Mariners left-hander Gabe Speier (0-2) walked Zach Neto intentionally to open the bottom of the 11th, and both runners advanced on Oswald Peraza’s sacrifice bunt.
Schanuel, who grounded into a double play with runners on first and third to end the eighth, lofted a fly ball to left fielder Randy Arozarena, whose throw home was off line.
Shaun Anderson (1-0) struck out Cal Raleigh with the bases loaded to end the top of the 11th. Anderson gave up a run in two innings.
Mike Trout, who doubled and scored in the third, exited in the eighth after being hit on the left hand by Casey Legumina’s 94-mph fastball. X-rays were negative, and Trout is listed as day-to-day.
The teams exchanged runs in the 10th, Seattle scoring on Randy Arozarena’s single and the Angels (5-5) on Logan O’Hoppe’s sacrifice fly.
The Angels were one out away from victory in the top of the ninth when Raleigh blooped a two-out double and Julio Rodríguez poked Sam Bachman’s 91-mph slider to left for a single and a 6-6 tie. Mariners closer Andres Munoz threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.
Cole Young hit a three-run homer to give the Mariners (4-6) a 5-4 lead in the fifth, but Jo Adell and Frazier drove in runs with singles in the home half.
Seattle’s Leo Rivas hit a two-run single in the second.
Jorge Soler hit RBI singles in the first and third before the Angels took a 4-2 lead in the fourth when Josh Lowe scored on Rivas’ fielding error at third and Schanuel hit a two-out RBI single.
Up next for Angels: José Soriano (2-0, 0.00 ERA) will oppose Atlanta’s Chris Sale (2-0, 0.75 ERA) at home Monday to kick off a three-game set.
With a 30-point lead by the end of the third quarter, much of the end of Sunday’s NCAA championship victory was a celebration of what UCLA had built en route to its 79-51 victory over South Carolina.
By the final buzzer, it was a full-blown party.
It was one of the largest margins of victory in Final Four history.
UCLA won an AIAW title in 1978 against Maryland before women’s basketball was an NCAA sport.
UCLA’s Kiki Rice, right, drives around South Carolina’s Raven Johnson during the first half of the NCAA national title game on Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
Last season, UCLA’s 34-point loss to Connecticut in the semifinal became the worst loss in tournament history.
This season, there was no doubt UCLA was ready for the moment and it ensured it could reverse the history books.
It was perhaps the most UCLA performance the Bruins could have had. In their final collegiate games, Lauren Betts (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Gabriela Jaquez (21 points, 10 rebounds) earned double-doubles and all five starters scored in double digits. They dominated the boards (49-36), played stellar defense and most important, didn’t turn the ball over often.
After the Bruins held Texas to a season-low 44 points in Friday’s semifinal, they held the Gamecocks to 51, also their lowest total all season.
UCLA’s Lauren Betts shoots over South Carolina’s Maryam Dauda in the first half of the NCAA national championship game Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
The Bruins jumped out early while South Carolina struggled with the Bruins’ size and went three for 18 from the floor. Kiki Rice (10 points, six rebounds, five assists) hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the opening quarter with the Bruins holding on to a 21-10 lead.
Near the end of the first, Betts came back to the bench coughing and sputtering, seemingly unable to clear her throat. At the start of the second quarter, she was at the end of the UCLA bench and used an inhaler before returning to the game.
UCLA’s suffocating defense held the Gamecocks to 25.7% shooting in the first half. Unlike Friday’s win over Texas, the Bruins’ offense recovered from a one-for-10 stretch far earlier.
South Carolina made a mid-second quarter adjustment into a zone defense and a half-court press that forced one 10-second violation and another turnover that led to a fast-break layup and and free throw from Ta’Niya Latson.
UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez celebrates after scoring while being fouled during the first quarter Sunday against South Carolina.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
UCLA led 36-23 at the half.
One of the Gamecocks’ only interior presences, center Madina Okot, had three fouls early in the third quarter. With her off the floor, UCLA extended its lead to 18 off a three-pointer from Charlisse Leger-Walker.
Midway through the quarter, a sequence of a Betts layup over the South Carolina defense, a Betts block of a Latson shot and a Jaquez fast-break layup gave the Bruins a resounding 22-point lead.
The Bruins outscored the Gamecocks 25-9 during the third quarter to earn a 61-32 lead off a 13-0 run. It was the largest lead ever for a team going into the fourth quarter of an NCAA championship game.
South Carolina shot a season-worst 18 for 62 from the floor and two for 15 from three-point range.
UCLA players, including Kiki Rice, left, and Gabriela Jaquez celebrate after winning the NCAA women’s basketball national championship on Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
The Bruins held Latson to four points and Raven Johnson to three on one-for-seven shooting.
South Carolina had taken down then-undefeated UConn in the semifinal on Friday.
UCLA will need to rebuild with few returners, but now that her players have won a national title, coach Cori Close should have her pick of the transfer portal.
Now, Close and the Bruins have championship pedigree.
Highlights from UCLA’s win over South Carolina in the NCAA women’s basketball national championship game.
Deontay Wilder has raised the possibility of a fight with Anthony Joshua, telling the Briton “let’s do it” following the American’s points victory over Derek Chisora.
Two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua was ringside at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday to support his friend Chisora for what is expected to have been the beaten fighter’s final professional bout.
Joshua has largely remained out of the spotlight since he was a passenger in a car crash that killed two of his friends in Nigeria on 29 December.
The 36-year-old sustained minor injuries in the crash that killed Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele.
He last fought on 19 December, when he stopped YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in the sixth round.
After that victory, which improved his record to 29 wins and four defeats, Joshua said he was ready to face long-term rival Tyson Fury next.
Fury ended his latest spell of retirement in January when he announced he would be returning to fight Arslanbek Makhmudov in the UK on 11 April.
On Saturday, Wilder, 40, walked past Joshua, fist-bumped him and said “let’s do it”, before he could be heard saying “He’s scared” as he walked away.
Later, former world champion Wilder addressed the exchange, saying: “It wasn’t a few words, I dapped it up with him and I said: ‘Now let’s get it on.’
“I’m ready for whoever, long as these guys are in the heavyweight division, I am here.
“You can call me Mr Clean, because I want to clean up the whole division. The division is nothing without Deontay Wilder.”
Satisfied is perhaps the best word to describe how Norco High pitcher Coral Williams felt after tossing a three-hit shutout in the Gold Bracket championship game of the Michelle Carew Softball Classic.
Williams recorded five strikeouts, Angelina Gonzales hit a pair of home runs and the Cougars blanked Fullerton 7-0 to capture their sixth tournament title Saturday night at Peralta Park in Anaheim.
The finals showdown between teams ranked second and third in CalHiSports.com’s top 20 rankings was decided early. Kendra Nelson walked to begin the game, then Gonzales lined an inside pitch deep over the fence in left field to make it 2-0. Isabella Ray hit a solo shot to left in the fourth and in the fifth Gonzales unloaded on another homer to left to give Williams a four-run cushion that was more than she needed.
“It was the same pitch both times — I think they were trying to surprise me on the second one,” said Gonzales, who had three homers in five games. “If I didn’t get it done I knew the next player would do the job. We have each other’s backs.”
Williams, the CIF Southern Section Division 1 Player of the Year last spring, was named the most valuable pitcher of the tournament after giving up only one unearned run in 24 innings. She threw a four-hitter with nine strikeouts in Wednesday’s victory over Millikan and tossed a six-hitter with 10 strikeouts in a 2-1, 10-inning triumph over Anaheim Canyon on Friday.
“I felt confident in my preparation for this game and told myself to stay loose and don’t overthink,” Williams said. “I pitched around the zone a lot so they couldn’t do damage.”
The No. 3 Cougars (14-2) have allowed only two earned runs, and six total, while shutting out 13 opponents this season.
“I love playing behind Coral,” said Gonzales, the Cougars’ left fielder. “She makes my job easier.”
Utah Valley-bound Hayley Brock was a force at the plate for Fullerton (16-2) and singled her first time up against Williams. She was chosen most valuable player of the tournament after going 11 for 18 with four home runs, two doubles and 14 RBIs.
“It’s a great feeling to be named MVP, it just sucks coming up one win short,” said Brock, who was robbed of a second hit on a diving play at second base in the fourth inning. “That pitcher is so good. You want to attack her earlier in the count. You don’t want to get to two strikes with her.”
