year

Before starting a cosmopolitan life as an artist in Mexico City, queer filmmaker Efraín Mojica came of age between Riverside and the rural town of Penjamillo, Michoacán: home to an annual jaripeo, or a Mexican rodeo competition that takes place every Christmas.

Every year, cowboys convene to test-drive their masculinity, namely by swigging handles of tequila and precariously mounting the backs of bucking bulls. These heroic shows of manhood long fascinated Mojica, who frequented jaripeos with family — and quietly forged a community with other locals who diverged from Mexican gender norms.

That community would become the cast of “Jaripeo,” the debut documentary feature film by Mojica and co-director Rebecca Zweig, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Shot in the style of cinéma vérité, Mojica appears as both a narrator and protagonist. Zweig, who first encountered Mojica in Seattle’s punk scene, follows them behind the lens as they interview members of the LGBTQ community in and around Penjamillo.

“[Mojica] invited me to Michoacán in 2018 to spend Christmas with their family,” Zweig tells The Times, the day after the film’s Jan. 25 premiere. “As soon as I was at the rodeo with them, I became obsessed with the performance of masculinity.”

“[Zweig] was like, ‘How do you feel about making a documentary [about] the rodeos?’” Mojica tells The Times. “I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s got to be gay.’”

Produced by Sarah Strunin, the documentary begins with a pastoral scene from Mojica’s pickup truck as they overlook the grasslands of Michoacán. Pink party lights and techno music are woven into scenes of bandas and revelers in tejana hats, who kick up dust as they dance inside the rodeo ring. The crew flashes strobe lights in the cornfields, lighting up the figures of sexy cowboys sifting through the crops to find one another — drawing parallels to queer nightlife in the cities.

“On New Year’s there’s a rodeo in Acuitzeramo, with like 10,000 people and big speakers with heavy bass,” said Mojica. “What’s the big difference between a city rave and a rancho jaripeo, you know? They’re doing the exact same thing.”

“I wanted to blur all the lines and make these abstract sequences,” says Zweig. “And I thought, how much is that gonna be allowed in a formal [film] institution? I want to shout out public media, [because] when we got the Open Call Fund from ITVS, they took a chance on us as first-time filmmakers. [Marlon Riggs’ documentary] ‘Tongues Untied’ was also funded by ITVS — the legacy of queer cinema and documentaries in the U.S. has been supported by public media.”

“We have to deal with these issues in our towns, and [people] are still not open to receiving that kind of help,” says Noé Margarito Zaragoza, center, who stars in the new film “Jaripeo.”

(Cat Cardenas / De Los)

Each interview adds more color and dimension to Mojica’s memories of the village they left long ago, no longer suspended in the past. Mojica visits Arturo Calderón, a local rodeo clown known as “La Pirinola,” who performs in drag; Calderón lets the camera roll as he paints his eyelids electric blue.

They later stop by the local church and the disco with Joseph Cerda Bañales, a bearded makeup artist who brandishes long stiletto nails to the rodeos. Despite efforts from the festival organizers, and even a letter from Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), Cerda was unfortunately not granted entry into the U.S. for the Sundance premiere.

“Joseph is the mayor of his town,” says Mojica. “He’s the president of the church. He runs the folkloric ballet. He does everything. It’s not that there’s no more traditional culture… People just want to keep the community together. [It means] holding a bunch of truths [and] contradictions at the same time.”

Mojica even shares flirtatious moments onscreen while interviewing Noé Margarito Zaragoza, a dashing and stoic ranchero who lives discreetly as a gay man.

“It’s exciting, but at the same time I’m a little nervous,” says Margarito of coming out in the film. “Part of my family doesn’t know what’s going on with my life, so I don’t know how they’re going to take it. But my main family members — my siblings, my dad — well, they feel content and happy [for me], so I’m going forward and giving it my all.”

“We never talked about my queer identity,” says Mojica of their own family, some of whom flew in for the premiere of “Jaripeo” at the Yarrow Theatre in Park City. Mojica planned a belated coming out talk at dinner the night before; the discussion never happened.

“I choked up,” says Mojica. “I thought, ‘OK, I’m just going to give them a little heads up of what the film’s actually about.’ But I could not vocalize a single word. My eyes started tearing up. So I was like, ‘See you tomorrow!’”

It was after the screening, during an open Q&A, when Mojica’s mother quelled the artist’s fears in one fell swoop.

“What was the reception from your family after seeing the film?” an audience member asked Mojica in Spanish — unaware that their family had just watched it for the first time with everyone else in the theater.

To that, Mrs. Mojica Rubio rose from her seat and introduced herself “as a very proud mamá” who loves her child “unconditionally.”

After a beat, she exclaimed: “It’s the 21st century!”

Mrs. Mojica Rubio’s show of support was promptly met with resounding cheers from the audience. “My mom also approached [Margarito] and said, ‘I’m going to give you a mother’s hug, because you deserve it,’” says Mojica, who appears misty-eyed as they recount the scene.

In a time of increasing hostility against LGBTQ people and immigrants in the United States, to behold the strength of a mother’s love — and the solidarity across communities — affirms the purpose of such a film, with a power that transcends states, governments and institutions.

“People in different countries [have] this antiquated idea that Mexico is this little ranchita that’s hateful, that they’re gonna beat you if you’re queer. But we really care for each other,” Mojica says.

“We have to deal with these issues in our towns, and [people] are still not open to receiving that kind of help,” added Margarito. “So let’s hope [the movie is] a success.”

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, giving you the latest on city and county government.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did something this week that would have been unthinkable three years ago — she took an unprompted swipe at her counterparts in L.A. County.

Bass, while weighing in on L.A.’s so-called “mansion tax,” dinged the county for creating what she called a “bureaucratic” homelessness agency, saying it threatened to undermine the city’s progress on the crisis.

County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath hit back hard, telling Bass on X that the county created the new agency because the existing one — which is partly overseen by Bass appointees — was incapable of tracking its spending.

“The County is fixing the problems you’ve ignored,” Horvath said.

Things have been bad between Bass and Horvath for more than a year, with the two Democrats taking veiled, and sometimes not-so-veiled, swipes at each other. But could they become adversaries in the truest sense of the word — as head-to-head rivals in this year’s mayoral election?

Horvath, who has spent months lining up endorsements for her own reelection campaign, has until Saturday to decide whether to enter the mayor’s race, challenging Bass’ bid for a second term. She told The Times she is seriously weighing a run — and “spending the weekend in deep reflection” with friends and family.

“From a young age, my faith has guided me through the most important moments of my life,” said Horvath, who is Catholic. “This is one of those moments.”

Bass, who is running in the June 2 primary for a second term, is already facing challenges from reality television star Spencer Pratt, former school superintendent Austin Beutner and community organizer Rae Huang, who has focused heavily on housing issues. Still, a Horvath bid would reshape the contest dramatically.

Beutner has not campaigned publicly since Jan. 5, one day before his 22-year-old daughter died of undetermined causes. Real estate developer Rick Caruso opted on Jan. 16 to stay out of the race, after sharply criticizing Bass for more than a year.

On paper, a Horvath mayoral bid looks somewhat risky. If she takes the plunge, she would no longer be permitted to seek reelection to her supervisorial seat, representing about 2 million people on the Westside and in the San Fernando Valley. Bass has been raising money for more than a year and has locked up key endorsements, including the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

If she runs, Horvath would face questions about the county’s difficulties, including a $4-billion legal payout over sexual abuse that has been marred by fraud allegations and a screwup surrounding Measure G, the 2024 ballot measure that will expand the number of county supervisors but also is on track to inadvertently repeal a criminal justice reform measure.

On top of that, there’s the secret $2-million payout to the county’s top executive.

Horvath said she’s seen recent polling that makes clear that “there’s an appetite for change” among Angelenos. Community leaders, residents of her supervisorial district and “those longing for a better Los Angeles” have been asking her to run, she said.

“I am listening carefully and seriously both to those who are urging me to enter this race, and to those who are eager to continue the work we have begun together at the County,” she said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the Bass campaign said he does not comment on prospective candidates. Pratt, for his part, said he’s rooting for Horvath to jump in so that “voters can see two career politicians calling each other out for the failed policies they both promoted.”

“Lindsey Horvath and Karen Bass are both responsible for the decline of our city, and the more they talk about each other, the more the public will see why we need a complete reset,” he said in a statement.

Even if Horvath doesn’t run, it looks like her relationship with the mayor will be rocky for the foreseeable future. The first-term supervisor has emerged as one of Bass’ most outspoken critics, highlighting an array of issues at City Hall.

Earlier this month, Horvath told The Times that she hears regularly from Angelenos who complain that they’re not getting basic services. She said that support within City Hall for Inside Safe, the mayor’s program to combat homelessness, is eroding.

Horvath has also taken aim at the city’s response to the Palisades fire, pointing out in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom that the Fire Department’s after-action report was watered down and then disavowed by its author. A day later, she told CBS2 that Bass was not being truthful about the county’s new homelessness agency.

Bass also has her own bully pulpit. On Friday, she stood outside federal court and railed against the indictment of independent journalist Don Lemon, calling it an “assault on our democracy.” Prosecutors have accused Lemon of violating federal law while reporting on a protest inside a Minnesota church.

The strained relations between Bass and Horvath are noteworthy given the mayor’s heavy focus on collaboration early on in her administration, when she triumphantly declared she was “locking arms” with a wide array of elected officials — including county supervisors — in the fight against homelessness.

Bass has attempted to stay above the fray, mostly avoiding direct conflict with other politicians — at least in public. But the Palisades fire, which destroyed thousands of homes and left 12 people dead, showed things weren’t always amiable behind the scenes.

Two weeks after the fires, Horvath and Bass were at odds over their joint public appearances, with Horvath complaining via text message that the mayor’s approach didn’t feel “very ‘locked arms.’”

Months later, Horvath and her colleagues on the Board of Supervisors voted to pull hundreds of millions of dollars from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, moving the money to the new county homelessness agency.

Horvath said the change was urgently needed in the wake of highly damaging reports about LAHSA’s financial oversight. Bass, in turn, warned the move would create a “monumental disruption” for the city’s effort to bring unhoused residents indoors.

Last month, Bass published an opinion piece in the Daily News criticizing the county, pointing out that its new homelessness agency was already proposing cuts to programs that have served the city’s unhoused population.

Bass echoed that criticism in a recent interview, saying the cuts were proposed a year after voters approved a half-cent sales tax to fund homeless services.

Those reductions, if enacted, would scale back the operations of A Pathway Home, the county’s counterpart to Inside Safe.

“We are going to do the best we can without a full partner in the county,” Bass said.

Horvath, for her part, said she wants to scale back A Pathway Home because it is too costly — and is not achieving the success that county officials want.

State of play

— BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD: City Councilmember Nithya Raman fell short in her attempt to send voters a ballot proposal rewriting Measure ULA, the tax on property sales of $5.3 million and up. Councilmembers said they did not even want to discuss the idea until it had been vetted by her committee.

— PIT BULL PAYOUT: The city paid more than $3 million last year to a woman who adopted a dog from the South L.A. animal shelter, only to have it attack her two days later. She later found out the dog had bitten a grandmother’s face. The case is raising questions about the way some shelter dogs are promoted on Instagram and other platforms.

— HEADING TO TRIAL: After a weeklong hearing, a judge ruled on Wednesday that the criminal case against Councilmember Curren Price can proceed to trial. Price, who has been charged with embezzlement, perjury and violations of conflict-of-interest laws, is slated to leave office in December. His lawyer said he did not act with “wrongful intent.”

— CLEARING CASES: Los Angeles police solved more than two thirds of homicides citywide in 2025, in a year that ended with the fewest number of slayings in six decades, according to figures released Thursday.

— GIVING TO GIBSON DUNN: The council signed off on a $1.8-million increase to its legal contract with Gibson Dunn, which is representing the city in the seemingly endless L.A. Alliance case. The increase, which passed on a 9-4 vote, brings the contract to nearly $7.5 million.

— PAYOUT PAUSE: Los Angeles County will halt some payments from its $4-billion sex-abuse settlement, as prosecutors ramp up their probe into allegations of fraud.

— LAPD VS. PROTESTER: A tense exchange between an LAPD captain and one of the Police Department’s most outspoken critics has gone viral.

— BATTLING TRUMP, PART 1: President Trump signed an executive order to allow victims of the Los Angeles wildfires to rebuild without obtaining “unnecessary, duplicative, or obstructive” permits. The order, which is likely to be challenged by the city and state, was immediately derided by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said Trump should provide FEMA relief.

— BATTLING TRUMP, PART 2: Trump also vowed to fight the construction of new low-income housing in the Pacific Palisades burn area. L.A. officials say no projects are planned.

Quick hits

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to fight homelessness went to the area around Gage Avenue at St. Andrews Place, located in the South L.A. district represented by Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson.
• On the docket next week: Bass delivers the first of her two State of the City speeches, which has been billed as a “unifying celebration of Los Angeles.”

Stay in touch

That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

MICHELLE KEEGAN has shared snaps from her second glam trip of the year despite being blasted by Essex mums over her gifted holiday.

The mum-of-one, 38, jetted off to Abu Dhabi a couple of weeks ago with husband Mark Wright and Palma but fans weren’t happy when they realised it was a paid for all-expenses trip.

Now the former Coronation Street star has jetted off to Los Angeles as she shared a series of pictures in America on her Instagram stories.

She posted snaps of a brightly coloured barista art coffee as well as a neon sign that read, ‘The Beverly Hills Hotel’.

A collage of photos showed the actress wearing a multi coloured buttoned up top with a pair of jeans and some brown boots.

As she smiled for the camera, she opted for a straightened hair look for her brunette locks and went for a subtle make up look complete with a nude lip, mascara and a bit of blush.

READ MORE ON MICHELLE KEEGAN

MUM’S ADMISSION

Mark Wright’s mum says she ‘holds back’ with Michelle Keegan to avoid rows

WRIGHT XMAS

Michelle & Mark Wright’s ‘tacky’ Christmas move which enraged Essex neighbours

It’s unclear whether Michelle is in the US for work or play, but it was previously reported that the Netflix star was in talks to star in Reese Witherspoon’s big-budget movie adaptation of her new novel.

Oscar-winner Reese, 49, wrote crime thriller Gone Before Goodbye with American author Harlan Coben, who was behind Michelle’s Netflix hit show Fool Me Once.

Harlan introduced the women to each other at the launch of the book at the ­London Literature Festival, held at the capital’s Festival Hall last weekend.

A source said: “Harlan has been singing Michelle’s praises to Reese and she was keen to meet her. They got on really well and it was clear Reese was really taken with Michelle.

“The plan is to turn the book into a film and Michelle is their first choice to take on the role of the lead character, Maggie McCabe.

“She is a combat surgeon and Michelle previously played an Army medic in Our Girl on the BBC, so it’s a role they know she could take on with style.

“It’s early days but Harlan and Reese think Michelle is tailor-made for this role and would love her to come on board when the time is right.”

Michelle’s trip comes just week after her freebie trip to the UAE in which she was slammed by Essex mums.

Michellle and Mark stayed at the lavish Rixos Premium in Saadiyat Island, but they didn’t pay a penny for the stay.

It got locals back in Britain, who have got to know Michelle since she moved into her £3.5m mansion in Essex, talking – and not in a good way. 

A source explained: “Local mums are incredibly jealous of the trip and the fact she got it for free.

“They feel like she is really out of touch and showing off something rotten by plastering it all over social media. They are used to it from Mark, but not her.”

And her outraged Instagram followers rushed to express their upset, with one person questioning: “Lovely, could you not have gifted it to a family who could never afford the experience??”

