With former Biden Cabinet secretary Xavier Becerra surging in recent polls, the two candidates battling to win the second spot in this week’s primary and advance to the November election highlighted the strategic reasons why they believe voters ought to support them.
Republican Steve Hilton — a former conservative commentator who rocketed past his main GOP rival, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, after President Trump endorsed him in April — urged voters to back him to avoid the possibility of two Democrats facing off in November.
“I want us to fight like we are third. We aren’t going to let this slip away,” Hilton told a few hundred people at the Santa Monica Hilton Hotel & Suites on Sunday morning.
Steve Hilton surged ahead of his GOP rival, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, after receiving an endorsement from the president.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
The former British political strategist once led the polls, but has slipped slightly behind Becerra. Not too far behind Hilton is billionaire hedge fund founder turned climate change activist Tom Steyer, a Democrat.
During his hour and a half appearance, Hilton veered between his oft-repeated criticisms about 16 years of Democrat-led rule in California to jabs at the top Democrats in the race.
Steyer’s nonstop advertising blitz is “one reason alone to defeat him,” while Becerra is the “living embodiment of more of the same.”
“Our secret weapon? The Democrat candidates,” Hilton said to chuckles.
Asked why voters shouldn’t back Bianco, Hilton said it was simple math. Only the first- and second-place finishers in the June 2 primary will advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.
“Every vote for Chad Bianco is a vote for two Democrats in the top two,” he said.
If a GOP gubernatorial candidate fails to make the November ballot, it would depress the Republican vote, harming the party’s down-ballot candidates, as well as handicap a Republican-led ballot initiative that would require voters to show government-issued ID to cast ballots.
California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer takes a picture with a volunteer during a Get Out the Vote rally at Los Angeles Trade Technical College on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Steyer, who has spent a record-breaking $216 million of his wealth on his gubernatorial bid, argued that he is the only candidate in the race who is not beholden to special interests. He hammered Becerra for the support he has received from corporations including Meta, Airbnb, Uber and Chevron. Steyer argued that Becerra, if elected governor, would be more responsive to special interests than financially strapped Californians.
“We’ve seen it in this race. Chevron cuts you a check and you look the other way when they hike prices at the pump. Meta gives you money and your AI plan starts sounding like ChatGPT,” Steyer, sporting a ball cap labeling himself a “class traitor,” told more than 500 supporters at a community college near downtown Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. “That’s the story of Xavier Becerra.”
Corporations, along with labor unions and interest groups including the California Assn. of Realtors, have spent more than $18.7 million to boost Becerra as of Sunday, according to the election spending tracker California Target Book.
“These companies may be selfish, but they’re not stupid. They don’t give hundreds of thousands of dollars to get someone elected unless they know he’s going to be on their side,” Steyer said.
Though Steyer earned his fortune in part through past investments in private prisons, fossil fuels and private equity, his supporters described him as a reformed billionaire who stepped away from those industries more than a decade ago.
Francesca Fiorentini, a comedian and podcaster, compared Steyer to Charles Dickens’ fictional miser Ebenezer Scrooge.
“At the end of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ nobody turns to Ebenezer and is like, ‘No, I’m not gonna accept your gifts.’ No, they welcome him. They might clown him a little bit, but we need to welcome someone like Tom Steyer,” Fiorentini said. “Tom Steyer is actually listening, he actually cares, he’s actually changing his belief system and he’s acting accordingly.”
Though he mainly went after Becerra, Steyer also made sure to criticize Hilton.
“You are not voting for who’s on the ballot, you’re voting for the California that comes after,” Steyer said. “The California that Steve Hilton is running on sounds exactly like what Trump wants: higher prices, lower wages, and less freedom.”
His campaign underscored his attacks against Becerra by having a handful of supporters dressed as zombies speak outside of Becerra’s Sunday evening rally in Long Beach. Waving signs naming businesses that have supported Becerra, they wore lanyards describing “Big Oil,” “Big Tech” and other corporate sectors as Becerra’s “bestie.”
At a raucous rally, elected officials, labor leaders and reproductive rights advocates were among the speakers who introduced Becerra, who attacked Steyer and Hilton, though not by name.
“We are not going to let a billionaire or Trump’s handpicked candidate take over this state,” he told more than 1,000 people at the city’s convention center. “We are not going to let them gut Medicaid while Californians work hard to build a future. We are not going to let them buy an election…. Not here, not in this state, not on our watch.”
Becerra seemed in awe as he stood in front of the packed room.
“Look around this room. One of our opponents has a billion dollars in a checkbook,” he said. “We have something better… We don’t have the money, but we have the movement. We don’t have the money, but we’ve got the momentum. And in this state, if you’ve got the momentum, you run across the finish line, and you win, baby, you win.”
Becerra also released a new video that ostensibly attacks Hilton as “Trump’s favorite” — a thinly veiled effort to prop up Hilton among Republicans to ensure he finished ahead of Steyer in the primary. Given that Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by almost 2 to 1, Becerra would much rather face Hilton than Steyer in the general election.
Newsom’s campaign employed this strategy to boost GOP businessman John Cox in the 2018 gubernatorial election, as did then-Rep. Adam Schiff against Republican Steve Garvey in Schiff’s successful 2024 U.S. Senate race.
Billionaire Tom Steyer has argued that he is the only candidate not beholden to special interests.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Steyer launched an ad this weekend titled “Risky” that implies Becerra could face criminal charges related to the acts of two former advisors who have plead guilty to federal charges related to stealing campaign funds from a dormant Becerra campaign account.
Becerra’s campaign called the ad defamatory in a cease and desist letter sent to the Steyer campaign on Saturday.
Becerra, Hilton and Steyer, the front-runners in the race, barnstormed the state in the final days before the June 2 primary. They devoted much of their attention to voters in Southern California, which is home to many of the state’s 23.2 million registered voters. Lower-polling candidates also stumped in the Southland — San José Mayor Matt Mahan greeted diners at Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles, and former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter kicked off a union canvassing event in Orange on Saturday.
Unlike recent contests to lead the nation’s most populous state, this year’s gubernatorial contest failed to energize the electorate. Despite a crowded field of candidates with notable resumes, as well as record-breaking spending by Steyer and independent-expenditure committees. Californians only recently tuned in.
Political experts of both parties believe voters malaise was due to fatigue about the nation’s political polarization, as well as Trump administration policies such as federal tariffs that drove up prices everywhere and some that disproportionately affected California, such as immigration raids. Southern Californians were also reeling from the devastating wildfires in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena and last year’s special election to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries.
Earlier this year, Democratic leaders worried that their voters would splinter among their candidates, creating a scenario where two Republicans advanced to the general election. They controversially urged their party’s candidates to assess their viability, effectively urging several low-polling candidates to drop out of the race.
Democratic turnout also prompted concerns. As of May 22, mail ballots returned by Democrats were 9.2% lower compared with the 2022 gubernatorial primary, while ballots returned by Republicans were 11.6% higher, according to Political Data Intelligence. But the return rates are shifting — as of Friday, Democrats were 7% behind their 2022 return rate, while Republicans were 6.8% higher.
The most recent polls suggest that the prospect of two Republicans advancing to the general election is nonexistent, and there is now a slim chance that two Democrats win the top two spots in the June 2 primary.
An eerie silence descended upon Dodger Stadium as the swatted ball soared toward the right field corner.
What was this? Who was this?
This wasn’t a crowd-roaring drive by a future Hall of Famer. This wasn’t a Ravine-rattling shot by a perennial All-Star.
This was rare. This was weird. This was a long fly by a long-shot outfielder ending a long minor-league journey with his first appearance at Dodger Stadium.
The ball flew and flew and, suddenly, this was a home run. A home run? Who was that again?
Yeah, the sunny 28-year-old did the Freddie Freeman Hop as he rounded second base in a wonderful show of giddy celebration by a guy who’s earned it.
“Kind of a blackout, if I’m going to be honest with you,” Ward said. “Hit it and kind of just went numb.”
Feel free to go numb with him. With his fourth-inning solo blast in Sunday’s 9-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, this not-exactly-a-kid-anymore was the once-in-a-lifetime story.
After seven minor league seasons, his first major-league home run.
After 156 minor-league homers, his first big-league dinger.
After years of trudging through Great Lakes and Ogden and Tulsa and Oklahoma City, his first big fly at 1000 Vin Scully Ave.
In fact, it was his first game at Dodger Stadium, period, and he soaked in the atmosphere with the same wide-eyed wonder as all those little leaguers who marched around the field before the game.
”When I went out to left field, kind of just looking around, taking it in, just realizing how special it was, just have fun with it, enjoy it all,” he said.
The Dodgers’ series win against a team that will challenge them in October was especially a blast for the “others,” the role players who wind up being so important, with Ward and Alex Freeland homering while Alex Call hit a two-run single.
“Everybody in this locker room is a superstar,” Freeland said. “A lot of us get overlooked just because we have guys like Shohei and Freddie. Everybody in this clubhouse can ball.”
Nobody was as excited to just be in the clubhouse as Ward, who is one of the little-known casualties of the Dodgers’ success, a decent hitter from their farm system who has never gotten a chance because the Dodgers don’t have a need for just-decent hitters.
”When I went out to left field, kind of just looking around, taking it in, just realizing how special it was, just have fun with it, enjoy it all,” Ryan Ward said after hitting a solo home run Sunday.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
When it comes to position players, with the exception of the former prospect Andy Pages, they buy stars, they trade for stars, they hoard stars, and they rarely give a long look to anybody who isn’t guaranteed to be a star.
It is in this environment that Ward has surely asked himself, what does he have to do?
He was drafted out of Rhode Island’s Bryant University in 2019 and by 2021 he was showing home-run power with 27 jacks at class-A Great Lakes. Every year he climbed the minor league ladder, and every year he grew stronger, with 34 homers and 104 RBIs two years ago, and 36 homers with 122 RBIs last year when he was named Pacific Coast League MVP.
How long has he been in the bush leagues? He is triple-A Oklahoma City’s career leader in home runs.
But he was prone to slumps, and oversized swings, and average defensive skills, and last season at Oklahoma City his strikeouts equaled his RBIs.
So he never got even a major-league sniff, leading him to spend his winters working a snow plow with his father to stay in shape, yet he never complained.
“Even talking to Freeland today on the bench, and he made a note that Ryan was probably the most positive guy down there in triple A, and that speaks to his character,” said manager Dave Roberts. “And if there’s anyone that has the right to be salty and frustrated, it’s him, but he was professional about it, and he was an easy one to recall and get him here.”
This finally happened late last month when Ward was recalled to briefly fill a hole when Freddie Freeman went on paternity leave. He played two games in Colorado, had a couple of hits, and was sent back down.
This weekend, he was recalled again to replace Teoscar Hernández, who was placed on the injured list with a strained left hamstring. Ward was jammed in the lineup Sunday, struck out against Phillies’ rookie Andrew Painter in the second inning, then made contact on a 1-and-0 pitch and sent it whirling into the right-field bullpen.
“Watching it go over the fence was really cool,” he said.
Ryan Ward celebrates as he runs the bases after hitting a home run in the fourth inning against the Phillies.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
Watching the ball returned to his locker in a glass cube was perhaps just as cool. And then celebrating afterward by getting doused with all sorts of stuff by his thrilled teammates? Off the charts.
“I’m probably gonna smell for a little bit,” he said.
Smell of what?
“You name it.”
Considering Ward hit his homer in the fourth inning, you’re probably wondering how he performed the rest of the game. Well, um, there was no rest of the game. He was almost immediately benched again for Call.
And the struggle continues.
“Keep trying to grind your game as much as you can and just kind of force the door down,” he said.
Not every summer movie needs to be a mystery that unfolds hallway after hallway, with a creature hiding around every corner ready to pop out. But maybe the best one is: “Backrooms,” opening May 29 and directed by 20-year-old phenom Kane Parsons. We chatted with him about how he got to make his big debut for A24. Apart from that inspiring story, what can we hope for at the multiplex? We asked our staffers for their dreamiest expectations and they didn’t hold back: space epics, Matt Damon in a helmet and, yes, a “Jackass” movie. Read on and let this be your guide.
‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’
(May 22)
Pedro Pascal, left, and Sigourney Weaver in the movie “The Mandalorian and Grogu.”
(Lucasfilm)
TV’s “The Mandalorian” premiered in 2019 and was the first live-action series in “Star Wars” history. Now, the next adventure of the fierce bounty hunter and his adorable young charge will be the franchise’s first big-screen installment since the sequel trilogy wrapped with “Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker.” I, for one, am excited that Grogu, with all his snackish charm, has been promoted to title-character status along with Pedro Pascal’s more stoic Din Djarin. The movie will also introduce Sigourney Weaver as Col. Ward, a former Rebellion pilot turned New Republic leader, and Jeremy Allen White as grown-up Rotta the Hutt, Jabba’s son, who debuted as an infant in the animated “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” — Tracy Brown
‘Masters of the Universe’
(June 5)
Nicholas Galitzine in the movie “Masters of the Universe.”
(Giles Keyte / Amazon MGM Studios)
Our opinions of Hollywood’s dip into the nostalgia well may vary, but it’s easy to want to feel the kind of joy that a game or toy brought us when the world felt less complicated. He-Man’s best stories so far may have been on animated TV, but I have enough childhood memories of smashing the character’s action figure against others that I’m curious about how he’ll play in the big-screen sandbox. Starring Nicholas Galitzine as a wayward Prince Adam trapped on Earth, “Masters of the Universe” adds a contemporary twist and some modern sensibilities to the lore. With Laika Studios vet and “Bumblebee” director Travis Knight at the helm, I’m expecting a sweet balance of humor and heart. — Tracy Brown
‘Disclosure Day’
(June 12)
Emily Blunt in the movie “Disclosure Day.”