Norco’s Angelina Gonzales celebrates after hitting the first of two home runs against Fullerton in the Michelle Carew Softball Classic Gold Bracket championship at Peralta Park in Anaheim on April 4, 2026.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Williams admitted she was wary of Brock’s prowess at the plate.
“I just had to be smart with my pitches and trust my defense,” she said. “We all need to be loose tonight and not be as tense and uptight.”
Norco advanced to the finals by blanking Orange Lutheran 2-0. Peyton May scattered five hits over six innings, striking out eight batters. Sadie Burroughs belted a solo homer in the second and Savannah Gonzalez added an RBI double to center in the fifth as the Cougars prevailed in a rematch of their 2-1 victory in the Norco Showcase finale in Chino Hills in February.
Orange Lutheran’s Rylee Silva, who had 135 strikeouts as a freshman last spring, struck out five Cougars. She and the No. 7 Lancers (10-5), who edged Norco 1-0 in the semifinals last year before falling to Rosary Academy in the final, then lost to Ganesha 10-2 in Saturday’s third-place game.
Fullerton blasted five homers off of Ganesha ace Ava Phillips in its 9-4 semifinal triumph. Brock had a pair of two-run shots, Malaya Majam-Finch had a three-run home run and a solo and Andrea Montes added a solo homer as Fullerton won its ninth straight, a streak that began March 7 with a 3-2 upset over Norco at the Dave Kops Tournament of Champions in Arizona. Katelynn Mathews threw a seven-hitter with a strikeout and improved to 11-0.
Phillips allowed only four hits and struck out seven in Ganesha’s 3-2 upset of Loomis Del Oro in the first round Wednesday, then the junior transfer from Rosary outdueled Marina ace Mia Valbuena in a 4-1 win for the Giants (10-3) on Friday.
Los Alamitos (12-8) shared fifth place in the Gold Bracket with Chula Vista Mater Dei, the 2025 SoCal Division I regional champion. After throwing back-to-back no-hitters versus Rio Mesa and Los Altos on Wednesday to lift the Vikings into the top bracket, Valbuena was not in the circle in the seventh-place game against Anaheim Canyon, but her twin sister Avi hit an RBI double to tie it 2-2 in the top of the seventh.
The Comanches (12-8) prevailed 4-3 on a single by Emma Lindauer that scored Bella Alcala for the winning run in the bottom of the eighth.
Santa Maria St. Joseph took an early 3-0 lead and hung on to defeat Los Altos 4-2 for the Silver Bracket title. Jasmine Campos and Aaliyah Zamano had RBI hits for the Conquerors, who fell to 14-8.
Brooke Lebsock had a grand slam and Janai Stover added a two-run homer as Riverside King (14-4) won the Bronze Bracket with an 11-0 victory over Modesto Central Catholic.
Lauryn Kim homered and Kayla Cisneros, Addy Everett and Lizzie Hobbs each had two hits in Millikan’s 7-6 triumph over San Diego Cathedral in the consolation final.
The tournament debuted as the Canyon Tournament of Champions in the mid-1980s. Following the passing of Michelle Carew, who died from a rare form of leukemia in 1996 at the age of 18, it was renamed in her memory. She was the daughter of Angels Hall of Famer Rod Carew.
Trevor Moore scored 1:56 into overtime to lift the Kings to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.
Adrian Kempe also scored for the Kings, who moved into the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference — one point ahead of San José and Nashville. Anton Forsberg made 23 saves, including one in overtime, for the Kings, who stopped a four-game losing streak at home.
Robert Thomas scored the only goal for the Blues on a deflection with 3:53 left in the third period to send it to overtime. Jordan Binnington stopped 24 shots in the loss, including two in the extra period. St. Louis is four points behind the Kings for the second wild-card spot.
Moore sped up the right side, outskated Jonatan Berggren, centered the puck and snapped a shot past Binnington for the victory. Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty assisted on the goal.
With the Kings leading 1-0, Thomas went to the front of the net and Philip Broberg’s shot deflected off Thomas’ skate and past Forsberg to tie it.
After a scoreless first period, Jared Wright nearly put the Kings ahead midway through the second, but his goal was waved off for goaltender interference.
The Kings got one that counted on Kempe’s power-play goal on a wrister with 3:01 left in the second period to put them up 1-0.
Up next for the Kings: vs. Nashville at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night.
Tehran, Iran – Government supporters have taken to the streets in Iran to celebrate the anniversary of a referendum nearly half a century ago that solidified the Islamic Republic’s hold on power, even as the United States and Israel continued their attacks on the country.
President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were among officials who joined pro-establishment rallies on the streets of Tehran on Tuesday night to mark Islamic Republic Day, when the nascent theocratic system in 1979 announced it had garnered 98.2 percent of the popular vote shortly after an Islamic revolution.
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Shortly after and in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Washington bombed the site of the former US embassy in Tehran, in an apparent move tied to the symbolism of Islamic Republic Day. Footage from state media showed destruction and debris and smoke in the area, which is guarded by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
On Wednesday afternoon, authorities hoisted what they said was Iran’s tallest and heaviest flag at 150 metres (492 feet) and 300kg (660 pounds) in an area of downtown Tehran.
Festivities began on Tuesday night, and more gatherings are expected on Wednesday night, as political, military and religious leaders say followers must ensure security on the streets, backed by armed forces, to fend off any local dissent and incitement towards regime change from opponents.
Araghchi, Tehran’s top diplomat, who told Al Jazeera in an interview on Tuesday that he has been exchanging messages with Washington but has not responded to requests for negotiations, told state television that he joined supporters to “gain spirit” and encouragement. The president was seen taking selfie photos with people on the streets while flanked by masked bodyguards.
Hassan Khomeini, the son of Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the 1979 revolution and became the first supreme leader before his death in 1989, said it was incumbent upon them from an Islamic standpoint to remain on the streets every night until the war is over, no matter how long it takes.
Mourners gather during a funeral procession in Tehran, Iran on April 1, 2026, for Alireza Tangsiri, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, and others killed in Israeli strikes in late March [Vahid Salemi/AP]
“The enemy might make a thousand plots in order to cut off our communication, but our trenches are the mosques, alleys, squares and streets,” he said.
People shown by state media in various cities chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” in addition to a series of religious slogans.
The authorities issued calls to action for people to participate in group marches while waving flags. Religious singers and eulogists also performed religious songs that drew on the influence of revered figures in Shia Islam.
The paramilitary Basij forces of the IRGC, as well as other armed forces, patrolled the streets and set up checkpoints and roadblocks across the city.
But they were not the only forces present.
Hamid al-Hosseini, a senior clerical and paramilitary figure affiliated with the IRGC and Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) of Iran-aligned fighters, confirmed that Iraqi nationals were widely situated on the streets of the Iranian capital.
While surrounded by those attending state-run festivities in downtown Tehran, he told the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency that Iraqi “mokebs” or religious food and services stations are now located around “various squares” in order to “offer a little help to the Iranian people and learn resilience from them”.
This comes days after Hashd al-Shaabi fighters, while wearing military attire and in some cases, clerical turbans, proudly marched the streets of cities in southwestern Iran’s Khuzestan in dozens of pick-up trucks while delivering what they called “humanitarian assistance”. Pezeshkian later thanked them in a post online.
There were reports that they had already been spotted in Tehran, but there was no official confirmation from Iranian authorities. Opponents and human rights organisations have for years accused the Islamic Republic of systematically using fighters from Iraq and other aligned armed forces to crack down against local dissent, a claim the authorities have rejected.
‘We are waiting for you’
The Iranian state has remained defiant as Washington signals that it may soon deploy thousands of soldiers to the country.
Amid speculation that a ground fight could be aimed at occupying parts of Iran’s southern islands on the Strait of Hormuz, taking over oil and gas facilities, or even extracting highly enriched uranium from bombed nuclear facilities, Tehran says its defences are prepared.
Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, the head of the Iranian army’s research centre, said the armed forces have been drilling for the scenario of a US invasion since 2001, so any aggression will be met with “heavy casualties”.
The general staff of the Iranian armed forces and the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters of the IRGC, which manage the war, said Islamic Republic Day represents “fighting arrogance in order to realise the goals of independence, freedom and religious democracy”.