But insiders told us that Michelle has “had enough of the constant whispering and bitching from these so-called Essex wives and the trolls”.

They added: “These women are obsessed with her because they want to be her –  they’re jealous, plain and simple.

“They watch everything she does because they wish they could be as beautiful and famous as her, then sit around slagging her off just because Michelle is too busy to be their friend.

CARDI B loves bad boy Stefon Diggs, but one wrong move and she’s out, two sources have told The U.S. Sun.

The controversial NFL star is gearing up for next weekend’s Super Bowl, with the chance to lead the New England Patriots to glory in San Francisco. 

As The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed, the Patriots star has six baby mamas dotted across the United States, with the most recent addition to his ever-growing brood arriving late last year. 

Diggs, 32, and Cardi welcomed their son on November 4.

Incredibly, most of Diggs’ children were born within a few months of each other in 2025, fueling intense speculation and online debate. 

Amid paternity battles and feverish social media chatter, Cardi has quietly backed her man behind the scenes.

Read more on Stefon Diggs

DIGG DEEP

Stefon Diggs ‘shells out huge child support payments to baby mamas,’ expert says

An insider told The U.S. Sun that she was fully aware of Diggs’ reputation from the start — and believes he has changed.

“Cardi has known since day one that Stefon had a reputation as a womanizer and had seen multiple women in the past, but her love for him is above all of that,” the source said. 

“She knows he has been faithful since they made things official and that he’s been transparent about his previous relationships, only seeing her since they committed to each other.”

The insider added that while Cardi “hates all the drama,” she admires Diggs’ role as a father.

“She loves that he’s not a deadbeat dad,” the source said. “She believes he’s a present, loving, and supportive father.”

Diggs’ first child, daughter Nova, was born in 2016, but his family has expanded rapidly in recent years. 

In late 2024, Instagram model Aileen Lopera filed a paternity suit claiming Diggs was the father of her unborn child. Their daughter, Charliee Harper Diggs-Lopera, was born in April 2025.

Diggs initially requested DNA testing, and by late 2025, The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed he was the biological father. 

The lawsuit was quietly dismissed in January 2026, suggesting the matter was resolved privately.

NO MESSING

Around the same time, Diggs also welcomed children with other women, including K’yanna Barber, who has previously been linked to Drake.

Rather than viewing Diggs’ children as competition or conflict, Cardi, who starting dating the Patriots star in October 2024 after divorcing rapper husband Offset, reportedly sees them as part of an extended family.

“She sees his children as an extension of the family and enjoys when they’re all together, spending time as one big extended family,” the source said.

“She doesn’t harbor hate toward Stefon’s exes or the mothers of his children. She doesn’t judge — she just wants everyone, especially the kids, to be happy and grow up in a stable, healthy environment.”

Still, Cardi has drawn a firm line.

The source said the New York rapper has been blunt with Diggs, warning him there will be no forgiveness if he crosses it.

“She’s been very clear with Stefon: if he messes up, if another woman comes forward with a baby after they became official and started a family together, she’s done,” the insider said.

“She told him plainly that if he cheats or has a child behind her back, it’s over.”

STEFON DIGGS’ KIDS

Nova Diggs

Born on October 14, 2016, Nova is Stefon’s eldest child and the most recognizable to NFL fans. She has been a fixture at his games since his time in Buffalo, often seen celebrating on the field or “negotiating” his contracts in viral social media clips. Her mother is Tyler-Marie, a singer from the Buffalo area. While the two are no longer a couple, they have maintained a visible co-parenting relationship for nearly a decade.

Shiloh Diggs

Shiloh was born in 2023 and is Stefon’s second-oldest child. She is the daughter of Kennedy Moore, a model from Diggs’ home state of Maryland. While Diggs kept her arrival relatively private compared to Nova’s, he shared photos of them together during the 2025 holiday season, confirming her place in his growing family tree.

Charliee Harper Diggs-Lopera

Born on April 2, 2025, Charliee was at the center of a high-profile legal battle. Her mother, Los Angeles-based model Aileen Lopera (known online as Lord Gisselle), filed a paternity suit in late 2024. In November 2025, DNA testing legally confirmed Stefon as the father. The case was officially resolved in January 2026 after Aileen dismissed her lawsuit, with both parties reportedly agreeing to a private co-parenting arrangement.

[Daughter – Name Not Public]

In April 2025—the same month Charliee was born—Stefon reportedly welcomed another daughter with New York City-based Instagram model Cayy Benji. While this child is rarely mentioned in formal interviews, Diggs was seen spending time with her during his 2025 Christmas break, solidifying reports of her paternity within the “wave” of children he fathered that year.

“Baby Brim” / “Touchdown”

Stefon’s most famous addition is his son with superstar rapper Cardi B, born on November 4, 2025. This is Cardi’s fourth child and Stefon’s first confirmed son. While the public and the parents themselves use the nicknames “Baby Brim” and “Touchdown,” Cardi B explicitly denied rumors in late January 2026 that his legal name is “Grayson,” stating that they are not yet ready to reveal his official name to the world.

[Son – Name Not Public]

The sixth and final child reported as of early 2026 is a son with Miami-based influencer K’yanna Barber. Barber is famously known as the “Kiki” referenced in Drake’s hit “In My Feelings.” Reports of her pregnancy surfaced in late 2024, and she is believed to have given birth in late 2025. Like several of his other 2025 additions, Diggs was pictured holding the infant during the 2025 holidays.

While fiercely loyal, Cardi reportedly struggles when Diggs is publicly criticized.

“She does get upset when people talk badly about him, seeing it as disrespect,” the second source said.

“She’s had arguments over how some people address or treat him in public — but she’s learning how to handle it better.”

Behind the scenes, Cardi has played an active role in helping Diggs navigate co-parenting and blended-family dynamics.

“When she loves, she fights for her man. Period,” the source said. “She talks to him often about how to best navigate situations involving multiple baby mamas and co-parenting. She gives him advice on being the best father he can be, and he appreciates the constant support she shows him.”

It promises to be another whirlwind few weeks for Diggs. 

Fresh from taking part in his first Super Bowl, he is set to head to court to contest felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault and battery charges stemming from an alleged incident in a Boston suburb on December 2.

The woman, who has not been publicly identified and was employed by Diggs as a personal chef, filed a police report on December 16 — several weeks after the alleged incident. 

According to Dedham police, she appeared “emotional and hesitant” to identify the suspect, citing his fame and public profile in New England.

Court documents allege Diggs entered her unlocked bedroom and confronted her over a text-message dispute regarding money he allegedly owed her. 

As the argument escalated, Diggs allegedly struck her across the face. When she attempted to push him away, he then tried to choke her, according to the report.

“The male then tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck,” the police report stated.

Another issue for Diggs, who is on a whopping $70 million, three-year deal with the Patriots, could be him shelling out an estimated $2 million alone on child support, according to an expert who spoke to The U.S. Sun.

Despite the mounting pressure, Cardi is standing by her man.

“She believes he’s telling the truth,” the source said. “She knows how frustrating these situations can be, but she’s there for him 100 percent, fighting alongside him.

“She sees herself as a lioness standing beside her lion — defending him, wanting him to be respected and loved, while also holding him accountable for his actions.

“To her, love means going to war for your partner when needed — being their strongest support in any circumstance.”

The U.S. Sun reached out to Cardi B’s reps, but is yet to hear back.

This time 36 years ago, Fabrice Morvan was preparing for his first Grammy Awards. It had been a wild few years for the 23-year-old Parisian and his best friend Robert Pilatus from Germany. The duo known as Milli Vanilli had rocketed to fame, going from obscure dancers in Munich to dominate the pop music scene. Not only were they nominated for best new artist, but they were expected to perform live. Underneath it all, the pair were quickly reaching their breaking point.

Don Henley’s “The End of the Innocence” was nominated for both song and record of the year. Indeed, for the tens of millions of Milli Vanilli fans who bought their records, the 1990 Grammy ceremony marked an end of innocence of sorts. To this day, Milli Vanilli are the only artists in the history of the Grammys to have their award revoked.

L-R: The pop duo Milli Vanilli comprised of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, the subject of the Paramount+ documentary Milli Vanilli, streaming on Paramount+ beginning October 24, 2023.

(Ingrid Segeith/Ingrid Segeith/Paramount+)

“Rob and Fab,” as they were known, never sang — live or in studio — on any of the smash hit singles from their 6x platinum debut North American album, “Girl You Know It’s True.” Their Grammy performance was them lip-synching to a playback.

The real singing was done by paid session vocalists John Davis, Brad Howell and Charles Shaw while Rob and Fab captivated with their charisma, athletic dance moves and eye for style. In the wake of the fallout, Milli Vanilli remained steadfast that what they did was wrong. There was, in fact, plenty of blame to go around even if Rob and Fab suffered the brunt of it.

“They removed the platinum records from the wall at Arista,” says Morvan, now 59. He is perched on the edge of a poolside lounge chair from a boutique hotel in the heart of Hollywood. It’s a sunny December day, but he’s dressed all in black with glasses to match, slim fingers adorned with a custom silver skull ring. He loves the sunshine, but offers for my sake to move somewhere in the shade. Able to pass for decades younger, he now basks in life on the other side of infamy.

“They say the truth will set you free. The truth takes the stairs while the lies take the elevators. And that is true,” Morvan said. “So finally, after 35 years, my truth comes to the surface.”

(Stephen Shadrach)

Now, in a redemption as astounding as his rise, Morvan is back in the running for the 2026 Grammys as the only person in Recording Academy history nominated after a prior revocation.

This time, the voice is unmistakably his. Nominated in the audio book, narration, and storytelling recording category for his memoir “You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli,” Morvan’s lilting French dialect and soft tone are hypnotizing and he has a natural knack for storytelling. The recording was performed alone in his home studio.

“They say the truth will set you free. The truth takes the stairs while the lies take the elevators. And that is true. So finally, after 35 years, my truth comes to the surface,” he contends. “And people, they get it, they understand that.”

Sadly, Rob Pilatus isn’t here to see it. Unable to handle the fallout and struggling in addiction, he died in 1998. In one of the more moving parts of his memoir, Morvan speaks to his former partner, laying bare for the first time some of the more unhealthy aspects of their relationship but in a way that makes clear his love for Pilatus runs deep.

After Pilatus’ death, Morvan tried his best to move on. He taught French at a Berlitz school for a while when not performing at small venues. “I’m not even looking at becoming big,” he told Times journalist Carla Rivera in a 1997 profile. He even had a stint on radio hosting “Fabrice’s Fabulous Flashbacks” for KIIS-FM. But he always returned to making music.

“Music was always there with me,” he says, his excitement building. So when it came to moving forward in life, and, I said, ‘OK, what am I going to do?’ Music kind of popped up and said, ‘Hey, show me how much you love me.’ And then I worked on that, and I learned how to play guitar, and I learned how to produce, and I learned how to write … it allowed me to take the pain away, to remove it.”

But after 20 years in Los Angeles, Morvan felt it was time to leave “Hotel California,” as he calls it, for opportunities in Europe. In a follow-up Zoom call from his home in Amsterdam, he confides that he almost felt like giving up, but figured maybe a change of scenery was what he needed.

“I was very disillusioned,” he says, headphones crowning his dreadlocked updo. “I found a producer that I could work with and build something with, but due to certain circumstances, it didn’t come together. So I met some Dutch people that wanted to launch a fashion line. And I heard that Holland was a place where dance music was evolving.”

Becoming a DJ, he played festivals and kept Milli Vanilli’s legacy alive, performing with a live band.

Morvan with his wife Tessa van der steen and their four children

While preparing for a project about 15 years ago, Morvan met his current partner, Tessa van der Steen, who is Dutch and works as a health and fitness coach and alternative medicine practitioner. Together, they have four children: a 12-year-old boy, 9-year-old girl, and a set of 4-year-old twin boys.

During Milli Vanilli’s heyday, powerful male (mostly white) figures held the cards, but in this phase of his life it’s women who play big roles. Not mentioned in his book is Kim Marlowe, who Morvan says, in the 1997 Times article was his manager and best friend. They at one point married; Marlowe quietly filed for divorce in L.A. in 2024.

Van der Steen, however, is the love of his life. She had no idea who he was when they first met, he was simply “Fabrice.” And according to Morvan, she is fiercely protective. “Fab is the most loving partner and father I could ever imagine,” Van der Steen writes over email. “We are soulmates. We have been together for more than 15 years. We understand each other, and it happens often that we are thinking of the same things, without saying a word.” She champions his efforts to release original music and continue performing.

In recent years, changes in culture, technology and the music industry have opened up conversations casting Rob and Fab in a more sympathetic light. Morvan himself took part in the well-received 2023 Paramount+ documentary “Milli Vanilli.” That same year, “Girl You Know It’s True,” a well-made biopic directed by Simon Verhoeven, came out.

And Morvan was caught off guard when Ryan Murphy featured Milli Vanilli prominently in his 2024 series on the Menendez brothers, a move introducing the group to new generations unfamiliar with the story. Motivated by the renewed interest, he recorded a stripped down, acoustic version of the Diane Warren-penned hit “Blame It on the Rain.”

As recently as November, Milli Vanilli came up in the zeitgeist, sparked by a comment on X by veteran producer Jermaine Dupri commenting on AI “artists” charting on Billboard.

Of course there are still detractors, but in an era in which public cancellations abound and apologies are scrutinized for any whiff of inauthenticity, Milli Vanilli’s wrongdoings can now seem quaint.

Benjamin Matheson, assistant professor at the University of Bern’s Institute on Philosophy, studies collective shame and writes on celebrity apology. He offers the startling thought that certain fans might be more willing to forgive a moral wrong, even an egregious one like unlawful intercourse with a minor in the example of director Roman Polanski, as opposed to artistic deception because it can be seen as more authentic.

“I think that perhaps,” Matheson writes over email, “Milli Vanilli suffered because they were an early ‘created’ pop band, and the public hadn’t been acclimatized to this kind of music. Whereas now I think people are much more comfortable with autotuning, AI music, and so on — though I’d love it if there was a bit more push back on this kind of thing.”

Morvan has plenty of thoughts on the state of the music industry past and present. He welcomes the change in perspective, and while he doesn’t live in regret, looking back, he would give his younger self a little advice.

“Keep working on your craft now. No matter what, and don’t ever start drugs. And don’t let your buddy Rob start with that. With those two, things would have been different.”

The pop duo Milli Vanilli comprised of Rob Pilatus(left) and Fab Morvan are the subject of the Paramount+ documentary Milli Vanilli, streaming on Paramount+ beginning October 24, 2023.

(Paul Cox/Paramount+/Paul Cox/Paramount+)

When the Los Angeles Tribune editorial staff selected “Girl You Know It’s True” as its movie of the year, Morvan met Parisa Rose, his co-writer and executive producer for the recording of the memoir. Rose, a first-time author and mother of two, first met Morvan when she interviewed him for the quirky paper — now in its fourth revival. She is now chief operating officer of the Tribune, which has expanded to include a publishing house.

Rose, who grew up in Pasadena, helped Morvan reckon with parts of his background he had long buried. One of the most compelling parts of the memoir is when he breaks the fourth wall, narrating letters to individuals from his past.

“You need to say everything you have never said before to them that you’ve always wanted to say,” she says of the exercise they conducted for the interludes. “You need to know that this is the last conversation you will ever have with them. And you need to imagine they are sitting across from you now.” Reached over the phone, Rose said she also helped with research, uncovering details on the seaside sanatorium in France where Morvan spent much of his early childhood.

