mira Costa returning eight starters on defense and key skill position players such as the Meekers and standout running back AJ McBean, the Mustangs have a chance to be competitive in a tough Bay League that also has Palos Verdes, Inglewood, Leuzinger, Culver City and Lawndale.
Coach Don Morrow, in his 33rd season, likes the togetherness of his players. There’s good leaders, like linebacker/long snapper Jackson Reach, who’s been a standout since his sophomore season.
On Wednesday afternoon, it was a pleasant 77 degrees, with drums, flutes and cymbals being heard around the Manhattan Beach campus as band members practiced. Cheerleaders also worked on their routines. Then football players took the field to continue preparation for an Aug. 29 opener against St. Francis.
Afterward, anyone could take a walk to the beach and surf. The Meekers have been spending summers in Australia, where their mother was born and raised on a farm. They’ve gotten stronger with all the chores they do each summer.
When it comes to surfing, they know the lingo and the fun.
She would become one of the longest-serving soap opera actors, playing Lisa with only a few interruptions from 1960 until the show’s end in 2010. Fulton played the character as a villain, telling The Times in 1990 that Lisa was initially “a conniving, screaming witch” who “lied and wanted everything her way,” a characterization that led fans to scorn her. Throughout the course of the show, Lisa was married eight times.
But over time, Lisa evolved and “matured and learned from her mistakes.” Fulton said she began to receive “love letters” from fans who admired the character’s spunk.
Fulton was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1998 and received a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.
Fulton was born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty on Sept. 13, 1933 in Asheville. The daughter of a Methodist minister and a public school teacher, she graduated from Greensboro College in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in music and performed in an outdoor drama in North Carolina before moving to New York to pursue a career in acting, according to her obituary.
She later adopted the stage name Eileen Fulton, and in 1960, she was cast in the drama “Girl of the Night.”
In addition to her soap opera career, Fulton had a cabaret act for years in New York and Los Angeles.
She retired in 2019 and moved to Black Mountain, N.C. She is survived by her brother, Charles Furman McLarty, a niece and other family members.
From Jack Harris: Technically, there was no winning pitcher in Major League Baseball’s 95th All-Star Game.
The man who gave up the night’s biggest swings, however, was probably as deserving as any.
As the American League stormed back from a 6-0 deficit in Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic, a rarely contemplated reality started to dawn in both dugouts.
Three years ago, MLB changed its rules for how to break ties in its annual marquee event, instituting a home run “swing-off” to be conducted at the conclusion of the ninth inning. Each team selected three players, who each got three swings. Whichever team hit the most home runs in those nine swings wins the game.
Enter Dino Ebel — veteran Dodgers’ third base coach — and, now, victorious pitcher in the inaugural All-Star Game swing-off.
“What an exciting moment, I think, for baseball, for all the people that stayed, who watched on television, everything,” Ebel said, after teeing up the NL hitters for a 4-3 win in the home run swing-off, and a 7-6 win overall in the All-Star Game.
From Jack Harris: In a week where so much of the focus was on players who weren’t playing in the All-Star Game, and those who were selected that weren’t seen as deserving, it was the player who had been in more Midsummer Classics than anyone else who delivered the most profound reminder.
Before the start of Major League Baseball’s 95th All-Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta, National League manager Dave Roberts called upon longtime Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw to speak in the clubhouse.
And in an impromptu pregame speech as the team’s elder statesman, Kershaw imparted the most important lesson he’s learned from his 11 All-Star Games.
“The All-Star Game, it can be hard at times for the players,” Kershaw recounted when asked about his message to the team. “It’s a lot of travel, it’s a lot of stress, chaos, family, all this stuff.”
“But,” the 37-year-old future Hall of Famer added, “it’s meaningful, it’s impactful for the game, it’s important for the game. We have the best All-Star Game of any sport. We do have the best product. So to be here, to realize your responsibility to the sport is important … And I just said I was super honored to be part of it.”
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DODGERS
From Jack Harris: The hierarchy of stars was obvious even in the table arrangements.
At an All-Star Game media day event on Monday at the Roxy Coca-Cola Theater in Atlanta, the Dodgers’ five All-Star representatives were in the same area of the large venue.
In the first row, basking under large spotlights near an elevated stage, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw were positioned front and center, expected to attract so many reporters that retractable ropes lined the perimeter of their podiums.
And even then, where Yamamoto’s media contingent stretched several rows deep, Smith’s rarely swelled beyond a few people.
He was a third-time All-Star, National League starter and batting title contender — once again relegated to the background of the sport’s public consciousness.
“He’s up there as far as being overlooked,” Dodgers manager and NL All-Star skipper Dave Roberts said of his ever-present but easily forgotten backstop. “You know what you’re going to get, but you probably don’t appreciate it as much as you should.”
Appreciated, Smith has not been this year. Not fully, at the very least.
Fans will be able to figure that out for themselves this fall when the team debuts its “Charger Power” uniforms, one of two alternate looks revealed by the team Tuesday that will be worn during the 2025 season.
The Chargers also announced that they now have the option to wear powder blue pants with their regular jerseys, which are powder blue at home and white on the road.
From Kelvin Kuo: AVP, the biggest and longest-running professional volleyball league, hosted beach volleyball matches for the first time in an NBA arena last weekend.
Hosted at the Intuit Dome, crews were tasked with bringing 300 tons of sand from a quarry in Palm Springs, which is roughly 16 truckloads. AVP is looking for creative ways to attract a new audiences to the sport, often hosting its marquee volleyball events in unconventional locations.
A wooden sandbox was constructed to contain the pre-washed sand and form a single court.
It took the crew, which consists of about 150 people for a change over a typical event at Intuit Dome, five hours after the conclusion of the event to ready the arena for Clippers season ticket-holders the following day.
LAFC defender Aaron Long will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair a ruptured left Achilles.
The team — which said the surgery was successful — made the announcement on Tuesday, three days after Long was injured in the 76th minute of a 2-0 win over Dallas.
The 32-year-old Long is in his third season with LAFC and has started all 15 games this year, scoring one goal. He’s started 60 games for the club over the last three seasons.
From Ira Gorawara: Dearica Hamby lined up for one of those last-second launches as the first-half clock dipped toward zero.
The ball clanged off the front rim, appearing short — until backspin carried it to the back iron for a second bounce.
With Julie Allemand holding her knees and Kelsey Plum already prancing away, the ball kissed the rim twice more. And, finally, after a two-second pause that held the whole arena hostage, the ball dropped. Hamby fell with it, her teammates swarming to lift her as Crypto.com Arena erupted for what was perhaps the Sparks’ finest half of basketball of the season in a 99-80 stomping of the Washington Mystics.
“No one on our team would want anyone to hit a buzzer beater more from three than Dearica,” Plum said. “We were just all super excited, and especially the way it rolled in — it was very, like, climactic. … It was a great moment and it just represented the style we’re trying to play moving forward.”
The WNBA players’ union and league officials have much to discuss when they sit down this week for their first in-person talks as a group since December about the new collective bargaining agreement.
After sharing initial proposals, the two sides apparently are far apart in the early negotiations as they prepare for their first face-to-face meeting that includes the players executive council in Indianapolis on Thursday heading into All-Star weekend.
“We got a proposal from the league, which was honestly a slap in the face,” Phoenix Mercury forward and union rep Satou Sabally said.
Increased salaries, revenue sharing and roster size are three areas where the union expect to see major changes from the current CBA that will expire at the end of this season after the players decided to opt out last year. Nearly all the players who aren’t on rookie scale contracts right now will be free agents after this season and looking for big salary increases.