(Niko Tavernise / Universal)
Nearly half a century after “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and decades on from “E.T.” and “War of the Worlds,” Steven Spielberg is still looking to the skies — and we still want to know whether to be excited or terrified by what he sees. His latest brings extraterrestrial life into the realm of ’70s conspiracy thrillers. (Screenwriter David Koepp has compared it to paranoia pieces like “Three Days of the Condor.”) Emily Blunt plays a Kansas City meteorologist who begins receiving a signal from beyond Earth, while Josh O’Connor is a government employee on the run with information that powerful people are trying to keep hidden. If Spielberg’s earlier UFO movies gave us awe, comfort and catastrophe, this one feels like an encounter of a fourth kind: What happens when the cover story breaks? — Josh Rottenberg
‘The Death of Robin Hood’
(June 19)
Hugh Jackman in the movie “The Death of Robin Hood.”
(A24)
Go to the beginnings of Hollywood and there are Robin Hood movies: Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, some shorts from even earlier. And it’s a safe bet that, as long as there’s pull to the idea of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, there will be more to come. Quietly, writer-director Michael Sarnoski has made a niche for himself as a storyteller of regrets, of roads not taken. His 2021 restaurant memory drama “Pig” gave Nicolas Cage his subtlest dialogue in years, while “A Quiet Place: Day One” had no business being as believably haunted as it was. Sarnoski is the perfect person to do a retelling tilted toward the end of a rampager’s life. Hugh Jackman embodies the role with a rough dignity. — Joshua Rothkopf
‘Leviticus’
(June 19)
Stacy Clausen, left, and Joe Bird in the move “Leviticus.”
(Neon)
Unlike many tales of demonic possession, Adrian Chiarella’s feature debut lingers in the mind for being so recognizably close to home; it doesn’t need to crab-walk into the room, spin its head 360 degrees and announce itself as evil. In a small, backwards Australian community, coming of age and coming out evince fear in the Christian townsfolk. Two teenage boys (Stacy Clausen and “Talk to Me’s” writhing standout Joe Bird) keep their attraction to themselves. Even so, a violent curse bedevils them, a sophisticated feat of careful writing and directorial sensitivity that sets Chiarella apart from the gorehounds. Let’s also cheer the return of Mia Wasikowska, stepping back confidently. — Joshua Rothkopf
‘Maddie’s Secret’
(June 19)
John Early in the movie “Maddie’s Secret.”
(Magnolia Pictures)
An affectionate throwback to overly earnest TV movies (and a knowing send-up of over-the-top bad-girl flicks), this film marks the feature debut as writer-director for comedian John Early, who also stars. With a cast drawn from comedy-scene friends such as Kate Berlant and Conner O’Malley all tuned into a very specific wavelength, the movie somehow surpasses conventional notions of camp and irony to exist in a genuinely unique space all its own. As Maddie, an aspiring L.A. food influencer battling a secret eating disorder, Early’s performance will undoubtedly remain one of the most distinctive and original of the year, by equal turns outrageously funny and tenderly vulnerable, often in the same moment. — Mark Olsen
‘The Invite’
June 26
Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton in the movie “The Invite.”
(A24)
Olivia Wilde’s dinner-party dramedy made good on its considerable promise when it premiered at Sundance in January, earning a standing ovation and tears (of relief? joy?) from Wilde as she took the stage. Wilde and Seth Rogen play longtime marrieds harboring a laundry list of resentments who host their upstairs neighbors (Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton) for an evening of fun. At least it starts off that way, but of course, the gathering quickly sours, leaving us rubbernecking the damage. Wilde navigates the tonal shifts with authority, delivering surprises along the way, including an ending that somehow delivers hope for the institution of wedlock. Am I overselling it? Would I cry Woolf to you? — Glenn Whipp
‘Jackass: Best and Last’
(June 26)
Johnny Knoxville, right, in the movie “Jackass: Best and Last.”
(Paramount Pictures)
Johnny Knoxville and his band of professional bad decision-makers are calling this one their final hurrah and, really, can you blame them? The original “Jackass” crew are now in their 50s, long past the point when being shot out of cannons and zapped with tasers seems like a sensible career plan. Knoxville himself was hospitalized with a brain injury after being flipped by a bull during the filming of 2022’s “Jackass Forever” and has said he can’t risk another concussion. This send-off mixes new stunts with archival footage, promising the usual outlandish pranks and blunt-force impacts to sensitive bodily regions. If this really is the end for the franchise, it’s hard to argue they didn’t push it as far as it would go. — Josh Rottenberg
‘Supergirl’
(June 26)
Milly Alcock in the movie “Supergirl.”
(Warner Bros.)
No diss to last summer’s charmingly square “Superman,” but the funniest scene in the movie was Milly Alcock’s 45-second cameo as Kal-El’s cousin Kara, who stumbled into his Fortress of Solitude to collect her dog Krypto still hungover from an outer-space bender. (“This is why he has behavioral issues,” Superman said with a sigh.) Now, she and the mutt have their own movie and zero pressure to represent truth, justice and a better tomorrow. Ana Nogueira’s script appears to be a riff on the 2021 comic-book miniseries “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,” in which the blond‘s birthday bacchanal takes a U-turn after Kara aligns with an alien child (young Eve Ridley from “3 Body Problem”). It’s basically an intergalactic “True Grit.” My one concern is that director Craig Gillespie made the too-squishy “Cruella.” Here’s hoping “Supergirl’s” tone is more sour than sweet. — Amy Nicholson
‘The Odyssey’
(July 17)
Matt Damon in the movie “The Odyssey.”
(Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Pictures)
As the follow-up to his “Oppenheimer” — which won Oscars and made nearly $1 billion — Christopher Nolan has gone from an ambitious story about the creation of the nuclear bomb to an even more ambitious story rooted in the origins of literature. Adapting Homer’s ancient Greek saga, Nolan has created an epic to end all epics: the tale of a king struggling to return home after years away at war. With an absolutely stacked cast and told at a massive scale, “The Odyssey” indicates that Nolan seems to trust that modern audiences will respond to a 3,000-year-old tale, and that some aspects of the human experience truly are eternal. — Mark Olsen
‘I Want Your Sex’
(July 31)
Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde in the movie “I Want Your Sex.”
(Lacey Terrell / Magnolia Pictures)
A new Gregg Araki movie loaded with sex and bad choices? What a rare and wonderful summer treat. (It’s the indie provocateur’s first feature in more than a decade.) An unhinged Olivia Wilde as the ultimate bad boss — an art star hoping to recapture some edge — gets you in the door. But Araki has shaded in the margins masterfully, with vivid supporting turns by Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs and the now-ubiquitous Charli XCX. And it’s Cooper Hoffman, in a performance as flustered as his impresario in “Licorice Pizza” was confident, who commands the movie, topping from the bottom. Araki’s sensibility is, if anything, wiser now, though he’d probably flinch at the word. Brace for inappropriateness. — Joshua Rothkopf
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’
(July 31)
An image from the movie “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
(Sony Pictures)
It’s been five years since our friendly neighborhood webslinger’s last big-screen adventure and a lot has changed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But it appears things have pretty much stayed the same for Peter Parker (Tom Holland). His last adventure involved him staving off a multiversal crisis by making everyone in the world forget him, including his best friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon). “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” picks up a few years later, with Peter still protecting the streets of New York as a masked superhero while his friends continue to live their lives unaware of what he once meant to them. Can some mutating DNA be the catalyst for a happy reunion? I hope so. — Tracy Brown
‘One Night Only’
(Aug. 7)
Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner in the movie “One Night Only.”
(Nicole Rivelli / Universal Pictures)
“The Purge”… but hot? That’s the pitch behind Will Gluck’s high-concept romantic comedy in which singles are eager to hook up on the one night a year when premarital sex is legal. The original story by Travis Braun was ranked No. 1 on the 2024 Black List of the best unproduced screenplays. While “that Gluck magic” doesn’t have quite the flow of the “Lubitsch touch,” he’s already directed one of the best modern rom-coms (“Easy A”) and one of the most lucrative (“Anyone but You”). Those films crowned Emma Stone and Sydney Sweeney as official movie stars. I’d love to see this film’s ingenue, Monica Barbaro, ascend to their ranks. Barbaro excelled in the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” where her hard-to-impress Joan Baez earned her an Oscar nod for supporting actress. This is her chance to seduce the audience as well as her onscreen co-star Callum Turner. I’m eager to commit. — Amy Nicholson
‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’
(Aug. 7)
Hannah Einbinder, left, and Gillian Anderson in the movie “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.”
(Ryan Plummer / Mubi)
Jane Schoenbrun has become one of the freshest new voices in American independent filmmaking with 2021’s “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” and 2024’s “I Saw the TV Glow,” transforming pop-culture obsessions into emotional explorations of identity and self-discovery. Promising to turn the summer camp slasher movie inside-out, their latest effort is about an up-and-coming director (“Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder) who entreats a faded scream queen (Gillian Anderson) to return to the horror franchise that once made her a star. Einbinder and Anderson locked into a psychosexual transference story already feels plenty potent. Put that setup in the anything-goes hands of Schoenbrun and it should make for a combustible combination of genre, persona, desire and fun. — Mark Olsen
‘The End of Oak Street’
(Aug. 14)
From left, Ewan McGregor, Christian Convery, Maisy Stella and Anne Hathaway in the movie “The End of Oak Street.”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
Do you ever look out your window and, tired of the same old view, long that you could just pick up and live somewhere else? I don’t know if Anne Hathaway’s character in David Robert Mitchell’s “The End of Oak Street” has ached for that kind of change, but it sure seems to have found her and her family in this tale of a suburbia transported to … prehistoric times? To another dimension, a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind? I do not know. I do not want to know. I do know that there is a dinosaur giving chase. And Ewan McGregor looks alarmed. And Mitchell is the weirdo writer-director behind “It Follows” and “Under the Silver Lake.” That’s all I need. — Glenn Whipp
‘The Dog Stars’
(Aug. 28)
Jacob Elordi in the movie “The Dog Stars.”
(Fabio Lovino / 20th Century Studios)
Director Ridley Scott long ago secured his place in film history with “Alien,” “Blade Runner” and “Gladiator.” The fact that he’s still at it at 88 makes each new film feel like an event. His latest adapts Peter Heller’s 2012 novel set in the aftermath of a pandemic that’s nearly wiped out humanity. Jacob Elordi, hot off “Frankenstein,” plays Hig, one of the few immune survivors, a pilot living at an abandoned airfield with his dog and a heavily armed survivalist (Josh Brolin). Hig’s days are spent flying perimeter patrols, scanning for signs of life — or trouble — until he encounters Margaret Qualley’s Cima, a medic guarding her own small foothold in the ruined world. Scott has called the film hopeful, which may be the most intriguing part: a post-apocalyptic story about why anyone bothers to keep going. — Josh Rottenberg
Jason Bateman could snag limited series Emmy nominations for his lead role as a deep-in-debt barman on Netflix’s “Black Rabbit” and supporting role as a sexually adventurous weatherman on HBO’s “DTF St. Louis.” Drawing more than one nomination in a year has been the norm for Bateman.
14
Bateman’s previous Emmy nominations encompass acting, directing and producing.
1
His lone Emmy win came in 2019, for directing an episode of his Netflix crime drama “Ozark.”
21
The former child actor’s first nomination, as lead of the Fox (later Netflix) comedy “Arrested Development,” came in 2005. Bateman’s adult “comeback” has lasted 21 years and counting.
4
Times he has received multiple nominations in a year, most often for acting in, directing and producing “Ozark.”
2
“Black Rabbit” and “DTF St. Louis” would mark his second time receiving acting nominations for different shows in the same year.
2020
Bateman competed for drama lead for “Ozark” and guest actor for HBO’s “The Outsider.”
0-for-7
Bateman is overdue for an acting Emmy. His brilliant straight-man work in “Arrested Development” lost out to Emmy juggernauts Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”) in 2005 and Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”) in 2013.
3-for-13
The Actor Awards have been kinder: Bateman won three lead actor statuettes for “Ozark.”
2026
The guilds already have spoken on “Black Rabbit,” with Bateman receiving Actor, DGA and PGA nominations.
5
Also a producer on “DTF St. Louis,” Bateman has a shot at five Emmy nominations this year.
Netflix’s latest worldwide wager is a menu of programming designed to feed the building fútbol frenzy that will explode in mid-June, when the FIFA World Cup begins. They might even win some Stateside converts ahead of the platform’s presentation of the CONCACAF Gold Cup and Nations League finals in 2027 and 2029.
“We say our goal is to entertain the world; in order to [do that], we need to entertain every single country” where Netflix has a presence, says Francisco Ramos, the streamer’s vice president of original content, Latin America. “Our superpower is that we’re so deeply rooted into local storytelling, then that becomes global.
“Netflix is uniquely qualified at building global audiences” for international sports content, he says. “We are very conscious and deliberate about it.”
Not that original sports content is anything new for the streamer; its first-ever original international series, “Club de Cuervos,” was a Mexican dramedy about a soccer club. But this salvo is precision-guided to hit as about 5 billion viewers get hyped for the global tournament.
