A Vermont man is lucky to be alive after collapsing from cardiac arrest in August. This week, he finally got the chance to thank the people who saved him.Bob Fenoff, 67, was working on a wall in his office when he said he suddenly blacked out and collapsed. Fenoff’s office is connected to the garage, which he leases to the Vermont transportation agency, VTRANS. “I just lost consciousness and that was it. Ended up on the floor,” Fenoff said.Two VTRANS employees, Noah Royer and John McClure, immediately jumped into action. They dialed 911 and began performing CPR — skills they had learned through mandatory workplace training.“Even though it doesn’t train you for moments like that, it gives you the basics,” Royer said. “Fight or flight takes over from there.”First responders arrived minutes later. Paramedics used a defibrillator to restart Fenoff’s heart. He spent two weeks in a coma before waking up and is now expected to make a full recovery.“If it had not been for the brave and immediate actions of Noah Royer and John McClure, I do not think that Mr. Fenoff would be standing in front of us today,” Keith Feddersen, a paramedic with CALEX Ambulance, said.Fenoff and his wife, Kathy, say they can’t express enough gratitude for the lifesaving efforts.“I’d thank you a hundred times — can’t thank you enough,” Kathy said.First responders hope Fenoff’s story will inspire others to learn CPR and AED use.“Getting certified is vitally important,” Capt. Phil Hawthorne of the St. Johnsbury Fire Department said. “This case really proves it.”
A Vermont man is lucky to be alive after collapsing from cardiac arrest in August. This week, he finally got the chance to thank the people who saved him.
Bob Fenoff, 67, was working on a wall in his office when he said he suddenly blacked out and collapsed. Fenoff’s office is connected to the garage, which he leases to the Vermont transportation agency, VTRANS.
“I just lost consciousness and that was it. Ended up on the floor,” Fenoff said.
Two VTRANS employees, Noah Royer and John McClure, immediately jumped into action. They dialed 911 and began performing CPR — skills they had learned through mandatory workplace training.
“Even though it doesn’t train you for moments like that, it gives you the basics,” Royer said. “Fight or flight takes over from there.”
First responders arrived minutes later. Paramedics used a defibrillator to restart Fenoff’s heart. He spent two weeks in a coma before waking up and is now expected to make a full recovery.
“If it had not been for the brave and immediate actions of Noah Royer and John McClure, I do not think that Mr. Fenoff would be standing in front of us today,” Keith Feddersen, a paramedic with CALEX Ambulance, said.
Fenoff and his wife, Kathy, say they can’t express enough gratitude for the lifesaving efforts.
“I’d thank you a hundred times — can’t thank you enough,” Kathy said.
First responders hope Fenoff’s story will inspire others to learn CPR and AED use.
“Getting certified is vitally important,” Capt. Phil Hawthorne of the St. Johnsbury Fire Department said. “This case really proves it.”
TEL AVIV — With a heart-shaped balloon in her hand, Gili Coheb-Taguri, a 49-year-old material scientist wearing a Trump mask and a suit matching the president’s sartorial tastes, posed for the array of cameras and smartphones.
“This? It’s an origami mask,” she said to an inquiring passerby. “And yes, I made it myself.”
Coheb-Taguri was one of the thousands who came out on Saturday evening to Hostage Square, the courtyard in Tel Aviv that has become the site of weekly protests demanding the Israeli government secure the return of hostages kidnapped by Hamas after Oct. 7, 2023.
The rally, the first to be held after Hamas accepted President Trump’s ceasefire proposal on Friday, was just one of similar events taking place across Israel. Though the mood was somber, it nevertheless felt more hopeful than most other protests Coheb-Taguri had attended in the last two years.
“The reason I wore this costume is to thank Trump for what he did. People have been so depressed and when they see Trump here, they smile, ” she said through the mask before she took it off.
“The key point for us is the hostages,” she said. “It’s been two years and we want them back. We want our life back.”
The U.S. 20-point plan, which was drafted by the Trump administration with input from Israel and a number of Arab and Muslim nations, would see the Palestinian militant group release all 48 hostages it still has in its custody and hand over the reins of Gaza to a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee overseen by a “Board of Peace” led by Trump.
Israel, in turn, will return 1,700 detainees from Gaza and 250 prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails. It will also enter into a phased withdrawal of the Gaza Strip and will not occupy or annex the enclave. No Gaza resident will be forced to leave, and those who want to return are encouraged to do so.
Like many in the crowd here Saturday night, Coheb-Taguri and her husband, 52-year-old Yossi Taguri, credited Trump for doing what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to do: broker a deal that would bring back the hostages.
“We are not our government. Bibi’s interest and our interests are not aligned,” Taguri said, employing Netanyahu’s nickname.
Critics accuse Netanyahu of extending the war and succumbing to the demands of extremist ministers in his government’s coalition so as to remain in power.
A woman reacts while listening to speeches by family members of hostages still held by Hamas during a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel.
(Chris McGrath / Getty Images)
Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized
— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Taguri expected Netanyahu would find some way to sabotage the deal once more.
“How many times have we been in this situation, where everyone agrees and then something happens?” he said. “He will find a way to blow it up.”
In a video statement released Saturday evening, Netanyahu said that he hoped to announce the return of all hostages “in the coming days” and that the Israeli military would maintain ‘“control of all of the dominant areas deep inside the strip” during the first phase of the agreement.
He insisted his scorched-earth strategy in Gaza — which has killed more than 67,000 people, health authorities in the enclave say, and left Gaza a lunar-esque landscape of rubble — brought about the change in Hamas’ position.
Hamas had agreed to a number of previous proposals to end the war, including a ceasefire that took hold in January, but which Israel unilaterally broke in March.
Netanyahu said he hoped negotiations to finalize the deal would be completed soon. After the hostage handover, he said, “Hamas will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarized.”
“This will happen either through the diplomatic path by the Trump plan or through the military path — at our hands,” he added.
People chant slogans and hold signs in support of hostages still held by Hamas.
(Chris McGrath / Getty Images)
Hamas has said it will only disarm in the context of handing over its weapons to a Palestinian state. It did not directly address the stipulation to disarm in Trump’s proposal.
In a post to his social media site Saturday, Trump said, “Hamas must move quickly, or else all bets will be off” and he would “not tolerate delay.”
He also thanked Israel for what he said was a temporary stoppage of its bombing campaign to give the deal a chance. Israel did not stop bombing: Palestinian health authorities said at least 67 people were killed in Israeli attacks since dawn Saturday. Israeli media reported the military had been told to shift to defensive operations.
At the rally, thousands took part in call-and-response chants they have memorized over the last two years of the war.
“Bring them back!” shouted Omer Shem Tov, a hostage freed in a previous prisoner exchange with Hamas. The crowd responded with a loud “Now!”
Another speaker, actor Lior Ashkenazi, began by thanking Trump.
Standing among the crowd, Dor Jaliff, a 35-year-old social worker, nodded at the mention of Trump. Though he didn’t count himself a Trump supporter (“I’m not going to run around with a U.S. flag or stuff like that,” he said), he said he nevertheless appreciated the U.S. president’s impact.
“I wish our government would consider the hostages as the top priority like Trump does. Look, I’m not happy Trump is getting involved in Israel’s affairs, but at least someone is doing the job,” he said.
As to whether the deal would go through, he said he was trying to remain hopeful.
“It’s a need to be optimistic. I want to feel optimistic,” he said.
Also in the crowd, with his wife and son in tow, was 57-year-old Mindy Rabinowitz. On his chest, he wore a sticker with the number 729 — the number of days since the war began.
A head of a college, Rabinowitz had made it a ritual to come to Hostage Square at least once a month, but often more than that. Yet before the ceasefire announcement on Friday, he wasn’t sure he would come this week. But when he heard that Hamas accepted the deal late Friday night, he thought differently.
“I turned to my wife and said, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t stay home and watch this on TV. We should go,’” he said.
“Maybe it’s the last time we’ll be in that square.”
Taylor Swift’s new album is set to be released next month, and you could buy it right here in New Hampshire. Target says select stores across the US will open at midnight on Friday, October 3rd. That’s when you could be the first to get 3 Target exclusive CDs of the life of *** showgirl. The participating locations in New Hampshire are in Concord, Nashua, and Somersworth. You can bet there will be long lines for that.
Who is Taylor Swift’s heir apparent? Her 12th album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” offers an answer. It’s Taylor Swift.Her last album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” ended with the cautionary “Clara Bow,” an allegory that seemed to suggest her tenure atop the cultural mainstream was inherited from stars of the past, like the namechecked Stevie Nicks — and that a new generation of younger, elastic female pop performers could soon take her place. In 2025, there are many to choose from: Consider Chappell Roan’s full-throated theatrics, Olivia Rodrigo’s fiery punk-pop feminism, Sabrina Carpenter’s cheeky sexuality. In the knotty themes of Friday’s “The Life of a Showgirl,” best illustrated in the title track, Swift asserts that the baton hasn’t been passed, but rather shared. Because she isn’t going anywhere.Video above: Taylor Swift album released “And all the headshots on the walls / Of the dance halls are of the b—— / Who wish I’d hurry up and die,” she sings with a wink, “But I’m immortal now, baby dolls / I couldn’t if I tried.” Notably, if she has a chosen successor in someone else, it’s the album’s sole feature: Carpenter, who sings on the stomp-clap closer in her newly adopted twang. The mournful glissando of lap steel — the album’s most country moment — arrives only with Carpenter’s introduction. The western genre is Swift’s past and Carpenter’s future.Suggestive bangers and a ‘New Heights’ namecheckIf Swift is co-signing Carpenter, she’s also learning from her. Carpenter has cornered the market on tight pop songs with pert, provocative messages; Swift does the same with the manspreading swagger of the George Michael-interpolating “Father Figure,” which mentions a protege, and the funky “Wood.” (A carefully veiled PG-13 lyric: “His love was the key / That opened my thighs,” she sings. “Girls, I don’t need to catch the bouquet / To know a hard rock is on the way.”) Interwoven are suggestive, sensual ad-libs … and a direct reference to fiance Travis Kelce’s podcast.Across a brisk 12 tracks — Swift’s tendency toward abundance doesn’t manifest itself in a double album this time around, but instead in her endless vinyl variants — “The Life of a Showgirl” mostly delivers on its promise of up-tempo pop “bangers,” to borrow her own vernacular. Fans need not wait up for the long-anticipated “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” because “The Life of a Showgirl” pulls from its essence. But this time, with a lot of affection, like a truer “Lover” era.Swift has long internalized criticisms and responded to them in her art, most directly in 2017’s “Reputation.” Here, she is once again concerned with her perception, articulated over booming, lush production on “CANCELLED!” or “Elizabeth Taylor.” On the latter, she sings, “Hollywood hates me / You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby.” Except this time, her love acts as an anchor. “I can’t have fun if I can’t have you,” she flirts.Welcome (back) to SwedenFor “The Life of a Showgirl,” Swift enlisted Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback, the hitmaking duo she collaborated with on 2012’s “Red,” 2014’s “1989” and, of course, “Reputation.” Notably absent is her frequent producing partner Jack Antonoff. It’s a wise decision: In years past, Swift, Shellback and Martin’s pop experiments shifted not only her career trajectory but the genre itself. Before “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” an EDM drop in the middle of a radio pop hit was unimaginable. After, the style would dominate for half the decade.“The Life of a Showgirl” isn’t as seismic, but there are addictive and idiosyncratic Swiftisms here: acerbic wit and thick literary references in glassy pop hooks. Where a song like “Opalite,” if attempted by another other performer, would lose its weightlessness under its voluble aspirations, Swift manages to swoon. Stacked, opalescent harmonies and a vintage swing give the song, fittingly, an almost iridescent quality.Video below: 95-year-old local retirement home resident starts his own Taylor Swift fan clubAnd there are bops, like the undeniable opener “The Fate of Ophelia” with its 1980s-via-Robyn synth-pop and momentary “Summertime Sadness” vocal delivery.There’s a treasure trove of deliciously quotable lines, too, as expected. “Please God bring me a best friend who I think is hot,” she manages to make effortless in the “Midnights”-esque “Wi$h Li$t,” a lovely song about the mundanity of romance and the suburban fantasy of “a couple kids … a driveway with a basketball hoop.”The dictionary of a showgirlSwift’s dense vocabulary is on full display, often full of charm. But it is sometimes unwieldy, a common criticism of “The Tortured Poets Department,” like when she overstuffs “Our thoughtless ambition sparked the ignition on foolish decisions which led to misguided visions” into “Father Figure,” momentarily overvaluing clever writing over clever cadence.Or she is too modish. The colloquial “Eldest Daughter,” for example, mentions “trolling,” “memes” and “comments,” immediately dating itself. But sonically, it is a thoughtful acoustic ballad with emo movement, in which Swift contends with her “terminal uniqueness” and deep dedication to a loved one. It juxtaposes nicely with something like the casually cruel, pop-punk affected “Actually Romantic.” It’s hard not to hear some brief Hayley Williams in the distorted speakerphone vocals in the song’s coda or boygenius in its harmonies: another example of Swift pulling from those she’s influenced — and enlisted on her tours. Swift has said “The Life of a Showgirl” is meant to embody her “Eras Tour” — a singular global phenomenon, a canonical event in the history of pop performance that, in its over three-hour runtime, was a sensory explosion. On these 12 tracks, she’s approximating glitz and glamour with humanity and humor. She spends no time waiting in the wings. So let the show begin.
Her last album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” ended with the cautionary “Clara Bow,” an allegory that seemed to suggest her tenure atop the cultural mainstream was inherited from stars of the past, like the namechecked Stevie Nicks — and that a new generation of younger, elastic female pop performers could soon take her place. In 2025, there are many to choose from: Consider Chappell Roan’s full-throated theatrics, Olivia Rodrigo’s fiery punk-pop feminism, Sabrina Carpenter’s cheeky sexuality. In the knotty themes of Friday’s “The Life of a Showgirl,” best illustrated in the title track, Swift asserts that the baton hasn’t been passed, but rather shared. Because she isn’t going anywhere.
