The security of former Vice President Kamala Harris, once the duty of the U.S. Secret Service, has been thrown into flux, again, days after President Trump canceled her federal protection.
My colleague Richard Winton broke the news Saturday morning that the Los Angeles Police Department, which was assisting the California Highway Patrol in providing security for Harris, has been pulled off the detail after internal criticism of the arrangement.
Let’s jump into what Winton wrote about this quickly-evolving story.
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What happened to Harris’ Secret Service protection?
Former vice presidents usually get Secret Service protection for six months after leaving office, while former presidents are given protection for life.
But before his term ended in January, President Joe Biden signed an order to extend Harris’ protection to July 2026.
Aides to Harris had asked Biden for the extension. Without it, her security detail would have ended last month, according to sources.
Trump ended that arrangement as of Monday.
How did the CHP and LAPD get involved?
Winton wrote Aug. 29 that California officials planned to utilize the CHP as her security detail. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was required to sign off on such CHP protection, would not confirm the arrangement. “Our office does not comment on security arrangements,” said Izzy Gordon, a spokesperson for Newsom. “The safety of our public officials should never be subject to erratic, vindictive political impulses.”
Fox 11 broke the story of the use of LAPD officers earlier this week and got footage of the security detail outside Harris’ Brentwood home from one of its news helicopters.
The effort was described as “temporary” by Jennifer Forkish, L.A. police communications director.
Roughly a dozen or more officers have begun working to protect Harris.
Sources not authorized to discuss the details of the plan said the city would fund the security while Harris was hiring her own security in the near future.
Controversy ensued
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file LAPD officers, lambasted the move.
The union did not address Harris as a former vice president, nor as California senator or state attorney general, in its official rebuke.
“Pulling police officers from protecting everyday Angelenos to protect a failed presidential candidate who also happens to be a multi-millionaire, with multiple homes and who can easily afford to pay for her own security, is nuts,” its board of directors said.
The statement continued: Mayor Karen Bass “should tell Governor Newsom that if he wants to curry favor with Ms. Harris and her donor base, then he should open up his own wallet because LA taxpayers should not be footing the bill for this ridiculousness.”
What’s next?
The CHP has not indicated how the LAPD’s move would alter its arrangement with the former vice president or said how long it will continue.
The curtailing of Secret Service protection comes as Harris is going to begin a book tour next month for her memoir, “107 Days.” The tour has 15 stops, which include visits to London and Toronto. The book title references the short length of her presidential campaign.
(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Hannah Pilkes)
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In a couple of months, California voters will have the opportunity to reshape our state’s political map and, perhaps, tilt the balance of power nationally from red to blue.
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Methodology behind the analysis
To get a sense of how the proposed maps might alter the balance of power in Congress, The Times used results from the 2024 presidential election to calculate the margin of victory between Democrats and Republicans in the redrawn districts.
In some cases, districts were split apart and stitched together with more liberal areas. In one area, lines have been redrawn with no overlap at all with their current boundary.
As a result, four formerly Republican-leaning swing districts would tilt slightly Democratic, and two others would shift more heavily toward the left. Four out of the five remaining Republican strongholds would become even darker red under the proposed map.
All told, the new maps could help Democrats earn six seats.
We’ll examine two Southern California districts from their list.
41st District: Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona)
Rep. Ken Calvert’s 41st District, long centered in the competitive western Inland Empire, would be eliminated and completely redrawn in Los Angeles County. The district would transform from a swinging GOP-leaning seat into one where Democrats would hold a 14-point advantage.
Parts of the new 41st would be carved out of the current 38th District, represented by Democrat Linda Sánchez. That change shifts some of Sánchez’s Democratic base into the new 41st district, making it more favorable to Democrats while leaving the 38th slightly less blue.
At the same time, the Latino share of the population would rise, further bolstering the Democrat‘s strength in the proposed district. The new 41st seat would become a majority-minority district. The redistricting proposal includes 16 majority-minority districts; the same number as the current map.
A section of the current 41st district would be added to Anaheim Hills’ Republican Young Kim’s 40th District. The reshaped 40th District would move 9.7 points to the right — the biggest rightward shift among Republican-held districts.
48th District: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall)
In 2024, voters in the 48th District reelected Republican representative Darrel Issa by 19 points, while his district swung to Trump by 15 points.
But the proposed lines would shift Republican voters into a neighboring district in favor of bluer voters from the Coachella Valley, giving Democrats a new edge.
The district’s demographics would also change, with a larger share of Latino voters. As a result, a safe Republican seat would become a swing district, where Democrats would hold a narrow 3-point advantage.
The proposed 48th District includes Palm Springs, a liberal patch that was previously in the 41st District.
What the changes could mean
The analysis found the redistricting effort, which will go to voters on Nov. 4, could turn 41 Democratic-leaning congressional districts into 47.
Democrats currently hold 215 seats in the House, and Republicans have 220. The shift could be enough to threaten the GOP’s narrow majority.
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff writer Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Andrew J. Campa, reporter Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Diamy Wang, homepage intern Izzy Nunes, audience intern
Islamabad, Pakistan – For the second time in three years, catastrophic monsoon floods have carved a path of destruction across Pakistan’s north and central regions, particularly in its Punjab province, submerging villages, drowning farmland, displacing millions and killing hundreds.
This year, India – Pakistan’s archrival and a nuclear-armed neighbour – is also reeling. Its northern states, including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Indian Punjab, have seen widespread flooding as heavy monsoon rains swell rivers on both sides of the border.
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Pakistani authorities say that since late June, when the monsoon season began, at least 884 people have died nationally, more than 220 of them in Punjab. On the Indian side, the casualty count has crossed 100, with more than 30 dead in Indian Punjab.
Yet, shared suffering hasn’t brought the neighbours closer: In Pakistan’s Punjab, which borders India, federal minister Ahsan Iqbal has, in fact, accused New Delhi of deliberately releasing excess water from dams without timely warnings.
“India has started using water as a weapon and has caused wide-scale flooding in Punjab,” Iqbal said last month, citing releases into the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab rivers, all of which originate in Indian territory and flow into Pakistan.
Iqbal further said that releasing flood water was the “worst example of water aggression” by India, which he said threatened lives, property and livelihoods.
“Some issues should be beyond politics, and water cooperation must be one of them,” the minister said on August 27, while he participated in rescue efforts in Narowal city, his constituency that borders India.
Those accusations come amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, and the breakdown of a six-decade-old pact that helped them share waters for rivers that are lifelines to both nations.
But experts argue that the evidence is thin to suggest that India might have deliberately sought to flood Pakistan – and the larger nation’s own woes point to the risks of such a strategy, even if New Delhi were to contemplate it.
Weaponising water
Flood-affected people walk along the shelters at a makeshift camp in Chung, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, on August 31, 2025. Nearly half a million people have been displaced by flooding in eastern Pakistan after days of heavy rain swelled rivers [Aamir Qureshi/AFP]
Relations between India and Pakistan, already at a historic low, plummeted further in April after the Pahalgam attack, in which gunmen killed 26 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for the attack and walked out of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), the transboundary agreement that governs the Indus Basin’s six rivers.
Pakistan rejected the accusation that it was in any way behind the Pahalgam attack. But in early May, the neighbours waged a four-day conflict, targeting each other’s military bases with missiles and drones in the gravest military escalation between them in almost three decades.
Under the IWT, the two countries were required to exchange detailed water-flow data regularly. With India no longer adhering to the pact, fears have mounted in recent months that New Delhi could either try to stop the flow of water into Pakistan, or flood its western neighbour through sudden, large releases.
After New Delhi suspended its participation in the IWT, India’s Home Minister Amit Shah in June said the treaty would never be restored, a stance that prompted protests in Pakistan and accusations of “water terrorism”.
But while the Indian government has not issued a formal response to accusations that it has chosen to flood Pakistan, the Indian High Commission in Islamabad has, in the last two weeks, shared several warnings of possible cross-border flooding on “humanitarian grounds”.
And water experts say that attributing Pakistan’s floods primarily to Indian water releases from dams is an “oversimplification” of the causes of the crisis that risks obscuring the urgent, shared challenges posed by climate change and ageing infrastructure.
“The Indian decision to release water from their dam has not caused flooding in Pakistan,” said Daanish Mustafa, a professor of critical geography at King’s College London.
“India has major dams on its rivers, which eventually make their way to Pakistan. Any excess water that will be released from these rivers will significantly impact India’s own states first,” he told Al Jazeera.
Shared monsoon strain
Both Pakistan and India depend on glaciers in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges to feed their rivers. For Pakistan, the Indus river basin is a lifeline. It supplies water to most of the country’s roughly 250 million people and underpins its agriculture.
Pakistan’s monsoon floods have pushed the nationwide death toll past 800, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes due to surging water [A Hussain/EPA]
Under the IWT, India controls the three eastern rivers – Ravi, Sutlej and Beas – while Pakistan controls the three western rivers, Jhelum, Chenab and Indus.
India is obligated to allow waters of the western rivers to flow into Pakistan with limited exceptions, and to provide timely, detailed hydrological data.
India has built dams on the eastern rivers it controls, and the flow of the Ravi and Sutlej into Pakistan has considerably reduced since then. It has also built dams on some of the western rivers – it is allowed to, under the treaty, as long as that does not affect the volume of water flowing into Pakistan.
But melting glaciers and an unusually intense summer monsoon pushed river levels on both sides of the border dangerously high this year.
In Pakistan, glacial outbursts followed by heavy rains raised levels in the western rivers, while surging flows put infrastructure on the eastern rivers in India at serious risk.
Mustafa of King’s College said that dams – like other infrastructure – are designed keeping in mind a safe capacity of water that they can hold, and are typically meant to operate for about 100 years. But climate change has dramatically altered the average rainfall that might have been taken into account while designing these projects.
“The parameters used to build the dams are now obsolete and meaningless,” he said. “When the capacity of the dams is exceeded, water must be released or it will put the entire structure at risk of destruction.”
Among the major dams upstream in Indian territory are Salal and Baglihar on the Chenab; Pong on the Beas; Bhakra on the Sutlej; and Ranjit Sagar (also known as Thein) on the Ravi.
These dams are based in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, Indian Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, with vast areas of Indian territory between them and the border.
Blaming India for the flooding in Pakistan makes no sense, said Shiraz Memon, a former Pakistani representative on the bilateral commission tasked under the IWT to monitor the implementation of the pact.
“Instead of acknowledging that India has shared warnings, we are blaming them of water terrorism. It is [a] simple, natural flood phenomenon,” Memon said, adding that by the end of August, reservoirs across the region were full.
“With water at capacity, spillways had to be opened for downstream releases. This is a natural solution as there is no other option available,” he told Al Jazeera.
Politics of blame
Stranded pilgrims cross a water channel using a makeshift bridge the day after flash floods in Chositi village, Kishtwar district, in Indian-administered Kashmir last month [Channi Anand/AP Photo]
According to September 3 data on India’s Central Water Commission website, at least a dozen sites face a “severe” flood situation, and another 19 are above normal flood levels.