“Four years ago, during the World Cup, we launched [an Argentine] documentary called ‘Sean eternos: Campeones de América’ [‘Captains of the World’], and it was massive, and then Argentina ended up winning a few months later,” says Ramos. “Right now, as the World Cup arrives, it’s very passionate.”
It’s not just Latin America that’s being targeted with new programming: There’s a trio of documentaries about Jamie Vardy, Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League-winning team and footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones under the “Untold UK” banner; “Poldi,” on German superstar Lukas Podolski; and “The Bus: A French Football Mutiny,” about the national team’s rocky 2010 World Cup journey.
A scene from “USA ’94: Brazil’s Return to Glory.”
(Netflix)
The World Cup-contending squad
For fans, the slate offers documentaries on landmark moments in Cup history (“USA ’94: Brazil’s Return to Glory”), superstar players (“Emi Martínez: The Kid Who Stops Time” and “James”) and even up-and-comers in a prestigious amateur tournament in Brazil (“The Root of the Game”).
But for the uninitiated, apart from the streamer’s FIFA soccer simulation game coming this summer, the gateway drug may be “Ronaldinho: The One and Only.” The doc spotlights one of the most improvisational and dynamic players ever, soccer’s Magic Johnson. The legendary attacking midfielder was a wizard on the pitch and a charisma machine off it.
“Ronaldinho retired from soccer [in 2018], and he’s still in the mainstream. He has 80 million followers on Instagram,” says Luis Ara, director of “Ronaldinho” and “USA ‘94.” “You have [superstars Lionel] Messi and Neymar [da Silva Santos Júnior] talking about him like he’s God.
“He was always so cool … for him, it was not only about winning a game; it was also about entertaining the people.”
Scripted offerings include the feature “Mexico ’86,” starring a wildly hustling Diego Luna. It’s a nasty comedy about the wheeling and dealing (and outright bribery) that landed Mexico the right to host its second World Cup. Non-soccer fans might enjoy the snarky dialogue and bare-knuckled machinations — it plays like a Spanish-language, soccer-themed “Succession” or “Marty Supreme.”
“Brazil ’70: The Third Star” is a miniseries about that country’s campaign to win a third World Cup, led by a name even non-fans know: Pelé. Rodrigo Santoro stars as Coach João Saldanha.
“Brazil was in the midst of the dictatorship; they had to somehow generate some sort of national pride,” says Ramos. “The only thing that unites Brazilians 100% is their team. It becomes this compelling thing about how society is so intertwined with sports, and how sports are so intertwined with politics in Latin America.”
Soccer superstar Ronaldinho Gaúcho is interviewed in the new Netflix documentary “Ronaldinho.”
(Netflix)
Is converting new American fans a realistic goal?
When soccer is the No. 1 sport in so many nations, why isn’t it bigger here?
It might have to do with the U.S. not having been a major player on the world stage, at least on the men’s side. The men’s team’s highest World Cup finish in the modern era is the quarterfinals in 2002, while U.S. women’s teams have won a record four World Cups. But the men have qualified for the tournament this year — which will be played partially in the States — and analysts say the team has improved, though they’re no one’s favorites to win it all.
Ramos says if American audiences stop seeing it as a competition between football and fútbol, they might come to appreciate soccer’s nuances.
“Take a look at the last 20 minutes of the World Cup four years ago, between France and Argentina. It’s the most extraordinary, beautiful art of people moving, and moving in extraordinary coordination. It’s like, the most-watched online thing ever.”
Beyond Netflix’s big bet on the World Cup slate, it’s not hard to get Ramos and Ara to make further wagers on this year’s tournament.
“Four teams have huge chances to win: Spain, France, Argentina and Brazil,” says Ara. “My heart is with Uruguay, but I don’t know if we’re gonna have a chance. Because of my bond with Brazil nowadays, I wish they could win again. A player once said to me, ‘Brazil is the second national team for any fútbol supporter.’ ”
“Oh my God, I will get in trouble,” says Ramos. “I’m Mexican, and it takes place in Mexico [and the U.S. and Canada], but … I’m gonna go with Argentina. My No. 2 would be Brazil.”
I come from a family of priests and devoted Catholics. Catholicism is the blood in my veins. My father was not a disciplinarian, but if you lived under his roof you went to church. Saturday evening or Sunday morning, didn’t matter, you went. My four siblings and I were not miscreants, but we drank beer and sneaked out, and I was once cited for stealing liquor. I can’t recall my father ever yelling at me for anything other than missing Mass.
My great-uncle Dan was a diocesan priest at St. Charles Borromeo in Drexel Hill, Pa. Dan was a fire-and-brimstone hard-liner. Every Thursday we’d gather as a family for a roast beef dinner at my grandmother’s house. Dan would drink Manhattans — plenty — and if someone expressed a view of God contrary to his own, he’d say, “It’s awfully hot down there.” “There” meant hell. My uncle Ed, my mother’s eldest brother, was an Augustinian. Patient, compassionate, inclusive, Ed’s God was very different from Dan’s. While discussing God, Ed would quote Michael Himes, “There is nothing we can do to make God not love us,” and the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, “Mercy, within Mercy, within Mercy.”
Sports was in my family too — basketball, specifically — and I came to view Dan and Ed as head and assistant coach, respectively. The head coach shouting harsh critiques from the sideline, the assistant coach there to put his arm around you when you made it, crestfallen and ashamed, back to the bench. I loved them both, but I aligned with Ed’s view of God. Dan passed away a decade ago. Ed has since left the priesthood and married a kind and patient woman named Kathy. Over the years, Ed’s views on God have changed drastically. We meet for dinner once a month to talk about life and faith, and it was during one of our conversations that “Task” was born.
Mark Ruffalo in “Task.”
(Peter Kramer / HBO)
Tom Brandis, played by the singular Mark Ruffalo, is a former priest-turned-FBI agent who has lost his faith. Everything he held as truth in his life has come crashing down in the wake of a family tragedy. Tom believes he was called by God to adopt two children, Emily and Ethan. Adopting these children has resulted in the death of his wife, Susan. Matricide. What kind of God allows that? I have struggled with my Catholic faith over the years, but nothing has perplexed me more than the idea of suffering. The poet Archibald MacLeish wrote, “If God is God, He is not good / If God is good, He is not God.” The message is clear: If God is God, the author of everything, then He created evil and suffering and therefore cannot be good.
In “Task,” I wanted to explore a crisis of faith with honesty and without easy answers, because that is exactly how I have found my own faith journey — arduous and circuitous. I believe in God, but I find that belief tested daily. Faith and religion are separable. Tom’s journey in “Task” is a journey of faith. In the fifth episode, Tom is kidnapped by the criminal Robbie Prendergast, played by the brilliant Tom Pelphrey. During a long and tense car ride to the Poconos, Robbie tells Tom that he doesn’t believe in God. Never has. God is an idea conjured to make life bearable. “There’s nothing after this life,” Robbie says. Tom doesn’t argue. His own beliefs have veered in that direction. The car pulls into a secluded, wooded area. Facing death, Tom suddenly wants to call his son, Ethan, and forgive him. Robbie doesn’t allow it. Instead, he walks Tom to the edge of the woods, tells him he’s a decent man, and sets him free. Because Robbie has his own plan: to sacrifice his life in the hopes of providing a better one for his family. It’s through Robbie’s act of mercy that Tom regains faith. He believes in goodness again.
Brad Ingelsby.
(Ian Spanier / For The Times)
In the final episode, Tom finds himself taking care of a young and suddenly parentless boy, Sam. Sam reminds him of his own son, Ethan. Sam wants to live with Tom. And Tom desperately wants Sam to stay with him. But Tom also recognizes that Sam would be better served in the care of a young family capable of meeting his needs. Sam shouldn’t be stuck with an old man like him. Tom lets Sam go; he believes the boy will be taken care of. That is Tom’s act of faith.
When Ed and I met for dinner last month, we talked about how his idea of God has changed over the years. He no longer sees God as a bearded white man tallying our sins and waiting to judge us in heaven. He thought God was everywhere, all the time. The love that exists between people. He thought he could feel God right then, among us at the table as we laughed. We talked about Camp Mystic. The young girls swept away. Why, God?They were there to serve You. We didn’t have any answers. We never do. But the food and wine were good, and we talked about great-uncle Dan, about how he was so different from us but how much we loved him anyway, and how, when he drank Manhattans — plenty — he could turn harsh and opinionated, but it didn’t matter because he loved God. He loved Him with his whole heart, and we thought about the unimpeachable dignity of that and what an amazing gift it would be — to believe and never doubt.
WASHINGTON — The congressman returned home last Fourth of July to startling stories in Southern California as immigration patrols swept through communities, and one constituent told him about starting to carry a passport as proof of the right to be in the country.
Rep. Mark Takano, whose American-born parents were both incarcerated as young children with their families during the forced relocation of Japanese Americans during World War II, could not help but see the parallels between that chapter of American history and this one.
“I do feel like there’s a similarity of circumstance of my own 2-year-old father and my 1-year-old mother being labeled as enemy aliens and they’re considered a danger to national security,” the Riverside Democrat told the Associated Press in a recent interview.
“They’re put into these incarceration camps,” he said. “Similar arguments have been made by this administration — that immigrants pose a grave danger to our country and it’s for the security of our country that we’re doing this.”
Echoes of history
President Trump’s campaign to achieve the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history is at an inflection point. Americans are seeing what it looks like to round up, detain and deport thousands of people, particularly in the aftermath of the deaths this year of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, U.S. citizens protesting the federal crackdown in Minneapolis.
The White House changed the leadership at the Department of Homeland Security as it reframes its approach. New Secretary Markwayne Mullin promised to keep the department off the front pages.
But Trump is also under mounting pressure from conservative groups not to let up on the goal of deporting 1 million people a year. The president’s Republican allies in Congress are fueling the immigration and deportation actions with billions of dollars in special funds.
Takano, the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has drawn from his own family history — and the country’s eventual redress to Japanese Americans who were detained — to challenge Trump’s approach.
“We look back on that era of history as a shameful one, as a time when our political leaders failed the Constitution, failed the American people,” he said.
One family’s story among many
A high school history teacher before being elected to Congress in 2012, Takano grew up in Southern California and came to understand the family stories.
His grandfather Isao Takano arrived in the U.S. from Hiroshima and married Kazue Takahashi, a U.S.-born citizen. Together they settled in Bellevue, Wash., and started a business growing tomatoes, strawberries and chrysanthemums for the marketplace in Seattle.
When the U.S. entered the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, they were among some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, immigrants and those born in the U.S., forcibly relocated.
His father, William, was 2 years old when his family was sent in 1942 to the incarceration camp at Tule Lake in Central California. His mother, Nancy Tsugiye Sakamoto, born in California to American-born parents, was a year old when she was relocated to the detention facility in Heart Mountain, Wyo.
Then, as now, he said, people are being swept up in the anti-immigrant detentions.
“Will Americans generations from now visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ and think to themselves, how could our government do this?” Takano said during a House floor speech, referring to the Trump administration’s immigration detention facility in Florida.
“These future generations of Americans will look to us, the Congress, to see what we did to try to stop it.”
A Reagan-era law seen as model
Takano remembers his father taking him to see the land the family once owned. He learned about his great-uncles who served in the Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team of Japanese American soldiers; one was killed in action in Italy. He recalls his own father later collected donations for the national redress campaign.
In 1988 Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act, which sought to apologize for the “grave injustice” that had been done and provide $20,000 to each person detained. President Reagan signed it into law.
Takano’s parents were among those who received a letter of apology from the federal government, he said, and a payment.
Talks are underway among some in Congress, he said, for a similar redress to the people who have had their car windows smashed in, their homes raided and livelihoods upended as part of Trump’s immigration enforcement operations.
“Remarkably the country did come to realize the mistake,” he said. “I believe we’re living through one of those eras of mistakes, and I believe we can come out of this moment stronger.”
Brooke Mayo was just 4 when she started playing soccer. She was about 4½ when she started fantasizing about participating in the World Cup.
“I just fell in love with the game,” she said. “Like any soccer player, you dream about the World Cup, you know?”
That dream came true three years ago, though not quite in the way Mayo had imagined. Although she took part in four matches at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, she did so as an assistant referee, not a player, running up and down the field with a flag in her hand, not a ball at her feet.
Yet Mayo made history just the same, joining Tori Penso and Kathryn Nesbitt as the first American officials to work a World Cup final as a trio. More importantly, they performed so well they have been invited to officiate in the men’s World Cup this summer, where they will make more history as just the second all-female crew to work a game in the men’s tournament.
And while Mayo appreciates the barrier breaking, for the three women it’s just another day at the office.
“For us, it’s just business as usual,” she said. “I think there’s still a lot of places in the world that need to see this and that’s why it’s still important. But our colleagues are used to seeing women around.”
Mark Geiger, a two-time World Cup referee who is now general manager of the Professional Referee Organization (PRO), which manages officials for MLS, agrees. After decades of seeing U.S. and Canadian referees given little respect by FIFA — nor by international soccer in general — Geiger says the biggest takeaway from this summer’s tournament isn’t the gender of the domestic officials selected, but rather the number, 11, making it the largest contingent to work a World Cup.
In addition to Mayo, Penso and Nesbitt, the list includes Ismail Elfath, Armando Villarreal, Kyle Atkins, Corey Parker and Drew Fischer, who took part in the 2022 men’s tournament. Nesbitt, Elfath, Parker and Atkins all worked the final of that World Cup four years ago, Elfath as the fourth official, Nesbitt as the reserve assistant referee and Parker and Atkins as video assistant referees.