Video above: Taylor Swift album released
“And all the headshots on the walls / Of the dance halls are of the b—— / Who wish I’d hurry up and die,” she sings with a wink, “But I’m immortal now, baby dolls / I couldn’t if I tried.” Notably, if she has a chosen successor in someone else, it’s the album’s sole feature: Carpenter, who sings on the stomp-clap closer in her newly adopted twang. The mournful glissando of lap steel — the album’s most country moment — arrives only with Carpenter’s introduction. The western genre is Swift’s past and Carpenter’s future.
Suggestive bangers and a ‘New Heights’ namecheck
If Swift is co-signing Carpenter, she’s also learning from her. Carpenter has cornered the market on tight pop songs with pert, provocative messages; Swift does the same with the manspreading swagger of the George Michael-interpolating “Father Figure,” which mentions a protege, and the funky “Wood.” (A carefully veiled PG-13 lyric: “His love was the key / That opened my thighs,” she sings. “Girls, I don’t need to catch the bouquet / To know a hard rock is on the way.”) Interwoven are suggestive, sensual ad-libs … and a direct reference to fiance Travis Kelce’s podcast.
Republic Records via AP
This album cover image released by Republic Records shows “The Life of a Showgirl” by Taylor Swift.
Across a brisk 12 tracks — Swift’s tendency toward abundance doesn’t manifest itself in a double album this time around, but instead in her endless vinyl variants — “The Life of a Showgirl” mostly delivers on its promise of up-tempo pop “bangers,” to borrow her own vernacular. Fans need not wait up for the long-anticipated “Reputation (Taylor’s Version),” because “The Life of a Showgirl” pulls from its essence. But this time, with a lot of affection, like a truer “Lover” era.
Swift has long internalized criticisms and responded to them in her art, most directly in 2017’s “Reputation.” Here, she is once again concerned with her perception, articulated over booming, lush production on “CANCELLED!” or “Elizabeth Taylor.” On the latter, she sings, “Hollywood hates me / You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby.” Except this time, her love acts as an anchor. “I can’t have fun if I can’t have you,” she flirts.
Welcome (back) to Sweden
For “The Life of a Showgirl,” Swift enlisted Swedish producers Max Martin and Shellback, the hitmaking duo she collaborated with on 2012’s “Red,” 2014’s “1989” and, of course, “Reputation.” Notably absent is her frequent producing partner Jack Antonoff. It’s a wise decision: In years past, Swift, Shellback and Martin’s pop experiments shifted not only her career trajectory but the genre itself. Before “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” an EDM drop in the middle of a radio pop hit was unimaginable. After, the style would dominate for half the decade.
“The Life of a Showgirl” isn’t as seismic, but there are addictive and idiosyncratic Swiftisms here: acerbic wit and thick literary references in glassy pop hooks. Where a song like “Opalite,” if attempted by another other performer, would lose its weightlessness under its voluble aspirations, Swift manages to swoon. Stacked, opalescent harmonies and a vintage swing give the song, fittingly, an almost iridescent quality.
Video below: 95-year-old local retirement home resident starts his own Taylor Swift fan club
And there are bops, like the undeniable opener “The Fate of Ophelia” with its 1980s-via-Robyn synth-pop and momentary “Summertime Sadness” vocal delivery.
There’s a treasure trove of deliciously quotable lines, too, as expected. “Please God bring me a best friend who I think is hot,” she manages to make effortless in the “Midnights”-esque “Wi$h Li$t,” a lovely song about the mundanity of romance and the suburban fantasy of “a couple kids … a driveway with a basketball hoop.”
The dictionary of a showgirl
Swift’s dense vocabulary is on full display, often full of charm. But it is sometimes unwieldy, a common criticism of “The Tortured Poets Department,” like when she overstuffs “Our thoughtless ambition sparked the ignition on foolish decisions which led to misguided visions” into “Father Figure,” momentarily overvaluing clever writing over clever cadence.
Or she is too modish. The colloquial “Eldest Daughter,” for example, mentions “trolling,” “memes” and “comments,” immediately dating itself. But sonically, it is a thoughtful acoustic ballad with emo movement, in which Swift contends with her “terminal uniqueness” and deep dedication to a loved one. It juxtaposes nicely with something like the casually cruel, pop-punk affected “Actually Romantic.” It’s hard not to hear some brief Hayley Williams in the distorted speakerphone vocals in the song’s coda or boygenius in its harmonies: another example of Swift pulling from those she’s influenced — and enlisted on her tours.
Swift has said “The Life of a Showgirl” is meant to embody her “Eras Tour” — a singular global phenomenon, a canonical event in the history of pop performance that, in its over three-hour runtime, was a sensory explosion. On these 12 tracks, she’s approximating glitz and glamour with humanity and humor. She spends no time waiting in the wings. So let the show begin.
“Well, if you’re reading this obituary, I’m dead. I died of FOMO due to complications from ALS,” reads an obituary for Linda Murphy, also written by Linda Murphy.Justine Hastings smiled as she read her mother’s obituary, because she knew how much she feared missing out on life.”She would be the one on the dance floor, starting the party; she was the party,” Hastings said.The Massachusetts woman passed on Sept. 21, and her heart shone through in the obituary she wrote herself, using humor to describe how her life was impacted by an ALS diagnosis, like when she started using a respirator at night.”We became a throuple about a year and a half ago when hose, my bipap, moved into the marital bed,” Murphy wrote.Her ALS diagnosis came in 2022, about a decade after she fought and beat breast cancer. She even wrote a book about that battle.”She always wanted to say – ‘As long as I can be positive in my little world, maybe it can spread,’” Hastings said.Her obituary urged people to show kindness to strangers and avoid negativity.”Please be kind to everyone: the telemarketer, the grocery clerk, the Dunkin’s staff, the tailgater, your family, your friends. Speak nicely and positively. Is there really ever a reason to be negative? I don’t think so,” the obituary says.Hastings said her mother “wanted to go viral, spread a message to spread happiness and be kind.”The obituary also gives directions to those who plan to attend her funeral service.”If you were a stinker and meanie to me or my family or friends during my lifetime … Please do everyone a favor and STAY AWAY, we don’t want your negative drama & energy. Only nice, loving people are welcome,” she wrote. Murphy also told her loved ones, “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t waste money on flowers.””Buy a bunch of scratch tickets and give them out to strangers along your way. Make people happy, that is the best way that you can honor my memory,” she wrote.Now, Hastings hopes her 60-year-old mother’s final words can reach people around the world.”My advice is to say yes to party, trip, adventure, raise a glass to me in cheers,” Murphy wrote in her obituary. “Just live life to the fullest. Never know what tomorrow brings, so say yes to today.”
“Well, if you’re reading this obituary, I’m dead. I died of FOMO due to complications from ALS,” reads an obituary for Linda Murphy, also written by Linda Murphy.
Justine Hastings smiled as she read her mother’s obituary, because she knew how much she feared missing out on life.
“She would be the one on the dance floor, starting the party; she was the party,” Hastings said.
The Massachusetts woman passed on Sept. 21, and her heart shone through in the obituary she wrote herself, using humor to describe how her life was impacted by an ALS diagnosis, like when she started using a respirator at night.
“We became a throuple about a year and a half ago when hose, my bipap, moved into the marital bed,” Murphy wrote.
Her ALS diagnosis came in 2022, about a decade after she fought and beat breast cancer. She even wrote a book about that battle.
“She always wanted to say – ‘As long as I can be positive in my little world, maybe it can spread,’” Hastings said.
Her obituary urged people to show kindness to strangers and avoid negativity.
“Please be kind to everyone: the telemarketer, the grocery clerk, the Dunkin’s staff, the tailgater, your family, your friends. Speak nicely and positively. Is there really ever a reason to be negative? I don’t think so,” the obituary says.
Hastings said her mother “wanted to go viral, spread a message to spread happiness and be kind.”
The obituary also gives directions to those who plan to attend her funeral service.
“If you were a stinker and meanie to me or my family or friends during my lifetime … Please do everyone a favor and STAY AWAY, we don’t want your negative drama & energy. Only nice, loving people are welcome,” she wrote.
Murphy also told her loved ones, “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t waste money on flowers.”
“Buy a bunch of scratch tickets and give them out to strangers along your way. Make people happy, that is the best way that you can honor my memory,” she wrote.
Now, Hastings hopes her 60-year-old mother’s final words can reach people around the world.
“My advice is to say yes to party, trip, adventure, raise a glass to me in cheers,” Murphy wrote in her obituary. “Just live life to the fullest. Never know what tomorrow brings, so say yes to today.”
Lights, camera, action. Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” arrives Friday. Are you ready for it?Swift announced her latest era back in August, when she began teasing the release.Here’s everything you need to know ahead of its drop date: how to stream, which variants exist, and of course, how the album came together. Enjoy the show!How to listen to Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl””The Life of a Showgirl” will be available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.Fans can pre-save the album ahead of its release on Oct. 3. Pre-saving ensures the new music automatically appears in a fan’s library the moment it is available. It is also a way for an artist to promote streams ahead of the drop date.On Monday, Spotify announced that Swift’s album surpassed five million pre-saves on its platform to become the most pre-saved album in its history. The previous title holder? Her 2024 album “The Tortured Poets Department.”In addition to the many streaming options, there will also be a digital-download variant of “The Life of a Showgirl” available via iTunes, featuring a new cover image and a nearly three-minute “exclusive video from Taylor herself detailing inspirations behind the album” labeled “A Look Behind the Curtain.”What physical variants are there?Target is once again a major partner with Swift. Their stores will carry three CD variants, titled “It’s Frightening,” “It’s Rapturous” and “It’s Beautiful” editions. There is also an exclusive vinyl release, “The Crowd Is Your King” edition, in “summertime spritz pink shimmer vinyl.” Many Target locations will remain open past midnight on the day of release for superfans to pick up in real time.There are a number of other vinyl variants as well: “The Tiny Bubble in Champagne Collection,” which features two vinyl variants described as “under bright lights pearlescent vinyl” and “red lipstick & lace transparent vinyl.”There is also “The Baby That’s Show Business Collection,” in two colorways: “lovely bouquet golden vinyl” and “lakeside beach blue sparkle vinyl.”Then there’s “The Shiny Bug Collection” in “violet shimmer marbled vinyl” and “wintergreen and onyx marbled vinyl.”And of course, there is the standard LP and cassette, in “sweat and vanilla perfume Portofino orange vinyl.”Artwork varies throughout.What do we know about the album so far?Swift partially announced her 12-track new album “The Life of a Showgirl” on the “New Heights” podcast hosted by Travis Kelce — Swift’s fiancé and Kansas City Chiefs tight end — and his brother, Jason Kelce, the former Philadelphia Eagles center.In the full episode, Swift revealed she worked on the album in Sweden while she was on the “Eras Tour” — flying between dates to record, truly embodying the album’s title, “The Life of a Showgirl.” The entire album was completed with producers Max Martin and Shellback, whom Swift previously collaborated with on 2012’s “Red,” 2014’s “1989” and 2017’s “Reputation.” Her frequent producing partner, Jack Antonoff, was not mentioned.She described the release as full of “bangers.” “I care about this record more than I can even overstate,” she said, agreeing with Travis Kelce when he described the release as “a lot more upbeat” than 2024’s “The Tortured Poets Department.”Across the album, there is only one feature listed: the title track, “The Life of a Showgirl,” will include Sabrina Carpenter.
Lights, camera, action. Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” arrives Friday. Are you ready for it?
Swift announced her latest era back in August, when she began teasing the release.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of its drop date: how to stream, which variants exist, and of course, how the album came together. Enjoy the show!
How to listen to Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl”
“The Life of a Showgirl” will be available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.
Fans can pre-save the album ahead of its release on Oct. 3. Pre-saving ensures the new music automatically appears in a fan’s library the moment it is available. It is also a way for an artist to promote streams ahead of the drop date.
On Monday, Spotify announced that Swift’s album surpassed five million pre-saves on its platform to become the most pre-saved album in its history. The previous title holder? Her 2024 album “The Tortured Poets Department.”
In addition to the many streaming options, there will also be a digital-download variant of “The Life of a Showgirl” available via iTunes, featuring a new cover image and a nearly three-minute “exclusive video from Taylor herself detailing inspirations behind the album” labeled “A Look Behind the Curtain.”
What physical variants are there?
Target is once again a major partner with Swift. Their stores will carry three CD variants, titled “It’s Frightening,” “It’s Rapturous” and “It’s Beautiful” editions. There is also an exclusive vinyl release, “The Crowd Is Your King” edition, in “summertime spritz pink shimmer vinyl.” Many Target locations will remain open past midnight on the day of release for superfans to pick up in real time.
There are a number of other vinyl variants as well: “The Tiny Bubble in Champagne Collection,” which features two vinyl variants described as “under bright lights pearlescent vinyl” and “red lipstick & lace transparent vinyl.”
There is also “The Baby That’s Show Business Collection,” in two colorways: “lovely bouquet golden vinyl” and “lakeside beach blue sparkle vinyl.”
Then there’s “The Shiny Bug Collection” in “violet shimmer marbled vinyl” and “wintergreen and onyx marbled vinyl.”
And of course, there is the standard LP and cassette, in “sweat and vanilla perfume Portofino orange vinyl.”
Artwork varies throughout.
What do we know about the album so far?
Swift partially announced her 12-track new album “The Life of a Showgirl” on the “New Heights” podcast hosted by Travis Kelce — Swift’s fiancé and Kansas City Chiefs tight end — and his brother, Jason Kelce, the former Philadelphia Eagles center.
In the full episode, Swift revealed she worked on the album in Sweden while she was on the “Eras Tour” — flying between dates to record, truly embodying the album’s title, “The Life of a Showgirl.” The entire album was completed with producers Max Martin and Shellback, whom Swift previously collaborated with on 2012’s “Red,” 2014’s “1989” and 2017’s “Reputation.” Her frequent producing partner, Jack Antonoff, was not mentioned.
