ReportWire

Tag: last year

  • Trump officials have tried to justify ICE shootings. Is it backfiring in court?

    Just a few hours after Border Patrol agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement that said, without evidence, that the 37-year-old registered nurse “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem would later imply Pretti had been “asked to show up and to continue to resist” by Minnesota’s governor.

    Multiple videos from the scene immediately undercut those claims, and there has been no indication in the days since that Pretti threatened or planned to hurt law enforcement.

    Several high-profile use-of-force incidents and arrests involving federal immigration agents have involved a similar cycle: Strident statements by Trump administration officials, soon contradicted by video footage or other evidence. Some law enforcement experts believe the repeated falsehoods are harming federal authorities both in the public eye and in the courtroom.

    The top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, has taken five defendants to trial on charges of assaulting officers — and his office has lost each case. Court records and a Times investigation show grand juries in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles have repeatedly rejected criminal filings from prosecutors in similar cases.

    Despite the repeated judicial rebukes, administration officials have continued to push for criminal charges against people at protest scenes, including the controversial arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon on Friday.

    “When top federal law enforcement leaders in the country push false narratives like this, it leads the public to question everything the government says going forward,” said Peter Carr, a former Justice Department spokesman in Washington who served in Democratic and Republican administrations. “You see that in how judges are reacting. You’re seeing that in how grand juries are reacting. You’re seeing that in how juries are reacting. That trust that has been built up over generations is gone.”

    The credibility concerns played out in a downtown L.A. courtroom in September, when Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino served as the key witness in the assault trial of Brayan Ramos-Brito, who was accused of striking a Border Patrol agent during protests against immigration raids last summer. Video from the scene did not clearly capture the alleged attack, and Bovino was the only Border Patrol official who testified as an eyewitness.

    Under questioning from federal public defender Cuauhtémoc Ortega, Bovino initially denied he had been disciplined by Border Patrol for calling undocumented immigrants “scum, filth and trash,” but later admitted he had received a reprimand. The jury came back with an acquittal after deliberating for about an hour. A juror who spoke to The Times outside court said Bovino’s testimony detailing his account of the alleged assault had “no impact” on their decision.

    Last year, a Chicago judge ruled Bovino had “lied” in a deposition in a lawsuit over the way agents used force against protesters and journalists.

    Spokespersons for Essayli and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

    Essayli’s prosecutors have seen four additional cases involving allegations of assault on a federal officer end in acquittals, a nearly unheard of losing streak. A Pew study found fewer than 1% of federal criminal defendants were acquitted throughout the U.S. in 2022.

    “The credibility of the prosecutor’s office and the credibility of the law enforcement officers testifying is key,” said Carley Palmer, a former federal prosecutor in L.A. who is now a partner at Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg. “That is especially true when the only witness to an event is a law enforcement officer.”

    Jon Fleischman, a veteran Republican strategist and former spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said federal law enforcement officials have a responsibility to be the “mature, responsible player in the room” and remain as apolitical as possible. While he is a firm supporter of President Trump’s immigration agenda and said the Biden administration shares some blame for politicizing federal law enforcement, Noem’s handling of Pretti’s killing was problematic.

    “What she said really doesn’t bear out in terms of what the facts that are available tell us,” Fleischman said. “I think it undermines the credibility of the justice system.”

    Fleischman added that he feared some of the government’s recent missteps could dull approval of the platform that twice carried Trump to the White House.

    “One of the main reasons I’ve been so enthusiastic about this president has been his stance on immigration issues,” he said. “When you see unforced errors by the home team that reduce public support for the president’s immigration agenda, it’s demoralizing.”

    Another top Trump aide, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, also spoke out after the Minnesota shooting, calling Pretti an “assassin.”

    Responding to a Times reporter on X, Miller said recent legal defeats in Los Angeles were the result of “mass judge and jury nullification, deep in blue territory, of slam-dunk assault cases.”

    Accounts from inside L.A. courtrooms paint a different picture.

    Carol Williams, a jury foreperson in the most recent assault trial which federal prosecutors lost in L.A., said the people she served with steered clear of conversations about the news or ICE raids.

    “We didn’t talk about the protests in L.A. and we didn’t talk about the protests that were in Minnesota or anything,” Williams said. “People, I’m sure, probably keep up with the news, but in terms of bringing that into the jury room, we did not.”

    Last year, Essayli and Tricia McLaughlin, the chief Homeland Security spokesperson, accused Carlitos Ricardo Parias of ramming immigration agents with his vehicle in South L.A., causing an agent to open fire. Video made public after the assault charges were dismissed last year, however, do not show the vehicle moving when the ICE agent opens fire, injuring Parias and a deputy U.S. marshal.

    After being presented with the body-camera footage, McLaughlin reiterated the claim that Parias weaponized his vehicle and said officers “followed their training and fired defensive shots.”

    McLaughlin also labeled Keith Porter Jr. — a Los Angeles man shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent in Northridge on New Year’s Eve — an “active shooter” in initial media comments about the case, using a term that typically refers to a gunman attempting to kill multiple people.

    Los Angeles police said nobody else was injured at the scene and have not used the “active shooter” wording in statements about the case.

    Porter’s family and advocates have argued that force was not warranted. They said Porter was firing a gun in the air to celebrate the new year, behavior that is illegal and discouraged as dangerous by public officials.

    A lawyer for the agent, Brian Palacios, has said there is evidence Porter shot at the agent.

    Carr, the former Justice Department spokesman, said the Trump administration has broken with years of cautious norms around press statements that were designed to protect the credibility of federal law enforcement.

    “That trust is eroded when they rush to push narratives before any real investigations take place,” he said.

    In one case, the refusal of Homeland Security officials to back down may cause video footage that further undercuts their narrative to become public.

    Last October, Marimar Martinez was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago who alleged she was following him in a car and interfering with an operation. In a statement, McLaughlin accused Martinez of ramming a law enforcement vehicle while armed with a “semiautomatic weapon.”

    Federal prosecutors in Chicago dropped the charges, but McLaughlin and others continued to describe Martinez as a “domestic terrorist.” As a result, Martinez filed a motion to revoke a protective order that has kept hidden video of the incident and other evidence.

    “While the United States voluntarily dismissed its formal prosecution of her with prejudice … government officials continue to prosecute Ms. Martinez’s character in the court of public opinion,” the motion read.

    James Queally, Brittny Mejia

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  • State GOP seeks Supreme Court injunction to block California’s new, voter-approved congressional districts

    The state Republican Party on Tuesday filed an emergency application asking the U.S. Supreme Court to issue an injunction to stop the congressional districts California voters approved last year from going into effect.

    Arguing that the districts created by Proposition 50 violate federal law because the race of voters was considered when they were configured, the filing urges the court to act by Feb. 9 because of ensuing deadlines for candidates to file to run for office.

    “Our emergency application asks the Supreme Court to put the brakes on Prop. 50 now, before the Democrats try to run out the clock and force candidates and voters to live with unconstitutional congressional districts,” state GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin said in a statement. “Californians deserve fair districts and clean elections, not a backroom redraw that picks winners and losers based on race.”

    A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom, who led the rare middecade redistricting effort and is one of the respondents in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The redrawing of congressional districts typically occurs once a decade, after the U.S. census, to account for population shifts. In California, the boundaries are drawn by a voter-approved independent commission to stop partisan gerrymandering and incumbent protection.

    After President Trump urged leaders in Texas and other GOP-led states to redraw their delegation’s districts to boost the number of Republicans elected to Congress in the November midterm election, Newsom and other Democratic leaders responded by crafting a plan to increase the number of their party’s members in the California delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans currently have a razor-thin majority, and the party that controls Congress after the November election will determine whether Trump is able to continue enacting his agenda during his final two years in office.

    California voters handily passed Proposition 50, one of the most expensive ballot measure campaigns in state history. The state GOP and others immediately challenged the new districts, but earlier this month, two members of a three-judge federal panel rejected their claim that the district boundaries were drawn to illegally favor Latino voters.

    Seema Mehta

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  • ‘Abolish ICE’ messaging is back. Is it any more likely this time?

    WASHINGTON — “Abolish ICE.”

    Democratic lawmakers and candidates for office around the country increasingly are returning to the phrase, popularized during the first Trump administration, as they react to this administration’s forceful immigration enforcement tactics.

    The fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent this month in Minneapolis sparked immediate outrage among Democratic officials, who proposed a variety of oversight demands — including abolishing the agency — to rein in tactics they view as hostile and sometimes illegal.

    Resurrecting the slogan is perhaps the riskiest approach. Republicans pounced on the opportunity to paint Democrats, especially those in vulnerable seats, as extremists.

    An anti-ICE activist in an inflatable costume stands next to a person with a sign during a protest near Legacy Emanuel Hospital on Jan. 10 in Portland, Ore. The demonstration follows the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis as well as the shooting of two individuals in Portland on Jan. 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

    (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland / Getty Images)

    “If their response is to dust off ‘defund ICE,’ we’re happy to take that fight any day of the week,” said Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee. The group has published dozens of press statements in recent weeks accusing Democrats of wanting to abolish ICE — even those who haven’t made direct statements using the phrase.

    Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) amplified that message Wednesday, writing on social media that “When Democrats say they want to abolish or defund ICE, what they are really saying is they want to go back to the open borders policies of the Biden administration. The American people soundly rejected that idea in the 2024 election.”

    The next day, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced the “Abolish ICE Act,” stating that Good’s killing “proved that ICE is out of control and beyond reform.” The bill would rescind the agency’s “unobligated” funding and redirect other assets to its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.

    Many Democrats calling for an outright elimination of ICE come from the party’s progressive wing. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said in a television interview the agency should be abolished because actions taken by its agents are “racist” and “rogue.” Jack Schlossberg, who is running for a House seat in New York, said that “if Trump’s ICE is shooting and kidnapping people, then abolish it.”

    Other prominent progressives have stopped short of saying the agency should be dismantled.

    A pair of protesters set up signs memorializing individuals

    A pair of protesters set up signs memorializing people who have been arrested by ICE, or have died in detention, at a rally in front of the Federal Building in Los Angeles on Friday.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    Sen. Alex Padilla, (D-Calif.) who last year was forcefully handcuffed and removed from a news conference hosted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, joined a protest in Washington to demand justice for Good, saying “It’s time to get ICE and CBP out,” referring to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

    “This is a moment where all of us have to be forceful to ensure that we are pushing back on what is an agency right now that is out of control,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said on social media. “We have to be loud and clear that ICE is not welcome in our communities.”

    Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) at a podium.

    Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) said Democrats seeking to abolish ICE “want to go back to the open borders policies of the Biden administration.”

    (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

    Others have eyed negotiations over the yearly Homeland Security budget as a leverage point to incorporate their demands, such as requiring federal agents to remove their masks and to turn on their body-worn cameras when on duty, as well as calling for agents who commit crimes on the job to be prosecuted. Seventy House Democrats, including at least 13 from California, backed a measure to impeach Noem.

    Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Diego), who serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, said his focus is not on eliminating the agency, which he believes has an “important responsibility” but has been led astray by Noem.

    He said Noem should be held to account for her actions through congressional oversight hearings, not impeachment — at least not while Republicans would be in control of the proceedings, since he believes House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) would make a “mockery” of them.

    “I am going to use the appropriations process,” Levin said, adding that he would “continue to focus on the guardrails, regardless of the rhetoric.”

    Chuck Rocha, a Democratic political strategist, said Republicans seized on the abolitionist rhetoric as a scare tactic to distract from the rising cost of living, which remains another top voter concern.

    “They hope to distract [voters] by saying, ‘Sure, we’re going to get better on the economy — but these Democrats are still crazy,’” he said.

    an inflatable doll of Trump in a Russian military outfit

    Dozens of Angelenos and D.C.-area organizers, along with local activists, rally in front of the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. Democrats have for years struggled to put forward a unified vision on immigration — one of the top issues that won President Trump a return to the White House.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    Democrats have for years struggled to put forward a unified vision on immigration — one of the top issues that won President Trump a return to the White House. Any deal to increase guardrails on Homeland Security faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Congress, leaving many proposals years away from the possibility of fruition. Even if Democrats manage to block the yearly funding bill, the agency still has tens of billions of dollars from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

    Still, the roving raids, violent clashes with protesters and detentions and deaths of U.S. citizens and immigrants alike increased the urgency many lawmakers feel to do something.