A great part of Morvan’s motivation for the memoir was to leave a legacy for his kids. His oldest son is getting into music and recently found an old Milli Vanilli vinyl and plays it along with Daft Punk and Michael Jackson. Remaining “zen” about the idea of winning, he’s enjoying the moment. And the big dreams never die. He plans to tour in the next year and come back to perform in America. And who knows? Maybe one day he can play Coachella.

He’s particularly thrilled over his Grammy outfit, a collaboration with Spanish designer Helen López, whom he previously worked with on a Milli Vanilli-inspired line. “When you’ll see what I’m wearing … you’ll see that I don’t play,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. “No matter what the outcome in life, you have to just be, be in the moment. Enjoy the moment. Whatever happens will lead you to something else. I have no expectations.”

The ICE officers descended on Compton, targeting immigrants convicted of theft, child abuse and selling drugs.

There were no protesters. No whistles alerting targets to the officers’ presence. No face masks. In some cases, residents opened their doors to let the officers inside their homes. One man thanked them for not arresting him in front of his children.

The Los Angeles area operation ended with 162 arrests, including a Mexican national convicted of rape and a Salvadoran national convicted of voluntary manslaughter. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said almost 90% of the people arrested had criminal convictions.

It was June 2018, more than a year into Donald Trump’s first term as president. More than seven years later, carrying out the same operation in L.A. or other U.S. cities feels almost impossible without drawing angry crowds and requiring multiple officers, at times across federal agencies, to detain a single target.

In the years since Trump’s first term, ICE and the government’s immigration enforcement apparatus expanded raids well beyond those against known criminals or suspected ones. Increasingly, immigrants with no criminal records and even legal residents and U.S. citizens found themselves stopped and sometimes arrested.

The uncertainty over who is being targeted has fueled a growing pattern of community protests and rapid response mobilizations, even when officials say they are targeting convicted felons, reflecting a widening gap between how enforcement is described and how it is experienced. That gap has become most visible on the ground.

In recent months, sightings of ICE or other federal agents have drawn crowds of protesters, legal observers and community organizers. In many cases, residents say they can’t distinguish between targeted enforcement actions — against child molesters, human smugglers and other serious criminals — and broader sweeps, responding instead to the mere presence of agents whose role and authority are no longer clearly understood.

Experts say the Trump administration’s hostile rhetoric against immigrants and often seemingly indiscriminate targeting of people in neighborhoods has hurt the reputation of its immigration enforcement agencies, including ICE and Border Patrol, like never before. And it has inspired a mass movement of resistance that has seen Americans shot by federal immigration officers. In the last month, two U.S. citizens — Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti — were shot dead by ICE and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.

The fatal shootings forced Trump to recalibrate his immigration enforcement tactics, in part by sidelining Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, who first launched the aggressive raids in California, and putting border policy advisor Tom Homan in charge.

“I’m not here because the federal government has carried out this mission perfectly,” Homan said during a Thursday news conference. “Nothing’s ever perfect, and anything can be improved on. And what we’ve been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient, by the book.”

He said street operations in Minnesota would “draw down” if the agents were given access to local jails and that agents would focus on specific targets.

“We will conduct targeted enforcement operations — targeted,” he added. “That has traditionally been the case and that’s what we’re going to continue to do and improve upon that with the priority on public safety threats.”

An internal memo reviewed by Reuters showed ICE officers operating in the state were directed to avoid engaging with “agitators” and only target “aliens with a criminal history.”

Even if the Trump administration were to pull back ICE and Border Patrol’s aggressive tactics to focus more on known criminals, experts question whether too much damage has been done to their reputations.

“The brand of the agency is becoming so toxic,” said John Sandweg, who headed ICE under President Obama. “It’s going to impact the agency for years to come. It’s going to take a long time for that trust to rebuild.”

Another former ICE official, who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation, said the agency used to be able to say it was focused on criminals and wasn’t conducting random sweeps.

“For years we always said, ‘We don’t have the resources to go after everybody, so we’re going to focus on just the worst of the worst,’” he said. “They can’t say that now. They’re still trying to do that, but it’s getting overshadowed by Home Depot and car washes and all this other stuff and Border Patrol’s heavy-handed tactics. Now it’s leading to shootings and all these other things. It’s just horrible.”

In Willowbrook, an unincorporated neighborhood nestled in South L.A., just blocks from Compton city limits, federal agents found themselves locked between angry crowds recording them last week. Two people held a sign that read: “ICE / Soldiers off our streets.”

Federal agents clear the way for an authorized car to pass while investigating a shooting involving a federal agent in Willowbrook.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

The agents were there to arrest a man they say had been “involved in human trafficking” and had a final removal order. They alleged the man had two prior arrests for domestic violence. Homeland Security officials later said the man used his vehicle to ram federal agent vehicles in an attempt to evade arrest, prompting an agent to open fire.

But as news spread that the operation was targeting a suspected criminal living in the country illegally, most residents shrugged it off. They said federal officials had made false claims against other people they had arrested or shot at, including labeling Good and Pretti as domestic terrorists.

“They’ve shown us that they’re not trustworthy,” Rosa Enriquez, 39, said while holding a Mexican flag.

Similar scenes have played out across the country. This month, a journalist posted a video of agents — who she identified as working for ICE — calling out a driver for honking during an operation St. Paul, Minn.

“We’re here to arrest a child sex offender and you guys are out here honking,” the agent said. “That’s who you guys are protecting. Insane.”

“Just go. You’re lying!” a woman shouts.

Homeland Security has made it a point to tout the arrests of criminals across the country. The “worst of the worst arrests” in L.A. this month, according to the agency, included a man convicted of second-degree murder, another for voluntary manslaughter and one with multiple convictions for driving under the influence and disorderly conduct.

“We will not let rioters or agitators slow us down from removing murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists,” Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

But experts say the general public has clearly witnessed a shift in who is being targeted.

In May, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly directed top ICE officials to go beyond target lists and have agents make arrests at Home Depot or 7-Eleven convenience stores as they sought to crank up their daily arrest numbers to 3,000.

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, center, marches with federal agents to the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

The following month, Border Patrol agents led by Bovino were on the ground in L.A., tackling car wash workers, arresting street vendors and chasing down day laborers.

“The pressure of those numbers on enforcement agencies and mobilizing the whole of government and other law enforcement agencies, well beyond the traditional ICE and CBP, has created pressures that have led to extensive overreach,” said Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, is the agency that includes ICE and Border Patrol.

At the peak of arrests in L.A in June, around 75% of people had no criminal conviction. A Times analysis found that in the administration’s first nine months, from Jan. 1 to Oct. 15, of the more than 10,000 Los Angeles residents who were arrested in immigration operations, about 45% had a criminal conviction and an additional 14% had pending charges.

In November the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, reported that, nationwide, 5% of detainees from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15 had been convicted of violent crimes. Most detainees with convictions were found guilty of vice, immigration or traffic infractions.

“They’ve painted to the American people that they were going after the worst of the worst, and that is nothing like what is happening,” said Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson (D-Carson), who represents the district where the recent shooting in L.A. unfolded. “We have seen all across America where they have harassed, they have murdered, assassinated not only citizens but also people who have not had any arrest, who have not fit the bill or the description of what they have painted to the American people.

“When you turn on the news right now, the trust is absolutely gone. We don’t trust the White House, we don’t trust ICE, and the people are afraid because the trust is gone.”

Santa Maria Councilmember Gloria Soto echoed that sentiment, in part because she has seen raids in her Central Coast town.

“That’s part of the frustration,” Soto said. “There’s no transparency. There’s no information being shared before or after these enforcements have taken place.”

“We know for a fact that there are individuals who are getting picked up who did not have a criminal record, whose only quote-unquote crime was, you know, either having an expired visa, or crossing without the required immigration documentation that is needed, so it makes it really difficult for us, for me as an elected official, to trust what this agency is doing because so far there is no communication,” she said.

The challenges ICE officers are facing appear to center on cities that have been targeted with surge operations — like in Minneapolis, Sandweg said. Across the country, he said, officers are conducting operations “but not with the same amount of controversy.”

People take part in a vigil at a memorial for Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

“In Minneapolis we’re at the point now when, if agents are going to go after someone with a very serious violent criminal history, they’re likely to pick up observers and a lot of attention,” he said. “The way in which they wanted to do these operations in such an overt, in-your-face kind of fashion, has created a dynamic that makes it really hard for the agents to execute their duties. … You have these protests following the agents everywhere they go.”

While there has always been consternation over immigration enforcement, Sandweg said that “the widespread tactics and the targeting of people with no criminal record just really galvanized people in a way they’ve never been galvanized before.”

“To where now it probably is starting to bleed into and impeding operations that most of those protesters are probably not opposed to — the idea of ICE getting someone with a violent criminal history off the streets,” he said. “I think it’s created an environment where it puts the officers and the public in harm’s way.”

This week, protesters came out in force when word spread that ICE officers were eating at a restaurant in Lynwood. A video shows the crowd jeering at the officers as they’re being escorted out of the area by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

Almost immediately, Lynwood City Councilmember Luis Gerardo Cuellar posted a video on Instagram to inform the public.

“This was not ICE, these were … TSA air marshals.”

For years at CNN, Don Lemon had been a thorn in the side of President Trump, frequently taking him to task during his first term over his comments about immigrants and other matters.

On Friday, the former CNN anchor — now an independent journalist who hosts his own YouTube show — was in a Los Angeles federal courtroom and charged with conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers during the Jan. 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul.

Lemon was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles on Friday, along with a second journalist and two of the participants in the protest of the federal government’s immigration enforcement tactics in Minneapolis.

Lemon identified himself at the protest as a journalist. His attorney said in a statement Lemon’s work was “constitutionally protected.”

“I have spent my entire career covering the news,” Lemon told reporters after he was released on his own recognizance Friday afternoon. “I will not stop now. There is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds those in power accountable. Again, I will not stop now. I will not stop, ever.”

The scene of a reporter standing before a judge and facing federal charges for doing his job once seemed unimaginable in the U.S.

The arrest marked an extraordinary escalation in the Trump administration’s frayed relations with the news media and journalists.

Earlier this month, the FBI seized the devices of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson in a pre-dawn raid as part of an investigation into a contractor who has been charged with sharing classified information. Such a seizure is a very rare occurrence in the U.S.

Last spring, the Associated Press was banned from the White House. The AP sued White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and two other administration officials, demanding reinstatement.

Even the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization that monitors and honors reporters imprisoned by authoritarian government regimes overseas, felt compelled to weigh in on Lemon’s arrest.

“As an international organization, we know that the treatment of journalists is a leading indicator of the condition of a country’s democracy,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement. “These arrests are just the latest in a string of egregious and escalating threats to the press in the United States — and an attack on people’s right to know.”

For Lemon, 59, it’s another chapter in a career that has undergone a major reinvention in the last 10 years, largely due to his harsh takes on Trump and the boundary-pushing moves of his administration. His journey has been fraught, occasionally making him the center of the stories he covers.

“He has a finely honed sense of what people are talking about and where the action is, and he heads straight for it in a good way,” said Jonathan Wald, a veteran TV producer who has worked with Lemon over the years.

A Louisiana native, Lemon began his career in local TV news, working at the Fox-owned station in New York and then NBC’s WMAQ in Chicago where he got into trouble with management. Robert Feder, a longtime media columnist in Chicago, recalled how Lemon was suspended by his station for refusing to cover a crime story which he felt was beneath him.

“A memorable headline from that era was ‘Lemon in Hot Water,’ ” Feder said.

But Lemon’s good looks and smooth delivery helped him move to CNN in 2006, where his work was not always well-received. He took over the prime time program “CNN Tonight” in 2014 and became part of the network’s almost obsessive coverage of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. (Lemon was ridiculed for asking an aviation analyst if the plane might have been sucked into a black hole).

Like a number of other TV journalists, Lemon found his voice after Trump’s ascension to the White House. He injected more commentary into “CNN Tonight,” calling Trump a racist after the president made a remark in the Oval Office about immigrants coming from “shit hole countries” to the U.S.

After George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020, Lemon’s status as the lone Black prime time anchor on cable news made his program a gathering place for the national discussion about race. His ratings surged, giving CNN its largest 10 p.m. audience in history with 2.4 million viewers that month.

Lemon’s candid talk about race relations and criticism of Trump made him a target of the president’s social media missives. In a 2020 interview, Lemon told the Times that he had to learn to live with threats on his life from Trump supporters.

“It’s garnered me a lot of enemies,” he said. “A lot of them in person as well. I have to watch my back over it.”

Lemon never let up, but CNN management had other ideas. After Warner Bros. Discovery took control of CNN in 2022, Chief Executive David Zaslav said the network had moved too far to the political left in its coverage and called for more representation of conservative voices.

Following the takeover, Lemon was moved out of prime time and onto a new morning program — a format where CNN has never been successful over its four decade-plus history.

Lemon’s “CNN Tonight” program was built around his scripted commentaries and like-minded guests. Delivering off-the-cuff banter in reaction to news of the moment — a requirement for morning TV news — was not his strong suit.

Lemon had a poor relationship with his co-anchors Poppy Harlow and Kaitlin Collins. The tensions came to a head in Feb. 2023 after an ill-advised remark he made about then Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley.

Lemon attempted to critique Haley’s statements that political leaders over the age of 75 should undergo competency testing.

“All the talk about age makes me uncomfortable — I think it’s a wrong road to go down,” Lemon began. “She says politicians, or something, are not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime — sorry — when a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s, maybe 40s.”

Harlow quickly interjected, repeatedly asking Lemon a couple of times, “Prime for what?” Lemon told his female co-anchors to “Google it.” It was one of several sexist remarks he made on the program.

Lemon was pulled from the air and forced to apologize to colleagues, some of whom had called for his dismissal. He was fired in April 2023 on the same day Fox News removed Tucker Carlson .

Lemon was paid out his lucrative CNN contract and went on to become one of the first traditional TV journalists to go independent and produce his own program for distribution on social media platforms.

“Others might have cowered or taken time to regroup and figure out what they should do,” said Wald. “He had little choice but to toil ahead.”

Lemon first signed with X in 2024 to distribute his program as the platform made a push into longer form video. The business relationship ended shortly after new X owner Elon Musk sat down for an interview with Lemon.

Musk agreed to the high-profile chat with no restrictions, but was unhappy with the line of questioning. “His approach was basically ‘CNN but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” Musk wrote.

An unfazed Lemon forged ahead and made his daily program available on YouTube, where it has 1.3 million subscribers, and other platforms. He has a small staff that handles production and online audience engagement. In addition to ad revenue from YouTube, the program has signed its own sponsors.

While legacy media outlets have become more conscious of running afoul of Trump, who has threatened the broadcast TV licenses of networks that make him unhappy with their coverage, independent journalists such as Lemon and his former CNN colleague Jim Acosta, have doubled down in their aggressive analysis of the administration.

Friends describe Lemon as relentless, channeling every attempt to hold him back into motivation to push harder. “You tell him ‘you can’t do it,’ he just wants to do it more,” said one close associate.

Wald said independent conservative journalists should be wary of Lemon’s arrest.

“If I’m a conservative blogger, influencer, or YouTube creator type, I would be worried that when the administration changes, they can be next,” Wald said. “So people should be careful what they wish for here.”

On Thursday night, the Palisades High boys’ basketball team savored something it had not experienced since midway through last season: homecourt advantage.

Hosting a game inside their own gym for the first time in 388 days, the Dolphins did not let their fans or their classmates leave disappointed, beating Fairfax 75-28 to stay on track for their first outright league title in 30 years.

“It’s great to be back … it was cool,” junior center Julian Cunningham said. “We haven’t had a game here in over a year. There’s no way we were gonna lose. It was a great atmosphere and we beat ’em by 50, so that’s pretty good.”