With Mayo’s team working the 2023 women’s final — alongside Villarreal, who was in the video booth — seven MLS officials have worked the last two World Cup finals and at least one PRO official has been assigned to 19 of the 32 knockout games in the most recent men’s and women’s tournaments.
No other league or country in the world is even close to that.
“Over the past few years I think we’ve shown that the quality of football and the quality of the officiating in the United States and Canada is at a really high level,” said Geiger, who made history of his own in 2014 when he became the first American center referee to work a Round-of-16 match in the men’s World Cup.
“We are in the normal conversation of knockout-stage games, we’re in the normal conversation for Tori to do the final. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.”
Another thing that makes this World Cup special for the PRO officials is that with the U.S., Mexico and Canada sharing host duties, the tournament will be played at home. The only other time the men’s World Cup was played in the U.S., in 1994, Arturo Angeles, a Mexican-born naturalized citizen, was the only American referee selected and he supervised just one group-play game.
“Any World Cup game anywhere is going to be special on some level,” said Fischer, a 45-year-old Canadian who has been a FIFA referee for 11 years. “It’s definitely a special feeling when you get to play host. It’s a little bit of welcoming the world into your backyard.
“There’s a certain hometown pride. So I’m definitely looking forward to that aspect of it.”
Joe Dickerson, U.S. Soccer’s reigning male referee of the year, received the FIFA international badge he needed to work major competitions just three years ago. Yet he will be a replay official in this World Cup, the first one he was eligible to work.
“This kind of happened so fast in the last couple of years,” said Dickerson, who became a professional referee in 2013, then began targeting the World Cup when it was awarded to the U.S., Mexico and Canada in 2018. “To work the biggest sporting event in the world in front of friends and family is really cool. And being a part of the celebration of culture happening in your own country and, as much as we can, celebrate our own culture, is really cool.”
It also makes things much easier on family and friends. When Mayo officiated her first group-stage game in the 2023 tournament in New Zealand, her wife, Falon Catalano, flew in for the match.
Referee Brooke Mayo looks on during a CONCACAF Nations League third place match between Jamaica and Panama in March 2024.
(Julio Cortez / Associated Press)
“I told her like hey, it’s our first World Cup. So she came to that and then went home,” said Mayo, 37, who wasn’t sure she’d get another game.
When she was assigned the England-Australia semifinal in Sydney, she called Catalano back.
“I said ‘this might be the biggest appointment in my entire career, in Australia in front of 75,000 fans. You’ve got to come to this,’” she pleaded.
So Catalano came then went before Mayo found out she would be doing the final. That led to another call. “I said, ‘well, you’ve gotta come back.’”
An exhausted and broke Catalano said no to the expense and fatigue of another 38-hour round trip, but after a group of MLS officials passed the hat to buy the ticket, Catalano surprised Mayo by making the match after all.
Making it to the semifinals — much less the final — was far from guaranteed since the World Cup is a meritocracy for officials as well as for the players. In fact, it’s harder to make the final as an official: There will be 170 officials from 50 countries taking part in this summer’s tournament as opposed to 1,248 players — or one referee for every 13 players.
“A lot of people underestimate how difficult it is for us to get there,” said Dickerson.
Referees are graded after every game and those who don’t measure up in their first match don’t work another one. Those who excel, however, continue to advance — as Mayo did in 2023.
“Just like teams try to kind of hit their stride in a tournament setting, that was similar with us. We just went in there focused on only one game in front of us,” she Mayo, who got her FIFA badge in 2018. “Our goal was to earn another game after that, do everything we can to clean up our communication. We’re like micro-managing ‘how could we have done this better?’
“You are just operating in sync. You’re spending every minute together. You’re together at breakfast. You’re together at training. You’re together at lunch. You’re traveling together. By the end, if they even sigh on the field, I know what that means.”
Mayo, like most officials, came to the game as a player — one good enough to play four years at Tennessee Tech. As a teenager she was moonlighting as a referee, raising enough money to fund a trip to South Africa to watch the 2010 World Cup as a fan.
“But I didn’t take reffing seriously,” she said. “Once I finished playing, I missed that competitive edge. When I realized I could do it in reffing, I was like, ‘Oh, this scratches that itch that I miss.”
Taking part in a World Cup remained a dream, however, and she got to scratch that itch three years ago. Now she’s working the tournament at home, where her family, who live in Colorado, will be just a few hours away should there be any frantic last-minute flights to catch.
Having already worked one World Cup final, anything short of the final this summer could feel like a failure.
“It’s a lot of skill, but it’s also a lot of luck. You have to be in the right place at the right time,” Mayo said. “There’s not that much that separates people at the top.
“We’re up against amazing referees. We’re going to fight for every game, one game at a time, knock it out of the park and hope for the best.”
In 1973, Tom Bradley became L.A.’s. first Black mayor by assembling Black, Jewish, white and Latino liberals into a coalition that ended decades of conservative white rule at City Hall.
Bradley’s election transformed Los Angeles politics and began what has been, for the most part, a 50-year reign of moderate Democrats. Year after year, the election map has changed, but liberal centrists have usually remained on top.
But as Mayor Karen Bass seeks reelection, she is struggling to unite her traditional base as she faces attacks from Democratic Socialists of America Councilwoman Nithya Raman on the left and Republican reality TV star Spencer Pratt on the right.
Some political experts in L.A. say mainstream Democrats are floundering as they try to patch together their coalitions in an era when poll after poll shows the city’s residents frustrated with the status quo.
“Overwhelmingly, Angelenos feel Los Angeles doesn’t work,” said Fernando Guerra, founding director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. “You have this liberal regime that has dominated from ‘73 to ‘26 and it’s stagnant.”
Traditional voting patterns, political experts agree, are unraveling as L.A.’s mounting housing costs create new political fault lines in this city of 3.9 million. The devastating 2025 wildfires, along with enduring problems of homelessness, declining city infrastructure and traffic, have exacerbated discontent.
It’s still possible Bass can pull off reelection in the nonpartisan mayoral race and some coalition of centrist Democrats can survive. But the fact that she is unlikely to avoid a runoff when U.S. incumbents typically win at a 90% rate, Guerra said, shows that L.A.’s mainstream Democratic institutions are hollowing out.
“The problem is not Bass,” Guerra said, adding: “Any regime that lasts for that long begins to fall upon itself. … It stagnates and stops being innovative, and just becomes protective of the ingrained interests that have nurtured that coalition.”
Former L.A. Mayors Antonio Villaraigosa, Eric Garcetti and Richard Riordan.
Most political observers in L.A., however, are confident that the city’s future is not conservative.
The DSA, a decentralized anti-capitalist group, has made inroads in L.A. as it advocates for rental protections, defunding the police and a Green New Deal. Over the last six years, Angelenos have elected four DSA-backed City Council members and a DSA-recommended city controller.
“L.A. is clearly a city that is steadily moving to the left,” said Jim Newton, executive director of UCLA Blueprint magazine and a veteran political journalist who worked for the L.A. Times for 25 years.
“People are unhappy, but they’re not unhappy enough to vote for a Republican,” Guerra agreed. “They have been looking at the other alternatives: the Democratic Socialist party that is the challenge to the establishment.”
Some caution, however, that it is too early to map out Los Angeles’ political future.
“I think everything is up for grabs,” Sonenshein said, noting that he expected more competition for Latino and Asian voters, young voters and even older Democrats. “Certainly, younger voters are completely up for grabs. It’s just hard to know where they’re going to end up. … Small shifts in the primary can make a very big difference.”
L.A. rose as the Republican stronghold of California.
As a massive influx of white Midwesterners descended on L.A. after the 1885 opening of the Santa Fe railroad, conservative white civic leaders — including the owners of the L.A. Times — touted the city as the GOP counterpart to progressive, union-friendly San Francisco. Liberal Black and white Angelenos were shut out of citywide power.
The purpose of the Bradley coalition, Sonenshein said, was to “break open the stranglehold of a city establishment that was … unresponsive to the diversity of the community.”
Bradley, an even-keeled attorney and former police officer, was well positioned to bridge L.A.’s racial divides. As a police community relations officer, he had cultivated relationships with Jewish business owners. He was an early supporter of L.A.’s first Latino City Council member, Edward Roybal, and had already united Black and Jewish Angelenos in the 10th District as the city’s first Black City Council member.
L.A. City Councilman Tom Bradley and Mayor Sam Yorty in a TV studio just before the start of a debate during their 1973 campaign for mayor.
(Los Angeles Times)
After his 1973 win, as waves of new immigrants moved to L.A., Bradley brought more Latinos and Asian Americans into the fold. A conscious alliance of minority communities reelected Bradley, helping him become the longest-serving mayor in L.A. history.
But by the 1990s, frustration had swelled over L.A.’s crime, pollution and poverty. Bradley’s popularity plummeted after Black motorist Rodney King was brutally beaten by LAPD officers in 1991 and riots erupted across the city the next year when a largely white jury acquitted the officers. More than 60 people were killed.
As Bradley prepared to step down, Democrats struggled to find a successor who could unite liberal Black, white, Latino and Asian Angelenos.
Still, some were skeptical that Richard Riordan, a Republican venture capitalist, would win. Riordan was a moderate, easygoing philanthropist, Newton said, and Republicans at the time made up 30% of L.A.’s registered voters, double their number now. Even so, he noted, “there were people who thought this is just not what this city is, the city doesn’t need a multimillionaire white guy Republican.”
Voters thought differently. After securing the support of San Fernando Valley Republicans and Democratic centrists and making small inroads among Latinos, Riordan became the first Republican L.A. mayor elected in 36 years.
The Bradley coalition was “a spent force,” Sonenshein said. “But new players were emerging in prominent roles, working to forge new types of alliances and, at times, temporary coalitions.”
When California voters in 1994 passed the anti-immigrant Proposition 187, which barred undocumented immigrants from receiving many public services, Latino participation in L.A. politics surged. Asian Americans also began to rise.
But after Bradley, there was no single Democratic coalition in the city.
When Antonio Villaraigosa challenged James Hahn in 2001 and 2005, Sonenshein said, Hahn drew support from the Black community and the Valley, Villaraigosa from Latinos and liberals. When Eric Garcetti defeated Wendy Greuel in 2013, Greuel had strong support in Black South L.A., but Garcetti managed to win with the white and Latino vote.
“People have to piece it together, because the Democrats have such a larger edge in L.A. than they did in Bradley’s age,” he said. “It’s almost a kind of entrepreneurial thing: You’ve got to go out and build a majority each time, and those alliances shift.”
There were still challenges from the right. But in 2022, when billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso ran against Bass on a centrist law-and-order platform, he switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democratic. Some saw that as a recognition that a Republican could not win in L.A.
Like Bradley, Bass is a pragmatic politician with a long record of forging relationships behind the scenes.
In the 1990s, she founded the grassroots Community Coalition to combat the public health crises that plagued South L.A. amid the crack-cocaine epidemic.
But as Bass presides over a City Hall that is almost entirely dominated by Democrats, discontent is spreading. Polls show a substantial portion of the electorate views her unfavorably because of her handling of the Palisades fire.
Guerra said the lack of affordable housing had created a unique moment: Even after the King riots, the Northridge earthquake and the O.J. Simpson trial, he said, Angelenos were still invested in living in the city.
“You could still buy a home. You could still see yourself nurturing L.A., but also L.A. nurturing you,” Guerra said.
For Guerra, centrist Democrats have been so successful at inclusion they have struggled to identify priorities.
“There are too many members of the coalition and there are too many of the members who have veto power, which then leads to paralysis,” Guerra said. “The paralysis is what’s led to the lack of innovation, the failure to pursue policies that make sense for the greater good.”
The dysfunction, he said, is particularly clear on housing.
“Every NIMBY in every neighborhood, in every council district, is like, ‘We want housing, but not here,’” Guerra said. “That, replicated everywhere, leads to paralysis and no housing.”
It has also led to renters becoming a rising political constituency — a big shift from the Bradley era, when homeowners were the city’s dominant voters.
But that doesn’t mean working-class Angelenos have a bigger voice now in L.A. politics. Instead, the middle class is splintering along generational lines.
“Middle-class young folks graduating from college, who have extraordinary amounts of debt, cannot buy homes,” said Sara Sadhwani, a politics professor at Pomona College. “The city still has issues with food insecurity and low-wage worker protections, but those are not the issues dominating anymore.”
While L.A. Democrats have long focused on assembling coalitions of Black, Latino, Asian American and other minority activists, Sadhwani said, what was often not spoken about was the role of the city’s “nonprofit industrial complex.”
“Nonprofits have a huge role,” she said, noting that Bass came of that world. “Their politics are shifting.” Before 2020, she said, progressives focused on racial justice, immigration reform, and creating an economy that respects the work of immigrants; now, the focus is largely on homelessness and policing.
“What it means to be a progressive today,” Sadhwani said, “is actually quite different from what it was to be a progressive even just five years ago.”
Even as L.A. is clearly still a Democratic stronghold, Republicans say there are signs that some Angelenos are not in lockstep with liberal activists.