1920 — The United States sweeps Australia in five matches to win the Davis Cup for the first time since 1913. The U.S. team is made up of Bill Tilden and Bill Johnston.
1938 — Paul Runyan wins the PGA Championship by routing Sam Snead 8 and 7 in the final round.
1947 — Rocky Graziano scores a technical knockout with a barrage of 30 punches against Tony Zale in the sixth round to win the world middleweight boxing title. Held in Chicago Stadium, it’s the largest grossing fight in history.
1950 — Uruguay beats Brazil 2-1 to win soccer’s World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.
1967 — Kathy Whitworth wins the LPGA championship by one stroke over Shirley Englehorn. Whitworth sinks a fifty-foot uphill putt for a birdie on the 18th green at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton, Mass.
1989 — Betsy King birdies three of the first four holes of the final round to win her first U.S. Women’s Open championship by four strokes over Nancy Lopez.
1993 — Nick Faldo ties the best single round in 122 years of the British Open with a course-record 63 to give him a one-stroke lead after the second round.
1995 — Annika Sorenstam of Sweden wins the U.S. Women’s Open by one stroke over Meg Mallon, her first victory on the LPGA Tour.
2005 — In Las Vegas, Jermain Taylor beats Bernard Hopkins for the undisputed middleweight title. Hopkins, a winner of a record 20 consecutive defenses, starts slowly and the undefeated challenger builds up a big enough lead on two judges’ scorecards to take the crown.
2006 — J.R. Todd becomes the first Bblack driver to win an NHRA Top Fuel event, beating Tony Schumacher in the Mopar Mile-High Nationals.
2011 — Kyle Busch wins the Nationwide race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to become the third driver to win 100 races in NASCAR’s three national series. Busch, with 22 Cup victories and 29 Trucks wins, also ties Mark Martin for first place in career Nationwide Series victories with 49. Richard Petty and David Pearson are the other drivers with at least 100 wins.
2012 — Roger Federer surpasses Pete Sampras to set the record for the most weeks at No. 1 in the ATP rankings. After winning Wimbledon a week ago — his 75th career ATP title — Federer returns to the top for the first time since June 2010. Today marks his 287th week at No. 1, one more than Sampras.
2017 — Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-1, 6-4, to claim a record 8th Wimbledon men’s title.
2023 — Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: In a classic final, 20-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz ends Novak Đoković’s 34-match win streak at the All England Club with a 1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 victory.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1897 — Chicago’s Cap Anson became the first major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits when he singled off Baltimore’s George Blackburn.
1902 — John McGraw was named manager of the New York Giants, a post he would hold for 30 years.
1909 — Ed Summers of the Detroit Tigers allowed only seven hits and pitched all 18 innings of a 0-0 tie with the Washington Senators, the longest scoreless game in AL history.
1920 — Babe Ruth broke his own season record of 29 homers with his 30th as the New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Browns, 5-2. Ruth would finish the season with 54.
1933 — Red Lucas of the Cincinnati Reds pitched a 15-inning 1-0 win over Roy Parmelee and the New York Giants in the opener of a doubleheader.
1941 — Joe DiMaggio extended his hitting streak to 56 games with a 3-for-4 day as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 10-3.
1958 — In the nitecap of a doubleheader, Baltimore pitcher Jack Harshman hit two homers in a 6-5 win over the Chicago White Sox.
1970 — The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pirates 3-2 before 48,846 in the first game at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium.
1985 — Sparky Anderson became the first manager to lose an All-Star Game in both leagues. The National League won 6-1 for the 21st win in the last 23 games.
1996 — Colorado’s streak of scoring seven runs in a game ended at 11. The Rockies beat the Giants 5-3 and tied the 1911 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1938 New York Yankees and 1976 Cincinnati Reds with 11 7-run games.
1997 — Kevin Brown pitched his first career one-hitter to lead Florida to 5-1 win over the Dodgers. Brown, who no-hit San Francisco on June 10th, faced two batters over the minimum and allowed a lead-off single to left by Raul Mondesi in the fifth. He struck out eight and retired his final 15 batters.
1998 — Randy Johnson pitched a one-hitter to lead Seattle to a 3-0 win over Minnesota. Johnson struck out 11 and gave up a single to third baseman Brent Gates.
2006 — Chipper Jones hit a two-run homer in Atlanta’s 10-5 win at San Diego to give him an extra-base hit in 14 straight games, tying a 79-year-old major league record. Jones tied the record set in 1927 by Pittsburgh’s Paul Waner.
2006 — Mariano Rivera earned his 400th save, escaping two jams and getting six outs to preserve the New York Yankees’ 6-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Rivera joined Lee Smith, Trevor Hoffman and John Franco in the 400-save club.
2009 — Philadelphia Phillies slugger Ryan Howard became the fastest player in major league history to reach 200 career home runs, breaking the record previously held by Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner. Howard reached 200 homers in his 658th game, hitting his 23rd of the season in the sixth inning of a 4-0 win over Florida. Kiner hit No. 200 in his 706th game.
2013 — Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect eighth inning in his final All-Star appearance, Jose Bautista, J.J. Hardy and Jason Kipnis drove in runs to back a night of pulsating pitching, and the American League beat the National League 3-0.
2015 — Brock Holt became the first Boston player to hit for the cycle since 1996 and the Red Sox slugged their way out to a 9-4 victory over Atlanta.
2021 — Jake Cronenworth hit for his first career cycle, Wil Myers had a grand slam and a two-run shot and the San Diego Padres set a franchise record for runs in a 24-8 blowout of the Washington Nationals.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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The statistics are remarkable, especially when you consider his age. And they keep improving.
Since making his debut, he has won two La Liga titles, although he featured just once during Barcelona’s 2022–23 title-winning campaign. Since then, he has missed only four league games across the past two seasons. He has also lifted the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup. On the international stage, he has already won the European Championship with Spain.
He wants everything: to lead, to score, to win. But there’s a calmness to his ambition. He doesn’t just dream of being better, he works at it.
Crucially, he knows he’s not there yet. That balance between confidence and humility is what allows him to play with such freedom, as if still in the schoolyard.
It all begins at home. His parents, often discussed publicly but rarely understood, play a crucial role in keeping his feet on the ground. His father is firm, tells it as it is, and is enjoying his son’s success very publicly – perhaps too exposed at the public judgement.
His mother and grandmother offer a different kind of strength – consistent, loving, and deeply rooted in values. They are the quiet force that underpins everything.
That’s how he appears not a teenager overwhelmed, but a boy enjoying the game. It’s not down to ignorance of pressure. It’s a mindset, one that believes the best is still to come, and if it doesn’t arrive, he’ll keep chasing it.
Before the Champions League final he said: “At my age, few have played as many games for a club like Barca, and that’s what I value most. Playing at this level and for a club like Barca isn’t something that anyone can do.”
When asked about the pressure or fear of failure involved with playing at the top level, he said: “I left that fear behind on the pitch in Mataro a while ago.”
He was referring to his old pitch in the district of Rocafonda, where he played as a kid with others three, four and more years older.
His celebration is a tribute to where he comes from – a densely populated, working-class neighbourhood in Mataro, known for its multicultural community, social challenges, and strong sense of local identity. The three last numbers of the postcode is the shape of his fingers when he scores, 304.
Elijah Asante, the football coach at Hamilton High who’s never been shy about making predictions, wants it to be known that he believes freshman quarterback Thaddeus Breaux is a future first-round NFL draft pick.