Palisades’ boys had last taken their home floor for an official contest on Jan. 6, 2025 — one day before the Palisades fire broke out and dealt severe damage to their campus and community. First-year coach Jeff Bryant had to scramble to find someplace — anyplace — to practice for what would turn out to be 42 games.

“I never thought it would be this long,” Bryant admitted. “When the fire happened, I was thinking we’d have some access to our gym in the summer. I remember at a parent meeting saying we’ll 100% be playing our league games at home. When the new [school year] started we were told September, then October, then November, then the start of the second semester. It kept getting pushed back.”

The team held its first practice at Palisades on Monday and students returned to campus Tuesday morning after attending classes for nine months at what came to be known as “PaliHi South,” the old Sears department store building in nearby Santa Monica.

Fans were treated to a blowout win in the Palisades boys’ basketball return to the school gym for the first time in 388 days.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“UCLA, Memorial Park, Paul Revere, St. Bernard …” Bryant said, rattling off just a few of the sites his team practiced at while waiting for the green light to return to campus. “We’ve been road warriors for over a year now and I definitely think it’s been an advantage, but now we’re looking forward to being home and we’re going to feed off that energy starting tonight.”

Pacing the Dolphins on Thursday were 6-6 junior twins OJ and EJ Popoola, who got the home crowd cheering by combining for six dunks. They were raised in Las Vegas and transferred to Palisades in June. Two of the most highly touted prospects in the 2027 class, the brothers shined in their first game at their new school, scoring 19 and 16 points, respectively.

“It was amazing — I’ve been thinking about this game for so long,” said OJ, who had 10 points in the first quarter as Palisades stormed to a 45-14 halftime lead. “Even though we weren’t here last year, we feel like it’s our community too. EJ and I have been playing with each other for so long and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

EJ Popoola is averaging 21 points per game, OJ Popoola is averaging 18 and junior Jack Levey, the most outstanding player in the Western League last winter, is the section’s most dangerous long-range shooter, averaging 45% from beyond the arc.

Another reason Palisades is one of the favorites to win the Open Division is the all-around play of freshman guard Phillip Reed, who is averaging 17 points, six assists and six rebounds.

“It felt surreal — I was really nervous,” EJ Popoola added. “The energy was there, the fans showed up and we’re finally finding our rhythm as a team. It’s a work in progress, but me and OJ have been through it all together and I thank God I’m a twin!”

OJ Popoola soars for one of his two dunks in the Dolphins’ first home game since the Palisades fire.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

AJ Neale scored 13 points and Reed added 10 for the Dolphins, who scored 10 seconds into the contest on Levey’s alley-oop to EJ Popoola and never trailed.

Guards Kameron Augustin and Jomari Marshall scored seven apiece for the Lions (15-8, 5-2).

Palisades went 12-7 in its last 19 games of 2024-25, falling to Chatsworth in the City Section Open Division semifinals before reaching the Division III regional semifinals (hosting three games at Birmingham High in Lake Balboa). The Dolphins are off to a 13-11 start in 2025-26 while playing the toughest schedule of any team in the City. They have grown accustomed to playing in hostile environments and hope their “us against the world” mentality works in their favor once the playoffs start.

Thursday’s win kept the Dolphins alone atop the Western League standings at 8-0, 2½ games ahead of Fairfax with only four left. If Palisades seals the deal, it will mark the program’s first league crown since it finished in a three-way tie for first place with Westchester and Fairfax in 2011-12 under then coach James Paleno.

What a difference a year makes. Westchester, which beat Palisades twice on its way to winning league and capturing the City Open Division title last February, is fifth in league at 4-5 and lost its first meeting with Palisades by 38 points.

“The environment was amazing and I was a little stiff on my shots for the first 20 minutes or so, but after that I was feeling it,” said Levey, who swished two of his team’s 10 three-pointers. “This was personal. We can’t lose our first game back. Winning City is the standard, but [state] is what we really want to win.”

Palisades High’s Phil Reed makes a layup against Fairfax in the first half Thursday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Palisades lost 10 of its first 13 games, including six straight while several key players recovered from injuries — but Bryant never lost faith. “That losing streak strengthened us,” he said. “I could’ve lost the team. Instead, guys stuck to the plan. Now we’re trending in the right direction. We haven’t played our best game yet. Our biggest challenge is what’s next.”

Through this ordeal, Bryant has learned patience and perseverance.

“The hardest part has been communicating with the parents,” Bryant said. “You have to go with the flow. They want answers and sometimes you honestly don’t know. When games are canceled, it hurts the younger kids most because lower-level games aren’t going to be made up. So they really miss out.”

The Popoola twins are motivated to lead Palisades to its first undisputed league championship since their father, Chris, helped the Dolphins to a third consecutive Western League title in 1995-1996. One of Popoola’s teammates that year was Donzell Hayes, who piloted the program from 2016-23 and attended Thursday’s game.

Palisades is chasing its third City title and first since winning Division I in 2020. Chris Marlowe, who captained the USA volleyball team to the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics, led the Dolphins to a 21-1 record and the City Section basketball championship in 1969, beating Reseda in the final at Pauley Pavilion under the program’s first coach, Jerry Marvin.

Jack Levey celebrates a big win in the Dolphins’ return to their home court against Western League rival Fairfax.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

New research shows people return to their favourite holiday destination an average of six times

More than a quarter of holidaymakers revisit the same destination every year, or every other year, with a feeling of safety, familiarity, and emotional connection driving the trend, new research reveals. A study of 2,000 adults found that people who enjoy repeat visits return to the same place an average of six times. Nearly one in five (18%) have visited their favourite spot between six and 20 times.

The findings come from the 2026 Trends Report by Neilson Beach Clubs, which has seen a clear rise in repeat bookings, with seven in 10 guests returning year on year to their resorts.

More than half of holidaymakers go back to the same destination because they love what it has to offer, 15% also prefer to stick to what they know.

Meanwhile, 29% feel confident in the location’s safety and another 29% return regularly after developing a strong emotional connection with the place.

David Taylor, CEO for the travel provider, commented on the trend: “We all look forward to our holiday escapes so much that when you’ve found something you love that delivers a great experience, it’s natural to return again with confidence that the holiday won’t disappoint.”

The research suggests the appeal of a familiar destination is even stronger for families. More than a quarter (26%) of all respondents said they often revisit the same place because it is easier to plan, and one in 20 parents admitted that visiting somewhere unfamiliar with children can be stressful.

The study also highlighted a significant shift in holiday habits, with a growing interest in active getaways.

Over half (52%) of those who currently exercise on holiday would consider booking a fitness-focused trip to improve their physical health—a rise from 33% last year.

While 67% still seek a more relaxing vacation, nearly one in four (24%) say a fitness element brings just as much enjoyment.

The desire to disconnect from daily life is a priority, with 67% of respondents saying taking a break from technology is important for them when they are away.

For many, exercise is seen as a way of reducing stress (42%) and helping to rejuvenate the body and mind (37%).

David Taylor added: “We feel that it’s easier to switch off by switching on, if your mind is busy getting your body to do something you love, you can truly switch off mentally.”

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has refused to order the pretrial release of a man charged with placing two pipe bombs near the national headquarters of the Democratic and Republican parties on the eve of a mob’s Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled on Thursday that Brian J. Cole Jr. must remain in jail while awaiting trial. Ali upheld a decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Sharbaugh, who ruled on Jan. 2 that no conditions of release can reasonably protect the public from the danger that Cole allegedly poses.

Cole, 30, pleaded not guilty to making and planting two pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., on the night of Jan. 5, 2021.

Cole, who lived with his parents in Woodbridge, Virginia, has been diagnosed with autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. His attorneys say he has no criminal record.

Cole has remained jailed since his Dec. 4 arrest. Authorities said they used phone records and other evidence to identify him as a suspect in a crime that confounded the FBI for over four years.

Prosecutors said Cole confessed to trying to carry out “an extraordinary act of political violence.” Cole told investigators that he was unhappy with how leaders of both political parties responded to “questions” about the 2020 presidential election — and said “something just snapped,” according to prosecutors.

“While the defendant may have reached a psychological breaking point, his crimes were anything but impulsive,” they wrote. “Indeed, the defendant’s pipe bombs — and the fear and terror they instilled in the general public — were the product of weeks of premeditation and planning.”

Defense attorneys asked for Cole to be freed from jail and placed on home detention with electronic monitoring. They say a defense expert concluded that the devices found near the RNC and DNC headquarters were not viable explosive devices.

“In fact, there was no possibility of death, injury or destruction as the devices were harmless,” they wrote.

If convicted of both charges against him, Cole faces up to 10 years of imprisonment on one charge and up to 20 years of imprisonment on a second charge that also carries a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence.

Kunzelman writes for the Associated Press.

As is always the case, the Grammys this year will be dominated by pop, rap, country and rock. But the best races often lie in the less mainstream genres. Take best jazz vocal album, where Samara Joy, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap, Michael Mayo, Terri Lyne Carrington and Christie Dashiell and Nicole Zuraitis are competing for the honor.

The highly impressive group reflects the current state of jazz, where both young guns and veterans are combining to bring the music to a new swell of fans. To talk about the present state of jazz, The Times brought together 26-year-old Joy and 75-year-old Bridgewater. What followed is an incredible conversation on politics, race, equality and mutual fandom.

You both have had Grammy success. But is it still just as thrilling to be nominated?

Dee Dee Bridgewater: I can speak on that because I haven’t been nominated in years. And yeah, it’s a thrill when you’re nominated and you haven’t been and you’ve done something that your peers think is Grammy worthy. I don’t know about Samara, but for me, I don’t do any of my recorded projects with the intention of getting a Grammy nomination, which seems to be the goal of a lot of younger artists. So that me doing something that I just was trying to chronicle and because of this work that Bill and I have been doing off and on for the last few years, it’s like the icing on the cake. It’s wonderful.

Samara Joy: Agreed, when I say I’m just grateful to be here, like in this space, being able to talk about this in this way, I mean it. It wasn’t the intention behind making the music that I love to make with the people I love to make it with. And when kids come up to me and they say, “Because of you, now my goal is to be a Grammy winner.” I’m like, “You’ve already strayed way off course. We need to come back.” And realize that the accolades and the awards and the acknowledgment is beautiful because it’s coming from your peers and we’re celebrating each other. It’s amazing, it’s exciting, it’s wonderful. I’m grateful for it. But at the same time, the other 364 days of the year, we’re working and we’re touring and we’re performing because we love it. And it’s with the intention of seeing what else we can learn and express and finding new ways to do that. I’m grateful to be in the conversation, but also I’m using it even more as an opportunity to thank the people who support us and who listen to the music and who come to the concerts to say that that’s what I love. So, the fact that people have connected with it enough to acknowledge it on such a high level is amazing, but the love of it never goes away.

Bridgewater: Yes, I agree with that, Samara. When I do my work, because I like to call myself an artist who flies under the radar, I’m basically out there trying to bring joy to people. With the music that I do, I try to change up the projects depending on what is going on in the world or depending on what I’m thinking about and feeling about society and just trying to make a connection with people and be a conduit for the people and speak through the songs, things that I think will bring them joy or get them to think about some things that they are not wanting to say out loud. So, that’s what I’m doing right now. Then with my music, what I’m trying to do is bring more attention to women in jazz. For the last few years, aside from my occasional concerts with Bill [Charlap], I have been working with women. I have created a band. I call it We Exist! We are doing socially conscious music, some protest songs, and that is what I’m taking around the world. Generally, people come up to me and say, “Thank you so much for saying these things for us. We need to hear this.” My concern at my older age, now that I’m in my golden years, is the state of society and the world and this political crisis that we are in. So, I’m trying to speak about this in a way that people can hear it without getting on some kind of political bandstand and speaking in that way. I think that the world is in danger politically and I think our democracy is in danger. That’s my concern and that’s what I’m trying to do through my music. Also, I want people to see more women in the jazz space, and I think as an elder it’s almost an obligation of mine to lead that front and present this and present this image. I get many women that come up and say, “Thank you so much for doing this for women.” So, that’s where my head is right now.

Dee Dee Bridgewater

(Hernan Rodriguez)

How exciting is it to see that, of the jazz vocal nominees, four of the five are women?

Bridgewater: Yeah, and isn’t that wonderful? But I can say this, for vocal jazz, it usually is women. This has been the place where we have been allowed to shine as vocalists. It’s been for many, many years, the only place where we’re allowed to shine. So, when you get female instrumentalists besides Terri Lyne [Carrington] because Terri Lyne broke through in a period of when there were not a lot of jazz drummers, so that she worked with Herbie [Hancock] and she worked with Wayne [Shorter]. They gave her a platform that most women are not granted. Of course, also, one has to be extremely talented. And Terri Lyne can stand beside any man and hold her own and outdo many men. That’s not the point. The point is that she had that opportunity. They gave her that opportunity and then she’s been able to pay it forward. But to see instrumentalists like Lakecia Benjamin who has really come to the forefront as an alto saxophonist and to see her get Grammy nominations, that’s something that, for me, is huge.

Samara, talk about what you’re seeing in the scene today in terms of gender disparity and overall vibe.

Joy: I’ve had the opportunity to play with some amazing ones. I went to the Vanguard a few weeks ago and sat in with [Christian] McBride and Savannah Harris was on drums. I played with Alexandra Ridout, who is an incredible trumpet player as well. Although I understand the disparity in the current time and throughout history, I also understand that I might be living through a privileged time where I just kind of see women around me everywhere. So, I don’t understand what it’s like to be without it on the scene. I can read about the fact that maybe at a time saxophone was taking precedence over jazz vocals or with each era, there’s a new focus. But I guess on the scene now I’m proud to be able to see all of these wonderful women composers and instrumentalists stepping to the forefront.

Both of you have made music that is very uplifting as well. In these difficult times, music is something that can lift the spirits and bring people together. For each of you talk about making music that uplifts because there are so many great jazz standards that have the point of lifting up the world.

Bridgewater: I’m here in town at Birdland with Bill Charlap and we are doing songs from the American Songbook primarily and Duke Ellington. It has nothing to do with anything that’s going on today, politically speaking. Last night was our first show and the audience just loved it. So, there is that side that one can take. And I’ve been very apolitical. It’s just since the two Trump administrations and the Gaza war that happened and some other things that I’ve seen going on outside of the United States that have really incensed me that I felt the need to speak out in the way that I am, you know. But it is wonderful to go to a show and have people come to see a show and be able to completely lose themselves and be outside of what is going on for that span of time that they are with the artists. For the other side, when I do these socially conscious songs, people come and say, “Oh my God, thank you. I needed to hear that. I needed to hear someone.” Because my point at the end of my show is I say, “We the people have the power, we can’t forget that. We are the people that can motivate the change and protect our democracy because we see democracy being chipped away around the world.” I grew up in an era where there was a distinct difference between Black and white and I was not able to be served when I would go to sit at a lunch counter as a little Black girl. So, I’ve experienced both sides. My awareness is different than Samara’s and I feel the alarms. The alarm bells are just ringing for me. But when I come back and I do a show with Bill, sometimes it’s difficult for me to get into these sweet, innocent songs because they don’t have the gravitas that I’m experiencing doing a Nina Simone song like “Mississippi Goddam.” For me, artistically speaking, it’s been interesting to find a balance. Samara, you do these beautiful songs with that stunning voice of yours. Your take is totally different. And you’ve grown up in another era.