Donald Trump’s share of the vote in L.A. in the last three presidential elections, they note, climbed from 16% in 2016 to 21% in 2020 and 27% in 2024. And there is evidence that voters, at least at the county level, are questioning some criminal justice reforms.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, pictured here on the cover of Newsweek, helped reshape the city’s Democratic coalition
(David McNew / Getty Images)
With Republicans making up about 15% of L.A.’s registered voters, Rob Stutzman, a GOP strategist, said Pratt might win enough independent voters and disaffected Democrats to make it past the primary. But he would then struggle to get more than 50% in the runoff.
“The math just isn’t there, but in addition to that it’s the stink of Trump,” Stutzman said. “The tribal politics of today make a Republican victory in L.A. very difficult.”
Raman stunned L.A.’s political establishment in 2020 when she was elected L.A.’s first DSA-backed City Council member.
As she runs for mayor, the Los Angeles chapter of the DSA hopes to expand its power as it endorses a new slate of 2026 candidates for City Council, city attorney and L.A. school board.
Richard Riordan, the last elected Republican mayor of Los Angeles.
(Los Angeles Times)
Raman is clearly betting that a big, viable part of the electorate is to Bass’ left, Newton said.
The DSA, Newton said, had done a good job in recent years of identifying renters’ interests and advancing them to usher in a “newer, younger, probably more progressive edge to the city’s politics.”
But so far, Raman, who has aligned herself with the DSA on issues such as renter protections but deviated on police spending, is struggling to unite the organization.
The Harvard and MIT graduate caught the DSA and her fellow City Council members off guard when she entered the mayoral race just before the filing deadline.
After building momentum, the DSA’s failure to rally around a 2026 mayoral candidate could hurt the movement for several election cycles, Guerra said.
“This dissension is setting them back,“ Guerra said. “They really do have an opportunity to elect a DSA mayor.”
Bass has seized on Raman’s lack of support in City Hall to critique her coalition-building skills.
“If you want to be the mayor and you can’t get along with people who are your colleagues on council,” Bass said recently, “I don’t know how you’re supposed to govern at all.”
In the end, the outcome of L.A.’s mayoral race may not depend so much on Bass’ ability to inspire her traditional Democratic coalition. The question is whether a new generation can find a way to represent a mass of Angelenos with bold new visions and coalitions of their own.
Politics is about persuasion and emotion, not rocket telemetry, so it’s not hard to figure out what’s going on.
“You look at Xavier and he seems to be perceived as a thoughtful, credible, trustworthy choice. That’s what I hear when I talk to regular people who aren’t political insiders,” said Darry Sragow, a Democrat strategist who’s spent decades running California campaigns. “So you see the people who want to take him out going after one of the words I just used here, which is ‘trustworthy’ and, to some extent, ‘credible.’”
A recent Steyer mail piece — which, naturally, features a grim-faced portrait of Becerra — accuses him of “mismanagement,” “scandal” and “incompetence,” and cites a 2024 quote from Susan Rice, a former Biden domestic policy advisor, describing the ex-Cabinet member as an “idiot.” (Apparently “bitch-a—,” another Rice epithet from the same Axios news report, was deemed unsuitable.)
The mail piece also quotes Xochitl Hinojosa, a Justice Department spokesperson in the Biden administration, saying Becerra “was not effective in government,” though several people who worked in the White House could not think of any occasion, or any reason, Hinojosa would have meaningfully interacted with Becerra.
Pretty weak sauce. But at least Hinojosa, who delivered her gibe on one of CNN’s talking-head shows, was willing to publicly attach herself to the criticism.
Six former Biden administration officials were quoted by Politico “reacting with a mix of incredulity, mockery and resignation” to Becerra’s sudden ascendance in the governor’s race. Critics also unloaded to NBC News and other outlets. All of them spoke anonymously.
Therefore, it’s impossible to discern their motivations. Jealousy? Ego? An attempt to stay politically relevant?
Or maybe Becerra was, indeed, a feckless, flailing and thoroughly awful Cabinet member, deserving of scorn and shame.
Ron Klain, who was Biden’s chief of staff during the first two years of his presidency, doesn’t believe so.
“I think he did an excellent job as HHS secretary and I think the record shows that,” Klain said, citing, among other accomplishments, Becerra’s work helping negotiate a drop in the price of prescription drugs and expanding healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
On COVID-19, Becerra “wasn’t confirmed until several months into the Biden administration. Dr. [Anthony] Fauci had been on the job and was quite a well-known figure to Americans. So, of course, he became more the face of the COVID response.”
“On immigration,” Klain went on. “Xavier’s part was small and discreet. He wasn’t the secretary of Homeland Security. He didn’t run the border. He oversaw an office called the Office of Refugee Resettlement” responsible for processing children who crossed the border alone. “I was in meetings where he was a passionate and forceful advocate for these minors,” Klain said.
Still, there are legitimate questions, notwithstanding Becerra’s deflections — Trump! MAGA! Trump! — about his handling of the migrant children, some of whom died, suffered horrible abuse or were catastrophically injured, according to revelatory reporting by the New York Times. It’s worth noting, however, that Becerra inherited a plan to deal with unaccompanied minors that was drafted and phased in by Rice and her Domestic Policy Council.
There is an unhappy history between the two; apparently Becerra was not alone in drawing Rice’s ire. In 2022, an article in the American Prospect accused her of creating an “abusive and dehumanizing workplace,” in which Rice routinely berated others, including the Health and Human Services secretary.
On social media, Rice has made no secret of her continued contempt for Becerra, a display that carries no small whiff of ax-grinding and score-settling. She highlighted the refusal of Biden’s Homeland Security chief, Alejandro Mayorkas, to endorse Becerra in the governor’s race, though it would be surprising if Mayorkas, Biden, Kamala Harris or any high-level Democrat picked a favorite in such a fiercely contested primary.
Becerra “had big things to do and he got them done,” said Neera Tanden, who succeeded Rice as head of Biden’s Domestic Policy Council and has vigorously defended Becerra against attacks on social media.
“I am not on or coordinating with the Becerra campaign,” Tanden said. “I just know these attacks are ridiculous.”
If Becerra makes it past Tuesday’s primary to the November runoff, his career merits careful scrutiny — and not just those years spent in the Biden Cabinet. Many voters are still getting to know Becerra, who is the likeliest candidate to be California’s next governor. Anonymous quotes, drive-by commentary and incendiary mailers may be standard campaign fare. But voters deserve better.
CLOVIS — Jurupa Valley senior AB Hernandez placed third in the CIF state championship long jump on Saturday, medaling in the event for the second consecutive year.
Hernandez, who is transgender, has faced harassment and ire from anti-trans protesters and conservative pundits during the past two years. She jumped 20 feet, 2 1/4 inches on Saturday, behind first-place finisher Ellie McCuskey-Hay of St. Ignatius (20-3½) and Gianna Gonzalez of Moorpark (20-3½).
Under CIF policy, transgender athletes who place at the state championships receive medals but do not displace cisgender girls in the final standings. The federation announced last year that the policy would apply specifically to the long jump, triple jump and high jump — the three events Hernandez competed in — and the rule remained in effect for her three events this weekend.
Hernandez shared her third-place podium with St. Mary’s Berkeley jumper Corrine Jones, who reached 19-9 ½.
Hernandez secured her place in Saturday’s finals on her opening long jump attempt Friday, posting a mark strong enough to hold the top qualifying position. She passed on her remaining two attempts after safely locking up advancement.
The atmosphere surrounding the state championships was notably calmer than a year ago, when demonstrations over Hernandez’s participation drew national attention. On Friday, the most visible protest activity came before the meet, when Republican California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton held a news conference outside Veterans Memorial Stadium, noting that the primary election was just four days away.
Standing before signs reading “Hey, CIF: Girls’ Sports Girls Only” on Friday, Hilton criticized the California Interscholastic Federation’s policies governing transgender athletes.
On Saturday, the Rainbow Families Action group hosted a news conference outside in support of Hernandez. Counter-protesters showed up toward the end and shouted toward the Hernandez supporters and the two sides exchanged some words before dispersing.
Inside the stadium, however, the focus largely remained on the competition. Spectators cheered as Hernandez began her long-jump approach, and some fans wore bracelets bearing the message “We Stand With AB.”
Event organizers prohibited signs inside the venue. Unlike last year, when advocacy groups on both sides staged more visible demonstrations, the off-track theatrics were largely absent.
Meanwhile, Democrat Tom Steyer released a video on X on Friday featuring a previous conversation with Hernandez, in which he expressed support for her participation in high school athletics.
The 17-year-old arrived in Clovis after sweeping all three of her events at the Southern Section championships.
Entering the state meet, Hernandez ranked among the nation’s top 10 performers in all three events. She shared California’s best high jump mark, was tied for second in the long jump and ranked second in the triple jump. She will compete in the high jump and triple jump later Saturday.
At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker William D. Caballero won the NEXT Special Jury Award for Creative Expression for his intensely personal, multimedia feature debut, “TheyDream.” During his acceptance speech, he made a powerful statement.
“In case ICE were ever to harm me or kill me, this film will serve as the truth of who I am, and who my family is, before Fox News or this administration ever makes us out to be the villain[s],” he recalls paraphrasing during a recent interview.
Blending live action footage with different animation techniques — as well as the 3-D-printed miniatures that have been a fixture of Caballero’s work for more than a decade — “TheyDream” honors the filmmaker’s Puerto Rican loved ones, particularly his mother, Milly.
She collaborated with him in the making of this one-of-a-kind portrait of loss, resilience and shared healing. Their heartfelt exchanges throughout this process are also shared on-screen.
“Seeing her light up and become transformed throughout was just invigorating, because it allowed us to talk about heavy things and bond throughout the process of creating a story that’s personal [for us] both,” Caballero says. “It’s like, ‘Let’s guide each other and instead of me taking your stories and making magic with them, let’s make this magic together.’”
The brilliantly unconventional piece of autobiographical storytelling will screen as the closing night film of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) on Sunday. Recently, John Leguizamo and Ben DeJesus joined the film as executive producers.
Starting with his 2013 short film “How You Doin,’ Boy? Voicemails From Gran’pa,” Caballero has used miniatures to immortalize his loved ones. That bite-sized introduction to his Boricua grandfather’s humorous wisdom evolved into the HBO Latino show, “Gran’pa Knows Best.”
“When I started working on ‘Gran’pa Knows Best,’ I knew that 3-D printing was this new technique,” he says. “But I’d never seen anyone that looked or sounded like my grandfather in it. I realized that it could be a really creative method to preserve his voice and his story. “
Then came the 2017 short “Victor & Isolina” about his grandparents’ relationship, and more recently in 2022, he debuted “Chilly and Milly,” which focused on his parents. Some of the sets from these shorts, tiny replicas of places familiar to Caballero, and a few of the miniature characters were reused in “TheyDream.”
“Being able to create these things in miniature is almost like getting back in touch with the idea of play,” Caballero explains. “As a child, you invent lots of stories all the time. But now as an artist, I’m able to tell stories that touch upon reality and painful memories, but also hopes and dreams in a way that hearkens back to the innocence of childhood.”
Filmmaker William D. Caballero will screen “TheyDream” on Sunday at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF).
(William D. Caballero)
“TheyDream” is a culmination of the eclectic and nimble artistic practice that Caballero has developed since he studied digital art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
“I’d always just been attracted to new ways of expressing myself and expressing stories. And I say this both in a way that brings me pride, but also brings me a bit of a headache, because I don’t think I’ll ever be a conventional filmmaker,” he says, laughing.
Still, working outside the margins of traditional moviemaking requires great adaptability.
When Caballero received funding for “TheyDream” in 2021, the money wasn’t enough to conceive it as he had originally envisioned it: entirely told with 3-D-printed figures in physical sets. The lack of resources forced him to rethink his approach, and he opted for hiring two Puerto Rican animators, Julisse Tinoco and Frank Martinez, each of whom animate in distinct styles, to help him create some of the sequences needed.
“This all goes back to the resourcefulness that I learned when I was young,” Caballero says. “When you’re born Latino and low-income in this society, you can’t let yourself be written off or you’re already defeated before you even begin.”
Caballero grew up in housing projects in New York City, and later in a trailer in his grandmother’s backyard in Fayetteville, N.C. Both of his parents were disabled.
Filmmaker William D. Caballero poses as his father for a reference shot in the making of his 2026 film “TheyDream.”
For Caballero, he says the arts have provided an escape that he “needed in order to survive and not feel weighed down by American consumerism, by poverty and by feeling trapped.” Whenever grief has perturbed him, Caballero has processed it through creativity.
With “TheyDream,” he wished to extend that vehicle for self-reflection to his mother. The film addresses complicated familial bonds and his mother’s experience caring for others.
“Throughout the years, we’ve lost several of my family members that we were both close to, but my mother especially,” he says. “She feels their absence much stronger than I do. I live in Los Angeles, my mother still lives in North Carolina. Knowing that she was alone in the mobile home, it just made me feel like, ‘That can’t be good for her.’”
His mother, he says, deals with self-esteem issues because her identity has for so long been reduced to being a caretaker for elderly relatives, who, inevitably, pass away — leaving her feeling like a failure. In reality, it was thanks to her devotion that they added years of life.
Caballero’s mother was at the Sundance premiere of “TheyDream,” where she witnessed how others saw her through the film she helped her son craft.
“I wanted her to feel like, ‘Mom, look at all these people that are clapping for you. They’re clapping for you because you are a hero. You deserve to hold yourself high and be strong and know that there’s something incredible in your story that’s indicative of the stories of many low-income Americans, regardless of race,’” Caballero says, visibly moved.
