year

A proposal to explore removing Los Angeles police officers from traffic enforcement is stuck in gridlock. Again.

The initiative to take the job of pulling over bad drivers away from cops is months behind schedule, frustrating reform advocates and some city leaders who argue that Los Angeles is missing an on-ramp toward the future of road safety.

Local officials first raised the prospect during the national reckoning on racial injustice that followed the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, but the plan has progressed in sluggish fits and starts since then. Backers thought that they had scored an important victory with the release in May 2023 of a long-promised study mapping out how most enforcement could be done by unarmed civilian workers.

Last summer, the City Council requested follow-up reports from various city departments to figure out how to do that and gave a three-month deadline. But more than year later, most of the promised feasibility studies have yet to materialize.

“I’m very upset about the delay,” said Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, one of the proposal’s early champions. “Generally speaking, when you try to do a big reform like this, at least some portion of the people who want to do the work are very motivated to change the status quo — and I don’t think we have that here.”

He said there was blame to go around for the continued delays, but that he’s encouraged by his conversations with officials from the involved departments that studies will be completed — a precursor to legislation that would allow for re-imagining traffic safety.

At the same time, he said that he still saw a role for armed police in certain traffic situations.

“I don’t even think we need to be pulling people over at all for vehicle violations, especially for those that don’t pose any public safety risks,” he said, before adding: “If somebody’s going 90 miles an hour down Crenshaw Boulevard, that person does need to be stopped immediately and they do need to be stopped by somebody with a gun.”

In a unanimous vote in June 2024, the council directed city transportation staff and other departments to come back within 90 days with feasibility reports about the cost and logistics of numerous proposals, including creating unarmed civilian teams to respond to certain traffic issues and investigate accidents. Also under exploration were ideas to limit fines in poorer communities and end stops for minor infractions, such as expired tags or air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror.

Of the dozen or so requests made by the council, only two reports by the city’s transportation department have been completed so far, officials said.

Both of the studies — one assessing parking and traffic fines, and the other looking at how so-called “self-enforcing infrastructure” such as adding more speed bumps, roundabouts and other street modifications could help reduce speeding and unsafe driving — are “pending” before an ad hoc council committee focused on unarmed alternatives to police, according to an LADOT spokesman. The committee will need to approve the reports before they can be acted on by the full council, he said in a brief statement.

Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso, the council’s top policy advisor, said she understands frustration over the delays. She said the protracted timeline was also at least partly caused by difficulties in obtaining reliable data from some of the participating departments, but declined to point any fingers. Two additional reports are in the final stages of being finalized and should be released by the end of the year, she said.

Although top LAPD officials have in the past signaled a willingness to relinquish certain traffic duties, others inside the department have dismissed similar proposals as fanciful and argued the city needs to crack down harder on reckless driving at a time when traffic fatalities have outpaced homicides citywide.

Privately, some police supervisors and officers complain about what they see as left-leaning politicians and activists taking away an effective tool for helping to get guns and drugs off the streets. They argue that traffic stops — if conducted properly and constitutionally — are also a deterrent for erratic driving.

A recently passed state law allowed the use of use of automated speeding cameras on a pilot basis in L.A. and a handful of other California cities.

Some advocates, however, are leery of relying on technology and punitive fines that can continue historical harms, particularly for communities of color.

“It’s been just a big bureaucratic slog,” said Chauncee Smith, of Catalyst California, which is part of a broader coalition of reform advocacy groups pushing for an end to all equipment and moving violation stops.

While L.A. has spent more than a year finishing a “study of a study,” he said, places such as Virginia, Connecticut and Philadelphia have taken meaningful action to transform traffic enforcement by passing bans on certain types of low-level police stops.

He cited mounting research in other cities that showed road improvements along high-injury street corridors were more effective at changing driver behaviors, ultimately reducing the number of traffic-related deaths and serious injuries more than the threat of being ticketed. But he also acknowledged the difficulty of making such changes in L.A.’s notoriously fragmented approach to planning and delivering infrastructure projects.

Smith and other advocates have also argued for an outright ban on so-called pretextual stops, in which police use a minor violation as justification to stop someone in order to investigate whether a more serious crime has occurred.

The LAPD has reined in the practice in recent years under intense public pressure but never abandoned it. Further changes could require legislation and are likely to face stiff opposition from police unions such as the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which has been highly vocal in its criticism of the pretext policy change.

Leslie Johnson, chief culture officer for Community Coalition, a South L.A.-based nonprofit , said that despite the delays the organization plans to press ahead with efforts to reimagine public safety and to keep pressure on public officials to ensure the study results don’t get buried like past efforts. She said that there is renewed urgency to push through the changes after a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that critics says has opened the door to widespread racial profiling.

“Even though we’re a sanctuary city, we’re concerned that these prextexual stops could be leveraged” by federal immigration authorities, she said.

In the U.S., virtually all of the income you earn is subject to federal income tax. There are specific rules you need to follow regarding how much you pay, as well as the deductions that you are allowed to claim.

The IRS recently announced some changes to the tax rules for 2026, and those changes could affect how much you end up paying. Since these changes are for the 2026 tax year, they will be in effect for income you earn starting in January of 2026 and will affect the tax return that you file in April of 2027.

Here’s what you need to know about two of the big changes that will impact your finances in the 2026 tax filing year.

1. Tax brackets are changing

The first change that is taking place relates to the tax brackets. As the tables below show, the income ranges within each tax bracket are changing.

Tax brackets exist in the U.S. because we have a progressive income tax system. You do not pay the same tax rate on all of the income that you earn. Tax brackets set the rates that you will pay at different income ranges.

For example, everyone — no matter how much they earn — pays 10% on the first $11,925 in earnings they have in 2025. And in 2026, everyone will have a little more of their income taxed at that ultra-low tax rate since they won’t move up to the 12% bracket unless they have earned more than $12,400.

With these changes to the tax brackets, the taxes that most people pay should decline because they can now earn more income before moving up to the next tax bracket and paying a higher rate.

2. The standard deduction is changing

There’s another big change coming for the 2026 tax filing year. As the table below shows, this change is to the standard deduction.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

The majority of tax filers claim the standard deduction, which means they can subtract this set amount from their taxable income when determining how much they owe.

For example, if you make $45,000 a year, you are not taxed on $45,000. You can subtract the amount of the standard deduction from this amount. If you are a single filer or married filing separately, this would mean you could subtract $15,750 in 2025 and $16,100 in 2026. So, you would be taxed on $29,250 in income in the 2025 tax year and on $28,900 in 2026.

Not everyone claims the standard deduction because some people opt to itemize deductions on their return. Itemizing means claiming deductions for specific things like mortgage interest and charitable contributions.

It only makes sense to itemize if the value of your itemized deductions adds up to more than the standard deduction — which is not the case for most people. And, as the standard deduction increases, itemizing makes sense for fewer and fewer people.

How will these changes affect your taxes in 2026?

With a higher standard deduction and income thresholds to move into higher tax brackets increasing, your tax bill should go down in 2026.

You will pay tax on less income due to being able to deduct 2.22% more money, and more of your income will be taxed at lower rates since it takes more income to move up to a higher bracket.

This makes sense, since tax brackets increase each year because of inflation. Each dollar you earn buys less every year as prices rise, so if the tax brackets never changed, taxpayers would be pushed into higher brackets without a real increase in earning power.

Other tax changes will take effect in 2026, thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill, including an added deduction for seniors. All of this means that many people should expect their federal income tax bill to look very different for the 2026 tax year.

WASHINGTON — The Navy admiral who oversees military operations in the region where U.S. forces have been attacking alleged drug boats off Venezuela will retire in December, he and the Defense Secretary announced Thursday.

Adm. Alvin Holsey became the leader of U.S. Southern Command only in November, overseeing an area that encompasses the Caribbean Sea and waters off South America. These types of postings typically last between three and four years.

The news of Holsey’s upcoming retirement comes two days after the U.S. military’s fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean against a small boat accused of carrying drugs. The Trump administration has asserted it’s treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.

Frustration with the attacks has been growing on Capitol Hill. Some Republicans have been seeking more information from the White House on the legal justification and details of the strikes, while Democrats contend the strikes violate U.S. and international law.

Holsey said in a statement posted on the command’s Facebook page that it’s “been an honor to serve our nation, the American people and support and defend our Constitution for over 37 years.”

“The SOUTHCOM team has made lasting contributions to the defense of our nation and will continue to do so,” he said. “I am confident that you will forge ahead, focused on your mission that strengthens our nation and ensures its longevity as a beacon of freedom around the globe.”

U.S. Southern Command did not provide any more information beyond the admiral’s statement.

In a post on X on Thursday afternoon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth thanked Holsey for his “decades of service to our country, and we wish him and his family continued success and fulfillment in the years ahead.”

“Admiral Holsey has demonstrated unwavering commitment to mission, people, and nation,” Hegseth wrote.

Officials at the Pentagon did not provide any more information and referred the Associated Press to Hegseth’s statement on social media.

The New York Times first reported on Holsey’s plans to leave his position.

Toropin and Finley write for the Associated Press.

F1 races are exclusively coming to Apple TV next year as part of a five-year deal announced Friday between the tech giant and Formula 1.

Apple TV subscribers in the U.S. will have access to practice, qualifying, Sprint sessions and Grands Prix footage, as well as F1 TV Premium, Formula 1’s subscription service.

Some races and practice sessions may be free for viewing on the Apple TV app. The Apple Sports app will show live updates on each Grand Prix, including real-time leaderboards, Apple said.

“2026 marks a transformative new era for Formula 1, from new teams to new regulations and cars with the best drivers in the world, and we look forward to delivering premium and innovative fan-first coverage to our customers in a way that only Apple can,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, said in a statement.

Stefano Domenicali, Formula 1’s president and CEO, said the partnership will help maximize Formula 1’s growth potential in the U.S. His company worked with Apple on “F1 The Movie,” starring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer. It was Apple’s first box office hit.

“We have a shared vision to bring this amazing sport to our fans in the U.S. and entice new fans through live broadcasts, engaging content, and a year-round approach to keep them hooked,” Domenicali said in a statement.

Apple paid roughly $140 million a year for the rights to show the races, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly. The races have been airing on ESPN since 2018 in a deal that will end this year. ESPN paid roughly $85 million per year on average, the source said. The financial terms were first reported by CNBC.