The armed forces will “make the enemies of the glorious nation of our dear country regret what they have done and be humiliated,” they said.
The police force added in a separate statement that the Islamic Republic “is on the verge of securing ultimate victory for the forces of good versus evil”.
Smoke rises after an air strike in central Tehran, Iran on April 1, 2026 [Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA]
Tasnim released a video that said, “Come close,” and “We are waiting for you,” in Farsi, English, Hebrew, and Arabic. The IRGC-linked Fars news agency showed footage of pro-state demonstrators calling for more missile strikes across the region.
The US and Israel again targeted Iran’s top steel manufacturing companies in a move that could cost thousands of jobs and deal another major blow to civilians living under economic malaise caused by a mix of local mismanagement and harsh US sanctions. Other attacks this week hit civilian nuclear sites, a university, and military installations, while also impacting a number of civilian homes.
Surviving the blackout
Iranians continue to be concerned about a highly uncertain future while battling an unprecedented near-total internet shutdown that has left them in the dark for over a month, aside from the news disseminated by state media.
“I simply cannot afford to buy VPNs [virtual private networks] any more,” said a resident of Tehran, who said they had so far spent nearly $300 for VPN access, more than two-months salary for minimum wage workers, while being squeezed by an inflation rate of more than 70 percent.
“I’ve purchased many proxies since the start of the war, and most of the connections were cut within hours or days. I’m tired of overspending money that I need for meat and eggs on something that should be available as a basic human right,” he said.
He told Al Jazeera that two of the anonymous online vendors he had paid money to for VPN access turned out to be scammers, with the lengthy digital blackout creating a profitable black market.
Some of the vendors have been apprehended and their servers taken offline by Iranian authorities, who have also said that they are actively pursuing anyone using contraband Starlink satellite internet in connection with national security charges. State television said on Wednesday that Starlink infrastructure in the region is among Tehran’s “legitimate”.
National security and espionage charges are also being levied against anyone who is found to have committed acts of dissent, including taking videos of missile impact sites. That could entail confiscation of assets and execution, the judiciary has warned.
The Fars news agency on Wednesday released footage of “confessions” from more arrested Iranians, including a young sobbing girl with a blurred-out face, who said she had cheered US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for attacking Iran in a clip released online, as she believed the war would help overthrow the Islamic Republic.
Amid the state-imposed information blackout, some Iranians have devised their own early warning systems, which include phone calls and text messages from people in the northern or western provinces.
“They hear the jets flying over first, so they warn us, and in many cases, we take cover and hear those jets completing their bombing runs over Tehran within minutes,” another resident of the capital said.
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen:Luka Doncic, with the eyes of five defenders fixed on him in the paint, faked a lob pass. He threatened to wrap a pass around Cleveland center Thomas Bryant’s back. Instead, the Lakers superstar pulled up straight over the top of Bryant’s outstretched arm, dropping a fadeaway jumper softly through the net.
Doncic smiled toward the Lakers’ bench as he backpedaled. He shrugged at himself.
Doncic brought back all his old tricks after serving a one-game suspension and capped his torrid March with 42 points, 12 assists, five rebounds and no turnovers in the Lakers’ 127-113 rout of the Cavaliers (47-29) on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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Doncic, who was suspended for Monday’s game against the Washington Wizards because of technical foul accumulation, joined Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to score 600 points in the month of March. He is one of just 10 players to score 600 points in a month.
“You can see he’s the MVP,” forward Rui Hachimura said.
Doncic, in the NBA most valuable player conversation with Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama and Denver’s Nikola Jokic, scoffed at the suggestion that he state his case for the coveted award.
He’ll let his numbers speak: A league-best 33.8 points per game, the only player averaging 30 points a game with more than 100 steals this season and the third-youngest player to reach 15,000 career points.
Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani delivers during the third inning of a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
From Maddie Lee: The sprinkling of rain over Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night added a new element to what’s already a familiar sight: Shohei Ohtani walking off the mound and immediately strapping on the various guards and batting gloves he wears to hit.
In the Dodgers’ 4-1 win — as Ohtani held the Guardians to one hit through six scoreless innings in his 2026 pitching debut — it happened twice.
The first inning was guaranteed. But after throwing a scoreless fifth, Ohtani again was due up to lead off the bottom half of the inning.
He appeared to realize just that as he reached the far end of the dugout. Ohtani pivoted and jogged to the opposite entrance, where he handed off his hat and glove to start the well-practiced routine.
UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez, left, drives to the basket past Duke center Arianna Roberson during the Bruins’ Elite Eight win in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
From Anthony Solorzano: With Kendrick Lamar’s “tv off” blaring outside the Mo Ostin Basketball Center, a crowd of cheering fans gave the UCLA women’s basketball team a fitting sendoff Tuesday as they left Westwood for Phoenix.
The Bruins are back in the Final Four, where they’ll play Texas — the only team that has beaten them this season — and begin a final push to win what they hope will be their first national championship since 1978.
Last year, UCLA fell to Connecticut in the Final Four, a loss that has made the Bruins hungrier for a title.
“Experience is such an important teacher, for me, as well as for [the team],” said UCLA coach Cori Close. “I just think there’s been a clarity of focus.”
Portland’s Brandon Ingram, left, controls the ball in front of the Clippers’ Derrick Jones Jr. during the first half of the Clippers’ 114-104 loss Tuesday night at Intuit Dome.
The Clippers (39-37) are eighth in the Western Conference, a half-game in front of the ninth-place Blazers (39-38). The loss locked the Clippers into the NBA play-in tournament. They lead the season series against the Blazers 2-1, with the teams playing again on April 10 in Portland.
Toumani Camara scored 17 points and Scoot Henderson added 15 for the Trail Blazers.
Logan O’Hoppe hit a two-run single with two outs in the sixth against reliever Phil Maton (0-1), and that was all Soriano (2-0) needed on a cold and windy night at Wrigley Field.
The 27-year-old right-hander threw 90 pitches, striking out four and walking two. He was coming off a terrific performance in the Angels’ 3-0 win at Houston on opening day.
Chase Silseth pitched around a single by Nico Hoerner and walk to Moisés Ballesteros in the seventh. Drew Pomeranz worked 1⅓ innings against his former team, and Jordan Romano got two outs for his second save.
Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, left, speaks with referees during a game against the Rams at SoFi Stadium in December.
(Harry How / Getty Images)
From Sam Farmer: With the NFL and referees union at a negotiating impasse, the league has put in place a safety net in case replacement game officials are required for the upcoming season.
Team owners approved a rule Tuesday allowing the league to intervene from its New York headquarters and correct officiating errors in real time using replay technology. The rule would be in effect for one year only and would be triggered if the NFL and NFL Referees Assn. cannot agree on the fundamental issues of accountability, compensation and working conditions.
“There is frustration among ownership about the state of the negotiations,” said NFL executive Jeff Miller, responsible for overseeing the league’s communications and public affairs. “What we’ve been crystal clear on is that this is an opportunity for us to improve the state of our officiating.”
Golfer Tiger Woods stands by his overturned vehicle in Jupiter Island, Fla., March 27.
(Jason Oteri / Associated Press)
From Steve Henson:Tiger Woods failed field sobriety tests after crashing into another vehicle last week, and had bloodshot eyes and two hydrocodone pills in his pants pocket, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit released Tuesday.
Woods, 50, told investigators he did not notice the vehicle in front of him had slowed because he was looking at his cellphone and changing the radio station, the affidavit said. His Land Rover rolled onto its side after hitting a Ford-F150 pickup truck pulling a small trailer.
The prescription opioid pills were found during a search after his arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence, causing property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test. Woods told deputies he had taken prescription medications earlier that day.
Just consider the evidence: In his 10 years with LAFC, Thorrington has hired three coaches and each one has been better than the last. How many other executives have a track record like that?
Then again, maybe it’s not luck. Maybe Thorrington simply has been the best general manager in the league over the past decade.
“Either one. Doesn’t really matter,” Thorrington said when asked for the secret to his success. “The results are what matter.”
Jaden Ivey waived by Bulls for ‘conduct detrimental’
Chicago Bulls guard Jaden Ivey is defended by Denver Nuggets forward Spencer Jones on Feb. 7.