A prolific and highly regarded artist (he is a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow), Caballero has several other projects in the works that he’s trying to shop around. One of them is an episodic series titled “Second Fiddle,” about a 15-year-old Latino boy who gets accepted to a prestigious summer youth orchestra camp — and whose overbearing mother decides she’s going to stay in the camp with him.
Caballero’s mother, Milly, got the animated treatment in “TheyDream.”
“I never saw a Latino playing violin on TV or the big screen. I didn’t see any quirky, nerdy, artsy Latino kids like I was,” he says. “And I felt in my core that [it] was just wrong and something that I could change.”
Another project, “Raúl Playing Game,” is “an adult version of Pixar’s ‘Inside Out,’ ” that takes place in the mind of a closeted bisexual man. Caballero himself is bisexual. In 2022, “Raúl Playing Game” was selected for the LALIFF Inclusion Fellowship, which provided support for a short film version that serves as proof of concept for a potential TV show.
“I always wanted to make sure that I was telling authentic stories even if not necessarily always positive stories,” he says. “I’m very happy that I never lost track of that. Because I do believe that we need to tell our own stories, in our own unique voices, before someone else does it for us.”
Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, with an assist from Noah Goldberg, Melissa Gomez and Sandra McDonald, giving you the latest on city and county government.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez has had some pretty tough words over the years for Mayor Karen Bass and her administration.
Rodriguez, who is running unopposed in Tuesday’s election, repeatedly criticized Bass’ Inside Safe program, which moves homeless people indoors, saying it lacked financial oversight. She voted against the mayor’s budget last year, saying too much was going to Inside Safe. She was especially harsh in the wake of the Palisades fire, saying that Bass’ team botched the first few months of the recovery.
That might make her an ideal person to endorse Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is running to unseat Bass in Tuesday’s primary and has leveled similar critiques. Instead, Rodriguez has emerged as an unexpected ally of the incumbent.
During the campaign, Rodriguez has appeared with Bass at events in Eagle Rock, Pacoima and even Sherman Oaks, located in Raman’s district. She popped up in a campaign flier from Latinos Por Karen Bass. And she’s been dinging Raman over everything from economic development to policies around outdoor barbecues.
Rodriguez explained her decision to support Bass in an interview, saying she views the incumbent as being far more willing to entertain opposing views than Raman — and understands that “not everyone thinks the same way.” Bass also is more consistent on the issues, Rodriguez said.
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Raman, by contrast, has shifted her positions on police spending, the tax hike known as Measure ULA and even who should be the next mayor, jumping into the race after she endorsed Bass, Rodriguez said.
“I don’t know what she stands for,” she said.
Raman’s campaign declined to comment on Rodriguez’s remarks. But former former Deputy Mayor Rick Cole, a Raman supporter, said he is surprised to see Rodriguez line up behind Bass, given how critical she has been over the years.
“Monica is a self-described maverick, so it’s ironic that she’s thrown in with the establishment on this. But sometimes personalities play a role,” he said.
Rodriguez had been talked up at one point as a possible opponent of Bass in this year’s election. If Bass wins a second and final term, the mayor’s race would be wide open in 2030.
Pratt accuses Bass of electioneering
It was a small yet upbeat event staged by Bass’ reelection campaign: The mayor, accompanied by supporters chanting “four more years,” walking up to an official drop box and putting in her ballot.
That miniature rally, staged last weekend near the city’s Memorial Branch Library, was captured on video and circulated by Bass’ campaign. But it has drawn a complaint from mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, who accused the mayor of violating a state law prohibiting electioneering near a polling place or voter drop box.
In a complaint filed with the city clerk, Pratt attorney Peter McNulty said Bass and her supporters improperly solicited votes, waved campaigns signs and “engaged in blatant electioneering” near a voting location.
“Such clear violations of electioneering restrictions show a reckless disregard for the rule of law and an apparent belief that she need not comply with relevant restrictions that apply to all other candidates,” he wrote.
The Bass campaign pushed back on those allegations, saying the video features footage from two locations near the drop box. The portion that featured the Bass campaign signs was filmed 200 feet away — twice the distance required by law, said Alex Stack, a Bass spokesperson.
“Spencer is just mad that his supporters are AI cartoons and we have real Angelenos,” he said. “We follow the rules.”
Pratt’s lawyer said in his letter that he wants the city to investigate. He also filed a complaint with the state, citing the state election law that prohibits the dissemination of “visible or audible electioneering information” near a polling place or drop box.
Feldstein Soto flames Airbnb
City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto has been getting hit from both directions over the last few weeks.
On one side, a committee with at least $450,000 in funding from the Consumer Attorneys of California has been pumping out campaign ads promoting her opponent, Deputy Atty. Gen. Marissa Roy. On the other, a campaign committee heavily bankrolled by Airbnb is running ads for Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney, another opponent in the race.
Feldstein Soto has countered with a television ad that highlights her office’s lawsuit against Airbnb, which accuses the company of engaging in price gouging after the Palisades fire. Staring into the camera, Feldstein Soto said Airbnb and other special interests “are spending millions to try and get rid of me.”
“They think L.A. belongs to them,” she says. “I know it belongs to you.”
Feldstein Soto had raised about $860,000 for her campaign through May 16, compared with about $680,000 for Roy and about $122,000 for McKinney. But those fundraising efforts, which face strict limits under the city’s ethics laws, have been overshadowed by the unlimited spending from Airbnb and the others.
Justin Wesson, senior public policy manager for Airbnb in California, said in a statement that McKinney’s campaign platform is “focused on keeping Los Angeles communities safe and vibrant, including for Angelenos who share their home and their guests that contribute to the local economy.”
In recent weeks, Airbnb has been pushing the city’s elected officials to loosen L.A.’s home-sharing regulations, by allowing owners of second homes to lease their properties on short-term rental platforms.
Airbnb has put big money into other committees, including those that support Tim Gaspar, who is running to replace Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, and Jose Ugarte, who is running to replace Councilmember Curren Price.
Team Raman woos Huang, without success
We mentioned a few weeks back that Raman supporters have been noisily demanding that mayoral candidate Rae Huang drop out of the race, saying she was siphoning left-of-center votes away Raman. Turns out Raman’s campaign was trying to persuade her to pull the plug as well.
Raman campaign strategist Jeff Millman reached out to Huang advisor Bill Przylucki earlier this month about getting the community organizer to drop her mayoral bid, according to Huang spokesperson Emel Shaikh.
The overture from the Raman camp, first reported by LA Material, took place after the May 6 NBC LA debate but before a Fox debate planned for the next week, Shaikh said.
“She never really entertained the idea,” Shaikh said.
Raman, speaking with reporters on Friday, said she knew that people from both campaigns were conferring.
“I’m sure [Huang] was aware of it as well,” she said. “And I think we were really talking about how to achieve a bold, progressive vision for Los Angeles. Both of us got into this race because we felt a deep sense of dissatisfaction with the status quo.”
Millman, a veteran of L.A. politics, worked for former Mayor Eric Garcetti and was a spokesperson for Austin Beutner’s mayoral bid before his campaign ended in January. After Beutner dropped out, he moved to the Raman campaign. Przylucki is the former executive director of the progressive nonprofit Ground Game LA.
Supporters of Raman contend that Huang doesn’t have a path to victory — and could deprive Raman of a chance to compete in the Nov. 3 runoff. Asked whether she feels the same way, Raman said she is focused on getting her voters to the polls.
At this point, Raman is neck and neck with Bass and slightly ahead of Pratt, according to a poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, which was co-sponsored by The Times.
State of play
— A THREE-WAY RACE: Bass, Raman and Pratt are locked in a tight three-way contest, with the mayor holding a statistically insignificant lead in the run-up to Tuesday, the latest UC Berkeley-L.A. Times poll found. Bass had 26% support from likely voters, followed by Raman with 25% support and Pratt at 22%.
Bass, appearing at City Hall Thursday, said she’s not worried about failing to make the top two, telling an audience there are many polls that show different results. “I feel confident about Tuesday,” she said.
— AN EMBATTLED MAYOR: The Times took a look at Bass’ first term and the events that have put her political future in peril. Although some point to the city’s handling of the massively destructive Palisades fire, others say her troubles go much deeper.
— READING THE ROOM: While Bass has had difficulty managing the city, Raman faces a different issue: her struggle to forge working relationships with colleagues and allies. No one on the council, including those backed by the DSA, have endorsed her. Raman allies downplayed the issue, saying her strength is her independence.
— CUTTING CRIME: Even with L.A. experiencing fewer murders than at any point in 60 years, crime remains a potent issue in the mayor’s race. Pratt has been portraying the city as a lethal hellscape. Meanwhile, even some of Bass’ supporters have been shocked by how “aggressively pro-police she has been,” said former Councilmember Mike Bonin, who heads the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State, LA.
— DOWNTOWN IN THE DUMPS: Meanwhile, downtown business owners say they are struggling with crime, homelessness and aging infrastructure — all issues that have become central to the mayor’s race.
— LOVE, MOM: The mother of city controller candidate Zach Sokoloff has pumped at least $7.5 million into an independent expenditure campaign supporting him as he seeks to unseat City Controller Kenneth Mejia. The incumbent has accused the Sokoloff family of trying to buy the seat. Sheryl Sokoloff has declined to comment.
— SHERIFF SHOWDOWN: Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Lunais in a rematch against former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, while also facing six other opponents. (Villanueva was unseated by Luna in 2022.) The top two vote getters will head to the Nov. 3 runoff.
— WAITING FOR THE WAGE: The council finalized its plan to delay a series of minimum wage hikes for hotel and airport workers this week, ensuring that the wage won’t reach $30 until January 2030 instead of July 2028.
— D&D AND DSA: Democratic Socialists of America, whose L.A. chapter is campaigning for five candidates in the city election, took in $30,000 at a Dungeons & Dragons-themed fundraiser. The candidates took part in the action, playing fantasy characters who still keep one foot in the political world.
— CALLING THE COPS: Looking to prevent copper wire theft, the Department of Water and Power is seeking to create its own police force.
— OUT OF THE FRYING PAN: The council on Wednesday confirmed Gabrielle Amster as the latest general manager for the animal services department, which oversees the city’s network of animal shelters. Amster had been serving as vice president of shelter engagement for DocuPet, a national pet registration business, according to her resume.
QUICK HITS
Where is Inside Safe? Bass’ signature initiative to tackle homelessness did not launch any new encampment operations this week.
On the docket next week: The election, obviously! If you haven’t cast a ballot by mail, make sure you show up at a voting center!
Stay in touch
That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.
WITH over 6,000 islands, travellers are simply spoiled for choice when it comes to booking a holiday in Greece – but one quieter island offers a serene retreat.
Often dubbed the ‘Goldilocks’ of the Greek Cyclades, Sifnos “is quite possibly the perfect Greek island: not too big and not too small” according to Conde Nast Traveller.
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Sifnos island in Greece experiences fewer crowds than other Greek destinationsCredit: AlamyThe island is known for having many churches, including the Church of the Seven MartyrsCredit: Alamy
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Its ‘perfect’ appearance is helped by the lack of crowds on the island compared to other Greek islands.
So much so, Swedish news website News55 has said the island is one of the top travel destinations this year as it avoids mass tourism.
Apollonia is the main village on the island and when visiting, make sure to have a wander down Steno, which is the main pedestrian street lined with traditional shops and cosy cafes.
On the coast of the island, you can visit the former capital Kastro.
Dating back around 3,000 years, Kastro is completely pedestrianised and is full of quaint, whitewashed buildings with paths leading down to the sea where you can spot Church of the Seven Martyrs, perched on a rock islet just below the village.
The island is also home to some amazing beaches such as Platis GialosCredit: AlamyAcross the villages you will also find traditional tavernasCredit: Alamy
There are a number of other villages on the island too, including Artemonas, which is just a short walk from Apollonia.
In Artemonas, visitors can see a number of 19th century neoclassical mansions along the main stone path.
The village is also known for its churches, such as the Church of Panagia Kohi, which is built over an ancient temple to Artemis.
If you’re more of an outdoorsy person, you won’t be short of hiking routes including a well-marked trail between Artemonas and the sea.
Wherever you go on the island, make sure to look out for amigdalota – a type of almond sweet that the island is famous for.
Scattered across the island you’ll see lots of quaint tavernas too, serving traditional Sifniote food such as chickpea balls and slow roasted lamb.
Wherever you go on the island, make sure to look out for amigdalota – a type of almond sweet that the island is famous forCredit: Alamy
One Sun reporter who previously visited the island said: “Everything is delicious on Sifnos.
“There’s the food bursting with zingy, sunny flavour, a landscape of steep hillsides carved with agricultural terraces, azure-domed churches perched by the sea and whitewashed villages.
“For a beach day, head to Platis Gialos – a stretch of sand backed by chic bars and eateries, such as Omega3 which serves seafood dishes such as sea urchin ceviche, paired with regional wines.
“The coastline is laced with smaller beaches and secluded rocky coves, with my favourite being below the blue-domed church of Panagia Poulati –reached via a short, but steep, hike down from Verina Astra.
“Floating in the clear water, and having the place all to ourselves, was the most delicious feeling of all.”
Holiday homes on the island cost from as little as £63 per nightCredit: Alamy
If you are keen to explore more beach spots, Cherronisos is another good choice and can be found in a small fishing village on the far north of the island.
One recent visitor said: “Amazing beach, amazing walking trail to the church on the top of the hill and AMAZING tavern.”
Dotted around the beach you will find a number of holiday homes too, costing as little as £63 per night and boasting panoramic views of the sea.