Joy: This is the first time in my life that I have not only been aware of what’s happening in the world but also feel compelled. Like, I have a responsibility to do something about it because I’ve never been so aware of what is happening around me as I am right now. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing but I just feel like, ”OK, I’m an adult and this is the world that I live in and I have a responsibility as one of the people living in this world to not only do something about it right now but do something for the next generation of people who are going to have to live in the world that results in what we do right now.” It’s scary. I don’t know how people do it, especially because it’s not as difficult right now. It’s not as difficult for me to say something that might have been for an Abbey Lincoln or Nina Simone or whoever. I’m also living in a sort of luxury in that way that I don’t have to speak out and be the only one who is doing so and then be proven right later. In that way, I’m like, “I have to because of all these women who have gone before me, who made that difference and who stood and didn’t get appreciated or thanked for it in the moment, have made it so that the world that I live in now, as crazy as it is, I’m able to have a platform in the first place and be able to lead some sort of charge — or at least spread some sort of message so that the world that we’re building for the ones who come later. It’s not just about me right now, it’s all interconnected.” It feels a little heavy, a little scary. I’m still trying to figure out where my voice fits.

Bridgewater: You know what, honey, I get that. When I was your age, I honestly was not at all concerned about politics and what was going on. I was concerned about my Blackness because I’ve experienced our people being named four different times. When I was a little girl, I was colored, then I was Negro, and when they said Black, I was incensed because your hair is black. Our skin is brown. But I understand where you’re coming from because you are coming up in a different time. And you are just beginning to navigate all of the politics, so you’re going to probably go through a similar kind of thing that I went through when I was young, and I concentrated on just writing my music and things that spoke to me. You’re fine where you are and you’re going to learn to navigate all of this in time and what I would hope for you is that you don’t feel a weight. We’re all going to feel this heaviness because of the situation that we’re in but as an artist, I want you to feel free to discover and do the things that you feel in your spirit and not feel led to do something because it’s what’s going on around you. You’ve got to continue to stay true to yourself, which you’ve been doing, which is wonderful. I’m at a different stage in my life. I’m in the last quarter of my life. I’m 75 and I’ve been through all of this stuff. I feel like I’m at a place where if I want to say something instead of not like I’ve done in the past, I’m going to speak my mind. I want to say this to Samara and I’ve said this to her before. But I am so proud of you and what you are doing. And you have a voice that the gods have blessed you with, Samara. At my age to be in the same space with you for the Grammys, I am so tickled. I love you so dearly. I truly do, and you know that. The times that we’ve been on stage together, it’s been wonderful for me. I want you to know that there are people who are your elders who, besides loving you like we do, we depend on you, Samara. You have been able to enter the space and bring jazz to the world in a way that we were not.

Joy: I love you too. I’m sitting here thinking about one of the first times I got the chance to see you perform at Blue Note. I was there with my professor at the time. I was so nervous, but I’m so honored to know you. I’m so honored to have loved you from afar and now get the chance to love you up close and honor you and appreciate you and shower you just as you have showered me.

If you were going to do one song together at the Grammys, what would you want to do?

Joy: “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free,” [Nina Simone].

Bridgewater: That’s in my repertoire. I do that. That would be a great one, Samara. I’m on board. We would tear it up.

Los Angeles police solved more than two thirds of all homicides citywide in 2025, a year that ended with the fewest number of slayings in six decades, according to statistics presented by local authorities on Thursday.

Of the 230 homicides logged in areas patrolled by the LAPD, officials said that 156, or 68%, were considered solved. By the department’s definition, a homicide can be “cleared” through an arrest or other factors, including if the killing was deemed legally justified or the suspect dies. Whether the case results in criminal charges or a conviction is not part of the department’s methodology.

Factoring in the 78 homicides from past years that were solved in 2025, the clearance rate rose to 101%, officials said.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the department’s success in solving homicides was the result of more data-driven actions against the relatively small number of individuals responsible for an outsize proportion of violent crimes, as well as collaboration with federal law enforcement and other agencies.

McDonnell pointed to an 8% reduction in the number of gunshot victims citywide, a decline he attributed to a significant increase in the number of guns seized by police. In 2025, LAPD officials recovered 8,650 firearms, 1,000 more than the previous year, he said. Gang killings still account for most of the city’s homicides, but are far below where they were in years past, officials said.

The chief said police need to remain diligent since “every life lost was one too many.” The trends for other categories of violent crime were a “mixed bag,” he said, and concerns about property crimes such as burglary and vehicle thefts remain ongoing.

He said that the declining numbers were proof that a depleted department, stretched thin by low recruitment numbers and recent protests and wildfires, was still performing admirably. At the same time, he acknowledged that the decline was likely also the result of other factors that govern the ebb and flow of crime.

Historically, experts have cast a skeptical eye on police-driven explanations for clearance rates, arguing that community attitudes and behaviors, prosecutors’ thresholds for filing homicide charges, and other variables may have more to do with solving homicides more than any particular law enforcement model.

The homicide tally marked the city’s lowest total since 1966, when the city’s population was nearly a third smaller. The downturn mirrors precipitous drops in many other large cities nationwide last year — and has sparked a range of theories about what’s going on.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, right, points to statistics showing an increase in the homicide clearance rate, a measure of how often detectives are marking investigations as closed.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

For those who view violent crime as a public health issue, the steep decrease is rooted in powerful social forces that are far beyond the control of law enforcement. Those factors include the return of social services that declined during the pandemic, and fatigue from decades of bloodshed.

Still others say it’s simply a matter of numbers: with lighter caseloads, homicide detectives have more time to thoroughly investigate each new killing.

Sal Labarbera, a former supervisor of detectives in South Bureau homicide, called the citywide solve rates a “beautiful” achievement.

“This is how it’s supposed to be. When murders are down, reinforce the teams and solve the older cases. In the past, when homicides were down, they sometimes took detectives away from homicide investigations,” he said. “It’s especially extraordinary considering the number of sworn officers are decreasing.”

According to statistics maintained by the state Department of Justice, homicide clearance rates statewide have hovered around 60% over the past decade, with a high of 64.6% in 2019 and a low of 54.5% in 2021. In Los Angeles, the percentage of slayings that have been solved rose slightly from 2024, but was down from the 79.9% clearance rate that the department achieved in 2023.

The data presented at a news conference Thursday didn’t offer a breakdown of how last year’s solve rates differed geographically in the department’s 21 patrol areas.

Nicki Minaj, who revealed in 2018 that she was brought to the United States as an “illegal immigrant” from Trinidad and Tobago when she was 5 years old, flashed a Trump gold card Wednesday after an event formally launching the president’s IRA-style savings accounts for children. Her citizenship paperwork, she said on social media, was being finalized.

“Residency? Residency? The cope is coping. … Finalizing that citizenship paperwork as we speak as per MY wonderful, gracious, charming President,” the “Bang Bang” rapper, 43, wrote Wednesday on X, including a photo of the Chucky character flipping his middle finger. “Thanks to the petition. … I wouldn’t have done it without you. Oh CitizenNIKA you are thee moment. Gold Trump card free of charge.”

That post mentioning the card, which delivers citizenship in the United States for those who pay $1 million, may have referred to multiple petitions arguing that the rapper — real name Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty — should be deported to Trinidad and Tobago, where she was born before being raised in Queens, N.Y. A previous post contained a photo of the gold card and the single word “Welp …”

“I came to this country as an illegal immigrant @ 5 years old,” the rapper wrote on Facebook in 2018, posting a photo from the first Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” period of immigration enforcement when migrant children were being separated from their migrant parents at the country’s southern border.

The photo showed children on padded floor mats with silver Mylar thermal blankets, walled in by chain-link fencing. “I can’t imagine the horror of being in a strange place & having my parents stripped away from me at the age of 5. This is so scary to me. Please stop this. Can you try to imagine the terror & panic these kids feel right now?”

In 2020, she said in a Rolling Stone interview that she thought Trump was “funny as hell” on “Celebrity Apprentice” but was bothered by the images of children taken from their parents.

President Trump talks with rapper Nicki Minaj in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday at an event launching the Trump Accounts savings and investment program for children.

(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

“I was one of those immigrant children coming to America to flee poverty,” Minaj told the outlet. “And I couldn’t imagine a little child going through all of that, trying to get to another country because they didn’t have money in their country, or whether you’re fleeing from war … and then being taken away from the one person that makes you feel comfort. That is what really raised my eyebrows.”

At the time, she said she would not “jump on the Donald Trump bandwagon.”

But Minaj has since come around to support the president in his second term, even calling herself his “No. 1 fan” in remarks Wednesday. “And that’s not going to change,” she said.

“The hate or what people have to say, it does not affect me at all. It actually motivates me to support him more, and it’s going to motivate all of us to support him more,” Minaj said. “We’re not going to let them get away with bullying him and the smear campaigns. It’s not going to work, OK? He has a lot of force behind him, and God is protecting him.”

The president introduced her as “the greatest and most successful female rapper in history,” a title that’s accurate going by record sales and overall presence on the Billboard Hot 100. (Of course, Missy Elliott and Ms. Lauryn Hill might want to have a conversation.)

“I didn’t know Nicki, and I’ve been hearing over the years she’s a big Trump supporter, Trump fan,” POTUS continued. “And she took a little heat on occasion because her community isn’t necessarily a Trump fan.”

Trump said Minaj was among those stepping up, along with people including Dell Computers Chief Executive Michael S. Dell, and donating “hundreds of thousands of dollars” of her money to the new accounts. In addition to her generosity, POTUS was definitely a fan of Minaj’s long, painted, pointy pink manicure. He chuckled as he told the audience, “I’m going to let my nails grow, because I love those nails. I’m going to let those nails grow.”

In December, before Christmas, the rapper also appeared onstage with conservative activist Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk, who was slain in September at Utah Valley University. Minaj took the opportunity at the Phoenix conference of Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, to praise Trump and mock California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Minaj, a Christian, praised Trump at the time for standing up for Christians being persecuted in Nigeria and elsewhere.

“I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president,” Minaj said. “I don’t know if he even knows this but he has given so many people hope that there is a chance to beat the bad guys and to win and to do it with your head held high.”

She also declared onstage that there was “nothing wrong with being a boy.”

“How about that?” she continued. “How powerful is that? How profound is that? Boys will be boys, and there is nothing wrong with that.”

Then Minaj read aloud some of her social media posts mocking Newsom, calling him “Newscum” and “Gavie-poo” and criticizing his advocacy on behalf of “trans kids.”

It’s not as if the “Starships” rapper hid the ball about being harsh when she said in 2023 that she was willing to “be cussing out” certain people at certain times.

“When I hear the word mean, I think about the core of who the person is,” she told Vogue. “I always tell people that the difference between being mean and being a bitch is that bitch passes. Bitch comes and goes. Mean is who you are. I could be the biggest bitch, at the height of my bitch-ness, but if the person I may be cussing out at that time needs something from me, I’m going to give it to them. I have to be able to look in the mirror and be OK with myself.”

Trump accounts for children, a new type of IRA for U.S. citizens who are younger than 18 on Dec. 31 of the year an account is opened, are part of the “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax breaks and spending cuts that was signed into law last summer.

For children born during the second Trump administration, calendar years 2025 through 2028, the accounts will be seeded with $1,000 from the U.S. Treasury when a parent submits a form to the IRS to open the account. Additional pre-tax contributions of up to $5,000 a year are allowed but not required, and a parent is the custodian of the account until the child turns 18. Withdrawals for education, housing or business will be taxed as ordinary income.

Minaj is married to Kenneth Petty — who served four years in prison after being convicted of attempted rape in New York in 1995 — and the couple has one son. Nicknamed “Papa Bear,” the tot was born in 2020, about five years too soon to qualify for that $1,000.

For years, Katie Uhlaender had a goal that few athletes even dare to dream — to compete in both the Winter and Summer Olympics.

An injury derailed that attempt. Now another dream appears to have been dashed for the daughter of former major league baseball player Ted Uhlaender — representing the United States in a record sixth consecutive Winter Olympics.

Team Canada was found to have manipulated the outcome of the Lake Placid North American Cup in early January. Uhlaender, 41, won the race in skeleton, but the manipulation kept her from getting the requisite points to qualify for the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games.

An investigation by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) found that Canada purposely withdrew four athletes from the competition, reducing the number of points that could be awarded and making it mathematically impossible for Uhlaender to earn enough points to qualify.

Why did Canada hold back four athletes from competing? Because it ensured that a second Canadian would qualify for the Olympics rather than Uhlaender.

Canadian skeleton athlete Madeline Parra admitted as much, telling The Canadian Press that her coaches “explained to us that it would be in the best interest for the way points had worked for [Canadian skeleton racer Jane Channell], so that we as a team can qualify two spots to the Olympics.”

Yet despite the IBSF finding that Canada breached its Code of Ethics, no action has been taken because IBSF rules also state that National Federations may withdraw athletes from competition at any time.

The IBSF said it will “possibly suggest adjustments to the rules” when its sport committee meets in the spring, but that doesn’t help Uhlaender. The Winter Olympics begin Feb. 6.

“This is about the integrity of sport and code of ethics that upholds sportsmanship, fair play, integrity, respect and community,” Uhlaender said in a post on X.

A petition by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to accept Uhlaender as a discretionary entry was supported by 12 other countries, but the request was denied. Discretionary Olympic spots are infrequent, but in 2023, fencer Olga Kharlan received a place at Paris 2024 from former IOC President Thomas Bach.

Uhlaender also felt a personal betrayal because she described Team Canada coach Joe Cecchini as a longtime friend and former fellow skeleton competitor. Cecchini called Uhlaender the night before the race to inform her that four Canadians were pulling out.

“I cried when I found out he went through with this plan,” Uhlaender said. “I didn’t know if it hurt more that my friend of 20 years just nailed my coffin, my Olympic dream is over. Or, that my best friend of 20 years is doing something so horrible that hurts so many people.”

Disappointment seems to haunt Uhlaender. In 2009, she shattered her kneecap in a snowmobiling accident and required eight surgeries, but she recovered in time to compete at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

She finished in 11th place in those Games, saying the death of her father in 2009 to cancer impacted her even more than recovering from the surgeries. Ted Uhlaender was considered one of the top center fielders in MLB from 1965-1972 for Minnesota, Cleveland and Cincinnati.

The injury ended her attempt to make the summer U.S. Olympic team as a weightlifter, a sport in which she had risen to a world-class level in the women’s 63-kilogram division. Uhlaender continued to dominate in skeleton, where a racer rides a small sled up to 80 mph head-first and face-down along a steep, banked ice track.

Although Uhlaender has not won an Olympics medal — coming closest with a fourth-place finish at the 2014 Sochi Games — she won the skeleton World Championship in 2012 and World Cup titles in 2007 and 2008.

The U.S. will send Kelly Curtis and Mystique Ro to the Milan Olympics in skeleton. Uhlaender’s last hope for a discretionary berth is an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Should that fail, Uhlaender’s final Olympics impact might be a change in IBSF rules to prevent a recurrence of Canada’s scheme.

The IBSF alluded to the problem in its ruling that Canada was free to hold back its racers, regardless of motive: “The Canadian coach and the National Federation shall be reminded that, whilst acting within the letter of the IBSF Code of Conduct, it is expected that all parties concerned should also act within the spirit of the Code, whose aim is to promote fair play and ethical conduct at all times.”

CLEVELAND  — He hears it in nearly every arena the Lakers enter.

“We want Bronny. We want Bronny.”

But on Monday night in Cleveland’s Rocket Arena, where the familiar chant reached arena-filling decibels, it felt different. It felt like home.

Bronny James provided some of the few Lakers highlights in the team’s worst loss of the year — a 129-99 drubbing by the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday — to turn an emotional homecoming for his father into a happy return for the 21-year-old. James scored eight points with two rebounds, an assist and a steal. He knocked down two three pointers and slammed a one-handed transition dunk to elicit a roar from the crowd that welcomed back a son they watched grow up.