She described the release as full of “bangers.” “I care about this record more than I can even overstate,” she said, agreeing with Travis Kelce when he described the release as “a lot more upbeat” than 2024’s “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Across the album, there is only one feature listed: the title track, “The Life of a Showgirl,” will include Sabrina Carpenter.
Nearly nine months after the Eaton fire destroyed something unique, something beloved, something cherished even more in death, the mountains remain scarred and dusty streets criss-cross the vanished neighborhoods of what is still, essentially, a ghost town.
If it’s true that time heals all wounds, the clock is moving slowly in Altadena, where 9,400 structures were destroyed and 19 lives were lost.
There will be a resurrection, without question. Building permits are grinding slowly through the bureaucracy, hammers are swinging and a new Altadena will one day rise from the ashes.
I know one homeowner who hopes to be in his newly built house in a month or two. Victoria Knapp of the Altadena Town Council told me she knows people who sold their lots immediately after the fire and now regret it. And L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said the permitting process has been revamped and she doesn’t sense that many people are bailing on Altadena.
People who were fully committed to rebuilding in the immediate aftermath of destruction are now rethinking it, having grown weary of the slog.
“It could be years of living in a construction zone, and that’s had me awake in the middle of the night with some panic attacks,” said Kelly Etter, who lost the house where she lived with her husband and ran a Pilates studio.
“When I go up there every week,” said Elisa Nixon, whose home was badly smoke-damaged and needs an interior gutting, “I find it really sad and really depressing. I’m trying to imagine myself living there, and it’s really hard.”
Taylor Feltner, who lived with his wife in a smoke-damaged Pasadena home on the edge of Altadena, would like to stay in the area because his wife’s Altadena family is a big part of their lives. But they’re no longer sure what to do or how to decide.
“We have wavered so much throughout this whole process, because every time we have a fight with the insurance company it’s like reliving the trauma of that night over and over again,” Feltner said.
An aerial view of cleared properties and a home under construction this month in Altadena.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
He and his wife are in their eighth temporary home since the fire. His mother-in-law, whose Altadena home survived the fire, wears a mask when gardening in the backyard. Feltner said he and his wife planted fruit trees in their own yard, but wonder if it’ll be safe to eat the fruit when they go back home, given widespread contamination and haphazard testing.
I get it, and I honestly don’t know if I’d be able to endure what people from the Altadena and Palisades areas are going through. I get impatient if a problem isn’t resolved in a day. The fire survivors are in limbo, still, with no idea how many years of upheaval they’re in for.
Joy Chen, co-founder of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, has been tracking community sentiment for months. She said an initial, “almost defiant” sense of pride, with T-shirts and property signs declaring “Altadena is not for sale,” still lingers. But “a dose of reality” has set in.
Here’s what people are sorting through, said Chen:
How long will it take to get back home? Can we afford to rebuild? Will our kids be safe, given lingering contamination? Is the Southern California Edison settlement proposal a fair deal or a ploy to avoid bigger payouts? Will the new Altadena remotely resemble the place we loved? And will we ever sleep well in an area that has not seen the last of wildfires and frightful winds?
Even for those who can see their way past all of that, said Chen, there’s a gap between their insurance settlement and the cost of rebuilding.
“It’s around $300,000 on average,” said Chen, “and that’s a huge hurdle.”
Barger said the settlement proposal from Edison could help close that gap for some people. But the investigation into the fire’s cause is not yet complete, and some lawyers have advised clients not to accept what they consider a lowball offer. And yet, for those who pass up on the offer, it could take years for lawsuits to play out in court.
Chen, a former deputy L.A. mayor, has been demanding that insurance companies deliver what their clients paid for, and imploring state insurance commissioner Ricardo Lara to get tough with them. According to the nonprofit Department of Angels, 70% of the roughly 2,000 insured Eaton and Palisades fire survivors who were surveyed said delays, denials and underpayments are “actively derailing recovery.”
“These delays and denials aren’t just devastating to families, they’re illegal under California law,” said Chen. “It’s Commissioner Lara’s job to stop them. His refusal to act is stalling the entire Los Angeles recovery. Families who spent decades building stability for their kids are watching those futures slip away.”
Lawsuits are pending against multiple insurance companies, including Feltner’s carrier: Mercury.
“They’re fighting us on everything,” said Feltner, who has filed complaints with what he called the “toothless” state insurance commission.
For one Altadena family, whose house survived with minimal damage, it wasn’t an insurance issue that exhausted their resolve. Initially committed to moving back in, they later sold their house and relocated to another area. They asked me to withhold their names for privacy reasons.
“It boiled down to risk,” said the husband, citing concerns about contamination, years of construction noise and dust, and the impossibility of knowing if the new Altadena will resemble the one that drew them there in the first place.
A sign adorns a homeowner’s Altadena property.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
“It was a head decision and not a heart decision,” said his wife, who still feels attached to her home, her street, and to Altadena. “I don’t think that will go away. Obviously, this trauma is a part of us now, but our heart and our memories will always be there.”
Tim Kawahara, executive director of the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, grew up in Altadena and his mother still lives there in a house that survived the fire. The rebuilding of Altadena is in the early stages, he said. With thousands of separate projects to push through the permitting process, and a construction workforce shortage compounded by immigration raids, the new Altadena is not yet on the horizon.
“You’re talking about three years to start seeing some considerable building happening, and probably more like five years for something happening at some big level. But it could take up to 10 years,” Kawahara said. “And it’s not just homes. It’s schools, parks, libraries, police stations and infrastructure, too.”
You could argue that there’s something exciting about the chance to draw a new community on the blank canvas of the old one. But that’s a lot to endure if you’re breathing the dust, and as speculators move in and properties turn over, who’s going to be in charge, what will homeowner insurance cost, and will character and history survive?
“People are suffering and struggling to find their way, and they don’t trust anyone anymore,” said Nixon. “And with all of that comes this feeling of, this is too much. It’s hijacked my life, I can tell you that. It’s overwhelming, the amount of work it takes to stay on top of this and also just keep your life balance.”
“Having so many unknowns is just incredibly exhausting and limits capacity for enjoying other areas of life,” said Etter. “The connection to community, to neighbors and fellow survivors has really been a lifeline. There’s shared resources, hugs, and midnight texts in the middle of the night when you’re panicked about whatever.”
In coming weeks, I’ll be exploring different angles of the Eaton fire recovery story, so feel free to share your thoughts with me.
What can be done to speed the process?
What should Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators do to speed fair resolution of insurance disputes?
Given climate change and the fire-prone natural geography, would you consider a move to Altadena?
What will Altadena look like in five years, in 10, in 20?
Friendship is often described as one of life’s greatest buffers against stress and loneliness. But when the balance tips and you find yourself giving far more than you receive, the relationship can shift from a source of strength to a steady drain.
Experts told Newsweek that the earliest warning signs of a one-sided friendship are easy to overlook—yet noticing them could spare years of resentment.
“True friendship isn’t transactional; it’s built on mutual care and showing up in both the easy and difficult moments,” said Sharon Yu, a licensed family therapist in California.
Zoe Asher, a friendship coach and host of the friendship-focused podcast Accidentally Intentional, added: “At the end of the day, friendships are supposed to be a two-way street. If you’re the only one paying the tolls long-term, then it isn’t friendship—it’s a drain.”
Dr. Kimberly Horn, a research psychologist and author of Friends Matter, For Life, said the science backs this up: “When the balance consistently tilts one way, tension builds, and reciprocity, the heartbeat of friendship, breaks down.”
Here’s how to spot the red flags before they take a toll, according to the three experts.
1. You Are Always the One Reaching Out
“If you’re the one consistently initiating texts, calls, or plans—and they rarely do the same—it can be a sign that the friendship depends on your energy to keep it alive,” Yu told Newsweek.
Asher said she once needed to be confronted by a friend to realize she was not pulling her weight emotionally. That conversation did not end the relationship—it made it stronger. She hopes that her experience can encourage others to communicate their needs.
“She gave me a gift by extending the opportunity for me to clarify, and from there, we built something deeper,” Asher said.
2. They Are Absent When You Need Support
Yu advised watching how present a friend is in difficult times. If they disappear when you are struggling but expect comfort when it is their turn to get support, the imbalance is clear.
Still, Asher warned against treating crisis support as the only measure of friendship. The podcast host said that lots of people think a “good friendship” means having someone who will drop everything when you are in crisis, but that she considers this metric a really low bar.
“If your entire definition of friendship is based on emergencies, then you’re treating it like a transaction,” she said. “Arthur Brooks talks about the value of ‘useless friends,’ and I love that phrase. He means the friends who aren’t there just to fix something, but to simply enjoy life with you.”
For Asher, the casual coffee hangouts, the last-minute accountability check-ins, and the random laughs on a Tuesday night matter just as much as being there in the tough times. The podcast host says that an important caveat is that there are seasons where a friend genuinely does not have much to give. They could be in the midst of grief, caregiving, dealing with a health concern or burnout.
Horn noted that inconsistent support, what she calls “ambivalence,” can result in higher levels of stress under the surface.
“Unpredictability in a friendship forces your body into constant vigilance, causing an unhealthy stress burden,” she said.
3. Conversations Center Around Them
“When most of your interactions revolve around their stories, their stress, or their successes, while your own life goes largely unnoticed, this imbalance can leave you feeling unseen,” Yu said.
Horn added that when this happens, resentment is never far behind.
“If you often leave time together feeling drained, resentful, or questioning your value, the friendship is probably taking more than it gives,” she said.
4. Celebrations Do Not Go Both Ways
Asher recalled a client who shared a career win only to be met with jealousy from their friend, rather than a congratulations.
“Moments like this cut deep,” she said. “True friends don’t just show up when you’re down; they are also the ones cheering you on.”
Sometimes, though, flat reactions may come from insecurity rather than a lack of care. Asher suggested giving friends the chance to rise to the occasion, by communicating to them that the “win” is a big deal and that they would love to celebrate alongside them.
5. Boundaries Are Not Respected
“If you express a need for space, rest, or a boundary and it’s dismissed, minimized, or guilt-tripped, it’s worth noticing,” Yu said. “Respect for each other’s limits is a cornerstone of sustainable, affirming relationships.”
Asher added: “If you saying ‘no’ means your friend guilt-trips you, gets angry, or disappears, then the friendship isn’t really mutual. That shows they wanted your compliance, not your connection.”
6. The Relationship Feels Like Obligation
Yu said that when you find yourself saying “yes” out of habit or guilt rather than genuine desire, the friendship may no longer feel nourishing.
Horn explained that if you start “keeping score” of who texts, calls, or makes plans, that bookkeeping itself is a signal that something is wrong.
“It’s because the lack of reciprocity has left you feeling undervalued, unseen,” she said. “That mental bookkeeping is a red flag.”
7. You Leave Interactions Feeling Drained
Yu urged people to check how they feel physically and emotionally after spending time with a friend.
“Do you feel lighter, understood, or grounded—or instead, exhausted, anxious, or diminished?” she asked.
Asher agreed, adding that friendships should lift you up, not shrink you down, but the podcast host says these moments can be opportunities rather than endings.
“Instead of silently stewing on it, I encourage others to bring it up,” she said. “Hard conversations can either unlock a whole new level of depth—or give you the clarity that it’s time to let go.”
Not every season of imbalance means a friendship is doomed. Life circumstances can temporarily tilt the scales, and sometimes, an honest conversation is all that is needed to restore reciprocity.
Sometimes you can rebuild something new instead of labeling a friend “toxic” or walking away at the first sign of hurt. In fact, some of the deepest connections hinge on hard conversations.
But if the signs of a one-sided friendship keep piling up, the experts unanimously agree it may be time to reassess, as friendships have a bigger toll on our emotional lives than we often perceive.
As Horn, whose book about friendship was endorsed by Mel Robbins, put it: “Research shows when we trust our friends to be as equally generous of time and spirit as we are, we work harder to keep the bond—opening up in ways that deepen the friendship.”
Are you and your friend stuck in an argument? Let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
Forward progress has been stopped on a wildfire in dense vegetation in Yuba County on Friday. The Oregon Fire was burning northeast of North San Juan, according to the Dobbins-Oregon House Fire Department. The fire department said the fire was first reported as one to three acres with a rapid rate of spread. Just after 6 p.m., officials for the Tahoe National Forest said crews had stopped the fire at six acres. The forest service said crews would remain on scene throughout the night, with mop-up operations planned to continue Saturday.An evacuation warning had been issued by the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department for the area of Alleghany and Ridge roads in North San Juan, south of Camptonville.Under an evacuation warning, residents are urged to be prepared to evacuate at a moment’s notice, as there is a potential threat to life and property.| MORE | A 2025 guide for how to prepare for wildfires in California | Northern California wildfire resources by county: Find evacuation info, sign up for alertsCal Fire wildfire incidents: Cal Fire tracks its wildfire incidents here. You can sign up to receive text messages for Cal Fire updates on wildfires happening near your ZIP code here.Wildfires on federal land: Federal wildfire incidents are tracked here.Preparing for power outages: Ready.gov explains how to prepare for a power outage and what to do when returning from one here. Here is how to track and report PG&E power outages.Keeping informed when you’ve lost power and cellphone service: How to find a National Weather Service radio station near you.Be prepared for road closures: Download Caltrans’ QuickMap app or check the latest QuickMap road conditions here.
NORTH SAN JUAN, Calif. —
Forward progress has been stopped on a wildfire in dense vegetation in Yuba County on Friday.
The Oregon Fire was burning northeast of North San Juan, according to the Dobbins-Oregon House Fire Department.
The fire department said the fire was first reported as one to three acres with a rapid rate of spread.
Just after 6 p.m., officials for the Tahoe National Forest said crews had stopped the fire at six acres.
The forest service said crews would remain on scene throughout the night, with mop-up operations planned to continue Saturday.
An evacuation warning had been issued by the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department for the area of Alleghany and Ridge roads in North San Juan, south of Camptonville.
Under an evacuation warning, residents are urged to be prepared to evacuate at a moment’s notice, as there is a potential threat to life and property.
Sara Jane Moore, the former psychiatric patient who tried to assassinate President Ford during an era of astonishing violence and upheaval in California, died Wednesday at a nursing home in Franklin, Tenn.