Sifnos doesn’t have an airport, so you’ll have to catch a ferry to reach the island which takes between two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half hours from Athens.
The main and only port on Sifnos is Kamares, where you will also find a number of places to stay including AirBnBs costing as little as £209 for a five night stay.
A single ticket from Athens to Sifnos on the ferry costs from €40.50 (£35.01) and the return leg costs from €35 (£30.26).
I’ve visited the city every year for as long as I can remember
I’ve visited Amsterdam every year for 8 years – and one thing keeps drawing me back(Image: ANDREY DENISYUK via Getty Images)
There are destinations you visit and recall with affection, and then there are those that leave you desperate to go back. For me, Amsterdam belongs firmly in the latter camp — I’ve now returned every year for the past eight years. Nestled in the Netherlands, Amsterdam boasts a fascinating past, having started life as a modest fishing village along the River Amstel.
Across the centuries, it evolved into one of Europe’s foremost trading hubs. During the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, it emerged as among the world’s most prosperous cities, drawing merchants and artists from far and wide. The city’s iconic canal system was constructed during this era, shaping the distinctive layout that captivates visitors to this day.
The slender canal houses, adorned with elaborate gables and steeped in centuries of heritage, lend the city a charm unmatched anywhere else across Europe.
Strolling beside the canals feels like entering a living piece of history, yet the city never seems trapped in yesteryear.
Age-old structures nestle seamlessly alongside contemporary cafés, art galleries, eateries, and numerous boutiques.
I’m particularly fond of the Moco Museum in Amsterdam, the Van Gogh Museum, and dining at Pancakes Amsterdam and Sandwichshop Amsterdam.
The canals themselves rank among Amsterdam’s finest draws.
Whether admired from a bridge, discovered by boat, or simply encountered while exploring the streets, they offer a tranquillity I’ve never experienced elsewhere.
Another factor that keeps me coming back is the weather. Despite what many assume, I’ve frequently been blessed with remarkably mild temperatures during my stays.
During my latest visit earlier this month, the mercury hit 28C, creating ideal conditions for lounging by the waterways, relaxing on outdoor terraces and wandering through the streets.
It’s also barely an hour’s flight from London, though I’m equally fond of taking a cruise to the country for a more leisurely journey.
After eight years in a row of visiting the city, my enthusiasm hasn’t waned.
Its convenient location near other destinations, such as Edam, also makes it an excellent starting point for wider exploration.
The blend of fascinating heritage, breathtaking buildings and charming canals keeps pulling me back time and again.
With California facing increasingly destructive wildfires, experts and officials have long urged the strategic removal of dense, flammable vegetation that can erupt into particularly destructive flames from a lightning bolt or the spark of a power line.
But after years of record investment by the state in such wildfire risk mitigation, two key money sources are drying up, potentially reducing the state’s annual budget for vegetation removal by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Wildfire resiliency advocates are warning that the loss of these funds will leave the state vulnerable to devastation, and are calling on California’s next governor to take that threat seriously.
Late Friday, however, state officials adopted a new structure for the emissions program, called cap-and-invest, that analysts say will likely reduce wildfire mitigation funding by $200 million per year. At the same time, the governor’s latest budget proposal puts the state on track to allocate the majority of the climate bond’s $1.5 billion in wildfire prevention money within just three years.
As a result, California could go from routinely pulling more than $600 million a year from these sources, to just $150 million, according to an estimate from the Wildfire Solutions Coalition — a group of more than 80 organizations representing conservationists, business owners, fire officials and tribal leaders.
The coalition is urging the state to find new sources of funding for the work.
“We have the scientists, we have the technicians, we have the advocates,” said Michelle Decker, who is on the coalition’s executive committee and serves as president and CEO of the Inland Empire Community Foundation. “We see this problem. We can get ahead of this problem. It is a revenue issue.”
California wildfires have become increasingly costly. The 2025 L.A. fires alone caused an estimated $250 billion in damage and economic loss. Insurance companies have already paid out $22.4 billion.
In attempt to reduce the risk of damage to communities and ecosystems, the state has employed a wide range of tactics. These includes fortifying homes against wildfires, replanting fire-ravaged forests and thinning out vegetation with prescribed burns, goat grazing and manual thinning with heavy machinery to reduce the intensity of potential fires.
Research suggests wildfire mitigation work pays off. A recent analysis of 285 fires in the western U.S. found that every dollar spent on landscape projects saved about $3.75 in wildfire damage.
But as funding from cap-and-invest and the climate bond dwindle, the state must increasingly turn to Cal Fire, which devotes only a small portion of its budget to mitigation work.
“This is not an issue that can be pushed off to a timeline based solely on politics,” said Steve Frisch, a founding member of the coalition and president of the Sierra Business Council. “Fire happens whether we want it to or not.”
After a series of destructive wildfires in Northern California and the 2017 Thomas fire in Southern California, the state legislature began to explicitly focus on funding wildfire mitigation.
In 2018, lawmakers directed $200 million per year of cap-and-invest funds to wildfire mitigation projects.
As the Woolsey fire in Southern California and the Camp fire in Paradise raged later that fall, Trump accused the state of “gross mismanagement” of forest lands and threatened to cut off federal funds unless it was corrected.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and the legislature, with a significant budget surplus, began earmarking even more funds, leading to a peak of $1.1 billion in wildfire mitigation investments during the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
After the surplus dwindled, the legislature opted in 2024 to put a $10-billion climate bond in front of voters — $1.5 billion of which was dedicated specifically for wildfire mitigation work.
Newsom has since pointed to this high state funding to call on the federal government to step up its own investments into forest management work.
The federal government manages 57% of all forests in the state. While the U.S. Forest Service spent $3.1 billion mitigating wildfire conditions in the state over the last few years, California spent $4.3 billion, according to the California Forest Resilience and Wildfire Task Force.
However, the state has already allocated about $600 million of the climate bond’s wildfire mitigation pot for the 2024-2025 and current fiscal years. The latest budget proposal would allocate more than $300 million for this upcoming fiscal year. While many advocates support allocating the money quickly, it leaves little for future years.
Once that money is spent, California has to pay off the $10 billion bond with interest. The result is an estimated price tag of $16 billion, paid in roughly $400 million increments every year, for 40 years, according to the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office.
As for the cap-and-invest funds, a fraught months-long debate at the California Air Resources Board on how to extend the program beyond 2030 resulted in a compromise that will cut the revenue it generates in half, the Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates.
Since other projects get priority — including $1 billion every year for California’s high-speed rail project — the new proposal would “likely leave no funding” for the wildfire and forest resilience line item, the Legislative Analyst’s Office found.
Cal Fire still holds a modest annual budget for wildfire mitigation work. In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the agency had $500 million for forest management and fire prevention that was not directly tied to cap-and-invest or the bond — up from about $65 million two decades prior.
As for the federal government, independent analyses by Grassroots Wildland Firefighters and NPR found that Forest Service wildfire mitigation work is on the decline amid federal staffing cuts. The Forest Service claims the decrease in work was primarily due to poor weather conditions for activities like prescribed burns and staff being occupied with firefighting.
Both the state and federal government’s investments pale in comparison to the spending of California’s investor-owned utilities. In 2025 alone, the utilities planned to spend more than $9.2 billion on preventing their equipment from sparking the next devastating wildfire, primarily funded by Californians’ electricity bills.
Record heat. Raging fires. What are the solutions?
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Times staff writer Hayley Smith contributed to this report.
There’s been speculation for years when club sports, travel ball and showcases might make education-based high school sports obsolete or irrelevant.
The showdown is finally happening.
Ganesha High’s baseball team qualified to play in the Southern Section Division 2 championship game on Saturday against Loyola in Rancho Cucamonga, but the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported that several players and possibly their head coach, Jared Sandler, might not show up if they participate in a baseball camp in Mississippi.
Bring it on. No more playing around. Let everyone know the expectations of being part of the California Interscholastic Federation. When you agree to play in the playoffs, you can’t just decide to leave without notice. Teams and players have dreamed of playing in a championship game. Then one team wants to make a mockery of the final, Ganesha, by using backups.
School districts are allowed to establish independent online study programs, and there’s nothing the Southern Section can do about it. But local parents whose kids are losing out to players who don’t live near the school can do something by complaining to district officials of…
The YULA and Shalhavet baseball teams were banned from participating in this year’s Southern Section playoffs and placed on probation for pulling out in the middle of the 2025 playoffs to participate in a Jewish baseball tournament in Ohio.
The Southern Section has many options on how to proceed if Ganesha goes through with its decision to violate its commitment to the playoffs, from a postseason ban to removing the school from CIF membership.
In Northern California when a tennis team decided to send its JV team for the regional playoffs, sanctions were imposed. The same penalties might be applied by the Southern Section if it happens in the section championship game.
Ron Nocetti, the executive director of the CIF, said Friday, “We were made aware of this and any decision the Southern Section makes in this matter we support.”
Let’s have this showdown. Let’s see if the Pomona Unified School District, which pays thousands of dollars to support its schools’ athletic program, is going to act and stop this nonsense. Ganesha previously was in the news because many of its players live outside the district and participate through online classes, making the baseball team as close to a travel-ball team as you can get.
As of late Friday afternoon, a Ganesha representative said that most of the players and coach were expected to participate in the championship game.
Ronald Gonzales-Lawrence, director, governmental relations for the Pomona Unified School District, released the following statement:
“At this time, circumstances surrounding Saturday’s CIF Southern Section championship game have been resolved, and Ganesha High School will participate in the championship game as scheduled.
“Questions regarding CIF bylaws, eligibility requirements, championship scheduling decisions are best directed to the CIF Southern Section.
“We are aware of questions regarding travel-related expenses associated with this matter. The district is providing transportation and support for student participation in the CIF Southern Section championship game consistent with its normal practices for student activities and athletic competition. The district is not funding flights, hotel accommodations, or any other expenses associated with the separate out-of-state event.
“The district remains committed to supporting our student-athletes and ensuring compliance with all applicable CIF, district, and school requirements.”
DES MOINES, Iowa — The former superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district who was arrested last year in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was sentenced Friday to two years in prison.
Ian Roberts is likely to be deported to his native Guyana in South America once he serves the sentence. He pleaded guilty in January to falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and illegally possessing firearms, which together carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His lawyers had proposed that he be put on probation “to facilitate his removal from the United States,” but prosecutors had argued that his likely deportation should not be a factor.
Prosecutors alleged Roberts knowingly lacked employment authorization for nearly all of his two-decade career in urban education and submitted a counterfeit Social Security card when he was hired as superintendent of the Des Moines public school district, which serves 30,000 students.
Roberts’ stunning case bookended the school year. His September arrest occurred as President Trump’s administration was sending increased numbers of federal immigration officers into American cities to round up immigrants.
Des Moines Public Schools said last month that it revised its conflict-of-interest policy after an audit found Roberts awarded district business to a consulting firm he worked for, affirming findings first reported by the Associated Press in the weeks after federal immigration officers detained him.
Roberts was in his school-issued vehicle when officers stopped him on Sept. 26 in a targeted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation. He allegedly fled before he was located with the help of state troopers. Authorities said a loaded handgun was wrapped in a towel under the seat and $3,000 in cash was in the car. Three other weapons were recovered during a search of his home.
In a court filing, attorneys for Roberts said he has dedicated his life in the U.S. to public service and has not been a threat to public safety. After Roberts married a U.S. citizen, his attorneys said, he was denied lawful permanent residency because he failed to disclose that he had been arrested. He said he did not think he needed to because the charges against him were dropped.
“While Dr. Roberts tried to adjust his status three more times, this initial mistake by Dr. Roberts sealed his fate,” his attorneys wrote. “In the background of his career for the next 24 years, this denial of his adjustment of status haunted Dr. Roberts like a ghost, eventually derailing his life and career.”
Dozens of people submitted letters on Roberts’ behalf to dispute how he has been portrayed and provide details of his positive impact. His lawyers wrote that he likely faces deportation to Guyana, where he will “be left without his career, without his wife, without his children, in a country where he has not lived for thirty years.”
In recommending a three-year sentence, prosecutors described a yearslong and deliberate misrepresentation of his legal status. Prosecutors said a reduced sentence is not appropriate just because Roberts is likely to be deported.
They said they do not know what documents Roberts presented to show eligibility for work dating back to 2008, years before he was approved for temporary status in 2018, but he “deliberately obtained employment without work authorization at school after school, within state after state.”
Luka Doncic could be involved in two championship bids this upcoming season.
The Lakers superstar and former Dallas Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson are leading an investor group that acquired a professional basketball team in Italy, it was announced Friday, with hopes that the franchise could become part of the NBA’s new European venture.
The group plans to move Vanoli Cremona, a team that plays in a northern Italian city about 60 miles southeast of Milan, to Rome, and submitted a bid for the club to join NBA Europe, making Doncic the first player to state his ambition to become part of the NBA’s expansion across the pond.
“I have dreamed about owning a team in Europe for a long time, to finally have this happen is amazing,” Doncic said in a statement. “Vanoli has a great history, and we are ready to take it to the next level in Rome. We have an amazing group of partners, and I really believe we can do something special for basketball in Italy and Europe.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said this year that the NBA is working with FIBA, the world governing body for basketball, to begin a stand-alone league in Europe. The league could begin as soon as October 2027 with up to 16 teams hosted in major cities in England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece and Turkey.
