On this date in history:
In 1804, the French Senate declared Napoleon Bonaparte emperor.
In 1871, U.S. Marines landed in Korea in an attempt to open the country to foreign trade.
In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had its first Academy Awards ceremony. Wings was named Best Picture in the event at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
In 1932, following the assassination of Premier Inukai Tsuyoshi, fears began to spread that a militarist “super-party” was beginning to take shape in Japan.
File Photo courtesy of the Japan’s National Diet Library
In 1969, the unmanned Soviet spacecraft Venera 5 landed on Venus.
In 1985, the NBA named the Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan rookie of the year after he led all players in points.
In 1988, U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop said nicotine was as addictive as heroin or cocaine and called for the licensing of tobacco product vendors.
In 1991, Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch to address a joint session of Congress.
UPI File Photo
In 1997, Mobutu Sese Seko — who ruled Zaire for more than 30 years, allegedly looting it of billions of dollars — fled the capital as rebel forces advanced. He died in exile less than four months later.
In 2012, Vermont became the first state to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract gas from underground deposits.
In 2013, Britain’s David Beckham announced he would retire from soccer.
In 2014, election results in India gave Narenda Modi and his opposition Bharatiya Janata Party a major victory elevating him to prime minister.
In 2019, the final episode of The Big Bang Theory aired after a 12-season run. The comedy series starred Jim Parsons (Sheldon), Johnny Galecki (Leonard), Kaley Cuoco (Penny), Simon Helberg (Howard), Kunal Nayyar (Raj), Melissa Rauch (Bernadette) and Mayim Bialik (Amy).
File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
The NFL has released its full schedule for the 2026 season.
Now we know exactly where and when all 32 teams will play every week this fall.
That’s pretty exciting, right?
Oh, and all 32 teams also dropped schedule release videos, with all the Easter eggs, inside jokes, pop culture references and head-scratching moments you can handle.
Now that is exciting.
As always, the teams have given us a wide variety of visual experiences to enjoy. There are spoofs galore (the Rams adapted the “Napoleon Dynamite” opening credits and even included a newspaper called the Los Angeles Hard Times; the Las Vegas Raiders produced a new version of “Step Brothers” starring quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza and Kirk Cousins; the Kansas City Chiefs took on the QVC shopping network).
Some videos were clearly meant to appeal strictly to that team’s fanbase, such as the Philadelphia Eagles’ 14-minute (by far the longest of the bunch) offering of five players giving their “unfiltered reactions” to every game on their schedule and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ piece that pokes loving fun at local fans with many references only true Yinzers would understand.
While many of the videos were high-tech and well-rehearsed, a handful featured unscripted fun, like New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston drawing pictures to help fans guess the opposing teams and Baltimore Ravens receiver Zay Flowers surprising a couple of super fans at their wedding.
Here are five of our favorites from this year’s crop of videos. It’s an extremely subjective list, but the stakes could be high — the Seattle Seahawks had our No. 1 video last May and went on to win the Super Bowl nine months later.
As Eileen Wang and her supporters tell it, the former Arcadia mayor was led astray by a man she trusted and loved.
After chasing her political ambitions in the San Gabriel Valley suburb, Wang, 58, won a City Council seat in 2022 with the help of a campaign advisor who was also her romantic partner. Two years later, he was charged by federal authorities with secretly working on behalf of the Chinese government.
Wang, a naturalized U.S. citizen, distanced herself from her ex and remained in office, becoming mayor earlier this year. The scandal had mostly quieted — until Monday, on the eve of President Trump’s planned trip to Beijing, when a plea deal was unsealed revealing Wang’s own murky role as an agent for China.
A man walks past an empty space where a photograph of former Mayor Eileen Wang was removed in the lobby of Arcadia City Hall.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Now, Wang has become a national political talking point, with critics painting her as a calculating foreign agent who sought to infiltrate the American government and undermine democracy.
Katie Miller, wife of top Trump advisor Stephen Miller, blasted Wang on social media site X as a “spy.”
“This is pure China trying to influence U.S. politics and U.S. elections,” Katie Miller said on Fox News.
Back home, some of Wang’s former colleagues in local government say they repeatedly tried to raise alarms about her.
“There were red flags everywhere,” said Sharon Kwan, an Arcadia city council member and former mayor.
Wang admitted in her plea agreement to posting and editing web content at the request of the Chinese government — without disclosing her ties to U.S. authorities, as the law requires. She ran afoul of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, a federal statute that experts said has seen ramped up enforcement over the last decade, particularly in cases involving China.
But those familiar with the law — and international espionage — said it does not appear that Wang was engaged in spycraft as it is commonly understood.
Dennis Wilder, a former senior U.S. intelligence official and professor at Georgetown University, said that, in the CIA, Wang would be referred to as “an agent of influence.”
“She’s not a spy in the Jason Bourne sense,” Wilder said, referring to the fictional American agent. “She’s not out there recruiting sources and that sort of thing. That’s not the role that they want for her. But they see this other role as extremely important.”
A man exits Arcadia City Hall on Tuesday.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Wang moved to the U.S. around 30 years ago, in part, she told The Times in 2024, because she wanted “freedom for speech, freedom [for] thinking.”
Her mother was a Chinese medicine and acupuncture doctor and her father was a physician in Sichuan province before working at USC, she said. Authorities have not detailed how she immigrated or her path to citizenship. She landed in Arcadia, she said, lured by what the school district in the affluent city of 54,000 could offer her two young boys.
She ran an after-school program and was involved in some community organizations, but said she did not move in political circles until shortly before her 2022 run for city council. She switched her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, which, she said, spoke more to the needs of voters in her district, where many share her Chinese roots.
“I walk about 140 days,” she said of her campaign, adding that she hit every door in her district five times. “I never stop.”
Yaoning “Mike” Sun, Wang’s former fiance, managed her campaign.
Arcadia City Councilmember Sharon Kwan stands outside the front entrance of the San Gabriel Valley suburb’s City Hall. “This is not something where we can just dismiss and pretend nothing happened,” said Kwan regarding the case against ex-mayor Eileen Wang.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Kwan, who was elected to the city council at the same time, recalled Sun as a constant presence at city meetings and events, “always with the camera.”
“Always recording, always promoting her,” Kwan said. “She was like a celebrity to him.”
Two years after Wang took office, in December 2024, federal authorities arrested Sun on suspicion of acting as an illegal agent of China.
Prosecutors accused Sun in a criminal complaint of working with another man to cultivate Wang as a political asset for the People’s Republic of China or PRC. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles identified the other man as John Chen, describing him in a sentencing memorandum as “a high-level member of the PRC intelligence apparatus,” who had “met personally” with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Chen instructed Sun to submit reports on Wang, referred to throughout the complaint as “Individual 1,” to Chinese officials, including one the federal complaint said they referred to as the “Big Boss.” A draft of the report allegedly included a request for $80,000 to “support pro-PRC activities in the United States.” Sun was also told to tout Wang’s relationship with an unnamed U.S. congressperson, the complaint said.
Both men eventually pleaded guilty to working as unregistered agents of China, with Sun sentenced this year to four years in prison. Chen was sentenced to 20 months.
Wang spoke with Chen on the day she was elected and three more times over the next few months, according to the complaint in Sun’s case.
“You are doing a good job, I hope you can continue the good work, make Chinese people proud,” Chen told Wang, in a conversation on Jan. 23, 2023, according to the complaint in Sun’s case.
Chen and Sun also coordinated a trip to China in 2023 for Wang to meet with “leadership,” which would include stops in six different places, according to the complaint. It’s unclear whom Wang met with on the trip.
After Sun’s arrest, Wang denied to several people that they had been engaged to marry. She said during a council meeting that their relationship ended in spring 2024.
Jolene Cadenbach, a pastor in Arcadia, said Wang confided in her that “she had been lied to” by Sun.
“I think he did a con job on her,” Cadenbach said.
The recent plea agreement gave the wrong impression about Wang, the pastor said.
“It made her sound like she was some kind of spy and it wasn’t like that at all,” she said. Wang was only following Sun’s orders, she added: “He told her to put up this site, she did it. She didn’t really investigate it.”
In a statement, Wang’s lawyers said she “apologizes and is sorry for the mistakes she has made in her personal life.” They said “she genuinely loves this city and is devoted to the people and the community within it,” but “her trust and love for apparently the wrong person… ultimately led her astray.”
Arcadia resident Sonia Martin sits on the porch of her home. Martin said she had long expressed concerns about the city’s former mayor, Eileen Wang.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
After Sun was charged in 2024, Sonia Martin and other Arcadia residents showed up at council meetings carrying protest signs. Martin said she expected Wang to be pushed out. Instead, she said, most council members appeared to unite behind Wang.
“They wanted to have this feeling of, like, everything’s great here. We’re all warm. Look at us, it’s kumbaya,” Martin said.
Kwan said she repeatedly tried to bring up the concerns of constituents to her fellow council members but was brushed off.
“Everybody was just so silent,” Kwan said. “This is not something where we can just dismiss and pretend nothing happened.”
The job of mayor rotates among Arcadia City Council members, and when it was Kwan’s turn last April, she warned during her swearing-in speech that constituents “must remain vigilant against influence of foreign governments, including efforts by the Chinese Communist Party, that may seek to shape local policy for the interests that do not align with our residents.”
Since Wang’s plea agreement became public, some have scoffed at the notion that Chinese spies would establish an outpost in Arcadia, or that the web posts she made before becoming mayor amounted to any sort of meaningful propaganda campaign.
But according to Sun’s plea agreement, local office was just the start. Prosecutors said Sun’s 2023 report for Chinese officials boasted that “during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, I orchestrated and organized my team to win the election for city council.” He called Wang a “new political star.”
Wilder, the former U.S. intelligence official, said that sounded like a familiar strategy.
“Maybe she would end up in Congress some day or at the state government level. They invest in these folks hoping they move up the political food chain,” the Georgetown professor said. “That is part of the Chinese long game.”