He calls him “the Franchise,” and has plans to let him throw 50 passes a game.
Breaux, who is 6 feet 3 and 205 pounds, welcomes the challenge of living up to high expectations. Working out with the Yankees on their new grass field with lights earlier this week, Breaux stood out with his size. On Saturday, he’ll get to show off his arm in the Culver City passing tournament.
Last season, the Yankees went 2-9 in Asante’s first season after taking over just a few weeks before practice began. He’s ambitious, having tried to schedule Mater Dei this season but settling for a season opener against Gardena Serra on Aug. 28. Doubt him at your own peril because he twice had teams beat Mater Dei when he was head coach at Carson and helped quarterback James Boyd become City player of the year at L.A. Jordan.
The Yankees appear to have more depth and talent this season. Besides Breaux, Miles Manilay is a returning safety, Jacob Riley has shown promise as a receiver and Micah Butler is an imposing 6-3, 275-pound junior lineman.
Asante is bringing back his best one-liner, “We will shock the world.” The big question is what is Asante referring to.
Manilay, with a 4.38 grade-point average and a sister who attends Harvard, is one of the captains. He sees a much improved team but also isn’t about to let Asante off the hook.
“I don’t know what world he’s talking about,” he said when asked about “shocking the world.”
Over the past 25 years, the world has grown to love one of Nickelodeon’s most recognizable characters, Dora Márquez. Whether for her conspicuous bowl cut and pink tee, or her singing anthropomorphic backpack, Dora the Explorer has sparked joy in children for generations.
But what happens when that adventurous girl loses the items that have guided and defined her for so long?
Self-discovery is the end goal of Dora’s latest quest in the new live-action film, “Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado,” which debuted July 2 on Paramount+. The film marks the start of a new journey for a girl who has long existed in the minds of viewers as the adventurous 7-year-old protagonist of the original 2000 animated series “Dora the Explorer” — and later in the short-lived 2014 sequel, “Dora and Friends: Into the City!”
Along with her animal-loving cousin Diego (Jacob Rodriguez) and friends, Dora (Samantha Lorraine) must rediscover who she is while trekking through the treacherous Amazonian jungle in search of Sol Dorado: an ancient treasure that grants one magical wish to whoever locates it. Yet her plans go awry when she finds herself losing one of her most valuable tools.
Although most adults would not rank Dora in the same company as the gritty lead adventurers of “Indiana Jones” or “Tomb Raider,” the film features death-defying scenes that deserve a second look — thanks to the use of real fire and critter-riddled caves in the middle of the Colombian jungle.
Authenticity was key for director Alberto Belli (“The Naughty Nine”), who proposed to studio executives that Dora explore her Andean heritage, including the use of the indigenous language of Quechua, which is spoken by approximately 10 million people in South America.
“This is the first time that we hear Dora speaking Quechua, and we went through great lengths to make sure that the pronunciation was right,” says Belli, who also consulted with Incan culture experts on the Andean kinship principle of “ayllu,” along with the use of “quipu,” a recordkeeping device of knotted cords — both elements which are included in the storyline.
“We’ve seen figures like ‘Indiana Jones’ exploring other cultures, but Dora is the only mainstream [adventurer] exploring her own culture,” says Belli. “And she’s celebrating and interested in the history more than the treasure.”
(PABLO ARELLANO SPATARO/NICKELODEON/PARAMOUNT+)
Dora’s innate curiosity is part of what cultivated her popularity among young children since Nickelodeon launched the series. Who can forget the pip-squeak who broke the fourth wall to reel in preschool audiences with problem-solving questions? Even if its repetitive verbiage drove parents a little mad? (You try saying “Swiper, no swiping!” three times fast!)
But for creators Chris Gifford and Valerie Walsh Valdes, the idea of Dora, as the world has come to love, was not so straightforward. Their early brainstorm sessions, along with Eric Weiner, first sprung up concepts of a little boy bunny who would follow a map toward a final destination — tagging along with him was a red-haired girl named Nina and a pocket-sized mouse named Boots.
Nickelodeon’s executive producer Brown Johnson— creator of the network’s preschool block, Nick Jr. — pitched the idea of the main character being Latina after attending an industry conference that underscored the dearth representation of Latinos in the media. According to the 2000 U.S. census, Latino communities were the nation’s fastest growing ethnic group at the time — and 20% of the kindergarten population across eight states, including California, identified as Latino.
The call for Latino characters was so resounding at the time that it caused some advocacy organizations to launch a weeklong boycott in 1999 to protest the dearth of Latino representation — Latinos made up fewer than 2% of TV characters at that time, despite making up 11% of the population in 1999. “ So we said, okay, how do we do it?” says Gifford.
“One thing that we picked up on very early was using the language in a way to solve problems, almost as a superpower,” says Gifford. “I think that was a huge part of the success of Dora.”
Gifford calls Dora’s use of Spanish a “game changer,” and that certainly seems to be the case — in the show, magical passageways remain locked unless the viewer utters the occasional Spanish phrase or word. At the end of every successful mission, Dora belts out her victorious tune: “We did it, lo hicimos!”
Released on August 14, 2000, the first episode of “Dora the Explorer” moved forward in spite of an English-only movement bubbling up in California politics a few years prior; Proposition 227 passed in 1998 by a large margin, effectively curtailing bilingual education in the state.
(PABLO ARELLANO SPATARO/NICKELODEON/PARAMOUNT+)
“It was not the time that [someone] would think to [make Dora a bilingual character], but of course it was exactly the right time for it to happen,” says Gifford.
The release of “Dora the Explorer” could not be more timely. While political angst pushed against the use of Spanish in the classroom, the country was simultaneously experiencing a “Latin Boom,” a pop culture movement propelled by Hispanic musical acts like Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, who broke ground in the U.S. mainstream with bilingual hit singles like the famed “Livin’ la Vida Loca” and “Bailamos,” respectively. At the same time, actors like Rosie Perez, Salma Hayek and Jennifer Lopez were also making great strides for Latinas in film.
“There was this awareness [that] the Latino talent we have in this country [was] all coming to the forefront,” said Walsh Valdes. “The zeitgeist was there for us.”
But Dora’s appeal did not entirely hinge on her being a Latina character. In fact, she was designed to be ethnically ambiguous for that reason, suggested Carlos Cortés, professor emeritus in history at UC Riverside, who consulted the creative team. “Let’s let everybody be a part of this,” says Walsh Valdes on the choice to write Dora as pan-Latina.
Instead, the focus of the show remained on the missions; whether it was returning a lost baby penguin to the South Pole, or leading aliens back to their purple planet. In its first year, “Dora the Explorer” averaged 1.1 million viewers ages 2 to 5 and 2 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Co. The original show stretched on for almost two decades before closing out on Aug. 9, 2019.
“We saw such excitement from [little kids feeling] empowered by this girl who can go to a place like the city of lost toys… and little kids who can’t tie their own shoes can feel like they’re helping her,” says Gifford.
The Dora world has also expanded into a tween-coded sequel, “Dora and Friends: Into the City!” and the spin-off “Go, Diego, Go!” — the environmental protection and animal rescue show starring Dora’s cousin Diego. Last year, Dora got a reboot on Nickelodeon’s parent company Paramount+, which was a full circle move for Kathleen Herles, who voiced Dora in the original series.
Now, Herles takes on the motherly role of “Mami” in the 2024 animated series, now available to stream on Paramount+. “Talk about going on another adventure,” says Herles in a video call.