    Two centrist groups released memos last week written by former Homeland Security officials under the Biden administration urging Democrats to avoid the polarizing language and instead channel their outrage into specific reforms.

    “Every call to abolish ICE risks squandering one of the clearest opportunities in years to secure meaningful reform of immigration enforcement — while handing Republicans exactly the fight they want,” wrote the authors of one memo, from the Washington-based think tank Third Way.

    “Advocating for abolishing ICE is tantamount to advocating for stopping enforcement of all of our immigration laws in the interior of the United States — a policy position that is both wrong on the merits and at odds with the American public on the issue,” wrote Blas Nuñez-Neto, a senior policy fellow at the new think tank the Searchlight Institute who previously was assistant Homeland Security secretary.

    Roughly 46% of Americans said they support the idea of abolishing ICE, while 43% are opposed, according to a YouGov/Economist poll released last week.

    Sarah Pierce, a former policy analyst at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services who co-wrote the Third Way memo, said future polls might show less support for abolishing the agency, particularly if the question is framed as a choice among options including reforms such as banning agents from wearing masks or requiring use of body cameras.

    “There’s no doubt there will be further tragedies and with each, the effort to take an extreme position like abolishing ICE increases,” she said.

    Laura Hernandez, executive director of Freedom for Immigrants, a California-based organization that advocates for the closure of detention centers, said the increase in lawmakers calling to abolish ICE is long overdue.

    “We need lawmakers to use their power to stop militarized raids, to close detention centers and we need them to shut down ICE and CBP,” she said. “This violence that people are seeing on television is not new, it’s literally built into the DNA of DHS.”

    Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) smiles

    Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced the “Abolish ICE Act.”

    (Paul Sancya / Associated Press)

    Cinthya Martinez, a UC Santa Cruz professor who has studied the movement to abolish ICE, noted that it stems from the movement to abolish prisons. The abolition part, she said, is watered down by mainstream politicians even as some liken immigration agents to modern-day slave patrols.

    Martinez said the goal is about more than simply getting rid of one agency or redirecting its duties to another. She pointed out that alongside ICE agents have been Border Patrol, FBI and ATF agents.

    “A lot of folks forget that prison abolition is to completely abolish carceral systems. It comes from a Black tradition that says prison is a continuation of slavery,” she said.

    But Peter Markowitz, a law professor and co-director of the Immigration Justice Clinic at the Cardozo School of Law, said the movement to abolish ICE around 2018 among mainstream politicians was always about having effective and humane immigration enforcement, not about having none.

    “But it fizzled because it didn’t have an answer to the policy question that follows: If not ICE, then what?” he said. “I hope we’re in a different position today.”

    Andrea Castillo, Ana Ceballos

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  • The Earth keeps getting hotter, and Americans’ trust in science is on a down trend

    As global officials confirm that 2025 was Earth’s third-hottest year on record, a new poll shows Americans are sharply divided over the role of science in the United States.

    A report published Thursday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that a majority of Americans want the U.S. to be a world leader in science, but Republicans and Democrats disagree on whether it is.

    About two-thirds of Democrats, 65%, fear the U.S. is losing ground to other countries when it comes to scientific achievement — a 28-point increase since 2023, the poll found. Republicans have moved in the opposite direction, with far fewer saying the U.S. is losing ground than in the past, 32%, a 12-point decrease in that same time frame.

    The divide mirrors “other partisan differences in attitudes around science we have been tracking for years,” the Pew report says. “In particular, partisan differences in trust in scientists and the value of science for society are far wider than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans have become less confident in scientists and less likely to say science has had a mostly positive effect on society, while Democratic views are largely unchanged.”

    The report notes that the Trump administration has reshaped federal science policy, including eliminating research grants, cutting science and health workforces, and shifting priorities away from climate change research. Last month, the administration dismantled one of the world’s leading climate and weather research institutions, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

    About 90% of Democrats say they have at least a fair amount of confidence in scientists, but only 65% of Republicans said the same, according to the poll, which surveyed 5,111 U.S. adults in October. The gap in confidence between both parties on this point has been broadly similar in every survey since 2021.

    Experts said the findings are not particularly surprising.

    “It’s part of a larger trend toward the politicization of science,” said Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, citing issues such as vaccines and climate change. He said concerns about “falling behind” may be warranted as “the U.S. is very much doubling down on being a ‘petro state’ — exporting our oil and gas — whereas other parts of the world, particularly China, are doubling down on exporting clean energy technologies like wind, solar and batteries.”

    The report lands as the world continues to head in the wrong direction when it comes to global warming.

    On Wednesday, eight international groups released data confirming that 2025 was Earth’s third-hottest year on record — nearly tied with 2023 and just behind 2024, the warmest year on record. The groups include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.

    The past 11 years have been the 11 warmest on record, according to Copernicus.

    Last year’s global average temperature was about 2.65 degrees above pre-industrial levels, the baseline against which global warming is measured. That means it was just shy of the 2.7 degree limit (1.5 degrees Celsius) established under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, an internationally recognized tipping point for the worst effects of climate change.

    “The news is not encouraging, and the urgency of climate action has never been more important,” Mauro Facchini, head of Earth observation at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Defense Industry and Space, told reporters this week.

    Yet Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris agreement on his first day back in office, a move he also made during his first term as president. This month, he also withdrew the U.S. from 66 other international organizations and treaties, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, from which the Paris agreement stems.

    The world is now on track to breach the Paris agreement’s limit for long-term global warming before the end of the decade — several years earlier than predicted, according to Hausfather, who also helped produce Berkeley Earth’s global temperature report that was released this week. He said it is likely that 2026 will fall “somewhere between the second and fourth warmest” years on record.

    “The new data is the latest unequivocal evidence that our climate is in crisis,” said Carlos Martinez, a senior climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. But “the Trump administration is not simply refusing to face the reality of climate change we are experiencing, it is actively lying about science and undermining our nation’s federal scientific resources.”

    Last year wasn’t only warm globally. The contiguous U.S. experienced the fourth-warmest year in its 131-year record, according to NOAA’s assessment. Utah and Nevada recorded their warmest years on record at 4.3 degrees and 3.7 degrees above their 20th century averages, respectively. California tied for its fourth-warmest year on record.

    NOAA previously tracked weather and climate disasters where damages exceed $1 billion, but the Trump administration shut down that database last year. The administration also fired hundreds of scientists working to prepare the congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment and removed the website that housed previous assessments.

    Officials with multiple international groups this week stressed that global cooperation is key as warmer temperatures worldwide worsen the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, wildfires and floods.

    “Collaborative and scientifically rigorous global data collection is more important than ever before because we need to ensure that Earth information is authoritative, accessible and actionable for all,” said Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization.

    “Data and observations are essential to our efforts to confront climate change and air quality challenges, and these challenges don’t know borders,” said Florian Pappenberger, director-general of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. However, he noted that NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs has committed to not deleting any data, “which is a welcome thing.”

    “Data don’t lie,” Pappenberger said. “All we need to do is measure them.”

    Hayley Smith

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  • Born on the slopes, moguls skier Jaelin Kauf favorite to win gold medal at Milan Cortina Olympics

    Jalen Gough was born on the slopes. The oldest child of professional mogul skiers, her mother Patty is *** 3-time X Games champion. One of the first Americans to qualify for the games in Italy, Jalen is one of the favorites to win gold. But before we talk about her skiing, let’s talk about her dancing. Last year, Cough and her US mogul’s teammates went viral after performing the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader’s famed thunderstruck routine. Impressed by her moves in ski boots, America’s sweethearts invited her to dance with them pregame last fall. I was very nervous. I was like shaking, meeting the cowgirls and dancing with them. Um, I mean, I feel like the nervous competing is, you know, you get the jitters, but like. I know that run. I know how to ski it. I’m nervous to like dance with professional dancers is like I don’t know how to dance. This is like not so out of my comfort zone, but um it was really cool to be able to do that. Something else that’s. Last March, she won the Mogul’s World Championship, conquering the course in Lavino, where she’ll be skiing during the Olympics. Like I feel really great with where my skiing is at right now. Prepared, focused, and ready to earn her first Olympic gold. And to indulge *** bit on some of the food at the games. I’m going to be eating *** lot of pizza and pasta the whole time. I could never get sick of either of those foods. So Kough’s longtime boyfriend Bradley Wilson is also *** mogul skier, *** three-time Olympian. He retired from the sport after the 2022 games in Beijing. On the road to Milan Cortina, I’m Fletcher Mackle.

    Born on the slopes, moguls skier Jaelin Kauf favorite to win gold medal at Milan Cortina Olympics

    Updated: 3:00 AM PST Jan 14, 2026

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    Originally called “hot dogging,” freestyle skiing became an Olympic sport at the Calgary games in 1988, and for one American skier, freestyle is a family affair.Jaelin Kauf was born on the slopes, the oldest child of professional mogul skiers. Her mother, Patti, is a three-time X-Games champion.One of the first American athletes to qualify for the games in Italy, Jaelin is one of the favorites to win gold, but before we tell you about her skiing, let’s talk about her dancing.Last year, Kauf and her U.S. moguls teammates went viral after performing the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders’ famed thunderstruck routine.Impressed by her moves in ski boots, America’s Sweethearts invited her to dance with them pregame last fall. “I was very nervous. I was, like, shaking, meeting the cowgirls, dancing with them. I mean, I feel like skiing, I get nervous competing, you know, you get the jitters, but, like, I know that? I know how to see it. I’m nervous to, like, dance with professional dancers, I don’t know how to dance, so it’s like, so out of my comfort zone, but it was really cool to be able to do that,” Kauf said. Something else that’s cool, last March she won the moguls World Championship, conquering the course in Livigno where she’ll be skiing during the Olympics. “I feel really great with where my seeing is out right now,” Kauf said.Prepared, focused, and ready to earn her first Olympic gold, and to indulge a bit in some of the food at the games.”I’m going to be eating a lot of pizza and pasta the whole time. I could never get sick from either of those foods,” Kauf said. Kauf’s longtime boyfriend, Bradley Wilson, was also a moguls skier. A three-time Olympian, he retired from the sport after the 2022 Games in Beijing.

    Originally called “hot dogging,” freestyle skiing became an Olympic sport at the Calgary games in 1988, and for one American skier, freestyle is a family affair.

    Jaelin Kauf was born on the slopes, the oldest child of professional mogul skiers. Her mother, Patti, is a three-time X-Games champion.

    One of the first American athletes to qualify for the games in Italy, Jaelin is one of the favorites to win gold, but before we tell you about her skiing, let’s talk about her dancing.

    Last year, Kauf and her U.S. moguls teammates went viral after performing the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders’ famed thunderstruck routine.

    Impressed by her moves in ski boots, America’s Sweethearts invited her to dance with them pregame last fall.

    “I was very nervous. I was, like, shaking, meeting the cowgirls, dancing with them. I mean, I feel like skiing, I get nervous competing, you know, you get the jitters, but, like, I know that? I know how to see it. I’m nervous to, like, dance with professional dancers, I don’t know how to dance, so it’s like, so out of my comfort zone, but it was really cool to be able to do that,” Kauf said.

    Something else that’s cool, last March she won the moguls World Championship, conquering the course in Livigno where she’ll be skiing during the Olympics.

    “I feel really great with where my seeing is out right now,” Kauf said.

    Prepared, focused, and ready to earn her first Olympic gold, and to indulge a bit in some of the food at the games.

    “I’m going to be eating a lot of pizza and pasta the whole time. I could never get sick from either of those foods,” Kauf said.

    Kauf’s longtime boyfriend, Bradley Wilson, was also a moguls skier. A three-time Olympian, he retired from the sport after the 2022 Games in Beijing.

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  • California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta opts against running for governor. Again.

    California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Sunday that he would not run for California governor, a decision grounded in his belief that his legal efforts combating the Trump administration as the state’s top prosecutor are paramount at this moment in history.

    “Watching this dystopian horror come to life has reaffirmed something I feel in every fiber of my being: in this moment, my place is here — shielding Californians from the most brazen attacks on our rights and our families,” Bonta said in a statement. “My vision for the California Department of Justice is that we remain the nation’s largest and most powerful check on power.”