In her plea agreement, Wang admitted that from late 2020 through at least 2022, she worked with Sun to run a website called U.S. News Center that branded itself as a news source for Chinese Americans.
Wang and Sun “executed directives” from Chinese government officials, posting requested articles and reporting back with screenshots showing how many people viewed the stories, the agreement says.
Prosecutors also say Wang edited articles at the request of officials and shared information showing the reach of the posts.
“Thank you leader,” she wrote on Aug. 20, 2021, after being complimented for a post that was viewed more than 15,000 times, according to the plea agreement.
Wang never disclosed that the Chinese government had directed her to post the content, according to court documents.
That sort of low-level violation of the law is not supposed to trigger federal charges unless, according to a February 2025 memo by then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi to Justice Department prosecutors, the case involved “conduct similar to more traditional espionage.” The Trump administration has pursued other high-profile foreign agent cases recently, with prosecutors winning a conviction Wednesday of a man charged with running a covert police station in Manhattan and keeping tabs on political dissidents.
When news broke of the charges and plea deal involving Wang, current and former city officials said they were not surprised.
A wall of photographs of former Arcadia mayors hang inside Arcadia City Hall. Eileen Wang is shown second from left on the bottom row. Wang admitted in court filings this week to working as an unregistered agent for China.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
“The warning signs around Eileen Wang were public for more than a year before this plea, agreement, and too many people in positions of influence defended and supported her,” April Verlato, a former mayor of Arcadia, said in a statement. “Our electeds should have represented what was best for the community and held her accountable. The San Gabriel Valley deserves better.”
Paul Cheng, mayor pro tem of Arcadia, said the council didn’t move earlier to oust Wang because a majority of its members wanted to let the federal investigation run its course.
“The public always says, ‘Why didn’t you investigate her when her boyfriend was arrested? Why didn’t you do something?’” he said.
Pedestrians walk along a sidewalk next to Huntington Drive in downtown Arcadia on Wednesday.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
But, he emphasized, “council members are not federal investigators.”
“We are not supposed to get involved,” said Cheng, an attorney. “It would make the situation 10 times worse.”
Cheng spoke highly of Wang, painting her as a committed civil servant with a passion for veterans, first responders and diversifying the businesses on Baldwin Avenue, the city’s main corridor.
“She probably attended the most events compared to all of us,” he said. “People have tried getting me to say she’s a horrible person, but I can only say what I saw, which was I thought she did a good job on council.”
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and I’m back. The wedding was beautiful. Thanks to all of you who wrote in with well wishes.
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The big news is that the Dodgers have continued to slump. Since starting the season 15-4, they have gone 11-14, including two four-game losing streaks. Why is this happening? Well, there’s usually not one thing that causes team slumps. It’s easy to blame Shohei Ohtani, since he isn’t hitting at his normal spectacular level, but you can say that about other players too.
Let’s look at some numbers. Let’s see where the Dodgers rank among the 30 MLB teams in some categories. These numbers are through Wednesday:
Runs per game
4.93 (seventh in MLB)
Batting average
.263 (second)
OB%
.342 (first)
Slugging%
.433 (second)
Grounded into double play
37 (tied for third)
Grounded into double play %
10.6% (eighth)
Batting average with runners in scoring position
.266 (ninth)
Batting average with two out and RISP
.241 (11th)
ERA
3.40 (third)
Rotation ERA
3.28 (fourth)
Bullpen ERA
3.60 (10th)
Nothing really stands out there. They are in the top 10 in almost every category. If you had to point at a troubling spot, it’s double plays. They hit a lot of hard grounders right at fielders with runners on base. Is that just bad luck? Better scouting by opponents? Too soon to tell.
The team slump really began on April 28. They were 20-9 going into that game, 6-9 since then. Let’s look at some individual numbers (through Wednesday) during that bad streak:
Kyle Tucker: .318/.446/.545, 7 doubles, 1 homer, 5 RBIs
Freddie Freeman: .288/.362/.423, 4 doubles, 1 homer, 5 RBIs
Andy Pages: .283/.333/.528, 1 double, 4 homers, 10 RBIs
Will Smith: .270/.333/.324, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs
Alex Call, .267/.368/.400 (4 for 15)
Teoscar Hernández: .256/.347/.279, 1 double, 1 RBI
Alex Freeland: .250/.344/.357, 1 homer, 2 RBIs
Max Muncy: .214/.313/.405, 2 doubles, 2 homers, 6 RBIs
Hyeseong Kim: .200/.243/.286, 1 double, 1 triple, 1 RBI
Dalton Rushing, .167/.200/.167, 1 RBI
Santiago Espinal, .167/.167/.417 (2 for 12)
Mookie Betts, .154/.154/.385 (2 for 13)
Shohei Ohtani, .143/.294/.238, 1 double, 1 homer, 4 RBIs
Miguel Rojas, .095/.136/.095 (2 for 21)
Almost every player is hitting below their career averages in almost every category. It’s a teamwide slump that has lasted two weeks. It’s dragging the team numbers down, because remember above when I said they are in the top 10 in every category? Well, before the slump they were in the top five. If this continues, they will keep sliding down the rankings.
And while it’s certainly not all Ohtani’s fault, he is mired in a deep slump. The Dodgers gave him two days off from hitting Wednesday and Thursday (he pitched Wednesday).
“For me, with any hitter, when the quality of at-bat starts to go down consistently, I think that’s a telling sign there needs to be a break,” Dave Roberts told reporters. “Because you’re just not able to — whether it’s the mechanics, the mind — stay within your game plan, and then the chase starts to spike.”
Dalton Rushing has crashed back to earth. Teoscar Hernández has lost all his power. The whole team, except for Andy Pages and Kyle Tucker, has lost power. Maybe they forgot to pay their Edison bill. They are on pace to hit 214 homers this season. Last season, they hit 244. The last time they hit fewer homers in a season was 2012, when they hit 121. And won 111 games.
Should we be worried about the Dodgers? Well, they’ve gone through teamwide slumps in the past. If they are still hitting poorly when June begins, then be worried. And keep in mind, they are 26-18 and on pace to win 96 games this season. Last season they won 93 and were 29-15 after 44 games. In 2024, they won 98 games and were 29-15 after 44 games. And those seasons ended pretty well. The Dodgers are just getting their teamwide slump out of the way early this season.
Of course, I was tracking the team while gearing up for the wedding, and once I came back they have now won two in a row. Perhaps the slump is already over.
Unfortunately, the team the Dodgers seem to have the most trouble with, the lowly Angels, are up next on the schedule. Last season, the Dodgers lost all six games against the Angels. If the Angels sweep them this weekend, maybe I’ll start writing an Angels newsletter.
When I was a kid, the Dodgers’ Spanish broadcast crew was always Jaime Jarrín and René Cárdenas. Unfortunately, one half of that duo, Cárdenas, is no longer with us as he died Sunday. He was 96.
Cárdenas started with the Dodgers in 1958 and was the No. 1 broadcast, with Jarrín the No. 2 man. Cárdenas left the team to broadcast elsewhere, then returned to the Dodgers for the 1982 season.
As colleague Ed Guzman writes in the Cárdenas obit: By this point, Jarrín was firmly in place as the team’s lead Spanish-language play-by-play announcer — particularly in the wake of Fernandomania the season before, when Jarrín’s profile was raised as Fernando Valenzuela’s interpreter during his media interviews.
“It was explained to him by our producer, ‘You can’t come back as the No. 1 announcer because Jaime is established, he has many years as the lead announcer and he is beloved by the community,’” Jarrín said Monday. “René said, ‘I don’t care, I’ll come back as the No. 2 with Jaime. I just want to come back to the game of baseball.’ He was determined to return to the Dodgers.
“It was during that time that we established a close-knit friendship and we were well-received by the community as a broadcast duo.”
Cárdenas worked with the Dodgers through the 1998 season and moved back to Houston.
Our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.
But not as a player. He has rejoined the team in the front office as a special assistant to the general manager. “I asked for an opportunity,” Heyward said. “I asked for an opportunity to learn. I have a goal of potentially one day being in the front office. But I understand there’s a lot I have to learn on this side of things. It’s great to be a player, it’s great to have that experience. I think that will help me along the way. But at the same time, I knew it was important to learn to scout, how to evaluate players, learn the R&D, analytics, terminologies and things like that.”
Heyward played for the Dodgers from 2023-24.
Friday: Dodgers (*Justin Wrobleski, 5-1, 2.42 ERA) at Angels (Jack Kochanowicz, 2-2, 3.97 ERA), 6:38 p.m., Sportsnet LA, KTTV, AM 570, KTNQ 1020, KLAA 830
Saturday: Dodgers (*Blake Snell, 0-1, 12.00 ERA) at Angels (Jose Soriano, 6-2, 1.66 ERA), 6:38 p.m., Sportsnet LA, KCOP 13, AM 570, KTNQ 1020, KLAA 830
Sunday: Dodgers (Roki Sasaki, 1-3, 5.88 ERA) at Angels (TBA), 1:07 p.m., Sportsnet LA, KCOP 13, AM 570, KTNQ 1020, KLAA 830
All times Pacific
*-left-handed
Kiké Hernández ‘little bit shocked’ by reception in Albuquerque while on rehab assignment
Shohei Ohtani holds Giants scoreless, Dodgers’ bats heat up to snap losing streak
Fan favorite Jason Heyward joins Dodgers as a special assistant with an eye on more
Shaikin: Mark Walter says the Dodgers can’t win all the time. Even Magic Johnson agrees
Dodgers tout outfielder Alek Thomas’ upside after acquiring him from the Diamondbacks
René Cárdenas, broadcasting pioneer who was Dodgers’ first Spanish-language announcer, dies
One hour of Vin Scully telling stories. Watch and listen here.
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
For the sixth and final time before votes are counted, the leading contenders for California governor gathered Thursday night for a televised debate, this one a 90-minute session in San Francisco.