Herles still remembers panicking after her audition back in 1998. Gifford, who was in the room, asked to speak to Herles’ mother, a Peruvian immigrant with slim knowledge of the entertainment biz at the time. “Being Latina, at first I [was] like, ‘Oh my God. She’s going to think I got in trouble,’” says Herles.
The opportunity not only changed the course of Herles’ life financially, but it also opened the door for her to travel the world and reenter the realm of entertainment after a brief career in interior design. Coincidentally, at the time of our call, the 34-year-old voice actor was house hunting in Los Angeles, preparing to move from her native New York City so that she can pursue more career opportunities.
“To me that’s really a testament to [the power of] Dora… because Dora’s an explorer, and she gave me the opportunity to explore,” says Herles.
For 18-year old actress Lorraine, who stars as Dora in “Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado,” this marks her first lead role in any film. She fills big shoes; Isabela Merced, who now stars in HBO’s “The Last of Us,” was cast in the first live-action, standalone 2019 film for the franchise, “Dora and the Lost City of Gold.”
“When it comes to Latino representation, [Dora] was a trailblazer for that,” says Lorraine. “Being able to see a Latina woman in charge and taking the lead? We need more of that to this day.”
The Miami-born actor of Cuban descent, who previously starred in the 2023 Netflix movie “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” answers the audio call after having just arrived in New York City, where she entertains the possibility of a Broadway career.
Like many young adults her age, Lorraine grew up enchanted by Dora’s adventures — so much that she admittedly got the same bob haircut. “She’s my role model,” says Lorraine. “Every time we would shoot a scene, I would think to myself, ‘What would little Samantha want to watch?’”
Throughout every Dora series and film, courage is the connective tissue in her story. “Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado” reminds audiences that the true navigational force behind the pint-size girl was always within her.
And with a full rollout of fresh Dora content — including the new third season of the rebooted 2024 series “Dora,” and an hour-long special called “Dora & Diego: Rainforest Rescues” — even 25 years after the Latina explorer first appeared on screen, it’s clear that her legacy is enduring.
“She will always be that girl,” says Lorraine. “[She’s] that girl who yearns for adventure and has that curiosity spark in her, and that thirst for knowledge.”
WASHINGTON — With two conservatives in dissent, the Supreme Court on Monday turned down a property-rights claim from Los Angeles landlords who say they lost millions from unpaid rent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Without comment, the justices said they would not hear an appeal from a coalition of apartment owners who said they rent “over 4,800 units” in “luxury apartment communities” to “predominantly high-income tenants.”
They sued the city seeking $20 million in damages from tenants who did not pay their rent during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They contended the city’s strict limits on evictions during that time had the effect of taking their private property in violation of the Constitution.
In the past, the court has repeatedly turned down claims that rent control laws are unconstitutional, even though they limit how much landlords can collect in rent.
But the L.A. landlords said their claim was different because the city had effectively taken use of their property, at least for a time. They cited the 5th Amendment’s clause that says “private property [shall not] be taken for public use without just compensation.”
“In March 2020, the city of Los Angeles adopted one of the most onerous eviction moratoria in the country, stripping property owners … of their right to exclude nonpaying tenants,” they told the court in GHP Management Corporation vs. Los Angeles. “The city pressed private property into public service, foisting the cost of its coronavirus response onto housing providers.”
“By August 2021, when [they] sued the City seeking just compensation for that physical taking, back rents owed by their unremovable tenants had ballooned to over $20 million,” they wrote.
A federal judge in Los Angeles and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 3-0 decision dismissed the landlords’ suit. Those judges cited the decades of precedent that allowed regulation of property.
The court had considered the appeal since February, but only Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch voted to hear the case of GHP Management Corp. vs. City of Los Angeles.
“I would grant review of the question whether a policy barring landlords from evicting tenants for the nonpayment of rent effects a physical taking under the Taking Clause,” Thomas said. “This case meets all of our usual criteria. … The Court nevertheless denies certiorari, leaving in place confusion on a significant issue, and leaving petitioners without a chance to obtain the relief to which they are likely entitled.”
The Los Angeles landlords asked the court to decide “whether an eviction moratorium depriving property owners of the fundamental right to exclude nonpaying tenants effects a physical taking.”
In February, the city attorney’s office urged the court to turn down the appeal.
“As a once-in-a-century pandemic shuttered its businesses and schools, the city of Los Angeles employed temporary, emergency measures to protect residential renters against eviction,” they wrote. The measure protected only those who could “prove COVID-19 related economic hardship,” and it “did not excuse any rent debt that an affected tenant accrued.”
The city argued the landlords are seeking a “radical departure from precedent” in the area of property regulation.
“If a government takes property, it must pay for it,” the city attorneys said. “For more than a century, though, this court has recognized that governments do not appropriate property rights solely by virtue of regulating them.”
The city said the COVID emergency and the restriction on evictions ended in January 2023.
In reply, lawyers for the landlords said bans on evictions are becoming the “new normal.” They cited a Los Angeles County measure they said would “preclude evictions for non-paying tenants purportedly affected by the recent wildfires.”
B&Q has launched a £9.75 decoration that works as the perfect backdrop for your summer garden parties.
The simple but sweet ornament can turn any space into a romantic haven for a very affordable price.
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B&Q’s Artificial Grass Wall Panels are the perfect way to spruce up your home or garden this summerCredit: B&Q
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The ornament, which contains a number of flowers tied to a grateCredit: B&Q
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The panels cost just £9.75 each and can be ordered through B&Q’s websiteCredit: B&Q
B&Q’s Artificial Grass Wall Panels – decorated with dahlia roses and hydrangeas – are the perfect choice if you want to spice up your garden or bring some warm colours into your indoor living spaces.
And at just £9.75, they’re an absolute bargain.
Each panel measures 40x60cm and contains a number of flowers tied to a grate.
The products, sold and shipped by Garden Sanctuary, aren’t stocked in B&Q stores but you can order them online.
This comes just days after shoppers raced to B&Q stores to grab the perfect budget friendly product to elevate their gardens and add instant privacy to their outdoor space.
There’s nothing worse than sitting outside with a glass of wine and a good book, only to realise that your nosy neighbour is peeking at you over the fence.
Putting up a large fence around your garden may seem like the obvious choice to keep away prying eyes, but this can be expensive – and can sometimes lead to disagreements with neighbours.
Paul CEO of plants and perennials specialists J. Parker’s revealed that one stylish way of creating privacy in your garden is by planting ornamental grasses.
He said: “Grasses can be used easily to create internal screens or hedges that flower beautifully, move in the slightest breeze, and need little care during the summer months.
“I recommend silvergrass or pampas grass to not only conceal your garden, but to introduce interesting textures.
6 ways to get rid of slugs and snails
“Their fast growth rate makes ornamental grasses ideal for privacy hedges because new plants can rapidly fill in any gaps.”
The snap hook backings can fit many different areas and are flexible, which makes mounting easier by providing a way to install on an area with Zip Ties or Nails.
It’s also perfect to create privacy with the leaves positioned on the snap hook backing to create a full look, while the snap hook backing also acts as a second layer of privacy with a beautiful leaf design.
The B&Q item also comes with a two-year guarantee and has UV protection to stop the colour of the leaves from fading in the sun.
This makes it suitable for planting in small gardens or areas with limited space.
Garden designer Karen McClure explained that adding plants to your patio space would help it to seem bigger.
“Use ornamental feature trees,” she advised anyone struggling with limited outdoor space.