Apple and Formula 1 did not immediately return a request for comment and ESPN declined to comment on the financial terms of the deal.

“We’re incredibly proud of what we and Formula 1 accomplished together in the United States and look forward to a strong finish in this final season,” ESPN said in a statement. “We wish F1 well in the future.”

Streaming services have increasingly been airing sports on their platforms to attract more viewers who gather for major events. In addition to F1, Apple has deals to air games from Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer.

Apple also recently announced a deal to bundle Apple TV with NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed a suite of privacy protection bills for transgender patients amid continuing threats by the Trump administration.

But there was one glaring omission that LGBTQ+ advocates and political strategists say is part of an increasingly complex dance the Democrat faces as he curates a more centrist profile for a potential presidential bid.

Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required insurers to cover, and pharmacists to dispense, 12 months of hormone therapy at one time to transgender patients and others. The proposal was a top priority for trans rights leaders, who said it was crucial to preserve care as clinics close or limit gender-affirming services under White House pressure.

Political experts say Newsom’s veto highlights how charged trans care has become for Democrats nationally and, in particular, for Newsom, who as San Francisco mayor engaged in civil disobedience by allowing gay couples to marry at City Hall. The veto, along with his lukewarm response to anti-trans rhetoric, they argue, is part of an alarming pattern that could damage his credibility with key voters in his base.

“Even if there were no political motivations whatsoever under Newsom’s decision, there are certainly political ramifications of which he is very aware,” said Dan Schnur, a former GOP political strategist who is now a politics lecturer at the University of California-Berkeley. “He is smart enough to know that this is an issue that’s going to anger his base, but in return, may make him more acceptable to large numbers of swing voters.”

Earlier this year on Newsom’s podcast, the governor told the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk that trans athletes competing in women’s sports was “deeply unfair,” triggering a backlash among his party’s base and LGBTQ+ leaders. And he has described trans issues as a “major problem for the Democratic Party,” saying Donald Trump’s trans-focused campaign ads were “devastating” for his party in 2024.

Still, in a conversation with YouTube streamer ConnorEatsPants this month, Newsom defended himself “as a guy who’s literally put my political life on the line for the community for decades, has been a champion and a leader.”

“He doesn’t want to face the criticism as someone who, I’m sure, is trying to line himself up for the presidency, when the current anti-trans rhetoric is so loud,” said Ariela Cuellar, a spokesperson for the California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network.

Caroline Menjivar, the state senator who introduced the measure, described her bill as “the most tangible and effective” measure this year to help trans people at a time when they are being singled out for what she described as “targeted discrimination.”

In a legislature in which Democrats hold supermajorities in both houses, lawmakers sent the bill to Newsom on a party-line vote. Earlier this year, Washington became the first to enact a state law extending hormone therapy coverage to a 12-month supply.

In a veto message on the California bill, Newsom cited its potential to drive up health care costs, impacts that an independent analysis found would be negligible.

“At a time when individuals are facing double-digit rate increases in their health care premiums across the nation, we must take great care to not enact policies that further drive up the cost of health care, no matter how well-intended,” Newsom wrote.

Under the Trump administration, federal agencies have been directed to limit access to gender-affirming care for children, which Trump has referred to as “chemical and surgical mutilation,” and demanded documents from or threatened investigations of institutions that provide it.

In recent months, Stanford Medicine, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Kaiser Permanente have reduced or eliminated gender-affirming care for patients under 19, a sign of the chilling effect Trump’s executive orders have had on health care, even in one of the nation’s most progressive states.

California already mandates wide coverage of gender-affirming health care, including hormone therapy, but pharmacists can currently dispense only a 90-day supply. Menjivar’s bill would have allowed 12-month supplies, modeled after a 2016 law that allowed women to receive an annual supply of birth control.

Luke Healy, who told legislators at an April hearing that he was “a 24-year-old detransitioner” and no longer believed he was a woman, criticized the attempt to increase coverage of services he thought were “irreversibly harmful” to him.

“I believe that bills like this are forcing doctors to turn healthy bodies into perpetual medical problems in the name of an ideology,” Healy testified.

The California Association of Health Plans opposed the bill over provisions that would limit the use of certain practices such as prior authorization and step therapy, which require insurer approval before care is provided and force patients and doctors to try other therapies first.

“These safeguards are essential for applying evidence-based prescribing standards and responsibly managing costs — ensuring patients receive appropriate care while keeping premiums in check,” said spokesperson Mary Ellen Grant.

An analysis by the California Health Benefits Review Program, which independently reviews bills relating to health insurance, concluded that annual premium increases resulting from the bill’s implementation would be negligible and that “no long-term impacts on utilization or cost” were expected.

Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, said Newsom’s economic argument was “not plausible.” Although he said he considers Newsom a strong ally of the transgender community, Minter noted he was “deeply disappointed” to see the governor’s veto.

“I understand he’s trying to respond to this political moment, and I wish he would respond to it by modeling language and policies that can genuinely bring people along.”

Newsom’s press office declined to comment further.

Following the podcast interview with Kirk, Cuellar said, advocacy groups backing SB 418 grew concerned about a potential veto and made a point to highlight voices of other patients who would benefit, including menopausal women and cancer patients. It was a starkly different strategy than what they might have done before Trump took office.

“Had we run this bill in 2022-2023, the messaging would have been totally different,” said another proponent who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

“We could have been very loud and proud. In 2023, we might have gotten a signing ceremony.”

Advocates for trans rights were so wary of the current political climate that some also felt the need to steer clear of promoting a separate bill that would have expanded coverage of hormone therapy and other treatments for menopause and perimenopause. That bill, authored by Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, who has spoken movingly about her struggles with health care for perimenopause, was also vetoed.

In the meantime, said Jovan Wolf, a trans man and military veteran, patients like him will be left to suffer. Wolf, who had taken testosterone for more than 15 years, tried to restart hormone therapy in March, following a two-year hiatus in which he contemplated having children.

Doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs told him it was too late. Days earlier, the Trump administration had announced it would phase out hormone therapy and other treatments for gender dysphoria.

“Having estrogen pumping through my body, it’s just not a good feeling for me, physically, mentally. And when I’m on testosterone, I feel balanced,” said Wolf, who eventually received care elsewhere. “It should be my decision and my decision only.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

A European island has been hailed as the place with “perfect weather” all year round, and it’s only a short flight from the UK – with return flights available for just 27 per person

People are dreaming about visiting a specific European island which many claims has ‘perfect weather’ all year around. As Britain grows chillier and wetter, it’s perfectly natural to fantasise about escaping to sunnier, warmer destinations. Unfortunately, such dreams often prove costly and out of reach. But imagine if you could fulfil these dreams in a wonderfully sunny, dreamlike spot with return flights costing just £27 per person?

Madeira is an archipelago located in the North Atlantic Ocean, frequently dubbed Portugal’s Island of Eternal Spring thanks to its consistently ‘perfect’ weather conditions throughout the year. While much of Europe cools down, Madeira boasts a subtropical climate maintaining pleasant temperatures year-round.

During early October, the island’s average highs still linger around 25C before dropping slightly to 23C by month’s end. Evenings remain pleasant too, with temperatures rarely dipping below 18C.

This makes it ideal for sunset walks along Funchal’s waterfront or outdoor dining at the island’s numerous family-owned restaurants.

Posting on Instagram, the account ‘beautifuldestinations’ declared in its caption: “Just a short flight from Lisbon, this subtropical island feels like it lives in permanent golden hour, warm, green, and blooming no matter the month.”

The Instagram post featured a reel showcasing the island’s stunning natural beauty, including its verdant mountains and brilliant azure coastline. They went on to say: “It’s the kind of place that’s just as good for hiking mountain trails as it is for slow cliffside lunches (ideally with a glass of local Madeira wine).”

The piece then highlighted various activities available, including witnessing dawn break above the clouds at Pico do Arieiro, taking a dip in volcanic pools, exploring trails and pathways through stunning landscapes.

For those preferring to discover local settlements, you can wander through Funchal’s historic quarter and sample regional delicacies, such as bolo do caco, or Poncha.

Timing your visit to Madeira isn’t crucial, as pleasant and bright conditions persist for most of the year. While winter brings milder temperatures averaging 15-18C, summer offers warmer weather with typical highs of 21-25C.

The island enjoys a subtropical climate, ensuring sunshine remains likely year-round.

Viewers were astonished by the footage, with numerous people vowing to experience Madeira themselves as the word ‘beautiful’ was repeated among several people.

“Going there just in a month – can’t wait,” one person wrote, while another user said: “The hiking and ending up above the clouds. the best part of travelling to Madeira!”

“Madeira is so wonderful! Love Portugal beautiful country with lovely people! Dream place,” someone else said.

Another person shared: “Been there past May, it is beautiful.”

Britney Spears will not stand for ex-husband Kevin Federline’s scathing claims about how she raised their two sons, writing on social media that the allegations in his upcoming book are part of his “constant gaslighting.”

The “Stronger” and “Oops!… I Did It Again” pop star hit back at her ex-husband Wednesday evening in a statement shared to X and Instagram, writing that confronting his latest revelations has been “extremely hurtful and exhausting.” The 43-year-old singer, whose conservatorship ended four years ago, said she has “always pleaded and screamed to have a life with [her] boys.”

“Relationships with teenage boys is complex,” her statement continued. “I have felt demoralized by this situation and have always asked and almost begged for them to be a part of my life.”

Spears and Federline, 47, married in 2004 and divorced three years later after welcoming boys Sean Preston and Jayden James. Federline, a dancer, was awarded sole custody in 2008 when Spears was placed under a conservatorship. In excerpts from his incoming book “You Thought You Knew,” Federline accuses Spears of consuming cocaine while she was still breastfeeding their second son. He also accuses her of holding a knife while she watched her sons sleeping and raises claims about the singer’s alleged cheating and a physical incident.

Federline wrote that the alleged cocaine incident occurred in 2006 during the release party for his album, according to an excerpt shared with Us Weekly. “The first thing I saw was Britney and her young starlet friend snorting a fat line of coke off the table,” he said in his book. He said he urged the pop star not to “feed the kids like this” and that she responded by allegedly throwing a cocktail in his face.

“That’s what ended us,” he wrote, according to Us Weekly.

In a memoir excerpt published by the New York Times, Federline alleged that their sons would awake “sometimes to find her standing silently in the doorway, watching them sleep” with a knife in her hand. “Then she’d turn around and pad off without explanation,” he wrote.