Times columnists Gustavo Arellano, Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria absorbed the rhetorical blows, followed the heated back-and-forths and took in each and every one of the candidates’ myriad policy prescriptions. Here’s their assessment:
Arellano: Near the end of the debate, co-moderator and San Francisco Examiner editor-in-chief Schuyler Hudak Prionas groaned as candidates talked over each other while trying to answer a question that was supposed to elicit a yes or no response.
That’s pretty much how California voters have reacted to this primary.
In an era where politics are far too often about choosing the least worst option, voters in this election are left with the political version of the Angels baseball team.
No candidate has polled higher than 20-some percent — a testament to how many are in the running, but also an indication that none of them has truly captured the zeitgeist of today’s California.
This year’s debates have done little to catapult anyone to the top, and tonight was more of the same. I still don’t know who I’m going to vote for, and no one inspired me to side with them. No one offered a clear vision of how they would pull Californians out of a spiritual malaise that has so many of us leaving the state, or thinking about leaving.
Instead, what I heard too many of the candidates evoke was the glories of the past — their past.
Antonio Villaraigosa’s closing remarks made a mantra out of “Dream with me,” a slogan he used back when he was L.A. mayor — that was 13 years ago.
Xavier Becerra bragged about how he stood up to President Trump as California attorney general — that was five years ago.
Katie Porter pulled out a white notebook with something written on it and directly challenged Becerra to answer a question — a callback to her time as a congressmember grilling people on Capitol Hill with a whiteboard and a marker, which she first made famous seven years ago.
The two Republicans, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton, spoke of a halcyon California destroyed by feckless Democrats and vowed a return to those days.
The only candidates who didn’t live in the past were San José Mayor Matt Mahan and hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer — but they seemed particularly out of their league, with Steyer too often looking down at notes instead of speaking off the cuff with his well-rehearsed populist pluck.
The word “nostalgia” first emerged to describe what doctors back then considered a malady, thinking it unwise to long for the past. It’s a concept historically antithetical to California, long boosted as the land of today and tomorrow by everyone from the Mission fathers to orange barons, developers to politicians. Indeed, nostalgia has sometimes been a dangerous factor in California politics, unleashing the Spanish fantasy heritage movement, Prop. 13, Prop. 187 and all sorts of other nonsense.
The two candidates who advance to the general election would be wise to offer Californians a hope for the future that doesn’t call back to our yesterdays. For now, the only real winners are the political consultants, and the only real losers are Californians, because we still don’t know for sure that any of the candidates can make things better.
All we can expect is that they’ll turn things for the worse.
Barabak: A popular expression — which Steyer mentioned — defines insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
By that measure, was the audience for Thursday night’s throwdown insane? Masochistic? Or a group of high-minded, dutiful, quite-conscientious California voters?
The leading gubernatorial candidates have been at this so long that they’re like actors in a stage troupe, delivering well-rehearsed lines, or an old band getting together to play their greatest hits, though far less melodious.
Among those reprising familiar roles were Steyer as the boastful billionaire; Bianco as the angry white avenger; Hilton as the chipper doomsayer; Mahan as the kid brother insinuating his way into the conversation; Porter as the left-wing tribune promising a progressive Valhalla; and Villaraigosa as the old political war horse.
Once more, Becerra was the focal point of attacks, befitting his newfound status as the candidate to beat. “This is what happens when you take the lead in polls,” he rightly noted.
And so rivals again assailed Becerra’s performance as state attorney general and Health and Human Services secretary in the Biden administration. They accused of him being a shill for Big Oil. They tried, implying guilt-through-association, to rope Becerra into the scandal involving his former aides who embezzled from a dormant campaign account.
(Becerra, crisper and more lively than he’s previously been, noted that prosecutors in the case have described him as a victim and not a perpetrator or co-conspirator.)
It’s hard to see all the jostling and thrown elbows making a huge difference. The promises made and attacks scattered like buckshot on the San Francisco soundstage all seem much less important than the numbers that show up in opinion polls between now and Election Day.
Many Democrats, spooked by the prospect of their party being frozen out in June’s top-two primary, have been clinging to their ballots, intending to vote at the last moment for whichever Democrat appears likeliest to finish first.
In that way, the race seems to be shaping up as less a competition than a self-fulfilling prophecy. And Thursday night’s performance, while not wholly irrelevant, was just another television rerun broadcast to a less-than-mass audience.
Chabria: Here’s what I’ll say about Thursday night: It was a debate. The old-school kind where everybody is mostly well-behaved and polite, and the audience scrolls on their phones to stay awake.
The candidates themselves seemed low-energy, even with their jabs — which were largely directed at Becerra, as Mark said.
But no sparks also means we have more clarity. Barring an Eric Swalwell-style blow-up, the top three — Becerra, Steyer and Hilton — are really the only true contenders.
But I’ll give a shout-out to Porter, who had her best performance to date with answers that were clear and laid out policy with detail. Still, I fear it’s too little, too late.
Becerra, on the other hand, seemed subdued to the point of flat (sorry, Mark, he came off crisp like a week-old apple to me) often relying on the line that he sued Trump more than a hundred times as attorney general of California during Trump’s first term. I’m not sure that’s inspiring, though it did lead to some court victories.
Granted, Becerra has had a hard week, with a gaffe with a reporter that went viral and a plea deal by a former aide in that case of money misappropriated from his dormant campaign account. It’s not clear yet if voters care about either of those glitches — but if they stick in people’s minds, that could open a path for Steyer to scrape up the small margin he needs to get through the primary.
But Thursday night also did little to help Steyer’s cause — or hurt it. He made some clear, forceful points that positioned him as the changemaker progressive, especially around his policies on moving away from fossil fuels. He also had some convoluted answers that didn’t land. He didn’t give undecided voters much to work with.
I’ll end with one answer from Hilton that women should pay attention to: He said that if elected, he would allow California abortion providers to be extradited to states such as Louisiana to face criminal charges for mailing abortion medications.
Women across the U.S. now must rely on states such as California for any access to abortion care. Hilton’s position is not just bad for California but presents a risk to women everywhere.
For me, that answer should disqualify him for the highest office in our pro-choice state.
WASHINGTON — The head of U.S. Border Patrol, the agency tasked with securing the nation’s frontiers and increasingly tapped by the Trump administration for immigration operations in American cities, announced his resignation Thursday.
Michael Banks’ decision, announced in a Fox News interview and later confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security, is the latest leadership shake-up of officials implementing President Trump’s immigration crackdown and comes as the Republican administration appears to be recalibrating its approach.
“It’s just time,” Banks was quoted as saying in a report on the Fox News website. “I feel like I got the ship back on course from the least secure disastrous chaotic border to the most secure border this country has ever seen,” he said.
In a statement, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, Rodney Scott, thanked Banks for his service “during one of the most challenging periods for border security.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was not immediately clear who will replace Banks. He led an agency at the forefront of Trump’s high-profile immigration enforcement efforts but kept a lower profile than some other officials such as Gregory Bovino, a now-retired commander who became a public face of the city operations.
CBP is one of the federal agencies that participated since last year in a series of immigration enforcement operations, carried out primarily in cities governed by Democrats —an effort that triggered a spike in arrests and led to the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis this year at the hands of federal immigration officers.
Banks’ resignation takes place two months after Markwayne Mullin, a former Republican senator from Oklahoma, became homeland security secretary. DHS oversees CBP and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE.
Banks is stepping down at the same time that ICE is also going through a leadership transition. Todd Lyons, the acting ICE director, is leaving later this month and will be replaced by David Venturella, who worked for years for private contractors before returning to government service.
CBP was established in 2003 and handles customs, immigration, and agricultural regulations to secure U.S. borders.
Banks returned to the Border Patrol last year after a long agency career that had never landed him in its senior ranks. His star had risen as border czar to Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, during a period when illegal crossings reached record highs and the state launched a multibillion-dollar enforcement surge that led to turf battles with the Biden administration.
Banks kept a relatively low public profile as arrests for illegal crossings that have plunged to their lowest levels since the mid-1960s, a trend that began toward the end of that Democratic administration.
Banks did not appear publicly at the Border Security Expo this month in Phoenix, an annual conference at which government officials update contractors on the state of the border. Scott, who was Banks’ supervisor, is a close ally of Trump border czar Tom Homan and has acted more as the agency’s public face.
In the interview with Fox News, Banks said that after 37 years, “it’s time to enjoy the family and life.”
Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie didn’t expect to ever get a statue outside Crypto.com Arena. After all, it had been 15 years since her jersey retirement and no other Sparks player was featured among the Lakers and Kings heroes outside the area.
After years of hearing from fans that she deserve to be immortalized, Leslie learned she would join Sue Bird in Seattle as the second WNBA player to be honored with a statue at a franchise’s home arena.
“One thing I never had on my bucket list was a statue,” Leslie told The Times on Thursday. “I grew up seeing the statues of some of the amazing Lakers, so I’m just really grateful to be alive and to be one of the first, especially in the WNBA for L.A. Sparks. It means a lot to me, and I’m really hoping that our community will really rally around it.”
The Sparks announced Thursday morning that Leslie will receive a statue to be unveiled during a ceremony on Sept. 20 before a game against the Portland Fire.
During her 12-year career with the Sparks, Leslie won three WNBA titles and league MVP honors. She also won four Olympic gold medals. She was the first player in WNBA history to dunk in a game and her No. 9 jersey was retired in 2010.
She was one of the Sparks’ original players in 1997 and is the franchise’s career leader in points, rebounds, blocks, field goals, free throws, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, minutes and games played, and is third in the WNBA in blocks and double-doubles.
“I’ve known Lisa for nearly three decades and believe that she is beyond deserving of this incredible honor,” fellow statue honoree and Lakers great Magic Johnson said in a news release. “She was the driving force behind bringing back-to-back championships to the Los Angeles Sparks franchise in 2000 and 2001, and Lisa’s hard work and commitment has made her one of the best to ever play the game.”