The same day, Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources issued a notification, quoting a message from the Indian High Commission, warning of “high flood” on the Sutlej and Tawi rivers.
It was the fourth such notice by India after three earlier warnings last week, but none contained detailed hydrological data.
Pakistan’s Meteorological Department, in a report on September 4, said on the Pakistani side, two sites on the Sutlej and Ravi faced “extremely high” flood levels, while two other sites on the Ravi and Chenab saw “very high” levels.
The sheer volume of water during an intense monsoon often exceeds any single dam or barrage’s capacity. Controlled releases have become a necessary, if dangerous, part of flood management on both sides of the border, said experts.
They added that while the IWT obliged India to alert Pakistan to abnormal flows, Pakistan also needs better monitoring and real-time data systems rather than relying solely on diplomatic exchanges.
The blame game, analysts warn, can serve short-term political purposes on both sides, especially after May’s conflict.
For India, suspending the treaty is framed as a firm stance against what it sees as Pakistan’s state-sponsored terrorism. For Pakistan, blaming India can provide a political scapegoat that distracts from domestic failures in flood mitigation and governance.
“Rivers are living, breathing entities. This is what they do; they are always on the move. You cannot control the flood, especially a high or severe flood,” academic Mustafa said.
Blaming India won’t stop the floods. But, he added, it appears to be an “easy way out to relinquish responsibility”.
Jack Osbourne fired back this week at the insults that Roger Waters hurled last month at his late father Ozzy Osbourne, who died in July at the age of 76.
During an interview with the Independent Ink, Waters had expressed his feelings about the “Prince of Darkness” and his music.
“Ozzy Osbourne, who just died, bless him in his whatever that state that he was in his whole life,” the 81-year-old rocker told host Dwayne Booth. “We’ll never know. The music, I have no idea, I couldn’t give a f—.”
He added: “I don’t care about Black Sabbath, I never did. Have no interest in biting the heads of chickens or whatever they do. I couldn’t care less, you know.”
Osbourne’s son, Jack, caught wind of Waters’ words and turned on the war machine. He took to his Instagram on Tuesday to defend his dad.
“Hey Roger Waters F— You,” Jack posted on his page, using white lettering on a red background. “How pathetic and out of touch you’ve become.”
Waters, who co-founded the band Pink Floyd in 1965 and has toured as a solo act since 1999, typically posts politically driven messages in a similar style on his account.
“The only way you seem to get attention these days is by vomiting out b— in the press. My father always thought you were a c— thanks for proving him right,” he added. He ended the post with a clown emoji.
The youngest of the Osbourne clan appeared alongside his father in the MTV reality series “The Osbournes” from 2002 through 2005 and the History Channel’s “Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour” from 2016 through 2018.
The Black Sabbath frontman revealed to David Letterman in an episode of “Late Night” in 1982 that he had beheaded a bat onstage by accident, a feat that had added to the considerable lore built around the heavy metal legend.
Ozzy Osbourne made his last public appearance during the band’s farewell concert, “Back to the Beginning,” on July 5 at their hometown of Birmingham, England. He died on July 22 of a heart attack.
All the articles are worth a view. Here’s a small sample of what our writers covered.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Cupid’s Hot Dogs (from the 65 favorite places to eat)
Colleague Stephanie Breijo wondered why Cupid’s is so quintessentially San Fernando Valley.
Maybe it’s the large “The VALLEY” mural in the Winnetka location’s parking lot — where carhop service and car shows can occasionally be found — or perhaps it’s that iconic heart-shaped signage that has stood over low-slung buildings and strip malls for nearly 80 years.
It’s probably the fact that the Walsh family has been slinging hot dogs across the Valley since 1946, with sisters Morgan and Kelly Walsh serving as third-generation stewards.
Whatever the case, their thin dogs still snap with each bite. The signature Cupid dog — a creation of their father’s in the 1980s — is punchy with mustard and onions, and the chili is so thick it’s practically a paste.
The flavors and generational influence collide here, a sort of trip through decades of family and Valley history in a single hot dog stand.
Canto VI (from the 24 best bars and coffee shops)
Restaurant critic Bill Addison wrote that Canto VI owner Brian Kalliel brought a high level of experience into his Chatsworth venture.
Kalliel previously worked as a sommelier at Augustine Wine Bar and Mélisse.
He sets his caliber for wines high, and delivers with an ever-changing selection through which he guides customers from behind the bar, engaging them in conversations on their tastes.
Wine flights, by-the-glass options, a few rarer bottles with some age for the nerds: Kalliel has his audience covered. The dining room — serving wine-friendly snacks, including nicely composed cheese and salumi boards, and Italian-leaning entrees from Chester Hastings, formerly chef at Joan’s on Third — has distinct supper club vibes.
Couples gravitate to the bar. Larger groups land at dimly lit tables. Ordering happens at the counter, which can be disorienting if the staff doesn’t make the process clear to first-timers. With a full house the place feels informal and occasionally a little chaotic and decidedly grown-up, largely due to Kalliel’s confident, hospitable ringleader presence.
(Brandon Ly / Los Angeles Times)
Where Kelly Kapowski grabs a burger
Senior Food Editor Danielle Dorsey tracked down celebrities, media members and politicians to ask about their hidden Valley gems.
Tiffani Thiessen, of “Saved by the Bell” and voice of She-Hulk in the “Lego Marvel Avengers: Mission Demolition,” gave us three.
“Bill’s Burgers [is] our [favorite] burger in the Valley,” Thiessen said. “Super casual setting for a quick bite with the best legendary old school burger.
“Oy Bar [is] one of our favorite date night spots [and the] food is always on point. Casa Vega [is a] nostalgic Mexican joint that has been a staple in the Valley for many years and [I] hope it continues.”
Hopefully readers will find their own San Fernando Valley staple. For more, check out the entire Guide to the 818.
The week’s biggest stories
(Joe Burbank / Associated Press)
Trump administration policies and push back
Labor Day travel and plans
Crime, courts and policing
Community struggles and issues
More big stories
This week’s must-reads
More great reads
For your weekend
(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by HBO / David John Photography)
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Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff writer Andrew J. Campa, reporter Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Diamy Wang, homepage intern Izzy Nunes, audience intern
For college football fans, the tranquility and/or boredom of game-free weekends has officially ended.
Yes, the college football season is back today along with all of the game-day traditions: tailgating, plopping on the couch with a 60-inch screen, backyard barbecues and incessant complaining about traffic from residents near the Rose Bowl.
Hope is high for the USC and UCLA football programs, members of the Big 10 Conference (it still feels weird saying that!).
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Our L.A. Times sports team put together an amazing digital preview package for the upcoming season. The Trojans start first, hosting Missouri State at the Memorial Coliseum at 4:30 p.m. today while the Bruins welcome Utah to the Rose Bowl at 8 p.m.
Let’s sample some of that coverage and wish both teams the best of luck. And as an Alabama alumnus myself, may I add a very loud Roll Tide!
Expect a roller-coaster season from USC quarterback Jayden Maiava
My colleague and Trojans beat writer Ryan Kartje said the redshirt junior made a concerted effort over the summer to eliminate the back-breaking mistakes he struggled with last season.
Since last season, he dug deeper into head coach Lincoln Riley’s offense and worked on his mechanics with the experts at the 3DQB training academy in Huntington Beach.
But Maiava’s style has lent itself to high variance.
He loves to chuck it deep and too often throws it into coverage. That could yield some thrilling results. We’ll have to see if that will benefit USC or not.
But 4.3% of his passes last season were deemed turnover-worthy by Pro Football Focus. That was third-highest in the Big Ten and too high for USC’s offense to reach its potential.
UCLA’s defense will need big seasons from safety Key Lawrence and edge rusher Devin Aupiu.
My colleague and UCLA beat writer Ben Bolch said UCLA will look for leadership on defense.
Perhaps the most energetic player on the team, Lawrence, a Mississippi transfer, also boasts plenty of talent, speed and smarts.
Barring a setback from a minor right leg injury he sustained midway through training camp, Lawrence projects to be an opening-day starter.
He’ll need to anchor a secondary that’s replacing every starter.
As for Aupiu, UCLA’s pass rush was meh last season, generating 22 sacks to rank tied for No. 78 in the nation.
As a part-time starter, Aupiu made 4½ tackles for losses, including 1½ sacks — decent production given his limited playing time and easily the most among returning players. Getting into the backfield more often this season is a must for the redshirt senior.
Prediction time: The Bruins will be bowl-bound while the Trojans will split with their rivals.
Bolch is predicting a season full of surprises and a bowl berth for the Bruins. Does he think they’ll beat USC? You’ll have to read his preview.
Kartje is predicting a fast start for the Trojans, who will run into some bumps and bruises in the Big 10 before rallying with a flourish. Will USC topple UCLA and Notre Dame?
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff writer Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Andrew J. Campa, reporter Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Diamy Wang, homepage intern Izzy Nunes, audience intern
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This summer, I read my way around Los Angeles and highly recommend the experience.
There were plenty of freshly published L.A. novels to dive into: My literary journey began in pre-Eaton fire Altadena (“Bug Hollow”) and ended in a run-down Hollywood mansion crawling with influencers (“If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You”); other novels transported me to West Adams Heights post-World War II (“The Great Mann”), Laurel Canyon of the mid-’60s (“L.A. Women”), contemporary Glendale (“The Payback”) and, farthest afield, Salton Sea (“Salt Bones”). And while the novels varied greatly, each was engagingly local. The familiar L.A.-ness of narratives populated with malls, dreamers and celebrities real and fictionalized added to those books’ appeal, while others set in less familiar (to me) communities enriched my understanding of the area.
To help you choose your next L.A. literary adventure, we asked five authors to tell us why they set their latest novels in and around SoCal, along with their favorite local spots to visit.
(Phoebe Lettice Thompson)
‘L.A. Women’
Ella Berman
The title of this retro novel telegraphs its setting while echoing an earlier work by Eve Babitz, a famous L.A. scenester who contributed to Movieline magazine when I worked there decades ago, though as a newcomer to the city I did not appreciate it then. Berman’s novel centers on two, rather than one, woman: A pair of frenemies — reminiscent of Joan Didion and Babitz — circle each other in the Laurel Canyon creative scene during the mid-’60s to early-’70s, navigating relationships with rock stars and visits to the Troubadour and Chateau Marmont as the free love vibe begins to sour.
Why L.A.? “This story couldn’t have been set anywhere other than Los Angeles,” says Berman. “The central relationships, conflict and emotional stakes are all a product of this beautiful city during this period of cultural upheaval.” To get the period details straight, she relied on a friend “who had lived in Hollywood since the late 1950s,” writing the first chapter from a hotel room in West Hollywood after lunch with her. “Later, I walked up to the Canyon Country Store immortalized by Jim Morrison in ‘Love Street’ and I felt a sense of wonder for the ghosts of the past.”