In her social media retort, Spears said their sons “have always witnessed the lack of respect show by [their] own father for me” and added “they need to take responsibility for themselves.” She claimed that she had seen one son for only “45 min in the past 5 years” and that the other has visited only four times since 2021. A judge terminated Spears’ controversial conservatorship in November 2021.

“I have pride too,” the Grammy-winning vocalist said, adding she intends to make herself more available to her sons.

Federline’s book isn’t the first time he dropped bold claims about Spears. He claimed in a 2022 interview with the Daily Mail that their sons had “decided they are not seeing her right now” and opted not to attend her marriage to Sam Asghari, whom she has since divorced. At the time, Federline also claimed the boys had taken issue with her scantily-clad Instagram posts.

“I try to explain to them, ‘Look, maybe that’s just another way she tries to express herself.’ But that doesn’t take away from the fact of what it does to them,” he said. “It’s tough … I can’t imagine how it feels to be a teenager having to go to high school” with those posts existing.

In response to those comments, Spears said she gave her sons “everything” and found Federline’s claims “HURTFUL.”

Federline’s “You Thought You Knew” comes out Tuesday, two years after Spears published her memoir “The Woman in Me.” Her book dished on topics including her struggles with drugs, her relationship with ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake and her conservatorship.

Spears said on Wednesday that her ex-husband’s “white lies in that book, they are going straight to the bank.” She also urged followers to take tabloid reports about her mental health and drinking with a grain of salt.

“I am actually a pretty intelligent woman who has been trying to live a sacred and private life the past 5 years,” she concluded her statement. “I speak on this because I have had enough and any real woman would do the same.”

You probably think of the money in your retirement accounts as yours, but if you have traditional IRAs or 401(k)s, it’s not that straightforward. You owe the IRS a cut of your savings, and at a certain point, it forces you to start taking required minimum distributions (RMDs). These are mandatory annual withdrawals that you must pay taxes on.

If you’re new to RMDs, they can seem a little intimidating. Failing to withdraw the required amount results in a steep 25% tax penalty on the amount you should’ve withdrawn, so it’s important to know how to calculate yours correctly. Let’s look at the example of a retirement account with a $500,000 balance.

Image source: Getty Images.

Three situations where you don’t have to take an RMD

You won’t have to take an RMD from your retirement account if any of the following are true:

• You’re under age 73: RMDs begin in the year you turn 73. If you turn 73 in 2025, you technically have until April 1, 2026 to take your first RMD. In all subsequent years, you must take RMDs no later than Dec. 31 of that year.
• It’s a Roth account: You fund Roth accounts with after-tax dollars, so you can enjoy tax-free withdrawals in retirement. Because of this, the government has no incentive to force you to take money out each year.
• The account is associated with your current employer: If you’re still working, you can delay RMDs from your current employer’s retirement plan until the year after the year you retire. However, you still have to take RMDs from old 401(k)s and traditional IRAs,if you have any.

If none of these things apply to you, then you will need to take an RMD. Fortunately, they’re not too difficult to calculate.

How to calculate your RMD on a $500,000 account

You calculate your RMD using the balance as of Dec. 31 of the previous year — Dec. 31, 2024 for your 2025 RMD. If you don’t know what your balance was at that time, you may need to look it up or speak to your plan administrator.

Once you know the amount, all you need to do is divide that by the distribution period next to your age in the IRS’ Uniform Lifetime Table. The result is your RMD.

So, for example, if you had $500,000 in your 401(k) as of Dec. 31, 2024 and you turned 73 in 2025, your RMD would be $500,000 divided by 27.4 — the distribution period for 73-year-olds. That comes out to about $18,248.

You’re free to take out more than this if you’d like. But this is the minimum amount you must withdraw in order to avoid the 25% penalty.

What if you don’t want to take your RMD?

Avoiding mandatory withdrawals generally isn’t worth it. The 25% penalty will likely cost you more than what you would’ve paid in income taxes if you’d just taken the RMD as scheduled.

That said, sometimes you may not want to deal with the extra taxes an RMD can bring. In that case, consider making a qualifying charitable distribution (QCD). This is where you ask your plan administrator to send an amount equal to your RMD or a portion of it to a qualifying tax-exempt organization.

The money must go directly to the charity. If the plan administrator distributes it to you first, it does not count, even if you give it all away to charitable causes. Done properly, the IRS won’t tax you on this retirement account withdrawal, and it’ll consider your RMD satisfied for the year.

The maximum QCD you can make in 2025 is $108,000. This should be more than enough for most people.

You may have already spent an amount equal to your RMD on living expenses this year. In that case, you’re in the clear until next year. Check with your plan administrator if you’re unsure how much you’ve already withdrawn from your accounts in 2025. If you come up a little short, be sure to make some more withdrawals in the next few weeks.

High school basketball in Southern California will be without one of its finest coaches this season.

Stephen Singleton, who guided Eastvale Roosevelt to state and Southern Section Open Division championships last season, announced his retirement from coaching on Thursday after 10 years at Roosevelt and 25 years in the business. He will continue as a teacher.

Singleton intends to spend more time coaching his young son.

He also won a state Division I title in 2017 with Roosevelt and won a state Division II title coaching briefly at Dominguez in Compton in 2001.

He was The Times’ coach of the year for the 2024-25 season.

With official basketball practice starting soon, Roosevelt intends to open the position to all candidates, but there’s two assistants who are teachers at the school that could possibly ease the transition if they are interested in the head coaching position.

Lindsey Horvath knew all the words to “Pink Pony Club.”

It was an overcast Sunday in June, the WeHo Pride parade was in full swing and the hit song about an iconic West Hollywood gay bar was blasting at full volume.

Sure, the county supervisor’s sequined, rainbow muumuu was giving her an angry rash. But that did little to dampen her spirits as she danced atop her pink pony-themed Pride float, swaying and mouthing the lyrics.

Five hours later, Horvath had traded her sequins and rainbow sneakers for a simple black dress and heels.

Now, she sat on a wooden pew for evening Mass at her 121-year-old Catholic parish in Hollywood.

But she still knew all the words, albeit this time to a traditional hymn about the holiness of the Lord. And then she knelt down in quiet prayer.

Horvath, 43, defies easy characterization.

She is the first millennial member of the county Board of Supervisors, a governing body that wields tremendous power despite remaining unknown to most Angelenos.

When elected in November 2022, she went from representing roughly 35,000 people as a West Hollywood City Council member to having more than 2 million constituents across a sweeping, 431-square-mile district that sprawls from the Ventura County line down to Santa Monica, east to Hollywood and up through much of the San Fernando Valley.

While attending the University of Notre Dame, Horvath held a leadership position with the school’s College Republicans chapter, helped create Notre Dame’s first gay-straight alliance and drew national opposition for staging “The Vagina Monologues” at the Catholic university — all while working three jobs to pay off her student loans. (She’s still paying them off.)

During her 2022 campaign for supervisor, she had the backing of some of the most progressive politicians in the city, including then-Councilmember-elect Eunisses Hernandez, as well as then-Councilmember Joe Buscaino, one of the more conservative members of the body.

As a member of the West Hollywood City Council, she helped approve what was then the highest minimum wage in the country, yet her county reelection bid was just endorsed by one of the region’s most prominent pro-business groups.

In the three years since she was elected to the county Board of Supervisors, she has effectively rewritten the structure of county government and drastically changed its approach to homelessness response.

Horvath’s Midwestern mien, unflagging politeness and warm smile belie her fierce ambition.

She has long been seen as someone who does not — to crib a phrase occasionally used about her behind closed doors — “wait her turn.” And that impatience has worked out OK for her so far.

All of which raises the question, will Horvath challenge Karen Bass in the June 2026 Los Angeles mayoral race?

Horvath speaks as supporters rally in September for her motion to pass an emergency rent relief program.

(Al Seib / For The Times)

Her name has been bandied as a potential Los Angeles mayoral candidate since early in the year, when her public profile exploded in the wake of the devastating Palisades fire and tensions between her and Bass first became public.

She has done little to tamp the speculation since, though some posit she is merely expanding her profile ahead of a run for county executive in 2028.

Still, the political rumor mill went into overdrive in early summer, as word trickled out that the erstwhile mayor of West Hollywood had moved into a two-bedroom apartment at the edge of Hollywood — firmly in the city of Los Angeles.

When asked about her mayoral intentions late last month, Horvath demurred, but made clear the door was open.

“I have no plans to run for mayor,” she said, sitting under the sun in Gloria Molina Grand Park, just outside her office in the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, within direct view of City Hall.

“I continue to be asked by people I deeply respect, so I continue to listen to them and consider their requests, and I’m taking that seriously,” she continued. “But I’m focused on the work of the county.”

Horvath, left, embraces Mayor Karen Bass in August at an event in Pacific Palisades.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Horvath declined to share specifics about who was pushing her to run, though she said they were “significant stakeholders” that didn’t hail from any single community.

On Monday, former schools chief Austin Beutner kicked off his campaign for mayor, becoming the first serious candidate to challenge Bass. Political watchers have speculated that Beutner’s entrée could potentially open the floodgates by offering a permission structure for others to challenge the mayor of the nation’s second-largest city.

In the immediate wake of the January firestorm, Bass’ political future appeared to be in real jeopardy, but she has since regained some of her footing and shored up support with powerful interests, such as local labor groups.

***

Horvath was 26 and had lived in West Hollywood for all of 18 months when Sal Guarriello, a 90-year-old West Hollywood council member, suddenly died.

It was spring 2009. The advertising executive and Ohio transplant was active in Democratic and feminist circles, co-founding the Hollywood chapter of the National Organization for Women and leading the West Hollywood Women’s Advisory Board. (Raised by conservatives, Horvath started college as a Republican but soon evolved into a staunch Democrat.)

Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti — who was then president of the Los Angeles City Council — had become a friend and mentor to Horvath through her activism. He and others urged her to throw her hat into the ring for the open seat.

More than 30 people applied, but Horvath was ultimately chosen by the remaining members of the council to join them — an outcome that was stunning, even to her.

After two years in her appointed role, she lost an election bid in 2011 but continued to make a name for herself in the tight-knit, clubby world of progressive West Hollywood politics.

Undeterred, she ran again for West Hollywood City Council in 2015 and won.

Horvath is sworn in as the new county supervisor for District 3 in December 2022.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Horvath remained on the council for the next seven years and twice served as mayor before turning her ambitions toward the county Hall of Administration.