    Bonta said that President Trump’s blocking of welfare funds to California and the fatal shooting of a Minnesota mother of three last week by a federal immigration agent cemented his decision to seek reelection to his current post, according to Politico, which first reported that Bonta would not run for governor.

    Bonta, 53, a former state lawmaker and a close political ally to Gov. Gavin Newsom, has served as the state’s top law enforcement official since Newsom appointed him to the position in 2021. In the last year, his office has sued the Trump administration more than 50 times — a track record that would probably have served him well had he decided to run in a state where Trump has lost three times and has sky-high disapproval ratings.

    Bonta in 2024 said that he was considering running. Then in February he announced he had ruled it out and was focused instead on doing the job of attorney general, which he considers especially important under the Trump administration. Then, both former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced they would not run for governor, and Bonta began reconsidering, he said.

    “I had two horses in the governor’s race already,” Bonta told The Times in November. “They decided not to get involved in the end. … The race is fundamentally different today, right?”

    The race for California governor remains wide open. Newsom is serving the final year of his second term and is barred from running again because of term limits. Newsom has said he is considering a run for president in 2028.

    Former Rep. Katie Porter — an early leader in polls — late last year faltered after videos emerged of her screaming at an aide and berating a reporter. The videos contributed to her dropping behind Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, in a November poll released by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times.

    Porter rebounded a bit toward the end of the year, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed, however none of the candidates has secured a majority of support and many voters remain undecided.

    California hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 2006, Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans in the state, and many are seething with anger over Trump and looking for Democratic candidates willing to fight back against the current administration.

    Bonta has faced questions in recent months about spending about $468,000 in campaign funds on legal advice last year as he spoke to federal investigators about alleged corruption involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who was charged in an alleged bribery scheme involving local businessmen David Trung Duong and Andy Hung Duong. All three have pleaded not guilty.

    According to his political consultant Dan Newman, Bonta — who had received campaign donations from the Duong family — was approached by investigators because he was initially viewed as a “possible victim” in the alleged scheme, though that was later ruled out. Bonta has since returned $155,000 in campaign contributions from the Duong family, according to news reports.

    Bonta is the son of civil rights activists Warren Bonta, a white native Californian, and Cynthia Bonta, a native of the Philippines who immigrated to the U.S. on a scholarship in 1965. Bonta, a U.S. citizen, was born in Quezon City, Philippines, in 1972, when his parents were working there as missionaries, and immigrated with his family to California as an infant.

    In 2012, Bonta was elected to represent Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro as the first Filipino American to serve in California’s Legislature. In Sacramento, he pursued a string of criminal justice reforms and developed a record as one of the body’s most liberal members.

    Bonta is married to Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), who succeeded him in the state Assembly, and the couple have three children.

    Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.

    Kevin Rector, Seema Mehta

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  • BUTTER THAN EVER?: Pennsylvania Farm Show’s butter sculpture honors America’s 250th anniversary

    THE HONOR IS BOTH HOSTING THIS, BUT ALSO DOING A SCULPTURE THAT CAPTURES THAT MOMENT AS WELL. WELL, THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DESIGN WERE BASICALLY, YOU KNOW, THE FOUNDING FATHERS, YOU KNOW, SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. MONTHS OF PLANNING, DAYS OF SCULPTING. MARIE PELTON AND JIM VICTOR MADE THE FARM SHOW BUTTER SCULPTURE, WEIGHING IN OVER 1,000 POUNDS OF BUTTER. IT IS QUITE THE FEAT. SO YOU SUBMIT THE DRAWINGS? WE DID THREE OF THEM, AND THIS WAS OUR FIRST DRAWING THAT WE SUBMITTED. AND SO, YOU KNOW, WE WERE GLAD THAT THEY ACTUALLY SELECTED THIS ONE. BRINGING YOU INSIDE OF THE BUTTER SCULPTURE. LET’S TAKE A LOOK. SET IN 1776 TO HONOR THE 250TH BIRTHDAY HERE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND CELEBRATING TWO 50 PA, WE HAVE THE FOUNDING FATHERS UP TOP WITH RED, WHITE AND BLUE ACCENTS. SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. THERE’S A LITTLE TRIBUTE HERE TO BETSY ROSS OFF ON THE SIDE, CELEBRATING THE FARM SHOW HERE THIS YEAR. AND ON THE BOTTOM YOU SEE HIGHLIGHTS OF PENNSYLVANIA’S AGRICULTURAL EXPERTISE. SOME OF THOSE THINGS ARE THE THE DOCUMENT DEFINITELY IS A HIGHLIGHT. THE FIGURES OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, ARE VERY RECOGNIZABLE AS FOUNDING FATHERS SIGNING THE DECLARATION. THE BUTTER IS FROM ACROSS THE RIVER IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY FROM LAND O’LAKES. AND WHEN THE SCULPTURE REACHES ITS TIME TO MELT, IT WILL BE RECYCLED INTO RENEWABLE ENERGY. WE REALLY DO APPRECIATE THAT THAT THERE’S, YOU KNOW, A FAN BASE FOR THIS PARTICULAR THING. IT MEANS A LOT TO PEOPLE. AND SO WE WANT TO DO AS GOOD A JOB AS POSSIBLE. ALL THERE FOR YOU TO CHECK AT THE MACLAY STREET LOBBY ENTRANCE, ALL FAR

    1,000-pound butter sculpture at Pennsylvania Farm Show honors America’s 250th anniversary

    Updated: 8:52 PM EST Jan 9, 2026

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    The 1,000-pound, 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show butter sculpture has been unveiled. In keeping with this year’s theme of “Growing a Nation,” in honor of America’s 250th anniversary, this year’s butter sculpture features Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross and the Liberty Bell. You can see another view of the creamy creation below.Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding, Carolyn Matthews Eaglehouse of Milky Way Farm, Chester Springs, and butter sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton, of Conshohocken, attended the unveiling in the main hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center.The sculpture is crafted from butter donated by the Land O’Lakes plant in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.Video below: See the unveiling and get a closer look at the sculpture After the farm show, the butter will be recycled into biofuel. The Pennsylvania Farm Show takes place in the state’s capital of Harrisburg. It is held at the nation’s largest indoor agricultural expo, featuring more than 5,000 animals, 12,000+ competitive entries from over 4,600 competitors, 250+ commercial exhibits, and hundreds of educational and entertaining events.

    The 1,000-pound, 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show butter sculpture has been unveiled. In keeping with this year’s theme of “Growing a Nation,” in honor of America’s 250th anniversary, this year’s butter sculpture features Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross and the Liberty Bell. You can see another view of the creamy creation below.

    Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding, Carolyn Matthews Eaglehouse of Milky Way Farm, Chester Springs, and butter sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton, of Conshohocken, attended the unveiling in the main hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center.

    The sculpture is crafted from butter donated by the Land O’Lakes plant in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

    Video below: See the unveiling and get a closer look at the sculpture

    After the farm show, the butter will be recycled into biofuel.

    The Pennsylvania Farm Show takes place in the state’s capital of Harrisburg. It is held at the nation’s largest indoor agricultural expo, featuring more than 5,000 animals, 12,000+ competitive entries from over 4,600 competitors, 250+ commercial exhibits, and hundreds of educational and entertaining events.

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  • Kanye West sues ex-employee over Malibu mansion lien

    Kanye West, the rapper now known as Ye, is suing his former project manager and his lawyers, alleging they wrongfully put a $1.8-million lien on his former Malibu mansion.

    The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, alleges that Tony Saxon, Ye’s former project manager on the property, and the law firm West Coast Trial Lawyers, “wrongfully” placed an “invalid” lien on the property “while simultaneously launching an aggressive publicity campaign designed to pressure Ye, chill prospective transactions, and extract payment on disputed claims already being litigated in court.”

    Saxon’s lawyers were not immediately available for comment.

    Saxon, who was also employed as West’s security guard and caretaker at the Malibu property, sued the controversial rapper in Los Angeles Superior Court in September 2023, claiming a slate of labor violations, nonpayment of services and disability discrimination.

    In January 2024, Saxon placed the $1.8-million “mechanics” lien on the property in order to secure compensation for his work as project manager and construction-related services, according to court filings.

    A mechanics lien, also referred to as a contractor’s lien, is usually filed by an unpaid contractor, laborer or supplier, as a hold against the property. If the party remains unpaid, it can prompt a foreclosure sale of the property to secure compensation.

    Ye has denied Saxon’s allegations. In a November 2023 response to the complaint, Ye disputed that Saxon “has sustained any injury, damage, or loss by reason of any act, omission or breach by Defendant.”

    According to Ye’s recent complaint, he listed the property for sale in December 2023. A month later, he alleged, Saxon and his attorneys recorded the lien and “immediately” issued statements to the media.

    The suit cites a statement Saxon’s attorney, Ronald Zambrano, made to Business Insider: “If someone wants to buy Kanye’s Malibu home, they will have to deal with us first. That sale cannot happen without Tony getting paid first.”

    “These statements were designed to create public pressure and to interfere with the Plaintiffs’ ability to sell and finance the Property by falsely conveying that Defendants held an adjudicated, enforceable right to block a transaction and divert sale proceeds,” the complaint states.

    The filing contends that last year the Los Angeles Superior Court granted Ye’s motion to release the lien from the bond and awarded him attorneys fees.

    The Malibu property’s short existence has a long history of legal and financial drama.

    In 2021, West purchased the beachfront concrete mansion — designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Tadao Ando — for $57.3 million. He then gutted the property on Malibu Road, reportedly saying “This is going to be my bomb shelter. This is going to be my Batcave.”

    Three years later, the hip-hop star sold the unfinished mansion (he had removed the windows, doors, electricity and plumbing and broke down walls), at a significant loss to developer Steven Belmont’s Belwood Investments for $21 million.

    Belmont, who spent more money to renovate the home, had spent three years in prison after being charged with attempted murder for a pitchfork attack in Napa County. He promised to restore the architectural jewel to its former glory.

    However, the property has been mired in various legal and financial entanglements including foreclosure threats.

    Last August, the notorious mansion was once again put on the market with a $4.1 million price cut after a previous offer reportedly fell through, according to Realtor.com.

    The legal battle surrounding Ye’s former Malibu pad is the latest in a series of public and legal dramas that the music impresario has been involved in recent years.

    In 2022, the mercurial superstar lost numerous lucrative partnerships with companies like Adidas and the Gap, following a raft of antisemitic statements, including declaring himself a Nazi on X (which he later recanted).

    Two years later, Ye abruptly shut down Donda Academy, the troubled private school he founded in 2020.

    Ye, the school and some of his affiliated businesses faced faced multiple lawsuits from former employees and educators, alleging they were victims of wrongful termination, a hostile work environment and other claims.

    In court filings, Ye has denied each of the claims made against him by former employees and educators at Donda.

    Several of those suits have been settled.

    Stacy Perman

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  • Around the world, U.S. attacks on Venezuela prompt praise, anger — and fear

    MEXICO CITY — Argentina’s president called it “excellent news for the free world.”

    Iran condemned it as a “blatant violation of national sovereignty.”

    Canada said little, except that it was “monitoring developments closely.”

    The dramatic U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was cheered by world leaders allied with President Trump, and condemned by those who oppose him.

    Other countries responded carefully to news of the covert U.S. operation, hoping to stay out of the crosshairs of a famously vindictive American president who wields tariffs freely — and who has hinted at a willingness to broaden his military campaign.

    On Saturday, as details emerged about the early morning apprehension of Maduro and his wife from their Caracas home by special operations forces and the White House plan to exploit Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, Trump boasted that he is “reasserting American power in a very powerful way” and suggested that he may target Cuba, Colombia and Mexico next.

    Venezuelans celebrate in Madrid after President Trump announced that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country on Saturday.

    (Bernat Armangue / AP)

    At a news conference, Trump said he wants to “help the people in Cuba,” which he described as a “failing nation,” and threatened military action in Colombia, whose leftist President Gustavo Petro has been one of Trump’s most vocal critics.

    Trump asserted, without evidence, that Petro is a drug trafficker and warned that Colombia’s leader should “watch his ass.”

    In an interview with Fox News on Saturday, Trump also revived warnings that U.S. forces may intervene in Mexico, one of America’s closest allies.

    “The cartels are running Mexico,” he said. “We have to do something.”