(Erin Hooley / Associated Press)
From Chuck Schilken: The Chicago Bulls announced Monday that they have waived guard Jaden Ivey for “conduct detrimental to the team,” soon after the former first-round draft pick made anti-LGBTQ+ comments on Instagram Live.
The move came less than two months after Chicago acquired Ivey from the Detroit Pistons. In recent days, the fourth-year player has posted several videos on Instagram in which he speaks at length about his religious beliefs.
Ivey recorded another such video Monday soon after learning of his release by Chicago. In it, he held firm to his convictions and predicted he would have trouble landing another NBA job because of them.
1930 — American golfer Bobby Jones starts his Grand Slam season by winning the Southeastern Open.
1938 — Joe Louis knocks out Harry Thomas in the fifth round in Chicago to retain his world heavyweight title.
1940 — Governor Herbert Lehman of New York signs the Dunnigal bill, which legalizes pari-mutuel wagering and outlaws bookmakers at the state’s racetracks.
1954 — Detroit Red Wings right wing Gordie Howe scores 2 goals and an assist, and sets a Stanley Cup playoff record for fastest goal from the start of a game (:09).
1972 — The first collective player’s strike in major league history begins at 12:01 a.m. The strike lasts 12 days and cancels 86 games.
1973 — Boston’s John Havlicek connects on 24 field goals and finishes with 54 points the Celtics defeat Atlanta, 134-109, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
1978 — NY Islanders RW Mike Bossy becomes first NHL rookie to score 50 goals in a season.
1981 — Edmonton C Wayne Gretzky has an assist (his 103rd) to break Bobby Orr’s 10-year mark for most assists in a single NHL season.
1984 — Southern Cal beats Tennessee 72-61 for the NCAA women’s basketball title.
1985 — Villanova shocks Georgetown with a 66-64 victory to win the NCAA basketball title. The Wildcats, led by Dwayne McClain’s 17 points, shot 79 percent from the field, making 22 of 28 shots, and added 22 of 27 free throws.
1989 — Jim McAllister of Glassboro State hits four home runs and drives in nine runs in four at-bats in a 21-5 five-inning rout of Delaware State.
1990 — Betsy King holds on for a two-stroke victory over Kathy Postlewait to win the LPGA Dinah Shore tournament.
1991 — Duke ends years of frustration with a 72-65 victory over Kansas for its first national title in five championship game appearances and nine trips to the Final Four.
1992 — A week before the Stanley Cup playoffs are set to begin, the NHL players strike for the first time in the league’s 75-year history. The strike lasts 10 days.
1996 — Kentucky wins its first national title in 18 years with a 76-67 victory over Syracuse.
1999 — Detroit Pistons G Joe Dumars becomes 10th player in NBA history to play 1,000 games with the same team.
1999 — Philadelphia 76ers head coach Larry Brown wins his 900th pro game.
2000 — Michelle Kwan wins her third World Figure Skating title by pushing through all seven triple jumps. The triple toe-triple toe lifts Kwan above Russians Irina Slutskaya and last year’s champion, Maria Butyrskaya.
2002 — With Juan Dixon and Lonny Baxter leading the way, Maryland wins its first national championship with a 64-52 victory over Indiana.
2007 — Morgan Pressel becomes the youngest major champion in LPGA Tour history with a game well beyond her 18 years, closing with a 3-under 69 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Pressel plays her final 25 holes over Mission Hills without a bogey as Suzann Pettersen blew a four-shot lead with four holes to play.
2007 — American super swimmer Michael Phelps smashes his own world record in the 400m individual medley (4:06.22) to win his record 7th gold medal at the World Championships.
2011 — Jarome Iginla scores his second goal of the game with 5:03 left to reach 1,000 points and help Calgary rally to beat St. Louis 3-2.
2016 — Golden State Warriors consecutive home winning streak ends at 54 games.
2018 — Arike Ogunbowale hits a 3-pointer with a tenth of a second left to give Notre Dame a 61-58 win over Mississippi State and its first women’s national championship since 2001. Notre Dame, trailing 30-17 at halftime, pulls off the biggest comeback in title game history, rallying from a 15-point deficit in the third quarter and a five-point deficit in the final 1:58.
2020 — All England Lawn Tennis Club cancels Wimbledon for the first time since World War II because of the COVID-19 pandemic; entire grass-court season abandoned.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Darius Garland added 15 points and 11 assists and Derrick Jones Jr. 13 points for the Clippers, who made 45 of 77 shots (58.4%).
Gary Trent Jr. had a season-high 36 points to pace Milwaukee, which had only eight players available. Taurean Prince added 18 points and AJ Green scored 15 for the Bucks, who have lost 10 of their last 12 games.
The Bucks stayed close early, trailing 29-25 after one quarter with Trent scoring 11 points, including sinking three of five from three-point range.
The Clippers began to pull away in the second, holding a 57-46 lead at the half after leading by as many as 16. Leonard had 15 first-half points.
Brook Lopez, a member of the Bucks’ 2021 NBA championship team, was honored with a video tribute in his first visit back to Milwaukee. He was whistled for a technical foul as the teams were headed to the locker room at halftime.
The Clippers outscored Milwaukee 39-28 in the third and extended its lead to as many as 24 points in the fourth before the Bucks pulled within 11 in the late stages.
Sloppy play hurt Milwaukee, which committed 22 turnovers leading to 33 Clippers points.
Giannis Antetokounmpo sat out a seventh consecutive game for Milwaukee with a left knee hyperextension and bone bruise. The two-time MVP has played in a career-low 36 games this season.
The Bucks also were missing Kevin Porter Jr. (right knee), Bobby Portis (left wrist sprain), Kyle Kuzma (Achilles tendinopathy), Ryan Rollins (left hip flexor), Myles Turner (right knee), Gary Harris (personal reasons) and Thanasis Antetokounmpo (left calf).
Green and Ousmane Dieng fouled out in the fourth, leaving the Bucks with six available players to finish the game.
Up next for the Clippers: vs. the Portland Trail Blazers at Intuit Dome on Tuesday.
It’s an hour before Monroe High’s baseball team takes infield practice. In the dugout dressed in his uniform, Miguel Gonzalez has his scissors out giving a free haircut to a teammate.
“Ten out of 10,” infielder Alexander Hernandez said when describing Gonzalez’s barber skills.
His pitching skills aren’t bad either. He struck out 12 in six innings in his season debut. He’s 5-0 with a 0.69 ERA. He’s a four-year varsity player for the surprising Vikings, who are 13-1 to start this season under second-year coach Eddie Alcantar.
The fact that Gonzalez is still playing might come as the biggest surprise if you knew all the responsibilities he faces as an 18-year-old.
Alcantar was getting worried last January when Gonzalez didn’t show up for winter workouts.
“I have a rule if you don’t show up for practice, you don’t play,” Alcantar said.
They finally met and Gonzalez revealed he’s been too busy working as a barber. And then came the big news: He’s going to become a father in July.
The Monroe High baseball team is off to an 13-1 start.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
It’s a delicate balancing act between work, school, baseball and the seriousness of being a parent as a teenager.
“I’ve been able to figure scheduling little by little,” Gonzalez said. “I do sleep. Maybe five hours.”
Gonzalez said he worked seven days a week as a barber during the summer. He’s been saving for his future while also making sure he did not have to ask his parents for money. He works weekends and sometimes has to leave practice after an hour for work.
As far as baseball, he added a slider this season, picked up some velocity and tries to throw three pitches for strikes.
Against Eagle Rock, he struck out 10 and gave up two hits in a 3-1 win. Against Arleta, he struck out 10 in six innings during a 6-1 victory with one walk. Against Westchester, he got two outs — both strikeouts — in a 3-1 win. Against Vaughn, he gave up two hits in six innings of a 2-0 victory..
Pitcher Miguel Gonzalez has helped Monroe to an 13-1 start with a 5-0 record and 0.69 ERA.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
He said his parents have been supportive: “They have told me it’s a really big responsibility.”
After high school, he plans to go to an occupational school to learn more about being a barber. He’d love to continue playing baseball, but that will depend on his development and his priorities. So far, his balancing act is keeping him levelheaded and determined.
He’s been working since he was 5 when he helped his father in landscaping. He switched to cutting hair and loves it. His clients swear by him.