Moore, who retreated to North Carolina after serving 32 years in federal prison but then was jailed again late in life, was 95. News of her death was confirmed by Demetria Kalodimos, executive producer at the Nashville Banner, who developed a relationship with Moore over the last two years. A cause of death was not reported, but Kalodimos said Moore had been bedridden for about 15 months after a fall.
As shocking as Moore’s attempt to kill the president was, it seemed a little less so during the frenetic 1970s.
It was 1975 in San Francisco. Charles Manson was on death row, kidnap victim-turned-accomplice Patty Hearst had just been arrested, and a very young governor named Jerry Brown was in his first year in office.
Moore chose this moment for a shocking crime in an era nearly defined by them — on Sept. 22, 1975, she tried to assassinate Ford in front of the fashionable St. Francis Hotel.
She was the second would-be assassin to confront the 38th president in the space of a month.
Her bullet missed, thanks to the quick reflexes of a former Marine standing next to her.
The attempt came just 17 days after a Manson follower in a nun’s habit, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, pointed a gun at Ford in Sacramento. It was never clear whether she tried to pull the trigger.
News accounts of the time portrayed Moore as an enigma. They emphasized her supposedly conventional past. She was described as an average housewife and mother whose conversion to radical politics seemed an unlikely twist. She herself insisted she had been a relatively normal suburbanite before joining the leftist underground.
It wasn’t true. Moore’s entire adult life had been punctuated by mental health issues, divorces and suicide attempts. Many people who knew her described her as unstable and mercurial.
Born Sara Jane Kahn on Feb. 15, 1930, in Charleston, W. Va., Moore had been an aspiring actress and nurse before finding work as a bookkeeper. She married five times, was estranged from her family, and abandoned three of her children. A fourth remained in her care at the time of the attempted assassination. Her erratic behavior had cost her jobs, and she had been treated for mental illness numerous times.
This history led some, including Ford himself, to conclude that she was “off her mind,” as the former president said in a 2004 CNN interview.
She was in her mid-40s, divorced and living in Danville, outside San Francisco, when she went to work in 1974 as a bookkeeper for People in Need. The organization had been set up to distribute food in response to ransom demands by the Symbionese Liberation Army, the extreme leftist group that had kidnapped Hearst in early 1974 and shortly after engaged in a furious gun battle with Los Angeles police, one of the longest shootouts in U.S. history.
Moore’s ties to other radical organizations were murky. She would later cast herself as a sought-after FBI informant who had come to live in fear of some unspecified threat. Its source was either from the government or her radical brethren, depending on the interview. Authorities downplayed this, saying her occasional calls to agents and local police officers were unsolicited.
Hearst had been arrested a few days before the assassination attempt. The day before, the 45-year-old Moore had been detained by San Francisco police officers who seized a gun from her. She made a vague threat and the Secret Service was alerted, but agents concluded she was not dangerous and released her.
Moore immediately bought a .38 caliber revolver.
Wearing polka-dot slacks, she went to the hotel where Ford was speaking to the World Affairs Council. She waited outside, and raised her arm to fire when the president emerged at 3:30 p.m. Oliver Sipple, a disabled former Marine standing next to her, saw the weapon and deflected her arm just as the gun went off.
The bullet went over the president’s head, ricocheted and injured a taxi driver. The president’s security detail rushed to the airport, and Ford was whisked out of California as fast as possible.
After her arrest, acquaintances said Moore was very concerned that people would assume she was mentally ill. She alluded often to her political motives for trying to kill Ford. Reporters eagerly interviewed her to learn more, but she never seemed able to clearly explain her political agenda.
Her lawyers were preparing a defense related to her mental condition when she abruptly pleaded guilty, against their advice. She was given a life sentence with a possibility of parole. Moore’s attempt prompted Senate scrutiny of presidential security.
“Am I sorry I tried?” Moore said at her sentencing. “Yes and no. Yes, because it accomplished little except to throw away the rest of my life, although I realize there are those who think that’s the one good thing resulting from this. And no, I’m not sorry I tried, because at the time it seemed a correct expression of my anger.”
Moore made headlines briefly again in 1979 when she escaped fbriefly from the Federal Reformatory for Women at Alderson, W.Va., by climbing a 12-foot fence.
Otherwise, her prison years were uneventful. She was reported to fill her time with needlepoint and bookkeeping duties, and was paroled in 2007 at the age of 77 from a low-security federal facility for women in Dublin, east of San Francisco. Her parole was essentially grandfathered by federal rules that have since been tightened.
“It was a time that people don’t remember,” Moore told NBC’s “Today” show in 2009. “You know we had a war … the Vietnam War, you became, I became, immersed in it. We were saying the country needed to change. The only way it was going to change was a violent revolution. I genuinely thought that [shooting Ford] might trigger that new revolution.”
In 2015, Moore was interviewed remotely by CNN, her location only listed as North Carolina.
Moore was jailed again in early 2019 when she was detained at JFK Airport for traveling outside the country without telling parole officials. Friends said she had become ill in Israel, forcing her to stay longer than she intended. She was released six months later.
Moore maintained that she had not been influenced by Fromme’s assault on Ford. Fromme was paroled in 2009 and moved to upstate New York, largely disappearing. Both women were depicted in the Stephen Sondheim musical “Assassins,” which won a Tony Award in 2004.
Sipple, who deflected the shot, was lauded as a hero but later sued several newspapers for invasion of privacy. He said media reports that he was gay had ruined his family relations, but he lost the case. He died in 1989.
Subsequent attacks on public figures would eclipse Moore’s crime. Three years later, San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated. John Lennon’s murder came two years after that, and John Hinckley Jr.’s shooting of President Reagan a few months later.
Ford, who died of natural causes at age 93 in 2006, was said to be nonplussed by Moore’s attempt on his life. But other members of his entourage saw it as consistent with the place and time.
Asked by the San Francisco Chronicle to sum up the event, Ford’s press secretary Ron Nessen, who was with him when he was targeted, framed it this way: “It was the ‘70s in San Francisco and California.”
As part of its efforts to strengthen the country’s organ transplant system, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it is moving to decertify a major organ procurement organization – essentially shutting it down and removing it from the nation’s network of organ donation groups.HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the move a “clear warning” to other groups that also work to coordinate organ donations.HHS officials are moving to close the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency, a division of the University of Miami Health System, after an investigation uncovered unsafe practices, staffing shortages and paperwork errors, Kennedy said Thursday.“We are acting because of years of documented Patient Safety Data failures and repeated violations of federal requirements, and we intend this decision to serve as a clear warning,” he said.The Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency is one of 55 organ procurement organizations that are federally designated nonprofits responsible for managing the recovery of organs for transplantation in the United States, in which they focus on specific geographic regions and work with hospitals.The Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) said in a statement Thursday that the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency serves 7 million people across six counties in South Florida and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.“Through this process, AOPO pledges that we and our members will keep saving lives nationwide. We will continue to support the team at Life Alliance to ensure South Florida organ donors, transplant patients and their families have access to organ donation and transplantation services,” AOPO President Jeff Trageser said in a statement, while thanking federal health officials for recognizing the importance of organ donation.“Because there is only one OPO per donation service area, it’s critical for CMS/HHS to manage the situation carefully and work with Life Alliance, hospitals & the wider donation community to ensure there are no lapses in donation during this process so lives can continue being saved,” he added in an email.There is a process by which the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency could appeal the decertification. Neither the organization nor the University of Miami Health System immediately responded to CNN’s request for comment.“The Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency based in Miami, Florida, has a long record of deficiencies directly tied to patient harm,” Kennedy said Thursday.“Staffing shortfalls alone may have caused – it was a 65% staffing shortage consistently across the years – and may have caused as many as eight missed organ recoveries each week, roughly one life lost each day,” he said. “Our goal is clear: Every American must trust the nation’s organ procurement system. We will not stop until that goal is met.”Kennedy also plans to direct organ procurement organizations to appoint full-time patient safety officers to monitor safety practices, report incidents and ensure that corrective actions are implemented, among other responsibilities.“This officer will be responsible for coordinating responses across clinical operational teams, ensure compliance with federal priorities and take corrective action whenever patients are at risk,” Thomas Engels, administrator of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, said Thursday.These moves are part of an ongoing initiative to reform the organ transplant system after a federal investigation earlier this year found what Kennedy called “horrifying” problems, including medical teams beginning the process of harvesting organs before patients were dead.‘We are sending a tough message’Each year in the United States, more than 28,000 donated organs go unused and are discarded because of inefficiencies in the system, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said Thursday.“We are sending a tough message to all the other nonprofit organ procurement agencies, organizations, so they know we’re serious,” Oz said. “We want them to know there’s a new sheriff in town, and we’re coming for them if they don’t take care of the American people.”Organ transplant programs are certified under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and they must meet certain requirements to be approved by Medicare.“We’re going to crack down on noncompliance with Medicare requirements,” Oz said, adding that more action could be coming.“We’re going to be tougher than ever before, because if we lose trust in the organ transplantation system of this country, tens of thousands of people are going to die yearly whose lives could be saved,” he said.Public trust of the organ donation system is essential since the system relies on people to volunteer to donate their organs when they die. Most sign up when they’re getting their driver’s license.As of 2022, about 170 million people in the U.S. have signed up to donate their organs, but there is always more demand than there are organs available.Last year, there were more than 48,000 transplants in the U.S., but more than 103,000 people were on waiting lists. About 13 people in the United States die every day waiting for a transplant, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.Investigations into organ procurementIn July, HHS announced its intention to fix the nation’s organ donation system. The agency directed the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, the public-private partnership that runs the complex donation system in the United States, to improve safeguards and monitoring at the national level and to find ways to strengthen safety protocols and transparency.An investigation by the Health Resources and Services Administration – detailed in a hearing in July and a memo from March – found problems with dozens of transplant cases involving incomplete donations, when an organization started the process to take someone’s organs but for, some reason, the donation never happened.The cases were managed by a procurement organization that handles donations in Kentucky and parts of Ohio and West Virginia; formerly called Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates, it has merged with another group and is now called Network for Hope.Network for Hope said on its website in July, “We are equally committed to addressing the recent guidance from the HRSA and we are already evaluating whether any updates to our current practices are needed.”Of the 351 cases in the federal investigation, more than 100 had “concerning features, including 73 patients with neurological signs incompatible with organ donation,” HHS said in a July news release.The investigation was launched after one Kentucky case came to light during a congressional hearing last year. In that case, 33-year-old TJ Hoover woke up in the operating room to find people shaving his chest, bathing his body in surgical solution and talking about harvesting his organs. Staffers had been concerned that he wasn’t brain-dead, but the concerns were initially ignored, according to the federal investigation.Staff told CNN that the procedure to take Hoover’s organs stopped after a surgeon saw his reaction to stimuli.The federal investigation found “concerning” issues in multiple cases, including failures to follow professional best practices, to respect family wishes, to collaborate with a patient’s primary medical team and to recognize neurological function, suggesting “organizational dysfunction and poor quality and safety assurance culture” in the Kentucky-area organization, according to a federal report.Since the federal review, the Health Resources and Services Administration said, it has received reports of “similar patterns” of high-risk procurement practices at other organizations.
As part of its efforts to strengthen the country’s organ transplant system, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it is moving to decertify a major organ procurement organization – essentially shutting it down and removing it from the nation’s network of organ donation groups.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the move a “clear warning” to other groups that also work to coordinate organ donations.
HHS officials are moving to close the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency, a division of the University of Miami Health System, after an investigation uncovered unsafe practices, staffing shortages and paperwork errors, Kennedy said Thursday.
“We are acting because of years of documented Patient Safety Data failures and repeated violations of federal requirements, and we intend this decision to serve as a clear warning,” he said.
The Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency is one of 55 organ procurement organizations that are federally designated nonprofits responsible for managing the recovery of organs for transplantation in the United States, in which they focus on specific geographic regions and work with hospitals.
The Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) said in a statement Thursday that the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency serves 7 million people across six counties in South Florida and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
“Through this process, AOPO pledges that we and our members will keep saving lives nationwide. We will continue to support the team at Life Alliance to ensure South Florida organ donors, transplant patients and their families have access to organ donation and transplantation services,” AOPO President Jeff Trageser said in a statement, while thanking federal health officials for recognizing the importance of organ donation.
“Because there is only one OPO per donation service area, it’s critical for CMS/HHS to manage the situation carefully and work with Life Alliance, hospitals & the wider donation community to ensure there are no lapses in donation during this process so lives can continue being saved,” he added in an email.
There is a process by which the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency could appeal the decertification. Neither the organization nor the University of Miami Health System immediately responded to CNN’s request for comment.
“The Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency based in Miami, Florida, has a long record of deficiencies directly tied to patient harm,” Kennedy said Thursday.
“Staffing shortfalls alone may have caused – it was a 65% staffing shortage consistently across the years – and may have caused as many as eight missed organ recoveries each week, roughly one life lost each day,” he said. “Our goal is clear: Every American must trust the nation’s organ procurement system. We will not stop until that goal is met.”
Kennedy also plans to direct organ procurement organizations to appoint full-time patient safety officers to monitor safety practices, report incidents and ensure that corrective actions are implemented, among other responsibilities.
“This officer will be responsible for coordinating responses across clinical operational teams, ensure compliance with federal priorities and take corrective action whenever patients are at risk,” Thomas Engels, administrator of the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, said Thursday.
These moves are part of an ongoing initiative to reform the organ transplant system after a federal investigation earlier this year found what Kennedy called “horrifying” problems, including medical teams beginning the process of harvesting organs before patients were dead.
‘We are sending a tough message’
Each year in the United States, more than 28,000 donated organs go unused and are discarded because of inefficiencies in the system, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said Thursday.
“We are sending a tough message to all the other nonprofit organ procurement agencies, organizations, so they know we’re serious,” Oz said. “We want them to know there’s a new sheriff in town, and we’re coming for them if they don’t take care of the American people.”
“We’re going to crack down on noncompliance with Medicare requirements,” Oz said, adding that more action could be coming.