    Some conservative leaders in Mexico welcome the prospect of U.S. drone strikes on cartel targets, and in recent polls about half of Mexicans surveyed said they support U.S. help with combating organized crime.

    But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has repeatedly insisted that she will not allow the U.S. military to fight drug cartels inside her nation’s borders.

    “It’s not going to happen,” she said late last year when Trump threatened such an operation. “We don’t want intervention by any foreign government.”

    She reposted a statement by her Foreign Ministry on Saturday that said “the government of Mexico vigorously condemns and rejects the military actions carried out unilaterally in recent hours by the armed forces of the United States of America against targets in the territory of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”

    Sheinbaum also mentioned the United Nations Charter, which says members of the body “shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

    People take part in a demonstration in front of the White House in Washington, D.C.

    People take part in a demonstration against U.S. military action in Venezuela in front of the White House in Washington on Saturday.

    (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

    Trump’s actions prompted a rare statement from Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose term as Mexico’s president ended in 2024, and who has rarely spoken publicly since his retirement.

    “I am retired from politics, but my libertarian convictions prevent me from remaining silent in the face of the arrogant attack on the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people and the kidnapping of their president,” said López Obrador, who formed a friendship with Trump during the first Trump presidency. “Neither [Simon] Bolívar nor Lincoln would accept the United States government acting as a global tyranny.”

    He told Trump not to bend to the will of advisors pressing for military actions. “Tell the hawks to go to hell; you have the capacity to act with practical judgment,” López Obrador said.

    In Latin America, the Middle East and in other parts of the world familiar with the long shadow of American intervention, Saturday’s operation stirred memories of past U.S. airstrikes, coups d’état and military invasions.

    “The bombings on Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president cross an unacceptable line,” said Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He said Maduro’s ouster recalled “the darkest moments of [U.S.] interference in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

    United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, without mentioning specifics or possible new targets, viewed the action against Maduro as setting “a dangerous precedent,” according to his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric.

    “He’s deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected,” Dujarric said of Guterres.

    U.S. intervention in the region dates back 200 years, when President James Monroe declared Latin America off limits to European colonization and began a campaign to establish the U.S. as a hemispheric power.

    Over decades, the U.S. carried out an array of interventions, from military invasions to covert operations to economic pressure campaigns. Motivations included fighting communism and protecting U.S. business interests.

    In his Saturday news conference, Trump hailed the Monroe Doctrine, which many in Latin American have condemned as an imperialist blueprint.

    “We’ve superceded it by a lot,” Trump said of the doctrine. “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.”

    While many countries in Latin America criticized the U.S. campaign in Venezuela, others applauded it, highlighting the stark political divisions here.

    “The time is coming for all the narco-Chavista criminals,” wrote conservative Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on X, referring to followers of Hugo Chávez, the late leftist revolutionary who served as president of Venezuela before Maduro. “Their structure will finally collapse across the entire continent.”

    El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who last year housed Venezuelan deportees from the United States in his country’s most notorious prison, posted a photograph issued by the United States on Saturday of Maduro blindfolded and in handcuffs.

    The foreign ministry of Uruguay, meanwhile, said it rejected “military intervention by one country in the territory of another.”

    The actions in Venezuela reverberated globally.

    Beijing, which has sought to expand its influence in Latin America in recent decades, said in a statement that “China is deeply shocked and strongly condemns the U.S.’s blatant use of force against a sovereign state and its action against its president.”

    Iran, whose leadership frets about being in the crosshairs of a similar U.S. operation, said the action in Venezuela “represents a grave breach of regional and international peace and security.”

    “Its consequences affect the entire international system,” it said.

    Kate Linthicum

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  • They graduated from Stanford. Due to AI, they can’t find a job

    A Stanford software engineering degree used to be a golden ticket. Artificial intelligence has devalued it to bronze, recent graduates say.

    The elite students are shocked by the lack of job offers as they finish studies at what is often ranked as the top university in America.

    When they were freshmen, ChatGPT hadn’t yet been released upon the world. Today, AI can code better than most humans.

    Top tech companies just don’t need as many fresh graduates.

    “Stanford computer science graduates are struggling to find entry-level jobs” with the most prominent tech brands, said Jan Liphardt, associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University. “I think that’s crazy.”

    While the rapidly advancing coding capabilities of generative AI have made experienced engineers more productive, they have also hobbled the job prospects of early-career software engineers.

    Stanford students describe a suddenly skewed job market, where just a small slice of graduates — those considered “cracked engineers” who already have thick resumes building products and doing research — are getting the few good jobs, leaving everyone else to fight for scraps.

    “There’s definitely a very dreary mood on campus,” said a recent computer science graduate who asked not to be named so they could speak freely. “People [who are] job hunting are very stressed out, and it’s very hard for them to actually secure jobs.”

    The shake-up is being felt across California colleges, including UC Berkeley, USC and others. The job search has been even tougher for those with less prestigious degrees.

    Eylul Akgul graduated last year with a degree in computer science from Loyola Marymount University. She wasn’t getting offers, so she went home to Turkey and got some experience at a startup. In May, she returned to the U.S., and still, she was “ghosted” by hundreds of employers.

    “The industry for programmers is getting very oversaturated,” Akgul said.

    The engineers’ most significant competitor is getting stronger by the day. When ChatGPT launched in 2022, it could only code for 30 seconds at a time. Today’s AI agents can code for hours, and do basic programming faster with fewer mistakes.

    Data suggests that even though AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic are hiring many people, it is not offsetting the decline in hiring elsewhere. Employment for specific groups, such as early-career software developers between the ages of 22 and 25 has declined by nearly 20% from its peak in late 2022, according to a Stanford study.

    It wasn’t just software engineers, but also customer service and accounting jobs that were highly exposed to competition from AI. The Stanford study estimated that entry-level hiring for AI-exposed jobs declined 13% relative to less-exposed jobs such as nursing.

    In the Los Angeles region, another study estimated that close to 200,000 jobs are exposed. Around 40% of tasks done by call center workers, editors and personal finance experts could be automated and done by AI, according to an AI Exposure Index curated by resume builder MyPerfectResume.

    Many tech startups and titans have not been shy about broadcasting that they are cutting back on hiring plans as AI allows them to do more programming with fewer people.

    Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei said that 70% to 90% of the code for some products at his company is written by his company’s AI, called Claude. In May, he predicted that AI’s capabilities will increase until close to 50% of all entry-level white-collar jobs might be wiped out in five years.

    A common sentiment from hiring managers is that where they previously needed ten engineers, they now only need “two skilled engineers and one of these LLM-based agents,” which can be just as productive, said Nenad Medvidović, a computer science professor at the University of Southern California.

    “We don’t need the junior developers anymore,” said Amr Awadallah, CEO of Vectara, a Palo Alto-based AI startup. “The AI now can code better than the average junior developer that comes out of the best schools out there.”

    To be sure, AI is still a long way from causing the extinction of software engineers. As AI handles structured, repetitive tasks, human engineers’ jobs are shifting toward oversight.

    Today’s AIs are powerful but “jagged,” meaning they can excel at certain math problems yet still fail basic logic tests and aren’t consistent. One study found that AI tools made experienced developers 19% slower at work, as they spent more time reviewing code and fixing errors.

    Students should focus on learning how to manage and check the work of AI as well as getting experience working with it, said John David N. Dionisio, a computer science professor at LMU.

    Stanford students say they are arriving at the job market and finding a split in the road; capable AI engineers can find jobs, but basic, old-school computer science jobs are disappearing.

    As they hit this surprise speed bump, some students are lowering their standards and joining companies they wouldn’t have considered before. Some are creating their own startups. A large group of frustrated grads are deciding to continue their studies to beef up their resumes and add more skills needed to compete with AI.

    “If you look at the enrollment numbers in the past two years, they’ve skyrocketed for people wanting to do a fifth-year master’s,” the Stanford graduate said. “It’s a whole other year, a whole other cycle to do recruiting. I would say, half of my friends are still on campus doing their fifth-year master’s.”

    After four months of searching, LMU graduate Akgul finally landed a technical lead job at a software consultancy in Los Angeles. At her new job, she uses AI coding tools, but she feels like she has to do the work of three developers.

    Universities and students will have to rethink their curricula and majors to ensure that their four years of study prepare them for a world with AI.

    “That’s been a dramatic reversal from three years ago, when all of my undergraduate mentees found great jobs at the companies around us,” Stanford’s Liphardt said. “That has changed.”

    Nilesh Christopher

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  • Black Friday shoppers spend more time looking for deals but less money amid economic angst

    Black Friday shoppers flocked to stores, hoping to get more bags for their buck as they grapple with inflation, tariffs and anxiety about the health of the economy.

    Citadel Outlets in Commerce was mobbed Friday morning with long waits for parking and winding lines in front of stores as consumers tried to grab good deals. Camila Romero and her 13-year-old daughter spent hours in line trying to get the best possible deals on Ugg and Coach items on their wish lists.

    “You come to the Citadel because it’s outlets. And it’s discounts on top of that,” she said. “So even when you’re broke, you don’t feel it.”

    Shoppers across Los Angeles plan to spend less this holiday season, data show. While retailers tease their biggest deals and prepare for what they hope is robust demand, a Deloitte survey found that Angelenos plan to spend 14% less over the holidays compared with last year.

    Nationally, shoppers are expected to spend 10% less than last year.

    Consumers are pulling back on spending in response to economic uncertainty and rising prices, said Rebecca Lohrey, a partner at Deloitte with expertise in retail and e-commerce.

    “There is at least a perception of higher prices and higher costs of goods,” Lohrey said. “That is a concern for consumers across the board, and is one of the reasons they’re tightening their wallets a little bit.”

    The survey found that 62% of Angelenos expect the economy to weaken in the year ahead, up from 34% in 2024. Around the same percentage of respondents said they are concerned about a potential recession in the next six months.

    Across income groups, consumers are making cost-cutting trade-offs and putting more emphasis on finding the best deal, the data showed. More than half of Los Angeles respondents said they would switch brands if their first choice was too expensive.

    “It tends to be the lower income brackets or the middle income brackets that are the most likely to trade down,” said Collin Colburn, vice president of commerce and retail media at the Interactive Advertising Bureau. “This year, actually, everyone is trading down.”

    Camryn Smith and her daughter showed up to snoop around for the deals at the Americana at Brand in Glendale early Friday morning. The discounts help knock off some of the effect of inflation, she said.

    “The prices are higher and they just bring them down to what they normally would be,” Smith said. “It’s crazy.”

    Consumers are fatigued from continuous inflation and instability brought on by the Trump administration. More shoppers are regifting or considering giving homemade gifts, the Deloitte survey found.

    “We’ve been in an environment where prices continue to rise for a host of reasons, inflation being one, tariffs being another,” Colburn said. “I think when that happens year on year, it really drags on the consumer.”

    This means more shoppers are looking for ways to save on purchases — and presents — they cannot put off.

    The National Retail Federation predicts that a record number of Americans will shop the sales over Thanksgiving weekend. Retail sales in November and December are expected to grow between 3.7% and 4.2% compared with last year, the federation said.

    Cautious consumers are more eager than ever to find a hot deal, said NRF chief economist Mark Mathews.

    “People are changing the way that they spend,” he said. “They’re focusing more on stretching their dollar and getting value for the dollar.”

    Even shoppers spending more than usual may be doing it out of concern, economists say. Consumers who anticipate inflation sometimes spend now out of fear that prices will rise later.

    Brooklyn Farmer braved the crowds at Citadel to shop and try to save amid inflation.

    “People are struggling right now, but the holidays are still important to them,” he said. “The thinking is if there’s going to be discounts like this, I might as well go while I can, instead of spending more later.”

    Of those surveyed by Deloitte in Los Angeles, 43% said they planned to spend most of their holiday budget at big-box retailers and 32% said they would spend the most at digital-first retailers.

    Shoppers are also using new tools to help them find products and deals, including artificial intelligence. Data collected by the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that AI now ranks as the second-most influential shopping source, ahead of retailers’ websites and apps and behind only search engines.

    Nearly 90% of shoppers nationally said AI helps them find products they wouldn’t have found otherwise, according to the IAB data.

    Mattel, the El Segundo-based toy company, is offering up to 50% off at Target on Hot Wheels, Barbie dolls and Disney Princess toys, said company spokesperson Kelly Powers.