Johnson, who is part the Sparks ownership group, accepted responsibility for the team’s skid two years ago and promised to do more. The Sparks owners, who also own the Dodgers and Lakers, have responded to losing at a boom time in the WNBA by executing a coaching change, breaking ground on a new practice facility and installing the first Sparks statue outside Crypto.com Arena.
“Lisa’s legacy isn’t just measured by championships and accolades, though; it’s defined by the doors she opened and the standard she set for generations to come,” Johnson said in the news release. “More than an athlete, she is a pioneer, a cultural icon and a force who elevated women’s basketball to new heights. This statue celebrates her excellence, her leadership and the future she helped create, and it ensures her impact will forever be part of the fabric of this city.”
Leslie said that she noticed fans lobbying for her to get a statue beginning in 2019, and the timing for her and the Sparks felt right during the 30th anniversary season.
“It couldn’t be better with the new [practice] facility coming, the new CBA, everything is aligning so properly,” she said. “It’s more perfect than it would have been a few years before.”
The statue was created by sculptors Julie Rotblatt Amrany and Omri Amrany and will join 15 others outside of Crypto.com Arena, including Johnson, Wayne Gretzky, Oscar De La Hoya, Chick Hearn, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Luc Robitaille, Shaquille O’Neal, Bob Miller, Elgin Baylor, Dustin Brown, Kobe Bryant (2), Gigi Bryant and Pat Riley.
“I hope she looks good,” Leslie said of the statue. “People don’t realize how hard it is to make a statue look good. … They helped me to be super specific about every little thing down to my earlobe and fingernail tip. So I’m excited about all the little details that have been added that people can kind of find on their own as well.”
May 14 (UPI) — U.S. consumers spent $757.1 billion on retail and food services in April, a 0.5% increase over March, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday.
For 12 months ending in April, not adjusted for price changes, sales increased by 4.9%. Total sales for February through April increased 4.4% over the same period in 2025.
Gasoline sales climbed 2.8% in April after jumping 13.7% in March.
Retail trade sales increased by 0.5% over March and 5.2% over last year. Non-store retail went up 11.1% for the year. Sales minus gasoline and building materials increased 0.46%.
While retail sales increased in April, they did so at a slower rate than in March, which increased by 1.6% for the month. Yet it was still the third consecutive monthly increase.
Retail sales as a whole grew but several categories experienced declines, including furniture store sales, down 2%, car dealerships, down 0.5%, department stores, down 3.2%, and clothing stores, down 1.5%.
A consumer survey conducted by the University of Michigan found that consumer sentiments are low due to concerns about high prices and current economic conditions. This has caused consumers to hold off on making major purchases, such as furniture and automobiles.
SACRAMENTO — Hours before Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to present his budget plan on Thursday, his office released new projections of a $16.5-billion state revenue windfall over three years and offered a rosy outlook on California’s fiscal position during his final year in office and the year after.
Newsom’s office provided few details about his plan to reduce spending or other adjustments that he would need to propose in combination with the increase in revenue to eliminate projected deficits from 2026-27 through 2027-28.
The unusual early look at his budget proposal comes as Newsom begins to wind down his time at the state Capitol and considers a run for president in 2028.
Two weeks ago, the Legislative Analyst’s Office issued an analysis of state spending that said California could not, in the long term, afford to pay for existing services and the new programs that Newsom and Democratic lawmakers have enacted since he took office in 2019. State spending has outpaced California’s strong revenue growth by about 10%, creating a perennial budget shortfall, defined as a structural deficit.
California’s spending problem threatens to define Newsom’s fiscal legacy and could provide ripe fodder for his critics. If projections of the unexpected tax windfall, which analysts attribute to stock market interest in artificial intelligence companies, bear out, the upswing could mark a lucky break for Newsom.
The governor has largely resisted adopting new across-the-board tax increases or sharply curtailing his expensive policy proposals in order to align state spending with revenue.
His budget proposal includes a call to increase taxes on corporations by limiting state tax credits to no more than $5 million, or 50% of a company’s tax liability, beginning in the tax year 2027. No estimates were offered to explain how much revenue the new cap would bring in to support the state budget.
The preview of his budget has several new spending proposals, including providing $300 million to help low-income Californians keep $0 monthly premiums on healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act in response to cuts by the federal government, as well as $100 million to help wildfire victims afford construction loans to rebuild their homes. Two days before Mother’s Day, Newsom also introduced a plan to provide 400 free diapers for every California newborn at select hospitals beginning this summer.
Newsom is expected to present his budget in more detail late Thursday morning in Sacramento.
After watching his mother perform in a production of “A Raisin in the Sun” at Compton Community College when he was 9 years old, Anthony Anderson knew appearing on stage would be his life’s work. Over the next handful of years, he enrolled in programs across Los Angeles to achieve that dream. Then, one morning after finishing a class at the Southern California Regional Occupational Center in Torrance, Anderson saw a Post-It note on a bulletin board that caught his attention. The note informed aspiring artists about a newly formed arts school. To be admitted, they had to submit an audition tape.
“I ripped it off the board, and I brought it home to my mother, and I said, ‘Mom, if I can get into this school, can I go here?’” Anderson says. “She said, ‘If you can get into that, yes.’”
Months later, Anderson received a letter informing him that he had been accepted into the inaugural class at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
Founded in 1984 and opening its doors to students in 1985, Los Angeles County High School for the Arts is located on the campus of Cal State L.A. It was established to provide students (currently 550) with conservatory-level arts training and college-prep academics within the public education system. LACHSA isn’t associated with LAUSD; instead, it partners with the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which provides funding to support it.
“I felt it to be very important that I was in an environment where other students had the same passion as I did for the arts, in particular, theater,” Anderson says. “Being around other students who had the same passion and drive that I had as an artist was very influential.”
Over the years, LACHSA has featured a who’s who of alumni across various disciplines, including musicians Phoebe Bridgers and Haim, actors Jenna Elfman and Belissa Escobedo, and visual artists Robert Vargas, Tomashi Jackson and Kehinde Wiley. For the past seven years, the school has been ranked as the top public high school for the arts.
Drew McClelland (second from right) with students from LACHSA’s Cinematic Arts Program and actor William H. Macy (far right).
(Courtesy of LACHSA)
While the school’s accolades focus on the arts, LACHSA also aims to give its students experiences that extend beyond the program. Days are structured so that students take academic classes in the morning and arts in the afternoon. With this format, they meet and get to know classmates from other disciplines.
Former “SNL” cast member Taran Killam points out that this also promotes the school’s social and economic diversity, acting as a mini-college experience.
“It’s such a melting pot, but you have this beautiful, focused bonding,” he says. “It’s a rare thing for kids to know, but LACHSA students are ambitious. It’s very unifying when your background is so disparate and so diverse. It’s what makes it special, and you can’t get this experience in a traditional school.”
Lara Raj attended several arts-focused high schools as she moved during her childhood. With that in mind, the member of the girl group Katseye cites LACHSA as having a major influence on her artistic development. During her time at LACHSA, Raj took music, fashion and acting classes, and says its music tech class was her favorite. There, she learned how to create beats and write songs.
“I developed my songwriting and fell in love with it through those classes,” Raj says. “I was excited to go to school every day. And I hate school.”
Before attending LACHSA, singer-actor Josh Groban didn’t know a school specializing in the arts was an option. After bouncing around schools and realizing he needed a different education to express himself equally academically and artistically, he ended up at LACHSA. There, he found like-minded, artistically inclined outsiders.
Josh Groban, a former student of LACHSA, credits the institution with helping him find his voice.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
“I was a kid who didn’t quite know how to fit in,” Groban says. “Then at [LACHSA], I was surrounded by other students who, I think, didn’t know how to fit in either. We were there for the same reasons, which is that we felt like we needed the nourishment of the arts and being able to express ourselves on a daily basis.”
Half of LACHSA’s funding is provided by the state, with the rest provided by the LACHSA Foundation, a registered 501(c) (3). According to its executive director, Trena Pitchford, the foundation has invested $1 million each school year.
“People always ask me when I tell them I went to LaGuardia and to LACHSA if they were private schools,” Raj says. “I tell them it was created by people who are passionate about the arts and want to inspire kids.”
“There’s a part of LACHSA that I think is a discovery point for a lot of Los Angeles County, and even the nation,” Pitchford says. “There’s so much opportunity for the school, and they’re doing it on a limited budget. What would happen if they were fully funded? What would happen if the foundation had a $40 million endowment? That would fully sustain what they’re doing right now.”
LACHSA students posing in front of the entrance to the Greek Theatre
(Courtesy of LACHSA)
LACHSAPalooza, the culmination of the foundation’s two-year fundraising campaign to celebrate the first 40 years of LACHSA, will take place at the Greek Theatre on May 30. There, student artists will perform alongside Ozomatli, Jon B., April Showers and more. From a fundraising standpoint, the foundation has high hopes of raising $2.5 million.
“We have both annual goals in terms of investment as well as sort of big visions, big dreams of where we think LACHSA could go for the next 40 years,” Pitchford says. “We also hope to put LACHSA on the national stage.’
The honorees for the night are the late Pat Bass, LACHSA’s gospel choir director, retiring LACHSA theater department chair Lois Hunter, and Jerry Freedman, a longtime social studies teacher at the school.
For Anderson, who is serving as the night’s host, seeing Freedman recognized is very meaningful.
“He was there from the school’s beginning,” Anderson says. “He was there when I started, and he’s still there and is still beloved by the students 40-plus years later. I’m looking forward to honoring him.”
As an arts-based school in the long-standing entertainment capital of the U.S., LACHSA can educate and enable the next generation of artists to discover their voices in the backyards of production companies, studios and record labels.
“The freedom that a LACHSA student gets on the campus to discover who they are is exciting,” Pritchard says. “It’s very innovative, very creative, and it’s forward thinking, future forward. It’s an exciting and thrilling place to be.”
Alumni agree. Without LACHSA and, in turn, a focused public arts education, pursuing a career in the arts would have been more difficult and more costly.