“We’re going to be tougher than ever before, because if we lose trust in the organ transplantation system of this country, tens of thousands of people are going to die yearly whose lives could be saved,” he said.
Public trust of the organ donation system is essential since the system relies on people to volunteer to donate their organs when they die. Most sign up when they’re getting their driver’s license.
As of 2022, about 170 million people in the U.S. have signed up to donate their organs, but there is always more demand than there are organs available.
Last year, there were more than 48,000 transplants in the U.S., but more than 103,000 people were on waiting lists. About 13 people in the United States die every day waiting for a transplant, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Investigations into organ procurement
In July, HHS announced its intention to fix the nation’s organ donation system. The agency directed the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, the public-private partnership that runs the complex donation system in the United States, to improve safeguards and monitoring at the national level and to find ways to strengthen safety protocols and transparency.
An investigation by the Health Resources and Services Administration – detailed in a hearing in July and a memo from March – found problems with dozens of transplant cases involving incomplete donations, when an organization started the process to take someone’s organs but for, some reason, the donation never happened.
The cases were managed by a procurement organization that handles donations in Kentucky and parts of Ohio and West Virginia; formerly called Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates, it has merged with another group and is now called Network for Hope.
Network for Hope said on its website in July, “We are equally committed to addressing the recent guidance from the HRSA and we are already evaluating whether any updates to our current practices are needed.”
Of the 351 cases in the federal investigation, more than 100 had “concerning features, including 73 patients with neurological signs incompatible with organ donation,” HHS said in a July news release.
The investigation was launched after one Kentucky case came to light during a congressional hearing last year. In that case, 33-year-old TJ Hoover woke up in the operating room to find people shaving his chest, bathing his body in surgical solution and talking about harvesting his organs. Staffers had been concerned that he wasn’t brain-dead, but the concerns were initially ignored, according to the federal investigation.
Staff told CNN that the procedure to take Hoover’s organs stopped after a surgeon saw his reaction to stimuli.
The federal investigation found “concerning” issues in multiple cases, including failures to follow professional best practices, to respect family wishes, to collaborate with a patient’s primary medical team and to recognize neurological function, suggesting “organizational dysfunction and poor quality and safety assurance culture” in the Kentucky-area organization, according to a federal report.
Since the federal review, the Health Resources and Services Administration said, it has received reports of “similar patterns” of high-risk procurement practices at other organizations.
Comics have long been on the front lines of democracy, the canary in the cat’s mouth, Looney Tunes style, when it comes to free speech being swallowed by regressive politics.
So Jimmy Kimmel is in good company, though he may not like this particular historical party: Zero Mostel; Philip Loeb; even Lenny Bruce, who claimed, after being watched by the FBI and backroom blacklisted, that he was less a comic and more “the surgeon with the scalpel for false values.”
During that era of McCarthyism in the 1950s (yes, I know Bruce’s troubles came later), America endured an attack on our 1st Amendment right to make fun of who we want, how we want — and survived — though careers and even lives were lost.
Wake up, Los Angeles. This isn’t a Jimmy Kimmel problem. This is a Los Angeles problem.
This is about punishing people who speak out. It’s about silencing dissent. It’s about misusing government power to go after enemies. You don’t need to agree with Kimmel’s politics to see where this is going.
For a while, during Trump 2.0, the ire of the right was aimed at California in general and San Francisco in particular, that historical lefty bastion that, with its drug culture, openly LBGTQ+ ethos and Pelosi-Newsom political dynasty, seemed to make it the perfect example of what some consider society’s failures.
But really, the difficulty with hating San Francisco is that it doesn’t care. It’s a city that has long acknowledged, even flaunted, America’s discomfort with it. That’s why the infamous newspaper columnist Herb Caen dubbed it “Baghdad by the Bay” more than 80 years ago, when the town had already fully embraced its outsider status.
Los Angeles, on the other hand, has never considered itself a problem. Mostly, we’re too caught up in our own lives, through survival or striving, to think about what others think of our messy, vibrant, complicated city. Add to that, Angelenos don’t often think of themselves as a singular identity. There are a million different L.A.s for the more than 9 million people who live in our sprawling county.
But to the rest of America, L.A. is increasingly a specific reality, a place that, like San Francisco once did, embodies all that is wrong for a certain slice of the American right.
It was not happenstance that President Trump chose L.A. as the first stop for his National Guard tour, or that ICE’s roving patrols are on our streets. It’s not bad luck or even bad decisions that is driving the push to destroy UCLA as we know it.
And it’s really not what Kimmel said about Charlie Kirk that got him pulled, because it truth, his statements were far from the most offensive that have been uttered on either side of the political spectrum.
In fact, he wasn’t talking about Kirk, but about his alleged killer and how in the immediate aftermath, there was endless speculation about his political beliefs. Turns out that Kimmel wrongly insinuated the suspect was conservative, though all of us will likely have to wait until the trial to gain a full understanding of the evidence.
“The MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said, before making fun of Trump’s response to the horrific killing.
You can support what Kimmel said or be deeply offended by it. But it is rich for the people who just a few years ago were saying liberal “cancel culture” was ruining America to adopt the same tactics.
If you need proof that this is more about control than content, look no further than Trump’s social media post on the issue, which directly encourages NBC to fire its own late-night hosts, who have made their share of digs at the president as well.
“Kimmel has ZERO talent, and worse ratings than even Colbert, if that’s possible. That leaves Jimmy and Seth, two total losers, on Fake News NBC. Their ratings are also horrible. Do it NBC!!!” Trump wrote.
This is about making an example of America’s most vibrant and inclusive city, and the celebrity icons who dare to diss — the place that exemplifies better than any other what freedom looks like, lives like, jokes like.
If a Kimmel can fall so easily, what does that mean the career of Hannah Einbinder, who shouted out a “free Palestine” at the Emmys? Will there be a quiet fear of hiring her?
What does it mean for a union leader like David Huerta, who is still facing charges after being detained at an immigration protest? Will people think twice before joining a demonstration?
What does it mean for you? The yous who live lives of expansiveness and inclusion. The yous who have forged your own path, made your own way, broken the boundaries of traditional society whether through your choices on who to love, what country to call your own, how to think of your identity or nurture your soul.
You, Los Angeles, with your California dreams and anything-goes attitude, are the living embodiment of everything that needs to be crushed.
I am not trying to send you into an anxiety spiral, but it’s important to understand what we stand to lose if civil rights continue to erode.
Kimmel having his speech censored is in league with our immigrant neighbors being rounded up and detained; the federal government financially pressuring doctors into dropping care for transgender patients, and the University of California being forced to turn over the names of staff and students it may have a beef with.
Being swept up by ICE may seem vastly different than a millionaire celebrity losing his show, but they are all the weaponization of government against its people.
It was Disney, not Donald Trump, who took action against Kimmel. But Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr threatening to “take action” if ABC did not sounds a lot like the way the White House talks about Washington, Oakland and so many other blue cities, L.A. at the top of the list.
Our Black mayor. Our Latino senator and representatives. Our 1 million undocumented residents. Our nearly 10% of the adult population identifies as LGBTQ+. Our comics, musicians, actors and writers who have long pushed us to see the world in new, often difficult, ways.
Many of us are here because other places didn’t want us, didn’t understand us, tried to hold us back. (I am in Sacramento now, but remain an Angeleno at heart.) We came here, to California and Los Angeles, for the protection this state and city offers.
But now it needs our protection.
However this assault on democracy comes, we are all Jimmy Kimmel — we are all at risk. The very nature of this place is under siege, and standing together across the many fronts of these attacks is our best defense.
Seeing that they are all one attack — whether it is against a celebrity, a car wash worker or our entire city — is critical.
“Our democracy is not self-executing,” former President Obama said recently. “It depends on us all as citizens, regardless of our political affiliations, to stand up and fight for the core values that have made this country the envy of the world.”
So here we are, L.A., in a moment that requires fortitude, requires insight, requires us to stand up and say the most ridiculous thing that has every been said in a town full of absurdity:
A judge has rejected Erik and Lyle Menendez’s petition for a new trial, ruling that evidence showing they suffered sexual abuse at their father’s hands would not have changed the outcome of the murder trial that has put them in prison for more than 35 years for gunning down their parents.
The ruling, handed down by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan on Monday, is the latest blow to the brothers’ bid for release. Both were denied parole during lengthy hearings in late August.
A habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of the brothers in 2023 argued they should have been able to present additional evidence at trial that their father, Jose Menendez, was sexually abusive.
The new evidence included a 1988 letter that Erik Menendez sent to his cousin, Andy Cano, saying he was abused into his late teens. There were also allegations made by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who claimed Jose Menendez raped him.
The brothers have long argued they were in fear for their lives that their father would keep abusing them, and that their parents would kill them to cover up the nightmarish conditions in their Beverly Hills home.
Prosecutors contended the brothers killed their parents with shotguns in 1989 to get access to their massive inheritance, and have repeatedly highlighted Erik and Lyle’s wild spending spree in the months that followed their parents’ deaths.
“Neither piece of evidence adds to the allegations of abuse the jury already considered, yet found that the brothers planned, then executed that plan to kill their abusive father and complicit mother,” Ryan wrote. “The court finds that these two pieces of evidence presented here would have not have resulted in a hung jury nor in the conviction of a lesser instructed offense.”
Ryan agreed with Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman that the petition should not grant the brothers a new trial because the abuse evidence would not have changed the fact that they had planned and carried out the execution-style killings.
Ryan wrote the new evidence would not have resulted in the trial court proceeding differently because the brothers could not show they experienced a fear of “imminent peril.”
A spokesperson for the group of more than 30 Menendez relatives who have been fighting for the brothers’ release did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the district attorney’s office was not immediately available for comment.
The gruesome killings occurred after the brothers used cash to buy the shotguns and attacked their parents while they watched a movie in the family living room.
Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was struck five times with shotgun blasts, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor wounded before the brothers reloaded and fired a final, fatal blast.
The petition rejected this week was one of three paths the Menendez legal team has pursued in seeking freedom for the brothers. Another judge earlier this year resentenced them to 50 years to life for the murders, making them eligible for parole after they were originally sentenced to life in prison.
Both were denied release at their first parole hearing, but could end up before the state panel again in as soon as 18 months. Clemency petitions are also still pending before Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Erik Menendez insisted at his parole hearing that he and his brother had purchased the shotguns because they believed that their parents might try to kill them, or that his father would go to his room to rape him.
“That was going to happen,” he said. “One way or another. If he was alive, that was going to happen.”
Asked why the two killed their mother as well, Erik Menendez said that the decision was made after learning she was aware of the abuse.
“Step by step, my mom had shown she was united with my dad,” he said at the hearing. “On that night, I saw them as one person. Had she not been in the room, maybe it would have been different.”
When it comes to unwritten rules, there’s no real guideline since.. you know… they’re unwritten. You just kind of know not to do certain things. I suppose it’s like an extension of common courtesy.
Some people got it, some people don’t. Here are a handful of ‘unwritten rules’ that people absolutely swear by.
When a door slammed shut in the childhood home of Andry Hernández Romero, he wasn’t just startled. He winced, recoiling from the noise.
Nearly a month had passed since Hernández Romero, a 32-year-old makeup artist, and 251 other Venezuelans were released from a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison.
In a Zoom interview in August from Venezuela, Hernández Romero listed the ways in which the trauma of the ordeal still manifests itself.
“When doors are slammed — did you notice [my reaction] when the door made noise just now?” he said. “I can’t stand keys. Being touched when I’m asleep. If I see an officer with cuffs in their hand, I get scared and nervous.”
Trump administration officials accused the Venezuelan men of being members of the transnational gang Tren de Aragua and a national security threat, though many, including Hernández Romero, had no criminal histories in the U.S. or Venezuela.
While he was confined, with no access to his attorneys or the news, Hernández Romero had no idea he had become a poster child for the movement to free the prisoners.
“Before I was Andry the makeup artist, Andry the stylist, Andry the designer,” he said. “I was somewhat recognized, but not as directly. Right now, if you type my name into Google, TikTok, YouTube — any platform — my entire life shows up.”
Days after he was sent to El Salvador on March 15, CBS News published a leaked deportation manifest with his name on it. His lawyer Lindsay Toczylowski, who co-founded the Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center, denounced his removal on “The Rachel Maddow Show” and a “60 Minutes” expose.
In the “60 Minutes” episode, Time photojournalist Philip Holsinger recounted hearing a man at the prison cry for his mother, saying, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a stylist,” while prison guards slapped him and shaved his head.
Outrage grew. On social media, users declared him disappeared, asking, “Is Andry Hernández Romero alive?”
Congressional Democrats traveled to El Salvador to push for information about the detainees and came back empty-handed.
“Let’s get real for a moment,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York) said in an April 9 video on X. The video cut to a glamour shot of Hernández Romero peering from behind three smoldering makeup brushes.
“When was the last time you saw a gay makeup artist in a transnational gang?” Torres said.
Hernández Romero walks through a market in his hometown of Capacho Nuevo.
Hernández Romero shows the crown tattoos that U.S. authorities claimed linked him to the Tren de Aragua gang.
Hernández Romero fled Venezuela after facing persecution for his sexuality and political views, according to his lawyers.
He entered the U.S. legally at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Aug. 29, 2024, after obtaining an appointment through CBP One, the asylum application process used in the Biden administration. The elation of getting through lasted just a few minutes, he said.
Hernández Romero spent six months at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. He had passed a “credible fear” interview — the first step in the asylum process — but immigration officials had lasered in on two of his nine tattoos: a crown on each wrist with “Mom” and “Dad” in English.
Immigrant detainees are given blue, orange or red uniforms, depending on their classification level. A guard once explained that detainees wearing orange, like him, could be criminals. Hernández Romero said he replied, “Is being a gay a crime? Or is doing makeup a crime?”
When his deportation flight landed in El Salvador, he saw tanks and officials dressed in all black, carrying big guns.
A Salvadoran man got off first — Kilmar Abrego García, whose case became a flash point of controversy after federal officials acknowledged he had been wrongly deported.