    “Mattel is working closely with retailers across the country on Black Friday deals,” Powers said.

    In May, Mattel said it was considering raising its prices to offset the effect of President Trump’s tariffs on China..

    On the October earnings call, however, the company said the full effect of tariffs won’t be seen until the fourth quarter.

    Discount retailers that depend heavily on foot traffic have given conflicting signals about their business.

    Walmart recently raised its sales forecast for the year after reporting a 6% year-over-year increase in revenue in the third quarter.

    Target, in contrast, missed analyst expectations and reported a 1.5% decline in sales in the third quarter. On a call with analysts earlier this month, Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said the company “has not been performing up to its potential.”

    Of course, for many shoppers on Friday, the pilgrimage to splurge at the local mall was about more than saving.

    Ericka Pentasuglia brought her daughter to the Americana the Brand at around 3 a.m. to be the first in line for a pop-up store selling Billie Eilish perfume. She thought it was important for her to pass down the tradition of Black Friday shopping.

    “I do feel like it is dying a little bit,” Pentasuglia said. “The best thing is that you don’t lose a tradition, it continues to your children.”

    Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Christopher Buchanan, Gavin J. Quinton

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  • Why Pope Leo XIV’s Lebanon visit matters amid Israeli bombardment

    BEIRUT  — When Pope Leo XIV visits the Middle East this week, he comes to a conflict-weary region struggling to find peace even as the specter of war stalks it once again.

    In his first international trip since assuming the papacy in May, the Chicago-born pope will travel Thursday to Turkey, where he will celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, where the Nicene Creed — a foundational declaration of Christian belief and unity — was written in AD 325.

    But perhaps the real test of Leo’s international debut lies in Lebanon. His coming fulfills a promise to visit the country made by his boldly charismatic predecessor Pope Francis, who raised the papacy’s international profile with dozens visits abroad and a propensity for frankness in his commentary that endeared him to the faithful, especially in the Middle East.

    But Christians — estimated to be about 30% of Lebanon’s population — are not the only ones looking forward to Leo’s arrival.

    A view of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, which Pope Leo XIV will see during his visit to Turkey, which begins Nov. 27, 2025.

    (Arif Hudaverdi Yaman / Anadolu / Getty Images)

    Many here hope his visit will be a portent for peace, bringing attention to this tiny Mediterranean nation as it contends with a Job-like succession of crises: First the economy, which crashed in 2019, tanking the banking system and the currency with it; then the port explosion in 2020; and the war between the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah and Israel, which flared in 2023 before intensifying late last year and left thousands dead and wide swaths of Lebanon’s south and east pulverized.

    Despite a ceasefire brokered last November, Israel has launched near-daily attacks on its northern neighbor, justifying its strikes as a bid to stop Hezbollah from reconstituting itself, even as the United Nations tallied more than 10,000 air and ground violations in Lebanese territory and 127 civilians killed in the year since the ceasefire took effect.

    Israel’s attacks have also paralyzed reconstruction efforts, meaning most residents of Lebanese border towns — whether dominated by Christians, Muslims or Druze — have been unable to piece back their prewar lives. The U.N.’s human rights office says around 64,000 Lebanese remain displaced.

    The Israeli army violated the ceasefire by launching more than ten airstrikes on the town of al-Musaylih

    The Israeli army launched more than 10 airstrikes on the town of al-Musaylih in southern Lebanon, causing extensive damage, on Oct. 11.

    (Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    Safety concerns for the pope have been paramount in people’s minds for months. In October, in what appeared to be a hot mic moment, Jordan’s Queen Rania asked the pope during a photo-op at the Vatican whether it was safe to go to Lebanon. “Well, we’re going,” Leo gruffly replied.

    Alarms were raised again over the weekend when Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, barely two miles away from where the pope would be landing on Sunday. The attack, the first one in months near the capital, killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander and coincided with a general uptick in Israeli strikes and drone activity in recent weeks — all indicators, observers say, of an impending all-out assault.

    Nevertheless, the trip is still on, Lebanese officials say.

    For Oumayma Farah, development director of the Order of Malta Lebanon, which aids communities of all religions and nationalities through humanitarian projects, that’s a “sign of courage and resilience to the Lebanese population and Christians in the region as a whole.”

    “Whatever happens, the pope will come,” Farah said.

    “The Church teaches us to not be afraid, so he’s the first example.”

    A woman walks her dog past a billboard displaying a picture of a man in white religious robes

    A woman walks her dog past a billboard in Beirut touting Pope Leo’s upcoming visit to Lebanon.

    (Anwar Amro / AFP/Getty Images)

    Like most of the countries where Christianity first took hold, wars and economic lethargy — not to mention a relatively easier path to emigration — have dwindled Lebanon’s Christian population over the decades.

    Across the Middle East, the number of Christians has gone from 20% of the population to a mere 5%; Lebanon remains the Arab country with the highest proportion, with Christians making up about 30% of the population, according to estimates from various research groups and the U.S. State Department.

    The pope’s insistence on coming to Lebanon, Farah said, was “re-centering the importance of this country” and a “wake-up call” for its politicians. After spending three days in Turkey, the pope will arrive in Lebanon on Sunday and depart Tuesday.

    In the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and other areas on the pope’s itinerary, signs abound of furious logistical activity and preparations: Police and security personnel have intensified their presence. A two-day holiday was announced to allow participation in public prayer events, even as parishes and schools across the country have been involved in bringing the faithful to attend Mass near the site of the Beirut port blast, which was deemed an accident caused by negligence, and elsewhere.

    Meanwhile, roadworks and maintenance, all but abrogated in recent years due to the government’s financial woes, have been in full swing. The joke around town is that people want another papal visit if only so the government finishes repaving all the country’s pothole-stricken streets. A bitter corollary is another joke that the refurbished roads will last only till the pope leaves — because they’ll be destroyed in a new Israeli campaign.

    People in dark clothes standing in the foreground of a grand white mosque with blue domed roofs

    Along with visiting the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Pope Leo will travel to the Turkish city of Iznik, ancient Nicaea, to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

    (Arif Hudaverdi Yaman / Anadolu / Getty Images)

    The gallows humor reflects the uncertainty of the moment, with the U.S. and Israel pushing the Lebanese army to fully disarm Hezbollah, even as the group insists it will disarm only in the country’s south.

    Lebanon’s government, in turn, says that it cannot persuade Hezbollah to give up its arms so long as Israel keeps occupying Lebanese territory, and that doing so by force would lead to civil war.

    The hope is that the pontiff can help break the logjam. But though few expect change to come so quickly, the visit is still important, said a Maronite parish priest, Father Tony Elias, from Rmeish, a village located just across the border from Israel.

    “When the pope visits a country that has been in pain for so long, this is truly enough to lift that pain,” Elias said.

    Rmeish, which maintained a resolutely neutral stance during the war, is relatively unscathed, an exception in the wasteland that has become Lebanon’s border area after years of Israeli bombardment.

    Elias said he would have wanted the pope to visit the south, but he wasn’t disappointed, as he and about 200 others from the village would travel to Beirut and join the pontiff.

    “If he can’t come to the south, we can come to him,” Elias said.

    Nabih Bulos

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  • No. 22 Auburn to face tougher test with Oregon at Players Era opener

    (Photo credit: John Reed-Imagn Images)

    Auburn men’s basketball is just two points away from being undefeated, with their only loss this season coming on Nov. 16, a 73-72 defeat to then-No. 1 Houston.

    Beyond that, No. 22 Auburn (4-1) has feasted on small schools in its four wins. That won’t be the case Monday night at Michelob Ultra Arena near Las Vegas, when the Tigers face Oregon in both teams’ first game of the second annual Players Era men’s tournament.

    Auburn won’t have leading scorer and rebounder Keyshawn Hall in the lineup against the Ducks. Hall, who is averaging 23.3 points and 11 rebounds per game, suffered a lateral foot sprain late in the second half of the Tigers’ loss to Houston. He missed the team’s 112-66 win over Jackson State on Nov. 19.

    The 6-foot-7 transfer from UCF won’t be rushed back, Auburn head coach Steven Pearl told AL.com last week.

    ‘I mean, with him out, just got to step up. It’s the next guy up mentality and we’re trying to win it all,’ Auburn’s Elyjah Freeman said. ‘All that matters is trying to win and stopping them from scoring.’

    Freeman is among six Tigers’ regular players who average double figures in scoring per game. Auburn is averaging 93.4 points per game while shooting 50.2% from the field this season.

    Both teams will play back-to-back games this week, and potentially a third game in three days if they reach the Players Era third-place or championship game on Wednesday, Nov. 26.

    Oregon (4-0) is the defending Players Era tournament champion. The Ducks won the inaugural edition last year with wins over Texas A&M, San Diego State and an 83-81 upset of then-No. 9 Alabama.

    Oregon took home the $1.5 million in NIL money awarded to the tournament’s first-place team.

    The Ducks haven’t played since last Monday, Nov. 17, an 87-75 win over Oregon State. They are 28-9 in games played in Las Vegas under head coach Dana Altman, with 23 wins from the former Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament, last played in March of 2024.

    Oregon is led by center Nate Bittle, whose late put-back dunk with five seconds to play against Alabama in the Players Era championship game last year gave the Ducks the win.

    This year, Bittle is averaging 18.8 points and 9.8 rebounds to lead the Ducks. The focal point of opposing defenses, Bittle has two 20-point games this season and a pair of double-doubles.

    Oregon also has two other experienced players in their third seasons in the program. Point guard Jackson Shelstad has scored 22 points in each of the Ducks’ last two games, and forward Kwame Evans Jr. had a career-high 14 rebounds and made 10 of 14 free throws against Oregon State.

    ‘That’s what you expect from experience — guys that have played for you,’ Altman told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. ‘They’ve been in big games. They’ve been in NCAA tournaments.’

    The Ducks have not shot the ball well overall to start the season, at 40.4%, but are holding opponents to a 38.3% from the field.

    –Field Level Media

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  • No. 17 Michigan State out to build off 2nd marquee win vs. Detroit Mercy

    (Photo credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)

    There is one big question facing No. 17 Michigan State as it prepares to take on Detroit Mercy on Friday in East Lansing, Mich.

    Can the Spartans avoid a letdown?

    One certainly appears possible, given how impressive Michigan State looked in one of its most important nonconference games of the season, an 83-66 win over No. 12 Kentucky on Tuesday in New York.

    It was the second resume-boosting win the Spartans (4-0) have already secured in the first three weeks of the season, after a home win over then-No. 14 Arkansas on Nov. 8.

    There’s certainly a lot of reason for Michigan State to be hyped, which is why intensity could be a concern coming back home to play a lesser opponent, especially on such a short turnaround.

    However, if Michigan State keeps sharing the ball like it has the past two games against San Jose State and Kentucky, there shouldn’t be much for the fan base to be worried about.

    ‘What I’m proudest (of), though, with this team, where it’s getting a little bit like last year, it’s very unselfish,’ Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. ‘Twenty-five assists on 32 baskets. The other day, it was 24 assists on 28 baskets (against San Jose State). I still think we’ve got some more upside. I think our running game can get better.’

    Michigan State has been led so far by its four returning core players, senior frontcourt players Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper, junior forward Coen Carr and sophomore point guard Jeremy Fears Jr.

    Transfers Trey Fort (Samford) and Divine Ugochukwu (Miami) have added backcourt depth, and freshmen Jordan Scott and Cam Ward have made early contributions.

    The biggest revelation for Michigan State against Kentucky was the performance of sophomore Kur Teng, who played sparingly last year.

    Teng will be used in a more expanded role this year and played his best college game against Kentucky, scoring 15 points and making three shots from 3-point range in 18 minutes.

    ‘Kur was really good,’ Izzo said.

    Now, Michigan State will turn its attention to Detroit Mercy in what will be a homecoming game for Titans’ head coach Mark Montgomery, a former point guard for the Spartans who had two coaching stints on Izzo’s staff.

    Montgomery is in his second year as head coach of Detroit Mercy (1-4). The Titans have lost their last two games, the latest being a 72-62 home defeat against Eastern Michigan on Tuesday.

    Picked ninth in the preseason Horizon League poll, Detroit Mercy is led by senior guard Orlando Lovejoy, who averaged 16.4 points per game last year. Senior guard Jared Lary and sophomore guard TJ Nadeau are other returnees for the Titans.