WASHINGTON — With the Iran war in its fifth week, support for President Trump is at its lowest point ever, with a growing body of recent polling showing him losing ground with key voting blocs that helped power his 2024 victory.
While public dissatisfaction is evident among many groups surveyed, the decline in support for the president has been most pronounced among Latino voters.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released March 24 found 36% of voters approve of the president’s job performance, the lowest it has been during his second term. The poll found 62% disapproved.
Other polls, such as the AP-NORC poll, placed the figure at 38%.
In all, the president is underwater on almost every single public policy issue. With the exception of crime, which sits around 47% approval, he has recorded no gains in any polled category, according to experts.
On immigration, the president’s marquee issue, approval fell from roughly 45% in late 2025 to 39% in February, according to Reuters.
About 1 in 4 respondents approved of Trump’s handling of the economy, Reuters found, as domestic gas prices surged by more than $1 per gallon after fighting commenced last month. The share of Republicans who disapprove of his handling of cost-of-living issues rose 7 points in one week to 34%.
The shift comes amid growing economic unease and amplified backlash over the war in Iran. About 1 in 3 Americans approve of the military operation, according to a Reuters survey.
And a growing divide among prominent conservatives has emerged over the U.S. involvement in the Middle East.
The clashes have played out in public and are exposing tensions within the Republican Party, with conservative commentators such as Megyn Kelly openly questioning whether the war is in America’s best interest.
“This is not a foreign policy that makes sense and it is not what Trump ran on. It is, in many ways, a betrayal of his campaign promises, what he sold himself as and of his MAGA base,” Kelly said earlier this month.
Other conservative pundits, including Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, are also opposed.
But the real damage is showing up in the one place Trump can’t afford to lose: his base.
Trump entered his second term buoyed by historic gains with Latino voters. Exit polls indicated he improved his standing with them by more than 20 percentage points in 2024 compared with his 2016 victory, fueling widespread narratives that the demographic was undergoing a durable shift toward Republicans. In all, 48% of Latinos gave him their support in the last election.
Since then, his approval among Latino voters has plummeted to 22%, according to a March 2026 analysis by the Economist.
In a bipartisan poll by UnidosUS released in November, 14% of Latino voters said their lives were better after Trump took office, while 39% said they had gotten worse.
The president’s rapport with Latinos reflects a deep dissatisfaction with economic conditions, according to Mike Madrid, a veteran California Republican political consultant and expert on Latino voting trends.
“Overwhelmingly, this is a function of the economy and affordability,” he said. “Latino voters moved away from Biden-Harris for the exact same reasons that they’re moving away from Donald Trump right now.”
Research and polling suggests Latino voters prioritize cost-of-living issues — such as housing, wages and inflation — over immigration, a topic often emphasized in national messaging.
“It’s not even close,” Madrid said. “Immigration is not even a top 5 issue for Latino voters.”
Madrid suggested the demographic rallying is less a “reversion” and more a reflection of a rapidly changing electorate.
“Latinos have emerged as the only true swing vote in America,” he said. “And they’re rejecting whichever party is in power.”
These volatile, double-digit voting shifts directly contrast more stable voting patterns among other major demographic groups, including the Black and white electorates, where shifts from cycle to cycle tend to be just a few points.
The reason: dramatic turnout fluctuations. Who decides to show out or stay home on election day tends to change by the year. It’s compounded by the fact that there are far more first-time Latino voters than in any other category.
Polling this month suggests Trump is also losing ground among young voters, another group that contributed to his 2024 gains.
More than half of men under the age of 30 supported Trump in that election, helping him turn several swing states.
In just a year, that demographic has cratered by 20 points.
“Trump won in 2024 because of men. They are abandoning him right now,” CNN senior data analyst Harry Enten said Tuesday.
The reversals could have massive implications for the November midterm elections, particularly in competitive congressional districts where small swings could determine control of the House.
Republicans have warned that if they lose hold of their narrow congressional majority, Trump is likely to face a third impeachment.
UCLA political scientist Matt Barreto said movement away from Republicans is already visible in real-world election outcomes, not just polling.
“We’ve already seen in the Virginia and New Jersey legislative and gubernatorial elections really large shifts in the Latino vote, 25 points back to the Democratic Party,” Barreto said. He added that similar patterns have emerged in places such as Miami and Texas, where Democratic candidates have outperformed expectations with strong Latino support.
Latino Democrats who sat out the 2024 election are returning to the electorate, while some Latino Republicans are disengaging, he said.
That dynamic could prove decisive in November. There are more than 40 congressional districts where the number of registered Latino voters exceeds the margin of victory in 2024, Barreto said. Many of them are closely divided between the parties.
“At the district level, the Latino vote is going to make a huge impact,” he said.
Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard maintained his advantage to claim victory in the Volta a Catalunya.
The Visma-Lease a Bike rider led by one minute and 22 seconds going into Sunday’s seventh and final stage stage which took in seven circuits of the Montjuic climb in Barcelona, where the Tour de France will begin in July.
Australian Brady Gilmore took the stage win for the NSN team in a sprint finish, edging out Dorian Godon and Remco Evenepoel but Vingegaard, a two-time Tour de France victor, finished safely in the peloton to secure the overall win
Frenchman Lenny Martinez was second for Bahrain Victorious with German Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider Florian Lipowitz third one minute and 30 seconds back.
Vingegaard, who was riding in the event for the first time, had set himself up for victory with wins in stages five and six in the Pyrenees Mountains.
It follows his victory in the Paris-Nice race as the 29-year-old prepares to bid for a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double.
Lakers guard Bronny James blocks a shot by Spurs forward Kelly Olynyk at Crypto.com Arena on Feb. 10.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
For the second consecutive game Friday, Lakers coach JJ Redick called the second-year guard’s number for important minutes.
Not to complete garbage time chores. Not as a gimmick to please the King. But because he needed a ball-handler he could trust after the regular rotation got wonky in the second quarter of the Lakers’ 116-99 victory over the Brooklyn Nets at Crypto.com Arena.
For the second consecutive game, Bronny helped buoy the Lakers. In four minutes, he had a deflection and drained a three-pointer that not only keyed a much-needed 9-0 Lakers run but also was the first father-to-son assisted basket in NBA history, coming on a pass from LeBron.
His former teammate sees in Bronny what his current teammates do: A hard worker who needs only to nurture his confidence to be able to contribute in the NBA.
“He’ll be great,” Williams said. “Especially starting off on the defensive end. He can guard one through four, pick up full [court,] have good ball pressure. On the offensive end, he’s a gamer. He can make shots, he can drive the ball. He can get his teammates open. The biggest thing with him is just keeping that confidence.
“When he’s confident and he’s in flow state, in rhythm, he’s a great, great player. … He’s just gotta keep working.”
Bronny’s been working in the G League the last two seasons, bouncing between the big leagues and the developmental circuit, where last season his averages were solid — including 21.9 points, per game — but nowhere near as efficient as they’ve been this season. In 13 games, he’s averaging 14.8 points on 54.7% shooting, including 41.7% from three-point range.
Lakers forward LeBron James greets his son, guard Bronny James, on the court during a game against the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena on Nov. 25.
“He’s always been able to shoot the ball. He shot the ball at a high level pretty much throughout his years of playing ball. So I just think there’s the confidence in the rhythm and just getting the strength back and his wind and everything. Everything is just coming back.”
That’s carried over to the big club; Bronny is shooting 41.9% from three-point range in those instances when Redick has called on him — as he also did in a 137-130 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
In that victory, Bronny had four points, two steals and a block in 13 minutes. Redick credited the 21-year-old with settling the team with a pull-up jumper with 3:55 to go in the game, which was the second this season LeBron and Bronny played together.
The first time it happened, in the season opener in 2024, the prevailing thought was that it wouldn’t happen again for a long time — and if it did, something had probably gone very wrong for the Lakers that game.
But that’s not the case. No, because Bronny has made a convincing case as an NBA player.
“I’ve been wanting to play basketball my whole life,” Bronny said. “It’s a dream come true. I’m so privileged to be able to play basketball for a job and I love every single second of it. My teammates embrace it. I’m best friends with all my teammates and my coaches. I’m just happy to be here.”
He’s become an effective plug-and-play piece — and not on a tanking Nets team that regularly runs out G League-caliber players, but on a playoff-bound Lakers team that has won 14 of its last 16 games.