Fave hangout spots: “I love anywhere that feels like I’m time traveling so a classic margarita at Casa Vega, the eggplant parmigiana at Dan Tana’s, a show in the close-up gallery of the Magic Castle or a martini at Musso & Frank’s always deliver,” says Berman, who also loves to browse the Rose Bowl Flea Market for midcentury treasures and vintage band T-shirts.
‘The Payback’
Kashana Cauley
Once a Hollywood costume designer, Jada is working in an unspecified mall that seems suspiciously like the Glendale Galleria when Cauley’s novel begins, but that job doesn’t last either. Sticky fingered and bogged down with college debt, she ends up recording ASMR videos to make money while fleeing the debt police — until she and her pals come up with a scheme to erase their financial woes. The storyline will surely resonate among those saddled with their own college debt or just feeling pinched by rising costs at the grocery store.
Why Glendale? “I wanted my main character, Jada, to feel truly kicked out of Hollywood, as she is,” the writer with credits on “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” explains. “So part of me was like, well, where’s the farthest place, vibe-wise, you can get from Hollywood, and still, in Jada’s case, feel very L.A., and the Glendale Galleria fit.” Cauley much prefers the Galleria to the Americana and says fellow transplant Jada feels the same.
Favorite spot: “These days I’ve been hanging out at Taqueria Frontera in Cypress Park because I’m unable to fight my massive addiction to their carne asada queso-taco. It’s perfect. The meat is tender and just the right amount of salty. The cheese is present without being overwhelming. It comes with a handsome scoop of quality guac and a charming green salsa,” she says. “But also the restaurant itself is a vibe. It feels more outdoor than indoor because of a big row of stools out front that’s alongside the kitchen. And it attracts a large, laid-back crowd that feels like a party.”
‘Salt Bones’
Jennifer Givhan
Far from L.A.’s suburban sprawl, a Salton Sea butcher is haunted by the disappearance of girls in a novel suffused in Latina and Indigenous cultures. The water that once sustained the community is horribly polluted and younger characters dream of escape; Mal, the mother of two daughters, is visited by a shapeshifter in her dreams. A book for fans of mysteries and magical realism, it illuminates the environmental hazards of agrifarming in Southern California.
Why Salton Sea? Growing up in the area, her mother warned her that the water was poisonous. “We could smell for ourselves the fish die-offs, the weeks-long stink of toxic algal blooms,” she says. Visiting later, Givhan heard from a friend that the Salton Sea was drying up and releasing toxic chemicals like arsenic from decades of pesticide runoff and “became increasingly concerned about the fate of the place that raised me.” When activists encountered apathy from Sacramento politicians, “I knew I had to tell this story,” she says. “My soapbox may have been slippery, but people tend to love murder mysteries. So I wrapped my heart in one.”
Fave SoCal spots: “Anything by the water; I love hanging out on the beach and eating tacos. As I write in all of my novels, the water haunts me,” Givhan observes. “Many of the pages of ‘Salt Bones’ were drafted while we were living in Chula Vista and making trips back to the Salton Sea and surrounding communities for research. I started this novel at Imperial Beach, where we couldn’t go into the water because of the sewage problem and the signs warning No Nadar! Then I moved to Coronado Beach. On the way onto the peninsula, we’d stop at a great little burrito place for breakfast burritos, and I’d haul my portable typewriter to a picnic bench, set it up with the ocean spread before me and start tapping away.”
‘If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You’
Leigh Stein
Back in Hollywood, influencers have set up shop in a crumbling mansion with an infamous past, desperate to go viral; the owners of the property are looking for sponsorship money to pay for its repairs. In steps photographer turned entertainment journalist Dayna, who gets dumped on Reddit in humiliating fashion as the book opens. Stein’s novel, in case that description does not make clear, has much to say about Hollywood, social media and the creator economy; at its heart is a gothic horror story wrapped up in a mystery with satirical undertones.
Why Hollywood? “Like ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ my novel is about fears of aging and irrelevance in an industry that runs on youth and beauty,” Stein says. “I’m obsessed with how the creator economy is completely reshaping the media and entertainment industries.” The mansion is inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House in Los Feliz, which has appeared in movies including “Blade Runner” and also has a troubled legacy. “The more research I did, the more it seemed cursed,” she says.
Fave L.A. haunts: “I’m originally from Chicago and I first fell in love with Los Angeles through Francesca Lia Block novels, where everything is magic and draped in curtains of bougainvillea,” the author says. “My ideal day in L.A. would be taking the Berendo Stairs to Griffith Park, checking out the staff recommendations at Skylight Books and going to Erewhon to get their spicy buffalo cauliflower and some overpriced adaptogenic beverage that promises to change my life.”
‘Loved One’
Aisha Muharrar
Less overtly L.A. than the rest of the novels on this list, “Loved One” unfolds in L.A. and London following the death of Gabe, a 29-year-old indie musician who was the first love of Julia, a UCLA law student who became a Hollywood jewelry designer. Eager to reclaim his prize possessions for her and Gabe’s mother’s sake, she meets Gabe’s girlfriend Elizabeth in England. Through a series of flashbacks, key moments in Julia’s relationship with Gabe — and her life in L.A. — are revealed.
Why L.A.? Muharrar initially resisted the idea of setting her book in L.A., but ultimately felt moving there would just be the logical next step for a musician like Gabe, who has “a passion and then, career-wise, it turns out L.A. is the best place to pursue it.” Julia, she notes, arrives in L.A. for school with one career goal in mind and then ends up doing something else.” In the end, “it’s just a place people live.”
Fave L.A. hangout spots: “I love the bookstores: Reparations Club, Chevalier’s, Skylight. And I also love Silver Lake Library. It closed in July for several months of renovations and won’t be open until 2026 and I am, no exaggeration, devastated,” she says. “Also: Above the Fold in Larchmont. Is it the last newsstand in L.A.? I think it might be.”
The Shala River in Albania has been dubbed the “Thailand of Europe” for its stunning turquoise waters and lush, jungle-like scenery – and it’s just a short flight from the UK
Aditi Rane and Ketsuda Phoutinane Spare Time Content Editor
15:58, 25 Aug 2025
The turquoise water of the Shala River could be mistaken for somewhere tropical (Image: Bardhok Ndoji via Getty Images)
Whilst millions of tourists head to Thailand annually for its legendary tropical islands, there’s a European secret that delivers a comparable adventure much nearer to home.
The Shala River has earned the title “Thailand of Europe,” offering a taste of paradise without the lengthy journey or cost of a holiday in Southeast Asia. It features stunning turquoise waters and dense, rainforest-like landscapes, creating an exotic adventure in Europe’s heartland.
Ideal for an autumn getaway, Albania enjoys delightfully mild temperatures of approximately 25C in October, with plenty of sunshine making it perfect for late-season sun-seekers.
For those drawn to Thailand’s 1,500 miles of shoreline and more than 1,400 islands scattered with limestone formations, colourful coral reefs, and magnificent beaches, Albania’s Shala River offers an extraordinary substitute, reports the Express.
Albania’s Shala River is closer to home – and makes a cheaper holiday(Image: Maleo Photography via Getty Images)
Reachable only by vessel, the Shala River meanders through the breathtaking Albanian Alps. With its remarkably pristine waters and jade-coloured peaks, it could be confused with one of the remote islands of Thailand.
Thrill-seekers will be delighted, as the Shala River region provides pursuits like zip-lining, snorkelling, swimming, kayaking, and trekking, all amidst striking natural splendour.
However, it’s just as perfect for those seeking to relax, with its serene environment creating the ideal setting for unwinding beside the water.
The river’s secluded, chilled-out character delivers a restful retreat without the enormous expense. The stunning beauty of this region has captured attention across social media platforms too.
TikTok user @olam281’s footage of the Shala River left countless viewers gobsmacked to discover this tropical paradise was actually in Europe rather than some exotic Indian Ocean isle.
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One amazed comment read: “I’ve been to Albania multiple times. [It’s] my favourite country of all time, and I’ve travelled quite a lot. 10/10 would recommend to everyone.” Another flabbergasted follower exclaimed: “I THOUGHT IT WAS THAILAND.”
Reaching the Shala River involves a boat trip from Lake Komani’s harbour, though the spectacular natural scenery more than justifies the journey.
This pristine location remains largely undiscovered, a world away from the packed shores of better-known holiday hotspots, making it a genuine hidden gem.
Travelling to Albania proves remarkably straightforward for British holidaymakers as well. Direct flights operate from numerous major UK airports, including Bristol, Birmingham, Luton, and Stansted.
With tickets starting from about £25 in October for flexible travellers, it offers an budget-friendly getaway for those craving sunshine without enduring lengthy flights or jet lag.
ATLANTA — Tommy Fleetwood of England ended a summer of heartache with the richest prize on the PGA Tour, winning the Tour Championship on Sunday for his first tour title to capture the FedEx Cup and its $10-million reward.
Fleetwood got plenty of help at the start when Patrick Cantlay began bogey-double bogey and could never catch up. Scottie Scheffler hit his opening tee shot out-of-bounds and still was a threat until a tee shot into the water ended his hopes on the 15th.
Through it all, Fleetwood held his nerve. He closed with a two-under 68 for a three-shot victory over Cantlay (71) and Russell Henley (69).
“I’ve been a PGA Tour winner for a long time, it’s just always been in my mind,” Fleetwood said. “A lot of close calls, but I’ve always enjoyed the challenge.”
His first PGA Tour victory came with two trophies — the FedEx Cup and the “Calamity Jane” replica putter for the Tour Championship.
Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley was within one shot of the lead on the front nine but wound up with a 70 to tie for seventh. He said he was “dead tired,” and now has to decide whether to use one of his six captain’s picks on himself. He announces his picks Wednesday.
“The only thing I care about is on Sunday of the Ryder Cup, that we win the Ryder Cup. Then I’ll know I made the right decision,” he said. “Until then, I won’t know. It’s going to be pretty wild.”
But this day, this moment, belonged to Fleetwood, enormously popular around the world for coping with so many close calls with a refreshing perspective and joy for those who beat him.
An eight-time winner around the world, no stranger to big stages at the Ryder Cup or his silver medal at the Olympics last summer, Fleetwood was constantly reminded about his failure to win on golf’s strongest circuit.
He saw a one-shot lead turn into a one-shot loss at the Travelers when he took three putts from the front of the green and Bradley made birdie. Fleetwood let a two-shot lead with three holes left get away from him at the FedEx St. Jude Championship to start the postseason.
For all the hurt, he never lost hope.
“Tomorrow might be my time, it might not,” he said Saturday evening before his third try going into the final round with no one in front of him. “But I’ll still have a great time doing it.”
It was his time, and he had a blast.
Thousands of fans surrounded the 18th green at East Lake to watch the 34-year-old from England, all of them chanting, “Tommy! Tommy! Tommy!” Justin Rose, who rallied past him to win two weeks ago, and Shane Lowry stuck around to share in his big moment.