    But this year’s team is filled with plenty of new faces, with three transfers and five freshmen on the roster.

    Montogomery said this time of year is important to get those younger players ready for league play and to instill a consistent rotation.

    ‘The young guys are gaining experience,’ Montgomery said after the loss to Eastern Michigan. ‘Most of them played more than 10 minutes a game. You want to come out on the winning end, but you have to learn from these kinds of games, pick yourself up. There’s a lot of basketball ahead of us.’

    –Field Level Media

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  • Housing Tracker: Southern California home values rise slightly in October

    Southern California home prices rose in October, stopping a five-month skid that saw the average home value fall more than $14,000 since April.

    In October, the average home price across the six-county region climbed to $860,773 — a 0.01% increase compared to September. However, prices were still down 1.4% compared to October 2024.

    Economists and real estate agents say a variety of factors have slowed the market, including high mortgage rates, rising inventory and economic uncertainty stemming from tariffs. The same factors continued in October, but the uptick reflects a slight dip in inventory as more sellers choose to hang on to their homes.

    Listings in L.A. County fell 2% month-over-month, and the share of homes with price cuts dropped slightly as well. But there’s still inventory aplenty compared to 2024. In October, there were 19% more homes for sale than there were last year.

    Back then, rising mortgage rates were knocking many buyers out of the market. Values started increasing again when the number of homes for sale plunged as sellers backed away, unwilling to give up mortgages they took out earlier in the pandemic with rates of 3% and lower.

    Real estate agents say homeowners increasingly want to take the next step in their lives and are deciding to move rather than hold on to their ultra-low mortgage rates. But many first-time buyers, without access to equity, remain locked out.

    Add on the economic uncertainty and you get a market that’s noticeably downshifted.

    If the Trump administration’s policies end up pushing the economy into a recession, some economists say home prices could drop much further.

    For now, Zillow is forecasting that the economy will avoid a recession and home prices will increase over the next year. The real estate firm expects that one year from now, home prices in the Los Angeles-Orange County metro region will be 1.4% higher than they are now, though that number is lower than the estimated national increase of 1.9%.

    Note to readers

    Welcome to the Los Angeles Times’ Real Estate Tracker. Every month we will publish a report with data on housing prices, mortgage rates and rental prices. Our reporters will explain what the new data mean for Los Angeles and surrounding areas and help you understand what you can expect to pay for an apartment or house. You can read last month’s real estate breakdown here.

    Explore home prices and rents for September

    Use the tables below to search for home sale prices and apartment rental prices by city, neighborhood and county.

    Rental prices in Southern California

    The median rent across Los Angeles ticked down for the second consecutive month, dipping to $2,206 in October. The downward trend has continued in most markets across Southern California, but the January fires could be upending the downward trend in some locations.

    Housing analysts have said that rising vacancy levels since 2022 had forced landlords to accept less in rent. But the fires destroyed thousands of homes, suddenly thrusting many people into the rental market.

    Most homes destroyed were single-family houses, and some housing and disaster-recovery experts say they expect the largest rent increases to be in larger units adjacent to burn areas in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, with upward pressure on rents diminishing for units that are smaller and farther away from the disaster zones.

    A recent L.A. Times analysis of Zillow data found that in ZIP Codes closest to the fires, rents rose more than in the rest of the county from December to April.

    Other data sources show similar trends.

    In Santa Monica, which borders the hard-hit Palisades neighborhood, the median rent rose 2% in October from a year earlier, according to data from Apartment List.

    Apartment List does not have data for Altadena, but it does for the adjacent city of Pasadena. Rents there rose 1.2% in October from a year earlier.

    Jack Flemming, Hailey Wang

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  • Trump pardons Jan. 6 rioter for gun offense and woman convicted of threatening to shoot FBI agents

    President Donald Trump has issued two pardons related to the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, including for a woman convicted of threatening to shoot FBI agents who were investigating a tip that she may have been at the Capitol, officials said Saturday.Related video above: BBC leaders resign amid scandal over misleading edit of Trump’s Jan. 6 speechIn a separate case, Trump issued a second pardon for a Jan. 6 defendant who had remained behind bars despite the sweeping grant of clemency for Capitol rioters because of a separate conviction for illegally possessing firearms.It’s the latest example of Trump’s willingness to use his constitutional authority to help supporters who were scrutinized as part of the Biden administration’s massive Jan. 6 investigation that led to charges against more than 1,500 defendants.Suzanne Ellen Kaye was released last year after serving an 18-month sentence in her threats case. After the FBI contacted her in 2021 about a tip indicating she may have been at the Capitol on Jan. 6, she posted a video on social media citing her Second Amendment right to carry a gun, and she threatened to shoot agents if they came to her house. In court papers, prosecutors said her words “were part of the ubiquity of violent political rhetoric that causes serious harm to our communities.”An email seeking comment was sent to a lawyer for Kaye on Saturday. Kaye testified at trial that she didn’t own any guns and didn’t intend to threaten the FBI, according to court papers. She told authorities she was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and wasn’t charged with any Capitol riot-related crimes.A White House official said Kaye suffers from “stress-induced seizures” and experienced one when the jury read its verdict. The White House said this is “clearly a case of disfavored First Amendment political speech being prosecuted and an excessive sentence.” The official requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the case.In a separate case, Trump pardoned Daniel Edwin Wilson, of Louisville, Kentucky, who was under investigation for his role in the riot when authorities found six guns and roughly 4,800 rounds of ammunition in his home. Because of prior felony convictions, it was illegal for him to possess firearms.Wilson’s case became part of a legal debate over whether Trump’s sweeping pardons for Jan. 6 rioters in January applied to other crimes discovered during the sprawling federal dragnet that began after the attack on the Capitol. The Trump-appointed federal judge who oversaw Wilson’s case criticized the Justice Department earlier this year for arguing that the president’s Jan. 6 pardons applied to Wilson’s gun offense.Wilson, who had been scheduled to remain in prison until 2028, was released Friday evening following the pardon, his lawyer said on Saturday.”We are grateful that President Trump has recognized the injustice in my client’s case and granted him this pardon,” attorney George Pallas said in an email. “Mr. Wilson can now reunite with his family and begin rebuilding his life.”The White House official said Saturday that “because the search of Mr. Wilson’s home was due to the events of January 6, and they should have never been there in the first place, President Trump is pardoning Mr. Wilson for the firearm issues.”Wilson had been sentenced in 2024 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to impede or injure police officers and illegally possessing firearms at his home.Prosecutors had accused him of planning for the Jan. 6 riot for weeks and coming to Washington with the goal of stopping the peaceful transfer of power. Authorities said he communicated with members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group and adherents of the antigovernment Three Percenters movement as he marched to the Capitol.Prosecutors cited messages they argued showed that Wilson’s “plans were for a broader American civil war.” In one message on Nov. 9, 2020, he wrote: “I’m willing to do whatever. Done made up my mind. I understand the tip of the spear will not be easy. I’m willing to sacrifice myself if necessary. Whether it means prison or death.”Wilson said at his sentencing that he regretted entering the Capitol that day but “got involved with good intentions.”The Justice Department had initially argued in February that Trump’s pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day back in the White House didn’t extend to Wilson’s gun crime. The department later changed its position, saying it had received “further clarity on the intent of the Presidential Pardon.”U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, criticized the department’s evolving position and said it was “extraordinary” that prosecutors were seeking to argue that Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons extended to illegal “contraband” found by investigators during searches related to the Jan. 6 cases.Politico first reported Wilson’s pardon on Saturday.Megerian reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

    WASHINGTON (AP) —

    President Donald Trump has issued two pardons related to the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, including for a woman convicted of threatening to shoot FBI agents who were investigating a tip that she may have been at the Capitol, officials said Saturday.

    Related video above: BBC leaders resign amid scandal over misleading edit of Trump’s Jan. 6 speech

    In a separate case, Trump issued a second pardon for a Jan. 6 defendant who had remained behind bars despite the sweeping grant of clemency for Capitol rioters because of a separate conviction for illegally possessing firearms.

    It’s the latest example of Trump’s willingness to use his constitutional authority to help supporters who were scrutinized as part of the Biden administration’s massive Jan. 6 investigation that led to charges against more than 1,500 defendants.

    Suzanne Ellen Kaye was released last year after serving an 18-month sentence in her threats case. After the FBI contacted her in 2021 about a tip indicating she may have been at the Capitol on Jan. 6, she posted a video on social media citing her Second Amendment right to carry a gun, and she threatened to shoot agents if they came to her house. In court papers, prosecutors said her words “were part of the ubiquity of violent political rhetoric that causes serious harm to our communities.”

    An email seeking comment was sent to a lawyer for Kaye on Saturday. Kaye testified at trial that she didn’t own any guns and didn’t intend to threaten the FBI, according to court papers. She told authorities she was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and wasn’t charged with any Capitol riot-related crimes.

    A White House official said Kaye suffers from “stress-induced seizures” and experienced one when the jury read its verdict. The White House said this is “clearly a case of disfavored First Amendment political speech being prosecuted and an excessive sentence.” The official requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the case.

    In a separate case, Trump pardoned Daniel Edwin Wilson, of Louisville, Kentucky, who was under investigation for his role in the riot when authorities found six guns and roughly 4,800 rounds of ammunition in his home. Because of prior felony convictions, it was illegal for him to possess firearms.

    Wilson’s case became part of a legal debate over whether Trump’s sweeping pardons for Jan. 6 rioters in January applied to other crimes discovered during the sprawling federal dragnet that began after the attack on the Capitol. The Trump-appointed federal judge who oversaw Wilson’s case criticized the Justice Department earlier this year for arguing that the president’s Jan. 6 pardons applied to Wilson’s gun offense.

    Wilson, who had been scheduled to remain in prison until 2028, was released Friday evening following the pardon, his lawyer said on Saturday.

    “We are grateful that President Trump has recognized the injustice in my client’s case and granted him this pardon,” attorney George Pallas said in an email. “Mr. Wilson can now reunite with his family and begin rebuilding his life.”

    The White House official said Saturday that “because the search of Mr. Wilson’s home was due to the events of January 6, and they should have never been there in the first place, President Trump is pardoning Mr. Wilson for the firearm issues.”

    Wilson had been sentenced in 2024 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to impede or injure police officers and illegally possessing firearms at his home.

    Prosecutors had accused him of planning for the Jan. 6 riot for weeks and coming to Washington with the goal of stopping the peaceful transfer of power. Authorities said he communicated with members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group and adherents of the antigovernment Three Percenters movement as he marched to the Capitol.

    Prosecutors cited messages they argued showed that Wilson’s “plans were for a broader American civil war.” In one message on Nov. 9, 2020, he wrote: “I’m willing to do whatever. Done made up my mind. I understand the tip of the spear will not be easy. I’m willing to sacrifice myself if necessary. Whether it means prison or death.”

    Wilson said at his sentencing that he regretted entering the Capitol that day but “got involved with good intentions.”

    The Justice Department had initially argued in February that Trump’s pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day back in the White House didn’t extend to Wilson’s gun crime. The department later changed its position, saying it had received “further clarity on the intent of the Presidential Pardon.”

    U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, criticized the department’s evolving position and said it was “extraordinary” that prosecutors were seeking to argue that Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons extended to illegal “contraband” found by investigators during searches related to the Jan. 6 cases.

    Politico first reported Wilson’s pardon on Saturday.