The No. 55 draft pick in 2024, Bronny has surpassed Dalton Knecht, the 17th pick in that same draft, in the Lakers’ pecking order.
He’s become a player who can be counted on, and he’s especially valuable to a team that happens to badly need youth and athleticism, as the Lakers do.
You want to talk twists? How about whatever happens with LeBron — when, or if, he retires — the Lakers should seriously consider keeping Bronny in the fold. Seriously.
VANCOUVER, Canada — Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves for his third shutout of the season and 39th of his career to lead the Kings to a 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
The victory moved the Kings within one point of the Nashville Predators, who hold the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference playoff race.
One of the best stops by Kuemper, whose last shutout was on Dec. 6 against Chicago, came at the 10:43 mark of the first period when Teddy Blueger launched a blast from the slot and the goalie kicked out his right leg to send the puck soaring with the toe of his skate.
Kevin Lankinen made 34 saves for the Canucks, who lost their fourth straight game. Vancouver has been shut out five times this season, with four coming at home.
The Kings opened the scoring with Laughton’s power-play goal 17:34 into the first period. Stationed at the top of the faceoff circle, Byfield took a shot that hit the skate of Laughton as he jumped in front of the net, deflecting the puck in past Lankinen.
Byfield sealed it with an empty-netter with 2:24 left in the game.
Up next for Kings: vs. Utah at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Democrats, beaten down by years of Republican domination in what was once the consummate battleground state, claimed new optimism Wednesday after a special election victory in President Trump’s home district.
Emily Gregory will represent the district that includes Mar-a-Lago, the president’s resort in Palm Beach, as a state representative.
Democrats are also hopeful that Brian Nathan will win a state senate seat in the Tampa area; the Associated Press has not yet called that race but he currently has a narrow lead that is within the state’s automatic recount range.
Gregory’s victory is the latest flip of a Republican-held seat since Trump’s second presidency began, giving Democrats fresh confidence in a midterm election year with control of Congress and many statehouses — including Florida’s — up for grabs in November.
“The pendulum swings in both directions,” Florida Democratic chairwoman Nikki Fried told reporters. “Last night it swung hard in the state of Florida.”
She added, “If we can win in Donald Trump’s backyard, we can win anywhere.”
For Gregory, a 40-year-old political newcomer who owns a fitness company, it has been a stunning introduction to the national spotlight.
“I believed in myself the whole time,” Gregory said, describing her political “naiveté” about the district and its Republican leanings as an asset.
She told the AP she did not make her contest about the president specifically, but focused heavily on constituents’ concerns involving the economy and everyday costs — from fast-rising insurance in the hurricane-prone district to groceries and gas.
She described herself as a lifelong “proud Florida Democrat” but said she did not run to be a face of the party or lead the opposition movement to Trump. She said she will go to Tallahassee focused on proposals to limit insurance rate hikes, expand healthcare access and lift “huge, crushing burdens on the average Florida family.”
“I just see myself as very embedded in my community, very representative of District 87,” she said. “And I’m so humbled and proud to be their representative.”
Trump endorsed Gregory’s opponent, Jon Maples, and cast a mail ballot in the contest. The president reiterated his support for Maples on the eve of the election with a social media post saying the Republican candidate was backed “by so many of my Palm Beach County friends.”
As of midday on Wednesday, Trump had not mentioned the outcome of the race.
Fried praised Gregory and Nathan, a 45-year-old veteran and union worker, as quality candidates who could capitalize on the broader political environment.
“The type of person and connection on the issues matters,” Fried said.
Gregory flipped a seat that her Republican predecessor had won by 19 percentage points. Fried said Trump carried the district by 11 points in 2024.
Republicans still dominate the Florida Legislature, and they have been considered heavy favorites to hold the governor’s office in November, four years after Gov. Ron DeSantis won a blowout reelection campaign.
But Fried insisted the trends suggest a competitive landscape. She noted that Tuesday’s victories followed two congressional special elections in 2025 when Florida Democrats lost but dramatically narrowed the usual margins in heavily Republican districts.
“You’ve seen tremendous overspending by Republicans,” Fried said of the current cycle. “It’s not working.”
A spokesman for Republican U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, whom Trump has endorsed for Florida governor, took at least some notice of the latest results.
“We constantly assess how we execute our strategy — that’s just good campaigns,” said Ryan Smith, Donalds’ chief campaign strategist. “What won’t change is our mission: President Trump endorsed Byron Donalds to deliver real results and defend the Florida Dream, and that’s what voters can expect to see from us.”
Gregory, meanwhile, said she’s ready to get to work for her constituents — even the most famous one who did not vote for her.
“I should have a constituent service office available soon, and I would love to have a conversation,” she said when asked what her message to the president would be. “He’s welcome to call me, as I am his new state representative.”
Barrow and Schneider write for the Associated Press. Barrow reported from Atlanta.
Former NATO official William Alberque says 440 kg of missing Iranian uranium is blocking a US victory claim. He warns that despite strikes on Natanz Nuclear Facility, the risk of proliferation remains.
Since Donald Trump entered the political fray, critics have opined that if he ever faced a direct confrontation with Iran as United States president, the result would be chaos, endless war, and global instability. They have been proven wrong once again.
Today, the world is witnessing the swift decisive assertion of US power that is leading to a clear military victory over a terrorist state that has long threatened US as well as global peace and security.
For too long, US foreign policy was dominated by hesitation disguised as sophistication. US presidents, Democrat and Republican, advocated for “containment”, “strategic patience”, and “measured responses”, while adversaries grew bolder and more brazen. Iran expanded its influence across the Middle East, funded proxy militias, threatened global energy supplies, and openly challenged Washington’s credibility by attacking US interests, personnel and assets.
Trump rejected the conventional Washington approach even before assuming public office. He never believed that endless negotiations or carefully worded diplomatic statements would deter a regime that only yields to power. His critics called it recklessness. What it actually was, was clarity.
Instead of drifting into another conventional decade-long war, Trump chose a simple formula: hit hard, hit fast, and make it clear that the US will not capitulate to threats.
Today, most of the foreign policy establishment still defines “victory” the way it did in the 20th century: overthrow the regime, occupy the country, and rebuild its government in our liking. That post-World War II and Cold War model worked in Europe, Asia and Latin America. It did not in the Middle East. Iraq and Afghanistan proved that nation-building can be a futile endeavour.
Trump understands something Washington does not want to admit: the exercise of American power should not be to build democratic societies. It should be to eliminate threats.
From the outset, the Trump administration made clear that it was launching the attacks to control the outcome.
If Iran’s military leadership has been weakened, if its ability to threaten US forces and allies has been reduced, and if its nuclear ambitions have been significantly set back, then the mission has already succeeded, and it is time to end the war.
When Trump declares victory, he will not do it quietly. He will say it directly: America struck, America won, and America did so without engaging in another endless war.
Timing has always been one of Trump’s political talents. He understands momentum better than any of his predecessors of the past few decades did. If the military objectives have already been largely achieved, waiting months to say so would only weaken the message.
Declaring victory at the moment of peak strength sends a powerful signal — not just to Iran, but to the entire world. It ratifies that the US has red lines again. It makes clear that threats will be met with force, not speeches. And most importantly, it declares that the US is once again confident enough to act decisively.
Critics on the American left will predictably label any Trump victory “premature” and his methods “illegal” and reckless. But their genuine discomfort with his success has more to do with the use of American firepower to achieve objectives that they believe can or should only be had through diplomacy and multilateral rather than unilateral actions.
Trump’s “America First” foreign policy builds on US President Ronald Reagan’s peace through strength mantra by being willing to pre-emptively exercise American might to demonstrate American resolve and deter adversaries. It has proven effective before, and it is proven effective again today.
It destroys the critics’ primary thesis — that American strength must always be restrained, that military power should be used cautiously, and that multilateral strategies are a prerequisite.
Trump’s Iran victory speech will not be lofty and replete with platitudes. It will be direct, simple, and unabashedly America First.
He will explain that the US acted because it had to do so. He will declare that the imminent threat of a nuclear Iran has been eliminated. He will say American lives were saved. And he will end by stating that the world is safer because of this sacrifice by the American people.
Through Trump’s America First foreign policy, the US will act decisively and unilaterally. It will not apologise for defending its interests. And it will prove that acting boldly can change the course of events in a matter of weeks, not years.