“Multi-stem specimens in particular can be kept to a controlled height in a large feature pot, and can create a lovely focal point as well as give interest at a higher level. Be bold.”
She added that the number of plant varieties should be kept to a minimum.
“Too many varieties can create a busy and chaotic feel, whereas a simple planting palette will feel harmonised, soothing, and calm,” she said.
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Shoppers have been rushing to B&Q to nab a number of summer decorations for their gardenCredit: PA
Leo Frank, the superintendent of a pencil factory in Georgia, was accused of murdering a young employee, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. His 1913 trial led to his conviction despite shoddy evidence and the manipulations of an ambitious prosecuting attorney, who shamelessly preyed on the prejudices of the jury.
After a series of failed appeals, Frank’s sentence was commuted by the governor, but he was kidnapped and lynched by a mob enraged that his death sentence wasn’t being imposed. The story garnered national attention and threw a spotlight on the fault lines of our criminal justice system.
This dark chapter in American history might not seem suitable for musical treatment. Docudrama would be the safer way to go, given the gravity of the material. But playwright Alfred Uhry and composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown had a vision of what they could uniquely bring to the retelling of Frank’s story.
Olivia Goosman, from left, Jack Roden and the national touring company of “Parade.”
(Joan Marcus)
Their 1998 musical was a critical hit but a difficult sell. More admired than beloved, the show has extended an open challenge to theater artists drawn to the sophisticated majesty of Brown’s Tony-winning score but daunted by the expansive scope of Uhry’s Tony-winning book.
Director Michael Arden has answered the call in his Tony-winning revival, which has arrived at the Ahmanson Theatre in sharp form. The production, which launched at New York City Center before transferring to Broadway, proved that a succès d’estime could also be an emotionally stirring hit.
“Parade” covers a lot of cultural, historical, and political ground. The trial, prefaced by a Civil War snapshot that sets the action in the proper context, takes up much of the first act. But the musical also tells the story of a marriage that grows in depth as external reality becomes more treacherous.
It’s a lot to sort through, but Arden, working hand in hand with scenic designer Dane Laffrey, has conceptualized the staging in a neo-Brechtian fashion that allows the historical background to be seamlessly transmitted. Sven Ortel‘s projections smoothly integrate the necessary information, allowing the focus to be on the human figures caught in the snares of American bigotry and barbarism.
Danielle Lee Greaves, left, and Talia Suskauer in the national tour of “Parade.” Suskauer plays Lucille, Leo’s wife.
(Joan Marcus)
The 2007 Donmar Warehouse revival, directed by Rob Ashford, came to the Mark Taper Forum in 2009 with the promise that it had finally figured out the musical. The production was scaled down, but the full potency of “Parade” wasn’t released. An earnest layer of “importance” clouded the audience’s emotional connection to the characters, even if the Taper was a more hospitable space for this dramatic musical than the Ahmanson.
Arden’s production, at once intimate and epic, comes through beautifully nonetheless on the larger stage. “Parade,” which delves into antisemitism, systemic bias in our judicial system and the power of a wily demagogue to stoke atavistic hatred for self-gain, has a disconcerting timeliness. But the production — momentous in its subject matter, human in its theatrical style — lets the contemporary parallels speak for themselves.
Ben Platt, who played Leo, and Micaela Diamond, who played Leo’s wife, Lucille, made this Broadway revival sing in the most personally textured terms. For the tour, these roles are taken over by Max Chernin and Talia Suskauer. Both are excellent, if less radiantly idiosyncratic. The modesty of their portrayals, however, subtly draws us in.
Chris Shyer, left, and Alison Ewing play Governor Slaton and his wife, two of the more noble figures in the show.
(Joan Marcus)
Chernin’s Leo is a cerebral, Ivy League-educated New Yorker lost in the minutiae of his factory responsibilities. A numbers man more than a people person, he’s a fish out of water in Atlanta, as he spells out in the song “How Can I Call This Home?” Platt played up the comedy of the quintessential Jewish outsider in a land of Confederate memorials and drawling manners. Chernin, more reserved in his manner, seethes with futile terror.
The withholding nature of Chernin’s Leo poses some theatrical risks but goes a long way toward explaining how the character’s otherness could be turned against him in such a malignant way. His Leo makes little effort to fit in, and he’s resented all the more for his lofty detachment.
It takes some time for Suskauer’s Lucille to come into her own, both as a wife and a theatrical character. It isn’t until the second half that, confronting the imminent death of her husband, she asserts herself and rises in stature in both Leo’s eyes and audience’s. But a glimmer of this potential comes out in the first act when Lucille sings with plaintive conviction “You Don’t Know This Man,” one of the standout numbers in a score distinguished less by individual tunes than by the ingenious deployment of an array of musical styles (from military beats to folk ballads and from hymns to jazz) to tell the story from different points of view.
Max Chernin’s Leo is a cerebral, Ivy League-educated New Yorker lost in the minutiae of his factory responsibilities.
(Joan Marcus)
“This Is Not Over Yet” raises hope that Leo and Lucille will find a way to overcome the injustice that has engulfed them. History can’t be revised, but where there’s a song there’s always a chance in the theater. Reality, however, painfully darkens in the poignant duet “All the Wasted Time,” which Lucille and Leo sing from his prison cell — a seized moment of marital bliss from a husband and wife who, as the last hour approaches, have finally become equal partners.
Ramone Nelson, who plays Jim Conley, a Black worker at the factory who is suborned to testify against Leo, delivers the rousing “Blues: Feel The Rain Fall,” a chain gang number that electrifies the house despite the defiance of a man who, having known little justice, has no interest in defending it. Conley has been sought out by Governor Slaton (a gently authoritative Chris Shyer), who has reopened the investigation at Lucille’s urging only to uncover contradictions and inconsistencies in the case. He’s one of the more noble figures, however reluctant, married to a woman (a vivid Alison Ewing) who won’t let him betray his integrity, even if it’s too little, too late.
Hugh Dorsey (Andrew Samonsky), the prosecuting attorney preoccupied with his future, has no regrets after railroading Leo in a politicized trial that will cost him his life. Dorsey is one of the chief villains of the musical, but Samonsky resists melodrama to find a credible psychological throughline for a man who has staked his career on the ends justifying the means.
Lucille (Talia Suskauer, left) and Leo (Max Chernin) sing a poignant duet from his prison cell.
(Joan Marcus)
Britt Craig (Michael Tacconi), a down-on-his-luck reporter who takes delight in demonizing Leo in the press, dances on his desk when he’s landed another slanderous scoop. But even he’s more pathetic than hateful. One sign of the production’s Brechtian nature is the way the structural forces at work in society are revealed to be more culpable than any individual character. The press, like the government and the judiciary, is part of a system that’s poisoned from within.
The harking back to the Civil War isn’t in vain. “Parade” understands that America’s original sin — slavery and the economic apparatus that sanctioned the dehumanization of groups deemed as “other” — can’t be divorced from Leo’s story.
The musical never loses sight of poor Mary Phagan (Olivia Goosman), a flighty underage girl who didn’t deserve to be savagely killed at work. It’s exceedingly unlikely that Leo had anything to do with her murder, but the show doesn’t efface her tragedy, even as it reckons with the gravity of Leo’s.
When Chernin’s Leo raises his voice in Jewish prayer before he is hanged, the memory of a man whose life was wantonly destroyed is momentarily restored. His lynching can’t be undone, but the dignity of his name can be redeemed and our collective sins can be called to account in a gripping musical that hasn’t so much been revived as reborn.