Laker Bronny James #9 of the Los Angeles Lakers shakes hands with the Cavliers’ Larry Nance Jr. Wednesday.

(Jason Miller / Getty Images)

“I was just excited to go out there and play,” James said. “I’m always ready to go out and play, whether that’s when the entire arena is saying ‘We want Bronny‘ or no one is. I was just really, really grateful that they put me in at that time and I was able to go out and get a few buckets.”

With the Lakers trailing by 20 by the third quarter, the chants for James started early. “We want Bronny” chants occur at nearly every Lakers game, almost turning the young guard’s playing time into a sideshow instead of much-needed opportunities for a developing player trying to find his footing in the NBA.

James hadn’t played in a game since Jan. 18 and hadn’t scored since Jan. 12. But he got on the scoreboard in thrilling fashion Wednesday night, tipping away a crosscourt pass and taking the ball in transition for a dunk that left even his dad nodding approval from the bench.

“He handles all of it so well,” said guard Gabe Vincent, who called Bronny “a light” in the Lakers’ otherwise forgettable blowout. “It’s incredible. His maturity through it all is incredible. … It’s great to see him have a moment like that.”

The former USC guard who also scored his first NBA points in Cleveland as a rookie last year has bounced between the Lakers and the team’s G League affiliate this year as he hopes to make strides as a shooter and on-ball defender while “building up his tolerance for being in elite shape,” coach JJ Redick said. James has had some promising moments, especially when the Lakers were short-handed earlier this season, showing quicker decision making and increased confidence shooting the ball.

Monday was just the second time in his career that he made two threes in a game.

“He’s as level headed and just as normal of a 21-year-old as I’ve ever been around,” Redick said.

When the Lakers got to the arena Monday, James was welcomed home by a childhood photo of him on a screen outside the visiting locker room. It showed him on stage in 2016 during the Cavaliers’ championship celebration wearing a championship hat and white T-shirt, holding up one finger.

LeBron James glanced at the championship banner from that team before the game Monday, fueling the intense emotions of what could be his last game in his hometown against the team that launched his NBA dreams in 2003.

The Cavaliers, wearing navy blue throwback uniforms, showed a tribute video for LeBron James during the first quarter, highlighting James’ takeover of Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals in which he scored 25 consecutive points. Bronny was 3 years old at the time. Almost two decades later, he remembered all the afternoons he spent at the Cavaliers arena after school.

“It’s literally my entire life,” Bronny said of the city of Cleveland. “So just really appreciative of all the people that show some love. I just remember being a kid and being here pretty much every day after school. It’s a bunch of nostalgia coming back and being here.”

The James family was prepared for the occasion. LeBron scanned the arena before the game to find his mother in a suite. She once watched him begin his career in this very arena, now she was watching both her son and her grandson play in the same game. After saying it out loud, the elder James struggled to process 5 idea.

“I don’t even know how to even, like, wrap that all in one in my brain,” LeBron James said. “It’s so weird and so cool and so surreal. My mom gets to watch her son and her grandson play in the NBA at the same time.”

Gloria James waited in the hallway outside the Lakers locker room to take photos with her son and then her grandson. Bronny was the last Laker out of the arena, stopping to take dozens of photos with family members dressed in purple and gold Lakers jerseys. His grandmother told him to “act right.” He promised to oblige.

HAVEN’T you heard? Going abroad for a holiday is out in the year 2026, but cosy cottage staycations and UK city breaks are well and truly back.

If you’re thinking of ditching an overseas break for somewhere closer to home, these are our top picks from postcard-perfect villages, to busy cities and even our favourite hotels.

Sykes Holiday Cottages has predicted a record high for staycations in 2026, reporting that bookings made in January are up 9 per cent year-on-year.

So where should you book? The Sun Travel team has plenty of suggestions…

Skegness, Lincolnshire

For fun at the beach, Head of Sun Travel Lisa Minot suggests a trip to this popular seaside town: “The original Lincolnshire seaside town of Skegness is celebrating a landmark birthday in 2026 – the 90th birthday of the very first Butlin’s holiday camp.

“Founded by Billy Butlin, it offered affordable, organised seaside holidays  and helped popularise the all-in, onsite entertainment model that has stood the test of time.

GO SEA IT

£9.50 holiday spot with shipwrecks, seals offshore & horseshoe-shaped waterfalls

SIGHT SEA

£9.50 holidaymakers’ favourite Skegness activities… away from the beach

“This year will see a host of special events at Butlin’s to celebrate, including a special weekend over the Easter weekend including a dazzling firework and laser show on April 11.

“Of course, there’s lots more to see and do – from classic arcade amusements and fish and chips on the pier to bucket and spade beach fun.

“For a must-do day out, Natureland Seal Sanctuary’s rescue and rehabilitation work makes for a fascinating visit and the Gibraltar Point Nature Reserve promises dunes, saltmarshes and birdlife for nature lovers.”

Snettisham, Norfolk

Travel Reporter Jenna Stevens recommends a visit to her hometown, she said: “Born and raised in North West Norfolk, I’ve seen hordes of tourists flock to my county every year for a summer staycation.

“But I’m always surprised when holidaymakers head for the same few touristy spots, and miss out on exploring our quiet, pretty villages such as Snettisham.

“Snettisham Beach is a quiet yet arguably more beautiful alternative to Hunstanton or Holkham. It’s known for dramatic orange sunsets and spectacular displays of pink-footed geese sweeping across the horizon.

“Head out for breakfast to the trendy Old Store for a full-on fry up with duck fat hash browns, and spend the day hand-feeding farm animals and heading out on deer safari at the family-friendly Snettisham Park.

“When the evening creeps in, head to The Rose and Crown for a pint of local ale and an unbeatably cosy pub atmosphere. As the working day winds down, the 14th-century pub is packed with local cricket players and dog-walkers settling down by the fire – who will happily talk your ear off about the best hidden spots in Norfolk.

“Plus, Snettisham is only a 10-minute drive to the royal residence and beautiful woodlands of Sandringham, which has a large wooden playground and plenty of walking trails marked by wooden animal sculptures.”

Burford, The Cotswolds

Deputy Travel Editor Kara Godfrey said: “While you might be tempted over to the Cotswolds for the world-famous Bourton-on-Water, or for a pint at Clarkson’s Farm, you’d be remiss to skip out on a trip to Burford.

“The main high street is one of the prettiest in the area with barely any chain restaurants and shops.

“The sandy yellow Cotswold stone is instead used for vintage sweet shops, pubs dating back hundreds of years and cosy gift shops selling twee home goods.

“Make sure to grab a cake and a coffee at Hunter’s Cake Company, or some afternoon tea at Huffkins. Any leftover crusts can be taken to the river at the bottom of the hill, to make friends with the eager ducks.”

Grantchester, Cambridgeshire

Travel Reporter Alice Penwill visited one destination that’s used as a TV backdrop of the same name, she said: “Just 15-minutes outside of Cambridge is the beautiful village of Grantchester.

“Most people would have heard of Grantchester because of the television series starring Robson Green and Rishi Nair that’s set in the 1950s and has been filmed in the actual village for years.

“Lots of visitors take pictures outside the vicarage and the church – but where I headed was for a relaxing walk along the River Cam before stopping in The Orchard Tea Garden set in an actual apple orchard.

“It’s famous for having a number of literary legends visit, like Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster. While you’re there I’d suggest picking up a homemade scone, which you get with a pot of jam and clotted cream for £5.40.”

Unplugged, Wales

For those seeking a peaceful break, Assistant Travel Editor Sophie Swietochowski, has a hotel suggestion that will top all others when it comes to switching off. “The Unplugged brand first popped up on my radar a few years back, during another frenzied lockdown when life was lived primarily through screens and burnout felt inevitable.

“The off-grid cabin company specialises in digital detoxes – a trend that will certainly be growing in 2026. The idea is that visitors lock away their devices in the safe until the end of their stay (a basic Nokia phone is provided for emergencies).

“Stays can be booked for three nights minimum – to ensure guests fully reap the physical and mental health benefits of going phone-free. Dotted across the country, each of the two-person cabins, of which there are now over 50, stand solo, immersed in nature, (bar a few paired ones, for the purpose of group bookings).

“I’ve got my eye on Taffy, a cosy, dog-friendly cabin in Powys, Wales, where walking trails are aplenty. It comes with a private hot tub, meaning evenings can be spent soaking in the bubbles under a starry sky.

“All the essentials are provided, including a kitchenette, bathroom and roaring log burner, plus there’s board games and books for entertainment as well as an outdoor seating area. Prices for Unplugged start at £420 in total for three nights.”

Knaresborough, North Yorkshire

One of the most beautiful towns is in the North of England, and Deputy Travel Editor Kara Godfrey insists you visit, she said: “If you ever wanted to feel like you stepped into a pretty postcard picture, then the closest you will get to that is going to Knaresborough.

“The tiny market town almost looks fake, from the historic viaduct going over the river to the trains trundling along over the top.

“Add in a few kayakers on the water, and it’s the perfect place to lose a few hours. Kill some time before your train home with a glass of wine at The Mitre.

“And don’t forget to pop to the nearby York to Betty’s for a famous Fat Rascal scone.”

Newcastle

Travel Reporter Jenna Stevens said there’s one city with lots of bars, and plenty of culture too. “I first went to Newcastle to visit a friend at university and check out its legendary nightlife scene.

“And whilst the nightlife is a huge part of what makes Newcastle such a great city break – I was shocked by just how much this city has to offer.
Stepping out of the central train station, you’ll be wandering through cobbled streets overlooked by grand neoclassical stone buildings through Grainger Town.

“Head towards the Quayside, and you’ll start to see more of the city’s industrial side. There’s a series of seven pretty bridges that stretch over the river, which glows with neon city reflections at nighttime.

“For a dose of history, Newcastle Castle is a sight to behold with over 2,000 years of heritage, plus you can even climb to its rooftop for the best panoramic views across the city skyline.

“But if you do want to dip into the famous nightlife, I recommend heading to The Bigg Market or the Ouseburn for cheap pints and an electric atmosphere.”

University Arms Hotel, Cambridge

When heading to the city of Cambridge, Deputy Travel Editor Kara Godfrey says there’s only one hotel you should check into. She said: “I might be cheating on my home city of Oxford, but the University Arms Hotel in Cambridge makes it worth it.

“The historic hotel is a must for any tourist who wants to immerse themselves in British history. Rooms are named after famous Cambridge alumni – the best being the Hawking Suite which overlooks the common.

“Bathrooms play readings of The Wind in the Willows and you can grab a book and a treat in the Library room to wind down in.

“Complimentary blue bikes for pedalling around town, free Saturday walking tours and even punting packages in the summer – it’s the quintessential English escape.”

Cornwall

For Assistant Travel Editor Sophie Swietochowski, there’s one spot you can’t miss. She said: “You don’t need me to tell you that Cornwall is a staycation hotspot year in year out.

“There’s a reason I still haven’t tired of the coast-rich region with its sweeping, blustery beaches – despite visiting at least four times annually.

“It’s the constant newness: more quality restaurants, another music festival, and undiscovered cultural experiences. Even some of the historic and nature-focused sites, a big part of what makes the south west so special, are regularly being given a new lease of life.

“The Cornish coastal meadows project, due to be completed this year, will see the addition of new grasslands, encouraging more plant growth and thriving wildlife from bees and butterflies to grasshoppers.

“Stay at the recently renovated Pedn Olva, a pub with rooms that’s been carved into the craggy cliff-face facing the choppy sea in St Ives. Gobble up a bowl of crabby fries, before retiring to the bedroom to stargaze (rooms come with mini telescopes).”

Celtic Manor, Wales

When it comes to staycations, there’s one hotel that stands out for Head of Sun Travel, Lisa Minot. She revealed: “This high-end destination resort is a must-visit for stays that combine championship golf courses with luxury accommodation and an excellent spa.

“Set in 2,000 acres of scenic parkland in the Usk Valley near Newport in South Wales, it features three championship golf courses and has hosted the Ryder Cup.

“Celtic Manor has also welcomed the rich and famous. Former US president Barack Obama stayed in their fabulous four-bedroom huge Hunter Lodges when the NATO Summit was held at the resort in 2014.

“I’ve stayed in one of the lodges – and possibly even in the same bed – and can testify they offer the very best of lodge living for large groups complete with an open-plan living/dining room with vaulted ceilings and outdoor terrace with stunning golf course views from its own hot tub.

“It’s a great option for a hen or stag weekend with a difference.”

New Forest, Hampshire

Down in Hampshire, the New Forest is ripe for exploring with heathland, forest trails, wildlife and pretty villages which Travel Reporter Alice Penwill found when she visited.

She said: “I loved wandering through Brockenhurst where you see all the beautiful wild ponies, donkeys and cows roaming around – some even take a gander down the high street.

“The lovely houses even have grates on their driveway so the animals don’t wander up to the front door.

“After a long walk there are a number of pubs with big gardens where you can have a refreshing drink like The Snakecatcher, Foresters Arms and The Huntsman.”

York

Another must-visit city is the vibrant York according to Assistant Travel Editor Sophie Swietochowski, she told us: “Was it the higgled piggledy buildings flanking the narrow alleyways or maybe the grand cathedral with its looming Gothic tower that first made me fall in love with York?

“Or perhaps it was merely the friendly folk who filled its cafes and shops. The Yorkshire lot seem a little more cheery than those down south. Either way, charming York is one of my favourite cities in the UK and I believe it should be on everyone’s bucket list.

“The main hub, within the City Walls (a landmark in themselves, dating back to Roman times) is my favourite area. Here you’ll find Betty’s Tea Room – an absolute must visit. The first of these fancy northern cafes opened in Harrogate way back in 1919.

“Today there are five scattered across Yorkshire, including one in York itself. Sip on tea (Yorkshire, of course) served from polished silver pots and tuck into traditional bakes like the fat rascal, a type of chunky scone crammed with fruit and spices that was invented in this county.”

Chester

Another favourite from Head of Sun Travel, Lisa Minot is this spot in the North West of England, she said: “It’s been dubbed the prettiest city in England and I can definitely say I agree – Chester’s historic centre is a delight to explore.

“Shopaholics will have even more reason to visit in 2026 with the launch of the H Beauty store from Harrods on February 6.

“Set in the former Browns of Chester building, an Edwardian beauty on Eastgate Rows, it will feature a champagne bar, blow-dry bar, interactive play tables and of course, lots of high end beauty products.

“There’s more shopping delights on The Rows, a two-tier medieval galleries, covered walkways lined with timber-framed facades, boutiques and cafes stacked above street level.

“And of course, you can’t miss a walk around the City Walls, the most complete circuit of Roman and medieval walls in Britain that gives you  scenic stroll with great views over the town, gardens and river.”

Anglesey, Wales

Travel Reporter Alice Penwill found a beautiful Welsh village on a trip to Anglesey, she said: “I’ve always loved peace and quiet on holiday rather than a rowdy night out, so when I stumbled upon the village of Moelfre on a trip to Anglesey, I was delighted.

“The quaint former fishing village has beautiful pebbled coves and long stretching strips of land out to sea with lighthouses perched on top.

“One must-do is stop into Ann’s Pantry for a Welsh beer or a generously sized scone, and the Coastal Cafe for fish and chips – it’s so popular that locals and holidaymakers queue out the door during the weekend.

“Just a short walk away is Traeth Lligwy beach which you can reach while hiking the coastal path.

“It has stretches of golden sands, and when the tide goes out, a natural paddling pool forms in the middle as water gets trapped behind a sandbank. Some sunbathers even spot dolphins amongst the sea waves.”