After decades of vacillation, Trump’s message to the world is simple: America’s back and American interests come first.
America did not need another endless war. It needed a president willing to act.
And that is exactly what it got.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Perhaps Chaminade’s softball team should no longer be considered a surprise for its 7-0 start overall and 1-0 mark in the Mission League.
Its 7-6 win over defending Mission League champion Sherman Oaks Notre Dame on Thursday featured a five-run seventh inning that should get everyone’s attention. Notre Dame went 8-0 in league play last season. Casey Glantz hit a two-run go-ahead home run.
Chaminade has featured sophomore pitcher Finley Suppan, the daughter of former major leaguer Jeff Supan. She’s 6-0 with a 1.15 ERA. She had a strikeout to end the game. The Eagles are flourishing under coach Cory Skinner.
Garden Grove Pacifica 4, Anaheim Canyon 1: Shay Kletke hit a home run and also pitched four innings.
Thousand Oaks 9, Granada Hills 4: Zoe Justman had three hits for Granada Hills.
Los Alamitos 6, Huntington Beach 5: A home run by Erin Denny on a 3-and-2 count in the top of the ninth inning broke a 5-5 tie and lifted the Griffins to victory.
Baseball
Sun Valley Poly 11, Sylmar 9: The Parrots improved to 3-0 in the Valley Mission League with a huge win over preseason favorite Sylmar.
Etiwanda 2, Foothill 0: Four Etiwanda pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout. Foothill had recorded shutout wins in four of its last five games. James Milam had two doubles.
La Mirada 7, Aliso Niguel 1: Blake Barberena had two hits and two RBIs.
Santa Monica 8, Calabasas 4: Jaxson Ehlers went four for four to lead Santa Monica.
Sean Penn won the supporting actor Oscar on Sunday night for his performance as the ruthless, racist Col. Steven J. Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.”
The win marks the third Academy Award for the 65-year-old Penn and his first in the supporting category. He previously earned lead actor Oscars for “Mystic River” (2003) and “Milk” (2008), and had been nominated three other times in leading roles before this year. He beat out fellow nominees Benicio Del Toro for “One Battle After Another,” Jacob Elordi for “Frankenstein,” Delroy Lindo for “Sinners” and Stellan Skarsgård for “Sentimental Value.”
With his victory, Penn joins Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Frances McDormand and Walter Brennan as three-time Oscar winners for acting. Katharine Hepburn is the only four-time acting winner.
Penn, who delivers a volatile, darkly comic performance in Anderson’s sprawling political thriller, emerged as the race’s front-runner after a surprise victory at the BAFTA Awards and the Actor Awards, whose voting body overlaps heavily with the motion picture academy.
Sean Penn did not attend the Oscars, so presenter Kiernan Culkin accepted the award on Penn’s behalf.
Dejan Joveljic had a goal and an assist against his former team, Lasse Johnsen had a goal and an assist in his league debut and Sporting Kansas City beat the Galaxy 2-1 on Saturday night.
Neither team scored until Joveljic used assists from Manu García and Johnsen to score two minutes into stoppage time for a 1-0 lead at halftime. García earned his first assist after tallying nine as a rookie last season.
Joveljić, along with Stephen Afrifa, set up an insurance goal by Johnsen in the 74th minute for a 2-0 advantage. Afrifa’s helper was first this season and his second in 39 appearances.
That proved necessary for the victory after Marco Reus used his head for an unassisted score in the 82nd minute to cut the Galaxy’s deficit to a goal. Reus scored for the first time this season and the seventh time in 31 career matches.
John Pulskamp finished with four saves to help Sporting KC (1-2-1) earn its first victory of the season while putting an end to a seven-match losing streak on the road dating to last season.
Novak Micovic saved two shots for the Galaxy (1-2-1).
Joveljic totaled 34 goals and 11 assists in 106 starts with the Galaxy from 2021-24. He had 15 goals and six assists during the Galaxy’s championship run in 2024 when he scored the second goal in a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bullls. His third goal this season gives him 21 along with three assists in 36 matches with Sporting KC.
The Galaxy played without Gabriel Pec, who was suspended for the match after receiving a red card in a 4-1 road loss to the Colorado Rapids last week. Joseph Paintsil was sidelined with a hamstring injury.
The Galaxy have a slim lead in the all-time series 29-28-18, including a 19-9-9 record at home.
Both teams posted home victories in two matchups last season.
Up next for the Galaxy: at Portland Timbers on Sunday.
Doncic, fueled by trash talk from his opponents Thursday, recorded his first 50-point game with the Lakers, checking out with 1:41 remaining to a standing ovation with 51 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Lakers to a 142-130 win over the Chicago Bulls.
The Lakers (41-25) jumped into third place in the Western Conference with their seventh win in their last eight games, climbing from sixth in just one week despite not having LeBron James for the last three games.
James, returning from elbow and hip contusions sustained in a fall against the Denver Nuggets on March 5, had 18 points with seven rebounds and seven assists. Austin Reaves scored 30 points with seven assists to reach 5,000 career points, and Deandre Ayton had his second consecutive double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lakers let the struggling Bulls (27-39) go on a 12-3 run to tie the score at the end of the first quarter but started to heat up when Doncic scored 10 consecutive points in the second quarter. The streak signaled to the six-time All-Star he was going to have one those nights.
“Somebody started talking to me,” Doncic said, “so I woke up.”
From Ryan Kartje: This was hardly a masterpiece of Big Ten basketball, what with the barrage of bricks and busted possessions. Nor was it the sort of night to convince you of UCLA’s chances as a surefire conference contender.
But amid the mess of its 72-59 win over 14th-seeded Rutgers on Thursday night, UCLA showed the sort of mettle it may need to keep its season kicking this March.
It started with Donovan Dent, whose masterful month continued with his first career triple-double — and the first triple-double in Big Ten tournament history. The senior tallied 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. He and Tyler Bilodeau, who added a game-high 21 points, were the rare bright spots on offense for the Bruins.
Otherwise, UCLA struggled to find any sort of rhythm. It shot just 38% from the field, worse than it had in any win this season. And still, the Bruins were in control for most of the game after pulling away early in the second half.
None of that will fly against No. 3 seed Michigan State on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT, which beat UCLA by 23 points the last time they met.
From Anthony Solorzano: Just 0.18 seconds separated Michael Kimani Kamau from $15,000. Sunday’s 41st L.A. Marathon was decided by a late-charging sprint from Nathan Martin, the winner who received $25,000 for first place. The runner-up earned $10,000.
With five miles to the finish line and no one else picking up pace, Martin decided to push himself to the end. Kamau’s experience down the stretch was different. Less than a quarter mile from the finish, his race took an unexpected turn because of a fan.
With many fans cheering him on, one interfered and led him off course. A video posted on Reddit shows Kamau following a fan off course for roughly 10 seconds.
He briefly followed the lead vehicles off the designated course while trying to avoid a spectator who ran into his path. Fans immediately stopped him and pointed him in the right direction.
“I actually thought he won until I got home later that day and saw the news channels reporting that Nathan had an amazing kick at the end,” said Ivan Torres, who filmed the scene.
Organizers are aware of the video but no protests were filed and the results are unchanged.
From Gary Klein: Trent McDuffie was a young high school player in Southern California when the Rams returned from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016.
In 2020, McDuffie watched HBO’s “Hard Knocks” episodes about the team, and he was enamored by coach Sean McVay.
“I remember just being like, ‘Dang, I would like to play for that guy,’” McDuffie said Thursday.
McDuffie, an All-Pro cornerback acquired by the Rams in a blockbuster trade, recalled those thoughts during an introductory news conference at the team’s facility in Woodland Hills after he signed a record-breaking four-year extension that reportedly includes $100 million in guarantees.
From Kevin Baxter: A report on how Olympic organizers will tackle civil rights, homelessness and human trafficking ahead and during the 2028 Games has not been made public by the city more than two months after it was filed and no date for its release has been set, leaving human rights advocates fearing the issues will not get the attention and funding they deserve.
Council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who chairs the ad-hoc committee on the LA28 Games, has not included the human rights report on the committee’s agenda. His office did not respond to requests for comment and Sharon Tso, the city’s chief legislative analyst, and Matthew Szabo, the city’s administrative officer, both said they have not seen the report and “nothing appears on the council file,” according to Tso.