“It helps develop souls to be fully fledged human beings who feel like they can go off into the world and be the best versions of themselves,” Groban says. “We all felt like we were free to be who we wanted to be.”
“Specialty-focused high schools like LACHSA, be it arts or any other topic deserving of protection, because it is a gathering place for exceptionally talented, ambitious, driven kids,” Killam says. “And aren’t those the kind of people we want to be cultivating in society?”
The 69th Grammy Awards will take place Feb. 7 at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles, organizers said Tuesday during Disney’s annual upfront presentation to advertisers. The show will be the first to air on Disney’s ABC network (and stream on its Hulu and Disney+ platforms) since the Recording Academy ended its half-century-long partnership with Paramount’s CBS.
Nominations for the 2027 ceremony — which will recognize recordings released between Aug. 31, 2025 and Aug. 28, 2026 — are set to be announced Nov. 16. Final Grammys voting will open Dec. 10 and close Jan. 7.
A host for the show hasn’t been announced. Trevor Noah, who began hosting the Grammys in 2021, said his gig at February’s 68th ceremony would be his last.
Big winners at the 2026 Grammys included Bad Bunny, whose “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” was named album of the year; Kendrick Lamar and SZA, who won record of the year with “Luther”; Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell, whose “Wildflower” took song of the year; and Olivia Dean, who was named best new artist.
Among the albums and songs already thought to be in contention for high-level nods next year are Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl,” Noah Kahan’s “The Great Divide,” Bruno Mars’ “The Romantic,” Rosalía’s “Lux,” Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” and Sienna Spiro’s “Die on This Hill.”
WASHINGTON — The head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary, is resigning after a rocky tenure that drew months of complaints from health industry executives, anti-abortion activists, vaping lobbyists and other allies of President Trump.
He steps down after just over a year leading the powerful health regulatory agency, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak before an announcement expected Tuesday and requested anonymity.
Kyle Diamantas, the agency’s chief for foods, will take over as acting commissioner, the official said. Diamantas is an attorney with personal ties to Donald Trump Jr.
A surgeon and health researcher, Makary came to prominence among Republicans as an outspoken critic of COVID-19 health measures during the pandemic when he frequently appeared on Fox News.
But he struggled to manage the FDA’s bureaucracy and failed to win the confidence of its staff after mass layoffs, leadership changes and a series of controversies in which the agency’s scientific principles appeared to be overridden by political interests, including those of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The FDA commissioner, as the leader of an agency that regulates billions of dollars in consumer goods and medicines, is often required to juggle competing priorities that straddle science and politics.
Makary faced a unique challenge in balancing calls by Trump and other Republicans to cut red tape at the FDA, while also tending to Kennedy’s interest in scrutinizing the safety of vaccines, drugs and food additives.
Virtually all of the FDA’s senior career officials resigned, retired or were forced out in the first year of the second-term Trump administration, leading to a steady stream of leaks and negative stories in the media cataloging low morale, dysfunction and frustration among staff.
Makary’s handpicked deputy, Dr. Vinay Prasad, was pushed out of the agency twice in less than a year for running afoul of specialty drugmakers and groups for patients with rare diseases. Makary appeared poised to weather the controversy, despite an ongoing pressure campaign calling on Trump to fire him.
Recent months brought fresh criticisms from other interest groups that the White House considers key to Republican chances in November elections.
Anti-abortion groups have criticized Makary for allegedly slow-walking an internal review of the abortion pill mifepristone, which has been on the market for 25 years but remains a target for conservative activists.
Vaping executives told Trump that Makary was blocking approval of their products, including new flavored e-cigarettes seen as crucial to the industry’s survival.
Last week, the agency abruptly changed course on vaping: authorizing the first fruit-flavored products and issuing guidelines that loosened marketing for major manufacturers. But it wasn’t enough to keep Makary in the job.
A permanent replacement for FDA commissioner will need to be nominated by Trump and confirmed by a majority vote in the Senate.
As a former regular on Fox News, Makary was aggressive about promoting his accomplishments on cable television and podcasts and in online opinion pieces.
More than a half-dozen initiatives from Makary aimed to speed up or streamline FDA drug reviews, including dropping certain study requirements, incorporating artificial intelligence into drug evaluations and offering expedited reviews to medicines that support “national interests.”
But pharmaceutical executives rely on the predictability and consistency of FDA decisions, even more than speedy reviews. Makary’s efforts on drug reviews were overshadowed by internal conflicts and upheavals that created headaches for drugmakers, investors and patients.
A number of specialty drugmakers studying therapies for rare or hard-to-treat diseases said they received rejection letters or requests to run additional studies for drugs that previously had been given the go-ahead by FDA staff. Those drugs were primarily overseen by Prasad, who stepped down for a second time from his role as FDA’s vaccine and biotech chief in April.
Prasad repeatedly overruled vaccine staffers to restrict eligibility for new COVID shots. In February, Prasad initially refused to even consider Moderna’s mRNA shot for flu. The FDA was forced to reverse itself after Moderna pledged to formally challenge the decision and called for intervention by the White House.
Some of Makary and Prasad’s most controversial vaccine proposals never came to fruition, despite stoking confusion and anxiety within the FDA and beyond.
In an internal memo in November, Prasad claimed — without publishing evidence — that the FDA had linked COVID shots to the deaths of 10 children. Prasad used that to justify a planned wholesale overhaul of the agency’s approach to approving and updating vaccines.
A dozen former FDA commissioners issued a scathing denunciation of the plan, warning that it would “undermine the public interest” and decimate vaccine development. The FDA has not released its analysis of the deaths or its plan for the vaccine overhaul.
In the FDA’s drug center, which is the agency’s largest division, Makary oversaw a revolving door of leadership changes. Six people served as director over the course of one year.
Makary’s initial pick for the job, Dr. George Tidmarsh, was forced to resign after allegations that he used his FDA position to pursue a personal vendetta against a former business partner.
His replacement, longtime FDA cancer specialist Dr. Rick Pazdur, announced he would retire after just three weeks on the job, after clashing with Makary on multiple issues involving drug reviews.
With Makary’s departure, the fate of many fledgling initiatives is uncertain.
Most of the programs Makary introduced have not gone through federal rulemaking required to enshrine them in U.S. regulations and could easily be overturned by his successors.
Democrats in Congress have questioned the legality of some of those efforts, including a program that offers drugmakers expedited reviews for innovative medicines.
Perrone and Kim write for the Associated Press.
Jason Collins, the NBA’s first openly gay player who went on to become a pioneer for inclusion and an ambassador for the league, has died after an eight-month battle with an aggressive form of a brain tumor, his family announced Tuesday.
Collins, who starred at Stanford and Harvard-Westlake High, where he helped the Wolverins win to back-to-back Division III state titles along with twin brother Jarron, spent 13 years as a player in the league for six different franchises. He revealed in 2013 that he was gay, an announcement that came toward the end of his playing career.
Collins had been diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma, which has an extremely low survival rate. He was 47.
“Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar,” Collins’ family said in a statement released through the NBA. “We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”
Just last week, Collins received the inaugural Bill Walton Global Champion Award at the Green Sports Alliance Summit. He was too ill to attend so Jarron Collins accepted for him.
“I told my brother this before I came here: He’s the bravest, strongest man I’ve ever known,” Jarron Collins said while accepting that award.
Jason Collins averaged 3.6 points and 3.7 rebounds in his career. He helped the New Jersey Nets reach two NBA Finals and in his best season averaged 6.4 points and 6.1 rebounds for them in 2004-05.
“Jason Collins’ impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “He exemplified outstanding leadership and professionalism throughout his 13-year NBA career and in his dedicated work as an NBA Cares Ambassador. Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others.
“On behalf of the NBA, I send my heartfelt condolences to Jason’s husband, Brunson, and his family, friends and colleagues across our leagues.”
Jason Collins revealed his sexuality in a first-person account for Sports Illustrated in April 2013. He was a free agent at the time, said he wanted to keep playing, and went on to play in 22 games with Brooklyn the following season.
“If I had my way, someone else would have already done this,” he wrote at that time. “Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.”
His decision was widely lauded, with star players such as Kobe Bryant quickly speaking out in support of Collins. There was even support from the White House and then-former President Bill Clinton — whose daughter, Chelsea, went to Stanford with Collins. At Stanford, Collins was roommates with someone who was part of another American political dynasty, that being Joe Kennedy III, who spent eight years in Congress representing Massachusetts.
Collins, in the piece for Sports Illustrated, wrote that he realized he needed to go public about his sexuality when Kennedy walked in Boston’s gay pride parade in 2012 — but Collins couldn’t do the same.
Until then, Collins kept his feelings about gay rights close to the vest. He wore jersey No. 98 for the majority of his final three playing stints with Boston, Washington and Brooklyn — a nod to the year that Matthew Shepard, a gay college student in Wyoming, was killed. He also wore 46 in one game for the Nets, since it was the only jersey the team had available when he signed.
Collins made nearly 61% of his shots in his career at Stanford, which remains a school record. He was an honorable mention selection for the Associated Press’ All-America team in 2001, a few months before the Houston Rockets took him with the 18th pick in that year’s NBA draft.
“It’s a sad day for all of us associated with Stanford basketball when we lose one of the program’s greats,” former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. “We all have great memories of Jason and the kind of person he was. It’s hard to separate Jarron and Jason because they thought so alike, but even though he was an identical twin, Jason was unique in his own way. The impact he had on Stanford was immense, as he could match up against anyone in the country because he was big, smart, strong and skilled, all while being a very bright and nice person.”
A man accused of nabbing unreleased music by Beyoncé in a vehicle break-in last summer has pleaded guilty to the theft and has been sentenced to serve time in prison.
Kelvin Evans, 41, on Tuesday entered guilty pleas in Fulton County Superior Court in Georgia to counts of entering an automobile and criminal trespass. Fulton County Superior Court Senior Judge Jane C. Barwick sentenced Evans, who was set to go on trial this week, to two years in prison and three years on probation. Evans was also warned to keep his distance from the victims and the scene of the theft.