For more suggestions from our travel experts, these are our favourite day trips in the South East – from pubs with a view to quiet beaches.

And for more inspiration, here are our travel team’s best trips of 2025 – from new theme parks to private UK islands.

After an enormous storm dumped 3 feet of snow on Mammoth Mountain, rookie ski patroller Claire Murphy and a partner scrambled to help make the resort safe for guests ahead of a very busy — and very lucrative — Presidents Day weekend.

In howling wind and blowing snow, the patrollers labored to clear enormous piles of fresh, unstable powder from a steep, experts-only run, one of a group appropriately named the “Avalanche Chutes.”

Ski patrollers use hand-held explosives, and their own skis, to deliberately trigger small slides in the chutes before the resort opens, to prevent an avalanche from crashing down later in the day on thousands of paying customers gliding happily — and obliviously — along the much gentler slopes below.

Mammoth Mountain ski patrol members Claire Murphy, left, and Cole Murphy (no relation) both died while doing avalanche mitigation on the mountain.

(Courtesy of Lisa Apa; Tracy Murphy)

But something went horribly wrong that day. Instead of remaining safely above the sliding snow, Murphy and her partner got caught in it. He was buried up to his neck but survived. She was trapped beneath the collapsing wall of white and got crushed to death against a towering fir tree. She was 25 years old.

The avalanche that killed the young patroller on Feb. 14, 2025, stunned Mammoth’s tight-knit ski community. Her friends and colleagues were consumed with grief, but most regarded it as a freak accident, something that hadn’t happened before and was unlikely to be repeated.

But then, less than a year later, it happened again.

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In late December — after a “Christmas miracle” storm dumped more than 5 feet of snow on the previously parched resort — 30-year-old ski patroller Cole Murphy (no relation to Claire) and his partner were hurrying to clear the same chutes before the busiest week of the year.

They, too, were caught in a deliberately triggered slide. Cole’s partner suffered a serious leg injury, but he survived.

Signs on top of Lincoln Mountain at Mammoth advise skiers that the runs are for experts only.

Cole was swept away and carried hundreds of feet down the mountain, where he suffocated beneath more than a meter of avalanche debris, according to two sources. Both were involved in the effort to save Cole, but asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

With the sudden deaths of two young patrollers in such a short span, and in such distressingly similar circumstances — Claire and Cole came to rest within a few hundred yards of each other — questions began to swirl.

Were the resort’s managers pushing too hard to open the mountain after major storms? Had training standards slipped, pushing relatively inexperienced ski patrollers into dangerous situations? Are young ski patrollers afraid to speak up, even when they think they’ve been asked to take unreasonable risks?

Lisa Apa, Claire Murphy’s mother, said she begged mountain officials to take a hard look at their training and safety procedures after her daughter’s death — to figure out what went wrong and make sure it never happened again.

They blew her off, she said.

A small memorial remains at a tree, where an avalanche claimed the life of ski patrol member Claire Murphy.

When she heard about the second death, Apa said she immediately fired off a text to a senior ski patrol manager at Mammoth: “You killed another ski patroller … you’ve learned nothing!”

She told a Times reporter last week, “Claire would be f—ing furious if she knew this happened a second time.”

Mammoth Mountain officials have remained measured in their public response.

In a statement emailed to The Times, Mammoth Mountain President and Chief Operating Officer Eric Clark wrote that, after Claire Murphy’s death, the ski patrol had been empowered to “pursue a slower, phased opening of the mountain on storm days.”

After Cole Murphy’s death 10 months later, Clark wrote that resort managers “immediately instituted” measures to “de-pressurize storm mornings,” giving ski patrol more time to work and more latitude to keep chair lifts closed until the mountain is deemed safe.

In a follow-up interview, Clark insisted the pressure on Mammoth’s managers to open quickly after big storms comes from customers desperate to ski fresh powder, not from corporate executives chasing profits.

Chair 22 takes skiers to the top of Lincoln Mountain at Mammoth, where two ski patrollers have been killed by avalanches in the last year.

“Maybe 10 years ago that was different,” Clark said. But after the most recent accident, the message from the resort’s owners — Alterra Mountain Co., a privately held, multibillion-dollar conglomerate that owns 19 resorts across the U.S. and Canada — was to use caution.

“Make sure you’re taking your time,” Clark said they told him.

Apa, who sobbed talking about her daughter, gasped when she heard that.

Of course senior executives offer reassuring words after a tragedy, she said. But as a former business journalist, who once anchored a show called “Street Smart” on Bloomberg TV, Apa said she spent her career around top corporate officers. Anyone who believes profit motive doesn’t drive such decisions is naive, she said.

“Maybe you’re not getting a phone call, or an email, from the CEO saying, ‘get this mountain open today!’” she said. But any manager who develops a reputation as someone who’s afraid to open after a storm, on the busiest day of the year, “won’t be around very long,” she said.

No doubt, many skiers are desperate to hit the slopes after a storm brings fresh powder.

The sensation of floating down the hill with almost no resistance is dreamlike and addictive. No other conditions compare.

That’s why social media is full of influencers bragging about their epic “pow days,” and why hordes of paying customers start champing at the bit when the mountain is covered in a fresh blanket of white, but the ski patrol won’t let them at it.

A former Mammoth ski patroller recalled years of riding lifts with eager customers complaining that the steepest runs with the deepest powder were still closed for avalanche control.

Mammoth Mountain‘s summit is more than 11,000 feet high and averages nearly 400 inches of annual snowfall.

“I’d point to all of the mountains around Mammoth,” he said. There are dozens of beautiful, towering summits in the surrounding eastern Sierra with absolutely no rules and nobody to stop an adventurous soul from climbing up and skiing down.

But there are no chairlifts, so getting up those mountains is a physically exhausting test of will. And there’s no avalanche control, so you’re on your own when it comes to determining which slopes are safe, which are death traps.

“If you’re such an expert, why aren’t you over there,” the ski patroller said he’d ask, usually ending the conversation.

Within the boundaries of commercial ski resorts, avalanche control takes many forms.

At Mammoth, the steepest slopes near the 11,000-foot-high summit are controlled with a howitzer — an actual cannon. When the resort is closed, crews fire explosive shells across a valley up into the highest, heaviest and most threatening piles of fresh snow. Their aim has to be excellent, since stray shrapnel can do serious damage to ski lifts. But it’s a remarkably efficient way to get enormous quantities of snow sliding down the mountain without putting anyone at risk.

The ski patrol office at the top of Lincoln Mountain.

Another option is called a “Boom Whoosh,” which looks like an industrial chimney and is installed just above spots where dangerous piles of snow frequently accumulate. It works by remote control, igniting a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen — like lighting a gigantic camping stove — to create a shock wave that triggers an avalanche. Mammoth has one at the moment, near the summit above a run called Climax, and officials are hoping to install more.

Then there’s the old-fashioned technique: sending ski patrollers into the steepest, most technical terrain with backpacks full of explosives.

That’s what happens in the Avalanche Chutes — known locally as “the avis” — a handful of natural rock and snow slide paths carved by thousands of years of erosion into the side of a 10,000-foot sub-peak called Lincoln Mountain. Patrollers start early in the morning after a storm and ride a snowcat — like a school bus on tank treads — to a plateau just above the chutes.

Big red signs with black diamonds are everywhere on Lincoln Mountain, indicating its trails are for experts only. The chutes are the steepest trails of all, marked on maps with two black diamonds, the highest rating possible. Casual skiers go weak in the knees at the thought of making a wrong turn onto a vertigo-inducing “double-black.”

After hopping out of the snowcat, patrollers divide into pairs and work their way toward the chutes. Sometimes the wind is so strong it scours nearby boulders free of snow, so they have to take off their skis and climb over the bare rocks in their awkward, plastic boots to get to the edge.

Once in place, one of the patrollers tosses a hand-held explosive — it looks like a cartoon stick of dynamite — down the hill. The patrollers cover their ears, wait for the boom, and hope the explosion has loosened the big stuff and sent it sliding.

Then they ski down in carefully choreographed zigzags, sometimes hopping up as they go, to dislodge any remaining loose slabs beneath their feet.

A view of the Avalanche Chutes at Mammoth, where two ski patrollers have died in the last year.

The key to “ski cutting,” as it’s called, is to make sure your partner is anchored in a secure spot, usually off to the edge of the chute and out of the way of a potential slide, before you start moving.

In normal conditions, it’s just another day at the office. But after a massive “atmospheric river” storm, the risks increase.

This season’s Christmas storm was a monster, and it arrived with the biggest crowds of the year.

To keep the customers happy, Mammoth executives opened the lower part of the mountain on Christmas Day, the portion least exposed to avalanche risk. But there was so much fresh snow, patrollers spent the day digging out people who had simply gotten stuck in huge drifts, even on the relatively flat terrain.

And then, in the early afternoon, Raymond Albert, a 71-year-old regular known to fellow skiers as “every day Ray,” was spotted in a pocket of deep, fresh snow beside a well-traveled run near the bottom of Lincoln Mountain.

He had somehow popped out of his skis, which were behind him, and pitched forward, ending up with his head in the snow and his feet in the air, according to a written report of the incident provided to his family.

Looking down one of the Avalanche Chutes at Mammoth Mountain.

It’s unclear how long he was in that position before bystanders dug him out. When ski patrollers arrived he had no pulse. With so much fresh snow on the ground, the patrollers struggled to find a firm enough surface to lay him on his back and perform CPR. They finally used a bystander’s legs as a makeshift platform, according to the report, but could not revive him.

In a normal week, Albert’s death would have been big news, but it received almost no public attention because early the next morning, Cole Murphy and his colleagues headed up Lincoln Mountain to clear the chutes.

It’s still not publicly known what caused the slide that buried Murphy and his partner, but according to two people involved in the effort to save Murphy’s life, witnesses said that an avalanche triggered by an explosive in a neighboring chute might have “propagated” horizontally to where Murphy and his partner were working — taking them by surprise.

Resort officials declined to answer detailed questions about either Claire or Cole Murphy’s deaths, saying their lawyers advised them not to offer specifics during ongoing investigations by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

As soon as Cole Murphy disappeared in that wall of white, the clock started ticking. More than 90% of avalanche victims survive if they can be freed within 15 minutes, according to the Utah Avalanche Center, but the odds drop “catastrophically” after that.

It took Cole’s desperate colleagues 18 minutes to locate him and dig him out, sources said. When they finally pulled him free, his skin was blue and he wasn’t breathing, the sources said.

He was airlifted to a hospital in Reno and pronounced dead days later.

Tracy Murphy, Cole’s mother, said her son loved Mammoth Lakes and the tight bonds he forged on that “little island” of outdoor enthusiasts, surrounded on all sides by hundreds of miles of mountains and desert.

After Claire’s accident, Tracy Murphy said her son was “shaken to the core.”

Cole’s roommate was the patroller in the chute with Claire that day, she said. Last month, the roommate was among the patrollers frantically trying to dig Cole free.

She’s waiting for OSHA’s report, but for now, Murphy said, “I believe that Mammoth would not have knowingly put any patroller in danger. I feel, in my heart, that this was just an extremely unlucky event.”

Her son had been on the job for a few years before his accident; Claire Murphy had been a ski patroller for only a couple of months before hers.

The wind was howling “like a jet engine” that day, according to accounts Apa received from ski patrollers who were there.

The witnesses told Apa that Claire’s partner triggered the fatal avalanche with his skis, and was quickly swallowed by it. But he survived, at least in part because he was about 6½ feet tall and his head remained above the debris.

It’s still a mystery why Claire was in the path of the slide, but the difficulty of hearing and seeing each other amid the wind and blowing snow probably played a part, Apa said.

Seconds after the slide began, it slammed Claire into the tree. When her colleagues dug her out, she was upright, with her back pinned against the trunk. She was facing uphill, Apa said, looking straight at the wall of snow bearing down on her.

Claire probably had no time to react, Apa said, pausing to steady herself before finishing the thought, but she hoped her daughter didn’t suffer. “It kills me to think of her trapped there, scared,” she said.

After hearing about the accident, Apa raced to Mammoth from the East Coast on a private jet provided by the mountain. She implored doctors to keep Claire’s heart beating until she arrived, she said. “I can’t come to a dead body, you have to keep her alive so I can hold her hand,” she begged.

Lisa Apa, left, with her daughter Claire Murphy.

(Lisa Apa)

Apa arrived in time to spend a few days in a Reno hospital with her unconscious daughter. She washed and braided her hair, read her letters from people wishing her well, and thought about what she wanted to say to the other young women on the ski patrol.

“Don’t get out of the snowcat if you’re scared,” she said she told them at Claire’s memorial service and in private conversations. “Go back down the mountain if you think what they’re doing is wrong. You have to say something, you have to.”

But that’s tough, Apa acknowledged, because there are only so many ski patrol jobs in the country, and most of those women had been dreaming about it since they were little girls.

Becoming persona non grata at either of the two big companies that dominate the U.S. ski industry — Alterra and Vail Resorts — could be a career killer, patrollers fear.

Apa said she is still haunted by the possibility that concern for their jobs prevents patrollers from pushing for safer working conditions, and that what happened to Claire and Cole will soon be forgotten.

On a cold, crisp day last week, beneath an almost impossibly peaceful cobalt sky, a reporter skied the Avalanche Chutes with a group of locals including a former patroller and a professional mountain guide who trains clients on avalanche safety.

There had been no significant fresh snow for weeks, so no one was worried about avalanches. Alone on the broad, steep face, the only sound came from the metal edges of skis biting into the hard surface.

The group pointed their skis toward a stand of tall fir trees hundreds of feet below. Some of them had been snapped in half by previous avalanches, one was still caked on its uphill side with thousands of pounds of snow.

And one, just below it, had a recent boot track around its base. A photographer trained his sharp eye on a faded strand of red cloth, light as gossamer, pinned to the trunk at eye level. Dried rose petals hung around it.

Claire’s tree. She hasn’t been forgotten.

An integral part of whale watching, Capt. Rick Podolak explained as we zipped out of North San Diego Bay past Point Loma, is establishing trust.

That and a fast vessel, good timing and luck. All of which we hoped would align during a whale-watching excursion in late December, the month typically inaugurating an annual gray whale migration from the Arctic south to Baja California.

“We call them our Christmas whales,” said Podolak, of Adventure Whale Watching.

Grays endure an epic roundtrip journey of 10,000 miles or more, and California holds a prime seat through May. Along with being a migratory route for grays and humpbacks, this stretch of Pacific Coast from San Diego to beyond the Bay Area offers seasonal feeding grounds that attract a variety of whale species throughout the year.

“I would go so far as to boast that California has some of the best whale watching in the world,” said Ted Cheeseman, a Santa Cruz whale researcher and co-founder of Happywhale, a photo-based whale identification platform.

Tempering the enthusiasm Cheeseman and other researchers hold around current thriving whale populations are significant concerns about gray whales dying. Grays’ numbers along the Pacific Coast have plunged by half in the last decade, to about 13,000, due to climate change affecting their Arctic food supply.

“Last year was by far the lowest count we’ve ever had, and this year is even lower,” said Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a marine biologist and whale researcher who coordinates an annual gray whale census out of Rancho Palos Verdes.

In December 2025, volunteers spotted 14 whales headed south to calving lagoons in Mexico. In December 2024, they counted 33. In December 2014, by comparison, there were 393.

With numbers like those rattling in my head and the clock ticking as Podolak piloted us north along the coastline, I grew increasingly doubtful about us witnessing the grays’ movement south. We were looking for backs or flukes (tails) breaking the water. Most telling is the spout — the condensed mass of water vapor and mucus that whales force from their blowholes as they surface.