‘Parade’
Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 North Grand Ave., L.A.
When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Ends July 12
When you watch “The Matrix” at Cosm, you’re essentially seeing a film within a film. A shot inside an apartment becomes a glimpse into an entire complex. A fight scene on a rooftop is now one small part of a giant cityscape. Look to the left, and a once off-screen helicopter is suddenly entirely visible.
Cosm has won attention and a fan base for its focus on sports programming. A domed, 87-foot-diameter wraparound screen surrounds audiences at the Inglewood venue, creating an illusion of in-the-flesh presence. Can’t make it to that NBA Finals or World Series game? Cosm wants to be your fallback plan, combining front-row-like seats with unexpected views.
And now, Cosm aims to redefine the moviegoing experience. A revival of “The Matrix” opens Thursday in what the company calls “shared reality,” a marketing term that ultimately means newly created CGI animation towers, over, under and around the original 1999 film. Cosm has in the past shown largely short-form original programming, and “The Matrix” marks its first foray into feature-length films.
Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves in “The Matrix,” which is opening at Cosm with newly created CGI that surrounds the original frame.
(Cosm )
The hope is to not only see the film with fresh eyes but to create a sensation of being in the same environment as Keanu Reeves’ Neo, Carrie-Anne Moss’ Trinity and Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus. “The Matrix” is an ideal film for this experiment, its anti-AI message decidedly topical while its themes grapple with dual visions of reality.
There’s been a host of so-called immersive ambitions to alter the moviegoing experience over the decades, be it the on-and-off flirtation with interactive cinema, a brief trend in the ’90s that recently lived again on Netflix (see “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”), to more recent 4-DX theaters with movement-enabled seats (see the light, water and wind effects of “Twisters”). Cosm, like the bigger, more live music-focused Sphere in Las Vegas, seems to have a different pitch: an all-encompassing screen that can provide previously unexplored vantage points, even at times creating a theme park ride-like sense of movement.
Cosm’s interpretation of “The Matrix,” a collaboration with experiential creative agency Little Cinema, envelopes audiences from its opening action sequence when a nighttime view of a city skyline seemingly places us on a rooftop. Elsewhere, Neo’s office building becomes a maze of cubicles. The film’s centerpiece red pill versus blue pill moment centers the frame among oversized, glowing capsules. When Neo awakens, we are lost amid mountainous, industrial pods.
The challenge: To not make it feel like a gimmick, yet to also know when to pull back and let the film stand for itself. “The No. 1 core principle was to enhance and don’t overshadow,” says Jay Rinsky, founder of Little Cinema. “Metaphorically for us, the movie itself is the lead singer and we are the backing band. Let the movie be the star. Let it sing. And basically follow the key beats — follow the sound design, the emotional moments and enhance the action.”
The red versus blue pill scene in “The Matrix” is framed with newly created animation.
(Cosm)
The accompanying images get more aggressive as the film races toward its climax. The animations are most effective when they’re expanding the screen rather than echoing the action — showing us the viewpoint of a careening helicopter for instance, rather than repeating or mimicking a beat of the film. Having seen “The Matrix” before, I know the story and its cadence, and was perhaps more willing to turn my attention away from the film, which is placed in the center of the screen and often set within a picture frame.
In turn, I was dazzled by the scenes shot inside Morpheus’ hovercraft the Nebuchadnezzar, in which the vessel’s surroundings — its buzzing, electrical core and its assortment of monitors — are fleshed out around the screen. Film purists, I wonder, may balk at seeing images beyond the director’s vision — Rinsky says he hasn’t been in touch with directors Lana or Lilly Wachowski — but I found it could help build a world, especially for revival cinema on a second or third viewing.
A scene of “The Matrix” starring Carrie-Anne Moss is surrounded with an all-surrounding view of a skyline.
(Cosm)
Expectedly, the film’s final act becomes a bevy of secondary action. Bullets that fly off the frame of the film now find a landing spot, as building walls shatter and crumble around us. Cosm’s screen is crisp and encompassing enough that it can mimic movement or flight, and thankfully this is used sparingly, twisting only when the film’s characters take to the skies.
When Cosm opened last summer Chief Executive Jeb Terry stressed the venue wasn’t in the business of showing films, wanting to focus on sports or original programming. “We’re not a first-run theater,” said Terry. “We’re leaning into the experiential side.” Seemingly, “The Matrix” fits this plan, as the accompanying CGI images have been in the works since about August 2024, says Rinsky, with the bulk of the heavy lifting beginning in January.
Rinsky acknowledges “The Matrix” fits the format particularly well because it “plays in a realm of fantasy that allows you to change environments around,” but is quick to add that Cosm and Little Cinema hope to expand the program of enhancing Hollywood products. “It is a bit of a mission and a philosophy,” he says. “Every film in every genre has its own unique propositions and can be adopted and suited well. We’re excited about horror, and we’re excited about comedy.” Future projects have not yet been announced.
Cosm also has a venue in Dallas, with spots in Atlanta and Detroit on the way. Rinsky’s hope, of course, is that Cosm someday has enough market penetration that filmmakers can create the format from the ground up.
“I’m really bullish about this being the new cinema,” Rinsky says. “I think in five to 10 years, there will be 100 of these around. Once it hits scale, then big studios will have releases created specifically for this format.”
It’s an optimistic view of the future that’s arriving at a time of disruption in Hollywood, from shake-ups due to the streaming market to artificial intelligence. For Cosm, it’s the early days, but it’s a vision that needs neither a red nor blue pill. Its outlook is much more rose-colored.
Gun rights advocates say these AR-15s are owned by millions of Americans, and they argue the 2nd Amendment protects weapons that are “in common use by law-abiding citizens.”
But they fell one vote short of winning a hearing on the question before the Supreme Court.
Three conservatives — Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch — voted to hear the 2nd Amendment challenge.
But Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh refused for now to cast the key fourth vote. He called the lower-court ruling upholding Maryland’s ban “questionable,” but agreed with the majority in turning down the appeal for now.
“In my view, this court should and presumably will address the AR–15 issue soon, in the next Term or two,” Kavanaugh said.
The closely watched appeal had been pending since December, and the outcome suggests that the majority, including Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., is not ready to strike down state laws that restrict semiautomatic guns.
Monday’s no-comment order lets stand laws in Maryland and Rhode Island that forbid the sale or possession of “assault weapons” and large-capacity magazines.
California adopted the nation’s first ban on assault weapons in 1989. Since then, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Washington have enacted similar laws, all of which would have been struck down if Maryland’s law were ruled unconstitutional.
Lawmakers in California and nine other Democratic-led states say these rapid-fire weapons are especially dangerous and not needed for self-defense.
Maryland said its ban applies to “certain highly dangerous, military-style assault weapons of the sort used in a series of highly publicized mass shootings.”
The case tested the reach of the 2nd Amendment and its “right to keep and bear arms.”
For more than a decade, the justices have turned away gun-rights appeals that challenged local or state bans on assault weapons.
In 2008, the court ruled for the first time that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right to self-defense, but its constitutional rulings since then have been modest in their impact.
The justices struck down city ordinances in Washington and Chicago that prohibited private possession of handguns, and they ruled states may not deny law-abiding citizens a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
In opinion polls, most Americans are opposed to a ban on handgun possession but they support a ban on semiautomatic assault rifles.
Maryland passed its ban on “assault weapons” after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, where 20 children and six school employees were killed.
The law was upheld last year in an opinion written by a prominent conservative judge.
Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee who was a finalist for a Supreme Court nomination in 2005, said the AR-15, AK-47 and similar rapid-fire rifles are not protected by the 2nd Amendment.
“They are military-style weapons designed for sustained combat operations that are ill-suited and disproportionate to the need for self-defense,” he wrote in a 9-5 decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. “We decline to wield the Constitution to declare that military-style armaments which have become primary instruments of mass killing and terrorist attacks in the United States are beyond the reach of our nation’s democratic processes.”
The dissenters said the 2nd Amendment protects the right to the “arms” that are in common use.
“Today, the AR-15 and its variants are one of the most popular and widely owned firearms in the Nation,” wrote Judge Julius Richardson, a Trump appointee.
“As of 2021, there are at least 28 million AR-style semiautomatic rifles in circulation. For context, this means that there are more AR-style rifles in the civilian market than there are Ford F-Series pickup trucks on the road — the most popular truck in America.”
Three years ago, the court said in an opinion by Thomas that the 2nd Amendment should be interpreted based on the nation’s history and tradition of gun regulations.
However, the two sides in the Maryland case differed on what to glean from that history.
Gun-rights advocates said there was no early history of laws banning common firearms.
But some judges and state lawyers said the history shows that when new dangers arose — including stored gunpowder, dynamite and machine guns — new restrictions were written into law. If so, that would support new laws adopted in response to the danger posed by rapid-fire weapons.
Most people buy tokens during a presale and just wait, hoping the price will go up later. But what if you didn’t have to wait? What if your tokens could start working for you before the project even launches? Bitcoin Hyper (Hyper) is making this possible.
While the presale is still live, buyers are already staking over 18 million tokens, earning massive passive rewards of more than 2,500% APY at this current stage.
What Is Bitcoin Hyper and How Does It Work?
Bitcoin Hyper is a Layer 2 built on top of Bitcoin. Its mission is simple: fix Bitcoin’s biggest limitations. Bitcoin is known for being secure but slow, expensive. It is also hard to build on. It doesn’t support smart contracts natively, which means it has been left out of the DeFi, NFT, and gaming revolutions.
Bitcoin Hyper changes that. It runs its own high-speed network that handles transactions instantly and cheaply. Smart contracts are made possible through the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), which is plugged directly into the Bitcoin Hyper chain.
The Canonical Bridge allows users to deposit BTC and interact with wrapped BTC inside the Hyper ecosystem, without losing Bitcoin’s core security.
So you get the best of both worlds: Bitcoin’s security and trust, combined with the speed and flexibility of Solana.
How $HYPE Tokens Power the Ecosystem
The $HYPE token is the lifeblood of the Bitcoin Hyper network. It is used to pay gas fees, power transactions, and access DeFi and dApp services. But more than that, it’s also a reward token.
If you stake $HYPE during the presale, you can start earning rewards immediately. The staking feature is built right into the presale dashboard, and it’s extremely easy to use. Simply choose the “Buy and Stake” option during purchase, and your tokens begin generating returns instantly.
Right now, the early staking APY is around 2,500%. The reward cannot be claimed until after the Token Generation Event (TGE), but the value accumulates daily, giving early participants a significant edge.
The earlier you stake, the higher your total rewards. Each stage of the presale comes with a slightly higher token price and potentially lower staking APY. That’s why many people are moving fast to lock in this early passive income before the next price hike.
Bitcoin Hyper Roadmap and Why It Matters
Bitcoin Hyper’s roadmap is carefully planned to deliver utility step by step. It started with foundation work like branding, documentation, and early community growth. The current stage focuses on the presale, staking system, and strategic audits of the project’s security.
The next phase will bring the actual mainnet launch. That’s when the Canonical Bridge goes live, allowing BTC to be moved into the Hyper network. Smart contracts will start rolling out, and the Solana VM will go into full use. After that, we’ll see an expansion of the ecosystem—more dApps, tools for developers, and governance through a DAO.
By early 2026, the goal is complete decentralization, giving the community control over upgrades, rewards, and network decisions.
How the Tokens Are Allocated
Bitcoin Hyper has a total supply of 21 billion $HYPE tokens. The distribution is designed for long-term growth and fairness. About 30% goes to development, 25% to marketing, 10% for listings, and another 30% is held in the project treasury.
Only 5% is set aside for staking and rewards during the presale, making the early APY even more attractive.
There are no private presales or insider deals. Everyone joins under the same terms. This helps keep the launch fair and decentralized from the start.
Listing Plans and How to Join the Presale
Once the presale ends, $HYPE will list on decentralized exchanges and major centralized platforms. The listing price is already set at $0.012975, slightly above the current presale price of $0.011625. That means participants earn staking rewards, but they also get a clear price advantage once trading begins.
If you want to join the presale, here’s how to do it:
First, load up your wallet (like MetaMask or Best Wallet) with crypto: ETH, BNB, or USDT. Then go to the official Bitcoin Hyper site and connect your wallet. Choose how many tokens you want to buy.
You can also select the “Buy and Stake” option to start earning rewards immediately. Even credit card payments are supported through wallet integrations.
Once you buy and stake, just sit back and watch your rewards grow. You’ll be able to claim your tokens and rewards at the Token Generation Event later in 2025.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and the market can be unpredictable. Always perform thorough research before making any cryptocurrency-related decisions.
Chad Smith remembers the night in 2003 when the Red Hot Chili Peppers played for an audience of 80,000 or so amid the rolling hills of the Irish countryside.
After a somewhat fallow period in the mid-’90s, the veteran Los Angeles alt-rock band resurged with 1999’s eight-times-platinum “Californication” and its 2002 follow-up, “By the Way,” which spawned the chart-topping single “Can’t Stop.” To mark the moment, the Chili Peppers brought a crew to document their performance at Slane Castle, where they headlined a full day of music that also included sets by Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age, for an eventual concert movie.
“Everything’s filmed now, but back then it was a big shoot,” Smith, the band’s drummer, recently recalled. “You can get a little self-conscious. At the beginning, I f— something up — nothing nobody would know, but we would know — and Flea kind of looked at me,” he said of the Chili Peppers’ bassist. “We gave each other this ‘Oh s—’ look. We laughed it off, and I don’t think I thought about it after that because the crowd was so engaged. The energy was incredible.”
Twenty-two years later, the Chili Peppers are bringing that 2003 gig to screens again — only this time they’re string puppets.
“Can’t Stop” is director David Fincher’s re-creation of the band’s rendition of that tune at Slane Castle. Part of the just-released fourth season of the Emmy-winning Netflix anthology series “Love, Death + Robots,” the animated short film depicts the Chili Peppers — Smith, Flea, singer Anthony Kiedis and guitarist John Frusciante — as dangling marionettes onstage before a veritable sea of the same. As the band rides the song’s slinky punk-funk groove, we see Flea bust out some of his signature moves and Kiedis swipe a fan’s cellphone for a selfie; at one point, a group of women in the crowd even flash their breasts at the frontman.
The puppets aren’t real — the entire six-minute episode was computer-generated. But the way they move looks astoundingly lifelike, not least when one fan’s lighter accidentally sets another fan’s wires on fire.
So why did Fincher, the A-list filmmaker behind “Fight Club” and “The Social Network,” put his considerable resources to work to make “Can’t Stop”?
“A perfectly reasonable inquiry,” the director, who executive produces “Love, Death + Robots,” said with a laugh. “First and foremost, I’ll say I’ve always wanted a Flea bobblehead — it started with that. But really, you know, sometimes there’s just stuff you want to see.”