Evans was sentenced less than a year after stealing the pop diva’s unreleased music from her choreographer’s van in Atlanta. According to police, Evans broke into the Jeep Wagoneer rented by choreographer Christopher Grant and dancer Diandre Blue when they stopped at a restaurant to eat. The artists were in town for the “Diva” singer’s four-night takeover of Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for her Cowboy Carter tour.
Evans damaged the trunk window and stole a pair of suitcases that contained two computers and five jump drives of unreleased music as well as footage, plans for the tour production and past and future set lists, the police report said. He also stole clothing, Apple AirPods Max headphones and designer sunglasses, police said.
Police arrested Evans in August. He was indicted in October and initially pleaded not guilty in January and even rejected the plea deal during a hearing last month.
Despite his arrest, police have not recovered the stolen items.
The chances of Beyonce releasing new music was already pretty slim heading into Evan’s scheduled trial. Speculation swirled online that the Grammy winner would drop the third act of her planned music trilogy timed to the summer. The singer’s rep Yvette Noel-Schure put a hard stop on those rumors in late April.
“This is unequivocally false!!” Noel-Schure posted on X.
Times assistant editor Christie D’Zurilla and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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BEIJING — President Trump’s first visit to China in nine years is a high-stakes trip reflecting the rivalry and mutual dependence of two superpowers hoping to avoid a collision course — even if Trump cast it more as a meeting between close friends and business partners.
Speaking to reporters before departing Washington on Tuesday, Trump downplayed tensions between the two countries, including on trade, calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a “wonderful guy” and a friend and saying the working relationship between the two countries is “very good.”
Trump acknowledged China’s might — saying that the Asian nation and the United States are clearly the world’s two superpowers — and that the focus of the meeting “more than anything else will be trade.”
“We’re gonna have a great relationship for many, many decades to come,” Trump said. “My relationship with President Xi is a fantastic one. We’ve always gotten along, and we’re doing very well with China, and working with China’s been very good — so we look forward to it.”
Trump also downplayed the importance of the meeting for the war in Iran. He said Xi might be able to help the United States reach a deal to end the war, but that he doesn’t need it, “because we have Iran very much under control.”
The state visit marks the first by an American president to China since Trump’s trip here in 2017, only months into his first term. President Biden never came, becoming the first to not do so since diplomatic ties were normalized, an absence that underscored simmering distrust and animosity between Washington and Beijing that has only worsened since.
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In the capital, security forces sealed off an area around the Temple of Heaven roughly the size of 400 football fields ahead of the U.S. president’s visit, anticipating a stop at the monument to imperial China and Confucian thought.
On his previous trip, Trump received the rare honor of a state banquet inside the Forbidden City. This time he is expected to dine at the Great Hall of the People, an imposing structure off Tiananmen Square that hosts high-level gatherings of the Chinese Communist Party.
Trump’s positive spin on Tuesday aside, his agenda for meetings beginning Thursday with Xi highlights the vast array of American interests that depend on — and often clash with — Beijing’s policies.
After launching a trade war against China at the beginning of his second term, Trump now comes hat in hand requesting an extension of a tariff truce, fearful Xi might follow through on his threats to halt the export of rare earth minerals to the United States that are vital to the manufacturing of American goods, including everyday consumer equipment and advanced defense technologies.
His visit comes as a ceasefire in the war with Iran, brokered with help from Beijing, is on “massive life support,” according to the president. Trump is expected to appeal to Xi for assistance in getting Tehran to restore free and open passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
And in a dramatic reversal, the Trump administration has begun discussions with the Chinese about establishing a channel of communication on artificial intelligence, alarmed that recent technological leaps could pose global risks.
All of these requests are expected to come at a cost.
President Trump departs the White House on May 12, 2026, for his second state visit to China.
(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)
In earlier remarks before the trip, Trump said he expected U.S. arms sale to Taiwan — including one already approved by Congress — to become a chip in the negotiations.
“I’m going to have that discussion with President Xi,” Trump said. “President Xi would like us not to, and I’ll have that discussion. That’s one of the many things I’ll be talking about.”
The notion that U.S. support for Taiwan is a negotiable matter is sure to rattle America’s allies throughout the region, from Japan to the Philippines, which are reliant on U.S. security guarantees amid China’s Indo-Pacific military aggression.
Despite geopolitical tensions, both sides are expected to announce business and investment agreements, underscoring how deeply intertwined the world’s two largest economies remain.
China plans on making a significant purchase of Boeing aircraft, and the president has brought 17 American corporate leaders with him on the trip to discuss additional opportunities, including Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick and Tesla’s Elon Musk.
The two leaders are expected to have other opportunities to talk in person throughout the coming year, including potential meetings at the Group of 20 summit in Florida, the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China, and a state visit in Washington that Trump said he will host for Xi at some point in the coming months.
Trump on Tuesday said Xi’s visit will be “toward the end of the year” and “exciting.” He also lamented that the ballroom he is building on the White House grounds — on the site of the historic East Wing he demolished — won’t be ready in time.
Jennifer Hong, senior director at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security, said her concern is that the state visit becomes part of a “tyranny of calendaring,” where the Chinese agree to schedule more high-level meetings sought by Trump that put off vital U.S. decision-making.
“I do think this trip is necessary for the U.S. government — I think that there are things that are on hold because he doesn’t want to rock the boat,” Hong said, noting the Trump administration’s delay in arms sales to Taiwan, despite the packages already having received congressional approval.
“I’m just worried this will be a stringing along of promises, or maybe some reprieve for a year or so,” she added, “as we continue to handicap ourselves on national security matters for the sake of more meetings.”
Trump on Tuesday repeatedly dismissed China’s potential help in resolving the war in Iran, which has driven up prices domestically and around the world as oil shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz have been badly disrupted and U.S. efforts to fully reopen the channel have so far been unsuccessful.
“I don’t think we need any help with Iran, to be honest with you,” Trump said. “They’re defeated militarily.”
Trump also said the financial pain many Americans are feeling from the war, including at the gas pump, simply isn’t a factor — “not even a little bit,” he said — in his ongoing negotiations with Iran.
“The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran [is that] they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody.”
Comedian Conan O’Brien will return to host the 99th Academy Awards set for March 14.
O’Brien, known for his self-deprecating humor, emceed the Oscars this year and in 2025.
“Conan has created remarkable energy around the Oscars,” President of Disney Television Group Craig Erwich said in a statement Tuesday announcing O’Brien’s return. “His singular comedic voice makes Hollywood’s biggest night one of the most entertaining celebrations of the year. We’re proud to welcome him back and look forward to what he and the producing team deliver next.”
Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan are set to return as the show’s executive producers for the fourth consecutive year.
Major changes are in store for the entertainment industry’s biggest night.
Starting in 2029, the Oscars will move from Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, its home for nearly a quarter century, to the L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. The ceremony will also stream on YouTube, ending a five-decade run on ABC, beginning that year.
Oscars viewership has been in flux as younger audiences prefer to view clips of the ceremony on social media, rather than on television.
ABC’s telecast of the 2026 ceremony averaged 17.9 million viewers, down 9% from the previous year, when it garnered 19.7 million viewers. Ratings for the Oscars reached an all-time low of 10.5 million viewers in 2021.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Chief Executive Bill Kramer and President Lynette Howell Taylor announced the news at its upfront presentation Tuesday.
There was a moment when the Lakers were humming along near the end of the NBA’s regular season, when they went 16-2 in the month of March as Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and LeBron James found their groove together as a dynamic threesome.
But on April 2 at Oklahoma City, Doncic (Grade 2 left hamstring strain) and Reaves (Grade 2 left oblique muscle strain) went down with injuries and it was left to James to lead the group.
James did, leading the Lakers past the Houston Rockets in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Reaves joined James in Game 5 of that series and the two of them led the charge into the Western Conference semifinals against the Thunder, a series in which Los Angeles got swept, 4-0.
Through it all, Doncic was and still is the center of the Lakers’ universe.
So with James and Reaves looking at free agency, Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka said Tuesday at the team’s exit interviews that the organization wants both players back to team up with Doncic.
James, 41 and in his 23rd season, made $52.6 million last season but will be a free agent this offseason, when he can retire, return to the Lakers or play for another team.
“I think in terms of LeBron, we probably haven’t seen a player that has honored the game to the extent that he’s honored the game. He’s given so much to his teammates, to this organization,” Pelinka said. “And the thing we want to do more than anything else is honor him back. And I think the first order of business there is allowing him to spend the time he needs to decide what his next steps are.
“Does he want to play another year in the NBA? And that’ll be, as he said to you guys last night, family time [and] I think time with his inner circle. And we just want to honor that for him. Of course, any team, including ours, would love to have LeBron James on their roster. That’s a blessing in itself just with what he does.”
Reaves is expected to opt out of his contract that will pay him $14.8 million next season and become a free agent. The Lakers can pay Reaves the most, a maximum deal of $241 million over five years, with a starting salary of about $41.5 million next season. Reaves could sign with another team that has cap space, but that deal would be for four years and about $178 million.
“He started his journey here as a Laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a Laker,” Pelinka said. “And we feel the same way. We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold. As you know, there’s rules and timing to all of that, but I think both sides have made it abundantly clear that we want to work something out where he continues his prolific career here.”
The Lakers have their star in Doncic and will collaborate with him going forward.
He led the NBA in scoring (33.5 points per game), was third in assists (8.3) and was a most valuable player candidate.
Doncic, who missed the last five regular-season games and all of the playoffs, signed a three-year extension last summer for $165 million.
The Lakers want to build on that.
“He’s an incredible partner,” Pelinka said of Doncic. “His basketball IQ on the court is something we get to see as fans. [Lakers coach] JJ [Redick]) and I get to see his basketball knowledge in terms of other players in the league and the way he wants to play and who he wants to play with.
“His knowledge-base is vast and so those collaborations with him are really inspirational. He also does it in a way that he wants to do his job great, and he wants to let JJ do his job great and let me do my job great. So, they really are productive conversations through that lens.”