She was seen as an underdog in her supervisor’s race, running against former state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a political veteran who had a 3-to-1 fundraising advantage and first took elected office as she was entering high school.

Hertzberg had far more name recognition, but Horvath ultimately defeated him with a coalition that included local Democratic clubs and some of labor.

***

On the Board of Supervisors, Horvath has been unafraid to take chances and ruffle feathers.

Less than two years into her first term, Horvath was leading the charge to fundamentally reinvent the structure of county government, which hadn’t been meaningfully changed in more than a century.

Horvath’s bold plan to increase the size of the board from five to nine supervisors and create a new elected county executive position was approved by voters last November.

Voters will choose the county’s first elected executive in 2028. Opponents (and even some allies) have long griped that Horvath has her sights set on the very position she helped create, which will undoubtedly be one of the most powerful elected offices in the state.

“There are people who are never going to be convinced that I created this measure without seeing a seat for myself in it,” she says. “I’m not interested in convincing people of that. I’m interested in doing the work.”

As she campaigned for Measure G, critics also said Horvath and her allies were moving too fast, with too much left to figure out after the vote, including the price tag.

“Not everybody always loves you when you do things that upset the status quo. But I think history judges people not by ‘Did everybody love them in a given moment?’ … It’s were they smart and were they brave,” Garcetti said of Horvath.

“And she’s both,” he added.

Still, some of those criticisms came to bear in July, when it was revealed that county officials committed a near-unthinkable administrative screwup. When voters approved the sprawling overhaul to county government in November, the move unintentionally repealed Measure J, the county’s landmark criminal justice reform passed by voters in 2020.

Horvath said she didn’t think she and other proponents moved too fast, arguing that if they hadn’t seized the moment, they would have missed the opportunity “to bring about the change that has been stuck for far too long.”

Horvath argues that the fact that Measure J could have been unwritten in the first place is why Measure G was so needed.

***

Horvath was, briefly, everywhere during the fires.

While Mayor Bass receded into the background, Horvath was a constant presence at media briefings and on the news.

Her face was so omnipresent that a man she’d recently gone on a date with — someone who didn’t fully understand what she did for a living — spotted her on television with some confusion.

That was the last she heard from him, she said. (Dating as a public official is “very weird,” and not just because the one time she tried to use Tinder while abroad, she was seemingly banned for impersonating herself.)

She also tussled with Bass behind closed doors in late January, as revealed in text messages obtained by The Times that highlighted an increasingly fractious relationship.

The two women were at odds even before flames laid waste to a wide swath of coastal paradise.

Last November, Horvath went public with a proposal to shrink the duties of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which is overseen by city and county political appointees.

Horvath called for hundreds of millions of dollars to be shifted out of the agency and into a new county department focused on homelessness — a proposal to which Bass strenuously objected.

Horvath ultimately pushed her strategy forward in April, but not without warnings from Bass about creating a “massive disruption” in the region’s fight against homelessness.

Horvath attends a news conference celebrating the Army Corps of Engineers clearing debris from the final house in the Palisades in late August.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Horvath’s relationships in the Palisades have also not been without some tension.

The supervisor recently pledged $10 million of her county discretionary funds to help rebuild the Palisades-Malibu YMCA, but some in the community have felt betrayed by her, according to Pacific Palisades Residents Assn. President Jessica Rogers.

“We don’t believe that she’s properly engaging her community,” Rogers said, citing the independent commission that Horvath convened in the wake of the fires. “She put a lot of time and energy into creating this report. The intentions might have been good, but she didn’t include proper community participation.”

Rogers was particularly bothered by Horvath’s proposal for a countywide rebuilding authority, since Rogers felt like Horvath hadn’t earned their trust. The rebuilding authority, which was supported by the mayor of Malibu, did not come to fruition.

“There’s a perception that [Horvath] is too aggressive,” said another community leader, who asked to speak anonymously because they hope to get things done without alienating anybody. “But there’s more of a mix to how people feel about her than you can see.”

The loudest voices, particularly in community WhatsApp groups, NextDoor and other forums, tend to be the most vitriolic, the community leader said, positing that some of the gripes about Horvath had more to do with her progressive politics than her leadership.

“People are suffering, and I will always show up for my constituents — especially when the conversations are difficult. The Blue Ribbon Commission provided independent, expert guidance on a sustainable rebuild. Its recommendations were meant to inform, not replace, community engagement,” Horvath said.

***

The chances of Horvath entering the mayoral race still remain far slimmer than the alternative, particularly because she is up for reelection in 2026 — meaning she would have to sacrifice her safe board seat for an uphill battle challenging an incumbent who still has deep wells of support in the city.

Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin, who long represented the Westside and now directs the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State LA, said he wondered why someone would want the job of mayor while in the comparatively plush position of county supervisor.

Supervisors have more power and suffer far less scrutiny, he argued. Still, there were benefits to remaining in the mix.

“Being mentioned as a potential candidate is one of the greatest places a political figure can be. Because when you’re in the mentioning stage, it’s all about your strengths, your assets, your positive attributes,” Bonin said with a laugh. “Once you declare, it’s the reverse.”

Times staff writers David Zahniser and Rebecca Ellis contributed to this report.

Hi and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Somewhere in baseball heaven Fernando Valenzuela is saying to himself, “A complete game. What’s the big deal?”

The story of the postseason so far has been the starting pitching. Amazing. Let’s take a look at how the Dodgers’ starters have done:

NL wild-card series vs. Reds

Game 1: Blake Snell, 7 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, 9 K’s, Dodgers win 10-5
Game 2: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 6.2 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 2 walks, 9 K’s, Dodgers win 8-4

NLDS vs. Phillies

Game 1: Shohei Ohtani, 6 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, 9 K’s, Dodgers win 5-3
Game 2: Blake Snell, 6 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 4 walks, 9 K’s, Dodgers win, 4-3
Game 3: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 4 IP, 6 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, 2 K’s, Dodgers lose, 8-2
Game 4: Tyler Glasnow, 6 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, 3 walks, 8 K’s, Dodgers win, 2-1

NLCS vs. Brewers

Game 1: Blake Snell, 8 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 0 walks, 10 K’s, Dodgers win, 2-1
Game 2: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 9 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 1 walk, 7 K’s, Dodgers win, 5-1

In eight games, starting pitchers have thrown 52.2 innings, giving up 24 hits and 13 walks while striking out 63 and posting a 1.54 ERA.

—It’s as if suddenly Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale are taking turns on the mound again. Of course, they always did it in the World Series, as there were no other rounds back then.

—In the 1963 World Series (a four-game sweep of the Yankees), Koufax, Drysdale and Johnny Podres combined to pitch 35.1 innings, giving up 21 hits and five walks while striking out 36 and posting a 1.02 ERA

—In the 1965 World Series, won in seven games against Minnesota, Koufax, Drysdale and Claude Osteen combined to pitch 49.2 innings, giving up 34 hits and 13 walks while striking out 48 and posting a 1.27 ERA.

—Pedro Martinez (can you believe he didn’t choose to wear a Dodger cap on his Hall of Fame plaque) had this to say on X about Snell: “I’ve been part of many postseason games, and I’ve done some great things, but in my career I haven’t seen someone do the amount of things he’s done. It gave me goosebumps to watch him. I think we can all learn from him. He deserves a lot of credit and respect.”

—That leadoff home run in Game 2 seemed to anger Yamamoto.

—Proving himself to be the master of the understatement, Yamamoto said this after the game: “I was able to pitch until the end. So I really felt a sense of accomplishment.”

—This has been like watching old-school baseball. Starting pitchers going deep into games. Dodgers bunting on occasion. Not every run coming on a home run. What is happening?

—Whatever it is, I like it.

—Let’s unpack that crazy Game 1 play. Bases loaded, one out, Max Muncy at the plate. He lifts a fly ball to deep center. Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick leaps, and the ball bounces off his glove and hits the fence on the yellow line before Frelick corrals it again. OK, let’s stop there:

In Milwaukee, the yellow line does not signify a home run. If a ball hits the yellow line, it means ball is in play. Visiting teams are reminded of this rule when they visit Milwaukee.

The left-field umpire immediately signals no catch, ball is in play. Unfortunately, it appears the only person paying attention to him is Brewers catcher William Contreras (also the only person on the field who is naturally facing the outfield to see all of this.)

As far as tagging up on a catch, the rule is you can run as soon as the ball hits the glove. Teoscar Hernández tagged up, started to run, saw the bobble, ran back, tagged up again, and by the time he made it home, the throw had beaten him. Because it wasn’t a catch and the bases were loaded, it was a force play at any base. Contreras, knowing it was a force play, didn’t even try to tag Hernández. He then ran to third to force Will Smith there. Smith, thinking the ball had been caught, had run back to second and told Tommy Edman, who had advanced to second, to go back to first. In the meantime, while Edman was doing that, Muncy passed him on the basepath. So really, the Brewers could have had a triple play, or even a quadruple play if such a thing were possible.

Third base coach Dino Ebel says he told Hernández to go. Hernández took full blame for the baserunning mistake the next day.

Hernández : “I just f— up. It’s that simple. It was one of those plays that if you would have asked me two days ago what would you do in this situation, I would say, as soon as the ball touched the glove, I would go. But in the moment, I got blocked, I think, and there’s not an explanation. I saw it when the ball hit the glove, I went. Then I saw it bounced off the glove. And I just reacted bad. Just one of those moments, you block your mind. But there’s nobody to blame but myself. And it happens.”

Smith also messed up by running back to second and telling Edman to run back to first. It was extremely loud in Milwaukee’s stadium, so apparently no one could hear Ebel.

Everyone on the field seemed confused (except Contreras). Both managers seemed confused at that moment. The TBS announcing crew was confused. People on social media were confused. We finally found something to unite us all: Confusion. It was crazy.

—In some years, the Dodgers would have fallen apart after that and lost the game.

—And then Snell marched out after that deflating half inning and mowed down the Brewers, 1-2-3 in the next half-inning. That’s what aces do.

—Who among you was screaming “Nooooooooooooooooooo!” when Blake Treinen came into Game 1? Roki Sasaki didn’t have it that night. But somehow Treinen got out of it.

—It seemed to make Dave Roberts think twice about pulling Yamamoto in Game 2 though.

—The offense isn’t quite clicking, but they are doing just enough to win. Baserunning gaffe aside, Teoscar continues to come up big in the postseason. As does Super Kiké.