Fleetwood removed his cap when he tapped in for par, looked to the cloudy sky and let those long locks flow as he let out a yell.
Finally, Fleetwood.
“This wasn’t the most comfortable I’ve been,” Fleetwood said with a smile. “I feel like I’ve had a great attitude throughout it all. … I’m so happy I got it done.”
He started the final round tied for the lead with Cantlay, the FedEx Cup champion from 2021 searching for his first win in three years. Cantlay made bogey on the first, three-putted for double bogey on the second and suddenly was four behind.
Cantlay never went away, however, and a two-shot swing on the 10th — Fleetwood made bogey from the left rough, Cantlay made a five-foot birdie — narrowed the gap to one shot. The next three holes were pivotal.
Cantlay failed to get on the green from a bunker on the par-three 11th and made bogey. Fleetwood birdied the next two holes with wedges to the six-foot range, and Cantlay could only match one of them.
The last big hurdle was the 218-yard 15th to a peninsula green, where Fleetwood went in the water Saturday and made double bogey. This time he managed a bogey and didn’t miss a step the rest of the way in finishing at 18-under 262.
Cantlay was two back with three to play when he missed the 16th fairway and made bogey.
“It’s always good to have a chance on Sunday and to be right there. I’ve been there plenty of times, and any time you get in that spot, it’s a real pleasure,” he said.
Henley went 13 straight holes without a birdie and couldn’t put any serious pressure on him.
Scheffler’s start was even more shocking. His tee shot went left and disappeared under a fence, out-of-bounds. Then, he got up-and-down from 201 yards to salvage a bogey. He ran off three birdies in four holes to finish the turn, making a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-three ninth.
But he missed a five-foot birdie on the 10th, and his hopes ended with a five-iron that went into the water on the 15th for double bogey. He closed with a 68.
There’s no doubting the best this year. Scheffler won five times, including two majors. He finished the season with 21 consecutive rounds in the 60s, and he has gone five straight months finishing no worse than fifth. He was trying to become the first back-to-back FedEx Cup champion.
“I battled all week to give myself a chance. I wasn’t as sharp as I would have hoped to have,” Scheffler said. “I had a good first round, but outside of that didn’t really play my best the first few days. Still gave myself a shot. Just needed a few better swings.”
Cameron Young also lingered for much of the final round and shot 66 to tie for fourth with Scheffler and Corey Conners (62), strengthening his bid to make his first Ryder Cup team before home fans in New York.
If you browse through social media, it’s easy to find commentary about canceling the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
There are Angelenos who lack confidence in the city and county’s ability to roll out the red carpet due to perceived failures during the Palisades and Altadena fires.
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One syndicated columnist pleaded with L.A. not to work with “a lawless U.S. regime,” while sportswriter and author Jeff Pearlman wondered if Latin American athletes would feel safe in the U.S. due to the Trump administration’s current deportations.
There are pushes from some, but how possible is it that the Games will be canceled?
Why is backing out difficult? We’re three years away
Host cities and host country national organizing committees (in this country, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee) sign a host city contract (HCC) after the International Olympic Committee officially awards the Games.
The contract for the 2028 Games, signed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and then-City Council President Herb Wesson in September 2017, includes procedures for termination from the IOC’s perspective but doesn’t leave the same option for the host city or the national organizing committee.
“While one cannot foreclose all potential theories, it is hard to imagine a scenario where Los Angeles could terminate the HCC without facing substantial legal issues,” Nathan O’Malley, an international arbitration lawyer and a partner at Musick, Peeler & Garrett, wrote in an email. “Especially if the reason for ending the contract was a political disagreement between the federal, state and local branches of government.”
When even COVID-19 didn’t stop the Games
After an initial one-year delay of the Tokyo Games, medical professionals pleaded to cancel amid rising COVID-19 cases.
LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman has emphasized that he has assurances from the federal government that the United States will be open, despite recent travel bans and tighter scrutiny of international travelers arriving in the U.S.
Trump’s June proclamation includes exemptions for athletes, team personnel or immediate relatives entering the country for the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State.
If any city should be ready to host the biggest Olympics in history, it should be L.A. Not only because of the existing venues, but because of the unprecedented 11-year planning time after the IOC awarded the Games in 2017.
Now with less than three years remaining, relocating to a city that would likely have to build new venues would be unrealistic for the IOC.
“For Los Angeles, a city whose identity is partly predicated on staging the Olympics twice, and now having a third time,” said Mark Dyreson, a sports historian at Penn State University, “I think it would be really, really difficult for L.A. to give up the Olympics.”
(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Jamie-Lee B.)
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What Californians think about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to temporarily redraw the state’s congressional districts has been a source of hot debate.
Republicans rallied around polling conducted by Politico last week that noted that California voters preferred an “independent line-drawing panel” determining seats to the House of Representatives versus giving that role to the state Legislature.
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The high-stakes fight over political boundaries could shape control of the U.S. House, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.
Texas’ plan creates five new Republican-leaning seats that could secure the GOP’s House majority. Texas is creating the new districts at the behest of President Trump to help Republicans keep control of the House in the midterm elections. California’s efforts are an attempt to temporarily cancel those gains. The new maps would be in place for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 congressional elections.
Newsom and Democratic leaders say California must match Texas’ partisan mapmaking to preserve balance in Congress.
New polling supports Californians fighting back
The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, conducted for the Los Angeles Times, asked registered voters about the Newsom-backed redistricting push favoring California Democrats. This effort serves as a counterattack to President Trump and Texas Republicans reworking election maps to their advantage.
When voters were asked whether they agree with California’s redistricting maneuver, 46% said it was a good idea, and 36% said it was a bad idea.
Slightly more, 48%, said they would vote in favor of the temporary gerrymandering efforts if it appeared on the statewide special election ballot in November. Nearly a third said they would vote no, and 20% said they were undecided.
One interpretation of the data
“That’s not bad news,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS Poll. “It could be better.”
DiCamillo added: “With ballot measures, you’d like to be comfortably above 50% because you got to get people to vote yes and when people are undecided or don’t know enough about initiatives, they tend to vote no just because it’s the safer vote.”
The strongest backers
Among voters who regularly cast ballots in statewide elections, overall support for redistricting jumped to 55%, compared with 34% opposed.
DiCamillo said that is significant.
“If I were to pick one subgroup where you would want to have an advantage, it would be that one,” he said.
Where to find the undecided votes
Winning in November, however, will require pushing undecided voters to back the redistricting plan.
Among Latino, Black and Asian voters, nearly 30% said they have yet to decide how they would vote on redistricting.
Women also have higher rates of being undecided compared with men, at 25% to 14%.
Younger voters are also more likely to be on the fence, with nearly a third of 18- to 29-year-olds saying they are unsure, compared with 11% of those older than 65.
The ever-growing divide
The partisan fight over election maps elicited deeply partisan results.
Nearly 7 in 10 Democratic voters said they would support the redistricting measure, and Republicans overwhelmingly panned the plan by about the same margin (72%).
California Republicans attempted to stall the process by filing an emergency petition at the state Supreme Court, arguing that Democrats violated the California Constitution by rushing the proposal through the Legislature.
The high court rejected the legal challenge Wednesday.
Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff writer Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Andrew J. Campa, reporter Karim Doumar, head of newsletters Diamy Wang, homepage intern Izzy Nunes, audience intern
The UK has plenty of beautiful beaches up and down the country, but some are dirtier than others
The UK has plenty of beaches but some of them are not suitable for swimming(Image: BerndBrueggemann via Getty Images)
When it comes to heading to the seaside you want crystal clear waters, pristine sand and naturally, zero rubbish. Whilst Britain boasts numerous stunning coastal spots across the nation, occasionally they can be marred with, well, debris.
Research has found the UK’s most polluted beaches, listing them according to the worst contamination levels. This is according to retailer Cartridge Save, which identified the top 10.
The study examined water purity by analysing concentrations of E. coli bacteria and intestinal enterococci, as well as TripAdvisor guest feedback for each spot.
The coastal areas were assessed using a “water cleanliness score” from zero to 10, with 10 indicating the finest state, reports the Express.
Lowestoft Beach is located in Suffolk(Image: Getty)
10. Lowestoft
E. Coli – 45
Int. Enterococci – 12
Least ‘excellent’ ratings – 3
Water cleanliness score – 7.45
Lowestoft in Suffolk makes the top 10 muckiest beaches in the UK with a score of 7.45 out of 10. Despite ranking 45th for E.coli, it’s 12th for intestinal enterococci and third for the fewest ‘Excellent’ ratings.
Lancing Beach scored 7.29 and came ninth on the list(Image: Getty)
9. Lancing, Beach Green
E. Coli – 25
Int. Enterococci – 7
Least ‘excellent’ ratings – 26
Water cleanliness score – 7.29
Lancing Beach Green in Lancing is next at ninth place with a score of 7.29. It ranks 25th for E.coli and 7th for intestinal enterococci.
Seascale in Cumbria came eighth on the list with a score of 7.28 out of 10(Image: Getty)
8. Seascale
E. Coli – 5
Int. Enterococci – 11
Least ‘excellent’ ratings – 29
Water cleanliness score – 7.28
Seascale in Cumbria lands in eighth place with a score of 7.28 out of 10, ranking 5th for E. coli and 11th for intestinal enterococci.
Three Shells Beach has received only 9.38 percent positive reviews from visitors(Image: Getty)
7. Three Shells Beach
E. Coli – 13
Int. Enterococci – 20
Least ‘excellent’ ratings – 2
Water cleanliness score – 7.22
Three Shells Beach in Southend-on-Sea comes in seventh with a score of 7.22 out of 10. Despite ranking 20th for intestinal enterococci and 13th for E.coli, the beach has received only 9.38 percent positive reviews from visitors, placing it in the second-worst spot in this category.
This underscores the need for continuous improvements to boost the overall tourist experience.
Brighton Beach is one of the UK’s most renowned spots(Image: Getty)
6. Brighton Beach
E. Coli – 14
Int. Enterococci – 6
Least ‘excellent’ ratings – 17
Water cleanliness score – 6.92
Brighton Beach, despite being one of the UK’s most renowned and bustling beaches all year round, takes the sixth spot with a score of 6.92 out of 10. It struggles with high levels of intestinal enterococci bacteria (ranking sixth) and E.coli (ranking 14th), showing that even popular spots can have significant cleanliness issues.
Littlestone Beach in Littlestone completes the top five with a score of 6.51 out of 10(Image: Getty)
5. Littlestone
E. Coli – 4
Int. Enterococci – 5
Least ‘excellent’ ratings – 21
Water cleanliness score – 6.51
Littlestone Beach in Littlestone rounds out the top five with a score of 6.51 out of 10. With it ranking fourth for E.coli levels and fifth for intestinal enterococci, it’s best to give this beach a miss.