I’M in pursuit of the perfect pier – this year’s best boardwalk is a firm favourite for my family and should definitely be on your beach bingo card for 2026.
Great Yarmouth’s Britannia Pier was recently declared ‘Pier of the Year’ and is the perfect spot for a classic British day out at the seaside.
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I’ve been visiting Great Yarmouth ever since my boys were little – the town that is historically the birthplace of the fishfinger, and the hometown of Keith Chapman, the creator of Bob the Builder and PAW Patrol.
Over the years, I’ve seen the hard work that’s gone into breathing new life into the pier at the north end of Great Yarmouth.
With it having just been named pier of the year, it’s the perfect gateway onto the town’s famous Golden Mile, with a little bit of everything you’d expect from a best-of-British day out at the beach.
Whether you want refreshments, rides, arcade machines, a trip to the theatre or just a spot of sea air, this really is peak pier here.
You can catch the little land train that transports day trippers and holidaymakers along the seafront to arrive at the big pedestrian plaza at the entrance to the pier.
The white frontage and subtle slimline signage are a far cry from the iconic 70s orange lettering that was controversially removed last year.
But the streamlined makeover’s more modern vibe makes you want to step through the doors and check out what else is new.
I really loved the curved ceiling and vibrant red walls of the new amusement arcade, which feels light and airy thanks to a wall of windows and doors down one side.
The sit-down booths in Krispies fish and chip restaurant reminded me of an American diner, while food stalls selling ice cream, sweet treats and seafood line the walkway up to the arcade.
You can certainly see where the new owners Joseph and Cherise Abbott, who took over at the end of 2022, have spent their £2million makeover money and why it wowed the judges looking for the best of the boardwalks to beat off competition from 60 other piers across the UK.
Ever since the pier of the year prize was announced at Easter, more areas have been unveiled, including a fresh look for the Pier Tavern overlooking the plaza and a new casino and sports zone with pool and interactive darts.
Combining modern makeovers with timeless seaside staples like the end-of-the-pier theatre and funfair is certainly one way to hit the jackpot.
The theatre is hosting plenty of big names this summer, including Jason Manford, Gareth Gates and Joe Pasquale, with pantos, tribute acts and variety shows also taking to the stage.
I enjoyed taking a promenade to check out family favourites new and old like the ghost train and the dodgems, while looking out over the wide golden sands to either side of the boardwalk.
The pier’s new look is just the latest in a series of seafront improvements that are putting the Great back into Yarmouth.
If you turn south onto the Golden Mile and head past Joyland with its popular Super Snails ride, a short stroll will take you to the recently relocated big wheel in between the Marina Leisure Centre and Sealife aquarium.
But my top tip would be to head north along the prom to take a wander through the refurbished Venetian waterways and up to the boating lake, where you can enjoy a pastry at the thatched cafe on an island in the pool while watching passing pedalos.
It’s a little slice of what the coastal resort would have been like a century ago, with its recent multi-million-pound makeover taking it back to its heyday.
What’s lovely is that Britannia Pier feels totally in keeping with both vibes – the ‘olde worlde’ waterside walks to the north and the bright lights and hustle and bustle of beachside attractions to the south.
It’s found a brilliant balance of new and old – like all the symbols lining up on a fruit machine for the first time in a while.
If you visit and fall in love, you could even lease a beach hut nearby for £12k, after Great Yarmouth Council offered up some of its newly built huts on the Esplanade.
With the picture-perfect pier taking pride of place on the promenade this year, it certainly seems to be taking inspiration from the famous anthem – Britannia Rules the Waves and long may it continue.
It’s been years since Los Angeles County voters met a sales tax they didn’t like.
They agreed to pay half a cent more at the cash register to fund buses, trains and pothole fillings in 2016. The next year, they gave a quarter-cent more to fund homeless services. In 2024, voters bumped it up to a half–cent.
But with the electorate in a dour mood and reeling from rocketing gas prices, some speculate voters’ willingness to tax themselves may be dwindling as ballots arrive for the June 2 primary election.
“This is going to be a tougher year for taxes than prior years,” said former supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who pushed through a property tax ballot measure in 2002 to fund the county’s trauma care network. “There’s a limit to the tolerance people have for increasing their own taxes.”
Los Angeles County voters will soon decide whether they want to pay a temporary half-cent sales tax to shore up the region’s public healthcare system, which is facing dramatic federal funding cuts. Officials estimate the county will lose more than $2 billion in healthcare funding over the next three years.
The county currently has a base sales tax rate of 9.75%, and cities impose additional local taxes on top of that. If approved, the tax would take effect Oct. 1 and last for five years. The exact tax rate would vary depending on the city.
Voters haven’t said no to a sales tax hike since 2012, when a transportation measure fell just short with 66.1% support. It needed 66.7% to pass.
The healthcare sales tax has a lower bar to clear. The supervisors voted to put the measure on the ballot as a general tax, which gives them more leeway with how the money is spent and only requires a simple majority to pass.
But even that threshold may prove difficult. Polling from March suggested the measure was losing among L.A. city voters, who are often more generous than county voters at large. Angelenos will also find their ballot crowded with other tax hike proposals, which may leave some voters feeling picky.
“People have a very discerning instinct,” said Yaroslavsky. “They will pick and choose what they think is important.”
Despite no organized opposition, a flurry of cities, as well as the editorial board of the Los Angeles Daily News, have loudly spurned the idea, arguing it will make the region even less affordable.
“It’s just terrible timing,” said Paul Little, the head of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. “Costs are going through the roof for everything.”
With weeks to go until election day, healthcare workers and advocates supporting the measure have gone full steam ahead with mailers, marches and a social media campaign depicting a wallowing penny finding its lost sense of purpose with the measure. The campaign’s top funders are St. John’s Community Health and SEIU, who frame the measure as life or death for thousands of uninsured residents.
“Think about that person you know in your family who is asthmatic and relies on that inhaler, who has rheumatoid arthritis, who is diabetic,” said Supervisor Holly Mitchell at a recent town hall held in support of the measure. “And think about whether or not you’re willing to spend a half a penny — 50 cents on every hundred dollars — to make sure that that family, friend or neighbor gets what they need to be healthy.”
The supervisors voted 4-1 to put the sales tax on the ballot. Supervisor Kathryn Barger was the lone no vote.
Supporters say the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Trump last July, is an existential threat to the public health system, leaving the county without reimbursement for the medical care of many Californians who are losing Medi-Cal coverage. The looming multibillion-dollar hole in the budget raises the prospect of hospital cutbacks, staff layoffs and possible emergency room closures, they say.
When a friend asked if Tom Steyer could stop by my wife Delilah’s downtown Santa Ana restaurant, I had to explain to her who he was.
It’s not political apathy in my honey’s case. She’s just exhausted from running her small business, Alta Baja Market, in these inflationary times. She’s one of the 16% of undecided voters in a recent California Democratic Party poll — a group that may determine which two candidates for governor face each other in the general election.
Delilah agreed that Steyer could visit on Saturday after I told her that many of our friends support the billionaire’s progressive platform.
“Politics is your job, not mine,” she joked as we drove to Alta Baja and I named the other major candidates. The only ones she had heard of were Antonio Villaraigosa (“I liked him as mayor, but he needed to keep his pants on,” referring to his extramarital affairs) and Katie Porter (“Some of my workers like her, but I don’t know what she’s done”). She might be the last person left in the Golden State who hasn’t seen any of Steyer’s television and YouTube ads.
His campaign seems to have stalled in the polls even as he has spent more than $150 million of his own money amid doubts from some voters about whether they want a billionaire to lead the state.
So a visit to Santa Ana, the heart of Latino Orange County, was a good move. At Alta Baja, he could talk to my Mexican American wife and other blue-collar Latinos.
When rival Xavier Becerra came to O.C. a few weeks ago, on the other hand, he appeared at a private fundraiser attended mostly by professional Latinos.
“I just want someone who tells us where our taxes are going and treats this country like a business, and we’re not wasting money,” Delilah said. She’s a socially liberal and fiscally conservative Democrat who has been especially angered by President Trump’s deportation deluge, which left the streets of downtown Santa Ana empty for months last summer. “Because right now, our government is a hot-ass mess.”
I asked what questions she had for Steyer.
“So insurance had to cover all the disasters that happened with the fires,” Delilah replied. “So why is everybody else having to pay for it? And what are you really gonna do to help the state?”
She paused. “Tom is a Democrat, right?”
Delilah prepared for Steyer’s noontime stop as if it were any other day. She has fed the likes of U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer and former Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon. Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is a fan of Alta Baja’s blue cornbread; Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee held a meet-and-greet there when she ran for president two years ago.
“You know who should ask questions?” Delilah said after she set the till for the day. “Angela.”
That would be 19-year-old Alta Baja employee Angela Nino, who will be voting in her first election.
“She’ll always be telling me, ‘Did you see the debate? Did you see the debate?’ And I always say, ‘No, I’m too tired to watch.’”
Nino soon clocked in.
“Guess who’s coming, Angela?” Delilah said before looking at me. “Is his name Tim or Tom?”
“It’s like I agree with some of his things, but he’s a billionaire,” said the Orange Coast College student and Santa Ana resident when I asked about Steyer. “His answers at debates have been pretty broad so far.”
Delilah smiled.
“You’re the future, girl, so ask him anything.”
Almost everyone who came in as we waited for Steyer was a campaign worker or volunteer. Former state Controller Betty Yee, who ended her campaign for governor last month and endorsed Steyer, sat at a table with her husband. Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who initiated Steyer’s Santa Ana visit, thanked Delilah for the opportunity. He has known her since the start of his political career on the Santa Ana City Council nearly 20 years ago,
“This is a city where our residents were criminalized because of ICE, our downtown suffered because of construction, and all this on the heels of a pandemic,” he told me. “These are the folks Tom needs to listen to.”
Sarmiento’s staffer got his attention. Steyer was here.