—Now the baton passes back to Tyler Glasnow for Game 3.

—The last Dodger to pitch a postseason complete game was José Lima in 2004, when he shut out the Cardinals on five hits in Game 3 of the NLDS. It was the team’s first postseason win since Game 5 of the 1988 World Series. It was his only season with the Dodgers. He went 13-5 with a 4.07 ERA. His final season in the majors was 2006. He died of a heart attack in 2010. He was 37.

—To think, the Dodgers are doing this with basically a three-man bullpen.

—In Game 2, Muncy hit his 14th postseason home run, setting the all-time Dodgers record. It’s a little misleading, since guys such as Duke Snider only got one round of postseason play, and guys such as Steve Garvey usually got only two. But it’s still a nice accomplishment.

The most postseason homers in Dodger history:

14
Max Muncy (one every 16.1 at bats)

13
Corey Seager (17.9)
Justin Turner (24.2)

11
Duke Snider (12.1)

10
Steve Garvey (18.2)
Kiké Hernández (21)

9
Cody Bellinger (26.9)
Joc Pederson (16.8)
Chris Taylor (25.2)

—The Dodgers seem to have another gear they have shifted into this postseason, while the other teams don’t have that extra gear as of yet.

—The Dodgers have gone 22-6 in their last 28 games.

—But this series is far from over.

Dodgers in the postseason

How the Dodgers are doing this postseason:

Batters

Alex Call, .750 (3 for 4), 2 walks
Ben Rortvedt, .429 (3 for 7), 1 double, 1 RBI, 3 K’s
Kiké Hernández, .379 (11 for 29), 4 doubles, 4 RBIs, 4 walks, 7 K’s
Miguel Rojas, .375 (3 for 8), 1 RBI
Mookie Betts, .303 (10 for 33), 3 doubles, 1 triple, 5 RBIs, 4 walks, 2 K’s
Tommy Edman, .296 (8 for 27), 1 double, 2 homers, 4 RBIs, 1 walk, 7 K’s
Teoscar Hernández, .295 (10 for 34), 1 double, 4 homers, 10 RBIs, 2 walks, 7 K’s
Max Muncy, .273 (6 for 22), 1 double, 1 homer, 1 RBI, 6 walks, 5 K’s
Freddie Freeman, .242 (8 for 33), 4 doubles, 1 homer, 1 RBI, 3 walks, 8 K’s
Will Smith, .238 (5 for 21), 2 RBIs, 2 walks, 7 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, .147 (5 for 34), 2 homers, 6 RBIs, 6 walks, 15 K’s
Andy Pages, .069 (2 for 29), 1 double, 1 RBI, 6 K’s
Dalton Rushing, .000 (0 for 1), 1 K

Note: Justin Dean has been in eight games but has not batted (he has scored one run); Hyeseong Kim has been in one game, has not batted and has scored a run

Pitching

Tyler Glasnow, 0.00 ERA, 7.2 IP, 4 hits, 5 walks, 10 K’s
Jack Dreyer, 0.00 ERA, 1.2 IP, 2 walks, 1 K
Anthony Banda, 0.00 ERA, 1 IP, 1 walk, 2 K’s
Blake Snell, 3-0, 0.86 ERA, 21 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, 5 walks, 28 K’s
Roki Sasaki, 1.50 ERA, 2 saves, 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 1 walks, 5 K’s
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 2-1, 1.83 ERA, 19.2 IP, 13 hits, 4 ER, 4 walks, 18 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, 1-0, 4.50 ERA, 6 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, 9 K’s
Alex Vesia, 1-0, 6.00 ERA, 3 IP, 2 hits, 2 ER, 3 walks, 3 K’s
Blake Treinen, 6.75 ERA, 1 save, 2.2 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, 3 K’s
Emmet Sheehan, 10.80 ERA, 3.1 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 2 walks, 2 K’s
Clayton Kershaw, 18.00 ERA, 2 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 3 walks, 1 K
Edgardo Henriquez, infinity, 0 IP, 1 hit, 1 ER, 2 walks

Poll results

What will be the outcome of the NLCS (poll closed one minute before the first pitch of Game 1)?

After 11,709 votes:

Dodgers in six, 43.3%
Dodgers in five, 25.6%
Dodgers in seven, 19.6%
Brewers in six, 4.7%
Brewers in seven, 3.2%
Dodgers in four, 1.8%
Brewers in five, 1.3%
Brewers in four, 0.5%

Up next

Game 1: Dodgers 2, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)
Game 2: Dodgers 5, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Thursday: Milwaukee at Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 4-3, 3.19 ERA), 3 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Friday: Milwaukee at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 1-1, 2.87 ERA), 5:30 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Saturday: Milwaukee at Dodgers, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Monday: Dodgers at Milwaukee, 2 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Tuesday: Dodgers at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-if necessary

In case you missed it

Shohei Ohtani takes rare on-field BP amid playoff slump, downplays impact of two-way role

Shaikin: Dodgers starting pitchers proving to be the ultimate opposing crowd silencers

In this postseason, Dodgers’ offense starts from the bottom

Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws a complete game to NLCS Game 2 | Dodgers Debate

Hernández: The Dodgers’ latest starting-pitching flex? Make the bullpen a non-factor

Just how much are the Dodgers charging for World Series tickets?

Kiké Hernández and Will Smith talk NLCS Game 2 win, Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s big night

Shaikin: Blake Snell replicating what Sandy Koufax achieved 60 Octobers ago

It took some luck, but good things finally happen to Dodgers’ Blake Treinen

Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández avoids Milwaukee’s allegedly haunted hotel at wife’s insistence

And finally

Highlights from Game 1 of the NLCS. Watch and listen here. Highlights from Game 2. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

With a sixth year of basketball eligibility at UC Irvine, former St. Francis High guard Andre Henry has become so familiar with coach Russell Turner that both consider each other family.

Henry, who was injured last season after nine games, is back healthy, and Turner thinks he’s ready to be a standout on offense and defense this season.

He calls Henry one of the finest recruits he ever signed out of St. Francis in 2020. In 2023-24, he was the Big West Conference defensive player of the year.

“Andre was probably the top-ranked recruit we ever got,” said Turner, in his 16th season. “I watched him elevate his team at St. Francis and he’s still that type of personality. I’m thrilled where is right now and he’s going to have a great season on both sides of the ball. There’s not a limit he can accomplish.”

• Share via Close extra sharing options

UC Irvine men’s basketball coach talks about how Andre Henry has become a standout on the court for the Anteaters.

Turner said he’s grateful for Henry’s loyalty and commitment to the UC Irvine basketball program.

“Andre has become family with me and my staff,” he said. “He’s made great sacrifices to remain in our program. I think he sees we’re committed to him and I certainly see how committed he and his family have been to us. Hopefully, we can write the end to a great story in his sixth year.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced a plan to offer $11 insulin pens through the state’s pharmaceutical venture.

Beginning Jan. 1, consumers can purchase a five-pack of pens for a suggested price of $55, according to the governor’s office. The packs will be available to California pharmacies for $45.

California is the first state in the nation to sell its own brand of generic prescription drugs as Newsom and other state leaders seek ways to drive down rising healthcare costs.

Insulin users without health insurance today can pay $400 for a small vial.

Newsom, in a statement Thursday, said that Californians shouldn’t “ration insulin or go into debt to stay alive.”

“California didn’t wait for the pharmaceutical industry to do the right thing — we took matters into our own hands,” Newsom said.

Officials hope the drug will lower costs across the board, not just for the consumers ultimately picking up the drug. Major drug companies have also cut prices on insulin, but critics contend those cost savings are passed on to other consumers.

Earlier this week, Newsom signed legislation, Senate Bill 40, capping insulin co-pays at $35 for the first time in California.

“This law ensures no family will be forced to choose between buying insulin and putting food on the table in California again,” the bill’s author, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), said in a statement.

Newsom, who vowed to be the “healthcare governor” during his campaign, in 2020 unveiled a proposal for California to make its own line of generic drugs.

Three years later, he announced a $50-million contract with the nonprofit generic drugmaker Civica to produce insulin under the state’s own label.

Earlier this year, the state began selling Naloxone, a medication that blocks the effects of opioids, at below market prices.

A divided Los Angeles school board has voted to shut down a popular charter school to make more space for its own program on the same Echo Park campus, pushing the boundaries of state law and school district authority over charters.

The 4-3 vote late Tuesday denied a renewal authorization for Gabriella Charter School, which means the 400-student school specializing in dance instruction, can’t operate beyond the end of the current school year.

Although county education officials could act independently to renew the charter, the L.A. school board decision still means Gabriella would be essentially evicted from the campus and the dance studios built for its use.

Board member Rocio Rivas, whose district includes the school, said the move was necessary to protect the interests of the district-operated school and the nation’s second-largest school system.

“This multiuse agreement has not worked,” Rivas said. “It meets the needs of Gabriella, but it’s not meeting the needs of the district. So as far as I’m concerned, this multiuse agreement should be nullified.”

A spokesperson for Gabriella said Wednesday morning that the school was considering its legal options.

The California Charter Schools Assn. spoke strongly in defense of Gabriella.

“This decision is a backhanded strategy to push Gabriella out of its longtime home on an LAUSD campus — a site the District itself invited Gabriella to share with a district-run school back in 2009,” said Keith Dell’Aquila, who leads advocacy work for the association in the L.A. area. “For 16 years, Gabriella has served countless students at that location with excellence and stability.”

The case highlights the resolve of school board members, aligned with the teachers union, to target a non-union charter school to further the aspirations of a district-operated campus.

Third-grade teacher Karla Balani helps with instruction at Gabriella Charter School.

(Karla Gachet/For The Times)

Why charter schools draw political controversy

Charters are privately operated public schools that compete for students. Charter supporters view their educational offerings as a way to spark innovation and provide needed public school competition — and simply to offer parents more choices.

Some supporters have also wanted a foothold to weaken the influence of teacher unions and build a bridge to more controversial school-choice strategies, including using public-school funds to pay for private school tuition.

Most charters are non-union and have typically been opposed by teacher unions.

Charters have enjoyed a degree of bipartisan support and were long able to shape California laws in their favor, but their political clout in the state has somewhat declined.

L.A. Unified oversees 235 charters, more than any school system in the country, and many of these started when school boards had little authority to reject them. About 1 in 5 L.A. public school students attend charters.