Hunstanon (Old Hunstanton) had the fourth-highest levels of intestinal enterococci(Image: Getty)
4. Hunstanon (Old Hunstanton)
E. Coli – 6
Int. Enterococci – 4
Least ‘excellent’ ratings – 44
Water cleanliness score – 6.34
Old Hunstanton had the fourth-highest levels of intestinal enterococci and the sixth-highest levels of E. coli, giving it a water cleanliness score of 6.34 and placing it fourth on the list.
Fraisthorpe recorded the second-highest levels of intestinal enterococci(Image: Getty)
3. Fraisthorpe
E. Coli – 3
Int. Enterococci – 2
Least ‘excellent’ ratings – 30
Water cleanliness score – 3.83
Fraisthorpe Beach in Fraisthorpe and Old Hunstanton Beach in Hunstanton rank third and fourth respectively, with scores of 3.83/10 and 6.34/10. Fraisthorpe recorded the second-highest levels of intestinal enterococci and the third-highest levels of E.coli.
Southend Westcliff Bay scored a mere 2.76 out of 10 for water cleanliness(Image: Getty)
2. Southend Westcliff Bay
E. Coli – 2
Int. Enterococci – 3
Least ‘excellent’ ratings – 34
Water cleanliness score – 2.16
Southend Westcliff Bay in Southend-on-Sea is not far behind, scoring a mere 2.76 out of 10 for water cleanliness. This beach recorded the highest levels of intestinal enterococci and the second-highest levels of E.coli. Moreover, only 40% of online reviews rated the beach as excellent.
Haverigg Beach in Haverigg, Cumbria had water cleanliness score of just 2.16 out of 10(Image: Getty)
1. Haverigg
E.Coli – 1
Int. Enterococci – 3
Least ‘excellent’ ratings – 34
Water cleanliness score – 2.16
Haverigg Beach, located in Haverigg, Cumbria, has been named the dirtiest beach in the UK, with a disappointing water cleanliness score of just 2.16 out of 10.
Haverigg Beach had the highest levels of E. coli of any UK beach analysed and ranked third for levels of intestinal enterococci.
Despite these concerning results, many visitors have left positive reviews, recounting enjoyable experiences at the beach.
Porthor, known by some as ‘Whistling Sands’, is one of only two beaches in Europe where the sand ‘sings’ under your feet – and it’s a must-visit for Brits.
As one of merely two European beaches where this extraordinary phenomenon occurs, Porthor – or Porth Oer as it’s known locally – stands as an essential destination for any traveller. Walking holiday experts Mickledore have emphasised that Porthor captivates visitors with its unusual acoustic properties, spectacular scenery, and convenient accessibility.
The experts add: “Porthor’s gentle ‘song’ is rare and beautiful. It turns a simple walk into something magical. Where else can you step on the sand and have it sing back to you?”
Alongside its singing sands, Porthor offers stunning views of the small islands of Dinas Bach and Dinas Fawr, where grey seals are sometimes spotted.
The beach also sits in an ideal spot for Wales Coast Path walkers, acting as an excellent launching point for treks to Mynydd Anelog, another site offering spectacular panoramas.
Porthor offers stunning views of the surrounding area(Image: Getty)
Visitors hoping to witness the ‘whistling sands’ phenomenon must time their trip perfectly. Head there on a dry day, stroll above the high tide mark, and either shuffle your feet or tread gently – that’s when you might catch the distinctive squeak or whistle.
Beachgoers have been singing the praises of this unique spot on TripAdvisor. One visitor gushed: “This was our favourite beach on Llyn. Perhaps more of a ‘squeak’ than a whistling beach but sure enough if you walk across the sand bare foot you’ll hear it! Dramatic location, crystal clear waters, lovely soft squeaky sand!”
Another fan penned: “What a lovely sandy beach, great car park, lovely views with rock pools and a cave for the children to explore. Could hear the sand whistling under our feet, well worth a visit.”
However, one visitor who missed out on the ‘whistling’ still had positive words to share: “Beautiful beach well worth a visit. Lovely coffee and cake served in the cafe. Sand was quite wet so I didn’t get the whistling experience.”
Experts warn that the water crisis in the country’s south will worsen, unless there is urgent government action.
Iraq is experiencing its driest year on record since 1933, as the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which flow into the Persian Gulf from West Asia, have seen their levels drop by up to 27 percent due to poor rainfall and upstream water restrictions.
In the southern part of the country, a humanitarian crisis caused by drought and water shortages is unfolding in Basra, a vital port and oil hub.
Basra, home to nearly 3.5 million people, remains Iraq’s most water-scarce and climate-vulnerable region, deeply affected by inadequate water management.
Many there are forced to depend on daily water deliveries to ensure their survival and health.
Hasan Raykan, a resident of Basra, is forced to travel several kilometres daily just to secure his share of clean water. He says the allocated amount barely covers his family’s needs.
“I have to wake up early and leave my work and stand in long queues to bring [water] home,” Raykan told Al Jazeera.
“In many cases, we have to tighten ratios between livestock and household use. The seawater near our homes is polluted and causes skin diseases.”
The quality of seawater, already unsuitable for human consumption, has been further degraded by oil spills, agricultural runoff and sewage discharge.
Furthermore, saltwater travelling from the Gulf – via the Shatt Al-Arab River, which feeds from the Tigris and Euphrates – has been moving steadily upriver, increasing salinity levels in the Basra region. And the flow of freshwater is diminishing due to dams upstream.
The Mihayla desalination station in Abul Khaseeb district has been operating to alleviate Basra’s water crisis for more than a year.
It uses a special method to treat water containing high quantities of salt from the Shatt Al-Arab River.
“We produce nearly 72,000 cubic metres [19 million gallons] of treated water daily, currently serving about 50 percent of Abul Khaseeb district,” Sa’dun Abbud, senior engineer at the Mihayla Water Desalination Station, told Al Jazeera.
“Salinity in the Shatt Al-Arab River has reached nearly 40,000 total dissolved solids. After desalination, the refuse is returned to the river.”
Experts warn that the water crisis will worsen, unless there is urgent government action.
“Basra has lost 26 to 30 diverse marine species due to saltwater intrusion,” said Alaa Al-Badrani, a water expert.
“This has created a new, hybrid environment unsuitable for both freshwater and seawater species. With salinity levels rising, the water is also unfit for agriculture.”
“While reduced rainfall and rising temperatures are global challenges, Iraq’s water crisis is also the result of upstream restrictions and domestic neglect,” wrote Hayder Al-Shakeri, research fellow in the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, in a piece for the think tank’s website.
“Corruption and self-interest among Iraq’s political elite weaken institutional capacity”, creating opportunities for its neighbours Turkiye and Iran to push for deals that don’t necessarily benefit Iraq, said Al-Shakeri.
The water crisis was at its worst in 2018, when more than 118 people were sent to hospital with signs of contamination. There are now renewed fears of an outbreak.
Reforms at both the domestic and regional levels are needed to resolve Iraq’s water crisis, noted Al-Shakeri, who said, “Domestically, Iraq should establish a national water diplomacy body with a clear mandate to negotiate, monitor flows, and to coordinate between ministries, governorates, and the Kurdistan region.”
If you’re a Gen Xer or younger, there’s a good chance you’ve contemplated moving out of California.
The reasons are obvious. It’s expensive and difficult to raise a family, pay rent or even consider buying a home.
That struggle isn’t just on the mind of locals. Midwestern and Southern states have recognized an opportunity and are making their best pitches to frustrated Californians.
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So, is there a price Tulsa, Okla., could offer you to move? Are the incentives of cheaper gas, much shorter commutes and overall drive times enough of an appeal? I haven’t even mentioned the cost of living and a real chance of buying a home.
Rollins felt socially isolated working a remote job in Ocean Beach for a tech company, but still overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people around her.
Months earlier she read about a program, Tulsa Remote, that would pay remote workers to relocate to Oklahoma’s second-largest city for at least a year. She decided to give it a shot and visit.
“When I was [in California], I was so consumed with the process of day-to-day living — the traffic, getting places, scheduling things,” Rollins said. “Here there’s so much more space to think creatively about your life and to kind of set it up the way you want.”
After five months in Tulsa, Rollins met her significant other at a trivia night. Her partner, with whom she now lives, made the journey from California to Tulsa for school during the pandemic.
“He grew up in Santa Cruz and was living 10 minutes from me down the road in Pacifica, but we never met in California,” she said. “We met in Tulsa.”
What is Tulsa offering?
Tulsa Remote — funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation — started in 2019, and has sought to recruit new residents to diversify the city’s workforce.
It decided to offer $10,000 to remote workers who would move to the state for at least a year.
The program also provides volunteer and socializing opportunities for new residents and grants them membership at a co-working space for 36 months.
What do the numbers say?
Tulsa Remote has attracted more than 3,600 remote workers since its inception.
More than 7,800 Californians have applied to the program and 539 have made the move, cementing California as the second-most popular origin state behind Texas.
Those numbers reflect something of a wider trend: From 2010 through 2023, about 9.2 million people moved from California to other states, while only 6.7 million people moved to California from other parts of the country, according to the American Community Survey.
A Public Policy Institute of California survey conducted in 2023 found that 34% of Californians have seriously considered leaving the state because of high housing costs.
Zach and Katie Meincke, former Westsiders
The lower cost of living was a huge bonus for the Meinckes when they moved three years ago.
They went from paying $2,400 in monthly rent on a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in L.A.’s Westside to a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Tulsa for just a few hundred dollars more.
It ended up being fortuitous timing for the couple, who discovered they were expecting their first child — a daughter named Ruth — just weeks after they decided to move.
The couple are expecting their second child in December.
It’s a life milestone that Meincke says may not have happened in Los Angeles. In California, it costs nearly $300,000 to raise a child to 18. In Oklahoma, researchers estimate it costs about $241,000, according to a LendingTree study this year.
“There was no way we were going to move into a house in Los Angeles unless we had roommates, and that’s not an ideal situation,” Zach Meincke said. “We were 37 when we left Los Angeles and it felt like we were at a point that if we wanted to have all those other things in life — children, a house — we need to make that shift.”
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‘Do you think I’m going to be cold?” asks my friend Ellie as we navigate the winding roads of Mosedale, on the north-eastern reaches of the Lake District, while rain batters against the windscreen. It’s a fair question. Both the Met Office and Mountain Weather Information Service are clear – being in the Lakeland hills will not be pleasant this Friday night, due to a sudden cold and wet snap. But there’s another reason she’s asking. I’m taking her to stay in her first bothy – that’s a mountain shelter left open, year-round, for walkers, climbers and outdoor enthusiasts to use, free of charge, with no way to book.
Unlike mountain huts in other parts of Europe and the world, they weren’t built for this purpose. They are old buildings left to ruin in wild places – former coastguard lookouts, gamekeepers’ cottages, remote Highland schoolrooms – before the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA) began to maintain them, offering shelter in a storm. And during this particular storm, shelter is definitely needed.