The candidate strolled in with a videographer and photographer. He wore his usual casual billionaire outfit — white-and-cardinal Nikes, jeans, checkered shirt with rolled-up sleeves and a colorful Southwestern-style fabric belt.
Steyer went straight to the counter.
“Are you running for governor?” he cracked while shaking Delilah’s hand.
“I don’t want to,” she replied.
“I knew you were a smart woman!”
He listened with wide eyes and a stern face as Delilah complained about a years-long light-rail project in front of Alta Baja “that has been worse for businesses here than COVID.” Insurance rates have gone up 30% in the last year alone, she said.
“Well, look, that’s my whole thing,” Steyer responded in his low, gravelly voice. “I’m willing to take on the big corporations who are ripping off California. And they’re all spending a lot of money against me.”
It was the Steyer I’ve heard on too many commercials: pugnacious, compassionate but spouting a whole bunch of boilerplate. Delilah smiled weakly.
“I appreciate that,” she said. “And we need more of that.”
Then she waved Nino over. Usually shy, the architecture major now channeled her inner Lesley Stahl.
“Why do you have to be governor in order to do something while you have billions of dollars?” she said.
Steyer didn’t flinch as he explained how he has funded ballot propositions and nonprofit initiatives to fight for a more equitable California.
“So I’ve been able to do something, but what I see in California — and what Delilah and I were just talking about — is big corporations actually run the state,” he said.
“That’s true,” Nino conceded.
“You have to take on the big corporations that are screwing everybody. And you can really only do that as governor,” Steyer continued.
“You want to tax the billionaires, is that correct?” Nino asked next, as Steyer nodded. “How come on some [campaign disclosure] forms, it shows that your billions are in different [countries] besides in the U.S.?”
The candidate vigorously shook his head.
“I might have investments outside the United States, but there’s nothing I’m doing to not pay — I pay full California and American taxes on everything, promise. There’s a lot of ways I could avoid taxes, but I don’t. And so, anything that I’m doing overseas is not to avoid taxes. … I give you my word.”
One more from Nino!
“And how can the people trust billionaires when currently they have been very disappointing towards us?”
“I understand why people are skeptical,” Steyer replied. “They couldn’t be more skeptical than I am.”
He argued that other moguls “are supporting every other candidate. Those people hate me — like, they think I stand for something really bad, which is making them pay their fair share,” referring to a proposed November ballot initiative that would impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires like Steyer (he supports the measure).
“And they’re right,” Steyer concluded. “And so it’s like, they hate me, and that’s fine.”
Nino stayed silent. Delilah thanked Steyer, who was off to visit other local businesses owned by friends of ours. He bought a bottle of rosé, posed for photos with Delilah and Sarmiento and went off — but not before a staffer adjusted the back of his collar.
Delilah and Nino went back to prepping lunch orders. What did they think about Steyer?
“To be honest, I’m so skeptical,” Nino said. “I don’t think he has enough experience as some of the other candidates, and I feel like he could have been more into detail about his policies.”
What about you, honey?
“Gracious, very kind and not pompous, which is what I would expect from most politicians,” Delilah said. “I like that he heard out Angela — that’s important [that] politicians listen to the next generation, and I think everybody should be doing that. But I wasn’t satisfied with my insurance question.”
“And we don’t know if this is a performance,” Nino added, drawing a playful gasp from Delilah. “We’ve seen, like, throughout the years, many political people go into, like, regular [businesses] to seem like, ‘Oh, we’re relatable to the people. We know your struggles.’”
“Do they really?” Delilah interjected.
Nino frowned.
They could just be putting on a show for the cameras, she said.
WASHINGTON — In Napa and surrounding counties, Rep. Mike Thompson’s once-easy reelection contest is turning into something of a race. In the Sacramento area, Rep. Doris Matsui is facing one of her most serious challengers in two decades. In Los Angeles, a former White House climate official wants to unseat Rep. Brad Sherman.
In these districts and others, newcomers are challenging some of the most recognizable Democratic names in California politics in the June 2 primary election.
The challenges are part of a national wave reshaping the debate over generational power and the direction of the Democratic Party ahead of the 2026 midterms, when party leaders hope to retake control of the House. They reflect — and capitalize on — restlessness among progressive voters frustrated with the status quo, worried about affordability and looking for fresh leadership.
The question of when elder lawmakers should step aside has dogged both parties for years, from the late-career health scares of senators including Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Dianne Feinstein to the generational debates sparked by progressive figures such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The debate reached a critical moment for Democrats in 2024, when President Biden withdrew from his reelection campaign under pressure over his age and mental acuity. In California, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, 86, has chosen to retire at the end of her current term.
Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat from California, during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in March 2025 about a Signal messaging incident involving Trump administration officials.
(Daniel Heuer / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Now, a handful of California’s primary contests have revived a predictable debate: Some in the party see the argument that lawmakers in their 70s and 80s should step aside as ageist and naive; others argue Democrats need to allow for generational turnover, particularly after the party’s 2024 failure to beat President Trump.
“The Democratic Party has not been delivering, and the power structure there is crumbling,” said Eric Jones, 35, an entrepreneur who is challenging Thompson in the newly redrawn 4th District. “Where’s the hope? Where’s the dreaming? Where’s the future? I don’t see any of that coming out of this current political class.”
Incumbents argue that trading experience for a fresh face is a false promise. In statements to The Times, several pointed to their legislative accomplishments. “Now is not the time for on-the-job training,” said Thomas Dowling, a spokesperson for Thompson.
The redistricting created by Proposition 50 has helped open the door to newcomer candidates in the 4th and 7th districts, where Thompson and Matsui are facing challengers, making those races more competitive. Both districts were redrawn so that the incumbents must earn the trust of new voters who have never before seen them on their ballots.
“They’re still Democratic, but some of the voters are different,” said Christian Grose, a professor of political science and public policy at USC. “I think that has created an opportunity for a couple of those younger people up north, where districts have changed.”
The two races differ — Thompson, for instance, has received endorsements from young-voter groups, such as the Sacramento County Young Democrats, and at 75, is younger than Matsui, 81.
Matsui, meanwhile, is favored in fundraising, with roughly $1 million in cash to the $315,000 brought in by challenger Mai Vang, a Sacramento City Council member backed by progressive groups who has cast her campaign as one fueled by working families and criticized Matsui for relying on corporate donors. Jones’ challenge has forced Thompson to match his fundraising and door-knocking efforts — both candidates have raised roughly $3 million, their campaigns said.
“Others think being a leader is screaming and shouting,” Matsui told The Times. “I think it is about being effective.”
Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), pictured in April, is facing one of her most serious challengers in two decades.
(Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call Inc via Getty Images)
California is home to three of the 13 members of Congress age 80 or older who are seeking reelection in 2026 — Matsui; Rep. Maxine Waters, 87; and Rep. John Garamendi, 81. All three are facing their first serious primary challenges in years.
“It’s going to take new types of energy, new thoughts, and leadership, to fight what is happening in our country right now,” said Myla Rahman, 53, a Los Angeles Democrat in the 43rd District challenging Waters, who has held the seat for 35 years.
The primary election will also feature a handful of open contests in solidly blue districts where long-standing incumbents are stepping aside — including Pelosi’s San Francisco seat and retiring Rep. Julia Brownley’s Ventura County district — offering newcomers their first real opening in years.
In Alameda County, a primary election is set for June 16 for the seat vacated by former Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned last month amid sexual assault accusations.
National Democrats, meanwhile, are focused on defending incumbents in two swing districts in California that the party considers crucial to winning the House majority: Rep. Derek Tran of Orange County, who won his seat by just over 600 votes in 2024, and Rep. Adam Gray of the Central Valley, who faces a competitive field.
In both competitive partisan races and in Democrat-on-Democrat contests, analysts say frustration about the economy is bubbling up from voters.
A statewide survey released in February by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 56% of likely voters believe a candidate’s position on affordability was very important in determining their vote in a House race — yet only 20% said they approve of the job Congress is doing.
Among voters under 35, the numbers were starker: 76% named cost of living a top concern, and just 13% approved of Congress.
Those numbers help explain why young voters may be looking for new options from primary challengers, said Mark Baldassare, president and chief executive of the Public Policy Institute of California. Much of the disillusionment stems from economic pressures, he said.
“If you’re getting a 13% approval rating in Congress among 18- to 34-year-olds, that tells you a lot about how people are feeling about the status quo,” Baldassare said.
The trend reflects a mix of younger candidates who have grown tired of waiting their turn, others who are driven by ideology, and others who simply see a rare opening against a vulnerable incumbent, Grose said.
“If you’re a savvy young candidate, it may be easier to beat an incumbent who is over 80 than to then primary 20 people when the person retires later on,” he said.
Still, newcomers face a steep climb against opponents whose names are well known in communities where they have been deeply embedded over the years.
Rahman, a nonprofit director, acknowledged it’s challenging to run against someone like Waters, who is nationally known and has voter loyalty. But she said the cost of groceries, gas and housing have people questioning whether their representatives in Congress are doing enough.
In Solano County, Garamendi, who has served in Congress since 2009 and held senior posts in state government since the 1970s, faces three challengers — two Democrats and one Republican — in the redrawn 8th District.
“Experience matters, both when you’re fighting Trump and when you’re working to improve our community,” he said when he launched his reelection bid.
In Los Angeles’ 32nd District, Sherman, 71, is attempting to fend off Jake Levine, 41, a former Obama and Biden White House climate aide who decided to run after losing his childhood home in the Palisades fire.
“For 30 years, we’ve been told that seniority equals effectiveness, and that time in office equals progress,” Levine said. “But people across our district — who are contending with $7 gas and housing prices driving people out of L.A. — can feel that’s not true.”
Sherman, who has been in Congress since 1997, dismissed the generational-change argument bluntly.
“If you have never shown that you can stand up to the other side in a tough legislative debate, then you might as well just go out there and say, ‘I’ve never done anything, I’ve never proven I can do anything, but I am new,’” Sherman said.