    Megerian reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

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  • Trump pardons Jan. 6 rioter for gun offense and woman convicted of threatening to shoot FBI agents

    President Donald Trump has issued two pardons related to the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, including for a woman convicted of threatening to shoot FBI agents who were investigating a tip that she may have been at the Capitol, officials said Saturday.Related video above: BBC leaders resign amid scandal over misleading edit of Trump’s Jan. 6 speechIn a separate case, Trump issued a second pardon for a Jan. 6 defendant who had remained behind bars despite the sweeping grant of clemency for Capitol rioters because of a separate conviction for illegally possessing firearms.It’s the latest example of Trump’s willingness to use his constitutional authority to help supporters who were scrutinized as part of the Biden administration’s massive Jan. 6 investigation that led to charges against more than 1,500 defendants.Suzanne Ellen Kaye was released last year after serving an 18-month sentence in her threats case. After the FBI contacted her in 2021 about a tip indicating she may have been at the Capitol on Jan. 6, she posted a video on social media citing her Second Amendment right to carry a gun, and she threatened to shoot agents if they came to her house. In court papers, prosecutors said her words “were part of the ubiquity of violent political rhetoric that causes serious harm to our communities.”An email seeking comment was sent to a lawyer for Kaye on Saturday. Kaye testified at trial that she didn’t own any guns and didn’t intend to threaten the FBI, according to court papers. She told authorities she was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and wasn’t charged with any Capitol riot-related crimes.A White House official said Kaye suffers from “stress-induced seizures” and experienced one when the jury read its verdict. The White House said this is “clearly a case of disfavored First Amendment political speech being prosecuted and an excessive sentence.” The official requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the case.In a separate case, Trump pardoned Daniel Edwin Wilson, of Louisville, Kentucky, who was under investigation for his role in the riot when authorities found six guns and roughly 4,800 rounds of ammunition in his home. Because of prior felony convictions, it was illegal for him to possess firearms.Wilson’s case became part of a legal debate over whether Trump’s sweeping pardons for Jan. 6 rioters in January applied to other crimes discovered during the sprawling federal dragnet that began after the attack on the Capitol. The Trump-appointed federal judge who oversaw Wilson’s case criticized the Justice Department earlier this year for arguing that the president’s Jan. 6 pardons applied to Wilson’s gun offense.Wilson, who had been scheduled to remain in prison until 2028, was released Friday evening following the pardon, his lawyer said on Saturday.”We are grateful that President Trump has recognized the injustice in my client’s case and granted him this pardon,” attorney George Pallas said in an email. “Mr. Wilson can now reunite with his family and begin rebuilding his life.”The White House official said Saturday that “because the search of Mr. Wilson’s home was due to the events of January 6, and they should have never been there in the first place, President Trump is pardoning Mr. Wilson for the firearm issues.”Wilson had been sentenced in 2024 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to impede or injure police officers and illegally possessing firearms at his home.Prosecutors had accused him of planning for the Jan. 6 riot for weeks and coming to Washington with the goal of stopping the peaceful transfer of power. Authorities said he communicated with members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group and adherents of the antigovernment Three Percenters movement as he marched to the Capitol.Prosecutors cited messages they argued showed that Wilson’s “plans were for a broader American civil war.” In one message on Nov. 9, 2020, he wrote: “I’m willing to do whatever. Done made up my mind. I understand the tip of the spear will not be easy. I’m willing to sacrifice myself if necessary. Whether it means prison or death.”Wilson said at his sentencing that he regretted entering the Capitol that day but “got involved with good intentions.”The Justice Department had initially argued in February that Trump’s pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day back in the White House didn’t extend to Wilson’s gun crime. The department later changed its position, saying it had received “further clarity on the intent of the Presidential Pardon.”U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, criticized the department’s evolving position and said it was “extraordinary” that prosecutors were seeking to argue that Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons extended to illegal “contraband” found by investigators during searches related to the Jan. 6 cases.Politico first reported Wilson’s pardon on Saturday.Megerian reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

    WASHINGTON (AP) —

    President Donald Trump has issued two pardons related to the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, including for a woman convicted of threatening to shoot FBI agents who were investigating a tip that she may have been at the Capitol, officials said Saturday.

    Related video above: BBC leaders resign amid scandal over misleading edit of Trump’s Jan. 6 speech

    In a separate case, Trump issued a second pardon for a Jan. 6 defendant who had remained behind bars despite the sweeping grant of clemency for Capitol rioters because of a separate conviction for illegally possessing firearms.

    It’s the latest example of Trump’s willingness to use his constitutional authority to help supporters who were scrutinized as part of the Biden administration’s massive Jan. 6 investigation that led to charges against more than 1,500 defendants.

    Suzanne Ellen Kaye was released last year after serving an 18-month sentence in her threats case. After the FBI contacted her in 2021 about a tip indicating she may have been at the Capitol on Jan. 6, she posted a video on social media citing her Second Amendment right to carry a gun, and she threatened to shoot agents if they came to her house. In court papers, prosecutors said her words “were part of the ubiquity of violent political rhetoric that causes serious harm to our communities.”

    An email seeking comment was sent to a lawyer for Kaye on Saturday. Kaye testified at trial that she didn’t own any guns and didn’t intend to threaten the FBI, according to court papers. She told authorities she was not at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and wasn’t charged with any Capitol riot-related crimes.

    A White House official said Kaye suffers from “stress-induced seizures” and experienced one when the jury read its verdict. The White House said this is “clearly a case of disfavored First Amendment political speech being prosecuted and an excessive sentence.” The official requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the case.

    In a separate case, Trump pardoned Daniel Edwin Wilson, of Louisville, Kentucky, who was under investigation for his role in the riot when authorities found six guns and roughly 4,800 rounds of ammunition in his home. Because of prior felony convictions, it was illegal for him to possess firearms.

    Wilson’s case became part of a legal debate over whether Trump’s sweeping pardons for Jan. 6 rioters in January applied to other crimes discovered during the sprawling federal dragnet that began after the attack on the Capitol. The Trump-appointed federal judge who oversaw Wilson’s case criticized the Justice Department earlier this year for arguing that the president’s Jan. 6 pardons applied to Wilson’s gun offense.

    Wilson, who had been scheduled to remain in prison until 2028, was released Friday evening following the pardon, his lawyer said on Saturday.

    “We are grateful that President Trump has recognized the injustice in my client’s case and granted him this pardon,” attorney George Pallas said in an email. “Mr. Wilson can now reunite with his family and begin rebuilding his life.”

    The White House official said Saturday that “because the search of Mr. Wilson’s home was due to the events of January 6, and they should have never been there in the first place, President Trump is pardoning Mr. Wilson for the firearm issues.”

    Wilson had been sentenced in 2024 to five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to impede or injure police officers and illegally possessing firearms at his home.

    Prosecutors had accused him of planning for the Jan. 6 riot for weeks and coming to Washington with the goal of stopping the peaceful transfer of power. Authorities said he communicated with members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group and adherents of the antigovernment Three Percenters movement as he marched to the Capitol.

    Prosecutors cited messages they argued showed that Wilson’s “plans were for a broader American civil war.” In one message on Nov. 9, 2020, he wrote: “I’m willing to do whatever. Done made up my mind. I understand the tip of the spear will not be easy. I’m willing to sacrifice myself if necessary. Whether it means prison or death.”

    Wilson said at his sentencing that he regretted entering the Capitol that day but “got involved with good intentions.”

    The Justice Department had initially argued in February that Trump’s pardons of the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day back in the White House didn’t extend to Wilson’s gun crime. The department later changed its position, saying it had received “further clarity on the intent of the Presidential Pardon.”

    U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, criticized the department’s evolving position and said it was “extraordinary” that prosecutors were seeking to argue that Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons extended to illegal “contraband” found by investigators during searches related to the Jan. 6 cases.

    Politico first reported Wilson’s pardon on Saturday.

    Megerian reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

    Source link

  • Trump ‘knew about the girls,’ Jeffrey Epstein claimed in emails as Democrats, GOP release trove of records

    Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” and “knew about the girls,” Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier accused of orchestrating sex trafficking of young women and underage girls, wrote in private emails released Wednesday by House Democrats.

    The release of a small batch of Epstein’s communications sent shock waves through Washington, prompting a panicked defense of the president from White House aides who accused Democrats of colluding with the media to smear him. It also triggered Republican lawmakers to release an additional 20,000 documents from Epstein’s private estate, a move Democrats said was designed to distract from the implication of Trump.

    But several of the documents shared by the Republicans added fuel to the fire, highlighting Epstein’s interest in Trump in the years after Trump claimed their friendship had come to an end, and suggesting the convicted sex offender had information on the president he was keeping secret.

    By Wednesday afternoon, House Democrats — and a few Republicans — secured enough signatures for a petition that would force a chamber vote on the release of Justice Department files related to the Epstein investigation.

    The drama began Wednesday morning, when Democrats released three of Epstein’s old email exchanges.

    “Of course he knew about the girls,” Epstein said of Trump in an email to author and journalist Michael Wolff in early 2019, during Trump’s first term as president — one of three emails released by Democrats that Epstein sent to Wolff and to Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking after Epstein’s death.

    A few hours after Democrats released three emails referencing Trump — and urged the Department of Justice to release all Epstein documents to the public — Republicans on the House Oversight Committee suddenly dumped a massive trove of documents, portions of which are redacted.

    Those files suggest that even after Trump won the 2016 election — a time when Trump has said he was no longer friends with Epstein — Epstein was deeply interested in Trump’s affairs and possibly involved in some way.

    In May 2017, a New York Times reporter emailed criminal defense attorney Reid Weingarten, then a finalist for Trump’s outside counsel, seeking comment. Weingarten forwarded the email to Epstein less than an hour and a half later: “do you want it? Or Jared?” he asked. It is not clear who Weingarten was referring to, but Jared Kushner was the president’s son-in-law and senior advisor at the time.

    “Do I have the choice?” Epstein replied. “And if so, your view?”

    Multiple people wrote to Epstein apparently under the belief that he could pass information along to Trump or people in his orbit.

    In June 2017, someone whose name has been redacted sent Epstein an email with a link to a YouTube video. “How are u? Send this interview to Donald Trump pls,” the subject line read. “Its going to be everywhere.”

    “ok,” Epstein responded.

    The documents released by Republicans show Epstein cultivating cozy relationships with national figures across the political spectrum, often for the purpose of gathering information and exchanging political gossip and legal opinion on Trump. Among the figures he appears to exchange emails with are Larry H. Summers, former U.S. secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton, and Steve Bannon, Trump’s former advisor.

    The documents released Wednesday are sure to revive questions about Epstein’s relationship with Trump and what the president knew about Epstein’s sexual misconduct with girls and young women.

    Trump has denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes, though in July he told reporters he fell out with Epstein over his recruitment of spa workers at Mar-a-Lago. No investigation has tied Trump to Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking of young women.

    “The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) said in a statement as he released the documents.

    “These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the president,” Garcia added.

    Even after the GOP shared thousands of Epstein documents, Trump dismissed the focus on the Epstein files as a Democratic attempt to divert attention from the party’s caving to Republicans on the government shutdown.

    “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” Trump posted on TruthSocial. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap… There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”

    Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that Democrats had “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”

    “These stories are nothing more than bad-faith efforts to distract from President Trump’s historic accomplishments,” she said in a statement, “and any American with common sense sees right through this hoax and clear distraction from the government opening back up again.”

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    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails from Jeffery Epstein discussing President Trump.  (House Oversight Committee)

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    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails from Jeffery Epstein discussing President Trump.  (House Oversight Committee)

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    Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released emails from Jeffery Epstein discussing President Trump.  (House Oversight Committee)

    It is not clear exactly when or how Trump and Epstein’s friendship came to an end.

    When prosecutors brought federal charges against Epstein in 2019, Trump downplayed their relationship and said he hadn’t spoken to Epstein for 15 years. “I had a falling out with him,” Trump told reporters the day after federal authorities took Epstein into custody. “I was not a fan.”

    In the emails released by Democrats, Epstein argued that Trump had more knowledge of Epstein’s affairs than he admitted.

    In the 2019 email to Wolff, which references a ‘victim’ whose name has been redacted, Epstein referred to Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago club: “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever,” he wrote. “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop.”

    The White House, however, pushed back on the idea that Trump was implicated by that email to Wolff: “The ‘unnamed victim’ referenced in these emails is the late Virginia Giuffre, who repeatedly said President Trump was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever and ‘couldn’t have been friendlier’ to her in their limited interactions,” Leavitt said.

    “The fact remains that President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club decades ago for being a creep to his female employees, including Giuffre,” Leavitt added.

    In another email dated Dec. 15, 2015, Wolff wrote to Epstein ahead of a Republican presidential primary debate: “I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you — either on air or in scrum afterwards.”

    Epstein wrote back: “If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”

    In a memo released Wednesday, the White House targeted Wolff as a journalist whose record is “riddled with mistakes and inaccuracies.” It cited concerns over his credibility documented in mainstream media outlets, including The Times, the Washington Post and others.

    In a third email, sent to Maxwell in 2011, Epstein wrote: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.”

    Maxwell responded: “I have been thinking about that … .”