Why did David Fincher turn the Chili Peppers into puppets? “First and foremost, I’ll say I’ve always wanted a Flea bobblehead — it started with that. But really, you know, sometimes there’s just stuff you want to see.”
(Netflix)
Fincher, 62, grew up loving Gerry Anderson’s “Thunderbirds” series featuring his so-called Supermarionation style of puppetry enhanced by electronics. But the Chili Peppers project also represents a return to Fincher’s roots in music video: Before he made his feature debut with 1992’s “Alien 3,” he directed era-defining clips including Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up,” Madonna’s “Express Yourself” and “Vogue” and George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90.” (Fincher’s last big music video gig was Justin Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie” in 2013.) In addition to “Thunderbirds,” he wanted “Can’t Stop” to evoke the ’80s work of early MTV auteurs like Wayne Isham and Russell Mulcahy — “that throw 24 cameras at Duran Duran aesthetic,” as he put it.
Fincher said he knew his puppet concept would require “a band you can identify just from their movement,” which seems like a fair way to describe the Chili Peppers. He recalled first encountering the band around 1983 — “I think it was with Martha Davis at the Palladium?” he said — and was struck by a sense of mischief that reminded him of the “elfin villains” from the old Rankin/Bass TV specials.
“I feel like Finch got the spirit of me,” said Flea, 62, who’s known the director socially for years. The bassist remembered discussing “Can’t Stop” with Fincher at a mutual friend’s house before they shot it: “I was talking about how I still jump around onstage and my body still works really good. But I used to dive and do a somersault while I was playing bass — like dive onto my head. And now I’m scared to do it.” He laughed. “Some old man thing had happened where I’m scared to dive onto my face now. Finch went, ‘Well, Puppet Flea can do it.’”
Sketches of Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and bassist Flea as puppets in Vol. 4 of Netflix’s “Love, Death + Robots.”(Netflix)
After doing a day of motion capture with the band at a studio in the Valley, Fincher and a crew of animators from Culver City’s Blur Studio spent about 13 months working on “Can’t Stop.” Fincher said the hard part was giving the marionettes a feeling of suspension.
“With the mo cap, you’re capturing the action of a character who has self-determination,” he said, referring to a human Chili Pepper, “then you’re applying that to an object that has no self-determination,” meaning a puppet controlled by an unseen handler. “It’s so much trickier than it looks. But that was kind of the fun, you know? I mean, not for me,” he added with a laugh.
Asked if the production involved any use of AI, Fincher said it didn’t. “It’s Blur — it’s a point of pride for them,” he said. But he also shrugged off the idea that that question has become a kind of purity test for filmmakers.
A digital rendering of the Chili Peppers as puppets.
(Netflix)
“For the next couple of months, maybe it’ll be an interesting sort of gotcha,” he said. “But I can’t imagine 10 years from now that people will have the same [view]. Nonlinear editing changed the world for about six weeks, and then we all took it for granted.
“I don’t look at it as necessarily cheating at this point,” he continued. “I think there are a lot of things that AI can do — matte edges and roto work and that kind of stuff. I don’t think that’s going to fundamentally ruin what is intimate and personal about filmmaking, which is that we’re playing dress-up and hoping not to be caught out.”
As he reportedly works on an English-language version of “Squid Game” and a sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” did making “Can’t Stop” lead Fincher to ponder the state of the music video now that MTV is no longer in the business of showcasing the form?
“Well, the audience that MTV aggregated — in retrospect, that was time and a place,” he said. “Remember, the Beatles were making music videos — they just called it ‘Help!’ There was no invention at all on MTV’s part.
“What I do miss about that — and I don’t think we’ll ever see it again — was that I was 22 years old and I would sketch on a napkin: This is kind of the idea of what we want to do. And four days later, $125,000 would be sent to the company that you were working with and you’d go off and make a video. You’d shoot the thing in a week, and then it would be on the air three weeks after that.
“You make a television commercial now and there’s quite literally 19 people in folding chairs, all with their own 100-inch monitor in the back. The world has changed.” He laughed.
“I started my professional career asking for forgiveness rather than permission, and it’s been very difficult to go the other direction.”
A NOUGHTIES boyband star has turned to a very racy job after their music comeback failed to take off.
Two decades ago they were hitting the UK Top Ten with hits like Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Hip to Hip.
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The boyband star on the red carpet in the noughtiesCredit: Alamy
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Do you remember this boyband?Credit: Alamy
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He is now a personal trainer and photographerCredit: Instagram/noraabuckingham
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Kevin McDaid is offering naked gym training sessions
They had a string of top ten hits in 2004 before disbanding.
The band reunited as a four piece last year to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
They played at Mighty Hoopla in London and teased new music.
However just months later they have split again, and Kevin McDaid, who once was engaged to Westlife’s Mark Feehily, is now working as a personal trainer – with a very niche offering.
He is offering fans hour-long sessions in the buff at a private London gym for £250.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Kevin, who is also a photographer, said alongside a naked photo of him lifting weights: “Who’s booking in for your naked PT session this week?”
The boyband comprised of five members with Kevin, Mark Harle, Leon Pisani, Antony Brant and Aaron Buckingham.
Last year two members reunited and stripped down to speedos to enjoy a sun soaked holiday together.
Kevin and Aaron beamed for holiday pictures shared to Instagram, as they showed their friendship was still going strong.
Aaron shared a series of pictures of the pair including some of the lads topless enjoying the sunshine.
Nepo baby boyband made up of four brothers go viral on Instagram – but can you guess who their famous dad is
In one picture Aaron struck a pensive pose, staring into the distance in just a pair of board shorts.
Former bandmate Leon is also still close with the pair, who despite not being on the holiday commented on the picture adding “My boys”.
Post band, V have gone on to very different careers after leaving the music industry.
Former bandmate Mark moved into the TV and film industry and has worked as an art assistant on TV series including Ghost Loop.
Leon has traded music for mortgages and is now a mortgage company owner and living in West Wales.
Aaron has stayed close to his music roots in becoming a songwriter for Spotify.
Despite the band splitting in 2005, they did reform for fans in 2023 without Harle and instead making up a four piece.
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Kevin dated Westlife star Mark Feehily, pictured here in 2009, and they were once engagedCredit: Getty
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The group have remained friends since their time in the boyband in the early noughtiesCredit: Instagram/noraabuckingham
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Aaron Buckingham is now a songwriter for SpotifyCredit: Instagram/noraabuckingham
A chemical spill in the city of Jundiaí has turned a lake bright blue, killing fish and dyeing local wildlife. Authorities are now investigating the environmental impact as the dyed water flows toward the Jundiaí River, whose water is used by nearby cities and companies.
They said in a joint statement: “After much thoughtful consideration, Gabby and Casey have decided to go their separate ways romantically.
“This decision was mutual, and they both remain on good terms as friends with a shared respect for each other.”
“Gabby is grateful for the memories they’ve created together and wishes Casey nothing but the best as they both move forward on their individual journeys.
Love Island star Gabby reveals she is FINALLY Casey’s girlfriend two months after winning show
A source said: “Both have confided in quite a few friends about this and so it’s not really a secret in their circles, but they’ve made the decision to part ways this week.”
They added: “They had a really good relationship and enjoyed each others’ time but the reality is that they are focusing on different things and they both have realised that.
“Neither of them have parted ways badly but they just knew it wasn’t going to work anymore.”
BBC
Erica Echenberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg via Getty Images