Gabriella has shared a campus with the district-operated Logan Academy for Global Ecology, which includes a dual-language program in Spanish and English. Both schools offer transitional kindergarten through eighth grade.

For the Logan community the charter has long been an unwanted detraction from their efforts. And they saw the renewal process as a chance to act because the board majority has become more strongly anti-charter.

Staff at Logan said Tuesday that they need more space to offer a full middle-school program on a campus that served only elementary grades for most of its 137-year history. The middle grades were added to help sustain the school.

Logan also has become a designated community school, which offers a wider range of support services for students and families, typically including health care, tutoring and counseling. And these services, too, require space.

“The fact that Logan Academy is a community school, is now a span school — circumstances for them have changed, and that is what we need to take into consideration,” Rivas said.

Third-graders practice dance in jazz class.

(Karla Gachet/For The Times)

State protections for charters

California law gives charter schools the right to use public-school facilities that are “reasonably equivalent” to those available to other public-school students.

The L.A. school board majority tested the limits of these state rules when it voted 4-3 in 2024 to give preferences to district-operated schools and ban outright the sharing of hundreds of campuses.

In a June 27 ruling, a judge concluded that the policy unlawfully “prioritizes District schools over charter schools and is too vague … To the maximum extent practicable, the needs of the charter school must be given the same consideration as those of the district-run schools.”

Under that ruling and others, courts have found that charters, such as Gabriella, are entitled to space for similar resources that the district would claim it for.

State law also sets up a process through which charter schools can request and share campuses. The process restarts every year and has resulted in annual uncertainty both for charters and others sharing the campuses.

School districts also have the option of reaching other sorts of agreements with charters. That is what happened at Logan, where the school district agreed to a multiyear lease. That lease has coincided with the full term of the charter renewal.

For Gabriella, the arrangement avoided the instability of having to move from place to place each year — especially because most elementary schools are not outfitted with dance studios.

Logan was specially modified to accommodate Gabriella’s unique program. A benefit to the district was that Gabriella became a feeder program to the district’s new arts-focused high school downtown.

Ending the multiyear lease for Logan was a high priority for Rivas.

“If this — the charter … is not renewed, then that pretty much severs their multiyear agreement,” Rivas said.

Students practice their dance at Gabriella Charter School.

(Karla Gachet/For The Times)

Impact of declining enrollment

Enrollment at Logan Academy has been trending downward, much like in the school system as a whole. Last year’s enrollment totaled 91 students in kindergarten through second grade. Three years earlier that comparable figure was 139 students.

In 2014, the school had 486 students. Last year the number was 362.

The charter school’s enrollment also is down — from a peak of 468 in the 2020-21 school year to 396 last year.

Official figures are not yet available for this year, but enrollment across the school system appears to be lower, per preliminary estimates.

Rivas said Tuesday that Gabriella had been an uncooperative tenant that flouted financially responsibilities and had, therefore, forfeited any inside track to renewal.

At the Tuesday meeting, it was brought up that the charter did not participate in a recent fire drill. It’s leaders have pledged to do so in the future.

More serious is a long-simmering dispute over whether the charter has paid an appropriate amount for use of the campus. As the charter renewal date approached, the charter leaders yielded and made an $800,000 payment to the school system. That issue has yet to be resolved.

One disputed issue is that the school district raised the usage fee retroactively — to cover a period of time that already had ended,

Board staff recommended a five-year renewal, saying the school had met the legally required academic performance standard. A charter school also can be denied renewal if it is fiscally unsound, but district staff concluded that, too, was not grounds for denial.

Board member Nick Melvoin, who voted to renew the charter, wanted to know the legal basis for rejecting it.

The answer from staff was that the decision could be based on the board’s citing of past financial disagreements that have not been entirely settled.

Melvoin strongly disagreed with the outcome.

“Co-locations are tough, and I have a lot of empathy and understanding for Logan,” Melvoin said. “I think that it’s really incumbent upon us, the adults who are the stewards of the children in this situation, to come to creative solutions on behalf of kids.”

“You have two K-8 schools that are pulling almost the same number of kids from that community,” he added, “and I think we owe it to them to try to work something out.”

Opposing the renewal were Rivas, Board President Scott Schmerelson, Karla Griego and Sherlett Hendy Newbill. Favoring renewal were Melvoin, Kelly Gonez and Tanya Ortiz Franklin.

Raducanu won 28 matches this year and reached the semi-finals in Washington, but her most impressive week was at the Miami Open in March.

The British number one reached the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 event, beating eighth seed Emma Navarro on the way before losing in three sets to fourth-ranked Pegula.

She was coached by Mark Petchey from Miami until Wimbledon, with Roig taking over in time for the US Open.

The initial agreement with Rafael Nadal’s former coach was until the end of the season but the partnership will continue, with a training block pencilled in for the end of the year.

Raducanu told BBC Sport her three-day trial with Roig after Wimbledon was like a “black ops mission” as they tried to keep the meeting secret.

She came very close to beating world number one Aryna Sabalenka at their first tournament together in Cincinnati in August.

Roig was also with Raducanu in New York, where she reached the third round before being beaten by 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

UNIVERSAL has revealed further plans for yet another theme park which is due to open next year.

Set to open in Texas, America, Universal Kid’s Resort will be solely focused on children’s attractions.

The park will feature seven lands in total, all based on popular children’s shows and stories.

The lands will include Shrek’s Swamp, Puss in Boots Del Mar, Minions vs Minions: Bello Bay Club, Jurassic World Adventure Camp, TrollsFest, SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom and Isle of Curiosity.

Visitors will enter through the Isle of Curiosity where they will be able to meet Gabby from Gabby’s Dollhouse and enjoy a dance party together.

Then in Shrek’s world, which Universal describes as a “waterlogged paradise”, guests will be able to meet Shrek and Fiona, as well as grab a photo at the onion carriage.

Read more on travel inspo

HAPPY DEAL

Disney free food deal that ‘saves THOUSANDS’ – our experts see if it’s worth it

TAKE THE FALL

50 half term days out and Halloween specials which are FREE or under £5

The land will have two interactive play areas as well – Shrek’s Swamp Rompin’ Stomp and Shrek’s Swamp Splash & Smash.

For kids who prefer Puss in Boots, they can meet the character themselves as well as Mama Luna and Perrito from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

The land will also have a series of carnival-themed games and concept arts suggest there will be a swing carousel.

One of the main attractions in the Minions land, where Yellow Minions battle Purple ones, will be a water ride that snakes around the world.

Onlookers can participate in the fun too, by using water pistols to spray those on the ride.

Aspiring paleontologists will get the opportunity to see a newly hatched baby dinosaur in the Jurassic World Adventure Camp as well as climb up Lookout Towers in a play area.

Concept art also reveals a rollercoaster and drop tower ride.

In the Trolls land, visitors can once again meet characters such as Poppy and Branch and experience two play areas – Poppy’s Playland and Trolls Critter Crawl.

In addition, some of the concept art shows that the land may also have a rollercoaster, hot air balloon-themed ride and a netted climbing area.

Heading ‘undersea’ to SpongeBob’s land, kids can head to Mussel Beach and also see SpongeBob’s iconic pineapple house.

Across the park, there will be multiple sensory gardens with different touch, sound and colour attractions as well.

For families looking to stay close-by, the theme park will have a colourfully-themed 300-room hotel.

Molly Murphy, president of Universal Creative said: “Universal Kids Resort embodies the spirit of igniting thrill that drives everything we create — designed to bring our youngest guests and families together through play, creativity, and beloved characters and stories.”

Brian Robinson, executive vice president and chief creative officer at Universal Creative said: “We envisioned this park through the unbridled creativity of kids where infinite imagination, curiosity and free-spirited play were core to our design philosophies.

“It produced a park that’s pure joy and an absolute celebration of what it is to be a kid.”

OMAZE-ING

I went from council flat to winning £4m house… But this is why I’m selling up

BOTTOMS UP

Wetherspoons reveals opening dates of 5 new pubs starting next week

In other family attraction news, a new theme park with world’s fastest and tallest rollercoaster to finally open this year.

Plus, the UK’s best value theme park has been named and tickets are buy one get one free this week.

Kilian Jornet, one of the world’s most accomplished mountaineers, did something this month that left even other elite athletes gasping: He climbed all 72 summits in the contiguous United States that stand over 14,000 feet tall.

In 31 days.

That’s like climbing California’s Mt. Whitney — the nation’s tallest mountain outside of Alaska — two-and-a-half times per day, every day, for a month.

But reaching so many summits, so quickly, was only half the battle. In fact, it was “the fun part,” a surprisingly rested-looking Jornet said in a Zoom interview from Seattle earlier this month, three days after summiting Mt. Rainier in knee-deep snow to complete the grueling journey, which he started in early September.

The hard part was negotiating the spaces in between.

Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet treks through the Sierra Nevada range known as the Normans 13, which connects 13 summits over 14,000 feet.

(Andy Cochrane)

“If you’re driving, you see the landscape,” Jornet explained. “But you don’t feel it.”

OK, how do you feel it?

By running the hundreds of miles of remote mountain ridges, and biking the thousands of miles of desolate highway, that separate the towering summits scattered across Colorado, California and Washington.

In total, Jornet covered 3,198 miles under his own power. He biked 2,568 miles. He ran 629 miles. He climbed 403,638 vertical feet.

• Share via Close extra sharing options

Tommy Caldwell, arguably the best technical rock climber of his generation and the first to climb Yosemite’s nearly impossible Dawn Wall, followed Jornet’s progress on Instagram. When the Spaniard finished, Caldwell posted, “my mind is officially blown.”

Like many elite climbers, Jornet, 37, slips into a stoic, been-there-done-that voice when describing mountain conditions that would terrify mere mortals. But he broke character, briefly, talking about climbing the summit of Mt. Shasta in Northern California.

As often happens on that free-standing volcano, a howling gale struck just as Jornet approached the 14,162-foot summit.

Shaky video shot by a climbing partner shows Jornet’s trekking poles flailing and his feet sliding around on the ice as he struggles — and fails — to remain upright in what sounds like a hurricane.

“It was crazy,” he conceded, “probably the windiest day I have ever had in the mountains.”

Asked why, exactly, he puts himself through so much agony, he snapped back into aw-shucks mode. He sank into his comfy seat, smiled with the confidence of a man who has parried that question a thousand times, and said:

“Why not?”

Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet climbed 72 summits over 14,000 feet in the contiguous U.S. in 31 days.

(Nick Danielson)

In an age saturated with professional outdoor athletes competing for social media attention and lucrative sponsorships — and in a world where the most iconic summits have been climbed, the biggest waves have been surfed and the wildest rivers have been run — one fashionable way to stand out is by setting a fastest known time, or “FKT.”

Jornet’s jaunt over and between those 72 summits, which he dubbed “States of Elevation” and gorgeously documented for his 1.8 million followers on Instagram, was, by all accounts, the fastest known time. It was also the only known time. Apparently, nobody else has tried to link all of those summits together in a single, human-powered push.

“Yes, it’s hard,” Jornet said with a laugh when asked if the constant, grinding pain was worth it. But after a while, “you get used to the discomfort, it’s just part of it, it doesn’t really bother you.”

The finale of Jornet’s 72-peak feat was a 14,441-foot volcano covered with glaciers, one of the broadest and most visually imposing mountains on the planet. Few people even attempt to climb Mt. Rainier this time of year because the weather can be so brutal.

As Jornet pedaled closer to the peak, it started to rain down in the flats, so he knew that meant snow on the mountain.

Crossing the glaciers with their immense, yawning crevasses hidden by fresh snow would have been too dangerous, so Jornet chose a steep and challenging rock route known as Success Cleaver. But even that was buried in knee-deep snow.

After summiting Mt. Rainier, Jornet posted that his U.S. journey was, “never about just the numbers, but rather a deep connection to wild places, and true test of resilience in body and mind.”

Anyone else claiming that might have been met with eye rolls, but Jornet is one of the few outdoor athletes who probably doesn’t need to pad his resume: He cemented his legacy as one of the all-time greats long ago.

Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet hikes in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado in September.

(Nick Danielson)

Born just outside of Barcelona in 1987, he grew up in a ski area in the Pyrenees where his father was a mountain guide. He climbed his first mountain over 10,000 feet when he was 5.

At 20, he won the first of six titles in the Sky Runner World Series, an international competition consisting of long, high-altitude foot races that test speed and endurance on steep mountainsides.

At 26, he set FKTs for climbing Switzerland’s Matterhorn and France’s Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Western Europe. A year later, he broke the speed record climbing the bitterly cold and deadly Denali, in Alaska, the tallest mountain in North America.

A few years after that, he climbed Mt. Everest twice in one week without supplemental oxygen.

In addition to all of the technical mountaineering, Jornet has been one of the most successful ultramarathoners in history, winning the prestigious Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, a 100-mile race through the Alps, four times.

After his early career dominating distance races in relatively cold climates, Jornet showed up at Northern California’s Western States ultramarathon in 2010. It’s a 100-mile race that starts near the shore of Lake Tahoe and descends to the Sacramento suburbs in late June, when the sun and temperatures can be unforgiving.

He was comically unprepared. “I didn’t do any heat training,” Jornet recalled, “so when I arrived I was like, ‘Should I have brought water for this race?’” Still, he came in third, then returned the next year to win.

In June, he went back to the Western States 100 for the first time in 14 years. The event has evolved since then: The field is fitter and more professional. But even at his relatively advanced age, Jornet came in third, dropping more than an hour off his winning time in 2011.

Back then, he relied mostly on raw talent, Jornet said. “I train much better now, I know I need to prepare specifically and put in the work.”

But does he ever just kick back and spend a weekend sprawled on the couch, a remote in one hand and a bowl of ice cream in the other?

“For me, that’s not relaxing,” he said, recalling the time he and his wife, Emelie Forsberg, also a world champion runner and skier, tried to take a normal vacation.

They had just completed a race on Reunion Island, off the coast of Madagascar, when they decided to spend a week on the nearby tropical island of Mauritius.

“We said we’d just sit on the beach and read books, and that’s all,” Jornet said. But by the end of the first day they looked at each other and wondered if they should change their flight to get back to running and skiing in the mountains. “It was like, yes, yes, yes for both of us,” Jornet said.

Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet in the Sierra Nevada range known as the Normans 13, which connects 13 summits over 14,000 feet.

(Andy Cochrane)

After years living in Chamonix, France, a hard-partying resort in the Alps regarded as the mountain sports capital of the world, Jornet and Forsberg moved to a house by a remote fjord in Norway. It’s a quiet place to raise their three young children, grow their own vegetables and train in the surrounding mountains, some of which have no names.

“Sometimes when you’re climbing Everest, or Mont Blanc, or Mt. Whitney, it’s like you’re climbing the famous name,” Jornet said. As he matures, he prefers climbing mountains simply “because they’re beautiful.”

But he still craves big challenges.

Last year, he climbed all 82 summits in the Alps over 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) in 19 days, traveling the 750 miles between them on foot and bicycle.

“This was, without any doubt, the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life, mentally, physically, and technically,” he wrote on social media. “But also maybe the most beautiful.”

That got him thinking even bigger, trying to imagine the most “aesthetic line” for a similar expedition in the United States.

After landing in Denver last month, he went straight to the trailhead for 14,256-foot Longs Peak. “But I really felt like crap,” he said, blaming a combination of jet lag and the air being so much drier in Colorado than in Norway.

For the first week, he wondered if he should just quit. But then, somewhere along the way, his body switched, “from fighting to adapting,” and he settled into a comfortable rhythm.

After summiting 56 mountains in Colorado, Jornet hopped on his bike and pedaled 900 miles to California, where 15 more high peaks awaited. At times, the headwind was so brutal he slowed to a maddening crawl, even when going downhill.

He’d also lost 10 pounds in the mountains and, at 5’7” and about 130 pounds, his slender frame has nothing to spare. So he spent much of his time on the bike shoveling calories — even spiking his water bottles with generous helpings of olive oil — to replace lost fat.

His long slog on the bike ended in Lone Pine, a dusty town four hours north of Los Angeles, where the Eastern Sierra rise 10,000 feet, like a solid granite wall, from the desert floor.

Jornet had covered nearly 200 miles that day, and faced a 6,000-foot climb to the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead, where he would sleep before starting the toughest part of the whole trip.

The road up to Cottonwood Lakes is 23 miles of harrowing switchbacks, with vertigo-inducing views of the valley below at almost every turn. The drive, alone, freaks out a lot of people.

“It was cool that I arrived there in the dark,” Jornet said, undaunted by the prospect of pedaling off the side of a cliff. “Nice to do the climb when it wasn’t so hot.”

The next morning he started running “Norman’s 13” — a baker’s dozen of 14,000-foot summits along the Sierra Crest between Lone Pine and Bishop, the most remote and punishing alpine terrain in California. He made astonishing time: cruising over 14,032-foot Mt. Langley and 14,505-froot Mt. Whitney like they were speed bumps.

But for all their imposing altitude, the standard routes up Langley and Whitney don’t require any special skills, they’re just long hiking trails with very little exposure to deadly falls. Things changed when Jornet reached a section called the Palisades Traverse, just up the hill from Big Pine.

There, a ridge of jagged granite rises like an upside down saw’s blade over one of the last remaining glaciers in California. There are no hiking trails, just daunting towers of shattered and jumbled rock, where seemingly any misstep can lead to a thousand-foot fall.

Only the most committed mountaineers go there, and they tend to take their time, waiting for good weather and climbing with ropes and harnesses.

But when you’re on a mission like Jornet’s, you don’t get to “choose your weather,” he said. You just start and then you’re committed, you have to take what comes.

What came the day he reached the traverse was a surprising, early-season blizzard. It covered the usually reliable, grippy granite with about 4 inches of snow and ice. The storm made climbing “more complicated,” Jornet said, and more miserable.

It was cold and “I was completely soaked,” Jornet said. But with the help of Matt Cornell, a well-known climber from Bishop, he was able to keep going and finish the 100 miles of Norman’s 13 in 56 hours, shaving more than 19 hours off the previous record.

He only slept once during that span, he said, for about an hour and a half, lying in the middle of a trail.

When speed climbing over peaks, Jornet traveled light, carrying only the bare essentials to stay nourished and protected from the weather.

When possible, he was accompanied by photographers and videographers, most of whom had to be exceptional athletes to keep up.

He also stayed in contact with his press team and social media producers, and he sometimes slept in a support RV at the trailheads.

But after the frigid Palisades Traverse he indulged in a bit of luxury, pizza and a glorious night in a hotel bed in Bishop. The next morning, he hiked 14,252-foot White Mountain and then hopped on the bike for the 500-mile ride to the unexpected ordeal that awaited him on Mt. Shasta.

Having survived that with no serious damage, he biked through Oregon, finally with a tailwind, and then surmounted Mt. Rainier.

When he finally descended, instead of popping champagne in front of cameras and an adoring crowd, he and a few close friends spent a quiet night in an RV, swapping stories from the road and sharing shots of pickle juice — an inside joke that started somewhere during the trip.

“I’m not a big celebration guy,” Jornet explained.

He wouldn’t say what his next project will be, but several times he returned to the idea of climbing without crowds or fanfare.

“I do these things because I love them, because they bring me joy and happiness, not because I think they’re very important.”

One place he can sit quietly is at home in Norway, looking out the window, across the fjord to the nameless, snowcapped mountains in the distance.

He lets his eyes linger on their faces, settling on pretty lines to climb up or ski down.

The report says 10 small, ocean-dependent nations will experience the biggest increase in dangerous heat days, despite collectively producing only 1 percent of global heat-trapping gases.

A new study by World Weather Attribution and United States-based Climate Central has calculated the increase in dangerous “superhot days” – defined as warmer than 90 percent of comparable days between 1991 and 2020 – due to climate change.

The report, which is not yet peer-reviewed but uses established techniques for climate attribution, was released on Thursday. It highlights the significant effect of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Before the 2015 accord, the world was on track for a catastrophic 4C (7.2F) of warming by the end of the century, which would have resulted in an additional 114 superhot days per year.

By fulfilling current commitments to curb emissions, the world is now heading towards 2.6C (4.7F) of warming. Under this scenario, the Earth will still add 57 superhot days annually by 2100 – nearly two months of dangerously high temperatures – but this is half the increase of the worst-case scenario. Since 2015, the world has already added 11 superhot days on average.

Potsdam Climate Institute Director Johan Rockstrom, who was not part of the research team, said people should not be relieved that we are no longer on the 4-degree warming pre-Paris trajectory because the current track “would still imply a disastrous future for billions of humans on Earth”.