Fording a nearby stream. Photograph: Phoebe Smith
Before we left, Ellie was worried about what to pack, and well she might be. Despite a bothy having four walls, a roof, windows and a front door (they range from tiny, one-room affairs to sprawling, multi-bedroom structures), they are still very basic. There is no running water (there’s usually a stream nearby for this), no toilet (each has a bothy spade so you can dig your own) and no electricity (tealights and a headtorch are a must), and the one we are heading to, Great Lingy Hut, doesn’t even have the usual bothy stove for warmth.
Yet it’s precisely for these reasons that I’ve chosen it to be Ellie’s first. I know that because of the bad weather it’s unlikely we’ll have to share with anyone else. We park at the base of Carrock Fell, where the River Caldew is now a raging torrent. It is past dusk; the rain has eased to a mere mizzle and we can just make out the shape of the building on the skyline. With backpacks shouldered we begin uphill, keeping our eyes open for signs of walkers who may have potentially beaten us to it.
“Visitor numbers have definitely gone up in recent years,” the chair of the MBA, Simon Birch, tells me when I speak to him the night before. “Of course, back in the day they were kept a secret – some old documents I was going through have ‘confidential’ written across them. But people can’t keep secrets like this.”
Phoebe (left) and Ellie keeping warm in the unheated bothy.
It was in 2009 that the MBA decided to publish grid references to its 100-strong network on its website – despite some internal protests. After that, the “cat was out of the bag”, says Birch. When the MBA celebrated its 50-year anniversary in 2015, I asked and was granted permission to write the first guidebook about bothies – as a love letter to them, rather than a definitive guide. There was a lot of pushback, though. When The Book of the Bothy was published, I experienced online trolling (from MBA members and others), abusive emails, complaints to my publisher and even threats. But at the same time, one of the MBA’s co-founders, Betty Heath, told me how much she loved my passion; Birch told me that younger members began to sign up (when there was a real danger of membership ageing out); and now there is even a female thirtysomething trustee.
Out of the 105 bothies they currently look after, only two are owned by the MBA. All the others are on leases. “Ultimately, we could lose all our bothies, if the owners decided to take them back,” says Birch – which proves just how special the network and ethos of bothies is.
The hut we head to in the Lakes was originally used by miners at the nearby and now disused Carrock Mine (which dates back to the 16th century). It was relocated to its higher location on the moor as a shooting box. During the 1960s it was leased to the “Friends” Quaker boarding school in Wigton as an outdoor base and was fitted with a sleeping platform. When that school closed in 1984, it became an open shelter, and eventually the Lake District national park took responsibility for its maintenance before handing it over to the MBA in 2017.
We were at peace, away from the madness of our day-to-day lives. Photograph: Phoebe Smith
We pass the mine workings under a starry sky, so they appear only as silhouettes. We ford the stream with the help of walking poles and mutual words of encouragement. Finally, we reach the door and experience the anticipatory few seconds that anyone who’s ever stayed in a bothy will know – when after hours of walking you knock on the door with mild trepidation, to discover if anyone else has beaten you to it. The door swings open. It’s empty. We have it to ourselves.
“The biggest change has been the impact that the growing popularity of long-distance trails has had on the bothies,” Simon tells me. “Some of the spots are incredibly well used, and we now have a sanitation officer in the MBA.”
I give Ellie a brief rundown of bothy etiquette. Put candles and the camping stove in the designated area so as not to cause a fire risk. Use the spade for the toilet – well away from the building and any watercourses. Set up a bag for waste. As a countryside girl, she has a good idea of the code – but Birch says a problem the MBA is facing in its 60th year is that content creators are showing people the bothies on social media but not teaching good practice. As such, in a very modern move, the MBA is seeking creators to collaborate with it, to demonstrate responsible bothying.
We settle in, heating a pre-made tagine and making hot chocolates to keep us warm. I also fill hot-water bottles. We chat for hours, me regaling Ellie with stories of previous bothy visits – including the time I inadvertently crashed a stag party in Scotland.
The wind whistles through the cables that hold Great Lingy Hut down, but despite this, as mothers of young children, we both sleep well away from the madness of our day-to-day lives.
Recent figures put the MBA membership at 3,800 – with many more users who don’t pay the annual £25 donation to join. We’re staying at one of the newer buildings in the network, but Birch tells me there are no plans to take on any more.
We enjoy our breakfast beside the window, where a lifting fog offers tantalising views down this little-visited valley.
As we leave, I feel hopeful for the next 60 years of bothies in Britain. We pack not only our own rubbish but empty packets and used candle holders left by others. “I love it,” says Ellie, “leaving it better than we arrived.” She may have begun this adventure worried about feeling cold but, thanks to the magic of bothies, is leaving as many do, warmed by the whole wild and wonderful experience.
Water polo players briefly left the pool after shots were fired near an Under-20 World Cup game in Brazil.
Brazilian police have said there were no injuries after shots were fired near an Under-20 World Cup water polo women’s game between China and Canada in the city of Salvador.
China won 12-8 on Sunday – the opening day of the tournament – but footage showed the game being briefly interrupted as players got out of the pool, lay down and took cover by a small barrier after hearing gunshots outside the water polo venue in the Pituba neighbourhood. China led Canada 3-2 at the time.
“The match stopped for about a minute. Our team saw that the police were taking care of it,” Marco Antonio Lemos, head of the Bahia state water sports federation, said in a statement on Monday.
Police said the cause of the shots was a confrontation with an alleged local thief who was outside the venue and tried to escape. No more details were given.
Spectators were told about the incident after the game had resumed.
Brazil is hosting the 16-team tournament for the first time.
Pamela Warner, the mother of late “Cosby Show” star Malcolm-Jamal Warner, looked beyond loss and offered some comfort to his fans as she broke her silence about his sudden death in July.
The elder Warner created an Instagram page dedicated to her son’s legacy and on Friday released a contemplative and lengthy statement saying the actor-musician “was at peace and more importantly, he did not suffer.” Warner, who was best known for his portrayal of clean-cut Theodore Huxtable, drowned while swimming in the Caribbean off Costa Rica. He was 54.
Pamela Warner reflected on her son’s accomplishments in TV, music and his personal life, honoring her son as a “kind, loving man with a huge heart for humanity” and an “exceptional” family man. In addition to his mother, the actor is survived by his wife and daughter.
“Malcolm left an indelible mark on the world and on countless hearts,” she wrote. “All who met him, however briefly, were better for the encounter.”
While she mourned the loss of her “teacher, coach, confidant, business partner, and best friend,” Pamela Warner also reflected on giving birth to him more than 50 years ago. She said she felt “blessed that he chose me to be his mother, to come into the world through the waters of my womb.” She went on to offer a full-circle perspective on her son’s death.
“Malcolm was birthed through water and he transitioned through water,” she wrote. “He departed as he arrived, through water. This was his time. His mission on earth had been completed.”
The Emmy-nominated actor was on vacation with his family at the time of his death. He was swimming when a current pulled him deeper into the ocean. The Red Cross in Costa Rica said its first responders also tended to another man caught in the same current that claimed Warner’s life. The patient, whose identity was not disclosed, survived. First responders found Warner without vital signs, and he was taken to the morgue.
Pamela Warner’s statement joins the collection of tributes honoring her son’s life. Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s co-stars including Bill Cosby, Geoffrey Owens and Raven-Symoné and, more recently, Keshia Knight Pulliam have mourned his death.
“A week ago I lost my big brother but I gained an angel,” Pulliam said of her TV brother on social media.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner was a multi-faceted entertainer who in addition to acting also pursued a Grammy-winning music career. After his time on “The Cosby Show” he also directed episodes for several other TV shows. Warner’s mother’s statement acknowledged his reach, encouraging his fans and loved ones to “Hold close to whatever part of Malcolm’s life that touched yours.”
Her statement concluded: “In keeping it near, you keep his spirit alive — nourishing you with the peace, love, joy and light that embodied Malcolm-Jamal Warner.”
Glacier National Park, Mont. — JOHAN looked up. Jenna was running toward him. She had yelled something, he wasn’t sure what. Then he saw it. The open mouth, the tongue, the teeth, the flattened ears. Jenna ran right past him, and it struck him — a flash of fur, two jumps, 400 pounds of lightning.
It was a grizzly, and it had him by his left thigh. His mind started racing — to Jenna, to the trip, to fighting, to escaping. The bear jerked him back and forth like a rag doll, but he remembered no pain, just disbelief. It bit into him again and again, its jaw like a sharp vise stopping at nothing until teeth hit bone. Then came the claws, rising like shiny knife blades, long and stark.
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Johan and Jenna had been on the trail little more than an hour. They had just followed a series of switchbacks above Grinnell Lake and were on a narrow ledge cut into a cliff. It was an easy ascent, rocky and just slightly muddy from yesterday’s rain.
Johan took some pictures. Jenna pushed ahead. It was one of the most spectacular hikes they’d taken on this trip, a father-daughter getaway to celebrate her graduation from high school. There were some steps, a small outcropping, a blind turn, and there it was, the worst possibility: a surprised bear with two yearling cubs.
The bear kept pounding into him. He had to break away. To his right was the wall of the mountain, to his left a sheer drop. Slightly behind him, however, and 20 feet below the trail, a thimbleberry and alder patch grew on a small slope jutting from the cliff. As a boy growing up in Holland, Johan had roughhoused with his brother and had fallen into bushes. He knew it would hurt, but at least it wouldn’t kill him.
So like a linebacker hurtling for a tackle, he dived for that thimbleberry patch. The landing rattled him, but he was OK. His right eye was bleeding, but he didn’t have time to think about that. Jenna was now alone with the bear.
She had reached down to pick up the bear spray. The small red canister had fallen out of the side pocket of his day pack, and there it was, on the ground. But she couldn’t remove the safety clip, and the bear was coming at her again. She screamed.
“Jenna, come down here,” he yelled.
She never heard him. She was falling, arms and legs striking the rocky cliff, then nothing for seconds before she landed hard.
The bear did hear him, however. It looked over the cliff and pounced. Johan had never seen anything move so fast in his life. He tucked into a fetal position. The bear fell upon him, clawing and biting at his back. His day pack protected him, and his mind started racing again.
His daughter didn’t have a pack. He always carried the water and snacks. If the bear got to her, it’d tear her apart.
He turned, swung to his right and let himself go. Only this time there wasn’t a thimbleberry patch to break his fall. It was a straight drop to where Jenna had landed, and instead of taking the bear away from her, as he had hoped, he was taking the bear to her.
JOHAN Otter lived with his wife, Marilyn, and their two teenage daughters in a two-story home in a semirural neighborhood of Escondido, Calif. He worked as an administrator at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. He ran in marathons and bred exotic birds. He knew the love of his family, success at his job, good health. At 43, he had dreams of a long and happy life. But dreams are often upended. Johan knew this, and whenever possible, he tried to distance himself and his family from risk.