Rome and Milan are the top Italian targets to host NBA Europe teams. Rome, the Italian capital, has not had a Serie A team since 2020, when Virtus Roma ceased operations because of financial difficulties. Vanoli will begin playing in Rome for the 2026-27 season.
“Rome deserves world-class basketball, and we are excited to be bringing it back,” Nelson said in a statement. “Vanoli Cremona has a proud history, and we are committed to honoring that legacy as we build toward an exciting future in Rome. This city has been without top-flight basketball for too long. That changes now. We are bringing the resources, the expertise, and the passion to make this club a source of pride for Rome and for all Italy.”
Nelson, who is the lead investor and managing partner, was the general manager when the Mavericks traded for Doncic on draft night in 2018 and was the architect of Dallas’ 2011 NBA championship team led by German star Dirk Nowitzki. The investor group also includes Valerio Bianchini, a celebrated coach in the Italian league, and Rimantas Kaukėnas, a 17-year pro across European leagues.
The 27-year-old Doncic, who was born in Slovenia and started his professional career with Real Madrid in Spain, is part of a recent wave of international stars taking over the NBA. The last eight most valuable players have been born outside of the United States. Doncic finished fourth in MVP voting this year behind two-time winner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is from Canada, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, who is from Serbia, and Victor Wembanyama, a 22-year-old Frenchman expected to dominate the league for years.
The NBA played two regular-season games in Europe this season, with the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic facing off in Berlin and London. Next season, Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs will play in his home country against the New Orleans Pelicans and in Manchester, England.
Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries are moving towards deeper economic integration through digitisation and AI, as leaders of the bloc met in Astana for a two-day summit.
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During the high-level talks, member states discussed creating a unified digital environment to build a seamless market across a shared economic space of more than 20 million square kilometres.
Delegations focused on trade, joint projects and the development of shared digital tools and AI systems designed to strengthen cooperation and reduce fragmentation across the bloc.
Last year, trade within the union more than doubled, while turnover with third countries rose by 72%, while around 90% of settlements are now conducted in national currencies, as EAEU states also mull a single transit system.
With digitisation driving developments across the union, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said trade turnover between EAEU members could increase by around 6%, exceeding €85 billion this year, compared with €80 billion last year.
He added that GDP growth across EAEU countries is projected at around 2.5% for 2026–2027.
Now in its 12th year, the EAEU functions as a single integrated market and free trade zone for its five members – Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia.
The bloc already has agreements in place with a number of countries including Serbia, Vietnam, the UAE, Mongolia and Indonesia. China remains the bloc’s key partner, accounting for around one-third of external trade.
Integration through AI
Kazakhstan’s Tokayev said that during its chairmanship of the EAEU, the country has proposed the practical use of AI to help implement the bloc’s so-called four freedoms, with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of member states.
Member states also proposed developing common principles for the responsible use of AI, as well as shared computing capacity and joint model development.
Meanwhile, Russia proposed a high-level AI get-together next year to further cooperation on domestic AI models and connecting its IT and energy infrastructure, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On the ground, pilot projects are already being tested at the EAEU level.
In Kazakhstan, several AI-powered digital assistants have been developed by both government agencies and startups to help citizens navigate legal and regulatory systems more easily.
According to Deputy Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development Dmitry Mun, these AI legal assistants are designed to simplify legislation, reduce bureaucracy, and make regulatory systems more accessible for citizens and businesses.
Some of these tools are now being tested to streamline processes across member states.
Trade corridors and logistics modernisation
Around 85% of goods travelling from China to Europe are routed through the Middle Corridor, according to officials.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly being deployed alongside the TDN and the Digital Transport Corridor along the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Together, these measures are expected to increase non-commodity exports by around 30% over the next two years.
Kazakhstan’s Minister of Trade and Integration Arman Shakkaliyev said the country also aims to leverage major transport routes, including the Middle Corridor and the North–South Corridor, to build a fully integrated logistics ecosystem.
The goal, he said, is to position Kazakhstan as a key regional hub where transport routes converge and large export flows are consolidated.
The ambition is to develop a fully functioning system by 2030, with cargo volumes reaching around 10 million tonnes. Work is already under way, including railway modernisation and new infrastructure development.
Putin visit and bilateral agreements
The summit followed Putin’s state visit to Kazakhstan, during which the two countries signed seven key pillars of bilateral cooperation, along with a broader package of agreements covering energy, transport, finance, education and industrial development.
Russia remains Kazakhstan’s largest investor, with nearly €25 billion already invested and plans to increase that figure further. It is also building Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant, valued at around €14 billion.
Putin said the plant would account for around 20% of Kazakhstan’s electricity consumption, adding that financing conditions for such projects are in line with international practice.
He noted that the project supports Russian industrial capacity through equipment orders and long-term maintenance contracts, while also strengthening cooperation between the two countries in uranium and nuclear technology.
For Kazakhstan, officials say the project represents both energy security and a step towards moving beyond raw-material exports to high-value technological cooperation.
NEW YORK — The proportion of Americans without health insurance held steady at around 8% of the population in 2025, according to new findings from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The national survey results, released Thursday, show the all-ages uninsured rate has stayed significantly down from where it was several years ago, but the ranks of the uninsured could soon expand as the Trump administration’s sweeping changes to the health landscape begin to take hold.
Massive changes to Medicaid, the government’s safety-net health program for low-income Americans, passed into law last year could result in 10 million more uninsured individuals over a decade, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.
And the expiration this year of certain Affordable Care Act subsidies — which had offset premium costs — is also contributing to reduced participation in marketplace health programs. Around 5 million fewer people are expected to enroll in those plans in 2026 compared with 2025, according to the healthcare research nonprofit KFF.
The government has multiple programs for tracking Americans’ insurance status, which can give different numbers depending on factors like timing and question wording. Many researchers consider the U.S. Census Bureau to be “the official scorekeeper,” said David Howard, an Emory University health policy and management professor.
But the CDC survey results tracks closely with that, and they offer the first complete data for all of 2025 — the first year of President Trump’s second term in office.
The Trump administration has sought to expand access to low-premium catastrophic health insurance plans and lower drug prices for Americans who don’t have health insurance. It has also suggested that projected insurance enrollment declines indicate a drop-off of fraudulent and ineligible enrollees, rather than eligible Americans.
Although the share of insured and uninsured stayed roughly the same in 2025 as the year before, the number of uninsured grew by about 800,000 — 300,000 of them children. The growth of the overall U.S. population helps explain that.
The survey results also suggest a possible increased insured rate among Hispanic Americans. But that may in part reflect the effects of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, if uninsured members of that group left the country, Howard said.
Most Americans 65 and older have health insurance through the federal Medicare program. It’s different for younger Americans, many of whom are covered through a patchwork of public and private insurance programs.
The percentage of Americans under 65 who were uninsured rose in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s — from 12% in 1980 to more than 18% in 2010. It fell following passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, which expanded Medicaid programs and enacted measures to make affordable health insurance available to more people.
By 2016 it dropped nearly to 10%, before rising to 11 to 12% during Trump’s first administration, according to historical survey data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The COVID-19 pandemic saw the rate of uninsured fall again, as a result of government policies put in place to preserve coverage as people faced disruptions related to the pandemic. The rate hit an all-time low in 2023, falling below 9%.
It’s not clear yet how big the increase in uninsured Americans will be this year, but experts agree it will likely rise in the coming years as a result of changes to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid.
“The decisions being made now — in Congress, state legislatures and state Medicaid agencies — will determine what happens next,” Nancy Brown, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association, said in a statement Thursday.
“Policymakers should act immediately to protect and expand access to affordable coverage, strengthen Medicaid and maintain pathways that make coverage and care accessible,” she said. “Without deliberate action, including reversing dramatic cuts to coverage, uninsured rates will continue to rise, putting quality health care further out of reach.”
Stobbe and Swenson write for the Associated Press.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and I sort of wished Chris Taylor had signed a one-day contract to retire as a Dodgers.
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Taylor is one of those guys who become a fan favorite because they seem to be wringing every ounce of athletic ability out of their body. We could identify with Taylor, because we could imagine us playing the way he did. Play like Shohei Ohtani? No. But play like Taylor? We could fool ourselves into believing that if we just stuck with it, we could have been Chris Taylor. He was us on the field.
This newsletter began a couple of weeks before the 2015 season. And I believe the first group of angry emails I got about something the Dodgers did was June 19, 2016, when the Dodgers traded pitcher Zach Lee to Seattle for some guy named Chris Taylor.
Lee had been touted as one of the best Dodgers pitching prospects in years. In the minors in 2015, he went 13-6 with a 2.63 ERA. Sure, he had a terrible outing in what turned out to be his only start with the Dodgers (4.2 IP, 11 hits, one walk, three strikeouts, 13.50 ERA), but that could happen to anyone. He was the pitcher of the future. Until he wasn’t. And to trade him for this Taylor guy, who in three seasons with the Mariners hit .240/.296/.296? Surely they could have gotten more for him than that! (They couldn’t and don’t call me Shirley.)
So, Taylor had a steep hill to climb. In 34 games with the Dodgers in 2016, he hit .207. And then, well, there’s a reason why Jerry DiPoto, who was GM of the Mariners for the trade, called it the worst deal he ever made.
Before the 2017 season, the Dodgers, or Taylor, or both, unlocked something offensively. He hit .288/.354/.496 with 34 doubles, 21 homers, 72 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in 2017 while playing five different positions and was a key player on the team that reached the World Series before losing to the Houston Astros*. Taylor hit two homers during the NLCS and one during the World Series. He was named co-MVP of the NLCS with Justin Turner. Little-known fact: He didn’t make the team out of spring training. He was brought up from the minors on April 19, 2017, when Logan Forsythe suffered a broken toe when hit by a pitch. How would Dodger, and Taylor’s, fortunes have changed if Forsythe wasn’t hit by that pitch?
In 2018 he hit .254/.331/.444, with 35 doubles and 17 homers, .262/.333/.462 with 29 doubles and 12 homers in 2019 and .270/.366/.476 during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He made his first and only All-Star team in 2021. And then the wheels started falling off, as he struggled his last couple of seasons with the team.
Here’s a guy who was with the team from 2016-25, and what do we know about him? Not much. He never sought the spotlight, just did his job every day to the best of his abilities.
“He is the consummate pro, the way he did a trust fall when he got here,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said when the Dodgers released Taylor last season. “He came in hungry and wanting to get better, and dove in with our hitting guys, with our position coaches. … He was a huge part of so much success that we’ve enjoyed. Can’t say enough about the human, the worker, the teammate, the player.”
If you dig a little deeper into Taylor, you discover he quietly helped families who were hurt by the devastating wildfires in 2025. His CT3 Foundation raised millions of dollars for organizations in L.A. and his hometown Virginia Beach, including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Variety Boys and Girls Club, the Friendship Foundation, Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters, and Roc Solid Foundation.
Taylor’s first career home run was a grand slam with the Dodgers. His 100th career home run was a grand slam with the Dodgers, making him the only player in history whose first and 100th home runs were grand slams!
He appeared in 80 postseason games with L.A., hitting .247/.351/.441 with 13 doubles, nine homers and 26 RBIs. The most important homer may have been his walk-off in the 2021 wild-card game against St. Louis. You can watch that here.
He made an incredible catch in Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS against the Brewers. You can watch that here.
He always reminded me of that great quote from the movie “Rudy,” which I am going to alter a bit here:
“You’re 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’, and you have barely a speck of athletic ability … And you’re gonna walk outta here with two World Series rings.”
Thank you, Chris Taylor, for the memories.
*-The Astros cheated during that season and postseason.
Injuries!
Wow, that’s like, three exclamation points in one newsletter. A record. I bought a bunch at the dollar store and need to get rid of them.
Injuries struck the Dodgers this week, and this time not to pitchers.
Kiké Hernández, fresh off the IL, had gone four for four in two games with two doubles and a homer when he came out of Tuesday’s game with what was diagnosed as a torn oblique. He will be out quite a while.
He initially got injured while taking batting practice before his first game back.
“I was pretty embarrassed about it,” Hernández told reporters Wednesday. “I thought it was just weird tightness. Never done an oblique before. So I didn’t really know what I was feeling. Came in today, wasn’t feeling great. I got treatment, but I thought I could play. … Compared to some of the things I’ve played through in the past, it was nothing. And, yeah, it was a little more than nothing.”
On Wednesday. Teoscar Hernández strained his left hamstring while trying to beat out a grounder.
“Don’t know how severe it is; he tested well,” Dave Roberts said after the game. “… There’s just no timeline, but something like that obviously is going to be a few weeks at the minimum. Disappointing. He’s been playing so well and he’s a big part of what we’re doing. So to lose him for any length of time is not great.”
Teoscar had been on a hot streak lately, so it’s doubly infuriating.
Alex Freeland and Ryan Ward were recalled from the minors to replace the injured duo.
Whoops! My bad
Remember that consecutive scoreless innings streak by the bullpen we talked about last time? It ended the night the newsletter came out. Sorry about that.
Up next
Friday: Philadelphia (Zack Wheeler, 4-0, 1.67 ERA) at Dodgers (*Justin Wrobleski, 6-2, 3.07 ERA), 7:15 p.m., Apple TV, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Saturday: Philadelphia (Andrew Painter, 1-5, 5.40 ERA) at Dodgers (Roki Sasaki, 3-3, 4.93 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Sunday: Philadelphia (*Jesús Luzardo, 4-4, 4.38 ERA) at Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 4-4, 3.09 ERA), 1:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