Eight Venezuelan women got off next, but Salvadoran officials rejected them and they were led back onto the plane. Hernández Romero said the remaining Venezuelans felt relieved, thinking they too would be rejected.
Instead, they ended up in prison.
Hernández Romero does the makeup for Gabriela Mora, the fiancee of his fellow prisoner Carlos Uzcátegui, hours before their civil wedding in the town of Lobatera.
“I saw myself hit, I saw myself carried by two officials with my head toward the ground, receiving blows and kicks,” Hernández Romero said. “After that reality kind of strikes me: I was in a cell in El Salvador, in a maximum-security prison with nine other people and asking myself, ‘What am I doing here?’”
As a stylist, he said, having his hair shaved off was particularly devastating. Even worse were the accompanying blows and homophobic insults.
He remembers the photographer snapping shots of him and feeling the sting of his privacy being violated. Now, he understands their significance: “It’s thanks to those photos that we are now back in our homes.”
At the prison, guards taunted them, Hernández Romero said, telling them, “You all are going to die here.”
Hernández Romero befriended Carlos Uzcátegui, 32, who was held in the cell across the hall. Prisoners weren’t allowed to talk with people outside their cells, but the pair quietly got to know each other whenever the guards were distracted.
Uzcátegui said he was also detained for having a crown tattoo and for another depicting three stars, one for each of his younger sisters.
A prisoner is moved by a guard at the Terrorist Confinement Center, a high-security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26. (Alex Brandon, Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
As prisoners looks on, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center on March 26. (Alex Brandon, Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Hernández Romero said he noticed that some of the guards would stare at him when he showered. He told reporters that guards took him to a small, windowless room known as “La Isla,” or “The Island,” after noticing him bathing with a bucket outside of designated hours. There, he said, he was beaten by three guards wearing masks and forced to perform oral sex on one of them, according to NPR and other outlets.
Hernández Romero no longer wishes to talk about the details of the alleged abuse. His lawyers are looking into available legal options.
“Perhaps those people will escape earthly justice, the justice of man, but when it comes to the justice of our Father God, no one escapes,” he said. “Life is a restaurant — no one leaves without paying.”
Uzcátegui said guards once pulled out his toenails and denied him medication despite a high fever. He had already showered, but as his fever worsened he took a second shower, which wasn’t allowed.
He said guards pushed him down, kicked him repeatedly in the stomach, then left him in “La Isla” for three days.
In July, rumors began circulating in the prison that the Venezuelans might be released, but the detainees didn’t believe the talk until the pastor who gave their daily sermon appeared uncharacteristically emotional. He told them: “The miracle is done. Tomorrow is a new day for you all.”
Uzcátegui remained unconvinced. That night, he couldn’t sleep because of the noise of people moving around the prison. He said usually that meant that guards would enter their cell block early in the morning to beat them.
Hernández Romero noticed his friend was restless. “We’re leaving today,” he said.
“I don’t believe it,” Uzcátegui replied. “It’s always the same.”
Hernández Romero knew they had spent 125 days imprisoned because when any detainee went for a medical consult, they would unobtrusively note the calendar in the room and report back to the group. The detainees would then mark the day on their metal bed frames using soap.
On July 18, buses arrived at the prison at 3 a.m. to take the Venezuelans to the airport. Officials called out Hernández Romero and Arturo Suárez-Trejo, a singer whose case had also drawn public attention, for individual photos. Hernández Romero said they were puzzled but obliged.
Migrants deported by the United States to El Salvador under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown arrive at Simon Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on July 18.
(Ariana Cubillos / Associated Press)
When their flight touched down, an official told them: “Welcome to Venezuela.” Walking down the plane steps, Hernández Romero felt the Caribbean breeze on his face and thanked God.
A few days later, he was back in his hometown, Capacho Nuevo, hugging his parents and brother in the center of a swarm of journalists and supporters chanting his name.
“I left home with a suitcase full of dreams, with dreams of helping my people, of helping my family, but unfortunately, that suitcase of dreams turned into a suitcase of nightmares,” he told reporters there.
Hernández Romero said he wants to see his name cleared. For him, justice would mean “that the people who kidnapped us and unfairly blamed us should pay.”
President Trump had invoked an 18th-century wartime law to quickly remove many of the Venezuelans to El Salvador in March. In a 2-1 decision on Sept. 2, a panel of judges from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the administration acted unlawfully, saying there has been “no invasion or predatory incursion.”
Trump administration officials have told a federal judge that they would facilitate the return of Venezuelans to the U.S. if they wish to continue the asylum proceedings that were dismissed after they were sent to El Salvador. If there’s another chance to fulfill his dreams, Hernández Romero said he’s “not closed off to anything.”
Uzcátegui sees it differently. After everything he went through, he said, he probably would not go back.
Now he suffers from nightmares that it’s happening again. “Despite everything, you end up feeling like it’s not true that we’re out of there,” he said. “You wake up thinking you’re still there.”
Carlos Uzcátegui exchanges vows with Gabriela Mora during their wedding in August as Hernández Romero, right, in cap, looks on.
As he restarts his career, Hernández Romero is redeveloping a client list as a makeup artist. Last month, he worked a particularly special wedding: Uzcátegui’s. He did makeup for his friend’s now-wife, Gabriela Mora.
“He lived the same things I did in there,” Uzcátegui said. “It was like knowing that we are finally free — that despite all the things we talked about that we never thought would happen, that friendship remains. We’re like family.”
A beloved octopus is entering the last stage of her life in Long Beach,and will spend the remainder of her days caring for eggs that will never hatch.
News of the approaching demise of Ghost — a giant Pacific octopus who has called the Aquarium of the Pacific home for more than a year — prompted an outpouring of sadness on the aquarium’s social media accounts.
The last phase of an octopus’ life cycle is known as senescence. For males, it occurs after mating. For a female, like Ghost, the phase includes sitting on her eggs for six to seven months and a short period of time after they hatch.
Ghost most recently laid unfertilized eggs because she did not have a mate.
“Though senescence is part of the natural life cycle of a female octopus, it is still a sad time for us, especially for those who formed a bond with her as they care for her each day,” said Nate Jaros, the aquarium’s vice president of animal care.
“It has been our custom to announce the senescence of our giant Pacific octopuses, and we have received passionate responses since we know people care about these animals as much as we do.”
This species of octopus reproduces toward the end of life, when a female chooses a large male to mate with, according to the Ocean Conservancy. The giant Pacific octopus can lay tens of thousands of eggs at a time.
“One of the decisions that we have carefully made to support their well-being is to not pair these octopuses since they can be very aggressive and even lethal to each other,” Jaros said.
During senescence, Ghost will wholly devote herself to caring for the eggs — ultimately neglecting to tend to her own basic needs, aquarium officials said.
“The octopus behaves the same way whether or not the eggs are fertile, and female octopus senescing while caring for unfertile eggs is a situation that also naturally occurs in the wild,” Jaros said.
Her duties include keeping them clean and free from fungi, bacteria and algae. But Ghost could experience symptoms such as retraction of skin around the eyes and uncoordinated movement, as well as develop white nonhealing body lesions, according to a report published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science.
A giant Pacific octopus will live an average of four to five years in the wild. Ghost’s exact age is unknown, but based on her weight and size “we can approximate she is in that age range,” the aquarium said.
“She is a wonderful octopus and has made an eight-armed impression on all of our hearts,” the aquarium posted on social media. “In the coming days, she will be moved behind the scenes for the remainder of her life.”
Ghost arrived at the Aquarium of the Pacific in May 2024 from a “carefully vetted collector using humane and sustainable collection practices,” Jaros said.
Ever since, the octopus has been cared for with hand-prepared restaurant-quality seafood, curated activities and habitats, and state-of-the-art veterinary care, he said.
Giant Pacific octopuses inhabit the waters of their namesake ocean from Southern California to Alaska.
Growing up in a small town outside of Cleveland, Tyler Piña was fascinated by Los Angeles and the glamour of Hollywood.
“My dad grew up out here, and it’s where my parents met,” says the 33-year-old screenwriter and Emmy Award-winning director of “Next Level With Lauren Goode.” “I remember looking at old Polaroids of them in the ‘80s and seeing how much fun they had.”
In this series, we spotlight L.A. rentals with style. From perfect gallery walls to temporary decor hacks, these renters get creative, even in small spaces. And Angelenos need the inspiration: Most are renters.
His attraction to Los Angeles, however, was more than just nostalgia. “I was mesmerized by the landscapes and architecture,” he says, noting the Santa Monica Mountains that run alongside the Pacific Ocean and glass-and-steel Case Study Houses such as the Stahl House, perched on a hillside overlooking Los Angeles.
“I had never seen anything like it in Ohio,” he says. “It felt like another world, so far from reach. Yet it was a life I aspired to live one day.”
Looking back, he can’t believe he realized his dream of moving to Los Angeles from San Francisco in 2018 and eventually renting a Midcentury Modern penthouse steps from the Sunset Strip.
“A Midcentury Modern penthouse on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood, with a bar in the living room? I mean, does it get more iconic? I am, in no way, cool enough to live here,” says Piña.
“It’s a little bit of a fishbowl,” Piña says, standing inside his living room with views of a Netflix billboard through the unit’s floor-to-ceiling windows. (It’s an ad for “Happy Gilmore 2” that reads “When Life Gives You S— for Breakfast … Go to Your Happy Place.”)
More than once, Piña has been caught sitting on his couch in his underwear, writing scripts on his laptop, as Hollywood tour buses stop at the traffic light outside.
In other instances, friends have driven by his building and texted him, “‘Hey, I just drove by and saw you in your living room,’” he says, laughing.
Although he feels like he is living in a fishbowl at times, Piña draws energy from the city outside his windows.
The two-story, 22-unit Sunset Lanai apartment complex, designed by acclaimed midcentury architect Edward H. Fickett and built in 1952 by developer George Alexander, is an oasis in the middle of a bustling part of the city. That is because Fickett designed the West Hollywood apartments to face inward, toward a lush courtyard and swimming pool, avoiding the activity of the Sunset Strip.
Piña’s penthouse apartment spans almost the entire top floor and boasts many of the architectural touches that Fickett was known for including as an indoor-outdoor floor plan that connects to a lanai, vaulted ceilings, partial walls and lots of glass.
Over the years, the apartment’s owners and the West Hollywood City Council have debated its relevance as a historic landmark that needs preservation. But talk to Piña, and he’ll tell you it’s special.
The Sunset Lanai apartments were designed by noted modernist architect Edward Fickett and constructed by George Alexander in 1952.
“I walked by the apartment every day before I moved in and was always curious what it looked like inside,” he says. “When I saw the ‘for rent’ sign, I immediately went on a tour. But the price was a little high for me, so I waited.”
His patience paid off as the apartment stood vacant for seven months during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following several price reductions, Piña, his boyfriend at that time and a friend of theirs rented the 2,850-square-foot unit for $5,200 a month in 2020.
“Right away it felt like home,” he says of the first time he stepped inside. “This was the place I grew up dreaming about.”
Piña, right, and his boyfriend, Vittorio Manole, stand in the lanai in front of the apartment.
The lanai has enough room for a gym, washer and dryer and a lounge. It also has ample built-in storage.
Inside, the apartment is a treasure trove of unique features. The expansive living room seamlessly connects to a formal dining room, which in turn leads to an updated kitchen with stainless steel appliances, all with a view of Sunset Boulevard. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms, each with more built-in storage than they can use, sit off an intersecting hallway.
At the center of the living room, a stylish enclosed wet bar, an original design by Fickett, exudes a “Mad Men” vibe. On the wall behind the bar, Piña hung a peel-and-stick wallpaper that he found on Etsy, reminiscent of the iconic banana-leaf wallpaper at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and a yellow neon sign that reads “Lost in euphoria.”
“There’s something really special about a Fickett building,” Piña says. “A Midcentury Modern penthouse on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood, with a bar in the living room? I mean, does it get more iconic? I am, in no way, cool enough to live here.”
“In a way, I guess decorating is just another medium for me to express my creativity like I do with film and writing,” Piña says.
“I tried my best to do this space justice,” Piña says, referring to his frantic two-week effort to decorate the apartment while working on “Comeback Coach” and “Women in Business,” two reality shows sponsored by Verizon. He has also worked on trailers for Amazon, shot and edited commercials for Google, Levi’s and Sephora, edited “Making Emilia Perez” for Netflix and wrote and directed the award-winning documentary “88 Cents.”
“At my previous place, I slowly decorated over time,” he says. “By the time it finally felt perfect, it was time to move out. In this space, I wanted it to feel lived in right away so I could enjoy it fully for as long as possible.”
Working until 3 in the morning, Piña sourced Midcentury-inspired furniture from the online retailer All Modern, CB2 and several local vintage shops. He also purchased a variety of furnishings, plants and accessories on Etsy and Offer Up as well as artworks by local artists, photographers and friends.
Inspired by a print on wood by Australian photographer Sarah Bahbah in his dining room, Piña decorated the living and dining room in a similar color palette. Similarly, copper-colored bar stools he spotted in a small shop in San Francisco inspired the bar area.
The bedroom is dark and moody, with windows that look out over the Sunset Strip.
Explaining his decorating process, Piña says he likes to start with a statement piece such as an artwork, rug or piece of furniture and then build a story around it. “In a way, I guess decorating is just another medium for me to express my creativity like I do with film and writing,” he says.
Adding to the spacious floor plan is a lanai, which has enough room for weights, mats and a Peloton, as well as a lounge area, washer and dryer, sink and a huge walk-in storage space. “I have a projector and have hosted movie nights,” Piña says.
The formal dining room connects to an updated kitchen with stainless steel appliances that faces Sunset Boulevard.
At night, Piña says his apartment glows from the streetlights and soaks up the energy from the neighborhood. “It’s the best place to have a good cry,” he says. “Because you never feel alone. I put so much love into this apartment. And it’s given me so much back in return. And the tears I cried here, the immense struggles that I faced — a pandemic, losing work from the strikes, multiple relationships that came and went. But even in the hard moments, there was so much beauty. The architecture brings this place to life.”
But like so many good things that come to an end, Piña recently decided to move out of the apartment after his roommate left.