The delay is limiting discussion on an important topic, said Stephanie Richard, a clinical professor who leads the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative at Loyola Law School, which released its own comprehensive report on human trafficking and the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics in December.
William Nylander broke a tie on a power play 36 seconds into the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Ducks6-4 on Thursday night to end an eight-game losing streak.
The victory was tempered by the loss of captain Auston Matthews on a knee-on-knee hit from Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas with four minutes left in the second period. Matthews stayed down favoring his left leg before being helped to the locker room. Gudas was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct.
Matthews scored earlier to end a 12-game goal drought.
Cutter Gauthier, Ian Moore, Pavel Mintyukov and Alex Killorn scored for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks. Lukas Dostal stopped 23 shots.
1894 — J.L. Johnstone of England invents the starting gate for horse racing.
1920 — NYU wins the national amateur basketball championship in Atlanta. The Violets beat Rutgers 49-24 in the final of the AAU tournament.
1961 — Floyd Patterson knocks out Ingemar Johansson in the sixth round to retain the world heavyweight title in Miami Beach.
1982 — Elaine Zayak of the United States wins the world figure skating championship.
1983 — Randy Smith’s consecutive game streak ends at 906 games, the longest in NBA history. Smith played for Buffalo, San Diego (twice), Cleveland and New York during the streak.
1997 — The America’s Cup, the oldest trophy in international sports and yachting’s most coveted prize, is all but destroyed by a Maori protester who struck it repeatedly with a sledgehammer in Auckland, New Zealand.
1998 — Bryce Drew hits a leaning three-pointer as time expires to give Valparaiso a shocking 70-69 upset of Mississippi in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.
2001 — Philadelphia’s Mark Recchi picks up his 1,000th point during a 5-2 win over St. Louis. He’s the 60th player in NHL history to reach the mark.
2007 — Lance Mackey wins the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, becoming the first musher to win major long-distance North American sled dog races back-to-back. On Feb. 20, Mackey won his third consecutive Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, a 1,000-mile race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Yukon.
2007 — Dallas’ Mike Modano becomes the 39th player in NHL history and second born in the United States to reach 500 goals, scoring with 10:24 left in the third period of a 3-2 victory over Philadelphia.
2008 — Bode Miller clinches the men’s overall World Cup ski title. Miller earns his second title in four years with a 12th-place finish in the super-G combined, along with Didier Cuche’s announcement that he would not enter the season-ending slalom in Bormio, Italy.
2011 — The NCAA men’s basketball selection committee releases its 68-team draw, which included a record 11 teams from the Big East, the deepest conference in the nation. The tournament adds three more at-large teams that will open the tournament in what the NCAA is calling the “First Four.”
2012 — BYU pulls off the biggest comeback in NCAA tournament history on a wild opening night. Noah Hartsock scores 16 of his 23 points in the second half and the Cougars rally from 25 points down to beat Iona 78-72 in the first round. It marks the biggest comeback in an NCAA tournament game. Previously, the largest deficit overcome was 22 points in 2001 when Duke fought back to beat Maryland 95-84 in the national semifinals. It’s the second incredible turnaround of the night in Dayton. With President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron watching, Western Kentucky comes back from a 16-point deficit in the final 5 minutes to beat Mississippi Valley State 59-58.
2018 — Russell Westbrook picks up the 100th triple-double of his career and the Oklahoma City Thunder uses a 16-0 run late in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Atlanta Hawks for a 119-107 victory. Westbrook scores 32 points, dishes out 12 assists and grabs 12 rebounds to become the third-fastest player to reach the milestone.
2020 — Elite football in Britain, including England’s Premier League, EFL, Women’s Super League plus in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is suspended until at least April 3 because of COVID-19 pandemic.
2022 — After a 40-day retirement, record breaking quarterback Tom Brady announces he will play at least one more season in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Six days after the commencement of Operation Epic Fury, President Trump took to Truth Social to announce, in the context of the ongoing joint American-Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran: “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” In the same post, the president seemed to equate such “unconditional surrender” with “the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader” to lead Iran, which would enable the country to come back from the “brink of destruction” and emerge “stronger than ever.”
Just three days after announcing “unconditional surrender” as his goal, Trump, speaking on March 9 in Doral, Fla., proclaimed that the end of the war will happen “very soon.” One might be forgiven for experiencing some whiplash — especially because earlier that same day, Trump told Fox News he was “not happy” with Iran’s naming of a new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. In fact, around the same time he was demanding “unconditional surrender” the prior week, Trump had already called Khamenei the younger “unacceptable.”
What exactly is going on here?
Trump is a conservative nationalist, which means his general approach to foreign policy and his specific foreign policy “excursions” are guided by his view of how best to secure the American national interest. Accordingly, since Operation Epic Fury started, Pentagon press briefings featuring Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine have repeatedly emphasized empirical metrics for measuring success, such as Iranian naval vessels sunk, Iranian air force planes shot down, Iranian ballistic missile silos and launch sites destroyed and so forth.
Trump hasn’t said it explicitly, but the Trump administration’s goal — and thereby, definition of victory — in Operation Epic Fury seems clear enough: the neutralization of Iran as an active, ongoing threat to the United States and our interests. If nothing else, at least, that is how victory in the current campaign should be defined.
That does still raise at least one pressing question, though, especially in the context of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s call to the Iranian people to prepare for “the decisive stage of our final struggle”: Where does that most controversial of foreign policy goals, “regime change,” fit into the puzzle?
At this point, it is undeniable that wholesale regime change is the most desirable outcome for the conflict in Iran. The pursuit of regime change as a goal unto itself is often now disparaged, coming in the aftermath of the failed neoconservative boondoggles earlier this century. But it ought to be axiomatic that there are some foreign regimes that behave in a manner that redounds to the American national interest, and there are some foreign regimes that behave in a manner that is contrary to the American national interest. It is natural and logical that we would wish for the latter types of regime to be heavily reformed or outright replaced — especially with the local populace leading the way.
Perhaps even more to the point: One does not take out a 37-year-ruling despot like Ali Khamenei, as the American and Israeli militaries did in the opening hours of the present operation, and not hope for full-scale regime change. All people of goodwill should be hoping for that outcome — for the Iranian people to rise up like lions and throw the yoke of tyranny off their necks once and for all, delivering a long-sought victory for the American national interest in the process.
But it’s entirely possible full-scale regime change won’t happen. The people of Iran just witnessed tens of thousands of their countrymen brutally gunned down during the anti-regime uprisings of late December and early January. They are an unarmed populace facing Nazi-esque regime jackboots, in the form of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij paramilitary.
All of that, then, raises one final question: Is it possible for there to be victory in Operation Epic Fury, and for the Iranian regime to be neutralized as a threat to the United States and our interests, if there isn’t full-scale regime change in Tehran?
In theory, the answer is yes. Venezuela provides a model.
Delcy Rodríguez, the current leader, is a hardened Marxist-Leninist in the mold of her predecessors Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. But Rodriguez has been fully cooperative with the United States since the astonishing January operation to extract Maduro for the simple reason that she has no real choice in the matter: She remains in power, yes, but only on the condition of an “offer” presented by Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio that, to borrow from Vito Corleone in “The Godfather,” Rodríguez “can’t refuse.” Rodríguez has thus been fully cooperative in areas such as American oil extraction and the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the United States.
In theory, a similar arrangement is possible with a decimated, chastened regime in Tehran. And some experts predict that such an arrangement will characterize the regime in Iran a year or two from now. In practice, however, there is the ever-thorny problem that has frustrated and perplexed Westerners for decades when they attempt to reason with zealous Islamists: They do not fear death. A socialist like Delcy Rodríguez can, ultimately, be reasoned with; an Islamist like Mojtaba Khamenei (or his successor), perhaps not.
The cleanest solution to the Iran quagmire at this particular juncture — and the one that most clearly fulfills Trump’s “unconditional surrender” victory criterion — is indeed full-scale regime change. That is certainly the outcome that would be best for the neutralization of the Iranian threat and the corresponding advancement of the American national interest. I’m far from certain it will happen. But like many, I pray that it will posthaste.
Josh Hammer’s latest book is “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.” This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. X: @josh_hammer