    The documents released by the GOP indicate that Epstein seemed to have had a special interest in Trump, his political career and his legal troubles. Over the years, the president’s name appears again and again in Epstein’s emails as he and his friends exchange articles about Trump. Some of Epstein’s acquaintances sent him their emailed exchanges with reporters regarding Trump, and in others Epstein is discussing Trump directly with reporters.

    In a June 2018 email exchange with Bannon, at the time a Trump advisor, Bannon shared an article critical of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the president and his campaign’s ties to Russia, suggesting it was tainted from the start by political bias.

    “Big deal,” Bannon wrote.

    Epstein responded that there were “many open questions” and that it was his belief that “flippers will dictate” the course of the investigation — or that the course of the investigation would be decided by the ability of prosecutors to flip associates of Trump into informants.

    In another 2018 exchange, Epstein appeared to email back and forth with Kathy Ruemmler, attorney and former White House counsel under President Obama, on former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s cooperation with prosecutors.

    After Ruemmler sent Epstein a link to a New York Times story referencing Cohen pleading guilty to violating campaign finance laws to pay adult filmmaker Stormy Daniels, Epstein wrote, “you see, i know how dirty donald is. My guess is that non lawyers ny biz people have no idea. What it means to have your fixer flip.”

    Before the 2024 presidential election, Trump called for the release of more documents related to Epstein, but his administration appears to have backtracked on its promises to release documents.

    Garcia called on the Department of Justice on Wednesday to release all Epstein files to the public immediately. “The Oversight Committee will continue pushing for answers and will not stop until we get justice for the victims,” he said in a statement.

    By the afternoon, Adelita Grijalva, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona who was sworn in to office earlier in the day, became the 218th House member to sign a petition that would force a vote on releasing files from the Epstein investigation. Her signature kicked off a countdown of seven legislative days for House Speaker Mike Johnson to schedule a vote on the matter.

    As Democrats push the Justice Department to release the files, GOP leaders are pressuring some Republicans to remove their names from the petition. The White House confirmed that senior administration officials met with Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert on Wednesday about the issue.

    Epstein, 66, died by suicide in a New York jail in August 2019, weeks after he was arrested and charged in federal court with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. A watchdog report released last year found that negligence, misconduct and other failures at the jail contributed to his death.

    More than a decade earlier, Epstein evaded federal criminal charges when he struck a plea deal in a Florida case related to accusations that he molested dozens of girls.

    As part of the agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges, including soliciting prostitution. He registered as a sex offender and served 13 months in jail but was allowed to leave six days a week to work at his office.

    Jenny Jarvie, Michael Wilner, Kevin Rector

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  • NWSL Playoff Preview | Orlando Pride looks ahead to Seattle Reign

    The Orlando Pride have grown familiar with dealing with pressure. After concluding a historic 2024 season, which saw the Pride claim both the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship, the pressure of being the underdogs amid the record-breaking season was there. As Orlando prepares for a second consecutive playoff appearance on Friday against the Seattle Reign, the pressure to win the whole thing and repeat as champions is also there. “I think last year we were still the underdogs even though we were killing it,” Pride left back Carson Pickett told WESH 2 this week. “Every game that we won, it wasn’t a shock for us, but a shock for other people when we won the shield, and people thought we might not win the championship.” The Pride culminated the 2024 season with a historic double, winning the NWSL Shield, awarded to the team with the best regular season record, and NWSL Championship after defeating the Washington Spirit 1-0 in the league final. The NWSL Championship was the first major league title for the City of Orlando. But following a topsy-turvy 2025 season, which saw the Pride battle through player injuries and winless runs, Orlando (11-8-7, 40 points) made it back to the postseason after finishing fourth in the standings. “This year there’s huge pressure to repeat,” said Pickett. “Everyone wants to go back-to-back, everyone wants to double down on what they’ve done, and to become a winning club you have to do it multiple times.” To get back in the postseason picture, though, the Pride had to deal with a period of adversity this season. Star forward Barbra Banda was placed in August on the season-ending injury list after suffering a full-thickness avulsion of her right adductor longus.And that happened amid a winless run that went nine games, and saw Orlando fall in the standings to seventh place in the standings. The Pride signed Jacquie Ovalle for a record $1.5 million transfer fee from Tigres UANL during the summer. The 9-game winless skid snapped when Orlando came back to defeat the San Diego Wave 2-1 on the road on Sept. 26. That was followed by a draw and win before a come-from-behind 3-2 victory against the Washington Spirit on Oct. 18 at Audi Field. Orlando Pride head coach Seb Hines credits his players’ resiliency toward the latter part of the regular season for getting the team back into the playoff picture for a second consecutive year. “Last year was a really unique year, and it will be very difficult to emulate that season again,” Hines told WESH 2. “To replicate that was close to impossible, but our objective was always to get into the postseason and know once you’re in the playoffs, anything can happen.” Match DetailsOrlando Pride vs. Seattle Reign Location: Inter&Co Stadium Kickoff time: 8 p.m. ETBroadcast: Prime Mike Gramajo is an Assignment Editor and Sportswriter at WESH 2, who has covered the Orlando soccer scene since 2012. You can follow his coverage over on X and Instagram.

    The Orlando Pride have grown familiar with dealing with pressure.

    After concluding a historic 2024 season, which saw the Pride claim both the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship, the pressure of being the underdogs amid the record-breaking season was there.

    As Orlando prepares for a second consecutive playoff appearance on Friday against the Seattle Reign, the pressure to win the whole thing and repeat as champions is also there.

    “I think last year we were still the underdogs even though we were killing it,” Pride left back Carson Pickett told WESH 2 this week. “Every game that we won, it wasn’t a shock for us, but a shock for other people when we won the shield, and people thought we might not win the championship.”

    The Pride culminated the 2024 season with a historic double, winning the NWSL Shield, awarded to the team with the best regular season record, and NWSL Championship after defeating the Washington Spirit 1-0 in the league final.

    The NWSL Championship was the first major league title for the City of Orlando.

    But following a topsy-turvy 2025 season, which saw the Pride battle through player injuries and winless runs, Orlando (11-8-7, 40 points) made it back to the postseason after finishing fourth in the standings.

    “This year there’s huge pressure to repeat,” said Pickett. “Everyone wants to go back-to-back, everyone wants to double down on what they’ve done, and to become a winning club you have to do it multiple times.”

    To get back in the postseason picture, though, the Pride had to deal with a period of adversity this season.

    Star forward Barbra Banda was placed in August on the season-ending injury list after suffering a full-thickness avulsion of her right adductor longus.

    And that happened amid a winless run that went nine games, and saw Orlando fall in the standings to seventh place in the standings.

    The Pride signed Jacquie Ovalle for a record $1.5 million transfer fee from Tigres UANL during the summer.

    The 9-game winless skid snapped when Orlando came back to defeat the San Diego Wave 2-1 on the road on Sept. 26. That was followed by a draw and win before a come-from-behind 3-2 victory against the Washington Spirit on Oct. 18 at Audi Field.

    Orlando Pride head coach Seb Hines credits his players’ resiliency toward the latter part of the regular season for getting the team back into the playoff picture for a second consecutive year.

    “Last year was a really unique year, and it will be very difficult to emulate that season again,” Hines told WESH 2. “To replicate that was close to impossible, but our objective was always to get into the postseason and know once you’re in the playoffs, anything can happen.”

    Match Details

    Orlando Pride vs. Seattle Reign

    Location: Inter&Co Stadium

    Kickoff time: 8 p.m. ET

    Broadcast: Prime

    Mike Gramajo is an Assignment Editor and Sportswriter at WESH 2, who has covered the Orlando soccer scene since 2012. You can follow his coverage over on X and Instagram.

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  • Plan to kill 450,000 owls creates odd political bedfellows — loggers and environmentalists

    The strange political bedfellows created by efforts to save spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest just got even stranger.

    Already Republican members of Congress were allied with animal rights activists.

    They don’t want trained shooters to kill up to 450,000 barred owls, which are outcompeting northern spotted owls, under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan approved last year that would unfold over three decades.

    Now, timber interests are aligning with environmentalists in favor of culling the owls.

    Some logging advocates are afraid nixing the plan will slow down timber harvesting. Roughly 2.6 million acres of timberlands in western Oregon managed by the Bureau of Land Management are governed by resource management plans contingent on the barred owl cull going forward, according to Travis Joseph, president and chief executive of the American Forest Resource Council, a trade association representing mills, loggers, lumber buyers and other stakeholders in the region.

    The area can produce at least 278 million board feet per year under current plans, “with the potential for significantly more,” Joseph said in a mid-October letter to Congress.

    If the cull is scrapped, he said, the federal agency likely will need to restart Endangered Species Act consultation for the northern spotted owl, which is listed as threatened. It’s a process that could take years. According to the letter, it would create “unacceptable risks and delays to current and future timber sales.”

    Timber production goals laid out by the Trump administration also could be jeopardized.

    Momentum to stop the cull grew this summer when Sen. John Kennedy, a conservative from Louisiana, introduced a resolution to reverse the Biden-era plan.

    That move reflected an unlikely alliance between some right-wing politicians and animal rights advocates who say it’s too expensive and inhumane. Some Democrats have also opposed the cull, and companion legislation in the House has bipartisan backers.

    The stakes are high. Many environmentalists and scientists maintain that northern spotted owls will go extinct if their competitors aren’t kept in check. Barred owls — which originally hail from eastern North America — are larger, more aggressive and less picky when it comes to habitat and food, giving them an edge when vying for resources.

    Last week, Politico’s E&E News reported that Kennedy said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had asked him to stand down from his effort to stop the owl-killing plan. The legislator told the outlet he would charge ahead anyway.

    “I don’t think the federal government ought to be telling God, nature — whatever you believe in — this one can exist, this one can’t,” Kennedy told E&E. “The barred owl is not the first species that has ever moved its territory and it won’t be the last.”

    Kennedy did not respond to The Times’ request for comment. A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior said they could not respond to the inquiry because of the government shutdown.

    “It’s strange that a Republican in the South is taking on the owl issue, specifically, when its consequences will impact western Oregon BLM timber sales,” Joseph said in an interview. “It will lead to lower revenues for counties, it will impact jobs and it will put the spotted owl on a trajectory towards extinction.”

    The stance aligns in part with that of environmental groups like the Environmental Protection Information Center and Center for Biological Diversity, which have supported culling barred owls to help the beleaguered spotted owls in their native territory. It’s an unexpected overlap, given environmentalists’ long history of fighting to protect old-growth forests in the region the owls call home.

    Tom Wheeler, chief executive of EPIC, said it’s possible that culling barred owls could lead to a bump in timber harvest on the BLM land in western Oregon but overall it would lead to more habitat being protected throughout the spotted owls’ expansive range. The presence of spotted owls triggers protections under the Endangered Species Act. If the cull boosts the spotted owl population as intended, it means more guardrails.

    “It puts us in admittedly an awkward place,” Wheeler said. “But our advocacy for barred owl removal is predicated not on treating the northern spotted owl as a tool against the timber industry and against timber harvest. What we’re trying to do is provide for the continued existence of the species.”

    Many Native American tribes support controlling barred owls in the region. In a letter to Congress last week, the nonprofit Intertribal Timber Council said barred owls threaten more than the spotted owl.

    “As a generalist predator, it poses risks to a wide range of forest and aquatic species that hold varying degrees of social and ecological importance to tribes, including species integral to traditional food systems and watershed health,” wrote the council, which aims to improve the management of natural resources important to Native American communities.

    Since 2013, the Hoopa Valley tribe in Northern California has been involved with sanctioned hunting of the owls and has observed the spotted owl population stabilizing over time, according to the letter.

    However, groups like Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy argue that the plan to take out so many barred owls over a vast landscape won’t work, aside from the high owl death toll. More barred owls simply will fly into where others were removed, said Wayne Pacelle, president of both groups.

    That makes habitat key — and the prospect of losing more to logging in western Oregon devastating, according to Pacelle.

    To stop the owl-culling plan, both chambers of Congress would need to pass a joint resolution and President Trump would need to sign it. If successful, the resolution would preclude the agency from pursuing a similar rule, unless explicitly authorized by Congress.

    The plan already faced setbacks. In May, federal officials canceled three related grants totaling more than $1.1 million, including one study that would have removed barred owls from over 192,000 acres in Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

    Lila Seidman

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