Piña moves on with nothing but happy memories.
“I’m ready for the next dream,” he says.
Last month, Piña sold and donated all of his furniture. He plans to travel to Europe and Asia and work remotely for a while. “Just me and a suitcase,” he says.
According to the director, he enjoyed selling his furnishings on Facebook Marketplace and plans on using it as a source for his next home. “I met so many cool people from all over the city,” he says. “The whole concept of passing items down versus buying new just makes the home feel more lively in my opinion, like every item comes with its own story and a bit of love — not to mention it’s way more cost-effective.”
He leaves Los Angeles with his Polaroids, just like his parents.
“And all the amazing memories,” he says. “Those are coming with me.”
The services of a life-preserving, ego-boosting retinue of intimidating protectors — picture dark glasses, earpiece, stern visage — were cited by more than one Harris associate, past and present, as a factor in her deliberations. These were not Trumpers or Harris haters looking to impugn or embarrass the former vice president.
According to one of those associates, Harris has been accompanied nonstop by an official driver and person with a gun since 2003, when she was elected San Francisco district attorney. One could easily grow accustomed to that level of comfort and status, not to mention the pleasure of never having to personally navigate the 101 or 405 freeways at rush hour.
That is, of course, a perfectly terrible and selfish reason to run for governor, if ever it was a part of Harris’ thinking. To her credit, the reason she chose to not run was a very good one: Harris simply “didn’t feel called” to pursue the job, in the words of one political advisor.
Now, however, the matter of Harris’ personal protection has become a topic of heated discussion and debate, which is hardly surprising in an age when everything has become politicized, including “and” and “the.”
There is plenty of bad faith to go around.
Last month, President Trump abruptly revoked Harris’ Secret Service protection. The security arrangement for vice presidents typically lasts for six months after they leave office, allowing them to quietly fade into ever greater obscurity. But before vacating the White House, President Biden signed an executive order extending protection for Harris for an additional year. (Former presidents are guarded by Secret Service details for life.)
As the first female, first Black and first Asian American vice president, Harris faced, as they say in the protective-service business, an elevated threat level while serving in the post. In the 230-odd days since Harris left office, there is no reason to believe racism and misogyny, not to mention wild-eyed partisan hatred, have suddenly abated in this great land of ours.
The president could have been gracious and extended Harris’ protection. But expecting grace out of Trump is like counting on a starving Doberman to show restraint when presented a bloody T-bone steak.
“This is another act of revenge following a long list of political retaliation in the form of firings, the revoking of security clearances and more,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass angrily declared.
True.
Though Bass omitted the bit about six months being standard operating procedure, which would have at least offered some context. It wasn’t as though Harris was being treated differently than past vice presidents.
Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly stepped into the breach, providing Harris protection by the California Highway Patrol. Soon after, The Times’ Richard Winton broke the news that Los Angeles Police Department officers meant to be fighting crime in hard-hit areas of the city were instead providing security for Harris as a supplement to the CHP.
Not a great look. Or the best use of police resources.
All well and good, until the conservative-leaning Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing rank-and-file officers, saw fit to issue a gratuitously snarky statement condemning the hasty arrangement. Its board of directors described Harris as “a failed presidential candidate who also happens to be a multi-millionaire, with multiple homes … who can easily afford to pay for her own security.”
One person in the private-security business told Winton that a certain household name pays him $1,000 a day for a 12-hour shift. That can quickly add up and put a noticeable dent in your back account, assuming your name isn’t Elon or Taylor or Zuckerberg or Bezos.
Setting aside partisanship — if that’s still possible — and speaking bluntly, there’s something to be said for ensuring Harris doesn’t die a violent death at the hands of some crazed assailant.
The CHP’s Dignitary Protection Section is charged with protecting all eight of California’s constitutional officers — we’re talking folks such as the insurance commissioner and state controller — as well as the first lady and other elected officials, as warranted. The statutory authority also extends to former constitutional officers, which would include Harris, who served six years as state attorney general.
Surely there’s room in California’s $321-billion budget to make sure nothing terrible happens to one of the state’s most prominent and credentialed citizens. It doesn’t have to be an open-ended, lifetime commitment to Harris’ protection, but an arrangement that could be periodically reviewed, as time passes and potential danger wanes.
Serving in elected office can be rough, especially in these incendiary times. The price shouldn’t include having to spend the rest of your life looking nervously over your shoulder.
Or draining your life savings, so you don’t have to.
Food products containing shark are being sold in grocery stores, seafood markets and online across the United States—and in some cases, they come from species at risk of extinction.
This is the warning of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who used DNA barcoding to analyze 30 such shark products purchased in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia in 2021 and 2022.
They found that nearly one-third of the samples came from endangered or critically endangered species—including great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, shortfin mako and tope.
“Of the 29 samples, 93 percent were ambiguously labeled as ‘shark,’ and one of the two products labeled at the species level was mislabeled,” said Savannah J. Ryburn, the study’s lead author, in a statement.
“We found critically endangered sharks being sold in grocery stores, seafood markets and online.”
Mislabeling and public health concerns
The study found widespread mislabeling. In fact, only one product had a correct, species-specific label. Many packages were sold simply as “shark,” making it impossible for consumers to know what they were buying.
Prices also varied dramatically. Fresh shark meat sold for as little as $6.56 per kilogram, while shark jerky averaged more than $200 per kilogram.
Beyond conservation concerns, researchers warned that some shark species, including hammerheads and smooth-hounds, contain high levels of mercury, methylmercury and arsenic, which can damage the brain and nervous system, cause cancer and impair fetal development.
In 2022, another study found that endangered shark meat was found in pet food, often labeled under the terms “white fish” or “ocean fish.”
Conservation context
Shark populations have already dropped by more than 70 percent since the 1970s due to bycatch, climate change, habitat destruction and overfishing. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that more than a third of shark species are now threatened with extinction.
While 74 shark species are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), enforcement remains limited. Once sharks are processed into fillets or jerky, visual identification is nearly impossible, leaving loopholes in trade restrictions.
Pictures of shark meat purchased for the study. Pictures of shark meat purchased for the study. Savannah Ryburn
Call for stronger labeling
“The legality of selling shark meat in the United States depends largely on where the shark was harvested and the species involved,” Ryburn explained.
“By the time large shark species reach grocery stores and markets, they are often sold as fillets with all distinguishing features removed, making it unlikely that sellers know what species they are offering.”
The authors argue that requiring species-level labeling could help protect consumers and vulnerable shark populations.
“Sellers in the United States should be required to provide species-specific names,” Ryburn said. “And when shark meat is not a food security necessity, consumers should avoid purchasing products that lack species-level labeling or traceable sourcing.”
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about sharks? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
Reference
Ryburn, S. J., Yu, T., Ong, K. J., Wisely, E., Alston, M. A., Howie, E., Leroy, P., Giang, S. E., Ball, W., Benton, J., Calhoun, R., Favreau, I., Gutierrez, A., Hallac, K., Hanson, D., Hibbard, T., Loflin, B., Lopez, J., Mock, G., Myers, K., Pinos-Sánchez, A., Suarez Garcia, A. M., Retamales Romero, A., Thomas, A., Williams, R., Zaldivar, A., & Bruno, J. F. (2025). Sale of critically endangered sharks in the United States. Frontiers in Marine Science. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2025.1604454
An Australian judge on Monday sentenced triple-murderer Erin Patterson to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years for poisoning four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms.Justice Christopher Beale told the Victoria state Supreme Court that Patterson’s crimes involved an enormous betrayal of trust.Video above: Jury returns guilty verdict in Erin Patterson ‘mushroom murder’ trialPatterson was convicted in July of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, with a lunch of beef Wellington pastries laced with foraged death cap mushrooms.Patterson was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson, who spent weeks in a hospital.Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited but did not attend the July 2023 lunch served to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband’s aunt and uncle at her home.Murderer robbed her children of their grandparents“Your victims were all your relatives by marriage. More than that, they had all been good to you and your children over many years, as you acknowledged in your testimony,” Beale said.“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents,” he added.Both prosecution and defense lawyers had agreed that a life sentence was an appropriate punishment for the 50-year-old on three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.But defense lawyers had asked for Patterson to become eligible for parole after serving 30 years. Prosecutors had argued she should never be considered for parole because she did not deserve the court’s mercy.Survivor calls for kindnessIan Wilkinson did not comment on the sentence but thanked police, prosecutors and health services he’d encountered since the poisonings.“We’re thankful that when things go wrong, there are good people and services and systems available to help us recover,” he told reporters outside court.“Our lives and the life of our community depends on the kindness of others. I’d like to encourage everybody to be kind to each other. Finally, I want to say thank you to the many people from across Australia and around the world who through their prayers and messages of support have encouraged us,” he added.Beale said Patterson had also intended to kill her husband if he had accepted his invitation to lunch.She had pretended to have been diagnosed with cancer as a reason to bring them together. She claimed to have wanted advice on how to break the news to her two children, who were not present at the lunch.Beale accepted Ian Wilkinson’s account that the guests were served grey plates while Patterson ate from an orange-tan plate. This was to ensure she didn’t accidentally eat a poisoned meal, Beale said.Only triple-killer knows her motivation“Only you know why you committed them (the crimes). I will not be speculating about that matter,” the judge told Patterson.Patterson showed little emotion during the sentencing hearing, which took less than an hour. She kept her eyes closed for much or it or stared directly ahead.Patterson maintained at her trial that she had added foraged mushrooms to the meals by accident.But she had initially denied to authorities that she fed her guests foraged mushrooms. A drug that is a specific antidote for death cap mushroom poisoning was not initially administered to her dying victims.Beale told Patterson he inferred “from your pitiless behavior that your intention to kill was ongoing.”Beale noted that no psychiatric or psychological reports had been provided in her sentencing hearing. He said he had no doubt she had instructed her lawyers not to provide such evidence.Patterson has been in custody since she was charged on Nov. 2, 2023. Her sentence is backdated until then. She has 28 days from her sentencing to appeal against her convictions and the severity of her sentence.Patterson, who turns 51 on Sept. 30, will be 82 years old when she becomes eligible for parole in November 2056.The case has attracted enormous public interest in Victoria, nationally and internationally. Because of this, the Victorian Supreme Court allowed for the first time a sentencing hearing to be broadcast live on television.Beale accepted that because Patterson was classified as a “notorious” prisoner who had to be kept separate from other inmates for her own safety, her conditions were harsher than those of a mainstream prisoner.Patterson spends at least 22 hours a day in her call and has never spoken to the only inmate she’s allowed to. That inmate, who has an adjoining exercise yard that shares a mesh wire fence, has been convicted of terrorism offenses and has attacked other prisoners.”I infer that, given the unprecedented media coverage of your case, and the books, documentaries and TV series about you which are all in the pipeline, you are likely to remain a notorious prisoner for many years to come, and, as such, remain at significant risk from other prisoners,” Beale said.
MELBOURNE, VIC —
An Australian judge on Monday sentenced triple-murderer Erin Patterson to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years for poisoning four of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms.
Justice Christopher Beale told the Victoria state Supreme Court that Patterson’s crimes involved an enormous betrayal of trust.
Video above: Jury returns guilty verdict in Erin Patterson ‘mushroom murder’ trial
Patterson was convicted in July of murdering Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, with a lunch of beef Wellington pastries laced with foraged death cap mushrooms.
Patterson was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson, who spent weeks in a hospital.
Patterson’s estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited but did not attend the July 2023 lunch served to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband’s aunt and uncle at her home.
Murderer robbed her children of their grandparents
“Your victims were all your relatives by marriage. More than that, they had all been good to you and your children over many years, as you acknowledged in your testimony,” Beale said.
“Not only did you cut short three lives and cause lasting damage to Ian Wilkinson’s health, thereby devastating extended Patterson and Wilkinson families, you inflicted untold suffering on your own children, whom you robbed of their beloved grandparents,” he added.
Jason South
Convicted killer Erin Patterson, right, arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria for sentencing in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025.
Both prosecution and defense lawyers had agreed that a life sentence was an appropriate punishment for the 50-year-old on three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
But defense lawyers had asked for Patterson to become eligible for parole after serving 30 years. Prosecutors had argued she should never be considered for parole because she did not deserve the court’s mercy.
Survivor calls for kindness
Ian Wilkinson did not comment on the sentence but thanked police, prosecutors and health services he’d encountered since the poisonings.
“We’re thankful that when things go wrong, there are good people and services and systems available to help us recover,” he told reporters outside court.
“Our lives and the life of our community depends on the kindness of others. I’d like to encourage everybody to be kind to each other. Finally, I want to say thank you to the many people from across Australia and around the world who through their prayers and messages of support have encouraged us,” he added.
Beale said Patterson had also intended to kill her husband if he had accepted his invitation to lunch.
She had pretended to have been diagnosed with cancer as a reason to bring them together. She claimed to have wanted advice on how to break the news to her two children, who were not present at the lunch.
Beale accepted Ian Wilkinson’s account that the guests were served grey plates while Patterson ate from an orange-tan plate. This was to ensure she didn’t accidentally eat a poisoned meal, Beale said.
Only triple-killer knows her motivation
“Only you know why you committed them (the crimes). I will not be speculating about that matter,” the judge told Patterson.
Patterson showed little emotion during the sentencing hearing, which took less than an hour. She kept her eyes closed for much or it or stared directly ahead.
Patterson maintained at her trial that she had added foraged mushrooms to the meals by accident.
But she had initially denied to authorities that she fed her guests foraged mushrooms. A drug that is a specific antidote for death cap mushroom poisoning was not initially administered to her dying victims.
Beale told Patterson he inferred “from your pitiless behavior that your intention to kill was ongoing.”
Beale noted that no psychiatric or psychological reports had been provided in her sentencing hearing. He said he had no doubt she had instructed her lawyers not to provide such evidence.
Patterson has been in custody since she was charged on Nov. 2, 2023. Her sentence is backdated until then. She has 28 days from her sentencing to appeal against her convictions and the severity of her sentence.
Patterson, who turns 51 on Sept. 30, will be 82 years old when she becomes eligible for parole in November 2056.