It was Aug. 25, 2005. Seven days earlier, Johan and Jenna had packed up the family pickup truck and driven north through Nevada and Utah. In September, she would begin her freshman year at UC Irvine. Hiking was their special bond. He was a runner, she was a dancer; they both were in good shape for the trail, and it wasn’t unusual for Marilyn and Stephanie, their younger daughter, to stay home.
Johan Otter, top photo at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park on Aug. 24, 2005. A day hike that he and his daugther Jenna took. “My last day with hair,” Otter said. Bottom photo shows Jenna Otter in of the last photos taken by Johan Otter before being attacked by a Grizzly bear on the Grinnell Glacier Trail in Glacier National Park, Montana.
(Jenna Otter)
Johan and Jenna checked into a motor lodge on the east side of Glacier. Johan was eager to experience the wildness of the park, and the first night he did. A black bear, just outside the lodge.
For millenniums, bears have lurked on the periphery of everyday life, dark shadows just beyond the firelight. On this continent, they have been our respected competition and greatest threat. Even though close encounters with bears, especially grizzlies, are rare, they trigger a conditioned response, a reflex of fear and flight that is seldom called upon in modern life. Sometimes we get away. Sometimes we can’t.
But most of all, bears inspire a deep fascination. Johan remembered how, as a boy, he would go with his family on vacations to Norway and how his parents, his brother and he had always wanted to see a bear. The curiosity never left him. Three years ago, during a trip to Canada with the family, he and Stephanie saw a cub. Marilyn and Jenna stayed back.
On this trip to Glacier, they had an ambitious hiking schedule, and they were disappointed when it rained their first full day. They contented themselves with driving to various sights. The next day was beautiful. The sun cut through scattered, misting clouds. Johan was eager to get out on the trail before anyone else. It was 7:30 a.m.
The path wound through a lush carpet of thimbleberry, beargrass and lilies growing beneath a mix of Engelmann spruce and Scotch pine. They skirted Lake Josephine, and in less than an hour, Johan and Jenna were above the tree line. Surrounding peaks were lightly dusted with snow. At one point Johan spotted a golden eagle trying to catch a thermal. They talked loudly, just as you’re supposed to do in bear country. Jenna was trying to figure out how she could be both a dancer and a doctor. He wondered if he’d be able to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
As they made their way along the southern flank of Mt. Grinnell, a glacier-carved cliff that rises nearly 3,500 vertical feet from the valley floor, they fell silent, lost in the sounds of the wind and the water, the beauty of the moment. Ahead of them were the Gem and Salamander glaciers. A ribbon of water cascaded into the forest below. A river flowed into the turquoise stillness of Grinnell Lake.
Penstemon, columbines and fireweed bloomed amid the low-lying alder scrub. They passed through Thunderbird Falls, a landmark on the trail where a stream often pours from the cliff above onto a platform of flat stones. Today it was only wet and slippery, but the drop-off was unforgiving.
(Doug Stevens / Los Angeles Times)
TEN minutes past the falls, they ran into the bear. In a matter of minutes, they had all tumbled 30 feet down a rocky V-shaped chute, landing on a ledge beneath the trail. Jenna had scrambled away, and the grizzly was on top of Johan.
The attack had just started, and it had been going on too long. He grabbed the bear by the fur on its throat. The feeling of the coarse hair, as on a dirty dog, was unforgettable, and for a moment the animal just stared at him, two amber-brown eyes, its snout straight in his face. It showed no emotion, no fear, no anger. There were just those eyes looking down at him.
Johan considered fighting. He reached to his left for a rock. A piece of shale, it crumbled in his fist. He tucked his knees to his chest and tried to cover his head.
The bear bit again and again on his right arm. So this is what it feels like to have your flesh torn, he thought, still trying to comprehend the attack. He tussled about, trying to avoid greater injury.
“Aaagh,” he screamed.
Now the bear was tugging on his back. It felt as if someone were jumping up and down on him, and he found himself growing angry. Throw it off the mountain. If only he could throw it off the mountain.
He felt a sharp pressure on the top of his neck and his head. The bear was biting into his skull, chewing into the bone. This could be it, he thought. This could be his death, and his right hand was useless. He could not push the bear away.
If only this were a movie or one of those old episodes of “Bonanza” he used to watch on TV. He’d be a stuntman, and they’d stop shooting any time.
But this was real. He’d die if he didn’t make another move, so he rolled and fell again, sliding 20 feet down the slope to a small ledge and then over that and onto a narrow shelf. Right foot, left foot. He landed on his feet. He was lucky he stopped. He wouldn’t have survived the next long straight drop.
He was silent. The bear stood above him, unable to reach him. It felt good to be left alone. Water flowed down his back. Cold water. He’d fallen into a small stream, runoff from yesterday’s rain.
Jenna heard the bear panting as it came closer to where she lay beneath the branches of a low-lying alder. She felt woozy from her fall. She had a knot on her head. Her back ached, and her ankle was bleeding.
She tried to stay tucked in, but when the bear got close to her face, she had to push it away. It nipped at the right corner of her mouth, at her hair, her right shoulder. Each bite was quick, followed by a slight jostle.
Her screams split the morning silence like an ax.
Source: National Park Service. Graphics reporting by Thomas Curwen
(Thomas Suh Lauder/Los Angeles Times; Photo by Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
JOHAN pressed himself against the mountain. There was no room to sit or lie down. He heard Jenna, but he couldn’t do anything. He would remember the sound as the worst he had ever heard, and then there was nothing. All was still.
He was wet and dirty, soaked with blood and starting to shiver. The attack had lasted at most 15 minutes. He looked at his right arm and saw exposed tendons. His medical training as a physical therapist told him no major nerves or arteries had been cut. They can sew that together, he thought, and that, and that.
Then he touched the top of his head and felt only bone. He stopped exploring. It was enough to know that his scalp had been torn off. His neck hurt. He wondered if something was broken.
He couldn’t see out of his right eye. He reached up. It was full of blood and caked over. Was his eyeball hanging out? No, it was still in place. He carefully parted his eyelids. The sweet turquoise stillness of Grinnell Lake shimmered nearly 1,500 feet below him. He could see. He was relieved.
“Jenna,” he eventually called out.
“Dad.”
She had played dead, and the bear had moved on. She assessed her injuries. A bite on her shoulder as deep as a knuckle. Lower lip torn down to her chin. Hair caked with blood.
Her father’s voice was the best sound she’d ever heard.
“Are you OK?” he asked.
“I’m OK. How are you?”
“I’m bleeding a lot.” He thought of his own injuries and of his daughter’s appearance. “How’s your face? Did it get you?”
“Just my mouth.”
“And your eyes?”
“They’re fine.”
He could tell by the sound of her voice that she was OK. Thank you, God.
He gazed up into the sky above Mt. Gould on the far side of the valley. He thought of the people he knew who were dead. His mother and father. Thank you, Mom, and thank you, Dad, for being an energy that he could draw on. Somehow it made him less afraid.
And thank you, Sophie. She was a patient of his, an 80-year-old woman who had died last year. They had grown close as Johan worked with her. She would complain — I’m going to die, she’d say — and he’d tell her to be quiet. You’re not going to die, Sophie. And to think he nearly had.
And thank you, Steve, his father-in-law, Marilyn’s dad, who had become his own dad in a way.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Then he called back to Jenna. “It got me kind of bad.”
It was the only time he told her how he felt. After that, he turned stoic. No complaining. No despairing. He knew his dad would have reacted the same way. He chalked it up to being Dutch: You take care of yourself and your children. Jenna would do the same.
Together, unprompted, they began to call out.
“Helllp.”
“Helllp.”
GLACIER National Park straddles the Continental Divide. Popularly thought of as North America’s Switzerland, famous for its snowy peaks, alpine meadows, rivers and lakes, the park attracts nearly 2 million visitors each year. On the east side of the park, the Grinnell Glacier Trail is one of the most popular day hikes.
“Helllp.”
Johan knew he couldn’t stand here much longer. He took off his day pack and camcorder. His digital camera was gone, lost in the chaos. He pulled a jacket out of his pack and put the hood over his head. The night before, he’d read a book about bear attacks: how a woman in Alaska had stopped the bleeding of her scalp by covering her head. He also thought it might be easier on Jenna or anyone else who might happen to see him.
He wanted to climb to the ledge above. He didn’t know how he’d carry his pack and camcorder. Then it came to him, what they say on airplanes. Leave your luggage and take care of yourself. It made sense. He clambered and crawled off the narrow shelf and up to the ledge. He felt dizzy, so he sat down.
Johan and Jenna alternated their calls. Jenna had decided to stay where she was. She too was dizzy and uncertain of her injuries. Perched on the side of the mountain, about 75 feet apart, they looked down into the valley. Their cries disappeared in the vast open space. It was windy and cold, and the quiet seemed unreal after the intensity of the attack.
“Helllp.”
Then Jenna called out. “Dad, the boat just got to the dock. I see people getting off.” It was a water taxi that ran a regular service across Lake Josephine.
Johan knew that with the arrival of the boat, hikers would soon be streaming along the trail and their shouts would be heard. He was tired. He stopped yelling and tried not to think about how badly injured he was. Nothing a little surgery can’t fix, he told himself. Besides, he was alive, and his daughter was fine.
Amid the isolation and the cold, he grew sore and stiff and numb. Lying down, sitting up, nothing helped. Forty-five minutes later, he heard Jenna talking with someone. She called to him. “Dad, there are people here now. They’re getting help.”
Still it seemed like forever. Then Johan saw a man cutting through the bushes and sliding down toward him. The man’s eyes were wide open. The expression said everything.
“Are you OK?” the man asked.
“Do you see a camera?” Johan replied.
Jim Knapp was surprised by the question, but very little was making sense.
Knapp and his wife had started their hike that morning a little past 8, well ahead of the water taxi. After an hour on the trail, they heard what sounded like a coyote or a hawk or some animal being attacked. Then there was more, and it sounded human. They started running. Someone must have fallen or sprained an ankle.
Knapp told Johan he would look for the camera, but his attention was focused on the injured man before him. It was the most gruesome sight he had ever seen.
Blood covered Johan’s face. His arms and legs oozed blood. His voice and sentences were jerky and repetitive. He reminded Knapp of Dustin Hoffman in “Rainman,” and with his sweat shirt pulled up over his head, he looked like Beavis in an episode of “Beavis and Butthead.”
“Jenna’s OK,” Knapp said, as he began to get a sense of Johan’s injuries. He noticed the day pack — but no camera — on the shelf beneath them, and he climbed down to retrieve it. Inside were a sweat shirt and four water bottles. He covered Johan and tried to make him drink. He took off his T-shirt and wrapped it around a deep gash on Johan’s leg. He laid out some nuts and a granola bar and took some water up to Jenna.
Then Johan saw a girl. She was sliding down to him. Her name was Kari.
Kari Schweigert and Heidi Reindl had been car-camping in Glacier. They were just starting on an 11-mile hike when they ran into Jim Knapp’s wife, running down the trail, screaming for help.