The report does not say how many people will be affected by the additional dangerously hot days, but coauthor Friederike Otto of Imperial College London said “it will definitely be tens of thousands or millions, not less”. She noted that thousands die in heatwaves each year already.

The study also underscores the profound unfairness of the impact of climate change across the world, showing a massive disconnect between carbon pollution and expected heat exposure.

The 10 countries that will experience the biggest increase in dangerous heat days are almost all small, ocean-dependent nations like Panama, the Solomon Islands, and Samoa. These countries are expected to see the largest spikes, with Panama projected to face 149 extra superhot days a year. These 10 nations collectively produce only 1 percent of global heat-trapping gases.

In stark contrast, the top carbon-polluting countries – the United States, China, and India – are predicted to get only between 23 and 30 extra superhot days. Despite being responsible for 42 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide, they will face less than 1 percent of the additional superhot days.

University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver, who was not part of the study team, said this heat inequality drives “yet another wedge between have and have-not nations”, potentially sowing seeds of geopolitical instability.

Termination notices went out to 150 NBC News Group employees Wednesday as the financial health of the traditional television business continues to erode.

The cuts have been anticipated for months as NBC is seeing declines in TV ratings and ad revenue that are not being fully offset by a growing digital business.

Audience migration to streaming platforms has put pressure on legacy outlets across the media industry, leading to layoffs and cost-cutting.

A representative for the NBC News Group, which produces “Today,” “NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas” and “Dateline,” declined to comment on the layoffs.

The cuts are also attributed to the spinoff of cable networks MSNBC and CNBC, according to a person briefed on the plans who was not authorized to comment. As of last week, NBC News no longer shares resources with the two outlets, which will become part of a new company called Versant. Some NBC News veterans have decided to join MSNBC, which will be renamed MS NOW.

Versant is the new stand-alone home for most of Comcast’s cable networks, including USA Network, the Golf Channel, CNBC and MSNBC. Comcast is spinning off the channels because it believes the mature outlets face a bleak future due to pay TV cord-cutting and are an albatross weighing down its stock price.

Some of the job losses are expected to be mitigated by a reallocation of resources aimed at bolstering the division’s digital operations. The employees affected by the cuts have been encouraged to apply for 140 jobs currently open across the NBC News Group.

The cuts amount to 2% of the NBC News Group, which also includes local TV stations owned by NBC and Telemundo.

A recent memo from NBC News Group Chair Cesar Conde said the division is launching a subscription streaming service later this year, although details have not been made public. The company already has NBC News Now, a free ad-supported streaming channel.

More cuts across the TV news business are expected through the end of the year. A significant reduction in staffing is expected at CBS News following the merger of parent Paramount with Skydance Media.

ABC News was hit hard by a 6% staff reduction across the ABC TV network enacted in March by parent Walt Disney Co. Those cuts followed a layoff of 40 news staffers in October 2024.

Witness testimony began Wednesday with an accusation of negligent supervision in the high stakes trial against the Angels by the family of deceased pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Tim Mead, an Angels employee of 40 years, was portrayed by the plaintiffs lawyer, Rusty Hardin, during four hours of direct examination as a well-meaning boss who repeatedly ignored company policy by failing to report the improper conduct of Eric Kay, the team communications director who gave Skaggs the fentanyl pills that killed him.

Hardin brought up a litany of instances where Kay likely violated Angels rules that could have resulted in discipline and even termination long before the July 2019 road trip to Texas during which Skaggs died in his hotel room after chopping up and snorting the illicit drugs provided by Kay.

Mead acknowledged that he knew of Kay’s years-long episodes of bizarre behavior, an extramarital affair with an intern, and problems with prescription medication, but that he never reported any of it to human resources.

Hardin asked if he was putting Kay ahead of the organization by doing everything he could to save him, allow him to regain his health and keep him employed.

Mead responded: “I guess I wasn’t consciously doing it at the time. … I was concerned about the organization, for him, his family and my staff.”

Hardin asked Mead if he was thinking of an obligation to organization or to Kay, and Mead replied, “A bit of both.”

Hardin: Did you recognize a conflict between those roles?

Mead: “Yes that entered my mind.”

Hardin asserted that it strains credulity that Mead asserted he knew nothing of Kay using or distributing illicit opioids when on the last day of the 2017 season Kay’s wife, Camela, reached out to Mead to infom him the family was conducting an intervention in their home that evening.

Mead and Tom Taylor, the Angels’ traveling secretary, visited the Kays the next morning, and Camela Kay testified during a deposition that the Kays directed him to Eric’s bedroom, where he had stashed 60 pills, stored in handfuls of 10 in small plastic bags.

Pressed by Hardin, Mead repeated that he couldn’t say he didn’t do what Camela Kay testified he did, but that he had no recollection of it. Mead insisted that he knew nothing of Eric Kay using or distributing illicit drugs to Skaggs or anyone else.

Cross-examination of Mead by Angels lawyers will take place Friday. The court is in recess every Thursday during what is expected to be a two-month trial.

Following Mead on the witness stand will be Taylor and team president John Carpino. More than 75 names are on the witness list, including current Angels star Mike Trout, former manager Mike Scioscia and several former players who testified in depositions that Kay or Skaggs gave them opioids.

Lawyers for the Angels and the family spoke to the jury for the first time Tuesday, delivering dramatically different opening statements.

Angels owner Arte Moreno sat in the front row along with Carpino, although neither one was present Wednesday. Skaggs’ widow, Carli, sat next to Tyler’s mother, Debbie Hetman. Tyler’s father, Darrell Skaggs, was absent because of poor health.

Representing Skaggs’ widow and parents are two lawyers with decades of experience representing high-profile and celebrity clients — Shawn Holley and Hardin.

Early in her career, Holley, 63, worked under Johnnie Cochran and was a member of the O.J. Simpson defense team in 1995. Since then, she has represented clients ranging from entertainment titans Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Lindsay Lohan, Snoop Dogg, Axl Rose and the Kardashian family to athletes such as Trevor Bauer, Mike Tyson, Lamar Odom, Reggie Bush and Sugar Ray Leonard.

Hardin, 83, represented the Arthur Andersen accounting firm during the Enron scandal more than 20 years ago. He also has won favorable verdicts for numerous athletes such as Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Warren Moon, Scottie Pippen, Calvin Murphy, Steve Francis, Rudy Tomjanovich and Rafer Alston.

The Angels are represented by Todd Theodora, chief executive of the nationally respected law firm Theodora Oringher. Theodora and the Angels have had a longstanding professional relationship.

Theodora served as lead trial counsel for the Angels in the suit brought by the city of Anaheim in 2005 when the team re-branded as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The city sought more than $300 million in damages against the Angels, who prevailed in a jury verdict.

Theodora wouldn’t comment on the Skaggs case because of the ongoing litigation, but after the Angels’ court victory regarding the name change, he described to The Times the all-consuming nature of a lengthy trial.

“You find yourself literally thinking about the case from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to bed and many times in the middle of the night as well,” Theodora said.

The stakes are high in the Skaggs trial. Holley delivered opening statements for the plaintiffs and said a fair estimation of Skaggs’ lost future earnings is $118 million. She added that the Angels must also compensate the family for “loss of companionship, solace, moral support and financial security.” And, Holley said, the family should be awarded punitive damages “not only because [the Angels] failed to keep Tyler safe, they put him in harm’s way.”

Taking a deliberate, soft-spoken approach, Holley walked the jury through a timeline of Kay’s drug use and eventual distribution of opioids. She said Angels team doctor Craig Milhouse wrote Kay numerous oxycodone prescriptions despite the fact he lacked any legitimate medical condition.

Holley attempted to establish that Kay’s drug use escalated year after year, saying there was “a complete failure by the Angels to grasp the magnitude of the problem.”

Holley said that Kay revealed his drug use in text messages and emails, and that a clubhouse attendant witnessed Kay snorting lines of drugs in a kitchen area outside the Angels clubhouse.

Citing evidence in Kay’s criminal trial — he is serving 22 years in prison for supplying Skaggs with fentanyl — Holley said Kay used his Angels email address to purchase illicit drugs on the website OfferUp.

By 2019, Kay’s drug usage had reached a point that he went through an outpatient treatment program that ended shortly before the Angels went on the road trip to Texas during which Skaggs died. Holley contended that human resources requires a “fitness for duty exam” before returning to work following a drug rehab stint.

“The Angels, again, did nothing,” she said. “So less than two months after learning Eric Kay had been dealing drugs to players, two months after Eric Kay overdoses and less than a month after outpatient rehab ended, the Angels decided to send Kay on the road trip. Within hours, Tyler Skaggs was dead.”

Theodora countered by saying the team “knows right from wrong,” and that it was Skaggs who engaged in “reckless choices that we teach our children and grandchildren not to do, for good reason.”

Theodora pointed out that in addition to the counterfeit fentanyl pill that Skaggs chopped up and snorted the July 2019 night he died in a Texas hotel room, he had a blood-alcohol level of .140 and a therapeutic level of oxycodone.

“The evidence will show he was not playing through pain, he was not prescribed these pills,” Theodora said. “It is downright shameless for anyone to say it was justified for someone to chop up and snort opioids, that they were just being used to get through a long season.”

Skaggs was involved in three crimes, Theodora said, “one, criminal possession; two, taking or ingesting illicit drugs; and three — as you’ll hear from five players — Tyler was distributing illicit pills to them.”

Opening statements and Mead’s testimony underscored the reasons a recent one-day settlement conference between the two sides went nowhere,

Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room in Southlake, Texas, on July 1, 2019, before the Angels were scheduled to start a series against the Texas Rangers. The Tarrant County medical examiner found that in addition to the opioids, Skaggs had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12. The autopsy determined he died from asphyxia after aspirating on his own vomit, and that his death was accidental.

Prosecutors alleged Kay sold opioids to Skaggs and at least five other professional baseball players from 2017 to 2019. Several players testified during the trial about obtaining illicit oxycodone pills from Kay.

The Skaggs family filed their lawsuit in June 2021, alleging the Angels knew, or should have known, that Kay was supplying drugs to Skaggs and other players. Testimony during Kay’s criminal trial established that Kay was also a longtime user of oxycodone and that the Angels knew it.

The Angels responded by saying that a former federal prosecutor the team hired to conduct an independent investigation into Skaggs’ death determined no team executives were aware or informed of any employee providing opioids to any player.