After 90 minutes, we’d spied cormorants and pelicans galore, but little else. It was nearly time to head back.

Then, there it was. A spout, rising clearly against the coastline. Then another, just before the whale dove from sight. The captain identified it as a gray whale, with their distinct white patches of clinging barnacles.

This month, California tour operators have reported several gray sightings. As we watch for them and other cetaceans, this is one instance in which tourists can create positive change. Advocacy organizations outline how to select ethical tour operators and federal agencies are charged with maintaining safe distances (100 yards for most whale species) between vessels and marine mammals. Whale researcher Cheeseman says well-managed whale tourism raises public awareness and financially supports whale science and conservation.

“For some people, seeing a blue whale in the Santa Barbara Channel checks a box — it’s an Instagram post,” he said. “For others, it entirely transforms their view of the natural world.”

Starting in San Diego and moving north, here are some of California’s leading whale-watching spots.

A LIDO that first opened five decades ago is hoping to welcome swimmers back after a three-year closure.

Popular swimming spot Stanhope Open Air Swimming Pool is raising money for repairs and upgrades needed to open its doors once again.

The once bustling open air pool in County Durham was the area’s only heated lido.

It first opened in 1974 and welcomed swimmers for 48 years before its closure in 2023.

In 2023, the lido was forced to shut after it experienced electrical issues in the plant room.

But prior to that, the lido saw more than 8,000 swimmers in 2022.

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Now, the charity looking after the pool is hoping that it will once again reopen to the public by next year.

The charity posted on Facebook about the update: “We are delighted to announce that we have agreed a new 30-year lease with our landlords. Weardale Open Air Swimming Pool first opened in 1974, with a life expectancy of 30 years.

“The hard work of our wonderful volunteers kept things going for much longer, but the pool infrastructure now needs complete renovation.”

It detailed that lots of essential works are still needed to restore the lido to its former glory.

This includes relining the pool, rewiring the whole site, refurbishing the plant room and upgrading the changing rooms and snack bar.

It added that it will need to “raise hundreds of thousands of pounds”, but locals remain optimistic.

One wrote on the post: “That’s fantastic news, loved that pool, be lovely to see it up and running again.”

Another added: “Great news, it is quite an asset to the area. Hope the future is bright!”

The charity is asking for the community and users to donate to help the cause – but is also applying for grants for the refurbishment.

The lido is 25metres long and when it was open was always heated to 27C – so it was warm even on the cool summer evenings.

It even had a springboard, so the depth of the pool was a maximum of three metres deep.

Along with the main pool was another smaller one for children which was just half a metre deep – it was also heated to the same temperature and had a slide.

Visitors were also able to use the on-site sauna, cafe and shop where they could buy dive toys, armbands and goggles.

Here are all of the new lidos set to open across the UK from seafront pools to city swimming spots.

Plus, this English lido with heated swimming pool and Full Moon swims reopened after a £120k upgrade.

When Gary Patterson resigned as coach of Texas Christian in October 2021, midway through his 21st season with the Horned Frogs, the now-65-year old coach decided to take a step back and reevaluate where he and the college game were headed.

“I’d had a job since I was 9 years old,” Patterson said. “Just kind of wanted to take a break.”

For decades, football had been at the forefront of his and his family’s life, so much so that his wife joked she was merely his “mistress.” He wanted to spend time with her, with his grandkids. Plus, after a few seasons, he knew he’d be eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame, which was important to him.

Patterson ended up filling that time with football, anyway. He watched the game from afar, helping out as a consultant on staffs at Texas and Baylor, even working with Amazon Prime’s football coverage, just to score a subscription to Catapult, all along biding his time for the right opportunity to come along.

It came earlier this month, four years after his departure from Fort Worth, in the form of a text message from USC coach Lincoln Riley, whom he knew from their days coaching across from each other in the Big 12. The Trojans’ defensive coordinator, D’Anton Lynn, had left in late December for the same job at Penn State. Riley needed a replacement.

“He wasn’t going to jump back into this for anything,” Riley said Wednesday. “It had to be the right opportunity, the right kind of place, the right kind of setting. I know he knows and believe he’s found that.”

No one is more invested in that than USC’s head coach. Whether Patterson turns out to be the right fit at the right time for the Trojans may ultimately determine the trajectory of Riley’s future with the program. Patterson will be Riley’s third defensive coordinator in five seasons at USC.

“I think it’s an unbelievable hire by Lincoln,” said David Bailiff, who worked with Patterson at New Mexico and TCU. “For him not to be intimidated with Gary’s background, that all he wants to do is get USC better — a lot of coaches probably wouldn’t hire Gary because he’s been a head coach for so long.”

For Patterson, who never beat Riley in seven meetings while at TCU, it was a particularly ideal partnership.

“Any time that I was ever part of a team that had a great offense and scored a lot of points, we won a lot of ball games,” Patterson said.

Patterson, however, hasn’t been a full-time assistant since the turn of the 21st century. He last served as defensive coordinator under Dennis Franchione, who brought Patterson with him from New Mexico to TCU in 1998. He was promoted to head coach in 2000, when Franchione left for Alabama. A week later, across the country, USC hired Pete Carroll.

That’s how deeply entrenched Patterson was for more than two decades at TCU, where his tenure, by any measure, was a staggering success. Over 22 seasons, Patterson led the Horned Frogs to 181 wins and six conference titles. Throughout, defense remained his calling card. Five different times during his tenure, TCU finished No. 1 in the nation in yards allowed, as Big 12 offenses struggled for years to adjust to his multifaceted 4-2-5 scheme.

But by 2021, while Patterson’s TCU defense had largely remained strong, the luster of his long tenure in Fort Worth had faded. The bottom fell out that fall, as the Horned Frogs started the season 3-5. Informed that he wouldn’t be back the following season, Patterson instead resigned with four games left.

Now he returns not as a head coach, but as a coordinator, a step down that Patterson seemed just fine with when asked Wednesday.

“I love it, to be honest with you,” Patterson said.

The entire landscape of college football has also been turned on its head since Patterson last coached, with the advent of revenue sharing and the rise of the transfer portal. But he didn’t seem all that concerned by those changes Wednesday. Mostly because he doesn’t expect it to affect what USC is asking him to do.

Trojans fans hope Gary Patterson’s hire leads to more of this, when three USC players brought down a Northwestern running back last season.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

“My job is defense,” Patterson said. “I don’t deal with NIL. I don’t deal with all those different things.”

His reputation as a mastermind on the defense certainly precedes him, and at USC, that’s where he’ll be needed most. Bailiff, who worked with Patterson at New Mexico and served as his first defensive coordinator at TCU, said that hisability to diagnose what a defense needs is “superior from any person I’ve ever seen.”

His signature 4-2-5 defense was designed, in part, to allow for such adaptability. With five defensive backs on the field most of the time, Patterson’s scheme is intended to adjust to any offense, allowing for his defense to limit substitutions and match up against most personnel groupings.

That scheme, after four years away from the game, is likely to be different by the time it’s installed at USC. Patterson said he plans to marry his original 4-2-5 at TCU with concepts he learned at Texas and Baylor. He also plans to integrate some of what USC’s defense was already doing, with most of the assistants from last season expected to remain on staff.

“Instead of just coming in and saying, well, ‘This is how we’re going to do it,’” Patterson said, “it’s been a little bit more work of trying to put it all together.”

It’ll be up to Patterson to put it all together on USC’s defense, which in four seasons under Riley, has never put things together for long.

“Hopefully,” he said, “[I can] be that last piece to help SC get over the bar, get into the playoffs, to bring out a championship.”

The U.S. Department of Education has given San José State 10 days to comply with a list of demands after finding that the university violated Title IX concerning a transgender volleyball player in 2024.

A federal investigation was launched into San José State a year ago after controversy over a transgender player marred the 2024 volleyball season. Four Mountain West Conference teams — Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State and Nevada-Reno — each chose to forfeit or cancel two conference matches to San José State. Boise State also forfeited its conference tournament semifinal match to the Spartans.

The transgender player, Blaire Fleming, was on the San José State roster for three seasons after transferring from Coastal Carolina, although opponents protested the player’s participation only in 2024.

In a news release Wednesday, the Education Department warned that San José State risks “imminent enforcement action” if it doesn’t voluntarily resolve the violations by taking the following actions, not all of which pertain solely to sports:

1) Issue a public statement that SJSU will adopt biology-based definitions of the words “male” and “female” and acknowledge that the sex of a human — male or female — is unchangeable.

2) Specify that SJSU will follow Title IX by separating sports and intimate facilities based on biological sex.

3) State that SJSU will not delegate its obligation to comply with Title IX to any external association or entity and will not contract with any entity that discriminates on the basis of sex.

4) Restore to female athletes all individual athletic records and titles misappropriated by male athletes competing in women’s categories, and issue a personalized letter of apology on behalf of SJSU to each female athlete for allowing her participation in athletics to be marred by sex discrimination.

5) Send a personalized apology to every woman who played in SJSU’s women’s indoor volleyball from 2022 to 2024, beach volleyball in 2023, and to any woman on a team that forfeited rather than compete against SJSU while a male student was on the roster — expressing sincere regret for placing female athletes in that position.

“SJSU caused significant harm to female athletes by allowing a male to compete on the women’s volleyball team — creating unfairness in competition, compromising safety, and denying women equal opportunities in athletics, including scholarships and playing time,” Kimberly Richey, Education Department assistant secretary for civil rights, said.

“Even worse, when female athletes spoke out, SJSU retaliated — ignoring sex-discrimination claims while subjecting one female SJSU athlete to a Title IX complaint for allegedly ‘misgendering’ the male athlete competing on a women’s team. This is unacceptable.”

San José State responded with a statement acknowledging that the Education Department had informed the university of its investigation and findings.

“The University is in the process of reviewing the Department’s findings and proposed resolution agreement,” the statement said. “We remain committed to providing a safe, respectful, and inclusive educational environment for all students while complying with applicable laws and regulations.”

In a New York Times profile, Fleming said she learned about transgender identity when she was in eighth grade. “It was a lightbulb moment,” she said. “I felt this huge relief and a weight off my shoulders. It made so much sense.”

With the support of her mother and stepfather, Fleming worked with a therapist and a doctor and started to socially and medically transition, according to the Times. When she joined the high school girls’ volleyball team, her coaches and teammates knew she was transgender and accepted her.

Fleming’s first two years at San José State were uneventful, but in 2024 co-captain Brooke Slusser joined lawsuits against the NCAA, the Mountain West Conference and representatives of San José State after alleging she shared hotel rooms and locker rooms with Fleming without being told she is transgender.

The Education Department also determined that Fleming and a Colorado State player conspired to spike Slusser in the face, although a Mountain West investigation found “insufficient evidence to corroborate the allegations of misconduct.” Slusser was not spiked in the face during the match.

President Trump signed an executive order a year ago designed to ban transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams. The order stated that educational institutions and athletic associations may not ignore “fundamental biological truths between the two sexes.” The NCAA responded by banning transgender athletes.

The order, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” gives federal agencies, including the Justice and Education departments, wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the Trump administration’s view, which interprets a person’s sex as the gender they were assigned at birth.

San José State has been in the federal government’s crosshairs ever since. If the university does not comply voluntarily to the actions listed by the government, it could face a Justice Department lawsuit and risk losing federal funding.

“We will not relent until SJSU is held to account for these abuses and commits to upholding Title IX to protect future athletes from the same indignities,” Richey said.

San José State was found in violation of Title IX in an unrelated case in 2021 and paid $1.6 million to more than a dozen female athletes after the Department of Justice found that the university failed to properly handle the students’ allegations of sexual abuse by a former athletic trainer.

The federal investigation found that San José State did not take adequate action in response to the athletes’ reports and retaliated against two employees who raised repeated concerns about Scott Shaw, the former director of sports medicine. Shaw was sentenced to 24 months in prison for unlawfully touching female student-athletes under the guise of providing medical treatment.

The current findings against San José State came two weeks after federal investigators announced that the California Community College Athletic Assn. and four other state colleges and school districts are the targets of a probe over whether their transgender participation policies violate Title IX.

The investigation targets a California Community College Athletic Assn. rule that allows transgender and nonbinary students to participate on women’s sports teams if the students have completed “at least one calendar year of testosterone suppression.”

Also, the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights has launched 18 Title IX investigations into school districts across the United States on the heels of the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments on efforts to protect women’s and girls’ sports.

At the 2024 Oscars, Ryan Gosling, reprising his role as Ken in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 movie “Barbie,” donned a bedazzled pink suit and belted the ballad “I’m Just Ken.”

“I’m just Ken, anywhere else I’d be a 10,” the actor sang. “Is it my destiny to live and die a life of blond fragility?”

Barbie’s needy male counterpart, it turns out, is not “just Ken.” His full name is Kenneth Sean Carson, according to Mattel, which says the doll saw a uptick in popularity in the years following the hit movie’s release.

Ahead of Ken’s 65th birthday, the El Segundo-based toy giant shared a laundry list of niche biographical details about the doll, including his official “birthday” — March 11, 1961, making him a Pisces — as well as his relationship history with Barbie.

The company said in a statement Monday that Ken has “experienced a resurgence in recent years.”

A Mattel spokesperson cited the “Barbie” movie as a driving factor, as it showed a “different side” of Ken. In a meta move, the company later in 2023 released Ken dolls modeled after Ryan Gosling’s portrayal of Ken.

The “Kenbassador” line launched last year was a “great success,” the spokesperson said. The first product in that toy series was a $75 doll modeled after basketball player LeBron James released in April.

Mattel says it does not break out sales of Ken dolls, but in 2017, when Mattel unveiled Ken dolls with different body types, including one that invited “dad-bod” comparisons, the company told the Wall Street Journal that, on average, girls have one Ken doll for every seven Barbies they own.

Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, named the original doll after her daughter, Barbara. The glamorous doll, unique in that it depicted a grown woman rather than a baby, was an instant hit when it debuted at the New York Toy Fair in 1959. Barbie has significantly evolved in the decades since. Recent additions include Barbies with Type 1 diabetes and another with autism.

The Ken doll, created in 1961, was named after Handler’s son, Kenneth. He featured molded hair, wore red swim trunks and carried a yellow towel.

Kenneth Handler told The Times in a 1989 story that there were few similarities between him and the doll named after him. He died in 1994.

“Ken doll is Malibu,” he said. “He goes to the beach and surfs. He is all these perfect American things.”

But when Kenneth Handler was at Hamilton High School in Beverlywood, he “played the piano and went to movies with subtitles.” He continued, “I was a nerd — a real nerd. All the girls thought I was a jerk.”

Like Barbie, Ken dabbled in many different careers over the decades. There have been doctor, pilot, tennis player, firefighter, lifeguard, barista and even Olympic skier Kens, among many others. In 2006, he received a “mid-life makeover” from celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch.

According to the company, Ken and Barbie “met” on the set of their first television commercial in 1961 and soon began dating. After more than four decades, the doll couple broke up in 2004, but reunited in 2011.

Mattel was founded by Ruth Handler; her husband, Elliot Handler; and Harold “Matt” Matson in 1945 in a Los Angeles garage. The toy maker became a publicly traded company in 1960.

Mattel, which also owns Fisher-Price and Hot Wheels, wrote in its October Securities and Exchange Commission filing that “industry-wide shifts in retailer ordering patterns” pushed its third quarter net sales down 6%.

In 2024, Barbie gross billings — which measure the total value of products Mattel ships to retailers before sales adjustments — were down 12% from 2023, which had seen a boost from the movie, according to the company’s annual SEC filing.