Then there were two teenage boys. Johan couldn’t keep track of everyone, but one of the boys — the one who wore a beanie — did get his camera. It was the camcorder, and Johan was glad to see it. He was also glad that people were finally getting there, but he felt bad for them. He knew stumbling upon a bear attack — and finding him as bloody as he was — couldn’t be easy for them. A fall or a sprain, sure, but a bear attack? He tried to tell himself that it would be OK. He tried to console himself. If he and Jenna had not been attacked, then these other hikers would have.
What can we do, everyone asked. How can we help?
The rock at the back of his head felt like it was digging into his skull. He squirmed about. He wanted them to help him sit up, but they didn’t want to. They were worried about his neck.
Then he’d have to do it himself. He simply wanted to sit up, have a drink of water and then maybe lie down again.
But he was fading.
Grinnell Glacier at Glacier National Park
(Ryan Herron/Getty Images/iStockphoto)
VOICES told him that help was on the way, only he was losing interest. He didn’t want to deal with any of this anymore. It was all too much: wondering how they’d get him and Jenna off the mountain; wanting to be cleaned up from the dirt and sticky blood; saddened that their trip was ending this way.
Kari Schweigert sat beside him, talking. Her curly hair was tied back in a ponytail. She was in a tank top; Johan was wearing her jacket. He was shaking and numb with cold.
“How are you doing?” she asked.
“The pain is OK,” he said. “I’d just like to take a nap.”
Then she started to move in closer to him. She knew he was cold. She said she wanted to warm him up. She angled around him and covered his abdomen and chest with her body, her legs off to a side.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked. He didn’t want her to get covered with blood; it would be impossible to wash out.
She couldn’t cover him completely, but she did shield him from the wind. It was a moment he would never forget. How strange, he thought, to be hiking along on this trail one moment, thinking about running in a marathon, and then suddenly not being able to walk, being so dependent upon strangers, and now this girl so close to him, so tender and different from the savagery of the attack.
His mind kept going back to Jenna. Everyone told him that she was not as badly injured as he was. He felt guilty. Why had he wanted to go hiking here? Why wasn’t he a better parent?
Schweigert kept talking to him. She told him not to fall asleep. It made sense. He knew he’d lost a lot of blood, and he knew he was in shock. The wash of voices and movement of people around him, once reassuring, began to blur.
A park ranger and a dozen hikers were on the trail above them. The ranger radioed a report on Johan and Jenna’s status to the ranger station at Many Glacier, where an incident commander was assembling a rescue team.
A few of the hikers peered over the edge.
“Do you need anything?” they yelled.
“More jackets.”
Someone tucked one under Johan’s head.
His neck felt broken.
“WHAT’S your name?”
“Johan Otter.”
“Where are you?”
“Glacier National Park.”
“What time of day is it?”
“Late morning.”
“What happened?”
“Bear attack….”
The name badge said Katie. She wore the green and gray uniform of the park service. She had slid down the slope, balancing a medical kit and a shotgun in her hands, and once she determined that he was alert and oriented, she started dressing his wounds.
Katie Fullerton had pulled into the Many Glacier parking lot expecting just another summer day. Then she heard about the attack. She and another ranger were ordered to get to Johan and Jenna as soon as possible. Since opening in 1910, Glacier National Park has had only 10 bear fatalities, and they were enough.
The incident commander at Many Glacier had put a call out for additional rangers, some stationed on the west side of the park, 70 miles — a two-hour drive — away. A helicopter, chartered from Minuteman Aviation, would ferry those rangers to the site of the attack and would be used to shuttle equipment and personnel up to the mountain.
Whup, whup, whup.
Katie Fullerton looked up. At 9,000 feet, the white chopper had negotiated a U-shaped notch in the Garden Wall, a narrow filigree of stone crowning the Continental Divide. As it drew close, it circled, looking for a place to land. Johan and Jenna Otter could not have fallen in a less accessible place.
Three hours had passed since the attack, and Johan’s metabolism was slowing down. The blast of adrenaline triggered by the attack was long gone; the 15-minute torrent of thought and reaction had dissipated in a miasma of pain, discomfort and boredom. Why was the rescue taking so long?
Crashing mentally and emotionally, he knew he needed to stay warm and awake. Gusts of wind ghosted along the cliff; temperatures shot from warm to freezing as clouds drifted beneath the sun. Hikers on the trail were tossing down energy bars, water and more outerwear. A ranger was talking on the radio.
A second ranger crouched beside Johan. He had arrived with nearly 50 pounds of gear, including a life-support pack with IV fluids, medications and an oxygen tank, and he began cutting away Johan’s jackets and clothing. He introduced himself as Gary, Gary Moses. Johan appreciated his calm and confident manner.
Moses explained that the plan was to place Johan and Jenna on litters, have them lifted up to the trail and then carried down to a landing zone, where the chopper would take them to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center in Kalispell, Mont., in the Flathead Valley on the west side of the park.
Rangers on the trail set up a belaying system. They knew they had to move fast. Moses took Johan’s vitals. His blood pressure was 80 over 30, his pulse 44, his temperature dropping.
Moses prepared an IV line. Johan tried to lie still, but he was shivering uncontrollably. Then he heard something. It was Katie Fullerton; she was crying. The sound startled him at first.
“Do you want to stand down?” Moses asked his fellow ranger.
She shook her head.
Johan was glad. She had worked hard to make him comfortable and safe.
This was her first season as a patrol ranger, her first major trauma. Just last year, she’d been collecting user fees, and she had grown up near the park. She and her family had hiked these trails. This could just as easily have been her father.
Her tears reminded Johan how grave his situation was.
THE helicopter was making a second landing, and all Johan could think was: Hurry up. A second medic had joined Moses and Fullerton.
“How’s Jenna?” It was his steady refrain.
“There’re people with her.”
Moses and the other medic put a C-collar around Johan’s neck and got ready to insert a urinary catheter. Johan reminded them about a scene in “Seinfeld” in which an embarrassed George Costanza is caught naked and complains about “shrinkage.” They burst out laughing, and Johan relaxed a little. This is who he was: not just a bloodied man but someone always there with an easy line, ready to lighten the mood, to give to others.
Moses reassessed the rescue plan. It had taken nearly an hour to find a vein and get the IV started. Carrying Johan out, lifting him to the trail and then down to the helicopter landing zone was going to be too traumatic, and the afternoon was getting on.
He thought a helicopter could lift Johan directly off this ledge, in a rescue known as a short haul. It would be quicker but riskier. Still, he didn’t see any way around it. He radioed in his recommendation. The incident commander agreed. They called in the rescue helicopter operated by the hospital in Kalispell.
As they waited, Johan remembered an Air Force chopper that had crashed during a rescue on Mt. Hood little more than three years earlier. Everything — the foundering, the dipping, the rolling down the slope in a cascade of snow — had been televised on the evening news.
It made him nervous.
“Am I going to die?” Johan asked.
“You’re not going to die up here,” the second medic said.
RED against the blue sky and white clouds, the short-haul helicopter was easier to spot than the Minuteman.
“Hear that?” Gary Moses looked out over the valley. “That’s the sound of your rescue.”
Pilot Ken Justus adjusted the foot pedals and hand controls to bring the Bell 407 closer to the cliff. Travis Willcut, the flight nurse, sat next to him, calling out positions, monitoring radio traffic. Jerry Anderson, a medic, dangled 150 feet beneath them on a rope with a red Bauman Bag and a body board at his waist.
Piloting a helicopter at moments like this is like pedaling an exercise bike on the roof of a two-story building while trying to dangle a hot dog into the mouth of a jar on the ground. Lying on his back, Johan watched.
The IV had kicked in. Though stiff and still cold, he was wide awake and in no pain. Anticipation was everything, and he remembered feeling a little afraid. He hated roller coasters and worried about his stomach.
“You’ll have the best view of your life,” Moses said, hiding his worry. He knew getting Anderson in would be tricky. Because helicopters can’t cast sharply defined shadows on steep terrain, pilots flying short-haul missions have trouble judging closing speeds and distances.
Johan Otter is airlifted from the Grinnell Glacier Trail with medic Jerry Anderson, after being attacked by a grizzly bear and her two cubs in Glacier National Park, Montana on August 25, 2005. Johan tumbled down a steep chute about 75 feet where he almost died.
(Heidi Reindl)
Anderson, dangling at the end of the rope, had a radio in his helmet. He was using it to direct Justus lower and closer to Johan. Abruptly, the radio died.
“I’m at your 11 o’clock position, a mile out,” Moses broke in with his radio, once he understood the problem. “Half mile, 12 o’clock.”
“Do I need to come up or down?”
“Up about 10 feet.”
Then just as Justus got closer, he caught Anderson’s shadow on the ledge and set him down about 20 feet to the right of Johan. The other rangers shielded Johan from the rotor wash and dust.
Anderson unhooked himself. Justus moved the helicopter away. With the rangers’ help, Anderson slid the body board beneath Johan and strapped the Bauman Bag around him. He waved Justus back in.
“We’re ready to lift.”
“Roger, ready to lift.”
Johan couldn’t tell when he was off the ground. Dangling with Anderson beside him, 150 feet beneath the helicopter, all Johan would see was Anderson’s face, the blue sky and the belly of the chopper. The wind whistled around him.
“Woo hoo!” The hikers and rangers on the mountain started cheering and clapping.
With Johan and Anderson still beneath him, Justus accelerated down the valley to the helipad at Many Glacier. A waiting crowd was asked not to take pictures. Johan was transferred into an ambulance while Justus went back to pick up Jenna. Finally Johan was out of the wind and in a warm place.
Then he heard the news.
“Jenna is here,” someone said.
“Hi, sweetie,” he called out as they prepared to fly him to the medical center in Kalispell. With his head wrapped in bandages, mummy slits for his eyes and the C-collar on his neck, Johan couldn’t see her. “Make sure when they call Mom that you talk to her.”
He knew he wouldn’t be the one making that call.
“Otherwise she’ll totally freak out,” he said.
About this article
The accounts in this article are drawn from interviews over a span of 18 months with Johan, Marilyn and Jenna Otter. Additional interviews were conducted with the following individuals:
National Park Service: Jan Cauthorn-Page, Katie Fullerton, Rachel Jenkins, Kathy Krisko, Gary Moses, Rick Mulligan, Melissa Wilson, Amy Vanderbilt and Andrew Winslow.
Hikers on the Grinnell Trail: Julie Aitchison, Colin Aitchison, Kathleen MacDonald, Jim Knapp, Marla Moore, Robin Malone and Heidi Reindl.
Minuteman Aviation: Jerry Mamuzich.
Kalispell Regional Medical Center’s Advanced Life Support and Emergency Rescue Team (ALERT helicopter): Jerry Anderson, Addison Clark, Ken Justus, Travis Willcut, Patricia Harmon and Keith Hannon.
Additional reporting came from the National Park Service’s investigation report concerning the attack.