The case has attracted enormous public interest in Victoria, nationally and internationally. Because of this, the Victorian Supreme Court allowed for the first time a sentencing hearing to be broadcast live on television.
Beale accepted that because Patterson was classified as a “notorious” prisoner who had to be kept separate from other inmates for her own safety, her conditions were harsher than those of a mainstream prisoner.
Patterson spends at least 22 hours a day in her call and has never spoken to the only inmate she’s allowed to. That inmate, who has an adjoining exercise yard that shares a mesh wire fence, has been convicted of terrorism offenses and has attacked other prisoners.
“I infer that, given the unprecedented media coverage of your case, and the books, documentaries and TV series about you which are all in the pipeline, you are likely to remain a notorious prisoner for many years to come, and, as such, remain at significant risk from other prisoners,” Beale said.
Marc Pierrat’s mind once ran as smoothly as the gears on his endurance bike. He was a mechanical engineer by training and a marathoner for fun, a guy who maintained complicated systems at work and a meticulously organized garage at his Westlake Village home.
Three years after his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, Marc’s thoughts are a jumble he can’t sort out alone. Once-routine tasks are now incomprehensible; memories swirl and slip away. His wife, Julia Pierrat, 58, shepherds Marc, 59, through meals and naptime, ensures he is clean and comfortable, gently offers names and words he can’t find himself.
It is often impossible for a person to talk about the internal experience of living with FTD, either because they can’t accurately assess their internal state or don’t have the language to describe it. In many cases the disease attacks the brain’s language centers directly. In others, a common symptom is loss of insight, meaning the ability to recognize that anything is wrong.
But minds can unwind in a million different ways. In Marc’s case, the disease has taken a path that for now has preserved his ability to talk about life with what one doctor called “the most difficult of all neurologic diseases.”
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Thousands of people in the U.S. live with FTD. Marc can speak for only one of them, and at times he does so with clarity that breaks his wife’s heart. Occasionally Julia records snippets of conversation with his permission, mementos from a stage of marriage they never saw coming.
“It feels like walking into a closet you haven’t been in in a while, and you’re looking for something that you know is there, but you don’t know where,” Marc said recently, as Julia looked on.
“And then, you know, you just — yeah. You just give up,” he concluded. “It’s the giving up part that’s hard.”
Marc takes a selfie with his wife, Julia before Marc was diagnosed with FTD.
(Pierrat family)
Do you know the name of the disease that you’re living with?
Yes.
What is it called?
Frontotemporal dementia.
Yep, that’s exactly right.
FTD, for short.
How does it affect you?
Well, I guess, processing of inputs tend to, in a normal mind — they get processed efficiently to a decision. Like, if you’re going to catch a ball, you know, you have the ball in the air, [and] you have to raise your arm and your glove, and you catch the ball. And FTD interferes with all of that. So it makes it harder to catch the ball.
More than 6 million people in the U.S. currently live with dementia, an umbrella term for conditions affecting memory, language and other cognitive functions.
Up to 90% of dementia cases are caused by Alzheimer’s disease, the progressive memory disorder, or by strokes and other vascular problems that disrupt blood flow to the brain. The rest arise from a variety of lesser-known but equally devastating conditions. Frontotemporal dementia is one of them.
After putting Marc in bed for an afternoon nap, Julia spends a quiet moment in the kitchen of their home in Westlake.
In FTD, abnormal proteins accumulate in the brain’s frontal or temporal lobes, damaging and eventually destroying those neurons. It’s frequently misdiagnosed, and so the number of current U.S. cases is hard to pin down — estimates place it between 50,000 and 250,000 people.
By far the best-known person living with FTD is the actor Bruce Willis, whose family disclosed his diagnosis in 2023.
Willis has primary progressive aphasia, the second-most common form. In his case, the most damaged tissues are in his brain’s left frontal or left temporal lobes, which play crucial roles in processing and forming language. One of his first noticeable symptoms was a stutter, his wife Emma Heming Willis has said in interviews; he now has minimal language ability.
But FTD is highly heterogeneous, meaning that symptoms vary widely, and it has affected Marc and Willis in very different ways.
The disease has several subtypes based on where the degeneration begins its advance through the brain.
Marc Pierrat dances with activity counselor Rhoda Nino who leads a class at Infinity Adult Day Health Care Center in Westlake Village.
Pierrat has the most common subtype, behavioral variant FTD. His disease has targeted his frontal lobes, which manage social behavior, emotional regulation, impulse control, planning and working memory — essentially, everything a person needs to relate to others.
FTD typically presents between the ages of 45 and 60. Because it shows up so much earlier than other dementias, its initial symptoms are often mistaken for other conditions: depression, perimenopause, Parkinson’s disease, psychosis.
Everything we think and do and say to one another depends on very specific physical locations in our brains functioning correctly. Behavioral variant FTD strikes right at the places that house our personalities.
When an eloquent person suddenly can’t form sentences, it’s typically seen as a medical problem. But when an empathetic person suddenly withholds affection, it’s perceived as an act of unkindness. The truth is that both can be the product of physical deterioration in a previously healthy brain.
If you were to describe to another person what it’s like to live with FTD, how would you describe it?
Oh my God. . . . Well, you can’t assess situations accurately. You see a train coming, and it’s gonna smash into your car, and you’d be, like, ‘Oh. Huh. That train’s gonna hit my car.’ And there’s nothing you can do.
The first sign came in late 2018. Marc, then 52, was in a fender-bender a few blocks from home and called Julia for a ride. When she arrived, he was not just surprised to see her, but angry. Why was she there? Who’d asked her to come?
She was taken aback by his forgetfulness, and more so by his hostility. Marc could be stubborn and confrontational; over the decades, they’d argued as much as any couple. But this outburst was out of character. She chalked it up to nerves.
Marc was a respected project manager in the pharmaceutical industry. He spent weekends on home improvement projects or immersed in his many hobbies: hiking, woodworking, 100-mile bike races.
Marc, Julia (right), and their daughter take a selfie on the Golden Gate Bridge during a bike ride.
(Pierrat family)
Julia was a business manager with Dole Packaged Foods. Their daughter was pursuing a doctorate at UCLA. The couple enjoyed life as empty nesters with shared passions for road trips and camping.
For a year or two after the accident, nothing happened that couldn’t be dismissed as a normal midlife memory lapse or a cranky mood. But by late 2020, something had undeniably changed. The harsh parts of Marc’s personality ballooned to bizarre proportions, smothering his kindness, generosity and curiosity.
He lost a phone charger and accused Julia’s mother of stealing it. He misplaced his binoculars and swore his sister took them. The neighbors asked the Pierrats to trim their gum trees and Marc flew into a rage, ranting about a supposed plot to spy on them.
His work performance and exercise habits appeared unaffected, which only made his outbursts more confusing — and infuriating — to Julia.
“At the beginning of the disease nobody knew he had any issue, other than he seemed like a total jerk,” she recalled.
The Pierrats did not know they were at the start of a chaotic period distinct to sufferers of FTD’s behavioral variant.
Julia laughs as Marc he squeezes by on a narrow bridge at the Foxfield Riding School in Lake Sherwood.
“Everything that can affect relationships is at the center of the presentation of the behavioral variant,” said Dr. Bruce Miller, director of the UC San Francisco Memory and Aging Center. “The first instinct of a spouse or a child or a human resource program or a psychiatrist [is to] assume a psychiatric problem.”
People with the condition start to lash out at loved ones or lose interest in lifelong relationships. They may snarl at strangers or shoplift at the mall. They consume food or alcohol obsessively, touch people inappropriately or squander the family’s savings on weird purchases.
And at first, just like in the Pierrats’ case, nobody understands why.
“When someone is not who they were, think neurology before psychology,” said Sharon Hall, whose husband Rod — a devoted spouse who delighted in planning romantic surprises — was diagnosed in 2015 after he started drinking heavily and sending explicit texts to other women.
At Julia’s insistence Marc visited his doctor in July 2021, who referred him to a neurologist. He would spend the next year making his way through a battery of appointments, scans and cognitive testing.
In the meantime, his life disintegrated.
Marc and Julia with their family dogs prior to his diagnosis with FTD.
(Pierrat family)
Just a few years earlier, bosses and colleagues praised Marc as a superlative manager. In January 2022 he was put on notice for a host of causes: combative emails, obnoxious behavior, failures of organization.
At home he botched routine fix-it jobs, missed crucial appointments and got lost on familiar routes. He stopped showering and called Julia appalling names. She went to therapy and contemplated divorce.
Finally, on July 18, 2022, the couple sat across from a neurologist who delivered the diagnosis with all the delicacy of an uppercut.
There was no cure, he told them, and few treatment options. He handed them a pamphlet. Marc showed no emotion.
In the car Julia sobbed inconsolably as Marc sat silent in the passenger seat. Eventually she caught her breath and pulled out from the parking lot.
Do you like being married?
Yes, I do.
Why?
It makes me a better person.
That’s so sweet. How do you think it makes you a better person?
Being able to talk to you and, you know, resolve through different problems together. I mean, it’s good to have an extra mind.
They left the neurologist with nothing: no instructions, no care plan, not even the stupid pamphlet, which was about memory problems in general. “It was diagnose and adios,” Julia said. “I hit the internet immediately.”
Julia now had three different roles: her paid job, Marc’s 24-hour care, and a part-time occupation finding support, services and answers.
Marc tries to figure out what he would like for lunch as Julia offers suggestions at the Joi Cafe in Westlake.
She insisted Marc fill the neurologist’s prescription for an anti-anxiety medication that diminished his irritability and agitation without zonking him out.
She found an eldercare attorney, and together she and Marc organized their legal and financial affairs while he was still well enough to understand what he was signing. Through Facebook she found her most valuable lifeline, a twice-weekly Zoom support group for caregivers.
She went on clinicaltrials.gov, a database of studies run by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and FTDregistry.org, which lists trials specific to the disease, and signed the two of them up for every study they qualified for.
Marc was accepted into AllFTD, a longitudinal study that is the largest ever conducted for this disease. The couple travels yearly to the University of Pennsylvania’s FTD Center for tests that track changes in his symptoms and biomarkers, with the goal of contributing to future therapies and preventive treatments.
Marc paints a bird house during an art class at Infinity Adult Day Health Care Center in Westlake Village.
She found the website of the nonprofit Assn. for Frontotemporal Degeneration. Eventually she became a volunteer AFTD ambassador, speaking and advocating for families affected by the disease. In August, she posed for a group photograph at the state capitol with Emma Heming Willis and other FTD advocates who traveled to Sacramento to meet with state lawmakers.
All of it is a way of finding purpose in pain. FTD has dulled Marc’s emotional reactions, leaving Julia to carry the full weight of their grief.
“He grasps the impact, but somehow the emotion is buffered,” she said. “I lose it sometimes. I cry my eyes out, for sure. I feel the full emotional impact of it, in slow motion. . . . There’s no blunting it for me.”
Julia helps Marc up from a couch on the back patio of their home in Westlake.
These days the Pierrats rise around 6 a.m., eat the breakfast Julia prepares, and then Marc takes his first nap of the day (fatigue is a common FTD symptom). When he wakes around 9 a.m. Julia makes sure he uses the bathroom, and then drives him to a nearby adult daycare program where he does crafts and games until lunch. He sleeps for another few hours at home, spends two hours in the afternoon with a paid caregiver so that Julia can do errands or exercise, and then the couple eats dinner together before Marc beds down by 8 p.m.
When they are awake together, they go for walks around the neighborhood or to familiar cafes or parks. The hostility of the early disease has passed. They speak tenderly to one another.
At each sleep, Julia walks him upstairs to the bedroom they used to share. She tucks him in and gives him a kiss. At night she retires to a downstairs guestroom, because if they share a bed Marc will pat her constantly throughout the night to make sure she’s still there.
My clock’s ticking. I could die any day.
Do you feel like you’re going to die any day? Or do you feel healthy?
I feel kind of healthy, but I’m still worried. Because I have something that I can’t control inside of me.
About two years ago, Julia and Marc were on one of their daily walks when she realized they had already had their last conversation as the couple they once were, with both of them in full possession of their faculties. In one crucial sense, Marc was already gone.
Julia makes sure Marc is comfortable for his afternoon nap at their home in Westlake.
But in other ways, their connection remains.
“The love that we have is still completely there,” she said recently in the couple’s backyard, while Marc napped upstairs.
“When you’re married to someone and you’ve been with someone for so long, you almost have your own language between you. He and I still have that.”
She looked out over the potted succulents and winding stone pathways they had spent so many weekends tending together.
“A lot of our relationship is preserved in spite of it, which is just so interesting, [and] also makes it more heartbreaking,” she continued. “Because you know that if the disease plays out like it is expected to, you will just continue to slowly lose pieces.”
The average life expectancy for people with Marc’s type of FTD is five to seven years after diagnosis. Some go much sooner, and others live several years longer.
At the moment, all FTD variants lead to a similar end. Cognition and memory decline until language and self-care are no longer possible. The brain’s ability to regulate bodily functions, like swallowing and continence, erodes. Immobility sets in, and eventually, the heart beats for the last time.
But until then, people keep living. They find reasons to keep going and ways to love one another. The Pierrats do, anyway.
Marc and Julia visit horses at the Foxfield Riding School in Lake Sherwood.
On a recent morning, the couple strolled through a nearby equestrian school where their daughter once took lessons. Julia brought a baggie of rainbow carrot coins she’d sliced at home. She showed Marc how to feed the horses, as she does at every visit.
“Hold your hand completely flat, like I’m doing,” she said gently.
“I don’t want to lose a finger,” Marc said as a chestnut horse nuzzled his palm.
“You’re not going to lose a finger,” Julia assured him. “I won’t let that happen to you.”
Marc and Julia walk hand-in-hand after visiting horses at the Foxfield Riding School in Lake Sherwood.
If you are concerned about a loved one with dementia or need support after a diagnosis, contact the Assn. for Frontotemporal Dementia helpline at theaftd.org/aftd-helpline or (866) 507-7222 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST.
